Plants were thought to remove phlogiston from the air and therefore burned when they were dry.
"Our Legal Heritage, 4th Ed."
S. A. Reilly
What theory was more clinging, more fascinating in its applications, than that of phlogiston?
"Essay on the Creative Imagination"
Th. Ribot
By the time this preface is in print the kaleidoscope may have had another shake; and opsonin may have gone the way of phlogiston at the hands of its own restless discoverer.
"The Doctor's Dilemma: Preface on Doctors"
George Bernard Shaw