Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
1
177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
47
Similarly
the
alchemical
Elements
and
Principles
were
useful
class-marks.
We
must
not
suppose
that
when
the
alchemists
spoke
of
certain
things
as
formed
from,
or
by
the
union
of,
the
same
Elements
or
the
same
Principles,
they
meant
that
these
things
contained
a
common
substance.
Their
Elements
and
Principles
were
not
thought
of
as
substances,
at
least
not
in
the
modern
meaning
of
the
expression,
a
substance;
they
were
qualities
only.
If
we
think
of
the
alchemical
elements
earth,
air,
fire,
and
water,
as
general
expressions
of
what
seemed
to
the
alchemists
the
most
important
properties
of
all
substances,
we
may
be
able
to
attach
some
kind
of
meaning
to
the
sayings
of
Basil
Valentine,
which
I
have
quoted.
For
instance,
when
that
alchemist
tells
us,
"Fire
is
the
most
passive
of
all
elements,
and
resembles
a
chariot;
when
it
is
drawn,
it
moves;
when
it
is
not
drawn,
it
stands
still"--we
may
suppose
he
meant
to
express
the
fact
that
a
vast
number
of
substances
can
be
burnt,
and
that
combustion
does
not
begin
of
itself,
but
requires
an
external
agency
to
start
it.
Unfortunately,
most
of
the
terms
which
the
alchemists
used
to
designate
their
Elements
and
Principles
are
terms
which
are
now
employed
to
designate
specific
substances.
The
word
fire
is
still
employed
rather
as
a
quality
of
many
things
under
special
conditions,
than
as
a
specific
substance;
but
earth,
water,
air,
salt,
sulphur,
and
mercury,
are
to-day
the
names
applied
to
certain
groups
of
properties,
each
of
which
is
different
from
all
other
groups
of
properties,
and
is,
therefore,
called,
in
ordinary
speech,
a
definite
kind
of
matter.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
