Law of chemical affinity

C. L. Berthollet, Researches into the Laws of Chemical Affinity, trans. M. Farrell (Baltimore Philip Necklin, 1809) 37. Or, "It appears. .. as if the condensation increases to the degree that a larger part of the surface of the elementary atoms is hidden in the interior of the compound atom" in Berzelius, Essai sur la theorie des proportions, 54. 

C. L. Berthollet, Researches into the Laws of Chemical Affinity, 146, 154. 

Newtonian ideas about chemical combination made inroads in France in the second half of the century, and affinity tables proliferated. By 1778, Mac-quer (1718—84)had decided that there were no separate laws of chemical affinity and that the law of universal attraction would suffice to explain the whole of chemistry, if only we could learn about the shape of the particles of bodies. In the same year, the second edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica asserted that all theories of affinity were conjectural, neither is it a matter of any consequence to a chemist whether they are right or wrong. Here was a recognition that the utility of a scientific theory need not depend upon its truth. Affinity tables were above all useful, in providing a summary of existing knowledge about chemical reactions as well as a tool for predicting new reactions. 

Berrill, N.J. You and the Universe. Fawcett, World Library, New York. 1959. Berthollet, Claude-Louis. Researches into the Laws of Chemical Affinity. 

Berthollet, Researches into the Laws of Chemical Affinity (Da Capo, 1966), facsimile reproduction of the American edition (Baltimore P. H. Nicklin, 1809), 1-2. 

Berthollet, Claude Louis. Researches into the Laws of Chemical Affinity, facsimile reproduction of American edition (Baltimore, 1809) (Da Capo, 1966). Berthollet, Claude Louis. Essai de statique chimique, 2 vols. (Paris F. Didot, 1803) An Essay on Chemical Statics, 2 vols. (London printed for J. Mawman... 

All mixtures in the inorganic realm are pure chemical works, capable of being explained merely by the laws of chemical affinity as products of the affinity of matter. The mixtures in the organic realm on the other hand are either contrary to the laws of affinity which are observed to hold outside of organized bodies, or at least they are not formed according to them. The only exception to this general observation occurs in cases where the material of the organic body is expelled as a dead substance as in urine and even in lifeless bones. 

The notion of a chemical affinity subsisting betv/een the gases and vapours of different kinds cannot at ail be reconciled to these phenomena,. . . we must on this ground suppose that all the gases have the same force of affinity for any given vapour a supposition that cannot be admitted as having any analogy to other established laws of chemical affinity. ... 

Berthollet, Claude-Louls (1748-1822) French physician and inorganic chemist whose ideas on the formation of chemical compounds, although mistaken, led other workers to come nearer to the truth. He made important advances in dye-making, bleaching with chlorine, and steel making. His two major published works were Researches into the Laws of Chemical Affinity (1801) and Essay on Chemical Statics (1803). 

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