Chapter I: Front Matter

Transcriber’s Note: Italic text is indicated by _underscores_; boldface text is indicated by =equals signs=. There is an actual equals sign in the list on page 131.

_A HISTORY OF THE SCIENCES_

HISTORY
OF
CHEMISTRY

BY
SIR EDWARD THORPE,

C.B., LL.D., F.R.S.

AUTHOR OF “ESSAYS IN HISTORICAL CHEMISTRY,” “HUMPHRY DAVY:
POET AND PHILOSOPHER,” “JOSEPH PRIESTLEY,” ETC., ETC.

TWO VOLUMES

I.

From the Earliest Times to the Middle of the
Nineteenth Century

_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_

G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
The Knickerbocker Press
1909

COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS

This series is published in London by
THE RATIONALIST PRESS ASSOCIATION, LIMITED

PUBLISHERS’ NOTE

A HISTORY OF THE SCIENCES has been planned to present for the information of the general public a historic record of the great divisions of science. Each volume is the work of a writer who is accepted as an authority on his own subject-matter. The books are not to be considered as primers, but present thoroughly digested information on the relations borne by each great division of science to the changes in human ideas and to the intellectual development of mankind. The monographs explain how the principal scientific discoveries have been arrived at and the names of the workers to whom such discoveries are due.

The books will comprise each about 200 pages. Each volume will contain from 12 to 16 illustrations, including portraits of the discoverers and explanatory views and diagrams. Each volume contains also a concise but comprehensive bibliography of the subject-matter. The following volumes will be issued during the course of the autumn of 1909.

=The History of Astronomy.=

By GEORGE FORBES, M.A., F.R.S., M. Inst. C.E.; author of _The
Transit of Venus_, etc.

=The History of Chemistry: Vol. I. circa 2000 B.C. to 1850 A.D.
Vol. II. 1850 A.D. to date.=

By SIR EDWARD THORPE, C.B., LL.D., F.R.S., Director of the
Government Laboratories, London; Professor-elect and Director
of the Chemical Laboratories of the Imperial College of Science
and Technology; author of _A Dictionary of Applied Chemistry_.

_To be followed by_:

=The History of Geography.=

By Dr. JOHN SCOTT KELTIE, F.R.G.S., F.S.S., F.S.A., Hon. Mem.
Geographical Societies of Paris, Berlin, Rome, Brussels,
Amsterdam, Geneva, etc.; author of _Report on Geographical
Education_, _Applied Geography_.

=The History of Geology.=

By HORACE B. WOODWARD, F.R.S., F.G.S., Assistant-Director of
Geological Survey of England and Wales; author of _The Geology
of England and Wales_, etc.

=The History of Anthropology.=

By A. C. HADDON, M.A., Sc.D., F.R.S., Lecturer in Ethnology,
Cambridge and London; author of _Study of Man_, _Magic and
Fetishism_, etc.

=The History of Old Testament Criticism.=

By ARCHIBALD DUFF, Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Theology
in the United College, Bradford; author of _Theology and
Ethics of the Hebrews_, _Modern Old Testament Theology_, etc.

=The History of New Testament Criticism.=

By F. C. CONYBEARE, M.A., late Fellow and Praelector of Univ.
Coll., Oxford; Fellow of the British Academy; Doctor of
Theology, _honoris causa_, of Giessen; Officer d’ Academie;
author of _Old Armenian Texts of Revelation_, etc.

Further volumes are in plan on the following subjects:

=Mathematics and Mechanics.=

=Molecular Physics, Heat, Life, and Electricity.=

=Human Physiology, Embryology, and Heredity.=

=Acoustics, Harmonics, and the Physiology of Hearing, together with
Optics Chromatics, and Physiology of Seeing.=

=Psychology, Analytic, Comparative, and Experimental.=

=Sociology and Economics.=

=Ethics.=

=Comparative Philology.=

=Criticism, Historical Research, and Legends.=

=Comparative Mythology and the Science of Religions.=

=The Criticism of Ecclesiastical Institutions.=

=Culture, Moral and Intellectual, as Reflected in Imaginative
Literature and in the Fine Arts.=

=Logic.=

=Philosophy.=

=Education.=

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I PAGE

THE CHEMISTRY OF THE ANCIENTS 1

Egypt, the alleged birthplace of chemistry. Origin of the word
“chemistry.” Chemical arts known to the ancients. Metallurgy
of the ancients. Chemical products of the Chinese, Egyptians,
Greeks, and Romans.

CHAPTER II

THE CHEMICAL PHILOSOPHY OF THE ANCIENTS 19

Ancient speculations as to the origin and nature of matter.
Water the primal principle. Thales of Miletus. Persistency
of his doctrine. Its influence on science. Theories of
Anaximenes, Herakleitos, and Pherekides. Fire as the primal
principle. The conception of four primal principles—fire,
air, water, and earth. Deification of these by Empedocles.
Plato and Aristotle. The doctrine of the four Elements.
Influence of the Peripatetic Philosophy on science. Arabian
science. Influence of the Moors in Spain. Atomic conceptions
of Anaxagoras, Leukippos, and Demokritos. Germs of the atomic
theory.

CHAPTER III

ALCHEMY 28

Influence of the Hellenic mind on the development of
chemistry. Origin of the idea of the transmutation of
metals. Philosophical foundation for the belief in alchemy.
Alchemistic theory of the nature of metals. Origin of the
conception of the Philosopher’s Stone. Geber. Association of
alchemy with astrology. Rhazes. Avicenna. Chemical processes
and substances known to the Arabian chemists. The Western
Alchemists. Albertus Magnus. Roger Bacon. Raymond Lully.
Arnoldus Villanovanus. Johannes de Rupecissa. George Ripley.
Basil Valentine.

CHAPTER IV

THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE 46

Alchemy in the Middle Ages. Association of religion with
alchemy by the Christian Church. Alleged nature of the
Philosopher’s Stone. Its character described. Its power.
The Universal Medicine. The Elixir of Youth. The Alkahest.
Opponents of alchemy: Erastius, Conringius, and Kircher.
“The Hermes of Germany”: Rudolph II. Christian princes who
had dealings with alchemists. Fate of certain alchemists.
Persistency of alchemy and hermetic societies. Lord Bacon on
alchemy.

CHAPTER V

IATRO-CHEMISTRY 57

Theories of the iatro-chemists. Paracelsus. Doctrine of the
_tria prima_. The Paracelsian harmonies. Libavius. Van
Helmont. Sylvius. Willis. Services of iatro-chemistry
to science. Influence of iatro-chemistry on technology.
Agricola. Palissy. Glauber. Chemical products made known by
the alchemists.

CHAPTER VI

“THE SCEPTICAL CHEMIST”: THE DAWN OF SCIENTIFIC CHEMISTRY 70

The foundation of the Royal Society and other scientific
academies. The appearance of “The Sceptical Chemist”: its
attack on the doctrines of the Spagyrists. Boyle: his life
and character. His services to learning. Kunkel. Becher.
Mayow. Lemery. Homberg. Boerhaave. Stephen Hales.

CHAPTER VII

PHLOGISTONISM 91

Becher’s hypothesis of the _Terra Pinguis_. Its development
into the theory of phlogiston. Stahl. Phlogiston, primarily
a theory of combustion, becomes a theory of chemistry. Its
general acceptance in Europe until the last quarter of the
eighteenth century. Prominent phlogistians. Pott. Marggraf.
Scheele: his discoveries. Duhamel. Macquer. Black: his
essay on _Magnesia Alba_. Recognition of the individuality
of carbon dioxide. Priestley: his life and character. His
discoveries in pneumatic chemistry. His observations on
the influence of vegetable life on the character of the
atmosphere. Cavendish: his life and work. Discovery of
composition of water. Influence of phlogistonism on the
development of chemistry. Advances made during the period of
phlogistonism.

CHAPTER VIII

LAVOISIER AND LA RÉVOLUTION CHIMIQUE 109

Downfall of phlogistonism. Lavoisier: his life and work. His
death. _Le principe oxygine._ Principle of the conservation
of matter. Chemistry a science of quantitative relations.
Prominent anti-phlogistians. Berthollet. The _Statique
Chimique_. Fourcroy. Vauquelin. Klaproth. Proust.

CHAPTER IX

THE ATOMIC THEORY 123

The atomic hypotheses of the ancients. Newton. Bergmann.
Lavoisier. Richter. Stochiometry. John Dalton: sketch of his
life and character. How he was led to his explanation of the
laws of chemical combination. The _New System of Chemical
Philosophy_. Reception of his theory by Davy and Wollaston.
Berzelius: his life and work. His services to chemistry.
First accurate series of atomic weight determinations.
Avogadro. Prout’s hypothesis.

CHAPTER X

THE BEGINNINGS OF ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY 140

The Voltaic Pile. Electrolytic decomposition of water by
Nicholson and Carlisle. Application of voltaic electricity
to the decomposition of the alkalis by Davy. His life and
work. Wollaston: his life and work. Electro-chemical system
of Berzelius. Dualism. Berzelius reforms chemical notation
and nomenclature. Gay Lussac: his life and work. Thénard: his
life and work. Faraday and the law of definite electrolytic
action.

CHAPTER XI

THE FOUNDATIONS OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 154

Nicolas Lemery divides chemistry into its two main branches
of inorganic and organic chemistry. State of knowledge of
products of organic origin during the early years of the
nineteenth century. Animal chemistry. Doctrine of vital
force. Wöhler’s synthesis of urea. Organic chemistry is the
chemistry of the carbon compounds. Early attempts at organic
analysis by Lavoisier, Berzelius, Gay Lussac, and Thénard.
Liebig. Discovery of _isomerism_ and _allotropy_. Cyanogen.
Theory of compound radicals. Etherin theory of Dumas and
Boullay. Memoir of Liebig and Wöhler on oil of bitter
almonds. Benzoyl theory. Investigation of alkarsin by Bunsen.
Cacodyl. Discovery of zinc ethyl by Frankland.