Description
Book SynopsisConsisting of a series of case studies, this book is devoted to the concept and uses of salt in early modern science, which have played a crucial role in the evolution of matter theory from Aristotelian concepts of the elements to Newtonian chymistry. No reliable study on this subject has been previously available. Its exploration of natural history’s and medicine’s intersection with chemical investigation in early modern England demonstrates the growing importance of the senses and experience as causes of intellectual change from 1650-1750. It demonstrates that an understanding of the changing definitions of “salt” is also crucial to a historical comprehension of the transition between alchemy and chemistry.
Trade Review"...The Salt of the Earth is a work that meets a high scholarly standard in both form and substance; it should be of interest to any student of early modern chemistry, medicine, and natural philosophy in general." Victor D. Boantza, Book Reviews - ISIS, 100: 1 (2009), 166-167 pp.
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgements 1. The Context of Salts 2. Paracelsian Concepts of Salts 3. Van Helmont, Salts, and Natural History in Early Modern England 4. From Salts to Saline Spirits—the Rise of Acids 5. Salts and Saline Spirits in the Medical Marketplace and Literature—Patent Medicines and Chymical Satire Conclusion: From Saline Acids to Acidifying Oxygen Appendix: Translation from Latin of Martin Lister’s Exercises on the Healing Springs of England (1684) Bibliography Index
