The chemical catechism, with notes, illustrations, and experiments / By Samuel Parkes.

  • Samuel Parkes
Date:
1810
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The chemical catechism, with notes, illustrations, and experiments / By Samuel Parkes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    poisons upon the system be in these days well understood, nothing but a knowledge of chemistry can enable the practitioner to administer such me- dicines as will counteract their baneful effects. If we look to the manufactures cf the king* dom, there is scarcely one of any consequence that does not depend upon chemistry, for its establishment, its improvement, or for its success- ful and beneficial practice. In order to see the connexion which subsists between chemistry and the arts, it will be necessary to take a short view of the principal trades which are carried on in these kingdoms. One of the staple manufactures of the country is that of iron: and it will be found that, from the smelting of the ore to the conversion of it into steel, every operation is the effect of chemical affinities. In the first place, it requires no small share of che- mical knowledge, to be able to appreciate theta/we of the different ores, and to erect such furnaces tor their reduction as may be contrived in the best possible manner for facilitating their fusion, and for producing good pigs. The subsequent processes tain. Metals are devoid of activity in a metallic stale j but when converted into oxides they become poisonous and corrosive, ac- cording to the portion of oxygen combined with them. Thus the gray and the white oxides of mercury are only purgative or alterative ; while the red oxide is a corrosive poison. Decoctions of hark, having a great affinity for oxygen, have been given to counteract an over dose of antimonial powder, and have pro- duced the desired effect.
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