On the continuity of reference of the elements: a response to Hendry

Robin Hendry has recently argued that although the term ‘element’ has traditionally been used in two different senses (basic substance and simple substance), there has nonetheless been a continuity of reference. The present article examines this author’s historical and philosophical claims and suggests that he has misdiagnosed the situation in several respects. In particular it is claimed that Hendry’s arguments for the nature of one particular element, oxygen, do not generalize to all elements as he implies. The second main objection is to Hendry’s view that the qua problem can be illuminated by appeal to the intention of scientists.     

‘Revolutions,philosophical as well as civil’: French chemistry and American science in Samuel Latham Mitchill’s Medical Repository

ABSTRACT

From 1797 to 1801 a controversy played out on the pages of the Medical Repository, the first scientific journal published in the United States. At its centre was the well-known feud between the followers of Antoine Lavoisier and Joseph Priestley, the lone supporter of the phlogiston model. The American debate, however, had more than two sides. The Americans chemists, Samuel Latham Mitchill and Benjamin Woodhouse, who rushed to support Priestley did not defend his scientific views. Rather, as citizens of a republic, they defended his right to have them. They also castigated the assertions of the “French chemists,” whose claims that the new chemistry obviated debate seemed unsettlingly similar to the dictatorial ambitions of the French state. Using the Medical Repository, Mitchill and Woodhouse sought a compromise that validated the new chemistry, but united it with a more egalitarian form of discourse. The desired balance eluded them. Priestley proved too stubborn, and as the French Revolution descended into dictatorship and war, Mitchill and Woodhouse came more to realize that truly prising French chemistry from the culture of the revolutionary era. The episode left Mitchill and Woodhouse disillusioned with chemistry and hoping to redirect scientific enthusiasm to more pious ends.     

1,3,5,7-四甲基环四硅氧烷饱和蒸汽压的测定与关联

使用斜式沸点仪测定1,3,5,7-四甲基环四硅氧烷在1.325～100.325 kPa范围内的饱和温度数据。采用非线性回归方法,利用EVIEWS 5.0软件得到1,3,5,7-四甲基环四硅氧烷的Antoine参数A、B和C的值分别为8.678 74、1 167.85和-93.579 K。由Antoine方程计算出的饱和温度与实验数据的绝对偏差为0.02～1.23 K。通过Clausius-Clapeyron方程计算得到1,3,5,7-四甲基环四硅氧烷在实验温度范围内的平均摩尔蒸发焓为41.17 kJ/mol,常压沸点为411.5 K。     

Substantial confusion

In this paper I defend, against Eric Scerri’s objections, the following theses: (i) that Lavoisier and Mendeleev shared a ‘core conception’ of chemical element, and (ii) that this core conception underwrites referential continuity in the names of particular elements.     

全光自动喷雾嫩枝扦插桧柏的研究

本文报道了利用北京桧柏、丹东桧柏．研究柏树全光雾插在园林绿化繁殖中先进的处理技术，以其在生产上得以推广．     

《小王子》的空间观浅探

法国作家圣·埃克苏佩里的《小王子》是一部充满多重象征意义的童话。从《小王子》文本人类生存空间的角度可以看出，圣·埃克苏佩里对于空间与人类自身生存的关系有着很深入的思索，包括生存空间的大小、想象空间中感性与理性的交织以及人与人之间社会空间的构建等等。随着人类社会的加速发展，《小王子》一书中蕴含的这方面的启示对于人们的生存、生活具有越来越重要的意义。     

论圣茹斯特

圣茹斯特是法国大革命中著名的政治家，是国民公会中最年青的代表。进入救国委员会后，成为罗伯斯比尔的得力助手，参与制定了1793年宪法，主张依法治国和实行革命的恐怖政策；还提出了“风月”法令，把革命扩大到经济领域。多次受国民公会的委派，担任特派员到军队和地方督促落实政策；热月政变前，主张结束恐怖政策，同罗伯斯比尔产生分歧，事实说明他比罗伯斯比尔更冷静。     

康熙时代西方数学在宫廷的传播--以安多和《算法纂要总纲》的编纂为例

考察比利时耶稣会士安多(AntoineThomas，1644—1709)在康熙宫廷所从事的数学活动，通过对比，证明《算法纂要总纲》是在他的拉丁文著作《数学纲要》(Synopsis Mathematics，1685)的基础上编译的，此译稿部分内容后来被纳入《数理精蕴》；对现存《算法纂要总纲》的各种版本进行了比较，希冀对康熙时代西方数学的传播有更清晰的认识。     

论波义耳、道尔顿、拉瓦锡对近代化学的贡献──并浅析近代化学之父及其贡献

主要探讨了三位近代化学家所作的主要贡献，分析了他们所作贡献对近代化学的创建和发展所起的不同作用和所产生的不同影响。在此基础上对近代化学之父及其贡献作了初步探讨，最后用辩证的观点对近代化学之父作了较全面的阐述。