Technikatörténeti szemle 22. (1996)
Papers from the Second International Conference on the History of Chemistry and Chemical Industry (Eger, Hungary, 16–19 August, 1995) - Lichocka, Halina: The Methodological Problems of Organis Chemistry in the First Half of the 19th Century – Jedrzej Sniadeckis work
1765 and the following years), of which J. Cuvier said that "it enjoyed a very wide readership, for its style is full of charm...". 17 Bonnet argued that all natural bodies, irespective of their diversity, constituted an unbroken chain of structures, starting from the simplest elements all the way up to the divine. The first links in the chain were made up by substances that were not yet internally ordered, then followed the crystals and minerals. Among minerals those that had a fibrous structure were of a higher rank. The link between minerals and the vegetable world was asbestos, which is very similar to mushrooms, troufles and lichens. The world of plants was undergoing ever increasing complication, until it reached the complexity of animal structure. Bonnet believed that the transition link between plants and animals had yet to be found, but ought to be sought among polyps and anthozoa. Further structural continuity in the natural world did not give rise to any doubts. The top position in the animal hierarchy was occupied by man, who differed from the rest by his permanent development, especially intellectual and moral development, and thus resembled higher beings, whose bodies and souls were more perfect and more volatile. The unity of the natural world again had a strong appeal to the imagination at a time where unitary views prevailed in chemistry. Unitarism itself was a consequence of the empirical current and stemmed from the search for laws governing the synthesis of organic compounde. Almost half a century after Bonnet had created his chain of continuity of structure, the Polish organic chemist, Leon Marchlewski expressed doubts as to the ultimate immutability of elements and asked about the most fundamental, cardinal constituent, a kind of pre-matter, which would transform itself into the known elements under the influence of evolutionary processes, "...humanity has not yet given us a Darwin, Spencer, Huxley or Haeckl in chemistry" 18 , he wrote. At a time when there was much fascination with the possibility of artificially introducing into organic compounds of elements and minaral groups, it seemed that the scope of action for organic synthesis was unlimited. Already in the 1850s it was believed that the distinction between mineral and organic chemistry was only of a didactic relevance, for organic chemistry was no more than the chemistry of carbon compounds, subject to the same laws as all the other substances. Squaring the Circle Along with a unitary understanding of nature, and also new advances in organic synthesis, there appeared a more or less evident conviction that man could exert an influence on the shape and properties of matter and
