II. 



DISINTEGRATION, 

 i. The Philosopher's Stone. 



IN the Middle or Dark Ages diligent search 

 was made for the philosopher's stone, the 

 magical material which at a touch should be 

 able to transmute all things into gold. To put 

 it less crudely, the alchemists were hard at 

 work, with the best chemical knowledge of their 

 day, trying to find the means of changing one 

 substance into another, and especially of chang- 

 ing the baser metals into gold. 



They had enormous faith in the resources 

 of their art, if they could only learn to command 

 its secrets ; and had very little idea of its 

 limitations. 



Their faith in the unlimited possibilities of 

 change in the qualities and appearances of 

 substances, was no doubt the growth of the 

 really wonderful changes in these respects 

 which soon became familiar to the merest 

 smatterer in practical chemistry. Those who 

 had seen human knowledge and control of 

 matter manifested to the extent of getting the 



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