Distilling Knowledge Distilling Knowledge: Alchemy, Chemistry, and the Scientific Revolution Alchemy, Chemistry, and the Scientific Revolution

The traditional grand narrative of the scientific revolution styles it as a decisive rejection of magic and mysticism in favor of rationality and empiricism. This engaging study of early modern science insists there was no such sharp break. Historian Moran traces the gradual evolution of alchemy to chemistry through a wide array of texts from the 15th through 18th centuries, including classical alchemical treatises, handbooks of practical alchemy, early chemistry textbooks and the writings of Newton and Boyle, both of whom considered alchemy a perfectly legitimate scientific discipline. He finds in alchemical thought intriguing precursors of modern ideas about the particulate nature of matter, the biochemical paradigm of life and disease, and Newtonian gravity. Moreover, he considers alchemy, which boasted a vast amount of lore on everything from metallurgy to medicine and was practiced not just by adepts but by doctors, artisans and housewives, to have been an important catalyst in the development of the scientific mindset; while alchemical theories may have been wrong, alchemical practice schooled society at large in everyday habits of observation and experimentation. Conveying a wealth of historical detail in an accessible, jargon-free style, Moran provides a fascinating corrective to simplistic notions of the origins of modern science. Photos.