A L C H E M Y

ISAAC NEWTON - THE ALCHEMIST                                                                         continued





The Hermetic Tradition

This view has become more accepted in recent years, as more of Newton's private papers and alchemical treatises are being reexamined. "Like all European Alchemists from the Dark Ages to the beginning of the scientific era and beyond," states Michael White in Isaac Newton:The Last Sorcerer (Addison Wesley 1997), "Newton was motivated by a deep-rooted commitment to the notion that alchemical wisdom extended back to ancient times. The Hermetic tradition -- the body of alchemical knowledge -- was believed to have originated in the mists of time and to have been given to humanity through supernatural agents."