Mysteries of Alchemy

Look through the text again and find the phrases describing a) the main targets of alchemists; b) general branches of Greek alchemy investigations; c) contributions of Chinese scholars. Translate these sentences into Russian.

Part I

Mysteries of Alchemy

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5. Read the first part of the text and say what information you've just discussed it contains.

One of the most interesting periods in the history of chemistry was that of the alchemists (500 – 1600 A.D.).

To most nineteenth-century chemists and historians alchemy had been a human aberration and the task of the historian was to sift the wheat from the chaff and to discuss only those alchemical views (chiefly practical) that had contributed positively to the development of scientific chemistry.

But what was alchemy? The familiar response is that it involved the pursuit of the transmutation of base metals such as lead into gold. In practice, the aims of the alchemist were often a good deal broader.

“Alchemy is a cosmic art by which parts of that cosmos – the mineral and animal parts – can be liberated from their temporal existence and attain(достигать) states of perfection, gold in the case of minerals and for humans, longevity, immortality, and finally redemption. Such transformations can be brought about on the one hand, by the use of a material substance such as “the philosopher’s stone or elixir, or, on the other hand, by revelatory(откровенный) knowledge or psychological enlightenment” (просвещение).

The merit (заслуга)of such a general definition is not only that it makes it clear that there were two kinds of alchemical activity, the exoteric or material and the esoteric or spiritual, which could be pursued separately or together, but that time was a significant element in alchemy’s practices and rituals. Alchemist but made alchemist discover methods whereby these temporal processes could be either slowed down or speeded up.

With the historical investigation of Chinese alchemy being undertaken by many specialists, the knowledge of the nature of alchemy was broadened significantly. The idea of the elixir of life, for example, which is found prominently in Chinese and Indian alchemy, but not in Greek alchemy, was probably diffused to fourteenth-century Europe through Arabic alchemy. The principle goal of alchemists was to find a method of prolonging human life indefinitely. Using botanical, zoological, mineralogical and chemical knowledge to prepare drugs or elixirs ‘macrobiotics’ the Chinese were able to extract steroid preparations from urine.

Нaving translated a number of Greek alchemical texts, specialists could interpret alchemy as practical procedures in­volving dyeing and a series of colour changes. Greek alchemists brought the practical knowledge of dyers, metallurgy and pharmacy and followed out three distinctive transmutation procedures which involved either tincturing metals or alloys with gold or chemically manipulating a ‘prime matter’ mixture of lead, tin, copper and iron through a series of black, white, yellow and purple stages using sublimating sulphur to colour lead and copper.

The development of apparatus and the extensive efforts to break down or distil substances laid the foundation for modern chemistry, but as true science began to evolve during the Renaissance.

Notes on the text:

to lay the foundation for smth. – положить начало ч.-л.

in pursuit of – в поисках ч.-л., в погоне за

a good deal of – много, значительное количество

follow out – осуществлять, выполнять

lead to – вести к

search for – искать ч.-л.

have a lust for – страстно желать ч.-л.

relate to – иметь отношение к ч.-л.

7. Read the second part of the text thoroughly with a dictionary and title it. Answer the following questions:

1. Why did every medicine fighting ageing contain gold?

2. What made alchemy a formal discipline?

3. When and where did alchemy appear?

4. What did some physicians use to produce medicines in the Middle Ages?

5. Who was the first to unite alchemy with chemistry?

6. What laid the foundation for modern chemistry?

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