A study of doses : essay LVII / by William Sharp.

Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A study of doses : essay LVII / by William Sharp. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    ESSAY LVII. A STUDY OF DOSES. The question of Doses has not yet been settled upon a scientific basis.” Chaeles Julius Hempel, I. Introduction. Mr. Cavendish tliouglit that every thing ought to be measured, counted, and weighed, and that in the minutest and most accurate manner. In this way he made the discovery that water is a compound of two gases now called oxygen and hydrogen. Dr. Wollaston trod in the steps of Cavendish, and weighed everything minutely. I remember that it was said of him that to give him a grain of any uncommon thing was sufficient to induce him to engage in an ex- haustive analysis of it. In this manner he discovered two new metals—Palladium and Rhodium—in the ores of Platinum. Weighing the small grains first in air and then in water, would suffice to separate these metals from Platinum ; the specific gravity of Platinum being about 21, and that of the others about 11. Both before and since the days of Cavendish and Wollaston, men, earnest in the pursuit of natural know- ledge, have found that accurate measuring, counting, and weighing are the chief methods of discovery. And that it is in the examination of the minutest forms of matter we are capable of recognising, that a true science of nature is brought within the grasp of our minds. We have learned much about the sun, moon, and stars, great and distant as they are, by measuring, counting, and weighing with attention to the minutest quantities. The several steps by which the laws of gravitation were discovered are an illustration of this. The moon’s