A SYSTEM OF CHEMISTRY, IN FOUR VOLUMES. BY THOMAS THOMSON, M.D. F.R.S.L. AND E.F.L.S. FELLOW OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, OF THE WERNERIAN FROM THE FIFTH LONDON EDITION, WITH NOTES, BY THOMAS COOPER, M.D. PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY AND MINERALOGY IN THE FACULTY OF ARTS OF THE VOL. I. PHILADELPHIA: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY ABRAHAM SMALL, No. 112, Chesnut Street. 1818. Chem 428,18 HARVARD. COLLEGE OCT 4 992 LIBRARY Gratis 1-4.1 EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA, TO WIT : BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the twenty-third day of July, in the forty-third year of the Independence of the United States of America, A. D. 1818, THOMAS [L. S.] CLARK, of the said district, hath deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following, to wit: A System of Chemistry, in four volumes. By Thomas Thomson, M.D. F.R.S.L. and E.F.L.S. Fellow of the Geological Society, of the Wernerian Natural History Society, of the Imperial Medico-Chirurgical Academy of Petersburg, of the Literary and Philosophical Society of New-York, etc. From the fifth London Edition, with Notes, by Thomas Cooper, M.D. Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy in the Faculty of Arts of the University of Pennsylvania. In conformity to the act of the congress of the United States, intituled, "An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the au thors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned.”—And also to the act, entitled, "An act supplementary to an act, entitled, " An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned," and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." D. CALDWELL, Clerk of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. PREFACE. SEVERAL Circumstances, which it is unnecessary to state to the public, have retarded the appearance of this Edition much longer than was expected or wished for by the Author. Meanwhile the Science of Chemistry has been advancing with unprecedented rapidity; and in consequence of the introduction of the atomic theory and the improvements in analytical precision, which were the natural consequences of that introduction, it has assumed a regularity and simplicity that could hardly have been anticipated. This revolution, together with the great number of new ideas and new names that have been introduced, in consequence of Davy's new views respecting the nature of chlorine and muriatic acid, of the discovery of iodine, and of the knowledge of cyanogen and its compounds by the sagacity of Gay-Lussac, had thrown a certain degree of obscurity over the science, and had given it that unsettled and fluctuating appearance, which is apt to discourage those who are commencing the study. I thought it necessary, in consequence of these great changes and improvements, to new model this Edition entirely. Indeed almost the whole of the first two volumes, which contain the elementary part of the science, has been written anew. I have been at great pains to introduce every new fact, as far as I was acquainted with it, and to present the science to my readers in its most recent state. The work has passed so rapidly through the press, that it has been unnecessary to add any appendix whatever, no facts of sufficient importance, of which I was ignorant when we began to print, having come to my knowledge since, except such as I was able to introduce at least nearly into their proper places. Thus the thorina of Berzelius was unknown to me when the chapter on simple combustibles in the first volume was printing; but I was still able to place it at the end of that chapter. Morphia of Sertürner was unknown to me while treating of the alkalies; but I have been able at least to place it among the vegetable principles; where it must always continue to figure. to Considerable difference of opinion exists at present respecting the nomenclature of the numerous class of new substances that have been lately introduced into Chemistry. Sir Humphry Davy has invented a nomenclature of his own; but I am not aware that he has obtained hitherto any followers in this country; unless Dr. Davy and Mr. Brande constitute exceptions to the observation. Professor Berzelius, of Stockholm, has given another nomenclature to the public; and he seems to be followed by the Swedish chemists; and a few of his terms appear have made their way into Germany. A third nomenclature has been contrived by M. Gay-Lussac, and it would appear that it has been adopted by the greater number, if not the whole, of the French chemists. The names, which I have adopted, are all exactly conformable to the laws laid down by Lavoisier and his associates, when they published the new chemical nomenclature. They merely constitute an extension of that nomenclature, and seem to apply so happily to the present state of the science, that I entertain sanguine hopes that they will be found to suit not merely the English language, but that they will be easily intelligible to scientific chemists in every country of Eu rope. Concerning the arrangement which I have adopted, it appears unnecessary to say much. It is merely an improvement of the arrangement followed in the preceding Editions of this Work. And it appears to me to be better adapted to convey a clear idea of the present state of the science in all its bearings to the tyro, who is just commencing the study of Chemistry, than any other that I have yet seen. Mistakes and defects, the consequence of want of sufficient information, may no doubt still be detected in this edition; but I trust that the reader will give me credit when I assure him that they are wholly involuntary; and that neither expense nor pains were spared to avoid them as much as possible. London, October 1, 1817. PREFACE OF THE EDITOR. FOUR Systems of Chemistry have been published in England, each of them possessing considerable merit. Accum's, Henry's, Murray's, and Thomson's. Accum's and Henry's are each in two volumes, Murray's in four, and the last edition of Thomson's, (that which precedes the fifth London) in five. Of these Systems, Dr. Thomson's seems ultimately to have obtained the greatest share of public approbation; not only in England but on the European continent; where it has been regarded as an excellent summary of chemical facts and doctrines, so delivered, as to form a proper compendium of the science to be put at once into the hands of a student ignorant of the elements of Chemistry. It was a happy combination of chemical facts and chemical doctrines; very extensively applied to the useful purposes of medicine, the arts, and manufactures. Since the fourth edition of this work was published, such a number of new facts have been ascertained, and so many new views and doctrines have been proposed, by the increasing number and increasing ardour of chemical votaries, that the science has assumed almost a new character: former explanations have been considered as inadmissible, and exploded; and other theories, founded upon other arrangements, with an oppressive inundation of new terms and phrases, have rendered a modern digest of chemical science absolutely essential to the student. Such a digest, in conformity to public expectation, Dr. Thomson has presented to us, in this his new edition of the System of Chemistry. Almost every page of the present edition exhibits some dissonance from the former; so that we may almost exclaim in the language of Scripture, "old things are done away, and all things have become new." Whether novelty in this case, be likely to shew itself synonimous with improvement, remains, I apprehend, yet to be ascertained: but whatever may be the name that innovation shall ultimately receive, no student can enter upon the study of chemistry in the present day, without inform |