Conversations on Chemistry, V. 1-2 In Which the Elements of that Science Are Familiarly Explained and Illustrated by Experiments

Project Gutenberg's Conversations on Chemistry, V. 1-2, by Jane Marcet

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Title: Conversations on Chemistry, V. 1-2

In Which the Elements of that Science Are Familiarly

Explained and Illustrated by Experiments

Author: Jane Marcet

Release Date: October 13, 2008 [EBook #26908]

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONVERSATIONS ON CHEMISTRY, V. 1-2 ***

Produced by Louise Hope

Caution: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.

This text uses utf-8 (unicode) file encoding. If the apostrophes and quotation marks in this paragraph appear as garbage, you may have an incompatible browser or unavailable fonts. First, make sure that the browser’s character set or file encoding is set to Unicode (UTF-8). You may also need to change your browser’s default font.

The original book was published in two volumes. The format is reproduced for this e-text, except that the author’s preface (originally in Volume I) and the combined index (Volume II) are in this introductory file.

See the end of this file for notes on scientific terminology, spelling, Plates and chapter numbering.

Contents (Chapter titles only)

Volume I: Conversations I-X with detailed Contents

Volume II: Conversations XIII-XXVI with detailed Contents

General Index

CONVERSATIONS

ON

CHEMISTRY;

IN WHICH

THE ELEMENTS OF THAT SCIENCE

ARE

FAMILIARLY EXPLAINED

AND

ILLUSTRATED BY EXPERIMENTS.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

The Fifth Edition, revised, corrected, and considerably enlarged.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN,

PATERNOSTER-ROW.

1817.

Printed by A. Strahan,

Printers-Street, London.

ADVERTISEMENT.

The Author, in this fifth edition, has endeavoured to give an account of the principal discoveries which have been made within the last four years in Chemical Science, and of the various important applications, such as the gas-lights, and the miner’s-lamp, to which they have given rise. But in regard to doctrines or principles, the work has undergone no material alteration.

London, July, 1817.

PREFACE.

In venturing to offer to the public, and more particularly to the female sex, an Introduction to Chemistry, the author, herself a woman, conceives that some explanation may be required; and she feels it the more necessary to apologise for the present undertaking, as her knowledge of the subject is but recent, and as she can have no real claims to the title of chemist.

On attending for the first time experimental lectures, the author found it almost impossible to derive any clear or satisfactory information from the rapid demonstrations which are usually, and perhaps necessarily, crowded into popular courses of this kind. But frequent opportunities having afterwards occurred of conversing with a friend on the subject of chemistry, and of repeating a variety of experiments, she became better acquainted with the principles of that science, and began to feel highly interested in its pursuit. It was then that she perceived, in attending the excellent lectures delivered at the Royal Institution, by the present Professor of Chemistry, the great advantage which her previous knowledge of the subject, slight as it was, gave her over others who had not enjoyed the same means of private instruction. Every fact or experiment attracted her attention, and served to explain some theory to which she was not a total stranger; and she had the gratification to find that the numerous and elegant illustrations, for which that school is so much distinguished, seldom failed to produce on her mind the effect for which they were intended.

Hence it was natural to infer, that familiar conversation was, in studies of this kind, a most useful auxiliary source of information; and more especially to the female sex, whose education is seldom calculated to prepare their minds for abstract ideas, or scientific language.

As, however, there are but few women who have access to this mode of instruction; and as the author was not acquainted with any book that could prove a substitute for it, she thought that it might be useful for beginners, as well as satisfactory to herself, to trace the steps by which she had acquired her little stock of chemical knowledge, and to record, in the form of dialogue, those ideas which she had first derived from conversation.

But to do this with sufficient method, and to fix upon a mode of arrangement, was an object of some difficulty. After much hesitation, and a degree of embarrassment, which, probably, the most competent chemical writers have often felt in common with the most superficial, a mode of division was adopted, which, though the most natural, does not always admit of being strictly pursued—it is that of treating first of the simplest bodies, and then gradually rising to the most intricate compounds.

It is not the author’s intention to enter into a minute vindication of this plan. But whatever may be its advantages or inconveniences, the method adopted in this work is such, that a young pupil, who should occasionally recur to it, with a view to procure information on particular subjects, might often find it obscure or unintelligible; for its various parts are so connected with each other as to form an uninterrupted chain of facts and reasonings, which will appear sufficiently clear and consistent to those only who may have patience to go through the whole work, or have previously devoted some attention to the subject.

It will, no doubt, be observed, that in the course of these Conversations, remarks are often introduced, which appear much too acute for the young pupils, by whom they are supposed to be made. Of this fault the author is fully aware. But, in order to avoid it, it would have been necessary either to omit a variety of useful illustrations, or to submit to such minute explanations and frequent repetitions, as would have rendered the work tedious, and therefore less suited to its intended purpose.

In writing these pages, the author was more than once checked in her progress by the apprehension that such an attempt might be considered by some, either as unsuited to the ordinary pursuits of her sex, or ill-justified by her own recent and imperfect knowledge of the subject. But, on the one hand, she felt encouraged by the establishment of those public institutions, open to both sexes, for the dissemination of philosophical knowledge, which clearly prove that the general opinion no longer excludes women from an acquaintance with the elements of science; and, on the other, she flattered herself that whilst the impressions made upon her mind, by the wonders of Nature, studied in this new point of view, were still fresh and strong, she might perhaps succeed the better in communicating to others the sentiments she herself experienced.

The reader will soon perceive, in perusing this work, that he is often supposed to have previously acquired some slight knowledge of natural philosophy, a circumstance, indeed, which appears very desirable. The author’s original intention was to commence this work by a small tract, explaining, on a plan analogous to this, the most essential rudiments of that science. This idea she has since abandoned; but the manuscript was ready, and might, perhaps, have been printed at some future period, had not an elementary work of a similar description, under the tide of Scientific Dialogues, been pointed out to her, which, on a rapid perusal, she thought very ingenious, and well calculated to answer its intended object.

CONTENTS

Page numbers have been retained to give an idea of the relative length of each Conversation.

ERRATA.

INDEX.

Index links lead only to the top of the page, not to the exact item referenced. Some browsers may not display page numbers correctly. If a link seems to lead to the wrong page, the link is right and the visible page number is wrong.

 A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   IJ   K 

 L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   V   U   W   Y   Z 

U, V are alphabetized as shown. J is not separated from  I.

Transcriber’s Notes

Terminology

Many scientific terms used in this book are different from today’s standard terminology. The following is not meant as a comprehensive list.

Note also:

Some essential concepts relating to living things—photosynthesis, microorganisms, the cell, proteins—are either unknown or not mentioned. The atom theory had been proposed, but not by Humphry Davy; it is not mentioned in this book.

The word explode is used at least once in its orginal, figurative sense (a word that should be exploded in chemistry) but far more often in its later, concrete one. The word explosion is always used concretely ("an explosion, or a detonation as chemists commonly call it").

Calculated Values:

the point of zero, or the absolute privation of heat, must consequently be 1260 degrees below 32 degrees

-1228° F. The calculation is based on wrong premises; the correct figure is about -460° F or -273° C.

Mercury congeals only at seventy-two degrees below the freezing point.

-40° F, which is also -40° C. This figure is correct, though approximate.

The proportion stated by Sir H. Davy, in his Chemical Researches, is as 1 to 2.389.

[ammonia] consisted of about one part of hydrogen to four parts of nitrogen.... and from the latest and most accurate experiments, the proportions appear to be, one volume of nitrogen gas to three of hydrogen gas

These and similar calculations involving relative weight and volume make more sense when one knows the elements’ atomic weights. For nitric acid, HNO3, the figures are 1:14:48, giving a proportion closer to 1:3.5. For ammonia, NH3 (not 4), the figures are 14:3.

The first proportion was printed 2,389. No other decimal numbers occur in the text, but a comma appears once as a thousands separator.

"The oxalic acid, distilled from sorrel, is the highest term of vegetable acidification; for, if more oxygen be added to it, it loses its vegetable nature, and is resolved into carbonic acid and water;"

Oxalic acid = H2C2O4; carbonic acid (carbon dioxide) = CO2. H2C2O4 + O becomes H2O + CO2 + CO2.

Chapter Numbering

The 3rd and 4th editions used the same Conversation (chapter) numbering. The apparent disappearance of XI and XII is the result of changes between the 4th and 5th (present text) editions:

Plates

Most Plates include the following text, engraved in smaller print:

Drawn by the Author / Engraved by Lowry / Published by Longman & Co. Octr. 2nd. 1809.

This date corresponds to the 3rd edition. Plates V, X and XIII—each containing material new to the 5th edition—read only Lowry sculp.

Inconsistencies and variant spellings

None of these lists are meant to be inclusive. They are typical of variations that were not marked as errors.

Standard spellings throughout the book:

bason, judgment, embrio, volcanos (plural), potatoe (singular)

Inconsistencies:

capitalization of Fig. or fig.

hyphenization of words such as oxy-muriatic

glauber salt and Glauber’s salt both occur

Variant forms:

opake, opaque

aëriform, aeriform

gasses, gases

phosphoret, phosphuret (but always carburet)

Libya, Lybia

dy(e)ing (from dye)

nap(h)tha

pla(i)ster

slak(e)ing

earthen-ware, earthen ware

sulphurous, naphtha are used in the Contents and the Index; sulphureous, naptha in the body text

forms in -xion (such as connexion) appear only in the Contents and the Index

Volume I has more archaic forms than Volume II:

shew, inclose are sometimes used instead of show, enclose

carbone with final e appears in one Plate caption. (In the same plate’s header, the e appears to have been removed by the engraver.)

develope(ment) is more common in Volume I, develop(ment) in Volume II

-ize and -yze forms (for later -ise and -yse) are common in Volume I, rare in Volume II except in the Index

The Dr. Marcet mentioned in a few footnotes and figure captions is the author’s husband. Humphry Davy (Sir H. Davy) was knighted in 1812, between the 3rd and 4th editions of the book.

Reminder

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