Chemists by Profession: The Origins and Rise of the Royal Institute of Chemistry

186 Pages·1977·86.563 MB·English

by  Colin A. Russell with N. G. Coley, G. K. Roberts

CHEMISTS
BY PROFESSION
The origins and rise of
The Royal Institute of Chemistry
Colin A. Russell
with
Noel G. Coley
Gerrylynn K. Roberts
Drawn i1J Fred Taylor
Fi!Jif'l r. The Instifllte building, c. 1914
J.
Architect: Sir John Burnet, LL.D. THE OPEN UNIVERSITY PRESS
in association with I
THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTRY
~
'
CONTENTS
Foreword IX
I The idea of a profession
I
II Alchemists, assayers and apothecaries
III Who is a chemist? 29
IV The growth of chemical institutions 55
v Chemical training before 1877 G~IZ 75
VI The growing role of chemical analysis 94
VII Pressures for reform II3
VIII The birth of the Institute 135
IX Defining professional competence: the Institute's
qualifications to 1920 Gi<R.. q8
X The professional chemist in industry 1877-1918 x86
XI Analysts and academics: the Institute and professional
relations to 1918 GI<R.. 200
XII Industry and the profession after 1918 221
XIII The era of the industrial chemist: professional relations and
organization since World War I GK~ 236
XIV Academic work or experience? the Institute's
qualifications since 1920 Q(!( 264
XV The Institute's influence overseas NGC- 284
XVI Amalgamation: the search for a formula t\I3C. 299
Appendix 325
Indexes
333
The Open University Press
Walton Hall, Milton Keynes
MK7 6AA
First published 1977 0 0 fl!r
1 (..-11' 5"~
Copyright© 1977 C. A. Russell, N. G. Coley and G. K. Roberts
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form, by mimeograph
or any other means, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Printed in Great Britain by
Staples Printers Limited at The Priory Press, St Albans, Hertfordshire
ISBN o 335 ooo41 X
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
I 7 C. T. Kingzett.
FIGURES 18 R. B. Pilcher (Sec. 1895-19oo; Registrar and Sec. 1900-45).
19 R. L. Collett (Assistant Sec. 1925-44; Registrar 1945-51).
FFiigguurree 2I (Tah) eT Ihnes tfiitrustt eS beuali lodfin tgh,e cI. n1s9ti1t4u.t e of Chemistry. Frontispiece 20 H. J. T. Ellingham (Sec. 1945-p; Registrar and Sec. 1952-62).
(b) The rejected design, 1944. 21 Institute staff, I 976.
Figure; Chemists in Great Britain, I841-7r. 30 Between page.s 246 and 247
Figure 4 Analytical Chemists in 'London Directory', r854-189r. 104 22 Entrance and main stairs at ;o Russell Square, since 1914 the home of the
Figure 5 RIC Remuneration Surveys: Median Income of all Fellows and :!} (Royal) Institute of Chemistry.
Associates, 1919-71. 31·7
Figure 6 The Institute's Qualifications. 328 Views of the main examination laboratory at Russell Square. Examinations
Figure 7 Membership of the (Royal) Institute of Chemistry, 1878-1971. 330 25 were held here for Associateship until July, 1956.
Figure 8 Membership of the Chemical Society, 184I-I971. Membership 26
of the Society of Chemical Industry, r88r--197I. Membership 27 Specialist laboratory, Russell Square.
of the Society for Analytical Chemistry r874-1971. 331 28 Metallurgical laboratory, Russell Square.
PLATES
Plates I 5 and 18-28, and Figures 1 and 2 are from the RIC collection.
Between pages J 4 and J J Plates II and I 7 are from the Chemical Society collection.
I Alchemical laboratory in the sixteenth century (painting by Teniers). Plate 9 is from the collection of Mr M. T. Hall, British Rail, Derby.
2 Assaying in the sixteenth century (rectangular furnace in Agricola's De Re
Metallica of I 56 6).
; Apothecaries' Hall in London (early nineteenth century print).
4 English pharmacy laboratory (1747). From the Universal Maga-::r.fne.
5 Pharmaceutical Society Laboratory, London (1844).
6 Access to factory chimney for analyses of effluent gases. (From r6th Report
of Alkali Inspector (c. 2682), P.P. 188o, XIV, 39).
7 United Alkali Company's Central Laboratory, Widnes (one of the first
industrial laboratories which engaged in widespread systematic research,
established in 1891).
8 Roscoe's chemistry teaching laboratory in Manchester (187;).
9 Great Western Railway laboratory, Swindon (though photographed on
z 5 June 1907, this laboratory is probably unchanged from its original design
in 1882-83, having been converted from the main hall of a church school
building for children of railway employees).
Between pages 166 and 167
10 Edward Frankland (President 1877-So).
II F. A. Abel (President r88o-83).
u James Bell (President 1888-91).
r; Augustus Voelcker (Vice-President 1878-So, r884--5).
14 Michael Carteighe (Vice-President 1882-4, 189o-;).
15 \Y/. N. Hartley (Vice-President x88o-2, r895-8; Hon. Sec. to organisation
committees 1875-7).
16 C. R. A. Wright (Hon. Treasurer 1877-85).
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
FOREWORD
In notes and references after each chapter names of publishers are given only
for books published after 1900. The following abbreviations are used It is possible that lack of historical sense is responsible for most of the
for standard biographical sources:
mistakes we make; in other words, an historical sense is a first-class
destroyer of idols.
Boase: Frederic Boase, Modern English Biograpi?J, Cass, London, 1965.
DNB: Dictionary of National Biograpi?J, Oxford, 1917 onwards. F. A. Freeth, in a lecture to the Manchester District Section of the Institute of
DS B: Dictionary of Scientific Biograpi?J, ed. C. C. Gillispie, Scribners, New Chemistry, II January 1934 (Proc. Inst. Cbem., 1934,58, 53).
York, 1970 onwards.
In 1977 the Royal Institute of Chemistry celebrates its centenary. To mark
WJ¥?W: Who Was tP"ho, A. and C. Black, London, year varies.
the event it has commissioned the present book, which traces the develop
TFW: Who's Who, A. and C. Black, London, year varies.
ment of the chemical profession in Britain up to I 976. The .s tory which
unfolds is largely the history of the Institute, although suitable attention is
Titles for periodical publications are given in abbreviated form. The J oumal
paid to the events and trends leading up to its foundation in 1877.
of the (Royal) Institute of Chemistry appeared with various titles as indi
I wish to record my sincere gratitude to the Institute for inviting me
cated below:
to be responsible for this volume, and my pleasure at the help given by
up to 1943: Proc. Inst. Chell;.
two of my colleagues at the Open University, Dr G. K. Roberts and Dr
1944 to 1949: Proc. R.I.C.
N. G. Coley. Both have shared in planning and production as well as writing
1950 to 1964: J.R.I.C.
some of the chapters. The authorship of these is indicated by the initials of
From 1965 the Journal was absorbed in ChetJJistry in Britain.
one of us at the end of the main text of each.
It is no mere formality to express our indebtedness to the administrative
officers and Council of the Institute for their unfailing courtesy and goodwill
throughout our investigations. Not only have they insisted upon our com
plete freedom to write what we wanted and to say anything we wished,
they have gone out of their way to make available all the Council's minutes
and documents relating to the formation of the Institute, the membership
records, correspondence, and the now rare back numbers of the Institute's
Journal. We are especially grateful to Mr D . .A. Arnold, Deputy Secretary
to the Institute until October 1975, for his kind encouragement and help in
a multitude of ways.
For permission to examine and cite early minute books and other un
published material, we extend our warm thanks to the Councils of the
Chemical Society, the Society of Chemical Industry, the Pharmaceutical
Society of Great Britain, the Managers of the Royal Institution, the General
Secretary of the Association of Professional Scientists and Technologists,
the Librarian of University College, London, and the County Archivists of
Durham and Northumberland. We are also grateful to Mr M. T. Hall,
Scientific Services Manager, British Rail, Derby, for access to his collection
of earlv material relating to chemistry in the raihvay industry and to Mr
Georg~ RoUeston for permission to quote from the Dav'Y letters in his
possession. Similarly, we thank Mr G. A. Bloxam for access to hJs private
collection of papers relating to his grandfather, the chemist C. L Bloxam.
In addition we have consulted manuscript material in the British Library,
the Public Record Office, King's College, London, the University of
i (
\
London (Senate House), and Imperial College, London. We are very grate
ful to the librarians and staff of all these institutions and also to those of the
Institute of Historical Research, the Wellcome Institute of the History of
Medicine, the City Library of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and public libraries in
Sunderland and Bedford. CHAPTER x
\'Ve are especially grateful to the staff of the Open University library for
THE IDEA OF A PROFESSION
their cheerful acceptance of many outrageous demands upon their time and
for their willingness to locate source material of all kinds, often with only
the minimum of notice. ~'he ~otion that chemistry was not only a science but could also be a profes
ston ts more recent than even the chemical atomic theory. So far as Britain
We are grateful for much additional material supplied to us by interview
and would wish to express our special thanks to the following gentlemen is concerned it is ~n?oubtedly a Victorian invention, though few people
who kindly went to much trouble to answer our questions: Sir Harry would share the op11110n of Alexander Findlay that 'it is doubtful whether
Melville, Sir James Taylor, Sir Ewart Jones, Dr G. H. Beeby, Col F. J. one c?uld speak of ~he existence of a profenion of chemistry before the
Griffin, Dr D. H. Sharp, Sir George Porter, Dr L. H. Williams, Dr R. E. founding of the Instltute of Chemistry in 1877'.1 Clearly, much depends
Parker, and Mr D. A. Arnold. upon o~e's precise conception of what a profession might be, and, as this
The production of this book with its various drafts has been the major book w1l1 show, it is a complex notion whose several constituents did not
develop at the same time, in the same place, or at the same rate.
preoccupation for over a year of each of us and of several secretaries in the
The starting-point for most discussions on the rise of the chemical profes
Faculty of Arts, amongst whom we would especially mention those who
have served in the History of Science: Mrs S. Batten, Mrs E. A. Dickey sion has usually been two books by R. B. Pilcher, who served the Institute
and Miss P. E. White. It is more than formal thanks that we would offer for half a century as Assistant Secretary (1 894), Secretary (1 895) and Registrar
to these ladies, who have had to cope with complex and sometimes scarcely and Secretary (1900-45)._ ~is Professi01t of Chemistry first appeared in 1919
legible manuscripts. We must also thank Mr A. W. R. Seward of the Open and came out as a 4th edition in 1938; it was in its time a valuable guide to
University Press for both encouraging and restraining where necessary, prospective candidates for a career in chemistry, the changes in content over
Mrs Caroline Land for preparing the manuscript for publication, and Mr the various editions signifying several important developments in the
A. J. Coulson for picture research. I am grateful to my wife Shirley for profession. 2 However it ~ust be stated that the book was primarily recruiting
preparing the Indexes. propaganda for the Institute, and in no sense did it lay claims to being a
Any historical study which attempts to deal with comparatively recent scholarly study of the evolution of the profession of chemistry. Much the
times is attended with rather special difficulties. It is never easy to know same can also be said of Pilcher's History of the Institute: 1877-1914 which
how much or how little to say of those who are still alive when the book is was published at a time when, as will be seen, the Institute was being hard
published. For this reason we have adopted the definite policy of making pressed on several sides and a morale-raising history was deemed appropriate.
very little reference by name to living persons, the only exceptions being The book tends to be rather a 'blow-by-blow' account of what happened than
where it would be impossible to produce a coherent and fair account without an analytical enquiry as to the causes behi.tJd events or a critical history.s
doing so. This avoided the necessity of making value judgements on the Today both of these books should still be treated with respect and serious
work of living individuals and at the same time of coming to premature ness, but as historical raw material in their own right instead of 'official
conclusions about certain events in the recent past. In writing our book we history' to be accepted without cavil or criticism. Although in the process
have been very conscious of the critical times through which the Institute is Pilcher's value to us as an historian may be slightly diminished, there will
passing, even as the book goes to press. In following the fortunes of the e:nerge with greater clarity and force the administrative skill, dogged per
Institute since I 877 we have tried to paint a fair picture, 'warts and all', Sistence, unflagging energies, clarity of vision and consummate devotion of
rather than to give the uncritical hagiography that was once the custom. But, this man who, more than anyone else, helped to create the history of the
having said that, we recognize the great service which it has given to British Institute of Chemistry. 4
chemistry and cordially wish it well in its next hundred years, under whatever In the pages that follow an attempt is made to expiore the development
title it may continue to exist. of the chemical profession in that spirit of enquiry. Especially in the early
years of the Institute there is no need to chronicle detailed activities under
Colin A. Russell
each successive President, for Pilcher has already done this for us. Where
The Open University, January 1977. such details are germane to the argument they will, of course, be supplied,
i
t I
<'~· 1EMIST:::i BY )..,.,..JFESSION
THE IDEA OF\. :t'ROFESS, N
together with some that Pilcher omits. At the same time this account will conveyed today by the term 'professional' and which underlie the discussion
deny itself an indulgence of the opposite kind and frequently encountered in the present book in the case of the chemists in Britain. The term 'profes
today, namely the setting up of a sociological model and the incorporation sion' referring to a particular group of people carries certain defmite conno
of only such data as are seen to fit and 'confirm' such a model. Inevitably tations, though not always with equal force. As will be seen they emerged
in an account about 'institutions' sociological categories of description will gradually and at different rates for the chemical community. They are as
be needed, for the Institute of Chemistry, the Chemical Society and all the follows:
others in this narrative are (in a loose sense) sociological units. Primarily,
Intellectual qualifications The adherence by members to a certain body of
however, the skills and sympathies of the historian have seemed more
'received knowledge', imparted by a teaching process thatis subject to careful
relevant to the present task, always taking for granted the sympathies (if
monitoring, and guaranteed by recognition from the professional organiza
not all the skills) of the chemist.
tion (often by examination).
The rise of the profession of chemistry must be seen as part of a larger
Social responsibility The acceptance of obligations to the general public in
movement in which science in general acquired a professional status.5 It
respect of the maintenance of standards of technical service, as well as by
occurred when, as the Victorians liked to put it, people no longer lived for
personal integrity; the guarantees may vary from a Hippocratic oath, through
science so much as l?J it. This professiomlization of all the major sciences
carefully written codes of conduct, to a general consensus of corporate
was in its turn related to both a growing awareness of the value of science
opinion - often with sanctions for non-compliance.
to tedtnology,6 and the rise of the professions in general.7 Consequently it
makes no sense at all to begin the present account with 877 for, by that time, Remuneration The expectation, in return, of certain monetary rewards which
I
the foundations of the Institute had been well and truly laid; this can be seen would not be allowed to fall below certain minima, and which would be
in the increasing applications of chemistry to both productive industry and related to those enjoyed by other similar groupings or 'professions'; this
analytical work that had marked the first forty years of Victoria's reign, and, expectation carried with it the perpetual danger that such minima, once
on the other hand, the development of chemical institutions. The multi agreed, would then be regarded by authority as maxima, and reactions to
this hazard varied widely between the professions.
farious happenings in the latter area may seem merely amusing to a modern
chemist, with tales of feuds, squabbles, animosities, alliances and regroupings, Community relationships The existence of a feeling of corporate identity,
but they have much to tell us of the modus vivendi of a Victorian chemist and which largely manifests itself in a complex of social and cultural relationships
the social pressures he experienced. Certainly the Institute's foundation appropriate to the time.
cannot be understood properly if they are to be ignored, nor can its later Authority The recognition by other professional groups, and, more
development. impottant, by Government, of the authoritative nature of the pronounce
The concentration of this book upon the British experience needs little ments by accredited representatives of the group on matters relating to their
comment. A treatment of (say) European developments would have dictated special area of expertise.
a much larger volume but the chief reason against it was the simple fact of
CAR
the British priority in most of the developments of the chemical profession.
As Chapter XV indicates it is no mere jingoism to assert this with con NOTES AND REFERENCES
fidence. Furthermore when other countries are concerned the very definition
ofprofessionalism raises acutely difficult questions, since it means manifestly I A. Findlay, 'The Royal Institute and the Profession of Chemistry', Proc. Ins!. Chem.,
f944, 68, zr r-r6 (zu). On Findlay see ch. XIII, note 56.
different things in different places. 8 Certainly there have been attempts to
4 R. B. Pilcher, The Profession of Chemistry, Constable, London, 1919, (znd. edn. 1927,
discuss the development of professional careers in science elsewhere than
3rd. edn. 1935, 4th edn. 1938 pub. by the Institute of Chemistry 'having been prepared by
in Britain but their categories have been different from those employed here. 9 the Registrar under the supervision of the Publications Committee').
In Britain, for example, the distinction between academic and professional 3 Idem, History of the Institute: r877-I914, Institute of Chemistry, London, 1914.
qualifications has led to a rather specific use of the tenn 'profession' for those 4 On Pilcher himself see ch. XII (note I 9).
employed in the application of chemistry. Most university teacher:; would ~Among recent writings see E. Shils 'The Profession of Science', Adv. Science, 1968, 24,
(rightly) regard themselves as fully professional though perhaps more as 4J9-8o; ]. Ben-David, 'The Profession of Science and its Powers', Minerva, 1972, xo,
members of the university teaching profession than of the profession of ;6z-8 ;; E. Mendelsohn, 'The Emergence of Science as a Profession in Nineteenth Century
Europe', inK. Hill (ed.), Tbe MallrJ.I!pll811f of Scientists, Beacon Press, Boston U.S.A., 1964,
chernistry.
pp. 3-48; D. M. Knight, 'Science and Professionalism in England, I77o-t8;o', Proc.
It remains therefore to indicate the complex of ideas that are generally XIVtb Int. Congress Hist. Sci., Tokyo, 1974, x, 53-67.
CHEMISTS B1. dZOFl.\SSION
6 The interface between science and technology in the period from 1 8oo is the subject of
an Open University half-credit course, AST 2.81 Science and the Rise of Technology since 1Soo.
Extensive bibliographies are available in connection with that course.
7 The classic work is A. M. Carr-Saunders and P. A. Wilson, The Professions, Clarendon
Press, Oxford, I933· It was issued as a Cass Reprint in 1964, pp. 165-n dealing with CHAPTER II
'Chemists'. See also W. J. Reader, Profeuional Men: The Rise of the Profe.rsional Cla.rses in
Nineteenth-Centuo• England, OUP, New York, 1966. ALCHEMISTS, ASSAYERS AND APOTHECARIES
if
8 Thus D. M. Knight commenting on a 'Professionalization of Science' symposium in
1974 concluded 'it is still difficult to know what we mean by the terms "professionaliza 1 The Alchemical Tradition
tion" and "science" .... So "professionalization" is a vague term, which must be applied
differently in different countries; but perhaps we can use it to mean the emergence of a One of the oddest but most persistent features of chemical thinking over
scientific community'. As will be seen from this chapter the modern concept of profes the last I 50 years is the air of embarrassment with which chemists generally
sionalization is considerably broader and more complex than that. It is, of course, possible contemplate their intellectual origins in alchemy. This was not the only-or
to object to the application of modern concepts in an anachronistic way to past situations,
even the most important-movement in the prehistory of modern chemistry.
and such objections are perfectly proper. But if one seeks to understand how a modern
But the popular opinion of the alchemist at work is in the strongest contrast
multi-strand idea has arisen it is surely necessary to trace the development of all of its
components, not just one or two. And it is not then desirable to apply a modern omnibus to the image a modern professional chemist seeks for himself. The con
term to some components in isolation from the rest (unless the term has since changed its ception that chemistry can be a profession as well as a subject goes no
meaning and contemporaries used it differently). In that case the onus is on the historian to farther back than the Victorian era, and it is arguably the case that this
prove it to be so. Knight (note 5), 4, 159·
awareness has still not developed to its maximum extent. The Institute of
9 A recent example is M. P. Crosland, 'The Development of a Professional Career in Chemistry, founded in 1877, was the incarnation of this new professional
Science in France', in The Emergence of Science in Western Europe, ed. Crosland, Macmillan,
spirit, and its first seal depicted not an alchemist but Priestley, a proposed
London, 1975, pp. 139-59; also in Minerva, 1975,13,39-57.
new design incorporating suggestions of alchemical symbolism being
rejected in I 944.1
Figpre 2(a) The ftr.st seal of the Institute of Chemistry.
(b) The njected design, I9tf.4·
It is not hard to see how inappropriate the adjective of 'professional' must
be for the alchemist2 of popular convention, proceeding on the basis of
inspired hunches or half-baked empirical knowledge, having regard to the
welfare of no one but himself, with no assured prospects of having success,
operating completely on his own and regarded by society, save his own, as a
( L
LH&\HSTS BY • .KOFESSION ALCJH.~I>HST;,, .,>.SSAYERS AND JTHECARIES
quack and charlatan. How far this popular understanding of the archetypal mixture of piety and avarice, yet a stranger to the holy mysteries of his
alchemist is correct and how far he lacked a?ry kind of professional status we more informed masters or rivals. He is a common feature of much
shall now proceed to examine. alchemical art and is depicted thus by Chaucer in his Canon's Yeoman's
So much scholarly study has now been made of alchemical ideas that Tale:5
their appalling complexity and diversity are a permanent warning to avoid
I am so used in the fyre to blowe,
generalization and over-simplification. Its diverse origins, the deliberate
That it hath chaunged my colour I trowe . . .
obscurity of much of its language, its strange blend of empiricism and
Though I was wont to be right fresh and gay
mysticism all go to make alchemy one of the most formidable subjects for
Of clothing, and of other good array,
any historian to tackle. 3 Thus a belief in the efficacy of gold in prolonging
Now may I were an hose upon myn heed;
life is very characteristic of Chinese alchemy but almost totally absent in the
And where my colour was both fressh and red,
Greek variety. This in its turn varied from century to century and generally
Now it is wan, and of a leden hewe.
became less obscure as time went on.
At the basis of most alchemy lay the belief that matter, or at least its In contrast to these 'puffers', were the alchemical adepts, dabblers in esoteric
outward forms, can be changed. This, after all, is what nature is doing all mysteries, secret practitioners in the occult and custodians of the vast mass
the time, particularly in the processes of biological generation and decay. f of Western alchemical literature. Being dependent on the written tradition
The mutation of nature became an obvious goal, whether by 'seeding' they had to be literate and were usually clerics, often in a monastery. Over
solutions with small amounts of the desired product or by applying external the centuries this group embraced a bewildering range of opinions and the
heat to hasten the processes of .ripening or growth, or even by observing outlines of these are just beginning to emerge from the clouds of verbiage
the heavens for propitious signs as in sowing and :reaping. Indeed, there was which they gave forth. Their motives will have varied, but it seems that a
frequently an association between the seven 'planets' and the seven metals genuine desire for knowledge and experience for their own sake as well as a
then known (gold, silver, mercury, copper, lead, iron, tin).4 strong interest in magic, usually exceeded the lust for gold. With greater
It is all too easy for modern science to write this off as mystical nonsense, understanding than the 'puffers' they had, as we shall see, greater reason to
yet the fact remains that chemistry did have such origins and that, in the conceal what they knew. Their other-wordly naivete contrasts strongly
context of the time, such ideas were nothing like as silly as they may seem to with the characteristics of a third group-the charlatans and con-men of
us. It would be going too far to claim that alchemy had an empirical basis pre-chemical science. If the adept was deceiving himself these were concerned
(implying a similarity to, say, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy) but to deceive others; if the adept whispered his secrets to a few initiates these
it is true that a considerable mass of experimental data gave at least the would shout their own methods and their own merits from the house-tops.
appearance of credibility to some of the alchemists' most cherished beliefs. Many are the records of deliberate fraud and misrepresentation, and, so far
And some of the experiments performed by the Arab alchemists led to many as alchemical techniques are concerned, there were a few well-worn tricks,
important technical advances. with appropriate variations.
The practice of alchemy in the \Y/est cannot be dated much before the The thirteenth century saw the pace of literary production show a notice
twelfth century. By the year rzoo there were available about six alchemical able quickening. Apart from a greater appetite for learning in general, there
texts in Latin, derived from Arab sources through translations made at may have been a particular stimulus to alchemy in the money shortage that
Toledo or some other centre of Moorish culture in Spain. From now on the was manifest at the end of the century. Certainly the 'manufacture' of gold,
alchemist enters on his long career in Europe and becomes an increasingly real or im<Jgined, was beginning to pose a sufficient threat to the stability of
familiar part of the scene. Although certain central aspects of alchemy do society though ecclesiastical opposition was expressing itself in many forms.
not change noticeably during about six centuries the term alchemist has to In 1317 a Papal Bull was issued by John XXII from Avignon, probbiting
cover at least three di.lferent classes of person. Firstly it was applicable some alchemical practice; it is an interesting comment on popular attitudes to
what loosely to those whose work was largely with metals and who can be record the widespread belief that the immense fortune left by the same Pope
regarded as the predecessors of the metallurgical developments of the when he died was largely alchemical in origin. In similar vein modern
sixteenth century (pp. n-14). These men were the practitioners of alchemy, chemists may ruefully reflect that their thirteenth-century predecessors were
more concerned with its empirical basis than its metaphysical projection, consigned by Dante together with other forgers and falsifiers of things to
and for tl:Js :reason, almost always involved with operations at hearth or the tenth gulf of the Inferno. 6 This was the century of several outstanding
furnace. Here was the legendary 'puffer', earnest, credulous, motivated by a figures in the history of chemistry: Albert 1\fagnus and his English con-
\
CHEMISTS BY-PROFESSION
HECARl!
temporary, Roger Bacon (12.14-92), both outspoken critics of ancient
and the Greeks. In these highly mystical writings, freshly apprehended in
authorities.
the Renaissance, nature is viewed with a pantheistic devotion and therefore
The fourteenth century witnessed several important tedmical advances
worthy of reverent study. An understanding of the importance attached to
and the appearance of hundreds more alchemical works, many of them saying
these writings has led to a re-interpretation.in recent years. of. the e;ents of
little that was new but most managing to say it rather more clearly than
the 'Copernican Revolution' and will certrunly offer new tnstgl1ts mto the
before. The recognition of at least two of the three mineral acids (nitric and
literature of some of the alcherrJsts, especially those who called themselves
sulphuric) occurred during this period and their very reactivity and versatility
Hermetic philosophers. From now on, part of the literature of alchemy
seems to have promoted an odd reluctance to discuss them. As Multhauf
becomes increasingly suffused with a rather wild kind of mystical fervour.
observes,7 the alchemists 'seemed to have believed that so profound a
Nor was reformed Christianity without its impact and other recent work has
revelation should be theorized upon as a closely guarded secret'.
demonstrated the impetus given to alchemy by Protestant theology.9 The
A characteristic of alchemy at this time was a strong desire for recognition
reasons are not yet fully clear, but may be connected with the Calvinistic
and no better way could be imagined for achieving this than to append to
general approval of experimental science and special approbation of that
one's work the name of a distinguished authority. The occurrence of such
great transitional figure of the sixteenth century T~eophrastus Bom~astus
pseudepigrapha is characteristic of times of intense intellectual activity
von Hohenheim otherwise known as Paracelsus. His career was as b1zarre
when enthusiasm gets the better of reason and honesty.
as his name (mo~t of which he himself invented for purposes of publicity).
Despite mounting hostility on all sides the art proliferated in the fifteenth
More will be heard of him bter but we will simply note here that he advo
century and in England reached its zenith c. 1450. Thomas Norton, writing
cated a form of alchemy that was directly significant in many other ways for
a few years later, in his Ordinal/ rif Alchemy spoke of his subject in these
the development of chemical science, having been hailed as the 'father of
terms:8
chemotherapy and foreshadower of modern psychiatry'.10 At .very least. he
Of every estate that is within Mankind could be credited with liberating alchemy from a monomaruac obsessiOn
If yee make search much people ye may finde, with gold production and an exclusive reliance on the four e_le~ent the?ry
Which to Alkimy their Corage doe address of antiquity, as well as a failure to realize the importance of punty 1!1 chenucal
Only for appetite of Lucre and Riches. reagents. . .
As Popes with Cardinal/s of Dignity, i In the seventeenth century alchemy was to enter tts final pertod of pros
i
Archf:yshopes with Byshopes of high degree; perity. By now it had become sufficient of a public nuisance to earn the
I
With Abbots and Priors of Religion, satirical wrath of Ben Jonson in his play The Alchemist (161o). At the other
With Friars, Heremites, and Preests manic one, ·~ end of the century (and of the social scale) its claims are still sufficiently
And Kings with Princes and Lords great of blood, l strong to endear itself to no less a personage than Charles II of England who
For every estate desireth after good; attempted the 'fixation' of mercury in his private laboratory: But.a much more
And Merchatmts also which dwell in the fiere impressive token of the fascination exerted over great nunds 1s the know?
Of brenning Covertise, have thereto desire; preoccupation >V-ith alchemical experiments of no less a personage than S.u:
And Common workemen will not be out-lafte, Isaac N eW!:on himself at the very end of the seventeenth century.
For as well as Lords they love this noble Crafte! In general economic terms their expectations were _as varied a~ their
skills. The 'puffers', a.n.'rious to effect genuine transmutatl?ns fo: the1~ own
It was no doubt in this spirit that King Henry VI appointed a commission
betterment were, in the nature of the case, almost always disappomted 1n the
to inquire into the feasibility of replenishing his treasury by alchemical
long run, and without the 'job satisfaction' that might have been the lot of
means.
those who, though unsuccessful in their ultimate objective, could produce
It would be surprising if alchemy had been able to remain unaffected
many interesting changes and perhaps even identify with them. ~ut for the
by the powerful forces released at the Renaissance and the Reformation and
'puffer' all that could be expected was grinding poverty and tbJs seems t.o
there is much evidence that it had not. Recent scholarship has emphasized
have been as true in the sixteenth century as in the fourteenth century. T~s
the importance for science generally of the so-called Hermetica. This was a
was the case of Chaucer's alchemist whose coat 'is not worthe a myte. · · lt
large body of Greek literature, probably from about A.D. 100, believed in is al filthy and to-tore'. .
the Renaissance to be the effusions of an Egyptian priest, Hermes
For the genuine adepts society offered a strangely nuxed response: _On
Trismegistus, who was also supposed to have been the inspiration of Plato
the one hand there is plenty of evidence that despite widespread scept1e1sm
<JJEMI::-,'1::, H'r( . OFESSION {
ALCHEMISTS, ASSAYERS AND Ah, .HECARIES
many were prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt and to regard them even greater turning in upon themselves, at least as far as the adepts were
as useful investments. Consequently we find them in Court appointments all concerned.12
over Europe from the fourteenth century to the seventeenth century, some A hundred years later Thomas Norton writes of 'a most sacred dreadfull
even being lent or traded from one monarch to another. In England Edward oathe' required of those who had learned the 'secreats of Alkimy' although
III re.ceived two alchemists, prevented one from being imprisoned in I 33 6 , his work reveals a more rational and practical approach demonstrated by the
and, 1n r 3 5o, beca...tne arguably the first British monarch to give an endow organization of his laboratory, even to the extent of shift work for his
ment to chemical research. So intense was the interest aroused in Rudolph II 'ministers': 'One halfe of them must werke While the other Sleepeth or
of Prague that he is said to have neglected affairs of state in the interests of goeth to Kerke'.13
alchemy. Elsewhere the fortunate few who could gain a monarch's favour It was inevitably hard to reconcile the necessity for secrecy with the need
would enjoy great prosperity, even ennoblement. But in the nature of things for good communication between groups of adepts and one feels that any
they were a tiny minority although others in less exalted employment main thing approaching what we might call today 'professional unity' was entirely
tained a comfortable, if precarious, existence. absent. Yet there is evidence that groups of alchemists met together right
Against this we must set the fact that for much of the time alchemists of through the period, from a secret society at Basa in A.D. 9 5o to an alchemical
all kinds were execrated by society in both West and East. In fifteenth Rosicrucian society at Nurnberg founded in 1654 with Leibniz as secretary
century Europe the best that many could look forward to was a short and member for part of the time. The intention of such societies can hardly
itinerant career, terminated by crippling poverty. The worst was permanent have been to advance the status of their members bur it certainly included
exile, murder, the gallows or even crucifixion. If the Chinese provided some the exchange of information and ideas and this continued until the activities
of alchemy's doctrines they also procured its destruction. An imperial edict of the Hartlib circle in seventeenth-century England. As for the literary
of 144 B.c. decreed public execution for those who counterfeited gold, while exchange of information the proliferation of literature bears ample testimony
a commentator thtee centuries later ascribes this to a disenchantment with to this. The re-printing, or printing for the first time, of alchemical works in
alchemy itself.
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries has been of as much benefit to modern
In the West they suffered a further setback in the sustained opposition to historians as to the adepts in those centuries. But how far all of this amounted
alchemy from the Roman Catholic Church. Alchemy was first prohibited in to any kind of true professionalization is highly doubtful. What remains
the religious Orders: Franciscans (12.72), Dominicans (1273), and Cistercians certain is the diversity of activities covered under the term 'alchemy' and it
(1317). Then in 1317 came the Decretal of Pope John XXII attacking the art is in this sense alone that the words 'amateur' and 'professional' can be
because of its defective theory (gold cannot be produced by art) and fraudu certainly applied. Two recent authors14 speak of the distinction 'between
lent practice. Thereafter the persecution of alchemists increased, although those professional craftsmen who accepted the alchemical theories, and
the Decretal appears to have been ignored in many of the subsequent debates those who did not theorize about their art at all. The wildly impractical
among the faithful, e.g. on '\'\lhether an alchemist is a sinner and whether his amateur alchemist, wasting his substance on fruitless researches, was em
art is prohibited'. Often a qualified approval was given. Had this not been phatically a creature of medieval Europe: one more by-product of the
the case the continued employment of alchemists would hardlv have been as intellectual indigestion which afflicted Europe from the twelfth century on'.
widespread as it becfu"Ue.u -
This is effectiyely the distinction we have already made between the adept
More serious than this, however, was the cloud of suspicion hanging on the one hand and the 'puffer' on the other. Perhaps the distinction can be
over the followers of Hermes by virtue of their secrecy and furtiveness. made sharper still. Thus a man like John Kunckel (who discovered the
Some were known to make special claims for divine revelation and generally preparation of white phosphorus), holding a series of appointments of
failed to conform to the standards of theological orthodoxy. So the responsibility in alchemical laboratories, may be entitled to the epithet
fourteenth-century alchemists were in a heads-I-win-taiis-you-lose kind of professional in the sense that his employment was that of a full-time alchemist.
situation. If they failed to make real gold they were imposters and frauds; But in any other sense the day of professionalization for alchemy was never
if against all expectation they succeeded they were heretics and deviants and, to arise.
as such, even more dangerous to the Church. It has been suggested that after
the initial rumblings of the Reformation the Hermetic philosophers might be
z The Metallurgical Tradition
able to constitute some kind of ecumenical bridge between Catholic and
Protestant alchemists. This, of course, was a highly sensitive issue. The belief that alchemy was the only important precursor of modern
The clerical opposition undoubtedly caused a closing of the ranks and an chemistry has been held .sufficiently long for it to have an air of respectable