Introduction / 1.China - The Golden Road to Immortality / 2. India - The Way of Tantra and Mercury / 3. Roman Egypt - The White and the Yellow Arising from Blackness / 4. The Islamic World - Balance and Magic Numbers / 5. Medieval Europe - Translations, Debates and Symbols / 6. The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries - Pretension, Fraud and Redeeming the World / 7. The Rosicrucian Episode and its Aftermath / 8. Theology Wearing a Mask of Science - the later Seventeenth Century / 9. Alchemy in an Age of Self-Absorption - the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries / 10. A Child of Earlier Times - the Twentieth Century
The history of alchemy traced from its earliest roots through to its influence in modern-day science.
Dr PG Maxwell-Stuart is an Honorary Lecturer in the School of History at the University of St Andrews. His many publications include Witchcraft - A History (Tempus 2000)and The Occult in Medieval Europe (Palgrave 2005).
"There are marvellous stories of successful transmutation from
various metals into gold, but [Maxwell-Stuart] also looks carefully
at the influence of religion and politics...a coherent and
interesting overview of an obsession that has gripped members of
our species for 3000 years or more."- Emma Restall Orr, The
Druid Network, June 2008
Mention -Book News, November 2008
"New age libraries and any interested in spiritual topics will find
The Chemical Choir a fine review of alchemy and its evolution from
early to modern times. The history of alchemy embraces changing
human legacies and perceptions: chapters cover historical, cultural
and religious changes accompanying changing ideas of alchemy and
its practices. It's a fine, wide-ranging survey new age collections
will welcome." -Midwest Book Review, December 2008
"The Chemical Choir helps make the arcane and often disrespected
activities of alchemy more accessible and meaningful, not only to
chemists and other scientists, but also to those interested in
history and philosophy. Summing Up: Recommended. All libraries."
-R. E. Buntrock, CHOICE, March 2009
'It breaks down a complex subject - the study of nature through
experiments with chemicals - into ten easy-to-read chapters ... The
reader who has always wondered about alchemy and has not yet read a
history of the subject will find The Chemical Choir an entertaining
starting point.' - Reviews in History
The Chemical Choir provides an updated introduction to the history
of alchemy to put beside more specialized works on this subject.
Its expansive range from fourth-century BCE China to
twentieth-century Europe and America will appeal to a broad
audience, who will learn much from Maxwell-Stuart's treatment of
alchemy in all its diverse dimensions, including interconnections
with esoteric and bodily religious practices, with medicine,
industrial chemistry, magic, religious redemption, and matter
theory
*Pamela H. Smith, Columbia University, US*
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