The principles of chemistry : illustrated by simple experiments / by Julius Adolph Stöckhardt ; translated form the 5th German edition by C.H. Peirce.

  • Stöckhardt, Julius Adolph, 1809-1866.
Date:
1851
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The principles of chemistry : illustrated by simple experiments / by Julius Adolph Stöckhardt ; translated form the 5th German edition by C.H. Peirce. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    changed. By them alone we attain to a scientific in¬ sight into the chemical processes, and to the capability of putting direct questions to bodies by experiment, and of testing the truth of the answers received. An explanation of the chemical processes based on natural laws, which presents a clear idea of the subject to the mind, is called a Theory. WEIGHING AND MEASURING. 8. Weighing.— The balance is to the chemist what the compass is to the mariner. The ocean was indeed navigated before the discovery of the compass; but not till after this could the sailor steer with confidence to a certain place, and recover his proper course, however often lost. And so, in chemistry, no systematic method of study could be pursued before the introduction of the balance. The balance is the standard, as well as the test, of chemical experiments; it teaches us how to ascertain the true composition of bodies, and shows us whether the questions put, the answers received, or the conclusions drawn from them, are correct or false. Hence it cannot be too strongly recommended to those commencing the study of chemistry to use the balance even in simple experiments. For the experiments de¬ scribed in this book, a common apothecaries’ balance is all that is requisite. Such a balance consists of a brass beam, with arms of equal length, through the centre of which passes a steel wedge-shaped axis, resting on a hardened plate, so that the beam, to the extremities of which the pans are attached, may easily vibrate. It is essential