A History of Chemistry. Vol. III by J. R. PartingtonReview by: Henry M. LeicesterIsis, Vol. 55, No. 1 (Mar., 1964), pp. 106-107Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/227770 .

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106 BOOK REVIEWS

a baffling generality of terms and appli- cations (perhaps " vagueness " would be a better word than "generality ") . Does a principle apply to laws or to theories or to systems or to all of these? More piercing, what are " theories," " systems," and " laws " - how are they characterized? An example is the prin- ciple of connectivity: " two systems never differ in a single aspect only." This is applied to natural systems, to abstract theoretical systems, to interpre- tations of abstract systems, to the no- tion of substance, to the distinction be- tween physical states and mere con- cepts; while the " things " in respect of which these differ are described at various times as aspects, properties, dis- positions, parameters, observables, meas- urables, manifestations, and behaviour. Can any one principle be usefully said to apply to all these varieties? But the worst of it is that there is no way of individuating these " entities " in re- spect to which systems are said to differ; and so there is no way of deciding whether there are several differences, or only one. It is like asking for a com- plete description of a physical system; and this is impossible in the case of na- tural systems (or natural substances) and arbitrary in the case of abstract systems. In neither case is the principle of use.

The vagueness of the same principle is well illustrated in the last example of the chapter. It is suggested that Descartes and Huygens produced their theories of light and color because they wished to provide additional respects of difference between light-beams of different colors. This claim is not his- torically correct: of course Descartes and Huygens were interested in further properties of light and of course New- ton found one in refraction. But this does not seem to amount to any more than scientific curiosity. Newton added one or several respects of difference (how can one possibly tally them?) to the known respects of difference. The principle might then be phrased as a recommendation: "Look for more differences." This is acceptable but quite trivial.

To the other principles similar objec-

tions may be made. The interest of Mr. Schlesinger's work must lie in the detailed arguments, in the insights, and in the questions raised: but the con- stant return to generality detracts from this. To me it seems both artificial and stultifying to attempt to present the philosophical study of scientific work in a systematic, general way, as if the bones of the structure and the opera- tions of the workers could be simply shown. Principles of Mr. Schlesinger's kind can at best help us to view and discuss science in a rational way. They permit insights and evaluations, not working applications.

M. F. PARTRIDGE

King's College, Aberdeen

J. R. PARTINGTON. A History of Chem- istry. Vol. III. xxiii + 854 pp., illus., indices. London: The Macmillan Co., Ltd. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1962. ?6.6s.0d; $20.00.

Volume III of Partington's monu- mental work is the second of the pro- jected four volumes to appear, Volumne II having preceded it. The volume con- sidered here covers the period in which chemistry changed from an iatrochemi- cal and almost alchemical field of study into what is essentially its modern form, the era of the chemical revolution. It is thus fitting that this large volume covers a period of only about two hun- dred years, and of course the major emphasis is on the eighteenth century. The book begins with the French chem- ists of the Jardin du Roi and ends with the work of Dalton. The arrangement throughout is biographical, and the men discussed are grouped together in terms of their geographical origins. Each worker is given a separate section, which ranges from a few paragraphs for the minor chemists to long chapters for the major figures (Lavoisier gets 133 pages). Some biographical information is given in every case, and the longer sections usually include an estimation of the man's character by his contem- poraries. However, the chief emphasis is always on the man's experimental

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BOOK REVIEWS 107

work, which is at least mentioned in detail for the minor figures, and is fully discussed and evaluated for the major ones. References to all journal articles are given, and complete bibliographic information is included for all books. Partington's volume is thus a practically complete guide to the chemical litera- ture for the period it covers.

For the most important chemists Partington reviews not only the chemi- cal work, but he also discusses the views of historians of chemistry on many of the controversial points which have pro- duced so many polemical papers. Such topics as the water controversy, the fail- ure of Lavoisier to acknowledge the work of others, misdating of many sig- nificant papers, or the place of Bryan and William Higgins in the develop- mient of the Dalton theory of atomic weight are considered in detail. Since Partington has in the past made his own valuable contributions on many of these topics, he does not hesitate to state these here, and to support them with critical analyses of the original papers which are often quoted directly in the original language and from which the original numerical calculations are fre- quently given in complete form.

It can be seen that a work such as this will quickly become the standard to which future historians of chemistry will turn automatically when beginning a study of any problem in the history of their science for the given period. The biographical arrangement will be particularly valuable when the life of an individual is under investigation, but there are also certain disadvantages to such an organization of the material. It is particularly difficult to gain an over-all picture of the development of a concept or theory to which a number of workers have made important con- tributions, since the major work of each chemist is discussed separately, and con- stant cross references must be made to the sections on other workers. For ex- ample, unless the reader is already fam- iliar with the main facts of the water controversy, he will be confused to find that it is introduced under Priestley, described as a separate topic under Cav- endish, where the section dealing with

Watt is introduced in the middle of the Cavendish material, and then, a number of pages later, the subject crops up again under Lavoisier. There are a number of examples of this sort of frag- mentation which make it difficult to read the book continuously, though for purposes of reference, again, the volume is completely satisfactory, since the sub- ject and author indexes are very full. Another disadvantage of the fragmenta- tion is especially serious while the work is in the course of publication. Here in Volume III Partington discusses the work of Berthollet on the variable com- position of chemical compounds and his controversy with Proust, but refers all material on the work on affinity to Vol- ume IV which has not yet appeared.

These relatively less important draw- backs will perhaps deter the general reader from turning to the Partington volumes for a general view of the great sweep of chemical history, but the story of the development is there and the serious student of the history of chem- istry or of any related science will prob- ably never find a richer mine of ma- terial in which to begin any study in the field he may have in mind.

HENRY M. LEICESTER

College of Physicians and Surgeons, University of the Pacific, San Francisco

Catalogue of the Wellcome Historical Medical Library. I. Books Printed Be- fore 1641. With a foreword by Sir Henry Hallett Dale. xvi + 407 pp. London: The Wellcome Historical Medical Library, 1962. ?10.10.0; $30.00.

The collections which now form the world's largest historical medical li- brary were begun by the late Sir Henry Wellcome sixty years ago. Thus we are informed in Sir Henry Dale's foreword to the work under review. The Library steadily developed before and after the death of Sir Henry Wellcome in 1936 and was opened to the public thirteen years later. Since that time it has served as one of the great centers of research and education in the history of medi-

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