Silver transmutation

An analysis of his works and letters reveals that although in his youth Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim was not fundamentally opposed to the transmutation of metals, he later treated with mockery his friends who tried to make gold. Though he believed in the theory of elementary change, he denied its practical application in the transmutation of metals to silver or gold... 

American and British swindlers made a number of claims about processes for transmuting silver into gold.22 Ramsay s seeming gullibility about such claims shows the degree to which he was obsessed by alchemical transmutation as he set off on his own course of experiments. His December 1904 article in Harper s, Radium and Its Products, ended with the speculation that... 

Cagliostro showed no outward concern. He d begin, he said, with a demonstration of the relatively quick and straightforward transmutation of mercury to silver. On 7 June 1780, he assembled the Masons at the manor house to perform the operation under their eyes. In shirtsleeves for ease of working, both he and Moczynski also wore full aprons to protect them-... 

It must be borne in mind when reviewing the theories of the alchemists, that there were a number of phenomena known at the time, the superficial examination of which would naturally engender a belief that the transmutation of the metals was a common occurrence. For example, the deposition of copper on iron when immersed in a solution of a copper salt e.g., blue vitriol) was naturally concluded to be a transmutation of iron into copper, although, had the alchemists examined the residual liquid, they would have found that the two metals had merely exchanged places and the fact that white and yellow alloys of copper with arsenic and other substances could be produced, pointed to the possibility of transmuting copper into silver and gold. It was also known that if water (and this is tme of distilled water which does not contain solid matter in solution) was boiled for some time in a glass flask, some solid, earthy matter was produced and if water could be transmuted into earth, surely one metal could be... 

The alchemists believed that a most minute proportion of the Stone projected upon considerable quantities of heated mercury, molten lead, or other "base" metal, would transmute practically the whole into silver or gold. This claim of the alchemists, that a most minute quantity of the Stone was sufficient to transmute considerable quantities of base" metal, has been the object of much ridicule. Certainly, some of the claims of the alchemists (understood literally) are out of all reason but on the other hand, the disproportion between the quantities of Stone and transmuted metal cannot be advanced as an a priori objection to the alchemists claims, inasmuch that a class of chemical reactions (called "catalytic") is known, in which the presence of a small quantity of some appropriate form of matter — the catalyst — brings about a chemical change in an indefinite quantity of some other form or forms thus, for example, cane-sugar in aqueous solution is converted into two other sugars by the action of small quantities of acid and sulphur-dioxide and oxygen, which will not combine under ordinary conditions, do so readily in the presence of a small quantity... 

Unfortunately, most early alchemists are unknown, considering that they were very secretive about their methods and left little in the way of written history. Their goals were mystical, economic, secret, unpublished, and unshared. Alchemic practices were also related to medicine as well as rehgion during some periods of time and in some countries. The alchemists main search was for the philosopher s stone that could unlock the secrets of transmutation—that is, the secrets of how to transform base metals and chemicals into different, more useful and valuable products, such as gold and silver. This also led to the futile search over many centuries for the elixir vitae that would be both the universal cure for all illnesses and the way to achieve immortality. 

Of interest is the reaction with silver cyanide at low temperatures (—80°C) the thiocyanate forms initially and then, as shown by F NMR measurements, it undergoes a slow transmutation at 30°C into the isothiocyanate (67) ... 

True alchemy archimia verd) transmutes not only the accidents of things, but also their substance, so that the artificial gold produced will be identical to natural gold, even in its medical virtues. Sophistical alchemy archimia sofisti-catd), on the other hand, transmutes only the accidents of matter, so that the base metals may appear to be gold or silver, but will retain their base substance intact (Newman 136). False alchemy is necromancy. 

Multipliers. Here Newton was referring to the legislation enacted during the reign of Henry IV that outlawed the transmutation of metals into gold and silver. Boyle had been instrumental in getting it repealed. 

And when the Philosophers say that from this Marriage there is born a Child, who is considerably more beautiful and excellent than its Father and Mother, they mean to refer by this to the engendering of Alchemical Gold, or an auriferous powder this is what transmutes imperfect metals into Perfect Ones—meaning into Alchemical Gold or Silver. ... 

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