Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 8
ABRAHAM CRESSY MORRISON IN THE AGORA:
BRINGING CHEMISTRY TO THE PUBLIC
Andrew Ede
Department of History, Simon Fraser University,
Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6 Canada; histgo@sfu.ca
This chapter looks at the visual and textual images of chemists in A.
Cressy Morrison's
Man in a Chemical World
.
It argues that Morrison
was attempting to create a public image of an American chemist
different from European chemists. Morrison and the illustrator Leon
Söderston, working on behalf of the American Chemical Society, at-
tempted to associate chemists and chemical industry with American
prosperity by linking the 'man in the white lab coat' to religious and
secular themes. This approach is analyzed using the concept of met-
onyms. Metonyms are a way of encapsulating complex ideas and
associations within simple, often iconic, images in text and illustrations.
1. Introduction
When Abraham Cressy Morrison published
Man in a Chemical World
in
1937, it joined a growing tradition of books that tried to make science
better known to the public. What makes it different from most of the
other popular works was its polemical style and the illustrations, which
were some of the most interesting representations of scientists ever
presented to the general public. Morrison was attempting to present a
new and American image of chemistry. A key component in this effort to
present a new public image for the American chemist was to recast the
'man in the white lab coat' as American and linked to beneficial (and
even divine) activity. By examining the images and strategies used in
Morrison's book, we can gain a better understanding of the complex
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