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 CHAPTER It. 



CHEMICAL PHILOSOPHY. 



As Mechanical Philosophy has a respect to those 

 motions of the larger bodies of the universe which 

 fall under the inspection of our senses, so Chemi- 

 cal Philosophy is the science which explains those 

 motions which take place among the minute com- 

 ponent parts of bodies, and which are known 

 chiefly by the eflfects which they produce ; in other 

 w^ords, its object is, " to ascertain the ingredients 

 *' that enter into the composition of bodies — -to ex- 

 " amine the nature of these ingredients, the manner 

 " in which, and the laws by which, they combine, 

 *^ and the properties resulting from their combina- 

 *^ tion." It may safely be asserted, that there is 

 no branch of science in which the discoveries and 

 improvements, during the last century, have been 

 more numerous, or more important, than in this. 

 Indeed, such has been their number, and their in- 

 teresting nature, that to exhibit them in detail 

 would be to fill many volumes. 



Though some of the facts and principles which 

 enter into all the systems of modern chemistry have 

 been known for many centuries, and indeed as far 

 back as history reaches ; yet, as a regular science, it 

 could scarcely be said to have had an existence 

 prior to the middle of the seventeenth century. It 

 was about that time that the learned societies in 

 Europe began to be formed, and the reign ot Al- 

 chemy to decline. In the inquiries then institute4 

 in chemical philosophy, the celebrated Mr. Boyle 

 led the way. His speculations and experiments 



