"The state of the science at present more nearly resembles the condition of a hundred years ago than the majority of chemists imagine. The latest development of organic chemistry, especially since the great activity in the dye and colour industries, resembles the last stage of the phlogistic period, when new compounds of great importance were being continually discovered, but the quantitative relations between the bodies used in their preparation were considered only as they influenced the yield of the product sought. As Lavoisier introduced weight and measure into the chemistry of the phlogistians, so will the new doctrine of the action of mass determine the direction of the science in the future."