The Act Against Multipliers, 1404

The Act Against Multipliers was signed into law by King Henry IV of England on 13th January 1404. It ordered that “None from hereafter shall use to multiply gold or silver, or use the craft of multiplication; and if any the same do, they incur the pain of felony”. 

This had nothing to do with mathematics but everything to do with alchemy, which was the forerunner of modern chemistry. The idea of alchemy was that it was possible to turn base metals into precious ones, particularly gold. We know today that this is impossible, except possibly during massive stellar explosions, but that was not the case in 1404, when many people labored long and hard to achieve this aim. 

The Act was not passed out of a desire to stop people wasting their time on something that could never work, but from fear that it actually might do so. The last thing a medieval king wanted was somebody getting very rich and not only upsetting the economic order but becoming more powerful than the monarch. 

In practice, the law provided a loophole for would-be alchemists in that they could apply for a very expensive licence that allowed them to pursue their dark art. However, it has to be assumed that not many such licences were applied for. 

The Act was eventually repealed in 1689, partly due to the lobbying efforts of Robert Boyle, the father of modern chemistry. Surprising as it might seem, he was also a keen alchemist!

© John Welford

The explosion of Mount Tambora, 1815

The explosion of Mount Tambora, a volcano, in April 1815 is generally regarded as the largest explosion ever recorded. Not only did it kill thousands of people, but it also had lasting effects on a worldwide scale.

Before the explosion, Mount Tambora rose to 13,500 feet on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa. However, after the mountain blew itself apart it would be 4,500 feet shorter. This happened after three huge columns of fire rose from the volcano’s crater followed by the explosion which has been estimated as having had the power of 60,000 Hiroshima-type atom bombs. The blast could be heard up to 1,000 miles away.

The eruption of the volcano lasted for two days, during which time some twelve cubic miles of ash were pumped skywards. This was more than double the amount that would be ejected by the more famous eruption of Krakatoa 68 years later.

When the ash fell to earth it covered the area nearest the volcano to a depth of 90 feet. The area of land and sea that received at least half an inch of ash was around 200,000 square miles, which was roughly the size of France. This coverage was enough to destroy growing crops and lead to mass starvation. Around 12,000 people were killed by the original explosion but another 50,000 died as a result of crop failures caused by the ash.

Much of the ash was sent so high into the atmosphere that it was taken right round the world by air currents moving at high latitudes. This had the effect of dimming the sun and causing spectacular sunsets with brilliant orange and red colours. These were featured in a number of paintings produced by the famous British artist J M W Turner.

The following year was known in northern latitudes as the “year without a summer”, due to the disruption of weather cycles caused by the ash cloud. The temperatures were abnormally low and in parts of Europe the rainfall was up to three times what it should have been. This led to disastrous harvests and agricultural distress, and must count as an important factor in the rise of radical protests and riots in the period up to 1820.

The 1815 eruption was followed by smaller Tambora eruptions in 1819, 1880 and 1967. Could the monster roar again at some time in the future? Maybe!

© John Welford