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34 Bull. Hist. Chem. 10 3 ll t Ch 10 (1991 mained an important consideration. The flow-type calomel nt Appld t r Cntrl" Ind. Eng. Chem., 19 14, electrode could be replaced by one designed to give an almost 11-11 negligible flow of potassium chloride solution. One of the 1 C Arthr nd E A Klr "A Mtr fr rdn th most successful designs, described in 1947, made use of a Allnt f lr-d Wtr" Power, 19 55, 7-77 controlled-crack junction tube (19). Pyrex glass was used for 15 C C Cn "Cntn Mrnt f p th Qnh- the body of the tube, A hole 5 to 10 mm in diameter was blown drn Eltrd" Ind. Eng. Chem., Anal. Ed., 1931 3, -7 in the bottom and the hole was closed by sealing in a plug of 16.J. T. St W C rd nd M Gr "h Antn- glass having a high coefficient of expansion. After proper Antn Oxd Eltrd" Chem, Rev., 195 58, 11- annealing, a permanent crack of controlled dimensions was 17 G A rl "Antn Eltrd fr Indtrl drn- obtained. A typical leak rate was 0.006 mL/hr. In Mrnt" Ind. Eng. Chem., Anal. Ed., 1939 11, 31-31 Because of improvements in instrumentation, the high 1 G A rl "Chrtrt f th Antn Eltrd" resistance of the glass electrode ceased to be a handicap, and Ind. Eng. Chem., Anal. Ed., 1939 11, 319-3 it became the pH electrode of choice. Once this had occurred, 19 G A rl An Indtrl Slt-rd ntn b" highly-specialized glasses that provided a stable, much im- Trans. Am. Electrochem. Soc., 197 92, 97-5 proved performance were discovered and exploited (20-22). 20. G A rl "Cptn f p-pnv Gl" Anal. Chem., 199 21, 391-39 frn nd t 1 G A rl "p pn f Gl Eltrd" Anal. Chem., 199 21, 559-5 Anldnt h r prtll rrd t ndr th 22. G A rl "p-pnv Gl Eltrd" U S tnt rh llhp rr f th Sn M ndn I 5 19 t rtfl t ph A MGrn f th n r prtnt f d & rthrp fr brnd nfrtn n Erl Klr John T. Stock is Professor Emeritus in the Department of 1 br nd Klnz "Obr ltrh Chemistry of the University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, hnrnzrft" Phys. Chem., 199 67, 35-31 and is especially interested in the history of chemical instru- 2. St "Enr ln (173-19 p trntn mentation and electrochemistry. Md E" J. Chem. Educ., 199 66, 91-91 3 St " Sd nd Sln" Trends Anal. Chem., 193 1- OLD CHEMISTRIES 4. A M n Sln C E Mr nd l "h Ch f th drn Eltrd th fr th Eltrtv James Tytler's "A System of Chemistry" Sr" n St nd M Orn d Electrochemistry, Past and Present, Arn Chl St Whntn C 199 William D. Williams, Harding University pp 17-11 5 Wd S Snd nd "Eltrtr In the year 1791, the United States was slowly becoming a Mthd fr th Ettn f th Adt f n r" J. Soc. nation. George Washington was in the third year of his Chem. Ind. (London), 1911 30, 7-77 presidency. Vermont became the 14th state. The Bill of Rights 6. E A Klr "In-Cnntrtn Mtr" U S tnt amendments to the Constitution went into effect. And Phila- 15 19 delphia publisher Thomas Dobson marketed A System of 7 E A Klr "Eltrd fr In Cnntrtn Efft" U S Chemistry (1). This volume was the second full-size chemistry tnt 17151 193 book published in America (2) and the first American imprint 8. E A Klr "Mthd f nd Apprt fr Obtnn In to introduce the new chemistry of Lavoisier and his French Cnntrtn Efft" U S tnt 1759 193 colleagues (3). 9 I Sth ndE A Klr "In Cnntrtn Cntrl" U A year earlier, Dobson had begun the ambitious task of S tnt 15 19 publishing an American edition of the 18-volume Encyclopae- 1 G A rl "Cntrl Mthd n th Chl Indtr" dia Britannica. He was pirating the third Edinburgh edition of Chem. & Ind. (London), 1931 50, 5- Britannica, which was issued in 300 parts from 1788 to 1797. 11 E A Klr "Cntrl f Allnt" Facts About Sugar, As each part reached America, Dobson would have a few of the 191 12, 9; td n Chem. Abstr, 191 15, 7 articles edited by Americans and issue half-volume sections 1 E A Klr "h Appltn f In-Cnntrtn M- every ten weeks, The American title, Encyclopaedia; or rnt t th Cntrl f Indtrl r" Ind. Eng. Chem., Dictionary of Arts, Sciences and Miscellaneous Literature. 19 14, 395-39 merely omitted the word "Britannica" from that of the Ed- 13 E A Klr "drn In nd Othr Eltrl Mr- inburgh edition, Title pages bear the date 1798 because front ll t Ch 1 (1991 35 pages were not printed until all 36 half-volumes were finished. During 1791 Dobson was working on volume IV, which contained a 238- page article on chemistry (4). Using the same type prepared for the Encyclopaedia, he also published it as a separate monograph under the title, A System of Chemistry, Nicely bound in full calf, the volume used superior quality paper manufactured in Pennsylvania and special type was cast for the work by Baine and Company of Philadelphia (5). With small print on 8 x 10 inch pages, it was the equivalent of 400 to 500 pages of typical size and type. It was an impressive, comprehensive treatise on chemistry, the first such published in America, Dobson would later pirate another treatise on chemistry from the Britannica Supplement of 1800. Table 1 summarizes the relationship of early chemistry to the Encyclo- paedia Britannica (6), Lavoisier's new nomenclature was mentioned in an appen- dix, which contained "discoveries as have appeared since the compilation of the article". It gave quotations from Lavoisier's explanation of the new system and inserted a folded chart contrasting the new names with the ancient names. This chart had been copied into the Edinburgh edition from the 1790 London edition of Fourcroy 's Elements ofNatural History and Chemistry (7). A personal comment from the Britannica James Tytler (22) author indicated that he was not yet converted to the new system: "Whatever may be the defects of the old one [nomen- by Mr. James Tytler, chemist, a man who though his conduct has been clature], we are ready to be involved in much greater difficul- marked by imprudence, possesses no common share of science and ties by the introduction of a new one." Although admitting that genius. the new system "has attracted no small degree of attention", he worried that future innovations would result in "endless vo- The uncertainty of the editor George Glaig 's statement is due cabulary" (8), to his being hired in 1793, after the work was well in progress, Although no author is listed in System of Chemistry, it was By that time, the original editor, Macfarquhar, had died and written by James Tytler (1747-1805). An eccentric character, Tytler had left the country. Tytler was at various times a chemist, physician, printer and The preface of the Britannica also contained a cryptic publisher, literary hack, balloon aeronaut and political gadfly. acknowledgment to Joseph Black (11): He was commonly called "Balloon Tytler" from being the first person in Great Britain to fly in a hot air balloon. The poet There is, however, no man to whom the proprietors of the Enlp Robert Burns described Tytler as (9): d rtnn fl themselves under greater obligation than to Dr. Black for the very handsome offer he made to the person who was at ... an obscure, tippling, though extraordinary body of the name of first entrusted with the chemical department of the work, Tytler, commonly known under the name of Balloon Tytler, from his having projected a balloon; a mortal who, though he drudges about Joseph Black (1728-1799), professor of chemistry at the Edinburgh as a common printer, with leaky shoes, a sky-lighted hat, University of Edinburgh from 1766 to 1796, was the foremost andknee-buckles as unlike as George-by-the-grace-of-God and Solo- British chemist of the time. It is not known what contribution mon-the-son-of-David, yet that same unknown mortal is author and Black made to Tytler's chemistry treatise, Perhaps he re- compiler of three-fourths of Elliot's pompous Encyclopaedia Br itan- viewed Tytler's work or perhaps he allowed Tytler to use his nica, which he composed at half a guinea a week. library, Although Black's Lectures on Chemistry, edited by John Robison, were not published until 1803, many student The preface to the Edinburgh third edition of Brltannica manuscript copies were in circulation at the time Tytler wrote stated (10): his article, A comparison of Tytler's work with Black's Lectures, however, reveals no particular similarity. Tytler Aerology, aerostation, chemistry, electricity, gunnery, hydrostatics, does not refer to Black any differently than other authorities, mechanics, meteorology with most separate articles in the various Indeed, Tytler mentions Crawford's work on heat more than branches of natural history. we have reason to believe were compiled that of Black. 3 ll t Ch 1 (1991 One is impressed with the thoroughness of Tytler's System bl 1 Erl Chtr n th Encyclopaedia Britannica ( of Chemistry. It was a masterful composite of the state of chemistry in 1791. It reads as though Tytler had made an 1st Edinburgh (3 v 1771 Edtd b Wll Sll h exhaustive search of the existing literature, He used current tblhd th pl f prhnv trt n jr research from the Philosophical Transactions and the Chemi- bjt h 11-p rtl n htr ntll as well as from various "Berlin Memoirs", and cal Annals, p f M Mr Elements of the Theory and Practlce "French Memoirs." Almost every paragraph named a scientist of Chemistry (3rd Ednbrh 17 A fl dtn f and gave a concise summary of his concept, experiment or th 1771 Britannica pblhd n 19 ( contribution.
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