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Alchemical Medicine and Distillation

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Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy

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Abstract

Alchemical medicine – often termed “chemiatra” or “iatrochemistry” – was a part of Renaissance chymistry that sought to purify the body into its most ideal state of health and, at its height of ambition, to extend human life indefinitely. To this end, alchemical physicians utilized distillation to produce medicaments from plant, mineral, and animal matter. Much like the chrysopoetic ambition to purify base metals into gold, distillation presented a potent means of purifying natural substances through the separation of subtle essences and medicinal waters from the impurities of gross matter.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. History and Philosophy of Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

    Laura Sumrall

Authors
  1. Laura Sumrall
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Correspondence to Laura Sumrall .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Philosophy a. Cultural Heritage, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia Dept. of Philosophy a. Cultural Heritage, Venezia, Italy

    Marco Sgarbi

Section Editor information

  1. Center for the History of Philosophy and Science, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Hiro Hirai

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Sumrall, L. (2018). Alchemical Medicine and Distillation. In: Sgarbi, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4_1086-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4_1086-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-02848-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-02848-4

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