Alchemy reveals a world of penniless mystics, befuddled interpretation, arts of coloring metals and the quest for healing. Making gold appears in literature by the 1st century AD. Alchemists also create polishes, precious gems and pigments.
As a practice alchemy comes into blossom in ancient Alexandria, also a center of glass-making, which facilitates experiments. Alchemy gains an esoteric reputation, a trait with fluctuating effects.
Overall alchemists are seen natural philosophers. Alchemy isn't considered an occult practice, as is the widely accepted astrology, and requires no clandestine rituals.
However many alchemists believe the purity of body, mind and soul is essential, if not to alchemy then to one of the many religious beliefs which become linked to it. These include Hermeticism, Gnosticism and Christianity.
The Hebrew community is also part of the spiritual cultural milieu and pagan Neo-Platonism arises later. Thus a Gnostic philosopher like Zosimos (c. 300 AD) bases his alchemical work on his beliefs, as does Mary the Jewess in c. 100 AD.
She says to the gentiles: "Do not touch the stone ... you are not of our race." She believes only the children of Abraham can use the properties of the mystic stone she mentions. It doesn't stop her from extending her teachings to others.
She first associates metals and metallurgy with the human body:
"Just as human is composed of four elements, likewise is copper; and just as human results [from the association of] liquids, of solids, and of the spirit, so does copper."
Mary, also called Maria the Prophetess after the 16th century, gives the metals genders and characteristics. This leads to one of the commonly quoted sayings of Maria:
"Join the male and the female, and you will find what is sought."
She refers to metal alloys and combinations. One enduring example in alchemy is HgS (mercury sulfide or cinnabar), a natural compound of quicksilver female and sulfur male.
Another is copper female 88% and tin male 12%. Together they produce bronze. Copper and zinc, in varying proportions, create brass. Copper is female, Venus, and zinc is male. It's later found zinc has a beneficial effect on male fertility.
The male/female metals concept continues into the hieros gamos or divine marriage medieval alchemy. The hieros gamos based on ancient traditions going back to Mesopotamia and portrayed in countless alchemical drawings.
In the Renaissance the male may be represented as a solar symbol, a circle with a dot ☉; the female principle is the crescent moon ☽. In Alexandrian alchemy the Sun is also defined with a symbol like a cone on its side. The crescent moon is a symbol of silver and fertility.
During the Renaissance the idea takes on grandiose proportions as it goes on to represent the Red King (sulfur) and the White Queen (mercury). When the King and Queen copulate, the Divine Hermaphrodite, a unity of opposites, is born.
This is a great example of Renaissance imagination but also puts alchemy further into the realm of symbols and hidden meanings. The Rosicrucian movement of the 17th century adds to the mystique.
The King and Queen, and the Divine Rebis, appear specifically in Renaissance alchemy, showing the transition from a simple male/female metaphor to depictions rife with symbolism and hidden meaning. Here the esoteric aspects of alchemy prevail.
Alchemists also appear on a specific scale of philosophical and practical alchemy. Some have never seen a test tube and others can't get up in the morning without a list. The practical alchemists tend to keep written records on processes, updated regularly in the margins.
They believe in being able to replicate their experiments, which leads to a large range of patent medicines. In the 18th century alchemist James Price claims to have produced gold. When told to reproduce the experiment in front of witnesses, he drinks cyanide and dies.
Another source of esotericism comes from the fraudsters. Good stories sell elixir, or get the favor of a wealthy patron on the promise of gold-making. The cheat pretends to hold wisdom soon to be revealed, and tells elaborate tales to rival those of merchants.
Alchemical alloys are also made to imitate or multiply gold or silver. The process of making alloys is intricate and follows time-honored step-by-step instructions as well as an understanding of the properties of the metal.
Not all gold is made the same, and recipes vary. This one comes from c. 250 AD:
For Giving to Objects of Copper the Appearance of Gold
"And neither touch nor rubbing against the touchstone will detect them, but they can serve especially for (the manufacturing of) a ring of fine appearance. Here is the preparation for this. Gold and lead are ground to a fine powder like flour, 2 parts of lead for 1 of gold, then having mixed, they are incorporated with gum, and one coats the ring with this mixture; then it is heated ...
" ... One repeats this several times until the object has taken the color. It is difficult to detect the difference, because rubbing gives the mark of a gold object, and the heat consumes the lead but not the gold."
Recipes such as this feed the association of lead with gold, establishing a system of widespread beliefs and imaginative interpretations. Eventually turning lead to gold becomes an overused cliché.
In the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo writes,
This concept taps into the erstwhile belief metal is created base, and matures in the ground. Here Hugo illustrates a popular theme in the many chapters of alchemy.
The belief in this behavior of metals plays into the hands of those who use the simple alchemical trick of coating a lead base with a layer of gold. If the trick is discovered, the fraudster claims the metal hasn't fully matured yet.
Many other recipes abound:
The invention of sulfur water
"A handful of lime and another of sulfur in fine powder; place them in a vessel containing strong vinegar or the urine of a small child. Heat it from below, until the supernatant liquid appears like blood. Decant this latter properly in order to separate it from the deposit, and use."
Urine of a small child is especially important because it contains more phosphorus than urine of an adult. The discovery of phosphorus itself doesn't happen until Hennig Brand boils his pee in 17th century Germany.
He records the steps taken to produce phosphorus from urine:
Let urine stand for days until it gives off a pungent smell. (This step is not necessary as fresh urine produces the same amount of phosphorus).
Boil urine to reduce it to a thick syrup.
Heat until a red oil distills up from it, and draw that off.
Allow the remainder to cool, where it consists of a black spongy upper part and a salty lower part.
Discard the salt, mix the red oil back into the black material.
Heat that mixture strongly for 16 hours.
First white fumes come off, then an oil, then phosphorus.
The phosphorus may be passed into cold water to solidify.
The Science:
The chemical reaction Brand discovers involves phosphates (PO43−) found in urine, specifically sodium phosphate (Na+), in the form of microcosmic salt, and with various carbon-based organics.
When exposed to intense heat, oxygen atoms in the phosphate react with carbon to produce carbon monoxide (CO), releasing elemental phosphorus (P) as a gas. The phosphorus liquefies below approximately 280°C.
It then solidifies into white phosphorus allotrope below around 44°C, depending on its purity. This fundamental reaction is still used today, with mined phosphate ores, coke as the carbon source, and electric furnaces.
Hennig's approach is one of conscientious attention to detail and knowledge of materials. He goes through the wealth of two wives before finally achieving his Opus Magnus. Alchemists are not known for prosperity unless they're independently wealthy.
The Experimental Process
Alchemists have various approaches to their experiments, from the purely intuitive on one side, adding elements or processes as desired, to the purely analytic on the other. However, intuition guides the work of many a scientist, and most alchemists fall somewhere in between.
Alchemical recipes are full of information for coloring metals, ideally to look like gold or silver, or multiplying an amount of gold or silver by use of asem. Asem is the sourdough of the alchemical world, a type of starter metal mix usually made by the alchemist.
These secrets or experiments are guarded for good reason. As philosophers, alchemists are protected in liberal Alexandra, the center of ancient alchemy. Freedom of speech is a right. Many alchemists are orators and teachers.
This collapses with the horrifying murder of Hypatia in the 5th century by a Christian mob, and a sense of fear pervades society. Hypatia is derisively called an alchemist, which is telling about the status of alchemy at that time.
Alchemists study existing works or under a teacher to gain a full understanding of the materials and the processes, the hows and whys and the necessity of replication after replication.
The esoteric language of alchemy evolves as a form of protection from idea thievery. It's a time of invention and discovery. It also gives alchemy more credence in the intellectual world.
Without the philosophical approach alchemists are mere craftspeople and held in low esteem.
Early practitioners set educational standards. Mary the Jewess is a Hebrew scholar who speaks and writes several languages. Alexandria is known as an intellectual center for hundreds of years. Thus the image of alchemists as craftspeople undergoes a metamorphosis.
Alchemists of yore meticulously document their observations and experiments. Chemical processes and apparatus used in alchemy are still used today. Distillation, sublimation, and crystallization are a few examples of techniques perfected by alchemists.
Alchemy transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries, intersecting with fields as diverse as philosophy, art, and metallurgy. Its interdisciplinary nature fosters a holistic approach to problem-solving and creativity, making it a science difficult to fit in little boxes.
Alchemy is pursued for its medicinal benefits by many, including Roger Bacon, Paracelsus and Isabella Cortese. In the Italian Renaissance Lady Isabella is known not just for creating her own experiments and products according to her proven recipes, but marketing them as well.
After the 7th century AD and the Islamic conquest of Egypt, lines blur as Arabs take alchemy and Greek thought back to Islamic lands to be translated and studied at the House of Wisdom. Arabic al-kīmiyā and kīmiyā both mean chemistry. "Al" correlates to "the" in English.
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