On this day the English Parliament passed a statute known as the Act Against Multipliers forbidding the use of alchemy to multiply gold or silver. ‘Multiplication’ in alchemy meant taking some of a material, like gold for example, and somehow creating more of it. In those days this was believed to be possible and King Henry IV, who had usurped the throne from Richard II in 1399, feared that any alchemist who succeeded in generating gold or silver would be able to produce riches that could devalue the official currency or finance the king’s enemies. The ban was eventually lifted in 1689 as a result of successful lobbying by the renowned scientist Robert Boyle.
The Act Against Multipliers Becomes Law
13th January 1404