Alchemy: Ancient and Modern (Illustrated) E-Book

H. Stanley Redgrove

• Herausgeber: Bauer Books
• Kategorie: Krimi
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

Alchemy is generally understood to have been that art whose end
was the transmutation of the so-called base metals into gold by
means of an ill-defined something called the Philosopher’s Stone; but
even from a purely physical standpoint, this is a somewhat
superficial view. Alchemy was both a philosophy and an
experimental science, and the transmutation of the metals was its
end only in that this would give the final proof of the alchemistic
hypotheses; in other words, Alchemy, considered from the physical
standpoint, was the attempt to demonstrate experimentally on the
material plane the validity of a certain philosophical view of the
Cosmos. We see the genuine scientific spirit in the saying of one of
the alchemists: “Would to God . . . all men might become adepts in
our Art — for then gold, the great idol of mankind, would lose its
value, and we should prize it only for its scientific teaching.”1
Unfortunately, however, not many alchemists came up to this ideal;
and for the majority of them, Alchemy did mean merely the
possibility of making gold cheaply and gaining untold wealth.

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Table of contents

PREFACE

THE number of books in the English language dealing with the interesting subject of Alchemy is not sufficiently great to render an apology necessary for adding thereto. Indeed, at the present time there is an actual need for a further contribution on this subject. The time is gone when it was regarded as perfectly legitimate to point to Alchemy as an instance of the aberrations of the human mind. Recent experimental research has brought about profound modifications in the scientific notions regarding the chemical elements, and, indeed, in the scientific concept of the physical universe itself; and a certain resemblance can be traced between these later views and the theories of bygone Alchemy. The spontaneous change of one “element” into another has been witnessed, and the recent work of Sir William Ramsay suggests the possibility of realising the old alchemistic dream — the transmutation of the “base” metals into gold.

The basic idea permeating all the alchemistic theories appears to have been this: All the metals (and, indeed, all forms of matter) are one in origin, and are produced by an evolutionary process. The Soul of them all is one and the same; it is only the Soul that is permanent; the body or outward form, i.e., the mode of manifestation of the Soul, is transitory, and one form may be transmuted into another. The similarity, indeed it might be said, the identity, between this view and the modern etheric theory of matter is at once apparent.

H. S. R. THE POLYTECHNIC, LONDON, W. , 1910. CHAPTER I THE MEANING OF ALCHEMY § 1. THE AIM OF ALCHEMY. § 2. THE TRANSCENDENTAL THEORY OF ALCHEMY. § 3. FAILURE OF THE TRANSCENDENTAL THEORY. § 4. THE QUALIFICATIONS OF THE ADEPT. § 5. ALCHEMISTIC LANGUAGE. § 6. ALCHEMISTS OF A MYSTICAL TYPE. § 8. OPINIONS OF OTHER WRITERS. § 9. THE BASIC IDEA OF ALCHEMY. § 10. THE LAW OF ANALOGY. § 12. “BODY, SOUL AND SPIRIT”. Notes 3. (see , vol. i. p. 74). 6. F. B.: (1815), Preface, p. 3. 8. M. M. PATTISON MUIR, M.A.: (1902), pp. 105 and 106. 9. MICHAEL SENDIVOGIUS: ( , vol. ii. p. 138). 10. (see , vol. i. p. 88). 11. . p. 114. 12. PETER BONUS: (Mr. A. E. Waite’s translation, p. 275). 13. Which, in virtue of man’s self-consciousness, is, by the grace of God, immortal. THE THEORY OF PHYSICAL ALCHEMY § 14. SUPPOSED PROOFS OF TRANSMUTATION. § 15. THE ALCHEMISTIC ELEMENTS. § 16. ARISTOTLE’S VIEWS REGARDING THE ELEMENTS. § 17. THE SULPHUR-MERCURY THEORY. § 18. THE SULPHUR-MERCURY-SALT THEORY. § 19. ALCHEMISTIC ELEMENTS AND PRINCIPLES. § 20. THE GROWTH OF THE METALS. § 21. ALCHEMY AND ASTROLOGY. PLATE 3.A. SYMBOLICAL ILLUSTRATION Representing the Fertility of the Earth PLATE 3.B. SYMBOLICAL ILLUSTRATION Representing the Amalgamation of Gold with Mercury § 22. ALCHEMISTIC VIEW OF THE NATURE OF GOLD. § 23. THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE. § 24. THE NATURE OF THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE. §25. THE THEORY OF DEVELOPMENT. PLATE 4.A. SYMBOLICAL ILLUSTRATION Representing the Coction of Gold Amalgam in a Closed Vessel PLATE 4.B. SYMBOLICAL ILLUSTRATION Representing the Transmutation of the Metals § 26. THE POWERS OF THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE. § 27. THE ELIXIR OF LIFE. § 28. THE PRACTICAL METHODS OF THE ALCHEMISTS. PLATE 5. ALCHEMISTIC APPARATUS A and B. — Two forms of the apparatus for Sublimation PLATE 6. ALCHEMISTIC APPARATUS: A. — An Athanor. B. — A Pelican Notes 1. Cf. ( , vol. i. p. 25). 2. Lavoisier (eighteenth century) proved this apparent transmutation to be due to the action of the water on the glass vessel containing it. 3. (see , translated by Richard Russel, 1678, pp. 69 and 70). 4. (see , p. 156). 5. See , p. 160. This view was also held by other alchemists. 6. , Part II., (see , vol. ii. p. 151). 10. THOMAS NORTON: (see , edited by Elias Ashmole, 1652, p. 10). 11. “BASIL VALENTINE”: (see , vol i. pp. 333-334). 12. This supposed connection between the metals and planets also played an important part in Talismanic Magic. 13. “EIRENÆUS PHILALETHES”: (see , vol. ii. p. 239). 14. (see , vol. i. p. 19). 15. (see , translated by Richard Russel, 1678, p. 192). 16. See BENEDICTUS FIGULUS: (translated by A. E. Waite, 1893, pp. 36, 37, and 41). 17. J. F. HELVETIUS: , ch. iv. (see , vol. ii. p. 298). THE ALCHEMISTS (A. BEFORE PARACELSUS) § 29. HERMES TISMEGISTOS. § 30. THE SMARAGDINE TABLE. 2. What is below is like that which is above, and what is above is like that which is below, to accomplish the miracles of one thing. 3. And as all things were produced by the mediation of one Being, so all things were produced from this one thing by adaptation. 4. Its father is the Sun, its mother the Moon; the wind carries it in its belly, its nurse is the earth. 5. It is the cause of all perfection throughout the whole world. 6. Its power is perfect if it be changed into earth. 7. Separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, acting prudently and with judgment. 9. This thing is the fortitude of all fortitude, because it overcomes all subtle things, and penetrates every solid thing. 10. Thus were all things created. 11. Thence proceed wonderful adaptations which are produced in this way. 12. Therefore am I called Hermes Trismegistus, possessing the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world. § 31. ZOSIMUS OF PANOPOLIS. § 32. GEBER. § 33. OTHER ARABIAN ALCHEMISTS. § 34. ALBERTUS MAGNUS. § 35. THOMAS AQUINAS. PORTRAIT OF ALBERTUS MAGNUS. [by de Bry] § 36. ROGER BACON. § 37. ARNOLD DE VILLANOVA. § 38. RAYMOND LULLY. § 39. PETER BONUS. § 40. NICOLAS FLAMEL. § 41. “BASIL VALENTINE” AND “THE TRIUMPHAL CHARIOT OF ANTIMONY”. PORTRAIT OF THOMAS AQUINAS PLATE 8B. PORTRAIT OF NICOLAS FLAMEL § 42. ISAAC OF HOLLAND. § 43. BERNARD TRÉVISAN. § 44. SIR GEORGE RIPLEY. § 45. THOMAS NORTON. “Tomais Norton of Briseto, A parfet ye maie him call trowe.” Notes 3. F. P. VENABLE, Ph.D.: (1896), p. 13. 4. ERNST VON MEYER: (translated by Dr. McGowan, 1906), p. 31. 5. THOMAS THOMSON: , vol. i. (1830), p. 33. 8. ROGER BACON: (1597), p. 4. 9. . p. 2. 10. ROGER BACON: (1597), p. 4. 11. . p. 9. 12. See (1815), pp. 17 . 13. RAYMOND LULLY: (see , 1680, p. 167). 14. PETER BONUS: (Mr. A. E Waite’s translation, pp. 176-177). 15. “BASIL VALENTINE”: ” (see The , vol. i. p. 313). 16. Sir H. E. ROSCOE, F.R.S., and C. SCHORLEMMER, F.R.S: , vol. i. (1905), p. 9. 19. Sir GEORGE RIPLEY: (see , edited by Elias Ashrnole, 1652, p. 186). § 46. PARACELSUS. § 47. VIEWS OF PARACELSUS. § 48. IATRO-CHEMISTRY. § 49. THE ROSICRUCIAN SOCIETY. § 50. THOMAS CHARNOCK. § 51. ANDREAS LIBAVIUS. § 52. EDWARD KELLEY AND JOHN DEE. PLATE 9A. PORTRAIT OF EDWARD KELLEY PLATE 9B. § 53. HENRY KHUNRATH. § 54. ALEXANDER SETHON AND MICHAEL SENDIVOGIUS. § 55. MICHAEL MAIER. PLATE 10. PORTRAIT OF MICHAEL MAIER [by J. Brunn] § 56. JACOB BOEHME. PLATE 11. § 57. JOHN BAPTIST VAN HELMONT. PLATE 12. PORTRAITS OF J.B. AND F.M. VON HELMONT § 58. JOHANN RUDOLF GLAUBER. § 59. THOMAS VAUGHAN (EUGENIUS PHILALETHES).