[9] A reaction of rearrangement may in certain cases take place with one substance only; that is to say, a substance may by itself change into a new isomeric form. Thus, for example, if hard yellow sulphur be heated to a temperature of 250° and then poured into cold water it gives, on cooling, a soft, brown variety. Ordinary phosphorus, which is transparent, poisonous, and phosphorescent in the dark (in the air), gives, after being heated at 270° (in an atmosphere incapable of supporting combustion, such as steam), an opaque, red, and non-poisonous isomeric variety, which is not phosphorescent. Cases of isomerism point out the possibility of an internal rearrangement in a substance, and are the result of an alteration in the grouping of the same elements, just as a certain number of balls may be grouped in figures and forms of different shapes. The majority of the chemical changes which occur in nature and are made use of technically are very complicated, as they consist of an association of many separate and simultaneous combinations, decompositions, and replacements. It is chiefly due to this natural complexity of chemical phenomena that for so many centuries chemistry did not exist as an exact science; that is so say, that although many chemical changes were known and made use of,[10] yet their real nature was unknown, nor could they be predicted or directed at will. Another reason for the tardy progress of chemical knowledge is the participation of gaseous substances, especially air, in many reactions. The true comprehension of air as a ponderable substance, and of gases in general as peculiar elastic and dispersive states of matter, was only arrived at in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and it was only after this that the transformations of substances could form a science. Up to that time, without understanding the invisible and yet ponderable gaseous and vaporous states of substances, it was impossible to obtain any fundamental chemical evidence, because gases escaped from notice between the reacting and resultant substances. It is easy from the impression conveyed to us by the phenomena we observe to form the opinion that matter is created and destroyed: a whole mass of trees burn, and there only remains a little charcoal and ash, whilst from one small seed there grows little by little a majestic tree. In one case matter seems to be destroyed, and in the other to be created. This conclusion is arrived at because the formation or consumption of gases, being under the circumstances invisible to the eye, is not observed. When wood burns it undergoes a chemical change into gaseous products, which escape as smoke. A very simple experiment will prove this. By collecting the smoke it may be observed that it contains gases which differ entirely from air, being incapable of supporting combustion or respiration.