Science and open policy

People complain about how science needs to be more open. I just realized I'm thankful for how open science is today, especially compared with the days of early science and alchemy where findings were encoded in such a form that only those specifically trained were able to unravel their meaning. Since science has progressed to a more standardized form, however, this leaves researchers of historical texts with a large job of decoding the past. With so much information available online, it is important that we are able to communicate thoroughly and openly- but most importantly- truthfully.


"This has always been a problem, however, because the texts that [the alchemists] have left us are very secretive. They're often very metaphorical they're often in a kind of code; and they're filled with all sorts of extravagant imagery- often very beautiful wood cuts but forbidding in the sense of...what does it all mean?"

This comes from Professor Larry Principe of Johns Hopkins University. He works as a science historian trying to decode many of the historical alchemy texts and the American Chemical Society recently put out a video overviewing some of his work. He explains that his main hurdles are decoding these metaphors and symbols, to repeat reactions done by "the ancients" using their methods and glassware to see what it is they actually made.

J.R. Partington, in his book, "A Short History of Chemisty" outlines that many texts from ~1200-1500 are "largely unintelligible" alluding to the secretive nature of this pseudoscience during the time, a contrasting discussion to his earlier elaboration on the treatises written by the Ancient Greeks, Arabs, and Egyptians. Shamefully, as well, "the later history of alchemy is often that of fraud."


While peer review is not perfect in its mission to vet what is "good science" and "bad science," I firmly support the system in place today opposing the search for the philosopher's stone of yesteryear. In the discussion of how to improve science communication we need to not forget- some control is better than none.

http://gizmodo.com/meet-the-man-who-decodes-the-ancient-secrets-of-alchemy-633187520

 http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/111/7/c/alchemy_woodcut_duos_caputis_melior_quam_unus_est_by_dashinvaine-d62i1y6.jpg