Experiment and Mysticism in the Chemical Philosophy, 1550-1800
Selected Essays of Allen G. Debus
“...Debus’s lectures are often introduced by biographical notes, and even his papers never lose the human element. As readers, we can follow a conversation between the pages, between the young scholar Debus and his scholarly mature self. We discover how Debus readdresses, and sometimes even answers, the shrewd questions he formulated about the historiography of alchemy and medicine in his early career. In a sense, Debus has remained part of his own audience, and this personal selection of work across his career contains, if not a Chemical Promise, definitely an invitation to scholars to pursue future research along the jagged lines that enclose alchemy, medicine and early modern society.”—BJHS
“...For scholars interested in this field the volume offers easy access to a considerable number of Allen Debus’s essays and articles, many of which remain essential reading for anyone working in history of early modern medicine and iatrochemistry.” —NUNCIUS
“...Debus provides the reader an excellent portrayal of key developments in medicine, chemistry and pharmacy during the time period 1550—1800. He makes a convincing argument that academic chemistry began within academic medicine. It could be argued that academic pharmacy, though not recognized as such, began in academic chemistry. Paracelsus is the giant in the essays. While his medical philosophy has not endured, excerpt partially in homeopathy, Paracelsus’ call for experimental observation of nature is seen as one of the great moments in the history of medicine, chemistry and science.”—Pharmacy in History
“...not an easy read, but it deserves a place in the science and medical history sections of major libraries. It may also prove a fitting capstone to the career of a scholar whose contributions to the history of science and medicine are legion…Recommended. Graduate students through professionals.” CHOICE
Contents
Introduction
Chemists, Physicians, and Changing Perspectives on the Scientific Revolution
Alchemy
Myth, Allegory, and Scientific Truth:
An Alchemical Tradition in the Period of the Scientific Revolution
Chemical Medicine in Early Modern Europe
The Chemical Debates of the Seventeenth Century:
The Reaction to Robert Fludd and Jean Baptiste van Helmont
Guintherius, Libavius, and Sennert: The Chemical Compromise in Early Modern Europe
Chemistry, Pharmacy, and Cosmology:
A Renaissance Union
Quantification and Medical Motivation:
Factors in the Interpretation of Early Modern Chemistry
Chemistry in the Universities in the Seventeenth Century
From John Dee to the Royal Society
The Paracelsian Compromise in Elizabethan England
Noah Biggs and the Problem of Medical Reform in England
The Webster-Ward Debate of 1654:
The New Philosophy and the Problem of Educational Reform
John Woodall: Paracelsian Surgeon
Thomas Sherley’s Philosophical Essay (1672)
Edward Jorden and the Fermentation of Metals:
An Iatrochemical Study of Terrestrial Phenomena
Van Helmont and Newton’s Third Law
Scientific Truth and Occult Tradition:
The Medical World of Ebenezer Silby (1751-1799)
Alchemy in an Age of Reason:
The Chemical Philosophers in Early Eighteenth Century France
French Alchemy in the Early Enlightenment
Chemistry and Iatrochemistry in Early Eighteenth Century Portugal:
A Spanish Connection
Paracelsus and the Delayed Scientific Revolution in Spain: A Legacy of Philip II
The Rise and Fall of Chemical Physiology in the Seventeenth Century
Hermann Boerhaave and the Problem of Medical Chemistry in the Early Eighteenth Century
Iatrochemistry and the Chemical Revolution
History of Chemistry: Key to Modern Science
Index
September 2006, 576 pp., illustrated,
ISBN 0-88135-296-9, $89.95
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