Exploring Chemistry by Roy A. Gallant
"Exploring Chemistry" by Roy A. Gallant is designed to introduce the fascinating field of chemistry to young readers, specifically targeted at those aged 13 to 15. The book is structured into four thematic chapters: "Why Did Chemistry Begin," "Matter and the Alchemists," "The New Chemistry," and "Frontiers of Chemistry." It traces the historical evolution of chemistry, starting from ancient practices and the quest for materials to meet human needs, such as medicine and tools, and progresses through significant milestones including the contributions of Greek philosophers and alchemists.
Gallant highlights the transition from early experimental practices to the establishment of modern chemistry, emphasizing key figures like Robert Boyle and Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, who played pivotal roles in advancing scientific understanding. The text illustrates how chemistry has become integral to everyday life, from agriculture to medicine and technology, making it relevant today.
With engaging illustrations and a clear narrative, this book serves as an accessible primer for young learners, encouraging curiosity about the science of chemistry and the potential for future discoveries. It is particularly suitable for those interested in the history of science and serves as an invitation for young people to consider careers in chemistry.
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Subject Terms
Exploring Chemistry by Roy A. Gallant
First published: 1958; illustrated
Subjects: Jobs and work and science
Type of work: Science
Recommended Ages: 13-15
Form and Content
Exploring Chemistry is a well-written description of the science of chemistry that is intended to introduce the field in an appealing fashion to nonscientists between the ages of thirteen and fifteen. Written mostly in the third person, the book is divided into four unnumbered chapters—“Why Did Chemistry Begin,” “Matter and the Alchemists,” “The New Chemistry,” and “Frontiers of Chemistry”—each of which is a well-illustrated exploration of a facet of chemistry that prepares readers for the next chapter.
Roy A. Gallant starts his book by explaining why chemistry began. In antiquity, human beings first attempted to find ways to meet their many material needs by manipulating the world around them—for medicines, for fuels, for agricultural chemicals, and so forth. He also points out that the practice of modern chemistry provides an adequate supply of these things.
Among the first examples given in the book are the use of fire and the ability to turn clays and metals into needed implements and weapons. Gallant clearly shows that the development of these divergent yet cojoined endeavors led to science and then to chemistry. As he notes, “It is the way that man works, the method he uses, that makes him a scientist.” The accidental discovery of fire is linked to later “accidents” that led to pottery, metal working, and glass making. Throughout, it is made explicit that accurate record-keeping and inquisitiveness led to the accumulation of more information. It was this information that set the stage for the development of science and of modern chemistry.
In “Matter and the Alchemists,” Gallant explains how the protochemists of antiquity prepared recipes for making materials and used them for many generations without understanding them. He next identifies the Greek philosopher-scientists (or natural philosophers) after 600 b.c., who wished to identify why materials could be made and what matter really was. Men such as Empedocles (c. 490-430 b.c.) were severely limited by the lack of advanced technology and supposed that all things were made by the mingling of four basics, which were named elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Their teachings, after modification by Democritus (c. 460-c. 370 b.c.), who identified atoms as the smallest pieces of matter, stagnated for many centuries because physical experiments were not carried out.
Next on the scene were the alchemists, who sought to make gold from base metals and reigned until a.d. 1400. Their incorrect theories, Gallant notes, at least arose from carrying out physical experiments. In addition, they developed many techniques for making substances and pieces of laboratory equipment that proved useful to later chemists, and (in “The New Chemistry”) Gallant describes how these individuals coined their own erroneous concept in the sixteenth century. Alchemists such as Paracelsus (1493-1541) proposed that matter was made of a fabulous material called “phlogiston.” The disproof of the existence of phlogiston and its replacement with correct ideas, such as a valid explanation of the elements and a modern atomic theory, came next. These crucial scientific changes may be attributed to the work, over two centuries, of chemists such as Robert Boyle (1627-1691), Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794), Joseph-Louis Proust (1754-1826), and John Dalton (1766-1844).
Gallant points out that, after this stage in the development of chemistry had been reached, the rate of achievement in this science greatly accelerated. For example, between Dalton’s time and the 1950’s, chemistry developed so quickly and so extensively that it became necessary to divide it into five areas: analytical, biological, inorganic, organic, and physical chemistry. Further advances led to subdivisions of these specialty areas. Many exciting aspects of both theoretical and practical chemistry are described in Exploring Chemistry.
Finally, Gallant notes in “Frontiers of Chemistry” that the chemistry of his own time is essential to virtually every aspect of life: to making clothing, to producing and protecting crops in the fields, to protecting humans from and curing diseases, and to making rocket fuel, to name a few. He also points to many other events in chemistry, filling most areas of human needs, that were expected to occur after the 1950’s; most of them did.
Critical Context
Exploring Chemistry is an older book that still offers an excellent beginning for surveying the basis for, the development of, and some rewards of the practice of chemistry. It seems most suitable for history of science courses and courses that, in some elementary and middle schools, seek to delve into the foundations of science and into its many ramifications.
Roy A. Gallant clearly shows how natural philosophy, alchemy, and basic science were blended to create modern chemistry. It is also made explicit that chemists must be bright, intuitive, and willing to take risks to develop new things. The great rewards of conceptualizing and actualizing chemistry are implied, and the book would be a good primer to explain to young people what chemistry is, what it can become, and why they may wish to become chemists. The necessary intellectual requirements and the labor-intensive nature of the profession are identified by past examples, promoting realistic career choices.
Exploring Chemistry contains numerous good black-and-white and color illustrations that help to focus the interest of young readers. All these aspects make the book useful for young people as a means of evaluating chemistry and what it is like to be a chemist or a science historian.
Exploring Chemistry is one of many writings by Gallant, who has endeavored in such works as Exploring the Universe (1956) and Exploring the Weather (1957) to explain science. It is nicely written and is a useful preview or adjunct to the chemistry texts written for students in elementary and secondary school science courses. While the book only conceptualizes chemistry up to the 1950’s, it does so well and lacks most of the dated and therefore erroneous information that makes many such books quite useless. Gallant’s book is not as detailed as some others in the area, such as Elizabeth K. Cooper’s Discovering Chemistry (1959), but it engages the reader in the wonder of chemistry.