2 INTRODUCTION. 



alkali, such as potash ; and combining or mix- 

 ing them together, he found a substance pro- 

 duced which was neither acid nor alkaline. 

 This would lead him to reflection, and reflection 

 to experiment, and experiment to a certain 

 acquaintance with the properties of a number 

 of substances around or familiar to him. Such 

 a man was the first chemist. Imparting his 

 knowledge to a few, of intellects as -keen as his 

 own, in the course of ,a little time chemistry was 

 acknowledged as a distinct occupation, although, 

 from its very nature, it was confined to a few 

 persons whose delight or whose interest it was 

 to make it as mysterious a subject as possible. 

 Those who have made the deepest research into 

 this subject inform us that there can be little 

 doubt that the philosopher we have thus alluded 

 to was Hermes Trismegistus, who, in their opi- 

 nion, is to be considered as the parent of the 

 science. But it is questionable even whether 

 such a man as he of this name ever existed ; and, 

 it must be confessed, it is in our day a matter of 

 but little moment whether he ever did or not ; 

 it being sufficient for us to remember that it 

 was in Egypt, and at a very remote and hidden 

 period, that chemistry probably took its origin. 



From Egypt the knowledge of this new art 

 and mystery was carried into Arabia. Here, a 

 celebrated person of the name of Geber, a phy- 

 sician, paid great attention to it, and discovered 

 some most important facts, such as several salts, 

 acids, and metals, which appear to have been 

 either unknown to his predecessors, or to have 

 been concealed in their usual manner by de- 

 scribing them only in a language unknown to 



