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, and the investigation of the laws of dynamical chemistry. Probably the most important syntheses of his are the production of acetylene from carbon and hydrogen, and methane or marsh gas, by means of the well-known Berthelot's reaction; and of dynamical chemistry, his most important discovery is "the law of maximum work." His scientific labours were immense, and he completely revolutionized chemistry in more departments than one. He transformed agriculture; proved that inorganic and organic bodies obey the same laws; established "la théorie des affinités"; and invented thermo-chemistry.

In 1861 he was awarded the Jecker prize by the Académie des Sciences for his researches on the syntheses of organic compounds. The first half of the nineteenth century was devoted to analytical chemistry—this being due to the great work of Berzelius. The second half, however, was the era of Berthelot or synthetical chemistry. Since his discovery of the synthesis of acetylene, a vast number of organic bodies have been discovered by the aid of synthesis; and there is no limit to these discoveries in organic chemistry. Tartaric acid, citric acid, alcohol, lactic acid, and a host of other compounds, both vegetable and animal, have been synthetized. It is not improbable that even albumen or protoplasm will yield to synthetical methods. It is quite within the bounds of possibility that chemistry