In this domain his first research was on the fulminates of mercury and silver, and his study of these bodies led him to the discovery of the isomerism of cyanic and fulminic acids, for the composition of fulminic acid as found by him was the same as that of cyanic acid, as found by F.
The first of the numerous cases of isomerism now known was noted, but unexplained, by J.
Such isomerism, named stereoisomerism (q.v.),hasbeen assiduously developed during recentyears; it prevails among many different classes of organic compounds and many examples have been found in inorganic chemistry.
Their full significance is treated in the section of this article dealing with organic chemistry, and in the articles Isomerism and STEREO-Isomerism.
isomerism, or the existence of two or more chemically different substances having identical molecular weights, is adequately shown; and, most important of all, once the structure is determined, the synthesis of the compound is but a matter of time.