Alchemy Journal Vol.3 No.3

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Alchemy Journal Vol.3 No.3.
Volume 3 No.3 Summer 2002
ARTICLES
History of Alchemy in America - Part 1
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 Alchemy Journal Vol.3 No.3.
The History of Alchemy in
America - Part 1
by
Mark Stavish
, M.A.
While alchemy has strained the credulity and
pocketbooks of many Europeans since its
general appearance in the 16th and 17th
centuries, it has also held a fascination for a fair
number of prominent and not so prominent
Americans as well.
Most of us are familiar with the writings of
Thomas Vaughn, Paracelsus, Bacstrom, and
dozens of other authorities on the Royal Art, yet
it was from colonial America, that one of the
most famous and mysterious Alchemists arose
--- Philalethes. It is among the apocalyptic
Pietists of Pennsylvania, said to have been
Rosicrucians fleeing the religious wars of
Central Europe, that we also find hints of
laboratory alchemy being practiced in their
wooden, gothic structured cloister, in Ephrata,
on the Pennsylvania frontier. Even late in the
"Golden Game", the 18th century that is, the
illustrious, even then ivy covered, halls of
Harvard was teaching its students the theory of
the transmutation of metals. Even the Governor of Connecticut and Massachusetts dabbled with
quicksilver now and again as well.
Even with the death of New England's last known practicing alchemists in the third decade of the 19th
century, the torch did not completely die out. Less than one hundred years later, H.S. Lewis, Imperator
of the fledgling American organization, the Ancient and Mystical Order Rosea Crucis (AMORC),
claiming European recognition and authority for its activities, is reported to have preformed a public
transmutation of zinc into gold. By the mid 1940's this same organization, using its newly formed Rose
+Croix University, situated in the lush valley of San Jose, California, would be the only known location
where the public study of laboratory alchemy was taking place. With a little bit of help from a major
corporation or two as well. While this re-birth of laboratory alchemy was short lived, out if it came the
now famous Paracelsus Research Society, founded by "Frater Albertus", a new series of AMORC
classes in the mid to late '80's, and the latest addition to American alchemical studies, the
Philosophers of Nature.
The Philalethes Period
Alchemy Journal Vol.3 No.3.
The 17th century world view of America was of a
magical land, filled literally and figuratively with
gold. It was from this world, not that of an old and
rigged Europe, that one of the most mysterious and
renowned of alchemical figures. In fact, one who is
often called that last of the great alchemists,
Eirenaeus Philalethes, better known as, the
Cosmopolitan. His first work
The Marrow of
Alchemy
,
Part One
, appeared at London in London
in 1654. It was published by E. Brewster, with the
manuscript and publication being printed in English;
Part Two
was published the following year.
Because George Starkey edited the first edition of
The Marrow of Alchemy
, it has been suggested that
he was its author, along with the remainder of the
16 groups of alchemical publications attributed to
"The Citizen of the World".
Philalethes is often translated as "Lover of Truth"
and is the latinization of the Greek original.
According to one of the publishers of Philalethes,
William Cooper, "...[Philalethes] is acknowledged
by all hands to be an Englishman, and an Adept
and supposed to be yet living, and traveling, and
about the age of 55 years, but his name is not
certainly known." This appeared in Cooper's
advertisement for
Ripley Reviv'd
in 1678. In total,
Cooper published ten of the sixteen major titles
written by the mysterious adept. Beyond being a
prolific writer and of philanthropic attitude and activities, what helped make the mystery even more of a
lasting legend, is that Philalethes is said to have achieved the Philosopher's Stone in 1645, at the age
of twenty-three!
[i]
So then, back to the question: who was Philalethes? Well, traditionally, two names have been put
forward as being closely associated, and even identified with our Adept: Robert Child and George
Starkey. As for Child, little evidence is given to back up the claim, and possibly even evidence to the
contrary. With Starkey, the situation is different.
[ii]
While much of the evidence is circumstantial, it comes from contemporaries of both men. Care is
given to distinguish between those works on alchemy by Starkey himself, and those whom he
attributes to his mysterious New England Adept, the Cosmopolita. However, as Jantz suggests in his
article, "America's First Cosmopolitan", could Starkey have written the Cosmopolitan works while in a
heightened state of consciousness? Where they the result of his own transcendental awareness as
part of the alchemical process? While such is only speculation, what cannot be denied is that
Philalethes is an American original, an adept in the now classical alchemical tradition, even being
Alchemy Journal Vol.3 No.3.
referred to as the "American Philosopher" on the second title page of the Amsterdam edition (1678) of
his second group of works,
Enarratio Methodica.
So then, was Starkey actually Philatheles? If we accept the evidence, then probably yes. In the
anagram of two of the principle characters in
Vade Mecum
, the name of the pupil, Philoponus, and his
mentor, Agricola Rhomaeus, we discover that in Latin, Agricola become Georgios in Greek, and the
Greek Rhomaeus becomes Stark, or Strong, in Anglo-Saxon
[ii
i].
Does it matter? Probably not, except to historians of esoterica, and other people with too much time
on their hands. For practical alchemists all that is of importance is the practicality of the information
supplied. Whether or not there was a person behind the persona of the Cosmopolitin is as important
as asking the same of his more modern European counterpart Fulcannelli.
[iv]
At some point the
personality must die, so that the Light may shine unobstructed, this is a fundamental tenet in esoteric
teachings. Maybe in the end, Starkey actually was, and became, the Citizen of the World.
But Starkey wasn't alone in his search for the Philosopher's Stone. Among his contemporaries was
Christian Lodowick of Newport, Rhode Island. This former Quaker, mystic, physician, musician, and
mathematician was also an alchemist. Not surprising, as Newport was a major trading post, being
honored with not only a large Quaker congregation, but also the oldest continually operating
synagogue (Turo) in the United States, and one of the oldest Masonic lodges as well. Lodowick was
an important philologist, particularly his English-German dictionary and grammar becoming standard
throughout most of the 18th century.
Several famous New Englander's returned to Europe, among them Thomas Tillman. Tillman made
contact with a group of German Anabaptists in England and eventually went to the Continent with
them. Jantz proposes that Tillman's poetic influence may have eventually returned to America
through the writings of Conrad Beissel and the Ephrata Cloister. This is not unrealistic, as members of
the Cloister went as far north as Rhode Island in search of contacts and converts. A group who, was
for a while, deeply involved in laboratory alchemy.
However, it is John Winthrop the Younger (1606-1676), founder and first governor of Connecticut, who
made major contributions to alchemy, if only through his literary donations. During his second tour of
Europe Winthrop visited the poet John Rist, while in Constantinople in 1642. The visit was at the
urging of the French ambassador, for the expressed intention of increasing Winthrop's knowledge of
practical alchemy.
[v]
Even with this semi-constant flow of ideas, trade, and people between the colonies and Europe, the
chemical discoveries of the 18th century did not spell the end of alchemy in New England as they had
across the sea. The Philosopher's Stone was still actively being pursued in New England until the third
decade of the of the last century
[vi].
With at least a half-dozen researchers being known throughout
Connecticut and Massachusetts, most of them being graduates of Yale or Harvard.
Among them was Samuel Danforth, born at Dorchester, Massachusetts in 1696, and graduated from
Harvard College in 1715. Among the texts used during his stay at Harvard was included the curious
manuscript
Compendium Physicae
by Charles Morton. Morton, a Puritan, received his M.A. from
Alchemy Journal Vol.3 No.3.
Oxford in 1652, and emigrated to Massachusetts in 1686. His
Compendium
was a strange blend of
the science of the period with Aristotle. A lengthy section was devoted to the "Artifice of Gold by
Alchymy" or "the finding of the Phylosophers stone", even stating, "Some have done it, such are cal'd
the Adepti". He listed among them, Lully, Paracelsus, and his disciple, van Helmont.
Danforth began his alchemical library as early as 1721, and achieved remarkable success in his life,
serving 34 years as a judge and chief justice in Massachusetts. His reputation as an adept prior to
being publicly ridiculed in the press in 1754 for his alchemical studies. In 1773 he wrote to his long-
time friend Benjamin Franklin offering to send him a piece of the Philosopher's Stone. It is important to
note, that while Franklin himself had no known interest in laboratory alchemy, he knew several active
practitioners, as well as the leading members of the Ephrata and Fairmount Park Communes. He
served not only as a focal point for American esoteric activities, but was also a major connection to
English and French esoteric societies as well.
With his death in 1777, his son, Samuel Danforth, Jr. inherited his books. However professional
pressures of his medical and scientific careers forced him to donate his father's books to the Boston
Athaenum in 1812. The books are signed by both Danforths, and are heavily annotated, showing
more than three-quarters of a century of study. Among the twenty-one volumes were the much
standard works to be expected, as well as Philalethes'
Secrets Reveal'd
(London, 1699).
However, the most distinguished supporter of alchemy was probably Reverend Ezra Stiles. Born at
New Haven, Connecticut in 1721, he graduated from Yale in 1746, served as tutor until 1755, and was
president of Yale from 1778 to 1795. In 1775 he accepted the position of minister to the Second
Congregational Church of Newport, Rhode Island. Stiles was also a friend of Benjamin Franklin.
While he made remarks concerning "the Rosacrucian Philosophy" that interested his contemporaries,
Stiles himself disavowed any knowledge of practical alchemy or ever having witnessed any aspects of
it. Yet shortly after his disavowed of such knowledge, Stiles participated in several experiments of his
own. Stiles even repeated the legends of Governor John Winthrop, Jr. which recounted him as an
"Adept" who performed alchemical operations each year at his mine near East Haddam, Connecticut
along with his associate Gosuinus Erkelens.
The Later Colonial Period: Ephrata and the End in New England
With the advent of religious liberty in colonial Pennsylvania and religious wars in Central Europe, it is
little wonder that so many Germans came to the New World in the 17th century. William Penn openly
recruited many, and others simply went on their own, and among them were the Pietists. These quasi-
mystical, semi-magical, often secretive, and usually apocalyptic groups settled in two main
communities in Pennsylvania: the Wissahickon Valley, in present day Fairmount Park (Germantown),
Philadelphia, and farther west in Ephrata. It is to the latter group that we turn our attention, for it is
there, in Ephrata, that we have some of the clearest information regarding the extent and degree of
Rosicrucian and alchemical practices of these communal mystics. While the degree, if any, of these
Anabaptist Pietists being influenced by Rosicrucian philosophy has been debated, they definitely were
influenced by hermeticism in general, and for at least a period, experimented with practical alchemy.
According to E.G. Alderfer, in his work,
The Ephrata Commune: An Early American Counterculture
,
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