AmbixPub Date : 2023-11-01Epub Date: 2023-10-30DOI: 10.1080/00026980.2023.2265681
Armel Cornu
{"title":"Senses and Utility in the New Chemistry.","authors":"Armel Cornu","doi":"10.1080/00026980.2023.2265681","DOIUrl":"10.1080/00026980.2023.2265681","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The New Chemistry, as practised by its early proponents in late eighteenth-century France, is often associated with quantification and a move away from sensorial perceptions. In this paper, I argue that the sensory, far from being discarded by the practitioners of the New Chemistry, thrived in one of their major productions: the <i>Annales de Chimie.</i> Viewing the New Chemistry through its relation to the sensory highlights the diversity of chemical applications and offers a new way of examining the connection of chemistry to state and industrial actors. Chemists utilised a precise vocabulary which allowed them to productively interact on the subject of the senses. Sensorial impressions were used for distinct purposes, including the identification of substances, and to track the progress of ongoing chemical transformations. Most important, the senses were frequently tied to the purpose of chemical work. As chemists put their expertise in support of the state, industry, medicine, and commerce, they aimed to improve the sensory qualities of their objects of study, be they dairy products or fabric dyes. Remaining attuned to the senses, therefore, was an essential prerequisite of the New Chemistry's claim to utility.</p>","PeriodicalId":50963,"journal":{"name":"Ambix","volume":" ","pages":"380-398"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41219510","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AmbixPub Date : 2023-11-01Epub Date: 2023-09-12DOI: 10.1080/00026980.2023.2253619
George D Elliott
{"title":"Gershom Bulkeley, \"Saltbox Science,\" and the Colonial New England Laboratory.","authors":"George D Elliott","doi":"10.1080/00026980.2023.2253619","DOIUrl":"10.1080/00026980.2023.2253619","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This article investigates the prolific colonial New England alchemist and physician Gershom Bulkeley (1635/36-1713) and his late seventeenth-century household laboratory. First, I provide an updated bibliography and biography of Bulkeley and then engage an assemblage of surviving commonplace and account books, inventories, a <i>vade mecum</i>, and several books discovered to have been previously owned by Bulkeley. In order to understand Bulkeley's laboratory, I coin the term \"saltbox science,\" arguing that his work combined European textual knowledge and temporal and material adaptations within the colonial household and town. I describe first his creative flexibility in regard to the construction of laboratory furnaces that were based on designs initially gained from Europeans. Thereafter, I demonstrate how his laboratory practice was embedded within his household and his town's temporal rhythms and material networks. Bulkeley's \"saltbox science\" is meant to serve as a template for understanding a certain domestic class of seventeenth-century colonial New England alchemists who, in general, leave behind little archival evidence of their laboratory activities.</p>","PeriodicalId":50963,"journal":{"name":"Ambix","volume":" ","pages":"357-379"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10204740","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AmbixPub Date : 2023-11-01Epub Date: 2023-09-12DOI: 10.1080/00026980.2023.2255766
Umberto Veronesi
{"title":"The Archaeology of Alchemy and Chemistry: Past, Present, and Ideas for the Future.","authors":"Umberto Veronesi","doi":"10.1080/00026980.2023.2255766","DOIUrl":"10.1080/00026980.2023.2255766","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The materials and practices of chymical procedures have become key sources of information among science historians, opening up channels for cross-disciplinary dialogue. This is especially true with regard to material culture-based disciplines such as archaeology whose bottom-up approach offers significant contributions to the new historiography of science. Parallel to this trend, some archaeological scientists who specialise in reconstructing past technologies have begun to address questions concerning the production and circulation of scientific knowledge, and have focused as well on the contributions of artists/artisans to the development of natural philosophical theories. This essay charts the history of this archaeology of alchemy and chemistry and its development as a sub-discipline of archaeological science. By mapping this history, from an initial period with a focus on metallurgy to current trends, it demonstrates how the archaeology of alchemy and chemistry both mirrors and, at the same time, feeds the broadening scope of the historiography of science. After surveying the most relevant works and highlighting the key contributions that archaeologists have brought to a discourse related to the creation of scientific knowledge, the essay also offers a series of ideas related to materials awaiting comprehensive study that will further strengthen methodological synergies across disciplines.</p>","PeriodicalId":50963,"journal":{"name":"Ambix","volume":" ","pages":"337-356"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10580439","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AmbixPub Date : 2023-11-01Epub Date: 2023-10-30DOI: 10.1080/00026980.2023.2265708
Frank James
{"title":"John Brian Perkins (12 October 1943 to 20 May 2023).","authors":"Frank James","doi":"10.1080/00026980.2023.2265708","DOIUrl":"10.1080/00026980.2023.2265708","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":50963,"journal":{"name":"Ambix","volume":" ","pages":"409-413"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49684661","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AmbixPub Date : 2023-09-27DOI: 10.1080/00026980.2023.2259186
Carsten Reinhardt
{"title":"Wegbereiter der Globalisierung. Multinationale Unternehmen der westeuropäischen Chemieindustrie (1960er-2000er Jahre) <b>Wegbereiter der Globalisierung. Multinationale Unternehmen der westeuropäischen Chemieindustrie (1960er-2000er Jahre)</b> . By Christian Marx. Pp. 912, illus., index. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht: Göttingen. 2023. £103.00. ISBN: 978-3-525-37104-6","authors":"Carsten Reinhardt","doi":"10.1080/00026980.2023.2259186","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00026980.2023.2259186","url":null,"abstract":"\"Wegbereiter der Globalisierung. Multinationale Unternehmen der westeuropäischen Chemieindustrie (1960er-2000er Jahre).\" Ambix, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), pp. 1–2","PeriodicalId":50963,"journal":{"name":"Ambix","volume":"93 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135537288","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AmbixPub Date : 2023-09-27DOI: 10.1080/00026980.2023.2259185
Niccolò Mignemi
{"title":"Economic Poisoning: Industrial Waste and the Chemicalization of American Agriculture <b>Economic Poisoning: Industrial Waste and the Chemicalization of American Agriculture</b> . By Adam M. Romero. Pp. xviii + 251, illus., index, University of California Press: Oakland. 2022. £66.00 (hardcover), £24.00 (paperback). ISBN: 978-0-520-38155-1(hardcover), 978-0-520-38156-8(paperback).","authors":"Niccolò Mignemi","doi":"10.1080/00026980.2023.2259185","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00026980.2023.2259185","url":null,"abstract":"\"Economic Poisoning: Industrial Waste and the Chemicalization of American Agriculture.\" Ambix, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), pp. 1–2","PeriodicalId":50963,"journal":{"name":"Ambix","volume":"101 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135539147","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AmbixPub Date : 2023-08-25DOI: 10.1080/00026980.2023.2248835
A. Milon
{"title":"From Crust to Core: A Chronicle of Deep Carbon Science","authors":"A. Milon","doi":"10.1080/00026980.2023.2248835","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00026980.2023.2248835","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":50963,"journal":{"name":"Ambix","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46457369","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AmbixPub Date : 2023-08-22DOI: 10.1080/00026980.2023.2248836
J. Powers
{"title":"Bodily Fluids, Chemistry and Medicine in the Eighteenth-Century Boerhaave School","authors":"J. Powers","doi":"10.1080/00026980.2023.2248836","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00026980.2023.2248836","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":50963,"journal":{"name":"Ambix","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48816817","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AmbixPub Date : 2023-08-01DOI: 10.1080/00026980.2023.2234717
Frank A J L James
{"title":"When Ben met Mary: The Letters of Benjamin Thompson, Reichsgraf von Rumford, to Mary Temple, Viscountess Palmerston, 1793-1804.","authors":"Frank A J L James","doi":"10.1080/00026980.2023.2234717","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00026980.2023.2234717","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This paper publishes the sixty-nine surviving very personal letters that Reichsgraf von Rumford wrote to Viscountess Palmerston after they met in Milan in 1793. The letters draw attention to the private domestic spaces of science and the critical importance of the aristocracy in scientific developments, topics that have both received some discussion recently. They were, however, not written with the purpose of providing historical evidence, but as part of a decade-long friendship which the letters trace, revealing, among other things, Rumford's other amours. They also describe in some detail his thoughts about his activities as a member of the governing elite in Bavaria, his scientific and engineering researches (especially the writing and publication of his <i>Essays</i>), as well as what he would have termed his philanthropic efforts in Bavaria, Northern Italy, Britain, and Ireland. All this is framed within the context of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars that in so many ways, directly and indirectly, affected Palmerston's and Rumford's lives and work.</p>","PeriodicalId":50963,"journal":{"name":"Ambix","volume":"70 3","pages":"207-328"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2023-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10150892","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}