History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, Volume II (of 2): Revised EditionDraper, John William
History
History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, Volume II (of 2): Revised Edition
Draper, John William
Europe -- Civilization
[Sidenote: Minor alchemists of England, France, and Germany.] A number
of less conspicuous though not unknown names succeed to Bacon. There is
Raymond Lully, who was said to have been shut up in the Tower of London
and compelled to make gold for Edward II.; Guidon de Montanor, the
inventor of the philosopher's balm; Clopinel, the author of the "Romance
of the Rose;" Richard the Englishman, who makes the sensible remark that
he who does not join theory to practice is like an ass eating hay and
not reflecting on what he is doing; Master Ortholan, who describes very
prettily the making of nitric acid, and approaches to the preparation of
absolute alcohol under the title of the quintessence of wine; Bernard de
Treves, who obtained much reputation for the love-philters he prepared
for Charles V. of France, their efficacy having been ascertained by
experiments made on servant-girls; Bartholomew, the Englishman who first
described the method of crystallizing and purifying sugar; Eck de
Sulzbach, who teaches how metallic crystallizations, such as the tree of
Diana, a beautiful silvery vegetation, may be produced. He proved
experimentally that metals, when they oxidize, increase in weight; and
says that in the month of November, A.D. 1489, he found that six pounds
of an amalgam of silver heated for eight days augmented in weight three
pounds. The number is, of course, erroneous, but his explanation is very
surprising. "This augmentation of weight comes from this, that a spirit
is united with the metal; and what proves it is that this artificial
cinnabar, submitted to distillation, disengages that spirit." He was
within a hair's-breadth of anticipating Priestley and Lavoisier by three
hundred years.
[Sidenote: Augurelli, the poetical alchemist.] The alchemists of the
sixteenth century not only occupied themselves with experiment; some of
them, as Augurelli, aspired to poetry. He undertook to describe in Latin
verses the art of making gold. His book, entitled "Chrysopoeia," was
dedicated to Leo X., a fact which shows the existence of a greater
public liberality of sentiment than heretofore. It is said that the
author expected the Holy Father to make him a handsome recompense, but
the good-natured pope merely sent him a large empty sack, saying that he
who knew how to make gold so admirably only needed a purse to put it in.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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