The Seven Follies of Science [2nd ed.]

In this work, John Phin attempted to present a straightforward account of issues that have occupied the attention of the human mind ever since the beginning of civilization and which cannot lose their interest until the end of time. The seven follies of science described here are squaring the circle, the duplication of the cube, the trisection of an angle, perpetual motion, the transmutation of metals—alchemy, the fixation of mercury, and the universal medicine and the elixir of life.