Xref: utzoo sci.physics:15051 sci.bio:3717 sci.chem:2259 sci.med:20815
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!zephyr.ens.tek.com!uw-beaver!mit-eddie!wuarchive!cec2!news
From: delliott@cec2.wustl.edu (Dave Elliott)
Newsgroups: sci.physics,sci.bio,sci.chem,sci.med
Subject: Re: Forgotten Entities: Do You Remember Any?
Message-ID: <1990Oct26.072420.28005@cec1.wustl.edu>
Date: 26 Oct 90 07:24:20 GMT
References: <1990Oct25.232546.12357@portia.Stanford.EDU>
Reply-To: delliott@cec2.wustl.edu (Dave Elliott)
Organization: Washington University, St. Louis MO
Lines: 43

In article <1990Oct25.232546.12357@portia.Stanford.EDU> zimm@portia.Stanford.EDU (Dylan Yolles) writes:
>I'm interested in looking at the "forgotten entities" of science--entities
>which were once considered somehow "real" by some or most scientists but
>which were later recognized not to exist.
>
>The entities could be particles from physics, cells or viruses from biology,
>and so on. Even entities from psychology (eg. the id, to take a silly example)
>might be okay.
>
>I'm mostly interested in (relatively) recent examples-- say last 150
>years. But anything which reasonably well-respected scientists believed
>in would be good.
>
>The *ultimate* example, for my purposes, would be one in which scientists
>actually thought they were manipulating an entity (in the way that electrons
>are manipulated by means of an electron gun), but later found they were
>mistaken (and that, perhaps, the entity didn't exist at all).
>
...
>
>Thanks!
>
>Dylan
>zimm@portia.stanford.edu


Dr. Blondel's N-rays (France, early 1900's).

Recent work by Benveniste (?) on homeopathy (q.v.)... effect of
a biological reagent at dilutions greater than 1 part in a trillion.

Phlogiston, of course.

Polywater.

Probably, Fairbank's europium spheres with charges of 1/3 and 2/3 e.
Superheavy nuclei in mica (the large aureole of tracks had a simpler
explanation).
...
                                David L. Elliott
				Dept. of Systems Science and Mathematics
                                Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130
				delliott@CEC2.WUSTL.EDU