Elixir Atque Fermentum: New Investigations about The Link between Pseudo-Avicenna’s Alchemical De Anima and Roger Bacon: Alchemical and Medical Doctrines

Introduction

Between 1994 and 1997, William Newman published three articles¹ in which, for the first time, a profound connection between Roger Bacon’s doctrine and Ps.-Avicenna’s alchemical De anima was pointed out. These studies were a major step in understanding Roger Bacon’s elemental physics, alchemy, and alchemical medicine, as well as his prolongatio vitae theory. By a thorough study of the physical, alchemical, and medical doctrine of the Jābirian treatises via Ps.-Avicenna’s De anima, in comparison with Bacon’s texts, I will continue the work initiated by Newman and draw some new conclusions. I will specifically focus on some principal differences between Roger Bacon and his favorite alchemical source, which allow us to understand the originality and innovation of the Franciscan. In addition to the De anima, a specific aspect of the alchemy of the Ps.-Aristotelian Secretum secretorum will also be studied here, being another of Bacon’s major sources.

The following pages also include a set of new reflections about the elixir system and the ferment system. The case of Bacon’s doctrine and his sources brings new insights into the fundamental system of proportions that is found in those treatises, and allows us to reconsider and rethink both the elixir system and the ferment system, and to continue and perhaps refine the study of these fundamental notions.

First, the alchemical De anima will be presented, along with the textual links of Roger Bacon’s works with it. Then, the physical, alchemical, and medical doctrines of Ps.-Avicenna’s De anima will be explained, followed by a description of Bacon’s elemental physics, alchemy, and prolongatio vitae. After these observations, a comparison and a conclusion will be drawn.

The Alchemical De anima of Ps.-Avicenna

The De anima or Liber de anima, better known under the title of De anima in arte alchemiae,² is the compilation and Latin translation of three now-lost Arabic alchemical treatises.³ It is impossible to date the compilation stage, but the translation seems to have been made around 1226 or 1235.⁴ Unfortunately, it is impossible to say whether the treatise was translated before its compilation or compiled before its translation. The proposed translation date could be the translation date of the compilation, or the translation date of only one of the three parts. The first part is a treatise about elemental physics, the Porta elementorum (literally “chapter of the elements”), in which the physical basis of the alchemy of the De anima is presented. The Arabic original (no longer extant) was probably written before the mid-twelfth century,⁵ and the translation was probably made in Spain or by a translator who knew Castilian, attested by linguistic transformations of a specific word.⁶ Another text that seems to be another Latin version of this Arabic treatise is still extant in the manuscript Cotton Galba E IV, under the title De elementis, attributed to a certain Marius.⁷ The second part of the De anima, the main part of the book (about 80%) was written between the third quarter of the eleventh century and the mid-thirteenth century in Al-Andalus (Islamic Spain).⁸ This second part was translated in Spain or by a translator who knew Castilian, since many words are Castilian. The Arabic original is lost. The last part of the De anima, which was very likely inserted to complete the missing end of the second part, is impossible to date precisely. It was probably translated in Spain, because of linguistic traces, but the original is also lost.⁹

The treatise was wrongly attributed to Avicenna.¹⁰ The De anima is characterized by Jābirian alchemy, presenting the same elixir theory as the Jābirian texts. It contains a very interesting description and classification of materials (dictio 5),¹¹ which is indebted to Jābirian texts.¹² The De anima is the main alchemical source of Vincent of Beauvais, who quotes it very often in the Speculum Naturale...