Penny Lecuter, Jay Burreson Napoleon buttons Seventeen Molecules That Changed the World
Dedicated to our family
There was no nail - the horseshoe was gone.
There was no horseshoe - the horse was lame.
The horse limped - the commander was killed.
The cavalry is broken - the army is running.
The enemy enters the city, not sparing the prisoners,
Because there was no nail in the forge.
Old English children's poems (arranged by S. Marshak)
Foreword
In June 1812, Napoleon's Grand Army numbered six hundred thousand men. Already in early December of the same year, it decreased to only ten thousand. After the retreat from Moscow, the exhausted French managed to cross the Berezina River near Borisov. Those who survived were pursued by hunger, disease and frost: they caused the defeat of Napoleon no less than the bayonets and bullets of the Russians. Many soldiers died because they were not well-dressed and equipped to survive the icy winter.
Napoleon's retreat from Russia had serious consequences for the whole of Europe. In 1812, 90% of the population of Russia were serfs, who were wholly owned by the landlords and had no rights. They were sold and bought. This situation was more like a slave system than serfdom in Western Europe. The victorious march of the Napoleonic army across Europe was accompanied by the spread of principles and ideals French Revolution(1789-1799), which destroyed medieval foundations, changed political boundaries and contributed to the formation of national consciousness. Napoleon's innovations also proved useful. The reformed state apparatus and codes common to all replaced the intricate local laws and regulations, ideas about human rights, the family, and private property appeared. Instead of hundreds of local systems of measures and weights of systems, a single, decimal system was adopted.
But what caused the defeat the greatest army led by Napoleon? Why did Napoleon's soldiers, previously invincible, falter? There is one strange guess about this, which can be formulated by paraphrasing the words of a nursery rhyme: because there were no buttons! It seems incredible, but the death of Napoleon's army can be associated with such an insignificant thing as buttons. More precisely, with pewter buttons, which held the clothes of the entire army, starting with the overcoats of officers and ending with the pants and uniforms of infantrymen. At low temperatures, the shiny metallic tin turns into a brittle gray powder, still tin, but with a completely different structure. Is this what happened to the buttons of the Napoleonic soldiers? One witness in Borisov described the French troops as "a crowd of ghosts wrapped in women's headscarves, pieces of carpets and burnt overcoats." Could it be that the disappearance of buttons had caused the soldiers to become so cold that they could no longer fight? And instead of holding a weapon, they had to literally hold their pants?
However, there are several bottlenecks in this hypothesis. The so-called tin plague (“tin disease”) has been known in northern Europe for several centuries. How could Napoleon, confident in the readiness of his troops for victorious battles, allow the production of elements of uniforms from tin? In addition, the decay of tin is a rather long process, even at such a low temperature as in the winter of 1812 in Russia. However, this entertaining story, and chemists like it very much as an explanation for the defeat of the French army. But if there is some truth in this hypothesis, then the question arises: what would happen if the buttons did not crumble from the cold and the French continued to move east? Wouldn't this lead to the fact that serfdom in Russia fell half a century earlier? Would the border between Western and Eastern Europe, which roughly corresponds to the border of the Napoleonic empire, be preserved?
Throughout the history of mankind, metals have played very important role. In addition to the case with the tin buttons of the Napoleonic soldiers, there were others. It is known, for example, that the tin mines of Cornwall attracted the attention of the ancient Romans and became one of the reasons they seized the territory of modern Great Britain. By 1650, about sixteen thousand tons of silver from the mines of the New World had migrated to the chests of the wealthy Spaniards and Portuguese, and most of these funds were spent on wars in Europe. The search for gold and silver had an extremely strong influence on the discovery, colonization and settlement of many regions of the world. For example, the gold mines in California, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the Klondike River in Canada contributed greatly to the development of these places in the 19th century. There are many expressions in our language that refer to gold: the gold standard, the golden man, the golden time, black gold. The name of entire eras pays tribute to metals. For changing Bronze Age When bronze - an alloy or mixture of tin and copper - was used to make weapons and tools, the Iron Age came, when people began to melt and forge iron.
But was it only tin, gold and iron that influenced the course of history? Metals are elements, that is, substances that, with the help of chemical reactions cannot be broken down into simpler components. There are ninety elements in nature. In addition, man has created about ninety more elements in a very small amount. But chemical compounds(substances formed as a result of chemical interactions two or more elements) about seven million are known. It is no exaggeration to say that certain compounds have also played a pivotal role in human history. This curious idea formed the basis of the book.
If we consider some ordinary or not quite ordinary substances in this aspect, are found amazing stories. As a result of the signing of the agreement in Breda in 1667, the Dutch ceded to the British their possessions in North America in exchange for the small island of Ran in the Banda archipelago (modern Indonesia). England, having lost its rights to the Isle of Run (the attraction of which consisted solely in the fact that nutmeg was grown there), in exchange received the rights to a small piece of land on the other side of the world - the island of Manhattan.
The Dutch began to claim Manhattan shortly after the arrival of Henry Hudson, who was looking for a way to the East Indies, to the legendary Spice Islands (Moluccas). In 1664, the governor of New Amsterdam, Peter Stuyvesant, was forced to cede the colony to the British. Dutch dissatisfaction with this concession and other territorial disputes led to a war between the two countries that lasted about three years. The English presence on the Isle of Run annoyed the Dutch, as it alone broke the Dutch monopoly of the nutmeg trade. The Dutch, notorious in the region for their brutality, did not want the English to have a share in the lucrative spice trade. After a four-year blockade and bloody fighting, the Dutch finally captured Ran Island. The British retaliated by attacking the ships of the Dutch East India Company.
The Dutch demanded compensation for piracy and sought the return of New Amsterdam. The English wanted the Dutch to pay for their crimes in the East Indies and take back Ran. Since neither side wanted to make concessions and could not win at sea, an agreement was signed in Breda that allowed both states to save face. The British took Manhattan and renounced their claims to Run Island. The Dutch became masters of Run Island and no longer claimed Manhattan. When the British raised their flag over New Amsterdam (later renamed New York), it seemed that the Dutch had more luck in this dispute. Is it possible to compare a small settlement in the New World (about a thousand people) with a monopoly on the nutmeg trade?
With sensational exposure! Canadian chemistry teacher Penny Lecuter and practicing American chemist Jay Burreson show the inside out world history. Not gods, not kings, not heroes, not masses and not even big ideas - chemistry rules the world. Molecules invisible to the eye set peoples, armies and fleets in motion, give birth and turn cities and entire civilizations to dust, move mountains and push people to great deeds, monstrous crimes and grandiose adventures...
Foreword
In June 1812, Napoleon's Grand Army numbered six hundred thousand men. Already in early December of the same year, it decreased to only ten thousand. After the retreat from Moscow, the exhausted French managed to cross the Berezina River near Borisov. Those who survived were pursued by hunger, disease and frost: they caused the defeat of Napoleon no less than the bayonets and bullets of the Russians. Many soldiers died because they were not well-dressed and equipped to survive the icy winter.
Napoleon's retreat from Russia had serious consequences for the whole of Europe. In 1812, 90% of the population of Russia were serfs, who were wholly owned by the landlords and had no rights. They were sold and bought. This situation was more like a slave system than serfdom in Western Europe. The victorious march of the Napoleonic army across Europe was accompanied by the spread of the principles and ideals of the French Revolution (1789-1799), which destroyed medieval foundations, changed political boundaries and contributed to the formation of national consciousness. Napoleon's innovations also proved useful. The reformed state apparatus and codes common to all replaced the intricate local laws and regulations, and ideas about human rights, the family, and private property appeared. Instead of hundreds of local systems of measures and weights of systems, a single, decimal system was adopted.
But what was the reason for the defeat of the greatest army that Napoleon led? Why did Napoleon's soldiers, previously invincible, falter? There is one strange guess about this, which can be formulated by paraphrasing the words of a nursery rhyme: because there were no buttons! It seems incredible, but the death of Napoleon's army can be associated with such an insignificant thing as buttons. More precisely, with
pewter
buttons, which held the clothes of the entire army, starting with the overcoats of officers and ending with the pants and uniforms of infantrymen. At low temperatures, the shiny metallic tin turns into a brittle gray powder, still tin, but with a completely different structure. Is this what happened to the buttons of the Napoleonic soldiers? One witness in Borisov described the French troops as "a crowd of ghosts wrapped in women's headscarves, pieces of carpets and burnt overcoats." Could it be that the disappearance of buttons had caused the soldiers to become so cold that they could no longer fight? And instead of holding a weapon, they had to literally hold their pants?
However, there are several bottlenecks in this hypothesis. The so-called tin plague (“tin disease”) has been known in northern Europe for several centuries. How could Napoleon, confident in the readiness of his troops for victorious battles, allow the production of elements of uniforms from tin? In addition, the decay of tin is a rather long process, even at such a low temperature as in the winter of 1812 in Russia. However, it is an entertaining story, and chemists like it very much as an explanation for the defeat of the French army. But if there is some truth in this hypothesis, then the question arises: what would happen if the buttons did not crumble from the cold and the French continued to move east? Wouldn't this lead to the fact that serfdom in Russia fell half a century earlier? Would the border between Western and Eastern Europe, which roughly corresponds to the border of the Napoleonic empire, be preserved?
Throughout the history of mankind, metals have played a very important role. In addition to the case with the tin buttons of the Napoleonic soldiers, there were others. It is known, for example, that the tin mines of Cornwall attracted the attention of the ancient Romans and became one of the reasons they seized the territory of modern Great Britain. By 1650, about sixteen thousand tons of silver from the mines of the New World had migrated to the chests of the wealthy Spaniards and Portuguese, and most of these funds were spent on wars in Europe. The search for gold and silver had an extremely strong influence on the discovery, colonization and settlement of many regions of the world. For example, the gold mines in California, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the Klondike River in Canada contributed greatly to the development of these places in the 19th century. There are many expressions in our language that refer to gold: the gold standard, the golden man, the golden time, black gold. The name of entire eras pays tribute to metals. The Bronze Age, when bronze - an alloy or mixture of tin and copper - was used to make weapons and tools, was replaced by the Iron Age, when people began to smelt and forge iron.
Organic - isn't that what grows in the garden?
In order to help the reader understand the chemical side of the events described, we suggest that we first briefly familiarize ourselves with chemical terms. Many of the compounds that will be discussed are called
organic.
In the last twenty or thirty years the word has been used in a sense very different from its original meaning. “Organic” products are increasingly being called Agriculture that do not use artificial pesticides, herbicides or synthetic fertilizers
The term "organic" was originally proposed about two hundred years ago by the Swedish chemist Jens Jakob Berzelius, who in 1807 called organic those substances that come from living organisms. Against,
inorganic
Berzelius called substances those that come from non-living sources.
In the 18th century, the idea spread in the scientific world that chemical substances that come from natural sources are somehow different from the rest, and that they contain some kind of vital essence, even if it cannot be detected and measured. This special essence was called life energy. The scientific movement that claimed that substances from plant or animal sources contained some kind of mystical power was called vitalism. It was considered impossible to create an organic compound in the laboratory, but ironically one of Berzelius' own students did it. In 1828, Friedrich Wöhler, future professor of chemistry at the University of Göttingen in Germany, heated a mixture of two inorganic substances - ammonia and cyanic acid - and obtained urea crystals that were no different from urea crystals isolated from animal urine.
Supporters of vitalism believed that cyanic acid is an organic substance, since it was obtained from dried blood. Nevertheless, the idea of vitalism began to fade. After a few more decades, it completely crumbled, since other chemists also managed to synthesize organic substances from inorganic ones. The last supporters of vitalism had to come to terms with what they had hitherto regarded as heresy, and the death of vitalism became a generally accepted fact. There was a need to give a new chemical definition organic substances.
Now organic began to call such substances that contain carbon. Thus, organic chemistry is the science that studies carbon compounds. Of course, this definition is imperfect, since there are compounds of carbon that chemists have never considered as organic. The reason for this lies mainly in tradition. For example, long before Wöhler's experiments, it was known that carbonates containing oxygen and carbon are part of mineral substances, and not just living organisms. Thus, marble (calcium carbonate) and baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) have never been classified as organic compounds. Similarly, carbon in the form of diamond or graphite (both originally mined in the earth and now man-made) has always been thought of as an inorganic substance. Carbon dioxide, consisting of one carbon atom bonded to two oxygen atoms, has been known to scientists for many centuries and has never been considered as organic compound. Thus, the above definition is not perfect. But, in general, organic matter does contain carbon, while inorganic matter is made up of other elements.
Carbon differs from other elements in the incredible variety of bonds it forms, as well as the wide range of elements with which it can form bonds. Thus, the number of carbon compounds, both natural and synthetic, is many times greater than the number of compounds of all other elements combined. This partly explains the fact that in the book we pay more attention to organic substances than to inorganic ones. But our choice is also explained by the fact that both authors of the book are organic chemists.
Structural formulas: are they needed?
For us, the biggest problem in working on the book was to determine the reasonable limits of its chemical content. Some colleagues advised us to talk less about chemistry and more about history. And of course, we were told, you should not draw any chemical structures. But it seemed to us the most interesting just to reflect the connection between the chemical structure and properties of a substance, as well as the connection between its structure and historical events. Of course, one can read the book without looking at the formulas, but it seems to us that understanding chemical structures revives the connection between chemistry and history.
organic matter are made up of just a few types of atoms: carbon (C), hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), and nitrogen (N). In addition, other elements can also be found in them: bromine (Br), chlorine (Cl), fluorine (F), iodine (I), phosphorus (P) and sulfur (S). In the book, we have shown the structures of chemical compounds mainly for comparison, so to understand the explanation, you just need to look at the picture. Structural differences are usually marked with arrows, circled, or otherwise highlighted. For example, the only difference between the two substances shown below is the position of the OH group. In each case, this position is marked with an arrow. In the first molecule, the OH group is located at the second carbon atom from the left, and in the second molecule, at the first carbon atom.
Molecule synthesized by the queen bee
Chapter 1
Pepper, nutmeg and cloves
“For Christ and spices!” - such was the triumphant cry of the Portuguese sailors in May 1498, when the ships under the command of Vasco da Gama reached the shores of India. The aim of the expedition was to break the Venetian merchants' monopoly on the spice trade. In medieval Europe, pepper was so highly valued that a pound [less than half a kilogram] of its dried peas could buy liberation from feudal dependence along with a title of nobility. Today, pepper is on the dinner table in every home, and it is hard to imagine that a few centuries ago, the need for it, as well as spices such as cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and ginger, led to the Great geographical discoveries.
A Brief History of Peppers
Pepper is the fruit of a tropical climbing plant
originating from India, is still the most popular spice. Now this product is mainly produced in the equatorial regions of India, in Brazil, Indonesia and Malaysia. This strong plant with a tree trunk can reach six meters in height. At the age of two to five years, the plant begins to bear round red fruits and, under optimal conditions, lives up to forty years. Each vine per year can bring up to ten kilograms of pepper.
Approximately three-quarters of the harvest is processed into black pepper, which is obtained from unripe fruits by fermentation under the influence of microscopic fungi. Of the remaining 25%, most of it is white pepper, which is obtained by removing the husk from ripe and dried fruits. A very small amount goes on sale in the form of green peppers: green fruits that are just beginning to ripen are harvested and placed in brine. The grains of a different color, which can sometimes be found in specialized stores, are obtained by artificial dyeing, or they are generally the fruits of a different plant.
It is believed that Arab merchants brought pepper to Europe, delivering it along the ancient trade route that passed through Damascus and the Red Sea. In Greece, pepper was already known in the 5th century BC. e. In those days, it was more often used for medical than for culinary purposes (it served, for example, as an antidote for poisoning). AT Ancient Rome pepper and other spices began to be actively consumed in food.
In the 1st century, spices, among which Indian pepper occupied an important place, accounted for about half the value of all goods that arrived in the Mediterranean from Asia and from the east coast of Africa. Spices were used in cooking for two reasons: firstly, to prevent food spoilage, and secondly, to spice up ready-made dishes. Rome was a huge city. The transportation of goods was slow, freezing food was not yet practiced, so the problem of their delivery and preservation was very acute. When determining the quality of products, consumers could only rely on their own scent (labels with the inscription “best before such and such date” appeared much later). The spices dampened the smell of rancid goods and may have helped slow down further decomposition. In addition, generous use of spices could improve the taste of dried, smoked, and salted foods.
In the Middle Ages, a significant part of trade transactions between Europe and the countries of the East was carried out in Baghdad (Iraq) and Constantinople (now Istanbul), the path to which went along south coast Black Sea. From Constantinople, spices were transported by sea to Venice, which almost completely controlled this market during the last four centuries of the Middle Ages.
Burning chemistry
Unlike black pepper, which is the fruit of a single plant species, red hot pepper, or chili, is the fruit of several plant species belonging to the genus
Plants of this genus, originating from tropical America (possibly from Mexico), have been known to people for at least nine thousand years. Within each plant species of this genus, there are many variations. For example,
A type of annual plant that includes paprika, cayenne pepper, bell pepper and many others. Tabasco peppers are the fruit of a perennial woody plant.
Capsicum frutescens.
Chili peppers come in a wide variety of colors, sizes and shapes, but in any case, their spicy taste and burning sensation are due to the presence of capsaicin (C
N) - substances with a structure resembling the structure of piperine:
capsaicin
call of spices
Black pepper was not the only spice that was so highly valued. Nutmeg and cloves were valued no less, but were much rarer. The birthplace of these two products is the Moluccas - the legendary Spice Islands (now the Indonesian province of Moluccas). nutmeg tree
myristicafragrans
grows exclusively on the Banda Islands - a small archipelago in the Banda Sea, about two and a half thousand kilometers east of the capital Indonesia Jakarta. These are tiny islands: the largest does not exceed ten kilometers in length, and the smallest is only a couple of kilometers long. To the north of the Moluccas, there are also very small islands of Ternate and Tidore - the only place on the planet where a clove tree grew
Eugenia aromatica.
For centuries, the islanders have harvested the fragrant fruits of these rare trees and sold them to Arab, Malay and Chinese merchants to be shipped to Asia and Europe. The trade routes were well known, but whether they passed through India, Arabia, Persia, or Egypt, goods changed hands at least twelve times before reaching buyers in Western Europe, and in each transaction the value of the goods doubled. Therefore, it is not surprising that the viceroy of the Portuguese possessions in India, Afonso de Albuquerque, equipped expeditions first to Ceylon, and then to the Malay Peninsula, which was at that time the center of the spice trade in East India. In 1512, Albuquerque reached a source of cloves and nutmeg and established a Portuguese monopoly on these goods by trading directly with the islanders, so that Portugal soon bypassed Venice.
Spain was also interested in the spice market. In 1518, the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan, whose plan was rejected by his own country, convinced the Spanish monarch not only that the Spice Islands could be reached by moving westward, but that this path could be shorter. Spain had reasons to support Magellan. A new route to the East Indies would have allowed Spanish ships to avoid entering Portuguese ports. In addition, a few years earlier, Pope Alexander VI issued a bull on the division of the non-Christian world between Spain and Portugal. Portugal was allotted again open lands east of an imaginary vertical line that ran one hundred leagues (about five hundred kilometers) west of the Cape Verde Islands. Spain could hold all non-Christian lands west of this line. Many scientists and navigators of that time knew perfectly well that the Earth was round, but the Vatican, apparently, did not know this. Thus, the advance to the west gave Spain a legitimate claim to the Spice Islands.
Magellan convinced the king of Spain that he knew the way through the American continent, and he must have convinced himself of this. In September 1519, Magellan left Spain and headed southwest to cross the Atlantic, and then began to descend along the coasts that are now the territory of Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. When he reached the estuary of La Plata, more than two hundred kilometers wide (in the depths of which today lies the city of Buenos Aires), he must have been terribly disappointed, since this was not yet the end of the mainland. However, Magellan continued to move south, confident that the passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans was somewhere close. The situation of his five small ships and 265 crew members was becoming increasingly difficult. The further south Magellan sailed, the shorter the days became and the stronger the storm raged. A dangerous coast with sudden tides, terrible weather, giant waves, endless hail, snow and the very real danger of icing ships - all this further complicated the journey. At 50 ° south latitude, without seeing the strait and having already crushed one rebellion, Magellan decided to wait out the rest of the winter and only then move on, into the treacherous waters that now bear his name.
By October 1520, four of the five ships passed through the Strait, which is called Magellanic. Food supplies were depleted and the crew felt they should turn back home. However, the desire to get nutmeg and cloves, as well as the hope for fame and honor that could await him if the Spaniards managed to take the spice market from the Portuguese, forced Magellan to continue his journey west on three ships. A journey of twenty thousand kilometers through Pacific Ocean, which turned out to be unexpectedly huge, without maps, with primitive navigational instruments, a small supply of food and almost no water, was much more terrible than traveling around the tip South America. The arrival on March 6, 1521 in Guam, one of the Marianas, allowed the team to take a break. Many sailors died during the voyage from starvation or scurvy.
Fragrant molecules of clove and nutmeg
Although cloves and nutmeg are different species and grow on different islands separated by hundreds of kilometers of open sea, their dissimilar smell is due to the presence of remarkably similar molecules in them. The main component of clove oil is eugenol, while the odorous component of nutmeg oil is isoeugenol. These fragrant and aromatic molecules differ only in position double bond:
The only difference between these two compounds is the position of the double bond (shown by arrows)
The affinity of these molecules with the molecule of zingerone (from ginger) is also quite obvious. At the same time, the smell of ginger is not at all like the smell of cloves or nutmeg.
Penny Lecuter, Jay Burreson
Napoleon buttons
Seventeen Molecules That Changed the World
Dedicated to our family
There was no nail - the horseshoe was gone.
There was no horseshoe - the horse was lame.
The horse limped - the commander was killed.
The cavalry is broken - the army is running.
The enemy enters the city, not sparing the prisoners,
Because there was no nail in the forge.
Old English children's poems (arranged by S. Marshak)
Foreword
In June 1812, Napoleon's Grand Army numbered six hundred thousand men. Already in early December of the same year, it decreased to only ten thousand. After the retreat from Moscow, the exhausted French managed to cross the Berezina River near Borisov. Those who survived were pursued by hunger, disease and frost: they caused the defeat of Napoleon no less than the bayonets and bullets of the Russians. Many soldiers died because they were not well-dressed and equipped to survive the icy winter.
Napoleon's retreat from Russia had serious consequences for the whole of Europe. In 1812, 90% of the population of Russia were serfs, who were wholly owned by the landlords and had no rights. They were sold and bought. This situation was more like a slave system than serfdom in Western Europe. The victorious march of the Napoleonic army across Europe was accompanied by the spread of the principles and ideals of the French Revolution (1789-1799), which destroyed medieval foundations, changed political boundaries and contributed to the formation of national consciousness. Napoleon's innovations also proved useful. The reformed state apparatus and codes common to all replaced the intricate local laws and regulations, and ideas about human rights, the family, and private property appeared. Instead of hundreds of local systems of measures and weights of systems, a single, decimal system was adopted.
But what was the reason for the defeat of the greatest army that Napoleon led? Why did Napoleon's soldiers, previously invincible, falter? There is one strange guess about this, which can be formulated by paraphrasing the words of a nursery rhyme: because there were no buttons! It seems incredible, but the death of Napoleon's army can be associated with such an insignificant thing as buttons. More precisely, with pewter buttons, which held the clothes of the entire army, starting with the overcoats of officers and ending with the pants and uniforms of infantrymen. At low temperatures, the shiny metallic tin turns into a brittle gray powder, still tin, but with a completely different structure. Is this what happened to the buttons of the Napoleonic soldiers? One witness in Borisov described the French troops as "a crowd of ghosts wrapped in women's headscarves, pieces of carpets and burnt overcoats." Could it be that the disappearance of buttons had caused the soldiers to become so cold that they could no longer fight? And instead of holding a weapon, they had to literally hold their pants?
However, there are several bottlenecks in this hypothesis. The so-called tin plague (“tin disease”) has been known in northern Europe for several centuries. How could Napoleon, confident in the readiness of his troops for victorious battles, allow the production of elements of uniforms from tin? In addition, the decay of tin is a rather long process, even at such a low temperature as in the winter of 1812 in Russia. However, it is an entertaining story, and chemists like it very much as an explanation for the defeat of the French army. But if there is some truth in this hypothesis, then the question arises: what would happen if the buttons did not crumble from the cold and the French continued to move east? Wouldn't this lead to the fact that serfdom in Russia fell half a century earlier? Would the border between Western and Eastern Europe, which roughly corresponds to the border of the Napoleonic empire, be preserved?
Throughout the history of mankind, metals have played a very important role. In addition to the case with the tin buttons of the Napoleonic soldiers, there were others. It is known, for example, that the tin mines of Cornwall attracted the attention of the ancient Romans and became one of the reasons they seized the territory of modern Great Britain. By 1650, about sixteen thousand tons of silver from the mines of the New World had migrated to the chests of the wealthy Spaniards and Portuguese, and most of these funds were spent on wars in Europe. The search for gold and silver had an extremely strong influence on the discovery, colonization and settlement of many regions of the world. For example, the gold mines in California, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the Klondike River in Canada contributed greatly to the development of these places in the 19th century. There are many expressions in our language that refer to gold: the gold standard, the golden man, the golden time, black gold. The name of entire eras pays tribute to metals. The Bronze Age, when bronze - an alloy or mixture of tin and copper - was used to make weapons and tools, was replaced by the Iron Age, when people began to smelt and forge iron.
Penny Lecuter, Jay Burreson
Napoleon buttons
Seventeen Molecules That Changed the World
Dedicated to our family
There was no nail - the horseshoe was gone.
There was no horseshoe - the horse was lame.
The horse limped - the commander was killed.
The cavalry is broken - the army is running.
The enemy enters the city, not sparing the prisoners,
Because there was no nail in the forge.
Old English children's poems (arranged by S. Marshak)
Foreword
In June 1812, Napoleon's Grand Army numbered six hundred thousand men. Already in early December of the same year, it decreased to only ten thousand. After the retreat from Moscow, the exhausted French managed to cross the Berezina River near Borisov. Those who survived were pursued by hunger, disease and frost: they caused the defeat of Napoleon no less than the bayonets and bullets of the Russians. Many soldiers died because they were not well-dressed and equipped to survive the icy winter.
Napoleon's retreat from Russia had serious consequences for the whole of Europe. In 1812, 90% of the population of Russia were serfs, who were wholly owned by the landlords and had no rights. They were sold and bought. This situation was more like a slave system than serfdom in Western Europe. The victorious march of the Napoleonic army across Europe was accompanied by the spread of the principles and ideals of the French Revolution (1789-1799), which destroyed medieval foundations, changed political boundaries and contributed to the formation of national consciousness. Napoleon's innovations also proved useful. The reformed state apparatus and codes common to all replaced the intricate local laws and regulations, and ideas about human rights, the family, and private property appeared. Instead of hundreds of local systems of measures and weights of systems, a single, decimal system was adopted.
But what was the reason for the defeat of the greatest army that Napoleon led? Why did Napoleon's soldiers, previously invincible, falter? There is one strange guess about this, which can be formulated by paraphrasing the words of a nursery rhyme: because there were no buttons! It seems incredible, but the death of Napoleon's army can be associated with such an insignificant thing as buttons. More precisely, with pewter buttons, which held the clothes of the entire army, starting with the overcoats of officers and ending with the pants and uniforms of infantrymen. At low temperatures, the shiny metallic tin turns into a brittle gray powder, still tin, but with a completely different structure. Is this what happened to the buttons of the Napoleonic soldiers? One witness in Borisov described the French troops as "a crowd of ghosts wrapped in women's headscarves, pieces of carpets and burnt overcoats." Could it be that the disappearance of buttons had caused the soldiers to become so cold that they could no longer fight? And instead of holding a weapon, they had to literally hold their pants?
However, there are several bottlenecks in this hypothesis. The so-called tin plague (“tin disease”) has been known in northern Europe for several centuries. How could Napoleon, confident in the readiness of his troops for victorious battles, allow the production of elements of uniforms from tin? In addition, the decay of tin is a rather long process, even at such a low temperature as in the winter of 1812 in Russia. However, it is an entertaining story, and chemists like it very much as an explanation for the defeat of the French army. But if there is some truth in this hypothesis, then the question arises: what would happen if the buttons did not crumble from the cold and the French continued to move east? Wouldn't this lead to the fact that serfdom in Russia fell half a century earlier? Would the border between Western and Eastern Europe, which roughly corresponds to the border of the Napoleonic empire, be preserved?
Throughout the history of mankind, metals have played a very important role. In addition to the case with the tin buttons of the Napoleonic soldiers, there were others. It is known, for example, that the tin mines of Cornwall attracted the attention of the ancient Romans and became one of the reasons they seized the territory of modern Great Britain. By 1650, about sixteen thousand tons of silver from the mines of the New World had migrated to the chests of the wealthy Spaniards and Portuguese, and most of these funds were spent on wars in Europe. The search for gold and silver had an extremely strong influence on the discovery, colonization and settlement of many regions of the world. For example, the gold mines in California, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the Klondike River in Canada contributed greatly to the development of these places in the 19th century. There are many expressions in our language that refer to gold: the gold standard, the golden man, the golden time, black gold. The name of entire eras pays tribute to metals. The Bronze Age, when bronze - an alloy or mixture of tin and copper - was used to make weapons and tools, was replaced by the Iron Age, when people began to smelt and forge iron.
But was it only tin, gold and iron that influenced the course of history? Metals are elements, that is, substances that cannot be broken down into simpler components by chemical reactions. There are ninety elements in nature. In addition, man has created about ninety more elements in a very small amount. But chemical compounds (substances formed as a result of chemical interactions two or more elements) about seven million are known. It is no exaggeration to say that certain compounds have also played a pivotal role in human history. This curious idea formed the basis of the book.
If we consider some ordinary or not quite ordinary substances in this aspect, amazing stories are revealed. As a result of the agreement at Breda in 1667, the Dutch ceded their possessions in North America to the British in exchange for the small island of Ran in the Banda archipelago (modern-day Indonesia). England, having lost its rights to the Isle of Run (the attraction of which consisted solely in the fact that nutmeg was grown there), in return received the rights to a small piece of land on the other side of the world - the island of Manhattan.
The Dutch began to claim Manhattan shortly after the arrival of Henry Hudson, who was looking for a way to the East Indies, to the legendary Spice Islands (Moluccas). In 1664, the governor of New Amsterdam, Peter Stuyvesant, was forced to cede the colony to the British. Dutch dissatisfaction with this concession and other territorial disputes led to a war between the two countries that lasted about three years. The English presence on the Isle of Run annoyed the Dutch, as it alone broke the Dutch monopoly of the nutmeg trade. The Dutch, notorious in the region for their brutality, did not want the English to have a share in the lucrative spice trade. After a four-year blockade and bloody fighting, the Dutch finally captured Ran Island. The British retaliated by attacking the ships of the Dutch East India Company.
The Dutch demanded compensation for piracy and sought the return of New Amsterdam. The English wanted the Dutch to pay for their crimes in the East Indies and take back Ran. Since neither side wanted to make concessions and could not win at sea, an agreement was signed in Breda that allowed both states to save face. The British took Manhattan and renounced their claims to Run Island. The Dutch became masters of Run Island and no longer claimed Manhattan. When the British raised their flag over New Amsterdam (later renamed New York), it seemed that the Dutch had more luck in this dispute. Is it possible to compare a small settlement in the New World (about a thousand people) with a monopoly on the nutmeg trade?
Why was nutmeg valued so highly? Like other spices such as cloves, pepper, and cinnamon, nutmeg was widely used in Europe for food preservation, food, and medicine. But nutmeg had another, much more important function. It was believed that nutmeg protects against the "black death", which devastated Europe for four hundred years from the 14th century.
Of course, we now know that the Black Death (plague) is a bacterial disease carried by rats and transmitted by flea bites. Therefore, it can be said that wearing a small bag of nutmeg around the neck as a remedy for the plague is simply superstition. Yes, one could say so if one does not understand chemical composition nutmeg. The characteristic smell of this nut is due to the presence of isoeugenol in it. Plants produce these substances as natural pesticides to protect against ruminants, insects and microbes. It is likely that the isoeugenol from nutmeg acted as a natural insecticide that repelled fleas. Of course, it's also true: wealthy people Those who had the opportunity to buy nutmeg lived in relatively more favorable conditions, that is, surrounded by fewer rats and fleas, which reduced the likelihood of contracting the plague.
Penny Lecuter, Jay Burreson
Napoleon buttons
Seventeen Molecules That Changed the World
Dedicated to our family
There was no nail - the horseshoe was gone.
There was no horseshoe - the horse was lame.
The horse limped - the commander was killed.
The cavalry is broken - the army is running.
The enemy enters the city, not sparing the prisoners,
Because there was no nail in the forge.
Old English children's poems (arranged by S. Marshak)
Foreword
In June 1812, Napoleon's Grand Army numbered six hundred thousand men. Already in early December of the same year, it decreased to only ten thousand. After the retreat from Moscow, the exhausted French managed to cross the Berezina River near Borisov. Those who survived were pursued by hunger, disease and frost: they caused the defeat of Napoleon no less than the bayonets and bullets of the Russians. Many soldiers died because they were not well-dressed and equipped to survive the icy winter.
Napoleon's retreat from Russia had serious consequences for the whole of Europe. In 1812, 90% of the population of Russia were serfs, who were wholly owned by the landlords and had no rights. They were sold and bought. This situation was more like a slave system than serfdom in Western Europe. The victorious march of the Napoleonic army across Europe was accompanied by the spread of the principles and ideals of the French Revolution (1789-1799), which destroyed medieval foundations, changed political boundaries and contributed to the formation of national consciousness. Napoleon's innovations also proved useful. The reformed state apparatus and codes common to all replaced the intricate local laws and regulations, and ideas about human rights, the family, and private property appeared. Instead of hundreds of local systems of measures and weights of systems, a single, decimal system was adopted.
But what was the reason for the defeat of the greatest army that Napoleon led? Why did Napoleon's soldiers, previously invincible, falter? There is one strange guess about this, which can be formulated by paraphrasing the words of a nursery rhyme: because there were no buttons! It seems incredible, but the death of Napoleon's army can be associated with such an insignificant thing as buttons. More precisely, with pewter buttons, which held the clothes of the entire army, starting with the overcoats of officers and ending with the pants and uniforms of infantrymen. At low temperatures, the shiny metallic tin turns into a brittle gray powder, still tin, but with a completely different structure. Is this what happened to the buttons of the Napoleonic soldiers? One witness in Borisov described the French troops as "a crowd of ghosts wrapped in women's headscarves, pieces of carpets and burnt overcoats." Could it be that the disappearance of buttons had caused the soldiers to become so cold that they could no longer fight? And instead of holding a weapon, they had to literally hold their pants?
However, there are several bottlenecks in this hypothesis. The so-called tin plague (“tin disease”) has been known in northern Europe for several centuries. How could Napoleon, confident in the readiness of his troops for victorious battles, allow the production of elements of uniforms from tin? In addition, the decay of tin is a rather long process, even at such a low temperature as in the winter of 1812 in Russia. However, it is an entertaining story, and chemists like it very much as an explanation for the defeat of the French army. But if there is some truth in this hypothesis, then the question arises: what would happen if the buttons did not crumble from the cold and the French continued to move east? Wouldn't this lead to the fact that serfdom in Russia fell half a century earlier? Would the border between Western and Eastern Europe, which roughly corresponds to the border of the Napoleonic empire, be preserved?
Throughout the history of mankind, metals have played a very important role. In addition to the case with the tin buttons of the Napoleonic soldiers, there were others. It is known, for example, that the tin mines of Cornwall attracted the attention of the ancient Romans and became one of the reasons they seized the territory of modern Great Britain. By 1650, about sixteen thousand tons of silver from the mines of the New World had migrated to the chests of the wealthy Spaniards and Portuguese, and most of these funds were spent on wars in Europe. The search for gold and silver had an extremely strong influence on the discovery, colonization and settlement of many regions of the world. For example, the gold mines in California, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the Klondike River in Canada contributed greatly to the development of these places in the 19th century. There are many expressions in our language that refer to gold: the gold standard, the golden man, the golden time, black gold. The name of entire eras pays tribute to metals. The Bronze Age, when bronze - an alloy or mixture of tin and copper - was used to make weapons and tools, was replaced by the Iron Age, when people began to smelt and forge iron.
But was it only tin, gold and iron that influenced the course of history? Metals are elements, that is, substances that cannot be broken down into simpler components by chemical reactions. There are ninety elements in nature. In addition, man has created about ninety more elements in a very small amount. But chemical compounds (substances formed as a result of chemical interactions two or more elements) about seven million are known. It is no exaggeration to say that certain compounds have also played a pivotal role in human history. This curious idea formed the basis of the book.
If we consider some ordinary or not quite ordinary substances in this aspect, amazing stories are revealed. As a result of the agreement at Breda in 1667, the Dutch ceded their possessions in North America to the British in exchange for the small island of Ran in the Banda archipelago (modern-day Indonesia). England, having lost its rights to the Isle of Run (the attraction of which consisted solely in the fact that nutmeg was grown there), in exchange received the rights to a small piece of land on the other side of the world - the island of Manhattan.
The Dutch began to claim Manhattan shortly after the arrival of Henry Hudson, who was looking for a way to the East Indies, to the legendary Spice Islands (Moluccas). In 1664, the governor of New Amsterdam, Peter Stuyvesant, was forced to cede the colony to the British. Dutch dissatisfaction with this concession and other territorial disputes led to a war between the two countries that lasted about three years. The English presence on the Isle of Run annoyed the Dutch, as it alone broke the Dutch monopoly of the nutmeg trade. The Dutch, notorious in the region for their brutality, did not want the English to have a share in the lucrative spice trade. After a four-year blockade and bloody fighting, the Dutch finally captured Ran Island. The British retaliated by attacking the ships of the Dutch East India Company.
The Dutch demanded compensation for piracy and sought the return of New Amsterdam. The English wanted the Dutch to pay for their crimes in the East Indies and take back Ran. Since neither side wanted to make concessions and could not win at sea, an agreement was signed in Breda that allowed both states to save face. The British took Manhattan and renounced their claims to Run Island. The Dutch became masters of Run Island and no longer claimed Manhattan. When the British raised their flag over New Amsterdam (later renamed New York), it seemed that the Dutch had more luck in this dispute. Is it possible to compare a small settlement in the New World (about a thousand people) with a monopoly on the nutmeg trade?