Synopses & Reviews
The eighteenth century has long been considered critical for the development of modern chemistry, yet many crucial features of the period remain largely unknown or unexplored, for general accounts--often built around Lavoisier--have remained quite selective. This volume presents new approaches and topics in an attempt to build a richer, fuller, more complex view of chemical work during the period. Themes include "late-phase" alchemy, professionalization, chemical education, and the links and relations between chemistry and pharmacy, medicine, agriculture, and geology.
Review
From the reviews: "The book consists of nine papers, of which eight focus on topics, themes and subjects that have been neglected in the historiography to date ... . It offers a manifesto for all those who believe that the eighteenth century has much more to tell us about the history of chemistry and, more broadly, of science than how to have a revolution and survive it. ... it should be required reading for all historians of chemistry ... ." (Georgette Taylor, Ambix, Vol. 56 (1), March, 2009)
Synopsis
The eighteenth century has long been considered critical for the development of modern chemistry, yet many features of the period remain largely unknown or unexplored. This volume details new approaches and topics to build a more complex view of chemical work during the period. Themes include late-phase alchemy, professionalization, chemical education, and the links and relations between chemistry and pharmacy, medicine, agriculture, and geology.
Table of Contents
Foreword; Notes on Contributors
A Revolution Nobody Noticed? Changes in Early Eighteenth-Century Chemistry
Lawrence M. Principe
Georg Ernst Stahl's Alchemical Publications: Anachronism, Reading Market, and a Scientific Lineage Redefined, Kevin Chang
Chemistry Without Principles: Herman Boerhaave on Instruments and Elements
John C. Powers
Practicing Chemistry "After the Hippocratical Manner": Hippocrates and the Importance of Chemistry for Boerhaave's Medicine, Rina Knoeff
Public Lectures of Chemistry in Mid-Eighteenth Century France
Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent and Christine Lehman
Apothecary-chemists in Eighteenth-century Germany. Ursula Klein
The Aberdeen Agricola: Chemical Principles and Practice in James Anderson's Georgics and Geology, Matthew D. Eddy
Dr. Thomas Beddoes (1760-1808): Chemistry, Medicine, and Books in the French and Chemical Revolutions, Trevor H. Levere
Reflections: "A Likely Story", Seymour Mauskopf
Index