Author: Thomas Thomson

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2016-09-09

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 9781333535735

Excerpt from The History of Chemistry, Vol. 1 of 2 It is natural to feel a desire to be acquainted with the origin and the progress of such a science; and to know something of the history and character of those numerous votaries to whom it is indebted for its pro gress and improvement. The object of this little Work is to gratify these laudable wishes, by taking a rapid View of the progress of Chemistry, from its first rude and disgraceful beginnings till it has reached its pre sent state of importance and dignity. I shall divide the subject into fifteen chapters. In'the first I shall treat of Alchymy, which may be considered as the in auspicious commencement of the science, and which, in fact, consists of little else than an account of dupes and impostors; every where so full of fiction and oh scurity, that it is a hopeless and almost impossible task to reach the truth. In the second Chapter I shall endeavour to point out the few small chemical rills, which were known to the ancients. These I shall fol low in their progress, in the succeeding chapters, till at last, augmented by an infinite number of streams owing at once from a thousand different quarters, they have swelled to the mighty river, which now ows ou majestically, wafting wealth and information to the civilized world. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."