Published by Maney Publishing (c) Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry

16 Pages·2011·1.5 MB·English

A\1BIX, Vol. 48, Part 1,March 2001
MICHAEL SENDIVOGIUS ON NITRE AND THE PREPARATION OF
THE PHILOSOPHERS' STONE
By PAULOALVESPORTO*
MICHAELSendivogius (1566-1636) wasahighly respected author among those
y interested in alchemical themes in the seventeenth-century. The influence of
r
mist his ideas on the chymistsl of this period has already been suggested by
e historians of science such as Henry Guerlac, Allen Debus, Wlodzimierz
h
C Hubicki, Roman Bugaj, Zbigniew Szydlo and William Newman. It is the
d purpose of this paper to show how Sendivogius used his chymical philosophy
n
a - built upon symmetries and analogies - to explain chemical observational
y
m data. We are not looking for 'modern' ideas in Sendivogius' work, but for
e
h internal coherence. This analysisplaces Sendivogius in atradition ofchymical
c
Al thinking of the late-sixteenth and early-seventeenth centuries - in which
of laboratory observations could be seen asglimpses of the analogies connecting
y all parts of the universe. Moreover, it may clarify why some of Sendivogius'
r
o
st ideas- on nitre, on the development of'seeds ofminerals' within the earth, on
Hi transmutation and on the structure of matter - were so influential among
he seventeenth-century chymists.
r t Guerlac2 pointed to Sendivogius as the probable founder of the sev-
o
y f enteenth-century idea about an 'aerial nitre' - a substance in the air that
et would playa role in the processes of combustion, respiration, plant growth,
ci
o thunder and lightning, and many other phenomena. Variations on this theory
S
) were embraced by John Mayow, Robert Hooke, Robert Boyle, and Isaac
c
( Newton,3 among several other contemporary authors. Debus4 went deeper
g
n into the origins ofthe concept ofan 'aerial nitre', arguing that one could find
hi
s its embryo in the Paracelsian corpus of the sixteenth century. Following
bli Guerlac, Debus recognized that Sendivogius was connected to the early
u
P elaboration of this theory, but he argued that even earlier roots could be
y
e traced, and that other authors such asJoseph Du Chesne, or Quercetanus
n
a (-1544-1609), were probably asimportant to the propagation ofthe theory as
M
y Sendivogius.5 Therefore, Debus disagreed with the opinion of Hubicki,6 who
b claimed originality for Sendivogius' 'nitre theory'. In hisattempt to emphasize
d
e Sendivogius' role in the history of science, Hubicki used overly assertive
h
s statements such as 'Sendivogius' Nitre corresponds to what we now call
bli oxygen.,7
u
P
Following this trend ofpicturing Sendivogius asapioneer in the discovery
of oxygen, Szydlo, in his paper devoted to analyzing Sendivogius' ideas on
nitre, wrote that:
The implication here is that there is a component of air which is
necessary for life. The fact that this component of air can be obtained
*Instituto de Quimica de Sao Carlos, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Av.Trabalhador Sao-Carlense,
400, Caixa Postal 780, CEP 13560-590, Sao Carlos, SP,Brasil.
1
PAULO ALVES PORTO
in the solid state (i. e. fixed) isin 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 ofSendivogius' 'nitre
y theory' on enhancing the importance accorded saltpeter in the seventeenth
r
st century. Newman shows the coherence and explanatory power of the theory,
mi
e and how it may have boosted interest in the production and study of nitre
h
C among chymists of the period (especially George Starkey, the subject of
d Newman's book).ll
n
a This paper will analyze Sendivogius' preparation of the Philosophers'
y
m Stone in the light of his own theories, suggesting that he wasalmost certainly
e
h referring to actual laboratory procedures. It also makes a tentative attempt to
c
Al rationalize the process in terms of modern chemistry. However, more
of importantly, it shows that Sendivogius' 'recipe' for the Philosophers' Stone is
y coherent with his theories of matter, and that his 'nitre theory' must be seen
r
o
st as a part of a conceptual framework that is not readily commensurable with
Hi that of modern chemistry.
e
h
r t
o BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
y f Michael Sendziwoj (Sendivogius, in Latinized form) was born in 1566 of a
et
ci noble family from Cracow, Poland. He studied in the universities of Leipzig
o
S and Vienna. In 1593, Sendivogius went to Prague to work in the diplomatic
c) service of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II, amonarch veryinterested in
(
g alchemy. Taking part in alchemical experiments with Rudolph II, Sendivogius
n
hi soon became one ofthe favorites in Court. In 1595, Sendivogius started towork
s
bli also for King Sigismund III of Poland asa secretary - afact that reflected the
u good relationship between the Courts of Prague and Cracow. Sendivogius
P
y traveled through several European countries during his restless life and was
e
n arrested at least twice.In 1599, the widowofaPrague nobleman charged him
a
M withborrowing money from her husband but never paying itback. Sendivogius
y wasarrested, and released only after the diplomatic intervention ofSigismund
b
d III.More seriously, in 1604Sendivogius published abook affirming hismastery
e
h of the secret ofthe Philosophers' Stone - asubstance capable oftransforming
s
bli common metals into gold. Shortly afterwards, on passing bythe Court ofDuke
u
P Frederick ofWiirttemberg in Stuttgart, he wasarrested again and threatened
with continued imprisonment unless he revealed his secret. The Duke,
however, when pressed bySigismund, Rudolph and other German princes, was
forced to release Sendivogius. Eventually returning to Poland, Sendivogius
joined amember ofthe Polish government in the construction ofseveral steel,
iron and brass smelting facilities - an enterprise that turned out to be highly
profitable. Later, Sendivogius offered his services to Emperor Ferdinand II,
2
MICHAEL SENDIVOGIUS: NITRE & PREPARATION OF THE PHILOSOPHERS' STONE
and built lead smelters in Silesia. The Thirty YearsWar brought some financial
12
problems, but Sendivogius seemed to live at ease until his death in 1636.
After his death, the name of Sendivogius was enshrouded bya 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 treatiseson thephilosophers' stone).
y
str Later editions, some of them including other works, had a different title by
mi which the book then became better known - Novum lumen chymicum. This work
e became highly popular, and was translated into German, English, French,
h
C 14
Russian and Polish.
d
n
a
my SENDIVOGIUS' THEORY OF MATTER: SEEDS, PRINCIPLES, Archeus
e
h In the twelve treatises that constitute the first part of Novum lumen chymicum,
c
Al Sendivogius discussed what we could call, in modern terms, a 'theory of
of matter', which he styled the 'operations of Nature'. The purpose of these
y speculations wasto help philosophers, or alchemists, to understand the secret
r
o
st of the Philosophers' Stone. The preparation and properties of this marvelous
Hi substance were explained, although obscurely, in the eleventh and twelfth
he treatises. In the "Epilogue" to the twelve treatises, Sendivogius explained:
r t
o
y f I wrote the twelve foregoing treatises in love to the sons of Art, that
et before they set their hand to the Work they may know the operation of
ci Nature, viz. how she produceth things by her working ... [F]or he
o
S laboureth in vain, that putteth forth his hands to labour without the
) knowledge of Nature, in this sacred and most true Art... 15
c
(
g
n
hi Sendivogius adopted many aspects of Paracelsian thinking, but was not
blis interested in breaking radically with classical authorities. For instance, he
u grouped together, as wise alchemists whose examples should be followed,
P 16
y Hermes Trismegistus, Aristotle and Avicenna. Nor, other than a passing
ne mention ofthe importance ofusing alchemical operations in the knowledge of
Ma medicines, and in turning one into a 'most excellent physitian,,J 7 was
y Sendivogius interested in the iatrochemical goals of reforming medicine and
b
d preparing new remedies employing alchemical principles.
e
h Turning to some of Sendivogius' ideas on the origin and structure of
s
bli matter, he believed that, in the beginning, there was the Chaos - from which
u God created and separated the four elements, arranging them in four
P
concentric spheres of earth, water, air and fire. Since that time, Nature had
produced everything by acting on the four elements. IS According to
Sendivogius, the four elements were able to generate seeds'through the will
and' pleasure of God, and imagination ofNature.' Each seed was then thrown
into the hollow existing in the center of the Earth,19 where the 'central fire',
or 'central sun', resided. Itsmovement generated agreat heat,20 hindering the
permanence of anything in the center of the Earth. Therefore, the seed was
3
PAULO ALVES PORTO
impelled through the underground regions, bound for the surface of the
21
Earth. 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, itwould 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 avesselofwater upon a smooth even table, and be
y placed in the middle thereof, and round about itlet there be laid divers
r
st things, and divers colours, also salt, and everyone apart: then let the
mi water be poured forth into the middle; and you shall see that water to
e run abroad here and there, and when one stream is come to the red
h
C colour, it ismade red byit, ifto the salt, it takes from it the tast of the
d salt,and soofthe rest. For the water doth not change the place, but the
n
a diversity of the place changeth the Water. In like manner the seed or
y sperm being by the four elements cast forth from the center into the
m
e circumference, passeth through divers places, and according to the
h nature of the place it makes things.23
c
Al
of According to Sendivogius, all metals originated from the same kind of
ry 'prime matter'. Ifthismatter were placed where the earth was'subtil, pure and
o
st moist', gold would be produced. If the place were impure and cold, the
Hi product would be lead. Ifthe earth were cold, pure and mixed with sulphur,
he copper would be produced; and soon.24The 'moist vapor' from the center of
r t the Earth could, bychance, reach the surface. In this case,bythe simultaneous
o
y f action ofthe Sun, Moon and stars, the seed would generate grassor flowers25.
et Analogous processes explained the origin of clay and all kinds of stones -
ci
o including precious stones. Diamonds, for instance, were the result of an
S
) interaction between 'moist vapor' and pure saltwater, but only in cold places
g (c free from the 'fatness' of sulphur.26
n When Sendivogius mentioned sulphur, mercury and salt (asinthe passages
hi
s above), he meant the tria prima, or the three principles that constituted matter,
bli according to Paracelsus. Sendivogius believed that bodies were not created
u
P from the four elements directly;from these, onlythe three principles could be
y
e made. Fire, acting on air, generated sulphur; air, onwater, produced mercury;
n
a and water, on earth, made salt. Moreover, earth wasalso the matrix in which
M
y the interaction between the three principles resulted in the minerals and all
d b other substances.27
e This centrifugal movement ofthe seeds, or 'moist vapor', would be guided
h
blis byan entity, a sort of 'force' residing in the center of the Earth. Sendivogius
u called this cosmic entity the archeus, and qualified itasa 'servant ofNature' .28
P
The archeus wasresponsible for receiving and combining the 'virtues' of the
four elements, thus generating the seeds.Then, due tothe heat resulting from
its endless movement, the archeus would distill the seed just made. The
upward motion of the seed through the underground regions would be
29
analogous to the upward motion of vapor in a laboratory distillation.
Although some obscure passages in Sendivogius' text may suggest that the
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 ofNature takes and sublimes itthrough the pores, and
according to its discretion distributes it to eve~ place ... so from the
variety of places proceeds the variety of things. 0
y Thus, the archeus wasan autonomous entity, endowed withakind of'will'.Fire
r
st or heat, in turn, had a general, non-individualized character capable of
mi
e irradiating itself throughout the whole universe. In another passage, Sendivo-
h
C giusclarified the relation between the twoentities: the archeus 'governed' the
d 'central fire'.31Wecan conclude that the 'central fire' wasan instrument used
n
a bythe archeus in the exercise of its cosmic action.
y
m
e
h THE ARCHEUS IN SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY THEORIES OF
c
Al MATTER
of The origin ofthe concept ofthe archeus isattributed toParacelsus,32forwhom
y the term had a somewhat different meaning than it did for Sendivogius. We
r
o
st can find the archeus as a part of Paracelsus' philosophy of the universe.
Hi According to him, every process of transformation of matter wasregarded as
e
h alchemical. Paracelsus called Vulcanus anything that could promote any
r t transformation of matter, that is, anything that operated alchemically.
o
y f Vulcanus could be a human being as well as a kind of natural 'alchemical
et spirit' .33For instance, there wasaVulcanus in the Earth that produced grass
ci 34
o and other plants. But the blacksmith who changed ore into metal wasalso a
S
) Vulcanus, aswasthe peasant who reaped wheat and changed itinto bread. Let
c
( usconsider nowthat someone eats the bread. Aseriesofalchemical operations
g
n would occur within the human body, until the final conversion of the matter
hi
s of the bread into flesh and blood. According to Paracelsus, these operations
bli too would be performed by an internal Vulcanus in the microcosm35. This
u
P 'inner alchemist' wascalled the archeus. Like anyother Vulcanus, Paracelsus'
y
e archeus was the performer of transformations by means of alchemical
n
a processes.
M
y
b Alchemy isan art, and vulcanus isthe operator therein ... Allthings are
d
e made asprime matter and subsequently the vulcanus goes over it and
sh makes itinto ultimate matter through the art ofalchemy. The archeus,
bli the inner vulcanus, proceeds in the same way,for he knows how to
u circulate and prepare according to the pieces and the distribution, as
P
the art itself does with sublimation, distillation, reverberation, etc.36
The concept ofthe archeus wasone 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 ofminerals. In hisDemineralibus (written
5
PAULO ALVES PORTO
around 1526) ,38Paracelsus wrote that water was the 'matrix' in which the
'three principles' - sulphur, mercury and salt - combined to generate
39
minerals. 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' wasthe archeus:
The Archeus is he who in Nature disposes and arranges all things
y therein, sothat everything maybe reduced to the ultimate matter ofits
r
st nature. From Nature man takes these things and reduces them to their
mi ultimate matter. That is,where Nature ends man begins.4o
e
h
C
Many followers of Paracelsus adopted and elaborated the concept of the
d
n archeus. Paracelsian dictionaries published in the sixteenth and seventeenth
a
y centuries throw light on the early development of the concept. Considering
m
the large number of new terms coined byParacelsus - some of them curious
e
h and of uncertain etymology - these dictionaries were probably veryuseful for
c
Al readers ofthe Paracelsian corpus. They indicate how difficult the terminology
of was,even for contemporaries. For example, ifwe take the glossaries prepared
y
r byAdam von Bodenstein 41,Gerhard Dorn42and Martin Ruland,43wecan see
o
st that their definitions ofthe archeus were broad and subjective enough toallow
Hi
e a variety of interpretations: the archeus could be seen as a 'cosmic force'
h related to the generation of everything, or as a kind of 'spirit' acting like a
or t physician or alchemist within bodies. The same trend can be observed by
y f analyzing works of other chymical philosophers of the period. In general,
et
ci those authors, more concerned with speculations concerning the composition
o of matter and its transformations, especially processes involving minerals and
S
) metals, viewed the archeus asacosmic entity responsible for the generation of
c
g ( bodies on auniversal scale. For example, this can be observed in Sendivogius'
n
hi Novum lumen chymicum, aswellasin the fewinstances inwhich the word archeus
s appears in the contemporary 'Basilius Valentinus' corpus.44
bli
u On the other hand, the idea ofthe archeus asan inner Vulcanus, or 'spirit'
P
y within the body, seems to be the one chosen by those chymical philosophers
ne more concerned with medical theories. Asexamples we can cite Oswald Croll
a
M (,..,1560-1609), who wrote about the archeus as an 'inner chymist' in the
y human body, responsible for digestion and natural healing processes.45 The
b
d Belgian physician, J. B.Van Helmont (1579 - 1644), enhanced the concept
e
h and gave it more importance than did any other author. According to Van
s
bli Helmont, the archeus wasnot only an 'alchemist' existing inside the body of
u human beings and animals; the archeus waslike an immanent spirit in matter,
P
existing in each and everymaterial body, animate or inanimate. Each archeus
wasspecific and characteristic of the body. This explained how from only one
elementary prime matter - water - somany different kinds ofsubstances could
be generated. Moreover, the concept ofthe archeus also played acentral role
46
in Van Helmont's theory about diseases and their cures. Although
Sendivogius wasone ofhis sources ,47itisclear that Van Helmont elaborated
6
MICHAEL SENDIVOGIUS: NITRE & PREPARATION OF THE PHILOSOPHERS' STONE
a much more complex idea of the archeus than that circulating among the
majority ofchymical philosophers ofthe period. In conclusion, wemayaffirm
that archeus, like other Paracelsian terms, acquired several meanings as it
diffused through time and place.
SENDIVOGIUS ANDTHE PREPARATION OFTHE PHILOSOPHERS' STONE
y Returning to Sendivogius' work and main goal, itisclear that hisspeculations
r
st on matter were preliminary measures directed towardsjustifying the possibility
mi ofpreparing the Philosophers' Stone. Since allkinds ofmatter had their origin
e
h in the four elements and in the three principles, he believed it would be
C
d possible to transform one substance into another. Moreover, Sendivogius
n
a believed that all bodies were formed from seeds. If the seed within a piece of
y gold were allowed to 'germinate' in a suitable kind of matter, then a
m
e multiplication of the gold would follow. Within this framework, Sendivogius
h
c developed his theories on the transmutation of metals.
Al
of Sendivogius wrote that 'vulgar gold islike an herb without seed; when itisripe
y it brings forth seed.,48 If so,whywasit not usual to see gold's seeds and their
r
o multiplication? According to Sendivogius, gold wasnot capable ofripening in
st
Hi the 'crudity' ofair, which did not have enough 'heat' to take the process to its
e end. He made an analogy: there are orange trees in Italy and other places
h
r t which flourish and yield fruits because there is enough heat in those lands.
o However, if the same trees were planted in colder places, they would never
y f
et bring forth oranges. Thus, tomake gold, the artificer should help Nature to do
ci what it could not byitself. This help wasto be given bymeans offire.49
o
S The first step to promote the ripening of gold was to open its pores by
)
c dissolution. This should be done in a natural, non-violent waybymeans of a
(
g veryspecial 'water'.50Sendivogius described it asbeing 'heavenly, not wetting
n
hi the hands' .51Ten parts of this water should be mixed with one part of 'living
s
bli gold', and the mixture heated up to provide the 'resolution' of the body of
u gold, thus leading to the production ofthe 'radical moisture' ofmetals. 'Water
P
y of salt-nitre' should then be added to the product, and the new mixture kept
e
n over heat for a long time, during which itshould be possible to observe color
a
M changes. When the fluid part of the mixture became capable of 'tingeing' a
by piece of iron into gold, the 'milk of the earth' or 'menstruum of the world'
d should be added - aliquid that could 'calcine gold'. Atthis point, Sendivogius
e
h concluded: 'So far reached myexperience, I can do no more, Ifound out no
s
bli more,52 - completing his treatment of the preparation of the Philosophers'
u 53
P Stone. The elusiveness ofthis lastsentence isintriguing, for one maywonder
ifthere was 'more' to be found, and ifSendivogius wascommunicating only a
partial success. The general tone of the treatise, however, seemed to suggest
that Sendivogius really had the mastery of the Philosophers' Stone:
Ihave been mwirlling here to discover to thee all things; and ifthou shalt
understand meaning sometimes, and not the letter, Ihave revealed
all things ... 5
7
PAULO ALVES PORTO
It istempting for a modern chemist, to discover whether Sendivogius was
describing real laboratory operations, with definite chemicals, or ifhe made a
mere allegorical or hypothetical description, or may even have been talking
about purely abstract entities. Although Sendivogius' language wasencoded
most of the time, there are enough hints to suggest that real laboratory
processes were involved. However, it is necessary to be very careful not to
attribute to Sendivogius conclusions that he could never have reached, and
indeed was perhaps never even interested in reaching. Sendivogius was in
y
str search ofcosmic analogies; his alchemical workwasan attempt at discovering
mi a plan to the whole universe, not an analysisofmere chemicals. However, he
e
h did use chemicals; but it isimportant to realize that Sendivogius framed his
C
d chymical observations in averydifferent context and therefore drew different
n conclusions from those that a modern chemist would draw.
a
y Bugaj affirms that Sendivogius wrote, in addition to what has been
m
e collected in the different editions of Novum lumen chymicum, a treatise
h
c describing chymical processes in 1598, Processus super sal centrale.55 Doubts
Al
of remain about the authenticity of this work. It was not published during
y Sendivogius' lifetime: it appeared for the first time almost fiftyyears after its
or supposed author's death, inacollection made byJ.J.Becher, ChymischerGlucks-
Hist Hafen oder Grosse Chymischer Concordanz (Frankfurt, 1682). As Lawrence
e Principe pointed out, this text, aswellassome others attributed to the Polish
h
r t chymist, 'might conceivably turn out to be Sendivogian,' but more consistent
o evidence of their authenticity is still lacking, while the arguments so far
ety f presented are 'flimsy at best'.56 Even if the attribution to Sendivogius is
ci apocryphal, however, the book will be useful for our analysis as we may
o
S consider it alate-seventeenth-century interpretation of Sendivogius' ideas. In
c) anyevent, the information contained in Processussupersal centraleisimportant
(
g for understanding the Sendivogian viewof the alchemical process described
n
hi above.This treatise allowsustodetermine the identity ofthe mysterious 'water'
s
bli that does not wet hands', in which Sendivogius wasable to dissolvethe 'living
u gold'. Following a recipe for preparing nitre, the author of Processuswrote:
P
y
e
n Pure salt of the Earth, otherwise known as nitre, is formed in the
Ma cauldron. This nowhas to be dissolved and concentrated, and purified
y and rinsed, until it becomes beautifully transparent and crystalline. It
b then acquires the name nitre ofthe philosophers' earth, ...water which
ed does not wethands, without which nothing in thisworld can be born or
sh come to exist.57
bli
Pu Here, the 'water that does not wethands' isidentified asnitre.58 Accepting
this, we can speculate that the first step to obtain the Philosophers' Stone,
according to the process described above, wasreacting the 'living gold' with
molten nitre.59 Remember that fire wasaprivileged instrument to accomplish
what Nature wasnot able to do byitself;sohigh 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
lumen chymicum that suggests this interpretation. When discussing the
existence of seeds in metals; Sendivogius wrote that we should not look for
them in common metals - that is,in the smelted ones - but in those still'alive'
within the earth:
... these [vulgar] metals, especially the gold ofthe vulgar, are dead, but
ours are living,fullofspirit ... [T]he lifeofmetals isfire [ofthe earth]
y
r whilst thW are yet in their mines; and their death is the fire, viz. of
mist melting.6
e
h
C The next step in Sendivogius' recipe involved pouring 'water of salt-nitre'
d over the mixture. He probably meant the acid obtained from saltpeter, that
n
a modern chemists call 'nitric acid', a liquid that can be produced by the
y
m distillation of nitre under appropriate conditions. Again, this interpretation
e
h may be supported by an excerpt from the Processus super sal centrale. In this
c
Al book, the author described, with details about the procedure and equipment,
of a recipe to prepare nitric acid from nitre.61 After a long period of heating
y under the described conditions, dissolution of gold - at least, ofsome part of
r
o
st it- waspossible. Ofcourse, the resulting solution would be able to 'tinge' iron
Hi or other metals, by depositing metallic gold on its surface. The last step
he mentioned the addition of a 'water' capable of 'calcining gold', followed by
r t another heating. This water could be aqua regia - whose preparation,
o
y f according to Bugaj, wasalso described in Processussuper sal centrale.
et Modern chemists would not saythat the interaction between ametal and a
ci
o solution containing gold wasatransmutation. However, for Sendivogius itwas,
S
) or at least appeared so. In Novum lumen chymicum, he wrote: 'Chymists know
c
( how to change iron into copper ...and there are some that make silverout of
g
n lead.,62 It was a well-known fact at that time that it was possible to obtain
hi
s metallic copper by immersing a piece of iron in a solution of blue vitriol
bli (copper sulfate). This process for producing copper wasalready in use bythe
u
P Arabs in Spain (where iron was copious) during the Middle Ages.63 Many
y
e chymistshad long considered this atransmutation. In hisbook on mining and
n
a metallurgy, for instance, Lazarus Ercker stated that he wasconvinced that the
M
y process wasa transformation of iron into copper:
b
d
e I have ... been forced to the conclusion that iron turns into copper
h
s because, even though copper is precipitated by iron from vitriol and
bli other coppery solutions, you end up withmore copper than the amount
Pu 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 amethod for obtaining silverfrom lead inthe middle ofseventeenth
century.66IfSendivogius considered processes like these astransmutations, he
could also count the gilding of a metal as a transmutation.
9
PAULO ALVESPORTO
The interpretation of Sendivogius' 'recipe' in terms of modern chemistry
shows that he was a skillful observer. It is more important, however, to
understand that his theories were coherent with the described processes. For
Sendivogius, the recognition that nitre was fundamental not only to
performing transmutations of metals, but also to allowing the development of
all living things, meant much more than the identification of a chemical
substance. The respect devoted to Sendivogian ideas in the seventeenth-
century shows the continuing significance of traditional alchemical tenets -
y
r such as the search for cosmic analogies - among the chymists of the period.
st
mi Sendivogius indeed played an important role in the dissemination of the idea
e of an 'aerial nitre', and in the increasing interest in the study of saltpeter.
h
C However, the reason for this does not reside in the supposed 'modernity' ofhis
d
n ideas, but in his mastery of a coherent chymical philosophy for explaining
a
y observational data and nature in general; his work seemed convincing and
m useful to his followers.
e
h
c
Al SENDIVOGIUS AND NITRE IN CONTEXT
of A fundamental point in Sendivogius' philosophy of nature was his belief in
y analogies between the macrocosm (the universe as a whole) and microcosm
r
o
st (the human being). This wasavery common theme in his time; it originated
Hi in Antiquity and was extremely important within Paracelsus' philosophical
he system.67 All parts of the universe were interconnected: analogies and
r t symmetries could be seen everywhere. According to Sendivogius, there was,for
o
y f instance, symmetry between the Sun and the 'central fire' residing within the
et Earth:
ci
o
S ... the Sun isthe center amongst the spheres ofthe planets; and out of
c) this center of the heaven it scatters itsheat downward byitsmotion; so
(
g in the center ofthe Earth isthe sun ofthe Earth, which byitsperpetual
n motion sends its heat or beams upward to the superficies of the
shi Earth.68
bli
u
P This symmetry played avery important role in the generation of beings. The
ey joining of heat and emanations from the celestial Sun with the ones from the
n
a central 'sun' generated life. There wasalso symmetry between the sea related
M
to the central sun (i. e.,waters upon the earth) and another sea related to the
y
b celestial Sun - the atmosphere.
d
e
h I have said also that the celestial Sun hath a correspondency with the
s
bli central sun ... [F]or heat iseasilyjoyned to heat, and salt to salt.And as
u the central sun hath itssea, and crude water, that isperceptible; so the
P
celestial Sun hath itssea, and subtill water that isnot perceptible. In the
superficies [of Earth] the beams of the one arejoyned to the beams of
the other, and produce flowers, and allthings. Therefore when there is
rain made, itreceives from the airthat power oflife,andjoyns itwith the
salt-nitre of the earth ... 69
In this excerpt, and in its sequel, Sendivogius revealed another funda-
10