John Hudson gives a talk on alchemy and the attempts by alchemists to make gold from base metals, presented on 18 January 2022. This is part of a series of online talks produced by the RSC Historical Group.
"Our archival researches at the Royal Society reveal that a small envelope attached to a 1675 letter from an Antwerp apothecary, A. Boutens, contained a sample of the ‘Ludus’ prepared as a remedy for the ‘stone disease’ then sweeping through Europe, which was first announced in J. B. van Helmont's De lithiasi (1644)."
Joseph Leopold Ratinckx (Antwerp, 9 January 1860 - Berchem, 17 November 1937) was a Belgian painter.
His father wanted him to be trained as a typographer after primary school and thus refused his son's request to attend the courses at the Academy of Fine Arts. As a result, Jos ended up in the studio of the Ratinckx brothers, cousins of his father, as an apprentice printer. However, it was his employer who was able to persuade the father to give his son a chance as a lithographer. For nine years, he then took drawing and painting lessons under the guidance of well-known professors and artists, including Nicaise De Keyser and Karel Verlat.
In the meantime, he became proficient in lithography but this profession no longer fascinated him. He wanted to fully indulge himself as a painter. Although he was known as a skilled watercolourist, he preferred oil painting. He was elected to the municipal council on 17 November 1895, but left the council upon his appointment as director and teacher at the municipal drawing school.
"Medicine and theology were accepted concerns of early modern noble and gentlewomen, and also arenas within which Paracelsian alchemy developed. It is therefore not surprising to find that some educated women engaged actively in Paracelsian alchemy in both its spiritual-philosophical and medicinal aspects, although the extent of this engagement is only beginning to be fully explored."
"In Prospero's America, Walter W. Woodward examines the transfer of alchemical culture to America by John Winthrop, Jr., one of English colonization's early giants. Winthrop participated in a pan-European network of natural philosophers who believed alchemy could improve the human condition and hasten Christ's Second Coming. Woodward demonstrates the influence of Winthrop and his philosophy on New England's cultural formation: its settlement, economy, religious toleration, Indian relations, medical practice, witchcraft prosecution, and imperial diplomacy. Prospero's America reconceptualizes the significance of early modern science in shaping New England hand in hand with Puritanism and politics."
"During his time in Windsor, Brewster began corresponding with John Winthrop, Jr., with whom he shared an interest in alchemy. Brewster had an alchemical laboratory in his home at Brewster’s Neck. In 1656, he believed he was close to discovering the universal cure, a common goal among alchemists."
"Sir Robert Paston (1631-1683) of Oxnead Hall in Norfolk was known in his own time for his loyal support of Charles II, his magnificent house and kunstkammer collection, his political activities, and for his chymical and alchemical pursuits. His family died out in the early eighteenth century with the premature deaths of his grandsons, and today the Pastons are remembered mostly for the famous letters of an earlier generation. However, some seventeenth century items survive: inventories, documents, artefacts and an enigmatic painting The Paston Treasure in Norwich Castle Museum, which depicts some of Robert’s and his father’s collection."
"Sir Robert Paston (1631-83) was a patient and friend of Sir Thomas Browne and an alchemist. He may have wanted to create gold, but his interest appears
to have been philosophical as well. He was also an Original Fellow of the Royal Society, along with such men as Elias Ashmole, John Aubrey and John Evelyn, although he was expelled in 1682, as the society distanced itself from its origins.
"In 2018, Michael Hunter, Emeritus Professor of History at London University, discovered a document in the Wellcome Library. It was a notebook written in Italian by Margaret [Paston] in the 1680s, listing numerous pharmacological and alchemical recipes. Robert Paston was a keen alchemist, who had his own laboratory, but from the notebook it becomes clear that Margaret maintained her own alchemical workshop in Venice. Robert is mentioned in her book, along with his various scientific experiments undertaken at ‘casa Paston’, which must mean Oxnead Hall. Since Margaret left Norfolk aged only twenty-one and had almost no later contact, one can only conclude that she had assisted her father in his laboratory, and was thus involved with science herself from a young age."
"This little girl appears in one of our most important paintings: The Paston Treasure. Painted around 1662-3 at Oxnead Hall, Norfolk, it contains many mysteries, but the girl is likely to represent one of two sisters, Mary Paston or her elder sister Margaret. Recent research strongly suggests that the most probable candidate is Margaret Paston (1652-c.1723)."
