I 7 6 



CHEMISTRY AND ALCHEMY. 



Greeks were acquainted with the hermetic science, the origin of which has 

 been traced back to the mythical Hermes (Fig. 126), and which was after- 

 wards termed alchemy (by the adjunction of the Arabic article al to the Greek 

 word x?7ju.a) , when the sacred art, the art of the philosophers of the school 

 of Alexandria, transformed under the influence of Mahometan civilisation, 

 began to spread throughout the ancient world. 



The Bagdad academy, founded by the Caliph Al-Mansour, rivalled in 

 lustre with the Christian school of Dschindisabour. The Caliphs Haroun Al- 

 Raschid, Al-Mamoun, and Motawakkel gave a great impetus during the ninth 



Fig. 126. The Alchemist Hermes. After an Engraving by Vriese. 



century to the sciences of observation, to the experimental methods, and con- 

 sequently to physics and chemistry. In a few instances men of superior 

 intelligence shook themselves free of the purely theosophical views which had 

 too long influenced, to the exclusion of all others, the Eastern philosophers, 

 and sought in chemistry for something higher than the chimerical transmuta- 

 tion of metals. 



Two men of great scientific repute appeared in the East early in the 

 dghth century : these were Al-Chindus, who, by a series of ingenious 

 experiments, was one of the first to discover the secrets of .nature, and the 



