10 Proceedings of the Roycd Physical Society. 



value. Absurd, however, as the aspirations of the alchemists 

 were in their attempt to produce the philosopher's stone and 

 the water of life, they were not altogether without value, as 

 frequently in these gropings in the dark they stumbled upon 

 some valuable scientific truths, thereby acquiring an ac- 

 quaintance, more or less perfect, with very many chemical 

 compounds. 



Passing on about a century and a half from Bacon's time, 

 we come to Basil Valentine, who was born in the year 1394, 

 and who in some respects deserves to be ranked as one of the 

 most celebrated of the alchemists. He wrote very extensively, 

 and was careful enough to take measures to ensure the pre- 

 servation of his works. He buried them in the wall of a 

 church at Erfiirt — his native place — where they lay in safety 

 for a long time, and were discovered ultimately, many years 

 after his death, by the aid of a thunderbolt, which shattered 

 the wall and exposed the treasures to view. 



Valentine agreed so far with Geber as to say that the 

 metals were composed of sulphur and mercury. He, how- 

 ever, added another ingredient, viz., salt — the metals, accord- 

 ing to his ideas, being composed of these three substances. 



Valentine was acquainted with many of our chemical pre- 

 parations, such as acetate of lead, sulphide of arsenic, ful- 

 minating gold, nitrate of mercury, etc. He also, we are aware, 

 knew how to manufacture sulphuric and nitric acids. To 

 obtain the former he distilled sulphate of iron, a plan still 

 practised in Germany for obtaining what is known as fuming 

 sulphuric acid, a material much stronger than our English 

 acid. Valentine's name, however, is principally identified with 

 antimony, and his most important work is one devoted to the 

 discussion of that metal and some of its compounds. He 

 worked indeed so zealously, and to such good purpose, in this 

 field, that up even to the beginning of the present century very 

 little, if any, additional information had been gathered respect- 

 ing antimony or its compounds. Valentine is said to have 

 given the metal the name it now bears, which was derived from 

 the result of a physiological experiment he had made. The 

 story is told that on one occasion he administered a dose of 

 antimony to some of his convent pigs, who thrived upon it. 



