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177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
54
The
results
of
the
experimental
examination
of
the
compositions
and
properties
of
substances,
made
since
the
time
of
the
alchemists,
have
led
to
the
modern
conception
of
the
chemical
element,
and
the
isolation
of
about
seventy
or
eighty
different
elements.
No
substance
now
called
an
element
has
been
produced
in
the
laboratory
by
uniting
two,
or
more,
distinct
substances,
nor
has
any
been
separated
into
two,
or
more,
unlike
portions.
The
only
decided
change
which
a
chemical
element
has
been
caused
to
undergo
is
the
combination
of
it
with
some
other
element
or
elements,
or
with
a
compound
or
compounds.
But
it
is
possible
that
all
the
chemical
elements
may
be
combinations
of
different
quantities
of
one
primal
element.
Certain
facts
make
this
supposition
tenable;
and
some
chemists
expect
that
the
supposition
will
be
proved
to
be
correct.
If
the
hypothetical
primal
element
should
be
isolated,
we
should
have
fulfilled
the
aim
of
alchemy,
and
gained
the
One
Thing;
but
the
fulfilment
would
not
be
that
whereof
the
alchemists
dreamed.
Inasmuch
as
the
alchemical
Essence
was
thought
of
as
the
Universal
Spirit
to
whose
presence
is
due
whatever
degree
of
perfection
any
specific
substance
exhibits,
it
followed
that
the
more
perfect
a
substance
the
greater
is
the
quantity
of
the
Essence
in
it.
But
even
in
the
most
perfect
substance
found
in
nature--which
substance,
the
alchemists
said,
is
gold--the
Essence
is
hidden
by
wrappings
of
specific
properties
which
prevent
the
ordinary
man
from
recognising
it.
Remove
these
wrappings
from
some
special
substance,
and
you
have
the
perfect
form
of
that
thing;
you
have
some
portion
of
the
Universal
Spirit
joined
to
the
one
general
property
of
the
class
of
things
whereof
the
particular
substance
is
a
member.
Then
remove
the
class-property,
often
spoken
of
by
the
alchemists
as
the
life,
of
the
substance,
and
you
have
the
Essence
itself.
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