Abstract
This is the second of a pair of papers, of which the first showed how each of the main late phlogistic theories effectively reached impasses due to internal problems or included features which made them unacceptable even to other phlogistians. This paper deals with theory comparison and theory change. It gives an unprecedentedly detailed comparison between the available theories in 1790–1791, and shows that this was overwhelmingly in favour of the new chemistry. This time period correlates well with many chemists changing to the new theory. There was a plurality of views held by individuals and there was freedom of individual choice concerning theories, yet there was also a widespread and rational change to the new chemistry.
Highlights
The first dealt with the development of problems in the later phlogistic theories, and the present paper deals with theory comparisons and theory choices for the same period
Lavoisier had undertaken experiments on the basis of which he produced a series of consistent theories about this gas, which were testable by repeating the experiments
Cavendish’s (1784a, p. 137) view that phlogiston might still be inflammable air was not consistent with his (1785, p. 380) theory that the addition of phlogiston was equivalent to deprivation of ‘‘dephlogisticated air’’
Summary
This paper sets out, for the first time in the literature, comparisons concerning a very wide range of aspects of several phlogistic theories, with separate sections on specific topics or collections of topics that were perceived by contemporaries as being important for theory comparison. This is a guide to the material that could potentially have been taken into account by individuals, provided that they had sufficient information and time, and that they were sufficiently free from preconception.
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