Factitious airs was a term used for synthetic gases which emerged around 1670 when
Robert Boyle
Robert Boyle (; 25 January 1627 – 31 December 1691) was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, alchemist and inventor. Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders of ...
coined the term upon isolating what is now understood to be hydrogen.
''Factitious'' means "artificial, not natural",
so the term means "man-made gases".
Background
Robert Boyle
Robert Boyle (; 25 January 1627 – 31 December 1691) was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, alchemist and inventor. Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders of ...
coined the term Factitious Air upon isolating hydrogen in 1670.
Henry Cavendish
Henry Cavendish ( ; 10 October 1731 – 24 February 1810) was an English natural philosopher and scientist who was an important experimental and theoretical chemist and physicist. He is noted for his discovery of hydrogen, which he termed "infl ...
(1731–1810) used the term "factitious air" to refer to "any kind of air which is contained in other bodies in an unelastic state, and is produced from thence by art".
An archaic definition from 1747 for the production of factitious air was defined as being caused by: "1- by flow Degrees from Putrefactions and Fermentations of all Kinds; or 2- more expeditiously by some Sorts of chymical Dissolutions of Bodies; or 3- and lastly, almost instantaneously by the Explosion of Gunpowder, and the Mixture or some Kinds of Bodies. Thus, if Paste or Dough with Leaven be placed in an exhausted Receiver, it wall, after some Time, by Fermentation, produce and considerable Quantity of Air, which will appear very plainly by the Sinking the Quicksilver in the Gage. Thus also any Animal or Vegetable Substance, putrifying ''in Vacuo'', will produce the same Effect."
There are significant inconsistencies in the archaic nomenclature due to the limited knowledge of chemistry and primitive analytical technology of the era (i.e. based on the chemistry, it is clear the terms were mistakenly assigned to more than one gas by different investigators). Furthermore, in most cases the gases were not pure.
Factitious Airs
Names used for factitious airs may have included:
ammonia
Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous wa ...
* ammonical gas
*ammoniac
*volatile alkali
*alkaline air
*gaseous ammonia
*azoturetted hydrogen
carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is trans ...
fixed air
Fixed air, or fixible air, is an ancient term for carbon dioxide
Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, natural philosopher, separatist theologian, grammarian, multi-subject educator, and liberal political theorist. He published over 150 works, and conducted exp ...
credited
Joseph Black
Joseph Black (16 April 1728 – 6 December 1799) was a Scottish physicist and chemist, known for his discoveries of magnesium, latent heat, specific heat, and carbon dioxide. He was Professor of Anatomy and Chemistry at the University of Glas ...
for discovering and coining "fixed air", which was thought to exist in a fixed state in alkaline salts, chalk, and other calcareous substances. Black considered substances containing fixed air to be "mild", and upon expulsion of the gas by heating the resulting state is "caustic" by corroding or burning plants and animals (e.g. released by chalk upon decomposition to calcium oxide). In other words, the fixed air (also known as fixible air) was thought to be fixated within a corrosive molecule.
Priestley likewise credited the discovery of fixed air to contributions from several scientists including:
David Macbride,
John Pringle John Pringle may refer to:
*John Pringle, Lord Haining (c. 1674–1754), Scottish landowner, judge and politician, shire commissioner for Selkirk 1702–07, MP for Selkirkshire 1708–29, Lord of Session
*Sir John Pringle, 1st Baronet (1707–1782) ...
,
William Brownrigg
William Brownrigg ( – 6 January 1800) was a British doctor and scientist, who practised at Whitehaven in Cumberland. While there, Brownrigg carried out experiments that earned him the Copley Medal in 1766 for his work on carbonic acid gas. He ...
(regarded carbonated water to have an acidulous taste),
Stephen Hales
Stephen Hales (17 September 16774 January 1761) was an English clergyman who made major contributions to a range of scientific fields including botany, pneumatic chemistry and physiology. He was the first person to measure blood pressure. He al ...
, and many others.
Henry Cavendish
Henry Cavendish ( ; 10 October 1731 – 24 February 1810) was an English natural philosopher and scientist who was an important experimental and theoretical chemist and physicist. He is noted for his discovery of hydrogen, which he termed "infl ...
provided a definition: "By fixed air, I mean that particular species of factitious air, which is separated from alkaline substances by solution in acids or by
calcination
Calcination refers to thermal treatment of a solid chemical compound (e.g. mixed carbonate ores) whereby the compound is raised to high temperature without melting under restricted supply of ambient oxygen (i.e. gaseous O2 fraction of air), gener ...
".
Cavendish essentially defined potassium oxide or calcium oxide as a base, which can contain a fixated air within its composition, setting the stage for the historical definition of carbonate.
carbonic acid
According to
Claude Louis Berthollet
Claude Louis Berthollet (, 9 December 1748 – 6 November 1822) was a Savoyard-French chemist who became vice president of the French Senate in 1804. He is known for his scientific contributions to theory of chemical equilibria via the mecha ...
, "What has long been called ''fixed'', or ''fixible air'', being really an acid in the state of gas, has of late received several new denominations. It has been called ''aerial acid'', as existing very readily in the state of air, or more properly of gas, and plentifully in the atmosphere. The ''chalky acid'', as procurable in large quantities from chalk, or other mild calcareous substances. The name given to it in this essay is derived from the knowledge of its composition, as lately ascertained by the French Chemists to consist of the elementary part of charcoal, named ''charbone'', or ''char'', united with ''oxygen'', or the acidifying principle. Hence it is called, with strict propriety, ''carbonic acid'' in general; ''carbonic acid gas'' when in the aerial form; and ''carbonic acid liquor'' when combined with or dissolved in water."
By French Chemists, Berthollet is generally referring to
Laviosier's oxidation discoveries.
The name
oxygen
Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as ...
is derived from Greek with oxy meaning acid, and gene to mean forming/expression, therefore carbonic acid is simply the union of carbon with oxygen (Laviosier's original degrees of oxidation could not fit the concept of carbon monoxide as it was based on diamond, graphite, coal and carbonic acid
)
= carbonate
=
Carbonate was defined as "a compound formed by the union of carbonic acid with an earth, alkali, or metallic oxide
..they are distinguished by the property of effervescing on the addition of an acid"
The definition expands upon fixed air being fixated within carbonate to suggest carbonic acid is a constituent of carbonate, therefore in the ancient language the suffix "-ic acid" and "-ate" were not interchangeable.
The modern definition is similar, although equipped with the molecular knowledge of carbonate's structure and reassignment of the meaning of carbonic acid from CO
2 to the H
2CO
3 molecule, "Carbonates are the salts of carbonic acids. They form when a positively charged metal ion comes into contact with the oxygen atoms of the carbonate ion."
= bicarbonate
=
Bicarbonate
In inorganic chemistry, bicarbonate (IUPAC-recommended nomenclature: hydrogencarbonate) is an intermediate form in the deprotonation of carbonic acid. It is a polyatomic anion with the chemical formula .
Bicarbonate serves a crucial biochem ...
, originally known as bi-carbonate of potash, was coined by
William Hyde Wollaston
William Hyde Wollaston (; 6 August 1766 – 22 December 1828) was an English chemist and physicist who is famous for discovering the chemical elements palladium and rhodium. He also developed a way to process platinum ore into malleable ingot ...
in 1814 based on hydrocarbonate's potential to release two molar equivalents of carbon dioxide (referred to as carbonic acid at the time) as released by both potassium hydrocarbonate (initially known as carbonate of potash, suggested to become bicarbonate) and potassium carbonate (vaguely known as subcarbonate, suggested to become carbonate) upon formation of potash (potassium oxide).
Bicarbonates have historically been defined as, "combinations of the bases with the carbonic acid, in which two atoms of the latter are united to one of the former"
In other words, potash (potassium oxide) was well-understood to be a caustic base and essentially the core molecule that subsequent chemical nomenclature was built upon. Carbonate of potash (potassium carbonate) must contain a carbonic acid species fixated within potash's alternative composition (see fixed air above). Since "bi-carbonate of potash" liberates a double dose of carbonic acid, to distinguish between the similar substances, the prefix bi- indicates the bi-carbonate of potash (potassium hydrocarbonate) contains twice as much fixated in this form potash's composition relative to the carbonate of potash. The same ancient logic (prior to the understanding of molecular formulas and reaction stoichiometry) applied to soda, carbonate of soda, and bicarbonate of soda.
The word ''saleratus'', from
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
''sal æratus'' (meaning "aerated salt"), was widely used beginning in the 1840s.
carbonic acid gas
Carbonic acid gas was an ancient term to specify the gaseous state of carbonic acid (synonymous with carbonic acid). It is listed as an alternative name for carbon dioxide in PubChem. In 1796 externally applied carbonic acid gas to the epidermis was reported to treat breast cancer; and inhalation treated tuberculosis and other indications.
miscellaneous historical names
* gas silvestre
**Ancient origin for fixed air by
Jan Baptist van Helmont
Jan Baptist van Helmont (; ; 12 January 1580 – 30 December 1644) was a chemist, physiologist, and physician from Brussels. He worked during the years just after Paracelsus and the rise of iatrochemistry, and is sometimes considered to b ...
*Spiritus sylvestris
*aerial acid
*acid of air
*luft-saeure
*carbonic anhydride
*Gas acide carbonique
*Gas carbonicum
*chalky acid
*acid of chalk
*kriedesaeure
*kohlensaeures gas
*choke-damp
*cretaceous acid
*Acide mephitique
*Mephitic air
*deutoxide of carbon
carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide (chemical formula CO) is a colorless, poisonous, odorless, tasteless, flammable gas that is slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the simple ...
*
hydrocarbonate
In inorganic chemistry, bicarbonate (IUPAC-recommended nomenclature: hydrogencarbonate) is an intermediate form in the deprotonation of carbonic acid. It is a polyatomic anion with the chemical formula .
Bicarbonate serves a crucial biochemic ...
**
Water gas
Water gas is a kind of fuel gas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. It is produced by "alternately hot blowing a fuel layer okewith air and gasifying it with steam". The caloric yield of this is about 10% of a modern syngas plant. F ...
prepared by passing steam over charcoal/
coke. Alternatively prepared from unspecified alcohol and sulphuric acid.
**Hydrocarbonate was recognized to brighten venous blood and compete with oxygen around 1796,
although credit is widely awarded to
Claude Bernard
Claude Bernard (; 12 July 1813 – 10 February 1878) was a French physiologist. Historian I. Bernard Cohen of Harvard University called Bernard "one of the greatest of all men of science". He originated the term '' milieu intérieur'', and the ...
's work in the mid 1850s.
*hydrocarbonous acid
* heavy inflammable air
*carbonated hydrogene
* carbonic oxide / protoxide
**
William Cruickshank discovered the composition of carbon monoxide and named it gaseous oxide of carbon. Cruickshank recognized water and hydrogen were not a constituent of the combustible base which contained the same ingredients as carbonic acid, although containing less oxygen.
**Carbonic oxide was identified in the intestine of cattle in the 1800s, marking a trace origin for endogenous carbon monoxide.
*carbonous oxyd
**The name carbonous oxyd relative to carbonic acid was once considered analogous to nitrous oxide to nitric acid based on the oxide not having sufficient oxygen to form the acid.
hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic ...
Hydrogen was initially thought to be toxic based on experiments by Lavoisier, however, the purity of the hydrogen was taken into question when later experiments discovered hydrogen to effectively treat measles in the 1790s.
* factitious air (Boyle)
* hydrogene - means "water former" from hydro- and gene-
* inflammable air
* inflammable gas
* base of inflammable air
*zincic inflammable air
*martial inflammable air
hydrogen sulfide
* sulphurated hydrogene
**therapeutic application of H2S for gastrointestinal disorders dates as early as 1806
*hepatic air
methane
Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Ea ...
*marsh gas/air
*carburetted hydrogen
*light carburetted hydrogen
*heavy inflammable air
*dicarburet of hydrogen
*fire-damp
*gas of the acetates
nitrogen
Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...
* azotic air
* azote - means lifeless,
or a-zote for "not life",
generally regarded as the solid constituent whereas azotic gas was the gaseous form.
* phlogisticated air
*atmospherical memphitic gas
* mephitis
*nitrogene
* base of mephitis
*stickstoffgas
nitrous oxide
Nitrous oxide (dinitrogen oxide or dinitrogen monoxide), commonly known as laughing gas, nitrous, or nos, is a chemical compound, an oxide of nitrogen with the formula . At room temperature, it is a colourless non-flammable gas, and has ...
*factitious air (
Davy
Davy may refer to:
* Davy (given name)
* Davy (surname)
* Davy lamp, a type of safety lamp with its flame encased inside a mesh screen
* Davy, West Virginia, United States, a town
* Davy Sound, Greenland
* Davy (crater), a crater on the moon
...
)
*dephlogisticated nitrous air
*protoxide of nitrogen
*hypo-nitrous oxide
*gaseous oxide of azote
oxygen
Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as ...
Blood has been understood to absorb and deliver oxygen since the mid 1790s.
*vital air
*highly respirable air
*pure air
*phosoxygen
*dephlogisticated air
*empyreal air
*base of vital air
*oxy-gene means acid-former or acid-expression, once thought all acids contained oxygen.
miscellaneous
* animal inflammable air
Therapeutics
The study of these airs interfaced with
phlogiston theory
The phlogiston theory is a superseded scientific theory that postulated the existence of a fire-like element called phlogiston () contained within combustible bodies and released during combustion. The name comes from the Ancient Greek (''burni ...
.
The therapeutic potential of factitious airs were widely investigated with significant contributions by
Thomas Beddoes
Thomas Beddoes (13 April 176024 December 1808) was an English physician and scientific writer. He was born in Shifnal, Shropshire and died in Bristol fifteen years after opening his medical practice there. He was a reforming practitioner and t ...
,
James Watt,
James Lind
James Lind (4 October 1716 – 13 July 1794) was a Scottish doctor. He was a pioneer of naval hygiene in the Royal Navy. By conducting one of the first ever clinical trials, he developed the theory that citrus fruits cured scurvy.
Lind ...
,
Humphry Davy
Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet, (17 December 177829 May 1829) was a British chemist and inventor who invented the Davy lamp and a very early form of arc lamp. He is also remembered for isolating, by using electricity, several elements for t ...
, and others at the
Pneumatic Institution
The Pneumatic Institution (also referred to as Pneumatic Institute) was a medical research facility in Bristol, England, in 1799–1802. It was established by physician and science writer Thomas Beddoes to study the medical effects of gases, know ...
.
Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire
Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (née Spencer; ; 7 June 1757 – 30 March 1806), was an English aristocrat, socialite, political organiser, author, and activist. Born into the Spencer family, married into the Cavendish family, she wa ...
(related to Henry through marriage) had a profound interest in chemistry with interest in Henry's research in
pneumatic chemistry
In the history of science, pneumatic chemistry is an area of scientific research of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth centuries. Important goals of this work were the understanding of the physical properties of gases and how the ...
.
She played a pivotal role in advancing the study of factitious airs through partnering with
Thomas Beddoes
Thomas Beddoes (13 April 176024 December 1808) was an English physician and scientific writer. He was born in Shifnal, Shropshire and died in Bristol fifteen years after opening his medical practice there. He was a reforming practitioner and t ...
to establish the Pneumatic Institution.
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
was a primary disease physicians had attempted to treat with factitious airs, particularly since
James Watt's daughter died of the disease.
John Carmichael had reported successfully treating a patient suffering from
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
using
hydrocarbonate
In inorganic chemistry, bicarbonate (IUPAC-recommended nomenclature: hydrogencarbonate) is an intermediate form in the deprotonation of carbonic acid. It is a polyatomic anion with the chemical formula .
Bicarbonate serves a crucial biochemic ...
.
This application of factitious air was pioneering research relevant to the modern era as
carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide (chemical formula CO) is a colorless, poisonous, odorless, tasteless, flammable gas that is slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the simple ...
currently has
preclinical
In drug development, preclinical development, also termed preclinical studies or nonclinical studies, is a stage of research that begins before clinical trials (testing in humans) and during which important feasibility, iterative testing and drug ...
evidence of treating ''
Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' infection progression by inducing dormancy, stimulating host immune response, and ameliorating host inflammation.
References
{{reflist, 30em
18th century in medicine
History of pharmacy
History of chemistry
Misidentified chemical elements
Gases