The aspiring adept : Robert Boyle and his alchemical quest

179 Pages·1998·8.41 MB·English

by  Lawrence M. Principe

The
A spiring
Adept
ROBERT BOYLE AND HIS
(continuedfro^ frontflap}
ALCHEMICAL QUEST
in full for the fint time. Imriguingly,
Lawrence M. Principe Boyle believed that the gORi of his quest,
the Philosopher’s Stone, cotild not only
The Aspiring Adept presents a provoca­ tnmsmutebaseinetRls into gold, butcould
tive new view of Robert Boyle (1627- also attract angeh. Alchemy could thus
1691), one of the leading figures of the act both as a source of knowledge and as
Scientific Revolution, by revealing for ii defense against the growing tide of
the first time his avid and Ufelong pursuit atheism that tormented him. In seeking
of alchemy. Boyle has traditionally been
to integrate the seeming]^ controdictuty
considered, along with Newton, a founder
facets of Boyle's work, Principe also illu-
of modern science because of his me­
minates how alchemy and other “un­
chanical philosophy and his experimen­
scientific” pursuits had a far greater im­
tation with the air-pump and other early
pact on early modern science than has
scientific apparatus. However, Lawrence
previously, been thought.
Principe shows that his alchemical quest
—hidden first by Boyle’s own codes and
Lawrence M. Principe is Assistant
secrecy, and later suppressed or ignored—
Professor in the Department of Chem­
positions him more accurately in the in­
istry and the Institute for the HistOiy of
tellectual and cultural crossroads of the
Science, Medicine, and Technology At
seventeenth century.
The Johns Hopkins University.
Principe radically reinterprets Boyle’s
most famous work. The Sceptical Chymist,
to show that it criticizes not alchemists,
as has been thought, but “unphilosoph-
ical” pharmacists and textbook writers.
He then shows Boyle’s unambiguous
enthusiasm for alchemy in his “lost” Dia­
logue on the Transmutation and Meliora­
tion of Metals, now reconstructed from
scattered fragments and presented here
(continued on back flap)
The Aspiring Adept
The Aspiring Adept
ROBERT BOYLE AND HIS
ALCHEMICAL QUEST
Including Boyle’s “Lost” Dialogue
on the Transmutation of Metals
LAWRENCE M. PRINCIPE
PR IN C ET ON UNI VER SI TY PRESS
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
Copyright © 1998 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Chichester, West Sussex
All Rights Reserved
TO KDK
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Principe, Lawrence.
The aspiring adept : Robert Boyle and his alchemical quest :
including Boyle’s “lost” Dialogue on the transmutation of metals /
Lawrence M. Principe.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. - ) and index.
ISBN 0-691-01678-X (cl. : alk. paper)
1. Boyle, Robert, 1627-1691—Contributions in alchemy.
2. Transmutation of metals. 3. Chemistry—Great Britain—
History—17th century. I. Boyle, Robert, 1627-1691 Dialogue on
the transmutation and melioration of metals. 1998. II. Title.
QD24.B685P75 1998 540'.1'1202—dc21 [B] 97-41793 cip
This book has been composed in Sabon Typeface
Princeton University Press books are printed on acid-free paper and meet the guidelines for
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
C O N T E N T S
ACKNO WLEDGMENTS IX
NOTE ON PRIMARY SOURCES xi
ABBREVIATIONS xiii
INTRODUCTION 3
ALCHEMY AND CHEMISTRY
A Crucial Note on Terminology and Categories 8
CHAPTER I
Boyle Spagyricized 11
CHAPTER II
Skeptical of the Sceptical Chymist 27
Textual Confusion in the Sceptical Chymist 28
Chymists High and Low 30
Boyle’s Arguments and Their Targets 35
Evolution of Boyle’s Chymical Thought 1661-1680 52
Summary and Ramifications 58
CHAPTER III
The Dialogue on Transmutation, Kinds of Transmutations,
and Boyle’s Beliefs 63
Synopsis of the Dialogue 65
The Setting 68
The Characters 73
Boyle and Varieties of Transmutation 76
Boyle and the Diffident Explanation: The Dangers of Picking
and Choosing ^ 86
Conclusion 89
CHAPTER IV
Adepti, Aspirants, and Cheats 91
Transmutation Histories 93
Boyle’s Witness of Projection 98
Alchemical Contacts 111
Alchemical Pretenders 113
Conclusion 136
CHAPTER V
Boyle and Alchemical Practice 138
Reading Alchemy 139
Vlll
CONTENTS
Writing Secrets 143 A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S
Experimental Chrysopoeia 149
Conclusion 179
CHAPTER VI
Motivations: Truth, Medicine, and Religion 181 Many historians of science have assisted in many ways in bringing this
project to completion. The initial form of this book was a Ph.D. disserta­
Service to Natural Philosophy 181
tion completed in March 1996 for the Institute for the History of Science,
"Extraordinary and Noble Medicines” 186
Medicine, and Technology at The Johns Hopkins University. My progress
Spiritual Alchemy 188
through the graduate program was guided by Robert Kargon, who not only
Alchemy as a Middle-Term 208
showed patience with what was often very slow progress, but also provided
Conclusion 212
insightful comments and encouragement that remain much appreciated. I
also thank the readers of the original dissertation—^Jerome Bylebyl, Stephen
EPILOGUE
A New Boyle and a New Alchemy 214 Barker, Howard Egeth, and Gary Posner—for their willingness and stamina
in reading a three-volume dissertation. During my first year of study at Hop­
APPENDIX 1 kins I was supported by a George Owen Fellowship of the Humanities, for
Robert Boyle’s Dialogue on the Transmutation and Melioration
which I am grateful. Since 1989, I have been a full-time member of the
of Metals 223 chemistry faculty, and I would like to express my gratitude to three chair­
Introduction 223 men who were wonderfully understanding and supportive of me and my
Editorial Remarks and Conventions 231 work in the history of science: Gary Posner, Craig Townsend, and David
Robert Boyle’s Dialogue on the Transmutation and Melioration Draper.
of Metals 233 Two colleagues, William Newman and Michael Hunter, deserve particu­
Text of the Dialogue 235 lar mention. Michael Hunter began by generously sharing with me, in 1989,
Textual Notes 290 a draft copy of his subsequently published and invaluable Guide to the
Royal Society Boyle Papers, and since that time he has been a constant
APPENDIX 2
source of information, critical comment, and assistance. His continuing
Interview Accounts of Transmutation and Prefaces ^
contributions to Boyle studies, in terms of both his own scholarly publica­
to Boyle’s Other Chrysopoetic Writings 296
tions and his role as a medium of communication among other Boyle
Part I: Interview Accounts 296 scholars, have advanced the field enormously. William Newman, my col­
Part II: Prefaces to Chrysopoetic Processes 300 league in all things alchemical, shared freely of his staggeringly wide knowl­
Textual Notes 307 edge of alchemical literature during years of conversations, has read and
commented on most of the document, and occasionally provided much-
APPENDIX 3
needed exhortations to bring it to completion. Many other scholars have
Dialogue on the Converse with Angels Aided by
read all or part of the manuscript and offered their comments, most notably
the Philosophers’ Stone 310
Antonio Clericuzio, Edward B. Davis, John Harwood, Seymour Mauskopf,
Textual Notes 317
Bruce Moran, Margaret J. Osier, Rose-Mary Sargent, Kathleen Whalen, and
Jan Wojcik.
WORKS CITED 319
This study is heavily dependent upon archival materials, for access to
INDEX 335 which I thank the British Library, the Royal Society of London, the Bodleian
Library, the Eglise Protestante de Londres, the Archives Departmentales du
Calvados, and the University of Glasgow. At the Royal Society, the li­
brarians Sandra Cummings, Sheila Edwards, and Mary Sampson deserve
special mention for unflagging help and patience. I also thank Mason Bar­
nett for checking on Heinrich Screta at the archives of the Academia naturae
curiosorum. Dr. Rene Specht, Chief Librarian at the Stadtbibliothek Schaff-
hausen, for his help in tracking local materials on Screta, and David Weston,
ACKN O W LED G M EN TS
Principal Assistant Librarian of the Special Collections at the University of N O T E O N P R I M A R Y S O U R C E S
Glasgow, for checking on a rare edition of Boyle’s Anti-Elixir tract.
I also wish to express my gratitude to the American Philosophical Society,
which funded a research trip to French archives to uncover traces of
Georges Pierre and the Asterism, as detailed in chapter 4. I HAVE consistently used the seventeenth-century editions of all of Boyle’s
Finally, in terms of daily maintenance of my sanity, constant encourage­ works, as I find them preferable to the eighteenth-century Birch editions for
ment, proofreading, the explosion of feeble arguments, and a host of other a number of reasons. All of Boyle’s works are available on the Wing micro­
things, I am especially thankful to K. D. Kuntz. film collection Early English Books and are thus actually more readily avail­
able to most readers than Birch. Furthermore, the new edition of Boyle’s
Works now in preparation will fully supersede the Birch edition and will
include marginal notes indicating the original pagination. One slight prob­
lem in using these early editions is the erratic pagination: in cases of ambi­
guity (i.e., several sets of page numbers in one volume) I have explicitly cited
the name of the essay that I am referencing; in cases of no pagination (i.e.,
Boyle’s lengthy prefaces, notes, and advertisements), rather than sending the
reader generally to “preface” or relying on infrequent and cumbersome sig­
nature markings, I have merely counted (in lower case Roman numerals)
from the first printed page and have supplied these page references in square
brackets. Additionally, all translations and transcriptions are mine unless
otherwise noted.
A B B R E V I A T I O N S
Alchemy and Chemistry Alchemy and Chemistry in the Sixteenth and
Seventeenth Centuries: Proceedings of the
Warburg Colloquium 1989, ed. Piyo
Rattansi and Antonio Clericuzio
(Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1994).
BC John Ferguson, Bibliotheca chemica, 1 vols.
(Glasgow, 1906).
BCC Bibliotheca chemica curiosa, ed. J. J.
Manget, 2 vols. (Geneva, 1702; reprint,
Sala Bolognese: Arnaldo Forni, 1976).
BL Royal Society Boyle Letters.
BP Royal Society Boyle Papers.
Boas, RBSCC Marie Boas IHall], Robert Boyle and
Seventeenth-Century Chemistry
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1958).
DNB Dictionary of National Biography.
Hunter, Guide Michael Hunter, Letters and Papers of
Robert Boyle: A Guide to the Manuscripts
and Microfilm (Bethesda: University
Publications of America, 1992).
Maddison, Life R.E.W. Maddison, The Life and Works of
the Honorable Robert Boyle F.R.S.
(London: Taylor 8c Francis, 1969).
MH Musaeum hermeticum reformatum et
amplificatum (Frankfurt, 1678; reprint,
Graz: Akademische Druck, 1970).
Newman, Gehennical Fire William R. Newman, Gehennical Fire: The
t^ves of George Starkey, an American
Alchemist of Harvard in the Scientific
Revolution (Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1994).
NRRS Notes and Records of the Royal Society of
London.
RBR Robert Boyle Reconsidered, ed. Michael
Hunter (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1994).
RSMS Royal Society Miscellaneous Manuscript
Series.
TC Theatrum chemicum, ed. Lazarus Zetzner, 6
XIV ABBREVIATIONS
vols. (Strasbourg, 1659-1661; reprint,
Turin: Bottega d’Erasmo, 1981).
TCB Theatrum chemicum britannicum, ed, Elias
Ashmole (London, 1652; reprint. New
York: Johnson Reprint Co., 1967).
Works The Works of the Honourable Robert Boyle,
ed. Thomas Birch, 6 vols. (London,
1772).
The Aspiring Adept
IN T R O D U C T IO N
This is a book about a well-known figure’s involvement in a still poorly
known subject. Robert Boyle (1627-1691) is undoubtedly one of the most
influential and fascinating characters of the seventeenth century. Recogni­
tion of his impact on the development of science is widespread—every stu­
dent who has taken introductory chemistry reads his name in connection
with his air-pump experiments and learns the fundamental gas law that
bears his name. Many science textbooks also routinely refer to Boyle as the
“Father of Modern Chemistry,” citing him as the man who broke once and
for all from the irrational, misguided alchemy that preceded him. While it is
the task of this volume to refute the double error of that last assertion, there
js no denying Robert Boyle’s profound impact on the development of exper­
imental science, scientific method, and scientific culture that has earned him
an enduring place in history.
Of late there has been a remarkable revival of interest in Boyle’s thought,
life, and works. The past decade (since the appearance of Steven Shapin’s
and Simon Schaffer’s celebrated Leviathan and the Air-Pump) has witnessed
the publication of at least six books and a score of scholarly articles on
Boyle. Interest in Boyle now occupies a wide range of specialists—historians
of science, theology, literature, and rhetoric, as well as some sociologists.
Critically for historical studies, the enormous mass of his surviving papers at
the Royal Society has at long last been cataloged by Michael Hunter and is
now available on microfilm. Presently, a new edition of Boyle’s complete
works (the first since 1772) is being prepared by the able collaboration of
Hunter and Edward B. Davis, while Hunter and Antonio Clericuzio are
editing Boyle’s complete surviving correspondence for the first time. Both of
these major contributions are scheduled to appear before the end of the
decade.
In 1991, during several frosty December days, the currently active Boyle
scholars gathered at a country hot^ near Robert Boyle’s (now demolished)
hereditary estate of Stalbridge in commemoration of the tercentenary of his
death. This symposium, organized by Michael Hunter, showcased the fresh
new directions in Boyle studies that will undoubtedly be pursued for many
years to come. The papers presented there (gathered into the appro­
priately titled volume Robert Boyle Reconsidered) display the young vi­
tality of Boyle studies and, by extension, a renewal of scholarly interest in
seventeenth-century science, a subject that, as recently as fifteen years ago,
was widely considered to have been “mined out.”
In contrast to the renown of a figure like Boyle, a considerable part of the
field of alchemy still remains unexplored or misunderstood. Notwithstand­
ing the important advances in understanding that have been forthcoming
from the pens of scholars during the past thirty years, much of the realm of