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177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
31
Alchemy
began
by
asserting
that
nature
must
be
simple;
it
assumed
that
a
knowledge
of
the
plan
and
method
of
natural
occurrences
is
to
be
obtained
by
thinking;
and
it
used
analogy
as
the
guide
in
applying
this
knowledge
of
nature's
design
to
particular
events,
especially
the
analogy,
assumed
by
alchemy
to
exist,
between
material
phenomena
and
human
emotions.
CHAPTER
III.
THE
ALCHEMICAL
CONCEPTION
OF
THE
UNITY
AND
SIMPLICITY
OF
NATURE.
In
the
preceding
chapter
I
have
referred
to
the
frequent
use
made
by
the
alchemists
of
their
supposition
that
nature
follows
the
same
plan,
or
at
any
rate
a
very
similar
plan,
in
all
her
processes.
If
this
supposition
is
accepted,
the
primary
business
of
an
investigator
of
nature
is
to
trace
likenesses
and
analogies
between
what
seem
on
the
surface
to
be
dissimilar
and
unconnected
events.
As
this
idea,
and
this
practice,
were
the
foundations
whereon
the
superstructure
of
alchemy
was
raised,
I
think
it
is
important
to
amplify
them
more
fully
than
I
have
done
already.
Mention
is
made
in
many
alchemical
writings
of
a
mythical
personage
named
Hermes
Trismegistus,
who
is
said
to
have
lived
a
little
later
than
the
time
of
Moses.
Representations
of
Hermes
Trismegistus
are
found
on
ancient
Egyptian
monuments.
We
are
told
that
Alexander
the
Great
found
his
tomb
near
Hebron;
and
that
the
tomb
contained
a
slab
of
emerald
whereon
thirteen
sentences
were
written.
The
eighth
sentence
is
rendered
in
many
alchemical
books
as
follows:
"Ascend
with
the
greatest
sagacity
from
the
earth
to
heaven,
and
then
again
descend
to
the
earth,
and
unite
together
the
powers
of
things
superior
and
things
inferior.
Thus
you
will
obtain
the
glory
of
the
whole
world,
and
obscurity
will
fly
away
from
you."
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