Elixir : A Parisian Perfume House and the Quest for the Secret of Life / Theresa Levitt.
Levitt, Theresa, author.
2023
TP983
Available Online

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Title Elixir : A Parisian Perfume House and the Quest for the Secret of Life / Theresa Levitt.
Author Levitt, Theresa, author.
ISBN 9780674293083
DOI https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674293083
Published Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2023]
Copyright ©2023
Language English
Language Note In English.
Description 1 online resource (320 p.)
Other Standard Identifiers 10.4159/9780674293083 doi
Call Number TP983
Summary A story of alchemy in Bohemian Paris, where two scientific outcasts discovered a fundamental distinction between natural and synthetic chemicals that inaugurated an enduring scientific mystery.For centuries, scientists believed that living matter possessed a special quality-a spirit or essence-that differentiated it from nonliving matter. But by the nineteenth century, the scientific consensus was that the building blocks of one were identical to the building blocks of the other. Elixir tells the story of two young chemists who were not convinced, and how their work rewrote the boundary between life and nonlife.In the 1830s, Édouard Laugier and Auguste Laurent were working in Laugier Père et Fils, the oldest perfume house in Paris. By day they prepared the perfumery's revitalizing elixirs and rejuvenating eaux, drawing on alchemical traditions that equated a plant's vitality with its aroma. In their spare time they hunted the vital force that promised to reveal the secret to life itself. Their ideas, roundly condemned by established chemists, led to the discovery of structural differences between naturally occurring molecules and their synthetic counterparts, even when the molecules were chemically identical.Scientists still can't explain this anomaly, but it may point to critical insights concerning the origins of life on Earth. Rich in sparks and smells, brimming with eccentric characters, experimental daring, and the romance of the Bohemian salon, Elixir is a fascinating cultural and scientific history.
Access Note Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics text file PDF
Source of Description Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 29. Mai 2023)
In EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2023 English
EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2023
EBOOK PACKAGE History 2023 English
EBOOK PACKAGE History 2023
Harvard University Press Complete eBook-Package 2023
Available in Other Form print 9780674250895
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Frontmatter
Contents
Prologue: A New Philosopher's Stone
1 The Store of Provence in Paris
2 The Essence of Life
3 Revolution
4 The Miracle Waters of Cologne
5 The Problem of Vegetation
6 A Temple of Industry
7 Lost Illusions
8 Radicals and Bohemians
9 The Spirit of Coal Tar
10 The Study of Things That Do Not Exist
11 The Synthetic Age
12 Life Is Asymmetric
Cast of Characters
Notes
Acknowledgments
Illustration Credits
Index

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