Abstract
Pierre Bayen (1725-1798), a French pharmacist, made significant contributions to chemistry, metallurgy, and geology. Among the many position he occupied, the most important was being head of the pharmaceutical services of the army, His work about mineral waters, led him to discover the fulminant effect of
mixtures of sulfur with mercury oxides, that the red oxide of mercury was self-reducing, that during its reduction an elastic fluid separate (oxygen, which he did not identify), and that during the oxidation of metals, they absorbed an
elastic fluid from the atmosphere. These results led him to be the first European scientist to openly reject the phlogiston theory (all this, years before Lavoisier). Together with Venel they disproved the claim that tin contained poisonous amounts of arsenic
mixtures of sulfur with mercury oxides, that the red oxide of mercury was self-reducing, that during its reduction an elastic fluid separate (oxygen, which he did not identify), and that during the oxidation of metals, they absorbed an
elastic fluid from the atmosphere. These results led him to be the first European scientist to openly reject the phlogiston theory (all this, years before Lavoisier). Together with Venel they disproved the claim that tin contained poisonous amounts of arsenic
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 122-132 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Revista CENIC Ciencias Quimicas |
Volume | 47 |
Issue number | 1 |
State | Published - 2016 |
Keywords
- fulminant mercury
- mercury precipitates
- marbles
- metal oxides
- mineral waters
- phlogiston theory
- spathic iron
- tin