438 S^mhola Aureal Memtpj 8^c. [Dec. 



not the same with common fire. It burns without flame, and 

 ** in summis montibus delitescens von cxtw^uiturJ" Elsewhere 

 he states, that the philosophical gold, like the philosophi- 

 cal fire, is not the same with vulgar gold ; the truest position, I 

 apprehend, in the whole course of his work. The two Hollandi, 

 J. Pontanus, and others, succeed, the merits of each hero being 

 illustrated, as usual, by some reference to a quotation from their 

 principal works. In two secrets ascribed to Greverus, he pro- 

 fesses to find the stone Pantaura, and the water of gold of Philo- 

 stratus. The former he states to be capable of drawing other 

 stones to itself, and to be " le aut certe effectu" the same with 

 the eagle stone.* Of the latter, he affirms that it can be held 

 by a metallic vessel only, and that the more compact metals are 

 the fittest for the purpose. Maier gives a long but lame defence 

 of that singular quack Paracelsus, and a somewhat more enter- 

 taining account of the Rosicrucians, who are formally invited to 

 join the hermetic circle. Our author writes with the air of one 

 extremely anxious to believe all that was reported of this myste- 

 rious fraternity, and, perhaps, to earn by his obsequiousness 

 (like the Jew in Kenilworth) the honour of participating in their 

 secrets. He addresses to them sundry very indiflerent speci- 

 mens of Latin verse. Amid the intentional obscurity and meta- 

 physical trifling of this chapter, it is difficult to find any thing 

 practical, or even inteUigible. He mentions the increase of 

 weight which some metals gain in the fire, as a matter altogether 

 unaccountable " aliquid miracuH contingit." 



Book VII. The French School is led by Arnold de Villeneuve, 

 of whose character our author enters into a long defence, rather 

 declamatory than argumentative. The reproaches of his enemies, 

 however, seem (as they are here represented) to have had no 

 better foundation ; they turn chiefly on his having attacked the 

 authority of the Papal See. His claims to rank high as an 

 alchymist must be conceded, for his contemporaries esteemed 

 him a conjurer. So far Maier. Arnold was, however, in truth, 

 for his age, no common man; and chemistry, as well as rehgion, 

 was indebted to his researches. He is said to have discovered 

 the spirits of wine, and of turpentine.f Arnold is followed by 

 Vincent of Beauvais, certainly one of the most laborious and 

 generally informed writers of the Middle Ages. His Speculum 

 Naturale (from which Maier quotes one short sentence appa- 

 rently in favour of alchemy) is the largest and most interesting 



* The well-known geode containing in its hollow a moveable nodule. If this were 

 tlie Pantaura, it might be among the sjmibolsof the cosmological schools, from which we 

 have seen that the alchemists so largely borrowed. " The genuine Pantaura is (says 

 Maier) rery scarce; but what, you will ask, has it to do with the work ? Is not gold, I 

 answer, generated in the hardest stones, as in pyrites, cadmia, garnet, and lapis lazuli ? " 



f See A maud de Villeneuve in the Dictionnaire Ilistorique of I/Advocat, &c. ; 

 Mosheim Eccl. II. vol. iii. p. 36, and Flacii Testes Veritatis (sub nomine). Bergman 

 mentions him as one of the earliest writers who notice distilled vinous spirits. 



