DAVY, HUMPHRY. - PROVING THAT CHLORINE IS AN ELEMENT.

Die drei neuesten Abhandlungen Humphry Davy's, welche seine Untersuchungen über die Chlorine und die Euchlorine enthalten. Frei übersetzt von Gilbert. (1. Untersuchungen über das oxygenirt-falzsaure Gas und über die Bestandigkeit der Salzsäure; nebst einigen im Laboratorio der Roy. Instit. angestellten ersuchen über den Schwefel und den Phosphor. - 2. Ueber einige der Verbindungen des oxygenirtsalzsauren Gas und des Sauerstoff mit andern Körpern, und über die chemischen Beziehungen , worin diese Principe zu den verbrennlichen Körpern stehen. - 3. Ueber eine neue Verbindung, in welche oxygenirt-salzsaures Gas und Sauerstoff mit einander treten.).

Leipzig, Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1811. Without wrappers. In: "Annalen der Physik und der Physikalischen Chemie. Hrsg. Ludwig Wilhelm Gilbert", Bd.9 (= Bd. 39 der Reihe), Neuntes Stück. Pp. 1-128. (The entire issue offered). Davy's papers: pp. 3-42, pp. 43-89 and pp. 90-100.

First appearance in German of these importent papers in the history of chemistry in which Davy announces his proofs of the elementary nature of clorine, describing the preparation, physical and chemical properties of a new gas, which he called 'euchlorine'. It is unstable and explodes on heating to give chlorine and oxygen. Davy here suggested the name 'chlorine', from a greek work for green, because of the greenish colour of the gas.

Thorpe said of this first paper "As a piece of induction, the memoir is a model of its kind, and as an exercise in "the scientific use of ofthe imagination" it has few equals.

"Davy's researches on chlorine are of an importence with those on the alkali metals. Chlorine, first discovered by Scheele, was regarded by him as "dephlogisticated muriatic acid". As phlogistion was perfectly synonymous with hydrogen to Scheele, this view was essentially correct. Lavoisier, however, chiefly occupied with phenomena of combustion, assumed that chlorine was an oxide of an unknown "radical". avy performed many experiments endeavouring to confirm the presenceof oxygen and finally concluded that chlorine was an element."(Leicester & Klickstein "A Source Book in Chemistry", p. 243 ff).

Order-nr.: 44093