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177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
103
The
long
duration
of
alchemy
shows
that
it
appealed
to
some
deep-seated
want
of
human
beings.
Was
not
that
want
the
necessity
for
the
realisation
of
order
in
the
universe?
Men
were
unwilling
to
wait
until
patient
examination
of
the
facts
of
their
own
nature,
and
the
facts
of
nature
outside
themselves,
might
lead
them
to
the
realisation
of
the
interdependence
of
all
things.
They
found
it
easier
to
evolve
a
scheme
of
things
from
a
superficial
glance
at
themselves
and
their
surroundings;
naturally
they
adopted
the
easier
plan.
Alchemy
was
a
part
of
the
plan
of
nature
produced
by
this
method.
The
extraordinary
dominancy
of
such
a
scheme
is
testified
to
by
the
continued
belief
in
alchemy,
although
the
one
experiment,
which
seems
to
us
to
be
the
crucial
experiment
of
the
system,
was
never
accomplished.
But
it
is
also
to
be
remembered
that
the
alchemists
were
acquainted
with,
and
practised,
many
processes
which
we
should
now
describe
as
operations
of
manufacturing
and
technical
chemistry;
and
the
practical
usefulness
of
these
processes
bore
testimony,
of
the
kind
which
convinces
the
plain
man,
to
the
justness
of
their
theories.
I
have
always
regarded
two
facts
as
most
interesting
and
instructive:
that
the
doctrine
of
the
essential
unity
of
all
things,
and
the
simplicity
of
natural
order,
was
accepted
for
centuries
by
many,
I
think
one
may
say,
by
most
men,
as
undoubtedly
a
true
presentation
of
the
divine
scheme
of
things;
and,
secondly,
that
in
more
recent
times
people
were
quite
as
certain
of
the
necessary
truth
of
the
doctrine,
the
exact
opposite
of
the
alchemical,
that
the
Creator
had
divided
his
creation
into
portions
each
of
which
was
independent
of
all
the
others.
Both
of
these
schemes
were
formed
by
the
same
method,
by
introspection
preceding
observation;
both
were
overthrown
by
the
same
method,
by
observation
and
experiment
proceeding
hand
in
hand
with
reasoning.
In
each
case,
the
humility
of
science
vanquished
the
conceit
of
ignorance.
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