CH. IX. PARACELSUS AND VAN HELMONT. 73 



though he did not describe them clearly, and he particularly 

 mentions the gas which rises from beer and other liquids 

 which ferment. He called this Gas sylvcstrc. The chief 

 thing to remember about Van Helmont is that he was the 

 first writer to use the word ' gas/ which he took from the 

 German word ' geist,' meaning 'spirit.' 



Chief Works consulted. — Rees's 'Encyclopaedia,' art. 'Coperni- 

 cus;*  Encyclopaedia Metropolitana,' art. 'Astronomy;' 'Biographic 

 Universelle,' art. 'Copernicus;' Gassendi's 'Life of Copernicus ; ' 

 'Encyclopaedia," art. 'Anatomy;' Cuvier, ' Histoire des Sciences 

 Naturelles,' 1845; D'Orbigny, 'Diet, des Sciences Naturelles' — In- 

 troduction; 'Encyclopaedia,' art. 'Botany;' Hoefer, ' Histoire de la 

 rfcysique et de la Chimie,' 1850. 



