John Dalton Book

PREFACE IN the following account of the life and work of Dalton I have availed myself of the material contained in the following memoirs -Memoirs - of the Life and Scientific Researches of John Dalton, by W. C. HENRY. Metnoir of John Dalton, by ROBERT A NGUS SMITH. The Worthies of Cumberland. John Dalton, by HENRY LONSDALE. John Dalton and the Rise of Modern Chemistry, by Sir H. E. Rosco. In addition to these I am indebted for much valuable information to A New Yiew of Daltons Atomic Theory, by Sir H. E. Rosco and Dr. ARTHUR HARDEN. From the same book, by the kind permission of Messrs. Macmillan Co., the accompanying portrait of Dalton is taken. My best thanks for much kindly help are due to my friend, Mr J. M. F. DRUMMON of D C aius College, Cambridge. J. P. MILLINGTON. LONDON August 1906. CONTENTS CHAP. ATOMICSY MBOLS . 11. METEOROLOGICINAVLE STIGATIONS-REMOVAL FROM KENDA T L O MANCHESTE . R 111. EARLYS CIENTIFIPCA PER COLOUVRI SION . IV. EARLYPH YSICA A L ND CHEMICRAELS EARCH . E S VI. THE A TOMIC T HEORY VII. THE O RIGIN O F DALTONAS TOMIC T HEORY, AND ITS DEVELOPMEN . T IX. DALTONSL ECTURE A S N D LATERS CIENTIF C WORK . X. DALTON IN LATERL IFE . XI. DALTON IN LATERL - continued . XII. GOVERNMEPNETN SIO T N O DALTON . JOHND ALTONBSO OKS PAGE xi INDEX ATOMIC SYMBOLS BY JOHN DALTON, D. C. L., F. R. S, ETC., ETC. EXPLANATORY OF A LECTURE GIVEN BY HIM TO THE MEMBERS OF THE MANCHESTER MECHANICS INSTITUTION October I gtb, I 8 3 S ELEMENTS Oxygen. . 0 1 cb orine . - 0 Hydrogen 0 Carbon . Zinc 0 Iron O I Copper . 0 Azote . - 0 Sulphur . .. 03 Tin . 0 OXIDES SULPHURETS ATOMIC SYMBOLS COMPOUNDS Water . . c Nitrous Gas . .. DO Carbonic Oxide . Sulpburctted Hydrogen . . a Pbosphuretted Hydrogen . . m Olefant Gas . . m Cyanogen . a3 Deutoxide of Hydrogen . 000 Sulphurous Acid . Acetic Acid . 4 8 Nitrous Oxide . 0 Carbonic Acid . m Pbospboric Acid . Nitrous Vapour . m Carburetted Hydrogen . . Prussic Acid . . h Bicarburetted Hydrogen . Tan . OCT I QUATERNARY Sulpburic Acid . Binolefant Gas . 8 Pyroxylic Spirit . Ammonia . - 8 Nitrous Acid - 8 Prussic Acid . 8 SEXENARY AlcoboZ , Py roacetic Spirit m INTRODUCTION AT the present time when the attentions of chemists and physicists are being drawn, more forcibly than ever, perhaps, to the fundamental questions of the nature of matter, when ions, atoms and corpuscles are words in daily use by layman and scientist alike, it is interesting to turn aside and consider the life and work of one who, by his genius and perseverance prepared the way for those who came after him. The subject of this memoir laid the foundation stones others have helped to build the great structure of modern chemistry. Just as one brilliant hypothesis concerning the nature of the benzene molecule put forward by August KekulC in 1865 led to the development of the vast subject of the chemistry of the cyclic compounds, which in recent years has been applied by many workers to technical uses of vast importance, so too the enunciation by Dalton of the atomic hypothesis was the signal for the commencement of those labours which have made the science of chemistry the mighty subject that it is. Daltons work is truly epoch-making, for it clearly marks the passage from the older empiricism to the newer rational processes of thought which serve to guide the chemists of to-day...Read More