ChemistryGODS recreate ancient alchemy techniques to produce Mercury. Shout out to my boy Pseudo-Democritus

Significance

Our research approach in the field of History of Science combines textual investigations with experimental replications of ancient alchemical procedures. Alchemy is often described as a pseudoscience, whereas it would be better described as a protoscience; indeed, we have reported procedures that never found their way into modern laboratories along with the formalization and translation of these procedures into the modern language of chemistry. We strongly believe that it is important to let the chemistry community know its history, which has deep roots in the past.

Abstract

This paper explores the chemistry of mercury as described in ancient alchemical literature. Alchemy's focus on the knowledge and manipulation of natural substances is not so different from modern chemistry's purposes. The great divide between the two is marked by the way of conceptualizing and recording their practices. Our interdisciplinary research group, composed of chemists and historians of science, has set off to explore the cold and hot extraction of mercury from cinnabar. The ancient written records have been perused in order to devise laboratory experiments that could shed light on the material reality behind the alchemical narratives and interpret textual details in a unique perspective. In this way, it became possible to translate the technical lore of ancient alchemy into the modern language of chemistry. Thanks to the replication of alchemical practices, chemistry can regain its centuries-long history that has fallen into oblivion.