IsisCB Explore

Book ID: CBB809318391

Elixir: A Parisian Perfume House and the Quest for the Secret of Life (2023)

Levitt, Theresa (Author)

Harvard University Press
Publication date: 2023
Language: English

ISBN: 9780674250895

Publication Date: 2023
Physical Details: 320

Outside Links

WorldCat

Google Scholar

Google Books

Chemistry Alchemy Smell; olfactory perception Elixirs Cosmetics; perfumes 19th century Paris (France) Laurent, Auguste Laugier, Édouard

For centuries, scientists believed that living matter possessed a special quality―a spirit or essence―that differentiated it from nonliving matter. But by the nineteenth century, the scientific consensus was that the building blocks of one were identical to the building blocks of the other. Elixir tells the story of two young chemists who were not convinced, and how their work rewrote the boundary between life and nonlife.In the 1830s, Édouard Laugier and Auguste Laurent were working in Laugier Père et Fils, the oldest perfume house in Paris. By day they prepared the perfumery’s revitalizing elixirs and rejuvenating eaux, drawing on alchemical traditions that equated a plant’s vitality with its aroma. In their spare time they hunted the vital force that promised to reveal the secret to life itself. Their ideas, roundly condemned by established chemists, led to the discovery of structural differences between naturally occurring molecules and their synthetic counterparts, even when the molecules were chemically identical.Scientists still can’t explain this anomaly, but it may point to critical insights concerning the origins of life on Earth. Rich in sparks and smells, brimming with eccentric characters, experimental daring, and the romance of the Bohemian salon, Elixir is a fascinating cultural and scientific history.

...More

Reviewed By

Review Hugh Aldersey-Williams (2024) Review of "Elixir: A Parisian Perfume House and the Quest for the Secret of Life". Endeavour: Review of the Progress of Science (p. 100887). unapi

Citation URI

data.isiscb.org/p/isis/citation/CBB809318391

This citation is part of the Isis database.

Citations Indexes

Similar Citations

Article Read, Sophie; (2013)
Ambergris and Early Modern Languages of Scent (/p/isis/citation/CBB001200525/)

Book McHugh, James; (2012)
Sandalwood and Carrion: Smell in Indian Religion and Culture (/p/isis/citation/CBB001421113/)

Thesis Kirsten James; (2019)
The Science of Scent and Business of Perfume in Paris and London, 1650–1815 (/p/isis/citation/CBB140299766/)

Article Blondel-Megrelis, Marika; (2008)
Quelques aspects méconnus de la personne et de l'oeuvre de Charles Gerhardt (1816--1856) (/p/isis/citation/CBB000933389/)

Article Lorenza Gianfrancesco; (2018)
Books, Gold, and Elixir: Alchemy and Religious Orders in Early Modern Naples (/p/isis/citation/CBB076437716/)

Book Zachary A. Matus; (2017)
Franciscans and the Elixir of Life: Religion and Science in the Later Middle Ages (/p/isis/citation/CBB460933825/)

Article Han, Jishao; (2008)
External Alchemy and the Science of the TCM Formula in the Song Dynasty (/p/isis/citation/CBB000933534/)

Thesis Rampling, J M; (cited 2010)
The Alchemy of George Ripley, 1470--1700 (/p/isis/citation/CBB001567236/)

Thesis Barwich, Ann-Sophie; (cited 2013)
Making Sense of Smell: Classifications and Model Thinking in Olfaction Theory (/p/isis/citation/CBB001567549/)

Article Scheidecker-Chevallier, Myriam; (2000)
Marc-Antoine Gaudin, Alexandre-Edouard Baudrimont, Auguste Laurent et l'approche structurale en chimie (/p/isis/citation/CBB000110638/)

Book Thick, Malcolm; (2010)
Sir Hugh Plat: The Search for Useful Knowledge in Early Modern London (/p/isis/citation/CBB001201969/)

Article Stephen G. Haw; (2019)
Storax, Benzoin, and the Chinese Anxi xiang (/p/isis/citation/CBB105041201/)

Article Longhurst, Ian; (2007)
The Identity of Pliny's Flos Salis and Roman Perfume (/p/isis/citation/CBB000773867/)

Article Ann‐Sophie Barwich; Matthew Rodriguez; (2020)
Fashion fades, Chanel No. 5 remains: Epistemology between Style and Technology (/p/isis/citation/CBB919491284/)

Article Marco Fontani; Mariagrazia Costa; (2023)
A New Colorful World: Georges Urbain (1872-1938), the Red Star Who Disappeared Off the Horizon (/p/isis/citation/CBB639493286/)

Chapter Sacha Tomic; (2018)
How to Govern Chemical Courses. The Case of the Paris École de pharmacie During Vauquelin’s Direction, 1803-1829 (/p/isis/citation/CBB131161966/)

Article Swain, Patricia A.; (2005)
Bernard Courtois (1777--1838), Famed for Discovering Iodine (1811), and His Life in Paris from 1798 (/p/isis/citation/CBB000740498/)

Article Rocke, Alan J.; (2001)
Celebrity Culture In Parisian Chemistry (/p/isis/citation/CBB000740555/)

Article Principe, Lawrence M.; (2013)
Sir Kenelm Digby and His Alchemical Circle in 1650s Paris: Newly Discovered Manuscripts (/p/isis/citation/CBB001252606/)

Article Aurélien Ruellet; (2022)
The Pewterer and the Chymist: Major Erasmus Purling and his Refined Tin (/p/isis/citation/CBB565329927/)