From Alchemy to Chemistry in Picture and Story

?The fun that Greenberg evidently had in writing this mix of landmarks and light-hearted stuff is absolutely contagious.? (Ambix, November 2008) "My advice to everyone who is interested in the history of chemistry: give your old versions of Greenberg's books away and buy the new one." (Angewandte Chemie International Edition, July 2, 2007) "?a book that the reviewer would have been delighted to have discovered as a student in high school or college?" (Bulletin for the History of Chemistry, Fall 2007) "'A light-hearted tour through selected highlights of chemical history'?has been admirably achieved in this generously illustrated book." (CHOICE, July 2007) ??can be strongly recommended?it will put a smile on your face on the way to the lab.? (Chemistry World, July 2007)

Arthur Greenberg is Professor of Chemistry and former Dean of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of New Hampshire. He has authored or edited several books, including A Chemical History Tour, The Art of Chemistry, and The Amide Linkage, all published by Wiley.

Preface xiii Suggestions for Further Reading and Touring xix Acknowledgments xxiii Section I. Practical Chemistry: Mining, 1 Metallurgy and War The Birth of Metals 1 The Essence of Matter: Four Elements (or Five); Three Principles (or Two); or Three Subatomic Particles (or More) 3 Unifying The Infinite and the Infinitesimal 8 Seeding The Earth with Metals 10 Chymicall Characters 12 Practical Metallick Chemistry 15 A Promising President 38 These Are A Few of Our Nastiest Things 40 The Sun Rains Gold; The Moon Rains Silver 45 Catawba Indian Pottery: Four Colors and the Miracle of Survival 47 Section II. Spiritual and Allegorical Alchemy and Chemistry 51 Eastern and Western Spiritual Alchemy 51 The Philosophers Stone Can No Longer Be Protected by Patent 54 Mystical and Majestic Numbers 55 Twelve Keys of Basil Valentine: The Impure King 57 Ratzo Rizzo and the Poet Virgil as Transmuting Agents? 59 Natural Magick: Metamorphoses of Werewolves and Metals 64 An Alchemical Bestiary 69 Dragons, Serpents, and Order Out of Chaos 80 Albert The Great and Albert The Pretty Good 83 A Canterbury Tale of Alchemy 88 The Ship of Fools 92 The First Modern Encyclopedia 94 Todays Specials: Oil of Scorpion and Ladys Spot Fade-In Cream 98 Vulgar and Common Errors 102 What Is Wrong with this Picture? 102 Protecting the Roman Empires Currency from the Black Art 104 Who Is Athanasius Kircher and Why Are They Saying Those Terrible Things About Him? 107 Alchemists as Artists Subjects 111 Allegories, Myths, and Metaphors 113 The Wordless Book 119 Strange Doings in an Alchemists Flask 126 Section III. Medicines, Purges, and Ointments 135 Geber and Rhazes: Alchemists from the Biblical Lands 135 Paracelsus 136 The Alchemist in the Pit of My Stomach 139 A Salty Conversation 141 The Magic of Distillation 143 Distillation By Fire, Hot Water, Sand, or Steamed Boar Dung 153 The Joy of Sextodecimo 159 The Compleat Apothecary 162 Rare Effects of Magical and Celestial Fire 168 Secrets of a Lady Alchemist 170 Pray and Work 173 A Good Old-Fashioned Purge 177 Opening MetalsThe Art of Chymistry 184 The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony 186 Section IV. An Emerging Science 189 The Ancient War of the Knights 189 The First Ten-Pound Chemistry Text 191 A Tree Grows in Brussels 195 Curing Wounds by Treating the Sword with Powder of Sympathy 197 Do Anonymous Passersby Defecate At Your Doorstep? A Solution 198 A House Is Not a Home Without a Bath Tub and a Still 198 Skeptical about Vulgar Chymical Opinions 200 The Atmosphere is Massive 206 Boyles Law 210 Enhancing Frail Human Senses 212 Gun Powder, Lightning, Thunder, and Nitro-Aerial Spirit 217 Who Would Want an Anti-Elixir? 221 A Harvard-Trained Alchymist 223 Lucifers Element and Kunckels Pills 225 The Emperors Mercantile Alchemist 231 Phlogiston: Chemistrys First Comprehensive Scientific Theory 236 The Modern Phlogiston Concept 239 The Humble Gift of Charcoal 241 Beautiful Seventeenth-Century Chemistry Texts 243 What Are Effluviums? 248 The Surprising Chemical Taxonomies of Minerals and Mollusks 251 Chemical Affinity 258 Double-Bottom Cupels, Hollow Stirring Rods, and Other Frauds 265 There Is Truth in Chalk 265 Section V. the Chemical Revolution 269 Peas Produce Lots of Gas 269 Blacks Magic 271 Cavendish Weighed the Earth but Thought He Had Captured Phlogiston in a Bottle 273 In the Early Hours of the Chemical Revolution 277 Making Soda Pop 289 Fire Air (Oxygen): Who Knew What and When Did They Know It? 291 Nice To His Mice 296 Laughing Gas or Simply Semi-phlogisticated Nitrous Air 298 Eulogy for Eudiometry 301 Where Is The Invective of Yesteryear? 303 La Revolution Chimique Commence 305 Simplifying The Chemical Babel 308 Water Will Not Float Phlogiston 311 B