Southern Medical and Surgical Journal
SOUTHERN MEDICAL AND SURGICAL JOURNAL. EDITED BY PAUL F. EVE, M.D., PROFESSOR OF SURGERY IN THE MEDICAL COLLEGE OF GEORGIA, AND ONE OF THE RECENT VICE-PRESIDENTS OF THE NATIONAL MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. Medical College of Georgia. "Jeprends le bien ouje le irouve." VOL. v.—1849.—NEW SERIES, 3lugn0ta, ©a. JAMES McCAFFERTY, PRINTER AND PUBLISHER. 1849, Hk SOUTHERN MEDICAL AND SURGICAL JOURNAL. Vol. §.] NEW SERIES—MARCH, 1849. [No. 2. PART FIRST, ©rijinal (Hommunications. ARTICLE VIII. The past History and present Condition of the Science pf Chemistry, By Alexander Means, M. D., Professor of Chemistry and Pharmacy, in the Medical College of Georgia. The investigation of no department of physics has, within the last half century, been prosecuted with so much ardor, or con- tributed so many important and astonishing results to the general fund of human knowledge, or advanced so rapidly the progress of civih'zation, as the science to whose history we devote the present aiticle. Its grand discoveries have already incalculably increased the stores of medical philosophy, and its fruitful resources promise yet larger accessions for time to come. A science, therefore, whose pervading laws and invaluable disclosures seem to effect every co-ordinate branch of the pro- fession, may well, in the present day, challenge the attention of physicians; and a brief review of its past progress and present condition, may not, it is hoped, be unacceptable to the medical public. And yet it is a subject of sincere regret, that up to the middle of the last century, the reliable resources within the author's reach and upon which he is allowed to draw for his historical details, are so extremely meagre and unsatisfactory.
[Show full text]