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177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
42
"It
is
necessary
to
deprive
matter
of
its
qualities
in
order
to
draw
out
its
soul,"
said
Stephanus
of
Alexandria
in
the
7th
century;
and
in
the
17th
century
Paracelsus
said,
"Nothing
of
true
value
is
located
in
the
body
of
a
substance,
but
in
the
virtue
...
the
less
there
is
of
body
the
more
in
proportion
is
the
virtue."
But
the
possession
of
the
soul
of
metals
is
not
the
final
stage:
mastery
of
the
soul
may
mean
the
power
of
transmuting
a
metal
into
another
like
itself;
it
will
not
suffice
for
the
great
transmutation,
for
in
that
process
a
metal
becomes
gold,
the
one
and
only
perfect
metal.
Hence
the
soul
also
must
be
removed,
in
order
that
the
spirit,
the
essence,
the
kernel,
may
be
obtained.
And
as
it
is
with
metals,
so,
the
alchemists
argued,
it
is
with
all
things.
There
are
a
few
Principles
which
may
be
thought
of
as
conditioning
the
specific
bodily
and
material
forms
of
things;
beneath
these,
there
are
certain
Elements
which
are
common
to
many
things
whose
principles
are
not
the
same;
and,
hidden
by
the
wrappings
of
elements
and
principles,
there
is
the
one
Essence,
the
spirit,
the
mystic
uniting
bond,
the
final
goal
of
the
philosopher.
I
propose
in
this
chapter
to
try
to
analyse
the
alchemical
conceptions
of
Elements
and
Principles,
and
in
the
next
chapter
to
attempt
some
kind
of
description
of
the
Essence.
In
his
Tract
Concerning
the
Great
Stone
of
the
Ancient
Sages,
Basil
Valentine
speaks
of
the
"three
Principles,"
salt,
sulphur,
and
mercury,
the
source
of
which
is
the
Elements.
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