Article
ID: CBB553711160

Studies on the Balsams in the 18th Century: A Modern Experimental Approach (2010)

unapi
Plants Balsams Experiments and experimentation New Hampshire (U.S.) Hoffmann, Friedrich Gren, Friedrich Albrecht Carl Boerhaave, Herman

The balsams are among the most enigmatic and fascinating substances known from antiquity to the present time due to their fragrant smell and alleged wonderful healing properties. Although it is traditionally held that modern pharmacological methods of studying drugs only emerged in the 19th century after the isolation of the first vegetal active principles, the experimental approach was already in practice in the 1700s. In the case of balsams, the most recent 18th century chemical notions and methods were applied, leading to a more accurate definition of balsams as well as experimentally-grounded theories to account for their properties, among which, those developed by Hermann Boerhaave (1768-1738) and Friedrich Hoffmann (1660-1742) had the highest influence on the community of scholars. Both showed in the laboratory that balsams had two principles: an oily one that served as vehicle for a volatile one. The latter, called Spiritus Rector by Boerhaave, was the one determining the properties of the balsams. This ―dualistic theory‖ became the prevailing one until the end of the century, when Friedrich Albrecht Carl Gren (1760-1798) joined together both principles – the oily and the volatile one – within the one category of ―ethereal oils‖.

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Authors & Contributors
Jalobeanu, Dana
Matei, Oana
Mary Rose Boswell
Sandra Calkins
Ruben E. Verwaal
Manolaraki, Eleni
Journals
Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology
IA. The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Early Science and Medicine: A Journal for the Study of Science, Technology and Medicine in the Pre-modern Period
Centaurus: International Magazine of the History of Mathematics, Science, and Technology
Science, Technology and Human Values
Publishers
Springer Nature
Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft
Cambridge University Press
Concepts
Experiments and experimentation
Plants
Botany
Observation
Plants; reproduction
Industrial archaeology
People
Boerhaave, Herman
Hoffmann, Friedrich
Bacon, Francis, 1st Baron Verulam
Charles Deering
Stahl, Georg Ernst
Sauvages, François Boissier de
Time Periods
18th century
17th century
19th century
16th century
Ancient
21st century
Places
New Hampshire (U.S.)
Netherlands
Gotha (Germany)
Roman Empire
Uganda
England
Institutions
Royal Society of London
Royal Horticultural Society
Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (Rome)
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