...elementary character. It was viewed according to one of the common definitions of an element, as " a something to which we can add, but from which we can take nothing." When, behold ! Dr. Auer von Welsbach, examining this supposed simple body in a novel manner, succeeded...

...The text-books tell us that an element is ' a body which has not been decomposed ' ; that it is ' a something to -which we can add, but from which we can take away nothing,' or ' a body which increases in weight with every chemical change.' Such definitions...

...The text books tell us that an element is ' a body which has not been decomposed ;' that it is ' a something to which we can add, but from which we can...weight with every chemical change.' Such definitions are doubly unsatisfactory : they are provisional, and may cease to-morrow to be applicable in any given...

...elementary character. It was viewed according to one of the common definitions of an element, as " a something to which we can add, but from which we can take nothing." When, behold I Dr. Auer von Welsbach, examining this supposed simple body in a novel manner, succeeded...

...not been decomposed ' ; that it is ' a something to which we can add, but from which we can take away nothing,' or ' a body which increases in weight with every chemical change.' Such definitions are doubly unsatisfactory : they are provisional, and may cease to-morrow to be applicable to any given...

...The textbooks tell us that an element is ' a body which has not been decomposed ' ; that it is ' a something to which we can add, but from which we can take away nothing,' or ' a body which increases in weight with every chemical change.' Such definitions...

...chemist's idea of an element. The text-books told, and still tell, us that an element is a ' body that has not been decomposed,' or is ' something to which...which increases in weight with every chemical change.' These definitions being provisional, are bound to be unsatisfactory. They take their stand, as Sir...

...has occasioned. The exact idea conveyed by the word " element " in chemistry and physics in the past has been more easily realised or felt by students...any attribute of things to be defined, but on the DISCOVERY limitations of human power ; they were confessions of human impotence. Now since it is known...

...chemist's idea of an element. The text-books told, and still tell, us that an element is a ' body that has not been decomposed,' or is ' something to which...which increases in weight with every chemical change.' These definitions being provisional, are bound to be unsatisfactory. They take their stand, as Sir...

...century the notion of impenetrable mysteries was dismissed. The old definition of an element as "a body to which we can add but from which we can take nothing," was obsolete. To-day we were confronted by problems and speculations concerning the ultimate constitution...