The next on-line seminar of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry will be given by Professor Peter Forshaw (University of Amsterdam) who will present  

A Not-So-Lazy Henry: Heinrich Khunrath in his Laboratory 

This will be live on Thursday, 17 November 2022, beginning at 5.00pm GMT (6.00pm CET, 12 noon ET, 9.00am PST). The format will be a talk of 20-30 minutes, followed by a moderated discussion of half an hour.  

The Zoom link can be freely accessed by anyone, member of SHAC or not, via the following Eventbrite link: 

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/shac-online-seminar-professor-peter-forshaw-tickets-459919941927

Alternatively, the seminar can be accessed live on YouTube at https://youtu.be/dQcHH1aenwg


Most previous on-line seminars can be found on the SHAC YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/SocietyforHistoryofAlchemyandChemistry

 

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A Not-So-Lazy Henry: Heinrich Khunrath in his Laboratory 

Peter Forshaw

In 1595 Heinrich Khunrath of Leipzig (1560-1605), ‘Doctor of Both Medicines and Faithful Lover of Theosophy’, published the first edition of his elaborately illustrated Amphitheatrum sapientiae aeternae (Amphitheatre of Eternal Wisdom), with an improved and expanded posthumous edition published in 1609. There, and in other works, like On Primaterial Chaos (1597) and On the Fire of the Mages and Sages (1608), he promotes his belief in the necessity of jointly practising a threefold combination of Physico-Chymia, Divine Magic and Christian Cabala. Khunrath’s best-known engraving, the Oratorium-Laboratorium appears in many works as an example of the early modern laboratory space, but Khunrath has often been dismissed as an alchemical mystic, rather than someone with hands-on experience. Here we shall take a closer look at the alchemist in his laboratory, the kinds of alchemy that he practised, his interest in technological design, how he communicated his ideas, and a few examples of how his laboratory work was received.