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Basil Valentine is the Anglicised version of the name Basilius Valentinus. Basilius Valentinus was alleged to be a 15th-century alchemist, possibly Canon of the Benedictine Priory of Saint Peter in Erfurt, Germany. According to John Maxson Stillman, who wrote on the history of chemistry, there is no evidence of such a name on the rolls in Germany or Rome and no mention of this name before 1600. His putative history, like his imaginary portrait, appears to be of later creation than the writings themselves. During the 18th century it was suggested that the author of the works attributed to Basil Valentine was Johann Thölde, a salt manufacturer in Germany who lived roughly 1565–1624,.〔 Modern scholarship now suggests that one author was Thölde, but that others were involved. Thölde published the first five books under Valentine's name. Whoever he was, Basil Valentine had considerable chemical knowledge. He showed that ammonia could be obtained by the action of alkali on sal-ammoniac (ammonium chloride), described the production of hydrochloric acid by acidifying brine of common salt (sodium chloride), and created oil of vitriol (sulfuric acid), among other achievements. ==The twelve keys of Basil Valentine== The Basil Valentine writings provide twelve "keys", a widely reproduced sequence of alchemical operations encoded allegorically, in words to which images have been added. The first Basil Valentine book to discuss the keys is ''Ein kurtz summarischer Tractat, von dem grossen Stein der Uralten'' ("A Short Summary Tract: Of the great stone of the ancients"), 1599. The first part of the book is a discussion of general alchemical principles and advice about the philosopher's stone. The second half of ''Ein kurtz summarischer Tractat'', under the subtitle "The Twelve Keys", contains twelve short chapters. Each chapter, or "key", is an allegorical description of one step in the process by which the philosopher's stone may be created. With each step, the symbolic names (''Deckname'', or code name) used to indicate the critical ingredients are changed, just as the ingredients themselves are transformed. The keys are written in such a fashion as to conceal as well as to illuminate: only a knowledgeable reader or alchemical adept was expected to correctly interpret the veiled language of the allegorical text and its related images.〔 The 1599 edition does not include illustrations. Woodcuts appear in the 1602 edition. Engravings for all twelve steps first appear in ''Tripus Aureus'' ("Golden Trilogy") of 1618, a Latin translation by Michael Maier which includes three works, the first of which is Basil Valentine's.〔 Since the texts predate the images, the texts should be considered primary.〔 File:Musaeum Hermeticum 1678 I. Clavis AQ30 Key 1.tif | First key. File:Musaeum Hermeticum 1678 II. Clavis AQ30 Key 2.tif | Second key File:Musaeum Hermeticum 1678 p 398 III. Clavis AQ27.tif | Third key File:Musaeum Hermeticum 1678 IV. Clavis AQ32 Key 4.tif | Fourth key File:Musaeum Hermeticum 1678 V. Clavis AQ33 Key 5.tif | Fifth key File:Musaeum Hermeticum 1678 VI. Clavis AQ34 Key 6.tif | Sixth key File:Musaeum Hermeticum 1678 VII Clavis AQ35 Key 7.tif | Seventh key File:Musaeum Hermeticum 1678 VIII. Clavis AQ36 Key 8.tif | Eighth key File:Musaeum Hermeticum 1678 IX. Clavis AQ37 Key 9.tif | Ninth key File:Musaeum Hermeticum 1678 X. Clavis AQ38 Key 10.tif| Tenth key File:Musaeum Hermeticum 1678 XI. Clavis AQ39 Key 11.tif | Eleventh key File:Musaeum Hermeticum 1678 XII. Clavis AQ40 Key 12.tif | Twelfth key 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Basil Valentine」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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