Alchemist and rogue have long been synonymous words. And it is not unreasonable: there were plenty of crooks among them. But the most famous of them sincerely believed that with the help of the Philosopher's Stone, noble metals could be mined and an elixir of youth could be created. In the name of these lofty goals, they ruined their health in laboratories filled with mercury vapors, went to prisons and ascended the scaffold.
And with their experiments, albeit unsuccessful, they enriched human knowledge. Today alchemy is officially recognized as a pseudoscience, but, ironically, it was the first science in the history of mankind to combine theory and experiment. And it was from her that chemistry grew.
The founding father of alchemy is called the Egyptian Hermes Trismegistus, who lived in the 6th-5th centuries BC. e., whom the followers extolled as the thrice greatest, the sovereign of souls and the godlike magician.
However, the idea was in the air. The scholars of the ancient states - China, Egypt, Assyria, India, knew how to obtain metal alloys, from which, independently of each other, they concluded that it was possible to artificially extract precious metals. They say that even the Egyptian queen Cleopatra dabbled in alchemy and wrote the treatise "Chrysopeia", that is, "Gold-making."
In Europe, alchemy became widespread much later - in the XII century. Although it has long been scientifically proven that gold cannot be obtained from base metals, the legends about alchemists who allegedly succeeded are still being retold.
At the beginning of the XIV century, the English king Edward promised the alchemist Raymond Llull that he would send a fleet for a holy war against the infidels, if he would provide it with gold for the equipment of the expedition. And Llullia allegedly made 60 thousand pounds of gold from mercury. From it, coins were minted, called the Nobles, with the image of the king and the inscription: "Edward, King of England and France."
They say that at the beginning of the 17th century, Garbach, the court alchemist of the Danish king Christian IV, made gold ducats from copper, on which he coined in Latin “Behold the glorious deeds of the Lord”. And in January 1648, the alchemist Riethausen, in front of the German emperor Ferdinand III, allegedly turned two and a half pounds of mercury into gold. A special commemorative medal was made from this gold.
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FATAL RACE FOR GOLD
The desire to make gold ultimately ruined alchemy. All demanded only one thing from the representatives of this science - gold, gold, gold … Those who refused to make it were accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake. Those who did not refuse, little by little went crazy from their experiences.
This is how the alchemist Le Martinier described his labors: “I collected the liquid that came out of the nose during a runny nose and spitting, each a pound. I mixed everything together and put it in a retort to extract the essence from them. After completely extracting it, I made a solid out of it, which I applied to the transformation of metals. But in vain!"
An outstanding English philosopher, Franciscan monk Roger Bacon tried in vain to get gold by alchemical means. And he even wrote the book "Mirror of Alchemy". Brothers in the faith offered him to voluntarily give out the secret of making the precious metal, and when he honestly declared that he did not own such a secret, they accused him of magic and heresy. According to some reports, Bacon spent 15 long years in a church dungeon.
The Saxon Elector Augustus the Strong hid the alchemist Friedrich Bötger behind bars, promising that he would gain freedom only if he got gold for him. The unfortunate prisoner tried to create artificial gold this way and that, but it was a complete fiasco. But he accidentally revealed the secret of Chinese porcelain, which turned out to be more expensive than gold.
EXECUTION OF THE ALCHEMISTS
The alchemists found themselves in a difficult situation. Those who mined gold were charlatans and sooner or later their deception was revealed. And those who claimed that they could not get it were declared to be deceivers. As a result, both of them had a hard time. In the Middle Ages, alchemists were equated with counterfeiters and subjected to exquisite executions. In Germany, a whole ceremony was even developed for them before being killed.
The alchemists were put on gilded clothes with a cap and hung on a gilded gallows. It is said that this is how Bragadino was hanged in 1590 in Munich. He demonstrated the transformation of ordinary stones into gold, then he took an advance and disappeared. Among those deceived by him were the Venetian Doge and the Duke of Bavaria. The sad death of Bragadino did not enlighten the alchemists, and their executions followed a succession.
Georg Gonauer was executed in Württemberg, Kronemann in Prussia, and Kelttenberg in Poland. But the most curious character among the executed alchemists was the Swedish general Otto von Peikul. He served in the troops of the Polish King Augustus II of Saxony, who fought on the side of Peter I with Sweden.
In 1705, near Warsaw, Paikul was captured by his compatriots and, as a traitor, was sentenced to death. Wanting to save his life, the general, being also an alchemist, turned to the Swedish king Charles XII with a request for pardon, promising to make the monarch rich in gratitude. And he gave him such an opportunity.
According to the legend, Paikul made 147 gold ducats and a medal with the Latin inscription “This gold was mined with the help of chemical art in Stockholm in 1706”, but the treacherous king still executed him on February 14, 1707.
However, it seems that Charles XII is slandered. He was a nobleman and knew how to keep his word. In this situation, Paikul was clearly a deceiver. The famous Swedish chemist Berzelius in 1802 tried to repeat his experience using the general's notes and, naturally, did not receive gold.
But even among the alchemists themselves, the morals were harsh. In the 17th century in Württemberg, the alchemist Mühlenfels took away a magic powder capable of extracting gold from Mikhail Sendzivoj, who inherited it from the Scottish alchemist Seton. Mühlenfels was hanged as a punishment, but Senziwa, not receiving back the powder, which he himself did not know how to make, became a simple charlatan.
AN GLORIOUS END
It all ended in the 18th century, after a fiasco that befell the experiences of the last adherents of this science. The last English alchemist James Price, for the sake of reviving his beloved science, went for forgery. In the laboratory of his home in Surrey, in front of dignitaries, he added white powder to mercury, and it turned into silver. Then he added red powder and got gold.
The experiment brought him a resounding success and wide popularity. However, chemists who do not believe in miracles from the Royal Society gave Price an ultimatum: either you repeat the experiment in front of the scientific commission, or you will be declared a charlatan.
James Price accepted the commission at his home, escorted him to the laboratory, then excused himself, went out the door and drank a glass of wine prepared in advance with hydrocyanic acid. An Englishman remains a gentleman, even if he is an alchemist.
But the German alchemist Professor Zemler ended his career not so sadly. In the course of experiments, he was able to extract gold from salt. He wanted to demonstrate his luck to an authoritative commission. Chemists and even ministers gathered in the hall to witness this miracle with their own eyes. When experts removed pieces of metal from the flasks with salt into the light of day, the audience's eyes widened. But when instead of gold it turned out to be copper, the audience burst into laughter.
The mystery of this phenomenon was revealed a little later. It turned out that the servant of Professor Zemler, sincerely trying to help the owner, crumbled some gold into flasks with salt, which is why the experiments gave an amazing result. But shortly before Zemler decided to show his achievements to the general public, his servant was drafted into the army.
He instructed his wife to pour gold into salt. However, the wife turned out to be a practical lady, she decided that spending gold on such nonsense was an unjustified luxury, and poured copper. So the economy of a woman for a long time calmed the passions for alchemy in Germany. True, they were reborn with renewed vigor during the Third Reich, but that's another story.
MODERN HISTORY
The dreams and aspirations of medieval alchemists were brought to life in the USSR by Ravil Nevmyatov, who was called the Soviet Zhofrey de Peyrac. He bought a solution from the workers of the Dulevo porcelain factory, with which drawings were applied to porcelain products, and extracted gold from it. True, after his arrest, experts categorically stated that this was impossible.
But Nevmyatov wiped his nose at the skeptics by demonstrating his technology to experts and investigators. However, he thereby signed his own death warrant. An inventive chemist was shot on the verdict of the Moscow Regional Court.
The West cannot boast of such craftsmen. But there are also homebrew alchemists there. Drug addict Paul Moran was recently arrested in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, while trying to extract gold from his own excrement.
The result of his experiment was a house fire, accompanied by a fetid odor. The alchemist was sent to prison for three months, and his neighbors had to shell out £ 3,000 to renovate the house.
Oleg LOGINOV