Fragile Reputations and Unethical Alchemic Practices

Authored by: Lucas Towne, Will Dramstad, Kyle McLeod, Tyler Pasman


Through the mid and high renaissance and up to the early 20th century CE alchemic and magical practices were receding from popular use. The practices were growing taboo and were considered to be heresy in some cases. Modern medicine owes a lot to those who studied and perfected the alchemic arts. Unfortunately those who openly practiced alchemy and magical healing were publically scorned for their actions. Paracelsus, Robert Boyle, Sir Isaac Newton and Grigori Rasputen were all influential alchemists and magical healers, all of the men solved great problems that ultimately benefitted mankind with either the help of or through alchemy and magical healing.

Born 1493 in Einsieden Switzerland Auroleus Phillipus Theostratus von Hohenheim known as Paracelsus will one day be known as the Father of Toxicology and the Luther of Medicine. A travelling physician fathered this native to Switzerland and Paracelsus travelled with his father from mining town to mining town, practicing the (eras) appropriate healing methods. While travelling with his father Paracelsus learned a lot about medicinal healing with minerals, in fact Paracelsus would excel in the study of mineralogy later in his life.

By the age of 16 Paracelsus began his studies at the University in Basel. This was the first of a string of institutions visited by the young scholar; unfortunately, he never achieved a formal degree. He left Basel prematurely, years later (1516) while studying under Sigmund Fugger when his studies in the occult created a stir and he was driven out of the city. This began his informal education while he lived nomadically through most of Europe. Paracelsus adopted teachings from untraditional resources gypsies, alchemists, mineralogy and folk medicine. He held the knowledge he gathered at this time to be more valuable than the traditional portions of his education. Paraclesian (the following of Paracelsus) philosophy taught to only value what one can obtain from Holy Scripture or from personal experience. Within his time spent leading a nomadic life Paracelsus was a surgeon to many of the militias battling throughout the decades of war within Europe.

In 1527 Paracelsus was called to the University at Basel to treat a celebrity of sorts. The patient was Johannes Forbes, a humanist writer of the high renaissance. He had a bad leg wound. While treating his wound Paracelsus obtained a meaningless privileges at the university. Paracelsus was a boisterous man and very frequently infuriated the more conservative scholars of the institution. Unfortunately he fell into worse and worse standings with seemingly everyone when he threw a professor of Basel’s work into the bonfire on St. Johns Day; at this point his patient, Johannes Forbes, did not take to his mineral treatment (most likely a doses of mercury) and died. Shortly after he was brought into a lawsuit and fled Basel.

From all of the torment he received Paracelsus grew to be shrewd and never cooperated on any major composition. Finally in 1536 he published his one full-length work: Grosse Wundartzeny, which was a seemingly average book of medicinal solutions, but the book also hold alchemic practices to treat with minerals such as mercury. Paracelsus’ reputation was all but destroyed when he had somewhat of a medical rebuttal by treating several cases of elephantiasis. Towards the end of his life he was called to Salzburg to treat the Bishop Ernest of Wittlesbach. There he died shortly after producing an ailment himself in 1541.
Paracelsus is considered both the father of toxicology and the Luther of medicine. He pioneered the use of metals in cures and treatments. He coined he phrase “the dose makes the poison” he felt that you could get rid of an imbalance in the four humors by using a poison to combat the worse evil. Paracelsus fought the traditional education slandering it, accusing it of being a waste of time. He was a revolutionary but was never appreciated be of his own temperament.

Robert Boyle is considered and deserving of the title “Father of Modern Chemistry”. His observations of gas under pressure led to the discovery of his law named Boyles Law. Boyle’s reputation as a master of logical thinking scientist led to some confusion over history of him performing alchemy. The idea of Boyle conducting experiments searching for Anti-Elixir seemed repugnant. It is odd that a scientific mind could sink to the level of Alchemy but the degree that Boyle experimented with Alchemy is amazing. Boyle was a well-respected Alchemist with Isaac Newton taking an interest in his work. It is interesting that Boyle a person with whom so many hold in the utmost respect could have his reputation tarnished by Alchemy.

Like Boyle, Isaac Newton lived in a time period where alchemy had already lost most of its credibility. By the 1700s alchemy was for the most part no longer seen as a science, and considered laughably useless. Still, Newton was actively trying to create a philosopher's stone for much of his life in addition to his work in optics and calculus. While his tools and experiments would be more familiar to a chemist than earlier alchemists, he was nevertheless convinced that it was possible to transmute one type of matter into another. It is very possible that his alchemy work led to his eccentricity later in his life, as many of his experiments involved vaporizing mercury. (Carrell)

What is particularly interesting about Newton's alchemy work is the way in which the documentation of his work was handled, both before and after his death. While he was actively doing alchemy experiments throughout most of his adult life, Newton never actually published any of his alchemical notes or journals during his life. Alchemy had long since fallen form grace in the public and professional opinion, and it seems that Newton was very aware of his facts. One of the only people that Newton is known to have even discussed his alchemy work with was Boyle. (Carrell)

It was only after Newton's death that his work with alchemy truly came to light. Those who came into possession of his journals were shocked to find that such a renowned scientist and mathematician had also been attempting to turn lead into gold. His alchemical journals were deemed unfit to be published and were essentially hidden from the public eye. His first biographer almost completely ignored his work in alchemy, writing only that he was aghast that such a brilliant man would waste his time with something like alchemy. (Young 25) Later scholars continued to keep this work buried to prevent Newton's name from being tarnished by a connection to alchemy. It wasn't until the early 1900s that scholars began to unearth and seriously consider his alchemical work and what effect it may have had on his other areas of study. (Young 26)

Grigori Rasputin was a religious pilgrim who spent the majority of his life helping people through the power of prayer. He wasn’t an alchemist, but the way he did his work was similar to the way alchemists found work during the Renaissance. He used his power of persuasion to gain fame and ultimately change the course of history.
His actual date of birth is unknown, but most agree that he was born between 1864 and 1871. Also, very little is known concerning his early life. Most stories about him begin with his religious rebirth when he was eighteen years old. He did this after discovering the Khlysty Sect. Khlysts held beliefs similar to those of the Russian Orthodox Church. However, they also believed that the Holy Spirit could be communicated with directly and could even take a human form. These beliefs tie directly into the work Rasputin did.

One day while plowing a field, Rasputin had a vision in which the Holy Mother came to him and said his destiny was deeply intertwined with that of the Russian royal family and that he was to heal the hemophilia of Alexei, the tsarevich. By declaring himself a holy man and working to help people with their stress, he gained a devout following. When he travelled to St. Petersburg in 1905, he set up shop and waited for the royal family to come to him looking for help. He soon became close with them and began giving the czar political and religious advice. However, this angered many powerful people, and a plot to kill Grigori Rasputin was soon underway.

After being invited to meet Prince Yusupov’s niece, he was poisoned, shot repeatedly, brutally beaten, and thrown in a river in a burlap sack. He then lived long enough to get hypothermia and escape from the sack, after which he drowned trying to claw his way out from under the ice. The amount of force it took to kill him is what makes people question his holy powers. Although most people today would say that these types of holy powers exist, the question remains: Was Grigori Rasputin truly divine, or was he just an extremely lucky and durable man?

Our scientific process has changed just as much as our knowledge of science has grown. What we see as being stupid or even insane at the time it was the normal practice. For Boyle, Isaac, and Paracelsus their methods weren’t madness but were normal. It is only in retrospect that the science of the time seems to be nonsense. Scientific discovery is always moving ahead.

Jumping for Juno

As a curious species we always look ahead and into the stars for what’s coming next. It was not until Greek civilization that we as a collective intelligence cherished and preserved the knowledge of the past. When we have information of past events we can partially predict what will happen in the future by recognizing patterns. In 2016 NASA will look back into the creation and evolution of our galaxies fifth planet, Jupiter, by examining the atmosphere’s composition and temperature, cloud migration, and the magnetic fields and auroras with a satellite named Juno.

In August of 2011 Juno will be launched into space, the satellite will complete an orbit around the earth, when this is finished the main propulsion system will be initiated and a 5 year trek to Jupiter will begin. In July of 2016 the Juno will have reached Jupiter and will make a total of 32 full orbits of the planet that will last for one year. Data collection will be done at this time.

Jupiter has an interesting atmosphere made primarily of dense clouds of various gasses, this shield safeguards information on the governing laws that our galaxy followed in its creation and early existence from outside forces. Nine incredibly advanced tools aboard Juno will carry out the uncovering of this data. These instruments will investigate the existence of a solid planetary core, map Jupiter's intense magnetic field, measure the amount of water and ammonia in the deep atmosphere, and observe the planet's auroras on either magnetic pole.

Juno has many obligations on its journey, but I find the investigation for water in the planets atmosphere very interesting. The possibility of finding water could solidify a planet formation theory, and give us a more correct understanding of large planets in surrounding galaxies and their possible behavior.

Juno is currently under construction by Lockheed Martin in Denver, Colorado and is on schedule for its date of completion and launch. Although the process of gathering, examining, and understanding information from sky and beyond has always been tedious, complicated, and frowned upon we will continue to advance our collective intelligence until our appetite for knowledge is satisfied.

NASA website,

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/news/juno20100405.html

In The Year 3030

Science-fiction provides a dream for our societies to reach for, many of these stories allow a gateway into the world of tomorrow. One of my favorite examples of works like that is a concept album by Del tha Funky Homosapien. Entitled 3030, Del jumps 1,020 years into the future and explores the struggles of an intergalactic MC trying to bring balance to the universe with his rhyming abilities.

Each track on the album has its own different addition to this futuristic saga; Del takes you through the universe and tells of the future as he rap-battles through it. By far the most relevant technological advancement is from the track 'Upgrade'. The song forewarns the listener to upgrade their brain-matter to enhance their intelligence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzE7S3na3J0

The possibility to upgrade your brain power is a hope and a fear of mine. Such an advancement would abolish the limitations that have been placed on ourselves.