Some new experiments, with observations upon heat, clearly shewing the erroneous principles of the French theory : also, a letter to Henry Cavendish, containing some pointed animadversions; with strictures upon some late chemical papers in the Philosophical Transactions, and other remarks / by Robert Harrington.

  • Harrington, Robert, 1751-1837.
Date:
1798
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Some new experiments, with observations upon heat, clearly shewing the erroneous principles of the French theory : also, a letter to Henry Cavendish, containing some pointed animadversions; with strictures upon some late chemical papers in the Philosophical Transactions, and other remarks / by Robert Harrington. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    132/172 (page 94)
    Now, here wc fee alkalis, which, I think, I jmay be allowed to call fixed fire, will cither form lead into a glafs, or metal. This fixed fire, in the ftatc of iron, by having water applied to it in the form * And, as in the metals, fomc of the metallic earths which have a ftrong attraction for fire will be reduced by it alone, and fo it is by the vitrifyinjr earths; thofe that liave a ftrong attrac- tion for fire will be formed into glafs by its power alone ; but thofe which are refraflory will require alkaline falts the fame as the metals ; many requiring phlogifton to reduce them. * There is a iiehr rtfcmblance between metals and glafs; from n loofe earthy (late they both become hard and compaft ; and even cad-iron, which is a fpccies of iron imperfeftly reduced, not having its full faturation of fue or phlogifton, will crack and break like glafs, * Still further and more powerfully to corroborate my theory. If oils arc applied to the calces they will recover their metallic form ; but, if alkalis, they will be vitrified. And, in reducing a calx of lead by fire alone, I have formed part into lead, and part into glafs. And of the following faft I am \vell convinced : in reducing metals we generally find a part refraCtory, which cannot be made into metal; as in lead for inftanec. That there 17 fuch a confiderable wade in the earth of lead called litharge, is owing to its having received an alkaline faturation of fire, and being thereby prevented from taking the metallic faturation ; the acid of the air, combining with the earth fo as to aid the •fire, becomes alkalefcent. And for this reafon it is that we find this refufe of the metals more adapted to aft as a flux. I have likewife found this refraftory earth to go further than the other in the faturation of an acid ; and that It is capable of precipitating the other lefs alkalized earth when diffolved in an acid. And it is owing to the fame caufe that lime cannot be made to imbibe the fame quantity of fixed air it before pofieffed, as part of the earth has received a certain quantity of fire producing an alka- Icfcent date. Lime, from the fire it polTeiTes, being foluble in •water, and having, like falts, a bitter tadc, becomes of an alka- Icfcent quality. ‘ But I fhould fuppofe that following will be admitted as an expenimentum cruds, to prov that the earths of metals, du- ring their reduftion, imbibe fixed fire in the date of what has been denominated phlogidon. If you reduce a calx with oil or charcoal, it is fuppofed to imbibe phlogidon from thofe fub- danccs;