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177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
102
In
the
times
when
alchemy
was
dominant,
the
divine
scheme
of
creation,
and
the
place
given
to
man
in
that
scheme,
were
supposed
to
be
thoroughly
understood.
Everything
had
its
place,
designed
for
it
from
the
beginning,
and
in
that
place
it
remained
unless
it
were
forced
from
it
by
violent
means.
A
great
part
of
the
business
of
experimental
alchemy
was
to
discover
the
natural
position,
or
condition,
of
each
substance;
and
the
discovery
was
to
be
made
by
interpreting
the
facts
brought
to
light
by
observation
and
experiment
by
the
aid
of
hypotheses
deduced
from
the
general
scheme
of
things
which
had
been
formed
independently
of
observation
or
experiment.
Alchemy
was
a
part
of
magic;
for
magic
interprets
and
corrects
the
knowledge
gained
by
the
senses
by
the
touchstone
of
generalisations
which
have
been
supplied,
partly
by
the
emotions,
and
partly
by
extra-human
authority,
and
accepted
as
necessarily
true.
The
conception
of
natural
order
which
regulates
the
life
of
the
savage
is
closely
related
to
that
which
guided
the
alchemists.
The
essential
features
of
both
are
the
notion
that
everything
is
alive,
and
the
persuasion
that
things
can
be
radically
acted
on
only
by
using
life
as
a
factor.
There
is
also
an
intimate
connexion
between
alchemy
and
witchcraft.
Witches
were
people
who
were
supposed
to
make
an
unlawful
use
of
the
powers
of
life;
alchemists
were
often
thought
to
pass
beyond
what
is
permitted
to
the
creature,
and
to
encroach
on
the
prerogative
of
the
Creator.
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