Why did Newton study alchemy?

BRY2K

After anlyzing Newton's unpublished manuscripts on alchemy, it is clear that Newton incorporated concepts from alchemy into his religious beliefs. Newton rejects Descartes' clockwork universe because it had no spiritual dimension. Instead, he infuses his universe with what he called a "vegetative spirit" or what alchemists called "the pneuma," a mysterious, holy energy from the Gods. He also believed there was an additional substance permeating all of 3-D space called the "ether." Light waves and sound waves as well as planets and stars traveled through this ether. Newton believed that it was the interaction between the pneuma and the ether with molecules of matter that gave rise to all the chemical reactions observed in nature. To explain how matter was created in the universe, Newton adopted some ideas of Paracelsus, a Renaissance alchemist who was also something of a social activist. Paracelsus influenced different groups in Europe at different times. For example, he was popular with the French Huguenots; and in Bavaria, Germany, his alchemical philosophy was taught for a time in the universities. Paracelsus believed that the creation story in Genesis actually described the distillation of substances with God as the supreme adept. Adam, Eve, and the snake are symbols like the figures in an alchemical illustration. God the alchemist creates all the elements and minerals in the universe. In this way, alchemy is central to Newton's belief in Christianity and science. http://www.hypatiamaze.org/isaac/newton.html Sep 04 08, 6:07 AM