Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- List of abbreviations
- Illustrations
- Introduction
- Part I Ancient texts
- Part II Islamic and medieval texts
- Part III Renaissance and seventeenth-century texts
- 18 PARACELSUS (1493–1541): From Of the Nature of Things and Paracelsus His Aurora
- 19 FRANCIS ANTHONY (1550–1603): Aurum-Potabile: or the Receit of Dr. Fr. Antonie
- 20 MICHAEL SENDIVOGIUS (1566–1636 or 1646): From A New Light of Alchymie and A Dialogue between Mercury, the Alchymist and Nature
- 21 ROBERT FLUDD (1574–1637): From the Mosaicall Philosophy
- 22 GABRIEL PLATTES (first half of seventeenth century): A Caveat for Alchymists
- 23 JOHN FRENCH (1616?–1657): Preface to The Divine Pymander of Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus in XVII Books
- 24 GEORGE STARKEY/EIRENAEUS PHILALETHES (1628–1665?): The Admirable Efficacy, and almost incredible Virtue of true Oyl; From An Exposition Upon Sir George Ripley's Epistle to King Edward IV
- 25 ELIAS ASHMOLE (1617–1692): From the “Prolegomena” to the Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum
- 26 ROBERT BOYLE (1627–1691): From An Historical Account of a Degradation of Gold Made by an Anti-Elixir: A Strange Chymical Narative
- 27 SIR ISAAC NEWTON (1642–1727): The Key (Keynes MS 18); The Commentary on the Emerald Tablet (Keynes MS 28)
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
26 - ROBERT BOYLE (1627–1691): From An Historical Account of a Degradation of Gold Made by an Anti-Elixir: A Strange Chymical Narative
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- List of abbreviations
- Illustrations
- Introduction
- Part I Ancient texts
- Part II Islamic and medieval texts
- Part III Renaissance and seventeenth-century texts
- 18 PARACELSUS (1493–1541): From Of the Nature of Things and Paracelsus His Aurora
- 19 FRANCIS ANTHONY (1550–1603): Aurum-Potabile: or the Receit of Dr. Fr. Antonie
- 20 MICHAEL SENDIVOGIUS (1566–1636 or 1646): From A New Light of Alchymie and A Dialogue between Mercury, the Alchymist and Nature
- 21 ROBERT FLUDD (1574–1637): From the Mosaicall Philosophy
- 22 GABRIEL PLATTES (first half of seventeenth century): A Caveat for Alchymists
- 23 JOHN FRENCH (1616?–1657): Preface to The Divine Pymander of Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus in XVII Books
- 24 GEORGE STARKEY/EIRENAEUS PHILALETHES (1628–1665?): The Admirable Efficacy, and almost incredible Virtue of true Oyl; From An Exposition Upon Sir George Ripley's Epistle to King Edward IV
- 25 ELIAS ASHMOLE (1617–1692): From the “Prolegomena” to the Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum
- 26 ROBERT BOYLE (1627–1691): From An Historical Account of a Degradation of Gold Made by an Anti-Elixir: A Strange Chymical Narative
- 27 SIR ISAAC NEWTON (1642–1727): The Key (Keynes MS 18); The Commentary on the Emerald Tablet (Keynes MS 28)
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Like Sir Isaac Newton whose work concludes this collection, the alchemical interests and writings of Robert Boyle have undergone major reevaluation in recent years. For more than two and a half centuries following his death in 1691, Boyle's alchemical pursuits were conveniently overlooked by scientists and historians alike, who preferred to see him in a more rational, progressive, “mechanistic” light that precluded attention to such antiquated “occult” thought systems as alchemy. Consequently, beginning with the eighteenth century, little serious concern was shown for the Sceptical Chymist (1661) and the work included here, An Historical Account of a Degradation of Gold (1678), which were deemed unsuitable pastimes for the “Father of Modern Chemistry.”
This stereotypical portrait of a “Newtonized,” “Enlightenment” Boyle began to evaporate in the last decades of the twentieth century through the efforts of a new generation of scholars and editors, led by Michael Hunter and Lawrence M. Principe. The thesis of Principe's recent book, The Aspiring Adept: Robert Boyle and his Alchemical Quest, for example, is that Boyle's alchemical interests “were serious and persistent, constituting a significant and influential dimension of his life, thought, and works” (12). Moreover, his alchemy was of a distinctly traditional type, grounded in chrysopoeia or gold-making through use of the philosopher's stone. In short, Boyle the alchemist writes as an “adept,” including use of secret codes, and – most remarkable of all – he displays keen interest in connections between alchemy and the supernatural world (Principe 188-213).
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- The Alchemy ReaderFrom Hermes Trismegistus to Isaac Newton, pp. 234 - 242Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003