Essays in Historical Chemistry

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Macmillan and Company, limited, 1902 - 582 pages

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Page 493 - Without entering into details, I will give the conclusions I then arrived at in the very words I used : — 1. The elements, if arranged according to their atomic weights, exhibit an evident periodicity of properties. 2. Elements which are similar as regards their chemical properties have atomic weights which are either of nearly the same value (eg, platinum, iridium, osmium) or which increase regularly (eg, potassium, rubidium, cesium).
Page 365 - So live, that when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan, which moves To that mysterious realm, where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death, Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night, Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave, Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.
Page 189 - My desire to escape from trade, which I thought vicious and selfish, and to enter into the service of Science, which I imagined made its pursuers amiable and liberal, induced me at last to take the bold and simple step of writing to Sir H. Davy...
Page 277 - It is conceivable that the various kinds of matter, now recognized as different elementary substances, may possess one and the same ultimate or atomic molecule existing in different conditions of movement. The essential unity of matter is an hypothesis in harmony with the equal action of gravity upon all bodies.
Page 292 - To form some conception of the degree of coarse-grainedness indicated by this conclusion, imagine a rain drop, or a globe of glass as large as a pea, to be magnified up to the size of the earth, each constituent molecule being magnified in the same proportion. The magnified structure would be coarser grained than a heap of small shot, but probably less coarse grained than a heap of cricketballs.
Page 58 - The feeling of it to my lungs was not sensibly different from that of common air, but I fancied that my breast felt peculiarly light and easy for some time afterwards. Who can tell but that in time this pure air may become a fashionable .article 1 Lee. cit. p. 94. in luxury ? Hitherto only two mice and myself have had the privilege of breathing it.
Page 108 - By this means upwards of 135 grains of water were condensed in the cylinder, which had no taste nor smell, and which left no sensible sediment when evaporated to dryness ; neither did it yield any pungent smell during the evaporation ; in short, it seemed pure water.
Page 153 - In this situation, I saw reason to embrace what is generally called the heterodox side of almost every question.
Page 108 - ... of common air; and that the bulk of the air remaining after the explosion is then very little more than four-fifths of the common air employed ; so that as common air cannot be reduced to a much less bulk than that by any method of phlogistication, we may safely conclude, that when they are mixed in this proportion, and exploded, almost all the inflammable air, and about one-fifth part of the common air, lose their elasticity, and are condensed into the dew which lines the glass.
Page 44 - But I have often thought that, upon the whole, this circumstance was no disadvantage to me ; as, in this situation, I was led to devise an apparatus and processes of my own, adapted to my peculiar views ; whereas, if I had been previously accustomed to the usual chemical processes, I should not have so easily thought of any other, and without new modes of operation, I should hardly have discovered anything materially new.

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