Were the First Equivalent Weights Those Published By Torbern Bergman? "The Different Quantities of Phlogiston in Metals" by the Eighteenth Century Swedish chemist, Torbern Bergman, and his pupil, A. N. TunberglJ is here presented for the first time in English, in a digested form. This dissertation contains possibly the first equivalent weights ever reported for metals. I have discussed the equivalent weights which can be calculated from these data in "Equivalent Weights
Calculated from Bergman's Data on the Phlogiston Content of metal^."^ This paper has great historical interest. Dalton's claim to being the author of the atomic theory of matter rests largely on his table of "atomic weights." But examination of his table shows it to be, in reality, a table of combining weights or equivalent weights. Thus it becomes of considerable historical interest to determine who first published a table of equivalent weights. This present paper of Berg1 BERGMAN, TORIIERN, AND TUNBERG, ANDREAS NICOLAUS, man's may very well contain the first such table of "The Different Quantit,iesof Phlogiston in Metals" (1st ed.), equivalent weights ever published. December 13, 1780, Upsnliae, 4'(2), 16 pp. Revised edition in "Opusn~laPhysics, et Chemica" (the Certain repetitious details have been omitted in collected works of Torbern Bergman), paper No. XXIX in preparing this present digest of Bergman's paper. Vol. 3, pp. 132156, Upsaliae, 1783. The revised edition2 was used for this translation. a S ~ m J.~ A,. ~ .AND GEORGETHOMAS. "Eauivalent The complete paper may be obtained from me upon the request. JOSEPHA. SCWFLE
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Journol of Chemical Educofion
