ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book describes the rhetorical analysis of discovery accounts, which, according to some, should supplant SSK-based accounts. It argues that, on the contrary, these rhetorical approaches are a useful supplement to the attributional model based in finitism, not a viable substitute for it, at least if our aim is historical explanation. The book deals with the period in the 1780s when the original scientific, or natural philosophical, work was done, has self-imposed limitations. It surveys the historiography of the Chemical Revolution, the part played in it by the discovery of the composition of water and seeks to contextualize the chemical investigations of Watt and Cavendish. The book attempts to characterize the prior structured belief that was faced by those in the Watt camp who sought to re-open the 'water controversy' in the 1830s.
