Testing the new historiography of alchemy : the case of Kenelm Digby

In the last two decades, a new framework for the study of alchemy, challenging the older Jungian views, has been taking shape by the efforts of two American historians of science, Lawrence Principe and William Newman. The present paper intends to test this new framework through a case study of a 17th century English natural philosopher named Kenelm Digby. In the light of my results, the new metanarrative of alchemy draws a false picture of the discipline, as alchemy was a complex philosophical system with its own religious and cultural connotations