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    The Secrets of Alchemy
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    The Secrets of Alchemy
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    The Secrets of Alchemy
    Ebook460 pages7 hours

    The Secrets of Alchemy

    By Lawrence M. Principe

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    In The Secrets of Alchemy, Lawrence M. Principe, one of the world’s leading authorities on the subject, brings alchemy out of the shadows and restores it to its important place in human history and culture. By surveying what alchemy was and how it began, developed, and overlapped with a range of ideas and pursuits, Principe illuminates the practice. He vividly depicts the place of alchemy during its heyday in early modern Europe, and then explores how alchemy has fit into wider views of the cosmos and humanity, touching on its enduring place in literature, fine art, theater, and religion as well as its recent acceptance as a serious subject of study for historians of science. In addition, he introduces the reader to some of the most fascinating alchemists, such as Zosimos and Basil Valentine, whose lives dot alchemy’s long reign from the third century and to the present day. Through his exploration of alchemists and their times, Principe pieces together closely guarded clues from obscure and fragmented texts to reveal alchemy’s secrets, and—most exciting for budding alchemists—uses them to recreate many of the most famous recipes in his lab, including those for the “glass of antimony” and “philosophers’ tree.” This unique approach brings the reader closer to the actual work of alchemy than any other book.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press
    Release dateDec 10, 2012
    ISBN9780226923789

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    Reviews for The Secrets of Alchemy

    4.5/5

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    • 5/5
      A very good, up-to-date history of alchemical thought and practice. Principe has threaded the needle nicely here, with a book basic enough for someone with a casual interest in the subject but with enough depth (plus thorough footnotes and a very extensive bibliography) for those with a grounding in the history of science in general or alchemy in particular. One of the major strengths of the book is that Principe has actually attempted to replicate results described in alchemical texts, with some very interesting results. I was particularly struck by the following passage, the substance of which comes up fairly often in Principe's discussions:"People today and people of the past often do not share the same vision or expectations of the world, nor do they necessarily approach the world in the same way. Their questions were not our questions, nor were their ways of answering them necessarily our ways. What seems arbitrary to one expresses a profound law of nature to the other; what seems an insight into the design of the cosmos to one appears as mere trivia to the other. Recognizing these differences helps us avoid the error of projecting our own knowledge and expectations onto the past as measures of its value" (p. 42).In the first three chapters, Principe explores the origins of alchemical thought in the Greco-Egyptian period, in the Arabic world, and in the medieval Latin period. Then he bounces forward briefly to examine how alchemy was seen and interpreted from the eighteenth century to the present before moving back slightly in time to cover the "heyday" period of alchemical in the early modern era. The final two chapters cover his efforts to interpret certain alchemical recipes, and offer a brief survey of alchemy as portrayed in art, literature, theater, and other cultural environments.As Principe makes clear often, there's still much work to be done before we can fully understand the role of alchemical thought and practice, but this book does much to make that possible, and I hope perhaps it will spur other efforts as well.
    • 3/5
      If you are looking for a book that approaches Alchemy from a purely chemical, "scientific" perspective, this is for you. If you have come to understand that ALCHEMY was and is much more than what chemists could physically reproduce in their complex laboratories, you will need to look elsewhere. I give this book 3 stars because it adds to the already muddled understanding of what ancient Alchemy was, and it was not a purely materialistic pursuit of physical achievements.
    • 4/5
      The Secrets of AlchemyLawrence M. PrincipeMonday, March 11, 2013According to Lawrence Principe, alchemy has been misunderstood as a fruitless quest by old men in stinking laboratories. His goal is to locate the “noble art” in practical chemistry as well as legend. He notes that much of the obscurity of alchemical texts originates in the desire to prevent the discoveries from being understood by persons who were not adept, and to avoid the wrath of emperors. He ranges through the history from Greco-Egyptian period to the 19th century, interrupting the time-line to discuss the distorting effect that the 19th century craze for occult arts had on the history of alchemy. Alchemists pursued both chrysopoieia, the secret of transforming base metal into gold, and chemiatria, the pursuit of the elixir of life, observing practical chemical transformations in their laboratories. Principe was able to demonstrate some of the transformations in the modern laboratory, like gold coloring of copper coins, and the growth of a crystal tree from amorphous starting material. Interesting but pedantic, not likely to engage those without a long interest in alchemy, but a very good reference to the modern literature.Quotes:“Latin alchemists often quoted the motto “Liber librum aperit”, that is “one book opens another”“…Paracelsus gave this process of separation and reintegration the name spagyria. The term has been explained as meaning “to separate and recombine”, from the Greek “span” and “ageirein” meaning “to draw out” and “to bring together”On the ouroboros, the serpent eating its tail” “But the inscription within it - ONE THE ALL (ben to pan) - directs us again toward ancient Greek philosophical notions about a single material that serves as an underlying substrate for all substances”“The reading of classical mythology as chymical allegory developed into a standard part of the chymical literature [15 century - Aurelio Augurello]. It appears, for example, in Atalanta fugiens but even more so in Maier’s Secrets Most Secret (Arcana arcanissima)John Donne using the transmutation of gold as an allegory:“Oh! ’tis imposture all:And as no chymique yet th’Elixar got, But glorifies his pregnant potIf by the way to him befallSome odiferous thing, or medicinall,So, lovers dream a rich and long delight, But get a winter-seeming summer’s night”