ARCHAEOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY—EXPLORING HISTORY WITH CHEMISTRY - Chemistry: Notable Research and Discoveries - page 164

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A RCHAEOLOGICAL
C HEMISTRY —
E XPLORING H ISTORY
WITH C HEMISTRY
Th e French philosopher Auguste Comte (1798-1857) was wary of specula-
tions—he did not like ideas with little support from scientifi c experimenta-
tion or observation. In his multivolume work Cours de Philosophie Positive
( Course of Positive Philosophy ), published in 1830-42, Comte cited an ex-
ample of a question that he felt would be forever speculative. Because the
planets and stars are so distant, Comte believed that people would never
gain fi rm knowledge of the composition of these astronomical objects. Yet
only a few years later, scientists learned about spectroscopy and how to de-
termine the elements that compose stars and planets by analyzing emitted
or refl ected light. Comte's prediction was soon proven untrue.
A similar prediction could easily be made in regard to the study of
history. Events in recent times are well documented, but earlier times are
much sketchier, with only a few artifacts remaining. Short of constructing
a time machine, which is not possible (at least not yet), a detailed knowl-
edge of the distant past would seem unattainable.
But thanks to a frontier of chemistry described in this chapter, people
are gaining an increasing amount of knowledge about the distant past.
Th ese achievements are satisfying because they advance knowledge and
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