xxviii. PREFACE 



this subject, but £ill are difficult to follow, because the writers upon these 

 things use strange names, which do not properly belong to the metals, and 

 because some of them employ now one name and now another, invented by 

 themselves, though the thing itself changes not. These masters teach their 

 disciples that the base metals, when smelted, are broken up ; also they teach 

 the methods by which they reduce them to the primary parts and 

 remove whatever is superfluous in them, and by supplying what is 

 wanted make out of them the precious metals — that is, gold and silver, — 

 all of which they carry out in a crucible. Whether they can do these things 

 or not I cannot decide ; but, seeing that so many writers assure us with all 

 earnestness that they have reached that goal for which they aimed, it would 

 seem that faith might be placed in them ; yet also seeing that we do not 

 read of any of them ever having become rich by this art, nor do we now see 

 them growing rich, although so many nations everywhere have produced, and 

 are producing, alchemists, and all of them are straining every nerve night and 

 day to the end that they may heap a great quantity of gold and sUver, I should 

 say the matter is dubious. But although it may be due to the carelessness 

 of the writers that they have not transmitted to us the names of the masters 

 who acquired great wealth through this occupation, certainly it is clear that 

 their disciples either do not understand their precepts or, if they do under- 

 stand them, do not follow them ; for if they do comprehend them, seeing that 

 these disciples have been and are so numerous, they would have by to-day filled 



give anything but the most casual notes as to the personages here mentioned and their 

 writings. Aside from the classics and religious works, the libraries of the Middle Ages teemed 

 with more material on Alchemy than on any other one subject, and since that date a never- 

 ending stream of historical, critical, and discursive volumes and tracts devoted to the old 

 Alchemists and their writings has been poured upon the world. A collection recently sold 

 in London, relating to Paracelsus alone, embraced over seven hundred volumes. 



Of many of the Alchemists mentioned by Agricola little is really known, and no 

 two critics agree as to the commonest details regarding many of them ; in fact, an endless 

 confusion springs from the negligent habit of the lesser Alchemists of attributing the author- 

 ship of their writings to more esteemed members of their own ilk, such as Hermes, Osthanes, etc., 

 not to mention the palpable spuriousness of works under the names of the real philosophers, 

 such as Aristotle, Plato, or Moses, and even of Jesus Christ. Knowledge of many of the 

 authors mentioned by Agricola does not extend beyond the fact that the names mentioned 

 are appended to various writings, in some instances to MSS yet unpublished. They may 

 have been actual persons, or they may not. Agricola undoubtedly had perused such 

 manuscripts and books in some leading library, as the quotation from Boerhaave given later 

 shows. Shaw (A New Method of Chemistry, etc., London, 1753. Vol. I, p. 25) considers 

 that the large number of such manuscripts in the European libraries at this time were 

 composed or transcribed by monks and others living in Constantinople, Alexandria, and 

 Athens, who fled westward before the Turkish invasion, bringing their works with them. 



For purposes of this summary we group the names mentioned by Agricola, the first 

 class being of those who are known only as names appended to MSS or not identifiable at 

 all. Possibly a more devoted student of the history of Alchemy would assign fewer names to 

 this department of oblivion. They are Maria the Jewess, Orus Chrysorichites, Chanes, 

 Petasius, Pebichius, Theophilus, Callides, Veradianus, Rodianus, Canides, the maiden 

 Taphnutia, Johannes, Augustinus, and Africanus. The last three are names so common as not 

 to be possible of identification without more particulars, though Johannes may be the Johannes 

 Rupeseissa (1375), an alchemist of some note. Many of these names can be found among 

 the Bishops and Prelates of the early Christian Church, but we doubt if their owners would 

 ever be identified with such indiscretions as open, avowed alchemy. The Theophilus 

 mentioned might be the metal-working monk of the 12th Century, who is further discussed 

 in Appendix B on Ancient Authors. 



In the next group fall certain names such as Osthanes, Hermes, Zosimus, Agathodaemon, 

 and Democritus, which have been the watchwords of authority to Alchemists of all ages. 

 These certainly possessed the great secrets, either the philosopher's stone or the elixir. 



