Thomas T.
Hite
Eng 613
Professor Boland
Fall 2009
Alchemy, Eugenics, and Genetics: the Transmutation of Discourse
In The Vadamecum, The 14th
- Century alchemist Ludovico Lazzarelli provides us
with some underlying principles of alchemical discourse: “the...
More
Thomas T.
Hite
Eng 613
Professor Boland
Fall 2009
Alchemy, Eugenics, and Genetics: the Transmutation of Discourse
In The Vadamecum, The 14th
- Century alchemist Ludovico Lazzarelli provides us
with some underlying principles of alchemical discourse: “the concealing language of
alchemists and its forms; the initiatory feature of the transmission of alchemical
knowledge; and, above all, the partim divina structure of alchemy in general…” (Crisciani
147).
It need not be pointed out that Alchemy is something no longer practiced, despite
having largely contributed to the formation of Chemistry and much of modern medicine,
and other than its passing semblance to various contemporary trends, has been squarely
disregarded by the present world as a viable source for knowledge.
In point of this fact, the
work of this paper is to show how the discursive trends of Alchemy – not its methods, but
its language – has informed a construction of the world that shapes our present legal and
academic
Less
