Wednesday, July 31, 2019

How to Write an Article Review Essay

Writing an article review, which is also sometimes referred to as an article critique, is a special type of writing that involves reading an article and then providing the reader with your personal take on its content. In general, article review essays should start with a heading that includes a citation of the sources that are being reviewed. The first paragraph, which is the introduction to the article review, should provide a summary of the article highlights. This summary should not provide every last detail about the article being reviewed. Rather, it should only discuss the most important details. If you find yourself carrying on or needing more than one paragraph to write your summary, you need to revisit the paragraph and find ways to trim down the length of your summary. Following the brief summary of your article, you will then need to explain why the article is significant. Questions you should ask yourself when writing these paragraphs include: Does the article fill a void within the literature that already exists on the topic? Does the article contain any information that would be considered â€Å"breakthrough† information? Will the information contained within this article cause other people in the field to change their ideas about the subject matter or does it simply revisit information that is already known in the field? In your final paragraphs, you will need to present your personal evaluation of the article. Some questions you should ask yourself in order to come up with your personal evaluation include whether or not the article is well written and clear. You should also consider whether or not any information was missing and if more research is needed on the topic. If you are writing the article review for a class, try to connect the article to organizational and industrial experience and try to connect the content of the article to information that you have been studying in your course. As you write your article review, keep in mind that you are doing more than just a book report. Rather than focus on telling what the article was about, your article review should reflect your personal opinions on the article as well as how it affects you or the field in which it was written. After you have finished writing your article review, be sure to go back and re-read it. This way, you will be able to look at it with a fresh set of eyes and you may notice errors that you had not previously noticed. Outline of the Article Review Please include the following categories in your article review. Full Bibliographic Reference Introduction: Objectives, Article Domain, Audience, Journal and Conceptual/Emprical Classification Very Brief Summary Results Contributions Foundation Synthesis with other materials Analysis & Additional Analysis General Critique) Further Critique of a Conceptual Article -or- Further Critique of an Empirical Article Issues (in your opinion). Questions Annotated Bibliography Citation Analysis Appendix 1. Full Bibliographic Reference State the full bibliographic reference for the article you are reviewing (authors, title, journal name, volume, issue, year, page numbers, etc. ) Important: this is not the bibliography listed at the end of the article, rather the citation of the article itself! 2. Introduction: Objectives, Article Domain, Audience, Journal and Conceptual/Emprical Classification Paragraph 1: State the objectives (goals or purpose) of the article. What is the article’s domain (topic area)? Paragraph 2: State whether the article is â€Å"conceptual† or â€Å"empirical†, and why you believe it is conceptual or empirical. Empirical articles and conceptual articles have a similar objective: to substantiate an argument proposed by the author. While a conceptual article supports such an argument based on logical and persuasive reasoning, an empirical article offers empirical evidence to support the argument. Empirical articles offer substantial, detailed evidence which the authors analyze using statistical methods. Empirical articles must include hypotheses (or propositions), detailed research results, and (statistical) analyses of this empirical evidence. Empirical research includes experiments, surveys, questionnaires, field studies, etc, and to limited degree, case studies. Conceptual articles may refer to such empirical evidence, but do not provide the detailed analysis of that evidence. 3. Brief Summary For an article review, do not spend much space summarizing the article. Instead focus on analysis of the article. Thus, in this section, summarize the article only very briefly. Paragraph 1: what is the problem or opportunity being addressed Paragraph 2: which solution is proposed (the solution could be a new model or a theory that explains the problem) Paragraph 3: what evidence is put forth that this solution is appropriate (If this is an empirical article, be sure to briefly describe what kind of empirical study was done as part of the evidence) 4. Results Very briefly summarize the important points (observations, conclusions, findings) in the article. Please do not repeat lists of items in the articles – just summarize the essence of these if you feel they are necessary to include. 5. Contributions. An article makes a â€Å"contribution† by adding to the knowledge of researchers in a research field. An article can make a contribution to the research field in many ways. Does it provide a new way to look at a problem? Does it bring together or â€Å"synthesize† several concepts (or frameworks, models, etc. ) together in an insightful way that has not been done before? Does it provide new solutions? Does it provide new results? Does it identify new issues? Does it provide a comprehensive survey or review of a domain? Does it provide new insights? Also, is it salient (relevant and current) to a particular scientific issue or managerial problem? Are the issues addressed introduced in a way that their relevance to practice is evident? Would answers to the questions raised in the article likely to be useful to researchers and managers? Note: Do not discuss the contributions of the technologies the article describes, but rather the contributions of the article itself! The article’s contributions should be original. Describe each contribution clearly in a separate paragraph or bullet point. Discuss why the contribution is important. Alternatively, if you believe the article makes no contributions, explain why clearly. 6. Foundation. Good research often is built upon theories and frameworks that other researchers have developed. Sometimes articles will be substantially based upon this prior work, and refer back to it in some detail. (Not all research articles will do this. ) Which theoretical foundations does this article and research build on, if any? In what ways? Include references/citations of the foundation work. (You can determine this in part from the works the article cites. )Note, however, that most works cited are not core foundational work, but rather just support certain aspects of the article. Similarly, do not confuse a general discussion of related topics as foundational work. If the article does not build upon key pieces of prior research, then write in your review â€Å"This article does not build upon any foundation research. † (If you do not state this explicitly, you will not receive credit for this section. ) 7. Synthesis with Class Materials Synthesis means analyzing a particular topic by comparing and contrasting it with, and thinking about it from the viewpoint of, the class materials from across the semester. These materials include the articles, models, frameworks, guidelines and other concepts we’ve covered. (Of course, only certain materials will be relevant for any given article. )Note: You have to do this synthesis! You need to relate this article to other things we have studied, so by definition you will not find this analysis in the article itself! You also could analyze the approach the author took to the article’s analysis and discussion. Discuss the article’s approach and results in terms of one or more of the frameworks, etc. , from the text or readings, or any you find elsewhere. As part of this analysis, reference other articles you’ve read, when appropriate. Compare the approach, results and contribution with all articles about similar topics or with a similar approach. For all of these, do your synthesis comparison in as much depth as you can! 8. Analysis Note: Many people assume this category is the same as â€Å"General Critique†. It is not. General Critique is a different category from this, and follows below. What has changed since the article was written? How do it’s lessons, ideas and theories still apply? To what extent has its issues been resolved? Additional Analysis Optionally, try applying the article’s models, frameworks and guidelines, etc. yourself. Do you find them useful? In addition, you may optionally add your own additional analysis in a separate subsection. (Do not repeat the author’s analysis in the paper – you could summarize this as part of the results section. ) 9. General Critique In this section you should state your opinions of how well (or poorly) the authors did their research and presented the research results in the article. Your critique can contain both positive and negative comments. Justify and explain in detail each of your critique points in a separate paragraph of at least 4-5 sentences. The following are suggestions only: Does it build upon the appropriate foundation (i. e. , upon appropriate prior research)? Did the authors choose the correct approach, and then execute it properly? How confident are you in the article’s results, and why? Are its ideas really new, or do the authors simply repackage old ideas and perhaps give them a new name? Do the authors discuss everything they promise in the article’s introduction and outline? What are the article’s shortcomings (faults) and limitations (boundaries)? Did it discuss all of the important aspects and issues in its domain (topic area)? In what way should the article have made a contribution, but then did not? Do the authors make appropriate comparisons to similar events, cases or occurrences? How complete and thorough a job did the authors do? Do the authors include an adequate discussion, analysis and conclusions? Did they justify everything adequately? Did they provide enough background information for the intended audience to understand it? For you to understand it? Were there adequate and appropriate examples and illustrations? Ask yourself these questions when justifying your critique points: why/why not? how? what distinguishes the differences/different approaches, and in what ways? 9. 1. Further Critique of a Conceptual Article (only for conceptual articles) A critique of a conceptual article examines the logic of the arguments made by the authors. Both strengths and weaknesses should be identified in a critique. Explain and justify each of your critique points in at least 3-4 sentences. Give examples whenever possible. To the best of your abilities, discuss each of the following categories in a separate paragraph: 1. LOGICAL CONSISTENCY: Do any parts of the article or research contradict or invalidate other parts? If so, have the authors acknowledged and explained this adequately? 2. COHERENCE: Does the article make sense? Did the authors approach this article (and this research) sensibly? Does the article develop an argument that follows a coherent line of reasoning? Are the boundaries of the argument reasonably well defined? Does the argument anticipate most, if not all, rival arguments? Does the article flow in a logical sequence? Do later parts build logically upon earlier parts? 3. SUBSTANCE: Does the article provide an argument or a line of reasoning that offers insight into important issues, or does it merely summarize previous studies in a shallow way that does not reflect depth of analysis? Does the article provide ways (a model, framework, guidelines, etc. ) to guide future thinking about the issue(s) the author is addressing? 4. FOCUS: Is there a clear audience that the authors address? Was the article written at the appropriate level for this audience? 9. 2. Further Critique of an Empirical Article (only for empirical articles) A critique of an empirical article examines the strength of the empirical evidence supporting the author’s argument. Both strengths and weaknesses should be identified in a critique. Explain and justify each of your critique points in at least 3-4 sentences. To the best of your abilities, discuss each of the following categories in a separate paragraph: 1. CLARITY: Is the article’s purpose and argument clear? Do the researchers clearly develop a major research question, proposition, or hypothesis that is to be evaluated in the empirical study and discussed in this article? If the study is exploratory (preliminary), is sufficient justification for an exploratory strategy given? 2. THEORETICAL GROUNDING: Is the researcher’s argument grounded in more basic theory? Is it clear whether the structure of the empirical study (i. e., what they do) was derived from theory, or just made up? In theory-building articles, is the need for new theory adequately established? 3. DESIGN OF RESEARCH INVESTIGATION: Is it clear exactly how the empirical study was carried out? Is the design of the research approach (field study, experiments, questionnaires, etc. – both contents and how they will be used) adequate to address the common threats to internal and external validity? Have appropriate controls been established, and is the selection of research sites justified? Are the hypotheses and experiments, etc., significant? 4. MEASUREMENT: Empirical studies can have quantitative measurements (i. e. , numeric results) and qualitative or subjective measurements. Are the measures used adequately described (i. e. , what is measured in the study and how)? Are data on the reliability and validity of these measures reported? Does the article feel anecdotal or solidly supported with evidence? For example, in case or field studies, are the results well documented? Is it clear who the subjects were, and with whom interviews were carried out? Were important results cross-checked, i. e., determined across a range of subjects or just gotten from one or two subjects? 5. ANALYSIS: Is the analysis of empirical data conducted properly? Do the data conform to the requirements of any statistical tests used? Are qualitative data adequately described and presented? 6. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: In discussing the results of the empirical study, do the authors remain true to the actual findings of the study? Are the claims made in the conclusion of the article actually supported by the empirical data? If the study is exploratory, do the authors offer research questions or hypotheses for future research? 7. BIASES: Do the biases of the authors affect the design of the research or the interpretation of the results? Are the authors aware of potential biases and the affect on the study? 10. Issues (listed by the author) What open questions or issues has the author stated remain unresolved? Discuss each in a separate paragraph of 5-10 sentences. Each issue’s paragraph should take the following format: what is the issue? why do you believe this is an important issue? in what way is it unresolved suggestions for resolving it – if you give your own suggestions (instead of or in addition to the authors’, then precede each with â€Å"I would propose †¦ † If it has been resolved since the article was written, then state how it was resolved. 11. Issues (in your opinion) List several open questions or issues which remain unresolved in your opinion? For example, what possible future research questions could arise from this article? Discuss each in a separate paragraph of 5-10 sentences. Each issue’s paragraph should take the following format: what is the issue? why do you believe this is an important issue? in what way is it unresolved suggestions for resolving it 12. Questions List three insightful questions of your own, arising from this article. Do not ask definitions, but rather questions that really make one think. 13. Annotated Bibliography For every item you have cited in your report, you need a full reference and an annotation explaining it. List the full bibliographic references (authors, title, journal name, volume, issue, year, page numbers, etc. ) for anything you have cited in your review. IMPORTANT: This is NOT the bibliography listed at the end of the article. It is the bibliographic references for any readings you yourself referred to inside your review. Write 2-4 sentences describing the article. Write 2-3 sentences describing why you cited it. 14. Citation Analysis Appendix If the article has no citations then write in that section â€Å"I found no citations in the [Science Citation Index or the Social Sciences Citation Index or on the Internet]. † Note, if your article has more than 20 citations, you only need to include a selection of them: State how many citations each index has and the Web search found List 1-2 citations for each year in which the article has been cited. Try to include citations from several different journals spread over your selection ? Include a citation analysis to see who has cited it and how.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier

Daniel Rutherford Jacobus Henricus Walther Hermann Nernst Reinhold Benesch & Ruth Erica Benesch Find How Oxygen is Transported in Human Body Frederick Soddy Artturi Ilmari Virtanen Louis Jacques Thenard discovers hydrogen peroxide Jbir ibn Hayyn Ya'qub Al-Kindi Paul Karrer Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier Few things are as important as water, which we know is made of oxygen and hydrogen. Did you know that Antoine Lavoisier was the discoverer of both elements? Contributions to Science Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier is one of the most important scientists in the history of chemistry.He discovered elements, formulated a basic law of chemistry and helped create the metric system. During his time, people believed that when an object burns, a mysterious substance called ‘phlogiston’ was released. This was called the ‘phlogiston theory’. Lavoisier’s experiments demonstrated the contrary, i. e. when something burned, it actually absorbed something from the air, ins tead of releasing anything. He later named the ‘something’ from the air as oxygen, when he found that it combined with other chemicals to form acid. (In Greek, ‘oxy’ means sharp, referring to the sharp taste of acids. Henry Cavendish had earlier isolated hydrogen, but he called it inflammable air. Lavoisier showed that this inflammable air burned to form a colourless liquid, which turned out to be water. The Greek word for water is ‘hydro’, so the air that burned to form water was hydrogen! Lavoisier was known for his painstaking attention to detail. Whenever he made a chemical reaction, he weighed all the substances carefully before and after the reaction. He discovered that in a chemical reaction, though substances may change their chemical nature, their total mass remains the same.This is called the law of conservation of mass. His love for accuracy led to the formulation of the metric system of weights and measures – which is still i n use today. Lavoisier’s attention to detail and habit of recording everything is perhaps his most important contribution – for that is now the way science is done. Biography Lavoiser was born on 26 August 1743 in a wealthy Parisian family. He studied at the College Mazarin from 1754 to 1761. His interest in chemistry was developed as he read the works of Etienne Condillac.In 1769, he set about making a geological map of France, which was important for that country’s industrial development. In 1769, he took a government position as a tax collector in the government of King Louis XVI. In 1771, he married Marie-Anne Pierette Paulze, who is considered as an eminent scientist in her own right. She translated the works of many scientists from English and German into French, and later on, with her husband, published the Traite elementaire de chimie, often considered the first comprehensive book on the subject.In 1789, King Louis XVI was overthrown in the French Revolu tion. As Lavoisier had been a tax collector, he earned the wrath of the revolutionaries, who executed him on 8 May 1794. SOURCE: http://humantouchofchemistry. com/antoinelaurent-de-lavoisier. htm Elements and Atoms: Chapter 3 Lavoisier's Elements of Chemistry Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794) has been called the founder of modern chemistry. (View a portrait of Mme. & M. Lavoisier by Jacque-Louis David at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Among his important contributions were the application of the balance and the principle of conservation of mass to chemistry, the explanation of combustion and respiration in terms of combination with oxygen rather than loss of phlogiston (See chapter 5. ), and a reform of chemical nomenclature. His Traite Elementaire de Chimie (1789), from which the present extract is taken in a contemporary translation, was a tremendously influential synthesis of his work. Lavoisier was a public servant as well as a scientist.Under the French monarchy, he was a member of the tax-collecting agency, the Ferme Generale. His work for the government included advocating rational agricultural methods and improving the manufacture of gunpowder. His service to France continued during the Revolution. He was an alternate deputy of the reconvened Estates-General in 1789, and from 1790 served on a commission charged with making weights and measures uniform across France. A Parisian by birth, Lavoisier also died in Paris, guillotined with other former members of the Ferme Generale during the Reign of Terror in May 1794.The preface to his Traite Elementaire de Chimie is a fitting selection to follow Boyle's The Sceptical Chymist because it includes the definition of element that was to dominate chemistry throughout the next century, and which is still familiar in our own day. In addition, Lavoisier's musings on the connection between science and the language which conveys its ideas remain thought-provoking, particularly in light of the writings of Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Alfred Ayer in the first half of the 20th century.Even his comments about the pedagogy of introductory chemistry take sides in a debate that remains current. Antoine Lavoisier, Preface to Elements of Chemistry translation by Robert Kerr (Edinburgh, 1790), pp. xiii-xxxvii When I began the following Work, my only object was to extend and explain more fully the Memoir which I read at the public meeting of the Academy of Science in the month of April 1787, on the necessity of reforming and completing the Nomenclature of Chemistry[1].While engaged in this employment, I perceived, better than I had ever done before, the justice of the following maxims of the Abbe de Condillac[2], in his System of Logic, and some other of his works. â€Å"We think only through the medium of words. –Languages are true analytical methods. –Algebra, which is adapted to its purpose in every species of expression, in the most simple, most exact, and best manner possible, is at the same time a language and an analytical method. –The art of reasoning is nothing more than a language well arranged. † Thus, while I thought myself employed only in forming a Nomenclature, and while I roposed to myself nothing more than to improve the chemical language, my work transformed itself by degrees, without my being able to prevent it, into a treatise upon the Elements of Chemistry. The impossibility of separating the nomenclature of a science from the science itself, is owing to this, that every branch of physical science must consist of three things; the series of facts which are the objects of the science, the ideas which represent these facts, and the words by which these ideas are expressed. Like three impressions of the same seal, the word ought to produce the idea, and the idea to be a picture of the fact.And, as ideas are preserved and communicated by means of words, it necessarily follows that we cannot improve the langua ge of any science without at the same time improving the science itself; neither can we, on the other hand, improve a science, without improving the language or nomenclature which belongs to it. However certain the facts of any science may be, and, however just the ideas we may have formed of these facts, we can only communicate false impressions to others, while we want words by which these may be properly expressed. 3] To those who will consider it with attention, the first part of this treatise will afford frequent proofs of the truth of the above observations. But as, in the conduct of my work, I have been obliged to observe an order of arrangement essentially differing from what has been adopted in any other chemical work yet published, it is proper that I should explain the motives which have led me to do so. It is a maxim universally admitted in geometry, and indeed in every branch of knowledge, that, in the progress of investigation, we should proceed from known facts to wha t is unknown.In early infancy, our ideas spring from our wants; the sensation of want excites the idea of the object by which it is to be gratified. In this manner, from a series of sensations, observations, and analyses, a successive train of ideas arises, so linked together, that an attentive observer may trace back to a certain point the order and connection of the whole sum of human knowledge. When we begin the study of any science, we are in a situation, respecting that science, similar to that of children; and the course by which we have to advance is precisely the same which Nature follows in the formation of their ideas.In a child, the idea is merely an effect produced by a sensation; and, in the same manner, in commencing the study of a physical science, we ought to form no idea but what is a necessary consequence, and immediate effect, of an experiment or observation. [4] Besides, he that enters upon the career of science, is in a less advantageous situation than a child w ho is acquiring his first ideas. To the child, Nature gives various means of rectifying any mistakes he may commit respecting the salutary or hurtful qualities of the objects which surround him.On every occasion his judgments are corrected by experience; want and pain are the necessary consequences arising from false judgment; gratification and pleasure are produced by judging aright. Under such masters, we cannot fail to become well informed; and we soon learn to reason justly, when want and pain are the necessary consequences of a contrary conduct. [5] In the study and practice of the sciences it is quite different; the false judgments we form neither affect our existence nor our welfare; and we are not forced by any physical necessity to correct them.Imagination, on the contrary, which is ever wandering beyond the bounds of truth, joined to self-love and that self-confidence we are so apt to indulge, prompt us to draw conclusions which are not immediately derived from facts; so t hat we become in some measure interested in deceiving ourselves. Hence it is by no means to be wondered, that, in the science of physics in general, men have often made suppositions, instead of forming conclusions.These suppositions, handed down from one age to another, acquire additional weight from the authorities by which they are supported, till at last they are received, even by men of genius, as fundamental truths. The only method of preventing such errors from taking place, and of correcting them when formed, is to restrain and simplify our reasoning as much as possible. This depends entirely upon ourselves, and the neglect of it is the only source of our mistakes. We must trust to nothing but facts: These are presented to us by Nature, and cannot deceive.We ought, in every instance, to submit our reasoning to the test of experiment, and never to search for truth but by the natural road of experiment and observation. Thus mathematicians obtain the solution of a problem by the mere arrangement of data, and by reducing their reasoning to such simple steps, to conclusions so very obvious, as never to lose sight of the evidence which guides them. [6] Thoroughly convinced of these truths, I have imposed upon myself, as a law, never to advance but from what is known to what is unknown; never to form any conclusion which is not an immediate consequence necessarily lowing from observation and experiment; and always to arrange the fact, and the conclusions which are drawn from them, in such an order as shall render it most easy for beginners in the study of chemistry thoroughly to understand them. Hence I have been obliged to depart from the usual order of courses of lectures and of treatises upon chemistry, which always assume the first principles of the science, as known, when the pupil or the reader should never be supposed to know them till they have been explained in subsequent lessons.In almost every instance, these begin by treating of the elements of mat ter, and by explaining the table of affinities[7], without considering, that, in so doing, they must bring the principal phenomena of chemistry into view at the very outset: They make use of terms which have not been defined, and suppose the science to be understood by the very persons they are only beginning to teach. 8] It ought likewise to be considered, that very little of chemistry can be learned in a first course, which is hardly sufficient to make the language of the science familiar to the ears, or the apparatus familiar to the eyes. It is almost impossible to become a chemist in less than three or four years of constant application. These inconveniencies are occasioned not so much by the nature of the subject, as by the method of teaching it; and, to avoid them, I was chiefly induced to adopt a new arrangement of chemistry, which appeared to me more consonant to the order of Nature.I acknowledge, however, that in thus endeavouring to avoid difficulties of one kind, I have f ound myself involved in others of a different species, some of which I have not been able to remove; but I am persuaded, that such as remain do not arise from the nature of the order I have adopted, but are rather consequences of the imperfection under which chemistry still labours.This science still has many chasms, which interrupt the series of facts, and often render it extremely difficult to reconcile them with each other: It has not, like the elements of geometry, the advantage of being a complete science, the parts of which are all closely connected together: Its actual progress, however, is so rapid, and the facts, under the modern doctrine, have assumed so happy an arrangement, that we have ground to hope, even in our own times, to see it approach near to the highest state of perfection of which it is susceptible. 9] The rigorous law from which I have never deviated, of forming no conclusions which are not fully warranted by experiment, and of never supplying the absence of facts, has prevented me from comprehending in this work the branch of chemistry which treats of affinities, although it is perhaps the best calculated of any part of chemistry for being reduced into a completely systematic body.Messrs Geoffroy, Gellert, Bergman, Scheele, De Morveau, Kirwan,[10] and many others, have collected a number of particular facts upon this subject, which only wait for a proper arrangement; but the principal data are still wanting, or, at least, those we have are either not sufficiently defined, or not sufficiently proved, to become the foundation upon which to build so very important a branch of chemistry.This science of affinities, or elective attractions, holds the same place with regard to the other branches of chemistry, as the higher or transcendental geometry does with respect to the simpler and elementary part; and I thought it improper to involve those simple and plain elements, which I flatter myself the greatest part of my readers will easily under stand, in the obscurities and difficulties which still attend that other very useful and necessary branch of chemical science. Perhaps a sentiment of self-love may, without my perceiving it, have given additional force to these reflections.Mr de Morveau is at present engaged in publishing the article Affinity in the Methodical Encyclopedia; and I had more reasons than one to decline entering upon a work in which he is employed. It will, no doubt, be a matter of surprise, that in a treatise upon the elements of chemistry, there should be no chapter on the constituent and elementary parts of matter; but I shall take occasion, in this place, to remark, that the fondness for reducing all the bodies in nature to three or four elements, proceeds from a prejudice which has descended to us from the Greek Philosophers.The notion of four elements, which, by the variety of their proportions, compose all the known substances in nature, is a mere hypothesis, assumed long before the first princip les of experimental philosophy or of chemistry had any existence. In those days, without possessing facts, they framed systems; while we, who have collected facts, seem determined to reject them, when they do not agree with our prejudices.The authority of these fathers of human philosophy still carry great weight, and there is reason to fear that it will even bear hard upon generations yet to come. [11] It is very remarkable, that, notwithstanding of the number of philosophical chemists who have supported the doctrine of the four elements, there is not one who has not been led by the evidence of facts to admit a greater number of elements into their theory.The first chemists that wrote after the revival of letters, considered sulphur and salt as elementary substances entering into the composition of a great number of substances; hence, instead of four, they admitted the existence of six elements. Beccher assumes the existence of three kinds of earth, from the combination of which, i n different proportions, he supposed all the varieties of metallic substances to be produced. Stahl gave a new modification to this system; and succeeding chemists have taken the liberty to make or to imagine changes and additions of a similar nature.All these chemists were carried along by the influence of the genius of the age in which they lived, which contented itself with assertions without proofs; or, at least, often admitted as proofs the slightest degrees of probability, unsupported by that strictly rigorous analysis required by modern philosophy. [12] All that can be said upon the number and nature of elements is, in my opinion, confined to discussions entirely of a metaphysical nature. The subject only furnishes us with indefinite problems, which may be solved in a thousand different ways, not one of which, in all probability, is consistent with nature.I shall therefore only add upon this subject, that if, by the term elements, we mean to express those simple and indivisib le atoms of which matter is composed, it is extremely probable we know nothing at all about them; but, if we apply the term elements, or principles of bodies, to express our idea of the last point which analysis is capable of reaching, we must admit, as elements, all the substances into which we are capable, by any means, to reduce bodies by decomposition. 13] Not that we are entitled to affirm, that these substances we consider as simple may not be compounded of two, or even of a greater number of principles; but, since these principles cannot be separated, or rather since we have not hitherto discovered the means of separating them, they act with regard to us as simple substances, and we ought never to suppose them compounded until experiment and observation has proved them to be so. 14] The foregoing reflections upon the progress of chemical ideas naturally apply to the words by which these ideas are to be expressed. Guided by the work which, in the year 1787, Messrs de Morveau, Berthollet, de Fourcroy, and I composed upon the Nomenclature of Chemistry, I have endeavoured, as much as possible, to denominate simple bodies by simple terms, and I was naturally led to name these first. 15] It will be recollected, that we were obliged to retain that name of any substance by which it had been long known in the world, and that in two cases only we took the liberty of making alterations; first, in the case of those which were but newly discovered, and had not yet obtained names, or at least which had been known but for a short time, and the names of which had not yet received the sanction of the public; and, secondly, when the names which had been adopted, whether by the ancients or the moderns, appeared to us to express evidently false ideas, when they confounded the substances, to which they were applied, with others possessed of different, or perhaps opposite qualities. We made no scruple, in this case, of substituting other names in their room, and the greatest number of these were borrowed from the Greek language. We endeavoured to frame them in such a manner as to express the most general and the most characteristic quality of the substances; and this was attended with the additional advantage both of assisting the memory of beginners, who find it difficult to remember a new word which has no meaning, and of accustoming them early to admit no word without connecting with it some determinate idea. 16] To those bodies which are formed by the union of several simple substances we gave new names, compounded in such a manner as the nature of the substances directed; but, as the number of double combinations is already very considerable, the only method by which we could avoid confusion, was to divide them into classes. In the natural order of ideas, the name of the class or genus is that which expresses a quality common to a great number of individuals: The name of the species, on the contrary, expresses a quality peculiar to certain individ uals only. [17] These distinctions are not, as some may imagine, merely metaphysical, but are established by Nature. A child,† says the Abbe de Condillac, â€Å"is taught to give the name tree to the first one which is pointed out to him. The next one he sees presents the same idea, and he gives it the same name. This he does likewise to a third and a fourth, till at last the word tree, which he first applied to an individual, comes to be employed by him as the name of a class or a genus, an abstract idea, which comprehends all trees in general. But, when he learns that all trees serve not the same purpose, that they do not all produce the same kind of fruit, he will soon learn to distinguish them by specific and particular names. † This is the logic of all the sciences, and is naturally applied of chemistry.The acids, for example, are compounded of two substances, of the order of those which we consider as simple; the one constitutes acidity, and is common to all acids , and, from this substance, the name of the class or the genus ought to be taken; the other is peculiar to each acid, and distinguishes it from the rest, and from this substance is to be taken the name of the species. But, in the greatest number of acids, the two constituent elements, the acidifying principle, and that which it acidifies, may exist in different proportions, constituting all the possible points of equilibrium or of saturation. This is the case in the sulphuric and the sulphurous acids; and these two states of the same acid we have marked by varying the termination of the specific name. Metallic substances which have been exposed to the joint action of the air and of fire, lose their metallic lustre, increase in weight, and assume an earthy appearance.In this state, like the acids, they are compounded of a principle which is common to all, and one which is peculiar to each. In the same way, therefore, we have thought proper to class them under a generic name, derived from the common principle; for which purpose, we adopted the term oxyd; and we distinguish them from each other by the particular name of the metal to which each belongs. [18] Combustible substances, which in acids and metallic oxyds are a specific and particular principle, are capable of becoming, in their turn, common principles of a great number of substances. The sulphurous combinations have been long the only known ones in this kind.Now, however, we know, from the experiments of Messrs Vandermonde, Monge, and Berthollet, that charcoal may be combined with iron, and perhaps with several other metals; and that, from this combination, according to the proportions, may be produced steel, plumbago, &c. [19] We know likewise, from the experiments of M. Pelletier, that phosphorus may be combined with a great number of metallic substances. These different combinations we have classed under generic names taken from the common substance, with a termination which marks this analogy, speci fying them by another name taken from that substance which is proper to each. The nomenclature of bodies compounded of three simple substances was attended with still greater difficulty, not only on account of their number, but, particularly, because we cannot express the nature of their constituent principles without employing more compound names.In the bodies which form this class, such as the neutral salts, for instance, we had to consider, 1st, The acidifying principle, which is common to them all; 2d, The acidifiable principle which constitutes their peculiar acid; 3d, The saline, earthy, or metallic basis, which determines the particular species of salt. Here we derived the name of each class of salts from the name of the acidifiable principle common to all the individuals of that class; and distinguished each species by the name of the saline, earthy, or metallic basis, which is peculiar to it. [20] A salt, though compounded of the same three principles, may, nevertheless, by the mere difference of their proportion, be in three different states.The nomenclature we have adopted would have been defective, had it not expressed these different states; and this we attained chiefly by changes of termination uniformly applied to the same state of the different salts. In short, we have advanced so far, that from the name alone may be instantly found what the combustible substance is which enters into any combination; whether that combustible substance be combined with the acidifying principle, and in what proportion; what is the state of the acid; with what basis it is united; whether the saturation be exact, or whether the acid or the basis be in excess. It may be easily supposed that it was not possible to attain all these different objects without departing, in some instances, from established custom, and adopting terms which at first sight will appear uncouth and barbarous.But we considered that the ear is soon habituated to new words, especially when they are connected with a general and rational system. The names, besides, which were formerly employed, such as powder of algaroth, salt of alembroth, pompholix, phagadenic water, turbith mineral, colcothar, and many others, were neither less barbarous nor less uncommon. [21] It required a great deal of practice, and no small degree of memory, to recollect the substances to which they were applied, much more to recollect the genus of combination to which they belonged. The names of oil of tartar per deliquium, oil of vitriol, butter of arsenic and of antimony, flowers of zinc, &c. ere still more improper, because they suggested false ideas: For, in the whole mineral kingdom, and particularly in the metallic class, there exists no such thing as butters, oils, or flowers; and, in short, the substances to which they give these fallacious names, are nothing less than rank poisons. [22] When we published our essay on the nomenclature of chemistry, we were reproached for having changed the la nguage which was spoken by our masters, which they distinguished by their authority, and handed down to us. But those who reproach us on this account, have forgotten that it was Bergman and Macquer themselves who urged us to make this reformation. In a letter which the learned Professor of Upsal, M. Bergman, wrote, a short time before he died, to M. de Morveau, he bids him spare no improper names; those who are learned, will always be learned, and those who are ignorant will thus learn sooner. 23] There is an objection to the work which I am going to present to the public, which is perhaps better founded, that I have given no account of the opinion of those who have gone before me; that I have stated only my own opinion, without examining that of others. By this I have been prevented from doing that justice to my associates, and more especially to foreign chemists, which I wished to render them. But I beseech the reader to consider, that, if I had filled an elementary work with a mu ltitude of quotations; if I had allowed myself to enter into long dissertations on the history of the science, and the works of those who have studied it, I must have lost sight of the true object I had in view, and produced a work, the reading of which must have been extremely tiresome to beginners.It is not to the history of the science, or of the human mind, that we are to attend in an elementary treatise:[24] Our only aim ought to be ease and perspicuity, and with the utmost care to keep every thing out of view which might draw aside the attention of the student; it is a road which we should be continually rendering more smooth, and from which we should endeavour to remove every obstacle which can occasion delay. The sciences, from their own nature, present a sufficient number of difficulties, though we add not those which are foreign to them. But, besides this, chemists will easily perceive, that, in the fist part of my work, I make very little use of any experiments but those which were made by myself: If at any time I have adopted, without acknowledgment, the experiments or the opinions of M. Berthollet, M. Fourcroy, M. de la Place, M.Monge, or, in general, of any of those whose principles are the same with my own, it is owing to the circumstance, that frequent intercourse, and the habit of communicating our ideas, our observations, and our way of thinking to each other, has established between us a sort of community of opinions, in which it is often difficult for every one to know his own. [25] The remarks I have made on the order which I thought myself obliged to follow in the arrangement of proofs and ideas, are to be applied only to the first part of this work. It is the only one which contains the general sum of the doctrine I have adopted, and to which I wished to give a form completely elementary. 26] The second part is composed chiefly of tables of the nomenclature of the neutral salts. To these I have only added general explanations, the object of which was to point out the most simple processes for obtaining the different kinds of known acids. This part contains nothing which I can call my own, and presents only a very short abridgment of the results of these processes, extracted from the works of different authors. In the third part, I have given a description, in detail, of all the operations connected with modern chemistry. I have long thought that a work of this kind was much wanted, and I am convinced it will not be without use.The method of performing experiments, and particularly those of modern chemistry, is not so generally known as it ought to be; and had I, in the different memoirs which I have presented to the Academy, been more particular in the detail of the manipulations of my experiments, it is probable I should have made myself better understood, and the science might have made a more rapid progress. The order of the different matters contained in this third part appeared to me to be almost arbitrary; an d the only one I have observed was to class together, in each of the chapters of which it is composed, those operations which are most connected with one another. I need hardly mention that this part could not be borrowed from any other work, and that, in the principal articles it contains, I could not derive assistance from any thing but the experiments which I have made myself.I shall conclude this preface by transcribing, literally, some observations of the Abbe de Condillac, which I think describe, with a good deal of truth, the state of chemistry at a period not far distant from our own. These observations were made on a different subject; but they will not, on this account, have less force, if the application of them be thought just. [27] â€Å"Instead of applying observation to the things we wished to know, we have chosen rather to imagine them. Advancing from one ill founded supposition to another, we have at last bewildered ourselves amidst a multitude of errors. These err ors becoming prejudices, are, of course, adopted as principles, and we thus bewilder ourselves more and more. The method, too, by which we conduct our reasonings is as absurd; we abuse words which we do not understand, and call this the art of reasoning.When matters have been brought this length, when errors have been thus accumulated, there is but one remedy by which order can be restored to the faculty of thinking; this is, to forget all that we have learned, to trace back our ideas to their source, to follow the train in which they rise, and, as my Lord Bacon says, to frame the human understanding anew. â€Å"This remedy becomes the more difficult in proportion as we think ourselves more learned. Might it not be thought that works which treated of the sciences with the utmost perspicuity, with great precision and order, must be understood by every body? The fact is, those who have never studied any thing will understand them better than those who have studied a great deal, and e specially those who have written a great deal. At the end of the fifth chapter, the Abbe de Condillac adds: â€Å"But, after all, the sciences have made progress, because philosophers have applied themselves with more attention to observe, and have communicated to their language that precision and accuracy which they have employed in their observations: In correcting their language they reason better. † Antoine Lavoisier, Table of Simple Substances in Elements of Chemistry translation by Robert Kerr (Edinburgh, 1790), pp. 175-6 Simple substances belonging to all the kingdoms of nature, which may be considered as the elements of bodies. New Names. | Correspondent old Names. | Light[28]| Light. | Caloric| Heat. | | Principle or element of heat. | | Fire. Igneous fluid. | Matter of fire and of heat. | Oxygen[29]| Depholgisticated air. | | Empyreal air. | | Vital air, or | | Base of vital air. | Azote[30]| Phlogisticated air or gas. | | Mephitis, or its base. | Hydrogen[31]| Infl ammable air or gas, | | or the base of inflammable air. | Oxydable[32] and Acidifiable simple Substances not Metallic. New Names. | Correspondent old names. | Sulphur| The same names. | Phosphorus | | Charcoal | | Muriatic radical[33]| Still unknown. | Fluoric radical | | Boracic radical| | Oxydable and Acidifiable simple Metallic Bodies. New Names. | Correspondent Old Names. | Antimony| Regulus[34] of| Antimony. | Arsenic| † â€Å"| Arsenic |Bismuth| † â€Å"| Bismuth | Cobalt| † â€Å"| Cobalt | Copper| † â€Å"| Copper | Gold| † â€Å"| Gold | Iron| † â€Å"| Iron | Lead| † â€Å"| Lead | Manganese| † â€Å"| Manganese | Mercury| † â€Å"| Mercury | Molybdena[35]| † â€Å"| Molybdena | Nickel| † â€Å"| Nickel | Platina| † â€Å"| Platina | Silver| † â€Å"| Silver | Tin| † â€Å"| Tin | Tungstein[36]| † â€Å"| Tungstein | Zinc| † â€Å"| Zinc| Salifiable simple Earthy Substances[37] New Names. | Correspondent Old Names. | Lime| Chalk, calcareous earth. | | Quicklime. | Magnesia| Magnesia, base of Epsom salt. | | Calcined or caustic magnesia. | Barytes| Barytes, or heavy earth. | Argill| Clay, earth of alum. | Silex| Siliceous or vitrifiable earth. |Notes [1]Lavoisier read â€Å"Methode de Nomenclature Chimique† before the French Academy on 18 April 1787. This outline for a reformulation of chemical nomenclature was prepared by Lavoisier and three of his early converts to the oxygen theory of combustion, Louis Bernard Guyton de Morveau, Claude Louis Berthollet, and Antoine Francois de Fourcroy. De Morveau had already argued for a reformed nomenclature, and he developed the April 1787 outline in a memoir read to the Academy on 2 May 1787. [Leicester & Klickstein 1952] [2]Etienne Bonnot de Condillac (1715-1780) was a French philosopher and associate of Rousseau, Diderot, and the Encyclopedists.His La Logique (1780) stressed the importance of language as a tool in scientific and logical reasoning. [3]Lavoisier makes an excellent point, but he overstates it. Clearly ones ideas are not strictly limited or determined by one's language. New ideas must exist before new terms can be coined to express those ideas; thus new ideas can be formed and even to some extent described under the sway of older language. Also, new terms can only be defined by reference to pre-existing terms. Sometimes new terms are not necessary, as old terms absorb new meanings. For example, I hope that the selections in this book show to some extent how the terms â€Å"atom† and â€Å"element† have changed in meaning over time.Having made these points, I do not wish to minimize the ability of new terminology to help the mind to run along the path of new insights, or to prevent it from falling into old misconceptions. [4]Note that Lavoisier does not say merely that we ought not believe any idea but what follows immediately and necessarily f rom experiment, we ought not even form the idea. This statement shows a wariness of hypotheses common to many early scientists and natural philosophers. Compare Newton's, â€Å"I frame no hypotheses; for †¦ hypotheses †¦ have no place in experimental philosophy. † [in Bartlett 1980] Hypotheses had no part in the empirical methodology of Francis Bacon (1561-1626; see portrait at National Portrait Gallery, London), which emphasized collection and classification of facts. This aversion to hypotheses is too not urprising if one considers that empiricists were attempting to distance themselves from rationalism. Later formulations of the scientific method, however, acknowledge the utility of hypotheses, always treated as provisional, in both suggesting experiments and interpreting them. [5]Lavoisier was not the last to observe that children are born scientists who learn by experience. [6]Lavoisier's choice of mathematics as an example may strike a modern reader as odd. Wh ile mathematics has long served as an example of the kind of certainty to which scientists aspire (â€Å"mathematical certainty†), it is now seen as based on axioms, not empirically based.Such mathematical systems as non-Euclidean geometry, which seemed to disagree with observed reality, had not yet been constructed at the time of Lavoisier's writing, though. [7]A table of affinities was a summary of a great deal of information on chemical reactions. It lists what substances react chemically with a given substance, often in order of the vigor or extent of the reaction. (If substance A reacted more strongly than substance B with a given material, then substance A was said to have a greater affinity than B for that material. ) View a table of affinities by Etienne-Francois Geoffroy (1672-1731). [8]In Lavoisier's mind, it makes no sense to jump to this summary table without first describing the various substances and their characteristic reactions.The proper role of descriptive chemistry in the chemical curriculum continues to be a topic of debate in chemical education. Apparently Lavoisier would be quite sympathetic to the charge that introductory courses emphasize unifying principles at the expense of descriptive chemistry. [9]This is certainly an optimistic statement! Two hundred years later chemistry has developed to an extent Lavoisier could not have imagined, yet it is a rare and foolish chemist who expects the science to exhaust its possibilities for discovery within a lifetime. [10]Bergman, Scheele, De Morveau, and Kirwan were all contemporaries of Lavoisier. The Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele had a hand in the discovery of oxygen, chlorine, and manganese.The Swedish chemist and mineralogist Torbern Bergman made contributions to analytical chemistry and the classification of minerals. Richard Kirwan was an Irish chemist and a defender of the phlogiston theory. [11]The influence of the ancients was on the decline when Lavoisier wrote these wor ds, but he does not exaggerate the importance of their thought. Remember that he is still concerned about their influence more than a century after The Sceptical Chymist and more than two millennia after the death of Aristotle. (See chapters 1 and 2. ) The simplicity of ancient ideas of matter would continue to have an influence on chemists well after Lavoisier's time, particularly as the number of chemical elements grew. (See chapter 10. [12]Johann Joachim Becher (1635-1682) and Georg Ernst Stahl (1660-1734) were the two men most closely associated with the phlogiston theory. Lavoisier was largely responsible for dislodging and discrediting the notion that combustion and respiration involved a loss of a subtle material called phlogiston. (See chapter 5. ) Lavoisier makes light of their ideas here, but the theory, though incorrect, was not as nonsensical as it may now appear. [13]Notice the pragmatism of Lavoisier's approach: he suggests, in essence, forgetting about the ultimate bu ilding blocks of matter. This was a prudent recommendation, for he had no way of addressing that subject empirically (which is why he dismisses it as metaphysical).He continues by suggesting that chemists turn their attention to what they can observe empirically, the ultimate products of chemical analysis. The definition of an element as a body which cannot be broken down further by chemical analysis is an operational one: as the techniques of chemical analysis improved, then substances scientists had any right to regard as elements could change. At first, this definition of element appears to be similar to that of Boyle. (See chapter 2, note 9. ) However, Boyle seemed not to consider elementary substances which were not components of all compound matter. [14]Lavoisier's table of simple bodies, reproduced below the preface, follows this prescription approximately, but not exactly. See note 33 below. ) [15]See note 34 below on names of metals. [16]Thus, where possible the name of a c hemical substance should not simply be an arbitrary word, but should give some information about the substance. This principle is particularly evident in the modern systematic nomenclature of organic compounds: the name enables one who knows the rules of nomenclature and some organic chemistry to draw the structural formula of a compound from its name. (See IUPAC 1979, 1993. ) The principle is also evident in the nomenclature of inorganic compounds [IUPAC 1971], the class of compounds Lavoisier's nomenclature primarily addresses. It is least vident in modern names of the elements, many of which are named after important scientists (e. g. curium, mendelevium, rutherfordium) or places important to the discoverers (e. g. polonium). (See Ringnes 1989 for etymology of elements' names. ) Ironically, Lavoisier coined the name for an element central to his contributions to chemistry, a name of Greek origin chosen to convey information about the element which turned out to be incorrect. The name â€Å"oxygen† means â€Å"acid former,† for Lavoisier believed that oxygen was a component of all acids. [17]Already we see the close connection Lavoisier envisioned between the language of chemistry and the content of the science.The system of naming compounds depends on classifying those compounds. Compounds belonging to the same class would have similar names. The name would also reflect the chemical composition of the substance. [18]So the classes of compounds included acids, oxides, sulfides, and the like. To specify which acid, a particular name was added, e. g. nitrous acid. Different suffixes distinguished between similar particular names (such as sulfuric and sulfurous–the -ic suffix applying to the more highly oxidized form). [19]What Lavoisier has in mind is a class of materials now called carbides, inorganic compounds of a metal and carbon (â€Å"charcoal†). But the examples he gives are not carbides.Steel is an alloy (a mixture or soluti on of metals, and therefore not a chemical compound of definite proportions); in particular, steel is principally iron with some carbon and sometimes other metals (such as chromium or manganese). Although plumbago has been used to refer to a variety of lead-containing substances (as might be guessed from the root plumb-), it also (as here) refers to the substance now called graphite, the form of carbon commonly used for pencil â€Å"leads. † [20]Again in the case of salts we see the nomenclature embodying the principles of the chemical theory of the day. A salt was seen as a compound of an acid and a base, and an acid itself a compound of an acidifiable part and an acidifying part.The acidifying part, whatever its nature, was believed to be common to all acids; since it would not distinguish one salt from another, it does not appear in the name of the salt. The salts, then, carry the name of the acidifiable piece and the base with which it combines. [21]Pompholix was a crude (i. e. , not very pure) zinc oxide (ZnO), sometimes known by the more pleasant but hardly more informative name flowers of zinc. Phagadenic water was a corrosive liquid used to cleanse ulcers; phagadenic refers to a spreading or â€Å"eating† ulcer. Colcothar is a brownish-red mixture containing primarily ferric oxide (Fe2O3) with some calcium sulfate (CaSO4). [Oxford 1971] [22]Oil of vitriol is sulfuric acid, a viscous liquid.Butter of arsenic (arsenic trichloride) is an oily liquid; and butter of antimony (antimony trichloride) is a colorless deliquescent solid. In one sense, these names are informative, for they suggest the physical appearance of the substances they name; they are, however, also misleading in the sense Lavoisier points out. [23]Lavoisier recognizes that even the most rationally designed nomenclature would be useless if chemists chose not to use it. A language is one of the most visible signs of a people and culture; naturally, efforts to tamper with it can meet with disapproval. Thus Lavoisier pays at least nominal attention to aesthetic and cultural considerations, noting just above that the new terms sound no more â€Å"barbarous† than some technical terms then in existence.In a similar vein, he makes a concession to linguistic conservatism still further above, where he indicates that he does not propose to displace familiar names, at least for elements. And here he concedes that one ought not lightly to tamper with language, but that in doing so he is responding to a need and a demand. [24]Chemistry curricula in general devote little time to the history of the science, and that little usually consists of anecdotes scattered among other material. Discoverers of laws and elements may be mentioned; the pathways of discovery, however, let alone false steps on those pathways, almost never are. (See, however, Giunta 2001. In my opinion, the teaching of scientific process (as opposed to content) suffers as a result. The emphasis o n current content to the exclusion of historical material, however, itself has a long history and such distinguished advocates as Lavoisier. [25]The standards for crediting others for their ideas, particularly when they are similar to one's own, were not as stringent in Lavoisier's time as in our own. And yet Lavoisier was criticized even by contemporaries for failing to give what they believed to be sufficient credit. For instance, Joseph Priestley did not believe Lavoisier gave him sufficient credit for the discovery of â€Å"dephlogisticated air† (oxygen) when he described his own similar experiments [Conant 1957].And Lavoisier's failure to credit James Watt and Henry Cavendish for their insights into the compound nature of water were a part of the sometimes rancorous â€Å"water controversy† [Ihde 1964]. See chapters 4 and 6 for articles on these subjects. [26]The first part of the treatise deals with gases, caloric, and the combustion of elements, so it truly cont ains the work most closely associated with Lavoisier. [27]Indeed, these words, which advocate empirical observation over rationalism as the source of reliable knowledge, apply to any science. [28]Light and caloric are not found on modern tables of elements because they are even matter, let alone elements of material bodies.Although a wave theory of light had been proposed by this time (by Christiaan Huygens), Newton's corpuscular (particle) theory was widely accepted until the 19th century. Similarly, until the 19th century, heat was widely believed to be a material, a fluid which flowed out of hot bodies and into cold ones (even though mechanical theories of heat with a Newtonian pedigree also existed at this time). See chapter 5, note 17 for a description of Lavoisier's thinking about heat and fire. ) [29]As mentioned above, the name oxygen means â€Å"acid former,† for Lavoisier believed (incorrectly) that oxygen was a component of all acids. Oxygen was a relatively recent ly discovered substance, and it did not have a standard name.The various names used for it are descriptive, but clumsy. â€Å"Dephlogisticated air† is particularly objectionable, for it described oxygen in terms of the phlogistion theory, which Lavoisier was in the process discrediting. [30]The name azote and the current name nitrogen were both used in English from the time of Lavoisier into the 19th century. Azote means â€Å"lifeless,† for breathing nitrogen does not sustain life. [31]Hydrogen means â€Å"water former,† for water results from the burning of hydrogen. (See chapter 6. ) Hydrogen was one of several gases discovered in the 18th century. The names then in use for it were informative, denoting its flammability. [32]I. e. substances which can be oxidized (combined with oxygen). [33]These three radicals or â€Å"roots† had not yet been isolated or properly characterized. The fluoric radical, now called fluorine, is the root of fluorspar and oth er fluorine-containing minerals. Fluorine is very difficult to separate from its compounds, and is a very reactive and dangerous gas in its elemental form. This gas was not isolated until 1886. The boracic radical, now called boron, is the root of the mineral borax (Na2B4O7); boron was not isolated until 1808. [Weeks & Leicester, 1968] Muriatic acid was the name then in use for what we call hydrochloric acid or hydrogen chloride, HCl.Chlorine, the element which distinguishes this acid from others, was discovered by Carl Wilhelm Scheele; however, he named it oxymuriatic acid, believing it to be a compound containing oxygen. Muriatic radical, then, was the name for the hypothetical element believed to be combined with oxygen in oxymuriatic acid. Muriatic, by the way, means â€Å"pertaining to †¦ brine or salt† [Oxford 1971]; the salt of muriatic acid is common table salt, sodium chloride (NaCl). Lavoisier had good reason to expect that these radicals would be isolated, for their compounds had been known for a long time; however, the fluoric and boracic radicals were, strictly speaking, hypothetical substances at this time, and the basis of muriatic acid had already been isolated but he did not recognize it as elementary.Had he kept strictly to the principle of considering a substance an element if it could not be further decomposed, then Lavoisier should also have included â€Å"oxymuriatic acid† (undoubtedly by a different name) among the elements; as it was, chlorine was named and recognized to be elementary only in 1810 [Davy 1810, 1811]. Although we can see, with hindsight, that Lavoisier was incorrect, it was by no means obvious at the time. Chlorine had been prepared from reactions with substances that do contain oxygen, for example from pyrolusite (MnO2) in Scheele's original isolation and from aqueous muriatic acid (HCl). [34]Until the phlogiston theory was discarded, metals were commonly regarded as compounds of their minerals ( "earths†) and phlogiston. This idea was incorrect, but it seemed to make sense, for the earths or ores seemed to be more fundamental than the metals.After all, the earths were found readily in nature, but to obtain the metals one had to heat the earths strongly in the presence of charcoal. In any event, the metal came to be known as the regulus of the mineral; for example, the name antimony was originally applied to an antimony sulfide, Sb2S3, and the metal was called regulus of antimony. Lavoisier drops the term regulus, giving the simple body (the metal) the simple, unmodified term. [35]The element is now known as molybdenum. Similarly Lavoisier's platina is now called platinum. The ending is important: the -um ending now denotes a metal, while the -a ending denotes an oxide of that metal. [36]Now tungsten. [37]All of these â€Å"earthy substances† proved to be compounds.Their elements were first isolated in the early 19th century. Of course, Lavoisier was justified i n including them among his elements, for none of them had yet been broken down into anything simpler. Two interesting omissions from this table are soda and potash, comounds of sodium and potassium known since antiquity but whose elementary metals had not yet been extracted. One might have expected Lavoisier to list such substances either here or with the hypothesized radicals (note 33). Chalk frequently refered to calcium carbonate (CaCO3), but apparently it was also used for calcium oxide [Oxford 1971]. Magnesia is magnesium oxide, MgO. (See note 35. Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate, MgSO4, so named for the location (an English town) of a mineral spring from which the salt was obtained. Barytes is barium oxide, BaO. Argill or argil is an aluminum-containing potters' clay. Alum is a transparent aluminum-containing mineral, AlK(SO4)2. 12H2O. Humphry Davy was the first to isolate calcium, magnesium, barium, [Davy 1808b] sodium, and potassium [Davy 1808a]; he was also a co-discoverer o f boron [Davy 1809] and he recognized chlorine to be an element (note 34). Vitrifiable means able to be made into glass; indeed, common glass is mainly silicon dioxide. [Weeks & Leicester 1968] Source: http://web. lemoyne. edu/~giunta/ea/lavprefann. html Antoine-Laurent LavoisierAntoine-Laurent Lavoisier. Line engraving by Louis Jean Desire Delaistre, after a design by Julien Leopold Boilly. Courtesy Blocker History of Medicine Collections, Moody Medical Library, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas. The son of a wealthy Parisian lawyer, Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (1743–1794) completed a law degree in accordance with family wishes. His real interest, however, was in science, which he pursued with passion while leading a full public life. On the basis of his earliest scientific work, mostly in geology, he was elected in 1768—at the early age of 25—to the Academy of Sciences, France’s most elite scientific society.In the same year he bought i nto the Ferme Generale, the private corporation that collected taxes for the Crown on a profit-and-loss basis. A few years later he married the daughter of another tax farmer, Marie-Anne Pierrette Paulze, who was not quite 14 at the time. Madame Lavoisier prepared herself to be her husband’s scientific collaborator by learning English to translate the work of British chemists like Joseph Priestley and by studying art and engraving to illustrate Antoine-Laurent’s scientific experiments. In 1775 Lavoisier was appointed a commissioner of the Royal Gunpowder and Saltpeter Administration and took up residence in the Paris Arsenal.There he equipped a fine laboratory, which attracted young chemists from all over Europe to learn about the â€Å"Chemical Revolution† then in progress. He meanwhile succeeded in producing more and better gunpowder by increasing the supply and ensuring the purity of the constituents—saltpeter (potassium nitrate), sulfur, and charcoalà ¢â‚¬â€as well as by improving the methods of granulating the powder. Characteristic of Lavoisier’s chemistry was his systematic determination of the weights of reagents and products involved in chemical reactions, including the gaseous components, and his underlying belief that matter—identified by weight—would be conserved through any reaction (the law of conservation of mass).Among his contributions to chemistry associated with this method were the understanding of combustion and respiration as caused by chemical reactions with the part of the air (as discovered by Priestley) that he named â€Å"oxygen,† and his definitive proof by composition and decomposition that water is made up of oxygen and hydrogen. His giving new names to substances—most of which are still used today—was an important means of forwarding the Chemical Revolution, because these terms expressed the theory behind them. In the case of oxygen, from the Greek meaning â₠¬Å"acid-former,† Lavoisier expressed his theory that oxygen was the acidifying principle. He considered 33 substances as elements—by his definition, substances that chemical analyses had failed to break down into simpler entities.Ironically, considering his opposition to phlogiston (see Priestley), among these substances was caloric, the unweighable substance of heat, and possibly light, that caused other substances to expand when it was added to them. To propagate his ideas, in 1789 he published a textbook, Traite Elementaire de chimie, and began a journal, Annales de Chimie, which carried research reports about the new chemistry almost exclusively. Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier conducts an experiment on human respiration in this drawing made by his wife, who depicted herself at the table on the far right. Courtesy Edgar Fahs Smith Memorial Collection, Department of Special Collections, University of Pennsylvania Library.A political and social liberal, Lavoisier took an ac tive part in the events leading to the French Revolution, and in its early years he drew up plans and reports advocating many reforms, including the establishment of the metric system of weights and measures. Despite his eminence and his services to science and France, he came under attack as a former farmer-general of taxes and was guillotined in 1794. A noted mathematician, Joseph-Louis Lagrange, remarked of this event, â€Å"It took them only an instant to cut off that head, and a hundred years may not produce another like it. † Source: http://www. chemheritage. org/discover/online-resources/chemistry-in-history/themes/early-chemistry-and-gases/lavoisier. aspx Others: http://preparatorychemistry. com/Bishop_nomenclature_help. htm

Monday, July 29, 2019

Are We Too Dependent on the Computer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Are We Too Dependent on the Computer - Essay Example One of the major advantages of computers can be identified as its assistance to perform the data entry process quicker and accurate at the same time. Storing a document in a computer does not take much space being organized in a systematic manner and, thus, the user can store a large number of files avoiding chaos while searching for a particular one. It further helps the user to automate a variety of tasks that the user cannot perform manually at a rapid pace along with accuracy (Hefner 21-39). Importance of computers has also increased astonishingly in the present phenomenon owing to the usage of internet to convey information through a systematic way of computer networks irrespective of the geographical distance, as well as engaging minimal costs. Internet is further identified to be used by various professionals ranging from healthcare service providers to defense forces around the world operating in terms of an information hub which, in turn, encourages the usage of computers in various economic sectors. Social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, have emerged as an inevitable trend in the modern phenomenon which again explores the significance or rather the inclusion of computers in the modern day human society. Along with accumulating the required information, one can even shop online, thereby increasing the role of computers in the day to day lifestyle (Hefner 21-39). Even robots are often regarded to have emerged as an inseparable part of the modern human society. It is in this context that robots can be identified to play a major role in contributing to the overall efficiency of medical sciences and even defense oriented sectors. Other than these sectors, the robots have further emerged as a vital player in the field of astronomy as well. From a generalized point of view, almost in every technology based sectors, such as household appliance manufacturers, automobile manufacturers, agricultural sectors, construction business proces ses, as well as communication segments, the inclusion of computers and robotics are evident. During the process or innovation, measurement or evaluation and even during the execution of developmental process, computer technology plays a vital role (Chen, Minodora and Gligorescu 49-52). This particular phenomenon often tends to exhibit a situation where critiques perceive that human society is increasingly becoming dependent on computers to execute its daily functions. Nowadays, the world is increasingly getting indulged with the use of computers; however, from an in-depth point of view, it can be examined that mankind is yet not completely dependent upon computers. In favor of this argument, it can be noted that there is a number of works that computers lack in performing as efficiently as human beings such as understanding the psychological framework of the human behavior in a particular individual through observation. As computers are currently indulged in most of the sectors, inc luding medical sciences, hospitality and educational departments among others, it can indeed be regarded as a very essential tool to encourage the progress of human society at large. However, for example, in the educational sector, where information and knowledge are required in abundance, studies are to be conducted by the

Sunday, July 28, 2019

History & impact of computing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

History & impact of computing - Assignment Example road, involving software engineering, computer engineering, information systems, computer science as well as the broad field of information technology (Ceruzzi, 2003). A computer, which is the center of the computing process, refers to a machine which manipulates various kinds of data depending on instructions created in a system called a computer program. The program is developed in such a way that it contains a form that is executable so that the computer can effectively use directly in executing the particular instructions. The process of execution often carries out all the special instructions in the computer program, the instructions articulate the different computations that are performed in the computer, triggering the sequence of simple and executable actions in the specific executing machine. Those actions later produce effects in accordance to semantics of the particular instructions. Many people that enjoy the developments in computing do not understand the path that this field has taken to present. This paper examines the path that the process of computing has undergone to reach its present levels that people enjoy in their private and public social and economic dimensions among others. One of the questions that many people often ask is who was the first person to make the computer? It is important to note that such a question does not really have a simple answer. The fact remains that many inventors played an important role towards the history of computers and computing. It should be understood that a computer refers to a machine comprising of many parts, most of whom can be regarded as being separate inventions. Some of the people that have played a role in the process of computing have been celebrated throughout history as having made or assisted in making systems that have continued to change human life in different dimensions; some of them include the following. Charles Babbage is described as great pioneer of computing because of his efforts in

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Modernity and Post-Modernity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Modernity and Post-Modernity - Essay Example Humans continued their intellectual development in the past and due to this cognitive process, they enabled themselves to create and apply various social systems during the past centuries (Colins 2004). However, the most significant development in this regard was industrialization, which led humanity towards the concept of modernization. In this era, nevertheless humans focused on automated production in order to fulfill the growing demand of consumer products such as flour, clothing. But, this divergence of values proved to be a source of devastation for the agricultural industry worldwide because, this time’s intellectual base emphasized on fulfilling the needs of majority on the expense of those of minority. However, with the passage of time, humans came across another important concept of post-modernity, which instead of collectivism focused on individualism (David 1989). Therefore, under the impression of individualism blessed everyone with the right to live their lives, as they see fit, within legal requirements of course. At the same time, it is imperative to consider the active contributors of this transition from the idea of collectivism towards that of individualism because, the consequences of modernism became visible in form of few ruling over the majority of humans (Frank & Waters 1999). Therefore, humanity considered the concept of individualism as savior for the humanity’s unequal distribution of rights. Therefore, in this way, international legal environment bestowed individuals with their rights of speech and vote. During this era of moderate enlightenment, African Americans and females are blessed with the right to vote.

Friday, July 26, 2019

Nursing Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Nursing Leadership - Essay Example As the patient fell from the bed and broke his arm, the nurse and hospital were liable for damages. This paper aims to identify nursing policies that were not followed so as to prevent such a scenario from occurring. Firstly, nursing leadership and managerial qualities in regards to the present situation shall be outlined. Secondly, issues of nursing accountability shall be detailed. Next, the concept of team-work as pertains to the scenario shall be highlighted. Following, the topics of clinical governance, as well as teaching and facilitating of nurses in general, shall be outlined as relevant to the present scenario. Some of the areas that leadership and management incorporate are finances, business focus, information management, and marketing (Baker, 2000a; Kelly-Hayes, 2003). When a patient falls from a bed because procedures have not been followed, it is clear that nursing leadership and management training is lacking. In the current scenario, additional costs were created within the hospital to care for the patient, in regards to the broken limb, as well as consultation with attorney's to establish their legal obligations, and in administration costs to report the incident, and to process ongoing documentation relevant to the complaint made by the family. From the point of view of nursing being a business, the scenario i... The information management that was lacking was that the nurse did not have available protocols to compare her patient care to. In regards to marketing, the hospital as well as the nurse has provisioned the patient and family with an image of being incompetent and neglectful in their care for the patient.Recent studies point to a distinct lack of leadership qualities amongst nurses in general, and attribute this to a lack of training in the area (Laukkanen, 2005). Unfortunately, this is a waste of resources as nurses are in key position to influence hospital care policies, as well as state and national legislation (Sullivan, 2001). It is contended that student nurses need to be encouraged to develop their leadership and managerial skills, as well as their clinical skills (Baker, 200b). For example, a more salient awareness of cost-containment issues could have motivated the hospital to have set protocols for the bed-care of elderly patients (Antrobus, 1999). Additionally, the use of job re-design amongst the nursing staff could have provided the hospital with a critical evaluation of the sequential tasks of each job a nurse undertakes, and provided solutions for combining tasks to improve patient care (e.g., saying goodnight/see you later to a patient also includes the action of the hands checking the bed-rail is up) (Sullivan, 2001).Quality management important to nursing as it allows for an evaluation of the outcomes of practices. In turn, this style of management provides for a preventative approach to nursing that identifies potential problems quickly, and facilitates research into viable alternative solutions (Belcher, 2000; Hendel & Steinmann, 2002). As such,

Annotated Bibliography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Annotated Bibliography - Essay Example â€Å"Daddy,† according to the argument presented by Strangeways, is a political poem which portrays the holocaust and oppression in deeply subjective, personalised and emotive terms. Narbeshuber contends that critics have misinterpreted both Plath’s â€Å"Daddy and â€Å"Lady Lazarus† as journeys into the poet’s own tortured and troubled psyche. This is not true. â€Å"Daddy,† as with the other mentioned poem, constitutes a declaration of rebellion against the standardized and acceptable images of the female and her relationship with the men in her life. Society and culture have imposed certain behaviors on the female, all of which insist that she be submissive, beautiful and soft spoken. In â€Å"Daddy† Plath declares her rejection of these images and behaviors through outright rebellion. Therefore, this poem should not be read as one which reveals the poet’s own troubled psyche and weakness but as one which declares her strength and independence of societal images and stereotypes. Frye argues that Olsen’s short story is not only an exploration of the complexities of the mother-daughter relationship, as the majority of critics have maintained but, an exploration of the complexities of the mother’s own memories and psyche. In its exploration of the mother’s past, Frye establishes a correlation between the past and the present, illustrating the extent to which the latter is immediately influenced and determined by the former. Frye contends that the authenticity of this story and the extent to which the mother’s memories come across as true leads to the suspicion that this story is an examination of Olsen’s own self. Cox argues that the story exposes the emptiness which dominates the lives of teenagers and which causes them to lose their way, both in the literal and figurative senses of the word. As she contends, the title of the story is not just indicative of its primary theme but instructs readers to interpret the

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Do you agree that Realism has got the big things right' Essay

Do you agree that Realism has got the big things right' - Essay Example This essay argues that realism has helped in setting the big things right within the international arena. Realism is a school of thought that derives the concept of things as they are, regardless on the way people may want them to be, with a tendency to be practical and more pragmatic. This idea juxtaposes with the idea of idealism which refers to the conception of things as they should be and the way people would want them to be. In the international relations theory, there has evolved a big controversy on which concept best describes how nations relate and how conflict among international states can be resolved. The concept of classical political realism evolved in the early 431 BC during war between Sparta and Athens (Monten, 2006). When Thucydides witnessed this war, he made a historical analysis of the war defying the popular belief of Gods during this period. He argued that war can be analysed by considering the facts of the war, hence defying the idealistic approach that the people used at this time. In this period, people had an idealistic mentality and they believed in gods and that everything happened as it should be. Thucydides pointed out that history should be analysed from an objective perspective bearing in mind that nations are monarchs that are always seeking for economic and political power. He stated that it was only practical that the strong nations should always rule the weaker nations. Political realism has three important tenets that apply within the international relations theory. First, realism describes the concept of ‘statism’ and describes states as the major role players in international politics. Unlike the liberalism theories that consider the role of non-states sectors within the international politics, realism theory is state-centric. Another important concept of realism is that international politics is a tag of war as anarchic states

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

American History 2020 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

American History 2020 - Essay Example 2). This principle reconciled American democratic ideals with its colonialist tendencies for which it fought against former mother country of Great Britain. It was used to justify territorial acquisition and transfer or absorb people of other nationalities. American businessmen wanted new markets for their manufactured products so Manifest Destiny emboldened American political leaders to pursue expansionism. The expansionist strategy went on for a century and continues even today in its foreign policy (Kinzer 552) by sometimes acting unilaterally in matters of international concern. American imperialism snared for the country various overseas territories such as Cuba, Hawaii, the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico but a key distinguishing feature of this imperialism was its benevolence, unlike European imperialism that merely exploited the people and resources of the colonies they had grabbed and colonized (Conrad 72). Unlike what Great Britain did to India or Portugal to parts of Africa as the foremost proponent of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. America tempered its imperialism with the ideals of democracy, freedom, liberalism, and progressivism by spreading the benefits of democracy, capitalism, assimilation, and universal free education to all its colonies (Miller

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Human Trafficking Case Study Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Human Trafficking Case Study - Research Paper Example Men are also very susceptible for trafficking. They are mainly trafficked by worldwide criminal organizations. There are several cases in which human trafficking takes place. Some of the cases are whereby people are convinced into going to other countries with the promise of getting better jobs and comfortable lives. Mostly, it always turns out to be untrue. This context discusses hundreds of workers from Thailand being promised high wages by the California based company named Global Horizons Inc and instead paying them little to nothing while treating them like scum, taking their passports on arrival and threatening deportation (Bureau of National Affairs, 2007). Human trafficking is one of the most dangerous forms of discrimination. Thailand experiences major challenges as a source, passage and destination country on human trafficking mainly women and children. The tendency of trafficking for enforced labor is rising in level in the agricultural, construction and fishing organizati ons. Human trafficking is a modern correspondent of slavery (Crawford, 2009). Opposing their will, thousands of people around the globe are enforced to work for the benefit of other people. For instance by becoming beggars, prostitutes, working in sweatshops, unintentional servitude or even turning into child soldiers. People that are trafficked are usually enslaved or in circumstances of debt oppression that are deceitful and oppressive. Traffickers will carry away or mistreat the fundamental human rights of their victims, who most possibly have been tricked and enticed by fake promises or physically enforced into their circumstances. Trafficking is a regular practice to convince people to leave their homes and move to neighboring countries that are wealthier where they can work in services like domestic services, adult care or waiter and waitresses in restaurants. Upon advent, their passports, visa, and return permits are taken away from them, efficiently; these people are impriso ned, either bodily or financially or psychologically. The trafficked people are made to labor as household slaves or as agricultural or industrial unit workers, in slave-like circumstances. The trafficked people virtually do not see their money that they earn, and finally they are sold. Because every person wants to have a good life, people get easily lured when being promised a good life, which in turn never comes to be true and instead they turn out to be slaves when they are taken to the foreign countries. Once passports and other legal documents are taken from these people, they become helpless since they are threatened in several ways. There are various causes for human trafficking. People around the world, benefit in satisfaction and in price of mistreating others. Poverty and worldwide inequalities in the rule of law are situations in which human trafficking, like HIV/AIDS and other killers of the underprivileged, thrives. In regions of the world that are poorer where learnin g and employment chances are inadequate, are the most susceptible in society. Runways, immigrant, or people who are displaced are the most frequent sufferers of human trafficking. People who are looking for chances and access to other countries may possibly be taken by traffickers and deceived into believing that they will be liberated subsequent to being smuggled across the boundary. Global Horizons Inc is farm labor contractor which is Beverly Hills California based. Global Horizons is challenged to have engaged in a pattern or performance of

Monday, July 22, 2019

Gautam Buddha Essay Example for Free

Gautam Buddha Essay Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhartha Gautam, Shakyamuni, or simply the Buddha, was a spiritual teacher from ancient times and the founder of Buddhism. He is universally recognized by Buddhists as the Supreme Buddha (Sammasambuddha) of our age. Yet his exact date of birth and death is uncertain but a majority of historians date his lifetime from circa 623 B. C. to 543 B. C. He is one of the few luminaries in the history of humans who is such a wide and lasting influence to the people. There are countless stories of the Buddha each tradition, each culture, each time period has their own stories . It is believed that, immediately after his birth he took seven steps and on each step a lotus blossomed which represents the seven colours of rainbow. The tales say he was a son of a king raised in a palace with every imaginable luxury, he was called Siddhartha Gautama-a prince among a clan of warriors â€Å"When I was a child† he said â€Å"I was delicately brought up most delicately, a white sunshade was held over me day and night to protect me from cold, heat, dirt and dust. My father gave me three lotus’s ponds one where red lotuses bloomed, one where white lotuses bloomed, one where blue lotuses bloomed† Pali talkie Gautam Buddha is the key figure in Buddhism. Discourses, and monastic rules were summarized only after his death and memorized. Passed down by oral tradition, the Tripitak- the holy book of Buddhism is also written on pali language only after 400 years of his death which is divided into 3 parts 1st the rules that a Buddhist monk needs to follow, 2nd Buddha’s admonition and 3rd Accounts of Buddha’s life. Siddartha Gautam: Siddhartha Gautam was born in southern Nepal at the foot of the Himalayas on the famous gardens of Lumbini, which is located in the Terai plains of southern Nepal, testified by the inscription on the pillar erected by the Mauryan Emperor Asoka in 249 B. C. Siddhartha was a child with a contemplative bent of mind. He was inclined towards meditation and spiritual pursuits much against the wishes of his father. His father feared that Siddhartha might leave home, and so, kept tried to insulate him from the harsh realities of the world outside by keeping him inside the palace all the time. Sealed from pain and suffering Siddhartha indulged in a life of pure pleasure. Every whim satisfied every desire fulfilled. The Buddha once said â€Å"During the rainy season I stayed in my palace where I was entertained by musicians and dancing girls I never thought of leaving. † when he was sixteen his father draws him in tighter in to palace life, married him to his cousin which wasn’t long before they fell in love. But one day when he goes outside travelling through the kingdom, and he has the first of four encounters he sees an old man and he ask his attendants and attendants replied oh! That is the change, no human being could stay young everybody needs to grow old. Then on his next tour outside he sees a sick man and doesn’t quite understand what it is, again he ask his attendants then his attendants replied oh! That happens to all of us everybody gets sick and don’t think you are a prince and you don’t get sick your father, your mother everybody will become sick. Then he sees that it isn’t just a sick person in fact it’s the universal and something is stimulated inside of him so he keeps getting the chariot to take him out then he sees horror after horror. And on his third trip outside he meets a corps then he recognizes impermanence, suffering and death as a real state of things, the world that he has been protected, sealed or kept from seeing and he was shocked then he realized this is my fate too I will also become old I will also become sick and eventually I will also die, how do I deal with these things. And then on his fourth trip outside he sees the spiritual seeker someone who was decided to live a life completely other than his life in order to escape impermanence, sufferings and death. Soon after he left his family and Kingdom at the age of 29 and went into the forest in search of peace and truth. Siddhartha was alone in the world for the first time, on the bank of the nearby river he drew his sword â€Å"although my father and step mother were grieving with tears on their faces† Siddhartha said â€Å"I cut of my hair I put on the yellow robes and went forth from home into homelessness. I have been wounded by the enjoyment of the world and I had come out longing to obtained peace. † Then he wandered from place to place to gain knowledge. He met many cholars and saints but he was not satisfied. At last he started hard meditation bearing great physical suffering. Emaciated, exhausted Siddhartha tortures’ himself trying to destroy anything within himself that he sees it’s bad. It is said that Siddhartha had lived many life before this one as countless animals, innumerable human beings and even gods across four incalculable ages that secret text say and many eons experiencing life in all at different forms. The Buddha: Gautam Buddha seated under a pipal tree—now known as the Bodhi tree—in Bodh Gaya small town in north eastern India. For Buddhist there are hundreds of holy places but none more sacred than Bodh Gaya. It is the sacred point from which the buddhits faith radiates. It is their mecca or jeroselum or any other initiation forms of initiator. Then he vowed never to arise until he had found the truth so he sat down with his rags he was wearing under the shade of Bodhi tree at the bank of the river and began to meditate. It was spring time with a full moon on the sky at night, before the sun would rise Siddhartha’s long search would be over. Siddhartha now got transformed into Buddha or the enlightened one at the age of the thirty five. The pipal tree under which he got Enlightment came to be known as Bodhi Vriksha. Buddha saw nature of the people envy, jealousy and strong negative mental stage. He analyzed all the people in the world they are like the fishes riddling in the very shallow water. So Buddha he himself is afraid to teach the people. Then, the myth says the god BRAHMA himself comes to the Buddha kneeling down and asked Buddha to teach people what he had gains during all his life BRAHMA implies that is what every human needed to satisfied one’s life otherwise the human life would never be fulfilled. And then Buddha decided to give his teachings. For the remaining 45 years of his life, the Buddha devote his rest of his life bringing his teachings the â€Å"Dharma† the fundamental laws of all things into the world. He preached his first sermon in Sarnath, near Varanasi. He taught that the world is full of sorrows and people suffer on account of desire. Hence desires needed to be conquered by following Eightfold Path. Of these eight paths, the first three would ensure physical control, the next two ensures mental control, and the last two would ensure intellectual development. It is said that the Buddha traveled in the Gangetic Plain, in what is now Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and southern Nepal, teaching a diverse range of people: from nobles to outcaste street sweepers, murderers such as Angulimala, and cannibals such as Alavaka. Cast was irrelevant to the Buddha so his teachings focused within the universe. From the outset, Buddhism was equally open to all races and classes, and had no caste structure, as was the rule for most Hindus in the-then society. Bliss, nirvana the Buddha taught could be found in a freeing movement through the practice of meditation the Buddha showed to his followers how to come to the terms with their own roiling thoughts and desires by paying attention to them, by becoming aware becoming mindful. What Buddha realizes is that if we can get rid of this fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of itself based on egotism, we won’t screw up everything we do, because we are thinking about it in a wrong way. Once you stop centering your feelings about feelings on yourselves, what naturally arise are simple compassions, compassions for your own sufferings and others as well. For decades the Buddha shared his teachings all across north eastern India that all beings are happy, he taught weak or strong, great or small. He said let us cherish all creatures as a mother her only child. Bare foot in his robes he was still walking along the roads when he was eighty an old age was upon him his back hurt, his stomach was often in pain, â€Å"I am old worn out† he told to a trusted disciple â€Å"like a deflated craft held together within straps†, the world is so sweet he said that he could understands to wanting to live at least another century but he was fragile and exhausted he become ill at the village named Kushinagar near Nepal. Kushinagar is revered by the pilgrims where the Buddha finally left this world. It was in Kushinagar where he grew weak and has to laid on his side in a quite grove of Sal trees as near the end his disciples began to weep striking with grief. But the Buddha reassured them that all things change he said whatever is born is subject to decay. He was saying these is natural process he tells his disciples, use this time, use the energy here even this, for your own awakening , so he use even his own death and their sadness as a time to remind them of what they real task was. In short: Now, Buddhism is more than 2500 years old there are more than 350 million followers in the world who follows Buddhism. The gist is Buddhism arose as a result of Siddhartha Gautam’s quest for Enlightenment in around the 6th century BC. There is no belief in a personal God in Buddhism. It is not centered on the relationship between humanity and god. Buddhists believe that nothing is fixed or permanent- change is always possible. The two main Buddhist Sects are Theravada Buddhism and Mahayam Buddhism, but there are many more. There is not particular place where Buddhists can worships they can worships both at home or at a temple. The path to enlightenment is through the practice and development of morality, mediation and wisdom. â€Å"It may be that after I am gone that some of you will think that now we have no teacher but that is not how you should see it, let the dharma and the discipline that I have taught you be your teacher, all individual things pass away strive on untiringly† Buddha’s last words. The fundamental need for the peace is the peace in the individuals mind. We can give others only the values and idea that we possess. Only the happy and satisfied person, therefore, can provide the happiness and love to others and be able to unite people. The present world situation is the result of our way of thinking. World peace is possible only when all the people love each other. If everybody thinks about each other we would not have problems, but we are habitual in our thinking and define everything according to ourselves or group or community or country. If we steal from another, we steal from ourselves. Instead, we should learn to give and take care of things that belong to our family, to the school, or to the public. Proper conduct shows respect for oneself and others. Our bodies are gifts from our parents, so we should protect them from harm. Young people should especially keep their natures pure and develop their virtue. It is up to them to make the world a better place to live. Religion is religion only when it unites people and not if divides. We therefore, need conversation from leaders to masters, religious persons to spiritual persons to achieve a level of World Peace.