THE PATH OF EVOLUTION 



reasoning that caused the quest was logical and the 

 desired conclusion most probable, if only the prem- 

 ises assumed were correct. Unfortunately they were 

 not so ; but, like the mirage in the desert, the hoped 

 for result seemed ever near, but was never reached. 

 It was believed that an agent, if ever found, thus 

 powerful over the refractory metals, must likewise be 

 so over the human body. Its zealous pursuers mis- 

 understood or took in a literal sense, the enigmatical 

 phrases and recipes of the masters of the art ; thus 

 the Philosopher's Stone or " Powder of Projection," 

 as it was often called, became also the Elixir of life 

 to be sought for as the cure for all the ills that af- 

 fected the body, and the prolonger indefinitely of 

 human existence. 



Introduced into Constantinople as early as the 

 fourth century, Alchemy was practiced there exten- 

 sively. After the establishment of Mohammedanism 

 it was carried by the Arab, Geber, to a high degree 

 of perfection. Offering to its adherents the greatest 

 prizes this world could give, and quite consistent in 

 its theories and principles with the knowledge of the 

 time, it drew to itself men of all degrees, from the 

 college, the cloister and the throne. Beside the 

 Arabs Geber, Avicennes, Averrhoes the Christians, 

 Roger Bacon, Albertus Magnus, Raymond Lully, 

 Paracelsus and even Henry VI. of England, were 



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