His book on Die modernen Theorien der Chemie, which was first published in Breslau in 1864, contains a discussion of relations between the atomic weights and the properties of the elements.
One remarkable discovery, however, of general interest, was the outcome of a long series of delicate weighings and minute experimental care in the determination of the relative density of nitrogen gas - undertaken in order to determine the atomic weight of nitrogen - namely, the discovery of argon, the first of a series of new substances, chemically inert, which occur, some only in excessively minute quantities, as constituents of the 1 The barony was created at George IV.'s coronation in 1821 for the wife of Joseph Holden Strutt, M.P. for Maldon (1790-1826) and Okehampton (1826-1830), who had done great service during the French War as colonel of the Essex militia.
The atomic weight of the element has been determined by analysis.
By reducing the human mind to a series of unrelated atomic sensations, this teaching destroyed the possibility of knowledge, and further, by representing man as a "being who is simply the result of natural forces," it made conduct, or any theory of conduct, unmeaning; for life in any human, intelligible sense implies a personal self which (1) knows what to do, (2) has power to do it.
The atomic weight was determined by Cleve.