20 NEW CHAPTERS IN THE WARFARE OF SCIENCE. 



according to the Scriptures, possessed the united wisdom of heaven 

 and earth; but King Solomon knew nothing about alchemy (or 

 chemistry in the form which then existed), and sent his vessels to 

 Ophir to seek gold, and levied taxes upon his subjects ; ergo 

 alchemy (or chemistry) has no reality or truth." And we find 

 that Becher is absolutely turned away from his labors, and obliged 

 to devote himself to proving that Solomon used more money than 

 he possibly could have obtained from Ophir or his subjects, and 

 therefore that he must have possessed a knowledge of chemical 

 methods and the philosopher's stone as the result of them.* 



Of the general reasoning enforced by theology regarding 

 physical science, every age has shown examples ; yet out of them 

 all I will select but two, and I present these because they show 

 how this mixture of theological with scientific ideas took hold 

 upon the strongest supporters of better reasoning even after the 

 power of mediaeval theology seemed broken. 



The first of these examples is Melanchthon. He was the scholar 

 of the Reformation, and justly won the title " Preceptor of Ger- 

 many " ; his mind was singularly open, his sympathies broad, and 

 his freedom from bigotry drew down upon him that wrath of 

 Protestant heresy-hunters which embittered the last years of his 

 life and tortured him upon his death-bed. During his career at 

 the University of Wittenberg he gave a course of lectures on 

 physics. In this he dwells upon scriptural texts as affording sci- 



* For an extract from Agrippa's Occulta Philosophia giving examples of the way in which 

 mystical names were obtained from the Bible, see Rydberg, Magic of the Middle Ages, pp. 

 143 et seq. For the germs of many mystic beliefs regarding number and the like, which 

 were incorporated into mediaeval theology, see Zeller, Plato and the Older Academy, English 

 translation pp. 254 and 572, and elsewhere. As to the connection of spiritual things with 

 inorganic Nature in relation to chemistry, see Eicken, p. 634. On the injury to science 

 wrought by Platonism acting through mediaeval theology, see Hoefer, Histoire de la Chimie, 

 vol. i, p. 90. As to the influence of mysticism upon strong men in science, see Hoefer ; 

 also Kopp, Geschichte der Alchemic, vol. i, p. 211. For a very curious Catholic treatise on 

 sacred numbers, see the Abb6 Auber, Symbolisme Religieux, Paris, 1870 ; and for an 

 equally important Protestant work, see Samuell, Seven the Sacred Number, London, 1887. 

 It is interesting to note that the latter writer, having been forced to give up the seven 

 planets, consoles himself with the statement that " The earth is the seventh planet, count- 

 ing from Neptune and calling the asteroids one " (see p. 426). For the electrum magicum, 

 the seven metals composing it, and its wonderful qualities, see extracts from Paracelsus's 

 writings in Hartmun's Life of Paracelsus, London, 1887, pp. 169 et seq. For Basil Valen- 

 tine's view, see Hoefer, vol. i. pp. 453-465; Schmieder, Geschichte der Alchemic, pp. 197- 

 209 ; Allgemeine deutsche Biographic, article Basiling. For the discussions referred to on 

 possibilities of God assuming forms of stone, or log, or beast, see Lippert, Christenthum, 

 Volk.-glaube, und Volksbrauch, pp. 372, 373, where citations are given, etc. For the syllo- 

 gism regarding Solomon, see Figuier, L' Alchemic et les Alchemistes, pp. 106, 107. For 

 careful appreciation of Becher's position in the history of chemistry, see Kopp, Ansichten 

 tiber die Aufgabe der Chemie, etc., von Geber bis Stahl, Braunschweig, 1875, pp. 201 et 

 seq. For the text proving the existence of the philosopher's stone from the book of Revela- 

 tion, see Figuier, p. 22. 



