Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Comparison Between The Ancients And Moderns In Science And Literature.
lity , they have been led to infer its actual existence . How far this ingenious opinion accords with truth , remains to be decided by the result of future investigation , and of more accurate researches into the recesses of nature . Another circumstance in chemistry worthy of remark is , that heat is found to be the great agent in almost all chemical processes and
experiments ; and that according to the proportion of it absorbed b y different substances , they are capable of existing in the solid , the fluid , or the aerial state . A more appropriate exemplification of this truth cannot well occur , than the common phenomenon of ice ; which being placed in a capacity ' to receive more warmth , re-assumes its natural state of fluidityand bthe lication of a still greater degree
, y app of heat is converted into vapour . This appears to be the case with every other body capable of undergoing the test of experiment "; and if we reason from analogy , we may safely be allowed to hazard the posilion , that it is a general law in the material world .
various indeed Have been the theories invented to explain and elucidate the nature and operation of heat . Some have maintained , that it is merely a property of producing the sensation and effects we experience , originating from , and caused by , motion : others , with greater plausibility , and more appearance of " truth , contend , that it is a material substance , which in a greater or less degree , pervades every otherbut remains in a latent state till compelled to make
, an external appearance by the agency of some foreign cause . At this very period , one of the most curious and general controversies that have ever taken place , is agitated by some of the first philosophers of the age , concerning the existence of phlogiston . On the one hand , Dr . Priestley , and most of the English philosophers , maintain ,, by arguments apparently unanswerableand ba series of accurate experi
, y - ments , which have never been called into question , that , phlogiston ( firstdiscovered by Stahl , the famous German chemist ) is the sole principle of inflammability . On the other hand , the French chemists , amongst whom M . Lavoisier ' takes the lead , by arguments equally
forcible , and by many of the very same experiments , contend , with great warmth , that the process of inflammation is carried on , and is much more rationally accounted for , without the aid of this invisible substance ; and consequently deny its existence altogether . So equally does the evidence on both sides of the question appear ta be balanced , aud so nicely is one scale counterpoised by the other , thatitis task
no very easy , even for the most discriminating and impartial inquirer to decide which preponderates . In the course , however , of the numerous experiments made during this philosophical controversy , a variety of novel and important discoveries have resulted , which , though they have not as yet contributed to terminate this contested questionhaveneverthelessadvanced the of
, , , progress chemistry , as a science , far more rapidly than' the most sanguine hopes of its fondest admirers could encourage them to expect . That there were any other species of air but that of the atmosphere , the wisest explorers of nature , a few vears ago , never con-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Comparison Between The Ancients And Moderns In Science And Literature.
lity , they have been led to infer its actual existence . How far this ingenious opinion accords with truth , remains to be decided by the result of future investigation , and of more accurate researches into the recesses of nature . Another circumstance in chemistry worthy of remark is , that heat is found to be the great agent in almost all chemical processes and
experiments ; and that according to the proportion of it absorbed b y different substances , they are capable of existing in the solid , the fluid , or the aerial state . A more appropriate exemplification of this truth cannot well occur , than the common phenomenon of ice ; which being placed in a capacity ' to receive more warmth , re-assumes its natural state of fluidityand bthe lication of a still greater degree
, y app of heat is converted into vapour . This appears to be the case with every other body capable of undergoing the test of experiment "; and if we reason from analogy , we may safely be allowed to hazard the posilion , that it is a general law in the material world .
various indeed Have been the theories invented to explain and elucidate the nature and operation of heat . Some have maintained , that it is merely a property of producing the sensation and effects we experience , originating from , and caused by , motion : others , with greater plausibility , and more appearance of " truth , contend , that it is a material substance , which in a greater or less degree , pervades every otherbut remains in a latent state till compelled to make
, an external appearance by the agency of some foreign cause . At this very period , one of the most curious and general controversies that have ever taken place , is agitated by some of the first philosophers of the age , concerning the existence of phlogiston . On the one hand , Dr . Priestley , and most of the English philosophers , maintain ,, by arguments apparently unanswerableand ba series of accurate experi
, y - ments , which have never been called into question , that , phlogiston ( firstdiscovered by Stahl , the famous German chemist ) is the sole principle of inflammability . On the other hand , the French chemists , amongst whom M . Lavoisier ' takes the lead , by arguments equally
forcible , and by many of the very same experiments , contend , with great warmth , that the process of inflammation is carried on , and is much more rationally accounted for , without the aid of this invisible substance ; and consequently deny its existence altogether . So equally does the evidence on both sides of the question appear ta be balanced , aud so nicely is one scale counterpoised by the other , thatitis task
no very easy , even for the most discriminating and impartial inquirer to decide which preponderates . In the course , however , of the numerous experiments made during this philosophical controversy , a variety of novel and important discoveries have resulted , which , though they have not as yet contributed to terminate this contested questionhaveneverthelessadvanced the of
, , , progress chemistry , as a science , far more rapidly than' the most sanguine hopes of its fondest admirers could encourage them to expect . That there were any other species of air but that of the atmosphere , the wisest explorers of nature , a few vears ago , never con-