Alphabetical List of Substances Whose Existence Is Discredited
- Alicorn - The horn of the unicorn which was believed to have mystical healing properties. Discredited by failure to find any since medieval times.
- Alkahest - The hypothetical universal solvent, having the power to dissolve every other substance, including gold. Note that aqua regia can dissolve gold, but not everything.
- Caloric - Weightless fluid believed to be the substance of heat. Discredited by atomic theory, in which heat is interpreted as energy of motion of atoms.
- Coronium - Chemical element hypothesized to exist in the solar corona. Discredited by enumeration of elements in the periodic table.
- Élan vital - Substance or force believed to bear the property of life. Discredited by molecular biology.
- Elixir of life - Substance believed by alchemists to confer immortality. Discredited by chemistry and biology.
- The Erototoxins of Judith Reisman - Addictive chemicals allegedly produced in the brain by pornography. There are addictive opioids (i.e. endorphins) in the brain related to pleasure in general, but not specific to pornography.
- Luminiferous aether - Medium for the propagation of light. Discredited by Michelson-Morley experiment.
- Miasma - Foul smell believed to carry diseases. Discredited by modern biology, in particular the discovery of actual infectious agents.
- The N-rays of Prosper-René Blondlot - A form of radiation believed to be emitted by most substances. Discredited by a simple null experiment, in which Blondlot thought he could see N-rays even when an essential optical element had been removed from the experiment.
- The Odic force of Carl Reichenbach - Force believed to bear the property of life. Never accepted by science, due to a lack of experimental evidence and any predictive theory.
- The orgone energy of Wilhelm Reich - Energy believed to bear the property of life. Never accepted by science, due to a lack of experimental evidence and any predictive theory.
- Panacea - Substance believed by Alchemists to cure all illness. Discredited by biology and medicine.
- Philosopher's stone - Substance believed by Alchemists to transmute other metals into gold. Discredited by atomic theory.
- Phlogiston - Weightless substance believed to be the present in combustible materials and released when they are burned. Discredited by modern chemistry, specifically the discovery that combustion is combination of various substances with oxygen.
- Polywater - An apparently polymerised form of water. Discredited by more careful experiments with rigorously cleaned glassware.
- Ptomaines - alkaloids found in decaying matter thought to cause food poisoning. Discredited by discovery of bacteria.
- Red mercury - Controversial substance alleged to be of use to terrorists. Its actual nature, if any, is unclear.
- The Terra Pinguis (combustible earth) of J. J. Becher - The forerunner of phlogiston. Discredited to some extent because it would have had negative weight, and finally by Lavoisier's invention of the beginnings of modern quantitative chemistry. It turns out that Terra Pinguis is equivalent to the absence of oxygen.
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Famous quotes containing the words list and/or existence:
“Lastly, his tomb
Shall list and founder in the troughs of grass
And none shall speak his name.”
—Karl Shapiro (b. 1913)
“When I think of God, when I think of him as existent, and when I believe him to be existent, my idea of him neither increases nor diminishes. But as it is certain there is a great difference betwixt the simple conception of the existence of an object, and the belief of it, and as this difference lies not in the parts or composition of the idea which we conceive; it follows, that it must lie in the manner in which we conceive it.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)