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177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
24
The
Only
True
Way
advises
all
who
wish
to
become
true
alchemists
to
leave
the
circuitous
paths
of
pretended
philosophers,
and
to
follow
nature,
which
is
simple;
the
complicated
processes
described
in
books
are
said
to
be
the
traps
laid
by
the
"cunning
sophists"
to
catch
the
unwary.
In
A
Catechism
of
Alchemy,
Paracelsus
asks:
"What
road
should
the
philosopher
follow?"
He
answers,
"That
exactly
which
was
followed
by
the
Great
Architect
of
the
Universe
in
the
creation
of
the
world."
One
might
suppose
it
would
be
easier,
and
perhaps
more
profitable,
to
examine,
observe,
and
experiment,
than
to
turn
one's
eyes
inwards
with
the
hope
of
discovering
exactly
"the
road
followed
by
the
Great
Architect
of
the
Universe
in
the
creation
of
the
world."
But
the
alchemical
method
found
it
easier
to
begin
by
introspection.
The
alchemist
spun
his
universe
from
his
own
ideas
of
order,
symmetry,
and
simplicity,
as
the
spider
spins
her
web
from
her
own
substance.
A
favourite
saying
of
the
alchemists
was,
"What
is
above
is
as
what
is
below."
In
one
of
its
aspects
this
saying
meant,
"processes
happen
within
the
earth
like
those
which
occur
on
the
earth;
minerals
and
metals
live,
as
animals
and
plants
live;
all
pass
through
corruption
towards
perfection."
In
another
aspect
the
saying
meant
"the
human
being
is
the
world
in
miniature;
as
is
the
microcosm,
so
is
the
macrocosm;
to
know
oneself
is
to
know
all
the
world."
Every
man
knows
he
ought
to
try
to
rise
to
better
things,
and
many
men
endeavour
to
do
what
they
know
they
ought
to
do;
therefore,
he
who
feels
sure
that
all
nature
is
fashioned
after
the
image
of
man,
projects
his
own
ideas
of
progress,
development,
virtue,
matter
and
spirit,
on
to
nature
outside
himself;
and,
as
a
matter
of
course,
this
kind
of
naturalist
uses
the
same
language
when
he
is
speaking
of
the
changes
of
material
things
as
he
employs
to
express
the
changes
of
his
mental
states,
his
hopes,
fears,
aspirations,
and
struggles.
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