Historical View of the Progress of Chemistry

"A few years after Newton had brought forwards these sagacious views, the elder Geoffroy endeavoured to ascertain the relative attractive powers of bodies for each other and to arrange them in an order in which these forces which he named affinities were expresed."

"Chemistry had scarcely begun to assume the form of a science, when the attention of the most powerful minds were directed to other objects of research;—the same great man who bestowed on it its first accurate principles, in some measure impeded its immediate progress, by his more important discoveries in optics, mechanics, and astronomy."

"These objects of the Newtonian philosophy were calculated by their grandeur, their simplicity, and their importance, to become the study of the men of most distinguished talents; the effect that they occasioned on the scientific mind may be compared to that which the new sensations of vision produce on the blind receiving sight;—they awakened the highest interest, the most enthusiastic admiration, and for nearly half a century, absorbed the attention of the most eminent philosophers of Britain and France."

"Germany still continued the great school of practical chemistry, and at this period it gained an ascendancy of no mean character over the rest of Europe in the philosophy of the science."

"Beccher, ...after having studied with minute attention, the operations of , and the phænomena of the kingdom, formed the bold idea of explaining the whole system of the earth by the mutual agency and changes of a few elements. And by supposing the existence of a vitrifiable, a metallic, and an inflammable earth, he attempted to account for the various productions of rocks, crystalline bodies, and metallic veins, assuming a continued interchange of principles between the atmosphere, the ocean, and the solid surface of the globe, and considering the operations of nature as all capable of being imitated by art."

"Beccher's] Physica subterranea and... Oedipus chemicus... are... extraordinary productions. They display the efforts of a vigorous mind, the conceptions of a most fertile imagination, but the conclusions are too rapidly formed; there is a want of logical precision in his reasonings; the objects he attempted were grand, but his means of execution comparatively feeble. He endeavoured to raise a perfect and lasting edifice upon foundations too weak, from materials too scanty and not sufficiently solid; and the work, though magnificent in design, was rude unfinished and feeble, and rapidly fell into decay."

"Beccher added very little to the collection of chemical experiments, but he improved the instruments of research, simplified the manipulations, and by the novelty and boldness of his speculations, excited enquiry amongst his disciples."

"Beccher's] most distinguished follower was George Ernest Stahl... who soon attained a reputation superior to that of his master, and developed doctrines which for nearly a century constituted the theory of chemistry of the whole of Europe."

"Albertus Magnus had advanced the idea that the metals were earthy substances impregnated with a certain inflammable principle. Beccher supported the idea of this principle, not only as the cause of metallization, but likewise of combustibility: and Stahl endeavoured, by a number of ingenious and elaborate experiments, to prove the existence of phlogiston... and to explain its agencies in the phænomena of nature and art."

"Glauber, about fifty years before Stahl.., had discovered Glauber's salt,] the combination of fossil alkali and sulphuric acid, which still bears his name."

"Stahl, in operating upon [Glauber's salt], thought he had discovered the proof, that the inflammability not only of metals, but likewise of all other substances, was owing to the same principle phlogiston]. is entirely dissipated or consumed in combustion, therefore, says this philosopher, it must be phlogiston nearly pure; by heating charcoal with metallic earths, they become metals; therefore they are compounds of metallic earths and phlogiston: by heating Glauber's salt, which consists of sulphuric acid and fossil alkali, with charcoal, a compound of sulphur and is obtained; therefore sulphur is an acid combined with phlogiston."

"Stahl entirely neglected the chemical influence of air on these phenomena; and though Boyle had proved that and sulphur would not burn without air, and had stated that sulphur was contained in sulphuric acid, and not the acid in sulphur, yet the ideas of the Prussian school were received without controversy."

"Similar opinions were adopted in France by Homberg and Geoffroy, who... opposed them to the more correct and sagacious views of the English school of chemistry."

"Though misled in his general notions, few men have done more than Stahl for the progress of chemical science.—His processes were, many of them, of the most beautiful and satisfactory kind: he discovered a number of properties of the caustic es and metallic calces, and the nature of sulphureous acid; he reasoned upon all the operations of chemistry in which gaseous bodies were not concerned, with admirable precision. He gave an axiomatic form to the science, banishing from it vague details, circumlocutions and enigmatic descriptions, in which even Beccher had too much indulged; he laboured in the spirit of the Baconian school, multiplying instances, and cautiously making inductions, and appealing in all cases to experiments which, though not of the most refined kind, were more perfect than any which preceded them."

"Dr. Hales... resumed the investigations commenced with so much success by Boyle, Hooke, and Mayow; and endeavoured to ascertain the chemical relations of air to other substances, and to ascertain by statical experiments the cases in nature, in which it is absorbed or emitted. ...[B]ut, misled by the notion of one elementary principle constituting elastic matter... he formed few inferences connected with the refined philosophy of the subject..."

"In 1756 Dr. Black published his admirable researches on , magnesian, and alkaline substances, by which he proved the existence of a gaseous body, perfectly distinct from the air of the atmosphere. He shewed that quicklime differed from and by containing this substance, and that it was a weak acid capable of being expelled from alkaline and earthy substances by strong acids. Ideas so new and important... were not received without opposition; several German enquirers endeavoured to controvert them."

"[Johann Friedrich von] Meyer attempted to shew that limestones became caustic, not by the emission of elastic matter, but by combining with a peculiar substance in the fire; but the loss of weight was perfectly inconsistent with this view..."

"Bergman at Upsal, Macbride in Ireland, Keir at Birmingham, and Cavendish in London, demonstrated the correctness of the opinions of Black; and a few years were sufficient to establish his theory upon immutable foundations."

"The knowledge of one elastic fluid different from air, immediately led to the enquiry whether there might not be others."

"The processes of which had been observed by the ancient chemists, and those [processes] by which Hales had disengaged and collected elastic substances, were now regarded under a novel point of view; and the consequence was, that a number of new bodies, possessed of very extraordinary properties, were discovered."

"Mr. Cavendish, about 1765, invented an apparatus for examining elastic fluids confined by water, which has been since called the hydro-pneumatic apparatus. He discovered inflammable air, and described its properties; he ascertained the relative weights of fixed air, inflammable air, and common air, and made... beautiful and accurate experiments on the properties of these elastic substances."

"Dr. Priestley, in 1771, entered the same interesting path of enquiry; and principally by repeating the processes of Hales, added a number of most important facts to this department of chemical philosophy. He discovered nitrous air, , and dephlogisticated air; and by substituting mercury for water in the pneumatic apparatus, ascertained the existence of several æriform substances, which are rapidly absorbable by water, muriatic acid air, sulphurous acid air, and ."

"Whilst a new branch of the science was making this rapid progress in Britain, the chemistry of solid and fluid substances was pursued with considerable zeal and success in France and Germany; and Macquer, Rouelle, Margraff, and [John Henry] Pott, added considerably to the knowledge of fossile bodies, and the properties of the metals."

"Bergman, in Sweden, developed refined ideas on the powers of chemical attraction, and reasoned in a happy spirit of generalization on many of the new phænomena of the science; and in the same country Scheele, independently of Priestley, discovered several of the same æriform substances; he ascertained the composition of the atmosphere; he brought to light fluoric acid, prussic acid, and the substance which has been improperly called oxymuriatic gas."

"Black, Cavendish, Priestley, and Scheele, were undoubtedly the greatest chemical discoverers of the eighteenth century; and their merits are distinct, peculiar, and of the most exalted kind. Black made a smaller number of original experiments than either of the other philosophers; but being the first labourer in this new department of the science, he had greater difficulties to overcome."

"[Black's] methods are distinguished for their simplicity, his reasonings are admirable for their precision; and his modest, clear, and unaffected manner, is well calculated to impress upon the mind a conviction of the accuracy of his processes, and the truth and candour of his narrations."

"Cavendish was possessed of a minute knowledge of most of the departments of Natural Philosophy: he carried into his chemical researches a delicacy and precision, which have never been exceeded; possessing depth and extent of mathematical knowledge, he reasoned with the caution of a geometer upon the results of his experiments; and it may be said of him, what, perhaps, can scarcely be said of any other person, that whatever he accomplished, was perfect at the moment of its production."

"[Cavendish's] processes were all of a finished nature; executed by the hand of a master, they required no correction; the accuracy and beauty of his earliest labours even, have remained unimpaired amidst the progress of discovery, and their merits have been illustrated by discussion, and exalted by time."

"Dr. Priestley began his career of discovery without any general knowledge of chemistry, and with a very imperfect apparatus. His characteristics were ardent zeal and the most unwearied industry. He exposed all the substances he could procure to chemical agencies, and brought forward his results as they occurred, without attempting logical method or scientific arrangement."

"[Priestley's] hypotheses were usually founded upon a few loose analogies; but he changed them with facility; and being framed without much effort, they were relinquished with little regret."

"[Priestley] possessed in the highest degree ingenuousness and the love of truth. His manipulations, though never very refined, were always simple, and often ingenious. Chemistry owes to him some of her most important instruments of research, and many of her most useful combinations; and no single person ever discovered so many new and curious substances."

"Scheele possessed in the highest degree the faculty of invention; all his labours were instituted with an object in view, and after happy or bold analogies. He owed little to fortune or to accidental circumstances; born in an obscure situation, occupied in the duties of an irksome employment, nothing could damp the ardour of his mind or chill the fire of his genius: with very small means he accomplished very great things. No difficulties deterred him from submitting his ideas to the test of experiment. Occasionally misled in his views, in consequence of the imperfection of his apparatus, or the infant state of the inquiry, he never hesitated to give up his opinions the moment they were contradicted by facts."

"[Scheele] was eminently endowed with that candour which is characteristic of great minds, and which induces them to rejoice as well in the detection of their own errors, as in the discovery of truth. His papers are admirable models of the manner in which experimental research ought to be pursued; and they contain details on some of the most important and brilliant phænomena of chemical philosophy."

"The discovery of the ses, of a new class of bodies, more active than any others in most of the phænomena of nature and art, could not fail to modify the whole theory of chemistry. The ancient doctrines were revised; new modifications of them were formed by some philosophers; whilst others discarded entirely all the former hypotheses and endeavoured to establish new generalizations."

"The idea of a peculiar principle of inflamability was so firmly established in the chemical schools, that even the knowledge of the composition of the atmosphere for a long while was not supposed to interfere with it; and the part of the atmosphere which is absorbed by bodies in burning, was conceived to owe its powers to its attraction for phlogiston."

"All the modern chemists who made experiments upon combustion, found that bodies increased in weight by burning, and that there was no loss of ponderable matter. It was necessary therefore to suppose, contrary to the ideas of Stahl, that phlogiston was not emitted in combustion, but that it remained in the inflammable body after absorbing gaseous matter from the air."

"But what is phlogiston? was a question constantly agitated. Inflammable air had been obtained during the dissolution of certain metals, and during the distillation of a number of combustible bodies. This light and subtile matter, therefore, was fixed upon as the principle of inflammability, and Cavendish, Kirwan, Priestley, and Fontana, were the illustrious advocates of this very ingenious hypothesis."

"In 1774 Bayen shewed that mercury converted into a or earth, by the absorption of air, could be revived without the addition of any inflammable substance; and hence he concluded, that there was no necessity for supposing the existence of any peculiar principle of inflammability, in accounting for the calcination of metals."

"The subject, nearly about the same time was taken up by Lavoisier, who had been for some time engaged in repeating the experiments of the British philosophers. Bayen formed no opinion respecting the nature of the air produced from the calx of mercury. Lavoisier, in 1775, shewed that it was an air which supported flame and respiration better than common air, which he afterwards named oxygene; the same substance that Priestley and Scheele had procured from other metallic substances the year before, and had particularly described."

"Lavoisier discovered that the same air is produced during the revivification of metallic calces by , as that which is emitted during the calcination of limestone; hence he concluded that this elastic fluid is composed of oxygene and charcoal []; and from his experiments on and oil of vitriol he concluded that this gas entered into the composition of these substances."

"Dr. Black had demonstrated by a series of beautiful experiments, that when gases are condensed, or when fluids are converted into solids, heat is produced. In combustion gaseous matter usually assumes the solid or the fluid form."

"Oxygene gas, said Lavoisier, seems to be [a] compound of the matter of heat and a basis. In the act of burning, this basis is united to the combustible body, and the heat is evolved. There is no necessity, said this acute philosopher, to suppose any phlogiston, any peculiar principle of inflammability; for all the phænomena may be accounted for without this imaginary existence."

"Lavoisier must be regarded as one of the most sagacious of the chemical philosophers of the last century; indeed, except Cavendish, there is no other inquirer who can be compared to him for precision of logic, extent of view, and sagacity of induction. His discoveries were few, but he reasoned with extraordinary correctness upon the labours of others. He introduced weight and measure, and strict accuracy of manipulation into all chemical processes. His mind was unbiassed by prejudice; his combinations were of the most philosophical nature; and in his investigations upon ponderable substances, he has entered the true path of experiment with cautious steps, following just analogies, and measuring hypotheses by their simple relations to facts."

"The doctrine of Lavoisier, soon after it was framed, received some important confirmations from the two grand discoveries of Mr. Cavendish, respecting the composition of water, and ; and the elaborate and beautiful investigations of Berthollet respecting the nature of ; in which phænomena, before anomalous, were shewn to depend upon combinations of æriform matter."

"The notion of phlogiston, was however defended for nearly 20 years, by some philosophers in Germany, Sweden, Britain, and Ireland. Mr. Cavendish, in 1784, drew a parallel between the hypothesis, that all inflammable bodies contain inflammable air, and the doctrine in which they are considered as simple substances, in a paper equally remarkable for the precision of the views displayed in it, and for the accuracy and minuteness of the experiments it contains. To this great man, the assumption of M. Lavoisier, of the matter of heat, appeared more hypothetical than that of a principle of inflammability. He states, that the phænomena may be explained on either doctrine; but he prefers the earlier view, as accounting, in a happier manner, for some of the operations of nature."

"De Morveau, Berthollet, and Fourcroy, in France, and William Higgins and Dr. Hope, in Britain, were the first advocates for the anti-phlogistic chemistry. Sooner or later, that doctrine which is an expression of facts, must prevail over that which is an expression of opinion."

"The most important part of the theory of Lavoisier was merely an arrangement of the facts relating to the combinations of oxygene: the principle of reasoning which the French school professed to adopt was, that every body which was not yet decompounded, should be considered as simple; and though mistakes were made with respect to the results of experiments on the nature of bodies, yet this logical and truly philosophical principle was not violated; and the systematic manner in which it was enforced, was of the greatest use in promoting the progress of the science."

"Till 1786, there had been no attempt to reform the nomenclature of chemistry; the names applied by discoverers to the substances which they made known, were still employed. Some of these names, which originated amongst the alchymists, were of the most barbarous kind; few of them were sufficiently definite or precise, and most of them were founded upon loose analogies, or upon false theoretical views."

"It was felt by many philosophers, particularly by the illustrious Bergman, that an improvement in chemical nomenclature was necessary, and in 1787, Messrs. Lavoisier, Morveau, Berthollet, and Fourcroy, presented to the world a plan for an almost entire change in the denomination of chemical substances, founded upon the idea of calling simple bodies by some names characteristic of their most striking qualities, and of naming compound bodies from the elements which composed them."

"The new nomenclature was speedily adopted in France; under some modifications it was received in Germany; and after much discussion and opposition, it became the language of a new and rising generation of chemists in England. It materially assisted the diffusion of the antiphlogistic doctrine, and even facilitated the general acquisition of the science; and many of its details were contrived with much address, and were worthy of its celebrated authors: but a very slight reference to the philosophical principles of language will evince that its foundations were imperfect, and that the plan adopted was not calculated for a progressive branch of knowledge."