OF THE PRESENT STATE OF CHEMISTRY.
To finish this history it will be now proper to lay before the reader a
kind of map of the present state of chemistry, that he may be able to
judge how much of the science has been already explored, and how much
still remains untrodden ground.
Leaving out of view light, heat, and electricity, respecting the nature
of which only conjectures can be formed, we are at present acquainted
with fifty-three simple bodies, which naturally divide themselves
into three classes; namely, _supporters_, _acidifiable bases_, and
_alkalifiable bases_.
The supporters are oxygen, chlorine, bromine, iodine, and fluorine.
They are all in a state of negative electricity: for when compounds
containing them are decomposed by the voltaic battery they all attach
themselves to the positive pole. They have the property of uniting with
every individual belonging to the other two classes. When they combine
with the acidifiable bases in certain proportions they constitute
_acids_; when with the alkalifiable bases, _alkalies_. In certain
proportions they constitute _neutral_ bodies, which possess neither the
properties of acids nor alkalies.
The acidifiable bases are seventeen in number; namely, hydrogen, azote,
carbon, boron, silicon, sulphur, selenium, tellurium, phosphorus,
arsenic, antimony, chromium, uranium, molybdenum, tungsten, titanium,
columbium. These bodies do not form acids with every supporter, or
in every proportion; but they constitute the bases of all the known
acids, which form a numerous set of bodies, many of which are still
very imperfectly investigated. And indeed there are a good many of
them that may be considered as unknown. These acidifiable bases are
all electro-positive; but they differ, in this respect, considerably
from each other; hydrogen and carbon being two of the most powerful,
while titanium and columbium have the least energy. Sulphur and
selenium, and probably some other bodies belonging to this class are
occasional electro-negative bodies, as well as the supporters. Hence,
when united to other acidifiable bases, they produce a new class of
acids, analogous to those formed by the supporters. These have got
the name of sulphur acids, selenium acids, &c. Sulphur forms acids
with arsenic, antimony, molybdenum, and tungsten, and doubtless with
several other bases. To distinguish such acids from alkaline bases,
I have of late made an alteration in the termination of the old word
_sulphuret_, employed to denote the combination of sulphur with a base.
Thus _sulphide_ of arsenic means an acid formed by the union of sulphur
and arsenic; _sulphuret_ of copper means an alkaline body formed by the
union of sulphur and copper. The term _sulphide_ implies an _acid_, the
term _sulphuret_ a _base_. This mode of naming has become necessary,
as without it many of these new salts could not be described in an
intelligible manner. The same mode will apply to the acid and alkaline
compounds of selenium. Thus a _selenide_ is an acid compound, and a
_seleniet_ an alkaline compound in which selenium acts the part of a
supporter or electro-negative body. The same mode of naming might and
doubtless will be extended to all the other similar compounds, as soon
as it becomes necessary. In order to form a systematic nomenclature it
will speedily be requisite to new-model all the old names which denote
acids and bases; because unless this is done the names will become too
numerous to be remembered. At present we denote the alkaline bodies
formed by the union of _manganese_ and oxygen by the name of _oxides
of manganese_, and the acid compound of oxygen and the same metal
by the name of _manganesic acid_. The word _oxide_ applies to every
compound of a base and oxygen, whether neutral or alkaline; but when
the compound has acid qualities this is denoted by adding the syllable
_ic_ to the name of the base. This mode of naming answered tolerably
well as long as the acids and alkalies were all combinations of oxygen
with a base; but now that we know the existence of eight or ten classes
of acids and alkalies, consisting of as many supporters, or acidifiable
bases united to bases, it is needless to remark how very defective
it has become. But this is not the place to dwell longer upon such a
subject.
The alkalifiable bases are thirty-one in number; namely, potassium,
sodium, lithium, barium, strontium, calcium, magnesium, aluminum,
glucinum, yttrium, cerium, zirconium, thorium, iron, manganese, nickel,
cobalt, zinc, cadmium, lead, tin, bismuth, copper, mercury, silver,
gold, platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, osmium. The compounds
which these bodies form with oxygen, and the other supporters,
constitute all the alkaline bases or the substances capable of
neutralizing the acids.
Some of the acidifiable bases, when united to a certain portion of
oxygen, constitute, not acids, but _bases_ or _alkalies_. Thus the
_green oxides of chromium and uranium_ are alkalies; while, on the
other hand, there is a compound of oxygen and manganese which possesses
acid properties. In such cases it is always the compound containing the
least oxygen which is an alkali, and that containing the most oxygen
that is an acid.
The opinion at present universally adopted by chemists is, that the
ultimate particles of bodies consist of _atoms_, incapable of further
division; and these atoms are of a size almost infinitely small. It can
be demonstrated that the size of an atom of _lead_ does not amount to
so much as 1/888,492,000,000,000 of a cubic inch.
But, notwithstanding this extreme minuteness, each of these atoms
possesses a peculiar weight and a peculiar bulk, which distinguish it
from the atoms of every other body. We cannot determine the absolute
weight of any of them, but merely the relative weights; and this is
done by ascertaining the relative proportions in which they unite. When
two bodies unite in only one proportion, it is reasonable to conclude
that the compound consists of 1 atom of the one body, united to 1 atom
of the other. Thus oxide of bismuth is a compound of 1 oxygen and 9
bismuth; and, as the bodies unite in no other proportion, we conclude
that an atom of bismuth is nine times as heavy as an atom of oxygen. It
is in this way that the atomic weights of the simple bodies have been
attempted to be determined. The following table exhibits these weights
referred to oxygen as unity, and deduced from the best data at present
in our possession:
Atomic weight.
Oxygen 1
Fluorine 2·25
Chlorine 4·5
Bromine 10
Calcium 2·5
Magnesium 1·5
Aluminum 1·25
Glucinum 2·25
Iodine 15·75
Hydrogen 0·125
Azote 1·75
Carbon 0·75
Boron 1
Silicon 1
Phosphorus 2
Sulphur 2
Selenium 5
Tellurium 4
Arsenic 4·75
Antimony 8
Chromium 4
Uranium 26
Molybdenum 6
Tungsten 12·5
Titanium 3·25
Columbium 22·75
Potassium 5
Sodium 3
Lithium 0·75
Barium 8·5
Strontium 5·5
Yttrium 4·25
Zirconium 5
Thorinum 7·5
Iron 3·5
Manganese 3·5
Nickel 3·25
Cobalt 3·25
Cerium 6·25
Zinc 4·25
Cadmium 7
Lead 13
Tin 7·25
Bismuth 9
Copper 4
Mercury 12·5
Silver 13·75
Gold 12·5
Platinum 12
Palladium 6·75
Rhodium 6·75
Iridium 12·25
Osmium 12·5
The atomic weights of these bodies, divided by their specific gravity,
ought to give us the comparative size of the atoms. The following
table, constructed in this way, exhibits the relative bulks of these
atoms which belong to bodies whose specific gravity is known:
Volume.
Carbon 1
Nickel } 1·75
Cobalt }
Manganese }
Copper } 2
Iron }
Platinum } 2·6
Palladium }
Zinc 2·75
Rhodium }
Tellurium } 3
Chromium }
Molybdenum 3·25
Silica } 3·5
Titanium }
Cadmium 3·75
Arsenic }
Phosphorus } 4
Antimony }
Tungsten }
Bismuth } 4·25
Mercury }
Tin } 4·66
Sulphur }
Selenium } 5·4
Lead }
Gold }
Silver } 6
Osmium }
Oxygen }
Hydrogen } 9·33
Azote }
Chlorine }
Uranium 13·5
Columbium } 14
Sodium }
Bromine 15·75
Iodine 24
Potassium 27
We have no data to enable us to determine the shape of these atoms. The
most generally received opinion is, that they are spheres or spheroids;
though there are difficulties in the way of admitting such an opinion,
in the present state of our knowledge, nearly insurmountable.
The probability is, that all the supporters have the property of
uniting with all the bases, in at least three proportions. But by
far the greater number of these compounds still remain unknown. The
greatest progress has been made in our knowledge of the compounds of
oxygen; but even there much remains to be investigated; owing, in a
great measure, to the scarcity of several of the bases which prevent
chemists from subjecting them to the requisite number of experiments.
The compounds of chlorine have also been a good deal investigated; but
bromine and iodine have been known for so short a time, that chemists
have not yet had leisure to contrive the requisite processes for
causing them to unite with bases.
The acids at present known amount to a very great number. The oxygen
acids have been most investigated. They consist of two sets: those
consisting of oxygen united to a single base, and those in which
it is united to two or more bases. The last set are derived from
the animal and vegetable kingdoms: it does not seem likely that the
electro-chemical theory of Davy applies to them. They must derive
their acid qualities from some electric principle not yet adverted to;
for, from Davy's experiments, there can be little doubt that they are
electro-negative, as well as the other acids. The acid compounds of
oxygen and a single base are about thirty-two in number. Their names are
Hyponitrous acid
Nitrous acid?
Nitric acid
Carbonic acid
Oxalic acid
Boracic acid
Silicic acid
Hypophosphorous acid
Phosphorous acid
Phosphoric acid
Hyposulphurous acid
Subsulphurous acid
Sulphurous acid
Sulphuric acid
Hyposulphuric acid
Selenious acid
Selenic acid
Arsenious acid
Arsenic acid
Antimonious acid
Antimonic acid
Oxide of tellurium
Chromic acid
Uranic acid
Molybdic acid
Tungstic acid
Titanic acid
Columbic acid
Manganesic acid
Chloric acid
Bromic acid
Iodic acid.
The acids from the vegetable and animal kingdoms (not reckoning a
considerable number which consist of combinations of sulphuric acid
with a vegetable or animal body), amount to about forty-three: so
that at present we are acquainted with very nearly eighty acids which
contain oxygen as an essential constituent.
The other classes of acids have been but imperfectly investigated.
Hydrogen enters into combination and forms powerful acids with all the
supporters except oxygen. These have been called hydracids. They are
Muriatic acid, or hydrochloric acid
Hydrobromic acid
Hydriodic acid
Hydrofluoric acid, or fluoric acid
Hydrosulphuric acid
Hydroselenic acid
Hydrotelluric acid
These constitute (such of them as can be procured) some of the most
useful and most powerful chemical reagents in use. There is also
another compound body, _cyanogen_, similar in its characters to a
supporter: it also forms various acids, by uniting to hydrogen,
chlorine, oxygen, sulphur, &c. Thus we have
Hydrocyanic acid
Chlorocyanic acid
Cyanic acid
Sulpho-cyanic acid, &c.
We know, also, fluosilicic acid and fluoboric acids. If to these we
add fulminic acid, and the various sulphur acids already investigated,
we may state, without risk of any excess, that the number of acids at
present known to chemists, and capable of uniting to bases, exceeds a
hundred.
The number of alkaline bases is not, perhaps, so great; but it must
even at present exceed seventy; and it will certainly be much augmented
when chemists turn their attention to the subject. Now every base is
capable of uniting with almost every acid,[9] in all probability in at
least three different proportions: so that the number of _salts_ which
they are capable of forming cannot be fewer than 21,000. Now scarcely
1000 of these are at present known, or have been investigated with
tolerable precision. What a prodigious field of investigation remains
to be traversed must be obvious to the most careless reader. In such
a number of salts, how many remain unknown that might be applied to
useful purposes, either in medicine, or as mordants, or dyes, &c. How
much, in all probability, will be added to the resources of mankind by
such investigations need not be observed.
[9] Acids and bases of the same class all unite. Thus sulphur acids
unite with sulphur bases; oxygen acids with oxygen bases, &c.
The animal and vegetable kingdoms present a still more tempting field
of investigation. Animal and vegetable substances may be arranged
under three classes, acids, alkalies, and neutrals. The class of acids
presents many substances of great utility, either in the arts, or for
seasoning food. The alkalies contain almost all the powerful medicines
that are drawn from the vegetable kingdom. The neutral bodies are
important as articles of food, and are applied, too, to many other
purposes of first-rate utility. All these bodies are composed (chiefly,
at least) of hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, and azote; substances easily
procured abundantly at a cheap rate. Should chemists, in consequence
of the knowledge acquired by future investigations, ever arrive at the
knowledge of the mode of forming these principles from their elements
at a cheap rate, the prodigious change which such a discovery would
make upon the state of society must be at once evident. Mankind would
be, in some measure, independent of climate and situation; every thing
could be produced at pleasure in every part of the earth; and the
inhabitants of the warmer regions would no longer be the exclusive
possessors of comforts and conveniences to which those in less favoured
regions of the earth are strangers. Let the science advance for
another century with the same rapidity that it has done during the
last fifty years, and it will produce effects upon society of which
the present race can form no adequate idea. Even already some of
these effects are beginning to develop themselves;--our streets are
now illuminated with gas drawn from the bowels of the earth; and the
failure of the Greenland fishery during an unfortunate season like the
last, no longer fills us with dismay. What a change has been produced
in the country by the introduction of steam-boats! and what a still
greater improvement is at present in progress, when steam-carriages
and railroads are gradually taking the place of horses and common
roads. Distances will soon be reduced to one-half of what they are at
present; while the diminished force and increased rate of conveyance
will contribute essentially to lower the rest of our manufactures, and
enable us to enter into a successful competition with other nations.
I must say a few words upon the application of chemistry to physiology
before concluding this imperfect sketch of the present state of the
science. The only functions of the living body upon which chemistry
is calculated to throw light, are the processes of digestion,
assimilation, and secretion. The nervous system is regulated by laws
seemingly quite unconnected with chemistry and mechanics, and, in
the present state of our knowledge, perfectly inscrutable. Even in
the processes of digestion, assimilation, and secretion, the nervous
influence is important and essential. Hence even of these functions
our notions are necessarily very imperfect; but the application of
chemistry supplies us with some data at least, which are too important
to be altogether neglected.
The food of man consists of solids and liquids, and the quantity of
each taken by different individuals is so various, that no general
average can be struck. I think that the drink will, in most cases,
exceed the solid food in nearly the proportion of 4 to 3; but the solid
food itself contains not less than 7-10ths of its weight of water. In
reality, then, the quantity of liquid taken into the stomach is to that
of solid matter as 10 to 1. The food is introduced into the mouth,
comminuted by the teeth, and mixed up with the saliva into a kind of
pulp.
The saliva is a liquid expressly secreted for this purpose, and the
quantity certainly does not fall short of ten ounces in the twenty-four
hours: indeed I believe it exceeds that amount: it is a liquid almost
as colourless as water, slightly viscid, and without taste or smell:
it contains about 3/1000 of its weight of a peculiar matter, which is
transparent and soluble in water: it has suspended in it about 1·4/1000
of its weight of mucus; and in solution, about 2·8/1000 of common salt
and soda: the rest is water.
From the mouth the food passes into the stomach, where it is changed
to a kind of pap called chyme. The nature of the food can readily be
distinguished after mastication; but when converted into _chyme_, it
loses its characteristic properties. This conversion is produced by
the action of the eighth pair of nerves, which are partly distributed
on the stomach; for when they are cut, the process is stopped: but
if a current of electricity, by means of a small voltaic battery, be
made to pass through the stomach, the process goes on as usual. Hence
the process is obviously connected with the action of electricity. A
current of electricity, by means of the nerves, seems to pass through
the food in the stomach, and to decompose the common salt which is
always mixed with the food. The muriatic acid is set at liberty, and
dissolves the food; for _chyme_ seems to be simply a solution of the
food in muriatic acid.
The chyme passes through the pyloric orifice of the stomach into the
duodenum, the first of the small intestines, where it is mixed with two
liquids, the bile, secreted by the liver, and the pancreatic juice,
secreted by the pancreas, and both discharged into the duodenum to
assist in the further digestion of the food. The chyme is always acid;
but after it has been mixed with the bile, the acidity disappears. The
characteristic constituent of the bile is a bitter-tasted substance
called _picromel_, which has the property of combining with muriatic
acid, and forming with it an insoluble compound. The pancreatic juice
also contains a peculiar matter, to which chlorine communicates a red
colour. The use of the pancreatic juice is not understood.
During the passage of the chyme through the small intestines it is
gradually separated into two substances; the _chyle_, which is absorbed
by the lacteals, and the excrementitious matter, which is gradually
protruded along the great intestines, and at last evacuated. The chyle,
in animals that live on vegetable food, is semitransparent, colourless,
and without smell; but in those that use animal food it is white,
slightly similar to milk, with a tint of pink. When left exposed to
the air it coagulates as blood does. The coagulum is _fibrin_. The
liquid portion contains _albumen_, and the usual salts that exist in
the blood. Thus the chyle contains two of the constituents of blood;
namely, _albumen_, which perhaps may be formed in the stomach, and
_fibrin_, which is formed in the small intestines. It still wants the
third constituent of blood, namely, the _red_ globules.
From the lacteals the chyle passes into the thoracic duct; thence into
the left subclavian vein, by which it is conveyed to the heart. From
the heart it passes into the lungs, during its circulation through
which the _red globules_ are supposed to be formed, though of this we
have no direct evidence.
The lungs are the organs of _breathing_, a function so necessary
to hot-blooded animals, that it cannot be suspended, even for a
few minutes, without occasioning death. In general, about twenty
inspirations, and as many expirations, are made in a minute. The
quantity of air which the lungs of an ordinary sized man can contain,
when fully distended, is about 300 cubic inches. But the quantity
actually drawn in and thrown out, during ordinary inspirations and
expirations, amounts to about sixteen cubic inches each time.
In ordinary cases the volume of air is not sensibly altered by
respiration; but it undergoes two remarkable changes. A portion of its
oxygen is converted into carbonic acid gas, and the air expired is
saturated with humidity at the temperature of 98°. The moisture thus
given out amounts to about seven ounces troy, or very little short
of half an avoirdupois pound. The quantity of carbonic acid formed
varies much in different individuals, and also at different times in
the day; being a maximum at twelve o'clock at noon, and a minimum at
midnight. Perhaps four of carbonic acid, in every 100 cubic inches of
air breathed, may be a tolerable approach to the truth; that is to say,
that every six respirations produce four cubic inches of carbonic acid.
This would amount to 19,200 cubic inches in twenty-four hours. Now
the weight of 19,200 cubic inches of carbonic acid gas is 18·98 troy
ounces, which contain rather more than five troy ounces of carbon.
These alterations in the air are doubtless connected with
corresponding alterations in the blood, though with respect to the
specific nature of these alterations we are ignorant. But there
are two purposes which respiration answers, the nature of which we
can understand, and which seem to afford a reason why it cannot be
interrupted without death. It serves to develop the _animal heat_,
which is so essential to the continuance of life; and it gives the
blood the property of stimulating the heart; without which it would
cease to contract, and put an end to the circulation of the blood.
This stimulating property is connected with the scarlet colour which
the blood acquires during respiration; for when the scarlet colour
disappears the blood ceases to stimulate the heart.
The temperature of the human body in a state of health is about 98°
in this country; but in the torrid zone it is a little higher. Now as
we are almost always surrounded by a medium colder than 98°, it is
obvious that the human body is constantly giving out heat; so that
if it did not possess the power of generating heat, it is clear that
its temperature would soon sink as low as that of the surrounding
atmosphere.
It is now generally understood that common combustion is nothing else
than the union of oxygen gas with the burning body. The substances
commonly employed as combustibles are composed chiefly of carbon and
hydrogen. The heat evolved is proportional to the oxygen gas which
unites with these bodies. And it has been ascertained that every 3¾
cub¾ic inches of oxygen which combine with carbon or hydrogen occasion
the evolution of 1° of heat.
There are reasons for believing that not only carbon but also hydrogen
unite with oxygen in the lungs, and that therefore both carbonic acid
and water are formed in that organ. And from the late experiments
of M. Dupretz it is clear that the heat evolved in a given time, by
a hot-blooded animal, is very little short of the heat that would be
evolved by the combustion of the same weight of carbon and hydrogen
consumed during that time in the lungs. Hence it follows that the heat
evolved in the lungs is the consequence of the union of the oxygen of
the air with the carbon and hydrogen of the blood, and that the process
is perfectly analogous to combustion.
The specific heat of arterial blood is somewhat greater than that of
venous blood. Hence the reason why the temperature of the lungs does
not become higher by breathing, and why the temperature of the other
parts of the body are kept up by the circulation.
The blood seems to be completed in the kidneys. It consists essentially
of albumen, fibrin, and the red globules, with a considerable quantity
of water, holding in solution certain salts which are found equally
in all the animal fluids. It is employed during the circulation in
supplying the waste of the system, and in being manufactured into all
the different secretions necessary for the various functions of the
living body. By these different applications of it we cannot doubt that
its nature undergoes very great changes, and that it would soon become
unfit for the purposes of the living body were there not an organ
expressly destined to withdraw the redundant and useless portions of
that liquid, and to restore it to the same state that it was in when
it left the lungs. These organs are the _kidneys_; through which all
the blood passes, and during its circulation through which the urine is
separated from it and withdrawn altogether from the body. These organs
are as necessary for the continuance of life as the lungs themselves;
accordingly, when they are diseased or destroyed, death very speedily
ensues.
The quantity of urine voided daily is very various; though, doubtless,
it bears a close relation to that of the drink. It is nearly but not
quite equal to the amount of the drink; and is seldom, in persons who
enjoy health, less than 2 lbs. avoirdupois in twenty-four hours. Urine
is one of the most complex substances in the animal kingdom, containing
a much greater number of ingredients than are to be found in the blood
from which it is secreted.
The water in urine voided daily amounts to about 1·866lbs. The blood
contains no acid except a little muriatic. But in urine we find
sulphuric, phosphoric, and uric acids, and sometimes oxalic and nitric
acids, and perhaps also some others. The quantity of sulphuric acid
may be about forty-eight grains daily, containing nineteen grains of
sulphur. The phosphoric acid about thirty-three grains, containing
about fourteen grains of phosphorus. The uric acid may amount to
fourteen grains. These acids are in combination with potash, or soda,
or ammonia, and also with a very little lime and magnesia. The common
salt evacuated daily in the urine amounts to about sixty-two grains.
The urea, a peculiar substance found only in the urine, amounts perhaps
to as much as 420 grains.
It would appear from these facts that the kidneys possess the property
of converting the sulphur and phosphorus, which are known to exist in
the blood, into acids, and likewise of forming other acids and urea.
The quantity of water thrown out of the system by the urine and lungs
is scarcely equal to the amount of liquid daily consumed along with the
food. But there is another organ which has been ascertained to throw
out likewise a considerable quantity of moisture, this organ is the
skin; and the process is called _perspiration_. From the experiments of
Lavoisier and Seguin it appears that the quantity of moisture given out
daily by the skin amounts to 54·89 ounces: this added to the quantity
evolved from the lungs and the urine considerably exceeds the weight of
liquid taken with the food, and leaves no doubt that water as well as
carbonic acid must be formed in the lungs during respiration.
Such is an imperfect sketch of the present state of that department of
physiology which is most intimately connected with Chemistry. It is
amply sufficient, short as it is, to satisfy the most careless observer
how little progress has hitherto been made in these investigations; and
what an extensive field remains yet to be traversed by future observers.
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Transcriber's Notes
Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Other
variations in spelling and punctuation remain unchanged.
Several elements are represented by symbols in the original. They have
been replaced by the name of the element within [] thus - [hydrogen].
In chapter VI the final numeral in several of the decimal numbers is
surmounted by a point. These are shown thus 1·111[.1].
Italics are represented thus _italic_.