se incalculably our time--to us
more precious than money!

Such are our instruments. An equal improvement has been accomplished
in our laboratory. This is no longer the damp, cold, fireproof vault
of the metallurgist, nor the manufactory of the druggist, fitted up
with stills and retorts. On the contrary, a light, warm, comfortable
room, where beautifully constructed lamps supply the place of
furnaces, and the pure and odourless flame of gas, or of spirits of
wine, supersedes coal and other fuel, and gives us all the fire we
need; where health is not invaded, nor the free exercise of thought
impeded: there we pursue our inquiries, and interrogate Nature to
reveal her secrets.

To these simple means must be added "The Balance," and then we
possess everything which is required for the most extensive
researches.

The great distinction between the manner of proceeding in chemistry
and natural philosophy is, that one weighs, the other measures. The
natural philosopher has applied his measures to nature for many
centuries, but only for fifty years have we attempted to advance our
philosophy by weighing.

For all great discoveries chemists are indebted to the
"balance"--that incomparable instrument which gives permanence to
every observation, dispels all ambiguity, establishes truth, detects
error, and guides us in the true path of inductive science.

The balance, once adopted as a means of investigating nature, put an
end to the school of Aristotle in physics. The explanation of
natural phenomena by mere fanciful speculations, gave place to a
true natural philosophy. Fire, air, earth, and water, could no
longer be regarded as elements. Three of them could henceforth be
considered only as significative of the forms in which all matter
exists. Everything with which we are conversant upon the surface of
the earth is solid, liquid, or aeriform; but the notion of the
elementary nature of air, earth, and water, so universally held, was
now discovered to belong to the errors of the past.

Fire was found to be but the visible and otherwise perceptible
indication of changes proceeding within the, so called, elements.

Lavoisier investigated the composition of the atmosphere and of
water, and studied the many wonderful offices performed by an
element common to both in the scheme of nature, namely, oxygen: and
he discovered many of the properties of this elementary gas.

After his time, the principal problem of chemical philo