Exposition of the atomic theory of chymistry : and the doctrine of definite proportions / by William James Macneven ... ; with an appendix of chymical exercises, by the pupils of the laboratory, &c.

  • MacNeven, William James, 1763-1841.
Date:
1819
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Exposition of the atomic theory of chymistry : and the doctrine of definite proportions / by William James Macneven ... ; with an appendix of chymical exercises, by the pupils of the laboratory, &c. 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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    ness of the law necessarily depend on some ulterior cause which renders all other combinations impos- sible. Now, this cause, whatever it be, must con- stitute the principal basis of chymical phylosophy, and well understood and rigidly applied, it would introduce mathematical precision into our chy- mical reasonings and conclusions. In ascending to the cause we can assign it no other residence than those elementary particles of matter which are so constituted as to be exempt from decay or change, though they are capable of being variously com- pounded together and separated again, so as to give origin to the perpetual transitions of elemen- tary into organized matter; but the nature of the elements themselves is immutable; the forms only can vary. The indefatigable alchymist frequent- ly exhausted every device and process, endeavour- ing, with keen research and prodigal talent, to alter the nature of matter, and transmute one species of metal into another, but he was eternally foiled in this chimerical attempt. The productions of nature have not only suc- ceeded one another in the same general order, but have been from the beginning invariably the same. An oak of the present time has the same general nature and the same properties, as those of all other oaks that ever existed; we find the same texture in its wood and bark; a similar disposition, in general, in its root and branches; the leaves have