Nothing Is Born, Nothing Dies.

The Impossibility Of Separating The Nomenclature Of A Science From The Science Itself, Is Owing To This, That Every Branch Of Physical Science Must Consist Of Three Things; The Series Of Facts Which Are The Objects Of The Science, The Ideas Which Represent These Facts, And The Words By Which These Ideas Are Expressed. Like Three Impressions Of The Same Seal, The Word Ought To Produce The Idea, And The Idea To Be A Picture Of The Fact.

Nothing Is Born, Nothing Dies.

We May Lay It Down As An Incontestible Axiom, That, In All The Operations Of Art And Nature, Nothing Is Created; An Equal Quantity Of Matter Exists Both Before And After The Experiment; The Quality And Quantity Of The Elements Remain Precisely The Same; And Nothing Takes Place Beyond Changes And Modifications In The Combination Of These Elements. Upon This Principle The Whole Art Of Performing Chemical Experiments Depends: We Must Always Suppose An Exact Equality Between The Elements Of The Body Examined And Those Of The Products Of Its Analysis.

If Everything In Chemistry Is Explained In A Satisfactory Manner Without The Help Of Phlogiston, It Is By That Reason Alone Infinitely Probable That The Principle Does Not Exist; That It Is A Hypothetical Body, A Gratuitous Supposition; Indeed, It Is In The Principles Of Good Logic, Not To Multiply Bodies Without Necessity.

We Must Trust To Nothing But Facts: These Are Presented To Us By Nature, And Cannot Deceive. We Ought, In Every Instance, To Submit Our Reasoning To The Test Of Experiment, And Never To Search For Truth But By The Natural Road Of Experiment And Observation.