• DOI:10.1086/349704
• Corpus ID: 38152048

The Discovery of Potassium and Sodium, and the Problem of the Chemical Elements

@article{Siegfried1963TheDO,
  title={The Discovery of Potassium and Sodium, and the Problem of the Chemical Elements},
  author={Robert Siegfried},
  journal={Isis},
  year={1963},
  volume={54},
  pages={247 - 258}
}

• R. Siegfried
• Published 1 June 1963
• Geology
• Isis

THE publication of Lavoisier's Traite Elementaire de Chimie in 1789 marks a convenient date for the beginning of the modern era of chemistry.1 Lavoisier began this work as an elaboration of an earlier expressed need for a new chemical nomenclature, but in the writing discovered " the impossibility of isolating the Nomenclature from the science and the science from the Nomenclature." 2 Meanwhile the systematic Methode de Nomenclature Chimique 3 had appeared in 1787, and its principles were incorporated in the Traite. Although the new terminology reflected the oxygen-centered philosophy of Lavoisier, its real utility lay in the systematic expression of composition. Fundamental to this was the list of simple substances in terms of which the composition of all others could be expressed. This list included the total of those substances " that we have not been able to decompose by any means." 4 This definition based the assignment of simplicity on experience and seemingly avoided the vagueness of the metaphysical elements, earth, air, fire and water. Not only was this definition adopted by most of the systematic chemical writers after Lavoisier, but the word " element" with its ancient connotation of finality was frequently avoided. In spite of the widespread acceptance of this definition, assignment to the list of simple substances was never final. No matter how many failures to decompose a substance, there was no certainty that it was undecomposable. Newly discovered substances were subject to extended discussion and experiment to determine more certainly their simple or compound nature.