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Take a stroll through this one-of-a-kind book that offers readers an illustrated tour of how chemistry developed, from alchemy to the emergence of chemistry as a scientific discipline in the early 17th century, and, finally, modern-day chemistry. Discover this rare collection of more than 180 illustrations spanning 400 years of chemical publications, with each illustration accompanied by an essay discussing its significance in the context of historical scientific beliefs as well as modern chemical science. The author's knowledge and enthusiasm for the books, images, and subject matter are clearly reflected throughout the very readable, informative, and frequently funny essays. High-quality, full-page reproductions from the author's art collection, published from 1599 to the present, are eloquently displayed.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Preface(p. xi)
• Color Plate Captions(p. xv)
• Acknowledgments(p. xvii)
• Suggestions for Further Reading(p. xvii)
• Section I. Practical Chemistry, Mining, and Metallurgy(p. 1)
• What Fresh Hell Is This?(p. 1)
• The Essence of Matter: Four Elements (or Five); Three Principles (or Two); or Three Subatomic Particles (or More)(p. 3)
• Unifying The Infinite and the Infinitesimal(p. 6)
• Seeding the Earth with Metals(p. 8)
• Chymicall Characters(p. 10)
• Practical Chemistry: Mining, Assaying, and Refining(p. 12)
• Section II. Spiritual and Allegorical Alchemy(p. 23)
• The Philosopher's Stone Can No Longer Be Protected By Patent(p. 23)
• The Twelve Keys of Basil Valentine. First Key: The Wolf of Metals and the Impure King(p. 24)
• Ratso Rizzo and the Poet Virgil as Transmuting Agents?(p. 26)
• Catawba Indian Pottery: Four Colors and a Miracle of Survival(p. 31)
• Dragons, Serpents, and Order out of Chaos(p. 33)
• Today's Specials: Oil of Scorpion and Lady's Spot Fade-In Cream(p. 37)
• "Vulgar And Common Errors"(p. 40)
• What Is Wrong with this Picture?(p. 41)
• Protecting the Roman Empire's Currency from the Black Art(p. 43)
• Geber and Rhazes: Alchemists from the Biblical Lands(p. 46)
• Alchemists as Artists' Subjects(p. 48)
• Allegories, Myths, and Metaphors(p. 50)
• The Wordless Book(p. 56)
• Section III. Iatrochemistry and Spagyricall Preparations(p. 65)
• Paracelsus(p. 65)
• The Dream Team of Alchemy(p. 67)
• Distillation By Fire, Hot Water, Sand, or Steamed Boar Dung(p. 69)
• Section IV. Chemistry Begins to Emerge as a Science(p. 75)
• The First Ten-Pound Chemistry Text(p. 75)
• A Tree Grows in Brussels(p. 80)
• Curing Wounds by Treating the Sword with Powder of Sympathy(p. 82)
• Do Anonymous Passersby Defecate At Your Doorstep? A Solution(p. 83)
• A House Is Not a Home without a Bath Tub and a Still(p. 83)
• Boyle Versus Aristotle And Paracelsus(p. 85)
• The Atmosphere Is Massive(p. 87)
• Boyle's Law(p. 91)
• Who Would Want an Anti-Elixir?(p. 92)
• The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony(p. 94)
• A Salty Conversation(p. 96)
• The Alchemist in the Pit of My Stomach(p. 98)
• A Harvard-Trained Alchymist(p. 100)
• Phlogiston: Chemistry's First Comprehensive Scientific Theory(p. 102)
• Gun Powder, Lightning and Thunder, and Nitro-Aerial Spirit(p. 105)
• The "Modern" Phlogiston Concept(p. 106)
• What Are "Effluviums"?(p. 109)
• Beautiful Seventeenth-Century Chemistry Texts(p. 111)
• Chemical Affinity(p. 118)
• Double-Bottom Cupels, Hollow Stirring Rods, and Other Frauds(p. 121)
• Peas Produce Lots of Gas(p. 122)
• Black's Magic(p. 125)
• Cavendish Weighed the Earth but Thought He Had Captured Phlogiston in a Bottle(p. 126)
• Making Soda Pop(p. 130)
• If You Do Find the Philosopher's Stone: "Take Care To Lose It Again"--Benjamin Franklin(p. 131)
• Saltpetre, Abigail. Pins, John(p. 134)
• Section V. Modern Chemistry is Born(p. 135)
• Fire Air (Oxygen): Who Knew What and When Did They Know It?(p. 135)
• Nice to His Mice(p. 137)
• Where Is the Invective of Yesteryear?(p. 140)
• La Revolution Chimique Commence(p. 141)
• Simplifying The Chemical Babel(p. 143)
• Hydrogen + Oxygen [right arrow] Water. Water [right arrow] Oxygen + Hydrogen(p. 146)
• The Guinea Pig as Internal Combustion Engine(p. 150)
• A Single Elective Attraction (Single Displacement)(p. 153)
• A Double Elective Attraction (Double Displacement)(p. 156)
• The Phoenix Is a "Her"?(p. 156)
• Chemistry in the Barrel of a Gun(p. 159)
• A Boring Experiment(p. 163)
• Laughing Gas For Everybody!(p. 163)
• "Lavoisier in Love"(p. 166)
• Some Last-Minute Glitsches Before the Dawn of the Atomic Theory(p. 168)
• The Atomic Paradigm(p. 170)
• "We Are Here! We Are Here! We Are Here!"(p. 173)
• Was Avogadro's Hypothesis a Premature Discovery?(p. 176)
• Chemistry Is Not Applied Physics(p. 177)
• Section VI. Chemistry Begins to Specialize and Helps Farming and Industry(p. 181)
• The Electric Scalpel(p. 181)
• Chemical Scalpels Through the Ages(p. 183)
• Davy Rescues The Industrial Revolution(p. 184)
• The Dualistic Theory of Chemistry(p. 187)
• Adams Opposes Atoms(p. 189)
• The Chemical Power of a Current of Electricity(p. 191)
• A Primeval Forest of the Tropics(p. 194)
• Taming The Primeval Forest(p. 196)
• The Atomic Weight of Carbon and Related Confusions(p. 199)
• Why's the Nitrogen Atom Blue, Mommy?(p. 201)
• I Cannot Hold My Chemical Water--I Can Make Urea!(p. 201)
• Two Streams In The Primeval Forest(p. 205)
• Want a Great Chemical Theory? Just Let Kekule Sleep on It(p. 207)
• "My Parents Went to Karlsruhe and All I Got Was This Lousy Tee-Shirt!"(p. 212)
• The Icon On The Wall(p. 214)
• The People's Chemistry(p. 216)
• Ink from Peanuts and the Finest Sugar in the South(p. 219)
• Section VII. Teaching Chemistry to the Masses(p. 221)
• Michael Faraday's First Chemistry Teacher(p. 221)
• "Chemistry No Mystery"(p. 223)
• The Chemical History of a Candle(p. 226)
• Into the Heart of the Flame(p. 229)
• Poof! Now You Smell It! Now You Don't!(p. 231)
• Chlorine Fairies?(p. 236)
• "Rascally" Fluorine: A Fairy With Fangs?(p. 239)
• A Mid-Semester Night's Dream(p. 239)
• And Now Turn to Page 3 of Our Chemical Psalm Book(p. 241)
• Molecular Mechanics In The Year 1866(p. 243)
• Section VIII. The Approach to Modern Views of Chemical Bonding(p. 247)
• Riding Pegasus to Visit Chemistry in Space(p. 247)
• Is the Archeus a Southpaw?(p. 250)
• John Read: Stereochemist(p. 251)
• Finding an Invisible Needle in an Invisible Haystack(p. 252)
• But Argon Is a Monoatomic Gas--And There Are Others!(p. 255)
• Just How Many Different Substances Are in Atmospheric Air?(p. 256)
• Atoms Of The Celestial Ether(p. 257)
• Non-Atomus(p. 260)
• Crystals Can Diffract X-Rays(p. 260)
• Two Nobel Prizes? Not Good Enough for the Academie Des Sciences!(p. 263)
• It's The Atomic Number, Dmitry!(p. 266)
• X-Rays Measure the Distances Between Atoms or Ions(p. 268)
• Where Did We Dig Up The Mole?(p. 270)
• Xenon Is Slightly Ignoble and Krypton Is Not Invincible(p. 271)
• The Atom as Solar System(p. 274)
• 'Tis a Gift To Be Simple(p. 277)
• Transmuting Quantum Mechanics into Chemistry(p. 278)
• Mercury Can Be Transmuted to Gold(p. 281)
• Modern Alchemists Reach Atlantis(p. 282)
• The Chemistry Of Gold Is Noble But Not Simple(p. 285)
• The "Perfect Biological Principle"(p. 286)
• Nanoscopic "Heavens"(p. 289)
• Moving Matter Atom-By-Atom(p. 295)
• Section IX. Post-Script(p. 299)
• Ending In Imagery(p. 299)
• Index(p. 301)

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Arthur Greenberg, Ph.D. is presently Professor and Chair of the Chemistry Department at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.