CHAPTER XXVI. 



CHEMISTRY AND ALCHEMY CHEMICAL COMBINATIONS THE 



ATMOSPHERIC AIR. 



WE have in the foregoing pages given some experiments, and con- 

 sidered several of the metals, but there are numerous very interesting 

 subjects still remaining ; indeed, the number is so great that we can 

 only pick and choose. All people are desirous to hear something of the 

 atmosphere, of water, and the earth ; and as we proceed to speak of 

 crystals and minerals, and so on to geology, we shall learn a good deal 

 respecting our globe its confirmation and constituents. But the atmo- 

 spheric air must be treated of first. This will lead us to speak of oxygen 

 and nitrogen. Water will serve to introduce hydrogen with a few experi- 

 ments, and thus we shall have covered a good deal of ground on our way 

 towards various other elements in daily use and appreciation. Now let us 

 begin with -a few words concerning CHEMISTRY itself. 



At the very outset we are obliged to grope in the dark after the 

 origin of this fascinating science. Shem, or " Chem," the son of Noah, has 

 been credited with its introduction, and, at any rate, magicians were in 

 Egypt in the time of Moses, and the lawgiver is stated by ancient writers 

 to have gained his knowledge from the Egyptians. But we need not 

 pursue that line of argument. In more modern times the search for the 

 Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir of Life, which respectively turned 

 everything to gold, and bestowed long life upon the fortunate finder, 

 occupied many people, who in their researches no doubt discovered the 

 germs of the popular science of Chemistry in Alchemy, while the pursuit 

 took a firm hold of the popular imagination for centuries ; and even now 

 chemistry is the most favoured science, because of its adaptability to all 

 minds, for it holds plain and simple truths for our every-day experience to 

 confirm, while it leads us step by step into the infinite, pleasing us with 

 experiments as we proceed. 



Alchemy was practised by numerous quacks in ancient times and the 

 Middle Ages, but all its professors were not quacks. Astrology and alchemy 

 were associated by the Arabians. Geber was a philosopher who devoted 



