Substantia. An International Journal of the History of Chemistry 7(1): 113-119, 2023 Firenze University Press www.fupress.com/substantia ISSN 2532-3997 (online) | DOI: 10.36253/Substantia-2039 Citation: Crabtree R.H., Greenberg A., Rasmussen S.C. (2023) Review of A Cultural History of Chemistry. Peter J. T. Morris and Alan Rocke, eds. Sub- stantia 7(1): 113-119. doi: 10.36253/ Substantia-2039 Copyright: © 2023 Crabtree R.H., Green- berg A., Rasmussen S.C. This is an open access, peer-reviewed article published by Firenze University Press ( h t t p: // w w w.f u p r e s s .c o m /s u b s t a n - tia) and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability Statement: All rel- evant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files. Competing Interests: The Author(s) declare(s) no conflict of interest. Book Reviews Review of A Cultural History of Chemistry. Peter J. T. Morris and Alan Rocke, eds., Bloomsbury Academic: London, 2022 Robert H. Crabtree1, Arthur Greenberg2, Seth C. Rasmussen3 1 Department of Chemistry, Yale University, New Haven CT 06520 USA 2 Department of Chemistry, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824 USA 3 Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58108 USA E-mail: robert.crabtree@yale.edu, art.greenberg@unh.edu, seth.rasmussen@ndsu.edu When presented with a new multivolume series on the history of chem- istry, one cannot help but compare it to J. R. Partington’s masterful four- volume A History of Chemistry. The new six-volume A Cultural History of Chemistry reviewed here, however, is really a different beast and should not be viewed as a simple attempt to update Partington’s previous series. As highlighted by series editors Peter Morris and Alan Rocke in the Series Pref- ace that begins each volume, “This is not a conventional history of chemistry, but a first attempt at creating a cultural history of the science.” As such, this series brings together 50 contributors in an effort to present the first detailed and authoritative survey of the impact of chemistry on society, as well as how society has influenced and impacted chemical practice and thought. Spanning from the earliest applications of the chemical arts in antiquity up through the present, this cultural history is split into six volumes, each covering a specific time period, with the structure of each volume consist- ent throughout the series. As such, each volume begins with an introduc- tion, followed by the identical chapter titles: Theory and Concepts; Practice and Experiment; Sites and Technology; Culture and Knowledge; Society and Environment; Trade and Industry; Learning and Institutions; Art and Rep- resentation. As a result, this gives the reader the choice of focusing on a spe- cific time period within a single volume, or following a chosen theme across history by reading the corresponding chapter in each of the six volumes. Each volume concludes with both a Bibliography and an Index, with all six volumes providing a combined 1728 pages of material. Separate reviews for each of the six volumes are given below, followed by some concluding remarks about the overall six-volume effort. http://www.fupress.com/substantia http://www.fupress.com/substantia http://www.fupress.com/substantia 114 Robert H. Crabtree, Arthur Greenberg, Seth C. Rasmussen Volume 1: A Cultural History of Chemistry in Antiqui- ty. Marco Beretta, ed. (review by S. C. Rasmussen) The initial volume covers by far the largest times- pan, tackling nearly 4000 years over the period from 3000 BCE to 600 CE. The challenge of this task is high- lighted by editor Marco Beretta in the introduction, particularly considering the limited surviving written sources from this period of history. Beretta argues that it is this scarcity of literary sources, in comparison to the wealth of archaeological objects, that has led to the focus on the material background of the chemical arts in previous attempts to cover this period by authors such as Partington. Still, in addition to the many prac- tical achievements evidenced during antiquity, Beretta gives a good overview of the literary genre available that can be used as a lens into this period of time. The fol- lowing chapters are then collaborations between the four contributors of this volume, with each author covering one of the primary cultures of focus: Egypt by Sydney Aufrère; Mesopotamia by Cale Johnson; Greco-Roman by Matteo Martelli, with Beretta providing overarch- ing conclusions. This uniform structure for each chapter thus provides additional consistency throughout the var- ious subjects discussed. Chapter one attempts to make connections between mythology and chemical theory, particularly within the Egyptian civilization. While the natural philosophies of the Greeks and Romans were more independent of such my thological inf luences, they did incorporate ideas and concepts from the older civilizations. Chapter two then delves into the techni- cal practices during this period, including the wealth of chemical species applied, with discussion of the names and symbols used to distinguish the reagents, species, and products involved. Chapter three goes on to analyze the state of laboratories and the technological advanc- es found within antiquity. For those that have studied the history of chemical technology of this period, this chapter is perhaps the most traditional of those offered in the volume, and offers a good overview of technical workshops and their products. Chapter four then reflects on the influence of religion on chemical practices, with focus on connections between the gods of a given cul- ture and various activities of the craftsman. Chapter five then discusses the impact of the growing chemical tech- nology on the local environments, both in terms of over- exploitation of resources and the effects of toxic byprod- ucts released during various operations. For a topic so prevalent in the discussion of modern chemical prac- tice, it was very eye-opening to see these relationships mapped onto practices in antiquity. Chapter six covers the processes of trade between neighboring societies as a result of progresses made in the production of goods via chemical processes. This of course included not only the products themselves, but minerals, ores, and other reagents needed for their production. Chapter seven then discusses the development of recipes and the pro- duction of recipe books, which served the dual purpose of transmitting knowledge to future generations, as well as providing better control to the access of this knowl- edge. The final chapter then discusses the relationship between various practices and their artistic representa- tion, both visually and in words (poems, songs, etc.). As illustrated by the quick summary given above, this vol- ume brings much that is new to the study of this period of chemistry, providing new context to consider when reflecting on the processes and technologies developed during antiquity. While it would have been nice to have included aspects of the Far East, Beretta makes good arguments for why this was not included in the current effort. Regardless, this volume is highly recommend- ed for anyone with an interest in this earliest period of chemical practice. Volume 2: A Cultural History of Chemistry in the Mid- dle Ages. Charles Burnett and Sébastien Moureau, eds. (review by R. H. Crabtree) Sébastien Moureau’s introductory chapter sets out the geographic scope of volume 2 as the Islamic South, the Orthodox East and the Latin West over the period 400-1500 C.E. It also outlines the grave difficulties fac- ing students of the period, such as widespread pseude- pigraphy, shifting nomenclature, allegorical symbolism and coded language. Applications to medicine, dying and transmutation are discussed and linked to alchemi- cal principles and classifications, such as the familiar four element theory. The operations chapter that follows highlights the difference between craft and alchemy: both sought useful products but the latter also sought theoretical understanding. Various types of distillation, calcination, dissolution, coagulation and sublimation are also covered along with the equipment needed for each. Difficulties arise in interpreting the texts because they embody unstated ‘know-how’ that is hard to recon- struct. The third chapter on laboratories contrasts the abundance of relevant images in Latin sources with their paucity from Arabic ones, and even where they do exist in the latter they are often allegorical. There is also a useful extended discussion of archaeological finds with diagrams and images. Another avenue for exploration of the topic, although still too rarely used, is experimental, by design of historical replications. As for laboratories, 115Review of A Cultural History of Chemistry domestic spaces seem to have been most common, but artists’ depictions of them may owe more to invention than to reality. Archaeology indicates that abbeys may have housed workshops for preparation of inks for the scriptorium although this may have been a craft rath- er than a true alchemical tradition. Castles and noble urban dwellings have also provided similar evidence. Various specific tools, types of furnace and items of apparatus are listed or described, with the helpful addi- tion of their Arabic and Latin names. Chapter 4 provides an interesting discussion of alchemy’s relations with oth- er natural philosophic efforts along with contemporary criticism of the practice. Already in Arabic mss., alche- my is not always listed among the sciences and its valid- ity can be disputed. Because it had not existed in Aris- totle’s time, so not discussed by him, this had the effect of giving alchemy a secondary standing. Its relationship to the occult sciences of astrology and magic also hurt its standing, although many continued to hold the occult sciences as authentic. The close association of alchemy with medicine, especially in connection with Paracelsian doctrines and the analogy between an elixir curing peo- ple and the philosophers stone ‘curing’ metals is noted. The interconnection with religious ideas, so important in the period, is not neglected, as in the discussion of the quintessence and the special affinity of alchemy with Shiite Islam. In the Latin West, both detractors and sup- porters of alchemy are found among religious scholars, Roger Bacon being a notable adherent, Ramon Llull tak- ing the opposite position. Mary the Jewess is identified as a rare female adept, remembered today in the French term ‘bain Marie’ for an aqueous heating bath. Chapter 5 discusses the place of alchemy and the alchemist in Society. For example, as a supposedly purely practical art without theoretical underpinning, Buridan thought it had no place in a monastery, but some monaster- ies did have alchemical connections. Numerous Arabic and European royal courts also encouraged alchemical efforts. A major concern was economic: currency minted with false alchemical gold would be equivalent to coun- terfeiting. The next chapter discusses medieval chemi- cal technologies with case studies on metal and glass production, thus going beyond pure alchemy into trade and commercial concerns. Educational concerns follow next with a discussion of oral and manuscript transmis- sion of the art, noting the problems posed by semantic fluidity of alchemical terms and the problems with later alchemists composing alchemical texts falsely attribut- ed to well-known scholars, such as Llull, who in reality opposed the art. Perhaps the most original chapter is the final one on art, in which the images, often allegorical, found in the manuscripts are discussed and illustrated. In summary, this volume will be a valuable addition to institutional and personal scholarly libraries. Volume 3: A Cultural History of Chemistry in the Early Modern Age. Bruce T. Moran, ed. (review by A. Green- berg) The third volume traverses the sixteenth and seven- teenth centuries. Paracelsus, born in 1493, revolution- ized the medical paradigm; in 1597, Libavius published the first chemistry textbook; in 1697 Stahl published the phlogiston theory of combustion. The Introduction, by volume editor Bruce T. Moran, outlines historical and technical upheavals during the Renaissance. The cabi- net of medicines enriched by discovery of New World plants and animals; Luther and the Protestant Reforma- tion; Dutch East India Company and economic growth of Europe; Becher, chemist, and commercial advisor to the Holy Roman Emperor. Chapter One (Theory and Concepts…), by Lawrence M. Principe, seemingly “squares the circle” by accessibly contextualizing the four chemical theories of this era: Aristotle’s hylomor- phism: “forms” imposed upon “prime matter”; four ele- ments; mercury and sulfur; and a “quasi-particulate con- ception of the structure of matter”. To add to complex- ity, Principe describes variations and overlaps of these theories. William Newman and Principe reintroduced the archaic term “Chymistry” to remove the artificial barrier between serious alchemy and chemistry. Prac- tice and Experiment… by Joel A. Klein emphasizes the development of chymistry as a practice and theory of analysis and synthesis. Beginning with pseudo-Geber, continuing with the sixteenth-century works of Agri- cola and Brunschwig, technologies of assaying and dis- tillation became widely available to artisans and adepts. Indeed, Paracelsus considered the human body as a pro- cess of spagyria, a disassembly and reassembly of the tria prima (mercury, sulfur, salt). Sennert chemically separated gold-silver alloy, precipitating a silver salt and then recovering the pure metal. The gravimetric work of van Helmont began to make analysis quantitative. Labo- ratories and Technology…, by Donna Bilak, beautifully describes and illustrates the laboratory technology of the mid-seventeenth century with woodcuts of apparatus from LeFèvre’s Compendious Body of Chemistry (1662) and a painting by David Teniers the Younger. But the foibles, failures and road to poverty of gold makers are illustrated by Bruegel painting engraved by Galle, and allegorical secrets illustrated in Atalanta fugiens (1618), by the musical alchemist Maier, in which a washerwom- an launders philosophical matter to remove impurities. 116 Robert H. Crabtree, Arthur Greenberg, Seth C. Rasmussen Culture and Science…, by Andrew Sparling, describes the communication of chymical information by peri- patetic chymists, including Paracelsus and Kunckel, a century later. During this period books and pamphlets found avid readership. Boyle described, in print, wit- nessing transmutations and Newton was an avid reader of the Harvard-trained alchemist Starkey. Chemistry and Environment…, by William Eamon, is a very ambi- tious, wide-ranging chapter emphasizing the role of distillation, from purely commercial to charitable, pig- ments, mining, domains of women, the exponentially- increasing role of books including books of secrets, chemical imagery, warfare, the environment among top- ics. Trade and Industry…, by Tilmann Taape, returns to the economies of distillation, including woodcuts of apparatus from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Plat’s Jewell House of Art and Nature (1594) is cited for the clarity of presentation of works culled from many sources. In Learning and Institutions…, Margaret D. Garber offers examples of the roles of European noble courts and universities, in fostering theory and practice. Physicians played an important role as liaisons between the courts and universities such as those in Prague, Jena, Wittenberg, and Leiden as well as in France and England. Arts and Representation…, by Elisabeth Ber- ry Drago, employs a woodcut, an engraving and eleven paintings (in black and white), as well as excerpts of poems in order to illustrate the chymical mysteries, glo- ries, foibles, and frauds, as imagined by the artists of the period. This third volume, although replete with names, theories, processes and historical perspective, is a must for any institutional collection as well as for individual libraries of those interested in a truly interdisciplinary approach to the history of chemistry. Volume 4: A Cultural History of Chemistry in the Eighteenth Century. Matthew Eddy and Ursula Klein, eds. (review by A. Greenberg) According to its cover, this fourth volume in the series covers the period from 1700 to 1815. Emerging as a modern science, chemistry achieves respect in cultural and academic circles and contributes to material wealth as laboratory and workplace skills improve agriculture, pharmacy, medicine, manufacture, and the fine arts. The Introduction, by the editors, describes the institu- tionalization of chemistry in eighteenth-century Europe in the context of the Enlightenment. A major school of thought attributes the chemical revolution largely to Lavoisier and his contemporaries. Another school con- ceives Lavoisier’s breakthroughs in a wider context that developed gradually throughout the eighteenth century. Chapter One (Theory and Concepts…), by Ursula Klein, navigates readers through the complexities of the earli- est chemical theories which maintained their hold into the eighteenth century: Greek atomists, Aristotelian phi- losophers, and Paracelsians. Stahl is a crucial link blend- ing mechanical-corpuscular theories with theories based upon four principles comprising matter, transforming Becher’s seventeenth century theory into phlogiston- explaining combustion and calx formation as one. Stahl linked his chemistry with affinity tables. The concept of the chemical element was critical and Macquer (1753) was an important pioneer anticipating Lavoisier’s defini- tion of a chemical element. Even so, Lavoisier conceived of gaseous oxygen containing the element oxygen with the imponderable element caloric, the latter released as heat when oxygen combined with, say, mercury. In Chapter Two (Practice and Experiment…), Victor D. Boantza defines eighteenth-century terms of chemical operations, most still familiar but some obscure (e.g., collature, filtration through a hair sieve) and illustrates apparatus from the 1757 edition of Lemery’s Cours de chymie. Plants were exploited using “wet chemistry”, e.g., solvent extraction, and more often by “dry chem- istry”, e.g., distillation, to produce medicines. Mineral chemistry led to Geoffroy’s affinity table (1718), devoid of theory but the first ordering of chemical (and some physical) properties. Pneumatic chemistry, pioneered by Hales, Brownrigg, Cavendish and Priestley “set the table” for Lavoisier. Chapter Three (Laboratories and Technology…), by Marco Beretta, makes the important point that even university laboratories started with close ties to artisans, businesses and industries. Pharmacies had the greatest initial impact on laboratory techniques. A plate from the 1763 Encyclopédie depicts a mid-eight- eenth-century laboratory. Beretta emphasizes Macquer’s impact on theory and experiment including his 1766 Dictionnaire. The remainder of this chapter is devoted to pneumatic chemistry including illustration of Lavoisier’s complex gasometer. Beretta describes Scheele’s contri- butions, surprisingly little mentioned elsewhere in this volume. Chapter Four (Culture and Science…) by Ber- nadette Bensaude-Vincent describes the increasing fasci- nation of professionals and the lay public with chemical demonstrations (no longer “the mere province of ‘sooty empirics’”) and lectures by Shaw, G.-F. Rouelle, and Cullen. Venel’s essay and the illustrations in the Ency- clopédie further popularized chemistry. At Edinburgh, Cullen’s successor Black trained a generation of chemis- try professors including those at the best American uni- versities. The concluding section examines chemistry- inspired philosophies. In exploring Chemistry and Daily 117Review of A Cultural History of Chemistry Life, Matthew Daniel Eddy (Society and Environment…) takes an amazingly inclusive approach describing Patronage, Sociability, Consumerism, Politics, The Envi- ronment and Ecology. Particularly illuminating was the discussion of the interplay between chemistry and con- sumerism in European attempts to uncover the secrets of Chinese porcelain. Pott’s unsuccessful attempts to crack the Meissen Company’s formulation of porcelain led to the first widely-recognized chemical classifications of the earths. Chapter Six (Trade and Industry…) by Leslie Tomory begins with the mechanization of textile production during the industrial revolution, increasing the demand for innovation in and production of chemi- cals for bleaching, dying and fixing dyes to fabrics (salts termed mordants). In the section on metallurgy, we learn that Europe was initially dependent and eventually inspired by Indian technology as a source of high-qual- ity zinc for making brass. A section on domestic goods is followed by one on chemical industries including gun- powder buoyed by Lavoisier’s encyclopedic research on saltpeter. John C. Powers (Learning and Institutions…) describes the evolution of didactic chemistry from arti- san chemists in the early eighteenth century toward university professors, noting that in 1720 there only six chemistry professorships in German universities that increased to twenty-eight in 1780. Apprenticeships were common in the early eighteenth century, but the qual- ity of training was highly variable, and the increasing sophistication of chemical science demanded sounder didactics including theory. There were public lectures, for example G.-F. Rouelle, at the Jardin du Roi, that were often open free to the public and private instruc- tion for those who could afford it. Boerhaave, at Leiden, presented a fairly modest course for university students but a more comprehensive course for paying customers. Throughout the eighteenth century, textbooks evolved from purely practical to incorporate theory, culminat- ing in Lavoisier’s 1789 Traité. Art and Representation…, by John R.R. Christie, illustrates the growing fascina- tion among growing urbane middle and upper classes, depicting fascination with the science as well as oppor- tunities for satire from such as Gillray. Perhaps the apex in chemical artwork is the very large, much-analyzed portrait by David of the Lavoisiers in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Among literary representations, con- siderable emphasis is placed on the radical English poet Anna Letitia Barbauld, who remained Priestley’s corre- spondent well beyond his emigration to America follow- ing the 1791 “Priestley riots” in Birmingham. As Chris- tie comments: “Priestley’s appearances in Barbauld’s poetry received gentler and more positive handling than from the carricaturists of the 1790s.” Volume 5: A Cultural History of Chemistry in the Nineteenth Century. (Edited by Peter J. Ramberg, ed. (review by R. H. Crabtree) The introduction to Volume 5 notes the high points of a century, the ‘long’ 19th, that may mark the high point for chemistry as a whole. This takes us from debates on atomism to the puzzling phenomenon of radioactivity. Whether Dalton’s atoms were real, as he thought, or merely useful concepts, remained a continu- ing debate throughout. The middle of the century saw both Mendeleev’s Periodic Table and the rise of organ- ic chemistry and the dyestuff industry dependent on it. By the end of the century, professionalisation of the field was far advanced with universities creating labora- tories for teaching and research, especially in Germany where the chemical industry also flourished, for example in dye production. A theory chapter follows that traces the development of the ideas of atoms, equivalents and formulas and argues that Berzelius and Davy were the most influential figures of the early period. The finding that Liebig’s silver fulminate and Wöhler’s silver cyanate had the same chemical composition led Berzelius to coin the term isomerism and explain this result in terms of a differing atomic arrangement. The rise of physical chemistry in the same period is discussed, including such figures as Gibbs, foreshadowing the rise of the US as a scientific power in the next century. Ostwald, deny- ing physical atoms, used thermodynamics as a replace- ment scaffold for discussion of the experimental facts. Spectroscopy came into being with an early application of elemental analysis of the solar atmosphere by com- parison of the solar spectrum with laboratory standards. Chapter two charts the development of experimental practice, including analysis, lab equipment, the repre- sentation of molecules, a section that includes an image of Kekulé’s own molecular models. The next chapter contrasts the relative simplicity of the chemical labo- ratory in 1800, often in a private space, with the vastly more complicated situation by the end of the century when labs were almost always institutional and used not just for research but also for teaching, Germany taking the lead. Oxford resisted adding experimental sciences to its curriculum perhaps because most of its gradu- ates took up clerical appointments. Chemistry, it was also felt, did not fit with the intellectual activities of the University. Activity also spread to the Americas: by the end of the period, Harvard had a Chemistry Depart- ment with 14 teaching staff and more than 300 students engaged either in undergraduate or graduate studies, thus approaching closely to the modern pattern. The next chapter more directly justifies the cultural history 118 Robert H. Crabtree, Arthur Greenberg, Seth C. Rasmussen orientation of the whole work by looking at the influ- ence of chemistry on the wider world. Jane Marcet’s ‘Conversations on Chemistry’ popularized chemistry in 16 British editions from 1805 to 1853; public lectures, such as ones by Tyndall, Frankland and Faraday, were very well attended, including by Marcet herself. Faraday published his ‘Chemical History of a Candle’ in 1861, a work that, remarkably, is said to have never been out of print since. Applications to agriculture were the topic of several books in the period intended to encourage scien- tific farming, such as Liebig’s ‘Agricultural Chemistry’. Anaethesia in medicine also depended on chemistry, for example Queen Victoria much appreciated being given chloroform in her last two confinements. Advances in forensic medicine included the celebrated Marsh Test for arsenic and Orfila’s test for blood stains. Religious influ- ences were still evident--Prout, for example, pointed to Dalton’s Laws as examples of divine wisdom. Mary Shel- ley’s celebrated novel, ‘Frankenstein’, published as early as 1818, includes references to then-current popular sci- ence. The rise of photography from the 1840s relied on chemistry for development of the images and of course the dye industry led to much brighter clothing becom- ing available. The next chapter continues the theme of the influence of chemistry on society with a discussion of the numerous ways in which this was felt. For exam- ple, how the supply of clean water, and pure food and drugs was assisted by analytical chemistry. As for indus- try, we are told that chemists were only employed in significant numbers after 1870, because prior industrial practice differed little from traditional craft procedures. Chemical industry was strongly represented in the trade fairs that followed the Great Exhibition of 1851. Explo- sive manufacture was perfected in the same period, an advance that was to have a big impact in both peace and war. Thanks to the the foundation of women’s colleges, such as Girton at Cambridge in 1869 and Vassar in 1865, women made significant contributions to research late in the century, but were sadly still excluded from many professional bodies. Chapter 6 covers chemical industry, with a close look at pharmaceuticals and fertilizers. The next chapter covers learning and institutions, with spe- cial attention to popularization and the role of chemical societies and their journals. The final chapter takes the ‘mad scientist’ as its theme, not a particularly appeal- ing one to this reviewer. As a general point, a common problem with edited volumes is evident here: some mate- rial is duplicated in different chapters but otherwise this work provides a view of chemical history from an origi- nal viewpoint and will be a valuable addition to institu- tional and personal scholarly libraries. Volume 6: A Cultural History of Chemistry in the Modern Age. Peter J.T. Morris, ed. (review by R. H. Crabtree) The final volume has the formidable challenge of covering the period from 1914 to the present. Some of the themes include the rise of mechanism and of com- putational chemistry in explaining the course of reac- tions and of X-ray diffraction and of the common spec- troscopic techniques for determining structures. The development of oral contraceptives influenced cultural behavior and demography and the rise of chemical engi- neering and green chemistry had a direct influence on industrial practice. Links with biology and physics were formed with the rise of molecular biology and chemical physics and links with industry came from natural prod- ucts, polymers, silicones, solid state chemistry and cataly- sis. Isotope dating gave human development an absolute timescale and even determined the age of the Earth. Some of the themes of prior volumes are taken up again here, such as professionalization and internationalization. Adverse trends are also noted in the closure of some UK chemistry departments, and the possibility that the field might be largely absorbed by neighboring disciplines. The major theoretical advance of the early period, the understanding of bonding and reactivity, led to mechanistic thinking that in turn fed into structure and synthesis with such advances as the hemoglobin struc- ture and the Coenzyme B12 synthesis. Late in the peri- od, nanoscience came to the fore with such novelties as Bucky Ball and carbon nanotubes. Research, education and policy form the core of chapter two, with empha- sis on numerous advances, many of which affected the wider world. The next chapter examines the evolution of the laboratory over the period. A radical shift that start- ed in the 1950s involved the introduction of major elec- tronic instrumentation on a grand scale that displaced prior practices such as organic structure determination by chemical means. The advent of these costly machines greatly increased the costs of research but enhanced its output. Mass spectroscopy, gas chromatography and NMR spectroscopy are discussed in detail and the importance of timely books is illustrated by Roberts’ ‘Nuclear Magnetic Resonance’ of 1959 that made NMR sufficiently understandable so the general bench chem- ist could use it. One point that could have had greater emphasis in this series as a whole is the importance of textbooks as both influencers of the field as well as pro- viding evidence of its evolution over time. Chapter four shows how chemistry’s earlier good public reputation was put in question in the 1970s by rising attention to such negative outcomes as industrial pollution and the 119Review of A Cultural History of Chemistry undesired side-effects of pesticides and drugs; items lat- er added to the list include halocarbon refrigerants and perfluorinated ‘forever chemicals’. Chapter 5 continues the same theme with the international regulation of pol- lution, climate change and efforts to ban chemical weap- ons, and introduces a new one with the rise of women in the field. Chapter 6 traces the rise of the chemical industry with special reference to its globalization and internationalization during the century. Beginning with Japan in the 1950s and more recently with China, the rise of East Asia as a scientific center is documented but the 1990s are considered to bring in an era of global sci- ence, facilitated by the new methods of communication across the globe. The final chapter on art and represen- tation continues the theme of the ‘mad scientist’, men- tioned in the last volume, as well as tracing the repre- sentation of scientists in general literature such as chil- dren’s comics. In summary, this volume does a fine job of selecting telling aspects of the century’s development in the field and providing a useful bibliography for fur- ther study. SUMMARY OF THE REVIEWERS In conclusion, we collectively believe that the cul- tural history covered in the six volumes presented above provides a fresh view of the history of chemistry, with analysis and discussion that surpasses the frequent pres- entation of notable individuals, chemical processes, and discoveries. By considering the full impact and interplay of society with chemical practice, a much more complete representation is achieved. As such, this series marks a valuable addition to the study and knowledge of the his- tory of chemistry. Substantia An International Journal of the History of Chemistry Vol. 7, n. 1 – 2023 Firenze University Press Superbugged Pierandrea Lo Nostro Equivalence of Electromagnetic Fluctuation and Nuclear (Yukawa) Forces: the π0 Meson, its Mass and Lifetime Barry W. Ninham1, Iver Brevik2, Mathias Boström3,4 The Rate Constant – Reaction Free Energy Dependence for the Electron Transfer Reactions in Solutions. The Way to Interpret the Experimental Data Correctly Lev I. Krishtalik1,† Training of Future Chemistry Teachers by a Historical / STEAM Approach Starting from the Visit to an Historical Science Museum Valentina Domenici A New Response to Wray and an Attempt to Widen the Conversation Eric Scerri Boxing Partula: 25 Years After Stephen T. Hyde Surface Inactivation of Bacterial Viruses and of Proteins Mark H. Adams Johann Beckmann (1739-1811) and Modern Chemical Technology Juergen Heinrich Maar Kuroda Chika (1884-1968) – Pioneer Woman Chemist in Twentieth Century Japan Yona Siderer Review of A Cultural History of Chemistry. Peter J. T. Morris and Alan Rocke, eds., Bloomsbury Academic: London, 2022 Robert H. Crabtree1, Arthur Greenberg2, Seth C. Rasmussen3