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Thomas Thomson, 1773–1852 J.R. Partington M.B.E. D.Sc. To cite this article: J.R. Partington M.B.E. D.Sc. (1949) Thomas Thomson, 1773–1852, Annals of Science, 6:2, 115-126, DOI: 10.1080/00033794900201721 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00033794900201721

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Thoma~ Thomson, 1773-1852

115

THOMAS TttOMSO~, 1773-1852. By J. R. PARTIINGTO~, M.B.E., D.Sc.,

Professor of Chemistry in the University of London, Queen Mary College, London. L/f6 1-5

THOMAS THOMSOn, first Regius Professor of Chemistry in the University of Glasgow, was born on April 12, 1773, at Crieff in Perthshire, the seventh child and youngest son of John Thomson and Elizabeth Ewan. After education in the parish school of Crieff he went in 1786 to the burgh school of Stifling, where he received a good classical education, and in 1788, having won an open bursary, he entered the University of St. Andrews. Moving in 1791 to Edinburgh with the intention of studying medicine, he attended in 1795-6 the lectures on Chemistry of the celebrated Joseph Black (of which he left three volumes of notes) 3, and he graduated M.D. in 1799 with a dissertation De Aere Atmospherico. Thomson was a good linguist, mathematician (he composed a manuscript treatise on the differential and integral calculus for the use of his family), mineralogist and geologist ; his mineral collection was lodged by his nephew, R. D. Thomson, in the Museum of St. Thomas's Hospital, London ~. He studied theology and contemplated entering the Church, but gave up this project about 1798. In 1796, aged 23, he succeeded his elder brother James as Editor of the Supplement to the Encydopsedia Britannica, to which he contributed articles on " Chemistry " ~, " Mineralogy " 7 and " Vegetable and Animal Substances and Dyeing " s. From about 1800 until 1811 he lectured 9 on Chemistry at Edinburgh, prepared his famous treatise, A System ,~j" Ch,emistry, carried out research work, and, at least as early as 1807, opened a laboratory for practical instruction in Chemistry (a class-list being extant) ; this must have been the earliest laboratory of its kind in Great Britain ~. Among his pupils was W. Henry of Manchester, who worked on the analysis of coal gas. Thomson became F.I~.S. in 1811. At the end of the session 1810-11 he moved to London. In 1816 he married Miss Agnes Colquhoun, daughter of a Stirling distiller ; they lived rent-fl~ee at 1, Queen's Square, Westminster, the town house of Jeremy Bentham. Mrs. Thomson died in 1834. Their son, Thomas Thomson~ of the Bengal Army, was a distinguished botanist, and the daughter married her cousin, Dr. R. D. Thomson. Thomas Thomson founded the Annals of Phitosophy ~o in 1813. This contained original articles (including the two papers by Prout, in 1815-16, on integral atomic weights), translations of

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ibreign memoirs (including m a n y by Berzelius), notes on current affairs and reports of meetings of learned societies, and annual reports on the progress of science. In the a u t u m n of 1812 he pMd a visit to Sweden, of which he wrote an interesting account 11, including detailed information on the history, polities, topography, geology, botany, zoology, mineralogy, mining, industries and commerce of the country, with tables of statistics. lie visited the University of Uppsala and saw Bergman's house and laboratory. Afzelius, the Professor of Chemistry, being infirm, Thomson was shown round by the Lecturer, Ekeberg, who was then deaf and nearly blind. The lecture room was small but good, and practical instruction was given to the students. The collection of models said to have been made for Bergman was quite small, and had been presented by yon Swab. The laboratory was small but well fitted. Thomson visited the copper mine at Fahlun (worked since 1347) and saw Assessor J. Gottlieb Gahn, who, although then aged 68, was well up in the latest advances in science, and had a fine set of platinum apparatus. Gahn showed him a collection of Scheele's letters and notes (published 12 in 1892). Although Thomson made enquiries at K6ping and other places about Scheele, who died in 1786, he ibund no traces of him, and no portrait of him then existed. In October, 1817, Thomson was appointed Lecturer in Chemistry in the University of Glasgow on t h e recommendation of Sir Joseph Banks 1, 13 The Lectureship, in the Faculty of Medicine, was first held by William Cullen, appointed in 1747, who was followed in 1756 by Joseph Black. At the instance of the Duke of Montrose, a Regius Professorship of Chemistry was instituted by George III, and the first incumbent, Thomas Thomson, took up the appointment on March 17, 1818, with an annual salary of £50. Thomson's devotion to pure research in the first ten years of his professorship is noteworthy in view of the salary and the opportunities he had of doing more remunerative work. He had no laboratory until the summer of 1818 14 ; it was a damp ground-floor room. The chemistry lectures were given daily except Sunday, and " even practical experimenting is not neglected " 15. His statements 16 that for some years before 1825 he " had been engaged in teaching practical chemistry ", and that a manuscript manual of quantitative analysis was available to students in his laboratory, show that he gave practical instruction in Glasgow as well as, earlier, in Edinburgh 17. There is no information available that Cullen's ~nd Black's laboratories in Glasgow were ever open to students ~8 The new buildings for the Chemistry Department, erected in Shuttle Street at a short distance from the University, which were opened in 1831, included a laboratory. When the University of London was founded in 1827, Thomson was invited to occupy the Chair of Chemistry, but declined, and Edward Turner was appointed 1, 19

Thomas Thomson, 1773-1852

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Thomson entered fully into the scientific life of his time ; he knew personally, or corresponded with, most of the eminent contemporary scientists, and his part in the foundation of the Wernerian Society of Edinburgh, and the Geological Society of London, is emphasized by Professor l~obert Jameson 2o From 1841, ThomsOn was assisted in his teaching work by his nephew, l~obert Dundas Thomson (1810-1864) 21, with whom he collaborated in issuing a short-lived journal ~2. Thomas Thomson continued to give the lectures on Inorganic Chemistry until 1846, when 1~. D. Thomson assumed all the duties of the Chair. Thomas Thomson died on J u l y 2, 1852 23, at Kilmun, Argyleshire, and was succeeded as Regius Professor b y Thomas Anderson. Sir l~obert Christison says 2a Thomson " was a very little, well-made man, with small, sharp, handsome features, a calm, contemplative eye, and smooth untroubled brow ". Although warm-hearted and goodnatured, he was reserved, and often adopted a rather cynical pose, but he was no intriguer, and was a man of very open, fearless, and independent character, not hesitating to express his convictions. There is a good bust of Thomson by Steel, and a fine portrait of him by Graham Gilbert in the rooms of the Glasgow Philosophical Society. Researches. Although he carried out a large amount of experimental work, Thomson did not make any imposing discoveries. He analysed a great number of minerals, but these did not happen to contain new elements. In one or two cases he was on the track of important discoveries, but he failed to follow up the clues which were before him, and others reached the prize. A list of his published papers 4, 2r, contains 201 items, all but two without another author, although he probably had the assistance of his students in his later researches. He was a good analyst, and if not satisfied would repeat his experiments m a n y times until he was convinced that he had obtained the correct result 2~. His first paper 27 was on " Experiments to determine whether or not Fluids be Conductors of Caloric ", showing that, contrary to the results of Count Rumford, liquids are conductors of heat. He discovered sulphur chloride 2s (,, sulphuretted muriatic acid "), but failed to determine its composition correctly : if he had followed up his analyses he could have anticipated Davy in disclosing the elementary nature of chlorine, which view Thomson was one of the first to accept eg. The determination of the density of a solid by flotation in a liquid was, apparently, first described by him a0. Among many organic materials he investigated ulmin, a rare black excretion from the elm and other trees al. He introduced a~ the names protoxide, deutoxide,

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tritoxide, and peroxide, and later 33 used Greek and Latin prefixes for the numbers of atoms of radical and oxygen, respectively. In an important paper 34 ,, On Oxalic Acid ", Thomson gave the first example of the law of multiple proportions by showing that, in the normal and acid oxalates of potassium and strontium, one salt, for the same amount of acid, " contains just double the proportion of base contained in the second ", and he drew attentidn to the bearing of the result on Dalton's Atomic Theory. In this paper he uses chemical symbols in a quantitative sense as. The atoms of oxygen, carbon and hydrogen, are denoted b y w, c and h, and the formulm of carbon dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide, water, oxalic acid and sugar by 2w@c, c@h, w~-c, w~-h, 4w@3c-~2h, and 5w~-3c~-4h. In 1818 he used 36 the symbols o, h, c, ch, 20, etc., for the atoms of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, chlorine, phosphorus, etc. In an investigation of the action of hydrogen sulphide on sulphur dioxide in presence of water, he suspected the presence in the precipitate of sulphur of a new oxyacid of sulphur which he called hydrosu120hurous acid 37. This was afterwards recognized as pentathionic acid by Wackenroder in 1845, who was unaware of Thomson's work, which, if he had followed it up, would have given him the credit of the discovery. In Thomson's paper 3s ,, On some Compounds of Chromium ", he describes the discovery (" about a year and a half ago ") of chromyl chloride (" chlorochromic acid "), which he thought was a compound of " 1 atom chromic acid " and " 1 atom chlorine ", of chromium chromate, some new chromates and dichromates, and some double and complex compounds of chromium. Some compounds he described were mixtures, and some (" carbonate of chromium " and " disulphuretted oxide of chromium ") non-existent. He described many new salts, without claim to discovery, in his System of Chemistry. He analysed a large number of minerals, and described some new species, such as allanite and sodalite; the mineral thomsonite, a species of zeolite, was named after him. ~l'homson and the Atomic 5Pheory. In 1804 Thomson travelled from Glasgow to Greenock, and thence by sea to Liverpool. From there he went to Manchester, where he visited his former pupil, Dr. William Henry. On August 26 he met Dalton, with whom he spent two or three days, and from him received an account of the Atomic Theory. In his History of Chemistry 39 Thomson states t h a t Dalton told him that the Atomic Theory was invented as an explanation of the multiple proportions of carbon and hydrogen in marsh gas and ethylene, with the analyses of which Dalton was then engaged. Dalton probably (lid give this account, which is nevertheless incorrect 40

Thomas Thomson, 1773-1852

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Thomson later 41 said that Dalton was led to the theory as a result of his analyses of two oxides of nitrogen, which is nearer the truth. As a result of Dalton's conversation, Thomson in 1807 published 4~ the first account of Dalton's Atomic Theory and Dalton's symbols. This is fuller than e, ~ the account given in 1808 by Dalton 43 himself. Thomson was the first to accept Dalton's theory, and for the rest of his life he was devoted to it. Even Henry, who was fully conversant with Dalton's views, spoke 44 of the theory in rather guarded terms in 1810. Thomson followed with a series of papers 45 ,, On the Daltonian Theory of Definite Proportions in Chemical Combination ", in which he surveys, tabulates, recalculates and criticizes all the available experimental material (including that of Berzelius). His own work on the oxalates had given an experimental background, and he was very near the theory before Dalton. In his Encyclopaedia article 46 Thomson had explained the neutralization of sulphurie acid by potash by supposing that " the integrant particle " of sulphuric acid is a tetrahedron and " the particles of potass are of such a form, t h a t one of them can attach itself to each of the sides of the acid particle : in that ease, an integrant particle of sulphate of potass would be composed of five particles, one of acid and four of alkali . . . . and . . . . the acid would then be saturated, or . . . . incapable of receiving any more alkaline particles in combination with it ". He did not follow up this idea. Thomson was greatly attracted by the hypothesis of William Prout (whose accuracy and skill were greatly admired by his contemporaries 47), put forward anonymously in two papers 4s in Thomson's A n n a l s of Philosophy iu 1815-16, to the effect that atomic weights are whole multiples of t h a t of hydrogen. Thomson took oxygen ----1 as his standard, but since he took 0 = 8 when H = 1, the same whole number ratio would follow. He thought 49 all other atomic weights were whole multiples of twice the atomic weight of hydrogen, i. e. of 2 × 0.125=0"25. For ten years, Thomson made a large number of experiments with the object of testing Prout's hypothesis, publishing ~ the results in 1826. The experimental methods involv.ed the determination of weight ratios, the determination of the weights of salts giving complete precipitation reactions in solution, and (in the case of organic compounds) combustion analyses by heating with copper oxide in a copper tube, as " originally suggested by GayLussac

~' 50

He repeatedly refers in terms of praise to the results of Berzelius, who had been engaged for many years in the exact determination of atomic weights, paying tribute to " the sagacity and skill of this most indefatigable chemist " 5~ but he does not hestitate to suggest t h a t results in agreement with Prout's hypothesis were to be preferred. This, not unnaturally, displeased Berzelius, who, in his A n n u a l Report % says of Thomson's book : ~' This work belongs to those few productions from which science will

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derive no a d v a n t a g e whatever. Much o f the e x p e r i m e n t a l part, even of t h e f u n d a m e n t a l experiments, appears to have been m a d e a t the writing d e s k ; a n d the greatest civility which his contemporaries can show its author, is to forget t h a t it was ever published " This passage was republished in the P h i l o s o p h i c a l Magazine 53, the Editor, R i c h a r d Taylor, in a note, defending T h o m s o n ' s integrity and saying t h a t " we are satisfied t h a t Dr. T h o m s o n himself is more deceived t h a n a n y one. I t is possible t h a t , misled b y a favourable hypothesis, he may, like m a n y before him, have been too eager in seizing parts favourable to his views, and too t a r d y in perceiving those t h a t are unfavourable ". T h o m s o n 54 r e p u d i a t e d the charge of fraud (and no one who studies the records of his life and character can possibly entertain it), b u t says he would continue to speak of Berzelius " with t h a t respect for his talents and i n d u s t r y which I feel " Berzelius's words were no h a s t y o u t b u r s t 5a : t h e y are u n w o r t h y of him, and foreign to his general character. The cause can be unfolded b y a s t u d y of the relevant documents, particularly of the correspondence of Thomson and Berzelius 56 : it is psychological, and of the same character as t h a t which later led to the estrangement of Berzelius and Liebig 57. There is no d o u b t t h a t Thomson's work is based on innumerable experiments : in the Preface he says the book " contains the result of m a n y t h o u s a n d experiments . . . . repeated so often, and varied in so m a n y ways, t h a t I repose the most perfect confidence in their accuracy " Many experiments were performed or repeated b y his pupils, and the results still existed in a series of note-books 1, a4. Crum 2 concluded t h a t the figures given " are not to be understood as the actual results of a n y one experiment, or even as the mean of several experiments, but r a t h e r as results which might fairly be deduced from t h e m ; and . . . . the experiments he related were u n d e r t a k e n , and described, more as instructions to his pupils t h a n as contributions to the science ". T h e agreement with P r o u t ' s hypothesis " was n o t only complete, b u t if t a k e n literally, was altogether marvellous ". I t m a y be o f interest to compare some of the values found b y Thomson as and Berzelius .59 (in b o t h cases b r o u g h t to the m o d e r n integral ratio of equivalent to atomic weight) with the present values. 0

C1

C

N

S

1 1.000 1.000

16 16.026 15.88

36 35-470 35.18

12 12-250 11.91

14 14.186 13.90

32 32.239 31-81

Fe 56 56.361 55.4

Ag 110 108.305 107.04

Hg 200 202.863 199

g

Thomson (1825) .. Berzelius (1826) . . . Modern ( H = l ) . . .

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Thomas Thomson, 1773-1852

Determinations of the densities of gases 60, made in Thomson's laboratory b y Harvey, were claimed to be accurate to 1 part in 1000 (the fully loaded balance was sensible to 0.001 grain). He " corrected " the values (found with reference to a i r = l ) on the assumption that air is a definite compound N401 and also with reference to Prout's hypothesis. Although the relative density of oxygen was found in three experiments to be 1.1117, he took the theoretical value 1.111 l, and for nitrogen instead of the observed value of 0.9728 he took 0.9722. The observed and adopted (on the basis of Prout's hypothesis) values were as follows, the adopted values being in brackets. The two values were the same for hydrogen and chlorine (CI= 36) : Air O2 N2 H., N20 NO NHa

1.0000 1.1117(1.111i) 0.9728 (0.9722) 0.06940 1.5269 (1.5277) 1.04096 (1.04166) 0.593l (0.59027)

KC1 1.2844 (1.2847) C02 1.52673 (1.5277) CO 0.9698 (0.9722) C~H4 0.9709 (0.972,5) CH~ 0.5576 (0.5555) C2N2 1.80395 (1.8055) CO012 3.4604 (3.4722)

SO~ K2S PH a HI

2.2216 (2.2222) 1.17906 (1.1805) 0.90325 (0.9027'~) 4.37566 (4.375)

The great discrepancies found with euchlorine, which he supposed (on the basis of Davy's analyses) was an oxide CliO, could, if followed up, have led Thomson to the discovery that the gas is a mixture in varying proportions of chlorine dioxide and chlorine.

Writings. On the basis of his Encyclopaedia articles 6,7, s, Thomson, while lecturer in Edinburgh, composed his famous text-book, A System of Chemistry 61. The first edition appeared in 1802 and in the preface (altered in each edition) he remarks that, in England, the composition of text-books was regarded " as a piece of drudgery, below the dignity of a philosopher " ; on the Continent, especially in France, the leaders of the science produced comprehensive works, but in them they appropriated too much as national possessions : " not satisfied with a part [they] have laid claim to the whole ". The only previous comparable work was the large treatise b y Fourcroy 6~, which was inferior to Thomson's in content and style ; it lacked an adequate use of important and numerous English sources. An unfavourable b u t in part just review G~of his book (perhaps by Dr. Andrew Duncan junr.) was answered by Thomson in a pamphlet 64, An elementary work in one volume 6~ was published in 1810. The System was finally split into separate works on Inorganic Chemistry 66, Organic Chemistry 67, Mineralogy 6s and Heat and Electricity 69. Thomson T0 says he had to teach the last subjects, but " it would be better if Ann. of Sci.--Vol. 6, No, 2 1~

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a new chair were instituted in each of our Universities, and t h a t it should be the province of him who fills it to explain the principles of heat, light, electricity, and magnetism ", as is the case in France, w h e r e " this important branch of science is distinguished by the name of physique ". The style in all Thomson's books is clear, concise and positive; the material is well-arranged, and the numerical data are tabulated--the last feature being characteristic. The text in succeeding editions showed a decreasing tendency to build the subject round a scaffolding of hypotheses. The arrangement of the System, which Thomson says 71 was " disapproved by every reviewer and copied by every subsequent author ", is first into imponderable bodies and ponderable bodies, the latter being divided into simple supporters of combustion and simple combustibles, the combustibles being acidifiable or alkalifiable ; then follow compounds of various classes, theoretical sections on affinity and states of aggregation, and accounts of meteorology, minerals, and vegetable and animal chemistry. The treatment is mostly historical, a method never in favour with authors who are anxious to emphasize their own contributions, but one which Thomson says lends interest, and assists the memory of the student. Other works by Thomson are a contribution to an encyclopmdia 72 and to a treatise on brewing 73. His History of the Royal Society 7~ gives an account of the history of each science as nearly as possible from its origin, and a summary of the contents of the Royal Society papers arranged under subjects, with biographical accounts of the authors ; the work is, therefore, much more comprehensive than its title indicates. After his System of Chemistry, Thomson's best known work is his History of Chemistry ~9. Cullen had lectured on this subject 75. The only previous comprehensive book was a chaotic work by Gmelin 76. Thomson's book is written in a very interesting style ; it gives a large amount of valuable information, largely based on original sources, at least in the later parts 77, and is still of value. A curious error in the work vs is the attribution of the discovery of the law of equivalents to ~renzel instead of to Richter, a mistake which had been pointed out to Thomson.by Professor Brunner in a letter 79 in 1826. Wollaston a0 in 1814 had also emphasized t h a t Wenzel's results are incompatible with the law. Thomson was a most successful author, taking great pains to acquire and systematize his material, and the popularity of his books was well deserved. They undoubtedly exercised a very good influence on the progress of Chemistry in Great Britain. His System of Chemistry could have been continued after his death, but it gave way to Gmelin's Handbuch der Chemic, first published in two volumes in 1817-19 ; a later edition was translated into English in nineteen volumes in 1847-72, and the work is still current in a new German edition,

Thomas Thomson, 1773-1852

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_~¢f er¢nce8. I R. D. T h o m s o n , Edin. New Phil. J., 1852-3, 54, 86. W . C r u m , Proc. Phil. Soc. Glasgow, 1855, 3, 250. a A ~ o n , Glasgow Med. J., 1857, 5, 69, 121 (with portrait). 4 j . C. Poggendorff, Biographiseh.Literarisches Handw6rterbuch; B a r t h , Liepzig, 1863, Vol. II, cols. 644, 1097-1100. s A. H a r d e n in Dictionary of National Biography ; L o n d o n , 1898, Vol. LVI, p. 271. 6 Supplement to the Encyclopxdia Britannica ; E d i n b u r g h , 1801, I, i, pp. 210f. (this p a r t a p p e a r e d before D e c e m b e r 10, 1800). Ibid., 1801, II, i. pp. 193f. (this p a r t is said to h a v e a p p e a r e d in 1798). s Ibid., 1801, II, ii, pp. 529L 9 T h e r e is a small v o l u m e of MS. n o t e s of T h o m s o n ' s lectures in t h e L i b r a r y of th~ Chemical Society, L o n d o n . lo Annals of Philosophy, Vols. 1-16, L o n d o n , 1813-20 ; co~ltirmed b y R i c h a r d Phillips, Vols. 17-28, 1821-26 ; t h e n m e r g e d into t h e Philosophical Magazine. 11 T. T h o m s o n , Travels in Sweden in the A u t u m n o] 1812, Baldwin, L o n d o n , 1813. 12 A. E. Nordenski61d, Scheele, Nachgelassene Briefe und Aufzeichnungen ; N o r s t e d t a n d Sons, Stockholm, 1892. la T. T h o m s o n , Annals of Philosophy, 1819, 13, i. 14 T. T h o m s o n , Annals of Philosophy, 1822, 19, 261 ; Ref. 2s, Vol. I, pp. 25, 315. is T. T h o m s o n , Annals of Philosophy, 1822, 19, 243. 1~ T. T h o m s o n , Phil. Mug., 1829, 5, 217. 17 E. v o n lVIeycr's s t a t e m e n t in A History of Chemistry (Macmillan, L o n d o n , 1906, pp. 203, 648) t h a t " t h e first chemical l a b o r a t o r y for ger~eral i n s t r u c t i o n in a n y c o u n t r y " was " t h a t of T h o m a s T h o m s o n ir~ Glasgow in 1817 ", is t h u s incorrect. is j . Courts, A History of the University of Glasgow from its Foundation in 1451 to 1909 (MacLehose, Glasgow, 1909, pp. 533-5), w h o p o i n t s out t h a t Cullen a n d Black h a d research laboratories in E d i n b u r g h . T h e s e were also u s e d for lecture preparations. See also J. C. S p e a k m a n , Chem. and Ind., 1947, 219. 19 I t . Terrey, Annals of Science, 1937, 2, 137. 20 JR. J a m e s o n ] , foot-note in Edin. N e w Phil. J., 1852-3, 54, 98. 81 W. W. W e b b , Ref. 5, Vol. LVI, p. 268. 22 Records of General Science, edited b y 1~. D. ThomsorL, w i t h t h e assistance o f T . T h o m s o n , 4 vols., L o n d o n , 1835-6. 2a j . Courts, Ref. 18, p. 535, s a y s J u n e 29, 1852. 24 The Life of Sir R. Christison, Bart., edited by his Sons, Blackwood, E d i n b u r g h a n d L o n d o n , 1885, Vol. I, p. 366 ; t h e a n o n y m o u s b i o g r a p h e r in Ref. a s a y s T h o m s o n ' s eyes were " fine, black a n d expressive ". 25 Catalogue of Scientific Papers compiled by the Royal Society of London, Clay, L o u d o n , 1871, Vol. V, pp. 970-76. 2~ See, e.g., T. T h o m s o n , A n Attempt to Establish the First Principles of Chemistry by Experiment, 2 vols., L o n d o n , 1825, Vol. I, p. 432. It. C. Bolton, A Select Bibliography of Chemistry, S m i t h s o n i a n I n s t i t u t i o n , W a s h i n g t o n , 1893, p. 871, lists a F r e n c h t r a n s l a t i o n :

Principes de la Chimie dtablis par los Expdriences : ou Essai sur les Proportions Ddfinies dans la Composition des Corps. Traduetion de l'A~glals publide avec l'Assentiment de l'Auteur ; 2 vols., Paris, 1825. 2~ T. T h o m s o n , Nicholson's J., 1801, 4, 529. 2s T. T h o m s o n , Nicholson's J., 1803, 6, 92 (104). 29 T. T h o m s o n , Annals of Philosophy, 1814, 4, 11. ~0 R e L 61(b), 1804, Vol. I, p. 353 [not in t h e first edition of 1802] ; as p o i n t e d o u t by E. Cohen, Chem. Weekbl., 1933, 30, 191, a n d a g a i n b y H. Irving, Sci. Progress, 1937, 31, 654,

~2

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Professor J. I~. Partington

on

this precedes t h e use of t h e m e t h o d b y D a v y , Phil. Trans., 1808, 98, 21, m e n t i o n e d b y Ostwald, Z. phys. Chem., 1893, 12, 94 ; it is u s u a l l y a t t r i b u t e d to Dufour, Compt. rend., 1860, 50, 1039 ; 1862, 54, 1079. 31 T. T h o m s o n , Annals of Philosophy, 1813, 1, 23 ; 1813, 2, 11. a~ T. T h o m s o n , Nieholson's J., 1804, 8, 280. 8~ Ref. 26, Vol. I, Preface. 3a T. T h o m s o n , Phil. Trans., 1808, 98, I, 63 (read J a n u a r y 14) ; Phil. Mag., 1808, 31, 102, 244 ; 1808, 32, 39 (in full). a5 F o r his earlier qualitative symbols, see R e L ~ a n d Ref. 61(a), Vol. I I I , p. 431 ; J . R . P a r t i n g t o n , J. Soe. Chem. Ind., 1936, 55, 759. 3s T. T h o m s o n , Annals of Philosophy, 1818, 12, 338, 436. aT T. T h o m s o n , Annals of Philosophy, 1818, 12, 441 ; Berzelius in letters of 1846-7 g a v e T h o m s o n credit for this work (Briefwechsel zwischen J. Berzelius und t ~. W6hler ; edit. O. Wallach, E n g e l m a n n , Leipzig, 1901, Vol. II, pp. 637, 664). as T. T h o m s o n , Phil. Trans., 1827, 117, II, 159. a9 T. T h o m s o n , The History of Chemistry, 2 vols., Colburn a n d Bentley, L o n d o n , 1830-31 (Gleig's National Library, :Nos. 3 a n d 10) ; 2 n d edit., n.d., in one v o l u m e , Colburn a n d Bentley, L o n d o n ; Vol. I I , pp. 289-292. a0 H . E. Roscoe a n d A. H a r d e n , A New View of the Origin of Dalton's Atomic Theory, Macmillan, L o n d o n , 1896 ; A. N. Mcldrum, Mere. Manchester Lit. and Phil. Soe., 1910, 55, :Nos. 3-6. F o r a s u m m a r y , see J. R. P a r t i n g t o n , A Short History of Chemistry, Macmillan, L o n d o n , 1937, p. 170. al T. T h o m s o n , Proc. Phil. Soc. Glasgow, 1850, 3, 135. ae Ref. 61(c), Vol. III, p. 425 a n d later pages. 43 j . Dalton, A New System of Chemical Philosophy, Russell, Manchester, 1808, Vol. I, p a r t i, pp. 211-216 a n d plate 4. aa W. :Henry, Tl~e Elements of Experimental Chemistry, 6 t h edit., J o t m s o n , L o n d o n , 1810, Vol. ]:, pp. 81-2 ; Vol. I I , pp. 475-8 (probably c o n t a i n i n g m a t e r i a l supplied b y Daltoa) : " This doctrine, it m u s t be confessed, c a n n o t a t p r e s e n t he r e g a r d e d i~ a n y o t h e r light t h a n t h a t of a n h y p o t h e s i s . . . . w h i c h h a s b e e n developed w i t h g r e a t i n g e n u i t y a n d patience of investigation, a n d w h i c h is s u p p o r t e d b y m a n y striking a n d daily increasing analogies " (p. 82) ; " T h e instances in w h i c h it agrees w i t h t h e s e results [of analysis] are a l r e a d y v e r y n u m e r o u s ; a n d n o n e h a v e h i t h e r t o been s h o w n to be directly c o n t r a d i c t o r y to i t " (pp.475-8). T h e longer a c c o u n t in t h e s e v e n t h edition (Baldwin a n d Cradock, L o n d o n , 1815, Vol. I, pp. 27-38) is m o r e favourable. See Ref. 65 a5 T. T h o m s o n , Annals of Philosophy, 1~13, 2, 32, 109, 167, 293 ; 1814, 3, 134, 375 ; 1814, 4, 11, 83 ; 1818, 12, 338, 436. 46 R e L 6, p. 343. a~ See, e. g., C. D a u b e n y , Edin. N e w P h i l . J., 1852, 53, 98. a8 A n o n . [W. ProutJ, Annals of Philosophy, 1815, 6, 321 ; 1816, 7, 111 ; for authorshi]?, see W. P r o u t , Phil. Trans., 1827, 117, :[I, 355. T h o m s o n , Annals of Philosophy, 1820, 16, 327. 49 Ref. 2~, Vol. II, p. 457 ; cf. Annals of Philosophy, 1820, 16, 1 (16), 321. 50 T. T h o m s o n , Annals of Philosophy, 1820, 16, 1 (4) ; R e L ~6, Vol. II, pp. 107, 117, 123. 51 Ref. 2~, Vol. I, p. 149. ~2 j . Berzelius, Jahres-Berieht, t r a n s . F. WShler, 1827, 6, 77, 179~81. 5a Anon., Phil. Mag., 1828, 4, 450. 54 T. T h o m s o n , Phil. Mag., 1829, 5, 217. ~5 See his letters to WShler, 1825-29, in R e L 3v, Vol. I, pp. 78, 127, 253, 271. 5~ j . Berzelius, Bref, publ. for t h e S v e n s k a V c t e n s k a p s . A k a d e m i e n b y A m q v i s t a n d Weksells, U p p s a l a , 1920, Vol. I I I , pt. i, especially pp. 17, 24, 26, 56, 58 ; see also Berzelins, Nouveau Syst~me de Mindralogie . . . . , Paris, 1819. preface, for a n a t t a c k on T h o m s o n .

Thomas Thomson, 1773-1852

125

57 Berzelius und Liebig. Ihre Briefe yon 1831-1845, edit. b y J. Carribre, L e h m a n n , 3/Iunich a n d Leipzig, 1893. 68 Ref. 2e, Vol. II, pp. 457f., 479f. ~9 j . j . Berzelius, Traitd de Chimie, transl, b y Esslinger, Didot, Paris, 1831, Vol. V, Table at end. 6o T. Thomson, Annals of l~hilosophy, 1820, 15, 232 ; 1820, 11}, 161, 241 ; for m e t h o d , see Thomson, Mere. Wernerian Soc., 1811, l , 504. 61 T. Thomson, A System of Chemistry, (a) first edition, Bell, Bradfute a n d Balfour, 4 vols., E d i n b u r g h , 1802 ; (b) second edition, Bell and Bradfute, E d i n b u r g h , 4 vols., 1804 ; (c) t h i r d edition, Bell, Bradfute a n d Balfour, Edinburgh, 5 vols., 1807 (i~ltcresting as containing the first account o f Dalton's Atomic Theory) ; (d) fourth edition, Bell and Bradfute, E d i n b u r g h , 5 vols., 1810 ; (e) fifth edition, Baldwin, Cradock and J o y , London, 4 vols., 1817 ; ( f ) sixth edition, Baldwin, Cradock and J o y , London, 4 vols., 1820 ; (g) s e v e n t h edition, A System of Chemistry of Inorganic Bodies. Seventh Edition, Baldwin and Cradoek, London, 2 vols., 1831. I have seen all these editions. (h) F r e n c h translation [of the t h i r d edition] b y J[ea]n [Ren~ Denis] Riffault [des H6tres], Syst~me de Chimie . . . . Prdcddd D'une Introduction de M . C. L. Berthollet, 9 vols., Bernard, Paris, 1809, interesting for Berthollet's c o m m e n t s ; another F r e n c h edition of 4 vols., 1818, and supplement, 1822 (translated from t h e fifth English edition) m e n t i o n e d in Refs. 3 a n d 4, which I have n o t seen, contained original communications on Light b y A. Fresncl. (i) German translation System der Chemic in vler Bdnden. 2Vaeh der zweiten Ausgobe [1804] aus de,rn englischen i~bersetzt yon Friederich Wolff, Berlin, 4 vols., 1805, and a fifth volume in two parts, ZusStze und Erweiterung tier Wissensehaft selt 1805, Berlin, 1811. I know this 0nly from the notice in Bolton, :Ref. 2~, p. 871, who also lists two American editions : (k) A New System of Chemistry, includi~ W Mineralogy and Vege~abls, Animal and Dyeing Substances, comprehending the latest Discoveries and Improvements of the Science, Philadelphia, 1803 (4to, 364 pp.) ; a n d a n o t h e r (1) with :Notes b y Thomas Cooper, from t h e fifth London Edition, Philadelphia, 4 vols., 1818. 62 A. F. [de]Foureroy, Syst~me des Conuaissa~*ces Chimiques, et de leurs Applications aux Phdnom~nes de la Nature et de l'Art, Baudouin, Paris, l l vols., A u I X [1801] ; t r a n s l a t e d b y W. Nicholson, A General System of Chemical Knowledge, and its Applications to the Phenomena of 1Vature and Art, London, 11 vols., 1804. This work is diffuse, out o f date for its time and confined largely to F r e n c h work. 83 The Edinburgh Review, 1804, 4, 120-151 (review of the second edition). Another long unfavourable review [by Brande ?] in Quart. J. Sci. Lit. and the Arts, 1821, l l , 119-171, was answered b y Thomson, Annals of Philosophy, 1822, 19, 240. 64 Remarks on the Edinburgh Review of Thomson's System of Chemistry : by the Author of that Work, Edinburgh, 1804. 65 T. Thomson, The Elements of Chemistry, Blackwood, Edinburgh, 1810 : it contains no reference to t h e Atomic Theory, compositions being given in percentages. 66 See Ref. 61(g). ~7 T. Thompson, Chemistry of Organic Bodies. Vegetables, Bailli6re, London, 1838; Chemistry of Animal Bodies, A. and C. Black, Edinburgh, 1843. 68 T. Thomson, Outlines of Mineralogy, Geology and Mineral Analysis, Baldwiu arid Cradock, London, 2 vols., 1836. 60 T. Thomson, A n Outline of the Sciences of Heat and Electricity, Baldwin and Cradock, London, a n d Blackwood, Edhtburgh, 1830; second edition, Bailli~re, London, 1840; Poggendorff, Ref. 4, gives " Edir~burgh 1829, London, 1830 ", b u t I have not found a~ edition of 1829. 70 Ref. e~, 1840, preface. ~1 Annals of Philosophy, 1813, l , 373.

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Thomas Thomson, 1773-1852

72 D. K. Sandford, The Popular Encyclopxdia, 7 vols., Glasgow, 1841 : Progress of Science, b y T. Thomson. ~a T. T h o m s o n , Brewing and Distillation. With Practical Instructions for Brewir~g Porter and Ales according to the English and Scottish Method, by W. Stewart, Edinburgh, A. and C. Black, 1849 [from his Encyclopxdia article]. ~a T. T h o m s o n , History of the Royal Society, from its Institution to the end of the Eighteenth Century, Baldwin, London, 1812. This was intended as a s u p p l e m e n t to the Abridgement of the Philosophical Transactions, 18 vols., London, 1809. ~5 A MS. of these lectures was in the possession of the late Professor J. Miller Thomson. ~ J. F. Gmelin, Geschichte dcr Chemic, l~osenbusch, G6ttingen, 3 vols., 1797-9. ~ The p a r t s on Paracelsus a n d v a n H e l m o n t are, as W. Whewell (History of the Ind~eetive Sciences ", third edition, Parker, London, 1857, Vo]. I I I , p. 97) noted, literal translations from 1~. Sprengel, Histoire de la Mddicine, trans, b y A. J. L. J o u r d a i n and E. F. M. Bosquillon, 9 vols., Paris, 1815-32, Vol. I I I , p. 284, Vol. IV, p. 22. Mention of the source is o m i t t e d b y Thomson. ~s ReL ag, Vol. I I , pp. 279-82 : the numerical examples given are not from Wenzel's book, Lehre vonder Verwandschaft der K6rper, Dresden, 1777 ; see also ReL ~6, Vol. I, p. If. ~9 l~eL a, p. 140 : letter (in English) of :November 1, 1826, s~ying he h a d read Wenzel's book and " could not £md in it a n y h i n t belonging to the t h e o r y of a t o m s . . . . in some examples of m u t u a l decomposition he gives at the end of his work, he calculates the required proportions and finds always t h a t one of the bodies is in excess or in less ". See J. 1~. l~artington, Textbook of Inorganic Chemistry, Macmillan, :London, 1921, p. 117. so W. H. Wollaston, Phil. Trans., 1814, iOd, 1 (read :November 4, 1813) ; An~. Chim., 1814, 90, 138, where he says : " I have n o t been desirous of'warping m y n u m b e r s according 1o an atomic t h e o r y ", ~nd a t t r i b u t e s Gay-Lussac's law of volumes to W. Higgins, who " in his conception of u n i o n b y ultimate particles clearly preceded Mr. Dalton in his atomic views of chemical combination ". Wollaston's equivalents, recalculated to O = 16 a u d as atomic weights include : t 1 = 1-056, C = 12.064, S = 32.00, P = 27.84, 1%= 14.032, C l = 35.28.