Books Should Be Free Loyal Books Free Public Domain Audiobooks & eBook Downloads |
|
Experiments upon magnesia alba, Quicklime, and some other Alcaline Substances By: Joseph Black (1728-1799) |
---|
![]()
EXPERIMENTS UPON MAGNESIA ALBA, QUICKLIME, AND SOME OTHER ALCALINE SUBSTANCES.
BY JOSEPH BLACK, M.D.,
Professor of Chemistry in the University of Edinburgh, 1766 1797 . (1755.)
Edinburgh:
PUBLISHED BY THE ALEMBIC CLUB. Edinburgh Agent:
WILLIAM F. CLAY, 18 TEVIOT PLACE. London Agents:
SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT, & CO. LTD. 1898. [Illustration: Insignia]
PREFACE.
Black's Paper entitled "Experiments upon Magnesia Alba, Quicklime, and
some other Alcaline Substances" was read in June 1755, and was first
published in "Essays and Observations, Physical and Literary. Read
before a Society in Edinburgh, and Published by them," Volume II.,
Edinburgh, 1756; pp. 157 225. It was subsequently reprinted several
times during the life of the author, not only in later editions of these
Essays, but also in a separate form. Copies of the original Paper are
now very difficult to obtain, and the later reprints have also become
scarce. The present reprint is a faithful copy of the Paper as it first appeared
in 1756, the spelling, &c., of the original having been carefully
reproduced. The Paper constitutes a highly important step in the laying of the
foundations of chemistry as an exact science, and furnishes a model of
carefully planned experimental investigation, and of clear reasoning
upon the results of experiment. It is neither so widely read by the
younger chemists nor is it so readily accessible as it ought to be, and
the object of the Alembic Club in issuing it as the first volume of a
series of Reprints of historically important contributions to Chemistry,
is to place it within easy reach of every student of Chemistry and of
the History of Chemistry. The student's attention may be particularly called to Black's tacit
adoption of the quantitative method in a large number of his
experiments, and to the way in which he bases many of his conclusions
upon the results obtained in these experiments. Even yet it is very
frequently stated that the introduction of the quantitative method into
Chemistry (which did not by any means originate with Black) took place
at a considerably later date. L. D.
EXPERIMENTS UPON MAGNESIA ALBA, QUICKLIME, AND SOME OTHER ALCALINE SUBSTANCES; BY JOSEPH BLACK, M.D.[1] PART I.
Hoffman, in one of his observations, gives the history of a powder
called magnesia alba , which had long been used and esteemed as a mild
and tasteless purgative; but the method of preparing it was not
generally known before he made it public.[2] It was originally obtained from a liquor called the mother of nitre ,
which is produced in the following manner: Salt petre is separated from the brine which first affords it, or from
the water with which it is washed out of nitrous earths, by the process
commonly used in crystallizing salts. In this process the brine is
gradually diminished, and at length reduced to a small quantity of an
unctuous bitter saline liquor, affording no more salt petre by
evaporation; but, if urged with a brisk fire, drying up into a confused
mass which attracts water strongly, and becomes fluid again when exposed
to the open air. To this liquor the workmen have given the name of the mother of
nitre ; and Hoffman , finding it composed of the magnesia united to
an acid, obtained a separation of these, either by exposing the compound
to a strong fire in which the acid was dissipated and the magnesia
remained behind, or by the addition of an alkali which attracted the
acid to itself: and this last method he recommends as the best. He
likewise makes an inquiry into the nature and virtues of the powder thus
prepared; and observes, that it is an absorbent earth which joins
readily with all acids, and must necessarily destroy any acidity it
meets in the stomach; but that its purgative power is uncertain, for
sometimes it has not the least effect of that kind. As it is a mere
insipid earth, he rationally concludes it to be purgative only when
converted into a sort of neutral salt by an acid in the stomach, and
that its effect is therefore proportional to the quantity of this acid... Continue reading book >>
|
This book is in genre |
---|
Science |
eBook links |
---|
Wikipedia – Joseph Black |
Wikipedia – Experiments upon magnesia alba, Quicklime, and some other Alcaline Substances |
eBook Downloads | |
---|---|
ePUB eBook • iBooks for iPhone and iPad • Nook • Sony Reader |
Kindle eBook • Mobi file format for Kindle |
Read eBook • Load eBook in browser |
Text File eBook • Computers • Windows • Mac |
Review this book |
---|