OF criEMIStRY. 3 



lurgic chemistry was well understood at that time ; for copper And 

 iron are ef all the metals most difficultly extracted from their ores, 

 and cannot, even in our days, be rendered malleable without much 

 skill and trouble ; and it prores also, that the arts in general, were 

 in an improved state amongst the antediluvians. It is said, indeed, 

 that some tribes of Hottentots (who can have no pretensions to be 

 ranked amongst the cultivators of the arts) know how to melt both 

 iron and copper* ; but this knowledge of theirs, if they have not 

 derived it from an intercourse with the Europeans, is a very extraor- 

 dinary circumstance, since the melting and manufacturing of metals 

 are justly considered, in general, as indications of a more advanced 

 state of civilization than the Hottentots hare yet arrived at. Hut 

 not to dwell upon this; Cain we know built a city, and some would 

 thence infer, that metals were in use before the time of Tuhal-cain, 

 and that he is celebrated principally for his ingenuity in fabricating 

 thf-m for domestic purposes. History seems to support our pre. 

 tensions thus far. As to the opinion of those who, too zealously 

 contending for the dignity of chemistry, make the discovery of 

 its masteries to have been the pretium dmoris which angels paid 

 to the fair daughters of men, we, in this age, are more disposed to 

 apologize for it, than td adopt it. We may say of arts, what the 

 Roman historian has said of -tat * datur hccc venta antiqui(att' 9 

 ut 9 miscendo humana divinity primordia artium augustiora 

 facial t. 



For many ages after the flood, we have no certain, accounts of 

 the state of chemistry. The art of making wine, indeed, was 

 known, if not before, soon after the delug" ; this may be collected 

 from the intoxication of Noah |, there being no inebriating qua. 

 lity in the un fermented juice of the grape. The Egyptians were 

 skilled in the manufacturing of metals, in medicinal chemistry, and 

 in the art of embalming dead bodies, long before the time of Moses; 

 as appears from the mention made of Joseph's cup , and from the 

 physicians being ordered to embalm the body of Jacob j|. They 

 practised also the arts of dying, and of making coloured glass, at a 

 Tery early period ; as has been gathered, not only from the testi- 

 mony of Strabo, but from the relics found with their mummies, 

 and from the glass beads with which their mummies are sometime* 



Forster's Voy. vol. ).p. 81. ^ Gen. iz. 81. 



t Livy'i Pnef. U Gen. I. *, 



| Gen. xlif. 2, 



