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177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
126
In
Chapter
VI.,
I
said
that
when
an
alchemist
boiled
water
in
an
open
vessel,
and
obtained
a
white
earthy
solid,
in
place
of
the
water
which
disappeared,
he
was
producing
some
sort
of
experimental
proof
of
the
justness
of
his
assertion
that
water
can
be
changed
into
earth.
Lavoisier
began
his
work
on
the
transformations
of
matter
by
demonstrating
that
this
alleged
transmutation
does
not
happen;
and
he
did
this
by
weighing
the
water,
the
vessel,
and
the
earthy
solid.
Lavoisier
had
constructed
for
him
a
pelican
of
white
glass
(see
Fig.
XI.,
p.
88),
with
a
stopper
of
glass.
He
cleaned,
dried,
and
weighed
this
vessel;
then
he
put
into
it
rain-water
which
he
had
distilled
eight
times;
he
heated
the
vessel,
removing
the
stopper
from
time
to
time
to
allow
the
expanding
air
to
escape,
then
put
in
the
stopper,
allowed
the
vessel
to
cool,
and
weighed
very
carefully.
The
difference
between
the
second
and
the
first
weighing
was
the
weight
of
water
in
the
vessel.
He
then
fastened
the
stopper
securely
with
cement,
and
kept
the
apparatus
at
a
temperature
about
30°
or
40°
below
that
of
boiling
water,
for
a
hundred
and
one
days.
At
the
end
of
that
time
a
fine
white
solid
had
collected
on
the
bottom
of
the
vessel.
Lavoisier
removed
the
cement
from
the
stopper,
and
weighed
the
apparatus;
the
weight
was
the
same
as
it
had
been
before
the
heating
began.
He
removed
the
stopper;
air
rushed
in,
with
a
hissing
noise.
Lavoisier
concluded
that
air
had
not
penetrated
through
the
apparatus
during
the
process
of
heating.
He
then
poured
out
the
water,
and
the
solid
which
had
formed
in
the
vessel,
set
them
aside,
dried,
and
weighed
the
pelican;
it
had
lost
17-4/10
grains.
Lavoisier
concluded
that
the
solid
which
had
formed
in
the
water
was
produced
by
the
solvent
action
of
the
water
on
the
glass
vessel.
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