Alchemy During The Renaissance Era

Alchemy is a concept that dates back as far as the Renaissance period, and while similar to sciences, was not at first considered a science due to its mystical aspects. Alchemy in particular began as the pursuit of gold and eternal life. It involved the transformation of items into other items, such as lead into gold, similar to the base concept of chemistry. During the Renaissance, alchemy evolved and came to revolve around empirical thinking, the basis of modern sciences. While Alchemy’s name has many connotations associated with cults and magic, it departed from those concepts during the Renaissance era. Alchemy served as the foundations that strengthened and furthered Chemistry and Physics in the Renaissance period.

Alchemy was defined

during the Renaissance by Paracelsus. His father was a physician who exposed him to medical science. This exposure aroused an obsession for Paracelsus to find the Philosopher’s Stone; he developed many medicines via alchemy in an attempt to find a panacea. In his research, he came to be the first to clinically identify many diseases such as syphilis and silicosis, later helping to create an early pain reliever called laudanum. Paracelsus looked to further alchemy as a science by advocating its use in medicine rather than its more common use, to transmute gold. He is quoted saying “Stop making gold, instead find medicines.” This use of alchemy is not much different from our use of chemistry today. His achievements in the realm of alchemy helped to benefit medical science growth during the Renaissance.
Much of alchemy takes its roots from early Greek philosophy.

Most notably, Aristotle and his philosophy on elements. Aristotelian physics has five core elements: earth, water, air, fire, and aether from which all things are made from. These parallel modern ideas of the states of matter: solids, liquids, gases, and plasma, as well as how energy is transferred through objects. Many alchemists took these ideas and ran with it during the Renaissance period. Utilising the ideas of Aristotelian physics and other similar ideas of old Greek philosophers, alchemists were able to create new theories on the natural world. The reintroduction of these Greek concepts provided alchemists during the Renaissance a foundation to base concepts around. This rekindled interest in Greek ideas in the Renaissance’s scientific community leading to its prowess and

namesake.
Robert Boyle is the “Father of Chemistry,” who discovered the concept that the pressure of a gas is inversely proportional to its volume or more widely known as Boyle’s Law. This fundamental law remains as an integral part of chemistry and physics. Boyle’s Law helped begin an industrial revolution through steam technology, mainly the steam engine. Robert Boyle’s work as a chemist is directly derived from his passion of alchemy and correspondingly, his study of Aristotelian Physics. Aristotle is whom many consider the origin of the concept of motion and how it may be conserved as potential and kinetic energy. He is influential in Robert Boyle’s work as much as in Sir Isaac Newton’s work on the gravitational law of the universe.
Alchemy’s influence on Boyle is also predominantly seen through his “corpuscular” theory. The corpuscular theory stated that matter consisted of tiny particles; this theory was connected to a tradition in alchemy that stemmed from the speculations of Daniel Sennert, a scholar who also had a corpuscular theory that stemmed from an alchemical tradition. Even though Sennert did not foster his corpuscular theory, he could not have formulated it without the wisdom he gained In traditional alchemy. The concept of transmutation is the manipulation of matter into other forms, such as lead into gold. A law of transmutation shows the source of Boyle’s concepts; in the laws of transmutation, matter can never be created from nothing, it can only take on different forms. Without the aid of alchemical ideas, the Father of Chemistry could not have developed the theory of matter. Through the alchemical tradition Boyle used to derive the corpuscular theory, he paved a path for the atomic theory of matter, an essential aspect in Chemistry.
Despite Robert Boyle’s groundbreaking work on modern and Renaissance sciences, he is not the most famous alchemist during that period.

Notably, Sir Isaac Newton shared similar views on alchemy to Robert Boyle. Throughout Newton’s life, he wrote a plethora of alchemical writings, implying that most of his life was centered around alchemy. Because Newton had such a rich understanding of the medieval concept, it is believed that many of his scientific ideas were inspired by alchemy. Out of all of his ideas, the most important was his three laws of universal gravitation, considered the basis upon which modern physics and chemistry are based upon. He has been deemed the Einstein of the Renaissance for his immensely powerful

work.
Alchemy contains the roots of science, combining concepts of the old and the modern. This can be found through alchemy’s connection with Greek philosophy, mystic arts, and religion. Alchemy was the essential catalyst in the Renaissance that caused sciences to shift into taking a contemporary form. It was also known as a protoscience, meaning that it was formerly an unscientific field, and later became an official science. The use of the scientific method in alchemy helped propel its way into becoming a true science. The forerunner to current Chemistry and stimulating creative thought during the Renaissance, alchemy demonstrates its power from its prestige.