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THE CHEMICAL PHILOSOPHY

Paracelsian Science and Medicine in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

Dover Publications, Inc.

CHEMISTRY AND NATURE IN THE RENAISSANCE

The great virtues that lie hidden in nature would never have been revealed if alchemy had not uncovered them and made them visible. Take a tree, for example; a man sees it in the winter, but he does not know what it is, he does not know what it conceals within itself, until summer comes and discloses the buds, the flowers, the fruit.... Similarly the virtues in things remain concealed to man, unless the alchemists disclose them, as the summer reveals the nature of the tree.

Paracelsus, Paragranum (1530)

THE SIXTEENTH and seventeenth centuries were the time of the scientific revolution, the period which saw the achievements of Copernicus, Vesalius, Kepler, Galileo, Harvey, and Newton. The impact of their work was to fundamentally change our understanding of nature and the universe. The developments of science acted to alter man's comfortable relationship with his Creator while at the same time furthering the quest for the betterment of life on earth through the belief in man's power over nature.

The history of the scientific revolution is normally presented in terms of those advances in the physical sciences that led to the Newtonian synthesis and in the progression in the medical sciences from Vesalius to Harvey and the circulation of the blood. This positivistic approach is of the utmost importance in establishing the major avenues of scientific development, but far too often its practitioners have ignored the complexity of this extremely rich period. In recent years new research has pointed to seemingly "nonmodern" or even "anti-modern" themes persisting in the scientific literature until an unexpectedly late period. Even though this is true, there are those who argue that the seventeenth-century Hermetic, alchemical, and magical literature may be safely ignored. Nowhere here, they say, will we find anything to compare with Kepler's laws of planetary motion, Harvey's work on the circulation, Boyle's investigation of the vacuum, or Newton's laws of motion. These historians claim that we should not devote our time to the study of "lesser" men and outmoded concepts.

But can we close our eyes to the persistent interest of seventeenth-century savants in natural magic and astrology? Is it really possible to ignore the fascination with alchemy that is found in the work of Tycho Brahe, Robert Boyle, and Isaac Newton? It seems more likely that if we are to understand these men, and many of their contemporaries, we cannot limit ourselves to their positive achievements alone. To properly assess them—and the rise of modern science—we must make some attempt to examine the totality of their work, and we must investigate some fields of study that were then—but are no longer—respectable.

In any such program of research it would be proper to point to chemistry as a subject of special interest. Problems raised by chemical hypotheses and broad mystical alchemical speculations occur frequently in the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century scientific and medical literature. Furthermore, in the course of a century and a half, a change occurred in chemistry that rivalled in magnitude the alterations that were seen in astronomy and in the physics of motion. The scientific revolution need not be ascribed completely to the advent of a "modern" mechanical philosophy of nature.

A description of the state of chemistry at the opening of the sixteenth century would have to include a number of fields that seemingly had little relationship to one another. To be sure, some of the mining and metallurgical techniques of that period employed chemical processes of great significance. But the chemical technology of the mines was far removed from the medical chemistry of the period. Here a medieval tradition already suggested that chemically distilled substances might well be more potent than the more common materia medica described in herbals. A third field was that of the alchemists—men who spoke of a mystical approach to nature and wrote on the transmutation of the metals. But their works were written for the "initiated"; there was no rush to have them set in print. Lynn Thorndike has pointed to the fact that alchemical texts were not published prior to 1500—and thereafter were printed only slowly.

How very different was the chemical scene a century and a half later. By that time the works of the chemists had become the center of intense interest and debate. Traditional transmutatory alchemy was a subject of more concern than it had ever been. Yet this interest was dwarfed by the truly impressive number of physicians and natural philosophers who sought to establish a new science and a new medicine upon chemistry and chemical analogies. Not only was this "chemical philosophy" meant to replace the works of Aristotle, Galen, and their followers, it was to become the basis for suggested economic and educational reforms that were seemingly in line with a new age of religious truth.

It is the story of this chemical philosophy that forms the central theme of the present book. To some extent an attempt has been made to show its relationship to more familiar areas of science and medicine, but the primary object is to develop and illustrate this approach to nature as it was viewed by those who believed in it.

The Chemical Heritage: Alchemy in Antiquity

The study of Renaissance chemistry and its relationship to medicine and natural philosophy is complicated by the fact that alchemy was a fusion of many different concepts derived from the Near and the Far East as well as the Latin West. While we always point to a special interest in the study of matter and its changes—especially transmutation—there are other themes which also recur frequently. One of these is the deep-seated belief that alchemy had a special role to play in medicine both through pharmacy and through the more esoteric search to prolong human life. No less important was the persistent conviction that alchemical study was fundamental for a true understanding of nature because of its reliance on observation and experience rather than logic and argument. The alchemist believed in a unified nature, and he expressed this belief most frequently through the macrocosm-microcosm analogy. There was little doubt in his mind that man's direct connection with the greater world would permit him—through its study—to reach a more profound knowledge of the Creator.

There is no one source for these beliefs, but there is general agreement that the search for the origins of alchemy must be conducted not in philosophical works alone but also in surviving texts that illustrate the practical craft traditions of antiquity. In fact, we do find that the oldest surviving works of metal craftsmen combine an emphasis on the change in the appearance of metals with the acceptance of a vitalistic view of nature-a view that included the belief that metals live and grow within the earth in a fashion analogous to the growth of the human fetus. It was to become basic to alchemical thought that the operator might hasten the natural process of metallic growth in his laboratory and thus bring about perfection in far less time than that required by nature.

This ancient craft tradition may be traced in a number of different texts widely separated in time. Babylonian tablets of the thirteenth century B.C. describe the production of "silver" from a copper-bronze mixture. Here elements of ritual are already present and the processes themselves impose secrecy upon the operator. The Leiden and Stockholm papyri, although dating from the third century A.D., would appear to form part of this same tradition. Again there are directions for the imitation of the noble metals, while on occasion further information is offered to make it possible to double the quantities. Even more interesting is the Physica et mystica of Bolos of Mendes (perhaps as early as 200 B.C.). Here practical directions were combined with mystical passages which foreshadow the Hellenistic texts of late antiquity.

Alexandrian alchemy was based on Greek philosophy as well as on the practical tradition of the metal workers. The early comparisons of man and nature found in the pre-Socratics and in Plato's Timaeus fostered an interest in the relationship of the macrocosm and the microcosm, while systems of intermediary beings and the pneuma were employed by the Stoics, the neo-Platonists, and other philosophical sects in antiquity to provide connecting links between the two worlds. The doctrine of the two worlds continued to play a significant role until well into the seventeenth century, while the pneuma had some similarity with seventeenth-century views of the aerial niter, or saltpeter.

Also important for the development of alchemical thought was the problem of the Creation. Philosophers interested in the Creation and nature were inevitably drawn to the question of the origin of the elements and the possibility of a prima materia. The views of the pre- Socratics on the prime matter were to be the springboard from which later authors launched their own concepts. Thus Aristotle conveniently summarized the views of his predecessors prior to refuting them in his Metaphysics. Inherent in his own thought was the need for both matter and form. Accepting the four elements of Empedocles (earth, air, water, fire), he postulated their origin from the prima materia by the pairing of qualities (humid, dry, hot, cold). And, since the paired qualities might be altered, it seemed theoretically possible to the later alchemists to transmute one substance into another.

The genesis of the elements also forms an important section of Plato's Timaeus, where the subject is developed mathematically; but to alchemical authors of late antiquity who were influenced by neo-Platonic, Gnostic, and Christian sources, the accounts found in Genesis and the Pymander attributed to Hermes Trismegistus were no less significant. Surely the alchemical literature was stamped with a Creation-element theme throughout its existence. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries chemists and physicians were still focusing on the subject of the elements as they established or attacked any system of nature.

With the possible exception of Bolos Democritos, the earliest true alchemical texts in Greek date from the end of the third century A.D. These are connected with the early practical tradition as well as current philosophical and religious thought. Works ascribed to Mary the Jewess, Cleopatra, and Zosimos offered detailed descriptions of laboratory equipment and procedures which indicate that there was even at that time a strong emphasis on distillation and sublimation (an emphasis not to be appreciably altered for over a millennium). In addition, these Alexandrian texts are openly concerned with transmutation. Here color change was stressed as a guide to progress-from black to white to yellow to red and violet. This sequence was clearly associated with the change from a chaotic and undefined primal matter to metallic perfection.

Although practical recipes form part of these third- and fourth-century texts, there is also present a pronounced interest in mysticism and the belief in a secret tradition. Allegorical dream sequences abound, and spirits are important in the transformation of matter. Some scientific information can surely be extracted from these alchemical codices, but it is difficult to separate this material from the dominating religious aura. For example, the Great Work, the transmutation of metals, was seen as analogous to death, purgatory, and resurrection. It was this aspect of alchemical thought that stands out most clearly in the later Greek texts. Byzantine authors such as Stephanos (c. 610-641) offered their readers prayers, invocations, and allegorical descriptions, but there is little indication that they had any personal contact with the laboratory. Before the tenth century the basic texts had been codified, and few new works were composed in Greek after that time.

Islamic Alchemy

There is little question about the importance of Greek sources in the development of Islamic alchemy. Traditionally Prince Khalid ibn Yazid (d. 704) was the first Muslim convert to alchemy, and it is significant that his teacher was said to have been one Morienos, a pupil of Adfar of Alexandria. It is unlikely that this story is historically true, but the strong Alexandrian influence on Islamic alchemy is confirmed by the frequent references to Byzantine authors and the widespread use of Greek philosophical concepts. At learned centers throughout the Near East Arabic translations were made not only of the works of major authors such as Aristotle, Galen, and Ptolemy, but also of the alchemical texts of Bolos Democritos, Stephanos, and Zosimos. Among these centers was the old Sassanian academy at Jundi-Shapur, while texts from farther East were translated by a group of Sabians at Harran.

The ascription of alchemical texts to earlier historical, religious, or mythological figures was common among the Alexandrian authors and was a custom continued by their Muslim successors. The short alchemical classic the "Emerald Table" was said to have been written by Hermes Trismegistus, but the earliest surviving version is an early-ninth-century Arabic text ascribed to the first-century (A.D.) magician Apollonios of Tyana. Similarly, the Turba philosophorum, which exists only in Latin and is in the form of a dialogue between the Greek philosophers of antiquity, has been shown to have been composed in Arabic early in the tenth century.

Islamic alchemy is characterized by both the practical and the mystical elements seen in the earlier Greek texts. There are frequent warnings that the information being revealed is for the initiated alone, and there is a continued use of the allegorical approach which had become common in late Greek works. The religious nature of the art is emphasized, and the predominant vitalism favored by alchemical authors is seen in discussions of the generation of metals and in the sexual interpretation of fundamental stages of the Great Work. As in the Alexandrian texts the progress of the operator could be followed through the now standard sequence of color changes. The concept of the philosopher's stone is also well developed in the Arabic literature. This stone, which allegedly provided a substance that brought about the rapid transmutation of base metals to gold, derived from the earlier concept of special elixirs which could cure illnesses in man and which analogously could perfect—or cure—imperfect metals in inanimate nature.

Aristotelian element theory was commonly employed by Islamic authors, but in addition the Arabic works ascribed to the eighth-century scholar Jabir ibn Hayyan (c.721-815) employed a sulfur-mercury theory to describe metals. This concept suggests that all metals are composed of different proportions of a sophic sulfur and a sophic mercury. Authors were in general agreement that these two substances had a resemblance to common sulfur and mercury, but it was also asserted that they were much purer than anything that could be produced in the laboratory. A quantitative relationship between the two was implied, but this reflected the number mysticism favored by the neo-Pythagoreans and Eastern mystics. Although the sulfur-mercury theory appeared first in these Arabic texts, it seems to have been a modification of an earlier Aristotelian concept of two exhalations within the earth that lead to the formation of minerals and metals.

Also characteristic of the Arabic literature is a special interest in medical chemistry. This is in distinct contrast to the Greek tradition. Although Pliny and Dioscorides had described mineral substances of medicinal value, Hellenistic alchemical texts did not display any real concern with pharmaceutical chemistry. Rather, this interest seems to have originated in the alchemy of China and India. As early as the eighth century B.C. there was a belief in physical immortality in China, which was later to become closely associated with Taoist thought. The classic Nei P'ien of Ko Hung (c. 320 A.D.) contains sections on the transmutation of metals and on elixirs of life. Chinese alchemy paralleled Alexandrian alchemy in its frequent reference to the macrocosm-microcosm analogy as well as in the development of both esoteric and exoteric approaches to the subject. Thus, while the Chinese alchemist sought a potable gold and various chemically prepared drugs in his quest for longevity and immortality, the texts also indicate a real interest in alchemy as the search for the inner perfection of the soul. The alchemy of India was similar to that of China. Here the Hatha Yoga texts (post-eighth century) explain that the alchemist undergoes the experience of an initiatory death which is followed by a resurrection in the course of the work. In metals the result is seen in the perfection of gold; in the alchemist himself there is induced a similar separation of spirit from gross matter, resulting in a perfected person with an infinitely prolonged youth.

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Excerpted from THE CHEMICAL PHILOSOPHY by ALLEN G. DEBUS. Copyright © 1977 Allen G. Debus. Excerpted by permission of Dover Publications, Inc..
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