[XVIIth century in the history of matter according to Chevreul].
On the one hand George Sarton, and on the other Héléne Metzger, aknowledged that Chevreul had indisputable abilities in history of chemistry. Unlike many chemists after him, Chevreul did not set that chemistry began with Lavoisier. Going on the these accounts and examinations, we scrutinized Chevreul's papers relating to history of matter in the Journal des Savants, the Compte rendus and the Mémoires de l'Académie des sciences, and his books (Histoire des connaissances chimiques, De la méthode a posteriori expérimentale). Drawing up remarkable synthetic tables, Chevreul tried to bring out the advances of Chemistry during XVIIth century. Passing in review works of Van Helmont, Glauber, Robert Boyle, Kunckel, Becker and Stahl, Boerhaave, Marot, Barchusen, Juncker, Swedenborg, Jean Rey, Mayow and Hales, Chevreul distinguished three periods, the last one ending with Lavoisier. Like Héléne Metzger, Chevreul set that Lavoisier came at the end of a long evolution, and did not open a new chemistry. Philosopher rather than historian, Chevreul avoided anecdotes without neglecting to question original literature. His intention was to make known the mind of Sciences and the succession of the ideas that Sciences propagated.
Fournier
Josette
J
D002621:Chemistry / Q000266:history*; D005602:France; D006663:Historiography; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century