From around the 2nd century onwards, many people subscribed to the doctrine of
vitalism. For alchemists, vitalism primarily meant that matter from the inorganic, inanimate world (crystals, rocks, etc) was fundamentally different from matter from the organic, living world (us, kittens, pee, etc). Specifically, they believed that that non-living matter could not be transformed into living matter. Vitalists held that the matter of life, the chemicals that compose living things, could be synthesized only by living things themselves.
In 1828 a German chemist named
Friedrich Wöhler made a discovery that bridged the divide between living and non-living matter, and the story of how he did this starts of course with pee.
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| Friedrich Wöhler. German chemist/peepee enthusiast and 1828 blower of minds. |
