Edmund O. von Lippmann. Entstehung und Ausbreitung der Alchemie mit einem Anhange: zur älteren Geschichte der Metalle. Berlin: Verlag von Julius Springer, 1919. 742 pp.

The new work by the well-known German historian of chemistry and director of the refinery in Halle, Edmund Lippmann, represents the result of twenty years of his work not only on the history of chemistry, but also of his deep study of scholarly disciplines that usually remain inaccessible to the majority of chemists.

In the abundance of materials, carefully verified and collected from primary sources, and in the richness and variety with which it illuminates not so much the history of alchemy as the history of its emergence and spread, Prof. Lippmann’s work constitutes a major contribution to the history of human knowledge and culture.

The close connection that exists between alchemy and mineralogy is reflected in the history of metals appended to the book. The value of the book is further increased to a considerable degree by the fact that a whole series of eminent specialist scholars—philologists and others—such as, for example, G. Jacob in Kiel, R. Reitzenstein in Göttingen, J. Ruska in Heidelberg, C. Wessely in Vienna, W. Jaeger, and H. Prinz assisted the author in using ancient originals, such as, for example, the Leiden and Stockholm papyri. One can only regret that the abundant

along with a number of historically important facts appearing in print for the first time, the work cannot become accessible to a broad circle of readers.

It is hard to imagine a book more capable of arousing love and interest in the study of the history of knowledge in general, and of chemistry in particular, than this engagingly written work.

The old Kopp had already called the history of alchemy the history of a single error.

Lippmann, having acquainted us with the remains of the alchemical literature that has come down to us, dwells on the spiritual sources of alchemical doctrines. Over the course of 143 pages, from this point of view, all the Greek philosophers pass before us, from Thales to the Neoplatonists. Then the influence of the East, Babylonia, and Persia is considered.

Unfortunately, Lippmann has considerably abridged the exposition of the chemical ideas of Plato and Aristotle, previously developed by him in detail in J. f. praktische Chemie and in Diergart’s Archiv für die Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften u. Technik. The connection with astrology and the origin of the word “chemistry” and of alchemical concepts are illuminated with great subtlety.

The fourth chapter is devoted to alchemy in the East, and the fifth to its development in the West.

Of particular interest is the account of Arabic writings and of the development of alchemy in India, Tibet, and China.

In the appendix (chapter VI), comprising almost 100 pages, the most ancient historical information is gathered on a number of metals, such as, for example, gold, silver, copper, bronze, brass, lead, tin, zinc, mercury, iron, and antimony.

Lippmann’s work belongs among the fundamental writings on the history of chemistry and will long remain an indispensable desk book.

It reads like a true “chemical novel.”

M. A. Bloch