V 

 TRANSMUTATION OF THE METALS 



HE " accursed thirst for gold " has existed from 

 the earliest ages and, as the apostle says, " is the 

 root of all evil." Those who have a greed for 

 power, a craving for luxury, or a fever for lust, 

 all think that their wildest dreams might be realized if 

 they could only command sufficient gold. Never was 

 there a more lurid picture of a mind inflamed with all these 

 evil passions than that set forth by Ben Jonson in the 

 Second Act of " The Alchemist," and who can doubt but 

 that such desires and dreams spurred on many, either to 

 engage in an actual search for the philosopher's stone, or 

 to become the dupes of what Van Helmont calls " a dia- 

 bolical crew of gold and silver sucking flies and leeches." 



As we might naturally expect, the early history of 

 alchemy is shrouded in myths and fables. Zosimus the 

 Panapolite tells us that the art of Alchemy was first 

 taught to mankind by demons, who fell in love with the 

 daughters of men, and, as a reward for their favors, taught 

 them all the works and mysteries of nature. On this 

 Boerhaave remarks : 



" This ancient fiction took its rise from a mistaken in- 

 terpretation of the words of Moses, * That the sons of God 

 saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they 

 took them wives of all which they chose. ' l From whence 

 it was inferred that the sons of God were daemons, con- 

 sisting of a soul, and a visible but impalpable body, like 



1 Genesis vi, 2. 

 79 



