AMBIX, Vol.

38, Part

2,

July 199 I

JOHN DASTIN:

THE ALCHEMIST

AS CO-CREATOR

By WILFREDTHEISEN*

The Alchemist

on his Knees

THE familiar picture of the alchemist on his knees on the floor of his laboratory, with arms
extended and head upturned in a gesture of prayer has undoubtedly raised questions in
many minds. "Why is the alchemist entreating God? Why would an alchemist consider his
work sacred? Why do alchemists introduce prayers into their works and their writings, when
we do not find other natural philosophers so inclined?" Other natural philosophers do not
hesitate to mention God in their treatises. Galileo,l Newton,2 Kepler,3 and Stephen
Hawking4 all mention as a motive for their natural philosophy a desire to understand God's
creation. Indeed, it is often much more than that; natural philosophy for Kepler was a means
of glorifying God: "The most wise Prince will easily reckon how great an addition this makes
in illustrating the glory of the fabric of the world, and of God the Architect".5 But one never
sees pictures of such natural philosophers on their knees. Nor are their works interspersed
with prayers for the success of their work, as are the works of the alchemists. Before the
* Department
U.S.A.

of Physics,

Saint John's

University,

College of Saint Benedict,

Collegeville,

l\!Iinnesota

5632

I,

74

WILFRED

THEISEN

alchemist begins his experiments, he often explicitly submits his work to the will of God, with
the prayer, "If God so wills".
It is true that other natural philosophers in the Middle Ages, the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries saw their work as having religious implications, that is, that their work
glorified God and led to a fuller knowledge and love of God. However, we do not find these
natural philosophers asking for God's approval and cooperation, as the alchemists did. The
alchemists saw their relationship with God as having a distinctive character and frequently
included prayers in their works to express this relationship. But what was the basis for this
attitude on the part of the alchemists?
In one of the works attributed to John Dastin,6 an early fourteenth century English
alchemist, we gain an insight to this peculiar religious attitude on the part of the alchemist.
In this work, The Alchemical Art/ the author draws a parallel between the creation of the soul
by God and the creation of the Philosophers' Stone by the alchemist. As he explains in the
text, the alchemist creates in a manner similar to the way God creates. However, Dastin is
careful to acknowledge in the beginning of the work that it is God who has created the matter
with which the alchemist works. Consequently, Dastin does not presume to say that the
alchemist creates ex nihilo. Nevertheless, the alchemist does participate in God's creative
activity, and for this reason considers alchemy a sacred activity.
This view of alchemy as a sacred work is consistent with the attitude found in otherworks
also attributed to Dastin. For example, in the Letter of a Good Man8 Dastin calls alchemy
God's gift and invokes Jesus to direct his hand and his mouth as he writes this letter on the
sacred art.9 In the RosariuslO Dastin also asks for the Lord's help in explaining the alchemical
teaching: "Therefore may it please our Lord Jesus Christ to send us the spirit of his
wisdom".11 As in The Alchemical Art, Dastin here also expresses his devotion to God the
Creator: "Blessed therefore be God, the Creator of most sublime creatures, who has given us
the means of destroying and reducing every thing to its first matter and nature". 12However,
in the Letter to Pope John XXII Dastin puts a limit to the power that the alchemist has:
The artists of alchemy should know that the species of metal can verily not be
transmuted, which is of course true, because the species as such are not subject to
sensible action, as they are entirely incorruptible. But the (individual) subjects of the
species can very well be changed one into another, as they are corruptible. And
nevertheless, the (individual) subjects of the species cannot be changed one into
another, unless - as follows from the sayings of Aristotle - they be first of all reduced
to their brima materia and thus changed to a form different from the one they had
before. 13
Another fourteenth century alchemist, Bernard Trevisan,14 is less precise and explicit in
describing the creative action of the alchemist. However, in his Book on the Most Secret Chemical
Work of the Philosophers 15 Bernard implies that alchemy cooperates with the creative action of
nature:
"It is clear from many irrefutable and uncontestable testimonies that nature by itself
procreates and prepares seedbearing creatures whereas the art [of alchemy] works
together with them toward that end to which nature creates.,,16
Like Dastin, Bernard Trevisan sees alchemy as a sacred art for which he finds a need to
entreat God for its success: "Indeed, I never forget to pour out my prayers to God that He
might condescend to assist my endeavours". 17

JOHN

DASTIN:

THE

ALCHEMIST

AS CO-CREATOR

75

The text of The Alchemical Art given below is a transcription and translation from MS
Sloane 2476. ff. 3-3v, of the British Library. Although there are other alchemical works with
this same title I have not found any other copies of this text. Any additions to the Latin or
English texts are included in brackets.

J ohannis

Dastin super arte alcumistica

The Alchemical Art

Deus igitur gloriosus cui sit laus, gloria

virtusque quoniam duos lapides preciosos
ex una radice progenitos gratis contulit
nobis. "Quorum unus", ut dicit Geber,
"est tinctura albedinis et alius rubedinis
ad lunam et solem procreandum". Isti
lapides non ab arte sed a natura minerali
naturaliter producti in loco in quo
crescunt. "In tanta copie afHuencia
exuberant ut gratis capiantur et parvi
pretii habeantur", ut dicit Alkides. Nolite
dissolvere marsupiam vestram ut magnas
faciatis expensas in hac scientia. Nam
deus qui sine diminutione sui thesauri
gratis dat nobis omnia bona, prestitit
etiam lapidem qui ultimo vestrum
complebit desiderium si modo debito
preparaveritis ipsum. Iste lapis albus vel
rubeus tenet medium inter mercurium et
metallum. non morabitur mercurius cum
metallo sine ipso medio magis quam
moratur anima sine spiritu in corpore
humano. Spiritus enim est medium inter
corpus et animam. Nam concepto fetu in
mulieris utero, infra quadraginta dierum
spatium in omnibus formatur membris,
et recipit a quattuor elementis et a toto
corpore mulieris unum vaporem
subtilem, purum et nobilem celestim
nature similem qui dicitur spiritus. Et
statim cum iste spiritus fuerit formatus,
dei precepto anima descendit subito in
corpore infantis propter nimiam
subtilitatem spiritus. Et spiritus, per
totum corpus diffusus, propter
propinquitatem quam habet a corpore
retinet animam in corpore. Nec umquam
seperabitur anima a corpore nisi prius
seperetur spiritus ab utroque.

Praise, splendour and power to our

glorious God because he has freely given
us two precious stones generated from a
single source. "One of them", as Geber
says, "is the tincture of white to [bring
forth] the moon and other [the tincture]
of red to bring forth the sun". These
stones [are] not produced by art but
naturally by a mineral nature in the
place where they grow. "They increase in
such abundance that they may be taken
for nothing", as Alkides states,
and"possessed at a small price". To
avoid great expense in this science do not
loosen your purse. For God, who without
the reduction of his own treasure, freely
gives us every good, grants as well the
stone which will completely fulfill your
desire, provided that you prepare it in
the proper fashion. That white stone or
red [stone] is the mean between mercury
and metal. Mercury will not adhere to a
metal without this very medium, any
more than the soul will remain with the
human body without the spirit. For the
spirit is the medium between the body
and soul. Indeed, when the fetus has
been conceived in a woman's womb,
within a period of forty days all its
members are formed and it receives from
the four elements and the woman's whole
body a single fine, pure, noble vapor
similar to nature in a celestial [i.e.
spiritual] way which is called spirit. As
soon as that spirit is formed the soul
descends quickly at God's command to
the infant's body by means of the great
fineness of the spirit. The spirit, diffused
throughou t the en tire body, retains the
soul in the body by means of the
relationship it has with the body. Nor
will the soul ever be separated from the
body, unless the spirit is first withdrawn
from both of them.

Simili modo est de isto lapide albo vel

citrino. Nam ipse est spiritus et medium

In a similar way [this happens in the

production of] the white or yellow stone.

WILFRED

THEISEN

inter mercurium et metallum. Mercurius

enim retinetur cum isto lapide et in ipso
figitur perfecte. Et lapis deportat
mercurium per omnia membra
metallorum. Nec seperabitur mercurius a
metallo aliquo examine durante lapide.
Et tingit sine mensura et estimacione.
Ideo enim dixerunt philosophi istum
lapidem corpus habere spiritum et
animam. Unde dicit Hermogines, "Es
nostrum corpus, sph:itum habet et
animam". Dictur autem lapis iste albus
vel rubeus mercasita lune vel solis. Ipse
enim fixat mercurium et defert ipsum in
omnibus partibus sui corporis. Et si fuerit
preparatus subtiliatus ut decet et
rectificatus sine numero tingeret omne
corpus. U nde dicit Maria, "Cadit eius
aureus numerus super mille millia et
ducentur millia". Democritus quoque ait,
'~Duo sunt lapides quos benedixit
dominus deus. Preparate eos ut sint sicut
butirum et, cibato mercurio, ut sint sicuti
venenum et abstergeret cupri sordicies.
Et ruborem et perpetuum dabit colorem.

For this stone itself is the spirit and the

medium between mercury and metal. For
mercury is retained by means of this
stone itself and is made firmly solid by it.
And [it is] the stone that carries mercury
to every portion of metals. Nor will the
mercury be separated from a metal by
any test, as long as the stone lasts. It
tinctures beyond measure and
expectation. The philosophers therefore
have said that the stone has body, spirit
and soul. Hence Hermogenes states,
"Our brass has body, spirit and soul".
The white or red stone is called the
marcasite of the moon or the sun. For it
fixes the mercury and carries it to all the
parts of the body. If it would be finely
prepared, as is proper, and rectified
again and again it would tincture every
body. Consequently Maria says, "Its
golden number exceeds a thousand times
a thousand and thousands are
produced". Democritus also says, "There
are two stones which the Lord God has
blessed. Prepare them so that they may
be as butter, and when mercury has been
fed they might be as poison and wipe
away the pollutions of copper. Then it
will give strength and permanent color".

Preparamentum lapidis tale est: primo

debes cognoscere eius speciem et
naturam et radicem, quia nulla generatio
erit apta nisi convenientibus in natura.
Tunc debet bene mundificari per
abluciones et fusiones. Postea sibi debet
incorporari mercurius sex vicibus
sublimatus. Hinc totiens debent elevari et
deprimi donec una res fiant. Deinde
fuerint putrifactiones, solutiones cum
mercurio quousque fundatur sicut cera
cito. Et sic est lapis rectificatus bene.
Igitur hec sufficiunt de lapide
philosophico a natura producto.

This is the preparation of the stone: first

you must know its species, nature and
source, because there will be no suitable
generation except between those that
naturally join with each other. Then it
must be cleaned well by washings and
meltings. Afterwards, six times
sublimated mercury must be ingrafted on
it [i.e. on the stone]. Then they must be
elevated and pressed down as many
times [as necessary] un til they become
one. Finally let there be putrefactions
and solutions with the mercury until it
can be poured as quickly as wax. And so
the stone is well rectified. These steps,
then, suffice for the philosophers' stone
produced by nature.

Sed cum multi insipientes et stulti istam

scientiam indigneet sine fructu
usurpantes istum non cognoscunt
lapidem mineralem attemptant ipsum
arte perficere. Et ad hoc magne et quasi
infinite requiruntur expense. Et frustra,
quia ut dicit Aristotelis, "Ars est debilior

But since many senseless and foolish

persons who practice this science
unworthily and unproductively do not
recognize that stone [as] mineral, they
try to achieve it by art. And for this
immense and nearly infinite expenses are
required [by them]. However, they are

JOHN

DASTIN:

THE

ALCHEMIST

quam natura". Nee earn eonsequitur lieet

mul-tum laboret. Nesciunt enim esse
necessarium quod lapis philosophorum
sit primo de natura metallorum
antequam perficiat aliquod corpus
imperfectum. "Non enim est possible", ut
dicit Aristotles, "ad extrema devenire nisi
per medium". Igitur cum per longum

AS CO-CREATOR

77

wasted, for as Aristotle says, "Art is

weaker than nature". Nor will [art]
achieve it, even though it were to labor
greatly. For they do not know that it is
necessary that the philsophers' stone
must become fundamentally of a metallic
nature before it can bring to perfection
any imperfect body. As Aristotle states,

tempus laboraverint tan tum quod lapis

"I t is not possible to reach extremes

eorum sit de natura metallorum credunt

complesse opus suum. Et quando
fecerunt projectionem nihil invenerunt
quia operari desistunt ubi incipere
debuerunt, videlicet purgare, dissolvere,
subtiliare, putrefacere, dealbare et, ut
prius diximus, conjungere et regere. Et
tunc lapis eorum erit elixir completum.
Sed moderni operantes, finem certant
esse operis, tunc incipi opus. Et ideo
error eorum est manifestus. Iterum alia
est ratio eorum erroris. Quia cum suam
perfecerunt mercasitam fixerunt ita earn
ut sit quasi terra arida sine humiditate.
Unde intrare deberet et tingere. Dicit
autem philosophus, "Spiritus minime
fixus non intrat, non tingit, nec aliquod
bonum facit cum terra sine humiditate
arida". Non autem advertunt lapidem
philosophicum a minera procreatum esse
partim volatile[m] et partim fixum.
Alioq uin non teneret na turam mercurii et
metalli. Nam natura non fixi iungit se
mercurio et sic incorporat se cum corpore
fixo. Et per elevaciones et depressiones
figit se un urn cum alio modo perfecto et
retinent inter se suam humidatem
naturalem. U nde et habent ingressionem.
Et hoc est quod dicit Geber, "Mercurius,
qui per multas sublimaciones est fixus,
ingressionem non impedit". Igitur multis
modis suam nituntur perficere arte
mercasitam.

except through the mean". Consequently,

since they may have worked for a long
time, in order that their stone might be
metallic in nature, they believe that they
have finished their work. Even when they
have made the projection they discovered
nothing because they gave up the work
just where they ought to begin, i.e.
cleansing, dissolving, grinding,
putrifying, whitening, and, as I pointed
out earlier, unifying and controlling.
Only then will their stone be the
complete elixir. But modern workers
struggle to achieve the final goal of the
work [first] and then undertake the
initial steps. Consequently their error is
apparent. Indeed, there is another reason
for their mistake. Because when they
have perfected their marcasite and
solidified it so that it is like dry earth
without moisture, at this point it should
have entered and touched [every
portion]. However the Philosopher says,
"The spirit that is completely volatile
neither enters nor touches or achieves
anything good with earth without the dry
moisture". They do not take into account
that the philosophers' stone procreated
from mineral is partly fluid and partly
solid. Otherwise it would not retain the
nature of [both] mercury and metal. For
the nature of a non-solid unites itself to
mercury and thus joins itself to a solid
body. Then, by means of elevations and
depressions one is attached to the other
[i.e. the stone and mercury] in a perfect
manner, and they keep within themselves
their natural moisture. At which point
they have achieved entrance. This then is
what Geber says, "Mercury, which is
solidified by many sublimations, does not
prevent entrance". Therefore in many
ways they strive to perfect their marcasite
by art.

WILFRED

THEISEN

NOTES
I. See Winifred Wisan, "Galileo and God's Creation",
Isis, 78 (1986), pp. 473-86.
2. See Martin Tamny, "Newton, Creation and Perception", Isis, 71 (1979), pp. 48-58.
3. See Johannes Kepler, Epitome of Copernican Astronomy. Great Books of the Western World. Ed. Robert Maynard
Hutchins. 54 vols. 16 (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1938), p. 850.
4. See Stephen W. Hawking, A Brief History of Time. (New York: Bantam Books, 1988), pp. 173-75.
5. Kepler, ibid.
6. For some details on John Dastin see Lynn Thorndike, History of Magic and Experimental Science, 8 vols. 3
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1923-58), pp. 85-102.
7. Dorothea Waley Singer, in her Catalogue of Latin and Vernacular Manuscripts in Great Britain and Ireland, 3 vols. 1
(Brussels: Lamertin, 1928-31), p. 267, #287, ascribes this work to John Dastin. The only manuscript she lists
as giving this work is in the British Library, MS Sloane 2476, ff. 3-3V. There is a short excerpt from the text in
the British Library, MS Addit. 10764, ff. 246-247r. This excerpt from the text contains the first eleven lines of
the text as found in the Sloane manuscript. Since there is a good deal of confusion with regard to what texts
actually belong to Dastinit is difficult to say with certainty whether this is Dastin's work. This work differs from
other works Singer attributes to Dastin, in that it does not mention the use of sulphur at all in the alchemical
process and contradicts Dastin's repeated claims in other works that there is one and only one stone. Also, The
Alchemical Art the author stresses that the philosophers' stone is produced by nature, not by art, whereas in other
works attributed to Dastin art is seen as completing and perfecting nature. That this small treatise does not
discuss the healing properties of the stone, as Dastin does in other places, may simply be due to its brevity.
8. See Wilfred R. Theisen, "John Dastin's Letter on the Philosophers' Stone", Ambix, 33 (1986), pp. 78-87,
specifically, p. 79 and 83
9. Ibid.
10. See Singer, op. cit., ~: p. 210, #"231. Singer attributes a Rosarius with the incipit Desiderabile desiderium
impreciabile pretium to Arnold of Villa Nova, but notes that some manuscripts give John Dastin as the author
for this work. I am presuming the latter attribution is correct; there is a printed, unedited text of this Rosarius in
John Jacob Manget, ed., Bibliotheca chemica curiosa. 2 vols. 1 (Geneva, 1702), pp. 302-24.
I I. Manget, op. cit., p. 309.
12. Manget, op. cit., p. 312.
13. C. H.Josten, "The Text of John Dastin's 'Letter to Pope John XXII'" Ambix, 4 (1949): 34-51, specifically pp.
47-8.
14. For information on Bernard Trevisan, see Thorndike, op. cit., 3: pp. 611-27.
15. A printed text of this work is found in Manget, op. cit., pp. 388-99, with the title "De secretlsslmo
philosophorum opere chemico, per naturam et artem elaborando. see Thorndike, op. cit., p. 6 I 9 for information
on this work.
16. Manget, op. cit., p. 393. I have translated this from the Latin text, which reads: Patet multis irrefragabilibus
testimoniis, et evidentissimis, naturam ex seipsa procreare naturas spermaticas, ac preparare: tandem ars per
conjunctionem in eis operatur, ad finem tendens, in quem natura crearet.
17. Manget, op. cit., p. 389. I have translated this from the Latin text, which reads: Verum enimvero semper interea
meas preces ad Deum funderenon sum oblitus, ut subvenire meis conatibus dignaretur.