Abstract
Aristotle’s ideas of Being and Change, of elements and compounds and of the structure of the universe had an overwhelming influence, even upon those, such as the Stoics and the Neoplatonists, who did not belong to his school of thought. In the Middle Ages all scholastic sects accepted his cosmology; later the vast majority of Renaissance philosophers, even though they were more inclined towards Platonism, would accept much of his natural philosophy and most of his astronomical system.
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Notes
Aristotle, Physica Bk.IV, ch.8,215a25–216.
Aristotle, De Generatione et Cotruptione Bk.I. ch. 10,328a25–30.
Geber, Summa Perfectionis Magistern, ch. 11. In: Gratarolus ed., Verae Alchymiae, Artisque Metallicae Doctrina. Basileae 1561, p. 125. From internal evidence J. Ruska concluded that the Summa was written in Spain in the 13th century. There are alchemical works written in Arabic attributed to Jabir-ibn-Hayyan (ca 900) (J. Ruska, Arabische Alchemisten, Vol.11, Gafar-al-Sadiq, der sechste Imam. Heidelberg 1924. Also: J. Ruska and P. Kraus, ‘Der Zusammenbruch der Dschâbir-legende’, in: Dritter Jahresber. d. Forschungs-Instituts f. Gesch. d. Naturwissensch. in Berlin, Berlin 1930). On Ruska’s important works about Arabic alchemy, see: R. Hooykaas, ‘Ruska’s Werk over de Arabische Alchemic Chemisch Weekblad 35 (1938), pp. 149–153.
Bernardus Trevirensis (also: Trevisanus), Peri Chimeias, Opus Historicum et Dogmaticum… ex Gallico in Latinum Versum, Argentorati 1567, fol.6vs, 8r, 8vs. He says that he succeeded in achieving the ‘Great Work’ when he was 74 years old, though he had begun at 17 (—, fol.38r.).
‘The arts either, on the basis of nature, carry things further than nature can, or they imitate nature’ (Aristotle, Physica Bk.Il, ch.8, 199a).
Geber, Summa, eh. 51.
Jâbir, quoted by E.J. Holmyard, Chemistry to the Time ofDalton, London 1925, p. 10.
Bartholomaeus Anglicus, De Proprietatibus Rerum (ca 1240), Bk.XVI, cap.7.
Geber, Summa, ch.25. Cf. ch.lO; ch.53.
R. Hooykaas, Het Begrip Element in zijn historisch-wijsgeerige Ontwikkeling, Utrecht 1933, pp.41 –49. 11 Trevirensis, Peri Chimeias, fol.28vs. Cf. fol.25r, 26vs.
Thomas Norton, The Ordinall of Alchemy ch.III (ed. Ashmole 1652, p.41).
Goethe’s Faust, 1042–1048: Da ward ein roter Leu, ein kühner Freier,Im lauen Bad der Lilie vermählt, Und beide dann mit offnem Flammenfeuer Aus einem Brautgemach ins andere gequältErschien darauf mit bunten Farben Die junge Königin im Glas,…
Trevirensis, Peri Chimeias, fol.34vs.
Norton, The Ordinall of Alchemy (ed. Ashmole 1652), ch.V, p.57, 60.
Geber, Summa, ch.61: cf Hooykaas, Het Begrip Element, p.47; 45–49.
E. von Meyer, Geschichte der Chemie von den ältesten Zeiten bis zur Gegenwart, 4. Aufl., Leipzig 1914, p.40.
‘Ex praecedentibus igitur patet, quod multa quantitas argenti vi vi est perfectionis, multa vero sulphuris, causa corruptionis’ (Geber, Summa, ch.61, p.157).
‘… nam videmus argentum vivum argento vivo magis adhaerere et eidem magis amicari, post illud vero aurum et post haec argentum’ (Geber, Summa, ch.59, p.155).
Robertus Tauladanus, In Braceschum Gebri Interpretern Animadversio. In: G. Gratarolus, Verae Alchemiae Artisque Metallicae… doctrina. Basileae 1561, p.53, 54: ‘(res) quibus cum aliquo affinitatis vinculo conjunetae sunt, tanta quaedam benevolentia complectantur, et eas sibi copulari gaudent, et laetantur…’
Norton, The Ordinall of Alchemy, ch.I, p.20; 18. See also page 90.
Isaac Newton to Francis Aston, 18 May 1669, In: H.W. Turnbull ed., The Correspondence of Isaac Newton, Vol.I, Cambridge 1959, p. 11.
Hooykaas, Het Begrip Element, deals with the ambiguous character of ‘element’ from Antiquity to Mendeleev. R. Hooykaas, ‘The Law of the Conservation of Elements’ (originally in Dutch, 1947, as ’De Wet van Elementenbehoud’, in: Chem. Weekblad 43 (1947), pp.526–531; translation in: Selected Studies, Coimbra 1983, pp.121–144).
In the terminology of the atomic theory neither S2 nor Sg, but’S’ is the element. All substances denoted as ‘sulphur’ (brimstone) are considered to be conglomerates of particles with the nuclear charge 16 and to all of them the same place in the periodic table is allotted, though there are ‘isotopes’ (occupants of the same place) of various atomic weights (32,33,34). There are different molecules of sulphur (Sg, Se, S4, S2) and, in the solid state, sulphur molecules may be differently arranged in the crystals (rhombic and monoclinic sulphur). Cf. Hooykaas, ‘The Law of the Conservation of Elements’, p. 139 ff.
R. Hooykaas, ‘Die Elementenlehre des Paracelsus’, in: Janus 39 (1935), pp.175–187 (Reprinted in: Selected Studies, pp.43–57).
R. Hooykaas, ‘Die chemische Verbindung bei Paracelsus’, in: Sudhoffs Archiv f. Gesch. d. Medizin u. d. Naturwiss. 32 (1939), pp. 166–175. (Reprint in: Selected studies, pp.93–104).
‘… nun ist das wort auch dreifach gewesen, dan die trinket hats gesprochen… Und furhin seind alle ding in drei gesetzt’ (Paracelsus, De Meteoris, ch.2. In: Theophrast von Hohenhein, genannt Paracelsus, Sämtliche Werke, K. Sudhoff ed., Vol.XIII, München-Berlin 1931, p.135.
‘…ein ietliche kunst… nicht mer dan dreierlei species suchen sol, als wenig minder oder mer die Zal in der gotheit ist…. Und ein ietliche kunst die da mer suchet, die ist falsch, und irret in der Natur, sucht in ir das in ir nicht ist’ (Paracelsus, ibidem, Werke XIII, p.136).
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Hooykaas, R. (1999). The Philosopher’s Stone. In: Fact, Faith and Fiction in the Development of Science. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 205. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9295-6_4
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