Corpuscularianism
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Corpuscularianism is the postulate, expounded in a predominant manner by the thirteenth-century Italian Franciscan alchemist Geber, that all physical bodies possess an inner and outer layer of minute particles or corpuscles. Corpuscularianism is similar to the theory atomism, except that where atoms were supposed to be indivisible, corpuscles could in principle be divided. In this manner, for example, it was theorized that mercury could penetrate into metals and modify their inner structure, a step on the way towards transmutative production of gold.
[edit] Sources
- ↑ (1946) Transforming Matter – A History of Chemistry for Alchemy to the Buckyball. The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-6610-3.
