The History of Chemistry, Volume 1 (of 2)

Name: The History of Chemistry, Volume 1 (of 2)
Author: Thomson, Thomas

Thomson, Thomas

Chemistry -- History

The first of these opinions occasioned a controversy between Mr.
Cavendish, and Mr. Kirwan, who maintained that carbonic acid is always
produced when air is phlogisticated. Two papers on this subject by
Kirwan, and one by Cavendish, are inserted in the Philosophical
Transactions for 1784, each remarkable examples of the peculiar manner
of the respective writers. All the arguments of Kirwan are founded on
the experiments of others. He displays great reading, and a strong
memory; but does not discriminate between the merits of the chemists
on whose authority he founds his opinions. Mr. Cavendish, on the other
hand, never advances a single opinion, which he has not put to the
test of experiment; and never suffers himself to go any further than
his experiment will warrant. Whatever is not accurately determined
by unexceptionable trials, is merely stated as a conjecture on which
little stress is laid.

In the first of these celebrated papers, Mr. Cavendish has drawn a
comparison between the phlogistic and antiphlogistic theories of
chemistry; he has shown that each of them is capable of explaining
the phenomena in a satisfactory manner; though it is impossible to
demonstrate the truth of either; and he has given the reasons which
induced him to prefer the phlogistic theory--reasons which the French
chemists were unable to refute, and which they were wise enough not
to notice. There cannot be a more striking proof of the influence of
fashion, even in science, and of the unwarrantable precipitation with
which opinions are rejected or embraced by philosophers, than the total
inattention paid by the chemical world to this admirable dissertation.
Had Mr. Kirwan adopted the opinions of Mr. Cavendish, when he undertook
the defence of phlogiston, instead of trusting to the vague experiments
of inaccurate chemists, he would not have been obliged to yield to his
French antagonists, and the antiphlogistic theory would not so speedily
have gained ground.

Such is an epitome of the chemical papers of Mr. Cavendish. They
contain five notable discoveries; namely, 1. The nature and properties
of hydrogen gas. 2. The solubility of bicarbonates of lime and magnesia
in water. 3. The exact proportion of the constituents of common air. 4.
The composition of water. 5. The composition of nitric acid. It is to
him also that we are indebted for our knowledge of the freezing point
of mercury; and he was likewise the first person who showed that potash
has a stronger affinity for acids than soda has. His experiments on the
subject are to be found in a paper on Mineral Waters, published in the
Philosophical Transactions, by Dr. Donald Monro.




END OF VOL. I.


  C. WHITING, BEAUFORT HOUSE, STRAND.





ANCIENT HISTORIANS, POETS, &c.


    _Now in course of Publication, in Monthly volumes (containing
    on the average 350 pages of letter-press), price only 4s. 6d.
    each, neatly bound, and embellished with Engravings on steel by
    the first Artists_,

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

The History of Chemistry, Volume 1 (of 2)Thomson, Thomas

History

The History of Chemistry, Volume 1 (of 2)

Thomson, Thomas

Chemistry -- History

The first of these opinions occasioned a controversy between Mr.
Cavendish, and Mr. Kirwan, who maintained that carbonic acid is always
produced when air is phlogisticated. Two papers on this subject by
Kirwan, and one by Cavendish, are inserted in the Philosophical
Transactions for 1784, each remarkable examples of the peculiar manner
of the respective writers. All the arguments of Kirwan are founded on
the experiments of others. He displays great reading, and a strong
memory; but does not discriminate between the merits of the chemists
on whose authority he founds his opinions. Mr. Cavendish, on the other
hand, never advances a single opinion, which he has not put to the
test of experiment; and never suffers himself to go any further than
his experiment will warrant. Whatever is not accurately determined
by unexceptionable trials, is merely stated as a conjecture on which
little stress is laid.

In the first of these celebrated papers, Mr. Cavendish has drawn a
comparison between the phlogistic and antiphlogistic theories of
chemistry; he has shown that each of them is capable of explaining
the phenomena in a satisfactory manner; though it is impossible to
demonstrate the truth of either; and he has given the reasons which
induced him to prefer the phlogistic theory--reasons which the French
chemists were unable to refute, and which they were wise enough not
to notice. There cannot be a more striking proof of the influence of
fashion, even in science, and of the unwarrantable precipitation with
which opinions are rejected or embraced by philosophers, than the total
inattention paid by the chemical world to this admirable dissertation.
Had Mr. Kirwan adopted the opinions of Mr. Cavendish, when he undertook
the defence of phlogiston, instead of trusting to the vague experiments
of inaccurate chemists, he would not have been obliged to yield to his
French antagonists, and the antiphlogistic theory would not so speedily
have gained ground.

Such is an epitome of the chemical papers of Mr. Cavendish. They
contain five notable discoveries; namely, 1. The nature and properties
of hydrogen gas. 2. The solubility of bicarbonates of lime and magnesia
in water. 3. The exact proportion of the constituents of common air. 4.
The composition of water. 5. The composition of nitric acid. It is to
him also that we are indebted for our knowledge of the freezing point
of mercury; and he was likewise the first person who showed that potash
has a stronger affinity for acids than soda has. His experiments on the
subject are to be found in a paper on Mineral Waters, published in the
Philosophical Transactions, by Dr. Donald Monro.




END OF VOL. I.


  C. WHITING, BEAUFORT HOUSE, STRAND.





ANCIENT HISTORIANS, POETS, &c.


    _Now in course of Publication, in Monthly volumes (containing
    on the average 350 pages of letter-press), price only 4s. 6d.
    each, neatly bound, and embellished with Engravings on steel by
    the first Artists_,

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The History of Chemistry, Volume 1 (of 2) — John Shaqi

The History of Chemistry, Volume 1 (of 2)

The History of Chemistry, Volume 1 (of 2)

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