The alchemy of the sixteenth and the seventeenth
centuries represents a fusion of many seemingly dis-
parate themes derived from ancient and medieval Near
and Far
Eastern sources. A simple definition is difficult
if not impossible. The
alchemists always maintained
a special interest in the changes of matter and surely
most of
them accepted the concept of transmutation,
but there were other
significant strains evident in al-
chemical
thought as well. Important among these was
the early and persistent belief
that the study of alchemy
had a special role in medicine through the
preparation
of remedies and the search for the prolongation of life.
In addition to this was the belief that alchemy was
the fundamental science
for the investigation of nature.
And yet, if the alchemists spoke
repeatedly of experi-
ence and observation as
the true keys to nature, they
also maintained a fervent belief in a
universe unified
through the relationship of the macrocosm and the
microcosm—a relationship that of necessity tied this
science to
astrology. The alchemists were convinced
further that their search for the
truths of nature might
be conceived in terms of a religious quest which
would
result in a greater knowledge of the Creator. It is not
surprising then to find a late sixteenth-century author
defining medicine
as “the searching out of the secretes
of nature,” a
goal that was to be accomplished by resort
to “mathematicall and
supernaturall precepts, the ex-
ercise whereof
is Mechanicall, and to be accomplished
with labor.” Having thus
defined medicine, he went
on to state that the real name of this art was
simply
chemistry or alchemy (Bostocke, 1585).
In short, while few would deny that there were
elements of modern science in
alchemy, it is also true
that this was a study permeated with a
mysticism
foreign to the post-Newtonian world.
