"I have presented the as a kind of travel guide to an imaginary country, of which the elements are the various regions. This kingdom has a geography: the elements lie in particular juxtaposition to one another, and they are used to produce goods, much as a prairie produces wheat and a lake produces fish. It also has a history. Indeed, it has three kinds of history: the elements were discovered much as the lands of the world were discovered; the kingdom was mapped, just as the world was mapped, and the relative positions of the elements came to take on a great significance; and the elements have their own cosmic history, which can be traced back to the stars."
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Original Language: English
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Peter Atkins, The Periodic Kingdom: A Journey into the Land of the Chemical Elements (1995) Preface.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Chemical_element
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Chemical element
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