Duncan, Alistair

Duncan, Alistair M. Laws and Order in Eighteenth-Century Chemistry. Oxford Clarendon Press, 1996. 

Duncan, Alistair M. 1970. The Function of Affinity Tables and Lavoisier s List of Elements. Ambix 17(1) 28 2. 

Macquer calls these statements, fundamental truths, from which we shall deduce an explanation of all the phenomena in Chymistry. Numbers I, 5, 6, and 7 come from Geoffroy and are statements of well-established laboratory experience. According to Alistair M. Duncan,numbers 2, 3, and 4 came from Stahl, and represent conjectural or theoretical assertions, though 2 and 3 had long been traditional views. As we shall eventually see, the latter group becomes increasingly in conflict with the behavior of real chemical entities. But first let us see how Macquer utilizes these truths to explain all the phenomena of chemistry. ... 

Some Theoretical Aspects of Eighteenth-Century Tables of Affinity - I, Ann. Sci. 18 (1962) 177-194 at 191. See also Alistair M. Duncan, Laws and Order in Eighteenth-Century Chemistry (Oxford Clarendon Press, 1996), 192 IF. 

Up to this point, the affinity tables of the eighteenth century attracted the attention of historians of science mainly because of the conception of chemical affinity embodied in them. They were rarely studied as documents giving testimony of cheuucal classification in this period. Among the many merits of Alistair Duncan s profound book on these tables is that it dedicates a section of its fourth chapter to the question of the classification of chenucal substances in this age—see Duncan [1996] pp. 159-168. In the following we further extend and elaborate Duncan s approach. 

Duncan [1996] p. 166. This is a neat illustration of the way in which affinity tables can represent the observed facts without commitment to any particular theory of composition, was Alistair Duncan s telling comment. 

---