Butte record. (Bidwell, Butte County, Cal.) 1853-1858, 1857-05-30
From The Golden Era
Chemistry Of Everyday Life.
BY DAVID WOOSTER, NJ. p.

Gqulty were oblects OF Vehcrdti0n ana
often of worship. But if the scholar
of this century were as ignorant as the
seven wise men who came from the
East, or as illiterate and half as ignor
ant of abs olute truths as Plato and
Aristotle, he would not be counted
among the learned of the present Pc
riod. The mind of Plato was ever full
of the widest and most irrational vaga-
ries. | do not believe the world owes
The discovery of half a dozen facts,
either abstract or material, to that
Plato, whose verbiage has filled the
whole world during so many ceutnries
with bis renown. His two parent ides
we're, one true, the other false; and
therefore, every thought generated
therefrom was monstrous "a cross of
the true and tie false, of the infinite
and the finite, IF the gross mate
nd the quintcsence OF nonentiy. HIS
first and true idea WIS, that there is
one self-exlstent and eternal God,
without form or substance, according
10 all human ideas. His second false
idea was, that matter was antagonistlc
10 God and good, and forever at war
with him. He believed that matter
was essentially evil. and the origin Of
all evil; but We have learned that
matter is essentially good, ard the ouly
tangible good that 1t is BY nature ia
destruetible, according to all modes Of
thought To believe IN its destruction
is pure faith, unsupported by single
word Of revelation of the Slprcrne de-
signs. 1t is subject to ininita, abso-
sutely infinite changes changes suffi-
.cienlly radical and elemental to des-
troy all forms with viii We are ae-
.quainted, whether anitna or mathema-
teal. This absence Of all integral or
elementary forms is chaos, the state
from which the matter of our globe has
been progressing towards iniaity of
unit form during hundreds Of Thousands
of years. New forms or varieties OF
animals, of vegetables, and even of
.chrystals, are being constantly gener-
ated in the great omniferous matrix Of
nature, pars paSSu, with the discover
ies of science. The science Of the
finite will forever remain at an infinite
distance from the omniscienee of the
Creator; and this endless accumula-
tion of knowledge during the infnite
uges that are b, fore the immortal soul
of each one, ard perhaps before the
aggregate soul of the people Of our
globe, must constitute, IN the former
case, the endl IS pleasure of the souls
who thus thirst aftrr know ledge, ana
the greatness of all the nations who do
no; retrog de in intelligence and SCI
entifc discoverise. There is no rest
to the human intellect; it must either
advance towards the infinite, or rec dc
towards the torpidlty OF pure matter.
There is an infinite reach before US,
but the distance behind us, to utter
soullcss materiality, could be traversed
by the most feeble mortal without IA
1igue.
But | have strayed long way from.
the matter | proposed 10 talk about.
Net, as these papers are not des gned
10 possess the systematic arrangement
and adherence to detail that pure sci
cnce should retain, your readers will
pardon me If | occasionally follow the
attractions Of my own thoughts.
| have been thus led away from the
contemplation of the wonders OF iso
morphisms, or slAiiforms, whsse liwsf
are the discoveries of modern science.
1t is no doubt known that the word
isomorphism is from two Greek words,
ssos, equal, and aorphee, shape. Thai
Is, two bodies that have the same shape
are called isomerpheus two ehrystals
are bounded by, or inelosed III. the
same angles, are isomorphous with each
other. Thus, potash-aIum and ammo.
nia-alum are isomorphous, for the
,chrystals of each are octohedrons, of
which the apices are more or less truu
Gated. If chry>tal of potash-alum be
placed in solution of ammonia alum,
st will be ineased in chrystal of the
latter, and the result will be larger
chrystal than the first, but of the same
sorm-octohedral and SO if thus COM
pound chrystal be again placed in a
solution of potash alum, it will be in-
aeased in new chrysial, and thus layer
upon layer of the i-omorphaus salts
may be obtained IN one solid transpar-
ent chrystal, with invisible s,rati6ca.
4ions of the two salts dissimilar iu che
snical properties.
The arseniate and phosphate of sods
are isomofphous salts. Each salt chrys.
salizcs in oblique rhomhic prisms
Both are essentially alkaline. They arc
exactly alike in composition. For ex-
ample i: the phosphate of soda contains
one proportion of phosphorus acid, two
of soda, and one of water, as beses
and twenty four atoms of water OF ehry-
taiRation. Arseniatc of soda contains
one proportion of arsenic acid, &C.,
the other constituents being the same
as the previous. And what is more
remarkable, if solution of either o.
these salts be evaporated a; a temper
ature above goo, they chrystalize il
another form, and the chrys:als con