Nothing Is Born, Nothing Dies.

The Whole Art Of Making Experiments In Chemistry Is Founded On The Principle: We Must Always Suppose An Exact Equality Or Equation Between The Principles Of The Body Examined And Those Of The Products Of Its Analysis.

We May Lay It Down As An Incontestible Axiom, That, In All The Operations Of Art And Nature, Nothing Is Created; An Equal Quantity Of Matter Exists Both Before And After The Experiment; The Quality And Quantity Of The Elements Remain Precisely The Same; And Nothing Takes Place Beyond Changes And Modifications In The Combination Of These Elements. Upon This Principle The Whole Art Of Performing Chemical Experiments Depends: We Must Always Suppose An Exact Equality Between The Elements Of The Body Examined And Those Of The Products Of Its Analysis.

The Impossibility Of Separating The Nomenclature Of A Science From The Science Itself, Is Owing To This, That Every Branch Of Physical Science Must Consist Of Three Things; The Series Of Facts Which Are The Objects Of The Science, The Ideas Which Represent These Facts, And The Words By Which These Ideas Are Expressed. Like Three Impressions Of The Same Seal, The Word Ought To Produce The Idea, And The Idea To Be A Picture Of The Fact.

Imagination, On The Contrary, Which Is Ever Wandering Beyond The Bounds Of Truth, Joined To Self-love And That Self-confidence We Are So Apt To Indulge, Prompt Us To Draw Conclusions Which Are Not Immediately Derived From Facts.

Thus, While I Thought Myself Employed Only In Forming A Nomenclature, And While I Proposed To Myself Nothing More Than To Improve The Chemical Language, My Work Transformed Itself By Degrees, Without My Being Able To Prevent It, Into A Treatise Upon The Elements Of Chemistry.