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177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
35
"On
a
certain
bright
morning
a
number
of
Alchemists
met
together
in
a
meadow,
and
consulted
as
to
the
best
way
of
preparing
the
Philosopher's
Stone....
Most
of
them
agreed
that
Mercury
was
the
first
substance.
Others
said,
no,
it
was
sulphur,
or
something
else....
Just
as
the
dispute
began
to
run
high,
there
arose
a
violent
wind,
which
dispersed
the
Alchemists
into
all
the
different
countries
of
the
world;
and
as
they
had
arrived
at
no
conclusion,
each
one
went
on
seeking
the
Philosopher's
Stone
in
his
own
old
way,
this
one
expecting
to
find
it
in
one
substance,
and
that
in
another,
so
that
the
search
has
continued
without
intermission
even
unto
this
day.
One
of
them,
however,
had
at
least
got
the
idea
into
his
head
that
Mercury
was
the
substance
of
the
Stone,
and
determined
to
concentrate
all
his
efforts
on
the
chemical
preparation
of
Mercury....
He
took
common
Mercury
and
began
to
work
with
it.
He
placed
it
in
a
glass
vessel
over
the
fire,
when
it,
of
course,
evaporated.
So
in
his
ignorance
he
struck
his
wife,
and
said:
'No
one
but
you
has
entered
my
laboratory;
you
must
have
taken
my
Mercury
out
of
the
vessel.'
The
woman,
with
tears,
protested
her
innocence.
The
Alchemist
put
some
more
Mercury
into
the
vessel....
The
Mercury
rose
to
the
top
of
the
vessel
in
vaporous
steam.
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