Originally published under the title The Story of Early Chemistry. Tells the story of the development of chemical knowledge and science, from the beginning of time to the end of the 18th century. Contents: practical chemistry of the ancients; earliest chemical manuscripts; theories of the ancients of matter and its changes; early alchemists; chemical knowledge of the Middle Ages; chemistry in the 13th century; chemistry of the 14th and 15th centuries; progressive 16th century; chemical currents in the 16th century; chemistry of the 16th century; the 18th century, rise and fall of the Phlogiston theory; development of pneumatic chemistry in the 18th century; early ideas of chemical affinity; Lavoisier and the chemical revolution.