Book to Note

Allen G. Debus. The Chemical Promise: Experiment and Mysticism in the Chemical Philosophy, 1550– 1800. Sagamore Beach, MA: Science History Publications, 2006. 576 pp. $89.95 cloth.

Reviewed by M.D. Eddy

Over the past five decades Allen Debus has written several influential books on the history of chemical philosophy. They have shed much light on chemical pedagogies and methods of experimentation, as well as the personal and often religious beliefs that motivated naturalists and physicians to investigate the form and composition of matter. Throughout his career Debus has shown that chemistry played a much larger role in the Scientific Revolution than had hitherto been recognized. A surprisingly cohesive book, The Chemical Promise is a superb essay collection that unites around 30 of Debus’s detailed studies that were orphaned over the years in various journals and books. Well-known “chymists” like Paracelsus, Robert Fludd, John Dee, Robert Boyle, and Jean Baptiste van Helmot are treated. Notable institutions like the Royal Society, the London College of Physicians, and Oxford University appear regularly. The book also mentions personalities that historians have unduly neglected, and it features several illuminating essays on the impact of chemical philosophy on Enlightenment Spain and Portugal. It is an informative work that complements Debus’s other books and that will undoubtedly remain a helpful resource for those interested in the history of early modern chemistry and medicine.