A Science of Impurity "nsd0e279"

1— The Most Difficult Operation in Chemistry: The Analysis of Mineral Waters

1 Charles Lucas, An Essay on Waters , II, p 63.

2 R S Surtees, Handley Cross or Mr. Jorrocks's Hunt (New York: Viking Press, 1930), pp 34-5. See also George Eliot, Felix Holt, the Radical (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1909), v 1, pp 64-5.

3 Charles Perry, An Account of an Analysis of the Stratford Mineral Water , p 3; William Saunders, Treatise on Mineral Waters , p iii; Robert Bud, 'The Discipline of Chemistry,' pp 56-7.

4 A B Anderson and M D Anderson, Vanishing Spas ; P J Neville Havins, The Spas of England ; P J Waller, Town, City, and Nation: England 1850-1914 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983), pp 133-4; T B Dudley, From Chaos to the Charter ; Saunders, Treatise on Mineral Waters , pp iv, 110-11, 209.

5 Roy Porter, English Society in the Eighteenth Century (London: Allen Lane/Penguin, 1982), pp 245-6; John Patten, English Towns, 1500-1700 (London: Dawson/Archeon, 1978), pp 180-1; David Gadd, Georgian Summer, Bath in the Eighteenth Century (Bath: Adams and Dart, 1971); William Addison, English Spas (London: Batsford, 1951); J H Plumb, Georgian Delights (London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1980).

6 A B Granville, The Spas of England, II, The Midlands and South , pp 290-9, 506-7. On Granville see Morris Berman, Social Change and Scientific Organization , p 116. But see R Phillips, 'Analyses of Two Sulphurous Springs near Plymouth' Phil. Mag. 3rd series, 3 (1833): 158-9.

7 Granville, Spas , II, p 161. break

8 Ibid , pp 610, 105-6. See Also Diederick Wessel Linden, A Treatise on Chalybeat Waters , p 110; Bud, 'The Discipline of Chemistry,' pp 56-7.

7 Granville, Spas , II, p 161. break

8 Ibid , pp 610, 105-6. See Also Diederick Wessel Linden, A Treatise on Chalybeat Waters , p 110; Bud, 'The Discipline of Chemistry,' pp 56-7.

9 Granville, Spas, I, The North , pp 163-4.

10 Ibid , II, pp 130-1, 274-5, 332, 405-9.

11 Ibid , I, p 165.

12 Ibid , II, pp 572-3, 161-2, 132; I, p 133. On Schweitzer see Bud, 'The Discipline of Chemistry,' p 279.

9 Granville, Spas, I, The North , pp 163-4.

10 Ibid , II, pp 130-1, 274-5, 332, 405-9.

11 Ibid , I, p 165.

12 Ibid , II, pp 572-3, 161-2, 132; I, p 133. On Schweitzer see Bud, 'The Discipline of Chemistry,' p 279.

9 Granville, Spas, I, The North , pp 163-4.

10 Ibid , II, pp 130-1, 274-5, 332, 405-9.

11 Ibid , I, p 165.

12 Ibid , II, pp 572-3, 161-2, 132; I, p 133. On Schweitzer see Bud, 'The Discipline of Chemistry,' p 279.

9 Granville, Spas, I, The North , pp 163-4.

10 Ibid , II, pp 130-1, 274-5, 332, 405-9.

11 Ibid , I, p 165.

12 Ibid , II, pp 572-3, 161-2, 132; I, p 133. On Schweitzer see Bud, 'The Discipline of Chemistry,' p 279.

13 Saunders, Treatise , pp xii-xiii, 447-8.

14 Charles Lucas, An Essay on Waters , I, p 126. See also Jon B Eklund, 'Chemical Analysis and the Phlogiston Theory,' pp 252-6.

15 Lucas, Essay , I, p 164. See also Linden, Treatise , pp 1-2.

16 On Lucas and Bath see W J Williams and D M Stoddart, Bath--Some Encounters with Science (Bath: Kingsmead Press, 1978), pp 82-3; Noel G Coley, 'Physicians and the Chemical Analysis of Mineral Waters' 133-5.

17 Lucas, Essay , III, pp 246-7, II, p 103.

18 Ibid , III, pp 245-6.

17 Lucas, Essay , III, pp 246-7, II, p 103.

18 Ibid , III, pp 245-6.

19 Linden, Treatise , p 110.

20 Lucas, Essay , II, pp 13-16, 3-4, I, pp 135-6.

21 Linden, Treatise , p 6.

22 Coley, 'Physicians and the Chemical Analysis of Mineral Waters,' p 124. See also Eklund, 'Chemical Analysis,' p 231; J K Crellin, 'The Development of Chemistry in Britain through Pharmacy and Medicine,' pp 234-50.

23 Lucas, Essay , I, p 4; Frederick Slare, An Account of Pyrmont Waters , p 23; Saunders, Treatise , p 8. On medicine see D M Vess, Medical Revolution in France, 1789-1796 (Gainesville: Florida State University Press, 1975), pp 10-18; and L M Beier, Sufferers and Healers: the Experience of Illness in Seventeenth Century England (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1987), pp 8-32.

24 Encyclopedia Britannica (1797), s.v. 'mineral waters'; see also William Nicholson, The British Encyclopedia, or Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1809), s.v. waters, mineral; John Mason Good and Olinthus Gregory, Pantologica. A New Cyclopedia (1813), s.v. mineral waters, vol 8; Daniel Gibbon, A Compendium to the Chemical Chest (London: T Hurst, 1837), p 93; Saunders, Treatise , p 23.

25 Harry C Jones, The Nature of Solution (New York: D Van Nostrand, 1917), pp 20-34; Saunders, Treatise , pp 16-17.

26 Allen Debus, 'Solution Analyses Prior to Robert Boyle,' Chymia 8 (1962): 41-61; E H Guitard, Le Prestigieux Passé des Eaux Minerales , pp 81-96; W Kirkby, The Evolution of Artificial Mineral Waters , pp 5-23.

27 Debus, 'Solution'; idem , 'Sir Thomas Browne and the Study of Colour Indicators,' Ambix 10 (1962): 30; Hermann Kopp, Geschichte der continue

Chemie , II, pp 58-9.

28 Debus, 'Solution,' pp 43-8; Slare, Pyrmont , p 24.

29 Ferenc Szabadvary, History of Analytical Chemistry , pp 29ff; Debus, 'Solution,' p 41; W T Brande, Dictionary of Science, Literature, and Art (New York: Harper Bros, 1870), s.v. chemistry, analysis.

30 Thomas Thomson, The History of Chemistry , 2 vols (London: H Colburn and R Bentley, 1831), II, p 41; see also Kopp, Geschichte der Chemie , II, p 64; Eklund, 'Chemical Analysis,' pp 235-40; Garnett, Harrowgate , p 15; Coley, 'Physicians and the Chemical Analysis of Mineral Waters,' pp 142-4.

31 John Elliott, An Account of the Nature and Medicinal Virtues of the Principal Mineral Waters of Great Britain and Ireland and those in Repute on the Continent , 2nd ed. corr. and enlarged (London: A Johnson, 1789), pp 102-4; Lucas, Essay , I, p 82; Kopp, Geschichte der Chemie , II, p 52. See also J A Fabricius, Theologie de l'Eau (Paris: Chaubert-Durand, 1743), pp 90-1.

32 Henri de Heers, Spadacrene ou Dissertation Physique sur les Eaux de Spa , nouvelle ed. (La Haye: P Paupie, 1739), pp 32-3.

33 Debus, 'Sir Thomas Browne and the Study of Colour Indicators,'* pp 29-31.

34 Pantologica , s.v. mineral waters.

35 W A Smeaton, Fourcroy, Chemist and Revolutionary, 1755-1809 (Cambridge: W Heffer, 1962), pp 112-14; Nicholson, British Encyclopedia (1809), s.v. waters, mineral; Abraham Rees, The Cyclopedia or Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature (1819), s.v. water; Encyclopedia Britannica (1810), s.v. chemistry, p 710; Partington, A History of Chemistry , III, p 669.

36 Torbern Bergman, 'Of the Analysis of Waters,' in his Physical and Chemical Essays , I, pp 158-59. See also Eklund, 'Chemical Analysis,' pp 240-1.

37 Debus, 'Solution,' pp 47-8.

38 Allen Debus, 'Fire Analysis and the Elements in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries,' Annals of Science 23 (1967): 127-47; Frederic L Holmes, 'Analysis by Fire and Solvent Extractions: The Metamorphosis of a Tradition,' Isis 62 (1971): 132.

39 Bergman, 'Of the Analysis of Waters,' pp 159-82; Szabadvary, History of Analytical Chemistry , pp 73-6. Chloride of lime is our calcium chloride, not bleaching powder (A Ure, Dictionary of Chemistry [1823], s.v. 'lime'.

40 John Rutty, A Methodical Synopsis of Mineral Waters (London: J Johnston, 1757) p vi. On Bergman and Linnaeus see J A Schufle, Torbern Bergman: A Man Before his Time (Lawrence, KS: Coronado Press, 1985), pp 119-25.

41 Smeaton, Fourcroy, Chemist and Revolutionary, 1755-1809 ,* pp 115- hard

6; Coley, 'Physicians and the Chemical Analysis of Mineral Waters,' pp 141-2; F L Holmes, 'From Elective Affinities to Chemical Equilibria,' 106-7. Cf Frederick Accum, 'Analysis of the Lately Discovered Mineral Waters at Cheltenham,' p 25, steps 8 and 16.

42 Rees Cyclopedia , s.v. water.

43 'Table exhibiting the composition of the principal mineral waters of Europe and the United States,' J. of Materia Medica. Supplement, 1871, pp 205-13.

44 Bergman, 'Of the Analysis of Waters,' p 109; Meredith Gairdner, Essay on Mineral and Thermal Springs , p 64.

45 Encyclopedia Britannica (1797), v 12, s.v. water, p 44.

46 Pantologica , v 8, s.v. mineral waters; Coley, 'Physicians and the Chemical Analysis of Mineral Waters,' pp 131, 139; John Rutty, An Essay towards a Natural, Experimental, and Medical History of the Mineral Waters of Ireland , p x.

47 Uno Boklund, 'Torbern Bergman as Pioneer in Mineral Waters,' pp 122-4; Partington, A History of Chemistry , III, pp 123-4; Eklund, 'Chemical Analysis,' pp 268-70; Guitard, Prestigieux Passé , pp 108-9; Saunders, Treatise , pp xiv-xv, 23.

48 Bergman, 'Of the Analysis of Waters,' p 101; Saunders, Treatise , p xiii, 4-5. Nevertheless Hoffmann himself tried to synthesize artificial waters (Noel G Coley, 'Preparation and Uses of Artificial Mineral Waters,' pp 34-5).

49 Quoted in Coley, 'Physicians and the Chemical Analysis of Mineral Waters,' p 131.

50 Lucas, Essay , II, p 98; Bergman, 'Of the Analysis of Waters,' pp 116-7.

51 Boklund, 'Torbern Bergman as Pioneer in Mineral Waters,' pp 119-20.

52 'Murray, John,' DNB ; John Murray, Letter to the Editor, Annals of Philosophy 8 (1816): 471.

53 John Barker, A Treatise on Cheltenham Water; British Cyclopedia of the Arts and Sciences (1835), v II, s.v. water, p 892; Saunders, Treatise , p ix; Rees Cyclopedia , s.v. water.

54 John Murray, 'An Analysis of the Mineral Waters of Dunblane and Pitcaithly,' pp 347-63.

55 Ibid , pp 347-8.

54 John Murray, 'An Analysis of the Mineral Waters of Dunblane and Pitcaithly,' pp 347-63.

55 Ibid , pp 347-8.

56 John Murray, Elements of Chemistry , 2 vols (Edinburgh: Creech, 1810) I, pp 42-50.

57 Murray, 'An Analysis of the Mineral Waters of Dunblane and Pitcaithly,' p 350.

58 Ibid , p 348.

57 Murray, 'An Analysis of the Mineral Waters of Dunblane and Pitcaithly,' p 350.

58 Ibid , p 348.

59 William Henry, The Elements of Experimental Chemistry , 4th American from the 7th London ed. (Philadelphia: James Webster, 1817), p xxxi; Encyclopedia Britannica (1810), s.v. chemistry, p 710; Richard Kirwan, Essay on Mineral Waters , pp 136-40, 164. For a more modern continue

treatment see Jones, Solution , pp 22-9, 142-3; Coley, 'Physicians and the Chemical Analysis of Mineral Waters,' pp 142-4.

60 Murray, 'An Analysis of the Mineral Waters of Dunblane and Pitcaithly,' p 349. For the lasting presence of this problem and similar experiments see A B Northcote, 'On the Water of the River Severn at Worcester,' Phil. Mag. 4th series 34 (1867): 262.

61 Murray, 'An Analysis of the Mineral Waters of Dunblane and Pitcaithly,' p 349.

62 Ibid , p 354.

61 Murray, 'An Analysis of the Mineral Waters of Dunblane and Pitcaithly,' p 349.

62 Ibid , p 354.

63 John Murray, 'A General Formula for the Analysis of Mineral Waters,' 93-98, 169-77. See also his 'Analysis of Sea Water, with Observations on the Analysis of Salt Brines,' Phil. Mag. 1st series 51 (1818): 10-25, 91-103.

64 Murray, 'General Formula,' p 95.

65 Murray, 'An Analysis of the Mineral Waters of Dunblane and Pitcaithly,' p 358.

66 Ibid , p 353; Rees Cyclopedia , s.v. water, v 38; 'On Mineral Waters, Natural and Artificial,' Lancet 1828, ii, pp 251-2; Gairdner, Essay , pp 63, 70-3. An anonymous annotator noted in the margin of Edwin Godden Jones' article 'Chemical Analysis of the Mineral Waters of Spa' ( Trans. Medico-Chirurgical Assn. 7 pt 1 [1816] 69, Michigan State University Library copy) that Murray's approach had finally resolved the inconsistency between medical effects and composition. See also Rutty, A Methodical Synopsis of Mineral Waters , p xiv.

65 Murray, 'An Analysis of the Mineral Waters of Dunblane and Pitcaithly,' p 358.

67 F L Holmes has pointed to a similar treatment of Berthollet's views during the first half of the century. Without accurate quantitative knowledge of affinities, chemists were unable to predict how mass would affect reactions; they could only assert that traditional affinity relations did not work (Holmes, 'From Elective Affinities to Chemical Equilibria,' pp 111-25; Thomson, History of Chemistry,* II, p 223).

68 J Berzelius, 'Examen chimique des eaux de Carlsbad, de Toplitz, et de Konigswart,' Annales de Chimie et de Physique , 2nd series 28 (1825): 258-60. See also J F Comstock, Elements of Chemistry (Hartford: D F Robinson, 1831), pp 344-5; and Holmes, 'From Elective Affinities to Chemical Equilibria,' pp 122-3.

69 Abel and Rowney, 'On the Mineral Waters of Cheltenham,' p 194. For varied views and ways of combining acids and bases see 'Water Analysis: Statement of the Results,' CN 3 (1861): 285; C G B Daubeny, 'Report on Mineral and Thermal Waters,' pp 47-8; R Henderson, 'On the General Existence of Iodine in Spring Water,' Phil. Mag. , 2nd series 7 (1830): 11-12; Marie Bach, Des Eaux Gazeuses Alcalines de Soultzmatt (Haut-Rhin), suivi d'une nouvelle analyses des eaux de Soultzmatt par M. Bechamp (Paris: Balliere, 1853), p 256; James Barratt, 'Analysis of the Water of Holywell, North Wales,' Q. J. Chem. Soc. 12 (1859): continue

52-4; Thomas Graham, A W Hofmann, and W A Miller, 'Chemical report on the supply of water to the metropolis,' pp 378-9; J T Way in Royal Commission on Water Supply, 1868-9, App. F, p 36; L Playfair in GBH . Report on the Supply of Water to the Metropolis, App III, p 77.

70 A W Hofmann, 'Analysis of the Saline Water of Christian Malford near Chippenham,' Q. J. Chem. Soc. 13 (1860): 80-4; H M Noad, 'Analysis of the Saline Water of Purton near Swindon, North Wilts,' Q. J. Chem. Soc. 14 (1861): 43; Barratt, 'Analysis of the Water of Holywell, North Wales,'* pp 52-4; Northcote, 'On the Water of the River Severn at Worcester,'* p 255; Edward T Bennett, 'Analysis of the Thames water at Greenwich,' Q. J. Chem. Soc. 2 (1849): 199. The problem, of course, is that not all those using the phrase used the same 'usual' method (Cf R Phillips, 'Analyses of Two Sulphurous Springs near Plymouth,'* p 158). Fullest development of the Hofmann approach is George Merck and Robert Galloway, 'Analysis of the water of the Thermal Spring at Bath,' Phil. Mag. 3rd series 31 (1847): 56-67.

71 Augustus Voeckler, 'On the Composition of the Purton Saline Water,' Q. J. Chem. Soc. 14 (1861): 46-7. Cf Henry M Noad, 'Analysis of the Saline Water of Purton near Swindon, North Wilts,'* pp 43-6, who analysed the same water using the Hofmann conventions.

72 Bennett, 'Analysis of the Thames water at Greenwich,'* p 199.

73 Abel and Rowney, 'On the Mineral Waters of Cheltenham,' pp 193-4.

74 J H Gladstone, 'On the Salts actually present in the Cheltenham and other Mineral Waters,' Proc. BAAS for 1856 (London: John Murray, 1857), sections, pp 51-2 (italics mine); see also Partington, A History of Chemistry , IV, p 582; Holmes, 'From Elective Affinities to Chemical Equilibria,' pp 134-42.

75 On enlightenment attempts to classify waters, see Guitard, Prestigieux Passé , p 107. For 'deduced' see T J Herapath, 'Analysis of a Medicinal Water from the Neighbourhood of Bristol,' Q. J. Chem. Soc. 2 (1849): 205; J M Ashley, 'Analysis of Thames Water,' Q. J. Chem. Soc. 2 (1849): 77; F A Abel and Thos Rowney, 'Analysis of the Water of the Artesian Wells, Trafalgar Square,' Q. J. Chem. Soc. 1 (1848): 100. For other alternatives see Northcote, 'On the Water of the River Severn at Worcester,'* p 264 ('assumed salts'); Bennett, 'Analysis of the Thames water at Greenwich,'* p 199 ('ingredients . . . assume the subjoined form'); W T Brande, 'Analysis of the Well-Water at the Royal Mint with Some Remarks on the Waters of the London Wells,' Q. J. Chem. Soc. 2 (1850): 349 ('Upon the whole, I am inclined to regard the following as a tolerably correct statement of the proximate saline constituents of this water'). break