I was the Founding Father of the United States

Chapter 12 Oxidation Theory

With the land sale settled, Henry Smith warmly invited Reverend Jason and Chen Wenbin to lunch at his home.

After hearing that Chen Wenbin was an outstanding doctor and inventor with a net worth of over two thousand pounds and was still unmarried.

Old Smith immediately changed his outwardly polite attitude and quickly called over his wife and two unmarried daughters. While eating, he enthusiastically promoted them to Chen Wenbin.

They've managed families and farms since childhood, they understand aristocratic etiquette, they admire doctors and inventors... In short, if you marry one of them, you'll be the happiest man ever!

Faced with their father's sales pitch, the two girls, dressed in lace corsets and tutus, only blushed slightly, but their eyes were boldly fixed on Chen Wenbin across the table... making him feel extremely uncomfortable.

Goodness, these two girls were indeed voluptuous and fair-skinned, but their looks were somewhat like his father's, not quite fitting Chen Wenbin's aesthetic standards. However, he couldn't very well refuse them outright. Just as he was worrying about this, Pastor Jensen smiled and came to his rescue:

"...Henry, Robin and I are busy with the textile factory. Once it's finished, we'll be hosting a grand social ball in Providence, and I'd like to invite you, your wife, and the children to attend!"

Old Smith was somewhat disappointed upon hearing this, but he immediately agreed.

Even if Chen Wenbin cannot become her son-in-law, attending such social dances is still beneficial for maintaining the family's status.

This landed gentleman only had land, and the money he earned each year was far less than that of the wealthy men who made their fortunes through ports and trade. As a result, other families were unwilling to marry his daughters because they could not bring much dowry or assistance to their husbands.

But he couldn't very well marry his daughter off to some poor young men who had just arrived in the New World, could he?

……

After bidding farewell to the Smith family, Reverend Jason got into his carriage and said to Chen Wenbin with a smile, "Robin! Now you know the appeal of a wealthy bachelor, don't you?"

The gentlemen and wealthy in the colonies looked down on the common men who had just arrived in the New World, let alone indentured laborers, but their daughters were far less attractive than the daughters of impoverished nobles or merchants from Europe.

Therefore, many ladies in the colonies found it difficult to find suitable husbands.

The same applies in Europe. Men with noble titles and wealth always have more choices, but noblewomen, and even some ladies from wealthy families, often remain unmarried throughout their lives, not because they are unwilling to marry, but because they lack suitable husbands.

"A suitable husband..."

Chen Wenbin thought for a moment, then chuckled and said, "There are probably too few men with wealth and status, not enough for them to share!"

Jason nodded and said, "Yes! In Britain, it is difficult for men without a stable income or inheritance to support their families, and of course, they have no chance of getting married. Poor people can only go to cities or colonies to look for opportunities to make money, but only a few succeed."

As for women who couldn't get married, they could only become maids for higher-ranking nobles or mistresses for wealthy merchants. Of course, some also chose to come to the colonies and become wives of the newly rich...

He sighed as he spoke. His late wife was a descendant of Scottish nobility; they were both Scottish by design, though their ancestors had arrived in North America eighty years earlier.

Thinking of this, he suggested to Chen Wenbin, "Robin, you haven't met my child yet, why don't you come to my house this afternoon?"

Robert and Elisa will definitely be happy to meet you!

"Of course! I'd love to get to know them too!"

Chen Wenbin certainly wouldn't refuse; Pastor Jensen was his biggest helper right now, and he naturally wanted to maintain good relations with his family.

Half an hour later, we arrived at Pastor Jensen's house, which was next to the Baptist Church not far from the city center. It was a two-story house similar to David's, except that the white exterior walls had some religious decorations.

After David parked the carriage, he went into the yard and knocked on the door. Soon, a young man of about sixteen or seventeen and a girl of about eleven or twelve came out of the house.

The girl was dressed in a white lace dress, but she had a lively personality. With her big blue eyes blinking, she looked curiously at Chen Wenbin as he stepped down from the carriage and blurted out, "Dad! Is this the Dr. Chen you mentioned last night? He's so tall!"

"That's right!"

Pastor Jason ruffled his daughter's hair and introduced her with a smile, "This is my good friend, Dr. Robin Chen. Alyssa, Robert, you can call him Uncle Robin or Uncle Chen!"

"Hello!" Chen Wenbin smiled at the two of them. "I'm sorry I didn't bring you a gift, but I promise I'll make it up to you later."

Pastor Jason was well-mannered, and Robert and Elisa quickly bowed and greeted him, calling him "Uncle."

After exchanging pleasantries, everyone entered the living room on the first floor of Reverend Johnson's house. Elisa politely made tea for everyone and brought out several plates of desserts... This must be what is known as English afternoon tea.

Next came the casual chat. Chen Wenbin briefly explained his background and introduced some natural science knowledge to satisfy their curiosity.

For these two children who had never traveled far from home and had only received education at church schools, everything Chen Wenbin said was new and interesting. Even Pastor Jensen and David listened with great interest.

The conversation then turned to the ubiquitous air.

When Alyssa heard Chen Wenbin talk about the source of the air humans breathe, she immediately asked in confusion, "...Uncle Robin, are you saying that the air we breathe comes from plants?"

The others also looked at Chen Wenbin expectantly, and they were very curious about where the air came from.

"...To be precise, what sustains our survival is only a part of the gas in the air, which I call oxygen!"

Chen Wenbin pronounced the word "oxygen" in Chinese and then explained: "It is a gas that occupies about one-fifth of the volume of air. Combustible materials consume this gas when they burn. We humans and other animals also need to absorb this gas through breathing, and it burns slowly in our lungs and bodies to obtain energy."

Similarly, metals can combine with oxygen to burn and be oxidized into new substances.

This oxygen must come from plants, because logically speaking, the burning of large amounts of plants would consume oxygen in the air, and the proportion of oxygen in the atmosphere has remained stable. Therefore, there must be some ubiquitous organism that absorbs the gases from the burning of dried plants and releases oxygen back into the atmosphere...

Of course, the latter is just my scientific conjecture; I haven't had time to design experiments to prove it yet.

These words made everyone fall into deep thought. Robert was the first to react and asked, "But Uncle Robin, how do you know that you said oxygen exists, and that oxygen makes up one-fifth of the volume of air?"

Pastor Jason exclaimed excitedly, "Yes! Robin, if your theory of oxidation is true, it's a great scientific theory that could overturn the phlogiston theory!"

Chen Wenbin was satisfied with their reaction, so he calmly took a sip of tea and smiled, "The reason I know these things is because I have conducted experiments to verify them!"

These are all very simple experiments. If you'd like to see them, I'll repeat them when I have time!