Alchemy and the Renaissance Commentary Tradition on Meteorologica IV

Abstract

It has been well noted that Aristotle's Meteorologica IV has played an important role in the development of alchemy because of its quasi-corpuscularian doctrines and its treatments of art and nature. This paper uncovers to what extent Renaissance commentaries on this book took into account alchemy. Many Renaissance commentators such as Agostino Nifo, Lodovico Boccadiferro and Cesare Cremonini were sceptical of the possibility of the transmutation of metals and limited their discussions to what they found in medieval commentaries. Several scholars, however, noted the utility of this book towards alchemy. By the middle of the seventeenth century, two commentators intertwined their interpretations with alchemy. Girolamo Trimarchi, following the Jesuit commentary tradition, considered this work primarily with respect to alchemy; and Niccolò Cabeo utilised alchemical experiments to guide his reading of the text and make Aristotle's work relevant to the emerging experimental natural philosophy.