

EDINBURGH ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



CHEMISTRY, 



Hittory. 



Origin. 



Original 



Mailing. 



Is the science which treats of those events or chan- 

 ges in natural bodies, that arr not accompanied' by 

 sensible motions. Its object is to ascertain the con- 

 stituents of bodies, and the laws by which the simple 

 atoms of matter unite together and form compounds. 



Neither the origin nor primitive meaning of the 

 word Chemistry, in Greek >^<i, or xtipiiM, is accu- 

 rately known. That it was used by the Greek*, at 

 least soon after the commencement of the Christian 

 era, is certain ; and many reasons coincide to render 

 it probable that it was of Egyptian origin. 



It is certain, that the pup-at, or chemistry of the 

 ancients, was the namr of an art of some kind or 

 other. Suidas, a Greek writer of the ninth centu- 

 ry, mentions this particularly in his Lexicon, under 

 tin- word xiftu*. He informs us, that it was an E 

 gyptian art, practised at least as early as the third 

 century : for Diocletian, be tells us, ordered all the 

 chemical books of the Egyptians to be sought out 

 and burnt, because they had rebelled against him. 



A great many circumstances, which it would be 

 tedious to adduce here, render it probable, that the 

 word chemistry, among the Egyptians, was, at a ve- 

 ry early period, nearly equivalent to our phrase na- 

 tural ihilnsnphy in its most extensive sense, and com 

 prehended all the knowledge of natural objects which 

 they possessed. It is well known, that among the 

 Egyptians all science was confined to the priests, 

 who, considering it as a sacred deposit, took every 

 pretMution to conceal it from the people. It is pos- 

 lible, that this was the reason why natural philoso- 

 phy got from them the name of Chrmistry, which, 

 in Plutarch's opinion at least, implied the hidden or 

 ttcrel science. 



( ( thi- pr-.greas which natural philosophy had made 

 among the Egyptians, it is impossible for us at this 

 distance of time tn judge. The secrecy which they 

 observed, precluded their improvements from being 

 fully detailed by other nations; and all their genuine 

 records and writings have been lost and destroyed in 

 the shock of the numerous revolutions to which that 



OL. vi. PARTI. . 



hapless nation has been subjected. Some gleanings History., 

 may indeed be gathered from the writings of Hero- - *~Y~~^ 

 dotus, Plato, Diodorus Siculus. Plutarch, and other 

 Grecian philosophers, who were indebted for their 

 information to the Egyptian priests, and from Euse- 

 bius, who has preserved some traces of their wri- 

 tings. From these gleanings, and from the lamp of 

 philosophy which they kindled in Greece, it is evi- 

 dent that they had made some progress in the ma- 

 thematical sciences ; but it cannot be inferred, that 

 they were acquainted with that branch of science 

 which we at present call chemistry. They were, in- 

 deed, acquainted with various chemical facts ; but 

 these had neither been classified nor generalized. 



In process of time, the word chemistry, as has Newmeaw 

 been the case with many other terms, (the English '"*> 

 word physician, for instance,) seems gradually to 

 have acquired a more limited and precise significa- 

 tion ; and instead of implying the whole of natural 

 phildSvplty, as was originally the case, to have been 

 contined to the art of working metals. This gradual 

 change seems to have been, in a g rt;dt measure^ ow- 

 ing to the great importance attached by the ancients 

 to the art of working metals. The founders and 

 improvers of it were considered as the greatest be- 

 nefactors of the human race ; statues and temples 

 were dedicated to their honour ; and mankind, in the 

 transports of their gratitude, raised them above the 

 level of humanity, and enrolled them in the number 

 of the gods. 



How long the word chemistry retained this new 

 signification, we do not know with accuracy. But 

 in the time of Dinclcsi.m. as Suidas informs us, it 

 had acquired another and still more limited meaning, 

 namely, the art of making gold and silver. The 

 cause of this new limitation, and the origin of the 

 opinion that gold can be made by art, are equally 

 unknown. The art appears to have been cultivated 

 with considerable eagerness by the Grecian ecclesias- 

 tics, to have passed from the Greeks to the Ara- 

 bians, and by the Arabians to have been brought in- 



