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See also:DALTON, See also:JOHN (1766-1844) , See also:English chemist and physicist, was See also:born about the 6th of See also:September 1766 at Eaglesfield, near See also:Cockermouth in See also:Cumberland. His See also:father, See also:Joseph Dalton, was a See also:weaver in poor circumstances, who, with his wife (See also:Deborah Greenup), belonged to the Society of See also:Friends; they had three children—Jonathan, John and See also:Mary. John received his See also:early See also:education from his father and from John See also:Fletcher, teacher of the See also:Quakers' school at Eaglesfield, on whose retirement in 1778 he himself started teaching. This youthful venture was not successful, the amount he received in fees being only about five shillings a See also:week, and after two years he took to See also:farm See also:work. But he had received some instruction in See also:mathematics from a distant relative, Elihu See also:- ROBINSON, EDWARD (1794–1863)
- ROBINSON, HENRY CRABB (1777–1867)
- ROBINSON, JOHN (1575–1625)
- ROBINSON, JOHN (1650-1723)
- ROBINSON, JOHN THOMAS ROMNEY (1792–1882)
- ROBINSON, MARY [" Perdita "] (1758–1800)
- ROBINSON, SIR JOHN BEVERLEY, BART
- ROBINSON, SIR JOSEPH BENJAMIN (1845– )
- ROBINSON, THEODORE (1852-1896)
Robinson, and in 1781 he See also:left his native See also:village to become assistant to his See also:cousin See also:George Bewley who kept a school at See also:Kendal. There he passed the next twelve years, becoming in 1785, through the retirement of his cousin, See also:joint manager of the school with his See also:elder See also:brother See also:Jonathan. About 1790 he seems to have thought of taking up See also:law or See also:medicine, but his projects met with no encouragement from his relatives and he remained at Kendal till, in the See also:spring of 1793, he moved to See also:Manchester; where he spent the See also:rest of his See also:life. Mainly through John See also:Gough (1757-1825), a See also:blind philosopher to whose aid he owed much of his scientific knowledge, he was appointed teacher of mathematics and natural See also:philosophy at the New See also:College in Moseley See also:Street (in 188p transferred to Manchester College, See also:- OXFORD
- OXFORD, EARLS OF
- OXFORD, EDWARD DE VERE, 17TH EARL
- OXFORD, JOHN DE VERE, 13TH EARL OF (1443-1513)
- OXFORD, PROVISIONS OF
- OXFORD, ROBERT DE VERE, 9TH EARL OF (1362-1392)
- OXFORD, ROBERT HARLEY, 1ST
Oxford), and that position he retained until the removal of the
college to See also:York in 1799, when he became a " public and private teacher of mathematics and See also:chemistry."
During his See also:residence in Kendal, Dalton had contributed solutions of problems and questions on various subjects to the Gentlemen's and Ladies' Diaries, and in 1787 he began to keep a meteorological See also:diary in which during the succeeding fift"-seven
years he entered more than 200,000 observations. His first See also:separate publication was Meteorological Observations and Essays (1793), which contained the germs of several of his later discoveries; but in spite of the originality of its See also:matter, the See also:book met with only a limited See also:sale. Another work by him, Elements of English See also:Grammar, was published in 18or. In 1794 he was elected a member of the Manchester See also:Literary and Philosophical Society, and a few See also:weeks after See also:election he communicated his first See also:paper on " Extraordinary facts See also:relating to the See also:vision of See also:colours," in which he gave the earliest See also:account of the See also:optical peculiarity known as Daltonism or See also:colour-See also:blindness, and summed up its characteristics as observed in himself and others. Besides the See also:blue and See also:purple of the spectrum he was able to recognize only one colour, yellow, or, as he says in his paper, " that See also:part of the See also:image which others See also:call red appears to me little more than a shade or defect of See also:light; after that the See also:orange, yellow and See also:green seem one colour which descends See also:pretty uniformly from an intense to a rare yellow, making what I should call different shades of yellow." This paper was followed by many others on diverse topics—on See also:rain and See also:dew and the origin of springs, on See also:heat, the colour of the See also:sky, See also:steam, the See also:auxiliary verbs and participles of the English See also:language and the reflection and See also:refraction of light. In 'Soo he became a secretary of the society, and in the following See also:year he presented the important paper or See also:series of papers, entitled " Experimental Essays on the constitution of mixed gases; on the force of steam or vapour of See also:water and other liquids in different temperatures, both in Torricellian vacuum and in See also:air; on evaporation; and on the expansion of gases by heat." The second of these essays opens with the striking remark, " There can scarcely be a doubt entertained respecting the reducibility of all elastic fluids of whatever See also:kind, into liquids; and we ought not to despair of effecting it in See also:low temperatures and by strong pressures exerted upon the unmixed gases "; further, after describing experiments to ascertain the tension of aqueous vapour at different points between 32° and 212° F., he concludes, from observations on the vapour of six different liquids, " that the variation of the force of vapour from all liquids is the same for the same variation of temperature, reckoning from vapour of any given force." In the See also:fourth See also:essay he remarks, " I see no sufficient See also:reason why we may not conclude that all elastic fluids under the same pressure expand equally by heat and that for any given expansion of See also:mercury, the corresponding expansion of air is proportionally something less, the higher the temperature. ... It seems, therefore, that See also:general See also:laws respecting the See also:absolute quantity and the nature of heat are more likely to be derived from elastic fluids than from other substances." He thus enunciated the law of the expansion of gases, stated some months later by See also:Gay-Lussac. In the two or three years following the See also:reading of these essays, he published several papers on similar topics, that on the " Absorption of gases by water and other liquids " (1803), containing his " Law of partial pressures."
But the most important of all Dalton's investigations are those concerned with the Atomic Theory in chemistry, with which his name is inseparably associated. It has been supposed that this theory was suggested to him either by researches on olefiant See also:gas and carburetted See also:hydrogen or by See also:analysis of " protoxide and deutoxide of azote," both views resting on the authority of Dr See also:- THOMAS
- THOMAS (c. 1654-1720)
- THOMAS (d. 110o)
- THOMAS, ARTHUR GORING (1850-1892)
- THOMAS, CHARLES LOUIS AMBROISE (1811-1896)
- THOMAS, GEORGE (c. 1756-1802)
- THOMAS, GEORGE HENRY (1816-187o)
- THOMAS, ISAIAH (1749-1831)
- THOMAS, PIERRE (1634-1698)
- THOMAS, SIDNEY GILCHRIST (1850-1885)
- THOMAS, ST
- THOMAS, THEODORE (1835-1905)
- THOMAS, WILLIAM (d. 1554)
Thomas See also:Thomson (1773-1852), See also:professor of chemistry in See also:Glasgow university. But from a study of Dalton's own MS. laboratory notebooks, discovered in the rooms of the Manchester society, See also:Roscoe and Harden (A New View of the Origin of Dalton's Atomic Theory, 1896) conclude that so far from Dalton being led to the See also:idea that chemical See also:combination consists in the approximation of atoms of definite and characteristic See also:weight by his See also:search for an explanation of the law of combination in multiple proportions, the idea of atomic structure arose in his mind as a purely See also:physical conception, forced upon him by study of the physical properties of the See also:atmosphere and other gases. The first published indications of this idea are to be found at the end of his paper on the " Absorption of gases " already mentioned, which was read on the 21st of See also:October 1803though not published till 1805. Here he says: " Why does not water admit its bulk of every kind of gas alike? This question I have duly considered, and though I am not able to satisfy myself completely I am nearly persuaded that the circumstance depends on the weight and number of the ultimate particles of the several gases." He proceeds to give what has been quoted as his first table of atomic weights, but on p. 248 of his laboratory notebooks for 1802-1804, under the date 6th of September 1803, there is an earlier one in which he sets forth the relative weights of the ultimate atoms of a number of substances, derived from analysis of water, See also:ammonia, See also:carbon-dioxide, &c. by chemists of the See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time. It appears, then, that, confronted with the " problem of ascertaining the relative See also:diameter of the particles of which, he was convinced, all gases were made up, he had recourse to the results of chemical analysis. Assisted by the See also:assumption that combination always takes See also:place in the simplest possible way, he thus arrived at the idea that chemical combination takes place between particles of different weights, and this it was which differentiated his theory from the historic speculations of the Greeks. The See also:extension of this idea to substances in general necessarily led him to the law of combination in multiple proportions, and the comparison with experiment brilliantly confirmed the truth of his See also:deduction " (A New View, &c., pp. 50, 51). It may be noted that in a paper on the " Proportion of the gases or elastic fluids constituting the atmosphere," read by him in See also:November 1802, the law of multiple proportions appears to be anticipated in the words—" The elements of See also:oxygen may combine with a certain portion of nitrous gas or with twice that portion, but with no intermediate quantity," but there is reason to suspect that this See also:sentence was added some time after the reading of the paper, which was not published till 18os.
Dalton communicated his atomic theory to Dr Thomson, who by consent included an outline of it in the third edition of his See also:System of Chemistry (1807), and Dalton gave a further account of it in the first part of the first See also:volume of his New System of Chemical Philosophy (18o8). The second part of this volume appeared in 18ro, but the first part of the second volume was not issued till 1827, though the See also:printing of it began in 1817. This delay is not explained by any excess of care in preparation, for much of the matter was out of date and the appendix giving the author's latest views is the only portion of See also:special See also:interest. The second part of vol. ii. never appeared.
Altogether Dalton contributed 116 See also:memoirs to the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, of which from 1817 till his See also:death he was the See also:president. Of these the earlier are the most important. In one of them, read in 1814, he explains the principles of volumetric analysis, in which he was one of the earliest workers. In 184o a paper on the See also:phosphates and arsenates, which was clearly unworthy of him, was refused by the Royal Society, and he was so incensed that he published it himself. He took the same course soon afterwards with four other papers, two of which—" On the quantity of acids, bases and salts in different varieties of salts " and " On a new and easy method of analysing See also:sugar," contain his See also:discovery, regarded by him as second in importance only to the atomic theory, that certain anhydrous salts when dissolved in water cause no increase in its volume, his inference being that the " See also:salt enters into the pores of the water."
As an investigator, Dalton was content with rough and in-accurate See also:instruments, though better ones were readily attainable. See also:Sir See also:Humphry See also:Davy described him as a " very coarse experimenter," who " almost always found the results he required, trusting to his See also:head rather than his hands." In the See also:preface to the second part of vol. i. of his New System he says he had so often been misled by taking for granted the results of others that he " determined to write as little as possible but what I can attest by my own experience," but this See also:independence he carried so far that it sometimes resembled lack of receptivity. Thus he distrusted, and probably never fully accepted, Gay-Lussac's conclusions as to the combining volumes of gases; he held See also:peculiar and quite unfounded views about See also:chlorine, even after
its elementary See also:character had been settled by Davy; he persisted in using the atomic weights he himself had adopted, even when they had been superseded by the more accurate determinations of other chemists; and he always objected to the chemical notation devised by J. J. See also:Berzelius, although by See also:common consent it was much simpler and more convenient than his cumbersome system of circular symbols. His library, he was once heard to declare, he could carry on his back, yet he had not read See also:half the books it contained.
Before he had propounded the atomic theory he had already attained a considerable scientific reputation. In 1804 he was chosen to give a course of lectures on natural philosophy at the Royal Institution in See also:London, where he delivered another course in 1809-1810. But he was deficient, it would seem, in the qualities that make an attractive lecturer, being harsh and indistinct in See also:voice, ineffective in the treatment of his subject, and " singularly wanting in the language and See also:power of See also:illustration." In 1810 he was asked by Davy to offer himself as a See also:candidate for the fellowship of the Royal Society, but declined, possibly for pecuniary reasons; but in 1822 he was proposed without his knowledge, and on election paid the usual See also:fee. Six years previously he had been made a corresponding member of the See also:French See also:Academy of Sciences, and in 1830 he was elected as one of its eight See also:foreign associates in place of Davy. In 1833 See also:Lord See also:Grey's See also:government conferred on him a See also:pension of £150, raised in 1836 to £300. Never married, though there is See also:evidence that he delighted in the society of See also:women of education and refinement, he lived for more than a See also:quarter of a See also:century with his friend the Rev. W. Johns (1771-1845), in George Street, Manchester, where his daily See also:round of laboratory work and tuition was broken only by See also:annual excursions to the See also:Lake See also:district and occasional visits to London, " a surprising place and well See also:worth one's while to see once, but the most disagreeable place on See also:earth for one of a contemplative turn to reside in constantly." In 1822 he paid a See also:short visit to See also:Paris, where he met many of the distinguished men of See also:science then living in the French See also:capital, and he attended several of the earlier meetings of the See also:British Association at York, Oxford, See also:Dublin and See also:Bristol. Into society he rarely went, and his only amusement was a See also:game of See also:bowls on See also:Thursday afternoons. He died in Manchester in 1844 of See also:paralysis. The first attack he suffered in 1837, and a second in 1838 left him much enfeebled, both physically and mentally, though he remained able to make experiments. In May 1844 he had another stroke; on the 26th of See also:July he recorded with trembling See also:hand his last meteorological observation, and on the 27th he See also:fell from his See also:bed and was found lifeless by his attendant. A bust of him, by See also:Chantrey, was publicly subscribed for in 1833 and placed in the entrance See also:- HALL
- HALL (generally known as SCHWABISCH-HALL, tc distinguish it from the small town of Hall in Tirol and Bad-Hall, a health resort in Upper Austria)
- HALL (O.E. heall, a common Teutonic word, cf. Ger. Halle)
- HALL, BASIL (1788-1844)
- HALL, CARL CHRISTIAN (1812–1888)
- HALL, CHARLES FRANCIS (1821-1871)
- HALL, CHRISTOPHER NEWMAN (1816—19oz)
- HALL, EDWARD (c. 1498-1547)
- HALL, FITZEDWARD (1825-1901)
- HALL, ISAAC HOLLISTER (1837-1896)
- HALL, JAMES (1793–1868)
- HALL, JAMES (1811–1898)
- HALL, JOSEPH (1574-1656)
- HALL, MARSHALL (1790-1857)
- HALL, ROBERT (1764-1831)
- HALL, SAMUEL CARTER (5800-5889)
- HALL, SIR JAMES (1761-1832)
- HALL, WILLIAM EDWARD (1835-1894)
hall of the Manchester Royal Institution.
See See also:- HENRY
- HENRY (1129-1195)
- HENRY (c. 1108-1139)
- HENRY (c. 1174–1216)
- HENRY (Fr. Henri; Span. Enrique; Ger. Heinrich; Mid. H. Ger. Heinrich and Heimrich; O.H.G. Haimi- or Heimirih, i.e. " prince, or chief of the house," from O.H.G. heim, the Eng. home, and rih, Goth. reiks; compare Lat. rex " king "—" rich," therefore " mig
- HENRY, EDWARD LAMSON (1841– )
- HENRY, JAMES (1798-1876)
- HENRY, JOSEPH (1797-1878)
- HENRY, MATTHEW (1662-1714)
- HENRY, PATRICK (1736–1799)
- HENRY, PRINCE OF BATTENBERG (1858-1896)
- HENRY, ROBERT (1718-1790)
- HENRY, VICTOR (1850– )
- HENRY, WILLIAM (1795-1836)
Henry, Life of Dalton, See also:Cavendish Society (1854) ; See also:Angus See also:- SMITH
- SMITH, ADAM (1723–1790)
- SMITH, ALEXANDER (183o-1867)
- SMITH, ANDREW JACKSON (1815-1897)
- SMITH, CHARLES EMORY (1842–1908)
- SMITH, CHARLES FERGUSON (1807–1862)
- SMITH, CHARLOTTE (1749-1806)
- SMITH, COLVIN (1795—1875)
- SMITH, EDMUND KIRBY (1824-1893)
- SMITH, G
- SMITH, GEORGE (1789-1846)
- SMITH, GEORGE (184o-1876)
- SMITH, GEORGE ADAM (1856- )
- SMITH, GERRIT (1797–1874)
- SMITH, GOLDWIN (1823-191o)
- SMITH, HENRY BOYNTON (1815-1877)
- SMITH, HENRY JOHN STEPHEN (1826-1883)
- SMITH, HENRY PRESERVED (1847– )
- SMITH, JAMES (1775–1839)
- SMITH, JOHN (1579-1631)
- SMITH, JOHN RAPHAEL (1752–1812)
- SMITH, JOSEPH, JR
- SMITH, MORGAN LEWIS (1822–1874)
- SMITH, RICHARD BAIRD (1818-1861)
- SMITH, ROBERT (1689-1768)
- SMITH, SIR HENRY GEORGE WAKELYN
- SMITH, SIR THOMAS (1513-1577)
- SMITH, SIR WILLIAM (1813-1893)
- SMITH, SIR WILLIAM SIDNEY (1764-1840)
- SMITH, SYDNEY (1771-1845)
- SMITH, THOMAS SOUTHWOOD (1788-1861)
- SMITH, WILLIAM (1769-1839)
- SMITH, WILLIAM (c. 1730-1819)
- SMITH, WILLIAM (fl. 1596)
- SMITH, WILLIAM FARRAR (1824—1903)
- SMITH, WILLIAM HENRY (1808—1872)
- SMITH, WILLIAM HENRY (1825—1891)
- SMITH, WILLIAM ROBERTSON (1846-'894)
Smith, Memoir of John Dalton and See also:History of the Atomic Theory (1856), which on pp. 253-263 gives a See also:list of Dalton's publications; and Roscoe and Harden, A New View of the Origin of Dalton's Atomic Theory (1896); also See also:ATOM.
End of Article: DALTON, JOHN (1766-1844)
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