CHEMICAL CARICATURES WILHELM PRANDTL University of Munich, Munich, Germany (Translated by Ralph E. Oesper, University of Cincinnati)
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SATIRE and ridicule aroused by failures often tell more about the reputation and standing of a trade or profession among its contemporaries than do laudations, that too often are inspired by ulterior motives. Everyone who works for his daily bread is a butt of jests. Through the ages, the butcher, baker, tailor, or shoemaker has had cheerfully to see his weaknesses depicted in unflattering words and pictures. The loftier the aim of a profession, the higher the hopes it arouses, the more vulnerable it becomes to sarcastic attack when its efforts end in failure or disappointment. The chemist has set for himself the highest goal of all. Through conversion of defective material into better material he has sought to overcome or alleviate the most dreaded human scourges: poverty, disease, old age. However, he need not fear jeers and mockery if he does not succeed in reaching his objective. The first chemists to lay themselves open to such attacks were those who sought to make silver and gold from baser met,als. Therefore, the oldest chemical caricatures picture alchemists or goldmakers, whose work was derided as being either hopeless or pure deception. The inevitable end could only be to bring them into the almshouse. Probably the earliest caricature directed against the alchemists is the drawing, made about 1530, by Hans Weiditz (Figure 1). Its title "The great folly of the alchemists and alchemy" is followed by the verse:
Figur. 2.
~h~ Alshomist (By Pietnr Brueghel, middle of t h e oentury)
16th
Figure
1.
The Alchemist (By H a n s Weiditr. about
1530)
Ich hah offt bei mir selb gelaeht, Dass Slchirney kein reiehm macht. Jedoch findt man" so thareeht leut, Verlieren dadurch Hab und Zeit.'
The tattered clothing of the alchclnist and his helper reflect satirically the fruitlessn~ssof their sweaty labors. Similarly, the disorder of their sorry workshop is indicative of the lack of planning in their experiments. The outcome of alchenlical labors too lone: uursued, 1 Vile alchemy imposes its hateful influence on many, then bounds and exercises its e f f x t an itseli. Oft to myself, I'velaughed with glee, That wealth ne'er comes from dchcmy. And yet so little sense have some They lase through i t t,heir time and home.
Figure 3.
The Alchemist (By M. de VOE. 17th aenturr)
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namely, poverty, a rnine~ahlehome, and, at, last, the poorhouse, is shown still more clearly in Pieter Brueghel's "The Alrhe~pist,"which dates from the middle of the 16th century (Figure 2). The same seot,iments are expressed in t,he supersrription to the somewhat later "The Alchemist" hy M. dr Vos (Figure 3) : "Paupertatem alius fugit, ast hic advocat ipsam."? Below the picture are the lines :
Figure 6
These and similar drawings have an added value for t,he chemist of today because they shown in detail the equipment of the 16th century laboratories. A satirical poem, "Altkumistica," directed against Rehold how this fool distils in his flasks tho ldood of his childwn. Iris w w l t l ~ ~, n his d common sense; R*. h a n a i t w this iropvlws guwt f i n \Ti,t.rwy (tlw gwnt sccret) h,.nvckn his hlrad wud I ~ i ~ r l ~ i l d ~ ~ : ~ ~ .
Figure
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Figure 7. (By Honor; Daurnier)
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Were not directed to the preparation of a partirular material, but his object was t o learn the behavior of substances towanl earh other. When the study was finished, the rmgents employed in it were no longer of any value and were thrown away. The laity had no understanding of this apparent waste. This is shown in the plate (Figure 6) taken from the "Neu eingeriehteten Zwerchen-Cabinet," puhlished a t Amsterdam in 1715. Here again, the tattered clothing is quite noticeable. T ~ ~xperimenter P is givrn the t i t k : IIwm Blasius Rauehmant~l,drt. Fruchb-loam .4lchimie Iiunst An~hi-8vetator,Quintat F;ssmtia Stultorum Possessor. b;in Mcister lass ich mich drr Elementen nennen, Die ieh zussmmenfiig und ~viedrrk m n zertrennen, Halt sie vemrestirrt im Kulben, schiek sip auch Nach wohl vollendter Kunst rum T w f d durch den Kaueh, Zum Vortheilund Profit, hkiM mil., nis allen, nur Dcr Ret,telstabirn Aaus, im Kopf die Narr~ntinotur.'
Figure 8
t h e deceitful alrhcruists was puhlished a t Erfurt in I586 (Figure 4). Its author was M. Johannes Claius, virhr a t liendelel)er~. He points out that the only sure and honorahle method of obtaining gold is t o derive it from old cow manure ( A l t Kuh Mist) hy the t,ime-tested processes of agrirnlture. A new edition of these verses, vith an addendum, was issued a t Miihlhausen in 1616. In this, the fradulent practices of t h r putative gold~nakcrswere described (Figure 5). When the chemist abandoned the efforts t o prepare gold and turned? instead, to the study of the various kinds of matter, ho often carried out experiments that,
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The character of the cartoons changed decidedly after the great chemical triumphs of the 18th and 19th centuries. The work of the chemist thenceforth received general respect, and t.he satire was directed only against individuals. I t became more and more personal. The great French caricaturist, Honor6 ~ a u m i e r 11808-1879). who in his drawines ~ o k e dfun ~ a r ,, titularly a t the jurists and politicians, did not entirely spare the chemists. He cast into their teeth the unscrupulous manner in which some learned representat,ives of this science misused their fellowmen as experimental suhiects. Fimre 7 is entitled "The incon-
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Sir Windy Smokecoat, Arch adherent of the fruitless alchemical art; 'Foolish possessor of the quintrssencc, I let myself he called mastor of the elrment,s, which I can put together and separate again, I hold then, ready in flask3, and aitrr well-canduetcd experiments, I dispatch them in fumes t o the Devil. As advantage and profit there remain to me, as to all others, only the beggay's staff in my house, and the t,incture of fools in my head.
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veniences of dining with a scientist who loves tomake chemical and other experiments." This host is represented as saying: "Well, without your suspecting it,, I am going to have all of you eat some fritillaria (a bulbous herb). . . I am curious to learn definitely if it is a healthy food that can take the place of the potato or if it is a poison." Daumier continues this same line of attack in Figure 8: "The friendship of a great chemist. is not a gift of the gods." The lecturer states: "I am so certain of my test, that now, if you wish, I am going to poison my intimate friend, M. Coquardeau, and I will be able to detect arsenic in the glass of his spectacles." Another of Daumier's plates (Figure 9) is devoted to J. B. Dumas (1800-84) one of the chemical leaders of his time, and founder of the substitution theory. After the February, 1848, revolution, Dumas permitted himself to be elected to the National Assembly, and shortly thereafter was appointed by the President of the Republic to be Minister of Agriculture and Commerce. However, Dumas seldom took the speakers' stand. In this drawing, the furnace with the retort seems to look accusingly a t Dumas, because he had been unfaithful to science, for which he bad substituted politics. The subject of Figure 10, by P. Renouard, is the centenarian Michel E u g h Chevreul (1786-1889), who until his 102nd year published numerous and important papers."e was the first to unravel the constitution of the fats. At even this advanced age, he was mentally alert, and spoke with vivacity. He still wore the frock coat of former years, but he is said to have completed this outfit with red slippers. . The silhouette (Figure 11) presents Hermann Kopp (1817-92) best known as historian of chemistry and also one of the founders of physical chemistry.' TheshadowR. E. OESPER,THISJOURNAL, 25.62 (1948). RUSKA,J., Tats JOURNAL,14, 3 (1937).
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graph was found along with letters from Kopp among the effects of his physician, Dr. Benno Schmidt, who was an enthusiastic collector of autographs. It is published here for the first time. ......
Figure 11.
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Herman" Kopp (1817-92)
Figures 10 and l l d o not represent caricaturesof themista as practitioners of their profession, but rather as scholars and men in general, who, despite their great scientific achievements, remained unassuming in their mode of life. Specific chemical caricatures have become quite infrequent in a period in which chemistry has fulfilled so many desires of mankind. The atom bomb, the latest triumph (?) of the combined efforts of chemists and physicists, has engendered fear and terror rather than derision and sarcasm.
