Zacaire, Denis (b. 1510)

This French alchemist is chiefly remembered for his book, Opuscule Tres-Excellent de la Philosophie naturelle des Metaux (published 1567). This includes a preface written by Zacaire in his lifetime, giving some account of his life.

As a young man Zacaire studied at Bordeaux under an al-chemist and subsequently at Toulouse, intending to become a lawyer. He soon became more interested in alchemy than in legal affairs. In 1535, on his father's death, he came into possession of some money. He thereupon decided to try and multiply it by artificial means. Associating himself with an abbé who was considered a great adept in gold-making, Zacaire had soon disposed of the bulk of his patrimony, but far from the charlatan's futile experiments disillusioning him, they encouraged him.

In 1539, he went to Paris, where he made the acquaintance of many renowned alchemists. From one of them, he learned the precious secret, and thereupon he hastened to the court of Antoine d'Albert, the king of Navarre, offering to make gold if the requisite materials were supplied.

The king was deeply interested and promised a reward of no less than four thousand crowns in the event of the researches proving fruitful, but unfortunately Zacaire's vaunted skill failed him, and he retired discomfited to Toulouse. Here he became friendly with a certain priest, who advised him strongly to renounce his quest and study natural science instead. Zacaire went off to Paris once more, intending to act in accordance with his counsel. But after a little while, he was deep in the study of alchemy again, running experiments and studying closely the writings of Raymond Lully and Arnold de Villanova.

According to his own account, on Easter day of 1550, he succeeded in converting a large quantity of quicksilver into gold. Then, some time after this alleged triumph, he left France to travel in Switzerland and lived for a while at Lausanne. Later on he wandered to Germany, and there he died.

There is a story that he married before setting out to travel through Germany, but on reaching Cologne, he was murdered in his sleep by his servant, who escaped with his wife and his store of transmuting powder. The story of Zacaire's life was told in verse by De Delle, court poet of Emperor Rudolph II (1552-1622), who took a great interest in alchemy, chemistry, and astrology.

Zacaire's Opuscule was published originally at Antwerp and repeatedly reprinted. It won the honor of being translated into Latin.