A syllabus of a course of lectures on chemistry, delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain / [Sir Humphry Davy].

  • Humphry Davy
Date:
1802
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A syllabus of a course of lectures on chemistry, delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain / [Sir Humphry Davy]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    sations; and the facts that represent them are classed ac» cording to the corpuscular theory. 3. Of the Corpuscular Theory. The different bodies in nature are composed of particles or minute parts, individually imperceptible to the senses. W hen these particles are similar, the bodies they constitute are denominated simple, and when they are dissimilar, com- pound. The chemical phenomena result from the different ar- rangements of the particles of bodies: and the powers that produce these arrangements are repulsion or the agency of heat, and attraction. By repulsion, the particles of bodies tend to separate from each other. By attraction, they tend to come in contact with each other. 4. Of the Power of Repulsion or Caloric. The expanding power, or the power of repulsion, is ca- pable of being communicated by the particles of one body to those of other bodies; and the laws of its communica- tion constitute the laws of temperature. See Part II. Div. I. It acts in uniform opposition to attraction ; and the pe- culiar forms of aggregation in bodies depend upon the dif- ferent agencies of these powers. Bodies exist either in the solid, fluid, or aeriform states ; and, according as they are made to receive, or communicate, the power of repulsion, they expand or contract. Solids, on a certain increase of the repulsive power of their particles, become fluids, and fluids, gases. Likewise, by a diminu- tion of repulsive power, gases become fluids, and fluids, solids. The cause of the phenomena of repulsion has been lately generally named caloric; and it is, by a number of philosophers, supposed to be a peculiar ethereal substance.
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