Alchemical confusions in pharmacy: BLACK/NIGREDO

The adoption of alchemical terminology in the field of apothecary has also led to numerous confusions, completely settled only in the end of the nineteenth century.

One example related to the concept of BLACK or Nigredo.

Oleum petrae nigrum, literally "black rock oil", designates in the field of apothecary black petroleum, a sticky and foul smelling substance. In pharmacy, where the alchemical symbol of oil has been preserved (three circles in a triangle pattern, symbolizing three stacked stones), the substance is liquid bitumen from the region of Germany, recommended against scabies, menstruation problems, hysteria, fever, toothaches, parasites etc, and it was mainly for external use.
Still, nigredo was also the first stage of alchemical transformation, the process of putrefaction or decomposition, starting from the so-called black stone. In alchemy, all processes / transmutations of matter started from the raw matter, the black stone, assimilated to Saturn and lead. The foul smell and dark color of the apothecary substance might have also stressed the resemblance with the alchemical process in question.

Painted signature of an apothecary jar preserved at the History of Pharmacy Collection in Cluj-Napoca: OL(eum) Petrae Nigr(um) - Black rock oil.

Alchemical and apothecary symbol for oil.

Alchemical engraving depicting Putrefactio or Nigredo

Discover more connections and differences between the two late medieval/early modern sciences by visiting the Pharmacy and Alchemy (Farmacie si Alchimie) temporary exhibition at the History of Pharmacy Museum in Cluj-Napoca, in Unirii Square no. 28.

Alchemical laboratory tools in the old pharmacies

Apothecary laboratories included a series of instruments and containers that any alchemist would have easily recognized, especially the alembic, retorts and crucibles. Many of the processes were also similar: distillation, fermentation, separation, calcination etc.

Alembic – distillation still consisting of three parts:

-        the cucurbit, a heated pot that contains the liquid to be distilled

-        the ambic, covering the cucurbit like a cap, collecting the vapors and leading them down a descending tube

-        the receiver, holding the condensed distilled liquid

The term comes from Arab (al-anbīḳ), a borrowing from Greek (ambix), meaning cup, beaker. 

Depiction of an alembic in a medieval manuscript

Retorts were also used for distillation and they had the cucurbit and the ambic joined into a single piece. Retorts are in fact spherical bowls with a very long, descending neck.

Retort and receiver

Crucibles are small containers made of metal or refractory materials in which various substances were heating to high temperatures. The term comes from Latin, where crucibulum designated a pot used for melting metal.

Lot of crucibles discovered in the alchemical lab from the Oberstockstall Castle in Austria

Discover more about the links between alchemy, iatrochemistry and pharmacy visiting the "Pharmacy and Alchemy" temporary exhibition on display until the end of 2017 in Cluj-Napoca, at the History of Pharmacy Collection, part of the National History Museum of Transylvania.

Join the Facebook event HERE.

Alembic and retort in the reconstructed laboratory of the History of Pharmacy Collection in Cluj-Napoca

Cordial waters and alchemy

One of the highlights of the "Gold and gems" temporary exhibition currently on show at the History of Pharmacy Collection in Cluj-Napoca is the recreation of cordials and a discussion on how they were produced. 

Cordial waters were based on the idea of the alchemists’ Aurum potabile, pure gold liquefied according to secret methods, considered universal medicine (panaceum) and a true Elixir of Life. Alchemists believed gold to be a pure substance, thus its consumption could only benefit the body. Still, some 15th-16th c. texts mention intoxications with gold and even deaths.

Cordial waters imitated the properties of that noble metal. Their golden color was obtained with saffron (Crocus sativus, the most expensive of spices, as each flower only has three stigmata), but the most expensive variants also contained flecks of gold.

Recreation of cordial water containing saffron and gold flecks

Crocus sativus flower,

Another connection to alchemy is that cordials contained alcohol, obtained through distillation in the alembic and the retort, two of the typical instruments of the alchemists. The alembic had three parts: the curcubit, the heated still pot containing the liquid to be distilled, the ambic, which fits over the mouth of the cucurbit to receive the vapors, with an attached downward-sloping "tube" and the receiving kabila. Retorts have the ambic and the cucurbit made into one.

Alembic and retort in the reconstructed laboratory of the History of Pharmacy Collection in Cluj-Napoca