Sept. 20, 1883] 



NATURE 



501 



exemption from the lot of common mortals. The emperor 

 determined to go in search of these islands, but some untoward 

 event always prevented him. 1 



Some two or three centuries after this a Taouist, named 

 Weipahyang, wrote a remarkable book called "The Uniting 

 Bond." It contains a great deal about the changes of the 

 heavenly bodies, and the mutual relation of heaven and men ; 

 and then the author proceeds to explain some transformations of 

 silver and water. About elixir he tells us " What is white when 

 first obtained becomes red after manipulation on being formed 

 into the elixir" ("tan," meaning red or elixir). "That sub- 

 stance, an inch in diameter, consists of the black and the white, 

 that is, water and metal combined. It is older than heaven and 

 earth. It is most honourable and excellent. Around it, like a 

 wall, are the sides of the cauldron. It is closed up and sealed 

 on every side, and carefully watched. The thoughts must be 

 undisturbed, and the temper calm, and the hour > f its perfection 

 anxiously waited for. The false chemist passes through various 

 operations in vain. He who is enlightened expels his evil 

 passions, is delighted morning and night, forgets fame and 

 wealth, comprehends the true objects of life, and gains super- 

 natural powers. He cannot then be scorched by fire, nor 

 drowned in water, &c, &c, . . . The cauldron is round like the 

 full moon, and the st >ve beneath is shaped like the half-moon. 

 The lead ore is symbolised by the White Tiger; and it, like 

 metal amongst the elements, belongs to the West. Mercury 

 resembles the sun, and forms itself into sparkling globes ; it is 

 symbolized by the Blue Dragon belonging to the East, and it is 

 assigned to the element wood. Gold is imperishable. Fire does 

 not injure its lustre. Like the sun and moon, it is unaffected by 

 time. Therefore the elixir is called 'the Golden Elixir.' Life 

 can be lengthened by eating the herb called Hu ma ; how much 

 more by taking the elixir, which is the essence of gold, the most 

 imperishable of all things ! The influence of the elixir, when 

 partaken of, will extend to the four limbs ; the countenance will 

 become joyful ; white hair will be turned black ; new teeth will 

 grow in the place of old ones, and age at once become youth. 

 . . . Lead ore and mercury are the bases of the proces- by which 

 the elixir is prepared ; they are the hinge upon which the prin- 

 ciples of light ami darkness revolve." 



This description suggests the idea that the elixir of the Taouists 

 was the red sulphide of mercury — vermilion — for the preparation 

 of which the Chinese are still famous. That Weipahyang 

 believed in iiis own philosophy is testified by a writer named 

 Ko-hung, who, aliout a century afterwards, wrote the lives of 

 celebrated Taouists. He tells how the philosopher, after pre- 

 paring the elixir, took it, with his disciples, into a wood, and 

 gave it first to his d'>g, then took it him-elf, and was followed by 

 one of his pupils. They all three died, but, it appears, roe to 

 life again, and to immortality. This brilliant example did not 

 remain without imitators ; indeed, two emperors of the Tang 

 family are said to have died from partaking of the elixir. This 

 circumstance diminished its popularity, and alchemy ceased to be 

 practised in the Celestial Empire. 



At the beginning of the seventh century the doctrine of Lao-tse 

 Was in great favour at the Chinese Court ; learning was en- 

 couraged, and there was much enterprise. At the same time the 

 disciples of Mohammed carried their arms and his doctrines over a 

 large portion of Asia, and even to the Flowery Land. Through- 

 out the eighth century there were frequent embassies between 

 eastern and western Asia, wars with the Caliph's, and even a 

 matrimonial alliance. We need not wonder, therefore, that the 

 teachings of the Taouist alchemists penetrated westward to the 

 Arabian philosophers. It was at this period that Yeber-Abou- 

 Moussah-Djaferal-Sofe, commonly called Geber, a Sabrean of 

 great know ledge, started what to the West was a new philosophy 

 about the transmutation of metals, the Philosopher's Stone, and 

 the Elixir of Life ; and this teaching was couched in highly 

 p-etic language, mixed with astrologv and accompanied by 

 religious directions and rites. He held that all metals were 

 composed of mercury, sulphur, and ar enic, in various propor- 

 tions, and that the noblest metal could be procured only by a 

 very lengthy purification. It was in the salts of gold and s lver 

 that he looked for the Universal Medicine. Geber himself was 

 an experimental jphilosopher, and the belief in transmu'ation 

 led to the acquirement of a considerable amount of chemical 

 knowledge amongst the alchemists of Arabia and Europe. This 



1 Nearly all the statements relating to this Taouist alchemy are derived 

 from the writings of the Rev. Jo,eph Edkins, of Pekin, and the matter is 

 treated in greater detail in an article on the "Birth of' Alchemy," in the 

 "Argonaut," v-t i'i » » 



gradually brought about a conviction that the three reputed 

 elementary bodies, mercury, sulphur, and salt or acid, were not 

 really the originators of all things. There was a transition 

 period, during which the notion was itself suffering a transmu- 

 tation. The idea became gradually clearer that all material 

 bodies were made up of certain constituents, which could not be 

 decomposed any further, and which, therefore, should be con- 

 sidered as elementary. The introduction of quantitative methods 

 compeded the overthrow of medireval chemistry, and led to the 

 placing of the conception of simple and compound bodies upon 

 the foundation of scientific fact. Lavoisier, perhaps, deserves 

 the greatest credit in this matter, while the labours of the other 

 great chemists of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth 

 centuries were in a great measure directed to the analysis of every 

 conceivable material, whether solid, liquid, or gaseous. These 

 have resulted in the table of so-called elements, now nearly 

 seventy in number, to which fresh additions are constantly being 

 made. 



Of this ever-growing list of elements not one has been resolved 

 into simpler bodies for three-quarters of a century ; and we, who 

 are removed by two or three generations from the great builders 

 of our science, are tempted to look upon these bodies as though 

 they were really simple forms of matter, not only unresolved, 

 but unresolvable. The notation we employ favours this view and 

 stamps it upon our minds. 



Is it, however, a fact that these reputed elements are really 

 simple bodies ? or, indeed, are they w idely different in the nature 

 of their constitution from those bodies which we know to be 

 chemical compounds ? Thus, to take a particular instance, are 

 fluorine, chlorine, bromine, and iodine essentially distinct in their 

 nature from the compound halogens, cyanogen, sulphocyanogen, 

 ferricyanogen, &c. ? Are the metals lithium, sodium, and po- 

 tassium essentially distinct from such alkaline bases as ammonium, 

 ethylamine, di-ethylamine, &c. ? No philosophical chemist would 

 probab'y venture to answer this question categorically with either 

 "yes "or "no." Let us endeavour to approach it from three 

 different points of attack— (1) the evidence of the spectroscope, 

 (2) certain peculiarities of the atomic weights, and (3) specific 

 refraction. 



I. The Spectroscope . — It was at first hoped that the spectroscope 

 might throw much light upon the nature of elements, and might 

 reveal a common constituent in two or more of them ; thus, for 

 instance, it was conceivable that the spectrum line of bromine or 

 iodine vap iut might consist of the rays given by chlorine plus 

 some others. All expectations of this have hitherto been disap- 

 pointed ; yet, of the other, hand, it must not be supposed that 

 such a result disproves the compound nature of elements, for as 

 investigation proceeds it becomes more and more clear that the 

 spectrum of a compound is not made up of the spectra of its 

 component parts. 



Again, the multiplicity of rays given out by some elements, 

 when heated, in a gaseous condition, s Uc h as iron, has been 

 supposed to indicate a more complex constitution than in the ca'e 

 of those metals, such as magnesium, which give a more simple 

 spectrum. Vet it is perfectly conceivable that this may be due 

 to a complexity of arrangement of atoms all of the same kind. 



Again, We have changes of a spectrum at different temperatures ; 

 new rays appear, others disappear ; or even there occurs the very 

 remarkable change from a fluted spectrum to one of sharp lines 

 at irregular intervals, or to certain recurring groups of lines. 

 This, in all probability, does arise from some redistribution, but 

 it may be a redistribution in a molecular groU| ing of atoms of 

 the same kind, and not a di-sociation or rearrangement of dis- 

 similar atoms. 



A stronger argument has been derived from the revelations of 

 the spectroscope in regard to the luminous atmospheres of the 

 sun. There we can watch the effect of heat enormously tran- 

 scending that of our hottest furnaces, and of movements com- 

 pared with which our hurricanes and whirlwinds are the gentlest 

 of zephyrs. Mr Lockyer, in studying the prismatic spectra of 

 the luminous prominences or spots of the sun, has frequently 

 observed that on certain days certain line-, say of the iron 

 spectrum are non-existent and on other days certain other lines 

 disappear, and that in almost endless variety ; and he has also 

 remarked that occasionally certain lines of the iron spectrum will 

 be crooked or displaced, thus showing the vapour to be in very 

 rapid motion, while others are straight, and therefore compara- 

 tively at rest. Now, as a gas cannot be both at rest and in motion 

 at the same time and the same place, it seems very clear that the 

 two sets of lines must originate in two distinct layers of atmo- 

 sphere, one above the other, and Mr. Lockyer's conclusion is 



