Chapter 1 Purity, Purification, and Fire in the Seventeenth- Century Chymical Texts of Nicaise Le Febvre and Michael Sendivogius

In: Early Modern Fire
Author:
Hannah Elmer
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Type:
Chapter
Pages:
23–48
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004521766_003

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Abstract

Purity – be it of metals or medicines – was a central concern for early modern alchemists, and the purification of substances was a primary goal of alchemical processes. From distillation to calcination, the application of heat was often the key to transforming the substances at hand. To this end, fire was ubiquitous in early modern workshops. Yet fire was not the only source of heat (dung, for instance, could be used as a source of consistent, low-grade warmth) and it was often mediated (perhaps through water, in a bain marie). This paper examines the interplay between techniques of purification, especially those relying on heat, and broader ideas about the role of fire as a purifying agent, in the work of the seventeenth-century chymists Nicaise Le Febvre and Michael Sendivogius.

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Early Modern Fire

Science, Technology, and the Urban Space

Series:  Intersections, Volume: 95
Cover Early Modern Fire
E-Book ISBN:
9789004521766
Publisher:
Brill
Print Publication Date:
05 Nov 2024
Front Matter
Introduction: the Early Modern Fire
Part 1 Fire in Early Modern Science
Part 2 Early Modern Fire Technologies
Part 3 Fire in the Urban Space
Back Matter

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  • Le Febvre Nicaise, A compendious body of chymistry, which will serve as a guide and introduction both for understanding the authors which have treated of the theory of this science in general: and for making the way plain and easie to perform, according to art and method, all operations, which teach the practise of this art, upon animals, vegetables, and minerals, without losing any of the essential vertues contained in them. By N. le Fèbure apothecary in ordinary, and chymical distiller to the King of France, and at present to his Majesty of Great-Britain (London, Theo. Davies and Theo. Sadler: 1662).

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