Ranmoth's Eclectic History of Science Presents:
Phlogiston
or, The Curious Combusting Chymical
~(1667-1783)~
Phlogiston
or, The Curious Combusting Chymical
~(1667-1783)~
IN WHICH Ranmoth (a.k.a. Charles Parrish, a.k.a. that science dude) shall attempt to explain the fundamentals of this lovely coppertone world in which we live, and to enrich the minds of his fellowes whilst at it.
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The story of phlogiston begins in 1667, with German alchemist J. J. Becher. In his time, many alchemists subscribed to the four elements posited by the Ancient Greeks: Fire, Air, Water and Earth, only three of which would survive to form a 1970's R&B group. Becher had his sights chiefly set on the lighter of the two, and eventually decided that he knew where fire came from: evolving phlogiston. Becher's name for the substance was actually terra pinguis, which in the opinions of both myself and one Georg Ernst Stahl sounded quite a bit like "penguins". I think it's cute, but Stahl sadly disagreed, changing the name to one more befitting those Ancient Greeks.
Oh, and the terminology gets even better. The substance left behind when all that phlogiston has gone its merry way is known as the calx, obviously some form of seventeenth-century breakfast cereal ("Gotta have my Calx™!"). Words such as phlogisticated and dephlogisticated were also thrown in just to trip up hapless spelling-bee contestants.
However, the good times were not to last, as Antoine Lavoisier was poised and ready about a century later to pound the hammer of chemistry into the final nail of phlogiston's coffin. (In a related note, the "Hammer of Chemistry" was also the name of a pro wrestler.) Lavoisier also introduced metrics, so those of us raised in the Imperial system have him to blame.
As you can see, the concept of phlogiston was good and dead by the time Queen Victoria seized the throne, but that won't stop some of us from using it in our post-1800 steampunkery. Now you know!
