Chemistry is a science of change. Its historiography is also on the move. So, in turn, these transmutations inevitably shape the publications that present the state of the field – including, needless to say, Ambix, the Journal of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry. Founded in 1937, two years after the Society itself, the journal has now completed its eightieth year in print. In 2010, SHAC marked its seventy-fifth anniversary with a conference on “The History of the History of Chemistry.” A special anniversary issue of Ambix coedited by Robert Anderson, then Chairman of SHAC, and the Editor, Peter Morris, was published the following year, offering excellent retrospectives not only of the history of the Society, but also of the historiography of alchemy, chemistry in Europe after 1800, and more recent chemistry. To mark the journal’s eightieth anniversary, which coincides with the completion of my own five-year term as Editor, this special issue now looks in the other direction, to reflect on what the future might hold for the history of alchemy and chemistry. I shall begin by commenting on some recent developments in Ambix itself. The first point to note – and the one that will always be of greatest importance to an editor – is that the journal continues to receive papers of high quality. During my term, these have included a number of studies by scholars working on technical problems in the intellectual history of chemistry: from nineteenth-century crystallography to early modern approaches to analysis and synthesis. Others have addressed the social, cultural, and pedagogical dimensions of alchemy and chemistry, sometimes in great depth through the medium of guest-edited special issues. The increase in the number of special issues (many of which, to judge by the number of electronic downloads, have been widely read) is a new development for the journal, following the move to quarterly publication in 2013. Between 2013 and 2015, a series of three special issues examined the sites in which chemistry was practiced in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, respectively, based on conferences organised by John Perkins and Antonio García-Belmar. Others have explored alchemy’s relationship with religion and with print culture, respectively – the latter focusing on the

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化学史的未来

化学是一门变化的科学。它的历史编纂也在发展。因此，反过来，这些转变不可避免地塑造了呈现该领域现状的出版物——不用说，包括 Ambix，炼金术和化学史学会杂志。该杂志成立于 1937 年，即协会成立两年后，现在已经出版了第 80 个年头。2010 年，SHAC 举办了一场题为“化学史的历史”的会议，庆祝其成立 75 周年。由当时的 SHAC 主席罗伯特·安德森和编辑彼得·莫里斯共同编辑的 Ambix 周年纪念特刊于次年出版，不仅对学会的历史，而且对炼金术、化学的史学进行了精彩回顾在 1800 年后的欧洲，以及最近的化学。为了纪念该杂志成立 80 周年，恰逢我自己的五年编辑任期结束，本期特刊现在转向另一个方向，反思炼金术和化学史的未来。我将首先评论 Ambix 本身的一些最新发展。首先要注意的一点——也是对编辑来说永远是最重要的一点——是该期刊继续接收高质量的论文。在我的任期内，其中包括研究化学知识史中技术问题的学者的许多研究：从 19 世纪的晶体学到现代早期的分析和合成方法。其他人已经解决了炼金术和化学的社会、文化和教学方面的问题，有时通过客座编辑的特刊进行深入探讨。在 2013 年转为季刊之后，特刊数量的增加（根据电子下载量判断，其中许多已被广泛阅读）是该杂志的一个新发展。 2013 年至 2015 年，根据约翰·珀金斯 (John Perkins) 和安东尼奥·加西亚-贝尔玛 (Antonio García-Belmar) 组织的会议，三期特刊系列分别研究了 18、19 和 20 世纪化学实践的场所。其他人分别探讨了炼金术与宗教和印刷文化的关系——后者专注于 已被广泛阅读）是该杂志继 2013 年转为季刊后的新发展。在 2013 年至 2015 年期间，一系列三期特刊审查了 18、19 和 20 世纪实践化学的地点，分别基于 John Perkins 和 Antonio García-Belmar 组织的会议。其他人分别探讨了炼金术与宗教和印刷文化的关系——后者专注于 已被广泛阅读）是该杂志继 2013 年转为季刊后的新发展。在 2013 年至 2015 年期间，一系列三期特刊研究了 18、19 和 20 世纪实践化学的地点，分别基于 John Perkins 和 Antonio García-Belmar 组织的会议。其他人分别探讨了炼金术与宗教和印刷文化的关系——后者专注于