…one may start with the concept of a thing, a concept which can be actualized independently of anything else to which it should appertain. Such a thing in the language of philosophy is called a substance. This is in fact the proper meaning of that word which it was framed to express and what the chemists call a “substance” ought to be called a chemens (pl. chementia).
http://www.commens.org/dictionary/entry/quote-rationale-reason-1