The birth of chemistry / by G.F. Rodwell.

  • George Farrer Rodwell
Date:
1874
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The birth of chemistry / by G.F. Rodwell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Whatever Lulli’s knowledge may have been, he ob- tained great reputation as a successful alchemist. He asserts in his “ Ultimum Testamentum” that he con- verted fifty thousand pounds weight of base metals into gold. He is said to have been employed by one of the Edwards to make gold, and to have furnished His Majesty with six millions of money. Dickenson tells us that Lulli had a laboratory in Westminster Abbe}^, in which, after his departure, a quantity of gc Id dust was found. Of the general tone and character of alchemical VI itings we shall speak more fully in the next chapter, th' the professors of the art little more need be said ; a long list of names might be given, but it would be found that they did little to develop what afterwards became the science of chemistry. Let us glance at the work of a few of the remaining alchemists. Ar- noldus de Villa Nova (b. 1240) was a great alchemist and physician, and the author of many works on the subject. His “ Rosarius Philosophorum ” purported to contain a key to all alchemical operations. He followed Geber closely. He considered a solution of gold the most perfect medicine, and we usually find that such solution was recommended by alchemists as a necessary constituent of the elixir vitoe, and essential for the work of transmutation. In Fig. 12 the solution of gold in the flask is represented by the sun emitting rays. The simple disc of the sun is the more common symbol for gold. Arnoldus also distilled various oils and essences. He contended that sulphur, arsenic, mercury, and sal ammoniac—all volatile bodies be it noted—are the
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