The Experimental Fire: Inventing English Alchemy, 1300-1700 (Synthesis)

A 400-year history of the development of alchemy in England that brings to light the evolution of the practice. In medieval and early modern Europe, the practice of alchemy promised extraordinary physical transformations.Who would not be amazed to see base metals turned into silver and gold, hard iron into soft water, and deadly poison into elixirs that could heal the human body?To defend such claims, alchemists turned to the past, scouring ancient books for evidence of a lost alchemical heritage and seeking to translate their secret language and obscure imagery into replicable, practical effects. Tracing the development of alchemy in England over four hundred years, from the beginning of the fourteenth century to the end of the seventeenth, Jennifer M.Rampling illuminates the role of alchemical reading and experimental practice in the broader context of national and scientific history.Using new manuscript sources, she shows how practitioners like George Ripley, John Dee, and Edward Ke