https://bonnie-allison.pixels.com/featured/muse-bonnie-allison.html?product=framed-print
MATHAMATIC, MAGIC, MEDICINE
WHEN WE SAY THAT ALCHEMY HAD A LONG HISTORY, GOING BACK TO THE ANCIENT MIDDLE EASTER CIVILIZATIONS, WE MEAN IT HAD A LONG WRITTEN HISTORY, ALCHEMY LMOST CERTAINLY HAD A MUCH LONGER PREHISTORY, BACK TO THE START OF WORK WITH METAL AND PROBABLY BEYOND: ONLY IN THE LKAST FEW MILLENNIA HAS ALCHEMICAL THOUGHT BEEN WRITTEN DOWN, IT MAY VE THAT THE WORD ALDCHEMY DERIVES FROM ARABIC WHICH IS APPROPRIATE AS THE ARAV WORLD WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS IN ALCHEMY, SOME OF WHICH DERIVED FROM GREEK PRECEDENTS THAT WERE TRANSMITTED TO EUROPE THROUGH THE TRANSLATION OF ARABRIC MANUSCRIPTS FROM THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY CE ONWARDS. ALCHEMY WAS COMOUNDED OF A SERIES OF CROSS-CULTURAL LINKS BETWEEN MESOPOTAMIA AND EGYPT, BUT ALSO BEWEEN INDIA AND CHINA, ALTHOUGH LINKS VEWEEN EAST AND WEST ARE STILL TO BE FULLY EXPLORED.
DURING THE RENAISSANCE THE FULL HERMETIC AND NEOPLATONIC BASIS OF ALCHEMY WAS UNDERSTOOD THROUGH THEORIES OF CORRESPONDENCEL HERE ALCHEMY APPROACHED MEDICINE, THOUGH THE PRACTICE OF SO CALLED IATROCHEMISTRY(IATROS IS GREEK FOR 'DOCTOR')
A CENTRAL INFLUENCE WAS PARACELUS (1493-1541), WHO COMBINED ASTROLOGICAL CALCULATIONS AS A MEANS OF DIAGNOSIS WITH A VARIETY OF MODES O CURE, MANY BASED ON CHEMICAL KNOWLEDGE SOURCED FROM MEDIEVAL ALCHEMY. PARACELUSUS REFORMULATED THE MEDIEVAL THEORY OF HUMOURS TO ARGUE THAT THE CRUCIAL BALANCE IN THE HUMAN BODY WAS VETEEN THE HUMOURS OF SALT WHICH PROMOTED STAVILITY, SULPHUR (COMBUSTIBILITY) AND MERCURY (LIQUIDITY), AND SAID THAT ILLNESWS AROSE WHEN ON HUMOUR VECAME SEPARATED FROM THE OTHER THREE, WHERE PARACELSUS STARTED TO DIVERGE FROM ALCHEMICAL AND ASTROLOGICAL APPROACHES TO MEDICINE WAS IN HIS GROWING BELIEF THAT SOME TYPED OF ILLNESS WERE A RESULT OF ATTACKS FROM AGENTS OUTSIDE THE BODY. IN THIS THE PREFIGURED GERM THEORYL. PARACELSUS WAS INTERESTED IN SYPHILIS, RELATIVELY NEWLY INTRODUCED FROM THE AMERICAS AND DEVELOPED LAUDANUM FROM AN OPIUM BASE TO HELP WITH PAIN; HAVING FOLLOWED CORRESPONNDENCE THEORY ENERGETICALLY, HE IS NOW FAMOS FOR THE WEAPON SALVEL. IF SOMEONE WAS STABBLED BY A DAGGER PARACELSUS WOULD TREAT THE WOUND WITH CHEMNICAL COMPOUND, BUT THEN ALSO APPLY THE SAME SALVE TO THE DAGGER THAT WAS RESOONSIVLE IN THE HOPE THAT THE SALVING THE DAGGER WOULD ASDO SPEED UP THE HEALING OF THE WOUND.PARACELSUS WAS CLEARY NOT A STUPID MAN AND ALTHOUGH APPLING OINTMENT TO THE DAGGER SEEMS VIZARRE TO US, IT SHOWS THE POWER OF THE LOGIC OF CORRESPONDENCE THAT SO MANY PEOPLE FOLLOWED IN THAT CENTURY.
Alchemy (from Arabic: al-kīmiyā; from Ancient Greek: khumeía)[1] is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe.[2] In its Western form, alchemy is first attested in a number of pseudepigraphical texts written in Greco-Roman Egypt during the first few centuries AD.[3]
Alchemists attempted to purify, mature, and perfect certain materials.[2][4][5][n 1] Common aims were chrysopoeia, the transmutation of "base metals" (e.g., lead) into "noble metals" (particularly gold);[2] the creation of an elixir of immortality;[2] and the creation of panaceas able to cure any disease.[6] The perfection of the human body and soul was thought to result from the alchemical magnum opus ("Great Work").[2] The concept of creating the philosophers' stone was variously connected with all of these projects.
Islamic and European alchemists developed a basic set of laboratory techniques, theories, and terms, some of which are still in use today. They did not abandon the Ancient Greek philosophical idea that everything is composed of four elements, and they tended to guard their work in secrecy, often making use of cyphers and cryptic symbolism. In Europe, the 12th-century translations of medieval Islamic works on science and the rediscovery of Aristotelian philosophy gave birth to a flourishing tradition of Latin alchemy.[2] This late medieval tradition of alchemy would go on to play a significant role in the development of early modern science (particularly chemistry and medicine).[7]
Modern discussions of alchemy are generally split into an examination of its exoteric practical applications and its esoteric spiritual aspects, despite criticisms by scholars such as Eric J. Holmyard and Marie-Louise von Franz that they should be understood as complementary.[8][9] The former is pursued by historians of the physical sciences, who examine the subject in terms of early chemistry, medicine, and charlatanism, and the philosophical and religious contexts in which these events occurred. The latter interests historians of esotericism, psychologists, and some philosophers and spiritualists. The subject has also made an ongoing impact on literature and the arts.
*Some articles taken from selected reading materials are the sole property of the authors listed. In no way are these articles credited to this site. The material presented is only a brief presentation of writings from the publisher & producer of each article.
