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177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
140
Hydrogen
has
certain
definite
properties,
oxygen
has
other
definite
properties,
and
the
properties
of
water
are
perfectly
distinct
from
those
of
either
of
the
substances
which
it
is
said
to
contain.
It
is,
therefore,
somewhat
misleading
to
say
that
water
contains
substances
the
properties
whereof,
except
their
masses,
disappeared
at
the
moment
when
they
united
and
water
was
produced.
Nevertheless
we
are
forced
to
think
of
water
as,
in
a
sense,
containing
hydrogen
and
oxygen.
For,
one
of
the
properties
of
hydrogen
is
its
power
to
coalesce,
or
combine,
with
oxygen
to
form
water,
and
one
of
the
properties
of
oxygen
is
its
ability
to
unite
with
hydrogen
to
form
water;
and
these
properties
of
those
substances
cannot
be
recognised,
or
even
suspected,
unless
certain
definite
quantities
of
the
two
substances
are
brought
together
under
certain
definite
conditions.
The
properties
which
characterise
hydrogen,
and
those
which
characterise
oxygen,
when
these
things
are
separated
from
all
other
substances,
can
be
determined
and
measured
in
terms
of
the
similar
properties
of
some
other
substance
taken
as
a
standard.
These
two
distinct
substances
disappear
when
they
are
brought
into
contact,
under
the
proper
conditions,
and
something
(water)
is
obtained
whose
properties
are
very
unlike
those
of
hydrogen
or
oxygen;
this
new
thing
can
be
caused
to
disappear,
and
hydrogen
and
oxygen
are
again
produced.
This
cycle
of
changes
can
be
repeated
as
often
as
we
please;
the
quantities
of
hydrogen
and
oxygen
which
are
obtained
when
we
choose
to
stop
the
process
are
exactly
the
same
as
the
quantities
of
those
substances
which
disappeared
in
the
first
operation
whereby
water
was
produced.
Hence,
water
is
an
intimate
union
of
hydrogen
and
oxygen;
and,
in
this
sense,
water
may
be
said
to
contain
hydrogen
and
oxygen.
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