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177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
115
By
asserting,
and
to
some
extent
experimentally
proving,
the
existence
of
one
principle
in
many
apparently
very
different
substances
(or,
as
would
be
said
to-day,
one
property
common
to
many
substances),
the
phlogistic
theory
acted
as
a
very
useful
means
for
collecting,
and
placing
in
a
favourable
position
for
closer
inspection,
many
substances
which
would
probably
have
remained
scattered
and
detached
from
one
another
had
this
theory
not
been
constructed.
A
single
assumption
was
made,
that
all
combustible
substances
are
alike
in
one
respect,
namely,
in
containing
combined
fire,
or
phlogiston;
by
the
help
of
this
assumption,
the
theory
of
phlogiston
emphasised
the
fundamental
similarity
between
all
processes
of
combustion.
The
theory
of
phlogiston
was
extraordinarily
simple,
compared
with
the
alchemical
vagaries
which
preceded
it.
Hoefer
says,
in
his
Histoire
de
la
Chimie,
"If
it
is
true
that
simplicity
is
the
distinctive
character
of
verity,
never
was
a
theory
so
true
as
that
of
Stahl."
The
phlogistic
theory
did
more
than
serve
as
a
means
for
bringing
together
many
apparently
disconnected
facts.
By
concentrating
the
attention
of
the
students
of
material
changes
on
one
class
of
events,
and
giving
descriptions
of
these
events
without
using
either
of
the
four
alchemical
Elements,
or
the
three
Principles,
Stahl,
and
those
who
followed
him,
did
an
immense
service
to
the
advancement
of
clear
thinking
about
natural
occurrences.
The
principle
of
phlogiston
was
more
tangible,
and
more
readily
used,
than
the
Salt,
Sulphur,
and
Mercury
of
the
alchemists;
and
to
accustom
people
to
speak
of
the
material
substance
which
remained
when
a
metal,
or
other
combustible
substance,
was
calcined
or
burnt,
as
one
of
the
elements
of
the
thing
which
had
been
changed,
prepared
the
way
for
the
chemical
conception
of
an
element
as
a
definite
substance
with
certain
definite
properties.
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