Today, alchemy is regarded as no more than the incompetent attempt of unsophisticated people to explain and control their world. But during the Renaissance, alchemy was a respected activity. Indeed, one admitted alchemist, Michael Sendivogius (1556-1636) published his ‘findings’ about the essential material of the universe in 1604 in a book titled On the Philosopher’s Stone. The book as later renamed A New Light on Alchemy, and was to be found on the bookshelves of no less a luminous ‘bona fide’ scientist as Sir Isaac Newton.
Sendivogius believed that the Elixir of Life that many alchemists all sought was saltpeter, known then as nitre or potassium nitrate.
Making something out of nothing
Sendivogius believed that the saltpeter crystals condensed out of thin air. He based this belief on the fact that most saltpeter was to be found in farmyards, condensing out of the components of barnyard dung. Sendivogius wrote that “there is in the Aire a secret food of life” and that its “ invisible congealed spirit is better than the whole earth.” The fact that this substance was then harvested and applied to plants to make them grow enhanced its reputation as the ‘food of life.’ Saltpeter was also used medicinally then, helping to establish its reputation. And, it was used to make aqua regia, the ‘queen of water,’ a substance that could dissolve gold. (Yes, alchemists were also busy trying to create gold from base metals. It is likely they thought if one could ‘unmake’ gold, then one ought to be able to make it, as well.)
Of course, saltpeter could equally well have been called the ‘food of death,’ as it was used in gunpowder to produce the explosive charge.
Pure research gives rise to pure magic
Despite Sendivogius’ efforts to analyze the natural processes around him, many of his fellow alchemists were content to use nature to their own purposes without attempting to analyze or explain things in a systematic way. Cornelis Drebbel (1572-1633) was one such. The Dutch inventor had invented a perpetual motion machine, almost as dear to the hearts of experimental alchemists as making gold. The machine was not magic; it was not ‘alchemical.’ It was simply solar powered.
Creation of the "Ren-Fridge" and the "Ren-Sub"
Drebbel also made a Renaissance refrigerator by discovering what substances would evaporate quickly in a closed area and thereby lower the air temperature. Drebbel is also credited with using his discoveries in optics to create the first microscope ever seen in England, in 1621—the year he launched his submarine.
Expanding on the work of Sendivogius, Drebbel concluded that thunder helped produce a substance called aerial nitre, today known to be oxygen. On that basis, historians believe, Drebbel discovered that heating saltpeter caused it to emit a gas that seemed to the one humans could breathe. From there, it was a short step—well, a relatively short step—to completely enclose a boat, put 12 oarsmen underwater, and have them row it from Westminster to Greenwich, a distance of less than ten miles. While underwater, they breathed ‘aerial nitre,’ created by heating a bottle of saltpeter and allowing the ‘gas’ to escape. The gas, of course, was pure oxygen, of which very little would be needed for such a short journey.
Sources:
Brzezinski, Richard and Szydlo, Sbigniew. (1997) "A New Light on Alchemy." History Today. 47 (1), p. 17.
