Distilling Knowledge: Alchemy, Chemistry, and the Scientific Revolution, by Bruce T. Moran.Distilling Knowledge: Alchemy, Chemistry, and the Scientific Revolution, by Bruce T. Moran. New Histories of Science, Technology, and Medicine series. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 200... (original) (raw)
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Some Recent Developments in the Historiography of Alchemy
Ambix, 2011
The number of researchers and publications devoted to the history of alchemy has seen exponential growth and diversification in recent decades, to such an extent that some scholars speak of a “New Historiography of Alchemy.” On the occasion of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry, this paper outlines some highlights of the literature since 1990, with a view to identify current trends but also challenges for the future. Some of the most important changes identified are a marked awareness of the risks of presentism, a shift from ambitious histories to contextualised microhistories, a heightened recognition of the internal diversity of historical alchemy, and a greater emphasis on its practical dimensions and its role in the Scientific Revolution. Among the challenges, the paper underscores the potential risks of an excessive historiographical fragmentation, the need for further interdisciplinary training and cooperation, and the responsibilities of alchemy historians towards students and the general public alike.
Substantia
When presented with a new multivolume series on the history of chemistry, one cannot help but compare it to J. R. Partington's masterful four-volume A History of Chemistry. The new six-volume A Cultural History of Chemistry reviewed here, however, is really a different beast and should not be viewed as a simple attempt to update Partington's previous series. As highlighted by series editors Peter Morris and Alan Rocke in the Series Preface that begins each volume, "This is not a conventional history of chemistry, but a first attempt at creating a cultural history of the science." As such, this series brings together 50 contributors in an effort to present the first detailed and authoritative survey of the impact of chemistry on society, as well as how society has influenced and impacted chemical practice and thought. Spanning from the earliest applications of the chemical arts in antiquity up through the present, this cultural history is split into six volumes, eac...
Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging, 2019
Application of the principles of alchemy for medical purposes, in particular for the harmonization of human nature and extension of healthy life.
This is a draft of the introduction to a special section on "Chemistry and Global Histories Since 1850" that will be published in the journal HISTORY OF SCIENCE. As global history continues to take shape as an important field of research, its interactive relationship with the history of science, technology and medicine are recognized and being investigated as significant areas of concern. Strangely, despite the fact that it is key to understanding so many of the subjects that are central to global history and would itself benefit from a broader geographical perspective, the history of chemistry has largely been left out of this process-particularly for the modern historical period. This article argues for the value of integrating the history of chemistry with global history, not only for understanding the past, but also for thinking about our shared present and future. Toward this end, it [1] explores the various ways in which 'chemistry' has and can be defined, with special attention to discussions of 'indigenous knowledge systems'; [2] examines the benefits of organizing historical inquiry around the evolving identities of material substances; [3] considers ways in which the concepts of 'chemical governance' and 'chemical expertise' can be expanded to match the complexities of global history, especially in relation to environmental issues, climate change and pollution; [4] seeks to sketch the various geographies entailed in bringing the history of chemistry together with global histories.
What Have We Learned from the Recent Historiography of Alchemy?
Isis, 2011
Over the last two decades a new scholarship on alchemy has emerged, leading to a fundamental reformulation of knowledge about alchemists and their activities. We now know that medieval and early modern alchemists employed experiment in concert with theory to demonstrate the existence of stable "chymical atoms," which were thought to combine with one another according to a hierarchical theory of matter. Employing laboratory-based analysis and synthesis, alchemists were among the first explicitly to enunciate the principle of mass balance and to show that materials are compounded of the ingredients into which they can be physically decomposed. Perhaps even more surprisingly, these convictions and practices arose out of the interaction of alchemical practice with scholastic Aristotelianism, long viewed by historians of the Scientific Revolution as antithetical to experiment. Thus the new historiography challenges both a long-standing marginalization of alchemy itself and a commonplace view of Aristotelianism as inimical to the early modern growth of experimental science.
A Cultural History of Chemistry in the Eighteenth Century covers the period from 1700 to 1815. Setting the history of science and technology in its cultural context, the volume questions the myth of a chemical revolution. Already boasting a laboratory culture open to both manufacturing and commerce, the discipline of chemistry now extended into academies and universities. Chemists studied myriad materials - derived from minerals, plants, and animals - and produced an increasing number of chemical substances such as acids, alkalis, and gases. New textbooks offered opportunities for classifying substances, rethinking old theories and elaborating new ones. By the end of the period – in Europe and across the globe - chemistry now embodied the promise of unifying practice and theory.