General Histories of Chemistry

in the 1990s, came a veritable explosion of general histories of chemistry. Each has its merits and its limitations and the following account will inevitably reflect the predispositions of the present authors. For that reason, readers are specially referred to independent reviews, particularly those in Ambix, volume 40. 

It is thus apparent that the best general history of chemistry depends largely on the intended readership. Without in any way limiting the scope of these six volumes it is possible to summarize the single most appropriate choice for a given clientele as follows  

Prices vary enormously, the volume by Mierzecki being approximately ten times as expensive as that by Brock. 

Finally, several older histories of chemistry have recently appeared as reprints. One is a classic from 1866 and 1869, the famous Histoire de la chimie of Ferdinand Hoefer, reprinted in 1980.26 Another is the Clows classic of 1952, The Chemical Revolution.27 It does not deal with the Lavoisierian transformation of chemistry (as might have been expected) but with the revolutionary changes in applied chemistry that made the Industrial Revolution possible. 

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While a modem history of organic chemistry remains to be written, there is a useful book of essays devoted solely to the subject.2 Several general histories of chemistry have recently appeared (Chapter 1), though one has almost nothing specific on organic chemistry, one devotes less than 30 pages to it, and another has an excellent... 

For a general history of titrimetry, see the following sources. Kolthoff, I. M. Analytical Chemistry in the USA in the First Quarter of This Century, Anal. Chem. 1994, 66, 24IA-249A. Laitinen, H. A. Ewing, G. W., eds. A History of Analytical Chemistry. The Division of Analytical Chemistry of the American Chemical Society Washington, DC, 1977, pp. 52-93. 

Many other experts also helped make this book as accurate and readable as possible. A number of them spent considerable time and thought helping me, and I thank them at the beginning of each chapter s bibliography. The history of science and, in particular, the history of chemistry, is enjoying a remarkable boom, and I hope that a book aimed at a general audience will alert readers to this interesting new field. 

In the conclusion, the relationship of disciplines to schools and traditions is discussed, both in the particular instances of the Paris and London-Manchester schools and in the more general history of Continental and Anglo-American science, using elements of the disciplinary identity schema developed at the beginning of the book. I end with an inquiry into the views of mid-twentieth-century theoretical chemists and chemical physicists on the commensurability of their disciplines, the reducibility of chemical explanation to physical principles and laws, and the distinctiveness of chemistry from physics. 

In short, Dumas s chemical philosophy aimed at general abstract principles, which were identified with chemical atoms and chemical forces and it taught the history of chemistry as a guide to the progress of philosophical truth. 

About Chemistry—http / /chemistry.about. com/science/ chemistry—open door to the basics of chemistry and beyond with links to tutorials, all the areas of chemistry, the history of chemistry, and latest discoveries. Click General Chemistry to learn the basics. 

Although the literature which appeared under the name of the alleged Benedictine monk, Basilius Valentinus is now generally conceded to have been written at the close of the sixteenth or the beginning of the seventeenth century, its relation to the history of chemistry is so similar in many ways to that of the Hollandus literature that it may be best considered in this connection. 

In addition to complete histories of the science, several other types of general works may be noted. First, there are several volumes of collected essays that deal, mainly or exclusively, with the history of chemistry. An example of these is the published proceedings of the Symposium on Alchemy, Chemistry and Pharmacy , held during the International Congress of History of Science at Liege in 1997.28 There is also a volume of essays on the history of chemistry in the multi-volume Italian publication, Storia della scienza.29 The five-year European Science Foundation Programme, The Evolution of Chemistry in Europe, 1789-1939 ,30 which was launched in 1993, has resulted in a number of collections of essays on Lavoisier,31 on aspects of the chemical industry,32-35 on chemical textbooks,36 and on chemical education and institutions.37-39... 

Secondly, there are books that cover the history of chemistry in particular places. The development of chemical science in modem China is the theme of one recent book that is probably the only source in the West of such information.44 Setting a new trail in analysis of national trends was the multi-authored book Chemistry in America 1876-1976.45 This presented a vast mass of empirical data about most conceivable aspects of American chemistry vocational, professional, educational and industrial. Like the History of Chemistry by Partington, to which it bears a curious resemblance in its fact-collecting skills and deadpan presentation, it is unlikely to be replaced for a long time. As will be seen in subsequent chapters there are many smaller studies available of aspects of chemistry in individual countries or regions. One of general interest is a discussion on chemistry in 19th-century Baden,46 while another localizes chemistry to Essex and East London.47... 

C. A. Russell, General and inorganic chemistry, in Recent Developments in the History of Chemistry, ed. C. A. Russell, Royal Society of Chemistry, 1985, pp. 77-96. 

The arrangement of the topics that follow continues that developed for Recent Developments in the History of Chemistry General Works, Instruments and Apparatus of Particular Chemists and Laboratories Instruments and Apparatus by Type and Function Museum and Laboratory Collections and Instrument Makers. 

For general accounts see W. H. Brock, The Fontana History of Chemistry (London Fontana Press, 1992), 508-569, and references therein M.J. Nye, From Chemical Philosophy to Theoretical Chemistry. Dynamics of Matter and Dynamics of Disciplines (Berkeley University of California Press, 1993), 139-223 R. E. Kohler, The Lewis-Lang-muir theory of valence and the chemical... 

Dr Sanderson loved to delve into the history of chemistry and scientific thought in general. It was typical of her sense of justice that in one of these studies she should have rescued from oblivion a hitherto obscure 18th Century scientist William Cruickshank, by re-establishing his claims to several important discoveries that had been erroneously ascribed to another investigator. Not the least of the results of these efforts was her familiarity with all the great libraries of London. Her lively tales of the peculiarities of their arrangement and procedure, and the idiosyncrasies of both librarians and readers were a source of much amusement to her friends.70(b)... 

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