Hydrogen and water Phlogistonist Hydrogène Commentary

London—Henry Cavendish elements

Hydrogen and water

• Ancient philosophers had considered
• water to be an element,
• and this mistake persisted
• until the seventeenth century
• when chemists began to discover
• that water had an inflammable component
• and that this inflammable component
• when mixed with air and burned
• produced a liquid a lot like water.
• Henry Cavendish was the first to show
• that “inflammable air” was an element
• and that it produces water when burned,
• and the first to show
• although he did not use the names we use,
• that oxygen would unite
• with twice its volume of hydrogen.
• which, as we know, is consistent
• with the composition of water, H₂O.

Phlogistonist

• Cavendish repeated the experiments
• of Joseph Priestley, Pierre Joseph Macquer,
• and others,
• but was most careful and thorough.
• It is a miracle of science
• that, as a phlogistonist,
• Cavendish’s interpretation of his findings
• did not diminish their importance.

Hydrogène

• If I believed each element were the spirit of a god,
• then Hydrogène, the water-former,
• would command my respect.
• Hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant element
• in the universe.
• Hydrogen unites with oxygen to make water
• which assumes myriad forms—
• the vast and deep oceans
• clouds, rivers, springs, lakes
• snowflakes
• sheets of ice
• dew on a spider’s web
• and water is safe to drink.