In the European alchemical tradition, the elixir vitae or elixir of life is associated with the philosopher's stone. Legend has it certain alchemists know the secret to creating the elixir. Giambattista della Porta is a 16th century Italian alchemist with an eye on eternity.
Giambattista della Porta (c. 1535 - 1615, Naples) is an Italian natural philosopher known for work in optics and other scientific fields. A prolific writer, he travels through Italy, France, and Spain. The concept of a heliocentric universe (1548) is introduced in his youth.
A great contribution to literary science is his Magia naturalis (Natural Magic, 4 books, 1558). Here he explores the phenomena of the natural world as governed by a logical system.
Natural philosophers can comprehend this, he says, using deductions and practical experiments. Della Porta's book explores diverse topics such as demonology, magnetism, and the camera obscura (an early camera prototype).
In Giambattista’s preface to Natural Magic he writes,
"...if ever any man labored earnestly to discover the secrets of Nature, it was I; For with all my mind and power, I have turned over the monuments of our ancestors, and if they wrote anything that was secret and concealed, that I enrolled in my catalogue of rarities."
Della Porta intends to compile the secrets of nature. However, he was skeptical of discoveries of the past and insists on making his own through experimentation. Again in his preface he says,
"In our method I shall observe what our ancestors have said; then I shall show by my own experience, whether they be true or false…."
Giambattista describes two different types of magic in Chapter II of Book I. The first is an evil thing having to do with spirits. He calls this sorcery.
"The other Magick is natural; which all excellent wise men do admit and embrace, and worship with great applause; neither is there anything more highly esteemed, or better thought of, by men of learning."
This is the magic to which della Porta dedicates himself. His fascination with the extraordinary leads him to establish Accademia dei Segreti (Academy of Secrets) in Naples c.1560. Created in della Porta's summer palace, it's seen as the first scientific academy in Europe.
It's an pricy pursuit. Alchemists are lucky to have independent wealth or a generous patron. An alchemist can also go into business with dyes, tonics, healing balms or paint pigments. Many alchemists are dirt poor, giving little credence to claims of making gold or anything else.
At the Academy of Secrets, magic, alchemy and occult work are part of the curriculum. The twelve members share interest in Renaissance natural magic, alchemy and mathematics. The Academy comes under scrutiny of the Inquisition, and closed in 1580 by Papal decree.
This is one of the reasons alchemy goes "underground" in Italian monasteries and convents. A number of religious centers are sites of alchemical experiments. At least one of della Porta's acquaintances, Dominican Tommaso d'Eremita, is a friar brewing up potions in the lab.
Religious orders support alchemy because authorities feel it can be used for the betterment of humankind. Naples and Florence are especially is known to encourage the alchemical arts to find medicines and tonics. Many regions become known for health elixirs they produce.
With interests in occult philosophy, astrology, alchemy, mathematics, meteorology, and natural philosophy, della Porta earns the nickname "Professor of Secrets." Based on his work, 15th-century scholar Giovanni (Johann) Faber discusses healing properties of theriac.
This he compares to other remedies used to expel venom from the human body. Faber makes a reference to the medicinal properties of aqua vitae which, he says, “Giambattista della Porta clearly shows in his book on distillation."
Della Porta writes:
"... On the distillation of lib. 9: by which, by a certain method, and by many artifices, the subtler mysteries of the nature revealed, with the right of mixing them into their proper elements, are perfectly taught ... "
Other of his accomplishments include writing inside of eggs to smuggle messages to friends imprisoned by the Inquisition. He develops an ingenious idea using plant matter and alum. In 1589 he uses scientific methods to bust the popular belief garlic de-magnetizes magnets.
Faber also refers to Dominican friar d'Eremita's book and his “chemically produced” elixir vitae. It's prepared through a long laboratory process involving distillation. Faber praises d’Eremita’s elixir for its healing properties and compared it to theriac which
“ ... if taken in a small quantity it animates our spirits so that in resisting venom, Herculean forces are regained."
The concept of creating a universal remedy through a laboratory process involving distillation is especially significant. Della Porta details the distillation process for extracting the essence of substances in his work Magia Naturalis.
This is attained by separating the spiritual essence contained in the grossness of bodies. As Della Porta explains,
“by chymical Instrument the art of distillation “teacheth how to make Spirits, and sublime gross Bodies; and how to condense, and make Spirits become gross bodies: and to draw forth of Plants, Minerals, Stones and Jewels, the Strength of them, that are ... lying, as it were, in their Chests.”
Here, Della Porta drew on the principle of chemical separation and defined the quintessence as a spirit separated from all forms of impurity existing in the grossness of the elements. This process was at the core of Della Porta's method of producing the elixir of life.
Defined as “the Conservators of Bodies, for their virtue is to preserve from corruption, elixirs are
... compounded of many things to be dissolved or liquefied”.
A mixture of substances, they can only be produced in a laboratory through a specific alchemical process. It involves sublimation, contrition, descension, ascension, extraction, maceration, calcination, heating and distillation.
The latter was the ultimate stage through which the essence of plants, metals, minerals and stones could be obtained. By extracting
“ ... the Spirit, being separated from the phlegm and run invisible into the Receiver ... ”
Distillation lets substances achieve their purest forms, maximizing medicinal effectiveness. This concept is central to a research approach described by Della Porta in De distillatione. The Neapolitan scholar details three types of elixirs.
the first is derived from metals like gold, silver, and minerals such as sulfur, arsenic, salt, chalcanthite, and potassium nitrate
the second from gems
the third from plants
Della Porta emphasizes the therapeutic potential of metals and minerals in medical studies by introducing a broader range of elixirs for laboratory production. He integrates Paracelsian medicine into the Aristotelian and Galenic tradition.
Principles outlined by Della Porta in both Magia Naturalis and De distillatione are the foundation for new empirical research programs of the Neapolitan convent laboratories.
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