From Alchemy to Chemistry

The Scientific Revolution can be regarded as a battle between three different ways of looking at the natural world. These can be termed the Aristotelian, the magical and the mechanical. All three traditions had their origins in either the Greek or the Hellenistic periods. It was the ultimate triumph of the mechanical philosophy which was to result in the birth of modem science. 

The Hermetic writings formed the basis of the magical tradition in European science. The revival of these mystical and magical ideas received some sympathy from Christian theologians, as miracles were much easier to explain than under the Aristotelian system. The renewed interest in neo-Platonism exerted an influence on many of the later European alchemists and iatrochemists. 

The seventeenth century saw the rise of experimental science. The notion of making observations and performing experiments was not, of course, a new one in 

The year 1543 also saw the appearance of another book that not only challenged the ancient authorities, but was also to have a profound impact on the way people perceived their place in the universe. The book was De revolutionibus orbium coelestium by Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543). On the basis that predictions of the future positions of the planets made using Ptolemy s geocentric theory were inaccurate, Copernicus proposed that the sun was at the centre of the universe, and the planets, including the earth, revolved around it. Copernicus still believed in the sphere of the stars, but man s unique position at the centre of all things was gone. 

Before joining Brahe, Kepler had published a book in which he proposed that the structure of the planetary system was based on the five regular polyhedra, an idea clearly derived from the Pythagoreans. Using Brahe s observations Kepler formulated his first two laws of planetary motion. These state that the planets move in elliptical orbits with the sun at one focus, and that a line from the sun to a planet sweeps out equal areas in equal times. These ideas were published in Astronomia Nova in 1609. Kepler s third major work, Harmonice Mundi, was published in 1619. As well as containing his third law (the square of the planetary period of revolution is proportional to the cube of the mean distance of the planet 

Nothing more was done about actually isolating chemical elements until the period we crudely define as the Middle Ages. 

And at that time the alchemists came into being. 

They worked with crude equipment, including the retort and the mortar and pestle which still have symbolic meaning for us today. 

Alchemists spoke often of the philosopher s stone by which they hoped to transmute baser metals into gold. We re not quite sure what this illusory substance was. It probably 

Aside from such trivial endeavors, the alchemists per formed a number of significant chemical experiments. They extracted metals from ores, for instance, although this was not unusual in view of earlier developments in metallurgy. 

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Read, John. [Through alchemy to chemistry] From alchemy to chemistry. London Bell, 1957 reprint, New York Dover Publications, 1995. xvii, 206 p ISBN 0-486-28690-8... 

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Rare Book Special Collections Library. From alchemy to chemistry five hundred years of rare and interesting books. rhttp //www. scs.uiuc.edu/%7Emainzv/ exhibit/ . 

Beretta, Marco. "The role of symbolism from alchemy to chemistry." In Nonverbal communication in science prior to 1900, ed. Renato G. Mazzolini, 279-319. Firenze Olschki, 1993. 

Ch.l. First steps from alchemy to chemistry pp. 1-13. Ch.2. Robert Boyle chemistry and experiment, pp.14-27. Ch 3 A German story what bums, and how, pp.15-38 (includes Paracelsus)... 

The change from alchemy to chemistry is an admirable example of the change from a theory formed by looking inwards, and then projected on to external facts, to a theory... 

The first great step taken in the path which led from alchemy to chemistry was the substitution of one Principle, the Principle of Phlogiston, for the three Principles of salt, sulphur, and mercury. This step was taken by concentrating attention and investigation, by replacing the superficial examination of many diverse phenomena by the more searching study of one class of occurrences. That the field of study should be widened, it was necessary that it should first be narrowed. 

Norton, Ordinall, as quoted in John Read, From Alchemy to Chemistry (Toronto Dover Publications, 1931), 85. 

Almighty God / From great Doctours hath this Science forbod, / And granted it to few Men of his mercy, / Such as be faithfull trew and lowly." Norton, Ordinall, as quoted in Read, From Alchemy to Chemistry, 85. 

It is certainly a great tribute to the Aristotelian scheme that three of its so-called elements figure in the above list of obstacles that blocked a break-through from alchemy to chemistry in the eighteenth century, more than three thousand years after the idea of the four elements was conceived in India and Egypt. 

From Alchemy to Chemistry in Picture and Story. By Arthur Greenberg. Copyright 2007 John Wiley Sons, Inc. 

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