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{{Short description|Theorized universal solvent in alchemy}}
{{redirect|Alcahest|the video game|Alcahest (video game)}}
[[File:Alchimia.gif|thumb|Image of Alchimia, the embodiment of alchemy. Woodcut published by Leonhard Thurneysser in 1574. Thurneysser was a student of Paracelsus.]]

In [[Renaissance]] [[alchemy]], '''alkahest''' was the theorized "universal [[solvent]]".{{#tag:ref|In modern times, water is sometimes called the universal solvent because it dissolves most substances but cannot significantly dissolve nonpolar substances such as oil, but in this case, the phrase "universal solvent" is meant to a greater extent.|group="nb"}} It was supposed to be capable of [[solubility|dissolving]] any composite substance, including [[gold]] (then not considered an element), without altering or destroying its fundamental components.<ref name="Guido">{{Cite journal|last=Panzarasa|first=Guido|date=2015|title=Rediscovering pyrotartaric acid: a chemical interpretation of the volatile salt of tartar|url=http://acshist.scs.illinois.edu/bulletin_open_access/v40-1/v40-1%20p1-8.pdf|journal=Bulletin for the History of Chemistry|volume=40|pages=1–8|via=IsisCB}}</ref> By extracting from composite substances their fundamental virtues and properties, alchemists hoped to gain control of invaluable medical healing properties (see also [[azoth]]). For this reason the alkahest was earnestly sought. At the same time, its very existence was debated among alchemists and philosophers.

The first, or one of the first, to mention the alkahest was the Swiss physician and alchemist [[Paracelsus]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Paracelsus |first=Philippus Theophrastus |url=https://archive.org/details/hin-wel-all-00002620-001/page/n41/mode/1up |title=Zwen Tractatus. I. De viribus membrorum spiritualium. II. De electro: Mit Erklärung ettlicher Wörter und Praeparationum |publisher=Jobin, Bernhard |year=1572 |pages=10}}</ref>

== Etymology ==
There is no consensus on the origin and etymology of the word alkahest, as Paracelsus left no trace or history of the word. One such view is that the term is of [[Arabic]] origin or pseudo-Arabic modeled on similar names of other chemical entities.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Brande |first1=William Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cYQwcW8KW3sC&dq=alkahest&pg=PA58 |title=Dictionary of Science, Literature & Art: Comprising the Definitions and Derivations of the Scientific Terms in General Use |last2=Cox |first2=Sir George William |date=1875 |publisher=Longmans, Green |pages=58 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Blanc |first=Paul David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XqNTDQAAQBAJ&dq=alkahest+arabic&pg=PA6 |title=Fake Silk: The Lethal History of Viscose Rayon |date=2016-11-15 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-22488-7 |pages=6 |language=en}}</ref> [[George Starkey]] argued it came from the German word ''al-gehest'' (all spirit).<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Alfonso-Goldfarb |first1=Ana Maria |last2=Ferraz |first2=Marcia Helena Mendes |last3=Rattansi |first3=Piyo M. |date=2014 |title=Seventeenth-century 'treasure' found in royal society archives: The ludus helmontii and the stone disease |journal=Notes & Records: The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science |volume=68 |issue=3 |pages=227–243 |doi=10.1098/rsnr.2014.0010 |pmc=4123661 |pmid=25254277}}</ref> [[Johann Rudolf Glauber|Johann Rudolph Glauber]] posed that it could have come from the words ''alhali est,'' the German word ''al gar heis'', or ''Al zu hees,'' meaning "very hot".<ref name=":1" /> Anglo-Dutch alchemist and physician [[William Yworth]] (Cleidophorus Mystagogus) (died 1715) argued for its root originating from [[High Dutch]].<ref>Cleidophorus Mystagogus, ''Trifertes Sagani, or Immortal Dissolvent, being a brief ... discourse of the matter and manner of preparing the Liquor Alkahest of Helmont, the Great Hilech of Paracelsus, the Sal Circulatum Minus of Ludovicus de Comit: or our Fiery Spirit of the Four Elements'' (William Pearson for Thomas Ballard, London 1705), [https://books.google.com/books?id=2EaRmgEACAAJ&pg=PP1 (Google)].</ref><ref name=":1" /> 

=== Other names ===
[[Jan Baptist van Helmont]] considered the alkahest to have never-ending reusability, calling it an "immortal".<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Alfonso-Goldfarb |first1=Ana Maria |last2=Ferraz |first2=Márcia Helena Mendes |last3=Rattansi |first3=Piyo M. |date=2010 |title=Lost Royal Society Documents on 'Alkahest' (Universal Solvent) Rediscovered |journal=Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London |volume=64 |issue=4 |pages=435–456 |doi=10.1098/rsnr.2010.0074 |issn=0035-9149 |jstor=25802129 |s2cid=191467935}}</ref> He also used the term "maccabean fire" because of its similarities to the "thick water" in the [[deuterocanonical books|deuterocanonical]] [[Maccabees (books of Bible)|Book of Maccabees]] in the Old Testament.<ref name=":0" /> Another name for the Alkahest termed by Helmont was ''ignis gehennae.''<ref name=":0" /> Other names include ''latex'' (or "clear water reduced to its minutest atoms"), and ''primum Ens Salum'' (or "salt exalted to its highest degree").<ref name=":0" />

== History ==

=== 16th century ===

==== Paracelsus ====
Among its many philosophical and spiritual preoccupations, [[Hermeticism]] also concerned itself with [[panacea (medicine)|panaceas]]—remedies supposed to cure all diseases and prolong life indefinitely. Later, an emergent Latin alchemy, associated with [[European humanism]], transmuted itself into a new, more modern medical and pharmaceutical philosophy, reformed by a better understanding of [[Human body|human physiology]]. Philippus Paracelsus (1493–1541), who gave his name to the [[early modern period|early modern]] school of medical theory known as [[Paracelsianism|Paracelcism]], first made mention of the alkahest as a chemical which could fortify the liver, and—in instances where the liver failed—could act as a substitute for its functions.<ref name=":4" />

===== Recipe =====
The recipe for the theorized alkahest was often kept secret, as many alchemical recipes were.<ref name=":1" /> There were many alchemists attempting to obtain the universal solvent, and thus many recipes, some later rejected by their creators, have been found.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last1=Newman |first1=William R. |title=Alchemy Tried in the Fire: Starkey, Boyle, and the Fate of Helmontian Chymistry |last2=Principe |first2=Lawrence M. |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |year=2002 |isbn=0-226-57711-2 |location=Chicago and London |pages=138, 242–243, 249, 282, 286}}</ref> Paracelsus's own recipe for alkahest was made of [[caustic lime]], [[Ethanol|alcohol]], and [[Potassium carbonate|carbonate of potash]]; however, his recipe was not intended to be a "universal solvent".<ref name=":11">{{cite journal |last=Porto |first=Paulo A. |date=2002 |title=&quot; Summus atque felicissimus salium&quot;: the medical relevance of the liquor Alkahest |journal=Bulletin of the History of Medicine |volume=76 |issue=1 |pages=1–29 |doi=10.1353/bhm.2002.0038 |issn=1086-3176 |pmid=11875242 |s2cid=34821645}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last1=Stratford |first1=Jordan |title=A Dictionary of Western Alchemy |last2=Kupperman |first2=Jeffrey S. |publisher=Quest Books |year=2014 |isbn=978-0835608978 |location=Wheaton, Illinois |pages=7, 79}}</ref>

=== 17th century ===
Alkahest became very popular in the 17th and 18th centuries through [[Jan Baptist van Helmont]]. Its prevalence in the 17th and 18th centuries, despite its otherwise absurd and extreme qualities, was likely due to the popularity of alchemy at the time and the lack of an adequate alternative theory of chemistry.<ref name=":11" /> During the 17th century, many alchemists were working on obtaining the alkahest, some of which were [[Johann Rudolf Glauber]], George Starkey, [[Frederick Clodius|Frederick Clod]], [[Thomas Vaughan (philosopher)|Thomas Vaughan]], [[Thomas Henshaw (alchemist)|Thomas Henshaw]], Johann Brun, Robert Hamilton, Hugh Piatt, and [[Robert Child (agriculturalist)|Robert Child]].<ref name=":11" /> Those who followed and trained under Paracelsus did not think of the alkahest as van Helmont did, but slowly built upon the ideas posed by their teacher.<ref name=":11" />

==== Jan Baptist van Helmont ====

===== Alkahest as a universal solvent =====
Flemish chemist Jan Baptist van Helmont (1580–1644) expanded on the idea of the 'alkahest', believing it to be a universal solvent.<ref name=":11" /> Helmont claimed that knowledge of the recipe was granted by God and was therefore known by few, and he had many dreams during which he believed he had been gifted the recipe, only to find them inadequate.<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":1" /> Given the difficulty of obtaining alkahest, Helmont suggested the use of other, inferior substances believed to be capable of similar tasks.<ref name=":2" /> Volatile salt of tartar, also known as pyrotartaric acid or [[glutaric acid]], was considered both a substitute for alkahest and a component of alkahest.<ref name=":2" /><ref name="Guido" /> Helmont's writings also referred to a fourteenth century alchemical manuscript which discussed ''sal alkali'' (possibly [[Potassium hydroxide|caustic potash]] or [[lye]]) that was capable of dissolving many substances, and perhaps an ingredient in Helmont's alkahest.<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":5">{{cite web |last=Leinhard |first=John |title=No.1569 Alkahest |url=http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1569.htm |access-date=14 May 2014 |publisher=University of Houston}}</ref>

==== George Starkey ====
Colonial American alchemist [[George Starkey]] (1628–1665) described alkahest as a circulated salt that is neither acid nor alkali.<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":6" /> Moreover, Starkey believed that, because acid saline liquors are destroyed by alkalies and urinous spirits, they cannot be ingredients of the immortal alkahest.<ref name=":2" /> He believed instead that non-acidic substances could be ingredients of the alkahest, some of these suspected substances being urinous spirits, spirit of alkalies, and sulphureous vegetable spirits.<ref name=":2" /> In particular, Starkey believed that alkahest's secret ingredient laid within urine.<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":2" />

===== Dissolving gold; removing sulphur from mercury; cure for urinary calculi =====
Starkey and his mentor Helmont (by their own report) used [[mercuric sulphide]] to dissolve gold, and informed [[Robert Boyle]] about it in a series of letters. The alkahest, according to Starkey, was able to remove sulphur from the natural mercury leaving a quicksilver resistant to corrosion.<ref name=":2" /> Because of the supposed power of alkahest to break down substances into their occult qualities, it was sought after for its potential to cure incurable diseases at the time.<ref name=":2" /> For example, the breaking down of ''Ludus'' could provide a cure for [[Kidney stone disease|urinary calculi]].<ref name=":0" />

Ladislaus Reti, a 20th-century historian of science, investigated alchemical recipes involving alkahest and found that no chemical was sufficient in breaking down the wide variety of materials Helmont supposed. Reti points out that in such recipes, an alcohol solution of [[potassium hydroxide]] could have been used instead.<ref name=":1" />

==== Johann Rudolf Glauber and nitric acid ====
German-Dutch alchemist and chemist [[Johann Rudolf Glauber]] (1604–1670) believed that the alkahest was a class of substances, rather than one, particular substance.<ref name=":11" /> Glauber believed he had discovered alkahest after discovering that volatile niter ([[nitric acid]]) and fixed niter ([[potassium carbonate]]) were able to dissolve several substances.<ref name=":2" /> 

==== Frederick Clod ====
German "mystical chemist" [[Frederick Clodius|Frederick Clod]] (or Clodius) (1625–after 1661) believed that mercury could convert salts into "ponderous liquor", which he believed was needed to make the alkahest.<ref name=":2" />

==== Robert Boyle – corpuscular nature of alkahest ====
The theory of alkahest was conceived in terms of [[alchemy]], [[Helmontian]] theories, and the physical theory of [[corpuscularianism]].<ref name=":11" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Newman |first=William R. |date=1993 |title=The corpuscular theory of J.B. Van Helmont and its medieval sources |journal=Vivarium |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=161–191 |doi=10.1163/156853493X00132 |jstor=42569883}}</ref> According to Helmont and Anglo-Irish scientist Robert Boyle (1627–1691), the alkahest had a "microstructure", meaning it was composed of extremely small, homogeneous [[Corpuscularianism|corpuscles]].<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":2" /> This structure allowed the alkahest's corpuscles to move between the corpuscles of all other materials and mechanically separate them without altering their base materials or itself, conforming with the idea that it was infinitely reuseable.<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":2" /> It was these qualities which made the alkahest distinct from ordinary corrosives, which are altered by the substances they act upon and thus not infinitely reusable.<ref name=":2" />

==== Tobias Ludwig Kohlhans and Henry Oldenburg – alkahest in the lymphatic vessels ====
Tobias Ludwig Kohlhans (1624–1705) suggested in his dissertation of the spleen, that alkahest could be found in the [[Lymph|liquid]] that had been discovered in the lymphatic vessels of animals.<ref name=":0" /> In 1661, German-English scientist [[Henry Oldenburg]] (c. 1618–1677) made experimental connections between alkahest and this liquid.<ref name=":0" /> Helmont, Oldenburg, and Goddard raised questions, however, about the lymph's "sweetly acidic" quality, the necessity of a hypothetical universal solvent to explain the acidity in empty animal lymphatic vessels, its ability to be generated within the body, and how it differed from other fluids or [[Humorism|humours]] in the body.<ref name=":0" /> 

==== Johann Kunckel – the existence of alkahest is questioned ====
The German alchemist [[Johann von Löwenstern-Kunckel|Johann Kunckel]] (1630–1703) and others at that time began to see the alkahest as merely fantasy and wishful thinking.<ref name=":1" /> A potential problem involving alkahest—first posed by Kunckel—is that, if it dissolves everything, then it cannot be placed into a container because it would dissolve the container.<ref name=":1" /> Starkey, however, specified that alkahest dissolved only composite materials into their constituent, elemental parts;<ref name=":6">{{cite web|last=Philalethes|first=Eirenaeus|title=The Secret of the Immortal Liquor Called Alkahest or Ignis-Aqua|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/alc/cc/cc03.htm|access-date=14 May 2014}}</ref> hence, a hypothetical container made of a pure element (say, lead) would not be dissolved by alkahest.

===== Herman Boerhaave – alkahest and the philosopher's stone =====
Paracelsus believed that alkahest was, in fact, the [[philosopher's stone]]. Dutch chemist and physician [[Herman Boerhaave]] (1668–1738), in his textbook ''Elementa Chymiae'' (1732), did not think alkahest was the philosopher's stone, but of greater importance and value than the stone.<ref name=":0" />

After the 18th century alkahest was taken less seriously over time.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}

== Modern usages of the term ==
In modern times, [[water]] is sometimes called the universal solvent, because it can dissolve a large variety of substances; more than any other liquid.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Water, the Universal Solvent |url=https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/water-universal-solvent |access-date=2024-07-15 |website=Water Science School |publisher=U.S. Geological Survey}}</ref> This is due to its [[chemical polarity]] and [[amphoterism]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}

The old remark "[[saliva|spit]] is the universal solvent" satirizes the idea.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lienhard |first=John H. |title=Alkahest |url=https://engines.egr.uh.edu/episode/1569 |access-date=2024-07-15 |website=The Engines of our Ingenuity |language=en}}</ref>

Alkahest, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical subsidiary of [[Grifols]] which is developing products derived from blood plasma to reverse and inhibit aging.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Abbott |first1=Alison |title=Infusions of young blood tested in patients with dementia |journal=Nature |date=1 November 2017 |doi=10.1038/nature.2017.22930 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nature.2017.22930 |access-date=18 July 2022|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

"Alkahestry" is the term used for a type of alchemy in the manga series ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]''.<ref>{{cite web |last=Moodley |first=Vasalya |date=27 June 2022 |title=Fullmetal Alchemist: What is Alkahestry? |url=https://gamerant.com/fullmetal-alchemist-what-is-alkahestry/ |website=GameRant}}</ref>

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=nb}}

== References ==
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{{Alchemy}}

[[Category:Alchemical substances]]
[[Category:Mythological substances]]