The opus magnum of the originator of the phlogiston theroy

STAHL, Ernst Georg.

Fundamenta chymiae dogmaticae & experimentalis.

Nürnberg: Adelbulner für Endter, 1723.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #001863

4to (210x168 mm), iv, 255, [12] pp., endpapers renewed; title browned and soiled, verso stamped and with ms. note in ink; here and there backed" at joint, occasional dampstaining, browning and soiling. Modern half calf gilt with 4 raised bands. ----

Norman 2005; D.S.B.; Partington II, 662-64; Blake 430. Duveen 560. Neu 3900. Ferchl 513. Cole 1244, Honeyman 2895. - First Edition. Stahl was the originator of the phlogiston theory, which dominated chemistry until the end of the 18th century. Stahl took the structure of his theory from Becher, who had stated air, water and earth to be the three elementary principles with water and earth the basis of all material things, and who had further subdivided the principle of earth into the three principles of substantiality, combustibility and weight/ductility/volatility. Stahl elaborated from Becher's "second earth" a new chemical principle, phlogiston, a substance representing the principle of combustibility that combined with other chemical substances to form compounds. Experimental evidence for the existence of phlogiston came largely from metals and minerals, particularly from the reversible relationship of metals and their calces: when a metal was heated intensely, its phlogiston was driven off and a calx appeared, but when phlogiston was reintroduced to the calx (by heating it with carbon, oil, pitch or other phlogiston-rich materials), the metal reappeared. Air did not combine with phlogiston but received it when it was liberated during combustion; air could absorb only a limited amount of phlogiston, and when that limit was reached, combustion could not longer take place. The flaws in the phlogiston theory are obvious, and it did not survive the 18th century; however, it served as an important link between the older chemical concepts and the new, an attempt to modify the existing intellectual framework in order to account for new experimental observations (Norman). "Johann Samuel Carl, a student of Stahl's, arranged these lecture notes of Stahl's for publication with the author's approval. The lectures were first delivered in 1684 and manuscript copies being "abroad led to this authorized version.

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