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synthesis. Therefore, strictly mechanical principles cannot adequately explain
chemical reactions. Instead, van Helmont claims that chemical reactions, mixtures
of substances, and transmutations depend upon ferments that are contained in
semina rerum
, which are the formative principles from which all natural bodies
originate. These ferments are themselves formative spiritual agents and, although
chemical analysis and the “reduction of bodies into their
minima partes
is a
'
for transmutation - [this] is ultimately a spiritual process.”
11
Van Helmont explains many physical changes in this manner, such as the
production of gases for example, and he interprets these changes as involving
“the disposition of the
tria prima
[salt, sulphur, and mercury] within the corpuscles
of water [
pre-condition
'
] The purely material change, that is the attenuation of water parts into
atoms, is preliminary to a process that is qualitative, not mechanical.”
12
Another
example is his corpuscular explanation of certain chemical reactions, such as the
'
...
of iron into copper and the production of glass,
13
since “both
[chemical reactions] are explained in terms of addition and subtraction of particles.
The notion of atoms is also employed in van Helmont
transmutation
'
s theory of mixture and
'
generation [
] [However, van Helmont] imposed severe restrictions on the cor-
puscular theory of matter.
Semina rerum
and ferments are the active principles on
which all natural phenomena ultimately depend.”
14
Thus, although the physical
change takes place in the
minima naturalia
, the active agents of the chemical
change that ensues are the
semina rerum
. As a Paracelsian, van Helmont retains
a classical conception of
...
s four
elements but only considers air and water to be elements. He does not consider fire
as an element and argues that, since earth can be reduced to water, it is also not an
element. Nevertheless, van Helmont is a transitional figure in the movement from
alchemical principles to chemical elements, and one can understand his notion of
semina rerum
and
minima naturalia
as having an
element
, although he does not accept Aristotle
'
'
'
function in chemical
explanations. The
minima naturalia
are physically elementary, since they are the
simplest material parts of which chemical substances are constituted, while the
semina rerum
are spiritually elementary in that they are the active
'
elementary
'
elementary
'
principles for chemical reactions. With this nuanced ontology, van Helmont makes
significant contributions to the development of the early modern corpuscular theory
and the theory of elements, although it is important to remember that his corpuscu-
larianism remains vitalistic, to the extent that the non-mechanical principles of
the
semina rerum
are required to explain chemical reactions.
Despite its close ties to Medieval and Paracelsian alchemy, van Helmont
'
s work
goes far beyond that of Paracelsus and other predecessors. He goes further than his
predecessors, insofar as he uses quantification as a tool for research and brings to
bear the observational evidence gathered in his own laboratory research to support
'
11
Ibid
, p. 60.
12
Ibid
, pp. 57-58.
13
Ibid
, p. 56.
14
Ibid
, pp. 58-61.
