Chemical Analysis as Dematerialization

Chemical analysis is envisaged as an exemplar of laboratory work. Matter, held at a distance within the probe of instruments, is converted there into electronic signals. Matter serves only as prime material for information production. Chemical analysis converts instrumentalized readings into informational statements. Major chemical thinkers (Auguste Laurent, Justus von Liebig, Jean-Baptiste Dumas, and others) made this conceptual revolution. In mid-nineteenth century, they built a daring theory of radicals. Since that time, molecular chemistry became a combinatorial art and science of radicals. These, groups of atoms with only at first fictional existence, are analogous to phonemes in speech production.