Alchemy arabian

Extracted from his Alchemy rediscovered and restored (1940). Contents The alchemists Chinese alchemy Egyptian alchemy Arabian alchemy European alchemy The English alchemists Alchemy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries... 

It is Arabian alchemy that preserved the traditions and literature of the Alexandrian-Greek alchemists, derived from the Syrians during the long period when the culture of Christian Europe was inhospitable to its development. From such Syrian and Arabian manuscripts as have been preserved and examined, it does not appear that during the centuries of their alchemical activity any very notable additions were made to the practical chemistry known to the ancients of the times of Pliny, Dioscorides or the writers of the Theban papyri. Nor was the development of the theories of matter and its changes in the direc-... 

Both Greek philosophy and a free experimentation with Arabian alchemy underpinned the doctrines of the Corpus Hermeticum. Both components of the Corpus found a fertile environment in Renaissance Italy and Europe. A minimalist summary of the doctrine was set down in a treatise called the Emerald Tablet. It is brief to the point of obscurity. We shall understand it better in Chapter 16 where we look at the hermetic document Virgin of the World in an expanded alchemical context. 

As an alchemist, Paracelsus believed in the three principles of Arabian alchemy, namely ... 

Under Mohammedan patronage, however, as has been stated, Syrian alchemy, transplanted to Asia Minor and Persia, after the fall of Alexandrian schools, was assimilated by the Arabians, and in the westward sweep of Arabian conquest was cultivated, finding in the Arabian universities of Spain a fertile soil for its cultivation. It does not appear that Arabian culture had developed any notable chemical or alchemical philosophy until it came into contact with Syrian culture. 

The first Moslem writer on alchemy cited by later Arabian authors was Khaled ben Yezid ibn Moaonia, Prince Oneeyade, who died in 708 A. D., reputed to be a pupil of the Syrian monk, Marianas.86 No remnant of his writings of any significance has been preserved. 

That curious occult philosophy which constitutes the basis of alchemy in the modern sense of the term, derived from the Greek neoplatonists and transmitted mainly through Arabian disciples, was to find a recrudescence with, if possible, more extravagant manifestations of credulity, mysticism and charlatanism in the western alchemists of the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries, a development greatly fostered also by the revolt from authority which culminated in the Protestant Reformation and was facilitated by the printing press in the latter part of the fifteenth century. 

From the statement of the thirteenth century encyclopedists, and from Arabian writers also, we know that there existed much imposture and charlatanry among writers on alchemy, with their assumptions and claims as to gold making and the elixir of life. Concerning the dates or authorship of such alchemical writings we rarely have specific or definite information. Works of this character were not generally issued except under precautions to conceal the identity of the writer. 

He had already spent much of the fortune left to him by his father, fruitlessly seeking the Philosopher s Stone. He had spent enormous amounts of time at the great libraries of the world, and had purchased all the rarest and most important volumes on alchemy. In one he had read that, many years ago, a famous Arabian alchemist had visited Europe. It was said that he was more than two hundred years old, and that he had discovered the Philosopher s Stone and the Elixir of Life. The Englishman had been profoundly impressed by the story. But he would never have thought it more than just a myth, had not a friend of his—returning from an archaeological expedition in the desert—told him about an Arab that was possessed of exceptional powers. 

Following the translation of the great Arabian sources, the flurry of Grail Romances and suppression of the Knights Templar, alchemy became dormant for a further three hundred years. As we saw in Chapter 17, the Church had prohibited alchemy and all scientific investigation. Only scattered Jewish alchemical scandals and anonymous alchemical publications punctuated this blanket of silence. 

The four elements are not the same as the substances with the same name that occur on Earth. The primary elements can be combined in any proportion to produce the known variety of homogeneous substances. Whereas the four elements are in constant interaction with each other and hence interconvertible, heavenly bodies do not consist of earthly elements, are immutable, circle the Earth on perfect orbits and consist of quintessence, the fifth heavenly element. The alchemists adopted the four-element theory, which offered the possibility of transmutation of metals. As even the elements can be interconverted the same must be true for metals, which are homogeneous bodies and, although not elements, are made up of the four elements. The Arabian alchemist Ibn Sina (Avicenna), who questioned the transmutation of metals, explained that metals are formed by the combination of sulphur (air - - water) and mercury (fire - - earth), which derive from the four elements. In order to make the theory applicable, not only to metals, but to all substances, Paracelsus added salt as the third element of alchemy. Again, his tria print,a of salt (body), sulphur (soul), and mercury (spirit) are not... 

The best of Arabic alchemy came at the start of the period of their domination. Thus, the most capable and renowned of the Moslem alchemists was Jabir ibn-Ha5ryan (c. 760-c. 815), who was known to Europeans, centuries later, as Geber. He lived at the time when the Arabic empire (under Haroun-al-Raschid of Arabian Nights fame) was at the height of its glory. 

Whilst Greece and Italy sank deeper and deeper into har-barism, arts and science flourished under. Arabian dominion, and the academies of Spain were thronged with students from all parts of tlie Cliristian world. The knowledge of alchemy spmd fiom this source over M estem Hurape, and in the thirteenth century we find alchemists of the Arabian school... 

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