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We have thus traced some of the main paths along which Chemistry
has advanced since the day when, ceasing to be guided by the
dreams of men who toiled with but a single idea in the midst of a
world of strange and complex phenomena, she began to recognize
that Nature is complex but orderly, and so began to be a branch of
true knowledge.
In this review we have, I think, found that the remark made at the
beginning of the introductory chapter is, on the whole, a just one.
That the views of the alchemists, although sometimes very noble,
were "vague and fanciful" is surely borne out by the quotations from
their writings given in the first chapter. This period was followed by
that wherein the accurate, but necessarily somewhat narrow
conception of the Lavoisierian chemistry prevailed. Founded for the
most part on the careful, painstaking, and quantitative study of one
phenomenon—a very wide and far-reaching phenomenon, it is true
—it was impossible that the classification introduced by the father of
chemical science should be broad enough to include all the
discoveries of those who came after him. But although this
classification had of necessity to be revised and recast, the genius of
Lavoisier enunciated certain truths which have remained the
common possession of every chemical system. By proving that
however the forms of matter may be changed the mass remains
unaltered, he for the first time made a science of chemistry possible.
He defined "element" once for all, and thus swept away the fabric of
dreams raised by the alchemists on the visionary foundation of
earth, air, fire and water, or of mercury, sulphur and salt. By his
example, he taught that weighings and measurements must be
made before accurate knowledge of chemical reactions can be
hoped for; and by his teaching about oxygen being the acidifier—
although we know that this teaching was erroneous in many details
—he showed the possibility of a system of classification of chemical
substances being founded on the actually observed properties and
composition of those substances.
Lavoisier gained these most important results by concentrating his
attention on a few subjects of inquiry. That chemistry might become
broad it was necessary that it should first of all become narrower.
The period when the objects of the science were defined and some
of its fundamental facts and conceptions were established, was
succeeded, as we saw in our sketch, by that in which Dalton
departed somewhat from the method of investigation adopted by
most masters in science, and by concentrating his great mental
powers on facts belonging to one branch of natural knowledge,
elaborated a simple but very comprehensive theory, which he
applied to explain the facts belonging to another branch of science.
Chemistry was thus endowed with a grand and far-reaching
conception, which has been developed and applied by successive
generations of investigators: but we must not forget that it was the
thorough, detailed work of Black and Lavoisier which made possible
the great theory of Dalton.
At the time when Dalton was thinking out his theory of atoms, Davy
was advancing as a conqueror through the rich domain which the
discovery of Volta had opened to chemistry. Dalton, trained to rely
on himself, surrounded from his youth by an atmosphere in which
"sweetness and light" did not predominate, thrown on the world at
an early age, and obliged to support himself by the drudgery of
teaching when he would fain have been engaged in research, and at
the same time—if we may judge from his life as recorded by his
biographers—without the sustaining presence of such an ideal as
could support the emotional part of his nature during this time of
struggle,—Dalton, we found, withdrew in great part from contact
with other scientific workers, and communing only with himself,
developed a theory which, while it showed him to be one in the
chain of thinkers that begins in Democritus and Leucippus, was
nevertheless stamped with the undeniable marks of his own
individuality and genius, and at the same time was untouched by
any of the hopes or fears, and unaffected by any of the passions, of
our common humanity.
Davy, on the other hand, was surrounded from childhood by scenes
of great natural beauty and variety, by contact with which he was
incited to eager desire for knowledge, while at the same time his
emotions remained fresh and sensitive to outward impressions.
Entering on the study of natural science when there was a pause in
the march of discovery, but a pause presageful of fresh advances, he
found outward circumstances singularly favourable to his success;
seizing these favourable circumstances he made rapid advances. Like
Lavoisier, he began his work by proving that there is no such thing in
Nature as transmutation, in the alchemical meaning of the term; as
Lavoisier had proved that water is not changed into earth, so did
Davy prove that acid and alkali are not produced by the action of the
electric current on pure water. We have shortly traced the
development of the electro-chemical theory which Davy raised on
the basis of experiment; we have seen how facts obliged him to
doubt the accepted view of the composition of hydrochloric acid and
chlorine, and how by the work he did on these subjects chemists
have been finally convinced that an element is not a substance
which cannot be, but a substance which has not been decomposed,
and how from this work has also arisen the modern theory of acids,
bases and salts.
We found that, by the labours of the great Swede J. J. Berzelius, the
Daltonian theory was confirmed by a vast series of accurate
analyses, and, in conjunction with a modification of the electro-
chemical theory of Davy, was made the basis of a system of
classification which endeavoured to include all chemical substances
within its scope. The atom was the starting-point of the Berzelian
system, but that chemist viewed the atom as a dual structure the
parts of which held together by reason of their opposite electrical
polarities. Berzelius, we saw, greatly improved the methods whereby
atomic weights could be determined, and he recognized the
importance of physical generalizations as aids in finding the atomic
weights of chemical substances.
But Berzelius came to believe too implicitly in his own view of
Nature's working; his theory became too imperious. Chemists found
it easier to accept than to doubt an interpretation of facts which was
in great part undeniably true, and which formed a central luminous
conception, shedding light on the whole mass of details which,
without it, seemed confused and without meaning.
If the dualistic stronghold was to be carried, the attack should be
impetuous, and should be led by men, not only of valour, but also of
discretion. We found that two champions appeared, and that, aided
by others who were scarcely inferior soldiers to themselves, they
made the attack, and made it with success.
But when the heat of the battle was over and the bitterness of the
strife forgotten, it was found that, although many pinnacles of the
dualistic castle had been shattered, the foundation and great part of
the walls remained; and, strange to say, the men who led the attack
were content that these should remain.
The atom could no longer be regarded as always composed of two
parts, but must be looked on rather as one whole, the properties of
which are defined by the properties and arrangements of all its
parts; but the conception of the atom as a structure, and the
assurance that something could be inferred regarding that structure
from a knowledge of the reactions and general properties of the
whole, remained when Dumas and Liebig had replaced the dualism
of Berzelius by the unitary theory of modern chemistry; and these
conceptions have remained to the present day, and are now ranked
among the leading principles of chemical science; only we now
speak of the "molecule" where Berzelius spoke of the "atom."
Along with these advances made by Dumas, Liebig and others in
rendering more accurate the general conception of atomic structure,
we found that the recognition of the existence of more than one
order of small particles was daily gaining ground in the minds of
chemists.
The distinction between what we now call atoms and molecules had
been clearly stated by Avogadro in 1811; but the times were not
ripe. The mental surroundings of the chemists of that age did not
allow them fully to appreciate the work of Avogadro. The seed
however was sown, and the harvest, although late, was plentiful.
We saw that Dumas accepted, with some hesitation, the distinction
drawn by Avogadro, but that failing to carry it to its legitimate
conclusion, he did not reap the full benefit of his acceptance of the
principle that the smallest particle of a substance which takes part in
a physical change divides into smaller particles in those changes
which we call chemical.
To Gerhardt and Laurent we owe the full recognition, and
acceptance as the foundation of chemical classification, of the atom
as a particle of matter distinct from the molecule; they first distinctly
placed the law of Avogadro—"Equal volumes of gases contain equal
numbers of molecules"—in its true position as a law, which, resting
on physical evidence and dynamical reasoning, is to be accepted by
the chemist as the basis of his atomic theory. To the same chemists
we are indebted for the formal introduction into chemical science of
the conception of types, which, as we found, was developed by
Frankland, Kekulé, and others, into the modern doctrine of
equivalency of groups of elementary atoms.
We saw that, in the use which he made of the laws of Mitscherlich,
and of Dulong and Petit, Berzelius recognized the importance of the
aid given by physical methods towards solving the atomic problems
of chemistry; but among those who have most thoroughly availed
themselves of such aids Graham must always hold a foremost place.
Graham devoted the energies of his life to tracking the movements
of atoms and molecules. He proved that gases pass through walls of
solid materials, as they pass through spaces already occupied by
other gases; and by measuring the rapidities of these movements he
showed how it was possible to determine the rate of motion of a
particle of gas so minute that a group of a hundred millions of them
would be invisible to the unassisted vision. Graham followed the
molecules as in their journeyings they came into contact with animal
and vegetable membranes; he found that these membranes
presented an insuperable barrier to the passage of some molecules,
while others passed easily through. He thus arrived at a division of
matter into colloidal and crystalloidal. He showed what important
applications of this division might be made in practical chemistry, he
discussed some of the bearings of this division on the general theory
of the molecular constitution of matter, and thus he opened the way
which leads into a new territory rich in promise to him who is able to
follow the footsteps of its discoverer.
Other investigators have followed on the general lines laid down by
Graham; connections, more or less precise, have been established
between chemical and physical properties of various groups of
compounds. It has been shown that the boiling points, melting
points, expansibilities by heat, amounts of heat evolved during
combustion, in some cases tinctorial powers of dye-stuffs, and other
physical constants of groups of compounds, vary with variations in
the nature, number and arrangements of the atoms in the molecules
of these compounds.
But although much good work has been done in this direction, our
ignorance far exceeds our knowledge regarding the phenomena
which lie on the borderlands between chemistry and physics. It is
probably here that chemists look most for fresh discoveries of
importance.
As each branch of natural science becomes more subdivided, and as
the quantity of facts to be stored in the mind becomes daily more
crushing, the student finds an ever-increasing difficulty in passing
beyond the range of his own subject, and in gaining a broad view of
the relative importance of the facts and the theories which to him
appear so essential.
In the days when the foundation of chemistry was laid by Black,
Priestley, Lavoisier and Dalton, and when the walls began to be
raised by Berzelius and Davy, it was possible for one man to hold in
his mental grasp the whole range of subjects which he studied. Even
when Liebig and Dumas built the fabric of organic chemistry the
mass of facts to be considered was not so overpowering as it is now.
But we have in great measure ourselves to blame; we have of late
years too much fulfilled Liebig's words, when he said, that for
rearing the structure of organic chemistry masters were no longer
required—workmen would suffice.
And I think we have sometimes fallen into another error also. Most
of the builders of our science—notably Lavoisier and Davy, Liebig
and Dumas—were men of wide general culture. Chemistry was for
them a branch of natural science; of late years it has too much
tended to degenerate into a handicraft. These men had lofty aims;
they recognized—Davy perhaps more than any—the nobility of their
calling. The laboratory was to them not merely a place where
curious mixtures were made and strange substances obtained, or
where elegant apparatus was exhibited and carefully prepared
specimens were treasured; it was rather the entrance into the
temple of Nature, the place where day by day they sought for truth,
where, amid much that was unpleasant and much that was
necessary mechanical detail, glimpses were sometimes given them
of the order, harmony and law which reign throughout the material
universe. It was a place where, stopping in the work which to the
outsider appeared so dull and even so trivial, they sometimes,
listening with attentive ear, might catch the boom of the "mighty
waters rolling evermore," and so might return refreshed to work
again.
Chemistry was more poetical, more imaginative then than now; but
without imagination no great work has been accomplished in
science.
When a student of science forgets that the particular branch of
natural knowledge which he cultivates is part of a living and growing
organism, and attempts to study it merely as a collection of facts, he
has already Esau-like sold his birthright for a mess of pottage; for is
it not the privilege of the scientific student of Nature always to work
in the presence of "something which he can never know to the full,
but which he is always going on to know"—to be ever encompassed
about by the greatness of the subject which he seeks to know? Does
he not recognize that, although some of the greatest minds have
made this study the object of their lives, the sum of what is known is
yet but as a drop in the ocean? and has he not also been taught that
every honest effort made to extend the boundaries of natural
knowledge must advance that knowledge a little way?
It is not easy to remember the greatness of the issues which depend
on scientific work, when that work is carried on, as it too often is,
solely with the desire to gain a formal and definite answer to some
question of petty detail.
Alchemy, 5;
alchemical symbols of metals, 11;
quotations from alchemists, 15, 17;
alchemical poetry, 18.
Alcoates, 235.
Alkalis, 171;
fixed and volatile, 173;
mild and caustic, examined by Black, 176;
connection with earths, 178;
name of "base" given by Rouelle, 179;
Gay-Lussac's alkalizing principle, 203.
Atmolysis, 243.
Colloids, 247.
Crystalloids, 247.
Dialysis, 247.
Earths, 177;
Stahl's views, 178;
the connection between earths and alkalis, 178;
their metallic bases, 182, 200.