The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry

How greatly must this phenomenon have affected the imagination of the chemists of ancient times, always so ready to be affected by everything that seemed supernatural! Black and red were the symbols of darkness and light, of the evil and the good principle; and the union of these two principles represented the moral order. At a later time the idea helped to establish the alchemical doctrine that sulphur and mercury are the Principles of all things. Experiment.--Various organic substances are analysed by heating in a distillation-apparatus; the products are, in each case, a solid residue, liquids which distil off, and certain spirits which are disengaged. The results supported the ancient theory which asserted that earth, water, air, and fire are the four Elements of the world. The solid residue represented earth; the liquid products of the distillation, water; and the spirituous substances, air. Fire was regarded sometimes as the means of purification, sometimes as the soul, or invisible part, of all substances. Experiment.-A strong acid is poured on to copper. The metal is attacked, and at last disappears, giving place to a green liquid, as transparent as water. A thin sheet of iron is plunged into the liquid; the copper re-appears, and the iron vanishes. What more simple than to conclude that the iron has been transformed into copper? Had lead, silver, or gold been used in place of copper, one would have said that the iron was transformed into lead, silver, or gold. In their search for "the pure and penetrating matter which applied to any substance exalts and perfects it after its own kind," the alchemists necessarily made many inventions, laid the foundation of many arts and manufactures, and discovered many facts of importance in the science of chemistry.