Volume 1

The principles of chemistry / by D. Mendeleeff ; translated from the Russian (5th ed.) by George Kamensky ; edited by A.J. Greenaway.

  • Mendeleyev, Dmitry Ivanovich, 1834-1907.
Date:
1891
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The principles of chemistry / by D. Mendeleeff ; translated from the Russian (5th ed.) by George Kamensky ; edited by A.J. Greenaway. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    supposed to have been the work of a fifteenth-century Benedictine monk, before Paracelsus. On account of the many parallel statements in the writings of Basil Valentine and Paracelsus, J. B. van Helmont and others assumed that the latter was indebted to the former for many of his ideas and facts. The truth is more probably the direct converse of this, and the imposition of Basil Valentine as a pre- Paracelsian writer has been called “ a seventeenth-century hoax.” Anachronisms in the supposed writings of Basil Valentine show that these could not have been written so early as the fifteenth century. In common with the later views of H. Kopp, J. Ferguson, K. Sudhoff, M. Berthelot, F. Strunz, C. W. G. Kastner, etc., W. Hommel says that all the evidence indicates that the name was a pseudonym for Johann Tholde who, in 1603-1604, first published the works of Basil Valentine, and pretended that he had translated them from an old Latin manuscript which he had discovered.24 The writings are characterized by some clearness, particularly when describing the results of experiments. The masterpiece, Triumph- Wagen des Antimonii, published at Leipzig, in 1624, seems to include almost all that was known about antimony up to the seventeenth century. Basil Valentine precipitated gold from its solution by the addition of mercury ; copper from its solution by means of iron ; and iron from its solution by potash ; he obtained metallic mercury by the distillation of corrosive sublimate with chalk ; and he is sometimes regarded as one of the founders of analytical chemistry. A number of other works are attributed to the same writer. Special attention should be directed to Robert Boyle, who, more than any previous worker, emphasized the importance of the science or, as he called it, the philosophy of chemistry.25 He has accordingly been called “the father of chemistry,” although the same cognomen has been applied to several others. R. Boyle claimed that those who had previously studied chemistry regarded it as a means of pre- paring medicines or improving the metals, while he considered the art neither as a physician nor as an alchemist, but rather as a philosopher. Chemistry, he claimed, had been too often practised by illiterate arrogant impostors who wrote in a language which could scarcely be understood by a philosopher. Without seeking the grand elixir, chemistry may greatly promote our knowledge of the works of nature. It is certain that some meliorations of metalline and mineral bodies may be made, useful medicines prepared, and various productions serviceable in particular trades may be obtained by means of chemistry, and therefore this subject may be studied io advantage. R. Boyle further claimed that he had a larger view in cultivating the science- no less a purpose, indeed, than the general advancement of natural philosophy. Chemistry is eminently conducive to extend the empire of mankind by enlarging our news, and giving us a command of nature. Just as the Bologna stone would never become luminous unless it were chemically prepared, so many natural bodies would never afford light to philosophy unless it be struck to them by chemical operations. In his remarkable Sceptical Chymist (Oxford, 1661), Robert Boyle introduced the modern conception of an element, and dropped the four principles or elements of the peripatetic school, and the prima tria of the alchemists. In 1660, Boyle designed a new air pump based upon that of 0. von Guericke. Between 1660 and 1672, R. Boyle tried the effect of a reduced pressure upon the properties of many substances, and he made many experiments on the elasticity of gases. He demonstrated what is now known as Boyle’s law ; he showed that air expanded by heat (1662) ; he studied the action of alkalies on vegetable tinctures (1663) ; and attempted a classi- fication of substances into acids, bases, and salts (1680). He also studied the cal- cination of metals in sealed vessels (1673), and assumed that during the calcination “ a subtle fluid is able to pierce into the compact and solid bodies of metals ” imparting to them “ no despicable weight.” Robert Boyle had a clear conception of the ponderable character of air, for he several times attempted to determine its weight, and showed that the weight of a bladder of air appears to be greater in vacuo than in air.