The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1895-07-02
RECENT CLINICAL WORK.
Graduating Speech of Mr.. J. A. Bizzelle,
at A. and NJ. College, June II, 1895.

.
owing to the intense realism Of this
century, has about passed away, but
even in-this stage of the worlds his
tory, we still cleave to some almost SUI
perstitious ideas, and seem partly to
agree with George Eliot in her asser-
ton that ''she wanted no future that
broke the ties of the past"
As an illustration of this fact 1 may
mention that it is a popular belief
among the college boys that when a
student chooses chemistry as his life
work, he then declares his aversion to
matrimony, or rather the ~"yes-saying"
sex thenceforth declare an aversion to
him. When I first heard such news,
this happiness-destroying annuncia-
ton, my heart got as cold as though a
concentrated solution OF ANN 1nia had
been poured over it, and my bones felt
as though they were being dissolved in
thrice heated hydrochloric acid. By
and by, however, 1 plucked up heart,
for I could not think that young ladies,
who mortally hate anything ant1quated
WOAA0 illus E0NOEG W 6A4SAOAS SOASA'
Neither could I be entirely persuaded
that the chemist who has such skill IN
analysis, could fail to find a standard
of feminine excellence. Nor could I
befGGF6 that he who every day acquires
skill in leactions could fail to bring
about a reaction against such a crude
idea; but I felt sure that he could es-
tablish such an affinity between his
standard of excellence and himself,
that dialysis would be established, and
all the air that interviewed would be
but a septune to conduct the atoms of
love from her to him. Surely"
thought 1, mo girl, after seeing a col
lege chemist, can believe that he is
such a being as Jonson paints him in
his Alchemist, or that he is as black,
ugly and fendish as people thought
SCOTS "Wayland Smith" to be. He
sought the generation and prolongation
of human life. To day the chemist
seeks a grander result-the triumph of
knowledge over the hidden laws of
nature, the wrestling from Dame Natue
from one woman who knows how to
keep a secret), her hidden mysteries,
andythe application of these discovered
laws to the advancement of humanity.
1t is my purpose, therefore, to day to
show what strides have recently been
made in chemistry, and to lay before
you the possibilities of a century.
Through all the ages of the past one
of the great problems set for thinking
men has been the compensation of the
invisible atmosphere which surrounds
~ which forms and buoys up it's cloud
masses and pours down its floods of
water.
The name ohJoseph Priestly will al
ways be remembered because of his
famous discovery of oxygen. But men
of to day declare that this age produces
no Priestlys. The pessimist declares
that the age of truth, of discovery, of
invention, has passed, and that we are
now passing into an era of retrogres-
sion. But chemically, at any rate, this
is not true. Invention is getting active,
and investigation is resulting in a great
unexpected fruit. As a result of such
investigation, we have recently obtain
ed avery strong body of evidence,
which makes it certain that there is in
the atmosphere a constituent which
has long been overlooked, and a con
stituent having most extraordinary
properties. This substance is called
argon, and its discovery is a great sci
4entiic achievement. Why9 Chemis-
try of to day IN go SO far as to predict
the properties of an element before its
existence is proven, and a discovery of
this kind goes to prove the accuracy of
chemical sciences, the validity of chem,
.ical law.
The substance called argon is an ex
traordinay gas, and we are greatly in
-terested when we. consider that it il
one of the constituents Of the atmos
Dhere. It's presence is proven by many
Zines of evidence. The high density o.
atmospheric nitrogen" compared
with nitrogen from chemical sources
and the uniformity in the density O
chemical nitrogen prepared in different
ways, led to the conclusion hat the
phenomenon is due to the presence o
aheavy gas in the atmosphere. Again
an Investigation of the properties of ar
.gon relative to its combination will
other substances, showed it to be il
accord with the predictions of tn,
chemical table. Thus we pr:z9 the dis
covery not only as an addition to tn
number in the category of chemical in