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177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
111
The
phlogistic
theory
regarded
the
calcination
of
a
metal
as
the
separation
of
it
into
two
things,
unlike
the
metal,
and
unlike
each
other;
one
of
these
things
was
phlogiston,
the
other
was
an
earth-like
residue.
The
theory
thought
of
the
re-formation
of
a
metal
from
its
calx,
that
is,
the
earthy
substance
which
remains
after
combustion,
as
the
combination
of
two
things
to
produce
one,
apparently
homogeneous,
substance.
Metals
appeared
to
the
phlogisteans,
as
they
appeared
to
the
alchemists,
to
be
composite
substances.
Processes
of
burning
were
regarded
by
alchemists
and
phlogisteans
alike,
as
processes
of
simplification.
The
fact
had
been
noticed
and
recorded,
during
the
middle
ages,
that
the
earth-like
matter
which
remains
when
a
metal
is
calcined
is
heavier
than
the
metal
itself.
From
this
fact,
modern
investigators
of
natural
phenomena
would
draw
the
conclusion,
that
calcination
of
a
metal
is
an
addition
of
something
to
the
metal,
not
a
separation
of
the
metal
into
different
things.
It
seems
impossible
to
us
that
a
substance
should
be
separated
into
portions,
and
one
of
these
parts
should
weigh
as
much
as,
or
more
than,
the
whole.
The
exact
investigation
of
material
changes
called
chemistry
rests
on
the
statement
that
mass,
and
mass
is
practically
measured
by
weight,
is
the
one
property
of
what
we
call
matter,
the
determination
whereof
enables
us
to
decide
whether
a
change
is
a
combination,
or
coalescence,
of
different
things,
or
a
separation
of
one
thing
into
parts.
That
any
part
of
a
material
system
can
be
removed
without
the
weight
of
the
portion
which
remains
being
less
than
the
original
weight
of
the
whole
system,
is
unthinkable,
in
the
present
state
of
our
knowledge
of
material
changes.
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