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Robert Boyle as a sceptical alchemist

100%
Mierzecki R.
Analecta. Studia i Materiały z Dziejów Nauki
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2004
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vol. 13
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issue 1-2(25-26)
123-183
EN
The article contains ample fragments of Robert Boyle's dissertation, The Sceptical Chymist, which have been translated into Polish for the first time. Boyle adopts the position of a sceptic in order to criticize, or even in fact to reject the view of the followers of Aristotle and Paracelsus on the nature and number of elements of which all substances were to be composed of. He lists in detail the conditions that must be met by a substance for it to be recognized as a chemical element, but he gives no concrete example of a substance which would meet such conditions. It is for that reason that Aristotelian conception of four elements lingered on in chemistry for another one hundred years. Unlike most other naturalists of his times, Boyle adhered to the corpuscular view of the texture of matter and it was from such a perspective that he criticized the Aristotelian view of fire as a purifying factor, i.e. a factor that linked similar things and separated dissimilar ones. In Boyle's view, fire - or strictly speaking elevated temperature - fragmented a substance into small corpuscules, which might then combine in many ways, recreating the original substance, or forming a new one. Also espousing a corpuscular approach, Boyle argued that as a result of crystallization and distillation of liquid mixtures, the original components of a mixture could be isolated or a new substance might be formed. In such cases Boyle used the term 'compound', but he did so in a general sense, for in the 18th century the meaning of the term was not determined to the extent that it is nowadays.
2
Content available remote

The history of the narcotic element

100%
Lichocka H.
Analecta. Studia i Materiały z Dziejów Nauki
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2004
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vol. 13
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issue 1-2(25-26)
113-121
EN
The notion of narcotic element functioned in science for less than a hundred years, so the history of the origin and development of this concept is but an episode in the many centuries of history of science. For that reason it may have escaped the attention of researchers. Just like other substances that were once called vegetable elements, the narcotic element occupies very little space in the historiography of chemistry and pharmacy. At the break of the 18th and 19th centuries, its concept constituted one of the hardest problems to solve in phytochemistry. Ample evidence for that is supplied by historical sources in the form of original scientific studies from the 18th century and the initial decades of the 19th century. Those studies were published as books, or as contributions to scientific journals in the field of chemistry and pharmacy, which began to appear in European countries at that time. Attempts to isolate and identify the narcotic element constituted an important direction in the development of knowledge on the chemical components of plants, especially poisonous and intoxicating plants. Such attempts were the immediate and today almost altogether forgotten cause of the discovery of narcotine, morphine and other alkaloids. In the light of those discoveries, it became obvious that there was not one but many substances that had an intoxicating effect on human and animal organisms. The concept of a narcotic element thus ceased to be necessary. From the 1820s onwards, it began to appear in literature less and less frequently. Thus, the existence of an element which, just like the elements of Aristotle or later the triada prima of Paracelsus, was a carrier of a property, came to end. This element was the product and at the same time one of the last remaining vestiges of alchemy, which corroborates the opinion that, for many centuries, until the beginning of the 19th century, alchemy had constituted a very important chapter in the history of thought.
3

Hermetyzm w filozofii Isaaca Newtona

100%
Sytnik-Czetwertyński J.
Kwartalnik Filozoficzny
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2015
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vol. 43
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issue 2
151-167
EN
The place of alchemy in Isaac Newton’s thought is very interesting. Many historians do not believe that alchemy plays any significant role in his philosophy. According to them, its role is entirely minor. This article tries to show that Newton took alchemy very seriously and was even fascinated by it. He looked to alchemy for answers to the most important philosophical questions: about the ether, the primitive particles of nature, and even about God. His alchemical experiments have a very interesting, scientific context.
4

ALCHEMY, TALISMAN AND MYSTIQUE IN WEST AFRICA

75%
Moumouni S.
Asian and African Studies
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2010
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vol. 19
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issue 2
351-366
EN
Alchemy, as an expression of an 'abstract' and 'popular' culture, practised in the underworlds of professionals (craftsmen, magicians, healers, pharmacists, etc.), has not drawn yet much attention of African scholars. The aim of the paper is to show the importance of alchemy in the history of Africa to the South of the Sahara. Data from written sources and information collected on the mystical knowledge will be analysed to show the practice of alchemy and the techniques of development of the magic formulas. As to the source of the doctrines it is certain that alchemy, being of divine essence, proceeds from the knowledge of the prophets who hold the keys to them and communicate them to their followers. Like their Eastern and Maghrebian colleagues, West African alchemists, while Islamising and Arabising themselves, enriched the practice of alchemy with knowledge coming from the different civilisations. The aim is to identify old and current spiritual perspectives for these magic-syncretistic practices constituting the common heritage of the religious culture.
5

ROZBOR TOPOGRAFIE V SPISE ALCHIDEMIA MAGISTRI FRIDERICI AE DE FERREA PORTA Z ROKU 1573

63%
Jesenský M., Hronček P.
Historický časopis (Historical Journal)
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2020
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vol. 68
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issue 1
125 – 135
EN
The study analyses the historical topography given in the text Alchidemia magistri Friderici ae de ferrea porta by Joannes Sobieslavensis from 1573. This unique 123 page historical document is kept in the State Scientific Library in Prešov in the collection coming from the historic Szirmay Library of the Evangelical College. The first part of the manuscript gives alchemistic recipes of the period, but the second provides a detailed description of localities, where it is possible to obtain particular natural raw materials for alchemistic experiments, and their accessibility. The text presents in detail the historic place names in connection with the wider geographical context of the region of the Vysoké Tatry, Belianske Tatry, Liptov, Pieniny, Spiš mountains, Nízke Tatry and Malá Fatra, as well as part of the territory of Poland around Babá and Barná Góra. From the point of view of historical value, it is one of the oldest surviving texts giving exact geographical descriptions of mountain ranges, area names, water courses, lakes and settlements in the territory of Slovakia. The uniqueness of the document lies in the fact that the individual place names are almost all given in their “Slovak” linguistic form.
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