In this authoritative volume, a Notable Book of 1993, scientific researcher and historian William Brock recounts the astonishing rise of a sophisticated science. Tracing the roots of chemistry back to the alchemists' futile attempts to turn lead into gold, he follows the emergence of the modern study of chemistry through the works of Boyle, Lavoisier, and Dalton, and the twentieth-century breakthroughs of Linus Pauling and others. This timely, comprehensive history examines the shifting conceptions of chemistry over the past centuries—from its development as a scientific philosophy to, more recently, its practical applications in the commercial, industrial arena. Originally published under the title .