Thomas Thomson
The History of Chemistry
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2021 OK Publishing
EAN 4064066382971
Table of Contents
Volume 1
Table of Contents
CHAPTER II. OF THE CHEMICAL KNOWLEDGE POSSESSED BY THE ANCIENTS.
V.—DYEING AND CALICO-PRINTING.
X.—PRECIOUS STONES AND MINERALS.
XI.—MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.
CHAPTER III. CHEMISTRY OF THE ARABIANS.
CHAPTER IV OF THE PROGRESS OF CHEMISTRY UNDER PARACELSUS AND HIS DISCIPLES.
CHAPTER V. OF VAN HELMONT AND THE IATRO-CHEMISTS.
CHAPTER VI. OF AGRICOLA AND METALLURGY.
CHAPTER VII. OF GLAUBER, LEMERY, AND SOME OTHER CHEMISTS OF THE END OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
CHAPTER VIII. OF THE ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH A THEORY IN CHEMISTRY.
In the Miscellania Berolinensia.
CHAPTER IX. OF THE FOUNDATION AND PROGRESS OF SCIENTIFIC CHEMISTRY IN GREAT BRITAIN.
PREFACE.
It may be proper, perhaps, to state here, in a very few words, the objects which the author had in view in drawing up the following History of Chemistry. Alchymy, or the art of making gold, with which the science originated, furnishes too curious a portion of the aberrations of the human intellect to be passed over in silence. The writings of the alchymists are so voluminous and so mystical, that it would have afforded materials for a very long work. But I was prevented from extending this part of the subject to any greater length than I have done, by considering the small quantity of information which could have been gleaned from the reveries of these fanatics or impostors; I thought it sufficient to give a general view of the nature of their pursuits: but in order to put it in the power of those who feel inclined to prosecute such investigations, I have given a catalogue of the most eminent of the alchymists and a list of their works, so far as I am acquainted with them. This catalogue might have been greatly extended. Indeed it would have been possible to have added several hundred names. But I think the works which I have quoted are more than almost any reasonable man would think it worth his while to peruse; and I can state, from experience, that the information gained by such a perusal will very seldom repay the trouble.
The account of the chemical arts, with which the ancients were acquainted, is necessarily imperfect; because all arts and trades were held in so much contempt by them that they did not think it worth their while to make themselves acquainted with the processes. My chief guide has been Pliny, but many of his descriptions are unintelligible, obviously from his ignorance of the arts which he attempts to describe. Thus circumstanced, I thought it better to be short than to waste a great deal of paper, as some have done, on hypothesis and conjecture.
The account of the Chemistry of the Arabians is almost entirely limited to the works of Geber, which I consider to be the first book on Chemistry that ever was published, and to constitute, in every point of view, an exceedingly curious performance. I was much struck with the vast number of facts with which he was acquainted, and which have generally been supposed to have been discovered
