SECTION V.. _of The_ Phlogiston.

Of the PHLOGISTON.

From what hath been said concerning the nature of Fire, it is evidently impossible for us to fix and confine it in any body. Yet the phenomena attending the combustion of inflammable bodies shew, that they really contain the matter of Fire as a constituent principle. By what mechanism then is this fluid, which is so subtle, so active, so difficult to confine, so capable of penetrating into every other substance in nature; how comes it, I say, to be so fixed as to make a component part of the most solid bodies? It is no easy matter to give a satisfactory answer to this question. But, without pretending to guess the cause of the phenomenon, let us rest contented with the certainty of the fact, the knowledge of which will undoubtedly procure us considerable advantages. Let us therefore examine the properties of Fire thus fixed, and become a principle of bodies. To this substance, in order to distinguish it from pure and unfixed Fire, the Chymists have assigned the peculiar title of the Phlogiston, which indeed is no other than a Greek word for the Inflammable Matter; by which latter name, as well as by that of the Sulphureous Principle, it is also sometimes called. It differs from elementary Fire in the following particulars. 1. When united to a body, it communicates to it neither heat nor light. 2. It produces no change in its state, whether of solidity or fluidity; so that a solid body does not become fluid by the accession of the Phlogiston, and vice versa; the solid bodies to which it is joined being only rendered thereby more apt to be fused by the force of the culinary fire. 3. We can convey it from the body with which it is joined into another body, so that it shall enter into the composition thereof, and remain fixed in it.

On this occasion both these bodies, that which is deprived of the Phlogiston and that which receives it, undergo very considerable alterations; and it is this last circumstance, in particular, that obliges us to distinguish the Phlogiston from pure Fire, and to consider it as the element of Fire combined with some other substance, which serves it as a basis for constituting a kind of secondary principle. For if there were no difference between them, we should be able to introduce and fix pure Fire itself, wherever we can introduce and fix the Phlogiston: yet this is what we can by no means do, as will appear from experiments to be afterwards produced.

Hitherto, Chymists have never been able to obtain the Phlogiston quite pure, and free from every other substance: for there are but two ways of separating it from a body of which it makes a part; to wit, either by applying some other body with which it may unite the moment it quits the former; or else by calcining and burning the compound from which you desire to sever it. In the former case it is evident that we do not get the Phlogiston by itself, because it only passes from one combination into another; and in the latter, it is entirely dissipated in the decomposition, so that no part of it can possibly be secured.

The inflammability of a body is an infallible sign that it contains a Phlogiston; but from a body's not being inflammable, it cannot be inferred that it contains none; for experiments have demonstrated that certain metals abound with it, which yet are by no means inflammable.

We have now delivered what is most necessary to be known concerning the principles of bodies in general. They have many other qualities besides those above-mentioned; but we cannot properly take notice of them here, because they presuppose an acquaintance with some other things relating to bodies, of which we have hitherto said nothing; intending to treat of them in the sequel as occasion shall offer. We shall only observe in this place, that when animal and vegetable matters are burnt, in such a manner as to hinder them from flaming, some part of the Phlogiston contained in them unites intimately with their most fixed earthy parts, and with them forms a compound, that can be consumed only by making it red-hot in the open air, where it sparkles and wastes away, without emitting any flame. This compound is called a Coal. We shall inquire into the properties of this Coal under the head of Oils: at present it suffices that we know in general what it is, and that it readily communicates to other bodies the Phlogiston it contains.

CHAP. II.

A general View of the Relations or Affinities between Bodies.

Before we can reduce compound Bodies to the first principles above pointed out, we obtain, by analysing them, certain substances which are indeed more simple than the bodies they helped to compose, yet are themselves composed of our primary principles. They are therefore at one and the same time both principles and compounds; for which reason we shall, as was before said, call them by the name of Secondary Principles. Saline and oily matters chiefly constitute this class. But before we enter upon an examination of their properties, it is fit we lay before the reader a general view of what Chymists understand by the Relations or Affinities of Bodies; because it is necessary to know these, in order to a distinct conception of the different combinations we are to treat of.

All the experiments hitherto made concur with daily observation to prove, that different bodies, whether principles or compounds, have such a mutual Conformity, Relation, Affinity, or Attraction, if you will call it so, as disposes some of them to join and unite together, while they are incapable of contracting any union with others. This effect, whatever be its cause, will enable us to account for, and connect together, all the phenomena that Chymistry produces. The nature of this universal affection of matter is distinctly laid down in the following propositions.

First, If any substance hath any Affinity or conformity with another, the two will unite together, and form one compound.

Secondly, It may be laid down as a general rule, that all similar substances have an Affinity with each other, and are consequently disposed to unite; as water with water, earth with earth, &c.

Thirdly, Substances that unite together lose some of their separate properties; and the compounds resulting from their union partake of the properties of those substances which serve as their principles.

Fourthly, The simpler any substances are, the more perceptible and considerable are their Affinities: whence it follows, that the less bodies are compounded, the more difficult it is to analyse them; that is, to separate from each other the principles of which they consist.

Fifthly, If a body consist of two substances, and to this compound be presented a third substance, that has no Affinity at all with one of the two primary substances aforesaid, but has a greater Affinity with the other than those two substances have with each other, there will ensue a decomposition, and a new union; that is, the third substance will separate the two compounding substances from each other, coalesce with that which has an Affinity with it, form therewith a new combination, and disengage the other, which will then be left at liberty, and such as it was before it had contracted any union.

Sixthly, It happens sometimes that when a third substance is presented to a body consisting of two substances, no decomposition follows; but the two compounding substances, without quitting each other, unite with the substance presented to them, and form a combination of three principles: and this comes to pass when that third substance has an equal, or nearly equal, Affinity with each of the compounding substances. The same thing may also happen even when the third substance hath no Affinity but with one of the compounding substances only. To produce such an effect, it is sufficient that one of the two compounding substances have to the third body a Relation equal, or nearly equal, to that which it has to the other compounding substance with which it is already combined. Thence it follows, that two substances, which, when apart from all others, are incapable of contracting any union, may be rendered capable of incorporating together in some measure, and becoming parts of the same compound, by combining with a third substance with which each of them has an equal Affinity.

Seventhly, A body, which of itself cannot decompose a compound consisting of two substances, because, as we just now said, they have a greater affinity with each other than it has with either of them, becomes nevertheless capable of separating the two by uniting with one of them, when it is itself combined with another body, having a degree of Affinity with that one, sufficient to compensate its own want thereof. In that case there are two Affinities, and thence ensues a double decomposition and a double combination.

These fundamental truths, from which we shall deduce an explanation of all the phenomena in Chymistry, will be confirmed and illustrated by applying them, as we shall do, to the several cases, of which our design in this treatise obliges us to give a circumstantial account.

CHAP. III.

Of Saline Substances in general.

If a particle of water be intimately united with a particle of earth, the result will be a new compound, which, according to our third proposition of Affinities, will partake of the properties of earth and of water; and this combination principally forms what is called a Saline Substance. Consequently every Saline Substance must have an affinity with earth and with water, and be capable of uniting with both or either of them, whether they be separate or mixed together: and accordingly this property characterizes all Salts, or Saline Substances, in general.

Water being volatile and Earth fixed, Salts in general are less volatile than the former, and less fixed than the latter; that is, fire, which cannot volatilize and carry off pure earth, is capable of rarefying and volatilizing a Saline Substance; but then this requires a greater degree of heat than is necessary for producing the same effects on pure water.

There are several sorts of Salts, differing from one another, in respect either of the quantity, or the quality of the earth in their composition; or, lastly, they differ on account of some additional principles, which not being combined with them in sufficient quantity to hinder their Saline properties from appearing, permit them to retain the name of Salts, though they render them very different from the simplest Saline Substances.

It is easy to infer, from what has been said of Salts in general, that some of them must be more, some less, fixed or volatile than others, and some more, some less, disposed to unite with water, with earth, or with particular sorts of earth, according to the nature or the proportion of their principles.

Before we proceed further, it is proper just to mention the principle reasons, which induce us to think that every Saline Substance is actually a combination of earth and water, as we supposed at our entering on this subject. The first is, the conformity Salts have with earth and water, or the properties they possess in common with both. Of these properties we shall treat fully, as occasion offers to consider them, in examining the several sorts of Salts. The second is, that all Salts may be actually resolved into earth and water by sundry processes; particularly by repeated dissolution in water, evaporation, desiccation, and calcination. Indeed the Chymists have not yet been able to procure a Saline Substance, by combining earth and water together. This favours a suspicion, that, besides these two, there is some other principle in the composition of salts, which escapes our researches, because we cannot preserve it when we decompose them; but it is sufficient to our purpose, that water and earth are demonstrably amongst the real principles of Saline Substances, and that no experiment hath ever shewn us any other.