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natural science , it is too evident that if it is already much more limited , ^ ove uncertain , and Jess precise in physics than in astronomy , the case is still worse withChemistry . Most frequently , the issue of any chemical action can only be known by taking express account of the circumstances of the moment and , as it were , at the time the action is ended . Let us noW glance at the most distinguished of the philosophical properties of Chemistry , with reference to their direct hearing upon the fundamental education of human reason .
On this point , and m the first place , as to Method , Comte refers to the high p hilosophical utility of the arts of experiment and observation as practised in Chemistry . But there also exists in the system of positive method a very important part , too little appreciated as yet , and which Chemistry had the special function of bringing to the highest degree of perfection . I do not speak of the theory of classifications ( sufficiently ill understood by chemists ) , but of the general art of rational Nomenclatures , which is altogether independent of it , and of which Chemistry by the very nature of its subject , must present more perfect models than any other fundam ental science .
Attempts have often been made , especially since the reform of chemical language , and they are still daily made , to form a systematic nomenclature in Anatomy , in Pathology , and especially in Zoology . But whatever may be the real utility of these praiseworthy efforts , they have not , and never could have been , followed by a success like that of the illustrious founders of chemical nomenclature , even if they were better conceived and more rationally directed than they have hitherto been ; for the nature of the p henomena peremptorily forbids it . It is not accidentally that chemical nomenclature is so perfect compared with all the others . In proportion
as the phenomena increase in complexity , the objects are characterized by points of comparison at once more varied and less circumscribed . It consequently becomes more and more difficult to subject them in a manner sufficiently expressive to a uniform system of denominations , rational and at the same time abridged , and to have this system adapted really to facilitate the habitual combination of ideas . Were it that the organs and tissues of living , bodies only differed among themselves in one single and
capital point of view , —that diseases were sufficiently defined by their seat , —that zoological genera , or at least families , could be always formed on one principle completely homo ' geneous ,- —then we might conceive that the sciences would immediately allow of systematic nomenclatures as rational and as efficacious as that of chemistry . But , in reality , the profound diversity of the numerous aspects under which they present themselves , and which are almost never susceptible of being co-ordinated uniquely under one of them , evidently renders our arriving at such perfection both
very difficult and little advantageous . Among the sciences in which the immense multitude of subjects spontaneously gives rise , at their formation , to special nomenclatures , Chemistry is the only one where , from its nature , the phenomena are sufficiently simple and uniform , and at the same time sufficiently determined , to permit of a nomenclature at once clear , rapid , and complete , and thereby mightily contributing to the general progress of the science . The direct and ruling idea in chemistry is incontestihfcthat of composition j and the and ruling idea in chemistry is incontestibj ^ that of composition j and the
peculiar object of the science , as I have shown , is to make all chemical questions resolve themselves into one of composition . Hence , since the systematic name of each body would make its composition directly known to us / it can easily give us a general but correct notion of the ensemble of its chemical history ; and afterwards serve to us as a faithful and concise summary of that ensemble ; and from the very nature of the science , the nearer it progresses towards its final destination , the more will this double property of its nomenclature be inevitably developed .
Thus under this important point of view , Chemistry must be considered as eminently suited to develope , in the most special manner , one of those fundamental means of obtaining and using knowledge ( so few in number ) which together constitute the general power of the human mind . I have endeavoured to show very clearly the principal causes of the evident superiority which , in this respect , results from the very nature of chemical science . But although I required to do so , it is incontestible that the
formation of systems of rational nomenclatures in the more complex sciences must possess a real and engrossing interest , notwithstanding that they are necessarily more difficult to establish there , and less efficacious in their use . I have only wished to put beyond all doubt , on this subject , the indispensable necessity of every class whatever of positive philosophers having recourse exclusively to chemistry for extracting the true principles J general spirit of the art of scientific nomenclatures . This is just in accordance with that fundamental rule , already carried out in so many
other respects , in the Cours de Philosophie Positive—viz ., that each logical artifice ought to bo directly studied in that part of natural philosophy which offers the most spontaneous and most complete development of it , with the ultimate object of our being able to apply it , with proper modifications , to make more perfect the sciences less susceptible of it . The eminent philosophical properties of Chemistry arc still more rcmarlcublo in respect of Doctrine than of" Method . Its development has contributed much to the emancipation of human reason from theological und metaphysical doctrines . If Chemistry , from incroaso of complexity , is defective in one of the two attributes which tend to that emancipationnamel y , prevision of phenomena , it is—as a necessary and compensating consequence of the same fact—strikingly provided with the other * - —namely ,
the power of modifying them at our pleasure . Neither can co-exist with the idea of a government by providential volitions . Besides , Chemistry has aided in emancipating the human mind , by rectifying our primitive notions respecting the general economy of terrestrial nature . Although , since Aristotle , philosophers entertained the notion that the same elementary substances essentially reproduced themselves in the ensemble of all the great operations of nature , notwithstanding their apparent independence ; nevertheless , it necessarily resulted from the utter impossibility of realizing this vague and metaphysical anticipation of the truth , that the universal dominion of the theological dogma of absolute
destruction and creation kept its hold until the great epoch of that admirable development of chemical genius which forms the principal scientific characteristic of the last quarter of the eighteenth century . In fact , so long as we could take no account of gases , either as the elements or the products of chemical action , a great number of remarkable phenomena inevitably encouraged the belief in the annihilation or the actual production of matter in the general system of nature . Certain discoveries were requisite to establish beyond cavil the fundamental principle of the necessarily indefinite perpetuity of all matter ; such , especially , were the
decomposition of air and water , and afterwards the elementary analysis of vegetable and animal substances , and perhaps , too , at a later period , as the complement of those , the analysis of alkalies properly so called , and of earths . The tendency of those discoveries was irrevocably to substitute in all minds the positive notions of decomposition and recomposition , for the theological notions of destruction and of creation . A new light , also , was thereby thrown on vital p henomena . It was perceived that organic and inorganic matter were not radically different ; and that vital transformations are , like all others , subordinated to chemical phenomena .
Comte concludes the chapter with his views respecting the divisions of chemistry . The science , he says , is still too much in the stage of its infancy , and too imperfect , to offer , of itself , a proper division . The homogeneity of its phenomena , so exceptional when contrasted with other sciences , makes a natural division of it little marked . It is clear , however , that in the meantime the division of chemistry into inorganic and organic , must be disregarded , as being irrational . Combinations cannot be classified in abstract chemistry according to their origin , as they may be in natural history . The two classes referred to are always mutually encroaching on each other . In reality , what is called organic chemistry is half chemical , half physiological . . ¦ —
Any rational division must be founded on the principle involved in the true definition of the science—that of composition and decomposition . Hence , in here applying the rule of always following the gradual complication of the phenomena , we see that , in dividing chemistry into its principal branches , we can be guided b y only these two considerations . 1 st . The increase of the number of the constituent compounds ( whether mediate or immediate ) , according as the combinations formed by them are either binary or ternary , &c . 2 nd . The degree of composition , lower or higher > of the immediate compounds , each of which , to take for example the case of a repeated dualism , can be decomposed a greater or less number of times into two others .
It may be questioned which of those two points of view ought to preponderate . According to Comte , the chief consideration belongs to the degree of composition , as it is a matter of more importance in the science than the multiplicity of the constituent compounds . Having closed the general considerations , Comte proceeds in subsequent lectures to treat of Inorganic Chemistry in general , and of the doctrine of Definite Proportions , and of the Electro-chemical theory in particular . In these lectures , the student will , of course , note many details' which in so rapidly advancing a science as Chemistry , assume a new aspect since 1838 , when the lectures were published ; but the philosophy of Chemistry he will there find set forth in large outlines . The Lecture devoted to Organic Chemistry is too important to be passed over in a phrase , and I will therefore devote the next paper to it . *
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HAMLET AND THE GERMAN ACTORS . I once had a maternal undo ( had , alas ! vixit !) , whoso viowa on the drama were freely communicated to me in the high and buoyant days when five act tragedies in swelling verso were the dream and occupation of my life . He resided in Bun / jay , where ho adorned a large domestic circlo with all the virtues of a citizen , and earned tho eternal gratitudo Of mankind by his improvements in soap ! In soap ! Imagine Vivian in connexion with saponaceous commerce ! But biography has no delicacy , and facts are shattering to all illusions ; and the ' foot is as I stato . This froo-spoken uncle was an anticipation of tho Fast School of Critics . Ho snored at live act dramas , and was merciless to mine . Shakspcaro was hid personal enemy . I think lace him now , rubbing his fat fingers through his scanty hair , as ho authoritatively delivered himself of this favourite remark . " Hamlot , Birr If Hamlet woro produced to-morrow Jfamlct would be d—d , sir . " Aftor uttering that ho would rolapso into his chair , complacent , authoritative , obeBO . I havo sinco hoard tho remark from others , especially from actors , although , in fact , no play is so popular ub Hamlet . It uinuses thousands
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* I huvo to acknowledge , for ilio Cointo Subscription Fund , 6 « . fvom W . E . B . ; and 2 » . 0 < l . from H . O ., both tnoeo being eocoml subscriptions ! .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 19, 1852, page 593, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1940/page/21/
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