As the History of any Science ought to relate the labours, the discoveries, and the errors of the cultivators of that Science; and to shew the obstacles which they have been obliged to surmount, and the mistaken paths into which they have sometimes been misled; it cannot therefore fail of being very useful to persons engaged in the same pursuits.

A Dictionary of Chemistry (Volume 1), A Preliminary Discourse Concerning the Origin and Progress, of Chemistry (p. 1)