Libavius's 1606 work has often been dubbed the first chemistry textbook. It details alchemical processes in an organized manner, with elaborate descriptions and illustrations of substances, equipment, and recipes for experiments. Libavius also planned an intriguing "house of chemistry" that integrated the alchemist's life and work into society. The book is part of CHF's Neville Collection.
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A journey through time and space
Four centuries ago German school professor and physician Andreas Libavius decided to bring order and clarity to the world of books on chemistry. At first look Alchymia resembles a museum of alchemical vessels and substances and a library of experiments, each classified, shelved, and neatly labeled. However, with his design of a chemical laboratory, Libavius left us his vision of alchemy and its future. In his images we can observe all the riches and profanities of an alchemist’s life in the early seventeenth century.
Chemistry in action
When Libavius was a schoolboy, there were no chemistry textbooks, teachers, or lessons. Chemical experiments were conducted in the laboratories of alchemists. Their products could be found in the local apothecaries’ shops and their laboratories could be easily identified by the strange smells and fumes escaping into the streets. Libavius, like many learned men of his time, was so fascinated by alchemy that he tried to find out everything about it—both through books and by conducting his own experiments.
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| Illustration of apparatus for use in the alchemical workshop |
The first formal textbook of chemistry
Libavius made a career out of his orderly nature and become a teacher. Dissatisfied with the available alchemical literature which deliberately presented alchemy as a mysterious art, he sat down to classify and describe everything he had observed in the alchemical workshop. The result was Alchymia, which became famous as the first textbook on alchemy/chemistry. It was the most comprehensive introduction to the art that had ever been published and it inspired many later textbooks, of which our modern chemistry books are distant descendants.
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| Libavius's dream home |
The ideal house and laboratory
In addition to describing chemicals, processes, and experiments in his book Libavius also included designs for a “house of chemistry,” designed for both domestic use and laboratory work. The plans contained alchemical laboratories and illustrations of equipment; space for the apprentices who prepared basic parts of the alchemical work; and, unusually, room for the alchemist’s family. Rather than an ivory tower for a lone scientist, Libavius envisioned a "house of chemistry" that would be part of a town and its community.
Libavius never built his house, so today we can only join him on an illustrated tour of its facilities.
Inspired vision
Alchymia remains famous today for its methodical presentation. By making the materials and processes of his contemporary chemical world accessible to everyone, Libavius opposed the exclusive, mysterious, and elusive style of previous alchemical writings. It would take another few centuries and more developments in the history of chemistry until chemistry books took on their current shape, but the principles of explaining how and why something stinks and bangs was established with Alchymia.
Libavius's house of chemistry, on the other hand, does not have any modern descendents. But it remains fascinating because of its appeal: who would not enjoy traveling easily, from study to laboratory to make one’s reading come alive? Or to explore all the jars, bottles, bags and sachets in various storerooms, and stumble across a well-stocked wine cellar? While a real building might have been converted or destroyed by now, Libavius’s detailed plans remain firmly between the book covers, and
invite us to tour his house of chemistry with him whenever we wish.
Electronic access
The 1606 edition of Alchymia is available in our online catalog.
Other items of interest from CHF collections:
John Béguin, Tyrocinium chymicum (first Latin edition 1610; Neville collection: English version: Tyrocinium chymicum: or, Chymical essays, acquired from the fountain of nature, and manual experience (London, 1669).
Herman Boerhave, Elementa chemiae: quae anniversario labore docuit, in publicis, pravatisque, scholis Hermannus Boerhaave (Lugduni Batavorum: Sumtibus Joannis Rudolphi Imhof., 1732)
Bibliography
Libavius in the Othmer Library (selection):
Secondary Literature
Wlodzimierz Hubicki, “Libacius (or Libau), Andreas” in Charles Coulston Gillispie, ed., Dictionary of Scientific Biography (New York: Scribner, 1981), 309-12
Wolf-Dieter Müller-Jahncke, “Libavius, Andres” in Claus Priesner and Karin Figala, eds., Alchemie: Lexikon einer Hermetischen Wissenschaft (Munich: Beck, 1998), 221-3 [in German]
Owen Hannaway, "Laboratory Design and the Aim of Science: Andreas Libavius versus Tycho Brahe," Isis 77 (1986), 585-610
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