Abstract
IN view of the recent discussion as to the first use of the word solute1, it may perhaps be of interest to notice that the word is used in 1732 in the modern sense by Boerhaave2, in the Latin form solutum. In discussing the action of solvents, he states that the effect is the division of the dissolved substance into particles which are thoroughly mixed with the particles of solvent: ” ut particulae solvent is inter partes divisas soluti”, which Shaw3 translates: ” so that the particles of the solvent remain thoroughly intermixed among those of the solvend”. The name is used by Boerhaave throughout his long discussion of solutions, although he sometimes speaks of partes solvendi as an alternative. Whether the name is used before Boerhaave I cannot say.
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References
NATURE, 137, 831 (1936).
” Elementa Chemiæ”, Leyden (1732), vol. 1, p. 669.
” A New Method of Chemistry translated from the Original Latin of Dr. Boerhaave's Elementa Chemiae”, London (1741), vol. 1, p. 489.
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PARTINGTON, J. Origin of the Word Solute. Nature 138, 646 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/138646a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/138646a0
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