Some encomiums upon the excellent treatise of chemistry by Berzelius : also objections to his nomenclature, and suggestions respecting a substitute, deemed preferable, in a letter to Professor Silliman / by Robert Hare.

  • Hare, Robert, 1781-1858.
Date:
[1834]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Some encomiums upon the excellent treatise of chemistry by Berzelius : also objections to his nomenclature, and suggestions respecting a substitute, deemed preferable, in a letter to Professor Silliman / by Robert Hare. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    chlorine in a like predicament. The impropriety of designating the substances comprised in his halogene and amphigene classes, with the exception of oxygen as combustibles, upon the basis of their susceptibility of oxidizement, must be evident from the fact, that fluorine is not oxidizeable, while it is so perfectly analogous to the others, especially chlorine, in its properties, that it would be disadvantageous to class it apart. Berzelius objects to the use of the word com burant, (equi- valent to the English word supporter) upon the ground that the same substance may alternately be a supporter and a combustible. I should, however, go farther, and likewise object to the use of both words, as tending to convey the erroneous impression, that in combustion, one of the ponderable agents concerned, performs a part more active than the other; whereas, in all such cases, the re- action must evidently be reciprocal and equal. I have repeatedly shown to my pupils, that a jet of oxygen burns in an atmosphere of hydrogen, as well as a jet of hydrogen similarly situated in oxygen. I would recommend that all the bodies comprised in the halo- gene and amphigene classes of Berzelius, should be placed under one head, to be called the Basacigen class; indicating their com- mon and distinguishing quality agreeably to the premises, of pro- ducing both acids and bases. The electronegative compounds of these substances to be called acids, their electropositive compounds, bases, as already suggested.