ALCHEMY 



creative Spirit; and, having thus said, to question 

 further was unwise, if not impious. 



The students of Alchemy were not always so very 

 docile. Without discussing the abstract nature of 

 the Divine Spirit, many believed that other spirits 

 existed, and that each controlled certain of the four 

 elements : the air, fire, water and the earth, of which 

 all things were made. Most of these elementary 

 Spirits were thought to be negative in their character, 

 neither good nor evil. Others, though, were unques- 

 tionably evil, but could be induced to render aid to 

 one person in order to injure another, or give a 

 present and immediate help, to be paid for in a distant 

 future. Many formula for incantation and conjura- 

 tion existed in books of Magic, and were taught by 

 the professors of the art as being an indispensable 

 aid. The Church did not question the verity of these 

 Spiritual Existences as much even as did many of the 

 Alchemists, but viewed them all as beings from Hell, 

 and that they were Devils, or the children of the Devil. 



It was natural, therefore, that the Church should 

 look with disfavor upon the practice of the art ; but 

 many men of high positions within its fold, as we 

 have seen, were active therein, and the temporal 

 fortune of the Church might even itself profit through 

 the Philosopher's Stone. Its study and practice, 

 therefore, were not exactly prohibited, yet the fol- 



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