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177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
41
How,
then,
was
the
transmutation
to
be
accomplished?
Evidently
by
the
method
whereby
nature
brings
to
perfection
other
living
things;
for
the
alchemist's
belief
in
the
simplicity
and
unity
of
nature
compelled
him
to
regard
metals
as
living
things.
Plants
are
improved
by
appropriate
culture,
by
digging
and
enriching
the
soil,
by
judicious
selection
of
seed;
animals
are
improved
by
careful
breeding.
By
similar
processes
metals
will
be
encouraged
and
helped
towards
perfection.
The
perfect
state
of
gold
will
not
be
reached
at
a
bound;
it
will
be
gained
gradually.
Many
partial
purifications
will
be
needed.
As
Subtle
says
in
The
Alchemist--
'twere
absurd
To
think
that
nature
in
the
earth
bred
gold
Perfect
in
the
instant;
something
went
before,
There
must
be
remote
matter....
Nature
doth
first
beget
the
imperfect,
then
Proceeds
she
to
the
perfect.
At
this
stage
the
alchemical
argument
becomes
very
ultra-physical.
It
may,
perhaps,
be
rendered
somewhat
as
follows:--
Man
is
the
most
perfect
of
animals;
in
man
there
is
a
union
of
three
parts,
these
are
body,
soul,
and
spirit.
Metals
also
may
be
said
to
have
a
body,
a
soul,
and
a
spirit;
there
is
a
specific
bodily,
or
material,
form
belonging
to
each
metal;
there
is
a
metalline
soul
characteristic
of
this
or
that
class
of
metals;
there
is
a
spirit,
or
inner
immaterial
potency,
which
is
the
very
essence
of
all
metals.
The
soul
and
spirit
of
man
are
clogged
by
his
body.
If
the
spiritual
nature
is
to
become
the
dominating
partner,
the
body
must
be
mortified:
the
alchemists,
of
course,
used
this
kind
of
imagery,
and
it
was
very
real
to
them.
In
like
manner
the
spirit
of
metals
will
be
laid
bare
and
enabled
to
exercise
its
transforming
influences,
only
when
the
material
form
of
the
individual
metal
has
been
destroyed.
The
first
thing
to
do,
then,
is
to
strip
off
and
cast
aside
those
properties
of
metals
which
appeal
to
the
senses.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
