The Leyden and Stockholm Papyri - University of Cincinnati

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THE LEYDEN & STOCKHOLM PAPYRI thought to refer to Phimenas of Sais, of whom little or nothing is known. With little justification Berthelot claimed that this writer was identical to a 1st century Egyptian magician by the name of Pammenes, who is sometimes referred to by later alchemical writers, again on the questionable grounds that anyone who writes on the subject of gold and metallic alloys must automatically be an alchemist as well. However, what these literary references do suggest is that the compiler of the papyri was probably better educated and of greater social status than a common craftsman, as does the high quality of the burial papyri themselves.! ! Even more speculative is the attempt by some commentators to explain away the absence of any theoretical or mystical elements in the papyri by postulating that they are the practical parts of a multi-volume alchemical treatise whose theoretical part has conveniently failed to survive (31). While this persistent practical emphasis in the papyri does not necessarily imply that any unexpressed views on the nature of the chemical transformations described in their recipes, which their author may or may not of held in private, were necessarily more rational than those of the true alchemists, one must further consider that there is implicit evidence in the wording of several of them that their author had a crude understanding of the distinction between a mixture or alloy, on the one hand, and a pure metal, on the other (see, for example, Recipes 8, 23, 26, 32, 38, 42, 43, and 44 of the Leyden papyrus). ! ! Indeed, all of these attempts to force an alchemical interpretation on the Leyden and Stockholm papyri suffer from the common defect that they selectively focus on only those recipes dealing with metals and alloys, while simultaneously ignoring the fact that both papyri also contain recipes dealing with the dying of wool – a mundane subject hardly in keeping with the focus of later alchemical literature – and the same is equally true of the recipes for the fabrication of gems and precious stones found in the Stockholm papyrus. Nevertheless, it has been argued by some that these latter two topics are not without relevance to the origins of alchemy. ! One of the implicit themes of the Stockholm papyrus is the parallelism between the use of alum, vinegar and other materials to corrode or prepare the surfaces of various crystals and stones prior to dyeing them different colors and the use of various mordants - 8 -
when preparing wool for the same purpose. This has led to the theory that Greco-Egyptian alchemy was born of an attempt to extend this analogy to the dyeing or coloration of metals as well, initially using surface effects similar to those employed in modernday bronzing techniques – a suggestion first put forth by the American chemist, Arthur John Hopkins, in 1902 (32). Alchemy arose when, at some point, this analogy passed over that tenuous boundary which, in the words of Joseph Needham, separates the art of “aurifiction” from the fantasy of “aurifacation.” While there is certainly ample evidence for Hopkins’ so-called “color theory” of alchemy in both the true Greco-Egyptian alchemical literature and in the later Islamic and European alchemical literature, I must confess that, in my own reading of the papyri, I do not find that the dyeing analogy is particularly prominent among those recipes dealing with metals and metallic alloys. ! Two final observations concerning the recipes for dyeing are worthy of note. The first concerns the curious fact that the vast majority of these recipes refer to the dyeing of wool, even though linen was by far the favored textile used in ancient Egypt, and the second has to do with the Egyptian mastery of mordants to obtain color variations using the same dye solution – a mastery which had amazed Pliny more than two centuries earlier (30): In Egypt garments are dyed according to a remarkable process. They are first cleaned, then soaked, not in dye, but in various substances that absorb dye. These substances do not at first show in the materials, but when the materials have been dipped into the dyeing tun, they can be removed, after being stirred about, completely dyed. The most wonderful thing about this is that, although the tun contains only one kind of dye, the materials suddenly appear dyed different colors, according to the nature of the dye-absorbing substances used, and these colors are not only resistant to washing, but materials so dyed actually wear better. 1.3 This Edition GENERAL INTRODUCTION Almost from the date of its publication, Berthelot’s original French translation of the Leyden papyrus became the target of severe criti- - 9 -
Page 1: The Leyden and Stockholm Papyri Gre
Page 4 and 5: Earle Radcliffe Caley 1900-1984
Page 6 and 7: Copyright ! 2008 William B. Jensen
Page 8 and 9: Illustrations Portrait of Earle Rad
Page 11 and 12: I General Introduction 1.1 The Olde
Page 13 and 14: GENERAL INTRODUCTION complete trans
Page 15 and 16: GENERAL INTRODUCTION of their work,
Page 17: GENERAL INTRODUCTION literature and
Page 21 and 22: GENERAL INTRODUCTION question in bo
Page 23 and 24: GENERAL INTRODUCTION he received th
Page 25 and 26: GENERAL INTRODUCTION ! 23.! M. Clar
Page 28 and 29: A page from the Leyden papyrus.
Page 30 and 31: thought necessary to give the prope
Page 32 and 33: 7. Inexhaustible Stock It is prepar
Page 34 and 35: THE LEYDEN & STOCKHOLM PAPYRI 15. T
Page 36 and 37: THE LEYDEN & STOCKHOLM PAPYRI 20. (
Page 38 and 39: THE LEYDEN & STOCKHOLM PAPYRI 28. M
Page 40 and 41: ing of fine appearance. Here is the
Page 42 and 43: sodium carbonate together. In this
Page 44 and 45: 62. Writing in Letters of Asem. Dil
Page 46 and 47: esin, 1 part; golden-colored arseni
Page 48 and 49: Cyprus, purify it with some vinegar
Page 50 and 51: 91. The Fixation of Alkanet Urine o
Page 52 and 53: plunge the wool in it, lay aside se
Page 54 and 55: THE LEYDEN & STOCKHOLM PAPYRI chara
Page 56 and 57: THE LEYDEN & STOCKHOLM PAPYRI in re
Page 58: THE LEYDEN & STOCKHOLM PAPYRI 4. !
Page 61 and 62: 3.1 Description III The Stockholm P
Page 63 and 64: 3. Another (Recipe) Purify white ti
Page 65 and 66: with a pure linen rag and the pearl
Page 67 and 68: sharp vinegar. Put the cover upon t
Page 69 and 70:
25. Whitening of a Pearl A dark pea
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35. Another (Preparation) Take rain
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42. Preparation of Emerald Mix 1 pa
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This latter sentence, which appears
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- or if that is not at hand (resin)
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72. Another (Preparation) Preparati
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80. The Dissolving of Comarum Take
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“skorpiurus” was, according to
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However, after you have dipped the
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cedure for mordanting with urine. N
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and stir up. Put the wool in the ke
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115. Dyeing of Various Colors To pr
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123. Dyeing in Purple Bright red pu
Page 95 and 96:
133. Preparing Genuine Purples Iron
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145. Cleaning by Means of Soap Weed
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ighten it with alum. Rinse the wool
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THE STOCKHOLM PAPYRUS direction for
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IV A Note on Technique 4.1 Ancient
Page 105:
PLATE I Two depictions of the use o
Page 109:
PLATE III Above: The use of mortars
Page 113 and 114:
A NOTE ON TECHNIQUE ! 3. !For a rea
Page 115 and 116:
copper green, St: 32, 35, 42, 43, 7
Page 117:
purging weed, St: 90 purpura, Ld: 9
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The Leyden and Stockholm Papyri - University of Cincinnati

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