We are Not the First
by Andrew Tomas
Chapter 4:
The Blacksmith of Olympus
Technology began with Hephaestus, or Vulcan, the world's first metallurgist,
according to Greek mythology. His workshop - a sparkling dwelling of
bronze - was on Mount Olympus. But eventually he settled in Sicily on
Mount Etna, and legends affirm that the smoke from the crater comes from
the furnaces of the god. Although the author has seen this smoke from
Taormina, he could not confirm whether Hephaestus was still at his anvil.
Greek myths speak of the four ages of man. First came the Golden Age,
followed by the Silver Age, after which arrived the Bronze Age. The last
epoch is the Iron Age in which we live today. Although iron is more
plentiful than copper or gold, it is more difficult to melt and forge. Thus the
ancient Greeks told us about the progress of metallurgy by this simple tale of
how it had started with soft metals and ended with hard iron.
The Stone Age, which had lasted for a long time, was followed by the
Chalcolithic Age, when the old perfected stone implements were mainly
used but copper tools and weapons were also making their appearance as
luxuries.
Then came bronze, a hard alloy made of copper with the addition of one tenth part of tin. The Third Millenium B.C.E. in Sumeria and Egypt is
predominantly the Copper and Bronze Age. No clear picture is available of
where and how the bronze first appeared. To combine copper which came
from Sinai, Crete, Cyprus, Spain, Portugal or other parts of the
Mediterranean with rare tin from Etruria, Gaul, Spain, Cornwall and
Bohemia, it would have been necessary to have organized transport, skilled
labour and furnaces with temperatures well over 1000 ° C.
Bronze, a mixture of copper and tin, is strong and durable. It should have
taken long ages to discover that the addition of one-tenth part of tin to
copper creates a better metal. Yet strangely enough, copper artifacts in our
museums are few. Bronze seems to have appeared suddenly and spread far
and wide in great profusion. The similarity of bronze articles found in
different parts of Europe compels us to conclude that they came from one
manufacturing centre or school of technology.
The history of bronze in Central and South America is similar. The alloy
appears quite suddenly. Was the discovery made by experimentation or by
chance? The discovery of bronze was not simultaneous in the Old World and
the New. Copper, which is a component of bronze, was mined in
Mesopotamia about 3500 B.C.E. but not before 2000 B.C.E. in Peru (iron
was unknown to the Incas until after the arrival of Pizarro).
Certain achievements of the South Americans in metallurgy are enigmatic.
Ornaments of platinum were found in Ecuador. This poses a provoking
question; how could Native Americans produce the temperature of over
1770° C. necessary to melt it. It should be borne in mind here that the
melting of platinum in Europe was achieved only two centuries ago.
In testing an alloy from a prehistoric artifact the United States Bureau of
Standards ascertained that the original dwellers of America had furnaces
capable of producing a temperature of 8000° C. seven thousand years ago.
No satisfactory explanation has yet been given of how such a technical feat
was possible at all at so remote a date as 5000 B.C.E.
The tomb of the Chinese general Chow Chu (A.D. 265 - 316) presents a
mystery. When analysed by the spectroscope, a metal girdle showed 10%
copper, 5% manganese and 85% aluminium. But according to the history of
science, aluminium was obtained for the first time by Oerstead in 1825 by a
chemical method. To satisfy industrial demands, electrolysis was later
introduced into the manufacturing process. Needless to say, an ornament
made of aluminium, whether chemically or electrolytically produced, seems
out of place in a 3rd-century grave in China. It is hardly reasonable to think that this aluminium article was the only one manufactured in China.
The famous Qutb Minar iron pillar in Delhi weighs 6 tons and is about 7.5
metres high. For fifteen centuries it has withstood the tropical sunshine of
India plus the heavy downpours during the monsoons. It shows surprisingly
few signs of rust formation, and provides proof of the superior metallurgical
skill of ancient India. Aside from the mystery of the corrosion-resistant
metal of which the column is made, the task of forging so large a pillar could
not have been achieved anywhere in the world until recent times. The
production of this type of iron is possible today due to our high technology
but it is surprising to find such an achievement in the year A.D. 415. The
pillar stands as a mute witness to the scientific tradition preserved by the
people of antiquity in all parts of the world. Men whom time has forgotten,
held the answers to these riddles of the history of science.
Contents
Chapter 5:
The Forgotten Art of Gold Making
Alchemy was modern chemistry in ancient garb. But it was also the art of
transmutation of base metals into precious ones. For many centuries scholars
thought that chemical elements were stable and could not be transformed.
This is why the alchemists were regarded as dreamers, charlatans or idiots.
But in the year 1919 the great English physicist Rutherford sided with the
alchemists and transmuted nitrogen into oxygen and hydrogen by
bombarding it with helium. That was the day of the vindication of the
alchemical doctrine of transmutation.
Alchemy, as a controlled transformation of one element into another, was
the subject of prolonged study by the Orient as well as the Occident,
gradually giving birth to modern chemistry. There are extant mediaeval
manuscripts which describe in detail the equipment of the alchemists
comprised of retorts, glass vessels, distilling stills, furnaces and other things
necessary for the Great Work. The cost of an average alchemical laboratory
must have been considerable.
It is absurd to suppose that all these goldmakers parted with their coin to
sweat for months and years near their furnaces without a hope of getting
some tangible results from their work. Although there were individuals who
abandoned alchemy after having failed to transmute cheap metals into gold,
the number of people who persevered in this art throughout their lives was
surprisingly great.
In view of the costly laboratory equipment and materials required for
transmutation work, how could they afford it without reaping a profit of
some kind? Down through the centuries alchemists have claimed they could
perform transmutations of mercury, tin or lead into gold. Those who believe
that anything the ancients could do, we can do better, will naturally express
doubt as to the ability of the alchemists to accomplish this scientific feat.
Wasn't alchemy a charlatanry of some sort? History mentions the names of
men who tried to commercialize on the credulity and greed of their
contemporaries. On the other hand, there are historical documents dating
back many centuries which demonstrate that rulers often considered
alchemists to be a menace to the economy of the state.
The Roman emperor Diocletian issued an edict in Egypt around the year 300
of our era, demanding that all books on 'the art of making gold and silver' be
burned. The decree shows that the Roman government was certain that such
an art of transmutation of metals had existed. It would surely have been
unnecessary to issue decrees banning this craft unless it were known to have
been practised.
This same emperor signed an order to destroy all secret and open places of
Christian worship as well as Christian books. All the Christians were
removed from official posts in the Roman Empire. Rome meant exactly what
it had stated in the government proclamation.
The decree against alchemy and its practitioners was of the same type, and
presumably the existence of artificially produced gold was taken for granted
as was the presence of Christians. The Roman emperor wanted to withdraw
all written records of this secret art from circulation. It is not difficult to
ascertain the motives of Diocletian. He realized that gold was power. An
alchemist capable of making it cheaply, could become a threat to the state.
Such a man could buy territories or officials.
It is worthwhile citing the earlier case of the Praetorian Guard Didius
Marcus, a Roman millionaire, who bought the whole Roman Empire for the
equivalent of about thirty-five million dollars. However, he was soon
beheaded by Emperor Septimus. This historical episode was still fresh in the
minds of the Roman citizens when Diocletian issued the prohibition against
alchemy.
According to the alchemist Zosimus (AJ). 300), the temple of Ptah at
Memphis had furnaces, and this god was revered as the patron of the
alchemists. The words chemistry and alchemy are derived from the name of
Egypt - Khemt. Thus even today a very ancient tradition is perpetuated by
the use of the words alchemy, chemistry, chemist or chemical.
In the 8th century the Arab Jabir (Geber) systematized alchemical
knowledge from the Egyptian source, and he is justly called the father of this
science. Jabir was a practising alchemist who described not only the
equipment of a laboratory required for transmutation but also the mental and
moral prerequisites of an apprentice.
"The artificer of this work ought to be well skilled and perfected in the
sciences of natural philosophy," wrote the Arab scholar. Considering the
time and labours involved in discovering the secret of transmutation, Jabir
advised the disciple not to be extravagant "least he happen not to find the art,
and be left in misery".
It goes without saying that the Arab adept spoke of very concrete things - a
chemical laboratory and patient efforts which would not pay dividends for
years to come. But he assured the students that "copper may be changed into
gold" and "by our artifice we easily make silver". These statements can not
be easily dismissed as Jabir's name figures in the history of modern
chemistry.
One of the peculiarities of alchemy was its extensiveness. Alchemy was
known in China as early as 133 B.C.E. The story of Chia and the alchemist
Chen mentions that whenever Chia wanted money, his friend the alchemist
would rub a black stone on a tile or a brick and transform these
commonplace articles into precious silver. That was an easy way to make
money.
The biography of Chang Tao-Ling who studied at the Imperial Academy in
Peking, makes reference to the Treatise of the Elixir refined in nine
Cauldrons which he found in a cavern and whose author was allegedly the
Yellow Emperor (26th century B.C.E.). The basic ingredient of Chinese
alchemy was cinnabar or mercuric sulphide used in transmutation as well as
preparation of 'gold-juice', the elixir of youth.
"You may transmute cinnabar into pure gold," assures the historical record
Shih Chi written in the 1st century B.C.E. The opinion current among the
practitioners of the alchemical art in China, India, Egypt and Western
Europe that mercury and sulphur had unusual properties for transmutation, is
somewhat baffling. After all, it was a long way from Peking to Alexandria,
and from Benares to mediaeval Paris. What was the primary source of this
doctrine?
A law was enacted in China against the practice of counterfeiting gold by
alchemical methods in 175 B.C.E. This fact proves two things - firstly,
alchemy must have existed in China for many centuries before becoming a
problem to the Celestial Empire, and secondly, the output of gold by the
alchemists was sufficiently large to be felt by the state.
India had alchemy, too. The Hindu expositors of the art also thought that
mercury and sulphur were primary elements. But unlike Chinese and
European alchemists they attributed positive polarity to mercury and
negative to sulphur. They also tried to discover the elixir of immortality and
the secret of gold making. In view of the fact that the art of transmutation and
the production of gold placed its adepts in a dangerous position because of
envy, malice, possible robbery and even loss of life, to say nothing of the
suspicion of the authorities, the alchemists used carefully coded texts and
enigmatic charts. This is particularly true of European countries where the
Inquisition was busy tracking down and liquidating anyone guilty of
practising the 'magical sciences' from the heathen East.
The question as to whether gold had been produced by alchemical processes
in the past, can be hotly debated. But certain decrees and documents imply
that the rulers of many nations did not have any doubts about the possibility
of the transmutation of metals. This is good evidence of the reality of
alchemy in olden times. During the 13th and early 14th century alchemy
must have been widespread as it attracted the attention of the Vatican. The
science was forbidden by a bull of Pope John XXII in the year 1317. This
document entitled Spondent Pariter condemned the alchemists to exile and
established heavy fines against swindlers commercializing on transmutation.
All these prohibitions of alchemy are very bewildering. A No Smoking sign
in a train is put up because people have cigarettes in their pockets. What was
the reason for these No Gold making orders? If there were no cases of illegal
transmutation, it surely would not have been worthwhile wasting expensive
parchment on long, sternly worded decrees. Henry IV of England issued an
act in 1404 declaring that the multiplying of metals was a crime against the
Crown. This was during the time of the Hundred Years' War and the
Peasants' Revolt. A King of England was not likely to sign a decree, against
a mythical menace while waging a very real war in France, and fighting
angry serfs at home. Apparently, the appearance of gold from an unknown
source began to worry the English government.
On the other hand, King Henry VI granted permits to John Cobbe and John
Mistelden to practise "the philosophic art of the conversion of metals", and
these licences were duly approved by Parliament. This alchemically-made
gold was used in coinage which makes it clear that the Crown did not mind
the manufacture of alchemical gold provided His Majesty's Mint received it
in the end.
But much more significant than Henry IV's ban on alchemy was its official
repeal by William and Mary of England in 1688 which reads: "And whereas,
since the making of the said statute, divers persons have by their study,
industry and learning, arrived to great skill and perfection in the art of
melting and refining of metals, and otherwise improving and multiplying
them."
The act of Repeal states that from the reign of Henry IV many Englishmen
went to foreign countries "to exercise the said art" to the great detriment of
the kingdom. The new decree announced that "all the gold and silver that
shall be extracted by the aforesaid art be turned over to Their Majesties Mint
in the Tower of London where the precious metals would be bought at the
full market value, and no questions asked."
After this change of policy the King and Queen even made a declaration
concerning the desirability of studying alchemy. These historic facts are
most extraordinary because alchemically-made gold might be stacked in
ingots in the vaults of the Bank of England today. It is important to note that,
as far as we know, England has always received its gold supplies from
foreign countries only. It is apparent that the sovereigns of England realized
that there were advantages in controlling gold reserves rather than permitting
this gold from an unknown source to dominate the economy of the realm. This repeal Act clearly states that artificially-manufactured gold was actually
produced in England and also that its intake was centralized at Their
Majesties Mint.
This possibility of artificial gold having been produced in England is well
substantiated by a specimen of alchemical gold which the author has
personally examined in the Department of Coins and Medals of the British
Museum in London. It is in the form of a bullet, which is understandable as
that is what it was before the transmutation. The register of the Museum
contains the following brief entry concerning this golden bullet: "Gold made
by an alchemist from a leaden bullet in the presence of Colonel MacDonald
and Doctor Colquhoun at Bupora in the month of October, 1814."
Although the information about the actual transmutation is lacking, the fact
remains that this is officially recognized as a rare specimen of alchemical
gold, preserved in one of the world's greatest museums. Johann Helvetius
(1625-1709), physician to the Prince of Orange, was known to have
accomplished alchemical transmutations of base metals into gold. Once
Porelius, the Inspector-General of the Mint in Holland, came to Helvetius'
laboratory to watch his alchemical work. Then Porelius went to see the
jeweller Brechtel and asked him to make an analysis of Helvetius' gold.
After a rigid test the gold was found to have five more grains than before the
test.
Now what is transmutation? Plutonium, an element which is non-existent on
earth, can be created by nuclear physics - that is a case of transmutation. A
hypothetical transmutation of mercury into gold would involve changing the
atomic structure of mercury. The number of electrons, their orbits and the
organization of protons determines the element. It is noteworthy that,
according to ancient alchemy, gold was made from mercury or lead. In the
periodic table of elements the atomic number of Gold is 79, that of Mercury
80, and of Lead 82 - in other words, they are neighbours. It was Mendeleyeff
who in 1879 first formulated a table of the elements and arranged them in
order of increasing weight according to their atomic structure. The question
is - had the alchemists discovered this table before Mendeleyeff?
Arab scholars such as Jabir, Al Razi, Farabi and Avicenna who lived
between the 8th and 11th centuries, brought the science of alchemy to
Western Europe. Costly handwritten books were carried from city to city.
They contained ciphered writings and mysterious diagrams which few could
read and fewer understand. Some of these manuscripts and tracts embodied
true chemistry and alchemy, others but distorted versions of ancient
formulas and methods of no practical value.
The alchemists drifted from place to place, practicing their art in secret. It
was dangerous to declare one's proficiency in transmuting cheaper metals
into gold because sovereigns often subjected talkative men to torture in order
to obtain the alchemists' formulas. In the Compound of Alchemy (1471) Sir
George Ripley advised the students and practitioners of the art "to keep thy
secrets in store unto thyself for wise men say store is no sore".
The pioneers of modern science such as Albertus Magnus (1206-1280) who
wrote voluminously on astronomy and chemistry, not only believed in the
reality of alchemical transmutation but even made rules on how to practise
the art. He advised "to carefully avoid association with princes and nobles
and to cultivate discretion and silence"
Roger Bacon (c. 1214 - 1294) left a ciphered manuscript which Professor
Wm. R. Newbold has allegedly decoded. It contains a formula for making
copper. In the Library of the University of Pennsylvania there is a retort and
the following certificate dated December 1, 1926: "This retort contains
metallic copper made according to a secret formula of Roger Bacon."
The great Doctor Paracelsus (1493-1541) discovered zinc and was the first to
identify hydrogen. Paracelsus' fame as an alchemist was so great that his
tomb in Salzburg was opened because of rumours that alchemical secrets
and great treasures had been buried with the physician. However, nothing
was found in the coffin. His famous sword whose hilt contained the so-called
Philosopher's Stone, had also vanished without a trace.
Nicolas Flamel (1330-1418), a Paris notary, was another great alchemist. In
his business of illuminating documents and manuscripts he came into
contact with bookdealers. In his Hieroglyphical Figures he related that a
very ancient Book of Abraham Eliazar, written in an unknown language,
was offered to him for sale by a stranger for a reasonable amount, and that
he bought it. It took Flamel and his wife Pernelle many years to come to the
conclusion that the book was a work on ancient alchemy.
Using the text Nicolas Flamel was able to perform his first transmutation of
one-half pound of mercury into pure silver on January 17, 1382, when he
was 52 years old. On April 25 he succeeded in making his first alchemical
gold. The citizens of 14th-century Paris were less skeptical about Flamel's
ability to manufacture gold than the Parisians of today. But they had good
reason - the alchemist built many hospitals and churches in Paris during
the thirty-six years of his profitable alchemical work. This fact he admitted
himself:
"In the year 1413 after the transition of my faithful companion whom I will miss for
the rest of my life, she and I had already founded and endowed fourteen hospitals in
this city of Paris besides three completely new chapels, decorated with handsome
gifts and having good incomes, seven churches with numerous repairs done to their
cemeteries, as well what we ourselves had done in Boulogne, which is hardly less
than what we did here."
Nicolas Flamel wrote that on some of his churches he "caused to be depicted
marks or signs from the Book of Abraham Eliazar". They could actually be
seen two hundred years ago in such places as the Cimetiere des Innocents,
the church of St. Jacques de la Boucheries and St. Nicolas des Champs. The
Musee Cluny contains Flamel's tombstone.
The Book of Abraham Eliazar is probably not fictitious as it was listed in the
Catalogus Zibrorum philosophicorum hermeticorum issued by Dr. Pierre
Borelli in 1654. Borelli was obviously no ordinary savant as he was
farsighted enough to imagine 'aerial ships' as the means "whereby one can
learn the pure truth concerning the plurality of worlds".
According to Dr. Borelli, Cardinal Richelieu ordered a search for alchemical
books in Flamel's house and churches which must have been successful
because at one time the cardinal was seen reading the Book of Abraham
Eliazar with annotations by Flamel in the margins.
The case of George Ripley, an English alchemist of the 15th century, was
equally spectacular. Elias Ashmole the English scholar of the 17th century,
who left a collection at Oxford known as the Ashmolean Museum,
mentioned a document in Malta citing a record of contributions of £100,000
each year made by Sir George Ripley to the Order of St. ]ohn of Jerusalem
at Rhodes to help Rhodes fight the Turks. It should be stressed that the value
of the pound was immensely higher five hundred years ago than it is today (a
14th century gold florin may be worth as much as five dollars today).
Other alchemists were evidently making so much gold that one of them
offered to finance the Crusades, and another to pay off the national debt of
his country. With the monetary crises of today and deficits piling up yearly,
finance ministers might do well to try calling alchemy to the rescue to build
up gold reserves. [ As shady as these people are I have no doubt that the majority of the gold on the Earth is made gold at this time, the author is correct there would be no need for a ban, if it was not already being done, and at a lose as we see to the controlling interests. Very telling fact about The English bankers, most famous for their fiat trick of creating money out of thin air, and their relationship with gold and the international community. d.c. ]
Pope John XXII who issued a bull against the alchemists,developed an
interest in the art himself! It is quite possible that after having perused
numerous confiscated documents on alchemy, he decided to experiment in
the science of transmutation. In fact, he wrote an alchemical work, Ars
Transmutatoria, in which he related how he had worked on the Philosopher's
Stone in Avignon, and how he had alchemically manufactured two hundred
bars of gold, each weighing one quintal, or one hundred kilograms. After his
death in 1334, twenty-five million florins were found in the Pope's treasure
vault! The source of this vast fortune could never be satisfactorily explained,
because in this era of wars and the ecclesiastical conflict between Avignon
and the Vatican, the papal revenues were small.
The Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna contains extraordinary evidence
of the practice of alchemy in past centuries. It is catalogued as an Alchemistische Medaillon - an oval medal 40 by 37 centimetres in size
weighing seven kilograms. Except for the one-third upper part of the disc
which is silver, the lower two-thirds are solid gold.
This medal has an exciting story to tell. In an Augustine monastery in
Austria there was a young monk in the 16th century whose name was
Wenzel Seiler. He was bored with life in the abbey but without riches there
was no way of his getting out. An old friar who patronized Wenzel had told
him of a treasure buried in the monastery, so they decided to look for it.
After a long search they found an old copper chest under a column. It
contained a parchment with strange signs and letters, and four jars of reddish
powder. Seiler expected to find gold coins in the box and was so
disappointed that he thought of throwing out the contents. But the old monk
became interested in the document and insisted that the powder be preserved.
The aged friar finally came to the conclusion that the red powder could be
the precious transmuting compound of the alchemists. Then Wenzel Seiler
stole an old tin plate from the abbey's kitchen and after covering it with the
red powder the plate was heated in the fire. As if by magic, the tin plate
shortly became solid gold!
Seiler was so happy with the results of the experiment that he went to town
to sell the gold. He received twenty ducats for it but the old friar did not
think it was a wise thing for a young monk to sell gold. The old man became
sick and died soon after, leaving young friar Wenzel the sole possessor of
the gold making powder. Realizing that he was unable to exploit his
discovery and escape from the monastery without assistance, he confided his
secret to Francis Preyhausen, another young monk, and they made plans to
leave the abbey in the spring.
With his ducats Wenzel bought wine and enjoyed the visits of his young
cousin Anastasio from Vienna. Rumours about the stolen plate, twenty
ducats obtained from a jeweller and the empty wine bottles reached the
abbot who summoned Seiler for questioning. Then the abbot with the older
friars went to Wenzel Seiler's cell. They unlocked the door and saw naked
Anastasio on Wenzel's bed. Seeing his anatomy, it suddenly dawned upon
the aged monks that Anastasio was Anastasia! After a few embarrassing
moments during which the girl had time to wrap herself in a cape, the men
of God gave her a sermon on the dangers facing her soul.
But young Wenzel was flogged and bolted in his cell. The four precious jars
with the red powder were surreptitiously handed through the bars of the
window to Francis who was waiting outside. Then Wenzel Seiler was
transferred to a prison cell and the future began to look very dark. However,
Francis Preyhausen was not idle and he arranged their escape. During an
adventurous journey the young monks understood how dangerous their life
could become with the gold making powder in their hands. But Francis was
more intelligent than Wenzel and he hid the powder.
In Vienna they secured the patronage of Count Peter Paar, a friend of
Emperor Leopold I of Germany, Hungary and Bohemia (1640-1705) as the
noble was an ardent student of alchemy. An audience was arranged with the
emperor who was also interested in the ancient art.
In the presence of Leopold I, Father Spies and Dr. Joachim Becher, ex-friar
Wenzel Seiler transmuted an ounce of tin into pure gold in the course of a
quarter of an hour. A written declaration to that effect was signed by the
witnesses. However, Count von Paar's friendship was not as sincere as it had
first seemed. With pistol in hand he forced Wenzel to part with a portion of
the red powder. Fortunately for Wenzel and Francis, the nobleman died soon
after the incident.
Emperor Leopold I then became Seiler's protector. With Count von
Waldstein, the captain of the Bodyguard, the emperor himself made
alchemical gold with Wenzel Seiler's red powder. In 1675 a special ducat
was struck with the image of Leopold I from the gold alchemically produced
by the sovereign. On the reverse side was the following inscription:
With Wenzel Seiler's powder was I transformed from tin into gold.
Successful experiments in alchemy were conducted by Seiler at the Palace of
the Knights of St. John in the Karntnerstrasse in Vienna, and a gold chain
was made from this alchemical gold on the orders of Count Von Waldstein.
On September 16, 1676, the emperor knighted the alchemist-monk von
Rheinburg, which was the maiden name of Seiler's aristocratic mother (as
his father was a commoner), and appointed him Court Chemist. With the
Red Tincture almost gone, Wenzel Seiler and Leopold I concentrated their
efforts on multiplying the powder but without any results. In 1677 a large
silver medal was dipped into the transmuting compound and its lower part
turned into gold. A photograph of the medal is featured in this book, and the
only remark that has to be made about it concerns the four notches on its
edge.
These were made on request of Professor A. Bauer of Vienna in 1883 in
order to analyse the content of the disc. Two-thirds were found to be solid
gold, so there was no question of any gold-plating. This case of alchemy is
recorded in history and offers strong evidence in support of the reality of
alchemical transmutation in former times.
There is a 19th-century painting by the Polish artist Matejko which portrays
dramatically an actual alchemical transmutation by Michael Sendivogius in
Cracow before King Sigismund III of Poland, early in the 17th century.
Alchemy was not confined to making gold alone as some alchemists claimed
they could produce gems. If so, they must have been the first synthetic stone
makers.
Modern science can transform a lump of anthracite into an expensive
diamond but the process is costly. Dr. Willard Libby, Nobel Prize winner,
created diamonds by sandwiching a block of graphite between two nuclear
devices in 1969. Dr. E. O. Lawrence of U.S.A. effected transmutations of a
number of elements during the forties.
In 1897 Dr. Stephen H. Emmens, a British physician in New York, claimed
that he had discovered a method to transmute silver into gold. Between April,
1897 and August, 1898 more than $10,000 worth of gold was sold by him to
the U.S. Assay Office in Wall Street. The New York Herald printed the
following headlines about Dr. Emmens at the time: THIS MAN MAKES
GOLD AND SELLS IT TO THE UNITED STATE MINT. The Assay
Office admitted buying the gold but at the same time raised the question:
"Did he manufacture it out of silver as he claimed?
It is of little consequence whether or not the alchemists could actually
transmute silver, tin or lead into gold. What is more significant is the fact of
their thinking that one chemical element could be transformed into another.
Until Curie and Rutherford science excluded this possibility. In brief, the
alchemists anticipated our modern scientific concepts regarding the essence
of matter. In his Interpretation of Radium published in 1909, Dr. Frederick
Soddy, Nobel Prize, who coined the word 'isotope' and pioneered nuclear
physics, did not deride alchemy:
"It is curious to reflect, for example, upon the remarkable legend of the Philosopher's
Stone, one of the oldest and most universal beliefs, the origin of which, however far
back we penetrate into the records of the past, we do not probably trace its real source.
The Philosopher's Stone was accredited the power not only of transmuting the metals
but of acting as the elixir of life. Now, whatever the origin of this apparently
meaningless jumble of ideas may have been, it is really a perfect and very slightly
allegorical expression of the actual present views we hold today."
Egyptian tradition pointed to Thoth, Hermes or Mercury, the culture-bearer
who had revealed to mankind the Hermetic Arts, one of which was alchemy.
Hermes or Mercury was also the founder of Medicine. It is upon the rock of
Hermetic Science that modern medicine is built. It is fascinating to trace the
stream of Medical Science from prehistoric medicine man, herbalist,
magician, priest to the pharmacist and doctor of contemporary life.
Chapter 6:
The Caduceus of Hermes
Doctors' cars usually carry an emblem - a staff with two snakes and a
winged hat. This is the Caduceus of Hermes and by this ancient symbol
modern medicine acknowledges its debt to the sages of antiquity.
A recent archaeological expedition to the Valley of the Kings in Egypt
excavated a number of mummies. Many of the jaws had bridges and
artificial teeth which looked surprisingly like the product of a modern dentist.
Few scientists had expected to find evidence of such skill in dentistry in
ancient Egypt so many thousands of years ago.
Mayan skulls dug up on the coast of jaina in Campeche, Mexico, also show
astonishing proficiency in dental surgery. The crowns and fillings are still in
place after many centuries! The drilling and setting of inlays was done by
men who always respected the vital part of the tooth. The adhesives used are
as yet unknown but they must have been of high quality if the fillings are
still intact.
The pre-Inca surgeons performed delicate operations on the brain 2,500
years ago. Trepanation is a new technique in modern surgery, so it was more
than surprising to find thousands of skulls in Peru with marks of successful
trephining. The instruments used were obsidian arrow-heads, scalpels,
bronze knives, pincers and needles for sutures. According to the history of
medicine, the same operation performed at the Hétel Dieu in Paris in 1786
was invariably fatal.
Amputations were likewise executed in South America. The Inca doctors
used gauze for dressings; and possibly cocaine as an anaesthetic. The Incas
discovered important drugs such as quinine, cocaine and belladonna.
In ancient Babylon there was a peculiar method of treating the sick.
Herodotus describes the way the sufferers were brought out into the street. It
was the moral duty of passers-by to enquire about their complaints. From
their own experiences the sympathizers suggested remedies which they had
heard were effective or had used themselves. By experimenting with
different medicines the patients found out which were best for them. This
mass experimentation formed the basis of pharmacopoeia and diagnosis in
the centuries to, follow.
Our wonder drugs like penicillin, aureomycin or terramycin had their origin
in ancient Egypt. A medical papyrus of the 11th dynasty speaks of a certain
type of fungus growing on still water which is prescribed for the treatment of
wounds and open sores. Did they have penicillin 4,000 years before Fleming?
Antibiotics were not unknown to the ancients. Warm soil and soy-bean curd,
which have antibiotic properties, were employed by the ancient Greeks and
Chinese respectively; to heal wounds and to eradicate boils and even
carbuncles.
The Egyptians made use of an unknown mineral drug for anaesthesia in
operations. They were also aware of the relationship between the nervous
system and movements of our limbs, and therefore understood the causes of
paralysis. The Smith Papyrus contains forty-eight clinical cases. The ancient
peoples of the Nile practiced hygiene and, generally speaking, their
medicine was far superior to that practised so much later in Europe during
the Middle Ages - yet another example of the withering of knowledge.
The physicians of the land of the pyramids were aware of the functions of
the heart and arteries, and how to count the pulse. Imhotep (4500 B.C.E.),
the architect of Zoser Pyramid, is considered to be the first recorded
physician in history.
Ancient India possessed advanced medical knowledge.
Her doctors knew about metabolism, the circulatory system, genetics and the
nervous system as well as the transmission of specific characteristics by
heredity. Vedic physicians understood medical methods to counteract the
effects of poison gas, performed Caesarean sections, brain operations, and
used anaesthetics. Sushruta (5th century B.C.E.) listed the diagnosis of 1120
diseases. He described 121 surgical instruments and was the first to
experiment in plastic surgery.
The Sactya Grantham, a Brahmin book compiled about 1500 B.C.E.,
contains the following passage giving instructions on smallpox vaccination:
"Take on the tip of a knife the contents of the inflammation, inject it into the
arm of a man, mixing it with his blood. A fever will follow but the malady
will pass very easily and will create no complications." Edward Jenner
(1749-1823) is credited with the discovery of vaccination but it appears that
ancient India has prior claim!
The United Kingdom and other countries have medical aid programmes
supported by the state. But the physicians of the Inca Empire and the Land
of the Pharaohs also received their remuneration from the government and
medical aid was free to all. Truly, there seems to be nothing new under the
sun.
The Chinese Emperor Tsin-Shi (259-210 B.C.E.) possessed a 'magic mirror'
which could 'illuminate the bones of the body'. Xray in ancient China? It was
located in the palace of Hien-Yang in Shensi in 206 B.C. When a patient
stood before this rectangular mirror which was 1.76 by 1.22 metres in size,
the image seemed to be reversed but all the organs and bones were visible
exactly as on our fluoroscopes. That mirror was used for the very same
purpose - to diagnose disease.
It is little known that a Chinese surgeon by the name of Hua T'o carried out
operations under anaesthetics over eighteen centuries ago. The chronicle
Hou Han Shu of the later Han Dynasty (25-220 C.E.) reminds one of a
report from a modern medical journal:
He first made the patient swallow hemp bubble powder mixed with wine, and as soon
as intoxication and unconsciousness supervened, he made an incision in the belly or
the back and cut out any morbid growth. If the stomach or intestine was the part
affected, he thoroughly cleansed these organs after the use of the knife, and removed
the contaminating matter which had caused the infection. He would then stitch up the
wound, and apply a marvellous ointment which caused it to heal in four or five days,
and within a month the patient was completely restored to health.
The Lester Institute of Shanghai founded by a British magnate in the thirties,
has established scientific basis for old Chinese remedies. Every medicine,
even as odd as donkey's skin, dog's brains, sheep's eyeballs, pig's liver or
seaweeds, has been found by Dr. Bernard Reed to possess a chemical reason
for its effectiveness.
While blood transfusion was introduced into Western medicine in the 17th
century, it has been practised by the Australian aborigines for thousands of
years. Our method is similar to one that he uses in that he takes blood either
from a vein in the middle of the arm or from one in the inner arm by means
of a hollow reed. Blood transference is also done by mouth but the technique
of this method, though shown to various investigators, remains
unfathomable.
Seemingly, the Australian medicine man is still heir to ancient knowledge.
He is perfectly aware of the proper vein from which the blood should be
taken. Uncannily, he also chooses the fitting donor. Blood transfusion is
practised not only in critical cases of injury and illness but also to give
vitality to the aged.
When threatened by an impending drought or other calamity with the
menace of food shortage, the aborigines have used oral contraceptives for
centuries. Resin from a particular plant is rolled into pills to be taken by
women.
Not only are these facts astonishing but it is also a pity that because of detribalization and lack of interest on the part of the medical profession, the
herbal medicines of the Australian aborigines are almost forgotten. The
natives do not cultivate the medicinal plants any longer and are in the
process of losing their valuable heritage.
Chapter 7:
From Temples and Forums to Atomic Reactors
The so-called Emerald Tables of Hermes are of great interest to the student
of the history of science. Although often considered as a document from the
Middle Ages, its style and a total absence of mediaeval alchemical terms
raises the possibility of its more ancient origin. Actually, on the basis of his
research Dr. Sigismund Bacstrom, an 18th-century scholar, traced the
Emerald Tables to about 2500 B.C.E.
"What is above is like what is below, and what is below is like what is above
to effect the wonders of one and the same work," reads the opening sentence
of the Tables. These words can be interpreted as the mirror-like similarity
between the world of the atom, with electrons whirling around protons as
planets around the suns, and the macrocosm of stars and galaxies.
This idea of the Oneness of the universe and the unity of matter is stressed
again in another passage: "All things owe their existence to the Only One, so
all things owe their origin to the One Only Thing."
"Separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, carefully and
skillfully. This substance ascends from the earth to the sky, and descends
again on the earth and thus the superior and the inferior are increased in
power." This paragraph might well be interpreted as the process of splitting
the atom and the dangers connected with it.
"This is the potent power of all forces for it will overcome all that is fine and
penetrate all that is coarse because in this manner was the world created,"
says another paragraph in the Emerald Tables. It indicates the belief of the
ancients in the vibratory character of matter, and the waves and rays which
penetrate all substances.
Democritus was the first to formulate the atomic theory. Anticipating the
views of modern physicists, he said almost two and a half thousand years
ago: "In reality there is nothing but atoms and space." Moschus, the
Phoenician, communicated to the Greek philosopher this primordial
knowledge, and in fact, Moschus concept of the structure of the atom was
nearer to the truth because he emphasized its divisibility. His version of the
atomic theory is being corroborated as new atomic particles are discovered
all the time.
Greek philosophers claimed that there was no distinction in kind between the
stellar bodies and the earth. The teaching of Hermes must have been
accepted as an axiom by the Hellenic thinkers. Leucippus (5th century
B.C.E.) as well as Epicurus (341-270 B.C.E.) also favoured the atomic
theory. Lucretius (1st century B.C.E.), a Roman scholar, wrote about atoms
"rushing everlastingly throughout all space". They undergo "miriad changes
under the disturbing impact of collisions".
It is impossible to see the atoms because they are too small, he asserted.
These classic writers and philosophers command respect and admiration for
their advanced thinking as they had anticipated modern science and have
contributed to its development. But we still do not know what led them to
believe in invisible atoms.
In his On the Nature of the Universe Lucretius expresses an opinion that
"there can be no centre in infinity". This thesis is the cornerstone of the
Theory of Relativity of Einstein. Heraclitus (5th century B.C.E.) must have
likewise had relativist ideas because once he said: "The way up and the way
down, are one and the same."
Zeno of Elea (5th century B.C.E.) demonstrated the relativity of motion and
time by his paradoxical problems. "If the flying arrow is at every instant of
its flight at rest in a space equal to its length, when does it move?" he asked.
In his famous problem of the chariots Zeno even attempted to prove the time
shrinkage of bodies in motion which Einstein dealt with more fully in his
formulas.
Nicolaus, Cardinal of Cusa, a 15th-century scholar, wrote of a "universe
without a centre", thus giving another preview of the Theory of Relativity.
Lao Tse (6th-5th century B.C.E.), the founder of Taoism, taught that
everything in the universe is made according to a natural law, or Tao, which
controls the world. All creation is the result of the interplay of two cosmic
principles - the male Yen and the female Yin, promulgated Lao Tse.
Scientifically, this is true because positive and negative charges in the
nuclear world determine all manifestations in nature.
Ancient sages realized the dangers of revealing knowledge to those who
could use it for destructive aims. "It would be the greatest of sins to disclose
the mysteries of your art to soldiers," wrote a Chinese alchemist a thousand
years ago. Are modern nuclear alchemists guilty of this sin?
The atomic structure of matter is mentioned in the Brahmin treatises
Vaisesika and Nyaya. The Yoga Vasishta says: "There are vast worlds within
the hollows of each atom, multifarious as the specks in a sunbeam." The
Indian sage Uluka proposed a hypothesis over 2,500 years ago that all
material objects were made of paramanu, or seeds of matter. He was then
nicknamed Ktmada, or the swallower of grains.
The sacred writings of ancient India contain descriptions of weapons which
resembled atomic bombs. The Mausola Parva speaks of a thunderbolt - "a
gigantic messenger of death" which reduced to ashes whole armies, and
caused the hair and nails of the survivors to fall out. Pottery broke without
any cause and the birds turned white. After a few hours all foodstuffs were
poisoned. The ghastly picture of Hiroshima comes to mind when one reads
this ancient text from India.
"A blazing missile possessed of the radiance of smokeless fire was
discharged. A thick gloom suddenly encompassed the heavens. Clouds
roared into the higher air, showering blood. The world, scorched by the heat
of that weapon, seemed to be in fever," thus describes the Drona Parva a
page of the unknown past of mankind. One can almost visualize the
mushroom cloud of an atomic bomb explosion and atomic radiation.
Another passage compares the detonation with a flare-up of ten thousand
suns.
The physicist Frederick Soddy evidently did not take these ancient records
as fable. In the Interpretation of Radium (1909) he wrote these lines: "Can
we not read into them some justification for the belief that some former
forgotten race of men attained not only to the knowledge we have so
recently won, but also to the power that is not yet ours?" When Dr. Soddy
wrote the book, the atom-box of Pandora had not yet been opened.
A radioactive skeleton has been found in India. Its radioactivity was fifty
times above the normal level. Perhaps the Sanskrit texts about atomic
warfare in proto-history are true.
The surface of the Gobi Desert near Lob Nor Lake is covered with vitreous
sand which is the result of Red China's atomic tests. But the desert has
certain areas of similar glassy sand which had been present for thousands of
years before Chairman Mao! What was the source of heat which melted that
sand in prehistory?
The Brahmin books contain a curious division of time. For instance, the
Siddhanta-Siromani subdivides the hour until it arrives at the final unit - tmti,
equivalent to 0.33750 of a second. Sanskrit scholars have no idea why such a
small fraction of a second was necessary at all in antiquity. And no one
knows how it could have been measured without precision instruments.
According to Pundit Kanniah Yogi of Ambattur, Madras whom I met in India
in 1966, the original time measurement of the Brahmins was sexagesimal,
and he quoted the Brihath Sathaka and other Sanskrit sources. In ancient
times the day was divided into 60 kala, each equal to 24 minutes, subdivided
into 60 vikala, each equivalent to 24 seconds. Then followed a further sixtyfold subdivision of time into para, tatpara, vitatpara, ima and finally, kashta
- or 1/300 millionth of a second. The Hindus have never been in a hurry and
one wonders what use the Brahmins made of these fractions of the
microsecond.
While in India the author was told that the learned Brahmins were obliged to
preserve this tradition from hoary antiquity but they themselves did not
understand it. Is this reckoning of time a folk memory from a highly
technological civilization? Without sensitive instruments kashta, as 1/300
millionth of a second, would be absolutely meaningless. It is significant that
the kashta is very close to the life spans of certain mesons and hyperons.
This fact supports the bold hypothesis that the science of nuclear physics is
not new.
The Varahamihira Table dated c. 550, indicates even the size of the atom. The
mathematical figure is fairly comparable with the actual size of the hydrogen
atom. It appears fantastic that this ancient science recognized the atomic
structure of matter and realized how small is its ultimate particle. Nothing of
this kind has ever been attempted in the West until the 20th century.
Philolaus (5th century B.C.E.) had a strange notion about an 'antichthon' or
'anti earth', an invisible body in our solar system. It is only recently that the
concept of anti-matter, anti world and anti planets has been introduced into
science. In nuclear physics, the positron is sometimes hypothesized as an
electron travelling from the future into the past.
This time-direction reversal in the atomic world is a new discovery. But
Plato wrote in the Statesman about an oscillating universe periodically
reversing its time-arrow and sometimes moving from the future into the past.
We know now that sub-atomic particles can travel backwards in time but it
seems that the idea was not unfamiliar to the great Plato.
While atomic knowledge in ancient times was fragmentary in character, we
can not say the same thing about astronomy. With its deep roots and
constant practice over a period of millennia, the science of the stars reached
a high level in antique times.
Sages under the Heavenly Vault
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