| It has been proposed that this theory was suggested to him either by researches on ethylene olefiant gas) and methane carburetted hydrogen)or by analysis of nitrous oxide protoxide of azote and nitrogen dioxide deutoxide of azote, both views resting on the authority of Thomas Thomson. However, a study of Dalton's own laboratory notebooks, discovered in the rooms of the Lit & Phil, concluded that so far from Dalton being led to the idea, that chemical combination consists in the interaction of atoms of definite and characteristic weight, by his search for an explanation of the law of multiple proportions, the idea of atomic structure arose in his mind as a purely physical concept, forced upon him by study of the physical properties of the atmosphere and other gases. |
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