Authority and authorship in the method of chemical nomenclature.

Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin.

The 1787 Method of Chemical Nomenclature jointly authored by Guyton de Morveau, Lavoisier, Berthollet and Fourcroy displays a particularly authoritarian approach to nomenclature reform in chemistry. This paper explores the basis for this authority, analysed in institutional and philosophical terms. By comparing this reform to the 1782 proposal by Guyton, we see how a consensual approach was put aside for this more authoritarian one, with Lavoisier offering the naturalised empiricist philosophy of Condillac as justification. Nevertheless, I argue that the basis for the authority of the reform remained the Academy of Sciences, the central scientific institution in ancien régime France. I also explore French commentaries on the reform to show how the approach was perceived by the scientific community both inside and outside the Academy of Sciences.

PMID: 12833919 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]