Plant and Soil Chemistry in Seventeenth-Century England: Worsley, Boyle and Coxe

Abstract

In seventeenth-century England agriculturalists, projectors and natural philosophers devoted special attention to the chemical investigation of plants, of soil composition and of fertilizers. Hugh Plat’s and Francis Bacon’s works became particularly influential in the mid-seventeenth century, and inspired much of the Hartlib Circle’s schemes and research for improving agriculture. The Hartlibians turned to chemistry in order to provide techniques for improving soil and to investigate plant generation and growth. They drew upon the Paracelsian chemistry of salts, as well as upon the works of van Helmont and Glauber. Benjamin Worsley, Boyle’s scientific companion in the 1640s and 1650s, played a leading role in the Hartlib Circle’s research on saltpetre and on fertilizers. The Hartlib Circle’s research in agricultural chemistry shaped much of the research carried out by the Royal Society in the 1660s and in the 1670s. Daniel Coxe, who adopted Boyle’s chemical theories and pursued original experimental research on the composition of plants, played a central part in the early Royal Society’s agricultural projects and notably in the investigations of plants.

Treating plants as laboratories: A chemical natural history of vegetation in 17th‐centuryEngland

“…96-107). It is important to note that Webster (1966) and Clericuzio (2018) propose different theoretical frameworks for investigating these experiments. Webster claims that the main interest of naturalists engaged in water-culture experiments is to find out the germinative properties of water (as stated in Van Helmont's theory), while Clericuzio looks more generally to a plant chemistry where unity is provided by the belief in the utility of such inquires.…”

Experimenting with Matter in the Works of Gabriel Plattes

“…251-80. For the Baconian reception in the seventeenth century see Webster, 1970aWebster, , 1976Hugh R. Trevor-Roper 1984, 1999 21. The view of the two oily principles of matter influenced Walter Blith, another figure associated with the Hartlib Circle that shared interest in husbandry (see Blith 1653;Clericuzio 2018). trials with different mixtures of a variety of substances, in different quantities, would lead to the formulation of more particular technology: Whereby it is plaine, that as the various temperament of earths doe require various Seeds and Plants: so they doe require various compositions of Manure, to bring them to a temperament: which composition can never be found out, but by practise and triall of sundry conclusions upon small quantities of Land, at the first, with sundry compositions, as to mixe Lime with dung in severall proportions with 2,3,4,5,6 or more to one, as occasion shall require, and when the true proportion is found, then to proceed in greater works.…”

“…Reading Plattes' work in this context offers a clearer perspective on how he made use of his sources; it also helps to distinguish the influences that marked his natural philosophy, identifying the points where these traditions fitted into an eclectic project. As for the alchemical influence, the Paracelsian and Sendivogian investigation of the vital principle in nature stimulated research on plant generation and growth among the Hartlibians (Clericuzio 2018) and it also seemed to have had an impact on Plattes since, throughout his work, he devoted significant effort to the analysis of the composition of the soil, plant nutrition, and the use of fertilizers. 3 The theory of magnetism, via Gilbert, according ( Webster 1979: 21).…”

“…If previous scholarship emphasized the contribution to utility made by Plattes' technologies of amelioration (Webster 1975;McCormick 2016;Clericuzio 2018), this paper states that, behind the utilitarian aim, Plattes developed an eclectic natural philosophy based on a theoretical system with practical applications. The theoretical system is founded on three "principles of nature", expressed as alchemical qualitative relations between bodies.…”

Production of, Factors Affecting, Gene Regulations, and Challenges in Tissue Cultured Plant through Soilless Culture

“…4 Francis Bacon in 1627, experimented growing plants in water culture, and imprinted the water culture technique in Sylva sylvarum. 5 In 1699, John Woodward observed that impure water supported healthier plant growth in spearmint than distilled water. 6 Later on, nine nutrients required for plant production were standardized by Julius Von Sachs and Wilhelm Knop in 1842.…”