The Scientist's Atom and the Philosopher's Stone

version of the mechanical philosophy6.3 Boyle's case for the mechanical philosophy6.4 Boyle's use of the microscopic/microscopic analogy6.5 Boyle's experimental science as distinct from the mechanical philosophy6.6 Empirical support for the mechanical philosophy6.7 The lack of fertility of the mechanical philosophy6.8 The various senses of 'mechanical'6.9 Boyle's mechanical philosophy and experimental support for atomsChapter 7. Newton's atomism and its fate7.1 Introduction7.2 Newton's science7.3 Newton's atomism7.4 The case for Newton's atomism 7.5 The fate of Newtonian atomism in the eighteenth centuryChapter 8. The emergence of modern chemistry with no debt to atomism8.1 Introduction.8.2 Klein on Geoffroy and the concepts of chemical substance, compound and combination8.3 Reflections on Klein's account of chemical combination8.4 Boyle's chemistry: Some preliminaries8.5 Boyle's mechanical rather than chemical construal of substances8.6 Boyle on the properties of chemical corpuscles8.7 Chemical properties and essential properties8.8 The mechanical philosophy versus the experimental philosophy8.9 Newtonian affinities8.10 Chemistry from Newton to LavoisierChapter 9. Dalton's atomism and its creative modification via formulae9.1 Introduction9.2 Dalton's atomism9.3 Dalton's atomic chemistry9.4 The introduction of chemical formulae by Berzelius9.5 The binary theory of Berzelius9.6 Chemical formulae and the rise of organic chemistry9.7 Chemical formulae a victory for atomism?9.8 Dalton's resistance to chemical formulae9.9 Is my critique of nineteenth-century atomism positivist?Chapter 10. From Avogadro to Cannizzaro: The Old Story.10.1 Introduction..10.2 Avogadro's hypothesis according to Avogadro.10.3 Ampère's version of Avogadro's hypothesis and geometrical atomism.10.4 Vapour densities and specific heats as a path to atomic weights.10.5 Cannizzaro reappraised.10.6 Was the determination of atomic weights important?Chapter 11. Thermodynamics and the kinetic theory11.1 Introduction11.2 The rise of thermodynamics11.3 Thermal dissociation and affinities11.4 Early versions of the kinetic theory11.5 The statistical kinetic theory11.6 Problems with the kinetic theory11.7 The status of the kinetic theory in 1900Chapter 12. Experimental contact with molecules12.1 Introduction. 12.2 Brownian motion12.3 The density distribution of Brownian particles12.4 Experimental details12.5 Support for the kinetic theory12.6 The mean displacement and mean rotation of Brownian particles12.7 The kinetic theory confirmed? - a nuanced discussionChapter 13. Experimental contact with electrons13.1 Introduction13.2 Historical background to the experiments of 1896/713.3 Discovery of the Zeeman effect13.4 Thomson's experiments on cathode rays13.5 The significance of the experiments on charged particlesChapter 14. Atomism Vindicated?14.1 Introduction14.2 Did philosophical atomism play a productive heuristic role?14.3 Twentieth-century atomism a victory for scientific realism?14.4 In my end is my beginningReferencesIndex