In these articles Professor Brooke has aimed to expose and explore the many layers of philosophical debate that accompanied the development of chemistry in the 100 years from Priestley to Kekul . During this period the foundations of our modern science were laid: Lavosier's 'chemical revolution', Dalton's atomic theory, the electrochemical concepts of Berzelius transformed the science, as did new ideas of valency and molecular structure. But it was also a period of intense controversy when chemists called each other brigands and assassins.