Tin; TUANsMiTA rioN OF Till': kli-:m1':\ts. 



Hv 11. >TANLi:V RI.I)(.K()\i:, r..Sc. (LoNU.), F.C.S. 



1. — TiiK TilKOKncs ov Tiiic Alciii:mists. of metals and other substances by means of such 



Thk alchemists have, in the past, been too harshly doctrines physically interpreted. 



judged. Their views were certainly fantastic in Their elements (earth, water, air and fire) were not 



form, their method of gaining truth unreliable; but different sorts of matter, but different properties 



thev were not fools who hid their folly under an manifested by the one matter. .Mystical theology 



unintelligible phrase- 

 olog\-, nor were they 

 mere seekers after 

 material wealth. We are, 

 of course, referring to the 

 genuine alchemists, not 

 to the horde of s\\ indlers. 

 who in .\lchemy's later 

 da\s adopted the alchem- 

 istic guise for sinister 

 purposes. The alchem- 

 ists were philosophers 

 who held a certain view 

 as to the nature of the 

 Cosmos, which they 

 attempted todemonstrate 

 bv experiments on metals 

 and allied substances.* 

 The final proof of their 

 theory, they believed. 

 would be found in the 

 transmutation of the 

 " base" metals into gold : 

 and it was as the final 

 proof of their theor\' that 

 they so ardently toiled to 

 achieve this transmuta- 

 tion. As one of them 

 exclaims, " Would to 

 God . . . all men might 

 become adepts in our art 

 — for then gold, the great 

 idol of mankind, would 

 lose its value, and we 

 should prize it only for 



Portrait of Tlieoplirast Bombast voii Huliuiilieiiii, called 



Paracelsus (1493-1541), from an enfjraving by Gaywood after 



Riibcns. 



its scientific teaching. 



There was a maxim beloved hv all the alchemists, 

 which briefly formulates the basic princi|)le of their 

 system. It runs — " What is below is as that which 

 is above, what is above is as that which is below." 

 The alchemistic theory of the Cosmos was mystical, 

 it asserted the unity of all things and relied chiefly 

 on analogy as its organon of thought. In particular, 

 the alchemists believed that there was an analogical 

 relation between the metals and man as a siiiritual 

 being. The\- attempted to transfuse mystical 

 theological doctrines concerning man and his tlestiny 

 into physics, explaining the properties and bo]ia\iour 



asserts that man is 

 triune, consisting of 

 body, soul (^will and 

 affections) and spirit 

 (=intelligence). The al- 

 chemists were, therefore, 

 led to the idea that there 

 are three principles in 

 the metals, generated by 

 the four elements, 

 namely salt (principle of 

 stabilit}- and resistance), 

 sulphur (principle of 

 combustion and colour), 

 and mercury (the 

 essentially metallic prin- 

 ciple!. MoreoNcr, still 

 following mystical 

 theology and arguing by 

 analogy, they asserted 

 that, whilst there is only 

 one mercury, there are 

 two sulphurs, one inward 

 and pure, the other out- 

 ward and gross : and that 

 gold, the most perfect 

 metal, is produced when 

 pure mercur\' is matured 

 by the action of pure, 

 inward sulphur. Of 

 course, this notion of 

 three principles under- 

 hing all things, like the 

 other alchemistic hypo- 

 theses, was not formulated at once, but was the 

 result of man\- generations of speculative thought. 

 This particular notion became very generally 

 believed in after Paracelsus"s vigorous championship 

 of it. (See Figure 287.) 



In gold, the beautiful metal which entirely resisted 

 the jiowers of their furnaces j)ermanently to alter 

 its nature, they saw a symbol of perfected humanity. 

 whilst lead, the unlovel\' metal so readily converted 

 into a " calx " by fire, they regarded as an analogue 

 of unregeneratc man. They believed, in accordance 

 with their fundamental principle, that all the metals 

 are produced from one seed in Nature's womb by 



For a fuller discussion of Alchemy and the alchemists, with particular reference to the relation between .Alchemy and 

 Modern Science, see the present writer's "Alchemy: Ancient and Modern" (Rider, 1911). 



