DUMAS, (JEAN BAPTISTE-ANDRE). - THE MAIN PAPER ON SUBSTITUTION AND THE THEORY OF TYPES.

Mémoire sur la loi des substitutions et la Theorie des types; Séance du Lundi 5 Février 1840.

Paris, Bachelier, 1840. 4to. No wrappers. In: "Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de L'Academie des Sciences", Tome X , No 5 (entire issue offered). Pp. (143-) 207. Dumas' paper: pp. 149-178. With half-title to Tome X.

First appearance of this paper, which was published the same year in 'Annales de Chimie et de Physique', is the most importent on the theory of structural types and the nomenclature of organic compounds, refuting the electrochemical theory of Berzelius. "The development of this idea (type organique) into what is sometimes called the "Older Type Theory", as distinguished from Gerhardt's Type heory, is contained in Dumas' importent memoir on the substitution and the theory of types, presented on 3 February 1840."(Partington IV, p. 365).

"Jean Baptiste Dumas advances a theory that the chemical properties of an organic compound are determined by its structure and not, as seems to be the case with inorganic compounds, by its electrical properties. he illustrates the concept with the example that the basic qualitative properties of acetic acid are retained even after replacing three fourths of the hydrogen by chlorine. As a consequence, he calls for a revision of chemical nomenclature for organic compounds, basing terms on common features, not on elemental composition."(Parkinson "Breakthroughs" 1840 C).

Order-nr.: 51504