The Effect of Cultural Changes on the Advancement of Chemistry
Towards the end of the Renaissance human creativity and ingenuity was at a height not seen in many centuries. The idea of natural human curiosity began to finally be seen. This is especially true with the advancement of chemistry. In previous centuries, even in the 1500s, chemistry was always a sub-science of alchemy or iatrochemistry. It was not until the start of 17th century that chemistry began to be treated as a science in its own right. This “new” science appeared through the experimentation of pharmacists and the theorizing of physicians. The popularity of chemistry came from the continued simplification of its language and demystification of its methods. Individuals like Johann Rudolph Glauber, who was self-taught in chemistry, published books like Furni Novi Philosophici, which gave detailed accounts of laboratory apparatuses and chemical operations, and Pharmacopoeia Spagyrica, which gave the recipes for many iatrochemical medicines (1). This surge of detailed information from chemists like Glauber, allowed for the emergence of the “scientific amateur”. In addition to Glauber, Jean Béguin also gave public lectures on chemistry. Béguin also helped to integrate people who were not lifelong academics into discoveries in chemistry by publishing Tyrocinium Chymicum, or “The Chemical Beginner”. Although Béguin mentioned very little theory in his book, he distinguished physicist, physician, and chemist views from each other so that they could be understood separately. In addition to the simplification of the language associated with chemistry, the invention of the printing press was largely responsible for the increased availability of these new chemistry texts (2). The perfect storm of relatively common language and the abundance of cheap chemical literature is what ultimately led to the acceptance and popularization of chemistry.
References
(1). H.M. Leicester. The Historical Background of Chemistry, Dover Publications, Inc., New York, USA, (1971) pp. 100-129.
(2). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printing_press, accessed 5 Feb, 2015.