Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
1
177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
21
The
alchemists
could
not
be
accused
of
laziness
or
aversion
to
work
in
their
laboratories.
Paracelsus
(16th
century)
says
of
them:
"They
are
not
given
to
idleness,
nor
go
in
a
proud
habit,
or
plush
and
velvet
garments,
often
showing
their
rings
on
their
fingers,
or
wearing
swords
with
silver
hilts
by
their
sides,
or
fine
and
gay
gloves
on
their
hands;
but
diligently
follow
their
labours,
sweating
whole
days
and
nights
by
their
furnaces.
They
do
not
spend
their
time
abroad
for
recreation,
but
take
delight
in
their
laboratories.
They
put
their
fingers
among
coals,
into
clay
and
filth,
not
into
gold
rings.
They
are
sooty
and
black,
like
smiths
and
miners,
and
do
not
pride
themselves
upon
clean
and
beautiful
faces."
In
these
respects
the
chemist
of
to-day
faithfully
follows
the
practice
of
the
alchemists
who
were
his
predecessors.
You
can
nose
a
chemist
in
a
crowd
by
the
smell
of
the
laboratory
which
hangs
about
him;
you
can
pick
him
out
by
the
stains
on
his
hands
and
clothes.
He
also
"takes
delight
in
his
laboratory";
he
does
not
always
"pride
himself
on
a
clean
and
beautiful
face";
he
"sweats
whole
days
and
nights
by
his
furnace."
Why
does
the
chemist
toil
so
eagerly?
Why
did
the
alchemists
so
untiringly
pursue
their
quest?
I
think
it
is
not
unfair
to
say:
the
chemist
experiments
in
order
that
he
"may
liken
his
imaginings
to
the
facts
which
he
observes";
the
alchemist
toiled
that
he
might
liken
the
facts
which
he
observed
to
his
imaginings.
The
difference
may
be
put
in
another
way
by
saying:
the
chemist's
object
is
to
discover
"how
changes
happen
in
combinations
of
the
unchanging";
the
alchemist's
endeavour
was
to
prove
the
truth
of
his
fundamental
assertion,
"that
every
substance
contains
undeveloped
resources
and
potentialities,
and
can
be
brought
outward
and
forward
into
perfection."
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
