Denis Papin's digester and its eighteenth-century European circulation
| Résumé |
The digester, invented by Denis Papin in the 1680s, was a
rudimentary pressure cooker used to soften hard bodies by boiling
them at high pressure. In this paper, I propose a reassessment of
Papin's work on the digester, arguing that his research was located
at the intersection of the chemical laboratory and cooking practice.
I then examine cases from the eighteenth-century European
circulation of the instrument in Sweden, Italy and the Netherlands
in order to showcase the different practices in which the digester
was embedded, including chemical research, philanthropic projects
to feed the destitute, and proposals for the improvement of home
cooking. The digester's history represents a key episode for
demonstrating the intertwined nature of natural-philosophical
research and the practice of economy or ‘thrift’. All users of the
digester engaged in a rationalization of its functions through
quantification, not only to fulfil a concern for precision but also
to display the device's potential to reform practical daily life.
The digester could save time and fuel, reduce material waste, make
cooking easier and foster collective meal preparation for the
needy. |
| Mots-clés |
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| Citation | Storni, M. (2021). Denis Papin's digester and its eighteenth-century European circulation. The British Journal for the History of Science, 54(4), 443-463. |
| Type | Article de périodique (Anglais) |
| Date de publication | 27-12-2021 |
| Nom du périodique | The British Journal for the History of Science |
| Volume | 54 |
| Numéro | 4 |
| Pages | 443-463 |
| URL | https://www.doi.org/10.1017/S0007087421000698 |
| Liée au projet | Mesure du temps, chimie et cuisine : formalisation des pr... |