Say what now? ~3

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Part: 3

al-Chemy - "the Chemistry"

Claim: Alchemy was a mismanaged professional science that fell into the hands of amateurs, who produced a large amount of happy accidents (and a plethora of not so happy one's). It became toxic to touch, and never came to fruition as a field. A healthy baby dropped onto one's head, growing up 'mentally challenged'. Alright, let's have a James Rant-i about it.

1.

Alchemy is a subject as easy to grasp as water inside the palm of your hand. As you dip your hand in water and lift it up, most of it escapes and there is but a small amount remaining. Hence, and for certain other reasons, it has often been ridiculed. It has been seen as not a real science (if I'm not mistaken, jetpunk states it's a pseudo-science aka mimicking science). Due to the publicly assumed "ultimate goals" of the trade, it has been very much favored by all sorts of charlatans and con artists who have, at best, succeeded in sullying the name of said trade. Not that they care, because they were never alchemists, anyway. It didn't help that most of the real alchemists and their schools were extremely secretive and, you might say, allergic to peer-review. As you might know, it's sort of a cornerstone of science perceived as "real". It helps even less that a lot of the material is hidden and destroyed, or been adopted by "real science" (the essence of which is still argued, e.g. many claim these are NOT a "real science": geology, biology, psychology, sociology etc. and every new science there may be, will be subject to the same hazing and denial of status until proven or gone). As such, alchemy mostly fizzled out (but never died).

2.

Alchemy was always, in principle, the same as science. The people dabbling around alchemy produced masses of practical knowledge about matter, as well as highly sophisticated theories about its hidden nature and transformations. The alchemists contributed to, among other things, mining and metallurgy (the "gold path"), pharmacy and medicine (the "longevity path"). Their achievements, aspirations and overall exploits made not only science, but also art flourish. Plenty of painters, poets, playwrights and others have plenty to thank for.

Alchemy had plenty of problems, though. One of those being that a whole lot of the alchemists dared express (the smarter one's just implicitly) a strong confidence in the power of human beings to improve on nature. Their work included, among other things, looking into the relationship of human beings, God and the created universe. As you might imagine, the religious authorities (especially towards the Middle Ages) started feeling like they sat on a cactus. The alchemists were a threat to "god", or, really, the power and authority of the Church. Besides stepping on those fat toes, there was the other thing... the occult.

Whether it's secret societies, old boys' clubs or your older sibling refusing to show you something, people don't take things hidden from the eye very well. It boils the guts bitter and raises suspicion and gossip, no matter what's happening behind those closed doors. ...And boy (he/him) did the alchemists and their schools have a whole lot of secrecy going on! Even to-day, most of the understanding is close to a flatlining zero, outside of a small circle of academic specialists. (Some have claimed that the biggest secret of alchemy is the knowledge of alchemy.) Many alchemical inventions gone forever. Some are hidden in places from where we don't know to look for. Others, as was popular among the trade, are written in code, known only by the alchemist him-/herself or a few loyal disciples sworn to secrecy. Even, if the inventions were not written in code, it was commonplace to intentionally "hide" an ingredient. It could be in other, suggestive, parts of the text/formula, or simply omitted completely. At the same time, this gave the alchemist protection from the idea thieves and leverage over people who might rough them up for "the benefit of the realm". At the same time it made the inventions seem like poppycock. Henceforth "not real science". The feelings in this direction kept increasing more and more until the so called Scientific Revolution, more or less carpet-bombed the remainders of alchemy into smithereens. Especially the scientific method played (and plays) a great part in wiping the floors with these secretive loonies.

3.

The birth of science is estimated to be around 3000 BCE in the areas between and around Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. The Atlantis. The birth of alchemy, in the "west" aka the Mediterranean region is seen to have been born around the third century CE, or so. It's seen to have traveled over time and place, through the Greco-Egyptian, the Arabic, the Latin medieval, the early modern, and the modern world. However, it has probably existed centuries before that, and more widely (more about the "Chinese alchemy" in the ½ bit soon after this one).

The estimated timing for the birth of alchemy as an independent disciple in the "west" is pinpointed based on a handful of remaining texts signed by Zosimos (or Zosimus). The exact time for this occasion, however, remains obscure. For example, apparently, Zosimos was a pretty popular name around the time. (things of interest: See the Fortunate Isles / Atlantis to where one of the Zosimos' traveled) On the other hand, the texts include a lot of references to earlier texts that are, now, wiped away by the winds of history. The remaining texts note two streams of craft traditions and philosophical traditions coexisting. Zosimos seems to have been interested in it all, and formed a coherent program of research around it. Plenty of useful apparatus are mentioned, for things such as distillation, filtration, fixation, and more. In great detail, too. Zosimos devised only some of these instruments himself, but was not shy on using the inventions of others. Talking about distillation, there was this alchemist geezer called Jean de Roquetaillade. You could roughly name him "The father of booze". During yet another end of times, or "Antichrist’s reign", this man saw that his fellow Christians would need not only gold but also health. As a consequence, Jean desperately sought a substance which could prevent corruption and decay in human flesh/health. He wanted to hinder illness and premature aging. The solution he came up with, via his practice of alchemy, was "water of life", aquavitae. Now at your bar as akvavit and whiskey (=from uisce beatha, literal translation from water of life). Jean had paid attention to what matters, i.e. that meat left in the open air quickly begins to rot. When dunked in alcohol, however, it's preserved "indefinitely". He, also, seems to have noticed that wine quickly turns into vinegar, whileas distilled alcohol remains "legit". It didn't take the man too long to come up with the idea, that, by marinading yourself with the magical liquid, you'll probably preserve your flesh a teeny-weeny bit better. Just to mention something a bit more solid in regards of what the alchemists achieved.

Intermission

While we're at the elixirs of life, let's go to China. And, a three and a half is a good number as them people over yonder hate and fear the number four... As alchemy in Europe is alleged to have been more interested in gold, Chinese alchemy (sometimes called Daoist alchemy) was definitely more interested in longevity and eternal life. The establishers of alchemy in China, Laozi and Fuhan (as far as we can tell) went for all imaginable mixtures of solid and spiritual in their pursuit or this goal. The experiments included pretty much everything you could find from the nature and from the wisdom of the ancients and the present people (a side note: Laozi has been suggested to be in part a collector of wisdom as much as creator of one, as ancient texts found later would suggest. Some of the same stuff as in Daodejing and other works, but older.) Consumptions of things like bark, mushrooms, roots, metals, mixtures of the aforementioned and many other things were a part of it. Everything revolved around a dualistic view. Waidan (outer alchemy, now largely found in things such as Chinese medicine and herbology, the ideas of "hot" and "cold" food, not meaning the food being literally hot or cold, but having food with "yang energy" or "yin energy", which, obviously, need to be in balance for you to feel fine) and neidan (inner alchemy, now often found in meditation, some physical and breathing exercises and concepts of universal life essence, energy/Qi and spirit/mind).

As well as it all started and as good as the intentions were, as the "western" alchemy was abused by charlatans and con artists, so was the "Chinese" one. As soon as the opportunists noticed how you can influence people via all this, they started turning it into a religion. Before we go "at it", let's have a quick mention that the yin-yang/dark-light concept is also seen as male-female concept. Now... Roughly speaking, they changed it into two sexuality related cults. Both agreed that the coitus induced ejaculate is energy. In particular, the males were seen to "lose" the energy by spilling their seed. Women, however, were seen to not so much lose, but to regenerate it. One path of the cult believed in celibacy being the answer (who later, in large numbers, joined the followers of Buddha with their ideas) and the other believed in generating "the beast with two backs" while holding the load in. As you can imagine, and see in the western counterparts of Shakers (2 living members left in 2020) and, err, Catholic priests, the latter option proved far more appealing. So much so that it turned into a field of escalating orgy. At first, where the religious leaders (generally mature men in this group) thought of leeching energies like a Qi-vampire out of their adult and willing cult members. Then, they came up with the idea that a younger female produces more potent energy, which lead to these religious leaders luring in teenagers and then preteens and so forth (hence, the Catholic priest reference). The people outside the cult frowned upon this. In fact, they were growingly furious. Luckily and unluckily for them, a fellow known as Confucius was fed up with the decadence and had a reach in high places. The high places more than welcomed his idea, that roughly translates to "obey your master" and the religious cults and their disgusting travesty of Daoism was put to sleep. Largely so was the Chinese alchemy.

We're back...

4.

The legitimate interest towards alchemy-proper might have peaked, in Europe, in around 1400s and 1500s. Around that time, explorers found caves in e.g. Italy, where they found things such as mysterious lamps that were filled with mystery substance the people of that time could never figure out. The caves had been closed for an eternity, yet the lights made of mystery chemical matter burned. It was estimated those had been burning for centuries, or even a millennia or so. Yet, more likely, the mixture simply reacted to the flow of oxygen. It is hard to tell, as there is very little evidence beyond the stories of the explorers. Stories, including things like caves having chandeliers of sorts and traps all over, making the caves (or laboratories of the old) collapse and bury everything forever. The useful and proven parts of alchemy joined with "proper chemistry" and other science. The exploits, more out there, fell out of favor and, slowly but certainly, returned on the ridiculous side of "being alchemy". Yet, believe it or not, alchemists still exist. Not only that, but there are a group of people with (at least for now) real scientific credentials attempting to recreate as much of the art as they can. Perhaps one day in the not too distant future, alchemy is yet again seen as "real science".

PS: As the popular legend states, the ultimate goal of alchemy is the Philosopher's stone. A mythical "key", or a substance, for turning other matter into gold. Little do the people know, this exists. It exists in the form of bacteria and gold is their poop. How to make gold -> Bacteria Cupriavidus metallidurans & Delftia acidovorans eat toxic heavy-metals and drop their excrement out as gold. Enjoy your bacterial turd, gold diggers (dig it?) ;) Until the next time...

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Level 76
Dec 14, 2021
I didn't proofread the text, so, if there are typos or such, let me know.
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Level 62
Dec 14, 2021
Alchemy still seems to be more logical than Inorganic Chemistry.
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Level 73
Dec 14, 2021
Haha.. so true!
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Level 68
Dec 14, 2021
Very interesting! You definitely did your research for this. :)
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Level 76
Dec 31, 2021
Thank you very much. I did wade through a few books over the years, and some other sources.