Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Jan;88(1):e202200289.
doi: 10.1002/cplu.202200289. Epub 2022 Nov 24.

Chemistry, Medicine, and Gold-Making: Tycho Brahe, Helwig Dieterich, Otto Tachenius, and Johann Glauber

Curt Wentrup  1
Affiliations
Review

Chemistry, Medicine, and Gold-Making: Tycho Brahe, Helwig Dieterich, Otto Tachenius, and Johann Glauber

Curt Wentrup. Chempluschem. 2023 Jan.

Abstract

17th century chemistry was concerned largely with iatrochemistry (medicinal chemistry) and the transmutation of metals, especially with the purpose of making gold. Thus, Johann Rudolph Glauber made a living making and selling chemicals such as nitric acid and medicaments such as aurum potabile (drinkable gold), but he also believed in the transmutation or "improvement" of metals and the "augmentation" of gold, and he sold recipes for such processes. This perspective aims to provide a snapshot of the range of 17th century chemistry by analysis of the efforts of four representatives to make drugs, chemicals, and gold. It will be concluded that early modern chemists were unable to break out from the conceptual doctrines imposed by Aristotle and Paracelsus, which made transmutation perfectly logical. No further scientific advance could be made until the idea that all things are composed of the same basic constituents was abandoned in favour of the atomic theory.

Keywords: alchemy; chemistry; chrysopoeia; history; iatrochemistry.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. C. Webster, Paracelsus: Medicine, Magic and Mission at the End of Time, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2008. W. Pagel, Paracelsus. An Introduction to Philosophical Medicine in the Era of the Renaissance, S. Karger, Basel, New York, 1958.
    1. N. Everett, The Alphabet of Galen, pharmacy from antiquity to the Middle Ages, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 2012.
    1. Petro Severino Dano, Idea medicinae Philosophicae, fundamenta continens totius doctrinae Paracelsinae, Hippocraticae et Gallenicae, H. Petri, Basel, 1571 (Royal Library, Copenhagen).
    1. None
    1. J. Shackelford, A philosophical Path for Paracelsian Medicine. The Ideas, Intellectual Context and Influence of Petrus Severinus: 1540-1602, Museum Tusculanum Press, Copenhagen, 2004;