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The Royal Society: Science in the Making

Unpublished paper, 'On phlogiston and the decomposition of water' by W F [William Ford] Stevenson

Reference number: AP/28/25

Date: 14 January 1846

Description

Stevenson believes that the evidence on which the modern theory of the composition of water is founded is fallacious. Believing water to be a simple body, he conceives that it forms hydrogen by combining with the electric fluid, which he imagines to be identical with the phlogiston of former chemists. He cites the opinions of [Joseph] Priestley, [Henry] Cavendish and [James] Watt, as corroborating his views, and interprets their experiments in conformity with the hypothesis he has adopted.

Subject: Chemistry

Received 17 January 1846.

Written by Stevenson at The Albermarle, Marine Parade, Brighton [England].

An abstract of the paper was published in volume 5 of Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London [later Proceedings of the Royal Society] as 'On phlogiston and the decomposition of water'.

Reference number
AP/28/25
Earliest possible date
14 January 1846
Physical description
Ink on paper
Page extent
10 pages
Format
Manuscript

Creator name

William Ford Stevenson

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Citation

William Ford Stevenson, Unpublished paper, 'On phlogiston and the decomposition of water' by W F [William Ford] Stevenson, 14 January 1846, AP/28/25, The Royal Society Archives, London, https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_28_25/unpublished-paper-on-phlogiston-and-the-decomposition-of-water-by-w-f-william-ford-stevenson, accessed on 10 March 2026

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https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/ap_28_25/unpublished-paper-on-phlogiston-and-the-decomposition-of-water-by-w-f-william-ford-stevenson

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  • Archived Papers

    The 'Archived Papers' collection is comprised of original manuscript scientific papers and letters submitted to the Royal Society which remained unpublished or were abstracted in the journal 'Proceedings of the Royal Society' published from 1830 onwards.

    Dates: 1768 - 1989

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