224. PHYSICAL SCIENCE IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 



Francis Bacon, are examples of this. These, or most of them, rejected 

 all the more obvious and extravagant absurdities with which the sub- 

 ject had been loaded ; but still conceived that some real and valuable 

 truth remained when all these were removed. Thus Campanella, 20 

 whom we shall have to speak of as one of the first opponents of Aris- 

 totle, wrote an " Astrology purified from all the Superstitions of the 

 Jews and Arabians, and treated physiologically." 



4. Alchemy. — Like other kinds of Mysticism, Alchemy seems to 

 have grown out of the notions of moral, personal, and mythological 

 qualities, which men associated with terms, of which the primary ap- 

 plication was to physical properties. This is the form in which the 

 subject is presented to us in the earliest writings which we possess on 

 the subject of chemistry ; — those of Geber 21 of Seville, who is supposed 

 to have lived in the eighth or ninth century. The very titles of Ge- 

 ber's works show the notions on which this pretended science proceeds. 

 They are, " Of the Search of Perfection ;" " Of the Sum of Perfection, 

 or of the Perfect Magistery ;" " Of the Invention of Verity, or Perfec- 

 tion." The basis of this phraseology is the distinction of metals into 

 more or less perfect; gold being the most perfect, as being the most 

 valuable, most beautiful, most pure, most durable ; silver the next ; 

 and so on. The " Search of Perfection" was, therefore, the attempt to 

 convert other metals into gold ; and doctrines were adopted which rep- 

 resented the metals as all compounded of the same elements, so that 

 this was theoretically possible. But the mystical trains of association 

 were pursued much further than this ; gold and silver were held to be 

 the most noble of metals ; gold was their King, and silver their Queen. 

 Mythological associations were called in aid of these fancies, as had 

 been done in astrology. Gold was Sol, silver was Luna, the moon ; 

 copper, iron, tin, lead, were assigned to Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. 

 The processes of mixture and heat were spoken of as personal actions 

 and relations, struggles and victories. Some elements were conquer- 

 ors, some conquered ; there existed preparations which possessed the 

 power of changing the whole of a body into a substance of another 

 kind : these were called rnagisteriesP When gold and quicksilver are 

 combined, the king and the queen are married, to produce children of 

 their own kind. It will easily be conceived, that when chemical oper- 

 ations were described in phraseology of this sort, the enthusiasm of the 



m Bacon, Dc Aug. iii. 4. 21 Thomson's Hist, of Cliem. i. 117. 



32 Boyle, Thomson's Hist. Ch. i. 25. Carolus Musitanus. 



