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suits,  and  it  was  during  the  fifteen  years  following  his  departure  from  Ken- 
dal, (1793  to  1808)  that  his  doctrine  of  the  Atomic  Theory,  and  his  discovery 
of  the  law  of  multiple  proportions  were  developed  and  introduced  to  the 
scientific  world.  The  further  development  of  these  was  the  great  work  of 
his  life,  as  they  are  the  basis  on  which  his  fame  as  a  philosopher  chiefly 
rests. 
Dalton's  mental  contour  was  the  embodiment  of  patient,  earnest,  con- 
stantly operating  thought.  A  subject  once  brought  within  his  mental 
laboratory  underwent  a  process  of  intellectual  digestion  until  he  had  ex- 
tracted from  it  all  that  his  powers  would  admit.  There  was  no  hurry  or 
confusion,  no  fear  of  being  anticipated,  but  a  steady  contemplation  of  it  in 
all  the  lights  suggested  to  him  by  reflection.  Dalton' s  forte  was  not  in  the 
exactitude  of  his  experiments,  so  much  as  in  his  ability  to  draw  inferences 
and  make  generalizations  from  the  data  they  furnished.  As  an  experimenter 
he  was,  as  his  biographer  admits,  by  no  means  exact,  having  instruments 
faulty  in  construction,  and  incapable,  even  in  more  expert  hands,  of  yield- 
ing reliable  results  ;  yet  in  spite  of  his  defects  as  a  manipulator,  he  was  en- 
abled, by  his  superior  deductive  powers,  to  make  discoveries  which  have 
changed  the  whole  aspect  of  chemical  science.  It  was  fortunate  for  Dal- 
ton's  reputation  as  a  discoverer  that  he  was  more  given  to  reflecting  on  his 
own  experiments  than  to  looking  after  the  researches  of  others,  else  he 
might  have  figured  more  as  the  developer  of  Richter's  views  than  the  ad- 
vocate of  his  own.  Seconded  by  such  men  as  Thompson,  Wollaston  and 
Berzelius,  Dalton's  doctrine  of  multiple  proportions  in  combination  soon 
triumphed  over  the  opposition  which  at  first  it  met  with  ;  while  his  atomic 
theory,  that  which  he  evidently  considered  his  greatest  achievement,  is  be- 
coming more  and  more  probable  in  the  progress  of  chemical  science, 
although  its  very  nature  seems  to  place  it  beyond  the  possibility  of  direct 
demonstration.  Had  Dalton  possessed  the  acuteness  of  Wollaston  as  a  ma- 
nipulator, and  the  accuracy  of  Berzelius  as  an  analyst,  he  would  have  con- 
centrated them  with  an  untiring  perseverance  on  the  development  of  his 
views,  and  perhaps  have  extended  yet  further  the  bounds  of  chemical  phi- 
losophy. We  cannot  do  better  for  our  readers  than  quote  the  following 
paragraphs  from  an  essay  on  Dalton,  by  Mr.  Joseph  Ince,  in  the  Pharma- 
ceutical Journal: — 
"But  a  little  while  ago,  Manchester,  in  the  midst  of  its  roar  of  business, 
beheld  a  goodly  spectacle  of  beautiful  old  age.  A  guileless  citizen,  with 
not  one  stray  thought  beyond  Philosophy,  was  calmly  workiug  out  his  ab- 
stract reasonings,  heedless  of  tall  factories  or  sudden  wealth.  His  home 
was  in  the  laboratory,  where  he  repaired  every  morning  to  light  the  fires 
and  dust  the  pupils'  desks;  then,  after  a  frugal  breakfast,  back  again,  ready 
and  willing  to  commence  his  daily  lectures.  The  spirit  of  worldly  policy 
was  not  strong  within  him,  for  his  instructions  were  given  for  the  mode- 
rate sum  of  half  a  crown  an  hour,  or  eighteenpence  when  two  attended. 
There  sometimes  he  would  busy  himself  in  manufacturing  an  unfailing  re- 
medy for  coughs  and  colds  made  with  treacle,  liquorice,  and  vinegar,  ex- 
plaining its  sovereign  virtues  to  an  admiring  audience. 
