The First Matter of the Philosophers

Sapphire Thorpe

Humus
Could the prima materia of the alchemists be humus? Humus (from Latin earth, ground) is fully decomposed organic matter (cf nigredo, and chaos: primordial, formless mass) that is found within soil. It is a dark brown/black, spongy, jelly-like substance. It contains humins, humic acids, fulvic acids and glomalin. A quick google search revealed that many interesting terms are used to describe humus, in sources ranging from Wikipedia to gardening blogs. (I have highlighted some of these in red). Wikipedia has this to say on the substance, for instance:
The importance of chemically stable humus is thought by some to be the fertility it provides to soils in both a physical and chemical sense, though some agricultural experts put a greater focus on other features of it, such as its ability to suppress disease. It helps the soil retain moisture by increasing microporosity, and encourages the formation of good soil structure. The incorporation of oxygen into large organic molecular assemblages generates many active, negatively charged sites that bind to positively charged ions (cations) of plant nutrients, making them more available to the plant by way of ion exchange. Humus allows soil organisms to feed and reproduce, and is often described as the "life-force" of the soil.

From The Soil Guy:

Humus or 'organic matter' is the magic ingredient which gives fertility to the soil. In short, humus brings soil to life.
http://www.thesoilguy.com/SG/Humus-ItsTheDirt

A wordpress blog on glomalin:

Is it just me or does this seem like the soil version of Lucas Force? The terra preta glomalin idea could be seen as a kind of Roald Dahl magical sponge taking the crap out of our world and converting it into gold. Now that would be alchemy.
http://tokyobabylon.wordpress.com/2007/08/20/since-terra-preta-was-popular-i-bring-you-glomalin/

Some definitions
Alchemy One possible definition of alchemy is art of the black earth: From levity.com:
What is the derivation of the word alchemy ? There are three main ideas about the origin of the word alchemy. Firstly, from ancient Egyptian transmitted through Arabic 'al-khem', from the Egyptian hieroglyphics

Km.t which form the native name of Egypt, 'Chem', meaning 'black earth'. Thus one derivation of the word alchemy is the 'Egyptian art', or the 'art of the black earth'. The second derivation is from the Greek word 'chemeia', found in the writings of Diocletian, the art of making metal ingots. The third derivation is from the Greek word 'chumeia', the art of extracting juices or infusions from plants, and thus herbal medicines and tinctures. From 'chumos' meaning juice.

Humus means earth, and is the substance which makes it black. Nigredo:
Nigredo, or blackness, in alchemy means putrefaction or decomposition. The alchemists believed that as a first step in the pathway to the philosopher's stone all alchemical ingredients had to be cleansed and cooked extensively to a uniform black matter. (Wikipedia)

Humus is fully decomposed, uniform black matter organic (once living) matter. Water of Life (Dune universe):
An "illuminating" poison ... Specifically, that liquid exhalation of a sandworm ... produced at the moment of its death from drowning which is changed within the body of a Reverend Mother to become the narcotic used in the sietch tau orgy. An "awareness spectrum" narcotic. (Wikipedia)

See the comments on pre-spice mass. Melange:

Melange, from French mlange (set of diverse elements) derived from mescler (to mingle, mix up) also called the "spice" is the name of the fictional drug central to the Dune series of science fiction novels by Frank Herbert, and derivative works. (Wikipedia) Humus is literally a set of diverse elements, all mixed up.

Pre-spice Mass:
Herbert notes in Dune that a pre-spice mass is "the stage of fungusoid wild growth achieved when water is flooded into the excretions of Little Makers," the "half-planthalf-animal deep-sand vector of the Arrakis

sandworm." Gases are produced which result in "a characteristic 'blow,' exchanging the material from deep underground for the matter on the surface above it."

Humus (and especially glomalin) is the product of the actions of fungi, and the excretions of worms. For example, Wikipedia states in its article on Humus:
Lignin, which is quickly transformed by white-rot fungi, is one of the main precursors of humus, together with by-products of microbial and animal activity. The end-product of this process, the humus, is thus a mixture of compounds and complex life chemicals (ie, mlange) of plant, animal, or microbial origin that has many functions and benefits in the soil. Earthworm humus (vermicompost) is considered by some to be the best organic manure there is.

Conclusion
If the First Matter of the alchemists is in fact a literal (as well as metaphorical) substance, then humus stable, decomposed organic matter found within the earths soil seems like it may be a good candidate.