The Marvels of Modern Chemistry

After having made a few preparatory experiments, he concluded with a panegyric upon

modern chemistry, the terms of which I shall never forget:— “The ancient teachers of this science,”

said he, “promised impossibilities, and performed nothing. The modern masters promise very little;

they know that metals cannot be transmuted, and that the elixir of life is a chimera. But these philosophers,

whose hands seem only made to dabble in dirt, and their eyes to pour over the microscope

or crucible, have indeed performed miracles. They penetrate into the recesses of

nature, and shew how she works in her hiding places. They ascend into

the heavens; they have discovered how the blood circulates, and the nature of the air we breathe.