Hypertext Webster Gateway: "phlogiston"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Phlogiston \Phlo*gis"ton\, n. [NL., fr. Gr. ? burnt, set on
fire, fr. ? to set on fire, to burn, fr. ?, ?, a flame,
blaze. See {Phlox}.] (Old Chem.)
The hypothetical principle of fire, or inflammability,
regarded by Stahl as a chemical element.
Note: This was supposed to be united with combustible
(phlogisticated) bodies and to be separated from
incombustible (dephlogisticated) bodies, the phenomena
of flame and burning being the escape of phlogiston.
Soot and sulphur were regarded as nearly pure
phlogiston. The essential principle of this theory was,
that combustion was a decomposition rather than the
union and combination which it has since been shown to
be.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
phlogiston
n : a hypothetical substance once believed to be present in all
combustible materials and to be released during burning
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