• Domestic science and medicine in the 19th - early 20th centuries Chemistry of the 19th century in medicine
• What are peptides? Types and types of peptides. All about peptides and anti-aging cosmetics with peptides Additional peptides are not formed
• Toxic effect on humans of hazardous chemicals
• Radioautography Method of autoradiography in cytology
• Identification of bacteria by antigenic structure
• Organic matter in wastewater What are organic compounds in water
• Hydrogen index (pH factor)
• What is the pH of water and why is it important to know it?
• Redox potential Redox systems
• Reversible redox system Reversible redox systems

Science was formed only 300 years ago. Does it make sense to withdraw from the study of chemistry during the time of the "Grey Antiquities"? It may be sufficient to consider how chemistry developed in the 18th and 20th centuries. After all, it was the views of this period that entered the chemical teachings or were rejected. With this approach, we will not be able to understand why and on what basis the basic sciences emerged. You and I will not understand why the atomistic theory and many other views that were expressed by the first natural philosophers made their way with such difficulty. The further we penetrate into the depths of history and consider those rudiments of chemical knowledge that arose at the dawn of human development, the better we will understand our present.

Chemical knowledge among primitive people.

Usually in general methodology courses, types of cognition are considered at the very beginning. And the first type of knowledge that methodologists single out is ordinary knowledge, thanks to which a person gains life experience and works out technological methods.
It is from these positions that we must consider the contribution of primitives to chemical knowledge. Observations of natural phenomena, contemplation of nature was the first experience that was generalized, and a person mastered certain skills and knowledge.
As many historians of science note, the fire was the first human laboratory. Having mastered fire  100 thousand years ago, man began to experience the effect of fire on stones, minerals, ceramics, and ores.
Obviously, in this way, he could melt the metals from which he made various decorations. The names of metals were associated with cosmic phenomena. So the name of gold is Aurum - "Aurora" - morning dawn. The ancient Egyptians, Armenians and other peoples knew about meteoric iron. In the era of primitive society, some mineral paints (ocher, umber) were also known.
All this incomplete, fragmentary knowledge we have thanks to the successes of chemistry in the 20th century. In 1960, the American physical chemist Willard Frank Libby was awarded the Nobel Prize: "For the introduction of the method of using carbon-14 to determine the age in archeology, geology, geophysics and other fields of science." This method itself, the method of radiocarbon dating (using the 14C isotope), was proposed by him in 1947. Thus, chemistry itself allowed us to know its distant past.

The origin of handicraft chemistry.

Practical and handicraft chemistry originated in the era of slavery in all countries of Central and Near Asia, North Africa and on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. What are the main crafts we meet at this time?
There are 3 types of handicraft chemical equipment:
1. High-temperature processes - ceramics, glassware, metallurgy;
2. Pharmaceutics and perfumery;
3. Obtaining paints and staining technique.
So, let's look at each direction in more detail.

High-temperature processes (metallurgy, ceramics, glass-making).

In metallurgy, information about metals and methods for their smelting from ores was rapidly expanding.
Glassmaking has been mastered for a long time. There is a legend that glass was discovered by accident by Phoenician sailors who were in distress and landed on one island, where they lit a fire and overlaid it with lumps of soda. When the fire went out, the sailors found the beads. But a legend is a legend, although it is sometimes based on real facts. Archaeological excavations indicate that in ancient Egypt, their glass beads date back to 2500 BC. Large glass products could not be produced at that time, so large products (vases) were made from sintered material.
In the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. in ancient Egypt, the real production of glass for decorative and ornamental material began to develop. The potassium content of the glass is low, indicating that the silica was melted with soda. Due to the high content of soda, it was possible to reduce the melting temperature, however, the quality characteristics deteriorated. Coloring, of course, depended on additives.
In Mesopotamia, advanced glass production already appeared in the 17th century BC.
In Eastern Palestine, in excavations dating back to 3 thousand BC. glass furnaces were discovered. Glassblowing appears to have been invented at the dawn of a new era, and earlier glassware was cast.
The manufacture of ceramics is the oldest of the handicraft industries. In addition to dishes, tiles were made for the exterior decoration of buildings. This type of craft was developed in China, Egypt, Mesopotamia, etc.

Pharmacy and perfumery

A number of recipes for pharmaceuticals, the so-called "Ebers Papyrus" (16th century BC). Although they do not contain purely chemical procedures, they indicate that the artisans had such techniques in their arsenal: digestion, infusion, squeezing, fermentation, pumping, etc. According to the historian Pliny, many medicines were known in his time. FeSO4 was used as an emetic, alum solutions were used for compresses and gargling. Poisons were known that were used in hunting and during the war. Perfumery and cosmetics were obtained by squeezing, extraction, etc., as a rule, from plants.

Obtaining paints and dyeing technology.

We have already noted that in ancient times, mineral paints were widely used for rock and wall painting, and for cosmetic purposes, paints of plant and animal origin. In ancient Egypt, earth paints, as well as artificially obtained oxides and other metal compounds, were used for rock and wall painting. Most often, ocher, red lead, whitewash, sax, ground copper sheen, oxides of iron, copper, etc. were used. Vitrunius (1st century AD) described the preparation of ancient Egyptian glaze: sand was calcined in a clay pot along with soda and copper filings.
In general, the use of colored copper compounds to obtain glazes was widely used. Blue glaze tinted with copper is recorded in items dating back to 2800 BC. At a later time, cobalt was found in the composition of glasses (500 BC). From the beginning of the first millennium BC. The Egyptians began to use lead glaze, which gave yellow and greenish colors.
In Western Asia and Egypt, along with mineral paints, vegetable natural dyes were also used. The technology for obtaining the coloring beginning of the ball is the most diverse - this is dissolution in alkalized water and oils, this is fermentation, this is extraction, etc.
Sometimes getting the dye was a very laborious task. So in Mesopotamia, kurkur was known as early as the 2nd millennium BC.
The paint was obtained from a bivalve mollusk of the genus Murex, which lived in the shallows of the island of Cyprus. The coloring matter is located in a small gland in the form of a sac. It was squeezed out and applied to the fabric. When dried in the light, the color of the fabric began to change: green - red - purple-red. If this fabric is washed with soap, then the color becomes bright crimson. To obtain 1.5 g of dry dye, it was necessary to process 12 thousand mollusks.
The Egyptians made purple by applying red to blue, and they made green by applying blue to yellow.
Aluminum alum, iron salts (FeSO4, (CH3COO)2Fe) were taken as mordants. Copper, lead and tin mordants began to be used in the second half of the 1st millennium BC.
West of the Nile, in ancient Egypt, aluminum alum was mined in the desert. Therod, who is rightly called the "father of history," writes that in the 4th century BC. 1000 talents (more than 36 tons) of "binding earth" were sent from Egypt to Delphi. We first met with weight units. You noticed that the measure of weight coincides in name with the denomination of banknotes. And this is no coincidence. The fact is that metal coins often served as a measure of weight in the states of Asia Minor, Middle Asia and Western Asia. When studying ancient weights and coins, it was found that the oldest system of weight units known to us is based on the weight of one grain of bread (grain); 60 grains weigh 1 shekel, 60 shekels - 1 mina, 60 mins - 1 talent. True, there were at least 3 mines in Ancient Babylon: ordinary, “silver” and “gold”. In modern measures of measurement, a grocery (ordinary) mine was 491.2 g; "silver" - 545.7 g; and "golden" - 409.3 g. These measures of weight served as the basis for weight units in other countries. In the 6th century BC. the Greek legislator Solon (638-559 BC) transformed the system of weight units. In particular, the weight of 1 min in ancient Greece was 450 g, and 60 min or a talent was 27 kg.
But back to mordants and dyes. "Binding Earth" has been known for a very long time. In 2 thousand BC. the Greeks used alum for dyeing. The use of alum for tanning leather and in medicine was known as early as the time of Nebuchadnezzar (12th century BC)
On the threshold of the New Era, the range of natural dyes has expanded significantly. Other plants have been found as sources of colors. New dyeing technologies appeared: printing of fabrics in Egypt. The range of mineral paints has also expanded: verdigris [(CH3COO)2Cu], white lead [(CH3COO)2Pb, PbCl2]. Lacquers like drying oil appeared. Chinese ink and Chinese varnishes were widely used.
So, let's sum up this period of the prehistory of chemistry. Evaluating it, the famous chemist and historian of chemistry Paul Walden wrote: “These empiricists of antiquity mastered the art of transforming substances to a high degree only through systematic experience and observation, meaningful “Testing” and “Thinking”. It was during this period that handicraft techniques appeared, which later became part of the practice of chemical laboratories. This includes roasting, melting, boiling, filtration, drying, crystallization, distillation, as well as cementing techniques. The method of desalination of sea water by distillation was also known in antiquity. Appeared in the practice of artisans of antiquity and the first qualitative methods of analysis.
But was it only this, in modern terms, empirical material that was obtained in this period of history? These works were the basis of the first theoretical constructions. But one thing is not in doubt at the present time, that Greek natural philosophy, in which the first views on the structure of matter appeared - the basis of the chemical views of a later period - originated in the mythology of the ancient peoples. We can easily find the "substances" of the first natural philosophers of Ancient Greece in the elements of mythology, which already had substantial significance within mythological thinking. Mythological thinking thus preceded philosophical and natural philosophical thinking, and the first builders of philosophical systems knew mythology very well. Therefore, it is no coincidence that we find all the fundamental principles of ancient Greek philosophers in mytho-epic cosmogonies.
Much remains to be done by historians of science and cultologists so that you and I can rethink this layer of human culture. After all, it is quite obvious that the human mind, which rationalized the myth, did not flash once in the heads of the first philosophers. This mind itself, theoretical thinking itself, was formed as a result of the rethinking of this myth. We find confirmation of these words in the ancient Greek philosophers themselves. So, analyzing the views of Thales, Aristotle noted: “... very ancient thinkers, who lived long before the present generation and first engaged in theology, held precisely such views regarding nature: they made the Ocean and Tethys the sources of origin, and water became their oath of the gods, namely Styx, as they called it, for the most respected is the oldest, and the oath is the most respected.
We have come to the next section, which was traditionally included in the course "History of Chemistry", and "History of Natural Science" in general. This is a section dedicated to the natural philosophy of the ancient world.

The emergence and development of natural-philosophical ideas about matter.

In the last centuries of the last outgoing era, the first philosophical teachings began to appear. These were the teachings of Confucius in China, Buddha in India, and many others. Why are these teachings classified as philosophical?
First of all, because they were worldview systems, although some of them relied on the interpretation of myths and included mythology as an integral part of the doctrine. What is most important to us is that these philosophical systems contained the doctrine of the beginnings of all things. These were, first of all, ontological systems.
The most complete teachings about substances and principles are presented by the ancient Greek philosophers. Traditionally, the analysis of the teachings of the ancient Greek philosophers begins with an examination of the teachings of Thales from Miletus (c. 620-540 BC).
One of the sages of the ancient world, he is rightfully considered the father of ancient Greek science. In the old days, they wrote about him that he was the "first" philosopher, the "first" physicist, the "first" mathematician and astronomer.
He founded the Ionian school of natural philosophers. He was an active participant in the political and economic life of his policy (city). He was an active man, a merchant who visited Egypt, and Phenicia, and Babylon.
There is an opinion that the ancient Greek philosophers did not engage in empirical experiments. The first experiments with amber to study electrical phenomena were carried out by Thales. We have already spoken about the view of Thales on the primary matter. And the source of this view was pointed out to us by Aristotle. "Water" is the fundamental principle of everything that exists on earth. "Air" is evaporated "water", and after the evaporation of water, "earth" remains. Where? From solution! After all, this is sea water containing salts, as we now know very well. And mere observation does not contradict these views. Everything is in the water. It is difficult to challenge this view, given the level of knowledge of the time.
Alaximenes of Milan (585 - 525 BC) had a different idea. The beginning of everything is “air”, which, condensing, passes into “water” and falls in the form of rain, and “water”, evaporating, gives the earth.
In Heraclitus of Ephesus (540 - 475 BC), fire is the origin. And this is understandable if we remember that we owe Heraclitus the dialectical form of cognition of the world. The variability of the world, constant renewal best conveys the image of fire.
Naturally, there were teachings emanating from two principles that give birth to everything, as in the case of man (anthropomorphism).
But for us the teachings of Aristotle and Democritus are more interesting. It was these teachings that determined the formation of scientific views in chemistry. They are the source of the struggle between different theories and different views on the structure and composition of chemicals. It is also surprising that these two teachings appeared almost at the same time.
So, let's start with the teachings of Aristotle. This teaching comes directly from Socrates through Plato and, of course, it unites and develops the teachings of other philosophical schools of ancient Greece. The teaching of Aristotle is, as it were, a continuation and development of the teaching of Empedocles on the elements, which goes back to cosmology. In the teachings of Empedocles, the cosmos is formed by 4 elemental elements (fire, air, water and earth). These elements are combined in different proportions due to two "forces" - Love and Enmity. These "forces" in Empedocles are not external in relation to his elemental elements, but the elemental elements themselves are endowed with these qualities. But how do complex bodies arise from these elements? Here, a contradiction was discovered in the teachings of Empedocles, which was revealed by Philonon (6th century AD): “He contradicts himself, saying that the elements are immutable, and that they do not arise from each other, but (everything) the rest ) of them; on the other hand, arguing that during the reign of Love, everything becomes and a qualityless Ball is formed, in which the originality of neither fire nor any of the other (elements) is preserved, since each of the elements loses (here) its own form ” .
In other words, according to Empedocles, the whole is devoid of quality, and the parts included in this whole are endowed with it. The usual, metaphysical approach does not allow us to solve this problem. To understand the teachings of Empedocles, one must first consider the biomorphic concept that underlies his teachings. Empedocles' "elements" cease to exist as a whole (in space) in the organic whole, like the juices that plants feed on, leading to its growth and development, and lose their individuality in it, in the plant. At the same time, Empedocles abstracts from the structure of the whole. Empedocles does not distinguish between animate and inanimate nature. The entire cosmos is a combination of its "roots" - the elements. And these elements in Empedocles are conceived as dynamic opposites: “all of the four elements; the nature of the latter consists of opposites: dryness and humidity, warmth and cold ... ".
How does the natural philosophy of Aristotle differ from the teachings of Empedocles? Empedocles, as we have already seen, has no idea of ​​the origin of elements and does not consider qualitative changes. Aristotle focused his attention precisely on qualitative changes.
We began with you an analysis of the philosophical teachings of Ancient Greece, which were decisive for the development of theoretical teachings in chemistry from Aristotle for several reasons. First, the writings of Aristotle are better known. Secondly, it was Aristotle who examined the atomistic doctrine in the most detail, and he also pointed out its weaknesses.
Aristotle was probably the first thinker of antiquity who highly appreciated the teachings of the atomists. It was Aristotle who first noted that the atomists created such a doctrine that clarified the understanding of the difference between the concepts of emergence and the concept of a simple change of a thing. But at the same time, Aristotle criticized Democritus for denying the independent existence of qualities. A critical analysis of the views of his teacher Plato and the atomists led Aristotle to the conclusion that any object distinguished by the presence of certain qualities cannot be formed from conceivable objects devoid of quality. In accordance with the teachings of Democritus, everything consists of atoms and voids. The changes that we observe in bodies are a change in composition, creation is a combination of atoms, and annihilation is a separation of atoms. Aristotle, criticizing these views, acted as a dialectician, arguing that the division of the whole into parts is not only the destruction of the old, but also the birth of the new, and the connection is the birth, but also the destruction. “If water is divided into tiny particles, then air is born immediately, while if water particles are combined, air is born very slowly.”
Based on a critical analysis of previous teachings about the elements, Aristotle creates his own philosophical system. He builds it "from above" "down", i.e. “from higher to lower”, from “complex to simple”. What does Aristotle mean by elements? Under the elements, Aristotle understands "something" that arises and is destroyed during any transition. These elements we can perceive by "qualities". It should be noted that real and ideal elements are distinguished in the doctrine.
Schematically, the views of Aristotle can be represented as follows:

This scheme can be deciphered as follows: the element - fire has two qualities: warmth and dryness, etc. This is the so-called normal state of the element, but in the extreme (real) state, the balance is shifted towards heat - this is real fire. Ice is water in which, due to a shift in equilibrium, cold dominates, and moisture is practically absent.
Based on the scheme presented by us, it is possible to analyze the mechanisms of interconversions of elements. The first way is a sequential transformation:

Fire (t - s)  air (t - c)

It is carried out easily, since only the conversion of the 1st quality into the opposite is necessary.
More difficult is the transformation of elements located diagonally, since conversions must undergo 2 qualities:

Fire  water
Air  earth

And, finally, a third mechanism can be cited, when two elements pass into the third through the elimination of 2 qualities.

Fire (t - s) + water (x - c)  earth (c - x) + t + c

It should be noted that Aristotle's 4 elements are not equivalent: they are divided into 2 pure (fire and earth) and 2 mixed (water and air)
Another important remark about the Aristotelian elements. Aristotle's elements are the limit of perfection that does not exist in nature. Water in the sea, in the river, in a raindrop only remotely resembles the Aristotelian element "water". These two "waters" are never identical.
For us, it is also interesting how Aristotle considered the origin of specific substances, such as metals.
According to Aristotle, the earth under the influence of solar heat gives two types of evaporation:

X + v \u003d steam t + s \u003d smoke steam + earth \u003d metal !!!

.
The founders of atomistics (ancient) are Leucippus and Democritus. Despite all the progressiveness of this doctrine, it influenced the development of natural science only in modern times, and in a noticeably revised form. There are several reasons for this. The main ones are the following. As we have already shown above, the teaching of Aristotle absorbed and critically reworked the teaching of the atomists, pointing out the weaknesses of this teaching. On the other hand, the atomistic doctrine came into conflict with various teachings, so it could not develop successfully in the Middle Ages.
We will consider the atomistic teaching of the ancient Greek philosophers in more detail later. And now let's move on to another, very important stage in the development of chemistry, which is perceived by many historians of science and, especially by historians of chemistry, very ambiguously. This stage is called the period of alchemy.

Technology of the main forms of activity that support life ().

Knowledge animal habits and selectivity in the choice fruits.;

Natural knowledge ( properties of stone, their changes with heating, types of wood, orientation by stars).

· medical knowledge(the simplest methods of healing wounds, surgical operations, the treatment of colds, bloodletting, intestinal lavage, stopping bleeding, the use of balms, ointments, treating bites, cauterization with fire, psychotherapeutic actions).

· Elementary counting system, measurement distances with the help of body parts (nail, elbow, hand, arrow flight, etc.).

Elementary timing system by comparing the position of the stars, the separation of the seasons, knowledge of natural phenomena.

· Transfer of information

Each subject creative activities of primitive man had not only applied value, but also carried a whole a number of functions.

1. Ideological function
In the creation of tools, complex, richly ornamented, there was no authorship- i.e. on the face is a clear expression of the collective principle. That's why almost all items this period similar to each other wherever they are found.

2. General educational function
The function manifested itself in the "material" consolidation of knowledge about the subject, its properties, transfer these knowledge to the younger generation(knowledge about deities, about asking for help, etc.).

3. Communicative and memorial function
Items and tools, drawings, masks, etc. - people's means of communication.
These objects are involved: in the labor process and in ritual actions.

4. social function
There is always division in society on older and younger, strong and weak, men and women, children and old people, leaders and members of the tribe. Seal this social stratification lies on the objects of labor and art. Each object, tool can carry the features of the group that it represents.

5. cognitive function
New manufactured item, scribbled picture on the knife , the hunting scene, were not perceived abstractly - they were obvious and real. The painted animal was associated with a real creature, and people who had never seen him before, having met, could uniquely identify it.

6. Magico-religious function
The function is manifested in obtaining power over the subject, over the process, over the elements, through mastery of his image.(The handprint symbol is a symbol of presence, possession, etc.) Primitive magic is the "science" of Paleolithic mankind. The assimilation of knowledge went through magical rites.

7. aesthetic function
The surrounding nature, flora and fauna in itself, "passively" educates and forms aesthetic feelings. Harmony is inherent in nature, and by copying nature, creating it artificially, a person involuntarily perceives its aesthetics.

To the main steps material and technical progress ancient society include:

• appearance, accumulation and specialization simple tools;
• use and receipt fire;
• creation complex, compound tools;
• invention bow and arrow;
• division of labor into hunting, fishing, cattle breeding, farming;
• manufacturing clay products and roasting in the sun and fire;
• the birth of the first crafts: carpentry, pottery, basket weaving;
• metal smelting and alloys first copper then bronze and iron;
• production of tools from them; creation wheels and carts;
• usage animal muscle strength for moving;
• creation river and sea simple vehicles (rafts, boats), and then courts.

Pre-civilizational development
(Conclusions and summary)

Primitive culture as a whole syncretic everything was organically included in various forms of life: myth, ritual, dance, economic activity. From the very beginning of human history, apart from (outside, before, etc.) science, concepts of the world arise highly symbolic and the result of abstract thinking, in the language described in mythopoetic form. Human society in primitive ideas appears as a complex combination of elements with cosmological teleology. For primitive consciousness everything cosmologized since everything is included in space, which forms the highest value within mythopoetic universe. People did not distinguish themselves from the surrounding them nature. Forage area, plants, animals and the tribe itself is a single whole. Human properties were attributed to nature, up to a blood-related organization and a dualistic division into two mutually married halves. By the end Paleolithic ideas about nature were not limited to a wide range of precise empirical knowledge. Apparently, something more was achieved: the idea of ​​the Universe as a single whole was formed, a septenary "model of the world" with three vertical and four horizontal divisions, four elements were distinguished, similar to the "primary elements" of ancient Greek cosmological concepts (water, earth, air, fire ). Thus, people who lived in the Stone Age had their own own ideas about the universe; life on earth, natural phenomena in their eyes - act of manifestation of divine power; human life for them was in close connection with the state of the sun and planets.

In the period that lasted from the 10th to the 3rd millennium BC. there have been fundamental changes in the material and spiritual life of people, which made it possible to single out this stage and call it - neolithic revolution. neolithic revolution characterized by a transition from hunting to animal husbandry, from gathering to agriculture, development of new technological operations, with formation of new social relations in society. Gradually crafts arise and there are people who specifically deal with them. Summing up the main achievements in the pre-civilization period, it can be argued that people possessed: the technology of the main forms of activity that ensure the maintenance of life ( hunting, gathering, cattle breeding, farming, fishing); knowledge animal habits and selectivity in the choice of fruits; natural knowledge ( properties of stone, their changes with heat, types of wood, orientation by stars);medical knowledge(the simplest methods of healing wounds, surgical operations, treatment of colds, bloodletting, intestinal lavage, stopping bleeding, using balms, ointments, treating bites, cauterization with fire, psychotherapeutic actions); elementary counting system, measurement distances with the help of body parts (nail, elbow, hand, arrow flight, etc.); elementary time measuring system by comparing the position of the stars, the division of the seasons, knowledge of natural phenomena; transmission of information at distances (smoke, light and sound signals).

abstract

Chemical knowledge and crafts in antiquity

In the discipline "The concept of modern natural science"

Completed by: student group No. DR 0610
Ilyina Anna Andreevna
Checked by: teacher
Moiseenko Anton

Dalnerechenk 2012
Content:

Introduction……………………………………………………………………………….3

Chemical elements of wood … … … … … … … … … … … … … ... .... . four
Mysteries of “transmutation” … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …. 6
O t a l ch i m i a c n o n s cient o c h i m i o n … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 11
List of used literature … … … … … … … … … … … … … … .14

Introduction

From time immemorial, a person, faced with various natural phenomena, accumulating information about them and about the objects surrounding him, increasingly used them for his own benefit. Man noticed that under the action of fire, some substances (and life itself) disappear, while others change their properties. For example, fired raw clay gains strength. Man applied this in his practice, and pottery was born. From ores they learned to smelt metals, and by fusing metals, to obtain various alloys; This is how metallurgy was born.
Using his observations and knowledge, man learned to create, and by creating, he learned. Sciences were born and developed in parallel with crafts and industries.
The transformations of substances under the influence of fire were the first chemical reactions carried out by man. According to the figurative expression of the Soviet historian N. A. Figurovsky, the fire was a kind of chemical laboratory.

Chemical elements of antiquity

Some metals - gold, lead, copper, iron - were known to people even during the primitive communal system. Initially, these metals were used to make jewelry, and only later, around the end of the Stone Age (4-5 thousand years BC), tools and weapons began to be made from metals. Gradually, production began to emerge from various crafts. So already in the days of the slave system (4 thousand years BC - V century AD) there was metallurgy, dyeing, ceramics were made, etc. With the development of these industries, knowledge about substances, their properties and transformations was significantly enriched .
Already several thousand years before our era in ancient Egypt they knew how to smelt and use gold, copper, silver, tin, lead and mercury. In the country of the sacred Nile, the production of ceramics and glazes, glass and faience developed. The ancient Egyptians also used various paints: mineral (ocher, red lead, whitewash) and organic (indigo, purple, alizarin). No wonder the famous French chemist Mu Berthelot believed that the very name of the science of chemistry came from the ancient Egyptian word hema: this was the name of the people inhabiting the “black lands” (Egypt), where crafts were developed. However, the Greek alchemist Zosimus (III-IV centuries AD) explained the origin of this word differently: he considered the art of making silver and gold to be chemistry. Other interpretations are also known. Until now, scientists do not have a common opinion on this matter.
Chemical crafts were developed in the 4th-2nd millennium BC. e. And in the countries of Mesopotamia in the Middle East (valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers). In those days, the peoples inhabiting Mesopotamia knew metals (from lead, for example, figurines and cult figurines were cast), mineral and organic dyes were widely used, they knew how to make glazes, faience, etc.

Scientists-philosophers of Ancient Greece (7th-5th centuries BC) tried to explain how various transformations are carried out, from what and how all substances originated. Thus arose the doctrine of the beginnings, the elements (from stecheia - the basis), or the elements (from the Latin elementum - the fundamental principle, the beginning), as they were called later.
Thales of Miletus believed that the world is a single whole, and everything that happens in nature is the result of compaction or discharge of a single primary matter, a single primary source - water. Anaximenes of Miletus recognized air as the primary matter, upon cooling and thickening of which water is formed, and from it then, upon subsequent compaction and cooling, earth arises. The philosopher Xenophanes taught that the primary principles are water and earth; matter is not destroyed and does not arise, the world exists forever.
In 544-483. BC e. The famous philosopher Heraclitus lived in the city of Ephesus, who believed that all "bodies" of nature are inherent in perpetual motion. Naturally, at the same time, he recognized the most mobile changeable beginning - fire as the primary matter. The world, according to Heraclitus, was not created by either gods or people, “it was, is and will be an ever-living fire”, which naturally ignites and just as naturally extinguishes.
Another ancient Greek philosopher, Empedocles, observing the burning of a tree, noted that smoke is first formed (air then flame (fire) and finally ash (earth) remains. If there is a cold surface near the flame, then water vapor is deposited on it. Thus , combustion is the decomposition of a burning substance into four elements: air, fire, water and earth.Based on this conclusion, Empedocles was the first to create the doctrine of the four principles ("roots") of nature: "First, listen that there are four roots of everything) that exists - Fire, and Water, and Earth, and the boundless heights of Ether. . . Of these, all that was, and all that will be. These "beginnings" are eternal and unchanging.
Secrets of "transmutation"

In 321 BC. e. in the Nile Delta, a new city was founded - Alexandria, named after the conqueror Alexander of Macendon. Having a favorable geographical position, the city has become one of the largest trade and craft centers. The first academy in history was founded there - a special institution where they were engaged in various studies and taught sciences known at that time.
Prior to the conquest of Egypt, priests who knew chemical operations (obtaining alloys, amalgamation, imitation of precious metals, highlighting paints, etc.) kept them in the deepest secret and passed them on only to selected students, and the operations themselves were carried out in temples, accompanied by magnificent mystical ceremonies . After the conquest of this country, many secrets of the priests became known to ancient Greek scientists, who believed that the imitation of precious metals was a real “transformation” of some substances into others, in accordance with the laws of nature. In a word, in Hellenistic Egypt there was a combination of the ideas of ancient philosophers and the traditional rituals of priests - what was later called alchemy.
About 640 AD e. Egypt was captured by the Arabs, and already at the beginning of the VIII century. their power was established over a vast territory - from Gibraltar to India. Scientific and practical knowledge and culture assimilated by the Arabs in the conquered countries (and especially in Egypt), by the XII century. reached Europe. Trade between the states of the Arab East and European countries played an important role in this. Chemical knowledge that came to Europe from the Arabs began to be called the Arabic word "alchemy".
The Greek alchemist Zosima is the author of many scientific works, including alchemical ones (“Imut”, which refers to the origin of alchemy; “On the good quality and composition of waters”, which describes the production of life-giving water). He is considered one of the founders of alchemy.
Among the Arab alchemists, one of the most prominent was Prince Kalida ibn Kazid (c. 660-704), who spent most of his life in Egypt. He ordered that all known alchemical works be translated into Arabic.
But the Arabs called the true "king of science" the great scientist Jabir ibn Gayan (c. 721-815), known in Europe under the name Geber. Familiar with the teachings of the ancients, he became a follower of Aristotle, whose views on the elements-qualities were rethought by the Arabs.
Guyan believed that metals consist of two main parts (elements): sulfur, which is the carrier of combustibility and variability, and mercury, the “soul” of metals, the carrier of metallicity (brilliance, hardness, fusibility), and the main chemical processes are combustion and melting. The noblest metals are gold and silver, which contain sulfur and mercury in the purest form and in the most optimal proportion. The variety of the latter depends on the quantitative ratio of sulfur and mercury and on impurities. But in nature, this process of connection is very slow, and to speed it up, you need to add a "drug" (a special drug), then the transformation will take about 40 days; if you use the "elixir", then the whole process of obtaining gold will take only 1 hour!
He studied Guyan and the properties, as well as methods for preparing many salts: vitriol, alum, saltpeter, etc.; knew the production of acids: nitric, sulfuric, acetic; when conducting experiments, he resorted to distillation, roasting, sublimation, crystallization. He believed that practice and experiments for alchemists are of paramount importance, without them success is impossible. The works of Guyana (The Book of Seventy, The Book of Poisons, The Sum of Perfections, The Book of Furnaces) have been studied for many centuries.
The largest Arab alchemist Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi (865-925), the author of the Book of Secrets and the Book of Secrets of Secrets, considered himself a student of the famous Geber. He was the first to classify the substances known at that time, dividing them into three classes: earthy (mineral), vegetable and animal.
Ar-Razi recognized the transmutation of base metals into noble ones, recognized the elements of metals - sulfur and mercury, but, without limiting himself to this, introduced an additional third element - the element of "salt nature", which is the carrier of hardness and solubility. This doctrine of the three elements (sulphur, mercury, salt) was widely spread among European alchemists.
Like Gayan, al-Razi believed that the goal of alchemy should be the knowledge of the properties of substances, the development of all kinds of operations on them, the manufacture of various devices for these operations. In this practical, and not abstract, mystical orientation, the specificity of the teachings of the Arab alchemists was expressed precisely.
The idea of ​​turning base metals into noble ones found many adherents in Western Europe. And now, behind thick walls, in damp cellars, in secluded cells, they are trying to speed up the process of “improving” metals. Base metals are melted, mixed with each other, painted, buried in the ground, but in vain! Why can't you get gold?
Perhaps this process is supernatural? Spells are cast over metals; magic formulas are depicted on the floor, on the walls. . . and again failure.
Or maybe the whole essence lies in the fifth element - the “quint of essence”, which has received many different sublime and mysterious names? Only he alone could turn any metal into gold, give a person eternal life and youth. Now the efforts of alchemists are focused on obtaining the Philosopher's Stone. Hundreds of cryptic recipes have been created, most of which have yet to be deciphered, let alone experimentally verified.
Albert the Great believed that the transmutation of metals consists in the appearance and density. The change in the properties of metals occurs under the action of arsenic (colors metals yellow) and water (compressing and compacting, it increases the density of metals). Describing the conduct of alchemical operations, he gives a number of rules that must be followed in the work: remain silent, hide from human eyes, keep time, etc.
In the XVI century. Especially popular were the works of Basil Valentine (“the mighty king”): “On the Secret Philosophy”, “On the Great Stone of the Ancient Sages”, “The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony”. True, all attempts to establish the true name of the author failed; apparently, an unknown alchemist wrote under this pseudonym, perhaps not alone.
Recognizing the transmutation of metals and the beginnings of alchemists, Vasily Valentin emphasized that the alchemical elements of metals have nothing to do with the real elements of the same name:
But not all medieval scientists accepted the basic theoretical positions of alchemists. And one of these scientists was Avicenna. This Latin name was given to the famous Arab philosopher and physician Abu Ali al-Hussein ibn Sina (980-1037), a Tajik by nationality, who was born near Bukhara. He created about 300 works, and some of them ("Medical Canon", "Book of Healing", "Book of Knowledge") are famous to this day. He described almost a thousand different substances, among which were metals, Avicenna considered sulfur and mercury, but denied the possibility of turning one metal into another, because he believed that there were no ways for this.
The greatest Italian scientist and artist Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), who set as his goal "to comprehend the origin of numerous creatures of nature", did not believe in transmutation and alchemical principles. He relied on the experiment, which he considered an intermediary "between the artful nature and the human race" and which "must be done many times, so that some accidental circumstance would not affect its results."
In search of conditions for the implementation of the mysterious transmutation, alchemists developed such important methods of purification of substances as filtration, sublimation, distillation, crystallization. To conduct experiments, they created special apparatus - a water bath, a distillation cube, furnaces for heating flasks; they discovered sulfuric, hydrochloric and nitric acids, many salts, ethyl alcohol, studied many reactions (reaction of metals with sulfur, roasting, oxidation, etc.).
But in order to turn the alchemical teaching into the provisions of scientific chemistry, it was necessary to “cleanse” it of mystical layers, put it on a genuine experimental basis, and study in detail the composition of substances. The beginning of this complex and lengthy process was laid by iatrochemists (from iatros - doctor) and representatives of technical chemistry.
The development of atrochemistry, metallurgy, dyeing, the manufacture of glazes, etc., the improvement of chemical equipment - all this contributed to the fact that the experiment is gradually becoming the main criterion for the truth of theoretical propositions. Practice, in turn, could not develop without theoretical concepts, which were supposed to not only explain, but also predict the properties of substances and the conditions for conducting chemical processes.

From Alchemy to Scientific Chemistry.

The revival of ancient atomism contributed to a new understanding of the subject of chemical knowledge. Here the works of the French thinker P. Gassendi played an important role. He not only resurrected the atomistic theory, but, according to J. Bernal, turned it "into a doctrine, which included everything new in physics that was found in the Renaissance." To detect particles not visible to the naked eye, Gassendi used an engioscope (microscope); from this he concluded that if such small particles can be detected, then there can be very tiny ones that can be seen later.
He believed that God created a certain number of atoms, differing from each other in shape, size and weight. everything in the world is made up of them. Just as a huge number of various buildings can be built from bricks, logs and boards, so nature creates a great many bodies from several dozen types of atoms. Connecting, atoms give larger formations - "molecules". The latter, in turn, uniting with each other, become larger and "accessible to the senses." Thus, Gassendi was the first to introduce the concept of a molecule into chemistry (from the Latin moles - with a diminutive suffix cula).
etc.................

Essay on the general history of chemistry [From ancient times to the beginning of the 19th century] Figurovsky Nikolai Aleksandrovich

CHEMICAL KNOWLEDGE OF PRIMARY PEOPLE

CHEMICAL KNOWLEDGE OF PRIMARY PEOPLE

At the lower levels of the cultural development of human society, under the primitive tribal system, the process of accumulation of chemical knowledge was very slow. The living conditions of people who united in small communities, or large families, and earned their livelihood by using ready-made products that nature provided, did not favor the development of productive forces.

The needs of primitive people were primitive. Strong and permanent ties between individual communities, especially if they were geographically distant from each other, did not exist. Therefore, the transfer of practical knowledge and experience required a long time. It took many centuries for primitive people, in a fierce struggle for existence, to master some fragmentary and random chemical knowledge. Observing the surrounding nature, our ancestors got acquainted with individual substances, some of their properties, learned how to use these substances to meet their needs. So, in distant prehistoric times, a person got acquainted with table salt, its taste and preservative properties.

The need for clothing taught primitive people the primitive ways of dressing animal skins. Raw, untreated skins could not serve as any suitable clothing. They broke easily, were tough, and quickly rotted when in contact with water. Processing the skins with stone scrapers, a person removed the core from the back of the skin, then the skin was subjected to a long soak in water, and then tanned in the infusion of the root of some plants, then it was dried and, finally, fattened. As a result of all these operations, it became soft, elastic and durable. It took many centuries to master such simple methods of processing various natural materials in primitive society.

A huge achievement of primitive man was the invention of methods for making fire and using it to heat dwellings and to cook and preserve food, and later for some technical purposes. The invention of ways to make fire and use it, archaeologists believe, occurred about 50,000-100,000 years ago and marked a new era in the cultural development of mankind.

“... Making fire by friction,” wrote F. Engels in Anti-Dühring, “for the first time gave man dominance over a certain force of nature and thus finally separated man from the animal kingdom” (1).

The mastery of fire led to a significant expansion of chemical and practical knowledge in primitive society, to the acquaintance of prehistoric man with certain processes that occur when various substances are heated.

However, it took many millennia for a person to learn to consciously apply the heating of natural materials in order to obtain the products he needed. Thus, the observation of changes in the properties of clay during its calcination led to the invention of pottery. Pottery has been recorded in archaeological finds from the Paleolithic era. Much later, the potter's wheel was invented and special kilns for firing pottery and ceramic products were put into practice.

Already in the early stages of the primitive tribal system, some earthen paints were known, in particular, colored clays containing iron oxides (ocher, umber), as well as soot and other dyes, with which primitive artists depicted animal figures and hunting scenes on the walls of caves. , fights, etc. (for example, Spain, France, Altai). Since ancient times, mineral paints, as well as colored vegetable juices, have been used for painting household items and for tattooing.

Undoubtedly, primitive man also became acquainted very early with certain metals, primarily with those that are found in nature in a free state. However, in the early periods of the primitive tribal system, metals were used very rarely, mainly for jewelry, along with beautifully colored stones, shells, etc. However, archaeological finds indicate that in the Neolithic era, metal was used to make tools and weapons . At the same time, metal axes and hammers were made like stone ones. Metal thus played the role of a variety of stone. But there is no doubt that primitive people in the Neolithic era also observed the special properties of metals, in particular fusibility. A person could easily (of course, accidentally) get metals by heating some ores and minerals (lead sheen, cassiterite, turquoise, malachite, etc.) on a fire. For a Stone Age person, a fire was a kind of chemical laboratory.

Since ancient times, iron, gold, copper, and lead have been known to man. Acquaintance with silver, tin and mercury belongs to later periods.

It is interesting to get acquainted with some ideas of primitive people about metals. As the names of metals that have come down to us in the languages ​​of ancient peoples show, the properties of metals were explained by their "heavenly" origin.

So, among the majority of the peoples of Central and Near Asia, among the ancient Greeks and Egyptians, iron was considered a "heavenly" metal. The ancient Egyptian name for iron bi-ni-pet (Coptic benipe) literally means "heavenly ore", or "heavenly metal". In ancient Mesopotamia (Ur), iron was called an-bar (“heavenly iron”) (2). The ancient Greek name for iron sideros, also Caucasian zido, comes from the oldest word that has survived in the Latin language, sidereus, meaning "starry" (from sidus - "star"). The ancient Armenian name for iron yerkat means “dropped from the sky” (“fallen from the sky”). All these names indicate that the ancient peoples first became acquainted with iron of meteoric origin in distant prehistoric times. This is also indicated by analyzes of the most ancient iron objects discovered by archaeologists during excavations in Egypt (3). Some peoples of antiquity had myths that demons, or fallen angels, taught people how to make swords, shields and shells, showed them metals and how they were processed (4).

The connection with cosmic phenomena can also be stated in some other names of metals that have come down to our days from ancient times. So, ancient Slavic gold is clearly associated with the name of the Sun (Latin Sol). The Latin name for gold Aurum comes from the word aurora, meaning "morning dawn", and in mythology - "daughter of the Sun".

A similar origin of the names of metals can be traced in other examples. Thus, the ancient Greek name for silver argyros and the Latin argentum are related to the ancient Greek arges, meaning "brilliant", "sparkling", "clear", "silver-white", and in Homer this word is used to designate the color of lightning. The Slavic word silver, or srbro, can be compared with the name "sickle", the sign of which from ancient times denoted the moon (lunar sickle). In ancient Egyptian and alchemical literature, the designation of silver with the sign of a crescent moon was common, and silver was often called "moon". The Sanskrit name for silver hirania is consonant with the ancient Greek uranos - "sky".

However, a similar origin of the names of metals can be ascertained not among all peoples and not for all metals. Some metals known in antiquity were named according to their functional characteristics. Old Slavic iron, for example, has the root lez (cut), which indicates the use of iron in ancient times for the manufacture of cutting tools (5). Similarly, the name steel was used in Latin acies, literally meaning "blade", "point". This name corresponds exactly to the ancient Greek stoma, used in the same sense (6).

Old Russian tin, apparently, comes from the name "olu" or "tin" (compare with the Latin oleum - "oil"), denoting a drink - a kind of mash or beer. It can be assumed with a high degree of probability that "tin" in some ancient era was stored in tin or lead vessels (in ancient times, tin and lead were often not distinguished). Such vessels for storing wine and drinks, as well as pewter in general, were quite widely used, for example, among the peoples of the Ancient Caucasus. Similar comparisons of the names of metals that arose in antiquity can be traced in other languages.

Some metals, like other substances, got their names from the names of the places where they were mined. Thus, the ancient Russian copper, no doubt, is associated with the widespread among the peoples of the Mediterranean coast and Middle Asia, the term metallon, which means "mine", or "place of metal extraction".

The names “medal” and “medallion” common in the Romance languages ​​also come from the same word. We also recall the origin of the Latin name for copper cuprum from the name of the island of Cyprus, where copper mines were located in ancient times. From the name of the same island came the name "vitriol".

Here we confine ourselves to these few fragmentary information of a general nature about the emergence of chemical and practical knowledge in the era of the primitive tribal system.

The very low level of the state of the productive forces, the limited needs of society, needless to say, did not contribute to a sufficiently rapid accumulation of chemical knowledge and production experience. This explains the extremely slow development of culture and technology in primitive society, in particular chemical and practical knowledge. However, it cannot be denied that during the many millennia of the existence of the primitive tribal system, humanity has nevertheless achieved certain successes in its cultural and technical development. The range of knowledge and production skills accumulated in this era served as the basis on which chemical-practical and chemical knowledge developed at a faster pace in the future.

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