Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
Homburg 1993b, pp. 161-5), topics came out that catered to youngsters,
women, and the common people. In 1809 the Utrecht apothecary Pieter
van Werkhoven (1772-1815) was the first with his translation of Wur-
zer's 1806 handbook. In 1810 the Dutch translation of Marcet's
Conver-
sations
came out, followed the next year by a translation of Ségur's
Let-
tres élémentaires sur la chimie
of 1803.
8
In contrast to other countries,
these topics appear to have been unsuccessful in the Netherlands. The
topics by Wurzer and Ségur went through a second edition, but no more
editions appeared. After the 1810s the interest in chemistry lost its mo-
mentum, efforts at educational reform lost strength, the national econ-
omy fell into a deep crisis, and, last but not least, the topics were beyond
reach to most people because of their high price (Homburg 1993b, pp.
165-6, 170, 173-4, 179; Verbong 1994, pp. 41-5, 47-9).
9
During this pe-
riod, it seems, the Dutch popularization of chemistry was fueled not so
much by public demand but rather by forces on the supply side.
The most prominent of these forces was the before mentioned Society
for the Common Good, concerned with civilizing and educating the
populace. According to this Society, the Dutch population's interest in
modern natural science was poorly developed. “With regret” it noticed
the “misunderstandings, prejudices, and superstitions that were still prev-
alent, and too much so, among those of little means”, and therefore, in
1811, it published a textbook on natural knowledge written by Johannes
Buijs “in the fashion of the very useful work by Helmuth published in
Germany,
Naturlehre, zur Dämpfung des Aberglaubens
” (Buys 1811,
preface). The same spirit also infused Beets'
Volks-Scheikunde
: the Soci-
ety's prize competition explicitly asked for a chemistry book modeled
after the example of Buijs (Beets 1815, pp. ix-xii). Supported by this in-
fluential Society with over 8,000 members, Beets'
Volks-Scheikunde
was
much more widely distributed than the works by Wurzer, Marcet, and
Ségur. At the same time, though, it symbolizes the end of an era. The So-
ciety for the Common Good turned away from its earlier utilitarian, sci-
ence-based thinking modeled on the French tradition. Although chemis-
8
Wurzer 1809 (2
nd
Dutch edn. 1815), Marcet 1810, Ségur 1811 (2
nd
edn. 1817).
9
Wurzer's book came out in 1809; its price went up from 2.50 to 4 guilders by 1815.
Marcet's book was priced at 3 guilders and Ségur's two-volume work at 5.50
(Holtrop 1842, pp. 326, 396, 412).
