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177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
59
The
action
of
the
mineral
agent
in
perfecting
substances
is
often
likened
by
the
alchemists
to
the
conjoining
of
the
male
and
the
female,
followed
by
the
production
of
offspring.
They
insist
on
the
need
of
a
union
of
two
things,
in
order
to
produce
something
more
perfect
than
either.
The
agent,
they
say,
must
work
upon
something;
alone
it
is
nothing.
The
methods
whereby
the
agent
is
itself
perfected,
and
the
processes
wherein
the
agent
effects
the
perfecting
of
the
less
perfect
things,
were
divided
into
stages
by
the
alchemists.
They
generally
spoke
of
these
stages
as
Gates,
and
enumerated
ten
or
sometimes
twelve
of
them.
As
examples
of
the
alchemical
description
of
these
gates,
I
give
some
extracts
from
A
Brief
Guide
to
the
Celestial
Ruby.
The
first
gate
is
Calcination,
which
is
"the
drying
up
of
the
humours";
by
this
process
the
substance
"is
concocted
into
a
black
powder
which
is
yet
unctuous,
and
retains
its
radical
humour."
When
gold
passes
through
this
gate,
"We
observe
in
it
two
natures,
the
fixed
and
the
volatile,
which
we
liken
to
two
serpents."
The
fixed
nature
is
likened
to
a
serpent
without
wings;
the
volatile,
to
a
serpent
with
wings:
calcination
unites
these
two
into
one.
The
second
gate,
Dissolution,
is
likened
to
death
and
burial;
but
the
true
Essence
will
appear
glorious
and
beautiful
when
this
gate
is
passed.
The
worker
is
told
not
to
be
discouraged
by
this
apparent
death.
The
mercury
of
the
sages
is
spoken
of
by
this
author
as
the
queen,
and
gold
as
the
king.
The
king
dies
for
love
of
the
queen,
but
he
is
revived
by
his
spouse,
who
is
made
fruitful
by
him
and
brings
forth
"a
most
royal
son."
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