The Essential Tenney L. Davis
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The Essential Tenney L. Davis The Essential Tenney Ldmbard Davis: selected publications of the late Tenney L. Davis, PhD. Warren K. Klofkorn editor Prometheus Publications 01999 Introduction Tenney Lombard Davis (1890 - 1949) produced during his 59 years a body of works ,;that marks him as a pioneer in the history of chemistry, and particularly in the history of gunpowder and explosives. By my count, Dr. Davis published no less than 208 articles on scientific and academic subjects, and one landmark textbook, The Chemistry of Powder and Explosives. This count does not include his articles on the technical aspects of chemistry, which also were numerous. Tenney Davis had a brilliant academic career from the beginning. He began with undergraduate study at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from which he graduated in 1912. In 1913 he graduated with the degree of Master of Science from Harvard University. From Harvard Davis also received his Ph. D. in chemistry in 1917 at the age of 27. The first article he published that I am aware of was a piece called, “Theory as Truth: A Study of the Logical Status of Scientific Theory.” This piece appeared in The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology, and Scientific Methods in 1916 when Davis was 26. After this date, his articles appeared in rapid-fire succession, on a wide variety of subjects. His inclination toward explosives revealed itself early in his career. Among the first works ’ he published was a series of bibliographical pieces published in 1922 and 1923 in the French journal, Mtmorial des Poudres. As Dr. Davis progressed in his career, he published more and more articles aimed at audiences increasingly diverse. He wrote articles that appeared not only in academic journals such as Isis and Journal of Chemical Education, and Technology Review, but also popular science pieces that appeared in periodicals such as ZXe Boston Globe, aimed at more down- to-earth readerships. A examination of Davis’s work from a chronological perspective reveals shifts in the focus of his writing over the years that seem to represent a methodical progression of interests and perhaps even a strategy. Note that his earlier works include publications of bibliographical materials. At this early stage of his career, this might be expected for several reasons: 1) Writing bibliographies may have been an easy way for a junior chemist to get published. 2) In that age, before computerized indexing of research materials, a handy reference to all the currently published work in the field would likely have been consulted by many other research chemists. This would have put Davis’s name in a position of high visibility early in his career. 3) Collecting the materials used to produce the bibliographies would have helped Davis to assemble his own research collection and notes, providing him with a firm foundation for later research. Toward the middle of his career Davis delved deeply into the history of chemistry, and its beginning in European and Chinese alchemy. During a period of deeply -ethnocentric American culture, Dr. Davis broke the mold as a pioneer in cross-cultural studies in the history of science, focusing in the history of science first with respect to Europe, and then with respect to Asian science. In fact, Dr. Davis was a founding editor of Chymia, a pioneering journal in the history of chemistry. Davis produced only two volumes of Chymia before his death, but his colleagues carried on his work in this regard, making Chymia one of the finer ongoing efforts in the history of chemistry. Many of the articles appearing in this volume are taken from Davis’s later work, which focused strongly on the history of chemistry and explosives. Much of this work Davis produced while in retirement due to failing health. One of his obituaries noted that Davis had known for the last ten years of his life that he might die at any time*. Another of his obituaries, from the New York Times in January of 1949, states that Dr. Davis died from cardiac arrest while driving. We might infer that it is likely Davis suffered from heart trouble prior to his death, although the particulars of his condition have not come to light. Despite these difficulties, Davis wrote, edited, and published significant research until his death. Davis’s accomplishments in writing about explosives, the history of chemistry, and all the rest are accentuated by the other achievements of his life. Consider that he spent most of his career as professor of organic chemistry at Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- not only a prestigious position, but surely a demanding job as well. Furthermore, Dr. Davis acted as director of research for the now defunct National Fireworks Company of Boston. Finally, Tenney Davis was a family man -- a husband and father of two sons. Despite all of his competing responsibilities, he produced this tremendous volume of published work. Unfortunately, aside from a crudely xeroxed collection I assembled and distributed during my undergraduate years at Michigan, there has never been any effort to compile and republish any of the work of Dr. Davis (with the exception of his text The Chemistry of Powder and Explosives) since his death in 1949. This volume is an attempt to remedy, at least partially, that state of affairs. There is more material that ought to be anthologized as well, but alas, time and economy argue forcibly against that for the present. Furthermore, some of Dr. Davis’s more interesting titles seem to have disappeared altogether. One such title is: “Cultural Relationships of Explosives,” which appeared in National Fireworks Review of 1944. A long and thoroughly aggravating search has failed to unearth this one, despite finding a record of its having been received at Harvard’s Yenching Institute. Another missing work is: “Sugars in Fireworks and Explosives,” that was published in 1949 by the Sugar Research Foundation. If any of the present readers have or know of these publications (or others suitable), they would likely be welcome additions to a second volume of Dr. Davis’s work. I can be contacted at present at the following address or through the Pyrotechnics Guild International or through American Fireworks News of Dingman’s Ferry, PA: *See Leicester & Klickstein, “Tenney Lombard Davis and the History of Chemistry,” Chymia 3, 1950, 5. ii Mr. Warren Klofkorn P.O. Box 547 Kirksville MO 63501 Finally, some acknowledgements are in order. First, credit is due to Henry M. Leicester and Herbert S. Klickstein’who published an invaluable obituary and bibliography of the work of Dr. Davis in Chymia 3 (reprinted in this volume) . Thanks are also due to two people who helped with the present publication: Ms. Sheila Swafford and Ms. Sijia Liu. Ms. Sheila Swafford of Interlibrary Loans at Northeast Missouri State University skillfully tracked down information about Dr. Davis. Ms. Sijia Liu, a student at Northeast Missouri State University who hails from Wuhan, China provided invaluable aid with the Chinese language and helped prepare some of the Chinese text and illustrations which appear in these pages. 111 Introduction to the Current Edition During the past five years, A Davis Chrestomathy, predecessor to the present volume produced a marvelous response from its readers. The current volume updates the prior volume. This volumes includes, as well as the original material, the two articles I had long sought but not found for that volume. The articles “Sugars in Fireworks and Explosives” and “Cultural Relationships of Explosives” had proven elusive to others before me. As fate would have it, both articles virtually dropped into my lap as indirect consequences of the recent expansion of the data available on the Internet. Both surfaced in 1999. “Sugars” I found with a search of OCLC (On- line Computer Library Center), a library database which continually expands through the efforts of librarians the world over. “Cultural Relationships” turned up through a person I met in the process of conducting an E-Bay on-line auction transaction for a rare book dealing with pyrotechnic history. Unless I have missed something, this concludes the definitive collection of Davis’s published work in the history of explosives and pyrotechnics, neatly complementing the historical materials found in his famous book, Chemistry of Powder and Explosives. Of course, in the even that his bibliographers or I missed anything of note, I would welcome its receipt. I hope the readers will find this collection worthwhile. Dr. Davis should be long remembered for his contributions to the history of this field, and to the history of science generally. Warren Klofkom Phoenix, Arizona USA November 1999 [email protected] iV Table of Contents Chemistry in War: An 18th Century Viewpoint . 1 [1925] Kunckel’s Discovery of Fulminate . 4 [1926] Kunckel and the Early History of Phosphorus . 6 [1927] Roger Bacon’s Gunpowder . 12 [1928] Chemical Flower Gardens . 17 [1933] Much-Maligned TNT . 19 [1932] ,, Notes on Gunpowder . 21 : : [1932] The New Bomb Bogey . 24 [1938] Annual Meeting . , . 26 [ 19401 Fireworks for Fun . , . , . 27 [ 19401 Chao Hstieh-min’s Outline of Fyrorechnics . 33 [ 19431 Traps, But Not For Boobies . 70 [ 19451 The Early Use of Potassium Chlorate . 72 [ 19481 EARLY PYROTECHNICS -- PART I FirefortheWarsofChina.. 90 [ 19481 EARLY PYROTECHNICS - PART II Evolution of the Gun Missing Links Found in Projectile Weapons’ Ancestry . 93 [1948] EARLY PYROTECHNICS - PART III Chemical Warfare in Ancient China . 97 [1949] Early Chinese Rockets . 100 [1949} Early Chinese Military Pyrotechnics . .. .. 103 [1947] Tenney Lombard Davis and the History of Chemistry . .. 126 [I9501 Sugars in Fireworks and Explosives . .. .. 141 [1948] Cultural Relationships of Explosives . .. 161 Chemistry in War: An 18th Century Viewpoint bY Tenney L. Davis Army Ordnance 5’ [ 19251 Chemistry has been so greatly credited in recent print with providing the resources of war, and so greatly blamed for contributing to its horrors, that it is surprising to find the great Dutch physician and chemist, Hermann Boerhaave, giving it the same praise and blame nearly two hundred years ago.