TWO PSEUDO-SCIENCES 



seen to "rise from its ashes" and resume its original 

 form a well-known phenomenon of reducing metals 

 from oxides by the use of carbon, in the form of wheat, 

 or, for that matter, any other carbonaceous substance. 

 Wheat was, therefore, made the symbol of the resur- 

 rection of the life eternal. Oats, corn, or a piece of 

 charcoal would have "revived" the metals from the 

 ashes equally well, but the mediaeval alchemist seems 

 not to have known this. However, in this experiment 

 the metal seemed actually to be destroyed and revivi- 

 fied, and, as science had not as yet explained this 

 striking phenomenon, it is little wonder that it de- 

 ceived the alchemist. 



Since the alchemists pursued their search of the 

 magic stone in such a methodical way, it would seem 

 that they must have some idea of the appearance of 

 the substance they sought. Probably they did, each 

 according to his own mental bias ; but, if so, they sel- 

 dom committed themselves to writing, confining their 

 discourses largely to speculations as to the properties 

 of this illusive substance. Furthermore, the desire for 

 secrecy would prevent them from expressing so impor- 

 tant a piece of information. But on the subject of 

 the properties, if not on the appearance of the "es- 

 sence," they were voluminous writers. It was sup- 

 posed to be the only perfect substance in existence, 

 and to be confined in various substances, in quantities 

 proportionate to the state of perfection of the substance. 

 Thus, gold being most nearly perfect would contain 

 more, silver less, lead still less, and so on. The "es- 

 sence" contained in the more nearly perfect metals 

 was thought to be more potent, a very small quantity 



