| Popis: |
In 1705, Wilhelm Homberg, the chief chemist of the Académie Royale des Sciences, proposed a new chemical theory that the Sulphur principle of mixed bodies was identical with light. He claimed further that this embodied light was the sole source of activity and change in material substances. This paper traces how Homberg’s theory emerged gradually over many years under the influence of his observations and the results of his laboratory experiments. It thus provides an example of how an early eighteenth-century chemist developed a sophisticated theory through the interplay of mind and hand. The probable influence of Homberg’s theory on Isaac Newton’s famous “chymical queries” is also noted here for the first time. Finally, the paper proposes that we will understand the history of chemistry more accurately if we acknowledge the uniqueness and relative autonomy of chemistry rather than imposing upon it more readily visible and better known developments from other fields such as philosophy or physics. |
