The Alchemists: Founders of Modern Chemistry

by F. Sherwood Taylor

The figure of the alchemist stands as the true bridge between magic and modern science. Now, in this fascinating book, author F. Sherwood Taylor, former Director of the Science Museum in South Kensington and the author of many chemistry textbooks, provides what is probably the finest, authoritative popular account of the alchemists as the really were.

The book includes chapters on the ideas of the alchemists and the origin of their practice, the earliest alchemical signs and symbols, Chinese and Islamic alchemy, medieval and English alchemists, alchemical symbolism, and the story of a true transformation, not one from lead to gold, but of the replacement of superstition by science. This book should be of interest to anyone concerned with the history of ideas and Man's attitude toward matter.

Genres: Science, History, Alchemy

246 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1949

About the author

Frank Sherwood Taylor

Reviews

[Andrew Schirmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Due to its brevity and mainstream focus, F. Sherwood Taylor's "The Alchemists: Founders of Modern Chemistry" is necessarily incomplete. It is also out of date. However, these caveats are more than overcome by the knowledge imparted, and the accessible style in which it is written. I was drawn to this book by a footnote in Luca Turin's brilliant "The Secret of Scent". Taylor not only avoids belittling the accomplishments of the alchemists but manages to successfully demarcate well-known frauds from those who practiced the Art through brilliant use of source material. The book was hard to put aside. Truly an excellent introduction to the history of alchemy, as well as its symbolism.

[Leonardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

La historia de la alquimia es un tema apasionante, pero intricado y muchas personas aún lo reducirían a los intentos fallidos de transformar en oro diversos metales de menor valor. Afortunadamente, este breviario nos ofrece la oportunidad de zambullirnos en un mundo de experimentos pre-químicos, manuales complejos de autoría cuestionable y reflexiones filosóficas sobre la naturaleza de la materia y del alma. Sheerwood nos lleva desde la Antigüedad clásica (egipcia y griega) hasta el siglo XIX, cuando la filosofía hermética reescribió la alquimista como una práctica exclusivamente espiritual, cuando, en la práctica, la química había ya reemplazado a su predecesora en cuestiones de experimentos prácticos. El libro incluye citas extensas de diversos textos alquimistas y numerosas ilustraciones que permiten una comprensión más clara de su práctica y de su contribución al desarrollo de la ciencia (así allá sido un callejón sin salida).

[Frank Rensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book I randomly picked up and read because it looked nice, haha.
It's actually really great, giving a quick but broad overview of the history and philosophy of alchemy. It tells a useful story, of how a protoscience, a 'chemistry of spirit', developped in accordance with dominating schools of thought: the Aristotelian, forcing its way through the centuries, through Zosimus, Jabir and Lull, changing slightly but not significantly, until it faced the enlightenment, branching off into chemistry and the Hermetic tail end of alchemy.

[Luis Moreno · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Los vecinos, que eran generalmente iletrados, le tomaban por brujo o nigromante. El superior eclesiástico podía pensar que empleaba el tiempo de manera improductiva. Si se trataba de un alquimista al que se le atribuía haber hecho oro, estaba en peligro de ser apresado por un potentado local o incluso por su soberano y obligado a hacer oro; lo cual no era cosa que cualquiera fuera capaz de hacer por encargo."

No era fácil la vida del alquimista.

[Araminta Matthews · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent, surface read of alchemical history as a potential precursor to chemistry and psychological transformation...but only surface.