Michael Sendivogius On Nitre and The Preparation of The Philosopher's Stone
Michael Sendivogius On Nitre and The Preparation of The Philosopher's Stone
Michael Sendivogius On Nitre and The Preparation of The Philosopher's Stone
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By PAULOALVESPORTO*
1
PAULO ALVES PORTO
in the solid state (i. e. fixed) is in accordance with what we know now:
the life-supporting component of air, which is oxygen, is chemically
combined in nitre, or potassium nitrate.s
Szydlo's work was in part based upon the writings of Bugaj9, who was very
concerned to provide an interpretation of the processes described by
Sendivogius in terms of modern chemical theories.1o
Furthermore, Newman recently noted the influence of Sendivogius' 'nitre
theory' on enhancing the importance accorded saltpeter in the seventeenth
century. Newman shows the coherence and explanatory power of the theory,
and how it may have boosted interest in the production and study of nitre
among chymists of the period (especially George Starkey, the subject of
Newman's book).ll
This paper will analyze Sendivogius' preparation of the Philosophers'
Stone in the light of his own theories, suggesting that he was almost certainly
referring to actual laboratory procedures. It also makes a tentative attempt to
rationalize the process in terms of modern chemistry. However, more
importantly, it shows that Sendivogius' 'recipe' for the Philosophers' Stone is
coherent with his theories of matter, and that his 'nitre theory' must be seen
as a part of a conceptual framework that is not readily commensurable with
that of modern chemistry.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
2
MICHAEL SENDIVOGIUS: NITRE & PREPARATION OF THE PHILOSOPHERS' STONE
and built lead smelters in Silesia. The Thirty Years War brought some financial
problems, but Sendivogius seemed to live at ease until his death in 1636.12
After his death, the name of Sendivogius was enshrouded by a number of
fantastic stories, which were accepted as truth until very recently.13 However
that Sendivogius was interested in the possibility of producing gold from less
noble metals is indeed true. His first published work was entitled De lapide
philosophorum tractatus duodecim (1604) (Twelve treatises on the philosophers' stone).
Later editions, some of them including other works, had a different title by
which the book then became better known - Novum lumen chymicum. This work
became highly popular, and was translated into German, English, French,
Russian and Polish.14
I wrote the twelve foregoing treatises in love to the sons of Art, that
before they set their hand to the Work they may know the operation of
Nature, viz. how she produceth things by her working . .. [F] or he
laboureth in vain, that putteth forth his hands to labour without the
knowledge of Nature, in this sacred and most true Art ... 15
3
PAULO ALVES PORTO
impelled through the underground regions, bound for the surface of the
Earth.21 Sendivogius described the seed, this primordial matter, as a 'moist
vapor,.22 In its centrifugal movement, a seed passed through several places,
and depending upon where it stopped, it would generate a different mineral
or metal. Using an analogy, Sendivogius explained the influence of the place
on the transformation of the seed:
... let there be set a vessel of water upon a smooth even table, and be
placed in the middle thereof, and round about it let there be laid divers
things, and divers colours, also salt, and every one apart: then let the
water be poured forth into the middle; and you shall see that water to
run abroad here and there, and when one stream is come to the red
colour, it is made red by it, if to the salt, it takes from it the tast of the
salt, and so of the rest. For the water doth not change the place, but the
diversity of the place changeth the Water. In like manner the seed or
sperm being by the four elements cast forth from the center into the
circumference, passeth through divers places, and according to the
nature of the place it makes things.23
4
MICHAEL SENDIVOGIUS: NITRE & PREPARATION OF THE PHILOSOPHERS' STONE
archeus was the same as the 'central fire', an attentive reading clarifies this
point:
... the Archeus of Nature takes and sublimes it through the pores, and
according to its discretion distributes it to eve~ place ... so from the
variety of places proceeds the variety of things. 0
Thus, the archeus was an autonomous entity, endowed with a kind of 'will'. Fire
or heat, in turn, had a general, non-individualized character capable of
irradiating itself throughout the whole universe. In another passage, Sendivo-
gius clarified the relation between the two entities: the archeus 'governed' the
'central fire' .31We can conclude that the 'central fire' was an instrument used
by the archeus in the exercise of its cosmic action.
MATTER
The origin of the concept of the archeus is attributed to Paracelsus,32 for whom
the term had a somewhat different meaning than it did for Sendivogius. We
can find the archeus as a part of Paracelsus' philosophy of the universe.
According to him, every process of transformation of matter was regarded as
alchemical. Paracelsus called Vulcanus anything that could promote any
transformation of matter, that is, anything that operated alchemically.
Vulcanus could be a human being as well as a kind of natural 'alchemical
spirit' .33For instance, there was a Vulcanus in the Earth that produced grass
and other plants.34 But the blacksmith who changed ore into metal was also a
Vulcanus, as was the peasant who reaped wheat and changed it into bread. Let
us consider now that someone eats the bread. A series of alchemical operations
would occur within the human body, until the final conversion of the matter
of the bread into flesh and blood. According to Paracelsus, these operations
too would be performed by an internal Vulcanus in the microcosm35. This
'inner alchemist' was called the archeus. Like any other Vulcanus, Paracelsus'
archeus was the performer of transformations by means of alchemical
processes.
Alchemy is an art, and vulcanus is the operator therein ... All things are
made as prime matter and subsequently the vulcanus goes over it and
makes it into ultimate matter through the art of alchemy. The archeus,
the inner vulcanus, proceeds in the same way, for he knows how to
circulate and prepare according to the pieces and the distribution, as
the art itself does with sublimation, distillation, reverberation, etc. 36
The concept of the archeus was one that Paracelsus elaborated throughout
his career. In other treatises, one can find the archeus as a kind of 'force'
working in Nature at large, a concept difficult to distinguish from the
Vulcanus, as noted by Walter Pagel. 37 Paracelsus used the archeus, for
instance, when explaining the origin of minerals. In his De mineralibus (written
5
PAULO ALVES PORTO
around 1526) ,38 Paracelsus wrote that water was the 'matrix' in which the
'three principles' - sulphur, mercury and salt - combined to generate
minerals.39 In the same fashion that a man worked upon minerals to extract
metals, or made a tool out of a piece of metal, so in Nature there would be a
manipulative 'power' working upon the 'three principles' within their matrix,
changing them into metals. This alchemical 'power' was the archeus:
6
MICHAEL SENDIVOGIUS: NITRE & PREPARATION OF THE PHILOSOPHERS' STONE
a much more complex idea of the archeus than that circulating among the
majority of chymical philosophers of the period. In conclusion, we may affirm
that archeus, like other Paracelsian terms, acquired several meanings as it
diffused through time and place.
Returning to Sendivogius' work and main goal, it is clear that his speculations
on matter were preliminary measures directed towards justifying the possibility
of preparing the Philosophers' Stone. Since all kinds of matter had their origin
in the four elements and in the three principles, he believed it would be
possible to transform one substance into another. Moreover, Sendivogius
believed that all bodies were formed from seeds. If the seed within a piece of
gold were allowed to 'germinate' in a suitable kind of matter, then a
multiplication of the gold would follow. Within this framework, Sendivogius
developed his theories on the transmutation of metals.
Sendivogius wrote that 'vulgar gold is like an herb without seed; when it is ripe
it brings forth seed. ,48 If so, why was it not usual to see gold's seeds and their
multiplication? According to Sendivogius, gold was not capable of ripening in
the 'crudity' of air, which did not have enough 'heat' to take the process to its
end. He made an analogy: there are orange trees in Italy and other places
which flourish and yield fruits because there is enough heat in those lands.
However, if the same trees were planted in colder places, they would never
bring forth oranges. Thus, to make gold, the artificer should help Nature to do
what it could not by itself. This help was to be given by means of fire. 49
The first step to promote the ripening of gold was to open its pores by
dissolution. This should be done in a natural, non-violent way by means of a
very special 'water'. 50Sendivogius described it as being 'heavenly, not wetting
the hands' .51Ten parts of this water should be mixed with one part of 'living
gold', and the mixture heated up to provide the 'resolution' of the body of
gold, thus leading to the production of the 'radical moisture' of metals. 'Water
of salt-nitre' should then be added to the product, and the new mixture kept
over heat for a long time, during which it should be possible to observe color
changes. When the fluid part of the mixture became capable of 'tingeing' a
piece of iron into gold, the 'milk of the earth' or 'menstruum of the world'
should be added - a liquid that could 'calcine gold'. At this point, Sendivogius
concluded: 'So far reached my experience, I can do no more, I found out no
more,52 - completing his treatment of the preparation of the Philosophers'
Stone.53 The elusiveness of this last sentence is intriguing, for one may wonder
if there was 'more' to be found, and if Sendivogius was communicating only a
partial success. The general tone of the treatise, however, seemed to suggest
that Sendivogius really had the mastery of the Philosophers' Stone:
understand mr
I have been willing here to discover to thee all things; and if thou shalt
7
PAULO ALVES PORTO
Here, the 'water that does not wet hands' is identified as nitre.58 Accepting
this, we can speculate that the first step to obtain the Philosophers' Stone,
according to the process described above, was reacting the 'living gold' with
molten nitre.59 Remember that fire was a privileged instrument to accomplish
what Nature was not able to do by itself; so high temperatures were required.
The name 'living gold' probably meant gold as it is found naturally, that is,
before being fused and worked by the smelter. There is a passage in Novum
8
MICHAEL SENDIVOGIUS: NITRE & PREPARATION OF THE PHILOSOPHERS' STONE
... these [vulgar] metals, especially the gold of the vulgar, are dead, but
ours are living, full of spirit ... [T] he life of metals is fire [of the earth]
whilst thW are yet in their mines; and their death is the fire, viz. of
melting.6
I have ... been forced to the conclusion that iron turns into copper
because, even though copper is precipitated by iron from vitriol and
other coppery solutions, you end up with more copper than the amount
contained in the solutions.64
The idea of transforming lead into silver, however, probably originated in the
fact that it is common to find silver associated with lead ores, particularly
galena.65 The German chymist Johann Rudolph Glauber, for instance,
described a method for obtaining silver from lead in the middle of seventeenth
century. 66 If Sendivogius considered processes like these as transmutations, he
could also count the gilding of a metal as a transmutation.
9
PAULO ALVES PORTO
... the Sun is the center amongst the spheres of the planets; and out of
this center of the heaven it scatters its heat downward by its motion; so
in the center of the Earth is the sun of the Earth, which by its perpetual
motion sends its heat or beams upward to the superficies of the
Earth.68
This symmetry played a very important role in the generation of beings. The
joining of heat and emanations from the celestial Sun with the ones from the
central 'sun' generated life. There was also symmetry between the sea related
to the central sun (i. e., waters upon the earth) and another sea related to the
celestial Sun - the atmosphere.
I have said also that the celestial Sun hath a correspondency with the
central sun ... [F] or heat is easilyjoyned to heat, and salt to salt. And as
the central sun hath its sea, and crude water, that is perceptible; so the
celestial Sun hath its sea, and subtill water that is not perceptible. In the
superficies [of Earth] the beams of the one are joyned to the beams of
the other, and produce flowers, and all things. Therefore when there is
rain made, it receives from the air that power of life, and joyns it with the
salt-nitre of the earth ... 69
10
MICHAEL SENDIVOGIUS: NITRE & PREPARATION OF THE PHILOSOPHERS' STONE
mental analogy: the one between the 'power of life' in the air, governed by the
celestial Sun, and the 'salt-nitre of the earth', related to the central sun. This
nitre was capable of attracting the 'power of life', in the same fashion as a
magnet attracts iron, because of the analogy. This property explains why
Sendivogius also called nitre 'magnet' or chalybs, the Latin word for 'steel'. 70
Sendivogius gave another example: the 'attractive power' of 'salt-nitre of the
earth' was similar to the power of' calcined tartar', that attracts air to itself and
converts it into water.71 He was probably referring to what we nowadays would
call anhydrous potassium carbonate; this substance is deliquescent, so it
absorbs water from moist air and dissolves itself into a saturated solution.72
Mter the union of celestial Sun beams with the heat of the Earth, there
occurs the multiplication of the nitre of the earth due to the assimilation of the
'power of life' contained in the air:
... by how much the more abundantly the beams of the Sun beat upon
it, the greater quantity of salt-nitre is made, and by consequence the
greater plenty of corn grows, and is increased, and this is done
daily. 73
Mter this passage, Sendivogius quoted several names for this entity: 'our salt-
nitre abiding in the sea of the world', and 'our water that wets not our hands,
without which no mortal can live, and without which nothing grows, or is
generated in the whole world' .74 Thus, Sendivogius affirmed the omnipres-
ence of his nitre - in the form of a 'power of life' dwelling in the air, or fixed
in the earth, or in any other body. Elsewhere, Sendivogius pointed out that:
11
PAULO ALVES PORTO
about the chemicals used by Sendivogius were correct - that is, that his 'nitre'
was the same substance we nowadays call 'potassium nitrate'. Even so, to state
that the relation between Sendivogius' 'nitre of the earth' and 'aerial nitre' is
the same as that between our 'potassium nitrate' and 'oxygen' is not accurate
nor particularly useful - taking into account all the conceptual differences.
Sendivogius' idea did originate from some experimental observations, but it
belongs to a world of symmetries and analogies, alien to our own. There was an
'aerial nitre' and a 'nitre of the world' in the same fashion that there was a
celestial Sun and a 'central Sun', the celestial 'ocean' of the atmosphere and
oceans on the earth. For Sendivogius, the explanation for the transmutations
of metals (iron into copper, lead into silver) included analogies with the
position of the planets in the heavens.79 Sendivogius' 'nitres' are not
'substances' in the same sense that oxygen and nitre are for the modern
chemist; they are 'powers of life' , manifestations of a power that nourishes the
whole world. The modern concept of 'oxygen' requires at least an operational
definition of element (that is, a totally different view about materiality), and its
relation to 'potassium nitrate' involves qualitative chemical synthesis and
analysis - 'simple' manipulations of well-defined types of matter that are not an
unveiling of the universal unity. Sendivogius' nitre theory is about correspon-
dences, not about the inter-conversion of chemicals; and it is part of a chymical
philosophy that intended to encompass the whole universe. It cannot be
measured against concepts of a theory of matter that are completely alien to
Sendivogius' own.
Sendivogius had a broad and very appealing project indeed, and the
preparation of the Philosophers' Stone was only part of it. He shared with
many other chymical philosophers the ideal of explaining the whole universe
in chymical terms; in his world system the 'nitre theory' was an essential
feature. Thus, his work was important for stimulating later interest in nitre,
which resulted in studies on the nature, properties and practical applications
of saltpeter. Sendivogius also contributed to the development of theories
about the presence of 'something' in the air that is responsible for the
maintenance of life and combustion. This 'something' could be conceived as
a 'vital power', a 'spirit' or an 'emanation from the stars' - long before it was
identified with a gaseous chemical elementary substance and styled 'oxygen'.
As other historians have already shown, and we mentioned at the beginning of
this paper, those theories were developed throughout the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries'. Sendivogius was not the first proponent of them, but
surely he was important to their propagation. His fame throughout the
seventeenth, and even the eighteenth, century has already been pointed out by
historians of science. Hubicki mentioned several chymical authors who praised
Sendivogius, like Jean Beguin, Croll, Michael Maier and John French. In
addition, Hubicki also lists several other chymists who, according to him, were
influenced by the noble Pole's writings.8o Szydlo pointed out that Sendivogius
was also read by Newton, Boerhaave and Lavoisier.81
It is worth noting, however, that Robert Boyle makes no mention of
12
MICHAEL SENDIVOGIUS: NITRE & PREPARATION OF THE PHILOSOPHERS' STONE
Sendivogius when dealing with the subject of a substance in the air which
would be suitable for respiration and combustion, even when Boyle speculated
about the possibility of a 'volatile nitre' being involved.82 Moreover, the name
of Sendivogius is completely absent from John Mayow's Tractatus Quinque
(1674), where a theory about a 'nitro-aerial spirit' is discussed - although
historians of science have already shown the similarities between Mayow's and
Sendivogius' ideas.83 Debus suggested that this fact may be explained
considering that ideas on an 'aerial nitre', similar to Sendivogius', were
widespread among Paracelsian chymical philosophers. Thus, citations from
specific authors were probably unnecessary for contemporary readers.84
Robert Frank's study on the Oxford group of physiologists also showed that
they were well acquainted with these 'aerial nitre' theories.85 Sendivogius was
certainly one of the authors connected to these ideas, but was not the only
source of them. Therefore, it is useful for understanding this specific chapter
of the history of chemistry to insert Sendivogius into this tradition of chymical
philosophers.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
1 Throughout this paper, I use the terms chymistry, chymicaland chymistsin the sense suggested by
Lawrence Principe and William Newman in their recent paper "Alchemy vs. Chemistry: the
etymological origins of a historiographic mistake," Early Science and Medicine, 3 (1998), 32-65,
on p. 41: ' ... since all the topics we today associate under the two terms "alchemy" and
"chemistry" were indiscriminately classed under either term by early modern writers, we
advocate the use of the archaically-spelt chymistry to express inclusively the undifferentiated
. domain. This usage will help evade the potential arbitrariness and consequent misunderstand-
ings evoked when the terms "alchemy" and "chemistry" are used casually in reference to
activities between the time of the Reformation and the end of the seventeenth century.'
2 H. Guerlac, "The Poet's Nitre: Studies in the Chemistry of john Mayow - II," Isis, 45 (1954),
243-55.
3 The acquaintance of Newton with Sendivogius's works was also indicated, for instance, by B.J.
T. Dobbs, in The Foundations of Newton's Alchemy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1975), p. 152.
4 A. G. Debus, "The Paracelsian Aerial Niter," Isis, 55 (1964),43-61.
5 In another work, Debus focused on Sendivogius' theory of a 'Central Fire' within the Earth,
and its role in earthly phenomena. Sendivogius serves as an exemplary proponent of a
'chemical geocosm' within the Paracelsian tradition. See A. G. Debus, The Chemical Philosophy
(New York: Science History Publications, 1977), vol. 1, pp. 84-96.
6 W. Hubicki, "Michael Sendivogius's Theory, its Origin and Significance in the History of
Chemistry" in Actes du Xe. Congres International d'Histoire des Sciences / Proceedings of the
Tenth International Congress of the History of Science (Ithaca 26/08/1962 - 02/09/1962)
(Paris: Hermann, 1964), vol. 2, pp. 829-33.
13
PAULO ALVES PORTO
7 Ibid., p. 830.
8 Z. Szydlo, "The Alchemy of Michael Sendivogius: His Central Nitre Theory," Ambix, 40 (1993),
129-46, on p. 138.
9 See the notes and references used by Szydlo, ibid., pp. 144-46.
10 See Z. Szydlo, "The Influence of the Central Nitre Theory of Michael Sendivogius on the
Chemical Philosophy of the Seventeenth Century," Ambix, 43 (1996),80-97; and idem, Water
Which Does Not Wet Hands. The Alchemy of Michael Sendivogius (Warsaw: Polish Academy of
Sciences, 1994). Some of Bugaj's and Szydlo's interpretations ofSendivogius' ideas are based
on works of uncertain authenticity, as noted by Principe in his review of Szydlo's Water Which
Does Not Wet Hands in Ambix, 42 (1995),188-89.
11 W. Newman, Gehennical Fire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994), pp. 78-91,
passim.
12 This brief biographic sketch is based on W. Hubicki, "Michael Sendivogius" DSB; idem, "The
True Life of Michael Sendivogius" in Actes du Xie. Congres International d 'His toire des Sciences,
Varsovie-Cracovie 24-31 aout 1965 (Warsaw, 1968), vol. 4, pp. 31- 35; Szydlo, op. cit. (8), pp. 129-
46.
13 See for example,]. Read, Humour and Humanism in Chemistry (London: G. Bell and Sons, 1947),
pp. 50-65; E. Ostachowski, "Michael Sendivogius, the Polish alchemist (1556 - 1636)" in
Archives Internationales d'Histoire des Sciences, Nouvelle Shie d'Archeion, 33 (1954),267-75; R. Hall
and M. B. Hall eds., The Correspondence of Henry Oldenburg, 13 vols (London: Mansell, 1975), vol.
10, p. 406, note 13.
14 W. Hubicki, DSB, vol. 12, p. 308. To produce this paper, we used the English translation byJohn
French, published in 1674.
15 M. Sendivogius, A New Light of Alchymy, tr.]. French (London: A. Clark for Tho. Williams,
1674), p. 40.
16 Ibid., p. 134.
17 Ibid., p. 135.
18 Ibid., p. 146.
19 Ibid., pp. 6-7.
20 Ibid., pp. 34,85-86.
21 Ibid., pp. 6-7.
22 Ibid., pp. 11, 17-18,20.
23 Ibid., pp. 7-8.
24 Ibid., pp. 11-13.
25 Ibid., p. 14.
26 Ibid., pp. 15-17.
27 Ibid., pp. 114, 146.
28 Ibid., p. 9.
29 Ibid., p. 11.
30 Ibid., p. 12.
31 Ibid., p. 90.
32 W. Pagel, Paracelsus, 2nd ed. (Basel: Karger, 1982), p. 105.
33 T. P. Sherlock, "The Chemical Work of Par ace Isus," Ambix, 3 (1948),33-63, on p. 41.
34 Pagel, op. cit. (32), p. 105.
35 That is, the human body, believed to be a synthesis, in miniature, of the universe as a whole (the
macrocosm). Thus, there would be analogies between the parts of both 'cosmos'.
36 Paracelsus, Labyrinthus medicorum errantium, book 5, quoted by Sherlock, op. cit. (33), p. 41; also
in The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of ... Paracelsus the Great, A. E. Waite ed. and tr., 2 vols
(New York: University Books, 1967), vol. 2, pp. 165-67.
37 Pagel, op. cit. (32), p. 106.
38 This date is given by Jolande Jacobi, in Paracelsus - Selected Writings (Bollingen Series XXVIII,
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988), p. 236. The treatise was included in Johannes
Huser's edition of Paracelsus' papers (1589-1590).
39 Parace1sus, A Book about Minerals in The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings ..., op. cit. (36),
vol. 1, pp. 238-39.
40 Ibid., p. 240.
41 A. von Bodenstein, Onomasticon Theophrasti Paracelsi (Basel: Peter Perna, 1575).
42 G. Dorneus, Dictionarium Theophrasti Paracelsi (Francoforti, 1584).
43 M. Ruland, Lexicon alchemiae (Frankfurt: Zachariae Palthenii, 1612).
44 See two of the works attributed to Basil Valentine: Of Natural & Supernatural Things, tr. Daniel
14
MICHAEL SENDIVOGIUS: NITRE & PREPARATION OF THE PHILOSOPHERS' STONE
Cable (London, 1670), pp. 38-39 and 51-52; and Basil Valentine, His Triumphant Chariot of
Antimony, Louis G. Kelly ed. (New York: Garland Publishing, 1990; reprint of the 1678
translation with commentary by Theodore Kirkringius), pp. 48-49.
45 O. Crollius, Discovering the Great and Deep Mysteries of Nature, in Philosophy Reformed and Improved,
tr. Henry Pinnell (London: M. S. for Lodowick Loyd, 1657), pp. 118, 142-143, 146.
46 About the concept of the archeus in Van Helmont, see: J. B. Van Helmont, Ortus medicinae
(Amsterdam: Ludovicum Elzevirium, 1648), pp. 40-41,112-13,548-55; W. Pagel, Joan Baptista
Van Helmont - Reformer of Science and Medicine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982),
pp. 96-102; P. A. Porto, Van Helmont e 0 Conceito de Gas (Sao Paulo: EDUC-EDUSP, 1995), pp.
73-78.
47 There are references to Sendivogius among Van Helmont's writings. For instance: referring to
the 'seeds' within the bodies, Sendivogius wrote: '[T] here is in every body a center, and a place
or the point of the seed or sperm, and it is always the 8200th• part.' (Sendivogius, op. cit. (15),
p. 10). In his Ortus medicinae, Van Helmont wrote: '[E]very seed is (according to the chymist,
Cosmopolita) scarce the 8200[th] part of its body.' (Van Helmont, op. cit. (45) p. 105.)
'Cosmopolita' was a pseudonym traditionally attributed to Sendivogius.
48 Sendivogius, op. cit. (15), p. 28.
49 Ibid., pp. 28-29.
50 The use of 'solvent waters' is an ancient alchemical theme; see, for example, their use in early
medieval alchemical texts: Ana M. Alfonso-Goldfarb, Livro do Tesouro de Alexandre (Petropolis:
Vozes, 1999), p. 148, n. 187.
51 Sendivogius, op. cit. (15), p. 30.
52 Ibid., p. 31.
53 This 'recipe' to prepare the Philosophers' Stone was compiled from three different passages,
in which the process is described with more, although obscure, details: Sendivogius, op. cit.
(15), pp. 28-30 (tenth of the "Twelve Treatises," containing the 'theoretical part' of the
process); pp. 30-31 (beginning of the eleventh treatise, the 'practical part') and pp. 42-43
(part of the "Epilogue or Conclusion of these Twelve Treatises").
54 Sendivogius, op. cit. (15), pp. 31-32.
55 Szydlo, op. cit. (8), p. 145, n. 9.
56 Principe, op. cit. (10), pp. 188-89.
57 Quoted by Szydlo, op. cit. (8), pp. 140-41.
58 Nitre crystallizes as needle-shaped, colorless, transparent crystals; their appearance may have
suggested the analogy with water.
59 Sendivogius wrote that the mixture should be heated over fire, and it would turn into a 'dry
liquor' (op. cit. (15), pp. 30 - 31). Perhaps he was referring to a waterless liquid, like fused
nitre.
60 Sendivogius, op. cit. (15), p. 10.
61 Szydlo, op. cit. (8), pp. 131-33.
62 Sendivogius, op. cit. (15), p. 27.
63 C. Singer et al. eds., A History of Technology, 8 vols (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957), vol. 2, p.
11.
64 L. Ercker Treatise on Ores and Assaying, tr. from the German edition of 1580 by A. G. Sisco and
C. S. Smith (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1951), p. 223.
65 C. Klein and C. S. HurlbutJr., Manual of Mineralogy, after J. D. Dana, 20th ed. (New York:John
Wiley and Sons, 1985), p. 274.
66 J. R. Glauber, The Works, tr. Christopher Packe (London, 1689), pp. 403-4.
67 Pagel, op. cit. (32), pp. 214-15, n. 45.
68 Sendivogius, op. cit. (15), p. 33.
69 Ibid., p. 44.
70 Ibid., pp. 27, 42.
71 Ibid., pp. 44-45.
72 As has already been noted by Szydlo, op. cit. (8), p. 136.
73 Sendivogius, op. cit. (15), p. 45.
74 It was a common belief, in the seventeenth century, that saltpeter could multiply itself within
the earth. This belief originated from the observation that certain 'nitrous earths' after the
extraction of their nitre with water, after some years yielded nitre again. The process required
the mixture of organic matter with the earth. Procedures for the artificial production of
saltpeter by this method were described as early as 1405, and they are present in some of the
most popular technical treatises of the sixteenth century: V. Biringuccio's Pyrotechnia, G.
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PAULO ALVES PORTO
Agricola's De re metallica and L. Ercker's Treatise on Ores and Assaying. The belief that something
in the air took part in the process was also widespread, according to the testimony of Robert
Boyle (1627 - 1691): ' ... Seems evident from that notable practice of the boylers of salt-petre,
who unanimously observe, as well here in England as in other countries, that if an earth
pregnant with nitre be deprived, by the affusion of water, of all its true and dissoluble salt, yet
the earth will after some years yeeld them salt-petre again ... Though I deny that some volatile
nitre may by such earths be attracted (as they speak) out of the air ...' [R. Boyle, The Sceptical
Chymist, Everyman's Library (London:]. M. Dent & Sons, 1911), pp. 194-95.] See the study of
A. R. Williams on the production of saltpeter from artificial 'nitre-beds', with an explanation
about the role of the materials used in the period (lime, urine, dung and earth) and of the
bacteria, from the point of view of modern science ("The Production of Saltpetre in the Middle
Ages," Ambix, 22 (1975), 125-~3). On ancient uses of saltpeter and other nitrogen compounds,
see: Maria H. Roxo-Beltran, "Acido Nitrico: uma poderosa agua dissolutiva; " Alfonso-Goldfarb,
"As compilac;oes hermeticas e a recuperac;ao de compostos de nitrogenio em receituarios
antigos; " and idem, Roxo-Beltran and Marcia H. M. Ferraz, "Compostos de nitrogenio: urn
mapeamento historico" in 20a. Reuniiio Anual da SBQ - Livro de Resumos, vol. 3 (Sao Paulo:
Sociedade Brasileira de Quimica, 1997), pp. HQ04 - HQ07.
75 Sendivogius, op. cit. (15), p. 98.
76 Ibid.
77 Cf. Ibid., p. 45.
78 As Hubicki, op. cit. (6), p. 830, and Szydlo, op. cit. (8), p. 138, suggested.
79 Sendivogius, op. cit. (15), pp. 26-27.
80 Hubicki, op. cit. (6), pp. 830-31.
81 Szydlo, 'The influence ... ," op. cit. (10), pp. 80 and 94.
82 Hubicki, op. cit.(6), p. 832.
83 Guerlac, op. cit. (2); idem, 'John Mayow and the Aerial Nitre: Studies on the Chemistry of John
Mayow - I" in Actes du Septieme Congres d'Histoire des Sciences Uerusalem, 1953), pp. 332-49;
Szydlo, "The influence .," op. cit. (10).
84 Debus, op. cit. (4), pp. 60-61.
85 Robert G. FrankJr., Harvey and the Oxford Physiologists (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1980).
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