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177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
64
Every
metal
is
now
said
to
be
an
element,
in
the
modern
meaning
of
that
word:
the
alchemist
regarded
the
metals
as
composite
substances;
but
he
also
thought
of
them
as
more
simple
than
many
other
things.
Hence,
if
he
was
able
to
transmute
one
metal
into
another,
he
would
have
strong
evidence
in
support
of
his
general
conception
of
the
unity
of
all
things.
And,
as
transmutation
meant,
to
the
alchemist,
the
bringing
of
a
substance
to
the
condition
of
greatest
perfection
possible
for
that
substance,
his
view
of
the
unity
of
nature
might
be
said
to
be
proved
if
he
succeeded
in
changing
one
of
the
metals,
one
of
these
comparatively
simple
substances,
into
the
most
perfect
of
all
metals,
that
is,
into
gold.
The
transmutation
of
the
baser
metals
into
gold
thus
came
to
be
the
practical
test
of
the
justness
of
the
alchemical
scheme
of
things.
Some
alchemists
assert
they
had
themselves
performed
the
great
transmutation;
others
tell
of
people
who
had
accomplished
the
work.
The
following
story
is
an
example
of
the
accounts
given
of
the
making
of
gold.
It
is
taken
from
John
Frederick
Helvetius'
Golden
Calf,
which
the
world
worships
and
adores
(17th
century):--
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