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. HE LIFE '- .
ROBERT HARE
EDGAR. -S •■
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THE LIFE
OF
ROBERT HARE
AN AMERICAN CHEMIST
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• • •• ." •'
ROBERT HARE
From the Oil Portrait in the University of PeoDnylvaDia
Commenced by Neagle, 1838
Finished by J. L. Williams, 1877
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THE LIFE
OF
ROBERT HARE
AN AMERICAN CHEMIST
(1781-1858)
BY
EDGAR FAHS SMITH
PROVOST OP THE UNIVBBSITT OP PBNN8TLVANIA
WITH A PORTRAIT IN COLOR
AND FOUR DOUBLETONES
PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
1917
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COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
PUBLISHED MAY. 1917
PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS
PHILADELPHIA, IJ. S. A.
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TO
MY MOTHER
3G03S8
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PREFACE
This volume contains the life story of one of tiie greatest
sci^itists of our country. His chief delight was in diemical
pursuits, although his attachment to physics was also great
He was a true pioneer in these divisions of science. His ex-
perimental contributions were of a very high order in their
day. They commanded respect and admiration then and
continue to do so in the present because they represent the
beginnings of much that has come to be of prime importance.
When, in the future, tlie contributions of America's
earliest representatives in tlie many fields of science are
scanned more closely, an abundance of notewortiiy material
will be discovered and our country, tliough young, will be
found to have given her share to the sum total of human
knowledge.
The purpose of the writer has been to assemble the labors
of Robert Hare in such a form that students of chemistry
may learn to know him better, and realize the exalted place
to which he is entitled in the history of chemistry in tiiis
country. He was a chemical philosopher with keen and origi-
native powers. It is remarkable tibat he should have achieved
so much when his preparation was so meagre. He blazed
tiie way by his experimental work and in his theoretical
observations in chemical constitution. His ^* Compendium
of Chemistry," now antiquated, was a store-house of original
observaticms. He had no model. He advanced indepen-
dently and, as his knowledge increased, developed new lines.
The writer, at one time ignorant of Hare and of his
unique as well as remarkable labors, has become, tiirough an
intimate study of his work, an enthusiast in regard to him
and, therefore^ has ventured to present this story, told largely
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viii PREFACE
by Hare himself in a series of unpublished letters, and in
other documents which were practically buried in forgotten
journals and pamphlets, while some did appear in the Ameri-
can Journal of Science^ to which Hare contributed the greater
porticm of his experimental conclusions. The writer's sincere
thanks are due the editorial staff of the Journal for permis-
sion to use this precious material so generously, and to the
American Philosophical Society for the extracts made from
its Proceedings and Transactions, as well as to Fisher's
''Life of Benjamin Silliman,'' from which were gleaned
data of a more intimate character regarding the subject of
this sketch and his devoted friend Silliman. To T. Truxton
Hare, Esq., a greats-grandson of Robert Hare, as well as to
Dean John Frazer, of the University of Pennsylvania, the
writer would express his great indebtedness for many un-
printed letters and the privilege of usmg portions of others
whidi illuminated many points in this life story, which othier-
wise would have lacked completeness.
Robert Hare, an Americsn diemist, will surely live in the
m^nory of all who become acquainted with him through his
epoch-making contributions to that science which is so closely
interwoven with the welfare, comfort and happiness of
mankind.
E. F. S.
UmvzmtiTT OF Pbmkstxvakia
Phojimblphxa
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CONTENTS
PAQB
F1B8T Period, 1781-1818 1
Second Period* 1818-1847 65
Third Period, 1847-1858 441
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ILLUSTRATIONS
PAOB
Robert Habe» fbom the Oil Pobtbait in the Univebsitt of
Penkstlyania FronHapieoe
The Second Home of the UNivEBaiTT of Pennsylvania 87
Lbctubb Room of Robebt Habe 179
Medallion Pobtbait by H. Saundebs, 1856 410
Robebt Habe in Advanced Age 49S
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THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
AN AMERICAN CHEMIST
FIRST PERIOD
178H818
In Philadelphia, during the last two decades of the 18th
Century, occurred many of the most important events in
the history of the Western World. That city was then the
leading city of our country. It was the richest dty. It led
in all important undertakings of the day. Congress had long
deliberated there. In Philadelphia, the Declaration of Inde-
pendence was writt^i, and the Constitution of the United
States was framed. Noted for its wealth and for its influence
in all matters of moment to the young and growing Nation,
Philadelphia was accorded the unenviable distinction of being
very wicked. Several devastating epidemics of yellow fever
had occasioned fhe thought in the minds of some people that
God was punishing the city. Be that as it may, the people
were sobered by these visitations of the plague, and many
instances of self-sacrifice were recorded. It was during these
dreaded times that the celebrated Dr. Benjamin Rush ren-
dered such signal service, claiming that his administration
of mercury and blood-letting was the only hope of recovery
from the fatal disease, thereby contributing to the science
of medicine.
In Philadelphia, in 1781, Robert Morris, the lofty-minded
and far-seeing financier of the Revolution, founded the first
and most opulent bank — ^the Bank of North America.
In Philadelphia, as nowhere else in America, flourished
science. Franklin was omnipresent; his wonderful experi-
ments on electricity had received world-wide recognition.
Joseph Priestley, seeking a shelter from persecution, had
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« - * qCHBLIFE OF ROBERT HARE
come from England. He associated freely with the men of
science in the city, meeting them in their homes and at inter-
vals in the hall of the now venerable American Philosophical
Society, upon the pages of whose Transactions later appeared
his final efi^orts to establish the strange doctrine of phlogiston.
In Philadelphia, in 1792, was fomided the oldest chemical
society in the world — ^the Chemical Society of Philadelphia.
It is to be regretted that so few of its publications have come
down to posterity for, though its existence was short and its
endeavors were of a pioneer character, they were of no mean
order, contributions of far-reaching importance being made
by it to the scientific world.
In Philadelphia, during this important period, began the
life of one of America's greatest chemists — ^Robert Hare —
bom on the seventeenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-one. One pub-
lication describes him as " the greatest American light of
chemical science," while another ranks him with Sir Humphry
Davy, Volta, Priestley and Berzelius. He made his advent
into the field of chemical discovery when about twenty years
of age, and for fifty years he was regarded as an imimpeach-
able authority in all matters pertaining to chemical researdi.
Upon tracing his lineage, we find that his father was
Robert Hare, an Englishman by birth, who came to America
in 1778. He was an educated man, of good family and of
refined tastes, who married Margaret Willing, daughter of
Charles Willing, whose family ranked high in the social
world of Old Philadelphia. The elder Hare was not without
honor in the country of his adoption, as evidenced by his
membership in the Convention which framed the first Consti-
tution of Pennsylvania; by his becoming Speaker of the
Senate of the State; and by his occupancy (1789-1805) of a
seat in the Board of Trustees of the University of Penn-
sylvania. To Robert Hare and Margaret Willing were bom
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FIBST PERIOD, 178H818 8
five sons and one dau^ter. The younger Robert attained
to the greatest distinction, although his brother, Charles Will-
ing Hare, readied a very honorable position at the bar.
John Powel Hare, the sixtii child, later known as John Hare
Powel, after adoption by his maternal aunt, Mrs. Elizabeth
Willing Powel, became Secretary of the U. S. Legation at
London; subsequently, he served as Major of Volunteers
under General Thomas Cadwalader, and in due time was
advanced to a Colonelcy in the Regular Army of the United
States on the Stafi^ of General Winfield Scott. Impatient
of inactivity, he left the Army. He was a charter Trustee
of Lafayette CoUege and at one time, like his father, a mem-
ber of the State Senate. There fail any records of the life
histories of the remaining children of Robert Hare and his
wife, Margaret.
Robert Hare, the elder, was a celebrated brewer.
"Hare's American Porter'* was widely known, although
beer was brewed in Philadelphia for several years before the
Revolutionary War. Westcott * remarks, " Hare's brewery
stood at the S. E. Comer of Callowhill and New Market
Streets. On the evening of the first of April, 1776, the brew-
ery was entirely destroyed by fire, making a conflagration
which was long talked of in the city." And in the General
Advertiser for November 2, 1790, there appeared this notice:
" Sunday morning, about 4 o'clock, the brew house of Mr.
Hare, in the Northern Liberties of this City [Philadelphia]
was discovered to be on fire, and notv^thstimding the utmost
exertions of the citizens, a great part of it was burnt"
Early prints report, however, tliat the plant was rebuilt
and the business resumed with its usual industry.
Returning to Bobert Hare, the younger, a very natural
desire manifests itself to know as much as possible of his
^ ** Biographies of Philadelphians," by Thompson Westcott, vol.
ii, Part L
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4 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
early youtiu Singularly enough the very meagre accounts
of him fail to mention tins interesting period, and one won-
ders in what way were acquired the foundations for the
astounding ment^ equipment displayed by him in his young
manhood and more mature years. Inferaiee would ascribe
to his father full and sole credit for having personally super-
vised his youthful tutelage, and tiiis inference seems con-
clusive from the certain knowledge that in the instance of his
other sons. Hare, the elder, '' imparted the rudiments of a
good classical education, and besides planted in their hearts
the stem sense of individual responsibility, love of trutii, and
high principles which marked their whole intercourse with
the world." Following the years of early preparation, young
Robert assisted his father in business; it is said of him,
however, that cherishing a love for the physical sci^ices —
particularly diemistry — he entered "the Chemical School
of the University of Pennsylvania." There was then in
existence no distinctly independent School of Chemistry in
the University, and probably what Hare did was to choose
the lectures on chemistry, which, at the close of the 18th Cen-
tury and the beginning of the 19th Century, were delivered
by Woodhouse in the '' Anatomical Museum." This museum
was a frame building on South Fifth Street, directly opposite
the State House grounds. These lectures of Woodhouse
also attracted other students, whose purpose it was to follow
chemistry rather than medicine. Woodhouse ranked very
high among his associates, and as he strongly emphasized
laboratory work, Hare would have been drawn to him. It is
also quite possible that the laboratory manual of Woodhouse,
and his editions of more dignified foreign works, constituted
the literature upon which Hare throve, for he was a genuine
enthusiast and tireless in his search for knowledge.
Mention has been made of the Chemical Society of Phila-
delphia. In it were assembled those who desired to prosecute
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FmST PERIOD, 1781-1818 5
chemistry — in i^rt, all persons who meant to become special-
ists. The knowledge * possessed of the aims, purposes and
accomplishments of this organization but increases one's
desire for further information concerning it.
Evidently it supplied a want felt by Hare, for he was
a junior memb» of the Society, and at various times
appeared as a Committeeman or subordinate officer.
While prosecuting his studies with Woodhouse, Robert
Hare engaged in very independent researdi, whidi culmi-
nated in the presentation, in an annual address to the Chemical
Society of Philadelphia, in 1801, of an exhaustive and illus-
trated account of the oxyhydrogen blowpipe, a discovery of
the highest importance. This discovery gave the indubitable
evidence of a highly philosophical mind in its author, for then
the notions of the real nature of combustion were extremely
vague and that Hare should have had the acumen to conceive
that a stream of oxygen and hydrogen burning together
would produce so intense a heat was extraordinary.
It was a splendid triumph for him. And when it is real-
ized that from this discovery sprang, among others, the lime
h^t or Drununond light, universal gratitude is due this
youthful adventurer into the field of pure and applied adence.
The intense heat of the oxyhydrogen blowpipe enabled Hare
to fuse platimma, so that some years after the discovery had
attained a higher degree of perfection, a student of Hare,
familiar with the compound blowpipe, set forth to found in
this country an industry in Ihe working of platinum. Indeed,
Bishop's Platinum Works of to-day is tiie modem develop-
ment of Joachim Bishop's pioneer effort. From the begin-
ning its several steps were crowned with r^narkable success.
The exact title of Hare's communication, presented in
1801 to the Chemical Society of Philadelphia, was a
"" Memoir of the Supply and Application of the Blow-Pipe.
* *' Chemistry in America," Appleton k Co.
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6 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
C<mtaining an Account of the new mdiiod of supplying the
Blow-pipe either with commcm air or oxygen gas; and also
of the effects of the intense heat produced by the combustion
of the hydrogen and oxygen gases/'
Chemists of Europe have adopted the plan of reprinting
memorable contributions of science in a series such as the
''Klassiker der Exakten Wissensdiaften." Should simi-
lar recognition be made in America of tiie achievements
of her scientists, then surely the above Memoir ought to find
place therein, for, without question, it is a genuine classic.
Now and then copies of this publication appeared in second-
hand book-stores, although recently tiiere has been printed
an exact copy of tiiis text with complete illustrations.^ It is,
therefore, quite unnecessary to reproduce the same here. Let
it suffice to note that with the flame from the oxygen and
hydrogen gases Hare succeeded in fusing heavy spar, alum-
ina, silica, lime and magnesia, while platinum, gold and silver
" were thrown into a state of ebullition," and many other
remarkable behaviors of metals observed.
In the winter of 1802, Benjamin Silliman arrived in
Philadelphia. He had been recently chosen to the Chair of
Chemistry and Natural Philosophy in Yale College. It was
his desire, before entering upon his duties, to hear ihe lectures
of James Woodhouse in chemistry, Benjamin Smith Barton
in natural history and Caspar Wistar in anatcnny. Friends
had recommended him to take lodgings in a wedge-shaped
house at the S. W. comer of Dock and Walnut Streets.
It seems that this was a favorite place with a very select
class of gentlemen ; and in that company he met Robert Hare.
Why the latter should live in a boarding house when his
father's home was wide open to him cannot be determined.
To chemists, however, the meeting of Hare and Silliman,
with all that followed, is of vastly more interest. In the annals
• " Chemistry in America,'* Appleton & Co.
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FIRST PERIOD, 1781-1818 T
of chemistry there have been recorded instances of extraordi-
nary friendships formed by persons strongly attracted to one
another by common interests. Thus, in the friendship of
Wohler and Liebig there is an example of two gigantic minds
working in harmony in their chosen field. This also must have
be^i true of Grcrhardt and Laurent ; so that in the inteUectual
unicm of Hare and Silliman there is an additional happy com-
binaidon of the better elements in human nature. These three
instances, with doubtless many others, should inspire the f or-
marticm of stiU others, for, thereby, good alone will ensue.
Silliman was exceedingly happy in the company of his
fellow-boarders, notwithstanding he must at times have been
surprised at their conduct, for he wrote, '* I do not remember
any water drinkers at our table or in the house. . . . Porter
and other strong beer were used at table as a beverage. As
Robert Hare was a brewer of porter, his was in high request,
and indeed, it was of an excellent quality. . . . There were
no outward manifestations of religion in our boarding house.
Grace was never said ait table, nor did I ever hear a prayer in
the house" ; but, he continues, " rarely have I met with a circle
of gentlemen who surpassed them in courteous manners, in
brilliant intelligence, sparkling saUies of wit and pleasantry,
and cordial greeting both among themselves and with friends
and strangers who were occasionally introduced.'' And in this
brilliant group Robert Hare was a bright, particular star.
Silliman did not wholly appreciate Woodhouse, for it
is recorded in his diary:
" The deficiencies of Woodhouse's courses were, in a con-
siderable degree, made up in a manner which I could not
have anticipated. Robert Hare, my fellow-boarder and com-
panion at Mrs. Smith's, was a genial, kind-hearted person,
one year younger than myself, and already a proficient in
chemistry upon the scale of that period." Then follows an
account of how Hare, on hearing the reason for Silliman's
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8 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
presence in Philadelphia^ kindly extended his friendship and
assistance. Together they persuaded Mrs. Smith, their high-
spirited, efficient and indulgent hostess, to let them arrange
a small laboratory in a spare cellar-kitchen, in which they
worked in their leisure hours. The latter were probably those
which Hare could spare from his business and Silliman
from his lecture hours and private study. Hare's thoughts
constantly gravitated toward improvements in the apparatus
for the burning of oxygen and hydrogen. It was his hope
that the heat mi^t be made more intense. This he expected
to effect by getting really pure oxygen from oxymuriate of
potassa (potassium chlorate). As chemists then were not
aware that the addition of a little black oxide of manganese
to the chlorate considerably accelerated the liberation of the
oxygen gas, thereby permitting the use of glass flasks or
retorts, he considered it necessary to expose the chlorate in
stone retorts to fumaoe-heat and Silliman's diary adds:
'" The retorts were purchased by me at a doUar each, and,
as they were usually broken in the experiment, the researdi
was rather costly; but my friend furnished experience, and,
as I was daily acquiring it, I was rewarded, both for labor
and expense, by the brilliant results of our experiments.''
Tlie friends frequently commented on the danger whidi
surrounded the method of storing the gases. The possibility
of mixing was constantly before tiiem. Explosions did occur.
It would seem that Silliman in particular was much con-
cerned on this point. Later, at his home in New Haven,
he ** contrived a mode of separating these gases so effectually
that they could not become mixed."
It was at tihis time— the winter of 1802-1808— tiiat Hare
exhibited to Dr. Priestley, Seybert and others his compound
blowpipe and the intensity of the oxyhydrogen flame.
Priestley "gave them the credit of being quite original."
What were the thou^ts of the noble old dissenter on this
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FmST PERIOD, 1781-1818 9
occasion? What joy must have come to young Hare in pre-
senting his discoveries to the noted diemist of Enghmd and
to the real leaders of chemical thou^t in this western worldl
It was a rare privilege to disclose to the discoverer of oxygen
a use for it which probably never entered the discoverer's
thoughts. Hare's invention, if such it might be called, was
the talk of at least those scientifically inclined among the
residents of Philadelphia. It must have afforded the staid
members of the American Philosoi^cal Society particular
plea^nre to listen to the young scientist (1808) telling how
in the presence of Woodhouse and Seybert he had '' com-
pletely dissipated globules of platinum about one-tenth of
an inch in diameter/' and, with his friend Silliman, had fused
strontianite from Argyleshire, Scotland; whereupon they
then quietly proceeded to honor him with election to their
distinguished company. This occurred on January 21, 1808,
when Hare had just reached his twenty-second birthday,
and is recorded in these words:
** Election of two new members :
Robert Hare, Jr., of Philadelphia;
Ben. Count of Rmnford, of Great Britain.^
To be chosen simultaneously with Count Rumf ord was ad-
diticmal evidence of the honor in which he was held. It must
also be r^nembered that in 1889 the Academy of Arts and
Sciences conferred on Robert Hare, in recognition of his great
inv^ition, Hie Rumford Medal, granted for the first time.
One month after his election to the venerable American
Philosophical Society, he was added to the
^ Committee on Minerals :
Woodhouse, Church, Jacobs, Barton, Cooke,
Hewson, Hare,
to examine future donations."
That he received this appointment with serious apprecia-
tion of his duties seems evident from the f oUowing letter to
an early friend of congenial tastes, residing in Baltimore:
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10 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
'' Philadelphia, 1804
" Dr Sir
Many montihis have elapsed since I have had the pleasure
of addressing you in the epistolary style. My silence, how-
eirer, has not arisen from the want of disposition to ccmununi-
cate with you, for this is always agreeable to me, as you are
among the few in whom I find a congeniality of feeling on
subjects which to me are very interesting. The fear of prov-
ing myself a dull correspondent has prevented me from
writing on indifferent topics and none others have offered
themselves. Nor indeed can that upcm which I now resume
my pen be interesting to you in any other light th^i as
relative to the extension of a favorite branch of science.
Mr. Thos. P. Smith, a young gentleman of our city, of an
ardent and inquisitive mind and not unenlightened by the
rays of science or of genius, having in a tour through Europe
made a considerable collection of minerals, had the misfor-
tune to lose his life when he had just arrived in sight of that
native country for the ornament and improvement of which
his researches had highly qualified him.
But though death extinguished all hope of benefit from
future exertion of his talents, and industry the fruits which
had already resulted from them bequeathed to a publick asso-
ciation insiu*ed advantage from the past. The bequest of
his minerals to the American Philosophical Society may
certainly be considered as promising publick benefit. It may
serve as a nucleus on which a respectable cabinet may be
formed. Few are so weU aware as you of the importance
of such an establishment. To you it is well known how little
the department of minendogical science has been explored or
understood by our countrymen. The fact America boasts
not of a single school for this science 1
The minerals of Mr. Smith have lately been received by
the Society and the names of Drs. Woodhouse, Barton, Sey-
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FIRST PERIOD, 1781-1818 11
bert and Coxe have been enrolled as a committee for the
arrangement of tiiem. Of this committee I also am a mem-
ber, although as a practical mineralogist I can lay little claim
to this appointment, yet I am willing to earn a little thereto
by the bestowal of time and pains and I am ready to acquire
inf ormaticHi from any source whence it may be obtained. I
presimie that there must be various methods of exhibiting
minerals in the various cabinets of Europe. That proper for
a Society must differ from that suiting an individual as in the
former case they should be seen without personal attendance
and therefore should be constantly exposed to view and yet be
defended frcmi peculation. Our Committee have resolved to
procure pictures of cases and thus to have the better oppor-
tunity of meeting with one which may suit their purpose. Asl
believe you to possess both taste and experience I will take it
as a favour if you will sketch out any plans that you may have
seen or that may suggest themselves to you and send them
to me. The room they are to occupy faces the north and east.
We have as yet had no election nor shall we until October.
Be so good as to present my respects and good wishes to
your father's family and believe me
With regard,
Robert Gilmore Esq', Jun*" Sincerely yours,
Baltimore. R. Hare^ Jun^"
During the year Hare made two verbal communications
to the Society on subjects related to his oxyhydrogen blow-
pipe. These were regarded worthy of publication, and it is
tJieref ore not surprising to learn that at the annual election
(1804) of the Society, Hare was diosen a curator and con-
tinued in this office for ten successive years. Sometime later
he filled the honorable position of councillor, although his
attendance upon meetings at this time was scarcely what one
might expect from so enthusiastic a scientist. Tet this may
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12 THE LIFE OF BOBERT HABE
have been in part due to the attention he was obliged to
bestow upon business.
In the winter of 1808-1804 Silliman returned to Phila-
delphia. He writes, '' I attended, as before, tiie course of
chemistry and anatomy and resumed my private labours with
Robert Hare." On leaving Philadelphia finally, in 1804,
Silliman began the installation of his laboratory at Yale.
He worked in most humble surroundings, but apparently
never for the briefest period lost sight of the great possibilities
of the oxyhydrogen blowpipe, and succeeded in achieving
many things which were but imperfectly touched upon while
with Hare. There are evidences that these friends com-
municated at intervals, tiiough little of the actual corre-
spondence is now to be found. Hare working quietly in
Philadelphia — ^now in tiie basement laboratory at Dock and
Walnut Streets, now in the laboratory of the Chemical Soci-
ety, or in the brewery of his father — ^improved upon his origi-
nal device, and with each improvement obtained results which
from time to time found a way to ihe public and impressed
them with the marvellous skill and insight of tiie young diem-
ist. Silliman, appreciating Hare's adhdevemente, was prob-
ably responsible for the high honor accorded his frigid by Yale
College, when it conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of
Medicine, in 1806. Tliis was Hare's first academic recognition.
Reverting again to ihe blowpipe, be it remembered that
evay chemist is quite familiar with the ordinary blowpipe
and its numerous uses, and, further, knows the difficulties
attendant upon all efforts to preserve it in continuous action.
All these — ^uses and disadvantages — ^were quite familiar to
Hare. He knew that the attachment of a bellows would
obviate some of the inconveniences, but he sought to do more.
He aimed to have a steady gas current pass tiu'ough the blow-
pipe, first a current of air, later one of oxygen and hydrogen
under constant, steady pressure — actually burning these
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FIRST PERIOD, 1781-1818 18
gases at acommcHi exit tube, thus obtaining the intensest heat
yet attained. It is no wonder that chemists were deeply
impressed with the results. In our own day the remarkable
reactions induced by the electric arc astonished the chemical
world, and the enthusiasm and thoughts thus developed are
nothing more than a return of the feelings of our forefathers
in the domam of chemical research.
It must not be forgotten that originaUy the oxy-
hydrogen flame was not Hare's objective. No, his desire was
to improve the ordinary blowpipe. Having accomplished
this by his new hydrostatic arrangement, there followed the
introduction of oxygen into the blowpipe with the observance
of an increased intensity of the fliame. The crowning effort
was the extension of his hydrostatic device to acconmiodate
in separate apartments the gases oxygen and hydrogen,
expelling them under pressure, uniting them and igniting
them at a common orifice, when there was observed the intense
heat of the flame, which was quickly followed by its appli-
cation to the performance of the unusual things to which ref-
erence has abeady been made. Hare's achievement, then,
was in part a mechanical invention, and in part the discovery
of an unexpected source of the intensest heat. It was unique
in many respects and brought results of far-reaching import.
The scientific world took early cognizance of the same. The
author of these humane benefits continued industriously at
work on improvements in the apparatus and the extension
of the use of \he flame. His friend Silliman and others fol-
lowed his example, but Hare always led, " succeeding in later
years in constructing the apparatus on a gigantic scale, with
large vessels of wrought iron capable of sustaining the pres-
sure of the Fairmount Water Works, and that with this
wonderful combination he was able to fuse at one operation
nearly two pounds of platinum.''
This remarkable, epoch-making work of Robert Hare,
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14 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
however, was not suffered to pass witiiout counter claims as
to like discoveries, Clarke, of Cambridge, England, wrote
a book, about 1819, upon the " gas blowpipe." In it he
ignored absolutely the discovery of Hare, the researches of
Silliman and others, and actually appropriated all that they
had brought to light It was not in the nature of Hare to be
silent under sudi provocation, so he made an elaborate de-
fence of his claims and those of Silliman. This may be read
in the American Journal of Science for the year 1820. The
protest was full and spirited. Clarke received it but re-
mained silent. Hare began his objections to Clarke's pub-
lication with these words:
" Hoc ego verncuLos fed, tvUt alter honores, etc.*'
His indignation must have been great. Silliman stoutly
maintained throughout the controversy that Hare was '' the
real inventor of the compound or oxy-hydrogen blowpipe."
Still another claimant of this discovery was a certain
Mr. Maugham of the Adelaide Gallery in London, who
asserted that he had contrived a blowpipe by whidi he had
fused twenty-five ounces of platinum and that Hare had
purchased one of his make when on a visit to London. Hare
conclusively proved the worthlessness of Maugham's claim,
and spurred on by friends, who foresaw even greater results
from the invention, he was prevailed upon to patent his
discovery. This, however, did not occur until 1846.
Hare labored, as time permitted, in perfecting his dis-
covery, and gained by means of his investigations a wide
knowledge of chemical bodies. Queer suggestions were made,
from time to time, as to the application of the oxyhydrogen
flame. Thus, a Thomas Skidmore, Esq., of New York
(1822) professed to have " discovered, within three or four
months back, that if the flame produced by the combustion
of hydrogen gas, issuing in combination with oxygen from
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FIRST PERIOD, 1781-1818 U
the compound blowpipe of Hare, be plunged below the sur-
face of a vessel of water, it continued, notwitiistanding its
submersion, and actual contact with, this element, to bum,
apparently with the same splendour as it does in the commcm
atmosphere.'' After detailing a number of little experi-
ments '' which have lately amused me and my friends,'' he
adds, '' I am not mudi disposed to indulge in speculaticm on
the applicaticms, whidi, in the course of the progress of
science, may be made of tiiese facts; yet I cannot refrain
f rcmi observing tiiat the possibility of eff eeting the com-
busticm of most substances, with an agent so energetic as the
heat evolved by the gases in question, seems to point dis-
tinctly, among other things, to their employment as a subma-
fine imtrument of naval warfare. From the experiments I
have made {and these too, with means haxAng no reference
whatever, to the accomplishments of such a purpose), I am
fully satisfied that success may be commanded "...
'' The employment of Hare's jet to illuminate light-houses
and signal reflectors under the names of Drummond light and
Calcium light is only another example of tiie mode of ignoring
the name of the real discoverer, of which the history of
science presents so many parallels."
The departure of Silliman from Philadelphia was felt by
Hare. It could scarcely have been otherwise, for in the words
of the former — " I was often siurprised, as well as gratified,
to find in Mr. Hare an extent of comprehension as well as
minuteness of conception and information which made his
society a constant scene of entertainment and instruction
to me; and in fact, our conversations became so frequent and
long on chemical subjects, that our companions in the house
often rallied us on our devotion to this pursuit."
But, before Hare were ever his imperative business duties,
and they must have sadly interrupted his experimental work.
He must have yearned for time in whidi to devote himself
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16 THE LIFE OF BOBERT HARE
to the subjects nearest to his heart and which occupied the
greater part of his thoughts. In additicm to his business
affairs and his scientific researches, he indulged in the writing
of letters to the public through the medium of the daily press
on burning topics of the day. In all this work Hare showed
himself to be a true patriot, and a many-sided person witii a
broad vision. However, before these letters receive consid-
eration, it may not be out of place to record the attempt of
personal friends and men of science made to place him in a
position where his best efforts could be given to his favorite
studies. Woodhouse, Professor of Chemistry in the Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania, died in 1809. At once the Trustees
of \he Institution were recipients of letters advocating tiie
appointment of Hare.
"Dear Sir:
During the first years of the establishment of the Medical
School of Philadelphia it was required that every student who
had not graduated in some College should be obliged to attend
the course of lectures upon Natural Philosophy, previously
to his being admitted to an examination for a medical degree
in our University. This rule was imperfectly complied with
during the greatest part of Dr. Swing's Provostship, but has
been neglected for several years to tiie great injury of our
Medical School and of Medical Science in our country.
Permit me to suggest to you the necessity of appointing a
Professor of Natural Philosophy for the compress purpose of
teaching that important brandi of science to students of medi-
cine in the extensive way in whidi it is taught in European
universities. Such a course of lectures will not interfere with
the instruction in Natural Philosophy given to candidates for
degrees in the Arts by the Provost of the University. They
will be addressed to persons of a more advanced age, and will
embrace many objects especially necessary and useful to stu-
d^its of medicine. Should such a prof essori^p be instituted,
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FIRST PERIOD, 1781-1818 17
tiierewiU be no difficulty in filling it Mr. Robert Hare's ex-
tensive knowledge in Natural Philosophy, and all its col-
lateral subjects, points him out as a most suitable person for
that purpose. His splendid talents and ardor in scientific pur-
suits, I have no doubt, would add greatly to the reputation of
our Medical School, and to the honor of our City, and State.
Should you think proper to pr6pose the professorship I
have mentioned, suppose you add to it at the same time —
a professorship of rural eccmomy?
Novem. 25 From Dr Sir
1809 Yours very respectfully
George Clymer, Es**. " BenK Rush."
Mr. Clymer was a Trustee of the University and Dr.
Rush had been a professor in the Medical School from its
inception. Both of these gentlemen had affixed their names to
that immortal document — ^the Declaration of Independence.
And Dr. John Syng Dorsey wrote on June 12, 1809:
" In the year 1798, I commenced the study of medicine
in the University of Pennsylvania, and attended a course of
Lectures on Chymistry delivered by Dr. Woodhouse, in
whose laboratory I frequently met Mr. Robert Hare, jun.,
who was at that time engaged in the study of Chymistry.
Mr. Hare was zealous in the pursuit; and in the Chymical
Society of whidi we were both members, he always took an
active and conspicuous part. Engaged in similar studies, I
passed no inconsiderable portion of my time in company witii
Mr. Hare, and for several years was the frequent witness
of his experimental researches, which have led to results, in
my opinion, highly important, and I know of no chymical
discovery whidi has been made in America, more brilliant
than cme of which Mr. Hare is the author.
I have therefore, from what I know of Mr. Robert Hare,
jun., every reason to believe him perfectly qualified to teach
the science of Chymistry. His mind I believe to be pecul-
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18 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
iarly adapted to this pursuit, and I have no doubt that he
will discharge the duties of it with advantage to his pupils,
witii reputation to himself, and with honour to any institution
with which he may be connected."
While in an epistle to E. Bronson, Esquire, June 15,
1809, Benjamin Silliman, of Yale College, said:
" I consider the gentleman who is the subject of this
letter as one of the fairest hopes of the science of this country ;
especially should he, before the ardour of his mind has
abated, be able to devote any coi^iderable portion of his time
and exertions to the cultivation of science,"
Again: " From the knowledge we have of Mr. Robert
Hare's Chymical abilities, we have no hesitation in declaring,
that we believe him qualified to supply the vacancy occasioned
by the death of the late Professor of Chymistry in the Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania. Robert Patteeson
PhUadelphia June 16, 1809. Joseph Cloud/^
And Dr. Chapman wrote to Joseph Hopkinson, Esq., author
of '' Hail Columbia," as follows:
"Dear Sir:
. • . I am detailing with unnecessary minuteness the
merits of Mr. Hare. They have already been acknowledged
on all hands. Those who know him best and are competent to
decide, have borne evidence to the extent of his acquisitions in
the philosophy of the science, to the dexterity of his manipula-
tions, and the peculiar aptitude of his mind to the cultivation
of those pursuits. The late Dr. Woodhouse, it is known to
many, entertained the highest respect for his attainments, and
often regretted, that a genius so well adapted to Chymistry
could not be applied altogether to its improvement.
With respect to the incapacity of Mr. Hare, arising out
of his want of a medical education, to which you allude, I
must say that it strikes me with no force and that it can
hardly be pressed, I presume, by his opponents. . . .'*
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FIRST PERIOD, 1781-1818 19
Whfle a testimonial frcwn Dr. William P. Dewees reads:
" Having perused a letter from Thomas Fitzsinimons,
Esq., in which it is stated that it would be agreeable to the
Trustees of the University, to receive information in regard
to the diymical abilities and acquirements of the Candidates
for tile Professorship of Chymistry, I should deem myself
wanting in justice, were I, when called upon by any of the
Candidates to suppress the information which circumstances
may have afforded me. On this ground I do not hesitate to
communicate that knowledge of Mr. Robert Hare, jun.,
which I have derived from an intercourse of several years.
In 1799, 1 first became acquainted with lliis gentleman, and
in tlie following year found him engaged in the pursuit of
Chymistry, both by study and experiment. Since which time
I have been a frequent visitor at his laboratory, and have
been witness of his researches, of which he has always given
the most satisfactory explimation. I have frequently pro-
posed to him questions that to me seemed obscure, and have
always obtained sufficient elucidation. Chymistry has been,
in fact, ihe most frequent topick of our conversations.
On grounds such as these I have not hesitated to adopt
the opinion, that this gentleman's mind is peculiarly fitted
for ihe investigation of Chymical science; and I consider him
well acquainted with it in its various relations, to the arts
and to medicine. Its connexion wiih the latter has been the
most frequent subject of our disquisitions.'^
There was opposition to Hare, based entirely, however,
on the fact that he had not been educated in medicine. The
University was not prepared to take the responsibility of
introducing a non-medical man as teacher into its faculty, so
the choice of successor to Woodhouse fell upon John Redman
Coxe, who had proposed a plan for electric telegraphy,
" which long ante-dates any other American suggestion on
this subject since the days of Franklin."
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so THE LIFE OF BOBERT HARE
It is very plainly indicated in the preceding letters that
Hare's friends and admirers thought he idiould, by all means,
be relieved from \he strain of business cares; his talents for
experimental science were so marked that every opportunity
should be afforded him to devote himself to those things
which appealed most strongly to him. His entrance, how-
ever, into a free untrammeled scientific career was not yet —
but its day was approaching. Filial duty no doubt figured
largely in his life work. And, from tlie subjoined bill he had
become in truth a partner with his f atiier, hence burdens were
enhanced.
Docf Rush
Bought of R. Hare & S<hi
1809 Jan.
^ bU. Table Beer
$1.50
Jan.
a « tt u
1.60
Jan.
« a c( ((
1.50
Feb.
(( (c « a
1.50
Feb.
a M « «
1.50
For R. Hare & Son,
Received Payment,
W. Smith.
And it was doubtless at this time, while occupied in brew-
ing and, of course, attending the stated meetings of the
American Philosophical Society, that he addressed a letter to
the Society on the tapping of air-tight casks by means "' of a
vent-peg and cock. The vent-peg is seldom firmly replaced
and the ccmsequence is the frequent souring or vapidity of
vinous liquors. The quantity of liquor annually spoiled by
the omission of the vent-pegs must be immense; and must be
particularly great in those families where the tapsters are too
numerous to be responsible for neglect," so he contrived a
cock with two perforations " to obviate the necessity of a vent-
peg." He submitted the communication ""as an addition,
Ihough a small one, to the comfort and convenience of society
at large — ^in any other light it can have no pretentions."
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FIRST PERIOD, 178H818 21
There were otiier activities in which he engaged to which
it is now proper to give heed. Reference has been made to his
occasional appearance in the columns of Philadelphia papers
on subjecte occupying men's thoughts in the first and second
decades of the 19th Century, so that it seems opportune to
pass in review some of the ideas set forth by Hare in a publi-
cation which appeared in 1810, bearing the title, ''A Brief
View of the Policy and Resources of the United States/*
It must not be forgotten that at this time our infant
Republic was drifting into alarming situations. The fol-
lowing abstracts are made from the text of the little volume:
" It is a universal observation of those, whose interests
have been placed in opposition to companies, or large bodies
of men, that these are very little actuated by generous
passions. • • • Philanthropy is mudi more often assumed
as an ornament, than excited by feeling. Religion and
morality may lead us to deprecate the horrours which arise
from national strife, but the recital of them, when we are not
the immediate suflFerers, rarely interferes with our slumbers —
or interrupts the festivity of a meal. • • •
The greatest national right — ^the right of conquest — ^is
the greatest moral wrong. Yet is this Ihe boasted founda-
tion of national sovereignty throughout the globe. • • .
History does not furnish an instance of a nation, which has
hesitated to seize an advantage — ^when encouraged by power
— and invited by weakness — ^however destructive the conse-
quences to the happiness of an injured nation — or incon-^
sistent with the principles of justice or humanity.'*
" It is true that commerce and despotism can but ill sub-
sist together; — ^but it is in the same way as the entertainment
of the hedge-hog was mcompatible with the comfort of the
snakes.
The injury — ^the fear — and dislike, are not felt on the
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82 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
side of the despot, but on that of commerce. Despotism has
often destroyed conmieroe, because attended by an arbitrary
and versatile policy, altogether inconsistent with those in-
dustrious piu^uits which require permanency of duration, for
the repayment of capital inyested. But conmierce never has
— nor ever can subvert despotism; because, under circum-
stances so hostile to its prosperity — ^it can never make progress
sufficient^ to weij^ against sovereign power."
" Commerce was undoubtedly instrumental in the over-
throw of the feudal system, but in this it rather aided — ^than
opposed monarchial power. Seeking privileges and protec-
tion from the sovereign against the oppression of the nobles,
the commercial towns in return, afforded him the means of
preponderance over those turbulent vassals; but this was
an operaticm, very different from that which would justify
the idea of its competency — ^to subvert despotick power.**
''A magnanimous American would scorn to be dependent
for the liberties of his country, on the duration of the balance
of foreign power; but re-viewing our present means of re-
sistance, compared with the force which we should be necessi-
tated to oppose, there is no room for this noble independency
of sentiment and he is forced, by the prospect of irresistible
evil, to tolerate a predioament so monstrous, as that of being
indebted for safety to those — ^who are permanent rivals in
commerce — ^and consequently our enemies upon the prin-
ciples of naticmal conduct already laid down.
Could Great Britain and America be divested of tiiose
partial views of right, or interest, which are almost inseparable
from hiunan nature; — ^their mutual welfare — ^and even
grandeur would be far from incompatible. The ocean and the
land are not so confined in extent, as not to afi^ord ample room
for the greatest luxuriance in the prosperity of both countries.
But by past experience we are taught, that it is in vain to hope
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FIRST PERIOD, 1781-1818 J»
that two nations travelling on the same road to wealth, will
ever proceed harmoniously; or find any other means of deter-
mining their respective claims, than that of power:
In respect to Great Britain however, it must be admitted,
that altliough from justice or humanity she rarely abandons
ibe course dictated by interest; yet in pursuing it, owing to
tiie excellent form of her government and spirit of her laws,
she has generally displayed more liberality than other nations.
In the abstract, her policy may often be found too narrow,
as it was in her treatment of this country while under her
sway; but her conduot even in this respect was liberal, when
ccHnpared with the colonial policy of France, Spain, Portugal,
or Holland.
Had her system at an early period been as contracted
as that pursued by those nations, we should never have had —
the spirit — ihe liberty — ^the wealth — or the power — ^to which
we owe our glorious independence. It was only through this
superiour liberality or wisdom in construing her interest, that
she ever permitted the extension of our commerce; for had
she yielded to that jealousy and cupidity whidi it was so
mudi calculated to excite — she would, at an early period,
have depressed — or destroyed it"
" Never was a comparison more fairly made in practice
between opposite political systems, than we have seen in the
trial of the policy of Washinghm, and that of Jefferson and
his successor. The great founder of American independence
saw the impossibility of a successful struggle for those com-
mercial privileges — ^which America might in theory claim —
but in practice could not establish — ^till time should afford
her maritime strength. He saw the necessity of otu* rising
under ihe wings of that very power — ^whose jealousy by our
rivalship — ^we were destined sooner or later to excite. He
saw that as yet in our political infancy — ^to contend for all
our commercial rights — would cause the loss of every com-
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f4 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
mercial advantage and that early d^ncmatrations of hostility,
by alarming the fears of Great Britain, might give rise to a
premature contest, and terminate not only the advantages we
enjoyed from neutrality, but our rights as a commercial
nation. In our imbecile state, he saw war could neitiier
punish insult — nor retaliate injury; but would lead to a de-
privation of that access to the ocean — ^which is essential to
our wealth and glory. He was convinced of the folly of
that boasted warfare of commercial restrictions whidi was
proposed during his presidency by Madison, and which when
since tried in practice — ^has proved more injurious to our-
selves than to our enemies. He knew that as commercial
intercourse could never have arisen without mutual advan-
tage— ^it could not be interrupted without reciprocal injury."
'' Is not Great Britain quite as justifiable in using the
ocean for her purposes — as we are for employing our immense
territory for ours? We have had no other justification for
taking it from the aborigines, than that they were too weak,
too ignorant— or too unwise to defend it; and have not the
British all these apologies for depriving us of the ocean?
For although there be wisdom — ^knowledge — and str^igth in
our country, adequate to justify a very different character —
have we not to lament the total absence of these qualMcations
— ^in the actual conduct of the nation? "
"Considering all other nations as her natural foes, the true
policy of America is to direct her whole energy to ihe creation
of a power, adequate at some more favorable juncture — to ele-
vate her above the evils of vassalage — or the fear of tyranny."
'' Though England can subsist without us, she is not in-
sensible to the great advantages of an amicable intercourse,
and so long as she is in dread of the growing power of her
rival, she will be glad to purchase these benefits, by allowing
us a commercial freedcmi, which her power enables her to
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FIRST FEBIOD, 1781-1818 26
deny* To refuse those advantages whidi her fears or her
necesfflties compel her to yield — ^because she will not grant
us all, that in theory we might correctly demand, would evi-
dently be impolitick — ^as on the other hand it would be dis-
graceful if we could look forward with indifference to the
permanency of that degrading predicament, by whidi the
extension of our conmierce — ^is limited by its subserviency
to her interest — and the duration of our repose— dependent
on the continuation of her power*
Some Americans may exclaim, let us rather abandon the
ocean, than enjoy such a partial, and degrading participa-
tion in maritime advantages. To me, however, it appears,
that a total renunciation of the ocean, is the lowest degrada-
tiaa; and the utter impossibility of enforcing this abandon-
ment in practice, has already been demonstrated. A portion
of our countrymen are amphibious, and we might as well
forbid the birds to fly, or the fishes to swim, as deny them
access to their favourite element. Besides, a total renuncia-
tion, cuts off all hope of future, as well as of present com-
mercial power; and should the command of the Atlantick
ever fall into the power of any nation, on whom we should
have no tie of interest, our seaboard might be frequently
subjected to the inroads of hostility, and its horrid concomi-
tants— ^plunder — ^and bloodshed.
By our situation, and by the genius of our government —
a navy is our most effectual — and safest bulwark. It is the
<mly ^igine of warfare, that can never aid in domestick op-
pression— ^always terrible to our enemies — and never danger-
ous to ourselves.
Were our shores unprotected by a navy, a large military
force would in a state of warfare be requisite throughout the
whole of our immense coast, to guard it from the suddai
attack of the enemy. This would be no less oppressive in
expense and far more dangerous to liberty."
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26 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
" The only obstacle to the creation of a navy — is the ex-
pense; but all history demonstrates, that no economy is so
false — as that which leaves a nation def enceless. Governed
by laws, which if they do not stimulate — are not injurious to
industry — ^a prospect of wealtii is open to us greater than
has ever been displayed to a nation, if we be well defended
against foreign oppression/'
** The debts contracted for this invaluable purpose, must
inevitably be answered, by the prosperity they insure. Par-
simonious views — ^would have checked our glorious revolu-
tion. The fear of bequeathing debt to posterity — ^is absurd.
If we leave to them the power to defend their rights: and
thus secure their futiu^ opulence, we provide eventually,
ample means to answer every draught. But if we should
bequealii them — imbecility — and hopeless vassalage; we leave
to them a burden which nothing can relieve."
" The aversion of the majority of our countrymen from
national debt is our greatest obstacle. Familiar with the
evils arising from insolvency, in any of the members of
society; — ^by a false association, or analogy, they presume
that tiie insolvency of a government, must be pregnant with
consequences equally injurious to a nation. They are not
aware that so long as the interest on publick debt is paid,
insolvency in a government is only apparent. Nor do they
see that credit is imder some circumstances, equivalent to
capital; — ^and that as much may be lost, by not employing
credit — ^as by not occupying capital.''
'' The following I imagine to be a simple, and obvious
illustration of the primitive operation of credit, as a means
of commercial interchange: — A raw material, being sold on
credit, in lieu of remaining idle in the hands of the farmer,
becomes in those of the manufacturer, an useful article;
and he is enabled to return the farmer a better price, and to
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FIRST PERIOD, 1781-1818 27
furnish the merchant or consumer, a larger and cheaper sup-
ply, for home consumption or exportation. The same, or
other merchants or manufacturers in the meantime, afford to
the same or other farmers, the necessary articles for consimip-
tion, or implements for agriculture, which would have re-
mained useless in their shops or stores, unless the parties at the
outset, should have a sufficient command of some substantial
medium of interchange, to make their respective purchases.
In the negotiation thus dted, each individiud buys through
the medium of his credit, and the several persons concerned,
may have current accounts ¥rith each other, without any
reference to money, unless as the received standard of value.
In this case, therefore, the emplojrment of credit, supercedes
that of gold and silver, or any other substantial medium of
interchange; and it may be considered as performing the
office of such a medium, in a limited degree.''
" Under a strict system of law, where the payment of
debts is rigorously enforced, credit in that simple and primi-
tive form in which it has just now been depicted, so far as it
answers the piu*pose of a medium of interchange, is preferable
to money."
" The manufacturing or trading stock, which had been
preserved by the care, or exerticm of the father; would in
many cases be dissipated by the sloth or extravagance of the
son; — and the frugal and industrious son, would no less
often be deprived by the indolent and extravagant father, of
that command of capital, which had been conferred on his
ancestors^ — ^but credit being in a great measure created by
industry, skill and integrity — ^tfae possessor of these in every
well regulated society, will have a greater or less command of
such portions of the general stock or capital, as he can employ
to so much greater advantage than the possessors, as to afford
them a greater compensation for the loan of it, than they
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£8 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
could otherwise derive: provided, that his pretensicms to
credit be known to those, who may have the particular articles
which it maybe his interest to borrow, ortheir interest to lend."
"' I trust it may be sufficiently plain from what I have
advanced, that those who are endowed with mercantile credit,
enjoy a valuable qualification or privilege in trade, when
compared with those who have not this endowment/'
'' The various papers thus endowed with alienated credit,
have been designated by the generick term — ^paper credit/*
''Alienated credit may be no less current than coin, as
in the case of bank checks or notes; or it may have a limited or
sluggish currency, as in the case of mercantile notes, or bonds,
bills or certificates."
''Among imtions, in a mode in some degree similar, credit
as a medium of ccmunercial interchange, has the advantage,
when compared with gold and silver money."
"Any great extension or diffusion of the advantages of
credit demands a high degree of security from internal dis-
turbance, or external dangers; and an improved state of
trade, law, and morality."
" The difficulty attendant on the concepticm that paper
credit should be comprised in an estimate of national capital,
arises from the notion, that the debt itself is the object of
valuation; whereas the real object of valuation, is the prin-
ciple by which the debt is enabled to exist."
"An objection to credit as a medium of interchange, may
be founded on its liability to depreciation in moments of
alarm, arising from anarchy or invasion."
" The very active currency of bank checks and notes, is
due to their superiority over gold and silver money, in con-
veniency of form and bulk."
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FIRST PERIOD, 1781-1818 «»
'' Bonds, bills, notes, bank stodk, or national certificates,
owe their more sluggish currency, to the pajrment of that
interest, discount, or dividend, which renders it desirable or
satisfactory to many individuals, to keep them in preference
to money; as they afford equal security against eventual
want, and are productive of a revenue to the holder/'
'' Our publick debt may accumulate in a regular ratio, to
the demand for banking or insurance capital; and in these
states bank paper, as a circulating medium, obtains a decided
preference over gold and silver; it follows, that, although
our country is not rich in these metals, it is rich in an equiva-
lent principle of wealth."
'' The alienation of bank credit in the form of notes,
might be deemed a permanent sale, if these institutions were
permanent; but as they are temporary, it must be deemed a
lease during the period of their existence. For though their
notes may be returned to one individual, they are immediately
paid away to another; the quantity alienated, being on the
whole nearly the same. Banks, therefore, may be considered
as associations for creating and loaning credit.''
'' Banks receive interest or discoimt for the loan of their
credit. Grovemments receive capital or services in return
for theirs, paying interest as I have already observed, for
the difference between tiie currency of their stock, and the
currency of money."
'' The alienation of the publick credit, should be con-
sidered as a permanent, and complete sale."
'' Enough has been said to demonstrate, that the poorer
classes of society are very mudi gainers, if the capital ob-
tained from wealthy citizens, or foreigners through the
medium of tiie publick credit, be employed in the execution
of designs worthy of its value. In any event, the poorer
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so THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
classes can have no reason to complain, as they can never
be called upon to pay more than that annual interest, ivhidi
is so trifling when compared with the annual advantage, if
the capital obtained by it, be invested in objects permanently
beneficial. I say permanently, because it does not appear
correct to employ the means afforded by credit, in defraying
the ordinary expenses of government. This would in truth
be a robbery of posterity; and in order to avoid a measure
so replete with opprobrium, the publick credits should only
be resorted to under circumstances, where the permanent
character, or prosperity of the nation may be at stake."
'"And shall Americans prefer a groveHii^ commercial
inferiority — ^to a publick debt — the expected evils of which
are proved to be imaginary; while the advantages may be
equivalent — ^to national salvation — or to the difference be-
tween the degrading situation in which we now repose — and
that glorious rank to which we should have been elevated —
by the policy of Washington, and his coadjutors? "
" The only objection to borrowing, is the uncertainty of
the issue of the trade, in which the loan may be invested.
But the United States may be considered as a trader,
whose prosperous returns are mathematically certain, if
through timidity or negligence, he does not refuse, or neglect
the advantages, which are strewed in his path.''
" The question then arises — ^will the chances of a wise
and honest administration of affairs, be increased by extend-
ing to foreigners the privileges of voting? The honesty and
ability of those who govern, must be determined by the
degree in which virtue prevails over vice — and wisdom over
foUy — among those by whom they are chosen. If then in
the United States the preponderance of virtue over vice, and
of wisdom over folly — ^be sufficient, whence can arise any
advantage, eitiier to om^elves, or to foreigners, from admit-
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FIRST PERIOD, 1781-1818 81
ting fhem to the right of suffrage. And if the preponder-
ance should unfortunately take place in the opposite scale,
will it be counteracted by the assistance of emigrants taking
them in the aggregate? ''
" My objections to the present system of suffrage, are
not founded on desire to deprive the mass of mankind of
their inherent rights to self-government — ^but on a desire to
secure objects of which the mass of society are competent
to judge. When incapable of understanding the tendency
of tiieir suffrages, they cannot be said to enjoy their votes.
They may vote for measiu*es tending the very opposite of the
consequences which they really wish."
The brochiu*e, containing the sentiments just quoted,
attracted wide attention and was approved by distinguished
men. Later ( 1884) it was revised and reprinted as an " Essay
On Credit, As Money," * to which subsequent reference will
be made.
Business— contact with the great outer world — is respon-
sible for the preceding digressicm into a field quite foreign to
experimental science. But it is with a keen sense of pleasure
that one turns to and reads the following communications
addressed to a friend of similar tastes, thinking along the
lines which quite early led to a most happy friendship.
" D'. Sillinuui " P^«^'- J"*'- l^"- 1811.
I thank you for your account of your interesting experi-
ments— Yoiu* apology for yoiu* delay in replying to my letter
was unnecessary to me as I shall never suspect you of wilful
neglect I can so fully understand \he hiury of yoiu* experi-
ments & other occupations — I Mn sorry I cannot bend my
attention the way you encline it — I have during the past two
years been occupied in the improvement of my casks & the
^ Philadelphia. Printed by John C. Clark, No. 60 Dodc St.
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82 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
valves for closiiig them — It is astounding -whsA a variety of
modes of effecting the purpose of the common cock have
been overlooked. I have been puzzled and perplexed by
the variety that have offered themselves & in deciding be-
tween the various motives for preference presented by them.
Without having become a mechanick I never could have suc-
ceeded— ^When I return again to rove imshackled in the
path of experiment I shall come with new powers.
Your apparatus is very hands<miely arranged — Some
time when I have leisiu*e I will send you a little improvement
I have designed for keeping the f rustrum in which the gases
meet free from the ill consequences of the great heat — I wish
you could combine the effects of the galvanic trough & of
the compoimd blowpipe — I should like if possible to see the
influences of Caloric & galvanic electricity united — Peiiiaps
the heat would destroy the circuit — ^Would it be possible to
give a shock from an electrick battery to the earth, when
exposed to caloric of ibis intensity —
To return to Business — I have not as yet sold any of my
casks nor made up my mind to part with iliem — ^Yet it is
probable I may find it [to] my interest to permit them to be
employed for cyder as this may favour the demand for my
porter in situations where the return of the casks would be
difficult & expensive — The price is dieaper in proportion for
large ilian small ones. A ten gallon one about eight dollars.
The latter is about equal to the content of a gross of Porter
Bottles.
I remain as ever
Professor Silliman Very sincerely
Yale College Your friend
New Haven.'* Rob*. Habe.'"
Do not the words, " when I return again to rove un-
shackled in the path of experiment " tell tiie longing of this
great exemplar of experimentation for the opportunity to
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FIRST PEMOD, 1781-1818 88
busy himself uninterruptedly with his beloved sci^ice? Im-
perative necessity had compelled him to become a man of
business, but, while thus occupied, he liiought upon the prob-
lems which had engaged Silliman and himself in earlier days,
as well as upon more recent advances, e.g., galvanism. There
is also apparent an eye to advantage in the words:
" I may find it to my interest to permit them (the casks)
to be employed for cyder as this may favour the demand for
my porter. . . /*
From tlie next communication one may well conclude that
^'the important event'' referred to was his marriage to
Miss Harriett Clark, of Providence, R. I. This occurred <m
September 11, 1811. To this worthy couple were bom in
the course of time five sons and a daughter. Two of the sons
died quite young. John Innes Clark Hare, the second ehild,
studied chemistry under his father and subsequently abroad,
but later entered upon the law, in ^diich he met with signal
success, becoming a professor in the Law School of the Uni-
versity and later a judge in the Courts of Philadelphia,
where he was most highly esteemed and honored. Other
sons, who lived into middle age, were Robert Harford Hare
and George Harrison Hare. The daughter, Lydia, in due
time, became Mrs. Frederick Prime, of New York City.
" Dear SiUiman " ^^^^•- ^*°- ^^"^ ^^^^
I thank you for your kind letter congratulating me on an
event which you justly deem the most important in this world
— I regret you should still suffer from the imfortunate ex-
plosion of which you give me an account — Higgins you must
remember suffered exactly in tiie same way from trusting
tiiat moistiu*e would prevent the explosion.
The tightness of my casks was not accomplished without
great diflSculty — I was 18 months devising & experimenting
ere I succeeded in making them perfect — ^My success however
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S4 THE LIFE OP ROBERT HARE
is complete — I found on my arrival at New York six casks
which had been sent there in the beginning of September in
a high state of ripeness equalling the pressure of about three
atmospheres — ^Although more than a month had elapsed not
a drop of liquor appeared to have escaped & the ripeness had
increased.
The heads I have latterly made of cast iron — ^The diam-
eter of a barrel is reduced by 12 inches the length 42 inches.
Hence the heads are light & do not cost more than from 60
to 75 cents each — being from J^ to ^ thick & concave on the
external surface in a small degree forming an arch the versed
sine of which is about ^ inch — The 120 bU. casks are about
the same length & diameter 8j^ — The bilge of both being
raised very much. — The internal surface of tiie cask is heated
as far as possible without ignition & soaked with melted bees-
wax while hot. The heads are covered with mastic dipped in
eggs & quicklime in the same way as in luting & are then
heated, covered with a film of wax & placed in the irons of the
casks while warm enough to keep tiie wax completely in
fusion — I used sometimes two pieces of plank luted together
by white & red lead with lintseed oil & turned to that a portion
of each wait to form the tongue entering the irons of the cask
— ^You tell me to send you a barrel of porter but don't say
whether in bottles in the patent casks or common ones — If
you wish a patent cask I must procure a friend to take <mi to
you the instrument for drawing the liquor from the valve.
Pray inform me of your wishes — It will not be in my
power to supply you with good bottled porter being out of
my last winters stock —
I am as ever yours sincerdy Rob\ Habe.^^
" D'. Silliman " P^»' March 19* 1812
I have only time to inform you that I have shipped your
glass on board of the schooner Express Capt". L. Hommedieu
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FIRST PERIOD, 1781-1818 85
— who has engaged to deliver them on Board a New Haven
Packet for you Tvhen he arrives at New York —
Should you want a correspondent at Pittsbiu-g who is
conversant with Chemistry & chemical apparatus if you will
write to D'. Joel Lewis Jun'. & say you did so at my request
you may be assur'd of a prompt & willing attention — ^Any
money you may want paid you may refer to me for you know
at Pittsburg a bill on Philadel*. is as good as cash — The triffle
I have now paid is not worth attention till we have further
dealings — Yours as ever
Rob\ Habe."
You may see my mechanical hands or the effects of them on
this."
(The allusion here is to a roughly written note and to
blotches upon the paper.)
" D^ Saiiman " ^^'^^ April 6*^ 1812
I reed yoiu* letter respecting the gold a few days ago
but have been too much occupied to make the necessary re-
search until this day — Fortunately Lewis's Commercium is
in my library & I have examined him — He is however so
diffuse & unmethodical that I cannot ccmvey his ideas on the
subject of gold, without writing a short pamphlet — It will
be necessary that the difficulty of your enquirer should be
more precisely stated — & tiien I shall know if Lewis can aid
him — I will however observe that he gives his opinion that
sduticm in aqua regia, & precipitation by sulphat of iron is the
only way of procuring gold in a state of purity — ^He men-
tions however cementing the metal in a very thin laminse in
a mixture of nitre or common salt & green vitriol with brick
dust exposed to a strong heat & also exposing it to what he
calls antimony — the sulphur of ^diich destroys the baser
metals while the antimony unites with the gold & is subse-
quently driven off by heat & oxydizement — I suppose he
must mean a sulphiu*et of antimony —
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S6 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
I wish you would furnish an account of your late repeti-
tion of my experiments to the mineralogical Journal of
New York or some other publication — ^Murray is the only
European compiler that has condescended to notice them or
to treat the earths as fusible matters. Bruce wrote to me for
some acct. of them but though I refer'd him to my memoir
¥rith some directions he has not I believe noticed it as he
professed himself desirous of doing.
Your friend called and paid the amt of the land carriage
of yoiu* glass. The freight has not yet been paid — I have
been too much occupied to pay him any attenticm — I have
not dined at home these three weeks — I shewed him when he
called some tubes of lead or tin I had been casting — I have
rendered my apparatus so expeditious as to mould 25 8^
inch lengths in 11 minutes —
I Bxa as ever
Yours
R. Habe."
" P. S. Perhaps you had better send the account of
your experiments to Nicholson as it may be neglected if it
appears first on this side of the water — Original matter
though of less intrinsick value generally receives more atten-
tion than that which has previously been printed — & espe-
cially if it has the misfortune first to shew itself here — "
Even in more modem times literature upon experimental
subjects, if first printed in this country, received but little
consideration from the editors of foreign joiunals. This cus-
tom must have irritated Hare very considerably, for it hap-
pened that in some European publications the descripticm of
his compound blowpipe and its extended uses were credited to
a French savant.
On page 17 there is declared by Dr. Rush to Mr. George
Cljrmer that the Trustees of the University would rencfer a
service to medical education by the introduction of a course on
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FIRST PERIOD, 1781-1818 87
natural philosophy into the curriculum. He f urtlier recom-
mended that Robert Hare be placed in charge of the instruc-
tion. This idea seems at times to have seriously engaged the
thoughts of the Trustees, for in 1812 they approached Hare
upon the subject, receiving in reply to their advances the
following letter:
" To the Trustees of the
University of Pennsylvania
GenV*
A considerable period of time has intervened since I in-*
formed you that imless I could acquire some peculiar claims
to notice I should despair of rendering the professorship of
natural philosophy lucrative to myself or materially bene-
fk^al to the publick more especially as you had tliought it
necessary to restrict the lectures to objects not falling yrithin
the usual course of medical instruction as afforded in the
imiversity & to leave the question of attendance or non
attendance to the option of the pupils. — ^With the view of
acquiring some peculiar claims to attention I had made every
arrangement for visiting Europe as soon as the settlement
of the affairs of my late father should liberate me from the
care of them & being disappointed in the sale of his estate
that settlement was inevitably procrastinated however de-
sired & sought for by me. Still however intent upon the
improvement of the property while imder my management
I succeeded in an invention which promised to render my
peculiar services highly important to the interests of my
surviving parent & otiiers concerned. Then a new and un-
surmountable duty arose in opposition to that prompt atten-
tion to the duties of my appointment which it was my ardent
desire to afford & which you might reasonably have demanded.
I did not however feel that there would be any necessity for
my resigning the chair unless some one should appear capable
& willing to perform the functions belonging to it especially
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88 THE LIFE OF BOBERT HARE
as I could not altogether give up the hope that I might
eventually be enabled to perform them. In this predica^
ment however I have at length found myself placed by the
arrival of D"^ Patterson from Europe where I have under-
stood that he has been engaged in making researches cal-
culated peculiarly to qualify him as a lecturer in experimental
science. I feel great regret when I review the impedimaits
which thus oblige me to cede to another a situation for which
my native propensities are so powerful. It is nevertheless
pleasing to me to relinquish it under circumstances favorable
to the interests of the medical school & to the merits of a
juvenile candidate who actuated by the same taste as myself
& more propitiously situated has already trodden over that
preparatory ground which my judgment had pointed out.
I am Genf"
With due respect
Your ob* serv*
Rob*. Habe."
Manfully determined to carry out certain business plans.
Hare continued in his customary way and waited. His dis-
appointment was great, but his courage prevailed.
Hare was one of Washington's most " devoted political
advocates, having always styled himself a Washington Fed-
eralist On one occasion (1812) he embodied his senti-
ments of admiration in these verses:
Hail, ^orious day, which gave Washington birth.
To Columbia and liberty dear,
When a guardian angel descended on earth
To shed blessings o'er many a year.
Though heroes and statesmen, by glory enshrined
May be seen in the temple of fame.
No hero or statesman, unblemished we find,
Save one, bearing Washington's name.
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FIRST PERIOD, 1781-1818 89
In the annals of war, many names are enrolled,
Of heroes who nations enslaved;
But have war's bloody annals of any one told.
Who a nation so nobly has saved?
Wealth, titles, and power, disdainfully spum'd
Of heroes too often the aim ;
From a king or his favors indignant he tum'd.
Only feeling his country's high claim.
To this ever true, in her trouble's dark ni^t.
Intent on her welfare al(Mie,
Against her proud tyrants, he urged the dread fight.
Till he forced them her freedom to own.
Next in France a strange demon uplifted its head.
All the nations of earth to betray.
And into its snares would Columbia have led.
Had not Washington warned her to stay.
Best and wisest of men ! When counsell'd by thee.
Could thy people their treasure withhold?
When ruled by another, then could they agree
To lavish their millions untold?
By Genet insulted, by slander aggrieved.
If thy wrongs unrevenged could remain,
For rulers denouncing wh<Hn false he believed,
By a mob could thy Ligan be slain ?
Can the voice of the country for whom he had bled.
E'er pardon a murder so base.
Or the tear-drops of millions, piously shed.
The deep stain from our annals efface?
u ^ silliman " ^^d" May 9^ 1914
I have understood that through Hie liberality of M^
Greorge Gibbs you have had an extensive collection of min-
erals added to your cabinet at Yale — ^Are they so arranged
as that a stranger may derive much benefit from tihem? At
what time do yoiu* lectures commence in this month — ^I recol-
lect you told me you entered on a coiu-se this month but I do
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40 THE LIPE OP ROBERT HARE
not remember \he exact time. Mr*. H and myself have
some thoughts of taking a ride idiieh her health seems to
require & desirous of combining intellectual with physical
improvement we have tum'd our eyes towards New Haven.
It would give me pleasure to converse with you on the late
important discoveries & innovations of Sir Himiphry Davy
— I confess I admire him more as a practical than as a theo-
retical chemist. It seems my poor little discovery is doomed
to meet mis-representation on every side. T. Cooper in a late
number of the Emporium which he has taken from the incom-
petent hands of Coxe says that a degree of heat nearly equal
to that of the burning glass may be produced by a blowpipe
fed with the hydrogen & oxygen gasses. You may possibly
recollect that he Humpt me when I was sftiowing the experi-
ments before Priestley by asserting that pure platinum had
been fused in an air fiunace. He now boasts as of a novelty
of agglutinating the native grains — He has however ren-
dered his work interesting & is proceeding on a plan of
selection which I always thought the only one by which a
periodical publication could be rendered really valuable, in
this country. —
I hope this may find you & yours well & happy. I am
as ever — Yours
Rob* Haee."
The " Emporium " referred to was the Emporium of Arts
and Sciences conducted by Thomas Cooper, Esq., Professor
of Chemistry and Natural Philosophy, Dickinson College,
Carlisle, Pa. This journal was founded by Dr. John Red-
man Coxe, the fortunate competitor for the professorship in
the University of Pennsylvania when the friends of Hare
were advocating his claims and fitness for the same chair.
It was to Vol. 1, New Series, p. 180, that Hare directed
Silliman's attention. In the preface occur these words from
Cooper:
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FIRST PERIOD, 1781-1818 41
^ for what more useful work could the public desire, than one which
should contain a judicious selection of practical papers on manufac-
tures and the arts, from the more scarce and voluminous among the
foreign publications, and a repository for original papers of the same
description, furnished by men of research in our country? "
" Dear SillimaB " ^^^' ^^^ ^"^ ^^^^
I enclose you a letter from my friend W" Mereditli, Esq.
recommendii^ a young gent" to your good offices who, he
is desirous as you will see, should finish his education at Yak.
The observations on the score of religion were drawn forth
by my suggesting some doubt that it might interfere with
your usual system to have one who is expected by his friends
to adhere to Judaish belief under your more immediate care.
I beg you will candidly state whether you are in the habit
now of undertaking for a due ccmipensation the care of young
genf* so situated and whether there will be any objection on
the grounds I have stated if on otiiers tliere should be none —
Meredith you know is a very devout Christian — The boy is
I believe about fourteen — I presume W" Woodbridge led
you to expect a visit from me ere now — I have indeed seri-
ously intended it but in business depending on others there
is always room for delay and rarely any room for shortening
transactions — It is still however my hope and wish to visit
you and I still believe I shall accomplish it — I have beai c(m-
structing an improved blovirpipe which I conceive will add to
the facility of producing the most intense heat —
I propose to employ the Olefiant gas instead of Hydro-
gen & have no doubt the eflFect will be more powerful — ^Pray
do you leave New Haven in the course of next month — ^Af ter
so long being delayed in visiting Yale I should be very sorry
to go there and find you away. When does your Mineral-
ogical course begin — ^Do you think Accum of IxMidcm is to be
trusted to furnish any articles wanted in the chemical line.
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42 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
The war has given the finishing blow to my business here
and I shall I believe have to turn Lecturer by force of neces-
sity— Coxe is universally complained of — ^Please to return
an early answer concerning young Nathans as I shall prob-
ably soon set out for N. Y. and if I do not go to Yale imme-
diately might send him by the steamboat in case you encourage
me to do so — Your ever faithful friend
Rob* Hare."
For some reason Mr. Meredith was extremely interested
in young Nathans. In his letter to Silliman he menticms
ihat the lad was inclined toward the ^^ profession of a Mer-
chant " and says: " On the subject of Religion, I will only
remark that Jews are educated here, at Harvard & at New
York — & above all, at Princeton the reputed head quarters
of Calvinism, etc. — ^Will Yale be more narrow than Nassau? "
The desire to reach the truth was ever a burning passion
with Hare. Hence, it is easy to comprehend his thought in
the following verses:
Ob, Truth ! if man thy way could find.
Not doomed to stray with error blind.
How much more kind his fate !
But wayward still, he seeks his bane.
Nor can of foul delusion gain
A knowledge till too late.
By sad experience slowly shown,
Tliy way at times though plainly known,
Too late repays his care ;
While in thy garb dark Error leads,
With best intent, to evil deeds
The bigot to ensnare.
Is there a theme more hi^ly f rau^t
With matter for our serious thought
Than this reflection sad.
That millions err in different ways.
Yet all their own impressions praise.
Deeming all others bad?
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FIRST PERIOD, 1781-1818 4S
To man it seems no standard's given,
No scale of Truth hangs down from Heaven
Opinion to essay ;
Yet called upon to act and think
How are we then to shun the brink
O'er which so many stray?
" My dear Silliman
I should have written to you by mail some days ago of
the unfortunate result of the electicm had I not felt too mudi
out of spirits — ^Dorsey had nine Coxe only eight votes — One
of my friends on whom the most explicit reliance was placed
was induced to vote for Dorsey in consequence of the repre-
sentation of D"^ Kuhn who left no stone unturned to defeat
our hopes — He had been a patient of D*" Physick this winter
& they had become so intimate that the carriage of the latter
was seen often to stand for hours before Kuhn's door.
This warped the old mans mind altogether to the side
of Dorsey & he represented to the Trustees that if D"^ Coxe
were incompetent in his present station he would be still more
injiu*ious in that to which it was proposed to remove him as
the knowledge of materia medica is more important to a
physician than a knowledge of chemistry — Had I been
aware of these representations I might have ref er'd to a
letter written by Physick & Dorsey to the board some years
ago requesting that the chair of materia medica should be
merged in that of the institutes & practice & abo have stated
that those gent*" had been quite willing Coxe should succeed
provided I would be Dorsey's adjunct in Chemistry.
It is unfortunate I was lulled into so mudi security as I
would have accepted that offer had I supposed there was
any danger of the failure of D"" C. . . . It is in contem-
plation to make another chair of chemistry in the Department
of the Arts & my friends wish me to offer for it — ^Under any
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44 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
other drcumstanoes it would be worth nothing hardly but
Coxe is so very unpopular that \t will afford an opening
probably for some advantages as I believe the trustees would
aU be glad to get rid of him.
I hope Lyman will not feel disappointed in consequence
of any hopes I may have awaken'd — I write this in answer to
yours of the 4th though I have not mention'd the receipt of it.
I sent your platinum by . . . Spring, Esq. brother
to Binney. It is rather more than an eighth of what I pur-
chased for 40 nearly, it must be nearly ^ lb — Cost therefore
$5 — ^You need not send me this or my watch at present as I
shall probably be nearer you ere long
Your friend
Ap, 1816.*' RoBT Habe.*'
In this letter there is revealed a little of the politics which
was taking place in medical and imiversity circles. It will
be recalled that in 1809, Dorsey and others were very desirous
of having Hare succeed James Woodhouse. At this time
there were those who, being hostile to John Redman Coxe
and unwilling that he should have the Chair of Materia
Medica, were ready, however, to place him in the Chair of
Chemistry. There are records which plainly show that Coxe
was not on very good terms with any of his colleagues; at
times he was accused of encroaching upon the work of other
Chairs. Indeed, even after he became the Professor of Chem-
istry, he busied himself to such a degree with the subject
matter properly falling in other departments, that the Trus-
tees were finally compelled to sever his connection witfi the
institution. This, however, did not take place until about
1885. With the appointment of Coxe to the chair of chem-
istry, the majority then favored the appointment of Dorsey
to the chair of materia medica; this prevented a vacancy
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FIRST PERIOD, 1781-1818 45
occurring in the chair of diemistry, which Hare and his
friends had hoped might occur.
It was during the year 1816 that the friends of Robert
Hare sought information from every possible source as to his
fitness for the duties of such a position as they had in view.
This may be gathered from letters sent them from persons
not residing in Philadelphia. Thus to General Cadwalader,
a trustee of the University, Dr. Jones of William and Mary
College expressed himself as follows on Mardi 22, 1816:
" It gives me great pleasure to reply to the inquiry con-
tained in your favour of the 14th inst. as the subject is one
upon which I can speak without hesitation.
Mr. Hare has distinguished himself not only by his knowl-
edge of Chymistry, but by having made valuable contribu-
tions, both to tiie means, and the objects of chymical inquiry;
and is in consequence advantageously known to the Chymists
of Europe. I have ever regretted that other avocations had
called his attention from a pursuit in which he had shown
himself so ^ninently qualified to excel.
Should my opinion have any influence in promoting his
appointment to the Chymical chair in the University of Penn-
sylvania, I shall felicitate myself on having promoted the
interests of that Institution in particular, and the cause of
science in general.
The mechanical skill possessed by Mr. Hare is an ad-
vantage of high importance, as it renders perfectly easy that
which without it would frequently be relinquished as impos-
sible. This advantage, as useful to the Institution as to the
professor, is not likely to be obtained in any other candidate
for the chair.*'
And to John Hare Powd, a brother of Robert Hare,
Henry Brevoort, Esq., of New York, addressed these lines
on February 29, 1816:
'' During my attendance of a course of lectures on Chym-
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46 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
istry in the winter of 1818, delivered in the College of Edin-
burgh, Dr. Hope, the Professor, in describing the construc-
tion of your brother's blowpipe, mentioned his name in the
terms following:
" * For ihe invention of this very ingenious machine, we
are indebted to Mr. Robert Hare, jim., of Philadelphia; a
gentleman whose merits claim a distinguished rank amongst
the successful promoters of Chymistry, in the United States
of America.' "
And, again, to General Cadwalader, Samuel L. Mitdiell
of Columbia University, wrote on March 28, 1815:
" I have not answered your letter of the 14th inst. earlier,
on account of a violent attack of the croop, which has incom-
moded me excessively. You honour me very much by ask-
ing my opinion concerning the qualifications of Mr. Hare to
teach Chymistry as a Professor in the University of Penn-
sylvania. This gentleman has been known to me for ten
years or more. I have perused some of the pages he has pub-
lished on Ch}rmical subjects. I have imiformly found him
ardent in the pursuit of Uiat kind of science. His actuid
attainments are of the high and respectable order, and he
seems to be particularly qualified for devising and construct-
ing experiments. It gives me pleasure to write you this
opinion; and be assured, sir, of my service and respect."
Despite these hearty endorsements the desired goal, as
shown in Hare's letter of April, 1816, to Silliman, was not
reached.
An inspection of old records in tiie University of Penn-
sylvania will disclose the greatest activity among medical
men to preserve this position for men of their own particular
profession.
" Dear Silliman: " ^ew York March 20^ 1817
About ten days ago I gave to Capt** Johnson of the
schooner Encline nineteen pounds & a half of lead tubes
which he undertook to deliver to you.
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FIRST PERIOD, 1781-1818 47
I have been mudi disgusted with the conduct of the people
in an important district here for without conferring with
me they enter'd into arrangements with an ignorant fellow
of the name of Monell because he offered illumination at half
price. I in consequence have concluded to let them manage
it together. The undertaking is very laborious responsible &
noisome — It is a fearful responsibility to have the eyes of
the larger portion of the people of a city dependent on one for
sight during many hours of the four & twenty. Unfortunately
the greater part of the Corporation were luke warm or hostile
to my undertaking so that after making a vast quantity of
tubes burners it was not possible to use them. The funds
which I had calculated to return into my hands through that
medium were thus rendered useless & my operations too
limited to admit of an economical use of fuel. My cylinder
when properly fixed gave at the rate of 260 cubick feet of
gas p hour. This is a prodigious quantity to be extricated in
that time. In the coal gas process three times that quantity is
a days work for a cylinder of the same dimensions — ^My beam
an account of which will be shortly published is I think an ad-
mirable contrivance. It has at one end a circular arch head at
the other a variable spiral curve ardi so that the gasometer
being hung at one end & a weight adequate to balance it at
Hie other; this same weight will equiponderate with it at all
points of its inmiersion. It is a plan simple, devoid of friction,
easy of execution, & susceptible of correction at any time.
Did I ever mention that I tried an experiment with two
electrical machines, last spring as I had proposed to do with
many^ in a previous letter to you. Cuthbertsons Electrometer
was subjected successively to the action of two electrical
machines — The effect of A was 2 that of B 5 — The two
machines were now put into acticm connected with each other
& with the Electrometer according to my plan: That is the
positive conductor of A communicating with the negative
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48 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
conductor of B the positive conductor of this with the Elec-
trometer. The effect on the latter was now equal to seven.
The two machines were eadi separately but simultaneously
connected with the Electrometer the effect was less than
that of the stronger madiine alone part of the excess, going
off through the weaker one by a retrograde movement. You
know my object was in this way to produce a mechanical
electricity more nearly resembling the voltaic where the sur-
face is divided into many plates of small area. This can in
my opinion never be attained by the enlargement of a single
machine any more than the pressure in the hydrostatick bel-
lows can be increased by enlarging the pipe.
I have written to Brande of the Royal Institution giving
an account of this project & experiment. I propose that a
number of electrical cylinders shall be placed in a common
frame & turned by an endless cord their positive & negative
poles connected as above. — ^Does not the result I obtained
by means of the two machines overset the doctrine of the
existence of two fluids — Suppose we endeavour to explain
the effect by that hypothesis — If I understand it the action
of the machines determines the two fluids to Iheir respective
poles or conductors. In that case \hen the positive influence
of the first & the negative influence of the second ought to
neutralize each other meeting as they must in consequence
of the connexion. Now by the other hypotheses the positive
& negative states being relative not absolute that whidi it is
negative in one view may well be positive in the other &
hence the negative pole of the second instrument instead of
being neutralized by the positive emission from the first may
acquire a greater efliciency.
D"^ Clarke has been using us scurvily. I presume you
must have read of his alledged discoveries by means of the
heat evolved in the combustion of the gaseous elements of
water. He does not condescend to notice your experiments
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FIRST PERIOD, 1781-1818 49
or mine. Brande acknowledges me as the Autiior but does
not republish our experiments. I have written to him point-
ing out the injustice thus done us. I wish you would write
to some of your correspondents on this subject. It appears
that they have not succeeded in effecting the pretended de-
composition of the metalloidal oxides in some attempts of the
Royal Institution. They sneer at Clarke and say they knew
that wonderful effects were produced by this means before
by the accounts published in America. Do you recollect I
proposed to use the gases in state of mixture before emission?
Cooper has behav'd with his usual spirit of detraction in
an article in Walsh's reviews. He very artfully ccmtrives to
transfer Clouds name to my blowpipe — I shall take him to
task for it. Cloud never invented a blowpipe — If he invented
anything it was a compound gas holder not a compound blow-
pipe. But it differed from one in my laboratory when at his re-
quest & in his presence I tried some experiments only in the
following particulars. Mine was of wood & copper his of tin.
The former had aflat receptacle for water the latter had a tall
conical one. I leave it to you how far this was a wise altera-
tion where equability of pressure was an object. He omitted
various appendages whidb were not necessary to his purpose.
Pray assure Mr" Sillimi^n of our grateful recollection of
her attentions & the flattering partiality you have both so
kindly expressed which we so sincerely reciprocate that we
mudi regret that our abode is not likely to be nearer.
You must excuse me for scrawling — & believe your
Ever faithful friend
Rob* Haee."
On page 14 reference was made to the sturdy support
shown Hare by Silliman in the days when the question of
priority in regard to the compound blowpipe was raised.
The following letter to the scientific public may, therefore,
take its place here in its evident chronological order:
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50 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
" Yale CoUege, April 7, 1817.
" Various notices, more or less complete, chiefly copied
from English newspapers, are now going the romid of the
public prints in this country, stating that '' a new kind of
fire " has been discovered in England, or, at least, new and
heretofore unparalleled means of exciting heat, by whidi
the gems, and all the most refractory substances in nature,
are immediately melted, and even in various instances dis-
sipated in vapour, or decomposed into their elements. The
first glance at these statements, (which, as regards the effects,
I have no doubt are substantially true,) was sufficient to
satisfy me, that the basis of these discoveries was laid by an
American discovery, made by Mr. Robert Hare, of Phila-
delphia, in 1801. In December of that year, Mr. Hare com-
municated to the Chemical Society of Philadelphia his dis-
covery of a method of burning oxygen and hydrogen gases
in a united stream, so as to produce a very intense heat.
In 1802, he published a detailed memoir on the subject,
witii an engraving of his apparatus, and he recited the effects
of his instrument; some of which, in the degree of heat pro-
duced, surpassed any thing before known.
In 1802 and 1808, 1 was occupied with him, in Philadel-
phia, in prosecuting similar experiments on a more extended
scale; and a communication on the subject wa^ made to the
Philosophical Society of Philadelphia. The memoir is
printed in tlieir transactions ; and Mr. Hare's original memoir
was reprinted in the Annals of Chemistry, in Paris, and in
the Philosophical Magazine in London.
Mr. Murray, in his Syst«n of Chemistry, has mentioned
Mr. Hare's results in the fusion of several of the earths, etc,
and has given him credit for his discovery.
In one instance, while in Europe, in 1806, at a public lect-
ure, I saw some of them exhibited by a celebrated Professor,
who mentioned Mr. Hare as reputed author of the invention.
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FIRST PERIOD, 1781-1818 51
In December, 1811, I instituted an extended course of
experiments with Mr. Hare's blowpipe, in whidi I melted
lime and magnesia, and a long list of the most refractory
minerals, gems, and others, the greater part of which had
never beai melted before, and I supposed that I had decom-
posed lime, barytes, strontites, and magnesia, evolving their
metallic bases, which burnt in the air as fast as produced. I
communicated a detailed account of my experiments to the
Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, who published
it in their Transactions for 1812 ; with their leave it was com-
municated to Dr. Bruce's mineraiogical Journal, and it was
printed in the 4th number of that work. Hundreds of my
pupils can testify that Mr. Hare's splendid experiments, and
many otliers p^ormed with his blowpipe, fed by oxygen
and hydrogen gases, have been for years past annually ex-
hibited, in my public courses of chemistry in Yale College,
and that the fusion and volatilization of platina, and the com-
bustion of that metal, and of gold and silver, and of many
other metals; that the fusion of the earths, of rock crystal,
of gun flint, of the corundum gems, and many other very
refractory substances; and the production of light beyond
the brightness of the sun, have been familiar experiments
in my laboratory. I have uniformly given Mr. Hare the
full credit of the invention, altiiough my researches, with his
instrument, had been pushed farther than his own, and a
good many new results added.
It is therefore with no small surprise that, in the Annales
de Chimie et de Physique, for September, 1816, I found a
translation of a very elaborate memoir, from a Scientific
Journal, published at the Royal Institution, in London, in
which a full account is given of a very interesting series of
experiments, performed by means of Mr. Hare's instrument;
or rather one somewhat differently arranged, but depending
on the same principle. Mr. Hare's invention is slightly men-
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52 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
tioned in a note, but no mention is made of his experim^its,
or of mine.
On a c(Mnparison of tibe memoir, in question with Mr.
Hare's and with my own, I find that very many of the results
are identical, and all the new ones are derived directly from
Mr. Hare's invention, with the following differences — In
Mr. Hare's, the two gases were in distinct reservoirs, to pre-
vent explosion; they were propelled by the pressure of a
colunm of water, and were made to mingle, just before tlieir
exit, at a ccxnmon orifice. In the English apparatus, tlie
gases are both in one reservoir, and they are propelled by
tlieir own elasticity, after ccmdensation, by a syringe.
Professor Clarke, of Cambridge University, the cde-
brated traveller, is tibe author of the memoir in question; and
we must presume that he was ignorant of what had been
done by Mr. Hare and myself, or he would candidly have
adverted to the facts.
It is proper that the public should know that Mr. Hare
was the autibor of the invention, by means of whidi, in Europe,
they are now performing the most brilliant and beautiful
experiments; and that there are very few of tiiese results
hitiberto obtained there, by the use of it, (and the publication
of which has there excited great interest,) which were not,
several years ago, anticipated here, either by Mr. Hare or
by myself.
As I have dted only printed documents, or the testimony
of living witnesses, I trust the public will not consider litis
communication as indelicate, or arrogant, but simply a matter
of justice to the interests of American science, and particu*
larly to Mr. Hare. Benjamin Silliman."
The devoted student of science now gave up his Phila-
delphia residaice. There is no knowledge of the reason for
this step, unless, perhaps, the abandonment of business and
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FIRST PERIOD, 1781-1818 58
ibe unoertainiy as to his future oocupation. It is also pos-
sible tiiat financial straits prompted him to turn to Providence
from wfaidi point he next writes to his dear Silliman.
« My dear Silliman: " Providence April 28* 1817
On my arrival here I found your letter enclosing eleven
dolls — ^Having bid a permanent adieu to New York & hav-
ing at presoit no views elsewhere litis place will probably
for some time be my hcmie. Of course I will thank you to
send hither the Pamphlets & any communications for me —
I left the enclosures for the European philosophers at
M' Eastbums (reading rooms) whose brother will go to
Europe shortly & M' E offered to put into his hands any
thing we destined for that part of the world — I need not say
I was pleased with your letter in the Courier — ^If the rest of
the world estimated my humble pretensions as you do I should
stand higher than I deserve — It appears to me however that
the most efl9cient step is yet to be taken though a very simple
(me which is to solicit a republication of your memoir in one
of the Lcmdon Journals — ^You may possibly remember that
I suggested this measure when it was first transmitted me
though you modestly satisfied yourself with publishing it in
the mineralogical journal & letting it take its course. — It
really seems bad policy to publish any thing in this Country
upon Science especially in the first instance — It is rarely
attended to in England & we are so low in capacity at home
that few appreciate any thing which is done here imless it is
sancticai'd abroad. A very sensible young friend of mine
ivdio had beai in England speaking of my pamphlet told me
as a ground of exultation that it was very near being re-
viewed in the Edinburgh Review — a prodigious honour to be
sure — There is nothing I am now satisfied in which there is
more intrigue or charlatanism than in the business of literary
or sdentifick reputation. — Tilloch having republished my
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54 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
memoir will probably be willing to republish yours — ^If you
think proper send it to him yourself or if you prefer it I will —
M^ Eastbum will no doubt despatdi it by his brother should
you send it to his care — ^He is very fond of appearing in that
sort of business & is apparently a very amiable man & dis-
posed to oblige —
You will see a cut of my beam probably in the next N*
of the Magazine by Moses Thomas Phila* & also a
copy of my letter to Brande on the electrical experiment —
When I was in Philad* my friends suggested the idea of
my opening a chemical & Drug store as the most eminent of
the Physicians would give their prescriptions — & it would be
a great help in any views on the chemical chair in any future
vacancy — There is something attractive in the idea but I
know by experience that personal motives do little for men
in business in the long run & I am not qualified well for
minute economy or minute attention — It was proposed I
should associate myself with some one who should understand
& transact the minutia but such dependency is dangerous —
Thinking, however on the subject — ^Your pupil Lyman Foot
came into my mind as one with whcnn such a connection might
be safe & in some respects advantageous should it so fall out
as to be desirable to both — I cannot aver however liiat I
have any very serious inclination for the plan but mention
it to you that you may say what occurs to you in any moment
of leisure —
With the kindest salutation to you & yours & begging
pardon for this hasty scrawl —
I remain your faithful friend
1817 Rob' Habe."
In some unrecorded way Hare was interrupted in his
wanderings and placed in a teaching position in the College
of William and Mary, Virginia. The minutes of that insti-
tution bear record that " Dr. Robert Hare appeared before
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FIRST PERIOD, 1781-1818 55
the Faculty and qualified as professor of Natural Philosophy
and Chemistry, February 25, 1818. He attended several
faculty meetings, March 14 being his last, after whidi his
name does not appear in the record. During litis short in-
terval from February 25 to March 14, he appears to have
gotten into trouble with the students, attending his lectures,
by charging a fee, whidi they condemned. The Faculty up-
held Dr. Hare, and upwards of twenty-five were dismissed.''
These facts were recently (May 4, 1916) communicated
by President Tyler of the College of William and Mary to
the writer. He in turn submits with much pleasure the fol-
lowing testimonials from persons conversant with Dr. Hare's
brief career in the Virginia College.
''Having been a regular attendant on the Chymical
Lectures of Dr. Hare this spring, I am enabled to say, that
speaking extempore with little time for preparation, he has
satisfactorily explained the principles of Chjrmistry, and
illustrated them by a great number of experiments, in the
exhibition of which he has been very successful, and discov-
ered much ingenuity and manual dexterity.
As a lecturer, Dr. Hare possesses advantages which de-
serve particular notice. From his great experience in Chym-
ical pursuits, he has never appeared to be at a loss in ex-
pounding the most difficult phencnnena which the science
presents; and by the force of a talent which seems peculiar
to himself, he is enabled to attract and rivet the attention
in discussing the most ordinary and fanuliar topicks. His
success in the manipulations, in my opinion, is not owing
more to the care with which he selects his agents, than to the
mechanical skill with which he prepares his apparatus, or
supplies it entirely where it is found wanting.
In fine, Dr. Hare is most enthusiastically devoted to
his profession, and it is obvious to all who attend to tibe char-
acter of his pursuits when not engaged in the exercises of
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56 THE LIFE OF BOBERT HABE
the College, tiiat he possesses a genuine love for philosophkal
inquiry, and that he regards science almost exdusivdy as the
business of his life. Ferdinand S. Campbell."
Williamsburgh, 20th May, 1818."
" I have attended many of the Lectures of Dr. Hare, dur-
ing the course, in the College of William and Mary, and
found his experiments, and the explanation of them very
satisfactory. I r^nember no instance in which his experi-
ments did not succeed. j^^^^^ Nelson."
Williamsburgh, 28d May, 1818."
'' I take great pleasure in stating, that in the coiurse of
Lectures which you have delivered here on Chymistry, you
have evinced, as far as I am able to judge^ great acquire-
ments in that science, and have certainly used exertions almost
imparalleled, amidst difficulties the most perplexing and
harassing, yery respectfully.
Your obedient s^^ant,
J. Aug. Smith."
William and Mary College, May 20, 1818."
^^ We whose names are hereimto subscribed, do certify
upon a review of the coiurse of Chjnnical Lectures delivered
by Dr. Hare, during the present session in this institution,
that he has explained the principles of Chymistry to his class,
with perspicuity and ability, and well adapted for the piur-
pose of elucidating the subject for which they were intro-
duced. We moreover acknowledge, and take this mode of
expressing our thanks, that we are indebted to him, not only
for the fidelity with which he has discharged his duties in
the lecture room, but more especially for his laborious and
unparalleled exertions which he made for the class in the
laboratory, in renovating and preparing the apparatus so as
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FIRST PERIOD, 1781-1818 67
to ensure as far as possible the success of the experiments and
to enlarge their sphere.
Signed, etc.
Fifty Students."
Williamsburgh, June 2d, 1818."
" We the undersigned members of Dr. Hare's dasses,
understanding that a report has reached Philadelphia, and
is there circulated, in which it is stated, that Dr. Hare is
disliked by, and is unpopular with those who attend his
Lectures, take this means of rectifying any evil impressions,
which such report may have caused, and of testifying our
respect and esteem for him as a gentleman, and the high
opinion we entertain of his abilities as a professor.
June 17th, 1818." Signed, etc."
Turning for a moment from these expressions of Hare's
skill and ability be it said that in 1818 John Redman Coxe
resigned his chair of chemistry in the Uniyersity of Pennsyl-
vania. Immediately numerous candidates for it appeared,
bringing most powCTf ul influence to bear upon the Trustees.
Here is not the place to review the acts of the dashing in-
terests. Since then one hundred years have passed and one's
judgment now is surely disinterested enough to dedare that
the medical faculty seemed bent upon objecting to any one
not trained in a medical school and not holding the medical
doctorate. Not a word derogatory of Hare's character or
ability as a chemist was uttered by his opponents. However,
said they, not having been medically trained he was unfit.
Some of the candidates had done absolutely nothing in chem-
istry. Their supporters argued that chemistry was a sub-
ject which could quite easily be acquired from text-books —
at least, suffident of it to qualify them for their medical
pursuits.
Among the many applicants for consideration was
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58 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
Thomas Cooper — a most remarkable character who had cmne*
out from England with Priestley. Those who have followed
his career will read his petition to the Trustees with keen
interest and zest.
''August 4 1818
" To the Trustees of the
University of Pennsylvania
** Grentlemen,
There being a vacancy in the chemicid chair of this Uni-
versity, I beg leave to be considered as a candidate: and as
the other candidates exhibit to the Trustees their claims to
the appointment, it seems proper that I should communicate
mine.
It is well known to the members who compose the board
of Trustees, that I have long been devoted to the study and
piursuit of chemistry. For seven years past, I have been a
public lecturer in chemistry; and I may fairly presume that
my reputation in that character, was the chief reason for
appointing me to the professorship I now hold in the Faculty
of Arts in this University; and that I stand in no need of
testimonials from persons of less experience than myself.
I have also a right to say, that I have laboured more to
promote chemical science in this country than any other
man in it, having been a longer time devoted to this study,
not only as a lecturer, but an author. As the Trustees have
done me the honour to accept eight volumes in 8vo. of my
chemical publications, they have the means of judging of my
deserts in this respect.
I find from a collection of certificates and testimonials
published by Mr. Robert Hare, that Dr. Chapman was of
opinion in his case, HiaX it was by no means necessary for a
professor of chemistry in the faculty of medicine, to be also a
regular Physician; it appearing from Dr. Chapman's state-
ment, that Davy of London, Murray of Edinbiurgh, and
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FIRST PERIOD, 1781-1818 69
Vauquelin of Paris, had not studied or graduated as Phys-
icians. If not necessary, however, it is highly expedient,
that your chemical professor should be not only a Doctor
in medicine ncHninally, without practice, but also a Physician
by practice, inasmuch as it is his duty to pass upon the
qualifications of students who apply for medical degrees.
Whetiier the other candidates are practising physicians, must
be known to the Board: my own claims to that title are as
follow:
In London, I attended the Anatcnnical Lectures of Mr.
Sheldon of Great Que^i Street. I attended also a clinical
course at the Middlesex Hospital. I attended at my leisure
hours, the patients of Dr. Feriar of Manchester under his
direction. I have practised openly and avowedly as a
Physician in this country, for a longer time than any present
member of the Medical Faculty of this University.
I exhibited to many of the Trustees cm a former applica-
tion, after the death of Dr. Barton, the testimonials of Judge
Walker, of Judge Brackenridge, of the Rev. Mr. Campbell
of Carlisle, of Dr. Armstrong and Dr. Gustine of the smne
place, that I have continuedly practised as a physician, regu-
larly and repeatedly employed in their families. Those
written testknonies employed in my behalf, on that occasion,
are now dispersed and mislaid. But I may appeal to Judge
Duncan for my having practised regularly as a physician
in the county of Northumberland, uniformly called in by the
resident physicians there, for twenty years past, at every con-
sultation: in particular, that I have repeatedly attended his
sister, and her family, the wife of Judge Walker, and been
repeatedly ccmsulted by him, by letter, since we have resided
at different places. I appeal to Judge Duncan and Judge
Oibson for full and satisfactory testimony, that at Carlisle
I was regularly called in upon every occasion of difficulty by
the Physicians of that place. That I have repeatedly attended
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60 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
in that capacity the families of those two Judges, and of
Judge Brackenridge; and that Dr. Armstrong, Dr. Gustin^
and Dr. Foulke, of Carlisle, each of them confided tihar
wives when sick to my medical direction. I name these
gentlemen (Judge Duncan and Judge Gibson) because I
know that some of the Trustees have applied to them, to
ascertain the truth of this general stat^nent; and I have
appealed to their testimony as to these points, while they
were in the city: and without any knowledge of the answers
they may have given, I rest upcm the evidence they have
afforded in reply to such enquiries: aad as those gentlemen
are here so frequently, and so many opportunities occur to the
members of this Board who are also members of the Bar, to
verify this statement, I make it in full confidence of the result.
Having successfully attended the Rev. Mr. Campbell
to whose episcopal congr^ation I belonged, in a long and
dangerous illness — and as I am informed by him tiiat he
had written on a former occasion to a reverend gentleman,
a Trustee of iiiis University, on the subject of my genend
character there, as well as my medical talents, I refer to
that letter in support of this statement; not thinking it
necessary to multiply proofs of the good opinion of my
friends. I may also mention, that to some of the Trustees
here, it is known (as I have reason to believe) that the notes
and letters of Dr. Wistar to me were addressed to Dr. Cooper :
the instances I had preserved to this style of direction, are
lost with my other documents formerly shewn. I have also
been honoured with the Degree of Doctor of Medicine by the
University of New York, on the motion, as I understand, of
Drs. M'Nevin and Hossack, gentiemen sufficiently compe-
tent to speak of my titie to the distinction thus conferred.
And finally, at their last session, the Medical Society
of this city, without my knowledge appointed me to deliver
the annual report of the progress of Materia Medica for the
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FIRST PERIOD, 1781.1818 61
past year: which I did, as I have reason to believe, to the full
satisfaction of that body.
In one respect (mly, it may be argued that I am not a
regular Physician; though my education, my course of read-
ing and study, and long practice, entitie me to that char-
acter, as fully as any other medical gentieman of this city.
Having, at the direction of my father, pursued the study of
the Law as my Profession, I have always deemed it improper
to take fees for my attendance as a Physician, and to act
for profit in a double capacity. Judge Walker could speak
to this point from his own knowledge, having experienced
and known my repeated refusals in his own case as well as
others for at least twenty years past.
I therefore have a just right to be considered as a Phys-
ician, not only by formal titie honourably acquired, but by a
regular course of study, by long experience, and extensive
practice; and the objecticm formerly made to Mr. Hare in
this respect, did not then, and does not now apply to me.
My short Residence in Philadelphia renders this necessary.
Should I succeed in this Application for the vacant Chair
of Chemistry, I shall endeavoiur to justify the preference so
given in my favour, by assiduity in pursuit of the duties of
my department.
I have the honour to be.
Gentlemen,
Your obedient servant,
Thomas Coofeb^ M.D.
282 Chestnut Street''
The Trustees, however, had taken particular care to in-
form th^nselves as to the real qualifications of the gentle-
men who offered themselves for this most important post
and wisely selected that one whose labors live to-day, while
most of his rivals and their works have passed into oblivion.
It must have been a happy moment when Robert Hare
indited the following note of acceptance to the Board:
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62 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
"Dear Sir: " Sep' 8- 1818
I have rec'd your letter enclosing a copy of part of the
minutes of the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania
by which it appears that I am appointed by them professor
of chemistry in the medical department of that Institution.
In reply I beg leave through you to inform them of my grate-
ful acceptance of this appointment.
Tendering you my acknowledgments for your kind
congratulations I am Sir
With sincere regard
Very truly yours
EV* Fox Esq^ " Rob* Hare."
The friends of Hare were, indeed, happy over his success.
They knew him and his absolute fitness for the position and
were particularly glad that he was now to have the oppor-
tunity of exercising his splendid talents. Throughout this
country there was deep satisfaction.
Harvard in 1816 had expressed its high regard for Hare's
achievements by the be^stowal of the Medical doctorate upon
him.
Another striking incident was that after Hare had been
honored with election to the chair, Dr. Cooper promptly
delivered himself of an address, November 5, 1818, to the
Medical Faculty on the connecticm of medicine and chemistry.
The following quotations are characteristic:
"' Diuring the late discussion previous to the election of
Dr. Hare to the Chair of Chemistry in the Faculty of Medi-
cine of this University, two opinions appear to have been
advanced by the medical faculty: 1st. That the Chair of
Chemistry ought not, or at least need not, be filled by a
medical character; because the chair of chemistry was not
necessary to, and ought to be separated from, the faculty of
medicine " . . . " This appears to have been the general
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FIRST PERIOD, 1781-1818 68
sentiment of the medical faculty of the University of Penn-
sylvania; for having applied to Dr. Hare, they persuaded
hdm to relinquish his privilege and his duty, of passing upon
the qualifications of the medical students when they came
forward to be examined for a degree, and of signing their
diplomas; confining himself simply to the examination of
the students — ^in chemistry only — ^the rest of the faculty,
reserving to themselves the exclusive right of deciding upon
the result of such examination, which was to take place in
their presence. To this proposal it was understood, and
indeed announced, that Dr. Hare had assented. Whether
the Trustees of the Institution will assent to it also, time
only can shew.
Tliis general opinion of the inutility of chemistry to
medicine was not confined to the medical faculty in the
University." . . .
^ In this state of things, I deemed it an idlowable use of
my situation as Professor of chemistry in the Faculty of the
Arts, to shew, tiiat there is a connexion between medicine
and chemistry, and to trace an outline of that connexion. It
appeared to me, that heresy in question ought to be com-
batted by some one, and I found no one likely to do it, if I
did not."
The next letter was surely written in Philadelphia — in
the old home — ^to which Hare had returned for tiie purpose of
assimmig at last the responsible duties of the Chair of Chem-
istry in the Medical School of the University of Pennsyl-
vania. In his mind were floating problems to which he must
have felt he could now give his best effort. He was eager
for the fray.
« j^ S " Sep* 11*^, 1818.
I forgot to put you in mind of the kelp which was to be
sent you by Guy Lussac & of which you were to let me have
some — Yoiur f*
Rob* Habe."
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64 THE LIFE OP ROBERT HARE
" You will probably soon be on a visit to New York — If
so let me hear of it — ^I wrote to M'. Whitney for some gun
barrels etc but have no answer. Is (he) at New Hav«i?
Should you see him ask if he got my letter —
Have you varied your mode of obtaining potassium?
Have you tried Tenants plan?
I should like to have a furnace constructed after your
plan if it could be done without giving yoiurself trouble.
You mention'd there were some workmen who had made
yoitts who would make others to order — ^Please therefore
order one for me agreeably to your own fancy."
It is difficult to separate one's self from this part of Hare's
life without giving expression to a few thoughts. All inter-
ested in research and possessed of the spirit of this master
will certainly feel that it was a supreme moment to him. He
was now thirty-seven years old. At twenty he had arrested
the world's attention by his discovery of the compound blow-
pipe and its concomitants. Compelled by circumstances to
give himself to a manuf actiu*ing business — ^meant almost
complete divorcement from his scientific work; but recall
how, despite the strain upon him, he improved the blowpipe,
and read, tiiought and advised with his faithful friend, Silli-
man, upon other attractive problems. He was familiar with
the advances of Eiuropean chemists and must have chafed
under his restraint, but at no time is any impatience dis-
played; on the contrary, there was a quiet waiting for the
day of freedom, when he could more completely follow his
specialty. That time had now arrived and it is easy to
imagine his eagerness to begin and set in order his workshop.
Had Hare made no other contribution to science than
that involved in the oxyhydrogen flame, he would be worthy
of highest praise. But he did vastly more and we will now
follow him through a long period of brilliant experimenta-
tion with the certainty of coming from it and marvelling at
his splendid successes.
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SECOND PERIOD
1818-1847
In Europe, early in the 19th Century, Davy isolated,
with the help of voltaic electricity, sodium and potassium
from their hydroxides; Dalton's chemical atomic theory was
the subject of constant discussion; Berzelius announced his
electrochemical doctrine and was issuing his exhaustive study
of atomic and molecular weights, while in 1819 Du Lcxig and
Petit printed their interesting observations on atomic heat.
Robert Hare read and studied the current scientific liter-
ature, and he was conversant with all these discoveries, and
dwelt, at least in thought, upon them. Hence, ilie influence
which they exercised upon him will be apparent as hie enters
upon his new, unembarrassed period of experimentation.
Hare took up the duties of his chair energetically and with
great enthusiasm, and before long important communications
were c(»ning from his pen. The direction of his research
work should be studied and followed with unusual care, for
it cannot fail to interest the scientist. In letters sent by him
to Silliman there are indications that the voltaic current had
long been tiie subject under his consideration.
In Silliman's comments upon James Woodhouse it was
mentioned that the latter, upon his return from England,
brought with him a Cruikshank trough — a modification of
the voltaic cell or pile, — and that possession of this novelty
added to the repute of Woodhouse among his contemporaries.
This trough, no doubt, had been seen by both Silliman and
Hare. To the latter it appealed. He at once recognized its
superiority over the original of Volta. Then, too, the myste-
rious current was to him a constant source of interest, so that
inquiries, on his part, followed as a matter of course. Tlie re-
ft 05
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66 THE LIFE OF BOBERT HAKE
markable achievements made possible by electricity had in-
spired him to give time and thought to its further application.
Cognizant of the sources of the '' subtile agent " and prob-
ably conscious of their several defects he offered promptly,
upcm the assumption of his professorial duties in 1818, a new
theory of galvanism with a description of the calorimotor, a
new galvanic instrumait. Hiis contribution, now a century
old, must have been the consequence of much quiet study and
labor in the years when business so completely absorbed his
time. It is such a splendid document and the calorimotor
marks such a decided epoch in electro-cbnnistry timt it seems
best to let the distinguished experiments speak for himself:
^^ I have for some time been of opinion that the principle
extricated by the Voltaic pile is a compoimd of caloric and
electricity, both being original and collateral products of
Galvanic action.
It is well known that heat is liberated by the Voltaic ap-
paratus, in a maimer and degree which has not been imitated
by means of mechanical electricity; and that tlie latter, while
it strikes at a greater distance, and pervades conductors with
much greater speed, can with difficulty be made to effect the
slightest decompositions. Wollaston, it is true, decomposed
water by means of it; but the experiment was performed of
necessity on a scale too minute to permit of his ascertaining
whether there were any divellent polar attractions exercised
towards the atoms, as in the case of the pile. The result was
probably caused by mechanical concussion, or that process
by which the particles of matter are dispersed when a battery
is discharged through them. The opinion of Dr. Thomson,
that the fluid of the pile is in quantity greater, in intensity
less, than that evolved by the machine, is very inconsistent
with the experiments of the chemist above mentioned, who
before he could effect the separation of the elements of water
by mechanical electricity, was obliged to confine its emission
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 67
to a point imperceptible to the naked eye. If already so
highly intense, wherefore the necessity of a further concen-
tration. Besides, were the distinction made by Dr. Thomson
correct, the more concentrated fluid generated by a galvanic
apparatus of a great many small pairs, ought most to re-
semble that of the ordinary electricity; but the opposite is
the case. The ignition produced by a few large Galvanic
plates, where the intensity is of course low, is a result most
analogous to the ch^nical effects of a common electrical bat-
tery. According to my view, caloric and electricity may be
distinguished by the following characteristics. The former
permeates all matter more or less, though with very different
degrees of facility. It radiates through air, with immeasur-
able celerity, and distributing itself in the interior of bodies,
communicates a reciprocally repellent power to atoms, but
not to masses. Electricity does not radiate in or through
any matter; and while it pervades some bodies, as metals,
with almost infinite velocity; by others, it is so far from
being conducted, that it can only pass through them by a
fractiure or perforation. Distributing itself over surfaces
only, it causes repulsion between masses, but not between
the particles of the same mass. The disposition of the last-
mentioned principle to get off by neighbouring conductors,
and of the other to combine with the adjoining matter, or to
escape by radiation, would prevent them from being collected
at the positive pole, if not in combination with each other.
Were it not for a modification of tiieir properties, consequent
to some such union, they could not, in piles of tiiousands of
pairs, be carried forward through the open air and moisture;
the one so well calculated to conduct away electricity, the
other so favourable to the radiation of caloric.
Pure electricity does not expand the slips of gold-leaf,
between which it causes repulsion, nor does caloric cause any
repulsion in the ignited masses which it expands. But as the
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68 THE LIFE OF ROBERT 0ARE
compound fluid extricated hy Galvanic action, which I shall
call electro-caloric, distributes itself through the interior of
bodies, and is evidently productive of corpuscular repulsi(m,
it is in this respect more allied to caloric than to electridly •
It is true, that when commcm electricity causes the de-
flagration of metals, as by the discharge of a Leyden jar, it
must be supposed to insinuate itself within them, and cause
a reaction between their particles, but in this case, agree-
able to my hypothesis, the electric fluid combines with the
patent caloric previously existing there, and, adding to its
repulsive agency, causes it to overpower cohesion.*
Sir Humphry Davy was so much at a Joss to account for
the continued ignition of wire at the poles of a Voltaic appa-
ratus, that he coi^ders it an objection to the materiality of
heat ; since the wire could not be imagined to contain sufficient
caloric to keep up the emission of this principle for an unlim-
ited time . . . But if we conceive an accumulation of heat
to accompany that of electricity throughout the series, and
to be propagated from one end to the other, the explanation
of the ph^iomenon in question is attended by no difficulty.
Tlie eflFect of the Galvanic fluid on charcoal is very c<m-
sistent with my views, since next to metals, it is one of the
best conductors of electricity, and the worst of heat, and
would therefore arrest the last, and allow the other to pass
on. Though peculiarly liable to intense ignition, when ex-
posed between the poles of the Voltaic apparatus, it seems
to me it does not display this characteristic with common
electricity. According to Sir Humphry Davy, when in con-
nexion with the positive pole the latter is less heated than
* Possibly the electric fluid causes decompositions when emitted
from an impalpable point (as in the experiments of WoUaston) be-
cause its repulsive agency is concentrated between integral atoms, in a
mode analogous to that here referred to; a filament of water in the
one case, and of wire in the other, being the medium of discharge.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 69
when, with respect to the poles, the situation of the wire and
charcoal is reversed. The rationale is obvious: Charcoal,
being a bad conductor, and a good radiator, prevents the
greater part of the heat from reaching the platina, when
placed between it and the source whence the heat flows."
" I had observed that as the number of pairs in Volta's
pile had been extended, and their size and the energy of the
interposed agents lessened, the ratio of the electriad effects
to those of heat had increased; till in DeLuc's column they
had become completely predominant; and, on the other hand,
when the pairs were made larger and fewer (as in Children's
apparatus) the calorific influence had gained the ascendency.
I was led to go farther in this way, and to examine whether one
pair of plates of enormous size, or what might be equivalent
tiiereto, would not exhibit heat more purely, and demonstrate
it, equaUy with the electric fluid, a primary product of 6al*»
vanic combinations. The elementary battery of WoUaston,
though productive of an evanescent ignition, was too minute
to allow him to make the observaticHis which I had in view.
Twenty copper and twenty zinc plates, about nineteen
inches square, were supported vertically in a frame, the
different metals alternating at one half inch distance from
each other. All the plates of the same kind of metal were
soldered to a common slip, so that each set of homogeneous
plates formed one continuous metallic superficies. When
the copper and zinc surfaces, thus formed, are united by an
intervening wire, and the whole immersed in an acid, or
acetosaline solution, in a vessel devoid of partiti(Mis, the wire
becomes intensely ignited; and when hydrogen is liberated it
usuaUy takes fire, producing a very beautiful undulating, or
corruscating flame.
I am confident, that if Volta and the other investigators of
Galvanism, instead of multiplying the pairs of Galvanic
plates, had sought to increase the effect by enlarging one
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70 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
pair as I have done, (for I consider the copper and zinc
surfaces as reduced to two by the connexion) the apparatus
would have been considered as presenting a new mode of
evolving heat, as a primary effect independ^itly of dectrical
influence. There is no other indicaticm of electricity when
wires from the two surfaces touch the tongue, than a slight
taste, such as is excited by small pieces of adnc and silver laid
on it and under it, and brought into contact with each other.
It was with a view of examining the effects of the prox-
imity and alteration in the heterogeneous plates that I had
them cut into separate squares. By having them thus divided,
I have been enabled to ascertain that when all of one kind
of metal are ranged on one side of the frame, and all of the
other kind on the other side of it, the effect is no greater
than might be expected from one pair of plates.
Volta, considering the changes consequent to his con-
trivance as the effect of a movement in the electric fluid,
called the process electro-motion, and the plates producing
it electromotors. But the phenomena show that the plates,
as I have arranged them, are calori-motors, or heat movers,
and the effect calori-motion. That this is a new view of the
subject, may be inferred from the following passage in
Davy's Elements. That great chemist observes, * When
very small conducting surfaces are used for conveying very
large quantities of electricity, they become ignited; and of
the different conductors that have been compared, charcoal
is most easily heated by electrical discharges, next iron,
platina, gold, then copper, and lastly, zinc. The phenomena
of electrical ignition, whether taking place in gaseous, fluid,
or solid bodies, always seem to be the results of a violent
exertion of the electrical attractive and repellent powers,
which may be connected with motions of the particles of the
substances affected. That no subtile fluid, such as the matter
of heat has been imagined to be, can be discharged from
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 71
tiiese substances, in consequence of the effect of the electricity,
seems probable, from the droumstances, that a wire of platina
may be preserved in a state of intense ignition in vacuo, by
means of the Voltaic apparatus, for an unlimited time; and
such a wire cannot be supposed to contain an inexhaustible
quantity of subtile matter/
But I demand where are the repellent and attractive
powers to which the ignition produced by the Calorimotor
can be attributed? Besides, I would beg leave respectfully
to inquire of this illustrious author, whence the necessity of
considering the heat evolved under the circumstances alluded
to as the effect of the electrical fluid; or idiy we may not as
well suppose the latter to be excited by the heat? It is evi-
dent, as he observes, that a wire cannot be supposed to con-
tain an inexhaustible supply of matter however subtile; but
wherefore may not one kind of subtile matter be supplied to
it from the apparatus as well as another; especially, when
to suppose such a supply is quite as inomsistent with the
characteristics of pure electricity, as with those of pure
caloric? . • .
For the purpose of ascertaining tiie necessity of ihe alter-
nation and proximity of the copper and zinc plates, it has
beoi menticmed that distinct square sheets were employed.
The experiments have since been repeated and found to
succeed by Dr. Patterson and Mr. Lukens, by means of two
continuous idieets, one of zinc, the other of copper, wound
into two concentric coils or spirals. This, though the circum-
stance was not known to tliem, was the form I had mysdf pro-
posed to adopt, and bad suggested as convenient for a Gal-
vanic apparatus to several friends at the b^^inning of the
winter; though the consideration above stated induced me to
prefer for a first experiment a more manageable arrangement
Since writing the above, I find that when, in the apparatus
of twenty copper and twaity zinc plates, ten copper plates
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72 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
on one side are connected with ten zinc aa the other, and a
conimunicationmade between the remainingtwenty by a piece
of iron wire, about the ei j^ith of an inch in diameter, the wire
liters into a vivid state of combustion on the immersicm of
the plates. Platina wire equal to No. 18 (the largest I had
at hand) is rapidly fused if substituted for the iron.
This arrangement is equivalent to a battery of two large
Galvanic pairs; excepting that there is no insulation, all the
plates being plunged in one vessel. I have usually separated
the pairs by a board, extending across the frame merely.
Indeed, when the forty plates were successively asso-
ciated in pairs, of copper and zinc, tiiough suspended in a
fluid held in a common recipient without partitions; ihere
was considerable intensity pf Galvanic action. This shows
that, independently of any power of conducing electricity,
there is some movement in the solvent fluid whidi tends to
carry forward the Galvanic principle from the copper to
the zinc end of the series. I infer that electro-caloric is
communicated in this case by circulation, and that in non-
elastic fluids the same difficulty exists as to its retrocession
from the positive to the negative end of the series, as is found
in the downward passage of caloric throu^ them.
It ought to be mentioned, that the connecting wire should
be placed between the heterogeneous surfaces before their
immersion, as the most intense ignition takes place imme-
diately afterward. If the ccmnexicm be made after the plates
are immersed, the effect is much less powerful; and some-
times after two or three immersions the apparatus loses its
power, though the action of tlie solvent should become in
the interim much more violent. Without any diange in the
latter, after the plates have been for some time suspended in
the air, they regain their efficacy. I had observed in a Gal-
vanic pile of three hundred pairs of two inches square, a like
ccmsequence resulting from a simultaneous immersion of
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 78
the whole. The bars holding the plates were balanced by
weij^ts, as window sashes are, so that all the plates could be
very quickly dipped. A platina wire, No. 18, was fused into
a globule, while tiie evolution of potassium was demonstrated
by a rose-coloured flame arising from some potash which had
been placed between the poles. The heat however diminished
in a few seconds, tlKnigh the greater extrication of hydrogen
from the plates indicated a more intense chemical action.
Agreeably to an observation of Dr. Patterson, electrical
excitement may be detected in the apparatus by the condens-
ing electroscope ; but this is no more than what V olta observed
to be tiie consequence of the contact of heterogeneous metals.
The thinnest piece of diarcoal intercepts the calorific
agent, whatever it may be. In order to ascertain this, the
inside of a hollow brass cylinder, having the internal diameter
two inches, and tiie outside of anotiier smaller cylinder of
the same substance, were made conical and correspondent, so
that tiie greater would a>ntain the less, and leave an inter-
stice of about one-sixteenth of an inch between them. This
interstice was filled with wood, by plugging the larger cylin-
der with this material, and excavating the plug till it would
permit the smaller brass cylinder to be driven in. The ex-
cavation and the fitting of the cylinders was performed ac-
curately by means of a turning latiie. The wood in the
interstice was then charred by exposing the whole covered
by sand in a crucible to a red heat. The charcoal, notwith-
standing the shrinkage consequent to tiie fire, was brought
into complete contact with the inclosing metallic surfaces by
pressing the interior cylinder further into the exterior one.
Thus prepared, the interior cylinder being made to touch
one of the Galvanic surfaces, a wire brought from the other
Galvanic surface into contact with tiie outside cylinder, was
not affected in the least, though the slightest touch of the in-
terior one caused ignition. The contact of the charcoal with
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74 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
the containing metals probably took place throughout a super-
ficies of four square inches, and the wire was not much more
than the himdredth part of an inch thick, so that unless it
were to conduct electrical about forty thousand times better
than the charcoal, it ought to have beoi heated; if the calorific
influaice of this apparatus result from electrical exdt^n^it.
I am led finally to suppose, that the contact of dissimilar
metals, when subjected to the action of solvents, causes a
movement in caloric as well as in the electric fluid, and tiiat
tibe phenomena of Galvanism, the unlimited evoluticm of heat
by friction, the extrication of gaseous matter without the
production of cold, might be all explained by supposing a
combination between the fluids of heat and electricity. We
find scarcely any two kinds of pcmderable matter whidi do
not exercise more or less affinity towards each otiier. More-
over, imponderable particles are supposed highly attractive
of ponderable ones. Why then should we not infer the ex-
istence of similar affinities between imponderable particles
reciprocally? That a peculiar combination between heat and
li^t exists in tiie solar beams, is evident f rcmi their not im-
parting warmth to a lens through which they may pass, as do
those of our culinary fires.
Under this view of the case, the action of the poles in
Galvanic decomposition is one of complete affinity. The
particles of compounds are attracted to the different wires
agreeably to their susceptibilities to the positive and negative
attraction, and the caloric, leaving the electric fluid with
which it had been combined, unites with tiiem at the moment
that their electric state is neutralized.
As an exciting fluid, I have usually employed a solution
of one part sulphuric acid, and two parts muriate of soda
with seventy of water; but, to my surprise, I have produced
nearly a white heat by an aUealine solution barely sensible
to the taste.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 76
For tiie display of the heat effects, the addition of man-
ganese, red lead, or the nitrates, is advantageous.
The raticmale is obvious. The oxygen of these substances
prevents the liberation of the gaseous hydrogen, which would
carry off the caloric. Adding to diluted muriatic add, while
acting on zinc, enough red lead to prevait effervescence,
the temperature rose from 70 to 110 Fahrenheit.
The power of the calorimotor is mudi increased by hav-
ing the commumcation between the different sheets formed
by very large strips or masses of metal. Observing iliis, I
rendered the sheets of copper idiorter by half an inch, for a
distance of four inches of their edges, where tiie communica-
tion was to be made between the zinc sheets; and, vice versa,
the zinc was made in the same way idiorter than the copper
sheets where these were to communicate with each other.
The edges of the shortened sheets being defended by strips
of wood, tin was cast on the intermediate protruding edges
pf the longer ones, so as to embrace a pcnidon of eadi equal
to about one quarter of an inch by four inches. On one
side, \be tin was made to run completely across, connecting
at the same time ten copper and ten zinc sheets. On the
other side there was an interstice of above a quarter of an
inch left between ihe stratum of tin embracing the copper,
and that unbracing the zinc plates. On each of the ap-
proaching terminations of the connecting tin strata was
soldered a kind of forceps, formed of a bent piece of sheet
brass, fiunished with a screw for pressing the jaws together.
The distance between the different forceps was about two
inches. The advantage of a very dose contact was made very
evident by the action of ihe screws; the relaxation or increase
of pressure on the connecting wire by turning them being pro-
ductive of a correspondent change in the intensity of ignition.
It now remains to state, that by means of iron ignited
in this apparatus, a fixed aUeaU may be decomposed eartem-
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76 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
poraneously. If a connecting iron wire, while in combustion,
be toudied by the hydrate of potash, the evolution of potas-
sium is demonstrated by a rose-coloured flame. The alkali
may be applied to the wire in small pieces in a flat hook of
sheet ircm. But the best mode of application is by means
of a tray made by doubling a slip of sheet iron at the ends,
and leaving a receptacle in the centre, in which the potash
may be placed covered with filings. This tray being substi-
tute4 for the connecting wire, as soon as the immersion of the
apparatus causes tiie metal to bum, the rose-coloured flame
appears, and if the residuum left in the sheet iron be after-
ward thrown into water, an efi^ervesoence sometimes ensues.
I have ascertained tiiat an iron heated to combustion, by
a blacksmith's forge fire, will cause the decomposition of
the hydrate of potash.
The dimensions of the CdUmmotor may be much reduced
witiiout proportionately diminishing the effect. I have one
of sixty plates within a cubic foot, which bums off No. 16,
iron wire. A good workman could get 120 plates of a foot
square within a hollow cube of a size no larger. But the
inflammation of the hydrogen which gives so much splendour
to the experiment, can only be exhibited advantageously on
a large scale."
There we have the outline of an early instrument which
was to prove to be more helpful in his subsequent work, and
it was indeed most suggestive. In fact '' in Hare's calori-
motor we have a form of apparatus which is admirably
adapted to develop a large quantitative flow, and one which
has now a wide use for this purpose, the substitution of plates
of carbon for copper and of amalgamated zinc for the un-
protected metal, being the only changes which modem art
has introduced into Hare's original instrument, long for-
gotten, and perhaps before unknown to the present genera-
tion, but now revived again, and permanently installed in
the laboratory of the physicist."
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 77
Sillimim said of the calorimotor: '' its principal obvious
effect is to produce a great flow of heat with very little
electrical excitement; in this view it is a peculiar and inter-
esting instrument, and the name givai by the inventor is
entirely appropriate; he might also with almost equal pro-
priety have called it a magnetimotor."
And further: " in the calorimotor in my possession the
plates are 18 inches square; there are 9 of zinc cm one side,
alternating with 10 of copper, and 10 of ^c on the other
side alternating with 11 of copper, 40 plates in the whole, and
90 square feet of surface; the outside plate is copper on both
sides, so that the zinc surfaces are, ever3rwhere, opposed to
copper, and this is all the insulation that there is, as the cubical
box into which ibey are plunged has no partition. The plates
are connected by long bars of tin, gashed by a saw, so as to re-
ceive the metals, whidi are secured also by solder, and the
alternating plates are cut down, so as not to be in the way of
the bars that connect the opposing surfaces. Not only alter-
nation of the plates but a repetition of the pairs, to at least
two J is necessary to produce an intense calorific effect/'
Alfred Niaudet, in his Trciti EUmentaire de la Pile
ElectriquCj said of the Calorimotor tibat it was worthy of
especial consideration, because it had served as a model for
Plants in the construction of his secondary battery.
It might be argued that matters so significant as those
just described would have crowded out all other ideas, but in
the midst of this epodi-making work one may read in the
Portfolio (1818) that Hare had contrived an apparatus for
the burning of tar instead of oil, to be applied in the lighting
of cities, manufactories, etc., greatly diminishing the expense.
He had ascertained that three pounds of tar would give as
much light as two pounds of oil or tallow burnt in the usual
manner, and, consequently, calculating cm the usual prices
of these articles, and the aitire saving for wicks, which were
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78 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
not required for the burning of tar, it appeared that the same
quantity of light might be produced in this way at a very
much reduced cost. The apparatus consisted of a fountain
reservoir to hold four or five pounds of tar to supply the
lamp at a uniform hei^t, '" and a lanthom with a draught
pipe attached to it." The lamp presented at one end a cylin-
drical mouth for receiving the pipe of the reservoir; at the
oilier end a cylindrical cup, in which the tar was ignited, the
flame being drawn up throu^ a central hole in the bottom of
tiie lanthom so as to occupy its ajus in passing to the draught
pipe. All the air which supplied this was made to meet in
the same axis, and thus to excite the combustion. A lamp
of this description would bum for nine hours, and it was
found that by it the carbonaceous matter, which usually ob-
scures the flame of resinous substances, was made to con-
tribute to the li^t. Four or five barrels of tar used in this
way, and they did not cost more than ten to twelve dollars,
it was computed would give eight times the light of a common
street lamp for one year.
Absorbed as Hare must have been in the novel and far-
reaching effects of his calorimotor, he nevertheless took occa-
sion to remind Silliman that he was teaching ** that acid
properties never appearing in the absence of water, this
fluid or its elements are most entitled to be considered as the
acidifying principle; but that probably it does not exist in
adds as water, but is decomposed when added to them, the
particles of hydrogen and oxygen by their different polar-
ities taking opposite sides of those composing the base. The
extrication of hydrogen by the action of diluted sulphuric
acid on iron or zinc, being the consequence of a previous
not simultaneous decomposition of water. Hence whai sul-
phuric or nitric acids are so concentrated as to char or ignite,
they are not acids really.**
And in a letter to the same person, dated December 80,
1819, he observed:
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 79
'' I believe I mentioned in a letter to you last summer,
that I had rendered the flame of Hydrogen luminous like
that of oil, by adding a small quantity of oil of turpentine
to the usual mixture for generating that gas* When the
ingredients are at the proper temperature the light is greater
I think than that produced by Carburetted Hydrogen.
I hare lately found that ihe addition of about 1/17 of
the same substance to alcohol will give this fluid the property
of burning with a hi^^y luminous flame, and that there is a
certain point in the proportions at which the mixture bums
without soot, like a gas light.
This observation may be of use where spirits are cheap,
as in our western states, and even in the northern parts of
the Union where it is made from potatoes.
It might be serviceable to morals if the value of this
article could be enhanced by a nexo mode of consumption."
The account of the decomposition of caustic potash ea-
tempcraneously was issued in a separate pamphlet. This was
sent to Silliman who probably questioned the word extern-
poraneouslyj which then called forth this letter:
'' My dear Silliman
In answer to yours of the 11^ you may alter the title
agreeably to your judgment which I have not the least doubt
is better in this case than mine can be but have you reflected
on the word eactemporaneously. I do not say a new mode of
decomposing potash but a new mode of decomposing it ex-
temporaneously— It has not been effected heretofore in any
mode so extemporaneous — especially by irgn — ^Then I do not
say a new mode of obtaining potassium. The decomposi-
tion of the potash which is a different thing is proved by the
Flame which has the rose colour arising from the metal or
the Potassuretted Hydrogen — The paper was ordered to be
printed in the journal of the society but so mudi delay was
likely to take place & having a prospect of being obliged to
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80 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
leave Philad* I put it into the hands of Mess"^ Carey ic Son
who published it giving me a number of copies. — ^You may
say in a note this paper was read before the Academy by
D^ Hare & was ordered to be printed in their journal but
more delay occurring than usual the author prefer'd pub-
lishing it himself —
You are at liberty of coiu*se to republish it merely copying
the title if you should not de^n any explanation necessary —
You can have the plate that is purdiase it at $12 & I have
accordingly made the bargain ic will said it cm — You might
have the Calorimotor constructed here for about ten for the
labour I presume — ^The workman who made mine charges
about 1 88/100 p day. The whole cost fifty dolls probably
on a large scale —
Your faithful f r*
Rob* Haee."
'' I am grieved that your sons ill health should afflick
you so much — ^We know by experience what must be your
sufferings."
It was in 1818 that Silliman, feeling the need of a de-
pository for the discoveries of American men of Science,
founded the American Journal of Science. It had a rather
chequered career in its earlier years, as is apparent from
this letter from Hare:
'' ... I am grieved to hear the pecuniary result of
your publication is so unfavorable. In our city the interest
in favor of our own journals is very strong. I have already
hinted this to you as operating against the giving of com-
munications abroad, and of course it will operate against
subscriptions. There are few in our country who take in-
terest in the profoimder branches of kiK>wledge. I doubt
if there be a dozen men on the Continent who would peruse
some of the essays on musical temperament in your Journal.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 81
I was told in New York that many said tiiey could not
understand my memoir, who considered their standing such
as to fed as if this were an imputation against me rather than
themselves. I could not write it for those who are so igno-
rant, without making it too prolix and commonplace for
adepts. There is our diflSculty, — ^we cannot write anything
for the scientific few which will be agreeable to the ignorant
many . . ."
« My 6^ Silliman " ^^^' ^P^ «>" ^^^O
Mess'* Little & Henry have informed me that another
number of your journal is already published. I was led to
infer f rcmi your letter last winter that there would not be
room for my strictures on Clarke's gas blowpipe as it will
occupy nearly two sheets of printing on the scale of your
work. I am sensible it is difficult to get people to read so
much on a subject which does not interest them but I have
been desirous of giving a full exposure of the flagitious con-
duct of that diallow pretender. — I have a number of sub-
jects to write on which I intend to embody in the appendix
to tiie text-book. Some of these being more brief ic interest-
ing especially my improvements in Eudiometry it seems to
me that my publication would command more attention were
the whole associated. The good will & opinion of my readers
being gain'd by one topick tiiey may be more disposed to
give a fair attention to the other. I contemplate therefore
publishing a pamphlet comprising my strictures & other
matter together published as an appendix to the text Book
used in the Universily of Pennsylvania — The expense of
the engravings will be borne eventually by M' DeSilver the
publiidier of the text Book. It remains for you to say
whether you will wish the use of the plates & if so whether
they shaU be executed for you or him in the first instance.
If desirable ic practicable I would be willing to have the
Miiole printed as if originally for your journal — ^But I fear
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82 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
this will not be possible as I am desirous that my reply to
Clarke should appear this spring in time to reach Europe in
the spring vessels. So far as respects the circulation of your
journal in this country the publication of these articles in the
mode first suggested would have little influence as the circu-
lation of the letter would be very limited & in that case you
might select or abridge as mi^t be agreeable to you while I
should stipulate for the use of the plates on moderate terms.
You have never told me whether to send on your lottery
ticket or to keep it for you — The number is Three hundred
& seventy two (872) —
I believe I never mentioned to you tiiat I spoke to Th®
Duncan the workman who made my calorimotor to construct
one for you but he did not offer to go to work till it was too
late in the season to be in time according for your orders.
Can you not pay us a visit this vacation? It would give
M" Hare & myself great pleasure to see you ic M*^ Silliman
under our roof — during your stay here?
Yours faithfully
Rob* Habe."
" P. S. Since writing the above I feel somewhat more
undecided about the course which it would be preferable to
pursue. I should be glad to hear from you.''
To-day gas analysis has attained a high degree of per-
fection. It had scarcely been begun in fhe first quarter of
the 19tii Century. The inquiring mind of Hare, impelling
him forward in every variety of researdi, encoimtered this
situation so that he promptly strove to improve conditions
and advance eudiometric studies. Indeed, a careful exam-
ination of the numerous forms of eudiometer devised by him
leads to the evident conclusion that in this field he was also
a pioneer and that in his varied apparatus one sees the germs
of more modem and widely celebrated apparatus. With his
eudiometer not only was air analyzed, but ammonia, the hy-
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SECOND PERIOD, 181»-1847 83
drides of carbon and oiher gaseous mixtures. The ignition
of the platinum by the Calorimotor, for the purpose of in-
flaming the gases, is an elegant and novel meUiod of operat-
ing; the various modes of measuring the gases are ingenious
and accurate, but the detailed descripticm of all the instru-
ments and operations may be found in the celebrated' '' Com-
pendium.'' Therefore, it will probably best serve the pur-
pose of the reader to follow the exact language of the master
in the account of his first instrument for this kind of work.
"Among the operations of chemistry, none probably are
more difficult than those called Eudiometrical, in whidi aeri-
form substances are analyzed.
Elastic fluids are so liable to contract or expand with
the slightest change of temperature or pressiu*e, that it is
requisite to have the surface of the portion under water or
mercury aoiployed to confine it, and the heat of the hand
may render the result inaccurate. There is no simple mode of
causing the surface of the gas in measure glass to form a
plane corresponding with the brim of the measure glass con-
taining it. The transfer of small portions of gas v^thout
loss, especially from large bells into small tubes is very diffi-
cult. Hence there is trouble, delay and waste.
I ^all proceed to describe some instruments which I have
lately invented, and which appear to be free from the dis-
advantages above described. They are all essentially de-
pendent on one principle for tiieir superiority. A recurved
glass tube is furnished with a sliding wire of iron or copper,
graduated into two hundred parts. The process of making
wire by drawing it through a hole, renders its circumference
of necessity everywhere equal and homologous. Conse-
quently equal lengths will contain equal bulks.
The wire slides through a cork soaked in beeswax and
oil, and compressed by a screw, so that neither air nor water
can pass by it.
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84 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
The kngth of the longer leg is fifteen inches, tiiat of the
shorter one six inches. The bore of the tube is from 4/10 to
5/10 an inch in diameter, but converges towards the termina-
tion of the shorter leg to an orifice about large enou^ to
admit a brass pin. Over this a screw is sometimes affixed,
so as to close it when necessary.
The tube being filled with water or mercury, and the
wire pushed into it as far as it can go, on drawing this out
again any desired distance, an equivalent bulk of air must
enter the capillary orifice if open. By forcing the rod back
again into the tube, the air must be proportionately excluded.
Thus the movements of the sliding wire are accompanied by
a corresponding ingress or egress of air, and to know how
many divisions of the former have been pushed into \he tube,
or withdrawn from it, is the same as to know how much air
has be^i drawn in or expelled.
If, instead of allowing the orifice to be in the open air,
it be introduced within a bell glass, holding gas over the
pneumatic apparatus, on pulling out the wire, there will be
a corresponding entrance of gas into the instrument; and it
must be evident that if the point of the gas measures be
transferred to the interior of any other recipient, the gas
which had entered, or any part of it, may be made to go into
any such recipient by reversing the motion of the wire. As
tiie hands are, during this operation, remote from the part
of the tube which contains the aeriform matter, no expansion
can arise from this source, and the operation is so much
expedited, that there is much less chance of variation from
any other cause. By taking care to have the surface of the
gas in the bell glasses below that of the fluid in the cistern,
the density of the former will be somewhat too great, but on
bringing the orifice of the gas measurer on a level, with the
surface of the fluid in the dstem, the gas, no longer subject
to any extra pressure, will assume its proper volume, the
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 85
excess being seen to escape in bubbles. Should the tube in
lieu of water, be filled with any solution, calculated to absorb
Any gAS, of which the proportion, in any mixture, is to be
ascertained, and if the quantity of absorption which can take
place while the wire is drawing out, is denned unworthy of
attention, we have only to introduce the shorter leg of the tube
into the ccmtaining vessel, as above described, and draw out
the wire to two hundred on its scale, then depressing the point
below the surface of the fluid in one pneumatic dstan in the
usual time with due agitation, all the gas which tiie fluid can
take up, will disappear. The quantity will be repres^ited by
the number of divisions whidi remain without the tube, after
pushing in the wire just so far, as to exclude the residual gas.
Should it be deemed an object to avoid the possibility
of any absorpticm during the time occupied in the retraction
of the sliding wire, or should it be desired to expose the gas
to a larger quantity of the absorbing fluid, an additional ves-
sel is used, which is of an oblate spheroidal form, with a
large neck, ground to fit on the shorter leg of a gas measurer,
and furnished at the opposite apex v^th a tube, of which the
bore converges to a capillary opening, surmounted by a screw,
as already described, on the point of the gas measurer simply.
This vessel (in shape not unlike a turnip) is filled with the
absorbing fluid, and the gas measurer being duly diarged
with gas as above described, inserted into it. By the action
of the sliding wire, the gas is propelled into the spheroid,
where, by agitation and time tiie absorption is completed.
Meanwhile tiie orifice of the spheroid should be kept open,
and under water, so as to permit the latter to take place of
that portion of the gas which disappears. — ^Whatever re-
mains unabsorbed, is expelled from the glass spheroid, as in
the case of \he tube when used alone; and the divisions on
the rod remaining witiiout, will shew how much the fluid
has taken up.
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86 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
When atmospheric air, or oxygen gas is to be analyzed
by nitrous gas, the glass spheroid is filled with water, and
inverted with its orifice closed over the well of the pneumatic
cistern. It should be supported by a wire stand, so as to
leave the neck unobstructed. Any number of measures of
nitrous gas, and of oxygen gas or atmospheric air, may tiben
be drawn into the measurer, and expelled into the spheroid
successively, and the absorption estimated as already ex-
plained. When the residuum is too great to be expelled by
returning the whole of the rod into tiie tube, by depressing
the orifice of the spheroid just under the surface of water,
the wire may be again gently retracted, water taking its
place; and the movement may thus be alternated, till the
whole of the remaining gas is excluded. In order to apply
this principle to Volta's process of ascertaining by explosion
the quantity of hydrogen or oxygen gas present, in a mixture,
the gas measiu*er is made as much stronger, as eudiometers
are usually, when intended to be so used. It is in like manner
drilled so as to receive wires for passing the electric spark.
The instrument being charged with the gases successively in
any required proportion, closed by the screw, and an ex-
plosion accomplished; to fill any consequent vacuity, the
orifice is to be opened just below the surface of water or
mercury. The quantity destroyed by the combustion is then
ascertained by the sliding wire.
This experiment is more accurately performed by means
of mercury than water. From this fluid, concussion, or even
the partial vacuum produced by the gaseous matter, may
extricate air, and thus vitiate results. There ought always
to be a considerable excess of gas not liable to be acted on.
The activity of the inflammation is lessened, and the uncon-
sumed air breaks the shock.
I have found the galvanic ignition produced by a small
calorimotor preferable to the electric spark. Suppose a piece
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 87
of iron wire to be filed down in the middle for about one half
of an inch to about one third of the original diameter. The
whole is cemented into the perforation drilled in the tube, so
as that the smallest part may extend across the bore. Thewire
should then be cut off at about one-third of an inch from the
tube, so as to stand out from it on each side about that dis-
tance. If these protruding wires be severally placed in the
forceps of a calorimotor and the plates subjected to an acid,
the small part of the wire within the tube is vividly ignited,
and any gas in contact with it must explode. The interior
wire is best made of platina, and may in that case be screwed
into two larger pieces of a baser metal; or a baser metal may
be fastened on it, by drawing through a wire plate, and the
platina duly d^oiuded by a file where it crosses the bore.
The calorimotor which I have used for this purpose, con-
sists of eleven plates of copper, and a like number of zinc,
placed alternately within one-fourth of an indi of each other;
those of the same kind of metal being all associated by means
of a metallic stratum of tin cast over them. The two hetero-
geneous galvanic surfaces thus formed, have each soldered
to them a wire in a vertical position, and slit, so as to present
a fork or snake's mouth. The wires are just so far apart as
to admit the gas measurer between them, so that the wires
of the latter may easily be pressed into tlie snake mouths.
It is better that the wires of the gas measurer should be flat-
tened in such manner as to present a larger surface for con-
tact. There must also be an oblong square box or hollow
paralldopipedcMi of sudi a width as just to admit the calofir
motor, and more than double its length and depth. The
calorimotor is placed within this box, at one end of it, about an
inch below the briuL Dilute acid is poured in so as to occupy
the lower half of the vessel, until it nearly reaches the plates.
A plunger, consisting of a water tight box, or solid block of
wood, is then made to occupy the oUier side of the little cistern.
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88 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
The depression of this causes the rise of the add among the
plates in the calofimotor, and ccmsequently the ignition of a
wire forming a oonmiunicaiion between the surfaces.
This apparatus may be constructed in the circular form,
by so placing two concentric coils, or several concentric hollow
cylinders of copper and zinc, alternately within the upper
half of a glass jar as to admit of a plunger in the middle,
which in this case may be of an apothecaries stopper round or
bottle. The acid solution must occupy tiie lower half of the
vessel, unless when the plunger raises it.
I am under the impression that there is no form in which
a pair of galvanic surfaces can be made so powerful in pro-
pc»i;ion to their extent, as in that above mentioned. The zinc
is everywhere opposed by two copper surfaces by having this
metal only a small fraction in excess.''
The story of the development of the deflagrator — a second
epoch-making instrument — is best told in Hare's own
language:
'' I had observed that the ignition produced by one or
two galvanic pairs attained its highest intensity, almost as
soon as they were covered by the acid used to excite them,
and ceased soon afterwards; although the action of the acid
should have increased during the interim. I had also re-
marked in using an apparatus of three hundred pairs of small
plates, tiiat a platina wire. No. 16, placed in the circuit, was
fused in consequence of a construction which enabled me to
plunge them all nearly at \he same time. It was therefore
conceived, Hiat the maximimi of effect in voltaic apparatus
of extensive series had never been attained. The plates are
generally arranged in distinct troughs rarely containing more
than twenty pairs. Those of \he great apparatus of tiie Royal
Institution, employed by Sir H. Davy, had cmly ten pairs in
each. There were one hundred such to be successfully placed
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SECOND PERIOD, 181&-1847 89
in the add, and the whole connected ere the poles could act
Ccxisequently the effect which arises immediately after im-
mersion, would be lost in the trou^^ first arranged, before it
could be produced in the last; and no effort appears to have
been made to take advantage of this transient accumulation
of power, either in using the magnificent ccMnbination, or in
any other of whidi I have read. In order to observe the
consequence of simultaneous immersion with a series suffi-
dently numerous to test the correctness of my expectations,
a galvanic apparatus of eighty concentric coils of copper and
zinc was so suspended by a beam and levers, as that they
might be made to descend into, or rise out of the acid in an
instant. Tlie zinc sheets were about nine indies by six, the
copper fourteen by six; more of this metal being necessary,
as in every coil it was made to commence wiliiin the zinc, and
completdy to surround it without. The sheets were coiled
so as not to leave between them an interstice wider than a
quarter of an indi. Eadi coil is in diameter about two indies
and a half, so that all may descend freely into eighty glass
jars two indies and three quarters diameter inside, and eight
indies hi^ duly stationed to receive them.
My apparatus being thus arranged, two small lead pipes
were severally soldered to eadi pole, and a piece of charcoal
about a quarter of an indi thick, and an inch and a half long,
tapering a little at eadi extremity, had these severally inserted
into the hollow ends of the pipes: The jars being furnished
with diluted acid and the coils suddenly lowered into them,
no vestige of the diarcoal could be seen: It was ignited so
intensely, that ihose portions of \he pipes by whidi it had
been embraced were destroyed. In order to avoid a useless
and tiresome repetition, I will here state that the coils were
only kept in the add while the action at the poles was at a
maximum in the experiment just mentioned, and in others
which I am about to describe, unless where the decomposition
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90 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
produced by water is spoken of, or the sensaticm excited in
the hands. I designate the apparatus with which I per-
formed them, as the galvanic deflagrator, on account of its
superior power, in proportion to its size, in causing deflagra-
tion; and as, in the form last adopted, it differs fr(Hn the
voltaic pile in the omission of one of the elements heretofore
deemed necessary to its construction.
Desirous of seeing the effect of the simultaneous im-
mersion of my series upon water, the pipes soldered to the
poles were introduced into a vessel containing that fluid.
No extraordinary effect was perceived, imtil they were very
near, when a vivid flash was observed, and happening to
toudi almost at the same time, they were found fused and
incorporated at the place of contact. I next soldered to each
pipe a brass cylinder about five-tentiis of an inch bore. These
cylinders were made to receive the tapering extremities of a
piece of charcoal about two inches long so as to complete the
circuit. The submersion of the coils caused the most vivid
ignition in the coal. It was instantaneously and entirely on
flre. A piece of platina of about a quarter of an indi diam-
eter in ccmnexion with one pole, was instantly fused at the
aid on being brought in contact vnth some mercury c(Kn-
municating vnth the other. When two cylinders of charcoal
having hemispherical termination were fltted into the brass
cylinders and brought nearly into contact, a most vioid tgm-
tion took place, and ccmtinued after they were removed about
a half or three-quarters of an inch apart, the interval rioaUing
the swn in hrUUancy. The igneous fluid appeared to proceed
from the positive side. The charcoal in the cylinder soldered
to the latter would be intensely ignited throughout when
the piece connected with the negative pole was ignited more
towards the extremity approaching the positive. The most
intense action seans to arise from placing a platina wire of
about the eighth of an inch diameter, in connexion with the
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 91
positive pole, and bringing it in contact with, and afterwards
removing it a small distance apart from, a piece of charcoal
(fresh from the fire) affixed to the other pole.
As points are pre-eminently capable of carrying off
(without being injured) a current of tibe electrical fluid,
and very ill qualified to conduct caloric; while by facilitating
radiation, charcoal favours the separation of caloric from the
electricity which does not radiate; this result seems consistent
with my hypothesis, that the fluids as extricated by Volta's
pile is a compotmd of caloric and electricity; but not with the
other hypotii^sis, whidi supposes it to be electricity alone.
The finest needle is competent to discharge the product of
the most powerful machines without detriment, if received
gradually as generated by them. Flatina points, as small as
those which were melted like wax in my experiments, are used
as tips to lightning rods without injury, imless in sudden
discharges, produced under peculiar circumstances.
The following experiment I ccmceive to be very unfav-
ourable to the idea that galvanic igmHon arises from a current
of electricity.
A cylinder of lead about a quarter of an inch diameter,
and about two inches long, was reduced to the thickness of
a common brass pin for about three quarters of an inch.
When one end was connected with one pole of the apparatus,
the other remained suspended by this filament; yet it was
instantaneously fused by contact with the other pole. As
all the calorific fluid which acted upon the suspended knob,
must have passed through the filament by which it hung,
the fusion could not have resulted from a pure electrical
current, whidi would have dispersed the filament ere a mass
fifty times larger had been perceptibly affected. Accord-
ing to my theory, caloric is not separated from the electricity
until circumstances very much favour a disunion, as on the
passage of the compound fluid through diarcoal, the air, or a
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92 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
vacuumu In operating with the deflagrator, I have found
a brass knob of abcmt five tentiis of an indi in diameter, to
bum on the superficies only; where alone according to my
view, caloric is separated so as to act on the mass. Having,
as mentioned in the memoir on my theory of galvanism,
found that four galvanic surfaces acted well in one recipient,
I was tempted by means of the eighty coils to extend tibat
construction. It occurred to me that attempts of tibis kind,
had failed from using only one copper for each zinc plate.
The zinc had always been permitted to react towards the
negative, as well as the positive pole. My coils being sur-
rounded by copper, it seemed probable, that, if electro-caloric
were, as I had suggested, carried forward by circulation aris-
ing from galvanic polarity, tiiis might act within the interior
of tiie coils, yet not be exerted between one coil and another.
I had accordingly a trough constructed with a partition
along tjhe middle, so as to receive forty coils on one side, and
a like number on the other. Tbis apparatus when in opera-
tion excited a sensation scarcely tolerable in the backs of the
hands. Interposed charcoal was not ignited as easily as
before, but a most intense ignition took place on bringing a
metallic point connected with <me pole of the series, into
contact with a piece of charcofQ fastened to the other. It
did not take place, however, so speedily as when glasses were
used ; but soon after the ignition was effected it became even
more powerful than before. A cylinder of platina nearly a
quarter of an inch in diameter, tapering a little at the end,
was fused and burned so as to sparkle to a considerable dis-
tance around, and fall in drops. A ball of brass of about
half an inch diameter was seen to bum on its surface with
a green flame. Tin foil, or tinsel rolled up into large coils
of about three quarters of an inch thick, were rapidly de-
stroyed, as was a wire of platina of No. 16. Platina wires
in connexion with the poles were brought into contact with
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SECOIjn) PERIOD, 1818-1847 98
sulphuric acid; there was an appearance of lively ignition,
but strongest on tiie positive side. Excepting in its power
of permeating diarcoal, the galvanic fluid seemed to be ex-
tricated with as much force, as when each coil was in a dis-
tinct glass. Apprehending that the partition in the trough
did not sufficiently insulate the poles from each other, as
they were but a few inches apart, moisture or moistened
wood intervening, I had two troughs each to hold forty pairs,
and took care that there should be a dry space about four
indies broad between them. They were first filled with pure
river water, there being no saline nor acid matter to influence
the plates, unless the very minute quantity which might have
remained on them from former immersions. Yet the sensation
produced by them, on the backs of my hands, was painful ; and
a lively scintillation took place when the poles were approxi-
mated. Dutch gold leaf was not sensibly burned, though water
was f oimd decomposable by wires properly affixed. No eflfect
was produced on potash, the heat being inadequate to fuse it.
A mixture of nitre and sulj^uric acid was next added to
the water in the troughs, afterwards diarcoal from the fire
was vividly ignited, and when attached to the positive pole, a
steel wire was interposed between it and the other pole, the
most vivid ignition which I ever saw was induced. I should
deem it imprudent to repeat the experiment without glasses,
as my eyes, though imusually strong, were affected for forty-
eight hours afterwards. If the intensity of the light did
not produce an optical deception, but its distressing influence
upon the organs of vision, the diarcoal assumed a pasty con-
sistence, as if in a state approadiing to fusion. That char-
coal should be thus softened, without being destroyed by the
oxygen of the atmosphere, will not appear strange, when the
power of galvanism in reversing diemical affinities is remem-
bered; and were it otherwise, the air could have no access,
first, because of the excessive rarefaction, and in the next
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94 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
place as I suspect on account of \he volatilization of the car-
bon forming about it a circumambient atmosphere. This
last mentioned impression arose from observing, that when
the experiment was performed in vacuo, there was a lively
scintillation, as if the carbon in an aeriform state acted as a
supporter of combustion on the metaL
A wire of platina No. 16, was fused into a globule on
being connected with the positive pole, and brought into con-
tact with a piece of pure hydrate of potash, situated on a
silver tray in connexion with tiie other pole. The pota^
became red hot, and was deflagrated rapidly with a flame
having the rosy hue of potassuretted hydrogen.
The great apparatus of tiie RoyfQ Institution, in projec-
tile power was from six to eight times more potent than mine.
It produced a disdiarge betwe^i diarcoal points when re-
moved about f oiu* inches apart, where mine will not produce a
jet at more than three-fourths of an inch. But that series was
two thouseand, mine only about a twenty-fifth part as large.
A steel wire of about one tenth of an inch in diameter,
affixed to tiie negative pole, was passed up through the axis
of an opai decked inverted bell glass, filled with water. A
platina wire. No. 16, attached to a positive pole being passed
down to t^e steel wire, both were fused together, and cooling,
could not be separated by manual force. Immediately after
this incorporation of their extremities, tiie platina wire be*
came incandescent for a space of some indies above tiie
surface of the water.
A piece of silvered paper about two inches square was
folded up, the metallic surface outward, and fast^ied into
vices affixed to the poles. Into each vice a wire was screwed
at the same time. The fluid generated by the apparatus
was not perceptibly conveyed by the silvered paper, as it
did not prevent the wires severally attached to the poles from
deccMnposing water or producing ignition by contact.
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SECOND PERIOD, 181&'1847 95
In my memoir on my theory of galvanism I suggested,
that the decomposition of water, whioh Wollaston effected
by mechanical electricity, might not be the effect of a divel-
lent attraction like those excited by the poles of a voltaic
pile, but of a mechanical concussion, as when wires are dis-
persed by the discharge of an electrical battery. In support
of that opinion I will now observe, that he could not prevent
hydrogen and oxygen from being extricated at each wire,
instead of hydrogen being given off only at one, and oxygen
at the other, as is invariably the case when the voltaic pile is
employed. That learned and ingenious philosopher, in con-
cluding his account of this celebrated experiment, says ' but
in fact the resemblance is not complete, for in every way in
whidi I have tried it, I observed each wire gave out both
oxygen and hydrogen gas, instead of their being formed
separately as by the electric pfle.'
Is it not reasonable to suppose that an electrical sho(^
may dissipate any body into its elementary atoms, whether
simple or compound, so that no two particles would be left
together which can be separated by physical means?
Looking over Singer's Electricity, a recent and most able
modem publication, I find that in the explosion of brass wire
by an electrical battery, tiie copper and zinc actually sep-
arated. He says, page 186, ^ Brass wire is sometimes decom-
posedhyiht charge; the copper and zinc of wfaidi it is formed
being separated from each other, and appearing in their
distinct metallic colours." On the next page in the same
work, I find that the oxides of mercury and tin are reduced
by electrical discharges. ' Introduce,* says the author, ^ some
oxide of tin into a glass tube, so that when the tube is laid
horizontal, the oxide may cover about half an inch of its lower
internal surface. Place the tube on the table of the universal
disdiarger, and introduce the pointed wires into its opposite
ends, that the portion of oxide may lie between tiiem. Pass
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96 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
several strong diarges in succession through the tube, re-
placing the oxide in its situation, should it be dispersed. If
the diarges are sufficiently powerful, a part of the tube will
soon be stained with metallic tin, wfaidi has been revived by
the action of transmitted electricity/ It cannot be alleged
that in sudi decompositions the divellent polar attracticms
are exercised like those which characterize the action of wire
proceeding trom the poles of a voltaic apparatus. Tlie par-
ticles were dispersed from, instead of being attracted to tiie
wires, by which the injQuence was conveyed among tibem. This
being undeniable, it can hardly be advanced that we are to
have one mode of explaining tiie separation of the elements
of brass by an electrical discharge, another of explaining
the separation of the elements of water by the same agent.
One rationale when oxygen is liberated from tin, and another
when liberated by like means from hydrogen. In the ex-
periment in whidi copper was precipitated by the same phil-
osopher at the negative pole, we are not informed whetiier
the oxyg^i and acid in imicm with it were attracted to tlie
other; and the changes produced in litmus are mentioned
not as simultaneous, but successive. The violet and red rays
of the spectrum have an opposite chemical influence in some
degree like that of voltaic poles, but this has not led to the
condusion that the cause of galvanism and light is the same.
Besides, admitting that the feeble results obtained by Wol-
laston and Van Marum are perfectly analogous to those
obtained by the galvanic fluid, ere it can become an objection
to my h3rpothesis, it ought first to be shown that the imion
between caloric and electridty, whidi I suppose productive
of galvanic phenomena, cannot be produced by that very
process. If they combine to form the galvanic fluid when
extricated by ordinary galvanic action, they must have an
affinity for each other. As I have suggested in my memoir,
when electridty enters the pores of a metal it may unite with
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SECOND PERIOD^ 1818-1847 97
its caloric. In WoUaston's experiments, being constrained
to enter the metal, it may combine wiih enou^ of its caloric
to produce, when emitted, results slightly approachmg to
those of a fluid in whidi caloric exists in greater proportion.
But once more I demand why, if mechanical electricity
be too intense to produce galvanic phenomena, should it be
rendered more capable of producing them by being still more
concentrated.
If the one be generated more copiously, tiie other more
intensely, the first will move in a large stream slowly, the last
in a small streun rapidly. Yet by narrowing the diannel of
the latter, Wollaston is supposed to render it more like
the former, that is, produces a resemblance by increasing the
supported source of dissimilarity.
It has been imagined that the beneficial effect of his con-
trivance arises from the production of a continued stream,
instead of a succession of sparks, but if a continued stream
were the cmly desideratum, a point placed near the conductor
of a powerful machine would afford this requisite, as the
whole product may in sudi cases be conveyed by a sewing
needle in a stream perfectly continuous. As yet no adequate
reasons have been given why, in operating with tiie pile, it is
not necessary, as in tiie processes of Van Marum and Wol-
laston, to enclose the wires in glass or sealing wax, in order
to make the electricity emanate from a point within a con-
ducting fluid. The absence of necessity is accounted for,
according to my h3rpothesis, by the indisposition whidi the
electric fluid has to quit the caloric in union with it, and
the almost absolute incapacity which caloric has to pass
through fluids unless by circulation. I conceive that in gal-
vanic combinations, electro-caloric may circulate through the
fluid from the positive to the negative surface, and through
the metal from the negative to the positive. In the one case
caloric subdues the disposition which electricity has to diffuse
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98 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
itself through fluids, and carries it into circulation. In the
other, as metals are excellent conductors of caloric, tiie pro-
digious power which electricity has to pervade them agree-
ably to any attracticHis which it may exercise, operates almost
without restraining. This is fully exemplified in my gal-
vanic deflagrator, where eighty pairs are suspended in two
recipients, forty successively in each, and yet decompose
potash with the utmost rapidity, and produce an almost
intolerable sensation when excited only by fresh river water. I
have already observed that the reason why galvanic appara-
tus composed of pairs consisting eadb of one copper and one
zinc plate have not acted well without insulation, was be-
cause electro-caloric could retrocede in the negative, as well
as advance in the positive direction. I will now add, that
independ^itly of tiie greater effect produced by the simul-
taneous immersion of my eighty coils, their power is improved
by the proximity of the surfaces, whidi are only about an
eighth of an inch asunder; so that the circulation may go
on more rapidly.
Pursuant to the doctrine, which supposes the same quan-
tity of electricity, varying in intensity in the ratio of the
number of pairs to the quantity of surface, to be the sole
agent in galvanic ignition, the electrical fluid as evolved by
Sir H. Davy's great pile, must have been nearly two thou-
sand times more intense, than as evolved by a single pair, yet
it gives sparks at no greater distance than the thirtieth or
fortieth of an indi. The intensity of the fluid must be at
least as much greater in one instance, than in another, as
the sparks produced by it are longer. A fine electrical plate
machine of thirty two inches diameter, will give sparks at
ten inches. Of course the intensity of the fluid which it
emits, must be three himdred times greater than tiiat emitted
by two thousand pairs. The intensity produced by a single
pair, must be two thousand times less than that produced by
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 99
a greAi pile, and of course six hundred thousand times less
than that produced by a good electrical plate of thirty two
inches. Yet a single pair pf about a square foot in area, will
certainly deflagrate more wire, than a like extent of coated
surface charged by such a plate. According to Singer, it
requires about one hundred and sixty square inches of coated
glass, to destroy watch pendulum wire; a larger wire may be
burned off by a galvanic battery of a foot square. But agree-
ably to the hypothesis in dispute, it compensates by quantity,
for the want of intensity. Hence the quantity of fluid in
the pair is six hundred thousand times greater, while its
intensity is six hundred thousand times less; and vice versa
of the coated surface. Is not this absiu*d? What does in-
tensity mean as applied to a fluid? Is it not expressed by
the ratio of quantity, to space? If there be twice as mudi
electricity within one cubic inch, as within another, is there
not twice the intensity? But the one acts suddenly, it may
be said ; the other slowly. But whence this difference ? They
may both have exactly the same siu*f ace to exist in. The
same zinc and copper plates may be used for coatings first,
and a galvanic pair afterwards. Let it be said, as it may in
truth, that the charge is, in the one case attached to the glass
superficies, in the other exists in the pores of the metal. But
why does it avoid these pores in one case and reside in them
in the other? What else resides in the pores of the metal
whidi may be forced out by percussion? Is it not caloric?
Possibly, unless under constraint, or circumstances favor-
able to a union between this principle and electricity, the
latter cannot enter the metaUic pores, beyond a certain degree
of saturation; and hence an electrical charge does not reside
in the metallic coatings of a Leyden phial, though it fuses the
wire which forms a circuit between them.
It is admitted that the action of the galvanic fluid, is
upon or between atoms; while mechanical electricity when
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100 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
uncoerced, acts only upon masses. This difference has not
been explained unless by my hypoUiesis, in which caloric, of
which the influence is only exerted between atoms, is sup-
posed to be a principal agent in galvanism. Nor has any
other reason been given that water, which dissipates pure
electricity, should cause tiie galvanic fluid to accumulate.
From the prodigious effect which moist air, or a moist surface,
has in paraljrzing the most efficient machines, I am led to
suppose, that the conducting power of moisture so situated,
is greater than that of water under its surface. The pow»
of this fluid to conduct mechanical electricity, is unfairly
contrasted with that of a metal, when tiie former is enclosed in
a glass tube, the latter bare.
According to Singer, tiie electrical accumulation is as
great when water is used, as when more powerful menstrua
are employed; but the power of ignition is wanting, until
these are resorted to. De Luc showed, by his ingenious dis-
sections of the pile, that electricity might be produced mthr
out, or xoith chemical power. The raticmale of these differ-
ences never has been given, unless by my theory, whidi
supposes caloric to be present in iiie one case, but not in the
other. The electric column was liie fruit of De Luc's saga^
cious enquiries, and afforded a beautiful and incontrovertible
support to the objections he made to the idea, that the gal-
vanic fluid is pure electricity, when extricated by the voltaic
pile in its usual form. It showed that a pile really producing
pure electricity, is devoid of the chemical power of galvanism.
We are informed by Sir H. Davy, that when charcoal
points in connection with the poles of the magnificent ap-
paratus with which he operated, were first brought nearly
into contact, and then withdrawn four inches apart, there
was a heated arch formed between them in which such non-
conducting substances as quartz were fused. I believe it
impossible to fuse electrics by medianical electricity. If op-
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SECOND FEBIOD, 1818-1847 101
posing its passage they may be broken, and if conductors
near them be ignited, they may be acted on by those ignited
conductors as if otherwise heated; but I will venture to pre-
dict, that the slightest glass fibre will not enter into fusion,
by being placed in a current from the largest machine or
electrical battery.
I am induced to believe, that we must consider light, as
well as beat, an ingredient in the galvanic fluid; and think
it possible that, being necessary to vitality in animals, as
well as vegetables, the electric fluid may be the vehicle of
its distribution.
I will take this opportunity of stating, that the heat
evolved by one galvanic pair has been found by the experi-
ments which I instituted, to increase in quantity, but to
diminii^ in intensity, as liie size of the surfaces may be en-
larged. A pair containing about fifty square feet of each
metal, will not fuse platina, nor deflagrate iron, however small
may be the wire employed; for the heat produced in metallic
wires is not improved by a reduction in their me beyond a
certain point. Yet the metals above mentioned, are easily
fused or deflagrated by smaller pairs, which would have no
perceptible influence on masses that might be sensibly ignited
by larger pairs. — These characteristics were fully demon-
strated, not only by my own apparatus, but by those con-
structed by Messrs. Wetherill and Peale, and which are
larger, but less capable of exciting intense ignition. Mr.
Peale's apparatus contained nearly seventy square feet, Mr.
Wetherill's nearly one hundred, in the form of concentric
coils, yet neither could produce a heat above redness on the
smallest wires. At my suggestion, Mr. Peale separated iiie
two surfaces in his coils into four alternating, constituting
two galvanic pairs in one recipient. Iron wire was then
easily burned and platina fused by it. These facts, together
with the incapacity of the calorific fluid extricated by the
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m HEIE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
calorimotor to permeate charcoal, next to metals the best
electrical conductor, must sanction the position I assigned to
it as being in the opposite extreme from the colimms of De
Luc and Zamboni. For as in these, the phenomena are such
as are characteristic of pure electricity, so in one very large
galvanic pair, they almost exclusively demonstrate the agency
of pure caloric."
The preceding facts, while most interesting, but other-
wise explained to-day, had scarcely been published, when
Hare wrote to a friend:
'' I am constructing a galvanic apparatus, in a glass jar,
two and a half inches in diameter, by eight inches in height,
of coils of copper and zinc; the zinc plates are about nine
inches by six, and are rolled up with the copper by means of a
mandrel, and two pieces of soal leather interposed, one eighth
inch thick, the copper beginning on the inside and ending oa
the outside; so that it takes fourteen inches of this metal.
There will be ei^ty pairs only, at first. The soal leather is
used merely to give them the proper spiral; and is, of course,
withdrawn, when they are taken off the mandrel. Narrow
pieces of wood are employed to keep them apart afterwards."
Whereupon the following epistle was sent to him:
" My dear Sir: " ^^^^ CoUege, October 28, 1821
I was much impressed by your account of the Galvanic
Deflagrator, and of the fine experiments which you per-
formed with it. By means of your kindness in sending
me your original apparatus, (the only one which, as far as
I am informed, has hitiierto been constructed) I had it in
my power, early in the month of June, to repeat your experi-
ments in my coiirse of public lectures. Large numbers of
intelligent perscms attended, in addition to the classes, and
the results gave great pleasure and satisfaction. My health
being, at that time, very feeble, it was not in my power to
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 lOS
pursue the subject to the extent which I had intended, and
expecting to resume it, I had postponed the writing of a
notice of your instrument, hoping that by and by, I could
do it more to my own satisfaction* But as no one else ap-
pears to have repeated your experiments, I have concluded,
even at this late moment, to throw a hasty notice into the
Journal, although it has not been in my power to add any-
thing to the experiments performed in June.
I can say with truth that I consider yom* Deflagrator
as the finest present made to this department of knowledge,
since the discovery of the Pile by Volta, and of the trough
by Cruickshank. The vessels being filled with the fluid
before hand, prevents any haste or confusion, and the advan-
tage which your arrangement gives the operator, of immers-
ing, at one quick movement, the whole of an extensive series,
is very great. Being perfectly ready, and with the poles in
his hand, the teacher only giving a signal to his assistant to
immerse the coils, instantly directs the whole power to the
desired point, and produces results, which both in brilliancy
and energy, totally surpass anything before eflFected by the
same surface of metal, arranged in the same number of com-
binations. This will appear the more remarkable, when it is
remembered that your apparatus produced these effects with-
out insulation. Although, through your civility, I have just
received the glass jars by which you insulate your coils, I
have not yet been able to use them, and can therefore speak
only of the results obtained without them.
With your eighty coils of foiui«en inches by six, for the
copper, and nine by six for the zinc, I obtained effects which,
as to everything that related to intense heat and light, and
brilliant combustion, far surpassed the powers of a battery
of the common form of six hundred and twenty pairs of
plates — one hundred and fifty pairs of which, of six indies
square, are insulated by glass partitions — one hundred pairs
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104 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
of the same size, and tiiree hundred of four inches square, are
insulated by resin and the rest, either by Wedgewood's ware
or by resin, making in the whole a battery with a surface
of thirty-six thousand eight hundred and eighty square
inches* Yoiu*s has a surface of only twenty-two thousand
and eighty square inches, but even withotU inflation it is
incomparably more powerful than the other with that advan-
tage* This is the most singular circumstance connected
with yom* new apparatus, and which goes far to shake oiu*
previous theoretical opinions, if not to support your own.
I repeated every important experiment stated in yoiu*
memoir, and with results so similar, that it is scarcely neces-
sary to relate them. The combustion of tiie metals was
brilliant beyond everything which I had witnessed before,
and the ignition of the charcoal points was so intense, as to
equal the brUUancy of the stm; The light was perfectly in-
tolerable to eyes of only common strength. If I were to
name any metallic substance which binned with more than
common energy, it would be a common brass pin, whidi,
when held in the forceps of one pole, and touched to tiie
charcoal point on the other, was consumed with such energy,
that it might be said literally to vanish in flame.
The light produced between the charcoal points when
immersed beneath acids, oils, alcohol, ether, water, &c. was
very intense, and platina melted in air as readily as wax in
the blaze of a candle. It is a very great advantage of your
Deflagrator that we can suspend the operation at any
moment, with the same facility witii which it was commenced.
A look, directed to the assistant, is sufficient to raise the coils
out of the fluid. All action instantly ceases, neither the
metal nor the fluid are wasting any f artiier, and the lecturer
is therefore at ease while he illustrates and reasons, and when
he is ready and not before, he proceeds to his next experi-
ment. In the meantime, the instrument, during a certain
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 105
period, rather gains than loses strength, by the raising of the
coils. It seems as if the imponderable fluids, partially ex-
hausted from it by its continued action, had time again to
flow in from surrounding objects, and thus to impart new
energy. I found the power of the instrument to last for
several days, although declining, and the same charcoal
points, when well prepared, would also continue to operate for
several days. When the coils, after immersion, had been sus-
pended, for some hours, in tiie air, a coating of green oxid or
carbonat of copper always formed on one part of the outside
of the copper coils, and on the same part in all, but no where
else. If I do not misremember, it collected next to the nega-
tive pole, but was, of course, always removed by the next im-
mersion, though it was formed again at the next suspension.
One circumstance occurred during these experiments,
which demands farther attention.
In the hope of uniting the power of your Deflagrator,
with that of the common galvanic battery, I connected yoiu*
instrument with the powerful one mentioned above. Both
instruments, when separately used, acted, at the lime, with
great energy, producing both their appropriate and com-
mon effects, in a very decided manner; but, ofa connecting
by the proper poles, the battery of six hundred and twenty
pairs, with the deflagrator of eighty coils, I was greatly sur-
prised and disappointed, at flnding the power of botii instru-
ments so completely paralyzed, that, at the points where a
moment before, and when separate, a stream of light and
heat, hardly to be endured by the eye, was poured forth —
now, when connected, both instruments could scarcely pro-
duce the minutest spark. On separating the instruments,
they both resumed their activity; on again connecting them,
it was again destroyed, and so on, as often as the experiment
was made. While they were in connexion, provided the coils
were lifted out of the add, so as to hang in the air merely.
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106 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
then the power of the common galvanic battery would pass
through the Defiagraior, whidi appeared to act simply as a
conductor, and as might have been expected, when so ex-
tensive a conductor was used, the power of the common bat-
tery was, in this case, ccmsiderably diminished, while that
of the Deflagrator did not act at all.
If, while things were in this situation, the coils of the
Deflagrator, without being plunged, were lowered so far as
merely to dip their inferior extremities, say only one fourth
of an inch in the acid, the communication was immediately
arrested, and all effect destroyed almost as completely, as
when the coils were wholly immersed. Thus it appears
that tiie inability to act, in connexion with the common gal-
vanic battery, depends upon the relation of the fluid and
metal, and not upon that of the metals merely. These ex-
periments should be repeated, witii the aid of the insulating
glasses, placed so as to receive the coils of your machine.
I should be very curious to know whether the eflFects would
be the same; and as I now have the glasses, I shall as soon
as possible, try this experiment. We must look to you. Sir,
for the explanation of this singular incompatibility between
the two instruments. At present, I confess myself unable
to explain it. It may, very possibly, lead to important re-
sults, and may have a bearing, such as I have not now time
to discuss, on your own peculiar theory.
I would state that the mode of connecting the two bat-
teries was varied in every form which occurred, not only to
myself, but to several able scientific gentlemen, who were
present at these experiments, and who were equally with
myself surprised and confounded by their results.
I congratulate you upon die brilliant additions which you
have made to our experimental means, in this department
of knowledge; along with your invention of the compound
blowpipe, they fairly entitle you to the gratitude of the scien-
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 107
tific world, notwithstanding the uncandid attempts which, in
relation to the blowpipe, I am sorry to see, are still perse-
vered in, to deprive you of the credit which you so richly
deserve.
I remain, as ever, your friend and servant,
B. SnxnfAN."
In reply to which Hare wrote:
" My dear sir: " Philadelphia, Nov, 5, 1821.
I have received your letter on the Deflagrator which I
sent you last spring. I fear you have done me more than
justice.
I should not be surprised, if the coils when insulated by
the glass jars, should form a circuit with your other appara-
tus, better, than when immersed in the troughs. You will
observe that when recently lifted from out of the acid, the
air insulates the coils; while the pieces of wood used to keep
the copper from touching the zinc, act to a certain extent
like the moistened cloth in Volta's original pile. — When in
this situation, the poles will affect an electromotor much more
powerfully, than when the coils are immersed; though in one
case, the igniting power will bum a platina wire of one
eighth of an inch in thickness, in the other it will not bum
Dutch gold leaf.
In my memoir, on a new theory of galvanism, is the fol-
lowing passage: * According to my view, caloric and elec-
tricity may be distinguished by tiie following characteristics.
The former permeates all matter more or less, though with
very different degrees of facility. It radiates through air
witii immeasurable celerity, and distributing itself through
the interior of bodies, communicates a reciprocally repellent
power, to atoms, but not to masses. Electricity does not
radiate in or through any matter, and while it pervades some
bodies, as metals, with almost infinite velocity; by others it
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108 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
is so far from being conducted, that it can pass throng them
only by a fracture or perforation. Distributing itself of
choice over surfaces only, it causes reaction between masses,
but not between the particles of the same mass. The disposi-
tion of die last mentioned principle (electricity) to get off
by neighboming conductors, and of the other (caloric) to
combine with the adjoining matter or to escape by radiation,
would prevent them from being collected at the positive pole,
if not in combination with eadi other. Were it not for a
modification of their properties consequent to some such
union, they could not, in piles of tiiousands of pairs, be carried
forwards through the open air and moistures, the one so well
calculated to conduct away electricity, the other so favour-
able to the radiation of caloric.
Pursuing the same subject in a subsequent memoir, also
published in your Joiumal, I thus expressed myself, ^As yet
no adequate reasons have been given why, in operating with
the pile, it is not necessary, as in the process of Van Marum
and Wollaston, to enclose the wires in glass or sealing wax,
in order to make the electricity emanate from a point within
a conducting fluid. The absence of this necessity is accounted
for, according to my hypothesis by the indisposition which the
electric fluid has to quit the caloric in union with it, and the
almost absolute incapacity which caloric has to pass through
fluids unless by circulation. I conceive that in galvanic com-
binations, electro-caloric may circulate through the fluids
from the positive to the negative siu*face, and through the
metal from the negative to the positive. In the one case
caloric subdues the disposition which electricity has to diffuse
itself through fluids, and carries it into circulation. In the
other, as metals are excellent conductors of caloric, the pro-
digious power which electricity has to pervade them agree-
ably to any attractions which it may exercise operates almost
without restraint. This is fully exemplified in my galvanic
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 109
deflagrator, where eighty pairs are suspended in two recipi-
ents, forty successively in each, and yet decompose potash
with the utmost rapidity, and produce an almost intolerable
sensation when excited only by fresh river water. I have
already observed that the reason why galvanic apparatus
onnposed of pairs consisting each of one copper and one zinc
plate, have not acted well without insulation; was because
electro-caloric could retrocede in the negative, as well as
advance in the positive direction.*
Agreeably to these views, in order to prevent the escape
of tiie electricity put into motion by the series, the caloric
must bear a certain proportion to it. It is to be inferred, con-
sistently with the same hypothesis, that this proportion did
not exist in the series which you connected with the deflagrator.
The fluid presented to the latter had too much electricity in
it; and hence instead of passing into circulation, escaped.
When the coils were siispended in air, this escape was less
favored than when they were covered by the diluted acid.
Faithfully yours,
Robert Hare."
Many of the minor communications, sent from time to
time to Silliman by Hare, possessed more than common value.
For instance, on one occasion he told how he had infused
alcohol with alkanet root, when to his astonishment the solu-
tion instead of being red was blue in color. It occurred to
him that the alcohol had stood over pearlash, so a second
solution wiUi pure alcohol was promptly made. The tincture
was red in color, which was rendered blue by a drop of an
alkaline solution. So he proposed to use alkanet in place
of litmus. '' The alkanet infusion must be made blue by
an alkali and restored by an acid, instead of being as in the
case of litmus reddened by an acid, and restored by an alkali.
Thus as the one is indirectly a test for alkalies, so is the other
for acids. In making the infusion of alkanet blue for this
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110 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
purpose, the smaUest quantity of alkali should be used, which
will accomplish the change, as in that case less acid will be
requisite to restore the color, and thus manifest its presence
in any solution to be tested."
He also observed that the silver crystals which form spon-
taneously when a silver coin is dissolved in nitric acid, diluted
no more than is necessary for the solution to proceed actively,
give no trace of copper when it is redissolved. He wondered
whether this would not be a " good preliminary step in re-
fining silver, or for getting the nitrate for lunar caustic or
as a test." He tells, too, that upon saturating strong nitric
acid, gotten from dry niter, witii ammonium carbonate in a
retort, the resulting salt was procured in a compact form
and upon distillation forthwith jrielded nitrous oxide. He
used as containing vessels for the gas, bags of leather soaked
with boiled linseed oil.
An exceedingly important correspondence between the
two friends grew out of Hare's discoveries; indeed, so inter-
esting are the letters that no account of Hare's life would be
complete which omits them. The following are noteworthy :
Hare to Silliman:
" My dear Sir: " P^^*- ^arch 5, 1822.
In reply to your enquiries on the subject of the CcHori-
motor, and the expediency of employing one during your
lectures, it may be proper to mention, that the phenomena
produced by it are more agreeable to the eye and there-
fore more popular, than any which can be performed with-
out greater difficulty. By the time the Calorimotor is com-
pletely immerged in the acid solution, the wire in the forceps
is rendered white hot, and takes fire, emitting the most bril-
liant sparks. In the interim, an explosion usually gives
notice of the extrication of hydrogen in a quantity adequate
to reach the burning wire. Immediately after the explosion.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 111
the hydrogen is reproduced with less intermixture of air, and
rekindles, corruscating from among the forty interstices, and
passing from one side of the machine to the other in opposite
directions, and at various times, so that the combinations are
innumerable. The flame assumes various hues, from the solu-
tion of more or less of the metals, and a blazing froth, rolls
over the sides of the recipient. When the calorimotor is
withdrawn from the add solution, the surface appears for
many seconds like a sheet of flaming foam.
I refer you to the last paragraph of my memoir on the
Deflagrator, for some results obtained by calorimotors, of
different sizes, which I deem to be scientifically important.
With respect to the comparative powers of concentric
coils, of copper and zinc and of plates of those metals alternat-
ing; if only a few pairs are to be employed, I believe it a
matter of indifference which construction we adopt. I have,
however, found to my cost that it is far from being so when
the series is numerous. Last sununer I constructed an ap-
paratus of one hundred pairs, eadi containing six alternated
plates, tiiree of each metal. On trial, it proved much less
powerful than the Deflagrator sent to you, though the zinc
surface in each pair, was one seventh larger, and tiie number
of the series one fourth more extensive. The exposure to
eadi other, of the copper and zinc plates terminating the
different pairs, struck me as disadvantageous. I theref oi^e,
removed the external zinc plate in each, so that the pair
afterwards, consisted severally of tiiree copper and two zinc
plates, and were bounded by copper towards both poles.
There was some comparative gain by this change, as the
power was not lessened in proportion to the diminution of
zinc surface. Still tiie result was unsatisfactory. I then
had some boxes made with partitions of glass, to be inter-
posed between the pairs of the series. These were employed
as is usual with galvanic troughs, made with partitions, ex-
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lU THE LIFE OF ROBERT HAKE
cepting Uie deficiency of bottoms, and Uieir being suspended
to the beams, so as to be simultaneously immersed with the
galvanic surfaces which Uiey were intended to insulate. The
power of the series was not amended by this contriyance.
It had often occurred to me, that surrounding the zinc by
copper, might be an indispensable feature in the arrange-
ment of my Deflagrator of coils. In order to test the cor-
rectness of this surmise, I proceeded to form an apparatus
of pairs, each consisting of a case of copper, containing one
zinc plate of seven inches by three, the size used, in ihe
apparatus above described. In these pairs, as in those con-
trived by Wollaston, the edges of the zinc were supported by
grooved pieces of wood passing betwe^i them and the cop-
per. There was, however, this apparently slight, but really
important difference, tliat the cases employed by me, were
open at top and bottom, instead of exposing the edges of the
zinc laterally, as in Wollaston's. One hundred galvanic pairs,
thus made, were suspended to two bewtis, each holding fifty.
Between each case, a piece of pasteboard soaked in shell lac
varnish, was interposed; so that the whole constituted a com-
pact mass, into which a fluid could not enter, unless through
the interstices purposely preserved between the copper and
zinc. The phenomena produced by this apparatus, on im-
mersion, were upon the whole more interesting than those
produced by my original deflagrator; especially in the length
of the jet between the poles, and the power of permeating
charcoal. Yet the apparatus was comprised witiiin one
eighth of the space, and is not (in oxidizable superflcies) of
half the extent.
Having added three more beams, of fifty pairs each, to
my apparatus, I found the power increased fully in ike ratio
of the number. You know that my eyes are naturally very
strong. The light produced by the compound blolrpipe,
though I operated without glasses, only dazzled them for a
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 118
time, and thitherto I had felt no other inconvenience from
my galvanic experiments. Rendered thus bold by previous
immunity I still dispensed with the annoyance of spectacles.
In consequence, my eyes, after operating with the last men-
tioned series of two hundred and fifty, were on the following
day so much inflamed, as to be blood shot, and painfully
susceptible of the day light. The judicious application of
twenty leeches to each of the eye-lids, pursuant to the advice
of my friend. Dr. Dewees, afforded me surprising relief,
and my eyes are now well enough to finish this letter, though
a few days since when I began it, I was under the necessity
of employing an amanuensis.
By this series of 250, Barytes was defiagrated; and the
Platina which supported it destroyed like pasteboard before
an incandescent iron. A platina wire three sixteenths of an
inch in thickness, was made to flow like water. Iron of like
dimensions burned explosively. When the experiments were
repeated before my class of more than three hundred pupils,
and many visitors, there were very few who could bear the
light with fhe naked eye.
Much attention was excited by the deflagration of a
stream of mercury. This was accomplished in the following
way. A wire proceeding from one pole of the deflagrator,
was introduced into some merciuy held in a glass basin; and
another wire proceeding from the other pole, into some mer-
ciuy in another vessel, having a capillary orifice which might
be closed by the finger or a stopple. This last mentioned
vessel with the merciuy running from it was supported at
such a height above the surface of the mercury in the glass
basin, as to permit the discharge to take place through the
metallic stream just as the galvanic surfaces were subjected
to the acid. The mercury deflagrated explosively.
The experiments may be varied, by causing the stream
of mercury to fall on iron filings, or card teeth.
8
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114 THE LIFE OF ROBERT ELARE
When the phenomena of a series of 250 pairs of 7 inches
hy 8, are such as I have described what would be the power
of a deflagrator with plates, as large as Children's, and as
numerous as Davy's?
Probably the most useful mode of applying such instru-
ments to analysis, would be to expose substances to the dis-
charge in vacuo on carbon. I observed that after iron and
charcoal were ignited between the poles during a few seconds,
under an exhausted receiver, on admitting the air, a flash
took place, and a yellowish red fume appeared which con-
densed on the glass. It would seem the iron was volatilized,
and that the admission of air oxidized the vapour.
A deflagrator of 250 or 800 pairs is found to produce
torture when applied for a short time to the back of the
hand, and it is difficult for the sufferer to believe, that his
skin has not been cauterized. One of my pupils showed me
a slight excoriation, which he considered as arising from it,
on the spot where the positive pole had touched him. Be-
tween the excitement of acid, and water, the difference of
power in affecting the fledi, is far less than with metals, char-
coal or potash. Upon these substances, the excitement by
water has no influence, but to the sensation is painful, though
it may be borne longer, than when acid is used. Neither
is the shock greater, in any sensible degree, at the moment
of immersion, than afterwards. The effect upon the elec-
trometer, is at least as great, with water, as with acid. Im-
mediately over any of the most turgid veins, where the skin
is tender, as on the back of the hand, will be found the greatest
sensibility. The positive pole, is most capable of producing
pain. This I had frequent opportunities of ascertaining, by
the observations of those who, now knowing how to distinguish
it from the negative pole, could not have been biassed in
their opinion. Upon a common gold leaf electrometer, a
deflagrator of 800 pairs will have no influence. I have con-
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 115
structed one by means of a bottle, a single slip of gold leaf,
and a knob at right angles to it, supported by a screw, so as
to be easily moved nearer to or further from the leaf. The
wire from which the latter is suspended, passes through a
cork in the neck of the bottle. The screw enters through a nut,
cemented into a hole drilled on one side. When the wire
which supports the leaf, is fastened to one of the poles, every
time the screw is touched by the other the leaf will strike the
ball provided the distance be very small, perhaps not greater
than the tenth of an inch. This result was obtained at a greater
distance when the coils had been recently withdrawn from the
acid, than when they are covered by it. I have known a piece
of dry sealing wax, as big as a chestnut, without friction, to
affect this electrometer as much as my largest deflagrator.
A magnetic needle was very powerfully disturbed by the
deflagrator, under all its forms. The celerity with which
the galvanic surfaces may be immersed in, or withdrawn
from the acid, contributes much to economy, and to the case
of the operator in galvano-magnetic aiquiries.
The prevalent notion, that the intense light and heat
produced by galvanic action, are results secondary to elec-
tricity, the presence of which is at times only indirectly dis-
coverable, the more surprises me; since it does not in the
smallest degree, elucidate the primary operation, by which
this principle is alleged to be evolved. According to some
philosophers, the contact accompanied by their solution,
evolves electricity in quantity sufficient to extricate heat and
light from a wire made the medium of transmission. They
do not, however, explain why the electricity does not, accord-
ing to all its known habitudes, rapidly escape through the
water, as fast as generated, instead of proceeding from one
plate to another, in order to pass off through a second portion
of the same fluid. Would it not be more philosophical to
suppose that the heat and light result directly from tiie
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116 THE LIFE OP ROBERT HARE
causes supposed to produce them indirectly; especially, as
we actually see them in a high degree of intensity, while tiie
characteristic agency of the principle, by which they are sup-
posed to be produced, is but feebly perceived, or imperfectly
demonstrated? In the case of a single galvanic pair, elec-
tricity has never been alleged discoverable, unless by the
questionable assistance of condensers.
Besides, without supposing caloric and light to circulate
from the apparatus tiux>ugh the conjunctive wire, those who
consider them as material, will find it impossible to account
for the durability of the ignition. If it be supposed that
these principles are extricated from the metal, only by elec-
tricity passing through it, their repeated or incessant ex-
penditure, ought sooner or later to exhaust the metal, and
render it incapable of further ignition.
On this subject, especially, as connected with magnetism,
and mechanical electricity, you shall hear from me again.
R. xx.
" Yale College, New Haven,
"My dear Sir: "April 9th. 1822.
In my letter of October 28, 1821, addressed to you re-
specting the experiments which I had performed with your
deflagrator, I mentioned the incompatibility which I dis-
covered to exist between your apparatus and tiie common
galvanic battery. I have recently repeated these experi-
ments with some additions and variations which I now take
the liberty of stating to you.
In the trials made last October with your instrument,
the coils were used without glasses, being immersed in a fluid
contained in a common recipient in those recently performed,
and which I shall now relate, the metallic coils were in-
dividually insulated, for they were immersed in the cylin-
drical glasses belonging to the apparatus, it being previously
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 117
connected with the common galvanic battery by its proper
poles as described in my former letter; the effects were how-
ever in no respect different from those before observed, so
that the insulation of the coils appears to be a fact of no
importance. In the first experiment the deflagrator being
connected by its proper poles with a galvanic battery of 800
pairs of four inch plates cemented in mahogany troughs, and
interposed between the two rows of the deflagrator, of forty
coils each, lost all its power, and the effect produced was very
much inferior to that of the battery alone, for in fact the
spark was hardly perceptible.
The chemical or decomposing powers of tiie common gal-
vanic battery, were also found to be suspended by the con-
nexion— for the 800 pairs which usually dec(»npose water,
salts, &c. with decisive energy, now produced in water scarcely
a bubble of gas, and hardly affected dilute infusion of purple
cabbage. The power of giving a shock was also destroyed
by the connexion.
When the coils were raised out of the fluid and suspended
only in the air, they acted as conductors of the power of the
common battery, which now produced all its appropriate
effects, although, even in this case, the galvanic influence
appeared somewhat diminished, which would of course arise
both from the ewtent of the conducting surface, and from
the fact that a part of the substance, namely, the wedges
of moist wood, interposed between the metals was an im-
perfect conductor.
These experiments (including the former trials) were
made with differait combinations from 620 pairs down to 20,
and were attended, uniformly with the same result; viz: an
almost entire suspension of the power of both instruments.
In one of the experiments, twenty-five pairs of the zinc
and copper plates, six inches square, connected by slips of
copper and suspended from a beam of wood were immersed
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118 THE LIFE OP ROBERT HARE
in a trough without partitions filled with an acid liquor, and
the connexion being formed with the deflagrator, the power
of the latter instrument was found to be completely destroyed
— a similar result was obtained by a battery consisting of
fifty triads of plates two inches square, each zinc surface
being coated by a copper plate after the manner of Dr.
Wollaston — the object of this arrangement was, to ascer-
tain, whether a battery, in which the arrangement of metals
was similar, to ihat in the deflagrator, would produce a result
in any respect di£Perent from that of the common battery;
the effect however was precisely the same. In most of the
experiments the connexion of the poles was occasionally re-
versed. This circumstance however made no difference in
the result. A feeble spark was obtained as before. Every
thing tended to countenance the opinion that the interposi-
tion of the common galvanic battery operated simply as an
impediment — ^that it was completely inert in relation to the
deflagrator, imd the deflagrator in relation to it, — ^that the
power of neither would pass through the other, and conse-
quently that each was to be regarded, with respect to the
other, simply as so much interposed matter, constituting a
conductor more or less imperfect. To bring tliis conjecture
to a decision, the number of interposed plates was constantly
diminished, until the connexion was formed by no more than
twenty pairs. In this state of things, the power of the de-
flagrator passed freely, although somewhat diminished. The
connexion was now formed with smaller and smaller number
of pairs; the activity of the deflagrator in the mean time rap-
idly increased, until the moment, when only one pair was em-
ployed (this pair being, however, like the others, immersed in
an acid fluid) , then there was no perceptible impediment, and
the effect was as brilliant as when nothing was interposed.
I have thought these curious facts worthy of being pre-
served, and I have addressed them to you with the hope that
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 119
you will be able to throw some light upon this singular
imomaly, which to me appears to be incapable of explana-
tion, in consistency with the received theories of galvanism.
Hoping that you will, through the mediiun of the journal,
favour the public with your views upon this subject
I remain with very great respect.
Your friend and servant,
B, SlIXIMAN,"
Again, Silliman to Hare:
" Yale College, New Haven,
"My dear Sir, "May 10, 1822.
In your memoir on yoiur Galvanic Deflagrator, when
speaking of the ignition produced by that instrument, in char-
coal points, you remark: ' If the intensity of the light, did
not produce an optical deception, by its distressing influence
upon the organs of vision, the charcoal assumed a pasty con-
sistence, as if in a state approaching to fusion.
' That charcoal should be thus softened without being
destroyed by the oxygen of tiie atmosphere, will not appear
strange, when the power of galvanism in reversing chemical
affinities is remembered; and were it otherwise the air could
have no access, first because of the excessive rarefaction, and
in the next place as I suspect on account of the volatilization
of the Carbon, forming about it a circumambient atmosphere.
This last mentioned impression arose from observing, that
when the experiment was performed in vacuo, there was a
lively scintillation, as if the Carbon in an aeriform state,
acted as a supporter of combustion on the metal."
This paragraph, at the time of perusing it, excited in
my mind a lively interest, and a strong wish to see so fine a
result, as the fusion of charcoal, confirmed by an experi-
ment admitting of no question. What you threw out by way
of surmise, and without positively affirming it, I think I am
now able to substantiate.
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120 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
During the three last weeks of Maxch, I was much occu-
pied with your deflagrator. The medium of conununication,
between the poles, was generally, charcoal prepared for the
purpose, by intensely igniting pieces of very dry mahogany,
buried in a crucible, beneath white siliceous sand. The pieces
of charcoal thus prepared, were about half an inch in diam-
eter, and from one and half inch, to three inches in length;
they were made, as usual, to taper to a point, and the cylindri-
cal ends were placed in the sockets connected with the flexible
lead tubes, which form the polar terminati<ms of the series.
The metallic coils of the deflagrator, being immersed, on
bringing the charcoal points into contact, and then withdraw-
ing tiiem a little, the most intense ignition took place, and I
was surprised to observe that the charcoal point of the posi-
tive pole, instantly shot out, in the direction of the longer
axis, and thus grew rapidly in length; it usually increased,
from the 10th to the 8th of an inch, and in some instances
attained nearly ^th of an inch in length, before it broke oS
and fell. Yesterday and to-day, I have carefully repeated
these experiments, and in no instance, has this shoot frcmi
the positive pole failed to appear. It continues to increase
rapidly, as long as the contiguous points of charcoal are held
with such care, that they do not strike against each other.
When they impinge with a slight shock, then the projecting
shoot or knob breaks oS and falls, and is instantly succeeded
by another. The form of the projecting shoot, is sometimes
cylindrical, but more generally it is that of a knob, con-
nected with tjie main piece of charcoal, by a slender neck,
much resembling some stalagmites. It is always a clear
addition to the length of the charcoal, which does not suffer
any waste except on the parts, laterally contigiK)us to the
projecting point.
The charcoal of the negative pole, in the mean time, under-
goes a change precisely the reverse. Its point instantly dis-
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 . 121
appears, and a crater-shaped cavity appears in its place; it
suffers a rapid diminution in the direction of its length, and
immediately under the projecting and increasing point of the
positive pole; but it is not diminished, or very little, on the
parts laterally contiguous. If tlie point of the positive pole
be moved over the various parts of the contiguous negative
charcoal, it produces a crater-shaped cavity over every place
where it rests, for an instant. In every repetition of the
experiment, (and the repetiticxis have been numerous,) this
result has ilivariably occurred. It appears as if the matter
at the point of the negative pole was actually transferred to
the positive J a/nd that the accumulation there, is produced by
a current flowing from the negative to the positive, or at
least by an attraction exerted in that direction, and not in the
other. It does not appear easy to reconcile this fact with
any electrical or igneous theory.
In order to ascertain whether the projection of the char-
coal at the positive pole was caused by an actual transfer of
carbon from the negative, a piece of metal was substituted for
the charcoal at the negative pole, and when the two were
brought into contact, t^ charcoal point of the positive pole
remained unaltered in form, although a little shortened by
the combustion. The experiments with the two charcoal
points w»e varied by transferring, that at the positive end
(and on which a projection was already formed) to the
opposite pole, and that at the negative, luid in which a corre-
sponding cavity appeared, to the positive.
The result was, tliat the cavity now placed at the positive
pole, disappeared, and was immaliately seen at the negative,
while tiie projection, now placed at the negative pole, wais
transferred to the positive. These experiments were several
times repeated, and uniformly with the same result. They
seem to leave no doubt, that there is a current from the nega-
tive to the positive pole, and that carbon is actually trans-
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122 . THE LIFE OP ROBERT HARE
f erred by it in that direction; if transferred, it must probably
be in the state of vapour, since it passes through the ignited
arch of flame, which is formed when the points are witiidrawn
a little distance; when it arrives at the positive pole. It tiiere
concretes in a fluid, or at least in a sort of " pasty " state.
But the most interesting thing remains yet to be stated.
On examining with a magnifier, the projecting point of the
positive pole, it exhibited decisive indications of having under*
gone a real fusion.
The projecting point or knob, was completely different
from the charcoal beneath. Its form was that of a collection
of small spheres aggregated; exhibiting perfectly, what is
called in the descriptive language of Mineralogy, botryoidal
or mammillary concretions.- Its surface was smooth and
glossy, as if covered with a varnish; the lustre was metallic,
the colour inclining to grey, exhibiting sometimes iridescent
hues, and it had entirely lost the fibrous structure. In short,
in colour, lustre, and form, the fused charcoal bore the most
striking resemblance to many of the beautiful stalactical and
botryoidal specimens of the brown haematite. The pores
of the cljiarcoal had all disappeared, and the matter had
become sensibly harder and heavier.
I repeated the experiments, until I collected a consid-
erable quantity of these fused masses ; when they were placed
contiguously, upon some dark surface, with some pieces of
charcoal near them, they appeared when seen through a mag-
nifier, so entirely different from the charcoal, that they would
never have been suspected to have had any connexion with
it, had it not been, that occasionally some fibres of the char-
coal adhered to the melted masses. The melted and unmelted
charcoal, differ nearly as mudi in their appearance as pumice-
stone and obsidian, and quite as much as conmoion stones do,
from volcanic scorias, excepting only, in the article of colour.
It is to be understood, that the examination, is in every in-
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 12S
stance, made by means of a good magnifier, and under the
direct light of the sun's rays, as the diflFerences are scarcely
perceptible to the naked eye, especially in an obscure light.
The portions of melted charcoal, are so decidedly heavier than
the unmelted, that when fragments of the two of a similar
size are placed contiguously, the latter may be readily blown
away by the breath, while the former will remain behind, and
when the vessel containing the pieces is inclined, the melted
pieces will roll with momentum, from one side to the other in
a manner, very similar to metallic substances, while the frag-
ments of charcoal will either not move, or move very tardily.
It should be observed, that during the ignition of the
charcoal points, there is a peculiar odour, somewhat res^n-
bling electricity, and a white fume rises perpendicularly,
forming a well defined line above the charcoal. There was
also, a distinct snap or crackling when the two points were
first brought together.
Wishing to ascertain whether the Alkali, present in the
charcoal, had any eflFect in promoting the fusion, some pieces
of prepared charcoal were thoroughly boiled in water, and
were then again exposed to a strong heat in a furnace beneath
sand in a crucible. These pieces when connected in the cir-
cuit exhibited the same appearances as the other and proved
equally fusible.
Without destroying cabinet specimens, I could procure
no diamond slivers, and have not therefore, attempted the
fusion of the diamond, whidi must be left to another oppor-
tunity. Our circle of fusible bodies, so much enlarged by the
use of your instruments, is now so nearly complete, that it
would be very desirable to fill the only remaining niche,
namely, that occupied by plumbago, anthracite, and the
diamond.
I remain as ever, truly, your friend and servant,
B. SiLLIMAN."
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124 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
'' P. S. I do not suppose, that those who repeat these
experiments, will suecced with the common galvanic ap-
paratus. I deem it indispensable, that they be performed
with the deflagrator, and with one equal in power to mine."
And what the great experimenter had to say will be found
in the appended letters:
" My dear sir, " Philadelphia, May 25th, 1822.
In a former letter you mentioned, that you had found
the power of the galvanic deflagrator, when its coils were
subjected to acid in troughs without partitions, incompatible
with the power of other voltaic series, of the usual forms;
that when associated with them in one circuit, it could neither
give, nor receive excitement. You now inform me, that this
incompatibility is not lessened when the coils are insulated
by glass jars. It follows, that electrical insulation has less
influence on the action of this instrument, than I had sup-
posed, and it of course confirms my idea, that the deflagrat-
ing power is not purely electrical.
It cannot be doubted, notwithstanding your experiments,
that there is a principle of action, common to the various ap-
paratus which you employed, and all other galvanic com-
binations. The eflFect of this principle of action, however,
varies widely according to the number of the series, the size
of the members severally, and the energy of the agents inter-
posed. Towards the different extremes of these varieties are
De Luc*s Column apparently producing pure electricity,
and one large galvanic pair, or calorimotor of two surfaces,
producing, in appearance, only pure caloric. At different
points between these, are the series of Davy and Children;
the one gigantic in size, the other in number. In the de-
flagrator we have anotlier variety, which, with respect to size
and nimiber, is susceptible of endless variation.
It must be evident that no galvanic instrument where a
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 125
fluid is employed, could aid, or be aided by, the columns of
De Luc* or Zamboni, nor could the influence of either be
transmitted by the other. A calorimotor could not aid Davy's
great series; nor could the latter, act through a calorimotor.
Taking it for granted that there can be no oversight in your
experiments, this incompatibility of exciting power must ex-
ist to a great degree, under circumstances where it could
hardly have been anticipated.
Were the fluid evolved by galvanic action purely electric,
the e£Pect of batteries of di£Perent sizes, when united in one
circuit, ought not to be less than would be produced if the
whole of the pairs were of smaller size. But if on the con-
trary, we suppose the voltaic fluid compounded of Caloric,
light and electricity, so obviously collateral products of gal-
vanic action; the ordinary voltaic series employed in your
experiments, may owe its efficacy more to electricity — ^and
the deflagrator more to caloric. The peculiar potency of
both may be arrested when they are joined, by the incom-
petency of either series to convey any other compound than
that which it generates. The supply of caloric from the
ordinary series may be too small, that of electricity too large ;
and vice versa. It might be expected that each would supply
the deficiency of the other; but it is well known that many
principles will combine only when they are nascent. The
power of my large deflagrator in producing decompositicxi,
is certainly very disproportional to its power of evolving
heat and light. When wires proceeding frcMn the poles were
placed very near each other under water, it was rapidly de-
composed; but when severally introduced into the open ends
of an inverted syphon, filled with that fluid, little action took
place: Potash is deflagrated and the rosy hue of the flame
indicates a decomposition. Still however the volatilization
of the whole mass, and intense ignition of the metallic sup-
port, prove that the calorific influence is greatly and pecul-
iarly predominant.
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1«6 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
I fear that in my essays on galvanic theory, the possible
activity of light, has been too much overlooked. The cor-
puscular changes which have been traced to the distinctive
energies of this principle, are so few that we have all been in
the habit, erroneously perhaps, of viewing it as an inert prod-
uct in those changes, effected by caloric, electricity and
chemical action, which it most strikingly characterizes. Yet
reflecting on the prodigious intensity in which it has been
extricated by the deflagrator, it seems wrong not to suspect
it of being an effective constituent of the galvanic stream.
Possibly its presence in varying proportions, may be one
reason of the incompatibility of the voltaic current as gen-
erated under different circumstances, or by various forms of
apparatus. It may also suggest, why in addition to changes
in the force of nature of the sensation produced by the gal-
vanic discharges which may be considered as dependent on
electric intensity, peculiarities have been observed, which are
not to be thus explained. The effect on the animal frame,
has been alleged to be proportional to the electrical intensity,
the effect on metals to the quantity; but according to the
observations of Singer (which are confirmed by mine) the
electrical intensity is as great, with water as with acid, if not
greater even than with the latter. The reverse is true of the
shock. When the plates of the deflagrator are moistened,
and withdrawn from the acid, the shock is far less powerful;
yet the electrical excitement appears stronger. Light is im-
deniably requisite to vegetable life, perhaps it is no less neces-
sary in the more complicated process of animal vitality, and
the electric fluid may be the mean of its distribution. The
miraculous difference observed in the properties of organic
products, formed of the same ponderable elements, may be
due to imponderable agents conveyed and fixed in them by
galvanism. Hence it may arise, that the prussic acid instan-
taneously kills when applied to a tongue, containing the same
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 127
ponderable elements. When by the intense decomposition
of matter, light is always evolved; when an atom of tallow
gives out enough of it to produce sensation in the retina of
millions of living beings why may it not when presented in due
form, influence the taste, and otherwise stimulate the nervous
system. For such an office its substibility would seem to
qualify it eminently. The phenomaia of the firefly and the
glow worm prove that it may be secreted by the process of
vitality.
The discovery of alkaline qualities, as well as acid, in
organic products whose elements are otherwise found, whether
separate or in combination, without any such qualities, and
the opposite habitudes of acids and alkalies with the voltaic
poles, and their power of combining with, and neutralizing
each other, indicate that there may be something adventitious
which causes alkalinity and acidity, and that this something
is of an imponderable character, and dependent on galvanism.
In the number of your Journal for October last, I gave
my reasons for believing in the existence of material impon-
derable principles, producing the phenomena of heat, light
and electricity. The co-existence of these principles in the
medium around us, their simultaneous, or alternate agency
and appearance, during many of the most important proc-
esses of nature, seem to me to sanction a conjecture, that as
ingredients in ponderable substances they may cause those
surprisingly active and wonderfully diversified properties
usually ascribed to apparently inadequate changes, in the
proportions of ponderable elements.
In obedience to your request, I have thus displayed the
ideas at present awakened in my mind by these obscure and
interesting phenomena. I am not willing to assume any
responsibility for the correctness of my conjectures. Pos-
sibly they may excite in you farther and more correct
speculations.''
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128 THE LIFE OF ROBERT ELARE
Berzelius (1822) wrote a most complimentary note to
Silliman upon his experiments with the deflagrator, taking
occasion also to add:
" The discordance of the ordinary pile with the Deflag-
rator appears inexplicable to me, except by the theory of
Mr. Hare, which though ingenious, I find it difficult to admit,
since the electromagnetic phenomena are in all their char*
acters the same as the ordinary electricity.**
" Red Lion 12 miles from Philad'
"My dear Silliman: " Jmie 20^ 1822
I am thus far on my way to Providence — One of the
last things which I did was to essay a calorimotor constructed
for you. Its performance was superior to any I have before
used — I presume it is now under way to New York, whence
the Capt° is to ship it by one of your packets to New Haven.
— This instnmient was made of sheet zinc of double the
thickness of that whidi I used, & of coiu*se it is more than
four times as valuable. — ^But as I did not allow for this in
my estimate the cost will be sixty five, instead of fifty dolls.
The metals alone cost forty. I concluded however to send it.
You may exhibit it to yoiu: class & the public; & afterwards
return it if you please paying expenses.
I have observed the appearances with charcoal of which
you spoke in your last conununication: the protruding nipple
on the zinc pole & cavity in the copper pole.
I have also repeated at diflFerent times & with different
deflagrators the experiment of decomposing water by iron
wires & found invariably gas to be given off at the zinc pole
& oxide found at the copper pole — I hope soon to see you
however & talk over these things in person.
D'^.Chapman is about publishing in his journal the whole
of our correspondence —
I am as ever Yours R. H.**
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 129
'' I shall probably be in New Yoi^ when the Calorimotor
reaches that Place — ^You may write to me there — ^You must
have sustained a great shodc in the loss of your Colleague
Fisher,"
And in his textbook of 1881, Silliman comments on the
peculiar power of the deflagrator thus:
'' 1. Both in producing ignition and combustion, the de-
fiagrators far surpass any other form of galvanic instrvr
ments.
(a) Charcoal points, two inches long, were, in tiie earliest
experiments, instantly ignited, and the light surpassed tiiat
from any other source; it sometimes flashed through the win-
dows upon the neighbouring buildings, and it has produced
dangerous inflammation in the stroi^;est eyes.
(b) At the moment of contact, or of very near approx-
imation, a sharp rushing noise is heard, whidi is constantly
renewed at certain distances, and is occasioned, evidently, by
the passage of the electrical, calorific, and gaseous current
(c) The eanstence of a current, from the positive to nega-
tive pole, is decisively proved by the transfer of the charcoal,
from the positive to the negative pole; on the negative side,
it rapidly collects into a knob, or projecting cone, or cylin-
der, which frequently becomes half an inch or more l(mg,
before it falls and gives place to another.
(d) On the positive pole a correspondent cavity is formed,
out of which the vaporized matter rises and collects upon
the negative pole; and a new cavity can be at any moment
formed in the positive diarcoal, by directing t^ negative
point to a new place upon it; the cavities have no appearance
of fusion, but retain tlie fibrous structure of the charcoaL
(e) If the charcoal points are now changed, that of the
negative side retaining the projecting knobs, the latter wHl
be immediately transferred to the other pole, whose corre-
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ISO THE LIFE OF BOBERT HAKE
sponding cavity will be soon filled by the matter vaporized
from the knob and after it is removed a cavity will come in
its place, and thus the knob and cavity may be made, at
pleasure, to exchange places.
(/) If a metallic wire be fixed in the positive pole, then
there is no knob formed on the negative charcoal.
(g) These facts, which I first observed in 1821-22, are
much less distinctly seen with a common battery, and not at
all with one of moderate size, but they constantly occur, con-
spicuously, with a powerful defiagrator, and have been no-
ticed by Dr. Hare, Dr. Griscom, Dr. Torrey, and several
other gentlemen in this country. They were amply con-
firmed by Despretz.
(h) The accumulaUon upon the negative pole has every
appearance of fusion, after previous volatilization; it is in
shining round masses, aggregated often like a cauliflower;
it has a semi-metallic appearance; it is harder tiian the char-
coal, heavier, much less combustible, and bums away slowly
when ignited in air or with chlorate of potassa, and forms
carbcHiic acid. It is obviously derived from the charcoal
and must of course contain its impurities.
( j) Similar appearances are produced by plumbago and
to a degree by anthracite; plumbago may be volatilized and
accumulated upon charcoal, and the latter may be transferred
to the former, when it exhibits beautiful tufts. The light
from plumbago points is very intense and even more rich
than from charcoal.
2. Combustion by the defiagrator is exceedingly vivid;
the metallic leaves vanish in splendid corruscations; a plat-
inum wire several feet in length, fixed between the poles while
the metals are in the air, becomes red and white hot, and
melts the instant they are immersed; the largest wire of this
metal fixed in one pole and touched to charcoal in tiie other,
melts like wax in a candle, and is dissipated in brilliant scin-
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 ISl
tillations; a watch spring or a large steel knitting needle,
fixed in the same manner and touched to the charcoal pointy
bums completely away with a torrent of light and sparks; a
stream of mercury flowing from a funnel is deflagrated witii
brilliant light, and an iron wire is fused and welded to
another under water.
8. There is no perceptible impediment or loss in the flow
of the galvanic current, from another room, through a circuit
of 150 feet of apparatus and communicating leaden rods; the
sparks may be taken at any intermediate points by connect-
ing the two sides of the battery, and very beautiful combus-
tions are produced by running metallic leaves or wires con-
nected witii one pole rapidly along the leaden rod which
is the conductor to the other.
4. The shock from the deflagrator is, as I have thought,
rather more severe than from an equal number of pairs of
the common battery; probably this is on account of its being
received when it is at a maximum.
5. AU the effects of the deflagrator are easily renewed,
from day to day with tiie same fluid, provided we add to it
occasionally a little fresh acid ; it exhibits a decided magnetic
energy."
The deflagrator was in fact a mobilized voltaic pile, and
powerful deflagrators were in common use in America long
before any apparatus of equal power was known"^ in Europe.
Physicists and electro-chemists, in particular, appreciated
the remarkable advance made by Hare in bringing to the
scientific public his calorimotor and deflagrator. Those who
were compelled to rely entirely on the voltaic pile must have
felt that there were vastly greater things to be realized if the
current could in some way be augmented. In private they
had no doubt been seeking improvements. The renowned
Faraday was of this group. After years of search he found
a battery, but then he learned Hare had anticipated him. How
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182 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
gracefully the great philosopher conducted himself in the con-
sciousness of the superiority of his American colleague's caa-
tribution is patent from these lines:
*' Guided by these principles I was led to the construction
of a voltaic trough. • • . On examining, however, what
had been done before, I found that the new trough was in
all essential respects the same as that invented and described
by Robert Hare."
And in another place, later perhaps, Faraday remarked
that the deflagrator eminently associated the requisites of
which he was in search, and alluded to many facts and argu-
ments, tending to prove that it was the most perfect form
of the apparatus, at that time, known.
Hare's views on heat, light and electricity were unique.
He opposed the conjecture that heat may be motion. His
ideas are clearly defined in the following letter to Silliman
(1822) :
"Dear Sir:
In two memoirs published in the Journal, I have en-
deavored to shew that caloric and electricity, are collateral
agents in galvanism, the ratio of the former to the latter,
in quantity, being as the extent of the operating superficies
to the number of pairs into which it may be divided. In
those publications I assumed, that the causes of heat and
electricity are material fluids. Although this view of the
origin of calorific repulsion is taken by a great majority of
chemists, it has been combated, both by Rimif ord, and Davy.
With the utmost deference for the authority of these great
men, especially the latter, I send the following remarks made
in answer to his hypothetical views:
It is fully established in mechanics, that when a body in
motion is blended with and thus made to communicate motion
to another body, previously at rest, or moving slower, the
velocity of the compoimd mass after the impact will be found.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 ISS
l^ multiplying the weight of each body, by its respective
velocity, and dividing the sum of the products, by the aggre-
gate wei^t of both bodies. Of course it will be more than
a mean or less than mean, accordingly as the quicker body
was lifter or heavier tiban the other. Now according to
Sir Humphry Davy, the particles of substances which are
unequally heated are moving with unequal degrees of veloc-
ity: of course when they are reduced by contact to a ccmunon
temperature, the heat, or what is the same (in his view), the
velocity of the movements of their particles, ou^t to be
found by multiplying the heat of each by its weight and
dividing the sum of the product by the aggregate weight.
Hence if equal wei^ts of matter be mixed, tibe temperature
ou^t to be a mean; and if equal bulks, it ou^t to be as much
nearer the previous temperature of the heavier substance as
the weight of the latter is greater; but the opposite is in
most instances true. When equiponderant quantities of mer-
cury end water are mixed at different temperatures, the
result is such as might be expected from the mixture of the
water, were it three times heavier; so much nearer to the
previous heat of the water, is the consequent temperature.
It may be said that this motion is not measurable upon me-
chanical principles. How then, I ask does it produce mechan-
ical effects? These must be produced by the force of tiie
vibrations, which are by the hjrpothesis mechanical: for what-
ever laws hold good in relation to moving matter in mass,
must operate in regard to eadi particle of that matter; the
effect of the former, can only be a multiple of that of the
latter. Indeed <me of Sir Humphry Davy's reasons for
thinking heat to consist of corpuscular motions is that mechan-
ical attrition generates it. Surely then a motion, produced by
mechanical means, and which produces mechanical effects,
may be estimated <m mechanical principles.
In the case cited above, the pow» of reciprocal com-
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184 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
munication of heat in two fluids, is shown to be consistent
with the views of this ingenious theorist. If we compare
the same power in solids, tiiie result will be equally objecticm-
able. Thus the heating power of glass being 448, that of an
equal bulk of lead will be 487, thougl]^ so many times h^ivier;
and if equal weights be compared^ the effect of the glass,
will be four times greater than that of the lead. If it be
said that the movements of the denser matter are made in less
space, and therefore require less motion, I answer that if
they be made with equal velocity, they must go through equal
space and therefore, require less motion, I answer, that if they
be made with equal velocity, they must go through equal
space in the same time, their alternations being more fre-
quent. And if they be not made with tiie same velocity, they
could not conmiunicate to matter of a lighter kind, a heat
equally great; since, agreeably to experience, no superiority
of weight will liable a body, acting directly on another, to
produce in it a motion quicker than its own. Consistently
with this doctrine, the particles of an aeriform fluids when
they oppose a mechanical resistance, do it by aid of a certain
movement, which causes them effectively to occupy a greater
space than when at rest. It is true, a body, by moving back-
wards and forwards, may keep off other bodies frcwn the
space in which it moves. Thus kt a weight be partially
counterbalanced by means of a scale beam, so that if left to
itself it would descend gently. Place exactly under it another
equally solid mass, on which the weight would fall unob-
structed. If between the two bodies thus situated, a third
be caused to undergo an alternate motion, it may keep the
upper weight from descending, provided the force with which
the latter descends, be no greater than that of the movement
in the interposed mass, and the latter acts with celerity, that
between each stroke the time be too small for the wdght to
move any sensible distance. Here then we have a case anal-
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 135
ogous to tiiat supposed, in which the alt^nate movements or
vibrations of matter enable it to preserve to itself a greater
space in opposition to a force impressed; and it must be evi-
dent that lengthening or shortening the extent of the vibra-
tions of the interposed body, provided they are made in the
same time, will increase or diminish the space apparently
occupied by it, as the volume of substances is affected by an
increase or reduction of heat. It ought however to be rec-
ollected that in the case we have imagined, there is a con-
stant expenditure of momentum to compensate for that gen-
erated in tiie weight by gravity, during each vibration. In
the vibrations conceived to constitute heat, there is no gen-
erating power to make up for this loss. A body preserves
the expansion communicated by heat in vacuo, where, in-
sulated from all other matter, the only momentum, by which
the vibrations of its particles can be supported, must have
been received before its being thus situated. If we pour
mercury into a glass tube shaped like a shepherd's crook,
the hook being downwards, tiie fluid will be prevented f rc»n
occupying that part of the tube where the air is in such posi-
tion as not to escape. In this case, according to t^ hypoth-
esis in question, the mercury is prevented from entering
the space ihe air occupies, by a series of impalpable gyratory
movements; so that the collision of the aerial particles against
each other, causes each to occupy a larger share of space in
the manner above illustrated by the descending weight and
interposed body. The analogy will be greater, if we sup-
pose a row of interposed bodies alternately striking against
each other, and the descending weight; or we may imagine a
vibration in all the particles of the interposed mass equal in
^gi^S^te extent and force to that of the whole, when per-
forming a common movem^it. If ihe aggregate extent of
the vibration of the particles very much exceed that which
when performed in mass would be necessary to preserve a
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186 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
certain space, it may be supposed productive of a substance
Uke the air by whidi the mercury is resisted. But whence
is the momentum adequate in such rare media to resist a
pressure of a fluid so heavy as mercury, whidi in tiiis case per-
forms a part similar to that of the wei^t, cited for the pur-
pose of illustration? If it be said tiiat the mercury and glass
being at the same temperature as the air, the particles of
these substances vibrate in a manner to keep up the aerial
pulsations; I ask, when the experiment is tried in an ex-
hausted receiver, what is to supply momentum to the mercury
and glass? There is no small difficulty in conceiving under
the most favourable circumstances, that a species of motion,
that exists according to the hypothesis as tibe cause of ex-
pansion in a heated solid, should cause a motion productive
of fluidity or vaporization, as when by means of a hot iron, we
convert ice into water, and water into vapour.
How inconceivable is it that the iron boiler of a steam
engine should give to tiie particles of water, a motion so
totally different from any it can itself possess, and at the
same time capable of such wonderful effects as are produced
by the agency of steam. Is it to be imagined that in par-
tkdes whose wei^t does not exceed a few oimces, sufficient
momentum can be accumulated to move as many tons ? There
appears to me another very serious obstacle to this explana-
tion of the nature of heat. How are we to account for its
relation in vacuo, which the distinguished advocate of the
hjrpothesis has himself shown to ensue? There can be no
motion without matter. To wrmount this difficulty, he calls
up a suggestion of Newtcxi's, that the calorific vibraticms of
matter may send off radiant particles, whidi lose their own
momentum in communicating vibrations to bodies remote
from those, whence they emanate. Thus according to Sir
Humphry, there k radiant matter producing heat^ and radi-
ant matter produdng light Now, the gdIj serious objection
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 187
made by him to tibe doctrine whidi ooofiiders heat as material,
will apply equally against the existence of material calorific
emanations. That the cannon, heated by friction in the noted
experiment of Rumford, would have radiated as well as if
heated in any other way, there can, I think, be no doubt; and
as well in vaaio, as the heat excited by Sir Humphry in a
similar situaticm. That its emission in this way would have
been as inexhaustible as by the conducting process cannot be
questioned. Why then is it not as easy to have an inex-
haustible supply of radiant matter, communicating the vibra-
tions in whidi he represents heat to consist?
We see the same matter, at different times, rmdered self
attractive, or self repellent; now o^ering in the solid form
with great tenacity, and now fljring apart with explosive
violence in the state of vapour. Hence the existence, in na-
ture, of two opposite kinds of reaction, between particles, is
self evident. There can be no property without matter, in
whidi it may be inherent. Nothing can have no property.
Hie questicm then is, whether these opposite properties can
belong to the same partides. Is it not evident, that the same
partides cannot, at the same time, be sdf-repellent, and self-
attractive? Suppose them to be so, one of the two proper-
ties must pre-dcxninate, and in that case we should not per-
ceive the existence of the other. It would be usdess, and
the particles would in effect, possess the predominant prop-
erty alone, whether attracticm or repulsion. If the proper-
ties were equal in power, they would annihilate each other,
and the matter would be, as if void of either property. There
must, therefore, be a matter, in which the self -repellent power
resides, as well as matter in which attraction resides.
There must also be as many kinds of matter, as there are
kinds of repulsicm, of which the affinities means of production,
or laws of communication are different. Hence, I do firmly
believe in the existence of material fluids, severally produc-
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1S8 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
ing the phenomena of heat, light and electricity. Substances,
endowed with attraction, make themselves known to us, by
that species of this power, which we call gravitation, by which
they are drawn towards the earth, and are therefore heavy
and ponderable; by their resistance to our bodies, producing
the sensation of feeling or touch; and by the vibrations or
movements in other matter, affecting the ear with sounds,
and the eye by a modified reflection of light. Where we per-
ceive none of these usual concomitants of matter, we are prone
to infer its absence. Hence ignorant people have no idea of
air, except in tiie state of wind ; and when even in a quiescent
state designate it by this word. But that the principles, the
existence of which has been demonstrated, should not be thus
perceived, is far from being a reason for doubting their ex-
istence. A very slight attention to their qualities will make
it evident, that they could not produce any of the effects,
by which the existence of matter in its ordinary form is rec-
ognized. The self-repellent property renders it impossible
that they should resist penetration ; their defici^icy of weight,
renders their movements nugatory. When in combination,
they are not perceived, but the bodies with which tiiey com-
bine ; and it is only by the changes tliey produce in such bodies,
or their eff^ects upon our nerves, that they can be detected.*'
Silliman had been greatly interested in the fusion and
volatilization of charcoal with the aid of the deflagrator, and
wrote:
"My dear Sir, "March 26, 1828.
In a former letter published in the Journal, Vol. V. p. 108,
and in an additional notice, p. 861 same Vol., I gave an
aceoimt of the fusion and volatilization of charcoal, by the
use of your Galvanic Deflagrator. I have now to add, that
the fusion of plumbago (black lead) was accomplished yester-
day by the same instrument, and that I have, again, obtained
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 1S9
the same results today. For this purpose, from a piece of
very fine and beautiful plumbago, from North Carolina, I
sawed small parallelopipeds, about one eighth of an inch in
diameter, and from three fourths of an inch to one inch and
a quarter in length; these were sharpened at one end, and
one of them was employed to point one pole of the deflagrator,
while the other was terminated by prepared charcoal. Plum-
bago being, in its natural state, a conductor (although in-
ferior to prepared charcoal), a spark was readily obtained,
but, in no instance, of half the energy which belongs to the
instrument when in full activity, for the zinc coils were very
much corroded, and some of tiiem had failed and dropped
out; still the influence was readily conveyed, through tibe
remaining coils. As my hopes of success, in the actual state
of the instrument, were not very sanguine, I was the more
gratified to find a decided result in ihe very first trial. To
avoid repetitions I will generalize the results. The best were
obtained, when the plumbago was connected with the copper,
and prepared charcoal with the zinc pole. The spark was
vivid, and globules of melted plumbago could be discerned,
even in the midst of the ignition, forming and formed upon
the edges of the focus of heat. In this region also, there
was a bright scintillation, evidently owing to combustion,
which went on where air had free access, but was prevented
by the vapour of carbon, which occupied the highly luminous
region of the focus, between the poles, and of the direct route
between them. Just on and beyond the confines of the ignited
portion of the plumbago, there was formed a belt of a reddish
brown color, a quarter of an inch or more in diameter, which
appeared to be owing to the iron, remaining from the com-
bustion of tile carbon of that part of the piece, and which,
being now oxidized to a maximum, assumed the usual color
of the peroxide of that metal.
In various trials, the globules were formed very abun-
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140 THE LIFE OF BOBERT HABE
dantly on the edge of the f ooid, and, in several instances,
were studded around so thiddy, as to resemble a string of
beads, of whidi the largest were of the size of the smallest
shot; others were merely visible to tibe naked eye; others still
were microscopic. No globule ever appeared on the point of
the plumbago, whidi had been in the focus of heat, but tiiis
point presented a hemispherical excavaticm, and the plum-
bago there had the appearance of black scoriae or volcanic
cinders. These were the general appearances at the copper
pole occupied by tibe plumbago.
On the zinc pole, occupied by tiie prepared diarcoal,
there were very peculiar results. This pcde was, in every
instance, elongated towards the copper pole, and tiie black
matter accumulated there, presented every appearance of
fusion, not into globules, but into a fibrous and striated form,
like the half flowing slag, found on tiie upper currents of
lava. It was evidently transferred, in the state of vapor,
from the plumbago of tiie other pole, and had been formed
by the carbon taken from the hemispherical otvity. It was
so different from the melted charcoal, described in my former
communicaticms, that its origin troai the plumbago could
admit of no reasonable doubt. I am now to state other ap-
pearances which have excited in my mind a very deep in-
terest. On the end of the prepared charcoal, and occupjring,
frequently, an area of a quarter of an inch or more in diam-
eter, were found numerous globules of perfectly melted mat-
ter, entirely spherical in their form, having a high vitreous
lustre, and a great degree of beauty. Some of them, and
generally they were those most remote from the focus, were
of a jet black, like the most perfect obsidian; others were
brown, yellow, and topaz colored; others still were greyish
white, like pearl stones with the translucence and lustre of
porcelain; and others still, limpid like flint glass, or, in some
cases, like hyalite or predous opal, but without tiie iridescence
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SECOND PERI(H>» 1818-1847 141
of the latter. Few of tiie globules upon the zinc pole were
perfectly blacky wliile very few of tiiose on the copper pole
were otherwise. In one instance^ when I used some of tiie
very pure EngUdb plumbago (sawed from a cabinet speci-
men^ and believed to be from Borrowdale) , white and trans-
parent globules were formed on tiie copper side.
When the points were held vertically, and the plumbago
upper mo9t, no globules were formed on the latter, and tibey
were unusually numerous, and almost all black, oa the op-
posite pole. When the points were exchanged, plumbago
being on the zinc, and charcoal on the copper end, very few
globules were formed on the plumbago, and not one on the
charcoal; this last was rapidly hollowed out into a hemi-
spherical cavity, while the plumbago was as rapidly elongated
by matter accumulating at its point, and whidi, when ex-
amined by the microscope, proved to be a conereticm in tiie
shape of a cauliflower — of volatilized and melted charcoal,
having, m a high degree, all tiie diaracteristics which I for-
merly described as belonging to tiiis substance. Indeed, I
found by repetitions of tiie experiment, that this was the best
mode of obtaining fine pieces of melted charcoal.
In some instances, I used points of plumbago on both
poles, and always obtained melted globules on both; the
results were however, not so distinct as when plumbago was
on the copper and charcoal cm the zinc pole; but the same
elongation of the zinc and hollowing of the copper pole took
place as before. I detached some of tiie globules, and partly
bedding them in a handle of wood, tried their hardness and
firmness; they bore strong pressure without breaking, and
easily scratched, not only flint glass, but window glass, and
even tibe hard green variety, which forms the aqua fortis
bottles. The globules which had acquired tliis extraordinary
hardness, were formed from plumbago which was so soft,
that it was perfectly free from resistance when crushed be-
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142 THE LIFE OF BOBERT HARE
tween the thumb and finger, and covered their surfaces with
a shining metallic looking coat. These globules sunk very
rapidly in strong suljAuric acid — ^much more so than the
melted charcoal, but not with much more rapidity than the
plumbago itself, from which they had been formed
The zinc of the deflagrator is now too far gone to enable
me to prosecute this research any farther at present; as soon
as the zinc coils can be renewed, I shall hope to resume them,
and I entertain strong hopes, especially from the new im-
proved and mudi enlarged deflagrator, which you are so kind
as to lead me soon to expect from Philadelphia.
April 12: Having refitted the Deflagrator with new zinc
coils, I have repeated the experiments related above, and
have the satisfaction of stating that the results are fully
confirmed and even in some respects extended. The De-
flagrator now acts with great energy, and in consequence I
have been enabled to obtain good results when using Plum-
bago on both poles. Parallelopipeds of that substance 1/5
of an inch in diameter and one inch or two inches long, being
screwed into the vices connecting the poles, on being brought
into contact, transmitted the fluid, with intense splendor, and
became fully ignited for an inch on each side; on being with-
drawn a little, the usual arch of flame was formed for half an
inch or more. Indeed when the instrument is in an active
state, the light emitted from the plumbago points, appears
to be even more intense and rich than from charcoal; so that
they may be used with advantage, in class experiments, where
the principal object is to exhibit the brilliancy of the light.
On examining the pieces in this, and in numerous other
cases, I found them beautifully studded with numerous
globules of melted plumbago. They extended from within a
quarter of an inch of the point, to the distance of 1/4 or 1/8
of an inch aU around. They were larger than before and
perfectly visible to the naked eye; they exhibited all the
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 14S
colours before described, from perfect black, to pure white,
including brown, amber, and topaz colours; among the white
globules, some were perfectly limpid, and could not be dis-
tinguished by tiie eye from portions of diamond. In differ-
ent repetitions of the experiment with the plumbago points,
there were some varieties in the results. In one instance only,
was there a globule formed on the point; it would seem as
if the melted spheres of plumbago as soon as formed, rolled
out of the current of flame, and congealed on the contiguous
parts. In every instance, the plumbago on the copper side,
was hollowed out, into a spherical cavity, and the correspond-
ing piece on the zinc side, received an accumulation more or
less considerable. In most instances and in all when the De-
flagrator was very active, besides the globules of melted mat-
ter, a distinct tuft or projection was formed on the zinc pole,
considerably resembling the melted charcoal, described in my
former communications, but apparently denser and more
compact; although resembling the melted charcoal, as one
variety of volcanic slag resembles another, it could be easily
distinguished by an eye familiarized to the appearances. In
one experiment the cavity, and all the parts of the plumbago
at the copper pole, were completely melted on the siu*f ace,
and covered with a black enamel. The appearances were
somewhat varied when specimens of plumbago from differ-
ent localities were used. In some instances it burnt, and even
deflagrated, being completely dissipated in brilliant scintilla-
tions; the substance was rapidly consumed and no fusion was
obtained. This kind of effect occiured most distinctly when
there was a plumbago piece on the copper side, and a piece of
charcoal on the zinc side. I have already mentioned the
curious result which is obtained when this arrangement is
reversed, the charcoal oa the copper, and the plumbago on
the zinc side; this effect was now particularly distinct and
remarkable, the charcoal on the copper side was rapidly vola-
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144 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
tilized, a deep cavity was formed, and the diarcoal taken
from it, was instantly accumulated upon the plumbago point,
forming a most beautiful protuberance, completely distin-
guishable from tiie plumbago, and presenting when viewed
by the microscope, a congeries of aggregated spheres, with
every mark of perfect fusion and with a perfect metallic
lustre. I would again recommend this arrangement when
the object is to attain fine pieces of melted charcoaL
Apr. 14: In repeating the experiments to-day, I have
obtained even finer results than before. The spheres of melted
plumbago were in some instance so thickly arranged as to
resemble shot lying side by side; in one case tiiey completely
covered ilie plumbago, in the part contiguous to the point
on the zinc side and were without exception white; like
minute, delicate concretions of mammillary dialcedony;
among a great number iliere was not one of a dark colour
except that when detached by tiie knife they exhibited slight
shades of brown at the place where they were united with
the general mass of plumbago. They appeared to me to be
formed by the condensation of a white vapour whidi in all
tiie experiments, where an active power was employed, I had
observed to be exhaled between the poles and partly to pass
from tiie copper to the zinc pole, and partly to rise vertically
in an abundant fume like tliat of the oxide proceeding from
the combustion of various metals. I mentioned this circum-
stance in the report of my first experiments, but did not then
make any trial to ascertain the nature of the substance.
Although its abundance rendered the idea improbable, I
thought it possible that it might contain alkali derived from
the charcoal. It is easily condensed by inverting a glass over
the fume as it rises, when it sochi renders the glass opaque
with a white lining. Although there was a distinct and
peculiar odour in the fume, I found tiiat the condensed mat-
ter was tasteless, and that it did not effervesce with acids,
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 145
or a£Pect tiie test colours for alkalies. Besides as it is pro*
duced apparently in greater quantity, when botii poles are
tenninated by plumbago, it seems possible that it is white
volatilized carbon, giving origin, by its condensation, in a
state of greater or less purity, to the grey, white, and per-
haps to the limpid globules.
The Deflagrator having been refitted only at the moment
when a part of this paper had already gone to press, and the
remainder is called for, I am precluded by these circum-
stances from trying the decisive experiment of heating this
white matter by means of the solar focus in a j ar of pure oxy-
gen gas, to ascertam whether it will produce carbonic add gas.
This trial I have tiiis morning made upon the coloured
globules obtained in former experiments; they were easily
detached f rcmi the plumbago by the slightest touch f rcmi the
point of a knife, and when collected in a white porcelain dish,
they rolled about like shot, when the vessel was turned one
way and another. To detach any portions of unmelted plum-
bago which might adhere to them I carefully rubbed them
between my thumb and finger in the pidm of my hand. I
then placed them upon a fragment of wedgewood ware,
floated in a dish of mercury, and slid over them a small jar
of very pure oxygen gas, whose entire f reedcxn from car-
bonic acid, had been fully secured by washing it with a
solution of caustic soda, and by subsequently testing it with
recently prepared lime-water; tiie globules were now exposed
to the solar focus from the lens. It was near noon, and the
sky but very slightly dimmed by vapour; although they were
in the focus for nearly half an hour, they did not melt, dis-
appear, or alter their form; it appeared however, on exam-
ining the gas that they had given up part of their substance
to the oxygen, for carbonic add was formed which gave a
decided predpitate with lime-water. Indeed when we con-
sider that these globules had been formed in a heat vastly
10
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146 THE UFE OF ROBERT HARE
more intense, than that of the solar focus, we could not
reasonably expect to melt them in this manner, and they are
of a character so highly vitreous, that they must necessarily
waste away very slowly, even when assailed by oxygen gas.
In a long cimtinued experiment, it is presumable, that they
would be eventually dissipated, leaving only a residuum of
iron. That they contain iron is manifest, from their being
attracted by the magnet, and their colour is evidently owing
to this metal. Plumbago, in its natural state, is not magnetic,
but it readily becomes so, by being strongly heated, although
without fusion, and even the powder obtained from a black ,
lead crucible after enduring a strong furnace heat, is mag-
netic. It would be interestiug to know whetiier the limpid
globules are also magnetic, but this trial I have not yet made.
I have already stated, that the white fiune mentioned
above, appears when points of charcoal are used. I have found
that this matter collects in considerable quantities a little
out of the focus of heat around the zinc pole, and occasionally
exhibits the appearance of a frit of white enamel, or looks a
little like pumice stone, only, it has the whiteness of porce-
lain, graduating however into light gray, and other shades,
as it recedes from the intense heat. In a few iustances I
obtained upon the diarcoal, when tiiis substance terminated
both poles, distinct, limpid spheres, and at other times they
adhered to the frit like beads, on a string. Had we not been
encoiu'aged by the remarkable facts already stated, it would
appear very extravagant to ask whether this white frit and
these limpid spheres could arise from carbon, volatilized in
a white state even charcoal itself, and condensed in a form
analogous to the diamond. The rigorous and obvious experi-
ments necessary to determine this question, it is not now prac-
ticable for me to make, and I must in the mean time admit
the possibility that alkaline, and earthy impurities may have
contributed to tihe result.
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SECOND PERIOD, 181&-1847 147
In one instance contiguous to, but a little aside from the
charcoal points, I obtained isolated dark coloured globules
of melted charcoal, analogous to those of plumbago.
The opinion which I formerly stated as to the passage
of a current from the copper to the zinc pole of the defla-
grator, is in my view, fully confirmed. Indeed, with the pro-
tection of green glasses, my eyes are sufficiently strcHig, to
enable me to look steadily at tihe flame, during the whole of
an experiment, and I can distinctly observe matter in dif-
ferent forms passing to the zinc pole, and collecting there,
just as we see dust, or other small bodies driven along by a
common wind; tiiere is also an obvious tremor, produced in
the copper pole, when the instrument is in vigorous action,
and we can perceive an evident vibration produced, as if, by
the impulse of an elastic fluid striking against the opposite
pole.
If, however, the opinion which you formerly suggested
to me, and whidi is countenanced by many facts, that the
poles of the deflagrator are reversed, the copper being posi-
tive and the zinc negative ht correct, the phenomena, as it
regards the course of the current, will accord, perfectly well,
with the received electrical hypothesis.
The number of unmelted substances being now reduced
to two, namely, the anthracite, and the diamcmd, you will
readily suppose I did not neglect to make trial of them, as
however, the diamond is an absolute non-ccmductor and the
anthracite very little better, I cannot say I had any serious
hopes of success. I have made various attempts, whidi have
failed, and after losing two diamonds, the fragments being
thrown about witii a strong decrepitation, I have desisted
from the attempt, having, as I conceive, a more feasible
project in view.
I trust you will not consider the details of tiie preceding
pages, as being too minute, provided the subject appears to
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148 THE UFE OF ROBERT HARE
you as interesting as it does to me. The fusion of charcoal
and of plumbago, is sufficiently remarkable, but the evident
approximation of the material of these bodies towards the
condition of diamond, from which they differ so remarkably
in tiieir physical properties, affords if I mistake not, a strik-
ing confirmation of some of our leading chemical doctrines.
I remain as ever your faithful friend and servant,
B. Silliman/'
The failure of the deflagrator to act when connected up
witii ordinary voltaic apparatus disturbed Silliman very
much, — ^so that in the following letter he discusses at length
the relations existing between the Deflagrator and Calori-
motor, and between these instruments and the common gal-
vanic or voltaic batteries.
" Dear Sir: " ^^® College, April 4, 1828.
Through tiie medium of the Journal, I have already com-
municated to you and to the public, the singular fact, that
your Deflagrator will not act witii the OHnmon Galvanic
Batteries, in whatever mode they may be connected, and
fhat, altiiough belonging to the same class of instruments
and evolving tiie same imponderable agents, there still exists
between them a total incompatibility. This incompatibility,
it will be remembered, does not begin to be overcome, until
the pairs of galvanic plates are reduced to twenty, in number,
when the power of the Deflagrator begins to pass, and in-
creases until one pair only is interposed, when it passes appar-
ently without diminution.
I am induced again to call your attention to this fact,
for the sake of connecting it, with some observations whidi
I have recentiy made, upon the relations between tiie Calori-
motor and Deflagrator, and between these instruments, and
the common Galvanic Batteries, for it is only by varying
our observations and experiments, that we can hope to arrive
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 149
at a just explanation, of the singular phenomena exhibited
by these instruments.
1. I connected tiie zinc pole of tiie Calorhnotor, witii
tibe copper pole of the troughs, and vice versa, and then
dividing the troughs containing three hundred pairs of four
inch plates, at wiother place, connected them at these new
poles by points of well prepared dmrcoal; the sparks passed
freely and vividly, nor did it, apparently make any difference,
whether the plates of the Calorimotor, were immersed in the
fluid, or not. I then disconnected the troughs f rcxn the Calor-
imotor, and ccmnecting them together, received the spark,
which was quite as vivid, as when the calorimotor formed a
part of the series. I now immersed the calorimotor, and
found that it acted by itself, with its appropriate energy, read-
ily igniting iron, and displaying its usual magnetic activity.
2. The calorimotor and deflagrator were connected in
such a manner, tibat the former was interposed between the
two equal divisions of forty coils each, contained in the two
trou£^ of the Deflagrator; in different trials, the con-
nexion was varied, sometimes the zinc poles, and sometimes
the copper poles of the two instruments, being connected,
and at other times, the zinc of the one being joined to the
copper of the other, and vice versa.
When the metals of botii instruments were in the air, only
a very feeble spark passed through tiie charcoal points con-
necting the proper poles of the Deflagrator. When the
plates of the Calorimotor were immersed, lliose of tiie De-
flagrator being in the air, tiie spark was not increased, but
remained feeble as before. The coils of the Deflagrator
being then immersed, the usual splendor of light, instantly
burst from tiie charcoal points, and all the dazzling bright-
ness and intense heat of the instrument were displayed, but
witJiout any increase of power derived from the Calorimotor.
The plates of the Calorimotor were now raised from the
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150 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
fluid, those of tiie Deflagrator refnaaning immersed, but the
light and heat were equally brilliant as bef we. Hie Defla-
grator and Calorimotor were now separated, and eadi pro-
duced its appropriate effects, in full energy.
8. The Calorimotor — the Deflagrator and the troughs
containing the three hundred pairs of four inch plates, were
now connected into one series, in such a manner that the
Calorimotor was interposed between the two halyes of the
Deflagrator, the proper poles of tiie latter instrument were
connected with the two divisicHis of the trou£^; first, zinc,
with copper, and copper with zinc, then the reyerse, and the
power was receiyed at the proper poles of the troughs, char-
coal points being used as before.
When the metals both of the Deflagrator and Calori-
motor were in the air, a spark passed, such as corresponded
witii the power of the trou£^ only; wh^i the Calorimotor
was immersed, this power was neither increased nor dimin-
ished; but when the Deflagrator was immersed, its power
flowed freely through the batteries, and was receiyed appar-
ently undiminished at the diarcoal points, but did not appear
to deriye any increase from the troughs. This was the fact,
idiether the Calorimotor was, at the moment immersed, or
not, but the lifting of tibe coils of the Deflagrator out of the
fluid, immediately reduced the spark, to that which the
troughs alone wcnild afford.
The seyeral instruments being now disjoined, eadi acted
by itself, in its own appropriate character.
4. The original experiment of connecting the troughs
with the Deflagrator only, was now again repeated, and witii
the same result as before; tiie power of botib instruments was
so destroyed, that only a yery minute spark could be seen,
and tiiat with difficulty. From these experiments, and those
formerly related, the following conclusi<Mis may be drawn: —
1. The galyanic troughs and the deflagrator paralyse each
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 151
other, and cannot be made by any means hitherto tried, to
act in concert;
2. The Calorimotor does not impede the action of the
troughs; it allows their energy to pass through itself, but
contributes nothing to aid their power and cannot be made
to project its own power through the troughs.
8. The same fact is true of the Calorimotor in relation
to the Deflagrator; tiie powers of these instruments cannot
be made to unite, only the Calorimotor allows a transit to
the power of the Deflagrator; but the Deflagrator does not
in its turn, transmit the power of the Calorimotor.
4. The Calorimotor, howeyer, when ccxmected, at once
with the troughs and with the Deflagrator ambles them so
far to unite, that tJie deflagrator acts through the tiou£^, but
without deriving any increase of power from them or from
the Calorimotor; the Calorimotor then is an intermedium
for the trouj^ and the deflagrator otherwise incompatible.
5. It is impossible as far as experiment has gcme, to
obtain any increase of power by combining the different
kinds of voltaic apparatus, and indeed it may be doubted
whether, when the power passes at all, through the instru-
ments of different kinds, t^re is not always some loss, from
the increased extent of connecting surface.
6. These various facts are probably all referable to the
different powers, belcmging to different proportions of the
calorific, electrical, and luminous influence, excited by these
different instruments, agreeably to the theory, which you
have ingeniously proposed and ably defended; this view
accords also with Hie known results of the combinaticms of
ponderable elements, in the different proporticms, as of nitro-
gen and oxygen, and of carbon and oxygen, and of carbon,
hydrogen, and nitrogen.
7. We are thus sent back, to study our imponderable
elements anew, and to learn, that the voltaic power is not
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152 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
electricity alone, nor heat alone, nor light alcme, but a com-
pound of tiiese three agents, variously proportioned in dif-
ferent cases, and in different modificaticms of apparatus.
This, it appears, is also true, of the common mechanical and
atmospheric electricity.
BEMABK.
As the magnetic influence attends all the modifioations of
electricity, natural and artificial, and of the voltaic power,
including your new instruments; and as it is exhibited also
by the solar beam, we are left in doubt, whether to regard
it as a mere appendage of these powers, or of some one or
two of them, or as a distinct influence or energy, mddentdlly
associated, witii the calorific — calorific and electrical powers.
But, as the magnetic influence is marvellously more pow-
erful, in the Calorimotor, than in tiie case of any voltaic,
electrical or optical instrument, and as the Calorimotor
evolves chiefly heat, and produces its magnetic effects he$t
when it produces no light and no perceptible electricity, it
would seem as if the magnetic influence were rather an
attendwit, on caloric, or at least in a greater degree, than on
any other power.
It is extremely obvious, that, on all these subjects, we are
still very humble learners ; we may however, confidently hope,
that out of these diversified results, and from others still to
be obtained-^some grand Amplification will hereafter arise,
which will reconcile all apparently discordant facts, and per-
haps evince, that all the imponderable influences are merely
modifications of one power — ^that they ccmstitute the atmo-
sphere, which connects physical existence with its author, and
exhibit to us, in the natural world, the most immediate and
wonderful efflux of his omnipotent energy.
Your friend and servant,
B. SnxiMAN."
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 158
On April 15, 1828, Silliman wrote Hare of new results
which he had obtained by using the oxyhydrogen flame. His
aim was to subject the diamond and anthracite to its intense
heat In the first experiments small diam(N[Hls were placed
in a cavity in charcoal. T%e support, however, was so rapidly
consumed, that the diamonds wa*e speedily displaced by the
gas current. He then took a piece of solid quick lime, made
a chink in it and crowded the diamonds into it. The lime
made an excellent support but "' the effulgence of light was
so daiszling, that, although through green glasses, I could
steadily inspect the focus, it was impossible to distinguish
the diamond, in the perfect solar brightness. This mode of
conducting the experiment, proved, however, perfectly man-
ageable, and a large dish, placed beneath, secured the dia-
monds from being lost, (an accident which I had more than
once met with) when suddenly displaced by the current of
gas ; as however, the support was not combustible, it remained
permanent, except that it was melted in the whole region
of the ^ame, and covered with a perfect white enamel of
vitreous lime. The experiments were frequently suspended
to examine the effect on the diamonds. They were found
to be rapidly consumed, wasting so fast, that it was neces-
sary in order to examine them, to remove them from the
heat, at very short intervals. They exhibited however, marks
of incipient fusion. My experiments were performed upon
small wrought diamonds, on which there were numerous
polished facets, presenting extremely sharp, and well defined
solid edges and angles. These edges and angles were always
rounded and generally obliterated. The whole siu*face of
the diamond lost its continuity, and its lustre was much im-
paired; it exhibited innumerable very minute indentations,
and intermediate and corresponding salient points; the whole
presenting the appearance of having been superficially soft-
ened, and indented by the current of gas, or perhaps of hav-
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154 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
ing had its surface uneqittUy remoyed, by the combustion.
In various places, near the edges, the diamond was con-
sumed, with deep indentati<His, and occasionally where a
fragment had snapped off, by decrepitaticm, it disclosed a
condioidal fracture and a vitreous lustre. These results were
nearly uniform, in various trials, and every thing seems to
indicate that were the diamond a good ccMoductor, it would
be melted by the deflagrator, and were it combustible, a
globule would be obtained by the compoimd blowpipe.
In one experiment, in whidi I used a support of plum-
bago, there were some interesting varieties in the phenomena.
The plumbago being a conductor, the light did not accumulate
as it did when the support was lime, but permitted me dis-
tinctly to see the diamond through the whole experiment.
It was consumed with great rapidity; a delicate halo of bluish
light, clearly distinguishable from the blowpipe flame, hov-
ered over it; the surface appeared as if softened, numerous
distinct but very minute scintillations were darted from it in
every direction, and I could see the minute cavities and pro-
jections which I have mentioned, forming every instant. In
this experiment I gave the diamond but one heat of about a
minute, but on examining it with a magnifier, I was surprised
to find, that <mly a very thin layer of thegem, not mudi thicker
than writing paper remained, the rest having been burnt.
I subjected the anthracite of Wilkesbarre, Fenn., to
similar trials, and by heating it very gradudly, its decrepita-
tion was obviated. It was consumed, witii almost as mudi
rapidity, as the diamond; but ^diibited, during the action of
the heat, an evident appearance of being superficially soft-
ened; I could also distinctly see, in the midst of the intense
glare of light, very minute globules forming upon the surface.
. . . The remark already made, respecting the diamond,
appears to be equally applicable to the antiutunte, i. e. that
its want of conducting power, is the reason why it is not
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 155
melted by the deflagrator, and its combustibility is the sole
obstacle to its ccHnplete fusion by the compound blowpipe.
I next subjected a parallelopiped of plumbago to the
c(»npound flame. It was consumed with considerable rapid-
ity, but presented at tiie same time, numerous globules of
melted matter. . . .
In subsequent trials, upon pieces from yarious localities,
foreign and domestic, (confined however to very pure speci-
mens,) I obtained still more decided results; the white trans-
parent globules became very numerous and as large as small
shot; tibey scratched window glass — ^were tasteless — ^harsh
when crushed between the teeth, and they were not magnetic.
They very much resembled melted silex.
I find that the fusion of the plumbago by the compound
blowpipe is by no means diflScult, and the instrument being
in good order, good results may be anticipated with certainty.
I would add, that for the mere fusion of plumbago, the
blowpipe is mudi preferable to the deflagrator, but a variety
of interesting phenomena in relation to botii plumbago and
charcoal are exhibited by tiie latter and not by tiie former. . . .
B. SnxiMAN.''
In a postscript written three days later he continued,
after commenting on his results witii anthracite from various
places:
'' I have exposed a diamond this afternoon to the solar
focus in a jar of pure oxygen gas, but observed no signs of
fusion, nor indeed did I expect it, but I wiriied to compare
this old experiment with those related above.
The diamond is now the only substance which has not
been perfectly melted."
In this year (1824) Hare advised Silliman further as to
improved deflagrators. Having found that tiie deflagrating
power of a series of galvanic plates was surprisingly in-
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156 THE UFE OF ROBERT HARE
creased by their simultaneous exposure to add, various
methods of accomplishing this suggested themselves. He
informs him that in the apparatus he had sent him as all tiie
coils were suspended from two beams they could be lowered
into the troughs of acid. In another form which he had
reported the troughs ccmtaining the acid were caused to rise
which insured a simultaneous immersion of tiie plates; but
a still better mode had suggested itself to him. This con-
sisted in joining two trou^is lengthwise, edge to edge, '' so
that when tiie sides of the one are vertical, those of the other
must be horizontal; '' so tliat by a partial revolution of the
two troughs, thus united, upon pivots whidi support them at
the ends, any fluid which may be in one trough, must flow
into tibe other, and reversing the motion must flow back
again. . . .
"" The observations, which are the subject of this com-
munication, ccHnbined with those which you have made, of tiie
incapacity of the deflagrator, and Voltaic series in the usual
form, to act, when in combination with each otiier; must
justify us, in considering the former, as a galvwiic instru-
ment, having great and peculiar powers.
Since the above was written, I have tried my series of
800 pairs. The projectile power, and the shock, were pro-
portionally great, but the deflagrating power was not in-
creased in proportion. The light was so intense, that falling
upon some adjacent buildings, it had the appearance of sun-
shine. Having had another series of 800 pairs made for
Mr. Macnevin of New York, on trying it, I connected it
with mine, both collaterally and consecutively, so as to make
in the one case a series of six hundred, — ^in the other a series,
half that in nimiber, but equal in extent of surfaces. The
shock of the two, consecutively, was apparently doubly as
severe, as the shock produced by one; but the other phenom-
ena seemed to me nearly equally brilliant, in either way.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 157
The white globules which you mentioned, were formed
copiously on the ignited plumbago, especially in vacuo. I
have not had leisure to test them, being arduously occupied,
in my course of lectures, and in some efforts to improve the
means of experimental illustration.''
As early as 1827 Olmsted made criticism upon the argu-
ments whidi Hare had advanced '' respecting the materiality
of heat/' Hare's reply presented nothing novel. It was
throughout controversial, but a little later he resumed the sub-
ject, and as it shows how strongly he did appear in his discus-
sions it may perhaps be well to reproduce his language in ex-
tenso. He was truly no meim antagonist. He thus begins:
'' In the last nimiber of the American Journal of Science,
Professor Olmsted alleges that I have conmiitted an over-
sight in making Davy's hypothesis '^ wear a much more
mechanical aspect " than it did originally, and in ^'Applyii^
to it principles which have no bearing on it whatever."
According to Johnscm's Dictionary, mechanics is the
geometry of motion, a science which shews the effect of
powers, or moving forces, so as they are applied to engines,
and '' demonstrates the laws of motion/'
The phenomena of heat being by Sir H. Davy ascribed
to motion, how can my arguments, shewing that they are
not agreeable to the laws of motion, makes that hypothesis un-
duly '^toear a mechanical aspect/' or subject it to an applica-
tion of principles '' which halve no bearing on it whatever? ''
In bds first critique, the author alleged Davy's reasonings
to be '' idle '' because they were '' mechanical/'
A sufficient answer to this objection, was afforded in my
essay in the following language:
'' It may be said that this motion is not measurable upon
mechanical principles. How then, I ask, does it produce
mechanical effects? These must be produced by the force of
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158 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
the vibrations, whidi are by the hypothesis mechanical: for
whatever laws hold good in relati<m to moving matter in
mass, must operate in regard to each particle of that matter.
The effect of the former, can only be a multiple of that of
the latter. Indeed one of Sir Humphry Davy's reasons for
attributing heat to corpuscular vibration, is, that medianical
attrition generates it. Surely then a motion produced by
mechanical means, and which produces mechanical effects,
may be estimated on mechanical principles."
'' In the hypotiiesis (says Professor Olmsted), the mo-
tions supposed, are those which occur betweai particles of
matter, and at insensible distances. In the refutation, the
principles applied are such as belong to those motions which
occur between masses of matter, and at sensible distances."
The laws which regulate the production, or transfer, of
motion, being established as respects any given mass, or
quantity, can the division of it into two parts, ten parts, or a
million parts, or into any possible nimiber of parts, or par-
ticles, render those laws inapplicable? The same argument
may be opposed to his distinction between the sensible and
insensible distances, as if a law could cease to operate in
consequence of the spaces being too small for our vision!!!
Since a whole can be no more than a multiple of its parts,
a law cannot be true of motion, in any given distance, which
does not hold good with respect to any part of that distance.
The minuteness of the distances witiiin which movements
can take place, in solids, is cited by me, as a potent objection
to ascribing to intestine motion the expansive power imparted
by them, when heated, to vaporizable substances, as in the
case of water converted into steam by hot iron; but as sudi
phenomena do result f rcmi intestine motion, and if the trans-
fer of expansive power, be a transfer of such motion, however
insensibly small may be tihe spaces in which it occurs, how-
ever minute the atoms concerned, how otherwise can they be
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 169
regulated, tiian by the same laws which aie found to hold
good in the ease of larger spaces, and larger masses.
Professor Olmsted proceeds:
" The motions contemplated by the hjrpothesis, are either
rotary, or vibratory; those supposed, in the refutaticm, are
rectilinear, and in cme continued directi<Hi; for to no other
does the law of percussion adduced apply."
As this allegation is imsupported by any proof, it can
have but little weight. I will however throw my opinion into
the opposite scale. I do assert that the law, which I have
laid down, is universally applicable where motion is com-
municated, from one moving body, or set of bodies to another
body, or set of bodies, whether the movements be vibratory,
rotatory, or rectilinear.
If while two planets are revolving, or two pendulums
vibrating, one overtake the other, will not the heavier be least
altered from its previous motion? If two wheels, two globes,
or two cylinders, while rapidly rotating, were to come into
contact, would not the same law prevail?
" The refutation (says Professor Olmsted) supposes the
particles to come into collision, each upon each; whereas the
hypothesis does not warrant the supposition that any two par-
ticles ever strike against each other at all. For it is plain
that the revolutions of particles round their own axes, do not
bring them into collision with each other, nor do the vibra-
tions of the particles make it necessary to suppose that they
ever hit each other; for if there be space enough between the
particles to permit them to vibrate at all, it is dear that they
may vibrate without coming into collision.
'' Finally, if they did impinge against <Hie another, it
must be remembered that the motion is backwards and for-
wards, and therefore this is not a case to which the law of
percussion, as adduced by Dr. Hare applies."
'' I cannot but think therefore that Dr. Hare has refuted
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160 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
a consequence, not of Sir Hiimphry Davy's but of his own
creating/'
It were obviously as absurd to allege, that particles can-
not move without coming into collisicm, as to assert that the
bow of a violin cannot move unless it rub against the strings.
Yet as in the one case, friction is necessary to produce music,
so in tibe oUier, collision is indispensable to keep the particles
asunder. Would the diurnal movements of the planets pre-
vent them from falling into the sun? Their annual motion
has this effect, by generating a caitrifugal force; but it can-
not be imagined that in every mass, expanded by heat, the
particles, by revolving about a common center of gravity,
generate a caitrifugal force which, counteracts cohesive
attraction; and thus, enables them to exist at a greater dis-
tance from each other.
Wlien by the affusion of hot water upon mercury, the
temperature of the latter is raised, how can the velocity of
the vibrations in which temperature consists, according to
the hypothesis, be increased in the last mentioned liquid,
without collisi<Hi between the mercurial and aqueous atoms?
While tihey remain asunder, the particles can have no influence
tipon each other, unless through the medium of some inherent
property of attraction, or repulsion. On the former, motion
is the opponent, of the latter the substitute, by the premises.
If motion be not productive of a collisi<Hi among tiie par-
ticles, in what way can it enable them to sustain tiiat remote-
ness, in their respective situations, which expansion requires?
It cannot be supposed that they will becomeeither reciprocally
repulsive or less susceptible of cohesive attraction, merely
in consequence of their undergoii^ a vibratory movement.
Professor Olmsted had evidently a very imperfect recol-
lection of the design, or execution of my essay, idien he wrote
his critique; or he could not have denounced it as idly em-
ploying, in chemistry, those mechanical reasonings whidi it
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 161
was intended to explode. In the last number of the Journal,
I devoted a page to the exposure of his error, in speaking
of my essay, as intended to prove the materiality of heat,
although described as remarks made in opposition to Davy's
hypothesis. In the article now under consideration, he re-
peats this error in the following words.
'' In the year 1822, Dr. Hare published an essay aiming
to prove that caloric, or the cause of heat, is a material fluid."
I never wrote an essay of which this is a correct descrip-
tion. It did not appear to me expedient to recapitulate all
tiie various well known arguments in favor of a material
cause of calorific repulsion. To explain the phenomena of
heat, but two hypotheses had been suggested, one ascribing
them to caloric, the other to motion. The object of my
essay was mainly to shew, that motion could not be the cause
of heat, and I only incidentally introduced some direct argu-
ments of a material cause.
I shall proceed to give other instances of the precipitancy
of Professor Olmsted, in adopting the unfavorable impres-
sions of my essay with which he occupies the pages of the
American Journal of Science. The existence of repulsion
and attraction as properties of matter, being referred to, as
self-evident, and their co-existence as properties of the same
particles, shewn to be inccmceivable, I assumed that there
must be a '' matter in which repulsion resides," '' as well as a
matter in which attraction resides."
This induces Professor Olmsted to make the following
inquiry:
"Does Dr. Hare maintain that the attraction which
bodies exert, resides in a kind of matter extrinsic to the
bodies themselves? "
It would be impossible, I think, to give a better answer to
this query than is afforded by the following words of my
neglected essay, words contained in the very next paragraph
11
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102 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
below that which has givai rise to Professor Ohnsted's
embarrassment.
'' Substances endowed with attraction make themselves
known to us by that species of this power which we call
gravitation^ by whidi they are drawn towards the earth and
are therefore heavy or ponderable, by their resistance to our
bodies, producing the sensation of feeling, or touch; and by
the vibraticms or movements which they excite in other mat-
ter, affecting the ear with sounds, and the eye by a modified
reflection of light.'^
Will the Professor, after reading this sentence, require
any further information respecting the kind of matter in
which attraction resides, pursuant to my view of tiie subject?
Independently of this sentence, which I deem it wijustiflable
in him to have neglected j I do not know how he could take up
the idea, that I considered the matter, in which attraction
resides, as any other than that, usually recognized as matter,
by people of conmcion sense. Does my allegation tiiat tibere
must be as many kinds of matter as there are incompatible
properties, convey the idea, that there must be m^ore kinds
of matter than there are of such properties?
Founding injudicious inferences with respect to my
opinions upon errors, arising from his own inattention, the
Professor proceeds:
"' I have met with no late writer who has taken it for
granted that there is matter in which attraction resides, dis-
tinct from the bodies themselves, which exert this influence
on each oUier. But if Dr. Hare is not thus to be understood,
— ^if he do not meim to assert such a doctrine, then why does
he conceive it necessary to suppose a fluid upon which the
phencHnena of repulsion depend, — ^in which the self-repell^it
power resides, distinct f rcmi the bodies themselves, which ex-
hibit such repulsion? "
I have said that the particles of ponderable matter ob-
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 168
viously possess the power of mutual attraction; they cannot
then be endowed at the same time with reciprocal repulsion.
But if ihey cannot be endowed with repulsion, why should
they be endowed with attraction? says my antagcmist.
If I were to allege the whiteness of a thing as a reason
why it could not be black, would any person in his senses say,
but if it cannot be black, how can it be white? Does ti^e
presence of attraction prove the absence of attraction, because
it proves the absence of repulsion?
Since there is no permanent quality observed in the par-
ticles of ponderable matter, inconsistent with their exercising
attraction, and as it would be unphilosophical to suppose
more causes than are necessary to explain the phenomena,
so it would be unreasonable to ascribe their attractive power
to an extraneous principle. I allude to attraction of co-
hesion, or gravitation. That chemical afSnity is much under
the influence of the electric fluid, is now generally admitted.
But to return to the critique.
'^ Win Dr. Hare explain the fact that caloric sometimes
increases the attraction of bodies for each other? " Wliat
would he say of the fact, that Uie attraction of two gases, is
sometimes increased by heat? *'
I will not undertake to explain that, which does not occur.
When a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen gas is heated, it ex-
pands. So Icmg as expansion ccmtinuesitisobviousthat caloric
does not increase attraction. At the temperature of ignition
the heterogeneous particles combine, and an explosion ensues.
Thus at the same moment that the simple atoms imite,
the compound atoms, formed by Uieir union, separate ex-
plosively. The elevation of temperature does not therefore
increase attraction, it only favors the imion of heterogeneous
particles, by some unknown process. In a mixture of hy-
drogen and oxygen gas, the caloric with which they are sev-
erally onnbined, may attach itself to both poles of each
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IM THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
simple particle; after their union^ to only one pole of each
simple particle; and of course, to two poles of the compound
particle forming water. Elevaticm of temperature may favor
this change by its mysterious influence on the electric polar-
ities of the particles; as in the case of the tourmaline: — or
because the enlargement of the calorific atmospheres, renders
tihe preservation of their independency more difficult.
That caloric is alternately an exciting cause of omibina-
tion, and decomposition, we all know. Mercury is oxydised
at one temperature, and revived at another. At one tem-
perature hydrogen yields chlorine to silver, at another de-
composes the chloride of that metaL At a low temperature,
potassium absorbs oxygen more greedily tiian carbon, or
iron, while the reverse is true, when these are heated to in-
candescence. I have long suspected tiiat heat promotes and
modifies chemical action, by influencing electrical polarities.
The elements of water are severed by the voltaic poles. If
in this case their polarity is influenced in one way, elevation
of temperature, when it causes their reimion, must have an
opposite effect, and of course must influence polarity.
I suppose in this case a change in the attractive power of
the poles, of combining atoms, analogous to tiiat which may
be induced in iron bars, which attract or repel each other
accordingly as the magnetism ccMnmimicated to their poles,
is alike or unlike.
Platina sponge, a cold metallic mass, is found to cause the
union of the hydrogen and oxygen in a gaseous mixture: yet
it is utterly inconceivable that the presence of inert particles,
combining with neither of the elements of water, can cause
an increase of attraction between them.
That the phenomena just alluded to, belong to a depart-
ment of chemistry, with which we are but imperfectly ac-
quainted, I admit; but on that very account inferences,
founded on them, ought not to be allowed to invalidate the
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 165
demonstration, of which the existence of a material cause of
heat is, upon other grounds, susceptible.
Professor Olmsted cannot discover that there is
" Any more difficulty in conceiving why a heated body
should commimicate its influence to another body without
the aid of air, than why the Sun should communicate his
attractive influence to Saturn or Uranus without the aid of
such a medium 'Mil
It would seem then that Professor Olmsted is of opinion,
that the planets owe their power of attracting each other, and
all the bodies on or near their surfaces to the Sun, as they
owe their light; and that his removal from the system would
simultaneously involve them in darkness, and destroy the re-
ciprocal attraction between them, and their satellites. This is
a glaring error. The reaction between Uie Sun and the planets,
is reciprocal, arising from a quantity inseparable from either,
and which admits of no increase, transfer, or diminution.
If the Sun did '^ communicate his attractive influence **
to the other bodies in the solar system, I should be unable
to say why he might not c(xnmunicate any other property.
The transmission of heat, in vacuo, is analogous to the radia-
tion of light not the reciprocal influence of gravitation. If
the iUumination of Saturn or Uranus, could be explained
without supposing the existence of a material fluid, I grant
that the passage of heat in vacuo ought to admit of a similar
explanation.
But as it is to me inconceivable, and contradictory to the
obvious meaning of the word, to suppose the existence of a
property without matter to which it may belong; so it appears
imposdble that there can be a transfer of a property, effected
through a space otherwise void, without a transfer of matter.
The following paragraph was written in opposition to the
hypothesis of motion, it is noticed by Professor Olmsted, as if
intended directly to support the nuUeriality at heat, as the
reader will perceive by his remarks which I shall also quote.
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166 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
"As in order for one body or set of bodies in motion to
resist another body or set of bodies in the same state, the
velocity must be as much greater, as the weight may be less,
it is inconceivable that the particles of steam should by any
force, arising frcnn their motion, impart to the pistcm of a
steam engine the wonted power; or that the particles of air
should prevent a column of mercury, almost infinitely heavier,
from entering any space in which they may be included by
beating it out of the theatre of their vibratory, and rotatory
movements.
" Has not Dr. Hare plainly fallen into a mistake here?
It evidently is not heat which moves the piston of a steam-
engine, but it is the elastic force of steam. But, it may be
asked, is not tiiat elasticity caused by heat? True; but the
effect is not the same thing with the cause."
Was ever an inquiry more irrelevant? Wliere have I
said that heat does move the piston of a steam-engine? In
the paragraph above quoted which gives rise to the inquiry,
I have only argued that motion produced among the aqueous
particles, by the heated boiler, cannot move the piston. In
order to shew that I have committed a mistake '^ heref^ it
must be proved that it u conceivable that the particles of steam
should by a force arising from their motion, impart to the pis-
ton the wonted power, or that particles of air, should, in like
manner, ^' support a column of mercury infinitely heavier/'
It evidently would be absurd to suppose that the piston
of a steam engine could be propelled, by the direct influence
of caloric, without the intermediate effect of the elasticity of
vapor.
The author combats strange opinions, peculiar to his own
imagination, as if I were answerable for them.
" It is difficult," says Professor Olmsted, " to see why
heat should impart sudi a wonderful power to steam ; nor does
oiu* supposing it to be a material fluid diminish this diffi-
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 167
culty." He might with equal propriety add, it is difficult
to understand how light can impart to the objects around
us, the wonderful property of conveying their images to the
sensorium ; nor does the idea of a material fluid, passing from
them to the retina of the eye, diminish the difficulty.
It is difficult to understand why lead should be heavy;
nor does the idea, tiiat the earth attracts it, diminish the
difficulty.
My mind is much less embarrassed by supposing a cause,
where I observe an eflFect Wonderful as it is, that the earth
should by solar attraction be kept in its orbit, to me it is
much less wonderful than if there were no sun to attract it;
wonderful as it is tiiat all the phenomena of vision should be
due to the reflection, refraction, or polarization of a subtile
matter emanated from every luminous point in the creation,
the phenomena in question appear to me far less perplexing,
than when I endeavor to dispense with the agency of a ma-
terial cause. The opposite properties of the tenacity of ice,
and the explosiveness of steam, however surprising, are less
so when considered as belonging to different kinds of matter,
than when I suppose them alternately assumed by the same
particles, so as to cohere at one time, and at another fly apart,
with violence, without any cause for the change.
It seems to me, that without the special interference of
the Creator, the properties of any species of matter must
always remain the same. Should any property appear to
cease, or to be varied, there must be an accession, or an avola-
tion of matter differently endowed, from that in which the
change is observed.
"' Has not Dr. Hare committed a mistake in understand-
ing Sir Humphry Davy to assert tiiat heat is motion;
idiereas, his doctrine is, that motion is the cause of heat.'"
The author forgets that Hie word heat is used to signify
a cause as well as an effect; when I have spoken of motion
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168 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
as substituted for heat, I meant that it was substituted for the
cause of sensible heat. The phenomenon which we call saisi-
ble heat, is the effect of motion according to one hjrpothesis
of caloric, or latent heat according to the other. It appears,
therefore, that when correctly examined, the definiticm which
I have given of Davy's hypothesis is the same as that which
the author sanctions.
To conclude, I regret that instead of having only to
encounter difficulties inherent in the subject, I should be
obliged to occupy so many pages in refuting criticisms,
respecting which, I can sincerely say in the author's (yam
language, that they are ^' idle/* and have '^ no bearing what-
ever ** upon the subject, which has called them forth."
Frequently the attention of Hare was directed to subjects
having some connection with his favorite topic, electricity,
and among these were the comments on inadequate protec-
tion afforded by lightning rods, so that it is not at all siu*-
prising to read (1828) :
" This influence of the media, in which conductors ter-
minate, has not been sufficiently insisted upon in treatises
on electricity. I i^ould not consider a metallic rod, ter-
minating, without any enlargement of surface, in the water
of the earth, as an adequate protection against lightning; but
were such conductors to terminate in metallic sheets, buried
in the earth or immersed in the sea, or by a con/newion duty
made with the iron pipes, with which our city is watered, or
the copper with which ships are generally sheathed, I should
have the most perfect confidence in their competency.
It is not only important that the points of contact, be-
tween the metallic mass, employed to afford lightning an
adequate passage, and the earth or water, in which it ter-
minates, should be so multiplied as to compensate for the in-
ferior conducting power of the earth or water; but it is also
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 169
necessary that the conducting rod be as continuous as pos-
sible. Wlien conductors are to be stationary, as when ap-
plied to buildings, they should consist of pieces screwed to-
gether, or preferably, joined by solder, as well as by screwing.
Wlien flexibility is requisite, the joints should be neatly
made, like Uiose of the irons in fall top carriages ; and should
be riveted so as to ensure a close contact at the junctures.
In all cases, the ordinary, but important precaution of
having the rod to terminate above, in a fine dean point,
should be attended to. Where platina tips cannot be had,
multiplying the points by splitting the rod into a ramifica-
tion of pointed wires, may compensate for the diminution
of conducting power, arising from rust.
The efficacy of the point or points is, however, dependent
on the continuity of the conductor of which I have already
spoken; since it is well known, tiiat if a pointed rod be cut
into parts, so as to produce intervals, bounded by blunt
terminations, its efficacy will not be much greater than if it
had no point; because the fluid will, in that case, pass in
sparks, instead of being transmitted in a current. It is on
this account that I object to chains, or rods joined by loops
or hooks and eyes."
Now and again he would burst forth in refutation of
erroneous ideas contained in accepted texts. For example,
after reading the following allegation in the American Edi-
tion of Turner's Chemistry:
" The electricity which is so freely and unceasingly evolved
during the action of a good electrical machine, is derived from
the great reservoir of electricity, the earth.*'
He wrote:
" I conceive tiiat the earth has never, of necessity, any
association with the phenomena of the electric machine; of
which the power is evidentiy dependent on tiie efficacy of the
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170 THE LIFE OP ROBERT HARE
electric, in transferring the fluid from negative to the posi-
tive conductor. When the conductors are both insulated, by
the revolution of the electric they are brought into states of
excitement as opposite, as the power of the machine is at the
time competent to produce. . . .
If the impression of the learned professor, were correct,
how could a battery or a jar be charged, where both it, and
the machine are insulated from the earth? Yet experience
shows that it is under these circumstances that a diarge is
most easily imparted. When the conductors are in a state
of excit^nent, and both insulated, the one will of course be
as mudi below that of the surrounding neutral medium, and
of the great reservoir, as the other is above that standard.
When we connect either conductor with the earth, it returns
of course to the neutral state of the earth; but the diflference
between the excitement of the conductors is sustained by
the power of the machine to the same extent as before ; hence
the length and frequency of the sparks will not be found to be
sensibly altered. It foUows that when either of the conduc-
tors is made neutral by connexion with the earth, the other
will have its excitement as much above or below neutrality,
as the sum of the difi^erences between each of the two conduc-
tors and the terrestrial neutrality when both are insulated.
Thus supposing that when insulated, the one conductor is
relatively to terrestial electricity minus ten, and that the posi-
tive conductor is plus ten; when the negative conductor alone
is uninsulated, the positive will be plus twenty, when the
latter is alone uninsulated the former will be minus twenty.
It seems to be a common, though as I believe an erroneous
idea, that a spark changes its character with the conductor
from which it appears to be taken; so that when produced
by presenting a body to the positive conductor, it is considered
as positive, and as negative when produced with the negative
conductor in like manner."
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 171
It is a pity that the entire correspondence between Hare
and Silliman cannot be found, for there are interesting little
items communicated from time to time. Thus he wrote :
'' I have a magnet made essentially after the plan of
Prof. Henry, excepting the use of paper and shell lac, in
lieu of silk as an insulator, which method I devised and men-
tioned to you more than two years ago.
This magnet weighs seventeen pounds. It is surrounded
by fourteen coils of copper wire. No. 16, each sixty feet in
lengUi. Its maximum of cohesive power is equal to seven
hundred and eighty pounds.
I was curious to see if there would be any reaction be-
tween this magnet and the jet of igneous matter between
the poles of a deflagrator, of seven hundred pairs of plates of
four indies by three. The only remarkable result was, that
the conducting power of the iron of the magnet was mudi re-
duced when subjected to the inductive influence of the coils.
This was demonstrated by attaching one pole of the series
of seven hundred pairs to one leg of the magnet, while the
other pole was made first to touch the end of the other leg,
and then retracted so as to produce the vivid discharge of igne-
ous matter, well known to ensue under such circumstances.
The discharge being thus established, it was arrested as soon
as a calorimotor was made to act upon the coils. The experi-
ment was reiterated again, and again, with the same result.
About two years ago, I stated that taking the iron of an
electro magnet into the circuit of a Calorimotor fifty times
larger than that used for the coils, the attractive power,
though enfeebled, was not destroyed. I have lately ascer-
tained that a knitting needle may be magnetized and have
its poles reversed while subjected to a direct current from
the same large instrument, the inductive magnetic power
being meanwhile due to a Calorimotor of not more than a
fiftieth of the size.''
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172 THE LIFE OF BOBERT HABE
It is impossible for any one who follows the life work
of Robert Hare not to wonder about his surroundings while
executing his great experimental problems. It will be re-
called that in his early years the laboratory facilities (p. 12) ,
were not very elaborate. At no time is there any indication
from him or from others on the subject of laboratory appoint-
ments, so that when in 1881 he published an account of his
laboratory and lecture room, illustrated by a plate drawing,'
he conferred a real favor upon his colleagues not only of tiiat
period, but upon those who followed in the succeeding decades.
It is always a source of pleasure and delight to be ac-
quainted, even slightly, with the side lights in the career of
persons who have, in any wise, contributed to the advance-
ment of the borders of human knowledge.' The writer re-
calls with pleasure, as many another perhaps does, the thrill
which came upon him while silently inspecting that chamber
of the Deutsches Museum in Munich in which are assembled
the various forms of apparatus showing the development of
chemistry in GS^rmany. To gaze upon an original Liebig
condenser, or a combustion oven, carried him back to the days
when the splendid foundations of the present organic chem-
istry were being quietly laid in the little German town cm
the Lahn. There rushed in upon his mind the magnificent
problems which were there solved. In short, the objects
collected in the Museum became a mighty inspiration. So
too must the lecture hall and laboratory of Hare have been
to all who were permitted to know them, for " no man in
this country ever labored so much and so successfully for
the improvement of practical chemistry as Hare."
The description of his '' working place " reads almost like
the account of Berzelius' laboratory as set forth in the inimi-
table word-picture drawn by the illustrious Wohler. It reads :
^ See " American Jr. Science " (Ist series), i9, S6: his Compen-»
dium (4th ed.), 1840; ^* Chemistry in America," D. Appleton and
Company.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 17S
*' The heartily behmd the table, is thirty six feet wide, and
twenty feet deep. On the left, which is to the south, is a
scullery supplied with river water by a communication with
the pipes proceeding from the public water works, and
furnished with a sink and a boiler. Over the scullery is a small
room of about twelve feet square, used as a study. In front
of the scullery and study are glass cases for apparatus. On
the right of the hearth two other similar cases, one above
the other, may be observed. Behind the lower one of these is
the forge room, about twelve feet square; and north of the
forge room, are two fire proof rooms commimicating with
each other, eleven feet square each; the one for a lathe, the
other for a carpenter's bench, and a vice bench. The two
last mentioned rooms, are surmounted by groined arches, in
order to render them seciu*e against fire; and the whole suite
of rooms which I have described, together with the hearth,
are supported by seven arches of masonry, about twelve feet
each in span. Over the forge room is a store room, and
over the lathe and bench rooms, is one room of about twenty
by twelve feet. In this room there is a fine lathe, and tools.
The space partially visible to the right, is divided by a
floor into two apartments, lighted by foiur windows. The
lower one is employed to hold galvanic apparatus, the upper
one for shelves, and tables, for apparatus, and agents, not
in daily use. In front of the floor just alluded to, is a
gallery for visitors.
The canopy over the hearth is nearly covered with shelves
for apparatus, which will bear exposure to air and dust,
especially glass. In the center of the hearth there is a stack
of brick work for a blast furnace, the blast being produced
by means of a very large bellows situated under one of the
arches supporting the hearth. The bellows are wrought by
means of the lever represented in the engraving, and a rod
descending from it through a circular opening in the masonry.
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174 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
There are two other stacks of brick work on ihe hearth
against the wall. In one there is a coal grate wtddi heats
a flat sand baih, in the other there is a similar grate for heat^
ing two circular sand baths, or an alembic. In this stack
there is likewise a powerful air furnace. In boih of the
stacks last mentioned, there are evaporating ovens.
The laboratory is heated not only by one or both of ihe
grates already mentioned, but also by stoves in the arches
beneath ihe hearth, one of ihese is induded in a chiunber of
brick work. The chamber receives a supply of fresh air
throu^ a flue terminating in an aperture in the external
wall of the building, and the air after being heated passes
into the laboratory at fifteen apertures, distributed over a
space of thirty feet. Twelve of these apertures are in front
of the table, being four inches square^ covered by punched
sheet iron. In the hearth there is cme large aperture of about
twelve by ei^teen, covered by a cast iron plate full of holes,
the rest are under ihe table. By ihese means the hot air
is, at its entrance, so much diluted with the air of the room,
that an unusually equable temperature is produced, there
being rarely more than two degrees of Fahrenheit difference
between the temperature in the upper and in the lower part
of the lecture room. There are some smaller windows to
the south, besides ihose represented in the engraving. One
of ihese is in the upper story, from which the rays enter at
the square aperture in the ceiling over ihe table on the right.
Besides these, are the windows represented in the engraving
back of ihe hearth, and four others in the apartments to the
north of the gallery. All the windows have shutters, so
constructed as to be closed and opened with facility. Those
which belong to the principal windows are hung like sashes
wiih weights, so that they ascend as soon as loosened, and
when the light is again to be admitted, are easily pulled down
by cords and fastened. In addition to ihe acconmiodation
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 175
already mention ed, there is a large irregular room under the
floor of the lecture room on the eastern side. This is used as
a place to stow a number of cumbrous and unsightly articles
which are, nevertheless, of a nature to be very useful at times.
Also for such purposes, and for ccmtaining fuel, there is a
spacious celkr under the lecture room and laboratory."
Would it be too mudi for the reader to imagine that he
and the writer, some time before 1847, concluded to visit this
" old workshop " and with their own eyes bdiold the evi-
dences of Hare's manual dexterity? Entering the lecture
room and turning to the cases on the right the first stop
would be at tiie electrcxneter with a single leaf, by which the
dectricily excited by the touch of heterogeneous metals is
made very evident after a single contact (1824) .
Nearby is the improved blowpipe using alcohol. In it
'' the inflammation is sustained by opposing jets of vapour,
without a lamp." It will be recalled that as early as 1819
it occurred to Hare to make the flame of hydrogen gas or
alcoholic vapour, more luminous by an admixture of oil of
turpentine.
And there on the gallery, just over the lecture table, is
the electrical plate machine designed by Hare. Its plate is
four feet in diameter. He considered its mounting prefer-
able to any with whidi he was acquainted. It was in con-
nection with this machine that he discoursed on the causes
of the diversity in ilie lengtii of the sparks. He said that
Thompson stated in his valuable work on heat and electricity
that if a long spark be taken between two knobs, as when
severally attached to the positive and negative conductors
of the electrical machine; the portion of the spark near the
positive knob exhibits all the characters of positive electricity,
while tiie remaining portion proceeding from the otiier knob
displays all the characters of negative electricity.
''Although the learned and ingenious author does not
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176 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
state what differences there are between the different por-
tions of die spark, and wherefore, if any exist; he can, with-
out a petitio principH, assume diat they are such as to justify
his conclusion. He proceeds to allege that there can be no
doubt that every spark consists of two electricities; Tv^iidi,
issuing severally from their respective knobs, terminate tiieir
career by uniting at the non-luminous portion of the spark,
which is at a distance from the negative knob, of about one-
third of tiie interval. Upon these grounds he infers tiiat
tiie positive electricity occupies two-thirds of the length of
the spark, the negative one-third.
I presume that, agreeably to the theory wtddi supposes
the existence of two fluids, when the equilibrium between
oppositely excited surfaces is restored by a discharge, whether
in the form of a spark or otherwise, there must be two jets
or currents passing each other; the one conveying as much
of the resinous as the other does of the vitreous electricity.
Of course no part of a spark can be more negative than it is
positive, nor more positive tiian it is negative. Upon this
ground, a suggestion of the same author, that the diminution
of light near the middle of the spark results from the com-
bination of the different fluids at this point, appears to me
injudicious, since there is as little ground for supposing the
union of the fluids to take place there as elsewhere. But
admitting that tiie union does take place as supposed, is
this a reascm for the observed diminution of li^t? If, when
isolated, either fluid is capable of emitting a brilliant light,
should not their co-operation increase the effect? If, after
their union, they do not shine, it can only be in consequence
of their abandoning, at that moment, all the light witii which
they were previously associated. It cannot be imagined that
the light accompanying one should neutralize that accom-
panying the other.
In deflagrating, by voltaic electricity, a wire of uniform
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 177
thickness, equally refrigerated, liie most intense evolution
of heat and light is always midway.
In truili, the theory which the learned autiior sanctions,
requires two postulates so irreconcilable, that unless one be
kept out of view, the other cannot be sustained. It requires
that ilie fluids should exercise an intense reciprocal attraction
adequate to produce chemical affinity, and of course, enter
into combination when they meet, and yet rush by each other
with inconceivable velocity, not only throu^ the air, but also
throu^ the restricted channel afforded by a small wire. If
the fluids combine at a point intervening between the sur-
faces from which they proceed, what becomes of ilie com-
pound which they form? Is it credible that such a compound
would afford no indication of its existence? But, again, how
are two surfaces, the one previously deprived of a large por-
tion of ilie negative electricity naturally due to it, the other
made as deficient of the positive fluid, to regain tiieir natural
state? By a combination midway, the resinous and vitreous
surcharges might be disposed of, but whence could the vitreous
and resinous deficiencies be supplied?
Dr. Thompson, in conmion with the great majority of
modem chemists, ascribes chemical affinity to the attraction
between the two electricities combined with ponderable par-
ticles. As the combinations between such particles take
place only in definite proportions, would it not be consistent
that die fluids which give rise to them, should combine agree-
ably to those laws? But if the electrical compound, formed
of the vitreous and resinous electricities, be decomposable by
induction, as the theory in question requires, its constituents
must be capable of uniting in every proportion.
Agreeably to the late investigations of the celebrated
Faraday, equal quantities of the electric fluid are evolved by
analogous chemical changes, in equivalent weights of different
ponderable bodies. It may ilieref ore be inferred, that in en-
12
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178 THE LIFE OF RCffiERT HABE
tering into combination the electric fluid is obedient to those
laws of definite porportion which regulate other substances/*
In this connection hear Hare's views on lightning rods:
" In some of our American newspapers, a letter has been
republished from the London Times, calculated, to lessen
the confidence of the public in metallic conductors, as a mean
of protection against lightning. The author of the letter ap-
pears to suppose, that metals are peculiarly attractive of
electricity; and infers that, when a metallic rod is attached
to a house, or ship, a discharge of electric fluid may be induced
from a cloud, which, otherwise, would not have been suffi-
ciently near to endanger the premises. Nothing in my
opinion can be more erroneous than this notion. • • •
Nothing, to me, appears more unfounded than an idea,
lately suggested, that the attraction betwe^i a ship, and a
thunder cloud, can be increased, by the presence of a pointed
metallic rod, surmounting ihe main-mast.
If houses, or vessels, have been struck with lightning,
while provided with conductors, it is owing to the conductors
being improperly constructed; or having no adequate con-
nexion with the earth. ... I object to chains, or rods
jointed by loops, or hooks and eyes. The error of supposing
that a metallic rod, must be more capable of attracting elec-
tricity injuriously, because of its known wonderful power in
transmitting it, will be evident, when it is understood that the
only difi^erence between metals and other bodies, arises from
the superior power of transmission. Hence, when by a defect-
ive communication wiih the earth or sea, the efficacy of the
metal, as a conductor, is diminished, or destroyed, its influence
over a charged doud is proportionably lessened. It follows,
therefore, that so far as it acts, its action must be beneficial,
unless its lower termination should, by an inconceivable degree
of ignorance or inattention, be so situated, as to render it more
easy for the electrical fluid to leave the rod, and pass through
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 179
a portion of ilie house or vessel, than to proceed, by means of
the rod, mto the earth or sea.
Thus Bichman was killed by a conductor which he on-
ployed to receive electricity from the clouds, and to convey
it to an electrometer, necessarily insulated: under these cir-
cumstances, ihe head of the professor being about a foot from
the conductor, he became a part of the channel of communica-
tion lyith the earth. Had the apparatus been surrounded by
a cage of wire, and this duly connected with a metallic rod
soldered to a sheet of metal buried in the earth, Richman
might have made his observations with perfect safety.
I must premise, that the apparatus, by means of which
the phenomena alluded to were produced, consisted of a wire
a mile long, supported and insulated, up<m very high poles."
And note those colmnns in the room. It will be recalled
that Hare encircled ihon with seven himdred feet of copper
wire — about the thickness of a knitting needle.
''At one end the wire was connected with one of his
large calorimotors, while the other terminated in a cup of
mercury, into which there dipped a wire from the other pole
of the calorimotor. On bringing a magnetic needle near the
middle of ihe circuit, it was powerfully affected and when
the circuit was first interrupted, and then re-established by re-
moving the wire from the cup, and introducing it again, ihe in-
fluence appeared to reach the needle so quickly as if the circuit
had not exceeded seven inches in the meridian, while the circuit
was interrupted, and the end of ihe wire being then returned
into the mercury, the deviation of the needle, and the ccmtact
of the wire with the metal, appeared perfectly simultaneous.
A wire was made to circulate with great rapidity by
means of two wheels about which it passed like a band. The
wheels being metallic, and severally ccxmected with the dif-
ferent poles of a calorimotor, it was found that the motion
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180 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
neither accelerated nor retarded the galvanic influence — ^and
it made no difi^erence whether the needle was placed near liie
portion of the wire which moved from the positive pole to the
negative, or the portion which moved in the opposite direction.
If a jet of mercury, in communication with one pole of a
very large calorimotor, is made to fall on the poles of a horse-
shoe magnet communicating with the other, Hie metallic
stream will be curved outwards or inwards, accordingly as
one or the other side of the magnet may be exposed to the
jet— or as Hie pole communicating with the mercury may be
positive or negative. When the jet of mercury is made to
fall just within the interstice formed by a series of horse-
shoe magnets, mounted together in the usual way, the stream
will be bent in the direction of the interstice, and inwards
or outwards, accordingly as the sides of the magnet, or the
conmiunication with the galvanic poles, may be exchanged.
This result is analogous to those obtained by Messrs. Barlow
and Marsh, with wires, or wheels.
It is well known that a galvanic pair, which will, on im-
mersion in an acid, intensely ignite a wire, connecting the
izinc and copper surfaces, will cease to do so after the acid
has acted on the pair for some moments, — ^and that ignition
cannot be reproduced by the same apparatus, without a tem-
porary removal from the exciting fluid.
I have ascertained that this recovery of igniting power
does not take place — ^if , during the removal from the acid,
the galvanic surfaces be surrounded either by hydrogen gas,
nitric oxide gas, or carbonic acid gas. When surrounded by
chlorine, or by oxygen gas, the surfaces regain their igniting
power, in nearly the same time as when exposed to the air.
The magnetic needle is, nevertheless, much more power-
fully affected by the galvanic circuit, when the plates have
been allowed repose, whether it take place in the air or in
any of the gases above m^itioned.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 181
I have not yet had time, agreeably to my intention, to
examine the eflPect of oilier gases, or of a vacumn."
And, it is pretty certain that, when discussing (1824)
ihe question with his students as to the existence of two elec-
trical fluids (Du Faye) or one (Franklin) he adduced before
them numerous facts and arguments '' in opposition to the
doctrine of two fluids/'
There, to the left, is one of those celebrated deflagrators,
and we can almost hear Hare say, as we rest our eyes on this
instrument:
"'De Butts availed himself of that alternation of sur-
faces, that (xnission of insulation, which I first used in my
calofimotor . • . indeed, he employs the same principle
of simultimeous immersion originally used in my deflagratorl
How can he daim anything novel?
'' How can he speak of the coils as if that form of the
galvanic battery had originated with Off erhaus and Pepys —
whereas this was one of the forms first contemplated by me? '*
Turning again, to the case on the right, are several
volumeters — instruments by which to take volumes of gas,
at one time, precisely equal to those taken at another time.
'' There are two kinds of volumeters ; one calculated to be
introduced into a bell glass, over water or mercury; the other
may be fitted tiirough an orifice as is usual in the case of
filling a common bottle over the pneumatic cistern/'
Observe the gasometer at the end of the table. See how
it is suspended from a beam? WeU, Hare devised that as
a substitute for the English Gasometer chain, more difficult
to execute. And next to that is the sliding rod gas measure
differing from the sliding rod eudiometers, in having a valve
which is opened and ^ut by a spring and lever, acting upon
a rod passing through a collar of leathers. By means of this
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182 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
valve, any gas, drawn into the receiver, is included so as to
be free from the possibility of loss, during its transfer from
one vessel to another.
Immediately above on a dielf is what Hare termed a
Barometer Gage Eudiometer. It is well known . . .
that if a receiver communicate simultaneously with an air
pump, and a barometer gage, the extent of ilie exhaustion
will be indicated by the l^ighth of the mercury in the gage
tube ; so that if there be a scale of equal parts associated with
the tube, the quantity of air taken from the receiver at any
stage of the exhaustion, will be to the quantily held by it
when full, as the number opposite the mercurial column,
when ilie observation is made, to that to ^liiich it would rise,
if the receiver were thoroughly exhausted. Hence, having
exhausted the vessel, thoroughly, if the mercury stand at 450
degrees, by the gage, on allowing any gaseous fluid to enter
till it sinks to 150 degrees, ilie quantity in Ilie receiver will
be 800 parts ; and if of this, by explosion, or any other means,
any number of parts be condensed, the mercury in ilie gage
must rise that number of degrees.
Did you mark the smaller instrument by the side of the
eudiometer? Hare designated it the subsidiary eudiometer
to be used when the quantity of the gas was too small to be
measured into the bell glass by a volumeter.
Directly above it is the carhofiicometer — sai apparatus, by
which to wiiMraw a known portion of residual air from ilie
barometer gage eudiometer in order to wash it with lime water.
'' By agitating the globe, the carbonic acid will combine
with the lime in the water. This effected, the residual gas
may be allowed to re-enter the eudiometer, where the quan-
tity of it may be measured, and consequaitly the extent of
the absorption known."
That large and elaborate piece of apparatus on the left
side, near the left end of the table, is the volumescope. It
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 18S
is striking in its appearance. It served a splendid purpose.
It shows how intensely earnest Hare was to instil fimda-
mental principles. With that contrivance he illustrated the
fundamental basis of the theory of volumes. And among
other uses he demonstrated with it ** the ratio in which nitric
oxide and the oxygen of atmospheric air are condensed by
admixture.'' It was also applied in the analysis of carbonic
oxide so as " to show that the result confirms the theory of
volumes " ; in the analysis of olefiant gas, and in the analysis
of a mixture of carbcmic oxide with one or more of the gaseous
components of carbon with hydrogen, as well as in the analy-
sis of a mixture of ethylene — carbon monoxide and either
hydrogen or nitrogen or both of the latter. What a splendid
gas analyst Hare was I He had considerable to say in his
experimental writings of the use of nitric oxide in eudiometry.
He also referred frequently to nitrous oxide and emphasized
its preparation {rom ammonium nitrate.
Do not overlook those two massive pieces of apparatus
with gas bags attached to their sides. They were intended
to illustrate the combustion of ''pulveriz^ metals" and
^'metallic leaves" in chlorine; also for the abstraction of
oxygen from the atmospheric air, '' leaving the nitrogen so
situated as to be easily drawn from the containing vessel."
The two " vases," on the top shelf, tightened by screws,
were substitutes for Woulf e's bottles.
And, yonder, phials, and other glass vessels were used to
illustrate ilie influence of compression on the capacity of
^' air for caloric and moisture." Hare declared that '' the
tendency in the atmosphere to cloudiness, at certain eleva-
tions, may be ascribed to the rarefaction which air invariably
undergoes, in circulating from the earth's surface to such
heights."
The oilier pieces of apparatus on the adjoining shelf were
employed to illustrate the capacities for heat.
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184 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
Now let us examine some of the cases in the balcony. The
£rst thing to arrest attention is the Litrameter (litra, weight,
and meter, measure) • Hare contrived it to determine specific
gravity. Its efficiency is due to the principle '' that when
columns of different liquids are elevated by the same pressure,
their weights must be inversely as their gravities."
And iliose bladders, lying there, were used in this way:
Ejiowing that the principal difficulty in weighing gases ac-
curately is due to the small proportion which the weight of
any gas can have, to that of any receiver, capable of sus-
taining the unbalanced atmospheric pressure, consequent to
exhaustion Hare was led to another plan of manipulation.
"' The weight of a bladder is exactly the same, however large
or smaU the quantity of atmospheric air, which it may include,
provided the air which may be within it, be under no greater
compression, than that without. Hence, if by means of a
volumeter, we introduce a known quantity of any other gas,
one hundred cubic inches for instimce, whatever the bladder
gains or loses in weight, will be the difference between the
weight of the gas introduced, and that of a like volume of
air. If the gas be lighter, we must deduct the weight neces-
sary to restore the equilibrium from 80.5 grains. • . •
The comparative gravities of gases may be found by
meansof two bodies, counterpoised . . . by ascertaining
the rarefaction or condensation of eadi gas, which would make
the bodies equiponderate in it, as if it were atmospheric air."
Directly in the center of the long lecture table is the
hydro-pneumatic cistern constructed on the principle of one
contrived by Silliman and himself as early as 1808.
On examining it carefully its remarkable adaptability for
pneumatic work becomes surprisingly evident. It indeed
must have been a source of pleasure and comfort to the great
experimenter.
Do you notice those coils of copper lying at the bottom
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SECOND PERIOD, 181&-1847 185
of die case? They seem to be almost endless. Their story,
or at least the story of some of them, is briefly this:
Hare prepared a coil of copper wire. No. 26, nearly a
mile in length, by means of which, and a strap of copper, three
inches in width, and 196 feet in length, he had been enabled
to repeat the experiment of Joseph Henry, for exciting a
Faradian current. The wire was covered with cotton, and
was coiled upon a wooden sieve hoop. Being suspended over
a pulley, and counterbalanced by a weight over the strap,
when this was placed in the circuit of a calorimotor, so that
the circuit might be broken by drawing one of the electrodes
over a rasp or ratchet wheel, communicating with ttie coil,
shocks were felt, when the distance of several feet intervened,
and they became intolerable when the coil, and strap were
nearly in contact. Having this coil at command, it occurred
to Dr. Hare, to ascertain how far it would be competent to
act as a multiplier. It seemed to be a problon winch was yet
to be solved, how far the extension of the length of the coils
employed would affect their efficacy. He had not heard of
any one in which resort had been had to an extension so great
as a mile. Actuated by these considerations, he supported
his coil in a vertical plane, and placed upon the lower and
under surface of the hoop, the magnetic needle of an ordinary
multiplier. A five cent piece, and a disk of zinc of the same
size, being separated by a piece of moistened paper, when
one of the ends was made to touch the silver disk and the
other the zinc, the needle moved nearly a quadrant at every
contact. When the disk was divided into four parts, every
one of them was adequate to produce a movement in ihe
needle, when the coil was made the medium of discharge.
That such minute portions of metal should be capable of
creating an electrical current in so long a coil, and sufficiently
copious to influence a magnetic needle, would have appeared
incredible to him, had it not been thus proved experimentally.
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186 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
That extensive voltaic apparatus, stimding there half
under the table, is a galvanic deflagrator. In construction
it is exactly like the one he made for the LoweU Institute of
Boston. Somewhere he has said (in the American Philoso-
phical Society Proceedings, I think) :
'' It consisted of four troughs, each containing 100 pairs
within a space of about 80 inches in lengUL The pairs, sev-
erally, are of the Cruickshank pattern, and about 6^ indies
square, independently of the grooves, so as to expose about
42 inches of zinc surface. Every fifth plate is cemented
into its groove by a compound of rosin and suet. The plates,
intermediate between those thus cemented are made to fit
tightly into their grooves; but in consequence of a slight
obliquity in their sides, can be extricated by the aid of forceps,
so as to be cleansed, and when expedient, scraped. The
cementing of each fifth plate tends to prevent any injurious
retrocession of the voltaic fluid ; and yet when the intermediate
four plates are removed, an interstice is vacated, sufficiently
large to allow tiie stationary metallic surfaces to be reached
by a scraper. The plates are all amalgamated, which not
only renders them less susceptible of wasteful reaction with
acid, but more susceptible of being cleansed. A strip of
wood, 18 inches wide and 2 inches deep, is bored by a centre
bit, so as to have eight vertical and cylindrical holes, which
are all supplied with mercury. By means of ropes of copper
wire, these holes are made to communicate severally with the
poles of eadi of the troughs, so that every one of liiese had
its corresponding mercurial receptacle. Ardies of twisted
copper wire are provided of such various lengUis, that the
receptacles may be connected in such manner as to cause the
associated troughs to act either as one series of 400 pairs each
of 42 indies of zinc surface; as a series of 200 pairs eadb of
84 inches of zinc surface; or as a seriei of 100 pairs each of
168 inches of zinc surface. In the usual mode of ccmstructing
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 187
the voltaic apparatus, the diversities of power that appertain
to an apparatus in which the ratio of the size of the pairs to
their number varies, as above described, can only be produced
by changes in the arrangement, which are too inconvenient
to be employed; but, according to the contrivance described,
are attainable simply by shifting the connecting arches, so as
to alter duly the mode in which the receptacles are connected
with each other.
By means of this apparatus, tiie deflagration of metals,
the arched flame between charcoal points, the fusion of platina
by contact with the aqueous solution of chloride of calcium,
the welding of iron wire to a rod of the same metal imder
water, were all accomplished witii the most striking success.
In repeating Davy's experiment, in which the arched
flame between charcoal points was subjected by the influence
of a permanent magnet, the reaction between the voltaic and
magnetic fluids was so violent, as to be productive of a noise
like that of small bubbles of hydrogen inflamed in escaping
from the generating liquid. This last mentioned experiment
was perf onned by request of Prof. Henry who manipulated
in the perf omumce of it.
Hare stated that he had for many years endeavored to
draw the attention of men of science to the fact, that if, when
a fine and a coarse wire of platinum are made to form the
electrodes or poles of a powerful voltaic series of not less than
800 pairs, the coarse wire, while forming the positive end or
anode, be introduced into a concentrated solution of chloride
of calcium, and the fine wire be made to touch the siurf ace of
the solution, fusion of the extremity into a globule will fol-
low every ccmtact. But when the polarity of the wires is
reversed, the resulting ignition is comparatively feeble.
This experiment. Hare stated, was repeated to the satis-
faction of Professors Silliman, Henry and James Rogers, all
of whom were present at the trial of tiie apparatus.
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188 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
When the finer wire was plunged about an inch below
the surface of the solution, it became luminous throughout,
emitting rays of a brilliant purple hue.
For the fusion of platina wire, in the experiment above
described, it was found necessary to use the ^ole series ccm-
secutively as 400 pairs; showing, Hare remarked, that there
are effects which require a great number of pairs. He had,
in previous experiments, found that fresh phosphuret of cal-
cium was a conductor for 850 pairs of 7 x 8, but not for 100
pairs 7% x 14.
The deflagration of an iron wire by contact witii mercury
took place witii phenomena which were never before witnessed
by any of the spectators. At first the mercury was defla-
grated with an intense silvery white light, after which there
arose a vertical shower of red sparks, caused by the com-
bustion of the iron. Lastly, a globule having accumulated
at the end of the wire after a momentary stoppage of tiie
reaction, an explosion took place, by which fragments of the
globule, together with portions of the mercmy, were pro-
jected to a great distance.
" It would seem," said Hare, '' as if a globule of peroxide
of iron, having formed at the end of the wire, caused a tem-
porary arrestation of the voltaic current; but that the ap-
paratus, gaining energy in consequence of a transient repose,
was unable to break through the globule so as to disperse its
particles with violence."
It must not be forgotten that in 1826 Hare was selected,
together with Professors Patterson and Keating, " to make
choice of an hydrometer to be used in ascertaining the amount
of the duties to be levied on spirits imported into the United
States." He found the instruments in use to be of English
make or modifications of them: He finally decided in favor
of the Dicus hydrometer, but recommends that special study
should be made of this subject and that the government should
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 189
autiiorize the committee '' to incnir a reasonable expense, in
the requisite investigations/'
At the same time he informed the public that he had been
examining the method of determining gravities, and expected
to exhibit something altogether new. This was evidently
the prelude to a communicaticm made by him in the same year
(1826) dealing exhaustively with the problem in an experi-
mental fashion, and consequently there at the very top of
that narrow case h tiie new instrument for this piu*pose —
the '' chyometer** (chuo, to pour, and meter, measure) —
which is his sliding rod eudiometer arranged for use with
liquids. In ascertaining the specific gravity of a solid (a
mineral) the process differs from the usual procedure only,
'' in using measures of water, instead of the brass weights,
ordinarily employed." The chyometer, in short, makes new
weights out of water for each process. With its aid Hare
demonstrated how the specific gravity of a mineral might be
learned without calculation, and without degrees.
Do you observe on the bottom of the case those two
eudiometers? They are the sliding rod eudiometer, tlie one
to be used with nitric oxide, or with liquids absorbing oxygen ;
the other with explosive mixtures. In the contrivance for ex-
ploding the gases, as well as in tlie mode for measuring them
— ^the wire is ignited by galvanism instead of the electric spark.
These forms he modified very much. For one thing he
soldered the igniting wire into the summits of two brass
wires which pass through tiie bottom of the socket parallel
to the axis of the glass recipient, within which they are seen.
For a while Hare puzzled over the unsatisf actoriness of re-
sults and the inconveniency of his eudiometer if used with
mercury, so prepared a new form, provided with a water
gauge which enabled the analyst to render tiie gases within
in eqtdlibrio with the air without.
The cocks, sockets, screws and sliding-rods of the mer-
curial eudiometer were made of cast steel.
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190 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
The barometer gauge eudiometer lying by the side of tiie
mercurial eudiometer is a much improved instrument on the
original. And directly above these last objects is an ^^ im-
proved cryophorus '^ — ^which consisted of two flasks of which
the necks had flanged orifices and so secured in a wooden
frame that by the pressure of two screws and gum-elastic
disks the orifices of a tube were made to form with them
severally, air tight jimctures . . . "midway between
the latter a female screw was soldered to the tube for the
insertion of a valve cock by means of which, and a flexible
tube extending to an air pump, tiie flasks could be exhausted
and then closed." " The intelligent chemist wijl perceive that
this apparatus may be applied to the purpose of desiccation
by placing the article to be dried in one receptacle, and quick
lime, calciimi chloride or concentrated sulphuric acid in the
other." How like our very modem desiccators!
We must pause a moment at the next piece of apparatus.
Hare termed it the culinary paradox. It is to show ebullition
by means of cold.
Tlie apparatus consists principally of a glass matrass,
with a neck of about three feet in length, tapering to an
orifice of about a quarter of an inch in diameter. The bulb
is bulged inwards, in the part directly opposite the neck,
so as to create a cavity capable of holding any matter which
it may be desirable to have situated therein. In addition to
the matrass, a receptacle, holding a few pounds of mercury,
is requisite. The bulb of the matrass being rather less than
half full of water, and this being heated to ebullition, the
orifice should be closed by the finger, defended by a piece of
gum-elastic, and depressed below the surface of the mercury.
Under these circumstances, the mercury rises as the tem-
perature of the water declines, indicating the consequent
diminution of pressure within the bulb. Meanwhile, the
decline of pressure lowering the boiling point of the water.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 191
the ebullition continues till the mercury rises in the neck
nearly to tiie height of the mercury in the barometer.
By introducing into the cup formed by the bulging of
the bulb, cold water, alcohol, ether or ice, the ref rigeraticm,
the diminution of pressure, and the ebullition are dll simul-
taneously accelerated, since tiiese results are reciprocally de-
pendent on each other.
The advantage of this apparatus and method of operat*
ing, lies first in the certainty and facility with which the ap-
paratus is secured against tiie access of the atmosphere; and
in the next place, in tiie index of the diminishing resistance,
afforded by the rise of the mercurial column.
While resting a few minutes let me read to you what
Hare wrote on the backwardness in the oxides of nitrogen to
part witii their oxygen to phosphorus.
"' This diaracteristic in the case of nitrous oxide, may be
illustxated by means of an apparatus like that employed for
the combustion of phosphorus in oxygen with a tall cylin-
drical receiver, and a tube descending through the neck, and
along the axis of tiie receiver, terminating in a capillary
orifice over the cup for holding the phosphorus. The upper
end of the tube, outside the receiver, is furnished with a cock,
to which a gum-elastic bag inflated with oxygen is attached.
Under these circumstances, the receiver having been ex-
hausted and filled with nitrous oxide; phosphorus, previously
placed within the cup, may be melted without taking fire.
But as soon as the cock communicating with the bag of oxygen
is opened, an intense combustion ensues; since tlie oxygen,
emitted in a jet from the capillary orifice of tiie tube, reach-
ing the melted phosphorus, excites it into an active combus-
tion, which the nitrous oxide afterwards sustains witii great
energy.''
The air-pump was a very much used and favorite instru-
ment witii Hare. The one on tiie table is of new construction.
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192 THE LIFE OP ROBERT HARE
It may be used either as an air-pump or condenser or as both.
The operator can exhaust, condense, or transfer a gas from
one cavity to another, or even pass it through a liquid* Hare
regarded it as superior to the elegant pump which served
him for years, and gave preference to " the new instrument/*
Next we observe the Discharger for Deflagrating Wires.
This apparatus Hare used in lieu of Henley's universal dis-
charger. It consists, as we see, of two brass plates, secured
to the pedestal by a screw bolt which passes through a hole
made in each, near one extremity: the plates are thus idlowed
a circular motion about the bolt, so as to be set in one straight
line, or in any angle with each other. On one of the plates
near the extremity, not secured by the bolt, a brass socket
is soldered, into whidi a glass column is cemented, surmounted
by a forceps. At the corresponding end of the other plate,
there is a brass rod, perpendicular to the plate, and parallel
to tlie glass column. This rod is also furnished with forceps.
Between these forceps, supported and insulated by the glass
column, a wire is stretched, which may be of various lengths,
according to the angle which the plates make with each other.
The pedestal is metallic, or it may have a metallic plate at
bottom, in communication with the external coating of the bat-
tery. This being accomplished, it is only necessary to charge
the battery, without subsequently breaking the communica-
tion between the inner coatings of the jars, and the prime con-
ductor, by which the charge is conveyed. In that case, touch-
ing the conductor is equivalent to a contact with the inner coat-
ings of the jars, so far as electrical results are concerned.
Hence, by causing one of the knobs of the discharger with
glass handles, to be in contact with the insulated forceps, and
then approxinmting the other knob to the prime conductor, tlie
charge of the battery will pass, as it cannot descend by the
glass column, nor reach the operator through theglass handles.
We almost overlooked the rotary mvUiplier arranged so
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 108
nicely in that balcony case. Hare contrived it in 1886. It
is a galvanometer. He said that it '' had value as an addi-
tion to the amusing if not to the useful implements of science.''
Even minor apparatus — ^such as ordinarily would not
attract chemists, received Hare's attention. For, those
syphons were constructed by him. In the one " a cork is
perforated in two places parallel to the axis. Through one
of the perforations, the longer leg of tiie syphon passes: into
the other, one end of a small lead tube is inserted. In order
to support this tube, it is wound about the syphon imtil it
approaches the summit, where a portion of about three or
four inches in length, is left free, so that advantage may be
taken of its flexibility, to bend it into a situation convenient
for appl3ring the lips to tiie orifice. About the cork, the neck
of a stout gum-elastic bag is tied air tight. The joinings of
the tubes with the cork, must also be air tight. The lower
half of the gum-elastic bag is removed, as represented.
In order to put this syphon into operation, a bottle must
be used, having a neck and a mouth of such dimensions as to
form an air tight juncture with the bag when pressed into
it. This object being accomplished, the air must be inhaled
from the bottle, until the diminution of pressure causes the
liquid to come over, and fill the syphon. After this, on re-
leasing the neck of the bottle, the current continues, as when
establi^ed in any other way.
In the second one with the more complete construction
are two metal tubes, passing through perforations made for
them in a brass disk, turned quite true. Through one of
tliese tubes, which is by much the larger, the syphon passes,
and is cemented air tight. The brass disk is covered by a piece
of gum-elastic, which may be obtained by dividing a bag of
proper dimensions. The covering thus procured, is kept in its
place by a brass band or clasp, made to embrace both it, and the
circumference of the plate, and to fasten by means of a screw.
18
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194 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
Before applying the caoutchouc, it was softened by soak-
ing it in ether, and a hole, obviously necessary, was made in
the centre, by a hollow pundi.
There is no difference between operating with this syj^on,
and the other, excepting that the juncture of the sjrphon
with the bottle, is effected by pressing the orifice of the latter
against the disk covered with gum-elastic.
The large egg-shaped vessel with a wide and fairly long,
stoppered neck with a cylindrical coil on the outer surf ace»
standing in tiiat far case is DeLuc^s Column modified by
Zamboni, and still further by Hare, who applied it as an
electrical discriminator.
And there is tlie galvanic machine which Hare devised
and employed in producing ignition in rock blasting. In it
the calorimotor figures prominently. It was an exceedingly
valuable instrument in its day. Hare thought his method
of communicating ignition for rock blasting might " be ap-
plied as the means of exploding a mine.''
Yonder is his improved Galvanometer which was quite
unusual in size. Its needles were about 19 inches in length.
And adjacent is the single gold leaf electroscope which
manifests an astonishing sensitiveness to the smallest elec-
trical force.
The next device is intended to be used in transferring a
liquid from a carboy, or cask to bottles — it is especially useful
in the case of sulphuric acid. In principle it is tiie syphon
exhausted by a small pump. '' This apparatus," said Hare,.
" may be employed to raise liquors into a bar room, from
casks in a cellar, with this advantage over the pump now
used for that purpose; that the liquid does not pass through
the pump."
And you recall that the master was constantly endeavor-
ing to improve chemical processes. For instance, you surely
remember how he made anhydrous prussic acid by letting
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 196
hydrogen sulphide act upon mercuric cyanide and ccmdens-
ing the volatilized acid in a '' refrigerated phial/' And, in
exploding a mixture of hydrogen and chlorine, the flask ocm-
taining Ihem was so placed '' that a mirror receiving the solar
rays directly, reflected them upon the flask."
Hare illustrated the decomposition and recomposition of
water upon an extensive scale by the use of that large eudi-
ometer, at the right end of the table, supplied with platinum
'' ' electrodes ' agreeably to the language of the celebrated
Faraday." Is it not a striking piece of apparatus, calculated
to produce a marked impressicm? It was, in i^rt, yrbaX every
teacher of the science does at present in his experimental
course of lectures, but Hare operated on a grander scale.
You are not too weary to hear his account of freezing
water by the aid of sulphuric acid — are you? Well, it was
like this:
" It appeared to me that the failure arose from imper-
fection in the vacuum. An excellent pump, with perfectly
air tight cocks, is indispensable ; and not only must the pump
be wdl made, it must likewise be in good order. Neither
should the packing of the pistons, the valves, nor the cocks,
allow of the slightest leakage. If a pump has been used
previously for freezing, by the experiment of ether, it will not
be ccmipetent for the experiment in question, unless it be
taken apart and cleansed.
Cocks of the ordinary construction, are rarely if ever
perfectly air tight, and their imperfection always increases
with wear. Under these impressions, having cleansed my air
pump, and put it into the best order possible, for the purpose
of obviating leakage through the cocks associated with the
instrument, I clos^ the hole in the centre of the air pump
plate by a screw, and for a receiver made use of a bell glass
with a perforated neck furnished with a brass cap and a
female screw, by means of which one of my valve cocks was
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IM THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
attadied. A oommunicaticm between the bell, and the diam-
bers of my pump, was established through the valve cock
and a flexible lead pipe. In this way I succeeded in preserv-
ing the vacuum, longer than ^en the cocks of the air pump
were employed in the process; and accomplished the conge-
lation of water by means of tlie vacuum and sulphuric acid.
Latterly, I have used an apparatus in which a brass cover
is made to close a large glass jar so as to be quite tight. In
operating, the bottom of the jar was covered with sulphuric
acid, and another jar with feet, also supplied with acid enough
to make a stratum half an inch deep on the bottcmi, was in-
troduced. The bottom of the vessel last mentioned, was, by
means of the feet, kept at such a height above the surface of
the add in the outer jar, as not to toudi it. Upon the surface
of the glass vessel, a small thin sheet brass was placed, made
concave in the middle, so as to hold a small quantity of water.
The brass cover was furnished with three valve cocks, one
communicating with the air pump, another with a barometer
gauge, and the third with a funnel supplied with water.
Under these circumstances, having made a vacuum on a
Saturday, I was enabled to freeze water situated on the brass,
and to keep up the congelation till the Thursday following.
As the water in the state of ice evaporates probably as fast
as when liquid, during the night, the whole quantity frozen
would have entirely disappeared, but for the assistance of a
watchman whom I engaged to supply water at intervals.
At a maximum I suppose the mass of ice was at times about
two indies square, and from a quarter to a half an inch
thick. The gradual introduction of the water, by aid of the
funnel and valve cock, also of the pipe by which it was con-
ducted to the cavity in the sheet brass, enabled me to accumu-
late a much larger mass than I could have produced other-
wise. The brass band whidi embraces the inner jar near
the brim, with the three straps proceeding from it, serves
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 197
to keep this jar in a proper position; that is in fact concen-
tric with the outer jar/'
Having seen some of his diemical and physical apparatus,
may we not, with propriety, pay a little visit to the man him-
self? On tapping the door of the study gently there at once
comes a kind invitation to enter. We are profoundly im-
pressed by meeting, at the threshold, a figure of real grandeur
with a remarkable head and features; the frame robust —
powerful and ample in structure; but the genial welcome —
the smile in the eye — encourage us, so we hasten to con-
gratulate him upon the wcmderful things we have seen, while
he smilingly receives our words in silence, for it seems he
never gave much thought to his marvellous inventive powers
and was more apt to refer to some theoretical topic to which
he had given consideration. While we talk he turns to a case
from which he removes a small sealed tube and, breaking
off the end, drops on a plate a brown powder which imme-
diately inflames and we are informed that this is the new
pyrophorus, obtained by exposing Prussian Blue to a high
heat, in a tube sealed at both ends.
There was next exhibited to us a remarkably beautiful
specimen of potasrium, in globular form, and we heard how
it had been prepared by modifying Brunner's process which
consisted in subjecting to intense heat, in a luted iron mer-
cury bottle, carbonized cream of tartar mixed with coarsely
powdered charcoal. The potassium, as it distilled over, was
cau^t in a copper vessel containing naphtha. '" I substituted
an iron tube which becomes finally full of the metal and a
carbonaceous mass, which sublimes during the operaticm.
The tube is then removed and the end nearest the bottle
screwed into a tapering tube, while the other orifice is closed
by a cap, into which it fastens by screwing. The tube is then
placed vertically in a furnace, through the bottom of which
the tapering tube extends so as to be out of the way of the
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198 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
heat. Under the orifice of this tube, a vessel may be placed,
containing some naphtha, to receive the potassium as it de-
scends in globules, after fusion or condensation from tiie
state of vapour. The last porticms are not evolved before the
fire in the furnace reaches a white heat. . • • By these
means, I procured last winter, at one operaticm, more than
six ounces of potassium.''
It was in reference to this that the accompanying letter
was written:
" My dear Silliman " ^^^^' ^O*^ J«»'
I beg pardon for not replying sooner to your letter of the
10^ inst. but trust you are not so wanting in faith as [to]
doubt that I have had sufficient reason for the delay.
The bellows which I employ in making potassium are
about of the largest size usually employ'd by blacksmiths.
The tuyere is four inches square so that ^en using than for
the ordinary forge fire we have to counterbalance the upper
board instead of loading it as is common to do — Wh«i to
be used to produce the greatest heat we remove the coimter-
poise & without loading can blow with ample force against
a stratum of coal one foot in height —
I have a square hole in the hearth about ten indies each
way on which I place a . . . grate — I have some bars
put together with screws so as to foe widened or narrow'd
lengthened or shortened thus. These bars are used to bind
together Sturbridge fire bricks, two of whidi are shortened
at a convenient place for la3ring the gun barrel across.
This furnace is seated over the grate of its dimensions
being made to correspond with the length of the containing
tube so as to let it bear about ^ inch at eadi end on the
bricks under it — There should be about 8 inches in each side
of the tube between it & the brick work —
I have not used lute to the tube but mean to try one next
tune — I am told farinaceous substances as oil cake meal
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 199
kneaded with clay answer in very high heats. Plumbago has
also been recommended. I should advise to use some thin
coating which might vitrify — ^The Black»niths use loam —
Perhaps Borax & lime might be good — ^A thick luting may
impede the heat too mudi — I prefer card teeth as being
of the purest iron & very much divided like hair in a mode
singularly calculated for exposure.
I could send you some waste card teeth at 20 cents p
pound.
The box of minerals is at M' Jordans. I have had no
opportunity of sending it. I have received & approve of
your last imd will attend to its suggestions.
Your faithful
F* RoB^ Habe "
'' It might be possible to baste the iron with some vitrifiable
matter & improve the process & thus save it from injury in
a greater degree somewhat as cooks serve their roast meat.*'
In another place he tells that from 1818 he had pursued
the method of keeping potassium in glass without naphtha.
I copied his accoimt from an early publication. It reads:
'' I have been accustomed to seal a tube at one end, then
to heat it at a convenient distance from the end, and re-
duce the diameter by drawing it down to about a quarter
of an inch. Into the tube thus prepared, hydrogen is made
to enter, so as to exclude the air. The potassium being then
introduced, and the open end of the tube, closed by means
of a spirit lamp, the metal may be fused, and with a little
dexterity may be transferred in pure globules to that part
of the cavity of the tube which is between the sealed end
and the narrow part. This object being effected, the tube is
divided at that part, and sealed by fusion.
In this case the potassium usually falls upon tiie glass and
adheres to it, presenting a perfectly brilliant metallic coating,
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«00 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
and preserves tliis appearance witliout diminution for years.
It is however liable to inflammation frcnn slight onuses
when kept without naphtha. I had an ounce of it in a small
phial for eighteen months which took fire on my venturing
to divide the phial by means of a file.'*
On a certain occasion he tried to free small globules of
potassium from naphtha by heating them in a sealed tube,
" properly recin^ed to act as a retort/* After the metal had
been removed he sought to examine " the caput mortuum
left in the tube used as a retort." He struck it with a ham-
mer and was " startled by a violent detonation." Berzelius
thought these explosions due to moisture, but Hare experi-
enced them when moisture could not have contributed to the
result. His belief was that they arose from a " reaction of
potassium, naphtha and flint glass."
I am quite siu^e that you will enjoy his story of how he
filled tubes with potassium. He said:
'' I have succeeded in filling glass tubes with potassium in
the following manner. One end of a tube is luted to one of
the orifices of a cock; to the other orifice, the neck of a gum
elastic bag of a suitable size is attached. The open end of the
tube is reduced in diameter by means of a flame excited by
the blowpipe, so as to have an orifice about large enough to
receive a knitting needle. The gum-elastic bag is filled with
hydrogen, and the cock closed. Meanwhile the potassium is
heated in naphtha, in a larger tube, till it lies at the bottom
in a liquid state.
In the next place, the bag is grasped with one hand and
subjected to pressure, at the same time introducing the small
orifice of the tube into the naphtha, the cock is opened till
the hydrogen begins to escape in bubbles. The escape of
the bubbles is kept up to prevent the naphtha from entering
the tube, and to evacuate the bag. Before this is quite aceom-
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 iJOl
plished, the orifice of the tube is to be approximated to the
surface of the potassium as nearly as possible without enter-
ing it, and just as the last of the gas is expelled, is to be
merged in tibe metal. The cock is at the same time to be
dos^, and the pressure of the hand on the bag discontinued.
The cock being in the next place very cautiously opened, the
elasticity of the bag counteracts the pressure of the atmos-
phere witiiin the tube; and the liquid potassium is forced to
rise into it This eflFect may be controlled by the cock, which
is to be closed when the column of the metal has attained
a satisfactory height. After being removed, cooled and sep-
arated from the cock, the tube may be closed by a covering
of ^eet gum-elastic, such as is procured by the inflation of
bags softened by ether. Any portion of the contents thus
preserved may be extricated by cutting off and fracturing a
portion of the tube, adequate to yield the requisite quantity.
In order to guard against accidents the apparatus was
heated in this process by a bath of naphtha; in a bath of hot
water. For the object last mentioned, tiie vessels ordinarily
used for tiie solution of glue were employed, the naphtha
being placed in the inner vessel usually occupied by the glue.
I have long been in the practice of filling tubes with
phosphorus by a similar process.''
It will be remembered that Hare synthesized ammonia
in a most original way: it consisted in the union of two
volumes of nitric oxide and five volumes of hydrogen on
directing this mixture in the form of a jet upon gently heated
platinum sponge. He evidentiy was tiie first person to use
platinized asbestos for such contact work.
As we sit and gaze upon these almost numberless objects
of Hare's originality and skill there come to mind other
remarkable things which he achieved. It was he who sug-
gested the expediency of using the " galvanic fluid " to fire
gunpowder below the surface of water. On one occasion
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202 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
before the members of the American Philosophical Society
he referred to " the safety, certainty and facility " with whidb
tjbis might be done. And said he again referred to it '' in
consequence of the recent publication of analogous experi-
ments by his friend, Professor Daniell, of King's College,
London, who, in the case in point, no doubt as in that in which
he had " * reinvented ' Dr. Hare's concentric blowpipe, was
ignorant of the result previously obtained in this country.
Prof. Daniell had, in blasting, used the highly ingenious
apparatus known as ' Daniell's sustaining battery ' t^e con-
trivance of which had done him great honour; but he con-
ceived that however preferable might be a battery of that
kind, in processes requiring a permanent current; for a
transient energetic ignition, such as is most suitable for
blasting, the caloric motors which he had contrived would
be decidedly more efficacious."
It was before the same Society that he told how on explod-
ing the elements of water in contact with certaingases or essen-
tial oils, '' the aqueous elements, instead of condensing, com-
bine with the hydrogen and carixxi to yield a permanent gas."
In laboratories where frequent recourse is had to the use
of dry hydrogen chloride as, for example, in the expulsion
of molybdic acid from pure sodium molybdate, in the form of
MoO(OH)2Cli, the gas is evolved by dropping crude muri-
atic acid from a funnel tube into a round-bottom flask con-
taining concentrated sulphiuic acid with application of a
very gentle heat. The reverse may be used — sulphuric acid
into commercial muriatic acid. This procedure Hare made
known to the chemical world.
All of us are familiar with the " roseate tint " which may
be imparted to light from illuminating gas by the flame sur-
rounded by mica. This we owe to Hare's ingenuity. He
said that " a thin sheet of mica, curved into a cylindrical form
so as to enter a glass chimney, will retain the form thus im-
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 208
parted, in consequence of its elasticity and the omfinement
of the including glass. Thus employed, mica would correct
the lurid influence of gas illumination, so much objected to
by all who are desirous to appear " couleur de rose."
Very neat chimneys had been constructed, and main-
tained in the cylindrical form, by frames of tin plate, secured
by rivets. Of course, the more delicate the frames, consis-
tently with due firmness, the better. However costly at first,
mica chimneys, he believed, would be cheaper in the long run,
than those in common use.
When employed within a glass chimney, as he had de-
scribed, the mica afforded the glass much protection against
the fliuning gas.
The mica, by which these results were obtained, when in
thick plates, had a brownish red tinge, whether seen by
reflected or transmitted light.
Furliier, he invented the valve-cock or gallows screw,
by which " communicating cavities " in separate pieces of
apparatus can be connected and made perfectly air-tight.
Hare further devised an apparatus for separating car-
bonic oxide from carbonic acid, by means of lime water.
It stands just in front of the Utrameter.
""Lime water being introduced in sufficient quantity,
into an inverted large bell glass, another smaller bell glass
is supported within it. Both of the bells have perforated
necks. The inverted bell is furnished with a brass cap hav-
ing a stuffing box attached to it, tiiroug^ which a tube of
copper slides air-tight. About the lower end of this tube,
the neck of the gum-elastic bag is tied. The neck of the
other bell is furnished with a cap and cock, siumounted by
a gallows screw, by means of which a lead pipe with a brass
knob at the end suitably perforated, may be fastened to it,
or removed at any moment. Suppose this pipe, by aid of
another brass knob at the other extremity, to be attached to
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S04 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
the perforated neck of a very tall bell glass filled wiiii water
upon the shelf of a pneumatic cistern; on opening a com-
munication between the bells, the water will subside in the tall
bell glass, over the cistern, and the air of the bell glass being
drawn into it, the lime water will rise into and occupy the
whole of the space within the latter. As soon as this is
effected, the cocks must be closed and the tall bell glass re-
placed by a small one filled with water, and furnished with a
gaUows screw and cock. This bell being attached to the knob
of the lead pipe to which the tall bell had been fastened be-
fore, the apparatus is ready for use. Hare said, "" I have
employed it in the new process for obtaining carbonic oxide
from oxalic acid, by distillation with sulphuric acid in a glass
retort. The gaseous product ccxisists of equal volumes of
oxide and carbonic acid, whidi, being received in a bell glass
communicating as above described by a pipe with the bell
glass, may be transferred into the latter, through the pipe,
by opening the cocks. As the gaseous mixture enters the
smaller bell, the lime water subsides. As soon as a sufficient
quantity of the gas has entered, the gaseous mixture may,
by means of the gum-elastic bag and the hand, be subjected
to repeated jets of lime water, and tiius depurated of all
the carbonic acid. By raising the water in the outer bell
the purified carbonic oxide may be propelled, through the
cock and lead pipe, into any vessel to which it may be desir-
able to have it transferred and measured."
Hare also devised a water-hath, with funnel, for use in
the filtration of hot, saturated solutioi^, so as to prevent too
rapid crystallization. Modem forms of this apparatus exist.
And then we next saw " the twenty-three ounces of plat-
inum which on a certain occasion he had fused with the oxy-
hydrogen flame," as well as a specimen of pure platinum
freed from iridivun by the process of Berzelius ; and the iridium
and rhodivun which had been fused. These latter metals
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 205
"" became more fusible by continued and repeated fusion • • •
both appeared to evolve some volatile matter, and did not be-
come completely solid until after being repeatedly fused." He
also succeeded in fusing iridium osmiuret. In determining
the q>ecific gravity of iridium he found it to be 21.80 — ^higher
therefore than that of platinum. From this he remarked:
"An important inference from these results was, that
as iridium is tiie only impurity in standard platinum, a high
specific gravity indicates neither a superior degree of purity
nor malleability.
A piece of standard malleable platinum, of a very fine
white colour, presented to Dr. Hare by his excellency. Count
Cancrine, tiie Russian minister of finance, as of the best
quality of Russian platinvun, proved, according to Eckf eldt,
to have a specific gravity of 21.81 ; when a specimen, purified
from iridium agreeably to the instruction of Berzelius, and
which had been found pre-eminently susceptible of being
beaten into leaf, weighed only 21.16.
On its first fusion. Hare found the specific gravity of
rhodium to be 11 ; precisely what, on examining his books,
it was ascertained to have been made by Wollaston. But
after it had crystallized superficially, as above described, it
was by a magnifier discovered to be minutely porous under
the facets. In this state its specific gravity was found by
Eckf eldt to be 10.8.
Observe that bottle labeled fulminating silver. Hare was
accidentally badly injured by an explosion of this substance.
His friend Silliman thereupon wrote and published the
following:
"'Many persons have sustained injuries, more or less
severe, from fulminating silver, and much anxiety was felt
for the safety of Dr. Hare, who met with a dangerous acci-
dent, of this kind, early in February (1882).
We learn from him that the quantity which exploded
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S06 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
was such, as in its light feathery state, nearly filled an ounce
hottle. It had been dried on a filter, but, in three trials,
failed to explode by percussion. By a subsequent exposure
in the evaporating oven, it was rendered unusually explosive.
Hence as Dr. Hare was in the act of pouring out a anall
portion, upon the face of a hanmier, iiie whole exploded,
without any obvious cause, unless as he suggests, it was a
slight pressure, which might possibly have been created upoa
a particle of the powder, between the neck of the bottle and
the hanuner. By the explosion, the bones of all the fingers
of the right hand, except the little finger, were more or less
broken; part of the flesh of the terminating joint of the
thumb was torn off together with the nail, and the latter
was found upon the laboratory floor ; the correspcmding finger
was much injured, and the palm bruised and lacerated.
His faithful and experienced assistant, George Work-
man, was holding the hammer at the moment of the explosicm,
and was consequently wounded in the face and eyes; into
one of the latter, a spicula of glass was driven, which was
not removed without skillful surgical aid; he recovered how-
ever, in a fortnight. A pupil was wounded slightly in iiie
face, and Dr. Hare himself had a small fragment of glass
removed from one of his eyes. Amcmg his late and pres^it
colleagues, are some of the most skillful of surgeons, who,
with his pupils, were immediately present to afford every
necessary aid. It appears, that he had been accustomed, for
six years, to pour from the same vial, such portions of ful-
minating silver as he needed for his experiments, and had
never met with any accident. He had, in the present in-
stance, prepared an unusual quantity with reference to some
analjrtical experiments which he had proposed to perform
by igniting the powder in a receiver of known capacity, by
means of a wire galvanized in vacuo; the quantity of gaseous
matter was to be ascertained by a gage, and iiie kinds by
accurate eudicnnetrical analysis.
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SECOND PEBIOD, 1818-1847 207
Happily, no tetanic symptoms followed, and aliiiougli the
patient suffered intensely, he has been mercifully spared to
his family and friends and the world. Excepting some rigidity
and tenderness in the renovated muscles, he is now recovered."
Another vial is marked stigar from the m>eet potato, of
which Hare said :
''Dr. Tid3anan of South Carolina, lately supplied me
with some sweet potatoes, of a kind in which sweet matter is
peculiarly abundant, and requested that I would ascertain
if there were any sugar in them. Having pared, and by
means of the instrument used for slicing cabbages or cucum-
bers, reduced them to very thin slices; about a pound was
boiled in alcohol of the specific gravity of 0.845, which ap-
peared to extract all the sweetness, yet on cooling yielded no
crystals of sugar. The solution being subjected to distilla-
tion, till the alcohol was removed, an uncrystallizable syrup
remained. In like manner, when aqueous infusions of the
potatoes were concentrated, by boiling or evaporation, the
residual syrup was uncrystallizable. It appears therefore
that the sweet matter of this vegetable is analogous to molas-
ses, or the sacchrum to malt. Its resemblance to the latter
was so remarkable, that I was led to boil a wort, made from
the potatoes, of proper spissitude, say s. g. 1060, with due
quantity of hops, about two hours.
It was then cooled to about sixty-five degrees, and yeast
was added. As far as I could judge, the phenomena of the
fermentation, and the resulting liquor, were precisely the
same as if malt had been used. The wort was kept in a
warm place until the temperature 85 F. and the fall of the
heat showed the attenuation to be sufficient. Teast subse-
quently rose, which was removed by a spoon. By refrigera-
tion a further quantity of yeast precipitated, from which
the liquor being decanted became tolerably fine, for new
beer, and, in flavour, exactly like ale made from malt.
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206 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
I believe it possible to make good liquor from malt in
this comitry, as in England, but that in our climate much
more vigilance is required to have it invariably good, prin-
cipally because the great and sudden changes of temperature,
render malting much more precarious. Should the Mcchanim
of the sweet potato prove to be a competent substitute for
that of germinated grain, the quality will probably be less
variable, since its development requires but little skill and
vigilance.
Besides, as it exists naturally in the plimt, it may be
had where it would be aknost impossible to make, or procure
malt. Hops, the other material for beer, require only pick-
ing and drying to perfect them for use.
They are indigenous in the United States, and, no doubt,
may be raised in any part of our territory.
I have dried, in my evaporating oven, some of the sweet
potatoes in slices. It seems to me that in tliis state they will
keep a long while, and may be useful in making leaven for
bread. Tbey may take the place of the malt necessary in a
certain proportion, to render distillers' wash fermentable.
The yeast yielded by the potato beer appeared in odour and
flavour to resemble that from malt beer surprisingly, and the
quantity, in proportion, was as great. In raising bread, it
was found equally efficacious.
I propose the word stuwin, from the Latin suavis, sweet,
to distinguish the syrup of the sweet potato. The same word
might, perhaps, be advantageously applied as a generic ap-
pellation to molasses, and the uncrystallizable sugar of grapes,
of honey, and of malt.
Crystallizable sugar might be termed saccharin, since tlie
terminating of saccharum is appropriated in chemistry to
metals."
In the little jar at tiie side of the vial containing ful-
minating silver is a specimen of boron. It was made (1888)
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 209
by the interaction of potassium and vitrified boracic acid m
vacuo. In its preparation Hare made a circular brass plate,
like the plate of an air-pump '' so as to produce with any
suitable receivers properly ground, an air-tight juncture."
It was supported on the upper end of a hoUow brass cylin-
der, with the bore of which it had a corresponding aperture.
The brass cylinder was about three inches in diameter, and
six inches in height, being inserted at its lower end into a
block of wood as a basis. This cylinder received below, a
screw, which supported a copper tube, of about two inches in
diameter, so as to have its axis concentric with that of the
cylinder, and to extend about four inches above the plate.
The copper tube, thus supported, was closed at the upper
termination by a cup of copper, of a shape nearly hemispher-
ical, and soldered at the upper edge, to the edge of the tube;
so that the whole of the cavity of the cup, was within that of
the tube. Hence the bottom of the cup was accessible to any
body, not larger than the bore of the tube, without any com-
munication arising between the cavity of the tube, and that of
any receiver placed upon the plate, over the cup and tube.
Into the side of the cylinder, supporting the plate, a valve
cock was screwed, by means of which, and a flexible leaden
tube, a communication with an air-pump was opened, or
discontinued, at pleasure.
The cup being first covered with a portion of the vitrified
boracic acid, as anhydrous as possible, and finely pulverized,
the potassiiun was introduced, and afterwards covered with
a further portion of the same acid, two parts of the potas-
sium being used for one of the acid. A large glass receiver
was then placed on the plate, secured by rods concentric with
the tube and cup ; from the heat of which the glass was to be
protected by a bright cylinder of sheet brass, placed around
it so as to be concentrical with the receiver and tube.
The apparatus being so prepared, and the receiver ex-
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210 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
hausted of air by means of the air-pump, an incandescent
iron was introduced through the bore of the tube, so as to
touch the bottom of the copper cup. In a short time a re-
action commenced, which, aiding the influence of the hot iron,
rendered the cup and its ccmtents ted hot. A deep red flame
appears throughout the mass, after which the reaction les-
sens, and the heat declines.
When the cup has beccxne cold, the air is admitted into
the receiver, and the contents are washed with water. If any
of the acid has escaped decomposition, it may be removed
by boiling the mass with a solution of potash or soda. After
this treatment and due desiccation a powder will remain, hav-
ing the characteristic color and properties of boron.
The next bottle contains silicon. It wiU be remembered
that Hare had isolated this elem^it and also boron from
their gaseous fluorides with the aid of potassium and the
calorimotor. This happened in 1888. Some time after he
resorted to a much simpler process:
"A bell glass, over mercury, was filled with fluosilidc
acid, and by means of a bent wire, a cage of wire gauze, con-
taining a suita)ble quantity of potassium, was introduced
through the mercury into the cavity of the bell, and supported
in a position nearly in the centre of it. A knob of iron was
made at the end of the rod, so recurved as to readi the cage
with ease. The knob, having been heated nearly white hot,
was passed through the mercury, so as to touch the cage, and
cause the combustion of the potassium and evolution of the
silicon. Of this, much remains attached to the cage, in ccmi-
bination with Ihe fluoride of potassium, from which tiie silicon
may be separated by washing in cold water and digesticm in
nitric acid.
^' The silicon thus obtained does not appear to be acted
on either by sulphuric, nitric, fluoric, or muriatic acids; nor
when exposed to nitrate of potash liquefied by heat. It seems
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SECOND PEBIQD, 1818-1847 211
to be soluble for the most part in a mixture of nitric and
fluoric add, which by analogy we may call nitro-fluoric acid ;
but after exposure for eighteen hours to this solvent, a small
proporticm of a black matter remained undissolved. This
is, in all probability, carbon derived from the potassium,
which, according to Berzelius, when obtained by Brunner's
process, is liable to be combined with carbon. Tlie solution
of nitro-fluoric acid, decanted from the residual black powder
into a solution of pearlash, gave a copious, white, gelatinous
precipitate like silex, which, when thrown into a large quan-
tity of water, subsided undissolved. When on subjectii]^ the
silicon to red hot nitrate of potash, anhydrous carbonate of
the same alkali was added, so as to co-operate with the nitre,
an explosive effervescence took place, all ihe silicon disap-
peared, and a compound resembling^ the silicate of potash
was produced. This anomalous reaction may be considered
as characteristic of silicon.
The impression tiiat the black matter insoluble in the
nitro-fluoric acid, was carbon, is confirmed by the fact, that
after the silicon had been digested for some hours in strong
nitric add, and finally boiled in it to dryness, it dissolved in
a nitro-fluoric acid without any such residuum."
In the adjoining bottle there is a resin. Hare called it
sassarubrin and wrote the same on the label of the containing
vessel. This resin was obtained by the interaction of sul-
phuric acid and oil of sassafras. When the resin is dropped
into concentrated sulphuric acid the latter acquires a crim-
son colour. Hare expressed the thought that a new series
of resins might be evolved from the essential oils, by contact
with sulphuric add (1887).
One cannot but wonder whether the rich black ink, seen
on all the labels, was made by Hare ** by letting an infusion
of galls stand over finery cinder till it was saturated? " He
represented the product as most satisfactory, in all respects —
" in which there is no free acid.'*
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212 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
Here is a specimen of a ftdnUnating powder whidi Haie
made as follows: an equivdent of lime was mixed with an
equivalent and one-half of '^ bycyanide of mercury/' and the
mixture introduced into a porcelain crucible placed in an
air-tight alembic of iron '' so as completely to exclude atmos-
pheric air." The whole was exposed to a red heat The resid-
ual mass was dissolved in acetic acid, the solution filtered,
and mercurous nitrate added to the liquid. The precipitate
was washed and '' when well dried was found to constitute a
powder capable of fulminating by percussicxi (1889) ."
Look at that splendid specimen of artificial camphor
which Hare got in 1889 by '' impregnating oil of turpentine "
with dry hydrochloric acid gas! The pinene preseat in our
American oil of turpentine, when acted on with the dry
gas, is responsible for this synthesis.
And there is a sample of alkanet in that tube. This it
was that Hare suggested should be used as an indicator in
alkalimetric and acidimetric determinations (p. 109).
The sample of ethyl perchlorate, indicated by him as
present in another vial, was made, you recall, by his son,
Clark Hare (p. 852) in collaboration with Martin Boy^
Indeed, on all sides there are evidences preserved of the
activity of former assistants and pupils. Among these men
may be mentioned Franklin Bache, who rendered frequent
and able service in experimental work and often assisted in
Hare's literary labors, for we are reminded that he saw at
least one edition of the Compendium through the press when
Hare was absent in Europe. There was also D'Wolf, pro-
fessor of chemistry in Brown University Medical Sdiool,
whose "knowledge of Chemistry was acquired under the
celebrated chemist — ^Robert Hare." Dr. D'Wolf is reported
to have been a brilliant lecturer. And George T. Bowen
who, under Silliman's direction, had studied the magnetic
effects of the calorimotor, came to Philadelphia to profit by
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SECOND FEBIOD, 1818^1847 tl8
Hare's instruction. He completed the medical course at
the same time. He was also a relative of Mrs. Hare. He
subsequently became professor of chemistry in the Univer*
sily ot Tennessee^ Nashville. Robert E. Rogers was another
who, under Hare's inspiration, executed some really notable
work upon osmosis. While Martin Boy^, a Swede, subse-
quently professor of chemistry in the Central High School
of Philadelphia, engaged in noteworthy researdies with Hare
and the latter's son. Just what Wolcott Gibbs did in his
sojourn in Hare's laboratory is not known. He must have
at least received gamine inspiration from his great colleague
from which he and others later profited greatly. And so,
many more might be here cited to show that Hare had created
a g^iuine centre of chemical research and thought, to which
the serious-minded young scientists of the country turned
their eyes. The evidences of all this are apparait in the
vast amount of original material in the way of apparatus
and preparations which was amassed in the years of Hare's
greatest activity.
Having revelled among the marvellous collecti(»s in the
lecture rocmi and laboratory and having listened to words
from the great investigator, we take our departure with ex-
pressions of gratitude wholly inadequate for the pleasure
which has been ours and wend our way silently homewards,
thinking, thinking — of the great privilege which had been
granted us.
If to-day — ^years, long years afterward — ^we should wish
to pay a real visit to the places we have in imagination left, it
could not be done. The buildings in which were those won-
derful coUecticms have disappeared. Even the collections
have vanished. All is gone. It occurred in this maimer:
When Hare in 1847 resigned his professordiip, the ap-
paratus accumulated by him '' was replaced by another ap-
paratus belonging to my successor." Thereupcm Joseph
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214 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
Henry, Secretary of the Smithsonian Instituticm, suggested
(1848) that Hare should offer his collections to that institu-
tion, saying:
" Several of the articles belong to the history of the science
of our country and would be interesting mementos of the
past which should be preserved in some public institution."
To which Hare replied: "' that it would be agreeable to
me to comply with the proposal, it being understood that the
cost of the removal of the apparatus and of its being put in
good order should be defrayed by the Institution, so that
while an the one hand I should receive nothing, on the other,
I should not be at any expense; also that suitable apartments
and cases should be provided for the keeping and using of the
apparatus for the purpose of investigation and illustration."
The Smithsonian accepted the terms. It was left to Henry
to reject all that might be of no use to the Institution, for
as Hare said: '" I did not deem it proper that I should de-
termine how far articles, which I had preserved under the
idea of a contingent utility, might be worthy of the cost of
transportation and of the space whidi they would occupy in
the buildings of the Institution." The apparatus was packed
up in the simimer of 1847.
In reports of the Smithsonian Instituticm it appears that
rooms were to be set aside for chemical and physical ap-
paratus; ^'that the room on the east connected with the
museum had been fitted up with cases in which to deposit the
collection of apparatus presented by Dr. Hare . . . which
was interesting on account of its association with the history
of the advance of science in tiiis country. The collection con-
tained most of the articles invented by the donor, and which
are described in the scientific journals of the first half of the
present century (19th). Among the chemical implements
were those used by that distinguished chemist, in procuring
for the first time, without the aid of galvanism, calcium, the
metallic basis of lime."
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 216
Younger generations of chemists in his own university
have invariably expressed the deepest regret that Hare
should have made the preceding transfer of his scientific
treasures. Quite recently, when llie writer approached the
present Secretary of the Smithsonian for possible data — ^let-
ters and the like, — ccmceming Hare, he was grieved to learn
that all but a few pamphlets had perished in a fire whidi,
some years ago, took place in the museum. And thus was
sustained an irreparable loss, regretted at this moment. No
wonder then that the old Compendium is so precious to all
who care to know something of tiie history of scientific, ex-
perimental endeavor in this country. Let us dierish it then
and when in our human conceit we fancy that only the present
is worth the while, turn to its pages and there behold that in
many things to-day we were anticipated and that our original
ideas were long ago formulated by at least one pioneer of
science. To confirm this assertion hear what another Amer-
ican chemist — one who has wrought and wrought well, —
deeply esteemed and honored at home and abroad, — ^said in
1915:
" I became interested in double halides and published an
article giving my views regarding the nature of these com-
pounds. Soon after the appearance of my article I received
a letter from Dr. Woloott Gibbs telling me that Robert Hare
had expressed similar views in 1821. He sent me his copy
of Hare's Chemistry and I was astonished to read the chapter
that had been written fifty or sixty years before my article.
The line of thought was practically identical with mine, and
it was expressed beautifully. . . . Hare was both inves-
tigator and scientific philosopher. Ira Remsen."
And in the report of the Smithscmian Institution for
1849 appeared this resolution:
'' The following gentlemen having been recommended
by the Regents uid ofBcers of the Institution, and being duly
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tie THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
considered by this meeting, were, on motion of Mr. Meredith,
unanimously elected hcmorary members of the Smithsonian
Institution, viz.:
Dr. Robert Hare, of Philadelphia,
Albert GaDatin, of New York,
Dr. Benjamin Silliman, of Connecticut,
Washington Irving, of New York.'*
Hare, from the words of friends, was a congenial com-
panion and while engrossed in the solution of some of the
most perplexing problems of physical science, nevertheless
took every occasicm to be present at all social f uncticms fre-
quented by the leaders in the various walks of professicmal,
civil and scientific life. Among others be was an in-
terested member of the famous " Wistar Party,*' having for
its members the leaders among men in Fhiladdphia, all of
whom were obliged as a first requisite to be members of the
American Philosophical Society.
The following invitaticm carefully indited upon a single
sheet of note paper, found in the archives of the Ridgway
Library, indicates Hare's membership in this organization of
genial, keen, intelligent gentlemen:
D' Hare requests the Pleasure
of D^ Rushs company on Saturday
evg next
March 18*^ 1882
Wistar Party
The eminent surgeon, Samuel D. Gross, wrote of Hare:
'' In his old age I used to see him at the Wistar Parties.
He was a grand specimen of the genus homo, with broad
shoulders and an inmaense head. If his brain had been ex-
amined, its weight would probably not have been below that
of Cuvier, Humboldt or Webster. He read much, thought
much, talked much. Upon almost every subject he possessed
a fund of information . . . a man of capacious intdlect.''
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 217
In his busiest days he found time to dwell upon themes
not scientific. For instance, in 1884, he reverted to ideas he
had years before set forth and now expanded them in an
" Essay cm Credit," in the preface of which appear these
very striking and interesting words:
'' It is well known that the vocation of the author, and his
predominant taste for the cultivation of science, are irrecon-
cilable with political life,'' but he was nevertheless prevailed
upon to discuss his subject ** to obviate financial objections to
the creation of a Navy," and, therefore, in this second essay
he aimed to prove:
" That Credit is an original mediimi of commercial inter-
change, constituting in fact a species of money.
That '' paper credit " has been erroneously considered as
the repres^itative of gold and silver money, although those
metals, as the only satisfactory and accessible test of paper
money, are to a certain extent necessary to give it currency.
That while it is true that in this respect, and in some
others, gold and silver may perform services to which credit
is incompetent, it is equidly demcmstrable that credit may
avail under circumstances, in which the precious metals may
either be incompetent, or unattainable.
That credit is especially the money of the honest and in-
dustrions, whether mechanics, traders, or ctdtivators of the
soiL
That Banks give an extension to the credit of men of
small capital, which enables them to deal with persons to
whom their credit would be imknown, and thus to acquire
the means of employing the labouring class.
That as state banks are useful in performing services to
which the credit of individuals is inc(»npetent, so a national
bank is advantageous in reaching cases to which state banks
are incompetent.
That banks are useful in supplying a more convenient,
and less expensive currency than coin.
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218 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
That credit not only enables the capital of one part of
our country, to promote the industry and improvement of
other parts, it also enables us by the sale of bank shares, or
certificates of state, or national, debt in foreign countries, to
enrich our country by all the difference between the profits
of the capital thus obtained, and Uie interest paid to the
foreign stockholders.
That the blessings arising from the great mean of public
prosperity, which forms the subject of this essay, are depend-
ent on the compet^icy, supremacy, and stability of the laws.
That in this respect the employment of credit as a means
of commercial interchange, has a happy influence in associat-
ing the pecuniary interest of the great mass of the com-
munity, with the cause of good morals, public order, and
true liberty."
In 1887 Hare was carried into a discussion — political in
character. He evidently had been persuaded by otihiers, for
it seems to have been a period of pamphleteering. Thus men
like J. Dymond wrote "An Inquiry Into the Accordancy
of War with the Principles of Christianity,*' and William M.
Gouge, Albert Gallatin, Alexander Hamilton and others
were intensely occupied with the banking systCTi. Hare's
contribution now bore the title, '' Suggestions Respecting
the Reformation of the Banking System." * The document
was addressed to Mahlon Dickerscm, Esq., Secretary of the
Navy, who had expressed a wish to be made acquainted with
Hare's views on the reformation of the currency. After in-
dulging in preliminary observations. Hare considers the three
principal functions of the banking business — the issue of bills,
loaning of money, and receiving and holding deposits sub-
ject to order. These functions he held were not inseparable,
and urged that they ought not to be united. It was a national
prerogative to issue bills or notes, while the other functions
« Philadelphia, printed by Jrfin C Clark, No. 60 Dock St.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 «19
were inherently a private right. The hostility to banks was
in truth directed against their issue of notes. He thought
that if banking was a disease, then excision was a too heroic
treatment, something milder was needed. It was inexpedi-
ent to restrict offices of discount and deposit if the right
to issue bills was not assumed. The association of the func-
tion of loaning money on personal security with that of the
issiiance of notes was pregnant with evil. It is a national
duty to create and support a good and stable currency.
Specie is a proper measure of value, but not an adequate
haris for a ciurency. Specie is an article of merchandise,
and liable to be abstracted in order to restore the balance of
trade in other articles. National credit is a more secure
basis. The nation, therefore, should guarantee its currency.
In 1791 only three banks existed to be curbed; now (1887)
more than seven hundred were to be ciurtailed in their circula-
tion. State banks should resolve themselves, in their separate
capacities, into offices of discount and deposit, and associate
jointly for the guarantee of their bills. Each bank should
contribute its circulation and a proportionable part of its
capacity, to a trust fund, receiving a corresponding amount
of joint bills or notes for the value. The loaning of national
funds to speculators is a source of peril to the treasury, and
of demoralization and misery to the public.
These and kindred ideas were set forth by Hare in rather
vigorous style, marked with large views and elevated
patriotism.
In the third decade of the 19th Century chemistry flour-
ished in all European countries to a marvelous degree. The
French and German representatives were contributing
largely to theory as well as to experiment. Dumas and Lie-
big were heard at frequent intervals on constitution of sub-
stances, but the great Nestor of the north, Betzelius, dom-
inated the inorganic field at least, with his electrochemical
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220 THE LIFE OF BOBERT HAKE
or dualistic theory. These theories — ^these views — ^relative to
constituticm were quite familiar to Hare. He never lost sight
of current literature, and pondered most thoughtfully upon
it. His correspcHidence with Berzelius gave him accurate in-
formation, illuminated for him the many points of discussion,
which arose from time to time. Surely, then the following
communication ought to he welcome to every student of the
development of chemical theory. It is a question as to whether
any other American chemist of that period, among those who
were doing investigation, however primitive, gave as much
consideraticm to theoretical subjects as did Hare. His letter
appears in f uU. At this remote day it brings food for thought :
" My dear Silliman: " P»^' ^ardi 28-
I wrote to you about a month since enclosing an abstract
from the L<mdon & Edinburg Philosophical magazine and
journal to be inserted in your American journal of Science.
Since then I have not heard from you. I send to you by this
mail a copy of my article on the Berzdian nomenclature. It
was fully proved that I should have been wrong to send it
away from here to be printed for between my own errors and
those of the printers, I had at least four proofs before it was
made satisfactory.
I found some errors in the translation of Berzelius's letter
12 line page 6^ which read " as well as those of sulphuric
acid '' instead of as well as sulphuric acid or more properly
as in copy now sent.
7^ line same page is altered to make it begin a sentence.
Line 4 same page it reads shall then have for.
There is a change made in the 74^ line same page. There
are others not very important.
I have reed from M' Clarke a lot of electro magnetic
apparatus which has cost me about thirty dollars. It con-
sists of MuUin's battery and Rubies apparatus by which a
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 «21
magnet is made to revolve with very little power as long as
the chemioal reacticm is sustain'd also an electripeter by which
the current is reversed with great facility. A double set of
Ampers and Marshs rotatory Cylinders. Also another set
of rotatory apparatus. If you wish it I will send you the
whole at cost as I shall be enabled to replace them before
my course begins.
I have heard from my family as late as the sixth of Feb^
all well. I expect to see them before the end of the summer.
We have just finished our course and examinations hav-
ing passed about 145 in all —
Please to s^id me by mail a copy of whatever you print
of mine or affecting me as soon as possible after it is struck
off— Faithfully
Your f*
Rob* Hare "
" My dear Silliman, " Philadelphia, June, 1884.
I have already apprized you, that last year I had the
honour to receive from the celebrated Berzelius, six volumes
of his admirable treatise of Chemistry; to which, during tlie
last summer, I gave much time, in order to avail myself of
the vast fund of useful practical knowledge which it contains.
I am of opinion that to adepts in the science, this treatise is
the most interesting and instructive compilation of chemical
knowledge which has ever issued from the press. It com-
prises much matter for which Chemistry is indebted entirely
to the genius, skill, and industry of the autihior, while scarcely
any subject in it is so treated, as not to create a renovated
interest in the reader, however previously familiar with the
science.
Sweden may witli reason be proud of her Scheele, her
Bergman, and her Berzelius. The last, but not the least, of
these great chemists, aided by an Herculean intellect, and
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S22 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
commencing at the point at which his predecessors terminated
their glorious career, may he considered as possessing attain-
ments which have never been excelled. Yet the smi is not
without spots, nor is Berzelius without errors; unless indeed,
those which I have ascribed to him, are phantcHns of my own
intellectual vision.
I concur with those chemists who consider tlie relation
ascertained by Berzelius, between the quantities of oxygen
in oxybases, and in oxacids, as a necessary consequence of
the laws of combination, cm which the Daltonian theory has
been foimded. I conceive also that the interesting facts
which demcmstrate the existence of the relation alluded to,
would be more easily understood and remembered, if re-
ferred to the theory of atoms, than when made the basis of
his doctrine of capacities for saturation, and of the numbers
by which those capacities are expressed.
Moreover, I do not approve of his nomenclature. This
is a subject highly interesting to me at this time. The last
edition of my text book is exhausted, and in publishing a new
edition I shall be obliged either to adopt the nomenclature of
Berzelius, or to adhere to that now generally used, with such
improvements as may seem to me consistent with its principles.
I will proceed to state my objections to the Berzelian
nomenclature, and to suggest the language which I would
prefer. I should be glad if the promulgation of my opinions
should call forth remarks, which may enable me to correct,
in due season, any errors into which I may have fallen. I
regret the necessity of making a final election, before sub-
mitting my objections to Berzelius himself, whose disappro-
bation it would grieve me much to incur.
My apology will be found in the adage — " Amicus Plato
sed magis amica Veritas." Besides, if my opinions are in-
correct, they will only react upon their author. The pro-
ductions of Berzelius stand deservedly too high in public
favour to be reached by ill founded criticism.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 «28
The most striking feature in the nomenclature of Ber-
zelius, is the formation of two classes of bodies; one class
called '' halogene/' or salt producing, because they are con-
ceived to produce salts directly; the other called '' amphi-
gene/' or both producing, being productive both of acids
and bases, and of coiu*se indirectly of salts. To render this
divisicm eligible, it appears to me that the terms acid, base,
and salt, should, in the first place, be strictly defined. Un-
fortunately, there are no terms in use, more broad, vague,
and unsettled in their meaning. Agreeably to the common
acceptation, chloride of sodium is pre-eminently entitled to
be caUed a salt; since in conmion parlance, when no dis-
tinguishing term is annexed, salt is the name of that chloride.
This is quite reasonable, as it is well known that it was from
this compound, that the genus received its name. Other sub-
stances, having in their obvious qualities scone analogy with
chloride of sodium, were, at an early period, readily ad-
mitted to be species of the same genus: as, for instance,
Glauber's salt, Epsom salt, sal ammoniac. Yet founding
their pretensions upon similitude in obvious qualities, few
of the substances called salts, in the broader sense of the
name, could have been admitted into the class. Insoluble
chlorides have evidently, on the score of properties, as little
daim to be considered as salts, as insoluble oxides. Luna
Cornea, plumbum comeum, butter of antimony, and the
fuming liquor of Libavius, are the appellations given respec-
tively to chlorides of silver, lead, antimony, and tin, which
are quite as deficient of the saline character as the corre-
sponding compounds of the same metal with oxygen. Fluo-
ride of calcium (fluor spar) is as unlike a salt as lime, the
oxide of the same metal. No saline quality can be perceived
in the soluble '' haloid salts," so called by Berzelius, while
free from water; and when a compound of this kind is mois-
tened, even by contact with the tongue, it may be considered
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224 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
as a salt fonned of an hydracid and an oxybase, produced
by a union of the hydrogen of the water witli the halogene
element, and of the oxygen with the radical. It is admitted
by Berzelius, vol. 8, page 880, that it cannot be demonstrated
that the elements of the water, and those of an haloid salt,
dissolved in that liquid, do not exist in the state of an hydracid
and an oxybase, forming a salt by their obvious union.
On the other hand, if instead of qualities, we resort to
composition as the criterion of a salt; if, as in some of the
most respectable chemical treatises, we assimie that the word
salt is to be employed only to designate compounds consist-
ing of a base united with an acid, we exclude from the class
chloride of sodium, and all other '' haloid salts," and thus
overset the basis of the distinction between " halogene " and
'' amphigene " elements.
Moreover, while thus excluding from the class of salts,
substances which the mass of mankind will still consider as
belonging to it, we assemble under one name combinations
opposite in their properties, and destitute of the qualities
usually deemed indispensable to the class. Thus under the
definition that every ccxnpound of an acid and a base, is a
salt, we must attach this name to marble, gypsimi, felspar,
glass, and porcelain, in common with Epsom salt, Glauber's
salt, vitriolated tartar, pearlash, &c. But admitting that these
objections are not sufficient to demonstrate the absurdity of
defining a salt, as a compound of an acid and a base, of what
use could such a definition be, when, as I have premised, it is
quite uncertain what is an acid, or what is a base. To the
word acid, different meanings have been attached at differ-
ent periods. The original characteristic sourness, is no longer
deemed essential! Nor is the effect upon vegetable colours
treated as an indispensable characteristic. And as respects ob-
vious properties, can there be a greater discordancy, tiian that
which exists between sulphuric add, and rock crystal ; between
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SECOND PERIOD, 181&-1847 225
vinegar, and tannin; or between the volatile, odoriferous,
liquid, poiscm, which we call prussie add, and the inodorous,
inert, concrete, material for candles called margaric acid?
While an acid is defined to be a compound capable of
forming a salt with a base, a base is defined to be a com-
pound, that will form a salt with an add. Yet a salt is to be
recognized as such, by being a ccxnpound of ilie acid and
base, of which, as I have stated, it is made an essential mean
of recognition.
An attempt to reconcile the definitions of acidity given
by Ber2selius, with the sense in which he uses the word acid,
will in my apprehension, increase the perplexity.
It is alleged in his Treatise, p. 1, Vol. II, '' That the
name of add is given to silica, and other feeble acids, because
they are susceptible of combining with the oxides of the elec-
tropositive metals, that is to say, with salifiable bases, and
thus to produce salts, which is precisdy the prindpal diar-
acter of adds.'' Again, Vol. I, page 808, speaking of the
halogene elements, he declares that '' Their combinations with
hydrogen, are not only adds, but belong to a series the most
puissant that we can employ in Chemistry ; and in this respect
they rank as equals with the strongest of the acids, into which
oxygen enters as a constituent principle." And again, VoL
II, page 162, when treating of hydracids formed with the
halogene class, he alleges, " The former are very powerful
adds, truly adds, and perfectly like the oxacids; but they
do not combine with salifiable bases; on the ccmtrary, they
decc»npose them, and produce haloid salts."
In this paragraph, the adds in question are represented
as pre-eminently endowed with the attributes of acidity, while
at the same time they are alleged to be destitute of his "' prin-
dpal character of acids," the property of combining with
salifiable bases.
In page 41 (same volume), treating of the acid ccmsist-
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9M THE LIFE OF BOBERT HARE
ing of two volumes of oxygen and one of nitrogen, considered
by cb^nists generally as a distinct add, Berzelius uses the
following language : '' If I have not coincided in their view, it
is because, judging by what we know at present, the add
in question cannot combine with any base, dther directly or
indirectly, that consequently it does not give salts, and that
salifiable bases decompose it always into nitrous add, and
nitric oxide gas. It is not then a distinct add, and as such
ought not tQ be admitted in the nomenclature." Viewing these
passages with all that deference whidi I feel for the produc-
tions of the author, I am unable to understand upcmwhatprin-
dple the exclusicm of nitrous add from the dass of acids, can
be rendered consistent with the retenti<m, in that dass, of the
compounds formed by hydrogen with '' halogene '' elements.
Having thus endeavored to show that the words acid, salt,
and base, have not been so defined as to justify their ^n-
ployment as a basis of the Bei^elian nomenclature I will with
great deference proceed to state my objections to the super-
structure, erected upon this questionable foundation. Con-
sistently with the French nomendature, the combinations
formed by electro-negative principles, with other el^nents,
have been distinguished as acids, or characterized by a ter-
mination in "ide" or in "lu^** which last monosyllable,
when there has been no intention of altering the meaning,
has, by the British chemists, been translated into lu^t. The
termination in ide, which is common in both languages, is,
by Thenard, and other eminent French authors, restricted
to the binary compounds of oxygen, which are not acid. An-
alogous craipounds formed with the '' halogene " elements,
chlorine, bromine, fluorine, iodine, cyanogen, &c., have by
the same writer been designated by the termination in ure.
Thus we have in his work, chlorures, bromures, fluorures,
iodures, cyanures. Some of the most eminent chemists in
Great Britain, have distinguished the elements caUed halo-
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 227
gene, by Berzelius, together with oxygen, as supporters of
ccnnbustion ; and have designated the binary compounds made
with them, when not add, by the same termination as the
analogous compounds of oxygen. Accordingly in their
writings, instead of the names above mentioned, we have chlo-
rides, bromides, fluorides, iodides. In Henry's Chemistry,
cyanure is represented by cyanide, in Thomson's, by cyano-
dide, and in Brande's and Turner's by cyanuret.
The term uret, equivalent as above mentioned to the
French ure, is restricted by the English chemists to the com-
pounds formed by non-metallic combustibles, either with each
other, or with metals. Hence we have in English, sulphurets,
phosphurets, carburets, borurets, for sulphm^s, phosphures,
carbures, borures, in French.
Berzelius classes as electronegative, all those substances
which go to the positive pole when isolated, or when in union
with oxygen, while all substances are by him treated as elec-
tropositive which go to the negative pole, either when isolated,
or when in union with oxygen.*
According to his nomenclature, when both the ingredients
in a binary compound belong to the dass of bodies by him
designated as electronegative, tiie termination in ide, is to be
applied to the more electronegative ingredient; but where
^ The term isolated, is employed to convey an idea of the state in
which the elements of water are, when after having been separated
by the voltaic wires, they are severally on their way to their appro-
priate poles, that is, the oxygen proceeding to the positive pole, and
the hydrogen to the negative pole. EUich element is in that case
isolated, and obedient to the attractive influence of one of the poles.
When a salt containing an oxacid and an oxybase, is deccHnposed, the
acid will go to the positive and the base to the negative pole. The
radical of the acid, in consequence of its not counteracting the pro-
pensity of the oxygen for the positive pole, is deemed electronegative;
while the radical of the base overcoming that propensity is deemed
dectropositive.
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228 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
one of the ingredients belongs to his list of electropositiye
bodies, the termination in ure (uret, in English), is to be
applied to the electronegatiye ingredient. As, agreeably to
the prevailing nomenclature, which in this respect, the great
Swedish chemist has not deemed it expedient to change, ihe
electropositive compomids of oxygen witli radicals, forming
electropositive bases, have each a termination in ide, it seems
that consistence requires us, conformably with the English
practice, to designate in like manner analogous electroposi-
tive compounds of the electronegative elem^its caUed by him
"' halogaie." But especially it would be inconsistent not to
put the same mark upon the ccxnpounds of substances which
from their analogy with oxygen are placed in the same "' am-
phigene *' class. If there were insuperable reasons for re-
taining the term oxide, as a generic name for the electro-
positive ccxnpounds of oxygen, it seems to me inexpedient
not to employ the words sulphide, selenide, and tdluride,
to designate the electropositive compounds of sulphur, selen-
ium, and tellurium. And since the three last mentioned
elements when united with hydrogen, form electronegative
compounds which act as acids, why not treat tiiem as such,
imder appellations corresponding with those heretofore used
for that piupose? I conceive the following definitions to be
justified by the practice of modem ch^nists in general, as
established in the case of oxacids, and oxybases. When two
compounds capable of combining with each other to form a
tertiimi quid, have an ingredient common to both, and oae
of the compounds prefers the positive, the other the negative
pole of the voltaic series, we must deem tiie former lui add,
and the latter a base. And again, all compounds having a
aour taste, or whidi redden litmus, idiould be deemed acids
in obedience to usage.
I should think it preferable, if in adopting these defini-
tions, the termination in ide was considered as applicable to
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SECOND PERIOD, 181&-1847 S29
all compounds of electronegatiye principles with other sub-
stancesy whether producing dectrcmegatiye or electropositive
combinations^ and that the terms acid, and base, should be
considered as severally indicating the subordinate electro-
negative and electropositive ccMnpounds. In that case oxy-
base, chloribase, fluobase, bromibase, iodobase, cyanobase,
sulphobase, telluribase, sdenibase, would stand in opposition
to oxacid, chloracid, fluacid, bromacid, iodadd, cyanadd, sul-
I^bacid, sdenadd, telluracid; yet for ccmveniaice, the g^ieric
terminaticm ide might be used without any misunderstanding;
and so far, the prevailing practice might ranain unchanged.
Resort to either appellation would not, agreeably to custom,
be necessary in speaking of salts or other compounds anal-
ogous to ti^m; since it is deemed sufBcient to m^ition the
radical as if it existed in the compound in its metallic state.
Ordinarily we say, sulphate of lead, not sulphate of the oxide
of lead. This last mentioned expression is resorted to, only
where great precision is desirable. In such cases, it might
be better to say sulphate of the oxybase of lead. So long
however as the electronegative craibinations of oxygen are
designated as oxacids, and the electropositive as oxides, it
seems to be incorrect, not to use analogical terms in the case
of analogous compounds, formed by the other pre-eminentiy
electronegative principles and assuming the definition above
stated, to be justified by modem practice, it follows that in
order to entitle the electronegative and electropositive in-
gredients of the double salts of Berzdius, to be classed, the
latter as bases, and the former as adds, it is not necessary
to appeal to the highly interesting and important experi-
ments of Bonsdorf , confirmed in some instances by the testi-
mony of Berzelius himself, proving that the attributes of
addity (as heretofore defined) exist in the one case, and
those of alkalinity in the other. My definiticm is founded
upon the conviction that these diaracteristics have not lat-
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2S0 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
terly been deemed necessary to acids, and liiat in bases tiiey
neyer were required; having, as respects th^n, ooly served as a
means of subdivision, between alkaline oxides and other bases.
Chemistry owes to Berzelius much valuable information
respecting the compounds formed by the substances which
he calls '' halogene "; especially respecting the combinations
formed by fluorine, with boron, and siliccm, and the '' double
salts," as he considers them, formed by the union of two
*' halogene salts,'* &c. While in the highest degree inter-
ested in the facts which he has ascertained, it will be inferred
from the premises, that I do not perceive that any adequate
line of distincticm can be drawn in this respect between the
simple salts formed by oxacids and oxybases; and the double
salts formed by his "halogene" elements. — ^Agreeably to
the definition which I have ventured to propose, in a com-
bination of this kind, the electron^ative salt would play the
part of an acid, while the electropositive salt would perform
that of a base.
In conunon with other eminent chanists, he has distin-
guished adds in which oxygen is the electronegative prin-
ciple, as oxacids, and those in which hydrogen is a prominent
ingredient as hydracids. If we look for the word radical, in
the table of contents of his invaluable Treatise, we are re-
ferred to p. 218, vol. I, where we find the following definition,
" the ccHnbustible body contained in an acid, or in a salifiable
base, is called the radical of the add, or of the base." In the
second vol., page 168, he defines hydracids to be " those acids,
which ccmtain an electronegative body, combined with hy-
drogen "; and in the next page it is stated, that " hydradds
are divided into those which have a simple radical, and those
which have a compound radical. The second only com-
prises those formed with cyanogen and sulphocyanogen."
Again, in the next paragraph, " no radical is known tiiat
gives more than one add with hydrogen, although sulphur and
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 281
iodine, are capable of ccMnbiniiig witli it in many proportions.
If at any future day more numerous degrees of acidificaticm
with hydrogen, should be discovered, tihieir denomination
might be founded on the same principles as those of oxacids/'
Consistently with tliese quotations, aU the electron^ative
elements forming acids with hydrogen, are radicals, and of
course by his own definition, combustibles; while hydrogen
is made to rank with oxygen as an acidifying principle, and
consequently is neither a radical nor a ccMnbustible. Yet
page 180, yoL II, in explaining the reaction of fluoboric
acid with water, in which case fluorine unites both with hy-
drogen and boron, it is mentioned as one instance among
otihiers in which fluorine combines with two combustibles.
I am of ^opinion that the employment of the word hy-
dracid, as co-ordinate with oxacid, must tend to convey that
erroneous idea, witihi which, in opposition to his own defini-
tion, the author seems to have been imbued, that hydrogen
in the one class, plays the same part as oxygm in tlie other.
But in reality, the former is eminently a combustible, and
of course the radical, by his own definition.
Dr. Thomson, in his system, does not recognize any class
of acids, under the appellation of hydracids; but with greater
propriety, as I conceive, places them under names indicating
their electronegative principles. Thus he arranges them as
oxygen adds, chlorine acids, bromine acids, iodine acids, flu-
orine acids, cyanogen acids, sulphur acids, selenium odds, and
tellurium adds.* Those appellations might, I think, be advan-
tageously abbreviated into oxadds, diloradds, fluacids, brcmi-
acids, iodacids, cyanacids, sulphacids, selenacids, telluradds.
As respects the adds individually, I conceive that it would
be preferable, if the syllable indicating the more electronega-
tive element had precedency in all, as it has in some cases.
^ I had formed mj opinions on this subject, before I was aware
that Dr. Thomson had resorted to this classification.
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tSSt THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
The word hydrofluoric does not harmonize with fluoboric,
fluo6ilicic» fluochromiCt flu(»nolybdic, &c. Fluorine being in
each compound the dectronegative principle, the syllables
indicating its presraice, should in each name occupy the same
station. These remarks will apply, in the case of acids
formed with hydrogen, to all principles which are more elec-
tronegative. Hence we should use the terms chlorohydric,
fluohydric, bnnnohydric, iodohydric, cyanhydric, instead of
hydrochloric, hydrofluoric, hydrobrcnnic, hydriodic, hydro-
cyanic.
These opinions, conceived last summer, were published by
me in the Journal of Pharmacy for October last. Since then,
I And that in the late edition of his Traits, Thenard has
actuaUy employed the appellations above reaxmn^ided.
As by the British chemists the objectionable words have
not been definitely adopted; the appellations muriatic and
prussic, being still much employed, it may not be inconv^i-
ient to them to introduce those which are reccmunended by
consistency. In accordance with the premises, the adds
formed with hydrogen by sulphur, sel^um, and tellurium,
would be called severally sulphydric, selenhydric, and tellu-
hydric acid. Compounds formed by the union of the acids
thus designated, with the bases severally generated by the
same electronegative principles, would be called sulphydrates,
seknhydrates, and telluhydrates, which are the names given
to these compounds in the Berzelian ncnnenclature. Influ-
enced by the analogy, a stud^it would expect the electro-
negative ingredient of a sulphydrate to be sulphydric acid,
not a sulphide. The terminating syllable of this word, by its
associaticms, can only convey the concepticm of an electro-
positive compound.
By adhering to the plan of designating each add by its
most electronegative ingredi^it, the compounds of hydrogen
and silicon, or of hydrogen and boron with fluorine, would
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SECOND FEBIOD, 181»-1847 SSS
appear in a much more consistent dress. In the compound
named hydrofluoboric add, and tiiat named hydrofluosilidc
acid by Berzelius, fluorine is represented as acting as a radical
with hydrogen, while with boron and silicon it acts as the
ekctronegatiye principle. It has been shown that hydrogen,
no less than boron and silicon, must be considered as a com-
bustible, and of course a radical. Tliis being admitted, if the
compounds in question are really entitled to be considered as
distinct acids, their names should respectively be fluohy-
droboric, or fluohydrosilidc acid. But as I have elsewhere
observed an incapacity to combine with bases, or to react with
them without decomposition, is made by Berzelius an ade-
quate reason for expunging the compound formed by one
atom of nitrogen with four atoms of oxygen frcMn the list
of the acids of nitrogen; I do not, therefore, understand how
the ccxnpounds referred to, while equally incapable of com-
bination, can be considered by him as acids. At first it struck
me that the liquids consisting of fluohydric acid, either with
fluoboric acid, or with fluosilidc acid, might be considered as
merely united by their common attraction to water, since
they separate when this liquid is abstracted by evaporation.
Upon reflection, however, I retract that opinion, since it ap-
pears to me that if the compounds in question are to be con-
sidered as adds, they may be viewed satisfactorily as fluadds
with a double radical; but I deem it more consistent to sup-
pose tiiat a fluobase of hydrogen in the one case united with
fluoboric add, in the other, with fluosilicic add; so that fluo-
hydroboric add might be called fluoborate of the fluobase of
hydrogen, or more briefly fluoborate of hydrogen ; and in like
manner fluohydrosilidc add would be called fluosilicate of
the fluobase of hydrogen, or briefly fluosilicate of hydrogen.
There are instances in which compounds, usually called
bases, act as adds. Of course it is consistent that ccxnpounds,
usually called adds, should in some instances act as bases.
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tS4 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
In this respect a striking analogy may be observed betwe^i
the union of the oxide of hydrogen (water) with the oxacids
and oxybases; and that of fluoiide of hydrogen with fluadkls
and fluobases. According to Berzelius, water, in the first
case, acts as a base, in the second as an acid. So I conceif e
the fluoride of hydrogen acts as a base in the cases above
noticed, while it acts as an acid in the compound of hydrogen,
fluorine, and potassium, called by Berzelius '" fluorure potas-
sique acide/' This compound I would call a fluohydrate of
the fluobase of potassium, or more briefly fluohydrate of
potassium, as we say sulphate of copper, instead of the sul-
phate of the oxide (or oxybase) of copper. It appears from
the inquiries of the author of the nomenclature under ccm-
sideration, that each of the three adds above menticmed as
formed by fluorine, with the three different radicals, hydro-
gen, boron, and siliccm, is capable with electropositive metal-
lic fluorides, of forming the compounds treated of by him
as double salts. These compounds, to which I have already
alluded, might be called fluohydrates, fluoborates, or fluosili-
cates of the metallic ingredient. As for instance, the com-
pound into which potassium enters, named by him '' fluorure
borico potassique," I would designate as a fluoborate of \he
fluoride (or fluobase) of potassium, or for the sake of brevity,
fluoborate of potassium. ^^ Flourure silico-potassique " would
by \he same rule, be called fluosilicate of potassium.
The illustration thus given in the instance of potassium,
renders it unnecessary to furnish other examples, as it would
only require that the name of any other metal should be sub-
stituted for that of potassium, in order to modify these appel-
lations, so as to suit every case.
Pursuant to my fundamental definition, ferroprussiate
of potash, cyanure ferroso potassique in the Berzelian no-
menclature, should be ccmsidered as a compound of cyano-
ferric acid, and a cyanide or cyanobase of potassium and
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 2S5
would of ccmsequence be a cyanoferrate of potassium. Or if
the iron be in two different degrees united with cyanogen,
as the names cyanure ferroso potassique, and cyanure fer-
rico potassique indicate, we should have both a cyanoferrite
and a cyanoferrate of potassium; and of course cyanoferrous
and cyanoferric add for their respective electronegative in-
gredients. " Cyanure ferrique acide " would be exchanged
for cyanoferrate of hydrogen, being a case analogous to that
of the "fluorure potassique acide" above considered and
provided for.
If I am justified in my impression above stated, water,
and the compound formed by fluorine with hydrogen (" hy-
drofluoric acid " or fluohydric acid as I prefer to call it)
should be severally designated as acids when they act as
acids; as bases, when they act as bases. In other cases the
one might be designated as an oxide, the other as a fluoride
of hydrogen. In the case of a compound so well known as
water, I would adhere to the common name, resorting to the
scientific names only as definiticxis. Thus water would be
defined as an oxide of hydrogen, which in scnne combinations,
acts as an oxybase of hydrogen, in others as hydric acid, or
the oxacid of hydrogen.*
After designating as metalloids all non-metallic bodies,
Berzelius alleges (page 208, vol. 1st) that they are divided
into oxygen, and bodies which are combustible, or susceptible
of ccHnbining with oxygen; in which process the greater part
display the ordinary . . . phenomena of combustion, or,
in other words, of fire. Agreeably to this classification, sus-
ceptibility of union with oxygen and combustibility are con-
* The use which I have made of the terminations in ide, in fluoride
of hydrogen, or oxide of hydrogen, to signify a compound of hydro-
gen with fluorine, or oxygen generally, without conveying the idea
of its being either a base or an add, illustrates the advantage which
would result from the use of that termination in that broad sense.
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286 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
founded; to which I object, because oxidizement frequently
ensues without ccxnbustion, and ccanbustion occurs often
without oxidizement.
Speaking of chlorine (Treatise, p. 276, voL 1) it is alleged
that it supports the combustion of a great number of bodies,
of which a majority ignite in it at ordinary temperatures. If
oxidizement be identical with combustion, how can this word
be employed with propriety in the case thus quoted, where
oxygen is not present? If combustion in the case of chlorine
is applied only to those instances in which reaction with other
bodies is attended by the phenomena of fire, why is not the
term equally restricted in its applioaticm in the case of oxygen ?
Oxygen differs so far from the substances usually called
ccxnbustibles, that they will produce fire with oxygen, and
with but few, if any other substances; while oxygen will
produce fire with many substances. But this characteristic
of producing fire with many substances applies to chlorine,
and as chlorine does not produce fire with oxygen, it is devoid
of the only characteristic which should entitie it to be treated
as a c(»nbustible, if combustibility and susceptibility of union
with oxygen be identical.
Hence, if it be deemed proper in the case of oxygen to
place the bodies with which it enters into combustion in <Hie
class, designated as combustibles, while oxygen is distin-
guished as the common '' comburant " of than all, there is
equal reason for placing chlorine in a like predicament. The
impropriety of designating the substances comprised in his
halogene and amphigene classes, with the exception of oxygen
as combustibles, upon the basis of their susceptibility of oxi-
dizement, must be evident from the fact that fluorine is not
oxidizable, while it is so perfectiy analogous to the others,
especially chlorine, in its properties, that it would be disad-
vantageous to call it apart.
Berzelius objects to the use of the word '' ccanburant ''
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SECOND PERIOD, 181»-1847 2S7
(equivalait to the English word supporter) , upon the ground
that the same substance may be alternately a supporter and
a combustible. I should, however, go farther, and likewise
object to the use of both words, as tending to coavey the
erroneous impression, that in ccmibustion, one of the ponder-
able agents ccmcemed, performs a part more active than the
other ; whereas, in all such cases, the reaction must evidently be
reciprocal and equal. I have repeatedly shown to my pupils,
that a jet of oxygen bums in an atmosphere of hydrogen,
as well as a jet of hydrogen similarly situated in oxygen.
I would recommend that all the bodies comprised in the
halogene and amphigene classes of Berzelius, should be placed
under one head, to be called the basacigen class; thus indicat-
ing their common and distinguishing qualify agreeably to the
premises, of producing both acids and bases. The electro-
negative compounds of these substances to be called adds,
their electropositive compounds, bases, as already suggested.*
Faithfully,
Yr friend,
RoB^. Habe.
Hare was in no manner disposed to discontinue his critical
views of the ideas set forth by Berzelius. They, therefore,
constitute a part of the history of our Science and cannot
fail to attract the student of the history of diemical theory.
It is not surprising that Berzelius may have been at times
mildly displeased with the persistaicy of Hare in setting
forth his views for, on a certain occasion when writing to
Silliman, on other subjects, he said:
* Since the preceding letter was ready for the press the following
remark of Berzelius attracted my attention, as sanctioning indirectly
the definition which I have proposed, page 6.
Treatise, Vol. 8, page 8SS, he alleges, ^ It f dlows from this that
the property of playing the part of an acid, is attached neither to the
substance, nor to the manner in whidi the combination takes place.
It only indicates a state contrary to the property of being a base.
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288 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
" Present my respects to our friend Mr. Hare. I owe
him a long controversial letter on scientific matters. . • .
It is a little hazardous to enter into private discussion with
this savant, because he immediately prints all that is written
to him, followed by a ref utaticm. I have sometimes been sur-
prised to read in your Journal a reply to my ideas idiidi I
had never seen except there. One cannot be angry, however,
for Mr. Hare is a good man, and seeks the truth before
everything; but that makes me desire not to turn a private
controversy into a public one. But much depends on the
habits of different countries "...
And as a reply to Hare's communication respecting no-
menclature (p. 222) he received from Berzelius this letter:
ii gjj. " Stockhohn, Sept. 28, 1884.
I am very much obliged to you for the remarks, which,
under the date of June 21st, you had the friendship to com-
municate to me respecting the nicMnenclature whidi I have
employed in my Treatise of Chemistry.
I perceive that having contemplated chemical phenomena
under different points of view, we differ as to the nomen-
clature which is the most appropriate for their description*
I ccmsider the combinations of metals with chlorine, bromii^
&c., as salts; whilst you, in accordance with Mr. De Bons-
dorff, ccmsider tiiem as bases and acids, capable of forming
salts by their union.
If it were expedient that chemical classification should
be dependent on the number of simple bodies which enter
into each combination, this idea of Mr. De Bonsdorff would
without doubt be preferable; but if attention be due to the
chemicid properties which characterize combinations, we can-
not adhere to an arrangement founded on the niunber of the
elements. Yet so essential is it in chemistry to have reference
to properties, that a system of chemistry in which common
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SECOND PERIOD, 181R-1847 989
and analogous properties should not affect the arrangement,
would present a mass of facts so chaotic, that no memory
would be competent to retain tiiem. In a system thus strictly
conformable to the ideas of Mr. De Bonsdorff, cyanogen,
though in its properties resembling chlorine or bromine,
which are simple bodies, ought to be considered, also, as a
base or as an acid, having azote for its radical — I am per-
suaded you would not approve of extending the system of
De Bonsdorff so far; but if it be correct, it would be incon-
sistent not to make this extension.
But let us return to the combinations of the metals with
chlorine, fluorine, &c., and make, in imagination, the follow-
ing experiment. Let us take two portions of caustic pota^,
a base in which tiie basic characters are more striking than
in any other. To one, let us add a sufficiency of sulphuric
acid to extinguish entirely its basic property; we shall then
have a neutral body of a saline taste. You will admit it to be
a salt Now let us add to the other portion, hydrofluoric
add. At a certain point the basic properties of the potash
will disappear, and we shall have a resulting compound quite
as neutral as the sulphate of potash, endowed with a saline
taste entirely analogous to that of the sulphate. The basic
properties of the potash are destroyed by the hydrofluoric
acid, as well as by the sulphuric acid. But you will allege the
resulting combination is not a salt, but a base which has
exchanged one basifier (oxygen) for another basifier (flu-
orine). In proof you may add as much more hydrofluoric
acid, which combining with the new base wiU form with it
a crystallized salt. But this salt is not neutral, it has almost
the same acidity of taste as the hydrofluoric add employed.
The new base does not destroy then the acid reaction.
Let us make a further addition of sulphuric acid to the
sulphate of potash. A salt equally acid will result, in which
the sulphate of potash acts the same basic part towards the
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240 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
sulj^uric acid, as the fluoride of potassium towards the hy-
drofluoric add. Should it be desired to extend the compari-
son further, it will be found that for eadi less electro-positive
fluoride, susceptible of combination with the potassic fluoride,
there will be, with but very few exceptions, a corresponding
sulphate, susceptible of onnbination with the sulphate of
potash. The analogy is then complete, it exists not only in
the perfect neutrality of the two potassic salts, in llieir
saline taste, but also in their manner of forming combina-
tions witii other bodies, notwithstanding one of them, the
sulphate, contains one element more than the other. If, in-
stead of potash, potassiiun were employed to saturate our
two acids, the analogy of the operation in both cases would
be still more complete. The same quantity of metal would
displace equal volumes of hydrogen. When the visible re-
sults of our experiments are so perfectly analogous, it is to
be presumed that the invisible process which we do not see,
may also be perfectly analogous, and that if facts exactly
like are explained differently, tiiere must be a defect in the
explanation. If, for instance, the true electro-chemical com-
position of the sulphate of potash should not be KO + SOs,
as is generally supposed, but K+ SO4, and it appears very
natural that atoms, so eminently electro-negative as sulphur
and oxygen, should be associated, we have, in the salt in
question, potassium ccHnbined with a compound body, which,
like cyanogen in K + C2N, imitates simple halogen bodies,
and gives a salt with potassium and otiier metals. The
hydrated oxacids, agreeably to this view, would be then hy-
dracids of a compound halogen body, f rcnn which metals
may displace hydrogen, as in the hydracids of simple halogen
bodies. Thus we know that SOs, that is to say, anhydrous
sulphuric acid, is a body whose properties, as respects acidity,
differ from those whi<^ we should expect in the active prin-
ciple of hydrous sulphuric add.
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SECOND PERIOD, 181»-1847 241
TI^ difference betweai the oxysalts, and the halosalts is
very easily illustrated by formulas. In K/FF — fluoride of
potassium, there is but one single line of substitution, that is
to say, that of E/FF, whilst in EOOOOS (sulphate of
potash) there are two E/OOOOS and EO/OOOS of which
we use the first in replacing one metal by another, for in-
stance, copper by iron; and the second in replacing one oxide
by anotiier.
I do not know what value you may attach to this develop-
ment of the ccmstituticm of the oxysalts (which applies
equally to the sulphosalts and others) : but as to myself, I
have a thorough conviction, that there is therein, something
more than a vague speculation; since it unfolds to us an
internal analogy in phencxnena, which, agreeably to the per-
ception of our senses, are externally analogous. If these
phemnnena are to be considered agreeably to the ideas of
Mr. De Bonsdorff , how does it happen that sulphur, phos-
phorus, arsenic, and other radicals of the strongest oxacids,
when united with chlorine, bnxnine, iodine, &ec., do not com-
bine easily with those of magnesium, iron, and manganese.
Should then the chloride of magnesium, or that of manganese,
be a stronger acid than the chloride of sulphur, or chloride of
phosphorus? How is it consistent with these ideas that we
can obtain crystallized salts as well with, as without water, of
combination, composed of chloride of calcium and of oxalate,
or of acetate of lime? Should the oxysalt be here the add,
or the base? I have now displayed to you, the considerations
which have guided me, and which I think are not destitute of
foundation.
I cheerfully admit that it would be preferable to employ
the word chlorohydric, instead of hydrochloric. My motive
for retaining this last, is, that I have ventured to propose a
new nomenclature in a language foreign to me, in which it
was inexpedi^it to make changes which could be avoided
10
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242 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
without inconvenience. I also agree with joUf that we ought
not to use combustible and oxidable as having the same
meaning. I have deserved your strictures for this inom-
sistency in my language; but I must suggest as an apology,
that the two words were formerly used as synonymous, and
that the work, in which you have recently noticed this over-
sight, was first published in 1806, having been from time to
time remoulded for new editions, without having been pos-
sible to eradicate aU that has not kept pace witii the progress
of science.
Accept the assurance of my perfect esteem, and of the
sentiments of sincere friendship with which I have the honor
to be. Tours, &ec. Berzelius."
Naturally Hare replied; and in these words, addressed
apparently, to the chemical public :
" So far as my strictures were founded on the alleged
difficulty of defining the terms acid, salt and base, in any
mode consistent with his classification, they are not met by
any facts or reasoning in the mudi esteemed letter of my
illustrious correspondent. The impracticability of defining
a salt, as he does not deny; and with great candor he admits
that, in his definition of acidity, he has not been consistent.
He concedes that it would be preferable to give the syllable,
indicating the electro-negative ingredient, the precedence, as
nothing but unwillingness to innovate, prevented him from
pursuing that course.
He acknowledges that as ccHnbustion, in many instances,
takes place without the presence of oxygen, the application
of the word combustible, should not be confined to bodies
which are susceptible of oxydizement.
My definition of acidity was as follows: —
'' fFhetij of two substances capable of combining with
EACH OTHER SO As To form a tertium quid, and having
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SECX)ND FEBIOD, 181R-1847 248
an ingredient common to them both, one prefers the positive
the other the negative pole of the Voltaic series^ we must deem
the former an acid, and the latter a base. Also all substances
having a sour taste, or which redden Utmus, must be deemed
acids, agreeably to usage/^ This definition I would now
amend by leaving out the last sentence, and substituting
therefor, the following: Also when any substance is capable
of forming a tertiu/m quid with any acid or base agreeably to
the preceding definition, it must be considered as an acid in the
one case, a base in the other. The definition, thus amended,
takes in the organic acids and bases. In the form in whidi it
was at first proposed, it has not been alleged defective by
Berzelius; but he has striven to show an incongruity in the
attributes of his double salts, when contrasted with those
resulting from the union of some of the acids and bases of
his amphigen class; which incongruity is, in his opinion, a
sufficient reason for not considering them as simple salts,
and their ingredients as acids and bases, agreeably to the
opinions of De Bonsdorff and myself.
Beraelius errs in confounding my opinions with those of
De Bonsdorff. However, I may have admired the sagacity
with which that chemist investigated the pretensions of some
haloid salts to certain attributes of acidity or alkalinity; in
my letter on the Berzelian nomenclature, I signified my un-
wfllingness to rest my opinions upon a basis so narrow, as
that which he had endeavored to establish. I stated that I
did not deem it necessary to appeal to his excellent observa-
tions, proving certain attributes of acidity to exist in one
case, those of alkalinity in the other. I alleged my definition
to be forwarded on the conviction that the property of affect-
ing vegetable colors, on which that sagacious chemist lays
so much stress, has not latterly, been deemed necessary in
adds; and that in bases never was required. As respects
thaoD, it only served as a mean of subdivision between alkaline
oxides and other oxybases.
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244 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
I am at a loss to discover in what part of my letter there
was any language whidi could convey the erroneous imjN'es^
sion^ that, in defining acids and bases I proposed to over-
look properties, and to be regulated by attention to the num-
ber of atoms in a compound. Certainly nothing was more
foreign to my thoughts.
It is assumed by Berzelius that the saturation of Hxe
fluobase of potassium by fluohydric acid, cannot be ccMisid-
ered as analogous to the saturation of the oxybase of potas-
sium by sulphiuic add; because the resulting ccxnpound is
to the taste, in one case neutral, in the other sour. In reply
I suggested that if the salidity of the biborates and bicar-
bonates was not to be questioned on account of their alkaline
taste, nor that of the protochloride of tin on account of its
sourness, it was not consistent that the pretensions to salidity
of the fluohydrate of \he fluobase of potassium should be
denied on account of its sour taste. I will now add that if
the fluosilicate of potassium be a double salt, the fluoride of
siliom one of its two constituents must be a simple salt, and
yet it is sour. If a simple salt may be sour, why may not a
double salt have this attribute; and how in fact can its
presence be inccmsistent with salidity? Is not the absence
of this characteristic in silica and tannin, and many other
adds, as much against their claims to acidify, as its pres-
eace in other compounds is an objection to their association
with saline bodies. It is considered by Berzelius an ob-
jection to the views which I have espoused, that the halogen
bodies, while forming acids with various metallic radicals
idiidi oxygen does not acidify, do not form adds with sulphur,
phosphorus, and arsenic which oxygen does acidify; yet what
is there in this, more difficult to reconcile with the established
results of ch^nical combinations, than in the fact that oxygen
forms with sulphur, j^osphorus, and arsenic, strong adds,
with hydrogen water ; while with hydrogen the halogen bodies
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SECOND PERIOD. 181»-1847 245
all f onn compounds which Berzelius describes as having the
highest pretensions to acidity. TI^ highly active add prop-
erties of the fluorides of boron and silicon^ would lead us to
expect similar compounds to be formed by the same radicals,
witii the other halogen bodies, contrary to experience. Chem-
istry makes us acquainted with many similar discordances.
How is it that oxygen forms aeriform compounds with an
^Etremely fixed body in the instance of carbon; whfle in that
of phosphorus or arsenic, both volatilizable, it forms adds
which are comparatively insusceptible of volatilization?
Wherefore does not hydrogen produce an add with j^os-
phorus and arsenic, as well as with sulphur?
According to Berzelius, all the halogen bodies produce
with hydrogen combinations which are as highly widowed
with the attributes of addity, as the strongest adds into which
oxygen enters as a constituent. It is conceded in his letter
tiiat his language resi>ecting these ccxnbinations cannot be
reconciled with his dedaration in one place that they do not
combine with oxybases and in another that a body whidi
cannot so combine is not an add. It strikes me, that the
only way in whidi the admitted inconsistency of his descrip-
ti<m of these bodies, with his definition of addity, can be
avoided, is by assuming that tliey combine as adds with haloid
bases, although decomposed by oxybases.
I wiU now proceed to ccnnment on a new subject for con-
siderati(m, presented in Berzelius's letter in reply to mine.
It must be evident that every oxysalt, composed of an
oxadd and an oxybase, must consist of an atom of each rad-
ical, and as many atoms of oxygen as exist both in the add
and in the base. Thus sulphate of potash consists of an atom
of potassium, an atom of sulphur and four atoms of oxygen,
and may be represented either by SOOO KO or SOOOOK.
Berzelius in his letter repeats an ingenious suggestion
previously advanced in his treatise, tibat SOOOO (sulphur
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246 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
with four atoms of oxygen) may act, as a compound halogen
body like cyanog^i, and thus form a salt by unkm with an
atom of any radical. He conceives that the apparent want
of analogy, which induced him to separate into two dasses,
the amph^n and halogen bodies, disappears under this view
of the phenomena; and that his amphide salts might be
considered as constituted of a compound halogen body and
an elem^itary radical. But however we may admire the
ingenuity of these suggestions, ere, in obedience to Uiem, we
extend the limits of tiie halogen class, I would request that
the word salt should be defined, and that it be shown that con-
sistently with any definiticm which can be devised, there is
any class of bodies in nature whidi merit the appellation of
salt producers. Before enlarging the superstructure, let it
be shown that the basement has been well grounded.
Berzelius lays some stress on the ccxmnunity of effect, in
the evoluti(m of hydrogen, both by adds formed by hydrogen
with halogen bodies, and by diluted hydrous sulphuric acid,
as evincing a similitude of composition justifying the sug-
gestion above quoted from him. But I conceive that this
ccnnmon result is better explained by ascribing it to the ten-
dency of radicals to displace each otiier from combination,
whether existing in a simple or a complicated compound.
If water exists as a base in hydrous sulphuric add, as I have
elsewhere suggested, we may consider this hydrous acid as
a sulphate of the oxybase of hydrogen; and that wh^i it
reacts with zinc or iron, the proneness of hydrogen to the
aeriform state enables either metal to take its place, agree-
ably to the established laws of affinity.
It may be proper, before concluding, to explain more
particularly the nomenclature which I have adopted.
The amphigen, the halogen bodies of Berzelius as they
produce acids and bases according to my definiticm, are all
classed as basadgen bodies. Of course oxygen, chlorine.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 247
bromine, iodine, fluorine, cyanogen, sulphur, sel^um and
tellurium, are included in this class.
The general designation of a binary compound of a basaci-
gen body, is the termination in ide; the special, the termina-
tion in acid, when the compound acts as an acid, in bMe, when
it acts as a base.
Hence an oxide, may be an oxacid, or an oxybase;
a chloride, a chloracid, or a cfaloribase;
a bromide, a bromacid, or a bromibase;
an iodide, an iodacid, or an iodobase;
a cyanide, a cyanadd, or a cyanobase;
I a sulphide, a sulphacid, or a sulphobase;
a selenide, a selenacid, or a selenibase;
a telluride, a telluracid, or a telluribase.
Compounds which consist of radicals only, are distin-
guished by the term uret equivalent to the French ure. Hence
carburet, phosphuret, boruret, siUcuret, &c
Of any two binary compounds containing each the same
basacigen body and forming one compound, the more electro-
negative is an acid, the other a base. Hence all the electro-
negative haloid ccHnpounds in the Berzelian double salts, are
adds, and the electro-positive, bases. Where there are two
such compounds one containing one basacigen atom, the other
two atoms or one and half, the former has a termination in
aus, the latter in ic. As for instance the chlorureplatinosopo-
taanque of Berzelius, is a compound of cMoroplatitums acid,
and the cMorobase of potassium, and is tiie chloroplatinite of
potassium. The chhrureplatinico-potassiqtt^ of the same
author, is the chloroplaiinate of potassium.
The terms amphigen and halogen being employed both
from expedience, and in honor of their author, we may use
his term haloid and amphide, to distinguish the acids or bases
severally formed by these classes, the abbreviations halo and
amph, being employed in composition. Thus I designate
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248 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
ilie adds formed by tiie halogen bodies with hydrogen, as
halohydric adds; those fcnrmed with that radical by the am-
phigen bodies, as amphydric adds. As the same radical will
iQ other cases be found to form adds with several of the
halogen bodies, platinmn for instance, the add thus pro-
duced, may be called haloplatinic adds; or if gold were the
radical, they would be haloauric adds. These examples will
suggest to the chemical reader a series of names, as for in-
stance haloargentic, hdocupric, hdloHanmc, halopaUadic.
I consider prussian blue as a cyanof errite of the cyano-
base of iron, or briefly a cyanof errite of iron. The diversity
of properties which enables two cyanides of iron to exist in
combination in this cyanof errite, one as an add, the other as
a base, is one among many other instances in which com-
pounds constituted of the same demaits in the same ratio,
have different properties, and are said in consequence to be
isomeric, or to afford cases of isomerism.
The salt designated by Berzelius as the '" cyanure fer-
roso-potassique," is the well known test for iron heretofore
called ferroprussiate of potassa; under the idea that it con-
sisted of prussic acid, iron and potassa. As the prussic acid
was viewed at the same time as a compound of hydrogen and
cyanogen, the ferroprussic add was considered as a com-
pound of cyanogen, hydrogen, and iron. According to
Berzelius, the supposed ferroprussiate is k compound of a
" protocyanure " of iron, and a ^'cyamire of potassium "; each
being a simple haloid salt and the aggregate a double '^ qfOfUr
ure!* Agreeably to my ncNmenclature, the '' protocyanure **
of iron is considered as cyanof errous add, and the ^^ cyarmre **
of potassium as a cyanobase; the aggregate being a cyano-
ferrite of the cyanobase of potassium, but designated briefly
as a cyanoferrite of potassium.
I infer that the '^ ferroprussic *' acid is analogous in om-
stitution to the triple compound of fluorine, silicon and
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 249
hydrogen, improperly called hydrofluosilicic acid; and that,
consistently with the hypothetical views under which the
latter received its name, the former should be called hydro-
cyanof erric acid. Even admitting the correctness of the hy-
pothetical impression, to which I have alluded, agreeably
to which such compounds are acids with a double radical, I
urged that the appellations of such compounds should be so
altered as to give precedency to the electro-negative ingredi-
ent. Hence the one would be called cyanohydroferric acid;
and the other, fluc^ydrosilidc acid. But in my letter to Prof.
Silliman, already cited, I advanced a new hypothesis respect-
ing the constitution of the fluc^ydrosilidc, and fluohydro-
boric adds. I suggested that they should be considered as
ccmipounds in which the fluorides of silicon or boron acted as
adds, the fluoride of hydrogen as a base. Consistently with
that doctrine, I would consider protocyatUde (or '' cyamure ^*)
of iron in the all^^ed ferroprvsiic acid, as acting as cyano-
ferrous add, the cyanide of hydrogen {prussic acid) as a
cyanobase forming, by their union, a cyanof errite of hydrogen.
As compounds, consisting of a basadgen body, hydrogen
and a radical, do not, when presented to bases, alter into
combination; but are on the contrary, decomposed so as to
allow another radical to take the place of their hydrogen, it is
inccmsistent with chemical law, as stated by Berzelius, or my
definition of acidity, to designate them as acids.
I have called the electro-negative ^' protocyanure ^ of iron
of Berzelius, cyanoferroM add, because there is ^'sesqui-
cyanure " in the '^ cyanureferrico-potassique ** of that author,
which by analogy with the nomenclature of the oxadds, is
entitled to the appellation of cyanoferric add.''
A contemporary (1848) in speaking of the preceding
brochure said:
'' This is a very acute and able discussion of an obscure
and difficult subject. . . . An attempt to subvert the
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250 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
present nomenclature of the oxysalts, and to introduce a
new arrangement of their elements, so as to make them cor-
respond with the haloid salts, appears to us very unnecessary,
and to be unsupported by any reasons, sufficiently impor-
tant, to justify so anno3ring an innovation. Men of acute
minds may arrange mentally the chemical atoms so as to
produce results which harmonize, and leave no fractions to
be disposed of. But bounds should be set to these intellec-
tual recreations, especially when they produce a host of new
names for principles Tdiose existence cannot be proved, be-
cause they cannot be isolated. Many of the names, for ex-
ample, recently introduced into the organic chemistry, are
uncouth, complex, hypothetical, and at war with euphony.
Dr. Hare's argument, as regards the new ncnnenclature of
the oxysalts, appears to us to be conclusive, and we trust that
the beautiful language so long in jise will not be set aside,
nor the still more beautiful harmony of the saline elements
disturbed."
In addition there is the subjoined letter addressed to the
editors of the American Journal of Science. Its contents are
very interesting:
"Dear Sirs:
In September, 1888, I published in your Journal, to-
gether with some encomiums upon the treatise of Chemistry
by the celebrated Berzelius, certain objections to his nomen-
clature, and some suggestions respecting a substitute, which
I deemed to be preferable. In the following June I ad-
dressed a letter to Professor Silliman upon the same topics, in
which my criticisms and suggestions were amplified and cor-
rected in obedience to more mature reflection. A printed copy
of that letter having been sent by me to Berzelius, I received
in answer an epistle, of which I furnish you with a translation.
Since the period of that correspondence, so demonstrative
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 261
of candor and good feeling on the part of the great Swedish
chemist, I have published two editions of my Compendium
of Chemistry, in which I have pursued a course correspond-
ing with my criticisms above alluded ta I am therefore
desirous, in addition to tiie letter to Berzelius to lay before
the public a recapitulation, a review, and an additional ex-
planation of the grounds upon which I have ventured to
employ a language, and an arrangement inconsistent with
the practice and opinions of a chemist by whose authority in
other respects, I am usually influenced. But before pro-
ceeding with the ungracious task of endeavoring to establish
the correctness of my views in opposition to those of my
friend, I feel that it will be no more than justice to repeat an
acknowledgment, already made in my text book, that if De
BonsdorjQf, myself, and others are right in considering the
double salts of Berzelius as simple salts, it is to the light
afforded by his investigations, lliat we owe the power of seeing
the subject correctly. I believe the idea, that any other body
besides oxygen coidd produce botii acids and bases capable
of forming salts, originated with Berzelius, in the instance
of sulphur.
According to the Berzelian nomenclature, bodies which
produce salts by a union with radicals are called halogen or
salt producing bodies, whUe those which with radicals form
both adds and bases, capable by their union of constituting
salts, are called amphigen bodies or both producers. Salts,
produced by the first mentioned class are called haloid salts;
those produced by the other are called amphide salts.
I objected to this classification, that the words salt, acid
and base, were broad, vague and unsettled in the acceptation,
having, by chemists in general, and especially by Berzelius,
been employed to designate substances differing in composi-
tion, and extremely discordant in their properties; that no
method of defining a salt had been devised, which had not been
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S52 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
founded either on properties or composition^ that in the no-
menclature of Berzelius properties were disregarded^ since
among his haloid and amphide salts were found substances^
differing extremely in this respect. Thus, for instance, com-
mon salt, Glauber^s salt, Epsom salt, vitriolated tartar, and
cream of tartar, were associated with the fuming liquor of
Libavius, the butyraceous dilorides of zinc, antimony, and bis-
muth, plubum comeum, luna cornea, fluor spar, aiul the add
fluorides of silicon and boron. I objected also that composi-
tion could not be resorted to consistaitly with his classifica-
tion; since, agreeably to it, a salt m^t be either a binary com-
pound of a halogen body with a radical, or consist of two
binary compounds, each containing the same amphigen body.
To the terms acid and base, as employed in his nomen-
clature, I objected, that neither by the celebrated author, nor
by any other chemist had any definition been adhered to
which could, consistently with his plan, restrict the meaning
of those appellations to be binary ccnnpoimds formed by the
union of his amphigen bodies with radicals.
Acidity and basidity ^ had sometimes been distinguished
by an appeal to properties, scnnetimes to composition, but to
neither had there been any consistent attention. In order
to demonstrate the total neglect of properties latterly dis-
played, it was only necessary to contrast substances bearing
generally the name of adds; as for instance sulphuric acid
with rock crystal, acetic add with tannin, and prussic acid
with margaric; or to contemplate simultaneously the ad-
mission of the hydracids formed with the halogen bodies into
the class of acids, while alleged incapable of combining with
bases, with the exclusion from that class of nitrous acid,
upon the plea of the same incapacity.
^ For the use of the words basidity and salidity, I have no
authority, but conceive that through their analogy with acidity, their
meaning is so obvious as to make it expedient to employ than.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 25S
In reference to neglect of composition in forming the
cUss of acids, it will be sufficient to advert to the association
in that dass, of compomids formed with radicals both by the
halogm and amphigen bodies; so that the halogen bodies are
in one case producers of salts, in the other producers of acids ;
in one case act as supporters, acidifiers, or electro-negative
principles, in another as radicals to the comparatively electro-
positive hydrogen, pre-eminently a radical by tiie definition
of that word giv^i in the treatise of the distinguished author
of the nomenclature.
After stating my objections to tlie basis of the Berzelian
nomenclature, I proceeded to mention those to whidi I con-
sidered the superstructure as liable.
Having designated the acid compounds of his amphigen
dass, by prefixing syllables indicating their electro-negative
ingredients; having also in some instances, as in those of the
fluosilicic and fluoboric adds, adopted this course in relation
to halogen bodies; I objected to the use of the word hydradd,
in which the electro-positive radical is made to act as if co-
ordinate with oxygen.
Moreover, the termination in ide having been generally
attached to the dectro-positive compounds of oxygen, acting
as bases, I concfemned the employment of that termination,
to distinguish the electro-positive compounds and acid com-
pounds of sulphur, selenium, and tellurium. I considered
it inconsistent to give precedence to the syllable designating
the radical in the acids formed with hydrogen; as in hydro-
ddoric, hydrobromic, hydriodic, hydrofluoric, hydrofluoboric,
hydrofluosilicic, preferring the terms chlorohjrdric, bromo-
hydric, iodhydric, fluohydroboric, fluohydrosilidc, &c, in
whidi I have been sanctioned by Thenard and others.
I proposed a definition of an add and a base, which I con-
ceived to be the only one which could be adopted, consistently
witii the uses made of those words by Berzelius, and other
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254 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
distinguished chemists; and advanced that, agreeable to that
definition, his double haloid salts must be considered as simple
salts, severally formed of an acid and a base.
I objected to his treating the words ccnnbustion and
oxygenation as synonymous."
To slightly anticipate chronologically, the following elab-
orate presentation of Hare's ideas on radicals may now find
place. The communication is very closely attached to his
previously expressed views. It bears the title:
An effort to refute the arguments advanced in favor of
the Existence, in the Amphide Salts, of Radicals consisting,
like Cyanogen, of more than one element, and reads as
follows:
The following is a summary of the opinions, which it is
the object of the subsequent reasoning to justify.
a. The community of effect, as respects the extrication
of hydrogen by contact of certain metals with aqueous solu-
tions of sulphuric and chlorohydric acid, is not an adequate
ground for an inferred analogy of ccmiposition, since it must
inevitably arise that any radical will, from any compound,
displace any other radical, when the forces favoring its sub-
stitution, preponderate over the quiescent affinities.
b. But if, nevertheless, it be held that the evolution of
hydrogen from any combination, by contact with a metal,
is a sufficient proof of the existence of a halog^i body, simple
or compound, in the combination, the evolution of hydrogen
from water, by the ccmtact with any metal of the alkalies,
must prove oxygen to be a halogen body, also the evolution
of hydrogen from sulphydric, selenhydric, or telluhydric
acids, by similar means, would justify an inference that sul-
phur, selenium, or telliu*iimi, as well as oxygen, belong to
the halogen, or " salt radical *' dass.
c. The amphigen bodies being thus proved to belong to
the halogen class, oxides, sulphides, selenides, and tellurides.
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SECX)ND PERIOD, 1818-1847 255
would be haloid salts, and their compounds double salts, in-
stead of consisting of a compound radical and a metal.
d. Tlie argumoit in favor of similarity of composition
in the haloid and amphide salts, founded on a limited resem-
blance of properties in some instances, is more than counter-
balanced by the extreme dissimilitude in many others.
e. As, in either class, almost every property may be found
which is observed in any chemical ccnnpound, the existence of
a similitude, in some cases, might be naturally expected.
f • As it is evident that many salts, perfectly analogous
in composition, are extremely dissimilar in properties, it is
not reasonable to consider resemblance in properties, as a
proof of analogy in composition.
g. No line of distinction, as respects either properties
or composition, can be drawn between the binary compounds
of the amphigen and halogen bodies, whidi justifies that sepa^
rate classification which the doctrine requires; so that it must
be untenable as respects the one, or be extended to the other.
h. The great diversity, both as respects properties and
composition, of the bodies called salts, rendering it impossible
to define the meaning of the word, any attempt to vary the
language and theory of chemistry, in reference to the idea
of a salt, must be disadvantageous.
i. There is at least as much mystery in the fact, tiiat the
addition of an atom of oxygen to an oxacid, should confer
an aflSnity for a simple radical, as that the addition of an
atom of this element to such a radical, should create an
affinity between it, and an oxacid.
j. If one atom of oxygen confer upon the base into which
it enters, the power to combine with one atom of add, it is
quite consistent that the affinity should be augmented, pro-
portionably, by a further accession of oxygen.
k. It were quite as anomalous, mysterious, and improb-
able, that there should be three oxyphosphions, severally
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«56 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
requiring for saturation one, two, and three atoms of hydro-
gen, as that three iscmieric states of phosphoric acid idiould
exist, requiring as many different equivalents of basic water.
L The attributes of acidity alleged to be due altogether
to the presence of basic water, are not seen in hydrated acids,
when holding water in that form cmly; nor in such as are,
like the oily acids, incapable of uniting with water as a solvent.
Further, l^ese attributes are admitted to belong to salts which,
not holding water as a base, cannot be hydrurets or hydracids
of any salt radical; and while such attributes are found in
compounds which, like chrcnnic, or carbonic acid, cannot be
considered as hydrurets, they do not exist in all that merit this
appellation, as is evident in the case of prussic acid, or oil
of bitter almonds.
m. It seems to have escaped attention, that if SO4 be
the oxysulphion of sulphates, SOs anhydrous sulphuric acid,
must be the oxysulphion of the sulphites ; and that tiiere must,
in the hyposulphites and hyposulphates, be two otiier oxy-
sulphions.
n. The electrolytic experiments of Daniell have been
erroneously interpreted, since the electrolysis of the base of
sulphate of soda would so cause ihe separation of sodium
and oxygen, that the oxygen would be attracted to the
anode, the hydrogen and soda being indirectly evolved by
the reaction of sodium with water; while the acid, deprived
of its alkaline base, would be found at the anode in combina-
tion with basic water, without having been made to act in
the capacity of an anion.
o. The copper in the case of a solution of the sulphate of
this metal and a solution of potash, separated by a mem-
brane, would, by electrolyzation, be evolved by the same
process as sodium, so long as there be copper to perform the
office of a cathion; and when there should no longer be any
copper to act in thb capacity, the metal of the alkali, or hydro*
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 257
gen of water, on the other side of the membrane, would act as
a cathion; the oxygen acting as an anion from one electrode
to the other, first to the copper, and th^i to the potassimn.
p. The allegation that the copper was deposited from
the want of an anion (oxysulphion) to combine with, is
manifestly an error, since, had there been an anion, there
could have been no discharge, as alleged, to hydrogen as a
cathion, nor any electrolysis.
q. The hydrated oxide precipitated on the membrane,
came from the reaction of the alkali with the sulphate of
copper; the precipitated oxide of this metal from the oxygen
of the soda action as an anion; and the deposit of metallic
copper from the solutions performing, feebly, the part of
electrodes, whUe themselves the subjects of electrolyzation.
r. The so called principles of Liebig, by which his theory
of organic acids is preceded, are mainly an inversion of \be
truth, since they make the capacity of saturation of hydrated
adds dependent on the quantity of hydrogen in their basic
water, instead of making both the quantity of water, and,
of course, the quantity of hydrogen therein, depend on their
capacity.
s. All that is truly said of hydrogen, would be equally
true of any other radical, while the language employed would
lead the student to suppose that there is a peculiar associa-
tion between capacity of saturation, and presence of hydrogen.
1. Some of the most distinguished European chemists,
encouraged by the number of instances in which the existence
of hypothetical radicals has been rendered probable, have
lately inferred the existence of a large number of such radi-
cals in a most important class of bodies, heretofore considered
as compounds of adds and bases. It has been inferred, for
instance, that sulphur, with four atoms of oxygen (SO4)
constitutes a compound radical, which performs in hydrous
sulphuric acid, the same part as chlorine in chlorohydric add.
17
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258 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
2. Graham has proposed sulphatoxygen as a name for
this radical, and sulphatoxide for any of its compounds.
Daniell has proposed oxysulphion and oxysulphicmide for
the same purposes. In reasoning on the subject I shall use
the nomenclature last mentioned, not, however, with a view
to sanction it, as I disapprove altogether of this innovation,
and deny the sufficiency of the grounds upon which it has
been justified. Consistently with the language suggested by
Daniell, hydrous sulphuric acid, constituted of one atom of
add and one of basic water (SOs + HO) , is a compound of
oxysulphion and hydrogen (SO4 + H). Nitric acid
(NO5 + H) is a compound of oxynitrion and hydrogen
(NOe + Hg) . In like manner we should have oxyphosphion
in phosphoric add, oxyarsenion in arsenic acid, and in all
acids, hitherto called hydrated, whetiier organic or inorganic,
we should have radicals designated by names made after liie
same plan. Their salts having corresponding appellations,
would be oxysulphionides, oxynitrionides, &c. Also, hi any
salt in whidi any other of the amphigen class of Berzelius is
the electro-negative ingredient, whether sulphur, selenium,
or tellurium, all the ingredients excepting the electro-positive
radical, would be considered as constituting a compound
electro-negative radical.
8. It may be expedient to take this opportunity of men-
tioning that the advocates of this new view, disadvanta-
geously, as I think, employ the word radical, to designate the
electro-positive ingredient. Agreeably to the nomenclature
of Berzelius, the former would be a compound halogen body.
Cyanogen being analogous, is by him placed in the halogen
dass. I shall, therefore, in speaking of '^ salt radicals/' im-
properly so called, employ the appellation contrived by the
great Swedish chemist.
4. Nevertheless it seems to be conceded, that however
plausible may be the reasons for inferring the existence of
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 259
halogen bodies in the amphide salts, it would be inex-
pedient to make a corresponding change in nomenclature,
on account of the great inconvenience which must arise from
the consequent change of names.
5. Under these circimistances, it may be well to consider
how far there is any necessity for adopting hypothetical
views, to which it would be so disadvantageous to accom-
modate the received language of chemists. In the strictures
on the Berzelian nomenclature, which drew from Berzelius
the suggestions previously given, I state it to be my impres-
sion that water should be considered as acting in some cases
as an oxybase, in others as an oxacid; and, in my examination
of his reply, I observed that hydrous sulphuric add might he
considered as a sulphate of hydrogen, and that when this add
reacts with zinc or iron, the proneness of hydrogen to the
aeriform state enables dther metal to take its place, agreeably
to the established laws of affinity.
6. There appears to have been a coincidence of opinion
between Kane, GriJiam, Gregory, and myself , as respects
the electro-positive relation of hydrogen to the amphigen
and halogen elements, which I have designated collectively
as the basacigen dass; also in the impression that hydrogen
acts like a metallic radical, its oxide, water, performing the
part of a base. I agree perfectly with Gregory in consider-
ing that hydrated acids may be considered as '' hydrogen
salts." But when the learned editor proceeds to allege that
''acids and salts, as respects their constitution, will form
one class," I consider him, and those who sanction this aUega-
tion, as founding an error upon an oversight Because the
salts of hydrogen, or sudi as have water for their base, have
heretofore been erroneously called acids, we are henceforth
to confound salts with acids, and, instead of correcting one
wrong name, cause all others to conform thereto!
7. I fully concur with Gregory and Kane, in considering
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260 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
Hiat water in hydrous sulphuric acid, in nitric acid, ddoric
add, and in organic adds, generally acts as a base; also, that
in this basic water hydrogen performs a part perfectly anal-
ogous to that of a metallic radical; but, agreeably in account-
ing for the evolution of hydrogen, as suggested in the quota-
tion above made (6), agreeably to which, when diluted sul-
phuric acid reacts with zinc, or iron, the liberation of hydrogen
results from the superiority of tiie forces whidi tend to inswt
either of these metals in the places occupied by the hydrogen,
over those which tend to retain it in Hatu quo.
8. When oxide of copper is presented to chlorohydric acid,
it is inferred that the hydrogen unites with oxygen, and the
chlorine with the metal; and hence it seems to be presumed,
that when oxide of copper is combined with sulphuric acid,
a similar play of affinities should ensue; but would it be rea-
sonable to make this a ground for assuming the existence of
a compound radical, when the phenomena admit of another
explanation quite as simple and ocmsistait with the laws of
chemical affinity?
9. Whether hydrogen be replaced by zinc, or oxide of
hydrogen by oxide of copper, cannot make any material dif-
ference. In the one case, a radical expels another radical,
and takes its place; in the other, a base expels another base,
and takes its place.
10. There can be no difficulty, then in understanding
wherefore, from the compound of sulf^iiu* and three at(Mns
of oxygen, and an atom of basic water, hydrogen should be
expelled and replaced by zinc, or that water should be ex-
pdled and replaced by oxide of copper; the only mystery is
in the fact, that SO3 as anhydrous sulphuric acid, will not
combine with hydrogen, copper, or any other radical, unless
oxidized. But this mystery equally exists on assuming that
an additional atom of oxygen converts SOs into oxjrsulphicm,
widowed witii an energetic affinity for metallic radicals, to
which SOs is quite indifferent.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 261
11. In either case, an inexplicable mystery exists; but
it is, in the one case, associated with an hypothetical change,
in the other, with cme which is known to take place.
12. But if hydrous sulphuric add is to be assumed to be
a hydruret of a compound halogen body (oxysulphion), be-
cause it evolved hydrogen on contact with zinc, wherefore is
not water, which evolved hydrogen on contact with potassiimi,
sodium, barium, strontium, or calcium, to be considered as a
hydruret of oxygen, making oxygen a halogen body?
18. Boldly begging the question, Graham reasons thus:
'' The chlorides themselves being salts, their compotmds must
be double salts.^
14. But if the chlorides are salts, the dhloride of hydrogen
is a salt; and if so, wherefore is not the oxide of hydrogen a
salt, which, in its susceptibility of the crystalline form, has a
salt attribute which the aeriform chloride does not possess?
15. Further, if the oxide of hydrogen be a salt, every
oxide is a salt, as well as every cfalcMide. Now, controvert-
ing the argumait above quoted, by analogous reasoning, it
may be said, '' the oocides themselves being salts, their com-
pounds are double salts/^ Of course sulphate of potash is
not a sulphatoxide, as Graham's ingenious nomenclature
would make it, but must be a double salt, since it consists of
two oxides in " themselves salts."
16. I trust that sufficient reasons have been adduced, to
make it evident that the common result of the*extrication of
hydrogen, during the reaction of zinc or iron with sulphuric or
cfalorohydric acid, if not a ccmipetent ground for assuming
that there are, in amphide salts, '' compound radicals " play-
ing the same part as halogen bodies.
17. Let us, in the next place, consider the argument in
favor of the existence of such radicals, founded on the simili-
tude of the haloid and amphide salts, which is stated by Kane
in the following words: —
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262 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
'' It had Icmg been remarked as curious, that bodies so
different in composition as the compound of chlorine with a
metal, on one hand, and of an oxygen acid with tiie oxide of
the metal on the otiier, should be so similar in properties, that
both must be dassed as salts, and should give rise to a series of
basic and acid compoimds, for the most part completely
parallel." Elements p. 681,
18. Upon the rimiUtude and complete parallelUm of tiie
amphide and haloid salts, thus erroneously alleged, the autiior
proceeds to argue in favor of the existence in tiie former,
of compound halogen bodies, analogous in their mode of
combination to chlorine or iodine.
19. I presume it will be granted, that if similitude in
properties be a sufficient ground for inferring an analogy in
composition, dissimilitude ought to justify an opposite in-
ference. And that if, as the author alleges, certain bodies
have been classed as salts, on accoimt of their similarity in
this respect, when dissimilar they ought not to be so classed.
Under this view of the question, I propose to examine how
far any similitude in properties exists between the bodies
designated as salts by tiie author, or any other chemist.
20. The salts, hitherto considered as ccHnpounds of acids
and bases, are by Berzelius called amphide salts, being pro-
duced severally by the union with one or the other of his
amphigen class, comprising oxygen, sulphur, selenium, imd
tellurium, with two radicals, with one of which an acid is
formed, with the other a base. The binary compounds of
his halogen class, comprising chlorine, bromine, iodine, flu-
orine and cyanogen, are called by him haloid salts. I shall
use the names thus suggested.
21. Among the haloid salts we have common salt and
Derbyshire spar ; the gaseous fluorides and dilorides of hydro-
gen, silicon or boron; the fuming liquor of Libavius; the acrid
butyraceous chlorides of zinc, bismuth, and antimony; the vol-
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 263
atile chlorides of magnesium, iron, chromium, and meiKniry,
and the fixed dilortdes of calcium, barium, strmitium, silver,
and lead; the volatile poison prussic acid, and solid poison
bicyanide of mercury, witii various inert cyanides like those of
Prussian blue ; likewise agreat number of ethereal compounds.
22. Among the amphide salts are the very soluble sul-
phates of zinc, iron, copper, soda, magnesia, &c., and the in-
soluble stony sulphates of baryta and strontia ; also ceruse and
sugar of lead; alabaster, marble, soaps, ethers, and innumer-
able stony silicates and aluminates. Last, but not among the
least discordant, are the hydrated acids, and alkaline and
earthy hydrates.
28. When tiie various sets of bodies, above enumerated,
as comprised in the two classes under consideration, are con-
templated, is it not evident that, not only between several
sets of haloid and amphide salts, but also between several
sets in either class, tiiere is an extreme discordancy in prop-
erties; so that making properties the test, would involve not
only that various sets in one class could not be coupled with
certain sets in tlie other, but, also, that in neither class could
any one set be selected as exemplifying the characteristics
of a salt, without depriving a majority of those similarly
constituted, of all pretensions to the saline character?
24. Now, if among the bodies above enumerated, some
pairs of amphide and haloid salts can be selected, which make
a tolerable match with respect to their properties, as in the
case of sulphate of soda, and chloride of sodium, while in
other cases there is the greatest discordancy, (as in the stony
silicate felspar, and the gaseous fluoride fluosilicic acid gas;
as in soap and Derbyshire spar; as in marble and the fuming
liquor of Libavius, the sour protochloride of tin, and sweet
acetate of lead), is it reasonable to found an argument in
favor of a hypothetical similitude in composition, on the
resemblance of the two classes in properties? Does not tiie
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«M THE LIFE OF BOBERT HABE
extreme dissimilitude in some cases, more tlian countenrail
the limited resemblance in others? And when the great
variety of properties diq>layed both by the amphide and
haloid salts is considered, is it a cause for wcmder or per-
plexity, that in some instances, amphide salts should be found
to resemble those of the other kind?
25. Again, admitting that there was any cause for per-
plexity agreeably to the old doctrine, is there less, agreeably
to that which is now recommended? Is there no ground for
wonder that oxygen or sulphur cannot act as simple halogen
bodies? By what rule are their binary compounds to be
excluded from the class of haloid salts? Wherefore should
chlorides, bromides, iodides, and fluorides, however antisaline
in their properties, be considered as salts, while in no case
is an oxide, a sulphide, selenide or telluride to be deemed
worthy of that name?
26. I challenge any diemist to assign any good reason
wherefore the red iodide of mercury is any more a salt tjian
the red oxide, or the protochloride is more saline than the
sulphide; or why the volatile oxides of osmiimi or of arsenic
are less saline than horn silver or horn lead; or the volatile
chloride of arsenic, than the comparatively fixed sulphides of
the same metal ; why gaseous chlorc^ydric acid is more saline
than steam or gaseous oxhydric acid.
27. It much surprises me, that when so much stress is
laid upon the idea of a salt, the impossibility of defining the
meaning of the word escapes attenticu. How is a salt to be
distinguished from any other binuy onnpound? Wh^i the
discordant group of substances which have been enimierated
under this name is contemplated, is it not evident that no
definition of them can be founded oa community of proper-
ties? and, by the advocates of the new doctrine, compositicm
has been made the object of definiticm, instead of being the
basis; thus, agreeably to them, a compoimd is not a salt, be-
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 285
cause it is made of certain dements; but» on the contrary,
an element, whether simple or compomni, belongs to the class
of salt radicals, because it produces a salt. Since sulphur,
with four atcMns of oxygen, SO4, produces a salt with a metal,
it must be deemed a salt radical.
28. In proof tliat the double dilorides are not united in
a way to justify the opinion adopted by Bonsdorff, Thom-
son, myself, and others, it is alleged by Graham, '' that in
such compounds the diaracters of the constituent salts are
very little affected by their state of union/'
29. This allegation being, in the next page, admitted to
be inapplicable in the case of the double cyanides; an effort is
made to get over this obstacle, by suggesting the existence of
another compound radical. But the allegation of the author
is errcmeous as respects various double haloid salts, especially
the fluosilicates, the fluoborates, fluozirocmiates, the chloro-
platinates, diloriridiates, diloroomiiates, diloropalladiates,
&c, all of them compounds in which the constituent fluorides
and dilorides exist in a state of energetic combination, by
whddi they are materially altered as to their state of existence.
80. Evidently the word salt has been so used, or rather
so abused, that it is impossible to define it, either by a resort
to properties or onnpositicm; and I ccmcdve, therefore, that
to make it a ground of abandoning terms which are suscep-
tible of definition, and which have long been tacitiy used by
chemists in general, in obedience to such definition, would be
a '^ retrograde movement in the nctencef' I hope Dr. Kane
will pardon me for employing the language to whidi he has
resorted, in speaking of the opinions of Bonsdorff.
81. If this doctrine, as it has been stated, is to prevail, I
do not perceive how it is to be prevented from daiming an
inconveni^it extension. The hydrates, as wdl as the sul-
phates, must have pretaisions to contain salt radicals. Hence
in the hydrated alkalies and alkaline earths, there would be
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266 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
a OHnpound radical, consisting of hydrogen, with two atoms
of oxygen, hydroxion, and these compounds would be hy-
droxionides; nor can I conceive that the haloid compounds,
erroneously called double salts, but more correctly consid-
ered as single salts, can be exempted.
82. Between the reaction of fluoboric acid with fluobases,
and sulphuric acid with oxybases, is tiiere not a great
resemblance?
88. I am imable to understand how, if the existence of
salt radicals in oxysalts be inferred, the other salts of the
amphigen class can be exempted from a corresponding in-
ference. But if the existence of salt radicals in the double
sulphides be admitted can it be consistently denied that tiiey
exist also in double dilorides, iodides, &c.? Is tiiere not the
greatest analogy between the habitudes of sulphur, selenium,
and tellurium, with metals, and those of the halogen bodies?
84. Would not the modification of the ethereal oxysalts,
to comport witii tiie new hypothesis, be disadvantageous,
both as respects our mental conception of those compounds,
and the names which would be rendered appropriate ? Would
not the transfer of tiie oxygen from the ethereal oxide to the
acid, and the creation, thus, of new salt radicals for the organic
acid salts, be objectionable; such as oxyoxalion for oxalates,
oxjrtartarion for tartrates, oxyacetion for acetates; while for
tiieir compounds, we should have oxyoxalionides, ox3rtartari-
onides, oxyacetionides, &c.?
85. If sulphates are to be considered as oxysulphionides,
by what names are we to designate the sulphites, hyposul-
phites, and hyposulphates, SO2, S2OS, S^Og? SOs may, per-
haps, with more propriety be considered as consisting of a
compound radical, SO2, and oxygen, forming an oxide of
sulphurous acid; but in a sulphite, anhydrous sulphuric acid,
SOs becomes a species of oxysulphion itself, being as mudi
the oxysulphion of the sulphites, as SO4 is of the sulphates.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 «e7
Of course SOs should have a direct affinity for radicals^ con-
trary to fact. I presume that sulphites would have to be tri-
oxysulphionides; hyposulphites, sesquioxysulphionides; sul-
phates, quadroxysulphionides; while the hyposulphates
would, I suppose, be demiquintoxysulphionideslll
86. Analogous complication in nomenclature would arise
in respect to tiie nitrites and nitrates, phosphites and phos-
phates, arsenites imd arseniates; also as respects the carbonic
and oxalic acids.
87. It is true that nature has not so made her bodies as
that they can be separated into classes, between whidi any
distinct line can be drawn, still it has been found advantageous
to classify them to the best of our power. Accordingly it
appears to me expedient, in the first place, to distinguish
elements (or those compounds whidi act like them) accord-
ing to their electro-chemical relations to each other, or their
habitudes with the voltaic electrodes. Consistently, diemists
have tacitly adopted the plan of treating the compounds
formed by electro-negative elements with anions, as acids;
those formed with cathions, as bases; while the combinations
formed by the union of such acids and bases have been con-
sidered as simple salts. Thus four classes are constituted,
consisting of electro-negative elements, of acids, bases, and
single salts, while, by \he union of the latter, a fifth class of
double salts is formed. Whether the words acid, base, and
salt, be adhered to, objectionable as they are in some respects,
and especially the latter, or some others be contrived, it would
seem to me disadvantageous to merge them in one name,
pursuant to the views of tlie advocates of salt radicals, as
stated by Gregory in his edition of Turner's Chemistry, 672.
88. The objection, that not being electrolytes the relation
of acids and bases to the voltaic electrodes cannot be dis-
covered, is easily remedied; since, on the union of a commcm
ingredient with an anion and a cathion, there cannot be any
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268 THE LIFE OF BOBERT HABE
doubt that the resulting compounds will have tiie same electro-
diemical relation as their respective heterogoieous ingredi-
ents; so that, with the anion» an acid or electro-negative body
will be formed; with the cathion^ a base or electro-positive
body. Moreover, as respects organic compounds whidi can-
not be subjected to the electrolytic test, whatever saturates an
inorganic acid must be a base, and whatever saturates an in-
OTganic base must be an acid.
89. The word salt, I have shown, is almost destitute of
utility, from tiie impossibility of defining it, and the ampli-
tude of its meaning. A word that means everything, is nearly
as useless as that whicfa means nothing.
40. As respects the tfiree phosphates of water, PO5 +
HO, PO5 + 2HO, PO5 + 8HO, the argument used by Dr,
Kane cuts both ways; although, by its employer, only that
edge is noticed which suits his own purpose. It is alleged
that the diff er^ice of properties, in these phosphates, is totally
inexplicable upon the idea of three degrees of '' hydration " ;
but that aU difficulty vanishes, when they are considered as
three different compound salt radicals, oxyphosphionides of
hydrogen PO« + H, PO7 + 2H, POs + 8H.
41. To me the formation of three compound elements,
by the reiterated addition of an atom, of which five of the
same kind were previously in tiie mass to which the addition
is made, seems more anomalous, mysterious, and improbable,
than the existence of three compounds of phosphoric acid
with water, in which the presence of the different proportions
of water is the consequence of scmie change in the constitu-
tion of the elements, whidi is referred to isomerism.
42. No reason can be given why the addition of one, two
and three atoms of oxygen, to the " radical," should convey
a power to hold a proportional number of atoms of hydrogen.
Such an acquisition of power is an ancnnaly.
48. In the case of radicals formed witii hydrogen in
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SECOND PERIOD^ 1818-1847 269
different proportions, as in acetyl and etiiyl, fonnyl and
methyl, the number of atoms of oxygen in tiiie peroxides, is
the inverse of the hydrogen in the radical.
44. Etiiyl, C4H4, unites, at most with one atom of oxygen,
while acetyl, C4H8, takes three atoms to form acetic add,
C4H808. Metiiyl, CaHs^ forms, in like manner, only a
protoxide, while fonnyl, C3H, takes three atoms to constitute
formic acid.
45. Besides tlie three oxyphosphions, of which the for-
mulas are above stated, there would have to be another in
the phosphites; so that instead of the hydrated acid, or phos-
phite of water, being POs + HO, it would have to be PO4 +
H, a fourth oxjrphosphionide of hydrogen.
46. Respecting the new principles which I have been con-
testing, Dr. Kane, alleges '' that the elegance and simplicity
with which the laws of saline combination may be traced f rcwa
them is remarkable,'' because he conceives, that without an
appeal to those principles, the fact that the number of equiva-
lents of acid in a salt are portionable to tiie number of equiva-
lents of oxygen in the base, would be inexplicable.
47. Thus, when the base is a protoxide, we have one atom
of \he protoxide of hydrogen to take its place; when the base
is a sesquioxide (two of radical and three of oxygen), three
atoms of the protoxide of hydrogen take its place: if the
base be a bioxide, two atoms of tlie protoxide of hydrogen
take its place.
48. I have already adverted to the existence of certain
chemical laws, inexplicable in the presort state of human
knowledge. Among these is that of the necessity of oxida-
tion to enable metallic radicals to combine with adds. But
as a similar mystery exists as respects the adventitious prop-
erty of combining with radicals, which results from the ac-
quisition of an additional atom of oxygen by any of tlie com-
pounds hitherto considered as anhydrous acids, the new doc-
trine has in that respect no pre-eminent daim to credence.
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270 THE LIFE OF BOBERT HABE
49. But if, without impairing the comparative pretensions
of the prevailing doctrine, we may appeal to the fact that the
acquisition of an atom of oxygen confers upon a radical \he
basic power to hold one aiam of acid, is it not consistent that
the acquisition of two atoms of oxygen should confer the
power to hold two atoms of add, and that with each further
acquisition of oxygen a f urtiier power to hold acids should be
conferred?
50. So far then there is in the old doctrine no more in-
scrutability tiian in that which has been proposed as its suc-
cessor. Since if on the one hand it be requisite that for each
atom of oxygen in the base, tliere shall be an atom of acid in
any salt which it may form, on the other, in the case of the
three oxyphosphions, for each additional atom of hydrogen
extraneous to the salt radical, there must be an atom of oxygen
superadded to this radical.
51. It being then admitted that, numerically, the atoms
of acid in any oxysalt will be as the atoms of oxygen in the
base, it must be evident that whenever an oxysalt of a pro-
toxide is decomposed by a bioxide, tiiere will have to be two
atoms of tlie former for one of the latter. For the bioxide
has two atoms of oxygen, and requires by the premises two
atoms of acid, while the salt of the prortoxide, having but one
atom of oxygen, can hold, and yield, only one atom of acid.
Two atoms, of this salt, therefore, whether its base be water,
or any other protoxide, will be decomposed by one atom of
bioxide; provided the affinity of the acid for the bioxide pre-
dominate over that entertained for the protoxide, as when
water is the base.
52. It follows, that the displacement of water from its
sulphate, adduced by Kane, does not favor the idea that hy-
drous sulphuric acid is an oxysulphionide of hydrogen, more
than the impression that it is a sulphate of water.
58. Of course, in thecase of presentingeither a sesquioxide.
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SECOND PERIOD, 181ft-1847 271
or a trioxide, to tiie last mentioned sulphate, in other words,
hydrous sulphuric add, the same rationale will be applicable.
54. The next argument advanced by Dr. Kane, is, that
some of the acids of which the existence is assimied upon the
old doctrine, are hypothetical, as they have never been iso-
lated. This mode of reasoning may be made to react against
the new doctrine with pre-aninent force, since aU of tiie
compound radicals imagined by it are hypotlietical — ^none of
them having been isolated.
55. The third argument of the respectable author above
named is, that acids display tlieir acid character in a high
degree only when in the combination with water.
56. This argument should be considered in reference to
two different cases, in one of which all the water held by the
add is in the state of a base, while in the other an additional
quantity is present acting as a solvent. So far as water,
acting as a solvent, facilitates the reaction between adds and
bases, it performs a part in common with alcohol, ether, vola-
tile oils, resins, vitrifiable fluxes, and caloric. Its efficacy
must be referred to the general law, that fluidity is necessary
to diemical reaction. '' Corpora non agunt nisi soluta."
57. In a majority of cases, basic water, unaided by an
additional portion acting as a solvent, is quite incompetent
to produce reaction between adds and other bodies. Neither
between sulphuric acid and zinc, between nitric acid and
silver, nor between glacial or crystallized acids and metallic
oxides, does any reaction take place without the aid of water
acting as a solvent, performing a part analogous to that whidi
heat performs in promoting the union of those oxybases with
boric, or silicic acid.
58. It is only with soluble acids that water has any efficacy.
The difference between the energy of sulphuric and silidc
add, under the different circumstances in which they can
redprocally displace each other, is founded on the nature of
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372 THE LIFE OF BOBERT HARE
the solvents which they require, the one being only capable
of liquefaction by water, the other by caloric.
59. In support of his opinions the author adverts to the
fact, that with hydrated sulphuric add, barjrta will combine
energetically in the cold, while a similar union between the
anhydrous vapor and the same base cannot be accomplished
mthout heat. But it ought to be recollected, that to make
this argument good, it should be shown wherefore heat causes
the baiyta, a perfectly fixed body, to unite more readily with
an aeriform substance in whicfa increase of temperature must,
by rarefaction, diminish the number of its particles in con-
tact with the solid. If the only answer be, that heat effects
some mysterious changes in affinity, (or as I would say, in the
electrical state of the particles,) it should be shown that the
presence of water or any otiier base has not been productive
of a similar change, before another explanaticm is held to be
necessary. But I would also call to mind that the hydrated
acid is presented in the liquid state; and if it be asked why
water, having less affinity than baryta, can better cause the
condensation of the add, I reply, that it is brought into am-
tact with the acid both as a liquid and a vapor, of neither of
which forms is the earthy base susceptible. But if all that is
necessary to convert anhydrous sulphuric add into an oxy-
sulphionide, be an atom of oxygen and an tAom of metal,
what is to prevent baryta and anhydrous sulphuric acid from
forming an oxysulphicmide of bariimi? All the elements are
present which are necessary to form either a sulphate or oxy-
sulphionide; and I am unable to conceive wherefore the in-
ability to combine does not operate as much against tlie exist-
ence of radicals as of bases.
60. I would be glad to learn why, agreeably to the salt
radical theory, anhydrous sulphuric acid unites with water
more greedily than with baryta, and yet abandons the water
promptly on being presented to this base. Why idiould it
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 «78
form an oxysulphionide with hydrogen more readily than
with barimn, and yet display, subsequently, a vastly superior
affinity for bariimi?
61. It seems to be overlooked, that anhydrous sulphuric
acid, being the oxysulphion of tlie sulphites, ought to form
ndphites on contact with metals.
62. But if the sulphate of water owe its eneigy to that por-
tion of this liquid, which, by its decomposition gives rise to the
compound radical oxysulphion, and not to the portion which
operates as a solvent, tlieref ore in the concentrated state, will
it not react with iron and zinc, without additional water, when,
witli dilution, it reacts most powerfully with those metals?
68. Some stress has been laid upon tlie fact, that sourness
is not perceived, excepting with the aid of water, as if to
derive force for the new doctrine from that old and popular,
though now abandcmed, test of acidity; but it should be recol-
lected that it is not the water, which goes to form the com-
pound element in the '' hydracids," erroneously so called,
which confers sourness. WiU any one pretend that either
sulphuric or nitric add, when concentrated, is sour? Are they
not caustic? Can imy of the crystallized organic acids be said
to have a sour taste, independently of the moisture of tlie
tongue? The hydrated oily adds being incapable of uniting
with water as a solvent, have none of these vulgar attributes
of addity. The absence of these attributes in prussic add
wotdd alone be suffident to render it inconsistent to consider
them as having any connexion with the presence of hydrogen.
64. It has been remarked, that liquid carbonic acid does
not combine with oxides on contact. To this I would add,
that it does not combine witli water under tiiose circum-
stances, but, on tlie contrary, separates from it like oil, after
mechanical mixture; nor does it, under any circumstances,
unite witli an equivalent proportion of water to form a hy-
drate. Of course, as it is not to basic water that it is indebted
18
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274 THE LIFE OF BOBERT HARE
for its ability to become an ingredient in salts, it cannot be
held that this faculty is \he result of its previous conversion
into an oxycarhiofiide of hydrogen.
65. Chromic add is admitted not to require water for
isolation, and cannot, therefore, be considered as oxychrom-
ionide of hydrogen. Yet the oil of bitter almcmds, which
consists of a compotmd radical, benzule, and an atom of hy-
drogen, and which is tiieref ore constituted precisely as the
salt radical doctrine requires for endowment with the attri-
butes of an "hydracid,'' is utterly destitute of that acid reac-
tion which hydrogen is represented as peculiarly competent to
impart. It follows that we have, on tiie one hand, in chromic
add, a compound endowed with the attributes of acidity,
without being a hydnu*et of any compound radical ; and, on
the otiier, in oil of bitter almonds, a hydruret of a compound
radical, without any of the attributes of acidity.
66. The last argument in favor of the existence of salt
radicals, which I have to answer, is that founded on certain
results of the electrolysis of saline solutions.
67. On subjecting a solution of sulphate of soda to elec-
trolysis, so as to be exposed to the current employed, simul-
taneously witii some water in a voltameter, Daniell alleges
that, for each equivalent of the gaseous elements of water
evolved in the voltameter, there was evolved at the cathode
and anode, not only a like quantity of those elements, but
likewise an equal number of equivalents of soda and sul-
phuric acid. This he ccmsiders as involving the necessity,
agreeably to the old doctrine, of the simultaneous decom-
position of two electrol3i;ic atoms, in the solution, for one in
the voltameter; while, if the solution be considered as hold-
ing oxysulphionide of sodium, instead of sulphate of soda, the
result may be explained consistently with the law ascertained
by Faraday. In that case, oxysulphion would be carried to
the anode, where combining with hydrogen, it would cause
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SECOND PERIOD, 181ft-1847 «75
oxygen to be extricated, while sodium, carried to the cathode,
deoxidizing water, would cause the extrication of hydrogen.
68. Di". Kane, alluding to the experiments above men-
tioned, and scnne others which I shall mention, alleges that
'' Professor Damell considers the binary theory of salts to he
fully established by them/*
69. Notwithstanding the deference which I have for the
distinguished inventor of the constant battery, and disin-
clination for tile unpleasant task of striving to prove a friend
to be in the wrong, being of opinion that these inferences are
erroneous, I feel it to be my duty, as a teacher of tiie science,
to show that they are founded upon a misinterpretation of
the facts appealed to for their justification.
70. It appears to me, that the simultaneous appearance
of the elements of water, and of acid and alkali, at the elec-
trodes, as above stated, may be accounted for, simply by
that electrolyzation of tiie soda, which must be the natural
consequence of the exposure of the sulphate of that base in
the circuit. I will in support of tiie exposition which I am
about to make, quote the language of Professor DanieU, in
his late work, entitled, "" Introduction to Chemical Philoso-
phy/'P^«c4»18:
" Thus we may conceive that the force of affinity receives
an impulse which enables the hydrogen of the first particle
of water, which undergoes decomposition, to combine momen-
tarily with the oxygen of the next particle in succession; the
hydrogen of this again, with the oxygen of the next; and so
on till the last particle of hydrogen communicates its impulse
to the platinum, and escapes hi its own elastic form."
71. The process here represented as taking place in the
instance of tiie oxide of hydrogen, takes place, of course, in
that of any other electrolyte.
72. It is well known, that ifdien a fixed alkaline solution
is subjected to the voltaic current, that the alkali, whether
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276 THE LIFE OF ROBEBT HARE
soda or potassa, is decomposed; so that if mercury be used
for tlie cathode, the nasc^it metal, being protected by uniting
therewilli, an amalgam is formed. If the catliode be of plat-
inum, the metal, being unprotected, is, by decomposing water,
reconverted into an oxide as socm as eyolved. This shows,
that when a salt of potassa or soda is subjected to tlie voltaic
current, it is the alkali which is the primary object of attack,
the decomposition of the water being a secondary result.
78. If in a row of the atoms of soda, extending from
one electrode to the other, while forming tiie base of a sul-
phate, a series of electrolytic decompositions be induced from
the cathode on tlie right, to the anode on the left, by whidi
each Atom of sodium in the row will be transferred from the
aXom of add with whidi it was previously combined, to that
next upon the right, causing an atcnn of the metal to be
liberated at the cathode; this atom, deoxidizing water, will
account for the soda and hydrogen at the cathode. Mean-
while the atom of sulphate on tiie left, which has been de-
prived of its sodium, must simultaneously have yielded to the
anode the oxygen by which this mfetal was oxidized. Of course
the add is left in tlie hydrous state, usually called free, though
more correctly esteemed to be that of a sulphate of water.
74. I cannot conceive how any other result could be ex-
pected from the electrolysis of tlie base of sulphate of soda,
than that which is here described. Should any additional
illustratk>n be requisite, it will be f oimd in a note subjoined.
75. I will, in the next place, ccmsider tlie phenomena ob-
served by Professor Daniell, when solutions of potassa and
sulphate of copper, separated by a membrane, were made the
mediiim of a voltaic current.
76. Of these I here quote his own account (Philosophical
Magazine and Journal, voL xvii, p. 172) :
''A small glass bell, witli an aperture at top, had its mouth
dosed by tying a piece of thin membrane over it. It was
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SECOND PERIOD, 18ia-1847 277
half fiUed with a dilute solution of caustic potassa, and sus*
pended in a glass vessel containing a strong neutral solution
of sulphate of copper, below the surface of wfaidi it just
dipped. A platiniun electrode, connected with the last zinc
rod of a large constant battery of twenty cells, was placed in
the solution of potassa; and another, connected with the cop-
per of the first cell, was placed in the sulphate of copper
immediately under the diaphragm which separated the two
solutions. Tlie circuit ccmducted very readily, and the acticm
was very energetic. Hydrogen was given off at the platinode
in a solution of potassa, and oxygen at the oncode in the sul-
phate of copper. A small quantity of gas was also seen to rise
from the surface of the diaphragm. In about ten minutes the
lower surface of the membrane was found beautifully coated
with metallic copper, interspersed with oxide of copper of a
black color, and hydrated oxide of copper of a light blue.
'' The explanation of these phenomena is obvious. In
the experimental cell we have two electrolytes separated by
a membrane, through both of whidi the current must pass
to complete its circuit. The sulphate of copper is resolved
into its compound anion, sulphuric acid + oxygen (oxysul-
phion), and its simple cathion, copper: the oxygen of the
former escapes at the zincode, but the copper on its passage to
the platinode is stopped at the surface of the second elec-
trolyte, whidi for the present we may regard as water im-
proved in its conducting power by potassa. The metal here
finds nothing by combining with whidi it can complete its
course, but being forced to stop, yields up its charge to the
hydrogen of the second electroljrte, which passes on to the
platinode, and is evolved.
'' The corresponding oxygen stops also at the diaphragm^
giving up its charge to the anion of the sulphate of copper.
The copper and oxygen thus meeting at the intermediate
point, partly enter into combination, and form the black
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278 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
oxide; but from the rapidity of the acticm, there is not time
for the whole to combine, and a portion of the copper remains
in the metallic state, and a portion of the gaseous oxygen
escapes. The precipitation of blue hydrated oxide doubtless
arose from the mixing of a small portion of the two solutions."
77. It will be admitted, that agreeably to the admirable
researches of Faraday, there are two modes in which a voltaic
current may be transmitted, conduction and electrclyzation.
In order that it may pass by the mentioned process, there
must be a row of anionis and cathions forming a series of
electrolytic atoms extending from the cathode to the anode.
It is not necessary that these atoms should belong to the
same fluid. A succession of atoms, whether homogeneous,
or of two kinds, will answer, provided either be susceptible of
electrolyzation. Both of the liquids resorted to by Daniell,
contained atoms susceptible of being electrolyzed. If his
idea of the composition of sulphate of copper, and the part
performed by the potassa, were admitted for the purpose of
illustration, we should, on one side of the membrane, have a
row of atoms consisting of oxjrsulphion and copper; on the
other, of oxygen and hydrogen.
78. Recurring to Daniell's own description of the elec-
trolyzing process, above quoted, an atom of copper near tiie
anode being liberated from its anion, oxysulphion, and
charged with electricity, seizes the next atom of oxysulphion,
displacing and charging an atom of copper therewith united.
The cupreous atom thus charged and displaced, seizes a third
atom of oxysulphion, subjecting tibe copper, united with it,
to tiie same treatment as it had itself previously met with.
This process being repeated by a succession of similar decom-
positions and recompositions, an electrified atom of copper is
evolved at the membrane, where there is no atom of oxysul-
phion. Were there no other anion to receive the copper, evi-
dently the electrolyzation would not have taken place; but oxy-
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 «79
gen on the one side of the membrane, must succeed to the office
performed by oxysulphion on the other side; while hydrogen,
in like manner, must succeed to the office of the copper.
79. Such being the inevitable conditions of the process,
how can it be correctly alleged by Professor Daniell, the
transfer of the copper being arrested at the membrane, that
as this metal '' can find nothing to combine with," it gives up
its electrical charge to the hydrogen, which proceeds to the
cathode? As hydrogen cannot be present, excepting as an
ingredient in water, how can it be said that the copper can
discharge itself upon the hydrogen, without combining with
the oxygen necessarily liberated at the same time by the
dectrolytic process? How could the copper, in discharging
itself to a catiiicm, escape a simultaneous seizure by an anion?
Would not the oxidilzement of this metal be a step indis-
pensable to the propagation of tiiat electroljrtic process, by
which alone the hydrogen could as alleged, *^ pass to the
platinodef' i.e., cathode?
80. In these strictures I am fully justified by the fol-
lowing allegations of Faraday, which I quote from his Re-
searches, 826, 828:
''A single ion, ue., one not in combination with another,
will have no tendency to pass to either of the electrodes, and
will be perfectly indifferent to the passing current, unless it
be itself a compound of more elementary ions, and so subject
to actual decomposition."
'' If, therefore, an ion pass towards one of the electrodes,
another ion must also be passing simultaneously to the other
dectrode, although, from secondary action, it may not make
its appearance."
81. In explanation of the mixed precipitates produced
upon the membrane, I suggest that the hydrated oxide re-
sulted from chemical reaction between the alkali and the
acid, the oxide from the oxygen of the water or potassa acting
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280 THE UFB OF BCffiERT HARE
as a catfaion in place of that of the oxide of copp»: also that
the metallic copper is to be attributed to the solutions acting
both as conductors and as electrolytes; so that, at the m^n-
brane, two feeble electrodes were formed, whidi enabled a
portion of the copper to be discharged without combining
with an anion, and a portion of oxygen to be discharged
without uniting with a cathion. In this explanation I am
supported by the author's account of a well known experi-
ment by Faraday, in which a solution of magnesia and water
was made to act as electrodes at their surfaces respectively.
82. There can, I think, be no better proof that no reliance
should be placed on the experiments with membranes, in this
and other cases, where the existence of compound radicals
in adds is to be tested, Ihan the error into whidi an inves-
tigator, so sagacious as my friend Professor Daniell, has
been led, in explaining the complicated results.
88. The association of two electrolytes, and the chemical
reaction between the potassa and acid, which is admitted to
have evolved the fajrdrated oxide, seem rather to have created
difficulties than to have removed them.
84. In this view of the subject, I am supported by the
opinion of Faraday, as expressed in the following language:
'" When other metallic solutions are used, ccmtaining, for
instance, peroxides, as that of copper combined with this or
any decomposable add, still more complicated results will be
obtained, ifdiidi, viewed as the direct results of electro-chem-
ical action, will, in their proportions, present nothing but con-
fusion; but will appear perfectly harmonious and simple, if
they be considered as secondary results, and will accord in
their proportions with the oxygen and hydrogen evolved
from water by the action of a definite quantity of electridty/'
85. I cannot concdve, that in any point of view the
complicated and '^ confuted '^ results of the experiment of
Daniell with electrolytes separated by membranes, are ren-
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 281
dered more intelligible by supposing the existence of salt
radicals. I cannot perceive that the idea that the anion in
the sulphate is oxysulphion, makes the explanation more
satisfactory than if we suppose it to be oxygen. Were a solu-
tion of copper subjected to electrolysis alone, if the oxide of
copper were the primary object of the current, the result
would be analogous to the case of sodium, excepting that the
metal evolved at the cathode, not decomposing water, would
appear in the metallic form. If water be the primary object of
attach, the evoluticm of copper would be a secondary effect.
86. It is remarkable, that after I had written the preced-
ing interpretation of Danidl's experimoits, I met with the
following deductions stated by Matteuod, as the result of
an arduous series of experiments, without any reference to
those of Danidl above mentioned. It will be perceived that
tibese deductimis coincided perfectly with mine.
87. I subjoin a literal translation of the language of
Matteucd from the Annales de Chemie et de Physique, tome
74, 1849, page 110:
"When salt, dissolved in water, is decomposed by the
voltaic current, if the action of the current be confined to
the salt, for each equivalent of water decomposed in the
vdtamet^, there will be an equivalait of metal at the nega-
tive pole, and an equivalent of add, plus an equivalent of
oxygen, at the positive pole. The metal separated at the
negative pole will be in the metallic state, or oxidized, accord-
ing to its nature. If oxidized, an equivalent of hydrogm
will be simultaneously disengaged by the chemical decom-
position of water.'*
88. Thus, it seems, that the appearance of acid and oxy-
gen at the anode, and of alkali and hydrogen at the cathode,
which has be^i considered as requiring the simultaneous de-
composition of two electrolytes upon the heretofore received
theory of salts, has, by Matteucci, been found to be a result
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282 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
requiring the electrolysis of the metallic base only, ancU
consequently, to be perfectly reconcilable with that theory.
89. In fact I had, from the study of Faraday 'sReseardies,
taken up the impression tiiat the separate appearance of an
acid and base, previously forming a salt, at the voltaic elec-
trodes, was to be viewed as a secondary effect of the decom-
position of the water or the base ; so that adds and bases were
never the direct objects of electrolytic transfer.
Of Uebig's '' Prindplea/^ so called.
90. Under the head of the " theory of organic acids," in
Liebig's Treatise on Organic Chemistry, we find the follow-
ing allegations dignified by the name of principles. Mani-
festly tiiey must tend to convey a false impressicm to tiie
student, that hydrogen has a peculiar property of creating a
capacity for saturation, instead of being only the measure of
that capacity, as is actually true, and likewise that in this
respect it differs f rcHn any other radical.
91. The allegations to which I refer are as follows, being
a literal translation from the French copy of the Trait6 of
Liebig, page 7:
"' The hydrated acids are combinations of one or more
elements with hydrogen, in which the latter may be replaced
wholly or in part by equivalents of metals.
'' The capacity of saturation depends consequently on
the quantity of hydrogen which can be replaced.
'' The compound formed by the other elements being
considered as a radical, it is evident that the composition of
this radical can exercise no influence on the capadty of
saturation.
'' The capacity of saturation of these acids augments or
diminishes in the same ratio as the quantity of hydrogen, not
entering into the salt radical, augments or diminii^es.
'' If into the composition of the salt radical there should
be introduced an undetermined quantity of any element
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 28S
without changing the quantity of hydrogen extraneous to
the radical, the atomic weight of the acid would be augmented,
but the capacity of saturation would remain the same."
92. As by the advocates of the existence of '' salt radi-
cals," hydrogen is considered as playing the part of a metallic
radical, and must, therefore, as respects any relation between
it and the capacity of saturation, be in tiie same predica-
ment as any other electro-positive radical, I cannot omceive
wherefore laws, which affect every other body of this kind,
should be stated as if particularly associated with hydrogen.
98. Would not a more comprehensive and correct idea
be' presented by the following language?
94. From any combination of an acid witii a base, either
the base or its radical may be replaced by any other radical
or base, between which and the other elements present, there
is a higher affinity. Of course from acids called hydrated,
from their holding an atom of basic water, either this base,
or its radical (hydrogen), may be replaced by any other
competent base or radical.
95. The premises being manifestly fallacious, still more
so is the subsequent allegation, that in consequence of the
hydrated acids being compounds formed witii hydrogen, their
capacity of satiuration depends on the quantity of this ele-
ment which can foe replaced.
96. Is not this an inversion of the obvious truth, that the
quantity of hydrogen present is as the capacity of saturation;
and that, of course, the quantity of any element which can be
substituted for it, must be in equivalent proportion? Would
not a student, from this, take up two erroneous ideas — ^first,
that the capacity of saturation is conferred by the radical,
and in the next place, that of all radicals, hydrogen alone can
give such a capacity? Is it not plain, that the assertion here
made by the celebrated author, would be true of any radical?
97. Passing over a sentence which has no bearing on the
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284 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
topic under discussion, in the fourth allegation we have a
reiteration and expansion of the error of those by which it
is preceded. We are informed that the '^capacity of saturor
tion augments and diminishes with the quantity of hydrogen
which can be replaced/^ Tdiich is again an inversion of the
truth, that the quantity of hydrogen varying with the ca-
pacity, the quantity of any other radical, competent to replace
it, must be in equivalent proportion.
98. Is not the ccmcluding allegation a mere truism, by
which we are informed, '' that if any undetermined quantity
of any element should be introduced into the composition of
the radical, without changing the capacity (as measured by
hydrogen), the capacity would be found the same when
measured by any other radical "?
99. As all that is thus ascribed to hydrogen must be
equally true of any other radical, there would have been
less liability to misapprehension, had the generic term radical
been employed wherever hydrogen is moitioned. But by
employing the word radical to designate halogen elements,
the advocates of the existence of compound radicals in lun-
phide salts have deprived the word in question of most of
its discriminating efficacy. In fact, their nomenclature would
confound all ultimate elements under one generic appella-
tion, and all their binary combinations under another, so
that almost every chemical reagent, whether simple or com-
pound, would be a salt or a radical.
100. Before concluding, I feel it to be due to the cele-
brated Ckrman Chemist above mentioned, to add, that how-
ever I may differ from him as to the acids being hydrurets
of compound radicals, I am fully disposed to make acknowl-
edgments for tiie light thrown by his analytical researches
on organic diemistry, and the successful effect of his ingenious
theoretic speculations, in rendering the science more an ob-
ject of study with physicians and agriculturists."
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 285
AndWolcottGibbs (1848) wrote:
" Dr. Hare has brought forward a number of powerful
arguments against the doctrine of compoimd salt-radicals,
which has recently made great progress amoi^ European
chemists, and at present threatens to subvert all established
theories and nomenclature, and to erect the superstructure
of chemical science upon a foundation apparently far too
unsubstantial to support its gigantic proportions and rapidly
increasing weight. This theory sets out from a principle
yery different from any which chemists hare been hitherto
accustomed to admit, and which would seem to be involyed
in a philosophical idea of the province and objects of chem-
istry, while it aims at explaining a few superficial resem-
blances in purely phyrical properties, by making a total
change in the chemical constitution of those substances be-
tween which such resemblances exist, as well as of innumer-
able others which display in their physical relations far more
striking discordances. Thus the physical similarity between
the chlorides, iodides, &c., of the alkaline and earthy metals,
and the sulphates, nitrates and other oxysalts of the same
metallic radicals, is made the basis of a total change in our
views of the ch^nical constitution of all salts whatever, while
the mudi more remarkable and more widely extended dif-
ferences between other members of the same classes of com-
pounds, so forcibly urged and so clearly illustrated by Dr.
Hare, are left entirely unnoticed or swallowed up in the
sweeping assertion that the salts of the simple haloid type,
and the salts composed of amphacids and amphibases, form
a series of basic and acid compoimds for the most part com-
pletely parallel.
The principal arguments which have been brought for-
ward in favor of the salt-radical theory, which is in part based
upon this assumed parallelism, have been ably discussed by
Dr. Hare in the preceding memoir."
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286 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
In what was probably his final letter to Berzelius, Hare
said:
'' Philadelphia, May, 1845.
''Esteemed Sir, — ^I am extremely grateful to you for
the good will which has induced you to occupy so much of
your valuable time and attention in answering my letters,
and regret that I have not succeeded in so expressing myself,
whether in French or English, as to make you comprehend
my opinions. I shall begin to think that in theoretic elucida-
tion, as well as in physical illumination, it may be more diffi-
cult to make limiinous impressions on bodies, in proportion
as they are themselves pre-eminently the soiu*oes of light.
In your letter of the 25th of February, 1844, you de-
scribe my opinion of a salt in the following words, '' Vous
fondez I'idee d'un sel uniquement sur la composition sans
egard aux proprietes, vous ne considerez, comme un sel que
ce qui est compose d'un combinaison binaire appell^ base
et un autre combinaison binaire) appell6e adde. Les sels
dit haloide, ne sont pas, d'apres vous, des sels, puis qu'ils ne
sont dcHnpose que de deux elements et ne contienent ni base
ni acide." That this account of my opinion is erroneous must
appear from the following language, held in my letter to
Professor Silliman, which first gave rise to our correspond-
ence on tibe subject of nomenclature (p. 221).
On reperusing the passages which I have thus annexed,
you will perceive, that I have treated as absurd the idea of re-
stricting our conception of a salt to a compound formed of an
amphide acid and an amphide base, and that I have denounced
Ihat of depriving the chloride of sodium of its appropriate
name, and eliminating from the class of salts compounds
analogous to this chloride in composition and properties.
In the following paragraphs, taken from my ^^ Effort to
refute the arguments advanced in favor of the existence, in
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 287
amphide salts, of a compound radical like cyanogen'' I have
objected to tiie emplo3naient of the word salt as a comer-
stone of any scientific superstructure. ^^27. It much sur-
prises me, that when so much stress is laid upon the idea of a
salt, the impossfbSity of defining the meaning of the word
escapes attention. How is a salt to be distinguished from
any other binary compou/nd? When the discordant group
of substances which have been enumerated under this name,
is contemplated, is it not evident that no definition of them
can be fownded on commwnity of properties? and, by the
advocates of the new doctrine, composition has been made
the object of definition, instead of being the basis. Thus
agreeably to them, a compound is not a salt, because it is made
of certain elements; but, on the contrary, an element, whether
simple or compov/nd, belongs to the class of salt radicals,
because it produces a salt. Since sulphur, with four atoms
of oooygen, SO a, produces a salt with a metal, it must be
deemed a salt radical.
'' Evidently the word salt has been so used, or rather so
abused, that it is impossible to define it, either by a resort to
properties or composition; and I conceive, therefore, that to
m4ike it a ground of abandoning terms which are susceptible
of definition, and which have long been tacitly used by chem-
ists in general, in obedience to such definition, would be a
retrograde movement in science.^^
On perusing the preceding passages, you must perceive
that the difference between us, is not, that while you would
build upcm one idea of a salt, I would build upon another;
it lies, on my part, in ihe rejection, as a basis of nomenclature
or classification, of a word, so vaguely used, and so undefin-
able as that in question.
As respects another misapprehension, it never occurred
to me, that binary haloid compounds were less entitled to be
considered as salts, on account of their having no more than
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288 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
two elements. The tendency of my opinions has been to con-
sider the chloride of sodium, as the basis of the saline genus
and to ob j ect to the treatmmt of any body as a salt, whidi has
not some analogy with it in properties, if not in c(Hnposition.
The feature in your nomenclature and classification which
is most discordant with that which I hare proposed, is the dis-
tincticm which you hare attempted to make between the binary
compounds formed by halogen bodies with electro-positire
radicals and those formed with the same radicals by amphigen
bodies. I cannot conoeiye upon what ground tiie former,
for the most part, are more worthy of being considered as
salts than the latter; nor whereupon the amj^de compounds
resulting in the one case, are to be considered as acids or bases,
according to their relation to the voltaic poles, more than are
the haloid compounds resulting in the other.
Tour ncHnendature and your daasification are founded
on the words acid, salt, and base, and yet you hare not given
any consistent definition of the ideas to be attadied to eitiber.
These words have been shown to be employed by you in dif-
ferent senses, whether as respects composition or properties.
On this subject you will find the following omunaits in
my letter to Professor Silliman above quoted:
^'An attempt to reconcile the definition of acidity given by
Prof. BerzeUus, with the sense in which he uses the word acid,
xoillj in my apprehension, increase the perplewity. It is
alleged in his Traite, page 1, VoL II, ^ that the name of add
is given to silica and other feeble acids, because they are sus-
ceptible of combining with the oondes of electro-positioe
metals, that is to say with salifiable bases, and thus to produce
salts, which is precisely the principal character of acids/
Again, Vol. I, page 808, speaking of the halogene elements,
he declares that ' their combinations with hydrogen, are not
only acids, but belong to a series the most puissant that we
can employ in chemistry; and in this respect they rank as
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 289
equals with tiie strongest of the adds, into which oxygen
enters as a constituent principle.' And again, VoL II, page
162, when treating of hydracids formed with the halogene
dass, he alleges, ^ The former are very powerftd acids, truly
acids J and perfectly like the oxacids; hvt they do not combine
with salifiable bases; on the contrary, they decompose them
and produce haloid salts/
*' In this paragraph, the acids in question are represented
as pre-eminently endowed vntii the attributes of acidity, while
at the same time they are alleged to be destitute of his ^prin-
dpal character of acids/ the property of combining with
salifiable bases.
'' On page 41 of the same yolume, treating of the add
consisting of two volumes of oxygen and one of nitrogen,
considered by diemists generally as a distinct add, BerzeUus
uses the following language : ' If I have not coincided in their
view, it is because, judging by what we know at present,
the add in question cannot combine with any base, either
directly or indirectly ; that consequently it does not give salts,
and tiiat salifiable bases decompose it always into nitrous add
and nitric oxide gas. It is not then a distinct acid, and as
such ought not to be admitted into the nomenclature.' "
I suggested a definition here isubjoined, which is founded
upon your one electro-chemical classification, and which is
no more than an enundation of a rule acted upon, and con-
sequently sanctioned tadtly by yoiurself , and all other chem-
ists. The definition in its amended form, as given in my
text-book, is as follows:
^' When of ttvo substances capable of combining together
to form a tertium quid, and having an ingredient commxm to
both, one prefers the positive, the other the negative pole of
the voltaic series, we must deem the former an add, the latter
a base; also, any body capable of saturating an acid, as above
defined, is a base, and any body capable of saturating a base
as above defined, is an acid '' (p. 248) .
10
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290 THE LIFE OF BOBERT HARE
It follows that agreeably to the nomenclature proposed
by Faraday, every acid is an " anion," every base a " cathion."
But to proceed to another part of ibe letter, which I
have had the honor to receive from you, it is there alleged
that altiiou^ '^ nitrate calcique *^ (nitrate of lime) is a deli-
quescent salt, while fluor spar is a stone, you class them to-
gether because they have, in common, the property of yield-
ing with sulphuric add gypwm and a free add. But allow
me respectfully to inquire how, consistently with your syst^n,
sulphuric acid can extricate a free acid from fluoride of
calcium? By your own premises fluoride of calcium is a salt,
then wherefore is not the fluoride of hydrogen a salt? If it
be a salt, where is the analogy between tiie reaction of the
sulphuric acid with the nitrate of lime and the fluor? In the
former case sulphuric acid liberates an acid by a superior
affinity for a base already existing; in the latter case, by
causing the oxygen of its combined water to unite with cal-
cium, it generates a base and afterwards combines with it;
and, while decomposing one fluoride, gives rise to another.
In the instance of the nitrate, one amj^de salt is replaced
by anotiier amphide salt, while an acid is liberated; in the
instance of the fluoride, an haloid salt is replaced, both by an
amphide salt and another haloid compound. As, according
to your system, this compound consists of a halogen, or salt-
generating body, combined with a radical, it should be treated
as a simple salt.
If, as you stated in your Traite, an ability to combine with
bases be an essential attribute of acidity, how can the fluoride
of hydrogen be an acid, unless my view of the question be
admitted, agreeably to which the electro-negative fluorides
are fluadds, the electro-positive fluorides, fluobases, while
the compound of a fluacid and fluobase is a salt, at least as
much as fddspar, or marble. With what other base than
a fluobase, can the fluoride of hydrogen unite as an add, so
as to fulfil the ccmditions of your definition?
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 291
I am prevented from supposing that by adopting tlie salt
radical theory, you would rest the analogy of the eases cited,
on the existence of a compound radical oxynitrion, in the
nitrates, because in your letter of the 15tfa of September, you
allege, that you prefer to consider oxysalts as consisting of two
oxides. Besides, I hope you will consider the arguments which
I have advanced against Ihat theory, as unanswerable.
But admitting the existence of oxynitrion in the nitrates,
wherefore should not fluorine in fluacids, play the same part
as oxygen in oxacids. If a compound radical be formed when
two oxides come together, wherefore should there not be a
compound radical formed by the meeting of two fluorides?
If in the one case, all the oxygen goes to form a compound
radical, in the other ought not all the fluorine to perform an
analogous part? Hence if on tiie one hand we admit the
existence of oxynitrion, on tiie other we must admit that of
fluohydrogenion.
It will be conceded tiiat there is a great analogy between
the acid haloid compounds of hydrogen erroneously named
hydracids, and those formed by the same radical with sulphur,
selenium, and tellurium. I have designated the three last,
and likewise water, when acting as an acid, as amphydric
acids, while I have designated the haloid hydracids so called,
as halohydric adds; founding these appellations on your
words amphigen and halogene. Can it be imagined that
although when either of the amphydric acids, sulphydric add
for instance, is presented to a corresponding amphide com-
pound, sulphide of potassium for instance, that a compound
radical is generated, so that the formula of tiie resulting sul-
pho-salt is to be HSsP, and yet that when fluohydric acid
is presented to the fluoride of potassium, there being no gen-
eration of a radical, the formula of the resulting compound
istobeFH + FP— .
Tou consider it as an objection that I must dass the oxide
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292 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
of sodium with the chloride and sulphide of the saaie metal,
notwithstanding the diversity of Ihdr properties; but how
can this be a consistent objection, when, according to jrour
nomenclature, the chloride of sodium is classed not only witti
the fuming liquor of Libavius, the butyraceous and volatile
chlorides, which thou^ analogous in composition differ from
it in properties extremely, but also with feldspar, gjrpsum,
glass, and marble, which are utterly different f rcnn it in com-
position, as well as in properties?
If in the case of the nitrate of lime and fluorspar we are
to overlook that the latter is a stone, the former a deliques-
cent salt, in consideration of the alleged conununity of results
obtained by reaction with sulphuric add, let us subject the
sulphide and chloride of sodium to the same test Do we
not obtain from eitlier, sulphate of soda and a free add?
Is there not a much greater analogy between chlorohydric
add and sulphydric add, than between the nitric add and the
fluoride of hydrogen ? Under this aspect can it be reasonable
to dass together the nitrate of lime and fluor spar as simple
salts, and yet exdude the sulphides of the same dass? Are
not the sulphides more analogous to the chlorides and fluorides
than the nitrates, in the very Trcdte to which you have re-
ferred? I allude to the evolution from either by reaction
with sulphuric add of a like base and of one of tiie acids
improperly called hydracids.
It is considered as objectionable that chloride of sodium,
a neutral salt "" par excellence," should be deoned a base.
But I would ask, whence originated the nominal netUrality
of this chloride; did it not spring from the old abandoned
notion of its consisting of muriatic acid and oxide of sodium?
That it is a salt par excellence, I admit, but deny that it is a
neutral salt agreeably to the idea associated with the term
neutral as applied to the sulphates of potash and the sul-
phate of soda, in contradistinction to the add bisulphates of
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 S9S
tbese bases. That it is neutral or inert, as respects its re-
agence with vegetable colors, ou^t not, as I conceive, any
more to be an objection to its claims to the basic diaracter,
than the like inertness is an objection to the basic pretensions
of the oxides of the metals proper, among whidi very few, if
any, have any alkaline reaction. This is more properly a test
of alkciUmty than of basidity.
Since water, alumina, and some other oxides, are consid-
ered as capable severaUy of acting as an add in some com-
pounds and as a base in others, wherefore may not the same
substance have the attributes of a salt in one case, and yet in
others act as a base? Which is the most remote frcmi the
character of a base, is it the salt or the add?
I am obliged to you for the information given at the close
of your letter. I do not know whether you have ever met
with the account given in the Bulletin of the proceedings of
the American Philosophical Sodety, of my success in fusing
pure rhodium and iridium, by the hydro-oxygen blowpipe.
I have been for sometime endeavoring to perfect scMne
new methods of analyzing organic substances by burning
them in oxygen gas.
With highest esteem, I am yours sincerdy,
Robert Habe."
'' On this subject the following remarks were made in my
letter on your nomendature above referred to : * In common
with eminent chemists Prof. Berzelius has distinguished acids
in which oxygen is the dectro-negative prindple as oxacids,
and those in which hydrogen is a prominent ingredient as
hydracids. If we look for the word radical, in the table of
contents in his invaluable treatise, we are referred to page 218,
volume first, where we find the following definition, "the comr
bttsUble body contained in an acid, or in a salifiabU base, is
called the radical of the add or of the base.** '
"' In the second volume, page 168, hydradds are defined to
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294 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
be ' those acids, which contain an electro-negative body, com-
bined with hydrogen '; and on the next page it is stated, that
' hydracids are divided into those which have a simple radical,
and those which have a compound radical. The second only
comprises those formed with cyanogen and sulphocyanogen.'
Again in the next paragraph, 'no radical is known that
gives more than one acid with hydrogen, although sulphur
and iodine are capable of combining with it in many pro-
portions. If at any future day more numerous degrees of
acidification with hydrogen, should be discovered, their de-
nomination might be founded on the same principles as those
of oxacids.' Consistently with these quotations, all tJie elec-
tro-negative elements forming acids with hydrogen, are
radicals and of course by the definition of Prof. Berzelius,
combustibles; while hydrogen is made to rank with oxygen
as an acidifying principle, and is consequently neither a radi-
cal nor a combustible. Tet page 189, volume second, in
explaining tiie reaction of fluoboric acid with water, in which
case fluorine unites witii hydrogen and boron, it is mentioned
as one instance among others in which fluorine combines with
two combustibles.
'' I am of opinion that the emplo3naient of the word hy-
dracid as co-ordinate with oxacid, must tend to convey that
erroneous idea, with which, in opposition to his own definition,
the author seems to have been imbued, that hydrogen in the
one case plays the same part as oxygen in the other. But in
reality \he former is eminently a combustible, and of course
is the radical by his own definition.''
Perhaps at this point we may with advantage retrace our
steps to observe other activities of Hare's life. For instance,
his visit to England (1886) is not recorded. But trom tibe
following letters we may gather some idea in regard to it.
He must have been happy when in Dalton's company, and
it can be imagined that their conversation never lacked for
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 895
real earnest and important topics. It is also beautiful to
note that, at this time, as at all other times, he made it a point
to advise his friend Silliman of his experiences.
He informed Silliman Ihat he mentioned, in his address
before the British Association, the mode he pursued in fusing
platinum; his recommendation of the use of a nitrite in pre-
paring nitrous ether; his observation of "" a species of ether
different from the usual elher " arising on exposing a nitrite
to the action of alcohol and diluted sulphuric acid; the de-
position of carbon when olefiant gas is inflamed with insuffi-
cient oxygen ; the formation of peculiar products on inflaming
the aqueous elements in the presence of an essential oil, all
of which pointed to sources of error in gas analysis experi-
ments; and sent him the following letter:
'' Philadelphia, August 80th, 1887.
"My dear Friend:
On the 161ii of this month, I sent to the venerable and
celebrated Dalton, as chairman of the chemical section of Ihe
British Association, a letter of which I now send you an
extract. My motive for publishing this extract in your
Journal, is my impression that I owe it to you and others of
my scientific countrymen to communicate the facts which I
have stated to men of science in the mother country, and that
I owe to the latter a more public acknowledgment than I
have yet made, of the grateful recollection which I entertain
of the kindness with which I was received at their meeting at
Bristol. This I am convinced, was intended as a mark of
regard, not merely to me as an individual, but to American
cultivators of science in general, of whom I was considered
as a representative.
The Marquis of Northampton, who presided, stated to
me that if there were others of my scientific countrjrmen
present, he wished to be made acquainted with them, as he
felt that it would be his duty to pay them attention.
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f96 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
As respects myself, I was reoeived more like an old ac-
quaintance than as a stranger. I was invited to a seat next the
Vice President at the dinner, miiere I believe about four hun-
dred of the members were present, and requested to sit as a
m^nber of the ccmmiittee of the chemical section. On every
occasion, I was treated with great deference and kindness.
In the extract sent you, I have omitted some parts of
my letter to Dr. Daltcm, as they referred to facts already
published in the number of the Franklin Journal for July.
I am faithfully yours.
To Prof. Silliman.'* Robert Hake.'"
To John Dalton, Esq., Chairman of the Section on Chem-
istry of the British Association for the Advancement of
Science:
« Dear Sir— " PhUadelphia, August 14, 1887.
I beg leave through you to ccnnmunicate to the British
Association for the Advancement of Science, that by an
improvement in the method of constructing and supplying
the hydro-oxygen blowpipe, originally invented by me in
the year 1801, I have succeeded in fusing into a malleable
mass more than three f ourtlis of a pound of platina. In all,
I fused more than two pounds fourteen ounces into four
masses, averaging of course nearly the weight above men-
tioned. I see no difficulty in succeeding with much larger
weights. The benefit resulting from this process is in the
facility which it affords of using platina scraps or old platina
ware into lumps, from which it may be remodeled into new
apparatus.^
® I have, since this statement was made, been led to betieve that
fused platina will be free from a fault to which WoUaston's platina is
more or less liable, accordingly as the process is more or less skilfully
managed. The fault to which I allude is that of scaling when ex-
tended under the hammer in order to form a crucible or capsule. I
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SECOND PERIOD, 181&-1847 297
The largest lumps were fused agreeably to my original
plan of keeping the gases in different receptacles and allow-
ing them to meet during efflux. I have, however, operated
in the large way upon the plan contrived and employed by
Newman, Brooke, Clarke and olhers, having used at one
operation nearly thirty gallcms of the mixture of the gaseous
elements of water.
This I was enabled to do with safety by an improvement
in Hemming's safety tube. With this improved plan, I have
allowed the gas to explode, as far into the tube of efflux as
the point where the contrivance in question was interposed,
at least a hundred times without its ext^iding beyond it. Still,
however, the other mode in which the gases are separate until
they meet in passing out of their respective receptacles, is
less pregnant with anxiety, if not with risk. As these ele-
ments are known to explode by the presence of several metals,
other mysterious causes of explosion may be discovered.
How much do I regret, that an ocean now rolls between
myself and those respected and esteemed brethren in science
whom this time last year I had the pleasure to meet and greet
at Bristol, and to whom I shall ever be grateful for their kind
reception. How much would it gratify me, could I exhibit
to them and their enlightened visitors, that splendid concen-
tration of light and heat which I have latterly employed, by
which a metal infusible in the air furnace or forge, is made
as fluid as mercury, so as to be blown off in globules.
With the highest esteem, I am respectfully yours,
Robert Hase."
had a platina dish of nine ounces in which many scales existed. By
fusion, this tendency in the metal appeared to be corrected.
During the fusion of some large lumps which had been imperfectly
welded from the state of sponge, vitreous globules were observed to
exude. Of this fact I can conceive of no other explanation than one
founded on the allegation of Prof. Daniell, that during exposure to
fire, platina absorbs silicon.
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298 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
Whfle experimental inorganic diemistry, in its broadest
sense, engaged Hare's consideration, yet at times he ventured
into the organic domain. Instances of this are cited at
yarious places in the present narrative. On one occasion
( 1837) he mixed two ounces of oil of turpaitine, four ounces
of alcohol and eight ounces of sulphuric acid and subjected
the mixture to distillation. The distillate was a yellow col-
ored liquid. The admixed sulphurous acid was removed by
ammonia, and the ether by heat, when there remained a liquid
differing in smell and taste from the oil of turpentine. It had
no action on metallic potassium. Examination showed the
presence of a small quantity of sulphuric acid in it. Other
essential oils behaved similarly altho' there were some with
which the results were wholly different. Cinnamon oil from
cassia, treated as above, gave no definite product. This was
also true of sassafras and cloves. In one instance he got
from sassafras "' a minute quantity of a lifter liquid, devoid
of acid, which burned without smoke, was insoluble in water,
and very fluid." He termed it sassafreine, analogous to
hydric ether. '' One drop of oil of sassafras imparted a
striking color to 48 ounce measures of sulphuric acid and
appeared perceptible when it formed less than a five millionth
part." When any of the essential oils were brought in contact
with sulphurous acid '" they acquired a yellow color." Essen-
tial oils containing oxygen were most affected by the action
of sulphurous acid.
In this connection Hare said:
'' By distilling camphor with alcohol, and sulphuric acid, I
obtained a yellow liquid, which, by washing with ammonia
and evaporation, in order to get rid of the sulphurous ether,
yielded an oil. The oil, by standing, separated into two por-
tions, one solid, the other liquid. The solid portion resembled
camphor somewhat in smell, but differed from it by melting at
a much lower temperature, becoming completely fluid at 175.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 299
I found that the essential oils of cinnamon and cloves
possessed an antiseptic power, quite equal to that of creosote,
and that their aqueous solutions, when sulphated, were ever
superior to similar solutions of that agent.
One part of milk mingled with four parts of a saturated
aqueous solution of the sulphated oil of doves, remained
after five days sweet and liquid, while another portion of the
same milk became curdled and sour within twenty four hours.
Having on the second of July added two drops of oil of cin-
namon to an ounce measure of fresh milk, it remained liquid
on the eleventh ; and, though it finally coagulated, it continued
free from bad taste or smell until September, although oilier
portions of the same milk had become putrid. A half ounce
of milk to idiich a drop of sulphurous oil of turpentine had
been added, remained free from coagulation at the end of two
days, while another portion, containing five drops of pure oil
of turpentine, became curdled and sour on the next day.
A number of pieces of meat were exposed in small wine
glasses, with water impregnated with solutions of the various
essential oils. Their antiseptic power seemed to be in the ratio
of their acridity. The milder oils seemed to have compara-
tively little antiseptic power, unless associated with the sul-
phurous add, whidi has long been known as an antiseptic.
In cutaneous diseases, and, perhaps, in the case of some
ulcers, tiie emplo3naient of the sulphurous sulphated oils may
be advantageous.
A respectable physidan was of opinion that the sulphurous
sulphate of turpentine had a beneficial influ^ice in the case
of obstinate tetter.
Possibly the presence of sulphurous add may increase
the power of oil of turpentine as an anthelmintic. Pieces of
corned meat hung up, after being bathed with an alcoholic
solution of tiie sulphurous sulphated oil of turpentine, or with
solutions of the sulphated oils of cloves or cinnamon, remained
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800 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
free from putridity at the end of several months. That im-
bued with cinnamon had a slight odor and taste of the oil.
I am led, therefore, to the impression that the antiseptic
power is not peculiar to creosote, but bdongs to other acrid
oils and principles, and especially to the oils of cinnamon and
doves.
The union of sulphuric acid with these oils appears to
render them more soluble in water; whether any important
change is effected in their medical qualities by the presence of
the acid may be a question worthy of attention.
I have stated my reascms for considering the ammoniacal
liquid, resulting from the ablution of the ethereal sulphurous
sulphate of efherine with ammonia, as partially composed of
hyposulphuric acid. By adding to this ammoniacal liquid a
quantity of sulphuric acid, sufficient to produce a strong
odor of sulphurous acid, and th^i a portion of any of the
ess^itial oils; a combination ensued, as already described,
between the oils and the sulphurous acid liberated by the sul-
phuric acid, so as to render them yellow and suffocating. The
habitudes of cinnamon oil from cassia under these circum-
stances were peculiar. A quantity of it was dissolved, com-
municating to the liquid a reddish hue. The solution being
evaporated, a gummy translucent reddish mass was obtained,
which, by solution in alcohol, precipitated a quantity of salt,
and being boiled nearly to dryness, re-dissolved in water, and
again evaporated, was resolved into a mass having the fri-
ability, consistency and translucency of common rosin; but
with a higher and more lively reddi^ color. Its odor recalls,
but faintly, that of cinnamon; its taste is bitter and disagree-
able, yet recalling that of ihe oil from which it is derived.
Its aqueous solution does not redden litmus ; nor, when acidu-
lated with nitric acid, does it yield, a precipitate with nitrate
of barytes.
Of this substance ten grains were exposed to the process
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 SOI
above mentioned, for the detection of sulphuric acid, and
were found to yield a precipitate of 6.5 grains of sulphate of
barytes.
It may be worth while to mention, that in boiling the sul-
phated oUs with nitric add, compounds are formed finally,
which resist the further action of the add, and are only to
be decomposed by the assistance of a nitrate and deflagration.
I conjecture that these compounds will be found to merit
classification as ethers formed by an oxacid of nitrogen.
One of my pupils, in examining one of the axnpounds
thus generated, was, as he conceiyed, seriously affected by
it, suffering next day as from an overdose of opium. He
also conceived that a cat, to which a small quantity was given,
was affected in like manner.
I had prepared an apparatus with ihe view of analyzing
accurately the various compounds above described or alluded
to, by burning tiiem in oxygen gas; when, by an aiduring
illness of my assistant, and subsequently my own indisposi-
tion, I was prevented from executing my intentions."
Lengthy comment on sulphurous ether, and sulphate of
etherine (the true sulphurous ether) was also made, in which
he conduded '' that the yellow liquid obtained by distilling
equal measures of sulphuric acid and alcohol, consists of oil
of wine hdd in solution by sulphurous eUier, composed of
nearly equal volumes or weights of its ingredients; also, that
the idSSnity between the ether and the acid is analogous to
that which exists between alcohol and water.
The apparent detection of sulphuric add in the ammonia,
justifies a surmise, that the etherine distils in the state of a
hyposulphate, which subsequently undergoes a decomposition
into sulphiurous acid and the sulphate of etherine.
The liquid above alluded to, as resulting from tiie satura-
tion of the ethereal sulphurous sulphate of etherine by am-
monia, and distillation by means of a water bath gradually
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S02 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
raised to a boiling heat, is a vay fragrant variety of oil of
wine. It differs from that described by BerzeUus as the
heavy oil of wine of Hennel and Serullas, in being lifter
and containing less sulphuric acid. I have a specimen exactly
of the specific gravity of water, and have had one so light
as to float on that liquid. The oil of wine obtained by
ammonia approximates, in its qualities, to the variety whidi
Th^nard describes as light oil of wine.
The presence of sulphuric acid in a definite or invariable
ratio does not appear requisite to the distinctive flavour or
odour of oil of wine.*'
The following account of his process for manufacturing
sweet spirits of nitre will be read with interest:
'' The reaction of nitric acid with alcohol is so difficult
to regulate, in the ordinary mode of making ether in which
the whole of the materials are mingled at the outset of the
process, that I was induced about sev^iteen years ago ( 1820) ,
to introduce an apparatus in which they were gradually added
together within a glass bottle,.l>y means of glass fimnels with
glass cocks.
Subsequently I adopted a bottle provided with three
tubulures, letting the one tubulure communicate, by means
of a recurved tube with another tube passing perpendicu*
larly through an open-necked inverted receiver, and enter-
ing a bottle siuTOunded witii ice and salt, occupying a suit-
able vessel. The cavity of the receiver should likewise be
occupied by a freezing mixture.
Into each of the remaining tubulures let a glass tube be in-
troduced, ground or luted to fit air tight, and tapering so as to
terminate in a capiUary orifice near the bottom of the bottle.
Through one of the tubes introduce as much alcohol as
will cover the bottom of the bottle, and then, by means of
the olher tube, introduce as much strong nitric acid as will
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SECOND PERIOD, 181»-1847 SOS
cause an effervescence. Should the effervescence threaten to
become explosive, the reaction may be checked by the further
addition of alcohol, and when the reaction appears to decline
too much, it may be re-excited by an additional quantity of
acid. By these means, without applying heat, a quantity of
nitric ether will soon be condensed in the refrigerated bottle.
To convert this ether into a liquid, fully equal to the official
sweet spirits of nitre, let it be mingled with seven parts of
alcohol, and four of water. The colder the freezing mixture,
the greater will be the product; yet more or less may be
obtained by refrigeration with cold water.
It may be proper to mention, that at the bottom of the
phial an aqueous acid liquor is deposited, upon which the ether
swims, and from which it should be carefully separated.''
Calling attention to the fact that on heating sodium or
potassium nitrate '' the first portions of gas (oxygen) ex-
tricated are nearly pure '' and that the cold white mass — the
residue — on solution in water deposits crystals of nitrate
after the liquid cools, but that the mother liquor *' evaporated
to a certain point begins to yield crystals of hyponitrite "
(nitrite). Hare emphasizes that the "superior solubility'*
of either nitrite renders "it practicable to separate them
from the nitrate having the same base." He could not com-
prehend why just about the third of the nitrate is changed by
heat to nitrite and suggested that " it would seem as if there
were a reaction between the nitrate and hyponitrite (nitrite) ,
which, having co-operated to expel a portion of the contained
oxygen, afterwards restrains the evolution of a further por-
tion until the heat is raised to a point capable of effecting such
a decomposition as to evolve the nitrogen and oxygen in a
state of mixture."
He came to prefer the use of a real nitrite instead of a
nitrate, with sulphuric acid and alcohol, in forming what is
" commonly known as nitrous or nitric ether." He obtained
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804 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
by this means an etiber dififering from the '* ordinary nitrous
or nitric ether." '' It has a more bland and sacdiarine taste,
milder odour, and greater volatility. . . . Toudiedwith
the finger, or tongue, it hisses as does water with a red hot
iron."
^' When the new ether is distilled fnxn powdered quick
lime, Una earth imbibes an essential oil, which, with the aid
of water, is yielded to pure hydric ether. Of course it is easy
to remove this solvent by evaporation or distillation.
The odour of Una oil seems to be an ingredient in that of
ordinary nitric ether. ... I suspect that the essential
oil in question is one,of the impurities which causes the boiling
point of the ether generated by nitric acid and alcohol to be
higher than the boiling point of that obtained, as in my proc-
ess, by nascent hypo-nitrous acid (nitrous acid) .
When the heat is raised, after the volatile ether ceases to
come over from the materials above mentioned as producing
it, ethereal products are distilled, of which the boiling point
gradually rises as the process proceeds. Meanwhile, the
product thus obtained becomes more and more acrid, till at
last it is rendered insupportable to the tongue, as respects
the after taste. On mingling these liquids with a solution of
green sulphate of iron, the ether is all absorbed; but an acrid
liquid, which causes the after taste, is not absorbed, and may
be separated by hydric ether. The ether being vaporized by
heat, the acrid liquid remains. The smallest drop of this
liquid is productive of an effect upon the organs of taste and
smell like that of mustard or horse-radish.
The new ether, when secured in a glass phial, by means
of a well ground stopper, does not undergo any change by
keeping in a cool situation for several months. A phial was
suspended about fifteen feet below the surface of the ground,
in a cistern of water, for about five months; another was left
in a cool cellar for a longer period, without any apparent
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 805
change of properties. In this case pressure prevented the
escape of the etibereal gas as above mentioned.
When the ingredients for generating ihe new hyponitrous
ether are refrigerated below freezing, and left to react, the
ether begins to be formed as soon as the temperature rises,
and if the aggregate be included in a bottle with an air-ti^t
stopple, a stratum of eUier will soon form and swim upon the
surface of the mixture. The quantity whidi can be thus ob-
tained is much less Hian that whidi ensues from the employ-
ment of the same quantity of materials witli a retort and
refrigerated receiver; because the elaboration and condensa-
tion require a greater difference of temperature than can be
imparted, conveniently, to the different portions of a bottle,
especially where the upper is required to be the colder portion.
In order to obtain a quantity of ether in a simunary way,
I resorted to this process last winter, employing about a
gallon of the mixture. After I had decanted the ether which
formed in tiie course of a ni^t, the residue, althou^ sur-
rounded by snow, continued to give out the aerial etiber for
at least a f ortni^t. The gaseous ether seems to be formed in
innumerable, invisible bubbles throughout the mass, which, on
this account, presented the singular phencnnenon of an elastic
liquid. On inserting tiie stopple, the liquid in the neck of the
bottle would subside in the most striking manner, and on re-
moving the stopple, an opposite movement was observable.
All the ethereal compounds formed by the reaction of the
oxacids of nitrogen with alcohol appear to be decomposable by
green sulphate of iron. Under tiiese circumstances, accord-
ing to Berzelius, a malate of iron is formed fnnn common
nitric ether.
Concentrated sulphuric add absorbs the elements derived
from the alcohol, and liberates nitric oxide gas, which is, it
is well known, rapidly absorbable by the green sulphate above
mentioned. Let there be three cylindrical glass jars, Nos. 1,
to
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306 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
2, and 8, of such a ratio to each other, in size, as to allow two
interstices of about half an inch between the seccmd, or inter-
mediate jar, No. 2, and the outer, No. 1, and innermost jar.
No. 8; likewise, let two bell glasses be provided, of such a
size as that one of than, (A) may enter the inner interstice,
while the other, (B) will cover (A) and descend into the
outer interstice. Lict a wine-glass containing the ether be
placed in jar No. 2, and let No. 1 be supplied with green sul-
phate of iron, the other two with concentrated sulphuric acid,
and let the bells be put in their respective places.
Under these circumstances, the ether will be gradually
vaporized, and the alcoholic elements, witii some oxygen, will
be absorbed by the acid, while nitric oxide, being liberated,
wiU pass into the sulphate, and be consequently i^sorbed.
From the new ether my young friend, Mr. Boy6, who was,
at the time, one of my operative pupils, succeeded in evolv-
ing alcohol by digestion with slacked lime, and subsequent
distillation. Tlie lime was found to be in the state of a hypo-
nitrite, giving a precipitate with the nitrate of silver.
When, into a bell-glass containing some of the aeriform
e^r, a globule of potassium was introduced, and touched
with a red hot knob which formed the termination of ai;i ircm
rod, ignition took place, and the gas seined to have changed
its character. I had not, however, leisure to examine it eudi-
ometrically. There was an odour produced which reminded
me both of that of fish and soap."
He also recounted how he had observed an etiiereal liquid
subsiding on the addition of pure pyroxylic spirit to an
aqueous solution of hypochlorous acid, obtained by passing
chlorine into water in contact with mercuric oxide.
Having separated the ether thus produced, it was found
to have an agreeable and peculiar fragrance. Like oil of
wine, it could not be distilled without decomposition. There
was an effervescence at the t^nperature of 140^ F.; but the
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 807
boiling point rose beyond that of a boiling water-bath* When
a naked flame was applied, the ether, previously colourless,
acquired a yellowish wine colour, and, by the crackling evolu-
tion of vapour, indicated decomposition.
When the liquid hypodilorous acid was subjected to the
process of distillation, before the addition of the spirit, an
ether resulted which floated on the solution, and whidi ap-
peared to differ from Hiat obtained as first mentioned.
Hiese observations, and those previously communicated
respecting the hyponitrite of methyl, were made by the aid
of a small quantity of pure pyroxylic spirit, supplied to him
by his friend. Dr. Ure, who regretted that both ill health and
the exhaustion of his stock of spirit had prevented him from
making further observations and experiments, tending to
decide whether the ethers obtained, as he had described, were
either or both hypochlorites, or whetiber mercury entered into
the composition of the heavier ether. This there was some
reason for believing; since, when boiled to dryness at a high
temperature, a reddish residuum was apparent, whidi being
redissolved, and a small strip of copper immersed in the
resulting solution, a minute deposition, apparently metallic,
was observable."
In another communication he announced :
'' That he had procured by means of hyponitrite of soda,
diluted sulphuric acid, and pyroxylic spirit, an ethereal liquid
in which methyl (C2H3) might be inferred to perform the
same part as ethyl (C4H5) in hyponitrous ether.
The compound • • . had a great resemblance to alco-
holic hyponitrous ether, similarly evolved, in colour, smell
and taste; although there was still a difference sufficient to
prevent the one from being mistaken for the other.
Pyroxylic spirit appeared to have a greater disposition
than alcohol to combine with the ether generated from it,
probably in consequence of its having less affinity for water.
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808 THE LIFE OF BOBEBT HARE
The boiling point appeared to be nearly the same in both
of the ethers; and in both, in ccMisequence of the escape of
an ethereal gas, an effervescence, resembling that of ebulli-
tion, was observed to take place at a lower temperature
than that at which the boiling point became stationary. The
ethereal gas, mentioned in his communication respecting hy-
ponitrous ether, seemed to have escaped the attenticm of
European chemists; and, even after it had been noticed by
him, seemed to be overlooked by Liebig, Kane and others
in their subsequent publications."
Hare attached the more importance to his success in pro-
ducing the ether which was the subject of his communication;
since, agreeably to Liebig, no such compound exists, and it
is to be inferred that this would excite no surprise, when the
difference was ccmsidered between the consequences of the
reacticHi of nitric add with pyroxylic spirit, imd wiUi alcohol.
" The liquid last mentioned is now viewed as a hydrated
oxide of ethyl, while pyroxylic spirit is viewed as a hydrated
oxide of methyl. When alcohol is presented to nitric acid,
a reciprocal decomposition ensues. The acid loses two atcHns
of oxygen, which by taking two atoms of hydrogen f rcxn a
portion of the alcohol, transforms it into aldehyde; while the
h}rponitrous acid, resulting inevitably from the partial deoxy-
dizement of ihe nitric add, unites with the base of the remain-
ing part of tiie alcohol. But when pyroxylic spirit is pre-
sented to nitric add, this acid, without decompositicm, com-
bines with methyl, the base of this hydrate; so that, as no
hyponitrous add can be evolved, no hyponitrite can be pro-
duced. Thus in the case of the one there cim be no etliereal
hyponitrite, in that of the other, no ethereal nitrate."
Hare regretted that Liebig should not have been in-
formed of the improved process for hypcmitrous ether, to
which he had referred. . . . Instead of recommending
a resort to that process, it was advised that the fumes, re-
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SECOND FEBIOD, 1818-1847 809
sultiiig ttom the reaction of nitric acid with fecula (stardi),
diould be passed into alcohol, and the resulting vapour con-
densed by means of a tube surrounded by a freezing mixture.
This process Hare had repeated, and foimd the product
▼ery inferior in quantity and purity to that resulting from
tiie employment of a hyponitrite. In this process, nascent
hjrponitrous acid, as liberated from a base, is brought into
contact with the hydrated oxide. In the process recom-
#nended by Ldebig, evidently this contact could not take place ;
*Ah^ it was well known '' tliat hyponitrous acid could not be
obtained by subjecting fecula and nitric add to distillation,
and condensing the aeriform products."
A test for the detection of minute quantities of opium
'' not exceeding that contained in ten drops of laudanum in a
half gallon of water " was devised by Hare. The process
was based on the insolubility of lead meconate. The predpi-
tation, where the quantity is small, may require from six to
twelve hours, and may be facilitated by a very gentle stirring
with a glass rod. Wlien the meconate has settled at the bot-
tom of the vessel, let about thirty drops of sulphuric acid be
poured on it by means of a glass tube. Follow this with
as much '' red sulphate of iron." The meconic acid liberated
by the sulphuric add will give a "" striking red colour with
the iron salt." This demonstrated the presence of the add,
"' and consequently of opium."
In this connection, it may be said that Hare proposed
" an easy method of obtaining meconic add," which consisted
in adding to an aqueous infusion of opium a solution of '' sub-
acetate of lead." Copious, lead meconate then separated.
This was collected upon a filter and exposed to the action of
hydrogen sulphide when meconic acid was set free. Its
aqueous solution had a reddish amber colour, and on evapora-
tion yielded crystals of the same hue.
Hare recommended the following course to '' denarcotise
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310 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
laudanum": Treat opium shavings four times successively
to as mudi ether, sp. gr. 0.785, as will cover it, allowing
each portion to act upon it for about 24 hours. Afterwards
treat the residual opium with as much duly diluted alcohol
as will be necessary to convert it into laudanum. From the
ether extracts crystals separate — ^this is " tiie principle dis-
tinguished by Robiquet, since called narcotine." ** The first
use of the denarootised laudanum was by way of an enema
of thirty drops, in the case of a child tortured by asoarides^
to whom it gave easy relief." A friend — ^a veterwi in th^
art of healing — ^informed Hare that frcmi his use of the
denarcotised laudanum '' I am led to anticipate the great
desideratum in the use of opium is obtained."
In 1887 Hare made numerous communications which
appeared either in the American Journal of Science or in the
" Proceedings or Transactions of the American Philosophical
Society." Most of these relate to highly interesting and
very important observations. For example, he said, "" in a
circuit made through a saturated solution of chloride of
calcium, by means of a coarse platina wire (No. 14) and a
fine wire (No. 26) that when the latter was made the cathode
and the former the anode, a most intense ignition resulted.
• • • But when the situations of the wires were reversed,
so that the smaller wire was made to form the anode, the
ignition became comparatively so feeble as to be incompetent
to fuse the fine wire. This phenomenon had continued to
appear inexplicable, when during tiie last winter, it occurred
to me that the evolution and combustion of the calcium might
be the cause of the superior heat produced at the cathode."
This led him to substitute calcium dUoride for the lime in
the process of Seebeck, Berzelius and Tontin. Operating with
a deflagrator of three hundred and fifty Cruikshank pairs,
of seven inches by three, he speedily obtained a mercurial
amalgam. After its exposure to air till all the calcium had
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SECX>ND FEBIOD, 1818-1847 811
been separated, and igniting ihe resulting powder to expel
the last traces of mercury '' the ratio of the weight of lime thus
obtained, to the mercury with which it had been united, was
not over a five hundredth part" All this prompted Hare
to study Davy's Bakerian lecture with exceeding care. It
will be recalled that Davy sought to get calcium, strontium
and barium by electrolyzing the oxides of these metals in
contact with a mercury cathode. In speaking of calcium
Davy said: '' In the case in which I was enabled to distiU the
mercury from it to the greatest extent, the tube unfortunately
broke while warm, and at the moment when the air entered
the metal, which had the colour of silver, took fire and burnt,
with an intense white light, into quicklime." This scheme
Hare thought a f ailiure, as he did the work of Davy in attempt-
ing to isolate strontium and barium. In commenting on the
latter Hare wrote: '' Had the barium obtained by Davy been
free from mercury, it would not have been fusible below a
red heat, as alleged by Imn. Agreeably to my experience,
that metal requires no less than a good red heat for its fusion."
And then he proceeds to tell how he operated. The story
is fascinating. In this process Hare uses mercury as cathode
in an aqueous salt solution. It is probable that this was the
first time that that metal had been so employed, and would
it not then have to be regarded as the forerunner of its use
in making caustic soda from an aqueous sodium chloride
solution? Was it not also the forerunner of the employment
of mercury as cathode in electro-analysis ? It will be recalled
that in 1841 Wolcott Gibbs acted as student assistant in
Hare's laboratory, and it does seem quite probable that the
things which had so deeply interested Hare and occupied so
much of his thought would be the subject of discussicm with
his assistants, so that in later years when Wolcott Gibbs was
enriching the domain of analytical chemistry with his con-
tributions he may have recalled his old Philadelphia experi-
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S12 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
eaces and used mercury, placed in a small beaker as cathode^
in the electrolysis of copper and nickel sulphates, and later
Drowne (his former pupil) used it in the dectrolysis of iron
phosi^te, while thousands of determinations and separa*
tions of metals have since been expeditiously and accurately
effected in this way. Surely it is not too mudi to daim for
Hare the pioneer work in the use of mercury as cathode in
industrial and analytical operaticms. It is, however, inad-
visable to reproduce here his apparatus as it has been recently
set forth in detail elsewhere.*
Suffice to state that the current came from the alternate
action of two d^agrators. The amalgam formed was sub-
sequently distilled from an alembic protected by a stout cap-
sule of ircm.*^
The isolated calcium, strontiimi and barium rapidly ox-
idized in water or in any liquid in which they were present.
The metals all sank in sulphuric acid. They were quite brittle.
For fusion they required at least a red heat. After being
kept in naphiha their inmiersion in water was accompanied
at first with much less effervescence. They reacted violent^
in hydrochloric acid.
At present the properties of calcium are quite well known ;
but of strontium and barium not much can be said. All are
silver grey in color. At 800^ C. calcium may be drawn into
wire and beaten into almost any shape. It is probable that
Hare's method of getting stnmtium and barium may in time
prove quite feasible.
He remarked that '' By means of solid carbonic add^ I
froze an ounce measure of the amalgam of calcium, hoping
to effect a partial mechanical separation of the mercury by
straining through leather, as in the case of other amalgams.
The result, however, did not justify my hopes, as both metals
• Chemistry in America. D. Appleton & Co.
^ Chemistry in America. D. Appleton & Co.
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SECOND FEBIOD, 1818-1847 SIS
were expeUed through the pores of the leather simultaneously,
the calduin formmg, f ortliwith» a pulverulent oxide, inter-
mingled with and discoloured by mercury in a state of ex-
treme division.
By the same means I froze a mass of the amalgam of
ammonium as large as the palm of my hand, so as to be quite
hard, tenacious and brittle. Hie mass floated upon the mer-
cury of my mercurial pneumatic cistern, and gradually lique-
fied, i9i^e its volatile ingredients escaped."
Hare also employed the following processes to get cal-
cium: the d^agration of the phosphuret of calcium in an at-
mosphere of hydrogen; the exposure of the anhydrous iodide
of calciimi to a current of hydrogen, or ammonia in an in-
candescent tube; the ignition of the pure earth or its car-
bonate or nitrate with sugar or of the tartrate and acetate
per se. Hence resulted carburets, which, after washing with
acetic add and rubbing on a porcelain tile, displayed the
lustre of plumbago, intermingled witii metallic spangles, of
a brilliancy rivalling that of the perfect metals. The car-
burets or the span^^es thus obtained, were insoluble in acetic
or chlon^ydric add, but yidded to aqua regia. The car-
biurets were excellent conductors of the voltaic fluid, as evolved
by a series of 100 pairs; and, by deflagration in a recdver
fflled with hydrogen, yielded metallic particles, which, rubbed
on a porcdain tile, formed spangles of a metallic brilliancy.
By igniting antimony with tartrate of lime. Hare procured
an aUoy of that metal with oaldum, and expected by anal-
ogous means to alloy the metals of ibe earths with various
metals proper. He believed that no effort to obtain caldum
prior to his, had beoi more successful than the abortive ex-
periment of Sir H. Davy. . . . That the spangles ob-
tained by Hare from lime, were caldum, was ascertained by
their solution in aqua regia, and the successive subsequent
addition of ammonia and oxalic add; the resulting predpi-
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S14 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
tate being ignited, then redissolved and again precipitated
as at first. No precipitate ensued from the addkicm of am-
monia prior to that of the oxalic acid. Sulphydric acid
produced a slight discoloration, but gave no precipitate. That
the substances, resulting from the igniticm of the carbonate
with sugar, and washing with acetic add, contained calcium
in the metallic state, combined with carbon, was evident from
their being insoluble in acetic or chlorohydric acid; from the
deposition of carbcm, and giving a precipitate of oxalate of
lime on being subjected to aqua regia, ammonia, and oxalic
add; from their metallic brilliancy when burnished, and from
their being excellent conductors of the voltaic fluid. By the
ignition of the carbonates of barjrta and strontia severally
with sugar. Hare had attained analogous results to those
above mentioned in the case of the similar ignition of car-
bonate of caldum.
The' extreme avidity of calcium for iron was quite strik-
ing; since, when a crucible was inclosed in a clean iron case
witliout a cover, the mass, swelling up so as to readi the iron,
became slightly imbued with it. By intensely igniting tiie
carburet of calcium, obtained from tiie carbonate and sugar,
with an equal weight of dry tannogallate of iron, tiie whole
of the aggregate became so magnetic that every particle
was transferred from one vessd to another by means of a
magnet. The mass was filled with minute metallic globules,
which yielded only partially to chlorohydric acid, and which,
when dissolved in aqua regia, gave, after adding anunonia
and filtration, a precipitate with oxalic acid.
Hare was aware that it did not seem consistent that
spangles of calcium, burnished upon porcelain, should retain
their lustre; as, under other circumstances, and especially
when amalgamated, that metal was found to oxidize as soon as
exposed to the air. He had, however, through the kindness of
J. C. Booth, a pupil of Wdhler, procured a specimen of mag-
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 315
nesium evolved by that celebrated chemist. This specimen
yielded, mider the bmnisher, spangles of a lustre as enduring
as that observed by Dr. Hare, in the case of calcium.
Two years later, 1889, another remarkable contribution
appeared from the laboratory of Hare. It related to what
he designated the "'deflagration'" of carburets, phosphurets, or
cyanides in an atmosphere of hydrogen or in vacuo, taking oc-
casion furthermore to discuss again the isolation of calcium.
His hope was that chemists would find something worthy of
attention in this ** new mode of applying the voltaic current."
The apparatus he designed may be thus described:
'' Upon a hollow cylinder of brass an extra air-pump
plate was supported. The cylinder was furnished with three
valve cocks, and terminated at the bottom in a stuffing-box,
through which a copper rod slid so as to reach above the
level of the air-pump plate. The end of the rod supported
a small horizontal platform of sheet brass, which received
four upright screws. These, by pressure, on brass bars ex-
tending from one to the other, were compet^it to secure
upon the platform a parallelopiped of charcoaL Upon the
air-pump plate a gkss bell was supported, and so fitted to
it, by grinding, as to be air-tight. The otherwise open neck
of the bell was also closed air-tight by tying about it a
caoutchouc bag, of which the lower part had been cut off,
while into the neck a stuffing-box had been secured air-tight.
Through the last mentioned stuffing-box a second rod passed,
terminating within the bell in a kind of forceps, for holding
an inverted cone of charcoal.
The upper end of this sliding rod was so recurved as to
enter some mercury in a capsule. By these means and the
elasticity of the caoutchouc bag, this rod had, to ihe requisite
extent, perfect freedom of motion.
The lower rod descended into a capsule of mercury, being.
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S16 THE LIFE OP ROBERT HARE
in consequaioe, capable of a vertical motion, without break-
ing contact with the mercury. It is moved by the aid of a
lever connected with it by a stirrup working upon pivots.
Of course the capsules may be made to communicate
severally with the poles of one or more deflagrators. The
substance to be deflagrated was placed upon the charcoal
forming the lower electrode, being afterwards covered by the
bell. By means of the valve-cocks and leaden pipes a com-
munication was made with a barometer gage ; also witii an air-
pump, and with a large self -regulating reservoir of hydrogen.
The air being removed by the pump, a portion of hydro-
gen was admitted, and th^i withdrawn. This was repeated,
and then the bell glass, after as complete exhausticHi as the
performance of the pump would render practicable, was
prepared for the process of deflagration in vacuo. But, if
preferred, evidently hydrogen or any other gas may be in-
troduced from any convenient source by a due communica-
tion through flexible leaden pipes and valve-cocks.''
Having described the apparatus. Hare continued: '' I
will give an account of some experiments, made with its
assistance, which, if they could have illimiinated science as
they did my lecture room, would have immortalized the
operator. But, alas, we may be dazzled, and almost blinded
by tile light produced by the hydro-oxygen blow-pipe, or
voltaic ignition, without being enabled to remove the dark-
ness which hides the mysteries of nature from our intellectual
vision. • . .
An equivalent of quicklime, made with great care, from
pure crystallized spar, was well mingled, by trituration,
with an equivalent and a half of bicyanide of mercury, and
was then enclosed witiiin a covered porcelain crucible. The
crucible was included within an iron alembic, such as has
been described by me.
The whole was exposed to heat approaching to redness.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 817
In two experiments ihe residual mass had such a weight as
would result from the union of an equivalent of cyanog^i
with an equivalent of calcium.
A similar mixture being made, and, in like manner, en-
closed in the crucible and alembic, it was subjected to a white
heat. The apparatus being refrigerated, the residual mass
was transferred to a dry glass phial with a ground stopper.
A portion of the compound thus obtained and preserved
was placed upon the parallelopiped of charcoal, which was
made to form the cathode of two d^flagrators of one hundred
pairs, each of one hundred square indies of zinc surface,
co-operating as one series.
In the next place, the cavity of the bell glass was filled
with hydrogen, by the process already described, and the
cone of charcoal being so connected with ihe positive aid
of the series as to be prepared to perform the office of an
anode, was brought into contact with the ccnnpound to be
deflagrated. These arrangements being accomplished, and
the circuit completed by throwing the acid upon the plates,
the most intaise igniticm took place.
The ccnnpound proved to be an excellent conductor; and
during its deflagration emitted a most beautiful purple light,
which was too vivid for more than a transient endurance by
an eye improtected by deep-coloured glasses. After the
compound was adjudged to be sufficientiy deflagrated, and
time had been allowed for refrigeration, on lifting the receiver
minute masses were found upon the coal, which had a metallic
appearance, and which, when moistened, produced an efflu-
vium, of which the smell was like that whidi had heea observed
to be generated by the silicuret of potassium.
Similar results had been attained by the deflagraticm, in a
like manner, of a compound procured by passing cyanogen
over quicklime, enclosed in a porcelain tube, heated to
incandescence.
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818 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HAKE
Phosphuret of calcium, when carefully prepared, and,
subsequently, well heated, was found to be an excellent con-
ductor of the voltaic current. Hence it was thought expedi-
ent to expose it in the circuit of the deflagrator, both in an
atmosphere of hydrogen and in vacuo. The volatilization of
phosphorus was so copious as to coat nearly all the inner
surface of the bell-glass with an opake film.
The phosphuret at first contracted in bulk, and finally
was, for the most part, volatilized. On the surface of the
charcoal, adjoining the cavity in which the i^osphuret had
been deflagrated, there was a light pulverulent matter, whidi,
thrown into water, effervesced, and, when rubbed upon a
porcelain tile, appeared to ccmtain metallic spangles, which
were oxidized by the consequent exposure to atmospheric
oxygen.
In one of my experiments portions of the carbon form-
ing the anode appeared to have undergone ccxnplete fusion,
and to have dropped in globules upon the cathode. When
rubbed, these globules had the colour and lustre of plumbago,
and, by friction on paper, left traces resembUng those pro-
duced by that substance.
About 1822, Professor Silliman had obtained globules,
which were at first considered as fused carbon, but were sub-
sequently found to be depositions of that substance trans-
ferred fr(Hn one electrode to the other. Several of these
globules were, by him, sent to me for examination, of which
none, agreeably to my recollection, appeared so much like
products of fusion as those lately obtained.
Formerly plumbago was considered as a carburet of ircm,
but latterly, agreeably to the high authority of Berzelius,
has been viewed as carbon holding iron in a state of mixture,
not in that of chemical combination. It would not, then, be
surprising if the globules whidi I obtained consisted of carbon
converted from the state of charcoal into that of plumbago.**
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 319
At present artificial graphite is tracing characters upon
paper in the millions of pencils in use. Adieson, in 1896,
showed the world how such graphite might be prepared
from amorphous carbon; but seventy-seven years before this.
Hare, with his deflagrator, converted charcoal into plumbago
(graphite) and with it traced characters upon paper. His
epoch-making discovery, however, was forgotten! With his
unique form of primary battery and all its disadvantages
this earnest worker obtained as we have just noted in what
is truly an electrical furnace, calcium carbide, phosphorus,
graphite and calcium metal. Was he not indeed the first
American experimenter and discoverer in the great field of
electro-chemistry ?
On another occasion Hare said: "' It did not appear to
him that sufficient attention had been paid by artists or
men of science, to the great difference which existed between
the effect upon glass of heating it by radiaticm and by con-
ducticm. When exposed to radiant heat alone, unaccom-
panied by flame, or a current of hot air, glass is readily
penetrated by it, and is heated, within and without, with
commensurate rapidity; but, in the case of its exposure to an.
incandescent vapour or gas, the caloric could only penetrate
by the process of conduction; and consequently, from the in-
ferior conducting power of glass, the temperature of the outer
and inner portions of the mass would be so different, as by the
consequent inequality of expansion to cause the fracture,
whidi was well known, under such circumstances, to ensue.
Hie combustion of anthracite coal, in an open grate, in
his laboratory, having four flues of about 4.12 by 2.12 inches
each, in area, just above the level of the grate (the upper
stratum of the fire, having nothing between it and the ceiling)
had allowed him to perform some operations with success,
which formerly he would have considered impracticaUe. The
fire having attained to that state of incandescence to which
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S20 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
it easily arrives when well managed, he had, on opening a
hole hy means of an iron rod, so as to have a perpendicular
perforation extending to the bottom of Uie fire, repeatedly
fused the beaks of retorts of any capadty, not being more
than three gallons, causing them to draw out, by the force of
gravity, into a tapering tube; so that, on lifting the beak
from the fire, and holding the body of the retort upright,
the fused portion would hang down so as to form an angle
witii the rest of the beak, or to have any desired obliquity. By
these means, in a series of retorts, the beak of the first might
be made to descend through the tubulure of a second ; the beak
of the second through that of a third, and so on; the beak of
the last retort in the row being made, when requisite, to enter
a tube passing through ice and water in an inverted bell glass.
By means of the anthracite fire, thick rods, as well as
stout tubes, might be softened and extended, or bent into
suitable forms.
The lower end of a green glass phial, such as is used
usually for Cologne water, might be made to draw out into a
trumpet-shaped extremity. A Florence flask might be heated,
and made flat, so as to answer better for some purposes. The
drawing out of tubes into a tapering form, suitable for intro-
ducing liquids through retort tubulures, was thus easily
effected; and in all cases the sealing of large tubes was better
commenced in this way, although the blowpipe might be
necessary to close a capillary opening which could not be
closed by the fire.'*
To effect the congelation of water by the evaporation of
ether. Hare said it had been usual to expose a bulb, contain-
ing water and moistened by the ether, to a current of air.
Recently he had succeeded far more satisfactorily by expos-
ing a quantity of water, twenty times as large as that usually
employed, covered by ether in a capsule to a blast of air,
proceeding from a vessel in which it had been condensed by
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 S21
a pressure equal to one or two atmospheres. By these means,
the freerang of the water might be seen by five hundred
spectators.
He further said that about two years since, he had pub-
lished an account of a new process for freezing water by
the evaporation of ether, caused by a diminution of atmos-
pheric pressure. In the process then described, concen-
trated sulphuric acid was interposed between the retort hold-
ing the water and ether, and the air pump. Since that time
he had rendered the process more rapid and interesting by
interposing an iron mercury bottle, with two cocks between
the receiver holding the acid and the pump. The ether and
water were introduced into the retort. . . . But the
result which gave increased interest to the process, was the
inconceivable rapidity with which the acid, under these cir-
cumstances, absorbed the ethereal vapour, which it appeared
to do with greater avidity as the process advanced.
The water, in the act of congealing, flew all over the
inner smface of the retort, in consequence of an explosive
evolution of ethereal vapour, generated amid the aqueous
particles. The congelation of the water was rendered evident
to the ears as well to the eyes of his class of more than three
hundred students.
It was not an uncommon thing for Hare, at meetings of
the American Philosophical Society, to describe experiments
carried out by him or by his pupils.
Thus, he showed that the vapour of nascent steam gen-
erated by the oxy-hydrogen flame was not productive of
electricity. "A single-leaf electrometer, more susceptible
than the condensing electrometer, was not indicative of any
electrical excitement."
He further demonstrated "' that foggy air is not a con-
ductor of electricity." The language of his experiment was :
21
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322 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
"A cup of hot water, to supply vapour, was placed within
a large bell glass, having an open neck of above tliree inches
in diameter; so that the centre of the neck might be imme-
diately under the positive conductor of a large electrical
machine. A knob, communicating with the negative con-
ductor, was supported in the centre of ihe bell glass. Next
a red-hot rod of iron terminating in a knob, was suspended
by a wire from the positive conductor, so as to descend, con-
centrically, through the neck, until within striking distance
of the knob, above mentioned.
It will be perceived that, in consequence of the high tem-
perature of the rod, and the heat radiating from it to the
neck of the bell glass, no moisture could condense upon
either, so as to impair the power of the former to give sparks,
or of the latter to act as a non-conductor.
The apparatus being thus prepared, and the machine in
operation, sparks were found to pass through the foggy air
occupying the cavity of the bell glass, as if no moisture had
been present.
From the fact that the aqueous vapour does not impair
the insulating power of air, he conceived, must justify some
important meteorological inferences."
Nearly every teacher of chemistry has experienced, some
time in his life, a desire to place before his students a text-
book, in a sense, representative of his mode of presenting
his thoughts. Many yield to this natural inclination and
thus the field soon becomes congested with texts. To Hare,
obliged to offer his subject in lecture form, witii a dearth of
texts to follow, tiiere must have come the feeling that his
students ought to be provided with at least a syllabus of the
material he laid before them, so quite early in his career, prob-
ably in the year 1822, he had printed '' for the use of his
pupils '' his " Minutes of the Course of Chemical Instruc-
tion '' in vogue in the University. This booklet, octavo in
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SECOND PEMOD, 1818-1847 S2S
form, passed through several revisions and had 24 pages with
numerous blank pages for student notes. The writer has
been fortunate enough to obtain a copy of this little classic
and has found its perusal absorbingly interesting. There
appears on the first printed page these words:
Inteoditctobt Lxctube,
Ok the aisE) pbogbsss, and pbssxnt stats,
OF Chsmistet, as an Aet, and as a Scibncb.
Fust LxcTtiBB,
On the Study op Chbmistby.
Second Lbctubb,
On the cause op the Phenomena and opebations
OP THE PhTSICAI. WoBLD.
The definition of chemistry reads: " It treats of the phe-
nomena, and operations of nature, which arise from reaction
between the particles of inorganic matter."
Crystallization and affinity are developed quite interest-
ingly and in the fiftii lecture the "Atomic Theory " is ac-
corded full consideration. The laws of Dalton are concisely
stated. For example, under multiple proportions, it in-
stances the compounds formed by Carbon = 6 and Oxy-
gen = 8, and those by Nitrogen = 14 and Oxygen = 8, and
continues;
" Whichever of the substances we keep fixed as to its
number, the other or altering quantity will change so as to
give multiples, or exact aliquot parts of the first number; thus.
Ox. 8 and N. 14 — N. 14— Ox. 8
u a « w « u jg
u u u gj^ — « a £4
" " " 1^— *• ** 8«
the latter is preferable.
Then follows a table of about 50 known simple bodies with
their atcnnic numbers:
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THE LIFE OF BOBEBT HABE
Hydrogen 1
Oxygen 8
Chlorine 86
Sulphur 16
Nitrogen 14
Carbon 6
Iodine 186
Phosphorus .... 12
Sodium 24
Lithium 11
Barium 70
Strontium 44
Magnesium .... 12
Calcium 20
Aluminium .... 18
Glucinum 16
Silicium 8
Yttrium 82
Zirconium 28
Fluorine 16
Antimony 44
Ars^c . ., 88
Bismuth 71
Cadmium 56
Potassium 40
Cerium 46
Ghromiiun 28
Cobalt 80
Columbiiun .... 144
Copper 64
Gold 200
Iridium 80
Iron 28
Lead 104
Manganese .... 28
Mercury 200
Molybdium 47
Nickel 40
Osmitun
Palladium 66
Platinum 96
Bhodium 44
Selenium 40
Silver 110
Tin 69
Titaniiun 144
Tungsten 96
Uraniimi 126
Zinc 38
These numbers were said to be " expressive of the relative
combining quantities of tiie bodies."
Chemists interested in atomic numbers, to-day, will surely
find much to rivet attention in the preceding table and also
much that will afford food for quiet, earnest reflection. There
is, further, a presentation of physical phenomena in con-
siderable detail.
Each successive edition of tlie ** Minutes " was greatly
enlarged, but to advantageously elucidate this text Hare
issued, in 1826, a work in two volumes, each of 52 octavo
pages, comprising engravings and descriptions of apparatus
and experiments. Its exact title was : '' Engravings and De-
scriptions of a great part of the Apparatus used in the Chem-
ical Course of the University of Pennsylvania. With ap-
propriate theoretical explanations." Upon examining this
attractive work it is at once seen tiiat Part I is devoted to
physical apparatus and experiments, idiile Part II considers
chemical experiments and apparatus. Care is preserved to
mark those portions of apparatus contrived by the author.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 825
or modified by the author and his friend, Silliman. At this
late day the volume will interest all who care to examine it.
It is proof of the fondness of Hare for striking and elaborate
experimentation. Its illustrations are very suggestive.
The success which foUowed the use of the '^ Minutes '^
together with the two volumes of '' Engravings/' induced
Hare to publish his expanded lectures under the title of
'' Compendium of Chemistry," which first appeared in 1827.
It was primarily intended for classes in medicine, number*
ing from three to four hundred. Those were not the days
when laboratory exercises prevailed and were pursued by
those who studied the Science, hence the necessity of fully
illustrating the lecture-room teaching and the necessity of
carefully imparting such facts as the teacher had in mind.
Four editions of this classic work were given to the public.
This is not the place to review its presentations; however,
there are excerpts which may be noticed. Opposite the table
of contents appears a page addressed to the reader, which
begins:
'' It may be proper to mention, tiiat in treating of the
reaction between particles, or masses of matter, as the ultimate
cause, agreeably to the laws of the Creator, of liie phenomena,
and operations of the physical world, and as tiie trunk, of
which repulsion and attracticm are the branches, my plan is
peculiar. I have adopted this course, because it enables me
to give definitions of natural philosophy, chemistry and physi-
ology, which appear to me brief and appropriate.
I subjoin the following definitions from some of the most
emment chemists.
Thomson defined chemistry to be '' the sd^ice which treats
of those events or changes, in natural bodies, whidi are not
accompanied by sensible motions."
According to H^iry, '' it may be defined, the science
which investigates the composition of material substances, and
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S26 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
the permanent changes of constitution, ^viiich their mutual
actions produce."
According to Murray, ^* it is the science ^viiich investigates
ttie combinations of matter, and the laws of those general
forces, by which, their combinations are established and
subverted.'*
Brande alleges ** that it is tibe object of chemistry, to
investigate all changes in the constitution of matter, whether
effected by heat, mixture, or other means.''
According to Ure, '' chemistry may be defined as that
science, the object of which is, to discover and explain the
changes of composition tiiat occur among tiie int^rant and
constituent parts of different bodies."
I avail myself of this opportunity to state my reasons, for
employing '' reaction '* for ^' action *' and " react '* for '' act/'
contrary to general usage, in describing chemical phenomena.
It appears to me, that in all cases where chemical acticm is
said to exist, there is really a reciprocal action. Thus nitric
acid is said to act upon tin, although it might with at least as
much propriety, be said, that tin acts upon nitric acid; since
the latter is decomposed by the former. In this case, I would
say, that there is a reaction between tin, and nitric add, or
that tin reacts with nitric acid."
The second edition of the " Compendium " appeared in
1884, while the third and fourth editions followed in 1886 and
1840 respectively. In presenting the second edition this pref-
atory sentence occurs:
*' I have little to add to the ideas presented to the reader
of the first edition, but the accumulation of new facts makes
it necessary to add and alter quite extensively."
Caloric was mudi discussed. Its influence in the ex-
pansion of solids, liquids, and '' aeriform fluids " was experi-
maitally shown in much detail. The modiflcation of its
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SECOND PEMOD, 1818-1847 827
effects by atmospheric pressure was similarly demonstrated.
*' The quick communication of caloric in radiation " also re-
ceived ample consideration. There was further a discussion
of means of " evolving caloric/'
Light, in its refraction, dispersion, in its heating, illum-
inating and chemical effects, received much consideration.
Crystallization, diemical attraction and affinity occupied
much space.
The writer was eager to observe how \he Daltonian theory
was treated by Hare. It will be recalled that in the
*' Minutes " the laws of definite and multiple proportions
were accepted. In the second edition of liie '' Compendium "
occur, under the section on the atomic theory, these words:
''Were atoms chemicaUy divisible, ad infinitum, any
one substance, however small in quantity, might be diffused,
in a state of chemical combinati(»i, throughout any other,
having an affinity for it, however great, for as no one par-
ticle in the latter, would exercise a stronger affinity tiian
another, it would be unreasonable that each should not have
its share. That such a diffusion is impracticable must be
evident from the smallness of the number of definite propor-
tions to which substances in ccHnbining are restricted, as
already mentioned in entering upon the subject of equiva-
lents. Hence elementary atoms are not considered as liable
to an unlimited subdivisicm, eitiier by chemical or mechanical
agency.
The ratios of the equivalent numbers are supposed to be
dependent on, and identical with, those of the integrant
atoms of the substances to wfaidi they appertain. Thus the
fact that 82 parts, by weight, of soda (24 + 8) , will saturate
as much of any acid, as 48 parts, of potash, is explained by
supposing that the weights of the smallest atoms, of tiiose
alkalies which exist, are to each other as 82 to 48.
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328 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
In like manner it is explained that when neutral salts are
made reciprocally to decompose each other, no excess, of
either ingredient, is in any case observable. The lime, in
nitrate of lime, is to the potash, in an equivalent weight of
the sulphate of potash, as 28 to 48, yet neither is the lime in*
competent to take the place of the potaidi, nor is there too
much potash to take the place of the lime. The result is
intelligible, if we suppose, that when quantities, just ade^
quate, for reciprocal decomposition, are employed, there is an
equal number of atoms, of each salt; the one omtaining as
many atoms of potash, weighing 48, as the other contains
atoms of lime weighing 28.
The same explanation is also applied to explain the fact
that while tiie sulphuric acid in the sulfate of potash is to
the nitric add in the nitrate of lime as 48 to 54, yet neither is
there too much of the latter nor too little of the former, to
produce neutral compounds with the bases to which they are
severally transferred.
On account of the h3rpothetical association of the numbers,
representing the least proportions in which bodies are known
to combine, with the supposed relative weight of their atoms,
those numbers are as well known by the appellation of atomic
weights, as that of diemical equivalence.''
The list of elementary substances is placed at fifty-four.
Glucinium and columbium appear. Symbols are not
given in the table of names of the elements. These first ap-
pear in the third edition, and in connection therewith Hare
remarked : '' In obedience to the example of the British chem-
ists, I employ Fo and So, instead of K and Na, as the symbols
of potassium and sodium."
Not to encumber the text, but as a matter of curiosity and
to refresh the memory as to the aspect of a few things diem-
ical in 1840, the table, as it appears in the fourth edition is
here gi vol :
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8J»
Snoh^
YlSS^t
SrmM
t'si!
Aluminium . ...
....Al
14
Silver
. . . . Ag
108
Antimony ....
. . . . Sb
64
Sodium
....So
24
Arsenic
.... As
98
StitMitium
. . . . Sr
44
Barium
Ba
88
Sulphur
....S
16
Bi«muth
. . . . Bi
71
TeUurium
, . . . Te
64
Boron
....B
11
Tin
. . . . Sn
59
Bromine
.... Br
78
Zinc
, . . . Zn
82
Calcium
. . . . Ca
SO
Cadmium
...Cd
66
Carbon
....C
6
Cerium
,...Ce
46
Chlorine
....a
36
Chromium . . . .
. . . Cr
28
Copper
....Cu
3ft
Cobalt
...Co
80
Fluorine
...F
18
Cdumbium
. . . Ta
186
Gold
. . . . Au
SOO
Glucinium
...G
18
Hydrogen . . .
....H
1
Iridium
. . . Ir
99
Iodine
....I
186
Manganese . . . .
. . . Mn
28
Iron
. . . . Fe
ft8
Molybdenum . .
... Mo
48
Lead
. . . . Pb
104
Nickel
...Ni
80
Lithium
....L
6
Osmium
...Os
100
Magnesium . .
. . . . Mg
18
Palladium . . . .
. . . Pd
68
Mercury ....
...Hg
202
Rhodium
...R
62
Nitrogen
....N
14
Thorium
...Th
60
Oxygen
....0
8
Titanium
...Ti
24
Phosphorus . .
...P
16
Tungsten
...w
96
Platinum
. ... PI
99
Uranium
...u
217
Potassium . . .
. . . . Po
40
Vanadium
...V
69
Selenium
. . . . Se
40
Yttrium
...Y
82
Silicon
. ... Si
8
Zirconion
...Zr
84
To-day we appreciate the law of Dulong and Petit, and
as to that of Faraday, how would the electro-diemist fare
were he without it? Hence the attitude of Hare, years ago,
to these fundamental deductions cannot fail to arouse a bit of
curiosity. So we eagerly read :
''It appears from some experiments made by Messrs
Petit and Dulong, that the capacities for heat, or specific
heats, of all elementary atcmis are the same; so tiiat if tiie
specific heat of any one congeries of atcmis be less than that
of another having the same weight, it is because the atoms
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830 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
of the one being heavier than those of the other, there are
fewer of them in the same weight. Henoe \he capacities, or
specific heats, of equal volmnes of elementary substances are
greater, as tiie weights of their atoms are less; so that if, in
the case of each, its atomic weight be multiplied by its specific
heat, the product will in general be so nearly the same, that
the difference may be ascribed to the inaccuracy unavoidable
in experimental investigations.
Respecting this highly important and interesting infer-
ence of Petit and Dulong, Alexander Dallas Bache has en-
deavored to show in an article published in the Journal of
the Academy of Natural Sciences, that multiplsring the
equivalents of twelve principal metals into their specific heat,
gives results so widely deviating from uniformity as to take
all plausibility from the hypothesis that the atoms of simple
bodies have the same specific heat.
Dr. Thomson has observed that this law is more likely
to be true, since it holds good without doubt in the case of the
gases ; and that if it be true we have only to divide the specific
heat of hydrogen by the atomic weight of any body, to find its
specific heat. Moreover, that the specific heats thus found
agree very nearly with those ascertained experimentally.
From the researches of Faraday, it appears that the quan-
tity of the voltaic fluid given out during the solution of various
metals, is in ratio of their atomic weights. It would seem,
therefore, as if the imponderable atmospheres, both of caloric
and electricity, are held by atcHiis in the same equivalent
proportion."
Caloric, light and electricity were the agents to which
Hare was constantly exposing chemical substances. To him
the galvanic current was the power which dominated. There
is, therefore, abundant excuse for the relatively large consid-
erations accorded these forces in his text. It is most pro-
fusely illustrated. The numerous forms of apparatus were
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 SSI
practically made by Hare's own hands. Some of them were
of gigantic proportions and his evident purpose was to per-
form all experiments upon a grand scale. A test-tube ex-
periment did not satisfy his views; it must be striking — im-
posing, if you please. This is pardonable in every way, and
it must not be forgotten that his student audiences, scattered
throughout a large lecture room, were really very large.
They did not retire after lectures to laboratories and there
verify many of the facts laid before them.
His mode of presentation of his subject matter is plainly
indicated in the following paragraphs:
'' Having in the preceding pages treated of certain gen-
eral properties of ponderable matter, or those means of ascer-
taining or observing them of which a knowledge is indis-
pensable to a chemist, I shall, in the next place, proceed to
the consideration of ponderable substances individually, and
their reactions and combinations with each other.
In treating of ponderable elements and their multifarious
compounds, various arrangements have been pursued by dif-
ferent writers. Some have preferred to begin with elements,
and to proceed to compounds; others to begin with com-
pounds, and to proceed to elements. In favour of the last
mentioned course, it may be alleged, that the most interesting
substances in nature become known to us at first, in a state
of combination. Thus, for instance, the air, water, salts,
acids, alkalies, also flesh, sugar, farina, and other organic
products, valuable either as food or as medicine, are com-
pounds which have been naturally made the subjects of chem-
ical inquiry; and it may be inferred that the student might
with advantage be induced to travel in those paths, of which
a successful pursuit has led to that chemical knowledge which
it is the object to impart. In this way he proceeds from facts
which he knows, to such as he ought to learn, in the order
in which he would spontaneously advance as far as he might
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SS2 THE LIFE OF BOBERT HARE
be ccMnpetent. But it may be objected, that no sooner are
the ingredients of a body stated, than the student is dis-
tracted by names, of whidi he is ignorant; and which there
is an immediate necessity to explain. H^ice it follows that
the ingredients of a compound may come to be considered
in immediate succession, when they may have no analogy with
each other; while it is highly advantageous, after having
treated of any one element, to proceed to that which has the
greatest analogy with it. In that case, a certain porticm of the
conceptions which have been formed respecting one element,
may be extended to another, with little mental exertion, and
without much additional pressure upon the memory.
The method first maitioned of treating of each elementary
substance first, and afterwards of compounds, is objection-
able, because it cannot be put into practice effectually. To
treat of the chemical habitudes of any one element, requires
that we should speak of other elements, in reacting with
which, tiiose habitudes are displayed, and respecting whidi
a beginner is of course ignorant. In pursuing this course,
each substance must be treated of imperfectly, or language
and illuslxations employed, which the student is unprepared
to imderstand.
The course which I have chosen is as follows: I begin
with the element which, of all ponderable matter, has the
most important part assigned to it in nature, I mean oxyg^i.
The history, state of existence in nature, means of procur-
ing, and properties of this substance, so far as tiiey can be
rendered intelligible to a novice, are stated or exemplified
and explained. In the next place to oxygen, I present
chlorine to attention, which has at least as much analogy
with oxygen, as any other known element, and is at the same
time, an agent of high importance. Having treated sep-
arately of oxygen and chlorine, as far as may be expedient,
the compounds which they form with each other, may in the
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 SSS
next place, to a certain extent, be treated of with advantage.
Then, guided by analogy, bromine and iodine, though inferior
in importance, may be successively treated of, and subse-
quently all the compounds which they can form, either with
oxygen or chlorine, or with each other. This system will be
followed in treating of all the elements.
Pursuant to this method, little can be said of fluorine
in the section appropriatd to its consideration, since those
elements with which its most interesting reactions take place
cannot consistently be made the object of attention under
that section.
Cyanogen is, in its properties, analogous to chlorine,
bromine, and iodine, yet being composed of carbon and nitro-
gen, should not be an object of attention, until the pupil is
prepared by a knowledge of its said constituents. Besides,
it comes in consistently under the general head of carbon,
which, agreeably to my plan, as above explained, comprises
the compounds of carbon with all substances previously
treated of , among which is nitrogen. . . .
Of the fifty-four elements, chlorine, bromine, iodine and
fluorine are classed by Berzelius under the name of halogen
bodies, or generators of salts ; while oooygen, sulphur, seUmum,
and tellurium are classed together under the name of am-
phigen bodies, or both producers; meaning that they are
productive both of acids and bases. To the elementary
halogen bodies, he adds the compoimd body cyanogen. I
object to this classification, that the word salt admits of no
definition, reconcilable with the use which has been made of
it by the distinguished author; and because, from facts and
definitions practically sanctioned by him, and chemists in
general, it is evident that the elements belonging to both of
his classes are productive of acids and bases. Hence I have
associated them in one class, under the appellation of basaci-
gen elements. In honour of Berzelius, I shall, however.
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884 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
retain the terms halogen and amphigen, in order to designate
the elements which he has distinguished by those names. It
may be proper to add that we owe to Berzelius himself the
idea that any other substance besides oxygen could form acids
and bases capable of uniting to form salts. Our knowledge
of the existence of this faculty in three of his amphigen ek-
ments, sulphur, selenium, and tellurium, is, I believe, entirely
due to his investigations. If chemists, myself among others,
who consider his double salts as consisting of acids and bases,
are in the right, it is to the light afforded by his brilliant dis*
coveries that we owe the ability to pursue the true path.
Before concluding this preliminary exposition of the
classification and nomenclature whidi I propose to adopt, I
wish to make it clear, tiiat the attribute of producing both
acids and bases, which, agreeably to the plan of Berzelius,
is restricted to his four amphigen elements, is, agreeably
to mine, extended to Hie elements comprised in both of his
classes, which are consequently united under one designation,
as basacigen elements. My basacigen class is, therefore, the
amphigen class of Berzelius, enlarged under a new and more
descriptive name, so as to take in both of his halogen and
amphigen classes.
In order to render the definition of a basacigen body
precise, it may be necessary that I should give a definition of
acidity and basidity.
And then at considerable length he proceeds to enunciate
his views as set forth on p. 221, etc.
Let us hear him speak of oxygen.
"In the gaseous state, oxygen forms one-fifth of the
atmosphere in bulk ; and as a constituent of water in the ratio
of eight parts in nine, it pervades every part of the creation
where that important compound is to be found. It exists in
that congeries of oxidized matter whidi we call earth, and is
a principal and universal constituent of animal and vegetable
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 SS5
matter. Its combinations with metals and various other
combustibles are of the highest importance in the arts. It
was called oxygen under the erroneous impression of its
being the sole acidifying principle, from the Greek 6^vg
add, and ylvoriat to generate.
It can only be isolated in the form of a gas. It is yielded
by red lead, nitre, or black oxide of manganese, when exposed
to a bright red heat in an iron bottle. There are various other
means of obtaining oxygen gas. It is generally supposed
that, in order to obtain it in a high degree of purity, chlorate
of potash must be employed; but I have found the fb*st por-
tions of the gas as evolved by a red heat from nitrate of potash
or nitrate of soda very nearly pure ; and Dr. Thomson aUeges
that tliis salt, by exposure to a carefully regulated heat, parts
with one-fifth of the oxygen of its acid in a state of purity;
or in other words, it gives up an atcnn of oxygen for every
atom of the salt, which is equal to 8 parts of 102 parts, or
rather more than one-thirteenth."
While of chlorine he said, ** It has a curious property,
first noticed by me, I believe, of exciting a sensation of
warmth; though a thermometer, immersed in it at the same
time, does not indicate that its temperature is greater than that
of the adjoining medium. . . . About thirty years ago,
chlorine gas was universally considered as a compound of
muriatic acid and oxygen. It is now deemed an elementary
substimce, rendered gaseous by caloric."
In the course of his discussion on chemical subjects, in
connection witii combustion. Hare remarks:
'' I would define combustion to be a state of intense cor-
puscular reaction, accompanied by an evolution of heat and
light.
That increase or diminution of temperature consequent
to chemical combination, which constitutes combustion when
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3S6 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
productive of heat and light, has been ascribed to a mysterious
law, by which bodies undergo a diange in their capacity to
hold caloric. It has been supposed that the capacity of the
compound is in some instances greater, in others less, Uian
the mean capacity of the constituents ; and tiiat in the former
case unicm is f oUowed by an absorption of caloric, and of
course,' by cold; in the latter, by production of heat. Yet,
when the capacities of compounds are compared with those
of their ingredients, the result does not justify the idea that
the heat given out by the latter in combining, is produced
by a diminution of capacity. At best, this hypothesis only
substitutes one enigma for another; since it does not account
for the alleged change of capacity.
The diversity of power to hold caloric in a latent state,
technicaUy designated by the word capacity, is now generally
ascribed to the interv^iing influence of electricity. It has
been shown that, if neighboring bodies be electrified, by means
either of gas or resin, previously subjected to friction, they
will repel each other; but that if one be thus excited by glass,
and another by resin, attraction between them will ensue.
Hence the excitements are considered of an opposite nature.
It will be recollected that, according to the Franklinian theory,
the vitreous excitement results from a redundancy; the
resinous, from a deficiency of the electrical fluid. The former
being designated as positive, the latter as negative electricity.
Agreeably to the doctrine of Duffay, the different electric
excitements are considered as the effects of two different
fluids, attractive of each other, but self -repellent. The one
has accordingly been called resinous, the other vitreous elec-
tricity. Yet, even by electricians, who suppose the existence
of two fluids, the terms positive and negative are employed.
It has been suggested that Voltaic phenomena, combus-
tion, acidity, alkalinity, and chemical afimity, may owe their
existence to the principle by which the different electric ex-
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 387
citements are sustained in electrified bodies, modified in some
inexplicable manner, so as to act between atoms instead of
masses. This suggestion derives strength from the follow-
ing facts, which have been fully illustrated in my lectures
on dectricity and galvanism.
The pole of a Voltaic series, terminated by the more ox-
idizable metal, has been shown to display a feeble electrical
excitement, of the same kind as that which is producible by
friction in glass; while the other pole displays the opposite
excitement, in like manner producible in resin. From reiter-
ated experimental observation it is now generally inferred,
that, of any two elementary atoms, chemically combined,
and simultaneously exposed, to the voltaic current, one will
go to the positive, the other to the negative pole. Atoms are
supposed to have electrical states the opposite of those of the
poles at which they may be liberated, and are said to be elec-
tro-negative when liberated at the positive pole, or anode ; elec-
tro-positive when liberated at the negative pole, or cathode.
Substances which have opposite relations to the Voltaic
poles, have an affinity for each other, which is usually stronger
in proportion as the diversity of their electric habitudes is
the more marked. Thus, for instance, oxygen, which is pre-
eminently electro-negative, and potassium, which is pre-emi-
nently electro-positive, have under ordinary circumstances,
a predominant aflBjiity for eadi other.
On all sides it must be admitted that between chemical
reaction, galvanism, and electro-magnetism, there is an in-
timate association which must be explained before the phe-
nomena of chemical reaction can be well understood.
It has been mentioned that, of known bodies, oxygen
appears to be the most electro-negative. It is questionable
whetiier the grade next to oxygen, in the electro-negative
scale, is to be assigned to chlorine or fluorine. After these
foUow bromine, iodine, sulphur, selenium, and telluriimi.
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888 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
Among the metals we have a series of substances, vary-
ing from those in which the electro-positive power is pre-
eminently great, as in potassimn, sodimn, lithium, barium,
calcium, magnesium, &c., to such metals as belong rather to
the electro-negative class. Hence, setting out from the ex-
treme above mentioned, we may proceed through a long range
of metals less and less electro-positive, till we arrive at sudi
as produce electro-negative combinations with oxygen or
chlorine, or both. More or less within this predicament, I
think we find tin, mercury, gold, platinum, palladium, anti-
mony, arsenic, molybdeniun, and lastly tellurium. Thus at
the intermediate point between the extremes at which oxygen
and the alkalifiable metals are placed, there are substances
whose relation to the Voltaic poles is equivocal or wavering;
and it should be understood that this rdiation is always com-
parative. Chlorine is electro-positive with oxygen and peiiiaps
fluorine, and electro-negative with every other body. Iodine is
electro-positive with oxygen, chlorine, bromine, and probably
fluorine, while with other substances it is electro-negative.
Substances of the two opposite classes, in combining with
each other, constitute compounds which are either electro-
positive or electro-negative, accordingly as the different ener-
gies of their ingredients preponderate. Thus in alkalies, con-
sisting of oxygen united with the alkalifiable metals, the elec-
tro-positive influence predominates; while the reverse is true
of adds, consisting of the same electro-negative principle,
oxygen, in combination with sulphur, nitrogen, phosphorus,
carbon, boron, silicon, selenium, or other substances, which in
their electrical habitudes, lie between oxygen and those metals*
In some cases we see an electro-negative or electro-posi-
tive power attached to compounds, which is not equally dis-
played by either of their constituent elements separately.
Cyanogen, consisting of carbon and nitrogen, is a striking
instance of an dectro-negative compound thus constituted;
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 889
and in ammonia, and the vegetable alkalies lately discoyered,
we have instances of electro-positive compounds, produced
from principles comparatively electro-negative.
For any further view of the connexion between chemical
and galvanic reaction, I refer to my Treatise on Galvanism,
or Voltaic Electricity.
OF THE INFLUENCE ON CLASSIFICATION AND NOMENCLATUEE
OF THE HABITUDES OF CHEMICAL ACTINTS WITH THE
VOLTAIC SERIES.
It would f oUow from the statements made under the last
head, that there should be a resemblance between the prop-
erties of substances which have a proximity to each other, in
the electric series. Accordingly we find, that those which
occupy the higher part of the electro-negative scale, have, by
distmguished writers, especially in Great Britain, been classed
as supporters; while those which are electro-positive, or feebly
electro-negative, have been by the same authors classed as
combustibles. Also, certain electro-negative compounds,
formed of the pre-eminently electro-negative principles, have
been associated as acids; while other compounds, of oxygen
at least, which have the opposite polarity, have been asso-
ciated as bases, under some of the subordinate divisions of
alkalies, alkaline earths, earths proper, or simply oxides.
The idea of a class of supporters of combustion, and of
cc»nbustibles, has no better foundation than that certain sub-
stances are the most frequent agents in combustion. Thus
hydrogen will produce fire with oxygen and chlorine only;
sulphur with oxygen, chlorine, and the metals; and carbon
with oxygen; but as either oxygen or chlorine will biun with
a greater variety of substances, they have been called sup-
porters of combusticm, and the substances with which they
combine during the combustion, combustibles. Iodine and
latterly bromine have been classed among the supporters;
because they combine with almost all the bodies with whidb
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840 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
the oHier elements classed under the name miite, and in
some cases with an eyolution of heat and light. Yet thejr
are not gaseous like oxygen and chlorine, and are as anal-
ogous to sulphur as to oxygen. There appears to me to be
an error in taking either of these substances into the classr
of supporters, while sulphur is excluded, which, next to oxy-
gen and chlorine, has the property of burning with the
greatest number of substances. In other respects sulphur
seems, in its properties, to be intermediate between iodine
and phosphorus. The habitudes of selenium appear to
range between thofiie of tellurium and sulphur.
Hydrogen, phosphorus, carbon, boron, silicon are no more
entitled to be called ccmibustibles, than oxygen, chlorine,
bromine, and iodine, &c., to be called supporters. It should
be observed, also, that these appellations are evidently com-
mutable according to circumstances; since a jet of oxygen,
fired in hydrogen, is productive of a flame, similar to the
inflamed jet of hydrogen on oxygen. If we breathed in an
atmosphere of hydrogen, oxygen would be considered as in-
flammable, and of course a combustible. The arrangement
which I have adopted of classifying as basadgen bodies, those
which have heretofore been treated as supporters, with the
addition of some others, renders it unnecessary to resort to
the incorrect division into supporters and combustible.
METHOD OF DISTINGXHSHIKG DEGREES OF OXmiZBMSNT,
DERIVED FROM THE SCHOOL OF LAVOISIER.
The method which, in concurrence with Th^nard, I have
pursued in designating in the case of the compounds formed
by the basacigen bodies witii radicals^ the proportion of the
former ingredient has be^i stated.
In the case of oxacids another method was adopted by the
Lavoisierian School, which, with some modification, still en-
dures, and which I shall state as it now prevails.
Agreeably to the nomenclature in question, where, in
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 841
consequence of different degrees of oxidizement substances
form two acids, one containing a larger, the other a lesser
proportion of oxyg^i, the acid, having the lesser proporti(m,
is distinguished by the name of the substance oxygenated,
and a termination in otis; as sulphurous add and sulphuric
acid. That ingredient in an add or a base, which is least
electro-negative, is called the radical. When an add is dis-
covered having less oxygen than one with the same radical
of which the name ends with otis, the word hypo is prefixed.
Hence the appellations, hypouitrous, %posulphurous. The
same means of distinction is employed to designate a degree
of oxygenation exceeding that designated by oti8, but less
than that designated by ic. Hence the name %posulphiuic.
If there be an acid having still more oxygen than the one
of whidi the name ends in k, the letters oxy are prefixed.
Adds of which the names terminate in ous, have their
salts distinguished by a termination in ite. Adds of which
the names end in ic, have their salts distinguished by a ter-
mination in ate. Thus we have mtrites and nitrates, sulphitM
and svljphates. If the base be in excess, the word sub is pre-
fixed, as subsvlphsAe. If the acid be in excess, super is pre-
fixed, as supersvlpheAe. The letters bi are placed before the
name of salts having a double proportion of acid; hence car-
bonate and bicarbonate.
The oxide in which the oxidizement is supposed to be at
the maximum is called the /peroxide. This monosyllable, per,
is also used in the case of acids, to signify the highest state
of oxygenation, and has been substituted for oa^y in the case
of percblonc acid. Many diemists apply the monosyllable
in question to distinguish a salt formed with a peroxide.
Thus the red sulphate of iron has been called the persutphtAe
of iron; the nitrate of the red oxide of mercury, the per-
nitrate of mercury. Agreeably to a similar rule, salts formed
with protoxides have the word proto prefixed; as in the
instances of mononitrate, ^otosulphate, &c.
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342 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
It has already been stated that by the British chraodsts
the bmary compounds of oxygen, chlorine, bromine, iodine,
fluorine, and cyanogen, when not acid, are designated by the
termination in ide.
The word oxide has been erroneously used as a correla-
tive of the word acid, instead of being used as a generic name
for any compound of oxygen, whetiher an acid or base. I
should deem it preferable to apply the termination in ide, to
all compounds of the basacigen bodies, whether acids, bases
or neutral, ^oiploying the words acid and base as termina-
tions to indicate the subordinate electro-negative, and elec-
tro-positive compounds. In that case oooyhase, chloribase,
fluohase, bromibMe, iodobase, cyanobMe, sulphobase, selem-
hose, telluribase, would stand in opposition to oxojdd, chhr-
add, bromacid, iodacid, cyanacid, stdphacid, selenadd, teUur-
add. Yet for convenience, the generic termination ide might
be used without any misunderstanding; and so far the pre-
vailing practice might remain unchanged. Besort to either
appellation would not, agreeably to custom, be necessary in
speaking of salts or otiier compounds analogous to them;
since it is deemed sufficient to mention the radical, as if the
salt consisted of an acid combined witii a radical, not an
oxide. Ordinarily we say sulphate of lead, not sulphate of
the oxide of lead. This last mentioned expression is resorted
to, only where great precision is desirable. In such cases, it
might be better to say sulphate of the oxybase of lead.
The method of indicating the proportion of oxygen in an
oxide, by changing the termination from ous to ic, has been
generally adopted only in the case of the protoxide, and
bioxide of nitrogen, the former being usually called nitrous
oxide, the latter nitric oxide. In the Berzelian nomenclature,
this method of discrimination has been extended to all the
compounds formed with amphigen and halogen elements.
Uence we have chlorure mercureux, and chlorure mercurique.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 848
for the protochloride, and bichloride of mercury; and again,
oxide mercureux and oxide mercurique for the protoxide and
bioxide of the same metal. These Berzelian names trans-
lated into English would make mercurious chloride and mer-
curic chloride, mercurious oxide and mercuric oxide.
It should be understood that the employment of the ter-
minations in eux and ique, which in French answer for ic and
ouB in EngUsh, is extended, by Berzelius, to the case of all
oxides, whether acids or bases. These words are, in my
opinion, neither agreeable to the ear, nor sufficiently definite
and descriptive. In the received nomenclature, besides the
case above cited of the bioxide of nitrogen, the only other in-
stance, of the employment of the letters ic to designate an
oxide, is that of the protoxide of carbon, called carbontc oxide.
OF THE OBIOIN OF THE ESS0NE0U8 mEA OF A PONDERABLE
ACmiFTINO PRINCIPLE.
At the period When the French nomenclature was adopted,
oxygen was considered as the sole cundifying principle , whence
its name as already stated. Of course, every acid being sup-
posed to consist of oxygen in part, it was enough to call it an
add to convey a correct idea of its composition in that respect.
But when, at a subsequent period, it was shown that many
acids were destitute of oxygen, and that other substances were
nearly as efficient as oxygen in generating acids by a imion
with acidifiable bodies, it became necessary to prefix syllables
in order to distinguish the acid compounds produced by one
acidifying principle, from those produced by others. The
term acidifying principle originated with the error of assign-
ing that character exclusively to oxygen. From convenience,
more than any conviction of its propriety, it was afterwards
used occasionally in reference to chlorine, hydrogen, and
other elements which are found to produce acids by combin-
ing with a variety of substances. It must be obvious that
there is no adequate reason for considering any ponderable
element as an acidifying principle.
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944 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
Subfliequaitly to the creation of the word oxygen, the
word radical was employed to designate an oxidizable sub-
stance. It has since been extoided by me to all substances
which form acids or bases with the basacigen bodies.
OF ACIDITY
Acidity and sourness were originally synonymous. By
some of tibe older diemists, the solvent power of certain acid
or sour liquids, was ascribed to the sharpness of their con-
stituent particles. To this acuteness in form, the power of
penetrating and severing the combinations of other particles
was attributed. With people in general, the words acid, and
acidity, still retain their original signification; but by modem
chemists, substances are associated as acids which are destitute
of sourness, and which are extremely discordant in their
obvious properties. Thus we have in the group of acids, sul-
phmric acid, and flint, vinegar and the tanning principle; also
the volatile and odoriferous liquid, called prussic acid, and
the unctuous, insoluble, inert, concrete material for candles,
called margaric acid. It might naturally excite the curi-
osity of the learner, to know by what common characteristic
substances so discordant had been affiliated. It would be
inferred that there should be sc»ne test of acidity, by which
to determine whether a new compound should belong to the
class of acids or not. I am utterly ignorant of any other
common characteristic, in these otherwise heterogeneous sub-
stances, besides that common preference for the poles, or
electrodes, of the Voltaic series, on which I have founded my
definition of acidity and basidity; coupled with the inference,
mentioned in a note, that any ccmipoimd capable of neutral-
izing a base, is deemed to be an acid; and vice versa, any
compound capable of neutralizing an acid, is deemed to be a
base. To me it is quite evident that it is only upon one or
the other of these characteristics, that many organic com-
pounds which are called acids, or bases, can have any pre-
tensions to be designated as they are.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 84ft
AmcHig the characteristics of acidity heretofore relied on,
is that of reddening vegetable blues. By the soluble adds,
this property is generally possessed, although an aqueous
solution of sulphurous acid is said to whiten litmus; the vege-
table blue is generally employed as a test of acidity. — ^But
indigo is not reddened by any add, altibough by nitric acid
it is destroyed. Solubility, though usually a property of
adds, is in many cases wanting, as in those of margaric and
stearic add, and others of similar origin. The add proper-
ties of silicic, and boric, acid, are displayed at temperatures
incompatible with any other solubility, than that which is
effected by the agency of caloric
OF ALKAUNITT
Among the metallic oxides which, agreeably to tlie defini-
ticms above given, are considered as bases, there are a certain
number which are called alkalies, on account of some peculiar-
ities which I shall proceed to mention.
All the alkalies have a peculiar taste, called alkaline.
They all produce, in certain vegetable colours, characteristic
changes, which differ according to the matter subjected to
them, but are not varied by changing tlie alkali.
They restore colours changed by adds, and are capable
of neutralizing acidity.
Adds neutralize alkalies, and restore colours destroyed by
them. Adds do not usually combine with adds, nor alkalies
with alkalies, but adds and alkalies unite energetically with
each other.
By the reaction of alkalies with oils, soaps are generated,
which are soluble in water.
Besides the alkalies above named, there are four other
metallic oxides, those of magnesium, barium, and strontium,
for instance, which have been called earths, and which, in
different degrees of intensity, have all the alkaline properties
above mentioned, excepting that, if not insoluble, they have
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S46 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
an inferior solubility and that they do not fonn soluble soaps.
There are also some vegetable compounds whidi possess,
to a sufficient extent, the attributes of alkalies, to be classed
among them.
According to Bonsdorff , the halogen elements of Berzelius
produce bases, which in some cases display alkalinity. He has
noticed a change of colour, indicating an alkaline reaction, cm
litmus paper, reddened previously by an acid, and dipped into
a solution of a chloride, either of calcium, magnesium, or zinc.
I infer that acidity, basidity, alkalinity, and galvanic
polarity, are due to some inscrutable influence of the impon-
derable cause, or causes, or heat, light, and electricity. To a
like influence I ascribe the sweetness of sugar, the pungency
of mustard or pepper, and of essential oils, as well as the
endless variety of odour with which tiiese last mentioned
products are endowed. It is evident that in the organic
alkalies and adds, alkalinity and acidity are found to be asso-
ciated with combinations of ponderable elementary atoms,
which exist in other combinations without inducing alkalinity
or acidity."
And he f urtlier commented on the ncxnenclature of the
cyanogen compounds.
The union of hydrogen fluoride with either boron fluoride
or silicon fluoride is discussed as follows by Hare:
'' The imion which ensues between fluohydric acid, and
either fluoboric, or fluosilicic acid, agreeably to the preceding
statement, may appear anomalous, in the way in which it has
hitherto been treated. If, however, I am correct in my mode
of defining the difference between an acid and a base, the
combinations in question will not prove to be anomalous. I
deem it consistent to suppose that a fluobase of hydrogen
united, in the one case, with fluoboric acid, in the other with
fluosilicic acid; so that fluohydroboric acid might be called
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 847
fluoborate of the fluobase of hydrogen, or more briefly fluo-
borate of hydrogen; and in like manner, fluohydrosilicic acid
would be called fluosilicate of the fluobase of hydrogen, or
briefly fluosilicate of hydrogen.
When either fluohydroboric acid, or fluc^ydrosilicic acid,
or in other words the fluoborate or fluosilicate of the fluobase
of hydrogen, is brought into contact with an oxybase, the
radical of the latter takes the place of the hydrogen, which,
with its oxygen, forms water. Thus, in the case of potash,
there would result a fluobase of potassium, usurping the
place of the fluobase of hydrogen; and of course either a fluo-
silicate, or fluoborate of potassium must be formed. Agree-
ably to the Berzelian nomenclature, these compounds are
double salts, the name of one being in the French transla-
tion, "fluorure borico-potasriqtie/^ that of the other, ^^fluo-
rure siUcO'potassiqtLe/* Many analogous salts, formed by
the acids under consideration, with salifiable substances, are
mentioned by Berzelius; also many others, in whidb other
radicals, in union witii fluorine, play a part analogous to that
performed by silicon and boron, in the salts above mentioned.
There are instances in which compounds, usually called
bases, act as acids. Of course, it is consistent that com-
poimds, usually called acids, should in some instances act as
bases. In this respect, a striking analogy may be observed
between the union of the oxide of hydrogen (water) with
the oxacids and oxybases; and that of fluoride of hydrogen
with fluacids and fluobases. According to Berzelius, water
acts as a base of oxacids; as an acid to oxybases. So I con-
ceive the fluoride of hydrogen acts as a base in the cases
above noticed, while it acts as an add in the compound of
hydrogen, fluorine, and potassium, called by Benelius '' fluo-
rure potasiiqvs acide" This compound I would call a fluo-
hydrate of the fluobase of potassium, or more briefly, fluo-
hydrate of potassium; as we say sulphate of copper, instead
of the sulphate of the oxide ( or oxybase) of copper* • . .''
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848 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
Salts were described in much detaiL And, in the pages
which precede there is quite a bit of evidence of the views
entertained by Hare on topics in the inorganic field. It will
be most interesting to follow him in " Organic Chemistry *' —
"' the chemistry of organic substances/' In the introduction^
among others, occur these sentences:
'' It is generally a marked distinction, between organic
and inorganic products, that the latter can, in a much greater
number of instances, be imitated by art. The incompetency
of chemists to regenerate the substances analyzed by ibem,
has caused the accuracy of their deductions to be questioned.
Rousseau having heard Rouelle lecture on farinaceous mat-
ter, said he would not confide in any analysis of it, till cor-
roborated by its reproduction from the elements with which
it was alleged to have been resolved. . . ."
What would that savant say could he now behold the
sjnithetic conquests in the organic domain, e.g., that of in-
digo, alizarin, etc., etc.?
''At first view it may seem reasonable to consider syn-
thesis as the only satisfactory test of the truth of analysis.
But if when diamond is burned in one bell glass and charcoal
in another, in different portions of the same oxygen gas, and
subsequently in each vessel, in lieu of the diamond and char-
coal, carbonic acid is found, from which, by potassium, car-
bon may be liberated, who would hesitate to admit both sub-
stances to consist of carbon, because this element cannot be
recovered in its crystalline form frcmi the gaseous state? "
And, in adverting to formulae which then probably were
much discussed. Hare said:
"As with very few exceptions in formulae expressing the
composition of organic substances, only four different letters
are requisite, with the figures showing the relative propor-
tions, the employment of symbols for that purpose is evi-
dently highly advantageous. The student, therefore, is ad-
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 849
vised especially to overcome, by a proper degree of resolu-
tion, any repugnance to the study of the formulae given, or
others which may be resorted to in this or in other modem
treatises of chemistry. A comparison of their formulae, re-
spectively, will convey an idea of the difference in composition
existing between the radicals in the preceding list • • .**
And he continues: '' I adverted to the fact that certain
elements may be substituted, the one for the other, without
changing the crystalline form. Dumas has latterly held
an analogous doctrine respecting the substitution, in organic
products, of one element for another, or of a compound
radical for an element, without ^^ altering the general chem-
ical type/' as he calls it; and would have the bodies thus
formed grouped together, constituting a natural family.
Hare's comments on radicals are original and charac-
teristic.
Liebig alleged, that "' reciprocal substitution of simple or
compound bodies, acting in the manner of isomorphous
bodies, should be considered as a true law of nature." To
this Hare replied: '' This substitution may take place be-
tween bodies which have neither the same form, nor any
analogy in composition. It depends exclusively on the chem-
ical force, which we call aflSnity.**
In consonance with the law in question, Dumas has found,
that in acetic add chlorine may be substituted for hydrogen,
and that in this way a new acid, designated as chloroaoetic,
may be produced.
This choloroacetic acid is by him alleged to be, in its prop-
erties, so analogous to acetic acid, that to know the habitudes
of the one, conveys an idea of those of the other. This
analogy he conceives to arise from a chemical law, agreeably
to which the properties of a compound depend rather on the
type of the composition, Hian on the particular diaracter of
the elements which may have been exchanged.
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850 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
Of saponification he says: ''Anterior to the labours of
Chevreul, an erroneous notion existed that the process of
saponification consisted in nothing more than a union between
the alkali and oil; so that it was deemed to be a case simply
of combination. The existence in every oil of an electro*
negative, and an electro-positive ingredient, the one perform-
ing the part of a base, the oth» of an add, was not imagined/'
And of sugar he wrote:
''As sugar has been found to be very susceptible of yield-
ing alcdiol by fermentation, this property has been made the
basis of defining the meaning of the word, so that every sub-
stance capable of the process alluded to, is to be considered as
sugar, whatever may be its taste, or however it may differ in its
properties from the substance usually caUed by the name.
Thus the fermentable ' toort* of distillers or brewers, the
uncrystaHizable juices of fruits, a substance found in mush-
rooms or ergot, also an insipid matter found by Thenard in
diabetic urine, are all to be considered as consisting of sugar,
80 far as they are capable of yielding alcohol by f ermentatkm/*
And then he proceeds:
" I am reluctant to employ w(»h1s in a sense different from
that in which they are generally understood. Agreeably to
usual acceptation, sweetness is an indispensable attribute of
sugar. Sugary and m)eet are synonymous. ^'As tmeet as
Mtigar^^ has long been an expression conveying the idea of
superlative sweetness.
But chemists have erred, I think, in assuming that noth-
ing besides sugar is susceptible of the vinous fermentation.
The conversion into alcohol of the insipid product of diabetes,
which has been treated as sugar, because proved to be sus-
ceptible of the process in question, might with more pro-
priety, as I conceive, be deemed to demonstrate that this
process may be undergone by substances which are not suffi-
ciently of a saccharine nature to merit the name of sugar. . • •
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 861
It is well known to those who are acquainted with the
manufacture of whiskey from grain, thart; a portion of malt
is necessary to render the wash or wort susceptible of the
vinous fermentation; and that the product is much affected
by the circumstances under whidi the infusion of the grain
is accomplished. Nearly thirty years ago, my late friend,
CoL Anderson, who had distinguished himself by his ingenuity
and sagacity in improving the processes and apparatus of
our American distilleries, expressed to me an opinion, that
the mixture of farina and water became sweeter towards the
dose of the process of infusion, and that he believed a chem-
ical change was induced, fay which more or less sugar was
generated. The inference of our ingenious countryman has
been fully justified by the researches of Payen and Persoz,
whence it appears that, by digestion with malt, f ecula is at
first partially changed into a sweetish gummy matter, called
dextrine, and that this matter is afterwards converted into
grape sugar. Dextrine has received its name from a peculiar
influence which it exercises upon the plane of polarization,
during the passage of light. It may be considered as head-
ing, as respects its properties, an intermediate position be-
tween fecula and grape sugar.''
In commenting on malic acid Hare adds:
** Professor Wm. Kogers, of the University of Virginia,
has ascertained that this add abounds in different spedes of
sumach, in the state of bimalate of lime. Malic add is bibasic,
its formula being C5H4O8 + 2HO.
Malic and dtric adds afford very good examples of the
operation of a law, to which a great many of the vegetable
adds are subjected. At a temperature a little above that at
which they melt, tiiey severally yield new acids. That yielded
by dtric acid, is identical with the acid f oimd in the aconitimi
napdlus, and also the various spedes of equisitum. Hence,
ithasrecdvedthenameof aconiticorequisiticadd. Whether
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85« THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
obtained from citric acid by heat, or from either of its other
sources, it exists in the form of white crystals, soluble in
water, and sour in taste. The add into which malic acid is
changed, under similar circumstances, is also found in nature
in Iceland moss, and in the f umaria officinalis. HeiMX it has
been called f umaric acid, although Pdouze, who first obtained
it from malic add by heat, called it parmalic add. Both of
these adds differ from the dtric and malic add, from which
they are produced, only in having lost the elements of two
atoms of water.
When either of the adds thus obtained, by heating dtric
or malic add, is exposed to a higher temperature, a further
change takes place, and volatile adds are formed, fumaric
add yielding maleic, and aconitic producii^ itaconic add.
The former would seem to be formed by a mere transposition
of the elements of water present, whidi appear as two atoms
of water of crystallization, instead of entering as before as
two basic atoms into the mtegral composition of the add. A
further application of heat converts itaconic into citraconic
add ; while maleic acid, if kept in a state of fusion for a length
of time, reverts to the condition of fumaric acid.
It must be observed, that if dtric or maUc acid be heated,
without keeping them at the temperatures necessary for the
formation of the add compounds whidi they respectively
produce, the result will be a mixture in the one case of fumaric
acid and maleic add, in the other, of aconitic, itaconic and
dtraconic acids."
And in this manner he goes forward in the careful presen-
tation of his subject, injecting as he has opportunity, results
won in his own laboratory. For example, in speaking of
perchloric ether, he remarks:
" This ether was discovered, in my laboratory, by Mr.
Martin Boye and Mr. Clark Hare.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 S53
It was obtained by subjecting about ninety grains of
crystallised sulphovinate of baiyta, with an equivalent pro-
portion of perdilorate of bar3rta, to the distillatory process,
receiving the product in from one to two drachms of abso-
lute alcohol. By complex aflSnity, the sulphuric acid of the
sulphovinate dispossesses the perdilwic acid of the baryta,
while, at tibie same time, the last mentioned add combines
with the oxide of ethyl.
The perchlorate of ethyl is a transparent, colourless
liquid, possessing a peculiar, thou^ agreeable smell, a very
sweet taste, whidi on subsiding, leaves a biting impression
on tibie tongue, resembling that of the oil of cinnamon, but
more acrid and enduring. It is heavier tium water, throuj^
which it rapidly sinks. It explodes by igniticHi, friction, or
perpussion, and sometimes witiiout any assignable cause. Its
explosive properties may be safely shown, by pouring a small
porticm of the alcoholic solution into a small porcelain cap-
sule, and adding an equal volume of water. The ether will col-
lect in a drop at the bottom, and may be subsequentiy sepa-
rated by pouring off the greater part of the water, and throw-
ing tiie rest on a moistened filter, supported by a wire. After
the water has drained off, the drop of ether remaining at tiie
bottom of the filter may be exploded either by approaching it
to an ignited body, or by tiie blow of a hammer. The violence
and readiness with whidi this ether explodes is not surpassed
by that of any othw known compound. By tiie smallest drop,
an open porcelain plate may be reduced into fragments, and
by a larger quantity, to powder. In consequence of the force
with which it projects the minute fragments of any contain-
ing vessel in whidi it explodes, it is necessary that the oper-
ator should wear gloves, and a dose mask, f umiidied with thick
glass-plates at the apertures for the eyes, and perform his ma-
nipulaticms with the intervention of a movable wooden screen.
In common with other etiiers, the perdilorate of ethyl
28
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854 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
is insoluble in water, but soluble in alcohol ; and its solution in
the latter, when sufficiently dilute, bums entirely away with
explosicm. It may be kept tor a length of time unchanged,
even when in contact with water; but the addition of this
fluid, when employed to precipitate it from its alcoholic solu-
tion, causes it partially to be decomposed. Potassa, dis-
solved in alcohol, and added to the alcoholic solution, pro-
duces immediately, an abundant precipitate of the perchlorate
of that base, and, when added in sufficient quantity, decom-
poses the ether entirely.
The perchlorate of ethyl has been subjected to the heat of
boiling water without explosion or ebuUiticm.
It may be observed that this is the first ether formed by
the ccHnbination of an inorganic add containing more than
three atoms of oxygen with the oxide of ethule, and that the
chlorine and oxygen in the whole compound are just suffi-
cient to form chlorohydric acid, water and carbonic oxide with
the hydrogen and carbon. It is also the only ether which is
explosive per se.'*
Ethers and aldehydes are quite fully treated by Hare in
accordance with the prevailing views. And, after presenting
the following stat^nent from Liebig to the effect that: '' The
reaction which nitric acid exercises with ihe hydrated oxide
of methyl^is not like that which it exercises with alcohol, since,
while this liquid is dec(»nposed with great difficulty, giving
birth to certain oxidized products and hyponitrite of the
oxyde of ethyl, the hydrated oxide of methyl is not altered
by nitric acid, imless at a boiling heat. When a great excess
of this add is employed, formic and oxalic acids are generated,
but no hyponitrite ("nitrite") or nitrate of the oxide of
methyl. It would seem, tiierefore, that the hyponitrite of
the oxide of methyl does not exist, i . . **
He said : '' I found however that by subjecting pure wood
spirit to the process already described for producii^ the hypo-
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SECOND PERIOD, 181»-1847 855
nitrite of ethyl, a congenerous ethereal product was obtained
(p. 808). flyponitrite of methyl has a great resemblance
to its congener above named, in colour, smell, and taste;
though tiiere is still a diversity sufficient to enable a careful
observer to distinguish one from the otiier.
When the process in which hyponitrous ether is generated,
by introducing the refrigerated materials into a bottle sur-
rounded by ice and water, was resorted to, substituting wood
spirit for alcohol, it was found that the ether did not separate
from the spirit as completely as in the process in whidi alco-
hol was the material. This I ascribe to the affinity between
water and wood spirit being inferior to that between this
mentioned liquid and alcohol; The boiling point of both
of the ethers seemed to be nearly the same, and in both, in
consequence of the escape of an ethereal gas, an effervescence
resembling that of ebullition, was observed to take place at
a lower temperature iban that at whidi ilie boiling point
became stationary.
From the language of Liebig above quoted, I infer that
previous efforts to produce the methylic hyponitrous ether
had failed. The failure of others, and my success, cannot
excite surprise, when the difference of the habitudes of wood
spirit and alcohol, with nitric add and alcohol, are taken into
view, and the difference between my process and those fol-
lowed in Europe, by whidi more or less nitric acid is brought
into contact with the spirit employed. When alcohol is pre-
sented to nitric acid, a redprocal decomposition ensues. The
add loses two atoms of oxygen, which, by taking two atoms
of hydrogen from a portion of the alcohol, transforms it into
alddiyde, while the hyponitrous add resulting inevitably from
the partial deoxidisEfement of the nitric acid, unites with the'
base of the remaining part of the alcohol. But when py-
roxylic spirit is presented to nitric add, this add, without
decomposition, combines with methyl, the base of this hy-
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S56 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
cbate; hence, as no hjrponitrous add is evolved, no hypo-
nitrite can be produced Thusintfaecaseofthecmetiiefecan
be no ethereal hyponitrite, in that of the other no efhereal
nitrate/'
In regard to respiration. Hare said:
'' I subjoin an article ^niiich I had prepared on respira-
tion, as it ccmtains some ideas which are not found dsewfaere,
and some objections to Liebig's explanation of the phen<Mn-
aia of that process.
Chemistry demonstrates, that during this process, the
volume of the air respired by animals is diminished, but that a
portion of the oxygen is replaced by an equal bulk of carbonic
acid. Although, at one time, by respectable observers, the vol-
ume of this lastmentionedgaswasalleged not to be uniformly
equal to that of the absorbed oxyg^i, the ratio of the one to
Ihe other being represented as varyii^ with Ihe time of day
and the season, not only in different animals, but also in tli^
same animal, later observation seems to have produced a gen-
eral opinion, whidi is zealously espoused by the distinguished
chemist above mentioned, that the expired carbonic acid is,
upon the whole, exactly equival^it to the oxyg^i ocmsumed.
The prevalence of nitrogen, in animal substances, nat-
urally led to the idea that it might be assimilated more or
less during respiration; but experi^ice has led to an opposite
opinion; and Liebig has endeavoured to show, that in the
nutriment of granivorous animals, there is no defidency of
vegeto-animal matter having as Im^ a proportion of nitro-
gen as flesh and blood.
When first, by the Lavoisierian sdiool, the heat of all
ordinary fires was shown to be attributable to the unicm of
oxygen with the combustible employed, the idea naturally
f oUowed, that respiration being attended by a like union o^
oxygen with combustible matter, animal heat ought to be
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SECOND PERIOD, 181»-1847 857
ascribed to this source. Many objecticms to this explana-
tion of the origin of animal heat were subsequently urged^
and» among otiiers, the fact that the heat of tbe lungs, the fire
place J is no hi^^er than remoter parts of the animal frame.
To remove this objection, Crawford suggested that the
capacity for heat, of arterial blood, being greater tiian that
of venous blood, calorie was taken up by the blood in one
state, to be evolved when in the other. This suggestion re-
specting the relative capacities for heat, of arterial and venous
blood, has not been supported by subsequent experience;
and another view of the subject has been taken, which renders
it quite consistent liiat the temperature idiould not be pecu-
liarly high in tiie lungs.
It is supposed that the blood merely absorbs oxygen in
the lungs, but that this oxygen is carbonized during its circu-
lation, and thus causes heat to be given out in all parts of
the system. The carbonic acid thus produced, on reaching
the lungs in combination with the venous blood, is exdianged
for oxygen, and consequently expired with the breath.
Liebig conceives that the iron in the hematosin of the
red globules is held by the arterial blood, in the state of hy-
drated sesquioxide; but in the capillaries, the sesquioxide
passing to the state of protoxide, by yielding oxygen to the
carbon in the blood, combines with the carbonic acid thus pro-
duced, and gives rise, in the venous blood, to a carbonated
protoxide.
When the venous blood reaches the lungs, the protoxide
exchanging carbonic acid for oxygen, this gas is expelled
with the breath, while the regenerated sesquioxide is again,
by union with water, reccmverted into a hydrate. The well
kaown diange of hue which follows the transfer of the blood
from the veins to the arteries, through the pulmonary organs,
seems to be considered as a collateral consequence of these
chemical reactions. Tet this change does not appear to me
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358 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
sufficiently accounted for, since no sudi alteration of colour
can be produced by the transformation of a carbcmated pro-
toxide of iron to a hydrated sesquioxide. Moreover, the fact
that no peculiar elevation of temperature takes place on the
surfaces where the venous blood meets the breath, scans to
me inconsistent with Liebig's explanation, since the heat must
be extricated in the space where the iron is peroxidized.
Upon the whole I now think as I have f cnr forty years,
T^iatever other opinions may have prevailed, that there must
be a degree of heat derived from respirisition proportional
to the quantity of oxygen converted into carbonic add; but
with all due deference for Liebig, I do not agree witii him*
that it is possible to give a satisfactory explanation of tiiis
process upon purely chemical affinities, such as exist inde*
pendently of vital power. It appears to me that nature has
the power, within certain limits, of making chemical affinities
to suit her own purposes, and can therefore cause the oxygen
to be absorbed, the carbon to combine therewith, and the
heat to be given out when and where the processes of vitality
require it. If nature have not the alleged power, how does
it happen that, out of the heterogeneous congeries of ele-
ments existing in the egg, the bill, the claws, the feathers,
the bones, the blood, and flesh, are made to appear at the
various stations, at which their presence is requisite, for the
existaice of a young bird?
Liebig dtes the following interesting facts: An active
man expires 18.9 ounces of carbon, and daily consumes, in
the same time, 87 ounces of oxygen = 511648 cubic inches,
or about 228 gallons. Reckoning 18 inspirations per minute,
there must be 25,920 consumed per day, and consequ^itly
511648/25920 = 1.99 or nearly two cubic inches of oxygen
in each respiraticm. In one minute, therefore, there are
added to the blood 1.99 times 18 = 85.8 cubic indies of oxy-
gen, weighing rather less than twelve grains.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 S69
In one minute, ten pounds of blood pass through the
lungs, measuring 820 cubic inches, among which 85.8 being
divided, there must be one cubic inch of oxygen for nine of
blood nearly.
Ten Hessian pounds of blood = 76,800 grains, if in the
arterial state, contain 61 54/100 grains sesquioxide of iron;
if in the venous state, 55 14/100 protoxide. 6 40/100, the
difference, is the quantity of oxygen which the iron of the
venous blood can acquire in the lungs, which deducted f rcxn
twelve grains, the whole quantity of oxygen absorbed, leaves
5.60 grains requiring some other means of absorption. But
55 14/100 grains of protoxide of iron would take up 78 cubic
indies of carbonic acid, which is double the volume that the
85 8/100 of oxygen can generate.
One glaring defect in this part of the explanation, arises
from the admitted fact, that nearly one-half of the. absorption
of oxyg^ is unaccounted for; 5.60 in twelve parts."
It is most interesting to note Hare's views on saccharine
and vinous fermentation, acetous fermentation, viscous fer-
mentation, particularly as he gave much thought in earlier
years to brewing. He wrote :
'' I am under the impression that all the four fermenta-
tions may ensue either successively, or, to a certain degree,
simultaneously. Thus, either starch or lactin may be ccm-
verted into grape sugar. This product may be partially
changed into alcohol , and in part into lactic acid and mannite ;
while a porticm of alcohol simultaneously generated, may
be undergoing aoetification.
Each fermaitation has its appropriate ferment. Thus
diastase incites the saccharine f ermentati<Mi, yeast the alco-
holic, oxidized diastase, casein or curd, the lactic; while the
scum or sediment, called mother of vinegar, promotes the
acetic fermentation. It is tiie object of the vintner, the
brewer, and distiUer, to permit ooly the two first fermaita-
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SflO THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
tions, the alcoholic especially, to which the saccharine is acces-
sory. This object is secured by taking great care to hare
the juice or wort simultaneously subjected to a temperature
between 60® and 70^, and a limited exposure to air, with
the addition of the proper ferment, where this is necessary;
while, by great cleanliness, the presence of any matter capable
of inducing the acetous or lactic fermentation is avoided.
Much liquor is spoiled by the substitution of the viscous for
the oZco^fic fermentation. . . .
Boutron and Fremy have made some interesting observa-
tions respecting the generation of lactic acid in milk. Ox-
idized caseine is considered by them as pre-eminent in efficacy
as a ferment, for the lactic fermentation, by acting on the
sugar of milk or lactin; but in consequence of an affinity for
the generated acid, the oxidized caseine forms wiih it an inert
compound which precipitates.
The generation of lactic add requires the presence both
of lactin and free oxidized caseine. Of course, in order to
increase the production of the acid, it was found necessary
to add an additional quantity of lactin to milk, but to renew
the efficiency of oiseine, it was found sufficient to saturate the
lactic add, as often as the production of this add was arrested
by the precipitation of the oxidized caseine.
Diastase, after being exposed a few days to the air, be-
comes capable of inducing the viscous or lactic fermentation.
The membranes of the stomach of a dog or calf, or the sub-
stance of a bladder, by a like exposure, were found capable
of inciting the fermentation in question. Yet animal matters,
in appearance similarly prepared, are productive of different
results, as respects the proportions of mannite, of viscous
matter, of lactic acid, or alcohol, generated. The means by
which the various ferments, respectively, produce their
appropriate changes are involved in the greatest obscurity.
The ferments have sM been shown to be vegeto-animal matter
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 S61
in a state of oxidizement, and an analogy seems to have been
establidied betweoi their influence and that of some other
agents, which have been considered as acting by what has
been called catalysis, which is a new name given by Berzelius
to an old mystery. It has long been known that there are
two modes by which chemical dianges are to be excited. In
one of these, the presentation of one or two extraneous ele-
ments causes decomposition and recomposition, by the reac-
tions between tiie elements so presented, and those subjected
to alteration, as in the various cases of elective affinity. In
the other mode, substances imdergo transf ormaticms by being
made to rearrange their constituents into one or more new
combinations, by the presence of other bodies with which
they do not combine, and which, in some cases, undergo no
change themselves. It is to the last mentioned mode of re-
action that the name above mentioned has been applied. Tet,
under this head, processes have been crudely associated whidi
have discordant features. Liebig indiscriminately gives a com-
mon explanation to these processes, and to those of fermenta-
tion, so far as iliey might be crudely referable to catalysis.
The following processes are associated by this distin-
guished chemist under one rationale: — the sclvbiUty acquired
by platina by being alloyed toith eUver; the catalyzing in-
fiuence of platina sponge or platina black; the explosion of
ftUnUnating powders by slight causes; the reciprocal decom-
position of bioande of hydrogen and oande of silver; the
agency of nitric owide in the generation of sulphuric add;
the action of ferments.
To me it seems that there is a great tliversity in the char-
acteristics of the process thus alluded to. In ilie case of the
platina alloy there is at least an atom of silver for each atom
of platina in actual combination with this metal; and tiie
diange whidi the latter undergoes is precisely \he same as
that to which the former is subjected.
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36je THE LIFE OF R(ffiERT HARE
In the case of platina sponge, causing the formation of
water, or of platina bkck, causing the acetification of alco-
holic vapour, the inducing agent imdergoes no change it-
self; it enters not into chemical combination either with the
materials, or the products. Liebig ascribed the result in tiiis
instance to the alternate absorption and subsequent evolution
of oxygen by the powder; since, after exposure to the gas,
it may, by exhaustion, be made to give up a portion. But
the agency of this metidlic mass cannot differ, in this case,
from tiiat in which it causes the pure elements of water to
combine, and in which, if absorption take place, it is not con-
fined to oxygen more than to hydrogen. But the fact estab-
lished by Faraday, that hydrogen and oxygen may be made
to imite by a well cleaned plate of platina, seems irrecon-
cilable with the idea that absorption is the means of its accom-
plishmait. But if absorption be not operative in cme case,
how can it operate in the other ?
In this, as in all other cases, Liebig seems to overlook the
all important agency of electricity in ilie phenomena of na-
ture. I should infer, that the metal most probably acts by
altering the electrical polarity, and consequent association of
imponderable matter. But having assumed, that during the
dehydrogenation of alcohol by atmospheric oxygen in the
presence of platina black, this powder is alternately endowed
with the power to take it from the air, and to impart it to
that of which the attraction for oxygen, imder the circum-
stances, is too feeble to take it from the same source, this
distinguished philosopher proceeds to make the inference
that honey, mother of vinegar, and other substances promo-
tive of acetification, act in the same way by absorbing oxygen
from the air, and abandonii^ it to hydrogen. But if agree-
ably to the view above presented, platina black does not act
by absorption, no argument, founded on the agency of that
substance, will justify the idea that absorpticm avails in other
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 S6S
caaes; and it should be recollected, that platina black is very
active when perfectly free from moisture, while honey, yeast,
mother of vinegar, and other substances which cause acetifica-
ticm, have no attraction for oxygen in the absence of water;
moreover, that the necessity for moisture to the preparatory
oxidizement of gluten, caseine, diastase, and other organic
substances, which by exposing in a humid state acquire their
capacity to act as ferments, is inexpUcable. Water is power-
ful both as a catalyzer and as a solvent.
Before referring to the absorption of oxygen by honey,
as a ground of explanation founded on the analogy of
platina black, the ability of water to cause honey to absorb
oxygen should be first elucidated.
An electric spark or any ignited body, a wire made incan-
descent by a galvanic disdiarge, has an influence analogous
to platina sponge, of which the minutest particle is su£Scient
to cause ignition throughout an inflammable mixture, how-
ever large. There is, in this respect, an analogy between the
explosion of inflammable gaseous mixtures and those of gun
powder, and of other fulminating powders, of which some, as
it is well known, detonate by percussion or friction, or any
cause adequate to derange the equilibrium of their particles.
In the case last mentioned, the change produced is the same,
whatever may be the exciting cause, and the minutest porticm
of the congeries being made to undergo the diange, is of itself
competent to produce a like result as respects the whole.
The property which bioxide of hydrogen, and the oxide
of silver, or bioxide of lead, have, of undergoing an ex-
plosive deoxidizemait in consequence of mere superficial con-
tact, is evidentiy another case, since the reaction is reciprocal.
In the solution of the alloy of platina with silver, one body
induces another to undergo the .oxidizement to which it is
itself subjected. In the case of the bioxide of hjrdrogen, and
oxide of silver, two bodies, both pnme to deoxidizement.
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864 THE LIFE OF BCHBERT HARE
reciprocally induce liiat species of change. But in this phe-
nomaion there is no third body to perform a part analogous
to that of the nitric add
In case of f ennents there is not only the power to pro*
duce a diange, but also to produce the particular changes by
which sugar, alcohol, and acetic or lactic add, and mannite,
are respectively generated. Moreover, these bodies are
themselves undergoing an oxidation or decomposition which
is necessary to their power; but this diange is not like that
which they induce. Hence, obviously, they operate differ^
entiy, dther {rom the platina sponge, or platina black, or
from llie silver in the aUoy formed by it with platina. Liebig
conceives, that this increased solubility of platina by union
with'silver, is at war with dectro-diemical prindples, agree*
ably to which, any metal in contact with another metal, rela-
tively electro-positive, becomes less susceptible of attack. But
this is not alleged of two metab in chemical combination,
but of masses in contact, or having a metallic ccmductor ex-
tending from one to the other. I am surprised that Liebig
should find the mystery of catalysis lessened by the solution
of the alloy alluded to, when it must be evid^it that if the
oxidation of one atom were a sufficient reason why another
atcon combined with it should be oxidized, an alloy of geld
with silver ought to be soluble. Whereas, it is known that
the comm(m process of parting is f oimded on the utter in-
solubility of gold when so alloyed.
Liebig alleges that there can be no doubt that the addifi-
cation of alcohol is of the same order as the reaction by
which nitric oxide provokes the formation of sulphuric acid
in the leaden chamber, in which process the oxygen of the air
is transferred to sulphurous add by the intervention of the
bioxide of nitrogen, since, in like manner organic substances
assodated witii spirit of wine absorb oxygen, and bring it
into a particular state which renders it liable to be absorbed.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 SS5
But in the case thus cited, for every equivalent of acid
f <»med, an equivalent of the bioxide combines first with an
equivalent of oxygen, and in the next place with an equiva*
lent of the sulphurous add, forming a compound which is
decomposed by water into sulphuric acid and the regenerated
bioxide. There appears to me to be no analogy between
this process and that of the influence of matter existing in no
equival^it proportion, and which cannot be shown to form
a definite chemical compoimd, either with acetyl or hydrogen.
It is not represented that, in the vinous fermentation, any
union, either transient or permanent, takes place between
the elements of the sugar and those of the ferment; on the
ccmtrary it is alleged, that the oxidation and predpitaticm of
the yeast proceeds pari passu, with the alcoholification.
As to all the processes referred to for illustration, as well
as those of fermentation, which they are alleged to resemble,
it appears to me that Liebig and his disciples have been too
sanguine of their capacity to give adequate elucidation.
Respecting changes of the kind above described as Citta-
lytic ^ Kane uses the following language: — ''The elementi
of a compoimd are retained together in certain molecular
arrangement, because the affinities are there satisfied; but it
is natural to suppose that toJUlst the elements remain the same,
their affinities for each other might be just as completely
satisfied by a different molecular arrangement/' This lan-
guage mi^^t be held more reasonably, were this variation in
arrangement accompanied by no c(»icomitant acquisition of
chemical properties; but is it reasonable to consider the dif-
ference between sugar, and the alcohol and carbonic acid into
wUok it is resolvable, as arising merely from molecular
amnigement? Can the active influence of alcohol upon the
animal nerves be due merely to the situaticms respectively oc-
cupied by its three ultimate ponderable elements, carbcm,
hydrogen, and oxygen, of which it consists? Admitting that
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S66 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
the union of oxygen with the ingredients of gluten could, by
imparting any consequent medianical impulses, cause the
hydrogen and oxygen of an atom of water to unite with the
elements of sugar, and to separate into alcdiol and carbonic
add as above mentioned, how can that movement, or the
consequent rearrangement of the ponderable particles, ex-
plain the acquisition of new properties, of which the com*
bining atoms, or the compoimds previously ccmtaining them,
were destitute? That the presence of yeast induces the fer-
mentation of alcohol, and that diastase determines the gen-
eration of sugar, is admitted; but I am surprised that any
philosopher should conceive, that without first ascertaining
upon what the difference of the properties of alc(Aol and
sugar is dependent, we can understand how that difference
is caused. Liebig infers that a body in tibie act of decomposi-
tion, or combination, may communicate a movement to the
atoms of an adjoining compoimd, so that gluten in the state
of oxidation, in which it is called yeast, induces sugar,
Ci^HiiOii, existing in the same liquid, to unite with the
elements of water, making Ci2Hi20i2» separating into four
equivalents of carbonic acid and two of alcohol.
Adopting the same views as Liebig, Kane alleges, '' that
the slow decomposition of diastase communicates to the mole-
cules of many iliousand times its weight of starch, the degree
of motion necessary for their rearrangem^it, and the appro-
priation of the elements of water requisite for the f ormaticNi
of starch sugar.''
It is perfectly evident, that the particles of the catalyzed
substance are in some way so affected by the catalyzing body
as to be put into a state of reaction, which had not otherwise
ensued; but that this is accomplished merely by imparted
motion appears to me to be a surmise destitute of plausibility.
The fact tiiat the weight of ilie diastase requisite to saccharify
starch is so very small, as is alleged by Kane, evidently renders
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SECOND PERIOD, 181&-1847 S67
it extremely improbable that it acts by creating any mechan*
ical disturbance. Yet this respectable chemist is so completely
carried away by his idea, that he proceeds to make the following
remark:
" This law, of which the simplest ewpressian is that where
two chemical substances are in contact, any motion occurring
amxmg the particles of the one may he communicated to the
other, is of a m^ore purely mechanical nature than any other
principle yet received in chemistry; and when more definitely
established by succeeding researches, may be the basis of a
dynamic theory in chemistry, as the law of equivalents and
multiple combination expresses the statical condition of bodies
which unite by chemical force**
I perfectly agree in opinion with the author of these sug-
gestions, as to the purity of the mechanical attributes of the
principle on which they are founded, but cannot on this very
account deem them competent to explain the phenomena cm
which he conceives them to bear.
As the mechanical influence of the motion of bodies is as
the weight multiplied by the velocity, is it conceivable that
any movement in the particles of one part, by weight, of
diastase, can be productive of analogous movements in two
thousand parts of starch?
The idea that yeast might owe its power to animalcules,
suggested itself to me more than thirty years ago, and seems
to have some support from the fact, that fermentation only
thrives within the range of temperature compatible witii
animal life. Latterly, its activity has been ascribed to the
power of extremely minute vegetables. Kane, while ad-
mitting the existence in yeast of a vast niunber of globular
bodies, possibly animalcules, treats the idea as untenable,
because the weight of the alcohol and carbonic acid is greater
than that of the sugar employed. But if the union of water
with the elements of the sugar, can add to the weight of the
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808 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
products^ without the assistance of animalcules, wherefore
should their agency be inconsistent with an augmaitation
fnxn the same source? But the weight of the alcohol and
carbonic add are just equal to that of the sugar, if this be
assumed to be in the state of sugar of grapes.
Independaitly of any agency of this kind, which seems
even more probable in the case of scxne species of infection,
than in tliat of fermentation, I conceive tliat the present irtate
of our knowledge does not allow of our comprehending the
means by which bodies, whether organic or inorganic, are
endowed with the powers ascribed to catalysis; but that we
have great reason to believe tliat these powers, as wdl as all
the properties which ultimate elements acquire by diversity
of association, as in compound radicals, are due to the same
source as the phenomena of galvanic and statical electricity.
It is well known, that although pure zinc is not susceptible
of oxidation by exposure to dilute sulphuric add, yet tiiat,
when containing minute proportions of other metals, as in the
case of commercial zinc, it becomes liable to rapid oxidation
by the same reagent. This Faraday explained by the electro-
chemical influence of the comparatively electro-negative
metallic particles distributed throughout the mass of the zinc,
which he conceived to be productive of as many local galvanic
circuits with corresponding currents. This explanati<m has,
I believe, be^i universally sanctioned, and was consistent with
the previous discovery of Sturgeon, that when, by amalgamat-
ing the surface with mercury, a metallic comnmnication was
made between the electro-positive and electro-negative metal-
lic partides, so as to prevent the formation of electrolytic cur-
rents tiirough the oxidizing liquid, the zinc became nearly as
insusceptible of union with oxyg^i, as when in a pure state.
Nevertheless, dther when pure, or when amalgamated,
the zinc was found oxidizible by diluted sulphuric add, pro-
vided it were made the element of a galvanic pair.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 S60
The facts above mentioned having been recalled to the
attention of the scientific reader^ I beg leave to inquire
whether the influence thus ascribed by Faraday to the electro-
negative metallic particles has not a greater analogy with
that of a f ermait, than those which have been brought forward
by Liebig, Kane and others^ with a view to explain the in-
fluence of that class of agents upon mechanical and chemical
principles? Wherefore may not the distributicm of nitro-
genated substances throughout a mass of inorganic matter,
operate as do the metallic impurities in commercial zinc?
The existence of a powerful voltaic series in the g3mmotus
and other electrical fishes, shows that the substances which
enter into the ounposition of animal matter are, when duly
associated, as capable as metals of forming the elements not
only of simple, but of complex galvanic circuits/'
And thus the discussions proceed in ways indicating a
master mind, zealous of bringing to his hearers, the truth
relative to the objects of their study.
Indeed, the study of Hare's '' Compendium '' impresses
one throughout with the wonderful originality of the man.
At the time of the appearance of the first edition of this truly
monumental work there were really no satisfactory text-
books in use from the hands of Americans. Those in vogue
were in the main American editions of English works. So
that in Hare's presentation of the science there is displayed
the greatest originality. No other writer indulged so ex-
tensively in the discussion of constitution of bodies as did
Hare. His ideas are strictly his own. The emphasis laid by
him on physical phenomena is noteworthy. In modem times
it would be said that Hare realized fully the importance which
physics bore to chemistry. Were he active to-day he would
undoubtedly be classed in the group of physical diemists.
One also wonders on reading the ** Compendium " how
a student body would view the necessity of becoming familiar
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S70 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
with such a mass of facts; especially would this be true of
students of medicine, who are not prone to give any too much
time to physics or chemistry.
In 1881 Silliman presented to the public his '' Elements
of Chemistry." On turning its pages there is on all sides
evidence of Hare's influence. Indeed, most of the illustra-
tions are from the '' Ccmipendium." The two friends, wfa^i
together, must have talked freely upon their favorite sub-
ject and in the main th^ agreed. Nowhere in the text of
Silliman are there, however, such frequent allusicnis to the
speculative side of the subject as may be found in the " Com-
pendium." Galvanism or electricity is given a great deal
of space, but it seemingly is not so highly regarded as by
Hare. This particular subject oxnprises many pages of the
** Compendium."
A contemporary reviewer wrote:
'' This work was written for the author's pupils, and is
made the companion of his public lectm*es. It contains a
luminous and comprehensive sketch of scientific chanistry,
and one as full as was consistent with the limits whidi the
author had prescribed to himself, after allowing sufficient
room for a detailed account of many varieties of diemical
apparatus and experiments, especially those whidi have been
the result of his own invention and ingenuity."
The " Compendium " was truly a remarkable produc-
tion. Students of the present would derive a wealth of
suggestions from its pages. Was it not Wilhelm Ostwald
who said he often devoted the moments of lunch hour to
leafing the standard journals dealing with chemistry? And
from them he obtained a fund of knowledge and suggestions
for research, truly astonishing. So also may it be said of
the '' Compendium ;" it is highly suggestive along many lines.
In addition to this splendid piece of literary work. Hare
edited as early as 1819, with the assistance of Dr. Franklin
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 371
Bache, the first edition of Ure's Dictionary of ChemMtry,
concerning which the reviewers of the day said:
" It included all the recent discoveries, digested with great
skill, and presented in a neat, concise, and perspicuous style."
And in the same year an American Edition of Henry's
Chemistry, in two octavo volumes, appeared. The work is
sparsely illustrated, so that one wonders whether for this
reason, among others. Hare was not induced to print his
'"Minutes," and later the comprehensive '"Compendium."
There is no evidence whatever in the latter that its author
was at all influenced by his publication of the work of Henry,
which passed through at least two editions in this country.
In 1840, Hare also published ""A Brief Exposition of
the Science of Mechanical Electricity, or Electricity Proper,
with Engravings and Descriptions of the Apparatus Em-
ployed." In this volume his originality, in devising experi-
mental proofs of his statements, is forcefully illustrated.
He also edited a pamphlet on the "" History of Electricity,"
and another on '' The Origin and Progress of Galvanism, or
Voltaic Electricity." He further published an extended essay
" On Electro-Magnetism," called by him " a new science."
The most important portions of these memoirs eventuaUy
found their place in the last edition of the '' Compendium."
In addition to all tiiis he published one hundred and fifty or
more articles in the pages of the American Journal of Science,
to which it is only fair to add his numerous verbal com-
munications made so regularly at stated meetings of the
American Philosophical Society.
On November 7, 1848, Hare delivered a lecture intro-
ductory to a course on chemistry which his students requested
tliat they be permitted to print. The request was granted.
The opening paragraphs dealt chiefly with tiie wonders of
science in general ; indeed, he rambled about in a hig^y specu-
lative region, finally abandoning it to consider to some extent
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S72 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
the science which he was accustomed to teach. It was then
that he took occasion to advert to the wonderful character
of the elements hydrogen^ oxygen, carbon and nitrogen, say-
ing that ** the orgimic branch of chemistry has been so ex-
tended and modified, both as respects facts and hypotheses,
that it now occupies as large a space in d^pientary treatises,
as all the rest of the science, including inorganic chemistry,
together with the auxiliary branches of statical, voltaic and
magnetic electricity/' After this he ventured to comment on
some of ''Liebig's physiological speculations/' Granting
that the latter had advanced '' many ingenious ideas . . •
highly serviceable to physiological chemistry '' he had been
altogether '' bold, hasty, inconsiderate and inaccurate/' He
remarks: '' I would liken him to a military leader, who, after
marching through a country, with drums beating and colors
flying, should have his trumpets loudly sounded, as if a com-
plete conquest had been effected, while leaving behind him
many fortresses, of which the knowledge had prevented more
cautious and considerate leaders from having previously un-
dertaken the same expedition. Nevertheless, by these means
the philosopher of Giessen has excited a degree of attention,
in the great mass of physicians and agriculturists, which had
never been gained, had he neither deluded himself nor the
readers of his essays with the prospect of an elucidation of
the mysteries of animal and vegetable physiology, whidi it is
beyond the present state of chemistry to afford* Moreover,
the popularity which he has thus gained, may lead others to
follow in the same path, who may rectify his errors and
remedy some of his omissions without impairing what is
really true in his doctrines.
There can be no better exemplificaticm of the errors to
which Liebig is addicted, than his adoption of the following
maxim: '' There are many ways to the highest pinnacle of a
mountain, but those only can hope to reach it who keep the
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 878
summit constantly in view/* It must be evident to every per-
son of experience, in ascending mountains, tiiat although it
may be necessary to keep the bearing of the summit in mind,
our eyes must be up<m the path; and that, in most cases, the
safest and easiest mode of access, causes the summit to be
concealed for a time. A person who should implicitly follow
Liebig's advice, would probably fall over some precipice, or
tumble into some fissure which might escape notice while
keeping the summit of the mountain constantly in view. Is
not the fallacious rule of action, above quoted, a good figura-
tive illustration of a theorist, who, keeping his mind too much
upon some hypothetical aone, overlooks insurmountable ob-
jections which a dose attention to facts would make evi-
d^it? Has not Liebig exemplified his own course? • . .
Ordinary fires being supported by the imion of atmos-
pheric oxygen with the charcoal and the hydrogen of fuel,
while the respiration of animals is attended by a union be-
tween atmospheric oxygen and the carbon of the blood, it
has long been apparent that a large consumption of oxygen
must be thus necessarily occurring. On the other hand, tliue ob-
servation that from the leaves of vegetables, exposed in water
to the solar rays, a copious emission of oxygen ensued, and in
fact that carbon was found largely to enter into their com-
position, led very natmtdly to the inference, that animals in-
spire oxygen, and give out carbon dioxide, while vegetables, re-
spiring the gaseous compound formed with carbon by oxygen,
called carbonic acid gas, emit oxygen, retaining the carbon.
But scHne ccmtradictory observations had caused this view
of the subject, to be represented as incorrect; and the ques-
tion has always been undecided. Liebig has with great
ability taken that side of this question,^^ to which I have
always adhered. He considers that the carbon in vegetables
^^ This side of the question has been experimentally supported by
Professor Daubeny, of Oxford, England.
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874 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
is due to the absorption of carbonic add, and infers that it is
thus tiiat liie enormous consumption of oxygen by fires, and
animal respiration is compensated. He shows by calcula-
tion, that agreeably to analysis, there are three thousand
millions of millions of pounds of carbon in the air, in the state
of carbonic add, and infers that the carbon in all the mineral
coal known bears but a small proportion to that thus existing
in the aeriform state.
It is known that inland plants jrield by indneraticm,
potash, the active matter of common soap ley. Plants oa
the borders of the ocean yield soda, an analogous substance.
In various species of grain, certain salts are found to exist
always in a certain ratio. Now, however minute are the
proportions of these substances, Liebig correctly avers, as I
believe, that their absence incapadtates a soil for the success-
ful cultivation of the kind of plant requiring them.
This distinguished chemist concurs with the celebrated
Davy in representing plants as taking up all soluble mat-
ters presented to their roots in a sufficiently diluted state,
but appears to be peculiar in the opinion that it is only that
portion of carbon which is in the state of gaseous carbonic
acid which forms their food.
According to Davy, Berzelius, and others, vegetable mat-
ter, constituting humus or geine, yields certain adds which, be-
ing absorbed, are the means of nutrition. But both Davy and
Liebig, the latter especially, consider that carbcHiic add is im-
bibed by the vegetable foliage, the carbon being assimilated
and the oxygen exhaled. Of course water is all important, and
appears to be received through the leaves, as well as the roots.
Lignin, which constitutes the fibres of wood, hemp, flax
and those of plants in general; also sugars, gum, stardi and
other analogous vegetable products, consist merely of water
and carbon. Nitrogen exists in plants in comparatively
small proportion; yet its presence appears to be of primary
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 875
importance, since it has a sort of ubiquity in the organs and
juices. But although this element forms nearly four-fifths
of the atmosphere, it seems to be generally conceded, and
is by Liebig urged, that it is not directly obtained from that
source by vegetation. According to this philosopher, a
previous conversion into ammonia, by a union with hydrogen,
is requisite; this alkali, and the carbonic acid with which it
unites, when exposed to the atmosphere, being mainly the
food of plants. But though nitrogen pervades vegetable
organization, it abounds in a larger proportion in that of
animals. Hence, it has been a question how animals, feed-
ing on vegetables only, are supplied with a sufficiency of
nitrogen. It naturally occurred, in the case of vegetables,
that they might derive it from liie atmosphere diuing respira-
tion. But experimental investigation has shown that there
is no absorption of nitrogen, during that process, tending
to justify this inference.
Thus, in the supply of nitrogen to the vegetable and
animal creation, nature, from considerations which are in-
scrutable to human reason, prefers an indirect and precarious
source, to one whidi is superabundant and always at hand.
Nor is this the only instance. Fishes, which swim in an
element consisting of eight parts in nine of oxygen, are de-
pendent for this principle on the contact of their gills with
a minute portion of air absorbed from the atmosphere.
But Liebig alleges that, as a large portion of vegetable
diet merely serves to yield the carbon required for respira-
tion, there is, in the residue, a due proportion of nitrogen
to form flesh and blood; since it has been shown by recent
analyses that, in beans, wheat, and other grain, there are
substances capable of isolation, which are identical in com-
position witii the fibrous matter of the blood or fibrin, and
with serum or white of egg, called albumen, also with milk
curd or casein. Thus animals find ready formed in some
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S76 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
parts of vegetables, if not in all, the ingredients of their flesh
and blood. But s<«ne of the most abundant articles of y^ge-
table food, such as sugar, stardi, gum, fat, oil, etc^ being
devoid of nitrogen, cannot alone contribute to the f ormaticm
of flesh. They go, says Liebig, to support the fire in the
lungs where thirteen ounces and a half of carbon are, oa an
average, daily consumed by a man; causing as much heat as
would raise tiiree hundred and seventy pounds of water to
the temperature of the blood.
It is alleged by the same author tliat all the oxygen, thus
combined with carbon, is in the first instance taken up by
the protoxide of iron in the venous blood, which, being con-
sequently changed in colour, causes the reddening of the blood
ere it passes into the arteries. To this it has been objected
tliat the quantity of iron in the blood is inadequate to take
up a suffici^icy of oxygen; and it appears to me that were
the fact to be as suggested, the heat would be evolved in the
lungs where the absorption of oxygen takes place, not in the
capillaries where it is transferred to carbon.
Moreover, I am of opinion that, as protoxide of iron is of
a more dingy red than arterial blood, it would be incom-
petent to colour this liquid, as alleged, unless assisted by
some otlier agent, such, for instance, as sulpho-cyanhydric
acid, which has been heretofore represented as participating
in the result.
It would seem, on the whole, that Liebig has, in this
respect, ccmtributed more to enforce than to alter the opinions
offered by me cm this subject in the former editions of my
text book. Yet I have always thought tiiat a machinery so
complicated as that employed in liie process of respiration,
could not have been devised merely for the generation of
animal heat or the oxidizement of carlxHi in the tissues, as
Liebig seems to believe. It has struck me that the necessity
of atmospheric oxygen to fishes would hardly be ascribed
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SECOND PERIOD, 181&-1847 377
satisfactorily to the ponderable matter thus received through
their gills, or on any heat which it may produce. I have
suspected that there was some imponderable fluid, supplied
to the nervous system by the process in question, to which the
classes of animals, enjoying the benefits of it extensively, are
indebted for the superiority which they obviously possess over
animals which do not enjoy that advantage to a similar extent.
One of the greatest services rendered by tbe author, whose
opinions are under consideration is, as I think, in directing
attention to the different offices performed by two classes of
vegetable products which may be distinguished as nitrogen-
ized and as devoid of nitrogen. All the various species of
sugar, starch, gum or mucilage, oil, fat, and gelatine, are
represented as having a tendency rather to go to the support
of the respiratory process, or to produce obesity; while Hie
fibrin and albumen of flesh and blood are sustained by those
portions of animal and vegetable food which contain nitro-
gen in nearly the same proportion as it exists in them. The
greater vigour of a horse when fed on oats or maize, is in
this way explained, by the greater proportion of matter con-
tained in such grain, which is of a nature to compensate the
wear of the muscles.
Hij^y worthy of consideration, also, are Liebig's sug-
gestions respecting the services rendered by theine, a pecu-
liarly highly nitrogenized principle, ccmunon both to tea and
coffee. Liebig ingeniously shows that this principle requires
only an additicm of water and oxygen in order to convert
it into taurine, an active principle of the bile. The extensive
use of tea and coffee by civilized nations thus appears to
have been the result of a sort of instinctive empyrical reseiu*ch,
leading to beneficial results, which physicians were heretofore
unable to appreciate or explain. In fact, as food, coffee, and
tea were heretofore considered as almost valueless; but now it
appears that they serve to furnish nitrogen in a more concen-
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378 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
trated f onn to those whose indolent habits might be incompat-
ible with the consumption of sufficient quantity of ordinary
nutriment to obtain a requisite quantity of that element.
There is nothing which seems more completely imp^ie-
trable to the human mind than the power of vitality. Prob-
ably in no instance is tiiis power better exemplified than in
the changes which, by means of the vital spark, take place
in seeds and eggs. In tiie latter, especially, the principle of
life seems to hold in check those chemical i^flSnities which, so
soon as it is extinct, convert into a putrid mass that whidi,
life enduring, would be transformed into a young bird. The
vital power of animal and vegetable organizaticm, not only
counteracts the conflicting i^flSnities of inorganic atoms; it
also endows groups, constituted of little else thui three or
four of those atoms, with powers analogous to tliose inherent
in simple elementary atoms, and thus extends inuneasurably
the bounds of useful chemical reaction.
I infer that the organs of animals and vegetables have
two modes of effecting tiie object for which they were created.
In one mode, in which chemical reaction would fail to acccxn-
plish the requisite transformations, being such as affect masses
rather than their component atoms, the organs react directly,
in a mode entirely hidden from our view. There is, as Liebig
justly alleges of such i^^iomena, an invisible cause. In the
other mode, creating such chemical compounds as are suit-
able for their purposes, it may more or less leave to these the
issue.
Liebig asserts that '' we shall obtain that which is obtain-
able in a rational enquiry into nature, if we separate the
actions belonging to chemical powers, f nun those which are
subordinate to other influences ; *' but the learned author does
not show us how we may accomplish this separation; and
probably for the best possible reason that, great as are un-
doubtedly his skiU and his genius, he is incompet^at to effect
any such separation. He seems to forget that he elsewhere
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 879
admits '' chemical powers to be subordinate to other influ-
ences, whether of life, of heat, or electricity/' To me it seems,
that to separate the action of these powers from such as are
subordinate to other influences, would involve their separa-
tion from themselves; and that it were inconsistent to sup-
pose that chemical agents, which are created by the vital
power, cannot be also modified by it so long as it prevails.
But, says this distinguished author: '* the expression vital
principle, must, meanwhile, be considered as equivalent to
the terms ' specific ' and * dynamic ' in medicine. Every-
thing is specific which we cannot ewplain, while, by the epithet
dynamic, everything is explained which we do not under-
stand/'
This disparaging language, as respects the power of life,
seems to me not quite consistent with the following opinions
elsewhere stated by the celebrated author.
Thus the author, notwithstanding his contemptuous allu-
sion to the vital principle, and his confounding it in value
with words alleged by him to be insignificant, in the passage
last quoted, justly ascribed to the principle in question a
prodigious efficacy.
In liie following passage Liebig's mode of reasoning is
exemplified: '' Is it truly vitality which generates sugar in
tiie germ for the nutrition of young plants, or which gives
to the stomach the power to dissolve and prepare for assimila-
tion all the matter introduced into it? A decoction of malt
possesses as little power to reproduce itself, as the stomach
of a dead calf; both are unquestionably destitute of life, but
when amylin or starch is introduced into a decoction of malt,
it changes first into a gununy like matter, and lastly into
sugar. Hard boiled albumen and muscular fibre can be
dissolved in a decoction of a calf's stomach, to which a few
drops of muriatic acid have been added precisely as in the
stomach itself. The power, therefore, to effect transforma-
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380 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
tions does not belong to the vital principle. Each trans-
formation is owing to a diiturbance in the attraction of the
elements of a compound^ and is consequently a purely chem-
ical process/^
But is there any truth in the all^ation that in no other
than a chemical process, can there be any disturbance in the
attraction of the elements of a compound? Is it by a chem-
ical action that an electrical current subverts diemical affin-
ities? Is it by a chemical action that vitality endows diem-
ical compounds with peculiar attractive powers? Has not
Liebig sanctiimed the opposite idea in the passages which I
have dted?
I conceive that plants and animals consist, in the first
place, of organs and ^^idiatever may be necessary to the pre-
servaticm or efficacy of their organs; secondly, of substances
secreted or excreted by those organs; and, thirdly, of the
compoimds arising from the reaction of such substances with
each other, or with extraneous chemical agents with or with-
out an elevation of temperature. In an egg we have an
organic mass possessing on the one hand the wonderful vital
power to which allusion has been made, on the other contain-
ing albumen, a substance endowed with chemical affinities
for certain oxides and chlorides. But the power which idbu-
men has of contributing to the birth of the chicken, is quite
distinct from that, which, after the vitality of the egg is
destroyed, renders it an antidote for corrosive sublimate.
Still more is the power of the yolk to constitute a living being,
distinct from that by which, when ignited with potash and
iron, it may give rise to two cyanides as in the well-known
cyano-ferrite of potassium or ferro-prussiate of potash.
The germination of barley, by means of which it is malted,
is so dependent upon the vital principle, that, when spon-
taneously heated by lying in large masses on shipboard or
otherwise, it becomes incapable of the process above men-
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SECOND PERIOD, 181&-1847 381
tioned. Yet» by this vital process, a chemical change is in-
duced in the organic mass, by which it is more or less trans-
formed into a sweet soluble matter, called, ^en in solution,
wort. This diange is effected by the intermediate agency
of diastase, a substance elaborated frcxn malt. Thus, be-
sides the greater mystery of life, we have the lesser mystery
of the changes effected by the '' action or presence of cataly*
sis," as the process is designated by winch diastase, or sul-
phuric acid, causes starch to be converted into grape sugar,
and yeast converts sugar into idcohol and carbonic acid.
The saccharine matter produced by diastase, or other-
wise, may, by nitric acid, be converted into oxalic add. Thus
we have four states in which new orgimic substances are
produced. First, the vital organ, endowed with the germ
of a living plant; secondly, an instrument produced by that
organ, and possessing a sort of magic power of inducing
chemical dianges in substances with which it does not com-
bine; thirdly, a chemical compound, elaborated by this chrai-
ical magic, and lastly, a product resulting from the reaction
of the chemical compound with an inorgimic reagent.
Among the greatest wonders of organic chemistry, is tlie
acquisition of power, by elements otherwise inert, from mere
grouping. The hempen cable, of which a given section has
more strength than an equal weight of iron forming a chain,
consists of nothing but water and carbon, into which it is
easily resolved by the application of heat. By fire we may
fuse or oxidise the irrni, and thus equally deprive its par-
ticles of strength; but, on collecting the resulting fragments,
metallurgic skiU can elaborate another diain, the cohesive
power of the metallic particles having been subdued, not de-
stroyed; but no human skiU, unaided by the powers of vege-
table life, can regenerate another cable fromwater and carbon.
Subjected to ultimate analysis, prussic add, which is so
fatal to animals, consists only of three of the ingredients of
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882 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
their flesh or blood. It is constituted of nitrogen, one of
the elements of the air which animals breathe, of hydrogen,
one of the elements of the water which they drink, and of
charcoal which, per se, is inert.
By a proximate analysis, this deleterious add is found
to consist of hydrogen and cyanogen, a gaseous body, formed
of one atcnn of nitrogen and two of carixm, being, therefore,
a bicarburet of nitrogen.
Cyanogen is the first discovered of an important dass of
bodies now called compound radicals by the sdiool of Liebig.
These I would prefer to designate as compound elements,
inasmuch as tbey are endowed with all the attributes of simple
elements. Upon the idea thus ex^nplified, the existence in
organic substances of various other compound radicals, has
been inferred; not only when capable of isolation, like cyano-
gen, but also where they are known only in a state of com*
bination. The discovery of the existence of these bodies
forms a new era in our science.
Liebig designates organic chemistry as '^ the chemistry of
compound radicals/' Nearly twenty primary, or derivative
compound organic radicals, have been inferred to exist, of
which nearly an equal number are severally generators of.
acids and bases.
By Liebig the diversity of these radicals, as respects prop-
erties, is to be ascribed either to the proportions by weight,
in which the ultimate elements are present, or, when the pro-
portions of these are equal, to the mode in which they are
grouped. But I conceive that without resorting to the assist-
ance of causes on which heat, light, dectrical reaction, and
nervous influence are dependent, the proportions or the group-
ings of their ponderable elements furnishes no adequate
cause of the wonderful diversity, and astonishing activity of
certain organic products.
Agreeably to Faraday's inferences, a grain of water or a
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 888
grain of zinc contains as much electricity as eight hundred
thousand square feet of well charged coated glass surface.
Admitting that these inferences are greatly beyond a true
estimate, with such experimental evidence before us, is it
reasonable to overlook the quality of matter on whidi its
electrical efficacy is founded? Qf the existence of some
potent cause of electrical phenomena there can be no doubt;
and whether it be of one nature or another, certainly it plays
a part of infinite importance throughout the creation.
We may have under our eyes two little heaps of powder,
convejring to the senses no proof that there is any difference
in their composition, or any potency peculiar to either. One
of these, subjected to the blow of a hammer, will explode
with a startling report, and with violence sufficient to indent
the steel; the other will cause, under like circumstances, no
similar result; but if swallowed by an animal will be pro-
ductive of death. A drop of prussic acid may produce an
effect no less fatal by falling on the tongue of a dog, con-
stituted of the same simple ponderable elements as the acid.
The consequences are more like those of lightning, than such
as would result from the impressicm made by a poison, agree-
ably to the idea of poiscxis generally entertained.
We have innumerable essential oils, spices, and other
pungent vegetable productions, such as cinnamon, pepper,
mustard, and horse-radish, which have upon the organ of
taste, smell, or feeling, an endless variety of effects. Of the
substances thus alluded to, many consist of nearly an equal
number of atoms of carbon and hydrogen, while the rest vary
only in having, in addition to these ingredients, a small pro-
portion of oxygen. It is quite a mystery how, by the powers
of vegetable life, these ponderable atoms are made to acquire
such various qualities; but, as in the case of the fulminating
powder, I have ascribed the result to the agency of impon-
derable matter, so in the case of the active substances engen-
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884 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
dered by vitality, I should maJke a similar suggestion; their
adventitious chemical, medicinal, or poisonous energy bdng
due to the association of imponderable matter with groups
of ponderable atoms.
It seems to me rather unreascmable in Liebig to speak
so boldly, as he is wcmt, respecting physliological phenomena,
while making no effort to explain the part performed by
electricity in regard to them. Is there not reason to suppose
that he has been so much occupied by the analytical depart-
ment, that he is not sufficiently aware of the difficulty of doing
justice to the electro-chemical department of physiology?
The power of producing all the phenomena of voltaic
electricity, which the gymnotus electricus has been fully
shown to possess, can leave no doubt respecting the capacity
of the animal organizaticm to generate electricity. It will
be admitted that the animal nerves have functions to per-
form of the highest importance to animals ; and of all known
agents is there any whidi can be conceived to be the medium
of their efficacy, excepting the electric fluid, or that cause of
electrical phenomena which is usually thus designated.
So long as there is so much evidence of the potentiality
of electro-chemical reactions, whatever may be their cause,
and so long as we remain ignorant of the manner in which
vital, electrical, and chemical forces are associated, is it not
premature to expect any satisfactory explanation of tiie proc-
esses of life? '*
Hare's intense love for everytiiing in which his favorite
subject — electricity — entered, prompted him, after reading
Faraday's immortal Researches, to address (1840) this stu-
dent of nature.
" Dear Sir,—
I have been indebted to your kindness for several pampht-
lets comprising your researches in electricity, which I have
perused with the greatest degree of interest.
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SECOND PEMOD, 1818-1847 885
You must be too well aware of the height at which you
stand, in the estimation of men of science, to doubt that I
entertain with diffidence, any opinion in opposition to yours.
I may say of you as in former instances of Berzelius, that
you occupy an elevation inaccessible to unjustifiable criti-
cism. Under these circumstances, I hope that I may, frcmi
you, experience the candor and kindness which were dis-
played by the great Swedish chemist in his reply to my
strictures on his nomenclature.
I am unable to reconcile the language which you hold in
paragraph 1615, with the fundamental position taken in 1155.
Agreeably to the latter, you believe ordinary induction to be
the action of contiguous particles, consisting of a species of
polarity, instead of being an action of either particles or
masses at '' sensible distances." Agreeably to the former,
you conceive that '' assuming that a perfect vacuum was to
intervene in the course of the line of inductive action, it does
not follow from this theory that the line of particles on op-
posite sides of such a vacuum would not act upon each other."
Again, supposing " it possible for a positively electrified par-
ticle to be in the centre of a vacuum an inch in diameter,
nothing in my present view forbids that the particle should
act at a distance of half an inch on all the particles forming
the disk of the inner superficies of the bounding sphere."
Laying these quotations before you for reconsideration,
I beg leave to inquire 1k>w a positively excited particle, situ-
ated as above described, can react '' inductrically " with any
particles in the superficies of the surrounding sphere, if this
species of reaction require that the particles between which
it takes place be contiguous. Moreover if induction be not
" an action either of particles of masses at sermble distances,"
how can a particle situated as above described, ^^ act at the
distance of half an inch on all the particles forming the disk
of the inner superficies of the bounding sphere? ^' What is
a sensible distance, if half an inch is not?
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386 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
How can the force thus exercised obey the " well known
law of the squares of the distances/' if as you state ( 1875 ) the
rarefaction of the air does not alter the intensity of the in-
ductive action? In proportion as the air is rarefied, do not
its particles become more remote?
Can the ponderable particles of a gas be deemed con-
tiguous in the true sense of this word, under any circum-
stances? And it may be well here to observe, that admitting
induction to arise from an affection of intervening ponder-
able atoms, it is difficult to conceive that the intensity of this
affection will be inversely as their number as alleged by you.
No sudi law holds good in the communication of heat. The
air in contact with a surface at a constant elevation of tem-
perature, such for instance as might be supported by boiling
water, would not become hotter by being rarefied, and con-
sequently could not become more efficacious in the conduction
of heat from the heated surface to a colder one in its vicinity.
As soon as I conunenced tibe perusal of your researches
on this subject, it occurred to me that the passage of elec-
tricity tiu*ough a vacuum, or a highly rarefied medium, as
demonstrated by various experiments, and especially those of
Davy, was inconsistent with the idea that ponderable matter
could be a necessary agent in the process of electrical induc-
tion. I therefore inferred that your efforts would be pri-
marily directed to a re-examinati(m of that question.
If induction, in action throu^ a vacuum, be propagated
in ri^t lines, may not the curvilinear direction whidi it pur-
sues, when passing through '' dielectrics," be ascribed to the
modifying influence which they exert?
If, as you concede, electrified particles on opposite sides
of a vacuum can act upon each other, wherefore is the re-
ceived theory of the mode in which the excited surface of a
L«eyden jar induces in the opposite siu*face, a contrary state,
objectionable?
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SECOND PEMOD, 1818-1847 887
As the theory which you have proposed, gives great im-
portance to the idea of polarity, I regret that you have not
defined the meaning which you attach to this word. As you
designate that to which you refer, as a " species of Polarity,"
it is presumable that you have conceived of several kinds with
which ponderable atoms may be endowed. I find it diffi-
cult to conceive of any kind which may be capable of as many
degrees of intensity as the known phenomena of electricity
require; especially according to your opinion that the only
difference between the fluid evolved by galvanic apparatus
and that evolved by friction, is due to opposite extremes in
quantity and intensity; the intensity of electrical excitement
producible by the one, being almost infinitely greater than that
which can be produced by the other. What state of the
poles can constitute quantity — ^what other state intensity, the
same matter being capable of either electricity, as is well
known to be the fact? Would it not be well to consider how,
consistently with any conceivable polarization, and without
the assistance of some imponderable matter, any great differ-
ence of intensity in inductive power, can be created?
When by friction the surface is polarized so that particles
are brought into a state of constraint from which they en-
deavour to return to their natural state, if nothing be super-
added to them, it must be supposed that they have poles
capable of existing in two different positions. In one of
these positions, dissimilar poles coinciding, are neutralized;
while in the other position, they are more remote, and con-
sequently capable of acting upon other matter.
But I am unable to imagine any diange which can admit
of gradations of intaisity, increasing with remoteness. I
cannot figure to myself any reaction which increase of dis-
tance would not lessen. Much less can I conceive that such
extremes of intensity can be thus created, as those of which
you consider the existence as demonstrated. It may be sug-
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388 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
gested tiiat tibe change of polarity produced in particles by
electrical inductions, may arise from the forced approxima-
tion of reciprocally repellent poles, so tiutt the intensity of
the inductive force, and of their eflFort to return to iheir
previous situation, may be susceptible of the gradation which
your electrical doctrines require. But could the existence of
such a repellent force be consistent with the mutual cohesion
which appears almost universally to be a property of ponder-
able particles? I am aware that, agreeably to the ingenious
hypothesis of Mossotti, repulsion is an inherent property of
the particles which we call ponderable; but then he assumes
the existence of an imponderable fluid to account for co-
hesion; and for the necessity of such a fluid to account for
induction it is my ultimate object to contend. I would sug-
gest that it can hardly be expedient to ascribe the phenom-
ena of electricity to the polarization of ponderable particles,
unless it can be shown that if admitted, it would be com-
petent to produce all the known varieties of electric excite-
ment, whetiier as to its nature or energy.
If I comprehend your theory, the opposite electrical state
induced on one side of a coated pane, when the other is directly
electrified, arises from an affection of tiie intervening vitreous
particles, by which a certain polar state caused on one side
of the pane, induces an opposite state on the other side. Eadi
vitreous particle having its poles severally in opposite states,
they are arranged as magnetized iron filings in lines ; so that
alternately opposite poles are presented in such a manner that
all of one kind are exposed at one surface, and all of the
other kind at the other surface. Agreeably to this or any
other imaginable view of the subject, I cannot avoid ccmsid-
ering it inevitable that each particle must have at least two
poles. It seems to me that the idea of polarity requires
that there shall be in any body possessing it, two opposite
poles. Hence you correctly allege that agreeably to your
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 889
views it is impossible to charge a portion of matter with one
electric force without the other (see par. 1177). But if all
this be true, how can there be a " positively excited particle? "
(See par. 1616.) Must not every particle be excited nega-
tively, if it be excited positively? Must it not have a nega-
tive, as well as a positive pole?
I cannot agree with you in the idea that consistently with
the theory which ascribes the phenomena of electricity to one
fluid, there can ever be an isolated existence either of \he posi-
tive or negative state. Agreeably to this theory, any excited
space, whether minus or plus, must have an adjoining space
relatively in a different state. Between the phenomena of
positive and negative excitement there will be no other dis-
tincticm than that arising from the directicm in which the
fluid will endeavor to move. If the excited space be positive,
it must strive to flow outward; if negative, it will strive to
flow inward. When sufficiently intense, Uie direction will
be shown by the greater length of the spark, when passing
from a small ball to a large one. It is always longer when
the small ball is positive, and the large one negative, than
when their positions are reversed.
But for any current it is no less necessary that the pressure
should be on one side comparatively minus, than that on the
otiier side, it should be comparatively plus; and this state of
the forces must exist whether the current originates from a hia-
tus before, or from pressure behind. Oie current cannot differ
essentially from another, however they may be produced.
In paragraph 1880, I have been struck with the follow-
ing query, " What then is to separate the principle of these
extremes, perfect conduction and perfect insulation, from
each other; since the moment we leave the smallest degree
of perfection at either extremity, we involve the element of
perfection at tibe opposite ends? " Might not this query be
made with as much reascm in the case of motion and rest.
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890 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
between the extremes of which there is an infinity of grada-
tions? If we are not to confound motion with rest, because
in proportion as the former is retarded, it differs less from
the latter; wherefore should we confound insulation witii con-
duction, because in proportion as the one is less effici^it, it
becomes less remote from the otiier?
In any case of the intermixture of opposite qualities, may
it not be said in the language whidi you employ '' the moment
we leave the element of perfection at one extremity, we in-
volve the element of perfection at the opposite." Might it
not be said of light and darkness, or of opaqueness and trans-
lucency; in which case to resort to your language again, it
might be added '' especially as we have not in nature, a case
of perfection at one extremity or the other." But if there be
not in nature, any two bodies of which one possesses the
property of perfectly resisting the passage of electricity,
while the other is endowed with the faculty of permitting its
passage witiiout any resistance; does this affect tibe propriety
of considering the qualities of instdation and conduction in
the abstract, as perfectly distinct, and inferring that so far
as matter may be endowed with the one property, it must be
wanting in the other?
Have you ever known electricity to pass through a pane
of sound glass? My knowledge and experience create an
impression that a coated pane is never discharged through the
glass unless it be cracked or perforated. That the property
by which glass resists tibe passage of electricity, can be con-
founded with that which enables a metallic wire to permit of
its transfer, agreeably to Wheatstone's experiments, with a
velocity greater than that of the solar rays, is to my mind
inconceivable.
You infer that the residual charge of a battery arises
from the partial penetration of the glass by the opposite
excitements. But if glass be penetrable by electricity, why
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 891
does it not pass through it without a fracture or perforation?
According to your doctrine, induction consists ''in a
forced state of polarization in contiguous rows of the par-
ticles of the glass *' (1800) ; and since this is propagated
from one side to the other, it must of course exist equally at
all depths. Yet the partial penetration suggested by you,
supposes a collateral affection of the same kind, extending
only to a limited depth. Is this consistent? Is it not more
reasonable to suppose that the air in the vicinity of the coat-
ing gradually relinquishes to it a portion of free electricity,
conveyed into it by what you call " convection." The coating
being equally in ccmtact with the air and glass, it appears
to me more easy to conceive that the air might be penetrated
by the excitement, than the glass.
In paragraph 1800, I observe the following statement:
" When a Leyden jar is charged the particles of the glass
are forced into this polarized and constrained condition by
the electricity of the charging apparatus. Discharge is the
return of the particles to their natural state, from their state
of tension, whenever the two electric forces are allowed to be
disposed of in some other direction." As you have not previ-
ously mentioned any particular direction in which the forces
are exercised during the prevalence of this constrained con-
dition, I am at a loss as to what meaning I am to attach to
the words "some other direction." The word some, would lead
to the idea that there was an uncertainty respecting the direc-
tion in which the forces might be disposed of; whereas it ap-
pears to me that the only direction in which they can operate,
must be the opposite of that by which they have been induced.
The electrified particles can only " return to their natural
state " by retracing the path by which they departed from it.
I would suggest that for the words '^ to be disposed of in some
other direction/' it would be better to substitute the follow-
ing, '' to compensate each other by an adequate communi-
cation."
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892 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
Agreeably to the explanation of the phenomenon of
coated electrics afforded in the paragraph above quoted
( 1800) , by what process can it be ccmceived that the opposite
polarization of tiie surfaces can be neutralized by conduction
through a metallic wire? If I understand your hypothesis
correctly, the process by which the polarization of one of the
vitreous surfaces in a pane produces an opposite polariza-
tion in the other, is precisely the same as that by which, the
electricity applied to one end of the wire extends itself to the
other end.
I cannot conceive how two processes severally producing
results so diametrically opposite as insulation and conduetic»,
can be the same. By the former, a derangement of the elec^
trie equilibrium may be permanently sustained, while by the
other, all derangement is counteracted with a rapidity almost
infinite. But if the opposite charges are depend^it upon a
polarity induced in contiguous atoms of the glass, which
endures so long as no communication ensues between the
surfaces ; by what conceivable process can a perfect conductor
cause a discharge to take place, with a velocity at least as
great as that of the solar light? Is it conceivable that all the
lines of '' contra-induction " or depolarization can concentrate
themselves upon the wire from each surface so as to produce
therein an intensity of polarization proportioned to the am-
centration; and that the opposite forces resulting from the
polarization are thus reciprocally compensated ? I must con-
fess, such a concentration of such forces or states, is to me
difScult to reconcile with \he conception that it is at all to
be ascribed to the action of rows of contiguous ponderable
particles.
Does not your hyx>othesis require that the metallic par-
ticles, at opposite ends of the wire, shall in the first instance
be subjected to the same polarization as the excited particles
of the glass; and that the opposite polarizations, transmitted
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SECOND PEBIOD, 1818-1847 398
to some intervening point, should thus be mutually destroyed,
the one by the other? But if discharge involves a return
to the same state in vitreous particles, the same must be true
in those of the metallic wire. Wherefore then are these dis-
sipated, when the discharge is sufficiently powerful? Their
dissipation must take place either while tiiey are in the state
of being polarized, or in that of returning to their natural
state. But if it happen when in the first mentioned state,
the conductor must be destroyed before the opposite polariza-
tion upon the surfaces can be neutralized by its intervention.
But if not dissipated in the act of being polarized, is it reason-
able to suppose that the metallic particles can be sundered
by returning to their natural state of depolarization?
Supposing that ordinary electrical induction could be
satisfactorily ascribed to the reaction of ponderable particles,
it cannot, it seems to me, be pretended that magnetic and elec-
tro-magnetic induction is referable to this species of reaction.
It will be admitted that the Faradian currents do not for
their production require intervening ponderable atoms.
From a note subjoined to page 87 of your pamphlet, it
appears that '' on the question of the existence of one or more
impcmderable fluids as the cause of electrical phenomena, it
has not been your intention to decide." I should be much
gratified if any of the strictures in whidi I have been so bold
as to indulge, should contribute to influence your ultimate
decision.
It appears to me that there has been an undue disposition
to burden the matter, usually regarded as such, with more
duties than it can perform. Although it is only with the
properties of matter that we have a direct acquaintance, and
the existence of matter rests upon a theoretic inference that
since we perceive properties, there must be material particles
to which those properties belong; yet there is no conviction
which the mass of mankind entertain with more firmness tiian
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3d4 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
tiiat of tile existence of matter in that ponderable form, in
which it is instinctively recognized by people of common sense.
Not perceiving that this conviction can only be supported as a
theoretic deduction from our perception of the properties;
there is a reluctance to admit the existence of other matter,
which has not in its favor the same instinctive concepticHi,
altiiough theoretically similar reasoning would apply. But
if one kind of matter be admitted to exist because we per-
ceive properties, the existence of which cannot be otherwise
explained, are we not warranted, if we notice more proper-
ties than can reasonably be assigned to one kind of matter, to
assume tiie existence of another kind of matter?
Independentiy of the considerations which have hereto-
fore led some philosophers to suppose that we are surrounded
by an ocean of electric matter, which by its redundancy or
deficiency is capable of producing the phenomena of n^dian-
ical electricity, it has appeared to me inconceivable that the
phenomena of galvanism and electro-magnetism, latterly
brought into view, can be satisfactorily explained without
supposing the agency of an intervening imponderable medium
by whose subserviency the inductive influence of currents or
magnets is propagated. If in that wonderful reciprocal re-
action between masses and particles, to which I have alluded,
the polarization of condensed or accumulated portions of in-
tervening imponderable matter, can be brought in as a link
to connect the otherwise imperfect chain of causes; it would
appear to me a most important instrument in lifting the
curtain which at present hides from our intellectual vision,
this highly important mechanism of nature.
Having devised so many ingenious experiments tending
to show that the received ideas of electrical inductions are
inadequate to explain the phenomena witiiout supposing a
modifying influence in intervening ponderable matter, should
there prove to be cases in which the results cannot be satis-
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SECOND PEMOD, 1818-1847 395
factorily explained by ascribing them to ponderable particles,
I hope that you may be induced to review the whole ground, in
order to determine whether the part to be assigned to contigu-
ous ponderable particles, be not secondary to that performed
by the imponderable principles by which they are surrounded.
But if galvanic phenomena be due to ponderable mat-
ter, evidently that matter must be in a state of combination.
To what other cause than an intense affinity between it and
the metallic particles with which it is associated, can its con-
finement be ascribed consistently with your estimate of tibe
enormous quantity which exists in metals? If " a grain of
water, or a grain of zinc, contain as much of the electric fluid
as would supply eight hundred tiiousand charges of a battery
containing a coated surface of fifteen hundred square indies,"
how intense must be the attraction by which this matter is
confined? In such cases may not the material cause of elec-
tricity be OHisidered as latent agreeably to the suggestion of
Oersted, the founder of electro-magnetism. It is in com-
bination with matter, and only capable of producing the ap-
propriate effects of voltaic currents when in act of transfer
from combination with one atom to another; this transfer
being at cmce an effect and a cause of chemical decomposition,
as you have demonstrated.
If polarization in any form, can be conceived to admit
of the requisite gradations of intensity, which the phenomena
seem to demand; would it not be more reascmable to suppose
that it operates by means of an imponderable fluid existing
throughout all space, however devoid of other matter? May
not an electric current, so called, be a progressive polariza-
tion of rows of the electric particles, the polarity being pro-
duced at one end and destroyed at the other incessantly, as I
understood you to suggest in the case of contiguous ponder-
able atcHns.
When the electric particles within different wires are
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396 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
polarized in the same tang^itial direction, the oppodte pedes
being in proximity, there will be attraction. When the cur-
rents of polarization move oppositely, similar poles coin-
ciding, there will be repulsion. The phenomena require that
the magnetized or polarized particles should be arranged as
tangents to the circumference, not as radii to the axis. More-
over, the progressive movement must be propagated in spiral
lines in order to account for rotary influence.
Between a wire which is the mean of a galvanic discharge
and another not making a part of a circuit, the electric mat-
ter which intervenes, may, by undergoing a polarization, be-
come the medium of producing a progressive polarization in
the second wire moving in a direction opposite to that in the
inducing wire; or in otiier words an electrical current of the
species called Faradian may be generated.
By progressive polarization in a wire, may not stationary
polarization, or magnetism be created; and reciprocally by
magnetic polarity may not progressive polarization be
excited?
Might not the difficulty, above suggested, of the incom-
petency of any imaginable polarization to produce all the
varieties of electrical excitement which facts require for ex-
planation, be surmounted by supposing intensity to result
from an accumulation of free electric polarized particles, and
quantity from a still greater accumulation of such particles,
polarized in a latent state or in chemical combination?
There are, it would seem, many indications in favor of
the idea that electric excitement may be due to a forced polar-
ity, but in endeavoring to define the state thus designated,
or to explain by means of it the diversities of electrical charges,
currents and effects, I have always felt the incompetency
of any hypothesis which I could imagine. How are we to
explain the insensibility of a gold leaf electroscope, to a gal-
vanized wire, or the indifference of a magnetic needle to the
most intensely electrified surfaces?
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 897
Possibly the Franklinian hypothesis may be combined
with that above suggested, so that an electrical current may
be constituted of an impcmderable fluid in a state of polariza-
tion, the two electricities being the consequence of the posi-
tion of the poles, or their presentation. Positive electricity
may be the result of an accumulation of electric particles,
presenting poles of one kind ; negative, from a like accumula-
ticm of the same matter with a presentation of the opposite
poles, inducing of course an opposite polarity. The am-
densation of the electric matter, within ponderable matter,
may vary in obedience to a property analogous to tiiat which
determines the capacity for heat, and the di£Ferent influence
of dielectrics upon the process of electrical induction may
arise from this source of variaticHi.
With the hi^est esteem, I am yours truly,
Robert Habe."
Faraday's reply is so delightfully human and evidences
the nobility of his great soul, that it is given here in part:
" My dear sir: '* London, England.
i. Your kind remarks have caused me very carefully to
revise the general principles of the view of Hatic induction,
which I have ventured to put forth, with the very natural
fear that as it did not obtain your acceptance it mi^t be
found in error; for it is not a mere complimentary expression,
when I say, I have very great respect for your judgment.
As tile reconsideration of them has not made me aware that
they differ amongst themselves or with facts, the resulting
impression on my mind is that I must have expressed my
meaning imperfectly; and I have a hope, that when more
clearly stated, my views may gain your approbation. I feel
that many of the words in the language of electrical science
possess nmch meaning, and yet tiieir interpretation by differ-
ent philosophers often varies more or less, so that they do
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im THE LIFE OF BOBERT HAKE
not convey exactly the same idea to tiie minds of different
men; this often renders it difficult when such words force
themselves into use, to express with brevity as much as, and
no more than, one really wishes to say.
ii. My theory of induction • . . makes no assertion
as to the nature of electricity, ... It does not even in-
clude the origination of the developed or excited state of Ih^e
power or powers; but taking that as it is given by experi-
ment and observation, it concerns itself only with the arrange^
ment of the force in its communication to a distance in that
particular yet very g^ieraL phenomenon called static in-
duction. • . •
iii. Bodies, whether conductors or non-conductors, can
be charged. The word charge is equivocal; sometimes it
means that state whidi a glass tube acquires when rubbed
by silk, or which the prime conductor of a machine acquires
when the latter is in action; at other times it means the state
of a Leyden jar or similar inductive arrangement when it is
said to be charged. . . .
vii. Simple charge therefore does not imply polarity in
the body diarged. Inductive charge . . . does ( 1672) .
The word charge, as applied to a Licyden jar or to the whole
of any inductive arrangement, by including all the effects,
comprehends of course both these states. . . .
xvi. In my papers I speak of all induction as being de-
pendent on the action of contiguous particles; i.e. I assume
that insulating bodies consist of particles whidi axe conductcMrs
individually, but do not conduct to each other provided the
intensity of action to which they are subject is beneath a given
amount; and, that when the inductric body acts upon con-
ductors at a distance, it does so by polarizing all those par-
ticles which occur in the portion of dielectric between it and
tliem. I have used the term contiguous, but have, I hope,
sufficiently expressed the meaning I attach to it: first by say-
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 399
ing " the next existing particle being considered as tiie con-
tiguous one; '' then in a note '' I mean by contiguous par-
ticles those which are next to each other, not that there is no
space between them/' and, further, by the note to par. 1164
in the 8 vo. edition of my researches which is as follows : " The
word contiguous is perhaps not the best that mi^t have been
used here and elsewhere, for as particles do not touch each
other it is not strictly correct; I was induced to employ it
because in its common acceptation it enabled me to state the
theory plainly and with facility. By contiguous particles I
mean those whidi are next.
xvii. Finally, my reasons for adopting the molecular
theory of induction were, the phenomena of electrolytic dis-
charge (1164, 1848); of induction in curved lines (1166,
1215) ; of specific inductive capacity (1167, 1252) ; of pene-
tration and return action (1245) ; of difference of conduction
and insulation (1820) ; of polar forces (1665), &c. &c.; but,
for these reasons, and any strength and value they may pos-
sess, I refer to the papers themselves.
xviii. I will now turn to such parts of your critical re-
marks as may require attention. A man who advances what
he thinks to be new truths, and to develop principles which
profess to be more ccmsistent with the laws of nature, than
those already in the field, is liable to be charged, first with
self-contradiction; then with the ccmtradiction of facts; or
he may be obscure in his expressions and so justly subject
to certain queries; or he may be found in non-agreement with
the opini(ms of others. The first and second points are very
important, and every one subject to such diarges, must be
anxious to be made aware of, and also to set himself free
from, or to acknowledge them. The third is also a fault to
be removed if possible. The fourth is a matter of but small
consequence in comparison with the other three; for as every
man, who has the courage, not to say rashness, to form an
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400 THE LIFE OF BOBERT HAKE
opinion of his own; thinks it better than any f rcHn whidi he
differs, so it is only deeper investigation and, most generally,
future investigators who can decide which is in the right.
xix. I am afriud I shall find it rather difficult to refer
to your letter. I will however reckon the paragraphs in
order from the top of each page, ccmsidering that the first
which has its beginning first in the page. In referring to my
own matter, I will employ the usual figures for the para-
graphs of the experimental researches, and small Roman
numerals for tliose of this communication.
XX. At par. 8, p. 1, you say you cannot reconcile my lan-
guage at 1615 with that at 1165. In the latter place I have
said, I believe ordinary induction in all cases to be an action
of contigtums particles; and in the former, assuming a very
hypothetical case, that of a vacuum, I have said nothing in
my theory which forbids that a charged particle in the c^itre
of a vacuum should act on the particle next to it, though that
should be half an indi off. With the meaning which I have
carefully attadied to the word contiguous, xvi, I see no ccm-
tradiction here in the terms used, nor any natural impossi-
bility, or improbability in such an action. Nevertlieless, all
ordinary induction is to me an action of contiguous parUdes,
being particles at insensible distances; induction across a
vacuum is not an ordinary instance, and yet I do not perceive
that it cannot come under the same principle of action.
xxi. As an illustration of my meaning, I may refer to the
case parallel with mine, as to the extreme difference of in-
terval between the acting particles or bodies, of the modem
views of the radiation and conduction of heat. In radiation
the rays leave the hot particles and pass occasionally through
great distances to the next particle fitted to receive th^n; in
conduction, where the heat passes from the hotter particles to
those which are contiguous and form part of the same mass,
still the passage is considered to be by a process precisely like
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 401
that of radiation; and though the eflFects are as is well known
extremely different in their appearance, it cannot as yet be
shewn that the principle of communioation is not the same in
both.
xxii. So on this point respecting contiguous particles and
induction across half an inch of vacuum, I do not see that I am
in contradiction with myself, or with any natural law or fact
XXV. Par 8, page 2, is answered, except in the matter
of opinion (xviii) according to my theory by xvi. The con-
duction of heat referred to in the paragraph itself, will, as
it appears to me, bear no comparison with the phenomenon
of electrical induction: — ^the first refers to the distant influ-
ence of an agent which travels by a very slow process, the
second to one whose distant influence is simultaneous, so to
speak, with the origm of the force at the place of action: —
the first refers to an agent which is represented by the idea
of one imponderable fluid, the second to an agency better
represented probably by the idea of two fluids, or at least
by two forces; — ^the first involves no polar action, nor any
of its consequences; the second depends essentially on such
action; — ^with the first, if a certain portion be originally em-
ployed in the centre of a spherical arrangement, but a small
part appears ultimately at the surface; with the second, an
amount of force appears instantly at the surface, (viii, ix,
X, xi, xii, xiii, xiv,) exactly equal to the exciting or moving
force which is still at the centre.
xxvi. Par. 2, page 4, involves another charge of self-con-
tradiction, from which therefore I will next endeavor to set
myself free. You say I " correctly allege that it is impos-
sible to charge a portion of matter with one electric force
without the other, (see par. 1177). But if all this be true
how can there be a positively excited particle? (See par.
1616). Must not every particle be excited negatively if it
be excited positively? Must it not have a negative as well
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402 THE LIFE OF BOBERT HARE
as a positive pole? " Now I have not said exactly what you
attribute to me: my w(»^s are, "it is impossible experi-
mentally to charge a porticm of matter with one electric force
independently of the other. Charge always implies induction,
for it can in no instance be effected without" (1177) . I can
however easily perceive how my words have conveyed a very
different meaning to your mind, and probably to others, tiban
that I meant to express.
xxvii. Using the word diarge in its simplest meaning,
(iii, iv,) I think that a body can be charged with one electric
force without the other, that body being ccmsidered in relaticm
to itself (mly. But I think that sudi charge cannot exist
without induction, (1178) or independently of wlmt is called
the development of an equal amount of the other electric
force, not in itself, but in the neighboring consecutive par-
tides of the surrounding dielectric, and through th^n of the
facing partides of the uninsulated surrounding conducting
bodies; which, under the circumstances terminate, as it were,
the particular case of induction. I have no idea, therefore,
that a particle when charged must itself, of necessity, be
polar; . . .
xxviii. The third paragraph of page 6, indudes the ques-
tion, ** is this consistent? " implying sdf-ccmtradiction, which
therefore I proceed to notice. The question arises out of
the possibility of glass being a (slow) conductor or not of
electridty ; a point questioned also in the two preceding para-
graphs. I believe that it is. I have charged small Leyden
jars, made of thin flint glass tube, with electricity, taken out
the chargmg wires, sealed them up hermetically, and after
two or three years have opened and foimd no diarge in
them. • • •
xxxi. The obscurity in my papers which has led to your
remarks in par. 1, page 8, arises, as it appears to me (after
my own imperfect expressi<»,) from the uncertain or double
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 408
meaning of the word discharge. You say, '' if discharge in-
volves a return to the same state in vitreous particles, the
same must be true in those of the metallic wire; wherefore
then are these dissipated when the discharge is sufficiently
powerful? " A jar is said to be discharged when its charged
state is reduced by any means, and it is f oimd in its first in-
different condition; the word is then used simply to express
the state of the apparatus, and so I have used it in the ex-
pressions criticised in par. 4 of page 6 already referred to.
The process of disdiarge, or the mode by which the jar is
brought into the discharged state, may be subdivided as of
various kinds; and I have spoken of conductive (1820) , elec-
trolytic (1848), disruptive (1859), and convective (1562)
disdiarge; • . . My view of the relation of insulators
and conductors, as bodies of one class, is given at 1820, 1675,
&c., of the researches; but I do not think the particles of the
good conductors acquire an intensity of polarization any-
thing like that of the particles of bad conductors. . . .
The question of, why are the metallic particles dissipated
when the charge is sufficiently powerful — ^is one that my
theory is not called upon at present to answer; since it will
be acknowledged by all that the dissipation is not necessary
to discharge; that different effects ensue upon the subjectioQ
of bodies to different degrees of the same power is common
enough in experimental philosophy; thus one degree of heat
wiU merely make water hot whilst a higher will dissipate it as
steam and a lower will convert it into ice.
xxxii. The next most important point, as it appears to
me, is that contained in the third and fourth paragraphs of
page 5. I have said (1880), '' What, then, is to separate
the principle of these two extremes, perfect conducticm and
perfect insulation, from each other; since the moment we
leave in the smallest degree perfection at the opposite end? '*
and upon this you say, might not this query be made with
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404 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
as much reason in the case of motion and rest? — ^and, in any
case of the intermixture of opposite qualities may it not be
said, the moment we leave the element of perfection at one
end, we involve the element of perfection at the oppofiite?
may it not be said of light and darkness, or of opaqueness and
translucency? and so forth.
xxxiii. I admit that these questions are very property
put, not that I go to the full extent of tiiem all, as for in-
stance that of motion and rest, but I do not perceive thdr
bearing upon the question of whether conduction and insula-
tion are different properties dependent up<m two different
modes of action of the particles of the substances, respectively
possessing these actions; or whether they are only differaices
in degree of one and the same mode of action? In this ques-
tion, however, lies the whole gist of the matter. To explain
my views, I will put a case or two. In former times a prin-
ciple or force of levity was admitted as well as of gravity, and
certain variations in the weights of bodies were supposed to
be caused by different combinations of substances possessing
these two principles. In later times tiie levity principle has
been discarded; and though we still have imponderable sub-
stances, yet the phenomena concerning weight have been ac-
counted for by one force or principle only, that of gravity;
the difference in the gravitation of different bodies being
considered due to differences in degree of this one force resi-
dent in them all. Now no one can for a moment suppose
that it is the same thing, philosophically, to assume either
the two forces or the one force, for the explanation of the
phenomena in question.
xxxiv. Again ; — ^at one time there was a distinction taken
between the principle of heat and that of cold; at present
that theory is done away with and the phenomena of heat and
cold are referred to the same class (as I refer those of insula-
tion and conduction to one class) and to the influence of
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 405
di£Ferent degrees of the same power. But no one can say
that the two tiieories, namely, that including but one positive
principle and that including two, are alike.
xxxY. Again, there is the theory of one electric fluid and
also that of two. One explains by the difference in degree
or quantity of one fluid what the otilier attributes to the variar
tion in the quantity and relation of two fluids. Both cannot
be true; that they have nearly equal hold of our assent is
only a proof of our ignorance; and it is certain, whichever
is llie false theory is at present holding the minds of its sup-
porters in bondage and is greatly retarding the progress of
science. . . •
xxxvii. I now come to what may be considered as queries
in your letter, which I ought to answer. The second para-
graph page 8 is one. As I concede that particles cm op-
posite sides of a vacuimi may perhaps act on each other, you
ask "wherefore is the received theory of the mode in which the
excited surface of a Leyden jar induces in the opposite sur-
face a contrary state, objectionable ? '' My reasons for think-
ing the excited surface does not directly induce upon the
opposite surface, &c., is first, my belief that the glass con-
sists of particles, conductors in themselves but insulated as re-
spects eadi other (xvii) ; and next that in the arrangement
given iv, ix or x, A does not induce directly on C but through
the intermediate masses or particles of conducting matter.
xxxviii. In the next paragraph the question is rather im-
plied than asked, what do I mean by polarity? I had hoped
that the paragraphs 1669, 1670, 1671, 1672, 1679, 1686, 1687,
1688, 1699, 1700, 1701, 1702, 1708, 1704, in the researches
would have been sufficient to convey my meaning, and I am
inclined to think you had not perhaps seen them when your
letter was written. They, and the observations already made
(v, xxvi), with the case given (iv, v), will I think be suffi-
cient as my answer. The sense of the word polarity is so
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406 THE LIFE OF BOBERT HARE
diverse when applied to li^t, to a crystal, to a magnet, to the
Toltaic battery, and so differoit in all these eases to that of
the word when applied to. the state of a conductor under in-
duction (y ) , that I thought it safer to use the phrase '' species
of polarity " than any other which, being more expressive,
would pledge me farther than I wished to go.
xxxix. Hie next or fourth par. of page 8, involves a mis-
take of my views. I do not consider bodies which are diarged
by friction or otherwise as polarized, or as having their par-
ticles polarized (iii, iv, xxvii) . This paragraph and the next
do not require therefore any further remark, especially after
what I have said of polarity above (xxxviii).
xl. And now, my dear sir, I think I ought to draw my
reply to an end. The paragraphs whidi remain unanswered,
refer, I think, only to differences of opinion, or else not even
to differences, but opinions r^^arding which I have not ven-
tured to judge. These opinions I estean as of the utmost
importance; but that is a reason whidi makes me the rather
desirous to decline entering upon their consideration; inas-
mudi as upon many of their connected points I have formed
no decided notion, but am constrained by ignorance and the
contrast of facts, to hold my judgment as yet in suspense.
It is indeed to me an annoying matter to find how many
subjects there are in electrical science, on whidi if I were
asked for an opinion, I should have to say I cannot tell — I
do not know; but, on the other hand, it is encouraging to
think that these are they which if pursued industriously, ex-
perimentally, and thou^tfully, will lead to new discoveries.
Such a subject, for instance, occurs in the currents produced
by dynamic induction, which you say it will be admitted do
not require for their production intervening ponderable
atoms. For my own part^ I more than half indine to think
they do require these intervening partides, i.e. when any
particles intervene, (1729, 1788, 1785.) But on this ques-
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 407
tion, as on many others, I have not yet made up my mind.
Allow me therefore here to conclude my letter, and believe
me to be, with the highest esteem and respect, my dear sir,
joixr obliged and faithful servant.
Royal Institution, M. Faraday."
April 18, 1840."
In a second letter (1845) Hare wrote as follows to
Faraday:
" My dear Sir-
In the month of July last I had the pleasure to read, in
the American Journal of Science, your letter in reply to one
which I had addressed to you throu^ the same channel. I
should sooner have noticed this letter, but that meanwhile I
have had to republish two of my text-books, and, besides,
could not command, until lately, a complete copy of all those
numbers of your researches to which you have referred.
The tenor of the language with which your letter com*
mences realizes the hope, which I cherished, that my strictures
would call forth an amicable reply. Under these circum-
stances it would grieve me that you should consider any part
of my language as charging you with inconsistency or self-
contradiction, as if it could be my object to put you in the
wrong, farther than might be necessary to establish my con-
ception of the truth. Certainly it has been my wish never to
go beyond the sentiment, "'Amicus Plato, sed magis amica
Veritas." I attach hi^ importance to the facts established
by your '' Researches/^ which can only be appreciated suffi-
ciently by those who have experienced the labor, corporeal
and mental, which experimental investigations require. I
am moreover grateful for the disposition to do me justice,
manifested in those researches; yet it may not always be
possible for me to display the deference, which I nevertheless
entertain. I am aware that when in a discussion, which due
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408 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
attenticm to brevity must render unceremonious, diversities
of opinion axe exhibited, much magnanimity is requisite in
the party whose opinions are assailed; but I trust that both
of us have truth in view above all other objects; and that so
much of your new doctrine as tends to promote that end, will
not be invalidated by a criticism which, though free, is in-
tended to be perfectly fair and friendly.
In paragraph (11) your language is as follows, "my
theory of induction makes no assertion as to the nature of elec-
tricity, nor at all questions any of the theories respecting that
subject/^ Owing to this avowed omission to state your
opinions of the nature of electricity as preliminary to the
statement of yom* " theory/^ and because I was unable to
reconcile that theory with those previously accredited, I re-
ceived the impression that you claimed no aid from any im-
ponderable principle. It appeared to me that there was no
room for the agency of any such principle, if induction were
an action of contiguous ponderable particles, consisting of a
species of polarity. It seemed to follow, that what we call
electricity, could be nothing more than a polarity, in the
ponderable particles, directly caused by those mechanical or
chemical frictions, movements, or reactions by which ponder-
able bodies are electrified. You have correctly inferred that
I had not seen the fourteenth series of your researches, con-
taining certain paragraphs. From them it appears that the
polarity, on which so much stress has been laid, is analogous
to that which has long been known to arise in a mass, about
which the electric equilibrium has been subverted, by the in-
ductive influence of the electricity accumulated upon another
mass. This is clearly explained in paragraph iv of yom* letter,
by the illustration, agreeably to which three bodies, a, b, c,
are situated in a line, in the order in which they are named,
in proximity, but not in contact. ''A is electrified positively
and then C is iminsulated.'' It is evident that you are correct
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 409
in representing that under these circumstances the extrem-
ities of B will be oppositely excited, so as to have a reaction
with any similarly excited body, analogous to that which
takes place between magnets; since the similarly ex-
cited extremities of two such bodies, would repel each other;
while those dissimilarly excited, would be reciprocally attract-
ive. Hence no doubt the word polarity is conceived by you
to convey an idea of the state of the body B. If I may be
allowed to propose an epithet to convey the idea which I have
of the state of mass thus electrified, I would designate it as
an electropolar state, or as a state of dectropolarity.
It does not ap}>ear to me that in the suggestion of the
electropolarity which we both agree to be induced upon the
body B (iv), so long as it concerns a mass, there is any
novelty. The only part of yom* doctrine whkh is new, is
that which suggests an analogous state to be caused in the
particles of tiie bodies through which the inductive power is
propagated. Admitting each of the particles of a dielectric,
through which the process of ordinary induction takes place,
to be put into the state of the body B, it does not appear to
me to justify your own exemplification of that process, you
should have alleged ordinary induction to be productive of
an affection of particles cau$ing in them a species of polarity.
In the case of the bodies. A, B, C, (iv) B is evidently passive.
How then can we consider as active, particles represented to
be in an analogous state? If in B there is no action, how can
there be any action in particles performing a perfectly similar
part? Moreover, how can the inductive power of an elec-
trical accumulation upon A, consist of the polarity which it
induces in B?
Having supposed (viii,) an electrified ball. A, an inch in
diameter, to be situated within a thin metallic sphere, C, of a
foot in diameter, you suggest that were one thousand con-
centric metallic spheres interposed between A, and the inner
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410 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
surface of C, the electro-polar state of eadi particle in those
spheres would be analogous to that of B already mentioned.
Of course if there be an action of those particles, there must
be an action of B; but this appears to me not only irreconcil-
able with any previously existing theory, but also with your
own exposition of the process by which B is polarized.
Supposing concentric metallic hemispheres were inter-
posed only upon one side of A, you aver that agreeably to
your experience, more of the inductive influence would be
extended towards that side of the containing shell than be-
fore (xiv. ) Admitting this, I cannot concede that the greater
influence of the induction, resulting from the presence of the
metallic particles, is the consequence of any action of theirs;
whether in contigvity or in proooirnity. Agreeably to my
view, the action is confined to the electrical accumulation in
the sphere A. Between the electricity accumulated in this
sphere, and that existing in, or about, the intervening ponder-
able particles, there may be a reaction; but evidently these
particles are as inactive as are the steps of a ladder in the
scaling of a wall.
Suppose a powerful magnet to be so curved as to have
the terminating polar surfaces parallel, and leaving between
them an interval of some inches. Place between these sur-
faces, a number of shwt pieces of soft iron wire. These
would of com*se be magnetized, and would arrange them-
selves in rows, the north and south poles becoining contiguous.
Would this be a sufficient reason for saying tliat the in-
ductive influence of the magnetic poles was an action of the
contiguous wires? Would not the phenomena be the con-
sequence of an affection of the contiguous pieces of wire, not
of their action?
As respects tiie word charge, I am not aware that I have
been in the habit of attaching any erroneous meaning to it,
as your efforts to define it in paragraph iii would imply. I
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MEDALLION PORTRAIT
By H. Saunders, 1856, Philadelphia
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 411
have been accustomed to restrict the use of it to the case which
you distinguish as an inductive charge, illustrated by that of
the LfCyden jar. To designate the states of the conductors
of a madiine, I have almost always employed the words
ewcited or ewcitement. In my text-book, these words are
used to designate the state of glass or resin electrified by
friction, while that of coated surfaces, whether panes or jars,
inductively electrified, has been designated by the words
charge or charged.
I understood the word contiguous to imply contact, or con-
tiguity, whereas it seems that it was intended by you to con-
vey the idea of proximity. In the last menticmed sense it is
not inconsistent with the idea of an action at the distance of
half an inch: but by admitting the word contiguous to be ill
chosen, you have, with great candor, furnished me with an
apology for having mistaken your meaning.
Any inductive action which does not exist at sensible dis-
tances, (xx) you attribute to ordinary induction, considering
the case of induction through a vacuum as an eartraordmary
case of induction. To me it appears that the induction must
be the same in both cases, and tiiat the circumstances under
which it acts, are those which may be considered in the one
case as ordinary, in the other extraordinary. Thus, take the
case cited in your reply (viii, ix, x) . Does the interposition
of the spheres alter the character of the inductive power in
the sphere A?
Either the force exercised by the charge in A, is like that
of gravitation, altogether independent of the influence of
interv^ing bodies; or, like that of light, it is dependent on
the agency of an intervening matter. Agreeably to one doc-
trine, the matter by means of whidi luminous bodies act, oper-
ates by its transmission from the luminous surface to that
illumined. Agreeably to another doctrine, the illuminating
matter operates by its transmission from the luminous sur-
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412 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
face to that illumined. Agreeably to another doctrine. Hie
illuminating matter operates by its undulations. If the in-
ductive power of electrified bodies be not analogous to gravi-
tation, it must be analogous to the power by which light is
produced so far as to be dependent on intervening matter.
But were it to resemble gravitation, like that force it would
be uninfluenced by such matter. If your experiments prove
that electrical induction is liable to be modified by interven-
ing matter, it is demonstrated that in its mode of operation
it is analogous to light, not to gravitation. It is then proved,
that, agreeably to your doctrine, electrical inducticm requires
the intervention of matter, but you admit that it acts across
a vacuum, and of cotirse, acts without the presence of ponder-
able msAXer. Yet it requires intervening matter of some kind,
and, since that matter is not ponderable, it must of necessity
be imponderable. When light is ccunmunicated from a lumi-
nous body in the centre of an exhausted sphere, agreeably
to the undulatory hyxH>thesis, its efficacy is dependent on the
waves excited in an intervening imponderable medium.
Agreeably to your electropolar hypothesis, the inductive effi-
cacy of an electrified body in an exhausted sphere would be
due to a derangement of electric equilibrium, by whidi an
electric state opposite to that at the centre would be pro-
duced at the surface of the containing sphere (xxvi, xxvii).
This case you consider as one of extraordinary induction, but
when air is admitted into a hollow sphere, or when concentric
spheres are interposed, you hold it to be a case of ordinary
induction. LfCt us then, in the case of the luminous body,
imagine that concentric spheres of glass are interposed, of
which the siurf aces are roughened by grinding. In conse-
quence of the roughness thus produced, the rays instead of
proceeding in radii from the central ball would be so re-
fracted as to cross each other. Of the two instances of illumi-
nation, thus imagined, would the one be described as ordinary.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 418
the other as eortraordinary radiation? But if these epithets
are not to be api^ed to radiation, wherefore under analogous
circumstances are they applicable to induction? Wherefore
is induction vrhsxi acting through a plttium to be called or-
dinary, and yet when acting through a vacuum to be called
extraordinary? In the well known case of the refracting
power of Iceland spar, light undergoes an ordinary and ew-
iraordinary refraction; not an ordinary and extraordinary
radiation. The candle, of whidi, when viewed through the
spar, two images are seen, does not radiate ordinarily and
ewtraordinarUy.
If there be occasionally, as you allege (xxi,) large inters
vals between the partides of radiant heat, how can the dis*
tances between them resemble those existing between partides
acting at distances which are not sensible? The repulsive
reaction between the partides of radiant caloric, as described
by you (xxi), resemb][es that whidi I have supposed to exist
between those of electridty; but I cannot conceive of any
description less suitable for either, than that of particles
whidi do not act at sensible distances.
Aware that the materiality of heat, and the Newtonian
theory, whidi ascribes radiation to the projection of heat or
light producing partides, have been questioned, I should
not have appeaJed to a doctrine which assumes both the ma-
teriality of heat, and the truth of the Newtonian theory, had
not you led the way; but, agreeably to the doctrine and
theory alluded to, I cannot accord with you in perceiving any
similitude between the processes of conduction and radiation.
Consistently with the hjrpothesis that dectricity is ma-
terial, you have shewn that an enormous quantity of it must
exist in metals. To me it seems equally evident that, agree-
ably to the idea that heat is material, there must exist in
metals a proportionably great quantity of caloric. The in-
tense heat produced when wires are deflagrated by an elec-
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414 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
trical discharge, cannot otherwise be consistently accounted
for. Agreeably to the same idea, every metaUic particle in
any metallic mass, must be surrounded by an atmosphere of
caloric; since the changes of dimensicm consequent to varia-
ticms of temperature, can only be explained by corresponding
variations in the quantity of caloric imbibed, and in the con-
sequent density of the calorific atmospheres existing in the
mass whidi undergoes these changes.
Sudi being the constitution of expansible bodies, agree-
ably to the hypothesis in question, it seems to me that the
process, by which caloric is propagated through tiiem by
conduction, must be extremely different from that by which
it is transmitted from one part of space to another by raHa-'
turn. In the one case the calorific particle flies, like a can-
non ball, with an inconceivably greater velocity, which is not
sensiUy retarded by the reflecting or refracting influence of
intervening transparent media: in the other case it must be
slowly imparted from one calorific atmosphere to another,
until the reptdsion sustained on all sides is'm equiUbrio. It
is in this way that I have always explained the fact that
metals are bad radiators, while good reflectors.
In paragraph (xxv,) you allege that conduction of heat
differs from electrical induction, because it passes by a very
slow process; while induction is in its distant influence simul-
taneous with its force at the place of action. How then
can the passage of heat by conduction, be '" a process pre-
cisely like that of radiation," (xxi,) which resembles induc-
tion in the velocity with whidi its influence readies objects,
however remote?
Although (xxi) you appeal to the " modem views re-
specting radiation and conduction of heat,'' in order to illus-
trate your conception of the contiguity of Hie particles of
bodies subjected to induction, yet in (xxv,) you object to
the reference which I had made to these views, in order to
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SECOND PERIOD, 181&-1847 415
shew that the intensity of electropolarization could not be
inversely as the number of particles interposed between the
"' inductric '' surfaces. Let us then resort to that above
suggested, of the influence of the poles of a magnet upon
intervening pieces of iron wires. In 1679, 14th series, you
^ggcst this as an analogous case to that of the process of
ordinary electrical induction, which we have under considera-
ti(Hi. Should there be in the one case a thousand pieces of
wire interposed, in the second a hundred, will it be pretended
that the intensity of their reciprocal inductive reaction would
be inversely as the number; so that the e£Fect of the last
mentioned number of wires would be equivalent to that of
the first? Were intervals to be created between the wires
by r^noving, from among the number first menticmed, alter-
nate wires, it would seem to me that the diminution of e£Fect
would be conunensurate not only with the reduction of the
number of the wires, but likewise with the consequent enlarge-
ment of the intervals.
If as you suggest, the interposition of ponderable par-
tides have any tendency to promote inductive influence, (xiv,)
there must be some number of such particles by whi<^ this
e£Fect will be best attained. That number being inter-
posed, I cannot imagine how the intensity of any electro-
polarity, thus created in the intervening particles, can, by
a diminution of their number, acquire a proportional increase ;
evidently in no case can the excitement in the particles ex-
ceed that of the *' inductric " surfaces whence tiie derange-
ment of electrical equilibrium arises.
The repulsive power of electricity being admitted to be
inversely as the squares of the distances, you correctly infer
that the aggregate influence of an electrified ball, B, situ-
ated at tiie centre of a hollow sphere, C, will be a constant
quantity, ifdiatever may be the diameter of C. This is per-
fectly analogous to the illuminating influence of a luminous
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416 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
body situated at the centre of a hollow sphere, which would
of course receive the whole of \he light knitted idiatever
might be its diameter, provided that there were nothing
interposed to intercept any portion of the rays. But in
order to answer the objection whidi I have advanced, that
the diminution of the density of a '' dielectric '' cannot be
compensated by any consequent increase of inductive in-
tensity, it must be shown in the case of several similar hollow
spheres, in which various numbers of electrified equidistant
balls should exist, that the influence of such balls upon each
other, and upon the surfaces of the sf^eres, would not be
directly as the number of Ihe balls, and inversely as the size
of the containing spaces. Were gas lights substituted for
the balls, it must be evident that the intensity of the li^t,
in any one of the spheres, would be as the number of lights
which it might coiltain. Now one of your illustrations
(viii,) above noticed makes light and electrical induction,
obey the same law as respects the influence of distance upon
the respective intensities.
From these considerations, and others above stated, I
infer, that if dectrical induction were an action of particles
in proximity operating reciprocally with forces varying in
intensity with the squares of the distances, their aggregate
influence upon any surfaces, between whidi they might be
situated, would be proportionable to their number; and since
experience demonstrates tiiat the inductive power is not
diminished by the reduction of the number of the intervening
particles I conclude that it is independent of any energy of
theirs, and proceeds altogetiier from that electrical accumula-
tion with which the inductive change is admitted to originate.
In paragraph (xxxi,) you say '' that at one time there
was a distinction between heat and cold. At present tiiat
theory is done away with, and the phenomena of heat and
cold are referred to the same class, and to different degrees
of the same power."
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 417
In reply to this I beg leave to point out, that althou^^
in ordinary acceptation, cold refers to relatively low tempera-
ture; yet we all understand that there might be that perfect
negation of heat, or abstraction of caloric, whidi may be
defined absolute cold. I presume liiat, having thus defined
absolute cold, you would not represent it as identical with
caloric. For my own part this would seem as unreasonable
as to confound matter with nihility.
Assuming that there is only one electric fluid, there ap-
pears to me to be an analogy between caloric and electricity,
so far that negative electricity conveys, in the one case, an
idea analogous to liiat which cold conveys in the other.
But if the doctrine of Du Fay be admitted, there are two
kinds of electric matter, which are no more to be ccMif ounded
than an acid and an alkalL Let us, upon tibese pranises,
subject to further examinaticm your argument (1880,) that
insulation and conduction should be identified, '^ rince the
fnoment ioe leave in the smaUeit degree perfection at either
extreniity, we inoclve the element of perfection at the op-
pomte end/' Let us suppose two remote portions of space,
(me, replete witib pure vitreous electricity, the other with pure
resinous: let there be a series of like spaces containing the
resinous and vitreous electricities in as many different vari-
eties of admixture, so that in passing from one of the first
mentioned spaces, tiuough tibe series to the other, as soon as
we should cease to be exposed to tihe vitreous fluid, in perfect
purity, we should begin to be exposed minutely to the resin-
ous; or that, in passing fnnn the purely resinous atmosphere,
we should begin to be exposed to a minute portion of the
vitreous fluid ; would this be a sufficient reason for confound-
ing the two fluids, and treating the phenom^ia to which they
give rise as the effect of one only?
But tibe discussion, into which your illustrations have
led me, refers to things, whereas ccmductors and insulation^
n
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418 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
as I understand them, are opposite and incompatible prop-
ertieS) so that, in as mudi as either prevails, the other must
be counteracted. Conduction conveys to my mind the idea
of permeability to the dectric fluid, insulation Ihat of im-
permeability; and I am unable to understand how these irre-
concilable properties can be produced by a difference of
degree in any one property of electrics and conductors.
If, as you infer, glass has, comparatively with metals,
an almost infinitely minute degree of the conducting power,
is it this power which enables it to prevent ccmduction, or
in oHier words to insulate? Let it be granted that you have
correctly supposed conduction to comprise boHi induction
and discharge, the one following the other in perfect con-
ductors within an inexpressibly brief interval. Insulation
does not prevent induction; but, so far as it goes, it prevents
discharge. In practice this part of the process of ccmduc-
tion does not take place through glass during any time or-
dinarily allotted to our experiments, however correct you
may have been in supposing it to have ensued before the
expiration of a year or more in the case of the tubes which
you had sealed after charging them. But conceding it to
have been thus proved Ihat glass had, comparatively with
metals, an infinitely small degree of Ihe conducting power;
is it this minute degree of conducting power, which enables
it to prevent conduction, or in other words to insulate?
Induction arises from cme or more properties of electricity,
insulaticm from a property of ponderable matter; and
although there be no matter capable of preventing induc-
tion, as well as discharge, were there such a matter, would
that annihilate insulation? On the omtrary would it not
exhibit the property in the highest perfecticm?
As respects the residual charge of a battery, is it not evi-
dent that any electrical charge whidi affects the surface of
the glass, must produce a corresponding effect upon the
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 419
stratum of air in contact with the coating of the glass? If
we place one coating between two panes, will it not enable
us to a certain extent to charge or discharge both? Sub-
stituting the air for one of them, will it not, in some measure,
be liable to an affection similar to that of the vitreous sur-
face for whidi it is substituted? In the well known process
of the condensing electrometer, the plate of air interposed
between the disks is, I believe, universally admitted to per-
form the part of an electric, and to be equivalent in its prop-
erties to the glass in a coated pane.
When I adverted to a gradual relinquishment of elec-
tricity by the air to the glass, I did not mean to suggest that
it was attended by any more delay than the case actually
demonstrates. It might be slow or gradual, compared witii
the velocity of an electric discharge, and yet be extremely
quick, comparatively with any velocity ever produced in
p<mderable matter. That the return should be slow when
no coating was employed, and yet quick when it was em-
ployed, as stated by you (xxxviii,) is precisely what I should
have expected; because the coating cmly operates to remove
all obstruction to the electric equilibrium. The quantity or
intensity of the excitement is dependent altogether upon the
electrified surfaces of the air and the glass. You have cited
(1082,) the property of a charged Licyden jar, as usually
accoutered, of electrifying a carrier ball. This I think sanc-
tions the existence of a power to electrify by "' convextion,''
the surrounding air to a greater or less depth; since it must
be evident that every aerial particle must be competent to
perform the part of the carrier ball.
Agreeably to the Franklinian doctrine, the electricity
directly accumulated upon one side of a pane repels that
upon tiie other side. You admit that this would take place
were a vacuum to intervene; but when ponderable matter is
interposed, you conceive each particle to act as does the body
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420 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
B when situated as described between A and C (iv.) But
agreeably to the view wfaidi I have taken, and idiat I under-
stand to be your own expositicm of the case, B is altogether
passive, so that it cannot help, if it does not impede the re-
pulsive influence. Moreover, it must be quite evident, that
were B removed, and A approximated to C, without attaining
the striking distance, the e£Fect upon C and the ccmsequ^it
energy of any disdiarge upon it from A would be greata
instead of less. If in tiie charge of a coated pane the inter-
mediate ponderable vitreous particles have any tendency to
enhance the charge, how happ^is it liiat, the power of the
machine employed being the same, the intensity of the charge
wfaidi can be given to an electric is greater in proportion to
its tenuity?
In reference to the direction of any discharge, it appears
to me that, as in charging, tiie fluid must always pass f nmi
the cathode to the anode, so in reversing the process it must
pursue, as I have alleged, the opposite course of going from
the anode back to the cathode. Evidently the circumvolu-
ticms of the circuit are as unimportant as respects a correct
idea of the direction, as their l^igth has been shown by Wheat-
stone, to be incompetent to produce any perceptible delay.
The dissipation of conductors being one of the most prcMn-
inent among electrical f^enomena, it appears to me to be
an objection to your theory, if while it fails to suggest any
process by which this phenomenon is produced, it assumes
premises which seem to be incompatible with the generation
of any explosive power. If discharge only involves the
restoration of polarized ponderable particles to their natural
state, the potency of the discharge must be proportionable
to the intensity of the antecedent polarity; yet it is through
conductors, liiU>le, as you allege, to polarization of ccxnpara-
tively low intensity (xxxi), that discharge takes place with
the highest degree of explosive violwice.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 421
Having inquired how your allegation could be true, that
discharge brings bodies to tiieir natural state and yet eauses
conductors to be dissipated, you reply (xxxiv) that differ-
ent effects may result from the same cause acting with dif-
ferent degrees of intensity; as when by one degree of heat
ice is amveted into water, by another into steam. But it
may be tirged, that although in the case thus dted, different
effects are produced, yet that the one is not inconsistent with
the other, as were those ascribed to electrical discharges. It
is quite consistent, Ihat the protoxide of hydrogen which
per 96 constitutes the solid called ice, should by one degree
of calorific repulsion have the cohesion of its particles so
counteracted as to be productive of fusion; and yet that a
higher degree of the same power should impart to them the
repulsive quality requisite to Hie aeriform state. In order
to found upon the influence of variations of temperature, a
good objection to my argument, it should be shown, that
while a certain reducticm of temperature enables aqueous
particles to indulge their innate propensity to consolidation,
a still further reduction wiU cause them, in direct opposition
to that propensity, to repel each other so as to form steam.
In your conduding paragraph you allege, '' liiat when
IK)nderable partides intervene, during the process of dynamic
induction, the currents resulting from this source do require
these partides.'' I presume this allegation is to be explained
by the conjecture made by you (1729) that since certain
bodies when interposed did not interfere with dynamic in-
duction, therefore they might be inferred to co-operate in
the transmission of tiiat species of inductive influence. But
if the induction takes place without the ponderable matter,
is it right to assume that this matter aids because it does not
prevttit the effect? Might it not be as reascHiably inferred
in the case of light, that although its transmission does not
require the interposition of a pane of glass, yet that when
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422 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
such a pane is interposed, since fhe light is not intercepted,
there is reason to suppose an active co-operation of the
vitreous particles in aid of the radiation? It may be expedient
here to advert to the fact that Prof, Henry has found a metal-
lic plate to interfere with the dynamic induction of one flat
helix upon another. I have myself been witness of this result.
Does not magnetic or electrodynamic induction take place
as well in vacuo as in pleno? Has the presence of any gas
been found to promote or retard that species of reaction? It
appears, that agreeably to your experiments, ponderable
bodies, when made to intervene, did not enhance the influ^ice
in question; while in some of those performed by Henry it
was intercepted by them. Does it not follow that ponderable
particles may impede, but cannot assist in this process?
I am happy to find, liiat among the opinions whidi I ex-
pressed in my letter to you, although there are several in
which you do not concur, tiiere are some which you este^n
of importance, though you do not consider yourself justified
in extending to them your sanction; being constrained, in
the present state of human knowledge, to hold your judg-
ment in suspense. For the present, I shall here take leave
of this subject, having already so extended my letter as to
occupy too much of your valuable time. I am aware that
as yet I have not sufficiently studied many of the results of
your sagacity, ingenuity, and skill in experimental investiga-
tions. When I shall have time to make them the subject
of the careful consideration which they merit, I may venture
to subject your patience to the additional trial resulting from
some fiu*ther commentaries. I remain, with the highest
esteem, respectfully yours, Robert Hare."
In Faraday's answer to the preceding letter he said : * You
must excuse me, however, for several reasons, from answer-
ing it at any length. The first is my distaste for controversy,
which is so great that I would on no account our correspond-
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 428
ence should acquire that character. I have often seen it do
great harm, and yet remember few cases in natural knowl-
edge where it has hdped much either to pull down error or
advance truth. Criticism, on the other hand, is of much
value; and when criticism such as yours has done its duty,
then it is for other minds than those either of the author or
critic to decide upon and acknowledge the ri^t.'
As late as November 80, 1844, Hare said, before the
American Philosophical Society^ '' Faraday objects to the
Newtonian idea of an atom, being associated with combining
ratios. These he conceives to have been more advantageously
designated as chemical equivalents.
This sagacious investigator adverts to the fact that after
each atom in a mass of metal potassium, has combined with
an atom of oxygen and an atom of water, forming thus a
hydrated oxide, the resulting aggregate occupies much less
space than its metallic ingredient previously occupied ; so that
taking equal bulks of the hydrate and of potassium, there
will be in the metal only four hundred and thirty metallic
atoms, while in the hydrate there will be seven hundred such
atoms. And in the latter, besides the seven hundred atoms,
in all two thousand eight hundred ponderable atoms. It fol-
lows that if the atoms of potassium are to be considered as
minute impenetrable particles, kept at certain distances by
an equilibrium of forces, there must be, in a mass of potas-
sium, vastly more space than matter. Moreover, it is the
apace alone that can be continuous. The non-contiguous
material atoms cannot form a continuous mass. Consequ^itly
the well known power of potassium to conduct electricity
must be a quality of the continuous empty space, which it
comprises, not of the discontinuous particles of matter with
which that space is regularly interspersed. It is in the next
place urged that while, agreeably to these considerations,
space is shown to be a conductor, there are considerations
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424 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
equaUy tending to prove it to be a non-conductor; since in
certain non-conducting bodies, such as resins, there must be
nearly as much vacant space as in potassium. Hence, the
supposition that atoms are minute impenetrable particles,
involves the necessity of considering empty space as a con-
ductor in metals and as a non-conductor in resins, and of
course in sulphur and other electrics. This is considered as
a reductio ad absurdum. To avoid this contradiction, Fara-
day supposes that atoms are not minute impenetrable bodies,
but, existing throughout the whole space in which their prop-
erties are observed, may p^ietrate each other. Consistently,
although the atoms of potassium pervade the whole space
which they apparently occupy, the entrance into that space
of an equivalent number of atoms of oxygen and water, in con-
sequence of some reciprocal reacticMi, causes a contraction in
the boundaries by which the combination thus formed is in-
closed. This is an original and interesting view of this subject,
well worthy of the contemplation of chemical philosophers.
But upon these premises Faraday has ventured on some
inferences which, upon vwious accounts, appear to me un-
warrantable. I agree that " a " representing a partide of
matter and '' m '' representing its properties, it is <Hily with
" m " that we have any acquaintance, the existence of " a *'
resting merely on an inference. Heretofore I have often
appealed to this fact, in order to show that the evidence botii
of ponderable and impcmderabk matter is of the same kind
precisely: the existence of properties which can only be ac-
counted for by inferring the existence of an appropriate
matter to whidi those properties appertain. Yet I cannot
concur in the idea that because it is only with '' m '' that
we are acquainted, the existence of '' a " must not be inferred;
so that bodies are to be considered as constituted of their
materialized powers. I use the word materialized, because
it is fully admitted by Faraday, that by dispensing with an
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818^1847 425
impenetrable atom '' a,'' we do not get rid of the idea of mat-
ter» but have to imagine each atom as existing throughout
the whole sphere of its force, instead of being coidensed about
ihecentre. This seems to folIowfromtiiefoUowing language:
" The xnetD now stated of the conititution of matter, would
seem to involve neceuarUy the conchuUm that matter fills all
space, or at least the space to which gravitation extends, in-
dudmg the sun and its system, for gravitation is a property of
nuMer, dependent on a certain force, and it is this force which
constitutes matter/^
Literally this paragraph seems to convey the impression,
that agreeably to tiie new idea of matter, the sun and his
planets are not distinct bodies, but consist of certain ma-
terial powers reciprocally penetrating each other, and per-
vading a space larger than that comprised within the orbit
of Uranus. We do not live upon, but within the matter of
which the earth is constituted, or rather within a mixture of
all tile solar and planetary matter belonging to our solar
system. I cannot conceive that the sagacious author seriously
intended to sanction any notion involving these consequences.
I shall assume therefore, that, excepting the case of gravita-
tion, his new idea of matter was intended to be restricted to
those powers which display tiiemselves within masses at in-
sensible distances and shall proceed to state the objections
which seem to exist against the new idea as associated with
these powers.
Evidently the arguments of Faraday against the exist-
ence, in potassium and other masses of matter, of impene-
trable atoms endowed with cohesion, chemical affinity, mo-
mentum, and gravitation, rest upon the inference that in
metals there is nothing to perform the part of an electrical
conductor besides continuous empty space. This illustrious
philosopher has heretofore appeared to be disinclined to ad-
mit the existence of any matter devoid of ponderability. The
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426 THE LIFE OF BOBERT HARE
main object of certain letters which I addressed to him, was
to prove that the phenomena of induction could not, as he
had represented, be an '"^ action '* of ponderable atoms, but,
on the contrary, must be considered as an affection of them
consequent to the intervention of an imponderable matter,
without which the phenomena of electricity would be inex-
plicable. This disinclination to the admission of an impon-
derable electrical cause, has been the more remarkable, as his
researches have not only proved the existence of prodigious
electrical power in metals, but likewise, tibat it is evolved
during chemico-electric reaction, in equivalent proportion to
the quantity of ponderable matter decomposed or combined.
According to his researdies, a grain of water by elec-
trolytic reacticm with four grains of zinc, evolves as much
electricity as would charge fifteen millions of square feet
of coated glass. But in addition to the proofs of the ex-
istence of electrical powers in metals thus furnished, it is
demonstrated that this power must be inseparably associated
with metals, by the well known fact, that in the magneto-
electric machine, an apparatus which we owe to his genius and
the mechanical ingenuity of Pixii and Saxton, a coil of wire
being subjected to the inductive influence of a magnet, is
capable of furnishing, within the circuit which it forms, all
the phenomena of an electrical current, whether of ignition,
shock, or electrolysis.
The existence in metals of an enormous calorific power
must be evident from the heat evolved by mere hammering.
It is well known, that by a skillful application of the hanuner,
a piece of iron may be ignited. To what other cause than
their inherent calorific power can the ignition of metids by
a discharge of statical electricity be ascribed?
It follows that the existence of an immense calorific and
electrical power is undeniable. The materiality of these
powers, or of their cause, is all that has been questi(Miable.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 427
But, according to the speculations of Faraday, all the powers
of matter are material; not only the calorific and electrical
powers are thus to be considered, but likewise the powers of
cohesion, chemical affinity, inertia and gravitation, while of
all these material powers only the latter can be ponderablel *'
Thus a disinclination on the part of this distinguished
investigator to admit the existence of one or two imponder-
able principles, has led him into speculations involving the
existence of a much greater number. But if the calorific
and electrical powers of matter be material, and if such
enormous quantities exist in potassium, as well as in zinc
and all other metals, so much of the reasoning in question
as is founded on the vacuity of the space between the metallic
atoms, is really groundless.
Although the space occupied by the hydrated oxide of
potassium comprises two thousand eight hundred ponder-
able atcnns, while that occupied by an equal mass of the
metal, comprises only four hundred and thirty, there may
be in the latter proportionably as much more of the material
powers of heat and electricity as there is less of matter en-
dowed with ponderability.
Thus while assuming the existence of fewer imponderable
causes than the celebrated author of the speculation has him-
self proposed, we explain the conducting power of metals,
without being under the necessity of attributing to void space
the property of electrical conduction. Moreover, I ccmsider
it quite consistent to suppose that tiie presence of the ma-
terial power of electricity is indispensable to electrical con-
duction, and that diversities in this faculty are due to the
proportion of that material power present, and the mode of
its association with other matter. The immense superiority
of metals, as conductors, will be explained by referring to
their being peculiarly replete with the material powers of
heat and electricity.
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428 THE LIFE OF BOBERT HARE
Hence Faraday's suggestions respecting the materialily
of what has heretofore been designated as the properties of
bodies, f umiidi the means of refuting his arguments against
the existence of ponderable impenetrable atoms as the basis
of cohesion, chemical affinity, momentum and gravitation.
But I will in the next place prove, that his suggestions
not only furnish an answer to his objections to the views in
this respect heretofore entertained, but are likewise pregnant
with consequences directly inconsistent with the view of the
subject whidi he has recently presented.
I have said that of all the powers of matter which are,
according to Faraday's speculations, to be deemed material,
gravitation alone can be ponderable. Since gravitation, in
conmion with every power heretofore attributed to impene-
trable particles, must be a matter independently pervading
the space throughout which it is perceived, by what tie is it
indissolubly attached to the rest? It cannot be pretended
that either of the powers is the property of another. Each
of them is an " m,'* and cannot play the part of an " a,'' not
only because an " m '' cannot be an '' a,*' but because no " a **
can exist. Nor can it be advanced that they are the same
power, since chemical affinity and cohesicHi act only at in-
sensible distances, while gravitation acts at any and every dis-
tance, with forces inversely as their squares: and, moreover,
the power of chemical affinity is not c(»nmensurate with that
of gravitation. One part by weight of hydrogen has a greater
affinity universally for any other element, than two hundred
parts of gold. By what means then are cohesion, chemical
affinity, and gravitation, inseparably associated, in all the
ponderable elements of matter ? Is it not fatal to the validity
of the highly ingenious and interesting deductions of Fara-
day, that they are thus shown to be utterly incompetent to
explain the inseparable association of cohesion, chemical affin-
ity and inertia with gravitation; while the existence of a
vacuity between Newtonian atcnns, mainly relied upon as the
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 420
basis of an argument against their existence, is shown to be
inconsistent both with the ingenious speculation, which has
called forth these remarks, and those Herculeim "" researches "
which must perpetuate his fame.
On the receipt of a pamphlet, entitled, ^'A Demonstra-
tion that All Matter is Heavy,'* from Prof. William Whewell
of Cambridge University, Hare wrote (1842) the author as
follows:
''Dear Sir: — I thank you for your kind attention in
sending me a copy of your pamphlet entitled, ^' A Demofir
Hration that ail Matter is Hecsoy/* comprising a conmiunica-
tion made to the Cambridge Philosophical Society.
I conceive that to demonstrate that all matter is heavy,
is, in other words, to prove that all matter is aidowed with
attraction of gravitation, or that general property which,
when it causes bodies to tend towards the centre of tibe earth,
is called weight. Hence to assert that all matter is heavy, is
no more than to say, that attraction of gravitation exists
between all or any masses of matter.
You say, '' it may be urged that we have no difficulty
in conceiving of matter which is not heavy." I have no hesita-
tion in asserting, that there should be no difficulty in enter-
taining such a conception; since I cannot understand why any
two masses may not be as readily conceived to repel as to
attract eadi other, or neither to attract nor to repel. Is it not
easier to imagine two remote masses indiff er»it to each other,
than that they act upon each other? Is anything more difficult
to understand than that a body can act where it is not?
It is also mentioned by you, that it may be urged '' that
inertia and weight are two separate properties of matter/*
Now I will not only urge, but also, with all due deference,
will undertake to show, that tiie existence of inertia may as
well be proven, and its quantity estimated, by means of
repulsion as by means of attraction.
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480 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
Suppose two bodies, A and B, to be endowed with
reciprocal attraction; or, in other words, to gravitate towards
each other. Being placed at a distance, and then allowed to
approach, if, after any given time, it were found that they
had moved severally any ascertained distances, evidently their
relative inertias would be considered as inversely as those
distances.
In the next place, let us suppose two bodies, X and
Y, endowed with the opposite force of reciprocal repulsion,
to be placed in proximity, and then allowed to fly apart. The
distances run through by tliem severally, being, at any given
time, determined, might not their respective inertias be taken
to be inversely as those distances; so that the question would
be as well ascertained in this case, as in that above stated in
which gravitaticm should be resorted to as the test?
It seems to me that this question is sufficiently answered,
in the affirmative, in your second paragraph, page 269, in
which you allege, that '^ one body has twice as much inertia
as another, if when the same force acts upon it for the same
Urns, it acquires but half the velocity. This is the funda-
mental conception of inertia/*
In ihe third paragraph you say, " that the quantity of
matter is measured by those sensible properties of nustter
which undergo quantitative addition, subtraction, and dim-
sion, as the matter is added, subtracted, or divided, the quasi^
Hty of mMter cannot be known in any other way; but this
mode of measuring the quantity of nudter in order to be true
at all, must be true universally/*
Also your fourth paragraph, fifth page, concludes with
this allegation, ^ and thus we have proved that if there be any
kind of m4ttter which is not heavy, the weight can no longer
avail us, in any case to any ewtent, as the measure of the
quantity of mutter/*
In reply to these allegations let me inquire, cannot a
matter exist of which the sensible properties do not admit of
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818^1847 481
being measured by human means? Because some kinds of
matter can be measiured by "' those sensible qualities ^diich
undergo quantitative addition, subtraction and division,'' does
it follow that there may not be matter which is incapable of
being thus measured? And wherefore would the method of
obtaining philosophical truth be '' futile '' in the one case,
because inapplicable in the other? Because the inertias of
A and B have been discovered, by means of their gravitation,
does it follow that the inertias of X and Y cannot be discov-
ered by their self-repellent power? Why should the inap-
plicability of gravitation in the one case render its employ-
ment futile in the other?
It is self-evident, that matter without weight cannot
be estimated by weig^bing, but I daiy that on that account
such weightless matter may not be otherwise estimated. The
inertia of A and B cannot be better measured by gravitation
than those of X and Y by repulsion, as already shown.
You seem to infer, in paragraph second, page sixth,
that we should be equally destitute of the means of measur-
ing matter accurately, '' were any kind of matter heavy in-
deed, hut not %o heavy, in proportion to its quantity of matter ,
a$ other hinds/*
If in the case of all matter weight be admitted to be
the only measure of quantity, it were inconsistent to suppose
any given quantity of matter, of any kind; but upon what
other than a conventional basis is it to be assumed, that there
is more matter in a cubic inch of platinum than in a cubic
inch of tin; in a cubic inch of mercury than in a cubic inch
of iron? Judging by the chemical efficacy of the masses,
although the weight of mercury is to that of iron as 18.6 to 8,
there are more equivalents of the latter than the former in
any given bulk, since by weight twenty-eight parts of iron are
equivalent to two hundred and two parts of mercury.
Weight is one of the properties of certain kinds of mat-
ter, and has been advantageously resorted to, in prefer-
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482 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
ence to any oilier property, in estimating the quantity of the
matter to which it appertains. Nevertheless, measurement
by bulk is found expedient or necessary in many cases. But
may we not appeal to any general property ^diich admits
of being measured or estimated? Faraday has inferred that
the quantity of electricity, is as the quantity of gas which
it evolved. Light has been considered as proportional in
quantity to the surface which it illuminates with a given
intensity at a certain distance. The quantity of caloric has
been held to be directly as the weight of water which it will
render aeriform; and has also been estimated by the degree
of its expansive or thermometric influence. What scale-
beam is more delicate than the thermoscope of Meloni?
In ihe last paragraph but cme, seventh page, you sug-
gest that '^ perhaps some persons might conceive that the
identity of weight and inertia is obvious at once, for both are
merely resistance to motion; inertia, resistance to all motion,
or change of motion; weight resistance to motion upwards/*
I am surprised that you should think the opinion of
any person worthy of attention, who should entertain so
narrow a view of weight, as antagonist of momaitum, as tliat
above quoted, '^ that it is a resistance to motion upwards/'
Agreeably to the definiticm, given at the commencement of
the letter, weight, in its usual practical sense, is only one
case of the general force which causes all ponderable masses
of matter to gravitate towards each other, and whidi is of
course liable to resist any conflicting motion, whatever may
be the direction. When in the form of solar attraction, it
overcomes that inertia of the planets which would otherwise
cause them to leave iheir orbits, does gravitati<m ^^ resist
motion upwards? **
In the next paragraph you allege, that '* there is a
difference in these two lands of resistance to motion. Inertia
is instantaneous, weight is continuous resistance/*
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 4S8
It is to this allegation I object, that as you have de-
fined inertia to be '^ resistance to motion, or to change of
motion/^ it follows that it can be instantaneous only where
the impulse which it resists is instantaneous. It cannot be
less continuous than ihe force by which it is overcome.
Gravity has been considered as acting upon falling
bodies by an infinity of impulses, each producing an adequate
acceleration; but to every such accelerating impulse, produc-
ing of course a '^change of motion/* will there not be a com-
mensiurate resistance from inertia? And the impulses and re-
sistances being both infinite, will not one be as continuous
as the other?
I have already adverted to inertia as the continuous
antagonist of solar attraction in the case of revolving planets.
Agreeably to Mossotti, the creation consists of two kinds
of matter, of which the homogeneous particles are mutu-
ally repeUent, the heterogeneous mutually attractive. Con-
sistently with this h3rpothesis, per se, any matter must be im-
ponderable ; being endowed with a property the very opposite
of attraction of gravitation. This last mentioned property
exists between masses consisting of both kinds of particles, so
far as the attraction between the heterogeneous atoms pre-
dominates over the repulsion between those which are homoge-
neous. It would foUow from these premises, that all matter is
ponderable or otherwise, accordingly as it may be situated.
Can the ether by whidi, according to the undulatory
theory, light is transmitted, consist of ponderable matter?
Were it so, would it not be attracted about the planets with
forces proportioned to their weight, respectively? and be-
coming of unequal density, would not the diversity in its
density, thus arising, affect its undulations, as the transmission
of sound is influenced by any variations in the density of
the aeriform fluid by which it is propagated?
With esteem, I am yours truly,
Robert Habe.''
is
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484 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
Among the contributions made in 1847 by Hare was one
entitled, '^ On Free Electricity/* in which appear the fol-
lowing thoughts, disclosing ihe author's wonderful grasp of
his subject:
'^Practically there is a striking difference between the
excitement of an electrified insulated conductor, the prime
conductor of an electrical machine for instance, and the diarge
of a coated pane or Leyden jar. In the <me case diruptive
discharge is productive of a comparatively short thick spark,
in Hhe oilier of a spark distinguished by comparative length
and tenuity. The discharge from the pan or jar is produc-
tive, for equal surfaces, of a much greater shock than could
result from a spark ten times as long, from the conductor of
the machine by which the electricity is generated. And yet
if the intensity be inversely as the square of the striking dis-
tance, it must be a hundred times as great in the case of the
conductor as in that of the coated surfaces.
Electricity, as it exists in the conductor, has been called
free: as it exists about the coated pane, has been called simu-
lated or disguised. Yet Faraday has alleged '' that the charge
upon an insulated conductor in ilie middle of a room, has the
same relation to the walls of that room, as ilie charge upon
the inner coating of a Leyden jar has to ilie outer coating of
the same jar.'' "" The one is not more dissimulated than the
other." "As yet no means of communicating electricity to
a conductor, so as to place its particles in relation to one
electricity and not at ilie same time to ilie other, in an equal
amount, has been discovered."
It seems to me that these opinions of Faraday have been
judiciously criticized by Mr. Goodman in the London and
Edinburgh Philosopliical Magazine and Journal, Ycd.
XXIV, p. 174
It appears likewise that opinions harmonizing with those
of Mr. Gk>odman, have been entertained by Charles V.
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818^1847 480
Walker, Hon. Sec. L. C. S., as may be seen in the Proceed-
ings, Dec. 20, 1842. Agreeably to Mr. Walker, lightning
resembles the discharge from a prime conductor, not that
which takes place between the surfaces of a coated pane or jar,
I will proceed to state the considerations which induce me
to concur in opinion with Mr. Goodman and Mr. Walker.
If two sufficiently remote insulated metallic disks, such as
usually enter into the construction of an electrophorus, by
due communication with the rubber and collecting points,
be made to serve, one as the positive, the oilier as the negative
conductor of an electrical machine in operaticm, a diruptive
discharge from either may be obtained, by the approxima-
tion of an uninsulated coiMiucting body, or one conmiunicat-
ing with one conductor while approximated to the other.
When lliis discharge takes place from a small knob on the
positive side, to a large one aa the negative side, of the cir-
cuit, the resulting spark is comparatively long, and by its
zigzag form represents lightning in miniature.
If, in the next place, a sufficiently large pane of glass
being interposed, the disks be made to serve as a coating to
the glass, the surfaces of the pane which they touch will be-
come oppositely charged. If immediately after the charging
is effected, both disks being insulated, the knuckle of the op-
erator, or any other conducting body in conmiunication with
the earth, be approached to either disk, a spark will pass, and
on contact, a certain portion of electricity will be discharged.
Hiis is what I would call free electricity: but on making a
conducting communication between the disks acting as coat-
ings, a much larger discharge of electricity will take place.
This is what I would call neutralized or dissimulated elec-
tricity. But the ratio in quantity of the latter to the former,
varies evidently with the thickness of ilie pane or panes which
may be interposed; so as to be inversely as the square of the
distances of the charged surfaces. If a stratum of air per-
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4S6 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
f onn the part allotted as above to the panes, the same law
must hold good. But when instead of flat disks, corre-
sp<mding in size and shape, we substitute a cylindrical or
globular metallic mass, such as is generally used for the prime
conductor of an electrical machine, on the one side, and on the
other side the walls, floor, and ceiling of a room, for the other
surface, evidently the ratio of the free electricity to that which
can be neutralized must be enormously gteat. Supposing
the glass pane to be one-tenth of an inch in lliickness, the dis-
tance between the surfaces of the conductor and the puietes
of the room to be ten feet, the quantity of electricity neu-
tralized in the case of the pane will be to that neutralized
in the case of the conductor as the square of one to ilie square
of twelve hundred inversely; or in other words, nearly as a
million and a half to one. It follows that in the phenomena
of discharges from a prime conductor the neutralizing or
dissimulating influence of the conducting superficies op-
posed to it must be too small to be regarded.
The allegation of Faraday, that no mode has been dis-
covered by which to place the particles of a conductor in rela-
tion to one electricity, and not at the same time to the other,
is verified, as Mr. Goodman has observed, when the friction
between the rubber and glass takes place. The glass be-
comes positive to precisely the same extent as the rubber
becomes negative; but when the vitreous surface thus excited
moves away from the rubber, the compensating electricity of
the rubber being no longer at hand, that upon the glass can-
not realize Faraday's idea, excepting so far as it may be
competent to act upon the walls, ceiling, and floor of the
apartment, as electricity on the inner surface of a Leyden
jar acts upon the outer surface. But in the case in point,
the electric interposed is so enormously thick, compared witii
the glass in a Licyden jar, that very little of the inductive
influence can avail to produce an opposite state tending to
neutralize the electrical excitement '' to an equal amount.''
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 487
Just so far as it can produce an equivalent opposite state,
it becomes dissimulated or neutralized; so far as it does not,
it is free, or, in other words, exercises that uncompensated
activity which has, in my opinion, justified the distinction
made between free and dissimulated, neutralized, or latent
electricity.
It will be perceived that I concur with Mr. Walker in
the opinion, that on account of the distance of thunder clouds
from the earth, the electricity which they may acquire is too
remote from the terrestrial surface to induce in this an op-
posite electrical state, capable of neutralizing the electricity
of the doud beyond a minute proportion.
There seems to be an obvious means of discrimination
between free and neutralized electricity, in the fact, that one
is associated with the surface of a conductor, so as to accom-
pany it when moved, while the neutralized electricity is in-
separable from the superficies of the electric, through the
intervention of which it exists. It is well known that the
coatings of a pane or jar may be removed without disturbing
the charge which may have been imparted by their pres^ice.
Yet if removed after the pane is fully saturated, each coat-
ing will hold a charge which it will give out in a spark to any
uninsulated body, without any reference to the other coat-
ing which may meanwhile be remote and insulated from all
communication with it. The spark thus yielded has the char-
acteristics of free electricity. Having served as a part of
the conductor, with which it had conmiunicated, the coating
is surcharged in proportion to its capacity, and gives up the
redundancy on communicating with the earth, without any
reference to the oilier coating. The spark tilius given I con-
ceive to have the characteristics of free electricity.
In the case of electric accumulations in the atmosphere,
there can be no substitute for the service performed by glass
in Leyden charges but that which air can render; and it can
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488 THE LIFE OF BOBERT HARE
hardly be conceived that while agitated, as it is during thunder
gusts, a stratum of that fluid can perform the part of a glass
pane."
Early in 1847 Hare adverted to his "" hydro-oxygen blow
pipe/' particularly with reference to improvements in its ccn-
structioh and to ihe fusion of metals of the platinum group.
He speaks of the ** ccmtrivance of two modes of producing a
jet consisting of a mixture of hydrogen with oxygen. Agree-
ably to aae mode, the gaseous currents meeting like the
branches of a river, were made analogously to form a ocHnmon
stream. This object was accomplished by means of per-
forations drilled in a ccmical f rustrum of pure silver, so as
to converge until met by another shorter perforation, com-
mencing at the opposite surface and so extended as to joia
them at the point of their meeting. The other mode was
that of causing one tube to be within another, so as to be con-
centric; the outer tube being a littie the longer of tiie two, the
latter being employed for hydrogen, the other for oxygen.^'
It may suffice to add that the perfected apparatus enabled
Hare to accomplish most remarkable results in the way of
melting and purifying several of the platinum metals.
Now, we approadi a momentous period. On Monday,
May 10, 1847, Hare requested the Dean of his faculty (the
medical) to convene his colleagues. At the ^isuing meeting
he announced his determination to resign his '"situation as pro-
fessor of ch^nistry,'' and at the same time desired the Faculty
to consider the resignation as already made and to take action
accordingly.
There is no known reason given for this step. He was
in perfect sjonpaihy with his immediate associates and witii
the governing Board. There is not anywhere a sign of dis-
satisfaction on either side, so that about the only conclusion
at which one will arrive is that he had become weary of
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SECOND PERIOD, 1818-1847 489
the stupendous burden which he carried. His period in Uni-
versity service had been full of difiSculties and trying labors.
He, llieref ore, at the age of sixty-five condudoi to retire.
His going was most deeply regretted by his colleagues. In
his absence they adopted the following resoluticms unani-
mously:
1. Resolved, that the Medical Faculty in receiving notice
of Dr. Hare's determination to resign his Professorship, re-
tain the strongest sense of the zealous, unremitting and liberal
efforts made by him, to render his branch efficient and in-
structive, and of the distinguished ability he has exhibited as
a chemist; — ^also, that they have a most friendly recollection
of the many gratifying circumstances arising from their con-
nection with him, and the greatest regard for his high and
honorable personal qualities.
2. Resolved, that the honorable Board of Trustees be
respectfully requested to bestow upon Dr. Hare, as a mark
of the just estimation, in which he is held in this Institution,
and of his faithful services, the honorable title of Emeritus
Professor of Chemistry.
Hare's letter of resignation, dated May 10, 1847, to tiie
Dean of the Medical Faculty read:
I hereby tender my resignation of the Professorship,
which for 29 years I have held under your auspices in the
Medical Department, with a grateful sense of the kindness,
^diich I have experienced from you individually as well as
collectively. I am
Yours respectfully,
BoBEBT Habe."
This letter was transmitted to the Board of Trustees. At
their meeting held May 15, 1847, the following resolution
was unanimously adopted:
'^ Resolved, that in accepting the resignation of Dr. Hare,
after an uninterrupted connection of 29 years, the Board
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440 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
cannot refrain from expressing to him, their hi^ regard
for his character, their deep sense of the eminent services
which he has rendered to science, and to tiie University of
Pennsylvania, and their earnest wishes for his future
happiness."
" Resolved that the appointment of Emeritus Professor
of Chemistry be conferred upon Doctor Hare."
And thus passed from the University circle one of its
most conscientious, devoted and eminent members — one of
its most brilliant inteUectual ornaments. His originality
in thought and experiment was recognized everywhere
throughout the learned and scientific world. He retired per-
manently. The only vestige now of his presence in the Uni-
versity is an old brass cannon used in demonstrating tiie
explosibility of a mixture of hydrogen and air, or hydrogen
and oxygen. For years the writer has insisted upon exhibit-
ing this relic to his classes in elementary diemistry, largely
because of his profound respect for the discoveries and per-
sonality of the subject of this biographical sketch. But the
vast apparatus whidi ast<mished all who were so fortunate
as to behold it, found place elsewhere (p. 214) . Henceforth,
the work of the renowned experimenter was to be carried
forward in the laboratory in his own home.
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THIRD PERIOD
1847-1858
This, the shortest period in the life history of Robert
Hare, is marked by variety. The labors attendant upon his
professorship being now disposed of, he was free to occupy
his time as he pleased. It is interesting to find that he very
promptly addressed himself to a rather difficult problem,
submitting his views as usual to the judgment of his constant
friend Silliman, through whose Journal he then made his
argument before the general public. This first commimica-
tion as Professor Emeritus is highly speculative, elaborate
and exhaustive. It bears the title, '' Objections to the
Theories Severally of Franklin, Du Fay and Amp^e, with
an Effort to Explain Electrical Phenomena by Statical or
Undulatory Polarization." To it is appended a summary
whidi may be here incorporated:
" The theories of Franklin, Du Fay and Ampere, are
irreconcilable with the premises on which they are founded,
and with facts on all sides admitted.
A charge of f rictional electricity, or that species of elec-
tric excitement which is produced by friction, is not due to
any accumulation, nor to any deficiency either of one or of
two fluids, but to the opposite polarities induced in impon-
derable ethereal matter existing throughout space however
otherwise void, and likewise condensed more or less within
ponderable bodies, so as to enter into combination with their
particles, forming atoms which may be designated as ethereo-
ponderable.'
Frictional charges of electricity seek the surfaces of bodies
to which they may be imparted, without sensibly affecting the
ethereo-ponderable matter of which they consist.
When surfaces thus oppositely charged, or in other words,
441
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442 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
having about them oppositdiy polarized ethereal atmospheres,
are made to commmiicate, no current takes place, nor any
transfer of the polarized matter : yet any conductor touching
both atmospheres, furnishes a diamnel through which the op-
posite polarities are reciprocally neutralized by being com-
municated wave-like to an intermediate point.
Galvano-electric discharges are likewise effected by waves
of opposite polarization, without any flow of matter meriting
to be called a curr^tit.
But such waves are not propagated superficially through
the purely ethereal medium; they occur in masses formed
both of the ethereal and ponderable matter. If the genera-
tion of f rictional electricity, sufficient to influence the gold
leaf electrometer, indicates that there are some purely ethereal
waves caused by the galvano-electric reacticm, such waves
arise from the inductive influence of those created in the
ethereo-ponderable matter.
When the intensity of a frictional discharge is increased
beyond a certain point, the wire remaining the same, its
powers become enfeebled or destroyed by ignition, and ulti-
mately deflagration: if the diameter of the wire be increased,
the surface proportionally augmented, enables more of the
ethereal waves to pass superficially, producing proportionally
less ethereo-ponderable undulation.
Magnetism, when staticMiary, as in magnetic needles and
other permanent magnets, appears to be owing to an endur-
ing polarization of the ethereo-ponderable atoms, like that
transiently produced by a galvanic discharge.
The magnetism transiently exhibited by a galvanized wire,
is due to oppositely polarizing impulses, severally proceed-
ing wave-like to an intermediate part of the circuit where
reciprocal neutralization ensues.
When magnetism is produced by a frictional disdbarge
operating upon a conducting wire, it must be deemed a second-
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THIRD PERIOD, 1847-1858 443
ary effect, arising from the polarizing influence of the etiier-
eal waves upon the ethereo-ponderable at<Hns of the wire.
Such waves pass superficially in preference; but when the
wire is comparatively small, the reaction between the waves
and ethereo-ponderable atoms becomes sufficiently powerful
to polarize them, and thus render them competent, for an ex-
tremely minute period of time, to produce all the affections
of a galvano-electric current, whether of ignition, of elec-
trolysis or magnetization. Thus, as the ethereo-ponderable
waves produce such as are purely ethereal, so purely ethereal
waves may produce such as are ethereo-ponderable.
The polarization of hair upon electrified scalps is sup-
posed to be due to a superficial association with the surround-
ing polarized ethereal atoms, while that of iron filings, by a
magnet or galvanized wire, is conceived to arise from the
influence of polarized ethereo-ponderable atoms, consisting of
ethereal and ponderable matter iii a state of combination.
Faradian discharges are as truly the effects of ethereo-
ponderable polarization, as those from an electrified conduc-
tor, or coated surfaces of glass, are due to static ethereal
polarization. . . .
It is well known that if a rod of iron be included in a coil
of coated copper wire, on making the coil the medium of a
voltaic disdiarge, the wire is magnetized. Agreeably to a
communication from Joule, in the L. and E. Phil. Mag.
and Journal for Feb., 1847, the bar is at the same time length-
ened, without any augmentation of bulk; so that its other
dimensions must be lessened in proportion to the elongation.
All these facts tend to prove that a change in tiie relative
position of the ccMistituent ethereo-ponderable atoms of iron,
accompanies its magnetization, either as an immediate cause,
or as a collateral effect."
Some of Hare's leisure was given to social intercourse,
as appears from the following letter of 1848:
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444 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
" Edgewood near Pdham Poet Office
" My dear Silliman: " Westchester 6 New York.
Mrs. Hare and myself are making a visit to our Daughter,
Mrs. Prime. I should be glad to hear how you are, and how
far you are capable of giving me some time should I pay
you a visit, as New Haven is only two hours from this place
by the rail way.
I should like to find your son at home if I am still to
consider New Haven as his home. It is possible that Mrs.
Hare either with or without me may make a trip to Niagaite
this summer and thence to Montreal and Quebec. We have
also a visit to Miss Gibbs and to our son in Maryland in con-
templation. You will perceive that our hands are full, or
more properly our minds, for it is not always that we realize
all we contemplate.
I sent to you a pamphlet some time since and hoped it
reached you. Yours faithfully
Robert Hake."
It is further quite probable that it was during the visit
just indicated that he wrote in great part or perhaps even
completed a novel called '' Standish the Puritan/* by Eldred
Grayson, Esq., his pen name, although the book did not ap-
pear in print until 1850. It was published by Harper and
Brothers of New York.
It is a tale of the American Revolution. It has as prom-
inent characters, about whom the plot is mainly developed,
three college class mates. They experience all sorts of ad-
ventures and changes which have been very interestingly de-
picted. The scenes are laid about, and not far from. New
York City. The story occupies 820 pages.
In sketches of Hare, in encyclopedias, it is often said
that he wrote frequently for the Portfolio under his pen
name. Diligent search has been made in this publication.
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THIRD PERIOD, 1847-1858 445
but nothing of a certainty discovered. One or two stories
seem to the writer to read as if they had emanated from Hare.
There exist those ear-marks which would indicate this. How-
ever, it was thought best not to so regard them for fear of
making a mistake or doing an injustice to another person.
There is nowhere any evidence of the manner in which
Hare became interested in meteorological phenomena. How-
ever, it may be conjectiured that his constant interest in
natural phenomena and the presence of electrical conditions
influenced him. Wherever electricity was a subject of dis-
cussion ; wherever it entered — ^there it was pretty certain that
his thought would be enlisted. This particular chapter in his
scientific activities is somewhat remote from chemistry, but
as physics also received his homage, these particular con-
tributions should not be passed without consideration.
In a communication (1822),^ his first probably, relating
to meteorological matters, he discussed the north-east and
north-west winds. To abridge this communication would be
to mar its excellence, so it appears almost in extenso:
'' Of the gales experienced in the Atlantic States of North
America," he said, '' those from the north-east and north-
west are by far the most influential; the one remarkable for
its dr3mess; the other for its humidity. During a north-
western gale, the sky, imless at its commencement, is always
peculiarlyclear,andnot only water, but ice evaporates rapidly.
A north-west wind, when it approaches at all to the nature of a
durable gale, is always accompanied by clouds, and usually
by rain or snow."
For this striking diversity of character he accounts in this
way:
'' When to the lower strata of a non-elastic fluid, heat is
unequally applied, the consequent difference of density (re-
sulting from the unequal expansion,) soon causes movements,
^ Jr. Acad. Natural Sciences, Phila.
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446 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
by which the oolder portions diange phices with ihe warmer.
These being cooled, resume their previous situation, and are
again displaced by being again made warmer. Thus, the
temperature reversing the situations, and these reversing the
temperatures, a circulation is kept up tending to restore
equilibrium. Precisely similar would be the case with our
atmosphere, were it not an elastic fluid, and dependent for
its density on pressure, as well as heat. Its temperature
would be far more uniform than at present, and all its varia-
tions would be gradual. An interdiange of position would
incessantly take place, between the colder air of the upper
regions, and the warmer, and of course lighter air near the
earth's surface, where the most heat is evolved from the solar
rays. Currents would incessantly set from the poles to the
equator below, and fnxn the equator to the poles above. Sudb
currents would constitute our only winds, unless where moun-
tains might produce some deviations. Violent gales, squalls,
or tornadoes, would never ensue. Grcntler movements would
anticipate theuL But the actual character of the air with
respect to elasticity, is diametrically the opposite of that whidi
we have supposed. It is perfectly elastic. Its density is
dependent on pressure, as well as on heat, and it does not
follow, that air which may be heated in consequence of its
proximity to the earth, will give place to colder air frcwn
above. The pressure of the atmosphere varying with the
elevation, one stratimi of air may be as much rarer by diminu-
tion of pressure, consequent to its altitude, as denser by the
cold, consequent to its remoteness from the earth, another
may be as much denser by the increased pressure arising from
its proximity to the earth, as rarer by being warmer. Hence
when unequally heated, different strata of the atmosphere
do not always disturb each other. Yet after a time, the rare-
faction in the lower stratum, by greater heat, may so far ex-
ceed that in an upper stratimi attendant on an inferior degree
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THIRD PERIOD, 1847-1858 447
of pressure, that this stratum may preponderate, and begin
to descend. Whenever such a movement commences, it must
proceed with increasing velocity; for the pressure on the
upper stratum and of course its density and weight, increases
as it falls ; while the density and weight of the lower stratum,
must lessen as it rises. Hence the change is, at times, so
much accelerated as to assimie the characteristics of a tornado,
squall or hurricane. In like manner may we suppose, the
predominant gales of our climate to originate. Dr. Franklin
long ago noticed, that north-eastern gales are felt in the
south-westernmost portions of the continent first, the time of
their commencement being found later, as the place of ob-
servation is more to the leeward. This need not surprise us,
as it is evident that a current may be produced either by a
pressure from behind, or by a hiatus consequent to a removal
of a portion of the fluid from before.
The Gulf of Mexico is an immense body of water, warm
in the first place by its latitude, in the second place by its
being a receptacle of the current produced by the trade winds,
which blow in sudi a direction as to propel the warm water
of the torrid zone into it, causing it to overflow and produce
the celebrated Gulf Stream, by the ejection to the north-
east, of the excess received from the south-east. This stream
runs away to the northward and eastward of the United
States, producing an unnatural warmth in the ocean, as well
as an impetus, which according to Humboldt, is not expended
until the current reaches the shores of Africa, and even mixes
with the parent flood under the equator. The head of the
Gulf Stream enables mariners to ascertain by the thermom-
eter when they have entered it: and in winter this heat, by in-
creasing the solvent power of the adjoining air, loads it with
moisture, is precipitated in those well known fogs, with which
the north-eastern portion of our continent, and the neighbor-
ing seas and islands, especially Newfoundland and its banks.
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448 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
are so much infested. An accumulation of warm water in the
Gulf of Mexico, adequate thus to influence the ocean at tiie
distance of 2000 miles, may be expected in its vicinity to hare
effects proportionably powerful. The air immediately over the
Gulf must be heated, and surcharged with aqueous particles.
Thus it will become comparatively light; first because it
is comparatively warm, and in the next place because aqueous
vapour, being much lighter than the atmospheric air, causes
levity by its admixture.
Tet the density arising from inferiority of situation in
the stratum of air immediately over the Gulf, compared with
that of the volumes of the fluid lying upon the mountainous
country beyond it, may to a certain extent, more than make
up for the influence of the heat and moisture derived from
the Gulf: but violent winds must arise so socm as these
causes predominate over atmospheric pressure, so far as to
admit the cold air of the mountains to be heavier.
When instead of the air covering a small portion of the
mountainous or table land in Spanish America, that of the
whole north-eastern portion of the North American con-
tinent, is excited into motion, the effects cannot but be equally
powerful, and much more permanent. The air of the adjoin-
ing country first precipitates itself upon the surface of the
Gulf, then that from more distant parts. Thus a current
from the north-eastward is produced below. In the interim
the air displaced by this current rises, and being confined by
the high land of Spanish America, and in part possibly by
the trade winds, from passing off in any southerly course, it
is of necessity forced to proceed over our part of the continent,
forming a south-western current above us. At the same
time, its capacity for heat being increased by the rarefaction
arising from its altitude, much of its moisture will be pre-
cipitated, and the lower stratum of the south-western cur-
rent mixing with the upper stratum of the cold north-eastern
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THIRD PERIOD, 1847-1858 449
current below, there must be a prodigious condensation of
aqueous vapour. If it be demanded, wherefore does this
change produce north-eastern gales only, why have we not
northern gales accompanied by the same phencMnena? the
answer is obvious. The course of our mountains is from the
north-east to the south-west. Thus no channel is afforded
for air proceeding to the Gulf in any other course than that
north-eastern route which it actually pursues. The compe-
tency of the high lands of Mexico to prevent the escape over
them of the moist warm air displaced from the surface of
the Gulf, must be evident, from the peculiar dryness of their
climate; and the evidence of Humboldt. According to this
celebrated traveller, the clouds formed over the Gulf, never
rise to a greater height than four thousand nine hundred feet,
while the table land for many hundred leagues lies between
the elevation of seven and nine thousand feet. Consistently
with the chemical laws, which have been experimentaUy ascer-
tained to operate throughout nature, air which has been in
contact with water, can neither be cooled nor rarefied without
being rendered cloudy by the precipitation of aqueous par-
ticles. It follows then, that the air displaced suddenly frcmi
the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, by the influx of cold air
from the north-east, never rises higher than the elevation men-
tioned by Humboldt as infested by clouds. Of course, it never
crosses tibe table land which at the lowest is 2000 feet higher.
Our north-western winds are produced, no doubt, ]by the
accumulatimi of warm moist air up<Hi the surface of the ocean,
as those from the north-east are by its accumulation on the
Gulf of Mexico. But in the case of the Atlantic, there are
no mountains to roll back upon our hemisphere the air dis-
placed by the gales which proceed from it, and to impede the
impulse thus received, from reaching to the shores of Europe.
Our own mountains may procrastinate the flood, and cause
it to be more lasting and more terrific when it ensues. The
n
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450 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
course of tiie wind is naturally perpendicular to the boundary
of the aquatic region producing it, and to tiie mountainous
barrier which delays the crises, llie course of the North
American continent is like that of its mountains, f rcnn norlii-
east to south-west, and the gales in question are always nearly
north-west, or at right angles to tiie mountains and the coasts.
The dr3mess of our north-west may be ascribed not only to
its oxning from the frozen zone, where cold deprives the
air of moisture, but likewise to the circumstance above sug-
gested, that the air of tiie ocean is not like that of the Gulf,
forced back over our heads to dduge us with rain.
Other important applicaticms may be made of our chan-
ical knowledge. Thus in the immense capacity of water for
heat, especially when vapourized, we see a great magazine of
nature provided for mitigating the severity of the winter.
To cool this fluid, a much greater quantity of matter must be
equally refrigerated. Aqueous vapour is an incessant ve-
hicle for conveying the caloric of warmer climates to colder
(Mies. Mistaking the effects for the cause, snow is considered
as producing cold by the ignorant; but it has been proved
that as mudi heat is given out during the condensati<m of
aqueous vapour, as would raise twice its weight of ^ass to a
red heat. Water, in condensing from the aeriform state,
will raise ten times its bulk one hundred degrees. The quan-
tum of caloric which can raise ten bulks 100 degrees, would
raise one bulk 1000 degrees nearly (or to a red heat visible in
the day) and this is independent of tiie caloric fluidity, which
would increase the result.
Further, the quantum of heat which would raise water to
1000, would elevate an equal bulk of glass to 2000. Hence
we may infer, that from every snow, there is received twice
as much caloric as would be yielded by a like stratum of red
hot powdered glass.
It is thus that the turbulent wave, which at one moment
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THmD PERIOD, 1847-1858 461
rocks the mariner's sea-boat, on the border of the torrid zone,
transformed into a cloud and borne away towards the arctic,
soon after supports the sledge or the snow-shoe of an Esqui-
maux or Greenlander; successively cooling or warming the
surrounding media, by absorbing or giving out the material
cause of heat.'*
The next subject to engage his attention was tornadoes.
In July of 1887 a terrific tornado occurred at Perth Amboy,
N. J. Its eflFects had been observed by Profs. Henry, Tor-
rey, Johnston, A. D. Bache and Espy. Hare himself visited
the scene and wrote ** after maturely considering all the facts,
I am led to suggest that a tornado is the ejffect of an elec-
trified current of air, superseding tiie more usual means of dis-
charge between the earth and clouds in those sparks or flashes
which are called lightning. I conceive that the inevitable ef-
fect of such a current would be to counteract within its sphere
the pressure of the atmosphere, and tiius enable the fluid, in
obedience to its elasticity, to rush into the rare medium above.
It will, I believe, be admitted that whenever there is suffi-
cient electricity generated to afford a successicHi of sparks,
the quantity must be sufficient under favorable circiunstances,
to be productive of an electrical current ; and that light bodies,
lying upon one of the electrified surfaces may be attached
more or less by the other."
And of the tornado which in August, 1888, passed over
Providence, B. I., he concluded its characteristics to be quite
similar to those of tiie tornado whidi had previously fallen
upon New Brunswick, N. J.; and that they fuUy justified
his '^ opinion that the exciting cause of tornadoes is electrical
attraction.'' The tornado in Philadelphia, on July 18, 1840,
was due in his opinion to electricity as the principal reagent
in the production of the observed phenomena. And in a
verbal conmiunication before the American Philosophical
Society (1840) he told how Peltier, commenting on a tor-
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452 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
nado which visited Paris in July of that year, said a tornado
is a thunder gust in which the electricity, instead of appear-
ing as lightning, passed through a doud, acting as a con-
ductor between the earth's surface and the sky. This view
differed little from that submitted some time before by Hare
to the Society. The only difference, said Hare, was " that
the Parisian philosopher omitted to call in the electricity of
the air in the aid of the electrical forces, and his assigning
to a cloud the agency which he (Hare) had attributed to a
vertical blast of electrified air, mingled with every species
of movable matter coming within the grasp of the meteor."
Hare contended that Peltier had misapprehended his theory.
This he thought probably due to Peltier's ignorance of Eng-
lish. He further said:
'" During an examination of the track of the tornado
which ravaged the suburbs of New Haven, he had been led
to infer that the electrical discharge was concentrated upon
pwticular bodies, according to their character, or the con-
ducting nature of the soil; so that the vertical force arising
from electrical reaction, and the elasticity of the air, acted
upon them with peculiar force. Hence, while some trees
were borne aloft, others, which were situated very near them,
on either side, remained rooted in the soil. In two instances
at New Haven, wagons were especially the victims of the
electro-aerial c(»iflict. In the case of one of these, the axle-
tree was broken, and while one wheel was carried into an
adjoining field, the other was driven with so much force
iagainst tiie weather-boarding of a bam, as to leave both a
mark of the projecting hub, and of the greater porticm of
the periphery. The plates of the elliptical spring were sep-
arated from each other. During the tornado at New Bruns-
wick, the injury done to same wagons in the shop of a coadi-
maker, appeared, at the time, inexplicable. Now he inferred,
that tiie four iron wheel tires, caused, by their immense o(m-
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THIRD PERIOD, 1847-1858 453
ducting power, a confluence of the electric fluid, producing
a transient explosive rarefaction, and a subsequent afflux
of air with a local gyration of extreme violence.
It may be reasonably surmised, that the excessive injury
done to trees results, not from the general whirl, but from
a local gjrration to which they are subjected, in consequence
of the multiplicity of points which their twigs and leaves fur-
nish for the emission of the electrical fluid. The fact that
the leaves of trees thus injured, appear afterwards as if they
had been partially scorched, seems to countenance this idea.
The twisting of the chimney at New Brunswick, seems diffi-
cult to explain, agreeably to the idea of a general whirl
throughout the whole area of the tornado track. The chances
are infinitely against any chimney having its axis to coincide
with that of a great whirlwind, forming a tornado; and it
must be evident, that in any other position, it could only
be subjected to the rotary force on one side at a time. But
if this were adequate to twist the upper upon the residual
portion, the former would necessarily be overthrown. Evi-
dently, it could not be left, as was the chimney.
During the tornado at New Haven, chimneys seemed to
be especially affected. One, after being lifted, was allowed
to f aU upon a portion of the roof of the house to which it
belonged, at a distance from its previous situation too great
to have been reached had it been merely overthrown. In
the case of a church which was demolished, a portion of the
chimney was carried to a distance greater than it could have
reached without being lifted by a vertical force.
It appeared quite consistent that chimneys should be
particularly assailed, since that rarefaction, which, by oper-
ating upon the roofs of houses, carries them away, must
previoudy cause a great rush of air through the chimney
flues. But this concentration of the air must tend to facili-
tate the ''convective'' discharge in that direction, since an dec-
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454 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
trical discharge by a blast of air, is always promoted by any
mechanical peculiarities favouring an aerial current, or jet.
That in the tornado in France, articles were carried from
the inside of a locked diamber to a distance wiliiout, wfa^i no
opening existed besides that afiPbrded by a diimney, seemed
to justify the suggestion, that there must be a great rush of
air tlu^ougfa such openings.
Hare also remarked on the aurora which occurred on the
third of September, in which he suggested that tiie electric
fluid producing the phenomena then observed might have
been derived from remote parts of space.
Hare was so much interested in the tornado problem that
he had translated his own views into a communication that
he sent to each member of the National Institute. This he
did to show that Peltier's ideas were essentially identical
with his own and that Peltier was incorrect in declaring
Hare's hypothesis as defective.
Again Hare reported on the effect of the rarefaction
of air, on its desiccation and refrigeration, and on other phe-
nomena connected with the presence of aqueous vapour in
the atmosphere. He also detailed some experiments, show-
ing that the phenomena of air, heated by re-entering a re-
ceiver partially e^diausted, were more consistent, in some
respects, with the idea that a vacuum has a capacity for heat,
than that it is destitute of any appropriate portion of caloric
He adverted to the fact, that in an essay, published in
1822, he had, agreeably to the authority of Dalton and Davy,
stated, that the cold consequent on the rarefaction of air in
its ascent towards the upper strata of the atmosphere, was
one of the causes of the formation of clouds; and in his text
books he had soon after published an engraving of an ap-
paratus, by means of which he was accustomed to illustrate,
before his pupils, the transient cloud which arises from a
diminution of pressure in air containing aqueous vapour.
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THIRD PERIOD, 1847-1808 405
He had alleged, that as much caloric was given out by-
aqueous vapour, during its conversion into snow, as would
be yielded by twice the weight of red-hot powdered glass.
But Mr. Espy, he considered, had the merit of being the first
to suggest, that the heat» thus evolved, might be an impor-
tant instrument in causing a buoyancy tending to accelerate
any upward current of warm moist air.
Hare was willing to admit, that this transfer of heat
might co-operate with other causes in the production of
storms, but could not concur with Espy in considering it
competent to give rise to thunder gusts, tornadoes, or hur-
ricanes. These he had considered, and still ccmsidered, to
be miunly owing to electrical discharges between the earth
and the sky; or between one mass of clouds and another.
With a view to a more accurate estimate of the compara-
tive influence or raref acti(Hi and condensation, in causing evo-
lution of heat in dry air, and in air replete with aqueous
vapour, he had performed a nimiber of experiments, of
which he proceeded to give a description.
Large ^obes, each containing about a cubic foot of space,
furnished with thermometers and hygrometers, were made to
communicate, respectively, with reservoirs of perfectly dry
air, and of air replete with aqueous vapour. The cold, ulti-
mately acquired by any degree of rarefaction, appeared to be
the same, whether the air was in the one state or the othw;pro-
vided that the air, replete with aqueous vapour, was not in con-
tact with liquid water in the vessel subjected to exhaustion.
When water was present, in consequence of the f ormaticm of
additional vapour, and a consequent absorption of caloric, the
cold produced was nearly twice as great as when the air was
not in contact with liquid water; being nearly as 9 to 0.
Under the circumstances last menticmed, the hygrometer
was motionless ; whereas, when no liquid water was accessible,
the space, although previously saturated with vapour, by the
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456 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
removal of a portion of it together witii the air which is
withdrawn by the exhaustion acquires a capacity for more
vapour; and hence the hygrometer^ by an absrtraction of erne-
third of the air, resolved more than sixty degrees towards dry-
ness. But when a smaUer receive (after being subjected to a
diminution of pressure of about ten inches of mercury, as to
cause the index of the hygrometer to move about thirty-five
degrees toward dryness) was surrounded by a freezing mix-
ture, until a thermometer in the axis of tiie receiver stood at
three degrees below freezing, ihe hygrometer revolved to-
wards dampness, until it went about ten degrees beycxid the
point at which it rested when the process conmienced.
It appears, therefore, that the drjnoess produced by the
degree of raref acticm employed is more than counterbalanced
by a freezing temperature.
As respects the heat imparted to the air above mentioned,
the fact, that the ultimate refrigeration in the case of air
replete with vapour, and in that of anhydrous air, was equally
great, and that when water was present the cold was greater
in the damp vessel, led to the idea, that the heat arising under
such circumstances could not have much efficacy in augment-
ing the buoyancy of an ascending column of air; but when,
by an appropriate mechanism, the refrigeration was meas-
ured by the difference of pressure at the moment when the
exhaustion was arrested, and when the thermometer had be-
come stationary, it was found caeteris paribus, that the re-
duction or pressiu^e arising from cold was at least one-half
greater in the anhydrous air, than in the air replete with
vapour. This difference scans to be owing to a loan of
latent heat made by the contained moisture, or transferred
from the apparatus, by its intervention, which checks the
refrigeration; yet ultimately, the whole of the moisture being
converted into vapour, the aggregate refrigeration does not
differ in the two cases. . . .
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THIRD PERIOD, 1847-1858 457
Whai air, replete with aqueous vapour, was admitted
into a receiver partially exhausted, and containing liquid
water, a copious precipitation of moisture ensued, and a
rise of temperature greater than when perfectly dry air was
aUowed to enter a vessel containing rarefied air in the same
state. In the instance first mentioned, a portion of vapoiu*
rises into the place of that which is withdrawn during the
partial exhaustion. Hence when the air, containing its full
proportion of vapour, enters, there is an excess of vapour
which must precipitate, causing a doud, and an evolution
of latent heat from ibe aqueous particles previously in the
aeriform state. Hare conceived that as tiie enlargement
of the space occupied by a sponge, allows, proportionably, a
larger quantity of any liquid to entet* its ceUs, so any rare-
faction of the air when in contact with water, consequent on
increase of heat or diminution of pressure, permits a pro-
portionably larger volume of vapour to associate itself with
a given weight of the air. When, subsequently, by the afflux
of wind replete with aqueous vapour, tfie density of the
aggregate is increased, a portion of the vapour equivalent
to the condensation must be condensed, giving out latent
heat, excepting so far as the heat thus evolved, being retained
by the air, raises the dew point.
Hence, whenever a diminution of density of the air in-
land causes an influx of sea air to restore the equilibrium,
there may result a condensation of aqueous vapour, and evo-
lution of heat, tending to promote an ascending current.
This process being followed by that which Espy pointed out,
of the transfer of heat from vapour to air, during its ascent
to the region of the clpuds, and consequent precipitation of
moisture, might. Hare thought, be among the efficient causes
pf those non-electrical rain storms, during which the water
of the Gulf of Mexico, or of the Atlantic, is transferred to
the soil of the United States.
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458 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
Hare mentioned some additional experiments made by
him respecting the increase of temperature resulting {rom
the admission of dry air into an exhausted receiver. When
the receiver was exhausted so as to reduce the interior pres-
sure to one-fourth of that of the atmosphere, and one-fourth
was suddenly admitted, so as to reduce a gauge from ahout
22^ inches to 15 inches, heat was produced; and however
the ratio of the entering air to the residual portion was variec]^
still there was a similar result.
When the cavity of the receiver was supplied with the
vapour of etiier or with that of water, so as to form, accord-
ing to the Daltcmian hypothesis, a vacuum for the admitted
air, still heat was produced by the latter, however small might
be the quantity, or rapid the readmission. When the receiver
was exhausted, until the tension was less than that of aqueous
vapour at the existing temperature, so as to cause ibe water
to boil, as in the Cryophorus, or Leslie's experiment, still the
entrance of -^ of th^ quantity requisite to fill the receiver
caused the thermometer to rise a tenth of a degree. An
alternate motion of the key of the cock, through one-fourth
of a circle, within one-third of a second of time, was adequate
to produce the change last mentioned.
He considered the fact, that heat is produced, when to
air, rarefied to one-fourth of the atmospheric density, another
fourth is added, irreconcilable with the idea, that this result
arises from the compression of the portion of air previously
occupying the cavity, since the entering air must be as much
expended as the residual portion is condensed.
As, agreeable to Dalton, a cavity occupied by a vapour
acts as a vacuum to any air which may be introduced. Hare
argued, tiiat when a receiver, after being supplied with ether
or water, is exhausted so as to remove all tiie air and leave
nothing besides aqueous or ethereal vapour, the heat, acquired
by air admitted, cannot be ascribed, consist^itly, to the con-
densation of the vapour.
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THIRD PERIOD, 1847-1858 459
These facts, he added, are not reconcilable with the idea
of De la Rive and Marcet, that the first portion of the enter-
ing air is productive of cold, although a subsequent con-
densation is productive of an opposite change. The effect
upon the thermometer was too rapid, and the quantity of the
entering air too minute, to allow it to be refrigerated by rare-
faction in the first place, and yet afterwards to be so much
condensed as to become warm by the evolution of caloric.
Notwithstanding the experiments of Gay Lussac and of
those of De la Rive and Marcet, there appeared to him to be
evidence in favour of the heat being due to the space, rather
than to the air which it contained.
With respect to Gay Lussac's celebrated experiment with
the Torricellian vacuimi, supposing such a vacuimi to be a
pre-^ninently good liberator of heat, as it ought in reason
to be, the caloric would be absorbed by the mercury as rapidly
as this metal could be made to encroach upon tiie space
occupied by the calorific particles.
Admitting that, for equal wei^ts, the specific heat of
air is seven times as great as that of mercury, there could
not have been a capacity greater than that of about 200
grains of the metal, whereas a very small stratum of this
metal, equal to one-fourth of an inch would, in the apparatus
employed, amount to more than a pound.
The rapidity with which a mercurial thermometer is
affected by the changes of temperature, in experiments like
those whidi he had been describing, showed in Hare's opinion,
that there was something not yet understood respecting the
transfer of heat in such cases. It was hardly reconcilable
with the process of conduction or circulation, as ordinarily
understood.
In the experiments of De la Rive and Marcet, in which
the entering air being made to impinge upon the bulb of a
thermometer, was productive of a fall in the thermometric
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460 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
oolumn, it might be inferred, he conceived, that the bulb
interfered with the access of caloric from the space. It was
in fact the bulb upon which the air acted previously to its
distribution in the space where it could have encountered
the due proportion of caloric."
At another time he referred to observations on the sus-
pension of clouds ''made by me last summer (1841) in
Switzerland/' when he gave as his opinion that " clouds were
constantly forming and dissolving masses of vapour." He
remarked that '' although there were occasionally two differ-
ent sets of clouds pertaining severally to different currents
of air, one above the other, — ^usually, in fair weather, there
was but one set. In either case all the clouds belonging to
one current are seen to be situated somewhere between two
levels. Above the space, included between these levels, none
are seen to rise; nor are any observed to sink below its lower
boundary. It was conceived that the causes of this per-
sistence of the clouds between two horizontal planes, of which
the lower one is usually more than a mile in height, had never
been satisfactorily assigned.
Agreeably to the prevalent impression that clouds are
enduring masses of condensed aqueous vapour, their specific
gravity ouj^t to be much greater than that of the subjacent
cloudless air, over which they swim; since the little watery
bubbles of which they are formed, consist, not only of the
air with which they are inflated, but also of a liquid 840 times
as heavy. But he had of late years observed that clouds are
not as durable as generally supposed. On tiie contrary, like
the steam condensed in escaping from boiling water, they are
incessantly forming by the condensation of aqueous vapour,
and disappearing in consequence of its being vaporized again*
A cloud may appear to cling to the brow of a mountain,
sometimes for more than an hour; when, on closer examina-
tion, it may be discovered that, as one portion appears^
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THIRD PERIOD, 1847-1858 461
another vanishes, and that the apparent durability is due to
the equality of the causes of condensation and revaporiza-
tion. He had enjoyed a fine opportunity of verifjring this
view of the subject, when involved within a cloud on the
summit of the Rhigi. It was quite evident, that what might,
at a distance, be mistaken for an enduring mass of condensed
moisture, such as is called a cloud, was really due to a current
of air, saturated with aqueous vapour, which was rushing
up the mountain side. As this current reached a level at
which the temperature was below its dew point, the contained
vapour was converted by condensation into a cloud; but as it
attained a higher level, where the dew point was sufficiently
low to compensate for the cold, the moisture was made to
resume the aeriform state.
As in condensing, steam relinquishes as much heat as
would make it red-hot, if retained while under sufficient pres-
sure to keep it in the liquid state, it follows that, as the cloud
is formed, the temperature of the air with whidi it is asso-
ciated is raised so much as to produce a buoyancy which
enables it to float or even to ascend; but as soon as it reaches
a point where the air is so devoid of aqueous vapour as to
permit it to be revaporized, a proporticmable refrigeration
and increase of density ensues. Thus the buoyancy pro-
duced at one level, is compensated by a commensurate op-
posite influence at another. Of course, the clouds are always
seen to occupy an interval between two horizontal planes,
one above the other. As soon as the aqueous vapour of the
air rises above the lower plane it condenses; before the cloud
thus produced can get beyond the upper one it is reconverted
into vapour.
When the causes of condensation are more potent than
those of revaporization, rain ensues; when the opposite is the
case, there must be a tendency to fair weather.
Although of opinion that in hurricanes and other violent
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4M THE LIFE OF BOBERT HABE
rain stonns, there must be an exdbange of position between
Ae lower and upper strata of the air, he conceived that
dioweny unaccompanied by gaks or squalls, were to be ex-
plained as above suggested
He omceded that there mij^t be more than one cause for
the buoyancy of douds, for Thomson, he said, in his treatise
respecting Heat and Electricity, suggested electricity as a
cause. The fact demonstrated by the acperiment, the re-
sults of wiiich had been communicated to the Society, that
moisture does not render air a conductor of electricity, gives
support to this view of the subject; espedaUy since it has
been discov^ed, that in condensing, steam becomes highly
electrified. It seems inevitable that the aqueous globules,
of wiiich clouds are constituted, must separate from eadi
other, as pith balls are seen to do when similarly excited;
and that the particles of air with wiiich they are associated
must be similarly actuated; hence a cause of rarefacticm, and
of course of buoyancy. Another cause might co-operate. It
is known that radiatimi of heat, wiiich causes dew and s<xne-
times hoar-frost, is so completely checked by clouds, that the
last mentioned phenomenmi nev» takes place whai the sky
is overcast. Moreover, it is known that the solar rays pass
through the air without imparting heat, until intercepted by
solids or liquids. It follows that the air in which clouds are
situated, will be warmer than that above and below them.
Thus radiant heat and electricity may pnnnote their
buoyancy; nevertheless their persistency between two levels
must be ascribed to the process noticed on the summit of
the Rhigi.
Espy had the merit of drawing the attention of meteor-
ologists more strcmgly to the fact, previously made known
by Dalton that, altliough cold is produced by the rarefac-
tion of air containing vapour, yet the reducticm of tempera-
ture is less, whenever the vapour is condensed, than it would
have been in an air free from vapour.
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THIRD PERIOD, 1847-1858 468
In adopting this explanation Hare had been prompted
by his knowledge of Espy's suggestions founded on those
of Dalton, so far as a superior temperature had been ascribed
to the air containing a recent cloud.
In the year 1842 Redfield entered upon a study of storms.
He maintained '' that tornadoes and hurricanes are all ^diirl-
winds." Hare contended that grave improbabilities were
herein involved, because in explaining them by reference to
the '" simple conditions of the great law of gravitation," the
agency of electricity is neglected, and '' the theory of calorific
rarefaction " was renounced. Hare declared iJiat gravita-
tion '' in lieu of being . . . the main basis of winds and
storms, tends to produce that equal distribution of the atmos-
phere over the surface of the globe on which I have insisted."
He then proceeds, '' but if neither gravity, nor calorific ex-
pansion, nor electricity, be the cause of winds, by what are
they produced? " Redfield replied that all fluid matter has
a tendency to nm into whirls or circuits, when subject to the
influence of unequal or opposing forces; and that, in this
way, a rotative movement of unmeasured violence is some-
times produced. But, argued Hare, if this be true, plainly
whirlpools or vortices of some kind, ou£^t to be as frequent
in the ocean, as agreeably to your observation, they are
found to be in the atmosphere. . . . There are few
vortices or whirlpools in the ocean, because there are in very
few cases ascending currents, to supply which the confluence
of the surrounding water is requisite. . . . The conflict
of opposing or unequal forces does not produce curvilinear
motion unless there be a successive deflection . . . and
Redfield does not tell us how these unequal or opposing forces
are generated in the atmosphere. He simply appeals to ^'cer-
tain unequal or opposing forces hy which a rotative move-
ment of v/nmeasurdble violence i$ produced; ** this rotative
movement, although alleged to be an effect in the first in-
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464 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
stance, is later said to be '' the only known cause of violent
and destructive winds or tempests/' Then Hare reiterates
his oft-declared statement "' that the proximate cause of the
phenomena of a tornado is an ascending current of air, and
the afflux of wind from all points of tiie compass to supply
the deficiency thus created." In this view he and Espy
agreed, but differed " respecting the cause of the diminution
of atmospheric pressure within the track of tiie tornado,
which gives rise to the ascending current." Hare regarded
gyration as a casual, not an essential feature '' in the meteors
in questicHi." Espy and Bache had recorded a fact irrecon-
cilable with a general whirling motion, and Hare cited '' the
statement of a most respectable witness, that while the tor-
nado at Providence was crossing the river, the water which
had risen up as if boiling within a circle of about three hun-
dred feet, subsided as often as a flash of lightning took place.
Now supposing the water to have risen by a deficit of pres-
sure resulting from the centrifugal force of a whirl, how could
an electrical discharge cause it to subside? " And Hare con-
tinues: "' I have already, I trust, sufficiently shown that the
explanation which Redfield dignifies with tiie title of his
'' theory of rotary storms," amounts to no more than this,
that certain imaginary nondescript unequal and opposing
forces produce atmospheric gjrrations, that these gyrations
by their consequent centrifugal force, create about the axis
of motion a deficit of pressure, and hence the awful and
destructive violence displayed by tornadoes and hurricanes.
I cannot give to this alleged theory the smallest impor-
tance, while the unequal and opposing forces, on which it is
built, exist only in the imagination of an author who dis-
claims the agency either of heat or electricity." . . .
I cannot help thinking that as respects the application
of his " rotary theory " to account for the upward movement
which appears to be essential to tornadoes, these arguments
will amount to a ^^ reducth ad absurdum/^ • . .
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THIRD PERIOD, 1847-1858 465
So far, therefore, as Redfield's observations confirm the
idea that the whirling motion in tornadoes quickens towards
the centre, it tends to confirm the opinions which he combats,
and to refute those which he upholds.
Although the efforts which I have made to show that the
phenomena of tornadoes and hurricanes arise from electrical
reaction should not be successful, I think it will be conceded
that any theory of storms which overlooks the part performed
by electricity must be extremely defective.
Both by Messrs. Espy and Redfield the influence of this
agent in meteorological phenomena is entirely disregarded,
although with the storms which have been especially the sub-
ject of their lucubrations, thunder and lightning and convec-
tive discharge are most strikingly associated."
Redfield, of course, replied and said that, among oliier
things, the pains Hare had taken to confute his doctrines
were disproportional to the low estimation in which he pro-
fessed to hold them; but Hare proceeded to narrowly study
his reply, saying "' the author alleges that in the absence of
reliable facts and observations" in support of my objec-
tions to what he considers as the " established character of
storms," he had hesitated to answer them. This cannot ex-
cite surprise, when it is recollected "' that the whole modem
meteorological school," and likewise '' Sir John Herschel,"
are accused by him of a '' grand, error/* in not ascribing all
atmospheric winds '' solely to the gravitating power as con-
nected with the rotary and orbitual motion of the earth/*
For this denunciation he has no better ground than that
on which he deems his theory to be above my reach, that is
to say, because himself and others have made some observa-
tions showing that in certain storms, agreeably to log-book
records, certain ships have had the wind in a way to indicate
gyration. Being under the impression, that in many in-
stances no better answer need be given to Redfield's opinions
so
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466 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
tiian that created in the minds of scientific readers by his
own language, I will here quote his denunciation of the
opinions of the meteorological school and of HerscheL
'' The grand error into which the whole school of meteor-
ologists appears to have fallen, consists in ascribing to heat
and rarefaction the origin and support of the great atmos-
pheric currents which are found to prevail over a great por-
tion of the globe." . . . "'An adequate and undeniable
cause for the production of the phenomena ... I oon-
sid» is furnished in the rotative motion of the earth upon its
axis, in which originate the centrifugal and other modifying
influences of the gravitating power, which must always oper-
ate upon the great oceans of fluid and aerial matter, wiiich
rest upon the earth's crust, producing of necessity those great
currents to which we have alluded." . . . Speaking of
Sir John HerscheFs explanation of the trade winds and
others, Redfidd alleges, '' Sir John has however erred, like
his predecessors, in ascribing mainly, if not primarily, to heat
and rarefaction those results which should have been ascribed
solely to mechanical gravitation as connected with the rota-
tive and orbitual motion of tiie earth's surface."
Is it not siu*prising, asks Hare, that it did not occur to
the author of these remarks, that an astronomer so eminent
as Sir John Herschel would be less likely than himself to be
ignorant of any atmospheric influence resulting from gravita-
tion or the diurnal and annual revolutions of our planet —
and that when he found himself in opposition to the whole
schocd of meteorologists, a doubt did not arise whether the
'' grand error ** was not in his views of the subject instead of
that which they had taken?
Redfield alleges '' in his reply to my objections that it is an
error to consider him as rejecting the influence of heat." It
is very possible tiiat his opinions may hav^ changed since he
read my " objections "; but that he did reject the influence
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THIRD PERIOD, 1847-1858 467
of heat when the preceduig and following opinions were pub-
lished must be quite evident.
Mr. Redfield alleges further that the proper enquiry is
What are storms? not How are storms produced?
Turning from an endless controversy with a writer with
whom I differ respecting first principles, I shall address my-
self to that great school of meteorologists who concur with
me in the " grand error " of considering heat and electricity
as the principal agents of nature in the production of storms,
and who do not concur with Redfield in considering gravita-
tion and the earth's annual and diurnal motion as the great
destroyer of atmospheric equilibrium. So far as it may con-
duce to truth, I shall incidentally notice some parts of Red-
field's reply ; but my main object will be to show the inconsist-
ency of his theoretic inferences wiih the laws of nature, and the
facts and observations on which those inferences are alleged
to be founded. To follow him in detail through all the misun-
derstandings which have arisen, and which would inevitably
arise during a continued controversy, wojuld be an Ixion task.
I do not deem it expedient to enter upon any discussion
as to the competency of the evidence by which the gjrration
of storms has been considered as proved. By Espy tiiat has
been ably contested. I have given some reasons for doubt-
ing the accuracy or consistency of Redfield's representations,
though I have no doubt they have always been made in per-
fect good faith. I have already alleged, that were g3rration
sufficiently proved, I should consider it as an effect of a con-
flux to supply an upward current at the axis. Yet the sur-
vey of the New Brunswick tornado, made on terra firma,
with the aid of a compass, by an observer so skillful and
unbiased as Professor Bache, ought to outwei^ maritime
observations, made in many cases under circumstances of
difficulty and danger. In like manner great credit should
be given to the observaticms collected by Professor Loomis
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468 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
respecting a remarkable inland storm of December, 1886/'
^' Having said so much against the ndiirlwind theory of
storms, it may be expected that I should on this occasion,
say something respecting the opinions which I entertain of
their origin. To a certain extent this will be fomid in my
commmiicatiiMis published in the Am. Jr. Science, VoL
XXXII, p. 158, Vol. XL, p. 187, also in my essay on the
gales of the United States (p. 445). I still believe that
north-eastern gales were correctly represented in the last
mentioned essay as arising from an exchuige of position
made between the air of the Gulf of Mexico and that of the
territory of the United States which lies to the north-east of
that great estuary; and that the heat given out during the
conversion of aqueous vapour into rain, by imparting to the
atmosphere as much caloric as could be yielded by twice its
weight of red hot sand, is a great instrument in the produc-
tion of the phenomena; also, that the cold resulting from
rarefaction is a cause of the condensation of that vapour,
and of course of clouds. On this last idea, derived from
Dalton, Mr. Espy has founded his ingenious theory of storms ;
alleging, erroneously, as I think, the buoyancy resulting from
the heat thus evolved, to be the grand cause of rain, also of
tornadoes, hurricanes, and other electrical storms. I did err
in ascribing too much to variations of density arising from
changes of elevation, and twenty years' additional experience
as an experimenter in electricity, has tau^t me to ascribe
vastly more to this agent than I did formerly. To pursue
this subject fully, would give this paper an undue length. . . .
As bodies oppositely electrified attract each other, "" a
forticm," attraction must always exist between any bodies
sufficiently electrified for an electric discharge to take place
between them. Hence the rising of the water within the
track of a tornado and its subsidence on the passage of Ug^t-
ning, as observed by Mr. Allen, near the city of Providaioe,
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THIKD PERIOD, 1847-1808 469
R. I.» may be considered as resulting from the alternation of
convective with disruptive discharge. By this observation
of Mr. Allen, attractimi is shown to have existed between
an electrified stratum of air coated by douds, and the op-
positely electrified water of a subjacent river. It is reason-
able to infer that attraction, originating in the same way»
operating upon the denser stratum of the atmosphere in the
vicinity of the earth, by counteracting gravitation may cause
that rarefaction by which houses are burst or unroofed, and an
upward current of tremendous force produced. We may also
infer that bodies are carried aloft by the joint action of the
electrical attraction and the vertical blast which it produces.
The e£Fects upon the leaves noticed by me after the tornado
of New Brunswick in 1885, and still more those subsequently
observed by Peltier after that of Chaeenaye in 1889, can-
not be explained without supposing them to have been the
medium of an electric discharge.
Any heat imparted to air in rising from the terrestrial
surface to the region of ihe douds, by the condensation of
aqueous vapour, being applied to the upper part of the
column and rendering it as much taller as lighter, cannot
speedily make its total weight less than that of the surround-
ing air, and must therefore be insufficient to cause any violent
changes, like those which constitute tornadoes or hurricanest
as argued by Espy. Moreover, the process on which so much
stress has been laid by this ingenious meteorologist, cannot
generate rain storms during which the rain freezing as it
falls, the temperature of the lower stratum is shown to be
bdow the freezing point of water, while that of the upper
stratum, within which water condenses in the liquid f orm^
must be above that point.
Were the causes assigned by Espy adequate to create a
tornado or hurricane, a storm of this kind would exist in-
cessantly in the vicinity of the equator, where in consequence
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470 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
of the never ceasing ascent of wann moist air f rcmi the ocean,
that afl9ux of this fluid from neighboring regions takes place,
to which the trade winds are attributed.
Experience has demcmstrated tiiat electricity cannot exist
on cme side of an electric, without its existence simultaneously
on the other side. If the interior of a hollow globular electric
be neutral so will the outside be; but if die interior be either
positively or negatively electrified, the outside will be found
in the one case positive, and in die other negative.
The atmosphere is an electric in a hollow globular form,
and as electricity is known to pervade the space within it occu-
pied by earth, the principle in question must also pervade tiie
space beyond that porticm of the atmosphere windi is suffi-
ciently dense to insulate, or to perform the part of an electric.
Thus there are three enormous concentric spaces, of ^diich
the intermediate one is occupied by an electric, while the
innermost one and the outer one are occupied by conductors.
The two last mentioned, may be considered as equivalent to
two oceans of electricity, of which one may be called the
celestial, the other the terrestrial electric ocean. For an
adequate cause of diversity in the states of the electric oceans,
it must be sufficient to refer to the vapourizaticm and con-
densation of water. The power of this process to electrify
has recently been confirmed by the electrical sparks caused
by the escape of hi^ steam.
When either electric ocean is minus the other must be
plus, and at the same time any intermediate stratum of the
atmosphere enclosing a stratum of clouds, must be charged by
induction if not by communication. Betwe^i the concen-
tric strata of air, severally bounding the celestial and ter-
restrial ocean, there must be an electrical attraction tending
to counteract gravitation and thus to influence the density
and pressure of the lower stratum of the atmosphere.
The proximity of a stratum of clouds electrified by the
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THIRD PERIOD, 1847-1858 471
celestial ocean, must cause an accumulation of electricity in
any portion of the terrestrial surface immediately subjacent;
and by counteracting gravitation, cause a local diminution
of atmospheric pressure which is, it is well known, a pre-
cursor and demonstrably a cause of wind and rain.
Those enormous discharges of electricity which take place
during hiurricanes, may be accounted for by supposing that
they result frcnn discharges between the celestial and ter-
restrial electric oceans. Thunder clouds may owe their
charges not only to the vapourization and condensation of
water, but also to the celestial ocean previously charged by
that process. Auroras may be the consequence of discharges
from one part of the atmosphere to another, through the
rare conductive medium which is occupied by the celestial
ocean ; or they may result from discharges from other planets
or suns, or from any part of space however remote. Since,
agreeably to Wheatstone's experiments, electricity flies with
a velocity not less than that of light, distance can create no
obstacle to its passage.
In November last, subsequently to the submission of the
opinions above expressed to the Academy of Natural Sciences,
I verified a conjecture of my friend. Dr. F. K. Mitchell,
that moist, foggy or cloudy air is not a conductor of elec-
tricity, its influence, in paralyzing the efficacy of electrical
apparatus, arising from the moisture deposited on adjoining
solid surfaces.
A red hot iron cylinder, upon which evidently, no moist-
ure could be deposited, suspended from the exdted con-
ductor of an electrical machme, was found to yield sparks
within a receiver replete with aqueous vapour, ari^ng from a
capsule of boiling water.
Haice it appears that bodies of air, whether cloudy or
clear, may be oppositely electrified, f rc»n each other or from
the earth. This would explain the gyration on a horizontal
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47S THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
axis which seems to be attendant on thunder gusts, and ma^
account for the ascent of the southeaster and descent of the
northwester in the great storm of December, 1886, described
by Loomis.
Such gyTB,\km may be a form of convectiYe disdiarge, in
which ekctrical reaction is assisted by calorifb circulation and
the evolution of latent heat, agreeably to Dalton and Espy.
Squalls may be the consequence of electrical reaction be-
tween the terrestrial surface and oppositely excited masses
of air, and the intermixture of masses so excited, in obedi-
ence to the same cause, may be among the sources of rain,
hail, and gUsts. The specific gravity of a body of air, elec-
trified differently from the surrounding medium, may be
lessened by what is caUed electric repulsicm; the particles
inevitably moving a greater distance f rcxn each other, as
similarly electrified pitJi balls are known to do.
Hence a cause of rarefaction, buoyance, and cimsequent
upward motion, in a column of electrified air, more competent
than that suggested by Espy.
Should it be verified that a gjrration from right to left
takes place, during convective disdiarges of electricity in
hurricanes, it may be referrible to the disposition which a
positive electrical discharge from the earth to the sky would
have to gyrate in that direction.''
Hare never did admit the rotary theory of Bedfield. The
latter would never consent to an oral controversy with Hare
at the meetings of the American Association for tJie Advance-
ment of Science, where much of this material was presetted.
Those present at the second meeting of the Association, b^ld
in New Haven, said they would never forget '' the zeal and
energy with which Dr. Hare, in an off-hand speech, fluent
and animated, assailed the views of Mr. Redfield, who was
all the while a quiet and silent listener. The responses of the
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THIRD PERIOD, 1847-1858 478
latter were always made by the pen and never on public
occasions by the tongue."
Dove also discussed '' The Law of Storms." This called
forth a vigorous protest (1848) from Hare. Is there not
he asked:
''a great mistake made by Redfield and other advocates of
the whirlwind theory; in treating gjrratory motion as a cause
of violence. . . • ? I have not been able/' he continues,
*^ to discover that Dove attempts to assign any cause for
violent winds." ...
'" I would recommend Loomis's observations to the candid
attention of Dove, and would request him to show in what
manner the earth's motion co-operated to produce it; or how
the enormous length of tibe focal area, or area of minimum
pressure, comparatively with its breadth, can be reconciled
with the idea of its having formed the centre of an extensive
whirlwind. There is another fact which would seem to be
literally an unsurmountable obstacle to the rotation of a
storm travelling from the vaUey of the Mississippi to the
Atlantic coast. I aUude to the interposition of the Alleghany
mountains. Dove's imaginary aerial cylinder would be cut
nearly in twain when bestriding that range. Obviously more
than one half of the air in sudi a cylindrical mass would be
below the average level of the smnmits of those mountains.
Under such circumstances could it be conceived to rotate about
a vertical axis?^
I am aware that various writers have referred to the little
transient whirls which are occasionally seen to take place in
windy times, carrying up dust, leaves, and other light bodies,
as a support for the idea of whirlwind storms; and Redfield
has alleged, '' that no valid reasons can be given why larger
masses of air may not acquire and develop similar rotative
movements."
It appears to me that there are several valid reasons for
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474 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
not adopting the view of the subject which he has taken.
The momentum by which any body is kept in moticm, is as
its weight multiplied by its velocity, while the expenditure
of momentum in cteteris paribus as its surface. On this
account, a globe of which the ccmtent in proportion to its su-
perficies is pre-eminently great, will, in a resisting medium
like tiie air, retain a rotary motion longer than an equal
weight, of the matter forming it, in any other shape. The
flat cylinder, in diameter about two hundred times its thick-
ness, of which the existence would be necessary to an exten-
sive whirlwind, is a form of which the surface would be very
great in proporticoi to the quantity of matter it contains. No
observer ever noticed any whirl produced as above described,
to have a diameter many times greater than its height, or
to endure many minutes. Such pigmy whirls appear to be the
consequence of eddies resulting from the conflict with eadi
other or with various impediments, of puffs or flaws of wind.
No' doubt, in this way a deficit of local density is easily caused
in a fluid so elastic as the air, and craisequently by gravity as
well as its elastic reactimi, a centripetal motion is induced
in the surrounding aerial particles. From the confluence and
conflict of the air thus put into motion, a whirl may arise.
The manner in which light bodies are gathered towards the
axis of these whirls, shows that they are accompanied by a
centripetal tendency. It is only when the wind blows briskly
that sudi whirls are ever seen to take place, but tornadoes
agreeably to universal observation occur when there is little
or no wind extemaUy.
According to tiie evidence adduced by the advocates of
the whirlwind theory, there is in this respect perfect similarity
in tiie phenomena of tornadoes and hurricanes. Beyond tfaM^
sphere of the alleged gyration, there is but little if any
atmospheric commotion, and certainly none competent to be
the cause of a great whirlwind. It foUows that pigmy whirl-
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THIRD PERIOD, 1847-1858 475
winds and hurricanes can have no analogy. The former are
never produced without a proportionable external activity
in the wind, while comparative external quiescence seems to
accompany the latter.
I will conclude by applying to Dove the stricture which
I applied, on a former occasion, to Espy, and to Redfield.
He has, I think, committed a great oversight in neglecting
to take into consideration the agency of electricity in the
generation of storms."
Espy, believing that Hare's strictures upon Dove's state-
ments were in reality an attack upon his own ideas published
quite a spirited reply, concluding:
'* To me it appears, that the main course of discussion
pursued by Hare in one hundred and twenty-eight elaborate
paragraphs, is essentially misapplied and erroneous. If the
supporters of a rotative or whirlwind action in tornadoes and
hurricanes had chosen to maintain their cause in a speculative
manner, the case mig^ have been different. But when their
facts and results were offered on the basis of direct observa-
tions, which had been set forth, in many cases, with particu-
larity and precision, it seems like a waste of words to assail
these observed phenomena and results with strictures and
objections of this character; volimies of which can never
equal in value the direct observations whidb may be made
of the phenomena of a single storm."
In 1852 Hare published (Weed, Parsons & Co., Albany)
" Strictures on Prof. Espy's Report <m Storms." He con-
curred with Espy '* in the influence that hurricanes and tor-
nadoes are tiie consequence of the ascent of air from a focal
area or intermediate space, by which a confluence f rcxn two
or more opposite quarters, to supply the deficit thus arising,
is induced," but he differed with hhn as to the cause of tiie
ascent of air in sudi cases. It will be recalled that as early
as 1885, before the American Philosophical Society, Hare
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476 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
had based the ascent in question to a discharge of electricity
between the earth and the sky. ^Indeed, in 1886 he pub-
lished a memoir on this explanation in the Transactions of
the Society, and now in this reply to Espy he reviews his
own views, giving them more briefly and forcibly than he
had done before.
On June 8, 1852, Mr. John Wise made his 181st balloon
ascension. He proceeded from Portsmouth, C^o. He en-
countered and was in three distinct storms. His report of the
conditions about hiQi and the atmospheric changes in particu-
lar attracted Hare's attention. Reviewing all most carefully,
he, at great length, discussed details ( 1854) and demonstrated
*' that they are quite consistent with the idea that electricity
is a principal agent in the generation of storms."
A memoir on the explosicm of nitre was published by
Hare in 1849. From it we learn that on July 19, 1845, a
great fire took place in the city of New York. The phe-
nomena attending it were awful and mysterious. Two hun-
dred and thirty houses were destroyed. These contained
merchandise to the value of two millions of doUars. From a
series of detonations noted by every person it was assumed
that gun-powder was the cause, but the '' oaths of worthy
and weU informed persons " indicated that no gun-powder
was contained in the building within which the explosions
occurred. The real cause of the disaster became a subject
of perplexing consideration for chemists. It was fully estab-
lished '' that there were in the store more than 800,000 pounds
of nitre, secured in double gunny bags, containing one hun-
dred and eighty pounds of nitre each, in piles alternating
with heaps of combustible merchandise.'' In the opinion of
Silliman, Hayes and other eminent chemists, the unfortunate
results were to be due possibly " to the reaction of the nitre
with contiguous merchandise.''
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THIRD PERIOD, 1847-1858 477
Upon approaching Hare on the subject he recalled that
upon one occasion '' a misdiievous explosion had occurred
in my laboratory, when a fissure taking place in an iron
alembic holding about twenty pounds of fused nitre, on hoist-
ing the alembic off the fire, a jet of the liquefied salt fell
aecidentaUy upon some water in a tub, which was unfor-
tunately too near/' It also occurred to him that potassium
when thrown upon the surface of water, is, by combustion
with the oxygen of that liquid, converted into ''a fused
globule of red hot oxide, idiich, in the act of combining with
water, detonates violently/'
He said further that in the winter of 1845-1846, '' I
found that when nitre, by the flame of a hydro-oxygen blow-
pipe supplied with atmospheric air and oxygen, is heated to
incandescence, and then quickly submerged in water previ-
ously situated beneath the containing ladle, a sharp explosicm
ensues. ... I have fallen upon contrivances, by which
pulverized sugar and nitre may be made to explode. The first
expedient which succeeded, was that of pouring melted sugar
upon the face of a hammer, so as to make a disk of commensu-
rate size. . . . ScMne nitre was put into a thin shallow
platina capsule, situated over a small anvil, near ooe of its
edges, so that the bottcnn of the capsule might be reached
obliquely by a hydro-atmospheric blow-pipe flame. Under
these circumstances, the nitre having been heated until its iK>t-
ash began to be volatilized, was strudc with the sugar-faced
hammer. A smart detonation was the consequence. ..."
''Another method of producing explosive reaction is as
follows: — ^Nitre and sugar being coarsely powdered, let disks
of paper about three indies in width, be prepared. Place
one of the disks upon an anvil, and cover it with a stratum
of sugar. Then cover the sugar with a stratum of nitre,
placing over this another of the disks. Heat a flat iron bar,
wider than the disks, to a welding heat, and quickly with-
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478 THE LIFE OF BOBERT HABE
drawing it from tiie fire, and holding it above the paper,
strike it down thereon with a sledge. An exploatcm will
ensue, with a very loud report . . •"
'' Having submitted the preceding facts and considera-
tions, my explanation of tiie stupendous explosion which
forms the topic of this communication is as foUows:
Of the enormous quantity of nitre which the store held,
more than 56,000 pounds were on the first floor, about 180,000
pounds on tiie seomd floor, and about 100,000 on the third
floor. The weight of combustible merchandise was about
700,000 pounds. As it was alleged by some of the witnesses
examined that the iron window shutters of an upper story
became red hot by the conflagratkm of an adjoining house,
it is probable that fire was communicated to some of the gunny
bags holding the nitre, or some other combustibles, which, as
stated in evidence, were piled against the diutters. As soon,
however, as a single bag became ignited, tiie nitre with whidi
the inner bag must have been imbued, would give the greatest
deflagrating intensity to the consequent combusticm; while
the interstices between tiie bags, like those between grains
of gunpowder, would enable the flame to pervade the whole
heap of bags. As nitre fuses at a low red heat, very soon
a great quantity, in a state of liquefaction, must have run
down upon the wooden floor, which would immediately burst
into an intense state of reaction with the oxygen of the salt. To
tiiis combustion the mercdiandise adjoining would add fuel,
causing a still more extensive liquefaction of the nitre. The
deflagrating mass thus created, on burning its way through
the floor, or falling through the scutties, whidi were all open
agreeably to the evidence, must have received an enormous
reinforcement from the subjacent nitre or combustible mer-
chandise. On the giving way of each floor in succession, the
conflagration must have received a reinforcement of d^a-
grating fuel, so as to have grown rapidly with its growth,
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THIRD PERIOD, 1847-1858 470
and strengthened with its strength. Under these circum-
stances, the whole of the nitre beccmiing liquefied, must have
found its way to the cellar. Meanwhile, the merchandise
and the charcoal of the wood-work must have been conglom-
erated by the fusibility of the sugar, shellac, and bitumen,
aided by the molasses, and formed thus an antagonistic
mass of more than half a million of pounds in weight, defla-
grating intensely with the nitre. But, whenever, by these
means, a portion of the deflagrating congeries attained the
fulminating temperature, a detonation must have ensued,
causing a temporary lifting of the combustible mass; only,
however, to be followed by a more active collision, resulting
from the subsequent falling back of the conglomerated com-
bustible mass upon the melted nitre. After every such col-
lision, the combustible congeries must have been blown up
to a height augmenting with the t^nperature, the force of the
fall, and extent of reciprocal penetration. The force of the
fall would, of course, be as the height. Hence tlie twelve
or thirteen successive detonations indicate as many explosive
collisions; while the successive augmentation of the loudness
of the reports indicates a proportionable growth of their
violence, arising from successively greater elevation and
descent."
And it was with reference to the preceding that he wrote
Dr. Franklin Bache:.
"Lynwood Ellicots Mills Md.
"My dear Sir "July 25th. 1850.
I owe you my acknowledgements for your letter of the
28rd whidi is quite satisfactory. Since I wrote to you I
have found that an extract from my communication respecting
the explosiveness of nitre had been published in the North
American. When my memoir now in the Press is published
I hope you will give it some attention and when we meet we
can talk the matter over. The improvements in using the
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480 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
gas from the public works will be best appreciated when I
am enabled to show tiie phenomena and tiie results.
I remain with esteem
Yours sincerely
'' Dr. Franklin Bache." Robert Habe/'
^* I have concluded to avail myself of tiiis letter to draw
your attention to two facts which serve to illustrate the
influence of chemical affinity as a substitute for medianical
compression.
A globule of oxide of iron falling through a subjacent
stratum of water may be seen for a short time ignited be-
neatii it on the supporting shelf of the pneumatic cistern
without any explosive reaction with tlie water; while under
similar circumstances a globule of oxide of potassium (po-
tassa) explodes as soon as the oxidation producing it ceases.
A globule of any volatile liquid may be supported in
proximity with the surface of an incandescent candle by
generated vapour without exploding when on quicklime (or
any other refractory surface capable of absorbing or coidesc-
ing with the liquid or either of its ingredients under the actual
circimistances) explosion will cease.
Explosive mixtures sudi eis can be made with nitre and
chlorate of potassa deflagrate without exploding when unccm-
fined, doing no harm to the supporting body. But explosive
chemical compounds sudi as the fulminates of silver or mer-
cury, argentate or aurate of ammonia, the chloride of nitrogen,
or perchloric ether, fracture the vessels in which they may
be exploded and do not in any case deflagrate.''
In 1854 we find Hare, in pamphlet, defending one Barker
against the attacks of a Rev. Dr. Berg. It is, in brief, a
series of objections to existing sectarianism. Its contents
are evident from the following closing paragraphs:
*' To conclude, my object in this publication, has been to
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THIRD PERIOD, 1847-1858 481
resist the effort which has been long and strenuously made,
in this, as well as in other parts of Christendom, to represent
believers in God, as adopting their opinions from bad motives,
{* baseness of heart ' as recently alleged at Concert Hall.)
This unprincipled method of sustaining orthodoxy, so-called,
is productive of great injustice and oppression to many who,
like myself, consider a book of no higher authority than the
fallible men who wrote it. Moreover, this intolerance gives
rise to hypocrisy arising from the fear of persecution affecting
a man in business or any pursuit in which he may want in-
fluence or popularity. Against tiiis tyranny I conceive it to
be my duty to stand up in defence of my brethren in opinion
who may be less independently situated.
I am the more encouraged to take this stand, because in
my opinion, and that of many others, I have, of late, had
positive scientific proof of a future state; in which, without
any reference to scripture, a position is given to souls pro-
portional to their merit, independently of faith either in
Christ, Mahomet, Moses, or Bhuda."
It may have been that this occurrence prcmipted him
to write:
Did not that thou^t from Heav'n proceed.
According God's mercy to every creed,
Howe'er pagan, howe'er untrue.
If it meant to give our Creator his due?
May not devotion to God be riiown.
Whether throu^ Crist or through Mohadded known?
Whether men die in holy war.
Or kneel to be crushed by Juggernaut's car?
Mankind would God in error leave.
Yet penalty for that error aggrieve.
Did Grod a special creed require.
Each soul would He not with that creed inspire?
Can a glaring evil endure
Despite of the power and will to cure?
SI
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48t THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
Must not any event arrive
For which both wiU and power strive?
Will not any result obtain
Which power unites witii wiU to gain?
If God can creatures make to suit his will,
Forsee, if they can, his design fulfill ;
Wherefore to trial those creatures expose,
Traits to discover, which he thus foreknows?
In November, 1855, he appeared in New York City be-
fore an audience of more than three thousand persons with
a '* Lecture on Spiritualism," in which he set forth the facts
which induced his '* conversion to spiritualism and confirmed
his hope of immortality."
He said: '*A practical man, with whcmi I had become
acquainted • • . urged me to investigate the manifes-
tations; saying I was in error in assuming that the tables
moved by the aid of mortals, since he had seen them move
without visible contact by any person. ... A friend,
offering to take me to a circle, I went, ... I was all
vigilance — a thorough unbdiever, earnestly hoping that I
should obtain an explanation agreeably to the received laws
of nature . » • determined to prevent the possibility of
deception, I constructed . • . ibe $piritascope/^
It was by this instrument that he claimed he was able
to have interviews with his father, with Washington and
with Franklin, who approved of a recent theory of electricity
which he had enunciated.
During this year he also issued, through a New York pub-
lishing house, a volume of 460 pages, bearing the title:
Experimental Investigation
OF the
Spmrr Manifestations
The following paragraph from the preface may well be
pondered by those who have followed Hare in his earnest
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THIKD PERIOD^ 1847-1858 48S
search for truth m ihe fields of chemistry and physics and
who have been impressed by the originality of his inquiries
and the profundity of his knowledge:
'' Those who shall give a careful perusal to the following
work will find that there has been some ' method in my mad-
ness '; and that if I am a victim to an intellectual epidemic,
my mental constitution did not yield at once to the miasma.
But let not the reader too readily ' lay the flattering unction
to his soul ' that *' 'tis my hallucination that is to be impugned^
not his ignorance of facts and his educational errors."
By means of the spiritoscope, the inquirer was able to
communicate directly with '* spirits " and not need the pres-
ence of a medium. This instrum^it Hare offered to exhibit
before a Convention of clergymen of his own faith, but the
offer was refused. It was in the letter addressed to them
that the following lines appeared:
However late, as holy angels teach,
Souls now in Hades, bliss in Heaven may reach.
All whose conduct has been mainly right.
With li^tning speed may gain that blissful height ;
While those who selfish, sensual ends pursue.
For ages may their vicious conduct rue.
Doomed in some low and loathsome jdane to dwell.
Made through remorse and shame the sinner's hell ;
Yet through contrition and a change of mind.
The means of rising may each sinner find.
The higher spirits their assistance give.
Teaching the contrite how for Heaven to live.
At Albany, at a meeting of the American Association for
the Advancement of Science, he was permitted, after much
opposition, in deference solely to his age and to his reputation
as a scientist, to read an elaborate article on spiritualism,
which did not appear in its Transactions.
In a volume entitled " Psychic Facts," published in Lon-
don as late as 1880, Hare's experim^its in spirit manifesta-
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484 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
tions find place with articles contributed by Sir William
Crookes, C. F. Varley, Zcfllner of Leipzig, Alfred Russell
Wallace, Lord Lindsay, Butlerof and otiiers eminent in
various walks of life.
Stray letters addressed to Dr. John F. Frazer, editor of
the Franklin Journal, have come to hand. Their exact con-
nection with Hare's work is, except in one case, uncertain.
Li the instance of the one which follows, it is safe to conclude
that it refers to the contents of the paper of 1857. Several
attempts to exhibit the apparatus mentioned had previously
failed.
" My dear Sir
Prof. Henry has authorized me to exhibit the apparatus
for showing the nature of the phenomena of the function of
quartz before the Franklin Institute at the expense of the
Smithsonian Institute —
If therefore there is no objection on the part of the fomer
I will direct Mr. Wight to transfer the apparatus forthwith.
Yours truly.
Prof. Frazer Robert Hase"
Wednesday
2eth Feb^
1861 *'
I presimie on notice those interested attend on any evening
m^itioned.''
In 1857 Dr. Robert Hare esdiibited before the members
of the Franklin Institute an apparatus (referred to in pre-
ceding letter) for ascertaining whether the phenomena attend-
ing the attrition of pieces of quartz, when rubbed briskly
together, had anything in common with a supposed new body
described by Schonbein under the name of ozone. When
the apparatus was in operation, scintillations and the odor,
which was the object of the inquiry, resulted. The Doctor
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THntD PERIOD, 1847-1858 48ft
remarked: '' In no way, however, could I produce the chem-
ical effect of ozone upon iodized starch or guiacum tincture.
On directing a jet of hydrogen between Ae stones it took
fire forthwith, but I could not by means of a gold leaf dec-
trometer detect any electricity." The scintillations and odor
had been produced by rubbing against each other two pygmy
mill stones of seven inches made of cellular horn stone. The
stones were, in successive experiments, made to revolve in
vacuOj in hydrogen, and in a vacuity previously repleted
with this gas without any diminution of the iUuminating
phenomena. These, it seems from the injection of the jet
of hydrogen, constitute a simple case of ignition. The con-
centration of the f rictional force and the transparency of the
mass under which the ignition is efi^ected make the confisca-
tions very brilliant in a room otherwise darkened. '' It has
long since occurred to me that the phenomena of lij^t under
all the various hues which it is capable of producing are
ascribed to the undulatory affections of the ether pervading
the universe, so that the still greater variety of odors winch
influence our olfactory nerves may be due to vibratory agita-
tion of the same medium. If odors are to be ascribed to
ethereal affections produced by impulses proceeding frmn
odoriferous substances, consequently taste must have an
analogous origin, and mesmeric influence, so far as its ex-
istence has been proved, seems equally to require ethereal
intervention. It may be conceived that the odor produced
during ozonification during the attrition of quartz is due to
an odoriferous ethereal affection."
Evidently there must have been a disposition on the part
of persons connected with medical education to depreciate
the value of chemistry as a fundamental in such training,
otherwise Hare would not have felt constrained to submit
the following opinions to a Medical Convention held in the
year 1857:
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486 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
'' The knowledge requisite to a medical education cannot
be thoroughly acquired either by the study of books on \be
one hand, or by attendance on demonstrative courses on the
other: both of these means of improvement being requisite
to the education of a competent {rfiysidan.
Pathology, therapeutics, surgery, materia medica, and
midwifery, are of the most immediate importance to the heal-
ing art, chemistry and anatomy being useful only so far as
they are subservient to the branches thus enumerated.
Nevertheless, as chemistry and anatomy are among the
fundamental branches of medical science, any attempt to give
a medical education in which they should be neglected, would
be like attempting to erect a superstructure without a
basement.
Of the branches requisite to medical graduation, those
are most necessary to be taught by lectures in a medical school,
which require experimental or demonstrative illustration;
and, consequently, the branches of anatomy and chemistry,
being pre-eminently susceptible of this assistance, are among
those which are most important to be taught by Hie lecturers
in schools of medicine. So far as materia medica can be
accompanied by an exhibition of plants, minerals, and phar-
maceutical preparations, and so far as surgery and midwifery
require and admit of operative illustraticm, these are next in
order to anatomy and chemistry in their claims to be lectured
upon. Further, so much of the practice and the institutes as
can be assisted by clinical lectures, have also pretensions, in
this way, of the highest order; but to the extent that such
branches are insusceptible of illustration to the eye of the
student, they may be as well if not better learned, by reading,
than by listening to lectiu'ers.
Hence, so far as the time which medical students can be
made to give their attendance on medical schools is insuffi-
cient to enable them to listen to all the branches of medical
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THIRD PERIOD, 1847-1858 407
science which are therein taught, it is important that they
should be required to attend tiiose lecturers preferably, of
whose instruction there will be the least subsequent oppor-
tunity to repair the neglect
As chemistry has become more and more important in
its services to physiology and materia medica, in proportion
as it has become more abstruse and more extensive, it were
wrong to indulge that increasing indolence and disgust which
no small proportion of medical students display, as respects
the augmented study and attendance on lectures requisite to
acquire a due knowledge of this wonderful science.
Although in the superb column constituted by a thorou^
medical education, practice and the institutes form the cap-
ital, outranking, thus, all other constituents, yet they cannot
exist without their subordinates. Hence any effort to impart
the knowledge requisite to form an accomplished physician,
by lecturing on pathology, therapeutics, and physiology, with-
out a concomitant, if not a previous effort to teach funda-
mental branches, were like placing workmen upon a scaffold,
to carve the entablature of a column before completing the
pedestal.
The increased difficulty of acquiring a knowledge of
chemical science, arising f rcnn its miraculous progress, ought
not to justify its neglect; but on the contrary, greater efforts
should be made, both as respects the means of experimental
illustrations, and in lecturing on this hi^^y important branch
of medical knowledge.
Under these circumstances, those who are authorized to
grant medical degrees, ought not to leave it to the option of
tjie students, whetlier or not to be ignorant of chemistry.
Since chemistry is becoming an object of study witii the
intelligent agriculturists of the United States, it must have
an unfavorable influence upon the estimaticm in idiich phy-
sicians will be held, if farmers should, in chemical science.
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488 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
become their superiors; so that, on inquiry, they should be
found ignorant of tiie nature of the earili on which they tread,
of the food which they eat, of the air which they breathe, of
the medicines which they prescribe, or of the flesh and bones
composing the animal frame, whidi is the object of their
skill; yet such is believed to be the igncnrance of a large por-
tion of those who now annually receive the honours of a
medical diplcnna.
The preceding suggestions being duly considered, the
hope is entertained that the medical profession will feel it
to be their duty, to use all their influence to induce the medical
schools of the country to deny a medical diploma to tliose
whose knowledge of chemistry is below mediocrity.
Evidently, if chemistry be requisite to medicine, a knoTd-
edge of it should be enforced; if not requisite, it should be
omitted from the list of sciences necessary to the acquisition
of a medical diploma.''
The importance accorded chemistry in medicine to-day
would no doubt have ddij^ted Hare's heart! He saw its
paramount benefits but was not spared to realise its
recognition.
It was in 1857 or 1858 that Hare, before 1^ American
Association for the Advancem^it of Science, proposed a plan
for the making of small weights. He said:
'' In chemical analysis, and in the assay of the precious
metals, the accuracy of the extremely minute weights em-
ployed is of the utmost importance.
As the government has undertakai to furnish standard
weights and measures for the larger operations or transactions
of commerce and the arts, without which accuracy and uni-
formity could not be secured to the country at large, so it
would seem consistent that to the nnnute processes of the
arts and sciences a help should be given which otherwise scans
not to be attainable.
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THntD PERIOD, 1847-1858 489
The usual process of making weights, by reducing them
till they exactly counterpoise a standard weight, cannot be
pursued advantageously whai they are less each than a tenth
of a grain. For the making of weij^ts below that size,
measurement and division are preferably employed.
An instrument constructed by an ingenious and skillful
machinist (Tyler) is capable of dividing an inch into 1,400
parts by the action of a ratchet and wheel, which may be so
restricted in its motion as only to move one tooth at a stroke,
causing a platform to advance only the fraction of an inch
above mentioned.
For producing by means of this instrument tenths and
hundredths of a grain, a convenient length of very fine pal-
ladium wire may be employed. This being reduced in length
very cautiously till it wei^^ some equimultiple of a grain, a
distance omunensurate with the length of this wire is marked
upon a suitable narrow brass plate by a knife. The number
of the ratchet strokes which must be made in order to measure
this distance must be ascertained.
Dividing this number by the number of grains will give
the number of ratchet movements in a length of the wire
equal in weij^t to a grain; again dividing this by ten will
give the number of such movements in a length equal to a
grain; and, in like manner, if divided by one hundred will
give the number of the movements in question requisite to
designate the length equal to -^ of a grain. The length
equal to as much of the wire as would weigh a tenth of a grain
being thus found, this distance is to be marked on the brass
plate with a sharp edge.
A strip of steel is in the next place sharpened at each end
to a fine edge, and bent so as to resemble a long narrow staple,
is to be furnished midway with a screw, by which the ends can
be made nearer or farther apart, like tiie points of spring
compasses. By these means, with the aid of a lens, the edges
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490 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
of the tool thus constructed are to be made to coincide exactly
with the marits designating the length of wire equal to the
tenth of a grain.
Having made this adjustment by the action of the tool,
ten pieces of the wire being cut and afterwards weighed
against a standard grain weij^t, if found too lij^t or too
heavy, the screw regulating the distance must be toudied
so as to cause the distance to be increased or diminished, ren-
dering the cuts larger or smaller. When they are brought
to the weij^t required, they should, by a delicate assay
balance, be tried against each other to ascertain that they
are equal in weij^t to each other.
Having thus obtained tenths of a grain in weight equal
to each other, fifths may be made by the same process and
tried against the tenths, two to one, and against each other;
hundredths may be obtained by a like process; for each a
tool being requisite like that used for cutting tenths, except-
ing that it should be smaller in proporti(m as the l^igtfas
required to be cut are shorter.
The instrument by which these results were obtained has
a peculiar capability of reducing the size of the graduaticxis
to the limits requisite to include a greater or less number
within any necessary length.
Suppose it desirable to have as much of a rod as would
be eqmvalent in bulk to a cubic inch of water divided into
such degrees as would increase hundredths of a cubic indi.
Let a tube sufficiently large to receive the whole length of
the rod be at oae end recurved at right angles, and terminated
in a point with a capillary orifice. Let the other end be
furnished with a stuffii^-box to receive the rod, making a
water-tight juncture. The tube is to be replete with water,
the rod entering so as to reach a little beyond the stuffing-
box. A mark is then to be made on the rod as close to the
box as possible. A light cup being counterpoised on an ac-
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THntD PERIOD, 1847-1858 491
curate balance, and a weight equal to a cubic inch of water
being placed in the opposite scale, the apex of the rod is to
be introduced into the cup while the rod is shoved in, until
as much water has been forced into it from the tube as will
balance the weight employed as above mentioned. Another
mark is now to be cut into the rod close to the box as before.
Thus a lengtli of the rod equivalent to the water excluded,
and of course equal to a cubic inch of that fluid, is thus in-
dicated to exist between the knife marks.
The number of ratchet strokes requisite to measure this
distimce is in the next place to be ascertained and divided by
the number of graduations required. The quotient will be
the number necessary to make a degree.
Should the number of the ratchet strokes, when decided
as above mentioned, leave a fraction, it is to be gotten rid
of by means of the contrivance already alluded to for reducing
each degree proportionally to any reduction in the whole
lengtli necessary to a degree.
I am willing to put the instrument in question into the
possession of the government or of the Smithsonian Institu-
tion cm condition that it shall bekept in good order for the pur-
pose of furnishing accurate weij^ts, graduations or measures
of liquids or gases, for the purposes of science and tlie arts/'
The writer recalls reading a perfectly charming letter
from Louis Agassiz written in the summer of 1858^ to a dis-
tinguished man of science in Philadelphia, relative among
other things to the formation of an Academy of Science.
Agassiz advised that it should consist of sections; '' that two
members of each Section should be selected to begin the
elections — ^the two best men beyond questicm . . . ! The
mmiber of members in eadi Section to be limited. . . .
Would Henry and Hare not be the best men to form the
nucleus of the Section of Physics and Chemistry? *' There
is here outlined an ^'Academy " which five years later became
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402 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
the National Academy of Sciences. Hare was then no more.
Henry became one of its earliest preiridents.
Robert Hare died most wiexpectedly on Saturday, May
15, 1858. The event was a terrible shock to his nmnerous
friends at home and abroad. Society, as well as Science,
mourned, in his departure from this earthly scene, the loss
of a brilliant ornament. Indeed, his death created no ordinary
sensation. The public press, throu^out the land, bore splen-
did, eulogistic testimony to his solid worth. It spoke of him
as simple, indeed child-like in his manners — easy of approadi,
singularly modest and retiring. He was said not to have
had an enemy and '' carried with him to the grave the warm
and kindly remembrance of thousands who knew his rare
qualities of head and heart." Few men of his time were so
universally respected by the scientific world. " He was a
patient investigator and a man of capacious intellect,'' was
the testimony of Samuel D. Gross, the eminent surgeon. He
was most cordially esteemed and honored for his incorruptible
integrity. It required great force of evidence to unsettle his
mind on any subject when once his conclusions were estab-
lished. '' Indeed, in a truly muscular grasp and unyielding
tenacity with which he clung to his opinions, the firmness of
his mind and the energy of his will were presented in their
extr^ne aspects. But no dispassionate observer questioned
the supreme love of Justice and the apostolic devotion to
Truth which lifted him above the plane of the eommon mind,
and rendered him invulnerable to the ordinary temptations
of the world. He was as firm in his virtues as he was uncom-
promising in his opinions.'' His life conduct was without
spot and above suspicion. And it was also recorded that he
was a high-minded and public-spirited gentleman — ^just and
honorable in all his dealings — constant in his friendships —
faithful in prosperity and adversity — ardent and disinterested
in his attachment to his country — ^bold and zealous in the
pursuit of truth.
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ROBERT HARE
In Advanced Age
From a Photograph
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THIRD PERIOD, 1847-^1858 498
" There have been many more attractive lecturers — ^no one
more earnestly intent in instructing his class; and, certainly,
no one . . . performed his experiments on such a large
scale, and with what might almost be called ' grand appara-
tus ' — ^more espedally when he wished to exhibit the wonders
of electricity. . . . It must have seemed to his auditors that
when he sometimes paused in the very midst of an explana-
tion, it was from a want of clear conception of his subject, or
for words; not so — ^but because at the moment, a new tiiiought
would present itself, and he straightway allowed himself to
imagine the new combinations and results that must follow."
In person Robert Hare was portly, hale and prepossess-
ing. He was above the middle height, had a dark keen eye
and ''was vivacious and agreeable in conversation." His
head was large and of noble mould; no stranger could meet
him without being impressed by a figure of such grandeur,
and a head and features so remarkable.
He was an ardent patriot, '* who loved his country and
cherished its institutions not for office or emolument, which
he never sought or received, but, from pure and lofty motives.
He was of the school of Washington — an enthusiastic ad-
mirer of that great man — ^a federalist, while that primeval
party had a name and retained vitality, and when it passed
. . . he was found among the Whigs. He occasionally
wrote upon the great political and financial questions which
agitated the public nnnd (pp. 21, 217). These discussions,
like all his writings, were always marked by vigorous thought,
large vision and elevated patriotism." He loved literatiu*e
and his philosophy was sometimes softened by listening to
the Muses.
One admiring writer said: *' When I looked upon his nm-
jestic form a few months before his death, it was erect and
commanding as ever before. He stood with manly firmness
under the weight of many years, and walked with a measured
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4M THE LIFE OF BOBERT HAB£
but elastic step, never bending beneath llie burden. Not a
nerve was unstrung, nor had his physical frame been ma-
terially enfeebled by the earnest labors of a long and useful
life. In his organic structure and the Roman firmness of
his character he was like the mountain oak, while the maturity
of his mind was unaccompanied by the ordinary physical
infirmities of old age. . . .''
And his old Faculty expressed its feelings of respect '' for
the memory of one who has stood dther in the relation of
colleague or preceptor to each individual present " in these
words:
Resolved —
That the exalted character and brilliant career of Dr. Hajre,
whose far spread reputation both in foreign lands and in
his native country, will long survive him, are a just source
of gratification and pride to the department of the University
with which he was so long connected, and which has been
eminently benefited by his labors as an experimental chemist
and philosopher.
That it is a subject of pleasing reflection, that his life, devoted
to the calm pursuit of science, and an earnest desire to
benefit his fellow beings, has peacefully terminated at a ripe
old age, in the cheerful prospect of f utiu*e happiness. And
that these resolutions be entered on the minutes of the Faculty,
and that a copy of them be transmitted to the family of the
deceased. R. E. Rogers,
Dean of the Medical Faculty.
When the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution an-
nounced the death of Robert Habe, one of the principal
benefactors of the Institution, and its first honorary member.
Professor Bache gave an account of the life, diaracter and
scientific researches of Dr. Hare, and ofi^ered the following
resolutions:
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THIRD PERIOD, 1847-1868 495
Resolved, That the Regents of the Smithsonian Institu-
tion have learned with deep regret the decease of one of the
earliest and most venerated hcmorary members of the estab-
lishment, Robert Hare, M.D., of Philadelphia, late pro-
fessor of chemistry in Ae University of Pennsylvania.
Resolved, That the activity and power of mind of Dr.
Hare, shown through a long and successful career of physical
research, the great fertility of invention, the happy adapta-
tions to matters of practical life, and the successful grappling
with questions of Ihj^ theory in physical science, have placed
him among the first in his country of the great contributors
to knowledge, clarum et venerabUe nometk
Resolved, That while we deplore the loss of this great
and good man, who has done so much to keep alive the flame
of science in our country in past days, we especially mourn
the generous patron of our Institution, the sympathizing
friend of the youth of some of us, and the warm-hearted
colleague of our manhood.
Resolved, That we offer to the bereaved family of Dr.
Hare our sincere condolence in the loss which they have
sustained by his death.
We have become acquainted, by the accounts given upon
preceding pages in the letters there recorded and in the nu-
merous conununications published by Hare during the fifty
years of his devotion to science, with his achievements. It is
probably not so easy to evaluate them. His omtemporaries,
as seen, considered him a real leader and frankly acknowl-
edged the high position to which he had attained. There
existed no jealousy in their hearts. They recognized the
value and high character of his contributions. Measured by
present-day standards, many of these contributions lose their
value, but even in retrospect Hare's labors cannot fail to fill
the student of science with wonder. Let us transport our-
selves in thought to the days in which Hare wrought. It
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496 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
was — ^the beginning at least, — ^just as the Nineteenth Century
opened, and what then was the condition of chemistry in our
country? Who were the leaders and what had they accom-
plished? At that period Woodhouse was perhaps the ablest
and most eminent representative of the Science. He was
a pupil of Lavoisier and had studied in England. Hare
always regarded Woodhouse as his teacher, as the oae who
pointed out to him the ways then known in ^cperimental
chemistry, but the very first product of Hare's independent
thought— the oxy-hydrogen blow-pipe — far surpassed any-
thing done by Woodhouse, or by any other chemical
worker in this country. It was in truth an epoch-making
contribution. Lavoisier may have burned oxygen and hy-
drogen together, but he absolutely failed to observe the in-
tense heat of their flame. Hare discovered it and applied
it. Chemists very probably were longing for greater heat to
carry out some of their problems, or at least to learn what
would occur if bodies could be exposed to temperatures higher
than those to which they were accustomed. It was this de-
sideratum which Hare brought to tliem. In more modem
times chemists again souj^t high temperatiu*es and when
these were placed at their disposal through the electric arc
by Moissan and Acheson astonishing results came forth. A
new era opened up. So with Hare's discovery there came
the ability to melt refractory bodies. In this class was
platinum. The ease with which it was rendered molten and
the readiness with which it could then be worked led to the
inauguration of tlie platinum industry under the direction
of a pupil of Hare — oae named J. Bishop, founder of the
well-known works located at Malvern, Penna. Another apr
plication of Hare's discovery was the lime-light — ^the Drum-
mond Light. We are informed that these were used in light-
houses on the coast to guide llie mariner safely in his course.
Our heart's gratitude went to Davy for the noble, humane
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THIRD PERIOD, 1847-1858 497
discovery made in the miner*s lamp— the Davy Safety Lamp 1
No wonder thousands of noble toilers down in the bowels
of Mother Earth gathered on one occasion to express their
deepest gratitude for his efforts for them. Should the light-
houses be looked upon with any less regard? To those who
go down to sea in ships — ^that bright beacon light on the
strange shore does mean peace, comfort and safety; to its
perfection Hare paid his tribute.
Places of interest to chemists are the great industrial
plants using untold stores of electric energy to carry forward
certain chemical processes. Among these may be dassed the
production of caustic by the electrolysis of salt, using a cathode
of mercury. This last feature had its birtib in that early
experiment in the preparation of calcium, when Hare, for
the first time, used mercury as cathode (p. 821) in the elec-
trolysis of aqueous calcium chloride. It is a fact, and why
^ould it not be acknowledged? He did not seek caustic,
but the novelty was the emplojonent of mercury as a cathode
in an aqueous electrolyte. From the purely analytical side
it is the fore-runner of all that in recent years has been made
possible with mercmy as a cathode. Considering these facts,
this contribution from Hare surely has decided merit.
His attraction to electricity, his familiarity with the vol-
taic source of it, the knowledge of the accomplishments of
Davy, his constant pondering on the fundamental problems
elucidated by Faraday — ^all these, with the additional knowl-
edge that none of the existing soiu*ces of voltaic electricity
were satisfactory, carried him forward in his studies until
he evolved the calorimotor, but better, in many respects, the
remarkable deflagrator so highly prized by Faraday (p. 181 ) .
In these again Hare advanced the lines of human knowledge,
laid foundations upon which others built to greater advantage.
In it all there is manifest the pioneer, blazing the way for
progress and improvement.
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498 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
In the field of analysis, particularly that of gas analysis.
Hare must foe given a high place. He never developed a
method for the determination of a metal or for its separation
from its associates, or did he even improve some well-known
procediure, but in studying his eudiometers, presented in
such a variety of forms, the convicticm flashes promptly over
one's mind that herein he was a true pioneer. Much of
his apparatus is cumbersome and at first glance difficult to
manipulate, but on closer observaticm simplicity is noted and
ease in manipulation makes itself felt as certain. The writer
has no desire to detract in the slightest from the splendid
forms of gas apparatus evolved during the last thirty or
forty years, but a careful study of the form^ described by
Hare makes him feel that in them are many of the most
cherished ideas of the later and more satisfactory apparatus.
His hope is that the credit due Hare for his early eflforts in
tiiis direction may be paid. Further, it is evident from Hare's
writings that before very large classes he actually performed
accurate gas analysis, and also demonstrated gas composition
as is done to-day by many teadiers with the elafoorate and
elegant apparatus of Hof mann.
Nothing, probably, produced such a profound impression
for years as did the discovery of the electric furnace, and
yet on tinning to p. 816 we have described for us an actual
electric furnace constructed by Hare, with which he succeeded
in isolating calciimi, in preparing calcium carbide, which gave
to him acetylene (not recognized by him) and the most strik-
ing result of all the conversion of Charcoal (amorphous car-
bon) into graphite! How is all this to be regarded? Is it
to be designated as primitive? Yes, it is that; but, does it
not stamp its originator as a true pioneer in a field which
to-day is cultivated most assiduously and extensively with
astonishing outcome? Probably none of those who have
developed the field of practical electro-chemistry have ever
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THIRD PERIOD, 1847-1858 499
read a description of Hare's furnace, but it was built by him
and with its assistance he obtained products which then called
forth little enthusiasm, then dropped from view, and which
are now of common occiurence. A perusal of Hare's con-
tributions, a thoughtful study of the various forms of ap-
paratus which he devised cannot fail to impress one with the
truth of the saying, '' Despise not the day of small things! "
His excursions into the organic field did not lead to any
remarkable conclusions ; yet, they were pioneer efforts. From
such meagre information as can be had, it is known that he
never enjoyed any instruction on the problems in this domain,
so that he pursued his customary method of trying out and
recording the results which are most interesting and instruc-
tive. So it was in his isolation of certain elements, e.g., borcm
and silicon, where the methods bear ear-marks or germs of
later, more successful procedures. The gratifying feature
about all of Hare's work is the fact that it distinguished its
author as an actual doer. He wrote little, comparatively
speaking, unless experiment obliged him to make record of
his observations.
Upon Silliman the death of Hare produced a profound
effect. His loss none could measiu-e. As boys — ^yes, boys —
for they had barely passed the teens when their paths crossed
and together they began to sound the depths of chemistry
by experiment. Through life they shared their problems.
Indeed, the picture of their work is a most happy one to con-
template. Their correspondence, if it were possible to get
it all together, but alas, this is beyond hope, would reveal a
remarkable friendship. Reference has been made to that of
Wohler and Liebig, but with Hare and Silliman the ties
were just as close, intimate and affectionate. It is doubtful
whether Hare ever failed to acquaint Silliman with his diffi-
culties, scientific or personal. The relations, too, of their
families were so happy and intimate. The writer often dwelt
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500 THE LIFE OF ROBERT HARE
upon the possible feeling of Silliman when Hare, in the later
years of his life, let his thoughts and interest be diverted to
spiritualism. Naturally, he kept nothing from Silliman. A
copy of the cherished volimie on this subject was, of course,
sent to that colleague whose opinions he sought and whose
affection was to him as the breatii of life. In casting about
the following letter from Silliman was discovered. It has
told the writer all he wished to know. It is a noble, lofty
and grand letter; it was written quite early in 1857» and
reached Hare before his death. It cannot but have made
some impression upon the man whose life work we have been
so intently reviewing. It reads:
" My dear Hare,
In return for your present at Albany, I request you to
accept, as a proof of my kind regard and good-will, a small
volume, entitled, " The Christ of History." It goes to you
by the mail which conveys this letter. As I have perused
with respectful attention your work on Spiritualism, I ask
that you will in turn read this little book, which presents a
view of the Saviour, to my mind both original and convincing.
Four historians, writing without consent and independently
of each other, concxur in presenting a character of celestial
elevation and goodness, — such a character as has never been
presented before or since in human history, nor conceived
of by tiie mind of man. The narrative of his life, his acts,
his teachings, his example, his death, and his resurrection,
proves his divinity, — divinity associated with humanity, that
thus he might be our brother in sympathy, both in joy and
sorrow, — a union incomprehensible to our finite minds, but
not more so than that of oiu* immortal souls with oiu- mortal
bodies. The little volume which I now send you comprises,
as you are aware, but a small portion of the copious evidence
which supports the divine origin of the Scriptiu-es. The Old
Testament, marked by the peculiarities of the ages and coun-
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THIRD PERIOD. 1847-1858 601
tries which it commemorates, with occasional openings into
the future world, holds out in prominent relief the interests
of the present world; while the New Testament, in accord-
ance with the prophecies in the Old Testament, brings Uf e
and immortality fully to light through the Saviour. Had
yoiur coiurse of research been as fully devoted to these sub-
jects as it has been to physical science, I trust you would not
have been an imbeliever; and it is even now not too late to
ascertain whether the Bible is really, as you intimate, a cun-
ningly, or even a clumsily, devised fable. Should you, to
say no more, view the " Christ of History " as I do, you may
have occasion to review the position you have taken, which
appears to me full of danger. I must confess that I closed
yoiur volume with very painful emotions, and my mind has
anxiously balanced between the duty which it seemed to me
I owed to my early and constant friend, and my despondency
as to my power to produce any salutary effect upon his mind.
At last, after much consideration, I have concluded to address
to you a few remarks, in a spirit of perfect kindness and affec-
tionate interest, but of deep and anxious concern. . . .
My dear Hare, I cannot desert my Saviour, — ^him who spoke
as never man spake, while he knew what was in man; who
has paid my debt when I was bankrupt; and who sustained
in my stead the penalties of a violated law; — I cannot desert
him, and repose my confidence in the visions of so-called
mediums. You and I are now old men, and the time is not
remote — ^it may be very near — ^when we shall pass into the
real world of spirits, into tiie presence of God, and, as millions
believe with me, into the presence of the holy angels, and of
the Saviour, and of the countless host of the spirits whom He
has redeemed. You may remember that, at an early period,
we conversed much and freely on the Christian faith; but,
as we did not agree, and as I saw no hope of convincing you,
while you, with a spirit of candor and kindness, appeared not
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502 THE UPE OF KOBERT HARE
to wish to invalidate my belief, we tacitly dropped the sub-
ject. But, during more than half a century, we have main-
tained a friendly communion on matters of science, a warm
personal friendship, with a frequent interchange of c&ces
of kindness. I was unwilling quite to relinquish tiie hope that
you would eventually beccxne a believer in divine revelation,
especially as a happy domestic influence on the part of one
who, through many years, has worthily possessed your con-
fidence, respect, and love, leaned altogether in ihe right
direction. Yoiur course as a man of science has been honor-
able, and duly and justly hcmored by yoiur country and in
other lands; while I, as yoiur friend, have not been slow to
proclaim your merits and vindicate your claims. It would
have been happy if your putblic career had ended with science.
. . . You will be hurt — I fear you will be offended — ^by
my plainness; but when you realize that this is the strongest
proof I have ever given you of that friendship whidi you your-
self have valued, and which has been coextensive with oiur
acquaintance, and almost with our lives, you will then per-
ceive that these are indeed the faithful wounds of a friend.
As one of your oldest and most faithful surviving friends,
witii a spirit grieved but not alienated, with hope depressed
but not in despair, I have now relieved my mind from a pain-
ful sense of responsibility. I stand acquitted to my own
conscience, to you and to Grod; and I earnestly pray now,
as heretofore, that, under a divine influence, you may see the
spiritual world, as I think I see it, through a divine revela-
tion, commensurate with time and reaching through eternity.
I wiU still hope that you may seek and find salvation through
the Redeemer, and that through his intercessicm we may
rejoice together in acceptance at the great day before the
throne of God, our sins and f oUies being mercifully forgiven.
Pardon me if, in my honest zeal for yoiur welfare in both
worlds, I have transcended the limits of that kindness and
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THIRD PERIOD, 1847-1858 503
courtesy which we have always maintamed towards each other,
and I beg you to accept this letter as a proof that I am still,
as ever. Your failiiful friend,
B. Silliman;'
This may well bring us to the dose of the life sketch of
Robert Hare, an experimentalist of extraordinary ability.
Therein lay the keynote of his great career. Those who have
perused his controversial papers, especially those on the con-
stitution of salts and halides of various kinds, find him a
master even to-day. Such testimony is seen in the quotation
on p. 215 from that master experimenter and investigator —
Ira Remsen. But Hare's work speaks for itself, and we of
the present surely rejoice in and are proud of his splendid
contributions, of the fact that he was an enthusiastic pioneer
in chemical science, that he won a place in the foremost ranks
of the world's scientists and last, but not least, that he was
" an American chemist."
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INDEX
Acetous fermentation, 859
Add, 851, 852, 288
Addifyinff princq>le, Si$
Addity, d^tion of, 242, 251, 252, 844
Air pump, 191
Alcoholic fermentation, 860
Alkalinity, 293, 845
Alkanet, a substitute for litmus, 109, 212
Amalgam ammonium, 818
Amalgam caldum, 812
AmeiKian Journal of Sdenoe, 14, 250, 810,
871; founding of, 80
American Philosophical Society, 2, 20, 216,
821, 871, 428; transactions of, 810
Ammonia, s^thesis of, 201
Amphide salts, 262
Amphigene, 228, 224
Amphvdric adds, 291
Anhydrous prusaic add, 194
Anion, 290
Apparatus for separating carbonic oxide
from carbonic acid, 208
Artificial camphor, 212
Attrition of quarts, 484
B
Bache, Franklin, 212
Bank checks, 28
Bank of North America, 1
Banking system, suggestions for reforma-
tion of, 218
Bank paper, 28» 29
Banks, 29, 217
Barker, 480
Barometer, ^uge eudiometer, 182
Barton, Benjamin Smith, 6
Basadgen bodies, 247, 844; elements, 884,
885
Base, 251, 252, 288
Basidity, 252
Bencule, 274
Berg, 480
Bergman, 221
Berzelius, 2, 12ft, 204, 219,. 221, 224, 280,
288, 284, 285, 287, 242, 247; nomencla-
ture of , 222, 226, 284; double salts of, 229;
and halogen bodies, 244; letter to Hare,
288
Bishop, Joachim, 5
Bishop's platinum works, 5
Blowpipe, 5, 12
Bonsdorff , 229, 846
Boron, 208
Boruret,247
Bowen, George T., 212
Boy^ Martin, 212, 218, 806
British Association, 296
Cadwalader, 45, 46
Caldum, 820; isolatimi of, 811, 818
Caldum carbide, 819; li^t, 15
Caloric e6, 124
Cabrimotor, e6, 70, 71, 76, 77, 78, 87, 110,
125, 148, 149, 150, 152, 171; power of, 75
Camphor, artificial, 212
Cancrine, Count, 205
Carbonicometer, 182
Carburet, 247
Catalytic changes, 865
Cathion, 290
Cathode, 279
Cha;gman^ Dr^ 18, 58
Charcoal and the calorific agent, 78
Chemical School of the University of
Pennsylvania, 4
Chemical Sodety of FhOaddphia, 2, 8, 4
Chemisti^, definitions of, 825; in medical
educatKm, 485 ; of compound radicab, 98%
Children's apparatus, 69, 114
Chinme V of mica, 202
Chloroplatinate of potassium, 247
Chyometer, 189
CUrke, 14, 15, 48, 49, 52
Classification and nomendature, 889
Clouds, 460
Clymer, George, 17, S6
Comburant, 286
Commerce, 22
Compendium of chemistry, 251, 825, 870
Compound blowpipe, 5; dements, 882
Congress, 1
Constitution of matter, 425
Constitution of the United States, 1
Cooper, Thomas, 40, 49, 62; to the trusteet
of the University of Pennsylvania, 58
Coxe, John Redman, 19, 40, 44, 57
Credit, 26, 217; paper, 28, 217
Cniikshank trouf^ 65, 108
Cryophorus, 190
Culiniary paradox, 190
Cyanogen. 230, 254, 882
Cyanure ferrique adde, 285
505
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506
INDEX
D
Dalton, 65, 805, »«, 8i8; letter to, 2M
DalUmian theory, 222
DanieU, Tniemot, 202; 256, 275, 276, 278,
280
Davy, 8, 40, 65, 68» 100, 114, 124, 182; 188,
187
Death of Robert Hare, 402; actioii of
medical faculty, 404; actioii of Smith-
aoDian Institutioii, 404
De Boiudorff,i288, 280, 241, 248, 251, 265
Debt, publidc 20
De Butts, 181
Declaration of Indepeiukiiee, 1
Definitions of chemistry, 825, 826
Deflagrator, 88, 00, 02, 08, 04, 05, 08, 00,
IWK 101, 108, 104, 105, 106, 107, 111, 112,
114, 115, 117, 118, 110, 120; 122, 128, 120,
140, 151
Deflagration of carburets, 815; of mer*
cury, 118
Donees of oxidiiement, 840
De Luc's column, 60, 100, 102; 125, 104
Desprets, 180
Dewees, Dr^ 10, 118
Dextrine, 851
Discharger for deflagrating wires, 102
Dorsor, Dr. John Syng, 17, 44
DouUe salts of Benelius, 251
Dove, 478, 475
Drummond li^t, 5, 15
Du Faye, 181
Duflby, doctrine of, 886
Du Long and Petit, 65, 820
Dumas, 210, 840
D'Wolf, 212
£
£drfddt,205
Eldred Grayson, 444
Electrical discriminator, 104; furnace, 810;
intensity, 126; storms, 468
Electricity, 66; in the phenomena of nature,
862
Electrodes, 105
Electrolyte, 275
Electro-magnetism, 871
Elements, table of, 824, 820
Emporium of arts and sciences, 40
Espy, 464, 460, 472, 475
Essay on credit, 217
Essential oils, antiseptic power of, 200
Ethyl perdilorate, 212, 854
Eudiometer, barometer gauge, 100; mer-
cmial, 180; sliding rod, 180; subsidiary,
182
E^>«iments of Patterson and Lukens, 71^
Experimental investigation of the spirit
msjiif estations, 482
Ezplorion of nitre, 476
Faraday, 105, 278, 280, 820, 880, 882; 429.
424, 428, 482, 486; and the deflagrator.
182; letter from Hare, 884, 407; letter to
Hare, 807, 422
Fermentation, 850
Firing of gunpowder, 201
fluobotate of potasrium, 284
Fluoboric acid, 288
fluohydric aod, 288
fluol^rdrosiliGic add, 240
fluorine, 281
fluorure siHcoiMtassique, 284
Fluosilicic add, 288
Foggy air not a conductor of electricity, 821
Fc^Edward, 62
Franklin, 1, 10, 181
Franklinian Thtary, 886
Eraser, letter from Hare, 484
Free dectridty, 484
Freenng water, 821
Fulminating silver, 205; powder, 212
Furnace, electric, 810
Gales, 445
Gallatin, Albert, 216
GaUows screw, 208
Galvanic action, 66, 68, 74; apparatus, 71;
deflagrator, 186; fluid, 60; machine* 104,
polanty,846
Galvanism, 60, 74; progress ol, 871
Galvanometer, 104
Generation of hydrochloric acid, 208
Gerhardt,7
Gibbs, Wok»tt, 218, 285, 811
Gilmore^ 11
Graham, 258, 261, 265
Graham's nomenclature^ 261
Graphite, 810
Grayson, Eldred, 444
Gravity, 488
Great Britain, 28
Gregory, 250
Gross, Samud D^ 216
Gulf stream, 447
Gunpowder, firing of, 201
Halogene, 228, 224
Haloid salts, 224
Halosalts, 241
Hare, Charles WiOmg, 8
Hare, Clark, 212
Hare, John Powel, 8
Hare, Bobert, 2, 8, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 14, 15, 16,
10, 20, 45, 54, 181, 205, 206, 210, 218, 242;
on add properties, 78; apparatus lor
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INDEX
507
buining tar, T7; to Benelitis, 880; on
caloric and dectricity» 07; children of, 88;
death of, 4M; Doctor of Medicine, 18; 62;
on eudiometers, 88; 88, 84, 85, 86; on
galvanic ap>paratu8, 108; on heat, li^t
and ekctriatjr, 138; 188; hydrogen flune
rendered luminous, 70; letter to Franklin
Bache, 470; letter to Faraday, 884, 407;
letter to John Fraier, 484; letter to
Silliman, 81, 88» 85, 88, 41, 48, 40, 58, 68,
70, 81, 107, 110, 184, 188, 188, 155, 156,
108, 880, 881, 805, 444; letter to Trustees
of the University of Pennsylvania, 87, 68;
letter to Whewell, 480; on lightning rods,
168» 160, 170; marriage, 88; and dmsted,
157, 158, 150, 160, 161, 168, 168, 164,
165, 166, 167, 168; Folicy andBesouroes
of the United SUtes, a Brief View of, 81;
resignation of professorship, 488; verses,
481, 488; verses to Washington, 88;
verses on truth, 48; in l/\^lliam and Mary
College, 54, 55, 5(i
Hare's American porter, 8; brewery, 8;
electrical plate machine, 175; laboratory,
818; laboratory, description of, 178, 174,
175
Heating by radiation, 810
Heavy oU of Serullas, 808
Henry, 171, 185, 187
Henry's chemistry, 887
Henry, Joseph, 814
Her8diel,465
Hopldnson, Joseph, 18
Hurricanes, 468
Hydradds, 881
Hydrometers, 188
Hydro-pneumatic cistern, 184
Ink, black, 811
Irvhig, Washington, 816
Isolation of calcium, 811, 818
Isomerism, 848
Kane, 850, 865, 860, 870
Laurent, 7
Letter to Dalton, 806
Leyden jar, 68» 486
Liebig, 810, 806, 800, 855, 868, 878, 870,
888,884
LielMg'sprincq>les,888
^iiTM^ light, 5
litrameter, 184, 808
Loomis, 467
M
Mangham, 14
Maritime advantages, 85
Matter is heavy, 480
Matteuod, 881
Mechanical electricity, 100
Meconic add, 800
Meloni,488
Mercury cathode^ 811
Metalloids, 885
Meteorological nu^tters, 455
Methylic hypcmitrous ether, 855
Mica chimney, 808
Minutes of chemical instruction, 888
Morris, Bobert, 1
N
Narcotised kudanum, 800, 810
New theory of galvanism^ 107
NUudet, Alfred 77
Nitre, explosion of, 476
Opium, test for, 800
Organic chemistry, 848
Oxacids, 888
Oxibases,888
Oxidisement, 886
Oxyhydrogen blowpq>e, 5, 488
Oxynitron, 801
Oxysalts,841
P
Paradox, culinary, 100
Perchloric ether, 858
Philadelphia, 1, 8
Philadelphia, Chemical Society of, 8
Phosphorus, 810
Phosphuret, 847
Plants 77
Platinum, 805
Poems, 88, 48, 481, 488
Policy of Washington* 88
Portf oho, 444
Potassium, 107; filled glass tubes, 800; pre-
served in glass, 100
Powel, John Haie, 8, 45
Priestley, Joseph, 8
Prindples of Liebig, 857
Prussian blue, 107
Psychic facts, 488
Pure dectricity, 67
Pyrophorus, 107
Pyroxylic spirit, 806
BeactioD,886
Bedfield,475
Ira, 815, 508
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508
INDEX
Beflpiiatioii, 856
Rhodium. 204
Bogen, Bobert E., tl3
Botanr multiplier, 192
BoueUe,848
Rousseau, 848
Rumf ord. Count. 9, 187 '
Rumf Old medal, 9
Rush, Benjamin, 1, 17, 86
S
Saccharine fennentatioii, 869
Salidity, £44, Ui
Salt, Uh 268, 288; radicals, 268, 282
Si^wnification, 850
Sassalreine^ 298
Sassarubrin, 211
Scheele, 221
8eybert,8
Silicon, 210
Silicuret, 247
^lliman, Benjamin, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14, 15, 18,
128, 216; account of accident to B[are,
205; and the calorimotor, 77; on the
compound Uowpipe, 50; and the Hare
deflagrator. 129, 180, 181, 188, 142, 148,
144, 145, 147, 148; letter to Hare, 102;
116, 119, 188, 148, 158, 500
Silver, refining, 110
Skidmore, Thomas, 14
Small weij^ts by Hare, 488
Smith, Thomas P., 10
Smithsonian Institution, 214, 215, 216;
honorary members of, 216
Specie* 219
Spiritosoc^>e, 482
^iritualinn, lecture on, 482
Standish, the Puritan, 444
Storms, by Redfield, 468
Storms, Law of, by Dove, 478
Suavin,208
Submarine instrument, 15
SufiFrage, system of, 31
Supr, 207, 850 ; from sweet poUtoes, 207
Sulphatoxygen, 258
Sweet potatoes, 207
Sweet spirit of nitre^ manufacture of, 802
Synthesis of ammonia, 201
Syphons, 198, 194
Table of dements, 829
Tertium quid, 242
Ttoiard, 226, 282, 850
Theories of Anmera, 486, 487; of Du Fay,
486, 487; dFl^iiddin, 486, 487
Thomson, 66, 281, 265, 462
Tornadoes, 451
Tyler, President, 55
University of Pennsylvania, 2
Universi^ of Pennqrlvania, Chemical
School of, 4
Uie,227,807
Ure's dictionary of chemistry, 871
Uret,227
Van Marum, 96, 97
Ventpc«,20
Vinous ^mentation, 859
Visit to Dr. Hare, 197
Volta, 2, 65, 69
Voltaic i^paratus, 66; electricity, 871;
pile* 66
VAtM pile, 91, 107
Volumesoope, 182
W
Washington, 80; verses to, 88; policy of, 28
Water, as add, 284; as base, 284; bath, 204;
freesng of, by sulphuric add, 195, 196
Weights, by Hmc, 488
Wilham and Mary College, 45, 54, 55, 56
l^^^lling, Charles, 2
Willini^ Margaret, 2, 8
Wiae, John, 476
Wistar, Caspar, 6
Wistar Party, 216
WoUaston, 06, 69, 96, 97, 112, 205
Woodhouse, James, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 16, 17, 18,
44,65.
Workman, Geoi^, 206
Zamboni, 102, 125, 194
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