Alchemy encompasses several philosophical traditions spanning some four millennia and three continents. These traditions' general penchant for cryptic and symbolic language makes it hard to trace their mutual influences and genetic relationships. Three major strands exist which appear to be mostly independent, at least in their earlier stages:
Chinese alchemy, centered in China; Indian alchemy (
Rasayana), centered on the
Indian subcontinent; and Western alchemy, which occurred around the
Mediterranean Basin and whose center shifted over the millennia from
Greco-Roman Egypt to the
Muslim world, and finally
medieval Europe. Chinese alchemy was closely connected to
Taoism and Indian alchemy with the
Dharmic faiths. In contrast, Western alchemy developed its philosophical system mostly independent of but influenced by various
Western religions. It is still an open question whether these three strands share a common origin, or to what extent they influenced each other.
Hellenistic Egypt , cucurbit and
retort of
Zosimos (man. Paris,
Grec 2327). The start of Western alchemy may generally be traced to
Hellenistic Egypt, where the city of
Alexandria was a center of alchemical knowledge, and retained its pre-eminence through most of the Greek and Roman periods. Following the work of André-Jean Festugière, modern scholars see alchemical practice in the Roman Empire as originating from the Egyptian goldsmith's art, Greek philosophy and different religious traditions. Tracing the origins of the alchemical art in Egypt is complicated by the
pseudepigraphic nature of texts from the Greek alchemical corpus. The treatises of
Zosimos of Panopolis, the earliest historically attested author (), can help in situating the other authors. Zosimus based his work on that of older alchemical authors, such as
Mary the Jewess,
Pseudo-Democritus, and
Agathodaimon, but very little is known about any of these authors. The most complete of their works, the
Four Books of
Pseudo-Democritus, were probably written in the first century
AD. It has also been argued that early alchemical writers borrowed the vocabulary of Greek philosophical schools but did not implement any of its doctrines in a systematic way. Zosimos of Panopolis wrote in the
Final Abstinence ( the
Final Count) that the ancient practice of "tinctures" (the technical Greek term for the alchemical arts) had been taken over by certain "demons" who taught the art only to those who offered them sacrifices. Since Zosimos also called the demons "the guardians of places" () and those who offered them sacrifices "priests" (), it is fairly clear that he was referring to the gods of Egypt and their priests. While critical of the kind of alchemy he associated with the Egyptian priests and their followers, Zosimos nonetheless saw the tradition's recent past as rooted in the rites of the Egyptian temples.
Mythology Zosimos of Panopolis asserted that alchemy dated back to
Pharaonic Egypt where it was the domain of the priestly class, though there is little to no evidence for his assertion. Alchemical writers used classical figures from Greek (e.g.,
Hades), Roman (e.g.,
Lucius), and Egyptian mythology to illuminate their works and allegorize alchemical transmutation. These included the pantheon of gods related to the classical planets,
Isis,
Osiris,
Jason, and many others. The central figure in the mythology of alchemy is
Hermes Trismegistus (). His name is derived from the
god Thoth and his Greek counterpart,
Hermes. Hermes and his
caduceus or serpent-staff, were among alchemy's principal symbols. According to
Clement of Alexandria, he wrote what were called the "forty-two books of Hermes", covering all fields of knowledge.
Hermetica and Emerald Tablet The
Hermetica are a compendium of texts attributed to
Hermes Trismegistus. Many of them have close historical connections with Western alchemical philosophy and practice (which was sometimes called the
Hermetic philosophy by its practitioners). By modern convention, the
Hermetica is usually subdivided into two main categories: the "technical" and "religio-philosophical"
Hermetica. The "technical"
Hermetica deals with alchemy,
astrology, medicine,
pharmacology, and
magic. Its oldest parts were written in Greek and may go back as far as the second or third century BC. Many of the texts in the "technical"
Hermetica were later translated,
first into Arabic and
then into Latin, often being extensively revised and expanded throughout the centuries. Some of them were also originally written in Arabic. In other cases their status as an original work or translation remains unclear. These Arabic and Latin Hermetic texts were widely copied throughout the
Middle Ages. The most famous of these texts is the
Emerald Tablet, also known as the
Smaragdine Table or the
Tabula Smaragdina, a compact and cryptic text. The earliest known versions of it are four
Arabic recensions preserved in mystical and alchemical treatises between the 8th and 10th centuries AD—chiefly the
Secret of Creation () and the
Secret of Secrets (). From the 12th century onward, Latin translations—most notably, the widespread so-called
Vulgate (not to be confused with the late-fourth-century Latin translation of the
Tanakh and Christian
New Testament known as the
Vulgate)—introduced the
Emerald Tablet to Europe, where it attracted great scholarly interest. Medieval commentators such as
Ortolanus interpreted it as a "foundational text" of alchemical instructions for producing the
philosopher's stone and
making gold.
Technology The dawn of Western alchemy is sometimes associated with that of
metallurgy, extending back to 3500 BC. Many writings were lost when the
Roman emperor Diocletian ordered the burning of alchemical books after suppressing a revolt in Alexandria (AD 292). Few original Egyptian documents on alchemy have survived, most notable among them the
Stockholm papyrus and the
Leyden papyrus X. Dating from AD 250 to 300, they contained recipes for dyeing and making artificial gemstones, cleaning and fabricating pearls, and manufacturing of imitation gold and silver. These writings lack the mystical, philosophical elements of alchemy, but do contain the works of
Bolus of Mendes (or
Pseudo-Democritus), which aligned these recipes with theoretical knowledge of astrology and the
classical elements. Between the time of Bolus and Zosimos, the change took place that transformed this metallurgy into a Hermetic art.
Philosophy Alexandria acted as a melting pot for philosophies of
Pythagoreanism,
Platonism,
Stoicism, and
Gnosticism that formed the origin of alchemy's character. The four elements of the Greek were mostly qualitative aspects of matter rather than the modern quantitative elements' natures, according to
Titus Burckhardt: Later alchemists extensively developed the mystical aspects of this concept. Alchemy coexisted alongside emerging
Christianity.
Lactantius believed Hermes Trismegistus had prophesied its birth.
Augustine of Hippo later affirmed this in the 4th and 5th centuries, but also condemned Trismegistus for
idolatry. Examples of
pagan, Christian, and
Jewish alchemists can be found during this period. Most of the Greco-Roman alchemists preceding Zosimos are known only by pseudonyms, such as
Moses of Alexandria, Isis,
Cleopatra the Alchemist,
Pseudo-Democritus, and
Ostanes. Other authors such as Komarios and
Chymes are known only through surviving fragments of text. After AD 400, Greek alchemical writers occupied themselves solely in commenting on the works of these predecessors. By the middle of the 7th century, alchemy was almost an entirely mystical discipline. It was at that time that
Khalid Ibn Yazid sparked its migration from Alexandria to the Islamic world, facilitating the translation and preservation of Greek alchemical texts in the 8th and 9th centuries.
Byzantium Greek alchemy was preserved in medieval
Byzantine manuscripts after the fall of
Roman Egypt, yet historians have only relatively recently begun to study and development of Greek alchemy in the Byzantine period.
India The 2nd millennium BC
Vedas describe a connection between eternal life and gold. which provides ingredients of explosives (
agniyoga) and salts extracted from fertile soils and plant remains (
yavakshara) such as saltpetre/
nitre, perfume (different qualities of perfumes are mentioned), and granulated (refined) sugar.
Buddhist texts from the 2nd to 5th centuries mention the transmutation of base metals to gold. According to some scholars Greek alchemy may have influenced Indian alchemy but there are no hard evidences to back this claim. The 11th-century
Persian chemist and
physician Abū Rayhān Bīrūnī, who visited Gujarat as part of the court of
Mahmud of Ghazni, reported locals The goals of alchemy in India included the creation of a divine body () and immortality while still embodied (). Sanskrit alchemical texts include much material on the manipulation of mercury and sulphur, that are homologized with the semen of the god
Śiva and the menstrual blood of the goddess
Devī. Some early alchemical writings seem to have their origins in the
Kaula tantric schools associated to the teachings of the personality of
Matsyendranath. Other early writings are found in the
Jaina medical treatise
Kalyāṇakārakam of Ugrāditya, written in South India in the early 9th century. Two famous early Indian alchemical authors were
Nāgārjuna Siddha and Nityanātha Siddha. Nāgārjuna Siddha was a
Buddhist monk. His book
Rasendramangalam is an example of Indian alchemy and medicine. Nityanātha Siddha wrote
Rasaratnākara, which was also a highly influential work. In Sanskrit, translates to "mercury", and Nāgārjuna Siddha was said to have developed a method of converting mercury into gold. An example of academic scholarship on Indian alchemy is
The Alchemical Body by
Indologist David Gordon White. A modern bibliography on Indian alchemical studies has been written by White. The contents of 39 Sanskrit alchemical treatises have been analysed in detail in
Gerrit Jan Meulenbeld's
History of Indian Medical Literature (
HIML). The discussion of these works in the
HIML gives a summary of the contents of each work, their special features, and where possible the evidence concerning their dating. Chapter 13 of the
HIML,
Various works on rasaśāstra and ratnaśāstra ('Various works on alchemy and gems') gives brief details of another 655 treatises. In some cases, Meulenbeld gives notes on the contents and authorship of these works; in other cases references are made only to the unpublished manuscripts of these titles. A great deal remains to be discovered about Indian alchemical literature.
Islamic world (Geber), Codici Ashburnhamiani 1166, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence After
the fall of the Roman Empire, the focus of alchemical development moved to the Islamic World. Much more is known about
Islamic alchemy because it was better documented: indeed, most of the earlier writings that have come down through the years were preserved as Arabic translations. The word
alchemy itself was derived from the Arabic word (). The early Islamic world was a melting pot for alchemy.
Platonic and
Aristotelian thought, which had already been somewhat appropriated into Hermetic science, continued to be assimilated during the late 7th and early 8th centuries through
Syriac translations and scholarship. In the late ninth and early tenth centuries, the Arabic works attributed to
Jābir ibn Hayyān (Latinized as "Geber" or "Geberus") introduced a new approach to alchemy.
Paul Kraus, who wrote the standard reference work on ibn Hayyan, put it as follows: Islamic philosophers also made great contributions to alchemical Hermeticism. The most influential author in this regard was arguably ibn Hayyan. ibn Hayyan's ultimate goal was
takwin, the artificial creation of life in the alchemical laboratory—up to and including human life. He analysed each Aristotelian element in terms of four basic qualities of
hotness,
coldness,
dryness, and
moistness. By this reasoning, the search for the
philosopher's stone was introduced to Western alchemy. Ibn Hayyan developed an elaborate
numerology whereby the root letters of a substance's name in Arabic, when treated with various transformations, held correspondences to the element's physical properties. The
atomic theory of
corpuscularianism, where all physical bodies possess an inner and outer layer of minute particles or corpuscles, also has its origins in the work of ibn Hayyan. From the 9th to 14th centuries, alchemical theories faced criticism from a variety of practical Muslim chemists, including
Al-Kindi,
Abū al-Rayhān al-Bīrūnī,
Avicenna and
Ibn Khaldun. In particular, they wrote refutations against the idea of the
transmutation of metals. From the 14th century onwards, many materials and practices originally belonging to Indian alchemy (
Rasayana) were assimilated in the Persian texts written by Muslim scholars.
East Asia Researchers have found evidence that Chinese alchemists and philosophers discovered complex mathematical phenomena that were shared with Arab alchemists during the medieval period. Discovered first in China before the
Common Era, the "magic square of three" was propagated to followers of
Jabir ibn Hayyan at some point over the proceeding several hundred years. Other commonalities shared between the two alchemical schools of thought include discrete naming for ingredients and heavy influence from the natural elements. The
Silk Road provided a clear path for the exchange of goods, ideas, ingredients, religion, and many other aspects of life with which alchemy is intertwined. alchemists often use this alternate version of the
taijitu. Whereas European alchemy eventually centered on the transmutation of base metals into noble metals, Chinese alchemy had a more obvious connection to medicine. The philosopher's stone of European alchemists can be compared to the
elixir of life sought by Chinese alchemists. In the Hermetic view, these two goals were not unconnected, and the philosopher's stone was often equated with the
universal panacea; therefore, the two traditions may have had more in common than initially appears. As early as 317 AD,
Ge Hong documented the use of metals, minerals, and elixirs in early Chinese medicine. Hong identified three ancient Chinese documents—titled the
Scripture of Great Clarity, the
Scripture of the Nine Elixirs, and the
Scripture of the Golden Liquor—as texts containing fundamental alchemical information. He also described alchemy, along with meditation, as the sole spiritual practices that could allow one to gain
immortality or to transcend to a higher state of being. In his work
Inner Chapters of the Book of the Master Who Embraces Spontaneous Nature (317 AD), Hong argued that alchemical solutions such as elixirs were preferable to traditional medicinal treatment due to the spiritual protection they could provide. In the centuries following Ge Hong's death, the emphasis placed on alchemy as a spiritual practice among Chinese
Taoists was reduced. In 499 AD,
Tao Hongjing refuted Hong's statement that alchemy is as important a spiritual practice as Shangqing meditation. In the early 700s,
Neidan ( internal alchemy) was adopted by Daoists as a new form of alchemy.
Neidan emphasized appeasing the inner gods that inhabit the human body by practising alchemy with compounds naturally found in the body, rather than the mixing of natural resources that was so emphasized in early Dao alchemy. For example, saliva was often considered nourishment for the inner gods and did not require any conscious alchemical reaction to produce. The inner gods were not thought of as physical presences occupying each person, but rather a collection of deities that are each said to represent and protect a specific body part or region. Thinking that this consequential death would lead to freedom and access to
Tian, the ensuing deaths encouraged practitioners to eschew this method of alchemy in favour of external sources (e.g., the aforementioned
Tai Chi Chuan and mastering of one's
qi,.) Chinese alchemy was introduced to the West by
Obed Simon Johnson. Although European craftsmen and technicians pre-existed, Robert notes in his preface that alchemy (here still referring to the
elixir rather than to the art itself) was unknown in Latin Europe at the time of his writing. The translation of Arabic texts concerning numerous disciplines including alchemy flourished in 12th-century
Toledo, Spain, through contributors like
Gerard of Cremona and
Adelard of Bath. Translations of the time included the
Turba Philosophorum, and the works of
Avicenna and
Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi. These brought with them many new words to the European vocabulary for which there was no previous Latin equivalent. Alcohol,
carboy,
elixir, and
athanor are examples. Meanwhile, theologian contemporaries of the translators made strides towards the reconciliation of faith and experimental rationalism, thereby priming Europe for the influx of alchemical thought. The 11th-century theologian
Anselm of Canterbury put forth the opinion that faith and rationalism were compatible and encouraged rationalism in a Christian context. In the early 12th century,
Peter Abelard followed Anselm's work, laying down the foundation for acceptance of Aristotelian thought before the first works of Aristotle had reached the West. In the early 13th century,
Robert Grosseteste used Abelard's methods of analysis and added the use of observation, experimentation, and conclusions when conducting scientific investigations. Grosseteste also did much work to reconcile Platonic and Aristotelian thinking. Through much of the 12th and 13th centuries, alchemical knowledge in Europe remained centered on translations, and new Latin contributions were not made. The efforts of the translators were succeeded by that of the encyclopaedists. In the 13th century,
Albertus Magnus and
Roger Bacon were the most notable of these, their work summarizing and explaining the newly imported alchemical knowledge in Aristotelian terms. Albertus Magnus, a
Dominican friar, is known to have written works such as the
Book of Minerals where he observed and commented on the operations and theories of alchemical authorities like
Hermes Trismegistus,
pseudo-Democritus, and unnamed alchemists of his time. Albertus critically compared these to the writings of Aristotle and Avicenna, where they concerned the transmutation of metals. From the time shortly after his death through to the 15th century, more than 28 alchemical tracts were misattributed to him, a common practice giving rise to his reputation as an accomplished alchemist. Likewise, alchemical texts have been attributed to Albert's student
Thomas Aquinas. Roger Bacon, a
Franciscan Order friar who wrote on a wide variety of topics, including
optics,
comparative linguistics, and medicine, composed his
Great Work () for as part of a project towards rebuilding the
medieval university curriculum to include the new learning of his time. While alchemy was not more important to him than other sciences and he did not produce allegorical works on the topic, he did consider it and astrology to be important parts of both natural philosophy and theology and his contributions advanced alchemy's connections to
soteriology and
Christian theology. Bacon's writings integrated morality, salvation, alchemy, and the prolongation of life. His correspondence with Clement highlighted this, noting the importance of alchemy to
the papacy. Like the Greeks before him, Bacon acknowledged the division of alchemy into practical and theoretical spheres. He noted that the theoretical lay outside the scope of Aristotle, the natural philosophers, and all Latin writers of his time. The practical confirmed the theoretical, and Bacon advocated its uses in natural science and medicine. In later European legend, he became an
archmage. In particular, along with
Albertus Magnus, he was credited with the forging of a
brazen head capable of answering its owner's questions. Soon after Bacon, the influential work of
Pseudo-Geber (sometimes identified as
Paul of Taranto) appeared. His
Summa Perfectionis remained a staple summary of alchemical practice and theory through the medieval and renaissance periods. It was notable for its inclusion of practical chemical operations alongside sulphur-mercury theory, and the unusual clarity with which they were described. By the end of the 13th century, alchemy had developed into a fairly structured system of belief. Adepts believed in the macrocosm-microcosm theories of Hermes; namely, that processes that affect minerals and other substances could have an effect on the human body (for example, if one could learn the secret of purifying gold, one could use the technique to purify the human
soul). They believed in the four elements and the four qualities as described above, and they had a strong tradition of cloaking their written ideas in a labyrinth of coded
jargon set with traps to mislead the uninitiated. Finally, the alchemists practised their art: they actively experimented with chemicals and made
observations and
theories about how the universe operated. Their entire philosophy revolved around their belief that the human soul was divided within itself after the
fall of Adam. By purifying the two parts of humankind's soul, humans could be reunited with
God. In the 14th century, alchemy became more accessible to Europeans outside the confines of Latin-speaking churchmen and scholars. Alchemical discourse shifted from scholarly philosophical debate to an exposed social commentary on the alchemists themselves.
Dante,
Piers Plowman, and
Chaucer all painted unflattering pictures of alchemists as thieves and liars.
Pope John XXII's 1317 edict
Spondent quas non-exhibent forbade the false promises of transmutation made by pseudo-alchemists. Roman Catholic
Inquisitor General Nicholas Eymerich's
Directorium Inquisitorum, written in 1376, associated alchemy with the performance of demonic rituals, which Eymerich differentiated from magic performed in accordance with
Christian scripture. This did not, however, lead to any change in the
Inquisition's monitoring or prosecution of alchemists. These critiques and regulations centered more around pseudo-alchemical charlatanism than the actual study of alchemy, which continued with an increasingly Christian tone. The 14th century saw the Christian imagery of death and resurrection employed in the alchemical texts of
Petrus Bonus,
John of Rupescissa, and in works written in the name of Raymond Lull and Arnold of Villanova. '', by Joseph Wright, 1771
Nicolas Flamel is a well-known alchemist to the point where he had many
pseudepigraphic imitators. Although the historical Flamel existed, the writings and legends assigned to him only appeared in 1612. A common idea in European alchemy in the medieval era was a metaphysical "
Homeric chain of wise men that link[ed] heaven and earth" that included ancient pagan
philosophers and other important historical figures.
Renaissance and early modern Europe During the
Renaissance, Hermetic and Platonic foundations were restored to European alchemy. The dawn of medical, pharmaceutical,
occult, and entrepreneurial branches of alchemy followed. In the late 15th century,
Marsilio Ficino translated the
Corpus Hermeticum and the works of Plato into Latin. These were previously unavailable to Europeans who for the first time had a full picture of the alchemical theory that Bacon had declared absent.
Renaissance Humanism and
Renaissance Neoplatonism guided alchemists away from
physics to refocus on mankind as the alchemical vessel. Esoteric systems developed that blended alchemy into a broader occult Hermeticism, fusing it with magic, astrology, and
Christian Kabbalah. A key figure in this development was
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486–1535), a German who received his Hermetic education in Italy in the schools of the humanists. In his
De Occulta Philosophia, he attempted to merge
Judaism's
Kabbalah, Hermeticism, and alchemy. He was instrumental in spreading this new blend of Hermeticism outside the borders of Italy.
Paracelsus, born Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim (1493–1541), cast alchemy into a new form, rejecting some of Agrippa's occultism and moving away from
chrysopoeia. Paracelsus pioneered the use of chemicals and minerals in medicine and wrote, "Many have said of Alchemy, that it is for the making of gold and silver. For me such is not the aim, but to consider only what virtue and power may lie in medicines." His Hermetical views were that sickness and health in the body relied on the harmony of humankind as the microcosm and Nature the macrocosm. He took an approach different from those before him, using this analogy not in the manner of soul-purification but in the manner that humans must have certain balances of minerals in their bodies, and that certain illnesses of the body had chemical remedies that could cure them.
Iatrochemistry refers to the pharmaceutical applications of alchemy championed by Paracelsus.
John Dee (13 July 1527 – December 1608) followed Agrippa's occult tradition. Although better known for angel summoning, divination, and his role as
astrologer, cryptographer, and consultant to
Elizabeth I of England, Dee's alchemical
Monas Hieroglyphica, written in 1564 was his most popular and influential work. His writing portrayed alchemy as a sort of terrestrial astronomy in line with the Hermetic axiom
as above, so below. During the 17th century, a short-lived "supernatural" interpretation of alchemy became popular, including support by fellows of the
Royal Society:
Robert Boyle and
Elias Ashmole. Proponents of the supernatural interpretation of alchemy believed that the philosopher's stone might be used to summon and communicate with angels. '', a 1753 statue by
Giuseppe Sanmartino, was widely believed to be created by alchemy. Entrepreneurial opportunities were common for the alchemists of Renaissance Europe. Alchemists were contracted by the elite for practical purposes related to mining, medical services, and the production of chemicals, medicines, metals, and gemstones.
Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, in the late 16th century, famously received and sponsored various alchemists at his court in Prague, including Dee and his associate
Edward Kelley.
King James IV of Scotland,
Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg,
Henry V, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg,
Augustus, Elector of Saxony,
Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn, and
Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel all contracted alchemists. John's son
Arthur Dee worked as a court physician to
Michael I of Russia and
Charles I of England but also compiled the alchemical book
Fasciculus Chemicus. '' (1566–1636) by
Jan Matejko, 1867 Although most of these appointments were legitimate, the trend of pseudo-alchemical fraud continued through the Renaissance.
Betrüger would use sleight of hand, or claims of secret knowledge to make money or secure patronage. Legitimate mystical and medical alchemists such as
Michael Maier and
Heinrich Khunrath wrote about fraudulent transmutations, distinguishing themselves from the
con artists. False alchemists were sometimes prosecuted for fraud. The terms "chemia" and "alchemia" were used as synonyms in the early modern period, and the differences between alchemy, chemistry and small-scale assaying and metallurgy were not as neat as in the present day. There were important overlaps between practitioners, and trying to classify them into alchemists, chemists and craftsmen is anachronistic. For example,
Tycho Brahe (1546–1601), an alchemist better known for his
astronomical and
astrological investigations, had a laboratory built at his
Uraniborg observatory/research institute.
Michael Sendivogius (
Michał Sędziwój, 1566–1636), a
Polish alchemist, philosopher, medical doctor and pioneer of chemistry wrote mystical works but is also credited with distilling
oxygen in a lab sometime around 1600. Sendivogious taught his technique to
Cornelius Drebbel who, in 1621, applied this in a submarine.
Isaac Newton devoted considerably more of his writing to the study of alchemy (see
Isaac Newton's occult studies) than he did to either optics or physics. Other early modern alchemists who were eminent in their other studies include
Robert Boyle, and
Jan Baptist van Helmont. Their Hermeticism complemented rather than precluded their practical achievements in medicine and science.
Later modern period '' The decline of European alchemy was brought about by the rise of modern science with its emphasis on rigorous quantitative experimentation and its disdain for "ancient wisdom". Although the seeds of these events were planted as early as the 17th century, alchemy still flourished for some two hundred years, and in fact may have reached its peak in the 18th century. As late as 1781
James Price claimed to have produced a powder that could transmute mercury into silver or gold. Early modern European alchemy continued to exhibit a diversity of theories, practices, and purposes: "Scholastic and anti-Aristotelian, Paracelsian and anti-Paracelsian, Hermetic, Neoplatonic, mechanistic, vitalistic, and more—plus virtually every combination and compromise thereof."
Robert Boyle (1627–1691) pioneered the scientific method in chemical investigations. He assumed nothing in his experiments and compiled every piece of relevant data. Boyle would note the place in which the experiment was carried out, the wind characteristics, the position of the Sun and Moon, and the barometer reading, all just in case they proved to be relevant. This approach eventually led to the founding of modern chemistry in the 18th and 19th centuries, based on revolutionary discoveries and ideas of
Lavoisier and
John Dalton. Beginning around 1720, a rigid distinction began to be drawn for the first time between "alchemy" and "chemistry". By the 1740s, "alchemy" was now restricted to the realm of gold making, leading to the popular belief that alchemists were charlatans, and the tradition itself nothing more than a fraud. During the occult revival of the early 19th century, alchemy received new attention as an occult science. The esoteric or occultist school that arose during the 19th century held the view that the substances and operations mentioned in alchemical literature are to be interpreted in a spiritual sense, less than as a practical tradition or protoscience. This interpretation claimed that the obscure language of the alchemical texts, which 19th century practitioners were not always able to decipher, were an allegorical guise for spiritual, moral or mystical processes. Atwood's work influenced subsequent authors of the occult revival including
Eliphas Levi,
Arthur Edward Waite, and
Rudolf Steiner. Hitchcock, in his
Remarks Upon Alchymists (1855) attempted to make a case for his spiritual interpretation with his claim that the alchemists wrote about a spiritual discipline under a materialistic guise in order to avoid accusations of blasphemy from the church and state. In 1845, Baron
Carl Reichenbach, published his studies on
Odic force, a concept with some similarities to alchemy, but his research did not enter the mainstream of scientific discussion. In 1946,
Louis Cattiaux published the Message Retrouvé, a work that was at once philosophical, mystical and highly influenced by alchemy. In his lineage, many researchers, including Emmanuel and Charles d'Hooghvorst, are updating alchemical studies in France and Belgium.
Women Several women appear in the earliest history of alchemy.
Michael Maier names four women who were able to make the philosophers' stone:
Mary the Jewess,
Cleopatra the Alchemist,
Medera, and
Taphnutia. Zosimos's sister Theosebia (later known as Euthica the Arab) and
Isis the Prophetess also played roles in early alchemical texts. The first alchemist whose name we know was Mary the Jewess (). Early sources claim that Mary (or Maria) devised a number of improvements to alchemical equipment and tools as well as novel techniques in chemistry. Essentially a double-boiler, it was (and is) used in chemistry for processes that required gentle heating. The tribikos (a modified distillation apparatus) and the kerotakis (a more intricate apparatus used especially for sublimations) are two other advancements in the process of distillation that are credited to her. Although we have no writing from Mary herself, she is known from the early-fourth-century writings of
Zosimos of Panopolis. After the Greco-Roman period, women's names appear less frequently in alchemical literature. Towards the end of the Middle Ages and beginning of the Renaissance, due to the emergence of print, women were able to access the alchemical knowledge from texts of the preceding centuries.
Caterina Sforza, the Countess of Forlì and Lady of Imola, is one of the few confirmed female alchemists after Mary the Jewess. As she owned an apothecary, she would practice science and conduct experiments in her botanic gardens and laboratories. Being knowledgeable in alchemy and pharmacology, she recorded all of her alchemical ventures in a manuscript named ('Experiments'). When combined with white wine, its powder form could be ingested to counteract poison. In the nineteenth-century,
Mary Anne Atwood's
A Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery (1850) marked the return of women during the
occult revival.
Modern historical research The history of alchemy has become a recognized subject of academic study. As the language of the alchemists is analysed, historians are becoming more aware of the connections between that discipline and other facets of Western cultural history, such as the evolution of science and
philosophy, the sociology and psychology of the intellectual communities,
kabbalism,
spiritualism,
Rosicrucianism, and other mystic movements. Institutions involved in this research include The Chymistry of Isaac Newton project at
Indiana University, the
University of Exeter Centre for the Study of Esotericism (EXESESO), the
European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE), and the
University of Amsterdam's Sub-department for the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents. A large collection of books on alchemy is kept in the
Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica in Amsterdam. Journals which publish regularly on the topic of Alchemy include
Ambix, published by the
Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry, and
Isis, published by the
History of Science Society. == Core concepts ==