10-01-2023, 12:04 AM
The Openness of Knowledge: An Ideal and Its Context in 16th-Century Writings on Mining and Metallurgy
Pamela O. Long
"Alchemy overlapped with craft traditions, particularly those of the goldsmith trade, and it developed its own laboratory techniques for processing metals and other substances. It also was imbued with a complex group of religious and philosophical ideas from the ancient Near East. In the 15th century, influenced by Ficino’s Neoplatonism, it enjoyed a surge of popularity and would remain a respected art until the 18th century. Here it is sufficient to emphasize alchemy’s view of transmission as an esoteric process, in which an authority transmitted alchemical knowledge to a few initiates usually within an apprenticeship relationship. The cryptic writing of the alchemists is well-known as a method whereby alchemical knowledge was hidden from the uninitiated. Alchemical authorship could be hidden as well. The real author of all alchemical writings was considered to be the ancient Egyptian god Toth. The attribution of alchemical books to the highest authority was a customary practice."
https://www.mprl-series.mpg.de/studies/11/2/index.html
Pamela O. Long
"Alchemy overlapped with craft traditions, particularly those of the goldsmith trade, and it developed its own laboratory techniques for processing metals and other substances. It also was imbued with a complex group of religious and philosophical ideas from the ancient Near East. In the 15th century, influenced by Ficino’s Neoplatonism, it enjoyed a surge of popularity and would remain a respected art until the 18th century. Here it is sufficient to emphasize alchemy’s view of transmission as an esoteric process, in which an authority transmitted alchemical knowledge to a few initiates usually within an apprenticeship relationship. The cryptic writing of the alchemists is well-known as a method whereby alchemical knowledge was hidden from the uninitiated. Alchemical authorship could be hidden as well. The real author of all alchemical writings was considered to be the ancient Egyptian god Toth. The attribution of alchemical books to the highest authority was a customary practice."
https://www.mprl-series.mpg.de/studies/11/2/index.html