12 ESSAYS BIOGRAPHICAL AND CHEMICAL 



Yet the interminable experiments which were con- 

 ducted with a view of discovering the ' Philosopher's 

 Stone/ which should convert the baser metals into gold, 

 and the elixir vitce, which should convey undying youth 

 on its happy possessor, led to the discovery of many 

 chemical compounds. The writings of Basil Valentine, 

 reputed to have been a Benedictine monk living in South 

 Germany during the latter half of the fifteenth century, 

 contain a description of many substances, now known 

 as chemical entities, together with the methods of pre- 

 paring them. In a tract entitled ' The Great Stone of the 

 Ancients/ he gives in detail the properties of ordinary 

 sulphur; of mercury, alluding to the medicinal uses of 

 its compounds ; of antimony oxide or ' Spiessglas/ which 

 he conjectures to consist of 'much mercury, also much 

 sulphur, though little salt ' ; of copper- water, or a solution 

 of copper sulphate ; of lima potabilis or solution of silver 

 nitrate; of quick-lime; of arsenious oxide; of saltpetre. 

 The last he makes tell its own story : ' Two elements are 

 found in me, in quantity fire and air ; I contain water and 

 earth in less amount ; therefore am I fiery, burning, and 

 volatile. For a subtle spirit resides in me ; I am likest to 

 mercury inwardly hot but outwardly cold. My chief 

 enemy is common sulphur; and yet he is my greatest 

 friend, for I am purified and refined through him.' Sal- 

 ammoniac, tartar, vinegar, and above all, numerous com- 

 pounds of antimony were also described by Basil Valen- 

 tine, the last in his celebrated work entitled, The Trium- 

 phal Chariot of Antimony. In his writings, however, 

 he points out that many of the substances he describes 

 have medicinal properties ; and his successors, of whom 

 perhaps the best known was Paracelsus, developed this 

 part of his teaching. Yet in spite of his considerable 

 knowledge, he retained belief in transmutation : he also 

 added one to the previously received two principles of 



