Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
1
177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
25
The
language
of
the
alchemists
was,
therefore,
rich
in
such
expressions
as
these;
"the
elements
are
to
be
so
conjoined
that
the
nobler
and
fuller
life
may
be
produced";
"our
arcanum
is
gold
exalted
to
the
highest
degree
of
perfection
to
which
the
combined
action
of
nature
and
art
can
develop
it."
Such
commingling
of
ethical
and
physical
ideas,
such
application
of
moral
conceptions
to
material
phenomena,
was
characteristic
of
the
alchemical
method
of
regarding
nature.
The
necessary
results
were;
great
confusion
of
thought,
much
mystification
of
ideas,
and
a
superabundance
of
views
about
natural
events.
When
the
author
of
The
Metamorphosis
of
Metals
was
seeking
for
an
argument
in
favour
of
his
view,
that
water
is
the
source
and
primal
element
of
all
things,
he
found
what
he
sought
in
the
Biblical
text:
"In
the
beginning
the
spirit
of
God
moved
upon
the
face
of
the
waters."
Similarly,
the
author
of
The
Sodic
Hydrolith
clenches
his
argument
in
favour
of
the
existence
of
the
Philosopher's
Stone,
by
the
quotation:
"Therefore,
thus
saith
the
Lord;
behold
I
lay
in
Zion
for
a
foundation
a
Stone,
a
tried
Stone,
a
precious
corner
Stone,
a
sure
foundation.
He
that
has
it
shall
not
be
confounded."
This
author
works
out
in
detail
an
analogy
between
the
functions
and
virtues
of
the
Stone,
and
the
story
of
man's
fall
and
redemption,
as
set
forth
in
the
Old
and
New
Testaments.
The
same
author
speaks
of
"Satan,
that
grim
pseudo-alchemist."
That
the
attribution,
by
the
alchemists,
of
moral
virtues
and
vices
to
natural
things
was
in
keeping
with
some
deep-seated
tendency
of
human
nature,
is
shown
by
the
persistence
of
some
of
their
methods
of
stating
the
properties
of
substances:
we
still
speak
of
"perfect
and
imperfect
gases,"
"noble
and
base
metals,"
"good
and
bad
conductors
of
electricity,"
and
"laws
governing
natural
phenomena."
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
