Experience, Authority, and the Alchemy of Language: Margaret Cavendish and Marie Meurdrac Respond to the Art

• Published in: Early modern women Vol. 15; no. 2; pp. 133 - 142
• Main Author: Feinstein, Sandy
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies 01.03.2021; The University of Chicago Press; University of Chicago Press
• Subjects: Art criticism; Cavendish, Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1623-1673); Chemistry; Philosophy; Visual artists
• ISSN: 1933-0065; 2378-4776
• DOI: 10.1353/emw.2021.0028

In the Philosophical Letters, Cavendish takes aim at the work of applied chemists, especially Van Helmont, thereby challenging the theories and practices of alchemy and medical chemistry. Meurdrac, whose specific sources are harder to ascertain, focuses her attention primarily on the materials, tools, and methods required for the chemistry she teaches, rather than on individual philosophers or practitioners of her time. Though both writers approach the field in distinct, even contrary ways, one challenging the theories behind the practice, the other defending and disseminating the practice itself, they share key concerns about the "Art": namely how it served practitioners and the community. They use the word "Art," as I do, to reflect a range of practices that include alchemy, chemistry, and iatrochemistry; this word also encompasses positive and negative attitudes to those disciplines. Both Cavendish and Meurdrac pointedly direct their discussion to a female audience, a transgressive act in itself, considering the Art was created by men for men. Assuming a pedagogical role, each writer adeptly addresses the exclusivity that implicitly judges those who would challenge male practitioners, from canonical medieval alchemists to their contemporaries, including Van Helmont and his adherents.