Alchemy Tried in the Fire

«Eirenaeus Philalethes and his influential writings were the creation of the American chymist George Starkey» — la adjudicación matriz del libro.

«Starkey's notebooks may not (alas! ) tell us how to prepare the Philosophers' Stone» — Sí dan una mirada sin precedentes al trabajo diario del laboratorio.

«Starkey was by far the more active and experienced laboratory experimentalist» — comparado con Boyle.

«throughout the seventeenth century the words "alchemy" and "chemistry" were not consistently distinguished» — el argumento etimológico que sostiene su neologismo *chymistry*.

«the widespread restriction of the definition of "alchemy" to "gold making" was a development of the period around 1700, which took advantage of an etymological error»

«the most widespread and popular interpretations of alchemy (as a subject radically distinct from chemistry) devolve from anachronistic constructions, particularly those of Victorian occultism»

«This is the view of alchemy as a spiritual discipline, first popularized by the occultists of the nineteenth century» — *mystical* y teosóficos: Lévi, Mary Anne Atwood, Waite.

«What is really significant is the alchemist's state of mind or meditation.» — así resumen la posición que van a discutir.

«This concept of a spiritual alchemy, so appealing in the early twentieth century» — a un Jung recién salido de las sesiones con su prima Héléne Preiswerk y a un Eliade inmerso en la antroposofía de Rudolph Steiner; las dos grafías son las del texto.

«the idea that alchemy was primarily a meditative pursuit remains a preconception that any speaker or writer on the subject must assume of an educated audience»

«the foundations of this interpretation of alchemy—whether spiritual or overtly Jungian—are strikingly weak»

«they are based ultimately upon Victorian occultist views with very little reference to the historical reality of the subject»

«The key result of its prevalence is that the spiritual interpretation has served—sometimes almost unconsciously—to set "alchemy" radically apart from "chemistry" in the modern sense.»

«there did exist a strong experimental tradition in the alchemy of Western Europe»

«the clean division of alchemy from chemistry, which seemed so "obvious" at first glance a generation ago, did not exist for most in the seventeenth century»

«published treatises are "cleaned-up" versions of a research program, prepared and organized for public consumption» — la justificación metodológica de trabajar con cuadernos y no con impresos.

«Starkey purchased blank, bound books at the stationer's to serve for recording his laboratory investigations»

«the culture of concealment and secrecy so pervasive in early modern chymistry»

«Besides the use of extravagant allegorical conceits and Decknamen so popular in chrysopoetic works» — hay además los métodos de dispersion, syncope y parathesis.

«Starkey copes with all four of these techniques in his notebooks.» — cuatro, porque los Decknamen cuentan como la primera; ver Notas de carga.

«the fire cannot err; ergo there must be an error in transmission» — la regla de Starkey cuando el experimento contradice al texto.

«Philosophus per ignem ("Philosopher by Fire")» — la autodenominación de Starkey.

«the wise master or praeses who delivers the vera solutio» — el fuego ocupa, en el método de Starkey, el lugar del maestro que preside la disputa escolástica.

«a process so precise and clear as this could be the work only of the careful quantitative mind of a Newton» — el argumento que el libro rechaza: el proceso es de Starkey.

«All matter has weight, and that weight is conserved even in the "final tortures" of the most striking physical and chemical change» — la lectura que hacen del principio helmontiano.

«The Helmontian appreciation of mass balance was an independent development arising mainly out of preexisting traditions.» — la conclusión historiográfica sobre la línea Van Helmont → Lavoisier.

«Homberg's process proves identical to Starkey's in all details.» — el proceso del mercurio sófico reaparece en la Académie Royale des Sciences.

«Starkey likened the antimonial alloy to a "soap" that could "wash out" the heterogeneities of mercury.»

«Iron is no longer a desired ingredient.» — el abandono del regulus marcial en favor del regulus per se.

«Starkey's reliance on God in the laboratory is not to be seen as the product of a visionary fervor.» — la corrección de perspectiva sobre la piedad de laboratorio.

«the natural philosopher will supply the ideas and theoretical frameworks, while the storehouse of the chymists' experiments can be plundered» — su lectura de la relación de Boyle con la química.

«Chemistry is not an armchair activity.» — la primera frase de la conclusión.

«the transformation of one substance into another (generally a more desirable or salable one) is one of the constant themes of alchemy /chymistry/chemistry from late antiquity down to the present day»

«George Starkey's notebooks bear this out with striking clarity.»

«we have re-joined some of the dissevered parts of the broad chymical tradition and argued for early modern chymistry's vitality and independence as a discipline»

«Our contention that rational laboratory practice and methodology provide a locus of continuity between "alchemy" and "chemistry" rather than acting as a new, defining characteristic of the latter»

«Within Starkey's work there is no methodological or epistemological division between the quest for the transmutatory Philosophers' Stone and his other works.»

«It is not as though Starkey worked as a rational "chemist" one day on one project, and then as a "mystic alchemist" the next.»

«There can be no doubt that the unfortunate Mr. B. of this story is none other than Robert Boyle, who had died less than seven years before this Essay Concerning Adepts was published.» — Newman y Principe identifican al Mr. B. del ensayo anónimo de 1698 con Robert Boyle, muerto menos de siete años antes.

«Thus “Philalethes” did in fact interact with Boyle in a very real sense, even if Starkey hid his identity as Philalethes so well that even Boyle never unraveled the disguise.» — la consecuencia que los autores sacan de su adjudicación: el trato con Philalethes fue real, y Boyle nunca supo que era Starkey.

«While Boyle’s chymical experimentalism has long been a subject of study— indeed, it has traditionally been seen as a crucial development in the history of chemistry—we still know relatively little about the practice of laboratory chymistry during or before Boyle’s lifetime.» — los autores sitúan el hueco que su libro va a llenar: el experimentalismo de Boyle está estudiado, la práctica de laboratorio de su tiempo no.

«Hence our knowledge of the sources upon which Boyle (and his chymical successors) were able to draw is likewise curtailed.» — y de ese hueco se sigue, según ellos, que tampoco se sabe de qué fuentes bebía Boyle.

«This image did not arise spontaneously, but resulted in part from the way in which Boyle chose to present himself and his relationship to his chymical forebears.» — los autores adjudican la imagen recibida de Boyle en parte al propio Boyle, por cómo eligió presentarse frente a sus antecesores químicos.

«Although Van Helmont’s importance to seventeenth-century chymical and medical thought has been generally recognized, the details of his influence are not yet fully understood, and the magnitude of his impact remains significantly underappreciated.» — los autores sostienen que a Van Helmont se le concede importancia pero no se le ha medido: ni el detalle de su influencia ni su magnitud.

«As we demonstrate, Starkey’s working laboratory methodology proves to be coherent and sophisticated in several ways.» — la tesis que el libro anuncia sobre el método de laboratorio de Starkey.

«Starkey also developed the quantitative techniques of Helmontian chymistry into labor- saving and cost- monitoring tools intended to improve the industrial eftiiciency of his laboratory.» — los autores adjudican a Starkey el giro de la cuantificación helmontiana hacia el ahorro de trabajo y el control de costos; la grafía corrupta del OCR se conserva, la lectura es efficiency.

«One of his notebooks— devoted to discovering the preparation of the transmutatory Philosophers’ Stone—allows us, also to witness the way a practicing chrysopoeian decoded the wildly allegorical writings of traditional alchemy into laboratory practice.» — el cuaderno de la piedra filosofal es, según los autores, el documento donde se ve a un crisopeyo pasando la alegoría a operaciones de laboratorio.

«Since his return from a Continental grand tour in 1644, the young Boyle had busied himself with the writing of moral and devotional literature.» — a la altura de 1648 el joven Boyle escribía literatura moral y devocional, según los autores; el contraste con Starkey es el punto de partida del libro.

«The writer was the twenty-year-old George Starkey, the Bermuda-born son of a Scottish minister and a recent graduate of the fledgling Harvard College.» — así presentan los autores a Starkey: veinte años, nacido en las Bermudas, hijo de un ministro escocés y recién graduado de Harvard.

«Starkey asked Winthrop to send or lend him some mercury and some antimony as well as chymical glassware and books— including Joan Baptista Van Helmont’s De lithiasi and De febribus, the chrysopoeian works of Jean d’Espagnet, and the four-volume collection Theatrum chymicum.» — lo que Starkey le pedía a Winthrop desde Nueva Inglaterra, según los autores: materia prima, vidrio de laboratorio y los libros de Van Helmont, d'Espagnet y el Theatrum chymicum.

«indeed, he had heard of Starkey’s prowess as a physician and chymist even before the young man had left New England, and entered a report on him in his Ephemerides in early 1650.» — la fama de Starkey como médico y químico llegó a Hartlib antes que el propio Starkey, según los autores, que lo fechan en las Ephemerides de principios de 1650.

«At this point, Starkey had been carrying out experimentation since 1644 and so had seven years of experience behind him, while Boyle’s work in affairs of the laboratory had been under way for just a little over a year; thus, merely in terms of duration, Starkey was the more experienced laboratory worker at the time of their meeting in 1651.» — la cuenta de años con que los autores fijan la asimetría del par en 1651: siete de laboratorio para Starkey, poco más de uno para Boyle.

«At present, however, the key point is that these materials did not arise from Boyle’s own experimentation; rather, they were compendia of other people’s results—items communicated to him by personal contacts, generally within the Hartlib circle.» — los autores sostienen que las colecciones tempranas de Boyle no salen de su propia banca de trabajo sino de resultados ajenos comunicados dentro del círculo de Hartlib.

«Nor do there exist other pieces of evidence that might argue for the existence of Boyle’s own original natural philosophical or medical experimentation during this early period.» — y añaden que no hay otra evidencia que respalde experimentación propia de Boyle en esos años.

«But the situation portrayed in Starkey’s contemporaneous notebooks is quite different. One fragment tells us that he had begun his chymical experimentation while still an undergraduate at Henry Dunster’s Harvard» — del lado de Starkey los cuadernos dicen lo contrario, según los autores: ya experimentaba siendo estudiante en el Harvard de Henry Dunster. La cita se corta antes del entrevero de la nota al pie.

«The same fragment also reveals that Starkey had resumed laboratory work by February 1651 at the latest— within four months of his arrival in England—and probably earlier.» — el mismo fragmento fecha la reanudación del laboratorio de Starkey en Inglaterra a más tardar en febrero de 1651, a cuatro meses de llegar.

«Starkey turned to an extended iatrochemical and technological community in Massachusetts for hands-on instruction.» — los autores sitúan la formación práctica de Starkey en una comunidad iatroquímica y técnica de Massachusetts, no en los libros.

«Starkey was Boyle’s primary tutor in chymistry.» — la adjudicación central del libro sobre la relación entre los dos.

«Indeed, the intervening centuries of history have tended to re-create the ocean that separated them in 1648.» — la imagen con que los autores describen el efecto de la historiografía posterior: recrear entre Starkey y Boyle el océano que los separaba en 1648.

«both Starkey (mostly as Philalethes) and Boyle garnered respect and notoriety for their respective natural philosophical and experimental endeavors; but this situation did not persist.» — en su propio siglo los dos gozaron de renombre, sostienen los autores, y esa paridad no duró.

«On the other hand, the “alchemical” tradition has frequently been thought lacking in important qualities that are seen as characteristic of “modern” laboratory practice—quantification and control, theory- guided practice, practice-informed theory, reproducibility, and so forth.» — los autores enumeran los rasgos que la historiografía le niega a la alquimia y le reserva a la práctica moderna de laboratorio.

«The “revolutionary” appearance of the seventeenth century did not arise solely as a retrospective historical formulation without the cooperation of seventeenth-century thinkers and their champions.» — objetan que el aire revolucionario del siglo XVII no sea solo una construcción retrospectiva: los propios pensadores del siglo colaboraron en ella.

«Boyle often strove to distinguish himself from his predecessors, thus aiding, his subsequent deployment as a point of demarcation between an older alchemy (often characterized as “obscurantist”) and a modern experimental science.» — los autores adjudican a Boyle un esfuerzo deliberado por separarse de sus antecesores, que después sirvió para colocarlo como línea divisoria.

«Boyle’s presentation of himself and his scientific development thus projects both the image of a disinterested and modest natural philosopher and the sense of a thinker who owed little of substance to the foregoing traditions of “the chymists.”» — lo que esa autopresentación proyecta, según los autores: un filósofo natural modesto y desinteresado que casi nada debe a los químicos que lo preceden.

«But Boyle’s self-portrayal can be taken too uncritically; indeed, his writings present a distorted image of his relationship to contemporaneous chymistry and its practitioners.» — el límite que los autores le ponen a esa lectura: los escritos de Boyle distorsionan su relación con la química de su tiempo.

«Boyle’s public attitude toward chymistry actually involves two interrelated aspects: first, a subordination of chymistry to natural philosophy, and second, a posture of independence from previous chymical traditions.» — los autores descomponen en dos la actitud pública de Boyle: subordinar la química a la filosofía natural y posar de independiente frente a las tradiciones químicas.

«Boyle’s publications often display a pattern of accepting the technology and empirical results of contemporaneous chymists while conspicuously rejecting their theories.» — el patrón que los autores le atribuyen: se queda con la técnica y los resultados de los químicos y rechaza sus teorías de manera ostensible.

«This pattern has been largely recapitulated in much of the secondary literature, and in both locales it has had the effect of elevating Boyle’s own status and diminishing that of the foregoing traditions.» — y sostienen que la literatura secundaria repitió el patrón, con el efecto de subir a Boyle y bajar a las tradiciones anteriores.

«It is up to the “naturalists,” as Boyle likes to call genuine natural philosophers such as himself, to reduce the phenomena afforded by chymists into an acceptable natural philosophical order.» — el reparto de papeles que los autores leen en Boyle: el químico entrega fenómenos y el naturalista los ordena filosóficamente.

«Thus, Boyle’s positioning of chymistry both promotes his self-identification as a natural philosopher able to substitute his own philosophical notions in place of the ill-formed theories of the chymists and implies that he is making a fresh start for chymistry by deploying it rightly and philosophically.» — los autores sostienen que ese acomodo le sirve a Boyle para dos cosas a la vez: identificarse como filósofo natural y presentarse como quien empieza la química de nuevo.

«A clear example is Boyle’s debt to the chymical and philosophical writer Daniel Sennert, which shows how a centerpiece of Boyle’s own corpuscular theory had been substantially developed among “the chymists,” of whose “notional parts” Boyle was explicitly dismissive.» — el caso con que los autores lo muestran: la pieza central de la teoría corpuscular de Boyle venía desarrollada entre los químicos de cuyas partes nocionales él se desentendía.

«Despite having begun his career as a fairly orthodox Aristotelian in the mold of Jacopus Zabarella and Benedictus Pereira, Sennert began espousing a frankly atomistic doctrine in 1619, which he developed continually throughout the remainder of his life.» — los autores fechan en 1619 el paso de Sennert del aristotelismo ortodoxo a una doctrina abiertamente atomista.

«Boyle’s essay “Of the Atomicall Philosophy,” which was composed in the early to mid-16s50s and is the earliest expression of his corpuscular theory, relies heavily on Sennert.» — adjudican a Sennert el peso del primer texto corpuscular de Boyle, compuesto a mediados de los años cincuenta.

«It is important to note that Boyle used not only Sennert’s experiments in his own “Atomicall Philosophy,” but also the entire theoretical framework in which Sennert embedded them—namely, a corpuscular theory of matter.» — y precisan que Boyle no toma solo los experimentos de Sennert sino el marco teórico entero en que estaban montados.

«Nonetheless, the Wittenberg iatrochemist’s name appears nowhere in the text even though Boyle begins the treatise by lauding specific figures involved in atomism.» — el silencio que los autores señalan: el tratado abre elogiando a los atomistas por su nombre y el de Sennert no aparece nunca.

«In fact, Boyle here merely reuses Sennert’s own experiment to demonstrate what Sennert had already used it to prove—that there are prima mista (or clusters of elementary atoms) that are themselves indivisible in the ordinary course of nature.» — los autores objetan la novedad: el experimento y la conclusión sobre los prima mista indivisibles ya eran de Sennert.

«Boyle’s protestations that he had “not known [this experiment] used to such a purpose” before, and that it is superior to the “more questionable Experiments of Peripetatics and Chymists” is rhetorical posturing rather than reality.» — y llaman postura retórica, no realidad, a la protesta de originalidad con que Boyle lo presenta.

«This explanation, becomes more likely when we consider many passages where Boyle does cite Sennert, for these suggest that it is specifically his debt to Sennertian atomism that Boyle wishes to gloss over.» — lo que los autores infieren de los pasajes donde Boyle sí cita a Sennert: lo que se calla es específicamente la deuda con su atomismo.

«Boyle is eager to cite Sennert in three capacities—as an authority in medicine, as an Opponent in chymistry, and as a Scholastic.» — los tres papeles en que Boyle sí nombra a Sennert, según los autores: autoridad médica, adversario en química y escolástico.

«Almost nowhere does he appear as an atomist, despite the prominence of atomism in the very works of Sennert that Boyle read and cited.» — y el cuarto, el de atomista, casi no aparece pese a estar en las mismas obras que Boyle leyó y citó.

«For example, the Sceptical Chymist portrays Sennert as “the learnedest champion for the hypostatical principles,” meaning, the three Paracelsian principles Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt, but the very fact that he is the “great champion” of these material principles of mixed bodies makes him philosophically unacceptable since the doctrine of the tria prima is Boyle’s particular target there.» — en el Sceptical Chymist, según los autores, Sennert entra como campeón de los principios hipostáticos justamente para que Boyle tenga a quién refutar.

«In only one of these fifty-two references does Boyle even obliquely acknowledge that Sennert was in fact an atomist or a corpuscularian, and there it is to misrepresent Sennert’s theory as incapable of accommodating the transmutation of metals.» — la cuenta que hacen los autores: de cincuenta y dos referencias a Sennert, una sola roza su atomismo, y para desfigurarlo.

«Boyle read Sennert’s atomistic treatises with extraordinary care, even reprising whole passages, yet without acknowledgment.» — los autores sostienen que Boyle leyó con cuidado extraordinario los tratados atomistas de Sennert y hasta reprodujo párrafos enteros sin decirlo.

«The evidence seems clear then that Boyle intentionally suppressed acknowledgment of the corpuscular theoretical principles of Daniel Sennert, even while praising or blaming Sennert by name in other contexts.» — la adjudicación que sacan de ahí: la supresión fue intencional y convivió con elogios y reproches a Sennert por su nombre.

«Boyle’s debt was not insignificant, since Sennert’s chymistry provided Boyle with both theory and illustrative experiments.» — y miden esa deuda: de Sennert le vinieron a Boyle la teoría y los experimentos que la ilustran.

«The important point for our story is that Boyle’s lack of explicit acknowledgment of such origins for his corpuscular theory gives the appearance of a greater break between him and the foregoing chymical tradition than really was the case.» — el efecto historiográfico que les importa: sin la mención del origen, la ruptura entre Boyle y la tradición química parece mayor de lo que fue.

«Although the full study of Starkey’s influence on the young Boyle is reserved for chapter 5, three examples here will suffice to indicate Boyle’s similar use of Starkey’s chymistry, again with the ettect of obscuring the real linkage between Boyle and his chymical predecessors.» — los autores anuncian que el caso Sennert se repite con Starkey, con el mismo efecto de borrar el vínculo real.

«It must be pointed out, however, that Boyle offers an excuse for not naming informants in the area of chymical medicines.» — los autores registran que Boyle sí ofrece una excusa para no nombrar a sus informantes en materia de medicinas químicas.

«Patients will continue to purchase drugs from a given chymist even if the recipe is published, so long as the published version of the recipe is not connected explicitly with the chymist’s name.» — el argumento de esa excusa, tal como lo resumen: publicar la receta no le quita clientela al químico mientras su nombre no vaya pegado a ella.

«Significantly, at the beginning of the passage Boyle expresses his wonder at the fact that no chymists have yet “taken notice of” this strange phenomenon.» — al presentar la mezcla frigorífica, señalan los autores, Boyle se admira de que ningún químico se hubiera fijado antes en el fenómeno.

«In spite of this clear provenance recorded even in Boyle’s own private papers, in print Boyle claims the discovery of this phenomenon for himself, and even expresses his wonder that “no chymist” had ever noted it previously.» — los autores contraponen los papeles privados de Boyle a lo impreso: la procedencia estaba anotada y aun así reclamó el hallazgo y se asombró de que ningún químico lo hubiera visto.

«Once again, Boyle is consciously and publicly severing (or concealing) his links to earlier chymistry.» — la adjudicación que repiten: el corte con la química anterior es consciente y público.

«In his Philosophical Transactions paper Boyle states that he first acquired the mysterious substance “about the year 1652,” correlating strikingly with the period of his correspondence with Starkey.» — la coincidencia de fechas que los autores hacen valer: Boyle data la adquisición de la sustancia hacia 1652, los años de su correspondencia con Starkey.

«Boyle published an account of this mercury in the Philosophical Transactions in 1676. As has recently been demonstrated, however, the recipe for this substance came from none other than George Starkey,» — y adjudican a Starkey la receta del mercurio que Boyle publicó en 1676 en las Philosophical Transactions.

«Thus Boyle claims—like a good Baconian—that he is freer from prepossessed theoretical principles than the average chymist; the reason for this is that he was taught chymical operations not by educated chymists but by “illiterate persons.”» — el argumento baconiano con que Boyle se declara menos prejuiciado que el químico común: no aprendió de químicos letrados.

«Of course, Boyle’s claim to such independence is overstated in the extreme.» — los autores objetan esa independencia sin matizarla.

«So again we find Boyle denying his indebtedness not only to specific individuals, but to the whole of antecedent chymical tradition» — y extienden la negación de Boyle de los individuos a la tradición química entera.

«There is thus clear evidence that, despite claims to the contrary, Boyle did adopt scientific theories and processes from the preexisting chymical tradition, and that he did so without acknowledgment.» — el balance del capítulo, en su formulación: Boyle tomó teorías y procesos de la química previa sin reconocerlo.

«Such practice was, however, not unusual in the period, particularly in chymistry itself.» — el límite que los propios autores le ponen al cargo: la apropiación callada era corriente en la época, y más en química.

«As noted above, Boyle obtained the method of preparing it from Starkey in 1651 but published an account of it as his own in 1674.» — el intervalo que documentan en un caso concreto: método recibido de Starkey en 1651, publicado como propio en 1674.

«Two celebrated humanists of the sixteenth century, Joseph Justus Scaliger and Justus Lipsius, have both been shown by modern scholarship to have lifted substantial parts of their work from previous, unnamed authors, even while» — el paralelo humanista con que sitúan la práctica: Scaliger y Lipsius levantaron partes sustanciales de autores que no nombraron.

«Hence the Latin poet Martial transformed the word plagiarius (“kidnapper”) into a term of abuse for one who abducted another’s literary work wholesale by affixing his own name to it.» — el origen del término que los autores rastrean: Marcial convirtió plagiarius, el que roba niños, en insulto para el que le pone su nombre a obra ajena.

«The business of improvement was often viewed as a sort of rivalry between the imitator and his source; hence, the imitator was encouraged to name his source openly so that the reader could make an accurate comparison.» — la norma clásica de la imitación, según los autores: se nombraba la fuente porque la comparación era parte de la competencia.

«Hence plagiarism in the sense of unacknowledged borrowing was little criticized, although base imitation and wholesale theft of books and poems continued to be held in disrepute.» — los autores separan dos cosas que hoy se confunden: el préstamo sin crédito apenas se reprochaba, la copia servil y el robo entero sí.

«Ben Jonson used “plagiary” in public quarrels with the “poetasters” John Marston and Thomas Dekker, where it was again servile copying and wholesale theft that were condemned.» — el uso del término en las peleas de Ben Jonson con Marston y Dekker, donde lo condenado seguía siendo copiar al pie y robar en bloque.

«Historians of literature agree that by the time of Boyle’s literary production, the use of the English term was beginning to approximate the modern one.» — para cuando Boyle escribe, sostienen los autores apoyándose en los historiadores de la literatura, el término inglés ya se acercaba al sentido moderno.

«Yet even John Milton’s Ezkonoklastes (1649), which made devastating use of the fact that Charles I’s gallows prayer was plagiarized from Philip Sidney, still condoned imitation that “seem’d to vie with the Original.”» — el contraejemplo que traen: Milton denuncia el plagio de la oración de Carlos I y aun así absuelve la imitación que compite con el original. La grafía del título es la del facsímil, por Eikonoklastes.

«Charles’s twofold sin was not that he copied without acknowledgment, but that the borrowing was taken from a “vain amatorious Poem” rather than a worthy one, and that his copying was “not better’d by the borrower.”» — y precisan de qué se le acusaba: no de copiar sin crédito, sino de copiar de una fuente indigna y de no mejorarla.

«Such accusations (and the related interest in priority) were rife in the environs of the early Royal Society.» — los autores sitúan el ambiente en que Boyle publica: acusaciones de plagio y disputas de prioridad por todas partes.

«What is really quite striking is the great emphasis that Boyle and his publisher put on the simple presentation of an experiment—a premium is placed on priority and ownership in the discovery of a simple “matter of fact.”» — lo que les llama la atención es el precio que Boyle y su editor le ponen a la propiedad de un simple hecho experimental.

«Boyle first excuses his loquacity in naming what he has borrowed from other authors, citing a phrase from Pliny to the effect that it is noble to acknowledge one’s sources.» — los autores registran la posición pública contraria de Boyle, que se disculpa por lo mucho que nombra a sus fuentes y se ampara en Plinio.

«Here Boyle insists on the explicit identification of sources by name; otherwise authors will lack an incentive for publishing their work and the public will suffer.» — y el argumento con que la sostiene: sin crédito nominal nadie tendría incentivo para publicar y el público perdería.

«The public Boyle, unlike Milton, is not willing to excuse borrowed work even if it has been “better’d by the borrower.”» — la comparación con que cierran el contraste: el Boyle público no admite la excusa que Milton todavía concedía.

«Boyle’s treatment of his chymical debts hinges on the way he wished to present himself to the world.» — la explicación que los autores adoptan para la distancia entre lo que Boyle predica y lo que practica.

«His lack of acknowledgment of the German physician and natural philosopher, coupled with his explicit allegiance to Gassendi, Descartes, Magnenus, and Digby, suggests that he was keen to link himself to the corpuscularian avant-garde of the “New Science,” as opposed to the Scholastic Aristotelianism of Sennert.» — y su lectura del silencio sobre Sennert: sirve para pegarse a la vanguardia corpuscular de Gassendi, Descartes, Magnenus y Digby.

«In the case of his claim to priority in observing the cooling power of sal ammoniac, however, no medical trade was involved.» — los autores cierran la excusa comercial: en la prioridad sobre el poder refrigerante del sal amoníaco no había ningún oficio médico que proteger.

«Similarly, the incalescent mercury paper not only announces a strange phenomenon, but broadcasts Boyle’s prowess in the realm of chrysopoeia to the world of adepts,» — y leen el escrito sobre el mercurio incalescente como aviso al mundo de los adeptos de que Boyle sabía de crisopeya.

«This failure to acknowledge his debts cannot be explained away solely as part of a Baconian program aimed at presenting, himself as one who was not “prepossess’d with any theory or principles,” since these borrowings from Starkey were of a practical rather than a theoretical nature, and analogous borrowing occurred in nonscientific areas as well.» — objetan que el silencio se explique solo por el programa baconiano de presentarse sin teoría previa: lo tomado de Starkey era práctico, no teórico.

«On the other hand, Boyle’s same commitment to natural philosophy required that natural philosophical authors be able to publish their observations without fear of losing their priority or authority through theft, and this required a reconceptualization of early modern ideas of intellectual property.» — el otro lado del mismo compromiso, según los autores: para que se publique hace falta que nadie pierda la prioridad, y eso obliga a repensar la propiedad intelectual.

«In the end, these two results of a single commitment to natural philosophy turned out to conflict.» — y la contradicción a que eso lleva dentro de Boyle.

«Yet in spite of his manifest importance in areas as diverse as medicine, chymistry, and mineralogy, the obscurity of Van Helmont’s writing style has left him a rather shadowy figure in the existing secondary literature.» — los autores atribuyen a la oscuridad del estilo de Van Helmont que siga siendo una figura borrosa en la literatura secundaria, pese a su peso en medicina, química y mineralogía.

«Although he has discovered nothing about the physical world, the goal of his “experimentation”—the perfection of his own inner self—has been partially attained.» — así retratan los autores la lectura espiritual que van a discutir: el laboratorio no averigua nada del mundo físico porque su fin es el perfeccionamiento interior del operador.

«Within the psychologizing view, Jung came to call this process “active imagination,” a form of meditation that could result in the visual projection of the unconscious in the form of vivid hallucinations.» — así describen los autores la pieza junguiana de esa lectura: una meditación que proyecta el inconsciente en alucinaciones visuales.

«clothed in “scientific” language by writers on psychology and comparative religion, such as Carl Gustav Jung and Mircea Eliade.» — la genealogía que trazan para la alquimia espiritual: nace en el ocultismo del XIX y la psicología y la religión comparada le ponen después vocabulario científico.

«In either case, it matters little whether the ingredients within the alchemical vessels are metallic, mineral, or vegetable, nor are their quantities of particular importance.» — en el retrato de esa lectura, ni la naturaleza de los ingredientes ni sus cantidades cuentan para nada.

«The alchemist is not engaged in chemical experimentation as such—instead the vague matter within his flask serves as the focal point for nonmaterial processes.» — y el matraz queda reducido a punto de enfoque de procesos inmateriales; ésa es la posición que el libro va a discutir.

«While one cannot (and would not wish to) deny that alchemy is replete with a singular lushness of symbolism and overlapping levels of meaning or that it presents important resonances with religious speculations, it does not follow that this arises from hallucination, unbridled imagination, or a predominant focus on the spiritual to the exclusion or diminution of the kind of laboratory operations we have come to view as a property of “chemistry.”» — los autores conceden la espesura simbólica de la alquimia y sus resonancias religiosas, y objetan el salto de ahí a la alucinación.

«alchemy is nothing but the manipulation of such symbolism or texts without reference to laboratory activities. Yet the widespread stress on the “otherness” of alchemy tends to support the view that alchemists in their laboratories were not focused on material substances and their actual transformations and even that these alchemists acted more or less haphazardly or randomly in their operations.» — lo que arrastra, según ellos, el énfasis en la otredad de la alquimia: dar por hecho que en el laboratorio nadie atendía a la materia ni operaba con orden.

«Not only did alchemy involve considerable laboratory experience and practice in a general sense, but many alchemists were even deeply concerned with testing; some employed a kind of quantitative method that is both akin to the later traditions of chemistry and quite alien to the image of alchemists as primarily seekers of an unio mystica.» — la contraposición central del capítulo: muchos alquimistas se ocupaban de ensayar, y algunos con un método cuantitativo emparentado con la química posterior.

«The pervasiveness of this cliché has meant that even some historians of chemistry have adopted it in varying degrees.» — los autores sostienen que el lugar común caló hasta en historiadores de la química.

«Hence technical processes concerned with the refining of metals from ores and their subsequent testing for purity are often automatically consigned by modern historians to the realm of “mineralogical” and “metallurgical” literature, in distinction to alchemy.» — y señalan el efecto de reparto: el afinado de metales y el ensayo de pureza se archivan como mineralogía o metalurgia para dejarlos fuera de la alquimia.

«it is not the case that alchemists were unconcerned with the purification, testing, and exact measurement of their own materials.» — la negativa con que cierran: los alquimistas sí se ocupaban de purificar, ensayar y medir con exactitud sus materiales.

«But what is clear is that Michael Scotus is deeply interested in correctly identifying and classifying salts using an empirical test.» — los autores adjudican a Michael Scotus un interés declarado por identificar y clasificar sales mediante una prueba empírica.

«Were he uninterested in the true identity and composition of substances, such a test would be otiose.» — y sacan de ahí el argumento: si la identidad real de las sustancias le diera igual, la prueba no tendría objeto.

«The testing and discrimination of different salts by medieval alchemists shows not only that they were interested in systematic experimental means for distinguishing substances on qualitative grounds, but also that they had developed effective methods for doing so.» — la conclusión que extienden al conjunto: los alquimistas medievales querían distinguir sustancias por vía experimental y tenían con qué.

«The Ars alchemie then provides a test with glowing coals (used some ten times in all) as a means of distinguishing these three forms of niter as well as identifying other salts.» — la prueba de los carbones encendidos del Ars alchemie, empleada una decena de veces para separar tres formas de nitro y otras sales.

«One of the most influential alchemical works available to the Latins of the High Middle Ages was the De anima in arte alkimiae, attributed falsely to the Persian philosopher Avicenna (d. 1037).» — los autores consignan el De anima in arte alkimiae como pseudoepígrafe: la atribución a Avicena es falsa y así lo dicen.

«Seven tests are given for gold; these include attempting its dissolution in “salts” (if it dissolves it is artificial gold), the use of the touchstone, weight (if the gold is heavier or lighter in specie than normal gold it is fake), loss of its color when fired, ability to sublime, boiling upon fusion, and taste.» — los siete ensayos del pseudo-Avicena para el oro, entre ellos la disolución en sales, la piedra de toque, el peso en especie y el sabor.

«In all of these, the goal is to distinguish natural gold from artificial gold in order to measure the success of the alchemist.» — y el fin que les asignan: separar el oro natural del artificial para medir si el alquimista logró algo.

«Not only does Paul relate the weight of lead that must be added to make the process work, he even describes the blowpipe that is used to remove the litharge (lead oxides) from the surface of the molten metal.» — el detalle operativo que los autores destacan en Paul of Taranto: el peso de plomo que hace falta y el soplete con que se retira la litargirio.

«As the author points out in another passage, this process was capable of separating the noble metals from the base but could not be used to isolate gold from silver.» — con su límite dicho en la misma obra: la copelación separa los nobles de los viles y no sirve para apartar el oro de la plata.

«The De perfecto magisterio, an important early thirteenth-century work misattributed to either Aristotle or Razi, gives a clear description of the process.» — otra atribución que los autores consignan como errónea: el De perfecto magisterio circuló bajo el nombre de Aristóteles o de Razi y no es de ninguno.

«The Summa’s concern with testing culminates at the end of the text with a battery of assays including cupellation and cementation along with a number of others.» — los autores describen el cierre de la Summa perfectionis como una batería de ensayos, copelación y cementación entre ellos.

«The Summa notes, for example, that lead has a specific gravity closer to gold than that of any other metal, and that silver has a specific gravity less than that of gold.» — el dato gravimétrico que la Summa maneja: el plomo es el metal cuya gravedad específica más se acerca a la del oro, y la de la plata queda por debajo.

«It is worth reiterating that all of these tests occur within an alchemical text geared substantially toward the goal of the transmutation of metals.» — el punto que los autores insisten en repetir: todos esos ensayos están dentro de un texto orientado a la transmutación de los metales.

«Geber claims that tin is composed of a fixed (i.e., nonvolatile) white sulphur, an unfixed (i.e., volatile) white sulphur, a fixed quicksilver, and an unfixed quicksilver.» — la composición que la Summa asigna al estaño: azufre blanco fijo y no fijo, mercurio fijo y no fijo. La obra se atribuye a Geber y los autores la tratan como pseudoepígrafe latino.

«The Summa’s experimental use of assaying tests to determine the nature of the metals is evident already in the definitions that Geber gives to them.» — los autores sostienen que en la Summa el ensayo no sirve solo para tasar sino para averiguar la naturaleza de los metales, y que eso ya está en sus definiciones.

«How does he know the lost component was unfixed quicksilver rather than unfixed sulphur? Because he can induce the same creak by adding normal volatile quicksilver to a metal that lacks it, namely lead.» — el razonamiento experimental que los autores reconstruyen: el crujido perdido se identifica como mercurio volátil porque se reproduce añadiéndolo a un metal que no lo tiene.

«But the author is not satisfied with having demonstrated the mere presence of fixed and unfixed principles in tin; he wants to determine the relative quantity of mercury and sulphur.» — y subrayan que la Summa no se conforma con mostrar que los principios están: quiere la cantidad relativa de cada uno.

«The ready amalgamation of tin with quicksilver allows Geber to conclude that it, like gold, is composed primarily of that principle.» — la amalgamación como indicador cuantitativo: el estaño se amalgama con facilidad, luego es sobre todo mercurio.

«Copper and iron, on the other hand, because they amalgamate only with difficulty, must contain less quicksilver than tin.» — y el reverso del mismo indicador para el cobre y el hierro, que se amalgaman con dificultad.

«Although these gravimetric concerns are not privileged over qualitative indicators such as melting point and resistance to corrosion, they form an important part of the medieval alchemist’s experimental armory.» — la medida con su límite: lo gravimétrico no manda sobre los indicadores cualitativos, pero forma parte del arsenal del alquimista medieval.

«More specifically, these aspects of alchemical practice throw any notion that alchemists did not make much use of the balance into doubt.» — la consecuencia historiográfica que sacan: la idea de que los alquimistas apenas usaban la balanza queda en duda.

«The earliest positively identified illustration of an encased analytical balance is found in an alchemical text—specifically Thomas Norton’s (1433?- c. 1513) Ordinall of Alchimy, a treatise dealing with the production of the transmutatory Philosophers’ Stone.» — el dato con que los autores atan la balanza de precisión a la alquimia: la primera ilustración identificada de una balanza analítica encajada está en el Ordinall of Alchimy de Thomas Norton.

«Since this manuscript was copied during Norton’s lifetime, and probably under his direct supervision, the manuscript illuminations command more authority than is common with many other alchemical illustrations.» — y le dan autoridad porque el manuscrito se copió en vida de Norton y probablemente bajo su vigilancia, cosa rara en la iconografía alquímica.

«From this one can see that even in the mid—fourteenth century, it was recognized that a precise balance must be relatively light, that is, have a beam of low mass.» — lo que los autores leen en la ordenanza de Felipe VI: a mediados del siglo XIV ya se sabía que una balanza precisa pide un brazo ligero.

«The surprising degree of precision implied by the ordonnance of Philip VI and by Norton’s illustration is less remarkable if we accept the evidence that medieval alchemy and assaying were closely linked, since assayers are necessarily concerned with careful determinations of quantity.» — y le quitan rareza al dato aceptando el vínculo entre alquimia y ensaye medieval, oficio que por fuerza mide con cuidado.

«Even in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, alchemy was closely conjoined with the technology of purifying and testing metals.» — los autores prolongan ese vínculo hasta la primera modernidad.

«Any attempt to dissociate alchemy from this tradition would prove fruitless, for even the earliest works. in this genre, such as the Nutelich Bergbuchley(n) of Ruelein von Kalbe (1505), openly acknowledge their debt to alchemical sources.» — y lo cierran con la literatura minera alemana, que desde el Bergbüchlein de 1505 reconoce por escrito su deuda con fuentes alquímicas.

«The goal is to isolate the “volatile gold” within the regulus (originating from the iron used in its production), which will eventually be turned into “potable gold” — the desired medicinal arcanum.» — el fin del proceso de Alexander von Suchten según los autores: sacar del regulus el oro volátil para convertirlo en oro potable.

«This was a crucial desideratum of chrysopoeians, since it was commonly believed that the process for making the Philosophers’ Stone must begin with such a dissolution of gold into its principles.» — por qué eso importaba a los crisopeyos: se tenía por creencia común que la piedra empieza disolviendo el oro en sus principios.

«Indeed, Suchten’s antimonial mercury was one starting basis of George Starkey’s own alchemical practice, and we shall have cause to return to this theme later.» — los autores anuncian el hilo que atraviesa el libro: el mercurio antimonial de Suchten es una de las bases de la práctica de Starkey.

«But Suchten’s main interest lies in the realm of Paracelsian iatrochemistry, not metallic transmutation; although a section of his second treatise deals with chrysopoeia, he ultimately rejects it in favor of medicinal preparations.» — y acotan a Suchten: su interés está en la iatroquímica paracelsiana, y acaba desechando la crisopeya por las preparaciones medicinales.

«His conclusion, moreover, that antimonial silver is really nothing but a “mercury” that has temporarily acquired the appearance ofa solid metal will lead him to denounce transmutational alchemy in general.» — los autores encadenan el resultado con la postura: de ahí sale la denuncia general de Suchten contra la alquimia transmutatoria.

«Suchten’s denunciation of alchemia transmutatoria emerges from the failure of his alchemical metals to pass the complete battery of assaying tests known to him.» — y precisan el origen de esa denuncia: los metales no pasaron la batería completa de ensayos que él conocía.

«What is truly remarkable, however, is that according to Suchten, the antimonial gold received the approval of a professional goldsmith but failed the more stringent tests employed by the would-be chrysopoeian himself.» — el detalle que los autores subrayan: el oro antimonial pasó el examen de un orfebre profesional y no el del propio aspirante a crisopeyo.

«Suchten was not content with the judgment of Master Hans the goldsmith, who seems to have based his decision on qualitative determinations such as color, resistance to cutting, streak left on the touchstone, and malleability.» — lo que Suchten no aceptaba del orfebre, según los autores: un dictamen fundado en color, dureza al corte, raya en la piedra de toque y maleabilidad.

«Suchten points out, was exactly the amount of gold that his friend had added to the antimony regulus in the beginning in order to convert it into “gold.”» — el balance de masas que cierra el caso: lo recuperado era exactamente el oro que se le había añadido al regulus al principio.

«Although we have argued that quantity of ingredients was an important concern of medieval alchemists and that they dealt with issues of specific gravity, there is little evidence that they made comparative weighings of the ingredients that went into their reactions and the products that came out, except for the purpose of detecting failed transmutations.» — los autores acotan su propia tesis: sostienen que la cantidad importaba a los alquimistas medievales y admiten que hay poca evidencia de pesadas comparativas entre ingredientes y productos.

«Although Geber explicitly lists increase or decrease of weight upon heating as an indicator of false gold, he expresses little interest in such determinations during his analyses of metallic principles.» — el caso de la Summa: el peso figura como indicador de oro falso y casi no reaparece en el análisis de los principios metálicos.

«But the case is quite different with Suchten, for the Prussian iatrochemist was eager to demonstrate the nature of his Philosophical Mercury by means of quantitative analysis.» — el contraste que los autores establecen: Suchten sí quería probar por análisis cuantitativo la naturaleza de su mercurio filosófico.

«Yet here we encounter a critical difference as well—Suchten is more keenly concerned with the exact weights of his initial and final products than was Geber.» — y ahí ponen la diferencia crítica con la alquimia medieval: la atención a los pesos exactos de partida y de llegada.

«But as we have seen, assaying was an integral part of alchemy at least from the Middle Ages, and medieval alchemical texts served as one of the primary means of disseminating such practical knowledge in the Latin West.» — los autores sostienen que el ensaye fue parte de la alquimia desde la Edad Media y que los textos alquímicos difundieron ese saber práctico en el Occidente latino.

«But Suchten advises that the ash first be weighed, and he hints obliquely that its weight should be compared to that of the black powder (see accompanying text and table).» — la instrucción gravimétrica de Suchten, según los autores: pesar la ceniza y compararla con el polvo negro, dicho a medias palabras.

«But a further, newer influence of note on Suchten is the view of chymistry as spagyria, the art of analysis, pioneered by Theophrastus von Hohenheim, called Paracelsus (1493-1541).» — la otra influencia que los autores le adjudican a Suchten: la química como spagyria, arte de análisis, en la línea de Paracelso.

«Suchten first amalgamates quicksilver with an alloy of antmony regulus and silver; this process leads to the expulsion of a combustible, black powder that Suchten views as containing the Sulphur of the regulus.» — el arranque del procedimiento reconstruido por los autores: la amalgama expulsa un polvo negro combustible que Suchten toma por el azufre del regulus.

«Weighing this ash allows Suchten to determine the amount of Sulphur that was separated out of the regulus during its amalgamation and washing.» — y el papel de la balanza en él: la ceniza pesada da la cantidad de azufre que salió del regulus.

«The scion of a noble Flemish line, Joan Baptista Van Helmont studied at the University of Louvain during the 1590s, but initially refused to take a degree because of his growing disillusionment.» — así presentan a Van Helmont: noble flamenco, estudiante en Lovaina en los años noventa del siglo XVI, que al principio rehusó graduarse por desengaño.

«Despite this concession to the learned culture of his day, Van Helmont remained an inveterate opponent of the disputational techniques that formed the basis of academic training.» — y le adjudican una hostilidad duradera a la técnica disputatoria que sostenía la formación académica.

«Like Plotinus and his followers, Van Helmont viewed the intuitive revelation of knowledge by intellect to be a godlike, instantaneous act, as opposed to the temporal process of logical argumentation, which proceeds by means of sequential propositions and proofs.» — la epistemología que los autores le atribuyen: el intelecto conoce por revelación instantánea, a diferencia del proceso temporal de la argumentación lógica.

«Indeed, for Van Helmont, reason was not the defining characteristic or the highest faculty of human beings; even animals possessed reason.» — y el lugar que la razón ocupa en ella, que no es el más alto: los animales también la tienen.

«It was intellect that represented the height of human nature and the image of God in man.» — el intelecto, en cambio, es lo más alto de la naturaleza humana y la imagen de Dios en el hombre, según lo leen los autores.

«Van Helmont’s dreams and desire for the union that brings true insight did not inhibit his ability as a vigilant laboratory practitioner, any more than the spectacular dreams of Descartes provided obstacles to his geometry.» — la corrección de perspectiva que los autores proponen, con Descartes de comparación: los sueños de Van Helmont no le estorbaron para trabajar en el laboratorio.

«Van Helmont’s attack on mathesis was not a wholesale rejection of mathematics in the study of the world, but only as it was applied in the Scholastic medicine still taught in early modern universities, and as he surely encountered it at Louvain.» — y el límite exacto de su rechazo de la matemática: no la matemática en el estudio del mundo, sino su uso en la medicina escolástica que se enseñaba en la universidad.

«Already one can see the scorn that Van Helmont hopes to throw on university medicine—the “axioms” underline the contrast between Scholastic claims to quantitative certainty and the fact that the academic physicians cannot actually measure the quantities of the four elemental humors, blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile.» — los autores leen en esos axiomas el desprecio de Van Helmont por la medicina universitaria: proclama certeza cuantitativa y no sabe medir los humores.

«Van Helmont goes on to argue that despite the university doctors’ claim that good health consists in a proper measure (synmetria) of the four humors, they cannot even demonstrate that the two biles actually exist naturally in the human body.» — y su cargo más fuerte, según lo resumen: los doctores hablan de la debida proporción de los cuatro humores sin poder mostrar que las dos bilis existan de manera natural en el cuerpo.

«In fact, according to Van Helmont, these physicians actually cause the production of bile within the body by administering poisonous purges such as scammony, which liquefy and putrefy the body’s internal structure and cause the expulsion of this supposed bile as an artifact.» — la acusación va más lejos: las purgas venenosas fabrican la bilis que luego se expulsa, de modo que el hallazgo es artefacto del método.

«Their tables of bloodletting, governed by the phases of the moon, and their calculations of the “climacteric period,” along with the foregoing, are all “incorrect borrowings of Pythagorean numbers,” from whose tedium Van Helmont hopes to be excused.» — las tablas de sangría y el periodo climatérico quedan, en su cuenta, como préstamos mal hechos de la numerología pitagórica.

«He would later claim in the Ortus medicinac that even the prima materia of the Aristotelians is a pseudomathematical entity, being a pure abstraction without body, a sort of a dimensionless being, pure quantity without any given quantity.» — y en el Ortus extiende el cargo a la prima materia aristotélica, pura abstracción sin cuerpo. La grafía del título es la del facsímil.

«Since Van Helmont rejects the Aristotelian notion that each element is characterized by a pairing of elemental qualities, it follows that the tactile and sensory qualities that are supposed to flow from them are also fruitless tools in the hands of the Scholastics.» — la consecuencia que los autores encadenan: si caen los pares de cualidades elementales, caen también las cualidades sensibles como herramienta escolástica.

«Yet there is more to Van Helmont’s critique than a rebuff of premature abstraction and a dislike of ineffectual calculation in the fashion of Francis Bacon.» — los autores advierten que no basta leer a Van Helmont como un Bacon que desconfía de la abstracción prematura.

«At the root of his attack lies the belief that the Aristotelian approach adopted by physicians is irretrievably superficial and artificial.» — la raíz que le encuentran: el modo aristotélico de los médicos le parece superficial y artificial sin remedio.

«Van Helmont’s association here of Aristotelian natural philosophy with the artificiality of the plastic arts like sculpture is striking.» — y les llama la atención el emparejamiento: filosofía natural aristotélica y artes plásticas en el mismo saco de lo artificial.

«Key to understanding Van Helmont’s point is the fact that throughout the Ortus medicinae, the Belgian philosopher links this position implicitly to the Aristotelian principle that in cases of efficient causality, the mover must be in contact with the moved (Physics VII 2 243a 12-17), the principle that forbids action at a distance.» — la clave que ofrecen para entenderlo: en el Ortus la posición va atada al principio aristotélico de que el motor debe tocar lo movido.

«Therefore, according to Van Helmont, Aristotelian natural philosophy, in its ignorance of the semina and archeus, reduces much of nature to the status of an artifact, that is, something that has no internal principle of motion or change, but must receive motions from the contact of external agents.» — de ahí el cargo final: por ignorar los semina y el archeus, la filosofía aristotélica convierte buena parte de la naturaleza en artefacto que solo se mueve por contacto externo.

«Now the proper way to analyze artifacts, or rather machines, is according to the rules of simple mechanics, such as the law of the lever.» — la mitad que Van Helmont sí le concede a la matemática, según los autores: el artefacto, o más bien la máquina, se analiza por la mecánica simple.

«But this geometrical approach to motion, Van Helmont claims, while quite appropriate for “examples drawn from artificial things,” does not apply to the natural actions of the archeus.» — y la mitad que le niega: ese tratamiento geométrico del movimiento vale para lo artificial y no para lo que hace el archeus.

«Therefore, by Van Helmont’s rather obscure logic, Aristotelian science, insisting on the need for contact between the mover and the moved, has reduced the world to a mere machine governed by laws of mathematics.» — los autores reconstruyen el paso y lo llaman oscuro: exigir contacto entre motor y movido deja el mundo reducido a máquina regida por leyes matemáticas.

«Mathematical methods are properly applicable to machines and to those aspects of natural bodies that involve spatial measurement.» — el reparto que los autores dejan asentado: lo matemático rige las máquinas y aquello de los cuerpos naturales que se mide en el espacio.

«At the same time, however, natural bodies have internal principles such as the semina and archeus that—unlike machines—need not act by the principles of contact mechanics, and so mathematics alone is inadequate for their understanding.» — y su límite: los semina y el archeus no operan por mecánica de contacto, así que la matemática sola no alcanza para entenderlos.

«This distinction underlies much of Van Helmont’s chymistry, which distinguishes the mere mechanical grinding and spatial translation of corpuscles from the “deep connection” and “marriage” of substances» — los autores hacen de esa distinción el cimiento de la química helmontiana, que separa la molienda mecánica de corpúsculos del matrimonio profundo de las sustancias.

«Van Helmont explicitly denied that water could be analyzed—physically separated— into its three principles.» — la negativa que los autores registran: el agua no se puede separar físicamente en sus tres principios.

«Since the three principles of water cannot be separated by analysis, their very existence must be conjectured on the basis of water’s activity, Van Helmont asserts, in the same way that premodern astronomers postulated the existence of eccentrics or epicycles from the apparent motions of the planets.» — y el estatuto que entonces les queda, en la analogía del propio Van Helmont: se conjeturan por la actividad del agua como los astrónomos postulaban excéntricas y epiciclos.

«Van Helmont’s explanation of the superficial changes that water can undergo hinges on the idea that this element consists of corpuscles made up of the three principles—Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt.» — el modelo corpuscular que los autores le atribuyen para los cambios superficiales del agua: corpúsculos compuestos de mercurio, azufre y sal.

«Since Sulphur is a “dry” principle, the water solidifies (“dries”) into ice, and because of the extenuation of the corpuscles that occurs during this internal rearrangement, the resultant ice is less dense (specifically lighter) than the water from which it froze.» — la explicación del hielo dentro de ese modelo: el azufre seca, los corpúsculos se extenúan y el hielo sale menos denso que el agua de que viene.

«The point of Van Helmont’s analysis of vaporization and the production of gas is that changes of state are superficial physical processes, in which no real substantial change occurs—“no mutation of essence occurs where there is only local division and extraversion of particles.”» — el punto que los autores subrayan: para Van Helmont los cambios de estado son físicos y superficiales, sin mutación de esencia.

«Van Helmont’s goal in postulating an inversion of the water corpuscles’ principles is precisely to explain in physical rather than chemical terms the striking changes observed in the freezing, vaporization, and sublimation of water.» — y el porqué de la inversión de los principios en el corpúsculo: explicar congelación, vaporización y sublimación en términos físicos y no químicos.

«Indeed, this is how water can be the basic substratum of all other matter: the action of semina radically converts water into all the various substances in the world.» — la pieza que sostiene el sistema, según los autores: el agua es sustrato de todo porque los semina la convierten de raíz en cada sustancia.

«Thus the useful application of mathematics is restricted to the explanation of superficial change.» — y el lugar que le queda a la matemática dentro de él: explicar el cambio superficial.

«We must note, however, that Van Helmont’s idea of a “chymical change” is considerably more restricted than our own analogous division between physical and chemical changes.» — los autores advierten contra la lectura anacrónica: lo que Van Helmont llama cambio químico es mucho más estrecho que nuestra división entre físico y químico.

«Only when the change is so radical that the original substances cannot be recovered—owing to the intervention of new semina or the mortification of the old semina—does Van Helmont consider a true chymical change to have taken place.» — el criterio exacto que le atribuyen: solo hay cambio químico cuando las sustancias de partida ya no se recuperan, por semina nuevos o por mortificación de los viejos.

«For example, the dissolution of gold in aqua regia into a transparent yellow liquid is not a genuine chymical change for Van Helmont, because the original gold may be recovered from the solution unchanged by precipitating it with salt of tartar (potassium carbonate).» — el caso que lo ilustra: disolver oro en agua regia no es cambio químico porque el oro vuelve intacto al precipitarlo con sal de tártaro.

«Since all laboratory processes where the initial ingredients are recoverable are to Van Helmont examples of superficial change rather than genuine mutation, it follows that his chymistry leaves considerable room for explanation in terms of atoms and corpuscles that undergo no alteration other than change of place.» — la consecuencia que los autores sacan para la lectura corpuscular de Van Helmont: todo proceso reversible cae del lado superficial y admite explicación por átomos y corpúsculos.

«Now finally we can see that Van Helmont’s attack on mathesis does not entail a wholesale rejection of the mathematical approach to nature as such; rather, it involves an extraordinary critique of Aristotelianism as a misapplication of mathematics to nature.» — la conclusión del tramo: el ataque a la mathesis no es contra el trato matemático de la naturaleza sino contra el aristotelismo por aplicarlo donde no toca.

«A Scholastic medicine that employs excessive “geometrical” abstraction based on fictive humors, engages in useless calculations, and ignores the action of the all-important semina must be avoided.» — lo que en esa cuenta hay que evitar: una medicina escolástica de humores ficticios, cálculos inútiles y ceguera ante los semina.

«Instead of studying the distorted geometrical method of the schools, students should apply themselves to practical and descriptive mathematical sciences that can be put to genuine use in their proper domains.» — y lo que Van Helmont propone en su lugar: matemáticas prácticas y descriptivas, aplicadas en su propio terreno.

«All of this, and more, should be taught by “practical demonstration of the fire” (demonstratione Ignis mechanica), not by “mere logical description” (#uda Logismi descriptione).» — la divisa pedagógica que los autores le atribuyen: enseñar por demostración práctica del fuego y no por descripción lógica. La grafía corrupta del latín es la del facsímil, por nuda.

«What Van Helmont has in mind here is chymical analysis, the spagyria of the Paracelsians, but with attention paid to quantitas as well as quidditas.» — y en qué consiste esa demostración: el análisis químico de los paracelsistas, con atención puesta en la cantidad además de la quididad.

«It is analysis performed in conjunction with a careful quantitative measurement of weight that will provide “a mathematical demonstration stronger than any syllogism.”» — el peso de la balanza en el argumento, en la formulación del propio Van Helmont que los autores traducen.

«Van Helmont’s principle that weight, along with matter, is always conserved, although the significance of this distinction might be easily missed by moderns inured to the Newtonian synonymity of matter and mass.» — los autores enuncian el principio y avisan de la distinción que un lector moderno puede pasar por alto, acostumbrado a identificar materia y masa.

«Van Helmont argues for the conservation of weight in the context of his belief that all things are made from water.» — y sitúan la conservación del peso dentro de su creencia de que todo está hecho de agua.

«that the Aristotelian position forbidding interpenetration of bodies is simply wrong and that water, when acted upon by semina, actually does interpenetrate itself so that “gold is produced from water when sixteen parts of the water are compressed into the place of one.”!°° Hence the weight of the water is exactly preserved in the gold, despite the vast increase of density.» — la respuesta de Van Helmont al escolástico, en la reconstrucción de los autores: el agua se interpenetra a sí misma y dieciséis partes comprimidas en el lugar de una dan oro sin perder peso.

«If the changes wrought on matter by chymistry result in a transmutation of elements, then an element that is absolutely heavy could be converted into one that is absolutely light within the chymist’s flask.» — el problema que los autores plantean: si la química transmutara elementos, en el matraz se pasaría de lo absolutamente pesado a lo absolutamente ligero.

«If we accept the reality of such transmutations, then conservation of weight becomes an obvious impossibility, even though no matter is destroyed.» — y la consecuencia: aceptada la transmutación elemental, la conservación del peso se vuelve imposible aunque no se destruya materia.

«But Van Helmont simply denies the Aristotelian transmutation of elements once and for all; for him, the very notion “element” implies simplicity and permanence.» — la salida que Van Helmont toma, según los autores: negar de raíz la transmutación aristotélica de los elementos, porque elemento significa simple y permanente.

«Van Helmont retains only water out of the Aristotelian quaternary as a constitutive element—he asserts that fire is no element, but merely an “artificial death of things,” and that air, while primordial, cannot combine genuinely with other substances» — lo que queda del cuaternario aristotélico en su cuenta: solo el agua es elemento constitutivo, el fuego es una muerte artificial de las cosas y el aire no se combina de veras.

«By arguing that there is no real transmutation of elements and that all substances are merely water that has undergone rarefaction or condensation, that is, “interpenetration of dimensions” by the action of semina, Van Helmont is able to maintain the conservation of weight and the concept of mass balance.» — el encaje que los autores señalan: sin transmutación real y con todo reducido a agua rarefacta o condensada por los semina, la conservación del peso se sostiene.

«Van Helmont sometimes uses this notion as an implicit principle and sometimes as a tool for probing experimental results.» — y precisan los dos usos del balance de masas en su obra: principio implícito unas veces, instrumento para sondear resultados otras.

«Van Helmont used other terms, notably “hands-on demonstration” (mechanica probatio) and “questioning by means of fire” (quaerere per ignem) to refer to actual experiments carried out by himself in a laboratory.» — los nombres que Van Helmont daba al experimento hecho por su mano, según los autores: demostración mecánica y preguntar por el fuego.

«Van Helmont’s reason for introducing the ice experiment here is to show that increase in the volume ofa substance by expansion (and hence its reduced specific weight) does not entail the generation of new matter, as made evident» — para qué traía Van Helmont el experimento del hielo, según los autores: para mostrar que crecer de volumen no genera materia nueva.

«has argued, the difficulty can be resolved if we assume that Van Helmont is not referring to an augmentation of what we would call “mass” when the ice thaws, but rather an increase in specific weight, which Van Helmont would have measured by the change in volume between the frozen and liquid water.» — la lectura que los autores adoptan para deshacer la aparente contradicción: lo que aumenta al deshelarse no es la masa sino el peso específico.

«Nowhere, however, does he use any term other than “to weigh” (pendere) and “weight” (pondus).» — el hallazgo léxico de los autores: Van Helmont mide gravedad específica sin tener una palabra distinta para ella.

«But of course the absence of a distinguishing term for “specific weight” as opposed to “weight” in general leads to considerable confusion for the modern reader.» — y de ahí, sostienen, viene buena parte de la confusión moderna al leerlo.

«At one point he even chides Mersenne, who is famous as a champion of “mechanism,” for his failure to employ Simon Stevin’s technique for determining specific weights “by means of water.”» — el reproche de Van Helmont a Mersenne, campeón del mecanicismo, por no emplear la técnica de Simon Stevin para la gravedad específica.

«But instead of noting differences in volume for a constant weight, Van Helmont normally notes differing weights for a fixed volume, as in his urine and metal measurements.» — la variante de método que los autores le atribuyen: pesos distintos a volumen fijo, en vez de volúmenes distintos a peso fijo.

«If we compare these values to those given in modern manuals of physical constants, we find that Van Helmont’s method allowed him to attain values that differed from the modern ones by an average of less than 2 percent.» — y la medida del acierto: los valores de Van Helmont se apartan de los modernos menos del dos por ciento en promedio.

«All of this clarifies Van Helmont’s ice experiment, in which he says that “the water will be heavier /ponderosior] than the ice by almost its eighth part.”» — con eso los autores aclaran la frase del experimento del hielo, donde el agua pesa casi una octava parte más que el hielo.

«Thus he expressed the observed change of volume by calculating what the change of weight would have been at constant volume.» — la traducción de magnitudes que hacía Van Helmont: el cambio de volumen observado se expresa como el cambio de peso que habría a volumen constante.

«We conjecture that a “1” has been misread as a “7” (an easy mistake in seventeenth-century hands), and that the value meant by Van Helmont is 14, which differs from the modern value by less than 1 percent.» — los autores proponen una enmienda de lectura para el valor del hierro y la declaran conjetura, no dato.

«The balance was not intended to reveal a change in weight, but the opposite; it was the absence of weight change that the balance showed and that was key to Van Helmont’s findings.» — el uso de la balanza que los autores ponen en el centro: no servía para detectar cambio de peso sino para mostrar que no lo había.

«While Paracelsus occasionally provided recipes with quantitative measurements, he did not emphasize the weights of substances subjected to analysis by fire or menstrua.» — el contraste con Paracelso: da recetas con medidas y no insiste en pesar lo que somete al fuego o a los menstruos.

«Nor have we found much evidence that he was concerned with the resynthesis of materials that he had subjected to Scheidung (division, analysis).» — y los autores declaran su búsqueda negativa: no hallaron mayor evidencia de que a Paracelso le importara volver a juntar lo que había separado.

«In each case Paracelsus notes the color of the given “element,” but makes no effort to weigh it; nor does he try to recombine the layers to arrive at his original material.» — lo que sí hace en cambio: anotar el color de cada elemento separado, sin pesarlo ni recomponerlo.

«Although Paracelsus did argue elsewhere, as in his De renovatione et restauratione, that metals could be analyzed into their three principles and resynthesized from these components, he was far more concerned with the medical benefits to be gained from purification by Scheidung than he was with the demonstrative power provided by their recombination.» — con su límite: en otro lugar Paracelso sí sostiene que los metales se analizan y se resintetizan, pero le interesa el beneficio médico de la purificación, no la demostración.

«Yet he replies rather surprisingly that glass cannot be a genuine mixture since it is not really homogeneous, despite appearances to the contrary.» — la respuesta de Van Helmont que los autores llaman sorprendente: el vidrio no puede ser mezcla verdadera porque no es homogéneo de veras.

«This is a highly workable experiment, and it served Van Helmont well in his attempt to disprove the Aristotelian theory of mixture.» — los autores dan por practicable el experimento del vidrio y le reconocen el servicio que le prestó contra la teoría aristotélica de la mezcla.

«The fact that he was able to retrieve his sand in its original weight seemed to support his view that the sand was present in the glass all along, in the form of minutely divided bits.» — lo que la arena recuperada en su peso original venía a mostrar: que había estado en el vidrio todo el tiempo, dividida en partículas mínimas.

«Since the Aristotelian theory postulated that a perfectly mixed body had to be absolutely homogeneous, a glass composed of the juxtaposition of minute particles of sand and ash could be no such mixture, despite appearances.» — y contra qué exigencia jugaba eso: la mezcla perfecta aristotélica pide homogeneidad absoluta.

«This example also presented a second challenge to Van Helmont’s Scholastic opponents; since the same sand that went into the glass came out at the end, the initial and final sand were identical—not just the same in spectes, but also in number.» — el segundo cargo contra los escolásticos: la arena de entrada y la de salida son idénticas no solo en especie sino en número.

«Once again mass balance allows Van Helmont to argue that the sand undergoes no substantial transmutation but only loses its granular appearance in the glass because of division and superficial apposition of individual bits of sand.» — y el balance de masas es lo que le permite negar transmutación sustancial y quedarse con división y aposición superficial.

«Thus Van Helmont’s quantitative synthesis and analysis of glass gave him a powerful tool for disputing the assumptions of Aristotelian mixture.» — los autores resumen lo ganado: síntesis y análisis cuantitativos del vidrio como herramienta contra los supuestos de la mezcla aristotélica.

«What is important to us is not the issue of originality, but rather the fact that the willow tree experiment, as presented by Van Helmont, gives a clear example of his quantitative technique.» — los autores desplazan la discusión sobre el sauce: no les interesa la originalidad del experimento sino que muestra su técnica cuantitativa.

«Since the earth still weighed almost two hundred pounds (less two ounces), Van Helmont reasonably concluded that the increase of “164 pounds of wood, bark, and roots had arisen solely from water.”» — la cuenta del sauce: la tierra apenas perdió dos onzas, así que las ciento sesenta y cuatro libras de madera, corteza y raíces salieron del agua.

«Here, as elsewhere, Van Helmont argues that fat or oil can be converted to water by passing through the intermediate stage of soap.» — el otro experimento del mismo tramo: grasa y aceite vueltos agua pasando por el jabón.

«Van Helmont does not present a detailed quantitative analysis of this soap or make the claim that all the fat becomes water: instead, “almost all” (paene totus) returns to water.» — con el límite que los autores rescatan del propio texto: no dice que toda la grasa se vuelva agua, sino casi toda.

«The presence of these unspecified additional ingredients would obviously throw the balance of initial ingredients and final products out of kilter, unless the additaments could be extracted from the analyzed fat before a final weight determination was made.» — y el problema que le ven al procedimiento: los aditamentos sin declarar descuadran el balance si no se extraen antes de la pesada final.

«It would be hard to believe that Van Helmont had not at some point been exposed to Nicholas of Cusa’s Idtota de staticis experimentis.» — la filiación que los autores proponen con cautela para la balanza de Van Helmont; la grafía corrupta del título es la del facsímil, por Idiota.

«He points out that this theory does not account for the lessening of the acid’s strength, nor does it explain why some acids “congeal” in the very act of dissolving another substance.» — la objeción de Van Helmont a la explicación corpuscular corriente de los ácidos: no da cuenta de que el ácido pierda fuerza ni de que algunos se coagulen al disolver.

«But we are still left with the obvious question: why did Van Helmont create the theory of exantlation rather than simply arguing that the particles of acid went into combination with those of the solute?» — los autores dejan la pregunta abierta sobre por qué Van Helmont inventó la exantlación en lugar de combinar el ácido con el soluto.

«After all, he had a workable corpuscular theory, which he employed to debunk the belief that vitriol springs actually transmuted iron into copper.» — y hacen valer que la teoría corpuscular la tenía a mano: con ella desmontó la creencia de que las fuentes de vitriolo transmutaban hierro en cobre.

«Obviously, Van Helmont erred at some point in his measurement of the weights involved, as part of the weight of original mercury would be in the “alum.”» — los autores corrigen la cuenta: parte del mercurio de partida se había quedado en el alumbre, así que hubo un error de pesada.

«This would also help explain Van Helmont’s failure to identify the “snow” and the “alum” as being chemically identical.» — y con eso explican por qué no vio que la nieve y el alumbre eran lo mismo.

«Hence he concludes that the formation of the snow cannot be a “proper action of the mercury, but of the spirit of vitriol, altering itself differently and according to its innate propensity toward various objects of its own accord.”» — la conclusión que Van Helmont saca del contraste con el ácido nítrico: la nieve no la hace el mercurio sino el espíritu de vitriolo alterándose a sí mismo.

«Van Helmont states that the acid becomes thickened and enfeebled by the “dotal unfolding” of its powers, rather then by combining with the mercury.» — la exantlación en su formulación: el ácido se espesa y debilita por despliegue de sus poderes, no por combinarse con el mercurio.

«All of this is accomplished without material intermixture; rather, as Van Helmont claims, there is a marvelous “radial commixture” of the mercury and the oil of vitriol, in that this immaterial communication is what stimulates the acid into coagulating.» — y el mecanismo que la sostiene: una mezcla radial, comunicación inmaterial que provoca la coagulación sin mezcla de materia.

«Such “radial commixture” also accounts for the fact that a given weight of mercury left in water for a time would extend its virtue of killing worms to the water and yet could still be recovered without any (apparent) loss of weight.» — el otro caso que la misma noción cubre: el mercurio comunica al agua su virtud vermífuga y se recupera sin pérdida aparente de peso.

«Van Helmont’s exantlation theory may seem exotic from the perspective of modern chemistry, but it illustrates the faith he held in regard to quantitative approaches to practical experimental transformations and the use to which he put them.» — el balance que los autores hacen de la teoría: exótica desde la química moderna y reveladora de la confianza que ponía en lo cuantitativo.

«Van Helmont was attacking the “artificiality” of Aristotelian physics, with its emphasis on external efficient causes and denial of semina.» — y el blanco de fondo: la artificialidad de la física aristotélica, con sus causas eficientes externas y su negativa a los semina.

«It is probably significant that he gives no information about the respective weights of the products, for again, as in the case of the mercurial alum, the vitriol supposedly produced by mere exantlation of the acid would in reality contain some metal.» — los autores señalan un silencio: en el caso del vitriolo tampoco da pesos, y el producto de la sola exantlación tendría que llevar metal dentro.

«As is well-known, Van Helmont did not uncritically accept the Paracelsian theory that a preexistent Salt, Mercury, and Sulphur could be found in all things and could be separated therefrom by the fire.» — los autores recuerdan que Van Helmont no aceptó sin más la teoría paracelsiana de una sal, un mercurio y un azufre preexistentes separables por el fuego.

«Van Helmont devoted a treatise within the Ortus to this issue, where he explicitly denies that the resolution of a body by fire analysis (i.e., thermal decomposition) gives direct evidence of its origins—such analysis reveals instead the “heterogeneity of its ultimate matter.”» — y sitúan la negativa en un tratado del Ortus: el análisis por fuego no muestra el origen del cuerpo sino la heterogeneidad de su materia última.

«Although Van Helmont found some utility in the tria prima (as exemplified by his discussion of water, ice, and gas), he did not view the three principles as initial constituents of mixed bodies.» — con su matiz: le encontraba alguna utilidad a los tria prima sin tenerlos por constituyentes iniciales de los cuerpos mixtos.

«Van Helmont’s position then is that the tria prima are not elemental principles or ingredients of mixed bodies; in reality the single material principle of all things is water.» — la posición resumida por los autores: los tria prima no son principios elementales y el único principio material de todo es el agua.

«Instead, the tria prima are “heterogeneities,” that is, corpuscular combinations or alterations of matter sometimes existing within fully formed substances.» — y lo que sí son en su lugar: heterogeneidades, combinaciones o alteraciones corpusculares que a veces existen dentro de sustancias ya formadas.

«It was this position of Van Helmont’s on the artifactual nature of Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt that Robert Boyle adopted as a key argument in his Sceptical Chymuist, and which he reiterated in maturer years in the second edition’s appendix, Prod ucibleness of Chymicall Principles.» — los autores rastrean el préstamo: esa tesis sobre la naturaleza artefactual de mercurio, azufre y sal es argumento central del Sceptical Chymist de Boyle. La grafía corrupta del título es la del facsímil.

«There is one difficulty inherent in Van Helmont’s position: how can we distinguish between those instances where one of the tria prima really exists in a substance before its fire analysis, and those where it is merely an artifact of the fire?» — la dificultad que los autores le encuentran a esa posición: cómo distinguir el principio que ya estaba del que fabricó el fuego.

«What Van Helmont proposes is that the original volatile Salt exists in bodies before they are heated, but that this Salt becomes “alkalized,” that is, fixed, upon the strong heating of the body.» — la solución helmontiana según los autores: la sal volátil ya está en el cuerpo y se alcaliniza, es decir se fija, al calentarlo fuerte.

«Therefore when a fixed alkali is made from a Salt that was previously volatile, this is not a new production of a thing, but only an alteration of a thing.» — y la consecuencia que le importa: hacer un álcali fijo de una sal volátil no produce cosa nueva, solo altera la que había.

«Thus Van Helmont argues that when a combustible material—say wood—is cremated, part of its initial volatile Salt and Sulphur may distill off.» — lo que pasa al quemar madera, en esa cuenta: parte de la sal y el azufre volátiles iniciales destilan y se van.

«The rest of the volatile Sulphur and Salt, however, are “fixed together” into the alkali salt found in the residual ashes. or coals.» — y el resto queda fijado junto en la sal alcalina de las cenizas.

«The fixed and volatile, however, whether Salt or Sulphur, remain the same in species, except that “one is imprisoned, [and] the other is free.”» — la identidad de especie entre lo fijo y lo volátil, con la fórmula del propio Van Helmont: uno está preso y el otro libre.

«To show that this fixity is relative, however, Van Helmont deploys an experiment in which honey is destructively distilled to a coal.» — el experimento con que muestra que la fijeza es relativa: miel destilada hasta carbón.

«If this coal is subjected to a greater fire, it will remain unchanged so long as the vessel remains closed to the air; but as soon as the vessel is opened, the coal begins to be consumed and eventually vanishes entirely, indicating that its fixation was only relative.» — y su resultado: el carbón aguanta mientras el vaso está cerrado y se consume en cuanto se abre al aire.

«Van Helmont shows that if the ingredients of an alkali are missing, no alkali can be formed upon heating.» — la prueba negativa que los autores destacan: sin los ingredientes, el calor no fabrica álcali.

«This absence of fixed alkali, he argues, is due to the fact that the wood’s volatile Salt all evaporated with its Sulphur “through the ferment of putrefaction,” that is, during the process of rotting.» — la explicación de la madera podrida: la sal volátil se fue con el azufre durante la putrefacción.

«Here once again, Van Helmont appeals to his belief that however much weight goes into a reaction must come out at the other end.» — los autores señalan qué sostiene ese razonamiento: el principio de que todo el peso que entra en una reacción tiene que salir.

«Since the only difference between the two woods was that one was rotten and the other not, it follows that the escape of the alkali ingredients must have been due to the wood’s putrefaction.» — y cómo se cierra el argumento por comparación entre las dos maderas.

«Van Helmont goes on to note that even if only one of the two ingredients necessary to form an alkali is missing, no alkali will be formed.» — con su condición: basta que falte uno de los dos ingredientes para que no haya álcali.

«According to Van Helmont, the function of respiration in warmblooded animals is constantly to volatilize the Sulphur from venous blood.» — la extensión fisiológica de la misma doctrina: respirar sirve para volatilizar sin descanso el azufre de la sangre venosa.

«If this function were stopped, the heat of the body would soon cause the venous Salt and Sulphur to “degenerate into a dry mass” akin to what happens when alkali is produced by heating.» — y lo que pasaría si esa función se detuviera: la sal y el azufre venosos degenerarían en masa seca, como al producir álcali por calor.

«Paracelsus himself, however, as we have noted, was far more interested in the resolution of bodies for medicinal preparation than he was in their recombination or the philosophical understanding of their composition.» — los autores vuelven a acotar a Paracelso: le interesaba resolver los cuerpos para preparar medicina, no recomponerlos ni entender su composición.

«Not until the inauguration of the chymical textbook tradition in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries do we find authors proposing the etymology of spagyria as a fusion of the Greek span (to pull apart) and ageirein (to put together), thereby embodying in the chymical art the opposed processes of analysis and synthesis.» — y fechan la etimología doble de spagyria en los manuales de química de finales del XVI y principios del XVII.

«Yet unlike most of these authors, Van Helmont put great emphasis on the paired chymical analysis and synthesis of bodies—an idea that is an outgrowth of the Paracelsian identification of chymistry with spagyria or Scheidung—in order to understand chymical transformations.» — lo que a su juicio distingue a Van Helmont de esos autores: el par análisis y síntesis puesto a trabajar para entender las transformaciones.

«Even if his urge to disprove Aristotle and his followers occasionally led Van Helmont into the use of mass balance as a rhetorical device, his reliance upon it is noteworthy, and his example bore fruit among his heirs.» — el balance con su reserva: los autores admiten que el balance de masas le sirvió a veces de recurso retórico contra Aristóteles y aun así lo consideran notable y fecundo entre sus herederos.

«But Van Helmont has always been difhcult to understand owing to his love of paradox, his elliptical Latin prose, and the lack of clear organizational principles in his massive Ortus medicinae.» — las tres razones que los autores dan para la oscuridad de Van Helmont: el gusto por la paradoja, la prosa latina elíptica y la falta de orden del Ortus. La grafía corrupta es la del facsímil.

«One cannot overstate the remarkable divergence in style between the dry, deliberative prose of Starkey’s notebooks and the wild tropology of his Philalethes texts.» — la distancia de estilo que los autores subrayan entre las dos escrituras del mismo hombre: la prosa seca de los cuadernos y la tropología desatada de los textos de Philalethes.

«Starkey’s notebooks provide an unparalleled view of the chymical laboratory, allowing us to see the way in which a celebrated practitioner of the art actually organized, set about, and carried out his work in the realms of chrysopoeia, chemical pharmacy, and other technical pursuits associated with chymistry.» — lo que esos cuadernos permiten ver, según los autores: cómo un practicante célebre organizaba y ejecutaba su trabajo en crisopeya, farmacia química y oficios técnicos.

«Starkey was a highly reflective laboratory worker, and the notebooks are full of his cogitations on the nature and method of investigative laboratory science as he pursued it in the mid—seventeenth century.» — y la caracterización que le dan como operador: reflexivo, con los cuadernos llenos de consideraciones sobre el método de la investigación de laboratorio.

«Starkey did not move from one notebook to another in a chronological sequence.» — un rasgo material del archivo que los autores documentan: los cuadernos no se llenaron uno tras otro en el tiempo.

«The division among volumes or parts of volumes was based largely on the contents, not on the dates.» — sino que se repartieron por asunto.

«It sometimes happened that he left insufficient blank space for the first project, and so successive entries must leap-frog over one another, the correct order being managed by marginalia such as “look for this sign below” or “turn over four leaves.”» — cómo resolvía Starkey el desorden que eso producía, según los autores: notas al margen que mandan buscar el signo abajo o pasar cuatro hojas.

«Frequently, Starkey would also return to earlier entries to emend or annotate them with the results of later experiments.» — y la costumbre de volver sobre entradas viejas para enmendarlas con resultados posteriores.

«Thus the text within a given notebook is often quite layered, consisting of both the initial writing and later additions, deletions, and annotations.» — de ahí que el texto de un cuaderno sea estratificado, y no una sola capa de escritura.

«The sense of cohesiveness that must have originally existed between the notebooks is underscored by the fact that the three complete volumes now known all contain references to one another, as well as to an additional volume presently unaccounted for.» — la cohesión perdida del conjunto: los tres volúmenes completos se citan entre sí y citan además uno que hoy no aparece.

«Only one notebook, RSMS 179, preserves remnants of the original binding, but it is clear that all the other notebooks began as blank bound volumes as well.» — el dato de encuadernación con su inferencia declarada: solo un cuaderno conserva restos de la original y de ahí se concluye que todos empezaron como volúmenes en blanco.

«Yet these are only partly descriptive in character, for they also contain numerous conventional and iconographic elements geared to the genre and appropriate for the moral message of the composition; they were never intended to be “photographic” records of chymical laboratories.» — la cautela de los autores ante los grabados de laboratorio: llevan elementos convencionales e iconográficos al servicio del mensaje moral y nunca quisieron ser registro fotográfico.

«Recent archaeological discoveries and surviving laboratory expense accounts give some hard evidence of the layout and contents of early modern laboratories, but have told little about how these workplaces were actually used.» — y el límite de la otra evidencia: la arqueología y las cuentas de gasto dan la planta y el inventario, no el uso.

«It is certain that at some times Starkey maintained a special room of his lodgings as a “laboratorium.”» — lo que los autores dan por cierto sobre el espacio de trabajo de Starkey: en algunos periodos apartó un cuarto de su alojamiento como laboratorio.

«At that time Boyle encouraged Starkey to remove the glass from the windows of the room to let in fresh air, which Starkey did, but with the concomitant problem that the drafts and changes of weather then made it impossible to regulate his fires accurately.» — el dilema que documentan tras la enfermedad de Starkey: quitó los vidrios por consejo de Boyle y con las corrientes ya no pudo regular sus fuegos.

«Later in his career, in 1658, he expressed delight at being “confined”—apparently under some sort of a house arrest—because it cut him off from external contacts and allowed him the leisure to spend all his hours at home involved in laboratory experimentation.» — y la vuelta de tuerca de 1658: Starkey celebra el confinamiento porque lo aísla de visitas y le deja las horas para el laboratorio.

«Many of the notebooks contain lists of financial accounts that shed a bit more light on the working aspects of Starkey’s laboratory.» — los autores hacen valer un material poco mirado: las cuentas de gasto anotadas en los propios cuadernos.

«He also occasionally estimated his costs to run an experimental laboratory, as for example when he reckoned an expenditure of two shillings sixpence per week on coals.» — con cifras concretas, como los dos chelines con seis peniques semanales de carbón.

«The all-important furnaces that were central to Starkey’s workplace (as is implied by his self-assumed title of “Philosopher by Fire”) show up repeatedly.» — y el objeto que más aparece en esas cuentas, en consonancia con el título que Starkey se daba.

«For example, in August 1656, when he sets about preparations for the “great work” of making the Philosophers’ Stone, he first estimates the costs for the furnace that must be devoted to the project.» — el caso que citan: antes de emprender la gran obra en agosto de 1656, Starkey presupuesta el horno.

«The last itemized cost, for “building furnace,” implies that while Starkey designed his own furnaces, he sometimes had others come to do the dirty work of constructing them from bricks and mortar.» — y lo que esa partida deja ver: Starkey diseñaba sus hornos y a veces pagaba a otros para levantarlos.

«In spite of this external evidence of the employment of Webbe and others, the notebooks do not mention any assistants or any work not done by Starkey himself.» — el contraste que los autores registran entre las fuentes: fuera de los cuadernos consta que Starkey tuvo asistentes, y dentro no aparece ninguno.

«First, most of the notebooks date from a time after Starkey’s resources—supplied until 1653 by his wife’s dowry as well as by Boyle and others in the Hartlib circle—had ebbed, presumably rendering the hiring of assistants financially unfeasible.» — la primera explicación que ofrecen: casi todos los cuadernos son posteriores a que se le acabaran los recursos de la dote de su mujer y del círculo de Hartlib.

«Second, in spite of Starkey’s known pursuit of various “technological” or “chymical trade” projects, the notebooks deal almost exclusively with Helmontian and other medical arcana and with experiments on transmutation.» — y la segunda: los cuadernos tratan casi solo de arcanos médicos helmontianos y de transmutación, no de los proyectos técnicos y comerciales.

«These latter attempts at the arcana maiora seem to have been reserved for Starkey’s hand, while the “lower” (even if potentially lucrative) projects—such as the distillation of oils and perfumes and the making of spirits from corn, peas, and beans—received the labor of assistants like Webbe and whatever others there might have been.» — el reparto de manos que los autores infieren: los arcana maiora se los reservaba Starkey y los trabajos bajos, aunque rindieran, iban a los asistentes.

«The difficulty for Starkey and other workers was finding an adequate method for decomposing metals or minerals (such as antimony) in order to isolate the Sulphur from the other components.» — el problema técnico del que arranca la Antimoniologia: hallar cómo descomponer un mineral como el antimonio para aislar su azufre.

«If Starkey’s project in the “Antimoniologia” were merely the compilation and comparison of the numerous processes published in the seventeenth century for making a Sulphur of antimony, his work would be of little historical interest.» — los autores marcan qué haría irrelevante ese cuaderno: si fuera solo un cotejo de procesos publicados.

«Starkey is not interested in producing a medicine cabinet of common medicaments, however, but rather in creating a treasury of rare and powerful arcana.» — y qué buscaba Starkey en realidad, según ellos: no un botiquín corriente sino un tesoro de arcanos raros y poderosos.

«Significantly, Starkey does not deploy merely empirical or unguided trials toward this goal but rather turns to theoretical principles to direct his practical investigations.» — la tesis metodológica del capítulo: los ensayos de Starkey no son tanteos sueltos, van dirigidos por principios teóricos.

«As a committed Helmontian, he turns for guidance primarily to Helmontian chymical theory.» — y de dónde saca esos principios.

«Moreover, in order to use these theoretical principles practically, Starkey consistently deploys a highly formalized, sequential method for assessing, developing, and testing new processes.» — los autores le atribuyen además un método formalizado y secuencial para evaluar, desarrollar y probar procesos nuevos.

«Thus, rather than following Sala’s distillation of the acid away from the salts, Starkey proposes to leave the salts dissolved in the acid to take maximum advantage of their corrosive properties.» — la enmienda concreta que Starkey le hace a Sala: dejar las sales disueltas en el ácido en vez de destilarlo aparte.

«Starkey thus employs the more modern Helmontian theory to amend the older practical process of Sala, and he writes out now a “Process” (so denoted in the margin) to be tried that incorporates the new ideas suggested by theoretical considerations.» — los autores describen el paso completo: teoría helmontiana aplicada a un proceso viejo, y el resultado escrito en el cuaderno como proceso por probar.

«Such a method argues that Starkey is carrying out a systematic investigation of the chymistry of his day and endeavoring to make rational improvements to it based upon observations, theoretical principles, and experimental testing.» — la conclusión que sacan de ese modo de trabajar: investigación sistemática de la química de su tiempo, con mejoras razonadas sobre observación, teoría y prueba.

«It is clear that Starkey must have then carried out both methods in his laboratory, for he returned to this entry, and annotated his process in the margin, writing “scarcely possible” next to the direction to sublime the Sulphur, and “the better way” next to the method of precipitation with vinegar.» — la huella material de la prueba en el fuego: Starkey vuelve a la entrada y anota al margen cuál de los dos caminos era el bueno.

«Starkey returns to his original entries and either records the results, positive or negative, or uses the experience in the fire to improve the process further.» — y el ciclo que los autores describen: registrar el resultado, positivo o negativo, o usar la experiencia para afinar el proceso.

«Van Helmont is terse and secretive in its description, and so Starkey has no clear protocols to examine or critique and must work harder mentally and practically to obtain both process and product.» — por qué el cinabrio helmontiano le cuesta más trabajo: la fuente es escueta y reservada, y no deja protocolo que examinar.

«Starkey adds another method for isolating the Sulphur of antimony, this time drawn from Van Helmont.» — el segundo método que Starkey suma al cuaderno, tomado de Van Helmont.

«Common cinnabar is made by mixing common sulphur and common mercury and subliming the mixture into a brilliant red mass (composed of mercuric sulphide); therefore, this Helmontian cinnabar of antimony, Starkey predicts, is to be made by reacting antimonial Sulphur with mercury.» — la predicción que Starkey deriva por analogía con el cinabrio común, según los autores: azufre antimonial más mercurio.

«The third of these observabilia notes that the scoria “quickly turn green in the air” and “tinge the fingers of anyone who touches them with a golden color,” thus suggesting that a Sulphur of the desired yellow green color might be lurking in them.» — el indicio que Starkey anota en sus observabilia: la escoria verdea al aire y tiñe los dedos de dorado, señal de que el azufre buscado podría estar ahí.

«He notes also that the “metallic part” (i.e., the regulus), which is separated from “burning and flammable” Sulphur, must “still retain a combustible Sulphur within itself” because when mixed with saltpeter the regulus burns (thus revealing the presence of an inflammable Sulphur).» — y el otro indicio: el regulus, ya separado del azufre inflamable, arde con salitre, luego todavía guarda azufre combustible.

«This idea accords with Starkey’s belief, drawn from Van Helmont, that antimony, like other metallic substances, has more than one Sulphur, one external (and easier to separate) and one internal (and much more difficult to extract).» — cómo encaja ese indicio en su teoría, tomada de Van Helmont: el antimonio tiene dos azufres, uno externo y otro interno mucho más difícil de sacar.

«He suggests that the nitre (the cause of the violent deflagration) be first mixed with tartar without the antimony, the mixture of salts deflagrated by itself, and that the resultant salts be then fused quietly with the antimony.» — la mejora práctica que propone para no perder azufre: deflagrar primero el nitro con el tártaro y fundir después las sales con el antimonio, sin violencia.

«Starkey even adds a further “conjecture” [conjectura] to the effect that the “alkali of Roche alum” might be useful in the process, but notes that at this point he “cannot say anything from experience.”» — y el límite que él mismo le pone a la conjetura del álcali de alumbre de roca, dicho en el cuaderno.

«Starkey’s new conjectural process is one that should not only work, but also be an improvement over the earlier known process.» — la exigencia doble que los autores le ven al proceso conjetural: que funcione y que mejore al que ya se conocía.

«What Starkey means by “conjectural process” is not something that is intended to remain no more than a thought experiment, but rather a procedure that has been developed by joining past practical experience with a consideration of theoretical principles.» — la definición que los autores fijan para ese término, contra la lectura de experimento mental: es un procedimiento armado con experiencia práctica previa y principios teóricos.

«Crucially, it is also one that must be submitted to trial in the fire.» — y su condición decisiva.

«Starkey asserts that it is not to be prepared by first making an antimonial mercury out of the regulus, as he had done previously in preparing the Philosophical Mercury.» — el cambio de rumbo que los autores documentan: Starkey descarta la vía del mercurio antimonial que había seguido antes.

«Suchten claims that it is not made from gold at all, but rather from a secret “Philosophical Gold” or “volatile Sol or Gold” extracted from the stellate regulus of antimony.» — la tesis de Suchten que Starkey adopta, según los autores: el oro potable no sale del oro sino de un oro filosófico volátil sacado del regulus estrellado de antimonio.

«Starkey’s initial process for preparing the Philosophical Mercury (to be discussed further below) has already been shown to originate in Suchten’s work.» — y la filiación ya establecida del proceso del mercurio filosófico.

«Accordingly, he clearly labels the text immediately following in the margin as “a conjecture” and notes that Suchten writes that there is a mystery in the scoria of the first fusion» — la disciplina de marcado que los autores destacan: Starkey rotula al margen como conjetura lo que solo infiere de Suchten.

«Starkey now produces a “best conjectural process” /processus conjecturalis optimus].» — el rótulo que Starkey le pone al procedimiento resultante; la grafía del corchete latino es la del facsímil.

«Starkey’s conjectural process stipulates that each of the four sets of scoria (from the first, second, third, and fourth fusions) be kept separately, and then each mixed independently with stinking spirit and each mixture sublimed by itself to isolate its respective Sulphur.» — lo que ese proceso manda hacer: guardar por separado las escorias de las cuatro fusiones y sublimar cada mezcla por su lado.

«Starkey creates a sort of “combinatorial chymistry,” methodically testing each possible combination of the Sulphurs isolated from the different scorias with stellate regulus by a uniform protocol to determine which, if any, contains the “mystery”» — los autores dan nombre a ese diseño: una química combinatoria que prueba cada emparejamiento posible bajo un protocolo uniforme.

«Starkey is hedging his bets, for Suchten had in fact claimed, as Starkey noted in his conjecture, that it was the scoria of the first fusion that held the mystery; perhaps Starkey suspected» — y leen ahí una cautela: Suchten señalaba la escoria de la primera fusión y Starkey no se juega todo a esa carta.

«Starkey must face in his search for the higher arcana is the silence of authoritative authors about issues or ingredients key to the success of their processes.» — el obstáculo mayor que los autores le adjudican en la busca de los arcanos altos: el silencio de los autores autorizados sobre lo que decide el éxito.

«Thus Starkey must frequently hazard a guess about the meanings of things or about the right steps to take or ingredients to use in a certain process.» — y lo que ese silencio le obliga a hacer: aventurar el sentido de las cosas, los pasos o los ingredientes.

«On the first front, Starkey was apparently unable to make a Sulphur of antimony that looked like common sulphur from the scoria.» — el primer fracaso que los autores registran: de la escoria no salió un azufre de antimonio parecido al azufre común.

«On the second, although he could reliably prepare sublimates using stinking spirit and the various scorias, none proved able to elevate a “solar yellowness” out of stellate regulus.» — y el segundo: los sublimados salían con fiabilidad y ninguno levantaba del regulus estrellado el amarillor solar buscado.

«He begins by assessing the state of practical knowledge of a process or the hints of better methods in cryptically written sources like Van Helmont and Suchten.» — el primer paso del método que los autores le reconstruyen: tasar lo que ya se sabe y las pistas de las fuentes crípticas.

«He then analyses known methods, and based upon direct observation and theoretical considerations he makes conjectures (or predictions) of how to attain or improve the desired goal, and then incorporates these into conjectural processes—that is, tentative experimental protocols.» — el segundo: de la observación y la teoría salen conjeturas, y de las conjeturas protocolos tentativos.

«Finally he puts these experimental protocols into practice and assesses the results.» — y el tercero, que es donde el fuego decide.

«This sequence of evaluation-interpretation-observation-conjecture-experiment-assessment is repeated frequently in numerous projects throughout the notebooks.» — los autores dan por recurrente esa secuencia en muchos proyectos de los cuadernos, no por excepción de uno.

«The judgment of the fire condemned Starkey’s conjectures, and accordingly, Starkey abandoned them.» — la autoridad final en ese método, según los autores: condenadas por el fuego, las conjeturas se abandonan.

«Practical experimentation has evaluated one of Starkey’s “conjectures,” and he records this with the note “this is worthless” /Frivolum hoc]. Note the “best conjectural process” indicated in the margin below, Sloane 3750, fol. 7r.» — el pie de figura del libro con la fórmula que Starkey escribía al desechar una conjetura, y la signatura del manuscrito.

«Starkey was nothing if not tenacious, and so the failure of these conjectural processes does not necessarily mean the end of the projects.» — y el matiz que los autores añaden: un proceso condenado no cierra el proyecto.

«Since the trial in the fire negated his conjectural process, and by extension, the conjectural reading of Van Helmont upon which it was based, Starkey abandons his earlier interpretation and approaches Van Helmont anew.» — lo que la refutación arrastra consigo: cae el proceso y con él la lectura de Van Helmont en que se apoyaba, y Starkey vuelve al texto.

«Now he suggests that Van Helmont’s use of the term “cinnabar” may allude only to the color of the material, not to its composition.» — la nueva lectura que ensaya: que el cinabrio de Van Helmont nombre solo un color y no una composición.

«In conclusion, Starkey offers a new “Expositio Helmontii” by conjecturing that the greenish Sulphur and the cinnabar are actually one and the same substance, and that they merely appear in differently colored forms depending upon their modes of preparation.» — y la conjetura con que la cierra: azufre verdoso y cinabrio serían la misma sustancia bajo colores distintos según la preparación.

«We have no record of how Starkey tested his new opinion, for the record of the pertinent experiments does not survive.» — el hueco documental que los autores declaran en lugar de rellenarlo: no se sabe cómo probó esa nueva opinión.

«For now it suffices to note that in spite of some promising results communicated to Boyle in early 1652, Starkey was aware that he had not yet achieved the preparation of this most desirable liquor.» — y el estado real del alkahest hacia 1652, pese a lo que Starkey le comunicaba a Boyle: aún no lo tenía.

«Thus Starkey here writes out a procedure for future trial, after such time as he achieves the alkahest.» — la forma que toma esa expectativa en el cuaderno: un procedimiento escrito por adelantado para cuando el alkahest exista.

«Figure 4. The fire of the chymical furnace has passed judgment on an “opinion” Starkey had formed from his reading of Van Helmont, and Starkey now records the verdict in the margin: “Refuted bythe fire” /Igne refutata].» — otro pie de figura con la fórmula marginal del veredicto; las grafías corruptas son las del facsímil.

«When the tests failed, he then rejected the conjectures upon which the experimental processes had been based and devised new conjectures that themselves had to be subjected to testing in due course.» — lo que Starkey hacía con el fracaso, según los autores: rechazaba la conjetura de base y armaba otra que a su vez tenía que pasar por el fuego.

«This program indicates where Starkey posited the ultimate source of authority—in the fire.» — la conclusión que los autores sacan de ese programa.

«Interestingly, all of the processes mentioned here begin with the authority of a written source.» — con su reverso, que los autores no ocultan: todos esos procesos arrancan de la autoridad de un texto.

«but it is only through their practical success in experimental trials that real approbation is achieved.» — y ahí ponen el reparto: el texto propone y solo el éxito en la prueba aprueba.

«Starkey freely submits his conjectures to the fire and records in his notebooks the fire’s judgment on them, both when it bears them out and when it renders them refutatae or frivolac.» — lo que hace del cuaderno un registro utilizable, según los autores: Starkey anota el veredicto del fuego tanto cuando lo favorece como cuando lo condena. Las grafías latinas son las del facsímil.

«While such insistence on the results of practical experimental trials has long been associated with the “New Science” of the seventeenth century, it has not always been widely associated with the chymistry of a Helmontian physician and transmutational writer like Starkey (much less Philalethes).» — la incomodidad historiográfica que los autores nombran: esa insistencia en la prueba práctica se asocia a la nueva ciencia y no a un médico helmontiano que además escribía de transmutación.

«And yet, if we look at Starkey’s laboratory practice with a fresh eye, he seems to share more with the canonical figures of early modern science such as Galileo, Boyle, and Newton than he does with the popular image of the alchemist.» — y la comparación con que responden: la práctica de Starkey se parece más a la de Galileo, Boyle y Newton que a la imagen popular del alquimista.

«We must be careful, however, neither to overstate the case for the use of “mathematics” in chymistry nor to fail to recognize that the role of mathematics is not of equal significance in all branches of science even today.» — la doble cautela que los autores se imponen sobre la matemática en la química, sin cargar la mano en ninguno de los dos sentidos.

«We believe that an undue degree of emphasis has sometimes been placed upon mathematics as a barometer of scientific sophistication, with the result that less mathematical sciences—such as early modern chymistry—have been marginalized and that historians of such disciplines have sometimes (unnecessarily) felt obliged to make their objects of study seem more mathematical as an argument for their dignity or importance.» — su queja de método: usar la matemática de barómetro de sofisticación margina a disciplinas menos matemáticas como la química moderna temprana.

«The level of mathematical abstraction often celebrated in physics and astronomy is simply not useful (or even possible) in a discipline that focuses upon the qualities of different sorts of matter.» — y la razón que dan: una disciplina centrada en las cualidades de las materias no admite ese grado de abstracción.

«Practical chemistry emphasizes the making of substances and the observing of their qualities, not their reduction into numbers or mathematical relations.» — lo que la química práctica hace en su lugar, según los autores, de Starkey hasta hoy.

«Accordingly, in preparative chemistry quantitative methods find their most common use in the assessment or monitoring of practical processes.» — dónde sí manda lo cuantitativo en química preparativa, en su cuenta: en tasar y vigilar los procesos.

«In Van Helmont we saw its use predominantly in demonstrations of theoretical principles; in Suchten we saw a simple application of it to analysis.» — el reparto de usos que los autores han ido trazando entre sus tres figuras.

«For Starkey, it is a key for his productive processes—both synthetically and analytically.» — y el lugar que le toca a Starkey: el balance de masas como llave de sus procesos productivos, en la síntesis y en el análisis.

«In analysis, where the relative amounts of different substances in a compound body are measured, quantitative methods are also useful, especially for identifying problems of “missing mass,” that is, identifying where parts of a compound body escape invisibly or remain unaccounted for.» — el uso analítico que más les interesa: identificar la masa que falta, la parte del cuerpo compuesto que se escapa sin verse.

«The long-lost second half of Starkey’s letter to Boyle (absent from the Newton transcript and only recently rediscovered by us) records Starkey’s use of quantitative analysis to illustrate his Philosophical Mercury process.» — un hallazgo que los autores declaran como propio: la segunda mitad perdida de la carta de Starkey a Boyle, ausente de la transcripción de Newton.

«The emphasis on precision in Starkey’s quantitative analysis and his concern with initial and final weights reflects the new style of chymistry pioneered by Van Helmont.» — los autores adjudican a Van Helmont el estilo que reconocen en Starkey: precisión y atención a los pesos de entrada y de salida.

«According to Starkey’s theoretical conception of the process, the reiterated incorporation of the regulus-silver alloy with common mercury has two effects on the quicksilver.» — la teoría con que Starkey explicaba su propio proceso, según los autores: la aleación de regulus y plata obra dos cosas sobre el mercurio.

«First, the regulus “cleanses” the common mercury of the impurities of earthiness and saline wateriness that restrict its solvent abilities.» — la primera, limpiarlo de la terrestreidad y la acuosidad salina que le estorban para disolver.

«Second, the regulus adds its own Mercurial substance to the common mercury, thus imparting a “fermental virtue” (namely the “incoagulable sulphur” that Starkey thought existed at the core of the corpuscles composing the martial regulus).» — y la segunda, prestarle su propia sustancia mercurial con la virtud fermental que Starkey suponía en el núcleo de los corpúsculos del regulus marcial.

«Starkey attempted to prove these actions quantitatively with what he called an “Ocular demonstration” using weights.» — y el nombre que Starkey le daba a la prueba con que quería demostrarlo por la balanza.

«The fact that the majority of the regulus has been recovered verifies his assertion that the mercury gains not the entire weight of the regulus added to it, but rather only a portion of it, namely, the “fermental virtue” and not the whole body.» — lo que la recuperación del regulus venía a confirmar, según los autores: el mercurio no se lleva todo el peso añadido sino solo la virtud fermental.

«Based upon the weights he has taken, he makes an analytical conclusion about the composition of the regulus, namely that the “Fermental spirit . . . is scarce a third part of the whole”; the remaining two-thirds of the weight is in the “faeculent corporeous parts of the Body[, which] come away with the dregs of the Mercury” manifested as the copious black powder removed by washing the amalgam.» — la conclusión analítica que Starkey saca de sus pesadas sobre la composición del regulus, con la fracción declarada.

«Thus Starkey’s quantitative exercise not only works out the mass balance of the regulus through the process, but also gives him more precise quantitative information about its composition.» — lo que ese ejercicio rinde por partida doble, según los autores: cuadra el balance del proceso y además dice de qué está hecho el regulus.

«In the Epistle, Starkey goes further than in his letter to Boyle, for there he works out the mass balance not only for the regulus but for the mercury as well, an analysis not carried out at all by Suchten.» — y hasta dónde lleva el método más allá de su fuente: en la Epistle cuadra el balance del regulus y también el del mercurio, cosa que Suchten no hizo.

«Starkey has to go in search of it, so he evaporates the water used for the washings and finds it to contain “the Salt of Mercury Crude,” which the regulus purged out of the common mercury.» — cómo persigue Starkey la masa que falta: evapora el agua de los lavados y encuentra en ella la sal cruda del mercurio.

«This Salt, along with the “faeculency”, which burned away from the black powder before its reduction to regulus, accounts for the missing weight of mercury, and thus Starkey has a complete gravimetric analysis of common quicksilver.» — y con eso cierra la cuenta: sal más feculencia dan el peso perdido y queda completo el análisis gravimétrico del mercurio común.

«He has identified three components—pure mercury, a crude salt, and a combustible faeculency—and also found the relative weights in which each is present.» — los tres componentes que el análisis arroja, con sus pesos relativos.

«After the powder has finished burning, Starkey reduces it to regulus (as he says in his 1651 letter to Boyle), and weighs the resultant regulus, to find that it weighs two-thirds as much as the original regulus he employed.» — la pesada decisiva del procedimiento, tal como Starkey se la cuenta a Boyle en 1651.

«This means, by mass balance, that one-third of the regulus is now in the Sophic Mercury.» — y la inferencia que se saca de ella por balance de masas.

«Starkey now adds the weight of the common mercury evaporated from the black powder to the weight of the Sophic Mercury (minus its reguline component) and finds that the combined weights do not add up to that of the initial common mercury employed.» — la pesada que no cuadra: sumados los pesos, falta mercurio respecto del que entró.

«This missing, mass leads Starkey to suspect that the wash water contains the missing, mercury, a hypothesis that he confirms by evaporating the water to a pellicle to show that it now contains a crystalline salt.» — y cómo Starkey persigue esa masa faltante hasta el agua de lavado, evaporándola hasta la película para dar con la sal cristalina.

«though he had received some hint from his study of the fifteenth-century writings of George Ripley regarding the relative proportions to use, Starkey nonetheless here employs an empirical approach to solving the problem definitively.» — la mezcla de autoridad y prueba que los autores describen: la pista de las proporciones venía de Ripley y la resolución la busca Starkey por vía empírica.

«But Starkey now tries a method very different from that stipulated by Suchten.» — y el punto en que se aparta de Suchten.

«The greatest problem with the original receipt (as drawn from Suchten) was its utter tediousness.» — el defecto que Starkey le encontraba a la receta heredada, según los autores.

«In late August 1653, Starkey tried to solve both problems by replacing the cycles of grinding and gentle digestion of the regulus-silver alloy and mercury with a longer period of much more vigorous digestion of a mercury “of two eagles” with pure regulus and without any additional silver.» — y la enmienda con que lo ataca en agosto de 1653: digestión larga y vigorosa con regulus puro, sin plata.

«Starkey sets up not one, but three digesting flasks; the first contains gold and Philosophical Mercury in a weight ratio of 4:3, the second flask uses the ratio 1:3, and a third, 1:2.» — el diseño en paralelo que los autores destacan: tres matraces con tres proporciones distintas de oro y mercurio filosófico.

«Starkey then suggests that he can determine the ongoing progress of the permanent incorporation of the regulus with the mercury by monitoring the weight of residual regulus recoverable from the expelled powder.» — la medida indirecta con que Starkey pensaba seguir el avance: pesar el regulus que aún se recupera del polvo expulsado.

«Starkey can determine by subtraction how much has actually been decompounded and thereby assess the progress of the incorporation of the reguline Mercury into the Philosophical Mercury.» — y cómo se lee esa cifra: por resta se sabe cuánto regulus se descompuso.

«If he finds less regulus there, it means that more has been decomposed, meaning more antimonial Mercury has been incorporated with the Sophic Mercury, and so the process is more successful.» — con el criterio de éxito puesto por escrito: menos regulus recuperado significa mejor proceso.

«If more regulus is mercurified in each digestion cycle, then Starkey also saves on the total number of eagles needed.» — y el beneficio práctico que eso trae: menos águilas, es decir menos ciclos.

«Starkey calculates that this translates into a substantial savings of thirtythree shillings for every two pounds of mercury.» — el ahorro traducido a dinero, que es la marca de la mentalidad industrial que los autores le atribuyen.

«we have no further surviving records of Starkey’s attempt on this improved process or information regarding how his monitoring of the weight of recoverable regulus turned out.» — y el hueco que declaran en vez de rellenarlo: no se conserva el resultado de ese seguimiento.

«Although these antimonial metals may be “as good as the natural Metals,” Suchten notes that there are differences between them» — la reserva que los autores rescatan del propio Suchten sobre sus metales antimoniales.

«As early as spring 1651 Starkey claimed success in producing gold and silver from regulus.» — la fecha en que Starkey empieza a proclamar éxito sacando oro y plata del regulus, según los autores.

«John Dury apparently witnessed this operation, and several members of the Hartlib circle, especially Benjamin Worsley, strongly encouraged Starkey to devote himself wholly to this operation» — y la presión del entorno que documentan: Dury como testigo y Worsley empujándolo a dedicarse solo a eso.

«It is dificult to determine exactly what Starkey performed before Worsley, although it is very likely that the process was related to several recipes» — los autores declaran el límite de lo que se puede saber sobre lo que Starkey ejecutó delante de Worsley.

«Starkey initially spells the name “Spurling,” but changes this to “Purling” on fol. 319.» — un detalle de escritura que los autores registran en el manuscrito, con la foliación.

«He was imprisoned for unknown reasons in January 1654, and a letter of petition from him, dated 31 July 1654, requests not only his release but also certain “ready moneyes.”» — lo que se sabe de Purling por el archivo: preso en enero de 1654 y pidiendo por escrito su liberación y dinero.

«What these “discoveryes” might be is unspecified, but if, as is likely, this is the same Major Purling as the one mentioned by Starkey, then they may have been related to transmutational endeavors.» — y la cautela con que los autores lo enlazan con la transmutación: la identificación es probable, no cierta.

«Accordingly, in an experiment dated 20 August 1653, Starkey tries to produce not salable silver but lowly lead—a process Suchten claimed would be much easier.» — el cambio de meta que documentan en agosto de 1653: no plata vendible sino plomo, que Suchten daba por más fácil.

«Encouraged by this success, Starkey writes out a “conjectural conclusion” that for transmutation to occur, the regulus must be first fused with copper.» — la conclusión conjetural que Starkey escribe tras ese resultado.

«By “conjectural conclusion” Starkey seems to mean a conclusion based upon his interpretation of an experimental result that nevertheless requires further verification.» — y la definición que los autores le dan al término, con la verificación pendiente incluida.

«the weight was just about what it was originally, that is, 44 ounces.” Thus, relying upon the concept of mass balance, Starkey determines that only the fixed metals silver and copper remained and that none of the volatile regu» — el uso del balance de masas para decidir qué quedó en el crisol; la cita se corta donde el facsímil parte la palabra.

«In the following weeks Starkey made other attempts at producing Suchten’s silver, and in these cases he carefully marked down not only the exact quantities of materials used, but even marked off in the margin a running account of the cumulative amount of time the matter remained in the fire and determined the total residual weight after each of these specified periods of time (figure 5).» — la contabilidad que Starkey llevaba en esos intentos, según los autores: cantidades exactas y un acumulado de tiempo de fuego anotado al margen.

«But the recurrent problem of laboratory accidents— cracking glasses, breaking crucibles, spilling vessels—plagued Starkey’s attempt to keep a quantitative eye on his work.» — y lo que arruinaba esa contabilidad: vidrios rajados, crisoles rotos, vasijas volcadas.

«In one case the crucible suddenly tipped over and spilled “a sizeable part” of its contents (Starkey marks this occurrence in the margin of the notebook as casus, “an accident”).» — la palabra con que Starkey marcaba esos percances en el margen del cuaderno.

«Starkey, disheartened at the difficulty this would now present to keeping a quantitative account of the material, actually took the remarkable step of disassembling his furnace, removing the ashes from the grate and “recovered what I could by sifting the ashes with the greatest diligence; nonetheless I do not believe that this spillage occurred without loss.”» — hasta dónde llegaba por recuperar el balance: desarmó el horno y cribó las cenizas de la parrilla.

«Again it is clear that Starkey is obsessed with getting accurate weight measurements as guides to his practice and checks to his processes.» — los autores insisten en el rasgo: las pesadas exactas le sirven de guía y de control del proceso.

«Starkey records similar problems when he tries an experiment where the regulus is added in small portions at twohour intervals; indeed, his candid account of this new casus infortunatus (as it is listed in the margin) is almost enough to bring one to tears:» — y el rótulo marginal del percance siguiente, con el comentario compasivo de los propios autores.

«Such candid accounts of Starkey’s laboratory mishaps provide a vivid sense of the difficulty and frustration inherent in laboratory work, especially in a period when the quality of the equipment and materials was unreliable.» — lo que esos relatos aportan, según los autores: la medida de la dificultad real del trabajo cuando el material no era de fiar.

«This is not rhetorical posturing or self-exculpation but rather an unvarnished private account of what Starkey faced in the laboratory» — y por qué valen como testimonio: son cuentas privadas, no exculpación ni pose.

«For Starkey, however, the real world obstacles he faced were not restricted to the laboratory; they also included severe financial pressures.» — el otro obstáculo que los autores ponen al lado del laboratorio.

«Although it will not tell us any more about Starkey’s use of quantitative methods, it is worth finishing the story of his search for the secret of the Suchtenian metals from antimony for it serves further to illustrate the pathways of his laboratory work.» — los autores explican por qué siguen contando la historia aunque ya no aporte al asunto cuantitativo.

«What this success was we will probably never know, but Starkey (like Suchten before him) had previously had some success in selling what were presumably “artificial” precious metals to goldsmiths.» — y declaran el límite de lo que se sabe, con el dato que sí consta: Starkey había vendido antes a orfebres metales presuntamente artificiales.

«It is worth noting that the expense and trouble of maintaining for nearly two months a charcoal fire hot enough to keep metals molten would have been immense.» — el costo material de una digestión de dos meses, que los autores calculan inmenso.

«The entryis undated, but the red-brown ink in which it is written is characteristic of Starkey’s time in Bristol in late 1655 and early 1656, and the immediately following entry (on a different topic, but written in the same ink) is dated 25 January 1656.» — cómo fechan los autores una entrada sin fecha: por el color de la tinta y por la entrada siguiente. La grafía pegada es la del facsímil.

«The final example for this chapter comes from what Starkey himself may have viewed as the most important project of his entire career—the volatilization of alkalies.» — los autores adjudican a la volatilización de los álcalis el lugar que el propio Starkey pudo darle: el proyecto mayor de su carrera.

«Along with the search for the Philosophers’ Stone and the alkahest, the project is one of Starkey’s longest-running pursuits and probably the one to which he devoted the most experimental trials.» — y lo sitúan junto a la piedra y al alkahest entre sus empresas más largas, con más ensayos que ninguna.

«After some ten years of work, Starkey achieved success in the mid-16s0s, a fact that is first adumbrated in Boyle’s Philosophicall Diary between 1 and 12 January 1655.» — la fecha del logro y la fuente que primero lo asoma: el diario filosófico de Boyle en enero de 1655.

«There Boyle records that Starkey had succeeded in making crystals of an Elixir of volatile salt (elixir salis volatilis) by digesting salt of tartar with essential oil in a sealed vessel kept at moderate heat for three or four months.» — y el procedimiento que Boyle anota: sal de tártaro digerida con aceite esencial en vaso sellado durante meses.

«Starkey never openly reveals the crucial part of the secret there, and only by turning to the notebooks can we discover it.» — lo que hace indispensables los cuadernos, según los autores: en lo publicado Starkey nunca suelta la parte decisiva del secreto.

«Thus, the private notebooks explain the allusive public text and also illustrate the otherwise hidden day-to-day experimental background to Starkey’s publications.» — y la relación entre los dos cuerpos de escritura que el libro explota.

«By this one uniform chymical method, Starkey believed that any substance could be prepared into a medicine that was safe, pleasant, and efficacious.» — la ambición médica del proyecto, según se la atribuyen: un método uniforme para volver medicina segura y agradable cualquier sustancia.

«Thus this project showcases not only Starkey’s methods, originality, and tenacity, but also his desire to reduce his numerous experiments into generalized principles of chymistry.» — y lo que el caso muestra además de método y tenacidad: la voluntad de reducir los ensayos a principios generales.

«At the beginning of his search for the secret of volatilizing alkalies, however, it is not evident that Starkey had this grand design in mind.» — con la cautela cronológica de los autores: ese designio no se ve al principio de la busca.

«The greatest arcanum that Van Helmont claimed was that of the liquor alkahest, a substance occupying a central position in his chymical system.» — el lugar del alkahest en el sistema helmontiano, según los autores.

«It is thus called the “immortal solvent,” for after it has completed the dissolution and analysis of a compound body into its constituents, it can be separated from the dissolved substances in the same quantity and quality as it was first employed.» — y por qué se le llamaba disolvente inmortal: se recupera en la misma cantidad y calidad con que entró.

«Robert Boyle himself was, presumably at least partly through Starkey’s influence, fascinated by it and the immense power it promised for the determination of the constitution of mixed bodies and for the advancement of matter theory.» — la fascinación de Boyle por el alkahest, que los autores atribuyen en parte a Starkey, por lo que prometía para la teoría de la materia.

«Indeed, Boyle apparently wrote (or, at least, began to write) a tract on the alkahest, but never published it and it is now lost.» — con el dato y su reserva: hubo un tratado de Boyle sobre el alkahest, o al menos su comienzo, y hoy no se conserva.

«Volatilized salt of tartar is, in Starkey’s expression, a succedaneum to the alkahest, that is, it is not equivalent thereto, but is capable of performing some of the same feats.» — el término con que Starkey nombra la sal de tártaro volátil, y su límite: sucedáneo del alkahest, no equivalente.

«Thus if alkalies were volatilized, that would imply that their corpuscles had been reduced in size (volatility and particle size had been related in alchemy since the Middle Ages), approaching corpuscles of the alkahest in size.» — el razonamiento corpuscular que sostenía el proyecto: volatilizar es achicar el corpúsculo y acercarlo al tamaño del alkahest.

«It is curious, however, that in spite of the great attention Starkey obviously paid to the preparation of the alkahest, there are no extended sets of experimental studies recorded in the extant notebooks.» — y una rareza documental que los autores dejan planteada: del alkahest mismo no hay series experimentales en los cuadernos que se conservan.

«Salt of tartar can withstand hours of brightly glowing red heat without evaporating in the least.» — la magnitud del problema, dicha por los autores en términos de horno: la sal de tártaro aguanta horas al rojo sin evaporarse.

«The volatile salt of tartar, however, was supposed to vaporize at a fairly gentle heat, below the temperature of incandescence.» — y lo que se esperaba de la volátil: vaporizarse con calor suave, por debajo de la incandescencia.

«The same document records the treatment of salt of tartar with spirit of wine, the process that Starkey recollects as his first attempt to volatilize salt of tartar.» — el primer intento, según el propio recuerdo de Starkey: sal de tártaro tratada con espíritu de vino.

«Although Starkey succeeded in thus preparing two menstrua, he was apparently not satisfied—presumably on the basis of their properties—that either was the true spirit of volatilized salt of tartar described by Van Helmont.» — y por qué no le bastó: los dos menstruos obtenidos no le parecieron el verdadero espíritu que describe Van Helmont.

«Therefore, it is likely that Starkey thought he might be able to induce volatility in the salt of tartar by allying it with volatile materials.» — la hipótesis de trabajo que los autores le suponen, declarada como probable.

«This is analogous to the common practice—extending well into the Middle Ages—of producing sublimates from fixed materials by mixing them with sal ammoniac, a material that readily sublimes.» — y el precedente medieval con que la emparentan: sublimar lo fijo mezclándolo con sal amoníaco.

«Starkey’s further progress can be followed in his spring 1651 letter to Boyle, where he recounts a “disaster” in his laboratory.» — la fuente que permite seguir el avance: la carta de Starkey a Boyle de la primavera de 1651, con un desastre de laboratorio dentro.

«But this misfortune, though costly in materials, was intellectually valuable to Starkey, for he at once made use of its result, thus indicating the value even of laboratory accidents.» — lo que los autores extraen del episodio: hasta un accidente rinde, si se sabe leer su resultado.

«He noted that the residue was “almost of no pondus,” in spite of the fact that the weight of the saponary “medicine” from which it was produced had been at least one and a half pounds, about half of which would have been salt of tartar.» — la observación que lo volvió útil: el residuo casi no pesaba, y la mitad de la libra y media de partida era sal de tártaro.

«the logical conclusion (using the principle of mass balance to locate missing mass) was that the salt must have been volatilized and driven away by the overly strong fire.» — y la inferencia por balance de masas: la sal se había volatilizado y se la había llevado el fuego demasiado fuerte.

«This consideration makes the rationale behind Starkey’s next decision clear—use an oil that has already been distilled and will thus have no feces; in other words, substitute an essential oil for an expressed one» — la decisión siguiente y su razón: un aceite ya destilado, sin heces, en lugar de uno prensado.

«This method involves slowly distilling a lixivium of salt of tartar with oil of terebinth to produce a black precipitate that Starkey calls a “collostrum” and then distilling a spirit out of the collostrum.» — el método que ensaya con aceite de trementina, con el nombre que Starkey da al precipitado negro.

«There is no record of Starkey’s work on the project between 1652 and 1655, and part of his seemingly slow progress on it is undoubtedly due to his financial and personal disasters of 1653-54.» — los autores declaran el hueco documental entre 1652 y 1655 y lo atribuyen a la ruina financiera y personal de Starkey.

«The process documented in Boyle’s 1655 work-diary is, however, repudiated by Starkey in his subsequent review of his attempts.» — y una discrepancia entre las fuentes: lo que Boyle anota en 1655 Starkey lo repudia después al revisar sus propios intentos.

«The process Starkey now writes down to try not only eventually brings him the success he long sought, but also entirely changes the scope of the project.» — el giro que los autores fechan en marzo de 1655: el proceso nuevo no solo acaba funcionando, cambia el alcance del proyecto.

«It appears that Starkey’s new process arose from a careful reconsideration of the theory of alkali composition together with his linkage of two widely separated and obscurely described processes in Van Helmont.» — y de dónde salió, según ellos: de repensar la composición del álcali y de unir dos pasajes distantes y oscuros de Van Helmont.

«This terse and incomplete receipt in Van Helmont, however, mentions nothing about the air, but only alludes to an unspecified “artificial and hidden circulation.”» — el enigma del que arranca todo el tramo: la receta de Van Helmont no nombra el aire y solo alude a una circulación artificial y oculta.

«It is worth pointing out that if, as seems likely, Starkey carried out the process using oil of cinnamon as mentioned by Van Helmont, he would in fact have observed the change of the oil entirely into salt.» — lo que Starkey habría visto con aceite de canela, declarado como probable por los autores.

«The resultant acid can then combine with the alkali carbonates in the “salt of cinnamon” to provide a water-soluble cinnamate salt, which, as Starkey accurately describes in his notebook, “notably differs from fixed sal alkali in taste, and does not liquify in air (as alkali does).”» — la química moderna del caso y, junto a ella, la descripción exacta que Starkey anotó de la sal resultante.

«Thus Starkey would have in fact seen the striking transformation of a distilled oil into a crystalline salt by the action of the air—apparently a clear confirmation of his supposition about the identity of the “hidden circulation.”» — y por qué el resultado le habría parecido confirmación: un aceite destilado vuelto sal cristalina por acción del aire.

«But how did Starkey arrive at this use of the air as the correct interpretation of the hidden circulation?» — la pregunta que los autores se plantean sobre el origen de esa lectura.

«This linkage was nota stab in the dark, however, for there are textual and theoretical reasons for it.» — y la respuesta que dan: la unión de los dos pasajes tenía razones textuales y teóricas. La grafía pegada es la del facsímil.

«Recall that according to Helmontian theory, alkalies are produced when a combustible material is heated and a part of its volatile Salt “seizes upon” its neighboring Sulphur so that the two become fixed together as an alkali.» — la teoría de fondo que hace posible el paso: el álcali se forma cuando la sal volátil se apodera del azufre vecino y los dos quedan fijos.

«Starkey posits that this “ferment of rotting” exists in the air, for he refers to the fracedo of the air, using a Helmontian word that means “a power to cause rotting or fermentation,” being related to the Latin word fracidus, meaning overripe or rotten.» — y el término helmontiano con que Starkey nombra el poder del aire, con su etimología latina.

«But he was not satified with a single result employing cinnamon.» — los autores subrayan que Starkey no se quedó en un solo resultado. La grafía corrupta es la del facsímil.

«The reader will recall that this passage occurs in the tract “Blas humanum,” where Van Helmont introduces his theory on the formation of fixed alkalies from volatile Salt and Sulphur.» — el tratado helmontiano donde vive el otro pasaje que Starkey enlaza.

«Starkey apparently linked these two passages, believing that the “arcanum” of the one was the “artificial and hidden circulation” of the other.» — y la identificación que hizo entre los dos, declarada por los autores como aparente.

«But there was now much more to the project than there had been when he began it as a youthful neophyte in New England.» — el crecimiento del proyecto entre el joven de Nueva Inglaterra y el hombre de 1655.

«Starkey then sets down the improved method of moistening salt of tartar with oil of terebinth, exposing the paste (without powdered plant material) to the air until the oil disappears, adding more oil, and continuing this process for several weeks.» — el método mejorado que Starkey deja escrito: sal de tártaro humedecida con aceite de trementina y expuesta al aire hasta que el aceite desaparece, semana tras semana.

«This final salt—the “Elixir of volatile salt”—is the salt of tartar now made volatile and fully united with the essential oil, which has itself been converted by the hidden circulation into a salt.» — y qué es el producto final en esa cuenta: la sal de tártaro ya volátil y unida al aceite esencial, vuelto él mismo sal.

«Essential oils are the Sulphurs of plants, and Sulphurs are key to Helmontian pharmacy.» — la equivalencia que abre el proyecto médico: el aceite esencial es el azufre de la planta.

«Van Helmont asserted that the active part of any substance is its Sulphur.» — y la tesis helmontiana que le da peso.

«Sulphur is the “life and death” of things, it contains the “vital fire,” and is the material basis for all chymical transformations.» — lo que el azufre es dentro de ese sistema, según los autores.

«But knowing this is not enough, for these Sulphurs must generally be separated by chymical operations from the mixed bodies that contain them.» — con el trabajo que eso impone: los azufres hay que separarlos por operación química de los cuerpos que los guardan.

«When these offending principles are removed, however, the Sulphurs should constitute all the medicines man could ever want for any disease.» — y la promesa que sostiene la empresa: quitados los principios ofensivos, los azufres darían toda la medicina imaginable.

«For vegetables this is not so difficult, but we have already sampled Starkey’s arduous attempts to isolate the more powerful mineral Sulphurs of antimony, of its regulus, and of copper.» — con la asimetría de dificultad que los autores recuerdan entre los azufres vegetales y los minerales.

«But even when the Sulphurs are “corrected” there remains a further problem.» — y el obstáculo que queda aun después de corregidos.

«Here lies the remarkable power of the “artificial and hidden circulation” — it can transform a Sulphur into a Salt.» — el poder que Starkey le adjudica a la circulación oculta y que resuelve ese obstáculo.

«Now a Salt, because it readily dissolves in water unlike a Sulphur, is more able to penetrate all the narrow vessels of the body and act more powerfully.» — la razón fisiológica del cambio: la sal se disuelve en agua y entra por los vasos estrechos del cuerpo, el azufre no.

«After several weeks, the two would unite and be converted into a “volatile essentiall Salt” of wormwood, containing the “whole crasis or virtue” of the herb in a saline form easily assimilable to the human body.» — el producto de la operación con ajenjo: una sal esencial volátil que guarda la virtud entera de la hierba en forma asimilable.

«The Elixir is able to convert the crude herb into an essential Salt like itself because it contains a “fermental virtue” able to convert other materials into its own nature.» — la propiedad que hace del elixir un agente y no solo un producto: la virtud fermental que convierte lo demás a su propia naturaleza.

«In the same way, the Elixir of volatile salt has this fermental virtue because it has either reacquired its own lost semina, when the calcined salt is reunited with its own essential oil, or else it acquires new semina from a foreign essential oil, such as that of terebinth.» — y de dónde le viene esa virtud, con las dos vías que los autores distinguen: semina propios recobrados o semina ajenos tomados de otro aceite esencial.

«Mineral and metalline Sulphurs can be handled by the same general method, which Starkey calls “elixeration.”» — el nombre que Starkey le da al método general, extendido ya a los azufres minerales y metálicos.

«Here we see clearly how this Elixir is succedancous to the alkahest, for it forms (with ordinary spirits of wine) a solvent for isolating the virtues ofa mixed substance, and after its use it is recoverable in its original form.» — y en qué sentido el elixir hace de sucedáneo del alkahest: aísla virtudes y se recupera tal como entró. La grafía corrupta es la del facsímil.

«By the power of the fermental virtue that common mercury acquires from regulus of antimony, the acuated Philosophical Mercury dissolves and digests the heterogeneous metals, converts them into its own Mercurial nature, and unites with them.» — el paralelo que los autores trazan con el otro proyecto: el mercurio filosófico obra por la misma virtud fermental que le presta el regulus.

«Remember that, according to Helmontian theory, the Salt while in the plant originally had its own semen, but this was weakened in the cremation whereby it became an alkali;» — la pieza teórica que explica la pérdida: la sal traía su propio semen en la planta y la cremación se lo debilitó.

«Thus the Elixir, once prepared, is the means of preparing other substances into its own nature.» — y lo que el elixir vale una vez hecho: no es el fin sino el medio de preparar todo lo demás.

«First, the Elixir can be volatilized by mixing it with potters’ clay and distilling it in a retort.» — el primero de los protocolos que los autores enumeran.

«A third related protocol calls for the metalline Sulphur to be united with the oil of terebinth prior to its “artificial and hidden circulation” with salt of tartar.» — y el tercero, que une el azufre metálico al aceite de trementina antes de la circulación.

«One of these “very firm reasons” was provided by a quantitative analytical study.» — los autores señalan de dónde salían las razones firmes con que Starkey elegía entre protocolos.

«Clearly, Starkey weighed the oil of terebinth both before and after repeated distillations from mineral Sulphurs, and compared the weights.» — y en qué consistía esa medida: pesar el aceite antes y después de las destilaciones y comparar.

«the success of this operation is guaranteed by the Helmontian theory that salts “seize upon” Sulphurs in the fire» — la garantía teórica que Starkey le atribuía al método preferido, en la doctrina helmontiana de que la sal se apodera del azufre en el fuego.

«Starkey not only borrows from his earlier experience but also generalizes the method to apply to the Sulphurs of all minerals» — el paso de lo particular a lo general que los autores le reconocen.

«Thus the mineral or metalline Sulphur is converted, along with the vegetable Sulphur (i.e., oil of terebinth), into a “Saline Nature,” thereby completing its “glorification” and conversion into a potent and safe medicine.» — y el término del proceso: azufre mineral y vegetal llevados juntos a naturaleza salina, con la glorificación cumplida.

«After ten years of work and thousands of experiments, Starkey has drawn upon his results and theories to develop a single method of preparing all Sulphurs into medicines and elaborated this method into several convergent protocols.» — el balance de la década, en la cuenta de los autores: un método único para todos los azufres, desplegado en varios protocolos convergentes.

«The principle is always the same; Sulphurs are converted into Salts either by the “hidden circulation” of the air or by the fermental activity of the already circulated Elixir of volatile salt.» — y el principio común a todos ellos.

«In addition to this quantitative evidence, Starkey also cites the practical issue that because alkalies are nonvolatile, “they will tolerate an ignition one hundred times greater than oils,” so the necessary isolation of the crude Sulphur can employ a far greater heat, better able to “open up” the body of the heterogeneous minerals and metals.» — la razón práctica que suma a la cuantitativa: por no ser volátiles, los álcalis aguantan un fuego mucho mayor para abrir el mineral.

«In the late 1650s a medical practitioner named Richard Matthew began selling a substance he referred to as his “Pill.”» — el arranque de la disputa de prioridad que los autores narran.

«Thus it is clearly an application of an early form of Starkey’s Elixir of volatile salt as outlined above.» — y su adjudicación: la píldora aplica una forma temprana del elixir de Starkey.

«Starkey’s comments reveal more about the relative value he accorded to a mere receipt, however profitable, and the development of a generalized pharmacological system based on theoretical principles.» — lo que la queja de Starkey deja ver, según los autores: valoraba más el sistema farmacológico general que la receta rentable.

«Starkey was not a collector of medical miscellanies— the real aim of his laboratory practice was the preparation of higher arcana and the discovery of chymical principles that could be embodied in broad preparative methodologies.» — la caracterización que los autores oponen a la del recetario: lo que Starkey buscaba eran arcanos altos y principios que cupieran en metodologías amplias.

«Starkey developed and deployed a consistent methodology of data collection and interpretation from both textual and observational sources and used it to direct the course of his laboratory activities.» — y el método que le reconocen: recolección e interpretación de datos, textuales y de observación, puestas a dirigir el trabajo.

«The interplay between theory and practice is clearly apparent throughout, particularly in his habit of drawing conjectural processes from theoretical principles and past experience and then submitting them to the judgment of practical trials in the fire.» — con el juego entre teoría y práctica visible en su costumbre de someter al fuego los procesos conjeturales.

«Starkey’s laboratory investigation was rational and methodical, even in processes relating to transmutation and the production of the Philosophers’ Stone, which he elsewhere expressed more publicly in the riotous allegorical symbolism of the Philalethes treatises.» — la tesis central del capítulo, con la distancia entre las dos escrituras dicha dentro: hasta en lo tocante a la piedra el trabajo es racional y metódico.

«Starkey was far from being an “empiric” (as he has sometimes been called); much less was he the nonrational or “mystical” archetype of the “alchemist” purveyed in varying degrees by so much of the secondary literature on alchemy.» — y las dos etiquetas que los autores le retiran: la de empírico y la del alquimista no racional de la literatura secundaria.

«Those who wish to perpetuate such images of alchemical workers must explain how the rigorous methodological character of these laboratory notebooks—written by that famous champion of chrysopoeia, Eirenaeus Philalethes—squares with their own interpretation of alchemy and its practitioners, particularly in their separation of it from “chemistry.”» — la carga de la prueba que devuelven a quien sostenga esas imágenes, con el dato incómodo de que los cuadernos son del campeón de la crisopeya.

«We do not mean to suggest, however, that Starkey’s methods, goals, and attitudes are somehow detachable from his own training as a chymist or from the seventeenth-century context in which he worked.» — y el límite que se ponen enseguida: el método de Starkey no se despega de su formación de químico ni de su siglo.

«Finally, there is the perennial nagging question of how and why Starkey, the painstaking laboratory worker, claimed success under the guise of Philalethes in transmutational alchemy even though his notebooks (not to mention the limits of physical possibility) indicate that had not achieved this desideratum.» — la pregunta que los autores dejan planteada sin resolver: por qué el operador escrupuloso proclamó bajo el nombre de Philalethes un éxito que sus cuadernos no respaldan.

«This, we fear, may somewhere be done by diagnosing Starkey with multiple personality disorder, but we leave the refutation of such a hypothesis to the reader’s good sense of humor.» — y con qué no quieren que se responda.

«intriguingly, these notebooks—in spite of Starkey’s perennial invective against university learning—clearly reflect his education at Harvard College and illustrate the surprising degree to which Scholastic argumentation and practical experimental technique could be integrated.» — la paradoja que abre el capítulo siguiente: los cuadernos del enemigo declarado del saber universitario reflejan su educación en Harvard.

«Despite Starkey’s explicit reliance on textual authorities, we will see that his Scholastic method, combined with the results of his laboratory practice and his determination to make his processes better and more cost-efficient, led Starkey to a continual engagement with and correction of even his most valued textual sources.» — y adónde lo lleva esa mezcla, según los autores: a corregir sin descanso las fuentes que más apreciaba.

«We need to account for the remarkable fact that Starkey established a working laboratory in London in less than four months after his arrival there and that he was already turning out products of sufficient novelty to impress such collectors of arcane curiosities as Samuel Hartlib, Benjamin Worsley, Robert Boyle, and the strange Dr. Farrar, who offered him five thousand pounds for his metallurgical secrets.» — el hecho que el capítulo se propone explicar: laboratorio montado en Londres a menos de cuatro meses de llegar, y con productos que ya interesaban a compradores.

«Starkey’s notebooks reveal that he first began experimental chymisty in 1644, under the guidance of Richard Palgrave, a physician of Charlestown, Massachusetts, about whom little is known.» — la fecha y el maestro del primer trabajo experimental de Starkey, con lo poco que se sabe de él dicho en la misma línea.

«Winthrop, who had attended Trinity College, Dublin, was involved in every aspect of seventeenth-century chymistry: iatrochemistry, chrysopoeia, and perhaps above all the mining and refining of ores.» — el perfil químico de John Winthrop hijo, según los autores: iatroquímica, crisopeya y sobre todo minería y afinado de menas.

«The men who devised this operation knew what they were doing; not only did they emulate the best of English and Belgian ironworking technology, they made local adaptations such as the discovery and use of an igneous rock called gabbro, found at Nahant, for a flux.» — lo que los autores le reconocen a la fundición de Hammersmith: mejor tecnología inglesa y belga más adaptaciones locales como el gabro de Nahant.

«Hammersmith was a technological success and produced iron for some twenty years, though as a result of litigation, high wages, and shortage of hard currency, it failed to turn a notable profit and was eventually abandoned.» — con su desenlace: veinte años de hierro y ninguna ganancia notable, entre pleitos, salarios altos y falta de moneda.

«This was an important breakthrough, since the Massachusetts Bay area was notoriously poor in traditional ironmaking fluxes such as limestone.» — por qué el gabro contaba tanto: la bahía de Massachusetts era notoriamente pobre en fundentes tradicionales como la caliza.

«Before his emigration, however, Child had invested the very substantial sum of £450 in the company and had taken an active part in the daily operations at Braintree and Lynn.» — la implicación de Robert Child en la fundición, con capital y con trabajo diario, según los autores.

«Although the least formally educated of the Hammersmith figures about whom we shall speak, William White was possibly the one who knew most about metallurgy.» — la valoración que los autores hacen de William White dentro del grupo de Hammersmith.

«But White also reveals that Starkey had taken him in just before his departure for Bermuda.» — y el dato de la propia carta de White que lo ata a Starkey.

«It is unlikely to be mere coincidence that Starkey paid him the same daily rate as had been promised to him by Child as a worker at Hammersmith.» — la coincidencia de jornal que los autores no dan por casual: Starkey le pagó lo mismo que Child le había prometido en Hammersmith.

«The ironworker’s claim that the impressive work that he “shewd” at Starkey’s house redeemed his reputation as a metalworker implies that White’s service to Starkey was in this area.» — y la inferencia sobre en qué le sirvió White a Starkey, declarada como implicación.

«This is more than just speculation, for we know from another source that White billed himself as an inventor and purveyor of secrets.» — los autores dicen por qué eso no se queda en conjetura.

«A “Cattalog of secretts good for a Common welth or plantation” exists among the Hartlib papers; it is attributed to “Mr. White” and appears to be written in the same hand and with the same punctuation as William White’s signed 1649 letter.» — el documento en que se apoyan y cómo lo adjudican: por la letra y la puntuación, cotejadas con una carta firmada de 1649.

«It contains a list of fifteen numbered inventions, most of them relating to metallurgy.» — y lo que ese catálogo contiene.

«If Starkey was the beneficiary of this wizard of industrial efficiency, there is no need to wonder at the former’s interest in economic rationalism in the laboratory or at the attention to furnace construction and operation that is evident in most of Starkey’s works» — la explicación que proponen para el racionalismo económico de Starkey en el laboratorio y su atención a los hornos.

«At the same time, however, the intense focus on labor-saving devices and fuel efhciency that we see in White’s “secretts” is not very prominent in the chymical literature before the middle of the seventeenth century.» — con la comprobación negativa que la sostiene: ese interés por ahorrar trabajo y combustible casi no aparece en la literatura química anterior.

«Even Van Helmont, in his constant quest to found a new natural philosophy, pays little attention to the outlay of labor and expenses involved in running, a chymical laboratory.» — ni siquiera en Van Helmont, que apenas atiende al gasto de trabajo y dinero del laboratorio.

«The fact that this is not the case with Starkey may well derive from his association with the clever technological minds of New England, who combined a Daedalean skill in metals with the cold accountancy demanded by their ever-watchful masters, the Company of Undertakers.» — de ahí la adjudicación: la excepción de Starkey vendría del trato con los técnicos de Nueva Inglaterra, con destreza en metales y contabilidad fría encima.

«Indeed, one of the most intriguing aspects of Starkey’s notebooks is the coexistence and coadaptation of two intellectual traditions often considered incompatible—the experimentalism of the “New Philosophy” and the formal Scholasticism of “the Schools.”» — lo que los autores anuncian como más intrigante de los cuadernos: dos tradiciones que se dan por incompatibles conviviendo y acomodándose.

«There is an extended tradition of drawing a strong polarity between these two methods of inquiry, perhaps most of all in the seventeenth century itself.» — y de dónde viene esa incompatibilidad, que ellos fechan sobre todo en el propio siglo XVII.

«Modern scholarship, however, has begun to blur the lines that were so forcefully drawn in the seventeenth century and perhaps taken too literally in earlier historiography.» — los autores registran el cambio historiográfico: las líneas que el siglo XVII trazó con fuerza se están borrando.

«Yet Starkey’s synthesis gives us a striking example of how the two systems were actually both drawn upon to create a coherent investigative methodology.» — y el valor que le dan al caso Starkey dentro de ese cambio: los dos sistemas trabajando juntos en un método coherente.

«The fact that this investigation took place in a practical laboratory setting, moreover, points to a largely overlooked contribution of Scholasticism to the methodology of experiment.» — con lo que a su juicio se ha pasado por alto: la contribución de la escolástica al método experimental, y en un laboratorio de verdad.

«The case is obviously very different with Starkey. Here we have a university-trained scholar who buried himself among his furnaces for weeks on end in the quest to discover ever more powerful products of chymistry.» — la diferencia que hace a Starkey útil para ese argumento: un letrado universitario metido entre hornos durante semanas.

«we will show, this pursuit was informed from beginning to end by Scholastic techniques imbibed by Starkey while at Harvard College.» — y la tesis que el capítulo anuncia sobre esa busca.

«Moreover, Starkey’s notebooks, as private records, provide an unvarnished behindthe-scenes glimpse of his methods, thereby allowing a more accurate winnowing of private practice from public rhetoric in regard to method.» — lo que los cuadernos permiten separar, según los autores: la práctica privada de la retórica pública en materia de método.

«Indeed, Starkey’s public comments do not always accord well with his private practice: this study of Starkey may therefore be admonitory for interpretations of other seventeenth-century figures.» — y la advertencia que sacan de ahí para leer a otras figuras del siglo.

«Although Starkey occasionally uses his university education as a means of distinguishing himself from mere empirics, he makes very strong declamations against the learning of “the Schools” in Natures Explication and Pyrotechny Asserted.» — la doble cara que documentan en lo impreso: la formación universitaria le sirve para distinguirse del empírico y aun así declama contra las escuelas.

«But he found that this Scholastic method completely failed to achieve the desired results in the laboratory, and so he became an “indefatigable prosecutor of experiments” in order to discover the truth about the world.» — la versión que Starkey da de su propio viraje, según los autores.

«There can be no doubt that Starkey really was an “indefatigatible prosecutor of experiments” whose commitment to an experimental philosophy would set him among the ranks of “the moderns.”» — y hasta dónde se lo conceden: el compromiso experimental de Starkey lo pone entre los modernos.

«Turning to the notebooks, we see that despite Starkey’s public rejection of the schools, he deployed this formalized structure of argument explicitly in his own private laboratory practice.» — el contraste que la fuente privada deja ver: la estructura formal de argumentación que rechazaba en público la usaba en el laboratorio.

«He even wrote a boldly entitled Organum novum philosophiae against the “fallacious shew” of Scholastic methods (whether Aristotelian or Ramist).» — el título con que Starkey se puso en público contra los métodos escolásticos, aristotélicos o ramistas.

«Thus it is perhaps surprising that upon returning to the private notebooks to consider their format, we find that their style retains not only the forms but also the language of the Scholastic tradition, reflecting with remarkable clarity the “ancient” dialectical traditions of the schools to which he had been exposed at Harvard.» — y lo que sorprende al volver a los cuadernos: conservan las formas y la lengua de la tradición escolástica de Harvard.

«It is such disputations that Starkey denounces in print as useless exercises, and it was in just such a disputation on the topic of potable gold that he participated as the respondens.» — con el detalle biográfico que cierra la contradicción: Starkey participó como respondens en una disputa sobre el oro potable.

«The formal marginalia, examined in the previous chapter, that give structure to the notebooks draw their origins from the Scholastic disputation.» — y de dónde vienen los rótulos marginales que ordenan los cuadernos.

«The key aspect of the Scholastic method is its formalized structure of dialectic used to reach a conclusion.» — los autores fijan qué es lo escolástico que interesa aquí: una estructura formalizada de diálogo para llegar a una conclusión.

«Starkey begins with a question about the preparation of a particular product, submits the text and/or his ideas to the formalized logic of the disputation with its dubia and its argumenta quod sic and quod non and finally arrives at the comclusio.» — el ala escolástica del método de Starkey, con sus dubia y sus argumentos por sí y por no. La grafía corrupta del latín es la del facsímil.

«But this is not the end. As we have seen, this conclusion is only conjectural—it must be tried in the fire, and here the experimental methodology begins.» — y dónde empieza la otra ala: esa conclusión es conjetural hasta que el fuego la prueba.

«Starkey’s complete investigative methodology is then like a diptych composed of Scholastic and experimental wings.» — la imagen con que los autores nombran el conjunto.

«Indeed, a letter appended to the end of Pyrotechny Asserted witnesses Starkey’s conscious division of the two halves of his method as well as their complementarity.» — y la prueba de que Starkey mismo veía las dos mitades como mitades complementarias.

«When this letter was written in early 1658, Starkey was under “confinement,” which may have been some sort of a house arrest, owing to unspecified legal proceedings by William Currer, another chymical practitioner.» — lo que se sabe del confinamiento de 1658 y su causa probable, según los autores: un pleito de otro químico.

«Starkey’s use of Scholastic techniques as a private tool for learning accords well with what we know of his Harvard education.» — la filiación que los autores le dan a esa herramienta privada de aprendizaje.

«We can reconstruct with considerable accuracy a typical day in the life of a student at Harvard around the time of Starkey’s residency.» — y hasta dónde llega la evidencia sobre Harvard en esos años, según lo declaran.

«While a Scholastic treatise of medicine might well bear the divisions into theoretical and practical sections, there is frequently little interconnection between the two.» — el contraste que preparan: el tratado escolástico de medicina se divide en teórica y práctica sin que las dos se hablen.

«This is strikingly different from Starkey’s methodology, the very importance and uniqueness of which is based upon the way in which he intimately marries theory and practice— basing his practice upon theory and in return amending his theory with practice.» — y ahí ponen lo propio de Starkey: la práctica fundada en la teoría y la teoría enmendada por la práctica.

«Such marginal tags distributing a sermon or scriptural writing into its dialectical divisions are strongly reminiscent of the style of Starkey’s laboratory notebooks, where marginalia are used profusely to articulate not only the sections in analyses of texts and logical arguments, but also stages in practical experimental processes.» — el parecido formal que los autores señalan entre los rótulos del sermón analizado y los del cuaderno de laboratorio.

«These notes are in fact reminiscent of Starkey’s numbered journal entries, where he frequently summarizes the main points of an extended text (as in one notebook where Starkey summarizes into twenty-two points the first book of Suchten’s Secrets of Antimony) or of the main observations from a practical process or experiment.» — y otro parecido: las entradas numeradas donde Starkey resume un texto largo, como los veintidós puntos del primer libro de Suchten.

«The method was sometimes referred to as “epitomizing” a work or a field, and candidates for the master’s degree were supposed to prepare a “Synopsis, or Compendium” of some art, also» — el nombre del ejercicio universitario correspondiente y su exigencia para el grado de maestro.

«Logical analysis of Scripture, public classroom debate, and the organization of knowledge into theses by no means exhausted the opportunities for employing Scholastic methods at early Harvard.» — los autores enumeran las vías escolásticas del Harvard temprano y advierten que no se agotan ahí.

«The quaestio disputata reemerged in a three-week period of “sitting solstices” occurring each summer—a variation on the Medieval Quodlibeta—in which “senior sophisters” (our seniors) were required publicly to answer any question put to them by anyone who chose to participate.» — la que faltaba: tres semanas de verano en que los mayores respondían en público a cualquier pregunta.

«The thesis sheet for 1646 survives—with Starkey’s name on it—but unfortunately we do not know which theses he defended.» — y el límite del documento, dicho con el dato: la hoja de tesis de 1646 lleva el nombre de Starkey y no dice cuáles defendió.

«Such charts were widely associated with Ramus at Harvard, though he, of course, was not the first to use such divisions.» — los autores atribuyen a Ramus la asociación de esos diagramas en Harvard y le quitan la primacía.

«A famous letter from Leonard Hoar, a Harvard A.B. of 1650 who went on to become president of the college from 1672 to 1675, expressly advises his nephew Josiah Flynt to study the note-taking “method of the incomparable P. Ramus,” as a means of navigating his freshman year.» — la carta con que documentan la enseñanza de ese método de tomar notas a un estudiante de primer año.

«While other opportunities for logical analysis and formal argument also existed at seventeenth- century Harvard, we have presented sufficient material to. convey the intensely disputational character of the curriculum during Starkey’s time.» — los autores dan por suficiente lo mostrado para caracterizar el currículo de Harvard en tiempos de Starkey como intensamente disputatorio.

«Starkey constructs a diagram based on swung brackets to explicate the preparation of the Stone, or as he calls it here, the “Greater Bezoar.”» — el uso que Starkey le da a ese diagrama en el laboratorio, con el nombre encubierto que le pone a la piedra.

«But unlike his colonial peers, Starkey actually carried his Scholastic education into the laboratory and used it there.» — y lo que lo separa de sus contemporáneos coloniales, según los autores.

«Andreas Libavius’s Alchemia of 1597, on the other hand, is famous for its incorporation of dichotomy charts.» — el precedente químico impreso de esos diagramas.

«Another early modern chymist, Angelus Sala, provided lists of “Observations” in his pharmacological studies, while also giving numbered “Problems” (portsmata) as well as “Objections,” “Responses,” and “Doubts.”» — y el otro precedente, con el aparato escolástico completo dentro de un estudio farmacológico.

«But these works of Van Helmont, Libavius, and Sala were printed texts destined for the mass market; they were not laboratory notebooks.» — la distinción que los autores hacen valer frente a esos precedentes: eran impresos para el mercado, no cuadernos de trabajo.

«Their use of Scholastic methodology was intended as a pedagogical technique— a method of conveying existing knowledge rather than a means of discovering new knowledge.» — y para qué les servía el aparato: transmitir lo sabido, no descubrir.

«This essential difference is revealed in the fact that Starkey’s “Conjectural Processes” and “Conclusions” are at times crossed out or explicitly refuted when his experimentation has led him to a dead end.» — la señal material de la diferencia en Starkey: sus conclusiones aparecen tachadas o refutadas cuando el experimento no llevó a ninguna parte.

«Here we witness the living process of discovery and rejection of a preconceived idea that Starkey’s predecessors—and indeed Starkey himself— would never have considered publishing.» — lo que eso deja ver, y que nadie habría impreso: el descubrimiento y el descarte de una idea previa, en vivo.

«Yet in these notebooks Starkey presents us with a Scholasticism transformed into part of an integrated experimental methodology.» — la fórmula con que los autores resumen el hallazgo del capítulo.

«This use of Scholastic methods as tools of discovery surely reflects Starkey’s early immersion in the oral and scribal culture of Harvard College, despite his public rejection of university learning.» — y su filiación, con la contradicción pública de Starkey dicha en la misma línea.

«One criticism often leveled at “ancient” learning in the seventeenth century was that of excessive adherence to textual authority rather than to the testimony of the senses and new experiential knowledge.» — el cargo corriente del siglo XVII contra el saber antiguo, tal como lo enuncian los autores.

«It is clear from his laboratory notebooks that Starkey’s experimental projects always begin with the text of an authoritative figure.» — y el dato que complica a Starkey frente a ese cargo: sus proyectos arrancan siempre del texto de una autoridad.

«These preliminary observations imply that a considerable part of Starkey’s work was closely linked to texts—making him in this case more like an “ancient” than a “modern.”» — la consecuencia incómoda que los autores extraen: por su atadura a los textos, Starkey queda del lado de los antiguos.

«Starkey trusts that these authors have actually seen and described genuine products; their descriptions then form the basis of his belief that he too can produce them.» — el supuesto que sostiene sus proyectos: si el autor lo describió es que lo vio, y entonces se puede repetir.

«Indeed, Starkey several times expresses his confidence in the testimony of favored authors in spite of his own continued unsuccessful attempts to reproduce their results.» — y hasta dónde llega esa confianza, según los autores: se mantiene contra los propios fracasos repetidos.

«Although the transmutatory Philosophers’ Stone, for example, seems “obviously” fictitious to modern readers, it was by no means so to Starkey or his contemporaries.» — la advertencia de anacronismo que los autores intercalan sobre la piedra.

«Starkey’s certainty that the various arcana he pursued were matters of fact is not unwarrantable.» — y su juicio sobre esa certeza, dicho con doble negación.

«Moreover, eyewitness accounts of transmutation were not uncommon in the seventeenth century in the form of “transmutation histories.”» — una de las razones que aducen: en el siglo XVII circulaban relatos de testigos presenciales de transmutación.

«Finally, Starkey had himself succeeded in producing various notable laboratory results—such as making gold sprout and grow into a mineral “tree”—that, since these results were described by some of his authoritative authors, assured him that he was on the right track.» — y otra: Starkey obtenía en su horno resultados llamativos que sus autoridades ya describían, como el árbol mineral de oro.

«That these substances existed was for Starkey patently clear from text and theory; how to produce them was the goal of his practical laboratory experimentation.» — el reparto que los autores fijan en su epistemología: la existencia la dan el texto y la teoría, el modo de producirlas lo busca el laboratorio.

«What is key here is that Starkey never—at least in the records we have—seems to have concluded from his practical experience that a matter of fact regarding the existence of a desirable substance in an authoritative textual source is simply wrong.» — lo que los autores no encuentran en ningún cuaderno, y lo declaran acotado a lo que se conserva: que Starkey concluyera que la fuente estaba lisa y llanamente equivocada.

«If a reputable text declares that a thing exists, Starkey’s failure to produce it comes not from falsity of the report but from problems in its transmission.» — y la regla que ocupa ese lugar: el fallo se atribuye a la transmisión, no al informe.

«Thus, the next step for Starkey is not the abandonment of the source or its simple negation but rather an attempt to find and to correct the errors in transmission.» — con la consecuencia práctica: no se abandona la fuente, se busca dónde se corrompió.

«mental results did not accord with Van Helmont’s text, and so there must be a mistake somewhere, but not in Van Helmont or in the experiments.» — la forma del razonamiento en un caso concreto; la cita empieza donde el facsímil parte la palabra.

«Note that Starkey does not slavishly adhere to the words of the text in the face of contrary experimental data but rather looks to harmonize the two sources of knowledge by locating and explaining the discrepancy.» — el matiz que los autores le reconocen: no se somete a la letra contra el dato, busca armonizar las dos fuentes de conocimiento.

«Again, the experience in the fire did not correspond with the text; therefore this discrepancy must have arisen from a fault in the transmission of information, and in this case Starkey suggests that the error may lie with the translator.» — y el otro culpable posible de la corrupción, en otro caso: el traductor.

«While compositors and translators may introduce errors in the flow of information, a more prevalent source of error lies in the interpretations of the text given by the reader, in this case by Starkey himself.» — con la fuente de error más frecuente de todas, según los autores: la interpretación del propio lector.

«But Starkey’s difficulties do not arise from an inability to read content accurately; rather they originate in the very nature of the texts he was using.» — y de dónde vienen de veras esas dificultades: de la naturaleza misma de los textos que manejaba.

«since the texts are not transparent, Starkey must spend a great deal more time in interpreting (and reinterpreting) them than he would otherwise have to do.» — el costo que la opacidad de las fuentes le impone a Starkey en horas de interpretación.

«This is made quite clear by the far lesser amount of time he expends upon processes from more straightforward and literal authors like Sala and Hartmann than from the more intricate and metaphorical (i.e., secretive) writings of Van Helmont, Suchten, and the chrysopoeians.» — y la medida de ese costo, por comparación entre autores llanos y autores reservados.

«The widespread secrecy of early modern chymistry can be puzzling to those more familiar with modern scientific writing, and it is almost a commonplace to view the development of an ethos of scientific openness as a signal event in the development of modern science.» — los autores nombran el lugar común contra el que van: la apertura como acontecimiento fundador de la ciencia moderna.

«Such a viewpoint often relegates secretive tracts—whether on chrysopoeia or prized medicinal arcana—to a “prescientific” age, or rejects their contents as nonscientific or even as largely or purely fictitious.» — y lo que ese punto de vista hace con los tratados reservados: mandarlos a una edad precientífica o tenerlos por ficción.

«Whereas many today might question the reality of a thing simply because it is secret, for Starkey and many of his contemporaries, secrecy could have exactly the opposite effect—it marked out the items of greatest value.» — la inversión de signo que los autores proponen: para Starkey y los suyos el secreto marcaba lo más valioso, no lo dudoso.

«Thus Van Helmont, like many other chymical writers, teaches not by bare receipt or prescription, but rather only by hints.» — el modo de enseñar que eso impone, según los autores: por indicios y no por receta.

«authors wrote in such a manner but do not address the reason why readers invested so much time in trying to understand their texts.» — la pregunta que los autores echan de menos en la bibliografía: no por qué se escribía así, sino por qué se invertía tanto en descifrarlo.

«But there is another explanation that should be considered of equal importance; namely the early modern taste for riddles, allegories, and intellectual exercises.» — y la explicación que suman con igual peso.

«The reward in these diversions is neither material nor public, but intellectual and private.» — la clase de recompensa que ese gusto ofrece.

«All the same, this activity was not necessarily mere entertainment or diversion, but often a key part of the serious intellectual quest for knowledge.» — con la salvedad de que no era pasatiempo: los autores la cuentan como parte de la busca seria de conocimiento.

«This principle of discordia concors—harmonious discord—forms the guiding principle behind much of the imagery found in metaphysical poetry, from John Donne to Henry Vaughan.» — el principio retórico con que los autores emparentan la escritura alquímica y la poesía metafísica inglesa.

«Small wonder, then, that many of the metaphysical poets were attracted to chymistry—Donne’s famous poem “Love’s Alchemy” is one of the masterpieces of English literature, as is George Herbert’s “The Elixir.”» — y los ejemplos con que lo sostienen, de Donne y de Herbert.

«Indeed, Edward Taylor, a graduate of Harvard College less than a generation after Starkey (A.B. 1671), Was an accomplished poet of the metaphysical school who made extensive use of alchemical imagery.» — el caso que más les sirve por su cercanía a Starkey: un poeta metafísico salido de Harvard menos de una generación después.

«Taylor was an active reader of chymical literature, and in true Harvardian fashion, he compiled a synopsis of John Webster’s 1671 Metallographia.» — con la marca de la casa que los autores señalan: Taylor epitomó la Metallographia de Webster igual que se enseñaba en Harvard.

«His Dispensatory or collection of medical recipes has survived, and it contains numerous chymical medicaments.’ Hence Taylor clearly regarded chymistry as an area of high utility, especially in its application to medicine.» — y lo que su recetario prueba sobre el uso que le daba a la química.

«Starkey himself composed poetry, and if he was not a Vaughan or Marvell, neither did he sink to the rank of a poetaster.» — la valoración medida que los autores hacen del Starkey poeta.

«Starkey’s decision to compose the Marrow in verse may have been stimulated more by conscious imitation of the rhyme royal treatises of his favored authority George Ripley (and other English alchemical poetry in Elias Ashmole’s Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum) than by a real commitment to poetry, Starkey nonetheless devoted great effort here and elsewhere to the versification of his ideas—that is, the expression of chymical theories and practices in an elegant and contrived format.» — y la explicación que prefieren para el verso del Marrow: imitación consciente de Ripley y de la poesía alquímica inglesa reunida por Ashmole.

«Moreover, some of the same delight in clever mystification that Taylor displayed is to be found in Starkey’s elaborate concealment of his own identity—not so that it will never be uncovered, but so that it will be uncovered only by the clever.» — el sentido que los autores le dan al ocultamiento de Starkey: no para que nadie lo descubra, sino para que solo lo descubra el listo.

«Rather than more perfectly concealing his identity by leaving the prefatory epistles to the Marrow completely anonymous, he instead signs them with the mottoes Egregius Christo (“special to Christ”) and Vir gregis custos (“A man, guardian of the flock”)» — la prueba de ello: pudiendo dejar anónimas las epístolas del Marrow, las firma con lemas latinos que son anagramas de su nombre.

«While some alchemical riddles and figurae no doubt have purely imaginative origins, many others do in fact conceal experimental knowledge and results.» — la tesis del tramo, con su concesión dentro: hay acertijos de pura imaginación y hay otros que esconden resultados de laboratorio.

«This example clearly indicates that the allusive text was intended to conceal a real plaintext recoverable by select readers.» — y lo que el cotejo entre la carta llana y el texto alusivo permite concluir sobre la escritura cifrada.

«Thus readers like Starkey are assured of the matter of fact of the existence of the desired products but left with only hints and allusions on how to prepare them.» — el reparto que la reserva produce en el lector: certeza sobre la existencia del producto y solo indicios sobre el modo de hacerlo.

«For Starkey, experimental practice was the test of his interpretations of texts, not of the claims of the texts themselves.» — y qué era lo que el fuego juzgaba en su caso: sus interpretaciones, no las afirmaciones de los textos.

«While end products are generally clearly described—Helmont’s spirit of volatile tartar is a colorless liquid that dissolves silver and mercury, the Philosophers’ Stone is a dense, red solid that is as fusible as wax and that when thrown upon molten lead transmutes it into gold in a matter of minutes, and so forth—the means of attaining them is not.» — la asimetría característica del género: el producto descrito con precisión y el camino callado.

«It is right to point out, however, that even though the treatment of salt and oil by the air gave Starkey the result he had expected from Van Helmont, there remains the possibility that this was not in fact what Van Helmont had in mind.» — la reserva que los autores dejan por escrito: que Starkey obtuviera lo que esperaba no prueba que eso fuera lo que Van Helmont quiso decir.

«There is no way to ascertain the correctness of a reader’s interpretation except by a comparison of results with those of the writer; this of course can leave the reader in an ultimately irresoluble uncertainty.» — y por qué la duda no se cierra: la única comprobación sería comparar resultados con los del autor.

«Syncope and dispersion come together in the case of Suchten’s Philosophical Gold reputedly found in antimony regulus, for Starkey not only assumes that there is an ingredient missing (“syncopated”) from the process, but identifies this missing ingredient as the unnamed mystery in the scoria mentioned in passing elsewhere in the text.» — cómo se combinan dos técnicas de ocultamiento en un caso concreto, según los autores: se supone un ingrediente suprimido y se lo busca disperso en otro lugar del texto.

«Starkey uses this method himself in his Pyrotechny Asserted, where, although he sings the praises of his Elixir of volatile salt, describes its properties, and notes the need for a “secret circulation,” he never mentions anywhere that this is accomplished by the air.» — y que Starkey aplicaba esas mismas técnicas: elogia su elixir, describe sus propiedades y nunca dice que el agente sea el aire.

«There exists only one brief passage that might be interpreted as revealing the need for air, but this is recognizable only after one knows what to look for: “Let many Tunnes or never so little quantitie of these fixed Salts, be laid in any Field, and in few months all would be transmuted into a volatile sa/t.» — el único pasaje que asoma el secreto, y su condición: solo se reconoce si ya se sabe qué buscar. Las grafías corruptas son las del facsímil.

«As we can see, the sages are not content to apply a single Deckname to their Sophic Mercury and its ingredients; instead, they multiply these names and employ them in such a way that they seem to be describing a multitude of things when there is only one real subject of discussion.» — el efecto de la parathesis, según los autores: multiplicar nombres hasta que parezca que se habla de muchas cosas cuando hay una sola.

«We mentioned above how Starkey himself concealed his own experimental processes in the Philalethes treatises, but of course, as Starkey was deeply involved in trying to prepare the Philosophers’ Stone—a substance known to the adepti—he had also to decipher their writings to guide his aspirations toward that summum bonum.» — la posición doble en que eso deja a Starkey: cifraba sus procesos y a la vez tenía que descifrar los ajenos.

«The penultimate canon records not only the belief that the “wise Philosophers” sought for this mean and found it, but also that their enigmatic works are to be read as a record of that search and discovery.» — lo que los autores leen en el penúltimo canon de Starkey sobre cómo hay que leer las obras enigmáticas.

«The final canon advises the reader what one thing he must endeavor to discover—assuring him that all the “darke sentences” do in fact contain a decipherable truth.» — y la garantía que da el último: bajo las sentencias oscuras hay una verdad descifrable.

«Certainly the tone is not that of the still unsuccessful Starkey but of the adept Philalethes.» — la adjudicación de voz que los autores hacen en ese pasaje: ahí no habla el Starkey que aún no lo consigue sino el adepto.

«Even Starkey’s trademark conjectural processes (although not explicitly labeled as such) appear here after he has come to a conclusion about the meaning of an obscure text.» — y el método de siempre reapareciendo bajo otro rótulo, incluso en los tratados cifrados.

«Starkey is cautious and occasionally even diftident about his interpretations of the sources.» — el temple que los autores le reconocen al interpretar sus fuentes. La grafía corrupta es la del facsímil.

«The resolution regards the identity of the “Luna of the Philosophers,” and its importance is underlined by the fact that Starkey added the date “Monday 18 August 1656” alongside it in the margin to mark exactly when he made it.» — la resolución del 18 de agosto de 1656 y la marca marginal con que Starkey fechó su importancia.

«But now Starkey is in a quandary: which antimony regulus should he use—the stellate martial regulus made with iron, or simple regulus of antimony prepared without the addition of iron» — el dilema práctico en que esa resolución lo deja: regulus marcial estrellado o regulus simple.

«Both reguli are actually pure elemental antimony, only they are prepared from the native sulfide ore by different methods of reduction; the stellate martial regulus is made using iron as the reducing agent while the plain regulus (or regulus per se) is prepared using nonmetallic reducing agents such as carbon.» — y la aclaración química que los autores intercalan: los dos reguli son antimonio puro y solo difieren en el reductor con que se sacan de la mena.

«Starkey thus perhaps went looking for the source of the problem.» — la conjetura que los autores marcan como tal sobre por qué Starkey volvió a los textos en 1656.

«But now Starkey turns to a “parable” of the early modern author Bernard Trevisan regarding the Philosophers’ Stone.» — y a qué texto acudió: la parábola de Bernard Trevisan.

«This porter is surely the “Luna,” or necessary medium between gold and mercury (i.e., the king and his bath), which he has identified as antimony regulus.» — la lectura que Starkey hace del portero de la parábola, según los autores: el medio necesario entre el oro y el mercurio.

«He notes that there is extra “pondus” (or weight) added to the mercury, which the iron adds of its own substance, which “increase it is not fit to admit without a ground.”» — y el argumento cuantitativo que suma contra el hierro: añade peso propio, y ese aumento no se admite sin fundamento.

«Thus, drawing upon the interpretation of Bernard’s parable, practical experiments, and theoretical considerations, Starkey resolves now to use regulus per se rather than the martial regulus he had been using since at least 1651.» — las tres cosas que concurren en la decisión, según los autores: interpretación de la parábola, experimentos y teoría.

«The effects of this change from martial to simple regulus further elucidate Starkey’s textual methodologies.» — y por qué el cambio interesa más allá del laboratorio.

«In the first place, this change explains the numerous deletions in the earlier Clavis totius scientiae, for on returning to that work, we can see that every deletion involves passages or phrases» — la primera huella del cambio: las tachaduras del Clavis totius scientiae dejan de ser azarosas.

«Starkey takes Sendivogius’s statement about the “house of Aries” to mean that iron is required, since the astrological house of Aries is ruled by the planet Mars, which in turn is the alchemical planetary symbol for the metal iron.» — la cadena de correspondencias con que Starkey había leído a Sendivogius: casa de Aries, planeta Marte, metal hierro.

«But this text is wholly crossed through, following the reinterpretation recorded in Aphorismi hermetict.» — y lo que le pasa a ese pasaje después de la reinterpretación. La grafía corrupta del título es la del facsímil.

«The frequent appearance of hermaphrodites in traditional alchemical literature has long titillated those predisposed to a psychological interpretation of alchemy, but here Starkey’s notebooks clearly reveal the conscious and rational (rather than sexually suppressed, hallucinatory, or arbitrary) use of the image.» — los autores oponen a la lectura psicológica del hermafrodita alquímico lo que muestran los cuadernos: un uso consciente y razonado de la imagen.

«Once Starkey rejects the addition of iron, however, that Deckname is no longer applicable because there is now no male element present in the regulus.» — y la prueba de ese uso: descartado el hierro, el nombre de cobertura se cae porque ya no hay elemento masculino.

«Starkey’s eventual rejection of iron reappears even in the chymical symbols he uses.» — la tercera huella del cambio, según los autores: el rechazo del hierro llega hasta los símbolos químicos.

«Dee asserts that this feature of his monad represents the horns of the Ram, Aries.» — la pieza de la mónada de John Dee en que los autores se apoyan para leer ese símbolo.

«Now, as we mentioned earlier, the astrological house of Aries is governed by the planet Mars, and the planet Mars in turn represents iron.» — con la cadena de correspondencias que la vuelve legible: Aries, Marte, hierro.

«So Starkey’s alteration of his arcane symbol is meaningful and significant; it recapitulates his 1656 decision to omit iron from the preparation of antimony» — y lo que el cambio de signo recapitula, según los autores.

«When Starkey omitted iron from his processes, he returned to this receipt to omit the signifier of iron from his chymical symbol.» — el gesto material que lo acompaña: volver sobre la receta vieja para borrar el significante del hierro.

«Thus we can see clearly that at least some chrysopoeians read allegorical and secretive chrysopoetic texts carefully in order to decode their chymical content and also wrote them just as carefully in order to encode such meaning in a retrievable form.» — la conclusión del capítulo sobre la escritura cifrada: al menos algunos crisopeyos la leían y la escribían con cuidado para que el contenido fuera recuperable.

«Again, we find that Starkey’s methodology awards final judgment to experimental practice, even in so secretive, allusive, and strongly text-based a pursuit as that of the Philosophers’ Stone.» — y que el juicio final sigue siendo del experimento, hasta en la busca más textual y más reservada de todas.

«Starkey’s use of Suchten, for example, displays a surprising degree of fluidity and development over time, as he subjects Suchten’s processes to increasingly rigorous examination.» — cómo cambia con el tiempo la relación de Starkey con su fuente, según los autores.

«But Starkey changed that procedure in 1653, based upon his own practical experience (as we saw in chapter 3), omitting most of the use of silver in order to provide a more convenient, more efficient, quicker, and cheaper production of the Sophic Mercury.» — la enmienda de 1653 y sus razones, que son de conveniencia, eficiencia, rapidez y costo.

«This exclusion of silver is directly contrary to Suchten’s method and his theoretical basis for the process in which silver is absolutely required for success.» — y contra qué va esa enmienda: contra el método de Suchten y contra la teoría que lo fundaba.

«Hence Starkey, based upon his own experience, improvements, and reconsiderations, successively jettisons virtually all of Suchten’s theory and much of his practice based on that theory.» — el saldo que los autores hacen de esa relación: Starkey acaba tirando casi toda la teoría de Suchten y buena parte de su práctica.

«In the end, the only thing Starkey retains from the Prussian iatrochemist is the matter of fact that he acuated common mercury by means of antimony into a solvent capable of radically dissolving, metals.» — y lo único que conserva: el hecho de que el mercurio común, acuado con antimonio, disuelve metales de raíz.

«Their first use was as evidence simply that a given desirable product had in fact been prepared previously (i.e., it has real existence) and had certain specific qualities and powers.» — el primero de los dos usos que los autores le asignan al texto en este método.

«This knowledge remained tentative because the transmission of information from author to reader was incomplete, and generally intentionally so owing to the culture of secrecy embodied in the texts.» — y por qué el segundo uso deja siempre un saber tentativo: la transmisión es incompleta, y a propósito.

«While the existence of the goal was fixed, therefore, the practical ways of approaching it were quite fluid, being dependent upon experimental results to pass judgment upon the correctness of the interpretations on which the methods were in turn based.» — el reparto entre lo fijo y lo fluido que resulta de ahí.

«Nonetheless, there is a modern practice that Starkey’s projects do resemble, namely reverse engineering.» — la comparación moderna que los autores proponen para esa forma de trabajo.

«Although we have examined the interacting roles of textual authority and experimental results in Starkey’s methodology and epistemology, there remains one further source of authority—revelations from God, or, as Starkey (quoting Saint James) often says, “The Father of Lights.”» — la tercera fuente de autoridad que los autores añaden a texto y experimento, con el nombre que Starkey le daba tomándolo de Santiago.

«To Van Helmont and his followers, not to mention many of their contemporaries, “revelation” could indeed mean the experience of a vision imparted in a dream or in an ecstatic state, but it could also refer to knowledge that God allowed or silently assisted the chymist to discover by means of his own sweat and labor.» — el rango de sentidos que revelación tenía entonces, según los autores: desde la visión en sueños hasta el saber que Dios permite alcanzar con sudor propio.

«Starkey’s careful recording of these events is in line with his fastidious record keeping, but it may also owe a debt to seventeenth-century providentialism and the then popular genre of the spiritual autobiography, which sought to identify and record instances of God’s providence.» — y a qué género atribuyen el hábito de anotar esas gracias: al providencialismo y a la autobiografía espiritual del siglo.

«The recording of providential events was intended not only to acknowledge divine goodness but also to help assess and demonstrate the correctness of one’s own actions and one’s state of grace; this latter may have been of particular importance for the Presbyterian Starkey.» — para qué servía ese registro, con la confesión de Starkey dicha en la misma línea.

«Starkey’s notebooks and private papers give us a clear perspective upon divinely revealed knowledge and its role in experimental investigations.» — lo que los cuadernos permiten ver del asunto, según los autores.

«For Starkey actually records the arrival of divine revelations in his notebooks alongside textual analyses and dated experimental trials.» — y cómo lo permiten: las revelaciones quedan anotadas al lado de los análisis de texto y de los ensayos fechados.

«When Starkey’s laboratory results showed that the distillation of the collostrum did not in fact give him a spirit of volatile tartar, he did not hesitate to reject that process and seek for another one, even though this meant the rejection of what he himself considered a divine revelation.» — el episodio decisivo para los autores: el laboratorio desmintió el proceso y Starkey lo desechó aunque lo tuviera por revelación divina.

«Starkey was no enthusiast, steadfastly clinging to some “inner voice” alone; the trial in the fire had still greater authority.» — y la conclusión que sacan sobre su temple: no era un entusiasta pegado a una voz interior.

«Starkey must have been ultimately unsatisfied with this revelation, presumably on the basis of dissatisfaction with its practical product, in spite of what might seem to be from his account its highly authoritative origins and method of delivery.» — la inferencia que hacen sobre otra revelación desechada, y la razón que le suponen: el producto práctico no convenció.

«These “inspirations” may turn out to be wrong or, perhaps more correctly stated, falsely identified as emanating from God when they are put to the test.» — y cómo formulan el punto con precisión: la inspiración puede resultar falsa, o mejor dicho mal identificada como venida de Dios.

«Thus in 1656 he recorded another revelation about the alkahest, with place and date carefully noted.» — la disciplina documental que Starkey aplicaba también a las revelaciones.

«The practical details of this 1656 revelation remain unrecorded, and since we have no notebooks describing Starkey’s work on the alkahest, we cannot say precisely what he did with it in the laboratory.» — con el hueco que los autores declaran enseguida: no hay cuadernos del alkahest y no se sabe qué hizo con ella.

«Starkey thus seems to view reason and revelation as cooperative powers that assist the chymist in an ultimately pragmatic way.» — la relación entre razón y revelación que le atribuyen, marcada como lectura probable.

«On the one hand, God’s revelatory assistance is prepared for by laboratory practice and rational analysis, and on the other, revelations are channeled into further experimental practice that eventually evaluates their validity.» — y el circuito completo: la práctica prepara la revelación y la práctica la evalúa después.

«Starkey did not imagine that hopeful waiting or even fervent prayer would suffice on its own to discover the secrets of nature; God may cooperate in the laboratory but He does not simply operate.» — la fórmula con que cierran el asunto: Dios coopera en el laboratorio y no opera solo.

«Van Helmont also claimed to be the recipient of divinely revealed knowledge in the form of dreams.» — el paralelo helmontiano con que los autores encuadran el caso de Starkey.

«He ridicules the university doctors, saying that they are so lazy that they do not even throw a handful of salt into a flask of urine to test their theory.» — el reproche experimental de Van Helmont a los doctores universitarios, en la versión de los autores.

«He soon regained his composure, however, and grew curious as to the nature of the discoloration—was it due to a corrosion of the glass, or had the urine left a deposit on the receiver?» — el momento del que sale el hallazgo, según lo cuentan: la curiosidad por una mancha después del enojo.

«In other words, the two weeks of inactivity—seemingly mere accident— were actually the result of divine intervention.» — y cómo lo interpretaba Van Helmont: la pausa forzada, aparente accidente, era intervención divina.

«It seemed to Van Helmont then that he had discovered within urine itself the very agency that could dissolve the stones that form in the bladder and kidneys.» — lo que creyó haber encontrado en la propia orina.

«God did not reveal the secret of Duelech and its dissolvent in the form of a narrative communication or even as a cryptic dream.» — la forma que los autores le atribuyen a esa revelación, por lo que no fue.

«Instead, he altered the external circumstances of the chymist’s life just enough to allow Van Helmont’s experiment to succeed.» — y por lo que sí fue: un ajuste de circunstancias que dejó que el experimento saliera.

«The successful outcome required first Van Helmont’s initiative, in setting up the experiment.» — el primero de los tres tramos que los autores distinguen en ese resultado.

«Finally, it necessitated that Van Helmont overcome his childish temper tantrum upon discovering the apparent damage to his expensive glassware, and upon regaining his composure Van Helmont had to exercise his own judgment in interpreting the final outcome.» — y el tercero, que vuelve a cargar el peso sobre el operador: dominar el berrinche y ejercer el juicio.

«It is not primarily by the direct approach of visions and dreams that God reveals knowledge, but rather by such silent hints.» — la fórmula con que los autores resumen el modo en que Dios interviene en estas tres cabezas.

«But Boyle—undoubtedly fearful of appearing an enthusiast—was publicly leery of any claims to special revelation, as he reveals in Usefulnesse:» — la cautela pública de Boyle y la razón que los autores le suponen.

«Mirroring Van Helmont quite closely, Boyle goes on to say that God not only prevents experimental mishaps, but actually provides “accidental hints,” like the Helmontian accident of the stained receiver.» — y lo que Boyle sí concede, muy cerca de Van Helmont: que Dios evita los percances y da indicios accidentales.

«It is interesting to note that the perspectives on God’s laboratory participation shared by Van Helmont, Starkey, and Boyle imply similar theological perspectives on God’s activity and the nature of revelation despite the differing doctrinal attachments (Catholic, Presbyterian, and Anglican, respectively) of the three.» — la coincidencia que los autores registran entre los tres pese a sus confesiones distintas, sin armonizarla.

«But rare indeed is the sort of evidence provided by Starkey’s notebooks, with their interest in determining (and maximizing) efticiency, often using quantitative methods such as mass balance of intake and output.» — lo que hace excepcionales a los cuadernos de Starkey en este punto: el interés por medir y maximizar la eficiencia.

«This is not something that emerges clearly from his published works, and as we stated earlier it is not a prominent feature in the printed literature of earlier chymistry.» — y por qué no se veía antes: en lo impreso, ni suyo ni ajeno, ese rasgo no asoma.

«Thus we see that expressions of pre- Enlightenment piety in chymical or other writings do not automatically imply that the ature of experimental labors or the expectations of laborers were different from those of more modern laboratory workers, only that they were differently enunciated.» — la conclusión del capítulo sobre la piedad de laboratorio, con la distinción entre lo que se hace y cómo se enuncia. La grafía corrupta es la del facsímil.

«Returning to Starkey then, we may say that his view of God’s activity in» — la comparación con que los autores fijan la piedad de laboratorio de Starkey, del lado del labrador que siembra y espera la cosecha.

«while the American chymist’s concern with industrial eficiency is probably the result of his early exposure to the metallurgical industry of New England, no doubt abetted, of course, by the Hartlibian enshrining of “the lucriferous.”» — las dos fuentes que le adjudican a su preocupación por la eficiencia industrial: la metalurgia de Nueva Inglaterra y el culto hartlibiano a lo lucrífero.

«As we have argued, this too is partly the result of Starkey’s background in the New World, specifically his education at Harvard, though again he added measures of Van Helmont, Sala, and other chymical writers to this product of his colonial experience.» — y la mezcla que le reconocen en el método: la base de Harvard más dosis de Van Helmont, de Sala y de otros.

«Similarly, Starkey’s notebooks have revealed the dynamic process of ciphering and deciphering between laboratory processes and enigmatic chrysopoetic texts—the notoriously secretive writings of chrysopoeia were carefully written and just as carefully read for their practical, although carefully concealed, content.» — lo que los cuadernos han mostrado sobre el cifrado y el descifrado entre laboratorio y texto crisopoético.

«We have elsewhere noted the influence of Starkey (qua Philalethes) on later seventeenth-century chymical theorists such as Sir Isaac Newton and Wilhelm Homberg.» — la descendencia que los autores le reconocen a Starkey bajo el nombre de Philalethes.

«We have also noted the importance of Starkey’s legacy of the recipe for a Philosophical Mercury to the chrysopoetic pursuits of Robert Boyle.» — y su legado concreto a Boyle: la receta del mercurio filosófico.

«Despite some claims that have been made for Boyle’s early circle of scientifically minded friends—the “Invisible College” of the 1640s—we will show that Boyle’s first exposure to the full range of laboratory chymistry occurred at the hands of Starkey.» — la tesis del capítulo frente a lo que se ha dicho del Invisible College: la química de laboratorio le llegó a Boyle por Starkey.

«Moreover, we will show that the Helmontian principles informing so much of Boyle’s early thought were conveyed to him first and above all by Starkey.» — y con ella los principios helmontianos, primero y sobre todo por la misma vía.

«As we argue in the following chapter, some of these notions persisted within the permanent foundations of Boyle’s mature chymistry, for it appears that even some of Boyle’s most lasting contributions had a substantial Helmontian component.» — con el alcance que los autores le dan a esa deuda: alcanza a la química madura de Boyle y a sus aportes más duraderos.

«Until quite recently, Boyle’s development as a natural philosopher was taken as somehow inevitable, and consequently his interest in the topics that made him famous later in life were routinely read backward into his earliest years.» — el defecto historiográfico que los autores nombran: dar por inevitable el desarrollo de Boyle y leer hacia atrás sus intereses tardíos.

«But recent closer inspection, coupled with the discovery of new manuscript material, shows unambiguously that all these comments relating to Boyle’s natural philosophical interests are later interpolations and thus are not representative of his state of knowledge or interests in the 1640s.» — y lo que la revisión de manuscritos mostró: los pasajes filosófico-naturales de esas obras tempranas son interpolaciones posteriores.

«Indeed, Boyle’s first successful initiation of experimental endeavors dates to the summer of 1649.» — la fecha que los autores fijan para el arranque experimental de Boyle.

«Fortunately, we have three sources that bracket the meeting of Boyle and Starkey in early 1651.» — y la base documental con que lo enmarcan.

«For example, Boyle’s first published work, “An Invitation to a Free and Generous Communication of Secrets and Receits in Physick,” was requested by Hartlib, yet is nonetheless part of the program of moral epistles on which Boyle was engaged in the late 1640s.» — cómo leen la primera obra publicada de Boyle: pedida por Hartlib y aun así dentro del programa de epístolas morales.

«But there are two treatises written by Boyle in the early 1650s whose contents show both a continuity with his moral-devotional program and also a turn toward his developing interests in natural philosophy.» — y los dos tratados donde ven el giro empezando, sin que el programa moral se interrumpa.

«Since these two works belong to the same genre—both are inherently and expressly theological but occasionally deploy notions from natural philosophy—the two treatises provide a good locus for comparison of Boyle’s levels of chymical sophistication.» — por qué esos dos tratados sirven de banco de pruebas, según los autores: mismo género, mismo propósito teológico y algunas nociones de filosofía natural dentro.

«While the text advocates the study of the natural world, this is not for its own sake, but rather to render it a promptuary able to redirect the student’s gaze toward its beneficent, almighty Creator.» — para qué recomienda Boyle el estudio de la naturaleza en esa obra temprana, según los autores: no por sí misma sino para volver la mirada al Creador.

«The Bible provides the bulk of Boyle’s citations, although there are a few from ancient authorities like Galen and Aristotle, and several from moderns like Bacon and “the subtill Campanella.”» — y de dónde saca sus citas, con la Biblia por delante y unos pocos antiguos y modernos detrás.

«The juvenile Boyle is right to claim that this Mercury is a thing that “Laborious Chymists have celebrated, wish’t, & Dream’t of,” but his location of these valuable substances in the “Juice of the Clouds” places him in a distinctly nonmetallic school of chymistry» — los autores conceden la primera mitad de la afirmación del joven Boyle y le adjudican por la segunda una escuela química no metálica.

«Boyle’s mention of the “Juice of the Clouds,” though intended to express not only God’s providence in unlooked-for places but also Boyle’s own knowledge, actually advertises Boyle’s relative unfamiliarity with the traditions of metallic chymistry.» — y el efecto contrario al buscado que le atribuyen: el pasaje delata su poca familiaridad con la química de los metales.

«Glauber not only prepared this liquor of flints, or /iquor silicum, but also described the treelike growths produced by its action on metal salts.» — la fuente probable de esas ideas: Glauber, que preparó el licor de pedernales y describió sus crecimientos arborescentes sobre sales metálicas.

«Glauber also called sand “the mother of metals,” asserted that alluvial gold was actually produced in sand, and published a process for extracting this gold from its sandy matrix.» — y las otras piezas glauberianas que reaparecen en Boyle: la arena como madre de los metales y el oro que se saca de ella.

«Boyle’s denomination of sand as a “Metallicke Wombe” of gold, but also of all the other comments on sand and flints made in the “Booke of Nature.”» — lo que esa filiación explica del texto de Boyle.

«The pertinent parts of Glauber’s Novi furni philosophici were published in German by 1646-47, well before Boyle wrote “Booke of Nature.” But Boyle could not read German, and the Latin edition did not appear until 1651, after the composition of “Booke of Nature.”» — el problema cronológico y lingüístico que los autores plantean contra la vía directa: Boyle no leía alemán y la edición latina llegó tarde.

«It is quite possible that Boyle obtained a copy of one of these manuscript translations.» — la primera salida que ofrecen, marcada como posibilidad.

«It is also likely that Boyle’s knowledge of Glauber and his processes came at least partly through Benjamin Worsley.» — y la segunda, marcada como probable, que atribuye la vía a Benjamin Worsley.

«Thus Boyle’s comment here in the c. 1650 “Booke of Nature” reflects Worsley’s early influence.» — la adjudicación que los autores hacen del pasaje del salitre filosófico en el Booke of Nature.

«Since this work was written during Boyle’s time in Ireland, where it was “impossible” to do anything chymical, its contents must reflect the state of Boyle’s chymical knowledge before he left for the Emerald Isle in the summer of 1652; that is, within eighteen months of meeting Starkey.» — el argumento cronológico con que datan el estado de la química de Boyle: escribió en Irlanda, donde no podía hacer nada químico.

«Even though the topic of “Holy Scriptures” is expressly theological, chymical (as well as a few other natural philosophical) items surface unexpectedly throughout it.» — y por qué un tratado teológico les sirve de fuente química.

«Just as the chymical comments in “Booke of Nature” point to Glauber and Worsley as sources, these comments in “Holy Scriptures” point to Starkey and his mentor Van Helmont.» — el cambio de fuentes entre los dos tratados, que es el eje del capítulo.

«Employing the Mercury of the Philosophers to “dissolve & putrify” gold is exactly what Starkey was doing at this time with his Sophic Mercury and telling Boyle about.» — la coincidencia concreta que lo apuntala: eso mismo hacía Starkey con su mercurio sófico por esas fechas, y se lo contaba a Boyle.

«A few months of interchange with Starkey have evidently converted Boyle from the Sendivogian position adopted in “Booke of Nature” to a Mercurialist one that he would never relinquish.» — la magnitud del viraje que los autores le atribuyen a unos meses de trato, y su carácter definitivo.

«Similarly, Boyle’s explanation of the action of the alkahest and Elixir on mercury is in exact accord with what we know of Starkey’s own theory of metallic composition and transmutation.» — y otra coincidencia, esta vez en la explicación teórica del alkahest sobre el mercurio.

«Starkey explicitly teaches that the alkahest acts upon common mercury by removing its external, impure Sulphur as an oil and leaving behind a quicksilver resistant to corrosion.» — la doctrina de Starkey a la que corresponde, dicha con su mecanismo.

«This same view that the alkahest removes the Sulphur “that is external to the Internal nature of Mercury” is also presented in Sir George Riplye’s Epistle to King Edward Unfolded of Philalethes, which began circulating in the Hartlib circle no later than mid-1653.» — y su otra presencia en el círculo de Hartlib, en un texto de Philalethes que circulaba desde 1653 a más tardar.

«Thus it is clearly Starkey’s own theory that Boyle recapitulates in “Holy Scriptures.”» — la adjudicación con que cierran el pasaje.

«Indeed, the “Ey witness” to transmutation mentioned by Boyle is quite probably Starkey himself, who by this time had become renowned among the Hartlibians for having witnessed great arcana, including transmutation, at the hands of his acquaintance, the mysterious adept Eirenaeus Philalethes.» — la identificación que proponen para el testigo ocular que Boyle menciona, marcada como probable; la ironía de que el testigo y el adepto sean el mismo hombre la deja el propio caso.

«But these are not the only signs of Starkey’s influence visible in the “Essay of the Holy Scriptures.”» — los autores anuncian que las huellas de Starkey en ese tratado siguen.

«Boyle also claims to have “seen an Alcali volatile,” clearly a reference to Starkey’s long-term project of volatilizing alkalies, partly recounted to Boyle by Starkey in his letter of April/May 1651.» — una de ellas, atada a la carta de Starkey de 1651 sobre la volatilización de los álcalis.

«Boyle also refers here to “a venereall Body” made by “a (secret but an) Easy Sublimation” from vitriol—no doubt a reference to the ens veneris, a Helmontian pharmaceutical on whose preparation Starkey and Boyle collaborated in 1651, of which we shall speak more later.» — y otra, que remite al ens veneris preparado en colaboración por los dos en 1651.

«These medical recipes show no particular novelty or method, nor any influence from recent chymical medicine.» — el estado de las recetas médicas de Boyle antes del encuentro, según los autores.

«The first indication of this is a sheet, possibly intended as all or part of Boyle’s collection for 1651; it contains some recipes from Dr. Boate and Johann Moriaen, but most are either explicitly attributed to Starkey or identifiable as his.» — y la primera señal del cambio: una hoja de recetas donde la mayoría se atribuyen a Starkey o se le reconocen.

«Unlike the earlier recipes from Dr. Boate and Worsley, these processes are fully chymical and rely on implicit Helmontian principles—the earliest indication of Helmontian notions from Boyle’s pen.» — lo que esas recetas traen de nuevo: procesos plenamente químicos apoyados en principios helmontianos, los primeros de puño de Boyle.

«The processes from Starkey (unlike an adjacent one from Boate) are in Latin and contain several idiosyncratic abbreviations and symbols.» — el rasgo material que los autores explotan: los procesos de Starkey van en latín y con abreviaturas y símbolos propios.

«Both of these are characteristic of Starkey’s own writing; the rounded regulus symbol, in particular, is extremely rare.» — y por qué eso identifica la mano: el símbolo redondeado del regulus es rarísimo.

«The use of these symbols (and the Latin text) implies that this material was not received orally, but copied directly from a written source.» — la inferencia que sacan de ahí sobre el modo de transmisión.

«Now the style does not accord with that of Starkey’s letters but is instead strongly reminiscent of Starkey’s laboratory notebooks.» — y de qué fuente escrita se trata, por cotejo de estilo con las cartas y con los cuadernos.

«Here it sounds as if Starkey, having had apparent success in the isolation of one kind of Sulphur, now orders himself to try generalizing the procedure to other substances—a habit we encountered frequently in the notebooks and one that is characteristic of Starkey’s methodology.» — el hábito que reconocen en el pasaje copiado: generalizar a otras sustancias un procedimiento que salió bien una vez.

«But it appears that Boyle’s copying out of Starkey’s laboratory notebooks was not merely transcription.» — lo que el documento muestra además de copia.

«Each of these sentences presents a clarification of the practical details of the process set out in Latin directly above.» — la función de las frases en inglés que siguen a cada proceso latino.

«A likely explanation is that Boyle was copying Starkey’s notebooks under his supervision, with Starkey available to answer questions or to provide expositions based upon his direct experience of the process or upon his more complete understanding of the Helmontian the» — la explicación que los autores dan por probable para esa doble capa; la cita se corta donde el facsímil parte la palabra.

«Other processes from Starkey show a kind of simultaneous glossing, where Boyle inserts comments giving finer detail within the flow of the text, but sets them off by enclosing them in square brackets.» — y la otra forma que toma la misma operación en otros procesos.

«The impression then is of Boyle as student to the more experienced Starkey, copying out of the master’s books and receiving oral elaborations.» — la imagen que los autores extraen del conjunto.

«Once again, this document seems to preserve evidence of Starkey’s more or less formal tutorship of Boyle.» — y lo que sostienen que documenta, con la reserva puesta en el más o menos.

«Judging from the recipes that Boyle had collected up to 1652, Starkey seems to be Boyle’s first, and only, chymically sophisticated contact at this time.» — la conclusión sobre el entorno químico de Boyle hasta 1652, sacada de lo que recolectaba.

«The 1652 collection begins in large letters: “Dr. George Stirke” and here again we find twofold entries containing first a process and then a gloss beginning “NB” that provides clarifications or expositions.» — cómo abre la colección de 1652 y qué estructura repite.

«Thus this entry (like several others from Starkey) has the form of principle-consequence-process-explication.» — la forma que los autores le reconocen a esas entradas.

«Again, this seems likely to represent a combination of Boyle’s transcription from Starkey’s first-person Latin notebooks and a subsequent exposition given by Starkey, very possibly orally, in English.» — y la composición que suponen detrás: transcripción del latín de Starkey más exposición suya, probablemente de viva voz.

«It must be stressed, moreover, that only the entries from Starkey have this format of a process followed by a gloss.» — el control que los autores aplican a su propia inferencia: ese formato aparece solo en las entradas de Starkey.

«There is no question that this “Industrious Chymist” was George Starkey.» — la identificación que los autores hacen del químico industrioso que Boyle deja sin nombre.

«Starkey also gives the date of this preparation as 1651—only a few months after Starkey and Boyle’s first meeting in January of that year.» — y la fecha de la preparación conjunta, a pocos meses del primer encuentro.

«The key point is that this collaborative project arose from a meeting where Boyle and Starkey were studying Van Helmont together.» — lo que a los autores les importa de la escena: el proyecto sale de una lectura compartida de Van Helmont.

«Therefore, during that day in 1651 when Starkey and Boyle were reading Van Helmont together, it is unlikely that Boyle was a superior or even equal participant in the discussion, despite his implication to the contrary.» — y la asimetría que restituyen contra lo que el relato de Boyle da a entender.

«Rather, it is more likely that their discussion of the ens veneris occurred during a session where Starkey was in effect tutoring Boyle—the same kind of meeting suggested by Boyle’s Memorialls, where the shared text was one of Starkey’s notebooks rather than Van Helmont’s Ortus.» — la lectura que prefieren, marcada como más probable: una sesión de tutoría con el Ortus por texto compartido.

«Now that we know that references to Van Helmont apparently made by Boyle in the late 1640s (e.g., in Seraphic Love) are in fact later interpolations, we must redate Boyle’s introduction to the Flemish natural philosopher.» — la consecuencia cronológica de que las menciones tempranas sean interpoladas.

«We suggest that it was predominantly through Starkey that Boyle acquired a firm grounding in Helmontian theory and practice.» — y la propuesta que ocupa su lugar, enunciada como sugerencia.

«Throughout 1651 and 1652, all but one of Boyle’s known references to Van Helmont appear in the context of processes and notes from Starkey.» — el recuento con que la apoyan: casi todas las referencias de Boyle a Van Helmont en esos dos años están dentro de material de Starkey.

«This is not to say that Starkey was the first or only devotee of Van Helmont whom Boyle encountered.» — con la salvedad que los propios autores ponen enseguida.

«Boyle’s chief contribution probably consisted of funding the experimentation and encouraging Starkey to carry it out.» — el reparto de papeles que le atribuyen a Boyle en la colaboración, declarado como probable.

«The earlier date is surely the correct one, for a notebook fragment dated to late 1651 indicates that the ens peneris preparation was finished by then» — cómo dirimen las dos fechas del folleto, apoyándose en un fragmento de cuaderno.

«Starkey was by far the best acquainted with Van Helmont and was the one with whom Boyle was most intimate.» — y por qué, entre varios helmontianos posibles, adjudican la transmisión a Starkey.

«The first appearance of Boyle’s nascent Helmontianism in a treatise occurs in the c. 1652 “Essay of the Holy Scriptures.”» — la fecha del primer helmontianismo de Boyle en un tratado.

«It is in particular Boyle’s sudden interest in Van Helmont, a character wholly missing, from his earlier writings, that is noteworthy for our present purposes.» — y lo que hace notable esa aparición: en lo anterior Van Helmont no figura en absoluto.

«Boyle praises “our Van Helmont” (along with Kircher, Sennert, Bacon, and Campanella) in preference to “any Galenicke, or Peripateticke Names.”» — el posesivo con que Boyle lo nombra ya en esa obra, por delante de galenistas y peripatéticos.

«It is reasonable to conclude that Boyle’s new familiarity with Helmontian chymistry shown in “Essay of the Holy Scriptures” has the same source as his newfound notions on chrysopoeia and metallic composition that the same essay displays— George Starkey.» — la conclusión que los autores dan por razonable sobre el origen del helmontianismo del ensayo de 1652.

«The closeness between Boyle and Starkey in 1651 and Boyle’s simultaneous increase in chymical interests are recorded also in a third source—Hartlib’s Ephemerides.» — y la tercera fuente que corrobora la cercanía.

«It is widely assumed in the secondary literature that any impact Starkey had on Boyle waned suddenly in 1654.» — el supuesto de la bibliografía que los autores se disponen a discutir.

«Almost every citation of Starkey’s role in the Hartlib circle has made much of Starkey’s “degeneration” in that year, invoking the term used by Hartlib in a much-cited letter to Boyle written on 28 February 1654.» — y la fuente única en que ese supuesto se apoya: una carta de Hartlib a Boyle muy citada.

«This argues not only for the close relationship the two young men quickly struck up but also for the distinctly chymical component of that relationship.» — lo que las Ephemerides dejan ver del trato entre los dos jóvenes.

«One might even speculate that part of Starkey’s inconsistent behavior was due to heavy metal poisoning, since it is known that chronic poisoning by mercury—one of Starkey favorite subjects of study—induces paranoia and mental instability.» — una hipótesis que los autores marcan como especulación: el mercurio, materia predilecta de Starkey, envenena y produce paranoia.

«It is likely that Clodius now not only occupied Hartlib’s attentions, but may also have actively discouraged Hartlib’s interest in Starkey in order to advance his own standing.» — y otra explicación del enfriamiento, declarada probable: Clodius desplazando a Starkey en la atención de Hartlib para su propio provecho.

«while Starkey’s bankruptcy and confinement to debtor’s prison may reflect badly on the quality of his financial sense, it cannot say anything about his chymical or intellectual acuity.» — la distinción que los autores insisten en mantener entre el juicio financiero y la capacidad química.

«Nor can it be blandly assumed that Hartlib’s clear dissatisfaction with Starkey (and the disgust at chymistry in general expressed by Worsley in the same letter) was adopted by Boyle himself.» — y el salto que rechazan: el disgusto de Hartlib y de Worsley no se traslada sin más a Boyle.

«The notion that this unfortunate episode spelled the end of Starkey’s productive career or of his constructive influence upon Boyle is easily dispelled.» — la conclusión con que despachan el relato recibido sobre 1654.

«Boyle’s good relations with Starkey resumed immediately upon his return from Ireland, as Boyle’s work diaries attest.» — y el documento con que lo sostienen.

«The nature and extent of the contact between Starkey and Boyle after their respective relocations is impossible to judge directly given the absence of any letters or other such evidence.» — con el límite documental dicho en la misma página: sin cartas no se puede juzgar el trato posterior.

«One testimony of this is that when Johann Moriaen wished to contact Starkey in 1658, he hoped to have a letter delivered to him through Boyle.» — el indicio indirecto que sí tienen: en 1658 Moriaen contaba con Boyle para hacerle llegar una carta a Starkey.

«It is, however, unlikely that Starkey ever fully recovered financially after 1654.» — lo que sí conceden del hundimiento de Starkey, acotado a lo económico.

«dedicated Pyrotechny Asserted—a book containing the outlines of his grand project for the correction of all substances into medicines—to his “very good Friend” Robert Boyle.» — la dedicatoria de 1658 con que los autores miden la relación después de la supuesta ruptura.

«While the treatise cites several printed authorities (such as Johannes Hartmann and Basil Valentine) and several of Boyle’s informants (Sir Kenelm Digby and Thomas Coxe), the work is heavily dependent upon George Starkey.» — y la adjudicación del tratado de Boyle sobre venenos, por encima de las autoridades que cita.

«While Boyle did not explicitly record (to our knowledge) his opinions of its contents, there are two sources of importance for assessing it.» — los autores declaran lo que no consta y con qué lo suplen, acotando la afirmación a su propio conocimiento.

«While these notes indicate how seriously Starkey’s work was taken among the club of Oxonian experimentalists of which Boyle was a member, we have more direct evidence for Starkey’s continuing influence on Boyle’s thought.» — lo que las notas del club de Oxford muestran y lo que los autores tienen además.

«The flood of publications that Boyle released in the early 1660s, and upon which so much of his later reputation rests, draws its origins from this period.» — la datación que proponen para el material de las obras que hicieron la fama de Boyle.

«The treatise survives only in a partial transcription by Oldenburg made about 1660.» — el estado en que se conserva el ensayo de Boyle sobre los venenos.

«Although Boyle sets the process in the context of Helmontian medicine, and quotes directly from Van Helmont’s “Scabies et ulcera scholarum,”°’ the contribution of Starkey is clear—in spite of the fact that he is nowhere mentioned.» — la adjudicación con su silencio incluido: el marco es helmontiano, la aportación es de Starkey y su nombre no aparece.

«Starkey’s notebook, on the other hand, gives an exact method for carrying out this “dulcification,” and that method is closely recapitulated in Boyle’s essay.» — y el cotejo que la sostiene entre cuaderno y ensayo.

«But Boyle’s reliance on Starkey is most dramatic in the section “Of vegetable poisons.”» — dónde se hace más visible esa dependencia, según los autores.

«Thus even “Boyle’s” correction of the corrected opium is really Starkey’s.» — la conclusión que sacan del caso del opio corregido.

«Just as Starkey’s direct influence on Boyle’s “Essay on Poisons” is undeniable in terms of practical processes, much of the theoretical foundation of the document likewise devolves from Starkey as well.» — y su extensión de lo práctico a lo teórico.

«the attribution to Starkey of the use of salt of tartar for correcting the toxic side effects of opium is unquestionable.» — el punto que los autores dan por fuera de duda.

«The main thesis of Starkey’s two books is that the poisonous nature of pharmacological simples hides great virtues, and accordingly Starkey’s “grand design” for medicine involved the preparation of even toxic materials into medicinally useful products by “glorifying” their Sulphurs to free them of “virulent and alien” toxic properties.» — la tesis de los dos libros de Starkey, con el gran designio médico que la acompaña.

«Here Starkey notes that even arsenic “loseth its venom” by means of fusion with the alkali in saltpeter, a process we have seen already in Boyle’s “Essay of Poisons.”» — y el caso extremo con que la ilustra, que reaparece en Boyle.

«Apparently, Starkey divided poisons into those that act mechanically by corroding the body, like oil of vitriol (sulphuric acid), and whose toxic effects are eliminated by dilution, and “chemical” poisons that operate by a “fermental” action on the body, like arsenic, of which a toxic dose remains toxic even if diluted.» — la clasificación de venenos que los autores le reconstruyen, marcada como lectura aparente.

«As a final example, note that in Natures Explication Starkey deals briefly with animal venoms and claims that some do not really fall into the class of poisons.» — y su ejemplo final, donde algunos venenos animales quedan fuera de la clase.

«The idea of using poisons in medicine is a fairly common part of seventeenth-century iatrochemistry, being prominent, for example, in the writings of Basil Valentine (whom Boyle cites in connection with two antimonial processes).» — el contexto que los autores le ponen a esa idea para que no parezca privativa de Starkey.

«idea that the poison of vipers (and mad dogs) arises only from the anger of the animal became a topic of controversy in the seventeenth century.» — los autores registran que la tesis de la ira como fuente del veneno fue asunto disputado en su siglo.

«While this belief was famously disseminated by Moyses Charas in 1669, and refuted by Francesco Redi, its early popularizer and possible originator was Van Helmont.» — y trazan la línea sin arbitrar: Charas la difundió en 1669, Redi la refutó, y el que la popularizó antes fue Van Helmont.

«But this conjecture, as likely as it might seem, is weakened not only by the fact that so many specific processes that come directly from Starkey retain the same Helmontian context in which Starkey developed them, but also by the fact that the choice of key passages from Van Helmont found in the “Essay” parallels Starkey’s own use of Van Helmont.» — la objeción que los autores le ponen a una explicación rival, con las dos razones dichas.

«Starkey, on the other hand, gives his own interpretation of the text in Natures Explication.» — la lectura propia de Starkey del pasaje helmontiano.

«It is therefore significant that Starkey’s idiosyncratic interpretation is exactly the one given by Boyle in his own exposition of the passage in the “Essay on Poisons.”» — y lo que hace significativo que Boyle repita justamente esa lectura y no otra.

«Starkey’s notebooks show the same interpretation of Van Helmont’s obscure utterance.» — la confirmación en la fuente privada.

«Starkey seems to be reading the phrase “est sua inter alcalia, respublica” not in the more straightforward manner (like the Chandler translation) as “there is among alkalies their own republic” but rather as “[salt of tartar] is among alkalies their republic.”» — en qué consiste esa lectura idiosincrásica del latín, cotejada con la traducción corriente.

«Starkey’s identification of the salt of tartar with the “republic of alkalies” even shows up in a set of Boyle’s own laboratory records dating from the late 1650s where Boyle uses “the republican Salt” as a Deckname for salt of tartar.» — y hasta dónde llegó: Boyle acabó usándola como nombre de cobertura en sus propios registros de laboratorio.

«It appears, then, that Boyle adopted not only Starkey’s processes but also his predilections for Helmontian theory and his interpretations of Helmontian obscurities.» — el alcance que los autores le dan al préstamo: procesos, preferencias teóricas y hasta las interpretaciones de los pasajes oscuros.

«By the time Boyle wrote the “Essay on Poisons,” he was a thoroughgoing Helmontian, and he seems to have owed this Helmontianism predominantly to Starkey’s tutelage.» — y la adjudicación que resume el capítulo.

«Starkey’s clear importance to the “Essay on Poisons” makes it all the more remarkable that it nowhere mentions the New England chymist explicitly, even though other living persons such as Digby and Coxe are freely cited by name.» — el silencio que los autores subrayan por contraste: Digby y Coxe sí van nombrados.

«This “Ingenious physitian” is unquestionably Starkey, who at this time was profiting from his “Corrector” or “Pill.”» — la identificación de la única alusión que Boyle le concede.

«This is especially true if, as is very probable, Boyle wrote the essay before Starkey’s Pyrotechny Asserted had cleared the press in 1658.» — la cronología que los autores proponen para explicar la supresión del ensayo, marcada como muy probable.

«We know that Starkey had written a work called The Art of Pyrotechny explained and confirmed by late 1656, and it is possible that he shared drafts of it with Boyle, its dedicatee.» — y el dato que la apoya, con la posibilidad dicha como tal.

«Thus the appearance of Starkey’s major chymical publications would have precluded the subsequent printing of Boyle’s essay.» — la consecuencia que sacan: publicado Starkey, el ensayo de Boyle ya no podía imprimirse.

«There is some evidence that Boyle’s interactions with Starkey may possibly have continued into the 1660s, up until Starkey’s premature death in the Great Plague of 1665.» — hasta dónde alargan el trato entre los dos, con la evidencia declarada como parcial y la muerte de Starkey por fecha final.

«Starkey shows up in these transcriptions several times. There is, for example, a complete transcription of his 1651 letter to Boyle; at present only part of Starkey’s original letter survives in the Royal Society’s Boyle archive, and so Locke’s transcription is our only surviving source for the last third of the original English text.» — lo que las transcripciones de Locke conservan y el original ya no tiene.

«In addition there is a series of processes that includes the full account, with all the operational details, of Starkey’s successful volatilization of alkalies using the medium of air—clear evidence that Starkey shared this prized process, perfected only in 1656, with Boyle.» — y la prueba que los autores extraen de ellas: Starkey le pasó a Boyle el proceso de volatilización con todos sus detalles.

«Now Boyle is known to have used codes to hide the identity of ingredients in chrysopoetic processes (which foiled Locke’s attempts to organize Boyle’s papers); he also used them to hide the identity of various informants.» — la práctica de Boyle que obliga a descifrar sus papeles, con el estorbo que le causó a Locke dicho de paso.

«Indeed, a curious note among the Boyle papers describes his use of “fain’d Names” in a “Collection of Receipts, Processes, &c”; this note was intended to accompany a decipherment list that is now lost.» — y el documento que lo declara, con su clave perdida.

«Itis clear from the entries on Locke MS C44, p. 36, that “Americus” and “Vesputius” are the same person.» — la equivalencia entre dos de esos nombres fingidos, establecida por los autores sobre el manuscrito de Locke.

«Given Starkey’s origins, it seems plausible, though by no means sure, that he could be the person disguised as Americus /Vesputius or the American.» — la identificación que proponen para ellos, declarada plausible y expresamente no segura.

«Despite the temptation to identify Starkey with Boyle’s American, there is nonetheless a reference elsewhere in the Locke MS to “Am.” where it is quite clear that this “Am.” is Philalethes, not Starkey (since there is reference to a page in Philalethes’ Secrets Reveal’d).» — y el contraindicio que ellos mismos ponen encima: en otro lugar esa abreviatura remite a Philalethes y no a Starkey.

«A key point to note here is that if “Americus” in any of these cases should in fact refer to Starkey, then the colonial chymist’s relationship with Boyle would have endured much longer than has previously been known, for two of the entries are dated to 1664, the last full year of Starkey’s short life and fourteen years after Boyle and Starkey first met.» — lo que estaría en juego si la identificación se sostuviera: dos entradas de 1664 alargarían la relación mucho más de lo sabido.

«From all the foregoing material it is clear that Starkey exercised enormous influence on Boyle in the 1650s, and also that their relationship may possibly have even continued into the mid-1660s.» — el balance del capítulo, con lo cierto y lo posible separados.

«But of course Boyle’s contacts were not restricted to Starkey.» — y la salvedad con que abren el tramo siguiente.

«We will show that these three men did not have the degree of influence on Boyle’s early chymistry that Starkey did, although they are still of interest for deepening our knowledge of Boyle’s early chymistry and his relations with Hartlibians, as well as for better delineating the internal workings of the Hartlib circle.» — lo que anuncian sobre los otros tres contactos, sin negarles interés.

«The Marrow, for example, published in 1654-55, insists upon the use of a copper-antimony alloy for making the Sophic Mercury, a procedure that (as we have seen) Starkey rejected around 1655.» — un desfase que los autores señalan entre lo impreso bajo el seudónimo y lo que Starkey ya hacía en el laboratorio.

«The information supplied under this name is chymical and deals with the kind of materials Starkey pursued, and one such entry is juxtaposed with a recipe for Sophic Mercury.» — la clase de material que aparece bajo el nombre fingido.

«The situation is very different with Benjamin Worsley, however, and he must be treated at some length.» — los autores anuncian que Worsley pide tratamiento aparte.

«Indeed, the arguments for Worsley’s impact on the young Boyle were made against the backdrop of the belief that Boyle’s natural philosophical interests were already well developed in the 1640s—a view now criticized.» — y sobre qué supuesto se levantaron los argumentos por su influencia, hoy discutido.

«However much Worsley might possibly have been encouraging Boyle toward the study of chymistry, this seems to have had little practical effect beyond the failed attempt on Boyle’s part to acquire a furnace and apparatus, the “Vulcanian implements” alluded to in the letter, for his manor at Stalbridge.» — el efecto práctico que le reconocen a ese estímulo, con su concesión por delante.

«It is worth noting that when the furnace broke in transit in 1647, Boyle made no apparent effort to repair the loss, but instead continued writing Amorous Controversies and moral epistles until mid-1649, when his experimenting did in fact commence.» — y el dato que lo mide: roto el horno en 1647, Boyle no lo repuso y siguió escribiendo epístolas morales hasta 1649.

«In spite of Worsley’s interests in chymistry, we will show that his competence in metallic and pharmaceutical chymistry was limited and that his allegiances belonged primarily to a branch of the discipline that was antithetical to the highly technical operations characterizing Starkey’s work and that the young American imparted to Boyle.» — lo que el capítulo va a sostener sobre Worsley: competencia limitada y lealtades en una rama contraria a la de Starkey.

«Worsley’s long-term sympathies lay with those who believed that the first matter of metals, and hence of the Philosophers’ Stone, was not to be found in common mercury or any other metal, but in some more “universal” principle.» — dónde estaban esas lealtades: en quienes buscaban la materia primera de los metales fuera del mercurio y de todo metal.

«Despite a lapse from 1648 through 1651, Worsley was a committed adherent to the Sendivogian sal nitrum theory.» — y a qué escuela pertenecía, con su intervalo de excepción declarado.

«Born around 1618, he attended Trinity College, Dublin, in the early 1640s, but there is no evidence that he obtained a degree.» — lo que consta de la formación de Worsley y lo que no.

«He seems to have met Samuel Hartlib in 1645 and soon became a regular correspondent.» — y su entrada en el círculo, fechada con reserva.

«By March 1646, Worsley had submitted a project for a new method of producing saltpeter to a committee of London aldermen; it would soon be discussed by the House of Lords.» — el proyecto de salitre que Worsley llevó a los regidores de Londres y de ahí a los Lores.

«His proposal, entitled Certaine Propositions in the behalfe of the Kingdome concerning Sallt-Peter, contains no description of a process, but only promises that his method will obviate the need for having saltpeter dug from the grounds around basements and animal yards.» — y lo que ese memorial contiene, que según los autores no es un proceso sino una promesa.

«Worsley’s name appears nowhere on this document, and if we dig deeper in the Hartlib papers, it becomes clear that Worsley was negotiating with the “mistress” of “Joyner” to acquire his process for a minimum of two hundred pounds up front and fifty pounds per annum.» — lo que aparece al hurgar en los papeles de Hartlib: Worsley negociando la compra del proceso ajeno, con cifras.

«It thus appears, to put it bluntly, that Worsley recognized that he had not discovered a workable process of his own for making saltpeter and was trying to buy Joyner’s.» — y la conclusión que los autores sacan sin rodeos, marcada como lo que parece.

«If the dating of Worsley’s composition of De nitro to 1646 were correct, it would indeed have important ramifications for the state of his chymical knowledge in the mid-1640s at the time when his proposals were under parliamentary consideration, for the treatise does reveal an unusual awareness of the chymistry of niter.» — lo que estaría en juego con la datación temprana del De nitro.

«But in fact, as we will show, De nitro was almost certainly composed during or after 1654, after Worsley had made his extended trip to the Netherlands, where he had encountered some of the most committed chymists of the day, including, as we mentioned above, Johann Rudolph Glauber.» — y la datación que los autores defienden en su lugar, posterior al viaje a los Países Bajos y al encuentro con Glauber.

«Here Worsley argues that he has found a “ferment” that will act upon a “matter,” converting it into saltpeter cheaply and rapidly.» — lo que Worsley sostiene haber hallado en ese escrito.

«One should therefore take seed- bearing grass, mix it with nitrous earth as a “ferment,” and place the mixture in clay-lined pits, along with lime and wood ashes, to be exposed to the heavens.» — y el método que propone, con la hierba, la tierra nitrosa por fermento y las fosas abiertas al cielo.

«He refers to a proposal that a captain made to the auditor general of the army for producing saltpeter out of excrement such as dung and urine.» — el proyecto rival que Worsley menciona.

«captain demanded one thousand pounds for his process, which Worsley rejected as containing nothing new.» — y cómo lo despacha, según los autores.

«Worsley then relates that he offered his own process for making saltpeter to the auditor general and his commissioner without “demanding mechanically any summe of them” except his own costs.» — la oferta que hace en cambio de la suya, sin pedir más que sus gastos.

«What Worsley is referring to here is the famous discovery by Johann Rudolph Glauber that saltpeter can be “fixed” by burning it with charcoal.» — los autores identifican el hallazgo de Glauber detrás de la doctrina de Worsley: el salitre se fija quemándolo con carbón.

«In terms very similar to those used by Glauber, Worsley’s De nitro refers to saltpeter as being “ofa double Nature and different Parts, so it is constituted of a double Matter of a fixt and common salt mixed with an Aetherial heat and spirit.”» — y el cotejo verbal con que atan a los dos: el salitre de doble naturaleza, sal fija y común con calor y espíritu etéreos.

«What Worsley certainly has in mind, however, is a philosophical sal nitrum, which reveals its flammable, volatile side in the burning of the plant and leaves behind its solid residue of “fixed niter” in the ashes.» — lo que Worsley entiende por sal nitro filosófico, según los autores: volátil al arder la planta y fijo en la ceniza.

«Glauber thought that he had discovered Van Helmont’s alkahest, the universal dissolvent.» — la pretensión de Glauber sobre lo que había encontrado.

«Glauber also went on to recombine his volatile and fixed niter and recognized that the product was once again his twofold salt—simple niter—reconstituted.» — y el paso analítico y sintético completo: recombinados los dos, vuelve el salitre simple.

«There is every reason to believe that Worsley knew Glauber’s doctrine of fixed and volatile niter by the mid-16s50s.» — la fecha a partir de la cual los autores dan por sabida esa doctrina en Worsley. La grafía corrupta de la década es la del facsímil.

«Although Worsley was largely frustrated in these attempts, while living with Glauber’s close friend Johann Moriaen, he got to know other associates of the German chymist, such as Johann Sibertus Kuftler.» — la red holandesa por la que pudo llegarle, con el fracaso de sus gestiones dicho de entrada.

«Furthermore, Moriaen wrote Worsley on 29 November 1651 that he was negotiating with Glauber to buy the latter’s secret for making the alkahest.» — y la carta de 1651 que documenta la negociación de Moriaen con Glauber por el secreto del alkahest.

«As we mentioned above, Glauber believed that he had located the alkahest in niter, so this is further evidence that Worsley may have learned of Glauber’s views on the double nature of saltpeter through Moriaen.» — la vía que los autores infieren de ahí, marcada como posible.

«It is not difticult, then, to see where and how Worsley could have acquired a general knowledge of Glauber’s chymistry.» — y lo que dan por establecido sobre el acceso de Worsley a la química de Glauber.

«But it is unlikely that he knew of the Glauberian doctrine of niter as a “hermaphroditic” or composite salt before his trip to Amsterdam in 1648-49, for Glauber had not yet published his findings about fixed niter, which only began to make their way into print in 1653, nor did Worsley have access to Glauber’s discovery in unpublished form in 1646, since his association with Glauber’s Dutch circle did not commence until 1648.» — el límite cronológico que le ponen: antes del viaje a Ámsterdam Glauber no había publicado sus hallazgos sobre el nitro fijo.

«Thus it is very unlikely that Worsley’s De nitro could date from 1646, and the references to the fixed and volatile parts of niter in it point to a date of composition no earlier than the mid-16s50s.» — y la datación que se sigue de ahí para el De nitro, contra la de 1646.

«Worsley’s letters exhibit considerable knowledge of distillation techniques as far as they pertain to alcoholic beverages, but there is little evidence in them of metallic or pharmaceutical chymistry (beyond the medicinal virtue to be had from cordials).» — lo que las cartas de Worsley sí muestran y lo que no, en materia de química.

«Consistent with our new analysis and dating of De nitro is Worsley’s mention of “Glauberus” on distillation, possibly a reference to the latter’s Furni novi philosophici of 1646—49, but also perhaps based on oral communication.» — y una mención suelta que los autores leen como compatible con su datación, dejando abierta la vía oral.

«George Starkey had immigrated to England in the fall of 1650, and Worsley had observed him “extract silver out of Antimony,” as Hartlib relates, in late April or early May of 1651.» — la demostración que Worsley presenció, fechada por los autores sobre las Ephemerides de Hartlib.

«Worsley’s failure to respond to Moriaen’s repeated solicitations raises some interesting questions.» — el silencio de Worsley que los autores convierten en problema.

«Moriaen repeatedly makes the same request, even asking that Worsley send him a sample of the Sophic Mercury.» — lo que Moriaen pedía una y otra vez.

«Moriaen loses all patience and berates Worsley, saying that there can be no excuse for his failure to impart further information about the /una_fixa.» — y cómo acabó esa insistencia. La grafía corrupta del nombre es la del facsímil, por luna fixa.

«The evidence, then, points to the following explanation for Worsley’s failure to deliver.» — los autores anuncian su explicación como lo que la evidencia indica, no como certeza.

«This was not at Worsley’s urging, however, but probably at John Dury’s, since the latter sent a “letter of recommendation,” almost certainly to Moriaen, on Starkey’s behalf.» — y a quién atribuyen la carta de recomendación que sí se envió.

«This does not mean that Starkey was willingly involved in the venture, however.» — la salvedad que ponen sobre la participación de Starkey en el negocio.

«Worsley’s evasive silence, to the contrary, suggests that he was advancing Starkey’s products to Moriaen without the American chymist’s acquiescence.» — y lo que ese silencio sugiere, según los autores: Worsley ofrecía a Moriaen productos ajenos sin permiso.

«Although Moriaen explicitly mentions Starkey’s letter of 30 May to Worsley in his own letter of 30 June, Moriaen’s later letters show that Worsley did not take the opportunity to reveal that it was Starkey who had prepared the /una fixa and Sophic Mercury, suggesting that Worsley had adopted a strategy of silence.» — la ocasión desaprovechada que lo confirma: Worsley pudo decir de quién eran la luna fixa y el mercurio sófico y no lo dijo.

«All the same, Moriaen’s letters reveal one fact unambiguously: Worsley himself was not in a position to make either the Sophic Mercury or /una fixa himself.» — el hecho que los autores dan por inequívoco en esa correspondencia.

«This again supports our contention that Worsley’s chymical expertise was quite limited and that he was dependent on others for the technical procedures of metallic chymistry.» — y la tesis que ese hecho respalda sobre la competencia de Worsley.

«Yet Worsley’s disavowal of transmutation did not last—or was restricted to certain techniques he judged unsatisfactory—for by late February 1654 he believed that he was on the track to the great secret.» — el vaivén que documentan: la renuncia a la transmutación no duró, o solo alcanzó a ciertas técnicas.

«Worsley also reveals a newfound contempt for the “vulgar chymistry” of strong-water distillers and other “laborants” who operate without the “key” of metallic putrefaction.» — y el desprecio con que acompaña ese regreso a los destiladores y laborantes.

«We do not know what immediate response Worsley got from Clodius, but his insistence on the need for a transmutational “key” soon developed into a full-blown claim on Worsley’s part that he had discovered this very secret.» — lo que los autores declaran no saber y adónde llevó de todos modos la insistencia de Worsley.

«Although no copy of Worsley’s Discourse has been located, it excited great interest among Hartlib’s chymical correspondents.» — el documento perdido y el revuelo que consta que causó.

«Worsley believed that this key lay in the same substance that furnished his other chymical hopes during this same period—the philosophical sal nitrum.» — y dónde ponía Worsley la llave, siempre en la misma sustancia.

«In addition, this correspondence reveals a Worsley resolutely adhering to the theory of a universal sa/ nitrum several years after Robert Boyle had abandoned this belief in favor of the Mercurialist approach of George Starkey.» — el desfase que los autores señalan: Worsley seguía en el sal nitrum universal años después de que Boyle lo dejara por la vía mercurialista.

«Worsley had evidently excluded “salt, May-dew, rain, urine, and vulgar mercury, etc,” and Clodius replies that he himself had never claimed the Sophic Mercury to be derivable from salts, but had always maintained that it must come from the mineral kingdom.» — la posición de Clodius frente a la de Worsley, con la lista de lo que este último descartaba.

«This passage clearly reveals that Clodius was an adherent of the Geberian school of alchemy, which had maintained since the High Middle Ages that the starting point of the Philosophers’ Stone must be quicksilver.» — la escuela a la que los autores adscriben a Clodius y su doctrina de partida.

«Despite the insouciant dismissals of historians who have not made a special study of chymistry, the influence of the supposed Arabian sage Geber was still at the heart of the discipline in the mid—seventeenth century.» — y la objeción que dirigen a los historiadores que no estudian química: el Geber latino seguía en el centro de la disciplina a mediados del siglo XVII.

«Clodius goes on to claim that even the alkahest itself is to be made with the aid of common mercury, Which-acts upon unspecified salts and converts them into a ponderous liquor.» — hasta dónde llevaba Clodius su mercurio: incluso el alkahest se haría con mercurio común.

«Although a number of the letters from this exchange are lost, it is clear that Worsley responded to Clodius’s challenge.» — lo que los autores pueden reconstruir del intercambio pese a las cartas perdidas.

«sent a letter to Hartlib in which he reiterates his denial that quicksilver is the material of the Philosophical Mercury.» — y la posición que Worsley reitera.

«It is hard to imagine a more eloquent testimony to the fact that Worsley’s knowledge of the great secret was of the armchair variety.» — el juicio que los autores dictan sobre el saber de Worsley a partir de esa carta.

«Despite the fact that he had announced his full confidence of the magnum opus only five months earlier, Worsley was now backing away from this claim.» — y el retroceso que documentan a cinco meses de su anuncio.

«This exchange is particularly interesting, for it explicitly condemns the metallic chymistry of Moriaen and others, presumably the 1651 attempts at extraction and transmutation that included Starkey’s Sophic Mercury and luna fixa.» — lo que el intercambio condena de paso, según los autores: la química metálica de 1651, la de Starkey incluida.

«His rhetoric, however, places him again squarely in the school of the sal nitrum theorists.» — y dónde lo deja su propio lenguaje.

«Clodius first clearly restates his own view—quicksilver is the immediate matter out of which metals are produced by nature, and by implication the material from which the Sophic Mercury should be made.» — la tesis de Clodius sobre la materia inmediata de los metales, con su consecuencia implícita.

«This putrefaction, Worsley asserts, must be carried out by a menstruum that he seems to equate with the Sophic Mercury.» — la vía de Worsley, con la equivalencia declarada como aparente.

«Worsley’s debate with Clodius once again clearly positions the former in the camp of Sendivogius and the other exponents of a central sal nitrum.» — el saldo del debate en cuanto a filiaciones.

«What is perhaps most interesting about Worsley is that his revelation concerning the putrefaction of metals, somehow involving the central sal nitrum, occurred at the same time as he was making his proposals for the production of common niter.» — la coincidencia de fechas que a los autores les parece lo más notable del caso.

«Worsley’s De nitro theses quaedam of the mid-16s50s recapitulates Glauber’s finding that saltpeter is composed of fixed and volatile parts.» — y lo que ese tratado repite de Glauber.

«The preface to Boyle’s “Essay” in fact refers to Glauber’s discovery, though only to deny that Boyle had prior knowledge of Glauber’s work before the composition of his own.» — el prefacio del ensayo del nitro y para qué nombra a Glauber, según los autores.

«If we take this to mean that the fact of niter’s composition—the central idea of Boyle’s “Essay on Nitre”—was already known to him before reading of it in Glauber’s Prosperitas Germaniae, it seems probable that Boyle may have learned of fixed and volatile niter from Benjamin Worsley.» — la vía que los autores dan por probable para que Boyle supiera de la composición del nitro antes de leer a Glauber.

«Worsley’s commitment to the idea of the philosophical sal nitrum ubiquitous in natural things may also explain a puzzling passage at the start of the “Essay on Nitre,” where Boyle declares niter to be “one of the most Catholick of Salts” because it is found in so many bodies “Vegetable, Animal, and even Mineral.”» — y qué explicaría esa filiación de un pasaje desconcertante del ensayo, donde el nitro sale como sal católica.

«If Boyle were speaking simply about potassium nitrate, this claim would be incomprehensible (and also would have rendered the perpetual and highly disruptive search for saltpeter before the modern age unnecessary), but Boyle is clear that such saltpeter is found “either in its rudiments, or under several disguises.”» — por qué la afirmación sería incomprensible tomada al pie de la letra, y qué la vuelve legible.

«Similarly, an important section of Worsley’s De nitro is devoted to demonstrating how “the Salt that is found in all Vegetables and in all Animals nourished by Vegetables is reducible or convertible into Salt-Peter.”» — el paralelo en el De nitro de Worsley, donde la sal de todo vegetal se reduce a salitre.

«In January 1655, Boyle communicated to Hartlib a secret on making saltpeter that he had been given by Starkey, and Clodius was set to try it out.» — un caso de circulación dentro del círculo: el secreto del salitre pasa de Starkey a Boyle, de Boyle a Hartlib y de ahí a Clodius para probarlo.

«It is possible that this renewed interest may have been sparked by Worsley’s treatise.» — y una causa posible para ese interés renovado, declarada como posibilidad.

«Boyle in fact distinguished himself from the more reductionist corpuscularians such as Descartes by his own willingness to engage in these lower-level explanations.» — lo que separa a Boyle de corpuscularistas como Descartes, según los autores.

«Thus Boyle argues that a physician’s explanations have explanatory value even if they fail to ascend to the top in the series of natural causes, the prima naturalia or smallest corpuscles and their properties.» — la doctrina de causas intermedias en su aplicación médica.

«Similarly, Boyle elsewhere argues that brewers need not understand the natural philosophy of fermentation in order to make beer.» — y el ejemplo con que la ilustra.

«Boyle’s doctrine of intermediate causes, although Baconian in origin, is strikingly similar to an argument raised by Benjamin Worsley» — el parecido que los autores encuentran, con el origen baconiano de la doctrina dicho de entrada.

«When a brewer malts his grain or when he plants the seed that will produce his grain, he does not need to consider the most abstract principles of matter, but only the immediate causes at hand.» — el mismo ejemplo cervecero en la versión de Worsley, según lo resumen los autores.

«Hence, although atomic principles are indeed the simplest in nature, and the most desirable to a natural philosopher, it does not follow that principia subalterna are without value.» — y la conclusión que sostiene el argumento: lo más simple es lo deseable para el filósofo natural y no anula el valor de los principios subalternos.

«He came to England in mid-1652, having been recommended to Hartlib by Johann Moriaen, with whom he had lived and worked for a while in Amsterdam.» — cómo llegó Clodius al círculo de Hartlib, con la recomendación de Moriaen por delante.

«This rich and powerful prince was Frederick III, duke of Holstein- Gottorp (1609-70); Clodius’s father Johann was also in contact with the duke.» — el patrono que los autores identifican detrás de él.

«These sources also make it clear that the duke of Holstein was a devotee of Van Helmont and that he sent Adam Olearius (1600-71) to Van Helmont’s widow in order to acquire his unpublished manuscripts.» — y la devoción helmontiana de ese duque, que mandó a comprar los manuscritos inéditos a la viuda de Van Helmont.

«Although Clodius’s involvement in this operation remains somewhat uncertain, he himself visited the widow Van Helmont, probably in mid- 1651, who told him a story about the arson of the chymist’s home and apparently gave him some manuscripts (or copies of them).» — lo que los autores dan por incierto y lo que sí consta de la visita de Clodius a la viuda.

«Of course, Boyle’s information about Clodius’s previous activities came from Clodius himself and so may not be entirely unbiased.» — la cautela que aplican a su fuente: lo que Boyle sabía de Clodius se lo había contado Clodius.

«Henry Oldenburg himself tried to swap a secret process with Clodius for a Van Helmont manuscript in 1659.» — lo que valían esos manuscritos en el mercado de secretos del círculo.

«Indeed, one reason for Clodius’s quick rise among the Hartlibians may have been his ownership of these manuscripts, in much the same way that part of Starkey’s fame rested upon his ownership of manuscripts by the great adept Eirenaeus Philalethes.» — y la explicación que los autores dan para el ascenso de Clodius, con el paralelo de Starkey y sus manuscritos de Philalethes.

«Clodius showed one of these manuscripts to Starkey in July 1653, who found it new to him.» — la escena que los autores documentan entre los dos poseedores de manuscritos.

«It was these two again who constituted the core of the “general chemical council,” a group whose full membership and activities remain somewhat unclear.» — el consejo químico general y lo que de él no se sabe.

«Digby offered to contribute six to seven hundred pounds to it.» — la cifra con que Digby respaldaba el proyecto.

«More apparently introduced Clodius to Lady Conway in late 1653, no doubt hoping that he might be able to cure her chronic headaches.» — la ocasión del trato entre Clodius y el entorno de Henry More.

«It is unclear whether the portrait ever arrived.'*° In regard to the medicines for Lady Conway’s headaches, it is equally unclear whether any of these actually materialized either.» — y lo que los autores declaran no poder resolver de ese trato.

«More persisted in pressing for legal measures, and wrote to a “Mr. Newbury,” possibly a magistrate, about it.» — hasta dónde llevó More el asunto, con la identificación del destinatario dicha como probable.

«Whether the four pounds was for delivery of a portrait that never arrived or a medicine that finally materialized (and which More counseled Conway not to take, as it was either worthless or dangerous) is not entirely clear.» — lo que los autores no consiguen dirimir del pleito, con el consejo de More a Conway dicho de paso.

«Surviving documents do not indicate that Boyle considered Clodius a “foul wretch,” much less a “misshapen monster” or an efficient emetic.» — el contraste que establecen entre el juicio de More y el de Boyle, apoyado en lo que los documentos no dicen.

«Whether or not the two met before Boyle’s departure for Ireland in June 1652 is unknown, but rather unlikely.» — lo que no se sabe del primer encuentro de Boyle con Clodius, con la estimación de los autores.

«Judging from the very familiar tone of Boyle’s 27 September 1653 letter to Clodius, the two became close immediately.» — y lo que sí infieren del tono de la carta de septiembre de 1653.

«Indeed, the tone of many parts of Boyle’s letters to Clodius borders on the obsequious.» — con la caracterización que hacen de ese tono.

«In terms of what Boyle obtained from Clodius, the “Collections” that Boyle made in 1654 show a few recipes from Clodius, but in 1655 Clodius’s contributions to Boyle’s “Collections” become substantial.» — la curva del intercambio medida en las colecciones de Boyle.

«Digby himself undoubtedly encouraged Boyle’s chymical studies.» — el otro estímulo que los autores dan por seguro.

«It is probably Clodius again who is referred to under the initials of “Dr. N-N” later in the work.» — una identificación más de las iniciales con que Boyle encubre a sus informantes, declarada como probable.

«It is worth pointing out that another member of the Clodius family—possibly a nephew or cousin to Frederick—lived with Hartlib in 1659, for mention is made of “young Clodius” being in Hartlib’s chamber working on translations of German alchemical treatises, while the elder Clodius was “gone to Gravesend.”» — otro Clodius en la casa de Hartlib, traduciendo tratados alquímicos del alemán.

«Indeed, after treating the simplest preparation of this spirit of hartshorn, Boyle notes that there is “a more elaborate and costly” way of making it used by “an excellent Chymist who makes great advantage of it,” and this is almost certainly Clodius.» — y otra atribución de los autores a un informante sin nombre, esta vez casi segura.

«Starkey and Clodius were in direct communication very soon after the latter’s arrival in England in 1652, and a cordial letter from Starkey to Clodius is still extant.» — el trato entre los dos poseedores de secretos, con la carta cordial que lo prueba.

«On 26 August 1652 Clodius witnessed a demonstration of Starkey’s alkahest, presumably the material he had been working on since his January dream and that he recalled wistfully (after having lost it when a digesting flask broke) in Pyrotechny Asserted.» — la demostración del alkahest de Starkey ante Clodius, y el matraz roto que se llevó el producto.

«If, as seems likely, this is an account of Starkey and Clodius, it is curious to note that Starkey, the inventor of the wonderful menstruum worth two hundred crowns a pint, goes wholly unnamed, while Clodius is at least given an initial» — y la asimetría que los autores subrayan en el relato de Boyle: el inventor del menstruo queda sin nombre y el comprador lleva inicial.

«On 9 August 1652, Hartlib recorded that Clodius had brought him a medicine made from antimony using the alkahest, with the implication that it was Clodius who had prepared it.» — lo que Hartlib anotó sobre la medicina antimonial hecha con alkahest, con la implicación de autoría.

«Thus, it seems quite possible that Clodius was attempting to pass off Starkey’s preparation as his own, at least to Hartlib.» — y la conclusión que los autores sacan de esa fecha, marcada como posibilidad.

«It is probably no mere coincidence that Clodius’s statements of dissatisfaction with Starkey fall very close to the time of Hartlib’s widely cited disaffection with Starkey and of Clodius’s push to gain Boyle’s patronage.» — la coincidencia de fechas que los autores no dan por casual entre el enfriamiento con Starkey y la busca de patrocinio por Clodius.

«In 1651, Starkey had rebuffed—in no uncertain language—the otters of Digby’s close associate Dr. Richard Farrar to buy the secret of the Philosophical Mercury and /una fixa.» — la negativa de Starkey a vender sus secretos al asociado de Digby. Las grafías corruptas son las del facsímil.

«Given Starkey’s fiery temperament and his indignation at this attempted “venality of Natures Secrets,” we may assume that the account of this scene that he gave to Boyle was more sedate than the browbeating Farrar received.» — y la reconstrucción que los autores hacen de la escena, con su carácter de suposición dicho.

«As a result of the episode, Starkey refused to have “the least familiarity . . . with [Farrar] nor any in whom he had influence,” which presumably included Digby.» — la consecuencia del episodio para el trato de Starkey con ese círculo.

«Given this history of bad blood between Starkey and Digby, it is possible that the alienation of Starkey from the Hartlib circle in early 1654 was motivated as much by the machinations of Clodius and the ill-will of Digby as it was by the young American’s financial problems.» — la hipótesis que los autores añaden al relato recibido de 1654, declarada como posible.

«Despite Clodius’s turn against Starkey, the Holsatian chymist continued to benefit from Starkey’s work, although it seems without Starkey’s permission.» — lo que siguió pasando pese al vuelco, con el permiso ausente.

«But Boyle, before returning to Ireland, made sure to pass on the process to Clodius.» — el papel de Boyle en esa circulación.

«Starkey is nowhere mentioned in the letter by name.» — y lo que falta en la carta con que lo hizo.

«It is curious that Boyle should function as an intermediary between Starkey and Clodius, who already knew one another well.» — la rareza que los autores señalan: dos que ya se conocían bien y un intermediario en medio.

«One explanation is that Boyle was giving Clodius what Starkey would not impart of his own accord.» — y la explicación que ofrecen para ella.

«It might be argued that the corn wine and saltpeter projects were cooperative Hartlibian endeavors, and thus Boyle was merely acting as a conduit for information that would have been transmitted anyway.» — la objeción que ellos mismos se plantean, en nombre del ideal cooperativo hartlibiano.

«Yet this would not explain why Boyle omits Starkey’s name from the secret about wines when passing it on to Clodius by letter.» — y lo que esa objeción no alcanza a explicar.

«But the most striking example of Boyle’s revelation of Starkey’s secrets is the case of the Philosophical Mercury—the item that caused Starkey’s explosion at Digby’s “Parasite” Farrar.» — el caso más fuerte que aducen, que es justamente el secreto por el que Starkey había estallado.

«Boyle’s free hand with Starkey’s secrets, coupled with the deferential tone of his letters, implies that he was trying to win Clodius’s favor.» — el móvil que los autores le adjudican a esa liberalidad.

«it is clear that Boyle was willing to transgress the implicit (and sometimes explicit) terms of his established relationship with Starkey in order to win the affections of the German chymist.» — y lo que dan por claro sobre los términos que estuvo dispuesto a romper.

«But at no time did that relationship pay off to the extent of his relationship with Starkey.» — el saldo que hacen del trato con Clodius frente al de Starkey.

«Clodius, however, seems to have tried to take credit for training Boyle in chymistry; at least that is the report tendered to John Ward by William Welden, who had lived for a time with Clodius.» — y la pretensión de Clodius sobre la formación química de Boyle, con la fuente del informe declarada.

«It should, however, be clear from this study that not only did Starkey precede Clodius in his relationship with Boyle, but that Clodius himself was partly parasitical off of Starkey’s work.» — la respuesta de los autores a la pretensión de Clodius, con la palabra parasitario incluida.

«If that title belongs to anyone, it is to George Starkey.» — y a quién adjudican el título de primer maestro químico de Boyle.

«But much of the material presented in this chapter casts a rather different light on the members of the group.» — lo que el capítulo cambia de la imagen recibida del círculo de Hartlib.

«The whole spectacle that this represents—of Clodius, Worsley, Boyle, Digby, and Farrar competing to extract Starkey’s secrets, each behind the other’s back—seems almost farcical.» — y cómo los autores califican la competencia por los secretos de Starkey.

«Even though the closest terms between Boyle and Starkey lasted for only a few years, Starkey’s influence permeates through Boyle’s life—perhaps most dramatically in Starkey’s initiation of Boyle’s forty-year quest for the correct means of transforming the Philosophical Mercury Starkey taught him how to make into the Philosophers’ Stone.» — el alcance que le dan a unos pocos años de trato: cuarenta años de busca de Boyle arrancan de ahí.

«Yet in spite of Starkey’s significant contributions to the young Boyle, there is little acknowledgment of this by Boyle himself; indeed, if anything, there is rather the opposite tendency, as when Boyle attributes his chymical training to “Illiterates” rather than to the young Harvard graduate, as we noted in chapter 1.» — y el reconocimiento que no llegó, con la atribución a iletrados en su lugar.

«While Boyle clearly benefited from chymical contributions drawn from a wide array of associates, his relationship with Starkey was not only the earliest and most productive, but also apparently unique in the way that Starkey “tutored” Boyle during his training in chymistry.» — lo que hace única la relación con Starkey entre todas las de Boyle, según los autores.

«It is likely, however, that Boyle felt a level of ownership over the ens veneris since he apparently underwrote its original preparation.» — la explicación que ofrecen para que Boyle hablara del ens veneris como suyo, declarada probable.

«For his part, on the other hand, Starkey seems to have resisted Boyle’s attempts to categorize the young American as a chymical “operator” or technician, a status that would have legitimized such proprietorship.» — y la resistencia de Starkey a que lo trataran de operario, que es lo que habría legitimado esa propiedad.

«While Boyle did have a fairly general policy of not citing living authors by name (in praise or blame) he seems yet more indisposed to mention Starkey either by name (he never did in print), or by initials (as he did with Clodius and others), or even by more allusive, nameless references (which he did only occasionally with Starkey).» — la política general de Boyle sobre citar a los vivos y la excepción más cerrada dentro de ella.

«Indeed, William Wotton, in writing his aborted “Life of Boyle” made inquiries to discover who Boyle’s chymical teacher was; when asked, John Evelyn pled his own nescience of “who it was Innitiated Mr. Boyle among the Spagyrists, before I had the honor to know him” and hypothesized that this occurred during his years at Oxford;» — el efecto de ese silencio en la generación siguiente: al escribir su vida de Boyle, Wotton tuvo que preguntar quién lo había iniciado.

«Boyle makes his first known reference to the ens veneris. There Boyle writes that a “(secret but an) Easy Sublimation yeeld[s] me a venerall Body,”?7? using the first person singular, even though we know that the process was actually executed by Starkey.» — el uso de la primera persona del singular en un proceso que, como los autores han mostrado, ejecutó Starkey.

«it is worth noting that Boyle hints at Starkey’s own secrets as well as his own.» — y el otro lado del mismo hábito: Boyle insinúa también los secretos ajenos.

«One previously mentioned example of this concerns Starkey’s Philosophical Mercury, but Boyle does the same with Starkey’s volatilization of alkalies.» — con los dos casos que los autores ponen.

«But Boyle himself hints several times at Starkey’s secret.» — y la frecuencia de esas insinuaciones.

«Did Boyle wish to avoid being publicly associated with Starkey? This is undoubtedly the case.» — la pregunta que los autores se hacen sobre el silencio de Boyle y la respuesta que dan sin reservas.

«But this chariness toward public association does not mean that Boyle did not benefit from Starkey’s tutelage or that he refrained from employing, parts of Starkey’s work.» — con el límite que le ponen enseguida: evitar la asociación pública no es dejar de usar el trabajo ajeno.

«Starkey—the man behind the figure of Eirenaeus Philalethes, the mysterious cosmopolite and adept whom Boyle so wanted to meet and learn from—was in fact Boyle’s key chymical teacher all along.» — la ironía que cierra el capítulo: el adepto que Boyle quería conocer y el maestro que ya tenía eran el mismo hombre.

«One might speculate that Starkey’s discovery regarding the power of the air might in fact have contributed to Boyle’s initial interest in pneumatics and the air pump.» — una conjetura que los autores marcan como tal sobre el origen del interés de Boyle por la neumática.

«But it is certainly worth following the story further to examine how this tradition of practical chymistry endured and developed over time.» — el programa que se fijan para el último capítulo.

«While it is clear that Boyle’s early chymistry of the 1650s was closely akin to that of Starkey, from whom he learned it, what of Boyle’s later chymistry?» — y la pregunta que lo abre.

«We now know that this is definitely not the case with Boyle’s chrysopoetic preoccupations; he remained a dedicated believer in transmutation and seeker for the Philosophers’ Stone until his death in 1691.» — la respuesta en cuanto a la crisopeya: Boyle siguió creyendo en la transmutación y buscando la piedra hasta morir.

«Moreover, throughout his life, Boyle continued to pursue practical chrysopoeia along the specifically Mercurialist lines that he was taught originally by Starkey.» — y por la vía precisa que Starkey le había enseñado.

«It is clear that Boyle’s first set of publications, which appeared in the early 1660s and upon which so much of the traditional view of him has been drawn—are strongly Helmontian.» — lo que los autores sostienen de las obras sobre las que se construyó la imagen de Boyle.

«Similarly, Boyle’s water culture experiments are linked to Van Helmont’s demonstration that a willow tree is “made of water,” and, even though Boyle expresses reservations about certain specific aspects of Helmontian chymistry, he continues to display his admiration and indebtedness to the Belgian.» — y el caso del sauce, con las reservas de Boyle dichas dentro de la misma línea.

«These testimonies from contemporary readers who unambiguously identify Boyle as a Helmontian provide a different sense of the Sceptical Chymist from the common one linking him to the Royal Society and the Scientific Revolution—in short, they saw the book as part of an existing tradition, not as something radically new.» — cómo leían el Sceptical Chymist sus contemporáneos, según los autores, frente a la lectura que lo ata a la revolución científica.

«Usefulnesse of Experimental Naturall Philosophy (1663) is likewise a strongly Helmontian work resting upon the Helmontian essays that Boyle wrote in the 16sos.» — y la otra obra mayor de esos años, apoyada en los ensayos helmontianos de la década anterior.

«Thus the Helmontian grounding that Starkey imparted to Boyle (and that was reinforced by other contacts) endured into the 1660s and undergirded the very works upon which Boyle’s reputation was built.» — la conclusión que enlaza a Starkey con la fama de Boyle, con los otros contactos reconocidos de paso.

«Boyle has been heralded for his critical attitude toward earlier chymical “families,” or classes of substances, and has also been credited with devising a “more comprehensive classification” of saline substances by distinguishing three classes of salts: acid, alkalizate or lixivial, and urinous or volatile.”» — el mérito que suele adjudicársele a Boyle en la clasificación de las sales, que el capítulo va a examinar.

«In the midst of extolling the alkahest and volatile salt of tartar (replete with references to Van Helmont) Boyle draws a lengthy comparison between these Helmontian arcana maiora, which are supposed to dissolve other substances sine repassione—that is, without becoming exhausted (or exantlated)—and common corrosive “saline liquors.”» — y el marco helmontiano en que esa comparación aparece, entre los arcana maiora y los licores corrosivos corrientes.

«Thus Boyle classifies “vulgar” saline liquors into three types—acid ones (familiar enough in “A quafortis,” or nitric acid), urinous ones (by which he means ammonia and its salts), and alkalizate ones (namely, the “fixed” alkalies, such as potassium and sodium carbonates).» — las tres clases de licores salinos que Boyle distingue, con su equivalencia química moderna puesta por los autores.

«While the three classes that Boyle lists have their own characteristic qualities, they also interact with one another—“disarming and destroying” each other—as witnessed by effervescence or precipitation.» — y cómo se comportan entre sí, con los indicios visibles de esa interacción.

«Boyle also supported this classification with a set of practical chymical tests that could categorize a given salt.» — lo que sostiene la clasificación además del esquema: pruebas químicas que asignan cada sal a su clase.

«There Boyle uses a series of two indicator tests to assign any salt into one of the three “Tribes.”» — y la mecánica de esas pruebas.

«Thus by combining these two solution tests, Boyle not only devises a practical, experimental scheme for identifying specific salts, but also undergirds his division of all salts and their derivative liquors into three classes.» — para qué le sirven a Boyle, según los autores, en lo práctico y en lo doctrinal.

«Now at first glance it may look as if Van Helmont is merely describing a bifurcation into acids and alkalies, a system that would later be developed by some of his followers and criticized by Boyle.!7 But in fact things are not so simple.» — la lectura fácil de Van Helmont que los autores rechazan, y su advertencia.

«Nor does Van Helmont seem to have regarded the salt of urine as the primary exemplar in an eponymous class of “urinous salts,” as Boyle did, even though Van Helmont did note the similarity of urinous spirit to spirit of human blood, a substance Boyle later classified among “urinous” bodies.» — y la diferencia que mantienen entre los dos: Van Helmont no hizo de la sal de orina el ejemplar de una clase, como sí hizo Boyle.

«The reader will note that the first appearance of this threefold division of salts (in Usefulnesse) occurs in a Helmontian context—during a discussion of the alkahest and its distinctness from “vulgar” saline corrosives.» — dónde aparece por primera vez la división tripartita en Boyle, y en qué contexto.

«Thus a foundation for Boyle’s division of salts into three families or “Tribes” can be found in Van Helmont’s distinction of acid and alkaline salts from the volatile salt of urine.» — la adjudicación que los autores hacen del cimiento de esa división.

«meaning that these two types—acid and alkalizate—oppose one another, resulting in the formation of an inactive, “earthy” body.» — la oposición entre ácido y alcalizado y su producto inerte.

«Finally, a similar terminology is employed in The Sceptical Chymist, where Boyle speaks of “the three chief sorts of Salts, the Acid, the Alcalizate, and the Sulphureous.”» — la terminología del Sceptical Chymist, con la tercera clase nombrada como sulfúrea.

«If we consider the properties of sulphur—for example, its characteristic taste, smell, and color—there is no obvious way in which these salts would ever seem “sulphureous.”» — y el sinsentido aparente que los autores señalan en ese nombre si se atiende al azufre común.

«Van Helmont argues that the process of burning combustible materials produces alkalies.» — la doctrina que lo vuelve inteligible.

«Van Helmont emphasizes in “Blas humanum” that the fixation is relative rather than absolute.» — con la acotación helmontiana sobre la fijeza.

«Indeed, this usage is comprehensible only in the light of Van Helmont’s theory of alkalies.» — y la conclusión que los autores sacan sobre el vocabulario de Boyle.

«Van Helmont believed that one could even remove the flammability from spirit of wine by refluxing it with salt of tartar;» — el caso extremo de la doctrina helmontiana: quitarle al espíritu de vino su inflamabilidad con sal de tártaro.

«These examples show that Van Helmont thought that the combination of Sulphur and a volatile Salt yields an alkaline product whose fixity could vary considerably.» — y lo que esos ejemplos le muestran a los autores sobre la fijeza variable del producto alcalino.

«Returning now to Boyle, it is clear that all alkaline salts, which Boyle can distinguish from acidic ones using a decoction of lignum nephriticum or syrup of violets, must—by Helmontian principles—contain a “hidden” Sulphur.» — la consecuencia para el vocabulario de Boyle: por principios helmontianos, toda sal alcalina lleva azufre escondido.

«Van Helmont’s concept of relative fixity thus allows for the presence of Sulphur “fixed” with Salt even in volatile “urinous” salts (such as salt of human blood) as well as completely nonvolatile alkalies (such as salt of tartar).» — y qué permite la fijeza relativa, de la sal de sangre humana a la de tártaro.

«The approbation of the Helmontian theory of alkalies that is implicit in Boyle’s coining of the term “sulphureous Salt” is also coupled with his explicit afirmation of the Helmontian belief that salt of tartar could “seize” the Sulphur in spirit of wine and thereby transmute that substance from a flammable liquid into a watery phlegm.» — la aprobación explícita que los autores encuentran en Boyle de la doctrina que su terminología ya suponía.

«In Usefulnesse and The Sceptical Chymist Boyle rather hesitatingly approves of this operation and its underlying theory, saying that the combination of the sulphureous component in spirit of wine with the salt of tartar makes good sense, but pointing out that he himself has not been able to effect the process.» — con la reserva que Boyle mantenía entonces: la teoría le parecía razonable y el proceso no le salía.

«Yet in the later Origine of Formes and Qualities (1666), a work sometimes viewed as a capstone of Boyle’s scientific oeuvre, the English natural philosopher accepts the conversion of spirit of wine into water without reservation.» — y el momento en que esa reserva desaparece.

«We noted above that although the third chapter of Van Helmont’s De /ithiasi contains the rudiments of Boyle’s “Tribes” of salts, Van Helmont’s material is by no means as thoroughly developed or as clearly expressed as Boyle’s similar threefold division.» — la diferencia de elaboración que los autores mantienen entre el De lithiasi y la división de Boyle.

«Indeed, Boyle apparently wrote a treatise on the “Various Chymicall Distinctions of Salts,” to which he refers in the Sceptical Chymist and Usefulnesse, and from which—as he implies—much of the material in those works on the “Tribes” of salts may be derived.» — un escrito perdido de Boyle sobre las distinciones de las sales, que él mismo cita en dos obras.

«While no manuscript of that essay survives—probably because its contents were largely subsumed into printed works—it is mentioned in a mid-16s0s list of his essays.» — y lo que se sabe de él, con la razón probable de su desaparición.

«there is good evidence that Boyle may have derived the threefold classification of salts from George Starkey, or at least collaborated with him in its formulation, for Starkey was already employing this distinction by October 1657.» — la otra filiación posible de la clasificación tripartita, con la fecha que la sostiene.

«We need not follow him further, for it is clear that he has explicitly treated “urinous spirits” as a category distinct from “spirit of alkalies” and noted that both of them have the effect of “destroying” acids.» — lo que los autores leen en el pasaje de Starkey: los espíritus urinosos ya son una categoría aparte.

«Starkey’s tripartite division of salts into acid, alkali, and urinous classes is not restricted to an isolated manuscript, but appears in print as well.» — y que no es hallazgo de un manuscrito suelto, porque también está impreso.

«This shows that Starkey, unlike Van Helmont, had plainly turned spirit of urine into an eponymous exemplar under which a whole class of substances could be grouped.» — la diferencia que separa a Starkey de su maestro y lo acerca a Boyle.

«Although Liquor Alchahest was not published until ten years after Starkey’s death in 1665, these comments clearly reflect the same tripartite division that had already surfaced in the 1657 manuscript.» — cómo los autores fechan una doctrina publicada póstumamente, apoyándose en el manuscrito anterior.

«It is certain that this second tripartite division, like the division of salts, also appears earlier in Starkey’s writings.» — y lo mismo para la división de los espíritus.

«To conclude this part of our argument, we find that the important work on the classification of salts that remained a key part of Boyle’s chymistry well into his later years was (although obviously and importantly elaborated by his use of color indicators) actually built upon a Helmontian foundation that was probably developed and transmitted to him by Starkey.» — la conclusión del tramo, con la elaboración propia de Boyle reconocida entre paréntesis.

«This transmission through Starkey is further corroborated by the analogous division of spirits found in both Boyle’s and Starkey’s publications.» — y la corroboración que aducen para esa transmisión.

«Starkey’s threefold distinction of spirits and his tripartite division of salts both devolve from the same kind of exhaustive investigation that we have found to be characteristic of the American chymist’s laboratory notebooks.» — de dónde salen las dos divisiones, según los autores: del mismo trabajo exhaustivo de los cuadernos.

«Although Boyle in the 1660s supports (to varying degrees) the Helmontian theory of Salts fixing Sulphurs into alkalies, his 1680 Producibleness devotes a long section to the production of “Alcali’s or Lixiviate Salts” in which there is a sustained dialogue with this Helmontian theory.» — el giro del Boyle de 1680 frente a lo que sostenía en los sesenta.

«Boyle adduces several pieces of experimental evidence designed to cast doubt on Van Helmont’s idea.» — y cómo lo hace.

«Now the force of this objection rests solely on the assumption that Van Helmont claimed that all combinations of Salt and Sulphur give a fixed product, but as noted above, Van Helmont actually held a principle of relative fixity.» — la objeción que los autores le devuelven a Boyle: su reparo supone algo que Van Helmont no sostenía.

«Van Helmont could simply have replied that the brimstone is indeed more fixed than its putative components (which have already “seized” one another), even though it is still capable of being sublimed.» — y la respuesta que Van Helmont habría podido dar, formulada por los autores en condicional.

«Thus while Boyle expresses some disagreement with Van Helmont’s theory of alkali production, it is important to note how he does so, for it displays his intellectual commitments and rhetorical methodology.» — lo que a los autores les interesa del desacuerdo no es el desacuerdo sino su forma.

«He also occasionally uses notions from a system that he rejects in order to cast doubts on yet another system.» — uno de los rasgos de esa forma.

«Boyle often adopts and hybridizes several (sometimes competing) theories, accepting some parts of each and rejecting others.» — y el rasgo general que le atribuyen al modo de argumentar de Boyle.

«Boyle’s “polyphonic” style should not obscure the fact that the whole point of his essay is to argue in favor of the production of alkali salts de novo against the “common opinion of the Chymists” who believed them to be preexistent in mixed bodies.» — la advertencia que hacen sobre ese estilo polifónico y cuál es la tesis del ensayo debajo.

«Thus, we should not read this section of Producibleness as a wholesale rejection of Helmontian ideas in Boyle’s later chymistry.» — y la lectura que rechazan del mismo pasaje.

«Boyle notes that besides the volatile salt extractable from urine it also contains two fixed salts.» — la observación de Boyle sobre las sales de la orina.

«Both conclude that there are three salts— one volatile and two fixed—in putrefied urine.» — y la coincidencia con Van Helmont que los autores señalan en ese punto.

«Expressing his allegiance to the mechanical philosophy, Boyle suggests that pace Van Helmont, merely “Mechanicall changes” may suffice to explain the production of alkalies in the fire.» — la alternativa mecánica que Boyle opone a Van Helmont, con la preposición latina que el propio texto usa para marcar la discrepancia.

«The gist of his approach is that even though most fixed alkalies (excepting “Egyptian Nitre,” a naturally occurring soda) are indeed productions of the fire—as Van Helmont claimed—it is unnecessary to suppose that alkalies must arise specifically from Salt and Sulphur fixed together by fire.» — el meollo de esa alternativa, con lo que Boyle sí le concede a Van Helmont dicho antes de lo que le niega.

«Boyle goes on to note that while fire does in fact often produce alkalies, it can also destroy them.» — y el argumento que suma: el mismo fuego que hace álcalis los deshace.

«This “slime” was “of a nature very differing from Salt of Tartar”; it was insipid and earthy, and thus no longer alkaline.» — el producto con que lo ilustra, ya sin ninguna propiedad alcalina.

«Boyle’s argument here has a subtle consequence, but one of great significance.» — los autores anuncian la consecuencia que les importa de ese argumento.

«According to Boyle’s favored mechanical scheme, anything can be produced from anything by a change of corpuscular texture alone without the mediation of specific chymical species.» — y cuál es: en el esquema mecánico cualquier cosa sale de cualquier cosa por cambio de textura corpuscular.

«Thus no true analysis could ever be possible.» — lo que eso le hace al análisis químico.

«Thus Boyle denies the notion of “constant composition” implicit in Helmontian theory, whereby Sulphur and Salt must combine in order to produce an alkali (and conversely, an alkali must be composed of Sulphur and Salt).» — la noción que Boyle niega al negar la formación helmontiana del álcali.

«Without such an underlying notion of “constant composition,” quantitative analysis is futile.» — y el precio que los autores le ponen a esa negación.

«To sum up what we have seen thus far, then, the Boyle of the 1660s supported several key aspects of Van Helmont’s chymistry.» — el balance de la primera mitad del capítulo.

«In the later phase of Boyle’s career he explicitly promoted a mechanical alternative to Van Helmont’s theory of alkalies, even while retaining the three “Tribes” of salts and the possibility that Van Helmont’s alkali formation theory was true in some instances.» — y el de la segunda, con lo que Boyle conserva en la misma frase en que promueve su alternativa.

«The alkahest, on the other hand, works sine repassione—it does not undergo any change as a result of dissolving another substance, but rather can be recovered intact» — la propiedad del alkahest que lo distingue de los corrosivos comunes.

«Boyle used Van Helmont’s theory of exantlation in a number of his more mature works. Yet in the case of exantlation Boyle does not set up a parallel mechanical explanation as an alternative as he did with the alkali formation theory.» — la asimetría que los autores señalan: con la exantlación Boyle no montó ninguna alternativa mecánica.

«Boyle, following Van Helmont’s experiment (even though the Belgian chymist is not mentioned), washes this powder» — y el silencio de siempre, esta vez sobre el autor del experimento que repite.

«Van Helmont had determined initial and final weights of the quicksilver, and finding no loss concluded that since no mercury was unaccounted for, the crystals could not contain any.» — cómo cerraba Van Helmont el argumento: con pesos de entrada y de salida, y sin mercurio sin justificar.

«Boyle, however, is not so circumspect, and it seems that he relies on Van Helmont’s testimony, for his own reasoning is rather weak:» — y el contraste que los autores establecen con Boyle, sin ahorrarse el juicio.

«Content with such expressions as “a great deal more” and “a great deal less,” Boyle does not give either absolute or relative quantities of his ingredients.» — el defecto concreto que le señalan: comparativos vagos y ninguna cantidad, ni absoluta ni relativa.

«His reasoning seems to be that the “Aggregate” calx produced from the mercury and oil of vitriol weighed more than the initial mercury, and the oil of vitriol that was distilled off weighed considerably less than the oil of vitriol that was used.» — la reconstrucción del razonamiento que los autores le suponen, declarada como lectura.

«This is exactly the point that Van Helmont endeavors to prove by his more explicitly quantitative study of the process.» — y que el punto ya estaba probado, con números, del lado helmontiano.

«At any rate, we will see shortly that Boyle’s relative indifference to precise measurements of initial and final weights is not uncharacteristic of his approach, and has implications of its own.» — los autores anuncian que esa indiferencia a las pesadas exactas no es rasgo suelto.

«Boyle reuses Van Helmont’s experiment to illustrate the mechanical philosophy in the Sceptical Chymist.» — y para qué reutiliza Boyle el experimento ajeno.

«Since the “newly coagulated salt” contains no mercury, it must be a product of the vitriol itself, but in a different physical state than it was while liquid.» — lo que el experimento venía a mostrar: la sal nueva sale del vitriolo mismo, en otro estado físico.

«Exantlation occurs only with “vulgar” corrosives and not with the alkahest; hence, the theory behind this “immortal solvent,” which can work sine repassione, is closely related to the Helmontian theory of exantlation.» — la relación entre las dos piezas helmontianas que los autores ponen a la vista.

«It is now well-known that Boyle eagerly sought the Helmontian alkahest as a potential agent of analysis far superior to fire and even wrote an entire tract on the subject.» — y para qué quería Boyle el alkahest: como agente de análisis muy superior al fuego.

«Van Helmont’s own explanation of the alkahest’s unusual ability to dissolve substances without combining with them was couched in expressly corpuscular terms.» — la forma en que Van Helmont explicaba esa propiedad, que es la que a Boyle le servía.

«Relying upon medieval discussions of the philosophical mercury, Van Helmont also asserted that the alkahest’s corpuscles were uniformly tiny—this homogeneity of particle size allowed the alkahest to be distilled away from whatever it had dissolved without leaving the slightest residue.» — y la homogeneidad de tamaño que permitía destilar el alkahest sin dejar residuo, con su filiación medieval declarada.

«Although it is certainly true that Van Helmont invested this medieval corpuscular theory with vitalistic concerns of his own devising, it was an easy matter for Boyle to dismiss these while still using the Helmontian theory for his mechanical philosophy.» — la operación que los autores describen: Boyle se queda con el corpuscularismo medieval y descarta lo vitalista que Van Helmont le había añadido.

«Indeed, Boyle’s explanation of the alkahest is used in “Mechanical Origine of Volatility” precisely to support the English natural philosopher’s contention that volatility is related to small particle size.» — y para qué le sirve esa pieza en su propio programa.

«In general terms, then, both examples serve as compelling demonstrations of the fact that changes of state need not stem from the addition or subtraction of some specific ingredient with particular qualities, but can derive merely from the dissociation, association, or rearrangement of corpuscles whose material identity remains unchanged.» — lo que los dos ejemplos helmontianos vienen a mostrar dentro del argumento de Boyle.

«Boyle’s eventual dissatisfaction with the Helmontian theory of alkalies falls into the same pattern, for there Boyle questions the Helmontian requirement that two specific substances (Sulphur and Salt) are required to combine in order to form an alkali in favor of a mechanical process whereby the agency of fire alters the texture of a single substance into or out of an alkaline form without the need for the addition or combination of specific material ingredients.» — y el patrón único en que los autores encajan todo el capítulo.

«Both Van Helmont and Boyle believed in a “uniform catholic matter” from which all things are made.» — el suelo común que los autores les reconocen a los dos.

«Van Helmont posited the origin of real change in the action of semina upon the universal substance, thereby converting water into the multifarious substances of the world of sensible phenomena.» — y dónde ponía Van Helmont el cambio real, que es donde los dos se separan.

«Boyle, like Van Helmont, recognized that the reversible chemical reactions of “vulgar chymistry”—not to mention changes of state like freezing—do not represent the most intimate workings of nature.» — lo que los dos tenían por superficial: las reacciones reversibles de la química vulgar y los cambios de estado.

«He explicitly argued in the Sceptical Chymist, for example, that metallic transmutation presupposes an analysis of the metallic corpuscles into smaller, more primitive component particles that can then be reassembled to give a new metal.» — lo que Boyle exigía para la transmutación metálica en el Sceptical Chymist.

«Operating on the newly formed metal by means of ordinary “vulgar” chymical processes will not allow one to disassemble it again into its components.» — y por qué el proceso vulgar no basta para deshacer lo hecho.

«Additionally, Boyle’s mechanical interpretations of exantlated acids and the dissolution of materials by the alkahest—like Van Helmont’s explanations of these phenomena—focus on the changes induced in a single substance that retains its material identity while being divided into smaller corpuscles or otherwise undergoing a change in texture.» — lo que las lecturas de Boyle y las de Van Helmont tienen en común: una sola sustancia que cambia de textura sin perder identidad material.

«It was an easy matter for Boyle to “mechanize” Van Helmont’s explanations by explicitly limiting the ensuing alteration to one in the size, shape, or association of corpuscles.» — y en qué consistió mecanizar las explicaciones helmontianas, según los autores.

«Boyle uses this argument to cast doubt on Daniel Sennert’s theory that the metals are composed of more or less permanent atoms, cach of which must always “retain its own Nature.”» — contra quién dirige Boyle ese mismo argumento.

«Itistrue that Van Helmont thinks that continued exposure to the alkahest will make a substance revert to water, but what we have in mind here is merely the initial dissolution of a substance into its liquid primum ens, which retains its characteristic chymical qualities.» — la precisión que los autores intercalan sobre el alcance de la disolución helmontiana.

«In effect, the dissolved substance has merely undergone a division into smaller particles, hence keeping its other qualities while becoming a liquid at the level of sense perception.» — y lo que la disolución hace en esa cuenta: dividir en partículas menores sin tocar las demás cualidades.

«Thus, despite the often extravagant flavor of Van Helmont’s system, we can detect a deep afhinity between the thought of the Belgian chymist and his English reformulator.» — la afinidad profunda que los autores sostienen entre los dos, con el estilo extravagante de uno reconocido de paso.

«Notwithstanding Boyle’s overt subordination of chymistry to natural philosophy that we described in the first chapter, his mechanical ruminations mapped closely onto the more vitalistic corpuscular chymistry of his forebear.» — y cómo esa afinidad convive con la subordinación pública de la química a la filosofía natural.

«The transformation of the young Boyle, learning, expressly Helmontian chymistry at the hands of George Starkey, to the militant reductionist of the Origine of Formes and Qualities, did not require the metamorphosis that later historians—or Boyle himself—have led us to believe.» — la conclusión sobre el paso del joven helmontiano al reduccionista maduro, con los historiadores y el propio Boyle señalados como responsables del relato.

«Indeed, this should occasion little surprise when we realize that Van Helmont’s writings constituted what was probably the most wide-ranging and influential chymical theory of the second half of the seventeenth century.» — el lugar que los autores le dan a la obra de Van Helmont en la segunda mitad del siglo.

«Although parts of Van Helmont’s original theory, such as the production of alkalies exclusively from the combination of Salt with Sulphur, were called into question in Boyle’s later works, the overall structure of Boyle’s thought remained in many ways Helmontian.» — y el saldo con sus dos mitades: lo que Boyle cuestionó y lo que conservó de estructura.

«Van Helmont openly attacked the Aristotelian principle that bodies are composed of four elements, two of which have weight and two of which are imponderable.» — el blanco del ataque helmontiano: los elementos imponderables del sistema aristotélico.

«Van Helmont’s insistence on what we now call conservation of weight was implicitly adhered to by many an earlier alchemist; Geber, to name but one, assumed the constancy of weight in his metallurgical analyses.» — con la genealogía que los autores le ponen a esa insistencia, hasta la Summa atribuida a Geber.

«His synthesis and analysis of glass, for example, in which he showed that the weight of the initial sand can be recovered in the final product, was a graphic illustration of the problems inherent in contemporary interpretations of Aristotelian mixture.» — y el experimento del vidrio como ilustración gráfica del problema de la mezcla aristotélica.

«Chapters 3 and 4 show, moreover, that Starkey’s laboratory notebooks testify to his constant reliance on the principle of mass balance; they also show how the American chymist used weight determinations to follow the progress, measure the success, and suggest improvements to.chymical processes as well as to provide quantitative measures of the relative amounts of constituents in mixed bodies.» — lo que los cuadernos de Starkey aportan a esa línea, según el resumen de los propios autores.

«Such deployment of and insistence upon initial and final weights cannot help but recall the justly celebrated developments of eighteenth-century chemistry usually known as the “chemical revolution”—meaning, in simplest terms, the reformulation of chemistry carried out largely by Antoine Laurent Lavoisier.» — y hacia dónde apunta todo eso, que es el asunto del último tramo del libro.

«Lavoisier’s disclosure led to further research allowing him to prove in the 1780s that water—the fundamental Helmontian element—was itself a compound of oxygen and another substance that he termed “hydrogen.”» — lo que la investigación de Lavoisier le hizo al elemento helmontiano por excelencia.

«As is well-known, Lavoisier’s work began with the observation that the weight of combustible or calcinable substances— whether nonmetals such as phosphorus and sulphur or metals like tin and lead—increases upon their exposure to the fire.» — la observación de la que arranca su trabajo.

«Although there were numerous references to this phenomenon for at least a hundred years before Lavoisier, it was Lavoisier’s attention to this detail and his careful experimentation built on comparing initial and final weights of the substances undergoing reactions that allowed him to give a convincing demonstration of the role of oxygen in combustion.» — y lo que los autores le adjudican de propio, con el siglo de referencias previas dicho antes: la atención al detalle y la comparación de pesos.

«We do not, of course, wish to make the naive claim that a direct reading of Van Helmont led Lavoisier to his emphasis on gravimetric methods.» — los autores se adelantan a descartar la lectura ingenua de su propia tesis.

«At the same time, we must also point out that even as a young man Lavoisier was an admirer of Van Helmont.» — y el dato que aun así retienen sobre el joven Lavoisier.

«Since McKie’s work, Lavoisier’s balance sheet method has been the subject of increasing historical study.» — los autores sitúan su intervención dentro de una discusión historiográfica en curso.

«Finding that the initial and final products differed by only a trifling amount (16 grains), Lavoisier concluded that slaked plaster is chemically the same as gypsum, and that these differ from unslaked plaster of Paris only by the fact that the former exist in a crystalline form combined with a fixed amount of water.» — el experimento del yeso y la conclusión que Lavoisier saca por diferencia de pesos.

«But we would like to suggest the importance of another link—one that has been proposed by Holmes, but not with the Helmontian connection that we would like to make.» — el eslabón que los autores proponen añadir, distinguiéndolo del que ya había propuesto Holmes.

«Indeed, Homberg was recognized as one of the most important chemists in France until his death in 1715, and his writings had great influence on the following generations of chemists, particularly Hermann Boerhaave.» — la figura que ese eslabón introduce y su peso en la química francesa.

«Homberg’s works were unquestionably well-known to Lavoisier at an early period, since already in 1765 the young savant was employing methods of determining the specific gravity of liquids with a special hydrometer devised by Homberg and described in the Mémoires of the Académie.» — y la prueba concreta de que Lavoisier lo leía joven: usaba su hidrómetro en 1765.

«Holmes points to a paper that Homberg published in 1703 involving a fairly complicated analysis of common sulphur.» — el escrito de 1703 sobre el que Holmes había llamado la atención.

«Knowing that sulphur burned under a bell jar produces an acid spirit (oleum sulphuris per campanam), Homberg—like most of his contemporaries—concluded that sulphur contains an “acid salt” that is released during combustion.» — lo que Homberg concluía de quemar azufre bajo campana, en línea con sus contemporáneos.

«Further quantitative analyses by other methods led Homberg to conclude that sulphur contained roughly equal weights of acid spirit, oily “earth,” and “true sulphur” or Sulphur principle.» — y la composición que le asignaba al azufre común, en pesos aproximadamente iguales.

«Now Homberg was aware that his careful gravimetric treatment of initial and final products could not account for a loss of roughly a quarter of the weight of the common sulphur that had gone into his analyses.» — con la cuarta parte del peso que no le cuadraba, y que él mismo declaraba.

«He was able to make the “balance sheet method” work in a manner that Homberg could not only because he was able, as Homberg was not, to carry out the combustion in an enclosed space.» — la diferencia técnica que separa a Lavoisier de Homberg, según los autores, y no la de método.

«Like Lavoisier, Homberg was critically concerned with identifying, weighing, and recording the initial and final products of chemical processes.» — lo que sí comparten, dicho como primer punto.

«And like Lavoisier, Homberg compared the sum of the final weights to the sum of the weights of the ingredients, a practice that allowed him to ascertain when he had a problem of “missing mass.”» — y como segundo, la comparación de sumas que hace visible la masa faltante.

«We now suggest that Homberg represents a compelling link and conduit between the Helmontian chymistry to which this book has been devoted and the celebrated methods of Lavoisier.» — la tesis del capítulo, enunciada como sugerencia.

«Homberg’s interest in final and initial weights and gravimetric analysis is a constant theme of his work, and that this interest extends well beyond his 1703 paper on the analysis of common sulphur cited above.» — y el alcance que le dan al rasgo dentro de la obra de Homberg.

«Homberg concluded that the loss in weight that he recorded for the salt was due to the volatilization of the fixed salt by the action of the spirit of wine.» — la explicación que Homberg daba a una pérdida de peso concreta.

«This volatilization of a fixed alkali by means of spirit of wine is reminiscent of Starkey’s process of “alcoolization” described in Pyrotechny Asserted—a process, of course, with Helmontian roots.» — y el proceso de Starkey con que los autores la emparientan.

«As we show below, a consideration of some of Homberg’s other papers leads us straight back into the realm of Helmontian chymistry.» — lo que los autores anuncian al pasar de un escrito de Homberg a los demás.

«The reader of this book should immediately sit up with a smile of recognition, Common mercury treated “philosophically” with the regulus of antimony is of course the central secret encoded throughout the corpus of Eirenaeus Philalethes and is accordingly a practical process that fills many pages of Starkey’s laboratory notebooks.» — el reconocimiento que el propio libro pide de su lector al llegar al mercurio tratado con regulus de antimonio.

«Unlike other Mercurialists who used a similar process for making the Sophic Mercury, Starkey was highly unusual (perhaps unique) in employing copper at this point—an innovation he made in 1653 in his constant attempts to lessen the cost and difficulty of the process.» — el rasgo con que los autores identifican la mano de Starkey en el proceso: el cobre, innovación suya de 1653 por razones de costo.

«Indeed, Starkey created the special name “net” for this alloy in honor of the net that Vulcan used to ensnare the fornicating Mars (iron) and Venus (copper), and in reference to the reticular crystal pattern produced on the alloy’s surface as it cools.» — el nombre de cobertura que Starkey le puso a esa aleación, con la fábula de Vulcano y el dibujo del cristal detrás.

«it is possible that Homberg was entrusted with this secret during 1677-78, when he was working in London with Boyle.» — la vía de transmisión que los autores proponen, declarada como posible.

«Starkey made this change around 1653, and Boyle adopted this modification in his own work—possibly on the basis of oral information from Starkey—but this change of metals is not found explicitly in any of the published sources.» — el argumento que cierra la vía impresa: la sustitución de metal no está en ninguna fuente publicada, así que la transmisión fue de otra clase.

«Regardless of the exact avenue of transmission, it is clear that Homberg was heir to highly detailed accounts of Starkey’s laboratory practices and processes.» — y lo que los autores dan por establecido aunque la vía quede sin determinar.

«The likelihood that Homberg got this recipe from Boyle is the clearest evidence of their collaboration at present.» — y el peso que esa receta tiene como prueba de la colaboración con Boyle.

«Homberg weighs the powder and concludes from his analysis that three pounds of mercury contain five and a half scruples of this gray powder.» — el resultado cuantitativo de Homberg sobre el mercurio común, en escrúpulos por libra.

«Starkey also claims that when regulus is formed from crude antimony and iron, the antimony loses its mineral sulphur and the resultant regulus acquires an internal metallic Sulphur.» — la doctrina de Starkey sobre los dos azufres del antimonio.

«Homberg, however, notes that ifthe wash water is hot, then a heavy black powder reducible to regulus is emitted, but ifthe water is just warm, then only the gray powder is expelled.» — y la distinción operativa que Homberg introduce según la temperatura del agua de lavado. La grafía pegada es la del facsímil.

«In effect, Homberg has recapitulated this theory—the “burning sulphur of crude antimony” is different from the “sulphur of regulus,” since the former acts upon the whole body of the mercury, while the latter acts specifically upon the heterogeneous matter and expels it.» — lo que los autores leen en esa distinción: la teoría de Starkey rehecha, con cada azufre obrando sobre su objeto.

«Homberg insists that this is not a significant change—not yet.» — la reserva que Homberg mantiene sobre lo conseguido hasta ese punto.

«Homberg states that if this specially prepared mercury is sealed in a glass egg with a long neck and heated, it will gradually thicken, and finally precipitate into a powder, first black, then white, and finally red.» — la secuencia de colores del polvo que Homberg describe al calentar el mercurio preparado.

«He notes that mercury’s liquidity depends upon the shape of its corpuscles—they are smooth spheres that roll easily upon one another.» — y la explicación corpuscular con que la acompaña.

«A small quantity, however, about one two-hundredth of the whole, has experienced a deeper penetration of the Sulphur.» — la fracción que, según Homberg, recibe la penetración profunda del azufre.

«In this case the Sulphur “has entered the substance itself of the mercury” so fire cannot drive it out.» — y por qué el fuego ya no lo saca de ahí.

«When this happens, the stricter union of the mercury and Sulphur provides gold, for the precious metal has, according to Homberg, the fixed Sulphur “at its interior.”» — el resultado que Homberg le atribuye a esa unión estrecha.

«But it was again Van Helmont who transformed this from a quasi-metaphorical discussion of potency and act to a genuinely spatial language concerning kernels and-surrounding shells.» — el paso que los autores le adjudican a Van Helmont: de la metáfora de potencia y acto a un lenguaje espacial de núcleos y cortezas.

«Homberg’s distinction between a superficially attached and a profoundly penetrating Sulphur, complete with the language of kernels and shells, is closely akin to Van Helmont’s own interpretation of sulphur and mercury.» — y el parentesco que eso establece con la distinción de Homberg.

«We have thus outlined a clear legacy of Van Helmont’s and Starkey’s chymical theory and practice.» — el balance del tramo, en la formulación de los propios autores.

«Homberg provides a discernible path of transmission for both experimental practices and theories from Van Helmont and Starkey (and undoubtedly others) into the French chemistry of the Académie Royale des Sciences that eventually nurtured Lavoisier; Homberg’s reliance upon Starkey is astonishing and unquestionable.» — el papel que los autores le adjudican a Homberg como vía hacia la Académie que después alimentó a Lavoisier.

«It is true that current research is revealing more and more evidence of the balance sheet method among chymists in the last decades of the seventeenth century, especially in the early Académie, such as the famous corpuscularian chymist Nicolas Lemery.» — con la concesión de que el método de balance aparece en más químicos de fin del XVII, Lemery entre ellos.

«The fact that we have found Homberg’s nascent balance sheet method in Starkey’s own work with antimonial amalgams is therefore suggestive, to say the least, of the relationship between seventeenth-century chymistry and the refocused discipline of the eighteenth century.» — lo que el hallazgo sugiere sobre la relación entre los dos siglos, dicho con toda la cautela.

«These lines of transmission argue that the relationship between the thoughts and practices of the Helmontians and those of Lavoisier is not limited to Lavoisier’s expressed admiration for his Flemish predecessor, nor are their practices merely isomorphic.» — y lo que esas líneas de transmisión permiten sostener más allá de la admiración declarada de Lavoisier.

«Moreover, Van Helmont’s interest in weights and mass balance in chymistry, and the transmission of this emphasis as adopted and refined by his heirs—like Homberg—makes it yet more difficult to argue that Lavoisier had. to. borrow the gravimetric methods of physics in order to make his chemical breakthroughs of the 1770s.» — la tesis historiográfica que se sigue: cuesta más sostener que Lavoisier tuviera que tomar prestada la gravimetría de la física.

«What we have found, rather, is an independent tradition in chemistry in which an unsuspected degree of gravimetric emphasis was steadily developing over a long period, particularly as a tool for analyses and for the monitoring of practical processes.» — y lo que los autores ponen en su lugar: una tradición propia de la química, con lo gravimétrico creciendo despacio.

«though Lavoisier certainly carried this tradition much further and to a far higher degree of precision than any of his predecessors had done, the difference between his practical efforts and theirs is one of degree and technical expertise rather than of type.» — con la diferencia entre Lavoisier y sus predecesores medida en grado y pericia, y no en clase.

«Boyle’s relative lack of interest in gravimetric studies appears in the very cases where he engages in the analysis and synthesis, or “redintegration” of substances.» — dónde se ve mejor la excepción de Boyle dentro de esa tradición.

«Boyle here shows relatively little interest in quantitative measures: instead, he gives qualitative arguments for the identity of his synthesized product with ordinary niter and then defers the project of determining whether “the whole body of the Salt-Petre, after it’s having been sever’d into very dittering parts by. distillation, may be adequately re-united into Salt-Petre equiponderant to it’s first self.”» — lo que hace en su lugar en el ensayo del nitro: argumentos cualitativos y la pesada aplazada.

«Later, in Origine of Formes and Qualities, a work that grew out of “Notes upon an Essay about Nitre,” Boyle simply dismisses the possibility of making an “adaequate redintegration,” that is, one having the same weight as the original materials.» — y el paso siguiente, donde descarta de plano la redintegración de peso igual.

«One might argue that Boyle’s reluctance was due to experimental caution rather than lack of interest, and there would be some truth in this.» — la lectura benévola que los autores consideran y admiten en parte.