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177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
28
As
metals,
then,
possess
seed,
it
is
evident
how
this
seed
is
to
be
made
active;
the
seed
of
a
plant
is
quickened
by
descending
into
the
earth,
therefore
the
seed
of
metals
must
be
destroyed
before
it
becomes
life-producing.
"The
processes
of
our
art
must
begin
with
dissolution
of
gold;
they
must
terminate
in
a
restoration
of
the
essential
quality
of
gold."
"Gold
does
not
easily
give
up
its
nature,
and
will
fight
for
its
life;
but
our
agent
is
strong
enough
to
overcome
and
kill
it,
and
then
it
also
has
power
to
restore
it
to
life,
and
to
change
the
lifeless
remains
into
a
new
and
pure
body."
The
application
of
the
doctrine
of
the
existence
of
seed
in
metals
led
to
the
performance
of
many
experiments,
and,
hence,
to
the
accumulation
of
a
considerable
body
of
facts
established
by
experimental
inquiries.
The
belief
of
the
alchemists
that
all
natural
events
are
connected
by
a
hidden
thread,
that
everything
has
an
influence
on
other
things,
that
"what
is
above
is
as
what
is
below,"
constrained
them
to
place
stress
on
the
supposed
connexion
between
the
planets
and
the
metals,
and
to
further
their
metallic
transformations
by
performing
them
at
times
when
certain
planets
were
in
conjunction.
The
seven
principal
planets
and
the
seven
principal
metals
were
called
by
the
same
names:
Sol
(gold),
Luna
(silver),
Saturn
(lead),
Jupiter
(tin),
Mars
(iron),
Venus
(copper),
and
Mercury
(mercury).
The
author
of
The
New
Chemical
Light
taught
that
one
metal
could
be
propagated
from
another
only
in
the
order
of
superiority
of
the
planets.
He
placed
the
seven
planets
in
the
following
descending
order:
Saturn,
Jupiter,
Mars,
Sol,
Venus,
Mercury,
Luna.
"The
virtues
of
the
planets
descend,"
he
said,
"but
do
not
ascend";
it
is
easy
to
change
Mars
(iron)
into
Venus
(copper),
for
instance,
but
Venus
cannot
be
transformed
into
Mars.
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