Denis Zachaire

Denis Zachaire (1510–1556) is the pseudonym of a 16th century alchemist who spent his life and family fortune in a futile search for the Philosopher's Stone and the elusive Elixir of Life.^[1]

Pursuit of alchemy

Born in 1510 to a noble and ancient family of Guienne, Zachaire was sent to school at a young age in Bordeaux under the care of a tutor hired by the family. The tutor was obsessed with alchymie and the Magnum Opus, and Zachaire quickly found himself caught up in the hysteria, pouring vast amounts of his parents' money into the mystic crucible. Labouring tirelessly in unhealthy smoke-filled chambers, Zachaire and his tutor spent 200 crowns in less than a year at which point the tutor died of heat stroke and his parents reduced his allowance. After returning home to mortgage his inheritance, Zachaire took up with a "Philosopher" and later with a monk, both of whom help him spend whatever gold he had left.

References

1. ^ "Some Fortunes Misapplied". Otago Witness. 28 September 1888. http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=OW18880928.2.120.2. Retrieved 23 April 2010. 

Further reading

• Tenney L. Davis, "The Autobiography of Denis Zachaire", in Isis, nov. 1925, vol. 8, 2 pp. 287–299.
• E. J. Holmyard, L'Alchimie, trad. Arthaud, 1979, p. 264-270.
• Armand Lattes, Un alchimiste gascon : Denis Zachaire (1510–1556), Académie des Sciences, Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres de Toulouse, Série 18, Tome 5, Vol. 166, 5 décembre 2004, pp. 25–28.
• Renan Crouvizier, L'authenticité de l'opuscule attribué à maistre D.Zecaire, Chrysopoeia, n° I, Collège de France, 1995.

External links

• Profile at alchemywebsite.com

Persondata
Name	Zachaire, Denis
Alternative names
Short description	French alchemist
Date of birth	1510
Place of birth
Date of death	1556
Place of death