As contribuições de Johann Andreas Cramer para a análise mineral no século XVIII

Abstract

In this dissertation, we seek to corroborate which are the contributions of Chemistry to the identification, extraction and classification of minerals in the XVIII century, as well as, to discuss that the History of Chemistry must not be understood in terms of a tight line of thoughts. For that, we analyze the work of Johann Andreas Cramer (1710- 1777), Elements of the Art of Assaying Metals. Cramer proposed a method of mineral assaying based on the chemical behavior of the bodies, which allowed him to identify, extract and classify the minerals with more assertiveness. To elaborate his work, Crammer exploited the works of G. E. Stahl and of H. Boerhaave, two very different sources and considered, for a long time, opposite ideas. This fact has enlightened us that in the History of Chemistry there were moments in which the line of thoughts distanced themselves but also moments they completed each other, evidence that lead us to the conclusion that the History of Chemistry must be faced in terms of non-progressive analysis, not despising, however, its continuity