206 SCIENCE IN GRECO-ROMAN ANTIQUITY 



Chemistry, or better Chymistry, comes from the Greek 

 word %vna (fusion). 1 



This same Zosimus traces the origin of chemical 

 science back to the epoch before the Flood, when, 

 according to the story of Genesis (ch. vi) afterwards 

 enlarged in the Book of Enoch, the sons of God married 

 the daughters of men. In order to seduce the latter, 

 one of the former, the angel Asasel, revealed to them 

 the secrets of the healing properties of plants and the 

 beauty of artificial jewels. Hence the diabolical 

 character of Chemistry. 



The writings of Zosimus certainly contain valuable 

 information as to the treatment and alloying of metals, 

 the fabrication of precious stones, and even describe 

 interesting processes of distillation ; but they are 

 cumbered with gnostic and magical ideas which per- 

 sisted for centuries ; and these gave to alchemy the 

 character of an occult science feared by the unlearned, 

 because its secrets belonged rather to demons than to 

 God. 



However, notwithstanding these mystical dreams, 

 the researches of the Alchemists were directed by ideas 

 of a philosophical and even scientific nature. 



As we have seen, the Ionians, from the dawn of 

 Greek philosophy, admitted that matter is one in its 

 essence, but that it can assume various forms. 



A century later, Empedocles formed the conception 

 of two imponderable media, one endowed with the 

 power of attraction, the other with the power of dis- 

 integration. These two media constantly acted on the 

 four constituent elements of matter, namely, water, 

 earth, air and fire. They ceaselessly united and 

 separated these elements, and in this manner worlds 

 and phenomena were evolved. 



At almost the same epoch Democritus boldly postu- 

 lated the existence of empty space, and established the 

 1 10 Diels, Antike, p. no. 



