THE RISE OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY
Physics and Chemistry are twin sisters—daughters of Natural Philosophy;
like Juno’s swans, coupled and inseparable. Physics is concerned
with the forms of energy which affect matter; chemistry with the
study of matter so affected. Each, then, is complementary to the
other. Philosophers of old drew no practical distinction between
them, at least as regards their own studies. Men like Boyle, Black,
Cavendish, Lavoisier, Dalton, Faraday, Graham, Bunsen, were pioneers
“on a very broad gauge,” pushing their inquiries into territories
common to the two branches as their genius or inclinations directed
them. Accordingly, it has happened that many so-called physical laws
have been discovered by men who were professed chemists. It has also
happened that men who began their scientific career as chemists, like
Dalton, Regnault, and Magnus, eventually gave the whole of their
energies to physical measurements; or, like Black, Faraday, and
Graham, devoted themselves to the elucidation of physical problems. As
certain of these physical laws and problems have greatly influenced
the progress of chemistry, it becomes necessary, in any historical
treatment of the subject, to give some account of their origin, and to
show how they affected the development of chemical theory.
The relations of heat to chemical phenomena are so obvious and so
intimate that the study of their connection necessarily attracted
attention in very early times. But it was only when this study became
quantitative that any important generalisations became possible.
Most quantitative estimations of heat depend eventually upon the
thermometer; and thermometry is indebted to Englishmen in the first
instance for attempts to render the instrument trustworthy.
In this connection may be mentioned the names of Newton and Shuckburgh.
Brooke Taylor, in 1723, made a special study of the mercurial
thermometer as a measurer of temperature. In other words, he sought
to discover whether equal differences of expansion or contraction of
mercury corresponded to equal additions or abstractions of heat. The
results showed that the principle of the mercurial thermometer is valid
within at least the limits of temperature between the boiling and
freezing-points of water. These experiments were subsequently repeated
and confirmed by Cavendish, and, independently, by Black.
The discovery of the phenomenon of _latent heat_ by Black some time
prior to 1760 marks an epoch in the history of science. It was then for
the first time clearly recognised that the state of aggregation of a
substance is associated with a definite thermal quantity, and that, in
order to effect a change, a definite amount of energy, in the form of
heat, must be employed. The quantitative connection that exists between
work and energy was thus foreshadowed.
The doctrine of _specific heat_ was taught by Black in his lectures
at Glasgow between 1761 and 1765. The subject was subsequently
investigated experimentally by Irvine between 1765 and 1770, and by
Crawford in 1779. A series of determinations was published in 1781 by
Wilcke, in the _Transactions_ of the Swedish Academy. In these the
term _specific caloric_, since changed to _specific heat_, was first
used. About this time the determination of the amount of heat required
to raise substances through a definite interval of temperature was
made the subject of experiment by many observers, notably by Lavoisier
and Laplace, who greatly improved the calorimetric arrangements. The
values they obtained long remained the most trustworthy estimations of
the specific heats of substances. Their joint research had a further
influence on the development of thermo-chemistry by indicating the
general experimental conditions which were needed to ensure accuracy
in such determinations. Lavoisier and Laplace also measured, in
1782–1783, the heat disengaged by the combustion of substances, and
that evolved during respiration. In 1819 Dulong and Petit pointed out
that the specific heat of a number of substances, more particularly the
metals, were inversely proportional to their atomic weights; or, in
other words, the product of the specific heat into the atomic weight
was a constant. The nature of the relation will be seen from the
following table of certain of the results obtained by Dulong and Petit:—
Element. At. wt. Spec. heat. Atomic heat.
Bismuth 208 0.0288 6.0
Lead 207 0.0293 6.0
Gold 197 0.0298 5.8
Platinum 195 0.0314 6.1
Silver 108 0.0570 6.1
Copper 63 0.0952 6.0
Iron 56 0.1138 6.4
It will be seen that these various elements have an uniform, or nearly
uniform, atomic heat—approximately 6.2 on the average.
This would appear to prove that, as Dulong and Petit expressed
it, “the atoms of simple substances have equal capacities for
heat.” The variations from a constant value are due partly to
errors of observation, but more particularly to the circumstance
that the substances compared are not all in a strictly comparable
condition—_e.g._, they are not all equally remote from their melting
points. It was shown, moreover, that the amount of heat needed to raise
a substance through a definite interval of temperature increased with
the temperature. The range of temperature through which a determination
was made in a particular instance affected, therefore, the value of
the specific heat. The most noteworthy departures from a uniform value
were observed to occur among the metalloids—_e.g._, carbon, the various
modifications of which had different specific heats—and generally among
elements of low atomic weight, in which the variation of specific heat
with temperature was particularly rapid.
Nevertheless, the significance of the generalisation discovered by
Dulong and Petit, in spite of its limitations, was quickly appreciated,
as it was perceived that a knowledge of the specific heat of an element
might be of great value in determining its atomic weight. The immediate
effect was that a certain number of the atomic weights fixed by
Berzelius mainly on chemical considerations were required to be halved.
Although subsequent experience has proved that the law of Dulong and
Petit is not capable of the simple mathematical expression they gave
it, it has shown itself to be of great value in fixing doubtful atomic
weights.
=Pierre Louis Dulong= was born in 1785 at Rouen, and, after studying
chemistry and physics at the Polytechnic School at Paris, became its
Professor of Chemistry and subsequently its Professor of Physics.
In 1830 he was made its Director of Studies; and in 1832 he became
permanent Secretary of the Academy of Sciences. As a young man he
worked with Berzelius, with whom he made the first approximately
accurate determination of the gravimetric composition of water. In
1811 he discovered the highly explosive _nitrogen chloride_, in the
investigation of which he was severely injured, losing an eye and
several fingers. He died in 1838. His collaborator, =Alexis Therese
Petit=, was born in 1791 at Vesoul, and died, when holding the position
of Professor of Physics at the Lycée Bonaparte, in 1820.
The attempt made by Neumann to extend Dulong and Petit’s “law” to
compound substances was only partially successful. Nor has any
important generalisation followed from our knowledge of the specific
heat of liquids. Almost simultaneously with the publication of Dulong
and Petit’s “law,” Mitscherlich made known the fact that similarity
in chemical constitution is frequently accompanied by identity of
crystalline form. Boyle, as far back as the middle of the seventeenth
century, had insisted upon the importance of the forms of crystals
in throwing light upon the internal structure of bodies. Romé de
l’Isle and Hauy had remarked that many different substances had the
same crystalline form. It had been observed that a crystal of potash
alum would continue to grow and preserve its shape in a solution of
ammonia alum; and similar observations had been shown to occur in
the case of vitriols. The invention of the reflecting goniometer by
Wollaston greatly facilitated the investigation of such phenomena.
Mitscherlich showed that the phosphates and arseniates of analogous
composition had the same crystalline shape, or, in other words, were
isomorphous. The same fact was observed to occur in the case of the
analogously constituted sulphates and selenates, and in that of the
oxides of magnesium and zinc, etc. The value of isomorphous relations
in determining the group-relationships of the elements and in deducing
the composition of salts was at once recognised by Berzelius, who
styled the discovery of isomorphism by his pupil Mitscherlich as “the
most important since the establishment of the doctrine of chemical
proportions.” The quantities of the isomorphously replacing elements in
a compound were regarded by him as a measure of their atomic weights;
and the principle was subsequently constantly employed by him, whenever
possible, as a criterion in fixing their values. Other investigators
have followed his example in this respect; and isomorphism is still
regarded as an important consideration in establishing the genetic
relations of an element.
=Eilhard Mitscherlich=, the son of a minister, was born in 1794 at
Neu Ende, near Jever, in Oldenburg, and, after studying philology
and oriental languages at Heidelberg, went to Paris, and thence to
Göttingen, where he occupied himself with natural science. In 1818
he repaired to Berlin and commenced to work on the arseniates and
phosphates, the similarity in the crystal-forms of which he was the
first to detect. His friend Gustav Rose, the mineralogist, thereupon
instructed him in the methods of crystallography; to enable him to
verify his discovery and to establish it by goniometric measurements.
In 1821 he joined Berzelius at Stockholm, where he pursued his
inquiries on the connection between crystal-form and chemical
composition. It was at the suggestion of Berzelius that he adopted the
term “isomorphy” to express this connection—the mechanical consequence
of identity of atomic constitution. In the same year he was appointed
Klaproth’s successor in Berlin, where he died in 1863.
Mitscherlich also worked on the manganates and permanganates, on
selenic acid, on benzene and its derivatives, and on the artificial
production of minerals.
The study of the physical phenomena of gases, initiated in 1660
by Boyle’s discovery of the law of gaseous pressure, has greatly
contributed to our knowledge of their intrinsic nature. Boyle himself
only proved his law in the case of atmospheric air; but the observation
was subsequently (1676) generalised by Marriotte. Charles, Dalton,
and Gay Lussac independently showed that gases have the same rate of
thermal expansion.
That gases are made up of particles possessing an internal movement was
surmised by the Greeks; but experimental evidence for such a view of
their constitution was first presented by Thomas Graham in 1829–1831,
when he discovered that gases move, or are diffused, at rates inversely
proportional to the square roots of their densities. Observations of a
like character, which found their explanation in Graham’s discovery,
had previously been made by Priestley, Döbereiner, and Saussure. This
interchange in the position of their particles is a property inherent
in gases. Inequality of density is not essential to diffusion. Graham
proved this by connecting together two vessels, one containing nitrogen
and the other carbonic oxide, which have the same density. After the
expiration of a certain time both gases were found to be uniformly
diffused through the vessels.
How these laws were found to be interdependent and mutually connected,
and how they led up to a molecular theory of gases which serves
to explain them, as well as certain other gaseous phenomena to be
subsequently noted, will be shown in the second part of this work.
By the end of the period with which we are concerned—that is, the
middle of the nineteenth century—a considerable body of information had
been accumulated as to the conditions which determine the different
states of aggregation of matter—that is, the conditions which allow of
the passage of the gaseous state into that of the liquid, and of the
liquid into that of the solid. That the same substance was capable of
existence in the three states of gas, liquid, and solid was of course
evident from the case of water. Even the most primitive races must
have realised that steam, dew, rain, snow, hail, and ice were only
modifications of one and the same substance. As knowledge increased,
other substances came to be known which resembled water in their
capacity for existence in various physical states. It was but natural
to assume that this was a general attribute, and that all substances
would, sooner or later, be found capable of existence in each of the
different conditions of aggregation.
Attempts were made during the first quarter of the last century to
prove that all the æriform bodies then known were simply vapours
more or less remote from their point of liquefaction, and still
further removed from their point of congelation. Monge and Clouet
condensed sulphur dioxide some time before 1800; and Northmore,
in 1805, liquefied chlorine. But these observations attracted
little attention until Faraday, in 1823, independently effected the
liquefaction of chlorine, and Davy that of hydrochloric acid. Faraday
almost immediately afterwards liquefied sulphur dioxide, sulphuretted
hydrogen, carbon dioxide, euchlorine, nitrous oxide, cyanogen, and
ammonia.
Other experimenters, among whom may be mentioned Thilorier and
Natterer, greatly improved the mechanical appliances for liquefying
these gases; liquid carbonic acid and nitrous oxide were obtained
in considerable quantities, and employed in the production of cold.
Certain of the gases—hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, nitric oxide, carbonic
oxide, etc.—resisted all attempts to liquefy them; and hence gaseous
substances came to be classified as _permanent_ and _non-permanent_,
depending upon whether they could or could not be liquefied. The
division was felt to be irrational even at the time it was made. There
seemed no _à priori_ reason why carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide should
be liquefiable, while carbonic oxide and nitric oxide should resist
all attempts to coerce them into changing their state. The real clue
to the conditions required to effect the liquefaction of a gas was
not discovered until nearly half a century later, when, as will be
shown subsequently, the arbitrary division of gases into permanent and
non-permanent was swept away.
The discovery of the law of gaseous combination by Gay Lussac, and the
recognition by Ampère and Avogadro of the relation between the density
of a gas or a vapour and its atomic weight, early led to improvements
in the methods of determining the absolute weights of gases and
vapours, especially by French chemists. Both Gay Lussac and Dumas
devised processes for determining vapour densities which were in use
until late in the century, and which, although now superseded by more
convenient and more rapid modifications afforded valuable information
concerning the molecular weights of substances and the phenomena of
gaseous dissociation.
During the first decade of the nineteenth century Dalton and Henry
discovered the simple law which connects pressure with the solubility
of a gas in any solvent upon which it exerts no specific action. Dalton
further developed the law so as to include the absorption by a solvent
of the several constituents of a gaseous mixture.
Attempts were made by Schröder, Kopp, and others, to discover
relations between the weights of unit volumes of liquids and solids
and their chemical nature; but such attempts were only partially
successful, owing to the difficulty of finding valid conditions
of comparison. By comparing the specific gravities of liquids
at their boiling-points Kopp succeeded in detecting a number of
regularities among their specific volumes which seem to indicate that
a comprehensive generalisation connecting them may yet be discovered.
Kopp has also shown that regularities exist among the boiling-points
of correlated substances, and that there is an interdependence between
the temperature of their ebullition and the chemical characters of
compounds.
This short summary will suffice to show that attempts to discover
relations between the physical attributes of substances and their
chemical nature were made more or less sporadically from the time
that chemistry was pursued in the spirit of science. But it is only
in recent times that any great accession to knowledge has resulted
from such efforts. The science of physical chemistry is practically a
creation of our own period. Its systematic study may be said to date
only from the last quarter of the nineteenth century, since which time
it has made extraordinary progress. Its broad features will be dealt
with in the second volume of this work.
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INDEX
Æneas Garæus, 35
Agricola, Georg, 66
Aidoneous, god of earth, 22
Albertus Magnus, 40, 47
Alchemy, 28
and astrology, 36
its character, 39
Alkahest, 51
Anastatius the Sinaite, 35
Anaxagoras, 26
Anaximenes, 21
_Aqua regia_, 39
Arabian learning, influence on Western Europe, 25
Archæus, 59
_Argentarium_, 10
_Argentum vivum_, 11
Aristotle, his doctrine of “elements”, 23
his character as a man of science, 24
Arnoldus Villanovanus (Arnaud de Villeneuve), 42, 47, 48, 51
Arvidson, 155
_Arrenichon_, 13
_Ars Transmutatoria_, 46
Artephius, 49
Astrology and alchemy, 36
Atoms, ancient theories of, 26
_Atramentum_, 14
_Aurichalcum_, 9
_Auri pigmentum_ (orpiment), 13
Averroes, 25, 38
Avicenna, 38
Avogadro, 181
Bacon, Roger, 40, 41
Bacon, Lord, 55
Baldwin’s phosphorus, 80
Bartoletti, Fabrizio, 155
Basil Valentine, 43, 47, 49, 156
Bathurst, Ralph, 74
Becher, John Joachim, 81, 156
Benther, David, alchemist, 53
Bergman, 94, 107, 124, 158, 160
Berigard de Pisa, 48
Berthollet, Claude-Louis, 116 _et seq._, 156, 160, 164
Berthelot, 37
Berzelius, Jöns Jakob, 133, 156, 159, 160, 164
Black, Joseph, 98 _et seq._, 171
Bochart, 4
Boerhaave, 3–20, 35, 42, 49, 51, 106
his life and work, 84 _et seq._
Bolim, 160
Borri, 53
_Botryitis_, 12
Bouillon-Lagrange, 158
Boullay, 162, 167
Boyle, Robert 20, 72 _et seq._, 107, 113, 155, 157, 159, 175, 177
Bragadino, alchemist, 53
Brooke Taylor, 171
Brugnatelli, 158, 161
_Cadmia_, 12
_Cœruleum_, 12
Caligula, 34
_Carbunculus_, 48
Cardan, 110
Cavendish, 94, 102 _et seq._, 107, 171
Caventou, 162
Cerium, its discovery, 121
_Cerussa_, 10
_usta_, 12
_Chalcantum_ (copper sulphate), 12
Charles, 178
Chalybes, smelters of iron, 11
Chemistry of the ancients, 1
Chenevix, 157
Chevreul, 54, 162
Chlorine, discovery of, 107
Chromium, discovery of, 120
_Chrysocolla_, 12
Cinnabar, use as pigment, 13
Clouet, 180
Clytemius, John, 54
Cobalt, discovered by Brandt, 107
Combining proportion, 129
Conservation of matter, 113
Conringius, Hermann, 51
Copper, Egyptian, 8
Roman, 9
Cordus Valerius, 69
Crawford, 107, 172
Croll, Oswald, 65
Cronstedt, 107
Cyanogen, discovery of, 151
Dalton, 125 _et seq._, 178, 181
Davy, 29, 141
Dee, John, 53
Delambre, 116
Demokritos, 26
_De Re Metallica_, 66
Derosne, 157
Dickinson, 50
Diodorus Siculus, 7
Dioscorides, 156, 160
Döbereiner, 155, 162, 167
Dorn, 60
Duchesne, 61
Duhamel, 98, 157
Dumas, 162, 167, 168, 181
Dulong, 158, 173, 174
Dyeing by the Egyptians, 14
Egypt, birthplace of chemistry, 1
_Electrum_, 8
_Elementa Chemia_, 87
“Elements,” Aristotelian, qualities of, 23
_Elephantinum_, 14
Elixir, 32
Eller, 94
Empedokles, 23
Erastius, Thomas, 51
Equivalent, 129
_Fæx vini_, 137
Fischer, G. E., 124
Flos æris, 12
Fourcroy, 112, 118, 155, 158, 161, 162
Frankland, 168
Gahn, 108
_Gas sylvestre_, 63
Gay Lussac, 150, 155, 161, 164, 167, 178, 181
Geber, 36
theory of metals, 37, 156
Generation of metals, 33
Geoffroy, 106
Gerhardt, 168
Glass, known to the ancients, 15
Glauber, Johann Rudolf, 68
Glucinum, its discovery, 120
Gmelin, L. 161
Gold, extraction by ancients, 7
Goulard, 157
Gomes, 161
Göttling, 156
Graham, Thomas, 178
Gresham College, 74
Gualdo, 49
Guyton de Morveau, 112, 160
_Hæmatinon_, 15
Hales, Stephen, 89
“Harmonics,” Paracelsian, 61
Hauy, 176
Hellot, 108
Helmont, John Baptist van, 63
Helvetius, 48
Hennel, 155
Henry, 181
Herakleitos, 21
Here, god of air, 22
Hermbstädt, 158
Hermes Trismegistus, 4, 33
“Hermes of Germany, the”, 52
Hoffmann, 106
Homberg, William, 84
Houton-Labillardière, 158
Howard, 161
_Hyalos_, use of, for kindling fire, 15
_Hydrargyrum_, 11
Iatro-chemistry, 57
Ink of the ancients, 14
Ingenhousz, 21
Invisible College, the, 74
Iron, use of, by the ancients, 10
Irvine, 172
Isaac of Holland, 49
Isomerism, 165
Isomorphism, discovery of, 176
“Kalid,” his philosopher’s stone, 48
_Key of Wisdom_, 53
Kircher, 51
Kirchhoff, 162
Kirwan, 113
Klaproth, 120, 160
Klettenberg, Hector de, 54
Kopp, 181
Krohnemann, William de, 53
Kunkel, John, 51, 79
_Laboratorium Chymicum_, 80
_Lac Virginis_, 157
Lagrange, 116
Laplace, 172
Latent heat, 99, 172
Lauraquais, 155
Laurent, 168
Lavoisier, 20, 22, 109
antiphlogistic theory, 112, 116, 156, 164, 166, 173
Law of Dulong and Petit, 173, 174
Law of electrolytic action, 153
Lead, known to the ancients, 10
Leblanc, 108
Lehmann, 159
Lemery, Nicolas, 83, 154, 156
Leo Africanus, 36
Leukippos, 26
Libavius, Andreas (Libau), 62, 155, 157
Lieber, Thomas, 65
Liebig, 155, 156, 159, 164, 167
Löwiz, 156
Lucretius, 26, 27
Lully, Raymund, 41, 47, 49
Macquer, 98
Magistery, grand, 48
small, 48
_Magnesia alba_, nature of, 107
Manganese, discovery of, 107
Marggraf, 95, 107, 108, 157
Marie Ziglerin burnt, 53
Martian preparations, 37
Marriotte, 178
Maternus, Julius Firmicus, 35
Mayerne, Turquet de, 65
Mayow, John, 82 _et seq._
Medicine and Astrology, 58
_Melinum_, 13–14
Menethes Sibonita, 3
“Mercury,” as “element”, 31
Mercury, receipt for fixing, 50
Metallurgy of the ancients, 7
Metals of the phlogistians, 104
Minderer, Raymond, 157
_Minium_, 12
Mitscherlich, 159, 175, 176, 177
_Molybdena_, 12
Monge, 180
Monro, Donald, 159
Mordants, Egyptian, 15
Mundamus, 43
Mynsicht, Adrian van, 65, 158
Narcotine, 161
_Natron_, used as a detergent, 16
Natterer, 180
Nestis, god of water, 22
Neumann, 94, 175
_New System of Chemical Philosophy_, Dalton’s, 129
Nickel, discovery of, 107
Nitrogen, discovery of, 107
Northmore, 180
_Œrugo_, 12
Oil of wine, 155
_Okeanos_, 19
Oleus Borrichius, 33
Olimpiodorus, 35
_Onychitis_, 12
Operinus, 60
_Ostracitis_, 12
Oxides, metallic, used by ancients to colour glass 15
Oxygen, its discovery, 105
influence of, on chemistry, 105
Palissy, Bernard, 67
Paracelsus, 40, 48, 57
_Paratonium_, 13
Pelletier, 162
Peligot, 162
Peripatetic philosophy, influence on science, 24
Petit, Alexis Therese, 173, 175
Pherekides, 21
_Philosophia Orientalis_, 38
Philosopher’s Stone, 32, 46, 49
Philosophical egg, 33
Phlogistonism, 95 _et seq._
Phosphorus, discovery of, 80, 107
_Placitis_, 12
Platinum, discovery of, 107
Plato’s doctrine of “elements”, 23
Pliny, 156
_Plumbum album_, 10
_nigrum_, 10
Pope John XXII., alchemist, 46
Porret, 160
Pott, 94, 95, 159
Price, James of Guildford, 54
Priestley, Joseph, 20, 22
his life and work, 99 _et seq._
Proust, Joseph Louis, 121
Purple of Cassius, 81
_Purpurissum_, 13
Quintessence of philosophers, 32
Raquetaillade, Jean de, 43
Realgar, 13
Reaumur, 108
Rey, 110
Rhazes, 38
Richter, Jeremiah Benjamin, 124
Ripley, George, 43
Robiquet, 161, 167
Roebuck, 108
Romé de L’Isle, 176
Rose, Gustav, 177
Rosenkreutz, Christian, 55
Rouelle, 94, 106, 159
Royal Society, foundation of, 74
_Rubrica_, 13
Rupecissa, Johannes de, 43
_Saccharum plumbi quintessentiale_, 157
Sala, Angelus, 65
_Sal Armoniacum_, 44
_Sal Duplicatum_, 81
_Sal mirabile_, 68
_Sandarach_, 13
Saturnine solutions, 37
Savary, 155
Sceptical Chemist, The, 70
Scheele, 96 _et seq._, 107, 155, 158, 159, 160, 166
Schroeder, 181
_Scoria æris_, 12
Sefström, 135
Seguin, 159
Seignette, Peter, 157
Selenium, its discovery, 135
Sennert, Daniel, 65
Sertürner, 161
Severinus, 61
Silver, known to the ancients, 7
_Sinopis_, 13
Soap, manufacture by Gauls, 15
Specific heat, discovery of, 99
_Spiritus igno-aëreus_, 82
Stahl, George Ernst, 92, 156
_Stannum_, 10
_Statical Essays_ of Hales, 89
_Statique Chimique_, 117
Stephanus, 35
_Stibium_, 13
_Stimmi_, 13
Strontia, discovery of, 107
Suidas, 34
“Sulphur,” as “element”, 31
Sulzbach, 110
Sun worship, 22
Sylvius, Francis de le Boë, 64
Syncellus, 35
Tachenius, 69
Tartarus, doctrine of, 59, 157
Tellurium, discovery of, 121
_Terra pinguis_ of Becher, 92
_Tertiarium_, 10
Tertullian, 19
Thales of Miletus, 19
Thénard, 152, 164
Theophrastus, 156
The Tincture, 32
Thilorier, 180
Thomson, Thomas, 129
Thorium, its discovery, 135
Thurneysser, Leonard, 53, 60
Tin, known to the Egyptians, 9
Transmutation, 28, 30
Trommsdorff, 157
Tubal Cain (Tuval-Cain), 7
Turquet de Mayerne, 158
Tyrian purple, 14
Valentine, Basil, 43, 47, 49, 156
Van Helmont, 20, 48, 63
_Vasa murrhina_, 15
Vauquelin, 119, 155, 158, 161, 162
Verdigris, 56
Vincent de Beauvais, 50
Von Ittner, 160
Wallis, John, 74
Ward, Seth, 74
“White” gold, 7
Wilcke, 172
Willis, Thomas, 64, 74
Wöhler, 161, 163, 167
Wollaston, 144, 176
Woodward, 160
Wray, 159
Wren, Christopher, 74
Zacharias, Daniel, 49
Zozimus the Panopolite, 4
Transcriber’s Notes
Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant
preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.
Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced
quotation marks retained.
Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained; occurrences of
inconsistent hyphenation have not been changed.
Index not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page references.
Page 16: “_jeunesse d’oreé_” was printed that way, but should be
“_jeunesse dorée_”.
Page 183: “Moyenâge” was printed that way, but should be “Moyen Âge”.