Black Lectures on the Elements

Joseph Black, Lectures on the Elements of Chemistry, edited by John Robison, 2 vols. (Edinburgh, 1803), vol. i, 342-343. 

Phil. Trans., 1813,103, 7i On a Method of Freezing at a Distance, he also used the name cryophorus Ann. Phil, 1813,2, 230. In Wollaston s apparatus the bulbs were 1 in. in diameter and connected by -in. bore tube. See also Saunders, J. Phys. Chem., 1908,12, 279 Black, Lectures on the Elements of Chemistry, Edinburgh, 1803, 1, 178, attributes the invention of this pulse-glass to Benjamin Franklin. 

H. Guerlac, Joseph Black s Work on Heat , in Joseph Black, 1728-1799. A Commemorative Symposium, ed. A. D. C. Simpson, p. 17, Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh, 1982, citing Joseph Black, Lectures on the Elements of Chemistry, ed. John Robison, Edinburgh, 1803, v. 1, pp. 157-8. Since it... 

J. Black Lectures on the Elements of Chemistry (J. Robinson, ed), Edinburgh 1803 J. Dalton A New System of Chemical Philosophy Manchester 1808 1827 (readition by Phil.Lab. New York 1964) H. Davy Elements of Chemical Philosophy London 1812 ... 

In his Lectures on the Elements of Chemistry, Dr. Joseph Black made the following statement about the discovery of nitrogen ... 

Since Max Speter (27,41) mentioned that John Mayow in his Trac-tatus Quinque anticipated Lavoisier (28) in die belief that all acids contain oxygen, it is interesting to know that Dr. Rudierford also made the same error. A note by John Robison in his edition of Black s Lectures on the Elements of Chemistry reads as follows ... 

Neave, E. W. J., Joseph Black s lectures on the elements of chemistry, Isis,... 

Francis Home, Experiments on Bleaching (Dublin, 1771). Black s essay was entitled An explanation of the effect of lime upon alkaline salts, and a method pointed out whereby it may be used with safety and advantage in bleaching. Black spoke favorably of MacBride s work in his Lectures on the Elements of Chemistry, 2 vols (Edinburgh, 1803), 2, 97. 

Black was a gifted teacher and his classic text Lectures on the Elements of Chemistry was published posthumously (Edinburgh, 1803 Philadelphia, 1807). He undoubtedly delighted and puzzled audiences by pouring fixed air (which is denser than common air) out of a glass to extinguish a candle flame. Black also showed that the same gas was generated by fermentation as well as by respiration since these emissions also turned lime water milky and were therefore CO2. 

His large contributions to the development of chemistry and physics, and his discovery of magnesium, have been described in Chapter 14 Magnesium and Calcium. In his textbook Lectures on the Elements of Chemistry, Vol. 2, edited posthumously in 1803, he mentions the work of both Carl WiUiehn Scheele and Daniel Rutherford (Black s own student in Edinburgh) in the discovery of nitrogen. 

Black s Elements, used Absorbent and Alkaline Earth synonymously (see 2 23). It is not clear whether this was a recalibration added by the book s editor, John Robison. Student notes tend to use the term Absorbent however, these notebooks were often compilations and it is sometimes hard to tell exactly when they were written down. Black usually lectured on absorbents in lectures (circa) 60 to 70. For comparison, see Henry Beaufy (transcriber), Manuscript Copy of Lectures in Chemistry Given by Joseph Black, Professor of Medicine and Chemistry, Edinburgh University, 1766-1799 [c 1771-1775], Volume IV, Aberdeen University Library Special Collections MS 38185. 

In an introductory lecture (about 1775) Black recommended Macquer s Elements of the Theory and Practice of Chymistry ( LonAon, 1758) and Lewis s New Dispensatory for the average students for further reading he referred to Dr. Boerhaave s treatise on fire , Martin s Essay on Heat TTiermometers , Neumann s Chemical Works , abridged by Lewis (1759), and the Diction. Chemie in which McQuer is said to have had the principal hand , particularly the translation (by Keir, 1771), containing many new observations which were not known to McQuer . ... 

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