CHAPTER 4| ALCHEMY: MAN’S SEARCH FOR THE ELIXIR OF LIFE
INTRODUCTION:
Alchemy is the pseudoscience which became the basis for modern day
Chemistry. It began in Alexandria and soon spread to Arabia after the conquest of
Egypt in 640 AD. It developed as they applied theories about nature to metal
working, medicines and other crafts. The alchemist’s major objectives were
twofold: to find a “philosopher’s stone” that would change base metals like lead,
iron to gold. This was understandable since gold was one of the first metals to be
known. Because it occurred in its native form, its color and luster attracted much
attention. It was abundant in river crevices and alluvial deposits in the form of
nugget. Copper, which was abundant in the peninsula of Sinai in the form of
malachite (a basic carbonate) was extensibly found in Egypt and Mesopotamia.
The product of alloys such as bronze (copper and tin), brass (copper and zinc), and
amalgams (gold in mercury) ushered in a period of great advances in metal works.
The artisans of Egypt and Mesopotamia also perfected the art of making glazed
pottery and glass. Blue and green opaque glasses containing copper were known
as early as 3,400 BC. A collection of Egyptian procedures dealing with imitation of
gems and valuable dyes was discovered in 1828 at a tomb in Thebes, Egypt and
is now kept at the Leyden Museum. The other objective of alchemist is to produce
an “elixir of life” that would provide a long and unending life and health.
Alchemy began in the third century BC and was the main source of chemical
knowledge until the 16th century AD. Alchemist developed many ways of
producing chemical changes in natural substances. They improved on the
methods of extracting metals from ores, and how to prepare and use various
acids. They also designed laboratory equipment which included balances for
weighing chemicals and crucibles for melting metals.
The union of practical concepts of the artisan and the theoretical concepts of
the Hellenic philosophers resulted in a combination called Alchemy. The term
alchemy came from the Alexandrian Greek word “chemeia” with the Arabic article
“al” prefixed to it. Its guiding principle was the ultimate unity of matter as depicted
in its symbol, a serpent coiled into a circle, representing the cosmos, with its tail
in its mouth. One of the main goals of Alchemy was to change base metals into
gold. They believed that nature carried out this change in the Earth’s interior over
a long period of time. Because of this production of cheap imitations of gold and
silver article became prevalent in Alexandria until about the 3rd century after Christ
when Emperor Diocletian declared the practice illegal and issued an edict
ordering the burning of all books on the making and imitation gold and silver. It was
in this edict the term “Chemistry” was first used. The chemical symbols used by
alchemists were complicated, so in 1787, Lavosier introduced a new system of
nomenclature and in 1813, Berzelius complemented the feat with a new system of
notation and chemical symbols. While the alchemist did not succeed in transmuting
base metals into gold, the work they did to pursue this goal caused the discovery
of many new compounds, e.g. alcohol, mineral acids and several metallic salts.
There were no significant scientific advances in the years following 400 AD
also known as the Dark Ages. In 1260, the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle were
incorporated into Christian Theology, The leading exponent of this fusion was
Thomas Aquinas, who argued that knowledge can be obtaining from two sources
– faith and reason. Faith is derived from the Holy Scriptures, while reason comes
from sense-data which one interprets and transforms. The works of Plato were the
supreme example of this mental process. Since both types of knowledge come
from God, who can not contradict Himself, the writings of Plato and Aristotle
must be in agreement with the doctrines of Christianity and the philosophy of
scholasticism is born.
What followed was a new era that attempted to discover truth by directly
examining the works of God and the mechanisms of Nature rather than depend on
the opinions of ancient writers. This was the beginning of the Renaissance Period.
This change in attitude, combined with the discovery of the mariner’s compass
by Flavio Gioja in 1300, and the invention of printing press by John Gutenberg
in 1438 presaged a bright future for the sciences. The mariner’s compass made
sea voyages safer and encouraged global explorations, while printing press
facilitated the dissemination of proganda and enlightenment. With these
developments, man took the first step out of the ignorance of the Dark Ages.
The period following Renaissance was marked by giant strides in Science as
well as Literature and the Arts, mainly through the efforts of Copernicus (1473-
1543), Kepler (1571-1630), Galileo (1564-1642) and Newton (1642-1721).
Galileo’s fascination with nature and its mechanisms led him to make significant
contributions to new thoughts and ideas in Astronomy, Physics, and Chemistry
during his lifetime. At the time of Galileo’s death, a revolution in man’s thinking
was ongoing, promoted by Rene Descartes (1596-1650) and Francis Bacon
(1561-1626). Newton’s experiments came at a time when science had gained
considerable prestige, reaching a peak during the 19th century, spurred by the
discovery of radioactivity and X-rays.
Kepler’s laws, combined with the principles of dynamics developed by
Galileo, and improved on by Newton successfully predicted how bodies
moved, but the questions of why they moved became Newton’s major contribution
to science when he integrated all these theories into a coherent, universe
principle.
The idea of an ultimate particle was first conceived by Democritus of
Abdera as early as the 5th century. He called these particles atoms from the Greek
word “atomos” which mean indivisible. These atoms move randomly and
continuously, forming aggregates. These existence of elements was
conceptualized by Plato (427-347 BC) who assumed that things were formed
from a formless primary matter on which different forms can be impressed
depending on the needs of a particular event. Arisotle (384-322 BC) the best
known pupil of Plato improved on the Platonic Philosophy and proposed that “all
substances are made up of pimary matter on which different forms could be
impressed.” These forms can be removed and replaced with new ones. It
possessed fundamental properties of hotness, coldness, wetness, and dryness.
Combining these properties gave rise to the four elements: fire, air, earth, and
water. For example water is wet and cold, fire is hot and dry, etc. A 5th element
which appears in his later writings as quintessence correspondents to ether.
According to David Katz, 2008, Aristotle’s death marked the end of the
Greek influence on the development of theories regarding the nature of matter and
its changes. When Alexander, Aristotle’s student, conquered the world he
established a great library. As the scientific leadership moved from Athens to
Alexandria from Egypt, the Greek philosophy was influenced by practical oriental
technology and religious mysticism giving rise to Alchemy. It dominates the next
200 years of chemical history.
Mythology, magic, religion and spirituality are all related to the principles
and practices in Alchemy. Alchemist were regarded as mystics and fakes and
obsessed with turning cheap metals into gold. They prepare gold and silver vessels
and ornaments for nobles and made cheap imitations or substitutes for poorer
people. Through many chemical operations, they were able to produce many color
changes to make metals like gold.
Although alchemist did not carry out proper scientific experiments and has
no basic understanding of chemistry, they were able to make some important
discovers. They identified several metal elements like mercury, iron, and gold. They
also though that sulfur, arsenic, and other nonmetals are elements. Thus, it lead to
an understanding that there were many more than just four elements. They also
started using symbols of elements and first to investigate how materials could be
changed into other substances. It was emphasized by Martini (2014) that the most
outstanding and beneficial contribution of Alchemy is the development of the metal
industry and transform it into philosopher’s stone or gold and finding the elixir
of life or a cure-all remedy. Alchemists were indeed the first experimenters and
they believed that elements could be changed into other elements.
One of the most influential alchemist was the Arab Jabir Ibn Hayyan or
Geber, who was known as the father of Chemistry in his time because of his
attempts at the scientific method. One of his works is the isolation of some acids
like hydrochloric, acetic, and citric acids. He was one of the proponents of the
idea that Sulfur was responsible for the principle of combustion that created fires.
But the great alchemist during his time who helped transform the
pseudoscience of Alchemy into the evolving new science of Chemistry is named
Philippus Paracelsus. He was a known physician in Europe who believed that the
main purpose of Alchemy was to discover and create chemicals and medications
to treat and cure diseases.