phlogiston Chem.
(fləʊˈdʒɪstən, -ˈgɪstən)
[mod.L., a. Gr. ϕλογιστόν, neuter of ϕλογιστός burnt up, inflammable, vbl. adj. from ϕλογίζ-ειν to set on fire, f. ϕλόξ, ϕλογ- flame, ablaut deriv. of ϕλεγ-, root of ϕλέγ-ειν to burn.]
A hypothetical substance or ‘principle’ formerly supposed to exist in combination in all combustible bodies, and to be disengaged in the process of combustion; the ‘principle of inflammability’; the matter of fire, conceived as fixed in inflammable substances.
This use of the term and the theory connected with it were introduced by Stahl in 1702, in his ed. of Beccher's Physica Subterranea of 1669. The phrase ‘esse ϕλογιστὸν’ had been used by Sennert (in 1619) in the sense of ‘the being inflammable’, inflammability or combustibility as a quality of some substances, but not regarded as a substance or principle. The existence of phlogiston was denied by Lavoisier in 1775, and though stoutly maintained by Priestley, the belief in it was generally abandoned by 1800.
| [1619 Sennertus De Chym. Consensu ac Dissensu 283 At Colores, Odores, Sapores, esse ϕλογιστὸν & similia alia, mineralibus, metallis, gemmis lapidibus, plantis, animalibus insunt. 1702 Stahl Spec. Beccherianum i. i. xvi. 19 in B.'s Phys. Subterr. (1732), Ad substantiam ipsam mixti, ut ingrediens..ut materiale principium, et pars totius compositi constitutiva, concurrit, materia et principium ignis, non ipse ignis: Ego Phlogiston appellare cœpi.] |
| [1730 Godfrey in Phil. Trans. XXXVI. 288 By the Solution of crude Mercury united with the Phlogiston Vini, or other Vegetables.] 1733 A. G. Hanckewitz ibid. XXXVIII. 69 We produce the Phlogiston out of fat Substances, and from the Phlogiston a Fuligo, or Soot, and from the Fuligo an urinous Salt. 1750 Elaboratory laid Open Introd. 74 The sulphureous principle, or phlogiston, which is the proper essence of all oils. 1774 Priestley Observ. Air (1775) I. 65 Considering inflammable air as air united to or loaded with phlogiston. 1785 ― in Phil. Trans. LXXV. 280 Mr. Lavoisier is well known to maintain, that there is no such thing as what has been called phlogiston. 1794 G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Philos. I. ix. 360 Phlogiston..may be considered as a treasure..of light and heat, to be dispensed in the absence of the sun. 1794 J. Hutton Philos. Light, etc. 12 There is truly in bodies a substance, which may be properly named phlogiston, as being the cause of that light and heat which accompany burning. 1800 Priestley (title) The Doctrine of Phlogiston established, and that of the Composition of Water refuted. 1822 J. Imison Sc. & Art II. 98 The existence of phlogiston is no longer believed in. 1861 Wilson & Geikie Mem. E. Forbes iv. 117 Jameson [left college 1802] had heard the last dying echoes of the battle between the partisans of the phlogiston and the antiphlogiston camp. |
† b. fig. Energy, ‘fire’.
Obs.| 1792 A. Young Trav. France 171 Moni. Faujas pleases me much; the liveliness, vivacity, phlogiston of his character, do not run into pertness, foppery, or affectation. |