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The Correspondence of a XVII-Century ‘Chymicall Gentleman’: Sir Cheney Culpeper and the Chemical Interests of the Hartlib Circle

1993; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 40; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1179/amb.1993.40.3.147

1745-8234

Stephen Clucas,

History of Science and Medicine

SIRCheney Culpeper (1601-1663),1 a Kentish gentleman whose vigorous correspondence in the I640S and I650S with the intelligencer Samuel Hartlib2 is preserved in the Hartlib Papers at the University of Sheffield, was a man of wide-ranging interests. His correspondence dealt with the whole gamut of contemporary political and theological issues, as well as addressing matters of scientific and technological interest such as the draining of the fens, remedies for gall-stones, and various agricultural and military inventions. While the breadth of Culpeper's interest was not always matched by a corresponding level of expertise, his letters often provide a useful commentary on contemporary matters. In the mid-I640s, the Hartlib circle grew particularly interested in chemical knowledge. While Culpeper's contributions in this area where scarcely expert, his thoughts and opinions on chemical matters provide interesting insights into chemistry in the first half of the seventeenth-century, revealing some resistance to empirical or experimental chemical methods even in the minds of open-minded supporters of the advancement of science such as Samuel Hartlib and his associates.