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177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
56
The
choice
of
workmen
to
aid
in
the
mechanical
parts
of
the
quest
was
a
great
trouble
to
the
alchemists.
On
this
subject
Norton
says--"If
you
would
be
free
from
all
fear
over
the
gross
work,
follow
my
counsel,
and
never
engage
married
men;
for
they
soon
give
in
and
pretend
they
are
tired
out....
Hire
your
workmen
for
certain
stipulated
wages,
and
not
for
longer
periods
than
twenty-four
hours
at
a
time.
Give
them
higher
wages
than
they
would
receive
elsewhere,
and
be
prompt
and
ready
in
your
payments."
Many
accounts
are
given
by
alchemical
writers
of
the
agent,
and
many
names
are
bestowed
on
it.
The
author
of
A
Brief
Guide
to
the
Celestial
Ruby
speaks
thus
of
the
agent--"It
is
our
doorkeeper,
our
balm,
our
honey,
oil,
urine,
maydew,
mother,
egg,
secret
furnace,
oven,
true
fire,
venomous
dragon,
Theriac,
ardent
wine,
Green
Lion,
Bird
of
Hermes,
Goose
of
Hermogenes,
two-edged
sword
in
the
hand
of
the
Cherub
that
guards
the
Tree
of
Life....
It
is
our
true
secret
vessel,
and
the
Garden
of
the
Sages
in
which
our
sun
rises
and
sets.
It
is
our
Royal
Mineral,
our
triumphant
vegetable
Saturnia,
and
the
magic
rod
of
Hermes,
by
means
of
which
he
assumes
any
shape
he
likes."
Sometimes
we
are
told
that
the
agent
is
mercury,
sometimes
that
it
is
gold,
but
not
common
mercury
or
common
gold.
"Supplement
your
common
mercury
with
the
inward
fire
which
it
needs,
and
you
will
soon
get
rid
of
all
superfluous
dross."
"The
agent
is
gold,
as
highly
matured
as
natural
and
artificial
digestion
can
make
it,
and
a
thousand
times
more
perfect
than
the
common
metal
of
that
name.
Gold,
thus
exalted,
radically
penetrates,
tinges,
and
fixes
metals."
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