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Well, they had recently discovered modern chemistry. No wonder everything looked like chemistry to them, even if they couldn't yet identify the substances invol
by kijin 3y ago
Well, they had recently discovered modern chemistry. No wonder everything looked like chemistry to them, even if they couldn't yet identify the substances involved.
After Pasteur, scientists began to think that every disease was caused by microorganisms. It took a while for the world to accept the idea that some diseases, like scurvy, could be caused by the absence of a substance. To someone educated in the latest chemistry and biology of the time, that idea might have looked just as ridiculous as phlogistons at first.
- psychoslave 3y agoPhlogistons didn’t look ridiculous at first, though. It’s easy in retrospective to sit on the top of accumulated curated knowledge in a condescending fashion and laugh at traps into which past scientists fall into. It might look odd that Robert Boyle went as far as concluding that phlogiston has negative mass, but we yet have to wonder what future human generations will think about dark matter and dark energy.
- kijin 3y agoI think my wording was confusing. The phrase "at first" was supposed to qualify the idea of vitamins, not phlogistons. In other words, "You think the lack of this substance causes scurvy? What is this negative pathogen you're talking about, phlogistons?"