What was it about alchemy that inspired newton

The mineral finds were real — deposits of metallic silver truly can spread out in rock in shapes that resemble huge, intricate trees — but the interpretation was not: The apparent similarity between these deposits and trees inspired the notion that minerals might develop and change like living things.

Renaissance alchemists now theorized that base metals the ones earlier alchemists thought were made mostly of sulfur were imperfectly developed, or immature, forms of gold. Following this line of thought, alchemists believed that gold became inert and stopped growing once it was removed from the earth, just as a flower dies after being plucked from a plant. There should be a way, then, to bring mined gold back to life.

Reanimating gold, the reasoning went, would be easier than adjusting the formula of base metals by adding and removing sulfur and mercury. Thus began the Renaissance equivalent of the great California gold rush. Well-trained, intellectual alchemists sold the prospect of making gold to rich patrons, and less well-educated alchemists with day jobs tinkered the night away trying to make gold in makeshift kitchen laboratories.

In his ongoing investigation into this remarkable era, Newman became intrigued by one of the most influential of the 17th-century alchemists — another mysterious figure, a man named Eirenaeus Philalethes, who was said to live in colonial America. His real identity was cloaked in secrecy, but his alchemical writings were read throughout Europe. Detective work by Newman proved that Philalethes did not really exist. Another respected American alchemist, George Starkey, had created him out of thin air to boost his career.

In the European alchemy circles Starkey inhabited, he could boast that he was the only one who had met the great Philalethes. In Boyle took the bait and asked Starkey to teach him chemistry so he could make the Stone himself. Boyle, considered the father of modern chemistry, knew almost nothing about it until he studied under Starkey, according to Newman. A Boyle notebook uncovered by Principe in the mids describes how a wandering alchemist seemingly transformed lead into gold before his eyes.

In his work, Valentine included an illustration that, Principe suspected, depicted a method for rendering gold — normally one of the most stable elements — volatile.

Looking around for other documents describing the volatility of gold, he found a treasure trove of writings on alchemy by Boyle. One of those manuscripts included a description of an absolutely real substance then called Philosophical Mercury — a liquid form of mercury that could dissolve gold slowly, a pivotal stage in gold making.

Newton was even more secretive than Boyle, disguising his alchemical investigations he wrote more than a million unpublished words on the subject with codes, obscure symbols for chemicals, and colorful metaphors. To really understand what Newton was seeing in his laboratory, Newman realized in , he needed to repeat some of the old alchemical experiments himself. One key alchemical experiment was called the Tree of Diana, a magical-looking demonstration that metals could grow like vegetation.

Newman learned that the Tree of Diana really works. Today this process is regarded as a simple matter of chemistry. Principe, who had studied the alchemical work of all three men, came to the same conclusion as Newman and decided that he, too, had to replicate the long-abandoned alchemical experiments firsthand.

Principe mixed the Philosophical Mercury with gold, sealed it in a glass egg, and watched. Just as Starkey and other alchemists reported, strange things started to happen inside the egg.

But the experiments proved something that Principe had long suspected. Alchemists were not just tinkering blindly. In the process they were learning fundamental principles of chemistry: breaking down ores, dissolving metals with acids, and precipitating metals out of solution.

How close did Newton and Boyle think they had come to making gold? Did they believe that with just a few more tweaks, their experiments would eventually work? The time is ripe for a new understanding of Newton and alchemy, and there is certainly no more capable person to do this than William Newman. Principe, author of The Secrets of Alchemy. Due to global supply chain issues, book orders are currently taking days or longer to be delivered. Please order early for the holidays or consider shopping at your local bookstore.

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