The Mixed Blessings of Pragmatism. Jean-Baptiste Dumas and the (Al)chemical Quest for Metallic Transmutation (2023)
Anatrini, Leonardo (Author)
Substantia: An International Journal of the History of Chemistry
Volume: 7
Issue: 2
Pages: 121-136
There were at least three prerequisites for the transmutability of metals to become once again a scientifically acceptable subject of research from the 1810s: new hypotheses concerning the mutual reducibility of certain elements, such as those of integer multiples and protyle put forward by the British chemist and physician William Prout; the experimental confirmation that chemical compounds with the same percentage composition could be substances with very different properties, i.e. the discovery of isomerism and allotropy; the comparison between metals and compound radicals of organic chemistry. This paper aims at illustrating how these premises were exploited by Jean-Baptiste Dumas, one of the leading French chemists of the 19th century, to reintroduce in the chemical discourse the alchemical topic of transmutation.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Leonardo Anatrini;
(2023)
The Mixed Blessings of Pragmatism. Jean-Baptiste Dumas and the (Al)chemical Quest for Metallic Transmutation
(/isis/citation/CBB246043272/)
Article
Joly, Bernard;
(2014)
Etienne-François Geoffroy (1672--1731), a Chemist on the Frontiers
(/isis/citation/CBB001550412/)
Book
Drulhon, Jimmy;
(2011)
Jean-Baptiste Dumas (1800--1884). La vie d'un chimiste dans les allées de la science et du pouvoir
(/isis/citation/CBB001210102/)
Article
Fournier, Josette;
(2007)
Histoire des radicaux: contribution d'Auguste Cahours (1813--1891)
(/isis/citation/CBB000933363/)
Article
Crosland, Maurice;
(2003)
Research Schools of Chemistry from Lavoisier to Wurtz
(/isis/citation/CBB000340618/)
Book
Pigeard-Micault, Natalie;
(2011)
Charles-Adolphe Wurtz: un savant dans la tourmente: entre bouleversements politiques et revendications féministes
(/isis/citation/CBB001210376/)
Article
Pérex-Bustamante de Monasterio, J. A.;
(2002)
Historical Aspects on Mystics and Metaphysics of Metals
(/isis/citation/CBB000300775/)
Article
Karpenko, Vladimír;
(2007)
Not All That Glitters Is Gold: Gold Imitations in History
(/isis/citation/CBB000773040/)
Article
Gabriella Bevilacqua;
(2020)
Oro, argento e pietre di colore: Alcuni esempi di amuleti medici
(/isis/citation/CBB914369554/)
Book
Leonardo Anatrini;
Marco Ciardi;
(2020)
La scienza impossibile: Percorsi dell'alchimia in Francia tra Ottocento e Novecento
(/isis/citation/CBB111971964/)
Article
Scheidecker-Chevallier, Myriam;
(1997)
L'impact des idées d'Ampère en chimie sur J.-B. Dumas et M.-A. Gaudin
(/isis/citation/CBB000077564/)
Article
Klosterman, Leo J.;
(1985)
A research school of chemistry in the 19th century: Jean Baptiste Dumas and his research students
(/isis/citation/CBB000017835/)
Article
Kim, Mi Gyung;
(1996)
Constructing symbolic spaces: Chemical molecules in the Académie des Sciences
(/isis/citation/CBB000071329/)
Article
Ramírez-Solís, Alejandro;
Novaro, Octavio;
(2014)
The First Metals in Mendeleiev's Table: Further Arguments to Place He above Ne and Not above Be
(/isis/citation/CBB001420433/)
Article
Hernández, Raymundo;
Novaro, Octavio;
(2014)
The First Metals in Mendeleiev's Table: Part II. A New Argument against the Placement of Hydrogen Atop the Alkali Metal Column
(/isis/citation/CBB001422090/)
Article
Volke, Klaus;
(2000)
Die Entdeckung des chemischen Elementes Indium in Freiberg--Zur 200. Wiederkehr des Geburtstages des Physikers Ferdinand Reich
(/isis/citation/CBB000203166/)
Article
Marshall, James L.;
Marshall, Virginia;
(2010)
Reinvestigating Vestium, One of the Spurious Platinum Metals
(/isis/citation/CBB000954697/)
Article
Hirai, Hiro;
Yoshimoto, Hideyuki;
(2005)
Anatomizing the Sceptical Chymist: Robert Boyle and the Secret of His Early Sources on the Growth of Metals
(/isis/citation/CBB000640055/)
Article
Athanasios Rinotas;
(2017)
Stoicism and Alchemy in Late Antiquity: Zosimus and the Concept of Pneuma
(/isis/citation/CBB749762011/)
Article
Klein, Joel A.;
(2015)
Daniel Sennert, The Philosophical Hen, and The Epistolary Quest for a (Nearly-) Universal Medicine
(/isis/citation/CBB001202176/)
Foundations of Chemistry
Annals of Science: The History of Science and Technology
British Journal for the History of Science
Bulletin for the History of Chemistry
Early Science and Medicine: A Journal for the Study of Science, Technology and Medicine in the Pre-modern Period
Be the first to comment!