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Leader (1850-1860), 19th June 1852, Edition Town of 2, Page 592, Untitled Article

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      All Ehrenberg ' s researches are here epitomized , and some of his rash statements corrected . Jpropos of corrections , we are « tte 88 wmg superb ™ coals to Newcastle in directing Kr . Rymer Jones _ s attent ion to the , statement at p , 148 , with respect to the mm ^ - og ^ ^ Mj but although he is in all probability aware that the result of M . Blanchard s researches is , that no oral orifice is to be found in the Tamh , yet his readers may not- be acquainted therewith . The first volume of this date there

      Mistory of Animals was published in 1845 , and at that Was no suspicion of this fact . , , , -, ¦ . ¦¦' ¦ r * Mr . Bymer Jones indulges , as we remarked last week , in . a strain 01 rhetoric which , while it will certainly captivate many , must make all philosophers shake their heads ; he indulges also in that sort of inverse anthropomorphism which consists in interpreting all the phenomena of animal life by the human standard , and speculates as to whether insects have scent or taste , although deficient in the organs of scent and taste . All these portions of his work we object to ; but were they ten times as numerous , they could not prevent our high enjoyment of his delightful volumes , which we most cordially recommend . The illustrations ( upwards of two hundred ) are executed with that finish and beauty which distinguishes all that Mr . Van Voorst publishes . '

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      COMTE ' S POSITIVE PHILOSOPHY . By Gr . H . Lewes . Part XII . —Position and Method of Chemistry . We have still to occupy ourselves with the general considerations forming the prolegomena to Chemistry , and notably with its position in the hierarchy of the sciences and its Method . I ' am sometimes disposed to make this capital distinction between Physics and Chemistry : —In Physics ( celestial and terrestrial ) we study the laws of motion communicated ; in Chemistry ( inorganic and organic ) the laws of motion excited . In purely physical phenomena we see a force communicated from one body to another ; but in chemical phenomena we see a force combining with another force to excite a change in both , the result of which is unlike either . ^

      ^ I content myself with indicating this distinction , and turn to Comte for further light as to the position of Chemistry in the scientific hierarchy . The position he assigns to it seems to him a good illustration of the fact that his classification does not rest on arbitrary assumptions , but is in truth the faithful resume of the points of harmony inherent in the sciences , and manifested naturally by their common development . No one , indeed , of the positions in the encyclopedical scale / seems so naturally and so appropriately occupied as that of Chemistry between Physics and Physiology . Who could now fail to see that , in several essential parts , and , above all , in

      the important series of electro-chemical phenomena , Chemistry is in immediate contact with the ensemble of Physics ^ of which , in appearance , it constitutes a simple prolongation ; and , again , that at its other extremity it is in some sort connected , by the no less fundamental study of organic combinations , with general Physiology , of which it establishes , so to speak , the primary foundations ? These relations are so very close that , in more than one particular case , Chemists who had not mastered the true philosophy of the sciences , could not venture to decide whether the subject really fell within their province , or whether it belonged to Physics or Phy siology .

      Chemical phenomena are more complex than physical and less general . We have physical effects without chemical , but no chemical effects unaccompanied with co-existent physical . Hence , too , Chemistry is indirectly subordinated to Astronomy , and even to Mathematics . As far as respects doctrine , the connexion is indeed small . Chemical questions cannot be treated among mathematical doctrines ;* and in abstract Chemistry there is little reference to Astronomy . In concrete Chemistry , i . e . in the application of chemical knowledge to the natural history of the globe , the connexion between Astronomy and Chemistry is much more apparent . As respects Method , Mathematics and Astronomy have had a great influence mathematical

      on the cultivation of Chemistry . From the study of phenomena , of rationality , precision , and consistency , have been obtained habits . Although mathematics are less needful to the chemist than to the natural philosopher , the evil effects of the want of those habits , owing to a defective mathematical education , may be seen in moat chemical speculations . Astronomy being the great type of scientific perfection , its influence is the more needed in Chemistry , because the phenomena are increased in complexity . Astronomy is calculated , much more than Physics , to show Chemists the radical inanity of all metaphysical explanations , and to make manifest the true characteristics of their science . Comte also shows here , but more fully in his lecture on Physiology , how that science must . be based upon and follow in the wake of Chemistry . Ho next proceeds to

      estimate the general perfection of chemical science , as respects method and doctrine . . . ; . . - / , . . . . . . : . ; . ' ¦ . \ . ¦ ¦ . . ¦ . ' : ¦ ¦ .. ¦ . ¦ ; , . .. J .. . - . ,-. \ . , ... ' - .. ; . ¦ •¦ : ' . „ ¦ ' . As to Method , physical philosophy has approximated much nearer than chemical philosophy to the complete state of positivity . If the first sttjll presents , with respect to the theory of hypotheses ^ a quasi-mGtaphysical character , there is no exaggeration in saying that the second continues in some respects essentially metaphysical in spirit * by reason of its more difficult and more tardy development . The doctrine of affinities , although now rapidly losing its hold , is even more ontological than that of the fluids and imaginary ethers . If the electrical fluid andl the luminous ether are really nothing but materialized entities ; are these affinities

      anything else at bottom than perfectly pure entities , as vagues andUndetermined as those of the scholastic philosophy of the middle ages ? The pretended solutions which we have been in the habit of deducing from them , evidentl y possesses the essential characteristic of metaphysical explanations--the simple and naive reproduction , in abstract terms , of the very ^ statement of the phenomenon . The accelerated development of chemical observations during the last fifty years , which will doubtless soon discredit for ever this false philosophy , has hitherto only modified it in such a way as to slidw its radical nullity with irresistible evidence . "Whenaffinitieswere regardedas absolute and invariable , their employment in the explanation of phenomena , although of necessity always illusory , had at least a more imposing appearance . But since facts have compelled us to conceive affinities as , on the

      contrary , eminently variable and dependent upon a multitudeofdifferent circumstances , their use could no longer be continued , Without speedily becoming , by this single change , more plainly-futile and almost childish Thus , for example , it was known for a long time that at a certain temperature iron decomposed water or protoxide of hydrogen $ and yet it was afterwards discovered that , under the mere influence of a higher temperature , hydrogen in its turn decomposed oxide of iron . What , then , can signify the order of affinity which we believed we had established between iron and hydrogen towards oxygen ? The state of education at the time explain how men of genius like

      Berthollet could entertain such notions as that of electiveaffinities . It is to those metaphysical habits that we owe the doctrine of predisposing affinity , employed even by the great Berzelius . For example , when sulphuric acid determines the decomposition of water by iron , at ordinary temperatures , so as to disengage hydrogen , the metaphysical explanation of the process is—That sulphuric acid has an affinity for oxide of iron which tends to form itself * Observe , the oxide of iron does not as yet exist > it exists only after the decomposition has taken place ; so that on this doctrine of affinity we have the sympathetic action of one substance upon another substance not yet in existence , but called into existence by this sympathetic action ! Even Liebig , who repudiates the notion of affinity as expressive of anything like relationship , has not emancipated himself sufficiently from the metaphysical condition to give up the notion of an inherent tendency ,

      As another example of metaphysical Chemistry let me cite the favourite notion of a catalytic force . The following passage , from Gregory ' s admirable Handbook of Organic Chemistry , expresses my views with authority : — " The view adopted by Berzelius , according to which fermentation , and all the other phenomena of chemical change produced by contact , are the results ^ a peculiar unknown force , the catalytic force , coming into action when certain bodies are placed in contact , appears unphilosophical , as in the firat place , assuming tfte existence of a new force where known forces would suffice to explain the fects ; ana , secondly , as furnishing no real explanation , but merely acknowledging , indirectly effect to catalysis

      our inability to offer any such explanation . When we ascribe an , we are only saying , in other words , that we cannot account for it ; catalysis w thuH merely a convenient term for all that we do not understand . And to tno use of the word-in this sense , namely / as a name for tho agent which produces certain effects , the agent itself being unknown , there would be no objection , Were iw that catalysis has been employed to account for phenomena not only different ; innu each other , but actually of an opposito kind . For example , plafcinunv in causing the combination of oxygen and hydrogen , is said to act catalytieaUy , and the > acwv of oxide of manganese , or oxide of silver , in decomposing peroxide ° * ny ? rE ' that is , in causing the separation of oxygen and hydrogen , is also called ^^ P ' Tins example proves how loosely tho word has beon employed , and how vague u

      tho views which have led to its introduction /' In accordance with the position of chemistry in the scientific hierarchy the general plan of rational education for a chemist requires a preliminary study of mathematical philosophy , next of astronomical p hilosop hy , an last of physics . We should remember , when speculating p hilosop hically on this subject , that this doctrine of affinities is , in its original spirit , on ^ y tin attempt ( necessarily a vain one ) to conceive the hidden Aa ^ re chemical phenomena , which is as radically inaccessible as the analog essences we sought in former times to discover , by similar processes , the case of more simple phenomena . And how can the chemist wa ridding his science of these metaphysical ideas , without first mns ^ g sicai more simple and now more positive sciences ? How , if half-metapJiy as regards them , can he be positive in chemistry ? Must not the intUv ^ ' like the species , in its gradual development , extract positive concep

      from the simpler sciences first ? t chemic ^ In respect of doctrine , chemistry is also inferior to p hysi cs , ^ n ^ effects are still essentially incoherent , or at least feebly co-ordinate a j small number of partial and insufficient relations , in place of those " " j ' certain as they are extensive and uniform , in which p hysics so J fi \ x glories . As to prevision , the truo measure of tho perf ection 01

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      We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourage itself . —Gobthb .

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      world is but an atom , and nono know better than microacopical obaorvora that every atom is a world . If tho astronomer be led from tho contemplation of tho countless orbs that traverse boundless space , to tho adoration of tho Croator in His almightinoss ; so tho observation of tho perfections of His mhiutost works , which , though urosiDlO to ordinary kon , unfold new perfections with ovory increased power of observing thorn , ought to impress uh with a Hvoly sonBO of that all-caring-for and all-sooing Provjdonco . without whom not a sparrow falls to tho ground and by whom ovory hair ot tho uoad is numbered . " , , . . This was truo in 1838 , when Oomte wroto j but now chemical questions wo beginning to bo Buflcoptiblo of puroly mathematical treatment .

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      # 92 : ; ^^ fiy& ^^^> rjB- ^' : ; : //;; ' ^'> : ti ^^^ '

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), June 19, 1852, page 592, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1940/page/20/