CHEMISTRY. 



Hi;ory. to the west of Europe. Those who believed in it 

 N ^"~i~"'*' gradually assumed the form of a ect t under the name 

 Th* Alchr- of Alrhi/miflt, a term which i* supposed to be merely 

 *> the word thrmist with the Arabian article til pre- 



fixed. Thus the word chemistry, originally the 

 same with natural philosophy, was at last, in conse- 

 quence of a very whimsical revolution, applied solely 

 to the art of making gold. 



The alchymiots laid it down as a first principle, 

 that all the metals are composed of the same ingre- 

 dients ; or rather they affirmed, that the principles 

 which compose gold exist in all the metals, conta- 

 minated indeed with various impurities, but capable, 

 by a proper purification, of being brought to its per- 

 fect state. . The great object, therefore, of their re- 

 searches, was to find out the means of producing 

 this purification, and consequently of converting the 

 baser metals into gold. The substance which pos- 

 sesses this wonderful property they called lapis phi- 

 lotonhorum, or the philosopher*' itone. And many 

 of them boasted, that they were in possession of this 

 grand instrument. 



Chemistry, as the term was used by the alchy- 

 raists, was the art of malting the philosophers' stone. 

 They affirmed, that this art was above the reach of 

 the human capacity ; and that it was made known 

 by God to those happy sages only whom he pecu- 

 liarly favoured. The fortunate few who were ac- 

 quainted with the philosophers' stone called them- 

 selves adfpii, adepts, that is, persons who bad got 

 possession of the secret. This secret, they pretended, 

 they were not at liberty to reveal, affirming that dire 

 misfortune would fall upon that man's head who ven- 

 tured to disclose it to any of the sons of men, with- 

 out the clearest tokens of the divine authority. 



The alchymists, in consequence of these notions, 

 made it a rule to keep themselves as private as pos- 

 sible. They concealed, with the greatest care, their 

 opinions, their knowledge, and their pursuits. And 

 in their communications with each other, they adopt- 

 ed a mystical and metaphorical slilc, and employed 

 peculiar figures and signs, that their writings might 

 be understood by the adepts only, and might be en- 

 tirely unintelligible to common readers. 



Notwithstanding all these obstacles, a great num- 

 ber of alchymistical books made their appearance 

 during the dark ages j many of them under the real 

 names of the authors, but a still greater number un- 

 der feigned titles, or ascribed to the celebrated sages 

 of antiquity. Though, during the whole of this 

 period, the art of printing was unknown, and books 

 consequently were multiplied with great labour and 

 rxpence, this does not seem to have much lessened 

 the number of alchymistical tracts. They must, 

 therefore, have been bought up with eagerness, even 

 by those who had no pretensions to the title of 

 adepts ; but who were buoyed up by the delusive 

 hopes of becoming masters of the grand occret, and 

 nf ouddenly rising by its assistance to affluence and 

 distinction. 



How far the alchymistical sect had extended a- 



mong the ancients, or whether it had asoumcd the 



form of a sect, it ii impossible to say. Traces of it 



appear among the Arabians, who turned their .-tteu. 



-.1 to literature soon after the conquest of the ca- 



liphs, and who communicated to our barbarous an- HUtory. 

 cestors the sacred seeds of science. The principal """" ~~~ 

 chemical writers among the Arabians were Geber 

 and Avicenna; and in their writings, such of them 

 at least as we have reason to consider as authentic, 

 there appears but little of that mysticism and enigma 

 which after wards assumed a systematic form. 



The alchymists seem to have been established in 

 the west of Europe at least as early as the 8th cen- 

 tury. Between the llth and 15th centuries, alchy- 

 my was in its most flourishing state. The writers 

 who appeared during that period were sufficiently 

 numerous, and very different from each other, both 

 in their style and abilities. Some of their writings 

 are totally unintelligible, and bear a stronger resem- 

 blance to the reveries of madmen, than to the sober 

 investigations of philosophers. Others, if you make 

 allowance for their metaphorical style, are written 

 with comparative plainness, display considerable a- 

 cutene*s, and indicate a pretty extensive acquaintance 

 witli natural objects. They often reason with great 

 accuracy, though generally from mistaken principles; 

 and it is not unfrequently easy enough to ee the 

 accuracy of their experiment, and even to point out 

 the particular circumstance which led to their wrong 

 conclusions. 



The principal alchymists who flourished in Europe 

 during the dark ages, and whose names deserve to be 

 recorded, either on account of their discoveries, or 

 on account of the influence which their writings and 

 example had in determining the public taste, were 

 Albcrtus Magnus, Arnoldus de Villa Nova, Roger 

 Bacon, Raymond Lully, and the two Isaacs of Hol- 

 land. 



Albert us Magnus was born in the year 1205, and AIbertu 

 died in 1280. He was a German, and, during the -Magnus, 

 early part of his life, was so remarkable for his dul- 

 ness, that he became the jest of his acquaintances. 

 When about 17, he appeared at the university of 

 Paris, where he studied with eclat, and where after- 

 wards he obtained the title of doctor. He joined the 

 order of Dominican Monks at Cologne, and wa al- 

 so bishop of Ratisbon. His works are very nume- 

 rous ; but those relating to chemistry are only three 

 tracts. 1. A treatise entitled De Alchyntia, in which 

 he gives a very distinct account of ail the chemical 

 substances known in his time, and of the manner of 

 obtaining them. He describes also, very concisely 

 and clearly, the different instruments then employed 

 by chemists, and the various operations which they 

 had occasion to perform. This treatise, therefore, is 

 of considerable value, because it exhibits with fide- 

 lity the state of chemistry in the 13th century. To- 

 wards the end, indeed, he falls into the common cant 

 of the alchymibts ; but even then he uses but little of 

 their ambiguous and metaphorical language. 2. His 

 second treatise is on Minerals, and is equally pl.iin 

 and sensible. .'!. If the third treatise, entitled Liltiim 

 lie Sjiiiiis F.ntlsiim, be genuine, it must have been 

 written at a very different period of life ; for it is iu- 

 finitely interior to the two others. 



Albertus, dunng one period of his life, taught Thonm 

 publicly in the university of Paris, where he is sa.ii Acjuin.-. . 

 to have had for a pupil the celebrated Thomas 



