The Age of Alchemy

Gentile of Foligno, a medical practitioner of Padua, made the connection between smell and death thus  

Poisonous material is generated about the heart and lungs. Its impression is not for excess in degree ofprimary quality, but through the properties of poisonous vapours having been communicated by means of air breathed in and out, great extention and transition of the Plague takes place, not only from man to man, but from country to country. 

The Plague doctors wore full, leather coats and a hat and crystal goggles to ensure they did not catch the disease from patients, and to be doubly sure touched them only with examining wands. They wore large cones, or nosegays, resembling a bird s beak or bill, and thus it is believed the derogative quack applied to fake doctors. 

In an effort to keep disease at bay, the first attempts to adopt more hygienic customs began around this time, at least with the aristocracy. The English King Henry III (1207-1272) sent the following message ahead during one trip to London  

Since the privy chamber in London is situated in an undue and improper place, wherefore it smells badly, we command you on the faith and love by which you are bounden to us that you in no wise omit to cause another privy chamber, to be made in such more fitting and proper place that you may select there, even though it should costs a hundred pounds. .. 

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 Their goals were mystical, economic, secret, unpublished, and unshared.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. 

For over 2,000 years, alchemy was the only chemistry studied. Alchemy was the predecessor of modern chemistry and contributed to the slow growth of what we know about the Earth s chemical elements. For example, the alchemists interest in a common treatment for all diseases led to the scientific basis for the art of modern medicine. In particular, the alchemist/ physician Paracelsus (1493-1541) introduced a new era of medicine known as iatrochemistry, which is chemistry applied to medicine. In addition, alchemists elementary understanding of how different substances react with each other led to the concepts of atoms and their interactions to form compounds. 

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The first sections of this reference book set the stage for the presentation of the elements. First is the section How to Use This Book followed by a short introduction. Next is A Short History of Chemistry, the narrative of which progresses from prehistoric times to the Age of Alchemy and then to the Age of Modern Chemistry. Next is the section titled Atomic Structure, which traces the history of our knowledge of the structure of the atom some theoretical models, including quantum mechanics the discovery of subatomic (nuclear) particles... 

He was constantly at odds with the medical professionals of his day and was looked upon very suspiciously by the Church because of his views and opinions. Because of this some believe Paracelsus was murdered in 1541. However, his ideas and writings did not go unnoticed. In a strange twist of irony, these helped lead to the end of the Age of Alchemy and the beginnings of chemistry as we know it today. 

Until recently, most laboratories were still using hot plate as their only method of sample preparation, a technique that, except for its sources of energy, dates back to the age of alchemy. Because of the indirect nature of heating in hot plate digestions, attainment of the final chemical conditions is relatively slow (Kingston Walter 1992 Kingston Haswell 1997). 

There is, lingering in the air, a great awe of chemistry and chemical terms, an inheritance from the age of alchemy. Every chemist can recall instances hy the score in which manufacturers have asked for recipes for making some substitute for a well-known article, and have expected the most ahsurd results to follow the simple mixing of two substances. Chemicals are supposed hy the multitude to be all-powerful, and great advantage is taken of this credulity hy unscrupulous manufacturers. 

Since the age of alchemy and the search for the philosopher s stone, man has looked for ways of controlling the transformation of matter. Today, chemists seek to control the outcome of chemical reactions, to suppress unwanted side products and to synthesize new molecules. In this book we will see how this long-standing dream has been partially achieved through the application of lasers in chemistry and how sometimes we can even teach lasers to be as skilful as chemists ... 

Newton, Isaac. "Of natures obvious laws and processes in vegetation." In Alchemical death and resurrection the significance of alchemy in the age of Newton, ed. Betty Jo Teeter Dobbs. Washington Smithsonian Institution Libraries, 1990. 

The True Identity of the Alchemical Adept Calling Himself "Fulcanelli" Has Never Been Publicly Discovered But There Are Few Who Would Not Recognize His Works As the Most Significant Contribution to the Great Art in More Than 100 Years. The Author Displays an Immense Knowledge of the Practices of Alchemy and of the Alchemists of the Middle Ages. For the First Time He Makes Clear the Differences Between... 

Crosland, Maurice P. "The Chemical Revolution of the eighteenth century and the eclipse of alchemy in the Age of Enlightenment. " In Alchemy revisited, ed. 

Montgomery, John Warwick. Cross, constellation and crucible Lutheran astrology and alchemy in the age of the Reformation. Trans Roy Soc Canada [4] (1 Jun 1963 (Sect II)) 251-270. 

The second half of the 16th century is usually called "the golden age of alchemy". 

Wennerlind, Carl. "Credit-money as the philosopher s stone alchemy and the coinage problem in seventeenth-century England." In Oeconomies in the age of Newton edited by Margaret Schabas and Neil De Mar chi, eds. Margaret Schabas and Neil De Marchi, 234-261. Durham (NC), London Duke Univ P, 2003. 

In this, the fourth volume in the Age of Unreason series, the followers of Isaac Newton s new science (which involves everything from alchemy to demon-harnessing) face off one final time against their enemies"... 

Chemistry as distinct from Alchemy and iatro-chemistry commenced with Robert Boyle (see plate 15), who first clearly recognised that its aim is neither the transmutation of the metals nor the preparation of medicines, but the observation and generalisation of a certain class of phenomena who denied the validity of the alchemistic view of the constitution of matter, and enunciated the definition of an element which has since reigned supreme in Chemistry and who enriched the science with observations of the utmost importance. Boyle, however, was a man whose ideas were in advance of his times, and intervening between the iatro-chemical period and the Age of Modem Chemistry proper came the period of the Phlogistic Theory — a theory which had a certain affinity with the ideas of the alchemists. 

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