Isaac of Holland (fl. fifteenth century)

Little is known about the life of this alchemist, but he is commonly supposed to have lived and worked early in the fifteenth century. The main reason for assigning his career to that period is that in his writings he refers to Geber, Dastin, Morien, and Arnaldus de Villanova, but not to more modern authorities. Furthermore, he appears to have been acquainted with various chemical processes discovered toward the close of the fourteenth century. Therefore, it may be deduced that he did not live before that time.

According to tradition Isaac worked with his son, whose name is not recorded, and the pair are usually regarded as having been the first men to exploit chemistry in the Netherlands. They are said to have been particularly skillful in the manufacture of enamels and artificial gems, and it is noteworthy that no less distinguished an alchemist than Paracelsus attached value to the Dutchmen's research. Isaac and his son were also mentioned with honor by the seventeenth-century English scientist Robert Boyle.

Isaac compiled two scientific treatises on alchemy, one entitled Opera Mineralia Joannis Isaaci Hollandi, sive de Lapide Philosophico (1600), and the other De Triplici Ordine Elixiris et Lapidis Theoria (1608). Both were published at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The latter treatise is the more important of the two because the author sets forth his ideas on exalting base metals into Sol and Luna (gold and silver) and illustrates exactly what kind of vessel should be used for each.