Lectures on the influence of researches in organic chemistry on therapeutics : especially in relation to the depuration of the blood / delivered at the Royal College of Physicians, by Golding Bird.

  • Bird, Golding, 1815-1854.
Date:
1848
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lectures on the influence of researches in organic chemistry on therapeutics : especially in relation to the depuration of the blood / delivered at the Royal College of Physicians, by Golding Bird. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    secretions and tissues of the body ; the second volume of his work may even now be read with interest and profit; but what were his results, what his plans of analysis ? In his day the chemist remained what he had ever been—the artist by fire; fire was his agent, and his greatest tact seemed to con- sist in submitting the body to be examined to a sort of slow torture by this agent, in some vessel so contrived as to allow the volatile condensible products to be collected. In this way all bodies yielded the same re- sults,—a spirit or volatile salt, an oil and phlegm, some incondensible air, and a caput mortuum. These bodies, presumed to represent the elements of earth, air, fire, and water, were thus regarded as the constituents of the substance examined, and the analysis was complete. The spirit of inquiry, the powerful mode of investigation thus invoked, was never again laid, but gained strength by the fresh spells contrived by the labourer in the field of organic analysis, until it now daily, almost hourly, presents to its votaries new and scarcely anticipated results, fresh and wonderful truths. The first real advance towards a clear knowledge of the constitution of the products of organization was un- doubtedly made by those illustrious colla- borateurs, Gay-Lussac and Thenard, who in the beginning of the present century first devised a satisfactory mode for resolving organic matter into its constituent ultimate elements, and expressing its composition in a given per-centage of oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon. It would ill become me to proceed further in these remarks, in- troductory to the subject-matter of these lectures, without pausing for a moment to allude to the talent, ingenuity, perseverance, and above all integrity, of a great organic chemist, of whom our College may well be proud: is it necessary for me to say I allude to Dr. Prout? This illustrious man, who laboured in the field of ultimate analysis contemporaneously with the two chemists to whose names I have just alluded, by apply- ing the remarkable energies of his mind and appliances of his talents to the subject in question, far outstripped those who had pre- ceded him. To appreciate the vast task this great physician accomplished, we must re- collect the really rude state of chemical science when he entered this then scarcely trodden path of investigation,—he had not only to devise the means of overcoming the difficulties of organic analysis, but to in- vent the very apparatus he needed,—but so careful was he in his experiments, so labo- rious in controlling his researches, and so truthful in stating the result, that his labours stand recorded as models of careful and correct investigation ; and, what is no mean meed of praise, it may be said of Dr. Prout that bis ultimate analyses still remain as standards, and the numbers he has given us as expressive of his results are unchanged, and with scarcely more than a single excep- tion have stood the test of frequently and jealously watched repetition. It is a source of no small gratification to the existing re- presentatives of this College, that nearly all the great and successful labourers in physio- logical chemistry of which England has been able to boast, have been ranged among its alumni. The names of Marcet, of Wollaston, of Babington, of Yelloly, and of Bostock, are fresh in the recollections of many now present. These great men, all of whom (may I venture to. indulge the boast) owed their professional nurture to that great school of medicine to which it is my privi- lege to be attached, have passed from us, but their deeds remain, and the remem- brance of their career still exists, to cheer on the aspirant for discovery. A great debt of gratitude must be ever owing to those illustrious chemists on the continent of Europe, who devoted their labours and talents more especially to the application of the refinements of ultimate analysis to the elucidation of the composition of the products of the chemistry of life. The labours of Berzelius,Liebig, Mulder, Dumas, Laurent, and of many other bright luminaries of science, will ever remain glorious illustra- tions of the high and important achievements effected by human talent, supported by un- tiring industry. By slow degrees an enor- mous accumulation of analytical results have been obtained, and although the greater proportion of these receive mutual aid, and serve to conduce to the accuracy of each other, still it must be admitted that a large number are so opposed and contradictory, that either from analytical errors or the imperfect interpretations of analyses, much serious error stands on record by the side of truth. Until lately, the abstract accuracy of any given series of researches was mea- sured by the character and recognized skill of each particular chemist. Now, however, we possess such an enormous mass of matter from the investigations alluded to, that we have been enabled to deduce certain general laws and data, by the test of which we are often at once able to control the results of investigation, and frequently without further trouble to separate the noble metal from the baser coin. The deservedly popular work of Professor von Liebig, on Chemical Physi- ology, affords a fine instance of the applica- tion of such laws, although, of course, from the very fact of its being nearly the first attempt of this kind, more recent investiga- tions have shewn that it afforded an equally good example of the errors arising from too hasty generalization; this, indeed, affords no detraction from the merits of its illustrious author, for an attempt of this kind to have