Paris, France/paris7-543
Previous | Home | NextBerthollet's bust. Ironically, Berthollet's views against atomism restricted some of the theoretical developments at the Societé de Arcueil. Berthollet was an avowed anti-atomist and was still involved in his "old-school" concepts. In particular, Berthollet was bothered that two volumes of hydrogen and one volume of oxygen did not produce only one volume, but instead two volumes of water. "If the theory of atoms is true," he reasoned, "how can H + H + O give HOH + HOH?" What he did not know was the diatomic nature of hydrogen and oxygen, which was elucidated by the vapor density research done by Dumas in his laboratory on Rue Cuvier (see above). With Dumas work' it was now clear that H2 + H2 + O2 gives H2O + H2.
