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'''Alchemical literature''' is a genre of literature encompassing works on [[Alchemy]] as a form of scripture, it was a [[Protoscience|protoscience]] with a [[Metaphysics|metaphysical aproach]] that used [[botany]], [[metallurgy]], [[herbal medicine]], [[automation]], [[Nuclear transmutation|transmutation of elements]], [[Action at a distance]], music, [[Magic (supernatural)|magic]] in order to reach it objectives. It is the precursor of modern [[Chemistry]].

The word Alchemy is formed from the Arabic word ''al-kīmiyāʾ'', composed from [[definite article]] ''[[al-]]'' that means The, and kīmiyāʾ'' ({{lang|ar|الكيمياء}}), that could originate from [[Ancient Greek]] words {{lang|grc|χημεία}} (''khēmeia'', that means "casting together", "weld", "alloy"), {{lang|grc|χημία}} (''khēmia'', black earth, ancient name for Egypt), or χυμεία (khumeía, “art of alloying metals”), or χύμα (khúma, “fluid”), or χέω (khéō, “I pour”), or from χυμός (juice).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/alchemy|title=Alchemy &#124; Origin and meaning of alchemy by Online Etymology Dictionary}}</ref><ref name=oed>"alchemy", entry in ''The Oxford English Dictionary'', J. A. Simpson and E. S. C. Weiner, vol. 1, 2nd ed., 1989, {{ISBN|0-19-861213-3}}.</ref><ref>p. 854, "Arabic alchemy", Georges C. Anawati, pp. 853-885 in ''Encyclopedia of the history of Arabic science'', eds. Roshdi Rashed and Régis Morelon, London: Routledge, 1996, vol. 3, {{ISBN|0-415-12412-3}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/alchemy|title=Alchemy &#124; Origin and meaning of alchemy by Online Etymology Dictionary}}</ref><ref>Weekley, Ernest (1967). Etymological Dictionary of Modern English. New York: Dover Publications. {{ISBN|0-486-21873-2}}</ref><ref name=oed>"alchemy", entry in ''The Oxford English Dictionary'', J. A. Simpson and E. S. C. Weiner, vol. 1, 2nd ed., 1989, {{ISBN|0-19-861213-3}}.</ref><ref>p. 854, "Arabic alchemy", Georges C. Anawati, pp. 853-885 in ''Encyclopedia of the history of Arabic science'', eds. Roshdi Rashed and Régis Morelon, London: Routledge, 1996, vol. 3, {{ISBN|0-415-12412-3}}.</ref>

Alchemical writers used Classical figures from Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythology to illuminate their works and allegorize alchemical transmutation.<ref>Yves Bonnefoy. 'Roman and European Mythologies'. University of Chicago Press, 1992. pp. 211–213</ref> These included the pantheon of gods related to the Classical planets, [[Isis]], [[Osiris]], [[Jason]], and many others. It has been argued that early alchemical writers borrowed the vocabulary of Greek philosophical schools but did not implement any of its doctrines in a systematic way.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dufault |first1=Olivier |s2cid=10823051 |title=Transmutation Theory in the Greek Alchemical Corpus |journal=Ambix |year=2015 |volume=62 |issue=3 |pages=215–244 |doi=10.1179/1745823415Y.0000000003|pmid=26307909 |url=https://hcommons.org/deposits/download/hc:24472/CONTENT/dufault-transmutation-theory-in-the-greek-alchemical-corpus.pdf/ }}</ref>

==Ancient literature==

===Hermes Trismegistus===

{{See also|Hermes|Hermes Trismegistus|Hermetica|Hermeticism}}

[[Hermes Trismegistus]] (or Thrice-Great Hermes) is a legendary [[Hellenistic]] figure that originated as a [[Syncretism|syncretic combination]] of the [[Ancient Greek religion|Greek god]] [[Hermes]] and the [[Ancient Egyptian deities|Egyptian god]] [[Thoth]].<ref name="Bull 2018">A survey of the literary and archaeological evidence for the background of Hermes Trismegistus as the Greek god [[Hermes]] and the Egyptian god [[Thoth]] may be found in {{cite book |last=Bull |first=Christian H. |year=2018 |chapter=The Myth of Hermes Trismegistus |title=The Tradition of Hermes Trismegistus: The Egyptian Priestly Figure as a Teacher of Hellenized Wisdom |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |pages=31–96 |series=Religions in the Graeco-Roman World |volume=186 |doi=10.1163/9789004370845_003 |isbn=978-90-04-37081-4 |issn=0927-7633}}</ref> Is a central figure in the mythology of alchemy. Hermes and his [[caduceus]] or serpent-staff, were among alchemy's principal symbols. Hermetism, is a label used to designate a philosophical system that is primarily based on the purported teachings of Hermes Trismegistus. [[Corpus Hermeticum]] and [[Emerald Tablet]] are texts attributed to him.<ref>Copied from the article [[Hermes Trismegistus]]</ref>

==Greco-Roman alchemists==

[[Pherecydes of Syros]] was considered to have had the greater significance in teaching on the subject of [[metempsychosis]] or the "transmigration of souls", which holds that every soul is immortal and, upon death, enters into a new body. His disciple [[Aristotle]] wrote the book [[Metaphysics (Aristotle)|Metaphysics]]. Another of his disciples, [[Pythagoras]], taught metempsychosis in 600 BC that was sourced from Indian monks.<ref>{{cite book | title=Short studies in the science of comparative religions | last=Forlong | first=J. G. R. | url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Short_Studies_in_the_Science_of_Comparat/rntIAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Zalmoxis | pages=35-36 | date=1897 | publisher=B. Quartich}}</ref><ref>Copied from the article [[Pherecydes of Syros]]</ref>

[[Clement of Alexandria]] claims to have wrote what were called the "forty-two books of Hermes", covering all fields of knowledge.<ref>[[s:Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume II/CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA/The Stromata, or Miscellanies/Book VI/Chapter IV.|Clement, ''Stromata'', vi. 4.]]</ref> The ''[[Hermetica]]'' of Thrice-Great Hermes is generally understood to form the basis for Western alchemical philosophy and practice, called the [[hermeticism|hermetic philosophy]] by its early practitioners. These writings were collected in the first centuries of the common era.<ref>Copied from the article [[Clement of Alexandria]]</ref>

Most of the Greco-Roman alchemists preceding Zosimos are known only by pseudonyms, such as [[Moses of Alexandria|Moses]], Isis, [[Cleopatra the Alchemist|Cleopatra]], [[Pseudo-Democritus|Democritus]], and [[Ostanes]]. Others authors such as Komarios, and [[Chymes]], we only know through fragments of text. After AD&nbsp;400, Greek alchemical writers occupied themselves solely in commenting on the works of these predecessors.<ref>F. Sherwood Taylor. ''Alchemists, Founders of Modern Chemistry.'' p.26.</ref> By the middle of the 7th century alchemy was almost an entirely mystical discipline.<ref>Allen G. Debus. ''Alchemy and early modern chemistry: papers from Ambix.'' p. 36</ref> It was at that time that [[Khalid Ibn Yazid]] sparked its migration from Alexandria to the Islamic world, facilitating the translation and preservation of Greek alchemical texts in the 8th and 9th centuries.<ref>Glen Warren Bowersock, Peter Robert Lamont Brown, Oleg Grabar. ''Late antiquity: a guide to the postclassical world.'' p. 284–285</ref><ref>Copied from the article [[Alchemy]]</ref>

[[Empedocles]] believed in the [[transmigration of the soul]]/[[metempsychosis]], that souls can be reincarnated between humans, animals and even plants.<ref>Frag. B127 (Aelian, ''On Animals'', xii. 7); Frag. B117 (Hippolytus, i. 3.2)</ref> For Empedocles, all living things were on the same spiritual plane; plants and animals are links in a chain where humans are a link too.<ref name=EB1911>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Empedocles |volume=9 |pages=344–345 |first=William |last=Wallace}}</ref> Empedocles was a [[vegetarianism|vegetarian]]<ref>{{cite book|last= Heath |first= John |title= The Talking Greeks: Speech, Animals, and the Other in Homer, Aeschylus, and Plato |date= 2005-05-12 |publisher= [[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn= 9781139443913 |page= 322 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=QwkEVV0j8fgC&q=%22An+excellent+study+of+Empedocles%27+vegetarianism+and+the+various+meanings+of+sacrifice+in+its+cultural+context+is+that+of+Rundin+%281998%29.%22&pg=PA322 |quote= An excellent study of Empedocles' vegetarianism and the various meanings of sacrifice in its cultural context is that of Rundin (1998).}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author= Plato |author-link= Plato |title= Meno |editor-last= Bluck |editor-first= Richard Stanley Harold |publisher= [[Cambridge University Press]] |year= 1961 |orig-year = c. 360 BC |isbn= 9780521172288 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=-u0XnKDTw1kC&q=%22This+suggests+that+e.g.+Empedocles%27+vegetarianism+was+partly+at+least+due+to+the+idea+that+the+spilling+of+blood+brings+pollution.%22&pg=PA72 |quote= This suggests that e.g. Empedocles' vegetarianism was partly at least due to the idea that the spilling of blood brings pollution.}}</ref> and advocated vegetarianism, since the bodies of animals are the dwelling places of punished souls.<ref>Sextus Empiricus, ''Against the Mathematicians'', ix. 127; Hippolytus, vii. 21</ref> Wise people, who have learned the secret of life, are next to the [[divinity|divine]],<ref name=EB1911/><ref>Clement of Alexandria, ''Miscellanies'', iv. 23.150</ref> and their souls, free from the cycle of reincarnations, are able to rest in happiness for eternity.<ref>Clement of Alexandria, ''Miscellanies'', v. 14.122</ref><ref>Copied from the article [[Empedocles]]</ref>

[[Zosimos of Panopolis]] wrote in the ''Final Abstinence'' (also known as the "Final Count").<ref>The title of the τελευταὶα ἀποχή is traditionally translated as the "Final Count". Considering that the treatise does not mention any count nor counting and that it makes a case against the use of sacrifice in the practice of alchemy, a preferable translation would be "the Final Abstinence". See {{Cite book|last=Dufault|first=Olivier|url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2ks0g83x|title=Early Greek Alchemy, Patronage and Innovation|publisher=California Classical Studies|year=2019|location=Berkeley|pages=127–131}}</ref><ref>Copied from the article [[Zosimos of Panopolis]]</ref>

==Middle ages==

[[Khalid ibn Yazid]] was an [[Umayyad dynasty|Umayyad]] prince and purported [[alchemist]] to whom is attributed the [[The Book of the Composition of Alchemy]].</ref><ref>Copied from the article [[Khalid ibn Yazid]]</ref>

[[Jabir ibn Hayyan]] was a 7th century writer, author of an enormous number and variety of works in Arabic, often called the Jabirian corpus. The works that survive today mainly deal with [[alchemy]] and [[chemistry]], [[Magic (supernatural)|magic]], and [[Shi'ite]] religious philosophy, his writings are included in The Great Book of Mercy, The One Hundred and Twelve Books, The Seventy Books.<ref>Copied from the article [[Jabir ibn Hayyan]]</ref>

[[Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa]] writes [[Three Books of Occult Philosophy]] in 1531.<ref>Copied from the article [[Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa]]</ref>

[[Paracelsus]], also know as the father of [[Toxicology]]. His [[Hermeticism|hermetical]] beliefs were that sickness and health in the body relied upon the harmony of humans ([[macrocosm and microcosm|microcosm]]) and nature ([[macrocosm]]). He took a different approach from those before him, using this analogy not in the manner of soul-purification but in the manner that humans must have certain balances of minerals in their bodies, and that certain illnesses of the body had chemical remedies that could cure them. As a result of this hermetical idea of harmony, the universe's macrocosm was represented in every person as a microcosm. His theories were the basis for [[Paracelsianism]] and [[Iatrochemistry]].<ref>Copied from the article [[Paracelsus]]</ref>

[[George Ripley (alchemist)|George Ripley]] wrote the books ''The Compound of Alchemy; or, the Twelve Gates leading to the Discovery of the Philosopher's Stone'' (''Liber Duodecim Portarum'') in 1471, <ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/4760830|title=Transmission and Transmutation: George Ripley and the Place of English Alchemy in Early Modern Europe|first=Jennifer|last=Rampling}}</ref> The ''Cantilena Riplaei'', ''The Compound of Alchemy'' is based largely on the work of a little-known alchemist of the fifteenth century, named [[Guido de Montanor]].<ref>Rampling, "Establishing the Canon."</ref> and 'Worthies of England'.

[[Guido di Montanor]] writes "Scala philosophorum" (Scale of the Philosophers), this work was one of the first known to present a systematic order and structure for alchemic processes.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.alchemywebsite.com/bookshop/mohs42.html|title=Scala Philosophorum|series=Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks Series No. 42|website=www.alchemywebsite.com|access-date=2019-08-30}}</ref>

[[Robert Boyle]], is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and one of the pioneers of modern experimental [[scientific method]]. He is best known for [[Boyle's law]],<ref name=acottLaw>{{cite journal |author=Acott, Chris |title=The diving "Law-ers": A brief resume of their lives. |journal=[[South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society Journal]] |volume=29 |issue=1 |year=1999 |issn=0813-1988 |oclc=16986801 |url=http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/5990 |access-date=17 April 2009 }}</ref> which describes the inversely proportional relationship between the absolute [[pressure]] and [[volume]] of a gas, if the temperature is kept constant within a [[closed system]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Levine|first1=Ira N.|title=Physical chemistry|date=2008|publisher=McGraw-Hill|location=Dubuque, IA|isbn=9780072538625|page=12|edition=6th}}</ref> In ''Some Physico-Theological Considerations about the Possibility of the Resurrection'' (1675), he used a chemical experiment known as the reduction to the pristine state as part of an attempt to demonstrate the physical possibility of the [[Resurrection of the dead|resurrection of the body]]. Throughout his career, Boyle tried to show that science could lend support to Christianity.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wragge-Morley|first=Alexander|title=Robert Boyle and the representation of imperceptible entities|journal=The British Journal for the History of Science|volume=51|pages=1–24|doi=10.1017/S0007087417000899|pmid=29103389|issn=0007-0874|year=2018|issue=1|s2cid=4334846|url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10030920/}}</ref> In his work ''[[The Sceptical Chymist]]'' (1661), Boyle abandoned the [[Aristotelianism|Aristotelian]] ideas of the [[classical elements]]—earth, water, air, and fire—in favor of [[corpuscularianism]] that help him to develop his [[Mechanism (philosophy)|mechanical]] corpuscular philosophy, which laid the foundations for the [[Chemical Revolution]].<ref>{{citation|author=Ursula Klein|title= Styles of Experimentation and Alchemical Matter Theory in the Scientific Revolution|journal=Metascience|publisher=Springer|issn=1467-9981|volume=16|issue=2|date=July 2007|doi=10.1007/s11016-007-9095-8|pages=247–256 esp. 247}}</ref>. In his later work, ''The Origin of Forms and Qualities'' (1666), Boyle used corpuscularianism to explain all of the major Aristotelian concepts, marking a departure from traditional [[Aristotelianism]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Osler|first=Margaret J.|title=Reconfiguring the World. Nature, God, and Human Understanding, from the Middle Ages to Early-Modern Europe|page=127|year=2010|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|location=Baltimore|isbn=978-0-8018-9656-9}}</ref>

[[Isaac Newton]] was interested in Alchemy works and wrote extensively on the subject. In 1888, after spending sixteen years cataloguing Newton's papers, Cambridge University kept a small number and returned the rest to the Earl of Portsmouth. In 1936, a descendant offered the papers for sale at Sotheby's.<ref name="Kean"/> The collection was broken up and sold for a total of about £9,000.<ref name="Greshko">{{cite journal|last1=Greshko|first1=Michael|title=Isaac Newton's Lost Alchemy Recipe Rediscovered|journal=National Geographic|date=4 April 2016|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/160404-isaac-newton-alchemy-mercury-recipe-chemistry-science/}}</ref> [[John Maynard Keynes]] was one of about three dozen bidders who obtained part of the collection at auction. Keynes went on to reassemble an estimated half of Newton's collection of papers on alchemy before donating his collection to Cambridge University in 1946.<ref name="Mann">{{cite news|last1=Mann|first1=Adam|title=The Strange, Secret History of Isaac Newton's Papers|url=https://www.wired.com/2014/05/newton-papers-q-and-a/|access-date=25 April 2016|work=Science|date=14 May 2014}}</ref><ref name="Kean">{{cite journal|last1=Kean|first1=Sam|title=Newton, The Last Magician|journal=Humanities|year=2011|volume=32|issue=1|url=http://www.neh.gov/humanities/2011/januaryfebruary/feature/newton-the-last-magician|access-date=25 April 2016}}</ref><ref name="Dry">{{cite book|last1=Dry|first1=Sarah|title=The Newton papers : the strange and true odyssey of Isaac Newton's manuscripts|date=2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-995104-8}}</ref> All of Newton's known writings on alchemy are currently being put online in a project undertaken by [[Indiana University]]: "The Chymistry of Isaac Newton"<ref name="Indiana">{{cite web|title=The Chymistry of Isaac Newton|url=https://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/newton/|website=Indiana University, Bloomington|access-date=25 April 2016}}</ref> and summarised in a book.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Levitin |first1=Dimitri |title=Going for Gold |url=https://literaryreview.co.uk/going-for-gold-2 |access-date=6 March 2019 |work=[[Literary Review]] |date=March 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Newman |first1=William R |title=Newton the Alchemist Science, Enigma, and the Quest for Nature's "Secret Fire" |date=2018 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-17487-7 |url=https://press.princeton.edu/titles/13261.html}}</ref> Isaac Newton used concepts from [[Corpuscularianism|corpuscularianism]] to develop hia [[corpuscular theory of light]].

==Renaissance==

[[Thomas Norton (alchemist)|Thomas Norton]] wrote in 1477 ''The Ordinal of Alchemy''. In 1582 [[Giordano Bruno]] writes [[De umbris idearum]]. [[Johann Daniel Mylius]] writes Opus medico-chymicum in 1618. [[Michael Maier]] writes in 1617 [[Atalanta Fugiens]] and [[Tripus Aureus]], his student [[Daniel Stolz von Stolzenberg]] writes in 1624 the emblem book Viridarium Chymicum.

In 1652 [[Elias Ashmole]] published [[Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum]], an extensively annotated compilation of English alchemical literature.

== See also ==

*[[Alchemy]]

*[[Alchemy in art and entertainment]]

*[[Alchemical symbol]]

*Biological transmutation in [[Corentin Louis Kervran]]

* History of herbalism

*[[Materia medica]]

*[[Huangdi Neijing]]

*[[Herbal medicine]]

* [[Literature]]

* [[List of alchemists]]

* [[Electronic literature]]

* [[Magnum opus (alchemy)]]

* [[Musica universalis]]

== References ==

{{Reflist|20em}}

== External links ==

{{Wiktionary}}

{{Wikiquote}}

{{Wikisource|Portal:Alchemy|Alchemy}}

{{Wikibooks}}

*{{Commons category-inline|Alchemy}}

[[Category:Alchemy| ]]

[[Category:Esotericism]]

[[Category:Hermeticism]]

[[Category:Pseudoscience]]

[[Category:History of science]]

[[Category:Literary genres]]

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