Diana's Tree ( or ''Dianae''), also known as the Philosopher's Tree (''Arbor Philosophorum''), was considered a precursor to the
philosopher's stone
The philosopher's stone is a mythic alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold or silver; it was also known as "the tincture" and "the powder". Alchemists additionally believed that it could be used to mak ...
and resembled coral in regards to its structure. It is a
dendritic
Dendrite derives from the Greek word "dendron" meaning ( "tree-like"), and may refer to:
Biology
*Dendrite, a branched projection of a neuron
*Dendrite (non-neuronal), branching projections of certain skin cells and immune cells
Physical
*Dendri ...
amalgam of crystallized
silver
Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...
, obtained from
mercury in a solution of
silver nitrate
Silver nitrate is an inorganic compound with chemical formula . It is a versatile precursor to many other silver compounds, such as those used in photography. It is far less sensitive to light than the halides. It was once called ''lunar causti ...
; so-called by the
alchemists
Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...
, among whom "Diana" stood for silver.
[Brewer, E. Cobham (1894). ''Dictionary of Phrase and Fable''.] The arborescence of this amalgam, which even included fruit-like forms on its branches, led pre-modern chemical philosophers to theorize the existence of life in the kingdom of minerals.
As an alchemical product
Alchemy was a series of practices that combined philosophical, magical, and chemical experimentation. One goal of European alchemists was to create what was known as the
Philosopher’s Stone
The philosopher's stone is a mythic alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold or silver; it was also known as "the tincture" and "the powder". Alchemists additionally believed that it could be used to mak ...
, a substance that when heated and combined with a non precious metal like copper or iron (known as the “base”) would turn into gold. Although now considered a pseudoscience, the practice of alchemy has contributed experimental techniques to the chemistry world such as the process of
distillation
Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...
and
sublimation.
The Tree of Diana was thought to be a precursor to the Philosopher's Stone: experiments involving the Tree aimed to turn non precious metals into precious metals like gold or silver, similar to the Stone.
In pre-modern chemistry, the various methods for procuring Diana's Tree were exceedingly time-consuming; for example, the following process, originally described by
Nicolas Lemery
Nicolas Lémery (or Lemery as his name appeared in his international publications) (17 November 1645 – 19 June 1715), French chemist, was born at Rouen. He was one of the first to develop theories on acid-base chemistry.
Life
After learning ph ...
, required forty days to see results:
Giambattista della Porta in the 16th century described it this way:
The quickest method, as described by German natural philosopher
Wilhelm Homberg (1652–1715), took about a quarter of an hour, and is described as follows:
The form of this metallic tree may be varied as desired. The stronger the user makes the first described water, the thicker the tree will be with branches, and sooner formed. Homberg also described how numerous other kinds of trees may be produced by crystallization and "digestion".
"Sophic mercury", George Starkey, and Isaac Newton
17th century American alchemist
George Starkey, who wrote under the pen name "Eirenaeus Philalethes", had a recipe for "sophick mercury" that produced a branch-like structure consisting of an alloy of gold and mercury. His process involved the repeated distillation of the mercury, which he then heated while adding gold to produce the structure. In one version, a small seed of gold is mixed with mercury to create the "Philosopher’s Tree"; at the time Starkey was writing, the creation of gold from gold itself was viewed as being obviously possible. In 2018, Starkey's methods, including the above "Philosopher's Tree" were reconstructed by historian of science Lawrence Principe.
In 2016, a copy of Starkey's recipe for making the Tree of Diana was discovered in a manuscript by
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment that followed ...
; however, there is no evidence that Newton attempted the process. Newton kept his experiments on alchemy a secret, as the practice was illegal in England at the time. In addition, much of Newton's work regarding alchemy was lost in a fire supposedly started by his dog.
Other forms of the Tree
There is also Saturn's Tree, which was a deposit of crystallized
lead
Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...
, massed together in the form of a "tree". It is produced by a shaving of
zinc
Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...
in a solution of the
lead(II) acetate. In alchemy, Saturn was associated with lead.
Modern experimentation
Experiments with the Tree of Diana have inspired modern chemists to replicate its creation, using the process to analyze reactions between metals and other substances. A 1967 experiment at the
University of Seattle studied the reaction between solid copper and aqueous silver nitrate. In it, silver ions reacted with the copper metal to form a crystal structure, and this reaction continued until the concentration of silver ions was exhausted.
References
External links
*{{Cite NIE, wstitle=Arbor Dianæ , short=x
Alchemical substances