Cornell University Library 
 Z 5521. B694 
 Chemical Itterature An addre^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 3 1924 014 491 439 
 
CHEMICAL LITEEATTJRE. 
 
 AN ADDRESS 
 
 delivered before the 
 
 American Association for thb Advancement of Science, 
 
 at montkbal, augttst 23, 1882. 
 
 BY 
 
 Prof. H. CARRINGTON BOLTON, Ph. D. 
 Vice President. 
 
 SALEM: 
 
 author's edition. 
 1882. 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924014491439 
 
CHEMICAL LITERATURE. 
 
 AN ADDRESS 
 
 deliveked before the 
 
 American Association for the Advancement of Science, 
 
 AT Montreal, August 23, 1882. 
 
 BY 
 
 Prof. H. CARRINGTON BOLTON, Ph. D. 
 Vice President. 
 
 SALEM: 
 
 author's edition. 
 
 1882. 
 
ADDEESS 
 
 BY 
 
 H. CARRINGTON BOLTON, 
 
 VICE PRESIDENT, SECTION C. 
 
 Fellow Members op the Chemical Section ; 
 Ladies and Gentlemen : — 
 
 The recognition by the Association of the equal rights of chem- 
 ical science and the elevation of the late " Permanent Subsection " 
 to the dignity of a "Section of Chemistry," now assembled for the 
 first time, mark an important epoch in the annals of our organ- 
 ization. Permit me to offer congratulations on our promotion and 
 to express my high appreciation of the honor of presiding over 
 your deliberations. 
 
 The Permanent Subsection of Chemistry was organized at the 
 Hartford meeting of the Association in 1874. It had its origin in 
 the action of a number of chemists assembled at Northumberland 
 in August of the same year to commemorate Priestley's discovery 
 of Oxygen. At that memorable gathering a discussion of the 
 advantages of forming an independent organization in the interests 
 of chemistry led to the appointment of a committee* "to co- 
 operate with the American Association for the Advancement of 
 Science at their next meeting, to the end of establishing a chem- 
 ical section on a firmer basis." 
 
 This committee met at Hartford a few weeks later and united 
 with the chemical members of the Association in founding a Per- 
 
 •Thc committee consisted of Profs. Silliman, Smith, Hoiafoid, Hunt and Bolton. 
 
 (3) 
 
4 ADDRESS BY 
 
 manent Subsection in accordance with tlie provision ^^^^ 
 
 constitution adopted at tlie same meeting. Meetnig _^^ 
 
 section were held on two days and arrangements weie < 
 
 ,, ° „,. tlip Association 
 
 permanent organization. In tlie following yeai ''"c 
 met at Detroit and tlie Subsection re- assembled under tie c ^^^^^ 
 raanship of Prof. S. W. Johnson. Before adjourning the ^^^ ^^^^ 
 elected Prof. Geo. F. Barker chairman for the ensuing year am 
 passed a resolution requesting the ciiairman-elect to piep 
 address. This was the origin of the custom which it is my pleasan 
 duty to follow. Professor Barker accepted the task and his masterly 
 essay on tlie Atom and the Molecule (1876) is remembered by 
 many in this audience. Since tlien Prof. F. AV. Clarke (1« <8) has 
 nrged in your hearing the endowment of laboratories of research ; 
 Prof. Ira Remsen (1879) has magnified the claims of his chosen 
 field of investigation— organic chemistry; and Prof. J. M. Oi-d- 
 way (1880) has gracefully surveyed the experiences of the past, 
 the needs of the present and tlie prospects of the future of chem- 
 istry. _ _ 
 
 The amendments to the Constitution, adopted by the Association 
 at the Cincinnati meeting, provide, as you are aware, for nine sec- 
 tions, each with its own presiding officer; since this may involve 
 an equal number of annual addresses, it is hardly to be expected 
 that each will maintain the elaborate character of those of former 
 years. 
 
 I ask you therefore to bear this fact in mind while I invite your 
 attention to a rather superficial survey of 
 
 CHEMICAL LITERATURE. 
 
 The literature of chemistry, extending as it does through a period 
 of more than fourteen centuries, varies greatlj' in character, in 
 province and in design ; it partakes of the peculiar pliases exhibit- 
 ed by the science at diflferent epochs and depicts the experiences 
 and thoughts of those who cultivated it in all ages. It may be 
 studied from several points of view : the biographer searches the 
 voluminous records to acquire knowledge of the intellectual activ- 
 ity of individuals ; the historian unfolds the progress made by the 
 science in a special field or in its entirety, with philosophical in- 
 quiries respecting eflfects and causes ; the bibliographer, scarcely 
 penetrating beyond the title pages of the dusty tomes, laboriously 
 catalogues them to facilitate the researches of others. 
 
H. CARUINGTON BOLTON. O 
 
 We do not propose to give j'ou a biographical, an historical or 
 a bibliographical treatise, but rather to review chemical writings 
 as sources of information and as portions of the world's literary 
 productions. "VVe shall concern ourselves less with the questions 
 what were the personal history and life-work of a given author, 
 and more with the queries what are the characteristics of the vari- 
 ous classes of works at different epochs, what discoveries do they 
 chronicle and what was their influence on the contemporaneous 
 science. 
 
 The very earliest information concerning chemical arts comes 
 to us from that ancient nation supposed by some to have given its 
 own name to the science itself; not onl}' do the sculptured tombs 
 and temples of Egypt portray with unimpeachable authenticity 
 and wonderful accuracy the technical skill of that venerable peo- 
 ple, but these same monuments ai'e even now relinquishing their 
 hold on long-buried treasures in the form of papyri, whose perplex- 
 ing script no longer conceals their meaning from the erudition of 
 Egyptologists. 
 
 Of these miraculously preserved papyri the most valuable to 
 chemistry is that discovered by Prof. George Ebers at Tliebes in 
 1872, and named after its learned discoverer. We have described 
 this elsewhere ^ and shall not here enter into details. It is the 
 most ancient medical work extant, being assigned to the sixteenth 
 century B. C., and contains a vast amount of information on the 
 medical practice and the pharmaceutical preparations at that re- 
 mote period. The unknown author wrote less obscurely than many 
 of a much later date, and when the whole papyrus shall have been 
 deciphered it will prove an invaluable contribution to chemical 
 history. 
 
 The most ancient manuscript treating exclusively of chemical 
 operations is a Greek papj'rus of Egyptian origin preserved in the 
 Library of the University of Leyden. Its authorship is unknown, 
 its date is placed by Reuvens in the third or fourth century A. D. 
 This MS. consists of a collection of prescriptions and receipts for 
 conducting various operations in metallic chemistry, such as the 
 testing of gold and silver; the purification of lead, of tin and of 
 silver ; the hardening of tin and of silver ; the albification of cop- 
 per, etc. It deals little with alchemy though some of the receipts 
 evidently refer to transmutations, as those entitled : " the prepara- 
 
6 ADDRESS BY 
 
 tion (artificial?) of silver;" "the preparation of gokl ;" "the pu- 
 rification of tin by silver," etc. . , 
 
 Eeference is made to sandarach (realgar), cadmia (zinc ore), 
 ehrysocolla, cinnabar, natron (soda), mercury and other chemical 
 substances, but no receipts are given for their preparation. The 
 author quotes from the Materia Medica of Dioscorides who prob- 
 ably preceded him by about two centuries. It is to be regretted 
 that the full text of this ancient manuscript has never been piib- 
 lished ; the little known of it foreshadows information of great in- 
 terest.2 
 
 The great libraries of Paris, Rome, Venice, Milan, Escurial, 
 Cracow, Gotha, Munich and Cologne preserve a large number of 
 Greek alchemical manuscripts of unknown authorship and uncer- 
 tain date. Hoefer, the French historian of chemistry, refers them 
 to the third and fourth centuries,^ but other authorities with greater 
 probability place them not earlier than the tenth and eleventh.* 
 
 The most celebrated of these essays are attributed to Zosimus, 
 of whose history nothing is certainly known, and bear these titles : 
 "On Furnaces and Chemical Instruments," "On the Virtue and 
 Composition of Waters," "On the Holy Water," "On the Sacred 
 Art of Making Gold and Silver." In a treatise attributed to Sy- 
 nesius, we find a description of a hydroscopium or hj-drometer 
 which was rediscovered as long after as the sixteenth century. 
 
 In a treatise attributed to Olympiodorus, he cites as authorities 
 Democritus, Anaximander, Zosimus, Pelagius, and Marie a certain 
 Jewess whom the later alchemists confounded with Miriam, Moses' 
 sister. 
 
 In these manuscripts chemistry is called the "sacred art" and 
 the exceedingly obscure and figurative language in which they are 
 written makes it well nigh impossible to separate fact from fancy ; 
 Hoefer has indeed attempted to discover modern chemical concep- 
 tions in the allusions to Egyptian myths and the chaotic collec- 
 tions of spagyric arcana. 
 
 Of systematic nomenclature thei-e is absolutely no trace ; indeed 
 each author seems to have aimed to write treatises intelligible only 
 to himself, and we greatly doubt his success in even this re- 
 spect. " Cadinia," we are informed, " is magnesia," and " m^^nesia 
 is the female antimony of Macedonia;" "nitre is white snlphnr 
 which produces brass ;" equally clear is the statement that the 
 
bi-fl^S,;"' CARRINGTON BOLTON. 7 
 
 ''aposperaiatisra of the dragon is the mercury of cinnabar." 
 That lexicons were early in demand is not surprising ; in fact some 
 of the most ancient MSS. are "vocabularies of the sacred art," 
 but even with their assistance it is difficult to form satisfactory 
 concepts of contemporary chemical science. 
 
 Suidas,5 a Greek lexicographer of the eleventh century, states 
 that Diocletian having conquered the rebellious Egyptians (296 
 A. D.) destroyed their books on the preparation of silver and 
 gold, lest becoming rich by the practice of that art they might 
 again resist the Komans. Regrets at the wanton acts of this 
 imperial biblioclast are tempered by the reflection that modern 
 scholars are spared the study of such literary absurdities. 
 
 The Chinese, that curious people who always claim a hearing 
 when the origin or antiquity of arts and sciences is under consid- 
 eration, were acquainted at a very remote period with many 
 branches of chemical technology. We do not know of any special 
 chemical literature produced by them, but the researches of Rev. 
 Joseph EdkinsS and of Dr. W. A. P. Martin'' make it highly 
 probable that scholars will yet discover contributions of no small 
 importance to the early history of chemistry. Prof. George Glad- 
 stone ^ has endeavored to ,show that the Chinese originated the 
 doctrines and pursuit of alchemy and communicated it to the Ara- 
 bians by whom it was disseminated throughout Europe. 
 
 The high state of civilization and extraordinary intellectual de- 
 velopment of the Arabians has left a deep impression on chemical 
 science. Cultivated chiefly by physicians, attention was directed 
 to its pharmaceutical applications, and in spite of the prohibitions 
 of the Koran to the fascinations of alchemy. Of their extant 
 writings, preserved in European libraries, only a portion have been 
 edited ; those best known partake of the poetical imagery and hy- 
 perbole characteristic of the Oriental mind. This is shown to some 
 extent in the singular titles prefixed to their treatises, e. g., "The 
 Rise of the Moon under the Auspices of Golden Particles," by 
 the alchemist Dschildegl ; "A poem in the Praise of God, of Ma- 
 homet and of Alchemy," by Dul-nun-el-Misri.s 
 
 The well known treatises of Geber,i'"'Of the Investigation 
 of Perfection," "Of the Sum of Perfection," "Of the Invention of 
 Verity," and "Of Furnaces," notwithstanding a bewildering style 
 of composition, which seems to confirm Dr. Johnson's derivation of 
 
O ADDRESS BY 
 
 gibberish, from Geber, display very great familiarity with a large 
 number of chemical substances and operations. 
 
 Geber's works are generally assigned to the eighth century 
 and consist chiefly of compilations from the "Books of the An- 
 cients ;" he mentions no author by name. They contain chapters 
 devoted to the seven known metals, to the methods of distil- 
 lation, calcination, cupellation and other operations, to the prep- 
 aration of saline substances and to chemical philosophy. Geber 
 adopted Aristotle's views of the constitution of matter from four 
 principles, the hot and cold, the wet and the dry, and addstliereto : 
 "Mercury and sulphur are the components of metals," a doctrine 
 which with slight modifications prevailed for more than eight cen- 
 turies. Geber describes the preparation of nitric acid, of aqua 
 regia, and of mercuric oxide ; he mentions the increase in weight 
 of metals when calcined with sulphur, and gives the results of a rude 
 quantitative analysis of crude sulphur. He constantly maintains 
 the doctrine of transmutation of metals and gives a refutation of 
 the ingenious arguments opposed thereto. His remarks on the 
 qualifications of a chemist are most intelligent and are not inop- 
 portune in modern times; he urges the necessitj' of diligence, 
 patience, learning, a temperate disposition, slowness to anger, and 
 a full purse, " for this science agrees not well with a man poor and 
 indigent, " together with faith in the God who " withholds or gives 
 to whom he will" the secrets of nature, and who will infallibly 
 punish the foolish meddler with magical mysteries. 
 
 To detail fully our obligations to Arabian chemists is no part of 
 our plan. They have left an indelible impression on the very lan- 
 guage of the science, in the words alcohol, alembic, alkali, borak, 
 and many others. All honor to the intelligent authors who a thou- 
 sand years ago defined chemistry as the " Science of Combustion, 
 the Science of Weight, the Science of the Balance ! " i' 
 
 In the middle ages intellectual activity was confined largely to 
 the clergy, who controlled the schools of learning, the libraries, 
 and nearly all sources of knowledge. University- chairs were oc- 
 cupied exclusively by clerical professors'-, literature and science 
 were cast in ecclesiastical moulds. Scientific treatises were the 
 production of monks and emanated from cloisters. Many distin- 
 guished philosophers mastered widely separated branches of learn- 
 ing: among these were Alain de Lille (b. IIU), celebrated as a 
 
II. CARRINGTON BOLTON. 9 
 
 physician, tlieologian, poet and liistorian, who filled the epiiscopal 
 chair at Auxerre ; Roger Bacon (b. 1214) an English cordelier ; 
 Raymond Liilly (b. 1235), a Franciscan friar, and Albertus Mag- 
 nus (b. 1193), Bishop of Ratisbon. The latter, amid the monoto- 
 nous routine of a Dominican monastery, found leisure to distinguish 
 himself iu astronomy, medicine, alchemy and, according to his ene- 
 mies, in necromancy. At this remote period, accusations of dealing 
 with magic were not unfrequently made against those whose learn- 
 ing and skill in experimental sciences excited envy and supersti- 
 tious zeal. 13 
 
 To treat the writings of these eminent ecclesiastics as a part of 
 chemical literature requires perhaps a stretch of the imagination, 
 yet three hundred years ago they were regarded as masterpieces 
 of the science and formed the text-books of students of alchemy. 
 The writings of these ecclesiastical philosophers are as comprehen- 
 sive as the branches of learning they cultivated, and incredibly 
 voluminous ; Albertus Magnus' collected works fill twenty-one folio 
 volumes. 1* But a small fraction of these treatises are occupied 
 with science and chemistry ; and of this fraction there is in many 
 cases a reasonable doubt as to their authenticity. In fact, nothing 
 was more common than the ascription of work by an obscure 
 second-rate writer to some celebrated philosopher of preceding 
 ages, in order to give the work the stamp of authority, — a decep- 
 tion which previous to the invention of printing was more readily 
 accomplished. 
 
 It became difficult thei-efore to distinguish the apocryphal writings 
 from the genuine. The former, it is true, frequently betray them- 
 selves by anachronisms and other blunders, but many ingenious wri-' 
 ters avoided such traps by adopting an enigmatical style worthy of 
 the Delphian oracles. 
 
 Basil Valentine was the reputed author of works held in the very 
 highest esteem by the alchemists of the Middle Ages, yet the very 
 existence of this individual is seriously questioned. Mystery 
 surrounds Valentine's entire history, and his writings were given 
 to the world in a most dramatic manner ; according to tradition 
 they were hidden in the wall of a church at Erfurt and long after 
 his death a thunderbolt shattered the wall and revealed the 
 precious documents. 
 
 Whether Valentine was a real personage or not the works as- 
 cribed to him exhibit great familiarity with many chemical sub- 
 1* 
 
10 ADDRESS BY 
 
 ^ n .. xu 1 +1,0 nh<!rure and incoherent style 
 
 stances and operations, though the oDscuie 
 renders then- intelligent perusal very difficult. 
 
 Valentine's celebrated - Chariot of Antimony, "^ extolling the 
 medical virtues of this metal, is perhaps the least obscure of h.s 
 works; the "Twelve Keys of Philosophy" '« with its singular 
 plates, one of the most unintelligible; yet beneath the extrava- 
 gant jargon characteristic of tl.e period, glimpses are obtained of 
 light and intelligence. The latter work presents clearly the theory 
 that all metals are compounded of three principles : fixedness, me- 
 tallicity and volatility, represented respectively by salt, mercury 
 and sulphur, an hypothesis which long completely controlled chem- 
 istry until it gave place to the seductive theory of Phlogiston. It is 
 uncertain whether the works ascribed to Valentine were first writ- 
 ten in Latin or in German ; his writings were collected in the sev- 
 enteenth century and have been through many editions.'" Several 
 of his treatises have been translated into English and into French.'* 
 In the fifteenth century the newly invented printing press was 
 employed in the production of few works which can be regarded as 
 chemical, and these were chiefly confined to isolated treatises of 
 the ancient philosophers ; in the sixteenth century the alchemists 
 began to publish the results of their industry and speculations, and 
 in the succeeding century a prodigious number of alchemical works 
 were issued in Germany, France and England, creating literature of 
 an extraordinary type. 
 
 Some of these treatises, which are numbered by thousands, recoi-d 
 valuable experiments made by enthusiasts seeking the philosopher's 
 stone, but the majority contain "a crude mass of incoherent prop- 
 ositions and wild assertions, a mixture of poesj- and insanitj-, in 
 which all logical ideas are lost amidst the stilted phraseology, but 
 through which breathed a blind yet fervent faith." '* Great obscu- 
 rity of style 20; an enigmatical method of naming chemical sub- 
 stances which found its highest development in the use of arbitrary 
 symbols and the pictorial representations of alchemical processes*' ; 
 the intimate association with astrology ; the honest or affected 
 intermingling of pious comments and prayers^a ; the extravagant 
 claims to antiquity as respects authorship and processes*" ; the at- 
 tempts to interpret the mythology of Egypt and Greece on an al- 
 chemical basis ; the endeavor to associate the mvsteries of Hermes 
 with the sacred truths of the Christian rcligion^^,- all combine to 
 produce literary monstrosities as fascinating to the student of diem- 
 
H. CAREINGTON BOLTON. 11 
 
 ical history as they are profitless to tlie practical worker in modern 
 science. 
 
 Among the fabulous writings, higlily esteemed by the credulous 
 alchemists, may be mentioned the celebrated inscription of Hermes 
 Trismegistus upon an Emerald Tablet^s, the Golden Leaves of 
 Abraham, Jew Prince, Priest, Levite, Astrologer and Philosopher, 
 which in the hands of Nicolas FiamePS yielded such a rich harvest, 
 the Practical Chemistry of Miriam the sister of Moses^', and a 
 multitude of grotesque writings ascribed to personages of known 
 reputation. Raymond LuUy is credited with five hundred works ; 
 Hermes Trismegistus, the mythical Father of Sciences, with several 
 thousand. 
 
 Many of the alchemical works published during the period of 
 which we speak are degraded by admixture of the contemporaneous 
 pseudo-sciences, judicial astrology and magic. To this class belong 
 the celebrated works of Dr. Fludd and the writings of the Eosicrus- 
 cians ; excluding these as wholly beneath our consideration the 
 number of occult works on alchemj'^ is still very large. We imag- 
 ine it will be hard to discover in the whole range of literature writ- 
 ings having scientific pretensions more senseless than the aphorisms 
 of the disciples of Pythagoras, collected in the "Turba Philosopho- 
 rum"28 so often quoted by the alchemists of the sixteenth and 
 seventeenth centuries. Its improbable character is perhaps equalled 
 by the "Gloria Mundi" in which the anonymous author favors his 
 readers with the chemical views of Aristotle, Plato, Socrates and 
 Democritus, interspersed with equally authentic statements by 
 Hermes and Morien, Lamech and Methuselah, Abel and Seth, and 
 even of Adam himself. ^^ 
 
 In the early part of the seventeenth century, Michisl Maier, 
 phj'sician to the Emperor of Germany, Rudolph II, a royal patron 
 of astrologers and alchemists, published several treatises now much 
 sought after by alchemical bibliophiles. 3" Maier's "Symbola 
 aurea mensse" and "Atalanta Fugiens" contain emblematic plates, 
 supposed to illustrate the hermetic interpretation of the fables 
 and allegories of Egypt and Greece. 
 
 The connection between these ancient mythologies and the se- 
 crets of the philosopher's stone was a favorite subject with many 
 authors and has been exhaustivelj' treated by the Abbe Pernety in 
 his two curious works "Fables Egyptiennes et Grecques devoilees" 
 and " Dictionnaire Mytho-hermetique." ^i Not content with prose, 
 several authors clothed their -alchemical inspirations in poetry ; 
 
12 ADDRESS BY 
 
 of these may be mentioned the Arabian treatises already named, 
 the Twelve Gates of Alchemy by Sir George Rip'ey, written 
 about 145032, the Crede Mihi of Thomas Norton, written about 
 147733 and the Chrysopoeia of Aurelius Augurelli.3* The latter 
 written in Latin hexameters with more pretensions to elegance than 
 usual with the prosaic alchemists was dedicated in 1514 to Pope 
 Leo X. Leo rewarded Augurelli bj' presenting him with an empty 
 wallet, remarking that one who knew so well how to make gold had 
 need only of a purse. 
 
 The alchemists, in common with their contemporaries in other 
 branches of literature, took pleasure in prefixing to their essays ec- 
 centric titles ; Helvetius writes of "The Brief of the Golden Calf 
 (The World's Idol) discovering the rarest Miracle in Nature ;"35 
 Glauber names one of his treatises, "The Golden Ass well man- 
 aged and Midas restored to reason." 36 
 
 Perhaps the height of absurdity is reached in the famous lAher 
 Mutus 3'', which consists of a series of fifteen symbolical engravings 
 purporting to disclose the whole Hermetic Philosophy. The utter- 
 ly unintelligible character of much alchemical literature is occa- 
 sionally acknowledged by those who otherwise accepted the pre- 
 vailing popular belief in transmutation ; Lenglet du Fresnoy, 
 speaking of Raymond Lully's Clavicula, says " Lully assures us 
 that this treatise is indispensable to the comprehension of his 
 writings ; but, after reading it, one is little wiser than before."-''8 
 
 There are several large collections of alclieraical treatises which 
 the curious in these matters should consult ; the most extensive is 
 Zetzner's Theatrum Chemicura 39 published in 1613 in six octavo 
 volumes ; this contains no less than 209 distinct treatises, notwith- 
 standing which Lenglet du Fresnoy remarks that many excellent 
 ones are wanting. Manget's Bibliotheca Chemica Curiosa,^ 
 published in 1702 in two folio volumes, contains 133 treatises; 
 and the Musseum Hermeticum^ (1678) contains 21 treatises, 
 some of which are illustrated. The most extensive English col- 
 lection is Ashmole's Theatrum Chimicum Britaunicum, published 
 in 1652, and a noted French collection is Salmon's Bibliothgqiie 
 des Philosophes Chimiques (1672), of which the edition by Riche- 
 bourg (1741) is by far the best.^a 
 
 Stimulated by avaricious hopes, the zealous alchemists labored 
 most industriously ; and, by subjecting mixtures of all known sub- 
 stances to heat and to the action of acids, discovered a multitude 
 of new bodies having more or less medical and economic value 
 
H. CAUUINGTON BOLTON. 13 
 
 As we have seen, their writings consist for the most part of mon- 
 ographs describing disconnected experiments, with no attempt at 
 exhaustive treatment of any single topic, no classiiication of phe- 
 nomena and no well studied arrangement of material such as 
 characterizes later handbooks. Nor can a scientific collocation be 
 expected during the formative period of chemistry and jjrevious 
 to the introduction of theories around which to group the isolated 
 phenomena. One of the earliest attempts to treat chemical facts 
 in a systematic manner was made by Sir George Ripley, Canon of 
 Bridlington, who lived in the fifteenth century. In his " Compound 
 of Alchemy" written in 1471 the whole science of hermetic chemis- 
 try is unfolded in a poem divided into twelve sections called 
 "Gates" through which the reader is conducted to the mysteries 
 of transmutation.^^ 
 
 "But into chapters thys Treatis I shall devyde, 
 In numbre twelve, with dew recapytulatyon ; 
 Superfluous rehearsalls I lay asyde, 
 Intendyug only to give trew informatyon 
 Both of the theoi-yke and practicall operatyon : 
 That by my wrytyng who so wyll guyded be, 
 Of hys intente perfyctly speed shall he. 
 
 The fyrst chapter shall be of natural Calcination ; 
 
 The second of Dyssolution, secret and phylosophycall 
 
 The third of our elementall Separation ; 
 
 The fourth of Conjunction matrimonial; 
 
 The fyfth of Putrefaction then followe shall ; 
 
 Of Congelation Albyficative shall be the sixt, 
 
 Then of Cybation, the seaventh shall follow next. 
 
 The secret of our Sublymation the eyght shall show ; 
 
 The nynth shall be of Fermentatyon ; 
 
 The tenth of our Exaltation I trow. 
 
 The elevent of our mervelose Multiply caty on, 
 
 The twelfth of Projection ; then Eecapitulatyon, 
 
 And so this treatise shall take an end, 
 
 By the help of God, as I entend. 
 
 Thus here the Tract of Alchemic doth end,; 
 Which tract was by George Ripley, Chanon, penn'd. 
 It was composed, writt and signed his owne, 
 In anno twice seaven hundred seaventy one. 
 Reader, assist him, make it thy desire, 
 That after life he may have gentle fire ! Amen. 
 
■,, ADDRESS BY 
 
 Ripley's versification and theme remind one of Chaucei-'s 
 Canon's Yeoman's Tale composed nearly one hundred years earlier. 
 
 We can only briefly allude to Paracelsus' bombastic produc- 
 tions^^, which are concerned chiefly with medical chemistry, and 
 to the remarkable works of George Agricola^'^, distinguished by 
 profuse illustration, portraying the apparatus and operations of 
 mining and metallurgy in the sixteenth century. 
 
 Conspicuous for accuracy of description and sj'stematic arrange- 
 ment of topics is the " Alchyraia" of Andrew Libavius, published 
 at Frankfurt in 1595.'"' Libavius, a physician and teacher in the 
 gymnasium at Coburg, rejected the absurd doctrines of the adhe- 
 rents of Paracelsus, combated superstition and quackery and, ex- 
 celling in observation of chemical phenomena, gained a worthy 
 position among his compeers. In his Alchymia he treats of the 
 Encheria or manual operations of chemistry and of the Chymia or 
 descriptions of substances, in separate books. The former he di- 
 vides into two sections, one dealing with the instruments and the 
 other with the management of fires and construction of furnaces. 
 He describes at length a sumptuous laboratory provided not only 
 with eveiy requisite for chemical experimentation, but also with 
 means of entertaining visiting guests, including such luxuries as 
 baths, enclosed corridors for exercise in inclement weather, and 
 a well stocked wine-cellar. 
 
 Libavius was the discoverer of stannic chloride which still bears 
 the name " fuming liquor of Libavius" ; he describes the method of 
 preparing artificial gems by coloring glass with divers metallic 
 oxides, and he seems to have been the fli'st to apply the balance 
 to the examination of mineral waters. Notwithstanding his pro- 
 gressive position he devotes eighty pages of his Commentary to the 
 Philosopher's Stone in which he was a firm believer. The second 
 edition of his works, published in 160G, forms a folio of 800 pages. 
 It has sometimes been called the First Text-book of Chemistry. 
 
 The "Tyrocinium Chyraicum" (1608) of Jean Beguin^", Al- 
 moner to King Louis XIII of France, a less pretentious work, is 
 characterized by freedom from ambiguity and prolixity as well as 
 from hermetic superstitions ; it deals chiefly with the medical ap- 
 plications of chemistry. 
 
 In 1660, Nicolas le Febvrc, demonstr.ator of chemistry at the 
 Jardin dcs Plantes, published a "Traict6 de la Chymie"-"^ .^-eatly 
 superior to all lucccding works of its kind, lie collected the 
 most reliable theories and experiments from all published sources 
 
11. CARHINGTON BOLTON. 15 
 
 and arranged them in a logical, systematic manner. The first six 
 chapters treat of the theory of chemistr3f ; the author admits five 
 elementary principles: phlegm (or water), spirit (or mercury), 
 sulphur, salt and earth, the first three being ingredients of volatile 
 substances, and the latter those of refractory bodies. He defines 
 metals as hard bodies generated in the bowels of the earth, capa- 
 ble of extension under the hammer and of being melted by fire. 
 He divides metals into the perfect afld the imperfect, and also into 
 male and female, the latter subdivision being based upon their 
 behavior with acids ; gold, lead and antimony are male metals be- 
 cause soluble only in aqua regia, and the other five, silver, copper, 
 iron, tin and mercury are female, because soluble in unmixed 
 acids. 
 
 In the second part the author discusses the manipulations of 
 chemistry and recognizes many nice distinctions now overlooked ; 
 for example, under the head of mechanical division he describes in 
 detail the following operations: "limation, rasion, pulverization, 
 alcoholization, incision, granulation, lamination, putrefaction, 
 fermentation, maceration, fumigation both dry and humid, coho- 
 bation, precipitation, amalgamation, distillation, reptification, sub- 
 limation, calcination both actual and potential, vitrification, pro- 
 jection, lapidification, extinction, fusion, liquation, cementation, 
 stratification, reverberation, fulmination or detonation, extraction, 
 expression, incineration, exhalation, digestion, evaporation, desic- 
 cation, circulation, congelation, crystallization, fixation, volatili- 
 zation, spiritualization, corporiflcation, mortification and revivifi- 
 cation." 
 
 In the experimental part Le Febvre explains the arrangement in 
 the following language : 
 
 "We shall begin with the meteoric bodies, rain, dew, honey, 
 wax and manna ; we shall then describe the preparations made from 
 animals and their secretions ; next, the numerous products of the 
 vegetable world ; and lastly, the mineral kingdom with its stones, 
 salts, marcasites and metals ;" a division still recognized. 
 
 The order in which he treats mineral chemistry is as follows : 
 Earths ; stones, precious and otherwise ; metals ; semi-metals, em- 
 bracing mercury, antimony and bismuth ; salts, including common 
 salt, saltpetre, alum, sal-ammoniac and the vitriols ; and lastly, 
 the sulphuretted minerals, arsenic, etc. Under each division he 
 gives precise instructions for numerous experiments upon these 
 
16 ADDRESS BY 
 
 substances and describes their medicinal value. The whole work 
 is written in a clear style, free from affectation of mystery ; it 
 rapidly passed through five editions, and was translated into Eng- 
 lish and German. 
 
 Three years after the appearance of Le Febvre's Traite, his suc- 
 cessor at the Jardin des Plantes, Christopher Glaser^^ ^f Basle, 
 published a work having the same title also marked bj' special 
 excellence. 
 
 The most successful handbook of the seventeenth century was 
 undoubtedly the "Cours de Chymie" by Nicolas Lemerj',*" an 
 eminent lecturer in Paris. The first edition of this work was pub- 
 lished in 1675, and it reached the tenth edition before the close of 
 the century ; a fourteenth edition enlarged by Baron appearing as 
 late as 1756. It was also translated into English (1677), Ger- 
 man (1698), Italian (1763), and Spanish. The remarkable success 
 of this work is due to a facility for describing dry facts with 
 remarkable simplicity and accuracy. His style is more concise 
 than Le Febvre's, and his arrangement of material shows a pro- 
 gressive spirit. The limits of this address forbid an analysis ot 
 Lemery's Handbook, which, moreover, is better known than some 
 others to which we have granted fuller treatment. 
 
 Passing over a period of fifty years, the next complete compen- 
 dium of chemical knowledge which we notice is the " Elementa 
 Chemise" of Hermann Boerhaave, the celebrated professor of bot- 
 any, chemistry and medicine in the University of Leyden. 
 Boerhaave's great erudition, purity of style and brilliant elo- 
 quence attracted students in great numbers ; such was the popu- 
 larity of his lectures that " certain booksellers who aimed at 
 lucre by the most scandalous means" published them in 1724, 
 without his authority or consent ; this "surreptitious edition"5i con- 
 tained, as Boerhaave himself complains, such "false, ridiculous and 
 absurd things in every page," that he was compelled to publish 
 his lectures in an accurate and complete form. Both editions 
 were translated into English by Dr. Peter Shaw, and the author- 
 ized work passed through many editions in Latin, French and 
 German.52 instead of attempting to give an analysis of two 
 quarto volumes, we will quote Boerhaave's own account of his 
 plan. 
 
 "My design," he says, " is to initiate students in the knowl- 
 edge of chemistry ; and to do this in the most effectual manner, I 
 
H. CARRINGTON BOLTON. 17 
 
 shall give a clear methodical explication of all that is necessary 
 for understanding the best authors and for performing the chief 
 operations in this experimental art.'' After acknowledging the 
 difficulty of a systematic treatment of " a science which has heen 
 cultivated rather by experiments at random than upon any regular 
 principles, and bj' persons usually destitute of all . . . knowl- 
 edge in the liberal arts ;" he claims that " these obstacles may be 
 surmounted by making a collection of the several effects, which 
 the art has actually produced, justly deducing general rules there- 
 from and duly digesting the whole." He then explains the divi- 
 sion of his work into three parts. 
 
 " The first will rehearse the origin, progress, cultivation and 
 fortune of chemistry, . . ; the second part will deliver certain 
 theorems or principles of chemistry; the third will exhibit the 
 actual operations of chemistry, whereby bodies are changed agree- 
 ably to the rules of the art and to the end proposed therein." Boer- 
 haave's sketch of the history of chemistry begins with the earliest 
 times but seems to have been left incomplete ; it is rendered useful 
 by classified lists of chemical writings and numerous references. 
 In his treatment of the theory he departs somewhat from his 
 plan and introduces material which really belongs to the third or 
 practical part. Boerhaave introduces sections on the use of chem- 
 istry in natural philosophy, in medicine and in the mechanical arts ; 
 gives an exhaustive account of the wonderful nature of fire and 
 experiments in heat, together with ingenious speculations concern- 
 ing the heat of celestial bodies ; he describes the various forms of 
 chemical apparatus and the preparation of curious and useful sub- 
 stances from the vegetable, animal and mineral kingdoms. Boer- 
 haave exhibited the spirit of a true philosopher and produced a 
 work of extraordinary merit. He was quite free from the follies 
 of alchemy, though he cautiously remarks that " we should always 
 remember the limits of nature are by no means to be defined by 
 us, things are taken for impossible which are only unknown by the 
 ignorant" and "many things in chemistry are apparently more in- 
 credible than that lead should lose its natural form and be con- 
 verted into gold." 53 
 
 Contemporary with the systematic compilations of Libavius, 
 Le Febvre, Boerhaave and others, were published hosts of inde- 
 pendent works setting forth the results of prodigious labor in the 
 chemical laboratory ; many of these are filled with descriptions of 
 
18 ADDRESS 15T 
 
 experiments made at haphazard, with no definite object in view, 
 and having no necessary connection with each other. 
 
 Glauber's^^ voluminous writings, published in 1658, may betaken 
 as an example of this class ; in his works, amid controversies 
 with Galenical physicians and curious apologies resulting there- 
 from, amid descriptions of alchemical mysteries and receipts for a 
 universal panacea, amid extravagant praises of the "sal mirabile" 
 (Glauber's salt), and curious narratives of personal history, we find 
 many novel chemical facts having a medical or an industrial valne. 
 The whole is clothed in a very crude style with an affectation of 
 secrecj- and under capricious captions. 
 
 On the other hand, some of these treatises show signs of genius, 
 especially in attempts to establish theories in explanation of the 
 familiar yet astonishing phenomena ; thus Van Helmont, whose 
 contributions to medical chemistry we pass by, invented the word 
 gas to aid in discriminating aeriform bodies ^* ; and Rej% in his 
 " Essaj's on the increase in weight of tin and lead when calcined*," . 
 demonstrated the weight of the air thirtj' years before the masterly 
 researches of Boyle. 
 
 To attempt in this rapid review to do justice to the philosophi- 
 cal writings of the Hon. Robert Boyle is a hopeless undertaking. 
 From his first publication, in 1660, "New experiments, physico- 
 mechanical, touching the spring of the air and its eflects," to his 
 posthumous treatise " Medicinal Experiments," published in 1692, 
 his works teem with ingenious experiments described with gre.nt 
 candor and fidelity, and from which conclusions are drawn with 
 cautious reserve and philosophical soundness, as admirable as his 
 rare modestj'. 
 
 In his " Sceptical Chymist" (London, 1661), Boyle raises doubts 
 as to the elementary nature of earth, air, fire and water, as well as 
 of the alchemical principles, sulphur, salt and mercury, and claims 
 that the first elements of bodies are atoms of different shapes and 
 sizes, the union of which forms what are vulgarly called elements ; 
 he argues that their number should not be confined to three nor four, 
 but that probably a large number of primary constituents would 
 eventually be separated or isolated as such. He also first clearly 
 recognizes the distinction between mixture and chemical combina- 
 tion. 
 
 The rejection of Boyle's prophetic hypothesis by his contempo- 
 raries much retarded the progress of the science. " More, how- 
 
H. CARRINGTON BOLTON. 19 
 
 ever, than for his views on the nature of the elements, science is 
 indebted to Boyle for his clear statement of the value of scientific 
 investigations for its own sake', altogether independent of any 
 application for the purposes either of the alchemist or of the phy- 
 sician . . Boyle was in fact the first true scientific chemist, 
 and with him we may date the commencement of a new era for 
 our science when the highest aim of chemical research was ac- 
 knowledged to be the simple advancement of natural knowledge." 
 (Roscoe.) 
 
 Boyle's voluminous writings were collected by Birch in five fo- 
 lio volumes and published in 1744. His diffuse style of composi- 
 tion, with frequent long digressions, renders a perusal of his writ- 
 ings wearisome and led to an edition by Dr. Shaw, in which his 
 works are " abridged, methodized and disposed under general 
 heads," forming three quarto volumes bearing the date 1725. s' 
 Many of Boyle's papers were published in the Philosophical 
 Transactions. 
 
 The literature pertaining to the theory of phlogiston belongs 
 almost wholly to the eighteenth century. It is true that Becher's 
 Piiysica Subterranea was published in 1659^^, but the theory of a 
 combustible principle existing in all metals remained dormant until 
 Becher's admirer, George Ernest Stahl, published an edition of the 
 Physica Subterranea in 1702 ; to this he prefixed a long preface 
 elaborating those doctrines which exerted such immense influence 
 on both the theoretical and practical science, for more than a cen- 
 tury. The writings of Becher and Stahl are notorious for their 
 barbarous mixture of poor Latin and German, for which indeed 
 both authors apologize.^' 
 
 In Mayow's Treatise on the nitro-aerial spirit^", we find records 
 of admirable experiments in pneumatic chemistry supported by 
 accurate reasoning and almost prophetic insight of later theories 
 of combustion, but his early death prevented the continued support 
 of his views, and Mayow's treatise was soon forgotten by the prej- 
 udiced followers of Stahl. 
 
 In the j-ear 1683 a noteworthy event occurred in the chemical 
 world, the opening of public laboratories of instruction. Chairs 
 of chemistry had long existed in institutions of learning, the first 
 being filled nearly eighty years before by Johann Hartmann, and 
 the honor belonging to the University of Marburg. Practical in- 
 
20 ADDRESS BY 
 
 struction had been secured also in the private laboratories of the 
 wealthy, thus Homberg and Friedrieh Hoffmann worked in Boyle's 
 establishment"; but the first public laboratory for instruction 
 was opened at Altdorf, Bavaria, under the direction of Prof. J. 
 M. Hoffmann. A survey of the status of chemical knowledge at 
 that date oflers a tempting digression but the length of this ad- 
 dress forbids. 
 
 The second public laboratory was opened in the same year 
 (1683) at Stockholm, under the patronage of Karl XI of Sweden, 
 and under the guidance of Urban Hiarne. Both institutions is- 
 sued publications bearing the general title Acta ^^ which may be 
 regarded as forerunners of the " Contributions from the Labora- 
 tory of University " now so common in periodical litera- 
 ture. 
 
 Lexicons and dictionaries have been a feature of chemical liter- 
 ature from the earliest times ; we have already alluded to the 
 vocabularies of the sacred art found among the Greek MSS. of the 
 Paris National Library and referred to the tenth and eleventh cen- 
 turies. These, however, seem to have been compiled for the pur- 
 pose of misleading the novice in alchemical mysteries, and as 
 Hoefer justly remarks themselves need commentaries to become in- 
 telligible. 
 
 The universal employment of symbolic characters, to represent 
 both chemical substances and operations, rendered alchemical lit- 
 erature difficult of perusal and early led to the publication of keys 
 and vocabularies explaining them. Such keys occur in the manu- 
 scripts just mentioned, in Eschenreuter's " Universal Panacea for 
 Men and Metals " ^^ which purports to have been written in or be- 
 fore the fourteenth century, and in the works of Oswald CroUius^^, 
 Kircber^^, Le Febvre, Lemery and many authors of the seventeenth 
 century : these however are not properly dictionaries. 
 
 Dr. Martin Ruland, court physician to Rudcilph II, published a 
 " Lexicon alchemiae" in 1612, and William Johnson ^^ a " Lexicon 
 chymicum"in 1657, but the first really satisfactory treatment of 
 chemistry in monographs alphabetically arranged was by Mac- 
 quer^'' whose " Dictionnaire de Chj-mie," published in 1766, had 
 great success, passing through several editions and being trans- 
 lated into the German, English, Italian, Spanish, Danish and Rus- 
 sian languages. "8 Macquer found many followers, among whom 
 
H. CAKRINGTON BOLTON. 21 
 
 may be mentioned Nicholson (1795), Cadet (1803), and well known 
 authors whose works are indispensable to all students of the sci- 
 ence. , 
 
 Prof. Wm. Ripley Nichols, of Boston, late chairman of this Sec- 
 tion, in a recent private communication, has expressed the need of 
 yet another dictionary, one of chemical synonymes. He calls at- 
 tention to the large number of names by which certain chemical 
 substances have been known at different epochs and in different 
 professions, and to the utility of a dictionary explaining their 
 synonymy. Professor Nichols suggests " restricting the list to 
 terms found in the literature of the preceding hundred j'cars, but 
 including such alchemical names as have peculiar historic interest 
 and such as have persisted more or less in commerce and phar- 
 macy." He also suggests that the work should include English, 
 French and German names, except when they are simply literal 
 renderings of the same term, and names of those minerals which 
 are of simple composition like halite, witherite, fluorite, etc., under 
 their appropriate heading. In an example of the proposed method 
 of treatment he gives a long list of names for ferric oxide under the 
 several heads : alchemical, chemical, mineralogical, pharmaceutical, 
 commercial and popular. 
 
 The idea is certainly excellent and we have Professor Nichols' 
 permission to mention it publicly in the hope that some one may 
 be incited to compile such a work. We are not aware of the ex- 
 istence of any modern chemical synonymicon, not having seen 
 Berta's Dictionary of chemical terms^s, published at Padua in 1842 ; 
 perhaps the nearest approach to the ideal work of Professor Nichols 
 is Sommerhoff's Lexicon pharmaceutico-chymicum'", published in 
 1701, a folio of 400 pages. 
 
 About the middle of the seventeenth century the dissemination of 
 the views of Lord Bacon, as expressed in his Novum Organon, gave 
 a great impulse to scientific investigations, and the "splendid fiction 
 of the new Atlantis" was practically realized in the foundation 
 of the "Royal Society for improving Natural Knowledge." The 
 learned men, who in 1645 met in London, and there disturbed by 
 unhappy dissensions of civil war withdrew to Oxford to report and 
 discuss philosophical experiments, laid the foundations of an edi- 
 fice destined to rise higher, endure longer and to shelter a nobler 
 offspring than the most sanguine could have foreseen. The organ- 
 ization was granted a charter by King Charles II in 1662 and 
 
22 ADDRESS BY 
 
 three years later began the publication of the "Philosophical 
 Transactions, giving some accompt of the present unclertakings, 
 studies and labpurs of the ingenious in many considerable parts or 
 the world." In the following year the French Academy of Sciences 
 began their Memoires. Thus arose the element of periodicity m 
 scientific literature, one which rapidly increased in importance. 
 
 The year 1665 also witnessed the birth of the parent of that 
 large class of periodicals not issued by societies but published by 
 private parties either individually or cooperatively. The first 
 number of the "Journal des Scavaus " appeared January 5, 1665, 
 and for one hundred and thirty years was the most prominent lit- 
 erary and scientific journal of Europe. At that early date the 
 periodicals partook of a literary nature rather than of the scientific, 
 but gradually these two elements became distinct and the lines 
 became more and more closely drawn until every branch of pure 
 and applied science supported a serial especially devoted to its 
 progress. Among the earliest periodicals devoted to chemistry 
 and its associate physics may be mentioned the " Journal de Phys- 
 ique et de chimie," edited by the Abbe Rozier, de la Metherie and 
 others, begun in 1770 and continued through ninet3--five volumes 
 to 1822 ; the "Chemisches Journal" of Lorenz Crell, 1778-86, which 
 was followed by the "Chemische Annalen" by tlie same editor, ex- 
 tending until 1803. The "Annates de Chimie et de Physique," 
 begun in 1789, enjoys the honor of being the oldest surviving serial 
 of this class.'! 
 
 Of the foundation of Societies exclusively devoted to chemistry 
 in France, England, Germany and America, and of their periodical 
 publications, we can make mere mention. The existence of a "Co- 
 lumbian Chemical Society " in Philadelphia, as early as 1811, de- 
 serves passing notice. Two volumes of its Memoirs were published 
 containing articles by Drs. Mitchell, Cutbush, Manners, Bache 
 and others. 
 
 Of chemical bibliography and works relating exclusively to the 
 history of the science, we have elsewhere ~'^ given a critical resume. 
 
 As we proceed with this review of chemical literature, the pub- 
 lications increase enormously in number, variety and importance, 
 and the end of our undertaking seems to move forward faster 
 than we progress. It is manifestly impossible in the brief time 
 allotted to this address to analyze the chemical literature of the 
 preceding hundred years. How shall we attempt to portray the 
 
H. CARRINGTON BOLTON. 23 
 
 theories and experiments recorded in tlie writings of Bergmann", 
 Scheele'* and Galin, tlie eminent Swedes; of Black'^, Caven- 
 disli™ and Priestley", tlie English triumvirate ; of the French phil- 
 osophers Fourcroy'^s^ de Morveuu™, and LavoisierSo ; of the indus- 
 trious German chemists Kunckel^i, Marggrafs^, Wenzel^a, Klap- 
 roth84 and Eichter^s ; or of the Italian philosophers Galvanise, Vol- 
 ta", and Brugnatelli?88 And passing to a later period, how shall 
 we do justice to the labors of BerthoUet^s, Gay Lussac^", Thenard^i 
 and Laurent92 ; of the immortal Dalton^^, of the brilliant Davys'* of 
 the indefatigable analyst BerzeliusS^ ; of Mitscherlich, Liebig, Woh- 
 ler, and Hoffman ; of Dumas, Berthelot and Adolph Wurtz ; of 
 Graham, Frankland, Abel and Crookes? 
 
 American contributions to chemical literature have been exhaus- 
 tively discussed in the hearing of many present and need not now 
 detain us ; I refer to Prof. Silliman's Address at the celebration of 
 the centenary of Priestley's discovery of Oxygen, held at Nortlium- 
 berland in 1874.96 
 
 The modern period of chemical literature is characterized by 
 two opposing forces, a tendency to dispersal and an effort to col- 
 lect the widelj' scattered publications. The multiplication of 
 learned societies especiallj^ in Europe, each of which supports its 
 own organ, and the increasing number of nations interested in 
 scientific pursuits, in each of whicli arises an independent period- 
 ical, tend to the wide dispersal of memoirs, essays and notices. 
 
 On the other hand, industrious editors laboriously collect and 
 set in order these scattered observations, constructing compact, 
 massive handbooks and many volumed cyclopedias. The monu- 
 mental work of Gmelin, which is even now passing through another 
 edition, has worthy rivals in the magnificent compilations edited by 
 Henry Watts and by Adolph Wurtz, and in the work of Beilstein in 
 a field of special difficulty. For sj'stematic treatises we can point 
 to Miller, Graham-Otto, Pelouze et Fremy, Eoscoe and Schorlem- 
 mer and the ever youthful Fownes. 
 
 Invaluable, too, are the annuals known as Jahresberichte, mon- 
 uments of conscientious editorship. 
 
 Another feature of modern growth is the multiplication of special 
 treatises dealing with single topics in every branch of chemistry, 
 inorganic, organic, theoretical, analytical, technological, pharma- 
 ceutical and physiological, until mere acquaintance with their titles 
 
24 
 
 ADDRESS BY 
 
 becomes a serious undertaking for busy workers in the labora- 
 tory. 
 
 The amount of time and labor required to search for a given 
 point throughout the maze of modern chemical journals, transac- 
 tions, treatises and hand books, is well appreciated by my audience ; 
 the superb dictionaries and annuals referred to accomplish much 
 in cataloguing, condensing and systematizing the infinity of ob- 
 servations ; nevertheless, all working cliemists feel the need of 
 special indexes, simply arranged, as complete as possible and ac- 
 cessible to every one. Sharing in this feeling, I have contributed 
 my mite to the literature of chemical indexes and have inspired 
 several friends, fellow-members of this Associfition, with the cour- 
 age to follow. Uraniums^, Manganese'^, Titanium^^, Vanadium^"", 
 Ozone'"!, and Peroxide of Hydrogen''*^ have been indexed on a 
 uniform plan, and my pupil W. W. Webb, B. S., has prepared an 
 Index to the Literature of Electrolysisi''^, which will soon be 
 published in the same channel as the others ; — the Annals of the 
 N. Y. Academy of Sciences. 
 
 Pardon, we beg you, these personal allusions : we have indulged 
 in them with the object of bringing before this Section a proposi- 
 tion for organized effort in the preparation of Indexes to all the 
 Elementary Substances on a uniform plan. 
 
 The advantages which would accrue from the publication of 
 special indexes to the literature of the elements and of such other 
 subjects as may prove desirable are too obvious to need argument ; 
 I have thought that the undertaking might be placed in the hands 
 of a Committee of the Chemical Section of this Association. The 
 existence of an Index Society in England under the guidance of 
 Henry B. Wheatley, F. S. A., Hon. Sec.,!^ affords a precedent, if 
 indeed any be required. 
 
 The first duty of the Index-Committee of the Section of Chem- 
 istry would be to secure volunteers willing to undertake the com- 
 pilation of special indexes ; surely in this National Association a 
 few chemists can be found ready to cooperate in such an import- 
 ant work. The Committee would further adopt a uniform plan for 
 the indexes, determine the method or channel of their publication, 
 and exercise general editorial supervision over the undertaking. 
 
 Hoping that this suggestion will receive your approbation I leave 
 it in your hands. 
 
H. CARKINGTON BOLTON. 25 
 
 AUTHORITIES AND NOTES. 
 * Worlcs marked with an asterisk are in the private library of the author. 
 
 1. *Quarterly Journal of Science, London, vol. 49, p. 96, Jan., 1876. 
 See also : *Materia medica, therapeutics and pharmacy of the an- 
 cient Egyptians, by Dr. Charles Sice, Medical Eecord, vol. XI, p. 
 247, Apr., 1876. 
 
 2. *Lettres h M. Letronne sur les papyrus bilingues et grecs . . . de 
 r university de Leide, par G. J. O. Beuvens. Leide, 1830, troisiSme 
 lettre, p. 65. See also : *Kopp's Beitrage zur Geschichte der Chemie, 
 I, p. 97, 1869. 
 
 3. *Ferdinand Soefer, Histolre de la chimie, Paris, 1866, vol. I, p. 261. 
 
 4. *&. F. Modwell, The Birth of Chemistry, p. 72, London, 1874. 
 
 5. *IIermann. Kopp, Geschichte der Chemie, II, 150. 
 
 6. Miscellany or Companion to the Shanghai Almanac for 1857. 
 
 7. *The Chinese, their education, philosophy and letters. New York, 
 1881. 
 
 8. *The Birth of Alchemy, in the "Argonaut," Jan., 1876. 
 
 9. Cf. *Ferdinand Wustenfeld, Geschichte der Arabischen Aerzte, 
 Gottingen, 1840. 
 
 10. *The Works of Geber, the most famous Arabian Prince and Philoso- 
 pher, faithfully Englished by B[ichard] E[usseU]. London, 1678. 
 
 11. *J. W. Draper, History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, 
 New York, 1862, p. 303. 
 
 12. For more than a century after the founding of the University of 
 Heidelberg, the chairs were exclusively filled by the clergy ; the first 
 nomination of a layman to a professorship in the Medical faculty in 
 1482, encountered violent opposition. Cf. Herman Kopp, *L' fitat 
 des sciences au moyen age, in Revue des Cours scientifiques, vol. 
 VH, p. 402, May 28, 1870. 
 
 13. Cf. *Naude, Apologie pour tons les grands hommes qui ont esl6 
 accusez de Magie, Paris, 1669. [The first edition was in 1653.] 
 
 14. AlbertJts Magnus, Opera Omnia, Lugduni, 1661, 21 vols. fol. [Con- 
 sulted in Harvard College Library, Cambridge.] 
 
 16. *Basil Valentine, his Triumphant Chariot of Antimony, with Anno- 
 ■ tations of Theodore Kirkringius. London, 1678. See also (17). 
 
 16. Chymische Schriften, p. 23. 
 
 17. The sixth edition bears the title, *Fr. Basilli Valentini Chymische 
 Schriften, in drei Theile, Leipzig, 1760. 
 
 18. Cf. *Bibliotheque des Philosophes Chimiques, Paris, 1741, vol. III. 
 
 19. *Paiil Lacroix, Science and Literature in the Middle Ages, New 
 York, 1878, p. 187. 
 
 20. Cf. Basil Valentine's Chariot of Antimony, p. 49. 
 
 21. Cf. *Pretiosa Margarita Novella, Veneti, 1546. [Apud Aldifilios.] 
 
 22. Cf. Geber, op. cit., p. 23. Glauber's works, vol. I, p. 277. Basil 
 Valentine's works (passim} and the following : " Take seven ounces 
 
 2* 
 
26 ADDRESS BY 
 
 of this prepared Venus [copper] and put it into a melting pot, . . . 
 wheu yon have finished this work give God thanks and remember 
 the poor;" Raymond Lully, Philos. Exp. Chap. II, adfinem; in 
 ♦Turner's edition, London, 1657. 
 
 23. Cf. Olaus Son-ichius, De ortn et progressu chemise, in *Mangetu8' 
 Bibl. chem. curiosa, vol. I, p. 1. 
 
 24. Cf. Sir George Sipley, Jacob Sehmen, and especially Dionisius An- 
 dreas Freher's Analogy in [Barrett's] *Lives of Alchemystlcal Phil- 
 osophers, London, 1815, p. 121. 
 
 25. Cf. * Thomas Thomson, History of Chemistry, London, 1830, vol. 
 I, p. 10. 
 
 26. Cf. 'Nicholas Flammel, His Exposition of the Hieroglyphicall 
 Figures. London, 1624. 
 
 27. In the Collection of *Johann Hoppodam, Wien, 1748, also in Barrett's 
 Lives cited in (24). 
 
 28. Cf. *Mangetus, Bibliotheca chemica curiosa, vol. I, p. 400, also, 
 *Biblioth6que des Philos. Chimiques, vol. II, p. 1. 
 
 29. Gloria Mundi, seu Tabula Paradisi, in *Musenm Hermeticum, p. 
 203. 
 
 30. Michael Maier; (a) *Tripus aurens. FrancofUrti, 1618; (6) *Via- 
 torium hoc est de Montibus Planetarum septem. Oppenheim, 1618 ; 
 (c) *Symbola aurea mensse. Francoftirti, 1617; (d) *Secretioris 
 naturse secretorum scrutinium chymicum per . . . Emblemata. 
 Francofurti, 1687. 
 
 31. Antoine Joseph Pernety, *Dictionnaire Mytho-hermfitique. Paris, 
 1787. Idem, *Les Fables Egyptiennes et Grecques d€voU£es, Paris, 
 1758. 2 vols. 
 
 32. See (43). 
 
 33. *Mangetus, Bibl. chem. cur. II, 285, and in Museum Hermeticum, 
 p. 433. 
 
 34. Mangetus, Bibl. chem. cur. II, 375. 
 
 35. Idem, I, 196; also an 'English Translation published by William 
 Cooper. London, 1673. 
 
 36. Bound with the preceding. Cf. also many titles in these notes. 
 
 37. *Mangetus, Bibl. chem. cur. Vol. I, adfinem. 
 
 38. \_Lenglet du Fresnoy'], *Histoire de la Philosophie Herm6tique. 
 Paris, 1741. Vol. Ill, p. 214. 
 
 39. *Theatrum chemicura prsecipnos selectorum nnctorura tractatus de 
 chemise etc. Argentorati, sumptibus H. JEberh. Zetsneri, 16o9. 
 6 vols. 8 vo. [Second Edition]. 
 
 40. *J. J. Mangetus, Bibliotheca chemica curiosa. Geneva, 1702. 2 
 vols. fol. 
 
 41. *Mus8eum hermeticum reformatum et ampliflcatura. Francofurti, 
 1678. Small 4to. 
 
 42. *J. Slichehourgl, BibliothBque des philosophes chimiques. Paris, 
 1741. 3 vols., 12 mo. Cf. also : *Albineus' Bibliotheca chemica con- 
 tracta, Genevse, 1654 ; *Philippum Morgenstern, Das Buch von der 
 
43, 
 44. 
 
 H. CARRINGTON BOLTON. 27 
 
 Wien^Tsf '*"^*' ^''**'^'' ^'^^^'' "'^^ *Johann HoppodanCs Collection. 
 
 Liber duodecira Portarum, in Mangetus' Blbl. chem. cur. II, 275. 
 See also Kopp's Geschichte der Chemie. II, p. 9. 
 l-aracelsus writings number three hundred and sixty-four on a great 
 ],T1 ,*"''•'*'<=*«■ His collected works were published at Basel 
 in 1689 in 4to, and at Strasburg in 1605, fol. 
 
 45. George Agrtcola, •De Re Metallica, Libri XII. Basilic, 1556. 
 
 46. *-4n*'ea ii6oW«s, Alchymia recognita emendata . . . turn com- 
 mentario medico-phys-ohymico. Francofurti, 1606, fol. 
 
 47. *Joh7i Beguinus, Tyrocinium Chymicura, or Chymicall Essayes ac- 
 quired from the Pountaine of Nature. [London], 1669. 12mo. 
 
 48. *Nicolas Le Fehvre, Traictfi de la Chymie, Leyde, 1669. 2 vols. 
 ISmo. 
 
 49. Christophe Olaser, Traits de la Chymie, Paris (?), 1663. 
 
 50. Nicolas Lemery, Cours de chymie, 1675. The editions examined 
 were the * translation of the first edition, by Walter Harris, London, 
 1680; the * 11th, Paris, 1730; and the * 14th edition, Paris, 1756. 
 
 61. *IIerrman Boerhaave, A new Method of Chemistry including the 
 
 Theory and Practice of that Art. Translated by Peter Shaw and 
 
 E. Chambers. London, 1727. 
 52. *Serrinan Boerhaave, A new Method of Chemistry including the 
 
 History, Theory and Practice of that Art. Translated by Peter 
 
 Shaw. London, 1753 (Third edition). 
 63. Idem, Vol. I, p. 204. 
 
 54. *The works of John Budolph Glauber containing great variety of 
 choice secrets in medicine and alchymy .... Translated into 
 English by Christopher Packe. London, 1689, fol. 
 
 55. Ortus medicinse, vel opera et opuscula omnia, 1648. 
 
 56. Jean Bey, Essais sur la recherche de la cause, pour laquelle I'Estain 
 et le Plomb augmentent de poids quand on les calcine. Bazas, 1630. 
 
 67. *The Philosophical "Works of . . . Bobert Boyle abridged . 
 . . by Peter Shaw. London, 1726. 3 vols. 4to. 
 
 68. *J. J. Becker, Chymisches Laboratorium oder Unterirdische Natur- 
 kundigung. Francfurt, 1690. 
 
 59. Kopp's Geschichte, I, 180 and 192. 
 
 60. Tractatus Quinque medico physici quorum primus agit de sal-nitro 
 et spiritu nitro-aSreo . . . Oxonii, 1674. 
 
 61. Kopp's Geschichte, II, 19. 
 
 62. *Acta laboratorii Altdorflni. Altdorf, 1719. Also: Laboratormm 
 novum chemicum, etc., 1683. Actorura cheraicorum Holraensmm. 
 
 63. *Basaius Valentinus, Chymische Schriften indrei Theile. Leipzig, 
 
 1769, p. 1050. 
 
 64. »Tractat von den Signaturen, p. 68, in CroUius' Basilica Chymica. 
 
 Frankfort, 1647. 
 cK *Athanasius Eircher, Mundus subterraneus in XII libros digestus. 
 Amstelodami, 1665, fol. Part II, p. 322. 
 
28 ADDRESS BY 
 
 66. In Mangetus' Bibl. chem. curiosa, I, 217. 
 
 67. P. Jos. Macquer, Dictlonnaire de chymie. Paris, 1766. 
 
 68. Kopp's Geschichte, I, 224. 
 
 69. Antonio Berta, Saggio di un dizionario dei tennini chimici. Pa- 
 dova, 1842. 8to. 32 pp. 
 
 70. *Joh. C. Sommerhoff, Lexicon pharmaceutlco-chyraicum latino-ger- 
 manicum . . . Norimberg, 1701. sm. fol. 
 
 71. The "Journal de chimie et de physique" ot van Mans begun in 
 1801, and "The Chemist" edited by M. Mongredieu in 1824, were 
 short-lived. This is true also of liichter's Neuere Gegenstande in 
 der Chemie. 11 nos., 1791-1802. 
 
 72. H. 0. Bolton, Outlines of a Bibliography of the History of Chemis- 
 try, Annals N. Y. Lye. Nat. Hist. Vol. X, p. 352 (1873). 
 
 73. Torbern Bergmann, Opuscula physica et chemica. 6 vols., 1779- 
 1790. Cf. 'Physical and Chemical Essays, translated by Edmund 
 CuUen. London, 1784. 2 vols. 8vo. 
 
 74. Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Opuscula chemica et physica. Leipzig, 1788, 
 Cf. *M6moires de Chymie. Dijon, 1785. 2 vols. 12mo. 
 
 75. Joseph Black, Lectures on Chemistry. London, 1803. Cf. An 
 ♦American edition published at Philadelphia in 1807. 3 vols. 8vo. 
 
 76. Henry Cavendish, *The Life of Henry Cavendish including abstracts 
 of his more important scientific papers, by George Wilson. Lon- 
 don, 1851. Electrical Researches, edited from the original MSS. 
 by J. Clerk Maxwell. Cambridge, 1881. 
 
 77. Joseph Priestley, *Experiments and Observations on different kinds 
 of Air. London, 1775. 4 vols. Priestley's earliest chemical paper 
 was entitled : 'Directions for impregnating Water with Fixed Air. 
 London, 1772. 
 
 78. A. Fr. die Fourcroy, Systtoe des connaissances chimiques. Paris, 
 1801; Tableaux synoptiques de chimie, Paris, 1799; M6moires et 
 Observations de chymie. Paris, 1784. 
 
 79. Ouyton de Morveau, *M6thode de nomenclature chimique. Paris, 
 1787. Elements de chimie .... pour servir aux Cours pub- 
 lics de I'Acadgmie de Dijon, 1777. Encyclop£die m£thodique de 
 chimie, 1786. 
 
 80. Ant. Laurent Lavoisier, Oeuvres complets. Paris, 1862. 
 
 81. Johann Kunkel, Collegium physico-chymicum experimentale seu 
 Laboratorium chymicum. Berlin, 1716. [*Vierte Anflage, 1767]. 
 
 82. Andreas Sig. Marggraf, Chymische Sohriften. Berlin, 1761 and 
 1767. 2 vols. Svo. 
 
 83. Carl Fr. Wenzel, Vorlesungen aber die chemische Verwandtschaft 
 der Korper. Dresden, 1777. Svo. 
 
 84. Martin S. Klaproth, Beitrage zur chemischen Kenntniss der Miner- 
 alkorper. Berlin, 1795-1815. 6 vols. 8vo, 
 
 85. J. B. Bichter, Stochiometrie oder Messkunst chymischer Elemente. 
 Breslau, 1792-1794. 3 vols. 
 
 86. Luigi Galvani, Opera edlte ed inedite. Bologna, 1841. 4to. 
 
H. CARRINGTON BOLTON. 29 
 
 ijirenze, 1B16. 3 vols. 8vo 
 
 88. Luigi Brugnatem, Elementi dl chimlca, Pavia, 1795. 2 vols. ; 
 also Annah di chlmica, 1790-1793, and several other periodicals. 
 
 89. Claude Loms Bmhollet, Essai de Statique chimique. Paris, 1803. 
 
 90. Gay Lussac, Recherches physico-chimiques faites sur la pile, etc. 
 Paris, 1811. 2 vols. 8vo. 
 
 91. Louis Jacques Thenard, Traltfi de chimie 616mentaire. Paris, 1813- 
 16. 4 vols. 8vo. 
 
 92. *Auguste Laurent, Chemical Method, translated by Wm. Odling. 
 London, 1855. 
 
 93. *John Dalton, A New System of Chemical Philosophy. Man- 
 chester, 1808. 2 vols. 8vo. 
 
 94. Sir Humphrey Davy, Collected Works, edited by John Davy. Lon- 
 don, 1839-41. 10 vols. 8vo. 
 
 95. J. J. Berzelius, Lehrbuch der Chemie, [*funfte Auflage. Leipzig, 
 1856. 6 vols. 8vo.] 
 
 96. *Benjamin Silliman, American Contributions to Chemistry — in the 
 American Chemist, vol. "V, p. 70. Philadelphia, 1874. 
 
 97. S. C. Bolton, Index to the Literature of Uranium. Annals N. Y. 
 Lye. Nat. Hist., IX, Feb., 1870. 
 
 98. H. C. Bolton, Index to the Literature of Manganese. Idem, XI, 
 Nov., 1875. 
 
 99. Sdw. J. Hallock, *Index to the Literature of Titanium. Annals N. 
 Y. Acad. Sci. I. p. 63. 
 
 100. <?. J. Bockwell, *Index to the Literature of Vanadium. Idem, I, 
 p. 133. 
 
 101. A. B. Leeds, *Index to the Literature of Ozone. Idem, I, p. 373. 
 
 102. A. B. Leeds, *Index to the Literature of Peroxide, of Hydrogen. 
 Idem, I, p. 416. 
 
 103. W. W. Wtbh, Index to the Literature of Electrolysis. Idem, vol. 
 II, p. -. 
 
 104. Mr. Wheatley's address is 5 Minford Gardens, West Kensington 
 Park, London W., England.