Ideas in Chemistry : A History of the Science

Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, first edition, 1992. Laminated wrappers, 8vo, 23 cm,. 213 pp. From the blurb: "This book is a personal vision of the history of chemistry, presented as a kind of life story of the science. It makes no claim to be a definitive history, whatever exactly that might be; but seeks to make chemistry accessible through its past. Our story takes us from an occult science to a reduced and service science; in a trajectory the high point of which came in the nineteenth century, when chemistry seemed the fundamental science, and was also the most popular and exciting of them all. It is written in the conviction that scientific ideas, and the roles played by sciences in our lives, are momentous: and yet can be presented in plain language, and be appreciated by outsiders. The chemical revolution of Lavoisier depended upon getting language right: words make worlds, sciences advanace through analogy and metaphor, and chemistry - perhaps especially past chemistry - should be fun to read about." Contents: 1 Introduction: a biography of chemistry; 2 An occult science; 3 A mechanical science; 4 An independent science; 5 The fundamental science; ; 6 A revolutionary or an inductive science?; 7 The experimental science; 8 A useful science; 9 A deductive science; ; 10 A descriptive, classifying science; 11 A teachable science; 12 A reduced science; 13 A service science Epilogue; Notes; Further Reading; Index. As New.