Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
posed at the level of the divinely created cosmos or natural world, but in
the industriousness of social life. For Beets, just like for Paracelsus three
centuries earlier, chemistry revealed itself particularly in the work of
bakers, gardeners, gin distillers, glass blowers, potters, water distillers,
glue makers, and “so many others” (Beets 1815, p. 5; Homburg 1993a,
pp. 58-61). This makes it understandable that the popularization of chem-
istry took off in the last four decades of the eighteenth century, when the
Enlightenment got a more utilitarian character. In those years the need to
improve agriculture and industry with the help of chemistry and me-
chanical engineering was emphasized again and again (
cf.
Lowood
1987). Furthermore, the integration of chemistry in the natural sciences
opened up the possibility to interlace the subject matter's presentation
with physico-theological lessons and considerations. The first popular
scientific works on chemistry, however, did not denounce the field's
separate character. If physico-theological considerations were rarely ab-
sent in the earliest popular chemistry literature, commonly their role was
limited, at least in comparison to the repeated emphasis on the field's
economic usefulness.
5.
Chemistry for Women, Children, and the Common People
English and German authors took the lead in popularizing chemistry.
6
Starting in 1781, the
Chemical Essays
by the British bishop Richard
Watson (1737-1816) conveyed “in a popular way, a general kind of
knowledge” to “persons not so much versed in chemical inquiries”. Ap-
parently, this formula catered to a felt need because within 12 years six
editions were published of this five-volume work, while it was soon
translated in German as well (Watson 1793, preface).
7
Ten years later the
prolific German author Jacob Andreas Weber (1737-1792) published
Leichtfassliche Chemie, für Handwerker und deren Lehrlinge
, and in the
6
Apart from translations, the only French popular chemistry topics I managed to track
down are Ségur 1803 and Martin 1810 that aimed at female readers. That fewer popu-
lar works on chemistry appeared in France is probably caused by this country's more
developed
regular
chemistry education that made such topics less relevant. Parkes
(1830, p. 3) explicitly refers to the French lead in this area.
7
Watson's book was based on lectures he gave in Cambridge between 1764-1782 to
students of all faculties;
cf
. Golinski 1992, p. 53.
