Chapter VIII
Chemistry
. . . speaking one day with Monsieur de Buffon on the present ardor of chemical enquiry, he affected to consider chemistry
but as cookery, and to place the toils of the laboratory on a footing with those of the kitchen. I think it on the contrary
among the most useful of sciences, and big with future discoveries for the utility & safety of the human race. it is yet indeed
a mere embryon . . .
letter from
Thomas Jefferson
to the revd. james madison, july 19, 1788.
Chemistry . . . is the least useful & the least amusing to a country gentleman of all the ordinary branches of science. in
the exercises of the country and progress over our farms, every step presents some object of botany, natural history, comparative
anatomy &c. but for chemistry you must shut yourself up in your laboratory . . . chemistry is of value to the amateur inhabiting
a city.
letter from
Thomas Jefferson
to his grandson, thomas jefferson randolph, january 3, 1808.
. . . I have wished to see their
[i.e. the Chemists] science applied to domestic objects, to malting, for instance, brewing, making cyder, to fermentation & distillation generally,
to the making of bread, butter, cheese, soap, to the incubation of eggs &c.
letter from
Thomas Jefferson
to thomas cooper, july 10, 1812.
J.1
M
c.queer’s chemistry.
2. vols.
8
vo.
1815 Catalogue, page 35. no. 7, as above, with reading Mc.Queer’s.
MACQUER,
Pierre Joseph.
Elements of the theory and practice of chymistry. Translated from the
French of M. Macquer . . . In
Two Volumes. Vol. I [-II].
London: Printed for
A. Millar, and
J. Nourse,
1758.
QD27 .M18
First Edition in
English. 2 vol. 8vo. Vol. I, 220 leaves, 6 engraved plates, 4 signed by J. Mynde; vol. II, 221 leaves; the words
In Two Volumes are omitted from the title-page of Volume II.
Contemporary calf, gilt. Initialled by Jefferson at sigs. I and T. A few corrections in ink in volume I may be by Jefferson. With the Library of Congress 1815 book-plates.
Pierre Joseph Macquer, 1718-1784, French chemist, was the brother of Philippe Macquer, q.v. He was for a time director of the porcelain manufactury
[
sic
--
Ed.
] at Sèvres.
Andrew Reid, d. 1767?, Scottish writer of London, dedicated his translation to the Earl of Bute, the dedication dated London, March 25,
1758.
[823]
2
Neumann’s Chemistry by Lewis.
4
to.
1815 Catalogue, page 36. no. 30, as above.
NEUMANN,
Caspar.
The Chemical Works of Caspar Neumann, M.D. Professor of Chemistry at Berlin, F.R.S. &c. Abridged and Methodized. With large Additions, Containing
