A New System of Chemical Philosophy

Dalton's work is a monument of nineteenth-century science that transformed atomic theory and laid the basis for modern chemistry.

Dalton's Chemical Philosophy, which demonstrated the importance of the relative weight and structure of atomic particles, revolutionised atomic theory and laid the basis for much of modern chemistry. Volume 1 introduces Dalton's atomic theory and includes the results he obtained for the weights and structures of twelve groups of compounds.The chemist and meteorologist John Dalton (1766–1844) published A New System of Chemical Philosophy in two volumes, between 1808 and 1827. Dalton's discovery of the importance of the relative weight and structure of particles of a compound for explaining chemical reactions transformed atomic theory and laid the basis for much of what is modern chemistry. Volume 1 was published in two parts, in 1808 and 1810. Part 1 offers an account of Dalton's atomic theory. It contains chapters on temperature, the constitution of bodies, chemical synthesis and a number of plates including his famous table of symbols for the atoms of various elements. Part 2 contains a chapter on elementary principles and twelve sections on different groups of two-element compounds. Dalton's work is a monument of nineteenth-century chemistry. It will continue to be read and enjoyed by anybody interested in the history and development of science.