Treatise on general and industrial inorganic chemistry / by Etore Molinari ; third revised and amplified Italian edition translated by Ernest Feilman.
- Ettore Molinari
- Date:
- 1912
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Treatise on general and industrial inorganic chemistry / by Etore Molinari ; third revised and amplified Italian edition translated by Ernest Feilman. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![centuries, we try to return to-clay encouraged by thè latest derluctions of positive Science. Aboiit thè year 430 b.c. a more brilliant philosopher, Lencippns (boni at Elea), dis- heartened by thè “niimbers ” and obscure pliilosopliy of Pythagoras and thè sophisms of his master Zeno, devoted himself to tlio stiidy of nature. By considcring the already preconeeived idcas, lie carne to thè concliision that thè universe is infinite and that the lilled, ponderable part of it is comjiosed of extrcmely small particles or im])erceptible atoms of determinate forni varyingfrom substance to substancc ; these infìnitely nnmerous atoms move in empty space, collido witli onc another and occasionally unite with similar atoms. We bave here thè reai origin of the atoniic theory, the foundation of moderi! chemistry, whieh remained buried for about twenty-four centuries. After the death of Leucippus ho was followcd by Dcmocritus (boni about 400 b.c.) whose memory vili last in thè history of philosophy. Ho continued to teacli the opinions of his master on thè essential character of naturo, adding that all the atoms are eomposed of a single substance, difforing only in their forni, by means of whieh they givo rise to the various bodies and to their properties. Ho taught also that the atoms are endowed vùth continuous motion, and that matter is eternai. The only followers of Deniocritus were Epicurus, 350 b.c., and Lucretius, 90 b.c. It seems incomprehensible to-day that sudi a brilliant liypothesis sliould bave been dis- regarded for so niany centuries, as it contributed so largely later to the formatioii of modern Chemical theory. A philosopher of Sicilian origin (from Agrigentum) but who had lived for long in Greece, nanied Empedoclos (490-430 b.c.) united to a brilliant intelligence the most impudent quackery, arrogatiiig to himself almost Divine qualities. Ho believed in the atoniistic theory in order to explain the intimato nature of matter, but maintained on thè other band that matter manifests itself to us tlirough four fundaniental elements, naniely, water, air (that is, the “ wind ” of the East Indians), lire, and earth. This subdivision, which lasted tlirough many centuries, is certainly mudi less brilliant than the theories of Leucippus and Democritus, and was evidently taken from thè Indiai! philosophers. Thcn Comes Aristotle (380-322 b.c.), a pupil of Plato, to wlioiii many historians erroncously attributo the theory of Empedodes on the four elements. Whilst Aristotle had undoubtedly brilliant conceptions in abstract philosophy, silice he dared to affimi for thè first timo that the human niind is likc a blank tablet on which expericnce vTites that which is perccived by thè senses, in the obscrvation of naturai phenomena on the other hand, he increased thè confusion due to Empedodes, and starting from the mani- festations of thè four elements, he deduced four essences of nature, namely, heat, coki, humidity, and dryness. According to him, water was eomposed of coki and humidity ; earth of cold and dryness ; air of heat and humidity ; and lire of heat and dryness. As these four elements were insufficient to explain all naturai phenomena, he imagined a fiftli of a supcrior order, which he called the fifth esscnce {quinta essenza), which was, however, of an ethereal character, moro or less spiritual and diffuscd tlirough thè universe. Here also we find an adaptation from thè Indiai! philosophy. Wc owc to Aristotle the first attempts to apply thè cxpcrimontal niethod in Science. Wishing to discover whether air posscssed weight, he placed an inflatcd bladder on thè balancc and thcn ddiated it. As he found no differcncc in weight, after dcflation, he concluded that air had no weight. Continuing his studies oii thè nature of air he was led to deny the possibility of a vacuum, and thè aphorism, “ Nature abhors a vacuum ” is due to Aristotle. This idea was main- tained for many centuries until thè timc of Galileo. In thè timo of thè Grceks seven mctals were already wcll known : gold, sii ver, copper. iron, Icad, and tin ; and the treatment of various ores was also known. Dioscorides (a.d. 50) prcpared mercury from cinnabar. ROMAN CIVILISATION. The cvolution of experimental methods as applied to Sciencereccivcd a great iiii]mlse from Archimedes (280 b.c.), who by mea.mring specifie gravity was ablc to dctcrmine how mudi silver was contained in the erown of King Hiero. This same Archimedes fell a victim to thè Roman soldiers, more eager for booty than for Science. Roman civilisation had little inllucncc on thè progress of Chemical knowledge and thè study of nature. Civil legislation, art, and the desire for conquest and warlikc rapino did not Icave mudi timo for such studies, but wc may recali the marvellous and](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28134187_0036.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
