v] of Chemical Physiology. 125 



physiology. To him it seems we owe the idea of the three 

 ' elements,' as they were and have been called, replacing the 

 old idea of the ancients of the four elements, earth, air, fire and 

 water. It must be remembered however that both in the 

 ancient and in the new idea the word ' element ' was not intended 

 to mean that which it means to us now, a fundamental unit 

 of matter, but a general quality or property of matter. The 

 three elements of Valentine were (1) sulphur, or that which 

 is combustible, which is changed or destroyed, or which at all 

 events disappears during burning or combustion, (2) mercury, 

 that which temporarily disappears, which is dissociated in 

 burning from the body burnt, but which may be recovered, 

 that is to say, that which is volatile, and (3) salt, that which is 

 fixed, the residue or ash which remains after burning. 



To understand the beginnings of chemical physiology it is 

 important to remember the meanings attached to these three 

 words. In Valentine's mind, and long, long after him sulphur 

 did not mean the particular substance of a yellow colour, with 

 distinct atomic weight and other qualities which we now call 

 sulphur, but simply the constituent of any body, mineral, 

 vegetable, or animal, which disappeared and was apparently 

 wholly lost on burning. And so with mercury and salt. 



To this conception of the properties of matter Valentine 

 added one concerning the forces which govern and determine 

 the phenomena of the universe, chemical changes included. He 

 spoke of an archceus, or of several archcei, as being instruments 

 by which the Ruler of the Universe brought about events; 

 these were to him the embodiments of energy. 



Paracelsus was early introduced into alchemical studies while 

 he was studying under the Bishop Trithemius ; he probably learnt 

 from him the doctrines of Valentine. These seem to have taken 

 firm possession of his mind before he entered upon the ordinary 

 medical studies of the time. It may be noted that those who 

 were engaged in the search for the philosopher's stone and on 

 the attendant chemical inquiries were, as a rule, not doctors, 

 and carried on their work apart from the universities and 

 medical schools. Many, very many of them were monks, or at 

 least ecclesiastics, and pursued their investigations in solitude 



