Boerhaaves chemistry of living things

Medicine, physics and Boerhaave s chemistry of living things 

Boerhaave s clear distinction between chemistry and physics makes it even more clear that the later Boerhaave was only partially Newtonian. Boerhaave not only argued that chemistry and physics are different disciplines, but he also subjected physics to chemistry and made his chemistry of living things the most important discipline upon which to build medicine. When Boerhaave accepted the chair of chemistry he argued  

And so chemistry surpasses other disciplines in usefulness it is now impossible for it to harm what is pure and holy through abuse (...) In physics we can be of good cheer with this guide, in medicine all possible good may be expected from it. It teaches most faithfully how the deepest secrets may be revealed, intricacies be disentangled, how hidden forces of bodies may be discovered, imitated, changed, applied, and perfected. 

Likewise, when he resigned his chair of chemistry, Boerhaave told his audience that physics may derive some benefit from the important questions he wanted to address in his old age. Presumably Boerhaave was referring to his experiments on mercury, the seed of all metals which also involved extensive experiments on Guhr, the first matter of metals. 

What made Boerhaave s chemistry different from his physics Since the seventeenth century the distinction between physics and chemistry has been somewhat blurred and has been matter of debate between its respective practitioners. In the 1960s the distinction was that 

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