reviews From Caveman to Chemist: Circumstances and Achievements Hugh W Salzberg. American Chemical Society: Washington, DC. 1991. ix + 294 pp. 15.1 x 22.5 cm. Illustrations.$24.95 (HE), $14.95 (PB).
This hiehlv readable book traces the histom of chemistm from the3tdne Age ongins of ceramics andmetallurgy tb the culminationol'classical chernistrvat thecndofthe 19th century. It evolved fmm notes of l&ures that Professor Salzberg gave intermittently during more than two decades at the City College of New York "to interest undergraduates in learning something of the origin and development of chemistry and of how chemists arrived at their characteristic viewpoint." Rather than being a detailed, comprehensive history, the volume is, in the words of its author, "a narrative designed to give chemists and interested bystanders some insight into the profession." Salzberg focuses on the oddities, paradoxes, false starts, and anomalies of chemistm. a maior one beine the contrast between the great age of Lemical technolo& and the extreme vouth of scientific chemistw. Concentratim.. .~ r i m a r ily on evolvmg concepts of matter, he emphasizes the ideas and accomol~shmentsof "orechemists" and chemists in the light of sohal, institutionh, economic, cultural, and political fadors. The 15 chapters deal with ancient technology; Hellenic chemical science; the Hellenistic and Roman eras; the rise of alchemy; Islamic alchemy; Medieval and Renaissance European artisans, alchemists, natural philosophers, medicine, and medical alchemy (Paracelsus); the information explosion; undermining the scientific establishment; the first chemists (Beguin, Sala, van Helmont, Boyle); phlogiston (Black); Lavoisier and the Chemical Revolution; atomic weights and molecular formulas (Dalton, Berzelius); organic chemistry (Laurent); and the divisible atom (Arrhenius). In addition to the chemists mentioned, numerous other scientists who contributed to the intellectual framework of chemistry are discussed. In a two-page epilogue Salzberg updates his story by contrasting 19thcentury chemistry with 20th-century chemistry and by predicting that "The chemists of the future will solve their problems with the same mental equipment as the great chemists of the past." Each of the first six chapters is provided with a "Timeline" (a graph relating technological advances to general historical events). All chapters but the first include specific references for a total of 111citations, and a five-page list of
additional general readings is also given. Twenty illustrations (one in full color), two maps, and structural formulas and equations enhance the text, and an extremely detailed 22-page (two columns per page) index add to the book's utility. The volume contains only few factual errors, and these are relatively minor. For example, Colbert established the Paris Academy of Sciences in 1666 not 1664 (p 1451, William Henm was born in 1774 not 1744 (D 213). Louis A. Kahlenberg taught at the University of Wisconsin not Michiean ( D 257,. and the Dover edition of Lavoisier's ~ a i t 6 - ai ~~prod&tionof the translation by Robert Kerr not William Creech, for whom the book was printed. Unfortunately, more than five dozen typographical errors (mostly in proper names) detract from the book's otherwise authoritative impression, e.g., the consistently incorrect placing of A.D. aRer rather than before dates. These also include the lack of proper diacritical marks and the misspelling of Mahdihassau, (R.) P. (Multhauf),Berthelot, and Chimie (p 50), Philippus (Paracelsus) (p 1111, Vannoccio (Biringuccio) (p 1291, Hieronymus (Brunschwig) (p 1301, Andreas (Libau) (p 1351, Accademia (p 1461, Hooykaas (p 1711, (Georg)Ernst (Stahl) (p 1761, Opuscules Physiques et Chimiques (pp 191,205), Acadbmie (des Sciences) (p 192), Joseph Louis (not Louis Joseph) Proust (p 2081, Wollaston (p 211), Hofmann (pp 219, 2391, Amedeo (Avogadro) (p 220), Eilhard (Mitscherlich) (pp 230, 2461, Annales de Chimie et de Physique (p 238), Berthollet (p 249), Priestley and Palmaer (p 260), Erwin (Schrodinger) (p 262), Dijksterhuis (p 2661, and Lavoisier (p 268). Most of these errors could probably have been avoided by more meticulous proofreading. These minor mistakes notwithstanding, this engrossing book is recommended to students and instructors of courses in the history of chemistry as well as to laymen interested in the historical development of chemistry. George B. Kauffman California State University, Fresno Fresno, CA 93740 Nineteenth-Century Attitudes: Men of Science Sydney Ross. Kluwer Acaoemic Puolicalions' Dororecht (The hetherlandsj, Boston. London. 1991. x 235 pp 15 0 x 22.2 cm. Figs., Illustrations. $69.00
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This collection of seven scholarly but eminently readable essays by Sydney Ross, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry
Reviewed in This Issue Reviewer Hugh W. Saltzberg. From Caveman to Chemist: Circumstances
and Achievements Sydney Ross, Nineteenth-Century Attitudes: Men i f Science FredAftalion. A History of the International Chemical Industry Titles of Interest Monographs Continuing Series
A102
Journal of Chemical Education
George B. Kauffman
A102
George B. Kauffman George 6. Kaufffman
A102 A103 A103 A103 A1 05
