OF THE ORIGIN OF CHEMISTRY. 41 



filence, and, althowgh they poflcflcd fcarce any 

 lecrcts for carrying on what they called the 

 great work, yet did they involve that art, which 

 they pretended to dcfcribe, in fo many abftrufe 

 hieroglyphics, figns, and cxprcffions, as not only 

 to prevent others from receiving information, 

 but alfo to conceal their own ignorance under 

 the thick covering of fuch darkncfs. Some wri- 

 ters imagine, that the table of Hermes alludes 

 to this art, and that jt is concealed alfo in the gol- 

 den chain of Homer. Others, with more pro- 

 bability, believe it to exifl metaphorically in the 

 Golden Fleece of the Argonauts. Johannes of 

 Antiochus, who lived during the reign of Hera- 

 clius, and after him Suidas, are cxprefsly of opi- 

 nion, that it is undcrftood in the Golden Fleece. 



ru; Ji7 /.* ><"*< ^"-9 *f)-affif$ai yiyrxufin)*. BciUlCS, it 



is well known, that the ancients did not fpeak 

 only of books, under the name of ikins ; but, as 

 we are informed by Plutarch, 200,000 books*, 

 that were taken from the libraries of the kings 

 of Pergamus 'ind which Anthony prefcntcd to 

 Cleopatra, were all written on the hides of goats. 

 The prbfeflbrs of this art explain to us the way, 

 alfo, in which the knowledge of their great work 

 reached as faras Colchis. According to Strabo, 

 Sefoftris did not overrun Ethiopia, Trogloditica, 

 and Arabia, only, but he pafled through all Afia, 

 like wife, and crc&ed temples in various places*. 

 From hence the antiquity of chemiftry among 



the 



? Ccogr. 1. xvi. 



