THE ORIGINS OF ALCHEMY AND THE MYSTICAL SCIENCES

Marcellin Berthelot


The world today is without mystery: the rational conception claims to enlighten and understand everything; it strives to give a positive and logical explanation of everything, and it extends its fatal determinism to the moral world. I don't know if the imperative deductions of scientific reason will one day realize that divine prescience which formerly gave rise to so much discussion and which we have never succeeded in reconciling with the no less imperative sentiment of human freedom. In any case, the entire material universe is claimed by science, and no one dares to resist this claim any longer. The notion of the miracle and the supernatural has vanished like a vain mirage, an outdated prejudice. It has not always been so; this purely rational conception appeared only in the time of the Greeks; it only became widespread among European peoples, and only since the eighteenth century. Even today many enlightened minds remain engaged in the bonds of spiritism and animal magnetism.

At the beginning of civilization, all knowledge assumed a religious and mystical form. All action was attributed to the gods, identified with the stars, with the great celestial and terrestrial phenomena, with all the natural forces. No one then would have dared to accomplish A political, military, industrial medical work, without resorting to the sacred formula, intended to reconcile the good will of the mysterious powers which governed the universe. Thoughtful and rational operations came only afterwards, always closely subordinated.

However, those who accomplished the work itself were not long in realizing that it was carried out above all by the effective work of reason and human activity.

Reason introduced. in its turn, so to speak surreptitiously, its precise rules in the recipes for practical execution, awaiting the day when it would manage to dominate everything.

Hence a new period, half rationalist and half mystical, which preceded the birth of pure science. Then flourished the intermediate sciences, if it is permissible to speak thus: astrology, alchemy, the old medicine of the virtues of stones and talismans, sciences which today seem chimerical and charlatanesque to us. Their appearance, however, marked an immense progress on a certain day and made an epoch in the history of the human mind. They were a necessary transition between the old state of minds, given over to magic and theurgic practices, and the current spirit, absolutely positive, but which, even today, seems too harsh for many of our contemporaries.

The evolution that took place in this respect, from the Orientals to the Greeks and up to us, has not been uniform and parallel in all orders. If pure science emerged very quickly in mathematics, its reign was more delayed in astronomy, where astrology survived parallel to modern times. Progress was especially slower in chemistry, where alchemy, a mixed science, retained its marvelous hopes until the end of the last century.

The study of these equivocal sciences, intermediate between the positive knowledge of things and their mystical interpretation, is of great importance for the philosopher. It is also of interest to scholars wishing to understand the origin and filiation of the ideas and words they continually handle. Artists, who seek to reproduce the works of antiquity, industrialists, who apply theoretical principles to material culture, also want to know what the practices of the ancients were, by what processes these metals, these fabrics, these often admirable products that they left us. The close connection that exists between the intellectual power and the material power of man is found throughout history: it is the secret feeling of this connection that makes us understand the dreams of the past about the omnipotence of science. We too believe in this omnipotence, although we attain it by other methods.

THE SEVEN METALS AND THE SEVEN PLANETS

“The world is a single animal, all parts of which, however far apart, are necessarily linked together. This phrase of Iamblichus the Neoplatonist would not be disavowed by modern astronomers and physicists, for it expresses the unity of the laws of nature and the general connection of the universe. The first perception of this unity goes back to the day when men recognized the fatal regularity of the revolutions of the stars; they immediately sought to extend its consequences to all material and even moral phenomena, by a mystical generalization, which surprises the philosopher, but which is nevertheless important to know, if one wants to understand the historical development of the human mind.

It was the golden chain that linked all beings, in the language of medieval writers. Thus the influence of the stars seemed to extend to everything, to the generation of metals, minerals and living beings; as well as to the evolution of peoples and individuals. It is certain that the sun regulates, by the flux of its light and its heat, the seasons of the year and the development of vegetable life; it is the main source of current or latent energies on the surface of the earth. Formerly, the same role was attributed, although in more limited orders, to the various stars, less powerful than the sun, but whose course is subject to equally regular laws. All historical documents prove that it was in Babylon and in Chaldea that these imaginations originated; they have. played an important role in the development of astronomy, closely linked with astrology, from which it seems to have emerged. Alchemy is also connected with it, at least by the assimilation established between the metals and the planets, an assimilation drawn from their brilliance, their color and their very number.

Let us first focus on the latter: it is the number seven, a sacred number found everywhere, in the days of the week, in the remuneration of the planets, in that of metals, colors, musical tones.

The origin of this number seems to be astronomical and to correspond to the phases of the moon, that is to say to the number of days which represent a quarter of the revolution of this star. By chance, the number of wandering stars (planets), visible to the naked eye, which circulate or seem to circulate in the sky around the earth, amounts to precisely seven: the Moon, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. A star was attributed to each day of the week: the very names of the days that we pronounce now continue to translate, without our knowledge, this Babylonian consecration.

The number of colors was likewise fixed at seven; this arbitrary classification was consecrated by Newton, and it has come down to the physicists of our time. It goes back to a high antiquity. Herodotus reports that the city of Ecbatana (Clio, 98) had seven enclosures, each painted a different color. : the last one was golden; the one before it, silver. It is, I believe, the oldest mention which establishes a relation of the number seven with colors and metals. The fabulous city of the Atlanteans, in Plato's novel, is likewise surrounded by concentric walls, the last of which are covered with gold and silver; but we do not find the mystical number seven there.

This same number was also, as we have said, characteristic of planetary stars. According to Mr. François Lenormant, the cuneiform inscriptions mention the seven black stones, worshiped in the main temple of Ouroukh in Chaldea, betyles personifying the seven planets. It is to the same symbolism that a passage from the romance of Philostratus on the life of Apollonius of Tyana (III, 41) relates, a passage in which it is a question of seven rings given to this philosopher by the Brahmin Iarchas.

Between the metals and the planets the comparison results, not only from their number, but especially from their color. The stars appear to the sight with noticeably distinct colorations: Suus cuique color est, says Pliny (II, xvi). The diverse nature of these colors has fortified the rapprochement of planets and metals. It is thus that one easily conceives the assimilation of gold, the most brilliant and the king of metals, with the yellow light of the sun, the ruler of the sky. The oldest indication that we have in this respect is found in Pindar. The fifth ode of the Isthméennes begins with these words: “Mother of the sun, Thia, known by many names, it is to you that men owe the preponderant power of gold. »

In Hesiod, Thia is a divinity, mother of the sun and the moon, that is to say generator of the principles of light (Theogony, 371-374). An old socialist comments on these verses by saying: “From Thia and Hyperion comes the sun, and from the sun gold. To each star a material is assigned: to the Sun For, to the Moon silver, to Mars iron, to Saturn lead, to Jupiter electrum, to Hermes tin, to Venus copper. the Alexandrian era. It rested, at the origin, on quite natural assimilations.
Indeed, if the yellow and brilliant color of the sun recalls that of gold:
orbem Per duodena governs muadi sol aureus astra 2,

the white and gifted light of the moon has always been likened to the tint of silver. The reddish light of the planet Mars, igneus according to Pliny, diaprés the alchemists, recalled early that of blood and that of iron, consecrated to the divinity of the same name. It is thus that Didyme, in an extract from his commentary on the Iliad (I. V), a commentary a little earlier than Father Christian, speaks of Mars, called the star of iron. The bluish radiance of Venus, the evening and morning star, similarly recalls the tint of copper salts, a metal whose very name is taken from that of the island of Cyprus, consecrated to the goddess Cypris, the Greek name of Venus. Hence the comparison made by most authors. Between the white and dark hue of lead and that of the planet Saturn, the kinship is even closer, and it has been constantly invoked since the Alexandrian period. The colors and metals assigned to "sparkling" Mercury (, radians, after Pliny) and "resplendent" Jupiter () have varied more, as I I will say it presently.

All these attributions are closely linked to the history of astrology and alchemy. Indeed, in the minds of the authors of the Alexandrian era, these are not simple comparisons; but it is a question of the very generation of metals, supposedly produced under the influence of the stars in the bosom of the earth.

Proclus, neo-Platonic philosopher of the 5th century of our era, in his commentary on Plato's Timaeus, states that "natural gold and silver and each of the metals, like each of the other substances, are generated in the earth, under the influence of celestial deities and their scents. The Sun produces gold; the Moon, silver; Saturn, lead, and Mars, iron. »

The definitive expression of these astrological-chemical and medical doctrines is found in the Arab author Dimeschqî, quoted by Chwolson (On the Sabaeans, t. II, p. 380, 396, 411, 544). According to this writer, the seven metals are related to the seven shining stars, by their color, their nature and their properties: they contribute to form their substance. Our author explains that among the Sabaeans, heirs of the ancient Chaldeans, the seven planets were adored as divinities; each had its temple and, in the temple, its statue, made with the metal which was dedicated to it. Thus the Sun had a golden image; the Moon, a statue of silver; Mars, an iron statue; Venus, a copper statue; Jupiter, a pewter statue; Saturn, a lead statue.

About the planet Mercury, his statue was made with an assembly of all metals, and in the hollow or poured a large quantity of mercury. These are Arabic tales, which recall the alchemical theories on metals and on mercury, regarded as their raw material. But these tales rest on old distorted traditions relating to the worship of the planets in Babylon and Chaldea, and their relation to the metals.

There is, in fact, a similar list from the second century of our era: it is found in a passage from Celsus, quoted by Origen (Opera, t. I, p. 646; Contra Celsum, I. VI, 22; of Paris, 1733). Celsus exposes the doctrine of the Persians and the Mithraic mysteries, and he teaches us that these mysteries were expressed by a certain symbol, representing the celestial revolutions and the passage of souls through the stars. It was a staircase, provided with seven lofty doors, with an eighth at the top.

The first gate is of Lead; it is assigned to Saturn, the slowness of this star being; expressed by the weight of the metal3.

The second door is of pewter; it is assigned to Venus, whose light recalls the brilliance and softness of this body.

The third gate is of brass, assigned to Jupiter, because of the resistance of the metal.

The fourth door is of iron, assigned to Hermes, because this metal is useful in trade, and lends itself to all kinds of work.

The fifth door, assigned to Mars, is formed by an alloy of monetary, uneven and mixed copper.

The sixth gate is silver, dedicated to the Moon.

The seventh gate is of gold, consecrated to the Sun; these two metals corresponding to the colors of the two stars.

The attributions of the metals to the planets are not here quite the same as among the Neoplatonists and the alchemists. They seem to respond to a slightly different tradition, of which we find other traces elsewhere. Indeed, according to Lobeck (Aglaophamus, p. 936, 1829), in certain astrological lists, Jupiter is likewise assigned to brass, and Mars to copper.

We find the trace of a deeper and still more ancient diversity in an old alchemical list, reproduced at the end of several manuscripts, and where the sign of each planet is followed by the name of the metal and of the derived or congenerous bodies.

Most of the planets respond to the same metals as in the ordinary enumerations, with the exception of the planet Hermes, following the sign of which is the name of the emerald. Now, among the Egyptians, according to Lepsius, the list of metals included, alongside gold, silver, copper and lead, the names of precious stones, such as mafek or emerald and chesbet or sapphire, bodies assimilated to metals, because of their luster and their value. There is here the memory of comparisons very different from ours, but which humanity once regarded as natural, and knowledge of which is necessary in order to properly conceive the ideas of the ancients. However, the assimilation of precious stones to metals disappeared early, while we have for a long time continued to place in the same class pure metals, such as gold, silver, copper and certain of their alloys, for example electrum and brass. Hence the important variations in the signs of the metals and the planets.

Let us retrace the history of these variations; it is interesting to describe it for the understanding of the old texts.

Olympiodorus, a 6th-century Neoplatonist, attributes lead to Saturn; electrum, an alloy of gold and silver, regarded as a distinct metal, to Jupiter; iron to Mars, gold to the Sun, bronze or copper to Venus, tin to Hermes (planet Mercury), silver to the Moon. These attributions are the same as those of the scoliaste of Pindar quoted above; they correspond exactly and point for point to an initial list of the alchemical manuscript of Saint Mark, written in the eleventh century, and which contains very old documents.

The alchemical symbols recorded in the manuscripts include the following metals, the order and attributions of which are mostly constant.

1° The gold corresponded to the. Sun, relationship that I exposed above. The sign of gold is almost always that of the sun, and it is already expressed thus, in the papyri of Leide.

2° Silver corresponded to the Moon and was always expressed by the same planetary sign.

3° Electrum, an alloy of gold and silver, was reputed to be a particular metal among the Egyptians, who designated it under the name of asem, a name which was later confused with the Greek word asemon, silver not brand. This alloy provides at will, depending on the treatment, For or silver. It is described by Pliny, and it was regarded until the time of the Romans as a distinct metal. His sign was that of Jupiter/attribution which we already find in Zosimus,

When electrum disappeared from the list of metals, its sign was assigned to tin, which until then corresponded to the planet Mercury (Hermes). Our alchemical lists bear the trace of this change. Indeed, the list of the Venice manuscript bears (fol. 6): “Jupiter, resplendent electrum. And these words are found, again next to the planetary sign, in manuscript 2327 of the National Library of Paris (fol. 17 recto, line -16), the first letter of the word Zeus appearing in two different forms (uppercase and lowercase ). On the contrary, a little further on, in another list of the last manuscript (fol. 18 verso, line 5), the sign of Jupiter is assigned to tin.

4° Lead corresponded to Saturn: this attribution has undergone no change, although lead has several distinct signs in the lists.

Lead was regarded by Egyptian alchemists as the generator of other metals and the raw material for transmutation. This is explained by its appearances, common to various other bodies.

Indeed, this name applied, originally, to any white and fusible metal or metallic alloy; he embraced tin (white and silver lead, opposed to black lead or lead properly so called, in Pliny) and the numerous alloys which derive from these two metals, associated with each other and with antimony, zinc, nickel, bismuth, etc. The ideas that we have today on simple or elementary metals, as opposed to compound metals or alloys, have emerged only little by little over the course of the centuries. It is also conceivable that this was so, for nothing establishes at first sight an absolute distinction between these two groups of bodies.

5° Iron corresponded to Mars. This attribution is the most common. However in the list of Celsus iron corresponds to the planet Hermes.

The very sign of the planet Mars is sometimes found given tin in some of the lists. This again recalls the list of Celsus which assigns to Mars the alloy, monetary. Mars and iron have two distinct signs, although common to the metal and to the planet, namely: an arrow with its point, and a , abbreviation of the word , ancient name of the planet Mars, sometimes even with addition of a , abbreviation of , "the inflamed", another name or epithet of Mars.

6° Copper corresponded to Venus, or Cypris, goddess of the island of Cyprus, where one found mines of this metal, goddess assimilated herself to Hathor, 1a multicolored Egyptian divinity, whose derivatives blue, green, the yellows and reds of copper recall the various colorings.

However, Celsus' list attributes copper to Jupiter and the monetary alloy to Mars. The confusion between iron and copper, or rather brass, also attributed to the planet Mars, once existed; it is attested by that of their names: the word oes, which expresses brass in Latin, derives from the Sanskrit ayas, which means iron6. It was undoubtedly, in high antiquity, the name of the metal of weapons and tools, that of the hard metal par excellence.

7° Tin corresponded first to the planet Hermes or Mercury. When Jupiter changed metals and was assigned to tin, the sign of the primeval planet of that metal changed to mercury.

Celsus' list attributes tin to Venus, which also recalls the ancient confusion of copper and bronze (brazen, tin alloy).

8° Mercury. Mercury, unknown, it seems, to the ancient Egyptians; but known in the Alexandrian period, was first regarded as a kind of counter-money and represented by the sign of the moon turned upside down. It is not mentioned in the list of Celsus (2nd century). Between the 6th century (list of Olympiodorus the philosopher, quoted above) and the 7th century of our era (list of Stephanus of Alexandria, which will be given shortly), mercury took the sign of the planet Hermes, which became free following the changes of assignment relating to Pétain.
These new attributions and these astrological-chemical relations are expressed in the following passage from Stephanus:

“The demiurge first placed Saturn, and opposite lead, in the highest and first region; secondly, he placed Jupiter opposite the tin, in the second region; he placed Mars the third, opposite iron, in the third region; he placed the Sun fourth, and opposite For, in the fourth region; he placed Venus the fifth, and opposite the copper, in the fifth region; he placed Mercury the sixth, and opposite the quicksilver, in the sixth region; he placed the Moon the seventh, and opposite the silver, in the seventh and last region. In the manuscript, above each planet, or each metal, is its symbol. But, a characteristic circumstance, the symbol of the mercury keyboard and that of the metal are not yet the same, despite the rapprochement established between them, the metal being always expressed by an upturned crescent. Mercury and tin therefore each have two different signs in our lists, depending on their era.

These are the fundamental signs of simple or radical bodies, as we would say today.
These signs are the starting point for those of a certain number of bodies, derived from each metal and responding to different physical or chemical treatments which can change their shape or appearance.

Such are: the filings, the leaf, the calcined or molten body, the welding, the mixture, the alloys, the ore, the rust or oxide. Each of these derivatives has its own sign in the lists of manuscripts, which is combined with the sign of the metal, exactly as is done in chemical nomenclature today.

The general principles of these nomenclatures have therefore changed less than one might think, the human mind proceeding according to rules and systems of signs which remain more or less the same in the course of time. But it should be observed that the analogies founded on the nature of things, that is to say on the chemical composition, demonstrated by the real generation of bodies and by their metamorphoses carried out in nature or in laboratories, these analogies , I say, subsist and remain the foundation of our scientific notations; while the old chemical analogies between the planets and the metals, based on mystical ideas without experimental basis, have fallen into just discredit.

L. Pindar, edition of Boeckh, t. II, p. 540, 1819.
2. Virgil, Georgics, I, 232.
3. “Saturni sidus gelidoe ac rigentis esse naturae. (Pliny, II, VI.)
4. See the Egyptian metals in my work on the Origins of Alchemy, p. 221 and 233, Steinheil, 1885.
5. See the Origins of Alchemy, pl. II, p, 112, — Annals of Chemistry and Physics, March 1885, p. 382.
6. Origins of Alchemy, p. 225.
7. Ms. 2327, folio 73 verso.