Trenholm 1

In Pursuit of Perfection: Alchemical Revelations

David Trenholm
HIST 2623 X2
March 23rd, 2007
Dr. David Duke
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In recent years the alchemist, and alchemy in general, has been reduced to a

fictional, mythical symbol. In literature, the alchemist is often a representative of science,

logic and reason—but also of things magical and mystical. It is true, then, that the

alchemist was a pursuer of mythical objects, recipes and artefacts; such great items of

mythology like the Philosopher’s Stone, now immortalized in the popular science-fiction

series, Harry Potter, as well as the Grand Elixir of Immortality, a magical draught that,

when consumed, would grant the imbiber immortality1. One would guess, then, for such

mythical elements, alchemy would be a somewhat dated, if not archaic, science—and this

is true. The practice of alchemy originates as far back as 400 B.C.2, in China, where

alchemists of the medical persuasion were searching studiously for various curatives and

medicinal elixirs—in addition, of course, to the aforementioned Elixir of Immortality.

Alchemy was not limited to China in the ancient world, however; it soon found roots in

Ancient Egypt, Greece, Persia and India. As time passed, the mysteries of the profession

were traded and shared, leading to many significant and insignificant technological

developments—innovations such as Chinese Black Powder and Egyptian papyrus3; the

latter a useful tool, the former an invention that would change the course of history.

Alchemy, then, is not just a science of magic and mythology, as it has contributed largely

to the technological development of the human species. It stands acknowledged today as

the predecessor to chemistry, a widely practiced and incredibly important field of study in

the advancement of many sciences. As it often was with alchemy, chemistry is valued in

many fields of technological development and study; it would be a herculean task indeed

to measure its contribution to the modern world. Alchemy’s sudden evolution into
1
Trevor H. Levere, Transforming Matter: A History of Chemistry from Alchemy to Buckyball. (Baltimore:
The John Hopkins University Press, 2001), 1.
2
Levere, 2.
3
Fathi Habashi, From Alchemy to Atomic Bombs. (Quebec City: Métallurgie Extractive, 2002), 71.
 Trenholm 3

chemistry could not have been possible, then, without the devoted work of hundreds of

alchemists over thousands of years, spanning back to its humble origins before the

recorded birth of Christ, and indeed, well before the onset of what we now call science.

Well before the term “scientist” was a common title for pursuers of scientific

knowledge, alchemists from all over the world were mixing together concoctions and

recipes, creating grand and often useless elixirs, and, on the rare occasion, shocking the

world with their innovations in technology. Alchemy was a practice, or art, that many

civilisations entertained. It was an invaluable pursuit for any prospective king, ruler or

leader; the mere concept of transmutation—the conversion of base metals into more

valuable ones, namely gold—was an incredibly tempting notion; certainly well worth the

time and effort that would be spent in pursuing it. It would then come as no surprise that

many kings would regularly employ a host of alchemists in pursuit of this elusive

discovery. Ancient Babylonian kings, for example, are recorded as testing received

shipments of gold to verify its authenticity, displaying evidence that alchemy was, at

some primitive level, being studied4. One of the most coveted discoveries that most

certainly enriched the study of alchemy was fire, an element that was crucial to further

experimentation.5 Fire was incredibly important to alchemists, and many of them viewed

it as a crucial step in the discovery of transmutation—John Pontanus, a 16th century

alchemist, was convinced that in order to find the Philosopher’s Stone, one must

incorporate a special type of fire, or as he called it, “philosophic fire”. He urged that all

“philosophers”, or alchemists, search for this philosophic fire, as it would be with it that

the unattainable Philosopher’s Stone would finally become attainable,

4
Homer H. Dubs, “The Beginnings of Alchemy,” Isis 39 (1947), 80.
5
Henry M. Leicester, The Historical Background of Chemistry. (London: Chapman & Hall, 1956), 5.
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Search, therefore, this fire with all strength of your mind, and you shall

reach the goal you have set yourself; for it is this that brings to completion

all the stages of the Work, and is the key of all the Philosophers, which

they have never revealed in their books. If you think well and deep upon

this above-mentioned fire, you will know it.6

In the beginning, however, Alchemy was often pursued in at least two fields, especially in

Chinese alchemy—a medical, altruistic-like alchemy, and a transmutation or

multiplication alchemy.7 For most Chinese alchemists, however, transmutation and

multiplication was merely a means in which to further their advancement of medicine—

namely the discovery of an elixir that would grant immortality8. The transmutation of

metals into gold was merely secondary, as they believed that such an elixir would take the

form of a liquid, drinkable gold. China was not the only home to alchemy, however, as

the practice had most definitely been taken up in other parts of the ancient world. Ancient

Egyptian alchemists were also at work, as evidenced by the large abundance of gold,

copper and silver work that has been discovered through archaeological means—the early

Egyptian alchemists practiced chemical and metallurgical alchemy, and their studies and

theories on the origin and formation of many metals ties closely to astrology9. The

mummification of their Egyptian dead involved a complicated formula of salts, spices

and other mysterious chemicals; as a result, the entire process required the skill and

knowledge of an alchemist.10 In Alexandria, one of the greatest intellectual centres of the

6
John Pontanus, “The Epistle on the Philosophic Fire,” The Alchemy Website,
http://www.levity.com/alchemy/pontan_1.html (accessed March 21st, 2007)
7
Trevor H. Levere, Transforming Matter: A History of Chemistry from Alchemy to Buckyball. (Baltimore:
The John Hopkins University Press, 2001), 3.
8
Levere, 3.
9
Henry M. Leicester, The Historical Background of Chemistry. (London: Chapman & Hall, 1956), 7.
10
Fathi Habashi, From Alchemy to Atomic Bombs. (Quebec City: Métallurgie Extractive, 2002), 51.
 Trenholm 5

world, and the host to one of the largest and most extensive libraries in the ancient world,

was an important city in the development and sharing of alchemical knowledge. At this

point, the Greek, Roman and Egyptian sciences had been consolidated; astrology,

however, was also an important aspect for Alexandrian alchemy11. Many of the important

elements in the science were paired with an astrological symbol—Gold, for example, was

paired with the sun, and silver was paired with the moon. This type of alchemical theory

borrowed heavily from astrology, and as such time and effort was spent in studying it.12

With this amount of knowledge, study and effort, then, the study of alchemy cannot be

dismissed as mythical or magical—it provided results, chartable results, or its practice

and exploration would not have been so popular.

The world of alchemy saw definite improvements and developments since its

birth in the ancient world, but its eventual transformation into chemistry began in the

Western world. Key scientific discoveries in alchemy contributed to the growing

complexity of the science, which may have necessitated its evolution. The chief tool of

the alchemist was experimentation—the distillation, sublimation, heating, cooling and

mixing of chemicals was the means in which alchemical discoveries were achieved. This

process, as it was practiced throughout the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, eventually led to

the end of alchemy. Hennig Brand, a seventeenth century alchemist and physician,

discovered the element phosphorus after extensive tests on a large quantity of urine.13

Robert Boyle, a notable contemporary of Hennig Brand, was able to examine and create

an efficient process in which to create this glow-in-the-dark element.14 Hydrogen was

11
Trevor H. Levere, Transforming Matter: A History of Chemistry from Alchemy to Buckyball. (Baltimore:
The John Hopkins University Press, 2001), 5.
12
Levere, 6.
13
Fathi Habashi, From Alchemy to Atomic Bombs. (Quebec City: Métallurgie Extractive, 2002), 87.
14
Habashi, 88.
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later identified after an English scientist, Henry Cavendish, had tested and isolated it.

After Joseph Black of Edinburgh took note of a strange residual air in one of his

experiments, he directed one of his assistants, Daniel Rutherford, to investigate it—this

eventually led to the discovery of nitrogen.15 In 1774, Carl Scheele came upon chlorine

when he introduced manganese dioxide with hydrochloric acid—a man named Humphrey

Davy confirmed its existence, and named it chlorine after its unique colour.16 It was not

until the eventual discovery and confirmation of the element oxygen that the practice and

science of alchemy would end, as it was all too clear that the complexity of this particular

science was simply too great for alchemy’s humble and relatively simple origins, not to

mention the negative reputation the art was beginning to accrue.

It was in the year 1777, scientific scholar Fathi Habashi claims, that the popular

science of alchemy finally came to a sad end. It was with the discovery of oxygen, and

specifically the act of combustion, which spelled its eventual demise—as combustion and

oxygen served as an antithesis to the age-old theory of phlogiston.17 The celebrated theory

of phlogiston stated that, along with the other four elements, a fifth element existed in

anything deemed combustible, and that when burned, was released into the air—this

element was named phlogiston, after the Greek word phlogistos, meaning inflammable.18

Oxygen and combustion effectively disproved the theory of phlogiston, and a few short

years later the scientific community began to propose reforms that resulted in the birth of

chemistry. In the year 1787, one such reform came out of the Académie des sciences in

Paris; it detailed a plan to name every substance recognized in science according to his

15
Habashi, 90.
16
Habashi, 91.
17
Habashi, 94.
18
Trevor H. Levere, Transforming Matter: A History of Chemistry from Alchemy to Buckyball. (Baltimore:
The John Hopkins University Press, 2001), 33.
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“chemical nature and composition”, organizing it into classes of substances, further

detailing which elements those substances contained.19 John Dalton introduced another

reform, a change in the representation of chemical substances that would replace an

archaic, alchemical nomenclature that had been in use for hundreds of years.20 A

significant step occurred at the University of Jena in the duchy of Weimar—Wolfgang

von Goethe elected a professor of chemistry into the Faculty of Philosophy—not the

Faculty of Medicine; this diversion from tradition was a first in history, as chemistry had

always been paired with medicine. Furthermore, Wilhelm Lampadius, working at the

Mining Academy in Freiberg, had adjusted the course layout so that Chemistry and

Metallurgy was separated. With alchemy having been split threefold—into chemistry,

medicine and metallurgy—the pursuit of the science in its original form was no longer

necessary. Alchemy, as the ancients and classical philosophers had known it, was no

more. This Chemical Revolution, as it has been named, is a significant moment in

scientific history, in that a fairly commonplace, worldwide science—the study of alchemy

—had reached such a level of development that a reformation and division of the field

was necessary.21 Such a division, which had occurred at about the same time of the

Industrial Revolution, may very well have led to such significant technological

advancements as the modern atomic theory, quantum theory and nuclear fission.

While still often regarded in literature and history as the gnarled, dilapidated

wise-man in search of the unattainable, the alchemist and alchemy in general is a very

real science, perhaps one of the first, that has made significant, long-lasting impacts

throughout history. The development of Chinese Black Powder—gunpowder—is

19
Fathi Habashi, From Alchemy to Atomic Bombs. (Quebec City: Métallurgie Extractive, 2002), 94.
20
Habashi, 95.
21
Habashi 95.
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evidence enough that alchemical revelations have changed the very course of history. The

advent of cannons and firearms into world militaries has drastically changed the political

make-up and stability of the globe, and its affects are still felt today through modern

implements of war. It was not until a score of recent scientific discoveries that a division

of alchemy was necessary. The medicinal value of alchemy was gifted unto the field of

medicine, giving birth to a new field of study, metallurgy, leaving chemistry to develop

alone. This division is significant, as not only does it spell the end of alchemy as a

scientific pursuit, it also revolutionized the way followers of chemistry study and

experiment with their elements and compounds. The mythical aspect of alchemy remains,

though, with the legends and myths that had accompanied it through history—the ever-

present goal of acquiring the famed Philosopher’s Stone, or, to the Chinese, the Grand

Elixir of Life. Unfortunately, immortality is something modern doctors and chemists

cannot achieve, but in the realm of transmutation, science and myth have collided. In

1980, scientists working at Berkeley, at the University of California, managed to achieve

something ancient alchemists had devoted their lives to: the successful transmutation of

one element into another, specifically gold. Taking a small sample of bismuth—an

element not dissimilar to lead—the scientists used a particle accelerator to transform the

sample into gold. While the cost of such an experiment ranged in the thousands, and the

transformed gold was valued at one-billionth of a cent, the accomplishment itself is

priceless. Setting a goal to achieve what was considered the unattainable, humanity had

toiled over millennia to discovery the secrets of multiplication and transmutation of

matter—and before the end of the second millennia, they had reached their goal; a

scientific landmark crediting the work and accomplishments of the thousands of

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alchemists in history. Unfortunately, the transmutation of bismuth to gold industry is not

as successful as most would hope it would be, but nonetheless, its significance to

alchemy’s long and dignified history remains unblemished.

David Wm. Trenholm

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Bibliography

Dubs, Homer H., “The Beginnings of Alchemy.” Isis 38, 1/2. (1947): 62-86.

Habashi, Fathi. From Alchemy to Atomic Bombs. Quebec City: Métallurgie Extractive
Québec, 2002.

Leicester, Henry M., The Historical Background of Chemistry. London: Chapman &
Hall, 1956.

Levere, Trevor H., Transforming Matter: A History of Chemistry from Alchemy to the
Buckyball. Baltimore, Maryland: The John Hopkins University Press, 2001.

Newman, William, “Technology and Alchemical Debate in the Late Middle Ages.” Isis
80, 3. (1989): 423-445

Pontanus, John, “The Epistle on the Philosophic Fire,” The Alchemy Website available
from http://www.levity.com/alchemy/pontan_1.html; Internet; accessed 30
January 2007.