Isaac Newton's alchemical manuscript

This week's highlight is the auction sale of Isaac Newton's alchemical manuscript «The Key to Snyders». The auction will take place in America at Bonhams on 8 May. Estimated value for today – 100-150 thousand dollars, but it is quite possible that the hammer price could be much higher.

More than 85 years have passed since the sale of Newton's archives at the auction Sotheby's in 1936. 

The big news at the time was that Newton's records are only a fraction of the amount of physics we are accustomed to associate with the scientist. The rest of the manuscripts contained metaphysical thoughts and alchemical diaries.

 It is known that Newton practiced alchemy for many years, was ill, poisoned by mercury vapour; but this work was carried out in a relatively closed setting, as Newton headed at that time not only the Royal Society of Science, but also the Mint of England. The image of an alchemist potentially unlocking the secret of gold production could not be associated with the head of the Mint. In his quest to discover the principles of chemistry, the scientist spent more than 30 years researching the method of making the Philosopher's Stone. Isaac Newton compiled Index Chemicus, which was over a hundred pages long, with references to more than 150 different works.

To date, there are no documents confirming Newton's involvement in Freemasonry. That said, the Royal Scientific Society was founded by a number of early Freemasons (Robert Moray, Elias Ashmole, Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle). Also, Newton's closest friend and associate, John Theophilus Desaguliers, was one of the first Freemasons who, along with Anderson, created the common ritual of speculative Freemasons in the early 18th century.

Up for auction on 8 May is an alchemical manuscript signed by Isaac Newton, «Key to Snyders», which is an explanation of Johannes de Monte Snyders' «Commentatio de Pharmaco Catholico» (1666). Monte-Snyder was one of Newton's most quoted authors. A manuscript of «A Key to Snyders», signed by the scholar, contains Newton's identification of the most important passages and an attempt to reassemble the disparate parts of this work.

Snyder was an influential alchemist of the 17th century, renowned for his ability to transmute metals, particularly to turn lead into gold. The English court diplomat and alchemist Kenelm Digby, who met him in London in 1664, also confirms this rumour.

Snyders' Commentatio is an iatrochemical text dealing with the refining of gold into a universal medicine (one of the qualities of the Philosopher's Stone). In keeping with traditional alchemical practice and the need for secrecy, Snyder divides his knowledge into small parts as a «sequence of riddles», hiding much more than he revealed.

Newton's idea and reason for creating his «Key» was to figure out the specific details of Snyders' chemical procedure for creating a universal cure. Newton's manuscript emphasises the need to work with the «three lights» (or volatile substances). The main approach of «The Key to Snyders» is the need to find a means of extracting Snyders' third fire from «some mineral of Saturn, not yet molten».

According to the alchemical principle of «one book opens another» («liber librum aperit»), it was necessary to collect a complete set of steps from several authors in order to succeed.

Johannes de Monte-Snyder and his «Commentaries» played an important role in Newton's quest. «The Key to Snyders» became a foundational document for understanding his alchemical practice.

What seems most important today is that Newton's interest in alchemy was not separate from his work on the natural philosophy of gravitation – they were parts of the whole perspective. «The Mathematical Beginnings of Natural Philosophy» was published in 1687, and at the same time Newton believed that chemistry held the key to the «active cause of gravitation», and some scholars suggest that it was actually Newton's study of chemistry that led him to create a generalised theory of gravitation.

Newton's «De Natura Acidorum» shows a clear connection between chemistry and gravity, representing the transition from the alchemical concept of an active cause to Newton's concept of gravitation.