high authority for the fact.

"In concluding this most circumscribed outline of the History of
Chemistry, we may perhaps be allowed to express a faint shade of
regret, which, nevertheless, has frequently passed over our minds
within the space of the last five or six years. Admiring, as we
most sincerely do, the electro-magnetic discoveries of Professor
Oersted and his followers, we still, as chemists, fear that our
science has suffered some degree of neglect in consequence of
them. At least, we remark that, during this period, good
chemical analyses and researches have been rare in England; and
yet, it must be confessed, there is an ample field for chemical
discovery. How scanty is our knowledge of the suspected
fluorine! Are we sure that we understand the nature of nitrogen?
And yet these are amongst our elements. Much has been done by
Wollaston, Berzelius, Guy-Lussac, Thenard, Thomson, Prout, and
others, with regard to the doctrine of definite proportions; but
there yet remains the Atomic Theory. Is it a representation of
the laws of nature, or is it not?"---CHEMISTRY, ENCYC. METROP.
p.596.

When the present volume was considerably advanced, the public
were informed that the late Sir Humphry Davy had commenced a
work, having the same title as the present, and that his
sentiments were expressed in the language of feeling and of
eloquence. It is to be hoped that it may be allowed by his
friends to convey his opinions to posterity, and that the
writings of the philosopher may enable his contemporaries to
forget some of the deeds of the President of the Royal Society.