w of nature, however general, has been established all at once; its recognition has always been preceded by many presentiments. The establishment of a low, moreover, does not take place when the first thought of it takes form, or even when its significance is recognized, but only when it has been confirmed by the results of the experiment. The man of science must consider these results as the only proof of the correctness of his conjectures and opinions. (Mendeleev, Eminent Chemists of Our Time. p. 28.)In 1866, Newlands published a book filled with the relationships of the elements called, Law of Octaves. Dmitris ideas were similar to Newlands, but Dmitri had more collected data and went father along in his research than Newlands had done. By 1869, Dmitri had assembled detailed descriptions of more than 60 elements and on March 6, 1869, a formal presentation was made to the Russian Chemical Society called, The Dependence Between the Properties and the Atomic Weights of the Elements. Dmitri could not deliver this presentation due to an illness and his colleague Professor Menshutken had to do it for him. There were eight key points to the presentation:1.The elements, if arranged according to their atomic weights,exhibit an apparent periodicity of properties.2. Elements which are similar as regards their chemical properties have atomic weights which are either of nearly the same value (e.g. Pt, Ir, Os) or which increase regularly (e.g. K,Ru, Cs).3. The arrangement of the elements, or of groups of elements in the order of their atomic weights, corresponds to their so-called valences, as well as, to some extent, to their distinctive chemical properties; as is apparent among other series in that of Li, Be, Ba,C, N, O, and Sn.4. The elements which are the most widely diffused have small atomic weights.5. The magnitude of the atomic weight determines the character of a compound body.6. We must expect the discovery of many as yet unknown element...
