The Last Sorcerers: the Path from Alchemy to the Periodic Table.

More than 2,400 years ago, the Greeks believed they had identified the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. The theory that combinations of these four substances constituted all matter persisted until the 1600s, when sorcerers began to tinker with chemistry in efforts to make magic and money. Morris tackles the adventurous and sometimes ribald history of the elements by focusing on the individuals who ultimately constructed the periodic table. As Morris tells it, this was a motley crew. For instance, Hennig Brandt tried to make gold from urine but instead came up with phosphorus. Robert Boyle was another man whose contributions would be significant, although his quest for making gold would not. In this lively chronology, Morris introduces these and scores of others who shaped chemistry. The book includes a useful summary of 20th-century particle physics and a catalog of the elements that tells how and by whom each one was discovered. Joseph Henry Pr, 2003, 282 p., hardcover, $24.95.