MARC Record from marc_columbia

LEADER: 04113cam a2200397 i 4500
001 10883283
005 20140922160119.0
008 140130s2014 nyuaf b 001 0 eng
010 $a 2014003742
020 $a9781616149154 (hardback)
020 $a1616149159 (hardback)
020 $z9781616149161 (ebook)
024 $a99959253595
035 $a(OCoLC)ocn860395117
035 $a(NNC)10883283
040 $aDLC$beng$erda$cDLC$dYDXCP$dBTCTA$dBDX$dUKMGB$dGK8$dOCLCO$dSFR$dABG$dFOLLT$dORX
042 $apcc
050 00 $aQD13$b.C63 2014
082 00 $a540.1/12$223
100 1 $aCobb, Cathy,$eauthor.
245 14 $aThe chemistry of alchemy :$bfrom dragon's blood to donkey dung, how chemistry was forged /$cCathy Cobb, Monty L. Fetterolf, and Harold Goldwhite.
264 1 $aAmherst, New York :$bPrometheus Books,$c2014.
300 $a364 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates :$billustrations (some color) ;$c24 cm
336 $atext$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$2rdamedia
338 $avolume$2rdacarrier
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (pages 325-348) and index.
520 $aAs the authors show, the writings of medieval alchemists may seem like the ravings of brain-addled fools, but there is more to the story than that. Recent scholarship has shown that some seemingly nonsensical mysticism is, in fact, decipherable code, and Western European alchemists functioned from a firmer theoretical foundation than previously thought. They had a guiding principle, based on experience: separate and purify materials by fire and reconstitute them into products, including, of course, gold and the universal elixir, the Philosophers' stone. Their efforts were not in vain: by trial, by error, by design, and by persistence, the alchemists discovered acids, alkalis, alcohols, salts, and exquisite, powerful, and vibrant reactions--which can be reproduced using common products, minerals, and metals.
505 0 $aX-rated alchemy -- Setting the scene. Stirring the fires ; The Zosimos effect ; Demonstration 1. Calcination, distillation ,transmutation! ; Islamic authors : romancing the stone ; Demonstration 2. The mercury/sulfur makeup of metals -- Alchemy in the middle. Middle-aged alchemy ; Auld Michael and the fractious friars ; Demonstration 3. The firing and falsifying of gold ; Geber and the sum of perfection ; Demonstration 4. Divine waters ; Aqua vitae! ; Demonstration 5. Burning waters ; Philosophers' stone ; Demonstration 6. Erina's fabulous philosophers' stone ; Rocky romance : miners and magick in the Renaissance ; Demonstration 7. The parting of gold ; Paradigm, paradox : Paracelsus ; Demonstration 8. Diana and the Homunculus -- Alchemical Renaissance. Paracelsus is dead, long live Paracelsus ; Paracelsian women ; Demonstration 9. Book of secrets ; Paracelsian men ; Demonstration 10. Transmutation revisited ; Charlatans and chicanery ; Demonstration 11. Tricks of the trade ; What can you do with a degree in alchemy? ; Demonstration 12. Practical alchemy ; Renaissance alchemical authors ; Demonstration 13. Lifting the mystical fog ; Sendivogius and Rudolf : fire and salt ; Demonstration 14. The Poo Plan ; Johannes van Helmont : the art of fire ; Demonstration 15. The gas that got away -- Thoroughly modern alchemy. Full-blown alchemy ; Digby and Drebble : something in the air ; Demonstration 16. Up in the air ; The Society of Jesus and the Fraternity of the Rosy Cross ; Demonstration : The Jesuit workroom ; Glauber's salt and Glauber's gold ; Demonstration 18. Glauber's ghostly golden garden ; The Harvard alchemists-- and the Honorable Robert Boyle begins ; Demonstration 19. Reduction to the pristine state ; Robert Boyle ends-- and so do we ; Demonstration 20. The color of alchemy -- Alabaster and clay -- Stores and ores.
650 0 $aChemistry$xHistory$y16th century.
650 0 $aChemistry$xHistory$y17th century.
650 0 $aAlchemy$xHistory$y16th century.
650 0 $aAlchemy$xHistory$y17th century.
700 1 $aFetterolf, Monty L.,$eauthor.
700 1 $aGoldwhite, Harold,$eauthor.
852 00 $bglx$hQD13$i.C63 2014