method which could already be called scientific. In his books Al-Razi classifies the
substances (in herbal, animal, mineral, metals, and non-metals), the laboratory
equipment and experimental procedures. He was probably one of the first chemists
who has used the quantitative approach by weighting of the material before the
experiment, and after the experiment. Al-Razi describes laboratory experiments of
the reactions of metal oxides with coal that yielded metal. The term alkali probably
origin from his works. The name of potassium, Kalium, which is present in alkalic
solutions has the same etymology. Combustion of substances of herbal origin yields
ash, al-kali in Arabian.
As the most of the ancient classical knowledge, alchemy was transferred in
Europe where it survived in different circumstances and forms until the time of the
first scientific revolutions. All the famous thinkers, from the early Middle Ages till
the Renaissance, were more or less alchemists. Without alchemy, they did not
succeed to harmonize their theological, and philosophical learnings. St. Thomas
Aquinas (1225–1274), St. Albertus Magnus (1200–1280) and Roger Bacon
(1214–1294), the theologians and philosophers, which have accommodated aristotelism to Christian learnings in 13th century, all were also alchemists. Roger
Bacon is also known under the name Doctor Mirabilis.
Philosophical-alchemical doctrine has opened new views on the problem of
subject, object, and the substance. As we have discussed in previous lectures, in
chemistry, which have, in contrast to physics, developed from the alchemical and
protochemical tradition of experimental approach rather than from the accurate
analysis of the space-time, the separation on the explorer and explored object has
been disrupted. The substance, and the manipulation with the substance, i.e. the
alchemical practice, were not separated. As a combination of chemical operations
known as Opus Magnum [5] was within the Middle Age chemistry intertwined
with the personal spiritual experience of the experimenter. It would be very difficult
to consider the alchemist as a subject, and the substance as an object. One of the
most prominent alchemists Basilius Valentinus describes, nearly in the year 1600,
vitriol, the blue stone (copper(II)-sulphate hexahydrate) as: Visita interiora terrae
rectificando invenies occultum lapidem (in the free translation: Visit the interior of
Earth, where you will, by your personal purification, create the stone of wisdom) .
This description and principle was in the base of alchemical thinking. Here we can
recognize the triad of alchemical philosophy: vitriol as substance-object, subjective
auto-perfection of the alchemist, but also the acronym v i t r i o l. In the performance of alchemical experiments, the spiritual experience and sensation of the
experimenter was not separated from the act of experiment. Thus, the notion about
the unity of experimented and experimenter, the object and the subject, is originally
alchemical.
Until the appearance of quantum mechanics and its Copenhagen interpretation,
in the classical mechanistic Cartesian dualism, subject and object were clearly
separated. The world was considered exclusively as an objective reality. The revolutionary change in thinking has appeared after the discovery of photons and
electrons, which were interpreted as to have a dual nature, they can behave as
particles and as waves. It has to be mentioned that the idea about the dual nature has
4 Alchemy
43
substances (in herbal, animal, mineral, metals, and non-metals), the laboratory
equipment and experimental procedures. He was probably one of the first chemists
who has used the quantitative approach by weighting of the material before the
experiment, and after the experiment. Al-Razi describes laboratory experiments of
the reactions of metal oxides with coal that yielded metal. The term alkali probably
origin from his works. The name of potassium, Kalium, which is present in alkalic
solutions has the same etymology. Combustion of substances of herbal origin yields
ash, al-kali in Arabian.
As the most of the ancient classical knowledge, alchemy was transferred in
Europe where it survived in different circumstances and forms until the time of the
first scientific revolutions. All the famous thinkers, from the early Middle Ages till
the Renaissance, were more or less alchemists. Without alchemy, they did not
succeed to harmonize their theological, and philosophical learnings. St. Thomas
Aquinas (1225–1274), St. Albertus Magnus (1200–1280) and Roger Bacon
(1214–1294), the theologians and philosophers, which have accommodated aristotelism to Christian learnings in 13th century, all were also alchemists. Roger
Bacon is also known under the name Doctor Mirabilis.
Philosophical-alchemical doctrine has opened new views on the problem of
subject, object, and the substance. As we have discussed in previous lectures, in
chemistry, which have, in contrast to physics, developed from the alchemical and
protochemical tradition of experimental approach rather than from the accurate
analysis of the space-time, the separation on the explorer and explored object has
been disrupted. The substance, and the manipulation with the substance, i.e. the
alchemical practice, were not separated. As a combination of chemical operations
known as Opus Magnum [5] was within the Middle Age chemistry intertwined
with the personal spiritual experience of the experimenter. It would be very difficult
to consider the alchemist as a subject, and the substance as an object. One of the
most prominent alchemists Basilius Valentinus describes, nearly in the year 1600,
vitriol, the blue stone (copper(II)-sulphate hexahydrate) as: Visita interiora terrae
rectificando invenies occultum lapidem (in the free translation: Visit the interior of
Earth, where you will, by your personal purification, create the stone of wisdom) .
This description and principle was in the base of alchemical thinking. Here we can
recognize the triad of alchemical philosophy: vitriol as substance-object, subjective
auto-perfection of the alchemist, but also the acronym v i t r i o l. In the performance of alchemical experiments, the spiritual experience and sensation of the
experimenter was not separated from the act of experiment. Thus, the notion about
the unity of experimented and experimenter, the object and the subject, is originally
alchemical.
Until the appearance of quantum mechanics and its Copenhagen interpretation,
in the classical mechanistic Cartesian dualism, subject and object were clearly
separated. The world was considered exclusively as an objective reality. The revolutionary change in thinking has appeared after the discovery of photons and
electrons, which were interpreted as to have a dual nature, they can behave as
particles and as waves. It has to be mentioned that the idea about the dual nature has
4 Alchemy
43