Phlogiston Theory Of Combustion. According to stahl, phlogiston was released from burning objects, from respiring animals, and from calcining (corroding) metals; The theory held that when a candle burned, for example, phlogiston was transferred from it to the surrounding air.

Phlogiston remained the dominant theory until the 1780s when lavoisier showed that combustion requires a gas that has mass (oxygen) and could be measured by means of weighing closed vessels. The flame indicates the rapid escape of phlogiston. Phlogiston, in early chemical theory, hypothetical principle of fire, of which every combustible substance was in part composed.