Miscellany of Alchemy

Miscellany of Alchemy

The now-debunked science of alchemy is concerned with the transmutation of substances, particularly the creation of gold from base metals. Nonetheless, the labors of the alchemists gave birth to modern chemistry and other sciences. Alchemists were also concerned with the heavens, the macrocosm, and its reflection in man, described as the microcosm. As such, they sought an elixir of immortality, panaceas to cure any disease, and other substances to perfect the human body and soul. Their belief in an all-encompassing knowledge, a universal truth, is perhaps best represented by the search for the philosophers’ stone, a legendary substance capable of changing base metals into noble metals or granting immortality. The philosophers’ stone has come to be a symbol of perfection, enlightenment, and heavenly bliss. The manuscript at hand, stored under the shelf mark MS Ashburnham 1166 in Florence’s Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, attributed to Johannes von Teschen, or Ticinensis. It is famous for a representation of a dying man shot with an arrow and being used as soil by a tree growing up from his genital area, and is named after its last private owner, Bertram Ashburham. The text is adorned with gorgeous, enigmatic watercolors attributed to Francesco da Barberino (1264–1348).