Experiments Upon Magnesia Alba, Quicklime, And Other Alkaline Substances?

Practicing Medicine is not an exact science today. In its infancy, Medicine was even more experimental. Doctors tried whatever they thought would work. If their attempts succeeded, the patient lived and if not the patient died. Joseph Black began his education at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. Black moved to the University of Edinburgh and while attending school he began his experiments. He obtained his medical degree in 1754. After graduation, Black continued his experiments and kept a journal of all his experiments. “Experiments Upon Magnesia Alba, Quicklime, and some other Alkaline Substances,” was written by Joseph Black, MD. The journal detailed his experiments with Magnesia Alba. “The Life and Letters of Joseph Black: Chapter
“So Black placed four ounces of lime-water, as well as four ounces of common water, under a receiver of an air pump, and exhausted the air; air rose from each in about the same quantity; it therefore appeared that the air which quicklime attracts is of a different kind from that which is mixed with water.” Ramsey (1918) Black called the different air fixed air because it was a term that was already in use. Fixed air is actually carbon dioxide. Black concluded that “…the relations between fixed air and alkaline substances was somewhat similar to the relation between these and acids; that as the calcareous earths and alkali attract acids strongly and can be saturated with them, so they also attract fixed air, and are in their ordinary state saturated with it.” Black (1755) Black reached this conclusion because when an acid is mixed with an alkali, such as chalk or marble, or it is heated, it effervesces and that effervescing liquid is fixed air, or as we know it carbon
He also paved the way for future chemist and physicians with his documentation. Keeping two separate journals of his experiments and results helped Black to compare his experiments to those that had been done before. Black’s experiments built on the experiment before. His first experiment was to work on the chemistry of magnesia alba, which was basic magnesium carbonate. His subsequent experiments built on the first experiment but instead of using magnesium, he used calcium. Black’s experiments proved that gases could be chemical substances and not a version of atmospheric air. Black’s work led the way for other people to discover oxygen, nitrogen, and