Egg White

## Egg White Egg White

**Egg white** (albumen; Lat. *albumen ovi*) was used extensively in alchemy, pharmacy, and various crafts for its binding, clarifying, and coagulating properties. In alchemical practice, egg white served multiple functions: it was used to clarify liquids (the proteins in egg white coagulate when heated, trapping suspended particles), to bind powdered substances, to seal vessels (dried egg white forms a strong, airtight seal), and as a component in certain preparations. The *Mappae Clavicula* and other technical texts describe using egg white in gilding, in preparing tempera paints, in clarifying wine and other liquids, and in various alchemical operations.

In pharmaceutical preparations, egg white was used as a vehicle for medicines, as an antidote for certain poisons (the proteins bind to toxic substances), and as a demulcent for burns and inflammations. Some alchemical texts describe using egg white in the preparation of the Philosopher's Stone or in operations involving metals, though the rationale is often obscure. The egg itself held symbolic significance in alchemy: just as the egg contains all the elements necessary for life and brings forth a living creature through warmth, so the philosophical egg contains the perfected matter and brings forth the stone through the gentle heat of the athanor. The white of the egg was sometimes associated with the albedo or whitening phase of the work.

Modern biochemistry understands egg white as primarily composed of water (about 90%) and proteins (about 10%), particularly ovalbumin, which denatures (unfolds and coagulates) when heated or exposed to certain chemicals. This property explains egg white's traditional uses in clarification (the coagulated proteins trap particles) and in binding (the dried proteins form a strong matrix). The substance's use in alchemy and pharmacy reflects empirical knowledge of its properties, even without understanding the underlying biochemistry. Egg white thus represents how common, everyday materials were incorporated into laboratory practice, and how the same substance could serve practical, medical, and symbolic functions in the alchemical worldview.

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