Book Review: 'Distilling Knowledge: Alchemy, Chemistry and the Scientific Revolution' by Bruce Moran
This Isn't Harry Potter's Philosopher's Stone
Distilling Knowledge: Alchemy, Chemistry, and the Scientific Revolution. Bruce T. Moran. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. New Histories of Science, Technology and Medicine series. 2005. 210 pages including references and index. ISBN: 0674014952. Available from Amazon.com for $24.95.
Oh, for the pen of an Asimov.
That's what I was thinking as I tried to read through this book.
Asimov, most famous for his science fiction, also wrote reams and reams about science itself, from explaining the concepts of the various disciplines to the histories of those disciplines. He invariably started from the beginning, went on to the end, and then stopped. And he managed to do so in clean-cut, well chosen prose that moved the narrative along at a fast pace.
How can 300 years of alchemical history be distilled into one book? By focusing on the people...drawing biographical portraits of the key 'movers and shakers' from each decade, placing them in their times, and giving a chronological history of the division of alchemy and how i ultimate divided into its two branches - 'real' science and fraudulent mysticism.
Unfortunately, author Bruce Moran chooses a different tack. He attempts to "illustrate the ways alchemy and chemistry were studied and practiced between 1400 and 1700" by providing excerpts from the books and writings of the time. What he is really doing is telling the history of alchemical books, and unfortunately, it makes for a very dry tome.
The principle of alchemy - what most people know, if they know anything - is that its practitioners were always trying to find a way to transform 'base metals' into gold. Why? The Greek philosopher Aristotle taught that "all things tend to reach perfection." Other metals were thought to be inferior to gold, and that nature had formed gold out of other metals deep within the earth. With "sufficient skill and diligence an artisan could duplicate this process in the workshop." Makes sense - that's what they do nowadays with diamonds.
Alchemy got its start even before ancient Greece, in Egypt...but had its 'heyday' in medieval Europe, with Paracelsus being one of the most famous alchemists. By this time the 'Scientific Revolution' had started and alchemy was on the way to its 'split' into two different disciplines.
Moran doesn't take opportunities to expand our knowledge of the 'simple' things that add resonance. For example, he has a great deal to say about Paracelsus, starting out with "...one place to look for an illustration of how those shadows overlapped is in the writings of a Swiss-German physician, natural philosopher, and alchemist with an impossible-sounding name - Theophrastus Bombastus Aureolus Philippus von Hohenheim, or more simply, Paracelsus."
Why, 'more simply'? He also mentions 'Georgius Agricola' - very briefly, without mentioning his real name (George Bauer). It was the custom during these times for people to Latinize their names - Paracelsus chose his new name because he wanted to demonstrate that his work was 'better than Celsus' - Celsus being the author of medical texts still used in Paracelsus' time, which he felt were outmoded.
If you're already familiar with the history of alchemy and science, you'll perhaps find this book of interest. But it is certainly not an introductory text on the subject - which it purports to be.
...By the way, why do I mention Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in my title? (It's not mentioned at all in this book.) I just find it interesting that when the book (and movie) were released in the United States, the powers-that-be decided to change the title to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. The explanation differs depending on who is telling the story. Some say it's because they feared that American audiences wouldn't know what the 'philosopher's stone' was. Other's say that they wanted to emphasize, through the use of the word Sorcerer, that the book was about magic and wizards, and the word Sorcerer was simply a more obvious way of doing that for American audiences.
If you started out reading this review without a clue as to the history of the search for the philosopher's stone, you're missing out on a wonderful chapter in human history. But this book is not the place to start your researches.
Table of contents:
1. Doing Alchemy
2. "That Pleasing Novelty: Alchemy in Artisan and Daily Life
3. Paracelsus and the "Paracelsians": Natural Relationships and Separation as Creation
4. Sites of Learning and the Language of Chemistry
5. Alchemy, Chemistry and the Technology of Knowing
6. The Reality of Relationship
Conclusion: Varieties of Experience in Reading the Book of Nature
Oh, for the pen of an Asimov.
That's what I was thinking as I tried to read through this book.
Asimov, most famous for his science fiction, also wrote reams and reams about science itself, from explaining the concepts of the various disciplines to the histories of those disciplines. He invariably started from the beginning, went on to the end, and then stopped. And he managed to do so in clean-cut, well chosen prose that moved the narrative along at a fast pace.
How can 300 years of alchemical history be distilled into one book? By focusing on the people...drawing biographical portraits of the key 'movers and shakers' from each decade, placing them in their times, and giving a chronological history of the division of alchemy and how i ultimate divided into its two branches - 'real' science and fraudulent mysticism.
Unfortunately, author Bruce Moran chooses a different tack. He attempts to "illustrate the ways alchemy and chemistry were studied and practiced between 1400 and 1700" by providing excerpts from the books and writings of the time. What he is really doing is telling the history of alchemical books, and unfortunately, it makes for a very dry tome.
The principle of alchemy - what most people know, if they know anything - is that its practitioners were always trying to find a way to transform 'base metals' into gold. Why? The Greek philosopher Aristotle taught that "all things tend to reach perfection." Other metals were thought to be inferior to gold, and that nature had formed gold out of other metals deep within the earth. With "sufficient skill and diligence an artisan could duplicate this process in the workshop." Makes sense - that's what they do nowadays with diamonds.
Alchemy got its start even before ancient Greece, in Egypt...but had its 'heyday' in medieval Europe, with Paracelsus being one of the most famous alchemists. By this time the 'Scientific Revolution' had started and alchemy was on the way to its 'split' into two different disciplines.
Moran doesn't take opportunities to expand our knowledge of the 'simple' things that add resonance. For example, he has a great deal to say about Paracelsus, starting out with "...one place to look for an illustration of how those shadows overlapped is in the writings of a Swiss-German physician, natural philosopher, and alchemist with an impossible-sounding name - Theophrastus Bombastus Aureolus Philippus von Hohenheim, or more simply, Paracelsus."
Why, 'more simply'? He also mentions 'Georgius Agricola' - very briefly, without mentioning his real name (George Bauer). It was the custom during these times for people to Latinize their names - Paracelsus chose his new name because he wanted to demonstrate that his work was 'better than Celsus' - Celsus being the author of medical texts still used in Paracelsus' time, which he felt were outmoded.
If you're already familiar with the history of alchemy and science, you'll perhaps find this book of interest. But it is certainly not an introductory text on the subject - which it purports to be.
...By the way, why do I mention Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in my title? (It's not mentioned at all in this book.) I just find it interesting that when the book (and movie) were released in the United States, the powers-that-be decided to change the title to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. The explanation differs depending on who is telling the story. Some say it's because they feared that American audiences wouldn't know what the 'philosopher's stone' was. Other's say that they wanted to emphasize, through the use of the word Sorcerer, that the book was about magic and wizards, and the word Sorcerer was simply a more obvious way of doing that for American audiences.
If you started out reading this review without a clue as to the history of the search for the philosopher's stone, you're missing out on a wonderful chapter in human history. But this book is not the place to start your researches.
Table of contents:
1. Doing Alchemy
2. "That Pleasing Novelty: Alchemy in Artisan and Daily Life
3. Paracelsus and the "Paracelsians": Natural Relationships and Separation as Creation
4. Sites of Learning and the Language of Chemistry
5. Alchemy, Chemistry and the Technology of Knowing
6. The Reality of Relationship
Conclusion: Varieties of Experience in Reading the Book of Nature
Published by Barbara Peterson
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