Everything Circulates: Agricultural Chemistry and Recycling Theories in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century

Abstract This paper analyses the arguments in favour of recycling put forth by agricultural chemists in the mid nineteenth century. In this context the study emphasises how agricultural chemical theories, mainly developed by Justus Liebig, were connected to larger issues outside the scientific domain. The study also investigates how agricultural chemists argued for different kinds if recycling systems in a more practical way. By way of conclusion, some reasons for the ultimate abandonment of the recycling discourse at the end of the nineteenth century will be discussed.