海姆与火药西源论的特征考析  

On Henry W.L.Hime and the Characteristics of the Western-origin Theory of Gunpowder

作　　者：王坚 WANG Jian(Institute for History of Science and Technology,Shanxi University,Taiyuan,Shanxi,030006)

机构地区：[1]山西大学科学技术史研究所,山西太原030006

出　　处：《自然辩证法通讯》2025年第4期18-25,共8页Journal of Dialectics of Nature

基　　金：山西省高等学校人文社科重点研究基地项目“山西工业遗产科技价值挖掘及其开发政策研究”(项目编号:2022J003)。

摘　　要：英国陆军中校海姆是火药西源论的研究先驱。他不仅指出早期研究遇到的语言困境及其解决途径,而且通过在古代希腊、阿拉伯、印度和中国的文献中搜寻相关证据,否定了火药诞生于这些传统文明的说法,提出了影响深远的“培根发明说”,从而为西源论奠定了理论基础。然而,海姆等人对中文史料的曲解和将火药与火炮等量齐观的研究方法,致使火药在很长时期里被错误地视为现代科学的产物。20世纪三、四十年代出现的火药是由中国古代炼丹家所发明的论断,正是基于对西源论进行研究方法革新而得出的。Henry W.L.Hime was a pioneer of the western-origin theory of gunpowder,who not only identified the linguistic challenges encountered in early research and proposed their solutions,but also,by searching for relevant evidence in the literature of ancient Greece,Arabia,India,and China,refuted the claim that gunpowder originated from these traditional civilizations.He proposed the influential thesis that Roger Bacon invented gunpowder,thereby laying the theoretical foundation for the western-origin theory.However,Hime’s misinterpretation of Chinese historical materials and the method of equating gunpowder with artillery led to its long-standing misidentification as a product of modern science.The assertion that gunpowder was invented by ancient Chinese alchemists,which emerged in the 1930s to 1940s,was based on the methodological shift that challenged the western-origin theory.

关 键 词：海姆 火药 西源论 

分 类 号：N09[自然科学总论—科学技术哲学] TQ56-09[化学工程—炸药化工]