Multiplication is the process in Western

alchemy Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...

used to increase the potency of the

philosopher's stone The philosopher's stone or more properly philosophers' stone (Arabic: حجر الفلاسفة, , la, lapis philosophorum), is a mythic alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold (, from the Greek , "gold", ...

, elixir or projection powder. It occurs near the end of the

magnum opus A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...

in order to increase the gains in the subsequent projection.

George Ripley George Ripley may refer to: * George Ripley (alchemist) (died 1490), English author and alchemist *George Ripley (transcendentalist) George Ripley (October 3, 1802 – July 4, 1880) was an American social reformer, Unitarian minister, and journ ...

gives the following definition of multiplication: :: :: :: :: :: Multiplication was also used to describe the facet of alchemy chiefly concerned with the reproduction of physical gold and silver. Such is the case in Henry IV's 1404 statute against the craft of multiplication. Henry VI began to issue patents for the practice of alchemy, but the parliamentary act against multipliers was not repealed until 1689.

Method

In his discussion of multiplication, Ripley goes on to compare the medicine or elixir to fire. He notes that the methods of multiplication are related to the processes of

congelation Congelation (from Latin: , ) was a term used in medieval and early modern alchemy for the process known today as crystallization. In the ('The Secret of Alchemy') attributed to Khalid ibn Yazid (), it is one of "the four principal operations" ...

, cibation, and fermentation. In doing so he also hints at multiplication's internal significance. Like Ripley, other sources describe multiplication as subjecting the philosopher's stone to further maturation by reiterating the same processes as was used to originally make it. Sendivogius writes, "Having made an End with the Composition of the Lapis, there remains its Multiplication in infinitum which is effected by the same way and with the same operations the Lapis was made; only that instead of dissolved Gold or Silver, you lay in only so much of the Lapis as you laid in before of the said Gold or Silver for the first Confection of the Lapis."Michael Sendivogius. ''Traitez du Cosmopolite nouvellement decouverts ou apres avoir donne unde idee d'une Societe de Philosophes'', Paris, 1691. Comparisons to plant and animal reproduction were also made.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Multiplication (Alchemy) Alchemical processes