Starkey’s notes indicate that the strikingly tree-like structure made him think that the sophick mercury had become animated with life, indicating its power and importance. This process eventually produces an alloy with delicate, branch-like growths. The newly uncovered recipe is no exception: Newton copied the strange text from manuscripts by the American-born George Starkey, a 17th-century alchemist better known under his romantic pen name Eireanus Philalethes (“the peaceful lover of truth”).Īs translated by modern scholars, Starkey’s recipe for sophick mercury involves repeatedly distilling mercury and then heating it with gold. But he and other historians now view alchemists as thoughtful technicians who labored over their equipment and took copious notes, often encoding their recipes with mythological symbols to protect their hard-won knowledge. “For many, many years, Newton’s alchemy was considered untouchable,” says Newman. Many ended up in private hands and out of scholarly reach. The texts were sold at auction in 1936 for a combined total of just over 9,000 British pounds.
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Newton’s 1855 biographer questioned “how a mind of such power” could take seriously “the obvious production of a fool and a knave.” And the sophick mercury recipe is only now resurfacing in part because Cambridge University, Newton’s alma mater, turned down the opportunity to archive his alchemy recipes in 1888.
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But academics have long tiptoed around this connection, since alchemy is usually dismissed as mystical pseudoscience full of fanciful, discredited processes. Newton wrote more than one million words about alchemy throughout his life, in the hope of using ancient knowledge to better explain the nature of matter-and possibly strike it rich.
The document also underscores the fact that Newton-a father of modern physics and co-discoverer of calculus-was greatly influenced by alchemy and his collaborations with alchemists. While there’s no evidence that Newton actually made sophick mercury, the manuscript will help scholars understand how he interpreted alchemy’s often deeply encoded recipes, says science historian William Newman of Indiana University. The stone in turn could supposedly change base metals like lead into precious ones like gold.
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The recipe cryptically details how to make “sophick mercury,” a substance seen as a main ingredient for the Philosopher’s stone. The group bought the manuscript in February and is currently working on uploading digital images and transcriptions to an online database so more people can study Newton’s take on the alchemical text. Held in a private collection for decades, the 17th-century document is now in the hands of the Chemical Heritage Foundation, a nonprofit based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ( PHOTOGRAPH BY CHEMICAL HERITAGE FOUNDATION)]Ĭombine one part Fiery Dragon, some Doves of Diana, and at least seven Eagles of mercury, and what do you get? A key precursor to the Philosopher’s stone, according to a rediscovered manuscript handwritten by legendary physicist Isaac Newton. [ Photo Caption: Newton copied the recipe by hand from a text by American-born alchemist George Starkey, then scribbled his own lab notes on the back.
The legendary physicist tried for years to turn lead into gold-and may have used a newly recovered manuscript in his quest. Isaac Newton’s Lost Alchemy Recipe Rediscovered A larger version of the manuscript image can be found. In addition to that direct link, I have also made in case the original ever changes or goes dark. The following is a cut-and-paste from the as it appeared on Sunday, April 24, 2016, at 9:30AM.
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