2532-3997 September 2020 September Vol. 4 - n. 2 2020 Vol. 4 – n. 2 4 – n. Vol. SubstantiaAn International Journal of the History of Chemistry Substantia An International Journal of the History of Chemistry FIRENZE PRESSUNIVERSITY Substantia An International Journal of the History of Chemistry Vol. 4, n. 2 - 2020 Firenze University Press Substantia. An International Journal of the History of Chemistry Published by Firenze University Press – University of Florence, Italy Via Cittadella, 7 - 50144 Florence - Italy http://www.fupress.com/substantia Direttore Responsabile: Romeo Perrotta, University of Florence, Italy Cover image: Autofluorescence micrograph (magnification 6.3x) of mosses, by Jacek Myslowski, Wloclawek, Po- land. Courtesy of Nikon Small World (Honorable Mention, 2018 Photomicrography Competition, https://www. nikonsmallworld.com). Copyright © 2020 Authors. The authors retain all rights to the original work without any restriction. Open Access. This issue is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY-4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give ap- propriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC0 1.0) waiver applies to the data made available in this issue, unless otherwise stated. Substantia is honoured to declare the patronage of: With the financial support of: No walls. Just bridges Substantia is a peer-reviewed, academic international journal dedicated to traditional perspectives as well as innovative and synergistic implications of history and philosophy of Chemistry. It is meant to be a crucible for discussions on science, on making science and its outcomes. Substantia hosts discussions on the connections between chemistry and other horizons of human activities, and on the historical aspects of chemistry. Substantia is published open access twice a year and offers top quality original full papers, essays, experimental works, reviews, biographies and dissemination manuscripts. All contributions are in English. EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Pierandrea Lo Nostro Department of Chemistry “Ugo Schiff” University of Florence, Italy phone: (+39) 055 457-3010 email: [email protected] - [email protected] ASSOCIATE EDITORS Virginia Mazzini Neil R. Cameron Australian National University, Australia Monash University, Australia University of Warwick, UK Stephen Hyde Ernst Kenndler Australian National University, Australia University of Vienna, Austria SCIENTIFIC BOARD as of 18 November 2016 Ferdinando Abbri Sarah Everts Juzo Nakayama University of Siena, Italy C&ENews, Berlin, Germany Saitama University, Japan Tito Fortunato Arecchi Juan Manuel García-Ruiz Barry W. Ninham University of Florence, Italy University of Granada, Spain Australian National University, Australia Marco Beretta Andrea Goti University of Bologna, Italy University of Florence, Italy Mary Virginia Orna ChemSource. Inc, USA Paolo Blasi Antonio Guarna University of Florence, Italy University of Florence, Italy Adrian V. Parsegian Univ. of Massachusetts Amherst, Elena Bougleux Marc Henry USA University of Bergamo, Italy University of Strasbourg, France Seth C. Rasmussen Salvatore Califano Roald Hoffmann North Dakota State University, USA University of Florence, Italy Cornell University, USA Adrian Rennie Luigi Campanella Ernst Homburg University of Uppsala, Sweden University of Rome La Sapienza, University of Maastricht, The Nether- Italy lands Vincenzo Schettino University of Florence, Italy Andrea Cantini Stephen Hyde University of Florence, Italy Australian National University, Silvia Selleri Australia University of Florence, Italy Louis Caruana Gregorian University of Rome, Italy Juergen Heinrich Maar Brigitte van Tiggelen Univ. Federal de Santa Catarina, Science History Institute, USA Elena Castellani Brasil University of Florence, Italy Barbara Valtancoli Roberto Livi University of Florence, Italy Luigi Cerruti University of Florence, Italy University of Turin, Italy Richard Weiss Stjepan Marcelja Georgetown University, USA Martin Chaplin Australian National University, London South Bank University, UK Australia Françoise Winnik University of Helsinki, Finland Marco Ciardi Sir John Meurig Thomas University of Bologna, Italy University of Cambridge, UK Luigi Dei Pierluigi Minari University of Florence, Italy University of Florence, Italy EDITORIAL BOARD Moira Ambrosi, University of Florence, Italy Antonella Capperucci, University of Florence, Italy Laura Colli, University of Florence, Italy Annalisa Guerri, University of Florence, Italy ASSISTANT EDITOR Duccio Tatini, University of Florence, Italy MANAGING EDITOR Alessandro Pierno, Firenze University Press, Italy Firenze University Press www.fupress.com/substantia Editorial Some Thoughts Written on ‘Juneteenth’ of 2020, the Day Commemorating the End of Slavery in the United States, June 19, 1865, at the End of our Civil War Richard G. Weiss Department of Chemistry and Institute for Soft Matter Synthesis and Metrology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA E-mail: [email protected] We are human beings, imbued with the ability to be traced to the subjective criteria for how we perceive make decisions and think deductively and inductively. other members of our species. However, our ability to do so is related asymmetrically to external factors such as wealth and physical strength; After all, we are human beings. some are imbued with more power than others and use that extra power as a tool to influence how fair and Without accepting and respecting the different ways equitable are defined or, in extreme cases, to oppress by which we view others, we, as a species, are inexorably the weaker. As a consequence, individuals and groups tied in the future to prejudice of thought, and eventu- sometimes behave in ways that are destructive both ally, to actions against others. So, what can we do? If we physically and emotionally to others. Thus, it is not sur- have not eradicated racism, sexism, and religious intoler- prising that throughout our recorded history there have ance in our long history on this planet, is it reasonable been actions affecting masses of people that we con- to expect that we will be able to do so now? Is there a sider (at least in retrospect) to be based on illogical and vaccine that can protect us against hatred and intoler- uncivilized criteria. ance? I think not; this type of ailment is not like polio or Covid-19. After all, we are human beings. After all, we are human beings. Perhaps what separates us most dramatically from other animals on Earth is our ability to reason and rec- However, we can recognize that the society that ognize when we have erred. We can apologize and we forms our ideas about others includes, almost always, can change our behavior in dramatic ways over short embedded prejudices in our brains that cannot be periods of time. The fact that we can does not mean that erased completely. Fortunately, because we can reason, we do when we should. we should be able to work, over time, to minimize our prejudices. Recognizing our shortcomings gives human After all, we are human beings. beings the ability to adapt in ways that separate us from other animals. Although there is no recipe for using our The currently highlighted examples of racism, sex- powers to ensure rational decisions, we are capable of ism, religious intolerance, etc. in the United States are changing how our brains process information and trans- not new. They have been a part of our ‘culture’ through- late that information into more constructive actions. If out history. They have occurred in various forms to we do so with the welfare of others in mind, it should greater or lesser degrees in every corner of our world be possible to reduce over time the damage our species during many millennia. The impetus for many wars can is capable of inflicting on others, as well as on our envi- Substantia. An International Journal of the History of Chemistry 4(2): 5-6, 2020 ISSN 2532-3997 (online) | DOI: 10.13128/Substantia-1005 6 Richard G. Weiss ronment. The real question is whether we will use, more judiciously, the examples of the past to improve the lives of all in the future. If history is our guide, the answer is, “Yes, we can but, no, we won’t.” However, there is hope. After all, we are human beings. Closer to our professional home, what is the role of science in addressing racism, sexism, and religious intolerance? Do we consider who is the author of data or just the validity of the data? Do we weigh the qual- ity of the data without considering its source? Do we, as scientists, bring total objectivity to our profession? Recent examples in the literature indicate that, no matter how much we profess otherwise, scientists are just another slice of humanity, in which (hopefully no more than) a small fraction operates on their prejudices under the false guise of objective, scientific judgments. However, there is hope. After all, scientists are human beings too. Richard G. Weiss An aspiring scientist and flawed human being Firenze University Press www.fupress.com/substantia Research Article Entropy as the Driving Force of Pathogenesis: an Attempt of Classification of the Diseases Based Citation: L. Schwartz, A. Devin, F. Bouillaud, M. Henry (2020) Entropy as on the Laws of Physics the Driving Force of Pathogenesis: an Attempt of Classification of the