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177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
7
Here
are
a
few
quotations
from
alchemical
writings
[1]:
[1]
Most
of
the
quotations
from
alchemical
writings,
in
this
book,
are
taken
from
a
series
of
translations,
published
in
1893-94,
under
the
supervision
of
Mr
A.E.
Waite.
"It
is
necessary
to
deprive
matter
of
its
qualities
in
order
to
draw
out
its
soul....
Copper
is
like
a
man;
it
has
a
soul
and
a
body
...
the
soul
is
the
most
subtile
part
...
that
is
to
say,
the
tinctorial
spirit.
The
body
is
the
ponderable,
material,
terrestrial
thing,
endowed
with
a
shadow....
After
a
series
of
suitable
treatments
copper
becomes
without
shadow
and
better
than
gold....
The
elements
grow
and
are
transmuted,
because
it
is
their
qualities,
not
their
substances
which
are
contrary."
(Stephanus
of
Alexandria,
about
620
A.D.)
"If
we
would
elicit
our
Medecine
from
the
precious
metals,
we
must
destroy
the
particular
metalic
form,
without
impairing
its
specific
properties.
The
specific
properties
of
the
metal
have
their
abode
in
its
spiritual
part,
which
resides
in
homogeneous
water.
Thus
we
must
destroy
the
particular
form
of
gold,
and
change
it
into
its
generic
homogeneous
water,
in
which
the
spirit
of
gold
is
preserved;
this
spirit
afterwards
restores
the
consistency
of
its
water,
and
brings
forth
a
new
form
(after
the
necessary
putrefaction)
a
thousand
times
more
perfect
than
the
form
of
gold
which
it
lost
by
being
reincrudated."
(Philalethes,
17th
century.)
"The
bodily
nature
of
things
is
a
concealing
outward
vesture."
(Michael
Sendivogius,
17th
century.)
"Nothing
of
true
value
is
located
in
the
body
of
a
substance,
but
in
the
virtue
...
the
less
there
is
of
body,
the
more
in
proportion
is
the
virtue."
(Paracelsus,
16th
century.)
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