Elixir: A Parisian Perfume House and the Quest for the Secret of Life
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For centuries, scientists believed that living matter possessed a special qualitya spirit or essencethat differentiated it from nonliving matter. But by the nineteenth century, the scientific consensus was that the building blocks of one were identical to the building blocks of the other.Elixirtells the story of two young chemists who were not convinced, and how their work rewrote the boundary between life and nonlife.
In the 1830s, douard Laugier and Auguste Laurent were working in Laugier Pre et Fils, the oldest perfume house in Paris. By day they prepared the perfumerys revitalizing elixirs and rejuvenatingeaux, drawing on alchemical traditions that equated a plants vitality with its aroma. In their spare time they hunted the vital force that promised to reveal the secret to life itself. Their ideas, roundly condemned by established chemists, led to the discovery of structural differences between naturally occurring molecules and their synthetic counterparts, even when the molecules were chemically identical.
Scientists still cant explain this anomaly, but it may point to critical insights concerning the origins of life on Earth. Rich in sparks and smells, brimming with eccentric characters, experimental daring, and the romance of the Bohemian salon,Elixiris a fascinating cultural and scientific history.
Hardcover, Apr 25th 2023
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