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Born at Anspach, 1660; died at Berlin, 1734. Stahl was the originator of the "phlogiston theory" which generally prevailed in chemistry until Lavoisier disproved it in the last quarter of the 18th century.

satisfied with the orthodox opinion, and improved upon it by limiting the elements to water and earth; but he recognised three earths, vitrifiable, inflammable, and mercurial. The last yielded the metals. Stahl was inclined to go back to the four elements again, but he had his doubts about their really elementary character. He, however, concentrated his attention on fire, out of which he evolved his well-known phlogiston theory. This substance, if it was a substance, was conceived as floating about all through the atmosphere, but only