@hollyr.eth

Framedl 2026-10-03 1/6* In 1819, the poet Goethe handed a young chemist a box of rare Arabian mocha beans and told him to find out what was inside. Friedlieb Runge did: caffeine. In 1855, Runge published Der Bildungstrieb der Stoffe 'the formative drive of substances'. A book of chemicals dripped onto blotting paper and left to bloom into halos and feathered fringes. He called them pictures that paint themselves. The origin of paper chromatography, and of abstraction by half a century. The red-breasted singer starts the dawn chorus unassisted. The rest of us caffeinate, thanks to Goethe's request. tinges: @retalien @frdysk

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