Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1845-11-19
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"a series OF articles on Chemistry
" AnricLEs sI-@eTHE HIsToRY OF CHEMISTRY.
5.s;33 As an Art. G hemistry may be traced to
sa.pery remote period, but il can scarcely
: he; said 10 have existed as science, ante
trior 10 The seventeenth century, An ac
: SS.scount Of IT'S early history may be iound IN
The The writings Of Lord Baco,i,, Hooke, Boyle
; aud Sit, Isaac Newton.
Little progress was made lc chemistry
5.Ir previous 10 Ihe Baconian system OF phi
:ios6phy, froGllie circumstance that chem
s9iieai science, is dependent on induction
from experiment for its basis. Themos'I ~ "f
philosophical Knowledge was erroneous
previous ,oythe5 days of Bacon. from the
facf that, philosophers first imagined Ger.
tain 1ppoiheses, and aflerw ards attempted
10 demonstrate them. with their minds
lp,ir,eviouslysbiassed: But whenihal system
of severe ynd iductite inquiry had been es;
aai,iisbed, w'ffI,iich first procures the light
and afterwards shows the way by MS
I means, We ssee great progress making IN.
The physical On such -
,s;,ts by aeon. lie others, ,ose names
have been menfoned. proeeededS.,,o
arrange and bring together the materials
which had been furnished by their prede-
c,essnrs: and were thence conducted into
,bat train Of true philosophical reasoning
and research, which has led, IN our
,;,nas 10 ibe oie an,ic discoveries Of mod
ern chemistry. -,
The Alchemists, it is we'll known, had
accnmula,ed vast number Of unconnecl'
ed chemical facts, but with few exceptions,
,fey wasted their labors upon una'talnaole
and chimerical objecIs. Their attempts
10 the conversion Of quicksilver Into gold,
and The search after The eixcr of health or
universal remedies aud anlidoies, were
arduously carried on during the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries. Many anu
sing accounts of the professors and adopts
Of those periods, have been handed down
bv the chemical historians OF The time.
- Among the historians on chemistry may
be.amep,ioped BassiI Valentine. who
flourished in she fourteenth century Ills
writings, Notwithstanding they are tine
iured win The fooeries Of alchemy, are
full Of intelligent observations. tie was
the idiscoyeror Of sulphurIc and nitric
acid, and several preparations OF aEtItno-
nv, Paracelsns, "a writer about this lime.
is chiefly celebrated for the boldness aud
assiduity with which he Introduced chem
icalipreparations into the practice ui med
icine.H
Ipl,he works of Heln,our. who was
sound writer Of his day. We first see the
word gas made use Of, aud by The Term
uirid gas, he 90 doubt alluded to What
since was called fred air. aud more re-
Gently curbonic acid gas; but as an exper-
imental and acute reasoner, however.
none came into competition with Glauber.
This chemist made manv discoveries, and
among them very useful salt which
now. bears his name. IIe also discovered
the. suLpharate Of copper. or blue slone'
blythe action of sulphuric acid upon the
green rYs,, or oxide of copper.
The firsl who distinctly expounded the
nature of chemical affinity. was DR.. May
ow. He demonstrated that IN cases o.!
chemical combination, the atoms oil the
combining bodies. were not destroyed.
but that they still existed in The compound.
aud might again be disengaged from it by
more powerful chemical agent. "ilh all
their former properties. The theory Of
chemical affinity thus established upon the
foundation OF experiment. by Mayow,
constituted The basis upon which most of
the supcrs,ructure Of modern chemisIr!
rests. This branch of chemistry was
much embelished and extended tl the
great LaVoisier. Of France
Another great aud important discovery
was made in the sixteeulh century, BY
Dr.Black; ii relates TO the discovery Of
the stale in which caloric or heat, exists
in liquids and vapors. and upon which he
founded bis beautiful theory of latent cal.
oric. This theory accounted for multi.
,udo Of phenomena. previously unobser-
ved or unexplained.
Hooke and Mayow were the inventors
of .3itenmatic chemistry, or at least This
.,ranchsofscbeuistry may be traced to the
experiments of these philosophers. Pneu-
matte chemistry has been much extended
by the Distinguished Prieslley. of Phla'
ssielphia il was in l774 hd, DR.. Priestley
made the great discovery Of or1gen gas,