alkahest
Sign in to savethumb|Image of Alchimia, the embodiment of alchemy. Woodcut published by Leonhard Thurneysser in 1574. Thurneysser was a student of Paracelsus.
Article
20 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Other names
- History
- 16th century
- Paracelsus
- Recipe
- 17th century
- Jan Baptist van Helmont
- Alkahest as a universal solvent
- George Starkey
- Dissolving gold; removing sulphur from mercury; cure for urinary calculi
- Johann Rudolf Glauber and nitric acid
- Frederick Clod
- Robert Boyle – corpuscular nature of alkahest
- Tobias Ludwig Kohlhans and Henry Oldenburg – alkahest in the lymphatic vessels
- Johann Kunckel – the existence of alkahest is questioned
- Herman Boerhaave – alkahest and the philosopher's stone
- Modern usages of the term
- Notes
- References
thumb|Image of Alchimia, the embodiment of alchemy. Woodcut published by Leonhard Thurneysser in 1574. Thurneysser was a student of Paracelsus.
In Renaissance alchemy, alkahest was the theorized "universal solvent". It was supposed to be capable of dissolving any composite substance, including gold (then not considered an element), without altering or destroying its fundamental components. By extracting from composite substances their fundamental virtues and properties, alchemists hoped to gain control of invaluable medical healing properties (see also azoth). For this reason the alkahest was earnestly sought. At the same time, its very existence was debated among alchemists and philosophers.