Michail V Lomonosov

" An element is a part of a body that does not consist of any other smaller and different bodies ... corpuscle is a collection of elements forming one small mass."

" All changes in nature are such that inasmuch is taken from one object insomuch is added to another. So, if the amount of matter decreases in one place, it increases elsewhere. This universal law of nature embraces laws of motion as well, for an object moving others by its own force in fact imparts to another object the force it loses"

" Today I made an experiment in hermetic glass vessels in order to determine whether the mass of metals increases from the action of pure heat. The experiments– of which I append the record in 13 pages– demonstrated that the famous Robert Boyle was deluded, for without access of air from outside the mass of the burnt metal remains the same"