ALBERTUS MAGNUS

BOOK OF


MINERALS

Translated by

DOROTHY WYCKOFF

Professor of Geology, Bryn Mawr College


CLARENDON PRESS
OXFORD
1967



© Oxford University Press 1967


PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN IN THE CITY OF OXFORD AT THE ALDEN PRESS

PREFACE

When Albertus Magnus wrote his Book of Minerals in the thirteenth
century there was no science of mineralogy, and the fact that there is such
a science today is partly due to him. The Book of Minerals continued to be
read, and to influence the thinking of men who wrote about ‘stones’, at
least until the time of Georgius Agricola in the sixteenth century. Today
few mineralogists or geologists have even heard of it. I hope this transla-
tion may encourage some of them to explore this fascinating record of a
science in the making. It shows us what had to be discarded or outgrown
before a real science could come into being — the belief in astrological
influences and the occult powers of stones, the inadequate ‘chemistry’ of
the Peripatetics and the alchemists. It also shows us a first-class mind,
trained in a bookish tradition, ignorant of elementary facts that we now
take for granted, but keenly observant and highly rational, attempting to
fit the confusing variety of nature into an orderly system of thought.
Albert was indeed organizing a new science.

My study of the Book of Minerals has extended over a good many years,
and I now express my gratitude for help from many sources. All who
work in the field of the history of science must acknowledge a general
indebtedness, not covered by mere bibliographic references, to the writ-
ings of Charles Haskins, Lynn Thorndike, and George Sarton. I feel a
similar indebtedness to H. C. Scheeben’s researches into the chronology
of Albert’s life.

I owe thanks, too, to those who have helped me to obtain materials for
study: to those members of the staff of the Bryn Mawr College library
who have helped me to locate and borrow, and to those other libraries
that have lent, permitted me to consult, or supplied photographic copies
of, rare books and manuscripts: the Boston Medical Library, the John
Crerar Library in Chicago, the Houghton Library of Harvard University,
the Library of the University of Pennsylvania, and the Library of the
British Museum.

I am especially grateful to the Bodleian Library for a photograph of a
manuscript showing the figures of chemical apparatus mentioned by
Albert; and to the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna for photographs
of the ‘Ptolemy’ cameo.

CONTENTS

Preface vii

List of Illustrations xi

Introduction xiii

BOOK OF MINERALS

Contents 3

Translation 9

Appendixes 253

A: Aristotle 253

B: Lapidaries 264

C: Astrology and Magic 272

D: Alchemy 279

E: Identification of Minerals and Rocks 286

Bibliography 293

Index 303



ILLUSTRATIONS


Plate I. The ‘Ptolemy’ Cameo: photograph by the
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna


facing p.

130


Plate II. Figures in a manuscript of the Book of Minerals (Ashmole

1471 fol. 33v): photograph by the Bodleian Library 184



INTRODUCTION


LIFE OF ALBERT

Albert was a famous man even in his own time but, as so often with
famous men of the Middle Ages, contemporary biographers omitted
much that we should like to know about him. Modem scholars have had
to piece together the sometimes contradictory statements in medieval
chronicles and histories of the Dominican Order, local traditions, sur-
viving documents of business transacted in many different places, and
casual references to times and places in Albert’s own writings. The most
comprehensive reconstruction is that of H. C. Scheeben 1 , on which this
sketch is chiefly based.

Nothing is known about Albert’s parentage or childhood. The chonicles
say that he was bom of a family of the official class (ex militaribus), but
there is no record of his father’s name. The claim that he was the son of a
Count of Bollstadt does not appear until the late fifteenth century and
seems to be unfounded. He was known as Albert of Cologne and Albert
of Teutonia, and various laudatory epithets were attached to his name,
but Albertus Magnus, ‘Albert the Great’, became common only in accounts
of him written by the later scholastics. The earliest documents bearing his
signature and seal show that he then called himself Albert of Lauingen, a
litde town on the Danube about half-way between Ulm and Regensburg.
Henry of Lauingen, who became prior of the Dominican house at
Wurzburg, is supposed to have been Albert’s brother.

The year of his birth is unknown. Dates ranging from 1193 to 1206 or
1207 have been suggested, on the basis of conflicting statements as to his
age when he died in 1280, or when he entered the Order of Preachers.
The earlier date is rather more likely. Nor is anything known of his boy-
hood. An interest in natural history usually develops early, and some of
the observations recorded in his scientific works, especially about animals,
are certainly his own memories of a country fife, but these cannot be
dated with any accuracy.

Nevertheless, the earliest reliable date is given us by Albert himself, in
describing as an eye-witness the earthquakes which in midwinter 1222-3

1 Scheeben (1931) discusses and gives interpretations and a little new material, but
excerpts from important source materials, is without any documentation.

His later book (193$) contains some re-



XIV


INTRODUCTION


caused widespread destruction in Lombardy (Meteor. Ill, ii, 9). What
brought him to Italy and how long he remained there we do not know.
Tradition mentions an uncle, whom he may have accompanied on some
official mission. Or he may have been travelling by himself, for it was
probably during this period of his youth that he visited mining districts
in order to learn about metals, as he said in the Book of Minerals (III, i, 1).
In the same work (II, iii, 1) he recalled a visit to Venice, when his com-
panions asked him to explain a natural picture in a slab of marble —
evidence that even as a young man he had a reputation for knowledge of
such things. He was also in Padua ( Meteor . Ill, ii, 12), where he is said to
have been an Arts student, though his familiarity with medical writings
seems to point to some medical education as well. At that time, indeed,
the medical curriculum was the nearest approach to a ‘scientific’ training,
and therefore might have had a special attraction for a man of Albert’s
tastes. He did not, so far as is known, take any degree.

Whatever his plans may have been, he abandoned them to join the
Order of Preachers, founded by the Spanish monk Dominic in 1216.
After Dominic’s death in 1221 Jordan of Saxony, the second Master
General of the Order, devoted much effort to recruiting young men from
the universities. Histories of the Order say (and the story probably came
from Albert himself) that Albert first became acquainted with the Domin-
icans in Padua and was deeply moved by Jordan’s preaching, but that his
decision to enter the Order was not made quickly or easily: his uncle
opposed it and persuaded him to delay for a while, and he himself seems
to have hesitated before so total a commitment. Several years may have
passed while he continued his studies or his travels, for it was probably
not until 1229 that he was received and ‘clad in the habit’.

The preaching friars were generally trained for service in their own
countries, where they were familiar with the language and local customs.
Since Albert came from the German-speaking part of Europe he was
assigned to the Teutonia province; and thus began his long association
with Cologne. The Dominicans had been established at Cologne since
1221 and already had an important school, where for the next few years
Albert devoted himself to theology and moral philosophy, the course of
study leading to ordination as a priest.

Every Dominican house had its lector, who read and explained the
texts that were studied; but it was customary for the more advanced
students to help the others, and no doubt Albert’s gift for teaching was



LIFE OF ALBERT


xv


discovered before he had finished his training. He was then given the
duties of lector and sent to teach in other Dominican houses, going first,
perhaps, to the newly founded one at Flildesheim (opened in 1234), then
to that at Freiburg-im-Breisgau (opened in 1235 or 1236). Later, having
proved himself, he taught in older and more important schools in Regens-
burg and Strassburg, and still later returned to Cologne.

In 1238 he may have revisited Italy as one of the representatives of the
Teutonia province at the General Chapter meeting in Bologna. Jordan of
Saxony had died in a shipwreck off the coast of Syria, and a new Master
General was to be chosen. Tradition says that on the first ballot the votes
were evenly divided between Albert of Cologne and Hugo of St. Cher.
Perhaps this reflects a rivalry between the German and French provinces;
if so, a compromise was reached on the second ballot, when Raymond of
Pennafort, a Spaniard, was elected. (Raymond, however, served only two
years and was succeeded by John of Wildeshausen.)

Albert remained a lector for some years after 1238. He may have taught
at other schools beside those mentioned above, for he recorded that he
was in Saxony when he saw the great comet that appeared in 1240
(Meteor. I, iii, 5); and he seems to have been in Cologne again for a time.
About 1243 he was sent to the University of Paris, where the Dominicans
had maintained a school for advanced studies since 1217. After taking the
degree of Master of Theology (probably in 1245) he held a professorship
there until 1248.

During this stay in Paris Albert, already learned in theology, turned to
the broader aspects of philosophy, and was drawn into the scholastic
movement centring on the revival of Aristotle 2 , in which he was to be
involved for many years. Greek philosophy and science were still in the
process of being rediscovered, but already it was possible to read in Latin
translations many works that were to become the foundations of later
science — the medicine of Flippocrates and Galen, the geometry of Euclid,
the astronomy of Ptolemy, and most of the Aristotelian corpus, as well as
commentaries and original works on these subjects by Muslim writers.
All this ‘new’ knowledge was exciting and disturbing — Aristode perhaps
most disturbing of all, with his marvellously complete and persuasive
philosophical system, presenting novel ideas about the world of nature
and doctrines quite at variance with the accepted teaching of the Church.

2 See Appendix A for notes on Aristotle’s Christendom.

'writings and their transmission to Latin



XVI


INTRODUCTION


The possible dangers of conflict between intellectual curiosity and
rebgious faith were recognized in 1210, and again in 1215, when the
teaching of Aristotle’s metaphysics and science was forbidden at the
University of Paris. How far this ban was, or could be, enforced is un-
certain. But in 123 1 Pope Gregory IX again forbade the use of Aristotle’s
books until they had been ‘examined and purged of all suspicion of error’.
Thus by the time Albert came to Paris many scholars must have been
reading Aristode, and his ideas were becoming more familiar, if not yet
systematically taught.

Within a few more years, however, certainly by 1254, many of
Aristode’s works were required reading for a degree — a change due in
part at least to Albert and his pupil, Thomas Aquinas, who advocated not
censorship and suppression but study and interpretation, with a view to
reconciling Aristotle’s teachings with those of the Church. Albert began
this task at the request of members of his own Order ( Phys . I, i, 1),
probably while he was still at Paris.

In 1248 the General Chapter, meeting in Paris, decided to establish a
studium generate — a higher school, of university grade — in each of the four
provinces of Lombardy, Provence, England, and Teutonia. Albert was
appointed lector — a title in this case equivalent perhaps to Regent of
Studies — at the school for the Teutonia province in Cologne. His return
to Cologne must have more or less coincided with the beginning of the
building of the present cathedral, 3 though the pious legend that he was its
architect can be rejected. Plans for enlarging the old cathedral must have
been made while he was still in Paris; at an early stage in the work fire
broke out and totally destroyed the church and many of its treasures. But
Albert must have been in the city when the debris was being cleared away
and new foundations were being dug, and it was probably then that he
saw a Roman pavement discovered deep below the surface of the ground
(De prop. elem. I, ii, 3).

The school at Cologne was already an excellent one, but Albert seems
to have broadened the curriculum, himself lecturing on the theology of

3 Of all Europe’s Gothic cathedrals, the eighteenth century the building stood as a
Cologne was longest in building. It was picturesque ‘ruin’ in the midst of the city,
begun in 1248 and in 1322 the relics of the Interest in completing it revived early in the
Three Kings of Cologne (Mitt, n, iii, 2) were nineteenth century. Work was resumed in
placed in the completed choir. Thereafter 1842, and the finished building was opened in
work proceeded very slowly and ceased 1880, at a ceremony attended by Kaiser
entirely at the time of the Reformation. In Wilhelm I and the princes of Germany.



LIFE OF ALBERT


xvu


the pseudo-Dionysus and the Ethics of Aristotle. Among his students,
three may be especially mentioned here, although there is some uncer-
tainty about the dates of their attendance at Albert’s courses. One was
Thomas of Cantimpr£, 4 author of a well-known encyclopedia. Another
was Ulrich of Strassburg, who became a lifelong friend of Albert. The
third was Thomas Aquinas, the great theologian, who had entered the
Order very young and had been much harassed by the opposition of his
family in Italy; perhaps it was for this reason that he was sent to Germany
for his training. One of the legends says that he was a silent youth, nick-
named ‘the dumb ox’ by his fellow students, but that Albert quickly
recognized his quality and predicted that his voice would be heard in the
world; and apparendy it was at Albert’s instigation that he was sent to
Paris in 1252, where he became a famous professor.

But Albert was not entirely immersed in academic affairs. The year
1252 also saw the beginning of another task that went on for many years —
that of composing the turbulent quarrels of the citizens of Cologne with
their archbishops. Cologne, the most important centre of manufacture
and trade in the Rhineland, had in the preceding century gradually won
most of the rights of a free city, with the citizens themselves in control of
such matters as coinage of money, customs duties, and other trade regula-
tions. When Archbishop Conrad von Hochstaden, an autocratic noble-
man, attempted to curtail these rights, bloody fighting took place before
both sides agreed to accept arbitration. The agreement drawn up by
Albert, and signed before him and the Papal Legate, Hugo of St. Cher, in
April 1252, put an end to the strife for a time, but Albert’s intervention
was to be invoked again and again in the future.

In 1254 the Provincial Chapter, meeting in Worms, elected Albert
Prior Provincial of Teutonia, an office he held until 1257. These were
years of heavy responsibility and arduous travel, for it was the duty of the
Prior Provincial to visit as many as possible of the Dominican houses
under his charge. The Teutonia province then included all Catholic
Europe north of the Alps and east of France, with the exception of
Scandinavia and the British Isles — that is, Alsace, Lorraine, Luxemburg
and the Low Countries, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Bohemia, and
parts of Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia. There were about forty Dominican
houses in 1254, and several more were founded in the next few years.

The course of Albert’s journeys is a matter of conjecture, though some

4 See Appendix B, 13.

B



INTRODUCTION


xviii

documents exist to show where he was at certain times. The Provincial
Chapter generally met in late summer, and after leaving Worms in 1254
he seems to have returned to Cologne. In February 1255 he went to
profess the first nuns at the Paradise Convent near Soest, and preached to
them. He then went on into northern Teutonia, visiting Dominicans in
Saxony and Brandenburg, perhaps going as far as Liibeck, or even Riga.
The Provincial Chapter met that year in Regensburg, where Albert
presided; after which he would presumably have made visits in south
Germany and Austria. In January 1256 he was again in Cologne. He could
have visited houses in Holland and Belgium in the spring, before going
on to the General Chapter at Whitsun in Paris. He returned to Teutonia
in the summer for the Provincial Chapter at Erfurt; but by the end of
September he was at the Papal Curia at Anagni.

Travel in medieval times was slow and toilsome. Moreover, the
Dominicans were vowed to poverty — mendicant friars who had no
money, begged for food and lodging except when entertained in the
houses of their Order, and were forbidden to use wagons or horses
except in direst emergency. Albert’s long journeys on foot are an
amazing achievement: he covered hundreds of miles and must have
been on the road almost continuously for weeks on end. He can
have had little opportunity for study or writing, but many things that
he saw or heard on the way he remembered and later put into his
scientific books.

The reason for his journey to Italy was probably the trouble that had
been brewing for some years over the right of the mendicant friars — -the
Franciscans and Dominicans — to teach at the University of Paris. In 1254
William of St. Amour had published a violent attack on them, and the
matter had been discussed at the General Chapter in the spring of 1256.
It is almost certain that Albert was then selected, as a distinguished member
of one of the embatded Orders, and a former professor at Paris, to go and
testify before the Commission of Cardinals that was to meet at Anagni in
the autumn. The case was finished in October, when the Pope, Alexander
IV, condemned William’s book; but Albert remained with the Papal
Curia, which moved in December to Rome, and in May 1257 to Viterbo.
During this winter he lectured at the Curia on the Gospel of St. John and
the Epistles of St. Paul, and collected material for his tract (not finished
until much later) On the Unity of the Intellect: against Averroes. In May,
when the General Chapter met at Florence, he obtained release from his



LIFE OF ALBERT


xix


office as Prior Provincial; and in the summer he set off, by way of Bologna,
on the long journey back to Cologne.

There he resumed his duties as lector and his studies of Aristotle. In 1259
he attended the General Chapter at Valenciennes, serving on a committee
that included also Thomas Aquinas and Peter of Tarantaise (later Pope
Innocent V), to consider revisions of the curriculum in the Dominican
schools.

In Cologne his services as negotiator and peacemaker were again in
demand. He took part in another attempt to resolve the conflict between
the citizens of Cologne and Archbishop Conrad von Hochstaden. A
settlement was signed in June 1258; and, as an aftermath of this, negotia-
tions over the liability of Cologne for damage done in Deutz during the
fighting went on until 1260. There was also a trade dispute between
Cologne and Utrecht, settled in 1259.

Meanwhile events in Regensburg on the Danube were about to give
Albert’s life a new direction. The citizens were having trouble with their
bishop, Count Albert von Peitengau, who was more soldier than priest,
constantly involved in war, and had been paying little attention to his
diocese. In 1259, after an appeal to the Papal Curia, he was forced to resign.
The Cathedral Chapter elected in his place their Provost, Henry of Lerchen-
feld, who (perhaps prudendy) declined the honour. The naming of a bishop
then became a matter for the Curia, who chose Albert of Cologne.

This seemed to many a surprising choice, though it may have been
suggested by Hugo of St. Cher, who was then at the Curia; and of course
Albert was personally known to the Pope from his stay in Italy three
years earlier. But Albert was now in a somewhat difficult position: the
regulations of the Order forbade any Dominican to accept such office in
the Church without the permission of his superiors; and when the
Master General, Humbert of Romans, heard the news, he wrote to Albert
begging him, for the good of the Order, to decline. The notification of
his election and Humbert’s letter of remonstrance must have reached
Cologne at about the same time, near the beginning of February 1260.
Albert seems to have taken some weeks to make up his mind, but in the
end he accepted. In mid March he was consecrated as a bishop (where and
by whom is not known) and set out for Regensburg. He arrived on
March 29, spent the night at the Dominicans’ house of St. Blaise, and
next day went in procession to the cathedral to be enthroned. On the
same day he began to look into the affairs of the diocese.



XX


INTRODUCTION


These were in a sorry way, and a reformer is seldom popular. No doubt
he met with opposition and even ridicule: Regensburg hardly knew what
to make of a bishop who walked the streets in the crude sandals of a
begging friar. Surviving documents tell something of his activities during
the next year. In August he consecrated an altar at Lerchenfeld, and in
September he attended a conference of bishops at Landau. He struggled
with debts and financial reforms, seeing that tithes were collected and
properly used, devising means for the support of parish priests and a
hospital.

When spring came he seems to have felt that he had done what he was
sent to do, and that it was time to give the diocese back to a locally chosen
bishop. In May he set out for Italy to present his resignation to the Pope
in person. He arrived at Viterbo just about the time of Alexander IV’s
death (25 May 1261) ; nothing could be done until after the election of a
new Pope. Urban IV was elected in August, but it was not until the
following May (1262) that he confirmed the election of Leo, former dean
of the Cathedral Chapter at Regensburg, as Albert’s successor.

Finally freed of his office, Albert might have been expected to return
to the Dominican Order, but he did not do so, probably because the new
Pope had other plans for him. In fact, there is no evidence as to his where-
abouts during most of the years 1261 and 1262. It has been conjectured
that he returned for a while to Regensburg, or that he travelled to southern
Italy or even to Greece. What is most likely, perhaps, is that he remained
at the Curia, where Urban IV gathered a group of scholars and theologians
including Thomas Aquinas, summoned from Paris in 1261, and no doubt
others whom Albert had known in 1256-7. There he could devote him-
self again to writing, and it is not improbable that it was there that he
finished his commentary on St. Luke and perhaps some of his com-
mentaries on Aristotle.

At the beginning of 1263 Urban IV appointed Albert Preacher of the
Crusade in Germany and Bohemia, giving him the powers of a Papal
Nuncio, and providing him with letters commanding all bishops to assist
his mission. Once again the prospect of long journeys lay before him, and
Albert was growing older. These journeys are much better documented
than those of 1254-6, because at many places along the way he con-
secrated altars or churches, granted indulgences, or settled local disputes.
He is thought to have been in Orvieto when Hugo of St. Cher died there
on March 19, and to have remained to celebrate Easter on April 1. But he



LIFE OF ALBERT


xxi


must have left soon afterwards and travelled by way of the Brenner Pass,
for on May 5 he was at Polling in Upper Bavaria. He can then be traced
to Augsburg (May 10), Donauworth (May 13), "Wurzburg (May 27),
Frankfurt-am-Main (June 5), and back again to Wurzburg (June 28). He
reached Cologne about the end of July.

Once again there was trouble in Cologne. Archbishop Conrad von
Hochstaden had died in September 1261; but the new archbishop,
Engelbert von Falkenberg, was no more able to get on with the citizens
than his predecessor had been. On 25 August 1263 Albert witnessed
another agreement; but in November, after he had left Cologne, fighting
broke out again, and Engelbert was taken prisoner. There was talk in
December, and again in the following May (1264), of getting Albert to
come back. But he did not come back, and a new settlement was attempted
by the Bishops of Liege and Munster.

From Cologne Albert probably travelled through Holland and north
Germany. At the end of October he was in Brandenburg, where he
carried out a special mission: the local clergy, unable to agree on the
choice of a bishop, had appealed to the Pope, who had sent Albert to
deal with the case. After this he may have continued eastwards to the
Saxon-Polish frontier, but by the end of the year he was at Adelhausen,
near Freiburg-im-Breisgau. On 20 February 1264 he was in Speyer, and
on March 18 in Regensburg. There are no records for the next few
months, but it is likely that he was then carrying out his mission in
southern Germany and Bohemia. In late summer he was in Mainz, where
a document of 20 August 1264 is the latest one known bearing his signa-
ture as praedicator cruris.

It is strange that we have no information about the actual preaching of
the crusade; but this is perhaps because it was not very successful. The
Age of Crusades was nearly over and men’s minds were turning to other
interests. Albert’s commission came to a sudden end with the death of the
Pope and the next Pope did not renew it.

Urban IV died on October 2, but it may have been some weeks before
the news reached Albert. When it did, he seems to have gone at once to
Wurzburg, for by December 4 he was engaged in mediating a dispute
there. One of the witnesses to the agreement was Albert’s brother Henry,
Prior of the Dominicans; and it was perhaps because his brother
was there that Albert remained in Wurzburg (so far as we know)
until May 1267. Numerous documents show that he took part in the



INTRODUCTION


xxii

settlement of local cases, but there is little to tell of his private life
and occupations.

He lived with the Dominicans, but his status is not entirely clear.
During his years in the papal service he had been released from the rule of
the Order — that is, he owed obedience not to the Master General but
directly to the Pope; and the Pope had granted him some property or
revenues for his support, which he still retained and finally disposed of by
will, in contravention of the vow of poverty. It may also be noted that he
never again held any office in the Order, and was perhaps free to choose
his place of residence. Yet in other respects he certainly returned to the
Order and was identified with it for the rest of his life.

In the early summer of 1267 Albert left Wurzburg, probably visited
Regensburg, and then went to the Rhineland. In July he consecrated an
altar in Burtscheid, near Aachen, and in August and September was in
Cologne. Later in the autumn he arrived in Strassburg, which was to be
the centre of his activities for the next few years. The Dominican school
had grown in importance since Albert had taught there many years
before, and was now second only to Cologne in the Teutonia province;
and the lector was Ulrich of Strassburg, a former pupil of Albert’s. Whether
Albert himself resumed any teaching at this time is unknown; he may
have lectured occasionally, but he was often away. Again there are
records of churches consecrated and indulgences granted in many places
not very far from Strassburg, as well as in Strassburg itself, where on
7 April 1269 he ordained a large group of clergy.

He undertook one more long journey at the command of the Pope,
Clement IV, probably in the summer of 1268, to settle a dispute in
Mecklenburg over property which had been given to the Knights of
St. John in 1229 and was later claimed and seized by other nobles and the
Abbot of Colbaz. Albert was now an old man, and efforts seem to have
been made to save his strength. He was accompanied by two assistants,
John of Freiburg (a young Dominican, probably a pupil of Ulrich’s) and
Albert of Havelburg. He was also permitted to use a vehicle; but the
springless carts of those days could hardly mitigate the badness of the
roads or shorten by very much the time spent on the way. This must have
been an exhausting journey, and Albert may well have felt that it was in
vain, for after his return the agreement he had arranged was broken, and
he had to excommunicate the Abbot of Colbaz and his party, who were
again trying to dispossess the Knights of St. John.



LIFE OF ALBERT


XXUl


Another claim on his services came from John of Vercelli, now Master
General of the Order, who wrote asking him to go to Paris and teach
again at the university. It was unusual to recall a man to a post he had
already held, but the mendicant friars were once more under attack, this
time by Gerhard of Abbeville and Siger of Brabant, and the Master
General no doubt wanted the Order’s most distinguished teacher in Paris
just then. Albert, however, excused himself, saying that he felt unequal to
the work and he had no assistant; and he may have suggested the recall of
Thomas Aquinas, who returned to Paris early in 1269. All this can be
inferred from a letter of John of Vercelli, apparently written in 1270, in
which, after mentioning the earlier call to Paris, he urged Albert to go to
Cologne. This time an assistant was provided, probably Gottfried of
Duisburg, who remained with him to the end.

The political situation in Cologne had been going from bad to worse.
When the Papal Nuncio, Bernard of Castaneto, had tried to intervene and
failed in 1268 he had excommunicated all parties to the quarrel, and the
citizens had appealed to the Pope in vain. The fighting did not stop,
though Engelbert was still a prisoner; and in the summer of 1269 the
severity of the interdict was increased. Another appeal was sent to Rome;
but Pope Clement IV died in 1269 and there was a delay of almost two
years before his successor was elected. We may surmise that a message was
sent through the Cologne Dominicans to the Master General, or to
Albert himself, begging him to help as he had helped in the past.

The exact date of Albert’s return to Cologne is uncertain — presumably
about the end of the year 1270. Nor is it known just how he opened
negotiations. But by spring Engelbert had been released, and on 16 April
1271 he signed a document declaring his complete reconciliation with his
enemies, and agreeing to submit any future points of dispute to an
arbitration commission headed by ‘Brother Albert of the Order of
Preachers, formerly Bishop of Regensburg’. Peace was at last restored,
though the interdict of excommunication was not finally removed until
after Engelbert’s death and the' election of his successor, Siegfried von
Westerburg, in 1275.

For the remaining years of his life Albert lived with the Dominicans of
Cologne. He contributed money for enlarging their church and is said to
have laid the cornerstone of the choir in 1271, and to have given a large
crucifix and some sacred relics. Very likely he still took an interest in the
school, but he was no longer responsible for it, and he was busy finishing



XXIV


INTRODUCTION


several theological works and revising earlier ones. His eyesight was
beginning to trouble him, 5 but he had his helper, Gottfried of Duisburg,
to read to him or write at his dictation.

It would be a mistake, however, to imagine that Albert had now
‘retired’ from active life. His name appears on many documents, not only
in Cologne and near-by places, but as far away as Utrecht and Nijmegen
in Holland. And he still kept in touch with larger affairs. Ulrich of
Strassburg was elected Prior Provincial of Teutonia in 1272, and records
of his term of office show that he several times consulted Albert and went
to see him. It was probably on one of these visits to Cologne that Ulrich
and John of Vercelli, Master General of the Order, met Rudolph of
Hapsburg ‘in the Church of the Friars’. Rudolph was crowned at Aachen
on 24 October 1273, and in November spent some time in Cologne. He
may have known Ulrich and Albert in Strassburg, and very probably he
would have wished to enlist the support of these eminent Dominicans.
If so, he evidently succeeded, for a letter of Ulrich’s mentions him with
enthusiasm, and tradition says that Albert spoke in his favour at the
Council of Lyons.

The spring of 1274 was saddened for Albert by news of the death of
Thomas Aquinas in March at Fossanova, on his way to the Council of
Lyons. As to Albert’s attendance at the Council, the evidence is conflicting.
The earliest chronicles of his life do not mention it, and his name does not
appear in the records of the assembly, 6 which opened on May 6. This
however, might be explained by his late arrival, if he travelled with the
German Dominicans who attended the General Chapter of the Order,
also held in Lyons that year, and opening on May 13. The Council had
many important matters to discuss and the election of Rudolph of
Hapsburg was not taken up until June 6. On that occasion, at least
according to a fifteenth-century account, Albert was present among the
bishops, and spoke on the text ‘Behold, I will send them a saviour and a
defender, and he will deliver them’. If we may judge his sentiments from
the text, Albert, like many of his contemporaries, saw in the Hapsburg
prince the best hope of ending the long interregnum which, ever since the
decline of the Hohenstauffens, had kept Germany in turmoil.

In August Albert was in Cologne and from there went to Fulda, on a

5 Weisheipl, i960, pp. 313-14, 354: cecKfi’enfes p. 526), who evidently does not think Albert
pre senectute , said by Albert of himself in 1271. went to Lyons at all; Scheeben believes he did,

6 Noted by Thorndike (1923, Vol. II, and spoke as reported.



LIFE OF ALBERT


XXV


commission from Pope Gregory X to look into the election of the Abbot
of Fulda. In September 1276 he was in Antwerp, where he consecrated
the Dominican church and attended the Provincial Chapter, at which
Ulrich of Strassburg presided. This may have been his last meeting with
Ulrich, who died in Paris a year or two later.

A legend of Thomas Aquinas relates that when, in 1277, some of his
opinions were included in Bishop Tempier’s condemnation of 219 theses
ascribed to Siger of Brabant, Albert went to Paris and successfully
defended them. This is extremely improbable. Albert was a remarkably
vigorous old man — indeed he is not known to have suffered any illness
dining his whole life. But by 1277 he is said to have become very bent
with age and to have begun to fail mentally.

Yet in January 1279, when he made his will, he described himself as
‘of sound mind and body’ (sanus et incolumen). The will is known to us in a
copy made ‘word for word’ in 1408 by a Dominican, Narzissus Pfister, at
Cologne. It is of interest because Albert appears to have feared that some
question of its validity might arise, since the rules of the Order did not
permit the friars to own or bequeath property. He therefore stated at the
beginning that he had been exempted from this rule by the Pope, and
wished to record his wishes while still able, so that no doubt be felt after
his death. He left everything to the Order: his books to the library; his
bishop’s vestments to the sacristry ; bequests in money to three Dominican
nunneries; the rest of his property to be used for completing the choir of
the Dominican church, to which he had already contributed. As executors
he named the Prior Provincial, the Priors of Cologne and Wurzburg (the
latter his ‘dear brother Henry’), Gottfried ‘the physician’, and Gottfried
of Duisburg. The will was witnessed by the Prior of Cologne and two
laymen, respected citizens of Cologne.

In February of that year he was still well enough to take part in the
ceremony of translating the relics of St. Cordula to the Chapel of the
Knights of St. John in Cologne; and in the summer he authenticated two
more documents; so his decline seems to have been gradual. The end
finally came on 15 November 1280. He died peacefully in his own cell,
and was deeply mourned by the Dominicans, who buried him three days
later in the choir of their own church, which he himself had helped to
build. The funeral mass was attended by a sorrowing crowd of clergy and
citizens of Cologne.

Albert’s memory was honoured for five centuries in the Dominican



XXVI


INTRODUCTION


church. Many people came to visit his grave and he was soon regarded
locally as a saint. In 1483 his remains were transferred to a reliquary and
placed upon an altar. But after the French Revolution, when Alsace was
invaded, the Dominicans were expelled and their buildings put to secular
uses. The church was tom down in 1804, and the cloister, where the
friars had lived, after serving as a barracks during the Prussian occupation,
was later demolished. Albert’s bones had already been removed to the
near-by church of St. Andrew, where in the nineteenth century they were
kept in an ornate gilded shrine. During the Second World War this
church was severely damaged in the bombing of Cologne. When it was
being restored, the ancient crypt beneath the choir, long ago filled in, was
re-excavated and made into a simple white-walled chapel, and in 1954
Albert’s relics were placed there in a plain stone sarcophagus that rests
beneath the high altar.

Even during his lifetime legends had begun to gather around Albert’s
name and this process was accelerated after his death. On the one hand, it
was told of him — as of his contemporaries Michael Scot and Roger
Bacon — that he had been a great magician skilled in the black arts; and
books on magic, astrology, and alchemy were falsely attributed to him. 7
On the other hand, there were stories of a saint’s miracles. A cult was
already forming in the fourteenth century, and in 1484 Pope Innocent VIII
gave permission to the Dominicans of Cologne to celebrate Albert’s
Feast each year on November 15. This permission, equivalent to beati-
fication, was extended by later Popes, and in 1670, by a decree of Clement
X, became world-wide. Albert was canonized in 1931, and in 1941
Pope Pius XII declared him the patron saint of scientists.

ALBERT’S SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS

Albert’s works are so numerous and cover so wide a range of interests
that we can only wonder how, even in a long life, he found time to write
them all. The scientific treatises, taken all together, are but a small part of
his complete works, 8 which include also commentaries on many books of
the Bible and on texts used in the schools, and original theological
treatises. For Albert himself there was no conflict between science and
religion: his study of Aristotle’s science was undertaken in order to under-

7 Thorndike, 1923, Vol. II, pp. 549-55, conspectus issued in 1951, is to be in forty

720-48. Waite, 1888, pp. 58-59. volumes, of which nine (Vols. IV-XII) will

8 For example, the new Cologne edition of contain the ‘natural history' treatises.

Albert's complete works, according to the



ALBERT’S SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS


XXVll


stand Aristotle’s philosophy as a whole and to reconcile it with the Chris-
tian faith. He began his commentary on the Physics (I, i, i) in these words:

Our intention in natural science is to satisfy, to the best of our ability, the
Brothers of our Order, who have been asking us, for several years now, to
compose for them the kind of book on Physics that should give them a complete
natural science 9 and make them really competent to understand the books of
Aristotle. Although we do not consider ourselves capable of this task, yet we
cannot withstand the entreaties of the Brothers ; and so at last we accept the
task that we have often refused. Persuaded by their entreaties, we undertake it,
first of all for the honour of Almighty God, the Fount of Wisdom and the
Creator, Founder, and Ruler of nature; and also for the benefit of the Brothers,
and of any others who read it with the desire of acquiring natural science.

Albert wrote commentaries on other works of Aristotle — on the
logical works, the Ethics , Politics , and Metaphysics . But those on natural
science form a special group, since Albert considered them as one closely
related series, and listed them all together, rather elaborately classified in
logical order, near the beginning of his Physics (I, i, 4). Here is his list: 10

* Physics (Physica)

* The Heavens (De caelo et mundo)

The Nature of Places (De natura locorum)

Properties of the Elements (De causis proprietatum elementorum)

* Generation and Corruption (De generatione et corruptione)

* Meteorology (Meteora)

The Book of Minerals (Mineralia)

* The Soul (De anima)

* Life and Death (De morte et vita)

* Youth and Age (De iuventute et senectute)

Nourishment (De nutrimento et nutribili)

* Sleep and Waking (De somno et vigilia)

* The Senses (De sensu et sensato )

* Memory and Recollection (De memoria et reminiscentia)

Movement of Animals (De modbus animalium)

* Breath and Breathing (De spiritu et respiradone)

The Intellect (De intellectu et intelligibili)

* Plants (De vegetabilibus)

* Animals (De animalibus)

9 Physica itself means ‘nature* or ‘natural 10 These are listed in the order in which
science* ; and Aristotle’s Physics was con- Albert places them. The Latin titles are those
sidered to be the foundation for all the other used in the conspectus (1951) of the new
sciences. Cologne edition of Albert’s complete works.



XXVU1


INTRODUCTION


Those marked with an asterisk (*) are directly based on corresponding
works in the Aristotelian corpus . 11 But we must remember that Albert
never had a ‘complete edition* of Aristotle. Various treatises or groups of
treatises circulated in separate manuscripts: some were available in two or
more different translations, and some were embedded in Arabic com-
mentaries. Critical scholarship hardly existed, but an intelligent man like
Albert could see that some of the works generally received as Aristotle’s
were not entirely satisfactory; and some that he had heard of could not be
found.

The Properties of the Elements is now known to be a Muslim work; and
Albert had to add a good deal to it to make it fit into his Aristotelian
scheme. Nourishment and The Intellect probably correspond to the spurious
De alimentiis and De intelligentia that appear in medieval lists of Aristotle’s
works; 12 and Albert acknowledged that he had not seen Aristotle’s own
books on these subjects but only writings by his followers (De intellectu,
I, i, i). He was in the same difficulty when he wrote the Movement of
Animals (De motibus animalium); he later referred to this as if it were
largely his own composition (ea quae ex ingenio proprio diximus), and wrote
a new commentary, De principiis motus processivi, after he found a manu-
script of Aristotle’s Movement of Animals in Italy (De prin. mot. proc.
I, i, i). The Nature of Places and the Book of Minerals were put together by
Albert himself, when he failed to find any Aristotelian treatises on
geography and mineralogy.

In doing this he did not feel that he was taking unwarrantable liberties
with his author; he did not think of himself as a scholar editing a text but
as a teacher explaining new and difficult ideas. He justified this, too, in the
Introduction to his Physics (I, i, i) :

Our method in this work will be to follow the sequence of Aristode’s thought,
and to say in explanation and demonstration of it whatever may seem necessary;
but without any quotation of the text. And also we shall put in digressions, so
as to clarify difficulties as they arise or to add whatever may make the Philoso-
pher’s thought clearer to anyone. And we shall divide the whole work by
chapter headings: where the heading simply gives the contents of the chapter,
this means that the chapter is one of those in Aristotle’s own books; but
wherever the heading indicates that there is a digression (digressio), there we
have added something in the way of supplement or demonstration. By such a
procedure, we shall make our books correspond, in their numbering and

12 Wingate, 1931, pp. 23, 89.


11 See Appendix A.



ALBERT’S SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS xxix

titles, with those of Aristotle. And we shall make additions wherever books are
incomplete, and wherever they have gaps in them, or are missing entirely —
whether they were left unwritten by Aristotle or, if he did write them, they
have not come down to us. But where this is done, the ensuing tractate will
say so clearly.

Thus Albert’s treatises are more original than the term ‘commentary’
might suggest. If there was a basic text, it was paraphrased and interwoven
with his own contributions — sometimes exposition or refutation of the
opinions of previous commentators, sometimes new illustrations, drawn
from his own wide reading and experience, which reveal his lifelong
interest in science and his quality as an observer. If there was no basic text,
as for the Book of Minerals, the selection and arrangement of materials
offered even more scope for the development of his own ideas. His aim
was a complete account of all nature, and the tides of his treatises indicate
the broad scope of the undertaking. But the individual treatises are not in-
dependent, they are all parts of one continuous and coherent ‘natural
history’, and the reader is constandy reminded that points explained in
the earlier books are necessary for understanding the later ones.

At the end of the Animals (which he expanded from nineteen to twenty-
six books) Albert says that this is the end of the series on natural science.
But he so often mentions astrology and alchemy that we may inquire
whether or not he ever wrote anything on these subjects. Both he outside
the true ‘Aristotelian’ tradition (though the pseudo-Aristotelian Properties
of the Elements contains some astrology), but they were an important part
of medieval science.

Astrology was, of course, closely linked with astronomy; in fact the
words astrologia and astronomia were used interchangeably by thirteenth-
century writers. The two-fold character of the science of the stars is shown
by the Mirror of Astronomy, or astrology ( Speculum astronomiae). This was
attributed to Albert as early as the fourteenth century, and has been
printed in his collected works (Borgnet, Vol. X), although this attribution
has been challenged. 13 The author, if he was not Albert, certainly held
views very similar to Albert’s. He recognized the two aspects of astronomia
and listed books dealing with both: first, the science that observes and
describes the movements of the heavenly bodies; and second, the applica-
tion of this knowledge to predicting the future or invoking celestial
influences for various purposes. In the latter science he carefully

13 For discussion of this sec Thorndike, 1923, Vol. II, pp. 577-92, 698-717.



XXX


INTRODUCTION


distinguished licit from illicit practices ; and this sort of distinction, together
with some of his citations of authorities, we find also in Albert’s discussion
of astrological images (Min. II, iii).

Scientists of today who scorn astrology as mere superstition perhaps
forget that at one time it included several subjects which have since
become respectable fields for scientific research — weather and weather
forecasting, the relation of climate to latitude, and the effects of climate on
plants, animals, and men. But if all these things were influenced by ‘the
aspects of the heavens’, medieval astrologers thought, the stars must
surely affect men’s lives in still other ways. Albert, for all his remarkable
intelligence and his sturdy common sense, was, after all, a child of his
time. He may well have written the Mirror of Astronomy. But other
astrological works bearing his name are certainly spurious.

The same may be said of the alchemical treatises attributed to Albert,
with the possible exception of the Little Book on Alchemy ( Libellus de
alchimia ), also known as the Straight Path ( Semita recta), which has been
printed with his other works (Borgnet, Vol. XXXVII) and translated into
English by Sister Virginia Heines (1958). It contains anachronistic refer-
ences to Geber and Jean de Meung, but these may be later interpolations.
The title De alchimia in a fourteenth-century list of Albert’s writings has
been taken to mean this work, but it may refer to a part of the Book of
Minerals . 14 The Little Book on Alchemy is a practical ‘laboratory manual’,
giving good advice to the novice, and describing the apparatus, materials,
and procedures of the art; and it is quite free of the obscurity and mysti-
fication common in alchemical books.

Whether or not Albert wrote this, he had, according to his own state-
ment (Min. Ill, i, 1), investigated alchemy. But he could have studied
alchemical texts, talked with alchemists, and even visited their laboratories,
without being an adept himself. 15 He certainly was much interested in
alchemical theories, and, as the Book of Minerals makes clear, he realized
that ‘chemical’ explanations were needed for many natural phenomena.
But in my opinion his style and his expressed views on transmutations are
unlike those of the author of the Little Book on Alchemy.

THE ARGUMENT OF THE BOOK OF MINERALS

The Aristotelian corpus contains almost nothing on mineralogy. The
only discussion of the subject, some thirty lines at the end of Meteor., Ill

14 Paneth. 1929, 1930. 15 Partington, 1937, pp. 12-13.



ARGUMENT OF THE BOOK OF MINERALS xxxi


sets forth a theory that there are underground two ‘exhalations’: one of
these, a ‘dry smoke’, produces earths and stones, the other, a ‘watery
vapour’, produces metals. The passage ends with the remark that each of
these kinds of mineral must be taken up separately and in detail; and this
seems to point to some work no longer extant 16 . When Albert came to
write the Book of Minerals he tried to find this missing work. He believed
it existed, because he had heard of a Lapidary or Book of Stones by
Aristotle, 17 but he could obtain only a few excerpts from it (Min. I, i, i ;
II, iii, 6; III, i, i). He was therefore forced to draw up his own plan for
dealing with minerals. The result is of unusual interest, in that it shows us
not only the contemporary state of mineralogy, but also Albert’s idea of
what a science of mineralogy should be.

The Book of Minerals is a typical scholastic treatise, and since this form of
presentation is rather unfamiliar today, a brief summary of its argument
may be useful.

Albert’s model is, of course, Aristotle, 18 who says at the beginning of
his Physics that data gained from direct observation of nature are of
concrete particulars, but are often confused and difficult to understand.
Science concerns itself with analysing the data, in order to arrive at
general principles, to make things understandable by explaining their
causes. For Albert, then, a science of mineralogy must be based on a discus-
sion of the causes of minerals, that is, ‘the four causes’ distinguished by
Aristode as material, efficient, formal, and final.

First the material cause, the matter of which minerals are made: Albert’s
‘chemistry’ is based on what is said of the elements (Fire, Air, Water, and
Earth) in The Heavens, Generation and Corruption, and Meteorology (es-
pecially Book IV). And the material cause is the basis of his general clas-
sification of minerals into three groups — stones (Books I— II), metals
(Books III— IV) and ‘intermediates’ (media, Book V). He treats stones first
because they are ‘simpler’ than metals, being mixtures of Earth and
Water; metals are made up of Sulphur and Quicksilver, which are them-
selves mixtures. Quicksilver containing Earth and Water, Sulphur some-
thing of all four elements. (The Sulphur-Quicksilver theory is not
Aristode’s; Albert got it from Avicenna 19 and other alchemists.) The

16 Perhaps the reference is to a work of 18 See Appendix A for notes on the

Theophrastus. See Appendix B, i. Aristotelian works that are relevant to the

17 The Lapidary of Aristotle. See Appendix Book of Minerals.

A, Pseudo-Aristotelian Works, 14. 19 See Appendix D, 9.



xxxii INTRODUCTION

‘intermediates’ are neither stones nor metals, but have some characteristics
of both.

Next, the efficient cause, the process by which minerals are made: here
Albert adopts the two-exhalations theory of Meteor. Ill and extends it, for
metallic ore deposits, by equating the ‘dry smoke’ with Sulphur and the
‘most vapour’ with Quicksilver. These exhalations, confined within the
earth, are converted into minerals by the direct action of heat and cold;
but heat and cold are merely the ‘instruments’ of the real efficient cause
which is a ‘mineralizing power’ (this concept also came from Avicenna).
Just how this power acts Albert can explain only through an analogy
drawn from Aristotle’s biology (especially Generation of Animals): the
female supplies only the matter of which the embryo is made ( material
cause), and the male semen is the efficient cause of its development. For
minerals, too, the process of development must be started somehow, and
the impulse, according to Albert, is the ‘influence’ of the heavenly bodies,
though this may be modified by the nature of the material and the place
where the minerals are forming.

Then, the formal cause, that which makes a thing what it is: here the
biological analogy is pushed still further, for Aristotle said that the male
also contributes the form of the offspring, its species (e.g. the offspring of a
dog is a dog and not any other kind of animal). In the same way, Albert
argues, the forms of minerals are due to a ‘formative power’ that descends
from the heavens through the influence of the stars — and this is what
determines the particular kind of mineral that will be formed at any
particular time and place. (The best-known example of this belief is the
supposed formation of the seven metals under the influences of the seven
planets.)

Last, the final cause, that for the sake of which a thing exists: this is
hardly mentioned, presumably because Albert agrees with Aristotle that
inanimate things like minerals can hardly be said to have an ‘end’ or
‘purpose’ of their own.

This whole account is un-Aristotelian in its emphasis on astrology. Yet
to some extent it had its roots in Aristotle’s cosmology, as described in the
Physics, The Heavens, Generation and Corruption, and Meteorology : a
spherical universe, with the earth at the centre, and as it were the focus, of
all the motions, transmitted inwards from one etherial sphere to another,
that cause all the changes in the atmosphere, sea, and land, in the life of
plants and animals, and even in the growth of minerals underground. But



ARGUMENT OF THE BOOK OF MINERALS xxxiii


in the course of centuries this scheme had been elaborated and fused with
the notions of neo-Platonists and astrologers, 20 who assigned to each of
the heavenly bodies more specific and more varied influences than
Aristotle ever did. Albert believes in these ‘powers’, but he always main-
tains that they are subject to God’s will.

Having thus dealt with the essential causes of stones (I, i) and metals
(III, i), he next considers their ‘accidental’ properties, those features which,
according to Aristode ( Metaphysics , VI, ii, 1026 a 33 fF.) are not really
essential nor always present, but occur in some individuals and not in
others. Again there are two parallel tractates: the one on stones (I, ii)
deals with texture, colour, hardness, fissility or cleavage, density, struc-
ture, and fossils; the one on metals (III, ii) with fusibility, malleability,
colour and lustre, taste and odour, and various chemical reactions. The
systematic discussion of a list of physical and chemical properties seems to
have been suggested by a similar list in Meteor. IV, and much of the
material is drawn from that work and from Generation and Corruption ;
the account of colours, tastes, and odours, from the treatment of sense-
perceptions in The Soul and The Senses. To all this Albert adds field
observations of his own and, in the tractate on metals, information from
alchemical sources. 21

These two tractates (I, ii and III, ii) make vivid to us the difficulties that
hindered the development of modem chemistry and mineralogy. The
Peripatetic doctrine of elements and qualities was, in fact, quite inadequate
for developing any sort of chemical classification of minerals. With
metals, particularly, it is plain that if we regard fusibility, malleability,
colour, etc., as ‘accidentals’ (because these can be altered by alloying,
bronzing, annealing, etc.), we are left asking: But then what is it that is
essential — the real difference between one metal and another? It was this
uncertainty that fostered the hope of transmutation, which Albert does
not entirely reject although he knows that many alchemists’ claims are
fraudulent (III, i, 9). On the strength of Aristotle’s accountof the transmuta-
tion of the elements in Generation and Corruption he accepts the theoretical
possibility, and reasons that something of the kind must occur in nature,
in the formation of ore minerals (III, ii, 6). But he seems to be doubtful
whether the natural processes can be imitated successfully in the labora-
tories of the alchemists.

20 See Appendix C for notes on astrological 21 See Appendix D for notes on alchemical
works. works.


C



XXXIV


INTRODUCTION


Finally, in Books II, IV, and V, he carries out still further his plan for
system and completeness, naming stones, metals, and ‘intermediates’, one
by one, and describing each one, some of them in considerable detail.
This kind of ‘catalogue’ is not found in Aristotle; but it was familiar in the
popular medieval herbals, bestiaries, and lapidaries. The tradition goes back
at least as far as Pliny and was still followed by the thirteenth-century
encyclopedists. 22

In the tractate on stones (II, ii) Albert incorporates an alphabetical
lapidary, which is similar to, and probably partly based on, those of
Arnold of Saxony, Thomas of Cantimpre, and the ‘Dyascorides’ cited by
Bartholomew of England. Such unacknowledged use of others’ works
was not in those days regarded as plagiarism: Albert similarly incorporates
a bestiary in his book on Animals and a herbal in his Plants. Compilations
of this type seem to have been regarded as common property, at the free
disposal of anyone who had occasion to write on topics animal, vegetable,
or mineral 23 Albert, in fact, was doing just about what anyone today
might do in writing an elementary book on mineralogy — taking data
from standard works familiar at the time.

The compilers of popular lapidaries transmitted some factual informa-
tion; but their chief interest was the curative or magical powers of stones.
Albert therefore prefaces his ‘lapidary tractate’ (II, ii) by another tractate
(II, i) in which he endeavours to account for these wonderful powers. In
order to understand his explanation, we must consider again the Aristo-
telian notion of form. To the mineralogist of today this term may suggest
the ‘crystal form’ or ‘habit’ of a mineral; but to Aristotle, form was some-
thing more than shape or structure — it was the essential being, or identity
of a thing; in living things, the ‘life’ or ‘soul’. This is why Albert (I, i, 6)
engages in what seems to us a needless argument, denying that a stone has
a soul ( anima ) or is in any sense ‘alive’. But even an inanimate thing has
form, that which makes it distinctively what it is and able to do whatever it
does (e.g. the form of an axe is what makes it able to cut). In this sense,
then, the forms of stones account for whatever effects they produce. An
excellent example is the ‘power’ of magnetism, essential to our identifica-
tion or definition of the mineral magnetite. And medieval lapidaries
ascribed many other ‘powers’, medical or magical, to other stones —

22 See Appendix B for notes on lapidaries 23 Thorndike, 1923, Vol. I, pp. 777-8,
and the question of Albert’s sources for Mitt. Vol. II, p. 432.



ARGUMENT OF THE BOOK OF MINERALS xxxv


powers that Albert considers to be inherent in their forms and imparted to
them by th e formal cause, the ‘formative power’ of the heavens.

This theme is further developed in a third tractate in this book (II, iii)
on the sigils, images, or markings, found in certain stones. Albert intends
(II, iii, i) to distinguish between those made ‘by nature’ (picture agates,
mineralized fossils, casts and moulds of shells, etc.) and those made ‘by
art’ (antique cameos and intaglios) ; but subsequent chapters show that he
often confuses ‘natural’ and ‘artificial’ figures, and knows little about gem-
cutting. He recognizes the ancient practice of enhancing the powers of a
stone by carving upon it some image or inscription, and gives his some-
what cautious approval by inserting here (II, iii, 5) another brief lapidary,
of engraved gems bearing astrological figures.

The parallel book on metals (Book IV) is shorter and simpler than Book
II, since less information was available about metals than about stones.
The first two chapters describe sulphur and quicksilver, and the others
take up all the other metals then known — lead, tin, silver, copper, gold,
and iron (including steel). Since Aristotle had said little about metals, the
material here is drawn partly from alchemical books and partly from
Albert’s own observations on visits to mines, smelters, or brass foundries.

Book V, on minerals intermediate between stones and metals, is a
brief compilation, mostly from alchemical or medical sources: it includes
salt, vitriol, alum, soda, etc. — the chief ‘chemical reagents’ of the al-
chemists’ laboratories.

Taken as a whole, the Book of Minerals is an impressive attempt to
organize a science of mineralogy. Despite its background of medieval
thought, its many errors of fact or interpretation of fact, there is something
here that we recognize: the introductory exposition of general principles
(the origin, physical and chemical properties of minerals), followed by
descriptions of individual minerals (appearance, mode and place of
occurrence, uses, etc.). This general pattern is still to be seen in our own
textbooks.


DATE OF COMPOSITION OF THE
BOOK OF MINERALS

The Book of Minerals cannot be precisely dated. In fact the chronology
of all Albert’s Aristotelian commentaries, the writing of which must
have been spread over many years, is a vexing problem for scholars. 24
24 Weisheipl, i960, pp. 313-ij, discusses this and gives references.



XXXVI


INTRODUCTION


The Introduction to the Physics (I, i, i, quoted above) indicates that that
was the first work on natural science undertaken by Albert; and his list
of the titles to be included ( Phys ., I, i, 4) seems to represent his original
plan for the whole series. But he did not write all the other works in that
order: for example, at the beginning of The Intellect (De intell. I, i, 1) he
says that the logical order is not necessarily the best order for teaching
these subjects and therefore he will rearrange the following books. Then,
too, there was the problem of sources: perhaps there were other works
beside the Movement of Animals (De principiis motus processivi ) that were
written whenever he was able to obtain a text.

In the Book of Minerals, however, he refers to all of the six works that
precede it in his original list, using the past tense, as if they were already
completed, and mentions some of the others as future works. Evidence
from such cross-references must be used with caution; sometimes Albert
seems merely to be reminding the reader of what comes ‘before’ and
‘after’ in the course of study. But there are occasional slips, where one
work is referred to in another, now in the past tense and again in the
future, which lead me to suspect that Albert was working, at about the
same time, on the four treatises which together make up his contribution
to geography and geology — The Nature of Places, the Properties of the
Elements, the Meteorology, and the Book of Minerals. This impression is
strengthened by comparison of ‘overlapping’ ideas in the four works: the
same points are explained and re-explained, sometimes in the same words,
and comments or illustrations introduced in one place are repeated in
another.

One of these treatises. The Nature of Places, contains the statement that
it was written at Cologne (iii, 2: Agripiam quae nunc Colonia vocatur, in qua
istud volumen compilatum est). A reasonable inference is that Albert em-
barked on his ‘natural history’ commentaries while he was still teaching at
Paris, and continued them between 1248 when he returned to Cologne
and 1254 when he became Prior Provincial. How many treatises would
fall within this time-span is impossible to say.

Nor is internal evidence in the Book of Minerals itself very helpful.
We know only that it was written after 1248, because Albert looks back
to an incident that happened while he was a professor at Paris (II, iii, 1)
and notes the recovery of Seville from the Moors (III, i, 4). There are
many other passages certainly based on his own observations, but
although Albert often tells us where he saw something interesting, he



DATE OF COMPOSITION


XXXVll


seldom tells us when ; and an attempt to fit the localities into the known
chronology of Albert’s life reveals all too many possibilities.

Of particular interest, of course, are his reports on mining districts.
We know that at some time or other he had travelled widely in order to
learn about minerals (Min. Ill, i, i: Exul enim aliquando foetus fui, longe
vadens ad loca metallica, ut experiri possem naturas metallorum). This statement
is puzzling unless it is, as I am convinced, a recollection of his youth,
before he joined the Order of Preachers. Exul — an exile, a homeless
wanderer — seems a strange word for him to use of his condition as a
Dominican; and even stranger is the assertion that his purpose was to
learn about mining and metallurgy, if he refers to his journeys after he
joined the Order. But some districts he may have visited, or revisited,
later on. Goslar, for instance, which he mentions several times (Min. HI, i,
io ; III, ii, 4; V, 7), is not far from Hildesheim where he was lector,
probably about 1234-5.

It is possible, then, that in writing the Book of Minerals Albert was
drawing almost entirely on information acquired years earlier. Neverthe-
less, there are at least two observations — of the silver ores at Freiberg in
Saxony (Min. Ill, i, 10 and IV, 5) and of the local impoverishment of a
gold vein (Min. Ill, ii, 6) — which are so detailed that it is difficult (for a
geologist at least) to believe that they were not made by a man who
already had a definite theory in his mind, and took notes to use in a book
already planned, if not under way. These notes, therefore, and perhaps
the descriptions of alluvial gold (Min. IV, 7) and of the ‘petrified bird’s nest’
at Liibeck (Min. I, i, 7), may date from Albert’s journeys as Prior Pro-
vincial in 1254-6. The writing of the book might then belong to his stay
at the Papal Curia in 1256-7. Perhaps, too, the Curia is the most likely
place for his meeting with the men who told him about the Emperor
Frederick’s magnet (Min. II, ii, 11) and the occurrence of smaragdus in
Greece (Min. II, ii, 17).

Another line of evidence also suggests that the Book of Minerals was not
written before 1256-7 at the earliest: this has to do with Albert’s sources.
Since his original plan (Phys. I, i, 4) required a book on mineralogy, he
undoubtedly began to collect and arrange material for this while he was
still working on the preceding treatises. His method of selection is
illustrated by his use of the chapters by Avicenna found in some manu-
scripts as an appendix to the Meteorology . 25 Albert put a few sentences

25 See Appendix D, 9.



xxxvrn


INTRODUCTION


from Avicenna (on ‘thunderstones’) into his own version ofthe Meteorology
(III, iii, 20); he quoted the chapter on mountains in his Properties of the
Elements (II, ii, 5) ; and reserved the rest for the Book of Minerals.

But the source that he considered the most important of all — Aristotle’s
own ‘Book of Stones’ 26 — he was unable to obtain; and, for a time at
least, I believe, he was unwilling to proceed without it. Meanwhile his
search led him to other lapidaries, probably to those of Arnold of Saxony
and Thomas of Cantimpre, 27 and to their sources, including a manuscript
attributed to ‘Diascorides’ (also quoted by Bartholomew of England).
These he probably obtained in Cologne or Paris or somewhere else in
northern Europe. Bits of these, too, seem to have found their way into the
treatises he was then writing: for example, in The Nature of Places (i, 5),
which was written at Cologne, the illustration of a magnet that attracts
iron at one comer and repels it at another (cf. Min. II, iii, 6) ; or, in the
discussion of the rainbow ( Meteor . Ill, iv, 8 ; 19) the mention of a quartz
crystal used as a prism (cf. Min. II, ii, 8, Iris). These compilations also
contained a few excerpts from the Lapidary of Aristotle, but Albert wanted
a complete copy. His statement that he had sought for it persistendy in
many parts of the world (Min. Ill, i, 1) implies inquires made during his
travels, perhaps over a fairly long period of time. He did, as we know,
find another Aristotle manuscript, the Movement of Animals, in Campania,
probably during his stay in Italy in 1256-7. But he did not find the
Lapidary of Aristotle.

Additional light may be thrown on this problem by a short anonymous
manuscript described by Paneth 28 . It is written in a north Italian hand of
the early fourteenth century and entitled Metals and Alchemy (De metallis et
alchymia). The contents agree almost exactly with some sections of the
Book of Minerals: a chapter on transmutation (III, i, 9) and parts of the
descriptions of the metals (IV, 1-8). Several questions arise here: Is this
an unacknowledged source used by Albert, or is it his own composition?
And is it an abbreviation of the Book of Minerals, or a first draft that Albert
later elaborated? Its style is like Albert’s, and it refers, as he does, to the
Meteorology in the past tense and to the Animals in the future, thus in-
dicating its place in a series of Aristotelian works. It does not read like an
abbreviation: complete sentences follow each other, sometimes word for

26 See Appendix A, Pseudo-Aristotelian of their works to the Book of Minerals, see

Works 14, and Appendix B, 8. Appendix B.

27 For these encyclopedists and the relation 28 Paneth, 1929, 1930; SudhofF, 1929.



DATE OF COMPOSITION


XXXIX


word, as in the Book of Minerals, with little attempt at condensation or
paraphrasing. And it is easy to see how Albert could have expanded it, by
adding whole sentences or longer passages, into the version of the Book of
Minerals.

Paneth’s conclusions were that this is a copy of a genuine work of
Albert, which he wrote in Italy, possibly at Bologna; that it circulated
independently before the Book of Minerals was completed, or ‘published’,
in the sense of becoming well known; and that it is the De alchimia
mentioned in early lists of Albert’s writings.

This is a tempting hypothesis. Many a teacher works up a new subject
one topic at a time, and a short paper, intended to be complete in itself,
is later incorporated in a book. Moreover, this method of composition
would explain many of the difficulties in dating Albert’s works. If
Paneth is correct in thinking that this first draft was written in Italy, it
might be dated 1256-7. But in that case it is odd that it contains none of
the field observations which Albert later put into these very chapters, and
which would presumably have been fresh in his mind if they were made
during his journeys of the preceding two years. But of course the original
of the Paneth copy was not necessarily written in Italy, and might have
been much earlier, though not before the inception of the series of
Aristotelian commentaries. Or a first draft written in Italy might have
been reworked after 1257.

It is true that by 1258, when Albert was again in Cologne, he was
turning his attention to biology; in that year he conducted a disputatio,
answering questions about Aristotle’s books on Animals , 29 and this was
recorded and preserved by Conrad of Austria (presumably a fellow
Dominican, although nothing more is known of him). But this does not
prove that the Book of Minerals was finished by that time. Indeed, I
suspect that Albert laid aside his notes on minerals, and perhaps a first
draft, and wrote some of the biological treatises before he returned to it.
Evidence of this is not conclusive, but merely suggestive: for example, in
the Book of Minerals (I, i, 6) he cites The Soul (II, i, 3), and apparently
quotes his own digressio on the difference between form in a mineral and
orm as the soul ( anima ) in a living thing; and the chapter on the colours of
minerals (Min. I, ii, 2) is more intelligible in the fight of a long digressio in

29 Quaestiones de animalibus, printed for the (1923, Vol. II, p. 524), reports a manuscript of
first time in the Cologne edition of Albert’s Sleep and Waking dated 1258.
works, Vol. XII. In addition, Thorndike



xl


INTRODUCTION


The Senses (ii, 2), which also contains references to gypsum and chalk and
a recipe for lac virginis (cf. Min. II, iii, 2 and V, 4). There are numerous
parallels between the Book of Minerals and the Animals: for instance, on
‘salamander’s down’ (Min. II, ii, 1 ; Animals, XXV, 47) ; on ‘toadstones’
(Min. II, ii, 2 and 12; Animals, XXVI, 8); on the nesting habits of eagles
and cranes (Min. II, ii, 5 ; Animals, VII, i, 6 and XXIII, 9) ; on pearls (Min.
II, ii, 11 ; Animals, XXIV, 74). None of these examples really proves
which passage was written first, but taken all together they at least show
that Albert had not stopped thinking about minerals while he was writing
about animals, and suggest that he was still making notes for the Book of
Minerals.

If the work on minerals was thus interrupted, the most probable reason
for the delay is that Albert had not yet given up hope of getting a copy of
the Lapidary of Aristotle. It may have been only after he had exhausted the
possibilities of Italy, which he visited again in 1261-3, that he abandoned
the search and finished the Book of Minerals.

On the whole, 1261-3 seems to me the most likely date for the com-
pletion of the book. If, however, some of the field observations were
made during the journeys of 1263-4, the writing or final revision of the
work must have been done still later — perhaps at Wurzburg, after his
preaching of the crusade was over. The text we now have shows some
evidence of revision: in the first book (I, ii, 6-8), Chapter 6 closes with a
formula appropriate to the end of the whole book, and Chapters 7 and 8
look like an afterthought, adding a few points not included earlier.

One attempt to date the Book of Minerals rests on the fact that it is not
cited by Vincent of Beauvais 30 , although he cites several of Albert’s other
works — The Soul, The Senses, Sleep and Waking, and Animals. Therefore,
it is argued, the Book of Minerals cannot have been available before 1250,
the supposed date of completion of Vincent’s encyclopedia. Thorndike 31 ,
however, has questioned this dating of Vincent’s work. Be this as it may,
it is, I think, quite probable that the biological works that Vincent cited
were finished before the Book of Minerals.

The opinions of ‘Albert of Cologne’ on minerals are quoted at some
length in the Summa philosophiae , 32 formerly ascribed to Robert Grosse-
teste, who died in 1253 ; but the Summa is now believed to be the work
of a follower of Grosseteste, and to have been written between 1265 and

30 See Appendix B, 14. 32 Grosseteste, ed. Baur, 1912, Vol. 9,

31 Thorndike, 1923, Vol. II, pp. 459-61. pp. 625-43.



DATE OF COMPOSITION


xli

1275. 33 The citations show that the Book of Minerals was recognized as
authoritative before Albert’s death, but do not establish a ‘date of
publication’.

To sum up: the Book of Minerals was certainly written after 1248. I
believe it was begun at Cologne before 1254, then delayed while Albert
searched in vain for the Lapidary of Aristotle, and finished in Italy either in
1256-7 or more probably in 1261-2, though revisions may have been
made even later. This dating is not very satisfactory, but it is perhaps the
best we can do for a work that seems to have given Albert a good deal of
trouble.


TEXT AND TRANSLATION

The Albertus Magnus Institute of Cologne, which in 1951 began the
publication of a new edition of Albert’s complete works, has not yet
produced a text of the Book of Minerals. I have therefore used the text of
Borgnet ( Opera omnia, Paris, 1890-9, Vol. V: Mineralium libri V), which
differs little from that of Jammy (Lyon, 1651, Vol. II, Part iv). I have also
used two earlier printed editions: De miner alibus, Johannes et Gregorius
de Gregoriis, Venice, 1495; and Liber mineralium, ed. Jacob Kobel,
Oppenheim, 1518. In a few places, indicated in the footnotes, I have
preferred the readings of the latter to those of Borgnet, but I have not
attempted to collate the texts throughout. Nor have I felt myself com-
petent to undertake a critical examination of the many extant manu-
scripts, a number of which have been listed by Thorndike. 34

The work has been known by various tides in addition to those given
above: Miner alia, Lapidarius, Liber de miner alibus et lapidibus, De mineralibus
et rebus metallicis. I have chosen Book of Minerals as simple, and adequately
descriptive of its contents.

In translating, my first concern has been to make Albert’s thought
intelligible to readers of today. Albert was a clear thinker; but he was a
prolix writer and his style is monotonous, even allowing for the natural
difference in pace between medieval Latin and modem English. I have
broken up his longer sentences and have repunctuated and reparagraphed,
in order to produce a more ‘readable’ English version. But I have not

33 McKeon, 1948, pp. 7-13. footnote 3.

34 Thorndike, 1923, Vol. II, p. 524,



xlii


INTRODUCTION


intentionally altered the meaning except where Borgnet’s text seems to
me to be wrong. Square brackets indicate such changes, or the addition
of a few explanatory words where they seem to be needed; Borgnet’s
readings and, in some cases, additional comments, will be found in the
footnotes.



BOOK OF

MINERALS



3


BOOK I. MINERALS

Tractatb i. Stones in General

1. The plan of the book and the divisions, method, and order of

things to be discussed 9

2. The material of stones n

3. The greater or lesser transparency of stones 14

4. The productive or efficient cause of stones, according to the

different opinions of philosophers 18

5. The efficient cause of stones, according to the correct opinion;

and its particular instruments 21

6. The substantial form of stones 24

7. A review of the places where stones are produced 26

8. The reason why some places produce stones and some do not 29

9. How the power of the place acts upon the nature of stones 32

Tractate ii. The Accidental Properties of Stones

1. The properties occurring spontaneously in stones. [Good and

bad mixtures] 36

2. The cause of the different colours in precious stones 38

3. The cause of the colours in stones that are [not] transparent, not

limited in si2e, and not precious 43

4. The cause of the differences in hardness in stones 46

5. Fissility and non-fissility in stones 48

6 . The cause of porosity and compactness in stones, and their

heaviness and lightness 49

7. The cause of the great number of little stones along shores; and
of the rows of bricks which are sometimes found on shores, as

if they had been artificially put there 50

8. Certain stones which have the figures of animals inside and

outside 52



4


BOOK OF MINERALS


BOOK II. PRECIOUS STONES

Tractate i. The Cause of the Powers of Stones
i . The cause of the powers of stones, with a refutation of those who


say that there are no powers in stones 55

2. The opinions of four philosophers about the cause of the powers

of stones 58

3. Refutation of these opinions 62

4. The true cause of the power of precious stones 64


Tractate ii. Precious Stones and their Powbrs

1. Precious stones beginning with A

Abeston. Adamas. Absinthus. Agathes. Alamandina. Alecterius.
Amandinus. Amethystus. Andromanta 68

2. Those beginning with the letter called B

Balagius. Borax. Beryllus 75

3. Those beginning with the letter C

Carbunculus. Chalcedonius. Calcaphanos. Ceraurum. Celidonius.
Celontes. Cegolites. Corallus. Corneleus. Chrysopassus. Chrysolitus.


Crystallus. [Chryselectrum]. Chrysopagion 77

4. Names beginning with the fourth letter, which is D

Diamon. Diacodos. Dyonysia. Draconites 85

5. Those beginning with the letter E

Echites. Eliotropia. Ematites. Epistrites. Etindros. Exacolitus.
Exacontalitus 87

6. Those beginning with the sixth letter, which is F

Falcones. Filacterium 62

7. Those beginning with the seventh letter, which is G

Gagates. Gagatronica. Gelosia. Galaricides. Gecolitus. Gerachidem.
Gratiatus 93

8. Those beginning with the letters H, I, and J

Hiena. Hyacinthus. Iris. Iscustos. [Judaicus lapis]. Jaspis 96

9. Those beginning with the letter K

Kacabre. [Kabrates] . Kacamon 100



CONTENTS


5


10. Those beginning with the letter L

Ligurius. Lippares ioi

11. Those beginning with the letter M

Magttes. Magnesia. Marchasita. Margarita. Medius. Melochites.
Memphites 103

12. Those beginning with the letter N

Nitrum. Nicomar. Nusae 107

13. Those beginning with the letter O

Onyx. Onycha. Ophthalmus. Oristes. Orphanus 108

14. Those beginning with the letter P

Pantherus. Peranites. Perithe. Prassius. [Pyrophilus] ill

15. Those beginning with the letter Q

Quandros. Quirita 113

16. Those beginning with the letter R

Radaim. Ramai 114

17. Those beginning with the letter S

Saphirus. Sarcophagus. [Sagda]. Sardinus. Sardonyx. [Samius].
Silenites. Smaragdus. Specularis. [Succinus]. Syrus 115

18. Those beginning with the letter T

Topasion. Turchois 122

19. Those beginning with the letter V

Varach. Vernix. Virites 123

20. Those beginning with the letter Z

Zemech. Zigrites 125


Tractate iii. The Sigils of Stones: How they are to be
Discussed, how many Kinds there are, and what is Known


of Them by Experience

1. Images and sigils in stones 127

2. Figures in stones made by nature 130

3. The reason why the carving of gems was originally recom-
mended, and what help there is in the images themselves 134

4. How an image is named Eastern, Western, Southern, or

Northern 138

5. The meaning of the images on stones 140

6. Ligatures and suspensions of stones 146



6


BOOK OF MINERALS


BOOK III. METALS IN GENERAL

Tractate i. The Substances of Metals

1. The plan of the book and the order of things to be discussed 153

2. The special material of metals 155

3. In connection with the preceding: why stone is not malleable

and fusible like metals 159

4. The opinions of the ancients about the material of metals 161

5. The efficient cause and the production of metals in general 165

6 . The essential form of metals 167

7. The opinion of Callisthenes, who postulated only one form of

metal 171

8. The opinion of Hermes and other philosophers who say that in

any metal there are several forms 174

9. Whether one form of metal can be transmuted into another, as

the alchemists say 177

10. The place where metals are produced 179


Tractate ii. The [Accidental Properties] of Metals

1. The solidification and liquefaction of metals

2. The malleability of metals

3. The colour of metals

4. The tastes and odours of metals

5. The ability or inability of metals to be consumed by burning

6. That there is a cyclical production of metals from each other

BOOK IV. THE METALS INDIVIDUALLY
A Single Tractate

1. Those things that are, as it were, universal in metals, like their
Father and Mother, that is, Sulphur and Quicksilver

2. The nature of Quicksilver

3. The nature of lead


203

206

209


186

189

190
194
196
199



CONTENTS


7

4. The nature and properties of tin 213

5. The nature and constitution of silver 217

6. The nature and mixture of copper 221

7. The nature and mixture of gold 226

8. The nature and mixture of iron 233


BOOK V. MINERALS THAT SEEM TO BE
INTERMEDIATE BETWEEN STONES AND METALS


A Single Tractate

1. The general properties of intermediates 237

2. The nature, forms, and kinds of salt 240

3. The nature and substance of atramentum 242

4. The nature and kinds of alum 244

5. The nature and kinds of arsenicum 245

6. The nature and kinds of marchasita 246

7. The nature of nitrum 247

8. The nature of tutty 249

9. The nature and properties of electrum 250



BOOK I

MINERALS


TRACTATE i

STONES IN GENERAL

CHAPTER 1: THE PLAN OF THE BOOK, AND THE
DIVISIONS, METHOD, AND ORDER OF THINGS TO
BE DISCUSSED

This chapter is a general introduction, stating Albert’ s intention — to Jill a gap in
the existing series of books on natural science, coming after Meteorology and
before the biological works — and outlining his plan for the whole treatise. The
authorities mentioned are cited again in later books as writers of lapidaries or
alchemical works ( see Appendixes B and D).

Mixing and hardening, and likewise solidification and liquefaction, and
all the other ways in which things are acted upon, have already been
discussed in the book on Meteorology. 1 Among natural things the first in
which such effects appear are the stones and metals, and intermediates
between these, like marchasita and alum and other things of that kind.
And since these are the first compounds naturally formed from the
elements, inasmuch as they come before the combinations 2 that are alive,
they are the next subject to be discussed after the Meteorology: for they
seem to contain little except a simple mixture of elements. We have not
seen Aristotle’s books about these [minerals], but only some excerpts
from them; and what Avicenna says about [minerals] in the third chapter
of the first book which he wrote about them is not sufficient.

First, then, we shall investigate stones, and afterwards metals, and
finally substances intermediate between these; for in fact the production
of stones is simpler and more obvious than that of metals. Many things
come to mind which ought to be said about the nature of stones in general,

1 Meteor. IV, which has been called the Plants are compJexionata, ‘combinations’ of

‘chemical treatise*. humours. Animals are composite organisms

2 complexionata. Albert (Phys. II, ii, i) ‘composed* or built up of tissues and organs,
defines the terms used here: minerals are But his usage is not always strictly con-
commixta , simple ‘mixtures* of elements, sistent with the definitions.



10


BOOK OF MINERALS


and these we shall put first. And then of course we shall discuss particular
stones, such of them as have names. But we shall make our discussion of
these brief, since the causes of many of the things that must be mentioned
have already been determined in the Meteorology-

In treating of stones in general, we shall investigate their material and the
immediate cause that makes them, and the place where they are produced;
and then, the way in which they are mixed, and the cause of the variety
of their colours and of the other accidental properties found in them —
such as greater and lesser hardness, fissility and non-fissility, porosity and
compactness, heaviness and lightness, and so on; for stones seem to have
no small variety, not only in the specific nature and number, but even in
the general character, of such properties.

There are indeed some men of the highest authority in philosophy who
have treated of some kinds of stones, although not of all. Among these
are Hermes, [Evax], 3 King of the Arabs, and Diascorides, Aaron, and
Joseph; but they have treated only of precious stones, not stones in
general. Even less satisfactory is the account given by Pliny in his Natural
History: for he does not offer an intelligent explanation of the causes
common to all stones. But we do not need to introduce the opinions of
all these men, because knowledge of this subject is not so occult that we
have to extract it from among the errors of many authorities. The nature
and constitution of stones will be sufficiently well understood when we
understand the material that is peculiar to them, the immediate cause that
produces them, their forms, and their accidental peculiarities, according
to the method of inquiry outlined in the fourth book of the Meteorology 4

We do not intend here to show how anyone of these maybe transmuted
into another; or how, by the remedy of that medicine the alchemists
call the elixir, their diseases may be cured, or their occult properties
made manifest, or conversely their manifest properties be removed.
But instead we shall show how they are mixed from the elements, and
how each one is constituted in its own specific form. Therefore we do not
trouble to investigate the difference between stone and spirit or soul, or
between body or substance and accidental properties. These are what the
alchemists investigate, calling ‘stone’ everything that does not evaporate

3 Cuates (or euates in texts of 1495, 1518) is 4 Meteor. IV, 8, 385 a 12 ff. gives a classifica-
an error for Evax, later cited several times, tion of physical properties which served

once as ‘Evax King of the Arabs’ (II, ii, 1, Albert as a model in discussing the ‘accidental’
Agathes). properties of stones (I, ii) and metals (III, ii).



II


BOOK I, TRACTATE i

in the fire; and this they call ‘body’ and ‘substance’. But what does
evaporate in the fire — like sulphur and quicksilver, which impart various
colours to the so-called ‘stones’ — they call ‘spirit’ and ‘soul’ and ‘ac-
cidentals’. But it is the task of another science 5 to investigate these things
which depend so much on occult theories and practices.

We shall continue here the method we have used elsewhere, subdivid-
ing the whole work into books, and the books again into tractates, and
these finally into many chapters.

For when dealing with many particulars we must first understand their
natures from the evidences and effects [observed], and proceed from these
to their causes and compositions; for the evidences and effects are more
obvious to us. But in [dealing with] the nature of universals, which we
have mentioned in all the preceding books, we had to proceed in the
opposite way, [reasoning] from the cause to the effects and powers and
evidences; for in such matters, general and confused phenomena are
more obvious, at least so far as we are concerned, as has been shown in
the first book of the Physics. 6

The place of the present book in the series of books on natural science
has been adequately indicated at the end of our book on Meteorology, 1
where we spoke of the order in which these subjects should be discussed:
for the stones and metals are more homeomerous 8 than plants, which have a
variety of parts — root, leaf, flower, and fruit; and homeomerous things
naturally come before anhomeomerous things. Therefore the treatise on
stones and the other minerals should come before those on living bodies.


CHAPTER 2: THE MATERIAL OF STONES

Here Albert begins his discussion of the causes of stones, taking first the material
cause, that is, the matter of which they are made. His ‘ chemistry’ is that of


Aristotle's The Heavens, Generation

5 ‘another science’ is alchemy, to which
Albert does in fact devote some attention,
especially in Book m, i.

6 This paragraph is based on Aristotle’s
statements about scientific reasoning in
Phvs. I, i, 184 a 10 ff.

' Meteor. IV, 12, 390 b 20. Albert’s version
( Meteor . IV, iv, 8) is more specific, saying that
as there are three kinds of things in nature —


and Corruption, and Meteorology

minerals, plants, and animals — so the study of
them is similarly divided into three parts,
which are to be taken up in that order, in
separate works.

8 The homeomerous or ‘uniform* substances
are defined in Meteor . IV, io, 388 a 13, and in
Parts of Animals , II, 1, 646 a 13-25. See Ap-
pendix A, 4 and 9.



12


BOOK OF MINERALS


( Appendix A, 2, 3, 4), but its application to stones is based on Avicenna's De
congelatione et conglutinatione lapidum ( Appendix D, p). The formation of
stones from Earth {gravel, sand, or dust) requires a ‘ gluing together (con-
glutinatio) of the dry particles by moisture. Thus any stone, however hard and
apparently dry, must contain some of this cementing Water: otherwise it would
simply fall apart.

To begin, then, with our treatment of the nature of stones: we say in
general that the material of all stone is either some form of Earth or some
form of Water. For one or the other of these elements predominates in
stones; and even in stones in which some form of Water seems to pre-
dominate, something of Earth is also important. Evidence of this is that
nearly all kinds of stones sink in water: and so they must be rich in the
material of Earth, as we have said in the science of The Heavens. 1 For if the
lighter 2 elements were predominant in them, undoubtedly they would
float on water. Now no kind of stone floats, unless it is spongy, or burnt
and made spongy by burning, like pumice and the stone spewed out by
hot springs and the fire of a volcano; and even of these, if they are re-
duced to powder, the powder sinks in water. Furthermore, if in trans-
parent stones there were not something earthy mixed with the Water and
imposing a boundary 3 on the moisture, they would not sink in water, as
rock crystal and beryl do ; for ice and the other things that are entirely or
chiefly made up of Water do not sink. And likewise, all stones that are
produced in the kidneys and bladders of animals are made of a viscous,
gross, and earthy moisture; and therefore something of the sort must be
the material of stones.

In speaking in particular of those stones which are made of Earth, it is
perfectly clear that in these Earth is not the only material, for this would
not cohere into solid stone. For we say that the cause of coherence and
mixing is moisture, which is so subde that it makes every part of the

1 The Heavens, IV, 4, 311 a 15 : heaviness 2 superiora, literally ‘upper’, since Fire and
and lightness are explained by the doctrine of Air have their natural places above Water and
‘natural places’ and ‘natural motions’. The Earth.

natural place of Earth is at the centre of the 3 Gen. and Cm. II, 2, 329 b 31 distinguishes
world and its natural motion is downwards between solid and liquid: a solid is terminatum,

towards the centre. Therefore Earth, or any- ‘determined by its own boundary’, but a
thing composed mostly of Earth, will sink liquid (or anything that is very moist) has no
through all other elements; or, conversely, such ‘boundary’ of its own, but takes the
anything that does so sink must be composed shape of its container. Cf. I, i, 3, note 8.
mostly of Earth.



13


BOOK I, TRACTATE i

Earth flow into every other part; and this is the cause of the thorough
mixing of the parts of the material. And in that case, if this moisture were
not soaked all through the earthy parts, holding them fast, but evaporated
when the stone solidified, then there would be left only loose, earthy
dust. Thus there must be something viscous and sticky, so that its parts
join with the earthy parts like the links of a chain . 4 Then the earthy
dryness holds fast to the moisture, and the watery moisture existing
within the dryness gives it coherence.

Avicenna testifies to this when he says that pure Earth does not become
stone , 5 since on account of its dryness Earth does not produce coherence,
but rather a tendency to break into little pieces ; for the dryness predominat-
ing in it prevents it from sticking together. The same philosopher explains
that sometimes clay is dried out and becomes something intermediate
between stone and clay, and then after a while it becomes stone. And
again he says that the clay most suitable for transmuting into stone is
unctuous, and the reason why that kind does not break into little pieces or
crumble into dust is that its moisture is not easily separable from it.

Evidence of this is that in the stones themselves there frequendy remain
layers of Earth; it is hard dry Earth, and if it is compressed or pounded it
becomes dust. And the cause of this simply that its moisture, which was
not unctuous or viscous enough, evaporated when the stone solidified;
and so the Earth was left hard and easily broken, because of the solidifying
power of the surrounding stone. And there is still another evidence of
this: for when stones are produced not in one continuous mass, but like
timbers , 6 one above another, the earth in the intervening layers is not
firmly united, but breaks into pieces, if subjected to pressure or a blow,
and yet it is hard. And the cause of this we have stated above.

And that it is the viscous and unctuous moisture which gives coherence
to the material of stone is indicated by the fact that the animals called
shellfish 7 are very commonly produced with their shells in stones. These

4 Meteor. IV, 9, 387 a 12 uses the analogy of cliff or quarry face, of alternating strata of
a chain to explain the consistency of viscous sandstone and shale is aptly compared to
things: they do not fall apart into drops (like timber-work with the interstices filled with
a liquid) nor into grains (like a finable solid), clay.

5 Terra pura lapis non fit is the beginning of 7 testudo, in classical Latin, is a tortoise; but

Avicenna’s De congelations, the next few Albert uses it for any kind of shell; cf.
sentences are also quoted or paraphrased from Animals, XXTV, 32, where testudines are snail
this. shells.

6 asset, a pole or beam: the outcrop, on a



14


BOOK OF MINERALS


are extremely common in the stones found [at Paris], 8 in which there are
many small holes shaped like the shells which some people call moon-
shells. 9 For the cause of this is the moisture which has evaporated there;
and being confined by the surrounding material, it rolled itself up,
hardening first on the outside and coiling inwards, and received vital
spirit, as we have said in the fourth book of the Meteorology- 10
This then is the common material of those stones which are not trans-
parent or nearly so. But there are many different kinds, as will appear in
the following chapters.


CHAPTER 3: THE GREATER OR LESSER TRANS-
PARENCY OF STONES

Continuing his account of the material cause, Albert now passes from stones
made of Earth (by Avicenna's process of conglutinatio) to stones made of
Water, by the process of congelatio, the changing of liquid to solid. The theory
offers a convincing explanation for glass and minerals like quartz, in which one
of the most striking characteristics of Water, its transparency, seems to persist; but
their solid state is evidence of a content of Earth. This is further discussed in I, i, p.

Of stones that are transparent to a greater or lesser degree, like those
called gems, it can be said in general that their common material is not
pure Water. For these stones are a sort of glass produced by the operations
of nature; and therefore they are of a more subtle mixture and a clearer
transparency than glass made artificially. For although art may imitate
nature 1 nevertheless it cannot reach the full perfection of nature. And
evidence of what we have said — namely that Water acted upon by
dryness, either hot or cold, is the common material of these [transparent]
stones — is that glass 2 is made from a moisture of this sort, which is melted

8 parvis: evidently an error for Parisiis. Cf. animals were directly affected by the moon
Albert’s Properties of the Elements (II, ii, 5) (cf. Albert, Animals, XXIV, 32).

for another mention of these fossil moulds or 10 Meteor. IV, 1, 379 b 7: spontaneous

impressions of shells in lapidihus Parisiensibus. generation in putrefying material; but a
The Paris Basin is made up of Cretaceous and closer parallel, relating to shellfish, is Genera-
Tertiary sediments, many of them richly tion of Animals, III, 11, 762 a 19.
fossiliferous. *

9 lunares: perhaps the species of Natica still 1 ‘Art imitates Nature’ — Aristotle, Phys.
called ‘moonshells’; perhaps less specific, since II, 2, 194 a 22 and elsewhere.

there was a general belief that some marine 2 Glassmaking is described in detail by



15


BOOK I, TRACTATE i

out of various ashes, either of lead or flint or iron or anything else, by the
strongest fire. That this moisture is Water is shown by the fact that it is
solidified by cold and is melted and liquefied by intense dry heat . 3 But
that the moisture has been acted upon by earthy, burnt dryness is proved
by the fact that it is melted only out of ashes, by the most intense roasting,
as we have said. In the art of glassmaking which depends upon alchemy
this is clearly shown: for the more subtle vapour in earth or stone is
sometimes confined by the surrounding material and, being compressed
upon itself, it becomes moist, as happens in clay pots containing some
moisture when they are shut up and heated [in a kiln ]. 4 And when this
moist humour is thus intensely acted upon by dryness, and the force of
dryness [works] within it, it grows firm and solidifies into stone. But it is
not the means by which stones are produced, but rather the common
material in them, which is to be discussed here. Whether their solidification
is the effect of heat or of cold will be shown later.

But that Water is the sort of material of [which] stones of this kind [are
made] is shown by the fact that in some places, where there is a strong
power capable of producing stones , 5 water descending drop by drop as
rain, or flowing in some other way, grows together into stone , 6 for it is
acted upon as it descends first of all by earthy dryness, according to the
nature and operation of the place; and so it becomes material suitable for
stone. And this is shown by the great transparency of such stones. Now
since the transparency of Air and Fire is not indestructible, the trans-
parency [in this case] must necessarily be that of Water; and therefore the
material peculiar to these stones will be of the nature of Water.

As to what some of the ancients say, in pointing out the material of

Theophilus (Book II, Chs. 1-5, Hendrie, 1 847), 4 The context in the passage that Albert is

who gives directions for combining two parts paraphrasing (Meteor, IV, 6, 383 a 24) shows
of beechwood ashes with one part of clean that the pottery is being fired: if not thoroughly
river sand. He does not say anything about dried out beforehand, the clay steams and
lime, though this must have been present, softens and becomes distorted in the kiln.
Lead is mentioned in other medieval recipes, 5 virtus lapidum generative the mineralizing
and also various metals or metallic oxides or petrifying power invoked by Avicenna
used for colouring (Hendrie, op. cit., notes, (De congelatione , Holmyard and Mandeville,
pp. 163-77). Cf. I, ii, 2, note 12. 1927, p. 46).

3 Meteor. IV, 6, 383 a 1 : Water and watery 6 Avicenna, loc. cit., thus describes the
things freeze by cold and melt by heat; formation of dripstones in caves or mineral
therefore things that behave in a similar way, springs, assuming that the water itself hardens
such as glass and metals, are assumed to be into stone,
made of Water.



i6


BOOK OF MINERALS


stones — that there settles out of running water something that stays at the
bottom, and this becomes stone 7 — this I do not accept; because what
settles out of water is an earthy substance, and therefore often the stones
produced from it have as their material not Water which has been acted
upon by the power of Earth, but rather Earth which has been acted upon
by the power of Water. Evidence of this is that such stones are usually not
transparent, although they have definite shapes ; 8 and they are said to be
without any fissility, having rather a tendency to break into little pieces;
and the common people call them flints ( silices ). Especially strong evidence
of what has been said is offered by rock crystal and beryl, which have,
as it were, taken on completely the form of frozen Water; and Aristotle 9
said of these that they are made of Water by the complete removal
of heat.

But just as we have said that the material of the stones mentioned in the
preceding chapter is not simple Earth, but [Earth] acted upon by unctuous,
viscous moisture; so it must be understood, of these stones [in this chapter],
that simple watery moisture cannot be the [only] material of transparent
stones. For as we have shown elsewhere, such moisture [i.e. simple
Water] does not grow firm by boiling , 10 nor solidify by dry heat, nor
harden [permanendy] by any cold. Therefore it must necessarily be mixed
with a little very subde Earth; and in addition it must be very strongly
acted upon by earthy dryness, so that the power of this [dryness] may, as
it were, take a firm hold on all parts of the moisture, although without
yet transmuting the substance of such moisture into Earth. For in every
transmutation of the elements such an effect precedes the transmutation
of the substance, because the power of the transmuting element takes hold
completely, and the parts of the element that is being transmuted assume
the shape of the other before the substance is transmuted; and if these are
then mixed into anything made of elements, that [substance] will have
the material of one element and the powers of the other.

7 Avicenna again, loc. tit. Albert himself did not misunderstand the

8 terminati. Albert means river pebbles, not passage in the Meteorology, but he found this

realizing that their shapes are due to wear and statement in other lapidaries, handed down
tear while being transported by water; he from Pliny (Nat. Hist. XXXVII, p, 23).
believes that they are formed in situ (cf. I, ii, 1). 10 elixatio, a technical term in alchemy for

9 Meteor. IV, 10, 388 b 17. The passage ‘boiling dry’ — either evaporation to dryness,
really refers to ice (Greek krustallos). Con- or thickening and solidifying to something
fusion later arose from the use of the same like porridge. Meteor. IV, 6, 383 a 13 says that
word (Latin crystallus) for clear, colourless pure water does not ‘thicken’ in this way when
quartz, ‘rock crystal’, and similar minerals, boiled.



17


BOOK I, TRACTATE i

And this, the greatest skill of the alchemists, Hermes 11 teaches in his
Secret of Secrets, saying metaphorically: the stone ‘gently, with great skill,
ascends from earth to heaven, and again descends from heaven to earth.
Its nurse is the earth, and the wind carried it in its belly.’ For intending to
teach the operations of alchemy he says it ‘ascends to Heaven’ when by
roasting and calcination it takes on the properties of Fire: for alchemists
mean by calcination 12 the reduction of material to powder by burning and
roasting. And the material ‘again descends from heaven to earth’ when it
takes on the properties of Earth by inhumation , 13 for inhumation revives
and nourishes what was previously killed by calcination. And when he
says that ‘the wind carries it in its belly’ he means the levigation 14 of the
material, raising it to the properties of Air. And [the reason] why he says
that the wind carries the material in its belly is that, when the material is
placed in an alembic 15 — which is a vessel made like those in which rose-
water is prepared — then, by evaporation it is rendered subtle and is raised
towards the properties of Air: and that is why he says, ‘the wind carries
it in its belly’. And there distils and issues from the mouth of the
alembic a watery or oily liquor with all the powers of the elements.

It is only by toil and with many mistakes that art accomplishes this; but
nature [does it] without difficulty or toil. And this is because the powers
existing in the material of stones and metals, when subjected to these
operations, are influenced by the powers of the heavens, which are sure
and effective. And these powers are the operations of intelligences 16
which do not make mistakes — unless by some accident, for instance
because of the uneven qualities of the material. But in the art of alchemy
there is nothing of this, but only the miserable assistance of skill and fire.

All this shows that whether Earth or Water be called the material of
stones, it certainly must be strongly acted upon by the qualities of other
elements.

Let this, then, be our account of the common material of stones.

11 From the Emerald Table (Steele and alchemical term, for distillation or sublimation.

Singer, 1928, p. 48; see Appendix D, 7). 15 alembic (from Arabic), originally the

12 calcinatio, technical term for burning to a still-head, fitted over the top of another
calx. The prototype was quicklime, but calx vessel and provided with a beak in which the
was also applied to other earthy products vapour condensed. Rose ‘essence’ seems to
obtained from metals in alchemical operations, have been one of the first products made by

13 inhumatio, lit. ‘burial’; alchemical term distillation on a large scale. For notes on

explained in III, i, 10, note 23. alcohol see III, i, 2.

14 levigatio, lit. ‘making light’; still another 16 Movers of the celestial spheres: see I, i, 8.



i8


BOOK OF MINERALS


CHAPTER 4 : THE PRODUCTIVE OR EFFICIENT CAUSE
OF STONES, ACCORDING TO THE DIFFERENT
OPINIONS OF PHILOSOPHERS

This chapter begins the discussion of the efficient cause — the agent or process by
which stones are formed. Here Albert follows a method often used by Aristotle,
first reviewing and criticizing the theories of others before giving his own, the
‘correct opinion of I, i, 5.

The question of ‘souV (anima) may seem irrelevant, but it leads up to the
later question of form. In animate beings Aristotle regarded the form as ‘soul’,
the principle of life, which functions at different levels of organization in men,
animals, and plants (. Appendix A, 5). In this scheme minerals would occupy a
place below plants, being without soul in this sense; yet they are, in some sense,
more than simple matter, since they have form. This distinction is further
discussed in I, i, 6.

Almost all who have spoken about stones say that the efficient cause of
stones is a mineralizing power. But it does not seem adequate to assign this
power as the efficient cause of stones, since it acts in common not only
upon stones but also upon all metals. For these [authorities] do not
indicate by any specific distinction what sort of thing they mean by a
‘mineralizing power’. Nor is anything more found out from Avicenna,
than that by this ‘mineralizing power’ stones are produced from Earth
and Water.

Hermes, too, in the book that he wrote on The [Universal] Power, 1
seems to say that the productive cause of stones is a certain power, which,
he says, is one in all things, but on account of the variety of things it
produces, it is called by different names. He gives as an example the light
of the Sun which alone produces all things; but when it is divided, no
longer acting through a single power in the things acted upon, it produces
various effects. He chose to assign this power first of all to Mars, 2 as its
source; but it varies greatly in proportion to the effects of the light from
other stars and of the material that receives it, as we have said; and hence
different kinds of stones and metals are produced in different places.

This statement is entirely contrary to nature, since here we are not

1 de miner ali virtute ; but (ed. 1518) de 2 Mars would seem to be a mistake for the
universali virtute is more likely correct, since Sun, which is given this pre-eminent power in
the latter title is cited again in II, i, 2. For the citation of Hermes, apparently from this
Hermes, see Appendix C, 3. same book, in H, i, 2.



19


BOOK I, TRACTATE i

looking for first causes which are responsible for action and movement,
and which are perhaps the stars and their powers and positions: for this is
the proper task of another science. But we are looking for immediate,
efficient causes, existing in the material and transmuting it. And if what
Hermes says were correct, then, once we knew the cause producing stones,
we should know the efficient cause of everything that can be produced.
For we know that the motion and power of the heavenly bodies, the
rising and setting and rays of the stars, are causes different [from other
natural causes]. Furthermore, these are acting causes in a different sense
(i aequivoce ), since they have nothing in common with the materials of the
things that can be produced. But, in accordance with the proper methods
of natural science, we are looking for causes appropriate to their effects,
and especially for the material and whatever transmutes it, in the same
[material] sense ( uttivoce ).

Therefore Empedocles , 3 long after Hermes, declared that stones are
produced by burning heat, taking his assertion from the old story told of
Pyrrha and Deucalion , 4 in which stones are called the ‘bones of the Great
Mother’. For bones, according to Empedocles , 5 are chiefly composed of
fiery parts.

But this is completely false, since we know — and it will be shown later
— that some stones are produced by cold. For as we have already said in
the book on Meteorology , 6 things of which the principal material is
Water harden by cold. Moreover, the statement of Empedocles is not
satisfactory, because we shall soon show, in the second book on The Soul , 1
that there is a hot, burning element in ashes, but it does not consume
[things and convert them] into any particular form except when influenced

3 Empedocles (fifth century b.c.) is sup- peopled.

posed to have originated the doctrine of four 5 Aristotle ( The Soul, I, 5, 410 a j) quotes a
elements. Seneca ( Quaestiones naturales, m, 24) few lines from Empedocles, saying that bones
quotes his opinion that there is fire beneath were created of ‘two parts out of eight of
the earth; and Albert ( Meteor . IV, ii, 1) tells gleaming Nestis (Water) and four of
the story of his death in the crater of Mt. Hephaistos (Fire)’.

Etna. 6 See I, i, 3, note 3.

4 Ovid, Metamorphoses, I, 363-415: Deuca- 7 The Soul, II, 4, 416 a 10. Albert’s version
lion and his wife Pyrrha, sole survivors of the ( The Soul, II, ii, 4) states it thus: ‘For there is
Flood, consulted an oracle and were told to go operative in food not the specific form of Fire
forth ‘casting the bones of the Great Mother but that of the living body and the power of
behind them’. It was Pyrrha who rightly the soul, as we have said; and therefore things
interpreted this to mean the stones of the are not changed into the specific form of Fire,
earth. Pyrrha’s stones became women and but of flesh and bone, which are the specific
Deucalion’s men, and so the land was re- forms of the organs of the soul.’



20


BOOK OF MINERALS


by some other power which guides it towards some specific form; just as
the heat of digestion, influenced by the soul, converts what it transmutes
into the specific form of flesh and sinew and bone and similar parts of the
living body.

Democritus 8 and some others say that things made of elements have
souls, and that these [souls] are the cause of the production of stones; and
therefore he says that there is a soul in a stone, just as there is in any other
seed for producing anything; and this moves the heat within the interior
of the material in the production of a stone, just as the hammer is moved
by the workman in the production of an axe or saw.

But we have shown elsewhere that this [statement] cannot stand: for
the soul is first discovered not in animals which have senses, but in plants;
for stones have no function corresponding to a soul, since they do not use
food, or [have any] senses, or [even] life, as shown by any vital activity.
And to say that there is a soul in stones simply in order to account for
their production is unsatisfactory : for their production is not like the repro-
duction of living plants, and of animals which have senses. For all these we
see reproducing their own species from their own seeds; and a stone does
not do this at all. We never see stones reproduced from stones ; 9 but we see
each stone produced by some cause that is present in the place where it is
produced; because a stone seems to have no reproductive power at all.

And some of those in our own time who are practitioners of alchemy
seem to say that all stones are produced entirely by accident, and there is
no other special cause of their production. For they say that fiery heat
wherever it may be found, by roasting suitable material, turns it into
stone, just as such material is turned into brick ( lapis coctus) by baking in
the fire. They say that these stones have no real principle that produces
them except the material in them; and furthermore, stones have no
specific form, although certain passive properties of the material, such as
hardness, take the place of form, as has been shown in the book on
Meteorology . 10 Solidification and its effects are due to the kind of material

8 Democritus, the atomist philosopher, was constituents) in minerals. See Appendix D, 5.
known to Albert through Aristotle, who, 9 But see II, ii, 14, Peranites, a stone that
however, does not attribute to him this state- reproduces.

ment (unless it is a misquotation of The Soul, 10 Meteor. IV, 8, 384 b 24 ff. classifies
1 , 2, 405 a 8 ff.). But there were also alchemical substances according to their ‘passive qualities’
works under the name Democritus, and — hardness, fusibility, ductility, etc. See topics
Albert may be thinking of some statement in treated in I, ii and III, ii.
one of these about ‘souls’ or ‘spirits’ (volatile



21


BOOK I, TRACTATE i

and its passive properties, and are not substantial forms. And these [men]
draw persuasive arguments from the operations of the alchemists, which
all seem to be accomplished by roasting heat; and [they argue that]
stones and metals are made by something that acts in the same way; and
hence it is not necessary to have any special efficient cause in nature, since
nothing in nature is developed into its specific substantial form if it lacks
or is deficient in [the properties of] that specific form.

But the consequence of these [arguments] is intolerable error — namely
that every stone would be of the same species as every other stone, but
they [would] differ to a greater or lesser degree in their specific, material
properties, for all stones have solidification, and its effect, hardness,
instead of specific form. But that this is false is shown by the various
powers and actions 11 of various stones, which are entirely the consequence
of the various specific forms of the stones. Moreover, stones would have
to belong to the same species as metals, which also, being produced in the
same way, have solidification and hardness instead of specific forms.
Furthermore, if there were no efficient cause of stones except drying heat
then all stones would be dissolved by moist cold, as we have demonstrated
in the fourth book of the Meteorology ; 12 and we do not see this happen.

These, then, are the erroneous opinions stated by the ancients about the
productive cause of stones.


CHAPTER 5 : THE EFFICIENT CAUSE OF STONES,
ACCORDING TO THE CORRECT OPINION; AND ITS
PARTICULAR INSTRUMENTS

Albert now attempts to formulate his own, the ‘correct’, theory about the mineral-
izing power. He makes use of a biological analogy found in some alchemical
books — that minerals ‘grow’ from ‘seeds’ in the earth. But his treatment of it is
directly based on Aristotle’s statements in the Generation of Animals ( see
Appendix A, 10): in the production of offspring the female supplies matter and
the male supplies form, as the artisan forms his materials by means of his tools.
In the formation of minerals the ‘tools’ are heat and cold, designated in the

1 1 These ‘powers’ of stones are treated in dry heat are ‘contraries’, so whatever is

Book n. formed by one must be destroyed by the

12 Meteor. IV, 6, 383 b 15 : moist cold and other.



22


BOOK OF MINERALS


Meteorology (see Appendix A, 4) as active qualities, working on the passive
qualities of matter, moisture and dryness. Discussion of the relation of efficient
and formal causes is resumed in I, i, 8-9.

Now, drawing the correct conclusion from all this, we say that in very
truth the productive cause is a mineralizing power which is active in
forming stones. For the mineralizing power is a certain power, common
to the production of both stones and metals, and of things intermediate
between them. And we say in addition that if this is active in forming
stones, it becomes a special [power for producing] stones. And because we
have no special name for this power, we are obliged to explain by ana-
logies what it is.

Let us say, then, that just as in an animal’s seed, which is a residue from
its food, there comes from the seminal vessels a force capable of forming
an animal, which [actually] forms and produces an animal, and is in the
seed in the same way that an artisan is in the artifact that he makes by his
art; so in material suitable for stones there is a power that forms and
produces stones, and develops the form of this stone or that. This can be
seen still more distinctly in the gums that ooze out of trees; for we see
that these are moisture that has been intensely acted upon by earthy
dryness; and so they are solidified by cold. But when they remain in the
tree and do not ooze out, a force in the tree converts them into wood and
leaves and fruit. In exactly the same way it happens that, when dry
material that has been acted upon by unctuous moisture, or moist material
that has been acted upon by earthy dryness, is made suitable for stones,
there is produced in this, too, by the power of the stars and the place, as
will be shown below, a power capable of forming stone— just like the
productive power in the seed from the testicles, when it has been drawn
into the seminal vessels; and each separate material [has] its own peculiar
power, according to its own specific form. And this is what Plato 1 said —
that the heavenly powers which act upon things in nature are poured
into matter according to its merits.

And just as we have shown in the books on Physics, 2 every formative
power which makes anything into a specific form has its own particular
instrument by which it acts and produces its work: so this power, too,

1 Chalcidius’s commentary on Plato’s 2 In Aristotle’s Physics (see Appendix A, i),
Timaeus (295-6) says that form is good and all change is regarded as motion, and all
matter is evil, and the intentions of Providence motion requires a mover,
are thwarted by the perversity of matter.



23


BOOK I, TRACTATE i

existing in the particular material of stones, has two instruments according
to different natural conditions.

One of these is heat, which is active in drawing out moisture and
digesting the material and bringing about its solidification into the form
of stone, in Earth that has been acted upon by unctuous moisture. And
this heat is controlled in its operations by a formative power, just as the
heat which digests and transmutes the seed of an animal is controlled by
the formative power in the seed. For otherwise, undoubtedly, if the heat
were excessive it would bum the material to ashes ; or if it were insufficient
it would leave the material undigested and unfit for the form of a
stone.

The other instrument is in watery moist material that has been acted
upon by earthy dryness; and this [instrument] is cold, which is not so
active in congealing moisture [in stones] as it is in metals, but which is
active in expelling moisture: for this produces the most intense hardening
and solidification. And since it completely expels moisture, so that only
enough remains in the material to hold it together, such stones can by no
means be liquefied by dry heat. And this is what Aristotle 3 says — that
crystal is produced from Water by complete removal of heat.

Evidence of this is that the operations of alchemy fail in liquefying
stones, except by adding some other moist material . 4 It is clear why the
operations of the alchemists are even more difficult and unsuccessful in
making stones than in making metals: it is because they do not impart to
the material any formative power. Instead of a formative power they have
only their uncertain art; and as an instrument, only burning heat, and
this is very uncertain in its operation. But what is called the formative
power, imparted by the heavens to the place and the material, is certain
both as to material and instrument; and the instrument is accurately
proportioned to the material; and therefore nature is most certain in its
operations.

There is one other thing to be noted about this instrument — namely,
that cold, although by no means effective in producing life in living things,
nevertheless [is effective] in producing stones; because stones are not far
removed from the elements, and in the material [of stones] the elements
are only slightly transmuted; and therefore the qualities of the elements in
them remain very litde altered.

3 See I, i, 3, note 9. 4 That is, a flux that lowers the melting-point.


E



24


BOOK OF MINERALS


CHAPTER 6: THE SUBSTANTIAL FORM OF STONES


In preparing for the discussion of the formal cause, Albert raises the question
whether or not the terms forma and species (‘ specific form ’) can really apply to
stones. This is no idle question, for on the answer to it turns the whole pos-
sibility of classifying stones, as plants or animals are classified, for scientific
study. Albert argues that, just as the form of an animate being is its soul
(anima), its life, manifested in its actions, so a mineral, though inanimate, also
has an identity, a form, manifested in its magnetic, chemical, medical, or
magical ‘ actions’ (. see Book II); and that there are different species of minerals,
just as there are different species of plants and animals.


It seems madness to have any doubts concerning the substantial forms of
stones; for sight assures [us] that they are all solidified and their material
is fixed according to a definite, specific form. For if the arrangement of
the elements were only such as occurs in the successive transmutations of
one element into another, or into something else — as, for example, in
clouds, rain, and snow — then certainly [stones] would not long remain as
they are, but after a while would be dissolved again into elements; and
we see that the nature of stones is just the opposite of this. Moreover, we
find in stones powers which are not those of any element at all — such as
counteracting poison, driving away abscesses, attracting or repelling iron;
and, as we shall show later, it is the common opinion of all wise men that
this power is the consequence of the specific form of this or that stone.
From this it is firmly established that stones do have specific forms.

These forms are not souls, as some of the ancients thought; for, as we
shall show in the book on The Soul; 1 and, as has already appeared in the


1 The Soul, II, i, 412 a 20 defines soul as ‘the
form of a natural body which potentially has
life*. Aristotle admits that an inanimate thing
— e.g. an axe — also has form : deprived of this,
an axe is no longer an axe; but this form is not
a soul, because an axe does not have the
capacity for life. Albert, in his own version of
this, adds a digressio making the point even
more specific in regard to minerals ( The Soul ,

H, i, 3):

In what has gone before, in the first book on
this science, we have said that the natural forms
are universally of two kinds. There is one kind
which is more closely connected with the nature
of the natural body, in which the form is no


higher than the body and its powers. ... It has
only one function, as has been shown at the
beginning of the second book on Physics. We
have already dealt with all mixed bodies having
this kind of form in the science of stones and
minerals. But there is another kind of form
which is more closely related to the universal
First Cause that acts upon all forms. This is an
incorporeal essence, moving and perfecting the
body. It impresses itself upon the whole nature
of the body, so that in the natural order it is
higher than all corporeal forms. This is called
the soul. And since it draws its power of acting
not from the body but from the First Cause, to
which it is related, it has not merely one func-
tion but many — whatever function is proper
and essential to it.



25


BOOK I, TRACTATE i

beginning of the Physics , 2 the soul has [not ] 3 one function only, but many,
which it performs by its own power and not by chance; but the nature of
stone has only one function, and what it performs is performed by
necessity, which is not so with the soul. Furthermore, the first function of
the soul is life; but no characteristics of life are found in stones. For if a
stone used food, it would necessarily have pores or channels by which
food would sink into it; and that this is not so is shown by the hardness
and compactness of many stones, which prevent them from being divided
and opened up for the intake of food. Furthermore, if [a stone] used food,
it would necessarily have a part for drawing in the food in the first place,
like the roots of plants or the mouth of animals; and we see nothing like
this in stones. Nor is it correct to say that the soul of a stone is weighed
down by earthiness, so that it cannot exercise [the powers of] life and
sense, as many natural scientists ( physiologi ) have claimed. For according to
this belief, nature would fail in something which was necessary , 4 in not
giving a stone the organs by which it might carry on its necessary functions.
Stones, therefore, have no souls; but they do have substantial forms,
imparted by the powers of heaven and by the particular mixture of their
elements.

These forms are mosdy without names , 5 but nevertheless it is the differ-
ences among them that provide a basis for the different names of stones,
which are called tufa, pumice, flints, marble, sapphirus, smaragdus, and the
like. But when we do not know these [names], we have no proper
definitions of stones, except as, in a roundabout way of speaking, we take
their accidental properties and appearances in place of definitions. But
we know these properties because they are variations of a body subject to
movement and simple transmutation 6 — a mixture, because stone is one
of the mixed bodies. Now mixed bodies are divided into [two groups] —

2 The reference should probably be to the Parts of Animals, HI, i, 661 b 29: Nature gives
second book of the Physics , cited in this organs for defence and attack to animals that
connection in Albert’s own version of The have a use for them.

Soul (note I above), where Aristotle dis- 5 innominata : lack of a consistent nomencla-
cusses the relation of matter and form (Phys. ture has always been a difficulty in mineralogy.
II, i, 193 b 4). But in the present context there is probably

3 non has been supplied, as required by the the additional thought that the form is also the

sense. Cf. parallel passage from Albert’s The ‘formula’, definition, or name. Cf. Meteor. IV,
Soul (note 1 above). 12, 389 b 28; Metaphys. VII, 12, 1037 b 8 ff*

4 Aristotle often says that ‘Nature does what 6 This is Albert’s definition (in his Phys. I,
is best’, or ‘Nature does nothing in vain*, etc. i, 4) of ‘inorganic* or ‘inanimate* compounds.
Perhaps the citation most relevant here is



26


BOOK OF MINERALS


simple mixtures and combinations; and we know that stones belong to
the former and not the latter group.

Summarizing all that has been said, then, we say that a stone is not a
combination, but a simple mixture, solidified into its own form by a
mineralizing power. And from this, it further appears that stone is of a
more homeomerous 1 nature than living things are, although it, too, is
essentially made up of different elements. For this reason die science of
stones should be taken up before the science of combinations. And there
are many forms of stones, as [for instance] the group 8 of marbles [includes]
porphyry, alabaster, and so on. And the same is true in other groups of
stones, but there is no use in listing them here since their forms will be
made clear later, from their accidental properties and hardness. For these
accidents are peculiar to each one. And once these are known, their
nature is sufficiently plain.

But we need not look for a final cause, since in physical things the form
is the final cause; 9 and so, since we think we know each thing once we
know its essential and particular causes, 10 we now understand completely
the things which all stones have in common.

But in fact since the place of their production is also fundamental, as
has been shown previously, we must, in addition to what has been
mentioned, know [something] of the place where stones are produced;
because place is a sort of efficient cause, since the formative power of
stones is first imparted to it.


CHAPTER 7: A REVIEW OF THE PLACES WHERE
STONES ARE PRODUCED

Place in Aristotle’s Physics (IV, 1, 208 a 27 ff.) has a somewhat technical
meaning: the space or room occupied by a body — the interior surface of whatever
encloses it, as the wine-jar encloses the wine. This meaning is less obvious here
than in the corresponding chapter on the formation of metals (III, i, 10), but it is
in Albert’s mind. A suitable place for the formation of stones, then, is not a
general geographic locality, but the immediate environment, regarded as the

7 See I, i, 1, note 8. 9 jinis: the ‘end’ or jinal cause is not dis-

8 gems: this suggests that stones, like plants cussed here because in inanimate things it is
and animals, could be considered as species, not distinguishable from the formal cause. Cf.
grouped into genera. But no such classification Meteor. IV, 12, 390 a 5.

is carried out in later chapters. 10 Aristotle, Phys. 1 , 1, 184 a 12-ij.



27


BOOK I, TRACTATE i

receptacle or mould that determines the form of the stone. Thus this discussion of
pla ce follows logically upon that of form in the preceding chapter.

The emphasis on place, moreover, is due to the fact that here and elsewhere
(I, i, 8; I, ii, 7) Albert takes it for granted that all stones originated where
we now find them. Although Avicenna had mentioned the possibility of trans-
portation and deposition, Albert rejected this. ( See I, i, 3.)

Let us therefore call to mind the places where stones are always, or
frequendy, produced, and let us investigate the power of places and the
differences among them.

Now we see that many stones are found on the banks of perennial
streams; and from this we know that the banks of certain waters are
places that produce stones. But such banks differ [in this respect] because
some bring forth stones more quickly and some more slowly. In certain
places on the banks of the river called Gion [Oxus] 1 stones are produced in
the space of thirty-three years, as Avicenna and some other philosophers
testify. But not all water is active in producing stones on its banks;
because the water of swamps, where the earth has been dissolved, dis-
solves stones instead of producing them; just as we see that, in some
regions, although there are watery places there, nevertheless very few
stones are produced. 2

Moreover, we shall frequendy find that mountains are stony; from
which we know that another place that produces stones is in mountainous
regions. Yet sometimes we find mountains 3 without stones. But these are
frequendy not large nor associated with other mountains, but are found
alone, so that perhaps there is one all by itself, or at most two or three.
For wherever many mountains are grouped together they are found to be
stony; and there are sometimes many stony mountains on the solid
surface of a flat plain, although this cannot happen everywhere. And those
are places that are active in producing stones.

Furthermore, stones are very frequently produced in waters; 4 and this

1 Glott, for Cion (Arabic, Jaihun ) in and too slow a velocity to transport anything
Avicenna (Holmyard and Mandeville, 1927, except fine silt and clay.

p. 4j). But medieval writers knew little about 3 montes is used by Albert not only for
the Oxus, and commonly took the Gion or mountains but also for hills and even for such
Hion to be the Nile, as did Albert himself in small features as sand dunes (Properties of the
The Nature of Places (iii, 4). Elements, II, ii, j). See also I, i, 8, note 8.

2 Probably this refers to the Low Countries 4 Some streams and springs, in limestone
of the Rhine Delta, where stones are lacking regions, deposit crusts of calcareous material
because the streams have too low a gradient along their channels. The scientific problem.



28


BOOK OF MINERALS


could not be said, if waters were not also a place that produces stones.
Evidence of this is that there are some waters from which stones are
produced when they overflow the banks that confine them, but if they
flow anywhere else, stones are not produced from them. It has been
observed that there are certain places in the region of the Pyrenees where
rain water is converted into stone, but if it flows somewhere else it
remains [merely] water and is not transmuted. In the same way, wood
which lies in some waters and seas is converted into stone, but still retains
the shape of wood. Sometimes, too, plants native to those waters and
seas are so close to stone in their nature that if they are somewhat dried out
in air they assume the form of stones. Evidence of this is the stone called
coral , 5 which undoubtedly is produced from wood and plants. For once,
in our own time, in the Danish [Baltic] Sea near the city of Liibeck, there
was found a great branch of a tree on which there was a bird’s nest 6 with
magpies in it; and the nestlings in the nest had been converted into stone
which was slightly reddish. This could have happened only if the tree
[had been] uprooted by winds and waves at the time when the nest was
in it; and the birds fell into the water and afterwards, by the power of the
place where they were lying, were entirely converted into stone.

There is also a spring in Gothia [Gotland in Sweden?], of which reliable
reports say that everything that is immersed in it is converted into stone.
And so the Emperor Frederick 7 sent there a glove with a mark on it, to
test the truth of the story; and when the glove had been half-way im-
mersed in the spring for a few days, half of the leather [up as far as] the
mark was converted into stone, and the other half remained leather. It is
truly reported by trustworthy people that the drops which are spattered
over the banks of this spring by the violence of its fall are converted into
stones of the size of drops ; 8 and yet the water as it runs out is not converted
into stone, but keeps running continually.

for Albert, was why some streams form such 6 This was probably just a bird’s nest that
deposits and some do not: the water itself is had been placed in a calcareous spring until it
clear and does not seem different from any was coated with calcite.
other water, so there must be something 7 Emperor Frederick II, Ruler of the Holy
peculiar about the place that produces stone in Roman Empire from 1220 to 1250, was a
this way. patron of science and learning, and eagerly

5 Pliny (Nat. Hist. XXXII, 11, 21-24) said collected information from all parts of the
that coral is a plant, soft while it is in the sea, world (Haskins, 1924, Chs. XII-XIV).
but hardening into stone on exposure to the 8 A pisolitic deposit, made up of calcareous
air; and this opinion persisted all through the spherules about the size of peas, not uncom-
Middle Ages. See II, ii, 3, Corallus. mon around mineral springs.



29


BOOK I, TRACTATE i

We also see with our own eyes that rock crystals are produced in very
high mountains [covered] with perpetual snow; 9 and again this cannot
happen except for a mineral power that is in those places.

From all this is seems impossible to report anything certain about the
[kind of] place that produces stones. For [stones occur] not in one element
only, but in several, 10 and not in one clime 11 only, but in all. And, even
more remarkably, they are produced in the bodies of animals 12 and in the
clouds. 13 It seems very difficult to reduce [whatever is in] all these places to
one common material; but nevertheless, this must necessarily be so, since
we have no doubt that one particular kind of mixed body always results
from one particular kind of cause. For all things produced must have a
certain place of production, and away from this they are destroyed and
dispersed.


CHAPTER 8: THE REASON WHY SOME PLACES
PRODUCE STONES AND SOME DO NOT

Albert now sums up his views on the causes of minerals. And he also begins to
lay emphasis on the * vapour theory of the Meteorology (III, 6, 378 a 13 ff.).
Vapour, of course, has not the meaning today attached to the term in physical
chemistry. It is necessarily vague — something material but invisible, like the
spirit produced by distillation, something very subtle and potent, like odours or
tastes or poisonous fumes. The Meteorology (see Appendix A, 4) refers to
earthquakes and volcanoes as evidence of underground vapours; and Albert
assumes that vapours are present everywhere, but produce different effects under
different physical conditions.

If we wish, then, to investigate this power, which is one and the same in
all these places, let us recall to mind what has been determined in the
preceding books on natural science — namely, that the stars by the amount

9 See I, i, 8, note 8. other stones supposed to originate in animals:

10 Stones are formed not only in Earth, but see in II, ii: i, Alecterius; 2, Borax; 4, Dra-

also in Water, in Fire (volcanic lava), and even conites; 11, Margarita; 12, Nusae; 15, Quandros;
in Air (meteorites, see note 13 below). 16, Ramai.

11 clima, used by ancient geographers not 13 Avicenna ( De congelatione, Holmyard

in the sense of ‘climate’ but of a belt of latitude and Mandeville, 1927, pp. 47-48) describes
See n, iii, 4, note 3. meteorites; Albert cites this passage in his

12 Perhaps kidney or bladder stones. But Meteora (III, iii, 18, 20). See also II, ii, 3,
medieval mineralogy recognized a number of Ceraurum.



30


BOOK OF MINERALS


of their light, and by their positions and motions, move and regulate the
world through [influencing] the material and the place of everything that
can be produced or destroyed. The power thus determined by the stars
is poured down into the place where each individual thing is produced,
in the way that has been explained in The Nature of Places . 1 For this is the
power that brings forth and produces the elements and everything
composed of elements.

The power of a place, then, is a combination of three [powers]. One of
these is the power of the Mover that moves the sphere . 2 The second is the
power of the sphere that is moved, with all its parts, and the figures that
result from the varying positions of the parts with respect to each other
as they move more rapidly or more slowly. The third is the power of the
elements — that is, hot, cold, moist, dry, or a mixture of these. Now the
first of these powers is like the controlling form which shapes everything
that is produced, as the power of an art is related to the material of the
artifact. And the second is like the operation of the hand. And the third is
like the operation of the instrument which is moved by the hand and
directed towards the end conceived by the artisan. And therefore
Aristotle 3 said that every work of nature is a work of Intelligence: for the
place receives these powers just as the womb receives the power that is
active in forming the embryo. Therefore this power, directed towards the
production of stones, is in the earthy or watery materials which are
common to all places where stones are produced. For just as the life-
giving power is poured down from the stars into animals produced by
putrefaction, so the stone-forming power is poured down into the
material of stones, in the manner already explained.

So wherever unctuous Earth is mixed by means of vapour concentrated
in it, or wherever the forces ofEarth attack the nature of Water, intensely
influencing it and converting it to dryness — there, for a certainty, is a
place where stones are produced. And therefore earths which have a

1 Albert, The Nature of Places, i, 4-5 : the 3 This saying is not found in Aristotle’s

power that gives form to the elements works, although the sense is compatible with
descends from heaven, but its effects are Phys. II, 8, 199 a 3: Nature does nothing
modified by conditions on earth — by the without a purpose; VIII, 1, 252 a 12: Nature
angle at which the rays from stars and planets is orderly; The Heavens , II, 11, 291 b 13 :
strike the surface in different latitudes, and by Nature does nothing in vain; and other
the arrangement or responsiveness of the passages. Probably the phrase was coined by
matter itself in different places. a commentator. Once, at least, Albert

2 The concentric spheres supposed to carry attributed it to Averroes {Problematadeterminata

the heavenly bodies. XLIII: Weisheipl, i960, p. 348).



31


BOOK I, TRACTATE i

solid surface from which such vapour cannot escape produce many
stones. But in earth that is soft like ashes and is more likely to taint water
than to impart its own properties to it, stones cannot be produced.

This is the reason why many stones are produced on the banks of
perennial streams ; 4 for such banks are very solid, and so retain the rising
vapours. And these banks are also filled with vapours, because the heat
produced by the reflection of light on the water is driven off towards the
banks by the coldness of the water , 5 and becoming entangled with the
sticky parts of earth, bakes and hardens the mixture of Earth and Water.
For the same reason, the bottoms of such rivers become full of stones; for
the heat in the earth along the banks penetrates under the water; and since
the water everywhere fills up the pores by which the vapour might
escape, it mingles with the mixture and at the same time bakes it into
stones. And this is the reason why such places are active in producing
stones.

And there are some waters that flow through materials of very strong
mineralizing powers, and as they flow they are saturated with those
minerals; and so the waters and whatever is immersed in them are con-
verted into stone, more or less quickly depending on the increasing or
decreasing strength of the power that is active in making and forming
stones. The reason why water that is divided into drops along the banks,
as it flows out of a spring, is more quickly converted into stone than water
that simply flows along from a spring or river or sea, is that the [mineraliz-
ing] power more quickly overcomes a small amount [of material] that is
divided than a large amount that is undivided. This is the same with every
transforming power — for every power transforms a small [quantity]
more quickly than a large [one ]. 6 But the same water flowing in some
other place is not converted into stone; and this is because when it is away
from a mineralizing place it evaporates and is destroyed, just as everything
else is destroyed away from the place where it is produced.

That water does in fact absorb and become saturated with such a
power is proved by other accidental properties of water, such as a taste of
sulphur or orpiment, or of bitterness; for water does not acquire these

4 Again Albert tries to explain alluvial 6 Gen. and Corr. I, io, 328 a 34: things

gravels, which he believes to be formed in readily divisible into small parts combine
situ. most readily; Meteor. IV, 1, 379 b 2: a small

5 Heat and cold, being contraries, exert a quantity is more rapidly attacked by decay
mutual repulsion. See also the statement in than a large one.

II, ii, 3, CrystaJlus.



32


BOOK OF MINERALS


tastes except from the places through which it passes. In the same way, it
happens that the mineralizing vapour, along with stony material in the
form of vapour, is extracted by the water, and the water is completely
tainted by this vaporous spirit; and the mineralizing vapour, if able to
overcome the water, converts it into stone.

Even more rapidly it converts earthy things such as wood, plants, and
the bodies of animals, etc. 7 For these, if immersed in Water, are attacked
by such a mineralizing power and changed into something of an earthy
nature, suitable material for stones, which is [then] dried out and solidified
and developed into the specific form of stone by the mineralizing power
dissolved as vapour in the Water.

In very high mountains there is perpetual and extreme cold — the
reason for this has been explained in the book on Meteorology. 8 And this
cold, by expelling moisture, attacks the Water from the snows, and
induces in it the properties of dryness — for this is the nature of extreme
cold — and then, out of that dryness, solidifies the ice into rock crystal or
some other transparent stone.

And thus it is easy to understand places that produce stones, and the
similarities and differences among them.


CHAPTER 9: HOW THE POWER OF THE PLACE
ACTS UPON THE NATURE OF STONES

This rather prolix account of the way Water changes into Earth is based on
Aristotle's account of the transmutations of the elements in Generation and


7 This explanation of fossils is from Avicen-
na (De congelation , Holmyard and Mande-
ville, 1927, p. 46).

8 Meteor. I, 9-12 (346 b 16-349 a 12) deals
with phenomena in the sphere of Air — rain,
hail, snow, dew, etc. The atmosphere has
three layers: the lowest is warmed by re-
flection of the sun’s rays from the surface of
the earth; higher up, it is cooler, so that
clouds can form; and at the top the Air is
again warm and dry, merging into the Fire
above. In Albert’s version of this {Meteor.
II, i, 12) he introduced a threefold classification
of mountains, as related to these three layers:
For some are mountains (monies), and others are


high mountains (alti montes), and still others are
extremely high mountains (supremi montes alti).
Mountains rise above the general level of the
earth’s circumference, but do not extend be-
yond the first layer of Air, where the sun’s rays
have power. But high mountains rise into the
next layer of Air, which is cold; and so they
have perpetual snow. And by compression of
the snows, crystal and beryl are produced in
their depths, and other stones of this sort, from
which heat has been removed by natural means.
Extremely high mountains rise above the latter,
and extend beyond the second layer of Air,
and project far up into the third, into Air which
is dried out by a heat that does not bum, but
dries out the moisture of the Air; and on the
summits of these neither hoar frost nor dew is
produced.



33


BOOK I, TRACTATE i

Corruption (see Appendix A, j). Any element can be transmuted into any
other element by a change in its qualities; but Albert attempts to analyse the
change into stages, in order to explain the different degrees of transparency in
different minerals.

Transparency is discussed in terms of Aristotle’s theory of light (The Soul,
II, 7, 418 b 3 ff): light is a sort of activity going on in a medium of trans-
parency; and transparency is a property especially of the upper spheres of the
heavens (Ether), though it is shared to some extent by Fire, Air, Water, and
even some solids. We cannot see transparency, as such, but recognize it as it is
made visible by the activity — light. The theory is extended to account for the
colours of minerals in I, ii, 2.

There remains one more thing [necessary] for understanding everything
that has been said. This is that we should determine how the power of one
thing attacks the substance of another and transforms it into itself. Now
this can be understood from what we have said about the transmutations
of the elements into each other. For when Earth converts Water into
[Earth], first of all the powers of Earth enter into the substance [of Water]
and alter it and, as it were, master it and hold it fast; and then the Water
begins to grow firm and be limited by a boundary, 1 although as yet it
does not lose its transparency; and then finally it is destroyed and passes
into Earth, and takes on the qualities of Earth, opacity and dryness. It is
the same with the other elements when they are transmuted into each
other. And it is just the same, too, with the powers of mixed substances,
as is shown by the juice of plants and the food of animals. For in these the
powers of living things first of all alter, and then, as it were, attack the
material and hold it fast, and afterwards convert it into the part of the
body that is being nourished. And it is just exactly the same with the
stone-forming power when it penetrates anywhere, whether in Water or
in Earth: first of all it alters the material it touches, and then masters and
holds it fast, and after so holding and overcoming it, converts it into stone.

This action generally occurs in three ways, although really the number
of ways is infinite. One of these [ways] is that the power attacking the
material alters it only as to the active and passive qualities 2 by which the
action takes place; and this is a weak power. The second way is that it
alters not only the qualities of the material but also the secondary effects
of these qualities, which are hardness and softness; [but still] in such a way

1 stare et terminare, that is, change from 2 Heat and cold are active, moisture and
liquid to solid; see I, i, 2, note 3. dryness passive , qualities.



34


BOOK OF MINERALS


that the transparency or opacity of the material is not removed; and this
is a stronger power, and in this way transparent stones are produced. The
third way is that it attacks the material completely, not only the secondary
effects but also the consequences of these; and thus alters the qualities, and
the hardness and softness, and even the colour that belongs to the material.
And in this way there are sometimes produced from Water stones that
are not transparent, or not completely so, like chalcedony and the kind
called ‘toadstone’, and some others . 3 In all these ways there are many
degrees which will be mentioned later, when we deal with precious
stones.

An example of this is that sometimes the earthy force, which acts upon
moisture by compelling cold and dryness, acts upon Water in such a way
that there remains in it some power of such cold and dryness; and then
things that are washed in such Water are intensely dried out and cooled.
The alchemists try very hard to make waters of this kind, which have the
qualities of different elements — not actually but as a [potential] power —
so as to use them in drying out and solidifying what they wish to trans-
mute; and for that reason they have books compiled about the Seven
[Twelve?] Waters . 4

Sometimes, too, an earthy force attacks Water in such a way that cold
expels its moisture, and dryness causes it to take on the shape of a solid,
although the transparency of the Water remains unchanged. For the
clearness of Water does not depend upon how much it contains of the
qualities of cold or moisture, or both, but upon how much it has in
common with the substance of heaven [Ether]. And therefore [trans-
parency] inheres in Water even more than the active and passive qualities
do by their nature; for [transparency] is more common among the ele-
ments 5 than any one of the active or passive qualities is. And when the
cold and dryness of Earth act in this way, they necessarily induce in
Water their secondary effects, hardness and solidity; and then a trarn-

3 See II, ii, 3, Chalcedonius ; 2, Borax; 12, aqua ardens (alcohol). The waters that harden

Nusae. things are probably solutions of alum or

4 ‘seven waters* perhaps should be ‘twelve other sulphates. (See also II, iii, 2, notes
waters’, a scribe having written VII for XII. 5-6.)

Sarton (1927, II-2, pp. 889-90) mentions 5 That is, transparency occurs in elements
several treatises of this kind — Liber de aquis qui that have different active and passive qualities:
dicitur XII aquarum , and Liber XII aquarum Fire (hot— dry), Air (hot — moist), Water
alkimie , etc. One of them, Tractatus mirabilis (moist — cold), even in minerals that contain
aquarum , is ascribed to Peter of Spain (Pope Earth (cold — dry).

John XXI), and includes aqua vite and



35


BOOK I, TRACTATE i

parent stone is formed. But sometimes Earth overcomes Water still
further, changing its substance into the opacity and nature of Earth; and
then an opaque stone is formed from Water, perhaps very black, like
certain little stones that are found in abundance on the banks of rivers ; but
these are sometimes produced from earthy material, as we shall show
later. And what we have said about Earth must be understood to apply as
well to the qualities of all the other elements.

It should also be added that the power of the elements is the material
cause, and the power of the heavens is the efficient cause, and the power of
the Mover is the formal cause-, and the result of all these is the power that is
poured into the material of stones and the place where they are formed, as
has been adequately stated in earlier chapters.

Let this, then, be enough explanation of the causes by which we may
understand the production of stones in general.



TRACTATE 11

THE ACCIDENTAL PROPERTIES OF STONES

CHAPTER 1 : PROPERTIES OCCURRING SPON-
TANEOUSLY IN STONES: [GOOD AND BAD
MIXTURES]

This tractate deals with accidental properties, things which occur spontaneously
(quae per se accident), and which are due to chance or individual circum-
stances; that is, inessential differences that do not affect the substantial form —
stone is essentially stone, although individual specimens may differ in size,
shape, colour, hardness, etc. Meteor. IV, 8-9 (383 a 11-388 a 9) lists and
discusses eighteen such ‘passive’ properties ( Albert , Meteora IV, iii, 2-19), and
the relevant explanations are applied here to stones and in III, ii to metals.

Good and bad mixtures in the Borgnet edition stands as part of the title of the
following chapter. I have transferred it to this one, where it obviously belongs,
since differences in the ‘ mixing ’ account for the textures and fabrics of rocks.
Again it may be noted that Albert does not recognize sedimentary rocks as made up
of fragments transported, worn, and deposited by water or ice, but considers the
pebbles or sand grains to have been formed in situ by a process analogous to
cooking. The difference between a conglomerate and a fine-grained rock is, so
to speak, like the difference between lumpy and smooth porridge — a matter of
thorough mixing and just enough heat. Raw materials that are too dry mix
poorly and form lumps; moister materials blend into an even paste, producing a
fine, uniform texture.

Now we must speak of the properties that occur spontaneously in stones.
For there are many accidents which happen in the very beginning to all
stones in general. And first among these is the mixing of the material.
Let us say that if the material is intensely dry, then it will be incapable of
being well mixed. Furthermore, the place may be either porous and not
solid, or else solid. If it is not porous but solid, there is produced one
[mass of] gravelly stone; when it is handled it yields litde bits of gravel,
differing according to the amount of dryness and heat that solidified it;
for sometimes perhaps it can be rubbed into [loose] gravel, when such
heat has dried it out. But if the place is very porous so that heat penetrates
all through it, baking the unctuous Earth, then the heat divides the
material into small [bits] and bakes it into a very fine gravel. And if the



37


BOOK I, TRACTATE ii

material was very viscous, then it is divided and reduced to litde pebbles
of different sizes, which are extremely hard and differ in colour because of
differences in the material.

But stones that show good, flat surfaces when they are cut, from which
only the finest dust rubs off, are made of material that is very well mixed.
First the moisture affected it, causing every part of the dry [material] to
flow into every other part; and later the moisture was attacked and dried
out; and therefore such stone is well mixed. For what is subtle and moist
is capable of being well mixed, since it is active in penetrating the parts
and even the smallest particles, as has been said in the second book on
Generation and Corruption . 1 But above all, those stones are well mixed
which have been mixed by means of vapours; and they take the best
polish of all and become brilliant. This is because the substance of vapour
approaches the subtlety and moisture of Air; and these two [Water and
Earth] are more subtle and penetrate each other more thoroughly in the
form of Air than in [their own] form of Water or Earth. These are the
causes of compactness and firm coherence, and of their opposites. And
whatever things have their material well mixed — unless heat bakes out
the moisture and dries it up — are most firmly coherent and strongly
compacted.

Evidence of this is [found] in those operations of art which imitate
nature. For brickmakers first mix with earth something to make the
parts hold together, such as horse-dung or something of that sort; and
when the material has been made sticky they try to mix it very thoroughly.
And the better they are mixed, the flatter and firmer the stones are. And
potters do the same, adding to their material not just any kind of earth at
all, but the tenacious kind called glis , 2 when they want to shape things of
clay; and they mix it thoroughly before they shape it. Then they let the
moisture remain in it for a time, and then draw out the excess in the
sunshine; and finally the vessels are solidified by digestion in the fire,
which is called optesis . 3

Therefore Nature, too, must use this method in mixing stones. Thus

1 Gen. and Con. I, io, 328 a 34: the smaller 2 glis: not a classical Latin word, although
the particles, the more easily they will mix, Pliny (Nat. Hist. XVII, 4, 46) uses glisomarga
etc. This is at the end of the first, not in the for a fatty marl.

second, book of Generation and Corruption. 3 optesis is a technical word, defined in
Albert may have been quoting from memory. Meteor. IV, 3 , 381323 as roasting by dry heat.
Vapours, of course, are even more ‘subde’ or baking,
finely divided than liquids.



BOOK OF MINERALS


38

Earth is first penetrated by moisture, either as liquid or as vapour, 4 and
then the excess moisture is separated from it; and after a long time the
[remaining] moisture is incorporated into it and holds it together, and
cannot be driven offby baking heat; and then the material, by such baking,
is converted into stone. And if sometimes there is found some Earth not
completely stuck together, along with the stones, we know that such
material was [not] 5 completely acted upon and so remains undigested.

But stones made from Water that has been acted upon by earthy
dryness and cold are very well compacted and look smooth as if polished;
for Water is numbered among [the causes of] smoothness, 6 and every part
of it flows into every other part; and thus cohering together it solidifies
and hardens into stone.

Let this, then, be our account of the way stones are mixed.


CHAPTER 2: THE CAUSE OF DIFFERENT COLOURS
IN PRECIOUS STONES

Borgnet prints the title for this chapter as De his quae bene et male commixta
sunt, et de causa diversitatis colorum in lapidibus pretiosis. I have omitted
the first part of this, since, as already noted, it belongs to the preceding chapter.
Albert’s theory of colour is based on Aristotle’s The Senses; but he here seems to
cite a long digressio in his own version of that work.

Colours, according to Aristotle, result from the mixture of transparency (light)
and opacity (darkness), or white and black; as, for instance, the light of the sun
looks red when seen through dark smoke (The Senses, 3, 440 a 11). Albert
elaborates this (perhaps with the help of Arabic commentators like Avicenna,
whom he cites in The Senses, ii, 2), attempting to account for all possible
colours. A simple mixture of white and black gives a series of greys. But if light
or whiteness is partly obscured by a smoky ‘earthy vapour, the resulting colours
are reddish — bright red if the vapour is thin, dark red or purple if it is thick. If
the vapour is predominantly ‘watery’, with only a very little, finely divided
‘earthiness’, the colour is blue. Vapours with other proportions of ‘ earthiness ’

4 aut corporali aut spirituali: water has some Commentary on that work (Fobes, 1956,
‘body’, vapour is ‘spirit’ (cf. I, ii, 6, note 1). pp. 105-6) quotes Alexander (of Aphrodisias)

5 The sense requires a non omitted in the to the effect that rough is caused by dryness

text. and smooth by moisture on the surface. He

6 Aristotle does not explain smoothness in adds that ‘this is why stones formed in water
Generation and Corruption, but Averroes in his are dry (hard) and yet smooth’.



39


BOOK I, TRACTATE ii

and ‘ wateriness produce other colours, between red and blue, which Albert some-
times calls yellows and sometimes greens. This theory is the basis of the present
chapter, though there are some discrepancies which may be due to corruption of
the text and to the inexactness of colour-words, in both Latin and English.

A special note is needed on Albert’s usual word for ‘blue’, blavus (cf. German
blau), which has been printed as flavus, ‘golden yellow’. I have silently cor-
rected this throughout the translation.

More information about the precious stones mentioned here will be found in the
alphabetical lapidary, II, ii.

How a decision is reached about the colours of stones must be learned
from the book on The Senses ; of that science we shall tell later, at a
convenient time; and what we assume here will be demonstrated there.
Thus it is assumed here that everything that is transparent, in any kind of
body whatsoever, is caused by many transparent parts which enter into
the constitution of the transparent body. And furthermore, white is
caused by many transparent parts distributed in something else ; 1 and
black, by opaque parts predominating over the transparent parts in the
same body. Intermediate [colours] are caused by a combination of these
in three ways , 2 as will be [told ] 3 in the science of The Senses.

Let us say, therefore, that all transparent stones are caused by a large
amount of the material of Air and Water which is hardened and com-
pacted by the attack of earthy material; and if the transparency is not of
any particular colour, but remains [like] the transparency of Air or
Water, then this is evidence that extreme cold alone has attacked the
material. And this is like the transparency of rock crystal and beryl and
adamas and the stone called iris. But they show differences in their trans-
parency and watery nature. For rock crystal seems to have not the material
of Water alone, but a wateriness approaching airiness, and hence it is very
transparent, almost perfectly clear. But beryl approaches nearer to
Water; for when it is [turned about] big drops of water, as it were, are

1 Cf. Albert’s description of the whiteness transparent material is powdered.’
of snow (Meteor. II, i, 19) : ‘For snow must 2 Albert, in The Senses, ii, 2, says that
necessarily be white, since it is itself composed ‘white passes into black in three ways’ :
of parts of transparent material with clotted (1) through a series of greys; (2) from pale to
Air dispersed among them. All such parts dark red and purple; (3) from pale to dark
take in some light between them, and so they green and blue-green.

are white; but nevertheless they limit the sight 3 radetur, but (ed. 1495, 1 518) tradetur seems

[that is, are not perfectly transparent], as is seen to be correct,
when rock crystal or glass or any other


F



40


BOOK OF MINERALS


seen [moving inside it ]. 4 Adamas, however, has its wateriness further
advanced towards earthy dryness, and therefore it is darker, and extremely
hard, so that it scratches all metals except the hardest steel — for in steel the
wateriness and earthiness are thoroughly dried out. And thus it happens
that the stone adamas, when it has sharp comers, divides and cuts all iron,
and penetrates every metal so as to divide it. But iris is made of Water
which is, as it were, just turning into dew, hardening pardy from vapour
and pardy from dewdrops melting away; and therefore, if placed in
sunlight, it paints the colours of the rainbow on the opposite wall. These
similar stones are made of similar materials.

Along the banks of rivers there are frequendy found stones that are
dark-coloured and transparent to a great or lesser degree; their colour is
caused simply by transparency either combined, or mixed more or less
completely, with dark earthiness. Since it is easy, from what has been
said already, to understand the cause of these colours, I say no more about
them.

A black colour in stones is most frequendy caused by burnt earthy
[material]; and therefore black stones are frequendy very hard, and
capable only of being polished but not cut. For this colour is caused
merely by lack of transparency in the mixture, as will appear when the
science of colours is discussed [in The Senses].

The intermediate colours are reds, greens, and blues , 5 and different
shades of these. And, as will be said in the book on The Senses, there will
be red when a luminous transparency is covered by a thin burning smoke.
This colour is found in certain stones which are called ‘water jacinths’ and
in the three kinds of carbuncles; and therefore Aristode 6 says that these
are all hot by nature. But there are different shades of red: for if there is a
great transparency, and the smoke that covers it is very thin and bright,
the colour is that [of the stone] called palatius or palatium ? And if there is a
great transparency and the smoke is, as it were, fiery, burning, and thick,
then the colour is that of the true carbuncle; and thus [a carbuncle] that

4 The text seems to be corrupt here: cum as agreeing with the description of beryl, in
solvitur quasi aquae guttae magnae manere II, ii, 2.

videntur, ‘when it is dissolved, big drops of 5 Meteor . Ill, 2, 371 b 34 ff. describes the

water, as it were, are seen to remain’ ; but rainbow as showing only three colours — red,
beryl is not easily ‘dissolved*, and two very green, and blue. Yellow is treated as a mere
probable scribal errors could have produced transition between red and green,
this from cum volvitur quasi aquae guttae 6 The Lapidary of Aristotle (see Appendices
magnae movere videntur , which I have adopted A, 14 and B, 8). 7 Balagius t II, ii, 2.



4i


BOOK I, TRACTATE ii

has attained its true specific form shines in the dark like a firefly, especially
when clear, limpid water is poured over it. But if the transparency is
slighdy less clear, and the smoke floating over it slightly darker, the colour
will be that [of the stone] called granatus because it is the colour of pome-
granate seeds. And all three of these Aristotle calls carbuncles, and he says
that the noblest and hardest among them is the granatus, although this is
considered less valuable by jewellers and artisans.

But the stone called by some people ‘water jacinth’ has a colour com-
posed of the limpid transparency of Water and not of Air; and covering
this it has a watery steaming smoke, such as there is in a cloud in the sky
and 8 in the dawn.

In the same way we shall discover the colours of transparent stones
which are blue. For if a stone is made of a very clear transparent substance,
and has, mixed into this, a very subtle, thoroughly burnt, earthy material,
then the colour will be that of the clearest saphirus ; and there will be
different shades of colour, depending on whether the transparency com-
bined with the subde, thoroughly burnt, earthy material was clearer or
darker. For a clear, pure blue is undoubtedly caused by a great deal of
transparency, because the sight penetrates it — for neither light nor any-
thing luminous offers any hindrance to the sight. But if, along with such
burnt, earthy vapour, the watery transparency is slightly less clear, then
the result is the colour of the jacinth ( hyacinthus ), which is considerably
less clear than the colour of the noble saphirus. But a brilliant sky-blue
colour 9 is caused by a bright transparency that is thinly covered by a little
steamy watery vapour.

[There is also] the green 10 [of the stone] called topasion. And in some
stones veins of shining gold are found, as in chrysoprasus and chrysolitus ;
the colour of those veins is produced by the same cause. And there are
many transparent stones that are green, such as smaragdus, and chrysolitus,
and the stone called prama, 11 although there are different shades of green

8 et non in aurora. If Albert is still talking 10 et hie est colour viridis is separated from
about red stones, non must be misplaced and the preceding only by a comma in the
should be omitted. But ‘water jacinth’ printed texts. I believe, however, that this
(II, ii, 8, Hyacinthus) is said to have a very should begin a new sentence and a new topic,
pale ‘watery’ colour, either pink or blue. So since the stones that follow are all green,
this sentence may be a transition to the yellow-green, or ‘golden’.

discussion of blue stones. 11 prama is perhaps the same as prassius

9 coeruleus, a paler and more brilliant blue (II, ii, 14) ; or it may be what is today called

than hlavus. plasma (bright green chalcedony).



42


BOOK OF MINERALS


in them. But the colours of all these are produced by one and the same
cause: from a transparent wateriness [mixed] with strongly burnt earth-
iness; and, depending on whether it is clearer or less clear, the greenness
will be clearer or less clear. Evidence of this is seen in glass that is made
from a mixture of lead ; 12 for this is very green; and the more often and
more strongly it is fired, the purer it becomes. For by repeated firing the
transparency is purified and rendered subde, and the clear brightness of
Fire is imposed on the nature of Water; and so it becomes clear.

But the intermediate colour which is somewhat brownish or bluish,
such as that of the stone called corneola , 13 is caused by a transparency that
is limited and covered over by a thick, smoky wateriness and at the same
time by a burning earthiness. And these are nearly all the colours found in
precious stones.

Next is [the colour of] onychinus — a brilliant snowy white, which is
said to be the colour of the stone called orphanus. For onyx or onychinus is
composed of a substance of two colours, and is sometimes found with
more than two colours; but usually it is composed of two colours, one of
them floating on the other. The lower [layer] is flesh-coloured, which is
[made] of earthy, smoky material mixed as vapour. And the upper
[layer] is pale-coloured, slightly greyish; and this is caused by the victory
of the transparent over the opaque parts in the mixture, in such a way that
the opaque altered the white. [Onyx] is [formed] from such a substance,
when watery material, mixed with subtle earthiness, evaporates a litde
and, as it does so, solidifies into stone. There are also found some kinds of
onychinus having lines of bright red and white; and the causes of these
colours are not difficult to discover from what has already been said.

But a brilliant snow-white is undoubtedly caused by the fact that it is
itself composed of a transparent body, so to speak, solidified; for the
powder of anything transparent is always found to be extremely white;
and when the powder coheres together the result is a shining white body,


12 Lead oxide imparts a pale yellow tinge
to glass, but medieval glassmakers generally
used copper to obtain green or blue colours.
For example, a recipe from Heraclius (Merri-
field, I, p. 216):

VIII. How glass is made of lead and how it is
coloured. Take good and shining lead, and put it
into a new jar, and bum it in the fire until it is
reduced to powder. Then take it away from the
fire to cool. Afterwards take sand and mix


with that powder, but so that two parts may be
of lead and the third of sand, and put it into an
earthen vase. Then do as before directed for
making glass, and put that earthen vase into
the furnace, and keep stirring it until it is
converted into glass. But if you wish to make it
appear green, take brass filings and put as much
as you think proper into the lead glass.

13 Common chalcedony, by the descrip-
tion. But corneola was also confused with the
red variety, camelian: see II, ii, 3, Corneleus.



43


BOOK I, TRACTATE ii

like a pearl. 14 This depends on the reflection of light from the surfaces of
smooth parts; and therefore the stone is said to shine a litde in the dark,
like a firefly. For in the daytime the light incorporated with the trans-
lucency in the stone is hidden because the daylight [is stronger]; but at
night it shines out; and therefore in the daytime this stone appears white,
as a firefly does. The complete explanation for all these things will be
given in the science of The Senses. 15

But there is also found a stone having a great many colours, and for this
reason it is called panthera; all its colours are caused by the different
substances of which its parts are composed. The same explanation holds,
more or less completely, so far as the dyeing of bodies is concerned. 16

Such, then, are the many different statements made about the science of
the colours found in precious stones. 17

Amethyst comes next after rubinus in its dark transparency; and
chalcedony comes after beryl, being somewhat transparent in its sub-
stance, but full of clay and dregs — somewhat as lead is an imitation of
silver.


CHAPTER 3: THE CAUSE OF THE COLOURS IN
STONES WHICH ARE [NOT] TRANSPARENT, NOT
LIMITED IN SIZE, AND NOT PRECIOUS

The title of this chapter is printed as: De causa colorum in lapidibus per-
spicuis non terminatis et non pretiosis. There is certainly an error here, the
omission of non before perspicuis, ^or Albert now deals with stones that are not
transparent, as he has already dealt with transparent stones in the preceding
chapter. A similar omission of non occurs in the first sentence of this chapter.

The phrase non terminatis is difficult to translate: terminatus means
' limited by a boundary ’, ‘having a definite shape’. I have rendered non terminatis

14 Sec II, ii, ii, Margarita. Albert does not just on the surface, like fish, fireflies, rotting

mention phosphorescence again there, but wood, etc. But the fight is faint and cannot be
similar statements are made about other seen in daylight.

stones: II, ii, 3, Carbunculus, Chrysopagion; 16 Dyeing seems hardly relevant here,

19, Virites. unless Albert has in mind the artificial colour-

15 Aristode, The Senses, z, 437 b 6. Albert, ing of stones. Perhaps this is a gloss that has

The Semes, i, 12, goes into more detail: crept into the text.

things that shine in the dark have in them- 17 This sentence is the usual formula for the

selves a sort of transparency — either through- end of a chapter. What follows appears to be
out their bodies, like the gem carbunculus, or displaced; or it may be an interpolation.



BOOK OF MINERALS


44

here as ‘ not limited in size ’, because what Albert is really talking about, and
lacks a term for, is rock — bedrock, as opposed to ‘stones’ in the sense of pebbles or
precious stones, which are small, and are ‘ limited ’ in that they ‘have a shape ’.
It is curious that Albert nowhere uses the useful word saxum for ‘solid rock ’.
The distinction is made by Pliny (Nat. Hist. XXXVI, 49, 169) in describing
material (probably serpentine) that occurs ‘as loose boulders, not as bedrock ’;
lapis non saxum. And Isidore of Seville (Etym. XVI, 3, 1) gives definitions:
‘Stones (lapis) are movable and scattered about. Rocks (saxa) are firmly embedded
and are quarried out of mountains .’ Albert’s long title, then, really means: ‘An
explanation of the colours of rocks.’

It is also somewhat surprising that Albert says that very few rocks are red.
Geologists today would call many rocks red, including some formations in regions
that Albert must have visited. But perhaps he called them ‘brown, and words for
‘brown and ‘grey are poorly differentiated in Latin.

Most of these rocks are mentioned again in the following chapter. The
nomenclature is that of Vitruvius, Pliny, and Isidore, to whom I have given
some references, although Albert does not appear to be quoting them directly.

Stones are found which are [made] ofa substance that is [not] transparent
and not limited in size; they are of a great many different colours and
are — to make a generalized statement — of four kinds, namely flint, tufa,
freestone, and marble. 1 In all these kinds there are found many colours,
namely black, grey, slightly greenish, and white. Apart from the marbles,
hardly any large stone is red, but small red [bits] are found, 2 especially in
some marbles. And the explanation of all these colours is the same as that
stated in the preceding [chapter]. But in some marbles it happens that
pieces broken out of them sparkle slighdy, as if mixed with metal; 3 and
this happens because their substance contains something transparent mixed
with it, and when this is condensed, its surface gleams or sparkles. And this
is one of the reasons why marbles are more noble than other stones.

1 silex is flint, massive quartzite or other like ‘marble’ in popular usage today, means
siliceous rock, or indeed any very hard rock, any stone capable of taking a high polish. It
Tofus includes both calcareous tufa and includes not only what geologists call marble
volcanic tuff or scoria. Quadrum is just stone — crystalline carbonate rocks — but also serpen-
in rectangular blocks; Vitruvius speaks of tine, alabaster, granite, porphyry, etc.
quadrata saxa or quadrati lapides, ‘squared stone* 2 Probably red feldspars in a porphyry or
or ‘cut stone*, but I believe Albert means granite.

what is popularly called ‘freestone* — any rock 3 Flakes of mica, with a silvery, coppery, or

that breaks naturally, or can easily be worked, bronzy lustre,
into more or less rectangular slabs. Marmor y



45


BOOK I, TRACTATE ii

Black in such stones is caused by [something] sooty and earthy solidified
in the mixture. But white is caused by very subtle Earth mixed with a
great deal of Water; for this, when boiled down, becomes white, like the
Earth in cheese and milk . 4 Grey is caused by opaque Earth which has
slighdy altered the white, as it began to solidify from subtle Earth and a
great deal of Water. Green, in all kinds [of stones] is caused by a great deal
of Water which was mixed with vapours condensing at the same time
and thus solidified. There is also a kind of dripstone 5 having several or all
of these mixtures in [different] parts, because of the many [different kinds
of] materials brought together in one place. But tufas are commonly
either of an earthy colour or else white like pumice. For this kind of
stone is produced from Earth mixed with foaming Water, and so, when it
has been solidified by the digestive heat called optesis , 6 it is found to be
spongy and light. And pumice 7 is made from a great deal of Water whose
foam has been intensely acted upon by Earth mixed with it; and so it is
white, because of the whiteness of such foam. But among marbles, the
white [kind] called alabaster is undoubtedly composed of a great deal of
transparent [material] which has been altered and intensely acted upon by
subde Earth; and the result is a most noble, sparkling colour in it. But that
called porphyry marble 8 has a dark flesh-colour with small white spots;
and we have already stated the cause of such a colour. Flints, however,
are mostly of a greyish colour; and the cause of this has been sufficiently
indicated.

Let this statement, then, be sufficient about the colours of stones.

4 Meteor. IV, 7, 384 a 21 : boiling down and discusses its origin. Pliny (Nat. Hist. XXXVI,
coagulation of milk is interpreted as the 42, 154-6) lists many of its properties, some of
separation of its earthy from its watery part, which are repeated by Isidore (Etym. XVI, j,

5 guttae, * drops*. Meteor. IV, 10, 388 b 25 7).

calls them ‘tears* and refers to stalactites in 8 porphyricum marmor: an igneous rock with
caves. white spots (phenocrysts) in a dark red back-

6 optesis: see I, ii, 1, note 3. ground (groundmass). Pliny (Nat. Hist.

7 pumex , vesicular glassy lava; but probably XXXVI, 1 1, 57) says it is an Egyptian rock;
includes also very light, porous calcareous Isidore (Etym. XVI, 5, 5) adds that the name
tufa or siliceous sinter. Vitruvius (On Architect comes from the Greek word for purple or
ture , II, 6) speaks of spongia sive pumex and dark red.



46 BOOK OF MINERALS

CHAPTER 4 : THE CAUSE OF THE DIFFERENCES
IN HARDNESS IN STONES

Hard and soft are defined by Aristotle (Gen. and Corr. II, 2, 330 a 8) in terms
of dry and moist, resistant or unresistant to pressure.

The accounts of the various stones are somewhat reminiscent of Vitruvius
(On Architecture, II, 7, 1-3) on the hardness of building stones, and (II, 8, 2-3)
on the failure of walls. But Albert is not really quoting from Vitruvius, nor from
Pliny or Isidore, who repeat many of the same statements. Probably Albert, since
he lived in the great age of cathedral building, acquired some of this information
directly, by watching workmen and talking to them, either at Cologne or during
his travels. He recorded one such incident at Venice (II, iii, 1).

W e shall speak next about the differences in hardness, in which stones are
found to differ greatly. All kinds of precious stones are so hard that the
file removes nothing from them, and if struck forcibly against each other
or against hardened steel, they emit fire. On the other hand, nearly all
kinds of tufa are found to have so little hardness that they can be cut with
an ordinary tool. And certain white stones which the common people
call chalk, 1 and some which are even softer and whiter, are found to have
less hardness than any other kind of stone. 2 All kinds of flint 3 are very
hard; and after these come the marbles, according to their kinds. Free-
stone, 4 however, is of intermediate hardness among stones, and yet some
variation in hardness is found in this, too. But it commonly happens that
the harder stones, if exposed to the air for a long time in cold weather, are
later, in the sunshine, broken into many pieces. On the other hand, some
which are less hard — unless they are poorly mixed, like quicklime
solidified by baking heat (optesis) — the longer they are exposed to the
air 5 in buildings, the better and harder they become and they are not
broken by cold.

1 creta, includes a number of white, soft, limestone. But other kinds were probably
almost earthy materials. Pliny (Nat. Hist, lavas, since Pliny (Nat. Hist. XXXVI, 49, 168)
XXXV, 57, 195-9) mentions varieties like says ‘the fire does not harm them’, a statement
fuller’s earth and polishing powders. Isidore that could not apply to limestone.

(Etym. XVI, 1, 6) abbreviates Pliny, adding 4 quadrum would include a variety of sand-
(as usual) the origin of the name — from the stones and limestones, having a considerable
island of Crete. range of hardness and durability. Some build-

2 in generatione lapidum, but texts 1495, 1518, ing stones of this typeweather very badly, split-

in genere lapidum. ting along bedding planes if improperly laid.

3 silex is always a hard stone. Vitruvius 5 Hardening in the air after quarrying is
(On Architecture, II, 5, 1) says it can be burnt characteristic of many rather soft limestones,
for lime, so some silex must have been hard like those of northern France.



47


BOOK I, TRACTATE ii

It is [the task] of natural science to assign causes for these accidental
properties, based on the material and efficient causes, in the manner
described elsewhere. Let us say, therefore, that the general cause of
hardness is dryness. For since what is hard has a natural tendency to
resist anything that touches it, and what is soft does not have this tendency,
the cause can only be dryness, which stands firm and does not yield to
anything else. Dryness is caused by two things in the nature of stones, as
has already appeared: for either heat has dried the moisture out of earthy
material, leaving it hard; or else very cold dryness has intensely attacked
transparent moisture and in converting it to its own properties [of cold
and dryness] has expelled the moisture, and by intensely compressing the
material has hardened and highly compacted it. [This is the case] in
transparent stones, and so they are very hard, and when struck emit fire;
and they resist the file and must be polished, as it were, by grinding and
rubbing.

But in the other stones made of the material of Earth, the cause of
greater hardness is nothing but greater dryness, which is due to greater or
lesser heat, acting as the efficient cause, and moisture, which is separable
from the material with greater or lesser ease, acting as the material cause.
For if the moisture is very unctuous it coheres easily; but if it is entirely
watery, it evaporates easily. And therefore stones like chalk, or those
softer than chalk, [which are] very white and leave a white streak on
whatever they touch, have surely been mixed with a moisture highly
susceptible to evaporation, and have been burnt by a heat exceeding [that
which merely causes] solidification, and have already begun to be calcined.

Therefore they are not durable in walls. For because their dryness has
been calcined they are always rough on the surface, which tends to
separate from the grip of the cement, so that the stone as a whole is not
held fast by the cement; and so these stones fall out of walls, and after a
while a wall made of them becomes like an earth wall. But flints are very
hard because their moisture is not separable from the material and is
thoroughly dried out and hardened by intense earthy dryness. And so
they do not hold the cement well, because their pores are contracted and
do not absorb it. And this is why stonemasons rarely use them in con-
struction, and say that these stones ruin walls. Marbles are also very
well mixed and intensely baked; and therefore they are hard and
suitable for walls. But freestones are best of all for buildings; and when
they are intensely hard they have a great deal of dryness and [only] a



BOOK OF MINERALS


48

little moisture holding them together. And when [the moisture] is
hardened by cold, it leaves the outside and retreats to the inside; and such
moisture is not well incorporated with the parts of the stone and therefore
it is easily transferred inwards or outwards; and so, after it has been
forced into motion by cold, it is later dried out by exposure to the heat of
the sun, and then the stone breaks into separate pieces. On the other
hand, stones which are slightly moist, with the moisture firmly in-
corporated in their composition, are intensely dried out in the air; and
therefore in buildings they become harder and better with the passage of
a long time. In tufas the cause of their softness is moisture, which is
neither completely removed nor very well mixed with the Earth; and
therefore tufa is soft; and if exposed to fire, it is not baked hard like brick
but is transformed into earthy ash.

These, then, are the statements made about the hardness of stones; and
from these, other differences, too, can easily be understood.


CHAPTER 5 : FISSILITY AND NON-FISSILITY IN
STONES

Fissility (dolabilitas) is the tendency of some rocks to break into thin slabs,
either along bedding planes in sediments, or along planes developed by metamor-
phism in slates and schists. Albert does not seem to include here the cleavage of
crystals, although he later mentions the fact that mica and gypsum can be split
into thin pieces (II, ii, 17, Specularis). Rocks that are not fissile are comminui-
biles — tending to break into little bits — brittle, friable, or crumbly.

The explanation, based on the role of ‘ pores ’ , is taken from Meteor. IV, p,
386 a 9-1 7; 386 b 26-387 a 3.

On this [same basis], the cause of fissility and non-fissility can be explained.
For stones that are extremely hard are not fissile but have a tendency to
break into little pieces; and since they do not have their pores arranged in
rows they do not split straight. For just as in wood the knottiness depends
upon variations in the flow of the [sap] 1 by which the body of the wood is
produced, so [the same thing] in stones depends upon variations in their
mixture, and disorder in their materials; and that knottiness causes the

1 sicci, evidently an error for sued: cf. of the role of sap or juice (mow) in forming
Albert’s work on Plants (I, ii, i) for discussion the grain and knots in wood.



BOOK I, TRACTATE ii 49

stone to break irregularly and not straight. Nevertheless the hardest and
driest stones, whether they are knotty or not, have a tendency to break
into little pieces rather than to be fissile; for compaction or baking heat
(optesis) has compacted and distorted the pores in them so that their
capacity for splitting and parting has been removed. But stones that have
not been excessively compacted or hardened are fissile and can be cut
straight; though, to be sure, they cannot be cut like wood, but rather by
chipping away a little at a time, meanwhile leaving the rest of the stone
untouched. This, then, is what fissility and non-fissility are.

And the very procedures of the stonemasons’ art show this: for stone-
masons cleave fissile stones straight, parallel to the whole surface; 2 but
non-fissile stones, which tend to break into little pieces, they do not
cleave parallel to the whole surface; but it is enough if the projections of
the surface, which is not flat but rough, are in line. This is what the
stonemasons of Lesbos are said to do; because in the island of Lesbos the
only stones are those that tend to break into little pieces.


CHAPTER 6: THE CAUSE OF THE POROSITY AND
COMPACTNESS OF STONES, AND THEIR HEAVINESS
AND LIGHTNESS

Although the principle of specific gravity is said to have been formulated by
Archimedes (d. 212 b.c.), and was certainly known to the Arabs, Albert here
adheres faithfully to Aristotle’s doctrine of natural motions and natural places,
as stated in The Heavens (TV, 1, joy b 28 jf.). Air has a natural tendency to
move upwards ( levity , levitas), since its natural place is above Water. In a porous
rock this tendency of the Air in it can counteract the opposite tendency of the
Earth in it to move downwards ( gravity , gravitas) to its natural place, which is
below Water.

In this way, too, the causes of the porosity of stones, and of their com-
pactness, are determined. For there are found some stones of such great
porosity that they float on water, like the stones that a volcano casts out,
and pumices; and some are found that are very compact, like precious
stones and marbles; and some are found that are, as it were, intermediate
between these. And indeed the cause of porosity is simply that the mois-
ture has not been completely mixed with the Earth, but stayed in separate

2 That is, along a regular cleavage like that of slates.



50


BOOK OF MINERALS


parts of it, just as in a clay vessel, even after it has been dried out by
firing, there remain Httle holes. And thus the stone becomes porous. And
because of the Air enclosed in these httle holes, it floats on Water. But
compactness is caused especially by moisture that penetrates every-
where throughout the material of the stone, causing every part of it to
flow into every other part. And so the stone becomes compact. Now the
moisture is either liquid and watery or vaporous and airy; 1 and since what
is airy is more subtle than what is watery, stones are of more compact
substance if they are mixed from vapours rather than from another
substance, either watery or earthy.

It is superfluous here to go into the cause of heaviness or lightness,
since this has been adequately dealt with in the book on The Heavens
where it has been shown why lighter stones sink in water while heavier
[pieces of] wood float on water. 2

These, then, are the statements made about stones in general. 3


CHAPTER 7: THE CAUSE OF THE GREAT NUMBERS
OF LITTLE STONES ALONG SHORES, AND THE ROWS
OF BRICKS THAT ARE SOMETIMES FOUND ON SHORES
AS IF THEY HAD BEEN ARTIFICIALLY PUT THERE

This chapter offers Albert’s own speculations about certain phenomena that have
puzzled him. The first seems to be a firmly cemented river gravel or conglomerate.
The second is probably an outcrop of a hard bed of sandstone or quartzite, or of a
sill or dike of igneous rock, so regularly jointed as to have the appearance of
masonry ( though of course old Roman and Celtic walls do exist in some places in
northern Europe, and Albert may have seen one of these). Believing firmly in the
Aristotelian saying ‘Art imitates Nature’, Albert offers his explanations in terms of
the technological operations of burning and slaking lime, and of making bricks.

Besides everything that has already been said, it happens that sometimes
along the banks of rivers and seas there are found enormous numbers of

1 corporate et aqueum, aut spirituale aut (for density (or specific gravity) than the wood,

et ) aereum. Cf. I, ii, i, note 4. sinks, while the wood floats.

2 This apparent paradox illustrates the con- 3 This sentence seems to be the closing
fusion between weight and density. Today we formula not merely of this chapter, but of
should say that a (small) stone may be fighter Book I as a whole. Perhaps the following two
(weigh less) in air than a (large) piece of wood ; chapters were added later.

but in water the stone, having a greater



51


BOOK I, TRACTATE ii

little stones, bound together, as it were, by a very strong cement, as if they
had been taken from some wall. And on this account some people think
that there were once works of the ancients there, which have been
destroyed by the water. And what is even more wonderful [is that] along
the whole length of the shore there is found sometimes a row of bricks,
as if they had been artificially put there. But nevertheless this does not
seem to be artificial, because it is very thin, not at all like any wall, but
just one brick next to another, with no more bricks above or below.

Now I say that the cause of the first of these two things — namely that
litde stones are found stuck together as if by cement — is that at first those
different kinds of flints were hardened, and there was in that place material
something like quicklime burnt by baking heat, and when this was later
mixed with water, it heated the stones again , 1 and stuck them together.
And that cement is extremely hard: for every time earthy dryness is
baked by dry heat it is calcined, and by repeated baking it becomes
excessively hard and, as it were, incapable of being consumed by fire.
And this is proved in artificial operations, when [old] pottery is crushed
and calcined, and again mixed with moist clay to make pots that are
solidified by firing and thus rendered extremely hard and incapable of
being consumed by fire. And for this reason artisans demand vessels made
in this way when they are casting metals . 2

Nor is there any reason, either, why it should be said that bricks are
made only artificially and not naturally. For if tenacious clay is mixed in
the earth and afterwards baked by the heat enclosed there, a better brick
is made in the earth, naturally, than is made artificially. And this can
occur most of all along the shores of seas and the banks of rivers, because
those places are mixed with moisture, and they are warmed by the rays of
the sun, and they are solid enough to keep in the heat so that it may not
evaporate. And it is only in such places that effects of this kind are found.
For there would be no reason for artificially putting one brick next to
another in a row, just along one straight line, without building any more.

1 Quicklime is made by heating limestone, 2 Crucibles made in this way are recom-
and then is ‘heated again*, as heat is evolved mended for refining gold (IV, 7).
when it is slaked with water.



52


BOOK OF MINERALS


CHAPTER 8 : CERTAIN STONES THAT HAVE THE
FIGURES OF ANIMALS INSIDE AND OUTSIDE

Organic fossils were one of the enigmas of nature in the Middle Ages, but Albert
here follows Avicenna in acknowledging that they are really what they appear to
be — that is, the remains of actual plants and animals that lived informer times.
The relevant passage in Avicenna (De congelatione, Holmyard and Mandeville,
1927, pp. 46-47) reads:

In the same way also certain plants and animals are turned into stone by a certain
mineralizing, petrifying power; and this happens in stony places, or they are suddenly
disintegrated [into their constituent elements] by a certain power that issues from the
earth at the time of an earthquake and converts to stone whatever it encounters at that
time. And this transmutation of the bodies of animals and plants is just as short a step
as the transmutation of waters. Yet it is impossible that any organism should be turned
into a single element; rather, the elements are changed into each other successively, and so
pass into the dominant element. And thus what falls into salterns becomes salt, and
what falls into fi re becomes fire, some things more quickly and some more slowly; and
this depends on the potency of the active qualities [heat and cold] and on the state of the
passive qualities [moist and dry].

It seems wonderful to everyone that sometimes stones are found that
have figures of animals inside and outside. For outside they have an out-
line, and when they are broken open, the shapes of the internal organs are
found inside. And Avicenna says that the cause of this is that animals,
just as they are, are sometimes changed into stones, and especially [salty]
stones . 1 For he says that just as Earth and Water are material for stones, so
animals, too, are material for stones. And in places where a petrifying
force is exhaling, they change into their elements and are attacked by the
properties of the qualities [hot, cold, moist, dry] which are present in
those places, and the elements in the bodies of such animals are changed
into the dominant element, namely Earth mixed with Water; and then
the mineralising power converts [the mixture] into stone, and the parts of
the body retain their shape, inside and outside, just as they were before.
There are also stones of this sort that are [salty ] 2 and frequently not hard;
for it must be a strong power which thus transmutes the bodies of animals,

1 lap ides falsos, ‘false stones’. This might sabos, ‘salt stones’, which becomes intelligible
mean ‘stones that look like stones but really in the light of the passage from Avicenna on
are not (because they are petrified animals)’, which this chapter is based (see above).

But the correct reading is probably lapides 2 fabi, again for salsi.



BOOK I, TRACTATE ii 53

and it slightly bums the Earth in the moisture, and so produces a taste of
salt. 3

A story that confirms this is that of the Gorgon, who is said to have
converted into stone those who looked upon her. A strong mineralizing
power was called ‘the Gorgon’, and exposing the bodily humours to the
petrifying power was called ‘looking upon the Gorgon’. 4

These, then, are ah the statements that seem necessary about stones in
general.

3 Meteor. II, 3, 359 b 11 : Earth that is burnt 4 Ovid ( Metamorphoses , IV, 741-52) tells
takes on a salty or acrid taste. Evidently this how the Gorgon’s head, laid on seaweed and
notion arose from the use of wood ashes for twigs, changed them into stones, which the
lye, but it was extended to explain the salt nymphs scattered in the sea: this was the
of the sea. See V, 2 for more about salt. origin of coral.



BOOK II

PRECIOUS STONES


TRACTATE i

THE CAUSE OF THE POWERS OF STONES

CHAPTER 1: THE CAUSE OF THE POWERS OF
PRECIOUS STONES, WITH A REFUTATION OF
THOSE WHO SAY THAT THERE ARE NO POWERS
IN STONES

The title of this tractate, as printed by Borgnet, is: De causis virtutis lapidum,
et descriptionibus eorum, et sigillis quae inveniuntur in quibusdam
depicta. This, however, is really a subtitle for the whole oj Book II, which deals
with: The causes of the power of stones ( Tractate i); descriptions of individual
stones ( Tractate ii ); and sigils in stones ( Tractate iii ).

This first chapter is a defence of the belief, prevalent in the Middle Ages, that
stones possess extraordinary powers, medical or magical. But Albert denies that
such powers indicate that stones have souls, or share in some divine essence. He
attributes their effects to form rather than matter, and this view is further
developed in II, i, 4 .

In considering precious stones we shall not discuss the cause of their
colour, nor their capacity to be acted upon, nor their hardness, nor any-
thing else of that sort; since in the preceding book all these things have
been covered suffidendy for our present purpose. But there are three
[topics] which must be investigated as well as possible, namely the cause of
their power, and descriptions of them individually, and the sigils that are
found marked on some of them. When these three things have been
dealt with, we do not seek to know any more, in terms of natural sdence
( physice ), about the nature of stones.

The cause of the power of stones is very obscure and many natural
sdentists (physiologi) seem to have held very different opinions about it.
Many indeed seem to doubt whether there are in stones any of the
powers which are regarded as belonging to them, such as curing abscesses,
expelling poison, reconciling the hearts of men, bringing victory, and the


G



BOOK OF MINERALS


56

like; and they assert that there is nothing in a composite substance except
[what is due to] its constituents and the way they are combined. But such
action as is said to be inherent in stones is not caused by their constituents.
These are responsible only for such properties as heat and moisture,
hardness, and capacity to be acted upon, and the like, which have been
determined in the preceding [book]. And moreover, they say, the powers
attributed to stones ought rather to belong to living things, since these are
nobler than stones. This is the kind of reasoning used by those who do not
admit that stones have any powers.

But the opposite is proved most convincingly by experience: since we
see that the magnet attracts iron and the adamas restricts that power in the
magnet . 1 Furthermore, it is proved by experience that some saphirus
cures abscesses , 2 and we have seen one of these with our own eyes. This is
a widespread belief; and it is impossible that there should not be some
truth at least in what is a matter of common report.

But there have been some who, even though they assign special powers
to stones, attribute these to a soul in the stone. These are certain of the
Pythagoreans; for they say that this [power] belongs to soul alone, and not
to any single material; but it extends from one [thing] to another by a
sort of vital activity— just as man extends his intelligence to intelligible
things and his imagination to imaginable things. And thus they say that
the soul of one man, or of some other animal, can go out and enter into
another, fascinating it and hindering its actions; and therefore they warn
[one] to be careful in all actions, so as to turn aside the fascination of the
eye . 3 So, too, certain augurs say that undertakings may be hindered or
helped by the sight and sound of certain birds or other beasts. Therefore
they assign souls to stones and extend them to the natures attributed to
stones.

The school of the Pythagoreans — of which in many respects

1 See II, ii, 1, Adamas; 11, Magnes. ‘Hermes writing to Asclepius’, and Plato. In

2 See II, ii, 17, Saphirus. The Sacred Book of Hermes Trismegistus

3 This passage is very similar to one in addressed to Asclepius, I, 6a (Scott, 1924, Vol. I,
Albert’s Animals (XXII, i, 5), where he says pp. 294-7) Hermes discourses on the divine
that man is the link between God and matter, soul of man; in III, 2jb-24a (Scott, pp. 338—
Some men, by the power of the mind, have 41) on man-made statues of the gods that work
been able to control matter and work miracles, miracles; in II, 12a (Scott, pp. 308-9) on the
or to exercise ‘fascination’ over others transmigration of souls. Plato’s Timaeus (42 C;
‘though the sight or another sense’. But the Chalcidius’s Commentary, 193 ff.) also
souls of men who yield to bestial passions are mentions transmigration. But none of these
reborn as beasts. He gives as his authorities mentions ‘fascination’ or ‘the Evil Eye’.



57


BOOK II, TRACTATE i

Democritus 4 was a follower, since he said that stones have souls — held as
dogma that all things are full of gods 5 as later Orpheus 6 sang in his poetry;
for he said that the gods are divine powers diffused in things ; and that even
God is nothing but the formative power diffused in all things. And there-
fore he said that in stones there is a divine part which he called the soul
of stones, extending to things roundabout, on which it acts. But this is the
height of absurdity. As to fascination, whether this is true or not belongs
to [the art of] magic. And then, too, it is madness to say that God is
diffused in things, in such a way that He is united and mixed with them
like some essential property : for if He were thus mixed with things. He
would be capable of being produced in certain things, and would pass
from non-being to being, and from potentiality to actuality; and all this is
impossible to reconcile with [the idea of] God. It is true that anything
whatsoever may have within it something divine, or similar to the divine,
by means of which it seeks and pursues divine being; and this has been
shown elsewhere . 7 But that stones do not have any souls has been shown
in the book preceding this.

Therefore, leaving aside these and similar [statements] as too ridiculous,
let us say that there are no two opinions about it: stones do have powers of
wonderful effect and these powers reside not in their constituents but in
the way they are combined, for a reason that we shall explain later. Nor
is it true that living beings [only] ought rather to have these powers. For
throughout all nature it is as if a thing which is occupied with the higher
powers is withdrawn and cut off from the lower [ones]. Evidence of this is
that intelligent beings, such as men, are not so keenly aware of changes in
the elements as brutes are — for instance, birds judge the different hours
and seasons better than men do. And man himself, when he is occupied
with meditation, does not exert his sight and hearing, so that he does not
perceive what is before his eyes . 8 Thus in the whole of nature it is as if

4 See I, i, 4, note 8. is in the wind and enters into animals with

5 Aristotle, The Soul (I, 5, 41 1 a 8) at- their breath (The Soul t I, 5, 410 b 28).

tributes this statement to Thales. But probably 7 Aristotle, The Heavens , II, 12, 292 b 5 ff. :

Albert is merely alluding to the Platonic- the ultimate end of all action is to attain ‘the
Pythagorean ‘World SouT. best’, but this is not equally possible for all.

6 I have here disregarded a full stop which The lower animals and plants have only a
in Borgnet’s text stands before Orpheus, limited sphere of action: they strive for ‘the
Orpheus is certainly intended as the author of better* but cannot attain to ‘the best*.

the poetry — that is, the Greek Lithica (see 8 Aristotle, The Senses , 7, 447 a 15. Albert,
Appendix B, 5: Damigeron). But Aristotle The Senses , iii, 3 adds ‘and thus we do not
also mentions Orpheus, as saying that the soul notice our friends when we meet in the



BOOK OF MINERALS


58

living beings, when they are occupied with the higher powers of the soul,
do not exert the lower, less noble powers that inanimate compounds exert.

For there is nothing in all nature that does not have its own specific
action, as scammony purges yellow bile, and the like. This is proved in
[the use of] medical simples, and in the science of Incantations and Ligatures, 9
where it is shown that parts of many different animals, bound round the
neck or on the hip or on some other part of the human body, produce
wonderful effects. The same [is true] with herbs, roots, and woods. But
even human flesh and — what seems even less likely — the dry residues 10 of
a human body, and wolves’ dung, are wonderfully effective against poison
or other deadly illnesses. Hence it is known that stones, too, undoubtedly
are effective — all, or nearly all, stones, although the effects of many of them
are unknown. And therefore John of Damascus 11 says that there is nothing
that does not have its own action, due to its own substance. For it would be
ridiculous if we were to say that the primary qualities [hot, cold, moist,
dry] have strong effects and yet the substantial forms which are set as their
natural limits, as being divine and best, have no effect at all; although,
to be sure, they [play] neither an active nor a passive [role] 12 in the trans-
mutation of the material, yet they are able to effect such action as is exactly
suited to anything made by nature according to what is divine and best.

CHAPTER 2: THE OPINIONS OF FOUR PHILOSO-
PHERS ABOUT THE CAUSE OF THE POWERS OF
STONES

Here again Albert follows the Aristotelian plan of first giving the opinions of
several authorities, which are to be refuted later.

street, when our minds are occupied with but also such growths as hair and nails,
something else*. clippings of which have long played a part in

9 Incantations and Ligatures by Costa ben magic.

Luca (see Appendix C, 5). In it Galen is cited 11 John of Damascus (eighth-century theo-
on wolves* dung, which is most efficacious if logian of the Eastern Church), Exposition of
worn suspended by a thread made of wool the Orthodox Faith (Salmond, Vol. I, p. 28):
from a sheep killed by wolves; and Aaron, ‘For there is not a single animal or plant in
for elephant’s dung as a contraceptive. Other which the Creator has not implanted some
valuable ingredients for charms are the teeth form of energy capable of being used to
of a mad dog, the hair of a totally black dog, satisfy men’s needs.’

feet of hares and tortoises, cobwebs, seeds and 12 That is, form is different from matter, and

roots of various plants, as well as certain the properties designated as active (hot, cold)
stones (see also II, iii, 6). and passive (moist, dry) belong not to the

10 ‘Residues’ include not only excrements from but to the matter of any substance.



BOOK II, TRACTATE i 59

The discussion of colours , attributed to Hermes, may be regarded as a supple-
ment to that in I, ii, 2. The precious stones mentioned are described in the
alphabetical lapidary, II, ii.

For a long time philosophers have been inquiring into the cause of these
powers that are infused into stones; and it would be a waste of time to
review all their different opinions. Let us therefore touch upon four which
are probable, and afterwards declare our own conclusion, and then support
it by reasoning.

Some have said that such powers in stones are due to their constituent
elements. To this the objection may be raised that the elements do not act
except through the primary qualities [hot, cold, moist, dry], and the
actions of stones cannot be reduced to these primary qualities. The reply
[that is made to this] is that the elements have certain actions in themselves
and certain others when they are in a mixed [body] ; because in a mixed
[body] an elementary quality is moved and acts as an instrument; and then
it is able to effect many things which it could not do by itself. And there-
fore, just as the alteration of food, when it is taken up and reduced to
flesh, is not ascribed to any power except digestive heat, which we know
is the heat of Fire that brings together things of the same kind and separ-
ates things of different kinds, as is said in the second book of the Meteor-
ology , 1 so they say that whatever is in [a body] made of elements is to be
attributed only to the power of the elements; for [a body] made of
elements does not act except by the mediating power of the elements in it.

This, then, is the opinion of some ancient philosophers, which Alex-
ander, 2 the Greek Peripatetic, seems to defend. For he attributes all things
whatsoever, whether living or not, to the elements. He even says that the
intellect is the consequence of certain combinations of elements. For the
elements themselves when combined, he says, are wonderfully and highly
effective. And the power which in a mixed [body] rules and directs the
elemental qualities is, according to him, merely the consequence of their
being combined; and this, he asserts, is wonderful. He offers proof from
the operations of alchemy, in which there are only a few simple

1 This seems to be a mistake for Gen. and 2 Alexander of Aphrodisias (fl. c. a.d. 200),

Corr. II, 2, 329 b 27. But Albert may be a famous Greek commentator on Aristotle,
merely quoting himself, since he uses this Albert seems to be citing this account of
same phrase about heat or Fire repeatedly in Alexander’s theory from Averroes’s Com-
his own version of the Meteorology (e.g. II, iii, mentary on The Soul (Crawford, 1953, pp.
20 in the account of mineral waters). 393-8).



6 o


BOOK OF MINERALS


substances present, but when they are combined, they produce remarkable
effects.

But this opinion was not acceptable to Plato , 3 who says that all lower
things are activated by higher Ideas, which are separate and of wonderful
potency. It is these [Ideas] that produce whatever is produced, according
to his assertion. He says, too, that things which have a greater likeness to
the separate [Ideas], and in which the separate [Ideas] are less deeply
submerged in matter, have a wonderfully powerful action, like that of the
separate Idea. And the separate Ideas, he says, act by transmuting and
altering the material of things that are capable of being produced and
destroyed. Therefore in things in which the Idea is less deeply submerged
in matter, once it has been incorporated in them, it does not cease to
perform wonders. And this, he says, is the case in precious stones and
many other natural things.

We learn the proof of this opinion not only from Plato but also from
Platonists like Apuleius 4 and some others, who say that even after the
death of mortal things, that which is immortal in them does not cease to
perform wonders. They also say that if these actions were attributed to
the elements as some [Peripatetics ] 5 have said, or to the combination of
elements, then, since the combination is unique, a stone would have only
one action. But we see [that it may have] many. Furthermore, whether an
elementary quality acts by itself or in combination, these elementary
qualities do not act except by transmuting the material which they
affect. But precious stones do not seem to act by making any such trans-
mutation of substance; and therefore their action seems to be that of some
separate principle or other. This, then, is the opinion of the Platonists.

But Hermes 6 and some of his followers, and many of the Indians,
writing a great deal on The Universal Power, said that the powers of all
things below originate in the stars and constellations of the heavens; and
that all these powers are poured down into all things below by the circle
called Alaur, which is, they said, the first circle of the constellations. These

3 Plato’s Theory of Ideas was often outlined quoted this in The City of God (IX, n).

and criticized by Aristotle, but Albert seems 5 Pythagorici: but this does not agree with
here to be giving a general summary of neo- the views attributed to the Pythagoreans
Platonic views. above (II, i, i) ; it seems to be an error for

4 Apuleius (see Appendix C, i), in his Peripatetici, referring again to the views of

De deo Socratis, speaks of souls which after Alexander.

death do not enter another body, but become 6 See Appendix C, 3 for notes on Hermes’s
ghosts — Manes or Lemures; and Augustine book, The Universal Power.



6i


BOOK II, TRACTATE i

powers descend into natural things in a manner that is either noble or
ignoble: noble when the materials receiving these powers are more like
things above in their brightness and transparency; ignoble, when the
materials are confused and foul, so that the heavenly power is, as it were,
oppressed. Therefore they say that this is the reason why precious stones,
more than anything else, have wonderful powers — because, that is, they
are in substance more like things above in their brightness and trans-
parency. On this account, some of them say that precious stones are stars
composed of elements.

For in the upper [spheres], they say, there are, as it were, four colours,
which are also the colours most frequently found in precious stones. One
of these is the colour of the starless sphere, which is called sapphire by
everyone; and this colour is pre-eminently that of the saphirus from which
it is named. But some other stones have a lesser share in it. The second
colour is that of most stars, which is called bright, shining white; and this
is the colour of adamas, beryl, and many other stones. The third is called
fiery and flashing; this is in the Sun and Mars and certain other [stars];
and this is pre-eminently [the colour of] the carbuncle, and, after this, of
palachius or palatius, and of granatus, and of some others. And therefore
they say that the carbuncle is the noblest, having the powers of all other
stones; because it receives a power similar to that of the Sun, which is
more noble than all other heavenly powers — and it is his universal power
that gives brightness and power to all heavenly [things]. The fourth
colour is a dark [cloudiness ], 7 found in certain stars as well as in some of
the mansions of the Moon ; 8 and this is found in stones containing dark
clouds, such as chalcedony, amethyst, and sometimes in smaragdus, and
some others. From these and similar statements these philosophers have
drawn their opinions.

But Avicenna 9 and some others who follow him said that in all nature
monstrous things sometimes appear, because of the imagination of the
movers [of the heavenly spheres] above. For this philosopher contends
that the intelligences that move the spheres cannot in any way direct one

7 rubeus obscurus, ‘dark red’ ; but more 9 Avicenna thought of the celestial movers

likely the reading should be nubes obscurus, ‘a as ‘intelligences’ or ‘angels’, separate from
dark cloud’, as in the following clause. God, Albert repeatedly rejected this opinion,

8 The mansions of the Moon are the divisions since he believed that all the spheres were
of the Zodiac circle corresponding to the moved by the ‘First Mover’, which is God
positions of the moon, night by night, in its Himself.

monthly circuit.



62


BOOK OF MINERALS


motion or another except by seizing upon particular [things]; and this
seizure, he says, is called ‘imagination’ in a figurative sense ( aequivoce ),
after the ‘image’ that is [formed] in the sensitive soul of living things. But
in practice, he says, everything that is created is already existent in the
thoughts of the movers of the starry spheres. Furthermore, he adds, all the
material in things that can be produced obeys the mover, just as our
bodies obey our souls. We, too, have our own feelings, so that when we
think of some form or other our bodies are stirred with delight, or horror,
or aversion. In the same way, then, he says, frequently the souls of the
heavenly bodies think of various things, and then matter is moved in
obedience to that [thought], and this is how the things produced receive
the various powers that we ascribe to their constitution. [And this applies]
most of all [to] stones, in which the primary mixture is more easily
affected by this sort of ‘imagination’ than in other things which have
greater variety because of a soul infused into them. This, then, is what
Avicenna and his followers have said, as may be gathered from some of his
statements written about magic and alchemy.


CHAPTER 3 : REFUTATION OF THESE OPINIONS

In refuting the opinions of the previous chapter Albert refers repeatedly to various
works of Aristotle, but only in a general way. Albert uses the same method of
exposition in his version of The Heavens (I, iii, 4, digressio): ‘But because
perhaps it would be difficult and tedious for anyone to search in the Physics and
many places in the Metaphysics (First Philosophy), we shall summarize the
proof briefly here, without proving every point, but indicating where the proofs
are given.’

The statements of Alexander the Peripatetic do not fit the case, because
we know that, although any heat at all, either by itself or in a mixture,
acts in various ways, yet these are consistent with its general [property of]
bringing together things of the same kind and [separating] things of
different kinds. And we say that the same [is true] of cold, moisture, and
dryness. But the actions of stones are neither in a general nor in a specific
way consistent with the actions of the simple qualities, but seem to be
much more monstrous and wonderful. Furthermore, it is wrong to say
that nothing guides and shapes the qualities of the elements except their



BOOK II, TRACTATE i 63

mixture and constitution. For [if that were true] their specific forms would
be nothing except their constitutions; and this has been shown to be un-
true, as we shall also show in our books on The Soul and First Philosophy . 1
[It is] because the powers of stones are not due merely to their constitution
or their elements that magicians prefer precious stones to anything else for
use in rings or other images which have a wonderful effect. For this and
like reasons Alexander’s statement is shown to be untrue.

And what Plato says about Ideas has been proved unsatisfactory by
many [writers], and we shall take up the arguments elsewhere, 2 for the
theory of Ideas demands more inquiry than the subject now before us.
But here it may be assumed that Ideas do not confer form on things that
are produced, nor is there anything immortal in mortal and destructible
things, since when these are destroyed nothing that was in them is left;
and mixed bodies are not dissolved into elements and Ideas, but only into
their constituent elements. But even if Ideas were supposed to be of this
character, they would be useless; for they would not bear any relation to
the material, nor be in contact with it, nor transmute it. For all such [effects]
seem to be in the material itself and not separate from it. These and similar
[considerations] disprove Plato’s statement.

Of all the ancients, Hermes gives the most probable reason for the
powers of stones, since we know for a fact that all the powers of things
below come from above. For [the stars] above, by their substance and
light, position, motion, and configuration pour down into things below
all the noble powers they possess. Nevertheless this statement is not
enough for natural science, although perhaps it may be sufficient for
astrology and magic. For natural science discusses the cause that acts upon
matter, such as the elements or their qualities, in so far as they are present
in a mixed [body], or the substantial forms resulting from such a combina-
tion. For Ptolemy, in the book called Alarha ( Quadripartitum ), 3 teaches that
the effects of the stars are so varied and uncertain because their influence
reaches things below indirectly and accidentally: indirectly, through the
powers of the elements which produce forms; accidentally, since it
reaches things below only because it is everywhere, and it is [confused] 4

1 The relation between soul (or form) and in a number of places, notably Metaphys.,
matter is treated in Aristode’s The Soul, Books XHI-XIV.

especially the beginning of Book II, and 3 The Greek tide is Tetrabiblos (see Ap-
Metaphys. (First Philosophy), Books VH and pendix C, 2); the passage here paraphrased is
vrn. in I, 2.

2 Aristode criticizes Plato’s theory of Ideas 4 inconfusum, but the sense requires cortjusum.



BOOK OF MINERALS


64

and uncertain in its distribution, since sometimes the material is capable of
receiving the heavenly power and sometimes it is not, sometimes it
receives only a little and sometimes a great deal. There are many who
prophesy by the stars who do not understand this, and so they often say
what is not true, and by their lies give the science a bad name, although
it is really good and very useful.

But what Avicenna says about monsters itself seems monstrous. For
what he calls imagination is not at all fitting for the heavenly intelligences
unless they have thoughts other than those displayed in the motion of the
heavens and the qualities of the elements: for there is nothing disorderly
in those. This will be fully shown elsewhere, since many things must be
[left out] 5 here; but these things must be treated in a fitting manner. But
enough here is what has been stated completely about such things in the
books on Physics and The Heavens, 6 so far as scientific consideration
permits: for the intelligences are active and by themselves supply form to
the work of nature, and the motion of the heavens uses them as an in-
strument. Nor has the Mover any other thought than this. But why He
directs His thought towards one thing or another is partly explained in the
book on The Heavens, and is to be determined more fully in First
Philosophy. 7


CHAPTER 4: THE TRUE CAUSE OF THE POWER
OF PRECIOUS STONES

Albert’s own explanation of the powers of stones is based on Aristotle’s concept of
form (cf I, i, 6). Matter without form is inconceivable, and so can hardly be
said to exist; form is, in a sense, what holds matter together, and is responsible
for its essential activities or functions. When form is destroyed, the constituent
elements are freed to return to their natural places.

Now that all these opinions have been refuted, we state, in agreement with

5 permitti, error for praetermitti. versions of the Physics (see note 6, above) and

6 Albert is probably thinking of his own Metaphysics, especially Book XII, where he

commentaries: in the Phys., VIII, he in- refutes Avicenna’s opinion that the celestial
terprets Aristotle’s unmoved mover as the movers are separate souls or angels, and
Christian God; and in The Heavens, I, he insists that they are intelligences subject to
added several chapters on theology. God’s will.

7 Again this seems to refer to Albert’s own



BOOK II, TRACTATE i 65

Constantine 1 and some others, that the power of stones is caused by the
specific substantial form of the stone. There are some powers of mixed
[bodies] that are caused by the constituents [in the mixture], and some
caused by the specific form itself. And this is more clearly seen in [bodies]
which are most particularly distinguished by specific forms — such as man
who, functioning as a man, has intelligence, which is not the result of
anything in his [physical] constitution. And the same [is true] of brutes
and plants, as is shown in the Ethics : 2 for everything has its own proper
work, its own good, according to the specific form by which it is shaped
and perfected in its natural being. Every combination is thus the instru-
ment of a specific form, since the form encloses everything; and when it
ceases to exist, the combination is destroyed and dissolved. For the form
encloses the matter, as being its divine good, and is not enclosed by it.
Nor does form naturally have any desire for matter, because it has no
need of matter except when it exists as an individual [thing], but not when
it exists as something divine. These things will be explained more clearly
in the books on The Intellect 3 and First Philosophy : 4 form, therefore, is
[intermediate] between two [things] — the heavenly powers by which it is
conferred, and the matter of the combination into which it is infused.

Thus, if we consider [form] purely in itself, it is a simple essence,
capable of only one function, 5 for whatever is unique can have only a
single function; and whatever is unique comes from something unique,
as all philosophers agree. But if we consider this form, first in relation to
the heavenly powers, propagated by means of things both above and
below, and by all the constellations and their circles, which the twelve
Signs [of the Zodiac] bring successively above the horizon of anything

1 Perhaps Constantine the African (Ap- which it is, through the essential being which
pendix B, 9), or perhaps Costa ben Luca it gives to the matter.’

(Appendix C, 5). I have not identified the 4 Aristotle, Metaphys. XII, 1, 1069 a 30,
quotation. distinguishes three kinds of substances : Those

2 Nichomachean Ethics, VI, 2, 1139 a 16: perceptible to the senses, which may be either

‘the virtue of a thing is relative to its proper (1) perishable, like individual plants oranimals,
work’. made up of elements (Earth, Water, Air,

3 Albert, De intellectu et intettigibili, II, 1 : Fire) ; or (2) imperishable, the heavenly bodies,
‘All forms are given to matter by the First made of Ether. Still others (3) are not per-
Intelligence which universally surrounds ceptible to the senses and are imperishable, the
matter, and therefore every form which is in objects of mathematics (or Plato’s Ideas),
matter is an intermediate between the two — Later, in Metaphys. XU, 3, 1070 a 25, he
that is, between the Intelligence from which it suggests that the human soul, or at least the
flows, as the forms of artifacts flow from the intelligent part of it, may be of the last kind,
intellect of the artisan, and the matter in 5 See I, i, 6, note 1.



66


BOOK OF MINERALS


which the form is entering; and secondly, in relation to the powers of
the elements as they affect its function — then that form itself will [seem to]
be multiple, according to the natural potencies surrounding its simple
essence. And therefore it will be productive of many effects, even though
perhaps it has one function that is particularly its own. For it cannot be
said that the powers of the causes do not somehow remain in the effects.
And this is why nearly everything is good not merely for one purpose,
but for many, when its functions are understood.

But in comparison to the material which it shapes, form may be either
more potent or less potent, as Hermes 6 correctly stated. And this is why,
among stones of the same specific form, some are found to be more
potent and some less potent in their effects; and perhaps some are even
found to lack completely the effect [characteristic] of the specific form,
because the material in them is disordered— just as a man, simply because
he is a man, does not necessarily behave like a human being. For although
specific forms do not take part in things according to a fixed proportion,
greater or lesser, yet we see that form is present in almost all things, in
accordance with their very existence and their greater or lesser activity.
Thus things are found to be more efficacious or less efficacious with respect
to those powers that result from the specific form; or they may even be
entirely incapable of the actions that are performed by the powers
naturally resulting from the specific form.

We must recall what we have said in the second book of the Meteor-
ology 7 — that the specific form of individual stones is mortal, just as men
are; and if [stones] are kept for a long time, away from the place where
they were produced, they are destroyed, and no longer righdy deserve
their specific name — although [so far as] shape and colour [are concerned],
the name might cease to be used only after a very long time. And just as


6 Perhaps from The Sacred Book of Hermes
Trismegistus addressed to Asclepius, II, 15 (Scott,
1924, Vol. 1, pp. 314-15): all things differ in
goodness because of the properties of matter,
which is capable of producing both good and
bad.

7 Evidently an error for the fourth book of
the Meteorology (IV, 12, 389 b 28 ff), which
emphasizes that form is the real essence of a
thing, by which it is able to function — a dead
man is a man only in name, etc. To this Albert
(Meteor. IV, iv, 7) adds another illustration


that is relevant here:

For minerals in their own way suffer death just
as animals do; but the loss of their essential
being is not noticed unless the change is very
great. For a ‘dead’ saphirus still retains its colour,
transparency, and shape just like a ‘live’ one
that is capable of producing the effect of a
saphirus; and therefore it is called saphirus, just
as a ‘live’ one is. But after a long-drawn-out
change it grows dull and begins to disintegrate;
and then we realize that it is not really a
saphirus, but only the likeness of a saphirus.
And the same terms, ‘live’ or ‘dead’, are appli-
cable to gold, silver, and other minerals.



BOOK II, TRACTATE i 67

in the making of animals, sometimes there is in the combination such
disorder that they do not attain to a human soul, but only to a somewhat
human appearance, so it is also in the production of stones, either because
of disorder in the material, or because of very strong heavenly powers
acting in opposition, as we have said in the second book of our Physics . 8

These, then, are as many statements as can be made about the powers of
stones in general.

8 Aristotle, Phys. II, 7, 199 a 33 ff., explains Ptolemy ( Tetrabiblos , III, 8 ) on the influences
monsters as ‘mistakes* of nature. Albert, of opposing stars in causing monsters to be
Phys . II, iii, 3, enlarges on this, quoting bom.



TRACTATE 11

PRECIOUS STONES AND THEIR POWERS

CHAPTER 1 : PRECIOUS STONES BEGINNING WITH A

This whole tractate, often quoted as a sample of Albert's mineralogy, is less his
own than many other parts of the Book of Minerals, being directly based on
contemporary works (see Appendix B: ‘ Albert's lapidary in the Book of
Minerals’).

An alphabetical order is common in thirteenth-century encyclopedias, but
Albert did not entirely approve : he says, in introducing the alphabetical lists in
the Animals (XXII, ii, 1) that ‘this method is not suitable in philosophy’ — that
is, it is not a scientific classification — but nevertheless he will adopt it for the
benefit of unlearned readers. In mineralogy, however, no really scientific classi-
fication was possible in Albert’s time, and the alphabetical order is at least con-
venient. The alphabetization is rather imperfect: names beginning with the
same letter were brought together but little attention was paid to the following
letters or to variations in spelling; and additional items might be inserted in a
manuscript wherever there was room. I have not altered Albert’s order nor, in
most cases, his spelling, though I have noted what I believe to be the ‘correct’,
or at least the oldest, names.

I have also given for each mineral references to the lapidaries that seem to be
most closely related to Albert’s (see Appendix B):

Marbod (Migne, P.L., Vol. lyi).

Arnold of Saxony (Stange, 1904-f).

Bartholomew of England (Heidelberg, 1488).

Thomas of Cantimpre (British Museum MS. Egerton 1984; occasionally
Evans, 1922).

Full titles for these, and for other works cited in the footnotes, will be found in the
Bibliography (p. 293 ff.).

Minerals have been identified by their modern names, if identification is
possible; but some ‘stones’ are not really minerals at all, and a few are mythical.
For a summary of Albert’s knowledge of minerals and rocks see Appendix E.

Let us now list below the names of the most important precious stones
and their powers, as they have come down to us, either by experience or
from the writings of authorities. But we shall not report everything that



BOOK II, TRACTATE ii 69

is said about them because this is of no advantage to science. For it is [the
task] of natural science not simply to accept what we are told but to
inquire into the causes of natural things. And for the most convenient
order in Latin, let us proceed alphabetically with the names of the stones
and their powers, as the medical men are accustomed to do in describing
medical simples. In the first chapter, therefore, are found those beginning
with A — nine stones famous among philosophers, namely, Abeston,
Absinthus, Adamas, Agathes, Alabandina, Alecterius, Amandinus, Amethystus,
and Andromanta.


ABESTON

Marbod, XXXIII, Abeston ; Arnold, p. 69, Abeston ; Bartholomew, XVI, 12, Abeston ; Thomas,
I27v-i28r, Abeston .

This is asbestus (Greek, ‘ incombustible ’), a fibrous variety of either amphibole (« actino -
lite) or serpentine (chrysotile). The description comes down from Pliny (XXXVII, 54,
146, asbestos); but elsewhere (XIX, 4, 19), he says asbestinon is the down of a plant,
used to weave fireproof cloth .

Abeston (asbestus) is the colour of iron and is mostly found in Arabia.
Stories are told of its marvellous power, which is shown in temples of the
gods: 1 for once kindled it can hardly ever be quenched, because 2 it has


1 Arnold omits this phrase, but it is in
Bartholomew and Thomas, and goes back to
Isidore of Seville (Etym. XVI, 4 , 4), who got it
from Augustine’s account of an ever-burning
lamp in a temple of Venus ( City of God, XXI,
6 ).

2 What follows seems to have been added
by Albert. The ‘salamander’s down’ (pluma
or penna salamandrae) perhaps comes from
Jacques de Vitry’s History of Jerusalem (I, 89),
which says that the salamander is a very pois-
onous lizard that lives in fire and has an in-
combustible wool (which is not, however,
identified with asbestos). Albert mentions this
also in his Meteora (IV, iii, 17) :

. . . that wool which in common speech is
called ‘salamander’s down*. It is like cloth
woven out of wool. If made into lint [i.e. as a
wick] it gives a flame and yet it is not burned
by fire; and this is certainly for the reason we
have stated, because the moist humour that
holds it together is inseparable from the dry-
ness that is held together by it. And so, unless


the greatest violence [of heat] is used, it is not
burnt. For as soon as it is touched by the fire
its pores are closed up and its internal moisture
is shut in and cannot be extracted by the fire.

And in his Animals (XXV, 47) he says that
although the salamander is said to five in fire,
he does not believe this, adding :

But my own experience of this kind of wool
that has been brought to me indicates that it is
not animal wool. Some people say that it is
the down of a certain plant, but I have had
no experience of this. My own experience
indicates that it is produced from iron: for
where large masses of iron are being worked,
sometimes the iron splits and gives off a fiery
vapour; and if this is collected on a cloth or
in the hand, or of its own accord clings to the
roof of the workshop, it is like wool, greyish
or sometimes white; and some people call it
‘salamander’s wool*.

What this may be is difficult to say, but we
may note that Agricola (De re metallica.
Hoover, p. 274) describes something similar,
produced in roasting pyrite at Goslar.



70


BOOK OF MINERALS


the nature of a wool that is called ‘salamander’s down’, with a litde moist,
unctuous fatness inseparable from it; and this nourishes a fire kindled in it.

ADAMAS

Marbod, I, Adamas ; Arnold, p. 69, Adamas; Bartholomew, XVI, 9, Adamas; Thomas, I27r-

127V, Adamas .

Adamas ( Greek ‘ indomitable ) in antiquity included three different things: (1) origin-
ally, it meant a very hard metal , perhaps steel. By the time of Pliny ( XXXVII , 15 ,
55-61), it had acquired two additional meanings: (2) a very hard stone, like corundum
or diamond ( 1 if diamond was indeed known to the Romans); and ( 3 ) a stone that attracts
iron or steel, the mineral magnetite (though probably applied only to bright crystals of
that mineral, since black, massive magnetite was known by other names — magnes, or
heraclion).

These three meanings had not yet been completely disentangled in the thirteenth
century. Thus under adamas Bartholomew relates the test of a wife's fidelity that
Albert gives under magnes (II, ii, 11), and Thomas mentions the mariner s compass.
Albert's account shows similar confusion. But he evidently intends to describe the non-
magnetic, transparent gem, diamant, our diamond. This is, of course, incombustible
under any conditions within the range of medieval technology. It is the hardest of all
gems, but the ‘ softer ' varieties mentioned were undoubtedly other minerals— perhaps
topaz or even quartz.

Adamas, as we have mentioned above, is an extremely hard stone, a little
darker coloured than rock crystal , 3 but nevertheless of a bright, shining
colour, and so solid that neither fire nor iron can soften or destroy it.
But it is destroyed and softened by the blood and flesh of a goat , 4 especially
if the goat has for a considerable time beforehand drunk wine with wild
parsley or eaten mountain fenugreek; for the blood of such a goat is
strong enough even to break up a stone in the bladder, in those afflicted
with the gravel. But [adamas] is also destroyed — and this seems even more
marvellous — by lead , 5 on account of the great amount of Quicksilver in

3 Our diamonds owe their brilliant ‘fire’ to of the stone, diamonds were less attractive in
skilful cutting, an art in which little progress appearance than many other gems,
had been made in the thirteenth century, 4 This comes from Pliny (loc. cit.) and it is
because diamond is so hard that it can be difficult to imagine any basis for it unless
shaped only by fragments and dust of other Pliny took literally some Alexandrian ‘cover
diamonds. Early attempts were probably con- name’ for a compound used in grinding or
fined to polishing the natural faces of octa- polishing gems. But the story was repeated
hedral crystals or cleavage pieces. But until again and again and is found in medieval
the refraction of light was understood and handbooks on technology (see II, iii, 2).
diamond cutters learned to arrange the facets 5 Costa ben Luca, Letter on Incantations (in
so as to take advantage of the strong dispersion Constantine’s Opera , p. 320), says ‘likewise



BOOK II, TRACTATE ii 71

[lead]. And the stone [adamas] pierces iron and all other gems; but not
steel, in which it sticks fast. 6 It does not attract iron because that is its own
place of origin, 7 as some people have untruthfully declared. The largest
stone of this sort so far discovered is the size of a filbert. It occurs in
Arabia and Cyprus mosdy; but that of Cyprus is softer and darker.
[Another thing] that seems marvellous to many people [is that] when this
stone is placed on a magnet, it restrains the magnet and prevents it from
attracting iron. 8 But its power is greater if mounted in gold, silver, or
steel. And the magicians say that, bound on the left arm, it is good
against enemies and insanity and wild beasts and savage men, and against
disputes and quarrels, and against poisons and attacks of phantasms and
nightmares. Some people call the stone diamant , 9 and some untruthfully
say that it attracts iron.


ABSINTHUS

Marbod, LB, Absictus ; Arnold, p. 69, Abscintus; Bartholomew, XVI, 13, Absictus ; Thomas,
I28r, Absinthus.


Pliny s description ( XXXVII , 54, 148) of apsyctos (Greek, * not cooled 9 ) suggests
anthracite coal . Coal was known in the ancient world but was not much used , and
reports of its long-burning qualities must have been much exaggerated. Marbod is the
first lapidarist to call it a gem. Albert's notion that it is something like asbestus seems
to be his own , although he was familiar with coal. In his Meteora (IV, Hi, 19) he
speaks of carbones (the same word was used for wood-charcoal) formed naturally in the
earth 9 , which make a very hot fire and 6 are especially sought by smiths. Such coals are
found in the earth in Germany and in France near the city ofLilge 9


Absinthus is one of the black gems, with markings and sometimes little
spots of red. Its power seems to be like that of asbestus: for absinthus


lead breaks adamas , which iron cannot do\
This is a quotation from the Lapidary of
Aristotle . See II, iii, 6, note 12.

6 Diamond was supposed to be so hard that
it could be hammered down into an anvil
without being broken. Pliny (loc. cit.) says
it will shatter both hammer and anvil. This
belief, if ever tested, must have ruined some fine
stones, for diamond has a good cleavage along
which it can be split by a sharp blow.

7. This rather confused statement refers
not to diamond but to magnetite, which is an
iron mineral.

8 This statement also refers to magnetite,


and goes back to Pliny (loc. cit.), who seems
to have read some account of a trick with two
magnets, the iron attached to one being re-
moved by bringing a second magnet near it.
The adamas would have been a crystal of
magnetite, with a brilliant steely lustre, and
the magties the much commoner black massive
or granular form of magnetite.

9 Diamant is our word ‘diamond*; but if,
as has been suggested, it is connected with the
French d'aimant , signifying an attractive or
‘loving* stone, it must first have been applied
to magnetite.


H



72 BOOK OF MINERALS

remains hot for seven days or more, for the same reason that has been
stated for asbestus.


AGATHES

Marbod, II, Achates; Arnold, pp. 69-70, Agathes; Bartholomew, XVI, 11, Achates; Thomas,

I27T, Achates.

This is now called agate, a variety of chalcedony in which the colours are irregularly
distributed in layers or clouds. Pliny (XXXVII, 54, 139-42, achates) describes
‘picture agates’ which have the colouring matter arranged so as to look like trees,
flowers, buildings, etc. It is not certain that Albert really distinguishes such figures from
those on antique gems. See II, iii, 2 and 4.

Agathes (agate) is a black stone with white veins, and there is also found
another kind of this stone that is like coral. And a third kind, which
mosdy occurs in the island of Crete, is black with yellow veins in it. And
a fourth kind, from India, is variegated, as if sprinkled with drops of
blood. The first kind is well suited to those forms that are engraved on
stones; and therefore most of the stones that have the heads of kings en-
graved on them 10 are black. When placed under the head of a sleeper it is
said to show him many dreams in his sleep. But the third kind, from
Crete, Avicenna 11 says enables [one] to overcome perils and gives strength
to the body; and according to Evax, King of the Arabs, it makes a man
pleasing and agreeable and persuasive, and of good colour, and eloquent,
and protects him against adversity. But the Indian kind preserves the sight
and is good against thirst and poison. When burnt, it has a very strong
odour. 12


ALAMANDINA

Marbod, XXI, Alabandina; Arnold, p. 70, Alabandyma ; Bartholomew, XVI, 14, Alabandina ;
Thomas, i2Sr, Alabandia.

Despite the above consensus , derived from Pliny XXXVII , 25, g6), who says ala-
bandicus is a variety of carbuncle (see II, ii, 3, Carbunculus), the form alamandina
must have been in common use; it has given us our almandine, which mineralogists
apply to a garnet, jewellers also to a spinel, of a very dark purple-red colour .

10 Antique cameos in black-and-white miscopied as Av. (Avicenna).

onyx. 12 This statement, which cannot be true of

11 Reference unidentified. Perhaps it is a agate, is very persistent in lapidaries. There
mistake: the statement is in Marbod, and the must be confusion with jet (II, ii, 7, Gagates) or
abbreviation Ev. (Evax) may have been onycha gum (II, ii, 13, Onycha).



73


BOOK II, TRACTATE ii

Alamandina is named from the place where it mosdy occurs, that is, from
Ephesus, 13 which is also called by the name Alabanda. It has a shining red
colour and is a stone nearly as bright as sard.

ALECTERIUS

Marbod, III, Allectorius; Arnold, p. 70, Alectorius ; Bartholomew, XVI, 17 ,Alectoria, Allectorius;

Thomas, I28r, Allectorius.

Pliny (XXXVII, 54, 144) has the name alectorias, from the Greek name for a cock .
The stone has generally been supposed to be a bit of gravel found in the gizzard of a
fowl But the insistence of the medieval writers that the cock be castrated or very old
suggests that the stone was regarded as something abnormal . Cf Albert's Animals
(XXIII, 46): A capon is a cock that is castrated and effeminate. ... It is said that
after six years a stone named electorius grows in its liver, and from that time on the
capon does not drink. And therefore a man who wears this stone is said not to get
thirsty .' In such cases the ‘ stone 9 appears to have been a fibrous growth, which, taken
together with the apparent change in sex observed in capons or old cocks, also gave rise
to the story of the ‘ cock's egg' and the cockatrice. See II, iii, 1, note 5.

Alecterius is a gem also called ‘cockstone’, and it is shining white, like a
dull rock crystal. It is extracted from the crop of a cock after more than
four years; and some say after more than nine, and that one extracted
from a feeble old cock is even better. The largest one of these ever found
was about the size of a bean. This stone has the power to arouse sexual
desire, to make one pleasing and constant, victorious and distinguished;
it confers the gift of oratory, and makes friends agree. And held under the
tongue it quenches or mitigates thirst. 14 This last is a matter of experience.

AMANDINUS

This is unidentifiable ; it appears only in Thomas ( i2Sr ) and Arnold (p. 70), and is
perhaps a corrupt fragment of aimant or adamas, or of amianthus (a kind of asbestus),
said to resist poison and the arts of magicians (see II, ii, 8, Iscustos). It is not in Evax
(Marbod or Damigeron), but Albert may have found the name Evax attached to a
lapidary only partly derived from theirs.

13 Pliny (loc. cit.) says the stone came from sometimes as a magic property, effective if the

Alabanda, which is not (as Albert says) the stone is merely worn. But Albert vouches
same as Ephesus, though both cities were in only for the fact that sucking a pebble keeps
the same general region, in the south-western the mouth from getting dry — no doubt from
part of what is now Turkey. his own experience during his journeys on

14 A claim is made for a number of stones, foot.



74


BOOK OF MINERALS


Amandinus truly is a gem of varied colour. Evax says that it counteracts
or mitigates all poison, that it gives victory over adversaries, and makes
one understand prophecy and the interpretation of dreams and even of
riddles.


AMETHYSTUS

Marbod, XVT, Amethystus; Arnold, p. 70, Amatistus; Bartholomew, XVI, 10, Ametistus;

Thomas, i27r, Ametistus.

Amethyst means in Greek ‘not drunken . Pliny [XXXVII, 40, 121-4, amethystus)
ridicules the claim that it can prevent or cure drunkenness; but here as elsewhere
medieval lapidarists were more credulous than Pliny. Amethyst is transparent violet,
purple, or wine-coloured quartz; but the name was probably applied to other minerals
of similar colours, ranging from purple corundum ( extremely hard) to fluorite [very soft).

Amethystus (amethyst) is a very common gem . 15 It is of a sort of purplish
colour and a somewhat dark transparency. Many different varieties of this
stone are found; but five are best known, all distinguished by their
different shades [of colour]. One kind of this stone also occurs in India and
is better for carving than other kinds because it is softer. It counteracts
drunkenness, as Aaron 16 says, and it keeps one awake [at night] and
represses evil thoughts, and confers a good understanding of what is
knowable.


ANDROMANTA

Marbod, XLVTII, Androdragma ; Arnold, p. 70, Androdramanta; Bartholomew, XVT, 15,
Andromaya ; Thomas, I28r, Andromanda , Androdramenta.

Androdamas (Pliny, XXXVII, 54, 144) in Greek means ( man-tamer . No exact
identification is possible: it is some mineral with a metallic lustre, occurring in cubic
crystals, probably pyrite or something of similar appearance. But elsewhere (XXXVI,
38, 146) Pliny describes it as a variety of specular hematite or magnetite which ‘ attracts
to itself silver, copper, and iron. If there is any truth at all in this, the ‘ silver or ‘ copper
might have been pyrrhotite, magnetic copper ore with a metallic lustre. But see II, iii,
6, note 15.

Andromanta is a stone of a silvery colour, which occurs mostly in the
Red Sea. It is square like a die and as hard as adamas. It has power against
rage and easy excitement of the mind and sadness and heaviness.

15 Thomas says that amethyst would bring 16 Aaron is unidentified. Perhaps the name
a higher price if it were not so abundant, and is a mistake. In II, iii, 6 Albert attributes this
that the kind found in Germany is cheap and statement to Aristotle (often abbreviated At)
of poor colour. but it is not in the Lapidary of Aristotle .



BOOK II, TRACTATE ii


75


CHAPTER 2 : THOSE BEGINNING WITH THE LETTER
CALLED B


BALAGIUS

Marbod, ; Arnold, p. 70, Balagius ; Bartholomew, XVI, 26, Balagius (in Carbunculus);

Thomas, I28v-i29r, Balastus (in Carbunculus).

This name makes its first appearance in medieval lapidaries . Albert's etymology is
fanciful , but the word does seem to be of uncertain origin. The Oxford English Diction-
ary takes balas, the present-day form , to be a corruption ofBadakhshan, a place on the
caravan route from Asia. The ultimate source of the stones was India or Ceylon , where
river gravels contain a mixture of heavy gem minerals — corundum , spinel, zircon ,
tourmaline, etc. All these occur in various colours, and since there were then few scientific
methods of identifying minerals there was a tendency to call all the blue ones sapphire,
all the green ones emerald, etc. Balagius included those of a pale red, orange, or rose
colour ; and balas, or balas ruby, today is spinel in this colour range. See also II, ii, 3,
Carbunculus; 7, Granatus; 8 , Hyacinthus.

Balagius, which is also called palatius , is a gem of a red colour, of very
bright material and very transparent substance. It is said to be the female 1
of the carbuncle, for its colour and powers are like those of the carbuncle,
but weaker, just as the female is as compared to the male. And some
say it is the ‘house’ [of the carbuncle], and therefore it is called its ‘palace’
( palatium ). For carbuncle is frequently produced there: recently, in our own
time, one has been seen that was balagius outside and carbuncle inside, in
the [same] stone. 2 Therefore Aristotle 3 says that this stone is a kind of
carbuncle.


BORAX

Borax appears only in Thomas ( 128V ). It has nothing to do with the mineral called
borax today; the correct name is botrax, in Greek meaning ‘ toad 9 . Pliny ( XXXVII , 55,
149) mentions a stone batrachites, the colour of a frog, but says nothing of its origin.
The legend of the jewel in the toad's head was already known to Alexander Neckam
about the beginning of the thirteenth century (De naturis rerum, Wright , p. 199 ).
Mineralogical identification is uncertain: some medieval toadstones are known to be
fossil sharks' teeth ; those with ‘ pictures' of toads in them may be fossil trilobites, some
species of which have rather toad-like heads with bulging eyes. See also II, ii, 12,
nusae.

1 Theophrastus (On Stones , 30-31) and Prassius.

Pliny (XXXVE, 25, 92-93) thus distinguish 3 The Lapidary of Aristotle: see II, ii, 3,
two sexes in some stones. Carbunculus .

2 Probably a zoned crystal. Cf. II, ii, 14,



7 6 BOOK OF MINERALS

Borax (toadstone), as some say, is a stone named from a toad, which carries
it in its head; and there are two kinds. One is slighdy greyish-white
in colour, the other is black. If it is extracted while the toad is still alive and
quivering, it has in the middle, as it were, a blue eye. And if swallowed this
is said to cleanse the bowels of filth and excrements. And in our own time
a small green one was extracted from a toad. We have even seen some with
pictures of toads in them, which were said to be of this kind. In common
speech these are called toadstones ( crapodinae ).

BERYLLUS

Marbod, XII, Beryllus; Arnold, p. 70, Berillus ; Bartholomew, XVI, 21, Berillus; Thomas,

I28r-I28v, Berillus.

This is beryl. Pliny (XXXVII, 20, 76-7$) correctly described it, noting several pale
colours, yellow, green, and ‘the colour of sea water ( that is, the variety now called
aquamarine). Medieval writers, however, took the last to mean ‘clear as water and
thus confused beryl with rock crystal (‘water clear’ quartz). Both minerals occur in
hexagonal prisms, some of which are large enough to be carved into cups, balls, or
simple lenses. Spectacles were invented in the thirteenth century and seem to have been
named after beryl (German, Brille) though they were probably never made of beryl.

Beryllus (beryl) is a stone of a pale, clear, transparent colour; and there-
fore we have said above that, when it is turned about, water can be seen
moving inside it. 4 Mostly it is produced in India, as many other gems are.
There are many kinds and varieties of this stone; but the better kind is said
to be paler and to have more drops of water that can be seen [moving] 5
inside it. It is said to be effective against peril from enemies and against
disputes, and to give victory. It is also said to cause mildness of manner
and to confer cleverness. Some medical men also say that it is good
against sloth, and pains of the liver, and against shortness of breath and
belching, and that it is good for watery eyes. For it is known by ex-
perience that when it is shaped into a ball 6 and is placed in direct sunlight,
it bums, and kindles fire. The goldsmiths also say that it makes husband
and wife agree in marriage.

4 Liquid inclusions with movable gas the reading should be movere (as above), since
bubbles are sometimes found in beryl, but it was the movement of the bubbles that excited
much more commonly in quartz. Albert had curiosity. But cf. I, ii, 2, note 4.

probably seen such a specimen, since this 6 Thomas says ‘round as an apple’, so
point is not in anyone else’s description of evidently a sphere was used as a burning glass,
beryl. See also II, ii, 3, Crystallus.

5 manere, ‘staying inside it’? More likely



BOOK II, TRACTATE ii


77


CHAPTER 3 : THOSE BEGINNING WITH THE LETTER C


CARBUNCULUS

Marbod, XXIII, Carbunculus , Anthrax ; Arnold, p. 70, Carbunculus, Anthrax ; Bartholomew,
XVI, 26, Carbunculus , balagius; Thomas, I28v-i29r, Carbunculus , Antrax, Rubith ,

Balastus .

Carbuncle includes almost all brilliant red , transparent gems. Latin carbunculus
(diminutive of carbo) is d translation of Greek anthrax, red-hot coal \ But these
words came to be used in two different senses: ( 1 ) literally , a stowe burns (whence
our anthracite); (2) figuratively , a fiery-red stone (carbuncle). A fusion of the two ideas
may account for the ubiquitous tales of stones that shine in the dark. Of course some
minerals do exhibit luminescence or phosphorescence after being rubbed , heated, or
exposed to sunlight ; and it is possible that Albert had seen ‘ such a one 9 ; but it is also
possible that he was deceived by some trick of coating a stone with phosphorescent
material from fish or fungi.

Another interesting point is the attempt to subdivide carbuncle into subspecies.
Pliny (XXXVII, 25-30, 92-104) names several varieties of carbunculus, one of
which, alabandicus, had already achieved independent status in medieval lapidaries
(see II, i, 1, Alamandina). Thomas of Cantimpre, like Albert, recognizes rubinus or
rubith (our ruby), and balagius or balastus (our balas ruby, red spinel). Albert adds a
third, granatus, our garnet (see II, ii, 7, Granatus); but his remarks about it are partly
based on a misunderstanding of his sources (see note 4 below).

Carbunculus (carbuncle), which is anthrax in Greek, and is called rubinus
(ruby) by some, is a stone that is extremely clear, red, arid hard. It is to
other stones as gold is to the other metals. It is said to have more powers
than all other stones, as we have already said. 1 But its special effect is to
disperse poison in air or vapour. When it is really good it shines in the
dark like a live coal, and I myself have seen such a one. But when it is
less good, though genuine, it shines in the dark if clear limpid water is
poured over it 2 in a clean, polished black vessel. One that does not shine


1 In II, i, 2 where the colour of these stones
is related to the Sim and Mars.

2 This statement certainly requires elucida-
tion, and there are three possibilities: (1)
Albert may simply be recalling an old story
coming by way of Pliny (XXXVI, 34, 141-2,
gagates) from Theophrastus (On Stones , 13),
of a stone that bums when wet — possibly by
spontaneous combustion in lignite or soft coal.
(2) But if this is part of what Albert himself


had seen, it was probably a trick with a
‘doctored’ stone. (3) He seems also to be
alluding to a well-known optical trick: a
small object is put into an empty basin, and
the observer is placed so that the rim of the
basin barely hides the object from his sight.
Then the basin is filled with water, and the
object can be seen (this was inexplicable to
anyone who knew nothing of the refraction
of light). Albert mentions this trick in The



BOOK OF MINERALS


78

in the dark is not of perfect, noble quality. It is mostly found in Libya;
and although there are several varieties, so that Evax says that there are
eleven 3 kinds, nevertheless Aristotle, according to Constantine , 4 says that
there are [only] three kinds which we have enumerated above — namely,
balagius, granatus, and rubinus. And — what surprises many people — he
says that granatus is the most excellent of these; but jewellers consider it
less valuable.

CHALCEDONIUS

Marbod, VI, Chatcedonius ; Arnold, p. 70; Calcydonius ; Bartholomew, XVI, 28, Calcedonius;
Thomas, I29r, Calcedonius.

Chalcedony today means any kind of cryptocrystalline silica, but is usually applied to
varieties that are translucent grey, bluish , brownish , or white , since those of other colours
have other names (sard, carnelian, agate, prase, etc.). Pliny did not use this as the name
of any particular mineral, but only in its original sense, from Chalcedon , for varieties
of iaspis and smaragdus; but carchedonius or 'Carthaginian , his term for a dark
variety of carbunculus (XXXVII, 25, 95-96), seems later to have been confused with
chalcedonius. Perhaps the fact that chalcedony is mentioned in the Bible, as one of the
‘ Twelve Stones 9 of the Apocalypse (see Appendix B, 7), helped to give it the status of a
separate species.

Chalcedonius (chalcedony) is a pale grey, or rather dark-coloured stone. If
it is pierced by the power of the stone called [smyris] 5 (emery) and hung
around the neck, it is said to be good against fanciful illusions arising from
melancholy. It enables one to win causes and preserves the powers of the
body. The last is a matter of experience.

CALCAPHANOS

Marbod, LIE, Chalcofanus ; Arnold, p. 70; Calcofanes ; Bartholomew, XVI, 59, Kalcophanus ;
Thomas, 129V, Calcophagus.

Pliny (XXXVII, 56, 154) says chalcophonos (Greek, ‘ brazen voice 9 ) rings when
struck, so it is probably a hard igneous rock like phonolite. Pliny and Marbod say it is to
be worn as an amulet; Bartholomew, that it is to be held in the mouth.

Soul (II, iii, 12), where he is again discussing yellow, and blue, of which the red ( granatus ,
this very topic of things that shine in the dark, ‘like pomegranate seeds’), that is, rubies, are
and seems to think that the transparency of the said to be the best. But Albert takes granatus
water somehow ‘retains the light* and makes to be the best of the red stones; and since his
the object visible. granatus seems to be garnet, of course it is

3 But Evax (Marbod) says twelve kinds; surprising that it should be considered more

probably a scribe wrote XI for XII. valuable than ruby. For further difficulties

4 Constantine (Opera, p. 352) was quoting about hyacinthus see II, ii, 7, Granatus and 8,
the Lapidary of Aristotle (Ruska, pp. 186-8; Hyacinthus.

Rose, pp. 353-5), which distinguishes three 5 sineris, for smyris (Isidore of Seville, Etym.
kinds of hyacinthus (corundum gems), red, XVI, 4, 27).



BOOK II, TRACTATE ii 79

Calcaphanos is a stone of a black colour. Its power is said to clear the voice
and to cure hoarseness.


CERAURUM

Marbod, XXVIII, Ceraunius ; Arnold, p. 70, Ceraunius ; Bartholomew, XVI, 32, Ceraunius;

Thomas, 13 or, Ceraunius .

The correct name is ceraunius or ceraunia (Pliny, XXXVII, 51, 134-5), from the
Greek word for * a thunderbolt \ Many different objects have been called 'thunder stones 9
and supposed to ward off lightning, (i) Those described here were just bright pebbles or
crystals discovered after a heavy shower had washed them out of the soil. (2) Some
thunderstones were fossils, especially shark's teeth or belemnites, attracting attention
because of their arrow-like shapes. (3) Still others were pre-historic stone implements,
often regarded with superstitious awe. Albert believes that the last can be formed by
natural processes within the thundercloud (Meteor. Ill, iii, 18): * When this earthy
dry smoke has been set afire in the viscous moisture in the cloud, it is baked into a stone,
black or red in colour, that falls from the cloud and splits beams and penetrates walls,
and is called by the common people a ‘ thunder axe'. It is a stone that is thin and sharp
on one side, because the vapour was first directed towards that side while it was being
baked \ (4) Finally, there are also meteorites, which do really fall from the sky. Avicenna
gave a description of these (Holmyard and Mandeville, 1927, pp. 47-48), which
Albert paraphrased in his Meteor. (Ill, iii, 20): * It is especially iron that falls . . . .
Because it is thoroughly baked by Fire in the cloud, it falls in the form of the best steel,
which is hard and purified iron. And because it hardens to iron in the interior of the
cloud and distils like drops from its internal vapour, it forms a mass made up of grains
like millet. 9

Ceraurum (thunderstone) is said to be like rock crystal, tinged with a sky-
blue colour. It is said to fall sometimes from a cloud with the thunder, and
it is found in Germany and Spain; but the Spanish kind glows like fire.
It induces sweet sleep, they say; and it is also said to be effective for
winning batdes and causes, and [to protect] against the danger of thunder.

CELIDONIUS

Marbod, XVII, Chelidonius ; Arnold, p. 70, Celydottius ; Bartholomew, XVI, 30, Celidonius ;

Thomas, 129V, Celidonius .

Chelidonius or chelidonia (Pliny, XI, 79, 203; XXX, 27, 91; XXXVII, 56, 155)
is named from the Greek word for the swallow, a bird that figures in many folk super-
stitions. Pliny says that if young swallows are blinded, their sight is restored by the
old birds, by means of the juice of the herb swallow wort. Only Thomas and Arnold
give the contradictory statement that the herb and the stone together ‘ obscure the sight \
and this is probably a confusion with another stone (see II, ii, 5, Eliotorpia).



8 o


BOOK OF MINERALS


Celidonius (swallowstone) has two varieties. One is black, the other
reddish brown; but both are taken from the stomach of a swallow. The
reddish one, if wrapped in a linen cloth or a calfskin and worn under the
left armpit, is said to be good against insanity and chronic weakness and
lunacy. And [Costa ben Luca] 6 says that it is good against epilepsy, if
worn in the manner described above. Evax moreover reports that it makes
one eloquent and pleasing and agreeable. But the black one, as Joseph 7
says, is effective against harmful humours and fevers, and angry threats.
If it is washed in water, 8 it cures the eyes ; and it brings to a conclusion any
business that is undertaken. And if it is wrapped in the leaves of the
celandine (swallow wort), it is said to dim the sight. These are very small
stones. We have recendy seen some extracted by members of our Order
from the stomachs of swallows in the month of August; 9 for those taken
at that time are said to have more strength. And nearly always two are
found together in one swallow.

CELONTES

Marbod, XXXIX, Chelonites; Arnold, pp. 70-71, Celonites; Bartholomew, (but see

II, ii, 17, silenites) ; Thomas, 13 or, Celonites.

The correct name is chelonites or chelonia (Pliny, XXXVII, 56, 155) from the Greek
word for a tortoise, and Pliny says the stone comes from the eye of an Indian tortoise
(testudo).’ But to Albert testudo is just a shell, and he is plainly describing mother-of-
pearl. There is obviously some confusion between this and the stone called silenites
(II, ii, 17).

Celontes is a stone of a purple colour, and it is said to be found in the body
of a shellfish; for some very large shellfish have dwellings that gleam with
a pearly lustre. It is said that if one holds it under the tongue it makes
[him able to divine the future] . 10 But it is said to have this power only on
the first day of the [lunar] month, when the moon is rising and waxing,
and again on the twenty-ninth day when the moon is waning. Also it is
said that this stone is not injured by fire.

6 Constantinus: but Albert is citing the remedy; but the wet stone may have been

Letter on Incantations of Costa ben Luca (see applied to the eye. Cf. II, ii, 17, Saphirus .
Appendix C, 5). This, however, was some- 9 in mense augusti : this is probable enough,
times ascribed to Constantine and is printed but the Letter on Incantations says in augmento
with his works {Opera, pp. 317-20). lunae, ‘when the moon is waxing*.

7 Joseph is unidentified; but the statement 10 apud divinatorem quod facit eum. I have

is in Evax (Marbod). taken the reading of Thomas and Arnold: et

8 Usually this means that the stone was divinatorem facit eum .
soaked in water and then the water used as a



BOOK II, TRACTATE ii


81


CEGOLITES

Marbod, LV, Gecolitus; Arnold, p. 71, Cegolitus ; Bartholomew, ; Thomas, I30r,

(C)egolites; I32r, Gecolitus .

The correct name is tecolithus, Greek ‘ stone-dissolver (Pliny XXXVII , 68, 184).
This is a fossil exhinoid or sea-urchin; different species were known by different names ,
but all were supposed to relieve kidney or bladder stones or strangury . See also II, ii,
7, Gecolitus and 8,Judaicus lapis .

Cegolites is a stone like an olive stone in colour and size. They say that
experience shows that shavings of it, dissolved in water and drunk,
dissipate a stone in the kidneys or bladder.

CORALLUS

Marbod, XX, Corallus; Arnold, p. 71, Corallus-, Bartholomew, XVI, 33, Corallus ; Thomas,
I29r-I29v, Corallus.

Coral was supposed to be a plant that grows in the sea and is changed to stone when
brought up into the air (Pliny, XXXII, 11, 21-24; XXXVII, 59, 164, curalium).
Thomas adds that it terrifies demons because its branches frequently form a cross.

Corallus (coral) is of two kinds. It is taken from the sea, as we have said
above, and especially from the sea around Marseilles. One kind is reddish
[brown] like old ivory; the other is white, shaped like the twigs of plants.
And it has been found by experience that it is good against any sort of
bleeding. It is even said that, worn around the neck, it is good against
epilepsy and the action of menstruation, and against storms, lightning,
and hail. And if it is powdered and sprinkled with water on herbs and
trees, it is reported to multiply their fruits. They also say that it speeds the
beginning and end of any business.

CORNELEUS

Marbod, XXII, Corneolus ; Arnold, p. 71 , Corneolus; Bartholomew, XVI, 34, Corneolus ;
Thomas, 13 or, Comelus , Corneolus,

All the descriptions fit carnelian, a translucent , orange-to-red chalcedony, named from
its likeness to flesh (caro, camis). But in I, ii, 2 Albert mentions a bluish or brownish
mineral comeola, which is probably also chalcedony, named from cornu, 'horn-
coloured 9 . The two names are easily confused.

Comeleus (carnelian), or [corneolus] 11 , as it is called by some, is a stone the
colour of flesh, that is, red; when broken it is like the juice of meat. This

1 1 The text merely repeats the same name, other lapidaries (see above), but perhaps it
comeleus; I have supplied corneolus as in should be cameleus t ‘flesh red’.



82


BOOK OF MINERALS


is very often found near the River Rhine ; 12 it has a very red colour like
minium (vermilion ), 13 and when polished it shines brightly. It has been
found by experience that it reduces bleeding, especially from menstrua-
tion or hemorrhoids. It is even said to calm anger.

CHRYSOPASSUS

Marbod, XV, Chrysoprassus; Arnold, p. 71, Crisoprassus ; Bartholomew, XVI, 27, Criso-
prassus ; Thomas, 129V, Crysopassus.

The name should he chrysoprasus, from Greek words for \ golden 9 and ‘leek-green .
Chrysoprase today means green chalcedony, and this is probably, at least in part, the
stone Pliny describes (XXXVII, 34, 113). Later lapidarists call it a green stone with
golden spots in it; if they had any actual mineral in mind it might have been green
aventurine feldspar or quartz containing glistening scales of hematite or mica, or perhaps
a green copper mineral with veins of ‘golden sulphides. But there was much confusion
among all the names beginning with chryso-, ‘golden .

Chrysopassus is a stone that comes from India. It is rare and therefore is
considered valuable. Its colour is like hardened [leek ] 14 juice, with golden
spots in it; and that is why it is so named, for chrysos means gold in Greek.
It is very similar to chrysolitus.

CHRYSOLITUS

Marbod, XI, Chrysolithus ; Arnold, p. 71, Crisolitus; Bartholomew, XVI, 29, Crisolitus; Thomas,
1 3 or, Crisolitus.

This name is from the Greek meaning ‘golden stone. 9 In Pliny s time (XXXVII, 42,
126) chrysolithus was applied to the transparent yellow stone now called topaz , while
Pliny s topazos was the stone called chrysolite. This exchange of names took place
in the Middle Ages. Isidore of Seville (Etym. XVI, 15, 2) likens the colour of chryso-
lithos to the sea, and all subsequent writers describe it as green. Albert's chrysolitus
appears to be chrysolite, a pale green variety of olivine (darker green olivine is now
called peridot). See also II, ii, 18, Topasion.

Chrysolitus is a stone of a pale, bright green colour, and in direct sunlight
it sparkles like a golden star. It is not rare. It is said to come from Ethiopia.
It has been found by experience that it eases the breathing and therefore
it is powdered and given to those who suffer from asthma. It is reported

12 This is Albert’s own observation, pro- long before an organized industry began,
bably referring to the Nahetal. The famous 13 minim, for minium, a red pigment, either
gem-cutting industry of Idar-Oberstein is said red oxide of lead or cinnabar,
to have begun in the sixteenth century, but the 14 pyri, ‘a pear*, is an error for porri , *a leek’,

local raw materials, agates, camelians, and in all other lapidaries,
other quartz minerals, were very likely known



BOOK II, TRACTATE ii 83

that if it is pierced, and an ass brisde put through the hole, and is bound on
the left wrist, it drives away terrors and melancholy: this is said in [books
on] physical ligatures. And if it is worn in a gold setting, it drives away
phantasms, they say. It is also affirmed that it expels stupidity and confers
wisdom.


CRYSTALLUS

Marbod, XLI, Crystallus ; Arnold, p. 71, Cristallus; Bartholomew, XVI, 31, Cristallus;
Thomas, 129V, Cristallus.

This is ' rock crystal ’, clear, colourless quartz. Its regular six-sided form is noted by
Pliny ( XXXVII , 9-10, 23-29) and repeated by later writers, so that the mineral
has become the prototype for our general term ‘crystal’. Very large quartz crystals are
sometimes found, suitable for carving into cups, balls, or ornaments. Pliny ( loc . cit.)
mentions the use of a quartz sphere as a lens for cauterization. See also II, ii, 2,
Beryllus and 8, Iris.

Crystallus (rock crystal, quartz) is a stone that is sometimes formed by the
action of cold, as Aristode says 15 ; but also it is sometimes formed in the
earth, as we have often found by experience in Germany, where a great
many [quartz crystals] are found. Both modes of origin will easily be made
plain by what has been said above. If [rock crystal] is placed in direct sun-
light, and if it is cold, it throws out fire ; but if it is warm it cannot do this.
The reason for this we have given in the book on the Properties of the
Elements. 16 It is said to decrease thirst, if placed under the tongue; and it
has been found by experience that if it is powdered and mixed with
honey and taken by women, it fills the breasts with milk.


[CHRYSELECTRUM]

Marbod, LIX, Criselectrus; Arnold, p. 71, Crisolectus ; Bartholomew, XVI, 29, Crisolentus
(in Crisolitus ) ; Thomas, I29v-i30r, Crisolitus.


Printed text repeats chrysolitus here , but this is obviously a different mineral . Thomas
also has this duplication of names , and Bartholomew s source probably was the sameffor


15 Seel,i, 3, note 9.

16 Albert, The Properties of the Elements
(U 5):

If cold water is put into a glass vessel, clean and
suitably round, like a urinal, and placed directly
in a beam of sunlight, the heat is strengthened
by the reflection of the beam on the glass, and
that heat is strongly repelled by the coldness
of the water behind the glass. And if a cloth that
is clean, dry, and slightly charred is placed


there, it is ignited and fire is kindled from it.
And this does not happen if warm water is put
into the glass, because warm water does not
repel and concentrate, but rather attracts and
rarefies; and therefore it weakens the heat
produced by the reflection of the beam. For
the heat is concentrated by the glass placed
opposite to it because [heat] flees from the cold-
ness of the water. For heat and cold are con-
traries, and one puts the other to flight.



BOOK OF MINERALS


84

he combines two accounts in one. But the confusion seems to go back to Pliny, who
describes ( XXXVII , 12, 51) chryselectrum, which is a yellow amber (electrum),
and also ( XXXVII , 43, 127) chryselectroe, the colour of ‘golden amber , probably
citrine quartz or possibly chrysoberyl. A further source of confusion is that electrum
itself means both amber and a gold-silver alloy (see V, p). I believe that Albert was
thinking of the latter (and therefore almost certainly had chryselectrum in the manu-
script he used), since he identifies this mineral as marchasita, pyrite or some similar
mineral that ‘looks like metal’. See II, ii, 1 1 and V, 8.

[Chryselectrum] is a gem of a golden colour; and in the morning hours it
is very beautiful to see, but at other hours it looks different. 17 It is destroyed
and disappears in the fire and, as some people say, it bursts into flame: and
therefore it is said to fear the fire. 18 But some say that there is another
variety of this stone that is formed by the solidification of an ignoble
substance; 19 and this is not true. It is [really] a golden marchasita, a sub-
stance in a way intermediate between stones and metals, as we shall show
later. There is said to be a third kind with a colour between blue 20 and
red. The powder of this stone is universally said to be a cure for scab and
ulcers. Held in the hand, it reduces the heat of fever.

CHRYSOPAGION

Marbod, LX, Crisopacion ; Arnold, p. 71, Crisopasion ; Bartholomew, XVI, 29, Crisolimpbis;

Thomas, I30r-i30v, Crisopasion.

The name seems to have been originally chrysolampis, Greek 4 golden torch 9 (Pliny,
XXXVII, 56, 156). But the story has been told, and improved in the telling, by many
writers about many stones . Perhaps some genuine observation of phosphorescence is
at the bottom of it. The comparison with rotten wood and fireflies is in Arnold and
Thomas, but Albert refers to his own treatment of the topic (see note 22 opposite).

Chrysopagion is a gem that comes from Ethiopia. It is said to shine in the
dark and fade at the coming of light, retaining only a faint, dull colour

17 This curious statement is made by Pliny light, or by artificial or day fight.

(loc. cit.) but is really commonplace enough: 18 Inflammable chryselectrum must have

in his chapter on detecting false gems been amber, though Albert rejects this

(XXXVII, 76, 198) he says that they should be identification.

examined in a morning fight. This is good 19 urine of the lynx: see II, ii, 10, Ligurius.

advice, since stones do ‘look different’ in 20 caeruleum . But Thomas, in the same ex-

different fights. But it is possible that Pliny’s pression, has croceus, ‘saffron yellow*. Perhaps
chryselectroe was chrysoberyl, in which such a paraphrase using blavus or flavus accounts
differences are very marked; it may show for the discrepancy (see I, ii, 2, introductory
different shades of yellow and green, depend- note). Or Albert may mean the iridescent
ing on whether it is viewed in one direction purple tarnish on some sulphide minerals,
or another, or by transmitted or reflected such as bomite.



BOOK II, TRACTATE ii 85

with a pale tinge of hidden gold. And as daylight and darkness alternate,
it shows a corresponding change in its indeterminate colour, 21 like that
in rotten oak wood or a firefly. We shall explain the complete and true
reason for all these things in the book on The Soul. 22


CHAPTER 4 : NAMES BEGINNING WITH THE
FOURTH LETTER, WHICH IS D

DIAMON

Marbod, ; Arnold, p. 71, Demonius; Bartholomew, ; Thomas, 130V, (. D)emonius .

Diamon might be a variant of diamant (II, ii , 1, Adamas), but is apparently an
error for daimon, given as demonius in Arnold and Thomas, neither of whom,
however, mentions the rainbow . But the connexion between rainbow and daimon
may be entirely Albert's, since he uses the phrase 6 bow of the daimon in his account of
the rainbow in his Meteora (III, iv, 6 and 26). Mineralogical identification is im-
possible; very likely it is the same as iris (II, ii, 8 ).

Diamon [daimon] is reported to be named ‘stone of the daimon’, being of
two colours 1 like the rainbow, which is called ‘bow of the daimon’. 2 They
say that it is prescribed for those suffering from fever, and expels poison.


DIACODOS


Marbod, LVH, Diadochos ; Arnold, p. 71, Dyacodes ; Bartholomew, XVI, 36, Diadocos;
Thomas, 130V, Dyathocos.

The correct name is diadochos, meaning ‘ a substitute ’ in Greek. Pliny (XXXVII,
57, 157) says only that it resembles beryl. Perhaps it really was beryl, or even quartz.
The mysterious powers attributed to it by later lapidaries come from Damigeron (XV)
and seem to have to do with its use in some ritual ofhydromancy or crystal-gazing.


21 Aristotle (The Soul, II, 7, 419 a 1 ff.)
makes the point that phosphorescent things
produce a sensation of light in darkness,
but this light is ‘not of any particular colour 1 ,
certainly not the same colour as the same
things show in daylight.

22 Albert (The Soul, II, iii, 12), amplifying
Aristotle’s account, tries to bring under one
explanation everything that shines in the dark
— dead fish, rotten eggs, fireflies, animals’
eyes, sparks seen in combing the hair, sea
water, etc. His theory is that all these contain
Fire — not ‘ordinary’ fire, but a very subtle
kind, sometimes evident as the heat of putre-


faction or fermentation, which rises to the
surface and appears as light. See also II, ii, 3,
Carbunculus.

*

1 bicolor. This is also in Arnold and
Thomas, but perhaps it should be tricolor, ‘of
three colours’, the usual description of the
rainbow (see I, ii, 2, note 5).

2 arcus daimonis. But daimon in Greek,
daemon in Latin, meant simply ‘a spirit*; it is
only later, in Christian writings, that a
‘demon’ was generally understood to be an
evil spirit.



86


BOOK OF MINERALS


Diacodos is a pale stone said to be somewhat similar to beryl. And it is
said to be so effective in calling up phantasms that magicians use it a great
deal; but nevertheless, if it touches a corpse it loses its force, so that it is
declared to have a horror of death. A possible theory about these things
comes from books of the magicians, Hermes and Ptolemy and Thebit ben
Corat ; 3 but I do not intend to discuss them here.

DYONYSIA

Marbod, LVHI, Dionysia; Arnold, p. 71, Dyonysia; Bartholomew, XVI, 35, Dyonisius ;

Thomas, 130V, Dyotiisia.

This stone , named after Dionysus , god of wine (Pliny XXXVII , 57, 157), may be the
same as Medius (II, ii, 11 ), which Pliny (XXXVII, 63, 173) says has ‘the flavour of
wine \ If so, the wine must have been very sour for the \ flavour ' of the stone is due to
sulphates .

Dyonysia is a stone black as iron, with sparkling red spots in it. Its breath
is like wine; and yet that very odour of wdne dispels drunkenness — a
matter of wonder to many people . 4 For the cause of this is that wine
induces feeble drunkenness not by its odour but by its oppressive fumes;
and the simple odour of this stone is active in clearing out and dispelling
the fumes of the wdne.


DRACONITES

This is not in Marbod, Arnold, or Bartholomew, but Thomas has it as dracontides
(130V). The story comes down from Pliny (XXXVII, 57, 158, dracontias). Draco
is not really a ‘dragon but a large snake, such as a python. The jewel in the snake's head
belongs to the same tradition as the toadstone (III, ii, 2, Borax; 12, Nusae). Albert's
own snakestone was probably a fossil ammonite, aflat spiral shell that looks like a
tightly coiled snake, and has been so regarded in many countries.

Draconites (snakestone) is a stone extracted from the head of a large
snake, and it is brought from the East, where there are many large snakes.
Its power, like that of the toadstone, is effective only if it is extracted while
the snake is alive and quivering. [Men] steal up on the snakes while they
are asleep, and cut off the head suddenly; and while the snake is still

3 Thebit ben Corat’s Liber prestigiorum, a 4 All that follows here is Albert’s own
book of magic tricks or illusions, in which attempt to account for the alleged effect of the
Hermes and Ptolemy were quoted. See stone.

Appendix C, 4.



BOOK II, TRACTATE ii 87

quivering, they tear out the stone. For 5 the activity of the soul confers
many properties even on residues which are produced in animals; and
these undergo a change at death, whether the animals die a natural death
by the decay of their bodily humours, or whether they he dead and
decaying after being [violently] slain. I myself have seen in Swabia in
Germany a stone upon which more than fifty serpents 6 had collected, in a
certain meadow among the mountains. And when the lord of the land
was passing by that way, his soldiers, drawing their swords, cut the
serpents into many small pieces. But at the bottom lay one large serpent
cut into many parts; and under its head there was found a black stone
shaped like a truncated pyramid. It was not transparent, and it had a
pale-coloured [stripe] around it, and a very beautiful picture of a serpent
on it. This stone was presented to me by the wife of that nobleman, along
with the head of the serpent, and I kept it. [A snakestone] is said to dispel
poisons, especially those due to attacks by venomous animals; and they
say it also bestows victory.


CHAPTER 5 : THOSE BEGINNING WITH THE LETTER E

ECHITES

Marbod, XXV, Ethites ; Arnold, p. 71, Ethytes ; Bartholomew, XVI, 39, Echites; Thomas,
13 ir, Echites.

The name was originally aetites or aetita, Greek ‘ eaglestone' (Pliny, X, 4, 12;
XXXVI , 39, 149-51). It is a hollow geode or concretion containing loose crystals ,
pebbles , or earth; and this structure obviously suggested all the associated notions about
eggs, fertility, pregnancy, etc. Albert's version is rather muddled, as if he were using
two sets of notes and never revised the manuscript. The speculations about why the
birds use the stones, and all the remarks about cranes, are his own additions.

Echites (eaglestone) is the best of gems. It is of a dark red colour and it is
called by some aquileus and by others erodialis , because eagles (aquilae)
sometimes place it in their nests among the eggs, just as the crane 1 places

5 All that follows, except the final sentence, that lays its eggs on the ground; so stones

is Albert’s own. might easily be found in the ‘nest*, though not

6 serpentes are smaller than dracones . In cold by any intention of the bird. Young cranes

countries, some snakes collect in large groups can run almost as soon as they are hatched
to hibernate. and Albert had watched their rearing ‘in

* Cologne, where cranes that have been domes-

1 grus, the crane, is a large wading bird ticated bring up their young* ( Animals , VI,


I



88


BOOK OF MINERALS


a stone between two eggs. For we have observed this at Cologne, where
cranes have reared their young, for many years, in a certain garden. Most
kinds of echites are found near the shores of the Ocean, where the best
kind is that of the birds called erodii , i, 2 the ‘heroes’ among birds. It is also
said to be found sometimes in Persia. It is the kind [of stone] that contains
another stone inside that rattles when it is moved in the hand and shaken.
It is reported that, suspended on the left arm, it strengthens pregnant
women, prevents abortion, and lessens the dangers of childbirth. And
some say that it prevents frequent attacks in epileptics. And an even more
marvellous thing, according to Chaldean tradition, [is that] if anyone is
suspected of poisoning food, and if this stone is placed in the food, it
prevents the food from being eaten; and if the stone is taken out, the food
can be eaten at once. Why the eagles place the stone in their nest is not
well understood. We have found by observation that cranes do not
notice what sort of stone they place among their eggs, but sometimes they
put one kind and then, another year, another kind. And some people
say that they do this to moderate the heat of the eggs or of the eagle’s
body, so that the eggs may not get too hot; and this is probable. But some
say that the stone contributes something to the formation and quickening
[of the eggs]. And still others say that the birds put the stone among the
eggs to keep them from breaking, but this is entirely false; for they
would break much sooner by bumping against a stone than against each
other. And some say that if anyone is suspected of being a poisoner, and if
this stone is put into his food, if he is guilty he immediately chokes on the
food, but if it is taken out, he eats the food. But if he is innocent, he eats
the food even if the stone has been put into it.


ELIOTROPIA

Marbod, XXIX, Eliotropia; Arnold, p. 71, Elyotropia ; Bartholomew, XVI, 41, Elitropia ;
Thomas, 13 ir, Elitropia .


Heliotrope is dark green chalcedony with red spots , which suggested its common


i, 4). No doubt their wings had been
clipped, for although Albert repeats the well-
known story about the cranes* migration to
Africa he says that these cranes remained in
Cologne all the year round, in spite of the cold
climate ( Animals , VII, i, 6).

2 erodii: Albert’s etymology is fanciful,
but he knew these birds too from his own
observation ( Animals , VI, i, 6) :


The great eagle (golden eagle) which is found in
our country and is called herodius is rarely found
to have more than one eaglet, although it lays
two eggs. This we have learned by visiting
the nest of a certain eagle every year for six
years. But in such cases it is difficult to make
observations because of the height of the moun-
tains on which they nest; and we were able to
observe this only by letting someone down the
cliff from above on a very long rope.



8p


BOOK II, TRACTATE ii

English name, bloodstone, and its supposed efficacy for bleeding. Heliotropium means
‘ suntumer and Pliny (XXXVII, 60, 165) says that it was used in observing solar
eclipses; he mentions putting it in water, but this was obviously merely to wet a polished
surface so that it could serve as a dark mirror; and he was scornful of the magicians
tale of invisibility. But in Damigeron (XIX) and Marbod heliotrope has become a
purely magical stone. Its original connexion with eclipses has been forgotten, and it is
now said that if placed in water its power darkens the sun, makes the water boil, and
calls up thunderstorms; if anyone wears it, he can predict the future. This is the version
that Albert had, and he does his best to ‘make sense’ of it by adding ‘scientific explana-
tions. He seems to imagine that the stone in the water starts a chemical reaction — like
the effervescence of soda or limestone in acid — and that the resultant fumes account for
the other reported phenomena.

Eliotropia (heliotrope, bloodstone) is a stone almost as green as smaragdus,
sprinkled with blood-red spots. The necromancers say that this is a
Babylonian gem and is called heliotrope because if rubbed with the juice
of the herb of the same name and placed in a vessel full of water, it makes
the sun look blood-red, as if there were an eclipse. And the reason for this
is that it makes all the water boil up into a mist, which thickens the air so
that the sun cannot be seen except as a red glow in the condensing cloud;
and afterwards the mist condenses and falls as drops of rain. [The stone]
must be consecrated by a certain incantation, combined with magic signs;
and if any of those present are possessed , 3 they speak words of prophecy.
And therefore pagan priests commonly used this stone a great deal in
their idolatrous festivals. And it is said to give a man a good reputation,
and health, and long life; and to be good against bleeding and [poisons] 4 .
It is also said that if rubbed with the herb of the same name, as we have
said before, it deceives the sight so much as to make a man invisible.
It is found very often in Ethiopia, Cyprus, and India.

EMATITES

Marbod, XXXII, Emathites ; Arnold, pp. 71-72, Emathytes; Bartholomew, XVI, 40, Emathites;

Thomas, 130V, Emathites.

Haematites, Greek ‘ bloodstone ’ (Pliny, XXXVI, 37-38, 144-8; XXXVII, 60, 169)
is hematite, red oxide of iron . If well crystallized it is shining black with a metallic
lustre ; if finely divided, as in earthy deposits, or as powder produced by grinding, it is
‘ blood-red \ Part of Albert’s text is in Thomas and part in Arnold (including phrases
which Bartholomew attributes to 'Dyascor ides’): all three seem to come from some

3 areptitii, ‘carried away*, thrown into a 4 venerea : but probably should read venena
trance. as in other lapidaries.



90


BOOK OF MINERALS


medical work, perhaps Constantine’s Book of Degrees (Opera, pp. 358 and 382),
combining the properties of hematite and of alum.

Ematites (hematite) is a stone found in Africa and Ethiopia and Arabia.
It is the colour of iron, with blood-red veins in it. It is a powerful styptic,
and therefore experience shows that if crushed and drunk mixed with
water, it is a remedy for a flux of the bladder or bowels, or menstruation;
and it also heals a flux of bloody saliva. Powdered and mixed with wine, it
heals ulcers and wounds, and eats away superfluous flesh that forms in
wounds. And it helps and cures dimness of sight caused by moisture, and
improves roughness of the eyelids.

EPISTRITES

Marbod, XXXI, Epistites ; Arnold, p. 72, Epystrites; Bartholomew, XVI, 43, Epistides ;
Thomas, 131^131 \,Epistutes.

The correct name is hephaestites,ybr the Greek god of fire (Pliny, XXXVII, 60, 166).
The stone is probably pyrite ( which also means fire’, since it can be used to strike a
spark). Pyrite is a shining metallic yellow mineral, and might perhaps have been made
into a concave mirror to serve as a burning glass, though this seems rather unlikely.
But Agricola (De natura fossilium, published in 1546, Book V), identified Pliny’s
hephaestites as pyritic coatings (armatura) on fossil ammonites or the like, and
reported one found near Hildesheim ‘ as big as a dish ’ which could be used to start afire.

Epistrites is a brilliant reddish stone occurring in the sea . 5 In [books on]
incantations and physical ligatures it is said that, worn over the heart, it
keeps a man safe, and restrains sedition; and it is also said to restrain
locusts and birds and clouds and hailstorms, and to keep them off the
crops. It has been found by experience that, if placed in direct sunlight, it
emits fire and fiery rays. And it is said that if this stone is thrown into
boiling water, the bubbling ceases and presently [the water] grows cold.
The reason 6 for this is merely that [the stone] is extremely cold, and when
it is affected by the heat of the boiling water the coldness of its constitution
begins to act.

ETINDROS

Marbod, XLVI, Enhydros ; Arnold, p. 72, Enydros ; Bartholomew, XVI, 42, Enidros ; 101,
Ydachites ; Thomas, 13 iv, Elidros, Enidros.

5 This has suffered some attrition: Pliny Corinth-between-two-seas’ (on the isthmus.)
(loc. cit.) says the stone is found in Corycus , Arnold says merely in Bimari , and here it is
but Damigeron (XX) says Corinthus. Marbod, reduced to in mari.

writing in verse, adopts a phrase from Ovid 6 What follows is Albert's own explanation.
( Metam . V, 407), in bimari Corintho , ‘in See also II, ii, 18, Topasion.



91


BOOK II, TRACTATE ii

Enhydros today means a nodule of translucent chalcedony containing water, and that is
what Pliny described (XXXVII, 73, 190, enhygros, Greek ‘ water inside’). Solinus,
however, misunderstood Pliny or confused this with some other stone, for he said
(Coll. XXXVII, 24, enhydros) that it ‘exudes water , and later writers echo him.
Bartholomew (op. cit., enidros), like Albert, suggests that the moisture is really formed
on the outside of the stone.

Etindros is a stone similar in colour to rock crystal. It continually distils
drops, which are said to be good for those suffering from fever. But
nevertheless the stone does not grow smaller or waste away. The reason
for this is really that the drops do not distil from the substance of the
stone at all; but because it is extremely cold, the Air in contact with it
continually changes into Water, as often happens with hard, polished
stones, when the weather gets warmer.

EXACOLITUS

This appears only in Thomas (1310) and Arnold (p. 72) and is probably an error made
by a scribe whose eye was caught by exacontalitus, just below. What may have stood
in this place (as in some other lapidaries) is exhebenus, which, to judge by the descrip-
tion of Pliny (XXXVII, 58, 159), was a white clay mineral or polishing powder.

Exacolitus is said to be a stone of varied colour. It has a solvent action,
according to skilled medical men; and therefore, if mixed with wine and
drunk, it is said to be good against colic and internal pains.

EXACONTALITUS

Marbod, XXXVm, Exacontalites ; Arnold, p. 72, Exacontalitus; Bartholomew, XVI, 44,
Exolicetos; Thomas, .

Hexecontalithos, according to Pliny (XXXVII, 60, 167), is called ‘sixty stone’
because it is marked with many (presumably sixty) colours. Albert and his contempor-
aries suppose it to be opal, which is reputed to have a bad effect upon the eyes. See also
II, ii, 13, Ophthalmus and 14, Pantherus.

Exacontalitus (sixtystone) is a stone marked with sixty colours. It is very
small in si2e and is frequendy found in Libya and among the Troglodites. 7
It is very harmful to the nerves, and therefore it is said to make a man’s
eyes tremulous.


7 Cave-dwellers somewhere in Africa mentioned by Pliny, loc. dt.



92


BOOK OF MINERALS


CHAPTER 6: THOSE BEGINNING WITH THE SIXTH
LETTER, WHICH IS F


FALCONES

Marbod, ; Arnold, p. 72, Falcanos , Arsenicum , Auripigmentum ; Bartholomew, XVI, 6,

Auripigmentum, Arsenicum ; Thomas, .

This is an arsenic mineral , or nrt/zer 0 mixture of two — red realgar, Pliny s sandaraca,
arrhenicum (XXXIV, 55-56, 177-8) and yellow orpiment, auripigmentum,
‘ golden paint ' (XXXIII, 22, 79). Since it is not a ‘ precious stone 9 , some lapidaries do
not include it. Albert's first three sentences are in Arnold and in Bartholomew (who
attributes them to ‘ Dyascorides ’). Most of the rest is in Constantine's Book of Degrees
(Opera, p. 383), though Albert probably got some details of the procedure from
alchemical books. See also V, 5, Arsenicum.

Falcones is called by another name arsenicum, and in common speech
auripigmentum (‘golden paint’) means the same. It is one of the yellow and
red stones, and the alchemists call it one of the ‘spirits’. 1 It has the same
nature as sulphur in heating and drying. And when it is calcined with fire
it becomes black, 2 and on sublimation it immediately becomes white. 3
And if it is calcined again, it again becomes black, and if the [sublimation] 4
is repeated, it becomes very white. And if this is repeated three or four
times, it becomes so caustic that if it is combined with copper it makes
holes in it at once, and it violently bums all metals, only excepting gold.
And if it is applied to copper, it changes it to a white colour. 5 Therefore
counterfeiters use it when they wish to make copper [look] like silver: for
it is very effective for this.


FILACTERIUM

This odd item is found only in Arnold (p. 72), and seems to be a misplaced gloss from
Damigeron (XVII) or Marbod (XI), who describe chrysolitus as a phylactery, or


protective amulet.

Filacterium, the jewellers say, is the
same power.

1 ‘Spirits’ are volatile, easily sublimed.

2 Metallic arsenic, produced from the
sulphides (realgar or orpiment) by heating in a

reducing atmosphere — that is, in contact with

organic matter, charcoal, or (as Constantine

suggests) sodium carbonate ( nitrum ).


same gem as chrysolitus and has the

3 Heated in air, the sulphides are oxidized
to ‘white arsenic’.

4 calcinatione , but obviously an error for
sublimatione .

5 Arsenic with copper forms a silvery
bronze.



BOOK II, TRACTATE ii


93


CHAPTER 7 : THOSE BEGINNING WITH THE
SEVENTH LETTER, WHICH IS G

GAGATES

Marbod, XVHI, Gagates; Arnold, p. 72, Gagates; Bartholomew, XVI, 49, Gagates ; Thomas,

13 iv, Gagates.

Gagates is jet, a shitting black hydrocarbon, closely related to coal. But Albert con-
stantly confuses jet with amber ( see II, ii, 10, Ligurius and 17, Succinus), perhaps
because his sources mention two kinds, black and grey; or perhaps because there are
real similarities — both amber and jet are found on seashores, both can be burnt,
emitting a strong odour, and both can be electrified by rubbing. Pliny (XXXVI, 34,
141-2) says that jet can be used to test virginity, but the details are given only in the
thirteenth-century lapidaries (Bartholomew cites ‘ Dyascor ides’). See also II, ii, g,
kacabre.

Gagates (jet) is kacabre, which I consider to be one of the gemstones. It is
found in Libya and in Britain near the seashore; and a great deal is
found in the sea along the northern coast of Teutonia. 1 In England
(Anglia), 2 too, it is frequently found. It is of two colours, namely black and
yellow, but the yellow is nearly as transparent as topasion. 3 Some is also
grey, rather pale with a yellowish tinge. If rubbed it attracts straws, and if
ignited it bums like incense. It is said to benefit those who suffer from
dropsy; and it tightens loose teeth, they say. It is known from experience
that water in which it has been washed, or its fumes applied from beneath,
will provoke menstruation in women. It is also reported to put serpents to
flight; 4 and it is a remedy for disorders of the stomach and belly, and for
phantasms due to melancholy, which some people call ‘demons’. They
say, too, that experience shows that if water in which it has been washed is
strained and given with some scrapings [of the stone] to a virgin, after
drinking it she retains it and does not urinate; but if she is not a virgin, she
urinates at once. And this is the way virginity should be tested. And they
say that it is good against the pains of childbirth.

GAGATRONICA

Marbod, XXVII, Gagatromeus\ Arnold, p. 72, Gagatromeo ; Bartholomew, ; Thomas,

I32r, Gegatroyneus.

1 Amber found on the Baltic coast in east 3 This seems to mean topaz, but see II, ii, 18,

Prussia. Topasion .

2 At Whitby, Yorkshire, jet occurs in 4 This again is jet, or some bituminous
cliffs that are being eroded by the sea, so that hydrocarbon, used to ‘smoke out* vermin,
fragments are washed up all along the coast.



94 BOOK OF MINERALS

This makes its first appearance in Damigeron (XXV). The stone is unidentifiable,
perhaps entirely fabulous.

Gagatronica is a stone of varied colour like the skin of a wild goat.
Avicenna 5 says that its power makes those who wear it victorious. They
say that this was shown by the experience of the prince Alcides [Hercules] ; 6
for whenever he had this stone with him he was always victorious by
land and sea; but when he did not have it, he is said to have succumbed to
his enemies.


GELOSIA

Marbod, XXXVII, Gelacia; Arnold, p. 72, Galacia; Bartholomew, XVI, ji, Gelacia; Thomas,
I3iv-i32r, Gelasia.

The name was originally chalazias, Greek for ‘ hailstone ’ (Pliny, XXXVII, 73,
189). This is probably a pebble of some transparent, colourless, and highly refractory
mineral, such as a rough diamond or corundum. No doubt the original account said
(truly) that it could not be melted or damaged by fire; and its * icy or frosty appearance
was responsible for the (untrue) addition that it would not even get hot.

Gelosia is said to be a stone having the shape and colour of a hailstone and
the hardness of adamas. And it is reported to be so cold that it can never be
made hot by fire, or hardly ever. The reason 7 for this is that its pores are so
contracted that they do not permit the fire to enter. People say, too, that it
moderates anger and licentiousness and other hot passions and desires.

GALARICIDES

Marbod, XLII, Galactida ; Arnold, p. 72, Galactydes ; Bartholomew, XVI, 50, Galactiles;
Thomas, I32r, Galaritides.

The various names , derived from the Greek * milk 9 (Pliny, XXXVII , 59, 162, galaxia,
galactites), could refer to any white earth or soft stone that makes a ‘ milky mixture
with water — most likely chalk or soft limestone. But the persistent report that it affects
the mind or the memory must refer to some vegetable drug.

Galaritides (milkstone), which some people call galarictides , is a stone like
ash, and it is mostly found in the Rivers Nile and Achelous. Its powder
has a taste of milk; and its juice held in the mouth disturbs the mind.
According to [books on] physical ligatures, if bound around the neck, it

5 Reference unidentified; perhaps Av. Marbod; it is also in Thomas.

written forEi\ (Evax), since the statement is in 7 Albert, here as elsewhere, attempts to
Damigeron and Marbod. explain the alleged fact, alluding to Meteor

6 Alcides, patronymic of Hercules, used by IV, 9, 3 87 a 19.



BOOK II, TRACTATE ii 95

fills the breasts with milk; and if bound on the thigh it eases childbirth.
The shepherds of Egypt say that if it is crushed with salt and mixed with
water and sprinkled at night around the sheepfold, the udders of the sheep
are filled with milk and the scab is driven away from them. In fact, it is
generally said to be a remedy against scab.

GECOLITUS

This is the same as cegolites (II, ii, 3), under which references are given* This dupli-
cation is also in Thomas ( ljor , 132c )

Gecolitus is reported to be a stone like the stone of an Eastern olive. If
crushed and drunk with water, its power is said to break up and expel a
stone from the bladder or kidneys.

GERACHIDEM

Marbod, XXX, Gerachites; Arnold, p. 72, Gerachitem ; Bartholomew, XVI, 52, Geraticen ,
102, Yerachites ; Thomas, I32r, Gerachirea.

Pliny ( XXXVII , 60, 167) says o/hieracitis only that it is coloured like a small falcon
or kite (Greek, hierax). But this seems to be the stone to which Damigeron (XXXVIII,
gerachites) attached the properties reported here. Possibly this is, in part, a distorted
account of the use of arsenic to kill insects (cf the name falcones in II, ii, 6). Constan-
tine (Opera, p. 383) says that arsenicum * mixed with oil kills lice . . . ground up
and mixed with milk, it destroys flies'. But certainly arsenic minerals should not be
put in the mouth, so something else must be included here.

Gerachidem is reported to be a stone of a black colour. The genuineness of
the stone may be tested in this way: while wearing the stone [a man]
smears his whole body with honey and exposes [himself] to flies and wasps,
and if they do not touch him, the stone is genuine; and if he lays aside the
stone, at once the flies and wasps fall upon the honey and suck it up. And
they say that if the stone is held in the mouth it confers [the ability] to
judge opinions and thoughts. And it is reported that the wearer is made
agreeable and pleasing.


GRANATUS

Marbod, XIV, Granatus; Arnold, pp. 72-73, Granatus ; Bartholomew, XVI, 54, Granatus;
Thomas, 13 iv, 132V, Granatus.

Granatus is included in the description of hyacinthus (see II, ii, 8) by all except
Thomas, who, like Albert, also gives it a separate section ; and this is so similar to
Albert's as to indicate a common source. Thomas does not name this source, but Albert



9 6 BOOK OF MINERALS

recognizes part of it as a quotation in Constantine (Opera, p. 332) from the Lapidary
of Aristotle. A few details, however, seem to he taken from earlier descriptions of
carbunculus (II, ii, 3). The name granatus covers dark red stones, most of which are
probably garnets.

Granatus (garnet), as Constantine reports Aristotle’s statement, is a kind of
carbuncle. It is a red, transparent stone, in colour like wild pomegranate
flowers. 8 It is slightly darker red than carbuncle, and when it is mounted
in a seal [ring] with black 9 beneath, it is more brilliant. There is also a
kind that has a violet colour mingled with the red, and therefore is called
violaceus; and this is more precious than other kinds of granatus. It is said
to gladden the heart and dispel sorrow; and according to Aristode it is
hot and dry. But as to the statement of some people — that it is a kind of
hyacinthus — that is not true. [Granatus] is found mosdy in Ethiopia and
sometimes near Tyre in the sea sands.


CHAPTER 8: THOSE BEGINNING WITH THE LETTERS
H, I, AND J


HIENA

Marbod, XLIV, Hyaena ; Arnold, p. 73, Jena; Bartholomew, XVI, 56, Ienia; Thomas, 132V,

Iena.

The ‘ hyaena stone 9 cannot be precisely identified. Perhaps it is an ‘ eye agate ', chalcedony
with concentric rings of different colours. But Pliny (XXXVII, 60, 168, hyaenia;
VIII, 44, 106) says that the hyaena's eyes are of many shifting colours; so the stone
is more likely to be an iridescent or chatoyant mineral — cat's eye or tiger's eye, or
perhaps opal. Indeed, it may not be any specific mineral, but just a gem-dealers' term,
claiming a power against the Evil Eye.

Hiena stone is named from the beast called hyaena, because it is taken
from [a hyaena’s] eyes when they are turned to stone. But the ancient

8 similus balaustiis qui sunt fiores malorum 9 This is contrary to the usual practice of
granatorum. But the name granatus really refers jewellers, who enhance the colour of a trans-
to the red seeds or ‘grains’ in the pomegranate parent stone by backing it with a bright
fruit. If Albert used Thomas, or Thomas’s metallic foil. But the statement is also in
source, the word was probably balastus, Thomas. Possibly there is some (now lost)
another red stone (see II, ii, 2, Balagius) connexion with the remark that carbuncle
rather than the unfamiliar (Greek) balaustium, shines if placed in a black vessel (see II, ii, 3,
‘wild pomegranate’, which needed explana- Carbunculus).
non.



97


BOOK II, TRACTATE ii

authorities, Evax and Aaron , 1 say that if placed under the tongue it confers
the power of predicting the future by divination.

HYACINTHUS

Marbod, XIV, Jacititus, Hyacinthus; Arnold, pp. 72-73, Jacinctus; Bartholomew, XVT, 54,
Jacinctus; Thomas, I32r-i32v, Iacinctus.

The name hyacinth , or jacinth , has had a complex history . Today jewellers use it
for a cinnamon-brown stone , either zircon or garnet , but this was certainly not the
older usage . Pliny (. XXXVII , 41, 125) places hyacinthus immediately after amethyst ,
as having a similar but paler colour , like a hyacinth flower fading away (I believe he
meant rose quartz , having perhaps heard some exaggerated report of its tendency to fade
on exposure to sunlight ). But Solinus (Coll. XXX, 32) described hyacinthus as
violet or blue , and ‘ watery (perhaps meaning transparent sapphire); and this description
persisted in medieval lapidaries . Further confusion was introduced when Constantine
of Africa used hyacinthus in translating from the Lapidary of Aristotle (Ruska, pp.
186-7; Rose,pp. 353-4; Constantine's Opera, p. 352) :

Hyacinthi are of three kinds , red , yellow , and blue. The red ones (granati, 'like
pomegranate seeds') are the best of all. They have this property , that if they are put
in the fire and we blow the fire , the more we blow , the redder they become; and any
blackish markings there may be in them are destroyed by the fire, and they become
completely transparent. But the yellow ones do not bear the fire so well, and the blue
ones cannot bear it at all. And Aristotle said that they are all hot and dry.

This is of interest as indicating that heat treatment of gems was already practised before
the eleventh century. The description indicates corundum gems, which are often un-
evenly coloured; some streaky red stones (rubies) can be improved by heating, but
others lose their colour completely. This fact, together with statements about their
extreme hardness, shows that hyacinthus was mostly corundum, though similarly
coloured zircon( jargon) may have been included.

The nomenclature was still in some confusion, in the thirteenth century and indeed
remains so today. We now call red corundum ruby, and blue corundum sapphire; but
corundums of other colours have no names, being known either as yellow, green,
purple, etc., ‘ sapphire '; or else (to distinguish them from commoner stones of these
colours) as ‘ Oriental ' topaz, emerald, amethyst, etc. Albert here tries, in his own way,
to straighten out the difficulties: (1) First he (mistakenly) rejects all red stones as not
belonging to this group (see Granatus, II, ii, 7); (2) next, he makes a distinction
between ‘watery' and deep-coloured stones — his ‘ watery ' jacinth is thus a very pale
blue or pink sapphire; (3) he identifies deep-blue stones as sapphire — though saphirus
is treated again in II, ii, 17; (4) he mentions stones of other colours (yellow or green?)

1 Aaron is unidentified, bait the statement is in Evax (Marbod).



98 BOOK OF MINERALS

but gives them no names. The magical powers are those of all hyacinthus, not only of
the last-mentioned kind.

Hyacinthus (jacinth) is of two kinds, namely aquaticus (watery) and
saphirinus (sapphire). The ‘water jacinth’ 2 is pale blue, as if the dearness of
water welled up from its transparent depths and struggled to predominate
[in it] ; and this is less valuable. There is also a watery red one of this sort,
in which the transparency of water predominates. But the sapphire is a
very bright blue, having nothing watery about it; and this is more
valuable. Thus there are three names [i.e. hyacinthus, aquaticus, saphirinus ],
for the jacinth is sometimes called sapphire. This is mosdy found in
Ethiopia. And some people say that there is a fourth kind [green?] 3 like
topasion. This is extremely hard and generally worthless because it can
hardly be engraved. It is known from experience that it is cold, as a green
stone is, and it benefits the body just like anything that is cold and re-
stricts the powers of the body. In Physical Ligatures 4 its use is that suspended
from the neck or worn on the finger it keeps a traveller safe, and makes
him welcome to those who entertain him, and protects him in unhealthy
regions. And it is known from experience that it induces sleep because of
its cold constitution. And sapphire is said to have a special property, and
this is its power against poison. They say also that it confers riches and
natural cleverness and happiness.


IRIS

Marbod, XLVQ, Iris ; Arnold, p. 73 , Jyrim ; Bartholomew, XVI, 55, Iris; Thomas, 132V, Iris.

Iris is Greek for ‘ rainbow \ The stone is just a transparent quartz crystal used as a
prism . Pliny (XXXVII, 52-53, 136-8) notes the characteristic hexagonal form.

Iris (rainbowstone) is a stone similar to rock crystal, and it is usually
hexagonal. Evax says that it comes from Arabia and occurs in the Red Sea.
But we have found 5 a great many of these stones in the mountains of
Germany between the Rhine and Treves. And although they are of
different sizes, they are all hexagonal. They are formed in odier stones and

2 I have adopted ‘water jacinth’ as the least green. Perhaps jlavus has been mistaken for
misleading translation of hyacinthus aquaticus , blavus and paraphrased as caeruleus (see I, ii, 2,
since ‘water hyacinth’ today means a plant, and introductory note) .

‘water sapphire’ is iolite, a pale blue or violet 4 Costa ben Luca’s Letter on Incantations
variety of cordierite. (printed in Constantine’s Opera , p. 319),

3 caeruleum, ‘sky blue’, but blue stones quoting the Lapidary of Aristotle.

have already been described and this is another 5 The whole account of occurrence and
kind ; moreover topasion (II, ii, 1 8) is yellow or origin is Albert’s own.



99


BOOK II, TRACTATE ii

are made hexagonal by being closely compressed by the [surrounding]
stone, though they are naturally round— just as the cells in the middle of a
honeycomb are hexagonal, although those at the edges are round. This is
a very dry stone, as its great hardness indicates. It is formed from dried out
moisture escaping from the material of a stone produced from red clay;
and because this moisture has been intensely attacked by dryness, the stone
is very dry and hard. If it is held up indoors so that part of it is in sunshine
and part is kept in the shade, it casts a reflection of a beautiful rainbow on
the opposite wall or anything else; and therefore it is called iris. The cause
of this has been explained above. 6 Another substance similar to this
occurs in gypsum, 7 which is extremely transparent and very dry; and
some people use it instead of glass in windows.

ISCUSTOS

This name is a corruption of schistus or schiston, Greek for ‘easily split’, applied by
Pliny to ‘fissile’ alum (XXXV, 52, 183-go) and hematite (XXXVI, 38, 147): but
he also mentions a variety of asbestus, amiantus, ‘undefiled’ because it can be cleansed
by fire (XXXVI, 31, 139), which is ‘like alum’. In Isidore of Seville (Etym. XVI, 4,
18-19) schistos is immediately followed by amiantus; and here the two have co-
alesced into one. Albert probably got this item from Thomas (Evans, p. 231, isciscos),
or from Thomas’s source, since it is not in Marbod, Arnold, or Bartholomew.

Iscustos (asbestus), as Isidore and Aaron 8 agree, is a stone frequently found
the remotest part of Spain, near Gades [or the Gates] of Hercules,
in the third or second clime 9 , outside the country we now call Spain.
It is a stone that splits into threads, owing to the viscosity in it which has
dried up. And if a garment is woven of it, it does not bum, but is cleansed
and whitened by fire. 10 And perhaps this is what they call ‘salamander’s
feather’, for this wool is something like the wool of a moist stone. But
the reason why it does not bum has been discussed in the Meteorology. 11
And one kind of this, he says, is the stone some people call ‘white car-
buncle’, and some ‘white pebble’ : for it is like the carbuncle 12 in resisting

6 In I, ii, 2, where iris is said to be formed is presumably from Aaron,

from ‘watery’ or ‘dewy’ vapours. 1 1 See Abeston, II, ii, 1, note 2.

7 See II, ii, 17, Specularis. 12 Probably the resemblance to carbuncle,

8 Aaron is unidentified. as originally stated, was in resisting fire: cf.

9 See II, iii, 4, note 4. Meteor. IV, 9, 387 b 18, carbuncle (Greek

10 Thus far most of the material is para- anthrax), an incombustible stone,

phrased from Isidore (loc. cit.) ; the remainder



100


BOOK OF MINERALS


phantasms and illusions; and it is a remedy for pains in the eyes due to
moisture; and reduced to powder, it cures scab.

[JUDAICUS LAPIS]

The heading is omitted in the printed text. This is the same as cegolites (see II, ii, 3
where references are given). This description is taken almost verbatim from Isidore
of Seville, Etym. XVI, 4, 12.

[Judaicus lapis (Jewstone).] Isidore likewise says of the Jew stone that it is
white and about the size of an acorn, and inscribed with marks like letters,
which the Greeks call yp&upcrra. Avicenna 13 says it is called Jewstone
because it is frequently found in Judaea.

JASPIS

Marbod, IV, Jaspis; Arnold, p. 72, Jaspis; Bartholomew, XVI, 53, Jaspis; Thomas, I32r,

Iaspis.

Jasper is cryptocrystalline silica, differing from chalcedony only in being less translucent.
Pliny (XXXVII, 37, 113-18, iaspis) mentions many colours, but since he began with
green jasper his successors generally consider jasper a green stone, and probably include
other green stones — prase, chrysoprase, and perhaps jade.

Jaspis (jasper) is a stone of many colours, and there are ten kinds of it. But
the best is translucent green with red veins, and it should properly be set in
silver. It is found in many places. Experience shows that it reduces
bleeding and menstruation. They say, too, that it prevents conception and
aids childbirth; and that it keeps the wearer from licentiousness. In books
on magic 14 we read that if incantations are recited over it, it makes one
pleasing and powerful and safe, and gets rid of fevers and dropsy.


CHAPTER 9 : THOSE BEGINNING WITH THE LETTER K

Borgnet’s title for this chapter reads ‘ the ninth letter, which is K\ The count
must have been lost in the preceding chapter, where H, I, and J are lumped
together. But even though in the Latin alphabet I and J may be taken as one,
K would still be the tenth letter. This mis-numbering continues to T, which is
called ‘the eighteenth letter . To avoid confusion, I have hereafter omitted these
ordinals, as is done in the edition of 1318.

1 3 Canon of Medicine, II, ii, 394. Albert may have found it in some other

14 What follows is all in Marbod, but lapidary that emphasized magic.



BOOK II, TRACTATE ii ioi

KACABRE

Marbod, ; Arnold, p. 73, Kacabre; Bartholomew, ; Thomas, i^iLagapisl

This is the Arabic name for jet . See II, ii, 7, Gagates.

Kacabre (jet) is the same as gagates, as we have stated; but nevertheless
some people say that kacabre is better, although really it differs from
gagates neither in colour nor in powers.

[KABRATES]

Marbod, ; Arnold, p. 73, Kabrates ; Bartholomew, XVI, 58, Kabrates ; Thomas, .

This is spelled kacabres in Borgnet's text and printed as if part of the preceding, but it
is certainly a different mineral . The description is attributed by Bartholomew to
‘ Dyascorides \ Identification is hardly possible, but perhaps it is just quartz.

[Kabrates] is a stone similar to rock crystal. And it is reported to confer
eloquence and honour and grace, and to be a remedy for dropsy.

KACAMON

Marbod, ; Arnold, p. 73, Kauman; Bartholomew, XVI, 57, Kamen ; Thomas, .

Arnold's account is very similar to Bartholomew 9 s ( attributed to ‘ Dyascorides ’). Identi-
fication is uncertain, and perhaps two or three different things have been confused.
(1) Both Bartholomew and Arnold say that the name means fire 9 (a corruption of Greek
kauma?), for it is found in sulphurous, hot places 9 . It may then be an artificial product,
such as cadmia (furnace calamine, zinc oxide); and in fact Pliny (XXXIV, 22, 103)
mentions a kind of cadmia called onychitis because it is marked ‘ like onyx 9 . (2) The
fact that figures were carved on it suggests that it was a cameo. This is evidently what
Albert thinks, and he is the only one to mention onyx in his description. But, as will
appear later (II, ii, 13, Onycha; II, iii, 2 and 4), he does not always distinguish
natural from artificial figures 9 on stones.

Kacamon is a stone that is frequently white, either wholly or in part; for
it is varied in colour, and most frequently it is found mixed with onyx.
Its power is said to be due to the images and carvings found on it, and in
the sigils which will be discussed in a later tractate.


CHAPTER 10 : THOSE BEGINNING WITH THE
LETTER L

LIGURIUS

Marbod, XXIV, Ligurius; Arnold, p. 73, Lygurius; Bartholomew, XVI, 60, Ligurius; Thomas,
1 32V, Ligurius.



102


BOOK OF MINERALS


The correct name is lyncurium, Greek, ‘lynx water . Pliny (VIII, 57, 137; XXXVII,
13, 52-33) took from Theophrastus (On Stones, 28) the story of its origin, but refused
to believe it; he also denied that lyncurium is the same as amber (see II, ii, 17,
Succinus). Possibly the stone is tourmaline, which can be electrified by heating.

Ligurius is a stone formed from the urine of the lynx, and Pliny says that
these are eastern animals ; 1 but nevertheless they are found in great
numbers in the forests of Teutonia and Sclavonia. Pliny says that these
animals conceal their urine in the sand as if they were envious of the good
use which is made of the stone. Bede 2 says that this stone occurs in human
kidneys. And Pliny says that it is sparkling red like the carbuncle, except
that it does not shine by night. But that more commonly found is of a
dark brownish yellow colour. And experience shows that if rubbed it
attracts straws, which is [a property] of nearly all precious stones . 3 And it
is said to be good against pains in the stomach, and jaundice, and diarrhoea.

LIPPARES

Marbod, XLV, Liparea; Arnold, p. 73, Lypparia ; Bartholomew, XVI, 61, Lipparia ; Thomas,


The original name was liparea. Pliny (Nat. Hist. XXXVII, 62, 1 72) said only that
it was used for fumigation and ‘calls forth all beasts’; it was probably bitumen (or
sulphur from the Lipari Islands?). But Marbod takes it to have a magic power of
attracting wild animals, as a hunter’s charm. Arnold’s poor version of this says merely
that the animals hasten to come to look at the stone. Where Albert’s version came from
is uncertain, but he seems to think it is a rather tall story.

Lippares is said to be a stone that is frequently found in Libya. It is re-
ported to have marvellous power: for all wild beasts, when harassed by
hunters and dogs, run to it and regard it as a protector. And they say that
dogs and hunters cannot [harm ] 4 a wild beast so long as it is in the presence
of the stone. If this is true, it is very marvellous, and undoubtedly is to be

1 Pliny (VIII, 30, 72) gives the habitat of perfect, the original sense having been some-

the lynx as Ethiopia, but the animal he calls thing like ‘Bede says this stone occurs in
chama (VIII, 28, 70) seems to be the European [Britain and others say it is good for] human
lynx. kidneys/

2 English historian and scholar (673-735). 3 Many gemstones are electrifiable. Credit

I have not been able to find this statement in for this discovery is generally given to William
Bede’s writings. In his Ecclesiastical History Gilbert, in his book On the Magnet published
(I, i) he lists among the products of Britain in 1600 (Thompson, pp. 46-50), but it seems
jet, which Albert confuses with amber (cf. to have been known much earlier.

II, ii, 7, Gagates). Or perhaps the text is im- 4 noscere , evidently for nocere .



103


BOOK II, TRACTATE ii

ascribed to the power of the heavens: for, as Hermes 5 * * * says, there are
marvellous powers in stones and likewise in plants, by means of which
natural magic could accomplish whatever it does, if their powers were
well understood.


CHAPTER 11: THOSE BEGINNING WITH THE
LETTER M


MAGNES

Marbod, XIX, Magnetes ; Arnold, p. 73, Magnetes ; Bartholomew, XVI, 63, Magnes ; Thomas,

I33r, Magnes.

This is the mineral magnetite . Its magnetic properties have excited wonder from early
times (Pliny, XXXIV, 42, 147-8 ; XXXVI, 25, 126-30 ): the swift ‘ embrace 9 of
magnetite and iron— for which William Gilbert in 1600 used the term coitus — ob-
viously suggested its use as a love charm, etc. But it has been confused with adamas
(II, ii, 1) and accounts of the two stones commonly overlap. There is more about the
polarity of the magnet in II, iii, 6.

Magnes or magnetes (magnet, magnetite, lodestone) is a stone of an iron
colour, which is mostly found in the Indian Ocean, [where] it is said to be
so abundant that it is dangerous to sail there in ships that have the nails
outside. 1 It is also found in the country of the [Troglodites]. 2 I myself
have seen one found in the part of Teutonia called the province of
Franconia, which was of large size and very powerful; and it was ex-
tremely black, as if it were iron rusted and burnt with pitch. [Magnet]
has a wonderful power of attracting iron, so that its power is transferred
to the iron and then that, too, attracts: and sometimes many needles are
seen, thus suspended from one another. But if the stone is rubbed with


5 This sentiment (though not ascribed to
Hermes) is found at the end of the Prologue
of Marbod’s poem: ‘Let no one doubt that

the powers of gems are divinely implanted.

Great power is given to herbs, but the greatest

of all to gems/ Or perhaps Albert recalls a
similar passage in the Secret of Secrets (Steele,

1920, p. 1 14): ‘Great and wonderful power is
conferred both on plants and on stones, but
hidden from mankind/ This is not ascribed


to Hermes either, but it is in the section imme-
diately preceding The Emerald Table (see
Appendix D, 7).

♦

1 The danger is that the magnetic rocks will
pull the nails out, so that the ship will go to
pieces. This is from Constantine (Opera, p.
378), quoting (com Lapidary of Aristotle.

2. Traconitidis , apparently for Troglodites,
cave-dwellers.



104


BOOK OF MINERALS


garlic 3 it does not attract. And if an adamas is placed on it, again it does not
attract, so that a small adamas in this way [can] restrain a large magnet. 4 In
our own time a magnet has been found that attracted iron from one
comer and repelled it from another. 5 And Aristotle says that this is an-
other kind of magnet. 6 One of our Order, a careful observer, has told me
that he had seen a magnet belonging to the Emperor Frederick, 7 which did
not attract iron, but on the contrary, the iron attracted the stone. Aristode 8
says that there is still another kind of magnet that attracts human flesh.
In magic 9 it is reported that [magnet] is marvellous for calling up phan-
toms, principally or especially if incantations and magic signs are used,
according to the teachings of magic. And taken in honey-water, it is
reported to cure dropsy. They say, 10 too, that if the stone is placed under
the head of a sleeping woman, it makes her turn at once to her husband’s
arms, if she is chaste. But if she is adulterous, she is so alarmed by night-
mares that she falls out of bed. They say also that thieves entering a house
place burning coals in the four comers of the house and sprinkle upon
them the powder of this stone; 11 and then those who are sleeping in the
house are so harassed by nightmares that they rush out and leave the
building. And then the thieves steal whatever they want.


MAGNESIA


This does not usually appear in lapidaries, since it is not a ‘ precious stone 9 but a sub-
stance used in technology and alchemy. Pliny (XXXVI, 25, 127-8) says that the name
magnes or magnetes indicates the place of origin, ‘ in Magnesia \ But there were
several places called Magnesia, and therefore several different ‘ Magnesian stones 9 .
The magnet (magnetite: see above) is one of them, but when Pliny (XXXVI, 66,
192) says that magnes is used in glassmaking, this can hardly be magnetite, which
contains iron and would make the glass very dark-coloured. It may have been either of
the other two substances which have also inherited the name of the ‘ Magnesian stone 9


3 This is not in any of the sources listed
above, but Albert could have found it in
many other places, for instance in Ptolemy's
Quadripartitum (Tetrabiblos, I, 3, 13), which he
cites on astrology (see Appendix C, 2).

4 See II, ii, 1, Adamas, note 8.

5 Bartholomew cites this statement as from
‘Dyascorides' : it probably comes from the
Lapidary of Aristotle.

6 Also from the Lapidary of Aristotle (see

notes on II, iii, 6). Pliny, too, thought that a


magnet that repels is a different mineral from
one that attracts. 7 See I, i, 7, note 7.

8 See II, iii, 6, note 17.

9 ‘Magic* may have been sleight-of-hand
tricks with concealed magnets.

10 All that follows appears in Damigeron
(XXXIV) and is repeated by Marbod and
Albert's contemporaries.

1 1 Something other than magnetite must be
meant — perhaps bitumen, or perhaps some
drug ‘from Magnesia’.



105


BOOK II, TRACTATE ii

— magnesia ( that is, dolomitic limestone) or manganese. Albert’s description indicates
the latter — black manganese minerals, such as pyrolusite, manganite, etc., used to
decolorize and clarify the glass.

Magnesia, which some call magnosia, is a black stone frequently used by
glassmakers. This stone melts and fuses if the fire is very strong, but not
otherwise; and then, mixed with the glass, it purifies its substance.

MARCHASITA

This is an alchemical term for metallic sulphides, such as pyrite or marcasite. It is
seldom found in lapidaries, though the same minerals are described under different
names: see II, ii, 14, Perithe; 18, Topasion (in part); 19, Virites. And marchasita
is discussed again in V, 6.

Marchasita, or marchasida, as some people say, is a stony substance, and there
are many kinds of it: for it takes the colour of any metal whatever, and
so it is called ‘silver’ or ‘golden’ marchasita, and so on for the other metals.
But the metal that colours it cannot be smelted from it, but evaporates in
the fire, leaving only useless ash. This stone is well known among
alchemists, and is found in many places.

MARGARITA

Marbod, L, Margarita, Unio; Arnold, p. 73, Margarita; Bartholomew, XVI, 62, Margarita,
Unio; Thomas, Evans, p. 231, Margarita, Unio.

This is pearl. The account of its origin is an echo of Pliny (IX, 54-59, 106-24) and
the medical uses are from some medical work (cf. Constantine, Book of Degrees,
(Opera, p. 351, pema)); but Albert has added some of his own observations.

Margarita (pearl) is a stone found in dark-coloured shells. The best come
from India, but many also come from the British Sea, now called the
English [Channel] ; and they are also found [on the side] towards Flanders
and Teutonia: so that I myself have had ten in my mouth at a single meal,
which I found while eating oysters. The young shellfish have the better
[pearls]. Some are pierced and some are not . 12 Their colour is very white,
but as if a little light were shining through it, and so they gleam although
they are white. It is said that during a thunderstorm the oysters, mis-
carrying, as it were, cast them out. And so they are found in rivers, in the

12 Some of the pearls imported from the were natural. Indeed Bartholomew distin-
Orient were already pierced and there seems guishes between pearls pierced arte and naturae
to have been a general belief that the holes liter (the latter ‘are better’).



io6


BOOK OF MINERALS


Moselle and some rivers in France, among the sands. 13 Their power has
been found by experience to relieve difficulty in breathing and heart
attacks and fainting fits; and it is good against bleeding and jaundice and
diarrhoea.

MEDIUS

Marbod, XXXVT, Medus ; Arnold, p. 73, Medo; Bartholomew, XVI, 67, Medus ; Thomas,
I 33 r_I 33 ' r , Medus.

The stone ' ‘from Media was probably a mixture of impure metallic sulphates, described
again as atramentum (V, j).

Medius is named from the country of the Medes, where much of it is
found. There are two varieties of it, one black, the other green. They say
it has power against chronic gout, and dimness of the eyes, and kidney
troubles. And it is said to strengthen those who are weak and weary and
feeble. They say that if fragments of the black kind are dissolved in hot
water, and anyone washes in that water, the skin peels from his body; and
if he drinks it, he will die of vomiting.

MELOCHITES

Marbod, LIV, Melochites ; Arnold, p. 73, Molochites ; Bartholomew, XVI, 68, Merochites;
Thomas, Evans, 1922, p. 232, Melonites.

This is malachite {Pliny, XXXVII, 36, 114, molochitis) named from the mallow
plant because of its bright green colour. It is a copper carbonate, too soft for jewellery,
but effective in ornamental veneers, mosaics, small sculptures, etc. In ancient times
it may have been included under smaragdu s {II, ii, 1 7).

Melochites (malachite), which some people call melonites, is an Arabian
stone of a thick green, not transparent like smaragdus; and it is soft. It is
said to have the power of protecting the wearer from harm, and [of
guarding] the cradles of infants.

MEMPHITES

Marbod, ; Arnold, ; Bartholomew, XVI, 65, Menophitis; Thomas, I33r, Memphites.

This stone ‘ of Memphis 9 comes from Pliny {XXXVI, 11, 56) by way of Isidore {Etym.
XVI, 4, 14), of whom Bartholomew gives a direct quotation and Thomas a paraphrase

13 Pearls occur in fresh-water mussels, are found in three ways: for sometimes they
and so could get into river sands, but they are are found attached to the shells, sometimes
so soft that they would soon be destroyed by in the oysters themselves, and sometimes
friction in transportation, and a good one among the stones under which the oysters
would be a rare find. In his Animals (XXIV, hide themselves. Those that come from the
74), Albert says: ‘In our country they [pearls] Orient are better/



BOOK II, TRACTATE ii 107

very similar to Albert’s. The substance is not a stone, of course, but probably a vegetable
drug.

Memphites is named from the city in Egypt called Memphis. It is said to
be as hot as fire, with a power that is seen by its effect. For if crushed and
mixed with water, and given as a drink to those who have to be cauterized
or cut, it induces insensibility, so that the pain is not felt.


CHAPTER 12 : THOSE BEGINNING WITH THE
LETTER N

NITRUM

Marbod, ; Arnold, p. 73, Nitrum ; Bartholomew, XVI, 70, Nitrum ; Thomas, 133 v,

(N)itrum.

Nitrum is mostly soda or borax (not nitre). It is more fully described in V, 7. The
brief statement here is evidently from the source used by Arnold , Thomas , and
Bartholomew (who calls it ‘ Dyascorides ’).

Nitrum approaches the solidity of stone. It is somewhat pale and
transparent. And it has been proved to have the power of dissolving
and attracting. It is a remedy for jaundice, and it is a kind of salt.

NICOMAR

Marbod, ; Arnold, pp. 73-74, Nycomar, Alabastrum; Bartholomew, XVI, 3, Alabastrum ,

Nicomar; Thomas, 13 3 v, Nuchamar, Alabastrum .

The classical name was alabastrites (Pliny, XXXVI, 12, 60-61). Bartholomew says
the name nicomar is from ‘ Dyascorides \ The mineral is alabaster, a fine-grained,
translucent form of gypsum; some onyx marble (calcite) was probably included .

Nicomar is the same as alabaster, which is a kind of marble; but because of
its marvellous power it is placed among precious stones. And experience
shows that by its coldness it preserves aromatic unguents; and therefore
the ancients made ointment boxes 1 of it. And by its coldness it also
preserves the corpses of the dead from smelling extremely offensive; and
therefore ancient monuments and tombs are found [made] of this stone.
It is shining white. And they say that it gives victory and preserves
friendship.

1 pyxides. Isidore (Etym. XVI, 5, 7), in his Jesus (Matt. xxvi. 6-7; Mark xiv. 3 ; Luke vii.
description of alabastrites, refers to the woman 37-38).
who brought an alabaster box of ointment to



io8


BOOK OF MINERALS


NUSAE

Marbod, ; Arnold, p. 74, Nose; Bartholomew, XVI, 71, Noset; Thomas, 133V, Noshe.

This is the toadstone again (cf. II, ii, 2 , Borax), but from another source, which
Bartholomew identifies as ‘Dyascorides’ .

Nusae. Some people say that there is a stone of this name and that it is a
kind of toadstone, and is found in many toads. There are two kinds. One
is whitish, as if milk were mingled with blood and predominated in it,
and thus blood-red streaks appear in it, they say. The other is black, and
sometimes has inside it a figure of a toad 2 with feet outstretched before and
behind. They say, too, that if both stones are shut up together in the pre-
sence of poison, they bum the hand of anyone who touches them. They say
that a proof of the stone’s genuineness is that, if it is shown to a five toad, 3
the toad stretches up towards it and touches it if possible. It is also said that
in the presence of poison the whitish kind takes on varied colours. 4


CHAPTER 13: THOSE BEGINNING WITH THE
LETTER O

ONYX

Marbod, IX, Onyx ; Arnold, p. 74, Onyx ; Bartholomew, XVI, 72, Onichinus, Onix; Thomas,
I33V-I34T, Onix, Onichinus.


Onyx, then as now , was applied both to a banded calcareous travertine (' 'onyx marble ’)
and to a variety of chalcedony having thin, distinct layers of contrasting colours. The
latter is harder and more suitable for gems, the layers being exploited in cutting cameos.

Onyx is said to be a gem of a black colour; 1 there is found a better kind of
it which is black, streaked with white veins. It comes from Media and


2 Probably a fossil: see II, ii, 2, Borax.

3 Another story about a stone and a live
toad (perhaps a conjuror’s trick) is told by
Albert in his Plants (VI, ii, 1) :

Recently there was seen in our country a
smaragdus, small in size but remarkably beauti-
ful. And when its power was to be tested, a
bystander said that if a circle were drawn
around a toad with the smaragdus , one of two
things would happen: either the stone, if its
power were weak, would be broken by the
toad’s gaze; or else the toad would burst if the
stone really had its own natural vigour.
Without delay, they did as he said. And after
a short time, during which the toad gazed
fixedly upon it, the stone began to crack like


a nut, and one piece of it sprang right out of
the ring. Then the toad, which until now had
been keeping perfectly still, began to move
away, as if it had been freed from the power of
the stone.

4 Stones reputed to have this power were
sometimes mounted on dishes or drinking
cups. Cups of electrum (see V, 9) were valued
for the same reason.

♦

1 Onyx actually shows a wide range of
colours, but Albert relegates grey, brown,
and especially flesh-coloured varieties to
onycha , below. Stones with layers of red and
white are called sardonyx (II, ii, 17).



109


BOOK II, TRACTATE ii

Arabia. Five varieties are found, based on differences in their veining and
colours. They say 2 that, worn around the neck or on the finger, it induces
sorrow and fear and terrible dreams in sleep; and it is reported to increase
sorrows and dissensions; and they say that it increases saliva in children.
But sard, if present, restrains the onyx and keeps it from doing harm.
If 3 [onyx] really has all these [properties], surely this is because it has the
power of affecting black bile, especially in the head; for all these disorders
come from the motion and vapour [of black bile].

ONYCHA

(References as for ONYX, above.)

The word ‘ Onyx' is from the Greek for fingernail (Pliny, XXXVII, 24, go-91),
and Albert, like Bartholomew and Thomas, seems to distinguish stones of this colour
from black-and-white onyx (above). But the word was applied also to other things
having the colour and horny lustre of a fingernail. Pliny (XXXII, 46, 134) uses
onycha of the translucent horny operculum of a sea snail, the murex from which the
famous Tyrian dye was made. And in his book on incense trees he says that certain
gums (XII, 19, 36, bdellium; 35, 70, myrrha) show bright marks ‘like fingernails ’ ,
as if this were a technical term, perhaps for conchoidal fracture. Medieval writers use
onycha as the name of an aromatic gum, and Albert discusses these different meanings of
onycha in his Plants (VI, i, 28). In the present passage some of his statements seem to
refer to a gum rather than a mineral.

Onycha, or onychulus, as some people say, is really the same as onyx, since
it is very similar, or may be a variety of it. Its colour, however, is not
always, but only sometimes, black; but it is [more commonly] like the
colour of the human fingernail, as we have said above. But the stone
named onychinus is found of many colours, white, black, and reddish;
nevertheless, all these are formed in some substance that is very like the
human fingernail. They say, too, that drops of gum from a tree called
onycha harden into stone; and this is the reason why it has an odour in the
fire. They also declare that this is the reason why, more frequently than
other stones, it is found marked with images . 4 For the drops are soft at
first and easily formed into figures; and the gum retains these figures

2 This and the next three statements come based on the theory of bodily humours,
from Costa ben Luca’s Letter on Incantations Black bile ( melancholia ) was supposed to be the
(Constantine, Opera , p. 319), quoted from the cause of depression and sadness.

Lapidary of Aristotle . Bartholomew gives the 4 antique cameos; but Albert seems to
same as from ‘Dyascorides’. consider these figures natural (cf. II, iii, 2 and

3 What follows is Albert’s own explanation, 4) .



no BOOK OF MINERALS

when it consolidates and hardens into stone. They say that this stone can
be put into the eye without being felt, and this is marvellous. But I myself
have seen a saphirus put into the eye, and a cockstone, 5 and another stone
whose name I do not know, without damage to the eye. For a smoothly
polished thing does not damage the eye, unless it should touch the centre,
or pupil, the sensitive part opposite the opening of the eyeball.

OPHTHALMUS

Marbod, XLIX, Optallius ; Arnold, p. 74, Optallius ; Bartholomew, XVI, 73, Optallius ,

Opallus; Thomas, I34r, Ostolanus , Olthamus.

This is precious opal , as is clear from Pliny s description of the play of colours ( XXXVII
21, 80-82 , opalus). But something seems to have been lost from the source used by
Arnold , Thomas , and Albert . Thomas , too , complains that the books do not say what
the stone looks like , but adds that this is so that it may not be easily found ( presumably
because it could be put to bad uses). Albert's spelling is consistent with his attempt to
derive the name from ophthalmia. This association of opals and eyes is persistent:
see II ,ii, 8 , Hiena; 14, Pantherus. And the ambivalent feelings with which such
‘ eye stones' were regarded lingers even today in the superstition that opals are unlucky .

Ophthalmus is a stone named from ophthalmia (an eye disease). Its colour
is not stated, perhaps because it is of many colours. It is said to protect the
wearer against all bad diseases of the eyes; but to dim the sight of those
near by. And therefore it is known as the protector of thieves; for those
who wear it are, as it were, invisible.

ORISTES

Marbod, XLIII, Orites ; Arnold, p. 74, Orites; Bartholomew, XVI, 74, Orites; Thomas,

I34r, Orities.

The correct name is orites, Greek ‘ mountain stone'. Pliny (XXXVII, 65, 176;
XXXVII , 67, 182) says it is the same as sideritis ( Greek ‘ iron stone'), which causes
discord. So perhaps this is another report of the ‘ repulsive ' rather than the ‘ attractive '
power of magnetite. But the stone cannot be identified with certainty.

Oristes has three varieties. One of these is black and round. Another is
green with white spots. The third is pardy rough and pardy smooth and
its colour is like a plate of iron. And its constitution is such, they say, that if
rubbed with rose oil it preserves the wearer from misfortune and from the
harmful bites of reptiles. It is also said in [books on] physical ligatures that
if worn by a woman it prevents her from conceiving ; and if she is pregnant,
she will miscarry.

5 See II, ii, 1, Alecterius; also 17, Saphirus. eye stimulated tears and helped to wash out
Perhaps putting a small smooth stone into the foreign matter or pus.



BOOK II, TRACTATE ii


hi


ORPHANUS

This is not the name of any species of mineral, but probably designates an individual
gem, famous enough to have a name of its own ( like the Kohinoor and others today).
The description indicates afire opal. It is mentioned in medieval accounts of the Crown
of the Holy Roman Empire, but by the fourteenth century it had been lost and was
replaced by a sapphire ( Schmidt , 1948, pp. 68, 91-93).

Orphanus is the stone in the crown of the Roman Emperor, and has never
been seen anywhere else, and therefore it is called the orphan. Its colour is
like wine, of a delicate wine-red, as if gleaming or shining white snow
were mingled with clear red wine, and were overcome by it. It is a
brilliant stone, and tradition says that at one time it used to shine by night;
but nowadays it does not shine in the dark. It is said to preserve the royal
honour.


CHAPTER 14 : THOSE BEGINNING WITH THE
LETTER P

PANTHERUS

Marbod, LI, Pantheron; Arnold, p. 74, Pantherus; Bartholomew, XVI, 80, Panteron; Thomas,
134V, Ptmthera.

This is opal again. The correct name is panchrus (Greek, ‘all colours’: Pliny, XXXVII
66, 1 78). Damigeron ( XLIV ) and Marbod are responsible for connecting it with the
‘many-coloured’ beast, the panther.

Pantherus is a stone having many colours in a single stone, [namely]
black, green, red, and many more; and it is also found pale purple, and
rose-coloured. They say it impairs the sight. It is found mostly in Media.
The wearer should look at it early in the morning when the sun is rising,
in order to be successful and victorious. It is said to have as many powers
as it has colours.


PERANITES

Marbod, XXXIV, Peanites ; Arnold, p. 74, Peanites; Bartholomew, XVI, 79, Pionites ;
Thomas, I34v-i35r, Peanites .

Pliny (XXXVII, 66, 180) calls this paeanites ( probably from Greek Paian, physician
of the gods , with some reference to its supposed help in childbirth) or geanis ( Greek
' earthstone). Like the eaglestone (II, ii, 5, Echites), itis a geode containing small
pebbles or crystals, which are * born when the ‘ mother stone is broken.



112


BOOK OF MINERALS


Peranites is a stone occurring in [Macedonia.] 1 It is of the female sex ; for at
a certain season it is said to conceive and give birth to another natural
stone like itself. And it is said to be good for pregnant women.

PERITHE

Marbod, LVI, Pyrites; Arnold, p. 75, Pirites, Virites; Bartholomew, XVI, 78, Pirites; Thomas,
I34r, Perites, Peridonius.

This is pyrite, named from the Greek word for ‘fire’, since it can be used to strike a
spark (Pliny, XXXVI, 30, 137-8). The story that it burns the hand also goes back to
Pliny (XXXVII, 73, 189 ) and is not entirely fabulous, though somewhat exaggerated:
pyrite on weathering produces sulphuric acid that would irritate the hands of anyone
who handled it very much. The mineral is repeated under other names: marchasita
(II, ii, 11 and V, 6); topasion (II, ii, 18); virites (II, ii, 19).

Perithe, or peridonius, 2 is a stone of a yellowish colour. It is said to be good
for coughs. And a marvellous thing is reported of this stone — that if it is
strongly gripped in the hand, it bums the hand; and so it should be
touched lighdy and cautiously. There is said to be another variety of this
which is similar to chrysolitus, except that it is greener.

PRASSIUS

Marbod, XL, Praxus; Arnold, p. 74, Prassius; Bartholomew, XVI, 77, Prassius; Thomas,
134V, Prasius.

Pliny’s prasius (XXXVII, 34, 113 ) is named from its colour, Greek ‘leek-green .
It is green chalcedony, including dark green prase, bright green plasma, and probably
green jasper and similar green stones. The red-spotted kind has already been described
(II, ii, j.Eliotropia).

Prassius is a stone which is very often the matrix and ‘palace’ of smaragdus. 3
It is of an opaque dark green colour like the plant prassius, or horehound. 4
It is found sometimes with red spots, and sometimes with white. Experi-
ence shows that it benefits the sight, and it has some of the properties of
jasper, and some of those of smaragdus.

1 de micheton, error for Macedon (as in from Theophrastus (On Stones, 27), who says

Pliny). that green smaragdus is formed from jasper, the

2 peridonius is different from pyrite, pro- proof being that a stone was once found that

bably peridot, and if so belongs with the last was half-and-half, the transformation still
sentence, which refers to the olivines — pale incomplete. It was probably a zoned or patchi-
yellow-green chrysolite and dark green ly coloured stone, or perhaps an aggregate
peridot. But see II, ii, 3, Chrysolitus and of green copper minerals: see II, ii, 17,
Chryselectrum. Smaragdus.

3 See also II, ii, 2, Balagius. The statement 4 prassium quod est marrubium: but the name
comes, by way of Pliny (XXXVII, 19, 75), is really derived from Greek prason, ‘a leek*.



BOOK II, TRACTATE ii 113

[PYROPHILUS]

Borgnet has no heading here, and below prints the name as prophilis. Thomas ( 1340 ,
Pyropholos) gives an account very similar to Albert’s, citing the same authorities,
which I have not identified.

[Pyrophilus]. In a letter, certain Aesculapian philosophers 5 told Octavian
Augustus that some poison is of such coldness that the heart of a man
slain by it is preserved from the fire. And if that heart is placed in the fire
for a long time, so that it is converted into stone by baking, that stone is
called [pyrophilus] from the fire, and it is called humanus 6 from its [human]
material. It is said to be [precious] 7 because it brings victory and protects
from poison.

A story is told, 8 although it may be nothing but a story, about Alex-
ander of Macedon, who wore this stone in his girdle in battle. And when
he was returning from India, he wanted to bathe in the Euphrates, and
laid aside his girdle; and a serpent bit off the stone and broke it, and spat
it out into the Euphrates. Aristotle is said to have mentioned this in a book
on The Nature of Serpents, which has not come down to us. This stone is
red with a mixture of shining white.

CHAPTER 15 : THOSE BEGINNING WITH THE
LETTER Q

QUANDROS

Marbod, ; Arnold, p. 74, Quanidros ; Bartholomew, XVI, 84, Quandros ; Thomas, I35r,

Quinidros.

All these accounts are so similar as to point to one source , which Bartholomew says is
‘Dyascorides’. The stone belongs to the same category as the cockstone (II, ii, 1,
Alecterius).

Quandros is a stone sometimes found in the brain of a vulture. Its power is
said to be good against any kind of misfortune; and it fills the breasts with
milk.

5 The letter of the Aesculapians would seem but not from illness and suffering.

to have some connexion with the statement of 7 praeconsus: the word may be from prae-
Pliny (XI, 71, 187) that Germanicus Caesar conari , ‘to praise’. Or it may be an error for
(who died in a.d. 19) was believed to have preciosus (ed. 1518).

been poisoned, because his heart was not 8 This is printed as if part of the preceding,
consumed on the funeral pyre. But the but it is probably a separate, though nameless,
Emperor at that time was Tiberius; Octavian stone. The theme is ancient, and in stories of
diedinA.D.14. this type the hero suffers from misfortune

6 Thomas adds that the stone called after the loss of his talisman.
humanus protects a man from actual death,



H 4 BOOK OF MINERALS

QUIRITIA

Marbod, ; Arnold, p. 74, Quinn ; Bartholomew, XVI, 83, Quirin ; Thomas, i35r, Quinn.

These, too, are all very similar and indicate a single source, and again Bartholomew
says ‘Dyascorides’. The hoopoe, a bird with spectacular black-and-white markings
and a large crest, was supposed to eat, and to nest in, filth. In Albert's Animals
(XXIII, 111) he says that the hoopoe’s blood, smeared on the forehead before one goes
to bed, brings nightmares; and that its brain, tongue, and heart are used in incantations
that he has no intention of describing.

Quiritia is a stone sometimes found in the nest of the hoopoe, a bird
entirely [devoted to] illusions and augury, according to the magicians and
soothsayers. This stone reveals secrets and produces hallucinations, if
placed on the breast of a sleeper.


CHAPTER 16 : THOSE BEGINNING WITH THE
LETTER R

RADAIM

This is only in Arnold (p. 74, Radaym, Donatides), who gives no source. The stone
is another version of alecterius (II, ii, 1).

Radaim and donatides are said to be the same stone. And they say that it is
shining black. It is reported that, when the heads of fowls are given to
ants to eat, after a long time this stone is sometimes found in the head of a
cock. And it is said to enable [one] to obtain whatever he wishes.

RAMAI

Marbod, ; Arnold, p. 74, Ramuy , Bolus armenicus; Bartholomew, XVT, 85, Rabri , Bolus

armenicus; Thomas, .

Here again both accounts seem to come from a common source , which, however , is not
named. But Bolus armenicus does occur in medical books, e.g. Constantine's Book of
Degrees (Opera, p. 353). ‘ Bolus is cold and dry in the first degree. It is prescribed for
bleeding , diarrhoea , dysentry , haemorrhoids and tenasmus \ and other ailments for
which Galen and Dioscorides are cited. The mineral is a kind of clay or ochre, supposed
to come from Armenia.

Ramai, which is mentioned in medical and alchemical [books], is the
same as Bolus armenus. It is a reddish stone. Experience gives certain proof
that it overcomes looseness of the bowels, and especially the bleeding of
dysentery and menstruation.



BOOK II, TRACTATE ii 115

CHAPTER 17 : THOSE BEGINNING WITH THE

LETTER S

SAPHIRUS

Marbod, V, Sapphirus, Syrtites; Arnold, p. 74, Saphinis, Syrtites ; Bartholomew, XVI, 87,

Saphirus, Sirtites; Thomas, I3jr-i35v, Saphyrus.

The sapphirus of the ancients (Pliny, XXXVII, 39, 120; Theophrastus, On Stones,
37) was lapis lazuli, a brilliant blue opaque aggregate of sodalite minerals (see II, ii, 20,
zemech). By the thirteenth century, however, saphirus was beginning to mean
transparent blue gems, especially blue corundum, our sapphire. The inconsistencies
in Albert's account spring from the difficulty of reconciling descriptions of these two
different kinds of saphirus. The other name, syrtites (Pliny, XXXVII, 67, 182),
did not really belong to either of these; it was a * honey-yellow ’ stone with faint
stars’ in it— probably our sunstone, aventurine feldspar or quartz. But lapis lazuli
often contains ‘golden’ specks of pyrite, and these were evidently taken to be the ‘stars’
of syrtites.

Saphirus is a very famous stone, and most of it comes from the East, from
India. It is [also] found in an underground mine in the neighbourhood of
the city of [Le Puy], 1 in Provence; but this is not so precious as to be
exacdy like the Oriental [kind]. Its colour is a transparent blue like a
clear sky, but the blue colour predominates; and [oriental] the better
kind is not quite transparent. The best has dark clouds with a reddish
tinge; but a good kind is found that has small white clouds; its substance
is like a dusky cloud, but rather translucent. I [myself] 2 have observed the
power of one that cured two abscesses. They say, too, that this stone
makes a man chaste and cools internal heat, checks sweating, and cures
headache and pain in the tongue. I myself have seen one put into the eye
to remove dirt from the eyes; 3 but it should be placed in cold water
beforehand and likewise afterwards. As to the statement that it loses its
power and colour after it has once cured an abscess, that is not true; for I
have seen one that cured two abscesses in succession, with an intervening
period of nearly four years. They say that it invigorates the body, and
brings about peaceful agreements, and makes one pious and devoted to
God, and confirms the mind in goodness. This stone is also called by

1 in hypodromo apud Thodanum provinciae a thirteenth-century French lapidary (Studer
regionem et civitatem: Thodanum must be an and Evans, 1924, pp. 140-1).
error for Podium, a puy, an old volcanic 2 ergo, error for ego.

cone in Auvergne. The locality is more 3 See II, ii, 13, Onycha, note 5.

specifically named, Le Puy de Notre Dame, in



ii 6 BOOK OF MINERALS

another name sirites or, as others prefer, sirtites, because it is found in
sandbanks ( syrtis ). 4

SARCOPHAGUS

This is mentioned by Pliny (XXXVI, 27, 131), but Albert and Thomas (i36r) quote
Isidore of Seville (Etym. XVI, 4, 15). The stone is marble or alabaster (see II, ii, 12,
nicomar) but the tale about consuming corpses is a confusion with a similar tale about
quicklime.

Sarcophagus is a stone that devours dead bodies, for in Greek cdpKos
means ‘flesh’ and 90706 ‘eat’. Some of the ancients first made coffins for the
dead of this stone because in the space of thirty days it consumed the dead
body. For this reason our stone monuments are called sarcophagi.

[SAGDA]

Marbod, XXXV, Sada; Arnold, p. 75, Sadia; Bartholomew, ; Thomas, 136V, Sarda.

The name is printed as sarda (which is also in Thomas), but this is wrong, since the
stone is not sard (see sardinus below) but a barnacle shell, first described by Pliny
(XXXVII, 67, 181, sagda).

[Sagda], which others call sardo, is a stone that is related to planks of wood
as magnet is related to iron, and so it clings so tightly to the planks of
ships that it cannot be removed except by cutting away the plank to
which it clings. In colour it is [green like prase]. 5

SARDINUS

Marbod, X, Sardius ; Arnold, p. 74, Sardius ; Bartholomew, XVT, 89, Sardius; Thomas,
I36r, Sardius .

The usual medieval name seems to be sardius, but Pliny called it sarda, 'from Sardis 9
(Nat. Hist. XXXVII , 31, 105-6). Sard is translucent reddish or yellowish-brown
chalcedony , not so red as carnelian (see II, ii, 3, Comeolus); Albert may have included
red or brownish-red jasper, which is not translucent.

Sardinus (sard) has been included since antiquity among precious stones.
It is of a thick red colour, but somewhat translucent, as if red earth were
imagined [to have] some transparency. And there are five varieties, based
on the different degrees of transparency in each. And perhaps this is the

4 Syrtis also referred to banks off the coast identification o£syrtitis and saphirus.
of North Africa in the Gulf of Sidra; but 5 purissimum nitens, ‘very pure and shining’ :
gemstones are sometimes found in alluvial but (ed. 1518) prasinus hoc est virens must be
deposits, and rumours of the gem gravels of correct, since all other accounts say it is green.
India may have reinforced the (mistaken)



BOOK II, TRACTATE ii 117

matrix of other [stones], and the ‘house’ 6 in which they are produced. It is
reported to have been found formerly near the city of Sardis, and there-
fore it is so named. And they say that it arouses the soul to joy and sharpens
the wits; and by its counteracting powers it restrains onyx from doing
harm.


SARDONYX

Marbod, VIII, Sardonyx; Arnold, p. 74, Sardonycem; Bartholomew, XVI, 90, Sardonix;
Thomas, I35v-I36r, Sardonix.

Sardonyx, as the name indicates, is onyx in which there are red layers of sard or
camelian (Pliny, XXXVII, 23, 86-89). But the statement that sard has an effect
contrary to that of onyx comes from Costa ben Luca Letter on Incantations (Con-
stantine, Opera, p. 319), and is a quotation from the Lapidary of Aristode.

Sardonyx, which some call sardonycem, is composed of two stones, namely
sard and onyx. Therefore it is red, and this colour predominates in it
because of the sard; and it is also white and black and the colour of the
fingernail, which it gets from the onyx. The kind that is more admired
has these colours in distinct layers, and is somewhat more compact in
substance. There are found five varieties, and perhaps more, based on
different mixtures of colour and different compactness. [Sardonyx] is
frequently found in India and Arabia. It is said to drive out licentiousness
and to make a man chaste and modest. But its greatest power is due to the
fact that, although there is onyx in it, it cannot do any harm because it has
sard combined with its substance.

[SAMIUS]

The printed text has Sarmius, and Sarmia for the island; but Thomas (ij6r) has the
correct samius, the ‘Samian stone from the island of Samos, described by Pliny
(XXXVI, 40, 152-3). It is probably compacted chalk or white clay, which in softer
form was called ‘Samian earth’ (Pliny, XXXV, 53, 191).

[Samius] is a stone named from the island of [Samos], where it is found.
Gold is polished with this stone. It is also said that, taken in drink, it cures
dizziness and settles the mind; but it is said to have this disadvantage, that
if it is bound to the hand of woman in childbirth, it hinders the birth and
keeps it back in the womb.

6 See II, ii, 14, Prassius, note 3.



n8


BOOK OF MINERALS


SILENITES

Marbod, XXVI, Silenites ; Arnold, p. 75, Sylenites; Bartholomew, XVI, 92, Silenites ; Thomas,

136V, Synolites.

Selenites was named from the Greek selene, 6 moon stone (Pliny, XXXVII , 67, 181).
Today the name selenite is used for transparent crystals of gypsum (see Specularis
below), and our 6 moonstone 9 is chatoyant or iridescent feldspar . The original ‘ stone
of the moon may have been either of these, or it may have been some other chatoyant
gem, such as cat’s-eye or opal . But Damigeron (XLV) says the stone is Hike jasper 9 ,
which Marbod interprets as green (see II, ii, 8, Jaspis). Albert's account here closely
follows Thomas's, which differs from others in combining some items from celontes
(II, ii, 3) with some from silenites (as given in other lapidaries). But Albert seems to
feel some uncertainty about the actual properties of this stone.

Silenites (stone of the moon) is a stone of which there are varying reports.
For some people say that it occurs in a certain kind of Indian shellfish, and
is of most beautiful varying colours, red, white, and purple. 7 But others
say that it is green and is frequently found in parts of Persia. And they also
say that it increases with the waxing of the moon and decreases with its
waning. 8 They say, too, that wearing it confers a knowledge of
future events, if it is carried under the tongue, especially on the first and
tenth days of the moon. For they say that on the rising of the new moon it
has this power for only one hour; but on the tenth day of the moon, it has
this power in the first and sixth hours. The method 9 of divination is this:
putting it under the tongue, one should think about whether some
matter ought to be undertaken or not; if it should be, the heart is seized
with a firm conviction that cannot be shaken off; but if it should not be,
the heart immediately recoils from it. 10 It is reported, too, that it cures
languid and feeble consumptives.

SMARAGDUS

Marbod, VH, Smaragdus ; Arnold, p. 75, Smaragdus ; Bartholomew, XVI, 88, Smaragdus ;

Thomas, 13 5 v, Smaragdus .

The smaragdus of antiquity (Theophrastus, On Stones, 23-27) included so many
green stones that its translation is very uncertain. The word has come down to us in the
form 'emerald', which now means a transparent, deep-green beryl ; and this was

7 Thus far, the description is that of days of the moon differ in different versions.
celontes (II, ii, 3), but what immediately 9 These directions are found only in
follows is silenites, according to other Thomas.

lapidaries. 10 This is the end of celontes; the remainder

8 What follows is again celontes, though the is ascribed to silenites in other lapidaries.



BOOK II, TRACTATE ii 119

certainly one of the stones described by Pliny (XXXVII, 16-19, 62-75) an ^ included
here. Others were green minerals described elsewhere under other names (see II, ii, 8,
Hyacinthus, Jaspis; 11, Melochites). Still others were rocks— green marble,
alabaster, or serpentine; or even green glass. The story about the griffins comes from
Pliny (VII, 2, 10), who tells it not about emeralds but about gold, which the griffins
of Scythia mine, warring with the one-eyed Arimaspians, who try to rob them. But
Solinus's geographical plan (Coll. XV, 22-27) juxtaposed Scythian griffins and
Scythian smaragdus, and so the two became linked in later accounts.

Smaragdus is a stone more precious than many others, and it is not rare.
Its colour is very green and translucent, so that it seems to tinge the air
around it with its own greenness. The best shape for it is smooth on the
surface, for then one part does not cast a shadow on another part. And the
best do not change [colour] in light and shade. They say that there
are twelve varieties, depending on differences in their smoothness and
colour; for sometimes it has a kind of black gall, 11 like little rods in it.
Some varieties are named from their places of origin — those of Scythia, or
of Britain, 12 and of the Nile; and [then there are] those that occur in veins
of copper; and some that are spotted; and some [called] ‘Chalcedonian’, 13
containing a mixture of that stone [chalcedony]. The best of all are those
of Scythia. It is reported that they are taken from the nests of griffins,
which guard this stone with great ferocity. And a traveller from Greece 14 ,
a truthful man and a careful observer, has said that this stone occurs in
submarine ledges of rock, and that it is frequendy found there. A reason-
able explanation is that it occurs in veins of copper, and is transparent
because it has not yet actually become copper; 15 for the ‘rust’ of copper
[i.e. verdigris] is green. It has been found by experience in our own time
that this stone, if it is good and genuine, will not endure sexual intercourse :
because the present King of Hungary 16 wore this stone on his finger when


11 fel: Pliny (loc. cit.) enumerating the
flaws of smaragdus , speaks of fellis color , ‘a
too-yellow colour*, but also of sal y ‘salt*, i.e.
little granules. And sal (not fel) is also in
Solinus (loc. cit.) and Isidore ( Etym . XVI, 7,
1-3), so it may be the correct reading here.

12 Britannici may be a corruption of
Bactriani , ‘from Bactria*, in other lapidaries;
but possibly Albert knew of some green stone
from Britain (Cornish serpentine?) which he
called smaragdus.

13 Pliny mentions smaragdus ‘from Chalce-


don*; but Albert may be alluding again
to the theory that an inferior stone can de-
velop into a more precious one (see II, ii,
14, Prassius).

14 Green copper minerals occur with silver
ores at Laurium in Attica; and Cyprus was an
ancient centre of copper mining.

15 See Book IH for further discussion of
Albert’s theory that many minerals found in
ore deposits are ‘on the way* to becoming
metals.

16 If Albert had named this King of


L



120


BOOK OF MINERALS


he had intercourse with his wife, and as a result it was broken into three
pieces. And therefore what they say [of this stone] is probable — that it
inclines the wearer towards chastity. They say, too, that it increases
wealth, and confers persuasive speech in [pleading] causes; and suspended
from the neck, cures hemitertian fever and epilepsy . 17 And it has been
found by experience to strengthen weak sight and to preserve the eyes.
They say also that it improves the memory, and averts tempests, and is
good for divination; and therefore it is sought after by magicians.


SPECULARIS

This is in Thomas (1360), and is described by Pliny {XXXVI, 45, 160-2). The name,
from Latin speculum, ‘a mirror ’, includes a number of minerals capable of being split
into thin shining cleavage plates. The kind used for window panes is either selenite
{large crystals of gypsum) or muscovite mica {the name ‘muscovy glass’ was first used
by English travellers who saw mica so used in sixteenth-century Russia).

Specularis (mirrorstone) is so called because it is transparent like glass.
It is said to have been found first near the city of Segovia in Spain. I
myself have seen it found in such quantities that carts were filled with it,
in various parts of Teutonia . 18 I have also seen it found in France along
with gypsum 19 : for it seems to be the purest [form] of gypsum. It is
quarried and split into pieces as thin as desired, and windows are made of
it, just as of glass, except that, in place of the leads, light pieces of fir wood
should be used. There seem to be three varieties of this: one is clear as
glass; and another as black as ink ; 20 and the third is yellow, which they
call auripigmentum (orpiment) or arsenicum, 21 as we have said above; and
this is more valuable and noble.


Hungary, it might have helped us to date
the Book of Minerals. Probably he was Bela
IV, who reigned 1235-70.

17 From Costa ben Luca’s Letter on Incanta-
tions (Constantine Opera , pp. 318-19), quoting
the Lapidary of Aristotle.

18 Selenite occurs in several places in
Teutonia that Albert might have visited,
notably at Eisleben in Saxony. Muscovite is
found in large plates (in pegmatite) near
Salzburg in Austria and at Zillerthal in the
Tyrol.

19 This is selenite, probably from the


quarries of Montmarte near Paris; most of
that deposit, however, is massive granular
gypsum, which was burnt to make ‘plaster
of Paris’. In Theophrastus, Vitruvius, and
Pliny, gypsum seems generally to mean this
burnt material, used for plaster; but Albert
uses it as we do, for the ‘raw’ mineral.

20 Biotite mica is shining black to bronzy
brown; thin plates, are translucent brown to
yellow.

21 Orpiment is bright yellow and fissile
(see II, ii, 6 y falcones\ V, 6, arsenicum).



BOOK II, TRACTATE ii


121


[SUCCINUS]

Marbod, ; Arnold, ; Bartholomew, XVI, 38, Electrum; Thomas, I36r-i36v;

Succinus , Electrum , Lambra.

The printed heading , Suetinus, is obviously an error , since the derivation from succus,
Latin ‘juice, sap 9 , is given just below . This is amber , which was well known , is
described in some lapidaries as lincurius ( see II, ii, 10, Ligurius). The Greek name was
electron, Latin electrum. The account of its origin come originally from Pliny
(XXXVII, n-12, 30-51), who says it is the gum of a species of pine; but he did not
know that the tree is extinct and the gum fossilized . Insects in amber are mentioned in
Meteor. IV, 10, 388 b 18 ff., and Albert amplifies this in his own Meteora (IV, iv, 3):

Electrum is a kind of gum, and electrum and all kinds of ‘ tears 9 distilled from trees
finally grow firm and solidify by cooling. . . . Evidence that ‘ tears 9 and resins solidify
in this way is that animals, such as ants and flies, first falling into the ‘ tear when
it is soft and thinly spread out, are caught in its stickiness and held fast ; and then
more ‘tears' flowing out cover them over in the gum of the tree. And they can be seen
inside because of the transparency of the gum; and their bodies do not decay because
the cold that solidifies the gum keeps the natural heat of the animals from escaping;
and so their natural moisture is preserved and they stay as they are, without decaying.

The most famous locality for amber was the Baltic coast of east Prussia, which Albert
may have visited as Prior Provincial of his Order in 1255, or as Preacher of the Crusade
in 1263.

[Succinus] (amber) is a stone of a yellow colour, which the Greeks call
[electrum]. 22 Sometimes it is found as transparent as glass. The name comes
from the material, for it is made of the juice (succus) or gum of a tree
called pine. A popular name for it is [lambra]. 23 If rubbed it attracts leaves,
straws, and threads, as the magnet [attracts] iron. They say that it makes
those that wear it chaste. Experience shows that if burnt it drives away
serpents ; 24 and it helps pregnant women to an easy birth. The better kind
is formed from the juice that runs out in the hot summer; the darker kind,
from the juice of the other [seasons ] 25

22 eliciam: but Thomas has electrum , and gris, obtained from whales and used in per-
his whole account is so similar to Albert’s fumes.

that I have used it for corrections. 24 This seems to be a confusion with jet

23 lubra: but Thomas, lambra. The origin (II, ii, 7, Gagates), but it is also in Thomas,
of our word ‘amber’ is said to be Arabic el 25 corporis : but Thomas, temporis.
ambari , which may, however, refer to amber-



122


BOOK OF MINERALS


SYRUS

This is in Thomas ( 136c ) and is derived from Pliny (XXXVI, 26, 130) by way of
Isidore (Etym. XVI, 4, 10). It is pumice from the island of Syros (modern Syra),
perhaps washed up there after volcanic outbursts at Thera. Isidore is responsible for
turning it into a ‘ Syrian stone. The final sentence has been added by Albert.

Syrus is a stone from Syria, according to Isidore, which floats when it is
whole and [sinks] 26 when broken into bits. Surely the reason for this is that
when it is whole, the pores contain Air, which escapes from the powder
of the broken stone.


CHAPTER 18 : THOSE BEGINNING WITH THE
LETTER T

TOPASION

Marbod, XIII, Topazion; Arnold, p. 75, Topazion ; Bartholomew, XVT, 96, Topazius ;

Thomas, I36v-i37r, Topazius .

This is another name that changed its meaning in the Middle Ages , and the inconsis-
tencies in Albert's references to it , here and elsewhere , show that in his time it was
applied to three different stones: (1) Originally , in Pliny (XXXVII, 32, 107-9),
topazos was a green stone from an island, Topazos (now St.Johns), in the Red Sea.
This was olivine, and Pliny's two varieties, prasoides (like a leek') and chrysopteron
(golden wing') were dark green peridot and yellow-green chrysolite respectively (see
II, ii, 3 ,Chrysolitus). (2) Later writers continued to mention two kinds, but emphasized
the \ golden ' one, until the name came to mean a transparent yellow or orange stone, our
topaz ; other yellow stones were included, especially citrine quartz, which even today
sometimes masquerades as topaz. (3) But in the source used by Arnold and Bartholomew
{who names it as ( Dyascorides') topasion is confused with another stone that causes
water to stop boiling and reflects objects like a concave mirror — that is, hephaestites
(see II, ii, 5, Epistrites). Albert seems to accept the last interpretation.

Topasion is a stone named from the place of its first discovery, which is
said to have been an island [called] Topasis. It presents a certain similarity
to gold. There are two varieties of these stones. One of them is entirely
similar to gold, and this is more precious. The other is yellow, but more
transparent 1 than the colour of gold, and this is less valuable. It has been

26 jiuctuat, ‘floats’, but the sense requires paler, more silvery, colour than gold. But
mergitur as in Thomas, Isidore, and Pliny. perhaps ‘thinner’ means ‘more transparent*

* (as crassus or spissus , ‘thick* is used for opaque

1 magis tenuis , literally ‘thinner*. If Albert colours), and if so, topasion is, at least in part,
means opaque marcasite, this does have a topaz.



123


BOOK II, TRACTATE ii

found by experience in our own tune that if it is put into boiling water it
makes the water stop bubbling, so that soon 2 the hand can be put in, to
take it out; and a member of our Order actually did this at Paris. 3 They
also say that it is a remedy for haemorrhoids and for attacks of lunacy 4 .
And it is certain that this stone is a mirror and reflects the image of an
object [inverted] 5 * as a concave mirror does. And the reason for this is
merely that it has grown together on the inside and hardened so that the
surface is concave.


TURCHOIS

Marbod, ; Arnold, p. 75, Turcoys ; Bartholomew, XVI, 97, Turchogis , Turkois ; Thomas,

Turquoise received its name only in the Middle Ages, when it was imported 'from the
Turks ' ; but it was probably described by earlier writers under other names .

Turchois (turquoise) is a stone of a brightly shining blue colour, as if milk
had penetrated the blue colour and risen to the surface through it. They
say that it preserves the sight and protects the wearer from misfortunes.


CHAPTER 19: THOSE BEGINNING WITH THE
LETTER V

VARACH

This is only in Arnold (p. 75). The name * dragons blood 9 goes back to Pliny s story
(XXXIII, 38, 116) that certain red earthy pigments are the blood spilled in combats
between elephants and large snakes (dracones). Albert's account here is essentially
the same as Arnold's, but the description of the red powder seems to be his own. The
mineral is either red ochre or cinnabar.


Varach, which is called ‘dragon’s blood’ (sanguis draconis), is a stone,


2 statim , in classical Latin ‘immediately;’ in
late Latin ‘afterwards’.

3 This is evidence that the statements of
‘authorities’ were sometimes tested. Any cold
stone would, of course, stop the boiling, but
the water would still be painfully hot, unless
statim (note 2 above) is rather liberally inter-
preted.

4 lunaticam passionem. This rests on an old

misunderstanding: Pliny says topazos ‘feels the

file* (limam sentit), that is, it can be scratched


by steel ; this is true of olivine, which is softer
than most precious stones. But Marbod,
through some miscopying or misreading
of the text, says ‘it is thought to feel the
moon ( lunam sentire putatur), and this, of
course, connects it with other ‘moon stones’
and with lunacy, supposed to be influenced
by the moon.

5 convexum : but in Arnold and Bartholo-
mew, inversum.



124


BOOK OF MINERALS


according to Aristotle. 1 But some medical men 2 say that it is the juice of a
certain plant. But [Aristotle’s] statement is proved correct by [the ap-
pearance of] the powder, for its surface is shining and rough, like stone
broken into little pieces. And it is extremely red. It is a remedy for any
sort of flux, especially of blood. From this and quicksilver, algala is made. 3


VERNIX

Marbod, ; Arnold, p. 75; Vemix; Bartholomew, ; Thomas, I37r, ( V)emix .

Arnold , like Albert , gives the synonym lapis armenicus, which may be the same as
bolus armenicus (17, 11, 16, ramai). Thomas gives lapis aromaticus, which might
be an incense gum.

Vemix is also called ‘Armenian stone’. It is of a palish colour, and is a sure
remedy against black bile, and against disorders of the spleen and liver,
and against heart attacks.


VIRITES

Only Arnold ( p . 75) has this form of the name , which may be merely a limner s error
in inserting the initial in (P)irites or may be a confusion with viridis, ‘green , since
Albert mentions a green stone (peridonius) in his duplicate account of this (77, ii, 14 ,
Perithe).

Virites (pyrite) is the gem that we have called [perithe] 4 above. Its colour is
brilliant like fire, as we have said before. It should be touched lightly and
cautiously, or it bums the hand of anyone who touches it. For indeed an
animal that shines by night sometimes bums the hand, as I myself have
often found by experience. 5

1 Reference unidentified, but Arnold also pennyweight should be mixed with two

cites Aristotle here. pennyweights of quicksilver/ Berthelot (op.

2 For example, Constantine (Opera, p. 378) cit., p. 185) thinks these recipes concern
says ‘Dragons blood comes from trees grow- soldering or gilding; so perhaps algala is
ing in Persia and Armenia*. This would be amalgam, used in such work.

the red gum used in varnishes. 4 perirites , evidently referring to perithe (II,

3 A recipe for algala is given in the Book of ii, 14).

the Priests ( Liber sacerdotum, Berthelot, 1893, 5 animal noctiluca may have been a stinging

Vol. 1, p. 215): ‘Of dragon*s blood one jellyfish.



BOOK II, TRACTATE ii 125

CHAPTER 20 : THOSE BEGINNING WITH THE
LETTER Z

ZEMECH

Marbod, ; Arnold, p. 75, Zimech ; Bartholomew, XVI, 103, Zimiech , Lapis lazurii ;

Thomas, I37r, Zunichus , Ldpis lazurii.

This is lapis lazuli , a rock containing several constituents , o/* w/n'c/z most conspicuous
are bright blue minerals of the sodalite group. It is opaque , ranging in colour from azure
to deep greenish and purplish blues; small ‘ golden grains of pyrite are commonly
present. This was the ‘ sapphire ' of the ancients (see II, ii, 17, Saphirus). It was
imported from the East and was ground for use as a pigment called azurium or
ultramarine.

Zemech is the stone [also] called lapis lazuli; in it there is a pale blue
colour with small golden specks. The pigment azure (azurium) is made
from it. It is taken as a sure remedy for black bile and quartan fever, and
for fainting caused by the vapours of black bile.

ZIGRITES

Marbod, ; Arnold, p. 75, Zignites ; Bartholomew, XVI, 104, Zingnites; Thomas, I37r,

Zegnites .

This is unidentifiable, probably fabulous. The name seems to have been corrupted, and
the text used by Arnold, Thomas, and Bartholomew (who calls it ‘ Dyascorides ) is
defective. Damigeron (XXX) has a lignites (perhaps originally lychnites, Greek
‘ a lamp') said to be glassy , to protect against night terrors, and, if the house should
catch fire, to put the fire out. A verse paraphrase of this, dubiously attributed to Marbod
(Migne, P.L., Vol. 171, col. 1779) calls the stone ignites, perhaps because of its effect
on fire (Latin ignis), perhaps just by loss of the initial letter. Since coloured initials
were put in after the text was written, sometimes by a different scribe, such mistakes
are not uncommon. And, indeed, the Z in Albert's source may have been introduced
in this way: if this stood at the end of a list, either because it was spelled Ygnites or
because it was inserted as an afterthought, the limner may have supposed it was to be
supplied with a Z. Albert's version is much poorer than the others , so shrunken as to
be hardly recognizable.

Zigrites is a stone of the colour of glass; and by another name it is called
evax. 1 It is said that, worn around the neck, it reduces bleeding and dispels
delirium.

1 evax: Arnold and Thomas, idem est quod Glossary, p. 398) meaning ‘watery’ — a gloss
euas. This seems to be the old French word on colons vitri, ‘the colour of glass’.
euage or ewus (Studer and Evans, 1924,



126


BOOK OF MINERALS


Enough has now been said about individual stones. For if we wished to
speak individually about the power of every stone whatsoever, we should
exceed the limits of this volume. But as we have said at the beginning, if
anyone wished to experiment, he would find that there is hardly any little
stone that does not have some power or other. But by what has been said
here it is easy to judge all the rest.



TRACTATE 111

THE SIGILS OF STONES: HOW THEY ARE TO BE
DISCUSSED, HOW MANY KINDS THERE ARE,
AND WHAT IS KNOWN OF THEM BY EXPERIENCE

CHAPTER 1 : IMAGES AND SIGILS IN STONES

A sigil (sigillum) is a seal or stamp used for authenticating documents. According
to the medieval doctrine of sigils (sometimes called the ‘doctrine of signatures’),
things in nature are marked with a ‘sign indicating their purpose or use— for
instance the shapes or markings of leaves, flowers, or roots, appropriate to their
medicinal properties. Stones, too, might show significant colour ( e.g . ‘blood’
stones) or markings (‘picture’ agates). But there were also artificial sigils, carved
or engraved on stones to enhance their effects; this practice is mentioned by
Pliny and Damigeron. All this is a kind of ‘natural magic’, and Albert is at pains
to reassure his readers that it is ‘good doctrine’, that is, not against the Christian
faith.

Albert intends to distinguish between artificial and natural sigils in stones,
and this first chapter deals with the latter. His classification of them shows
keen observation. Geologists of today can recognize his three types as (l) ‘pic-
tures’ formed by irregularly distributed colouring matter, especially oxides of iron
and manganese, as in ‘ moss’ agates, &c. ; (2) fossils half embedded in the rock, or
mineral replacements or casts of shells, &c . ; and (3) fossil moulds and impressions.
But the following chapters show that Albert included in the last two categories
some antique cameos and intaglios, not realizing that they were man-made.

Now we must speak of the images and sigils in stones; for although this
[subject] belongs to that part of necromancy which is dependent on
astrology, and is called the necromancy of images and sigils, yet, because
it is good doctrine, and because the members of our Order have desired
to learn this from us, we shall say something here — though rejecting all
incomplete and false statements — about whatever has been written of
these things by many people. Few really understand the writings of the
wise men of antiquity about the sigils of stones, nor is it possible to under-
stand them without at the same time understanding the sciences of
astrology and magic and necromancy.

Beginning, therefore, with the images on stones, we say that there are
three kinds of images found on stones. One of these is an image on the



128


BOOK OF MINERALS


stone neither incised nor projecting, but as if painted upon it by differences
in colour, like a picture. The second [kind] is projecting, as if embossed
upon the stone. The third kind is incised, hollowed out as if parts of the
stone were filed away, leaving other parts untouched. Furthermore, in
the images that are painted, sometimes the image is of the same colour
as the stone, and then it is visible only as a sort of outline on the surface of
the stone; and sometimes the image has a colour entirely different from
the colour of the stone. These two sorts of colouring are [also seen] in the
images that project from the surface of the stone.

I wish first to report what I myself have seen and observed; and then to
explain the cause and the process by which the image is formed by nature;
and third, to speak of images made by art, and to explain the powers of
sigils.

I say, then, that when I was at Venice, as a young man , 1 marble was
being cut with saws to decorate the walls of a church. And it happened
that when one [piece of] marble had been cut in two and the cut slabs
were placed side by side, there appeared a most beautiful picture of a
king’s head with a crown and a long beard. The picture did not seem to
have any fault at all except one — the middle of the forehead seemed too
high, extending up towards the top of the head. And all of us who were
there understood that this picture had been made in the stone by nature.
And when I was asked the reason for the disproportion of the forehead,
I said that the stone had been hardened from a vapour, and in the middle
the vapour had risen up too far because the heat was greater there. This
picture was of the same colour as the stone. There is something of the
same sort in clouds when they are not disturbed by winds, and all sorts of
figures appear in them and continually melt away because of the heat that
raises them. But if these vapours were subjected to the influence of a
place and a [mineralizing] power, they would fashion many figures in
stones. This, therefore, is clear [evidence] that the shape of a simple
picture is sometimes [made] by nature.

A long time afterwards, when I was at Paris, in the number and com-
pany of scholars, it happened that the son of the King of Castile 2 came to
study there. And when the cooks of this nobleman wanted to buy fish,

1 Probably in 1222-3 . when Albert experi- in natural curiosities, may have been Alphonso

enced the earthquakes he describes in his X, El Sabio, ‘The Learned’ (reigned 1252-82).
Meteora, HI, ii, 9. The Alphonsine Tables were compiled under

2 Albert was at the University of Paris from his patronage, and a famous lapidary was made
about 1245 to 1248. This prince, so interested for him (Evans, 1922, pp. 38-50).



129


BOOK II, TRACTATE iii

his servants bought a fish which in Latin is called peccet , and in the verna-
cular plaice , 3 for this kind was extremely plentiful. And when they gutted
it, they discovered in its belly the shell of a large oyster, which this same
nobleman kindly caused to be presented to me. The shell, on its concave
side, which was smooth and shining, had the figures of three serpents 4
with their mouths uplifted, so perfecdy represented that not even the eyes
were missing, although they were very small. And on the convex outer
side, which was rough, it had the figures of many — ten or more —
serpents similarly represented in all details, except that all those on the
outside seemed to be joined together in a sort of knot at the neck, but
their heads and bodies were separate. And every one of these images had
an opening beginning at the serpent’s mouth and extending down to its
tail; and the opening was so small that it seemed to have been made by a
thread. This shell I kept for a long time, and I showed it to many people,
and later I sent it as a gift to someone in Teutonia. This experience,
therefore, proves that even figures projecting from [the surface of] stones
are sometimes made by nature.

And a certain powerful nobleman has told me that once one of his
peasants presented to him an egg, smaller in size than a hen’s egg; and
inside it, with its body curled up like a chick, was a fine figure of a serpent
with a crest and wings; and its feet were shaped like those of a fowl . 5
And all these examples [lead to] the judgement that such forms are some-
times shaped by nature. And this I firmly believe to be the truth.


3 peccet , vulgariter pleis. Albert also mentions
this fish ( Animals , I, i, 7) as pecten quod pleidis
vocamus . It seems to be the flatfish that Alex-
ander Neckam (De naturis rerum , XL; Wright,
p. 152) calls pecten (comb), ‘because its bones
are arranged like the teeth of a comb for
parting the hair*. Pliny (EX, 51, 101), like more
modem naturalists, used pecten for the scallop
shell.

4 Tubes of serpulid worms attached to the
shell.

5 This was no doubt a concretion enclosing
a fossil — but what kind of fossil is impossible
to guess, since Albert’s informant seems to
have been influenced by tales of the cockatrice
or basilisk hatched from a cock’s egg (cf. II,
ii, 1, Alecterius). Albert believed (on the
authority of ancient writers) that the basilisk


might exist, but he rejected this story of its
origin, and suspected that the basilisk of the
alchemists was merely a ‘cover name* :

(Animals, XXIII, 45) : As to the statement that
a feeble old cock lays an egg and places it in
dung; and that the egg has no shell but only a
skin so hard that it resists the hardest blows;
and that the heat of the sun hatches it into a
basilisk, which is a serpent just like a cock in
every way except that it has the long tail of a
serpent — I do not believe this is true. But
Hermes says so, and many people accept it on
his authority. ( Animals , XXV, 13) : And Hermes
says that if the ashes of a basilisk are smeared on
silver, it takes on the weight and denseness of
gold. . . . Some say that the basilisk is produced
from a cock’s egg ; but this is completely untrue
and impossible. And as for Hermes’s teaching
that the basilisk is produced in a glass vessel
(in vitro ) — this does not mean a real basilisk but
some alchemical elixir for transmuting metals.



130


BOOK OF MINERALS


CHAPTER 2 : FIGURES IN STONES MADE BY NATURE

The interest of this chapter is two-fold. First, there is the great cameo once at
Cologne. This was, I believe, the gem known as the Ptolemy cameo, now in the
Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna [Plate I] (see also Furtwdngler, Vol. I,
Plate LIII, Vol. II, LIII; Eichler, Vol. II, pp. 47-48, Plate I atp. 146; Richter,
Vol. Ill, pp. 254 ff., Fig. 1709). The similarities are here listed in the order
of Albert’s description: (1) The Ptolemy cameo is made of onyx (sardonyx). (2)
Its size is 11.5x11.3 cm. (3) It shows two heads in profile, one behind the
other — not, however, two young men but a man and a woman. (4) These are
white on a darker ground. (5) There is a dark serpent on the mans helmet — it
does not connect the two heads. (6) On the angle of the jaw is the long cheek-
guard of the man’s helmet — but the figure on this is a winged thunderbolt. (7)
The Ethiopian with a beard ( Ammon with ram’s horns) is on the neckguard of
the helmet. (8) The man’s neck is covered at the bottom by a darker collar.
(9) The cloth and flowers seem to be the veil and lotusbud ornament of the
woman’s headdress. (10) But it is the crest and plumes of the man’s helmet that
form a sort of border half-way enclosing the heads. These similarities can
hardly be due to coincidence] and the discrepancies suggest that Albert was
writing from memory.

The history of the Ptolemy cameo is obscure. The portraits have been
tentatively identified as various Ptolemies and their consorts, or as Alexander
the Great and his mother, Olympias. If it is really a Hellenistic gem, it has
been re-worked. But Dr. D. B. Thompson (personal communication) thinks that
the style indicates work of the Imperial Roman period; she has also called my
attention (while this chapter was in proof) to an earlier identification of this gem
as the Cologne cameo (Mobius, 1964, p. 17).

The golden shrine of the Three Kings is still in Cologne Cathedral, but the
cameo described by Albert is gone, replaced by a large citrine. Perhaps it was still
there in the sixteenth century, when it was described by Agricola (De natura
fossilium, Book VI); but one cannot be sure, because Agricola was obviously
quoting this chapter of Albert’s. I have been unable to obtain from the Cathedral
Chapter at Cologne any further information about the history of the missing gem.

The second point of interest is Albert’s conviction that these figures are natural
and not artificial. The ensuing discussion reveals Albert’s ignorance of gem-
cutting. Considering his great interest in technical processes, we must conclude
that this was a lost art in his time, at least in northern Europe.

Let us therefore inquire how these are formed by nature. And let us call




I. The ‘Ptolemy’ Cameo


BOOK II, TRACTATE iii 131

to mind what we have decided in the second book of our Physics, 1 in
speaking of monsters. For we are not unaware that there are certain places
in the heavens such that, if the luminaries meet together there, they pre-
vent the human shape from being produced, even in material well suited
[for the purpose] ; and then the material grows together into a horrible
monster. On the other hand, sometimes the luminaries and the other
planets meet together in a place that has such great power for producing
human beings that it impresses a human form even upon seed of an en-
tirely different kind, and in opposition to the formative power inherent
in that seed; and thus it sometimes happens that pigs have human faces,
and calves likewise. That this cannot be the result of the mixture of
human seed with that of these animals has already been sufficiendy
demonstrated in our Physics. This, then, and nothing else, is the reason
why, even in stones hardened by vapours, there is impressed upon the
material the shape of a man or that of some other species that nature
produces, either by painting, or by making it pardy or wholly in relief.
And this effect is especially common in onyx (ony chinus), 2 because of the
greater softness of its material, as we have already said.

For there is at Cologne, in the shrine of the Three Kings, 3 an onyx of
large size [Plate I], having the breadth of a man’s hand or more; and on it,
upon the material of the onyx stone, which is like a fingernail [in colour],
are pictured in pure white the heads of two young men; one [profile]
is behind the other, but the nose and mouth project enough to be seen.
And on the foreheads is pictured a very black serpent which connects the
heads. And on the jaw of one of them, just on the angle of the curve of
the jawbone, between the part that comes down from the head and that
which is bent towards the mouth, is the head of an Ethiopian, very black,
with a long beard. And below on the neck there is again stone having the
colour of a fingernail. And there seems to be a cloth decorated with
flowers around the heads. I have proved that this is not glass but stone;
and therefore I have assumed that this picture was made naturally and not
artificially. Many others like this are found.

Nevertheless it is no secret that such images are sometimes made

1 See II, i, 4, note 8. by the Empress Helena in the fourth century;

2 See II, ii, 13, Onycha. later they were taken to Milan and, after that

3 The Magi or Wise Men came to worship city was conquered by Emperor Frederick
the Christ Child at Bethlehem (Matt. ii. 1-12). Barbarossa, in iij8 they were transferred to
According to medieval legend, their relics Cologne.

were brought from the East to Constantinople



132


BOOK OF MINERALS


artificially, by two methods. 4 One of these is [a method] in which both
art and nature are employed: for the material is artificially shaped and
coloured, and afterwards the whole thing is placed in water that has a
strong [natural] mineralizing or petrifying force; and by this it is hardened
into stone, as we have already said. The second method is more deceitful,
in that images are shaped in the material by means of stamps (sigilla) and
the figures are variously coloured, and afterwards hardened into the
likeness of stone by an alchemical operation using an [artificial] harden-
ing water or other liquid. This is chiefly done by means of what
the alchemists call ‘virgin's milk' ( lac virginis ), 5 which is made when
litharge is thoroughly washed in water and repeatedly strained through
it, until it is like ‘tears', 6 and two waters are mixed together. This water is
very certain in its hardening effect and whatever is hardened by it will
look like stone. Materials are hardened by many other methods, so that
they look like stone although they are [found] not [to be], if anyone makes
an accurate test by means of a [file]. 7 And sometimes colours of this sort
are made in mere glass, and likewise images; and the ignorant common


4 The distinction is that in the first proce-
dure the ‘hardening water’ is natural, that of a
‘petrifying’ spring (as described in I, i, 7), and
in the second some artificial chemical solution
is used.

5 This account of lac virginis is incomplete.
Essentially it required two clear liquids
which on being mixed together became
‘milky’ by forming a white precipitate. A
typical recipe (quoted by Holmyard and Man-
deville, 1927, p. 21) combined lead acetate
(litharge dissolved in vinegar) with potassium
carbonate (wood ashes leached in water) to
give a precipitate of lead carbonate — ‘quickly
producing milk and a little later changing into
cheese’. In another account of lac virginis
(( digressio in The Senses y ii, 2) Albert describes
two liquids: one is made by dissolving litharge
in vinegar, the other is white of egg (albumen).
One might suspect that albumen is an error for
alum (alumen t see V, 4), which would give a
precipitate of lead sulphate, were it not that
this passage is immediately followed by some
remarks about the effect of heat on egg-white;
so there can be no doubt that Albert wrote
albumen. He seems here to have extended the


term lac virginis (without, so far as I know,
any alchemical authority) to a different
combination (see note 6 below).

6 lachryma , something in ‘drops’, like in-
cense gum or amber (cf. II, ii, 17, Succinus)
but the term does not seem appropriate to the
precipitate from lac virginis. Here, I believe,
it must indicate a gummy or sticky com-
pound from which imitation gems were
shaped, and which later hardened. Actual
recipes of this type were collected by Mrs.
Merrifield (Vol. II, pp. 506-21): ‘To make
stones for rings, that is to say, precious gems
clear and of a fine colour’, ‘To make amber
beads’, &c. The ingredients include boiled
linseed oil, gum, or egg-white, mixed with
alum or other sulphate, vinegar, and colouring
matter. The ‘hardening water’ is the alum or
sulphate solution.

7 per lunam tentaverit , an obvious error for
per limam ; ‘testing by the file* is a good way of
distinguishing the silica minerals, from which
most carved gems are made (harder than steel),
from glass or artificial compounds such as
those mentioned in the preceding note (much
softer than steel).



133


BOOK II, TRACTATE iii

people think that they are stone. And this is how images are artificially
made, painted, or incised, or embossed.

But as for those that seem to be made by the art of engraving, I do not
understand how they are made, except that it is by some artificial and not
natural method. Those, however, who write about gems say that work
on very hard gems is done with fragments of adamas (diamond or
corundum ), 8 which are sharp and extremely hard. But I myself do not
believe this is true at all. For engraving demands instruments properly
adapted [to the purpose] ; and this cannot be [the case] with fragments of
adamas , unless they should be softened with goat’s blood . 9 And this would
be wasteful and much too cosdy; for sometimes we see a gem of little
value that has been engraved.

But what we have learned by observation we state here : 10 Steel is
distilled and repeatedly purified until it has almost the whiteness of silver;
and then engravers’ tools are formed of it, with suitable sharp points.
Then the juice is squeezed out of a radish, and mixed with an equal
quantity of water extracted from earthworms which have been crushed
and pressed through a cloth. Then the tool, heated white hot, is quenched
in this water two or three or more times, or as many times as may be
necessary. And it becomes so hard that it scratches gems and cuts any other
iron like lead. This, then, is what is stated about the cause of the images
that appear on gems.


8 per partes admantinas : Pliny (XXXVII, 15,
60; 75, 200) mentions the use of adamas for
working other stones ; but medieval handbooks
speak only of sand, brick dust, or (rarely)
emery. Perhaps the low state of gem-cutting
in Albert’s time was partly due to lack of good
abrasives.

9 Cf. II, ii, 1, Adamas. Albert’s difficulty is
that he believes adamas to be perfectly irre-
frangible except by application of goat’s
blood. But medieval artisans extended this
notion to the carving of gems and even glass,
which were ‘softened’ by the use of the blood,
urine, or milk of a goat, according to Hera-

clius (Merrifield, Vol. I, pp. 186-91, 218-9;
Hendrie, pp. 396-7, 402-5). This is a remark-
able persistence of the Plinian tradition. But
perhaps these substances did serve the useful
purpose of keeping the surface moist, so


that it was less likely to chip.

10 Traditional methods for ‘softening’
stones and glass were also transformed into
recipes for ‘hardening’ the tools — a more
practical way of making the work easier.
Thus earthworms, recommended by Hera-
clius (see note 9 above) for ‘softening’ glass,
are here suggested only for tempering steel.
Other recipes for this call for goat’s fat
(Merrifield, Vol. 1, pp. 196-7) and goat’s
skin or urine (Hendrie, pp. 222-5). h has been
said that these organic materials supplied
carbon to transform the iron into steel; but
more probably they merely affected the sur-
face play of colours, which was the smith’s
chief guide in judging the condition of the
metal. (For additional notes on steel see IV,
8 ).



134


BOOK OF MINERALS


But if anyone should inquire, Why are images not found in other
stones, but only in gems? — we shall repeat the observation already men-
tioned: that they do appear sometimes in marble. But they do not appear
in other kinds of stone because the material in them is heavy, gross, and
earthy, and does not respond to the moving powers; and therefore
heaven cannot move it and make an impression on it. But in precious
stones and certain marbles, as we have already said, the material is
vaporous, and therefore images of this sort are produced in these [stones].
An example of this is seen in the seminal vapours, 11 in which images
easily form, but nevertheless they may not be impressed upon the sub-
stance of brain or head or bone; for disorder and unwieldiness in the
material can hinder the action of the heavenly bodies, as we have said in
earlier [chapters]. It is as if a stamp ( sigillum ) were pressed upon hard
earth or stone, leaving no imprint at all; but if pressed upon water, it
makes an imprint, and if the water freezes, then the figure persists in the
ice. These things are not pure natural science, but because they are good
doctrine, they are included here.


CHAPTER 3: THE REASON WHY THE CARVING OF
GEMS WAS ORIGINALLY RECOMMENDED, AND
WHAT HELP THERE IS IN THE SIGILS THEMSELVES

Most of the authorities cited at the beginning of this chapter are also mentioned
in the Mirror of Astronomy, and notes on them will be found in Appendix C,
4 . One difficult problem always involved in discussions of astrology is that of
Free Will and Fate. Albert touches on this briefly here, and at greater length in
his Summa (I, 68 ).

No w let us determine the reason why the carving of gems was originally
recommended by wise men, and what help there is in the sigils themselves.
We must learn the reason for this from the science of the magicians, which
was perfected in the first place by Magor of Greece and Germa of Babylon
and Hermes of Egypt; later on, it was wonderfully illuminated by the
wise Ptolemy and by Geber of Seville; and Thebit [ben Corat] has given a
full account of the art.

The principle of this science is that all things whatsoever, whether made



135


BOOK II, TRACTATE iii

by nature or by art, receive their impulse in the first place from the
powers of heaven. In nature there is no doubt of this. But even in art it is
recognized, because some [impulse], at the right time and not before,
incites the heart of a man to make [something]. And this [impulse] can
only be the power of heaven as the above-mentioned wise men say. For
there is in man a two-fold principle of action, namely nature and will.
And nature is controlled by the stars; but the will is free. But unless it
resists, the will is drawn along by nature and becomes less flexible (in-
duratur ) ; and when nature is moved by the motions of the stars, then the
will also begins to be influenced by the motions and configurations of the
stars.

Plato 1 proves this from the behaviour of children who by their own
free will do not resist nature and the influence of the stars. For by the
power of the stars they show an aptitude for one art or another, and if they
practise this, they become perfect; but if they resist it and practise some
other [art], they never reach perfection, because by nature they have no
aptitude for it. And we do not doubt that everything which is somehow
the cause of a cause is also somehow the cause of whatever results. If, then,
the force and inspiration of the stars pour some influence causing art into
the artisan, surely nothing prevents their pouring something of their own
power into all works made by art.

Having setded these [points], we accept from the above-mentioned
philosophers the principle — which must be proved elsewhere — that the
configurations of the heavens are the primary figures, having precedence
over the figures of all things made by nature and by art. For that which is
first in kind and order among productive powers undoubtedly pours its
causal influence into everything that comes after, in a manner suitable to
each [thing]. For we do not intend here to treat these configurations as
they are considered mathematically, but only in so far as they bring about
the variety of things that produce and are produced, in order and species,
and in the nature of their form and material. And thus the configuration
of heaven will have a causal influence on every figure produced by nature
— for the origin of art, as we have said, is also nature, because [art] arises

1 What follows seems to be derived from by astrology at birth, developed in spite of
the pseudo-Aristotelian Secrets of Secrets (see parental discipline, so that a weaver’s son
Appendix A, 12). It is not there ascribed to became a high official, and a king’s son
Plato, though Plato is mentioned as an as- became an artisan, as the astrologers had fore-
tronomer (or astrologer). The story tells how told (Steele, Secret of Secrets, Roger Bacon’s
two boys, whose characters were foretold text, pp. 60, 136-7, 233-4).

M



BOOK OF MINERALS


136

from its own heavenly origin, which is the Active Intelligence; for
Intelligence is the origin of art, as we have often said in The Heavens and
in the Physics . 2

Therefore we must conclude that if a figure is impressed upon matter,
either by nature or by art, [with due regard to ] 3 the configuration of
heaven, some force of that configuration is poured into the work of
nature or of art. And this is the reason why wise Ptolemy recommends
that all actions, comings and goings, and even the putting on and taking
off of clothing , 4 be performed [with due regard to] the configuration of
heaven. And therefore, too, in the science of geomancy 5 it is recom-
mended that the figures made up of points be reduced to those [of con-
stellations] ; for otherwise they are of no use. And therefore also in con-
sidering the craft of making gems and metallic images 6 in the likeness of
the stars, the first teachers and professors of natural science recommended
that the carving be done at duly observed times, when the heavenly force
is thought to influence the image most strongly, as for instance when
many heavenly powers combine in it. And they worked wonders by
means of such images.

But the heavenly images are helped by many [things]. Nevertheless,
there are five things that are especially to be regarded. [The first of these is]
the image of the starless sphere, because this circle imparts motion to the
constellations and to life. Second, help comes from the constellations,
which must be properly observed. And third, from the position of the
planets in [certain] Signs [of the Zodiac] which strengthen [other] Signs.
Fourth, from the amount of elevation and elongation, according to the
latitude and longitude measured from the equinoctial and the ascendant.
And fifth, from the relation of all these to the latitude of the clime 7

2 See I, i, 8, note 3. 5 Geomancy was a method of divination

3 observare (here and just below) should read by casting a few pebbles on the ground, or

observate. making points at random. The points were

4 exitus et introitus et incisio [ incinxio ] then connected to form figures for interpre-

vestium et vestitura: paraphrased from the tation.

Hundred Aphorisms (Centiloquium) of Ptolemy 6 This again is based on the Hundred
(Ashmand, pp. 226, 228): * Aphorism XXII: Aphorisms (Ashmand, p. 225): ‘Aphorism IX:
Neither put on or nor lay aside any garment In their generation and corruption forms are
for the first time, when the Moon may be influenced by the celestial forms, of which the
located in Leo. . . . Aphorism LIX: Beware framers of talismans consequently avail
the affliction of the eighth house and its lord, themselves, by observing the ingresses of the
at a time of departure; and that of the second stars thereon.’

house and its lord, at a time of return.’ 7 Clime ( clima ) is a belt on the earth’s surface



137


BOOK II, TRACTATE iii

[where the observation is made]. And the last must be carefully observed,
since from this and the preceding [arise] the variations in the size of the
angle at which the rays strike the figure of anything produced by nature
or by art. And it is in accordance with the size of this angle that the powers
of heaven are poured into things. Few people make these observations,
and fewer still know how to make them; and when they try, without
such knowledge, to practise the art of images, their own failures cause
them to believe that the science is a failure, and they bring it into dis-
repute . 8 Such then are the recommendations, and the reasons [for them],
concerning the carving of gems with the images of heaven.

But we are not unaware that, just as the natural powers endure for a
certain time and no longer, so it is also with the powers of images; for a
certain power is poured down from heaven only during a certain period
of time, as we have said at the end of Generation and Corruption . 9 And
afterwards the empty, useless image remains cold and dead. This is the
reason why certain images do not nowadays perform what they did in
times long past. And hence in astronomy various ‘years ’ 10 are distin-
guished for the constellations and planets, and for certain stars there are
said to be greater, intermediate, and lesser years, during which they exert
their effects with greater, lesser, or intermediate strength.

bounded by parallels of latitude (see II, iii, moving at their individually different speeds,
4, note 3). Since the times of risings and settings to return again to the same positions, relative
of stars and their height above the horizon to each other and to the fixed stars. This
all vary, not only with the seasons but also notion was a part of the Pythagorean and
with the latitude of the observer, it is necessary Platonic philosophy, and was passed on to the
to make proper correction for latitude in using Arabs. Ptolemy, however ( Tetrabiblos , I, 2, 7),
astronomical tables that were prepared for said that this ‘either takes place not at all or at
another place. least not within the period of time that falls

8 This sentence is paraphrased from Pto- within the experience of man*. Nevertheless,

lemy, Tetrabiblos , 1 , 2, 6. some writers give estimates of the period —

9 Gen.andCorr. II, 10, 336 a 15 ff. 10,000 or 15,000 years, or even longer.

10 A year, to the inhabitant of a geocentric The Stoics held that at the end of the Great
universe, is the length of time taken by the sun Year the universe would perish and be reborn,
to make a complete circuit of the Zodiac, every detail of its history being re-enacted in
returning to its starting-point among the endless cycles — a view that Albert rejected
fixed stars. The planets also make circuits of with horror ( Summa , I, 68). But the Great
the Zodiac, each in a length of time that may Year was sometimes taken to be the precession
be thought of as a ‘year* for that planet. A still of the equinoxes; for this, Albert accepted
longer period, the Great Year, is the period of Ptolemy’s estimate of i° per century, or
time needed for all the heavenly bodies, 36,000 years (Prop, of the Elements, I, ii, 3).



138


BOOK OF MINERALS


CHAPTER 4 : HOW AN IMAGE IS NAMED EASTERN,
WESTERN, SOUTHERN OR NORTHERN

This is an introduction to the next chapter (II, iii, 5) on astrological sigils.
Albert is paraphrasing Ptolemy (see Appendix C, 2) for the triplirities or
triangles (each comprising three Signs of the Zodiac 120° apart), and for the
general notion that these are related to the four corners of the earth and the four
winds ; but Albert’s scheme and Ptolemy’s do not agree in detail (see II, iii, 5,
note 1).

The statement found in Evax and Aaron and Diascarides 1 and some other
[writers], that some figures are Eastern, some Southern, some Northern,
and some Western, is altogether wrongly understood by men of our own
time who concern themselves with stones. For the reason the ancients say
this is that an image is carved according to one of the triplicities, Eastern,
Western, and so on. The Signs [of the Zodiac] are divided into four tri-
plicities, as we have said in the book on Properties of the Elements, 2 and
there is no need to repeat that here. And the Earthy triplicity is called
Southern, as Ptolemy says, for no other reason except that if the South
wind arises in that [triplicity], it blows for a long time; but any other
[wind] soon dies down; because the Earthy triplicity has greater force in
the South than in the other quarters of the world. And for exacdy the
same reason the triplicity of the Watery signs is called Northern, and the
Fiery triplicity is called Eastern, and the fourth, that of Air, is called
Western. And an image is named [in the same way] — Northern or
Southern, &c. — because it is impressed with the image of that triplicity,
and not because its efficacy is greater or less in such and such a quarter.
Nevertheless, if at the time the image is shaped, the wind of that triplicity
blows strongly, this is recognized as a heavenly influence, and the image is
presumed to be more efficacious.

But it must be thoroughly understood that the heavenly influences seek
out special materials regarded as suitable, for their images. And therefore
the ancients recommended that the material to be made into a figure
should be, not one particular stone or metal, but sometimes one kind and
sometimes another, according to the different configurations of the
heavens.

And the reason why stones of this sort come rather from India and


1 See Appendix C, 4.


2 Albert, Properties of the Elements, I, ii, 2.



139


BOOK II, TRACTATE iii

Egypt than from any other region is that the power of the planets is most
effective in those places, because they He either under the equator, or
between the equator and the tropic, or in the fourth clime. And in places
which are in the first or second of these positions, the planets spread their
rays from East and West, and from North and South, thus strengthening
their effects. But in the middle, or fourth, clime [there is] a mingling that
strengthens the effect which the qualities of the planets have upon the
elements; and therefore those images are stronger and more reliable. But
in other climes the planets are never in the North, but always look down
obliquely from the South; and therefore they do not pour down so much
power into images made in those climes as into those made in the climes
first mentioned. And the reason for this we have given in our book on
The Nature of Places . 3

In order to have wisdom in this way, we read 4 that King Pyrrhus wore
on his finger an agate on which was a wonderfully beautiful carving of
the nine Muses, and Apollo, God of Wisdom, in their midst, holding his
lyre in his hand.

As to what popular tradition [reports] of the carvings that were made
by the Children of Israel 5 when they journeyed out of Egypt — I neither
affirm nor deny it; for I know that I have read of Moses 6 that he made
rings of forgetfulness and remembrance with carvings of this kind, and
gave them to his wife when she left him. For the records of philosophy

3 Albert, Nature of Places, i, 9, gives an Regions beyond the seventh clime were
account of the seven climes, as defined by supposed to be too cold for agriculture or
the length of the longest day at the middle permanent habitation,
of each latitudinal belt.

4 The description of King Pyrrhus's ring
is from Pliny (XXXVII, j, 5); but Pliny
is emphatic in saying that it was produced
‘by nature and not by art', that is, it was a
‘picture* agate. This statement is repeated by
Marbod (II). But Thomas of Cantimpre (i27r)
like Albert, seems to consider it man-made.

5 An allusion to ‘Thetef, who is quoted by
Thomas of Cantimpr6 (i26v-i27r). See
Appendix C, 4.

6 This story is not in the Bible, nor in
‘Thetel’.




BOOK OF MINERALS


140

have it that the mathematical sciences arose in Egypt; 7 * and carvings of
this sort had their beginnings in the mathematical sciences.


CHAPTER 5 : THE MEANING OF THE IMAGES ON
STONES


This chapter incorporates an astrological lapidary of engraved gems which is
found also in Arnold of Saxony ( Stange , pp. 75-77) and Thomas of Cantimpre
(i37r-i40v) and elsewhere. The figures for the constellations seem to be derived
from some illustrated manuscript such as those described by Haskins ( 1924 ),
which are here cited as ‘ Venice MS. 9 and ‘ Munich MS. 9 ). These are more fully
discussed in Appendix C, 4.

Although undoubtedly what has been stated is enough for our present
purpose, nevertheless, for the pleasure of our readers, we shall say some-
thing about the meaning of images; and afterwards about the uses of
ligatures and suspensions; and so we shall complete this tractate on stones.

Therefore, let a general all-inclusive account be given:

The Ram (Aries) or the Lion (Leo) or the Archer (Sagittarius) 1 carved
[on stones], by reason of Fire and the Eastern triplicity, indicate that these
stones have a property against fevers and such infirmities as dropsy,


7 The belief that mathematics began in
Egypt is noted by many Greek and Latin
writers. But mathematici was also used in the
special sense of ‘astrologers’, and Albert may
be referring to astrological works on images by
‘Hermes of Egypt’: see Appendix C, 3 and 4.

♦

1 This is the first of the triplicities, which the
preceding chapter (II, iii, 4) mentions as if
quoting Ptolemy; but the assignment of
properties is quite different from that in
Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos (I, 10 and 18; II, 3), as
may be seen by comparison: (see opposite )

Whether this represents a corruption of Pto-
lemy or an independent (Arabic?) tradition,
it was apparently well established, being
found not only in all versions of this lapidary
that I have seen, but also in Roger Bacon’s
tractate on divination in his edition of the


Secret of Secrets (Steele, 1920, p. 19), and in
Abraham Ibn Ezra’s The Beginning of Wisdom
(ed. Levy and Cantera, 1939, p. 154).


Triplicities

Ptolemy

Albert

Aries

Leo

Sagittarius

Northern

cold

Eastern

hot, dry (Fiery)

Gemini

Libra

Aquarius

Eastern

dry

Western

moist, hot (Airy)

Cancer

Scorpio

Pisces

Western

moist

Northern

cold, moist (Watery)

Taurus

Virgo

Capricomus

Southern

hot

Southern

dry, cold (Earthy)



BOOK II, TRACTATE iii 141

paralysis, and the like. And since heat has a beneficial effect, these are said
to make their wearers skilful and clever, and to raise them to positions
of honour in the world; the Lion especially [has this effect].

The Twins (Gemini), the Scales (Libra) and the Waterman (Aquarius) if
duly carved on stones, by reason of the triplicity of Air and the West,
temper a hot humour, and are said to predispose their wearers towards
friendship and righteousness and good manners, diligent observation of
laws, and concord.

The Crab (Cancer), the Scorpion ( Scorpio ) and the Fishes (Pisces), carved
upon stones, by reason of the triplicity of Water and the North, temper
hot dry fevers, like [those called] ethica and causon, and the like. But
according to The Art of Images , 2 they produce an inclination towards
lying and unrighteousness and inconstancy and licentiousness. Evidence
of this is that the Scorpion is the image of Mahommet, 3 who never
taught anything except lies and unrighteousness.

And if the Bull (Taurus), the Maiden (Virgo) or the Horned Goat (Capri-
cornus) are engraved [upon stones], by reason of the triplicity of Earth and
the South, they are cold and dry, so far as their effects [are concerned] ;
and hence they are said to cure their wearers of fainting fits and hot
infirmities. And they incline their wearers towards religious devotion, and
towards country occupations, such as agriculture and the planting of
vineyards and gardens.

The same considerations [hold good] for the images that have been
described outside the Zodiac. 4

Pegasus [duly] 5 engraved upon a stone is said to be good for soldiers and
those who fight on horseback and on the battlefield, and to be efficacious
against diseases of horses. The image of Pegasus is half of a winged horse. 6
Because it has these effects Pegasus, in The Art of Images, was [called] 7
Bellerophon, that is, ‘fount of wars’ (fons bellorum ). 8

2 This seems to be a title; the same work is 5 de luce, error for debite, as in the second

cited again below (see note 8). triplicity.

3 This sentence is one of Albert’s additions. 6 Munich MS. (8iv) and most modem star
Anti-Muslim propaganda had begun to be maps show Pegasus thus.

published before the end of the twelfth 7 vocatur fuit, error for vocatus fuit.

century, when the Koran was translated into 8 This etymology is fanciful. Bellerophon
Latin (Haskins, 1924, p. 47). Several evil was not the name of the horse, but of the hero
astrological books are ascribed to Mahommet who tamed and rode Pegasus and slew the
in the Mirror of Astronomy, Chap. XI. Chimaera. But the Venice MS. (33v) calls the

4 This begins the list of Northern con- constellation Equus qui est bellorum fons, so

stelladons. perhaps the work that Albert cites as The Art



142


BOOK OF MINERALS


Andromeda is the image of a girl turned sideways, seated upon [a rock ], 9
with straining hands . 10 And this image, engraved upon gems that are by
nature conciliating in love — these have been described above — brings
about lasting love between man and wife; indeed it is said to reconcile
even those who have been adulterous.

Cassiopeia is a maiden sitting in an armchair, with her arms uplifted and
bent ; 11 and this sort of engraving upon [gems ] 12 that bring sleep and
restore the members is said to give rest after toil and to strengthen weak-
ened bodies.

[The constellation] of the Serpentbearer ( Serpentarius , Ophiuchus) is [a
man with a serpent wound round his waist] ; 13 he holds its head in his
right hand and its tail in his left. And this image engraved upon a stone
that expels poison is said to be effective against poisons, and to cure the
bites of venomous creatures, whether it is worn, or whether scrapings of it
are taken in drink.

The constellation of Hercules is a man kneeling, holding a club in his
hand and killing a lion; and he holds [a lion’s] skin in his other hand . 14
Hence if the image of Hercules is engraved upon a stone that pertains to
victory, and the wearer has it with him on the battlefield, it is said that he
will be victorious.

Near the North Pole in heaven there are pictured two Bears ( Ursa
Major, Ursa Minor), and between them is placed a twisting Snake (Draco)} 5


of Images was that ascribed to ‘Nimrod the
astronomer* (see Haskins, 1924, pp. 336 fF.).

9 supra cellam. Some texts have ‘with flow-
ing hair* (, spar so crine, sparsos crines). I am
inclined to believe, however, that Albert
wrote supra scyllam , since he uses scylla (Pro-
perties of the Elements , I, ii, 6) for reefs or
skerries (probably from the Scylla , a dangerous
rock in the Strait of Messina). Andromeda
was chained to a rock as a sacrifice to a sea
monster; she was rescued by Perseus.

10 manus renitentis (Arnold, manus remissae).
Both Venice MS. (33r) and Munich MS. (81 v)
show her with hands bound to two posts or
trees.

11 cancellatas : the word has to do with a
lattice or barrier, but was also used for ‘cancel*,
i.e. strike out a passage in a manuscript,
either by XXXXX or by enclosing in brackets
[]. In Venice MS. (33r) and Munich MS.


(8ir) her arms are not much bent, but some
sky maps show them upraised and crooked at
the elbows.

12 geminis, error for gemmis.

13 Serpentarii autem est a se virtus serpente ;
but (ed. 1518) Serpentarii astrum est vir cinctus
serpente not only makes better sense but is in
better agreement with pictures of this con-
stellation.

14 cuius pellem habens in manu alia , ‘whose
skin he is holding in the other hand*; but
surely it must be the skin of another lion!
Some texts have instead vel aliud monstrum ,
‘or some other monster*. Munich MS. (8ov)
shows Hercules with a skin wrapped around
one arm for protection, while with a sword
held in the other hand he attacks a snake in a
tree.

15 Venice MS. (33r) and Munich MS. (8ov)
show all three of these constellations in one



143


BOOK II, TRACTATE iii

And if this is found engraved upon a stone that gives wisdom and skill, it
will increase cunning and adroitness and bravery.

The engraving of Saturn 16 is that of an old man holding a curved
sickle in his hand. He is not cheerful and smiling, but dark, with a scanty
beard. This, by reason of its cold and dryness, is said to confer a steadily
increasing power, especially if it is on a stone that has the same property.
And you may know that it confers this more quickly on the ignoble,
since Saturn, according to The Art of Astrology , 11 has no love for the noble.

Jupiter, according to Aristode , 18 as well as other philosophers, has
many figures, of which six have been observed, but one of them is enough
to mention here. For if there is engraved a man with a ram’s head and
wrinkled [horns ], 19 with long flowing hair and a narrow chest, that is the
[sigil ] 20 of Jupiter. And if it is found engraved on a gem that confers the
ability to please men, it makes a man magnanimous and able to obtain
from men whatever [he may wish ], 21 and fortunate, especially, they say,
in those affairs which are sought by religion and faith.

But if there is engraved upon a gem giving wisdom a man who has a
graceful body and a beautiful small beard, and thin, shining lips and a thin
nose, and he has wings on his feet and bears in his left hand a staff with a
coiled serpent fastened to the top — and this engraving is very frequendy
found on stones taken from ancient temples of pagan gods, especially in
parts of Germany 22 — this is the sign of Mercury the Scribe; and it is said to
confer wisdom, especially in rhetoric and business and other affairs.

Likewise the sign of Mars, which is a figure of a soldier with a lance, if it
is carved upon a stone that confers violence and audacity, is said to make
men spirited and warlike.

Of Venus 23 it is impossible to say anything in a brief account; for two


drawing, an S-shaped snake with the Great
Bear on one side and the Little Bear on the
other.

16 This begins the list of planets.

17 This seems to be a title, but perhaps it is
the same work as The Art of Images cited above
(see notes 2 and 8).

18 The Mirror of Astronomy , Ch. XI,
attributes to Aristotle a work beginning
‘Aristotle said to King Alexander, “If you
wish to understand . . . ” ’. This book was so
bad that it was called The Death of the Soul ,
and if Albert is alluding to it here, his reluc-


tance to say much about it is understandable.

19 rugosos calcaneos , ‘wrinkled heels', in
some texts; omitted (perhaps because un-
intelligible) in others. My guess is comulos or
comiculos, since Jupiter Ammon is represented
with back-curved, ridged goat’s horns.

20 filia, probably for signum , or sigillum.

21 volunt ; but (ed. 1518) voluerit is probably
correct.

22 This remark, which I have placed be-
tween dashes, is Albert’s own observation.

23 The Mirror of Astronomy , Ch. XI, men-
tions books on the cult of Venus by Hermes



144 BOOK OF MINERALS

large books of magic have been written dealing with nothing except her
images.

And of Sun and Moon 24 there are many different [images] which we
pass over for the sake of brevity.

The Water Snake (Hydra) 25 — namely, a Snake having over it the Cup
(Urna, Crater) near its head and [the Crow (Corpus) in front of its ] 26 tail,
above its back — if engraved upon a stone conferring riches, is said to
confer riches and wisdom and protection against harm.

Centaur (Centaurus) is engraved as a man holding in his left hand a hare
suspended with a knife, and in his right hand a staff on which is fastened
a small animal, and a ketde ; 27 it is said to confer constant good health.
And thus the stories say that the Centaur was the tutor of Achilles, who
wore such a stone on his hand.

Likewise the Altar (Ara), engraved like a shrine enclosing holy relics, is
said to confer a love of virginity and chastity.

And [the Sea Monster or Whale (Cefws )] 28 is found engraved [as a
crested serpent having a great hump on its back], and it is said to confer
good luck by land and sea, and prudence and amiability; and to restore
things that have been lost.

The Ship (Navis, Argo), engraved with all sail set is said to give security
in business and certain other affairs.

[The Hare (Lepus)], 29 engraved [on a stone] is reported to be efficacious
against deceit and insane talk.

Orion, holding in his hand a sickle or sword, is said to confer victory, if
engraved on a stone having the same power.

and by Toz Graecus — very bad books, so it dorso et tubam magnam, ‘a blind man . . . having
is obvious why Albert forbears to quote them, a crested serpent on his back and a great

24 Sun and Moon were also treated in books trumpet’. Other texts are equally confused,

by Hermes (Mirror of Astronomy, Ch. XI). but at least it is clear that caecus is an error for

25 This begins the list of constellations cetus (a sea monster, the whale), and tubam for

south of the Zodiac. The description fits the tuber (a swelling or hump). I have paraphrased,
drawings in the Venice MS. (36r) and Munich giving what seems to be the sense. This,
MS. (84r), showing these three constellations all however, does not agree with the drawing in
together — a long snake, with the cup resting the Venice MS. (35r), which resembles
on its back near the head, and the crow near Capricorn (a sea-goat), or that in the Munich
the tail. MS. (82v), which is just a fish. But later star

26 et cornu aut caudam, error for et corvum maps show it as a rather fat sea-serpent with a

ante caudam . horn on its head.

27 All these objects can be identified in the 29 lippus , error for Lepus, the Hare beneath

drawing in the Munich MS. (841). the feet of Orion.

28 caecus . . . habens cristatum serpentum in



145


BOOK II, TRACTATE iii

The Eagle (Aquila) engraved with the Arrow ( Sagitta ) 30 in front of its
head is reported to preserve old honours and to obtain new ones.

Likewise [the Swan ( Cygnus ), which is in front ] 31 of the Waterman
(Aquarius), is said to cure quartan fever.

Perseus , 32 holding in his right hand a sword and in his left the Gorgon’s
head, is said to protect from thunderbolts and storms, and from attack
by the envious.

The Stag ( Cervus ), engraved with the Hunter ( Venator ) and Dogs ( Canis
Major, Canis Minor ), 33 is said to heal madmen and maniacs.

Venus, 3 * engraved wearing a long garment and holding a laurel
branch in her hand, is said to confer beauty and distinction.


We could include here similar [statements] about many other [images ], 35
but it is not necessary, since another science [deals with] them. And these
things cannot be proved by physical principles, but demand a knowledge
of the sciences of astrology and magic and necromancy, which must be
considered elsewhere.


30 These and the following two constella-
tions are out of place; they belong among the
Northern constellations.

31 similiter autem Aquarii signum ; but (ed.
1518) Cignus qui praeest aquario is probably
correct.

32 Perseus belongs among the Northern
constellations, next to Andromeda : see note 9
above.

33 The list now returns to the Southern
constellations. The Hunter is the same as
Orion; near by are the Greater and Lesser
Dogs (with the bright stars Sirius and Procyon,
respectively); the Stag is the adjacent con-
stellation, now generally called the Unicom
( Monoceras ).

34 Venus, of course, belongs in the list of
planets: some texts combine Venus and Mars,
‘an armed man and a woman in a long robe*.
Others calls this Virgo, one of the signs of the
Zodiac.

35 This list does not include all the con-
stellations in Ptolemy’s Almagest , but it does


have the traditional number — twelve North-
ern and twelve Southern constellations,
besides the twelve in the Zodiac. Some texts
include additional items from other sources;
for example, Arnold of Saxony (Stange, p. 77)
describes a sigil with ‘a woman who holds in
her hand an apple, and on her left breast is
something like a square tablet; and on another
part of the stone is the image of a man, and
this image has the head of a bird and the feet
of an eagle; and on the part where the image
of the man is, these letters are engraved [ ] ;
this stone has the power of reconciling love
between man and woman.’ The brackets
probably indicate an inscription missing or
illegible in Arnold’s original, or perhaps
omitted intentionally, to render the sigil
innocuous. If Albert’s source contained such
sigils, he rejected them, either because they
were not recognizably astrological or because
they might have some evil significance (see
Appendix C, 4).



146


BOOK OF MINERALS


CHAPTER 6: LIGATURES AND SUSPENSIONS OF
STONES

This final chapter on stones lists some ‘practical applications’ of their powers. As
ligatures and suspensions, that is, bound to any part of the body or hung round
the neck, stones were amulets, their effect (if any) upon the wearer being
purely psychological. But certain other powers, evinced in chemical reactions and
especially in magnetism, seemed just as mysterious as magic, and so are included
here.

Albert cites directly Costa ben Luca’s Letter on. Incantation (printed in
Constantine of Africa, Opera, pp. 317-20) but the rest of this chapter so
closely resembles Arnold of Saxony’s De virtute universale, Ch. 8, De
lapidibus ( Stange , pp. 83-87) that it must have been taken from Arnold or
from Arnold’s source (see Appendix C, 3). In fact, this chapter includes nearly all
the excerpts from ‘Aristotle’s Book of Stones’ that Albert was able to find.
Therefore I have here added references to the Lapidary of Aristotle (Latin
texts as printed by Rose, 1873, and Ruska, 1912).

Things that really seem more closely related to this science are ligatures
and suspensions, since in these healing and help are conferred solely by
natural powers. Therefore something must be said about them, based on
the philosophers Aristode and [Costa ben Luca] 1 and Hermes and some
others.

Zeno in his book on Natural things (Liber naturalium), as if offering an
explanation for the power of ligatures and suspensions, and the powers of
the stones themselves, says that there is a hidden universal power that
makes stones from Fire, and likewise from Water, when it is poured out
on a place called bozon: for then it hardens and does not return any more
to its original material. And Zeno 2 adds further, speaking of stones, that
‘what happens to Water and Earth also happens to animals and plants,
since by a hidden power of the material, the time, or the place, they are
completely disintegrated or converted into stone’. How we are to
interpret the words of Zeno, the philosopher, can be understood from
what has been said in Book I. For a stone is not made from Fire, except
[in the sense that Fire acts] as the efficient cause.

1 Constabuletice , here and below: a mis- may have been the translator,
spelling of Costa ben Luca that no doubt 2 Albert is quoting Zeno at second or third
facilitated confusion of his works with those of hand; but Zeno was quoting Avicenna (cf. I,
Constantine of Africa; Constantine, however, ii, 8).



147


BOOK II, TRACTATE iii

And the universal power is nothing except the power of heaven, which
brings into being all things that are produced, and contributes something
of the power of heaven towards certain wonderful effects. And these
[powers] , according to Plato and Socrates , 3 act when things are suitably
bound upon any part of the body or suspended from the neck. And while
Socrates says that enchantments are made in four ways — namely, by
suspensions and ligatures of things, and by prayers and spells, by written
charms, and by images — he also says that rational souls lose their sanity
so that they fall into fear and despair, or joy and confidence; and by these
accidents of the mind the body is also changed into a state of chronic
illness or health.

But we do not intend [to discuss] here anything except ligatures and
suspensions of stones, and what effect they have, according to eminent
philosophers.

And according to the statements of [Costa ben Luca] in the book on
Physical Ligatures, two philosophers, Aristotle and Diascorides 4 say that 5
onyx suspended from the neck increases sadness, and brings a man com-
pletely into a state of pallor and fear and melancholy, and of illness
resulting from these accidental [conditions].

But Aristotle says that onyx is from corals , 6 and if suspended from the
neck of an epileptic, it prevents attacks.

On the other hand, Diascorides says that fumigation with gagates or
kacabre 7 hastens the attacks of an epileptic and blinds him.

And also Diascorides says that there is a stone called galadides, 8 and if it is
placed near a fire and taken away again, the fire goes out.

3 The remainder of this paragraph comes p, 192; Rose, pp. 360-1, 387-8). See II, ii, 13,
from Costa ben Luca’s Letter on Incantations Onyx.

(pp. 317-18), where, however, these opinions 6 This identification of onyx with coral
are ascribed to Socrates and Galen (not Plato), and the properties ascribed to it are not in
But Albert knew the Platonic theory that ill- printed Latin texts of the Lapidary of Aristotle.
health is a lack of harmony between body and Perhaps the stone was a silicified fossil coral,
soul(Ti'm<»««, 87 C, ff.). or perhaps it was simply red, like coral

4 This is Albert’s way of citing what Arnold (cf. II, ii, 1, Agathes).

calls ‘The Lapidary of Aristotle, translator 7 See II, ii, 7, Gagates ; 9, Kacabre. The
Diascorides’, from which the next four items supposed effect on epileptics is mentioned by
are taken. Pliny (XXXVI, 34, 142) and Damigeron

5 I omit here si fuerit ex gagate et kacabre ; it (XXVII), but I have not found it in the
is not in Arnold and has obviously been dis- Lapidary of Aristotle.

placed from the following sentence. The 8 Possibly the same as II, ii, 7, Gelosia,
statement about onyx is in Costa ben Luca though that is not said to put out fire. See
(p. 3 19) and in the Lapidary of Aristotle (Ruska introductory also note on II, ii, 20, Zigrites.



BOOK OF MINERALS


148

Aristotle says something else — that smaragdus 9 bound on the neck
hinders epilepsy and sometimes cures it completely; and therefore it is
recommended to noblemen that they bind this stone on their children so
that they may not suffer from epilepsy.

Furthermore, Aristotle in his Lapidary 10 says ‘the comer of a certain
kind of magnet has the power of attracting iron towards zoron , that is,
the North; and mariners make use of this. But another comer of this
magnet attracts in the opposite direction, towards aphron , that is, the
South Pole. And if you bring iron near to the North comer of the magnet,
the iron becomes North; and if you bring it near to the opposite comer,
it immediately becomes South/

In the same book, furthermore, Aristotle asserts that neither iron nor
any stone can overcome adamas ; n but lead can, since [lead] is the softest of
metals . 12 For adamas (diamond) and sabotus (emery ) 13 have the property of
piercing all hard stones, and a force that wears them away and reveals
their shining lustre.

Likewise Aristotle reports that if two or more magnets of equal power
are placed above and below, and a body of baret , that is, iron, is placed
between, it will hang suspended in the air . 14

9 This is quoted from Costa ben Luca 1 1 This remark seems to interrupt the ac-
(loc. tit.), who is quoting the Lapidary of count of magnet, but is not really irrelevant,
Aristotle (Rose, p. 385). Between this and the since adamas included both magnet and dia-
next item in Arnold’s chapter are about a mond (or other very hard stones). See II, ii,
dozen stones that Albert here omits, although 1, Adamas.

he has mentioned most of them in II, ii. 12 This is not in Arnold, but it is in Costa

10 At this point begin quotations from what ben Luca. It is quoted from the Lapidary of

Arnold calls ‘The Lapidary of Aristotle accord- Aristotle , but without real understanding,

ing to the translation of Gerard’. This trans- since it refers to the practice of mounting a
lation is otherwise unknown. Rose (p. 339) diamond in lead while cleaving or polishing it.
notes that such words as zoron, aphron , One text of the Lapidary of Aristotle (Rose, pp.
indicate that it was made from the Hebrew 389-90) makes this quite plain: ‘Ifyouwishto
rather than direct from the Arabic. The break it [diamond], put it in lead, and strike
mariners’ compass is not in Arnold’s text, it from above with lead [that is, a leaden
though it was well known. It is mentioned hammer], and it will be broken.’

by Thomas of Cantimpre (127V, Adamas ), 13 Lapidary of Aristotle (Ruska, pp. 190, 195;

and much earlier by Alexander Neckam ( De Rose, pp. 358, 365, 391). The last of these
naturis rerum y II, 98; Wright, p. 183). Peter passages says: ‘It is a strong stone, cutting
Peregrinus of Maricourt in 1269 described it other stones as diamond does, but it is not
in detail (Heilman, Petri Maricurtensis De so strong’ [as diamond],
magnete). It would be interesting to know 14 Pliny (XXXTV, 42 , 148) tells of a plan
whether Peter gained some of his information to suspend an iron statue in this way; and
from this lost translation of Gerard. Alexander Neckam (Wright, p. 183) says



BOOK II, TRACTATE iii 149

Aristotle also says that there are many different kinds of magnets: for
some attract gold, and others, different from these, attract silver, and some
tin, some iron, and some lead . 15

And some attract at one comer and at the other repel anything that is
attracted by the opposite comer . 16

And some attract human flesh : 17 and it is said that a man attracted by
such a magnet laughs, and remains where he is until he dies, if the stone is
very large.

And some attract bones, and some hairs, and some water, and some
fish . 18


that a statue of Mahomet was suspended in mid-
air by magnets in the surrounding walls,
roof, and floor.

15 Th e Lapidary of Aristotle (Ruska, pp. 189,
198-9; Rose, pp. 356, 369-70) does not call
these ‘magnets’, but only ‘stones that attract’
(lapis qui trahit) gold, silver, iron, copper, &c.
The descriptions are not wholly intelligible,
but it is clear that they refer to minerals used
in metallurgical operations, such as parting
gold from other metals, refining silver by
cupellation with lead, and alloying copper to
make brass.

16 This restatement of the polarity of the
magnet seems to be misplaced: it belongs
with ‘stones that attract iron* above.

17 This item is not in Arnold. It is a highly
condensed allusion to a story in the Lapidary
of Aristotle (Ruska, pp. 206-7; Rose, pp.
379-80): The soldiers of Alexander the Great
found some of these stones and ‘all who looked
upon them were stupefied and kept gazing
open-mouthed as if they had lost their senses’,
until a bird alighted and covered the stones
with its wings and the spell was broken. Then
Alexander ordered his men to shut their eyes
and wrap the stones in cloths, and so managed
to carry away some of them, which he later
built into the wall of a city. In the course of
time wind-blown sand concealed them on
the outer, and left them exposed only on the
inner, side of the wall. A prince of Nineveh
heard of this and came to see it. But the first of
his soldiers who scaled the wall, ‘when he saw
the stones inside, opened his mouth and


jumped down into the city and never came
back’. The same thing happened to all who
followed him, and the expedition had to be
abandoned. This is a good example of the
Alexander stories, several of which appear
in the Lapidary of Aristotle , concerning magic
‘stones’.

18 Some of these are probably chemical or
medical compounds; but there was a tendency
to assimilate into one description a number of
different things that ‘have some effect on’
hair, water, fish, etc. A ‘stone that attracts
bones* is not given in Ruska’s or Rose’s texts
of the Lapidary of Aristotle , and this is perhaps
a mistake for the ‘stone that attracts nails’
(of the fingers or toes—ungulas), which is
said (Ruska, p. 199; Rose, pp. 370-1, 393) to
remove nails without pain or blood (perhaps
a medical preparation to ease the sloughing
off of an injured nail), and also to collect
nail-parings from the ground. The ‘stone
that attracts hairs’ (Ruska, p. 199; Rose, pp.
370, 393) looks like hair, attracts bits of hair,
removes hair or makes it grow again. The
‘stone that attracts water’ (Ruska, p. 202;
Rose, pp. 373-4, 396-7) is spongy and ab-
sorbent, and will cure watery diseases, like
dropsy; it weighs much more when wet than
when dry. As for the ‘stone that attracts fish’
(Ruska, p. 189; Rose, p. 357), when this ‘is
placed in water, fish come and stay quiet
above it’ (perhaps it was a fish poison or bait,
or perhaps an amulet to assure success in
fishing).



150


BOOK OF MINERALS


He says, too, that white naphtha 19 attracts fire; and by means of this,
pagan priests deceive the common people, so that they believe that the
fire is kindled from heaven. Naphtha, however, is not a stone, but a kind
of bitumen found in Chaldaea.

In the same way the fire of sulphur attracts iron and bums it strongly,
and likewise stones; but has only a little effect on wood . 20

He likewise says 21 that there is a magnet called ‘oily’ that attracts oil, and
a ‘vinegar stone’ that attracts vinegar; and a ‘wine stone’ that attracts wine,
and the foam of this stone attracts the foam of wine, and its lees attract the
lees of wine. It is as if there were in these things something pleasing to the
stones, or a soul by which they were moved . 22

Furthermore, Diascorides and Aristode say 23 that amethyst and
sardonyx, placed or suspended over the navel of a man who is drunk or is
drinking wine, oppose the fumes of wine and cure drunkenness, freeing
[him] from its attack.

Ethices ( echites ) bound to the elbow of an epileptic is said to cure epilepsy;
and it also helps a pregnant woman to give birth.

Diascorides says that saphirus placed and bound over an artery moderates
heat; and placed over a man’s heart, removes suspicion, and keeps [him]
free from contagious diseases.

[Asbestus ] 24 if set afire by sulphur [is not quenched, so long as anything
is left of it].

Also the philosopher declares that the stone lipparius ( lippares ) attracts to
itself all wild beasts and reptiles.


19 Naphtha is a light, highly inflammable
fraction of petroleum sometimes produced by
natural processes. The explanatory remarks
are Albert’s addition.

20 See IV, 5, note 7.

21 This list of ‘magnets’ is in Arnold, as the
last quotation, from ‘Gerard’s translation’,
but not in the printed Latin texts of the
Lapidary of Aristotle. Like the ‘magnets’ of
metals (note 15 above), these are presumably
materials involved in technological processes
— making soap by combining lye with oil;
dissolving limestone, or preparing pigments
from lead or copper, with vinegar; distilling
alcohol; and various alchemical operations
with tartar, obtained as a sediment in wine
barrels.


22 The Lapidary of Aristotle (Ruska, p. 197;
Rose, p. 367) makes this statement, but only
about magnetite.

23 Albert and Arnold here return to the
‘Diascorides* version. But very few of the
following items can be traced in existing
texts of the Lapidary of Aristotle. Most of
them have been mentioned before; where
there are variants in spelling I have added (in
parentheses) the name under which each
appears in the alphabetical lapidary, II, ii.

24 ab aestu autem si inflammatum a sulphure
prohibet is evidently corrupt. Arnold has
abeston inflammatum a sulphure non extinguitur ,
which is more likely; and the 1518 edition
adds quamdiu aliquid remanet ex eo.



BOOK II, TRACTATE iii 151

And he says that the stone opitistrite ( epistrites ) offers security from wild
beasts; and if it is placed in an alembic, that is, a vessel of boiling water,
the pot stops boiling.

And he says that the stone endros (etindros) turns to liquid, but what
dissolves from it is restored to it again.

Also he says that the stone produced from the foam of the sea, which is
called spuma maris , 25 bound on the hip of a pregnant woman, hastens birth;
and bound on the neck of a child that has a violent cough, it soothes the
cough.

Galen and Avicenna 26 say that they have learned by experience that if
red coral is suspended directly over the seat of pain in the stomach, it
soothes the pain.


These are the effects — as observed in natural science ( experimenta
physica) and tested by great men — which stones produce by the powers of
their specific forms. And I would have set forth the Lapidary of Aristotle y


except that the whole book has not
excerpts from it.

25 The Lapidary of Aristotle (Ruska, p. 207;
Rose, p. 380) describes a stone, which is light
and fragile and floats on a stormy sea — possibly
pumice; but its properties are different from
those given here. According to Pliny (XXXV,
18, 36), spuma maris ‘is said to be sea-foam
hardened with clay, and this is why it has
tiny shells in it’ ; it was used as a white pigment


come down to me, but only some

or plaster. So this name was evidently given
to a number of different things.

26 Arnold gives as his authority only
Avicenna ( Canon of Medicine). Albert added
Galen, having found the same statement
ascribed to him in Costa ben Luca ( Letter on
Incantations, pp. 319-20), and in Constantine’s
Book of Degrees, (Opera, p. 334).


N



BOOK III

METALS IN GENERAL


TRACTATE i

THE SUBSTANCES OF METALS

CHAPTER 1: THE PLAN OF THE BOOK AND THE
ORDER OF THINGS TO BE DISCUSSED

This chapter is a general introduction to the remaining books — III and IV dealing
with the metals, and V with minerals ‘ intermediate ’ between stones and metals.
Although Albert uses information from alchemical works and reports many inter-
esting observations of his own, he tries toft everything into an Aristotelian plan,
as in Book I, on stones.

It is time to take up, next in order, an inquiry into the nature of metals,
now that the nature of stones has been investigated; for it is in stones that
the production of metals fir equendy takes place, as if the substance of stones
were, so to speak, a place peculiarly suitable for the production of metals.
In [writing] this as well as the preceding books, I have not seen the treatise
of Aristode, 1 save for some excerpts, for which I have inquired assiduously
in different parts of the world. Therefore I shall state, in a manner which
can be supported by reasoning, either what has been handed down by
philosophers or what I have found out by my own observations. For at
one time I became a wanderer, making long journeys to mining districts,
so that I could learn by observation the nature of metals. And for the
same reason I have inquired into the transmutations of metals in alchemy,
so as to learn from this, too, something of their nature and accidental
properties. For this is the best and surest method of investigation, because
then each thing is understood with reference to its own particular cause,
and there is very litde doubt about its accidental properties. This is not
difficult to learn, just as the science of stones is not difficult to investigate;
since their causes are obvious, and their bodies are not varied but homeo-
merous 2 throughout, and not like other bodies which, on account of their

1 The Lapidary of Aristotle: see Appendices 2 See I, i, i, note 8.

A, 14; B, 8.



BOOK OF MINERALS


154

varied character, cannot be completely investigated by anatomizing them.
We place the treatise on metals after that on stones because, as we have
said, stone is almost always found to be the place where metals are
produced.

For I myself have seen pure gold found in very hard stone, and I have
seen gold mixed with the substance of the stone. And similarly I have seen
silver mixed with stone, and also pure in another stone, as if it were a vein
running through the stone but distinct from its substance. And I have made
similar observations regarding iron and copper and tin and lead; but these
I have never seen distinct from the substance of the stone; but I am assured
by men experienced 3 in such matters that [these metals] are frequently
found distinct from the substance of the stone, just as grains of gold are
found in sands.

As to the transmutation of these bodies and the change of one into an-
other, this is to be determined not by natural science but by the art called
alchemy. Likewise, in what places and mountains [metals] may be dis-
covered, and by what indications, are matters pardy for natural science
and pardy for the science of magic called treasure-finding . 4 Therefore the
signs by which these places that produce metals may be recognized we
shall mention below; and as to the other method of discovery, we shall
[omit]* it, because that science depends not upon [scientific] demonstra-
tions but upon experience in the occult and the supernatural.

We shall proceed here in just the same way as in the book on the nature
of stones, first inquiring into whatever things common to the nature of all
metals seem to need inquiry; and with this we shall complete the third of
our books on minerals.

In the fourth [book] we shall investigate the metals individually, all
seven kinds of them; and with that we shall complete the science of
minerals, which are the first h cjneswerous mixed bo dies in nature, as we
have stated at the end of the Meteorology . 6 And finally we shall say some-

3 experti, prospectors; a little of their Harz are said to have introduced ‘dowsing*
‘experience’ is reported in HI, i, 10 and IE, ii, 6. into England, and at about the same time

4 inventio thesaurum : the finding of things (sixteenth century) Agricola (De re metallica ,
that had been lost or stolen was frequently Hoover, pp. 40-41) speaks of it as something
an aim of hydromancy or other ‘magic’. One well known in Germany, though he himself
is tempted, however, to imagine that Albert has no faith in it.

is here alluding to the divining rod, which 5 connitemur , probably for ommitemus , since,
came to be applied to prospecting for ores in fact, the subject is never mentioned again,
some time in the Middle Ages and probably 6 See I, i, 1, note 7.
somewhere in Germany. Miners from the



155


BOOK III, TRACTATE i

thing about the nature of [minerals that are] intermediates [between
stones and metals]. And with them we shall complete our whole plan for
this science of minerals.

For there is no doubt that the nature of stone is less far removed from
the elements than the nature of metals [is]. That is why [stones] seem to be
made by an easier mixture, and the materials in them seem to be elements
that have been somehow acted upon by each other. But this is not so with
metals; for as in animal bodies there must be beforehand a blending of
humours 7 in the material, so in the same way, before the blending of the
forms of metals, there must be a purification of Sulphur 8 and Quicksilver,
and perhaps of salt and orpiment and alum and some other things. 9 For
this reason the science of stones most certainly precedes the science of
metals; and it seems suitable that we, too, should follow this natural order.


CHAPTER 2: THE SPECIAL MATERIAL OF METALS


The organization of Book III is parallel to that of Book I, and this chapter, like
I, i, 2 , begins the discussion of causes with the material cause. According to
Aristotle, metals, being fusible, are made up chiefly of Water. But this does not
entirely explain the behaviour of metals, which remain liquid at high temperatures
where other liquids evaporate. So Albert now begins to lay the groundwork for
his reconciliation of Aristotle's statements with the Sulphur-Quicksilver theory
of the Arabs, to be developed later.


According to the art already set forth in the Meteorology, 1 we know
that the primary material of all liquefiable things is Water. For every
liquefiable substance, so long as it is liquid, seeks to be bounded by some-
thing else, having no boundary of its own. We have given this explana-


7 Medieval physiology, derived from Galen,
was based on the doctrine of four humours
in which the primary qualities were combined :
yellow bile (choler) dry-hot; blood (sanguis)
hot-moist; phlegm (phlegma ), moist-cold;
black bile (melancholia) cold-dry. The pro-
portion in which all these are mixed (tern-
peramentum) determines the ‘temperament* or
‘temper* of a person as ‘choleric*, ‘sanguine*,
‘phlegmatic*, or ‘melancholy*.

8 sulphurus , error for sulphuris . This is

quoted from The Soul in the Art of Alchemy


(De anima in arte alchimiae f Manget, 1702,
Vol. 1, p. 634), ascribed to Avicenna.

9 The suggestion of additional constituents
besides Sulphur and Quicksilver — especially
salt — seems to foreshadow the tria prima (Salt,
Sulphur, and Quicksilver) of Paracelsus and
the later alchemists. This may be an interpo-
lation; but if not, Albert does not follow up
the suggestion in later chapters.

♦

1 Meteor , IV, 10, 382 b 28 ff.



BOOK OF MINERALS


156

tion of the moist in the second book of Generation and Corruption . 2
Therefore, every liquefiable thing is such simply because of the moisture
that is bound up in it; once it is melted and exhibits its own peculiar
behaviour and properties, this is recognized in its name, when it is said to
be moist or liquid, since it has demonstrably been liquefied. For it must be
that everything that is fluid and seeks an external boundary to contain it
has the same cause; that is, essentially and primarily it tends to be bounded
by something else and not by itself: and this is [what] moisture [is], as has
been determined elsewhere. Thus all liquefiable substances are fluid
because of the large amount of watery moisture incorporated in them.
Moreover, we have shown in the second book [of Generation and Corrup-
tion] and in the Meteorology 3 that anything that is hardened by cold has
Water as its primary material. And there is no doubt that metals are
hardened by the cold of Water; and therefore a moist humour will be the
material of all of them. And for this reason Aristotle, foremost of the
Peripatetics, says in the fifth book of the Metaphysics 4 that the material of
all liquefiable things is one — that is, Water.

We know from what has been proved in the Meteorology 5 that watery
moisture is easily converted into vapour. This is shown by alchemical
experiments: because if Water, or things that contain simple watery
moisture — whether natural and inherent or foreign and added — is
evaporated in an alembic placed over a slow fire, by the action of gende
heat, the Water distils from it and dry [material] is left behind. But we
see that metals retain their moisture even in hot fires. Therefore the moist
materials of metals cannot be simple Water, but rather [Water] which has
been to some extent acted upon by other elements. But if we consider the
[kinds of] moisture which are difficult to separate from things that natural-
ly contain them, we find that they are all unctuous and viscous; because,
just as has been shown in the Meteorology , 6 their parts are connected like
[the links of] a chain and cannot easily be tom apart. And therefore, since
the moisture in metals is not tom out of them, even by strong heating,
this, too, must be unctuous. Evidence of this is that all the radical moisture
on which the natural heat of animals depends is unctuous; and certainly
wise nature would provide this just because it is difficult to separate and
difficult to dry out. For nature intends it to last for a long time in the

2 Gen. and Corr., II, 2, 329 b 29. 4 Metaphysics, V, 6, 1016 a 21.

3 in secundo et Meteorum: merely reiterating 5 Meteor, IV, 9, 387 a 23 ff.

the references of notes 1 and 2 above. 6 Meteor, IV, 9, 3 87 a 12 ; cf. I, i, 2, note 4.



157


BOOK III, TRACTATE i

individual and for ever in the species . 7 And for this reason [nature]
decreed a moisture of this sort as nourishment for the vital heat. There-
fore, since the moisture of metals likewise seems to be inseparable, even
in a heat that liquefies them, undoubtedly the moisture which is the
material of metals will be unctuous.

But we see further that what is unctuous in oil and all fat is easily inflam-
mable and is active in burning things with which it is joined. And we see
that the Fire does not leave these things until they are consumed, as we ob-
serve with oil in lamps and the radical moisture in fevers. But we do not see
anything of the sort in the moisture of metals ; and therefore it may seem to
some people that perhaps the moisture of metals is not unctuous. But to all
objections of this sort we reply with what we have already said in the fourth
book on Meteorology 8 * * oil — namely that in many things there are two kinds of
unctuousness. One of these is, as it were, extrinsic, very subtle, having
mingled with it nothing that yields any sediment or ash; and [the other] is
not inflammable, but is intrinsic, fast-rooted in the thing itself so that it can-
not be tom out and driven off by fire. We have given as an example of
this the liquor distilled from wine, in which there is one sort of unctuous-
ness that is light and inflammable, easily distilled and, as it were, accidental.
The other sort is mixed with the whole substance of the liquor itself, and is
not separable from it except by the destruction of its very substance; and
this is not combustible. And it is the same in all things produced by nature.


7 This seems like an echo of some Aristo-
telian statement about form , rather than about
moisture as such. Perhaps it is an interpolation.

8 Albert is here citing his own commentary,
in which he gives an account of the distillation

of alcohol (a process unknown in antiquity) :

( Meteor , IV, iii, 18); Wine in some ways
behaves like oil, and in some ways like water.
For sweet wine, especially if it is old and dry,
evaporates like oil, since it contains much subtle
fattiness; and therefore it has many properties
in common with oil. For, like oil, it is not
solidified by chilling — though it must be
admitted that oil is thickened by cold. And like

oil it is combustible and disappears completely
in burning. ... Its vapour is very subtle.
Evidence of this is that it emits a flame; for if
it is placed on the fire and hollow reeds are
inserted above it [the vapour coming out of
them] flames like oil; and what is sublimed from
such wine is the nourishment of a subtle flame.
(Meteor IV, iv, 2): But you may know that


when wine is distilled in the same manner as
rose-water, what is first emitted from it is a
watery insipid moisture; and when that has been
drawn off, the earthy parts of the wine are left
imbued with an oily fat. And if that substance
is further distilled over a slow fire, an oil comes
off. In this respect one wine differs from another
because the stronger the wine, the less water
and the more oily liquid is distilled from it;
and the weaker and thinner the wine, the more
water and the less oily liquid.

Albert appears to be mistaken in saying that
watery rather than oily liquid (alcohol) distils
off first, since alcohol has a lower boiling
point than water. Nevertheless, his observation
may be correct if, as seems to be implied, the
wine were first brought to the boil, when
steam would be produced, condensing to
water; and then later, if distillation were
continued over a lower heat, steam would
decrease and only alcohol would distil.



BOOK OF MINERALS


158

Evidence of this is what we see done in the art of alchemy, which is, of
all arts, the best imitator of nature. For since [alchemy] has observed that
there is no better way of making the yellow elixir than with sulphur,
and has also observed in sulphur an unctuousness which is so intensely
active in burning that it bums all metals, and in burning blackens all those
on which it is cast while molten — [therefore alchemy] recommends that
sulphur be washed in acid solutions and cooked until no more yellow
water comes out of it, and that these solutions be sublimed until all the
unctuousness capable of burning has been removed, so that there remains
only as much subtle unctuousness as [can] endure the fire without being
reduced to ash. Therefore there must be an abundance of similar unctuous
moisture in the materials of metals produced by nature; and this is the
cause of their malleability and fusibility. This is expressly stated by the
authorities, Avicenna and Hermes 9 and many others, men of great
experience in the nature of metals.

Furthermore, in all kinds of metals we see that when liquefied they do
not wet anything on which they are poured out, and they do not stay
still [that is, they roll about] on a flat surface, and do not spread out
completely over it, as we see almost all watery, unctuous moisture do —
for instance, water, wine, beer, or oil. For all these, if poured out on stone,
earth, or wood, when they find a flat surface wet it and spread out over it.
But molten metals do none of these things; they do not adhere to any-
thing that touches them, nor do they spread out completely; but rather
they are solid in some respects and fluid in others. And therefore a subde,
unctuous moisture cannot be the only material in them, but it must be
completely mixed with subtle Earth, which prevents it from adhering to
anything that touches it, or from being completely fluid, but [makes it]
stick together like globules; because the subde Earth everywhere in it
seizes upon the moisture and, by gluing it together, as it were, holds it
fast, providing it with a boundary, in so far as to prevent it from adhering
to anything except itself. And the moisture, wherever it is present, draws
the earthy dryness out of itself, so that it flows and runs on a flat surface.
But if the earthy dryness were not everywhere protected by the moisture,
it would be burnt up at once by a fire that causes liquefaction, and would
become rough and scaly — just as in iron the fire finds out all the dry
earthiness that is not covered by moisture and makes it scaly. And it is the
same with nearly all metals.

9 These and other alchemists are discussed in the remaining chapters of this tractate.



BOOK III, TRACTATE i 159

It is clear, therefore, that the primary material of metals is an unctuous,
subtle moisture, which is incorporated and thoroughly mixed with subtle
Earth, so that large amounts of the two are combined, not merely with,
but actually in, each other.


CHAPTER 3 : IN CONNEXION WITH THE PRE-
CEDING: WHY STONE IS NOT MALLEABLE AND
FUSIBLE LIKE METALS

This chapter appears like a digression, anticipating in part the discussion of
fusibility and malleability in III, ii, 1-2; but the emphasis here is on differences
between metals and stones (as treated in I, i, 2-3). The ideas in this chapter are
taken from Meteor., IV, which defines three kinds of changes brought about by
heat: ( 1 ) pepansis, natural digestion, ripening, or maturing (as of fruit), ascribed
to the gentle action of internal heat; (2) epsesis ( Greek hepsesis), boiling or
steaming by moist heat ; (3) optesis, roasting or baking by dry heat.

On this [basis], going still further, we may easily answer a question that is
often asked — Why is stone not fusible, but copper and other metals are?
And furthermore why is stone broken into litde pieces and reduced to a
calx, through fire alone, which does not happen to metal at all? The answer
to this is easy: for stone contains more Earth, but this is not everywhere
protected by moisture, nor is the moisture in it so unctuous as that in
metals; and therefore, when it is placed in a roasting-hot fire (igne op-
tetico), the watery moisture vanishes and the stone is reduced to a calx.
And since dryness predominates over moisture in stone, the stone breaks
up completely into litde pieces; while, on the other hand, in metals
moisture predominates over dryness, and the metal will be liquefied. And
this is likewise the reason why stone is not malleable, but metals are.
Actually metals have a great deal of unctuous moisture, which most
strongly binds the earthy parts to itself, as by hooked bonds; 1 and when a
hammer blow displaces the watery part, which always tends to yield to
anything that touches it, as we have said in the book on Generation and
Corruption and in the Meteorology, 2 [the watery part], resisting any
separation, strongly draws the earthy part along with it; and so [the
metal] is drawn out without losing its continuity, and not broken up,

1 ensis, but 1 518 text has ansis, ‘handles’. softness as moisture; Meteor. IV, 9, 386 b 11 flf.

2 Gen. and Corr. I, 2, 329 b 29 ff. explains discusses ductility and malleability.



i6o


BOOK OF MINERALS


because of the viscosity and good, firm mixture of the earthy with the
unctuous watery [parts]. But in stone dryness predominates, resisting any-
thing that touches it, and it does not yield; and since it is a property of
what is dry to be broken, it cannot yield to a hammer blow, but is
shattered and reduced to fragments.

But the earthiness which is floating and absorbed in the moisture of
metals is very subtle; and it is not destroyed nor completely forced out of
the moisture, as occurs with extreme cold; rather it is digested, as it were,
and ripened by gentle heat (pep ansi), and neither boiled by [moist heat
(epsesi)] 3 nor roasted by dry heat (optesi), as Averroes says. 4 For the cold
moisture is peculiar to itself and not foreign; and therefore it is so
thoroughly cooked and digested as to become a natural part of it; so that
the dryness runs and flows along with the moisture, and the moisture is
held fast in the earthy dryness: just as Empedocles speaks of the joining of
related heads and necks. 5

But if it were digested by [moist heat (epsesi)], 6 as some unskilful
alchemists say, undoubtedly there would be moisture outside as well as
inside, and almost all the [inside] moisture would be 7 drawn out of it.
But the opposite would be the case if it were digested by roasting (optesi),
as some other people have unreasonably said; for then it would not be
affected on the outside by moisture, but would have a litde moisture left
only inside it. Evidence of this is that metals which are not fully digested
but suffer from a sort of rawness (molynsim) 8 are found to be either scaly,

3 coctum optesi, an error for epsesi, since the quotation was inserted as a gloss, where Albert

following phrase is (correctly) assatum optesi. had merely written ‘as Empedocles says’.

4 Albert is probably quoting Averroes’s 6 optesi again, in error for epsesi.

commentary on the Meteorology, but the 7 I omit non since the point is ( Meteor .
explanation of these terms is in the original: IV, 3, 380 b 13 ff.) that in boiling (epsesis)
Meteor. IV, 2-3 (379 b 10-381 b 23). the internal moisture is drawn out by the

5 Empedocles, as quoted by Aristotle in surrounding hot liquid, so that boiled meat.

The Heavens (HI, 2, 300 b 31) and The Soul for instance, is drier than roast meat; in roast-
(m, 6, 430 a 29) seems to have imagined that ing ( optesis ) the internal moisture is held in
separate organs were first created and joined by a dried-out surface crust. Albert rejects
together at random; combinations that proved both of these, because in metals the ‘moisture’

to be viable became living animals. But this (fusibility) is evenly distributed throughout,
quotation is not really relevant here, and the as in things digested or naturally ripened (by
passage that Albert is paraphrasing ( Meteor , pepansis).

IV, 4, 382 a 1) cites Empedocles (much more 8 molynsis (Meteor. IV, 3, 381 b 14) is,
to the point) as saying that the combination strictly speaking, the imperfect state of epsesis ,
of dry and moist is like ‘gluing meal together ‘imperfect boiling’,
with water*. I suspect that the (wrong)



BOOK III, TRACTATE i 161

like iron and copper; or imperfect, like lead; or else they have a ‘stutter-
ing’ 9 mixture, like tin. These things will be made clear in the following
[chapters].


CHAPTER 4 : THE OPINIONS OF THE ANCIENTS
ABOUT THE MATERIAL OF METALS

Albert now turns to alchemical theories, criticizing and rejecting those that cannot
be reconciled with Aristotle’s teachings. For notes on the alchemists mentioned,
see Appendix D. The theories of Democritus and Gilgil are of particular interest,
as showing how difficult it was for medieval chemists to understand what they
were doing, or to analyse and identify their materials. Democritus shows a certain
neat ingenuity evidently based on crude attempts at analysis: calx is a residue
left after burning ( the prototype is quicklime, but some metals can be reduced to a
calx of oxides in a hot fire); and lixivium is a solution obtained by pouring water
through something that has been burnt ( the prototype is lye made from wood
ashes). Democritus apparently assumed that what was left after treating a metal
thus with fire and water must have been in the metal to begin with, and therefore
that recombining such residues should reconstitute the metal. Gilgil’ s theory was
based on the analogy between glass and metal — an analogy much more convincing
to the alchemists than to us. Both glass and metal come from earthy materials
properly heated; both appear as glowing liquids that can be cast or plastically
worked while still hot but harden on cooling. ( The feeling that glass is almost a
kind of metal persists in the glassmakers’ term ‘metal’ for their molten mixture.)
But Albert’s counter-arguments are even less convincing to a chemist of today.

What Avicenna 1 said, both in his work, The Physical [Stone] and in the
Letter on Alchemy which he wrote to Hazen the philosopher, does not
disagree with the statements made here. For he says in both these books
that Quicksilver and Sulphur are the material of all metals. For the
moisture of which we have spoken, mingled with earthiness, as we have
said, is the immediate material of Quicksilver; and the unctuous

9 See IV, 4. pp. 633-6); the final section is entitled An

* exposition of the Physical Stone (that is, the

1 Avicenna (Appendix D, 9) wrote on ‘Philosophers’ Stone’ for transmutation),
physical science, but this seems to be a refer- The Letter to King Hasen (Zetzner, 1613, Vol.
ence to The Soul in the Art of Alchemy (De IV, pp. 972-85) is quoted just below (note 4)
anima in arte alchimiae t Manget, 1702, Vol. I, and both works again in HI, i, 9.



162


BOOK OF MINERALS


substance which we have described is the peculiar and essential material
of Sulphur.

Hermes 2 and some others seem to say that metals are made up of all the
elements, and this certainly cannot be denied. But nevertheless, the
material of things is not defined merely by the constituents that happen
to be present in them, but by those that are most abundant.

But the strangest and most ridiculous of all opinions is that attributed to
Democritus in some alchemical works — namely that calx and lixivium are
the material of metals. But if calx were the material — since calx [quick-
lime] itself is made by burning, and when mixed with water hardens like
cement — then metal would become as hard as stone, and would be
capable of being broken to pieces, but not of being liquefied; and more-
over, on the application of fire, a metal would undoubtedly be hardened,
as we see in [the case of] cement, rather than liquefied. And if lixivium
means a sharp water, as the alchemists explain, which removes from a
calx the saltiness and sharpness [formed by] burning, as the alchemists
demonstrate with their solutions, then [the statement] that this water is
the material of metals cannot be correct: because calx is an earthy sub-
stance; but according to what is reported in the Meteorology 3 we know
that everything earthy, when it is burnt, has its pores contracted and
closed; and calx, being of this sort, the entrance of Water into the interior
of the calx is hindered, so that it never becomes well and firmly con-
solidated. This is why, if cement is attacked by fire, its moisture easily
vanishes and it becomes powdery and falls out of a wall. Thus the state-
ment of Democritus about the material of metals does not fit [the facts].
He was misled by insufficient evidence: for he saw that the elixir best for
luna, that is, silver, began by taking in calx and cerusa , 4 and therefore he
believed that there was something of the same kind in the physical and
natural material of metallic bodies. This is not really necessary: for art has
need of many things which nature does not need. But art does not need
calx and cerusa except for producing proper hardness and colour; but
nature accomplishes this in suitable material by digestion alone. For we

2 See III, i, 6. take calx of luna (silver), and this is a white

3 Meteor , IV, 7, 3 84 b 21 gives this explana- cerusa and it will be one of the things that cause
tion for the solidity of baked earthenware. whitening.* Since silver commonly occurs

4 Cerusa is a white compound of lead, in lead ores and was refined by cupellation
either natural or artificial (see IV, 3, note 7). with lead, the notion that silver could some-
It is recommended in Avicenna’s Letter to how be produced out of lead was not entirely
King Hasen (op. cit. p. 980) : ‘Possibly we might unrelated to fact.



BOOK III, TRACTATE i 163

have shown in the Meteorology 5 that all digestion or gentle heating causes
solidification and thickening of the materials that have been cooked and
digested, without anything from outside being added to them in the
process.

But a certain Gilgil, of Moorish Seville, which has now been returned
to the Spaniards, 6 in his Secrets, seems to prove that fused ash is the material
of metals. He offers this unconvincing argument: — we see that by intense
roasting by dry heat, ash is liquefied into glass, which hardens by cold and
liquefies by dry heat, just like metal. Therefore it will be obvious that
their material is the same, for things that show the same behaviour in
hardening and liquefying seem to have the same kind of material, as the
teaching of the Meteorology 7 shows, he claims. Moreover, we do not see
earthiness made subde, divided, and mixed with moisture, except by the
extreme force of Fire, which makes it subtle and divides it so that it may
be mixed with moisture : this is the behaviour of the earthiness that is burnt
to ash in the moisture of metals. And therefore it seems to him that earthy
ash is the special material of metals. And this, he says, is why all metals
sink in water; 8 for they would not do this, he says, if unctuous moisture
were predominant in them, as it is said to be. Furthermore, Gilgil adds, any-
thing that contains unctuous moisture can be burnt up by Fire, as wood is;
but not a single one of the metals can be set on fire or burnt up ; and there-
fore [metal] does not appear to have unctuous moisture as its material.
Therefore, he asserts, [metals] have earthy ash fused with Watery moisture.

These arguments are unconvincing and stupid; for Gilgil himself was a
mechanic and not a philosopher, and, relying too much on the mechanical
[operations of] alchemy, he dared to make wrong statements about
natural science. That he is quite wrong is clear from what is said in the
Meteorology 9 about ashes. For there it is said that when water is poured
upon ashes they do not retain it, because they are completely porous and
allow the moisture that is taken in to escape. Therefore, if ash were the
material of metals, it could never be stuck together by any moisture in
them. Furthermore, we see that when fire acts on ashes the moisture
distilled through them becomes yellow or red; 10 and therefore, if ash
were the special material of metal, [fire] would impart a yellow or red

5 Meteor, IV, 2, 379 b 33 ff. 9 Albert is quoting his own version,

6 Seville was regained by the Christians in Meteora, IV, iv, 6.

1248. 10 Colours due to oxides, probably of iron

7 Meteor. IV, 10, 3 88 b 1 1 ff. or lead, which might be present in many of the

8 See I, i, 2, note 1. materials used.



164 BOOK OF MINERALS

colour to it; but we can prove by secret doctrine [that is, alchemy] that
this is not so.

We deny, then, that the material that enters into the being of glass is
ash. It is, instead, moisture of that very pure sort which is radical and
intrinsic 11 in whatever is blunt to [make the] ash. It could not be com-
pletely extracted by the force of the fire that burnt it, but if the fire is ex-
tremely hot it flows out on the hearth as a frit. This is moisture that has been
very intensely acted upon by dryness, as we have explained in the science
of stones. 12 Therefore the material of liquefiable things — both the primary
and the final material — is of one and the same kind, that is, moisture.

And if anyone were to say that [the material] cannot be mixed unless it
is finely divided, 13 it must be stated that, once [the constituents are]
freed, it is not the burning but the mixing that [brings about] the union of
miscible things with each other, so that the most minute [portion of]
Earth is mingled with the most minute [portion of] Water, and vice
versa; and the largest [amount of] each with the largest [amount of] the
other, and yet in such a way that neither one is separated from particles
of its own kind. For one part of Earth is never found separated from the
rest of the Earth, nor of Water separated from the rest of the Water. But
this [occurs] in such a way that a large amount of one is so combined with
[any amount], large or small, of the other that, as I have said, neither one
is ever separated from the substance of its own kind. And this is what
Gilgil did not understand.

As to what he says about metals sinking in Water, that is not satis-
factory: the reason for this is not that there is an excessively great amount
of dry, earthy ash in metals, but rather that the Earth is incorporated with
the moisture and the pores are closed up [excluding] 14 Air, because of the
moisture. And this is why they all sink in Water.

Nor is his statement correct, about the unctuous moisture of things
that can be burnt up by Fire. For in our Physics we have shown that what
is oily and unctuous may be separated from such material and there will
remain behind a subtle moisture that can [not] 15 be burnt up by fire.

Let this, then, be an abbreviated account of the material of metals.

1 1 See discussion of different kinds of mois- mistake, since in I, ii, 6 Albert gives this as the

ture in the following tractate, ID, ii, j. reason why pumice floats on Water.

12 See I, i, 9. 15 I have inserted non (as in the iji8

13 Gen. and Core. I, io, 328 a 32 ff. edition). The reference is not to the Physics,

14 clausis poris aerem retinentibus, ‘with but to Albert’s version of the Meteorology,
closed pores that retain the Air’ : this must be a already cited : see III, i, 2, note 8.



BOOK III, TRACTATE i


165

CHAPTER 5: THE EFFICIENT CAUSE AND THE PRO-
DUCTION OF METALS IN GENERAL

This chapter is parallel to I, i, 4-3, on the efficient cause of stones. Albert here
discusses again the effects of heat and cold, as the instruments directed by a power
emanating from the stars, in the formation of metals, as in the formation of stones.

Let us discuss the efficient cause in this way: on superficial consideration it
appears that for all metals it is cold that brings them to their perfect
specific form. It is by [cold] that they grow firm and solidify, and their
solidification and firmness seem to bring them into being, while fusion
dissolves and destroys them. Evidence of this is that in many or in all
metals something 1 is separated from their substance when they are fused.
But nothing at all is lost from them when they solidify. And for this
reason many people declare that cold alone, which solidifies them, is the
productive cause in metals. Moreover, in things that take on the specific
form of life, there is nothing that limits and changes the material so as to
produce its form, except heat; and therefore it may appear that it is the
same with metals. And this appears all the more [probable], since metals
retain their identity whether they are molten or solid. But if it were cold
that conferred the specific form, metals would lose their identity except
when solid and hardened. It seems, therefore, that cold is not the cause of
the production of metals. Furthermore, hardening and solidification are
phenomena of matter that happen in the same sense (non aequivoce) to
many things, which are nevertheless of different specific forms and differ-
ent natures; but there is no one substantial form that can in this way fit
different things. From this and similar [arguments] it is established beyond
doubt that cold does not impart specific form to metals. And yet certain
philosophers, who have not thought deeply about the nature of metals,
believe [this].

But since the material of all metals is moisture containing in it well-
digested subde Earth, which on being burnt gives off an odour of very
foul-smelling 2 Sulphur; and since Sulphur is not produced except by

1 Slag, or a scum of oxides on molten metal, and ore minerals like silvery galena (lead and

2 I omit non, which must be misplaced (see silver) or brassy chalcopyrite (copper) are
note j below), since all accounts agree that sulphides which in smelting give off pungent
sulphur is bad-smelling (foetidus) . Metals were fumes of sulphur dioxide.

not clearly distinguishable from their ores,



1 66


BOOK OF MINERALS


heat, then it must be that heat, digesting and converting Earth and
Water and mixing them together, is the cause that transmutes the material.
And therefore heat will be the cause of the production of metals. More-
over, it has been stated in the Meteorology 3 that what thickens a fluid and
makes it grow firm is heat that digests it; and it is established that since the
original material of what we call metals is Water, [the fact that] it has
something earthy mixed with it makes it grow firm and thicken into a
metallic mixture. And this, as is clear from what has been said, is [the
effect of] heat. Therefore heat must be the cause of the production of
metals. Furthermore, we have often shown in the preceding books that
the cause of mixing is heat. For according to their own natural motions,
one element separates from another. For although Water of itself moves
downwards, it moves upwards with respect to Earth; and Earth moves
downwards with respect to Water. But since, then, it is not cold but
heat that imparts a motion to the Earth in Water, so that it may be taken
up and held fast, it must be heat that is the cause of the production of
metals.

But on further consideration it will appear that heat alone cannot be the
cause of their production; for as we have said in the book on the produc-
tion of stones , 4 undoubtedly if heat alone were the cause, it could [not ] 5
act continuously without drying out the natural moisture and burning up
the Earth. But we see that [the process] stops with the specific form of a
metal. And therefore the heat itself must be merely the instrument
directed towards an end — which is the form of a metal — without turning
aside in its operation.

Furthermore, we find that many arts have been discovered, each of
them carrying out its operations by means of an instrument adapted to the
purpose. Thus cooks study boiling and roasting, and so with all others
who attempt to convert materials by [other processes of] digestion. And it
must be the same in nature, since [nature] in her operations, as in every-
thing else, is more certain and more direct than any art. So undoubtedly
there is a formative power in nature, poured into the stars of heaven, and
this [power] guides towards a specific form the heat that digests the
material of metals. For as we have said elsewhere, this heat has its right
direction and formative power from the Moving Intelligence, and its
efficacy from the power of fight and heat emanating from the fight of the

3 Meteor. IV, 6, 383 a 14 ff. 5 I insert non, which is required by the sense,

4 See I, i, 4- j. as in the 1 5 1 8 edition.



BOOK III, TRACTATE i 167

starry sphere and from the power that separates things that are alike from
things that are different 6 — [that is,] the power of Fire.

For these three things are necessary where material is shaped into a speci-
fic form: first, the unsuitable materials must be consumed by the
heat of Fire, which digests them; [for], there must be digestion, the com-
bination, by their own natural heat, of the opposed passive properties
[moisture and dryness] ; and finally, when these have been removed from
the material, the material must have a boundary imposed upon it, and be
perfected in its specific form. And it is heat that has the power of doing
this; but it would not have the power of imposing a boundary at all,
except for the power of the boundary itself— that is, of the form, which is
the boundary. And therefore the formative power must guide and control
the heat that imposes the boundary. But this form is not the form pro-
duced in the material: therefore it must be the form of the First Cause
that gives forms to all things in nature. And this cause is the Mover of the
sphere, bringing forth natural forms through the motion of heaven and
the qualities of the elements: just as the artisan brings forth the forms of
his art through the use of axe and hammer. And for this reason Aristotle 7
says that the work of nature is like that of art, where a house comes from
[the idea of] a house [in the mind of the builder], and health from [the
idea of] health — by the reactions of heat and cold — in the mind of the
physician.

This, then, is the particular cause that produces metals.


CHAPTER 6: THE ESSENTIAL FORM OF METALS

This chapter is parallel to I, i, 6 on the formal cause of stones. The question
What determines the form of a metal? is of fundamental importance in discussing
the possibility of transmutation. Albert here reviews three theories: ( 1 ) the Platonic
notion of form as number and proportion (an echo of the Timaeus); (2) the
Hermetic attribution of form to the influences of the planets; (f) Avicenna’s
‘mineralizing power , already mentioned in I, i, 5-6.

6 Gen. and Corr. II, 2, 329 b 27. Albert refers and the gold with gold, and each of the others
to this again in his Meteor. IV, i, 1 : ‘If a single with things of its own kind.’
mass is composed of gold and silver and lead 7 Aristotle often coupled together the ex-
and iron and stones, and is heated, the heat amples of the builder and the physician in his
will dissolve the mass and cause the stones to discussion of causes, e.g. in Phys. II, 2, 194 a
collect together with stones [that is, as slag], 22 ff.



i68


BOOK OF MINERALS


The essential form in all things is what gives them being, and in metals it
seems to be something different from mere solidification; because
[metals] are, as we have said, of the same number and kind, even when
molten. For molten gold is still gold, and the same [is true of] silver and
other metals. And this form, especially in metals, some people say, is the
numerical proportion of earthly and heavenly powers. In certain al-
chemical books ascribed to Plato , 1 number or numerical proportion is
called the form of a metal; and he postulates this proportion in the powers
of the constituent elements, for he would produce everything from the
proportion of earthly and heavenly powers. Now the power of Earth is
cold and dry, but the power of heaven, according to his story, is that of
the seven planets. Therefore if there is more of the power of Earth,
according to its three properties [dryness, coldness and heaviness] than of
[the power of] the planets, which send out light and nobility, then the
result will be dark-coloured, heavy, and cold, as lead is. But if there is
more of the heavenly power, and less of the potentiality of Earth, [the result]
will be very bright and indestructible and somewhat more compact, and
because it is compact, necessarily heavy; and in so far as this, or its
opposite [is true], the proportion is said to be that constituting the specific
form of gold. And in the same way, he says, the other [metals] are formed.
For this reason they call the seven kinds of metals by the names of the
seven planets: naming lead, Saturn; tin, Jupiter; iron, Mars; and gold, the
Sun (Sol); copper, Venus; quicksilver, Mercury; and silver, the Moon
(Luna); and declare that by the different numbers in their composition
they acquire the constitutions of the seven planets.

Hermes, indeed, seems to have been the author of this opinion, al-
though Plato later followed him in it. And the alchemists seem to have
taken it from them, declaring that precious stones have the power of the
[fixed] stars and constellations, and the seven kinds of metals have their
forms from the seven planets of the lower spheres ; 2 and thus the powers
of the heavens are first in producing results on earth, making the planets,
as it were, secondary [in importance]. In support of this declaration they
say — what is indeed true — that the heavenly sphere imparts motion to
Earth , 3 and this is the reason why things produced from Earth are so

1 See Appendix D, 6. The theory of or outside the spheres of the planets, which are
numerical proportions was adopted by some ‘below’, nearer to the earth.

Arabic alchemists, for example Jabir (see 3 Earth is at the centre of the universe, so the
Appendix D, 3). rays of the heavenly bodies converge there

2 The sphere of the fixed stars is ‘above’ with greatest effect. See also III, i, 10, note 17.



BOOK III, TRACTATE i 169

varied in their shapes and so numerous, as compared with things produced
in any of the other elements. And Father Hermes Trismegistus seems to
confirm this opinion when he says, ‘Earth is the mother of metals and
Heaven their father’ 4 and ‘Earth is impregnated with them in mountains,
fields, and plains, and in waters’, 5 and everywhere else. But we have
understood this opinion to mean that the proportion of the powers of the
elements — that is, both active [hot and cold] and passive [dry and moist] —
is the predisposing cause of the substantial form, just as [it is] in everything
else; since form is what is conferred by the formative and active principles,
which are the primary active and formative powers in matter, as we have
said in the science of stones. 6

As to the attribution of the kinds of metals to the planets rather than to
the other stars — this is said because stones are stable and the forms that
they assume on hardening are attributed to the fixed stars and constella-
tions, which keep their places and figures perpetually. By place I do not
mean the position of a star in the sphere, since that changes for all stars,
but rather its position in a constellation, with reference to other stars;
for example, there are two bright stars, one in the Horn of the Ram
(Aries) and the other called the Knee of Perseus, which are found in all
seasons at the same linear distance from each other; and the same [is true
of] other stars, for otherwise the constellations of heaven would be
destroyed. Thus stones are found to be of the same constitution and shape
as long as they endure. But metals have, as it were, a variable behaviour
(erraticum motum), being sometimes fluid and sometimes solid. And since
their material is liquid, and liquid has a variable behaviour, it seems to
have something in common with the planets; 7 and the powers of the
planets infused into the powers of the elements confer the specific form.
And these powers, thus caused and infused, shape the specific form, in
agreement with the forms of metals. In just the same way the formative
power in the seed of animals is in agreement with the form conferred by
reproduction, and similarly, the form of an art agrees with the artifact.

4 This appears to be a quotation from panying the Emerald Table printed by Steele

another version of the Emerald Table (see and Singer (1928, p. 52). In both it is associated
Appendix D, 7). with other quotations from Hermes.

5 This is from Hermes’s Book of Alchemy 6 I, i, 5-6.

as quoted by Arnold of Saxony (Stange, p. 7 Greek planetes, Latin errantes, ‘wandering’,

42) : ‘The stone which is necessary for our because the courses of the planets do not keep
work is found in the plain, in mountains, pace with the apparent revolution of the
and in all waters.’ It is also in the text accom- fixed stars.



BOOK OF MINERALS


170

And in this way what the Platonists say is true: for in this way the
First Cause sowed the seed of all forms and species and entrusted the
perfecting of it to the fixed stars and planets, as is told in the Timaeus . 8
And this is the reason why the number and properties and specific forms
of the metals are held to agree with the planets. For we know from what is
reported in the First Philosophy 9 of Aristotle that all things are produced
from suitable material: although it may not be entirely suitable to the
Idea, Form, and Purpose. And in this way all spontaneous generation can
be reduced to natural generation.

As to what Avicenna seems to say — and some people falsely attribute
this to Aristotle 10 — namely, that sometimes an earthy force produces
forms of this sort: it is not known what this earthy force is, if it has only
the potentialities of Earth; for it acts by means of other [elements, too].
For we know that what confers form has something in common with that
[form], inasmuch as Aristode says 11 that the soul is in the seed, just as the
artisan is in the artifact. But the philosopher [Avicenna] calls this earthy
force simply ‘an earthy force in the place where metals are produced’.
Yet it contains within itself heavenly powers, in the way we have ex-
plained, although perhaps it must be admitted that an earthy force that
acts by cold and dryness [must act] in another way to harden moisture by
thickening it [until it has] the nature and conformation of Earth. But in no
way can dryness and cold be said to cause a strong and tenacious mixture
such as we know exists in the material of metals. Furthermore, the earthy
force, thus defined, agrees only with the specific form of Earth, and there-
fore it would not confer the form of [another ] 12 element; because it is
certain and proved that everything is produced by a related cause, which is
figuratively called by the same name ( aequivocata ). This is so in all pro-

8 Timaeus, 41-43 : The Demiurge endowed are not really completely different from (1),

the stars with souls, and then entrusted to since the material must be ‘suitable’, that is,
them the creation of mortal things. it must have something in common with the

9 Metaphysics, VII, 9, 1034 a 9 ff. : Aristotle form to be produced; so in that sense it is
distinguishes three kinds of generation: (1) ‘something of the same kind’.

natural, the production of a thing from some- 10 Avicenna’s De congelatione (Holmyard
thing of the same kind (Latin mivocageneratio), and Mandeville, 1927) was sometimes at-
e.g. a horse from a horse; (2) spontaneous, the tached to the Meteorology and thought to be
production of a thing from something of a part of Aristotle’s work. This has already
different kind ( aequivoca generatio), e.g. been cited in I, i, 2-3.
worms from decaying flesh; (3) artificial, the 11 See Albert’s discussion in I, i, 5.

production of works by an artisan. But the 12 illam formam: but 1318 ed. has aliam

argument here seems to be that (2) and (3) formam.



BOOK III, TRACTATE i 171

duction of stones and metals, for stone is never produced from stone, nor
metal from metal. And if it is said that one stone conceives another, 13 yet
it is not to be thought of as being produced by its own seed, but rather
from some other material, whatever it may be — unless perhaps there is
something intermediate between stone and plant, just as there are many
things intermediate between plant and animal, such as the sponge, sea-
cucumber, etc.


CHAPTER 7 : THE OPINION OF CALLISTHENES, WHO
POSTULATED ONLY ONE FORM OF METAL

Albert’s ‘ Callisthenes ’ is a mistake for Khalid ibn Yazid ibn Muawiya (see
Appendix D, 8), and the work cited is the Book of the Three Words (Liber
trium verborum, Manget, 1702, Vol. 2, pp. 189-91), which begins thus:

Alchemy is the art of arts, the science of sciences, discovered by Alchinus. And chimia
in Greek means massa in Latin. By this art metals which are imperfect in their ores
are brought to perfection, from corruption to incorruption. For just as a child in its
mother s body, because of the corruption of a womb that is diseased and corrupt, although
the sperm was healthy, becomes leprous and corrupt, so it is in metals, which are cor-
rupted by nature, from corrupt sulphur or in fetid water. Because nature intended to
make gold (sol) and silver (luna), in the place where they originated, but was unable
to do so. And therefore metals are actually corrupt, as was said above.

Khalid also held the doctrine of ‘ occult ’ and ‘ manifest ’ properties which Albert
criticizes in the next chapter (III, i, 8).

The experience of the alchemists, however, here confronts us with two
grave doubts. For they seem to say that the specific form of gold is the
sole form of metals, and that every other metal is incomplete — that is, it is
on the way towards the specific form of gold, just as anything incomplete
is on the way towards perfection. And for this reason metals which in
their material have not the form of gold must be ‘diseased’; and [the
alchemists] try to find a medicine which they call elixir, by means of
which they may remove the diseases of metals in their blending and
ingredients; and thus they speak of ‘bringing out’ the specific form of gold.
And for this [purpose] they invent many different methods for compound-
ing and blending this elixir, so that it may penetrate and attack the metal,
and remain [unaffected] in the fire, and impart colour, solidity, and weight.

13 But see II, ii, 14, Peranites.



172


BOOK OF MINERALS


Therefore we must make some inquiry here into these [methods]. For if
the statements of these authors are true, then undoubtedly there will be
only one form of metal [that is, gold], and all other metals suffer from
‘under-cooking’ ( molynsis ),* and are like abortions of nature which have not
yet attained their proper specific shape. And accordingly, if this is found to
be truly proved, we need not labour [the question] whether the different
kinds of metals are transmutable by alchemy or not: for according to this
[view], no metal has any specific form except gold, which alchemy does
not transmute.

Callisthenes, a prominent [upholder] of this opinion, says that alchemy
is the science that confers upon inferior metals the nobility of the superior
ones. In order to discuss this question properly I have examined many
alchemical books, and I have found them lacking in [evidence ] 1 2 and proof,
merely relying on authorities, and concealing their meaning in meta-
phorical language, which has never been the custom in philosophy.
Avicenna is the only one who seems to approach a rational [attempt],
though a meagre one, towards the solution of the above question,
enlightening us a little.

As to the statement that the specific form of gold is the only form of
metals, this is their reasoning : things composed of the same constituents
mixed in the same way seem to have only one form. Now since, as Plato
says , 3 forms are given to matter according to its capacity; and since,
as we have said earlier, things have their origin in suitable material,
therefore it is impossible that anything made from the same materials
mixed in the same way should show many different specific forms. But
all metals are mixtures of subtle sulphurous Earth with a radical moisture
from which the oily part and the superfluous wateriness have been separ-
ated, as has been shown earlier . 4 It seems, therefore, that there is only one
specific form corresponding to this set of conditions. Moreover, it is
found by experience that by means of the elixir copper turns to silver, and
lead to gold, and iron likewise to silver. It appears, then, that they are the
same in material and consequently have only one form, which, as it were,
perfects the pre-existing material. Moreover, they seem to differ only in
accidental properties 5 — that is, in colour, taste, weight, greater or lesser

1 molynsis, imperfect cooking by moist 3 Cf. I, i, J, note i.

heat, Meteor. IV, 3, 381 a 12 ff. 4 See III, i, 2.

2 sigillo, for signo: signum is Albert’s usual 5 These are treated in III, ii.

word for ‘evidence’.



173


BOOK III, TRACTATE i

compactness — and these accidental properties depend only on their
material. From these and similar [arguments], then, [the alchemists]
arrive at their opinion, and say that the specific form of all metals is one
and the same, but the diseases of the material are many.

But the opposite of this seems [to be true]. For there is no reason why
the material in any natural thing should be stable in nature, if it were not
perfected by a substantial form. But we see that silver is stable, and tin,
and likewise other metals; and therefore they seem to be perfected by
substantial forms. Moreover, if the properties and passive qualities of
things are different, their substances must be different. And the passive
qualities of metals — their colours, odours, and sounds [when struck] — are
altogether different; and it cannot be said that these accidental qualities
are common to them all; although they are always and everywhere alike
in all metal of one and the same nature. And therefore the substances and
specific forms [of different metals] must be different. Moreover, if the fact
that things are compounded of the same materials requires their specific
forms to be the same, then everything that is produced would be of one
and the same specific form, because everything is produced from the
elements. It is obvious, then, that this reasoning based upon the con-
stituent elements is unsound. For the varied forms of things are attributed
to the varied proportions of their constituents; and in metals there are
variations both in the constituents and in the blending, as we shall
demonstrate below, when we speak of the metals individually.

And as to the experiments 6 which [the alchemists] bring forward, not
enough proof is offered: because it is not certain whether [their procedure]
induces the colour, weight, and odour of silver and gold, by means of
whatever is added to and penetrates into copper and lead, or whether it
induces the actual substance of silver and gold. And Callisthenes ought to
have supplied proof that it would induce the actual substance of gold. But
even if we admit that perhaps it does induce the substance of gold, still
this does not satisfactorily prove that there is only one specific form of
metals. For by calcination, sublimation, distillation, and other operations
by which the alchemists cause the elixir to penetrate into the material of
metals, it may be possible to destroy the specific forms of metals that
originally were in their material: and then the material that is left, being

6 experimentum usually means ‘what is of the modem ‘experiment’ or laboratory
learned by experience or casual observation; procedure. The latter seems more appropriate
but it was beginning to take on the meaning for the operations of alchemy.



BOOK OF MINERALS


174

in a general sense metallic, but not the material of any specific metal,
can, 7 with the help of art, be reduced to another specific form, just as
seeds are helped by ploughing and sowing, or nature is helped by the
efforts of the physician.

It is obvious from this that we are by no means forced to think that
there is only one specific form for all metals; for we find that the places
where they are produced, and their constituents, and their passive
qualities, all differ widely; and that this is the result of accident is by no
means certain. For, as we have just now stated, these accidental qualities
are not common to all [metals], but they themselves indicate substantial
differences by which they are produced in the material of metals.


CHAPTER 8: THE OPINION OF HERMES AND OTHER
PHILOSOPHERS WHO SAY THAT IN ANY METAL
THERE ARE SEVERAL FORMS

For notes on the alchemists cited here, see Appendix D. But it is not clear what
relation (if any) there is between Gilgil’s theory of the constitution of metals
(III, i, 4) and the subject of the present chapter. Empedocles and Anaxagoras are
mentioned by Aristotle, and appear as alchemists in the Turba philosophorum.
But the ascription of this theory of transmutation to Empedocles must be the work
of a later writer; or perhaps Empedocles (like Callisthenes in III, i, 7) is a mistake
for some other name. What is said of Anaxagoras, however, is based on Aristotle’s
criticism of his theory that everything contains within it ‘seeds’ or particles of
everything else — e.g. flesh and bone are somehow already present in food, &c.
It was, I think, Albert himself who sought to emphasize any similarity between
this and the alchemical doctrine of ‘occult’ qualities in metals, because this
enabled him to bring Aristotelian arguments to bear. Finally, it must be noted that
this theory is not really ‘ opposed ’ to that of the preceding chapter: Callisthenes-
Khalid also mentions it (see note 1 below).

Hermes and Gilgil and Empedocles and almost all that group of al-
chemists seem to defend an opinion which is opposed to this. For they
say that in any metal whatever there are several specific forms and natures,
postulating one that is occult and one that is manifest, or one inside and
another outside, or one in the depths and another on the surface — like
7 I have omitted non, since Albert is stating can have a new specific form imposed on them,
a familiar alchemical theory — that metals



175


BOOK III, TRACTATE i

those who speak of the ‘latency’ of forms, and say that ‘all things contain
all things’, as Anaxagoras believed. For they say 1 that lead is gold inside
and lead outside; but gold, on the other hand, is gold outside, on the
surface, but inside, in the depths, it is lead. And copper and silver are
related to each other in the same way, and so is almost any metal at all to
any other. And this seems a strange statement.

For a homeomerous substance has the same specific form, inside and out-
side, occult and manifest, in the depths and on the surface. And it is
established that metals are included in the [group ] 2 of homeomerous things.
Thus what [these alchemists] say seems to be quite absurd. Furthermore,
they say that they do not use the terms ‘inside’ and ‘outside’, and the rest,
with reference to the situation of parts in the whole, but rather with
reference to the properties and natures of ‘dominants’ and ‘subordinates’;
for a ‘dominant’ encloses and conceals whatever it dominates. And
accordingly, they state exactly the thought of Anaxagoras — namely, that
all metals are in all metals, and identification is made according to the
‘dominant’ one.

Moreover, we know that gold is not burnt by fire, but lead is, es-
pecially if sprinkled with sulphur; but if this statement of theirs were true
then when fire is applied to lead, [the lead] ought to be burnt up, and the
occult gold in it ought to be left. But we do not see this happen. And
similarly, silver is protected by lead 3 from being burnt; but then, if the
lead were completely consumed, the silver that was in the lead ought to
be left, according to what they say — unless perhaps there is in any metal
an infinite amount of every other metal, as Anaxagoras said. But in that
case, none of them could be completely consumed by fire. But we have
disproved this at the beginning of our Physics . 4 Besides, if we admit that
this is true, it would never be possible to bum away the visible metal by

1 Examples of this are numerous: Book of silver’ (p. 41): ‘Since it is established that lead
the Three Words (Manget, 1702, Vol. 2, (Saturn) is one of the cold dry bodies, therefore
pp. 189-90): ‘This work inquires into the its occult [nature] is undoubtedly gold (sol);
moist and cold, in which the hot and dry are because what is manifest in it is cold and dry,
occult, and this we need to know in order to and what is occult in it is moist and warm.’

make occult what is manifest, and make 2 generatione, error for genet e. Metals are

manifest what is occult.’ More specific classified as homeomerous things in Meteor. IV,
statements occur in Rhasis’s Book of Alums 10, 388 a 12.

and Salts (Steele, 1929, p. 31): ‘What is 3 In refining silver by cupellation with lead,

occult in gold is manifest in silver, and what is 4 Phys. I, 4, 187 b 22 (£., where Aristotle

manifest in gold is occult in silver’ (p. 37): refutes the theory of Anaxagoras.

‘[Copper] is manifest copper and occult



BOOK OF MINERALS


176

fire, so that the occult [metal] could be freed and made manifest. And
then the whole study of alchemy would be in vain. Therefore this state-
ment is not in agreement with the scientific reasoning which we have
established in all our books.

But perhaps they say this because of the close relationship among the
metals, which [depends] on their materials. For lead contains superfluous
watery moisture and has a sort of combustible fatness, and an earthiness
that is not well blended with the Water, nor yet well purified. [And all
this] is consistent with [the fact that] sometimes, through the industry of
wise men, by means of fire, the superfluous watery moisture is extracted
from it by evaporation, and all the fatty oiliness in it is burnt up, and the
sulphurous earthiness in it is purified by sublimation, and the vapours are
blended in some container that condenses earthy vapour with radical
moisture into a good, firm mixture; and by the force of heat, the moisture
is changed to a yellow colour , 5 and then it has the lustrous colour of gold.
For this way of art is like the way of nature, as we shall explain later.

But even though this may be true, nevertheless it is no reason for saying
that lead is gold ‘in the depths’ ; because, granting that it is gold which
thus [comes out] shining from lead, yet we already know that these
transmutations completely destroy the lead. Therefore, since the specific
form was that of lead, the specific form of gold was never simultaneously
present in the same material. And this will appear all the more true, if
what comes from the lead is not proved to be gold. Perhaps it is something
like gold, but not [real] gold ; because art alone cannot confer substantial
form.

Besides, we have rarely or never found an alchemist, as we have said,
who [could] perform the whole [process]. Instead, by means of the yellow
elixir he produces the colour of gold, and by means of the white elixir, a
colour similar to silver, attempting to make the colour remain fast in the
fire and penetrate throughout the whole metal, just as a spiritual sub-
stance 6 is put into the material of a medicine. And by this sort of operation
a yellow 7 colour can be induced, leaving the substance of the metal
unchanged. So again, [it is clear that] there are not several forms of metals
present in each other.

5 From the description, here and in III, i, 7 Jlavus in this one instance surely means

10, this would seem to be litharge, an oxide ‘yellow’ (for which Albert usually says
of lead. citrinus). Elsewhere Jlavus has been printed for

6 ‘Spirits’ prepared by distillation. blavus, ‘blue’. See I, ii, 2, introductory note.



177


BOOK III, TRACTATE i

These, then, and the like, are the arguments against the statements of
those who say that the specific form of any metal whatever is present in
any other.


CHAPTER 9: WHETHER ONE FORM OF METAL CAN
BE TRANSMUTED INTO ANOTHER, AS THE AL-
CHEMISTS SAY

The greater part of this chapter agrees closely, even verbatim in places, with the
Paneth manuscript entitled Metals and Alchemy (see Introduction: ‘Date of
Composition of the Book of Minerals’).

The quotations of Avicenna come from three different works: De congelatione
(Holmyard and Mandeville, 1927); Ad Hasen regem epistola (Zetzner
1613, Vol. 4); and De anima in arte alchimiae ( Manget , 1702, Vol. 1). For
notes on these see Appendix D, 10.

On the basis of all the foregoing [arguments], we are now able to con-
sider the truth of the statement which some ascribe to Aristotle, although
in truth it was made by Avicenna 1 — namely, ‘Let practitioners of alchemy
know that they cannot transmute one form of metal into another, but
only make something similar, as when they colour a red [metal] with
yellow, so that it may appear to be gold; or whiten it until it is similar
to silver’, or gold or whatever substance they want. As to the rest, that is,
‘that the specific differences between metals may be removed by some
clever method, I [Avicenna] do not believe it is possible. But it is not
impossible to remove accidental properties, or to diminish the steps
between them’ — this is the opinion of Avicenna, which he expressed to
Hasen, 2 a philosopher distinguished in natural and mathematical sciences.

But Avicenna in his [Letter to Hasen on] Alchemy says that he found
[trivial] the counterarguments of those who, in their alchemical [books,]

1 The quotation here is from De congelatione mutation], and found them empty of the

(pp. 54-55), although Albert seems to refer it reasoning which is a portion of every art,
to the Letter to Hasen. and discovered that most of what is in them

2 Hastem , for Hasen , whom Albert probably is nonsense. And I have examined the books
supposed to be the tenth-century Arabic of those who oppose it, and found their
author of a famous book on Optics. In the counterarguments feeble and their reasoning
next paragraph he paraphrases part of the trivial, and not such as to destroy [belief in]
Letter to Hasen (p. 972) : ‘I have considered the the art.*

books of those who uphold the art [of trans-



BOOK OF MINERALS


178


denied the transmutation of metals. And for this reason he himself adds
that ‘specific forms are not transmuted, unless perhaps they are first
reduced to prime matter ( materia prima )’ 3 — the [indeterminate] matter of
[all] metals — and then, with the help of art, developed into the specific
form of the metal they want.

But then we must say that skilful alchemists proceed as skilful physicians
do: for skilful physicians, by means of cleansing remedies clear out the
corrupt or easily corruptible matter that is preventing good health — for
good health is the end which the physician has in mind — and then, by
strengthening nature, they aid the power of nature, directing it so as to
bring about natural health. For thus undoubtedly health will be produced
by nature, as the efficient cause; and also by art, as the means and instru-
ment . 4 And we shall say that skilful alchemists proceed in entirely the
same way in transmuting metals. For first, they cleanse thoroughly the
material of quicksilver and sulphur, which, as we shall see, are present in
metals. And when it is clean, they strengthen the elemental and celestial
powers 5 in the material, according to the proportions of the mixture in
the metal that they intend to produce. And then nature itself performs the
work, and not art, except as the instrument, aiding and hastening the
process, as we have said. And so they appear to produce and make real
gold and real silver.

For whatever the elemental and celestial powers produce in natural
vessels 6 they also produce in artificial vessels, provided the artificial
[vessels] are formed just like the natural [ones]. And whatever nature
produces by the heat of the sun and stars, art also produces by the heat of
fire, provided the fire is tempered so as not to be stronger than the self-
moving formative power in the metals; for there is a celestial power


3 This is again from De congelatione (p. 55).
But similar statements about materia prima
occur in the Letter to Hasett (p. 980) and in
The Soul in the Art of Alchemy (p. 635).

4 organice et instrumentaliter. Cf. The Soul

in the Art of Alchemy (p. 634) :

The matchless skill of the Philosophical art
does not, as the ignorant generally charge, seek
to make gold and silver from nothing (de novo),
because these are always formed by nature in the
bowels of the earth. But the alchemist ( artifex )
acts only as the means and instrument ( organice
at instrumentaliter), calling forth the form of gold
from matter already so-disposed, setting nature
in motion, so that by the blending and gentle


heating of art, it may be stirred and developed
from potentiality to actuality.

5 The ‘elemental powers’ are the matter.
The ‘celestial powers’ can be strengthened by
operating at chosen times: for instance, the
Book of the Three Words (Manget, 1702, Vol. 2,
p. 190) recommends: ‘First, when the Sun
enters Aries and is in his exaltation. Second,
when the Sun is in Leo. Third, when the Sim
is in Sagittarius.’

6 in vasis naturalihus: these ‘vessels’ are, as
IB, i, 10 makes clear, the fissures and pores
in the rock where ores are formed.



179


BOOK III, TRACTATE i

mixed with it in the beginning, which may be deflected towards one
result or another by the help of art. For the celestial power is widespread,
and its effects are determined by the powers of whatever it acts upon in
mixtures. For this is the way we see the celestial powers acting in the whole
of creation, especially in things produced from putrefaction. 7 For in these
we see the powers of the stars influencing the powers in the material so
as to produce something for which it is suitable. And alchemy also
proceeds in this way, that is, destroying one substance by removing its
specific form, and with the help of what is in the material producing the
specific form of another [substance]. And this is because, of all the opera-
tions of alchemy, the best is that which begins in the same way as nature,
for instance with the cleansing of sulphur by boiling and sublimation, and
the cleansing of quicksilver, and the thorough mixing of these with the
material of metal; for in these, by their powers, the specific form of every
metal is induced.

But those who colour [metals] white with white, or yellow with yellow
[colouring], leaving the specific form of the original metal unchanged in
material — without doubt they are deceivers, and do not make real gold
and real silver. And yet they nearly all follow this method, completely or
partly. For this reason I have had tests made 8 on some alchemical gold,
and likewise silver, that came into my possession; and it endured six or
seven firings, but then, all at once, on further firing, it was consumed and
lost and reduced to a sort of dross.

All this, then, is our account of the nature and specific form of metals in
general.


CHAPTER 10: THE PLACES WHERE METALS ARE
PRODUCED

Albert here makes plainer than in the parallel discussion on stones (I, i, 7 - 8 ) that
place is the * mould ’ that determines the form, as well as the ‘ vessel ’ that contains
the mineral. This is one of his most interesting chapters, because he incorporates
in his explanation of ore genesis information obtained by talk with prospectors
and miners, or by observations made during his own travels ( see Introduction:

7 See I, i, 2, note 10. that Albert was not himself an adept skilled in

8 ego esperiri feci. Partington (1937, p. 12) chemical manipulations,
suggested this translation, since he believed



i 8 o


BOOK OF MINERALS


'Date of composition of the Book of Minerals’) . Some oj these I have supple-
mented by references to the German mining expert , Georgius Agricola , who y
although he lived some three hundred years later than Albert , described mining
districts that Albert must have visited and a technology that was only beginning
to be ‘ modernized 9 in 1336 , when his De re metallica was published.

Many of the mines that Albert saw must have been comparatively new , ex-
ploiting the minerals in the zones of weathering and secondary enrichment
Once these rich deposits had been worked out , mining of the poorer ores below
the water table was hampered by difficulties with drainage.

Finally , it is of interest that Albert , while not denying the importance of
‘ heavenly influences \ is here more concerned with local , physical processes , and
insists that these can best be explained by comparison with alchemical operations —
since * Art is an imitation of nature .


No w wemust add something about the places where metals are produced,
since the place has a great effect on metals, as it does on stones, as we have
already said.

We have seen pure gold formed in the sands of rivers in different
countries, and in our own country both in the Rhine and the Elbe . 1
We know also that in our own country and that of the Slavs 2 gold is
found formed in stones in two ways: the first way is that it seems to be
incorporated with the whole stone , 3 and the stone has the character of
topasion which is not transparent, or of golden marchasita ; and [the gold] is
extracted from the stone after roasting, [by crushing it] in a mill 4 made of


1 Mining alluvial gold was described by
Theophilus (probably in the twelfth century)
in his De diversis artibus , III, 49 (translation by
Hendrie, pp. 268-9) :

OF GOLD SAND. There is another gold,
which is called sandy (gold), which is found
upon the banks of the Rhine in this manner.
TTie sands are dug up in those places where
there is an expectation of finding it, and are put
upon wooden tables. Then water is frequently
and carefully poured upon them and, the sand
flowing away, a very fine gold remains,
which is replaced in a small vessel separately.
And when the vase is half full, quicksilver
is placed in it and it is rubbed strongly with the
hand until it is quite mixed together, and thus
placed in a fine cloth, the quicksilver is squeezed
from it; but what remains is placed in a crucible
and melted.

This is a description of the amalgamation


process. The gold is dissolved in the quick-
silver, from which it is later separated by
heating.

2 Silesia during the latter half of the twelfth
century was a ‘frontier land* for German
settlers, some of them miners who were
attracted by the mineral wealth.

3 This is a sulphide ore body — auriferous
pyrite or chalcopyrite — as may be inferred
from the statements that (1) it looked like
topasion (II, ii, 18) or marchasita (II, ii, 11 and
V, 6) ; and (2) the ore was roasted before the
gold was extracted.

4 Ore was crushed with millstones like
those used for grinding grain. Stamp mills
came into use only in the sixteenth century,
according to Hoover (in Agricola, De re
metallica , note on p. 281; and pictures on



BOOK III, TRACTATE i 181

large and very hard flintstones, and by burning it in the burning heat of a
strong fire. Also we have seen gold formed in stone, not incorporated
with the whole stone, but as a sort of vein 5 traversing all or part of the
substance of the stone; and this is tom out of the stone by digging and
purified by fire.

And we have found silver formed in four ways, and perhaps it is formed
in still more ways in other countries. But these four ways we have found
in Teutonia; for I myself have found it incorporated with the whole stone 6
from which it is separated by roasting, crushing, and fire, as has been
explained for gold incorporated with stone. I myself have also found it as
a sort of vein 7 extending throughout the substance of the stone; and this
was somewhat purer, but still had some stony calx mixed with it. And it is
found in earth as a sort of vein purer than any found in stone; for in the
place called Freiberg — which means ‘Free Mountain’ 8 — it is sometimes
found as soft as a firm mush 9 ; and this is the purest and best kind of silver,
having very little slag, as if it had been purified by the industry of nature.

Iron, too, is found incorporated with stones; 10 and it is also found in
watery earth like grains of millet. 11 It has much slag, and is purified by

pp. 294, 296, showing mills of the type 8 qui dicitur Vurieheg, quod sonat liber mons.
probably used in Albert’s time). The organization of the ‘free companies’ of

5 Native gold in quartz gangue; see de- miners, as it existed in the sixteenth century,

scription of a vein in III, ii, 6. is described by Agricola (De re metallica , Book

6 This, too, is a sulphide ore, undoubtedly IV). Silver had been discovered at Freiberg
galena (lead sulphide), which may contain a about 1170 (op. cit.pp. 5-6, footnote by Hoover
good deal of silver. Such ore occurs at a citing Agricola’s De veteribus et novis metallis).
number of places in the Rhine Highlands, 9 A mixture of soft lead and silver minerals
where it was worked under the Roman formed by surface weathering of argenti-
occupation or even earlier. In the thirteenth ferous galena. See further in IV, 5.

century the Emperor Frederick II granted a 10 Of the oxide ores, magnetite, which is
loan on the ‘Cologne Pits* near Ems; and the black, ‘looks like* iron, while hematite,
Liiderich mine, in the Berg district, is said to goethite, and limonite, which are dark red
have been worked by Archbishop Conrad to yellowish brown, were probably recog-
von Hochstaden to raise money for re- nized by their ‘rusty’ appearance. Carbonate
building Cologne Cathedral (Beyschlag et al., ore, siderite, is also brownish. Such deposits
pp. 702, 696). These may have been among are widespread in the Rhine Highlands, the
the mines known to Albert. Harz, and the Swabian Alb. Many are of

7 This was probably a network of veinlets low grade, but were used locally in the small-
characteristic of secondary enrichment, con- scale operations of medieval times.

taining such minerals as argentite, pyrargyrite, 1 1 Bog iron ore, a colloidal mixture of
&c. — which are, as Albert says, ‘purer’ in hydrous oxides of iron, probably formed by
that they contain a higher percentage of silver the agency of bacteria. It occurs in swamps,
than the argentiferous galena from which shallow lakes and rivers, especially in wetter
they are derived by leaching. parts of the north German coastal plain.



BOOK OF MINERALS


182

many strong hot fires, which force it to distil out of the substance of the
earth or stone, with the very bowels of which it seems to be united.

Copper is also found in veins in stones; and that which is at the place
called Goslar 12 is the purest and best, and is incorporated with the whole
substance of the stone , 13 so that the whole stone is like golden marchasita;
and that which is deeper down is better because it is purer.

Lead and tin are found incorporated with stones , 14 and quicksilver is
found running out 15 in the same places.

And when the stones are fired, sulphur 16 oozes out, especially from
stones containing copper, like those in the place called Goslar.

The natural scientist seeks to understand the cause of all these things;
and, as we have said in the science of stones, the place produces things
located in that place because of the properties of heaven poured into them
by the rays of die stars. For as Ptolemy 17 says, in no place does any of the
elements receive so much of the rays of all the stars as in Earth, because
[Earth] is the invisible centre of the whole heavenly sphere; and the power
of the rays is strongest where they all converge; and therefore Earth is
productive of many wonderful things.

In order to know the cause of all the things that are produced, we must
understand that real metal is not formed except by the natural sublimation
of moisture and Earth, such as has been described above. For in such a
place, where earthy and watery materials are first mixed together, much
that is impure is mixed with the pure, but the impure is of no use in the
formation of metal. And from the hollow places containing such a
mixture the force of the rising fume opens out pores, large or small,
many or few, according to the nature of the [surrounding] stone or earth;

12 Goslar, the old imperial city at the north occuring only in a few enriched silver veins,
front of the Harz Mountains, owed its im- The great source of mercury, in medieval as in
portance to silver mining which began in the ancient times, was Spain, and it is possible
tenth century (Agricola, De re metallica, p. 37 that Albert took this information from the
and Hoover’s footnote citing De veteribus work of some Spanish alchemist, as well as the
et novis metallis). Albert had certainly visited report that mercury can be extracted from a
Goslar, and it is odd that he often speaks of stone (cinnabar) in IV, 2.

the copper, but never of the silver, that was 16 Sulphur is of course present in all sul-
mined there. phide ores, but when these are roasted the

13 Chalcopyrite occurs at Goslar, along sulphur is oxidized and passes off as the acrid

with pyrite, as well as ores of lead (containing gas, sulphur dioxide. If Albert means liquid
silver) and of zinc. sulphur, this could only be obtained under

14 The lead ore is galena (see note 6 above), reducing (rather than oxidizing) conditions.

For tin, see IV, 4. But see IH, ii, j, note 8.

15 Mercury is not common in Germany, 17 Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos,l, 2,2.



BOOK III, TRACTATE i 183

and in these [pores] the rising fume or vapour spreads out for a long time
and is concentrated and reflected; and since it contains the more subde
part of the mixed material it hardens in those channels, and is mixed
together as vapour in the pores, and is converted into metal of the same
kind as the vapour.

And evidence of this is that in all such veins the [outside] 18 is smoky and
ignoble; and if the metal is incorporated with the whole stone, the upper
part is full of slag, and useless, while the inside is better and more noble.
The reason for this is undoubtedly that [the part of] the material which is
set on fire and bums and blazes ascends higher up and is incinerated, like a
sort of slag and ashes; 19 and therefore it is found to be rather dry and
friable and brittle. But that which is concentrated in the bowels of the
stone is thoroughly mixed together and not burnt; and thus it is solidified
by a gende, slow heat, and afterwards hardened by the cold of the earth.

And if the surrounding place is compact and not porous, then the
vapour makes one passage, or two, or more, according to its force and
quantity; and according to the softness of the place, the vapour either
makes a passage through it or fails to do so, fills it, and is converted into
metal. For it has great power of penetration.

Evidence of this is that when hot metal is poured out on earth it
penetrates by different ways into the earth. This is like the figure of the
vessel 20 [Plate II]: the first place in which the metal is received is the
circle ABC, and one vein full of metal from the vapour is the line CD,
and another is the line AG, and in the same way it is formed along many
lines.

But if the whole substance round about is filled with minute pores,
then the material evaporates into the whole substance of the surrounding
body and fills it; and being concentrated in all its pores, is converted into


18 interius, probably an error for exterius,
since the rest of the paragraph is undoubtedly
a description of the weathered crust, called
Eisenhut (‘iron cap*) by the German miners,
which is found on the outside or upper part
of an exposed sulphide ore body. It is com-
posed of black or brownish residual iron ox-
ides, other metals having been leached out
and concentrated in the zone of secondary
enrichment below. The untrained observer
would not imagine that it had any connexion
with valuable ores; so the fact that Albert


considers it actually a part of the ore body,
and includes it in his explanation of ore
genesis, is good evidence that he had talked
with miners and prospectors.

19 Albert is thinking of smelting operations,
where the impurities rise to the top as slag,
and the metal collects below. The ‘iron cap’
is generally rough and porous, and does indeed
look rather like scoria or slag.

20 These figures are not in the printed texts,
but they appear in a manuscript in the Bodleian
Library (Ashmole 1471, fol. 33 v). See Plate II.



BOOK OF MINERALS


184

metal and hardens. And then the whole substance of the surrounding
earth is coloured like metal, and then metal is formed incorporated with
the surrounding stone or material. [This happens] especially if the forma-
tion of metals occurs in mountains or waters, because these places are
more full of vapours and more active in concentrating the rising vapours.
For if the place were wide open all the material would escape and nothing
at all would be formed from it.

But gold which is formed in sands , 21 as a kind of grains, larger or smaller,
is formed from a hot and very subtle vapour, concentrated and digested
in the midst of the sandy material, and afterwards hardened into gold.
For a sandy place is very hot and dry; but water getting in closes the pores
so that [the vapour] can not escape; and thus it is concentrated upon itself
and converted into gold. And therefore this kind of gold is better. And
there are two reasons for this: one is that the best way of purifying
Sulphur is by repeated washing, and the Sulphur in watery places is
repeatedly washed and purified; and for the same reason the earthy
Quicksilver is often washed and purified and rendered more subde.
Another reason is the closing of the pores underneath the water along the
banks; and thus the dispersed vapour is well-compressed and condensed,
and is digested nobly into the substance of gold, and hardens into gold.

Evidence that the place must be arranged as we have described it is to be
found in the operations of those skilful alchemists who are the best
imitators of nature. When they wish to make the elixir which is to have
the colour and tincture of gold, first they take a lower vessel 22 big enough
to hold the materials of well-purified sulphur and quicksilver or other
things which they put into the elixir. Next they arrange it so that on the
top of this there may be a vessel having a long, narrow neck ; and over the
opening of this neck is a cover of clay in which is a very small, narrow

21 Albert assumes that alluvial gold is words of ‘gold generated in riven’ or ‘born
formed right where it is found. Does this in streams’. Later in the sixteenth century
mean that medieval prospectors did not know Biringuccio ( Pirotechnia , IJ40, Smith and
how to follow a ‘pay streak’ upstream to its Gnudi, pp. 29, 31-32) realized the truth, that
source? or simply that they did not tell Albert gold is merely transported by streams, after
all they knew? But the gold in great rivers being loosened from the bed-rock by weather-
like the Rhine and the Elbe comes from so far ing; and Agricola (De re metallica, 1546,
away that the connexion between source and Hoover, p. 76) also gives this explanation,
placer is not obvious. The first printed book specifically refuting Albert,
on mining ( Bergwerk - und Probierbiichlein, 22 This apparatus is similar to that described
Sisco and Smith, pp. 40-41), published soon in Avicenna’s Letter to Hasett (Zetzner, Vol. 4,
after 1500, still speaks almost in Albert’s p. 974).



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BOOK III, TRACTATE i 185

opening. Next they inhume 23 — that is, they immerse the bottom of the
lower vessel in ashes or dung, or better in [a pan of] horse-dung, which
they call equi clibanum, and then they apply a very gentle fire. The better
operators make these vessels of glass; and the character of the first vessel is
like a urinal, and the second stands on top of it and receives all the vapour
which rises from it. And the contact of the two glasses or vessels is well
sealed with lute so that nothing can escape; and therefore it directs the
vapour it receives upwards into its long, gradually tapering neck. And
there the vapour begins to be concentrated and compressed; and what is
burnt out of the vapour flies up like soot through the narrow opening of
the cover on top of the neck. Therefore, since it is concentrated and com-
pressed upon itself, it is converted into a yellow substance; and this,
collected afterwards, tinges any metal you like to the colour of gold, or
even to a more beautiful colour if it be the noble elixir, in which the maker
has committed no mistake. The figure of the vessels is like this [Plate II] :
the lower vessel is ABCD, the upper vessel EFG, and the cover H.

It will be the same in nature. And therefore it is clear why almost all
formation of metal should be found diffused through veins and pores,
which are like the neck of the place where the vapour 24 is concentrated
and compressed. But the formation is easier in the substance of stone, and
in stony places, because they are solidly enclosed on all sides.

This, then is our account of the places where metals are produced.
Why it is that sometimes metal is found which is soft will be determined
later on 25 better than here. And therefore we here conclude our account of
the substantial cause of metals.

23 inhumatio, literally ‘burial’. Albert’s ation in the dung. In his Plants (VH, i, i)
condensed statement covers three slightly Albert attributes the excellence of manure as a
different procedures for ‘burying’: (1) in a fertilizer ( laetamen ) to this sort of heat in it,
pan of warm ashes raked out of the furnace; adding, ‘this is shown by the industry of
this would supply heat for a short time only, alchemists, who advise that processes of ripen-
but would prevent the glass from breaking ing are best carried out in a pan of manure
by sudden cooling; (2) in a pan of ashes (in clibano laetaminis )* .

which was then set over a low fire; this is 24 vas> apparently an error for vapour ,
essentially the sand-bath used today; (3) in a unless Albert’s sentence is elliptical — ‘the
pan of horse-dung: in this case no fire was vapour is compressed where the neck of the
used, gentle heat being supplied by fermenta- vessel is constricted’. 25 See IV, '5.



TRACTATE 11

THE [ACCIDENTAL PROPERTIES] OF METALS

CHAPTER 1 : THE SOLIDIFICATION AND LIQUE-
FACTION OF METALS

The title of this tractate is printed by Borgnet as De actionibus metallorum, but
it should be (as in the 1318 edition) De acridentibus metallorum, 'on the
accidental properties of metals’, like the corresponding tractate (I, ii) on stones
De acridentibus lapidum; and the present chapter begins with a statement about
'accidentals’.

Fusion and solidification are here explained in terms of the constitution of
metals, as set forth in III, i. Heating activates an intrinsic liquidity which Aris-
totle called Water, and the Arabs Quicksilver. Later chapters develop more
fully the theory that the greater the amount of Quicksilver in a metal, the more
easily it melts.

W E must now take note of whatever accidental properties occur spon-
taneously in metals, such as their being liquefiable and malleable, and
their colours, tastes, and odours, and their ability to be consumed by fire,
and whatever other such properties appear spontaneously in them.

But the liquefiability of metals is somewhat different from that of other
things that become liquid, for such things become liquid and flow, and
their parts separate from each other — as for example, wax, salt, and the
like, whether they are liquefied by dry heat or by moist cold . 1 But in
metals the moisture is not separated from the dryness, but is dissolved in
it; and, being so dissolved, it moves about there as if it had been swallowed
by the Earth and were moving about in its bowels. And on this account
Hermes 2 said, ‘The Mother of metal is Earth, that carries it in her belly’.
And this is the reason why [molten] metal does not adhere to or moisten
anything that touches it; because earthy dryness prevents it from moisten-
ing or adhering. But the moisture prevents the dryness from standing
still . 3 Thus each acts upon, and is acted upon by, the other. But when the

1 The words liquefactio, liquabilitas, See. (Stange, p. 42) refers to Hermes’s Book of
cover both melting by fire (like wax) and Alchemy.

dissolving in water (like salt). 3 That is, it rolls about in globules, as stated

2 Quotation from the Emerald Table (see in the description of molten metal in III, 1, 2.

Appendix D, 7), which Arnold of Saxony



BOOK III, TRACTATE ii 187

metal is rather poorly mixed, because neither one is contained in the
other, then the earthy part is burned up in the fire and the moisture
evaporates and does not quench the earthiness, defending it from the fire;
and the earthiness does not hold fast the moisture, preventing it from
evaporating. Such a metal in liquefying gives off much [smoke], 4 and is
bad-smelling because of the bad smell of the Sulphur; and it leaves much
slag and dross, because of the burning of its Earth. But if [its constituents]
were very pure and perfecdy mixed, the moisture would not evaporate
perceptibly, and the Earth in it would not bum; and therefore it would
give off very little smoke, and that not bad-smelling, and like gold, it
would have almost no dross.

But the solidification [of metals] is less different [from that of other
substances] than their liquefaction [is]. For their solidification is [caused]
by the pressure of the cold acting within the dryness; and the moisture —
[no matter] whether it is pure and radical moisture, or impure and super-
fluous, whether well- or ill-mixed — is compressed in exactly the same
way, and is hidden in the interior and held fast, so that it cannot enter
into the patches of dry earth. And the same [is true of] those metals that
are not liquefiable by dry heat, but only softened, like [iron]. 5 For softening
comes about only through the dissolving of the moisture so that it begins
to move about within the dryness in the bowels of which it is contained.

But metals that have what Aristotle calls a ‘stuttering’ 6 mixture, like
tin — the more they are liquefied the drier and more brittle they [become],
because their moist parts fly away and what is left is dry and not well stuck
together, and therefore it breaks more quickly. 7 It is called a ‘stuttering’
mixture because the mixing attains the proper proportion in some parts
and not in others; but of real union, so to speak, there is very little.
[It is] just like a man who stutters, being able to say some words and not
others. And because [such metals] are not completely mixed, therefore
when they are liquefied they easily evaporate; since the parts, being
poorly attached, let go of each other, and then the moisture does not
protect the dryness from catching fire, and the dryness does not keep the
moisture from running away and evaporating.

A jrigidum (‘cold’) must be an error for could not be fused completely. See IV, 8.
Jumum, ‘smoke’ or ‘fumes’, as in the statement 6 See IV, 4, introductory note,

about gold just below. 7 Tin in copper alloys hardens them,

5 JHgidum again, here an error for ferrum, and too much tin makes them brittle. But
‘iron’ (as in the 1518 edition). Before the in- Albert’s notions about tin are not entirely
vention of an efficient blast furnace, iron correct. See IV, 4.



i88


BOOK OF MINERALS


Evidence of what we have said is that solid lead and tin, if left lying for
a while, become scaly outside and greyish, or perhaps black after a long
time . 8 This happens, undoubtedly, for two reasons: one [reason] is that
when the moisture is forced by cold into the inside, it leaves the outside
earthy and dry, and this produces a greyish colour. The second [reason]
is that the small amount of moisture that is on the outside evaporates
because of the heat of the surrounding Air, and this again leaves greyish
Earth that colours the surface.

And this is the reason, too, why lead cannot be welded to lead 9 when
the edges of two [pieces] are liquefied by a white-hot iron, unless the hard
surface is scraped beforehand to remove the dry Earth that keeps [the
edges] from sticking together; because the sticking of one to the other is
[accomplished] by the power of the moisture, which flows [from one]
into the other, and not by the power of the dryness, which remains fixed.
But even then they will not stick together unless, after scraping, they are
rubbed with soap or something else unctuous and fatty. And this is
because the Quicksilver in the lead contains unctuous moisture, as has
often been said; and therefore it will not adhere to a surface except
through having something in common ( symbolum ) with its nature . 10 But
copper sticks iron together, and molten silver is best of all, for sticking
metals together. And the reason is that the Quicksilver in these [metals] is
good and subtle and pure, and it sticks things together because of its
viscous moisture. For, being such as it is, because it is related to, and has
something in common with, their nature, it penetrates into the things
that are to be joined and at once holds them firmly.

This, then, is our account of the liquefiability and solidification of metals.
For we have discussed the nature of liquefiable things in general in the
Meteorology . 11


8 Tin and lead tarnish dark grey when
exposed to air.

9 Lead can be welded to lead, but usually
is soldered with a lead-tin alloy having a

lower melting-point than lead. Albert does

not mention the solder (probably not realizing
that it had a different composition horn pure
lead), but he does mention two other essen-
tials — that the surfaces to be joined must be
clean, and that something like soap or tallow
is used (to reduce any oxide that may be
formed).


10 per aliquod habens symbolum in natura:
Symbolum is the ‘common factor’ by means of
which a thing is able to be transmuted into,
or unite with, another. Thus The Soul in the
Art of Alchemy (Manget, 1702, Vol. 1, p. 636)
says: ‘A property common to all metals is
that, since their material is closely related and
has something in common (et inter habentia
symbolum) in material and natural powers,
it is easy to transmute them into each other.’
See also III, ii, 6.

1 1 Meteor, IV, 6, 3 82 b 28 ff.



BOOK III, TRACTATE ii


189


CHAPTER 2 : THE MALLEABILITY OF METALS

The word used here, ductilitas, indicates a general ‘ workability rather than the
present-day technical term * ductility ', the capacity to be drawn into wire. Although
wire-drawing was practised by medieval craftsmen, only hammering is mentioned
here, so the best translation seems to be ‘ malleability '. Albert's explanation of
this physical property of metals repeats what has been said in III, i, 3; but he now
adds ‘evidence' from the manufacture of gold- and silver-leaf; and finally makes
the significant suggestion that one test of the genuineness of gold is its malleability.

Metals seem to be the only things that are malleable, showing greater
and better malleability than anything else. The cause of malleability is
what has been said above: namely, moisture that is enclosed in dryness but
not completely bound. For when this moisture is released by the ex-
pulsion of the chilling cold that binds it, then [the Earth] floats in [it] just
as even iron and stones float [in Quicksilver], 1 and do not sink, because of
the boiling motion and thickness of the metallic moisture. But even when
the moisture is bound by chilling cold, nevertheless it is still present. And
when the metal is hammered [the moisture] makes it yield to its sur-
roundings, and by so yielding it is drawn out without losing its continuity.
But metals differ very gready in their capacity to be acted upon in this
way. Gold is the most malleable of all; and after that, silver; then, very
pure copper; and then iron; and lead and tin are much less [malleable].

Gold can be drawn out to the greatest extent, so that thin sheets are
made, which are spun with silk or placed on pictures. 2 And it can be
drawn out even further if silver is placed on the gold, in the proportion
of six to one. For example, if on four marks of silver one-sixth [as much]
gold is placed, or even less, then the gold is drawn out as much as the
whole of the silver can be; so that [the gold] is no longer seen except as a
colour on the silver. But if the thin sheets are melted, [the metal] does not
appear to be gold at all, but entirely silver. But if gold is beaten by itself,

1 tunc tantum natat in terra quod etiam ferrum small bit of gold will sink (cf. Alexander
at lapides in ipso natat. But ipso refers back to Neckam, De naturis rerum, LV, Wright,
humidum, ‘moisture’, which in metals was 1863, p. 163).

supposed to be Quicksilver. The sense then 2 Making gold-leaf and tin foil is described
seems to be that Earth floats in this moisture by Theophilus, I, 24-26 (Hendrie, 1847, pp.
(as it would not do in Water), with an allusion 28-3 3) ; also leaf of combined gold and silver,
to the oft-cited paradox that a large, heavy for which he gives the proportions of one part
piece of iron will float in mercury, while a of gold to twelve of silver (op. tit., pp. 334-7)



BOOK OF MINERALS


190

without being placed on silver, it cannot be drawn out so much, 3 because
it cannot bear the blows of the hammers without being perforated; but
silver placed upon it protects it from the blows. And the cause is certainly
the subtle moisture which absorbs dryness; for this moisture yields not by
separating from adjacent parts but by drawing them along with it; and
thus yielding without losing its continuity, it is drawn out more and more.
But some metals are less malleable, and this happens for one of two reasons:
for either their moisture is too gross and impure, so that it is not so
capable of expanding; or else they suffer from a ‘stuttering’ 4 mixture, so
that when drawn out one part separates from the part near by, and is
pulled away from it by the hammer blows.

And therefore this is a way of proving that an error has been made in
the operation of alchemists;* for because of the great admixture of yellow
or white substances with the Quicksilver in the compounding of what
they call the elixir , dryness [enters] 6 into the moisture in their metals, but
they are not strongly united and thoroughly blended. And therefore the
metals made by alchemists are very frequently broken when they are
drawn out by hammering ; unless the alchemists imitate nature successfully
and accomplish the work of nature, as we have said before. For when metals
are mixed together, for instance tin and copper, or any others, because of
their ‘stuttering’ mixture they lose their malleability and break when
beaten with a hammer. For they are not really blended but only put
together, 7 and one enters into the other only in so far as to colour it.

This, then, is the cause of malleability.


CHAPTER 3 : THE COLOUR OF METALS

This discussion of colours is a continuation of that in I, ii, 2-3 on the colours of
stones, and is similarly based on Aristotle's theory of light and vision (The Soul,
II, 7, 418 a 26 jf. and The Senses, 3, 439 a 13 jf): light is a sort of activity in a

3 This is not true. Gold can be beaten out 7 non permixta sed composite. Compositio is a

thinner than silver, but the leaf is extremely mere ‘putting together*. Aristotle (Gen. and

fragile and ‘so light that a breath will blow it Corr. I, io, 327 b 34 ff.) uses the illustration

away* (cf. Theophilus, op. cit. pp. 30-31). of wheat ‘combined* with barley, where

4 See IV, 4, introductory note. the two kinds of grain are ‘mixed together’

5 Pure gold is very soft and malleable, but each retains its own identity. Permixtio

Testing alchemical gold by fire has been comes nearer to what we mean by chemical

mentioned in III, i, 9. combination, where two things ‘combine* to

6 intra, error for intrat. produce a single new thing.



BOOK III, TRACTATE ii 191

transparent medium. We cannot see transparency — we see its 'limit' or ‘ boundary ’
at the surface of a coloured body. But Albert is trying to explain not only the
colours but also the peculiar lustre of metals, so he speaks of ‘ transparency ’ as
something almost ‘ glassy ’ within metals, which is seen as metallic lustre. The
colour changes resulting from exposure to air, treatment with sulphur, vinegar,
&c., are mentioned again in Book IV, in the descriptions of individual metals, and
notes on these will be found there.

It is not difficult to reach a conclusion about the colours of metals, for
three colours are found in them to a greater or lesser degree. One of these
is common to all, and this is a shining lustre, like light incorporated in a
coloured body. The second, which is white, is possessed by several metals
to a greater or lesser degree: the whitest is silver; then tin; third, lead; and
last, iron. The third colour is yellow or reddish, and gold has this to the
highest degree; after this, copper, but the colour of copper tends towards
a brownish black.

But let us assume here what has been proved in The Senses 1 — that
colour is the boundary of a limited transparency. Thus any body in which
the condensed transparency is clear and pure has lustre incorporated, as it
were, with its colour. For transparency when condensed [is bright] 2 and
lustrous, since its density retains the light, of which it is the appointed
limit, just as potentiality receives the appropriate actuality. Therefore, a
shining lustre will be common to all metals, because of the subtle, watery
[material] which is limited by a boundary 3 and condensed in them. And
the more subtle, pure, and dense the Water that any metal contains, the
more shining and brilliant it will be when polished; because without
polishing, one part casts a shadow on another, and more or less prevents
it from shining. For this reason, gold has the brightest lustre of all; and
next, silver; but iron, when very well purified, is said by the alchemists to
contain something of silver 4 and to be very close to it; and therefore when
it is polished it shines like a mirror.

1 The Senses, 3,439228. but takes the shape of its container. In the

2 niter, error for nitet. following discussion of reflections terminatus

3 ‘Limited’ in the sense of having a surface recurs with this double meaning.

that reflects; but also in the sense of being 4 Pure iron is silvery white and quite malle-
‘solid’, since Aristotle (Gen. and Corr. II, 2, able and ductile — in these respects it might be
329 b 29) defines a solid as determined by its said to be ‘very close to silver’, though its
own boundary (terminatum), in contrast metallurgy is very different,
to a liquid, which has no boundary of its own,



192


BOOK OF MINERALS


A mirror 5 is caused by moisture which is solidified and is capable of
taking a good polish; and it receives images because it is moist, and holds
and retains them because it is solid ( teminatum ) ; for it would not retain
them in this way, if the moisture were not incorporated [in it] and
limited by a boundary. This is why Air does not retain such images,
although it receives them; because Air exists as a spirit [that is, a vapour
or gas], and receives such things in the manner of a spirit; and having no
boundary, it does not focus them into one place and shape, as is necessary
for reproducing them, but acts only as a medium through which the
images pass, and not as a limiting boundary that gives them being.

The white colour in metals is caused by moisture bound by an earthiness
that is [clean ], 6 subtle, and well-digested; for this is extremely white, like
the appearance of quicklime (calx). This is present in nearly all metals.
But whenever metals contain an earthiness that is dirty and impure, or
burnt Earth, they become either greyish, like clay, or else black, like
burnt Earth, as is seen in soot. Lead, therefore, always tends towards a
greyish colour, because its earthiness is dirty though not burnt. And tin is
not so greyish as lead, because it is not so dirty. But silver always shines
with whiteness because its earthiness is [clean ], 7 subtle, and well-digested.
But iron, because the earthiness in it is burnt, is sooty and black.

And for the same reason, [iron] is always subject to rust; and the cause
of this is merely that it contains burnt Earth; for what putrefaction is to
moist [things ], 8 rust is to iron. For when the moisture is removed, what is
left is parched, dry, and burnt, and is reduced to ashes. Evidence of this is
that iron is especially affected by rust if something burning 9 is thrown
upon it — such as salt, sulphur, orpiment, or the like. But silver does not
turn to rust 10 but rather to an azure colour, because of the great trans-
parency in it, which produces the sapphire-blue of good azure. And for
this reason Hermes , 11 leader and father of alchemy, says that if thin plates


5 Mirrors were generally made of polished
metal, although even in the twelfth century
Alexander Neckam ( De naturis rerum, CUV,
Wright, p. 239) mentions mirrors of glass
backed with plumbum, which was probaby
tin.

6 lutulentum, ‘dirty’, which is contrary to
the sense of what follows: probably lotum,
‘washed’, ‘dean’.

7 locum, for lotum, ‘washed’.

8 Meteor, IV, i, 379 a 17 describes decay


as a sort of drying.

9 adurens in many cases signifies not only
combustion but any chemical attack or reac-
tion that changes the appearance of a thing.

10 rubiginem is the red rust of iron. Silver
does, of course, tarnish, but the coating
(mostly sulphide) is dark.

11 Arnold of Saxony (Stange, p. 44) rites
Hermes in libro alchymie for this. The treat-
ment with salt and vinegar is essentially that
used since antiquity for making a white



193


BOOK III, TRACTATE ii

of silver are smeared with salt of Ammon and vinegar, and suspended
over an alembic — that is, a sort of vessel — then the silver plates change into
the colour of azure. And then, if the plates are reduced to ash with sulphur,
so as to become powder, and then stirred with vinegar and zeruph — that
is, a kind of herb — the azure will be fermented and perfected.

But it is true that many things bum silver that do not bum gold, because
[in silver] the earthiness and moisture are less well purified and blended
[than in gold]. Therefore, if boiling or very hot sulphur is sprinkled on it,
silver is blackened, because the earthiness in it is burned. And when silver
is cooked with salt and [tartar ] 12 it is whitened and purified at once,
because such penetrating [substances] attack the earthiness and separate
the burnt part from it; and the remainder, which is purer, becomes whiter.

The yellow colour in metals is caused by the Sulphur, which colours
them; for heat, violently cooking the moisture mixed with earthiness,
converts it to a [yellow ] 13 or reddish colour, as is seen in the science of
urines , 14 and in alchemical operations; and in red or reddish lixivia ; 15 and
in yellow bile; and likewise in honey and gall, which have been strongly
digested by heat. If, then, both the earthy and the watery materials are
very pure, the heat in them cannot separate them so as to bum them up,
but only digests and alters their colour to a shining yellow, this is the
cause of the colour of gold. And therefore [gold] is not burnt if sulphur is
thrown upon it.

pigment from lead (see IV, 3, note 7) and a but also a dark blue glass containing cobalt,
green pigment from copper (see IV, 6, note 10) long used in the East for colouring glass and
But silver so treated would not give a blue pottery glazes. Zaffer is said not to have been
pigment. Nevertheless, this recipe, with used in Europe before the fifteenth century
variations, is found in many old collections so (Singer, et. al., History of Technology , Vol. II,
it must have had some value (Hendrie, notes, pp. 301, 312), but it may have been mentioned
pp. 80-81, 422-3 ; Merrifield, Vol. I, pp. 46- by some Arab alchemist. If so, it is obvious
49, 136-7; Vol. II, 394-9) ; probably the silver that the recipe was transmitted without being
contained some copper. The remainder of the understood.

recipe is even less intelligible, since heating 12 cartaco , error for tartaro (ed. 1581)
silver, or any possible silver compound ‘wine-stone' or argol, obtained from the
obtained by the above treatment, with sulphur crust formed in wine casks. Arnold of Saxony
would only produce black sulphides. It is (Stange, p. 44) also gives this on the authority
possible that this has been confused with an of Hermes's Book of Alchemy.
entirely different recipe for making blue 13 circulum , error for citrinum (eds. 1495,
colours. If zeruph is really a plant, perhaps it is 1518).

woad or indigo, which produce blue dyes. But 14 Inspection of urines was an important

in Arnold (loc. cit.) it is zemp (cf. II, ii, 20, method of diagnosis in medieval medicine.
zemech) t so perhaps it is zaffer , originally the 15 For lixivium , see HI, i, 4, introductory
blue pigment from powdered lapiz lazuli, note.



194


BOOK OF MINERALS


But if the earthiness is impure and not well blended, then the heat that
digests and blends it will bum it, and it will become yellow; but after a
little while it will tend towards a sooty blackness, as is [the case] with
copper. This is why all ancient images and vessels of copper are black-
ened. And sulphur thrown on hot copper bums it very violently; for
[copper] contains earthiness that has been burnt yet is [still] capable of
burning, as we have said; and this is not sufficiently well blended with the
moisture.

So much, then, for our account of the colours of metals.


CHAPTER 4 : THE TASTES AND ODOURS OF METALS

Tastes and odours are explained in terms of Aristotle's theories (The Soul, II,
9-10, 421 a 7 ff. and The Senses, 4-5, 440 h 27 jf.). Mining and metallurgy
abounded in odours. It must be remembered that metals were not clearly distin-
guished from their ores; shining metallic sulphides like galena and chalcopyrite
‘ look like ’ metals, and were so regarded. The chemical reactions that take place
during smelting and refining were not understood. Sulphide minerals give off
an odour like rotten eggs (hydrogen sulphide) when attacked by acids, either during
natural weathering or in alchemical operations. When roasted in air they produce
sulphur dioxide, which, if not exactly a smell, is choking and irritating. There are
also ores that yield poisonous fumes of chlorine or arsenic. Gold was a striking
exception, because it usually occurs as native metal, and gives off no gases on
fusion. The tastes are due to the formation of soluble metallic salts of various acids.
All are disagreeable and more or less poisonous. The term vapour is used here,
as in I, i, 8, for something invisible yet potent that passes from the metal cup into
the wine, from ore minerals into ground water — or even into the lungs of the
miners.

The tastes and odours of metals must be considered together, because
odour is a sort of consequence of taste. 1 It is generally true of all metals
that, because of the sulphurous substance they contain, their tastes have a
certain sharpness. Although this is admittedly least evident in lead and
tin, yet even in these it is proved by [the fact that] water that has been
running or standing for a long time in pipes of lead or tin 2 becomes very

1 The close physiological connexion be- 2 Pure tin is harmless, but the danger of
tween smelling and tasting is noted by Aristo- lead-poisoning was recognized by the Romans
tie ( The Senses, 4, 440 b 29). (Vitruvius, On Architecture, VIII, 6 , 10) and by



195


BOOK III, TRACTATE ii

irritating to the bowels or internal organs. About copper and [iron ] 3 there
is no doubt, for these are hot, especially copper, which contains a burnt
substance; and so [does] iron, to some extent. And this is why their odours
have a certain sharpness.

Again, it is generally true that the tastes and odours of all metals are
somewhat foul, because of that same sulphurous substance in them, of
which we have spoken. But they are more or less foul according to the
badness of the Sulphur in them. For in gold there is very little foul odour,
since its Sulphur has absolutely no badness, because it is subtle, and is only
unctuous enough to combine well, and is thoroughly blended, as we shall
show later. Moreover, because it is so uniformly combined and compact,
it gives offlitde vapour; and for the same reason, too, it has little odour or
almost none. But silver contains Earth that is not [actually] burnt but is
capable of being burnt; and therefore [silver] gives off more vapour and
has more odour than gold, though much less than copper. And in com-
parison with copper, silver has a sweet taste and a sweet odour, though
with a slight flavour of Sulphur. And gold is even sweeter, though it
changes the taste [of things] only a little, almost imperceptibly. But [the
taste and odour of] iron are earthy, and only slighdy tinged with Sulphur;
and those of lead and tin are very dull, because they contain so much
Water.

But when metals are dissolved , 4 their tastes are considered to be more
dependent on the vapour of their odours, since taste is a consequence of
the combination itself, rather than of the constituents that are combined;
because the constituents sometimes have entirely different tastes from the
combination. And therefore, in some respects, the vapour and con-
stitution of a metal can hardly be learned from its odour and taste.

Among all metals, copper is most active in giving off vapour; and after
this, iron. And for this reason these metals completely spoil the taste of
waters which are in contact with their ores. And so water coming out of
the earth where there is much copper is extremely bitter and loathsome —
as it is in the place called Goslar, where the water is made so bitter that
nothing can live in it. And evidence of this is that if wine or any other

Avicenna, as quoted by Albert in a digressio from lead a harshness which sometimes
on healthful and unhealthful waters in his irritates the bowels/

Meteora (II, iii, 20) : ‘But ditch waters and 3 auro, but the statement cannot apply to
waters carried in lead pipes are the worst, gold. I have assumed ferro from the context,
especially if they have been running for a 4 in metallis liquidis , ‘liquid metals* here
long time in lead [pipes], because they absorb means not fused but chemically dissolved.



BOOK OF MINERALS


196

liquid except water is poured into a brazen vessel, it is immediately
spoilt, with such a loathsome bitter taste that it can hardly be drunk.
But water is not immediately spoilt, so as to change its taste, because the
natural coldness of Water prevents the formation of vapour. But if the
water stands there for a long time, and especially deep down in the earth
where heat is confined and continually causes the ores to give off vapour,
then water, too, has its taste and odour spoilt.

There is, then, in comparison with all kinds of stones, a taste and odour
peculiar to metals. Some stones, indeed, give off vapours and odours;
but these are not really stones, but things like ‘tears’ 5 and gums, such as
kacabre and gagates (jet), as we have said in the books on stones. But all the
same there is a foul taste and a foul odour [characteristic] of metals; even
though one [metal] is said to have a sweet or some other kind of odour, in
comparison to another.

These odours and vapours are extremely dry. And therefore they are
applied to watery eyes 6 and are very injurious to the chest. 7 Evidence of
this is that when the miners go into the mines they cover their mouths
and noses with two or three layers of cloth 8 so that their breathing may
not be too much injured by the vapour — for this is where the greatest
damage is done, as we have said.

So much, then, for our account of the tastes and odours of metals.


CHAPTER 5: THE ABILITY OR INABILITY OF METALS
TO BE CONSUMED BY BURNING


The term used here is cremabilitas, the ability to be cremated, completely con-
sumed by burning. To us, ‘ burning ’ means oxidation, but Albert includes other
chemical reactions that result in blackening or loss of metallic appearance. His


5 See II, ii, 17, Succinus; 9, Kacabre; 7,
Gagates.

6 This can hardly refer to vapour from smelt-
ing metals, chiefly sulphur dioxide, which is
very irritating. By ellipsis, Albert here refers to
something else produced from such vapours —

undoubtedly zinc oxide (V, 8, Tuchia).

Constantine ( De gradibus, in Opera, p. 383)
calls its cadmia, and says that ‘mixed with eye-
salves it cures moisture flowing from the
eyes’.


7 praecordiis, literally ‘diaphragm’, but often
best translated ‘heart’ or ‘lungs’ in medical
descriptions of symptoms associated with
diseases of those organs.

8 In this case the ‘damage’ was probably
‘miner’s pneumonia’, caused by inhaling dust.
Agricola (De re metallica. Hoover, 1912, p .6)
says ‘miners are sometimes killed by the
pestilential air which they breathe; sometimes
their lungs rot away’.



BOOK III, TRACTATE ii 197

theory is that of Aristotle (Meteor, IV, 9, 387 a 1 8 ff.) : burning is the conversion
into vapour or smoke of the moisture in anything, leaving its dryness as ash.
The ‘ three kinds of moisture’ are distinguished by Aristotle (Gen. and Corr. II,
2, 330 a 13 ff.) as (1) foreign moisture, dampness clinging to, or condensed on,
the surface; this is easily removed by moderate heat; (2) foreign moisture that
is more deeply soaked into anything — such as the water in clay or dough, which
disappears on baking; ( 3 ) * radical ’ or ‘ intrinsic moisture, which is inherent
in a thing. Nowadays we do not call this last ‘ moisture ’ at all — it is, rather, the
liquidity that appears on fusion.

Among accidental properties of metals that are very indicative of their sub-
stance is the ability or inability to be consumed or burnt. And we must now
learn the causes of this, and what differences there are in the natures of metals.
We know that Water is not one of the things that can be consumed in this
way; but things that [can be] have a very unctuous moisture mixed with
earthy substance. And we know that Sulphur is extremely unctuous and
earthy, but Quicksilver is watery with very subde earthiness.

We know, therefore, that the ability of metals to be burnt is [due to]
the Sulphur, and not to the Quicksilver by itself. Furthermore, we also
know that in anything that contains very unctuous moisture mixed with
earthiness, the moisture is of three kinds. One of these is extremely airy
and fiery, adhering to the surface, as a consequence of the [upward]
motion of those elements [Fire and Air], so that they always rise to the
surface of things in which they are mixed and combined. The second,
close beneath this, contains more wateriness floating about among the
parts of the thing. The third has its moisture firmly rooted and immersed
in the parts and bounded 1 in the combination; and therefore this is the
only one that is not easily separated from the combination, unless the thing
is totally destroyed. And therefore this must be the nature of Sulphur.

And for this reason the more skilful alchemists recommend that the
[first] two kinds of moisture be removed from sulphur by means of
penetrating solutions like vinegar, and sour milk, and goats’ whey, and
water of chickpeas and boys’ urine; 2 and also by boiling and sublimation
repeated several times in an alembic. For one of these [moistures] certainly
does not withstand fire ; and since it is able to be consumed when it is set on

1 terminata est : ‘solidified’ — but the mois- strong: the ‘mineral acids’, hydrochloric,

ture is still present, even in solid metal, nitric, and sulphuric, which are concentrated
because it always reappears on heating. by distillation, seem to have been unknown to

2 None of these reagents is really very Albert.



BOOK OF MINERALS


198

fire, it consumes the substance of the metal; and therefore it is not only
useless for the purpose 3 but even harmful. And the second is very volatile
and evaporates in the fire; and therefore this, too, is of no use for the
purpose in the plans of alchemists. But the third remains deeply rooted and
intrinsic, and so this is useful for the purpose.

And the same considerations must be applied to the Quicksilver, which
is the other element in metals. For when this is pure, with its earthy
substance well washed and subde, and strongly bound by mixing with
watery moisture; and likewise when its watery moisture is neither too
much nor too litde, but just the right amount for the combining power of
the Earth in it — then each protects the other from the fire, as we have
often said. For then the earthiness binds the moisture fast, and does not
let it evaporate, and the moisture quenches the earthiness, and does not let
it catch fire. But if the earthiness is dirty, or there is too much of it, or too
litde, in proportion to the moisture; or even if there is just the right
amount, but it is not strongly bound in the mixture — then it catches fire
and is consumed, and bums the substance of the metal. And likewise if the
moisture has not been digested in a manner suitable for combining into
metal, and is not well bound; or if there is too much or too litde — then it
must necessarily vanish by evaporation, and the substance of the metal
will be left dry and ready to be consumed. It is according to all this that
we must consider the ability of metals to be consumed. For a metal is able
to be consumed when any one of these [conditions] is present, and the
more so when several of them occur together.

Therefore gold that is pure and good because the condition of both its
constituents — that is, of its Sulphur and Quicksilver — is so excellent, is
least consumed ; and whatever things consume other metals do not
consume it, but only purify it — such as salt and brick dust, and sulphur,
and arsenic, and the like . 4 Silver is somewhat inferior [to gold], because its
Sulphur contains some wateriness, and so [does] its Quicksilver. And
therefore when this wateriness evaporates, the silver at first begins to be
blackened, and then to be burnt by burning substances, such as sulphur
and [arsenic ], 5 and other things that have been mentioned, and many more
which alchemists use.


3 ‘for the purpose’ of preventing the metal
from burning.

4 These reagents were used in parting gold

from silver: see IV, 5, introductory note and


IV, 7, note 14.

5 argentum, ‘silver’ makes no sense here; I
have assumed arsenicum, as in the account of
gold above.



BOOK III, TRACTATE ii 199

But copper is very much burnt, because it does not have its Sulphur
well bound in the wateriness of its Quicksilver, and it has too much
earthiness; and therefore it is very easily consumed by burning. And I
myself have seen at Copper Mountain 6 that pieces of green wood 7
propped up against the copper ore 8 are at once consumed, because of the
abundance of Sulphur and fattiness exuding from the copper ore. Iron is
also burnt to a red colour, because earthiness predominates in it and this
catches fire. In tin and lead the Quicksilver is not well cleansed of clayey,
fatty substance, and also it is too watery; and therefore as the watery part
evaporates in the fire, the clayey, unctuous substance in them is burnt.

This, then, is our account of the ability or inability of metals to be con-
sumed by burning.


CHAPTER 6: THAT THERE IS A CYCLICAL PRO-
DUCTION OF METALS FROM EACH OTHER


This chapter sums up Albert's conclusions about transmutation . He has already
invoked Aristotle's theory of a cyclical, step-by-step transmutation of the elements
(Gen. and Corr. II, 4, 331 a yff.) to explain the transformation of Water into
stone (I, i, g); he now extends it to account for the transformation of one metal
into another. Albert does not doubt that this occurs in nature and is theoretically
possible in the laboratory; but the alchemist can succeed only if he * works with
nature' (cf III, i, g-10), producing a perfect ‘ imitation of nature'. Albert implies
elsewhere [III, i, 9) that complete success is seldom or never attained.


6 in monte aeris , evidently a translation of the
German Kupferberg.

7 ligna viriiia . This seems a curious fuel for
the purpose. Perhaps Albert means only to
emphasize a remarkable fact — ‘even green
wood caught fire*. But perhaps he had seen,
without understanding it, the ‘poling* of
copper — green wood plunged into molten
copper, supplying carbon dioxide to reduce
any copper oxides that may form. If so, he
must have confused two different stages in the
smelting of copper, recalling only that green
wood was used somehow.

8 ad lapidem aeris — ‘the copper stone*.
This is a different term from that used previ-


ously, ‘copper incorporated with stone*,
and it refers, I believe, to a different ore — the
Mansfeld copper shale or slate ( Kupferschiefer ),
which began to be mined about the beginning
of the thirteenth century (Beyschlag et at. , p.
1127). The copper sulphide is finely dissemin-
ated in a bituminous sediment. In Agricola*s
time it was the practice to roast it in heaps
in the open air; once ignited by faggots, it
continued to bum for days (De re metallica ,
Hoover, 1912, p. 279; picture on p. 278).
This crude method, very likely in use in the
thirteenth century, was effective because of the
high bituminous content, so that ‘the stones
took fire*.


Q



200


BOOK OF MINERALS


An additional statement should now be made: one thing that is common
to all metals is that their materials are closely related . 1 We know, from
what has been determined in the science of Generation and Corruption,
that among [things] having a common property in their material, powers,
and potentialities, the transmutation of any one into another is easy. And
this is the reason for the assertion of many philosophers — whose father is
Hermes Trismegistus , 2 called the prophet of philosophers — that the
production of the metals is cyclical, from each other, just as the production
of the elements is cyclical. And this seems to me very true.

For when, in matter, the properties that are nearest together and
farthest apart are still not separated by very much, as is clear from previous
[chapters], the differences among them result from the parts of both
[kinds of] materials — the well-purified and digested, and the impure and
undigested. And so it happens that everything impure and undigested is
purified and digested, if the natural powers of digestion prevail. Other-
wise, it happens that everything that is digested suffers from imperfect
cooking (i molynsis ), or from an admixture of undigested material, or
perhaps insufficient heat to solidify it. Therefore it happens that the
materials that are closest to the elements are transmuted into each other;
and since such transmutation [of the elements] occurs, the metals must be
capable of being transmuted into each other. And thus it happens that the
production of metals is cyclical, from each other.

Experience shows that this [is the case], both in the operations of nature
and in the techniques of art. As to natural processes, I have learned, by
what I have seen with my own eyes, that a vein flowing from a single
source was in one part pure gold, and in another silver having a stony
calx mixed with it. And miners and smeltermen have told me that this
very frequently happens; and therefore they are sorry when they have
found gold, for the gold is near the source, and then the vein fails. Then
I myself , 3 making a careful examination, found that the kind of vessel 4 in
which the mineral was converted into gold differed from that in which it
was converted into silver. For the vessel containing the gold was a very

1 See in, ii, i, note io. veins carry gold in gneiss and are locally

2 See Appendix D, 7. enriched at the contact with slate; but in the

3 Albert here describes the impoverishment slate they carry no gold, although galena
of a vein on passing from one country rock to (‘silver’) is still present (Beyschlag et al.,
another. Unfortunately the locality is not pp. 630-2).

given, but his description suggests the Rauris 4 vas: the ‘natural vessel’ is the enclosing
district in the Hohe Tauem, where quartz rock.



201


BOOK III, TRACTATE ii

hard stone 5 — one of the kind from which fire is struck with steel — and it
had the gold [pure ] 6 and not incorporated with the stone, but enclosed in
a hollow within it, and there was a little burnt earth between the stony
part and the gold. And the stone opened out with a passage into the silver
vein, traversing a black stone that was not very hard but earthy; and the
black stone was fissile, the kind of stone from which slates are made for
building houses. This proves, however, that from a single place which
was the vessel of the mineral matter both [gold and silver] evaporated, and
a difference in the purification and digestion had been responsible for the
difference in the kind of metal.

And what artisans have learned by experience is also the practice of
alchemists who, if they work with nature, transform the specific form of
one metal into another, in the way already described. Thus it is, then, not
improbable that there is a cyclical production of metals from each other;
and in this metals are unique, occupying a special position between
elements and mixed bodies. But let it not escape us that in all things
produced cyclically from each other, the transformation is easier between
those that have more properties in common. And that is really why gold
is made more easily from silver than from any other metal. For only its
colour and weight need to be changed, and this is easily done; for if its
substance is more compacted, its weight will be increased as its Water is
decreased; and an increase in good, yellow Sulphur will result in a change
of colour. And it is the same with other [metals], too.

This, then, is our account of the passive [or accidental] properties
common to all metals.

5 Quartz, the commonest gangue mineral in ‘pure’ (native) gold with ‘incorporated’ gold

veins of native gold. (cf. Ill, i, io, note 3) and presumably wrote

6 parum, ‘a little’. But Albert is contrasting aurum purum.



BOOK IV

THE METALS INDIVIDUALLY


A SINGLE TRACTATE

CHAPTER 1 : THOSE THINGS THAT ARE, AS IT WERE,
UNIVERSAL IN METALS, LIKE THEIR FATHER AND
MOTHER, THAT IS, SULPHUR AND QUICKSILVER

Albert’s descriptions of the seven metals are not, like his descriptions of stones
(II, it), based on any contemporary encyclopedia. Although Arnold of Saxony,
Bartholomew of England, and Thomas of Cantimpre (see Appendix B, 11-13) a ll
deal briefly with the metals, Albert’s treatment differs considerably from theirs.
He is trying to explain the properties of metals in terms of the Aristotelian
doctrines set forth in Book III, and he often refers to his visits to mining districts,
metal workshops, and alchemical laboratories (III, i, 1), as well as to his reading
of alchemical books (some of which Arnold also quotes).

On the other hand, in all eight chapters of Book IV there is an unmistakable
resemblance to the Paneth manuscript, Metals and Alchemy, which is probably
Albert’s own first draft of this Book (see Introduction: ‘Date of Composition of
the Book of Minerals’). Although that manuscript is rather brief it treats of the
same topics, in the same order, and often in the same words. In a few places,
where Borgnet’ s text is faulty, I have followed Paneth’ s readings.

This first chapter deals mostly with sulphur. The speculations of the al-
chemists about the nature of sulphur were based on its unexpected behaviour on
heating. Sulphur is polymorphic, with several different molecular structures.
Native sulphur (orthorhombic a-sulphur) melts at 112.8° C. to a mobile straw-
yellow liquid ( \-sulphur ); this is ‘watery’, according to the alchemists. On
crystallizing, it forms monoclinic p- sulphur ; but if the liquid is further heated it
thickens (becomes ‘sticky’, ‘oily, or ‘viscous’) and changes to a dark red colour
(1 \i-sulphur ). This, by rapid chilling (e.g. by pouring into cold water) solidifies
as a supercooled liquid, with a peculiar rubbery consistency; at room temperature
it gradually inverts to ct-sulphur. This is the basis of the distinction between
‘live’ and fused’ sulphur. Liquid sulphur boils at 444.6° C., and the vapour,
on contact with a cold surface, condenses directly to a-sulphur; thus sulphur was
regarded as ‘airy’ or ‘a spirit’. Sulphur also burns easily (hence it is ‘fiery’ or



204


BOOK OF MINERALS


‘oily’) with a small dull blue flame, giving off choking fumes of sulphur dioxide.
This foul smell' was recognizably the same as that given off in roasting sulphide
ores of copper, silver, or lead — a fact which undoubtedly led to the conclusion
that metals contain sulphur. And the fact that native sulphur is found in volcanic
regions, hot springs, and near burning coal seams, encouraged the belief in a 'hot,
mineralizing vapour underground.

Crude sulphur was purified for alchemical work either by washing ( since its
specific gravity is much less than that of associated rock or earth), or by sub-
limation.

Our plan now demands that we describe the metals individually, which
could not be done until after we had determined the reasons for their
natures and their accidental properties. For speculation proceeds from the
general down to the particular elements, as has been determined at the
beginning of the Physics . 1 In speaking, then, of the metals individually, we
shall first touch upon those things that are, as it were, universal in metals,
like their Father and Mother, as the writers on alchemy metaphorically
say: for Sulphur is, so to speak, the Father and Quicksilver the Mother; or,
to put it more accurately, we may say that in the constitution of metals
Sulphur is like the substance of the male semen and Quicksilver like the
menstrual fluid that is coagulated into the substance of the embryo . 2

As to the substance and origin of sulphur, then, it is to be noted that
since it liquefies by dry heat and congeals by cold, it must contain Water,
as has been determined in the book on Meteorology . 3 But since it is brittle
and can be pulverized by crushing, it must contain an earthy substance
that is very dry. Since it is easily inflammable and sticky, it must contain
oily and viscous [substances], the oily to make it inflammable and the
viscous to make it sticky; and its flame is very smoky, with a colour
almost sapphire-blue tinged with black. But from these [properties] we
know that it is made up, as it were, of four substances, or at least three.
For since it is active in penetration and attraction, as Avicenna 4 says in his
[book on] medical simples, it must contain a fiery substance, and for this
reason it is pronounced hot and dry in the fourth degree. And since it is

1 See I, i, i, note 6. in Quicksilver, each stage of development

2 This is expressed in Aristotelian terms, but presided over by a different planet. See also I,
also occurs in alchemical writings, e.g. the i, 5, introductory note.

Book of the Three Words (Manget, 1702, Vol. 2, 3 See I, i, 3, note 3.

p. 190) draws a parallel between the growth of 4 Canon of Medicine, II, ii, 612.

a child in the womb and the growth of metals



205


BOOK IV, A SINGLE TRACTATE

easily inflammable, it must contain an airy substance. And since it is lique-
fied by dry heat, it must contain a moist watery substance. And since it
can be pulverized and boiled dry, its substance must be earthy. And all
these substances are so abundant in it that they are obvious and distinct
in its active and passive properties.

But as we have said in the preceding [book], 5 it must have three [kinds
of] moisture — two extrinsic and one intrinsic — and this need not be re-
peated here. But one observation must be added: its smoke indicates that
the earthy substance in it is able to catch fire easily and be consumed; and
its foul odour indicates that it is very poorly digested and not limited by
a [firm] boundary; indeed, by violent heat, [it is destroyed], 6 instead of
being digested and completed. And this incompleteness makes it capable
of being a universal material of all the elements. But if it were perfected
into one definite, completed form, then certainly it would not be capable
of being changed into other things, unless this [completed form] were
first removed. But as it is, because of its incompleteness, it is capable of
being changed into everything, just like the seeds and so on, from which
natural things are produced. And therefore wise nature provides abundant
Sulphur in any place where metals are produced. And since Sulphur is hot,
it will necessarily be active in opening up and solidifying any moisture
that touches it. And since it is dry, it will be sharp, since heat and dry-
ness are sharp. And therefore it will have the power of impressing its seal
and form upon things, rather than of receiving [impressions]. And on this
account it is given the position of Father and of male semen, by Hermes
Trismegistus.

But it must be observed that whatever is hot and dry is joined with
something moist and cold in one combination, and this combination is
hermaphrodite, 7 as is seen in plants, which everywhere both fertilize and
are fertilized. 8 But Sulphur is not really such a substance because it does not
produce anything in its own substance, and it is not the ‘Father’ except [in
the sense] that the male, out of his own substance, produces [offspring] in
something else — that is, in menstrual blood — and that is the way Sulphur
acts upon Quicksilver, but does not produce anything at all in itself.

5 See HI, ii, j. 8 This remark does not imply any under-

6 corruptam supplied from Paneth (p. 35) and standing of the fertilization of plants ; in fact

edition of 15 18. rather the reverse, since for most European

7 A common alchemical figure, the andro- species the individual plant as a whole — e.g. an

gyne, the two-sexed, the union of male apple-tree — cannot be distinguished as male or
(hot and dry) and female (cold and moist) . female.



206


BOOK OF MINERALS


The colour [of sulphur] is yellow and sometimes white, or rather
straw-coloured, that is, like the whiteness of wheat straw. The cause of
this is heat, which accompanies the moisture and changes it to a yellow
colour; and so sulphur seems to be what results [from this process] in the
bowels of the earth. For when earthiness is mixed with much wateriness,
and there is heat that cooks it— just as in the bodies of animals food is
mixed with digestive juice, and its froth boiling up on the surface is
changed into yellow bile — so it seems that Sulphur is like the froth of
what is mixed together in the bowels of the earth. And that is why it is
yellow, dry, and hot, although if it is more thoroughly cooked and more
earthy it appears paler yellow, tending towards the white of straw.

Sulphur is divided into ‘live’ sulphur and ‘fused’ sulphur. ‘Live’ sulphur
is just as it is taken out of the earth. That which is not ‘live’ but ‘fused’
has been melted afterwards. The only difference between them is in their
accidental properties. And some is also found [with a colour] tending per-
haps towards red or perhaps towards black; and this is because of burning
heat that predominates in it.

So much, then, for what we have determined about the nature of
Sulphur.


CHAPTER 2 : THE NATURE OF QUICKSILVER

Quicksilver (argentum vivum), or mercury, is liquid at ordinary temperatures.
Its specific gravity {13.6) is greater than that of any metal then known except gold
(19.3). Alchemists had learned in antiquity that it can be purified by distillation,
and that its vapour is poisonous. One reason for regarding it as the * Mother ’ of
metals is its ability to form amalgams with other metals ( except iron); small
amounts of gold or silver can often be extracted from it, and this success fostered the
faith that these metals were forming spontaneously in the mercury itself. Thus
Albert speaks here ( and also in TV, 3) of a * lumpy or ‘mushy’ stage, like a soft
amalgam, in the formation of ore minerals.

The chief mercury ore is bright red cinnabar, a sulphide from which the metal
was extracted by heating in air in a distilling apparatus. Natural oxidation of the
ore accomplishes the same thing, and globules of native mercury occur in some
cinnabar deposits; if other metals are present, natural amalgams can form. Like
sulphur (IV, 1 ) mercury was said to be of two kinds: Pliny (Nat. Hist. XXXIII,
41, 123) calls the native metal ‘live’ or ‘quick’ silver (argentum vivum, the



207


BOOK IV, A SINGLE TRACTATE

name Albert always uses); but the metal obtained from cinnabar was supposed
to be different, for Pliny called it ‘a substitute’ with the (Greek) name ‘ water
silver ’ (hydrargyrum, from which comes our chemical symbol, Hg).

Quicksilver contains two principal substances, according to all natural
scientists. One of these is Water, the other, Earth, as has often been said.
And its earthy [substance] contains some Sulphur, although there are some
alchemical writers who say that its substance is entirely watery. And they
say that this watery substance is thickened by the heat of Sulphur, but
that, nevertheless, in itself it is nothing but Water. But this is quite im-
possible, for we have already determined, in the Meteorology 1 that Water
by itself is not thickened, except by cold that changes it into Earth; but
it is not at all capable of being boiled dry by heat. Moreover, we know
from the principles of natural science that [Quicksilver] does not stick to
anything that touches it, as Water does, because [Quicksilver] has subde
Earth in it. And it is so strongly combined that if it is sublimed by itself
in a glass vessel with a long neck, it always remains the same, however
often the sublimation [is repeated], without becoming drier or harder,
unless there is an orifice by which it may escape . 2 And Quicksilver is to the
material substance of metals as the menstrual fluid is to the embryo : out of
it, by the force of the Sulphur that digests and bums it, all metals are
produced. And when it begins to be changed into a specific form, at first
it becomes lumpy, and then gradually it begins to solidify and be changed
[into metal].

There are different [kinds of] quicksilver, since some is extracted from
its own ores and is found ‘live’, and some is extracted by roasting from
the stone in which it is produced, just as silver or gold is extracted from
stone. And on account of its sharpness it is said to be a kind of poison. It is
cold and moist to the second degree, and for this reason it causes loosening
of the sinews and paralysis; and it kills lice and nits and other things that
are produced from filth in the pores . 3

Quicksilver sublimed with sulphur and salt of Ammon 4 is changed to a

1 Meteor, IV, 3, 380 b 11. sulphur would give the brilliant red sulphide,

2 This remark would seem to have been ‘vermilion’, valued as a pigment. This is the
displaced from below (see note 5) — ‘there is same as natural cinnabar, and, like it, can be
no change in weight, unless some can escape’. decomposed, yielding liquid mercury, by

3 Lice were supposed to be spontaneously heating in air. (2) Combining mercury with

generated. ‘salt’ (see V, 2, Sal) would produce white

4 This sentence confuses two different chlorides — such as calomel and corrosive
operations: (1) Combining mercury with sublimate — or perhaps ammonium salts. These



208


BOOK OF MINERALS


shining red powder, and if roasted in the fire again, it changes back to a
moist, fluid substance. And perhaps that which is concentrated in the neck
of the vessel — called an alutel — in which the sublimation is carried out is
changed into something like stone, coloured like alabaster; and if this is
afterwards roasted in the fire, it changes back again to quicksilver. But
there are also different [kinds of] Quicksilver which appear more obviously
in the metals [made from them] than in Quicksilver itself— such as dirty
or pure, and other [kinds] which have been listed above.

And a remarkable thing about this material is that, however often it is
sublimed by itself, there is never any powder left behind in the bottom of
the vessel; and when it returns to the specific form of Quicksilver there
is no loss, so to speak, in its weight . 5 And this undoubtedly happens be-
cause of the very firm combination of its earthy with its watery substance.
For the viscous moisture holds the earthiness so firmly that, in evaporating,
it takes it along with it into the neck of the alutel ; and being concentrated
there its spirit returns to the same specific form. But in the bottom [of the
vessel] it does [not ] 6 harden, or change in colour, weight, taste, or odour.
It is nevertheless volatile in the fire, and becomes incorporated with metals
whenever it is mixed with them. And on this account Hermes calls it [a
spirit ] 7 like Sulphur. But Avicenna 8 says that its whiteness is due to wateri-
ness and subtle Earth, cooked together with Air which, taken up as a
spirit, is present in its mixture.

All this has been said so that it may be understood that Quicksilver is
nothing but the matter 9 in metals, since it undoubtedly suffers complete
dissolution 10 by means of sharp waters, either natural or artificial. And
after such dissolution it is capable of mixing with other substances and

are all poisonous, but have some uses in medi- Mandeville, 1927, pp. 51--52). But Meteorology
cine. They can be decomposed, freeing (IV, 8, 385 b 5) also says that quicksilver
metallic mercury, by heating in a closed contains Air, classifying it with viscous liquids
vessel with sodium carbonate (see V, 7, like oil, pitch, and birdlime.

Nitrum). 9 That is, the female principle; Sulphur, as

5 Balances were in use in the Middle Ages, the male principle, supplies the form (see also
and many recipes give exact weights of ingre- I, i, 5).

dients. The failure to base chemical reasoning 10 mortificatur, literally ‘is killed'. Mortifi -
on such data as change of weight arose from catio is a technical term in alchemy, meaning
the conviction that qualitative changes were complete disintegration. In the Hermetic
more important than quantitative changes. writings it is sometimes coupled with the

6 non supplied from 1518 edition, as sense notion of resurrection, but there is no evidence

requires. that Albert held any such mystical views of

7 spiritum supplied from Paneth, p. 35. chemical change.

8 Avicenna, De congelatione (Holmyard and



BOOK IV, A SINGLE TRACTATE 209

imparts colour to them. And by the force and vapour of Sulphurit is
congealed and brought to the hardness and specific form of the various
metals. And therefore, since it is saturated by dryness and earthiness, it is
held fast and cannot escape in the fire from the substance with which it is
mixed.

This, then, is our account of Quicksilver.


CHAPTER 3 : THE NATURE OF LEAD

Classical writers used plumbum nigrum, ‘black' or ‘dark lead' for lead, and
plumbum album, ‘white' or ‘pale lead' for tin (Pliny, Nat. Hist. XXXIV, 47,
156). But by the eleventh or twelfth century (e.g. in Theophilus) plumbum had
come to mean only lead, and tin was called stagnum or stannum. Lead is
bluish grey, with a bright metallic lustre only on very fresh surfaces, since it
quickly tarnishes to a dull dark grey. Pure lead is heavy (specific gravity 11.3),
soft and malleable, and melts at 327 0 C. Lead ores, however, often contain, or are
associated with, other metals, which in smelting form alloys with the lead,
making it seem lighter, harder, more brittle, or more fusible. One ‘impurity is
commonly silver, so the alchemists' claim that silver can be made from lead had a
real basis.

Albert has little to say about ores of lead. His ‘lead incorporated with stone'
(III, i, 10, note 6) is the sulphide, galena, which is heavy, has a metallic lustre,
silvery to steel-grey, and rather resembles a metal except for its brittleness. The
metallurgy of lead was fairly simple: the ore was roasted and then smelted in
furnaces using wood or charcoal; the temperature could be to some extent con-
trolled by the use of bellows. In the roasting, sulphur was driven off (as fumes of
sulphur dioxide) and the sulphide converted to sulphate and oxide of lead. These
then reacted, at higher temperatures, with the remaining sulphide, to form more
sulphur dioxide gas and metallic lead. If the temperatures were too high or the
process took too long, much of the lead was oxidized to litharge, and reduction
was effected by adding charcoal or green wood. As the mass began to fuse, stony
materials rose to the top as a slag; this might be purposely augmented by adding
limestone or siliceous rocks as a flux, in the hope of absorbing unwanted metals
in the slag, while gold and silver (if present) would remain in solution in the lead.
But ancient methods entailed a considerable loss of lead (and silver) in the slag.

In the same way it is determined that lead has less material added to its
Quicksilver than any other metal. And for this reason Aristotle and



210


BOOK OF MINERALS


Avicenna 1 say that molten lead undoubtedly seems to be Quicksilver. As
to the constitution of lead, therefore, its substance is believed [to contain]
a large amount of Quicksilver in proportion to its Sulphur; and perhaps
only a little of the actual substance of Sulphur enters into the constitution
of lead, but a great deal of its quality . 2 And this by its own heat cooks the
material and changes it into the specific form of lead, just as a small
amount of the substance of rennet curdles a large amount of milk.

The Quicksilver of lead is not of good quality, but watery and dirty;
and therefore the wateriness easily evaporates in the fire, and an earthy
powder is left, as a sort of ash remaining from the clayey substance of the
lead. And since, as we have said, there is in lead a force of Sulphur, its
vapour dries out the Quicksilver 3 * just as the vapour of Sulphur does. For
it is not possible that two substances should produce the same effect in the
same way, except by means of the same thing which is in them [both].
We have already explained why lead has a greyish colour.

The effect of lead is cold and constricting, and it has a special power
over sexual lust and nocturnal emissions, if a circle is made of it, two
fingers wide, and worn around the loins and [anointed ] 5 with camphor.
But care must be taken lest the lead, by its coldness contracting the material
[below ] 6 too forcibly drive it upwards into the head, and cause madness or
epilepsy; and care must also be taken lest it cause paralysis of the lower
limbs, and unconsciousness. This, then, is the nature of lead in its constitu-
tion and effects.

And Hermes , 7 who has proved much about the transmutations of


1 De congelatione of Avicenna, which was
often attached to the Meteorology (Holmyard
and Mandeville, p. 52): ‘But lead, when
liquefied, is undoubtedly Quicksilver; but it
does not liquefy without first being heated/

2 The distinction between quality and quan-
tity is thoroughly Aristotelian. The notion that
a very minute quantity of something can im-
part its quality to a large amount of something
else is illustrated here by rennet, and by other
alchemical statements about the elixir t acting
as a ferment (like yeast in dough) to transmute
a large mass of base metal.

3 The Book of Alums and Salts (Steele, 1929,

p. 26) gives recipes for ‘coagulating mercury

by the odour of lead* — that is, making lead-

mercury amalgam by exposing mercury to the


vapour of molten lead. This immediately
follows a recipe for ‘coagulating mercury
by the odour of sulphur' — that is, making
cinnabar.

4 Seem, ii, 3.

5 pungatur should be perungatur (Paneth, p.
36; and 1518 edition). This use of lead is
mentioned by Pliny (Nat. Hist. XXXIV, 30,
166).

6 intimius y the 1518 edition has interius ;
Paneth (p. 36) inferius , which makes better
sense, in antithesis to the following sursam ad
caput. Mere contact with lead would hardly
be dangerous, but lead compounds taken
internally are poisonous.

7 Arnold of Saxony cites this from Hermes's
Book of Alchemy (Stange, pp. 42-43); a recipe



211


BOOK IV, A SINGLE TRACTATE

metals, in his Alchemy reports that, if plates of lead are suspended over a
vessel containing much strong vinegar, so that the vapour of the vinegar
is continually in contact with the lead plates, the vapour will condense
and destroy the substance of the lead, and change it into a powder that
has a white colour and is called cerusa. But if vinegar is poured over the
same lead plate, it becomes white and, on the other hand, the power of
the vinegar is destroyed. The reason for this is surely that, although the
substance of vinegar is dull on account of its coldness, it is nevertheless
sharp in its action, because it is the remains of a sort of Fire that has arisen
from it, just as ash is the remains of Fire in wood . 8 And by means of this
sharpness, therefore, it penetrates into the substance of the lead, when the
lead has been disintegrated , 9 and washes away the dirt from the congealed
Quicksilver in it, and causes [the Quicksilver] to rise to the surface of the
plate like grains of millet, which then grow whiter because they are more
thoroughly purified.

Moreover, Hermes 10 also reports that lead, if roasted with something
that bums it, such as sulphur and arsenic especially, produces a sublimate
of a dark vermilion, that is, red colour, which [becomes ] 11 yellow if the
fire is hotter and stronger. But if this substance is calcined with vinegar and
dried out, it changes back to the white colour of cerusa. And the reason
for this transmutation is that really it has Sulphur and Quicksilver, as we

similar in part to this is in the Liber sacerdotum 9 exterminatum, that is, when it ceases to be
(Berthelot, 1893, Vol. I, p. 217). The process teminatum, limited by its own boundary,
is ancient (though now called the ‘Dutch solid, coherent.

process*), mentioned by Theophrastus (Cayley 10 Hermes’s Book of Alchemy , according to
and Richards, pp. 57, 187-91) and Pliny Arnold (Stange, p. 43); also, more briefly,
(Nat. Hist. XXXIV, 54, 175-6). Reaction in the Liber sacerdotum (Berthelot, op. cit., p.
between lead and vinegar forms lead acetate, 204).

which on exposure to air or water containing 11 sit , error for fit (ed. 1518; Arnold, loc.
carbon dioxide is converted to the basic cit.). Lead forms a number of oxides which
carbonate (cerusa), or ‘white lead*. This was can be prepared by roasting metallic lead or
used as a pigment, and even as a cosmetic, ‘white lead* (cerusa) in air. (The mention of
although its poisonous nature was well sulphur and arsenic is irrelevant, reflecting
known. some confusion between ‘red lead* and other

8 This attempt at explanation is Albert’s red minerals — cinnabar and realgar.) ‘Red lead*
own. Wood ashes leached with water supplied contains more oxygen than yellow litharge,
lye (‘pot ash*, mostly potassium carbonate), but the change of one into the other, or into an
the chemical properties of which were ex- intermediate mixture, would probably depend
plained as ‘heat* left over from the burning more on the air supply than on the fire.
(Meteor, IV, 11, 389 b 3). Similarly, Albert Both oxides can, as Albert says, be changed
suggests that vinegar retains ‘heat* from its into ‘white lead* (cerusa) by treatment with
fermentation. vinegar.



212


BOOK OF MINERALS


have said, in the substance of which it is composed. For when sulphur
is heated and cooled again, it becomes red. Evidence of this is [the fact]
that manufacturers of minium (cinnabar) make it by subliming sulphur
with quicksilver. But lead because it is dirtier [produces] a dark colour;
but when the fire is made stronger, the original dirtiness is consumed and
the colour grows lighter. And since Sulphur is burnt more than Quick-
silver in a long-continued fire, the red colour due to the earthy burnt
Sulphur becomes paler and is modified by the white of the Quicksilver
that is still present; and the result is a yellow colour that is like white
penetrating red and modifying its redness.

But nevertheless Hermes believes that if a still stronger fire is applied
to all these, and they are strongly roasted in the fire, the whole substance
of the Sulphur is consumed, and the force of the vinegar is destroyed by
evaporation; and then, from the above-mentioned powders, the substance
of the lead returns to what it was at first; but it is not of the same weight
and purity, nor of the same quality, as at first. 12

Nor must we omit to say that, as we have already stated, lead contains
much wateriness and is poorly mixed; and therefore in the refining of
other metals it protects them from the fire — as for example silver and gold
are protected by lead when they are refined. 13 And hence some unskilful
men say that lead has the ability to bring together things that are alike and


12 It is not true that lead oxides or cerusa
can be converted into metallic lead by further
roasting, except in the presence of some re-
ducing agent, which Albert does not mention.
Probably charcoal was used, and Albert
supposed this to be merely the fuel for heating
the lead compounds. It is interesting that the
change of weight here is noted, though it is
not explained.

13 Cupellation with lead is described by
Theophilus (III, 49, Hendrie, pp. 316-17).
I quote the procedure for recovering gold
from scraps of gilt copper or silver :

But if at any time you have broken copper or
silver gilt vessels, . . . you can in this manner
separate the gold. Take the bones of whatever
animal you please, which (bones) you may have
found in the street, and bum them, being
cold, grind them finely, and mix with them a
third part of beechwood ashes, and make cups
as we have mentioned above in the purification
of silver; you will dry these at the fire or in the


sun. Then you carefully scrape the gold from
the copper and you will fold this scraping in
lead beaten thin, and one of these cups being
placed in the embers before the furnace, and
now become warm, you place in this fold
of the lead with the scraping, and coals being
heaped upon it you will blow it. And when it
has become melted, in the same manner as silver
is accustomed to be purified, sometimes by
removing the embers and by adding lead, some-
times by recooking and warily blowing, you
bum it, until, the copper being entirely absorbed,
the gold may appear pure.

The object of cupellation is to oxidize all the
lead, and with it the copper or other base
metals present. The oxides are volatilized,
blown away by the bellows or absorbed in the
bone-ash crucible, leaving behind pure gold or
silver; if both are present they form an alloy,
and a further step is necessary to part the gold
from the silver (see IV, 5, introductory note;
IV, 7, note 14).



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BOOK IV, A SINGLE TRACTATE

to separate things that are different. 14 And the reason for their mistake is
that, when lead is fused together with gold or silver, the silver 15 runs
together in one place, and the stones, if any are present, in another, and
the lead in still another. But they are mistaken: for this bringing together
and separation is due not to the lead but to the heat of Fire, as we have
shown in the fourth book of Meteorology. 16 And lead in itself does not
purify silver except by accident; for it is the heat of Fire, in itself, that puri-
fies it, by bringing together pure substances and separating impure [ones],
as has been said. But since silver is moist and Fire is dry, the heat of the
Fire would be repelled by the silver if there were not something to unite
them — that is, the lead; for as it becomes hot, its own moisture serves, as it
were, to boil, digest, and purify the silver.

Lead is very heavy because its substance is clayey and moist, with the
parts firmly compacted, although they are soft, since they are not well-
digested, because of imperfect cooking ( molynsis ), as has been shown pre-
viously.


CHAPTER 4: THE NATURE AND PROPERTIES OF
TIN

Tin was regarded in antiquity as a kind of lead (plumbum album or candidum).
Even in the Middle Ages, when it was recognized as a distinct metal, it still bore
the name (stagnum or stannum, from which we get our chemical symbol Sn)
of a low-melting, lead-silver mixture produced in smelting lead (Pliny, Nat. Hist.

XXXIV, 47, 159)-

Albert’s account is rather unsatisfactory, and he probably knew very little
about tin. One stumbling-block is Aristotle’s curious statement (Gen. and Corr.
1 , 10, 328 b 8-13) that tin ‘stutters’ (Greek, psellizatai). What Aristotle himself
meant is not very clear: he says that in bronze the tin seems to disappear, and
its only effect is to change the colour of the copper; so perhaps it ‘hesitates’ to
combine, or fails’ to impart its own qualities to the mixture. But Albert takes
‘ stuttering ’ (Latin balbutiens) to mean ‘incapable of making a good mixture’,
and therefore brittle. This is not true. Of course, in some alloys (bronze, bell-
metal, pewter) tin increases the hardness and brittleness of the copper or lead, and

14 One of these ‘unskilful men’ must have cupellation was particularly used in extracting

been Hermes, since Arnold quotes this from silver from lead ores; and even if gold were
his Book of Alchemy (Stange, p. 43). present, the alloy might appear silvery rather

15 We might expect ‘silver or gold’. But than golden. 16 See HI, i, 5, note 6.



214


BOOK OF MINERALS


Albert ( perhaps misled by ‘ Hermes’s Book of Alchemy’ — see note 5 below)
may have reasoned that tin by itself would be even more brittle. But pure tin
is very malleable; Theophilus (I, 26, Hendrie, pp. 30-33) gives directions for
beating out tinfoil.

But tin has other properties that might support Albert's conclusion. It has
several crystalline modifications: above 100 0 C., it becomes less malleable, and
cannot be annealed like copper. And below 18° C. ordinary ‘ white tin changes
after a while to ‘grey tin, which is very brittle and crumbles to powder. This
change (‘tin disease' or ‘tin pest') must have been observed in the cold climate of
northern Europe; and this may be what Albert means when he says ‘cast tin
quickly decays', because tin suffers little from ordinary oxidation in air.

Albert does not describe tin mining, although this was active in central Europe
and began to grow in importance about the end of the twelfth century ( Beyschlag
et al., p. 428). Albert’s contemporary, Matthew Paris, in his History of the
English (in Madden, ed., Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and
Ireland, Vol. 44, Part 2, 1866, p. 433), says that German tin was ‘discovered’
in 1241 by a Cornishman who had fled to Germany, and that ‘ hitherto there
were no tin mines anywhere in the world except in England, that is, Cornwall;
and so the abundant supply caused the price to fall among the brokers’. German
tin had certainly been ‘discovered’ earlier, so 1241 is probably the date when the
Cornish mines began to feel the effect of foreign competition. The German tin
industry was thriving in Albert’s time and he must have heard talk of it, but I
doubt if he had ever visited any workings. This can be inferred from his failure
to mention the most important ore of tin, cassiterite, a brown or blackish mineral
with no metallic lustre and nothing except its unusual weight to show that it is
not a ‘stone’ but an ore mineral. It is resistant to weathering and collects in
residual or alluvial deposits (‘stream tin), where it was mined like gold, by washing
or panning, and then reduced to metal by heating with charcoal. If Albert had
ever seen such an operation, we should expect him to mention it.

We cannot, however, disregard his statement that he had seen something
which he believed to be tin ore because he had been told so by ‘men experienced
in such matters’ (III, i, 1). He calls this ‘tin incorporated with stone ’ (III, i, 10 ) —
in other words, a shining metallic sulphide. The only tin ore that would fit this
description is stannite, which occurs in veins with cassiterite but is unlikely to
have been sought out and mined separately while cassiterite was available.
Albert’s informants were probably confusing tin with some other metal, and what
they showed Albert was most likely ore of antimony or bismuth. The sulphides
of these (stibnite and bismuthinite) are silvery with a metallic lustre; and native



215


BOOK IV, A SINGLE TRACTATE

antimony and bismuth are sometimes found. Both metals are very brittle and
impart this brittleness to alloys. Antimony (or stibnite) was known in antiquity as
stimmi or stibium ( from which comes our chemical symbol Sb). Pliny (Nat.
Hist. XXXIII, 34, 104) says that stibnite must not be roasted too much * lest it
turn into lead ’ ( that is, metallic antimony). Bismuth did not attain an identity
and a name until the sixteenth century. Agricola (De re metallica, Hoover,
footnote, p. 110) called it plumbum cinereum, ‘ashy-grey lead’, to distinguish
it from lead and tin. He also recorded its German name, bismut, and said that the
miners recognized it as an indicator of silver ore (‘roof of silver). Possibly
metallic zinc was also mistaken for tin (see V, 8, Tuchia, note 1).

What is to be determined about tin is almost the same as about lead.
For these metals have specific forms that are very closely related, and there
is little difference between them except that tin is whiter and purer. And
the reason for this can only be the reason assigned by the philosophers
before our time — that its [Quick] silver 1 is cleaner than that of lead, and
perhaps it contains only a little Sulphur, and is cooked into the specific
form of metal by the power and vapour of Sulphur rather than by much
of the actual substance of Sulphur in its mixture.

It has a very ‘stuttering’ constitution; and the reason for this may be the
complete dissolution of the Quicksilver by some kind of solvent vapour,
or the effect of a solution of sharp water, which separates the parts. But I
say vapours, not Water through which Quicksilver has passed after it
received its specific form, but rather [vapours] which enter into the very
substance of the Quicksilver. For such wateriness, once formed in it, is
not very viscous; and it makes the earthy parts mixed with it become stiff,
so that they do not mix well and stick together. For anything that is stiff
and hardened on the surface does not mix well with anything else and is
not capable of becoming continuously joined to anything near by. This,
then, we must consider to be the cause of its ‘stuttering’ mixture. But since
[tin] is itself ‘stuttering’, it makes all metals with which it is mixed ‘stutter-
ing’, too, and takes away their malleability, as Hermes says; and when it is
itself drawn out, it is quickly and easily broken.

This metal is also like lead in that neither of them is subject to rust; 2
but rather, if exposed to destructive substances, or even spontaneously,
they develop a sort of dinginess and dirtiness; but lead [does so] more than

1 argentum printed instead of argentum vivum, designates iron rust, as different from the dull

which is surely meant. greyish tamishofleadordn.

2 rubiginem, derived from ruber, ‘red’.



21 6


BOOK OF MINERALS


tin. They are also alike in that neither of them by itself gives out much
sound [when struck]. The reason for the first [of these characteristics] is that
[these metals] do not contain any hot, watery moisture, or else it is not
very sharp, so as to destroy the earthy material in them and change it
into rust. For rust is nothing but burnt earthiness. And the reason for the
second [characteristic] is their softness and moisture; because anything soft
and moist, if it is struck, yields by shrinking into itself, and therefore does
not send back from its entire surface the air, which is the cause of sound,
as is pointed out in the science of The Soul . 3 Tin, however, gives out more
sound than lead. And since it has a dull sound, tin tempers things that have
a sharp sound, such as copper, silver, and gold, and makes their note
deeper. And therefore tin is mixed with copper in the melt for bells . 4

As to what Hermes says in his Alchemy 5 — that tin, because of its ex-
cessive dryness, causes bodies with which it is mixed to be fragile and
destroys their malleability — this is understood in the way already explained,
namely, that by a sharp vapour or solution the earthy parts of it are dried
out. Otherwise the statement would not be true, for we see that [tin] is
softer than any other metal.

And they say that cast tin quickly decays, and that lead remains un-
changed or even increases , 6 both in the open air and underground. And I
believe this is probable, since it seems to agree with experience. The reason
for this has already been assigned in The Heavens ; 7 for the cause of the
destruction of the elements is that they move into each other’s [places] ; and
when the bond holding them is not strong, one element escapes from the
other. Now it has already been stated that tin is poorly mixed, and this is the
reason why it is damaged by Fire ; and if it is removed from the place where
it originated, it is destroyed more rapidly than other metals. But lead is
very gross in its substance, and by absorbing dew and rain, it gradually


3 The Soul, II, 8, 419 b 4 ff. gives Aristotle’s
theories about sound and hearing.

4 For example, Theophilus (III, 85, Hendrie,
pp. 360-1) specifies four parts (by weight) of
copper and one of tin for bell-metal.

5 Arnold of Saxony, quoting Hermes’s
Book of Alchemy (Stange, p. 45) ; also in Liber
sacerdotum (Berthelot, 1893, Vol. I, p. 204).

6 This is an old belief. Pliny (Nat. Hist.
XXXIV, 49, 164-5) says that lead mines
abandoned for a long time become ‘more

fertile* again — perhaps a report of a case


where the walls of an old mine were found
coated with secondary lead minerals deposited
by water. And perhaps Albert refers also to
lead pipes that have been covered by carbon-
ates.

7 The Heavens , II, 6, 288 b 15: each of the
elements (Earth, Water, Air, Fire) has its
own place and when out of its place strives to
return to it. The elements held in compounds,
such as plants or animals, on the dissolution
of the compound at once escape back to their
own places.



BOOK IV, A SINGLE TRACTATE 217

makes a mineral moisture which it converts into itself; and therefore, in
the course of time, it sometimes increases.

Two [kinds of] tin are found, namely a harder and drier kind which
comes from England or Britain, and a somewhat softer kind which is
found more abundantly in parts of Germany. 8
And now we have said enough about the nature of tin.


CHAPTER 5 : THE NATURE AND CONSTITUTION
OF SILVER

Silver (argentum) is the most brilliant of the white metals; it is not oxidized
in air or water, but tarnishes black if exposed to vapour or solutions containing
sulphur. It is very malleable and ductile.

Albert's information about silver ores is evidently based on personal observation
at Freiberg (see III, 1, 10) and perhaps elsewhere. The ‘ mushy white material
represents the uppermost zone of oxidized ores: secondary lead or zinc minerals,
along with silver halides, such as cerargyrite (‘horn silver), very soft and waxy.
Below the zone of oxidation is a zone of secondary enrichment: silver leached
from above is carried downwards and redeposited, generally at the water table,
where oxidation ceases, as sulphides and sulphosalts (argentite, pyrargyrite,
proustite, &c.), and as native silver, which crystallizes in shapes like wires,
‘strings’, or sheets. Still further down is the unaltered original ore (argentiferous
galena), which contains a far smaller percentage of silver. This sequence is
reflected in the history of most mines. In the thirteenth century the Freiberg mines
were still working comparatively shallow zones of oxidation and secondary
enrichment. As these rich ores were worked out, and difficulties with drainage
prevented deeper penetration below the water table, the Freiberg mines declined
and were eclipsed by newer mines. Agricola, in the sixteenth century (De
natura fossilium, Book VIII), said there was little native silver at Freiberg,
but reports enormous masses of it taken from newer mines farther to the south-
west in the Erzgebirge.

Though argentiferous galena is not the richest ore, a great part of the world’s
silver has been produced from it. This is Albert’s ‘silver incorporated with
stone’, which was crushed, roasted, and smelted, giving off a foul odour’ of

8 Matthew Paris (loc. cit.) also says that cassiterite (nearly pure tin), while the Cornish
German tin is the purest (purissimum). If such a miners had ‘gone underground’ and were
difference really existed, it might be explained mining veins that contained stannite (‘bell—
by the fact that the Germans were mining metal ore’), which is partly copper.



218


BOOK OF MINERALS


sulphur dioxide. Some silver was lost in the slag, but most of it remained in
solution in the molten lead, from which it was separated by careful remelting and
finally by cupellation {see IV, 3, note 13).

‘ Burning ’ or blackening silver with sulphur played a part in two important
technological processes: the parting of gold from silver, and the making of
nigellum or niello. In parting gold and silver, the added sulphur combined
with the silver to form a black sulphide that was mechanically separable from the
unaltered gold. In making niello, silver {along with copper or lead ) was fused
with sulphur, forming a black mixture of sulphides, which was applied like an
enamel in engraved decorations on gold or silver. Theophilus {III, 70, Hendrie,
pp. 316-19) gives the following directions for recovering gold from silver-gilt
work; the resulting silver sulphide is to be cupelled to recover the silver, or else
made into niello:

When you have scraped the gold from silver, place this scraping in a small cup
in which gold or silver is accustomed to be melted, and press a small linen cloth upon it,
that nothing may by chance be abstracted from it by the wind of the bellows, and placing
it before the jurnace, melt it; and directly lay fragments of sulphur in it, according to the
quantity of the scraping, and carefully stir it with a thin piece of charcoal until its fumes
cease; and immediately pour it into an iron mould. Then gently beat it upon the anvil,
lest by chance some of that black mayfly from it which the sulphur has burnt, because it
is itself silver. For the sulphur consumes nothing of the gold, but the silver only, which
it thus separates from the gold, and which you will carefully keep. Again melt this
gold in the same small cup as before, and add sulphur. This being stirred and poured out,
break what has become black and keep it, and do this until the gold appear pure. Then
gather together all that black, which you have carejully kept, upon the cup made from the
bone and ash, and add lead, and so burn it that you may recover the silver. But if you
wish to keep it for the service of niello, before you burn it add to it copper and lead,
according to the measure mentioned above, and mix it with sulphur.

Next we shall speak of silver, because in colour it seems to belong
with the metals already discussed. For since we do not understand the
nature of a compound until we know of what and how many things and
in what manner it is compounded, we must inquire into the nature of
silver. And from what has already been said, we have ascertained that
Quicksilver enters into the composition of silver, because silver has the
same colour and, when liquefied, the same accidental [properties as Quick-
silver] ; for then it will not adhere to anything that touches it and it will roll
about on a surface, but not spread out all over it, like water, oil, wine or
any other liquid. These three [characteristics] we have seen to be present



219


BOOK IV, A SINGLE TRACTATE

primarily in Quicksilver; and therefore if they are also present in liquefied
silver, they must be due to the Quicksilver that enters into the composition
of its substance. And since silver is extremely bright, with a shining white-
ness, and is capable of taking a high polish, the proportion of Quicksilver
it contains must be well digested and purified and mixed with extremely
subde material. And it also has [the characteristic] that, although its odour
is foul, it is not so foul as [that of] other metals we have already discussed.

And we know from what has been said that both Sulphur and Quick-
silver — and anything else at all which, because of its constitution, is
moist and liquefiable by Fire — contains three [kinds of] moisture, just like
living things, plants and animals. One [kind of] moisture is thick and un-
digested, rising to the surface like grease, fat, or oil ; and it is this that makes
things inflammable. And the second is like the phlegmatic humour 1 that
moistens the parts of things, but does not contribute to reproduction or
growth. And the third is the radical moisture saturating the essential parts
of a thing; and because of this moisture the parts [of things ] 2 are firm, and
grow, and are nourished. We have found that silver is hard and dry. And
therefore it must have been thoroughly cleansed of the two superfluous
[kinds of] moisture, and the subtlety of the third is responsible for its
excellent mixture.

And when [the fire is] strongly blown, silver has a sulphurous odour;
therefore it must have some of the substance and quality of Sulphur, for
it is the heat of Sulphur that causes fermentation and digestion into the
specific form of a metal. Of the substance of Sulphur, indeed, it has only
a little, for the Sulphur does not even colour it ; 3 but of the power and
quality of Sulphur it has a great deal, since it is by the heat [of Sulphur]
that the two [kinds of] moisture mentioned above have been consumed
and the third well mixed with subde, earthy material. For the heat and
vapour of Sulphur, and especially of Sulphur that is well purified and
sublimed, whiten things 4 very much, and by digestion make them subtle
and mix them thoroughly and strongly; because even from the substance
of Sulphur the two extraneous [kinds of] moisture have been removed by

1 On humours, see HI, i, i, note 7, and ID, 4 Fumes of burning sulphur (sulphur

ii, 5, introductory note. dioxide), often used for fumigation, have a

2 raro, should be return, as in the 1518 strong bleaching effect. Constantine says

edition. (Opera, p. 3 86) : ‘If pink or red cloths or flowers

3 See III, ii, 3 for colours of metals. The are fumigated with sulphur the colour be-

yellow colour of gold was supposed to be due comes white.’ Albert makes a similar state-
to its Sulphur (see IV, 7). ment in his Plants, n, ii, 7.



220


BOOK OF MINERALS


the skill of nature, which is more certain and subtle than any art of the
alchemists, and therefore has the most certain effect.

Having, then, the nature of Quicksilver, since it is a metal developed
out of the purest Quicksilver by the heat of purified Sulphur into a shining
specific form, therefore it must necessarily be white and have a high lustre.
And, as has been said, it is well dried out and this is why it makes a ringing
sound [when struck], which it would not [do] if it were soaked with
superfluous moisture. And [the fact] that it is well digested gives it the
power to act as it does; for it is found to be cold in effect, because of the
abundance of Quicksilver in it; but because its moisture is so well digested
and subtle, filings of it, even if ground up with other things or in mixtures,
strengthen the breathing and [are effective for] palpitations of the heart.

But a remarkable thing which we have mentioned before is that the
best kind of this metal is found in the earth as a soft, thick mush. The cause
of this is surely the abundance of Quicksilver that was in those places;
and when the third [kind of] moisture was separated, [going] into the
composition of the silver, the other two were left in the dirty material
round about. And this soft, lumpy, whiteness indicates that none of the
superfluous, undigested moisture was taken up into the nature of the silver.
And therefore, when this is placed in the fire it immediately evaporates
into its natural moisture as it softens, and the moisture from the substance
of the silver begins to grow firm, and when it is placed in the air and
cooled, it congeals and is silver. And the litharge 5 from this moist silver is
better than any other litharge for the white elixir in alchemy, because this
litharge is from a moisture that has a tendency to [become] silver, and is
potentially silver, just as fat is potentially an animal. And silver is purified
in the fire with lead and then, by roasting, the lead evaporates and the dross
is separated from the silver, as we have said above.

[But ] 6 when [silver] is found incorporated with stone, then it must be
ground in a mill and crushed fine, both the stony substance and the silver.
For when the parts are crushed fine and divided, one is more easily
separated from another, and then the stony substance does not bum the
silver.

But I must not pass over in silence the fact that sometimes in Teutonia

5 Litharge is lead oxide, produced in cu- ‘white elixir’ and claimed (perhaps believed)

pellation; but the separation of metals was not that they had made silver, they were simply
perfect, and some silver also passed into the recovering silver that was already there,
litharge. When the alchemists used this in the 6 artem, error for autern, as in 1518 edition.



221


BOOK IV, A SINGLE TRACTATE

[silver] is found which is very firm and dry and almost pure; and this in
our own time has occurred in two ways. One way it was found was as a
column standing up under the earth, dried out and very tough and flexible.
The other way it was found was extending under the earth like strings;
and the quantity of this was as great as of that found in the form of a
column. And the cause of these shapes was merely the differences in the
places that acted as vessels in which the vapour was concentrated and con-
verted into the material of silver. And the cause of its viscosity and capacity
for being consumed in the fire was that, although the superfluous moisture
had for the most part evaporated, yet some extrinsic moisture was still
adhering to the substance of the silver, just as the extrinsic moisture of
phlegm adheres to the members [in a living body], softening and loosening
them; and when this is purified by fire, it makes the substance of the silver
extremely pure.

But sulphur bums silver when it is sprinkled upon it in a molten
condition; 7 and the blackening of the silver shows that it is burnt by the
sulphur, as we have said above. For sulphur, because of its affinity 8 for
the nature of metal, bums it; but it does not induce much burning in
other things such as wood and stone, even if sprinkled upon them in a
flaming condition.

This, then, is our account of the nature of silver.


CHAPTER 6: THE NATURE AND MIXTURE OF
COPPER


There were two words for copper, aes and cuprum. Aes included both copper and
copper alloys, and in ancient writers aes usually meant bronze ( copper-tin ). But
many old bronzes contain lead, and the Romans also had brass ( copper-zinc ), as


7 liquefactum might grammatically refer to
either the silver or the sulphur, but probably
the latter, as in the following sentence, where
inflammatum certainly refers to the sulphur.
Paneth (p. 42, footnote 1) says:

Experiments show that sprinkling sulphur on
molten silver produces little effect, for most of
the sulphur oxidizes and only a thin skin of
sulphide forms on the silver, which is not very
noticeable until after the melt has hardened.
On the other hand, if solid silver is treated
with molten sulphur, the surface at once turns


black and forms a brittle crust of sulphide.
This ‘burning’ of silver — in contrast to the
effect on wood, stone, or (as later mentioned)
gold — is so striking that there can be little doubt
that this is the process referred to. The sulphur
must be heated rapidly to well above its melting
point — slowly melting it and applying at
lower temperature is not nearly so effective.

8 propter affinitatem. Note that ‘affinity’ was
already a technical term in alchemy. See IV,
7, note 17.



222


BOOK OF MINERALS


as well other alloys, some of which had special names (Pliny, XXXIV,
1-5, 1-10; 20, 94-8). There was no special name for copper, though aes
cyprium, from the famous mines of Cyprus, was probably almost pure copper.
By the time of Theophilus, at least, cuprum (from Cyprus’) had come to mean
copper; but Albert’s contemporaries, Thomas of Cantimpri, Bartholomew of
England, and Vincent of Beauvais, seem to take the two words as synonymous —
aes sive cuprum. Albert generally uses aes, more rarely cuprum. In some
passages cuprum seems to emphasize ’pure’ copper, as in speaking of malleability
(III, ii, 2) or a red colour (III, ii, 3); but this is not always so. In the present
chapter, for instance, aes appears in the title, but in the recipe for green pigment
aes is used at the beginning and cuprum later on. I have therefore not thought it
practicable to distinguish the two words in translating.

Copper is identified today by certain well-defined physical properties: it is a
red metal, tough and malleable, with specific gravity about 8.9 and melting-
point 1083° C. But all these properties are notably altered by admixture of
other metals, either accidentally in smelting or purposely in making bronze or
brass. Medieval craftsmen and alchemists regarded all such alloys as essentially
the same metal, but with its qualities changed. Albert, of course, explains these
properties in terms of the Sulphur-Quicksilver theory, which was apparently
confirmed by what he knew of copper ores. He describes again the ‘ iron cap ’ of
weathered oxides (see III, i, 10, notes 18-19), the zone of secondary enrichment
below it (where some gold was found), and the main ore body containing sulphides
(pyrite and chalcopyrite, along with sphalerite, not yet recognized as an ore of
zinc). According to his theory, the ‘iron cap’ is the excess ‘earthy’ or ‘burnt’
material, the sulphides are real metal ‘incorporated with stone’, and the gold is the
final perfected stage of ore formation.

The smelting of sulphide copper ores was probably the most complex metallur-
gical operation known in the Middle Ages. It involved at least four or five steps,
some of which were repeated several times to get rid of impurities, though often
with heavy loss of the copper itself. After crushing and concentration the ore was
roasted to drive off part of the sulphur. The residue was mixed with a limestone
flux and smelted; impurities such as iron and silica collected in the slag above a
molten mass of copper sulphide, which was drawn off as matte. The matte was
black and unpromising in appearance, and had to be further oxidized in a furnace
with a strong blast of air; the remaining sulphur was thus expelled as gas
(sulphur dioxide); and metallic copper remained. There was danger of over-
oxidation at this stage, and this was corrected by ‘poling,’ forcing green wood
into the molten copper, to reduce any oxide that might be formed (which otherwise



223


BOOK IV, A SINGLE TRACTATE

would make the copper too brittle). But even this copper was dark and rough, and
had to be remelted before it assumed the appearance of ‘ pure ’ copper. Albert's
reiterated statements that copper is ‘black’ and ‘burnt’ and * contains too much
Sulphur show that he had seen something of this complex procedure.

Pure copper was less useful than its alloys, of which brass was the most im-
portant in France and Germany, where zinc ores were more abundant than tin
(see note 7 below). Albert’s word for brass is aurichalcum (‘gold-bronze’). A
less useful alloy, made with arsenic, was silvery. Copper salts were used as green
and blue pigments in painting ( notes 10-13 below).

Metals that are red in colour are different in their mixture from those
already discussed, as we have shown when we were treating of the colours
of metals. And iron has its own peculiar character, apart from the other
metals. Let us therefore now discuss the constitution of copper, assuming
what has already been demonstrated, that all metals are composed of
Sulphur and Quicksilver. Let us assume, then, that the Quicksilver is good,
not full of dross and dirt, but still not completely cleansed of extraneous
moisture; and that the substance of the Sulphur is full of dross, burning
hot and pardy burnt, and in this condition it is mixed with the Quick-
silver, both in substance and in quality. 1 Then undoubtedly it changes the
Quicksilver to a red colour; and because neither [the Sulphur nor the
Quicksilver] is sufficiently subde, they cannot be well mixed. And this will
make copper, which is not at all well mixed, since much dross is separated
from it, and it evaporates gready in the fire.

For when the Sulphur is pardy brunt out, then some parts of the
Quicksilver are better purified than others and the superfluous moisture
in them is consumed; and in those parts it will appear to have veins of
gold. But in other parts where it is less well digested it will be scaly and
ignoble and earthy because it has been burnt. And we have found these
differences clearly in the copper found in Teutonia at the place called
Goslar. 2 And therefore this copper is reckoned better than any other,
because it has veins of gold mixed with it. And it is not improbable that
the Sulphur in that copper is mixed with a certain quantity of arsenicum ; 3

1 See IV, 3, note 2. now exhausted.

2 See m, i, 10, note 12. Modem reports on 3 Some copper ores (e.g. boumonite)

Goslar indicate only a minute amount of contain arsenic and some are associated with
gold in the sulphide ores; but there may have arsenic minerals. But I doubt whether Albert
been more in Albert’s time, when the mine means anything more than that arsenic, like
was working a zone of secondary enrichment sulphur, is ‘burning hot’.



224


BOOK OF MINERALS


and for this reason the Sulphur of that metal is rendered more burning hot
than that of other [metals] .

Now, therefore, we understand the material of copper; it is a metal
having rather more Quicksilver that it ought to have, which has been
converted into a red form by mixture with burning Sulphur. Why the
nature of Sulphur is binning hot has been satisfactorily explained earlier . 4

And arsenicum , 5 when calcined, changes from red to black; but after-
wards, if sublimed in an aludel — which is a covered vessel with a long
neck, as we have often said — it again becomes white as snow. And if such
calcination and sublimation are repeated a number of times it becomes
extremely white and very sharp. And because of its sharpness, [arsenicum]
added during the fusion of copper penetrates into it and changes it to a
shining white. But if the copper stands for a long time on the fire, the
arsenicum evaporates, and then the copper returns to its original colour, as
is easily proved in [books on] alchemy . 6

But those who carry on much work with copper in our region — that is,
in Paris and Cologne and other places where I have been and seen this
tested by experience — convert copper into brass ( aurichalcum ) by means
of the powder of a stone called calamina . 1 And when this stone evaporates
there still remains a dark lustre, approaching the appearance of gold. And
to make it paler in colour, and so more like the yellow of gold, they mix
in a little tin; but because of this, brass loses the malleability of copper.
And those who wish to deceive and to produce a lustre like gold ‘bind’ the
stone so that it may remain longer in the copper on the fire, and not
evaporate from it so quickly. And the ‘binding’ [is done] with ‘oil of
glass’. They take fragments of glass, crushed and sprinkled into the crucible
on the copper after the calamina is put in; and then the glass that has been
put in floats on the top of the copper and does not allow the power of the
stone to evaporate, but reflects the vapour of the stone down into the

4 See IV, I. calamina was mixed with charcoal and finely

5 See II, ii, 6 , Falcones and V, 5, Arsenicum. divided copper and heated in a crucible

6 This recipe is not in Hermes’s Book of until the zinc distilled out and united with the

Alchemy as quoted by Arnold, but it is in the copper. The purpose of the ‘oil of glass’ was
Liber sacerdotum (Berthelot, 1893, Vol. I, p. to form a slag, preventing the oxidation and
214). escape of the volatile zinc. The colour of

7 calamina is the earthy weathering product brass depends on its composition, being
(smithsonite, hemimorphite, &c.) formed ‘golden’ with about 20 per cent, zinc; adding
from zinc ore (sphalerite). That used ‘at tin or silver would give a paler yellow,
Cologne and Paris’ very likely came from the though we may doubt whether much silver
Moresnet district near Aachen. ,The earthy was in fact used.



225


BOOK IV, A SINGLE TRACTATE

copper. And in this way the copper is thoroughly purified for a long time
and the drossy material in it is burnt up. But after a while the oil of glass
evaporates, and then the power of the stone evaporates, too; but the brass
is made much more brilliant than it would have been without it. And
anyone who wishes to make it still more like gold repeats these purifica-
tions by roasting with oil of glass several times, and in place of tin, puts
in silver and mixes it with the brass. And it becomes such a brilliant
yellow that many people believe it to be gold, though actually it is only
a kind of copper.

But Hermes 8 says that if powdered tutty is mixed with molten copper —
either white tutty or red — it changes the copper to the colour of gold.
What tutty is will be explained in the following book , 9 where ‘inter-
mediates’ are treated. But it is enough [to say] here that the burning heat
of tutty consumes the earthiness and purges the superfluous moisture out
of the copper; and so then it will be more beautiful. But the power of
tutty, too, evaporates if it stands for a long time on the fire; and therefore,
unless some remedy is used, the tutty will evaporate and the copper will
regain its original colour.

Hermes 10 also says — and experience agrees — that if copper sprinkled
with salt is placed over vinegar or the urine of a pure young boy, the
power of the urine or vinegar will penetrate into the substance of the
copper and change it to a green colour. Or, again, if copper alone is placed
over pressed out [grapes from the vintage ], 11 the mere vapour of wine will
change it to a fine brilliant green colour. But orpiment or arsenicum,
especially if burnt, brought into contact with this colour, destroys its
greenness by thickening it, and turns it to a greyish, earthy colour that is
almost opaque . 12


8 See note 6 above. This is really the same
as the preceding recipe, except that the zinc
is in the form of artificial zinc oxide (tutty,
furnace calamine).

9 See V, 8.

10 Arnold quotes this, too (Stange, p. 43).
The method itself is very old, being described
by Theophrastus (Cayley and Richards, pp.
57, 191-3), Pliny (Nat. Hist. XXXIV, 26, no),
and many medieval books on making pig-
ments, &c.

11 ramos expressos ; but texts of 1495 and
1518 editions, and Paneth (p. 37) have recemos


expressos; and Hermes (as quoted by Arnold,
loc. cit.) more fully, racemos vindemie expressos,
which is probably correct, since the use of
fermenting marc is mentioned by Theo-
phrastus and Pliny, and was no doubt also
common in the wine-making districts of
France and the Rhineland.

12 These statements are also quoted by
Arnold from Hermes (Stange, p. 43). Blue
and green copper salts were much used as
colours in painting. They are spoilt, how-
ever, by contact with pigments containing
sulphur, such as yellow orpiment or red



226


BOOK OF MINERALS


The cause 13 [of these changes] is easily seen from what has been said.
For salt is active in opening [things], and therefore opens the substance of
the copper, especially if it has been beaten into thin plates; and then the
sharp vapour of the vinegar or urine, derived from the excessive burning
of the Sulphur [in it], bums the copper; and therefore the combined
moisture and light earthiness that is burnt in it takes on a green colour,
just like the hottest and worst yellow bile (cholera), 1 * which medical men
compare to copper rust [verdigris]. But since, in the first [case, that is,
the making of brass], the vapour [of calamina or tutty] is not so sharp as
the vapour of wine [combined with copper in making green pigments]
it makes the red less intense, and therefore the brilliant colour of gold
remains. But orpiment is intensely hot and therefore when it comes in
contact with things coloured in this way [that is, copper greens], the slight
amount of moisture present is burnt up; and what remains is earthy and
opaque — in just the same way as yellow bile when it is burnt leaves a
black ash [with the] accidental [properties] of black bile, 15 according to
the experience of medicine.

So much, then, for our account of the nature and effects of copper.


CHAPTER 7: THE NATURE AND MIXTURE OF GOLD

Gold (aurum) is a yellow metal, the heaviest then known (specific gravity 19.3),
very soft, malleable, and ductile. It has always been highly valued for its rarity
and beauty, but the alchemists were most deeply impressed by its apparent
indestructibility: it does not tarnish in air or water, is not appreciably volatilized
or oxidized in melting, and is not attacked by any chemical reagent then available.
It was therefore regarded as the ‘ perfect ' metal.

realgar ( arsenicum ), because they react to form 1893, Vol. 1, pp. 204-5) contains a somewhat
blackish copper sulphide. similar statement about colours: yellow is a

1 3 This explanation is rather confusing, and mixture of white and red, and green a mixture
I have added a few words in the translation in of yellow and black. But it is also in keeping
an attempt to clarify it. The point is that a with Aristotle’s theory of colours discussed in
mild vapour (from calamina) reduces the red- I, ii, 2.

ness of copper to yellow (brass); a sharper 14 See EH, i, 1, note 7 on the humours.

vapour (from vinegar, dec.) changes yellow to 15 cinerem melancholicum accidentalem cali-

green; and a burning vapour (from arsenic dissimae melancholiae: there is something wrong
minerals) changes green to black. Albert may with the text here. I have omitted calidissimae ,
be indebted to Hermes for this, since the ‘very hot’, because black bile (melancholia)
Book of the Priests (Liber sacerdotum , Berthelot, was supposed to be cold.



227


BOOK IV, A SINGLE TRACTATE

Albert has already indicated (III, ii, 6) that this ‘ perfection is reached by a
natural transmutation of matter — a process, however, so easily deranged by
impurities in the matter or by an unfavourable environment that it seldom reaches
completion. This, he argues, is why gold is a rare metal, and why it is generally
found ‘ pure ’ (as native gold), while other metals are found in ores that require
treatment to remove impurities left in them by imperfect transmutation.

Albert is right in saying that the most important ore of gold is native gold.
Its metallurgy is simple, since the gold has only to be freed fromgangue minerals,
earth, or sand. Crushing and washing were effective if the gold was fairly coarse;
if it was very fine it was collected by amalgamation with mercury (see III, i, 10,
note l). Native gold almost always contains some silver (see V, p, Electrum) and
the two metals were ‘ parted ’ in the final stage of refining (see note 14 below).

To this we must add something about the nature of gold which,
according to Hermes, is the only metal that is not ‘diseased ’ 1 for neither of
its constituent materials is imperfect or inharmoniously mixed. Although,
like the other metals, it is made up of Sulphur and Quicksilver, its Sulphur
is extremely bright and clean, purified by the most thorough washing, so
that it contains absolutely no unctuousness capable of being consumed by
fire, and no watery moisture or phlegm capable of evaporating; and per-
haps it has been several times sublimed in hollow places beneath a solid
surface, and digested by harmonious heat that carries out the process of
ripening called pepansis. 2 And the earthy substance incorporated in the
Sulphur is clean and extremely subtle, dispersed as vapour throughout the
whole substance of the radical moisture of the Sulphur itself. Therefore
the result is that the heat in this Sulphur is just right for combining, in
no way departing from a harmonious mixture. And this acts as the male
power in the constitution of gold.

And similarly its Quicksilver has two substances which are extremely
clean, and the third substance 3 in it, which has been made subtle by heat,
and is not merely finely divided matter but actually vapour, is the most
subde Earth that has been sublimed perhaps several times in hollows
underground, by the influence of the vivifying heat of the sun and stars.
And similarly the watery material, too, has been made subtle by the same
method of oft-repeated sublimation. And since both 4 are present in this

1 See HI, i, 7. 2 See El, i, 3, note 7. because mercury is easily distilled. See IV, 2,

3 Quicksilver was generally said to be especially note 8.
composed of two elements, Earth and Water; 4 vitrum, ‘glass’; but 1518 edition, utriusque ;
but some authorities added Air, probably and Paneth(p. 38) utrumque.



228


BOOK OF MINERALS


state, [the mixture] becomes extremely subtle. For certainly these are
mixed together by the effects of heat and of the arrangement of the place
that concentrates and reflects the vapour back upon itself, so that the con-
stituents are united in the mixture by a very strong bond.

But the Sulphur enters into the constitution of gold not merely as a
quality but also as a substance; and since its substance is subde, it pene-
trates everywhere throughout the Quicksilver, and in solidifying it also
imparts colour; and since both have been made very subde and changed
into the form of the upper elements [Air and Fire], which in the nature of
their transparency are like the perpetual body [Ether], both will have great
transparency . 5 And when the numerous parts of the material are thickened
they will pack firmly together; for this is [one] of the properties of a sub-
de substance, that on being packed together by thickening, it will have a
very large number of parts in a very small space. And the transparency,
being so compressed, causes the yellow colour ; and the fine division [of the
material] causes the very great solidity; and the packing together of many
parts in a small space or place causes the weight, as is proved by what has
been demonstrated by reasoning in The Heavens . 6

And the result of this consolidation and harmonious mixing together
is that gold has very litde vapour, or none, and therefore almost no odour.
For although odour is not essentially a smoky evaporation, nevertheless
a strong odour frequently accompanies smoky evaporation. And so the
result is that gold is the most indestructible of all metals, and it withstands
the fire best because its mixture is the most firmly combined. For smoky
evaporation sometimes indicates that bodies are being destroyed; and
there is a little of this in silver and more in copper. And these facts supply
the reason why some things bum silver that do not bum gold, such as
sulphur, arsenicum, and certain other [things]. For the cause of such beha-
viour is the mixing, so that all its earthiness is within the moisture that
protects it from the fire, and all its moisture is within the earthiness that
keeps it from flying away by evaporation. This close union Plato 7 calls

5 Gold, of course, can hardly be called gold is so ‘closely packed* that there is no room
‘transparent*; what is meant is its metallic for Air in it.

lustre (see III, ii, 3). 7 Perhaps Timaeus 56 B-C: the ultimate

6 The Heavens , IV, 4, 311 a 15 ff. deals with particles of the elements are so minute that
heaviness and lightness. Albert in his own many must be ‘collected* or ‘aggregated*
version (The Heavens, IV, ii, 5) emphasizes the together to make a perceptible amount of
notion that the more Air there is in anything, matter.

the lighter it is. Presumably he means that



229


BOOK IV, A SINGLE TRACTATE

‘an agreement’ (foedus ), and Empedocles 8 ‘a gluing together of related
things’ (collam germanorum). And the harmonious mixture 9 of gold is the
reason why it is warm and moist, and is prescribed for tremors of the
heart and for black bile which causes melancholy, especially for [the
disorder] that makes a man talk to himself when he is alone. It is prescribed
for these afflictions either ground up with other things having the same
power, or taken by itself as a powder.

Its solidity is the reason why it does not easily stain bodies that it
touches, and therefore it is worn in rings and other ornaments. For silver
stains a little and the other metals a great deal; and this happens because the
unctuous moisture is not completely separated from them; and with this
is mixed some burnt earthiness that stains like the soot of an unctuous body.

And the great purity of its material is the reason why [gold] is very
rarely found mingled with any other body, but always, so to speak, pure;
for if it were mixed with anything else, it could not retain such purity,
and then it would degenerate into copper; and on the other hand it is
very rarely found 10 incorporated with stones. And for this reason, again,
it is frequently found as little grains of sand ; 11 for anything of such great
purity must occur only in small quantity, raised up out of the material and,
as it were, evaporated; and therefore it is widely dispersed. But still there
was recently found a nugget weighing a hundred marks . 12

From all this it is clear, again, why these two metals, that is, gold and
silver, have the special property of aiding and comforting the [human ] 13
constitution; and why they were adopted as material for coinage by the
wise men of old times; for they are more durable and more noble than
the other metals.


8 See III, i, 3, note 5.

9 temperantia . Albert’s remarks about medi-
cinal uses of gold are similar to those in
Constantine’s Book of Degrees (Opera, p. 348):
‘Gold is more harmoniously mixed than the
other metals. It has the property of curing
stomach trouble, and strengthens those who
are fearful and who have heart ailments.
Galen asserts that it is good for melancholia
and mange. When surgery is necessary, if it is
done with gold instruments, this prevents
rotting of the flesh.*

10 I omit nisi , ‘except (incorporated with

stones)*, as inconsistent with the facts


11 et grana arenularum ; but Paneth (p. 38)
has ut granula arenarum .

12 The old German mark (marcha), accord-
ing to Hoover ( Agricola , De re metailica ,
Appendix C, p. 617), was equivalent to
3609.6 Troy grains, or about one-half pound
avoirdupois. This fifty-pound nugget was a
remarkable find; but even larger ones have
been recorded.

13 homines: but editions of 1495 and 1518
and Paneth (p. 38) have hominis. I have also
followed the Paneth manuscript in placing this
clause before, rather than between, the other
two clauses as printed.



230


BOOK OF MINERALS


The substances that purify gold are sharp and extremely dry, such as
salt, especially sea salt, and the soot of substances that are unctuous but
dry, and brick dust . 14 When gold is to be purified, an earthenware pot is
made in the shape of a cucurbita or scutella , 15 and over this a similar one is
placed, and they are cemented together with the stiff clay the alchemists
call ‘lute of wisdom’ (lutum sapientiae). In the upper one there are many
holes by which the vapour and smoke can escape. And next the gold is
beaten out in thin, short sheets and arranged in the vessel in such a way
that each layer of [gold] sheets has above and below it [a layer of] powder
made of soot, salt, and finely ground brick mixed together. And it is
cooked in a hot fire until it is extremely pure and the ignoble substances in
it are consumed. The ‘lute of wisdom’ of which the pots are made is
composed of ground-up pottery, remixed and baked; for such a vessel,
when placed in the fire, does not shrink perceptibly in the fire. There are
other ways of preparing ‘lute of wisdom ’ 16 in alchemy, but let this, which
is used by goldworkers, be sufficient. This, then, is the method of purifying
gold, and nothing is burnt away in it except ignoble material. And for this
reason Hermes apdy says in his Alchemy: ‘Sulphur itself, because of a
certain affinity 17 by which all metals are closely related to it, bums and
reduces them all to ash, except only gold; for the pores [of gold] are tight-
ly closed and cannot be opened ’. 18

At the present time the most abundant supply of gold comes from the


14 This is the ancient ‘cementation* process
for parting gold from silver. The effective
ingredients are the salt and brick dust. On
strong heating the silver is attacked by the salt
and converted to silver chloride, which is ab-
sorbed by the brick dust, leaving the gold
unaltered. Another method of parting, by
means of sulphur, is mentioned in IV, 5,
introductory note.

15 A cucurbita was ‘gourd shaped*; a
scutella , like a ‘little shield*, i.e. a flattish
saucer.

16 ‘Lute of Wisdom* was a cement used for
sealing a junction between a pot and its lid
or an alembic. It was mostly plastic clay to
which various ingredients were added to keep
it from cracking during heating — egg-white,
chopped dung, lint, or hair. But Albert (or
his informant) seems to use the term also for
the mixture of clay with a tempering of


ground-up potsherds, used in making re-
fractory crucibles.

17 The first use of ‘affinity* (affinitas) as a
chemical term has sometimes been attributed
to Albert, but it must go further back, for
Arnold of Saxony also gives it a & a quotation
from Hermes: Book of Alchemy (Stange, p.
44) ; and it is in the Liber sacerdotum (Berthelot,
1893, Vol. I, p. 204). In any case, ‘affinity*
did not have the precise meaning that began
to be attached to it in the eighteenth century,
but seems to be merely an alternative trans-
lation for symbolum (cf. Ill, ii, 1, note 10), the
‘something in common* that permits two
things to react, combine, or be transmuted
into each other.

18 Cf. Meteor. IV, 9, 387 a 19: things are
combustible only if they have ‘pores’ through
which the Fire can enter.



BOOK IV, A SINGLE TRACTATE 231

kingdom of Bohemia; and recently in [Westphalia] in Teutonia, in the
place called [Korbach], 19 gold has been found in a certain mountain;
and this [gold] loses less during purification than any other kind. Yet it is
valued at a lower price than any other kind, and the reason for this is
surely only that it is new and its value has not yet been proved by the
buyers.

It must be remembered, too, that gold is found of a sort of yellow-
saffron colour, and becomes redder on cooking, because the material
principle [Quicksilver], which is white, is consumed more than the formal
principle [Sulphur], which is red. 20 And on this account alchemists
wishing to make gold seek for the red elixir y which they call the ‘medicine’
and they seek to have four [properties] 21 in it: it must impart colour, and
be penetrating, and be indestructible in the fire, and be firmly consoli-
dated. And this they call the ‘Red of the Sun’ (. sol , gold). And in the elixir
for silver they seek [the ability to impart] a white colour, to penetrate,
to be fixed in the fire, and to be very subtle. And this they call the ‘White
of the Moon’ ( luna , silver). And on this account Hermes says: ‘This 22 is
the root on which all alchemists depend: the medicine of the Sun is red,
that of the Moon is white.’ And the shining white and saffron-red
[elixirs] open up the gold, but a kind of cooking is needed so that it may
absorb a [little] 23 redness.

Everything said so far throws some light on the reason why most of the
alchemists assert that, from every substance composed of the elements,
they are able to extract three substances, namely, oil, glass, and gold 24


19 in Vuelouale Teutoniae partibus in loco
qui vocatur Turbeth : in the 1518 edition in
Vuestvalie . . . Curbeck , which may be correct,
since mining (for metals as well as coal) was
important in Westphalia, though I have found
no record of any extensive gold mining. West-
phalia, however, was a region of which Albert
undoubtedly had considerable knowledge.

20 The white is Quicksilver, female, supply-
ing matter ; the red. Sulphur, male, supplying
form (cf. IV, 1-2). The reference may be to re-
fining gold which originally contained some
silver (see note 14 above), or to treating
amalgam in which fine gold had been col-
lected. In either case the ‘white* is driven off,
and the ‘red* (gold) remains.

2 1 Avicenna's Letter to Hasen (Zetzner, 1613,


Vol. 4, p. 973) lists these same properties,
adding that the elixir must also mix readily
with other things in the liquid state.

22 qui 9 which would seem to refer to
Hermes, must be an error. Arnold of Saxony
(Stange, p. 44) has bee enim est radix , &c.,
and the same appears in the text accompanying
the Emerald Table published by Steele and
Singer (p. 52).

23 medicum; but (ed. 1518) modicum seems
correct.

24 This saying perhaps refers to assaying
sulphides suspected of containing gold: First
the sample is roasted, giving off fumes; this is
the oil burning. Then a flux is added and the
mass is fused; the slag that rises to the top is
the glass . Finally, gold is left.



232 BOOK OF MINERALS

For it is clear from what has often been stated that there is a sort of fattiness
in everything composed of the elements, which surrounds its parts;
and since this is viscous, when the moisture of Water vanishes, [the fattiness]
distils out of a substance set on fire and roasted; and by baking it is driven
into the interior where it is protected longer from the fire. In every sub-
stance, too, there is a radical moisture mixed with subtle Earth, so that
each holds fast to the other; and when this [mixture] is strongly heated, by
subliming itself in the internal pores of the body when the external
openings have been closed up by burning, it is divided, as it were, into
two parts; the more gross and watery [part] floats about in the substance
and by a very strong fire is fused into molten glass, and on cooling hardens
into glass; but the purer [part], sublimed by heat, becomes saffron-yellow
and is fused into molten gold, which hardens on cooling.

This is especially true of human hair, for this contains more of the min-
eral power, especially if it has been cut from the head. Why this is so is
irrelevant here but is to be explained in the science of Animals . 25 Evidence
of this is that in my own time a human skull was found and seen to have
many bits of gold dust embedded between the teeth of the sutures in the
top of the cranium. 26

25 This curious statement is not, so far as I has a number of recipes that include hair,
can discover, elucidated in any of Albert’s but once (Berthelot, 1893, Vol. I, p. 202)
books on Animals , though these give Aristo- speaks of ‘the golden stone (lapis aureus) which,
tie’s theory about hair: that it is a ‘residue*, according to another authority, is the same as
mostly of Earth and Water, extruded through the hair of living things (capillus animancium ) 9
the pores of the skin ( Generation of Animals , and Arnold quotes the same from Hermes’s
V, 3, 782 a 30 fE); that man has more hair on Book of Alchemy (Stange, p. 44). This must
the head than on other parts of the body, have been a mineral occurring in fine acicular
because he has a large, moist brain and a skull or capillary crystals, a habit well known in
with many sutures through which the super- millerite (nickel sulphide), but also found
fluous moisture escapes (Parts of Animals , sometimes in marcasite and in stibnite; the
II, 14, 658 b 2 ff.). But in alchemy (for ex- latter was perhaps called ‘golden stone’
example, Avicenna’s Letter to Hasen , Zetzner, because it was used in parting gold from silver
1613, Vol. 4, pp. 981-2) hair is recommended, (cf. V, 6, note 1).

along with eggs and blood, for making the 26 Prehistoric human bones have been
elixir. One might imagine here the influence found in river gravels, and if any gold were
of magic, since all these things are symbolic present, tiny particles of it could easily be
of virility, fertility, life, &c. ; but perhaps the trapped in the sutures of a skull. But Albert,
alchemists were interested in them simply believing that all gold grows in situ , seems to
because sulphur and ammonia compounds suppose that the material in the sutures, which
could be extracted from them. On the other in life would have produced hair (see note 25
hand, these may be ‘cover names* for secret above), was here converted into gold,
ingredients. For instance, the Liber sacerdotum



BOOK IV, A SINGLE TRACTATE 233

For almost everywhere gold is found, as we have said, in the form of
dust or grains. 27 And the reason for this is that the material is subtle, and
it is driven out and sublimed. Evidence of this is that [gold] is found [that
looks] like hardened droplets. For in the pores of the natural vessels the con-
centrated vapour is repeatedly doubled back upon itself and converted
into fluid which takes [the form of] rounded drops. And if sometimes they
are hollow, elongated, and [look] as if they were made up of smaller ones,
this is because in the neck of the natural vessel the vapour is not converted
or hardened all at once, but a bit at a time; and thus a second [drop] is
added to the first, and sometimes a third to the other two, just as happens
in the formation of hail.

This is our account, in general terms, of the nature of gold, according to
natural science.


CHAPTER 8: THE NATURE AND MIXTURE OF IRON

Iron (ferrum) is a silvery white metal, with specific gravity 7.9, very soft,
malleable, and ductile. It oxidizes readily, forming a dark crust, or disintegrating
as rust; for this reason it was thought to be full of ‘dirt' and ‘poorly mixed \

The most important iron ores are carbonate ( siderite ) or oxide ores ( magnetite ,
hematite, goethite, limonite, &c.). After preliminary roasting, a flux was added
and the ore was reheated with charcoal using as strong a draught as could be
managed with bellows. The slag absorbed impurities (and also a good deal of iron)
and the ore was reduced to metal. But the temperature was too low to obtain a
clean separation, with a layer of slag floating on liquid iron. The two remained
mixed in a pasty mass, which had to be removed from the furnace and hammered
to break off and squeeze out the slag and consolidate the iron. Reheating and
hammering were repeated until the iron was considered sufficiently pure. The
product was a ‘bloom' of wrought iron. Ordinarily the metal was never really
molten, so cast iron could not be made; and even if it was accidentally produced,
it was not of much use, being too brittle.

Steel (chalybs) is iron containing a little carbon, and it was made successfully
by empirical methods for centuries before its metallurgy was understood. Iron
from the bloomery was rather pure, so carbon had to be added to it by further

27 Gold crystallizes in octahedra, com- rounded lumps (nuggets), which Albert
monly grouped in angular masses. But it called ‘droplets* because he thought they were
is so soft that transported gold is usually formed by a distillation process,
worn into flattened scales (gold dust) or



234


BOOK OF MINERALS


heating in charcoal and hammering to mix the absorbed carbon into the iron.
(The process was thus fundamentally different from the modern method, by which
pig iron is first produced from a blastfurnace using coke, so that the iron is high
in carbon, and making steel requires removal rather than addition of carbon.)
But in practice the smelting of iron ore and the conversion of the iron to steel
might be carried out as a continuous process.

Finally, there must be some account of iron. This is more ignoble
than the other metals, which are liquefiable; and it cannot be liquefied
like wax, but is liquefiable only in that it can be softened. And it is made
up of Quicksilver that is very earthy, heavy, dirty, and impure, and of
earthy, impure Sulphur that by its power converts the Quicksilver to the
specific form of iron. And therefore iron is very scaly, and it rusts easily
because of the burning of its Sulphur; and it makes a stain black as soot
on anything that it touches. And perhaps the earthy substance of its Sul-
phur is like atramentum , 1 and that is why [iron] filings impart blackness to
ink. And also it is not cleansed of unctuous moisture, and therefore it
bums easily.

Evidence of this is that anything fatty applied to it, like soap or pitch,
opens it up so that tin 2 poured over it penetrates into its substance. But
after this penetration it becomes so brittle that it cannot be worked.

The burning of the earthy substance in it is proved by the great amount
of slag that is separated from it; and especially by the fact that it is fre-
quently found as black grains in earth . 3 And consequently it is clear
why it is not liquefied like other metals, but only softened. For the cause
of this is its earthiness. And thus Hermes 4 aptly says: ‘The reason for the
slow liquefaction of iron is that it has too much earthiness in its parts
preventing its fusion’. But nevertheless, in a great fire, especially if sprin-
kled with sand and sulphur, it is distilled and purified. Because of its great
hardness it has come to be used for making instruments such as hammers
and anvils, by means of which the other metals are beaten out. And because
of its dryness, sharp edges of it are strong, and therefore it is suitable for
cutting and piercing things that have to be cut and pierced.

1 See V, 3, note 4. suspect that Albert is merely reiterating what

2 Apparently a reference to tin-plating, he has already said about tin (IV, 4).

which Pliny (Nat. Hist. XXXTV, 48, 162) says 3 Bog iron ore: see HI, i, 10, note 11.

was invented by the Gauls for coating bronze 4 From Hermes’s Book of Alchemy, as quoted

or copper vessels. I do not know why tin- by Arnold of Saxony (Stange, p. 43).
plated iron should be unusually brittle, and



235


BOOK IV, A SINGLE TRACTATE

Hermes also says of it that Quicksilver, which makes it almost as white
as silver, penetrates its substance, on cooking with sulphur and tartar, that
is, [wine-] stone . 5 Sulphur, because of its burning force, and because of its
incomplete state 6 is called by Hermes the ‘never-sleeping’ (pervigil) and
the ‘waylayer’ ( insidiator ) 7 of all metals. Quicksilver, however, does not
remain long in [iron] over the fire, but escapes from it, just as it does
from the other metals, with which it mixes easily because it has a natural
similarity to them, unless by great skill it is fixed and held fast. And because
of its fugitive moisture, Hermes calls [Quicksilver] the ‘runaway slave’
(servusfugitivus) . 8

Since, as explained above, [iron] is dry and burnt, it is effective in sooth-
ing weakness of the spleen and stomach; and therefore those who have
such ills are ordered to drink wine and water in which white hot iron has
been quenched . 9

Steel is not a different specific form of metal from iron: it is merely
the more subtle and watery part of iron extracted by distillation; and there-
fore it is harder and firmer [than iron], because of the force of the fire
and the fine division of its parts, which become harder when heated. And
it is whiter because more earthiness has been removed from it. But when it
gets too hard, it breaks and shatters at a blow, because it is too much
dried out. But different kinds of water 10 produce different degrees of
hardening. For this reason smiths search out special waters for quenching
the iron from which they make swords. For when iron is made white hot


5 vivi; but editions of 1495 and 1518 have
vini. ‘Wine-stone’ came from the crust in
old wine casks and was a source of potassium
carbonate. This sentence, too, is quoted by
Arnold from Hermes ( loc . cit), but the mean-
ing is obscure; perhaps it is part of a recipe
for cleaning the surface of iron before plating
or tempering.

6 I omit argentum vivum here, as obviously
imported from the following sentence.

7 These are ‘cover names’ indicating that
sulphur is always ready to attack metals.
Arnold (Stange, p. 44) quotes the saying
from Hermes’s Book of Alchemy; it is also in the
Book of the Priests (Berthelot, 1893, Vol. 1, p.
202).

8 This also may be from Hermes’s Book of

Alchemy , though not quoted by Arnold. It is


found in other alchemical books, e.g. Book of
Alums and Salts attributed to Rhasis (Steele,
1929, p. 25).

9 Constantine, Book of Degrees (Opera, p.
377) says that this treatment is recommended
by Dioscorides and Galen.

10 The notion that the quenching water
affects the quality of the steel is very old
(Pliny, Nat. Hist. XXXIV, 41 , 144). Although
the natural waters of different regions do
undoubtedly differ, it is much more probable
that regions famous for their steel owed
their success not so much to their water as to
their local iron ores, which happened to
contain small amounts of manganese, nickel,
chromium, &c. But ‘artificial’ waters were
concocted for the same purpose (see II, iii, 2,
note 10).



BOOK OF MINERALS


236

and plunged into water it is hardened because the heat flees from the cold
of the water into the interior of the iron and bums up the moist material
in it; and as [the moisture] is consumed, the steel becomes harder and
harder.

Let this, then, be all that we have to say about iron, and about the other
metals, either individually or collectively.



BOOK V

MINERALS THAT SEEM TO BE
INTERMEDIATE BETWEEN STONES
AND METALS

A SINGLE TRACTATE

CHAPTER 1: THE GENERAL PROPERTIES OF INTER-
MEDIATES

In this final book, Albert deals with ‘intermediates’ (media) — minerals that are
neither stones nor metals but ‘something in between . This classification seems
to be his own, and he begins by defending it against the fourfold classification of
Avicenna, since his own scheme is nearer to Aristotle’s science, which defines
‘ intermediates’ in terms of ‘ extremes’ . We may detect here a groping after the
notion of chemical composition: the statement that ‘intermediates are under-
stood by their extremes’ means, in the language of today, that compounds are
understood by isolating and identifying their constituent elements. But such
chemical analysis was beyond the power of alchemy.

Yet the media are important reagents in alchemy because, as Albert argues,
being ‘neither the one thing nor the other’, they may be influenced by laboratory
treatment more readily than substances in which the specific form is fully de-
veloped. All these minerals were known and used in antiquity; but there is no
continuous tradition here, as for the descriptions of ‘stones’ (II, ii). Albert drew
his information from a number of books on medicine and alchemy.

In this fifth book on minerals there still remains the investigation of the
nature of those things that seem to be intermediate in nature between stones
and metals. For although Avicenna 1 has divided mineral bodies into four
groups — stones, fusibles [that is, metals], sulphurs, and salts — yet it seems to
us that Sulphur is in itself more [a part] of minerals than Quicksilver;
for it becomes part of the material, [changing] one thing into the other. 2

1 De congelatione (Holmyard and Mande- present not only in metals (as explained in

ville, 1927, p. 49) : ‘These mineral bodies are Books III-IV) but also in other minerals,
divided into four kinds — stones, fusibles, This is correct, since atramentum and alumen
sulphurs, and salts.’ (V, 3-4) are sulphates, and marchasita (V, 6)

2 The point seems to be that Sulphur is sulphide minerals.



BOOK OF MINERALS


238

In speaking of intermediates, therefore, let us discuss first the nature of
intermediates in general, and afterwards touch briefly on some of them
individually, and with this we shall fulfil our intention in this book.

Everything, then, which in some ways shares the passive [properties] of
stones and in other ways those of metals, we call an intermediate. For it is
a property of stone not to be fused, and a property of metal, depending
on its material, to be fused by dry heat. Hence stones belong to the group
of dry things and of Earth, but metals to the group of moist things and of
Water. Intermediates, therefore, are those things that in some respects
are earthy and in others watery; and those that are [closer ] 3 to Earth
solidify by dry heat; but others are closer to Water, and from these
Water is distilled by dry heat — for instance [rock salt ]. 4 Furthermore,
intermediates are any substances that fuse by dry heat and afterwards tend
to solidify not only by cold but even on the fire, if boiled dry. For they
would not fuse unless they were to some extent watery, but they would not
solidify by boiling unless they were to some extent earthy, as may be
gathered from the teaching of the Meteorology . 5 Moreover, an intermedi-
ate is anything that is composed of both [stony or earthy and watery or
metallic] substances, even though it does not fuse in dry heat. Thus all
slags that are smelted out with the stony parts of ore minerals are inter-
mediates. And so is all marchasita , 6 which, like stones, does not fuse in the
fire; but nevertheless its very colour and weight show its metallic nature.
And also all crumbling substances, which in solutions are very effective
in hardening and contracting things, have something of an intermediate
material — such as all kinds of alumen . 1 And also all kinds of atramentum 8
seem to be intermediates, since something stony is found in their substance.

These intermediates have been produced by the mixture, in a vaporous
condition, of the material of stone and the material of fusibles or metals.
For a moist humour having something of the nature of Quicksilver is
mixed with much Sulphur; and the humours and vapours and the other
materials are combined by nature into some kind of intermediate. For
wise and diligent nature, fulfilling the potentialities of all matter, does not
pass from one extreme to the other, according to Aristotle , 9 without
completing all intermediate [stages]. Therefore [nature] has made many

3 interior a: but in 1518 edition viciniora 6 Metallic sulphides (V, 6).

as in the following clause, * nearer to Water’. 7 Alum minerals (V, 4).

4 gemma: in 1518 edition sal gemma: see V, 8 Vitriols, natural sulphates (V, 3).

2, note 3. 5 Meteor, IV, 6, 383 a 14 ff. 9 References in notes n and 14 below.



239


BOOK V, A SINGLE TRACTATE

things intermediate between infusible stones and fusible metals, that she
might demonstrate harmony in everything and show her own desire
for the good, so that everything that is possible in all kinds of matter might
reach completion.

But the nature of intermediates is especially noteworthy in the transmu-
tation of metals. For on these substances depends most of the science of
those who endeavour to convert one [metal] into another. The intermedi-
ates are, as it were, the raw material, and, as we have shown above,
anyone who makes a proper attempt to convert one metal into another
must first reduce it to prime [matter] 10 — that is, very close to the generic
character of metal. Then, according to its aptitude, with the help of the
powers acting on it, it easily takes on the nature and true specific form of
the metal that is wanted.

The scientific reasoning that has been demonstrated in the Physics 11
shows that there is no motion 12 from one extreme to the other except
through an intermediate [stage]. But it is a property of all [intermediates ] 13
that their specific forms seem to be incomplete; and therefore they are
capable of being converted into anything at all; for an intermediate,
stricdy speaking, possesses only in an unformed state that nature which in
the extremes is distinct and perfect, as will be explained in the science of
The Senses . 14 The extremes are in some manner present in the intermediate
but only in confused forms. And for this reason the extremes are brought
out, by skill or by nature, from the intermediates, when the power of
one extreme is concentrated over the other.

Let such be our account of intermediates in general. It is unnecessary
to say more, because the intermediates are understood through their
extremes.

10 ad naturam primam, probably should mediate, in which case the intermediate is in a
read ad materiam primam. See m, i, 9, note 3 . sense opposed (as a contrary) to either extreme.

11 Phys. I, 5, 188 b 22 ff.: all intermediates 12 motion here means change. See I, i, 5,
are made up of extremes (all colours, for note 2.

instance, of white and black, &c.); and V, 1, 13 metallorum, but the context plainly

224 b 29 ff. (even more explicitly): change requires mediorum
may move from one extreme (or contrary) 14 The Senses, 6 , 445 b 24 ff.
to the other, or may begin with an inter-



240


BOOK OF MINERALS


CHAPTER 2 : THE NATURE, FORMS, AND KINDS
OF SALT

Albert’s classification of salt (sal) is similar to that of Constantine of Africa in the
Book of Degrees (Opera, p. 387): ‘ There are four kinds of salt. There is salt
made in salterns, that is, common salt. There is also sal gemma. And there is
sal indicum, which is blackish in colour, but clear and hard. And there is another
kind called nauticum, which solidifies from well-water.’ All these were probably
‘ common salt’ ( sodium chloride) and the apparent differences were due to im-
purities or to different methods of preparation.

Sal ammoniacum or armoniacum ( which Constantine mentions later) was
also originally sodium chloride, brought from the Egyptian desert near the oracle
of Jupiter Ammon. But the Arabs, by about the tenth century, began to use this
name for ammonium chloride ( which is still known as sal ammoniac). This is
much less common, as a natural mineral, than sodium chloride, though it occurs
in some volcanic regions. The alchemists’ interest in it grew as they learned to
prepare it from organic materials such as urine. It is not always possible to tell
which kind of salt is meant; for instance, in the Book of Alums and Salts
(Steele, 1929, p. 16), ‘sal ammoniacus, noblest of all, not fleeing in the fire’,
is presumably the old ‘salt of Ammon, sodium chloride, but the sal ammoniacus
(op. tit., pp. 18-19) that is ‘subtle, penetrating, a fugitive spirit ’ must be the
volatile ammonium salt, especially since it is said to be obtained from dung and
animal fluids’.

Let us now speak of each of the intermediates individually.

And the first of these is salt, of which we already know in general,
from the science of Meteorology, 1 that it is made of gross, earthy material,
burnt and afterwards mixed with watery moisture. That is why all salt
tends to dissolve in cold Water and moist Air.

There are many different kinds of salt. There is sea salt (sal marinum)
or that which is extracted from salt water. And there is rock salt (sal
gemma) 2 which is like transparent crystal and is found in great abundance
in Hungary, and is composed of an earthy mixture and therefore easily
crushed to powder. It is not made of earthiness alone, however, but also
contains a watery substance that has been hardened by cold and union

1 Meteor. II, 3, 356 b 4 ff. See Appendix A, or as large cubic crystals. But Albert can

4. hardly have been very familiar with the

2 Sal gemma , ‘gem salt’, is halite which natural occurrence: see note 9 below,
occurs in almost colourless transparent masses



241


BOOK V, A SINGLE TRACTATE


with the Earth; this is why it is transparent, and also why it liquefies in
hot moist [Air ], 3 4 and Water distils from it, leaving its earthy material
behind. Again, there is the salt called sal naphticum* which is black from
the naphtha it contains; but when it is distilled the naphtha liquefies and
separates from it, and then it becomes white. And again, there is [Indian]
salt , 5 which is black in itself from the intense burning of the Earth in it.
Furthermore there is salt of Ammon ( sal ammoniacum), which is clearer and
almost transparent.

And perhaps there are other kinds of salt beside these, found in different
lands. For sea salt in the Mediterranean near Italy is of one kind, and that
in the Northern Ocean near Flanders and Germany is of another kind.
For that of the Mediterranean is produced at low tide where the tide ebbs,
or in pits where the sun’s heat reaches the bottom; and this is in coarse
grains like snow mixed with hail. But that of the Northern Ocean [is
produced] by boiling earthy materials from the sea bottom. There are
salt springs, too, in different parts of Teutonia, and their waters are boiled
into good salt as fine as flour. Salt is also made from urine, especially that
of boys, by the alchemical operations of sublimation and distillation . 6

But whatever the method of production of salt in general, it is neverthe-
less all one in nature, being composed of something earthy which is
moistened and mixed with something burnt. And because it has been
mixed with moisture, it is white after being burnt. And the more it is
burnt, whether by boiling dry or by roasting, the whiter it becomes and
the more bitter. For the taste of salt is mixed with bitterness, as will be
shown in the science of The Senses ?


3 Salt exposed to air may become moist and
sticky, but this is not due to distillation of
moisture from within, but to absorption of
moisture from the air. Pure sodium chloride
does not take up much water in this way, but
salt made from sea water (including ‘fossil
salt* in sediments) commonly contains other
salts of calcium and magnesium, which are
strongly hygroscopic.

4 sal naphticum (Constantine’s sal nauticum)
is named from its association with naphtha ,
liquid petroleum. Oil geologists now recog-
nize a common relation between salt domes
and structures containing petroleum; and salt
springs or wells often occur with oil seepage.

5 sal radicum seems to be an error for sal


indicum in the 1518 edition and in Constantine
(loc. cit.). Halite occurs in many colours,
including black and dark blue. But if sal
radicum , ‘salt of roots’, is correct, it may refer
to salt made by burning twigs or roots;
Pliny (Nat. Hist. XXXI, jp, 82) mentions
salt made in Germany, Gaul, and Spain by
throwing brine on burning wood. This
product would contain charcoal, some
potash salts from the wood ash, as well as
whatever salt was in the brine.

6 Probably ammonium chloride, though
it is not clear that Albert realized that it was
really different from the other salt mentioned.

7 The Senses, 4, 442 a 17-20: all tastes are a
mixture of sweet and bitter, and ‘salt is almost



242


BOOK OF MINERALS


Because of its earthiness all salt is found [to be] styptic, and because of
its dryness it is itself drying, and prevents putrefaction. Because it is, at the
same time, both hot and dry, it is cleansing, and because it has a penetrating
sharpe taste, it seasons food. The crystalline kind is especially active in
consuming gross vapours, but any of the hotter [kinds] is able to dissolve
hardened humours in mixed bodies. And all salt has this [property] more
or less.

In the same way, because of its dryness, together with the irregular
arrangement of its pores 9 — an irregularity due to burning, which has
deranged the order of the pores — salt is one of the many kinds of things
that can be broken into little pieces.


CHAPTER 3 : THE NATURE AND SUBSTANCE OF
ATRAMENTUM

This chapter deals with a whole group of minerals, neither clearly differentiated
nor accurately named in the Middle Ages. They are all products of the weathering
of sulphide ores, mostly of iron and copper. Alkadidis (Arabic qalqadis, from
Greek chaldtis) was a white or yellowish crust of oxidation products, mostly
sulphates. Assurie (Arabic al-suri, from Greek sory), was red oxide of iron.
Alkofol is evidently the same word as our alcohol, originally meaning ' 'finely
divided ’ or ‘subtle’; but here it seems to be an error for colcothar (Arabic
qalqatar), also known as crocus Martis, ‘yellow of Mars’ (yellow iron oxides).
The nameless blackish-grey material with a glint like gold dust is what the
Greeks called misy, with still undecomposed bits of pyrite or other sulphide
minerals (Cf. Pliny, Nat. Hist. XXXIV, 29-31, 117-22; and Avicenna, De
congelatione, Holmyard and Mandeville, footnote, p. 37). But the substance
to which atramentum was more strictly applied was alacantum (Arabic
qalqant, from Greek chalcanthon), which included hydrous sulphates of both

the same as bitter’. Crude salt, especially fissility is due to pores arranged in rows (as in
sea salt, commonly contains magnesium salts the grain of wood); things which are not
that are bitter. fissile lack this alignment of pores and so break

8 Cf. Constantine, Opera, p. 387: ‘All salt irregularly or crumble. But this explanation

is hot and dry in the fourth degree, but not does not really apply here, because halite
equally so, for some is hotter and drier than has an excellent cubic cleavage (mentioned by
others. But salt universally preserves bodies Pliny, Nat. Hist . XXXI, 39, 79). We should
and keeps them from decaying. ... It dissolves expect Albert to know this if he had ever seen
and dries up gross, hardened humours.* large masses of natural halite (note 2 above).

9 Meteor . IV, 9, 386 a 9-18 and 387 a 2-5:



243


BOOK V, A SINGLE TRACTATE

copper ( chalcanthite , ‘ blue vitriol ’) and iron ( melanterite , which is green). The
name copperas, still used for the latter, shows how persistently the iron and
copper minerals have been confused.

Being very soluble, these sulphates are carried in ground or surface waters,
from which they can be crystallized by evaporation. They were also prepared
‘artificially by leaching the half-decomposed sulphides in water, concentrating
the solution by boiling, and setting it aside to crystallize (Pliny, Nat. Hist.
XXXIV, 32, 123-5; Agricola, De re metallica. Hoover, pp. 572-5).

The nature of atramentum is peculiar to itself, a homeomerous 1 mineral
substance that can be dissolved by boiling in water, mixed with a stony
substance that is not dissolved at all, even by strong boiling. The original
kind of atramentum is undoubtedly liquid, and it has solidified of its own
accord. But all atramentum, according to its kind, is characterized by having
a foul taste, 2 and in being styptic and very irritating; and therefore when
it is applied to things it thickens and hardens them.

There are several forms: one kind is white, which the Arabs call alka-
didis; one red, which they call assurie; and one yellow, which they call
alkofol [colcothar?] ; and there is a green one which they call alkacantum ;
and a greyish one tinged with black which is almost stony. The green
[kind], which some people call vitriol ( vitreolum ) 3 and classify as a sort of
ink, 4 is more firmly solidified than the yellow, and has thicker outside
coatings. 5 And the most efficacious among the greyish [kinds] of atramentum
is that showing a sort of golden glint, as if there were gold dust sprinkled
through it and dimly gleaming.

It is plain that almost all kinds of atramentum are made of Earth and
Water. At first they were liquid and afterwards solid, and still they can be
redissolved, by heat and moisture. Their [colour] 6 depends to a greater or
lesser degree on the fine division of the earthy material in them and the

1 See I, i, 1, note 8. 4 Atramentum is ‘shoemakers’ black’; the

2 All descriptions of these minerals empha- iron sulphate combines with tannin to form
size the rancid, vile, or nauseous taste and a black colour that was used for dyeing
smell. The decomposition of the sulphides tanned leather or making ink (for which oak
released hydrogen sulphide, which smells like galls supplied the tannin).

rotten eggs. The sulphates have a disagreeable 5 tunicas. Crystals of chalcanthite and melan-
metallic taste, and taken internally act as terite kept in dry air lose some of their water
emetics. (Cf. II, ii. 11, Medius.) of crystallization and become coated with a

3 vitreolum, ‘glassy’, refers to the transparent white powder.

crystals, which Pliny calls ‘glassy berries like 6 calorem, ‘heat’; but it should be colorem,
grapes’, when crystallized on strings in a vat since the context recapitulates the theory of
(Nat. Hist. XXXIV, 32, 123). colour given in I, ii, 2.



244


BOOK OF MINERALS


thorough cooking of the moisture, and on the larger or smaller amount of
Air that is mixed in when the Earth was being cooked in the Water.

[Atramentum] is thus an intermediate between stones and metals because
it has the constitution of stone and sometimes the lustre of metals.


CHAPTER 4 : THE NATURE AND KINDS OF ALUM

Alumen included a number of minerals, mostly hydrous sulphates containing
aluminium; but precise identification is impossible, because the alumen found in
nature was impure, probably contaminated by, and to some extent confused with,
other sulphates, some of which ( vitriols , atramenta) have been described in the
preceding chapter (V, j). Some of these minerals occur in fibrous or plumose
forms, the schiston or trichitis of Pliny (Nat. Hist. XXXV, 52, 186). Kalinite
and alunogen are white, or tinged with grey, yellow, or red; halotrichite is
yellow. The most ‘earthy’ or ‘stony kind was probably aluminite, found in
alunschiefer ( alum shale or slate ) in central Germany.

Alum minerals, like vitriols, are very soluble in water, so that they can be
prepared by leaching alum deposits and boiling to produce a saturated solution
( Albert’s ‘moist’ or ‘liquid alum’), which is then allowed to crystallize. Alum was
used in medicine, and was very important in the dye industry, which Albert does
not mention.

Alum is of an earthy constitution. Its Earth is of a kind that is gross and
solidified by moisture; it lacks Quicksilver among its ingredients and yet
somehow approaches that [substance]. And it seems to have been hardened
by some force which, although not that of Sulphur, yet has some relation-
ship to Sulphur. Alum is most commonly white in colour, and when it
is roasted by dry heat a kind of Water distils from it, almost as it does
from rock salt. 1

[The kinds] most frequently occurring and most useful are three,
namely: the long and cleavable kind, which appears feathery on the cleav-
age surface and has a colour like silver; and second, that which is dry and
round, like a soft stone; in its silvery lustre and whiteness this is litde
inferior to the preceding, but it is less efficacious than that is; and some
people call this ‘round alum’; 2 and the third is dry and, as it were, stony,

1 See V, 2, note 3. ‘round alum’ (Pliny’s strongyle (Nat. Hist.

2 When alum is heated, it melts and swells, XXXV, 52, 187), or ‘burnt alum’, which is
giving off water of crystallization, and on less astringent than other kinds.

cooling solidifies into a rounded porous mass,



BOOK V, A SINGLE TRACTATE 245

with a colour tinged with yellow. All three can easily be reduced to
powder. The first two are hot and dry, very active in drying and causing
contraction. The third is not [so efficacious as] a styptic, although it is
stony. Water which has been used to wash the first kind, when it is well
aged, and has been repeatedly strained through it, becomes excessively
effective in consolidating and hardening all sorts of bodies. On this account
the alchemists make use of it in the liquid they call ‘virgin’s milk’ (lac
virginis) which we have mentioned elsewhere and shall mention further. 3
It is said that there is found a ‘moist alum’ and that it is like unctuous
bitumen , 4 very easily consumed by fire; and in this property and in being
unctuous, it is very like Sulphur, but lacks its odour. And this form of
alum some people call naphtha.


CHAPTER 5 : THE NATURE AND KINDS OF
ARSENICUM

Arsenicum includes two arsenic sulphides, yellow orpiment and red realgar,
which on heating in air change to the oxide, white arsenic. This chapter is a
duplication of II, ii, 6 , Falcones, where notes will be found.

although Arsenicum sometimes [occurs as] a kind of stone, which
we have mentioned in the second book on minerals, nevertheless, since
several kinds of it are found, it ought to be better treated here. It is un-
doubtedly of an earthy nature, burnt, and having something of the unctu-
ous character of Sulphur, for it is related to Sulphur. The moisture of
Sulphur is very active in penetrating metals because it is related to them,
and it bums them; and since arsenicum is even sharper, it is even more
effective in burning them. It is friable, hot and dry, but more hot than dry ;
and thus it is very active in causing disintegration and eating things away.

Three kinds are found, namely white; and yellow, which is commoner

3 Already mentioned in II, iii, 2, and also in 183-90, alumen) and Isidore (Etyrn. XVI, 2, 1,

Albert’s The Senses, ii, 2. bitumen; 2, alumen), whence they were

4 bitumen is asphalt, a solid or semi-solid copied together, as one item, into some
residue of petroleum, and naphtha is the light compilation that Albert used. But possibly
fraction, sometimes produced by natural Albert accepted the connexion because he
distillation processes. But this has nothing to knew of some pyridc coal or oil shale, in
do with alum. Possibly the only connexion which weathering had produced alum
is the mere juxtaposition of the two in Pliny minerals.

{Nat. Hist. XXXV, 51, 178-82, bitumen; 52,



246 BOOK OF MINERALS

as well as more friable and paler, than the others, and is called orpiment;
and red. The best kind is that which is saturated with the red, but has
streaks of other [colours]. And perhaps many other kinds are found,
according to differences in the material.


CHAPTER 6: THE NATURE AND MIXTURE OF
MARCHASITA

This group of minerals has already been dealt with in II, ii, 11, Marchasita;
see also 14, Perithe, 19, Virites, but this chapter gives the clearest statement of
Albert’s belief that marchasita is a sort of * unfinished ’ metal: it has already
attained such properties as colour, lustre, and weight, but has not yet reached the
specific form, which implies such distinctive metallic properties as fusibility and
malleability. Marchasitae ‘look like’ ores, but they always disappointed prospec-
tors or assay ers, who were unable to extract any metal from them by the methods
then is use. Most of them were sulphides, although the native metals arsenic,
antimony, and bismuth may have been included, since these are brittle, and seem to
‘evaporate’ in the fire. Albert’s only criterion for recognizing different kinds was
colour, so identifications are very uncertain, but the following are possibilities:
‘golden, pyrite; ‘silvery, marcasite; * tinny or ‘leaden,’ arsenopyrite, cobaltite,
smaltite, stibnite, bismuthinite. When these were heated in an open furnace,
sulphur or arsenic would be driven off as disagreeable fumes, and the residue
would be an earthy calx of metallic oxides.

Marchasita we have already mentioned in the second book on this
science, but a more detailed discussion must be inserted here, since in
truth marchasita has the nature of both stone and metal; and therefore it is
neither the one nor the other, but more truly an intermediate. For it has
the earthy substance of stone, which cannot be liquefied by dry heat, and
it is reduced to a calx in a strong fire, as stone is. But it has the weight and
lustre of metal, and is very heavy. And yet no metal is ever smelted from
it, but rather [the metal] evaporates in the fire, and then the stone is con-
verted to a calx. The reason for this, indeed, is that the metal in it has not
completely attained its specific form. For if golden marchasita had the
specific form of gold perfecdy developed, the gold would not evaporate,
but would be smelted out of it. Therefore it has the material and the colour
of metal, but not the specific form; and thus it vanishes by evaporation
when assayed by strong heating.



BOOK V, A SINGLE TRACTATE 247

Marchasitae are of as many kinds as there are species of metals: For it is
golden and silvery; the golden kind is rare but the silvery one is often
found; the tinny and leaden kinds are also rare. But whatever the kind of
marchasita , it has something in its nature and constitution beyond the nature
of stone and belonging to the metal it resembles in colour. And yet it is
hard and heavy — its hardness due to the hardness and baking and roasting
of the stone, its weight due to the impurities not yet purged out of it.

The natural scientists of antiquity call this stone adestrum , which means
‘stone of light’ ( lapis luminis) because of the aid that it brings to the sight, 1
especially the golden marchasita. Its natural quality is hot and dry, and its
effect is to cause contraction, heating, ripening, and opening; and these
effects are strong. It is said that, suspended from children’s necks, it makes
them fearless.

In alchemy, this stone is the principal food with which Quicksilver is
fed 2 , for [making] the White elixir from the silvery, and the Red elixir
from the golden marchasita.


CHAPTER 7 : THE NATURE OF NITRUM

This is a duplication of I/, n, 12 , Nitrum. The name nitrum was used for a
number of different substances , probably least often for what we call nitre or salt-
petre. It included borax (Arabic baurac, tdncar), but most of it was some form


1 Sdbnite (sulphide of antimony) was used
as a cosmetic for the eyes. Constantine
(Opera, p. 381) recommends it for this and
other purposes, calling it ‘hot and dry in the
fourth degree*. Stibnite, however, is not
‘golden*, but steely or silvery grey with a
brilliant metallic lustre. Perhaps the epithet
refers to the well-known use of stibnite in
parting gold from silver: on fusion with
antimony sulphide the silver combines with

the sulphur, while the freed antimony, along
with the gold, forms a metallic button in the
bottom of the crucible. The button is removed
and roasted to oxidize and drive off the
antimony, leaving pure gold. This method is
first clearly described in the Bergwerk- und
Probierbchiilein , published about 1500, so it
seems to have been in use in the fifteenth
century. But if it was really mentioned in any


work current in Albert’s time, it must have
been in ‘veiled language* and he did not
understand it. Or perhaps his subsequent
remarks refer again to pyrite.

2 ‘Feeding* quicksilver is described in the
Book of Alums and Salts (Steele, 1929, p. 26:
Cibatio mercurii cum corporibus) as dissolving
gold or silver in an amalgam that could be
used for gilding or silvering other metals.
But ‘feeding* with pyrite seems to indicate
the amalgamation method for extracting
small amounts of gold or silver from pyritic
ores. The crushed mineral was stirred with
mercury, in which any free gold or silver
would dissolve. After filtering off, the mercury
was distilled away, leaving the precious
metals. The alchemists believed that the
mercury, ‘fed* on pyrite, had spontaneously
produced the gold or silver.


T



BOOK OF MINERALS


248

of sodium carbonate — natron or trona — or caustic soda. Not only was the name
used loosely, but the substances themselves were impure, frequently containing salt,
calcite, or gypsum. Thus all old descriptions of nitrum and its uses in medicine
and technology seem to the chemist of today to abound in inconsistencies. For
example, Constantine, (Opera, p. 384) mentions its value for cleansing (borax
and ‘ washing soda’), as a disinfectant, especially for the eyes and ears ( boracic
acid), and for stomach troubles ( bicarbonate of soda).

Nitrum from Armenia ( also mentioned by Constantine) was probably borax;
Armenia, however, was not the source, but merely a place on the caravan route
by which the Arabs brought borax from Central Asia. African nitrum came from
Egypt, collected from natural deposits of trona and natron, or ‘ manufactured ’ like
salt, by leaching alkali soils and evaporating the solution. In Teutonia, mineral
springs such as those of Carlsbad and Selters contain sodium carbonate, but the
mineral Albert saw at Goslar was probably not nitrum (see note 7 below).

Nitrum is named from the island of Nitrea 1 where it was first found.
The Arabs call it baurac (borax). 2 It is a kind of salt, darker than rock salt,
yet nevertheless transparent; but it is in thin plates. 3 It can be roasted in the
fire, and, after losing all its superfluous watery substance, the more it is
burnt the drier it becomes ; and then the salt itself will be sharper. 4

The forms [of nitrum] are distinguished according to the place where
they originate. Three kinds are found among us, namely, those of Armenia,
and Africa, and Teutonia. [The last] is found abundandy in the place
called Goslar: for as rain falls upon the mountain 5 which is full of copper
ores, and the rain water percolates through the mountain, when, at a
distance of a hundred paces, 6 it reaches the excavation made by the miners,
then the water seems to be converted into nitrum. The natives believe this
is rock salt, but I myself have proved, by sight and touch, that it is nitrum.
And it occurs in the hollow of the mountain in the same manner and shape
as the icicles that form on roofs from the water dripping off them in
freezing weather; 7 this is not in plates, but round.

1 Isidore ( Etym . XVI, 2, 7) mentions water of crystallization and then carbon

Nitria, but he does not call it an island, dioxide, and is converted into caustic soda,
merely ‘a town or region in Egypt*. It was 5 The Rammelsberg, which rises abrupdy
probably the place later called Wadi Nitrum, just south of the town of Goslar. The mine
north-west of Cairo. openings are high up on the mountainside.

2 See also tinchar (V, 9, note 1). 6 Evidently not the depth of a shaft but the

3 Probably trona; but perhaps borax, or thickness of the mountain above the mine,

even salt with good cleavage. 7 Zinc sulphate, ‘white vitriol*, now called

4 On heating, trona or natron gives off ‘goslarite* from this locality. In the sixteenth



249


BOOK V, A SINGLE TRACTATE

The African nitrum is, in comparison with the other forms of nitrum, as
nitrum is to salt. All ‘foam of nitrum ( spuma nitri), sometimes called ‘flower
of nitrum’ ( flos nitri) 8 is more subtle in substance and power than nitrum
itself. The best ‘foam’ is that approaching the colour of marble, and it is
very friable. All nitrum is hot and dry, and therefore its effect is to cause
splitting, 9 cleansing, peeling of the skin, and corrosion; the African kind,
especially, is sharper than the others.


CHAPTER 8: THE NATURE OF TUTTY

Tutty (tuchia) is zinc oxide, obtained as ‘furnace calamine’ during either the
making of brass with calamina (see IV, 6) or the smelting of copper ores with
which zinc ore was accidentally mixed. Such mixture was likely, since at many
places in Germany (including Goslar ) pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, and sphalerite
occur together. Sphalerite is zinc sulphide, but it is dark brown or blackish, with
none of the ‘metallic look’ of the other associated sulphides. Its old name, ‘ blende ’
(from German, to ‘blind’ or ‘deceive’), records the fact that attempts to get a metal
from it were unsuccessful. This was because zinc has a low boiling-point (pi 8° C.)
and during the smelting it distilled off, was reoxidized, and deposited in the
upper part of the furnace, or in flues or chambers built above the furnace to collect
it. Zinc was not recognized as a metal, or given its name, until the sixteenth
century (Agricola, De re metallica, Hoover, footnote, p. 4op).

The different kinds of tutty differed only in purity. That swept up from the
floor of the collecting chamber was mixed with soot and dirt, from which it could
be at least partly freed by washing. The red and yellow kinds were contaminated
with oxides of iron or lead. Re-subliming any of these produced pure, white,
zinc oxide. All these were known in antiquity, but the nomenclature has always
been somewhat confused. Pliny (Nat. Hist. XXXIV, 22-23, 100 ~5i 33, 12 8)
used cadmia or cadmea both for the earthy ores of zinc (which Albert calls

century Agricola (De re metallica. Hoover, 9 inscissivum. Bartholomew, in his descrip-
footnote, p. 572) described it almost in Al- tion of nitrum (De proprietatibus return , XVI,
bert*s words, as occurring ‘at Goslar in the form 70) has scissilis , ‘cleavable* ; and this might
of icicles* (that is, stalactites). It was formed have been miscopied by a scribe looking ahead
by oxidation of the zinc ore (sphalerite, zinc to the following lavativum , excoriativum,
sulphide) and deposited by ground water in corrosivum. But inscissivum may be correct:
the old workings. savage remedies, such as burning with caustic

8 Either a natural efflorescence of soda soda or quicklime, were resorted to in
minerals, or else caustic soda, as a fine im- desperate cases,
palpable powder.



BOOK OF MINERALS


250

calamina, IV, 6), and for the furnace products; but he supplies additional names
for the latter — pompholyx^br the best and whitest kind, and spodos for what
Albert calls succudus.

Tutty ( tuchia ), which is frequently used in the transmutation of metals,
is an artificial, not a natural, compound. It is made from the smoke that
rises upwards and solidifies by adhering to hard bodies, where copper is
being purified from the stones and tin 1 which are in it. And a better kind
is made by re-subliming this; and next [best] is that which during sublima-
tion sinks to the bottom; this is [cadmia] 2 which some people call succudus. 3

There are many kinds of tutty, for it is white, and yellow with a tinge
of red. When tutty is washed something like a black sediment of tutty
sinks to the bottom, and this is sometimes called [Indian] 4 tutty. The
difference between tutty and succudus is what we have said — namely, that
tutty is what is sublimed and succudus is what sinks to the bottom of the
channel, and is not sublimed. The best kind is voltatile and white; next,
the yellow; and next, the red. When it is fresher it is more efficacious
than when it is old. All tutty is cold and dry; and that which has been
washed is more powerful in its actions. 5


CHAPTER 9 : THE NATURE AND PROPERTIES OF
ELECTRUM

Gold and silver form a continuous series of solid solutions, and native gold nearly
always contains some silver. If the silver content is around 20-50 per cent, the
alloy has a brilliant pale yellow colour, and was in early times regarded as a dis-
tinct metal, electrum. A more logical place for this chapter would have been in


1 Probably not tin but zinc, since the copper
ores of Germany are much more commonly
associated with zinc than with tin ores.
Metallic zinc may actually have been obtained
occasionally by accident, if some fault in the
smelting process produced a reducing instead
of an oxidizing atmosphere in the furnace.

2 climia , probably an error for cadmia or
calamina.

3 succudus may be derived from succumbere ,

‘to fall down*; or it may be a corruption of

spodos.


4 Inda : perhaps for Indica, since Constantine
(Opera, pp. 370, 383) says that both spodium
(Pliny’s spodos , Albert’s succudus) and cadmia
came from India; but his descriptions do not
sound like tutty.

5 Tutty was used for ‘transmuting* copper
to brass (IV, 6), and in medicine was prescribed
for various purposes, some of them the same
as those for which zinc oxide is used today —
as powder or ointment for sores, pimples, and
skin diseases.



251


BOOK V, A SINGLE TRACTATE

Book IV, since Albert himself understands that electrum is a mixture of two 'real'
metals, and not an ‘ intermediate ' in the sense in which he defines that term in V, 1.

Many of the ancients placed electrum not among the intermediates
but among the metals. The Arabs call it tinchar and some people have also
called it the ‘binder of gold’ ( capistrum auri)} Its colour is that of a mixture
of gold and silver, and thus there are two kinds of this metal, for there is an
artificial [kind] made by mixing together silver and [gold] ; 1 2 but the other
kind is a natural mineral, which the ancients declared to be the best of all
metals. I do not know why, unless because they attributed to it this effect:
if poison is put into a drink in a vessel made of such electrum 3 [the cup]
emits a sound like that of nitrum 4 when vinegar is poured on it. Since elec-
trum has the colour of gold and silver mixed, no doubt it has the properties
and nature of both [these metals].


In this way, then, [ends] our account of mixed bodies that are homeo-
merous, but not organized or alive . 5 For, on the basis of what has been said,
anything else that has not been mentioned here can also be readily
understood.


1 This sentence is confused and appears to
be an over-abbreviated reference to the solder-
ing of gold. Tinchar is borax, used as a flux;
but the solder itself would be a gold-silver
alloy with a melting-point lower than that of
gold. So in this sense the alloy might be called
the ‘binder of gold*.

2 nitro, ‘soda*, but 1518 edition reads auro ,
as sense requires.

3 That is, the natural electrum, which was


the only kind that had this property, according
to Pliny, the original authority for this tale
(Nat. Hist. XXXHI, 23, 81).

4 nitrum here is certainly sodium carbonate
which effervesces with acids.

5 non complexionatis neque animatis (cf. I, i,
1, note 2). Plants and animals are treated in
great detail in a series of works, which come
after the Book of Minerals in Albert’s course on
natural history.



APPENDIX A
ARISTOTLE

Life and Writings

Aristotle (384-322 b.c.) was bom at Stageira in Thrace. His father, Nicho-
machus, was physician at the royal court of Macedonia, and Aristotle was
brought up in that country. At about eighteen he went to Athens for further
education and was associated with the Academy until Plato’s death in 346.
The next few years he spent in Ionia, chiefly at Assos and Mytilene; and then,
in 343, returned to Macedonia as tutor to the young son of King Philip II,
Alexander (356-323). After Alexander became king and embarked on his brief
career of world conquest Aristotle went back to Athens and founded his own
school, the Lyceum. This was very successful until 323, the year of Alexander’s
death. But then anti-Macedonian feeling in Greece forced Aristotle to leave
Athens. He turned over the Lyceum to his friend and colleague, Theophrastus
(see Appendix B, 1) and retired to Euboea, where he died the next year.

Aristotle is known to have written philosophical dialogues, perhaps modelled
on those of Plato, but little of these survives. What has come down to us seems
to be a collection of teaching materials — treatises, lectures, notes on researches,
See. — preserved by a strange series of chances, and edited and ‘published’ only
in the first century b.c. These were not finished literary productions to begin
with, and they pose peculiarly difficult problems for scholars who have tried to
determine the authenticity of each one and its relation to the development of
Aristotle’s thought. These problems are, for the most part, irrelevant here, since
the schoolmen of Albert’s time accepted without much question anything that
came to them bearing the great name of Aristotle.

Neither is it relevant here to attempt a summary of Aristotle’s philosophy.
The works mentioned below are those on natural science with which Albert
concerned himself, according to his own statement (Phys. I, i, 4) ; and the points
selected for mention are those that seem to be important for the argument
of the Book of Minerals. English versions of these are available in the Oxford
translation of The Works of Aristotle (edited under the direction of W. D. Ross),
and in the Loeb Classical Library, accompanied by the Greek texts.

1. The Physics (Latin Physica or De physico auditu) has little in common with
the science bearing that name today. As Comford says, in his General Intro-
duction to the Loeb Library translation: ‘ Lectures on Nature , the alternative title
found in editions of the Greek text, is more enlightening. But Principles of
Natural Philosophy (as the term would have been understood in the eighteenth
and earlier nineteenth centuries) would be better still.’



APPENDIX A


254

The Physics stood first in the traditional order of Aristotle’s scientific works,
and Aristotle himself seems to have regarded its subject matter as fundamental
for all the other sciences. It opens with the statement (I, 1, 184 a 10 ff.) that
although the study of nature must begin with concrete, particular instances, its
object is the discovery of abstract, general principles which ‘explain’ the ob-
served phenomena; and we are satisfied that we understand a thing when we
know its ‘causes’. The English word ‘cause’ is an inadequate translation of the
Greek aitia ( causa in Latin). Aitia is that which underlies, or is responsible for, or
is the essence of, anything. Thus Aristotle says (II, 3, 194 b 16 ff.) that the ques-
tion How? or Why? may be answered in four ways, ‘explaining’ a thing in
terms of: (1) the matter of which it is made (material aitia); (2) the process or
agent by which it is made (efficient aitia) ; (3) the inherent nature or form,
which makes it what it is (formal aitia) ; and (4) the end or purpose for which it
was made (final aitia). Historians of philosophy refer to these as the ‘four causes’.
The final cause — that for the sake of which a thing exists — is understandable
if we think of an artifact (a saw is made ‘for the purpose of’ sawing), or of an
animal (which is provided with certain organs ‘in order to’ live a certain kind
of life, See.) ; but it is not always easy to distinguish from the formal, or even the
efficient, cause. And Aristotle admits (II, 7, 198 a 25 ff.) that these three often
seem to coalesce; but they are different from the material cause. The fundamental
distinction, perhaps, is that between/orm and matter; though the natural scientist
must still try to take into account the action or motion involved, and the
purposiveness of nature.

Nature ( physis ) includes all things that move or change. Later physicists speak
of matter and motion; but Aristotle in the Physics does not treat matter and mo-
tion as of equal importance. He assumes a material ‘substrate’ our of which all
things are made, but his detailed discussions of the properties of matter are found
in The Heavens, Generation and Corruption, and Meteorology . The Physics deals
at length with motion, and with such problems as arise in connexion with the
study of motion — continuity, infinity, place, time, void, See. Aristotle distin-
guishes three kinds of motion: local, quantitative, and qualitative (V, 1, 225 b
5 ff.). Thus beside locomotion, change of place, we have motion in the sense of
change in amount or size, and change from one condition to another.

In discussing motion Aristotle made some statements that were to cause
much trouble for his later followers: for example (VI, 1, 241 b 24 ff.), anything
that is in motion must be kept in motion by something (a mover) ; and (VII, 2,
243 a 3 ff.) the mover must be in contact with the thing moved. But these
principles are essential to his view of the universe, which is developed in Book
VIII (and also in The Heavens.) The universe is eternal and eternally in motion.
But every motion requires a mover, and, since there cannot be an infinite series
of moved movers, there must be at last an unmoved mover, setting all the rest in



ARISTOTLE


255

motion (VIII, 5, 256 a 4 ff.) by causing a rotation of the outermost sphere of the
heavens (VIII, 8, 265 a 8 ff.; 9, 265, b ff.), but itself having no magnitude, parts,
or position (VIII, 10, 267 b 8 ff.). This unmoved mover, outside all place and
time, is beyond the scope of natural science ( physica ), and is further considered
in the Metaphysics (XII, vii, 7, 1072 b 15 ff.) as pure self-thinking thought, that is,
God.

2. The Heavens (De caelo f De celo et mundo ), however, has little to say about
the unmoved mover. In fact, Aristotle’s various accounts of the heavenly
motions are somewhat inconsistent, and it is possible (as Guthrie suggests in his
Introduction to the Loeb Library translation) that The Heavens records an earlier
stage in Aristotle’s thinking, when he hesitated between the Platonic doctrine
that the Cosmos is a living creature, and its motions are ‘self-caused’, and his
own view that the motions are ‘natural’, inherent in different kinds of matter.

Be this as it may, the theme of ‘natural motions’ and ‘natural places’ dominates
the argument of The Heavens . The cosmos is represented as a vast though finite
system of concentric spheres, the outer ones composed of a special kind of
matter — the ‘first body’, or Ether (aither) — unchanging and imperishable (I, 3,
270 biff.). The natural place of Ether is ‘above’ the other four ‘elements’; it
is neither ‘light’ nor ‘heavy’, and its natural motion is circular (I, 2, 269 a 30 ff).
Ether is the matter of the heavenly bodies (II, 7, 289 a 11 ff), which are carried
around on concentric spheres (II, 8, 289 b 30 ff). In The Heavens Aristotle
merely alludes to this machinery, but in the Metaphysics (XII, viii, 4, 1073 a 26
ff.) he gives details (based on the work of Eudoxus and Calippus). The scheme
requires forty-nine spheres, each in contact with, and transmitting motion to,
the next within, in order to account for the courses of the fixed stars, planets,
sun, and moon.

The inner spheres, below the moon, are made up of the four other ‘simple
bodies’ or ‘elements’, Fire, Air, Water, and Earth. These differ from Ether in
that they are not unchanging and imperishable, being continually destroyed
and re-created from each other (III, 6, 304 b 23 ff.; also Generation and Corrup-
tion). Their natural motions are in straight lines, either ‘downwards’ towards the
centre of the universe or ‘upwards’ towards its circumference, since they are
inherently ‘heavy’ or ‘light’ (IV, 1, 307 b 28 ff.). Accordingly, when in their
natural places, Fire, the lightest, is at the top, next to the lunar sphere; below
this is Air, then Water; and Earth, the heaviest, is at the bottom or centre.
In this way Aristotle accounts for the distribution of atmosphere, sea, and land,
and for the fact that the earth is a sphere ‘at rest’ in the centre of the whole
system (II, 14, 296 b 7 ff).

3. Generation and Corruption , or Coming-to-be and Passing-away (De genera-
tion et corruption ), deals further with the elements. Aristotle examines and



APPENDIX A


256

rejects theories about the nature of matter offered by his predecessors, including
Leucippus and Democritus, who spoke of ‘atoms moving in the void’ (I, 8, 325
a 23 ff.). For Aristotle the universe is a plenum and every material thing is, at least
in theory, infinitely divisible. He again discusses change (as defined in the Phy-
sics) — local, qualitative, and quantitative; yet in any specific case the coming-to-
be of one thing (for instance, a fire) is a part of the same process as the passing-
away of something else (fuel). Thus matter is potentiality that assumes actuality
only in form ; and material substances are both matter and form (I, 4, 320 a 2;
5, 322 a 28 ; 7, 324 b 5 ff.).

These changes in form (including what we call chemical change) come about
by ‘mixing’, a reciprocal relation in which the potential ability-to-act (Latin
actio) and the potential capacity-to-be acted-upon ( passio ) are equally important.
The substances so reacting must be in contact with each other (I, 6, 322 b 22 ff.) ;
and the reaction takes place through their ‘contrary’ properties (I, 7, 324 a 3 ff.)
The simplest forms of matter must therefore be defined in terms of ‘contraries’,
which are the hot and the cold (said to be active qualities), and the moist and the
dry {passive qualities). But since the same thing cannot be both hot and cold,
or both moist and dry, the possible pairings of qualities give only the four
‘elements’: dry-Jiot, Fire; hot-moist, Air; moist-cold, Water; cold-dry, Earth
(II, 3, 330 a 30 ff.).

These are not chemical elements in the modem sense, since they are continu-
ally being transmuted into each other (II, 4, 33 1 a 7 ff.). Transmutation is easiest
between two elements that have one quality in common. For example, Water
(cold-moist) by reacting with the ‘contrary’ of cold, which is hot, becomes Air
(hot-moist) ; and this explains the boiling away of liquid into vapour. More
difficult, though possible, is the reaction of two qualities in succession, as when
Water (cold-moist) changes into Fire (hot-dry).

Since the elements are arranged (as explained in The Heavens) in concentric
spheres according to their ‘lightness’ or ‘heaviness’, and these transformations
are for ever going on between adjacent spheres, the elements are always chang-
ing their places in a perpetual cycle. This is the cause of many natural phenomena
(described in the Meteorology). But the transmutations themselves must have a
cause, and this {efficient cause) is the annual movement of the sun along the
ecliptic circle (II, 10, 336 a 15 ff.); seasonal changes in heat and moisture effect
the transmutation of the elements; and the resulting changes in the atmosphere,
sea, and land surface control the life cycles of plants and animals.

4. The Meteorology (Greek Meteorologica , Latin Meteora , or De meteoris) falls
into two distinct parts, Books I— III and Book IV, which were probably written
as two separate treatises. Some scholars have doubted whether this is Aristotle’s
own work (especially Book IV) ; but if not, it was composed by a close follower



ARISTOTLE


257

of Aristotle, thoroughly familiar with the Physics , The Heavens , and Generation
and Corruption . The title Meteorology is misleading in English, and even in
Greek is not stricdy accurate: meteors means ‘things high up in the air’, and such
phenomena (meteorology in the present-day sense) form only part of the sub-
ject matter, even in Books I— III, to which the title may really belong.

The first three books take up again the elements and their natural places,
introducing another aspect of their transmutation (I, 4, 341 b 6 ffi), the two
‘exhalations’ drawn up by the heat of the sun from the surface of sea and land;
one is moist and vaporous, the other dry and smoky. The former mingles
with the Air; the latter, being hotter and fighter, rises into the sphere of Fire — a
region hot and dry and potentially inflammable, where are produced all those
‘fights in the sky’ supposed to belong to the sublunary world — meteors and
shooting stars, the aurora borealis, comets, and the Milky Way (I, 4, 341 b 24-8,
346 b 15).

In the sphere of Air the moist vapour cools, condenses, and produces clouds
and rain, dew, hoar frost, hail, and snow (I, 9, 346 b 16-12, 349 a 12). Haloes,
sun-dogs, and rainbows result from the reflection of fight on mist and cloud
(III, 2, 371 b 18-6, 378 b 6). Winds (II, 4, 359 b 27-6, 365 a 14) are caused by the
dry exhalation; when it is trapped in masses of cooling air, forced downwards
and ignited, tornadoes and thunderstorms occur; and the Fire in it appears as
lightning (II, 9, 369 a 10-III, 1, 371 b 18).

In the spheres of Water and Earth the two exhalations account for many
phenomena now classified as geological. The origin of springs and rivers
(I, 13, 349 b 3-351 a 18) is partly rainfall and partly condensation of vapour in
the earth. The sea (I, 14, 351 a 19— II, 3, 359 b 26) is fed by rivers, but its saltness
comes from the dry exhalation: this contains a sort of ‘burnt earthiness’ that
mingles with the moist exhalation in the Air and falls as brackish rain that ‘salts’
the sea. Earthquakes, tidal waves, volcanic eruptions (II, 7, 365 a 14-9, 369 a 9)
occur where excessive amounts of the dry exhalation burst out violently from
underground. And finally, the exhalations are responsible for the formation of
minerals, the dry smoke producing infusible earths and stones, the moist vapour
all kinds of metals. This short passage at the very end of Book III (6, 378 a 12-
378 b 6) is the only attempt to explain minerals, and the implication that it will
be elaborated elsewhere is not followed up, at least in any of Aristotle’s extant
writings.

Book IV has been called the ‘chemical treatise’. It reconsiders the four ‘ele-
ments’, Earth, Water, Air, and Fire in terms of their qualities — hot or cold
(active) and moist or dry (passive) — in order to explain such processes as putre-
faction (IV, 1, 379 a 1 ffi), ‘cooking’ (heating in various ways), hardening,
softening, drying, melting, and solidification (IV, 2, 379 b 10-7, 384 b 23).
There is also discussion of the relation between the elemental constitution of



APPENDIX A


258

different substances and their physical properties, such as plasticity, malleability,
fissility, inflammability, &c. (IV, 8, 384 b 24-9, 388 a 9). Most of the substances
mentioned are considered to be relatively simple ‘mixtures’ of elements:
Aristotle’s term is homeomerous (IV, 8, 384 b 31 ff; 12, 390 b 2 ff.) for things
that seem to be ‘homogeneous’ or ‘uniform’ throughout, like oil, stone, metal,
wood, bark, blood, bone, &c. In living things the homeomerous parts are what we
call tissues, which are further combined into the anhomeomerous (non-uniform)
parts (organs), like flower, hand, eye, &c. These are to be further considered in
the works on plants and animals.

5. The Soul (De anima) is the first of the biological treatises. This position
may seem strange if we accept its modem designation as a ‘Treatise on Psy-
chology’, but it is logical enough within the frame of Aristode’s philosophy.
The Greek word psyche (Latin anima) is difficult to translate, since the English
word ‘soul’ has acquired theological associations that are not in Aristotle. In this
work psyche is ‘life’ or ‘vital principle’ — that which distinguishes living from
dead matter. Therefore a discussion of it is a necessary introduction to the ‘fife
sciences’.

Matter , as already stated, is potentiality, actualized in form . And for any living
thing, its form is, first of all, its ‘aliveness’, that is, its soul (II, 1, 412 a 3 ff). The
soul is the cause of all vital activities of the organism (II, 4, 415 b 9 ff). But such
activities range from very simple to very complex (III, 9, 432 a 22 ff.) : plants are
capable only of nutrition, growth, and reproduction; animals, of course, also
have these functions, but they are capable, as well, of sensation, desire, and
movement; and man, beside all these lower faculties, has what we call ‘mind’ —
he is able to think, remember, and imagine. Later commentators speak of three
souls — vegetative (or nutritive), sensitive (or appetitive), and rational (or
intellectual), but for Aristotle these seem to be merely different aspects of
‘being alive’.

The treatise has little to say about nutrition, growth, and reproduction
(these are dealt with elsewhere), but it discusses at some length sensation — the
five senses, sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch (II, 7, 418 a 26-12, 424 b 18):
how sense data are combined in perceiving a thing as a whole (III, 3, 425 b 12
ff); thinking and imagination (III, 3, 427 a 17-7, 431 b 19); and how the soul
moves the body through impulse and desire (III, 9, 432 b 8-n, 434 a 21). It
closes with the characteristic reminder that living things are endowed with these
faculties in order to survive, and for their own well-being (III, 12, 434 a 22-
end).

6. The group of short treatises known to medieval scholars as the Parva
naturalia , or ‘little works on nature’, is usually placed next after The Soul , as a



ARISTOTLE


259

sort of appendix, continuing and expanding the account of the relations of soul
and body. The scope of these works may be sufficiently indicated here by simply
listing their titles.

The Senses , or Sense and the Objects of Sense (De sensu , or De sensu et sensi-
bilibus ).

Memory and Recollection (De memoria et reminiscentia).

Three that are often grouped together as one work: Sleep and Waking (De
somno et vigilia ) ; Dreams (De somniis) ; and Prophecy in Sleep (De divinatione per
somnia).

Another group of three often combined in one: Length and Shortness of Life
(De longitudine et brevitate vitae ) ; Youth and Age (De juventute et senectute) ; and
Life and Death (De morte et vita).

With these may be placed a short treatise on Respiration or Breathing (De
inspiratione et expiratione).

7. The treatise on Plants (De plantis , or De vegetabilibus) is not Aristotle’s
own work, at least in its present form. It has been ascribed to the historian,
Nicholas of Damascus, who was a friend of Herod the Great in the first century
b.c. ; but Nicholas may have been revising or commenting on a work of Aris-
totle now lost. The treatise discusses the life (soul) of plants, their place in the
order of nature, the characteristics of different species, and their classification;
and also says something about their physiology and ecology.

Most famous of all Aristotle’s scientific writings are those on animals, which
comprise three long works and two very short ones :


8. The History of Animals , or Researches on Animals (Historia animalium),
describes the anatomy, behaviour, and breeding habits of animals. More than
500 species are mentioned, testifying to the vast amount of work done by
Aristotle and his pupils in this field. Some of the information, derived from
books or folk-lore, is patently incorrect; but a large part seems to be based on
observation, and in some cases dissection of specimens. Here Aristotle gives
many details, some of which were later discredited, forgotten, and then re-
discovered by modem biologists.

Great interest attaches also to Aristotle’s comprehensive classification of
animals which, although nowhere tabulated in full, plainly underlies his dis-
cussion, in both this and the following works. The two major groups are (1)
animals ‘with blood’ (that is, with red blood, corresponding to vertebrates)
and (2) those ‘without (red) blood’ (invertebrates). The first group is sub-
divided into (a) viviparous (man and below him other mammals) and (b)



2<5o


APPENDIX A


oviparous (birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes). In the second group (invertebrates)
he distinguished insects, crustaceans, shellfish, and ‘soft-bodied’ cephalopods.
Sec.; and below these, things like sea-cucumbers and sponges, ‘intermediate’
between animals and plants. This scheme, despite some mistakes, shows a
remarkable grasp of the relationships of living things. To Aristotle, of course,
this is not an ‘evolutionary’ order, but a natural hierarchy expressing the higher
or lower activities of soul.

9. Parts of Animals (. De partibus animalium) is not, as the title may suggest, a
study of anatomy but rather of physiology. The ‘parts’ are classified as (1)
homeomerous parts or tissues (fat, blood, marrow, flesh, bone, See.) ; these are
combinations of elements, and are in turn combined into (2) anhomeomerous
parts or organs (eye, ear, stomach, kidney, See.). But Aristotle’s emphasis is on
the causes , especially the final cause — that is, the purpose which each part serves
in the life of the animal (I, 5, 645 b 15 ff.), reiterating his belief in the design and
wisdom of nature.

10. Generation of Animals (De generatione animalium) deals with reproduction
and heredity. In the higher animals the offspring receives something from both
parents, being formed by the union of semen from the male and menstrual
blood from the female. Both these fluids are ‘residues’, that is materials not used
up in the normal growth and repair of the body (I, 1 8, 725 a 1 1 ff. ; 19, 726 b 3 1
ff.). After sexual intercourse the semen (like rennet in milk) ‘sets’ the menstrual
fluid in the form of an embryo in the womb (II, 3, 737 a 8 ff.). The female is
passive, supplying only matter (material cause), from which the embryo is made,
while the male is active, supplying semen (efficient cause) in which is the form
(formal cause), the soul of the offspring (II, 4, 738 b 20). Aristotle compares the
role of the male to that of the artisan, who has ‘in his soul’ the form of whatever
he is producing by the movements of his hands and tools (I, 2, 730 b 20 ff.).

But in lower animals the roles of the two sexes are not so distinct; and for
some of these Aristotle, being unable with the means at his disposal to unravel
their life histories, has to accept the theory of spontaneous generation: this he
says can occur where there is some kind of matter that has in it the potentiality
of life (mud, water, slime, decaying organic materials). If this is acted upon by
gentle heat (from the sun or from fermentation or putrefaction), animals are
created, such as certain shellfish, worms, or insects (III, n, 762 a 8 ff).

11. The two short works are the Movement of Animals (De motu animalium)
and the Progression of Animals (De progressu animalium). The former takes up
again the problem of how the soul moves the body; the latter pays more atten-
tion to the mechanism — how many feet an animal has, how the legs bend, how
the limbs are used in walking, running, swimming, or flying, &c.



ARISTOTLE


261


The Transmission of Aristotle 9 s Scientific Works

The channels by which Aristotle’s science reached the medieval scholars of
Europe were many and in some cases devious. Cultivated Romans knew Greek
and some of them read Aristotle — for instance, the elder Pliny (first century
a.d.) in collecting materials for his Natural History . But they did not make
translations of Aristotle. Therefore, during the long ages when Latin was the
language of learning in most of Europe, Aristotle’s works ceased to be read,
except for some of the books on logic, which had been put into Latin in the
sixth century. It was not until the twelfth century that the others began to
reappear in Latin translations, some made from the Greek and some from the
Arabic (Wingate, 1931).

The early translations from the Greek were probably made in southern
Italy or Sicily, where Greek was still spoken; but most of them are of unknown
authorship, except for Meteorologica (Book IV), which was translated about
1156 by Henricus Aristippus, an official at the court of William I in Sicily.

The translations from the Arabic had a more complex history, beginning in
the east with the translation of many Greek scientific works into Syriac, and
later from Syriac into Arabic. In the ninth century a group of scholars in Bagh-
dad, some of whom worked from Greek manuscripts, was producing the
Arabic versions of Aristotle that subsequently inspired the commentaries of
Avicenna (980-1037) and Averroes (1126-98). These versions were carried by
the Arabs to Spain. And in the twelfth century, as the ‘Moors’ were gradually
driven out, Spain, with its polyglot population, became another centre for the
transmission of Arabic learning to the rest of Europe. So far as the works of
Aristotle are concerned, the two most important translators were Gerard of
Cremona (1114-87) and Michael Scot (c. 1175-1235). Gerard of Cremona was
the leader of a great school of translators at Toledo, who produced Latin texts
of the Physics , The Heavens , Generation and Corruption , and Meteorologica
(Books I— III) ; and the pseudo- Aristotelian Properties of the Elements. Michael
Scot also worked at Toledo, and later in Sicily, where he was astrologer at the
court of Frederick II. His translations included new versions of some of the
works already mentioned, as well as The Soul , the Animals (as one long work in
nineteen books), and some of the commentaries of Averroes.

Thus by the early years of the thirteenth century Latin texts were available
of all, or nearly all, Aristotle’s scientific works, most of them in more than one
translation. But as the century went on scholars became dissatisfied with these
texts (Roger Bacon’s complaints are well known). The task of providing new
and better translations, direct from the Greek, was undertaken (some say at the
instigation of Thomas Aquinas) by William of Moerbecke (1215-96), a Flemish
Dominican who went to Thebes before 1260, was at the Papal Curia about
1265-76, and returned to Greece as Archbishop of Corinth about 1277.



262


APPENDIX A


Most of the Greek-Latin texts of Aristotle current in the latter part of the
thirteenth century are attributed with more or less probability to him. Some
were mere revisions of pre-existing versions from the Greek; others, especially
those known only in versions from the Arabic, he translated anew from manu-
scripts obtained in Greece. He divided the long treatise on Animals into its
three parts: History of Animals, ten books; Parts of Animals, four books; Genera-
tion of Animals, five books; and he added the two short treatises, the Movement
of Animals and Progression of Animals, which were not in the Arabic version
(though one or both may have existed in earlier translations from the Greek).

William also translated a few works of Greek commentators on Aristotle:
Alexander of Aphrodisias (who lived in the late second-early third century a.d.),
Themistius (fourth century) and Simplicius (sixth century).

These translations began to circulate soon after 1260. They gradually super-
seded earlier ones, and became the generally accepted texts of Aristotle until
they were themselves superseded by the translations of Renaissance scholars.

Pseudo-Aristotelian Works

Among the writings ascribed to Aristotle by the Arabs, the Latin translators
found several that were written long after his time and are quite un- Aristotelian
in character. But these, too, were accepted as genuine by medieval readers, who
believed that Aristotle, surely the wisest of all men, must have written some-
thing concerning every branch of human knowledge. I shall mention here only
three of these, known as the Secret of Secrets, the Properties of the Elements, and the
Lapidary of Aristotle.

12. The Secret of Secrets ( Secretum secretorum, Steele, 1920) claims to be a
treatise written by Aristotle for Alexander the Great, imparting the secrets of
kingship and the lore of Hermes. The contents, which are differently arranged
in different versions, include advice on the behaviour of a king, the wise selec-
tion of officers of government, the administration of justice, and the conduct of
war, and the preservation of health by means of diet, baths, and medicines.
Brief sections deal with the mysteries of astrology and alchemy.

The author is unknown, but he probably wrote in Syriac. An Arabic version
was made about the beginning of the ninth century and the work continued to
grow by accretion. It was several times translated into Latin and then into
vernacular languages, and was widely read during the Middle Ages. One of the
best Latin texts was edited and annotated by Roger Bacon (Steele, 1920).

Albert certainly knew the Secret of Secrets, and in the Book of Minerals he
seems to allude to it in his remark about the influence of the stars on the ‘inborn’
aptitudes of children (II, iii, 3), and perhaps in his quotations from the Emerald
Table (I, i, 3 ; see Appendix D, 7).



ARISTOTLE


263

13. The Properties of the Elements (De proprietatihus elementorum , or De causis et
proprietatibus elementorum , printed in the Works of Aristotle, Aristotelis opera,
Venice, 1496) is obviously based in part on Aristotle; but it also introduced
into medieval science additional topics for discussion: the role of the heavenly
bodies in causing floods, droughts, and pestilences, and the role of the
moon in causing the tides; the theory that the sea has continually migrated
from place to place, and the evidence for and against such a theory; the
source of underground heat in hot springs and volcanoes; and the questions of
how and when hills and valleys were formed.

This was perhaps written in the tenth century. The author was not only a
student of Aristotle but also something of an astrologer and geographer. The
Latin translation from the Arabic was made by Gerard of Cremona.

Albert himself wrote a commentary on this work, which he cites in the
Book of Minerals (II, iii, 4; see also Introduction: ‘Albert’s Scientific Writings’
and ‘Date of Composition of the Book of Minerals 9 ).

14. The Lapidary of Aristotle , or Aristotle's Book of Stones ( Lapidarium Aristotelis ,
or Liber Aristotelis de lapidibus, Rose, 1875; Ruska, 1912) recounts a number of
adventures of ‘Alexander, my pupil’ with precious or magical stones: Alexander
found stones that called up demons or produced illusions, and other stones to
counteract these; stones that caused horses to neigh and others that kept them
from neighing (and used the latter in surprise attacks on his enemies), See.
These ‘stones’ are obviously fabulous — ‘talismans’ or charms. But the Lapidary
of Aristotle also describes many real minerals — gemstones, metals and their
ores, and substances used in medicine and the arts.

The core of this work seems to have been a Syriac or Persian lapidary going
back to the sixth or fifth century. It was translated into Arabic, perhaps at
Baghdad in the ninth century, and subsequently reworked and enlarged,
probably more than once. Latin translations were made from both Arabic and
Hebrew versions; one of these, attributed to Gerard (presumably of Cremona),
which existed in the thirteenth century, has since been lost (see notes on II, iii, 6).

Albert knew this work only by report and all his quotations from it are at
second- or third-hand (see Introduction: ‘Date of Composition of th eBook of
Minerals 9 ).


u



APPENDIX B


LAPIDARIES

Lapidaries before the Thirteenth Century

References to precious stones as ornaments or amulets, and to mineral
substances used in medicine or the arts, go far back in the writings of ancient
Egypt and the Near East. But the European lapidary — a work dealing exclusively
or chiefly with ‘stones’ — may be said to begin with the Greeks. Thereafter the
tradition can be traced to the encyclopedists of the Middle Ages and on into the
Renaissance, when the lapidaries began to be transformed into more or less
scientific treatises on mineralogy, such as Georgius Agricola’s The Nature of
Fossils ( De natura fossilium , 1546) — ‘fossils’ at that time meaning all things
‘dug up’ out of the ground.

A complete history of lapidaries would fill a large book. All that is attempted
here is to indicate briefly the works that can, in some sense, be considered sources
for the ‘lapidary tractate’ (II, ii) in the Book of Minerals , though certainly Albert
made little or no direct use of the earlier writings listed here (1-10). Good ac-
counts of most of these are given by Thorndike (1923, Vols. I— II) and, in some
cases, by the editors of editions listed in the Bibliography.

1. Theophrastus ( Theophrastos ofEresos , c . 372-287 b.c.) was a pupil, friend,
and colleague of Aristotle, whom he succeeded as head of the Lyceum after
322 b.c. Among his scientific writings is a little book On Stones (Cayley and
Richards, 1956), perhaps part of a larger work, including a book on metals
now lost. In it he discusses the properties of ‘stones’ in terms of the Peripatetic
‘chemistry’ of Meteor., IV, and names as examples about fifty minerals and rocks,
some of which are well described. Although the Greek text of this has survived,
it does not seem to have been known to the Arabs, and its influence on medieval
Latin lapidaries was only indirect, through quotations in Pliny (see 3 below).

2. Dioscorides ( Pedanios Dioskurides , first century a.d.) wrote a Greek work
On Healing Substances (Latin, De materia medica). This is perhaps better known as
The Herbal of Dioscorides (Gunther, 1959), because most of the remedies men-
tioned were made from plants, and early manuscripts illustrated with drawings
of plants became the models for medieval herbals, and even later, for botanical
treatises. The fifth (and last) book, however, describes some mineral substances
used in medicine. The treatise was translated into Latin at least as early as the
sixth century, and another translation, from the Arabic, is attributed to Con-
stantine of Africa (eleventh century — see 9 below). Works of this character,



LAPIDARIES


265

which are essentially lists with no inherent structure or argument, are peculiarly
liable to damage in transmission, successive editors or copyists adding, omitting,
or rearranging material to suit themselves. By the thirteenth century some man-
uscripts under this name contained not only traditional medical recipes but
also much about the magical powers of stones, drawn from entirely different
sources. Thus the ‘Diascorides’ cited by Vincent of Beauvais contained some
items from Damigeron (5 below) ; and Bartholomew of England used a ‘Dyas-
corides’ based partly on Marbod (10 below) and partly on Arabic sources.

3 . Pliny ( Cains Plinius Secundus , a.d. 23-79) wrote an elaborate Natural History
(Naturalis historia, Loeb Classical Library) in thirty-seven books, of which the
last five deal with minerals: Book XXXIII, precious metals; XXXIV, base
metals; XXXV, earths; XXXVI, stones, building materials, &c; XXXVII,
precious stones, gems, and other stones having remarkable properties. Pliny
collected his ‘facts’ from a vast literature, most of which has perished; for
example, in Book XXXVII (which is the most important for the history of
lapidaries) he lists thirty-eight ‘authorities’, but Theophrastus’s On Stones is the
only one of them extant. Pliny credits many minerals with curative powers,
evidently drawing on the same Greek medical works as were used by his
contemporary, Dioscorides. He also recounts many magical powers of stones;
these seem to belong to an eastern tradition, in books similar to Damigeron (5
below) and the Lapidary of Aristotle (8 below) that reached Europe much later.
Pliny himself was scornful of such beliefs but his medieval readers were more
credulous than he. The Natural History , being written in Latin, was accessible
all through the Dark Ages and became the chief authority in its field : excerpts,
paraphrases, and epitomes of it supplied a large part of the content of medieval
bestiaries and herbals, as well as lapidaries.

4. Solinus (Caius Julius Solinus, third century) was another Latin writer
immensely popular in the Middle Ages. His Wonders of the World ( Collectanea
rerum memorabilium sive polyhistor , Mommsen, 1864) was compiled almost
entirely from earlier writers, especially Pliny. The material was rearranged on a
geographical plan — for example, the accounts of minerals and precious stones
are scattered throughout, under the countries where they are supposed to be
found; but they were industriously collected together again by Isidore of
Seville (6 below) and later writers of lapidaries.

5. Damigeron, or The Powers of Stones (De virtutibus lapidum , Abel, pp. 161-
95; Evans, 1922, pp. 195-21 5) is a work having a very obscure history. If
‘Damigeron’ is the true name of the author, nothing further is known of him.
The material seems to be derived from the Greek poem Lithica ascribed to



266


APPENDIX B


Orpheus and written perhaps in the fourth century. The Latin Damigeron, of
about the fifth or sixth century, claims to be a translation made for the Emperor
Tiberius by someone named Evax. So this version, as well as the poem of
Marbod (io below) based on it, is often cited as ‘Evax’ in later lapidaries.
Damigeron (or Evax) gives few scientific facts about stones and emphasizes
their magical powers, which are sometimes to be enhanced by engraving
mysterious figures on the stone or mounting and wearing it in a certain way.
This work is thus a link between the Plinian type of lapidary and the lapidaries
dealing with engraved gems, of which Albert also gives a sample (II, iii, 5).

6. Isidore of Seville (Isidorus Hispalensis , c. 560-636), the great scholar of
Visigothic Spain, in his encyclopedic Etymologies (Etymologiarum sive originum
libri XX, Lindsay, 1911) attempted to cover the entire range of human know-
ledge, as extracted from the writers of classical antiquity and the Fathers of the
Church. The title indicates his true interest — in words rather than in the study
of nature. In Book XVI, on stones and metals, the descriptions are copied,
some verbatim, from Pliny and Solinus, and the stones are rearranged in a
somewhat arbitrary order based chiefly on colour. He did not know, or chose
to ignore, such works as Damigeron , and his attitude towards magic stones
reflects something of Pliny’s scepticism, as well as the natural uneasiness of a
Christian prelate about transmitting pagan beliefs: for instance, he groups
together ( Etym . XVI, 15, 21) stones ‘which the heathen use in certain superstiti-
ous practices’. Isidore was still considered a great authority even in the thirteenth
century, and Albert occasionally quotes him.

7. ‘Christian’ lapidaries, commonly entitled The Twelve Stones , also reflect
this uneasiness about pagan practices. Despite the attitude of the Church towards
‘heathen superstitions’, even devout Christians could not entirely shake off the
old belief that precious stones possess some sort of supernatural powers or
significance. This interest was to some extent legitimized by focusing attention
on the stones mentioned in the Bible, especially the two (different) lists of
‘twelve stones’ — those in the breastplate of the High Priest (Exodus xxviii.
17-21 ; xxxix. 10-14) and those in the foundations of the New Jerusalem
(Revelation xxi. 19-21). The former was the subject of a commentary by
Epiphanius (c. 315-c. 402), Bishop of Constantia in Cyprus. This was translated
from Greek into Latin at an early date (Dindorf, vol. iv, 1862; versio antiqua,
pp. 141-224). Biblical commentators exercised their ingenuitynot only in trying
to identify the stones but also in assigning to them allegorical or mystical
meanings. A good example of this type is printed among the writings ascribed
to the English historian, Bede, as part of a Commentary on the Apocalypse (Migne,
Pat . Lat. Vol. 93, cols. 197-202). This specialized sort of lapidary remained



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separate from the tradition of secular lapidaries. But there are also works that
list ‘twelve stones’ different from those in the Bible; and some that correlate
them with the twelve Signs of the Zodiac (Thorndike, i960). The latter should
probably be classified as astrological lapidaries (see Appendix C, 4). Albert must
have seen ‘Christian’ lapidaries, but he makes no special mention of the stones
that appear in them; and his astrological lapidary (II, iii, 5) describes only the
engraved figures, not the particular stones to be used.

8. The Lapidary of Aristotle ( Lapidarium Aristotelis , or Liber Aristotelis de
lapidibus , Rose, 1875 ; Ruska, 1912) is a pseudo-Aristotelian work (see Appendix
A, 14). A few excerpts from this found their way into Arabic medical writings
translated into Latin by Constantine of Africa (see 9 below). The whole work
had certainly been translated by the thirteenth century, but Albert never
succeeded in finding a complete copy of it (I, i, 1 ; II, iii, 6; III, i, 1). He quotes it
several times, but evidently only at second- or third-hand (see Appendix C, 5 ;
and notes on II, iii, 6).

9. Constantine of Africa ( Constantinus Afer , or Africanus, c. 1015-1087), is said
to have been bom at Carthage and to have travelled widely in the East before
settling down in Monte Cassino, where he spent his last years. He was the first
important translator from Arabic into Latin, specializing in medical works. He
has been accused (perhaps unjustly) of trying to claim these as his own writings,
since he usually omitted the authors’ names. Two that have been printed in his
collected works are of interest here: the Book of Degrees , and the Letter on
Incantations (Opera, Basel, 1536, pp 342-87; 317-20). The former (Liber gradum,
or degradibus) has been attributed to Ibn-al Jezzar, and also to Isaac the Jew, who
wrote other books that Constantine translated. The Book of Degrees develops
a theory of Galen that remedies can be classified in four ‘degrees’ of heat, cold,
moisture, and dryness — a system that promised to be useful because physicians
believed that a ‘hot-dry’ fever, for instance, could best be combated by a ‘cold-
moist’ medicine. Among the drugs so classified are about thirty of mineral
origin. This, then, is really a work on materia medica , in the tradition of Dios-
corides, and not a lapidary. But it contained a few items from the Lapidary of
Aristotle , which Albert quotes from Constantine. The other work, the Letter on
Incantations , is supposed to have been written by Costa ben Luca (see Appendix
C, 5). This, too, contains a few statements from the Lapidary of Aristotle that
Albert quotes.

10. Marbod (Marbode, Marbodus Redonensis , 103 5-1 123) was a native of
Angers and became Bishop of Rennes in 1096. His Book of Stones or Gems
(Liber lapidum seu degemmis , Migne, Pat. Lat. Vol. 171, cols. 1735-70) is written



268


APPENDIX B


in Latin hexameters and describes sixty stones and their properties. Marbod
rarely (probably never) used Pliny directly, but took his descriptions partly from
Solinus, partly from Isidore, adding medical and magical powers from Dami-
geron and a few fragments of the Lapidary of Aristotle (by way of Constantine’s
Book of Degrees) ; the poem is distinctly pagan in tone. There is also a ‘Christian
lapidary’ that has been attributed to Marbod — The Twelve Precious Stones in the
Foundation of the Celestial City (op. cit., cols. 1771-2), in rhymed Latin verse.
But it was the secular Book of Stones that became the most widely read lapidary
of the Middle Ages. Its popularity is attested by the large number of extant
manuscripts, and also by the many paraphrases and imitations, in both prose
and verse, in Latin and in vernacular languages. Marbod’s name disappeared
from many of these; and even when his work is quoted verbatim he is sometimes
called ‘Evax’ (from his first line, ‘Evax, King of the Arabs’), or simply Lapi-
darius. A large part of the ‘lapidary tractate’ (II, ii) in the Book of Minerals is
derived from Marbod, although Albert never actually quotes him.

Lapidaries in Thirteenth-Century Encyclopedias

The authors discussed above have all contributed something to Albert’s work;
but he seems rarely to have made direct use of them. For the most part he relied
on later compilations, such as appear in the encyclopedias of his contemporaries,
Arnold of Saxony, Batholomew of England, Thomas of Cantimpre, and
Vincent of Beauvais. These must now be considered :

11. Arnold of Saxony (Arnoldus Saxo ) was probably the earliest of the four.
Nothing is known of him except his name, Saxo , implying that he was bom
or lived in Lower Saxony, and his reference to himself as clericus , a member of
the minor clergy. His book, The Purposes of Natural Things (De finibus rerum
naturalium , Stange, 1905-6) is dated by Stange early in the thirteenth century.
The third part of it deals with minerals and lists eighty-one stones. It is essentially
a poor prose version of Marbod, in places so abbreviated as to be unintelligible
unless one knows the original; to this is added some material from another
source which Arnold does not name, but which can, in many instances, be
identified as the ‘Dyascorides’ quoted by Bartholomew of England.

12. Bartholomew of England ( Bartholomaeus Anglicus , fl. c. 1230-40) was a
Franciscan. His reputation for learning was already established, and perhaps his
encyclopedia, The Properties of Things (De proprietatibus rerum , Heidelberg,
1488), was already written, by 1230, when the General of the Franciscans
requested his transfer from the French province to a teachingpostatMagdeburg.
The Properties of Things contains one book (XVI) on minerals and metals,
compiled from many authorities whom Bartholomew names: Isidore of Seville,



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Marbod (as Lapidarius ), ‘Dyascorides’ ; also Biblical commentators and medical
writers, including Constantine of Africa and Avicenna. Bartholomew’s habit
(rather unusual for the time) of giving exact references is helpful for identifying
unnamed citations in other writers.

13. Thomas of Cantimpre, or of Brabant ( Thomas Cantimpratensis , or
Brabantinus , c. 1201-c. 1270) was a member of the Order of Preachers, and was
sub-prior and lector at the Dominican House in Louvain after 1246. He was
acquainted with Albert, or at least had attended some of his lectures. His ency-
clopedia, The Nature of Things (De natura rerum) (British Museum MS. Egerton
1984; Evans, 1922, pp. 223-34), is supposed, from internal evidence, to have
been written between 1228 and 1244. The book on stones bears a close resem-
blance to Arnold’s, but makes more use of Biblical commentaries and identifies
in the list the ‘Twelve Stones’ (of Exodus) ; it also cites the work of ‘Thetel’
on engraved gems (see Appendix C, 4).

14. Vincent of Beauvais ( Vincentius Bellovacensis , jl. c . 1250-60) was also a
Dominican and served as sub-prior at Beauvais about 1246. Later he was
Royal Chaplain and tutor to the children of Louis XI. His encyclopedia, the
Great Mirror ( Speculum majus ), is divided into three parts, the Mirror of Nature
(Speculum naturale ), the Mirror of Doctrine ( Speculum doctrinale ), and the Mirror of
History ( Speculum historiale). The Speculum naturale (Strasbourg, 1481), which
deals with natural science, may have been finished by 1250, but this date is very
uncertain. It includes one book (VIII) on metals and one (IX) on stones. In the
latter Vincent cites many authorities — Vitruvius, Palladius, Pliny, and Solinus,
as well as the more usual Isidore, Marbod (as Lapidarius ), and ‘Diascorides’ ;
and he also cites his contemporaries, Arnold (by name) and Thomas (not named,
but as the book De naturis rerum). Under the designation Auctor (author) he
adds brief comments of his own.

Albert 9 s Lapidary in the Book of Minerals

Useful accounts of these encyclopedias have been given by Thorndike (1923,
Vol. II), but a detailed study would be necessary in order to answer all questions
about their relations to each other and to Albert’s works (on plants and animals
as well as minerals). The conclusions stated here are based solely on examination
and comparison of the portions dealing with stones and metals.

In considering Albert’s immediate sources for the ‘lapidary tractate’ (II, ii)
in the Book of Minerals I believe that Vincent of Beauvais can be ruled out
entirely. Although his Mirror of Nature may have been completed around 1250
(see Introduction: ‘Date of composition of the Book of Minerals 9 ), the simi-
larities between this and Albert’s lapidary all seem to be Vincent’s quotations of
Arnold or Thomas or other sources that Albert used independently.



APPENDIX B


270

Bartholomew of England can also be ruled out. In fact, his lapidary in The
Properties of Things seems to have no direct connexion with those in other con-
temporary encyclopedias : here, too, similarities show merely that Bartholomew
was quoting (often more fully and more accurately) sources that others also used.

On the other hand, even the most superficial examination suggests that
Albert’s lapidary tractate is indebted to those of Arnold of Saxony and Thomas
of Cantimpre (cf. Bormans, 1852 ; Rose, 1875 ; Aiken, 1947) ; and other parallels
occur in the chapters on astrological sigils and on ligatures and suspensions
(II, iii, 5-6). This is not surprising. Albert, as he himself tells us (III, i, 1), made a
long search for the Lapidary of Aristotle , and no doubt consulted every lapidary
he could lay hands on. But he never names either Arnold or Thomas. It may
be that he did not know their names: Rose (1875, p. 335) reported that some
manuscripts of their works are anonymous, and Thorndike (1923, VoL II, pp.
396-398; 1963) lists a number of copies of The Nature of Things that lack
Thomas’s name or are attributed to someone else. But Thomas was a fellow
Dominican, and claimed to be acquainted with Albert, and it is difficult to
believe that Albert used his book without knowing who had written it. This,
however, was a common usage of the time; many medieval writers pass along
the sayings of famous ‘authorities’ like Aristotle, Hermes, or Evax, without
giving the immediate contemporary source of their information, which may
have been a paraphrase or epitome, the author being considered relatively
unimportant.

If Albert used either of these contemporary lapidaries, he must have used
both, since some of his stones are found in one but not in the other (at least in
the texts I have seen), and a few are described partly in Thomas’s phrases and
partly in Arnold’s. But the two are on the whole so similar as to point to a
common source, and it is possible that Albert himself also used that source.
The style of this part of the Book of Minerals , with its reiterated ‘it is said’
(i dicitur , fertur ), ‘it is found by experience’ (expertum est) 9 ‘some people say’
(( quidam dicunt), &c., indicates that he was comparing and summarizing informa-
tion from several lapidaries. Arnold’s and Thomas’s cannot have been the only
ones he used, because in some instances he names authorities that they omit.

Arnold says his lapidary is based on ‘Aristotle and Aaron and Evax, King of
the Arabs, and Diascorides’. This does not imply four separate works used inde-
pendently; it was probably one manuscript, supposedly compiled by ‘Dias-
corides’ (see 2 above), and containing excerpts from Aristotle (that is, the
Lapidary of Aristotle ), Evax (Marbod, already reduced to a prose paraphrase),
and Aaron (unidentified, but presumably a Jewish or Arabic work that supplied
the items not in Marbod or the Lapidary of Aristotle). Thomas used the same
source, but calls it merely ‘Evax King of Arabia’ (appropriately enough, since
most of it came from Marbod). Bartholomew of England cites it, too, but uses



LAPIDARIES


271

only the name ‘Dyascorides’ (as the author of the whole collection) ; and he
chooses mostly items that are not in Evax (that is, Marbod) whom he quotes
directly.

Albert also lists ‘Evax, King of the Arabs, Diascorides, Aaron’ among his
authorities at the beginning of the Book of Minerals (I, i, 1). He repeats ‘Evax
and Aaron and Diascorides’ in introducng the subject of astrological sigils
(II, iii, 4) ; this suggests that the lapidary of engraved gems (which is also in
Arnold and Thomas) was a part of, or was bound up with, the manuscript that
contained the alphabetical lapidary (II, ii). Finally, in the chapter on ligatures
and suspensions (II, iii, 6) he again cites ‘Aristotle and Diascorides’, apparently
the work that Arnold calls ‘The Lapidary of Aristotle , translator Diascorides’.
This chapter of Albert’s closely resembles Arnold’s and may be partly based on
it; but Albert includes a few items from the Lapidary of Aristotle that are not in
Arnold. Moreover, a number of Arnold’s statements are also in Bartholomew,
credited to ‘Dyascorides’. So the material in Albert’s final chapter on stones
(II, iii, 6) seems to have been another part of a ‘Diascorides’ compilation that
was known also to Bartholomew and Arnold. Albert no doubt valued it
especially because it contained excerpts from the Lapidary of Aristotle .



APPENDIX C


ASTROLOGY AND MAGIC

Astronomy is not only the oldest of the sciences; in the ancient world it was
also a religion and a practical art. Scientific astronomy — the observation and
recording of the motions of the heavenly bodies and the mathematical calcu-
lation of their courses — will not be discussed here. The astral religion, however,
left its mark on Greek philosophy; and the practical art of predicting human
fortunes from the stars was already widespread in the Roman Empire and was
transmitted to medieval Europe through both Latin and Arabic channels. These
influences are obvious in the Book of Minerals: the works mentioned or alluded
to by Albert may conveniently be grouped under five headings: (i) Plato,
(2) Ptolemy, (3) Hermes, (4) astrological sigils, (5) amulets.

1. Plato (427-347 b.c.), founder of the Academy at Athens, was influenced
by the Pythagoreans, and in turn influenced a long line of thinkers beginning
with Aristotle and including some of the Fathers of the Church, notably
Augustine (a.d. 354-430). But the only one of Plato’s own works that was read
in western Europe during the Dark Ages was the Timaeus , in a Latin translation
and commentary made by Chalcidius (Mullach, 1881, Vol. 2, pp. 149-258) in
the fourth century. The Timaeus took a strong hold on men’s imaginations:
it deals with the themes of cosmic harmony, expressed in numerical ratios;
of the ordering of chaos into cosmos by the Demiurge, who created the stars
in their ‘choric dance’, and then entrusted to them, the ‘young gods’, the crea-
tion of all mortal things; and of the doctrine of man, the microcosm or ‘little
world’, reflecting in his being the macrocosm or ‘great world’ of which he is a
part. Plato did not teach astrology, as such, but the Timaeus might be held to
support belief in the power of the stars over human lives; and later astrologers
invoked the authority of Plato, as well as that of his pupil Aristotle (whose
cosmology is discussed in Appendix A).

Albert, of course, knew the Chalcidius version of Timaeus (III, i, 6), and he
also knew some of the Latin writers on Platonism, though the only one of these
that he mentions in the Book of Minerals (II, 1, 2) is Apuleius of Madaura, who
was frequently cited by Augustine in The City of God. Apuleius’s own writings
reveal an interest in magic as well as in philosophy; his most famous work is
The Golden Ass , or Metamorphoses, a romance about a man transformed into an
ass. Some of the Greek commentators on Aristotle were neo-Platonists, and
their views are reflected in the Arabic commentaries : for instance, Avicenna’s
belief in angels as the intelligences that move the celestial spheres — a belief of



ASTROLOGY AND MAGIC 273

which Albert strongly disapproves (II, i, 2-3). Neo-Platonist writings also have
many connexions with ‘Hermetic’ books (see 3 below).

2. Ptolemy ( Claudius Ptolemaeus,fl. c. a.d. 150) is famous as the author of the
‘Great Work’ on astronomy transmitted to Western science under its Arabic
name, the Almagest . In the Middle Ages he was perhaps even more famous as an
astrologer. His Treatise in Four Books (Greek Tetrabiblos , Latin Quadripartitum) is
interesting even today as a ‘rational’ account of astrology. Ptolemy argues that
the influences of the stars work through the qualities (heat, cold, moisture,
dryness) which they impart to the atmosphere and the earth, causing winds, rains,
floods, and droughts ; their effect at any particular time and place depends on the
positions of the planets in relation to each other and to the Signs of the Zodiac.
On this basis he gives an account of weather, seasons, and climate that is in fair
agreement with the facts in the eastern Mediterranean region (where he lived)
and then goes on to claim equal validity for prognostications about ‘major’
events like earthquakes, pestilences, and wars, and about ‘minor’ events in the
lifetime of any individual man or woman.

The Latin translation (Quadripartitum) was made from the Arabic by Plato
of Tivoli before the middle of the twelfth century, and Albert cites it (II, i, 3 ;
II, iii, 4), as well as the spurious Hundred Aphorisms ( Centiloquium , Ashmand,
1822) which was translated even earlier. Medieval writers often confused Pto-
lemy the astronomer with the royal family that ruled Hellenistic Egypt, and
called him ‘king Ptolemy of Egypt’, ascribing to him many other books on
astrology; Albert alludes to some of these without giving their titles (see 4
below).

3. Hermes Trismegistus, ‘Hermes thrice-greatest’, is a name attached to a
bewildering number of books on religious mysticism, astrology, magic, and
even alchemy. The oldest of these, known as the Hermetic corpus, were written
in Greek, probably at Alexandria in the early centuries of the Christian era.
Hermes, however, was commonly identified with the Egyptian god, Thoth,
whose teachings were said to have been handed down from the remotest
antiquity; and this identification was accepted in the Middle Ages, so that
Albert speaks ofHermes as the predecessor of Plato and other Greek philosophers.
One book in the Hermetic corpus, The Sacred Book of Hermes Trismegistus
addressed to Asclepius (Scott, Hermetica, Vol. I) is in Latin, evidently an early
translation; this has been attributed (dubiously) to Apuleius of Madaura. It is
strongly tinged with neo-Platonism. Albert cites it in his Animals (XXII, i, 5)
and alludes to it in the Book of Minerals (II, i, 1), in speaking of the ‘miraculous
powers’ of the soul.

Most of Albert’s references, however, seem to represent a later stage of the



APPENDIX C


274

Hermetic tradition, transmitted through Arabic writers. These works are not
easy to identify because ‘sayings of Hermes’ were endlessly repeated from one
book to another. The Universal Power(s) (De universali virtute , cited in the Book
of Minerals , II, i, 2, and in The Nature of Places , i, 5) is ascribed to ‘Hermes and
certain followers of his’, but was undoubtedly written by a ‘follower’ whom
Albert does not name. I have not identified this work, though it may still exist
in manuscript. But it would seem to be connected with, or perhaps to be another
version of, a treatise attributed to Hermes (or sometimes to Enoch) on Fifteen
Stars, Fifteen Stones, Fifteen Herbs, and Fifteen Images (Latte, pp. 235-89).
This is presumably of Greek origin, but the Latin text was translated from an
Arabic epitome. It correlates the colours of stars with the planets and also with
the four humours and the four elements: red with Mars, Fire, bile; livid or
leaden, with Saturn, Earth, black bile; yellow with Jupiter, Air, blood; and
white with Venus, Water, phlegm. Neither this list of colours nor the sub-
sequent assignment of stones and images to particular stars corresponds very
closely with the Book of Minerals (II, i, 2; iii, 5), so this work was not Albert’s
source; but it does probably represent a type of Hermetic treatise then well
known.

Hermes was also said to have written books on astrological images (see 4
below) and on alchemy (see Appendix D, 7).

4. Astrological sigils, according to Albert (II, iii, 1), can be understood only
by those skilled in astrology, necromancy, and magic; and it is therefore rather
surprising to find him assuring his fellow Dominicans that this is ‘good doc-
trine’. It is less surprising if we compare his views in the Book of Minerals with
those of the Mirror of Astronomy, or astrology ( Speculum astronomiae, Borgnet,
Vol. X), which has also, though not unanimously, been ascribed to Albert (see
Introduction: Albert’s Scientific Writings). The Mirror of Astronomy (Ch. XI)
says that images are ‘abominable’ if they are made or used with accompanying
invocations or burning of incense to pagan gods or demons; less evil but still
‘detestable’ are images bearing ‘characters’ or inscriptions, especially in an un-
known language, which may conceal something contrary to the True Faith.
The only permissible images are those that derive their power solely from the
heavenly bodies, through having been made at a time when the planets were in
a configuration favourable to the intended purpose of the image. Such distinc-
tions between ‘black’ and ‘white’ magic may seem tenuous today, but were
apparently clear enough to the schoolmen (see Thorndike, 1923, Vol. II, pp.
549-92, 692-717).

The Mirror of Astronomy is a sort of ‘annotated bibliography’ of licit and illicit
books (in quo de libris licitis et illicitis pertractatur). Of the illicit books the author
says that it is a long time since he read them, that he regarded them with abhor-



ASTROLOGY AND MAGIC


275


rence, and can no longer remember the exact titles and contents of all of them;
but those he does recall include several on rings, sigils, and images — in fact the
very ones that Albert mentions in the Book of Minerals . Most of these have been
identified in manuscript collections (Thorndike, 1947; Carmody, 1956).

Actually the only one of Albert’s ‘authorities’ on this subject who is not
mentioned in the Mirror of Astronomy is Geber of Seville (Geber Hispalensis).
This is not Geber the alchemist, Jabir ibn Hay y an (see Appendix D, 3), but the
twelfth-century astronomer, Jabir ibn Afjlah , whose book criticizing the Alma-
gest was translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona. But Albert also refers
(II, iii, 3-5) to the following:

Magor of Greece (Magor Graecus) and Germa of Babylon (Germa Babylonen -
sis) are thought by Thorndike (1923, Vol. II, pp. 226-7, 718-9) to be the same
as the Toz Graecus and Germath Babylonensis , who are also mentioned together
in the Mirror of Astronomy (Ch. XI) : Germa(th), also called Gergis, Gergic, &c.,
has not been identified with certainty: Carmody (p. 73) suggests Jirjis ibn al -
'Amid, or perhaps Georgius Antiochenus (eleventh century). One of the books
bearing this name concerns the Images of the Seven Planets. But Toz is certainly
a variant of Thoth , that is, Hermes Trismegistus, and the Mirror of Astronomy
(Ch. XI) notes a series of Hermetic books on the planets — Moon, Mercury,
Venus, &c. — some of which contained several tractates on rings, images,
characters, and incantations. Since these are all said to be very bad books, we
can understand why Albert’s later references to them (II, iii, 5) are so brief and
vague.

Ptolemy, as already noted (2 above) was well known as an astrologer, and
Albert paraphrases part of the Tetrabiblos (II, iii, 3) ; but he may be alluding also
to spurious books of sigils, &c., that were likewise ascribed to Ptolemy.

Thebit ben Corat ( Thabit . B. Qurra) worked at Baghdad in the ninth century.
He wrote several books on mathematics and astronomy, and is also credited
with one on magic tricks or illusions, which seems to be that mentioned by
Albert as ‘Hermes and Ptolemy and Thebit ben corat’ (II, ii, 4), indicating that
he knew it by the title recorded by Thorndike (1923, Vol. I, pp. 664-5; 1947,
pp. 227-8) for the translation of Adelard of Bath: Liber prestigiorum Thebidis
secundum Ptolemaeum et Hermetem, a compilation (presumably by Thebit) from
some of the pseudo-Ptolemaic and Hermetic books already mentioned.

Another book on images (De imaginibus , Carmody, 1961) is ascribed some-
times to Thebit and sometimes to Aristotle, since Aristotle is quoted in the
first sentence. But perhaps Albert’s rather unenlightening mention of Aristotle
on the aspects of Jupiter (II, iii, 5) is an allusion to one of the very worst books
listed in the Mirror of Astronomy (Ch. XI), called The Death of the Soul (Mors
animae).

Sahl ben Bisr , or Zahel Benbriz , or (as he is called in the Mirror of Astronomy ,



APPENDIX C


276

Chs. VIII, IX, X) Zahel Israelite was a Jew who lived in the ninth century.
Several of his works on interrogations and elections were translated into Latin,
and also a short tract on engraved gems (manuscripts bear such names as Zael,
Cheel, Cethel, Thetel, &c.) : Liber sigillorumfiliorum Israel quern fecerunt in deserto .
This claims to preserve a tradition of the Children of Israel, who during their
wandering in the desert received divine instruction as to the carving of gems
(cf. Exodus xxviii. 9-30). But the figures described are distinctly pagan. One
example may suffice: ‘When you find on a stone a man holding in one hand
a figure of a devil depicted with horns and wings, and in the other hand a ser-
pent, and under his feet a Hon, and above these figures stand the sun and moon,
this stone should be mounted in lead, and it has the power of compelling demons
to answer questions/ Thomas of Cantimpre (see Appendix B, 13) included this
work of ‘Thetel’ in his encyclopedia (i38r-i4or), though he warned his readers
not to put too much faith in such figures but rather to trust in God; and he
added a prayer for sanctifying stones. Albert seems even more doubtful than
Thomas whether this treatise, with its strange mixture of Biblical and heathenish
elements, is really ‘good doctrine’. He does not name Zahel, and makes only the
barest allusion to ‘the Children of Israel when they journeyed out of Egypt’
(II, iii, 4).

Finally, there is another, more strictly astrological, lapidary which Albert
does include in full (II, iii, 5) ; this was written by someone who had before him
a set of pictures of the constellations. Such illustrated manuscripts have been
described by Haskins (1924, pp. 285-8; 336-45, photographs in the Houghton
Library of Harvard University). One of these is a thirteenth-century copy of a
treatise by ‘Nimrod the astronomer’ (MS. Lat. VIII 22, Library of St. Mark’s,
Venice). According to Haskins, this is of Syrian-Greek origin, and was reworked,
probably in Gaul, before the introduction of Arabic astronomy. It was appar-
ently held in high regard, for the Mirror of Astronomy (Ch. II) mentions it
even before Ptolemy. The constellations are shown in forty-three drawings
which (like the drawings that accompany the Herbal ofDioscorides) suggest that a
Byzantine prototype became the basis of a long-lived convention. Another,
fourteenth-century, manuscript (Munich, cod. lat. 10268) is a copy of Michael
Scot’s Introduction to astrology (. Liber introductorius ); in this the drawings are
more elaborate but the same convention is still discernible — for example, in
representing Andromeda with hands bound to two stakes, or in combining
in one drawing such groups as the Water Snake, Crow, and Cup, or the two
Bears and the Dragon. These are, for the most part, the figures described in
Albert’s astrological lapidary.

The figures of the planets, on the other hand, are given in this lapidary
according to a quite different convention, that of engraved gems of the classical
period — Saturn as the old man with a scythe, Mercury with winged heels, &c.



ASTROLOGY AND MAGIC


277

Antique gems were preserved in royal and ecclesiastical treasuries, and were
occasionally turned up on Roman sites, as Albert himself tells us (II, iii, 5) ; in
fact, most medieval lapidaries of this type speak of such images as ‘found’
rather than ‘made’. (Cf. notes on II, iii, 2).

This lapidary of engraved gems was apparently well known; in introducing
it (II, iii, 4) Albert names as his authorities ‘Evax and Aaron and Diascorides’,
meaning, I think, the ‘Diascorides’ manuscript in which he also found the alpha-
betical lapidary (II, ii: see Appendix B). It is certainly from the same source as
the similar lists in the encyclopedias of Arnold of Saxony and Thomas of
Cantimpre; and it has been found elsewhere: another specimen in Latin has
been published by Evans (1922, pp. 239-46), and two in old French by Studer
and Evans (1924, pp. 278-96). All these versions are corrupt; the names are dis-
torted, the sequence confused, and figures from other sources are sometimes
included. Albert’s copy was evidently no better.

5. Amulets, used for ‘ligatures and suspensions’ — that is, binding to any
part of the body or hanging round the neck — are not necessarily astrological,
though Albert probably includes them (II, iii, 6) because he regards all
powers of stones as heaven-sent. He names as his authorities for these Costa
ben Luca, Aristotle, and Hermes.

Costa ben Luca (Qusta ibn Luqa , c. 820-915) worked mostly at Baghdad.
He wrote on astronomy and philosophy, but Albert cites a work on Physical
Ligatures {De physicis ligaturis ), which has also been attributed to, and printed
with, the writings of Galen and of Constantine of Africa (Constantine may have
been the translator). In the latter’s works {Opera, pp. 317-20) it is entitled
Letter to a son on incantations and adjurations; other editions add ‘and suspensions
from the neck’. Albert paraphrases Costa ben Luca’s argument for the efficacy
of amulets, including the remarks of Socrates on what today might be called
psychosomatic symptoms; and extracts a few quotations about stones. Costa
ben Luca included many amulets made from plants and animals, and Albert
mentions these elsewhere (II, i, 1).

‘Aristotle’ in this context, of course, means the pseudo-Aristotelian Lapidary
(see Appendix B, 8), or at least the excerpts from it which, as Albert says at the
end, were all he was able to recover. A large part of the chapter (II, iii, 6) closely
resembles Arnold of Saxony’s Chapter 8, on stones {De lapidibus), in the fourth
part of his encyclopedia (Stange, pp. 85-87). Albert, in fact, is quoting, from
Arnold or from Arnold’s source, nearly everything except what comes from
Costa ben Luca — not only the excerpts from ‘Aristotle’ but also those
from ‘Zeno’s book on Nature’. But Arnold’s chapter shows more clearly than
Albert’s that there were two different versions of the Lapidary of Aristotle. One is
cited as ‘Aristotle’s Lapidary , translator Diascorides’ ; but the excerpts from it



APPENDIX C


278

show that it was not really a translation but a compilation containing a few
items from the Lapidary of. Aristotle and a great many more that belong rather to
the tradition of Marbod; this seems to be the ‘Dyascorides’ so often cited by
Bartholomew of England. The other translation, which Arnold ascribes to
Gerard (presumably of Cremona), is now lost; it contained information about
the polarity of the magnet which is not found in any extant manuscript of the
Lapidary of Aristotle (Rose, 1875; Ruska, 1912).

Hermes is not mentioned by Arnold in this chapter; but the whole fourth
part of his encyclopedia is entitled De virtute universali. Albert, as we have seen
(see 3 above), knew some Hermetic book with this title. Perhaps Hermes’s
name appeared in Arnold’s source; or perhaps Albert himself added it, on
recognizing the title or some of the contents of a book he knew independently.



APPENDIX D


ALCHEMY

The history of alchemy is difficult to trace because the basic documents, in
Greek, Arabic, and Latin, are not always what they purport to be. Not only
were old materials repeatedly reworked, but later writers often assumed earlier
names already famous in order to lend their books greater authority. These pro-
blems cannot be dealt with here, but enough may be said to indicate the back-
ground of alchemical doctrines that were familiar in the thirteenth century, and to
identify at least some of the works used by Albert in writing the Book of Minerals .

Alchemy seems to have originated in Hellenistic Alexandria, as an attempt to
‘explain’ technical processes (dyeing, glassmaking, metalworking, See.) by
theories drawn from Greek philosophy (Hopkins, 1934). Ancient arts, based on
empirical methods developed through many centuries, began to seem mysteri-
ous to those who asked why the methods worked. Surviving documents from
this period bear mostly Greek or Jewish names — Hermes, Plato, Democritus,
Zosimus, Cleopatra; or Enoch, Moses and Aaron, and their sister Miriam.
They preserve a strange mixture of practical recipes, laboratory directions, and
mystical interpretations of chemical change.

Very little of the theoretical or mystical alchemy was transmitted directly,
through early translation into Latin, to western Europe, where the earliest
‘chemical’ books are collections of recipes for making paints, cutting glass,
working with metals, See. such as the Mappae clavicula (Phillips, 1847). Later
examples are Eraclius (or Heraclius), who wrote on similar subjects in Latin
hexameters, On the Colors and Arts of the Romans (Merrifield, 1849, Vol. I);
and a longer prose treatise by Theophilus Upon Various Arts (Hendrie, 1847;
Dodwell, 1961) who explained not only painting and glassmaking but also the
assembly of stained-glass windows, the making of gold and silver vessels for
the church service, the casting of bells, and the construction of an organ. Such
works, however, seem to have had little interest for the schoolmen, and are not
quoted by the thirteenth-century encyclopedists. Albert himself gained at least
some of his knowledge of technology by direct observation (III, i, 1 ; IV, 6).

Meanwhile the Arabic-speaking world had eagerly adopted Greek alchemy,
elaborating the theories and adding to the factual content. And it was through
translations from the Arabic that knowledge of alchemy began to spread in the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Albert must have been well acquainted with
this literature but his sources cannot always be identified. I will mention first a
few works (1-4 below) which, although it is impossible to prove that Albert
used them, were well known at the time and had a wide influence.



280


APPENDIX D


1. The Conference of Philosophers ( Turba philosophorum, Ruska, 1931; Plessner,
1954) shows clearly the Arabic debt to Greek alchemy. It describes a meeting of
Greek philosophers (their names strangely garbled) and attempts to link
their cosmological teachings with alchemy. Little of this is really ‘chemical’,
but some echo of it may have strengthened Albert’s belief that Democritus,
Empedocles, and Plato were alchemists (see 5 and 6 below.)

2. Morienus was, according to tradition, a Greek of Alexandria, and the
teacher of the first Muslim alchemist, Khalid ibn Yazid Muawiya (d. 704),
whose story is told in a work ascribed to Morienus, the Book of the Composition
of Alchemy (. Liber de compositione alchimiae, Manget, Vol. I). This was one of the
first works of Arabic alchemy to reach the West, being translated into Latin
by Robert of Chester before the middle of the twelfth century. If Albert did
not know it, he certainly knew another, related, work ascribed to Khalid
himself (see 8 below.)

3. Jabir, or Geber {Jabir ibn Hay y an , connected with the court of Harun
al-Rashid at Baghdad in the eighth century) is credited by Holmyard (1957,
pp. 66-80) with the formulation, though not necessarily the invention, of
certain theories that reappear again and again in later alchemy: that volatile
substances are ‘spirits’ and metals ‘bodies’ ; that the planets influence the ‘growth’
of metal underground; and that transmutation may be effected by bringing
about a ‘balance’ or ‘harmony’ between the ‘external’ or ‘manifest’ and the
‘internal’ or ‘occult’ natures of metals by means of an ‘elixir’. He was acquainted
with neo-Platonic notions of number, and tried to calculate by a ‘magic square’
the harmonious proportions for transmuting the metals.

The Arabic Jabirian corpus shows evidence of reworking and additions by
other hands, probably about the tenth century. It was never completely trans-
lated into Latin. A fair sample of it is perhaps the Book of Seventy precepts or
chapters (. Liber de septuaginta , Berthelot, 1906, pp. 308-63), which reflects
Jabir’s ideas about metals, and also his interest in animal substances — eggs, hair,
blood, and sperm — which enter into some of the recipes.

There are still other works, under the Latin name Geber , that were written
in Spain and did not appear in Latin until about the beginning of the fourteenth
century.

4. Rhasis, or Rhazes (Abu Bakr ibn Zakariyya, al-Razi , ninth century) was
renowned as a physician. Some of his medical works were translated into Latin,
as well as his Book on Alums and Salts (Liber de aluminibus et salibus , Steele, 1929,)
sometimes called On Spirits and Bodies (De spiritibus et corporibus ), or Book of
Secrets (Liber secretorum). This is a sort of ‘laboratory manual’ dealing not only



ALCHEMY


281

with ‘alums and salts’ but also with metals, the making of alloys, and transmuta-
tion* The Latin version was made by Gerard of Cremona in the twelfth century,
and it is extensively quoted by Albert’s contemporary, Vincent of Beauvais
(Mirror of Nature, Book VIII). But although many of its procedures are similar
to those mentioned in the Book of Minerals, Albert is not really quoting Rhasis.

We now come to alchemists actually cited by Albert: (5) Democritus; (6)
Plato; (7) Hermes; (8) Khalid ibn Yazid — as ‘Callisthenes’, (9) Avicenna,
(10) Gilgil.

5. Democritus is a name that has been borne by more than one person.
First, of course, by Democritus of Abdera (fifth century b.c.), one of the found-
ers of the atomist philosophy. Whatever Albert knew of him came from Aris-
totle, who severely criticized his theories; and indeed Greek atomism played no
part in the chemical speculations of the Middle Ages. Second, a Democritus
who wrote books on magic (now lost), and who has been identified as Bolos
of Mendes in Egypt (of perhaps the third or second century b.c.). Third, a
Democritus (who may, however, be the same as Bolos-Democritus), author of a
treatise On things natural and mystical (Steele, 1890; Stillman, pp. 153-61). Like
other books on Greek alchemy this gives recipes for dyeing and for colouring
metals to resemble gold and silver. But this is not the source of the statement
that Albert (III, i, 4) attributes to Democritus — namely, that metals are made up
of calx and lixivium — a theory which, according to Partington (1937, p. 10) is
otherwise unknown in alchemy.

There are still other manuscripts, in Greek, Syriac, and Arabic, ascribed to
Democritus. But probably Albert had merely seen some reference to Democri-
tus in other alchemical works, though no doubt he supposed he was quoting
Democritus of Abdera.

6. Plato (427-347 b.c.) certainly never wrote on alchemy, but here, as in
astrology (see Appendix C, 1), his name was often invoked. In the Timaeus
Alexandrian alchemists found the notion of ‘prime matter’ (materia prima)
from which the four elements were created, and the suggestion that the elements
can be transmuted into each other. Water is said to be the chief matter of all
liquid or liquefiable things, including the fusible metals; gold is the most
perfect metal, since the others contain fine Earth, which eventually appears as
rust. Plato also taught that all evil, ugliness and disease are due to lack of har-
mony in the proportions of the constituent elements of bodies.

A number of alchemical books were later ascribed to Plato himself (D. W.
Singer, 1946), some of which Albert may have known; but his references to
Plato as an alchemist are too vague to be identified with any certainty.



APPENDIX D


282

7. Hermes (see also Appendix C, 3) was revered as the legendary founder of
alchemy. But the Arabs realized that not all the books attributed to Hermes
came from one hand, and recorded a tradition (quoted by Robert of Chester
in the Preface to his translation of Morienus’s Composition of Alchemy: see 2
above) that there were three ‘philosophers’ called Hermes: the first was Enoch,
grandson of Adam; the second, Noah; the third, a King of Egypt after the
Flood, who instructed mankind in many arts and sciences. Still others identified
Hermes with the Egyptian god, Thoth.

Of Hermetic writings on alchemy, the Emerald Table ( Tabula smaragdina)
is perhaps the oldest, certainly the most famous and the most obscure. Though
probably of Greek origin, it came into Latin from Arabic, and several different
translations are known: one is embedded in the pseudo- Aristotle Secret of
Secrets (Steele, 1920, pp. xlviii-li, 115-16). The text Albert used has been printed
by Steele and Singer (1928, pp.47 -9), who tentatively identify the translator
as Plato of Tivoli (^ 1 . 1134-45). The fascination of the Emerald Table was due
partly to the romantic tale of its discovery, as an inscription on a slab of
emerald in the dark tomb of Hermes, and partly to its enigmatic character.
Since it is short, and also typical of much Hermetic lore, an English translation
maybe of interest:

True, without falsehood, certain, most certain.

That which is above is like that which is below, and that which is below is
like that which is above,

For the preparation of the miracles of one thing.

As all things were from the meditation of one, so all things are bom from
this one thing by combination.

Its father is the sun, its mother the moon.

The wind carried it in its belly. Its nurse is the earth.

This is the father of the wonder of the whole world.

Its power is perfect.

If it is cast upon the earth, it will separate earth from fire, subtle from gross.

Gently, with great, skill, it ascends from earth to heaven. Again it descends
from heaven to earth, and receives power from above and below.

Thus you will possess the glory of the brightness of the whole world, and
therefore all darkness will flee from you.

This is the strong strength of all strength, for it will overcome everything
subtle and penetrate everything solid.

Thus was this world created.

From this will come miraculous combinations, and this is the manner of them.

Therefore I am called Hermes [Trismegistus], having the three parts of the
wisdom of the whole world.

And this completes what we have said about the work of the sun.



ALCHEMY


283

This cannot be said to convey any very clear chemical ideas. Some readers took
‘sun’ and ‘moon* (sol, luna) to refer to gold and silver, and the ‘work of the sun’
(opus solis) to be the preparation of the elixir for transmutation; and many, like
Albert (I, i, 3), attempted to interpret other phrases in terms of actual chemical
procedures.

There is also Hermes’s Book of Alchemy , quoted by Albert (especially in Book
IV) as Hermes in alchimicis and by Arnold of Saxony (Stange, pp. 42-45) as
Liber alchimie Hermes . This seems to be the title of the manuscript containing
the above version of The Emerald Table (Steele and Singer, p.46) : Incipit Liber
Hermetis de blchkmkb, the last word being a primitive cipher for alchimia; and it
includes some of the ‘sayings of Hermes’ that Arnold and Albert quote. But it
must also have contained material of a quite different sort, recipes for making
brass, red and white lead, and green copper pigments, &c. Such knowledge was
ancient and widespread, but the wording of some of Albert’s and Arnold’s
quotations is the same as the Book of the Priests (Liber sacerdotum, Berthelot, 1893,
Vol. I), which is a compilation, probably from many sources, translated from
the Arabic. Perhaps this was sometimes ascribed to Hermes, or perhaps its
author merely drew part of his materials from a Book of Alchemy that Arnold
and Albert found under the name of Hermes.

8. The ‘Callisthenes’ mentioned by Albert (III, i, 7) is Khalid ibn Yazid,
some scribe (or Albert himself) having mistaken Calit or Kalid for an
abbreviation of the Greek name Callisthenes. The original Callisthenes was a
relative of Aristode who accompanied Alexander the Great to Persia, where he
died, or was killed, after quarrelling with Alexander. His name was later bor-
rowed by the author of a romantic history, the source of some of the ‘Alexander
stories’ so popular in the Middle Ages. But all this has nothing to do with
alchemy.

Albert is really citing Khalid ibn Yazid’s Book of the Three Words (Liber trium
verborum Kalid regis, Manget, Vol. II), which says that nature always tries to
develop metals into the most perfect form of silver or gold, but is often un-
successful because matter contracts some ‘disease’ or ‘corruption’ from its
surroundings; and alchemy is the art of perfecting these imperfect metals.

9. Avicenna (Abu Ali ibn Sina , 980-1037) was one of the great philosopher-
scientists of Islam. Among his many writings are two of encyclopedic scope,
the Canon of Medicine and the Book of the Healing of the Soul (Khitab al-Shifa).
The latter deals with philosophy and natural science in the form of comment-
aries on Aristode, although Avicenna’s views were also influenced by neo-
platonism and Muslim theology.

In Albert’s Book of Minerals more than half the citations of Avicenna come



APPENDIX D


284

from one short work, De congelatione et conglutinatione lapidum , which has been
shown (Holmyard and Mandeville, 1927) to be an excerpt from the Khitab
al-Shifa. It was translated into Latin about 1200 by Alfred of Sareshel; and since
it seemed to fill an apparent gap in the Meteorologica (see Appendix A, 4) where
a treatment of minerals is wanting, it was often copied into manuscripts of
that work, and was even cited under Aristotle’s name (e.g. by Arnold of
Saxony). Albert, however, knew that it was really Avicenna’s (III, i, 9). It
consists of three chapters: I, The origin of stones; II, The origin of mountains;
III, Minerals and metals. Albert used part of Chapter I, on ‘thunderstones’ in
his Meteor a (III, iii, 20), and Chapter II, on mountains, in his Properties of the
Elements (II, ii, 5) ; the rest he used in the Book of Minerals . Avicenna’s Chapter I
explains that stones are made from Earth and Water, either by congelatio
(solidification of a liquid) or by conglutinatio (cementing together of solid
particles), under the influence of a vis miner alis (mineralizing power). Chapter
III sets forth the Sulphur-Quicksilver theory of metals, and expresses some
scepticism about the possibility of transmutation.

Several other works on alchemy have been ascribed to Avicenna, but their
authenticity has been doubted because they do not show this scepticism.
Albert (III, i, 4 and 9) quotes one called Avicenna's Letter to King Hasen (Avicennae
ad Hasen regem epistola , Zetzner, Vol. 4), in which the author says that he has
found the arguments and counterarguments of the alchemists foolish and con-
fusing, and has had to discover for himself how to make the elixir . Stapleton
(1962) discovered an Arabic manuscript of this, A Treatise written for Abul -
Hasan Sahl , whom he identified as a member of a family for whom Avicenna
wrote other treatises; and suggested that this was an early work, composed
before Avicenna abandoned his belief in transmutation.

Still another work ascribed to Avicenna is called The Soul in the Art of
Alchemy (De anima in arte alchimiae , Manget, Vol. I). The title reflects the author’s
interest in ‘soul’ or ‘spirit’, that is, in solutions and distillations as the best
methods of disintegrating and reconstituting metals. Even if based on something
of Avicenna’s, the extant text was probably written in Spain in the early
thirteenth or late twelfth century. Vincent of Beauvais (Mirror of Nature, Book
VIII) repeatedly cites it as Avicenna’s. Albert, however, seems to quote (III, 1,
4 and 9) only the final section, Avicenna's exposition of the physical stone for his
son, Abu Ali (Declaratio lapidis physici Avicennae filio suo Aboali) ; this apparently
circulated as a separate work (D. W. Singer, 1928, Vol. I, p. 117).

10. Gilgil (Abu Daud ibn Juljul, tenth century) was a Mozarab physician who
lived in Spain. He is said to have translated or assisted in the translation of
Dioscorides’ Herbal (see Appendix B, 2), and to have written a commentary
identifying the drugs mentioned in that work with a supplementary treatise on



ALCHEMY


285

additional drags. These may be the works to which Albert refers (III, 1, 4),
though it is not clear whether he had seen a Latin translation or merely citations
in other writers. He calls Gilgil mechanicus non philosophus, ‘a practical man not a
theoretical scientist’, and demolishes his theory that metals are essentially of the
same nature as glass, and therefore must be composed of materials, such as
‘ashes’, that are used in malting glass.



APPENDIX E


IDENTIFICATION OF MINERALS AND ROCKS

Albert had a remarkably wide knowledge of minerals and rocks, but in
writing about them he himself felt the lack of a systematic nomenclature (I, i, 6).
Many names had come down from antiquity or from the Arabs, though some
of these were strangely distorted in transmission, so that similar pronunciations
sometimes led to the confusion of two different minerals (e.g. celon(i)tes and
silenites). But many minerals were still ‘nameless* ( innominati ) and Albert had to
describe them as best he could in his own words; this was particularly true of
ore minerals and common rocks (see 2 and 3 below).

For these reasons ‘identification* (that is, supplying the name that would be
used today to designate these materials) is not always easy. Some minerals are
described by Albert in unmistakable terms (e.g. gold, rock crystal) ; but some
had several different names (e.g. opal, pyrite) ; and some names included several
different minerals (e.g. smaragdus , many green stones; or marchasita , many
sulphides with metallic colour and lustre ‘from which no metal is ever smelted*).
Still other minerals have changed their names, or were in process of changing
them in Albert’s time (e.g. chrysolites and topasion , which were originally topaz
and chrysolite, respectively; or saphirus , originally lapis lazuli, later sapphire).

In attempting this task I have found the following works useful (full references
are given in the Bibliography) :

Commentaries and notes on Theophrastus (especially the edition of On Stones
by Cayley and Richards), and on Pliny (Bailey, The Elder Pliny s Chapters on
Chemical Subjects , is excellent though it does not include Book XXXVII;
Ball, A Roman Book on Precious Stones, on Book XXXVII, supplies some
information).

Another helpful source is Georgius Agricola: although he lived in the six-
teenth century, he was well acquainted with both Pliny’s and Albert’s works,
and tried to systematize the mineralogy of his own time (the Hoover translation
of De re metallica contains valuable notes; but the Bandy translation of De natura
fossilium is rather poor).

Among more ‘modem’ books, Dana’s Textbook of Mineralogy (revised fourth
edition by W. E. Ford, 1932) should be noted, since it includes, and gives the
meanings of, many old names. Papers dealing with medieval and later lapi-
daries have been published by Van der Velde (1941-3) and by Strunz (1952);
these offer numerous mineral identifications, though I do not agree with all of
them.

In the following lists I have given identifications that seem to me certain,



IDENTIFICATION

OF MINERALS AND ROCKS 287

or very probable, or, in some

cases, marked by a query (?), at least possible.

I have given Albert’s Latin names (if he used any), or a translation of the phrases

on which my identifications are

based.

i. Minerals


Albert certainly had not seen all the ‘stones’ included in his ‘lapidary tractate*
(II, ii), but his remarks show that he actually knew a good many of them, and
for these I have been guided by his descriptions, even when they are at variance
with other identifications (e.g. granatus as garnet; topasion as pyrite). In this list
I have omitted most ore minerals, since these are more easily identified in
connexion with their metals (see 2 below), but I have included a few things
that are not technically ‘minerals’ — rocks, fossils, sea-shells — because Albert

included them in his lapidary.


Agate

II, ii, 1, agathes; 8, hiena ?

Alabaster (gypsum)

II, ii, 12, nicomar (in part); 17, sarcophagus (in
part)

Almandine

II, ii, 1, alamandina

Alum minerals

V, 4, alumen

Amber

II, ii, 17, succinus ; 3, chryselectrum (in part); 7,
gagates (in part) ?; 10, ligurius ?

Amethyst

II, ii, 1, amethystus (in part)

Arsenopyrite

II, ii, 11; V, 6, marchasita (in part)

Asbestus

II, ii, 1, aheston ; 8, iscustos

Balas ruby (spinel)

II, ii, 2, balagius, palatius; 3, carbunculus (in part)

Barnacle shell

II, ii, 17, sagda

Beryl

II, ii, 2, beryllus; 4, diacodos ?

Biotite (mica)

II, ii, 17, specularis (in part)

Borax

II, ii, 12; V, 7, nitrum (in part)

Calcite

II, ii, 7 , galaricides; 17, samius ?

Camelian

II, ii, 3, comeleus

Cats-eye

II, ii, 8, hiena ?

Chalcanthite

II, ii, 11, medius ; V, 3, atramentum; II, ii, 4,
dyonysia ?

Chalcedony

Chalk, see Calcite

II, ii, 3, chalcedonius ; I, ii, 2, corneola

Chrysoberyl

II, ii, 3, chryselectrum (in part) ?

Chrysolite (olivine)

II, ii, 3, chrysolitus

Chrysoprase

II, ii, 3, chrysopassus

Cinnabar

II, ii, 19, varach ?



288

APPENDIX E

Citrine

II, ii, 3, chryselectrum (in part) ?; 18, topasion (in
part) ?

Clay minerals

II, ii, 16, ramai, bolus armenicus ; 7, galaricides ?;
17, samius (in part) ?

Coal

Cobaltite, see Arsenopyrite

II, ii, 1, absinthus ?

Coral

II, ii, 3, cor alius

Corundum

II, ii, 8 , hyacinthus ; 1, adamas (in part) ?; 7,
gelosia ?

Diamond

II, ii, 1, adamas (in part) ; 7, gelosia ?

Dolomite

II, ii, 11, magnesia , magnosia ?

Emerald (beryl)

II, ii, 17, smaragdus (in part)

Emery (corundum)

II, ii, 3, smirus; II, iii, 6, sabotus

Fluorite

II, ii, 1, amethystus (in part)

Fossil ammonite

II, ii, 4, draconites (in part)

Fossil echinoid

II, ii, 3, cegolites ; 7, gecolitus; 8, judaicus lapis

Fossil trilobite

II, ii, 2, borax , crapodina ?; 12, nusae ?

Garnet

II, ii, 7, granatus ; 3, carbunculus (in part)

Geode

II, ii, 5, echites; 14, peranites

Goslarite

V, 7, nitrum (in part)

Halite

V, 2, sal

Heliotrope

II, ii, 5, eliotropia

Hematite

II, ii, 5, ematites ; 19, varach ?

Jade

II, ii, 8 Jaspis (in part) ? ; 17, smaragdus (in part) ?

Jet

II, ii, 7, gagates (in part) ; 9, kacabre ; 17, succinus
(in part) ?

Lapis lazuli (socialites)

II, i, 20, zemech ; 17, saphirus (in part)

Magnetite

II, ii, 1, adamas (in part); 11, magnes, magnetes ;
1, andromanta ?; 13, oristes ?

Malachite

II, ii, 11, melochites ; 17, smaragdus (in part)

Manganite

II, ii, 11, magnesia , magnosia ?

Marble

Marcasite, see Pyrite
Melanterite, see Chalcanthite

II, ii, 12, nicomar (in part); 13, onyx, onycha (in
part); 17, sarcophagus (in part)

Moonstone (feldspar)

II, ii, 17, silenites (in part) ?

Muscovite (mica)

II, ii, 17, specularis (in part)

Nacre (mother-of-pearl)
Natron, see Borax

II, ii, 3, celontes , 17, silenites (in part)

Onyx and onyx marble

II, ii, 13, onyx, onycha; 9, kacamon ?; I, ii, 2,
onychinus



IDENTIFICATION OF MINERALS AND ROCKS 289


Opal

II, ii, 5, exacontalitus ; 13, ophthalmus , orphanus ;
14, pantherus ; 8, hiena ?; 17, silenites (in part) ?

Orpiment

II, ii, 6, falcones (in part), auripigmentum ; V, 5,
auripigmentum ; II, ii, 17, specularis (in part) ?

Pearl

II, ii, 11, margarita

Peridot (olivine)

II, ii, 14, perithe (in part), peridonius

Phonolite

II, ii, 3, calcaphanos ?

Plasma

I, ii, 2, prama ?

Prase

II, ii, 14, prassius ; I, ii, 2, prama ?

Pumice

II, ii, 17, syrus

Pyrite

Pyrolusite, see Manganite

II, ii, 11 ; V, 6, marchasita ; II, ii, 3, chryselectrum
(in part); 5, epistrites ; 14, perithe (in part); 18,
topasion (in part); 19, virites ; 1 andromanta ?

Quartz pebble

II, ii, 1, alecterius ?

Realgar

II, ii, 6; V, 5, falcones, arsenicum (in part)

Rock crystal

II, ii, 3, crystallus ; 8, iris; 2, beryllus (in part) ; 4,
diamon ?; diacodos ?; 9, kabrates ?

Ruby (corundum)

Sal ammoniac, see Halite

II, ii, 3, carbunculus (in part), rubinus

Sapphire (corundum)

II, ii, 8, hyacinthus (in part) ; 17, saphirus (in part)

Sard

II, ii, 17, sardinus

Sardonyx

II, ii, 17, sardonyx

Selenite (gypsum)

II, ii, 17, specularis (in part); silenites (in part) ?

Serpentine

Smaltite, see Arsenopyrite
Stibnite, see Pyrite

II, ii, 17, smaragdus (in part) ?

Sulphur

IV, 1, sulphur

Topaz

II, ii, 18, topasion (in part) ?

Tourmaline

Trona, see Borax

II, ii, 10, ligurius ?

Turquoise

II, ii, 18, turchois

Zircon

2. Metals , Alloys , and Ores

II, ii, 8, hyacinthus (in part) ?


Albert knew as metals only the seven traditionally assigned to the seven
planets (III, i, 6), and a few alloys of these. Nor did he clearly distinguish metals
from their ores, though he sometimes used the word minerae for the stuff that is
mined, instead of the more usual mineralia , minerals in general. Most often,
however, he described ore minerals as metals ‘incorporated with stone’.
Because they do not ‘look like’ metals, he did not recognize as of any interest



290

APPENDIX E

such common ores as cassiterite (tin) or sphalerite (zinc — though he knew other

zinc minerals used in making b

rass.)

Antimony, see Tin


Arsenic

II, ii, 6; V, 5, arsenicum , black

Alloy, see Copper


Ores: orpiment

II, ii, 6; V, 5, auripigmentum , yellow

realgar

II, ii, 6; V, 5 >falcones or arsenicum , red

Bismuth, see Tin


Copper

IV, 6, aes , cuprum

Alloys: brass (zinc)

IV, 6, aurichalcum

bronze (tin)

IV, 4, the melt for bells

bronze (arsenic)

II, ii, 6; IV, 6, copper made white like silver

Ores: bomite, chalcocite,

III, i, io, copper incorporated with stone.

chalcopyrite, pyr-

veins of copper

rhotite, &c.


Mansfeld copper slate

III, ii, 5, copper stone

Malachite and other

II, ii, ii, melochites ; 17, smaragAus (in part)

green copper minerals


Gold

IV, 7, aurum

Alloy: electrum (silver)

V, 9, electrum

Ore: native gold

IV, 7; III, 1, 10; III, ii, 6, gold, in sands, in veins

Iron

IV, 8 9 ferrum

Alloy: steel

IV, 8, chalybs

Ores: hematite

II, ii, 5, ematites

limonite (bog iron)

V, 8; III, i, 10, black grains in watery earth

magnetite or specular

III, i, 10, iron incorporated with stone

hematite


magnetite (magnetic)

II, ii, 1, adamas (in part); 11, magnes , magnetes

Lead

IV, 3, plumbum

Ore: galena

III, i, 10, lead incorporated with stone

Mercury

IV, 2, argentum vivum

Ores : native mercury,

III, i, 10, quicksilver found running out

cinnabar

IV, 2, stone from which quicksilver is obtained


by heating; II, ii, 19, varach ?

Silver

IV, 5, argentum

Alloy, see Gold


Ores: native silver

IV, 5, flexible strings of silver

argentite, argentiferous

III, i, 10; III, ii, 6; IV, 5, silver incorporated

galena, &c.

with stone, veins of silver

cerargyrite, &c.

III, i, 10; IV, 5, mushy silver



IDENTIFICATION OF MINERALS AND ROCKS 291


Tin

Alloy, see Copper
Ore: stannite ? but more
probably stibnite,
bismuthinite, or native
antimony or bismuth


Zinc

Alloy, see Copper
Ores: smithsonite,

hemimorphite, &c.
Goslarite


IV, 4, stannum

III, i, 10, tin incorporated with stone


V, 8, but called tin ?

IV, 8, calamina

V, 7, but called nitrum ?


3. Rocks

Albert had no term for ‘rock’ (see I, ii, 3, introductory note), and his names
for different kinds of rock seem to be those used by stonemasons (e.g. marble,
marmor , for any buildstone that will take a good polish; freestone, quadrum ,
for any that can be quarried in rectangular blocks).


Basalt, see also Flint

Chalk

Clay

Coal

Conglomerate

Flint (and other very hard
stones)

Fossils: in rocks

in a concretion

ammonite

echinoid

trilobite

Granite


Gravel


Gypsum (alabaster)


I, ii, 2, black stones so hard they cannot be cut,
only polished ?

I, ii, 4, creta, white, soft

I, ii, 1, lutum, glis , very sticky

II, ii, 1, absinthus ?

I, ii, 1, sabulosus lapis , gravelly stone; 7, little
stones stuck together as if by cement
I, ii, 3 ; 4, silex , extremely hard

I, i, 2, holes shaped like moonshells; I, ii, 8,
stones containing shapes of animals

II, iii, 1, like a chick in an egg
II, ii, 4, draconites , snakestone

II, ii, 3, cegolites ; 7, gecolitus ; 8, judaicus lapis ,
like an olive stone, or acorn.

II, ii, 2, borax ; 12, nusae , toadstone ?

I, ii, 3, marble containing small red bits
(feldspars ?) or fragments that shine like metal
(micas ?) ?

I, i, 3 ; 8, little stones on the banks and bottoms
of rivers; I, ii, 1, sabulum
I, i, 6; I, ii, 3, alabastrum, a kind of marble, very
white; II, ii, 12, nicomar (in part); 17, sarco-
phagus (in part)



APPENDIX E


292

Marble, see also Gypsum
Onyx marble


Petroleum

Phonolite

Porphyry

Pumice

Quartz (vein)

Quartzite, see Flint
Sand

Sandstone

Serpentine

Shale

Slate

Travertine
Tufa, tuff


I, ii, 3 ; 4, marmor , good building stone

I, i, 3, water descending drop by drop turned
into stone (stalactites); I, ii, 3 ,guttae, dripstone
of varied colours mixed together; II, ii, 13,
onyx, onycha (in part); II, iii, 1, pictures in
marble

II, iii, 6, naphtha, bitumen

II, ii, 3, calcaphanos ?

I, i, 6, marmor porphyricus, a kind of marble; I,
ii, 3, flesh-red with white spots
I, i, 2; I, ii, 3 ; 6, pumex ; II, ii, 17, syrus, porous,
floats on water

III, ii, 6, very hard stone from which fire is
struck with steel

III, i, 10, arenae, sands in rivers

I, ii, 1, a stone of very fine gravel; 3; 4,
quadrum, freestone, good for building

II, ii, 17, smaragdus (in part) ?

I, i, 2, something intermediate between stone

and clay, earthy layers in stone

I, ii, 5, cleaves straight; III, ii, 6, fissile black

stone used in building houses

I, i, 7, water of rivers or springs turned into

stone; 8, divided into drops (pisolite)

I, ii, 3 ; 4, tofus, greyish, soft, porous



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Technology, Oxford-London, 1954-8, 5 vols.

Singer, Dorothea Waley, ‘Alchemical Texts Bearing the Name of Plato’,
in Ambix, Vol. 2 (1946), pp. 115-28.

Catalogue of Latin and Vernacular Alchemical Manuscripts in Great Britain,

Brussels, 1928-31, 3 vols.

Solinus (Caius Julius Solinus). Collectanea rerum memorabilium sive polyhistor,
ed. by Th. Mommsen, Berlin, 1864.

Stadler, L., ‘Albertus Magnus, Thomas von Cantimpre und Vinzenz von
Beauvais’, in Natur und Kultur, Munich, Vol. IV (1906), pp. 86-90.

Stapleton, H. E., Azo, R. F., Hidayat Husain, M., and Lewis, G. L., ‘Two
A lchemical Treatises Attributed to Avicenna’, in Ambix, Vol. 10 (1962), pp.
41-82.

Steele, Robert R., ‘Practical Chemistry in the 12th Century, Rhasis De
aluminibus et salibus’ , in Isis, Vol. 12 (1929), pp. 10-48.

Roger Bacon, Opera hactenus inedita, fasc. V, Secretum secretorum, Oxford,

1920.

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News, Vol. LXI, 1890.

Steele, Robert R., and Singer, Dorothea Waley, ‘The Emerald Table’,
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Stillman, John Maxson, The Story of Alchemy and Early Chemistry, London,
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Strunz, Hugo, ‘Die Mineralogie bei Albertus Magnus’, in Acta Albertina,



300


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Studer, Paul, and Evans, Joan, Anglo-Norman Lapidaries, Paris, 1924.

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Tabula smaragdine, see Ruska, 1926; Steele and Singer, 1928.

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Thebit ben Corat (Thabit Ben Qurra), see Carmody, 1961.

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Zetzner, L., Theatrum Chemicum , Strasburg, 1613-22, 6 vols.



INDEX


Aaron, io, 58, 74, 97, 99, 138, 270-1, 277

abeston , 69-70

absinthus , 71-72

achates , see agathes

acdnolite, 69

39-40, 56, 61, 70-71, 94 , 103-4, 133 ,
148

aefito, aetites, see echites
affinity, 221, 230
agate, <# Agricola, Georgius, 69, 90, 130, 154, 180-2,
184, 196, 199, 215, 217, 229, 249, 264,
269, 286

alabandina , see alamandina
alabaster, alabastrites, alabastrum , 26, 45, 107,
116, 119

alamandina , 72-73

Albert, Albertus Magnus , Life, xiii-xxvi;
Scientific writings, xxvi-xxx
Animals , xl, 56, 68-69, 73, 87-88, 106, 114,
129-30, 232

Book of Minerals , xxx-xlii
Heavens , 62, 64, 228
Intellect , xxviii, 65
Metaphysics , 64-65

Meteorology , xxxvi, n, 15, 19, 32, 36, 39,
59, 66, 69, 71, 79, 85, 121, 128, 154, 157,
163-4, 167, 195

Movement of Animals , xxviii, xxxvi, xxxviii
Nature of Places, xxviii, xxxvi, 30, 137, 139
Physics , xxvii-xxix, 9, 25-26, 64, 67, 13 1
Plants , 48, 108-9, 185, 219
Properties of the Elements , xxviii, xxxvi, 14,

27, 83, 138, 142

Semes, xl, 38-40, 43, 57-58, 132
Sow/, xxxix, 19, 24, 78, 85
Summa theologiae, 134, 137
alchemy xxx, 17, 153-4, 158, 161-3, 168,
171-9, 184-5, 190, 197, 220, 231, 279-85
alcohol 157
alecterius , alectorias , 73

Alexander of Aphrodisias, 38, 59-60, 62-63,
262

Alexander the Great, 113, 141, 149, 253,
262-3, 283
almandine, 72-73

alum minerals, alumen, 99, 132, 155, 238,
244-5


amalgam, 206, 208, 247

amandinus , 73-74

amber, 84, 93, 102, 121

amethyst, amethystus , 43, 61, 74, 97, 150

amianthus , amiantus, 73, 99

amphibole, 69

Anaxagoras, 174-5

androdamas , andromanta , 74

anthrax , see carbunculus

antimony, 214-15, 246

apsyctos , see absinthus

Apuleius of Madaura, 60, 272

aquamarine, 76

Aquinas, Thomas, xvi-xvii, xix-xx, xxiii-
xxv, 261

argentite, 181, 217

Aristotle, xv-xvii, xxx-xxxiv, xxxvi-xxxviii,
30,113,124, 253-63,272
Generation and Corruption , 12, 31-33, 37,
46 , 59 , 137 , 156, 159 , 164, 167, 187, 190-1,
197, 199-200, 213, 255-6
Generation of Animals , 14, 21-22, 232, 260
Heavens , 12, 30, 49-50, 57* 136, 160, 216,
228, 255

History of Animals , 259-60
Metaphysics , 25, 63, 65, 156, 170
Meteorology , xxx-xxxi, 9-1 1, 13-16, 19-21,
23, 29, 31-32, 36 - 37 , 40 , 45 , 48, 53 , 66,
83, 99, 121, 155-7, 159-60, 162-3, 166, 172,
175, 188, 192, 197, 204, 207-8, 210-11,
213, 230, 238, 240, 242, 256-8
Movement of Animals , 260
Nichomachean Ethics , 65
Parts of Animals , 25, 232, 260
Physics , xxvii, 11, 14, 22, 25-26, 30, 67,
136, 167, 175, 204, 239, 253-5
Plants , 259

Senses, 38, 40, 43, 57, 190-1, 194, 239, 241,
259

Sow/, 19, 24, 33, 57, 63, 85, 160, 190, 194,
216, 258

(pseudo-) Aristotle, astrological works, 143,
275

Lapidary , xxxi, xxxviii, xl-xli, 9, 40-41,
7 i, 75 , 78 , 96-98, 103-4, 109, 117, 120,
146-51, 153, 263, 267, 270-1, 277-8
Properties of the Elements , xxviii, 263
Secret of Secrets , 135, 140, 262


303



INDEX


304


Armenian earth, stone, 114, 124
Arnold of Saxony, xxxiv, xxxviii, 68-98,
100-3, 105-8, 1 10-18, 122-5, 140, 145-
51, 169, 186, 192-3, 203, 210-11, 213,
216, 224-5, 230-2, 234-5, 268-71, 277-8
arsenic minerals, arsenicum , 92, 95, 120, 198,
223-5, 245-6

arsenopyrite, see marchasita
Art of Images , 141-3
artificial gems, 132-3
asbestus, 69-70, 73, 99-100, 150
astrology, xxix-xxx, xxxii-xxxiii, 60-61,
63-67, 127, 131, 134 - 45 , 166-9, 178 - 9 ,
272-8

atramentum , 234, 238, 242-4
Augustine, 60, 69, 272
auripigmentum, see orpiment
Averroes, 30, 38, 59, 160, 261
Avicenna, xxxi, xxxvii-xxxviii, 9, 13, 15-16,
18, 27, 29, 32, 52, 61-62, 64, 72, 79,
94, 100, 146, 151, 155, 158, 161-2, 170,
172, 177-8, 184, 188, 195, 204, 208, 210,
231-2, 237, 242, 261, 272-3, 283-4
azure, azurium (pigment), 125, 193

Bacon, Roger, 135, 140, 261-2
balagius, balas ruby, 75, 77-78
barnacle shell, 116

Bartholomew of England, xxxiv, xxxviii,
68-79, 81-98, 100-18, 121-3, 125, 203,
222, 249, 268-71, 278
basalt, see flint
basilisk, 73, 129
baurac t see borax
Bede, 102, 266
bell metal, 216

Bergwerk- und Probierbuchlein, 184, 247
beryl, beryllus, 16, 39-40, 43, 61, 76, 85-86,
118-20
biotite, 120

Biringuccio, Vannoccio, 184
bismuth, bismuthinite, 214-15, 246
bitumen, 102, 104, 245
bloodstone, 88-89
bolus armenicus, see ramai
Book of Alums and Salts , see Rhasis
Book of the Priests , 124, 21 1, 216, 224, 226,
230, 232, 235, 283

Book of the Three Words , see Khalid ibn Yazid

borax, 107, 247-8, 251

borax , botrax (toadstone), 75-76

brass, 221-5, 250

brickmaking, 37, 51


bronze, 92, 221-4
burning glass, 76, 83

cadmia , calamina, see tutty
calcaphanos , 78-79
calcite, see chalk, marble, onyx
Callisthenes, see Khalid ibn Yazid
cameos, 72, 101, 109, 130-1
carbuncle, carbunculus t 40-41, 61, 77-78,
99-100

camelian, 81-82, 117
cassiterite, 214, 217
cat’s eye, 96, 118

causes (of minerals), xxxi-xxxii, 35, 254

cegolites , 81

celidonius, 79-80

ce Ionites, celontes , 80

cementation of gold, 230

cerargyrite, 217

ceraunia , ceraunius , ceraurum , 79

cerusa, see litharge

chalazias , see gelosia

chalcanthite, 243

chalcedonius, chalcedony, 34, 42-43, 61, 72,
78, 82, 91, 96, 108, 112, 116, 119
Chalcidius, 22, 272
chalcophonos, see calcaphanos
chalcopyrite, 180, 182, 194, 222, 249
chalk, 46-47, 94

chelidonia , chelidonius , see celidonius
chelonia , chelonites , see celontes
chryselectrum , 83-84
chrysoberyl, 84
chrysolampis, see chrysopagion
chrysolite, chrysolithus , chrysolitus , 41, 82-83,
92, 112, 122

chrysopagion , chrysopasion , 84-85
chrysopassus , chrysoprase, chrysoprasus , 41, 82,
100

chrysotile, 69

cinnabar, 82, 123, 182, 206-7, 2 12
citrine quartz, 84, 122, 130
clay, 37, 51, 114, 230
climes, 136-7, 139
coal, 71, 77

cobaltite, see marchasita

cockatrice, see basilisk

cockstone, 73, no, 113

colours of metals, 190-4; of stones, 38-43, 61

Conference of Philosophers , 280

conglomerate, 36-37, 50-51

Constantine of Africa, 65, 78, 80, 90, 92,



INDEX


Constantine (cont.)

95-98, 103, 105, 1 14, 124, 146, 1 51, 196,
219, 229, 235, 240-2, 248, 250, 267, 277
copper, 74, 119, 154, 161, 168, 172-3, 175,
182, 189-91, 194-5, 199, 212, 216, 218,
221-6, 228-9, 248-50
copper green (pigment), 225-6
copperas, see melanterite
coral, cor alius, 28, 81, 147
cordierite, 98

comeleus , comeola , corneolus , 42, 81-82
corundum gems, 70, 74-75, 78, 94, 97-98,
115-16, 133

Costa ben Luca, 58, 65, 70-71, 80, 98, 109,
1 17, 120, 146-8, 1 5 1, 267, 277
crapodina, see borax (toadstone), nusae
creta , see chalk

crystal, crystallus , 16, 23, 29, 32, 39, 83, 98-99
(see also quartz)
cupellation, 212, 220

daimon, see diamon

Damigeron, 85, 89-90, 92, 94-95, 104, hi,
1 1 8, 125, 127, 147, 265-6
De congelatione et conglutinatione lapidum, see
Avicenna

De metallis et alchymia , see Metals and Alchemy

Democritus, 20, 56-57, 161-2, 281

demonius, see diamon

diacodos , diadochos , 85-86

diamant , see adamas

diamon , 85

diamond, 70-71, 94, 133, 148
Diascorides, xxxviii, 10, 138, 147, 150, 265,
270-1, 277

Dioscorides, 114, 235, 264-5, 284
dolomite, 105
donatides , see radaim
draconites, dracontias , 86-87
dragonsblood, 123-4
dripstone, 15, 45

Dyascorides, xxxiv, xxxviii, 89, 92-93, 101,
104, 107-9, 113-14, 122, 125, 265, 271,
278

dyonysia, 86

eaglestone, echites t 87-88, in, 150

electrification, 93, 102, 121

electrum (amber), 84, 121

electrum (gold-silver alloy), 84, 108, 250-1

elements, 256

eliotropia , 88-89


305

elixir , 10, 129-30, 158, 162, 171-3, 176, 184,
190, 220, 231
ematites , 89-90
emerald, 97, 118-20
Emerald Table , 17, 282-3
emery, 78, 148

Empedocles, 19, 160, 174, 229
enhydros, see etindros
epistrites f 90, 151
etindros , 90-91, 15 1

Evax, 10, 72, 74, 78, 80, 97-98, 138, 266,
268, 270-1, 277
evax ( ewus), 125
exacolituSy 91
exacontalituSy 91
eyestone, 80, 96, no, 115

falconeSy 92
feldspar, 44, 82, 118
jHacterium, 92
fissility, 48-49
flint, 15-16, 44-47, 51
fluorite, 74

form, xxxiv-xxxv, 20, 24-26, 64-66, 1 66-
79, 258

fossils, 13-14, 32, 52-53, 75-76, 79, 81, 86-87,
95, 100, 108, 127, 129
Frederick II, Emperor, 28, 104, 181, 261
freestone, 44-48
furnace calamine, see tutty
fusibility, 159-61, 186-8

gagatesy 93, H7, 196
gagatronica , 93-94

galactiteSy galaricides , galarictides , galaxia, 94-95

Galen, 58, 114, 147, 151, 155, 229, 235

galena, 181-2, 194, 209, 217, 249

garnet, 72, 77, 95-97

Geber of Seville, 134, 275

Geber the alchemist, 280

gecolituSy 95

gelosia f 94

gem cutting, 130, 133
geode, 87, in-12
gerachidemy gerachites, 95
Gerard of Cremona, 148, 150, 261, 263, 278,
281

Gilbert, William, 102-3
Gilgil, 161, 163-4, 174, 284-5
glass, 14-15, 42, 104-5, 119-20, 163-4, 224,
231, 285

gold, 71, 117, 119, 154, 168, 171-3, 175-6,
178-81, 184, 187-91, 193, 195, 198,



INDEX


306

gold (corn.)

200—1, 209, 212-13, 21 6, 218, 222-3,
226-33, 247, 25O-I
gold leaf, 189-90
goslarite, 248-9
granatus , 41. 61, 78, 95-96
granite, 44
gravel, 36-37
Grosseteste, Robert, xl
gypsum, 99, 107, 1 1 8, 120

haematites , see ematites
hailstone, 94
halite, see salt

hardness of minerals, 46-48
heliotrope, heliotropium , see eliotropia
hematite, 74, 88-89, 99, 181, 233
hephaestites , see epistrites
Heraclius, 42, 13 3, 279

Hermes, 10, 17-19, 56, 60, 63, 66, 86, 103,
129, 134 , HO, 144 , 146, 158, 162, 168-9,
174, 186, 192-3, 200, 205, 208, 210-16,
224-5, 227, 230-2, 234-5, 273-5, 278,
282-3

hexecontalithos , see exacontalitus
hiena , 96-97
hieracitis, see gerachidem
homsilver, see cerargyrite
humours, 155

hyacinth, hyacinthus , 40-41, 97-98
hyaenastone, hyaenia, 96-97

ignites , see zigrites
images, 127-45, 274-7
intermediates, xxxv, 155, 237-9
iolite, 98

iris, 39 - 40 , 85, 98-99

iron, 15, 71, 74, 103, 154, 158, 161, 168, 172,
181, 187, 189, 191-2, 195 , 199 , 233-6
iron cap, 183, 222
iscustos , 99-100

Isidore of Seville, 44-46, 69, 78, 82, 99-100,
106-7, 11 6, 1 19, 122, 245, 248, 266

jacinth, 40-41, 97-98
Jacques de Vitry, 69
jade, 100

jargon (zircon), 97

jasper, jaspis, 100, 112, 116, 118

jet, 72, 93, 101-2, 121, 147, 196

jewstone, 100

John of Damascus, 58


Joseph, 10, 80
judaicus lapis , 100

kabrates , 101

kacabre , 93, 101, 147, 196
kacamon, 101

Khalid ibn Yazid, 171-5, 178, 204, 280, 283
lac virginis, 132, 245

lapidaries, 68, 264-71; alphabetical, 68-125,
270-1; astrological, 138-45, 276-7
Lapidary of Aristotle, see (pseudo-) Aristode
lapis lazuli, 115-16, 125
lead, 15, 42-43, 70-71, 148, 154. 161-2, 168,
172-3, 175-6, 182, 188-9, 191-2, 194-5,
199, 209-13,215-18
Letter to King Hasen, see Avicenna
Libellus de alchymia, see Little Book of Alchemy
Liber sacerdotum, see Book of the Priests
Liber trium verborum, see Khalid ibn Yazid
lignites, see zigrites
ligurius, 101-2

limestone, see chalk, freestone

limonite, 1 81, 233

lincurium, lincurius, 84, 101-2

liparea, lippares, 102-3, 150

litharge, 132, 162, 176, 209, 21 1, 220

Little Book of Alchemy, xxx

lodestone, see magnes, magnet

luminescence, 41, 43, 77-78, 84-85, in, 124

lustre of metals, 190-4

lye, 53,211

lyncurium, lynxwater, see lincurium

magic, 274-7
magnes, 103-4
magnesia, 104-5

magnet, 56, 71, 103-4, 148-50, 278
magnetes, see magnes

magnetite, 70-71, 74, 103-4, no, 181, 233

magnosia, see magnesia

malachite, 106

malleability, 159-61, 189-90

maganese minerals, 105

Mappae clavicula , 279

marble, 26, 44-47, 49» 107-8, 116, 119, 128,
134

Marbod, 68-74, 76-98, 100-6, 108, 1 10-12,
115-18, 122, 125, 267-8, 270-1
marcasite, 84, 105, 122, 246
marchasida, marchasita, 84, 105, 180, 182, 238,
246-7

margarita, 43, 105-6



INDEX


307


Matthew Paris, 214, 217
medius , 106
melanteritc, 243
melochites , melonites , 106
memphites , 106-7
mercury, see quicksilver
Metals and Alchemy , xxxviii-xxxix, 177, 203,
208, 210, 225, 227
Michael Scot, 261, 276
milkstone, 94

mineralizing power, 15, 18-19, 22, 30, 32-35,
52-53, 170

minerals, identification, 286-9
mirror, 123, 191-2

Mirror of Astronomy , xxix-xxx, 134, 141,
143-4, 274-6
mirrorstone, 120

moisture in metals, 156-61, 196-7, 205, 219

molochites , see melochites

moonstone, 118

mother-of-pearl, 80

muscovite, 44, 120

naphtha, 150, 241, 245
natron, 248

Neckam, Alexander, 75, 129, 148, 189, 192

nicomar , 107

niello, nigellum, 218

nitre, 107, 247

nitrum, 107, 247-9, 251

nusae, 108

ochre, 114, 123

odours of minerals, 72, 86, 194-6
olivine, 82, 112, 122
onycha (gum), 72, 109-10
onycha (stone), onychinus, onychulus, onyx, 42,
101, 108-10, 1 17, 130-1, 147
opal, opallus, 91, 96, 110-11, 118
ophthalmus, no
ores, identification, 289-91
oristes, orites, no
orphanus, 42, in, 192
Orpheus, 57, 266

orpiment, 92, 120, 155, 192, 225-6, 245
Ovid, 19, 53, 90

paeanites, see peranites

palachium, palachius, palatium, palatius, see
balagius

panchrus, panthera, pantherus , 43, in
pearl, 43, ioj-6
peranites, m-12, 171


peridonius, peridot, 82, 112, 122
perithe , 112

Peter of Maricourt, 148
phonolite, 78
pisolite, 28, 31, 128

place of formation of minerals, 26-29, 179-85
plasma, 112

Plato, 22, 56, 60, 63, 135, 147, 168, 170, 172,
228, 253, 272-3, 281

Pliny, 10, 16, 28, 37, 44-46, 69-87, 89-107,
109-13, 115-23, 127, 129, 133, 139,
147-8, 151, 206-7, 209-n, 213, 215-16,
222, 225, 234-5, 241-5, 249, 251, 265
porphyry, 26, 45
powers of stones, 55-67
prama, 41

prase, prassius, 100, 112
prospecting, 154, 200

Ptolemy, Claudius, 63-64, 67, 86, 104, 134,
136-8, 140, 145, 182, 273, 275
pumice, 12, 45, 49, 122
pyrargyrite, 181, 217

pyrite, 69, 74, 84, 90, 105, 112, 115, 124-5,
180, 182, 222, 246-7, 249
pyrophilus, 113
pyrrhotite, 74

quandros, 113

quartz, 16, 29, 39, 70, 83, 85, 98-99, 101, 201
quicklime, 51, 116

quicksilver, 124, 155, 168, 180, 182, 188,
198-9, 206-10, 212, 218, 227, 235, 247;
see also Sulphur-Quicksilver theory
quiritia , 114

radaim, 114

rainbowstone, 85, 98-99
ramai , 114
realgar, 92, 245
red lead (pigment), 211
Rhasis, 175, 210, 235, 240, 247, 280-1
rocks, definition, 43-44; identification, 44,
291-2

rose quartz, 97

rubinus, rubith, ruby, 43, 77-78, 97
sagda, 116

sal ammoniac, 240-1
salamander, 69-70, 99

salt, 52-53, 95, 107, 155, 192-3, 198, 207,
225-6, 230, 238, 240-2, 248
saltpetre, see nitrum



INDEX


308

Samian earth, stone, samius , 117
sand, 3 6, 184
sandstone, see freestone
saphirus , sapphire, sapphirus , 41, 56, 61, 66, 97,
110-11, 115-16, 125, 150
sarcophagus , 116

sard, sardinus, sardius, 109, 116-17

sardonyx, 117, 130, 150

schistony schistusy see iscustos

selenite, 118, 120

seleniteSy see silenites

Semita recta , see Litffe Book o/* Alchemy

serpentine, 69, 119

shale, 13

shoemakers’ black, see atramentum

siderite, 1 81, 233

sideritesy see oristes

sigils, see images

silenitesy 118

silver, 43, 71, 74, 154, 162, 168, 172-3, 175-6,
178-9, 181-2, 188-93, 195, 198, 200-1,
209, 212-13, 215-21, 227-9, 247, 250-1
sixtystone, 91
slate, 49, 201
smaltite, see marchasita
smaragdusy 41, 61, 112, 118-20, 148
snakestone, 86-87
soda minerals, 107, 247-9, 251
sodalite, 115, 125
soldering, 188, 251
Solinus, 91, 97, 1 19, 265
soul in stones, xxxiv, 18-21, 24-25, 56-58
Soul in the Art of Alchemy , see Avicenna
sound of metals, 216, 220
speculariSy 120

Speculum astronomiae , see Mirror of Astronomy

sphalerite, 22, 249

spinel, 72, 75, 77

spuma maris, 151

stannite, 214, 217

steel, 40, 70-71, 133, 233-6

stibnite, 214-15, 232, 246-7

succinusy 121

sulphates, 86, 106, 112, 132, 242, 244
sulphides, 92, 105, 112, 165, 180-2, 194, 214,
218, 222, 231, 242, 246

sulphur, 150, 155, 158, 165, 175, 182, 187,
192-5, 198-9, 203-6, 212, 218, 221, 235
Sulphur-Quicksilver theory, xxxi-xxxii, 11,
155, 161-2, 178-9, 184, 197-8, 204-5, 207,
209-10, 215, 219-20, 223-4, 227-8, 234,
237-8

sunstone, 82, 115


swallowstone, 79-80
syrtiteSy see saphirus
syrusy 122

Tabula smaragdina y see Emerald Table
tartar, 150, 193, 235
tastes of metals, 194-6
tecolithoSy see cegolites , gecolitus
Thebit ben Corat, 86, 134, 275
Theophilus, 15, 180, 189, 209, 212, 214, 216,
218, 222, 279

Theophrastus of Eresos, 75, 77, 102, 112, 115,
118, 120, 211, 225, 253, 264
Thetel, 139, 275-6

Thomas of Candmpr^, xvii, xxxiv, xxxviii,
68-91, 93-103, 105-18, 120-2, 124-5,
139-40, 148, 203, 222, 269-71, 277
thunderstone, 79

tin, 154, r6i, 168, 173, 182, 187-92, 194-5, 199>
213-17, 223, 234, 250
toadstone, 34, 75-76, 108
topasion , 41, 93, 122-3, 180
topaz, 70, 82, 97, 122
topazoSy see chrysolitus
tourmaline, 102

transmutation of metals, xxxiii, 10, 153-4,
172-3, 176-8, 199-201, 227, 239, 250
transparency, 14-16, 33-35, 38-43
travertine, 28, 31, 108
trona, 248
tufa, tuff, 44-46, 48

Turba philosophorum , see Conference of Philo-
sophers

turchoiSy turquoise, 123
tutty, 101, 196, 225, 249-50
Twelve Stones , 78, 266-8
Twelve Waters , 34

ultramarine (pigment), 125

uniOy see margarita

urine, 84, 93, 102, 193, 197, 225-6, 241

vapour theory, xxxi-xxxii, 29, 31, 37-38, 50,
128, 134, 156-7, 176, 182-5, 194, 215,
227-8, 257
varach, 123-4
verdigris, 119, 226
vermilion, see cinnabar
vemiXy 124

Vincent of Beauvais, xl, 222, 269
vinegar, 132, 193, 197, 211, 225-tf, 251



INDEX


309


virgin’s milk, see lac virginis
virites , 124

vitriol, see atramentum , sulphates
Vitruvius, 44-46, 120, 194

Water jacinth, sapphire, 97-98
white lead (pigment), 21 1


William of Moerbeke, 261-2
winestone, see tartar

zetnechy 125, 193
zigrites, 125

zinc, 101, 182, 196, 215, 217, 223-5, 248-50
zircon, 75, 97