Lady Ranelagh's Argumentative Essay

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Lady Ranelagh’s medical recipie book challenges the claim that Lavoisier is the father of modern chemistry. George Sarton argues that it is Lavoisier “who delivered the death blow to the Aristotelian elements and the Paracelsian principles.” . In contrast, David L. Tenney proposes that it is Robert Boyle and his book “The Skeptical Chymist [that] marks the beginning of modern chemistry. Both scholars, however, fail to recognize the contributions of Lady Ranelagh, a 17th century natural philosopher. in the development of chemistry. I claim, in line with Paul Walden, that “No single man is entitled to the be called the “father of chemistry.” I will look at Lady Ranelagh’s chemical recipe book in relation to The Elements of Chemistry and, by doing so, I will argue that Lavoisier, as a chemist, is not revolutionary, but is, rather, in continuity with the chemical and alchemical tradition that precedes him. First, I …show more content…

At most, she is noted as a biographical detail. The lack of recognition is not proportionate to Lady Ranelagh’s work and influence in the chemical sciences. Lady Ranelagh, also known as Katherine Jones, was a 17th century Irish thinker natural chemist, a theologian, and a political philosopher. Ranelagh was an active participant in the Hartlib Circle, an intellectual society and hosted the invisible college in her own home. Robert Boyle is Lady Ranelagh’s little brother by twelve years. Ranelagh accommodated Boyle in her house for over 23 years. Michelle DeMio notes that the two siblings kept consistent and vastly interesting discussions. Ranelagh’s interests in chemistry were, mainly, medicinal and are recorded, not in a treatise, but in a medicinal recipe book. She also had her own labratory where she conducted experiments. In this essay I will be looking at Lady Ranelagh’s medical recipe book, which holds documents concerning the application of medical

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