198 



CHEMISTRY AND ALCHEMlf 



Flamel, who died in 1415, carried to the tomb the secret of the great 

 work which he declared that he had in possession, and more than a century 

 and a half elapsed before the doctrine of the Paracelsists obtained a place in 

 the University of Paris. It was only in the reign of Henry IV. that Baillif 

 de la Riviere and Joseph Duchesne, both physicians to the King, and George 

 Penot, a pupil, like them, of the Bale school, succeeded in attracting attention 

 to the name and the doctrines of the great Swiss alchemist. 



This reaction in favour of the chemical system of Paracelsus, though 

 slow and undecisive, was not the less significant. The war broke out afresh 

 between the eclectic chemists and the Paracelsists, and it was amidst this conflict 



Fig. 149. The Alchemist Morienus. After an Engraving by Vriese. 



of the two schools that chimiastrie, against which was ranged the insane 

 spiritualism of the Rosicrucians, those sectaries of mystic alchemy, was able 

 to make its way upon the as yet vaguely defined ground of general chemistry. 

 The two other branches of the science, metallurgy and technical chemistry, 

 owing to the nature of their customary application, did not encounter so 

 many obstacles, and in course of time were protected and encouraged by the 

 governments and local administrations. Venice, which had so long been 

 hostile to the psychological chemists, showed favour to the practical and 

 working chemists, and the same was the case in all the cities and states 

 where commerce throve. The metallurgists demonstrated to the public that 



