Joseph Davidovits

Quotes

• “The science that made the pyramids possible was chemistry, or, more precisely... alchemy. ...[T]he legendary Philosopher's Stone represents the last misinterpreted vestiges of the alchemical science that flourished during the Pyramid Age ...Technically alchemy encompasses historical chemical developments. ...There were great alchemical achievements during antiquity.”
• “Temperatures can be raised with energy released during exothermic... reactions. Copper and are commonly located in close proximity... A mixture of ... ...and ... ...heated to only to 700 °C ...automatically reaches a temperature, through a heat producing chemical reaction, that is close to that for extracting copper. The addition of a flux, which in Egypt was a native salt called (), lowered the fusion point sufficiently for copper extraction. Silver can be smelted similarly.”
• “Egyptian alchemists developed vibrant blue enamel... a by-product of copper . ...[A]n experimenter mixed a powder of with and applied a flame. The... hard, glossy blue enamel... was ...applied to beads and pebbles.”
• “The ancient Egyptians are well known for using minerals such as chrysocolla and to produce enamels... They had a word for such products, ari-kat, meaning man-made or synthetic. ...[T]he highest spiritual influence was attributed to stone. ... and other red stones represented the blood of ...Lapis lazuli was associated with daybreak. Chrysocolla was associated with ...the "First Time" event of Creation. ...[M]inerals and rocks had divine properties in a world where all of nature was revered.”
• “All available stones... possessed sacred, eternal qualities. ...[A]ll living things perish ...the imposing rocks and cliffs stood eternally. ...[S]tone was symbolic of the eternal realm. ...[S]tone materials were devoted exclusively to religious monuments and sacred funerary paraphernalia. ...intended to survive for eternity.”
• “When the Egyptian alchemists developed glassmaking during the New Kingdom, it was to carry on the old religious tradition of making synthetic stones.”

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