Note 205 — Chapter XI
Reading edition
On certain combinations of a new acid, formed of Azote, Sulphur, and Oxygen; by J. Pelouze. Translated from Annales de Chimie, vol. xvi., for Scientific Memoirs, vol. i. p. 470. Some ideas of a new force acting in the combinations of Organic Compounds, by Berzelius: Annales de Chimie, vol. lxi. The conclusion come to by this eminent chemist is expressed in the following translation:—“This new power, hitherto unknown, is common both in organic and inorganic nature. I do not believe that it is a power which is entirely independent of the electro-chemical affinities of the substance. I believe, on the contrary, that it is merely a new form of it; but so long as we do not see their connection and mutual dependence, it will be more convenient to describe it by a separate name. I shall, therefore, call it catalytic power: I shall also call catalysis, the decomposition of bodies by this force—in the same way as the decomposition of bodies by chemical affinity is termed analysis.”