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177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
51
[4]
The
author
I
am
quoting
had
said--"Nature
is
divided
into
four
'places'
in
which
she
brings
forth
all
things
that
appear
and
that
are
in
the
shade;
and
according
to
the
good
or
bad
quality
of
the
'place,'
she
brings
forth
good
or
bad
things....
It
is
most
important
for
us
to
know
her
'places'
...
in
order
that
we
may
join
things
together
according
to
Nature."
CHAPTER
V.
THE
ALCHEMICAL
ESSENCE.
In
the
last
chapter
I
tried
to
describe
the
alchemical
view
of
the
interdependence
of
different
substances.
Taking
for
granted
the
tripartite
nature
of
man,
the
co-existence
in
him
of
body,
soul,
and
spirit
(no
one
of
which
was
defined),
the
alchemists
concluded
that
all
things
are
formed
as
man
is
formed;
that
in
everything
there
is
a
specific
bodily
form,
some
portion
of
soul,
and
a
dash
of
spirit.
I
considered
the
term
soul
to
be
the
alchemical
name
for
the
properties
common
to
a
class
of
substances,
and
the
term
spirit
to
mean
the
property
which
was
thought
by
the
alchemists
to
be
common
to
all
things.
The
alchemists
considered
it
possible
to
arrange
all
substances
in
four
general
classes,
the
marks
whereof
were
expressed
by
the
terms
hot,
cold,
moist,
and
dry;
they
thought
of
these
properties
as
typified
by
what
they
called
the
four
Elements--fire,
air,
water,
and
earth.
Everything,
they
taught,
was
produced
from
the
four
Elements,
not
immediately,
but
through
the
mediation
of
the
three
Principles--mercury,
sulphur,
and
salt.
These
Principles
were
regarded
as
the
tools
put
into
the
hands
of
him
who
desired
to
effect
the
transmutation
of
one
substance
into
another.
The
Principles
were
not
thought
of
as
definite
substances,
nor
as
properties
of
this
or
that
specified
substance;
they
were
considered
to
be
the
characteristic
properties
of
large
classes
of
substances.
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