We Are Chemistry Blog: The Lab Notes

The Foundations

In the 21st century, technology and science have forged our comfort, progress and reality. Our understanding of how the world works has been published in our textbooks and fact-checked by scientists. To find a snippet of information, all we have to do is type our question into Google before we even have a moment to think for ourselves. Most of the world’s mysteries have been uncovered and turned into logical facts. The secrets behind the magical and fantastical have been uncovered and revealed to have logical explanations, uncovered by modern day science. This cornucopia of information we now have access to is all thanks to centuries of trial and error, theories and experiments, all driven by human curiosity and dreams to understand and improve the world.

The ‘scientific’ practise before chemistry is its predecessor, Alchemy. A practise that can be traced to the Middle East, China and Europe throughout the early centuries and the Middle Ages in a world where, unlike today, very little was understood.

Many chemical techniques like distillation and filtration, as well as certain glassware and apparatus can all be attributed to the alchemists. Due to the lack of technology available at the time, alchemy mainly involved guesswork founded loosely on philosophical ideas at the time. Although the foundations of alchemy weren't exactly scientific, the routes the alchemists took to achieve their goals were the stepping stones leading to modern day chemistry. The discovery of the elements, production of certain acids, glassware, dyes and medicines were mainly all accidental discoveries from these experiments.

Core Beliefs

So, what were these experiments for? What were the alchemists trying to achieve? The three goals alchemists strived to achieve were the transmutation of base metals into gold, the creation of the Elixir of Life, and the creation of the Philosopher's Stone, an item said to achieve transmutation and immortality. In an era of such poverty and disease, the quest to create riches and prevent sickness and decay was of utmost importance to more than just alchemists but also to royal families, and it captured the minds of many across the Middle East, China and Europe. Looking through a modern lens, you can see how transmutation and the elixir of life were the basis for our ongoing scientific missions, utilising the materials and metals around us, and the ability to cure illness and improve our medical methods, for maybe not an immortal life, but certainly a longer one. The aims of alchemy may seem more like myth to us now, but reading between the lines, our goals today are not too dissimilar from those of our ancestors centuries ago.

The historical texts we have on alchemy are hard to decipher due to the alchemists' practice of writing in code to keep their experiments and findings a secret. However, historians have managed to decipher enough texts for us to map out the development of this art.

Egypt and the Middle East

The first traces of alchemy in history originate in Egypt around 334-323 BC, shortly after the Greek conquest of Alexander the Great. The Egyptians' beliefs in the spirituality of nature, and the already technologically advanced society, laid the foundations for alchemical practises. With the introduction of Greek culture, Aristotle’s theory of the four elements: water, earth, fire and air, became widely known in the region.

The most famous alchemy beliefs didn’t arise until the 3rd century. Zosimos of Panopolis, an Egyptian alchemist, is one of the most renowned early alchemists on record and supposedly composed 28 alchemical texts over his lifetime. Within these texts we can see the links to modern day chemistry as he described techniques still used today, distillation, filtration, sublimation, as well as various apparatus. His texts also attributed a water bath technique to an earlier female alchemist known as Mary the Jewess, after whom the water bath technique (bain marie) is named.

In 640 AD, alchemy made its way into Arabia after Alexandria was invaded and sacked by Arab forces. Entranced by the knowledge and practises they found, alchemy became exceedingly popular among Arab scientists. A pioneering alchemist, Abu Musa Jabir ibn-Hayyan (721-815 AD), coined one of the core theories of alchemy which later became the basis for western alchemists, Mercury-Sulphur theory. Jabir proposed that Mercury and Sulphur should be added to Aristotle's four elements. The chemical union of Mercury and Sulphur in exact proportions was believed to result in alchemical Gold. This was later extended by the alchemist Paracelsus, who added a third principle Salt, creating what is known as the Alchemical Trinity. Sulphur symbolised the soul, Mercury the spirit and Salt the body, and together these were believed to make up all living things. Together, these three philosophical elements could create harmony forming the legendary Philosopher’s Stone.

The Controversial Art of Western Alchemy

Alchemical texts weren’t translated from Arabic until the late Middle Ages, (12th or 13th century) when they were introduced into Europe. Despite its rapidly accelerating popularity in Europe, once introduced, alchemy was under constant debate regarding its authenticity and morality. In 1317 Pope John XXII banned the alchemical practise of transmutation, however due to John XXII’s poor reputation in England as a corrupt Pope and extortionist, the practise continued in England despite the banning. In the 14th century alchemy was outlawed again by Henry IV. However, later kings, more accepting of the art granted special licences to alchemists to allow them to continue their work.

Other than just royal and religious disapproval of the art, many other intelligent minds in the Middle Ages whose names may be familiar to you also held harsh opinions on alchemy. The famous comedic writer from the Middle Ages, Chaucer was sceptical of the art, even writing one of his works depicting the fraudulence of alchemists. Dante Alighieri, author of the Divine Comedy Inferno, depicted alchemists in his story residing in the 8th circle of hell with other frauds and charlatans.

Despite the Vatican’s condemnation, alchemy became entangled with religion at the time, specifically the Spiritual Franciscan friars. The friars and alchemists Roger Bacon and John of Rupescissa both believed that alchemy would be the key to defending humanity against the coming of the Antichrist, which was believed to be on the horizon at the time. The creation of the elixir of life and the Philosopher’s Stone was to them, the key to dispelling the calamity they believed to be coming, providing healing and the rebuilding of society.

The Renaissance

The 16th century produced many infamous alchemists. A German alchemist Anna Maria Zieglerin, was known for her unorthodox alchemical theories. Zieglerin, along with other alchemists, were tasked by Duke Julius of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel to create the Philosopher's stone. During this research, Zieglerin became obsessed with the concept of creating alchemical children. She created a golden oil called Lion's Blood, which she claimed could not only produce the Stone but could also be given to pregnant women to bring the baby to term within only four weeks. The resulting children would all be female, "born without sin" and immortal. Zieglerin believed she was fated to repopulate the world with these pure, alchemical children after the impending apocalypse, creating a new Golden Age. Unfortunately, in what you could call a remarkable coincidence, when the team's research failed to yield the Philosopher's Stone, the Duke accused the alchemists and Zieglerin of murder, torturing them until they confessed to the crime. This resulted in their notoriously brutal executions (I'll spare you the details).

On a lighter note, another female alchemist, Isabella Cortese (although there is debate about whether this was her true identity), gained a lot of fame due to her recipes for cosmetics and medicines. A book titled The Secrets of Isabella Cortese was first published in Italy and became a hit. The book contained instructions on making hair dyes, glues, facial cosmetics soaps and more.

The 17th century produced my personal favourite alchemical fun fact, one that was given to us in my first ever lecture at Warwick, the discovery of Phosphorus. The German alchemist Hennig Brandt was attempting to create the Philosopher's Stone by boiling his own urine. Instead of the legendary stone however, the urine eventually left over Phosphorus.

Due to all the experiments over the centuries attempting to make the Philosopher’s Stone, between 1000-1600 AD, many accidental discoveries were made, leading to gunpowder, paints, inks, dyes, glass and ceramics.

The Scientific Revolution

In the 17th century Robert Boyle, now known as the father of modern chemistry, believed in the transmutation of base metals to make gold, and initially carried out experiments to achieve this. Boyle’s later work resulted in the famous Boyle’s Law, and although criticised at the time, led to an explosion of scientific discoveries which defined the next two centuries as the scientific revolution. The history of alchemy has captured the minds of historians, scientists and fantasy authors alike over the years. I find the whole history personally rather poetic, that as humans, we have always been curious creatures, always aiming for something great and far out of reach. It’s these dreams and this curiosity that have put our society in the position it is in today. With medical advances resulting in longer lifespans and the mastering of the world’s materials creating the comfort and technology enjoy around us.

References

Nummedal, Tara. "Words and Works in the History of Alchemy." Isis 102, no. 2 (June 2011): 330-337.

Nummedal, Tara. "Alchemical Reproduction and the Career of Anna Maria Zieglerin" Ambix 48, no. 2 (July 2001): 56-68.

Principe, Lawrence. The Secrets of Alchemy. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2013.

Runstedler, Curtis. "Alchemy and Exemplary Poetry in Middle English Literature." English Studies, 104, no. 7 (August 2023): 1310-1312.

Tramer, A. Voltz, R. Lahmani, F. Szczepinska-Tramer, J. "What Is (Was) Alchemy?" Acta Physica Polonica A 112, (December 2007): S-5-S-16.