The alchemists have always professed that all natural phenomena were linked. They wanted to understand everything, even including theology. Isaac Newton is the most important user of alchemy. His law of gravitation is a daring universal synthesis between matter and force.
Fortunately for modern science he understands that any physico-chemical demonstration must be based on the results of a reproducible experiment. A difficult personality, Newton does not accept that his work is disputed. Even if the alchemical principles are the basis of his discoveries, they still are mere conjectures : this scientific writer of great fertility has never published anything on alchemy.
With Newton the scientific rigor leaps forward. By accepting the hypothesis of the composition of the matter in particles bound by an interaction force, he opens the way to the chemistry of the elements while still considering that it is possible to transmute the materials into gold.
The alchemical library of Newton was hidden but considerable. What remained from it in his family surfaced in 1872. This unexpected information about the founder of modern science was incredible and shameful according to the theories of exact science. Until 1936, when the documents were auctioned at Sotheby's, Isaac Newton continued to keep his big secret.
One of the manuscripts of the 1936 auction comes now for sale by Bonhams in New York on March 9, lot 6 estimated $ 200K. It is not dated but the 1690s decade is plausible. This text has never been published.
In his tiny and tight handwriting, Newton records in Latin a physico-chemical process to obtain the philosopher's stone, including heating and cooling phases that can last over several months. A poor quality of the selected materials or of the fire can lead to failure.
The origin of this recipe remains a mystery. The file is titled by Newton "Opus Galli Anonymi" (work of an anonymous French). The text is the subject of many corrections and additions, meaning that if Newton really made an autograph translation of an earlier author, he also considered in details how to apply this instruction in the laboratory. No antecedent of this text has been identified and it can also be a window-dressing by Newton for a personal development, in the best tradition of the alchemical secrecy.
SOLD for $ 275K including premium
Fortunately for modern science he understands that any physico-chemical demonstration must be based on the results of a reproducible experiment. A difficult personality, Newton does not accept that his work is disputed. Even if the alchemical principles are the basis of his discoveries, they still are mere conjectures : this scientific writer of great fertility has never published anything on alchemy.
With Newton the scientific rigor leaps forward. By accepting the hypothesis of the composition of the matter in particles bound by an interaction force, he opens the way to the chemistry of the elements while still considering that it is possible to transmute the materials into gold.
The alchemical library of Newton was hidden but considerable. What remained from it in his family surfaced in 1872. This unexpected information about the founder of modern science was incredible and shameful according to the theories of exact science. Until 1936, when the documents were auctioned at Sotheby's, Isaac Newton continued to keep his big secret.
One of the manuscripts of the 1936 auction comes now for sale by Bonhams in New York on March 9, lot 6 estimated $ 200K. It is not dated but the 1690s decade is plausible. This text has never been published.
In his tiny and tight handwriting, Newton records in Latin a physico-chemical process to obtain the philosopher's stone, including heating and cooling phases that can last over several months. A poor quality of the selected materials or of the fire can lead to failure.
The origin of this recipe remains a mystery. The file is titled by Newton "Opus Galli Anonymi" (work of an anonymous French). The text is the subject of many corrections and additions, meaning that if Newton really made an autograph translation of an earlier author, he also considered in details how to apply this instruction in the laboratory. No antecedent of this text has been identified and it can also be a window-dressing by Newton for a personal development, in the best tradition of the alchemical secrecy.
SOLD for $ 275K including premium
On March 9, our NY #Books & Manuscripts auction will offer a rare autograph manuscript by Ludwig Van #Beethoven, along with an #IsaacNewton manuscript on the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone https://t.co/WOAW92tsbV pic.twitter.com/ZU6e7L6kmL
— BONHAMS (@bonhams1793) February 14, 2018
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