Chapter 37
CHAPTER XXVII
WHAT WE OWE TO THE ALCHEMISTS
THERE has been a tendency in recent times to depreciate
the practical work accomplished by the early alchemists,
but Francis Bacon was right when he observed over three
hundred years ago that “the search and endeavours to make
gold have brought many useful inventions and instructive
experiments to light.’ * There is little doubt that the search
for the Philosopher’s Stone and the attempts to discover a
method of transmuting metals were the cause of actual work
with a variety of substances, and that as the result a consider¬
able knowledge of materials used in applied chemistry was
acquired.
We know that the Egyptians, over a thousand years before
the Christian era, knew of alum, sulphur, sodium chloride, lead
sulphate, red lead, copper oxyacetate, antimonium sulphide, and
calamine, and must have known how to prepare some of them.
Later we find that the Greeks had a knowledge of quicksilver,
which is mentioned by Theophrastus about 300 B.c. They also
used orpiment, the yellow sulphuret of arsenic, and zinc oxide,
which they called kadmia or pompholix and the alchemists after¬
ward named lana philosophica. Copper sulphate, which they
knew first as chalcanthum , the Romans afterward called atra -
mentum sutorium , and realgar and potassium carbonate, both
mentioned by Dioscorides, were used before the fourth century
of our era. Jabir-ibn-Hayyan, in whose works the word ‘ alkali ’
is first employed, was the earliest investigator to make nitric acid
by distilling a mixture of saltpetre, copper vitriol, and alum.
He called it aqua dissolutiva , and it was later known as aqua
fortis. He also obtained sulphuric acid, for he mentions that
240
WHAT WE OWE TO THE ALCHEMISTS
when alum is strongly heated a spirit distils over which has a
high solvent power.
The generic name sal included the vitriols, potash, soda, salt¬
petre, and alum; and the early alchemists rarely made a dis¬
tinction between soda and potash, but they added the word sal
to individual salts to distinguish one from another, as instanced
in sal petrce and sal maris. The generic name spiritus was
applied to volatile acids, as in the case of spiritus salis for hydro¬
chloric acid, which is still commonly known as spirit of salt.
Jabir also described the preparation of mercuric oxide by cal¬
cining the metal mercury, and of sublimate (mercury per-
chloride) by heating a mixture of mercury, salt, alum, and
saltpetre.
He is the first to mention white arsenic (arsenious acid), which
he obtained by roasting realgar. He gave it the name by which
it is still known to distinguish it from the red and yellow forms
(realgar and orpiment).
Although silver nitrate was known to Jabir, it was not em¬
ployed in medicine until the seventeenth century, when it was
introduced by Angele Sala as magisterium argenti or ‘crystal
Diana/
From the thirteenth to the seventeenth century many valuable
discoveries were made by workers in alchemy. The prepara¬
tion of alcohol is described as early as the twelfth century,
and ammonium carbonate, called volatile alkaline salt, and
ammoniated mercury were known in Lully’s time. Calomel,
originally known as mer curias dulcis , was known in the thirteenth
century, and the discovery of potassium sulphate is said to
have been made by Isaac of Holland in the fourteenth century,
as well as by Croll, who mentions it later as the specificum
purgans of Paracelsus.
Many new chemical substances are described for the first
time in the works of Basil Valentine. He prepared hydro¬
chloric acid by heating common salt and green vitriol, and knew
that when it was mixed with aqua fortis it made what is now
Q 241
LURE & ROMANCE OF ALCHEMY
called aqua regia because it is capable of dissolving gold. This
led to the production of aurum potabile, from which great results
were anticipated.
Antimony and its compounds were carefully studied by Basil
Valentine, who showed how to prepare antimony from the native
sulphide ( stibium ) by fusing it with iron. He also gives formulae
for making antimony trichloride, commonly called butter of
antimony, and for basic chloride of antimony, known as Al-
garoth’s Powder. Definite details are given in his works re¬
garding flowers of sulphur, and various sulphur compounds
were used for the production of sulphur and other bodies. A
particular variety of compounds, including zinc blende, galena,
iron, and copper pyrites, was known under the name of mar-
casitce. He prepared his green vitriol from pyrites, and brandy
from fermented grape-juice. Finally, he examined the air of
mines and suggested practical methods for determining whether
it was respirable or not.
Zinc sulphate and ferric chloride were known in Basil
Valentine’s time, as was also the precipitation of metallic silver
from a solution of its nitrate by means of copper or mercury.
To Paracelsus we owe the introduction of many chemical
substances into medicine. He employed arsenic and antimony
in the treatment of cancer and leprosy, and believed in the value
of mercury as a curative agent. He made potassium arseniate
by heating arsenic with potassium nitrate, and recognized the
value of alcohol in extracting the properties of vegetable sub¬
stances. He says in one of his works, “There is no better way
of extracting the essence of roots and herbs than to cut them up
as small as possible and boil them in strong wine in a closed
vessel, separate them by straining and distil the liquid through
an alembic.”
Zinc chloride, first known as oleum lapidis calaminaris , was
described by Glauber, who, as we have already seen, was also
the first to prepare sodium sulphate. He discovered as well
potassium permanganate, although its composition was not
242
WHAT WE OWE TO THE ALCHEMISTS
known until 1730. Phosphorus was discovered by the German
alchemist Brandt, who prepared it from urine, and the prepara¬
tion of tartarated antimony was first described by Mynsicht in
1631.
Many other substances that we owe to the alchemists might
be enumerated, but sufficient have been mentioned to indicate
how much we owe to the work they accomplished centuries ago.
After considering what has been done in the past we may ask,
What of the future? Who shall venture to prophesy what
triumphs may be achieved in structural chemistry or physics,
or what great discoveries may be made, in the course of a few
years ? Our research workers were never more keen or better
equipped than they are at present. Says Professor Soddy:
Looking backward at the great things science has already ac¬
complished, it can scarcely be doubted that one day we shall come
to break down and build up elements in the laboratory as we now
break down and build up compounds.
Although we are as ignorant as ever how to act about transmuta¬
tion, it cannot be denied that the knowledge recently gained con¬
stitutes a very great help towards a proper understanding of the
problem and its ultimate accomplishment.
The discoveries of the Becquerel rays and the element radium
have disclosed far-reaching possibilities, and, as Lord Kelvin
has observed, the discovery of the properties of the latter body
has opened our eyes to other discoveries never suspected or
dreamed of. The extraction of radium from pitchblende would
indeed appear to harmonize with the belief of the early alchemists
of the growth of metals in the womb of Nature.
Science has shown that even the diamond can be transformed
into graphite by a powerful electric current between carbon
poles, and that both diamond and graphite can be indirectly
converted into charcoal. Many years ago Moissan succeeded
in making small diamonds by fusing charcoal in molten iron or
silver and allowing it to crystallize from the solution under high
pressure, and so the possibility of manufacturing precious stones
243
LURE & ROMANCE OF ALCHEMY
was demonstrated. Sir William Ramsay’s investigations into
radium showed that after a lapse of time this substance gave
off emanations that were capable of decomposing water into
oxygen and hydrogen, an excess of the latter being produced,
and further that two other rare gases, helium and neon, were
present. Regarding his discovery he says, “We must regard
the transformation of emanation into neon in presence of water
as indisputably proved, and if a transmutation be defined as a
transformation brought about at will by change of conditions,
then this is the first case of transmutation of which conclusive
evidence is put forward.” 1
As far back as 1904 the possibility of causing the atoms of
ordinary elements to absorb energy was seriously discussed,
and, if such hypotheses prove to be just, the transmutation of
the elements no longer appears an idle dream. What the al¬
chemist so long sought will have been discovered, and it is
not beyond the bounds of possibility that it might lead to that
other goal of the early philosophers, an ‘elixir’ capable of the
prolongation of human life.
1 Journal of the Chemical Society , vol. xciii (1908).
244
INDEX
Abu Mansur Muwaffah, 64
Abu’l-Quasin Muhammad ibn Ah-
mad-al- Iraqi, 66-67
Academie des Sciences, 223
Academy of Lynxes, 223
/Eneas Baraeus and transmutation,
43
JEthiops martial , 23
Agricola, Georg (Bauer), 172
Agrippa, Henry Cornelius, 163-166
Air, early beliefs concerning, 13
Albertus Groot (Albertus Magnus),
rules of, for alchemists, 78-79
Alchemist , The , 1 97-1 99
Alchemist of Light’s Court, the,
200-201
Alchemy, dawn of, 9-1 5 ; derivation
of word, 10 ; and mysticism, 12 ;
astrology and, 36-40 ; prohibited,
39-40, 140 ; in China, antiquity
of, 50 ; early treatises on, 134-
135 ; royalty and, 1 40-1 49
Alcohol, first prepared, 135
Alembic, the, in
Algaroth’s Powder, 242
* Alkali,’ first use of word, 240
Allegorical figures, 128
Alloys, preparation of, noted in
Greek papyri, 42
Alphabets, alchemical, 1 30-1 31
Aludel, the, 112
Andrea, Johann Valentin, 203-204
Anthony, Francis, 200
Apparatus , alchemical ,109-119; value
of, in 1560, 118-119 ; symbols for,
126
Aqua dissolutiva, 240
Aquinas, Thomas, 80-82
Arab charlatan at Prague, 15 3-1 54
Arabian alchemists, 59-67
Aristotle’s theory, 12-13
Arnaldus de Villa Nova, 82-83
Ashmole, Elias, 95, 101, 103
Assyrian knowledge of chemistry
and the arts, 28-30
Astrology and alchemy, 36-40
Athanor, the, 113
Atomic theories, early, 14
Augustus of Saxony, Prince, 147
Aurum musivum, 24
Aurum Vellusy 136-137, 139
Avicenna, 64
Babylonian knowledge of chemistry
and the arts, 28-30
Bacon, Roger, 91
Balloon, the, 113
Balneum Mariae, origin of, 48
Baths, 1 16
Bauduin, 226
Becquerel rays, 243
Benter, David, 147
Bernard of Treves, 83-86
Bird, William, 99
Bloomfield, William, 100
Boehme, Jakob, 209
Boerhaave, Hermann, 230-232
definition of chemistry, 231
Borri, Giuseppe Francesco, 180-187
Botticher, Johann Friedrich, 192-
194
Boyle, Robert, 224-225, 227-228 ;
discoveries of, 225 ; experiments
on air, 228
Bragadino, Count Marco, 154-155
Brandt, 225, 226, 227
Breviary of Naturall Philosophy , A,
99
Brice, Edward C., 234
Brief of the Golden Calf , The , 194-
196
Bronze used by the Egyptians, 19
Castano, Domenico Manuel, 174-
180
Calomel 241
245
LURE & ROMANCE OF ALCHEMY
Calxjovis, 24
Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale , The , 103-106
Canterbury Tales , The , 17
Caput mortuum , 116
Cerussa, 23
Chalcanthum , 240
Charles II and his laboratory, 146
Charles VI of France, 148-149
Charles VII of France, 148, 149
Charles IX of France, 148
Charles XII of Sweden, 149
Charnock, Thomas, 99
Chaucer, Geoffrey, 102, 103-106
Chema , 11
Chemi, 10
Chemistry, alchemy and, 222-232
China, alchemy in, 49-53
Christian IV of Denmark, 149
Chymike , 10
Cinnabar, esteemed by the Chinese,
50
Cloche, the, 113
Compositions ad tingenda, 134
Compound of Alchymie , The, 93-94
Concerning the Seven , 33
Condensers, 114-116
Confessio Amantis, 1 02-1 03
Copper, 19
Copper sulphate, 240
Cordova as centre of learning, 64
Corrosive sublimate, 20
Crocus mortis , 23
Crocus solis, 18
Crucifix, the, 113
Cucurbit, the, 109, 112
Cupellation described by J&bir, 62
Dastin, John, 99
De Lannoy, Cornelius, 1 42-1 44
De Rohan, Cardinal Prince, 149
Dee, John, 142, 151, 152
Democritus, 46, 47
Democritus of Abdera, 46-47
Deppel, 176
Diamonds, artificial, to make, 56
Doctrine of Democritus, The, 66
Dyeing known to the Egyptians, 28
Earth, early beliefs concerning, 13
Egyptian goldsmiths, 27
Electrum, 18
Elementa Chemice, 230
246
Elementa chemica, elements, symbols
for, 122
Elixir of Gold, 95
Elixir of Life, 74 ; in India, 5
Elixir Reno vans, 202
Elizabeth, Queen, and alchemy, 142,
143-145
Ellis, Sir Thomas, 145-146
Emblems of operations, 1 27-1 29
Emerald Table of Hermes, The, 31-
32
Emerald tablet, the, 31-35
Emeralds, artificial, to make, 56
Emmens, Stephen H., 235
English phosphorus, Boyle’s, 225,
227-228
“ Eugenius Philalethes,” 21 1
Experiments on some Mineral Sub¬
stances, 221
Fama Fraternitatis, 203, 204-207,
210
Faust, 106
Ferdinand III, Emperor, 148
Fire, early beliefs concerning, 13
Flamel, Nicholas, 87-90
Flores martias, 23
Fludd, Robert, 209-210
Forense, Francesco, 147
Forman, Simon, 199-200
Fraternity of the Rosy Cross, 203-
207 ; its foundation and articles,
204-206
Frederick William I, of Prussia, 148
Frederick William II, of Prussia,
148
Fruben, 226
Furnaces, 116
Gallathea, 107
Geber — see Jabir-ibn-Hayyan
Glauber, Johann Rudolf, 214
Glauber’s salt, 214
Gnostics skilled in alchemy, 48
Goethe, description of an alchemist
by, 106
Gold, 14, 17-18 ; early use of, 17, 26
Gold jewellery, early, 27
Gold-makers in modern times, 233-
239
‘ Golden Drops ’ of La Mothe, 23
Goulard’s ‘ Extract of Saturn,’ 24
i
INDEX
Gower, John, and alchemy, 102-
103
Great Stone of the Philosophers, The ,
160, 161-162
Greek alchemists, 41-48
Greek apparatus, 43, 109
Hanckwitz, Ambrose Godfrey, 227
Hayck, Thaddeus von, 151-152
Helmont, Jean Baptiste van, 21 1-
214
Helvetius, Johann Friedrich, 194-
196
Hermes and the Holy Writings, 10-
1 1
“ Hermes, his seal,” 26
Hermes Trismegistus, 25
Hindu alchemy, 54-58
Hindu methods of making artificial
precious stones, 56-57
Hollandus, Johann Isaac, 172
Honnauer, George, 155
Iatro-chemistry, 167-170
“ Icy Noctiluca,” 227
Iron, 22-23 ; worked by the Egyp¬
tians, 22
Ismail ibn Lhocine Toughrai, 66
JAbir-ibn-HayyAn (Geber), 59-62
Jade-wine Spring, 49
Jewish alchemists, 47-48
John the High Priest, 28
John of Preston, 100
John de Walden, 92
Jonson, Ben, and alchemy, 197, 199,
200
Kadmia , 240
Kellerman, John, 218-219 ; his labo¬
ratory, 219
Kelly, Edward, 142, 145, 151-152
Key of Solomon, The, 33
Key of Wisdom, The, 140
Keys of Providence, The, 66
Killing the metals, 55
Kimia, 10
‘ King Charles’ Drops,’ 146
Krohnemann, Colonel, 155-156
Kunckel, Johann, 225-227
Kurschaldgen, Heinrich, 235-236
Laboratorium Chymicum , 226
Laboratory and apparatus, alchem¬
ist’s, 108-119 i in India, 55-56
Lana philosophica, 240
Lapis infernalis, 18
Lascaris, 1 92-1 93, 194
Lead known to the Egyptians, 23
Leopold I, 148
Libavius, Andreas, 172-173
Libellus de Alchemia, 78-79
Licences to practice alchemy, grant¬
ing of, 141-142
London, described by Agrippa, 164
Lucas van Leiden, 136
Lully, Raymond, 79-80
Lunar caustic, 18
Lutes, 117-118
Lyly, John, 107
Magisterium argenti, 241
‘ Magistery of Saturn,’ 23
Maier, Michael, 209
Manuscripts, alchemical, 134-139
Mappce Clavicula , 109, 134-135
Mary the Jewess, 47-48
Maslaman-al-Majriti, 64-66
Matrass, the, 1 12
Mayow, John, 228-229
Mercurial barometer, 21-22
Mercurius dulcis, 241
Mercury, 19-22
Metals and planets associated, 16-
24
Metals known to Hindus, 55
Metals, symbols for, 1 23-1 24
Miner alibus, De, 31
Muehlendorf, Andreas von, 155
Muller, Johann Heinrich, 192
Mysticism and alchemy, 77-78
NAgArjuna, 55
Near East, alchemy in, 25-30
Norton, Thomas, 94-95 ; his Elixir
of Gold, 95 ; his Elixir of Life,
95 ; his writings, 95-99
Occult Philosophy, 163
Old Book of Dr Synesius, Greek
Abbot, The, 45
Oleum lapidis calaminaris, 242
Olympiodorus, 45-46
247
LURE & ROMANCE OF ALCHEMY
\
Open Entrance , The , 70
Operations, alchemical, symbols for,
Ordinall of Alkimie, 95, 96-98
Oxford, Boyle at, 224
Papyri, Graeco -Egyptian, alchemical
information in, 41-42
Paracelsus, 21, 166-172
Paykull, 149
Pelican, the, 112
Personal Tour through the United
Kingdom , 218-220
Philosopher’s egg, the, 114
Philosopher’s Stone, 68-76 ; search
for, 68-70 ; colour of, 71 ; prepa¬
ration of, 71-74 ; virtues of, 74-
76.
Philosophical Transactions , 221
Phlogiston theory, 229, 230
Phosphorus, discovery of, 225-228
Pills of Immortality, 5 1
Pills of the Moon, 18
Pinter, Edward, 234
Planets and metals associated, 16,17
Poison detection, early method of,
57-58
Pompholix , 240
Porta, Giambattista della, 2 14-2 15
‘ Potable Gold,’ 200
‘ Powder of Saturn,’ 23
Prague, laboratory of Emperor
Rudolph II at, 1 50-1 51 ; Arab
charlatan at, 1 53-1 54
Prayers before alchemical experi¬
ments, 108-109
Precious stones artificially made, 30
Price, James, 216-218
Primal elements, early beliefs con¬
cerning, 12
Primum ens Melissae, 75-76
Processes, alchemical, symbolic re¬
presentation of, 128-130
Pseudo-alchemists, 78, 162
Purple of Cassius, 18, 30
Quicksilver, 20
Radium, 243 ; Sir William Ramsay’s
investigations of, 244
Red oxide of mercury, 20, 21, 66,
241
248
Retorts, the, m-112
Revelation of the Hidden Key , The ,
160
Rhazes, 62-64
Richthausen, 148, 157-158
Ripley, George, 92-94
Robert of Chester, 91
Rosencreutz, Christian, 204-205
Rosicrucians — see Fraternity of the
Rosy Cross
Royal Society of London founded,
223
Royalty, alchemists and, 1 40-1 49
Rubies, artificial, to make, 57
Rudolph II, Emperor, 148, 150
Rupert, Prince, studies chemistry,
146-147
Sage’s Step, The, 65-66
St Margaret’s, Westminster, sym¬
bolic window, 201
Sal, 241
Saljovis, 24
Salts of Mars, 22
Sapphires changed into diamonds,
57
Schwertzer, Sebald, 147-148
Scotta, Alessandro, 154
Secret Academy of Nobility, 223
Secretis Artis Naturce, De, 91
Secretum Secretorum , 33
Seeds of metals, belief in, 16
Sendivogius, Michael, 1 90-1 92
Serpent, the, 113
Seton, Alexander, 188-190
Sextus Julius Africanus, 44-45
Sheba, Queen of, 26
Silver, 17, 18-19
Silver nitrate, 18, 241
Skeptical Chymist, The, 225
Soma rasa plant, 54
Specificum purgans, 241
Spirit of the World, the, 226
Spiritus, 241
‘ Spiritus Nitro-Aereus,’ 229
Splendor Solis, 136, 139
Stahl, Georg Ernst, 229
Stalbridge, Boyle at, 224
Still, the, hi
Stoics, the, 48
Stringer, Moses, 201-202
INDEX
Substances, alchemical, symbols for,
i 24-1 25
Sulphur-mercury doctrine, 69
Symbols, alchemical, and their ori¬
gin, 1 20-1 30 ; in Chinese alchemy,
53 .
Synesius, 45
Syriac manuscripts on alchemy, 66
Tan , meaning of, 49
Tantras, the, 54
Taoism and Chinese alchemy, 49
Tausend, Franz, 236-239
Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum , 95
Tholde, Johann, 159
Thurneisser, Leonhard, 156-157
Tiffereau, Theodore, 233-234
Time, symbols for, 126
Tin, 24
Tincture of the moon, 18
Topaz, artificial, to make, 57
Topfer, Benedict, 1 52-1 53
Tractatus de Respiratione, 229
Tribicus, the, 43, no
Trimosin, Solomon, 136-139 ; al¬
chemical notes of, 139
Triumphal Chariot of Antimony , The,
160
Twins, 1 12, 1 19
Twelve Treatises of the Cosmopolitan,
191
Valentine, Basil, 159, 162 ; his
“ eight gates,” 128
Vanity of Sciences and Arts , 165-166
Vaughan, Thomas, 210-211
Verdigris, 19
Von Hohenheim, Philippus Theo¬
phrastus Bombastus (Paracelsus),
20, 166-172
Water, early beliefs concerning, 13
William de Brumley, 92
Woulfe, Peter, 220
Ziegler, Marie, 155
Zodiacal signs and alchemy, 36-37
Zosimus, 28, 43-44
IP
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