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
forces of nature are known to us, that their action has been investigated, that from their effect we are able retrospectively to draw conclusions and determine what part each of them has in matters animate". Above all, he thought, it was necessary to prove that heat, electricity, magnetism, and chemical affinity were capable of "forming that remarkable harmony, so evident in organic beings... On the other hand, it is quite impossible to share the views of the vitalists, to whom it seems that in allowing for one or more vital forces they are able to account for the secrets of living organisms". 8 In Liebig's times organic chemistry and physiology had different objectives and used different methods. This, Liebig believed, was an obstacle to their mutual, effective collaboration. Jakub Natanson, on the other hand, claimed - alike Kant, and later Sniadecki, but benefitting from the experience of half a century of progress in chemistry - that "just as there can be no doubt that as time goes by we shall be able to obtain artificial organic compounds, so it seems quite certain that man shall never be able to synthesize organized matter, which can only be generated from an organized germ". 9 Fermentation Observation of natural phenomena prompted another way of investigating plant and animal substances - namely there developed an interest in research on fermentation. Fermentation was understood as a spontaneous process of decomposition of organisms, which took place at the moment of cessation of life and which led, by a gradual degradation of organic compounds, to initial substances, or inorganic compounds. It was a natural process, caused by forces of chemical affinity, and was the converse of syntheses in which a part was played by factors linked with life, such as the organic force. Therefore for many years fermentation constituted an important branch of organic chemistry - first as a research method, and later as a technological process. Depending on the kind of material undergoing decomposition and on the external conditions such as temperature, humidity, free or restricted access of atmospheric air, three kinds of fermentation were distinguished: alcoholic, acetic and putrefactive. Attempts to explain the chemistry of alcoholic fermentation and the transformation of ethyl alcohol into vinegar had attracted the attention of many researchers in the past 10 , but it was only at the end of the 18th century that such attempts led to fundamental discoveries and played a major role in the formation of gas chemistry. At the same time research in this area was the oldest example of observations of natural processes of organic chemistry, conducted in vitro. However, it was not the
