Los Botones De Napoleon

NAPOLEON’S BUTTONS

NAPOLEON’S BUTTONS
17 MOLECULES THAT
CHANGED HISTORY

PENNY LE COUTEUR JAY B U R R E S O N

J e r e m y P. Ta r c h e r / P e n g u i n a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. N e w Yo r k

Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 375 Hudson Street New York, NY 10014 www.penguin.com First trade paperback edition 2004 Copyright © 2003 by MicronGeological Ltd. and Jay Burreson All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission. Published simultaneously in Canada The Library of Congress catalogued the hardcover edition as follows: Le Couteur, Penny, date. Napoleon’s buttons : 17 molecules that changed history / by Penny Le Couteur, Jay Burreson. p. cm. Includes index. . 1.Chemistry—Popular works. 2. Chemistry—History I. Burreson, Jay, 1942–. II. Title. QD37.L34 2004 2004045987 540—dc22 Book design by Carol Malcolm Russo/Signet M Design, Inc. ISBN: 1-4406-1550-0

For our families

CONTENTS
Introduction 1

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 1 1. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.

Peppers, Nutmeg, and Cloves Ascorbic Acid Glucose Cellulose Nitro Compounds Silk and Nylon PhenolIsoprene Dyes Wonder Drugs The Pill Molecules of Witchcraft Morphine, Nicotine, and Caffeine Oleic Acid Salt Chlorocarbon Compounds Molecules Versus Malaria

19 36 54 71 87 105 123 141 162 181 201 223 246 270 291 309 330

Epilogue 351 Acknowledgments 355 Selected Bibliography 357 Index 363

INTRODUCTION
For the want of a nail the shoe was lost. For the want of a shoe the horse was lost. For thewant of a horse the rider was lost. For the want of a rider the battle was lost. For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost. And all for the want of a horse-shoe nail.
OLD ENGLISH
NURSERY RHYME

I

N

J UNE 1812, Napoleon’s army

was 600,000 strong. By early December, however, the once proud Grande Armée numbered fewer than 10,000. The tattered remnants of Napoleon’s forces hadcrossed the Berezina River, near Borisov in western Russia, on the long road of retreat from Moscow. The remaining soldiers faced starvation, disease, and numbing cold—the same enemies that had defeated their comrades as surely as had the Russian army. More of them were to perish, ill clad and ill equipped to survive the bitter cold of a Russian winter. Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow had far-reachingconsequences on the map of Europe. In 1812, 90 percent of the Russian population consisted of serfs, the outright property of a landowner, bought, sold, or traded at whim, a situation closer to slavery than serfdom ever was in western Europe. The principles and ideals of the French Revolution of 1789–1799 had followed Napoleon’s conquering army, breaking down the medieval order of society, changingpolitical boundaries, and fo-

Na p o l e o n ’ s B u t t o n s

menting the concept of nationalism. His legacy was also practical. Common civil administration and legal codes replaced the widely varying and confusing system of regional laws and regulations, and new concepts of individual, family, and property rights were introduced. The decimal system of weights and measures became thestandard instead of the chaos of hundreds of different local scales. What caused the downfall of the greatest army Napoleon had led? Why did Napoleon’s soldiers, victorious in previous battles, falter in the Russian campaign? One of the strangest theories to be advanced can be captured by paraphrasing an old nursery rhyme: “all for the want of a button.” Surprising as it may seem, the disintegration ofNapoleon’s army may be traceable to something as small as the disintegration of a button—a tin button, to be exact, the kind that fastened everything from the greatcoats of Napoleon’s officers to the trousers and jackets of his foot soldiers. When temperatures drop, shiny metallic tin starts to change into a crumbly nonmetallic gray powder—still tin, but with a different structural form. Is...