Technology and Culture

758 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE that his Lectiones mathematicae figure so prominently in this account while the equally important Mathesis universalis ofJohn Wallis goes unmentioned. Furthermore, Dear’s reading of Barrow overlooks much ofwhat is most distinctive about his philosophy of mathemat­ ics, namely, his suspicion of the algebraic techniques of analytic ge­ ometry and his veneration for the “synthetic” procedures of the an­ cients. Finally, Dear seems reluctant to address the question of precisely why the role of experiment in natural-philosophical theo­ rizing should have changed as it did. Such quibbles aside, the book is an important contribution to the literature on 17th-century science, and it should find a wide audi­ ence among those with an interest in the subject. Douglas M. Jesseph Dr.Jesseph is associate professor ofphilosophy at North Carolina State University. His research interests are in the history and philosophy of mathematics, and he is completing a book on the mathematical controversy between Thomas Hobbes and John Wallis. GehennicalFire: The Lives ofGeorge Starkey, an American Alchemist in the ScientificRevolution. By William R. Newman. Cambridge, Massachu­ setts: Harvard University Press, 1994. Pp. xiv+348; illustrations, appendices, notes, index. In 1650, an obscure New England alchemist called George Starkey emigrated to England, intent on making a name and reputation for himself. It was not for lack of fellow travelers in the arcane arts that Starkey chose to emigrate, for as William R. Newman points out in this impressive and well-crafted book, all over New England alchemi­ cal adepts labored away in devoted efforts to make the philosopher’s stone. Rather, it was his inability to obtain proper alchemical apparatus and rare chemicals that hindered Starkey’s progress. “Ob­ taining a reliable furnace in the mid-seventeenth century,” Newman observes, “could take on the appearance of a quest for the Holy Grail.” Shortly after his arrival in England, Starkey wrote to Robert Boyle, telling him of a New England “filius Hermetis” who had given him the secret of the philosopher’s stone, the agent of metallic transmu­ tation. The American alchemist was reputed to have performed mi­ raculous feats in New England, such as restoring the hair and teeth of an aged lady and causing a withered peach tree to produce new fruit. Soon Starkey was not only telling tales about the mysterious American adept but was actually circulating manuscripts attributed to him. Thus was born Eirenaeus Philalethes, one of the age’s most technology and culture Book Reviews 759 famous adepts, and one of the strangest alter egos in the history of science. Boyle took a liking to Starkey and supported the young Ameri­ can’s alchemical experiments. Meanwhile, Starkey continued to pen works under Philalethes’s name and stingily to dole out his alter ego’s remedies to the Boyle household, never telling the secret but dropping a hint here and there so that the industrious learner might inquire more deeply. Starkey’s professional career rocketed upon his creation of the illusive Eirenaeus Philalethes, and for a brief mo­ ment it seemed as if he was destined to take his place among the great natural philosophers of the age. If Boyle eventually grew angry over Philalethes’s secrecy, it was not because he opposed secrecy in principle, but because Philalethes was visiting Starkey rather than him. Starkey’s career, however, was cut short by his own profligacy. He exhausted his money on his experiments and bouts of drunkenness. Working in cramped rooms with charcoal and mercury ruined his health. More than once he found himselfin debtor’s prison. Empiric “pretenders” stole his recipes and peddled them on the streets un­ der different names, while the College of Physicians condemned him, along with other iatrochemists, as an unlettered empiric. When the Great Plague of 1665 arrived in London, Starkey and other chemical practitioners saw it as their chance to prove the effi­ cacy of their remedies over the regular physicians’. Traditionalist doctors fled the city, leaving their buildings at Amen Corner to be pillaged by thieves. By contrast, the followers of Paracelsus and Van Helmont continued their work among the people. Despite having contracted the plague himself, Starkey called upon his friend George Thomson...