OF THE ORIGIN OF CHEMISTRY. 43 



fkins, and from thence arofc the fable of the 

 Golden Fleece. The feigned antiquity, there- 

 fore, of the art, if it is not deflroyed altogether, 

 is at lead rendered very fufpc&cd. But although 

 MM* *on'v, or ro">t"3<"t may, in a literal fcnie, 

 mean the making of gold from its firft principles, 

 yet, with many writers, it fignifics nothing elie 

 than the feparation of this metal from its ores. 

 So, in the Latin tongue, he is called tf7/r//I\v,who 

 makes vcflcls or other utcnlils of gold. To make 

 oil furcly can mean its cxprefllun only ; andfo on 

 as to other things. If Suidas is to be credited, 

 many records of this art were dellroycd by lire 

 in the third century *. Six hundred years be- 

 fore him, Paulus Orofius, a Spamiii pried, relates 

 the fame Aory f . Tije emperor Diocletian is 

 faid to have treated the Egyptians very cruelly, 

 bccaufc they rebelled againll him, and to have 

 burnt all their books of the chemillry of gold and 

 filvcr, left they flioulil draw fuch wealth from 

 that art, as to enable them, at a future period, 

 to oppofc the authority of the Romans. From this 

 account, however, we are not led to any conclu- 

 fions: One thing only we will venture to aflert, 

 that chcmiilry, at firft fceming to fignify the in- 

 timate knowledge of bodies, came afterwards to 

 denote the making of gold and filver ; then af- 

 fumcd -r, the name of a facred and divine 

 art ; and laftly, with a foolifli ]>ridc, was enti- 

 tled 



* In Icxico. 



t Hift.1. tii. c. iC. 



