The Act of Multipliers

The Act of Multipliers was passed by the English Government on January the 13th, 1404, to prevent English Alchemists using their knowledge to create precious metals. This was because they feared the Alchemists would succeed, and bring ruin upon the State, so the law declared the use of transmutation to multiply gold and silver to be a crime.

The Act declared ‘that none from hereafter should use to multiply gold or silver, or use the craft of multiplication; and if any the same do, they incur the pain of felony.’

‘Multiplication’ was a term used in Alchemy to mean ‘making more of a certain material’, and has since spread into Mathematics, where it is now commonly used. Originally from the Latin word multiplicare - to increase - the word moved into Old French as mouteplier ( increase, get bigger; flourish; extend, enrich) - before finally arriving in English.

The ban was repealed in 1689, however, which allowed Alchemy to be worked on by Isaac Newton and Robert Boyle, who transformed much of Alchemy into what we would nowadays call Chemistry.