Pseudo-Democritus
Pseudo-Democritus, also known as Democritus the Mystogogne, was a Greek writer and alchemist active in the second century AD, and appears to have been a contemporary of Zosimos and Olympiodorus. He is best known for his treatise Physica et mystica, which was translated by Pizzimenti in the sixteenth century, and his Letter to Leucippus.[1]
Physica et mystica is concerned with dyeing and with aurifaction ("making" gold).[2] One of his recipies for the "manufacture of silver" is quoted in the Stockholm Papyrus:[3]
He [Pseudo-Democritus] rubbed common salt together with lamellose alum in vinegar and formed very fine small cones from these and let them dry for three days in the bath chamber. Then he ground them small, cast copper together with them three times and cooled, quenching in sea water.
References
- ↑ Démocrite le mystogogne. In Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle; Pierre Larousse: Paris, 1870; Vol. 6, p 411.
- ↑ Cobb, Cathy; Goldwhite, Harold Creations of Fire; Basic: New York, 1995; pp 36–37. ISBN 0-7382-0594-X.
- ↑ Caley, E. R. The Stockholm Papyrus: An English Translation with brief notes. J. Chem. Ed. 1926, 4 (8), 979–1002.
External links
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