V. CHEMISTRY.

The modern science of Chemistry is, comparatively speaking, of very recent growth. It begins with Lavoisier († 1794) who was the first to lay proper stress on accurate measuring and weighing, and whose analysis of the process of combustion gave the first insight into the nature of chemical union.

A theory of fundamental importance is that which conceives the elements as composed of atoms. This atomic theory was established by Dalton († 1844). The two laws on which it rests, that of gravity and that of multiple proportions received their full experimental proof in the innumerable analyses and calculations of Berzelius († 1848)1.

Of the various theories of the nature of chemical combination the so-called dualistic hypothesis of Berzelius held the field during the first half of the 19th century. It has given way however to the substitutiontheory of the French chemist Dumas († 1884).

Organic chemistry is also practically a creation of the 19th century. Amongst the most brilliant pioneers of the science were Dumas, Chevreul († 1889), and Liebig († 1873).

We do not propose to give here even the most cursory sketch of the history of Chemistry in the last

1 We can get no precise information about the discoverer of the fundamental law named after Avogadro († July 9th 1856). However an Obituary Notice which appeared in the Gazzetta Piemontese, the official organ of the Government of Sardinia, nine days after his death, says he was "religioso senza intolleranza dotto senza pedanteria" etc. Alfonso Cossa, Il conte Amedeo Avogadro di Quaregna, Milano 1898, 5.

century: we merely adduce the names of a few of the most brilliant workers in this province, and shall proceed to inquire what they had to say as to the philosophical significance of their discoveries. The witness of Berzelius, Liebig and Dumas would of itself be ample; for if these great intellects were unable to discern any hostility between science and religion, why should we pay any heed to the clamour of lesser men? We shall not however confine ourselves to the names cited.

Antoine Laurent Lavoisier does not fall within the scope of this book, inasmuch as he died under the guillotine of the Revolution before the beginning of the 19th century. We content ourselves with remarking that he died in the Christian faith 1. Dalton's religious sincerity was never a matter of doubt 2. And, as for Berzelius, his belief in God and his dislike for atheistical systems find expression in his great treatise.

"An incomprehensible force, foreign to those of dead matter, has introduced the principle (of life) into the inorganic world. This has been effected, not by chance, but with the striking variety and supreme wisdom of a plan designed to produce definite results, and to maintain an unbroken succession of transient individuals which are born one from another, and which at their death bequeath their

1 Ce grand nom de Lavoisier doit être particulièrement rappelé dans notre Société, car l'illustre chimiste était resté un croyant. C'est ce qui ressort de tous les documents retrouvés sur sa vie dans ces dernières anées, et particulièrement du témoignage, certes non suspect, de Grimaux, qui avait eu entre les mains beaucoup de papiers de ce grand homme (M. G. Lemoine, Revue des questions scientifiques L 78-79).

2 Chez Dalton le caractère de l'homme égalait la supériorité des lumières: il fut un modèle de vertus sans ostentation, et de religion sans fanatisme (Nouv. biographie générale XII, Paris 1866, 830).

A. L. LAVOISIER. J. DALTON. J. BERZELIUS.

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decomposed constituents to the formation of new organisms. Every process of organic nature proclaims a wise purpose, and bears the stamp of a guiding mind; and man, comparing the calculations he makes to attain certain ends with those which he finds in organic nature, has been led to regard his faculty of thought and calculation as a reflection of the Being to whom he owes his existence. And yet it has happened more than once that a philosophy, proud all the while of its own profundity, has maintained that all this was the work of chance, and that such organisms only held their ground as had accidentally acquired the power of selfpreservation and reproduction. But the advocates of such systems do not perceive that the element in nature which they call 'chance' is a thing physically impossible. Everything that exists springs from a cause, an operative force, this latter tending (like desire) to break into activity and secure for itself satisfaction so as to arrive in the end at a state of untroubled repose, a process which in no degree corresponds to our idea of 'chance'. It will always be more honourable for man to admire the wisdom, which he cannot rival, than to puff himself up with philosophical arrogance, and attempt with his paltry reasonings to penetrate mysteries which will probably remain for ever beyond the scope of human reason." 1

1 Tout ce qui tient à la nature organique annonce un but sage et se distingue comme production d'un entendement supérieur; et l'homme, en comparant les calculs qu'il fait, pour atteindre un certain but, avec ceux qu'il trouve dans la composition de la nature organique, a été conduit à regarder sa puissance de penser et de calculer comme une image de cet être à qui il doit son existence . . . (Traité de Chimie par J. J. Berzelius, traduit par M. Esslinger, V, Bruxelles 1833, 2e partie, Chimie organique, 3-4). That Berzelius was "ein Mann von umfassender Bildung und von liebenswürdigstem Charakter" is testified e. g. by K. C. v. Leonhard, Aus unserer Zeit in meinem Leben II, Stuttgart 1856, 130, G. H. Rose, who has been already quoted, and others. Cf. G. W. A. Kahlbaum, Monogr. a. d. Gesch. der Chemie VII, Leipzig 1903 (Auto-biographical Notices of Berzelius).

Among the most eminent predecessors of Berzelius are the German Klaproth († 1817), the discoverer of uranium, and the French Louis Nicolas Vauquelin († 1829) to whom chemistry owes its first knowledge of chromium and glucinium. Klaproth is characterised by Von Leonhard, on the authority of his friends, as a "profoundly religious man" 1. Vauquelin died a faithful Catholic, striken down during a visit to his native place 2.

There presented himself one day to Vauquelin a youth, some sixteen years of age, of countrified aspect and an accent far from Parisian. He came to beg the chemist to engage him as his servant asking no salary save to be present at his laboratory experiments. The old savant was far from rich, and, being loth to add a fresh burden to the 20 francs a month which he spent on his laboratory, refused the lad's request. Vauquelin's sister however interposed; he was a promising boy, she said, and would not, like the other assistants, "let the pots boil over". Vauquelin at last gave way, and the young peasant not only took excellent care of the "pots", but grounded himself profoundly in Chemistry, and came in time to be a famous teacher and discoverer. In 1804 he succeeded Vauquelin at the Collège de France, and in 1810 he was elected to the Academy of Sciences. He celebrated his election by a visit to his mother, to whom he brought an edition of Thomas à Kempis in the large print which her old eyes had

1 Aus unserer Zeit in meinem Leben I, Stuttgart 1854, 595. 2 Étant allé passer quelque temps dans son pays, il a été surpris par la maladie au château de M. Duhamel, maire du lieu. Il a rendu hommage à la religion en recourant aux sacrements et aux prières de l'église etc. (Ami de la religion et du roi LXII, Paris 1830, 79).

KLAPROTH. L. N. VAUQUELIN. L. J. THENARD.

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long desired. He rose higher, becoming in 1814 a Knight, in 1842 Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour, in 1825 Baron, in 1827 Deputy, and in 1832 a Peer of France; in 1861 a statue was erected to him at Sens, and in 1865 the people of his native place La Louptière asked and obtained permission to call their town La Louptière-Thenard in his honour. For the peasant lad was no other than Louis Jacques Thenard († 1857), discoverer of the superoxide of hydrogen, of the blue dye called after him, and now so widely used in the manufacture of porcelain, and of many other chemical facts. He contributed to the progress of Chemistry not only as a discoverer but also as a teacher, and his text-book, although of such an immense range, reached ten editions in six years1. He could without any exaggeration boast that during his thirty years at the Sorbonne, the College of France, and the Polytechnic School, 40000 students had passed through his hands. In matters of education he was among the first authorities of his day, a veritable "Marshal of Science" 2.

Thenard was an unwavering Catholic, loyal and punctilious all through life in the discharge of his religious duties. Some extracts from the funeral sermon preached over him by the rector of St. Sulpice may aptly be quoted 3:

"Religion and gratitude alike constrain me to say that there was in Baron Thenard something greater still than that sublime intellect and boundless knowledge which shed such lustre on the Academy. There was a heart, profoundly

1 P. M. Flourens, Recueil des éloges historiques III, Paris 1862, 201-248.

2 R. Vallery-Radot, La vie de Pasteur, Paris 1901, 51. 3 Ami de la religion CLXXVI, Paris 1857, 747 f.