This day. 1869. Mendeleev
gives Russian Chemical Society
our first display of elements conceived
by rising atomic number: our species,
it seems, ordered the same way. We mingle
in groups or families, experience
periods and blocks, sight special single
elements, trends in affinity. Since
our valence determines capacity
to unite, react or interact, should
we—to discover ourselves—start to see
chemists instead of shrinks? Neighborhoods
could house small labs, find with precise expertise
cores to our unknown chemical properties.
Roger Armbrust
March 6, 2013
