Before “Modern” Chemistry A Stroll inside the French Books From a Philosophy to a Science from the Roy G. Neville Historical One of the earliest French works in the collection is Chemical Library Discours admirables (Paris, 1580), by the great pot- by Laure Joumel ter. Bernard Palissy (c.1510–1589/90) spent decades studying chemistry and other sciences to perfect his n France, the history of chemistry porcelain-making techniques. Palissy criticized con- is an integral part of the university temporary alchemists who sought chemical knowledge Iscience curriculum. Students learn in hopes of generating wealth through transmutation about the historical figures in the devel- rather than applying their knowledge to practical opment of chemistry and the books ends, writing, “Those who want to make gold and sil- they wrote, which became cornerstones ver, their stinginess can not be hidden; their goals are of science. Some of the first and most at the same level as the lustful and lazy.” (Translations beautiful editions of these works are in this article are my own.) conserved in a wonderful library of Palissy would undoubtedly have been more satis- the Chemical Heritage Foundation in fied with the practical importance of a 1697 work Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. The collection of by Nicolas Lémery (1645–1715), an apothecary from the Roy G. Neville Historical Chemical Library, which Rouen, Normandy. In Pharmacopée universelle, a book is carefully conserved and open to the public, spans that became a reference tool for generations of chem- the late 15th century to the early 20th century and ists (CHF owns a copy of the second edition, Paris, includes many of the most important works in the 1725), Lémery explained, “I have begun a task that is history of chemical science from that period. (Neville, greatly desired by many people and that no one, as far who founded the firm Engineering and Technical as I know, has ever worked on: a universal pharmaco- Consultants, is a passionate bibliophile.) The Neville poeia, in which I collect all the descriptions of old and Collection is part of the Othmer Library of Chemical modern pharmacy.” Lémery also wrote Cours de chy- History, one of the richest libraries of this specialty mie (Paris, 1675), a standard reference in the teaching in the world, with roughly 40 000 titles. (Donald of early modern chemistry that had an influence well F. Othmer was a founding editor beyond France’s borders. CHF owns of the Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of French, English, Italian, and German Chemical Technology). versions. At the end of the 17th century, a The Neville Library offers a British critic of contemporary chem- remarkable selection of French-lan- istry, Robert Boyle, argued that a guage books, including some rare more orderly approach to chemical and precious editions that detail the theories and practice was required. origin and development of chemis- Conserved in a brown-red box in the try before Lavoisier’s “revolution.” CHF library, its cover cracked with The library contains editions not age, is a copy of the first edition only of Lavoisier and his contem- of Boyles’s The Sceptical Chemist poraries, including Louis Bernard (London, 1661). The preface to this Guyton de Morveau, Claude Louis book reveals the author’s thoughts: Berthollet, Antoine François de “Chymical Notion about matters Fourcroy, Pierre Joseph Macquert, philosophical are taken for granted and Nicolas Lemery, but also his and employed and so adopted by predecessors who marked the tran- very eminent writers both Naturalists sition from alchemy to early modern and Physitians. Now this I fear may science. And, of course, since the prove somewhat prejudicial to the “revolution” was not confined to Cover of the Traité Elémentaire de advancement of solid philosophy: France, the collection also features Chimie (Lavoisier, 1789). Courtesy For though I am a great Lover of works from the rest of continental of the Roy G. Neville Historical Chymical experiments . . . for ought I Europe. Chemical Library, Chemical can hithero discern, there are a thou- Heritage Foundation. sand phenomena in Nature, besides
10 CHEMISTRY International March-April 2007 a multitude of Accident relating to the humane body, will scarcely be clearly and satisfactorily made out by them that confine themselves to deduce things from Salt, Sulfur, and Mercury.” The book found a wide audience in several languages and countries; CHF’s holdings include editions pub- lished in the Netherlands (1668) and Switzerland (1680).
A New Step
An early attempt to provide theo- retical grounding to early modern chemistry was Georg Ernst Stahl’s (1660–1734) theory of phlogis- An illustration from Traité Elémentaire de Chimie, engraved by Madame ton. According to Stahl, phlogiston Lavoisier. Courtesy of the Roy G. Neville Historical Chemical Library, Chemical (derived from “flame”) is the engine Heritage Foundation. of combustion. He saw fire—one of Aristotle’s four elements—as a component of all mat- fixed Air, acid Air, and alkaline Air because these and ter. When matter burnt, it lost the fire that was inside another called phlogiston, that I couldn’t isolate and it: phlogiston. Conversely, when matter was heated, it by now has never been proved in any shape, are all gained some phlogiston. The principle was seductive the species of Air that I know.” The Neville library holds because it provided a harmonious answer to two of (besides several British editions) two French editions chemistry’s most perplexing questions, combustion of his Experiments and Observations on Different and reduction. Kinds of Air (1775). Pierre Joseph Macquer (1718–1784) was one of the Another important precursor to Lavoisier’s theories key exponents of the theory of phlogiston in France. was the work of the Swede In his Dictionnaire de chymie (Paris, 1766), Macquer Carl Wilhem Scheele (1742– (1718–1784) praises the key figure in the development 1786), who discovered the of this theory: “We have to recognize the magnificent “acid” muriatic dephlogiston and deserved titles of the famous [Georg Ernst] Stahl, (which would later be called brilliant, an active imagination, and animated by wis- chlorine) and the “fire” Air dom.” The presence in the Neville Library of French- (which would be called language copies of several of Stahl’s most famous oxygen). In Supplément au books testifies to his influence on French chemists Traité de l’Air et du Feu before Lavoisier. (Paris, 1785), Scheele begins, The cornerstone of modern chemistry was built “We know that we can’t see during the second half of the 18th century. Scottish our Air just as an elastic chemist Joseph Black (1728–1799) isolated carbon liquid because if you take dioxide (which he called “fixed air”), which marked the off all the heterogen that beginning of the end of phlogiston. Henry Cavendish belongs to it . . . we find (British, 1731–1830) discovered the synthesis of water that the Air is formed by and understood that it comes from two different gases: two distinguished parts: one
“ignitable (inflammable) air” (H2) and “dephlogistic is called ‘vicie Air’ because air” (O2)—indeed before Lavoisier. Joseph Priestley it is dangerous and deadly, (1733–1804), the last great holdout against Lavoisier’s and the other is called ‘pur Cover of the Traité du Soufre “new chemistry,” was also well-read in France. In his Air’ or ‘fire air’ because it (Stahl, 1766). Courtesy of Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds is exactly the opposite and the Roy G. Neville Historical of Air (1775), Priestley reflected, “All the species of permits breath.” Chemical Library, Chemical Air that seem for me different from each other are Heritage Foundation.
CHEMISTRY International March-April 2007 11 Before “Modern” Chemistry
The Birth of Modern Chemistry chimique (Paris, 1787) provides a step-by-step guide to the thinking that led to the new vocabulary: “We Priestley’s isolation of oxygen and other gases and cen- adopt the expression ‘oxygen’ . . . from the Greek oxnz, turies of chemical experimentation by other pneumatic acid, and geinoma, generate.” The theories and vocabu- chemists set the ground for Lavoisier’s pathbreaking lary espoused by Lavoisier were quickly adopted in his work. CHF owns dozens of early French-language edi- native land and elsewhere. tions by Lavoisier and his followers, including a 1789 The books in the Neville Library by Lavoisier’s prede- edition of his glorious Traité élémentaire de chimie cessors, contemporaries, and followers—many of them which contains illustrations engraved by Madame translated into several languages—show the develop- Lavoisier. The inspiration behind Lavoisier’s magnum ment and dissemination of the “new chemistry” and its opus lay in his work on a new, standardized chemical nomenclature. It is from the knowledge contained in nomenclature: “As I was working on nomenclature, these texts that modern discoveries bloomed. while I just wanted to perfect the language of chemis- try, my book was changing in my hands . . . it became www.chemicalheritage.org/library/lib-neville.html an elementary course of chemistry.” The Neville Library holds a first edition of the book Laure Joumel
See also www.iupac.org/publications/ci/indexes/ stamps.html Stamps International
Moissan’s Isolation of Fluorine him had failed. The key to the he French chemist Henri Moissan received the isolation of this most reactive of Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1906 for his isola- elements, l’enfant terrible of the Ttion and investigation of the element fluorine periodic table, was to electrolize and for his introduction of the electric furnace in the at -25 °C a solution of potassium
preparation of metal carbides and other refractory hydrogen fluoride (KHF2) in liq- materials. The competition to earn the favor from the uid anhydrous hydrogen fluoride. members of the chemical section of the Royal Swedish Special platinum–iridium elec- Academy of Sciences trodes and a platinum U-shaped
was particularly tough vessel capped with fluorite (CaF2) that year: Moissan stoppers, not exactly run–of–the–mill equipment, were edged out by only one required to attain success. Moissan’s electrolytic cell, vote (5–4) no one less illustrated on the two French stamps accompany- than Dmitri Mendeleev! ing this note, is currently on display at the Moissan Unfortunately, the Museum in the School of Pharmacy, Université René famous Russian Descartes—Paris 5. Interestingly, the stamp issued in chemist never got 1986 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the another chance to win preparation of the mighty halogen, shown above, the coveted prize since he died of influenza on displays the incorrect (reverse) chemical equation 2 February 1907, and Moissan himself passed away (i.e., the reaction of fluorine with hydrogen to produce from acute appendicitis 18 days later, shortly after hydrogen fluoride)! returning to Paris from his trip to Stockholm. The synthesis of elemental fluorine in 1886 was no Written by Daniel Rabinovich
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