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Newton the Alchemist
Science, Enigma, and the Quest for Nature's "Secret Fire"
William Newman
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Newton the Alchemist
Science, Enigma, and the Quest for Nature's "Secret Fire"
William Newman
Ăber dieses Buch
A book that finally demystifies Newton's experiments in alchemy When Isaac Newton's alchemical papers surfaced at a Sotheby's auction in 1936, the quantity and seeming incoherence of the manuscripts were shocking. No longer the exemplar of Enlightenment rationality, the legendary physicist suddenly became "the last of the magicians." Newton the Alchemist unlocks the secrets of Newton's alchemical quest, providing a radically new understanding of the uncommon genius who probed nature at its deepest levels in pursuit of empirical knowledge.In this evocative and superbly written book, William Newman blends in-depth analysis of newly available texts with laboratory replications of Newton's actual experiments in alchemy. He does not justify Newton's alchemical research as part of a religious search for God in the physical world, nor does he argue that Newton studied alchemy to learn about gravitational attraction. Newman traces the evolution of Newton's alchemical ideas and practices over a span of more than three decades, showing how they proved fruitful in diverse scientific fields. A precise experimenter in the realm of "chymistry, " Newton put the riddles of alchemy to the test in his lab. He also used ideas drawn from the alchemical texts to great effect in his optical experimentation. In his hands, alchemy was a tool for attaining the material benefits associated with the philosopher's stone and an instrument for acquiring scientific knowledge of the most sophisticated kind. Newton the Alchemist provides rare insights into a man who was neither Enlightenment rationalist nor irrational magus, but rather an alchemist who sought through experiment and empiricism to alter nature at its very heart.
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Inhaltsverzeichnis
- Cover Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication Page
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Symbols and Conventions
- Abbreviations for Works Cited
- One  âŠÂ  The Enigma of Newtonâs Alchemy
- Two  âŠÂ  Problems of Authority and Language in Newtonâs Chymistry
- Three  âŠÂ  Religion, Ancient Wisdom, and Newtonâs Alchemy
- Four  âŠÂ  Early Modern Alchemical Theory: The Cast of Characters
- Five  âŠÂ  The Young Thaumaturge
- Six  âŠÂ  Optics and Matter: Newton, Boyle, and Scholastic Mixture Theory
- Seven  âŠÂ  Newtonâs Early Alchemical Theoricae: Preliminary Considerations
- Eight  âŠÂ  Toward a General Theory of Vegetability and Mechanism
- Nine  âŠÂ  The Doves of Diana: First Attempts
- Ten  âŠÂ  Flowers of Lead: Newton and the Alchemical Florilegium
- Eleven  âŠÂ  Johann de Monte-Snyders in Newtonâs Alchemy
- Twelve  âŠÂ  Attempts at a Unified Practice: Keynes 58
- Thirteen  âŠÂ  The Fortunes of Raymundus: Newtonâs Late Florilegia
- Fourteen  âŠÂ  The Shadow of a Noble Experiment: Newtonâs Laboratory Records to 1696
- Plates
- Fifteen  âŠÂ  The Quest for Sophic Sal Ammoniac
- Sixteen  âŠÂ  Extracting Our Venus
- Seventeen  âŠÂ  Nicolas Fatio de Duillier, Alchemical Collaborator
- Eighteen  âŠÂ  Praxis: Delusions of a Disordered Mind?
- Nineteen  âŠÂ  The Warden of the Mint and His Alchemical Associates
- Twenty  âŠÂ  Public and Private: Newtonâs Chrysopoeia and the Republic of Chymistry
- Twenty-One  âŠÂ  The Ghost of Sendivogius: Niter, Sulfur, Fermentation, and Affinity
- Twenty-Two  âŠÂ  A Final Interlude: Newton and Boyle
- Epilogue
- Appendix One  âŠÂ  The Origin of Newtonâs Chymical Dictionaries
- Appendix Two  âŠÂ  Newtonâs âKey to Snydersâ
- Appendix Three  âŠÂ  âThree Mysterious Firesâ
- Appendix Four  âŠÂ  Newtonâs Interview with William Yworth
- Index