Anyway, some natural philosophers thought it might be pure phlogiston.

不管怎样，一些自然哲学家认为它可能是纯燃素。

Meanwhile, combustion in a closed container stops because the air becomes saturated with phlogiston.

与此同时，封闭容器中的燃烧停止，因为空气被燃素饱和。

Like, some metals gained mass when they burned, even though they were supposed to have lost phlogiston.

比如，一些金在燃烧时会增，尽管它们应该失去燃素。

By burning these phlogiston-containing elements, they would lose their phlogiston, and become new things.

通过燃烧这些含燃素的元素， 它们会失去燃素， 变成新的东西。

Both burning and rusting meant a substance released phlogiston into the air, and plants eventually absorb it so the air doesn't combust.

燃烧和生锈都意味着一种物将燃素释放到空气中，植物最终会吸收它，这样空气就不会燃烧。

They had all this combining ratios and then, you know, and then there was phlogiston … And one thing after another there were no atoms and no bonds, no wonder the poor bastards were lost!

他们有所有这些结合比，然后，你知道，然后有燃素… … 一个接一个，没有原子，也没有键，难怪这些可怜的混蛋迷路了！