Secrets of Alchemy
Alchemy, the "Noble Art", conjures up scenes of mysterious, dimly lit laboratories populated with bearded old men stirring cauldrons. Though the history of alchemy is intricately linked to the history of chemistry, alchemy has nonetheless often been dismissed as the realm of myth and magic, or fraud and pseudoscience. And while its themes and ideas persist in some expected and unexpected places, from the Philosophers' (or Sorcerer's) Stone of "Harry Potter" to the self-help mantra of transformation, there has not been a serious, accessible, and up-to-date look at the complete history and influence of alchemy until now.
In "The Secrets of Alchemy", Lawrence M. Principe, one of the world's leading authorities on the subject, brings alchemy out of the shadows and restores it to its important place in human history and culture. By surveying what alchemy was and how it began, developed, and overlapped with a range of ideas and pursuits, Principe illuminates the practice. He vividly depicts the place of alchemy during its heyday in early modern Europe, and then explores how alchemy has fit into wider views of the cosmos and humanity, touching on its enduring place in literature, fine art, theater, and religion as well as its recent acceptance as a serious subject of study for historians of science. In addition, he introduces the reader to some of the most fascinating alchemists, such as Zosimos and Basil Valentine, whose lives dot alchemy's long reign from the third century and down to the present day. Through his exploration of alchemists and their times, Principe pieces together closely guarded clues from obscure and fragmented texts to reveal alchemy's secrets, and – most exciting for budding alchemists – uses them to recreate many of the most famous recipes in his lab, including those for the "glass of antimony" and "philosophers' tree". This unique approach brings the reader closer to the actual work of alchemy than any other book.
A concise but illuminating history, "The Secrets of Alchemy" is written for anyone drawn to the alchemical arts, those who are fascinated by the science as well as the fantastic stories and mysterious practitioners.
Content
Introduction: What Is Alchemy?
1. Origins: Greco-Egyptian Chemeia
2. Development: Arabic al-K?miya'
3. Maturity: Medieval Latin Alchemia
4. Redefinitions, Revivals, and Reinterpretations: Alchemy from the Eighteenth Century to the Present
5. The Golden Age: Practicing Chymistry in the Early Modern Period
6. Unveiling the Secrets
7. The Wider Worlds of Chymistry
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
Lawrence M. Principe is the Drew Professor of the Humanities in the Department of the History of Science and Technology and the Department of Chemistry at Johns Hopkins University. His books include "Alchemy Tried in the Fire: Starkey, Boyle, and the Fate of Helmontian Chymistry", also published by the University of Chicago Press.
Reviews
"'The Secrets of Alchemy' comes closer than any other single work to explaining the grounds – rational and empirical, as well as religious and wishful – for alchemy's longevity. Lawrence Principe's delightful writing style brings to life a depth of learning matched by few in the field. This expertise, coupled with the author's determination to strip his topic of anachronism, sets 'The Secrets of Alchemy' apart from the usual introductory tome. After comments on alchemy's lingering popular appeal (think Harry Potter and 'Fullmetal Alchemist'), Principe engages with the misconceptions that have long dogged his subject, particularly its association with magic, mysticism and quackery. A key premise of the book is that these are often modern associations. To understand how alchemy 'worked' for its practitioners, we must meet them on their own terms" – Nature
"A historian of science and practicing chemist, Lawrence M. Principe provides a dazzling account of how scholarly opinion on the relationship between alchemy and chemistry has transformed in the last four decades. In the process he brings chemical knowledge and historical detective work to a subject that has too readily been dismissed as fraudulent nonsense" – New Scientist
"A work that edifies and entertains... Chemistry is at the heart of Lawrence Principe's effort, and his deft use of the discipline in his historical research is one of the book's principal strengths... Principe's attempts to replicate alchemy in a modern laboratory yield strange, wondrous, and yet thoroughly explicable phenomena" – Bookforum
"Lawrence Principe has produced a work that is eminently readable and that sacrifices none of its critical edge or erudition... It's precisely the fact that alchemy is such an elusive target, and such a melange of the practical and the ridiculous, the physical and the metaphysical, that makes Principe's book so engaging. 'The Secrets of Alchemy' is one of those rare books that, in the best possible sense, asks many more questions than it can answer, with each answered question suggesting a host of other lines of thought" – Los Angeles Review of Books
"The absence of a modern history of alchemy that is at both scholarly and accessible has been perplexing and frustrating. But at last this gap is filled, and by one of the experts best qualified to do so. Lawrence M. Principe's survey is not just reliable and engaging but an essential corrective to the many depictions that romanticize, misdirect, or muddy our view of what alchemy was about. Principe's erudite demystification will enable alchemy to take its proper place as an important stage in the evolution of technology, science, and our understanding of the world" – Philip Ball, author of "Shapes: Natures Patterns: A Tapestry in Three Parts"
"The book's greatest accomplishment is its depiction of the values and assumptions that formed the alchemical worldview, and how they preceded, coexisted with, and led to a structured scientific methodology. In the sections most entertaining for general readers, Principe recreates various alchemical recipes. As a clear elucidation of a fascinating but, by its nature, obscure topic, this book will appeal to those interested in the history of science" – Library Journal
"Making sense out of alchemy is nearly as consuming and difficult a project as making gold with it. Lawrence M. Principe has the requisite clarity of mind and purity of heart, as well as a willingness to risk getting burned (literally!). 'The Secrets of Alchemy' is an eminently lucid treatment of a tenebrous subject, at once learned and reader-friendly, and enormously winning" – John Crowley, author of "Little, Big"
"With his characteristic erudition, wit, and lucid prose, Lawrence M. Principe synthesizes the explosion of new scholarship in the history of alchemy and makes it available to a wider public. This is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the historical ideas, practices, and personalities at the heart of this centuries-old tradition, as well as the cultural forces that have shaped how we understand alchemy today" – Tara Nummedal, Brown University
