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ALCHEMY
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ALCHEMY . In the narrow sense of the word, alchemy is the pretended See also:art of making See also:gold' and See also:silver, or transmuting the See also:base metals into the See also:noble ones. The See also:idea of such trans-mutation probably arose among the Alexandrian Greeks in the See also:early centuries of the See also:Christian era; thence it passed to the See also:Arabs, by whom it was transmitted to western See also:Europe, and its realization was a leading aim of chemical workers down to the See also:time of See also:Paracelsus and even later. But "alchemy" was some-thing more than a particularly vain and deluded manifestation of the thirst for gold, as is sometimes represented; in its wider and truer significance it stands for the See also:chemistry of the See also:middle ages. The idea of transmutation, in the See also:country of its origin, had a philosophical basis, and was linked up with the See also:Greek theories of See also:matter there current; thus, by supplying a central philosophical principle, it to some extent unified and focussed chemical effort, which previously, so far as it existed at all, had been expended on acquiring empirical acquaintance with a See also:mass of disconnected technical processes. Alchemy in this sense is merely an early phase of the development of systematic chemistry; in See also:Liebig's words, it was " never at any time anything different from chemistry." Regarding the derivation of the word, there are two See also:main views which agree in holding that it has an Arabic descent, the prefix al being the Arabic See also:article. But according to one, the second See also:part of the word comes from the Greek Xvµeia, pouring, infusion, used in connexion with the study of the juices of See also:plants, and thence extended to chemical manipulations in See also:general; this derivation accounts for the old-fashioned spellings " chymist " and " chymistry." The other view traces it to khem or khame, hieroglyph khmi, which denotes See also:black See also:earth as opposed to barren See also:sand, and occurs in See also:Plutarch as Xvµeia; on this derivation alchemy is explained as meaning the " See also:Egyptian art." The first occurrence of the word is said to be in a See also:treatise of See also:Julius See also:Firmicus, an astrological writer of the 4th See also:century, but the prefix al there must be the addition of a later copyist. Among the Alexandrian writers alchemy was designated as rjs Xpvo-oui re Kai ap'yipov 9rotilo-ewr TEXV11 Oda Kai iepa or it Eortarfiµrl iepa. In See also:English, Piers Plowman (1362) contains the phrase " experimentis of alconomye," with variants" alkenemye " and " alknamye." The prefix al begins to be dropped about the middle of the 16th century. Origins of Alchemy.—Numerous legends cluster See also:round the origin of alchemy. According to one See also:story, it was founded by the Egyptian See also:god See also:Hermes (See also:Thoth), the reputed inventor of the arts and sciences, to whom, under the appellation Hermes Trismegistus, See also:Tertullian refers as the See also:master of those who occupy themselves with nature; after him later alchemists called their See also:work the " hermetic art," and the See also:seal of Hermes, which they placed upon their vessels, is the origin of the See also:common phrase hermetically sealed." Another See also:legend, given by See also:Zosimus of Panopolis, an alchemistical writer said to date from the 3rd century, asserts that the fallen angels taught the arts to the See also:women they married (cf. See also:Genesis vi. 2), their instruction being recorded in a See also:book called Chema. A similar story appears in the Book of See also:Enoch, and Tertullian has much to say about the wicked angels who revealed to men the knowledge of gold and silver, of lustrous stones, and of the See also:power of herbs, and who introduced the arts of See also:astrology and magic upon the earth. Again, the Arabic Kitdb-al-Fihrist, written by al-See also:Nadim towards the end of the Loth century, says that the " See also:people who practise alchemy, that is, who fabricate gold and silver from See also:strange metals, See also:state that the first to speak of the See also:science of the work was Hermes the See also:Wise, who was originally of See also:Babylon, but who established him-self in See also:Egypt after the See also:dispersion of the peoples from See also:Babel." Another legend, also to be found in Arabic See also:sources, asserts that alchemy was revealed by God to See also:Moses and See also:Aaron. But there is some See also:evidence that, in accordance with the strong and See also:constant tradition among the alchemists, the idea of transmutation did originate in Egypt with the Greeks of See also:Alexandria. In the See also:Leiden museum there are a number of papyri which were found in a See also:tomb at See also:Thebes, written probably in the 3rd century A.D., though their matter is older. Some are in Greek and See also:demotic, and one, of See also:peculiar See also:interest from the chemical point of view, gives a number of receipts, in Greek, for the manipulation of base metals to See also:form See also:alloys which simulate gold and are intended to be used in the manufacture of See also:imitation jewellery. Possibly this is one of the books about gold and silver of which See also:Diocletian decreed the destruction about A.D. 29o—an See also:act which See also:Gibbon styles the first See also:authentic event in the See also:history of alchemy (Decline and Fall, See also:chap. xiii.). The author of these receipts is not under any delusion that he is transmuting metals; the MS. is merely a workshop See also:manual in which are described processes in daily use for preparing metals for false jewellery, but it argues considerable knowledge of methods of making alloys and colouring metals. It has been suggested by M. P. E. See also:Berthelot that the workers in these processes, which were a See also:monopoly of the priestly See also:caste and were kept strictly See also:secret, though fully aware that their products were not truly gold, were in time led by their success in deceiving the public to deceive themselves also, and to come to believe that they actually had the power of making gold from substances which were not gold. Philosophical See also:sanction and explanation of this belief was then found by bringing it into relation with the theory of the prima materia, which was identical in all bodies but received its actual form by the adjunction of qualities expressed by the Aristotelian elements—earth, See also:air, See also:fire and See also:water. Some support for this view is gained from study of the alchemistical writings of the See also:period. Thus, in the treatise known as Physica et Mystica and falsely ascribed t'o See also:Democritus (such false attributions are a constant feature of the literature of alchemy), various receipts are given for colouring and See also:gilding metals, but the conception of transmutation does not occur. This treatise was probably composed at a date not very different from that of the Leiden See also:papyrus. Later, however, as in the Commentary on this work written by See also:Synesius to Dioscorus, See also:priest of See also:Serapis at Alexandria, which probably See also:dates from the end of the 4th century, a changed attitude becomes apparent; the more See also:practical parts of the receipts are obscured or omitted, and the processes for preparing alloys and colouring metals, described in the older treatise, are by a mystical See also:interpretation represented as resulting in real transmutation. But while there are thus some grounds for supposing that the idea of transmutation See also:grew out of the practical receipts .of Alexandrian Egypt, the alchemy which embraced it as a ,See also:lead- , See also:ing principle was also strongly affected by Eastern influences such as magic and astrology. The earliest Greek alchemistical writings abound with references to See also:Oriental authorities and traditions. Thus the pseudo-Democritus, who was reputed the author of the Physica et Mystica, which itself concludes each of its receipts with a magical See also:formula, was believed to have travelled in See also:Chaldaea, and to have had as his master Ostanes' the Mede, a name mentioned several times in the Leiden papyrus, and often by early Christian writers such as Tertullian, St See also:Cyprian and St See also:Augustine. The practices of the See also:Persian adepts also are appealed to in the writings of the pseudo-Democritus, Zosimus and Synesius. The philosopher's See also:egg, as a See also:symbol of creation, is both Egyptian and Babylonian. In the Greek alchemists it appears as the symbol at once of the art and of the universe, enclosing within itself the four elements; and there is sometimes a See also:play of words between To ov and re cibv. The conception of See also:man, the See also:microcosm, containing in himself all the parts of the universe or macrocosm, is also Babylonian, as again probably is the famous See also:identification of the metals with the See also:planets. Even in the Leiden papyrus the astronomical symbols for the See also:sun and See also:moon are used to denote gold and silver, and in. the Meteorologica of See also:Olympiodorus lead is attributed to See also:Saturn, See also:iron to See also:Mars, See also:copper to See also:Venus, See also:tin to Hermes (See also:Mercury) and See also:electrum to See also:Jupiter. Similar systems of symbols, but elaborated to include compounds; appear in Greek See also:MSS. of. the loth century,, preserved in the library of St See also:Mark's at See also:Venice. Subsequently electrum (an alloy of gold and silver) disappeared as a specific See also:metal, and tin was ascribed to Jupiter instead, the sign of mercury becoming common to the metal and the See also:planet. Thus we read in See also:Chaucer (Chanouns Yemannes See also:Tale) The bodies sevene eek, lo! hem heer anoon: Sol gold is, and See also:Luna silver we threpe, Mars yren, Mercurie quik-silver we clepe, Saturnus leed and Jupiter is tin, And Venus coper, by my fader See also:kin! Literature of Alchemy.— A considerable See also:body of Greek chemical writings is contained in MSS. belonging to the various See also:great See also:libraries of Europe, the See also:oldest being that at St Mark's, just mentioned. The contents of these MSS. are all of similar See also:composition, and in Berthelot's See also:opinion represent a collection of See also:treatises made at See also:Constantinople in the 8th or 9th century. The treatises are nearly all anterior to the 7th century, and most appear to belong to the 3rd and 4th centuries; some are the work of authentic authors like Zosimus and Synesius, while of others, such as profess to be written by Moses, Democritus, Ostanes, &c., the authorship is clearly fictitious. Some of the same names and the same See also:works can be identified in the lists of, the Kitdb-sl-Fihrist. But the Arabs did not acquire their knowledge of this literature at first See also:hand. The earliest Hellenic culture in the See also:East was Syrian, and the Arabs made their first acquaintance with Greek chemistry, as with Greek See also:philosophy, See also:mathematics, See also:medicine, &c., by the intermediary of See also:Syriac See also:translations. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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