Justus von Liebig - Familiar Letters On Chemistry

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A hundred-weight of error will not form one grain of truth.

Justus von Liebig
When a power of nature, invisible and impalpable, is the subject of scientific inquiry, it is necessary, if we would comprehend its essence and properties, to study its manifestations and effects. For this purpose simple observation is insufficient, since error always lies on the surface, whilst truth must be sought in deeper regions.

Justus von Liebig
The true philosopher always seeks to explain and illustrate the facts of nature by creating phenomena; that is, by experiments, the devising and discovery of which is his task, and by which he causes the object of his investigation to speak, as it were, intelligibly to him.

Justus von Liebig
Chemistry is so often alluded to in modem writings, that it may perhaps be regarded as a problem of some importance to indicate more specially the influence of this science on the useful arts and on industry, as well as its relations to agriculture, physiology, and medicine.

Justus von Liebig
It is no exaggeration to say, we may judge, with great accuracy, of the chemical prosperity of a country from the amount of sulphuric acid it consumes. In this point of view there is no manufacture worthy of greater attention on the part of the government.

Justus von Liebig
As the human mind advances in knowledge, from whatever source that knowledge may be derived, all its powers are strengthened and elevated. The acquisition of a new truth is equivalent to a new sense, enabling us now to perceive and recognise innumerable phenomena which remain invisible or concealed to others, as they formerly were to ourselves.

Justus von Liebig
The attaching too high a value to the mere facts is often a sign of want of ideas. It is not fertility, but poverty, of ideas which clothes itself with a mass of coverings of all sorts, or wears old, tattered, -threadbare, and ill-fitting garments.

Justus von Liebig
The man who only sees with his eyes an object before him, has no claim to the title of an observer, which is reserved for him only who takes notice of the different parts of the object, and sees the connection between the parts and the whole.

Justus von Liebig
If we do not succeed in discovering causes by our researches, we have no right to create them by the imagination.

Justus von Liebig
The success of an experiment, or of a process, depends far less upon mechanical skill, than knowledge. Failure is the result of ignorance, and discoveries are made, not by manual dexterity, but by skill in combination, and by that intellectual power which creates new thoughts.

Justus von Liebig
It is, unquestionably, worthy of a nation - a great nation - to send out travellers for the purpose of increasing our knowledge of distant and unexplored regions, and to make us acquainted with the plants and animals inhabiting them, and even to make great sacrifices in fitting out expeditions for these important objects.

Justus von Liebig
Numberless germs of intellectual life fill the universe, but it is only in a few rare minds that these germs find a soil in which they can be developed. In these chosen minds the idea, whose origin is unknown, shows its vitality in creative acts; in them, the mysterious laws of nature assume a form, efficient, active, and recognisable by all.

Justus von Liebig
Without the power of observation, without judgment, without sagacity, all mathematical knowledge is useless.

Justus von Liebig
Many well-informed people still regard chemistry as the art of making experiments according to certain rules, very useful in the manufacture of soda and soap, in fixing good and permanent colours upon silk and cotton fabrics; but as an investigation of nature, or as an universal guide to its study, it is to most persons altogether unknown.

Justus von Liebig
The chemist, by his questions, compels a mineral to speak, to disclose its composition; it tells him that it contains sulphur, iron, chromium, silica, alumina, or any other word of the chemical language of phenomena, arranged in a certain order. This is CHEMICAL ANALYSIS.

Justus von Liebig
Science renders the powers of nature the servants of man, whilst empiricism subjects man to their service.

Justus von Liebig
Every theory which urges men to labour and research, which excites acuteness and sustains perseverance, is a gain to science; for it is labour and research which lead to discoveries.

Justus von Liebig
The study of Chemistry is profitable, not only inasmuch as it promotes the material interests of mankind, but also because it furnishes us with insight into those wonders of creation which immediately surround us, and with which our existence, life, and development, are most closely connected.

Justus von Liebig
Error is transient; truth alone is eternal. Error is only the shadow cast by truth, when its rays are arrested on their path by human ignorance and intellectual opacity.

Justus von Liebig
The art of observing is like a piece of glass destined for a mirror, which requires to be polished with the utmost care, to produce the reflection of a clear and undistorted image.

Justus von Liebig
Without an acquaintance with chemistry, the statesman must remain a stranger to the true vital interests of the state, to the means of its organic development and improvement;... The highest economic or material interests of a country, the increased and more profitable production of food for man and animals,... are most closely linked with the advancement and diffusion of the natural sciences, especially of chemistry.

Justus von Liebig
Only about seventy years ago was chemistry, like a grain of seed from a ripe fruit, separated from the other physical sciences. With Black, Cavendish and Priestley, its new era began. Medicine, pharmacy, and the useful arts, had prepared the soil upon which this seed was to germinate and to flourish.

Justus von Liebig
From one sublime genius — Newton — more light has proceeded than the labour of a thousand years preceding had been able to produce.

Justus von Liebig
Chemistry, in its application to animals and vegetables. Endeavours jointly with physiology to enlighten us respecting the mysterious processes and sources of organic life.

Justus von Liebig
A fact acquires its true and full value only through the idea which is developed from it.

Justus von Liebig
In the progressive growth of astronomy, physics or mechanical science was developed, and when this had been, to a certain degree, successfully cultivated, it gave birth to the science of chemistry.

Justus von Liebig
It has been said that every science must pass through three periods of development. The first is that of presentiment, or of faith; the second is that of sophistry; and the third is that of sober research.

Justus von Liebig
Since the discovery of oxygen the civilised world has undergone a revolution in manners and customs. The knowledge of the composition of the atmosphere, of the solid crust of the earth, of water, and of their influence upon the life of plants and animals, was linked to that discovery. The successful pursuit of innumerable trades and manufactures, the profitable separation of metals from their ores, also stand in the closest connection therewith.

Justus von Liebig
But it must not be forgotten that... glass and porcelain were manufactured, stuffs dyed and metals separated from their ores by mere empirical processes of art, and without the guidance of correct scientific principles.

Justus von Liebig
The discovery of the conditions of a phenomenon is the first and most important requisite for its explanation. They must be ascertained and established by observation. The mode of inquiry and observation depends on the art of the scientific man; the skilful putting of the questions displays the powers of his mind.

Justus von Liebig