"When he commenced... researches, he found an opinion prevailing, that the production of fixed air, or , is the invariable result of what he called the phlogistication, and we should call the deoxidation, of atmospheric air. He readily disproved... this view, and also of another notion, that nitric, or sulphuric acid was produced in those circumstances; and having disposed of these erroneous opinions, he proceeded to observe with great care, what was the product of the combustion of in air and in ."