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Alchemy
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"Alchemist" redirects here. For other uses, see Alchemist (disambiguation) and Alchemy (disambiguation).
Kimiya-yi sa'ādat (The Alchemy of Happiness) – a text on Persian Islamic philosophy and spiritual alchemy by Al-Ghazālī (1058–1111).
Alchemy is a philosophical and protoscientific tradition practiced throughout Europe, Africa and Asia. It aimed to purify, mature, and perfect certain objects.[1][2][n 1] Common aims were chrysopoeia, the transmutation of "base metals" (e.g., lead) into "noble metals" (particularly gold); the creation of an elixir of immortality; the creation of panaceas able to cure any disease; and the development of an alkahest, a universal solvent.[3] The perfection of the human body and soul was thought to permit or result from the alchemical magnum opus and, in the Hellenistic and western tradition, the achievement of gnosis.[2] In Europe, the creation of a philosopher's stone was variously connected with all of these projects.
In English, the term is often limited to descriptions of European alchemy, but similar practices existed in the Far East, the Indian subcontinent, and the Muslim world. In Europe, following the 12th-century Renaissance produced by the translation of Islamic works on science and the Recovery of Aristotle, alchemists played a significant role in early modern science[4] (particularly chemistry and medicine). Islamic and European alchemists developed a structure of basic laboratory techniques, theory, terminology, and experimental method, some of which are still in use today. However, they continued antiquity's belief in four elements and guarded their work in secrecy including cyphers and cryptic symbolism. Their work was guided by Hermetic principles related to magic, mythology, and religion.[5]
Modern discussions of alchemy are generally split into an examination of its exoteric practical applications and its esoteric spiritual aspects, despite the arguments of scholars like Holmyard[6] and von Franz[7] that they should be understood as complementary. The former is pursued by historians of the physical sciences who examine the subject in terms of early chemistry, medicine, and charlatanism, and the philosophical and religious contexts in which these events occurred. The latter interests historians of esotericism, psychologists, and some philosophers and spiritualists. The subject has also made an ongoing impact on literature and the arts. Despite this split, which von Franz believes has existed since the Western traditions' origin in a mix of Greek philosophy that was mixed with Egyptian and Mesopotamian technology,[7] numerous sources have stressed an integration of esoteric and exoteric approaches to alchemy as far back as Pseudo-Democritus's first-century AD On Physical and Mystical Matters (Greek: Physika kai Mystika).[8]
Contents
[hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 Hellenistic Egypt
2.2 India
2.3 Muslim world
2.4 East Asia
2.5 Medieval Europe
2.6 Renaissance and early modern Europe
2.7 Late modern period
2.8 Women in alchemy
2.9 Modern historical research
3 Core concepts
3.1 Hermeticism
3.2 Magnum opus
4 Modern alchemy
4.1 Traditional medicine
4.2 Psychology
4.3 Literature
5 See also
6 Notes
7 References
7.1 Citations
7.2 Bibliography
8 External links
Etymology[edit]
See also: Chemistry (etymology)
The word alchemy was borrowed from Old French alquemie, alkimie, taken from Medieval Latin alchymia, and which is in turn borrowed from Arabic al-kīmiyā’ (الكيمياء). The Arabic word is borrowed from Late Greek chēmeía (χημεία), chēmía (χημία),[9] with the agglutination of the Arabic definite article al- (الـ).[10] This ancient Greek word was derived from[11] the early Greek name for Egypt, Chēmia (Χημία), based on the Egyptian name for Egypt, kēme (hieroglyphic 𓆎𓅓𓏏𓊖 khmi, lit. ‘black earth’, as opposed to red desert sand).[10]
The Medieval Latin form was influenced by Greek chymeia (χυμεία) meaning ‘mixture’ and referring to pharmaceutical chemistry.[12]
History[edit]
Alchemy covers several philosophical traditions spanning some four millennia and three continents. These traditions' general penchant for cryptic and symbolic language makes it hard to trace their mutual influences and "genetic" relationships. One can distinguish at least three major strands, which appear to be largely independent, at least in their earlier stages: Chinese alchemy, centered in China and its zone of cultural influence; Indian alchemy, centered on the Indian subcontinent; and Western alchemy, which occurred around the Mediterranean and whose center has shifted over the millennia from Greco-Roman Egypt, to the Islamic world, and finally medieval Europe. Chinese alchemy was closely connected to Taoism and Indian alchemy with the Dharmic faiths, whereas Western alchemy developed its own philosophical system that was largely independent of, but influenced by, various Western religions. It is still an open question whether these three strands share a common origin, or to what extent they influenced each other.
Hellenistic Egypt[edit]
Ambix, cucurbit and retort of Zosimos, from Marcelin Berthelot, Collection des anciens alchimistes grecs (3 vol., Paris, 1887–1888).
The start of Western alchemy may generally be traced to ancient and Hellenistic Egypt, where the city of Alexandria was a center of alchemical knowledge, and retained its pre-eminence through most of the Greek and Roman periods.[13] Here, elements of technology, religion, mythology, and Hellenistic philosophy, each with their own much longer histories, combined to form the earliest known records of alchemy in the West. Zosimos of Panopolis wrote the oldest known books on alchemy,[citation needed] while Mary the Jewess is credited as being the first non-fictitious Western alchemist. They wrote in Greek and lived in Egypt under Roman rule.
Mythology – Zosimos of Panopolis asserted that alchemy dated back to Pharaonic Egypt where it was the domain of the priestly class, though there is little to no evidence for his assertion.[14] Alchemical writers used Classical figures from Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythology to illuminate their works and allegorize alchemical transmutation.[15] These included the pantheon of gods related to the Classical planets, Isis, Osiris, Jason, and many others.
The central figure in the mythology of alchemy is Hermes Trismegistus (or Thrice-Great Hermes). His name is derived from the god Thoth and his Greek counterpart Hermes. Hermes and his caduceus or serpent-staff, were among alchemy's principal symbols. According to Clement of Alexandria, he wrote what were called the "forty-two books of Hermes", covering all fields of knowledge.[16] The Hermetica of Thrice-Great Hermes is generally understood to form the basis for Western alchemical philosophy and practice, called the hermetic philosophy by its early practitioners. These writings were collected in the first centuries of the common era.
Technology – The dawn of Western alchemy is sometimes associated with that of metallurgy, extending back to 3500 BC.[17] Many writings were lost when the emperor Diocletian ordered the burning of alchemical books[18] after suppressing a revolt in Alexandria (AD 292). Few original Egyptian documents on alchemy have survived, most notable among them the Stockholm papyrus and the Leyden papyrus X. Dating from AD 300–500, they contained recipes for dyeing and making artificial gemstones, cleaning and fabricating pearls, and manufacturing of imitation gold and silver.[19] These writings lack the mystical, philosophical elements of alchemy, but do contain the works of Bolus of Mendes (or Pseudo-Democritus), which aligned these recipes with theoretical knowledge of astrology and the classical elements.[20] Between the time of Bolus and Zosimos, the change took place that transformed this metallurgy into a Hermetic art.[21]
Philosophy – Alexandria acted as a melting pot for philosophies of Pythagoreanism, Platonism, Stoicism and Gnosticism which formed the origin of alchemy's character.[20] An important example of alchemy's roots in Greek philosophy, originated by Empedocles and developed by Aristotle, was that all things in the universe were formed from only four elements: earth, air, water, and fire. According to Aristotle, each element had a sphere to which it belonged and to which it would return if left undisturbed.[22] The four elements of the Greek were mostly qualitative aspects of matter, not quantitative, as our modern elements are; "...True alchemy never regarded earth, air, water, and fire as corporeal or chemical substances in the present-day sense of the word. The four elements are simply the primary, and most general, qualities by means of which the amorphous and purely quantitative substance of all bodies first reveals itself in differentiated form."[23] Later alchemists extensively developed the mystical aspects of this concept.
Alchemy coexisted alongside emerging Christianity. Lactantius believed Hermes Trismegistus had prophesied its birth. St Augustine later affirmed this in the 4th & 5th centuries, but also condemned Trismegistus for idolatry.[24] Examples of Pagan, Christian, and Jewish alchemists can be found during this period.
Most of the Greco-Roman alchemists preceding Zosimos are known only by pseudonyms, such as Moses, Isis, Cleopatra, Democritus, and Ostanes. Others authors such as Komarios, and Chymes, we only know through fragments of text. After AD 400, Greek alchemical writers occupied themselves solely in commenting on the works of these predecessors.[25] By the middle of the 7th century alchemy was almost an entirely mystical discipline.[26] It was at that time that Khalid Ibn Yazid sparked its migration from Alexandria to the Islamic world, facilitating the translation and preservation of Greek alchemical texts in the 8th and 9th centuries.[27]
India[edit]
Main article: Rasayana
See also: History of metallurgy in the Indian subcontinent
The Vedas describe a connection between eternal life and gold.[28] The use of Mercury for alchemy is first documented in the 3rd– or 4th–century Arthashastra. Buddhist texts from the 2nd to 5th centuries mention the transmutation of base metals to gold. Greek alchemy may have been introduced to Ancient India through the invasions of Alexander the Great in 325 BC, and kingdoms that were culturally influenced by the Greeks like Gandhāra, although hard evidence for this is lacking.[28]
The 11th-century Persian chemist and physician Abū Rayhān Bīrūnī, who visited Gujarat as part of the court of Mahmud of Ghazni, reported that they
have a science similar to alchemy which is quite peculiar to them, which in Sanskrit is called Rasayāna and in Persian Rasavātam. It means the art of obtaining/manipulating Rasa: nectar, mercury, and juice. This art was restricted to certain operations, metals, drugs, compounds, and medicines, many of which have mercury as their core element. Its principles restored the health of those who were ill beyond hope and gave back youth to fading old age.
The goals of alchemy in India included the creation of a divine body (Sanskrit divya-deham) and immortality while still embodied (Sanskrit jīvan-mukti). Sanskrit alchemical texts include much material on the manipulation of mercury and sulphur, that are homologized with the semen of the god Śiva and the menstrual blood of the goddess Devī.
Some early alchemical writings seem to have their origins in the Kaula tantric schools associated to the teachings of the personality of Matsyendranath. Other early writings are found in the Jaina medical treatise Kalyāṇakārakam of Ugrāditya, written in South India in the early 9th century.[29]
Two famous early Indian alchemical authors were Nāgārjuna Siddha and Nityanātha Siddha. Nāgārjuna Siddha was a Buddhist monk. His book, Rasendramangalam, is an example of Indian alchemy and medicine. Nityanātha Siddha wrote Rasaratnākara, also a highly influential work. In Sanskrit, rasa translates to "mercury", and Nāgārjuna Siddha was said to have developed a method of converting mercury into gold.[30]
Reliable scholarship on Indian alchemy has been advanced in a major way by the publication of The Alchemical Body by David Gordon White.[31] Trustworthy scholarship on Indian alchemy must now take the findings of this work into account.
An important modern bibliography on Indian alchemical studies has also been provided by David Gordon White at Oxford Bibliographies Online.[32]
The contents of 39 Sanskrit alchemical treatises have been analysed in detail in G. Jan Meulenbeld's History of Indian Medical Literature.[33][n 2] The discussion of these works in HIML gives a summary of the contents of each work, their special features, and where possible the evidence concerning their dating. Chapter 13 of HIML, Various works on rasaśāstra and ratnaśāstra (or Various works on alchemy and gems) gives brief details of a further 655 (six hundred and fifty-five) treatises. In some cases Meulenbeld gives notes on the contents and authorship of these works; in other cases references are made only to the unpublished manuscripts of these titles.
A great deal remains to be discovered about Indian alchemical literature. The content of the Sanskrit alchemical corpus has not yet (2014) been adequately integrated into the wider general history of alchemy.
Muslim world[edit]
Main article: Alchemy and chemistry in medieval Islam
Jabir ibn Hayyan (Geber), considered the "father of chemistry", introduced a scientific and experimental approach to alchemy.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, the focus of alchemical development moved to the Islamic World. Much more is known about Islamic alchemy because it was better documented: indeed, most of the earlier writings that have come down through the years were preserved as Arabic translations.[34] The word alchemy itself was derived from the Arabic word al-kīmiyā’ (الكيمياء). The early Islamic world was a melting pot for alchemy. Platonic and Aristotelian thought, which had already been somewhat appropriated into hermetical science, continued to be assimilated during the late 7th and early 8th centuries through Syriac translations and scholarship.
In the late 8th century, Jābir ibn Hayyān (Latinized as "Geber" or "Geberus") introduced a new approach to alchemy, based on scientific methodology and controlled experimentation in the laboratory, in contrast to the ancient Greek and Egyptian alchemists whose works were often allegorical and unintelligible, with very little concern for laboratory work.[35] Jabir is thus "considered by many to be the father of chemistry",[36] albeit others reserve that title for Robert Boyle or Antoine Lavoisier. The science historian, Paul Kraus, wrote:
To form an idea of the historical place of Jabir's alchemy and to tackle the problem of its sources, it is advisable to compare it with what remains to us of the alchemical literature in the Greek language. One knows in which miserable state this literature reached us. Collected by Byzantine scientists from the tenth century, the corpus of the Greek alchemists is a cluster of incoherent fragments, going back to all the times since the third century until the end of the Middle Ages.
The efforts of Berthelot and Ruelle to put a little order in this mass of literature led only to poor results, and the later researchers, among them in particular Mrs. Hammer-Jensen, Tannery, Lagercrantz, von Lippmann, Reitzenstein, Ruska, Bidez, Festugiere and others, could make clear only few points of detail ....
The study of the Greek alchemists is not very encouraging. An even surface examination of the Greek texts shows that a very small part only was organized according to true experiments of laboratory: even the supposedly technical writings, in the state where we find them today, are unintelligible nonsense which refuses any interpretation.
It is different with Jabir's alchemy. The relatively clear description of the processes and the alchemical apparati, the methodical classification of the substances, mark an experimental spirit which is extremely far away from the weird and odd esotericism of the Greek texts. The theory on which Jabir supports his operations is one of clearness and of an impressive unity. More than with the other Arab authors, one notes with him a balance between theoretical teaching and practical teaching, between the `ilm and the `amal. In vain one would seek in the Greek texts a work as systematic as that which is presented, for example, in the Book of Seventy.[35]
Jabir himself clearly recognized and proclaimed the importance of experimentation:
The first essential in chemistry is that thou shouldest perform practical work and conduct experiments,
for he who performs not practical work nor makes experiments will never attain to the least degree of mastery.[37]
Early Islamic chemists such as Jabir Ibn Hayyan, Al-Kindi ("Alkindus") and Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi ("Rasis" or "Rhazes") contributed a number of key chemical discoveries, such as the muriatic (hydrochloric acid), sulfuric and nitric acids, and more. The discovery that aqua regia, a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids, could dissolve the noblest metal, gold, was to fuel the imagination of alchemists for the next millennium.
Islamic philosophers also made great contributions to alchemical hermeticism. The most influential author in this regard was arguably Jabir. Jabir's ultimate goal was Takwin, the artificial creation of life in the alchemical laboratory, up to, and including, human life. He analyzed each Aristotelian element in terms of four basic qualities of hotness, coldness, dryness, and moistness.[38] According to Jabir, in each metal two of these qualities were interior and two were exterior. For example, lead was externally cold and dry, while gold was hot and moist. Thus, Jabir theorized, by rearranging the qualities of one metal, a different metal would result.[38] By this reasoning, the search for the philosopher's stone was introduced to Western alchemy. Jabir developed an elaborate numerology whereby the root letters of a substance's name in Arabic, when treated with various transformations, held correspondences to the element's physical properties.
The elemental system used in medieval alchemy also originated with Jabir. His original system consisted of seven elements, which included the five classical elements (aether, air, earth, fire, and water) in addition to two chemical elements representing the metals: sulphur, "the stone which burns", which characterized the principle of combustibility, and mercury, which contained the idealized principle of metallic properties. Shortly thereafter, this evolved into eight elements, with the Arabic concept of the three metallic principles: sulphur giving flammability or combustion, mercury giving volatility and stability, and salt giving solidity.[39] The atomic theory of corpuscularianism, where all physical bodies possess an inner and outer layer of minute particles or corpuscles, also has its origins in the work of Jabir.[40]
From the 9th to 14th centuries, alchemical theories faced criticism from a variety of practical Muslim chemists, including Alkindus,[41] Abū al-Rayhān al-Bīrūnī,[42] Avicenna[43] and Ibn Khaldun. In particular, they wrote refutations against the idea of the transmutation of metals.
East Asia[edit]
Main article: Chinese alchemy
Taoist alchemists often use this alternate version of the taijitu.
Whereas European alchemy eventually centered on the transmutation of base metals into noble metals, Chinese alchemy had a more obvious connection to medicine. The philosopher's stone of European alchemists can be compared to the Grand Elixir of Immortality sought by Chinese alchemists. However, in the hermetic view, these two goals were not unconnected, and the philosopher's stone was often equated with the universal panacea; therefore, the two traditions may have had more in common than initially appears.
Black powder may have been an important invention of Chinese alchemists. As previously stated above, Chinese alchemy was more related to medicine. It is said that the Chinese invented gunpowder while trying to find a potion for eternal life. Described in 9th-century texts[citation needed] and used in fireworks in China by the 10th century[citation needed], it was used in cannons by 1290[citation needed]. From China, the use of gunpowder spread to Japan, the Mongols, the Muslim world, and Europe. Gunpowder was used by the Mongols against the Hungarians in 1241, and in Europe by the 14th century.
Chinese alchemy was closely connected to Taoist forms of traditional Chinese medicine, such as Acupuncture and Moxibustion, and to martial arts such as Tai Chi Chuan[citation needed] and Kung Fu (although some Tai Chi schools believe that their art derives from the philosophical or hygienic branches of Taoism, not Alchemical). In fact, in the early Song dynasty, followers of this Taoist idea (chiefly the elite and upper class) would ingest mercuric sulfide, which, though tolerable in low levels, led many to suicide[citation needed]. Thinking that this consequential death would lead to freedom and access to the Taoist heavens, the ensuing deaths encouraged people to eschew this method of alchemy in favor of external sources[citation needed] (the aforementioned Tai Chi Chuan[citation needed], mastering of the qi[citation needed], etc.).
Medieval Europe[edit]
The Alchemist in Search of the Philosopher's Stone, by Joseph Wright, 1771
"An illuminated page from a book on alchemical processes and receipts", ca. 15th century.
The introduction of alchemy to Latin Europe may be dated to 11 February 1144, with the completion of Robert of Chester's translation of the Arabic Book of the Composition of Alchemy. Although European craftsmen and technicians preexisted, Robert notes in his preface that alchemy was unknown in Latin Europe at the time of his writing. The translation of Arabic texts concerning numerous disciplines including alchemy flourished in 12th-century Toledo, Spain, through contributors like Gerard of Cremona and Adelard of Bath.[44] Translations of the time included the Turba Philosophorum, and the works of Avicenna and al-Razi. These brought with them many new words to the European vocabulary for which there was no previous Latin equivalent. Alcohol, carboy, elixir, and athanor are examples.[45]
Meanwhile, theologian contemporaries of the translators made strides towards the reconciliation of faith and experimental rationalism, thereby priming Europe for the influx of alchemical thought. The 11th-century St Anselm put forth the opinion that faith and rationalism were compatible and encouraged rationalism in a Christian context. In the early 12th century, Peter Abelard followed Anselm's work, laying down the foundation for acceptance of Aristotelian thought before the first works of Aristotle had reached the West. In the early 13th century, Robert Grosseteste used Abelard's methods of analysis and added the use of observation, experimentation, and conclusions when conducting scientific investigations. Grosseteste also did much work to reconcile Platonic and Aristotelian thinking.[46]
Through much of the 12th and 13th centuries, alchemical knowledge in Europe remained centered on translations, and new Latin contributions were not made. The efforts of the translators were succeeded by that of the encyclopaedists. In the 13th century, Albertus Magnus and Roger Bacon were the most notable of these, their work summarizing and explaining the newly imported alchemical knowledge in Aristotelian terms.[47] Albertus Magnus, a Dominican monk, is known to have written works such as the Book of Minerals where he observed and commented on the operations and theories of alchemical authorities like Hermes and Democritus and unnamed alchemists of his time. Albertus critically compared these to the writings of Aristotle and Avicenna, where they concerned the transmutation of metals. From the time shortly after his death through to the 15th century, more than 28 alchemical tracts were misattributed to him, a common practice giving rise to his reputation as an accomplished alchemist.[48] Likewise, alchemical texts have been attributed to Albert's student Thomas Aquinas.
Roger Bacon, a Franciscan monk who wrote on a wide variety of topics including optics, comparative linguistics, and medicine, composed his Great Work (Latin: Opus Majus) for Pope Clement IV as part of a project towards rebuilding the medieval university curriculum to include the new learning of his time. While alchemy was not more important to him than other sciences and he did not produce allegorical works on the topic, he did consider it and astrology to be important parts of both natural philosophy and theology and his contributions advanced alchemy's connections to soteriology and Christian theology. Bacon's writings integrated morality, salvation, alchemy, and the prolongation of life. His correspondence with Clement highlighted this, noting the importance of alchemy to the papacy.[49] Like the Greeks before him, Bacon acknowledged the division of alchemy into practical and theoretical spheres. He noted that the theoretical lay outside the scope of Aristotle, the natural philosophers, and all Latin writers of his time. The practical, however, confirmed the theoretical thought experiment, and Bacon advocated its uses in natural science and medicine.[50] In later European legend, however, Bacon became an archmage. In particular, along with Albertus Magnus, he was credited with the forging of a brazen head capable of answering its owner's questions.
Soon after Bacon, the influential work of Pseudo-Geber (sometimes identified as Paul of Taranto) appeared. His Summa Perfectionis remained a staple summary of alchemical practice and theory through the medieval and renaissance periods. It was notable for its inclusion of practical chemical operations alongside sulphur-mercury theory, and the unusual clarity with which they were described.[51] By the end of the 13th century, alchemy had developed into a fairly structured system of belief. Adepts believed in the macrocosm-microcosm theories of Hermes, that is to say, they believed that processes that affect minerals and other substances could have an effect on the human body (for example, if one could learn the secret of purifying gold, one could use the technique to purify the human soul). They believed in the four elements and the four qualities as described above, and they had a strong tradition of cloaking their written ideas in a labyrinth of coded jargon set with traps to mislead the uninitiated. Finally, the alchemists practiced their art: they actively experimented with chemicals and made observations and theories about how the universe operated. Their entire philosophy revolved around their belief that man's soul was divided within himself after the fall of Adam. By purifying the two parts of man's soul, man could be reunited with God.[52]
In the 14th century, alchemy became more accessible to Europeans outside the confines of Latin speaking churchmen and scholars. Alchemical discourse shifted from scholarly philosophical debate to an exposed social commentary on the alchemists themselves.[53] Dante, Piers Plowman, and Chaucer all painted unflattering pictures of alchemists as thieves and liars. Pope John XXII's 1317 edict, Spondent quas non exhibent forbade the false promises of transmutation made by pseudo-alchemists.[54] In 1403, Henry IV of England banned the practice of multiplying metals (although it was possible to buy a licence to attempt to make gold alchemically, and a number were granted by Henry VI and Edward IV[55]). These critiques and regulations centered more around pseudo-alchemical charlatanism than the actual study of alchemy, which continued with an increasingly Christian tone. The 14th century saw the Christian imagery of death and resurrection employed in the alchemical texts of Petrus Bonus, John of Rupescissa, and in works written in the name of Raymond Lull and Arnold of Villanova.[56]
Nicolas Flamel is a well-known alchemist, but a good example of pseudepigraphy, the practice of giving your works the name of someone else, usually more famous. Though the historical Flamel existed, the writings and legends assigned to him only appeared in 1612.[57][58] Flamel was not a religious scholar as were many of his predecessors, and his entire interest in the subject revolved around the pursuit of the philosopher's stone. His work spends a great deal of time describing the processes and reactions, but never actually gives the formula for carrying out the transmutations. Most of 'his' work was aimed at gathering alchemical knowledge that had existed before him, especially as regarded the philosopher's stone.[59] Through the 14th and 15th centuries, alchemists were much like Flamel: they concentrated on looking for the philosophers' stone. Bernard Trevisan and George Ripley made similar contributions. Their cryptic allusions and symbolism led to wide variations in interpretation of the art.
Renaissance and early modern Europe[edit]
Further information: Renaissance magic and natural magic
Page from alchemic treatise of Ramon Llull, 16th century
The red sun rising over the city, the final illustration of 16th century alchemical text, Splendor Solis. The word rubedo, meaning "redness", was adopted by alchemists and signalled alchemical success, and the end of the great work.
During the Renaissance, Hermetic and Platonic foundations were restored to European alchemy. The dawn of medical, pharmaceutical, occult, and entrepreneurial branches of alchemy followed.
In the late 15th century, Marsilo Ficino translated the Corpus Hermeticum and the works of Plato into Latin. These were previously unavailable to Europeans who for the first time had a full picture of the alchemical theory that Bacon had declared absent. Renaissance Humanism and Renaissance Neoplatonism guided alchemists away from physics to refocus on mankind as the alchemical vessel.
Esoteric systems developed that blended alchemy into a broader occult Hermeticism, fusing it with magic, astrology, and Christian cabala.[60][61] A key figure in this development was German Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486–1535), who received his Hermetic education in Italy in the schools of the humanists. In his De Occulta Philosophia, he attempted to merge Kabbalah, Hermeticism, and alchemy. He was instrumental in spreading this new blend of Hermeticism outside the borders of Italy.[62][63]
Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus, (Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, 1493–1541) cast alchemy into a new form, rejecting some of Agrippa's occultism and moving away from chrysopoeia. Paracelsus pioneered the use of chemicals and minerals in medicine and wrote, "Many have said of Alchemy, that it is for the making of gold and silver. For me such is not the aim, but to consider only what virtue and power may lie in medicines."[64]
His hermetical views were that sickness and health in the body relied on the harmony of man the microcosm and Nature the macrocosm. He took an approach different from those before him, using this analogy not in the manner of soul-purification but in the manner that humans must have certain balances of minerals in their bodies, and that certain illnesses of the body had chemical remedies that could cure them.[65] Paracelsian practical alchemy, especially herbal medicine and plant remedies has since been named spagyric (a synonym for alchemy from the Greek words meaning to separate and to join together, based on the Latin alchemic maxim: solve et coagula).[66] Iatrochemistry also refers to the pharmaceutical applications of alchemy championed by Paracelsus.
John Dee (13 July 1527 – December, 1608) followed Agrippa's occult tradition. Though better known for angel summoning, divination, and his role as astrologer, cryptographer, and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I, Dee's alchemical[67] Monas Hieroglyphica, written in 1564 was his most popular and influential work. His writing portrayed alchemy as a sort of terrestrial astronomy in line with the Hermetic axiom As above so below.[68] During the 17th century, a short-lived "supernatural" interpretation of alchemy became popular, including support by fellows of the Royal Society: Robert Boyle and Elias Ashmole. Proponents of the supernatural interpretation of alchemy believed that the philosopher's stone might be used to summon and communicate with angels.[69]
Entrepreneurial opportunities were common for the alchemists of Renaissance Europe. Alchemists were contracted by the elite for practical purposes related to mining, medical services, and the production of chemicals, medicines, metals, and gemstones.[70] Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, in the late 16th century, famously received and sponsored various alchemists at his court in Prague, including Dee and his associate Edward Kelley. King James IV of Scotland,[71] Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Henry V, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Augustus, Elector of Saxony, Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn, and Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel all contracted alchemists.[72] John's son Arthur Dee worked as a court physician to Michael I of Russia and Charles I of England but also compiled the alchemical book Fasciculus Chemicus.
Alchemist Sendivogius (1566–1636) by Jan Matejko, 1867
Though most of these appointments were legitimate, the trend of pseudo-alchemical fraud continued through the Renaissance. Betrüger would use sleight of hand, or claims of secret knowledge to make money or secure patronage. Legitimate mystical and medical alchemists such as Michael Maier and Heinrich Khunrath wrote about fraudulent transmutations, distinguishing themselves from the con artists.[73] False alchemists were sometimes prosecuted for fraud.
The terms "chemia" and "alchemia" were used as synonyms in the early modern period, and the differences between alchemy, chemistry and small-scale assaying and metallurgy were not as neat as in the present day. There were important overlaps between practitioners, and trying to classify them into alchemists, chemists and craftsmen is anachronistic. For example, Tycho Brahe (1546–1601), an alchemist better known for his astronomical and astrological investigations, had a laboratory built at his Uraniborg observatory/research institute. Michael Sendivogius (Michał Sędziwój, 1566–1636), a Polish alchemist, philosopher, medical doctor and pioneer of chemistry wrote mystical works but is also credited with distilling oxygen in a lab sometime around 1600. Sendivogious taught his technique to Cornelius Drebbel who, in 1621, applied this in a submarine. Isaac Newton devoted considerably more of his writing to the study of alchemy (see Isaac Newton's occult studies) than he did to either optics or physics. Other early modern alchemists who were eminent in their other studies include Robert Boyle, and Jan Baptist van Helmont. Their Hermeticism complemented rather than precluded their practical achievements in medicine and science.
Late modern period[edit]
Robert Boyle
The decline of European alchemy was brought about by the rise of modern science with its emphasis on rigorous quantitative experimentation and its disdain for "ancient wisdom". Although the seeds of these events were planted as early as the 17th century, alchemy still flourished for some two hundred years, and in fact may have reached its peak in the 18th century. As late as 1781 James Price claimed to have produced a powder that could transmute mercury into silver or gold. Early modern European alchemy continued to exhibit a diversity of theories, practices, and purposes: "Scholastic and anti-Aristotelian, Paracelsian and anti-Paracelsian, Hermetic, Neoplatonic, mechanistic, vitalistic, and more—plus virtually every combination and compromise thereof."[74]
Robert Boyle (1627–1691) pioneered the scientific method in chemical investigations. He assumed nothing in his experiments and compiled every piece of relevant data. Boyle would note the place in which the experiment was carried out, the wind characteristics, the position of the Sun and Moon, and the barometer reading, all just in case they proved to be relevant.[75] This approach eventually led to the founding of modern chemistry in the 18th and 19th centuries, based on revolutionary discoveries of Lavoisier and John Dalton.
Beginning around 1720, a rigid distinction was drawn between "alchemy" and "chemistry" for the first time.[76][77] By the 1740s, "alchemy" was now restricted to the realm of gold making, leading to the popular belief that alchemists were charlatans, and the tradition itself nothing more than a fraud.[74][77] In order to protect the developing science of modern chemistry from the negative censure of which alchemy was being subjected, academic writers during the scientific Enlightenment attempted, for the sake of survival, to separate and divorce the "new" chemistry from the "old" practices of alchemy. This move was mostly successful, and the consequences of this continued into the 19th and 20th centuries, and even to the present day.[78]
During the occult revival of the early 19th century, alchemy received new attention as an occult science.[79][80] The esoteric or occultist school, which arose during the 19th century, held (and continues to hold) the view that the substances and operations mentioned in alchemical literature are to be interpreted in a spiritual sense, and it downplays the role of the alchemy as a practical tradition or protoscience.[76][81][82] This interpretation further forwarded the view that alchemy is an art primarily concerned with spiritual enlightenment or illumination, as opposed to the physical manipulation of apparatus and chemicals, and claims that the obscure language of the alchemical texts were an allegorical guise for spiritual, moral or mystical processes.[82]
In the 19th-century revival of alchemy, the two most seminal figures were Mary Anne Atwood and Ethan Allen Hitchcock, who independently published similar works regarding spiritual alchemy. Both forwarded a completely esoteric view of alchemy, as Atwood claimed: "No modern art or chemistry, notwithstanding all its surreptitious claims, has any thing in common with Alchemy."[83][84] Atwood's work influenced subsequent authors of the occult revival including Eliphas Levi, Arthur Edward Waite, and Rudolf Steiner. Hitchcock, in his Remarks Upon Alchymists (1855) attempted to make a case for his spiritual interpretation with his claim that the alchemists wrote about a spiritual discipline under a materialistic guise in order to avoid accusations of blasphemy from the church and state. In 1845, Baron Carl Reichenbach, published his studies on Odic force, a concept with some similarities to alchemy, but his research did not enter the mainstream of scientific discussion.[85]
Women in alchemy[edit]
Several women appear in the earliest history of alchemy. Michael Maier names Mary the Jewess, Cleopatra the Alchemist, Medera, and Taphnutia as the four women who knew how to make the philosopher's stone.[86] Zosimos' sister Theosebia (later known as Euthica the Arab) and Isis the Prophetess also play a role in the early alchemical texts.
The first alchemist is recognized as being Mary the Jewess (c. 200 A.D.).[87] Mary is known for creating a number of improvements to alchemical equipment and tools as well as novel techniques in chemistry.[87] Her most well-known advancements are heating and distillation processes. The water-bath, also known as bain-marie is said to have been invented by or at least improved by her.[88] This double-boiler was often used in chemistry for processes that might require gentle heating. The tribikos (a basic still) and the kerotakis (a more intricate distilling apparatus) are two other advancements in the process of distillation that are credited to her.[89] It is also said that Mary was the first individual to discover hydrochloric acid, though this is not accepted by most scientific texts.[90] Though we have no writing from Mary herself, she is known from the fourth century writings of Zosimos of Panopolis.[91]
Due to the proliferation of pseudepigrapha and anonymous works, it is difficult to know which of the alchemists were actually women. After the Greco-Roman period, women's names appear less frequently the alchemical literature. Women vacate the history of alchemy during the medieval and renaissance periods, aside from the fictitious account of Perenelle Flamel. Mary Anne Atwood's A Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery (1850) marks their return during the nineteenth century occult revival.
Modern historical research[edit]
The history of alchemy has become a significant and recognized subject of academic study.[92] As the language of the alchemists is analyzed, historians are becoming more aware of the intellectual connections between that discipline and other facets of Western cultural history, such as the evolution of science and philosophy, the sociology and psychology of the intellectual communities, kabbalism, spiritualism, Rosicrucianism, and other mystic movements.[93] Institutions involved in this research include The Chymistry of Isaac Newton project at Indiana University, the University of Exeter Centre for the Study of Esotericism (EXESESO), the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE), and the University of Amsterdam's Sub-department for the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents. A large collection of books on alchemy is kept in the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica in Amsterdam. A recipe found in a mid 19th century kabbalah based book features step by step instructions on turning copper into gold. The author attributed this recipe to an ancient manuscript he located.[94]
Journals which publish regularly on the topic of Alchemy include 'Ambix', published by the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry, and 'Isis', published by The History of Science Society.
Core concepts[edit]
Mandala illustrating common alchemical concepts, symbols, and processes. From Spiegel der Kunst und Natur.
Western alchemical theory corresponds to the worldview of late antiquity in which it was born. Concepts were imported from Neoplatonism and earlier Greek cosmology. As such, the Classical elements appear in alchemical writings, as do the seven Classical planets and the corresponding seven metals of antiquity. Similarly, the gods of the Roman pantheon who are associated with these luminaries are discussed in alchemical literature. The concepts of prima materia and anima mundi are central to the theory of the philosopher's stone.
Hermeticism[edit]
In the eyes of a variety of esoteric and Hermetic practitioners, alchemy is fundamentally spiritual. Transmutation of lead into gold is presented as an analogy for personal transmutation, purification, and perfection.[95] The writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus are a primary source of alchemical theory. He is named "alchemy's founder and chief patron, authority, inspiration and guide".[96]
Early alchemists, such as Zosimos of Panopolis (c. AD 300), highlight the spiritual nature of the alchemical quest, symbolic of a religious regeneration of the human soul.[97] This approach continued in the Middle Ages, as metaphysical aspects, substances, physical states, and material processes were used as metaphors for spiritual entities, spiritual states, and, ultimately, transformation. In this sense, the literal meanings of 'Alchemical Formulas' were a blind, hiding their true spiritual philosophy. Practitioners and patrons such as Melchior Cibinensis and Pope Innocent VIII existed within the ranks of the church, while Martin Luther applauded alchemy for its consistency with Christian teachings.[98] Both the transmutation of common metals into gold and the universal panacea symbolized evolution from an imperfect, diseased, corruptible, and ephemeral state toward a perfect, healthy, incorruptible, and everlasting state, so the philosopher's stone then represented a mystic key that would make this evolution possible. Applied to the alchemist himself, the twin goal symbolized his evolution from ignorance to enlightenment, and the stone represented a hidden spiritual truth or power that would lead to that goal. In texts that are written according to this view, the cryptic alchemical symbols, diagrams, and textual imagery of late alchemical works typically contain multiple layers of meanings, allegories, and references to other equally cryptic works; and must be laboriously decoded to discover their true meaning.
In his 1766 Alchemical Catechism, Théodore Henri de Tschudi denotes that the usage of the metals was merely symbolic:
Q. When the Philosophers speak of gold and silver, from which they extract their matter, are we to suppose that they refer to the vulgar gold and silver?
A. By no means; vulgar silver and gold are dead, while those of the Philosophers are full of life.[99]
Magnum opus[edit]
Main article: Magnum opus (alchemy)
The Great Work of Alchemy is often described as a series of four stages represented by colors.
nigredo, a blackening or melanosis
albedo, a whitening or leucosis
citrinitas, a yellowing or xanthosis
rubedo, a reddening, purpling, or iosis[100]
Modern alchemy[edit]
Due to the complexity and obscurity of alchemical literature, and the 18th-century disappearance of remaining alchemical practitioners into the area of chemistry; the general understanding of alchemy has been strongly influenced by several distinct and radically different interpretations.[101] Those focusing on the exoteric, such as historians of science Lawrence M. Principe and William R. Newman, have interpreted the 'decknamen' (or code words) of alchemy as physical substances. These scholars have reconstructed physicochemical experiments that they say are described in medieval and early modern texts.[102] At the opposite end of the spectrum, focusing on the esoteric, scholars, such as George Calian[103] and Anna Marie Roos,[104] who question the reading of Principe and Newman, interpret these same decknamen as spiritual, religious, or psychological concepts.
Today new interpretations of alchemy are still perpetuated, sometimes merging in concepts from New Age or radical environmentalism movements.[105] Groups like the Rosicrucians and Freemasons have a continued interest in alchemy and its symbolism. Since the Victorian revival of alchemy, "occultists reinterpreted alchemy as a spiritual practice, involving the self-transformation of the practitioner and only incidentally or not at all the transformation of laboratory substances.",[74] which has contributed to a merger of magic and alchemy in popular thought.
Traditional medicine[edit]
Main articles: Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional medicine can use the concept of the transmutation of natural substances, using pharmacological or a combination of pharmacological and spiritual techniques. In Ayurveda, the samskaras are claimed to transform heavy metals and toxic herbs in a way that removes their toxicity. These processes are actively used to the present day.[106]
Spagyrists of the 20th century, Albert Richard Riedel and Jean Dubuis, merged Paracelsian alchemy with occultism, teaching laboratory pharmaceutical methods. The schools they founded, Les Philosophes de la Nature and The Paracelsus Research Society, popularized modern spagyrics including the manufacture of herbal tinctures and products.[107] The courses, books, organizations, and conferences generated by their students continue to influence popular applications of alchemy as a New Age medicinal practice.
Psychology[edit]
Alchemical symbolism has been important in depth and analytical psychology and was revived and popularized from near extinction by the Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung. Initially confounded and at odds with alchemy and its images, after being given a copy of the translation of The Secret of the Golden Flower, a Chinese alchemical text, by his friend Richard Wilhelm, Jung discovered a direct correlation or parallels between the symbolic images in the alchemical drawings and the inner, symbolic images coming up in dreams, visions or imaginations during the psychic processes of transformation occurring in his patients. A process, which he called "process of individuation". He regarded the alchemical images as symbols expressing aspects of this "process of individuation" of which the creation of the gold or lapis within were symbols for its origin and goal.[108][109] Together with his alchemical mystica soror, Jungian Swiss analyst Marie-Louise von Franz, Jung began collecting all the old alchemical texts available, compiled a lexicon of key phrases with cross-references[110] and pored over them. The volumes of work he wrote brought new light into understanding the art of transubstantiation and renewed alchemy's popularity as a symbolic process of coming into wholeness as a human being where opposites brought into contact and inner and outer, spirit and matter are reunited in the hieros gamos or divine marriage. His writings are influential in psychology and for persons who have an interest in understanding of the importance of dreams, symbols and the unconscious archetypal forces (archetypes)[109][111][112] that influence all of life.
Both von Franz and Jung have contributed greatly to the subject and work of alchemy and its continued presence in psychology as well as contemporary culture. Jung wrote volumes on alchemy and his magnum opus is Volume 14 of his Collected Works, Mysterium Conuinctionis.
Literature[edit]
Main article: Alchemy in art and entertainment
Alchemy has had a long-standing relationship with art, seen both in alchemical texts and in mainstream entertainment. Literary alchemy appears throughout the history of English literature from Shakespeare to J. K. Rowling. Here, characters or plot structure follow an alchemical magnum opus. In the 14th century, Chaucer began a trend of alchemical satire that can still be seen in recent fantasy works like those of Terry Pratchett.
Visual artists had a similar relationship with alchemy. While some of them used alchemy as a source of satire, others worked with the alchemists themselves or integrated alchemical thought or symbols in their work. Music was also present in the works of alchemists and continues to influence popular performers. In the last hundred years, alchemists have been portrayed in a magical and spagyric role in fantasy fiction, film, television, novels, comics and video games.
See also[edit]
Alchemy in art and entertainment
Biological transmutation
Chemistry
Chinese alchemy
Cupellation
Hermes Trismegistus
Historicism
History of chemistry
List of alchemists
List of topics characterized as pseudoscience
Magnum opus (alchemy)
Mary the Jewess
Nuclear transmutation
Outline of alchemy
Philosopher's Stone
Physics
Porta Alchemica
Scientific method
Superseded scientific theories
Synthesis of precious metals
Notes[edit]
Jump up ^ For a detailed look into the problems of defining alchemy, see Linden 1996, pp. 6–36
Jump up ^ To wit, the Ānandakanda, Āyurvedaprakāśa, Gorakṣasaṃhitā, Kākacaṇḍeśvarīmatatantra, Kākacaṇḍīśvarakalpatantra, Kūpīpakvarasanirmāṇavijñāna, Pāradasaṃhitā, Rasabhaiṣajyakalpanāvijñāna, Rasādhyāya, Rasahṛdayatantra, Rasajalanidhi, Rasakāmadhenu, Rasakaumudī, Rasamañjarī, Rasamitra, Rasāmṛta, Rasapaddhati, Rasapradīpa, Rasaprakāśasudhākara, Rasarājalakṣmī, Rasaratnadīpikā, Rasaratnākara, Rasaratnasamuccaya, Rasārṇava, Rasārṇavakalpa, Rasasaṃketakalikā, Rasasāra, Rasataraṅgiṇī, Rasāyanasāra, Rasayogasāgara, Rasayogaśataka, Rasendracintāmaṇi, Rasendracūḍāmaṇi, Rasendramaṅgala, Rasendrapurāṇa, Rasendrasambhava, Rasendrasārasaṅgraha, Rasoddhāratantra or Rasasaṃhitā, and Rasopaniṣad.
References[edit]
Citations[edit]
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^ Jump up to: a b Linden (1996), pp. 7 & 11.
Jump up ^ "Alchemy", Dictionary.com .
Jump up ^ Chemical Knowledge in the Early Modern World, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014 .
Jump up ^ Wouter J. Hanegraaff (Cambridge University Press: 2012), Alchemy between Science and Religion, Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture
Jump up ^ Holmyard 1957, p. 16
^ Jump up to: a b von Franz (1997).
Jump up ^ Matteo Martelli, The Four Books of Pseudo-Democritus (Maney, 2013).
Jump up ^ alchemy, Oxford Dictionaries
^ Jump up to: a b "alchemy". Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. September 2005. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) Or see Harper, Douglas. "alchemy". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved April 7, 2010. .
Jump up ^ See, for example, the etymology for χημεία in Liddell, Henry George; Robert Scott (1901). A Greek-English Lexicon (Eighth edition, revised throughout ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-910205-8.
Jump up ^ See, for example, both the etymology given in the Oxford English Dictionary and also that for χυμεία in Liddell, Henry George; Robert Scott; Henry Stuart Jones (1940). A Greek-English Lexicon (A new edition, revised and augmented throughout ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-910205-8.
Jump up ^ New Scientist, 24–31 December 1987
Jump up ^ Garfinkel, Harold (1986). Ethnomethodological Studies of Work. Routledge &Kegan Paul. p. 127. ISBN 0-415-11965-0.
Jump up ^ Yves Bonnefoy. 'Roman and European Mythologies'. University of Chicago Press, 1992. pp. 211–213
Jump up ^ Clement, Stromata, vi. 4.
Jump up ^ Linden 1996, p. 12
Jump up ^ Partington, James Riddick (1989). A Short History of Chemistry. New York: Dover Publications. p. 20. ISBN 0-486-65977-1.
Jump up ^ Linden 2003, p. 46
^ Jump up to: a b A History of Chemistry, Bensaude-Vincent, Isabelle Stengers, Harvard University Press, 1996, p13
Jump up ^ Linden 1996, p. 14
Jump up ^ Lindsay, Jack (1970). The Origins of Alchemy in Graeco-Roman Egypt. London: Muller. p. 16. ISBN 0-389-01006-5.
Jump up ^ Burckhardt, Titus (1967). Alchemy: Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul. Trans. William Stoddart. Baltimore: Penguin. p. 66. ISBN 0-906540-96-8.
Jump up ^ Fanning, Philip Ashley. Isaac Newton and the Transmutation of Alchemy: An Alternative View of the Scientific Revolution. 2009. p.6
Jump up ^ F. Sherwood Taylor. Alchemists, Founders of Modern Chemistry. p.26.
Jump up ^ Allen G. Debus. Alchemy and early modern chemistry: papers from Ambix. p. 36
Jump up ^ Glen Warren Bowersock, Peter Robert Lamont Brown, Oleg Grabar. Late antiquity: a guide to the postclassical world. p. 284–285
^ Jump up to: a b Multhauf, Robert P. & Gilbert, Robert Andrew (2008). Alchemy. Encyclopædia Britannica (2008).
Jump up ^ Meulenbeld, G. Jan (1999–2002). History of Indian Medical Literature. Groningen: Egbert Forsten. pp. IIA, 151–155.
Jump up ^ See Dominik Wujastyk, "An Alchemical Ghost: The Rasaratnākara of Nāgarjuna" in Ambix 31.2 (1984): 70-83. Online at http://univie.academia.edu/DominikWujastyk/Papers/152766/
Jump up ^ See bibliographical details and links at https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3266066W/The_Alchemical_Body
Jump up ^ doi:10.1093/OBO/9780195399318-0046
Jump up ^ Meulenbeld, G. Jan (1999–2002). History of Indian Medical Literature. Groningen: Egbert Forsten. pp. IIA, 581–738.
Jump up ^ Burckhardt, Titus (1967). Alchemy: Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul. Trans. William Stoddart. Baltimore: Penguin. p. 46. ISBN 0-906540-96-8.
^ Jump up to: a b Kraus, Paul, Jâbir ibn Hayyân, Contribution à l'histoire des idées scientifiques dans l'Islam. I. Le corpus des écrits jâbiriens. II. Jâbir et la science grecque,. Cairo (1942–1943). Repr. By Fuat Sezgin, (Natural Sciences in Islam. 67–68), Frankfurt. 2002: (cf. Ahmad Y Hassan. "A Critical Reassessment of the Geber Problem: Part Three". Retrieved 16 September 2014. )
Jump up ^ Derewenda, Zygmunt S. (2007). "On wine, chirality and crystallography". Acta Crystallographica Section A. 64: 246–258 [247]. Bibcode:2008AcCrA..64..246D. PMID 18156689. doi:10.1107/S0108767307054293  .
Jump up ^ Holmyard 1931, p. 60
^ Jump up to: a b Burckhardt, Titus (1967). Alchemy: Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul. Trans. William Stoddart. Baltimore: Penguin. p. 29. ISBN 0-906540-96-8.
Jump up ^ Strathern, Paul. (2000), Mendeleyev's Dream – the Quest for the Elements, New York: Berkley Books
Jump up ^ Moran, Bruce T. (2005). Distilling knowledge: alchemy, chemistry, and the scientific revolution. Harvard University Press. p. 146. ISBN 0-674-01495-2. a corpuscularian tradition in alchemy stemming from the speculations of the medieval author Geber (Jabir ibn Hayyan)
Jump up ^ Felix Klein-Frank (2001), "Al-Kindi", in Oliver Leaman & Hossein Nasr, History of Islamic Philosophy, p. 174. London: Routledge.
Jump up ^ Marmura ME (1965). "An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines: Conceptions of Nature and Methods Used for Its Study by the Ikhwan Al-Safa'an, Al-Biruni, and Ibn Sina by Seyyed Hossein Nasr". Speculum. 40 (4): 744–6. doi:10.2307/2851429.
Jump up ^ Robert Briffault (1938). The Making of Humanity, p. 196–197.
Jump up ^ Holmyard 1957, pp. 105–108
Jump up ^ Holmyard 1957, p. 110
Jump up ^ Hollister, C. Warren (1990). Medieval Europe: A Short History (6th ed.). Blacklick, Ohio: McGraw–Hill College. pp. 294f. ISBN 0-07-557141-2.
Jump up ^ John Read. From Alchemy to Chemistry. 1995 p.90
Jump up ^ James A. Weisheipl. Albertus Magnus and the Sciences: Commemorative Essays. PIMS. 1980. p.187-202
Jump up ^ Edmund Brehm. "Roger Bacon's Place in the History of Alchemy." Ambix. Vol. 23, Part I, March 1976.
Jump up ^ Holmyard 1957, pp. 120–121
Jump up ^ Holmyard 1957, pp. 134–141.
Jump up ^ Burckhardt, Titus (1967). Alchemy: Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul. Trans. William Stoddart. Baltimore: Penguin. p. 149. ISBN 0-906540-96-8.
Jump up ^ Tara E. Nummedal. Alchemy and Authority in the Holy Roman Empire. University of Chicago Press, 2007. p. 49
Jump up ^ John Hines, II, R. F. Yeager. John Gower, Trilingual Poet: Language, Translation, and Tradition. Boydell & Brewer. 2010. p.170
Jump up ^ D. Geoghegan, "A licence of Henry VI to practise Alchemy" Ambix, volume 6, 1957, pages 10-17
Jump up ^ Leah DeVun. From Prophecy, Alchemy, and the End of Time: John of Rupescissa in the late Middle Ages. Columbia University Press, 2009. p. 104
Jump up ^ Linden 2003, p. 123
Jump up ^ "Nicolas Flamel. Des Livres et de l'or" by Nigel Wilkins
Jump up ^ Burckhardt, Titus (1967). Alchemy: Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul. Trans. William Stoddart. Baltimore: Penguin. pp. 170–181. ISBN 0-906540-96-8.
Jump up ^ Peter J. Forshaw. '"Chemistry, That Starry Science" - Early Modern Conjunctions of Astrology and Alchemy' (2013)
Jump up ^ Peter J. Forshaw, 'Cabala Chymica or Chemia Cabalistica – Early Modern Alchemists and Cabala' (2013)
Jump up ^ Glenn Alexander Magee. Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition. Cornell University Press. 2008. p.30
Jump up ^ Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke. The Western Esoteric Traditions: A Historical Introduction. Oxford University Press. 2008 p.60
Jump up ^ Edwardes, Michael (1977). The Dark Side of History. New York: Stein and Day. p. 47. ISBN 0-552-11463-4.
Jump up ^ Debus, Allen G.; Multhauf, Robert P. (1966). Alchemy and Chemistry in the Seventeenth Century. Los Angeles: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California. pp. 6–12.
Jump up ^ Joseph Needham. Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 5, Spagyrical Discovery and Invention: Physiological Alchemy. Cambridge University Press. P.9
Jump up ^ “Monas hieroglyphica is not a traditional alchemical work, but has important theoretical insights about a cosmic vision, in which alchemy played an important part.” Szőnyi, György E. (2015). "‘Layers of Meaning in Alchemy in John Dee’s Monas hieroglyphica and its Relevance in a Central European Context‘" (PDF). Centre for Renaissance Texts, 2015, 118.
Jump up ^ William Royall Newman, Anthony Grafton. Secrets of Nature: Astrology and Alchemy in Early Modern Europe. MIT Press, 2001. P.173.
Jump up ^ * Journal of the History of Ideas, 41, 1980, p. 293-318
Principe & Newman 2001, pp. 399
The Aspiring Adept: Robert Boyle and His Alchemical Quest, by Lawrence M. Principe, 'Princeton University Press', 1998, pp. 188 90
Jump up ^ Tara E. Nummedal. Alchemy and authority in the Holy Roman Empire. p.4
Jump up ^ Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. iii, (1901), 99, 202, 206, 209, 330, 340, 341, 353, 355, 365, 379, 382, 389, 409.
Jump up ^ Tara E. Nummedal. Alchemy and authority in the Holy Roman Empire. p.85-98
Jump up ^ Tara E. Nummedal. Alchemy and authority in the Holy Roman Empire. p.171
^ Jump up to: a b c Principe, Lawrence M. "Alchemy Restored." Isis 102.2 (2011): 305-12. Web.
Jump up ^ Pilkington, Roger (1959). Robert Boyle: Father of Chemistry. London: John Murray. p. 11.
^ Jump up to: a b Newman & Principe 2002, p. 37
^ Jump up to: a b Principe & Newman 2001, p. 386
Jump up ^ Principe & Newman 2001, pp. 386–7
Jump up ^ Principe & Newman 2001, p. 387
Jump up ^ Kripal & Shuck 2005, p. 27
Jump up ^ Eliade 1994, p. 49
^ Jump up to: a b Principe & Newman 2001, p. 388
Jump up ^ Principe & Newman 2001, p. 391
Jump up ^ Rutkin 2001, p. 143
Jump up ^ Daniel Merkur. Gnosis: An Esoteric Tradition of Mystical Visions and Unions. SUNY Press. 1993 p.55
Jump up ^ Raphael Patai. The Jewish Alchemists: A History and Source Book. p. 78.
^ Jump up to: a b Rayner-Canham, M; Rayner-Canham, G (2005). Women in Chemistry: Their Changing Roles from Alchemical Times to the Mid-Twentieth Century. Chemical Heritage Foundation. pp. 2–4. ISBN 9780941901277.
Jump up ^ Patai, R (1995). The Jewish Alchemists: A History and Source Book. Princeton University Press. pp. 60–80. ISBN 9780691006420.
Jump up ^ Lindsay, J (1970). The origins of alchemy in Graeco-Roman Egypt. New York: Barnes & Noble. pp. 240–250. ISBN 9780389010067.
Jump up ^ Gaster, Moses (2011). "Alchemy". Jewish Encyclopedia. Funk & Wagnalls Company. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
Jump up ^ Patai, R. The Jewish Alchemists: A History and Source Book. Princeton University Press. pp. 81–93. ISBN 9780691006420.
Jump up ^ Antoine Faivre, Wouter J. Hanegraaff. Western esotericism and the science of religion. 1995. p.viii–xvi
Jump up ^ See Exeter Centre for the Study of Esotericism website
Jump up ^ "Old Jewish Book Outlines how to Turn Copper into Gold". Retrieved 2016-04-21.
Jump up ^ Antoine Faivre, Wouter J. Hanegraaff. Western esotericism and the science of religion. 1995. p.96
Jump up ^ Linden 2003, pp. 9
Jump up ^ Allen G. Debus. Alchemy and early modern chemistry. The Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry. p.34.
Jump up ^ Raphael Patai. The Jewish Alchemists: A History and Source Book. Princeton University Press. p.4
Jump up ^ Théodore Henri de Tschudi. Hermetic Catechism in his L'Etoile Flamboyant ou la Société des Franc-Maçons considerée sous tous les aspects. 1766. (A.E. Waite translation as found in The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus.)
Jump up ^ Joseph Needham. Science & Civilisation in China: Chemistry and chemical technology. Spagyrical discovery and invention: magisteries of gold and immortality. Cambridge. 1974. p.23
Jump up ^ Principe & Newman 2001, p. 385
Jump up ^ Richard Conniff. "Alchemy May Not Have Been the Pseudoscience We All Thought It Was." Smithsonian Magazine. February 2014.
Jump up ^ Calian, George (2010). Alkimia Operativa and Alkimia Speculativa. Some Modern Controversies on the Historiography of Alchemy. Annual of Medieval Studies at CEU.
Jump up ^ Anna Marie Roos (2013), Review of The Secrets of Alchemy, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 44
Jump up ^ Principe & Newman 2001, p. 396
Jump up ^ Junius, Manfred M; The Practical Handbook of Plant Alchemy: An Herbalist's Guide to Preparing Medicinal Essences, Tinctures, and Elixirs; Healing Arts Press 1985
Jump up ^ Joscelyn Godwin. The Golden Thread: The Ageless Wisdom of the Western Mystery Traditions. Quest Books, 2007. p.120
Jump up ^ Jung, C. G. (1944). Psychology and Alchemy (2nd ed. 1968 Collected Works Vol. 12 ISBN 0-691-01831-6). London: Routledge. E.g. §41, §116, §427, §431, §448.
^ Jump up to: a b Polly Young-Eisendrath, Terence Dawson. The Cambridge companion to Jung. Cambridge University Press. 1997. p.33
Jump up ^ Anthony Stevens: On Jung. (A new and authoritiative introduction to Jung's life and thought), Penguin Books, London 1990, ISBN 0140124942, p. 193.
Jump up ^ C.G. Jung Preface to Richard Wilhelm's translation of the I Ching.
Jump up ^ C.-G. Jung Preface to the translation of The Secret of The Golden Flower.
Bibliography[edit]
Calian, George (2010). Alkimia Operativa and Alkimia Speculativa. Some Modern Controversies on the Historiography of Alchemy. Annual of Medieval Studies at CEU.
Eliade, Mircea (1994). The Forge and the Crucible. State University of New York Press.
Forshaw, Peter J. "Chemistry, That Starry Science – Early Modern Conjunctions of Astrology and Alchemy". Sky and Symbol.
Forshaw, Peter J. "Cabala Chymica or Chemica Cabalistica – Early Modern Alchemists and Cabala". Ambix, Vol. 60:4.
Holmyard, Eric John (1931). Makers of Chemistry. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Holmyard, Eric John (1957). Alchemy. Courier Dover Publications.
Linden, Stanton J. (1996). Darke Hierogliphicks: Alchemy in English literature from Chaucer to the Restoration. University Press of Kentucky.
Linden, Stanton J. (2003). The Alchemy Reader: from Hermes Trismegistus to Isaac Newton. Cambridge University Press.
Newman, William R.; Principe, Lawrence M. (2002). Alchemy Tried in the Fire. University of Chicago Press.
von Franz, Marie Louise (1997). Alchemical Active Imagination. Boston: Shambhala Publications. ISBN 0-87773-589-1.
Kripal, Jeffrey John; Shuck, Glenn W. (July 2005). On the Edge of the Future. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-34556-1. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
Principe, Lawrence M. (2013). The secrets of alchemy. Chicago &London: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-68295-2.
Principe, Lawrence M.; Newman, William R. (2001). "Some Problems with the Historiography of Alchemy". In Newman, William R.; Grafton, Anthony. Secrets of Nature, Astrology and Alchemy in Modern Europe. MIT Press. pp. 385–432. ISBN 978-0-262-14075-1. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
Rutkin, H. Darrel (2001). "Celestial Offerings: Astrological Motifs in the Dedicatory Letters of Kepler's Astronomia Nova and Galileo's Sidereus Nuncius". In Newman, William R.; Grafton, Anthony. Secrets of Nature, Astrology and Alchemy in Modern Europe. MIT Press. pp. 133–172. ISBN 978-0-262-14075-1. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
External links[edit]
Look up alchemy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Look up alchemy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Alchemy
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alchemy.
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Alchemy
Wikibooks has more on the topic of: Alchemy
SHAC: Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry
ESSWE: European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism
Association for the Study of Esotericism
The Alchemy Website. – Adam McLean's online collections and academic discussion.
Alchemy on In Our Time at the BBC.
Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Alchemy
Book of Secrets: Alchemy and the European Imagination, 1500–2000 – A digital exhibition from the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University
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eu
eu
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchimie
Alchimie – French
fr
fr
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://fy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algemy
Algemy – Western Frisian
fy
fy
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://ga.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ailceimic
Ailceimic – Irish
ga
ga
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alquimia
Alquimia – Galician
gl
gl
interlanguage-link-target

values: Ալքիմիա – Armenian

values: कीमिया – Hindi

values:
https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkemija
Alkemija – Croatian
hr
hr
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://io.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkemio
Alkemio – Ido
io
io
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkimia
Alkimia – Indonesian
id
id
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchimia
Alchimia – Italian
it
it
interlanguage-link-target

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values: אלכימיה – Hebrew

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values:
https://jv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkimiya
Alkimiya – Javanese
jv
jv
interlanguage-link-target

values: ರಸವಿದ್ಯೆ – Kannada

values: ალქიმია – Georgian

values: Алхимия – Kazakh

values:
https://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemia
Alchemia – Latin
la
la
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://lt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemija
Alchemija – Lithuanian
lt
lt
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://li.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alsjemie
Alsjemie – Limburgish
li
li
interlanguage-link-target

values: अल्केमी – Marathi

values:
https://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkimia
Alkimia – Malay
ms
ms
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemie
Alchemie – Dutch
nl
nl
interlanguage-link-target

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values:
https://pih.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elkemii
Elkemii – Norfuk / Pitkern
pih
pih
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkymi
Alkymi – Norwegian
no
no
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://nn.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkymi
Alkymi – Norwegian Nynorsk
nn
nn
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://oc.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alquimia
Alquimia – Occitan
oc
oc
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://uz.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkimyo
Alkimyo – Uzbek
uz
uz
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemia
Alchemia – Polish
pl
pl
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alquimia
Alquimia – Portuguese
pt
pt
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchimie
Alchimie – Romanian
ro
ro
interlanguage-link-target

values: Алхимия – Russian

values:
https://sq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkimia
Alkimia – Albanian
sq
sq
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkimija
Alkimija – Slovenian
sl
sl
interlanguage-link-target

values: Алхемија – Serbian

values:
https://sh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkemija
Alkemija – Serbo-Croatian
sh
sh
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkemia
Alkemia – Finnish
fi
fi
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkemi
Alkemi – Swedish
sv
sv
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://tl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkimiya
Alkimiya – Tagalog
tl
tl
interlanguage-link-target

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values: இரசவாதம் – Tamil

values: రసవాదం – Telugu

values: การเล่นแร่แปรธาตุ – Thai

values:
https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simya
Simya – Turkish
tr
tr
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://war.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkimiya
Alkimiya – Waray
war
war
interlanguage-link-target

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