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Elixir atque fermentum: New Investigations about the Link between Pseudo-Avicenna's Alchemical De anima and Roger Bacon: Alchemical and Medical Doctrines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2016

Sébastien Moureau
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Between 1994 and 1997, William Newman published three articles in which, for the first time, a profound connection between Roger Bacon's doctrine and Ps.-Avicenna's alchemical De anima was pointed out. These studies were a major step in understanding Roger Bacon's elemental physics, alchemy, and alchemical medicine, as well as his prolongatio vitae theory. By a thorough study of the physical, alchemical, and medical doctrine of the Jābirian treatises via Ps.-Avicenna's De anima, in comparison with Bacon's texts, I will continue the work initiated by Newman and draw some new conclusions. I will specifically focus on some principal differences between Roger Bacon and his favorite alchemical source, which allow us to understand the originality and innovation of the Franciscan. In addition to the De anima, a specific aspect of the alchemy of the Ps.-Aristotelian Secretum secretorum will also be studied here, being another of Bacon's major sources.

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Research Article
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Traditio , Volume 68 , 2013 , pp. 277 - 325
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Copyright © 2013 Fordham University 

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References

1 Cf. n. 17. I thank William Newman for his accurate revision of this article and his subtle suggestions. I also thank Charlotte Bodart, Cécile Bonmariage, Andrée Colinet, Bink Hallum, and Didier Kahn for their remarks during the writing and revision of this article or for providing me materials.Google Scholar The author is chargé de recherches au F.R.S. – FNRS.Google Scholar

2 The title De anima in arte alchemiae is found only in the edition of 1572; all the manuscripts call the treatise Liber de anima or De anima. Google Scholar

3 The critical edition, French translation, and commentary of Ps.-Avicenna's alchemical De anima were the subject of my PhD dissertation: Moureau, Sébastien, “Le De anima in arte alchemiae du pseudo-Avicenne: Edition critique, traduction et étude” (PhD diss., Université catholique de Louvain, Institut orientaliste, 2010). This thesis will be published within the next few years. In this article, the quotations of the De anima are extracts of my critical edition, but the pagination is from Celsi's edition, as my edition is not published yet. As for older studies about Ps.-Avicenna's De anima , see Berthelot, Marcellin, Histoire des sciences: La chimie au Moyen Âge (Paris, 1893), 1:293–305; Steinschneider, Moritz, “Zur alchimistischen Literatur der Araber,” Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 58 (1904): 299–315; idem, Die europäischen Übersetzungen aus dem Arabischen bis Mitte des 17. Jahrhunderts, Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien 149, 151 (Vienna, 1904–5), §143; Ruska, Julius, “Die Alchemie des Avicenna,” Isis 21 (1934): 13–51; idem, “Zum Avicennatext des Cod. Vadianus 300,” Sudhoffs Archiv 27 (1934): 499–510; Anawati, Georges C., “Avicenne et l'alchimie,” in Oriente e Occidente nel Medioevo: filosofia e scienze, Convegno internazionale 9–15 aprile 1969, Accademia nazionale dei Lincei, Fondazione Alessandro Volta, Atti dei convegni 13 (Rome, 1971), 285–341, at 286–88; Ullmann, Manfred, Die Natur- und Geheimwissenschaften im Islam, Handbuch der Orientalistik, erste Abteilung, Ergänzungsband 6, zweiter Abschnitt (Leiden, 1972), 222–24; Anawati, Georges C., “L'alchimie arabe,” in Histoire des sciences arabes, 3: Technologie, alchimie et sciences de la vie , ed. Rashed, Roshdi (Paris, 1997), 111–41, at 134–35; Moureau, Sébastien, “Some Considerations concerning the Alchemy of the De Anima in Arte Alchemiae of Pseudo-Avicenna,” Ambix 56 (2009): 49–56; idem, “Questions of Methodology about Pseudo-Avicenna's De Anima in Arte Alchemiae,” in Chymia: Science and Nature in Early Modern Europe (1450–1750) , ed. Pérez, Miguel López, Kahn, Didier, and Bueno, Mar Rey (Newcastle, 2010), 1–19; idem, “Ratio et sensus: les sens au service de l'acquisition des connaissances dans le De anima in arte alchemiae du pseudo-Avicenne,” in Expertus sum: L'expérience par les sens en philosophie naturelle médiévale, Micrologus' Library 40 (Florence, 2011), 269–88; idem, “Physics in the Twelfth Century: The Porta Elementorum of Pseudo-Avicenna's Alchemical De Anima and Marius' De elementis,” Archives d'histoire doctrinale et littéraire du Moyen Âge (forthcoming).Google Scholar

4 This date is given in colophons in two manuscripts: Bernkastel-Kues, Bibliothek im St. Nikolaus Hospital, Cusanus 299, fol. 49v; Montreal, McGill University, Osler 480, fol. 225r (and in Celsi's edition p. 468, of which this manuscript is the original model).Google Scholar

5 On the account of the terminus ante quem of Marius's De elementis, i.e., 1151 (cf. n. 7 for references).Google Scholar

6 Alginz, transcription of al-jins (genus), DA, 10. On the Spanish origin of this linguistic transformation, cf. Pellegrini, Giovanni Battista, Gli arabismi nelle lingue neolatine con speciale riguardo all'Italia (Brescia, 1972), 43–128, 453–88.Google Scholar

7 Edited and translated in Dales, Richard C., ed., Marius: On the Elements , UCLA, Publications of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies 10 (Berkeley, 1976). This hypothesis of the same Arabic origin of Marius's De elementis and the Porta elementorum is discussed in a forthcoming article, with information about the dating given here and a detailed status quaestionis about the De elementis: Moureau, “Physics in the Twelfth Century.” Google Scholar

8 The terminus post quem is fixed by several uses of the word morabetini (al-murābit˙ūn, the Almoravids), an Andalusian term that designates a coin of the Almoravids (the maravedis); the dynasty of the Almoravids rose after the mid-eleventh century. The terminus ante quem is the quotations of the De anima in Vincent of Beauvais's Speculum maius, finished around 1259 (Paulmier-Foucart, Monique, Vincent de Beauvais et le grand miroir du monde [Turnhout, 2004], 23–50). For a historical and philological study of the second part of the De anima , cf. Moureau, , “Le De anima in arte alchemiae du pseudo-Avicenne,” vol. 1, part 1, 26–30 (and forthcoming publication).Google Scholar

9 The use of some Arabic Castillian words (anoxate, etc.) allows one to assume this hypothesis. For a historical and philological study of the third part of the De anima , cf. Moureau, , “Le De anima in arte alchemiae du pseudo-Avicenne,” vol. 1, part 1, 30–31 (and forthcoming publication).Google Scholar

10 The discussion is based on several arguments that are widely discussed ibid., vol. 1, part 1, 16–53 (and forthcoming publication). Here is a summary for each part of the De anima: 1) The first part contains no mention of Avicenna, contrary to the rest of the work, in which introductory sentences like dixit Abuali Abincine are found several times in each chapter. 2) The place and date of composition of the second part do not allow one to assume a composition by Avicenna. In addition to this, Avicenna denied the possibility of transmuting species (in a section of the Shifā' , cf. Sīnā, Ibn, Al-Shifā'. Al-T˙abī‘iyyāt: 5, Al-ma’ādin wa al-āthār al-'ulwiyya [La physique: 5, Les métaux et la météorologie] , ed. Madkūr, Ibrāhīm et al. [Cairo, 1964], 21–22). 3) The last part of the work is only about making elixirs for transmutation, which Avicenna does not recognize as possible. Moreover, the introduction sentences (such as dixit Abuali Abincine) differ and seem to be later interpolations in this part. The third part of the treatise is probably an extract inserted to complete the missing end of the second part.Google Scholar

11 Each section of the De anima is called dictio (plural dictiones), literal translation of the Arabic maqāla, which designates a section of a book.Google Scholar

12 The classification of materials of the De anima is sometimes said to be taken from Rāzī's books, but, since the classifications of Jābirian texts and of Rāzī are quite close, it is difficult to assert anything. In addition to this, most of the texts remain unedited.Google Scholar

13 On this, cf. Moureau, Sébastien, “Les sources alchimiques de Vincent de Beauvais,” Spicœ: Cahiers de l'Atelier Vincent de Beauvais, n. s., 2 (2012): 5–118.Google Scholar

14 Oxford, Bodleian Library, Laud Misc. 734, fols. 1r–66r (s. XIIIex–XIV); Glasgow, University Library, Hunter 253, fols. 1r–28r (s. XIIIex–XIV); Paris, BNF, MS Lat. 6514, fols. 144r–171v (s. XIIIex–XIV); Bernkastel-Kues, Bibliothek im St. Nikolaus Hospital, 299, fols. 1r–49v (s. XIV); St. Gall, Stadtbibliothek (Kantonsbibliothek), Vadianus 300, fols. 1r–37r (s. XIV); Montréal, McGill University, Osler Library, 480, fols. 1r–227r (s. XIV); London, BL, Sloane 1754, fols. 186v–193r (s. XIV); Oxford, Bodleian Library, Digby 219, containing two versions, fols. 1r–27v, and fols. 28r–74v (s. XVI). To this manuscripts list, several extracts must be added. About the manuscript tradition of the De anima, cf. Moureau, , “Questions of Methodology” (n. 3 above), 5–12 (and forthcoming publication).Google Scholar

15 Mino Celsi was actually not interested in alchemy, and probably published it for the purpose of calling it to the attention of Charles IX of France, cf. Moureau, , “Le De anima in arte alchemiae du pseudo-Avicenne,” vol. 1, part 1, 203–4 (and forthcoming publication). I thank Didier Kahn for his help in this. Ps.-Avicenna, De anima in arte alchemiae, in Artis Chemicae Principes, Avicenna atque Geber , ed. Celsi, Mino (Bâle, 1572), 9 pp. not numbered + pp. 1–471 (http://web2.bium.univ-paris5.fr/livanc/?cote=75697&do=livre). The other works of the compendium are: the De investigatione perfectionis Gebri (473–97), the Summa perfectionis Gebri (497–708), the De inventione veritatis Gebri (709–35), and the Liber Fornacum Gebri (736–67).Google Scholar

16 Cf. for a bibliography: Bagliani, Agostino Paravicini, “Ruggero Bacone e l'alchimia di lunga vita: Riflessioni sui testi,” in Alchimia e medicina nel Medioevo , ed. Crisciani, Chiara and Bagliani, Agostino Paravicini (Florence, 2003), 33–54, at 33–35 (especially n. 2).Google Scholar

17 Newman, William R., “The Alchemy of Roger Bacon and the Tres Epistolae Attributed to Him,” in Comprendre et maîtriser la nature au Moyen Âge, mélanges d'histoire des sciences offerts à Guy Beaujouan (Geneva, 1994), 461–79; Newman, William R., “The Philosophers' Egg: Theory and Practice in the Alchemy of Roger Bacon,” in Le Crisi dell'alchimia / The Crisis of Alchemy, Micrologus 3 (Turnhout, 1995), 75–101; idem, “An Overview of Roger Bacon's Alchemy,” in Roger Bacon and the Sciences: Commemorative Essays , ed. Hackett, Jeremiah (Leiden, 1997), 317–36; Bagliani, Paravicini, “Ruggero Bacone.” Google Scholar

18 Bagliani, Paravicini, “Ruggero Bacone,” 35. The editions used for my article are the following: Bacon, Roger, “Opus maius,” in The “Opus majus” of Roger Bacon , ed. Bridges, John Henry (Oxford, 1897); Bacon, Roger, “Opus minus,” in Opera quaedam hactenus inedita, 1, Opus tertium, Opus minus, Compendium philosophiae , ed. Brewer, J. S. (London, 1859), 313–89; Bacon, Roger, “Opus tertium,” in Opera quaedam hactenus inedita, 1, Opus tertium, Opus minus, Compendium philosophiae , ed. Brewer, J. S. (London, 1859), 3–310; Bacon, Roger, “Secretum secretorum cum glossis et notulis, tractatus brevis et utilis ad declarandum quedam obscure dicta Fratris Rogeri,” in Opera hactenus inedita Rogeri Baconis, 5, ed. Steele, Robert (Oxford, 1920), 1–175; Bacon, Roger, “Liber sex scientiarum in 3° gradu sapiencie,” in Opera hactenus inedita Rogeri Baconis, 9, De retardatione accidentium senectutis, cum aliis opusculis de rebus medicinalibus , ed. Little, A. G. and Withington, E. (Oxford, 1928), 181–86.Google Scholar

19 Cf. Bagliani, Paravicini, “Ruggero Bacone,” 35.Google Scholar

20 Cf. Newman, , “Tres Epistolae,” 476, and Bagliani, Paravicini, “Ruggero Bacone,” 48. Maior alkimia (not referred to in the cited articles) is found in Bacon, “Opus tertium,” 42.Google Scholar

21 I intend to prepare a critical edition of this summary. The information hereafter is a sample of a future article about this summary.Google Scholar

22 This edition was reprinted later: Sanioris Medicinae Magistri D. Rogeri Baconis Angli, Thesaurus chemicus: in quo Liber scientiarum, Alchemia major, Breviarium de dono Dei, Verbum abbreviatum de Leone viridi, Secretum Secretorum, Tractatus trium verborum, Speculum Secretorum (Frankfurt, 1620), 16–66 (line 6).Google Scholar

23 On this treatise, cf. n. 62.Google Scholar

24 This Lumen luminum is found in Paris, BNF, MS Lat, 6514, fols. 113r–120v. The treatise is quoted in the De erroribus medicorum and the Opus minus , cf. Newman, , “Tres Epistolae,” 86–93. For the manuscripts of the treatise, cf. Thorndike, Lynn and Kibre, Pearl, A Catalogue of Incipits of Mediaeval Scientific Writings in Latin (London, 1963), 290.Google Scholar

25 Many paragraphs are introduced by the sentence dixit inspector. Google Scholar

26 The two images presented here are published by the permission of University of Glasgow Library, Special Collections.Google Scholar

27 With the help of the other supposed Latin version of the same lost Arabic original, i.e., Marius's De elementis, which is not corrupted but could have been reworked later, it is even possible to understand some of these unintelligible passages of the Porta elementorum. For a more detailed analysis of the physics of the Porta elementorum , cf. Moureau, , “Physics in the Twelfth Century” (n. 3 above).Google Scholar

28 Aristotle, De generatione et corruptione 2 (esp. 2, 3).Google Scholar

29 In the texts attributed to Jābir ibn H˙ayyān and in most part of the alchemical Arabic treatises, the elementary properties are called t˙abī'a (nature), cf. Kraus, Paul, Jābir ibn H˙ayyān, contribution à l'histoire des idées scientifiques dans l'Islam, 2, Jābir et la science grecque , Mémoires présentés à l'Institut d'Egypte 45 (Cairo, 1942), 4–7.Google Scholar

30 As already asserted in Aristotle, De generatione et corruptione 2, 4 (331a).Google Scholar

31 This theory (based on Aristotle's theory of the double exhalation) was already explained in Balīnūs's (Ps.-Appolonius of Tyana) Sirr al-khalīqa. Cf., for example, the creation of lead in Balīnūs, Buch über das Geheimnis der Schöpfung und die Darstellung der Natur (Buch der Ursachen) von Pseudo-Apollonios von Tyana , ed. Weisser, Ursula, Sources and Studies in the History of Arabic-Islamic Science 1 (Aleppo, 1979), 246–47. A simpler and influential (in the Latin world) explanation of it is found in Avicenna's De mineralibus, better known under its erroneous title De congelatione et conglutinatione lapidum, the Latin translation of the Kitāb al-ma'ādin wa-al-āthār al-'ulwiyya (section of the T˙abā'iyyāt of the Shifā ', cf. Ibn Sīnā, Al-ma'ādin wa al-āthār al-'ulwiyya [n. 10 above]); cf. Holmyard, Eric John and Mandeville, Desmond Christopher, Avicennae De Congelatione et Conglutinatione Lapidum: Being Sections of the Kitâb Al-shifâ' (Paris, 1927), 49–54 (also contains the Arabic version with an English translation).Google Scholar

32 This very simple system is, however, much more complicated in the Jābirian corpus, as will be studied below, pp. 302–4.Google Scholar

33 If heaviness and lightness are already found in the description of the elements in Plato's Timaeus, they are not the usual properties used to classify the elements in the Middle Ages, neither in the Neoplatonic system nor in the Aristotelian system. On this complex question, see the recent study by Caiazzo, Irene, “La forme et les qualités des éléments: lectures médiévales du Timée,” in Il Timeo: Esegesi greche, arabe, latine; Relazioni introduttive ai seminari della V “Settimana di Formazione” del Centro Interuniversitario “Incontri di culture: La trasmissione dei testi filosofici e scientifici dalla tarda antichità al medioevo islamico e cristiano,” Pisa, Santa Croce in Fossabanda, 26–30 aprile 2010, ed. Celia, Francesco and Ulacco, Angela (Pisa, 2012), 307–44. Cf. DA, 30: “Et dicunt quod auripigmentum est contra aurum vivum et non omnino, quia sicut illi dicunt — et est verum, quicquid homo naturalis dicat est verum, et ita est de omni homine quamvis naturalis sit verus — quia in quacumque causa huius mundi debet homo quaerere septem proprietates et hae sunt calor, frigiditas, siccitas, humiditas, levitas, ponderositas, solutio; in omnibus rebus quae in hoc saeculo sunt debes scire in unaquaque quod sint istarum.” DA, 149: “Et quando mittunt in alutel et dant ei ignem, calefit, et exit calor absconditus et vincit frigiditatem, et siccitas vincit humiditatem; et levitas non est nisi de calore et siccitate et pondus de frigiditate et humiditate, et postquam calefit et siccatur, facit se leve et ascendit.” In another passage of the DA, Ps.-Avicenna quotes Morienus (the quotation is not identified) and a list of seven properties in which the solutio property is replaced by parvitas, probably referring to the size of the particles of the metal, DA, 64: “Et adhuc magis dixit [i.e., Morienus] regi: ‘Noster pulvis de nostra alexir est mixtus de septem naturis: de calore, de frigore, de siccitate, de humiditate, de levitate, de ponderositate, de parvitate.’” Google Scholar

34 Kraus, , Jābir ibn H˙ayyān II , 187–303. The Jābirian physics will also be investigated in the section devoted to Bacon's physics, cf. pp. 302–6. Cf. also Haq, Syed Nomanul, Names, Natures and Things: The Alchemist Jābir Ibn H˙ayyān and His Kitāb al-Ah˙jār (Book of Stones), Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science 158 (Dordrecht, 1994), 49–80.Google Scholar

35 He explains how to calculate the proportion of elementary properties from the proportion of elements, but not how to know this proportion of elements.Google Scholar

36 Cf. n. 12.Google Scholar

37 Cf. p. 297.Google Scholar

38 DA, 36. In some very rare passages of the De anima, mercury is found among the metals, and in another a certain acerium (literally “steel”), but it could also be a corrupted reading for the khārs˙īnī, an alloy that varies according to different authors and appears in the De anima ; cf. Stapleton, H. E., Azo, R. F., and Hidāyat H˙usain, M., “Chemistry in 'Irāq and Persia in the Tenth Century A. D.,” Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 8, no. 6 (1927): 317–418, at 340–42, 345, 405–11; Ruska, , “Die Alchemie des Avicenna” (n. 3 above), 37; Ruska, , “Al-Rāzī's Buch Geheimnis der Geheimnisse, mit Einleitung und Erlauterungen in deutscher Übersetzung,” Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften und der Medizin 6 (1937): 1–246, at 42–43; Partington, J. R., “The Chemistry of al-Rāzī,” Ambix 1 (1938): 192–96, at 193; Goltz, Dietlinde, Studien zur Geschichte der Mineralnamen in Pharmazie, Chemie und Medizin von den Anfängen bis Paracelsus, Sudhoffs Archiv: Zeitschrift für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Beihefte 14 (Wiesbaden, 1972), 254; Dietrich, Albert, “Khārs˙īnī,” Encyclopedia of Islam, new edition, 1978; Käs, Fabian, Die Mineralien in der arabischen Pharmakognosie: Eine Konkordanz zur mineralischen Materia medica der klassischen arabischen Heilmittelkunde nebst überlieferungsgeschichtlichen Studien, Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, Veröffentlichungen der orientalischen Kommission 54 (Wiesbaden, 2010), 537–39, 763–65.Google Scholar

39 For example, DA, 59: “et nos accipimus parum de eo et proicimus super corpus, et facit aurum sive argentum.” Google Scholar

40 DA , 206–7: “et per ad lunam fac de cupro et per ad solem de plumbo.” Google Scholar

41 DA , 59: “et nos accipimus parum de eo et proicimus super corpus, et facit aurum sive argentum; hoc non potest fieri sine praeparatione et subtiliatione corporis quia suae partes minimae non possent ingredi nisi in minimis partibus corporis.” And DA, 101: “Praeparatio sua est subtiliare eum et mutare in naturam primam et in aliam naturam altiorem.” Google Scholar

42 Cf. n. 58.Google Scholar

43 I did not find any other mention of this appellation for mercury in previous texts. In the Jābirian Kitāb mus˙ah˙h˙ah˙āt Iflāt˙ūn (cf. Kraus, , Jābir ibn H˙ayyān II , 5 [n. 29 above]), n. 4 the “living gold” designates the earth element obtained by the distillation of a substance. The aurum vivum for argentum vivum is found in later texts, but these occurrences are very likely references to the vocabulary of the De anima, for example in Martin Ruland, Lexicon alchemiae, sive dictionarium alchemisticum, cum obscuriorum verborum, et rerum Hermeticarum, tum Theoprast-Paracelsicarum phrasium, planam explicationem continens (Frankfurt, 1612), 95.Google Scholar

44 In the De anima, the sal ammoniac designates the ammonium chloride (NH4Cl), and not the ancient mix of sodium carbonate and sodium chloride. The orpiment is one of arsenic sulphide (As2S3).Google Scholar

45 The list varies in the treatise. The operations are generally: sublimation, wash, dissolution, hardening.Google Scholar

46 DA , 142: “Et de sulphure faciunt multa magisteria: colorant argentum vivum et cum illo argento faciunt aurum, quia incorporant cum plumbo et faciunt inde multa magisteria.” The coloration of mercury with sulphur is the creation of cinnabar (mercury sulfide, HgS) in this case. The author uses red and yellow substances to make gold, and white substances to make silver, as usual in alchemical treatises. However, in other passages of the De anima, the red mercury is mercury dyed with “fire of the stone,” i.e., the fire element obtained by the distillation of the alchemical stone (the substance from which the elixir is made); DA, 231: “Et debes scire quod calx per ad lunam quando sublimas cum argento vivo debet esse et mercurius album, et mercurius cum quo tu sublimas calcem ad solem debet esse rubeus, scilicet rubefactus cum igne lapidis.” Google Scholar

47 DA , 106: “Spiritus sunt ut imprimetur corpus ut possit coniungi cum anima.” Google Scholar

48 In the Book of the Stones, seven possible combinations of elixir are counted; cf. Jābir ibn H˙ayyān, Kitāb al-ah˙jār, in Haq, Names, Natures and Things (n. 34 above), 145, English trans. 186, modified here: “The things from which the elixir is made are necessarily: pure stones, animal [substances] exclusively, plants only, animal [substances] and plants, stones and plants, stones and animal [substances], or animal [substances], plant, and stones. This makes a total of seven patterns occurring in the pharmaceutical composition of the elixir, each one having its own governing principle.” In the Book of the Divine Nature, preference is given to blood, cf. Jābir ibn H˙ayyān, Kitāb al-lāhūt, in Jābir ibn H˙ayyān, Tadbīr al-iksīr al-a'z˙am / L'élaboration de l'élixir suprême, Quatorze traités de Ğābir Ibn H˙ayyān sur le Grand Œuvre alchimique , ed. Lory, Pierre, Publications de l'Institut français de Damas 127 (Damascus, 1988), 8–9 (French translation in Jābir ibn H˙ayyān, Dix Traités d'alchimie, les dix premiers Traités du livre des Soixante-dix , trans. Lory, Pierre, La bibliothèque de l'Islam [Paris, 1983], 100–101): “We say — and God gives the success: the supreme thing [i.e., the supreme elixir] is first (taken) from the animals; you do not need plants and stones, because the intent to find the thing [i.e., the elixir] while knowing it is not the same as trying to find it without knowing it. This is a degree. You have to know from what [kind of] animal it comes. We say: it must be from the noblest [animal] in which there is a strong heat. We say: lion, adder — in this is the secret of this — fox, and all the animals of this kind. The noblest among them is man.” However, in the Book of mercy (Kitāb al-rah˙ma), it seems that matters taken from animals are criticized (cf. Berthelot, La chimie au Moyen Âge [n. 3 above], 3:178). In al-Khwārizmī's Keys of Wisdom (Mafātīh˙ al-'ulūm), we find only two possible matters for the elixir; cf. Stapleton, Azo, and H˙usain, Hidāyat, “Chemistry in 'Irāq and Persia,” 367: “Al-h˙ajar (‘The Stone’). Among them (i.e., the Alchemists), this is anything by which the Art can be performed, that is, anything out of which Elixir can be made. It is of two kinds, Animal and Mineral. The best of these are the Animal. The latter are: Hair, Blood, Urine, Eggs, Bile, Brains, Skull, Mother of Pearl, and Horn. The best of these is Man's Hair, and next the Egg. The varieties of Mineral (‘Stones’) are, among the ‘Bodies,’ Gold, Silver, Lead, and Tin; and among the ‘Spirits,’ Mercury, Zarnīkh (Arsenic Sulfide), Sulphur, and Sal-ammoniac.” Rāzī, in his Book of Testimonies (Kitāb al-Shawāhid), asserts many times that the stone of the ancients was hair and eggs but does not mention blood (I thank Bink Hallum, who is editing this text at the moment, for this last reference).Google Scholar

49 DA , 55: “Secundum quod mihi videtur et probavi, petra herbalis sunt capilli, petra naturalis ova, petra animalis sanguis humanus.” The word naturalis is a bit strange and could be at first considered a misreading for the abbreviation of mineralis, but that is actually not the case. Indeed, mineralis is never used in the De anima; moreover, the natural stone is meant to be natural (DA, 84): “Lapis naturalis est illa res quae efficitur in ventre terrae sine opere. Et lapis noster naturalis est res quae per se ipsam nascitur et non crescit et non minuitur.” Google Scholar

50 DA , 79: “Et adhuc quod omnes magistri dicunt cum Geber verum est quod sunt ibi alii lapides sed magis valet vitalis lapis.” And DA, 275: “et anima est sanguis et sanguis est anima, et tota anima sanguis et totus sanguis anima, et qui aliter credit non tenet naturam philosophi. Ideo dicunt philosophi: ‘Accipe de petra quae non est petra et non de naturis petrae, divide per quatuor partes — per aerem et ignem et terram et aquam.’ Et nos non possumus invenire quod aliter fieri possit nisi in hunc modum, et de sanguine vivit homo et moritur et stat, ita de lapide, ideo dicunt quod iste lapis est lapis animalis; et ideo quia non est anima altior homine ideo accipiunt lapidem hominis, et ideo quia in corporibus non est corpus altius auro ideo facimus de sanguine aurum.” However, as in the Jābirian corpus, some contradictions are found, for example DA, 276: “Et lapis herbalis est lapis de quo multotiens mentionem fecimus et lapis ille magis valet omnibus aliis.” Google Scholar

51 DA , 101–2: “Elementa praeparantur in divisione eorum et in praeparatione singulorum, ignis in parte sua, terra similiter, aqua similiter, aer similiter, quia illi mittunt animam.” Google Scholar

52 On the elixir theory in the Jābirian corpus, cf. Kraus, , Jābir ibn H˙ayyān II , 1–18. On the elixir theory in the Latin world, cf. Pereira, Michela, “Teorie dell'elixir nell'alchimia latina medievale,” in Le crisi dell'alchimia / The Crisis of Alchemy, Micrologus 3 (Turnhout, 1995), 103–48.Google Scholar

53 The calculation of the right time (ih˙sān al waqt) for the alchemical work is found in several Jābirian treatises; cf. Kraus, , Jābir ibn H˙ayyān II , 8. The importance of the astral influence reminds one here of the Arabic magic, as, for example, in the making of talismans, cf. also “Conclusion,” pp. 332–33.Google Scholar

54 DA , 399: “Sed cum vis colligere sanguinem exalta astrolabium: de hora illa quando intrat sol in primo gradu de postrema facie Piscis usque ad postremum gradum de prima facie Tauri, et de primo gradu de postrema facie Virginis usque ad postremum gradum de prima facie Scorpionis est tempus magis aequale omnibus aliis temporibus.” Google Scholar

55 If the stone must be as equal as possible, this cannot be the case with gold, cf. pp. 302–6.Google Scholar

56 DA, 399–400: “Per fidem quam mihi debes, intellige magisteria philosophorum, quia debes videre et cavere quod non accipias sanguinem de homine aliquam infirmitatem patiente, nisi de illo qui est sanus et abstrahit sibi sanguinem ad iuvandum (correxi] tuendam Celsi; iuvendam, dividendum, videndum, adiuvandum inveniuntur in manuscriptis) sanitatem suam. Et si acciperes de homine aegro et infirmitas esset de frigiditate aut de caliditate aut de humiditate aut de siccitate, non veniret tibi lapis de qualitate quam velles. Sed debes accipere de homine bene sano in totis suis membris, et non sit nec grossus nec tenuis, nec albus nec niger, nec longus nec parvus, nec citrinus nec rubeus, sed sit aequalis in tota factura et in totis suis coloribus.” In addition to this extract, another passage also concerns this assertion: DA, 397: “Sicut iam diximus hic est sanguis de quo operamur, sed de quibus hominibus accipiemus dicimus: non accipias de fleumatico nec de colerico nec de melancolico nec de sanguineo, sed tantum de illo accipias in quo sunt omnes quatuor humores aequales, et non accipias in tempore tali in quo aliquis humor sit superexcellens.” Google Scholar

57 This conception is also found in Constantine the African's Pantegni (on this concept cf. McKeon, Richard P., “Medicine and Philosophy in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries: The Problem of Elements,” Thomist 24 [1961]: 211–56, at 229, and Caiazzo, Irene, “The Four Elements in the Work of William of Conches,” in Guillaume de Conches: Philosophie et science au XIIe siècle , ed. Caiazzo, Irene and Obrist, Barbara [Florence, 2011], 3–66), Constantine the African, Pantegni, Theorica I, 4, in Charles Burnett, “Verba Ypocratis preponderanda omnium generum metallis: Hippocrates On the Nature of Man in Salerno and Montecassino,” in La Scuola medica Salernitana: Gli autori e i testi , ed. Jacquart, Danielle and Bagliani, Agostino Paravicini (Florence, 2007), 59–92, at 85–86: “Palam est ergo elementa esse quattuor quae sensu apparent simpla intellectu vero composita. Nunquam enim subsistit terra sine aquae, ignis aeris, parte aliqua, neque cetera similiter. Quodcumque tamen horum sua propria qualitate est contentum, illud proprie est elementum. Quod, etsi non sensui patet, tamen intellectui. Unde philosophi dixere in mundo quattuor esse elementa, id est calidum, frigidum, siccum, humidum. Neque in his solas qualitates intelligunt, set subiecta earum. Calidum enim actualiter perfectum ignem esse dicunt, frigidum actuale et perfectum, aquam, humidum actualiter perfectum aerem, siccum actualiter et perfecte dicunt terram esse.” Cf. also Moureau, , “Physics in the Twelfth Century” (n. 3 above).Google Scholar

58 The calx, literally “lime,” is the powder that results from the calcination of a metal (oxides or salts). For Ps.-Avicenna, it is necessary to add to the elixir a part of the metal that will be transmuted. DA, 78: “Et hoc quod facis de calce cupri aut de alia calce quae sit ad sublimandum, non est nisi propter ut mittas in alexir. Et adhuc mittunt in alexir calcem cupri quando est alexir ad proiciendum super cuprum; et si non est ad proiciendum per iactare super cuprum, facies calcem de illa materia cuius fuerit corpus super quod proicere vis.” Google Scholar

59 DA , 102: “In hoc capitulo tractabo de praeparatione alexiris, quae sic praeparatur quando coniungunt elementa lapidis et spiritus et fermentum et corpus minus.” Google Scholar

60 DA , 363: “Fermentum non est aliud nisi hoc quod revertaris causam de illa natura de qua est ad naturam fermenti.” We also find one sentence in which the elixir is described as the ferment, in all likelihood a confusion (the only occurrence), DA, 215: “Et insuper de hac medicina si dabis mulieri cuilibet concipiet, hoc est dicere quia si proicias hanc alexir super quodlibet omne corpus mutabis eum in suam naturam.” Google Scholar

61 The word levamen is used as a synonym of fermentum in the De anima. This similarity is so important for Ps.-Avicenna that he recommends, in making the ferment, using a gold made with the same stone as the stone that will be used for the alchemical works: for example, if we want to make gold from blood, we must make a ferment with gold made from blood. DA, 127: “Quando vis facere fermentum vide si aurum est de magisterio unde tu facis fermentum. Et vide cum quo lapide et cum illo lapide operare magisterium; et nisi cum illo lapide fieret, non coniungeretur magisterium.” Google Scholar

62 The Arabic text is edited in Ateş, Ahmed, “Ibn Sina, Risālat al-iksīr,” Türkiyat Mecmuası 10 (1953): 27–54; there is no critical edition of the Latin text, which is found in Theatrum Chemicum (Strasbourg, 1602–61), 4 (1659), 863–75. I hope to prepare a critical edition of the Latin text in the coming years. An English translation of an Arabic manuscript is found in Stapleton, H. E. et al., “Two Alchemical Treatises Attributed to Avicenna,” Ambix 10 (1962): 41–82. For more information on this treatise, cf. Moureau, , “Le De anima in arte alchemiae du pseudo-Avicenne” (n. 3 above), vol. 1, part 1, 60–62 (and forthcoming publication). On the other treatises attributed to Avicenna, in Arabic and Latin, cf. ibid., vol. 1, part 1, 54–68 (and forthcoming publication), and Anawati, “Avicenne et l'alchimie,” 301–41; or, only in Latin, Ruska, “Die Alchemie des Avicenna” (n. 3 above).Google Scholar

63 For a more complete discussion than the following paragraph, cf. Moureau, , “Le De anima in arte alchemiae du pseudo-Avicenne,” vol. 1, part 1, 48–52 (and forthcoming publication).Google Scholar

64 Respectively DA , 52, 62, and 209.Google Scholar

65 Especially about the sobriety and diligence of Avicenna, DA, 318: “Dixit Abuali: ‘Deus faciat bonum. Ego hoc totum quod didici frequenter legendo et parum dormiendo et parum comedendo et minus bibendo, et quantum expenderunt socii mei in lumine ad potandum vinum de nocte totum ego expendi ad vigilandum et legendum de nocte in oleo, et quantum expendebant in comestione amplius expendebam ego in lumine ad vigilandum et discendum de nocte, et nisi hoc facerem non scirem de magisterio.’” Avicenna was also renowned for being very precocious, DA, 443: “Dixit Abincenus: ‘Nam sine fermento non exibit sol vel luna sed aliud, et fui operatus in hoc opere per quadraginta annos cum sim quadraginta octo annorum.’” Google Scholar

66 DA , 360: “Et nisi esset propter nimiam dilationem dicerem super hoc verbum amplum, sed explanabo tibi in libro de puritatibus sensus, si Deo placuerit.” Google Scholar

67 However, this notice in the table does not correspond to an extant part of the text and perhaps refers to the lost end of the second part of the De anima. On the prologue and the table of contents of the De anima , cf. Moureau, , “Le De anima in arte alchemiae du pseudo-Avicenne,” vol. 1, part 1, 45–47 (and forthcoming publication).Google Scholar

68 DA , 98, after a list of medical recipes: “Et sunt multae species quas numeravimus in libro corporis.” DA, 130: “Et utilitates auri per medicinam iam dixi in libro corporis.” DA, 355: “Et sicut diximus in libro corporum de medicinis qui acciperet quod moreretur qui nescit materiam.” DA, 355: “Verbi gratia diximus in libro corporis: qui vult purgare corpus accipiat.” DA, 358: “Et verum est quod non est in saeculo liber melior isto, et quod tibi dicam proderit tibi in hoc libro et in libro corporis et in totis medicinis.” DA, 452: “In libro corporis dixi tibi medicinas quas haec aqua habet: ad febres.” Google Scholar

69 Anawati, Georges C., Millénaire d'Avicenne: essai de bibliographie avicennienne (Cairo, 1950), 130 (no. 58).Google Scholar

70 Ibid., 192–212 (no. 140).Google Scholar

71 Ibid., 183–84 (no. 127).Google Scholar

72 Ibid., 188–89 (no. 133).Google Scholar

73 DA , 46: “Et quidam philosophorum requisitus a discipulis suis: ‘Quid dicis in calce?’ Ipse respondit: ‘Si miserint eam in alutel bonum eveniet inde medicina.’ Et dixerunt ei: ‘Quid dicis in auripigmento?’ Ipse respondit: ‘Si miscuerint eum cum calce scindit capillos.’ Dixerunt ei: ‘Quid dicis in argento vivo?’ Respondit: ‘Si fecerint inde unguentum cum sulphure et blancheto mundat scabiem.’” DA, 130: “Et utilitates auri per medicinam iam dixi in libro corporis. Et naturas absconditas auri modo dicam, Deo volente. In auro sunt naturae absconditae quae prosunt toxico, aut illi qui percussus est ferro, et pueris nascentibus, si quando natus fuerit puer teneat non timebit demonem. Et si praegnans mulier biberit non abortabit. Si proiciant super ignem et faciant fumum fugiunt sortes. Si facias de eo pulverem et bibas cum vino valet ad ventrem.” On the medical properties of whitened gold, cf. DA, 387: “Et si des secundum physicam calculosis frangit lapidem in ipsa die, et si des mulieri praegnanti de masculo facit eum mulierem.” However, the second feature seems to be a symbolic assertion, cf. pp. 300–301. Concerning a rain that falls during the two last days of April and the three first days of May, DA, 452–53: “In libro corporis dixi tibi medicinas quas haec aqua habet: ad febres, ad vitium oculorum, et ad maculas corporis scilicet morfeam; sed in anima multum valet ad tollendam combustionem, nam omnia corpora rectificat sui acumine.” Google Scholar

74 The identification of the transcriptions from Arabic in the next quotations may be found in Moureau, “Le De anima in arte alchemiae du pseudo-Avicenne,” vol. 1, part 2, glossary (s.v.). DA , 97–98: “Fac hanc medicinam et non timebis fumum quia hoc acuit sensum et non dimittit ut odores malum faciant in corpore. Haec sunt: galangar, nux muscata, piper longum, spic, folium anacardi, fu, mu, falle, ball, xall, rubarbum pondera aequalia; violae, rosae, absintium, succum olivarum, grana lenticulae et grana plantaginis, scariola, semen portulacae, grana purgata de butefis, de mellonis, de cucurbitis, de pipinellos, semen lactucae, semen herbae sanae, saules quartum, ana pondus 1; tribit, scamonea, ana pondus 1; musci media novena ponderis; perlas, ligna aloen, quintum ponderis; zucarum sex pondera; omnia tere et conficiat cum isto siropum, scilicet pollipodii 2 uncias; radicis feniculi, petrosilli, et de cardo piperato, scalamum, radicis apii ana unciam 1; squinanti 1 unciam; rigaricii, ysopi, feniculi, anisi, collandrelli id est castas ana unciam unam. Coque, fac syropum — et pastam faciant — et misce in syropo sticados, cuscuta ana 2 uncias. Accipe cotidie in mane de confecto 4 arentios et ille syrupus auferet omnes infirmitates istius magisterii, et non timebis nec de auripigmento nec de aliquo fumo.Google Scholar “Sed si cadat de operibus in tuo corpore extra fac hoc unguentum ad ungendum et non timebis: aurum vivum unciam 1, blancum mediam unciam, litargium quartum unciae, viridis 1 arentium, sarcocolla 3 arentios, aloen epaticum 4 arentios, oleum rosaceum semis unciam, cera alba unciam mediam, dragagantum, gumma arabic, malum ubercum, alfolba, semen lini, sandalum ana 2 arentios; quae sunt terenda tere, scilicet species et gummas, solve in aqua cum malo uberco, et alfolba, et semine lini, coniunge cum cera et fac unguentum; et in loco combusto corporis tui unge bis vel ter vel quater.Google Scholar “Et si de opere ceciderit in oculo fac hoc alcofol: quem agrestae succum pone super cuprum, et misce tutiam, et tere, et fac alcofol; et si opus fuerit mitte. Et sunt multae species quas numeravimus in libro corporis.” Google Scholar

75 Before, during, or after the compilation stage, as the second part of the De anima, in which these extracts are found, was perhaps already attributed to Avicenna before the compilation stage.Google Scholar

76 Not identified; maybe wrongly al-mazrad, i.e., the throat.Google Scholar

77 Pulsus is often used to designate blood pulse, and also sometimes name, in medieval Latin, the temple of the head. However, the meaning of the expression pulsus oculorum is not clear, as the meaning of almazarat is hypothetical. The best conjecture seems to be a place from the middle of the forehead to the temple.Google Scholar

78 The words in brackets are my explanations of the context. DA, 355–56: “Et sicut diximus in libro corporum de medicinis qui acciperet quod moreretur qui nescit materiam, ita qui nesciret materiam de istis medicinis qui mitteret in corpore occideret eum. Verbi gratia diximus in libro corporis: qui vult purgare corpus accipiat de aloe, et scamoneam, et turbit, et coloquintida, et agaric, et pollipodium, de unoquoque 1 unciam, et pistent et pastent cum aqua porrorum, et dent bibendum pondus de quarteron de uncia. Et nos non dicimus istam receptionem nisi medicis, qui sunt philosophi, qui sciunt omnes maneries et totas materias et totas naturas. Et homini insipienti non dicimus hoc, qui veniat et inveniat hanc receptionem et det hominibus quibus non est danda et occidit eos, quia nescit materiam medicinae nec materiam hominis. Et ita de oleo quod vocatur gar, nos non dicimus quotiens ungat oculum dolentem de frigiditate, quia omnis philosophus qui legit librum Galieni scit quantus locus est quem conveniat ungere cum illo oleo, quia si amplius ungeret ex nimio calore olei noceret; et locus qui debet ungi est ab illo loco in media fronte qui dicitur almazarat usque ad pulsum oculorum, et si amplius nec minus ungeret noceret ei ex nimio calore olei. Et ita est de ista induratione et de multis aliis speciebus de isto libro animae, quia qui nescit operari occideret corpus propter fortitudinem et calorem quae sunt in eis. Et intellige materiam philosophorum.” Google Scholar

79 Two other passages are also evidently comparing alchemy and medicine: DA, 47: “Et quaesierunt ab alio philosopho quid dicebat in magisterio. Dixit: ‘Per Deum ego revelabo vobis et non negabo vobis: qui accipit quod debet et miscet sicut debet et operatur sicut debet et tenet sicut debet, procedit inde quod debet procedere.’ Et ita in phisica qui dat medicinam aegroto illam quam debet et sicut debet et quantam debet, exit inde quod debet. Vide ergo quod nullus magistrorum nec ullus philosophus fuit qui negaret magisterium, qui esset sapiens et intelligeret intentiones.” DA, 182–83: “Dixit filius: ‘Quae differentiae erunt inter illas et quae magis valebit? Aut illa in qua mixtum est alexir cum fermento et mercurio et calce, aut ille qui non est mixtum sed mercurius est in parte et calx et fermentum in parte et alexir in parte?’ Dixit Abuali: ‘Ego dicam tibi differentiam quae est inter illos et quae magis valebit. Primum alexir potes lavare in omnibus rebus quia est confectum de omnibus medicinis, et bene potes comedere, et secundum non potes lavare nisi in tribus rebus, et est sicut species electuarii quando sunt pulverizatae, quia quando vis conficere, primum iactas unam postea aliam postea tertiam et conficis totas simul. Et de prima alexir proicies super quodvis corpus et venies ad illud quod optas, et si proicias pulverem de uno solo et non de alio, nihil valet. Et ideo verum est quia magis valet electuarium confectum quam illud quod non est confectum, et magis valet quando est confectum et comedis quam quando est tantum pulverizatum. Sed feci istud secundum electuarium propter subtiliandum sensum tuum et quod homines habeant de unoquoque modo.’” Google Scholar

80 Cf. Ullmann, Manfred, “Iksīr,” Encyclopedia of Islam, new edition, 1971. This assertion is of course common to all Arabic alchemical treatises, and the author of the De anima was not necessarily conscious of the original meaning.Google Scholar

81 Balīnūs, , Buch über das Geheimnis der Schöpfung (n. 31 above), 247: This can be translated: “These [fusible] bodies only differ in their position [in the hierarchy of metals] according to the places and locations [of coction] and according to the difference of the natures in [the beginning of] their development [nushū' could also be translated as ‘birth’ or 'becoming']; at the beginning of their development, bodies (jasad) begin existing only in order to be gold, but accidents occur in them once the jirm [literally ‘body,’ i.e., the body of the bodies, their substantial core] is completed in aureity. And when the accidents occur in them, they change (in) color, smell, and taste, not in jirm. The jirm of all the bodies is gold, their substance is like the substance of [gold], except that they differ by the accidents which occur to them and stop them [preventing] their aureity in their colors, tastes and smells, not in their substances.” The same is asserted by Albertus Magnus in his De mineralibus; cf. Barbara Obrist, “Art et nature dans l'alchimie médiévale,” Revue d'histoire des sciences 49 (1996): 215–86, at 249–51; the quotations on p. 231, n. 47 and p. 251, n. 121 actually come not from Ps.-Avicenna's De anima, but from a later Ps.-Avicennian treatise, the Declaratio lapidis physici Avicennae filio suo Aboali; on this treatise, cf. Moureau, “Le De anima in arte alchemiae du pseudo-Avicenne,” vol. 1, part 1, 63–65 (and forthcoming publication), and Ruska, “Die Alchemie des Avicenna” (n. 3 above), 45–48. Google Scholar

82 Four of them are: DA, 47: “Et ita in phisica qui dat medicinam aegroto illam quam debet et sicut debet et quantam debet, exit inde quod debet.” DA, 255: “Calx septima non valet in opere isto, sed valet phisicis et valet ad opus manuum et ad emplastra et ad vulnera et ad alcofol.” DA, 387: “Et si des secundum physicam calculosis frangit lapidem in ipsa die, et si des mulieri praegnanti de masculo facit eum mulierem.” The next occurrence is not clearly about medicine, since it is found in the table of contents and this title does not fit the real content; cf. Moureau, , “Le De anima in arte alchemiae du pseudo-Avicenne,” vol. 1, part 1, 46 (and forthcoming publication); DA, table of contents, not paginated: “2 tractat de hoc quod locutus fuit in libro de fisica.” Google Scholar

83 DA , 288–89: “Scientiae sunt decem. Matres scientiae sunt quatuor. Et non dicunt philosophum nisi qui scit magisterium, et non potest scire magisterium donec sciat quatuor matres et sex filias, et quando hoc scit scit magisterium. Et quis est philosophus? ille qui diligit sapientiam. Et quae est sapientia? hoc magisterium. Quae sunt matres sapientiae? dialetica (sic), geometria, naturae et scientia firmamenti. Quae sunt sex filiae scientiae? algorismus, arismetica, theorica de physica, musica, astronomia, scientia quae habitat totum mundum, hoc est magisterium istud et vocatur philosophia. Ad quid est necessaria dialetica in hoc magisterio? ut sciamus rationes si est aut non. Et geometria quid prodest huic magisterio? ut sciamus quantitates omnium illorum quae ingrediuntur in magisterio. Quantitas debet esse sicut clibanum et alutelli et cucurbitae. Quid prosunt naturae magisterio? ut sciamus naturas lapidum et omnium rerum. Quid prodest scire <scientiam> firmamenti magisterio? ut sciamus tempora calida et frigida. Et postquam probavimus quod quatuor matres scientiae sunt necessariae nostro magisterio, modo dicemus sex filiae quomodo sunt necessariae in nostro magisterio aut quomodo non. Quid prodest algorismus magisterio? ut sciamus compotum omnium rerum. Quid prodest arismetica magisterio? ut sciamus naturam diminuendi compotum et ascendendi. Quid prodest theorica magisterio? ut sciamus res in quibus gradibus sunt frigidae aut humidae aut calidae aut siccae. Quid prodest musica magisterio? ut sciamus sonos rerum si sint coctae aut non. Quid prodest astronomia? ut sciamus res in qua hora debemus incipere aut non et e converso. Postquam probavimus quod praedicta omnia sunt nostro magisterio necessaria, qui scit scit magisterium et qui non est sicut bestia.” +firmamenti+magisterio?+ut+sciamus+tempora+calida+et+frigida.+Et+postquam+probavimus+quod+quatuor+matres+scientiae+sunt+necessariae+nostro+magisterio,+modo+dicemus+sex+filiae+quomodo+sunt+necessariae+in+nostro+magisterio+aut+quomodo+non.+Quid+prodest+algorismus+magisterio?+ut+sciamus+compotum+omnium+rerum.+Quid+prodest+arismetica+magisterio?+ut+sciamus+naturam+diminuendi+compotum+et+ascendendi.+Quid+prodest+theorica+magisterio?+ut+sciamus+res+in+quibus+gradibus+sunt+frigidae+aut+humidae+aut+calidae+aut+siccae.+Quid+prodest+musica+magisterio?+ut+sciamus+sonos+rerum+si+sint+coctae+aut+non.+Quid+prodest+astronomia?+ut+sciamus+res+in+qua+hora+debemus+incipere+aut+non+et+e+converso.+Postquam+probavimus+quod+praedicta+omnia+sunt+nostro+magisterio+necessaria,+qui+scit+scit+magisterium+et+qui+non+est+sicut+bestia.”>Google Scholar

84 DA , 288: “Quid prodest theorica magisterio? ut sciamus res in quibus gradibus sunt frigidae aut humidae aut calidae aut siccae.” Google Scholar

85 Cf. for instance the Book of Simples in the Canon of Medicine (second book of the Qānūn fīal-t˙ibb): the degree of the properties of each simple is given in its description.Google Scholar

86 In dictio 5, which is a section entirely devoted to the description and classification of materials, after having finished the explanation of the bodies (metals), Ps.-Avicenna says (DA, 133): “Et dixi tibi de naturis corporum, et dicam tibi modo de medicinis.” Then, he speaks about all the other substances that are used to cure the body: spirits, salts, etc.Google Scholar

87 Kraus, , Jābir ibn H˙ayyān II (n. 29 above), 2–3.Google Scholar

88 Ibid., 189.Google Scholar

89 DA, 50: “Et dicit quod si de illa alexir biberet aeger, quancumque infirmitatem pateretur sanaretur.” Google Scholar

90 DA , 50–51: “Et adhuc magis dicit quod de sua alexir si darent feminae praegnanti, de femina efficeretur masculus. Et dicit quod de sua alexir si quis sepeliret in quatuor partibus alicuius civitatis, non ingrederetur ibi neque rata neque raton neque alia res polluta. Et dicit quod si de illa alexir biberet aeger, quancumque infirmitatem pateretur sanaretur. Et dicit de talibus verbis et similibus de quibus omnes libri sui sunt pleni, et hoc non dicit nisi propter obscuritatem magisterii. Et omnis sapiens intelligit hoc ipse cur dicit, et temptant hoc stulti et non inveniunt, et temptant sapientes et inveniunt; quia ille dicit quod ad indurandum mercurium misceant virgas de alchizaram et grana de mirtis et marcasida de auro et argento, et hoc non capit sensus hominis quia ipse miscet via bona malam viam et nemo intelligit nisi sapiens. Qui sciat eligere malum de bono potest cognoscere suam falsitatem, quod ego non dico quod petra non sit herbalis aut petralis aut bestialis, nec nego quod sua alexir non reddat de femina masculum et cetera quae diximus non faciat, et non est mihi grave nisi propter hoc quod vult operire oculos gentium ut nihil videant et corda eorum ut non intelligant; quia hoc quod ipse dicit quod mittat homo de alexir in quatuor partibus civitatis et nullus ibi ingredietur, hoc vult dicere quod in nostro magisterio, quando aliquis mittat ibi de quatuor elementis per rationem, non nascitur ibi aliquid falsum. Et hoc quod dicit quod si femina praegnans bibat de sua alexir revertetur in masculum, verum est: hoc est quod dicit — et nota — quod si aliquis mittat de nostra alexir super lunam efficietur aurum. Sed omnia verba sua non exponemus quia nihil valent et sunt vana, et ideo dimittimus.” Google Scholar

91 Kraus, , Jābir ibn H˙ayyān II , 3, n. 1. Extracts of these chapters of the Kitāb al-khawās˙s˙ have been edited in Paul Kraus, Jābir ibn H˙ayyān, Essai sur l'histoire des idées scientifiques dans l'Islam, 1, Textes choisis / (Paris, 1935), 261–72, 303–10.Google Scholar

92 Kraus, , Jābir ibn H˙ayyān II , 234.Google Scholar

93 The fact was shown in Newman, “Tres Epistolae” (n. 17 above); idem, “The Philosophers' Egg” (n. 17 above); idem, “An Overview” (n. 17 above).Google Scholar

94 Bacon, , “Opus tertium,” 39–40, quoted in Newman, , “Tres Epistolae,” 462, n. 3.Google Scholar

95 Newman, , “The Philosophers' Egg,” 86–93, esp. 86–87; idem, “An Overview,” 319–23.Google Scholar

96 Bacon, , “Liber sex scientiarum in 3° gradu sapiencie,” 157, quoted in Newman, “The Philosophers' Egg,” 87, n. 1: “Et hii humores sunt primo 4or simplices, quorum quilibet est ex elementis 4or sed ex uno per dominium; et deinde sunt 4or humores compositi, quorum quilibet est ex 4or humoribus simplicibus, sed ex uno eorum per dominium, ut in homine colerico, vel a membro colerico, exit humor compositus qui vocatur colera, et tamen componitur ex omnibus simplicibus sed denominatur a dominante.” Google Scholar

97 Cf. McKeon, , “The Problem of Elements” (n. 57 above), esp. 235–36; and Silverstein, Theodore, “Elementatum: Its Appearance among the Twelfth-Century Cosmogonists,” Mediaeval Studies 16 (1954): 156–62; cf. also Caiazzo, , “The Four Elements in the Work of William of Conches” (n. 57 above), 10–14.Google Scholar

98 For a more precise and analytic explanation of what will be said here about the Jābirian treatises, cf. Kraus, , Jābir ibn H˙ayyān II , 187–303.Google Scholar

99 Ibid., 233: “Est équilibré (a'dal) le corps dont le dehors et le dedans, le résultat du hijā' [analysis of the letters, calculation of the exterior properties] et du h˙ads [conjecture, calculation of the interior properties], se complètent selon la relation exprimée par dix-sept. Si l'équilibre du corps est rompu, il se décomposera et perdra la structure qui lui est propre.” Google Scholar

100 This example is taken from ibid., 231–32. I have changed the weights into proportions, which allows for an easier understanding of the table.Google Scholar

101 Cf. ibid., 231.Google Scholar

102 From ibid., 230, also with the change from weights to proportions.Google Scholar

103 Ibid., 229, n. 1.Google Scholar

104 The synthetic and brilliant work of Paul Kraus allows one to understand the Jābirian principles, but is also full of contradictions, because the Jābirian treatises contain contradictions. Trying to give a general view of the system implies a simplification: the treatises were not written by a single person, and most Jābirian works still need to be thoroughly studied in order to be classified and dated. The necessity to speak about “Jābirian treatises,” as we also do, is caused by the lack of precise studies about specific texts.Google Scholar

105 The only specific kind of thing that has a particular calculation is what is called al-shay' al-a'z˙am, literally the “supreme thing,” i.e., the supreme elixir, a specific kind of elixir (each elixir being different, as it changes the proportion of a specific thing): the calculation of its external properties is exactly 17 parts, and correspond to the name ABJD, which are the four first letters of the alphabet (the abjad, not the h˙urūf al-hijā'), cf. Kraus, , Jābir ibn H˙ayyān II , 233–34.Google Scholar

106 Bacon, , “Liber sex scientiarum in 3° gradu sapiencie,” 183–84, quoted in Newman, “An Overview” (n. 17 above), 325, n. 20: “corruptio accidit in rebus propter hoc quod forma non potest complere totum appetitum materie, et ideo semper appetit alteram formam et agentia celestia sufficiunt ad promovendum eius appetitum semper in novam formam usque quo inducatur forma equalis complexionis, que est ultimum bonum nature, et hoc sufficit ad perficiendum in rebus corruptibilibus appetitum materie et tollere corruptionem et excludere in eternum.” Google Scholar

107 Bagliani, Paravicini, “Ruggero Bacone” (n. 16 above), 39.Google Scholar

108 Bacon, , “Opus minus,” 369–70, partly quoted in Newman, “An Overview,” 326, n. 22.Google Scholar

109 DA , 125–30 and 145–46.Google Scholar

110 DA , 72: “Sed Iacob Alharani Iudaeus ostendit mihi valitudinem spermatis: ‘Accipe de dentibus dyaboli [i.e., sperm] unciam 1, et de cupro praeparato 10 uncias, et de auripigmento praeparato et sublimato 3 uncias, et commixto et soluto habebis aurum medianum.’ Postea docuit ut mittamus ibi de fermento boni auri octavam partem unciae, sed esset acerrimum et non posset operari nisi mitteretur in aliquo modulo.” Google Scholar

111 DA , 125: “Aurum est in multis modis: naturale, magistrale, zarchi, zafri, ebrizi, coloti, et multis aliis modis; et est ibi de acre quod non potest operari. Et illud quod est de alexir valet magis et istud est in tribus modis: de petra capillorum, de petra sanguinis, de petra ovorum; et non potest esse aurum de alio lapide.” Google Scholar

112 DA , 128: “Redeamus ad aurum naturale. Natura eius est calida et sicca, et quantum habet ferrum de natura siccitatis et de duritie tantum habet aurum bonam naturam et mollem.” Google Scholar

113 Kraus, , Jābir ibn H˙ayyān II , 2.Google Scholar

114 Bacon likely refers to DA, 32: “Sed scire debes quod aurum est nimis coctum, et ideo neque ignis neque aer neque terra neque aqua delet eum quia calor terrae coxit eum per cetena annorum et induravit eum nimis ita quod nulla res potest eum delere.” This appellation Liber maioris alkimie is found in other passages in Bacon's works to designate the De anima. Google Scholar

115 Bacon, , “Liber sex scientiarum in 3° gradu sapiencie,” 184, quoted in Paravicini Bagliani, “Ruggero Bacone,” 48: “Et quod hoc non sit alienum in istis rebus corruptibilibus, dabimus exemplum in auro, quod est equalis complexionis, quia non potest corrumpi per terram nec aquam nec aerem nec ignem, sicut dicit Avicenna in libro maioris alkimie: ymmo in igne, qui est maxime activus, melioratur aurum et purius fit. Unde natura potest facere hoc corpus equale sicut nunc dictum est in auro, et certe de omni corpore inequalis complexionis potest fieri per corruptionem dominantis elementi, sed natura hoc non facit sine beneficio artis.” Google Scholar

116 For example, we find in Ps.-Aristotle's Secretum secretorum (Bacon's version), in Bacon, “Secretum secretorum cum glossis et notulis” (n. 18 above), 64: “Sciendum est itaque quod non est via ad aliquam rem faciendam vel aliquam causam adquirendam nisi per potenciam clari intellectus, et non est potencia nisi per sanitatem, et non est sanitas nisi per equalitatem complexionum, et non est equalitas complexionis nisi per temperanciam humorum.” If this hypothesis is true, the alchemical theory of balancing the properties, indebted to ancient medicine (Galen's and others'), returned to medicine in Bacon's works.Google Scholar

117 Newman, , “An Overview,” 328–32.Google Scholar

118 On the Secretum secretorum and Roger Bacon, cf. Williams, Steven J., “Roger Bacon and His Edition of the Pseudo-Aristotelian Secretum Secretorum,” Speculum 69 (1994): 57–74; Williams, Steven J., “Roger Bacon and the Secret of Secrets,” in Roger Bacon and the Sciences: Commemorative Essays , ed. Hackett, Jeremiah (Leiden, 1997), 365–93; Williams, Steven J., The Secret of Secrets: The Scholarly Career of a Pseudo-Aristotelian Text in the Latin Middle Ages (Ann Arbor, 2003).Google Scholar

119 Secretum secretorum , in Bacon, , “Secretum secretorum cum glossis et notulis,” 114–15, partly quoted in Newman, “An Overview,” 332, n. 34: “Inprimis, O Alexander, tradere tibi volo secretorum maximum secretum, et divina potencia juvet te ad perficiendum propositum, et ad celandum archanum. Accipe ergo lapidem animalem, vegetabilem, et mineralem, qui non est lapis, nec habet naturam lapidis. Et iste lapis assimilatur quodammodo lapidibus moncium minerarum, et plantarum, et animalium: Et reperitur in quolibet loco et in quolibet tempore et in quolibet homine: Et convertibilis est in quemlibet colorem: Et in se continet omnia elementa: Et dicitur minor mundus. Et ego nominabo ipsum nomine suo quo nominat ipsum vulgus, scilicet, terminus ovi, hoc est dicere, ovum philosophorum. Divide ergo ipsum in quatuor partes: quelibet pars habet unam naturam. Deinde compone ipsum equaliter et proporcionaliter, ita quod non sit in eo divisio nec repugnancia, et habebis propositum, Domino concedente. Iste modus est universalis, set ego dividam tibi ipsum in operaciones speciales. Dividatur itaque in quatuor, et duobus modus fit bene et sine corrupcione. Quando ergo habueris [id est] aquam ex aere, et aerem ex igne, et ignem ex terra, tunc habebis plene artem. Dispone ergo substanciam aeream per discreccionem, et dispone substanciam terream per humiditatem et caliditatem donec conveniant et conjungantur, et non discrepent nec dividantur. Et tunc adjunge eis duas virtutes operativas, aquam et ignem, et tunc complebitur opus. Quia si permiseris aquam solam dealbabitur, et si junxeris ignem rubefaciet, Domino concedente.” Google Scholar

120 The text of the so-called long version of the Arabic text is edited in 'Abd al-Rah˙mān Badawī, al-Us˙ūl al-Yūnānīya li-al-naz˙ariyyāt al-siyāsiyyah fīal-Islām / Fontes Graecae doctrinarum politicarum Islamicarum, Dirāsāt Islāmiyya 15 (Cairo, 1954), 67–171. The Latin version that Bacon used is very close to the original Arabic text of the passage (p. 166).Google Scholar

121 DA , 55.Google Scholar

122 DA , 146–47.Google Scholar

123 DA, 275.Google Scholar

124 DA , 308.Google Scholar

125 In the De anima, the mineral world is almost always designated by the word naturalis, which is uncommon. A more usual reading would be mineralis. The hypothesis of a confusion between the abbreviations of these terms is plausible, but not really convincing: indeed, a passage of chapter 11 of the first dictio describes the natural stone and the term mineralis is not relevant in this passage (DA, 84): “Lapis naturalis est illa res quae efficitur in ventre terrae sine opere. Et lapis noster naturalis est res quae per se ipsam nascitur et non crescit et non minuitur. Et lapides naturales sunt: aurum vivum, auripigmentum, sal armoniacum, sulphur; hii sunt naturales et spiritales. Et lapis herbalis non potest esse quod non nascatur et non crescat, et naturalis nascitur et non crescit quia si cresceret non esset inter ea divisio. Acetum, urina, sperma sunt medicinae nostri lapidis naturalis. Et utilitates nostri lapidis naturalis non possunt numerari, quia aqua nostri lapidis naturalis indurat mercurium et tingit omnes res sicut spiritualis. Et inter spiritalem et naturalem sunt duae differentiae, prima differentia est quia naturalis statim operatur et spiritalis non nisi in termino statuto.” The word naturalis seems therefore to mean both “natural” and “mineral,” i.e., “everything which is neither animal nor vegetal.” Moreover, Ps.-Avicenna uses the more precise term petralis in several passages, which clearly designates the mineral kingdom.Google Scholar

126 DA , 55–56.Google Scholar

127 The quotation seems to refer to a passage of the Risālat Maryānus al-Rāhib al-h˙akīm li-al-amīr Khālid ibn Yazīd, translated into Latin under the title Liber de compositione alchimiae (the extract is quoted in Latin as the Arabic version is not edited): Morienus, Liber de compositione alchimiae , in Stavenhagen, Lee, A Testament of Alchemy: Being the Revelations of Morienus, Ancient Adept and Hermit of Jerusalem to Khalid Ibn Yazid Ibn Mu'awiyya, King of the Arabs of the Divine Secrets of the Magisterium and Accomplishment of the Alchemical Art, Edited and Translated (Hanover, 1974), 26: “Verum est quod ista res sit ea que magis in te fixa a deo creatur, et ubicumque fueris, semper tecum inseparata manet, et omnis a deo creatus, a quo hec res separatur, morietur … Hec enim res ex te extrahitur et tu illius minera existis et apud te illam inveniunt et vere ex te excipiunt, et post eius probationem augebitur eius amor in te.” Google Scholar

128 DA , 49.Google Scholar

129 DA , 56.Google Scholar

130 DA, 81.Google Scholar

131 DA , 59–60.Google Scholar

132 DA , 409–10.Google Scholar

133 DA , 419–20.Google Scholar

134 DA , 107, 144, 315–16.Google Scholar

135 DA , 102–3.Google Scholar

136 The same is found, for example, in the Epistle of the Elixir (Risālat al-iksīr) attributed to Avicenna (cf. n. 62), cf. Ates, , “Ibn Sina, Risālat al-iksīr” (n. 62 above), 54 (line 7): and in its Latin translation, the Epistola ad Hasen regem de re tecta (I note two manuscript versions because the passage is corrupted in the Theatrum chemicum): Oxford, Bodleian Library, Digby 162 (s. XIII–XIV), fol. 7v: “et album quod completur tribus in quibus non est ignis et citrinum completur quatuor totis”; Oxford, Bodleian library, Digby 119 (s. XIV), fol. 180r: “Et album quidem bene completur tribus in quibus non est ignis et citrinum completur quatuor totis.” Google Scholar

137 As has been said, the elixir in the De anima is made with a specific proportion linked with the metal which will be transmuted, as in the Jābirian texts. Nevertheless, we find in the De anima one recipe in which, contrary to the rest of the treatise, the elixir seems to be said to have an equal proportion. However, this recipe is very obscure, the elixir not being named literally. The quotation explains that Avicenna must divide the hair of his “son” into the four elements, then cut his throat and divide his blood into the four elements, and put one part of each element; then he must project it onto copper. This seems to indicate that it is a recipe for making the elixir, but the “son” is said at the end of the recipe to be the mercury. The obscurity of the passage does not allow one to assert that Ps.-Avicenna once proposes a recipe of elixir with an equal amount of elements. DA , 214–15: “Quando vides filium tuum transire, accipe urinam suam et distilla, et stercus suum et mitte subtus fimum, et divide capillos suos per quatuor elementa, et iugula eum et sanguinem divide per quatuor elementa, et accipe de unoquoque 1 pondus et proice ibi cuprum. Et si vis facere rem utilem, quando nascitur filia in domo tua, in ipsa nocte iugula eam et sanguinem divide per quatuor elementa. Et non intelligas quod filios tuos et filias iugules, sed propter filios dico tibi argentum vivum et propter filiam petram mollem, intellige scilicet sanguinem.” Google Scholar

138 Bacon, , “Secretum secretorum cum glossis et notulis,” 117–18, n. 5, quoted in Newman, , “Tres Epistolae” (n. 17 above), 465, n. 14; and in idem, “The Philosophers' Egg” (n. 17 above), 80, n. 1: “Omnes auctores propter magnitudinem secretorum occultant scienciam alkimie per verba et opera methaphorica et figurativa, et hoc eis inspiravit Deus ut soli sapientissimi et optimi eam percipiant propter bonum reipublice procurandum. Lapis igitur sumitur primo methaphorice pro omni eo super quo incipit operacio alkimie. Et hoc potest esse res mineralis, ut sulphur et arsenicum, set melior est res vegetabilis ut fructus et partes arborum et herbarum, optime vero sunt res animales ut sanguis ovum et capilli, et maxime partes hominis, et inter illas sanguis, in quo ad oculum distinguntur quatuor humores, scilicet, fleuma, colera, sanguis, et melancolia. Alkimista igitur querit separare hos humores abinvicem et purgare quemlibet a quolibet. Et cum per difficilia opera fuerint redacta ad puras simplicitates suas, tunc commiscentur secreta proporcione et certissima, quibus additur argentum vivum postquam mortificatum fuerit et sublimatum pluries. Similiter calx sive pulvis metalli vilioris de quo fiet nobilius. Et similiter nobilioris. Et post hec incorporentur adinvicem donec fiant unum corpus. Et tunc proicitur in metallum vilius liquatum et fit nobilius.” Google Scholar

139 Cf. the first brief comparison in Newman, , “An Overview” (n. 17 above), 328–32.Google Scholar

140 DA , 66: “Et in libris suis invenies multa talia verba in quibus unum mittit pro alio, et tu debes super hoc subtiliter intelligere quo non seducant te ille vel alii.” DA, 77: “Et intelligas, fili, quod quando iuro tibi dicere verum credas esse mendacium, et e converso.” Google Scholar

141 Using the word metaphoricus, in Sanioris Medicinae … scripta, 55–56: “et multa dicit de dentibus diaboli scilicet de spermate, et nullum istorum intelligit esse verum: quia quod est contra legem Dei, <illud est> contra legem philosophiae, ut voluit in sexto capitulo, et verum est hoc quia veritas philosophiae non est contra legem Dei: et ideo usus spermatis non potest hic valere, sed est sermo metaphoricus et illusorius, sicut alibi in hoc libro et propter hoc dicit.” The illud est is found in manuscript 110 of the University of Pennsylvania, but not in the edition (which has et). Sanioris Medicinae Magistri D. Rogeri Baconis Angli, de arte chymiae scripta: Cui accesserunt opuscula alia eiusdem Authoris (Frankfurt, 1603), 17: “Excerpta de libro Avicennae de anima i. de maiori Alcimia (sic) per fratrem Rog. Bacon. et est titulus hic metaphoricus, sicut ea quae in libro continentur. Nam alius est liber eius de anima, scilicet sextus naturalium; qualis est liber Arist. de anima: et hic liber est sua Alcimia (sic) maior: nam minor est libellus quem fecit ad Hasen.” +contra+legem+philosophiae,+ut+voluit+in+sexto+capitulo,+et+verum+est+hoc+quia+veritas+philosophiae+non+est+contra+legem+Dei:+et+ideo+usus+spermatis+non+potest+hic+valere,+sed+est+sermo+metaphoricus+et+illusorius,+sicut+alibi+in+hoc+libro+et+propter+hoc+dicit.”+The+illud+est+is+found+in+manuscript+110+of+the+University+of+Pennsylvania,+but+not+in+the+edition+(which+has+et).+Sanioris+Medicinae+Magistri+D.+Rogeri+Baconis+Angli,+de+arte+chymiae+scripta:+Cui+accesserunt+opuscula+alia+eiusdem+Authoris+(Frankfurt,+1603),+17:+“Excerpta+de+libro+Avicennae+de+anima+i.+de+maiori+Alcimia+(sic)+per+fratrem+Rog.+Bacon.+et+est+titulus+hic+metaphoricus,+sicut+ea+quae+in+libro+continentur.+Nam+alius+est+liber+eius+de+anima,+scilicet+sextus+naturalium;+qualis+est+liber+Arist.+de+anima:+et+hic+liber+est+sua+Alcimia+(sic)+maior:+nam+minor+est+libellus+quem+fecit+ad+Hasen.”>Google Scholar

142 Cf. n. 48.Google Scholar

143 DA , 55: “Secundum quod mihi videtur et probavi, petra herbalis sunt capilli, petra naturalis ova, petra animalis sanguis humanus.” Google Scholar

144 Cf. n. 48.Google Scholar

145 Cf. n. 50.Google Scholar

146 Newman, , “The Philosophers' Egg,” 89–90.Google Scholar

147 Ibid., 89–92. In “Tres Epistolae,” 467–68, Newman proposes to see a link between the preference for blood and “a host of notions prevalent in late thirteenth-century medicine, such as the theory of medicinal occulta.“ Google Scholar

148 Cf. p. 290.Google Scholar

149 Cf. n. 111.Google Scholar

150 Bacon, , “Opus minus,” 375, quoted in Paravicini Bagliani, “Ruggero Bacone” (n. 16 above), 43: “Sed aurum per magisterium, ut dicit Avicenna, libro de Anima, est melius naturali. Et similiter est magna differentia inter modos auri de magisterio, et optimum est quod fit per illud quod est equalis complexionis. Et prolongat vitam.” Google Scholar

151 Cf. p. 310.Google Scholar

152 Cf. n. 58.Google Scholar

153 On this, cf. particularly the De erroribus medicorum. Cf. also Newman, , “The Philosophers' Egg,” 82, n. 3.Google Scholar

154 Cf. for instance, Bagliani, Paravicini, “Ruggero Bacone,” 33–35 (esp. n. 2), in which are found the works where Roger Bacon speaks about this subject. For other summaries of this theory, cf. Newman, , “An Overview” (n. 17 above), 323–28; Newman, , “Tres Epistolae,” 466–70.Google Scholar

155 Bagliani, Paravicini, “Ruggero Bacone,” 45: “Le tesi baconiane possono essere così riassunte: per raggiungere gli ultimi termini naturali della vita fissati da Dio e dalla natura, l'uomo può servirsi del mirabile potere dell'astronomia, dell'alchimia e dell'ottica (la perspectiva). Benché sia caduto nel peccato, l'uomo poté vivere naturaliter per un periodo di mille anni, come insegna l'esistenza dei ‘patriarchi di lunga vita.’ Soltanto dopo il Diluvio, la vita si è abbreviata poco a poco. La corruzione che conduce alla morte è dunque contro natura e proviene anche dal fatto che l'uomo, cacciato dal Paradiso terrestre, non ha più osservato le regole del regimen sanitatis. Una dopo l'altra, le diverse generazioni ‘accellerarono e moltiplicarono la corruzione e l'abbreviazione della vita,’ come ancora ‘possiamo vedere e constatare ai giorni nostri.’ I rimedi per frenare la vecchiaia, Bacone li intravvede nelle scienze ‘sperimentali’: l'astronomia, l'ottica e l'alchimia.” Google Scholar

156 About Artephius and Bacon, cf. the appendix of this article (“A Note on Artephius”). The relevant extracts about Artephius in Bacon's works are: Bacon, , “Opus maius,” 2:208 (lines 10–16), 209 (lines 8–14), 212 (lines ab imo 7–2), 213 (lines 2–21); Bacon, “Liber sex scientiarum in 3° gradu sapiencie,” 185 (lines 22–30), 185–86 (lines 3 ab imo–6).Google Scholar

157 Bagliani, Paravicini, “Ruggero Bacone,” 36–54.Google Scholar

158 Bacon, , “Opus maius,” 2:211–12 (lines 7 ab imo–1), 215 (lines 8–17), respectively quoted in Paravicini Bagliani, “Ruggero Bacone,” 39, 42.Google Scholar

159 Cf. n. 108, and Bacon, , “Liber sex scientiarum in 3° gradu sapiencie,” 183 (lines ab imo 15–7), quoted in Bagliani, Paravicini, “Ruggero Bacone,” 48.Google Scholar

160 On gold used for the prolongatio vitae , cf. Bagliani, Paravicini, “Ruggero Bacone,” 42, 51. Cf. also the extract in n. 150. In the Opus maius, Roger Bacon also proposes different ingredients of lesser quality, which are quite close to the equality, cf. ibid., 38–39. Michela Pereira, whom I thank for her suggestion, proposes to identify that equal gold with the humor aereus (purified simple blood), putting forward a change of vocabulary instead of a change of concept.Google Scholar

161 Newman, , “The Philosophers' Egg,” 89–92, and the extract of the Opus minus in the manuscript Vaticanus reginensis Latinus, 1317, fol. 127v, quoted in ibid., 92, n. 1: “Et non solus Deus et natura possunt hanc equalitatem facere sed etiam [sed etiam] ars quia ars perficit naturam in multis et ideo potest ars devenire preparationem corporis equalis, nam potest purificare quodlibet elementum alicuius mixti ab infectione alterius ut redigantur ad simplicitatem puram et tunc corrumpere potest quod superfluum est de quolibet donec redigantur ad naturas activas equales tam in substantia quam in qualitatibus. Et hoc est mixtum primum et materia mixta de qua potest intelligi quod dicit Aristoteles in 9 metaphysice quod de mortuo non fit vivum nisi cum fuerit reductum ad materiam primam. Et istum verbum maxime communicat cum resurrectione quia ex tali materia prima mixta fient omnia corpora et partes corporis omnis in resurrectione. Et hec est materia de qua fit mentio in 4 Metheorum sicut in fine cum dicitur quod sciant artifices alkimie species rerum transmutari non posse nisi cum fuerit resolutio ad materiam primam. Materia prima est huiusmodi humor cum aliis humoribus primis et hic humor equalis est in qualibet re et quodlibet homine et in quolibet loco ut Aristoteles dicit libro Secretorum et omnis res potest ad eam reduci et converti et hoc est secretum secretorum.” Google Scholar

162 Newman, , “The Philosophers' Egg,” 78; idem, “An Overview,” 327, 332; and Bacon, , “Liber sex scientiarum in 3° gradu sapiencie,” 184–85 (lines 8 ab imo–1), quoted in Newman, , “The Philosophers' Egg,” 78, n. 3.Google Scholar

163 Cf. n. 60. The elixir changes the body's proportion into another proportion, while the ferment changes the body's proportion into its own proportion.Google Scholar

164 Bacon, , “Opus maius,” 2:208: “Sic videndum est per Aristotelem in libro Secretorum, ubi dicit quod Deus excelsus et gloriosus ordinavit modum et remedium ad temperantiam humorum et conservationem sanitatis, et ad plura adquirenda scilicet ad obviandum passionibus senectutis et ad retardandum eas, et mitigandum hujusmodi.” Google Scholar

165 However, one very important rule must be added: if the result of a subtraction for one property in the elixir is negative, it means that, in the elixir, the amount of this property must be 0 and that the same positive amount must be added to the opposite property. For instance, if we want a 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 proportion and we have a 2 / 2 / 1 / 3 proportion, the elixir must remove (and not add) 1 part of the first property; as an amount of property cannot be negative, we must add 1 part of the opposite property to the elixir (so this part will cancel the surplus part in the base metal). If in the cited example, the sequence is heat / coldness / dryness / moisture, the elixir will be 0 / 1 / 2 / 1 (the result being, if we use the formula of the diagram, −1 / 0 / 2 / 1). In brief, if the result of the subtraction for one property is negative in the elixir, we must add 0 parts of this property but add a similar (positive) amount of the opposite property in the elixir.Google Scholar

166 This is the reason why “excluding the De anima“ is noted in the scheme.Google Scholar

167 Cf. Fahd, Toufic, “Tilsam,” Encyclopedia of Islam , new edition, 2000.Google Scholar

168 Bacon, , “Liber sex scientiarum in 3° gradu sapiencie,” 185, quoted in Paravicini Bagliani, “Ruggero Bacone,” 50: “Item parum post experimentator igitur perfectus noscit que sunt constellationes magnarum operationum sive in bonum sive in malum, et scit quando stelle efficacium operationum oriuntur et quando occidunt et quando sunt in fortitudinibus suis et quando debilitantur vires earum respectu terre, secundum quod coniunguntur stellis aliis et secundum quod opponuntur eis et variis aspectibus ad invicem referuntur. Cum ergo hec noverit et de hiis bene ordinaverit, captat tempora debita et facit opera magnifica in eis in quibus conservantur virtutes stellarum, per que alterantur homines in corpore et anima, ut in eis compleatur naturalis bonitas longevitatis, morum, prudentie et sapientie, sicut dictum est.” Google Scholar

169 As for Artephius, cf. n. 156.Google Scholar