"226 His tort/ of Alchymy. 



oldest of the alchymists ; there can, however be very little doubt 

 that the writings attributed to him are entirely spurious. The 

 Tractatus Aureus, or Golden Work, is evidently a farrago of oc- 

 cult philosophy belonging to a much later period. Hermes at 

 the outset is made to apologize for divulging the secrets of the 

 black art. " I should never have revealed them," says he, 

 " had not the fear of eternal judgment, or the hazard of the 

 perdition of my soul prevailed with me, for such a concealment. 

 It is a debt I am willing to pay to the just, even as the Father of 

 the just has liberally bestowed it upon me." After this prelude, 

 we might expect to be let into some of the mysteries of alchymy, 

 but our curiosity is quickly disappointed by finding that they 

 are only revealed to the eyes and ears of the sons of art ; " not 

 to the profane, the unworthy, and the scoffers, who, being as 

 greedy dogs, wolves and foxes, are not to feed at our divine 

 fepast." The reader is then conducted into what is termed 

 the innermost chamber, and regaled with a history and explica- 

 tion of various matters relating to the philosopher's stone, by 

 means of which " through the permission of the Omnipotent, 

 the greatest disease is cured, and sorrow, distress, evil, and 

 every hurtful thing evaded ; by help of which we pass from 

 darkness to light, from a desert and wilderness to a habitation 

 and home, and from straightness and necessities to a large and 

 ample estate." Wa are then directed " to catch the flying 

 bird," by which is meant quicksilver ; " and drown it so that it 

 may fly no more ;" this is what is afterwards termed the fixation 

 of mercury, by uniting it to gold. It is then to be plunged in- 

 to the " well of the philosophers," or aqua regia, " by which 

 its soul will be dissipated, and its corporeal particles united to 

 the red eagle," or muriate of gold. 



We may, however, at once cut short these observations by re- 

 marking, that all the details bear upon increasing the weight of 

 gold by the influence of mercury, and this imaginary document of 

 Hermes will suffice as an example of all the earliest alchymical 

 authors. 



Geber is another great name in the history of alchymy ; 

 though the exact period at which he lived is unknown, it was 



