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Joost Rekveldjoost_rekveld@assemblag.es
Jun 10, 2026, 8:45 PM
Fragment of an early 14th century French manuscript of a Latin translation of Ibn Sina's small treatise on "The Congealment and Concretion of Stones", written in Arabic around the year 1000. Last lines on the page contain the influential "sciant artifices" passage with his most direct critique of alchemy.
#IbnSina #Avicenna #HistoryOfChemistry #Chemistry #SystemsThatMatter
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Joost Rekveldjoost_rekveld@assemblag.es
Jun 10, 2026, 8:46 PM
"Art is weaker than nature and does not overtake it, however much it labors. Therefore let the artificers of alchemy know that the species of metals can not be transmuted".
Part of a fascinating (and still ongoing) discussion the early stages of which I had no idea about, on the merits and limits of imitating, emulating or perfecting nature.
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