Page 14 - Once Upon a Time There Was Darwinism

Towards the end of the 18th century, the atmosphere was
found to be composed of several different gasses. While some
tried to explain the different ways in which these gasses
burned in terms of the phlogiston theory, experiments per-

formed with oxygen showed the theory to be invalid. As a re-
sult of his observing metal burning in oxygen, Antoine
Lavoisier, a French scientist, discovered that the weight of the
Once Upon a Time There Was Darwinism
burning metal increased, while the amount of oxygen de-
In late 1600s, scientists proposed that fire
was caused by an invisible substance called
phlogiston. Long afterwards, however, it
was realized that
"phlogiston" was
not the source
of fire at all.

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