Obsolete Scientific Theories

"It might be objected that the lost air is still contained in the residuum of air which could not farther be united with the phlogiston; for finding that kind of air lighter than common air, it might be supposed that the phlogiston when united with this air made it less ponderous, which circumstance is already known from other experiments. However, since phlogiston is a substance, (which always supposes some weight,) I very much doubt whether this hypothesis be founded on truth."

"Many chemists, even at the present day, find it impossible to do without certain collective names, analogous to the word phlogiston, for processes which they regard as belonging to the same class, or determined by the same cause. But instead of choosing for this purpose words which designate things, as was the custom till the end of the seventeenth... century, (phlogiston means, for example, fire, or light, and heat), they employ, since the time of Berthollet, terms which designate what are called "forces.""

"To investigate the essence of a natural phenomenon, three conditions are necessary. We must first study and know the phenomenon itself, from all sides; we must then determine in what relation it stands to other natural phenomena; and, lastly, when we have ascertained all these relations, we have to solve the problem of measuring these relations, and the laws of mutual dependence; that is, of expressing them in numbers. ...In the first period of chemistry, all the powers of men's minds were devoted to acquiring a knowledge of the properties of bodies; it was necessary to discover, observe, and ascertain their peculiarities. This is the alchemistical period. The second period embraces the determination of the mutual relations or connexions of these properties; and this is the period of phlogistic chemistry. In the third period, in which we now are, we ascertain by weight and measure, and express in numbers, the degree in which the properties of bodies are mutually dependent. The inductive sciences begin with the substance itself; then come just ideas; and lastly, mathematics are called in, and, with the aid of numbers, completes the work."

"We are... bound to attach the greatest importance to the preliminary step taken by Lavoisier, who is even more justly called the father of modern chemistry than Kepler is called the father of modern astronomy. The exact claims of Lavoisier to this important place in the history of chemistry have been variously stated: ...since his time, and greatly through his labours, the quantitative method has been established as the ultimate test of chemical facts; the principle of this method being the rule that in all changes of combination and reaction, the total weight of the various ingredients—be they elementary bodies or compounds—remains unchanged. The science of chemistry was thus established upon an exact, a mathematical basis. By means of this method Lavoisier, utilising and analysing the results gained by himself and others before him, notably those of Priestley, Cavendish, and Black, succeeded in destroying the older theory of combustion, the so-called phlogistic theory."

"In the time of Lavoisier, and preeminently through his exertions, this vague and unmeasurable principle phlogiston was eliminated from the laboratory and the textbooks: quantities took the place of indefinable qualities, and numerical determinations increased in frequency and accuracy. The vague phlogistic theory, which contained a germ of truth, but one which at that time could not be put into definite terms, had helped to gather up many valuable facts and observations: these were collected and restated in a new and precise language. It has been said that every science must pass through three periods of development. The first is that of presentiment, or faith; the second is that of sophistry; and the third is that of sober research."

"You can't be a one-finger typist and not look at the keyboard. You just can't get oriented. You don't have a home position. And when you watch children who are F/C – facilitated communication – users, they may not be looking at the language board, but the facilitators are not taking their eyes off it. They're fixed on it."

"FC is not a valid form of communication. It gives only the illusion of communication and denies people with disabilities access to their human rights of autonomy, self-determination, and freedom of expression."

"The obligation of an investigator into a new technique is to show how it works. With FC, there's this basic assumption of "What can it hurt?" The Storch trial is living proof of how dangerous it is to embrace new science before it has been tested."

"These early studies suggested that FC was susceptible to a somewhat unusual kind of abuse: Allowing others to impose their own wishes, fears, hopes, and agendas on nonspeaking individuals."

"Anne McDonald could communicate. She proved this beyond dispute in the Supreme Court of Victoria by passing a message that I hadn’t seen in front of the Court’s Senior Master."

"Theophrastus Paracelsus rediscovered the occult properties of the magnet—“the bone of Horus” which, twelve centuries before his time, had played such an important part in the theurgic mysteries—and he very naturally became the founder of the school of magnetism and of mediaeval magico-theurgy. But Mesmer, who lived nearly three hundred years after him, and as a disciple of his school brought the magnetic wonders before the public, reaped the glory that was due to the fire-philosopher, while the great master died in a hospital! So goes the world: new discoveries, evolving from old sciences ; new men—the same old nature! p. 71/2"

"The church of Rome has never been either credulous or cowardly, as is abundantly proved by the Machiavellism which marks her policy. Moreover, she has never troubled herself much about the clever prestidigitateurs whom she knew to be simply adepts in juggling. Robert Houdin, Comte, Hamilton and Bosco, slept secure in their beds, while she persecuted such men as Paracelsus, Cagliostro, and Mesmer, the Hermetic philosophers and mystics—and effectually stopped every genuine manifestation of an occult nature by killing the mediums. p. 100"

"[to Howard T. Duck] I just can't resist your intense animal magnetism."

"[referring to Franz Mesmer's animal magnetism practice] Sir, this is just trash and tricks for the weak mind."

"Phrenology's fundamental assumptions remained constant throughout the history of the movement. They were succinctly stated by as consisting of the following three "fundamental principles': (1) That the brain is the organ of the mind ; (2) That the brain is the aggregate of several parts, each subserving a distinct mental faculty; (3) That the size of the cerebral organ is, ceteris paribus, an index of power or energy of function."

"Faculty psychology is getting to be respectable again after centuries of hanging around with phrenologists and other dubious types. By faculty psychology I mean, roughly, the view that many fundamentally different kinds of psychological mechanisms must be postulated in order to explain the facts of mental life."

"“Phrenology! Phah!” Madame Roushka exclaimed, waving her hand dismissively. “A child’s game, a parlor trick at the very best. The only bump or groove that might convey anything to the reader is if the querant has been hit in the head!”"

"The origin of all science is in the desire to know causes; and the origin of all false science and imposture is in the desire to accept false causes rather than none; or, which is the same thing, in the unwillingness to acknowledge our own ignorance."

"'Tis strange how like a very dunce, Man, with his bumps upon his sconce, Has lived so long, and yet no knowledge he Has had, till lately, of Phrenology— A science that by simple dint of Head-combing he should find a hint of, When scratching o'er those little pole-hills The faculties throw up like mole hills."

"As originally put forward , there were four cardinal premises (of phrenology), namely that: (1) the brain is the material instrument through which the mind holds intercourse with the outer world ; (2) the mind entails a congeries of discrete mental faculties each with its own specific center or organ; (3) the size of each organ corresponds with the functional efficiency of each faculty; and (4) the development of the organ is reflected in the shape, size and irregularities of the encompassing cranium."