Originally published in Bradshaw's Journal (Bradshaw & Blacklock) vol.2 #6 [32] (11 Dec 1841).
At the present day, Chemistry is a science of vast extent and magnificence; it is a necessary branch of every liberal education, and contributes as great a share towards increasing the resources or adding to the welfare of mankind, as all the other sciences united. The votary of Chemistry is not immured in the close and noxious laboratory, to waste his life in calcining metals and forming compounds under certain planetary signs and influences, or in pursuing the other fantastic chimeras of bygone ages. The scene is gloriously changed! He is free to enjoy the bright sunlight of philosophy and the society of truth; the wondrous book of Nature is open to his view, and to gain a knowledge of its contents, he tests every page by experiment. The proceeding is laborious and uncongenial to the aspiring mind that would fain soar amidst the seductive regions of theory and hypothesis, but it is the basis of the science of Chemistry.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to furnish a concise definition of this science, but some faint idea of its objects may be gained from the following general outline.
Chemistry is that branch of natural knowledge which teaches us the properties of the elementary substances, or in other words, of those forms of matter which are simple and undecomposable; these have the property of of uniting with each other in various ways, and of forming compounds, which, again uniting with each other, form more complete compounds: it inquires into the laws which affect, and into the powers which preside over, their union, and determines the exact proportions in which it takes place: it discovers the method of separating them when combined, and of presenting each again in a pure or insulated state, and endeavours, throughout, to apply all such varied knowledge to the explication of natural phenomena, and to useful purposes in the arts of life.
Chemistry investigates the wonderful and ceaseless changes which are constantly going on in the atmosphere, provides the means of ascertaining its density, temperature, and moisture, examines the cause of dew, rain, hail, and snow; instructs man how to reason calmly upon the awful phenomena of the tempest and the thunder-storm, provides the means of averting its terrors, determines the elements of which the atmosphere is composed, and the active part which they enact in the vast laboratory of nature.
Chemistry directs attention to the vegetable kingdom, traces the curious and intricate changes attendant upon the germination of a seed, the growth of a plant, and the elements which they have the power of absorbing from the soil and the atmosphere for their support; discovers that even the decay of a plant is attended with beneficial results, and that the elements into which it is resolved, may again become active in producing living and luxuriant foliage. Further, it teaches us the curious fact, that although the varieties presented by the vegetable world are so widely different in external structure and character, yet they are, with very few exceptions, constituted of the same elements, which are but few in number, and whose proportions are only very slightly varied.
Chemistry discovers that the bones composing the wonderful skeleton upon which the animal body is supported, owe their great strength and firmness to the presence of two highly inflammable substances united with an element which is found in the atmosphere, and that the softer solids of the animal body consist of the same elements which are found in the vegetable kingdom, though combined in other proportions.
By this science, man is enabled to determine the nature and properties of the rocks and strata which constitute the surface of the globe; to ascertain their relative durability and fitness for the purposes of the architect and the builder, to separate them into their component parts, and to employ these in a pure or an artificially combined state, as cements, building materials, porcelain, or pottery. Descending into the bosom of the earth, Chemistry points out the endless variety of metallic ores; instructs man how to assay and reduce them to the state of metals, which are fashioned into-innumerable forms of utility and beauty.
Heat is the powerful agent employed in these and numberless other processes, and it is obtained by the combustion of coal, an invaluable mineral production, from which a gaseous substance is extracted, and employed as a means of brilliant illumination.
Chemistry teaches us that the sand beneath our feet, when mixed with the calcined ashes of plants, and exposed to the intense heat of a furnace-fire, produces the astonishing substance called glass, which, when spread into sheets, is set in the apertures of our dwellings to exclude the rude winds, but to permit the cheering rays of light to enter. Various additions being made to its components, it is employed for the manufacture of drinking vessels and ornamented articles of the most elegant design and skilful workmanship, which appear upon our tables in place of the uncouth wooden bowls employed in domestic use by our forefathers. The same substance is employed by the astronomer to form lenses of prodigious power, by which, properly adjusted, he is enabled to watch the motions and penetrate the abysses of the starry heavens; without glass, many of the sublime truths of astronomy, the researches concerning heat and light, the nature of numerous aeriform bodies, would have remained unknown, nor could the naturalist have investigated the forms and appearances of that wonderful part of the creation whose extreme minuteness eludes the observation of the unassisted eye.
To the action of fire upon various mixtures of sand and clay, we are indebted for all those beautiful and elegant services of porcelain which adorn our tables and add to our comforts and luxuries. All the brilliant and lovely colours with which porcelain is tinted, are produced by chemistry, from metallic bodies; it presides also over the production and permanence of the vivid and varied dyes which tint the fabrics of the loom; it points out to the manufacturer the method of simultaneously producing many together upon his goods, or of instantaneously destroying them all, leaving a surface of exquisite whiteness: our modern habits and fashions have rendered the chemistry of dyeing, calico printing, and bleaching, of the greatest commercial interest and importance; and these arts, in conjunction with those of metallurgy, glass and porcelain making, contribute not only to the gorgeous splendour of the princely court, but to the neatness and comfort of the peasant's cottage.
Thus does Chemistry enable us to work singular and important changes upon all forms of matter, causing each in turn to minister to our wants or our luxuries; the great and rapid advances which have of late years been made in this and other sciences, may be referred to the steady pursuance of the plan of inductive reasoning laid down by Lord Bacon in his Novum Organon, or new method of studying the sciences,
Previous to the appearance of this singularly acute and profound work, (and indeed, for a considerable period afterwards, for its principles were only admitted with extreme reluctance,) the state of philosophy was deplorable, and he who could frame the most fanciful theory or incomprehensible hypothesis, or mystify his doctrines, in the highest degree, appears to have been regarded with the greatest veneration. Truth was either entirely and wantonly sacrificed at the shrine of self-aggrandizement, or her fair proportions so distorted and mutilated, as to be almost undiscoverable. Experiment (saving alchymical experiment) was hardly ever resorted to, because the philosophers of the day deemed its practice far beneath their dignity, and held in sovereign contempt those who advocated or made experiments to elucidate the phenomena of nature, styling them "a tribe of idle curious people," and asserting that "a philosopher should go no further than the contemplation of things, leaving the execution thereof to another set of men, though he should have a certain theory thereof, in order to judge pertinently of them."
It was at length discovered that this state of affairs could not exist; that the contemplation of things was not incompatible with practical execution, and that the "lover of wisdom" could suffer no real degradation in the eyes of his fellow-men, by resorting to experiment. At the present time, the greatest philosophers are the most laborious experimenters; nothing is considered beneath their notice, and the most simple facts and observations have frequently given birth to discoveries and inventions of the greatest importance and practical utility.—Recreations in Chemistry.
Slow Progress of the Sciences.—One of the chief causes that has obstructed the advancement of the sciences, has been an inattention to the principal end which should be kept in view in their cultivation; the end I mean is public utility, or what contributes to the convenience and happiness of life. Instead of attending to this, most men have no other object in the pursuit of knowledge, but to gratify a transient curiosity, or to give a variety to their amusements, or to serve the purpose of vanity and ostentation, or to gain a subsistence in the profession they live by.—Gregory.