An introduction to the study of chemistry / by Ira Remsen.

  • Ira Remsen
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An introduction to the study of chemistry / by Ira Remsen. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    392/410 (page 376)
    CHAPTEE XXVI. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.—NATURAL GROUPS OF ELEMENTS:—CONCLUSION. We have now studied a number of the chemical elements and the way they act upon one another. We have also made the acquaintance of a goodly number of chemical compounds, and have studied to some extent their action upon one another. We have learned that there are certain characteristics which distinguish chemical action from all other kinds of action; and that there are laws governing all cases of chemical action, as there are laws governing the motions of the heavenly bodies. These laws were discov- ered by careful study of a large number of cases. When it was found that they hold true in the cases studied, it was assumed that they hold true in all cases. The law is only a statement of what is found to be true so far as ex- amination has extended. The two fundamental laws of chemical action are the laws of definite and multiple pro- portions, but a great many more laws must be discovered before we can form any conception in regard to the real cause of chemical action. The facts which we have become acquainted with thus far show that the chemical elements differ from one another very markedly. Some, like chlo- rine, phosphorus, potassium, are extremely active; while others, like nitrogen, are inert. Some chemical reactions take place violently, others with scarcely a perceptible evo-