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177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
101
The
alchemist
constructed
his
ordered
scheme
of
nature
on
the
basis
of
the
supposed
universality
of
life.
For
him,
everything
lived,
and
the
life
of
things
was
threefold.
The
alchemist
thought
he
recognised
the
manifestation
of
life
in
the
form,
or
body,
of
a
thing,
in
its
soul,
and
in
its
spirit.
Things
might
differ
much
in
appearance,
in
size,
taste,
smell,
and
other
outward
properties,
and
yet
be
intimately
related,
because,
according
to
the
alchemist,
they
were
produced
from
the
same
principles,
they
were
animated
by
the
same
soul.
Things
might
resemble
one
another
closely
in
their
outward
properties
and
yet
differ
widely
in
essential
features,
because,
according
to
the
alchemist,
they
were
formed
from
different
elements,
in
their
spiritual
properties
they
were
unlike.
The
alchemists
taught
that
the
true
transformation,
in
alchemical
language
the
transmutation,
of
one
thing
into
another
could
be
effected
only
by
spiritual
means
acting
on
the
spirit
of
the
thing,
because
the
transmutation
consisted
essentially
in
raising
the
substance
to
the
highest
perfection
whereof
it
was
capable;
the
result
of
this
spiritual
action
might
become
apparent
in
the
material
form
of
the
substance.
In
attempting
to
apply
such
vague
conceptions
as
these,
alchemy
was
obliged
to
use
the
language
which
had
been
developed
for
the
expression
of
human
emotions
and
desires,
not
only
for
the
explanation
of
the
facts
it
observed,
but
also
for
the
bare
recital
of
these
facts.
The
outlook
of
alchemy
on
the
world
outside
human
beings
was
essentially
anthropomorphic.
In
the
image
of
man,
the
alchemist
created
his
universe.
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