In this unconventional history of chemistry, David Knight takes the refreshing view that the science has "its glorious future behind it." Today, chemistry is primarily a service science. In its very long history, though, chemistry has taken on very different roles. It has been the esoteric preoccupation of alchemists, the source of mechanist views of matter, the cornerstone of all other sciences and medicine, an archetype of experimental science, a science of revolutions, a science that imposed order on the material world, and a partner for physics, biology, and technology.

An Cccult Science
A Mechanical Science
An Independent Science
The Fundamental Science
A Revolutionary or Inductive Science?
The Experimental Science
A Useful Science
A Deductive Science
A Descriptive Classifying Science
A Teachable Science
A Reduced Science
A Service Science