- just a note on the history of science - On 22 Mar 2003 08:08:38 -0800, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Jay Warner) wrote:
> Speaking of alchemy.... > > the first book that we would call accurate on metallurgy & > metallurgical chemistry was by Agricola, in something like 1555. > Everything before was dubious. I don't think that alchemy served > particularly well for the 500 - 1000 years it was used. According to Jung (I think he wrote about it), much of the early writing of alchemy consisted of secret, cabalistic communications between mystical spiritualists, who were less concerned with chemistry than in turning 'spiritual lead' into philosophical gold. The alchemists eventually did stumble over the notion that the measuring of *weight* was particularly useful, sometime after they figured out how to capture the gaseous effluvium of experiments. Progress came faster after they committed to the conservation of matter. -- Rich Ulrich, [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pitt.edu/~wpilib/index.html . . ================================================================= Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: . http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . =================================================================
