The History of Chemistry

Chemistry did not emerge as a science until after the scientific revolution

in the seventeenth century and then only rather slowly and laboriously. But

chemical knowdedge is as old as history, being almost entirely concerned

with the practical arts of living. Cooking is essentially a chemical

process; so is the melting  of  metals and the administration  of drugs and

 poisons. This  basic chemical knowledge, which was applied in most cases

as a rule of thumb, was nevertheless dependent on previous experiment. It

also served to stimulate a fundamental curiosity about the processes

themselves. New information was always being gained as artisans improved

techniques to gain better results. The  development of a scientific        

approach to chemistry  was, however, hampered by several factors. The most

serious problem was the vast range of material available and the consequent

difficulty of organizing it into some system. In addition, there were

social and intellectual difficulites, chemistry is nothing if not

practical; those who practice it must use their hands, they must have a

certain practical flair. Yet in many ancient civilizations, practical tasks

were primarily the province of a slave population. The thinker or

philosopher stood apart from this mundane world, where the practical arts

appeared to lack any intellectual content or interest. The final problem

for early chemical science was the element of secrecy. Experts in specific

trades had developed their own techniques and guarded their knowledge to

prevent others from stealing their livelihood. Another factor that

contributed to secrecy was the esoteric nature of the knowledge of a

alchemists, who were trying to transform base metals into gold or were

concerned with the hunt for the elixir that would bestow the blessing of

eternal life. In one sense, the second of these was the more serious

impediment because the records of the chemical processes that early

alchemists had discovered were often written  down in symbolic language

intelligible to very few or  in symbols that were purposely obscure.    

化學的歷史

化學在 17 世紀的科技革命后才成為一門科 學，其發(fā)展是緩慢而艱難的。  但化學知識卻象人類歷史一樣古老，與人們實際生活密切相 關(guān)。

做飯基本上是一個化學過程。  同樣，金屬熔煉、使用藥品或毒劑也是如此。  人們在

大多數(shù)情況下只是粗糙地運用這些基本化學知識，但這些基本知識的確是來自于前人的實 驗。 它們同時也激發(fā)了人們對化學本身的興趣。

匠人們利用新技術(shù)來改良工藝，就增加了 對化學的了解。 但是，化學科學方法的發(fā)展卻有許多阻礙的因素。 其中最嚴重的問題就是

要把浩如煙海的物質(zhì)歸納為若干系統(tǒng)確實很困難。 此外，還有社會和知識的原因。 離開實

際用途，化學就毫無價值；研究化學的人必須親自動手，這就要求他們要有很強的動手能力。 但在許多古代文明中，動手的活都是奴隸的行當。

思想家與哲學家與此勞碌決不沾邊，因 為在他們看來，實際操作技能低智而乏味。  最后，還有一個原因妨礙早期化學的發(fā)展，那 就是保密。

某個行家一旦發(fā)現(xiàn)了新技術(shù)，就竭力保密以防被人偷了飯碗。 另一個原因加劇

了知識封鎖這是因為煉金術(shù)士的知識的神秘性。這些術(shù)士們要么想他便宜的金屬變成黃金，

要么期望找到一種長生不老藥。從某種意義上說，這第二個因素帶來了更嚴重的阻礙，因為

早期術(shù)士們的研究成果記載于鮮為人知的或故意讓人不懂的符號中。

譯路通武漢漢口翻譯公司整理

2012.6.24