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Article ID: CBB866446574

From University to Court: The Reversal of Stahl’s Positions on Gold-Making (2021)

Chang, Ku-Ming (Kevin) (Author)

Ambix: Journal of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry
Volume: 68
Issue: 2-3
Pages: 214-230

DOI: 10.1080/00026980.2021.1930677

URI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00026980.2021.1930677

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Courts and courtiers Intellectual history Alchemy Transmutation (alchemy) Gold 18th century 17th century Germany Friedrich Wilhelm I, King of Prussia Stahl, Georg Ernst

Georg Ernst Stahl, an influential chymical-medical author of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, first believed in alchemical transmutation and reversed his position over the course of his career. This essay begins by placing Stahl’s early teaching in alchemy in a larger background in which German princes and academics shared intense interest in gold-making. Then, tracing Stahl’s intellectual development, it shows that he developed an increasing reservation about alchemy, though he remained open to the possibility of transmutation during his tenure at Halle. Finally, this essay shows that Stahl’s service to King Friedrich Wilhelm I was an important context for his later public denunciation of alchemy. An analysis of Stahl’s career shift from a university professor to a royal physician at court thus sheds light on the reversal of his positions.

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Article Ute Frietsch (2021) Alchemy and the Early Modern University: An Introduction. Ambix: Journal of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry (pp. 119-134). unapi

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