By MALCOLM W. BROWNE
Published: August 16, 1988
OF all the cases cited by psychiatrists, psychologists and historians of science to illuminate the role of symbolism in creative thought, none is more famous than August Kekule's somnolent vision of a snake biting its tail, a dream that supposedly revealed the true structure of the benzene ring to the German chemist.
But at least one historian now believes that Kekule never dreamed the snake dream, and that, in any case, the benzene ring had already been described by other chemists at the time Kekule claimed to have discovered it.
That is the conclusion of Dr. John H. Wotiz, a professor of chemistry at Southern Illinois University who has made an exhaustive study of the documents and lore Kekule left to his scientific heirs. Dr. Wotiz is organizing a symposium of chemists and scholars to be held in 1990 to try to sort fact from fiction in assessing Kekule's career.
Kekule is regarded as one of the principal founders of modern organic chemistry, the chemistry of carbon-based compounds. In 1858 he showed that carbon can link with itself to form long chains. In 1865 he reported his discovery of the benzene ring as the basis for another major group of carbon molecules.
Since then, various versions of the dream have found their way into scholarly analyses. In one version, cited by Carl Jung in ''The Psychology of Transference,'' Kekule discovered the benzene ring after dreaming of ''the Royal Marriage,'' the image of a dancing king and queen used by medieval alchemists as a symbol of conjunction. In another version, Kekule dreamed of a self-devouring snake alchemists of the 3d century A.D. devised to symbolize the underlying unity of nature. In others, the dream involved six snakes, or six monkeys linking hands and tails.
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Read more here/Leia mais aqui: The New York Times
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NOTA DESTE BLOGGER:
Eu sempre achei esta história de Kekulé ter descoberto a estrutura do anel de benzeno como sendo muito fantasiosa. A pesquisa do Dr. John H. Wotiz somente veio reforçar meu ceticismo sobre esta forma estranha de fazer ciência.
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