London, England/london2B-500
Previous | Home | NextThis is an old drawing of the Crown and Anchor, looking east on The Strand. Dalton's atomic theory {LINK: Manchester465} launched a century-long of struggle of chemists to comprehend and even to accept atoms, until the discoveries of Ernest Rutherford in the early 20th century proved beyond doubt they did exist. A glimpse into this debate is given to us by Thomas Thomson who describes a discussion during the fall of 1807 among Davy, Wollaston, and himself debating the viability of atoms. The setting was the Crown and Anchor, a tavern which was the customary meeting place of the Royal Society in London. At this meeting Thomson and Wollaston were trying to persuade Davy of the logicality of atoms. The arguments included data from experiments where the proportions of the constituent elements increase in a regular ratio, e.g., not only Dalton's methane and ethylene, but also the two oxides of carbon, the carbonates and bicarbonates, oxylates and bioxylates (i.e., the approximate ratios of 1:2 of potassium in diprotic acid salts). Once convinced, Davy became an ardent atomist; the Royal Society followed, and Great Britain was secured as a haven for the new theory.
