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Elements, Principles and Corpuscles

A Study of Atomism and Chemistry in the Seventeenth Century

  • Book
  • © 2000

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Authors:
  1. Antonio Clericuzio
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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xi
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  2. Introduction

    • Antonio Clericuzio
    Pages 1-7

  3. Minima to Atoms: Sennert

    • Antonio Clericuzio
    Pages 9-33

  4. Spirit, Chemical Principles and Atoms in France in the First Half of the Seventeenth Century

    • Antonio Clericuzio
    Pages 35-74

  5. Chemistry and Atomism in England (1600 to 1660)

    • Antonio Clericuzio
    Pages 75-102

  6. Robert Boyle’s Corpuscular Philosophy

    • Antonio Clericuzio
    Pages 103-148

  7. Chemical Theories of Matter in England after 1661

    • Antonio Clericuzio
    Pages 149-162

  8. Corpuscular Chemistry in the Last Decades of the Seventeenth Century

    • Antonio Clericuzio
    Pages 163-212

  9. Epilogue

    • Antonio Clericuzio
    Pages 213-216

  10. Back Matter

    Pages 217-232
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Keywords

About this book

In Elements, Principles and Particles, Antonio Clericuzio explores the relationships between chemistry and corpuscular philosophy in the age of the Scientific Revolution. Science historians have regarded chemistry and corpuscular philosophy as two distinct traditions. Clericuzio's view is that since the beginning of the 17th century atomism and chemistry were strictly connected. This is attested by Daniel Sennert and by many hitherto little-known French and English natural philosophers. They often combined a corpuscular theory of matter with Paracelsian chemical (and medical) doctrines. Boyle plays a central part in the present book: Clericuzio redefines Boyle's chemical views, by showing that Boyle did not subordinate chemistry to the principles of mechanical philosophy. When Boyle explained chemical phenomena, he had recourse to corpuscles endowed with chemical, not mechanical, properties. The combination of chemistry and corpuscular philosophy was adopted by a number of chemists active in the last decades of the 17th century, both in England and on the Continent.
Using a large number of primary sources, the author challenges the standard view of the corpuscular theory of matter as identical with the mechanical philosophy. He points out that different versions of the corpuscular philosophy flourished in the 17th century. Most of them were not based on the mechanical theory, i.e. on the view that matter is inert and has only mechanical properties. Throughout the 17th century, active principles, as well as chemical properties, are attributed to corpuscles. Given its broad coverage, the book is a significant contribution to both history of science and history of philosophy.

Reviews

`[...] it is an important contribution to our understanding of early modern matter theory.'
Ambix 50 (2003)

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