| RefNo | AP/32/18 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Unpublished paper, 'Water and its supposed constituents' by William Ford Stevenson |
| Date | 19 March 1850 |
| Description | Stevenson writes on the composition and decomposition of water, suggesting that it is a compound of gaseous substances. He conceives that water forms hydrogen by combining with the electric fluid, which he imagines to be identical with the phlogiston of former chemists. He cites the opinions of [Joseph] Priestley, [Henry] Cavendish and [James] Watt, as corroborating his views, and interprets their experiments in conformity with the hypothesis he has adopted.
Subject: Chemistry / Hydrology
Written by Stevenson at the Royal York Hotel, Sidmouth [Devon, England].
Whilst the Royal Society declined to publish this paper in full, an abstract of the paper was published in volume 5 of Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London [later Proceedings of the Royal Society] as 'On phlogiston and the decomposition of water'. |
| Extent | 10p |
| Format | Manuscript |
| PhysicalDescription | Ink on paper |
| Digital images | View item on Science in the Making |
| AccessStatus | Open |
| RelatedMaterial | DOI: 10.1098/rspl.1843.0099 |
| RelatedRecord | AP/32/19 |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA3728 | Stevenson; William Ford (- 1852) | - 1852 |
| NA8274 | Priestley; Joseph (1733 - 1804) | 1733 - 1804 |
| NA8163 | Cavendish; Henry (1731 - 1810); natural philosopher | 1731 - 1810 |
| NA8295 | Watt; James (1736 - 1819) | 1736 - 1819 |