Article ID: CBB835202237

Alchemical Promise, the Fraud Narrative, and the History of Science from Below: A German Adept’s Encounter with Robert Boyle and Ambrose Godfrey (2021)

unapi

Until now, the only known source on a curious incident in Robert Boyle’s life was the account of his laboratory assistant Ambrose Godfrey regarding one anonymous “Crosey-Crucian.” It survives only in excerpts and paraphrases published in 1858. Based on the recent identification of this adept as Peter Moritz, a German alchemist and religious dissenter, this paper presents his own perspective as expressed in an epistolary document originally addressed to Boyle. It emerges that the stock tale of alchemical fraud dominating Godfrey’s account does not do justice to the episode’s complexities. Instead, it becomes possible to perceive how the fraud narrative itself – construed as an implicit and increasing scepticism towards the claims of alchemical practitioners – affected events as they unfolded. Boyle initially offered modest support yet soon reduced it, as he observed that Moritz’s behaviour did not correspond to that expected of a paid labourer. Despite this, most of the experiments Moritz conducted in London clearly reflected Boyle’s long-standing interests. As Godfrey had promised financial assistance without Boyle’s backing, Moritz accused the laboratory assistant of embezzling funds and of undermining his livelihood by extracting arcana for payments that were subsequently discounted or withheld altogether.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB835202237/

Similar Citations

Article Mike A. Zuber; Leigh T. I. Penman; (2020)
Robert Boyle's anonymous ‘Crosey-Crucian’ identified: The German alchemist and religious dissenter Peter Moritz (/isis/citation/CBB941202997/)

Book Dennehy, Myriam; Ramond, Charles; (2009)
La Philosophie naturelle de Robert Boyle (/isis/citation/CBB000951736/)

Article Malcolm, Noel; (2004)
Robert Boyle, Georges Pierre des Clozets, and the Asterism: A New Source (/isis/citation/CBB000502109/)

Article Mordechai Feingold; (2016)
“Experimental Philosophy”: Invention and Rebirth of a Seventeenth-Century Concept (/isis/citation/CBB091437409/)

Article Anstey, Peter R.; (2014)
Philosophy of Experiment in Early Modern England: The Case of Bacon, Boyle and Hooke (/isis/citation/CBB001420209/)

Article Zaterka, Luciana; (2006)
Robert Boyle e John Locke: Hipótese corpuscular e filosofia experimental (/isis/citation/CBB000850029/)

Book Avramov, Iordan; Hunter, Michael; Yoshimoto, Hideyuki; (2010)
Boyle's Books: The Evidence of His Citations (/isis/citation/CBB001200537/)

Book Marina Paola Banchetti-Robino; (2020)
The Chemical Philosophy of Robert Boyle: Mechanicism, Chymical Atoms, and Emergence (/isis/citation/CBB474107384/)

Book Sargent, Rose-Mary; (1995)
The Diffident Naturalist: Robert Boyle and the Philosophy of Experiment (/isis/citation/CBB000820069/)

Book Ray, Meredith K.; (2015)
Daughters of Alchemy: Women and Scientific Culture in Early Modern Italy (/isis/citation/CBB001551979/)

Article Dana Jalobeanu; (2018)
Spirits Coming Alive: The Subtle Alchemy of Francis Bacon’s Sylva Sylvarum (/isis/citation/CBB868354009/)

Article Vincenzo Schettino; (2017)
Isaac Newton and Alchemy (/isis/citation/CBB730185488/)

Article Shanahan, John; (2008)
Ben Jonson's Alchemist and Early Modern Laboratory Space (/isis/citation/CBB001032330/)

Article Stanley Finger; (2020)
Mark Twain’s Phrenological Experiment: Three Renditions of His “Small Test” (/isis/citation/CBB316165905/)

Book Michael D. Barton; Janet Browne; Ken Corbett; Norman McMillan; (2019)
The Correspondence of John Tyndall, Volume 6: The Correspondence, November 1856-February 1859 (/isis/citation/CBB050601995/)

Book William Nicholson Jnr; Frank James; Sue Durrell; (2018)
The Life of William Nicholson, 1753–1815: A Memoir of Enlightenment, Commerce, Politics, Arts & Science (/isis/citation/CBB116256569/)

Book Holmes, Frederic L.; Levere, Trevor H.; (2000)
Instruments and Experimentation in the History of Chemistry (/isis/citation/CBB000110566/)

Authors & Contributors
Barton, Michael D.
James, Frank
Schettino, Vincenzo
Durrell, Sue
Corbett, Ken
Nicholson, William, Jr.
Concepts
Natural philosophy
Experiments and experimentation
Alchemy
Medicine
Chemistry
Correspondence and corresponding
Time Periods
17th century
19th century
16th century
Early modern
18th century
Modern
Places
England
London (England)
United States
Italy
Germany
Great Britain
Institutions
Royal Society of London
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment