From the Star Regulate of Antimony and Iron following Flamel and Newton.

By Anthony M. House

Gale E. Christianson in Chapter IX of his book "Isaac Newton and His Times", entitled: The Treasures of Darkness, presents excerpts from Newton's alchemical writings.


Mainly, the citations are from the beginning and end of the 1670s, and focus only on the manufacture of the regula of iron and antimony in order to produce a philosophical double mercury, animated by several distillations which subsequently causes the swelling and the rotting of gold.

The Breviary of Nicolas Flamel, part of his book “Abraham the Jew”, essentially gives a clear description of the same process of the great work.

This article will try to shed light on the path used by Newton, also discussing the associated experiments of Robert Boyle, and making some comparisons with the work of Flamel.

The comments on these two paths allow us to find certain details missing from Newton's writings and from Christianson's additional notes, since certain details only seem to be mentioned in Flamel's study.

In this chapter on the experience of Newton's discovery, interesting parallels are demonstrated which are also prescribed by current LPN research and highlight details which had been omitted. Among other things, the proportions that Newton used to obtain the star regulus of antimony and iron; the lunar regula, and regula of the Moon of Venus.

By 1670 Newton's attention had focused on the regula of antimony, a substance which was to remain near the center of his thoughts as long as he studied the Hermetic Art.

We know antimony as a metallic element, is a silvery white, hard, extremely brittle, shiny crystalline substance, used in a wide variety of alloys.

Christianson speaks here as the chemists of our time do in using the term alloys in the use of antimony [sulphide] that is to say the ore Sb2S3.

It should be noted, however, that iron should not be used in excess, therefore the repel is not at any stage an alloy at any stage.

The following comments from Christianson prove that it is not trisulfide we need, but metal. LPN proved that it is necessary to separate free sulfur from stibnite by heating the lump antimony ore in a heat-resistant tube where it is melted and falls into small granules in distilled water to obtain the material necessary to obtain regulates.

For alchemists, however, antimony was not the metal itself but stibnite, the lead-gray ore from which the metal was extracted by heating it with charcoal or some other mild reducing agent.

The metallic antimony sinks to the bottom, and this is what alchemists called antimony regula.

The last two paragraphs talk about a reducing agent [this must be done in an oven in a crucible] saltpeter or potassium nitrate or soda which acts as a flux and iron or silver acting as a reducing agents. When the repel is poured into a heated mold the metal sinks to the bottom [you can tap the mold with a hammer to help it sink to the bottom while the slag solidifies on the metal during cooling. ] In this way we obtain a metal button, which must undergo other purifications in order to obtain the star regula.

The name probably derives from Latin, meaning little king little. Since the regula of antimony combines easily with gold (king of metals) and became important in the process of purification of the precious metal and a subject of experiment of considerable interest to the adepts of the seventeenth century.

The regula was also separated from the stibnite by the introduction of various metallic reducing agents, in this case it became the regula of Venus (copper), the regula of Jupiter (tin), the regula of Saturn (lead), or most importantly , the regula of Mars (iron).

It was falsely believed that the "seed" of the metal which made it possible to reduce the ore into metal remained hidden in the regulus itself, thus raising a whole host of tempting possibilities in Newton's mind.

The seed of course is in the dross and also in the careful quantity of metals used in the work. The seed is the sperm of the metals and Newton probably knew he had to locate this seed and cultivate it; sow it in the double or animated philosophical mercury.

The star regulus to which silver has been added; and the subsequent purification produces the purple or violet color; then tri-distilled mercury is incorporated into it, they are then washed and ground, then washed and ground until it has become a pure shiny mirror... the black particles which are extracted from the amalgam are kept for others operations.

Evidence of his interest in different regula appears in the form of notes written in the chemical dictionary between 1666 and 1667. So, about two years later, the young follower felt sufficiently confident to compose his own essay on their preparation. As usual, he wrote with the confidence born of his own experience:
Isaac Newton

The following rules should generally be observed. 1st The application of fire must be rapid. 2nd the crucible must be sufficiently hot before putting anything in it; 3rd the metals must be put there successively according to their degree of fusibility iron, copper, antimony (stibin), tin, lead. 4th The mixture must be kept molten for a certain time before it is poured out, depending on the quantity of regula, in order to avoid hardening. 5th If you want the saltpeter to flow without too much heat, you can “activate” it by mixing it with 1/8 or 1/16 powdered charcoal. End of quote. (charcoal can be replaced by purified barrel scale which produces carbon and potassium carbonate used as flux by calcination in the crucible).

Clearly Newton had prepared a lot of regula and had found the right proportions and ways of operating; both the wait before pouring the repel, and probably discovering what the material should look like when it was ready.

Newton continues to list the many "signs" indicating errors that occurred in his laboratory. But with the perfection of his experimental technique soon ensured success:

Isaac Newton: "thus with a good quick and proper fire [iron] [stibnite] gave the dirtiest and blackest slag, and settled it after a purgation or two, starred very well." » LPN suggested several mixtures of nitrate and tartrate, purified stibnite and iron nails. _ newton refers directly to the black slag [the raven] and to 2 purgations (purification) with potassium nitrate nitrate (which may require up to 3-4 purifications), in order to obtain a star with angles of 60 degrees .

Note that unless you get the star you will not have the right ruler to work on it.

The term “starry” is used here by Newton in its literal sense. _ because if antimony has been properly purified as stated here, it forms long and thin crystals. During cooling the crystals form triangular branches around a central point, taking on the appearance of a silvery star.

Masters in symbolism, alchemists named it the mineral antimony heart, the regula, the double luminous star near the heart, the constellation Leo. When the antimony regula was completed with the help of the reducing metal agent in the above experiment, Newton obtained the star regula of Mars.

Further confirmation of its success is contained in a letter to Oldenburg in January 1672: "The starry regula of Mars (which I used for some time)..." as a reflecting mirror in a telescope "deserves special examination." It must be for deeper reasons than the making of the best telescope mirror that Newton remained concerned with this subject for a long time.

To obtain a shiny surface like a mirror Newton must have found the right proportion for the mixture, so using silver he obtained the lunar regula. Newton and Flamel amalgamated this regula with three times distilled mercury. Once washed, we obtain a reflective mirror.

It is impossible to say exactly when and under what circumstances Newton began to seriously contemplate the principle of attraction between physical bodies. The general idea of ​​gravity, however far from being perfectly developed, is certainly hinted at in the "hypothesis on light," a controversial letter which he sent to the Royal Society in December 1675. It has been observed that the Lines of crystals which appear to radiate from the center to the surface of the starry regula "could just as well be considered as radiating from the surface towards the center, which gives them the character of attraction rather than the character of emission. »

If, in fact, Newton looked at the starry regula from this angle, then the very concept of universal attraction "in which the lines of attractions are directed and converge towards a central point" may have suggested itself to him.

Present in this small terrestrial orb, was the invisible cosmic cohesion which links the planets to the stars and the solar systems to the galaxies of the macrocosm. Most likely, however, the idea of ​​universal attraction had not taken such a definite form in Newton's mind in the early 1670's, although it is evident its roots subsequently nourished the field. fertile of his alchemical thought.

It is extremely interesting to note that gravity is compared to the central point of geometric crystallization. Newton must have recognized as Flamel did that through the numerous 7-9 eagles or distillations, that the crystalline structure of the regula amalgam was gradually adjusted and raised in a manner towards a fundamental cubic matrix. Above this model is the absolute or inter atomic energy which surpasses the atomic material energy. Distilling the amalgam above 9 times usually leads to an explosion. The cubic structure is the most perfect of crystals, having perfect right angles and equilateral triangles in its arrangement. This material is the seed raised to its greatest purity.

Although if Newton's notes on Basil Valentin are accepted at their true value, would he have confused the star regula with the Philosopher's Stone, as many astounded followers have done? Instead Newton saw the star as the most promising step in the creation of philosophical mercury, the prima materia, or first matter from which all substances are formed.

Robert Boyle obviously experimented extensively with regula, including antimony and iron regula.

Extract from text of the British Royal Society: Robert Boyle, in his book "on his unsuccessful experiments" says: "And it can perhaps also because of a certain diversity whether antimonies or irons, that eminent scientists (chemists ) have (as we have observed) often failed in their efforts to make the star regulus of antimony and Mars.

So much so that different artists firmly believe and teach (which our experience will not allow us to do) that we must respect certain periods of time and that certain constellations are required for the production of this (I confess) admirable body . »

On a clear, cloudless, windless day, the repel will become starry very easily provided you are prepared, and skilled enough in the process. Clear weather helps considerably, but so does the connection between materials and operator.

In the mid-1670s, Newton composed a memoir of some 1,200 words entitled "Clavis" ("The Key"). This curious document, so concise and so well elaborated, clearly shows that it is the last in a succession of drafts, the compilation of which has become a distinctive sign of Newton's intellectual mark.

The content represents the culmination of years spent meticulously studying starry regula in the hope of extracting philosophical mercury from common metals. Newton sincerely believed that he had succeeded in doing just that.

It was not the extraction of philosophical mercury mercury from common metals that Isaac Newton was looking for, but THE Philosophical Mercury or amalgam which would make the branches of the little crystalline tree, philosophical gold, grow so that there can wash his gold in it, multiply it, and animate it with its magical properties.

Newton began with the starry regula of Mars (iron) which was melted with a small amount of pure silver, the "doves of Diana." » _ To this he added common mercury, amalgamating the mixture in a sealed vessel over a slow fire. » _ the amalgam was then ground for “1/8 hour in a mortar... until it spat out its blackness. » _

Repeated cleaning, grinding and washing results in an alloy “shiny like cut silver.” » A series of seven to nine additional distillations and washings produce a mercury apparently capable of dissolving all metals, particularly gold which is the most refractory. The cauda pavonis, the multicolored tail of the peacock, described by ancient alchemists, manifested itself before Newton's eyes.
Note that Nicolas Flamel experimented with the same things by handling amalgams of gold and silver. Below newton writes:

Isaac Newton “that I know what I write about, because I have in the fire various glass vessels with gold and this mercury. They grow into these glasses in the form of a tree, and by continued circulation the trees further dissolve and work into new mercury. I have such a vessel to fire with gold dissolved thus, but extrinsically and intrinsically in a mercury as living and moving as any mercury found in the world. Because it causes the gold to begin to swell, increase in volume, and generate buds and branches, changing colors daily, the aspects of which fascinate me every day. I recognize that this is a great secret in Alchemy. »

The Philosophers of Nature extract Guelph, Ontario, Canada, 1992. The Martial Regulate is not good enough... We can make an amalgamation of the [Starry] Regule and silver which is equivalent to the Lunar Regule, or a Regulate [starred] of silver and copper = Venusian Lunar Regulate. When this amalgam of Venusian Lunar Regulate is well prepared it is light purple in color.

Make a fine powder of this Lunar Regulate, or Venusian Lunar Regulate, add three times distilled mercury (that is to say distilled Mercury, one must be very careful when handling Mercury, even when cold its vapors are very toxic), and put the fine powder with the Mercury three times in a blender to make a homogeneous mixture.

When you stop the mixer (let it run for 12 hours) you will have a butter [i.e. a butter-like amalgam]. Note: Remove the butter from the mixer with rubber gloves and wear glasses (be careful this butter is very corrosive), clean the mixer with distilled water immediately otherwise the butter will harden within an hour. The water turns black and a black powder forms. Wash the amalgam completely, and continue until it becomes mirror-like. Place the wash water and black powder aside in dark glass bottles.

We obtain product from these amalgams, namely, philosophical mercury, living mercury, and animated mercury.

Distill this amalgam (butter). And this [according to Flamel's Breviary] is known as the Philosophical Sublimations and Labor of Hercules, or the Flight of the Seven Eagles. We obtain animated mercury.

The double Mercury [animate mercury] is then sown (which is known as the sowing to obtain the Elixir.} _ (note: The sowing can be done with the seed contained in the dross of the first separation, or with living mercury, with live cinnabar, with native gold, black powder, or living sulfur) and place in an incubator.

Obtaining the elixir is done when the colors become; black ; white ; orange and red. At this high stage of work Multiplication is the next step using the red stone, in the same fire, and the same vessel and animated mercury. Then come the revolutions of the wheel where the power of the red stone increases by powers of ten. Even leading to the eternal lamp spreading an eternal light...

PRECAUTIONS TO TAKE WITH AMALGAM

1. Proportions: The weight of tri-distilled mercury will generally be 3 to 5 times greater than the weight of the Venusian Lunar Regulate.

2. The Proportions are not crucial, since the animation occurs during successive Eagles. With each eagle (distillation) the mercury animate by taking the metallic life from the antimony to the silver (the body of silver is a transfer metal, the transfer occurs when the metal is melted). The absorption of energy be greater in the first eagle than in the last. During an eagle's life the Regulate weakens the silver, we call this the dead Doves of Diana, and this same silver can be used indefinitely for other amalgams. An eagle means: amalgamating with mercury and regulating it and the distillation of the amalgam.

The dissolution of gold, not its multiplication, is what interested Isaac Newton the most. He measured the importance of his supposed accomplishment against Boyle's oft-repeated alchemical dictum: "It is easier to make gold than to destroy it." In other words, once someone has solved the inextricable riddle of what a substance is made of, producing that substance should be comparatively easy, a notion quite familiar to students of modern chemistry. .

Newton's pursuit of the true philosophical Mercury required him to borrow heavily from the work of George Starkey, who had previously published under the pseudonym Eireanaeus Philalethes. Nine of Starkey's books graced Newton's library when he died, along with an assorted number of works and Count Michael Maier's indispensable treatise. The mediation of the special mercuries was expressed in a manner extraordinarily similar to that expressed by Newton in the “Clavis” manuscript. Additionally, Starkey sought to put his knowledge into practice by performing the transmutation process.

Philalethes (see the open entrance to the closed palace of the king) gives the process for making the regula and the amalgam that Newton and Flamel made. It is so similar that Newton undoubtedly knew that Starkey was an adherent of the Great Work, and after reading an article published by Oldenburg, and written by Robert Boyle in the Philosophical Transcriptions of the Royal Society, entitled "On the Incalescence of "Living Silver with Gold, generously provided by BR":

Newton, who was unable to read this edition before April 1676, had no difficulty in identifying the author as Robert Boyle. Boyle wrote of discovering a special mercury that heats up (incalescent) when mixed with Gold. He considered it a breakthrough in the preparation of medicines, but he was also worried about the great harm its revelation could do. For if Boyle had refined a true philosophical Mercury, a discovery that Newton privately claimed as his own, it could be used by dishonest hands to multiply Gold, thus lifting the lid of Pandora's box and causing endless political trouble. . Boyle

sought "wise and skillful" advice on whether he should let the world know the specific ingredients of his recipe for mercury.

Newton, it seems, was the only follower who chose to respond, at least in his writings [Oldenburg]. He asked Oldenburg to keep this private letter to himself.

His usual desire for secrecy was underscored by the knowledge that attempting metal transmutation was legally punishable by hanging. As an alchemist, Newton could not have otherwise questioned Boyle's optimistic conclusion regarding mercury. He had explored methods similar to Boyle's, and had only abandoned them for more interesting ones. Nonetheless, Newton advised caution, partly perhaps to avoid alienating a respected colleague, and partly because Boyle might know more than he said:

Isaac Newton Oldenburg: “This could be the entrance to something nobler, which could not be communicated without immense damage to the world if there were to be truth in the Hermetic writings, so I therefore address myself to the great wisdom of noble author to remain silent, until he resolves by his own experience or that of others what are the consequences the thing could have... which is what a true hermetic philosopher does... there has other things besides the transmutation of metals (if these great pretenders are not joking) that no one except them can understand. » End of quote.

While Newton undoubtedly shared Boyle's concerns about the great economic and social consequences that would flow from easy transmutation, one senses that this advice and warning originated elsewhere than in altruistic reasons.

Newton's personal anxiety is revealed, not over the making of ordinary gold, but when he uses the very telling phrase "there are other things than the transmutation of metals." » If Boyle were to reveal this great secret of the Ancients, Newton's belief in his special relationship with the Almighty would suffer irreparable harm. The doors of prisca sapientia would be opened, and the desecrated corruptions would belong to the vulgar materialists.

Flamel and Newton, like all true adepts in alchemy, revered the Most High and the Divine will of God. Boyle could have kept his faith denying the philosophy that Descartes put forward, "separating the nature of the body from that of the mind, denying that occult forces such as attraction and repulsion, manifest themselves in the great chain of creation. Although a true and proven mechanism, Newton could never be persuaded that mind was absent from the operations of nature. »

As a member of the inner circle directing the general course of the Society's activities, Boyle was surely aware of Newton's reticence in his scientific correspondence. Yet it seems doubtful whether Boyle was taken aback when Oldenburg informed him of the Lucasian professor's response to his recent publication.
Indeed, he had good reason to think that his new friend might have written even more.

Boyle, after all, was the seventeenth century's most astute practitioner of "chemistry," and he had been present a few months earlier at the much-discussed reading of Newton's "Light Hypothesis." Interpreted by many as the treatise on mechanical philosophy that Newton intended it to be, the paper of rare depth with veiled alchemical implications could hardly have escaped Boyle, especially considering that Newton accepted and relied on a number of his ideas. .

The study of alchemy for spiritual acceleration lost its appeal and became adventurous in the 17th century, particularly for fashionable chemists who were turning away from a distant past to embrace an unknown but promising future of enterprise and trade.

Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton were two important figures in art in a century filled with emerging discoveries. This Renaissance period, a practical period, inspired men of conscience to conceive the objectives of the Royal Society:

"The work and design of the Royal Society" as Robert Hooke wrote, is "to attempt to re-establish such arts and permitted invention as were lost", and to "examine every system, theory, principle, hypothesis, element, history, and experience of natural, mathematical and mechanical things, invented, recorded, or practiced by any ancient or modern author considered. » Nevertheless the Society “will hold no hypothesis” until “by mature discussion and clear argumentation, principally such as those deduced from legitimate experiments, and the veracity of such experiments be demonstrated beyond doubt. "...

End of the first part.