544 
The title of the book is used in a very wide sense, and 
at the end is a series of articles on renal secretion, its 
disorders and treatment. Nowhere does the~ author 
better show his powers of dealing with complicated 
problems—marshalling together his facts, and then in 
the most lucid and pleasant manner, often assisted by 
apt illustration, setting forth his view of the question. 
Great stress is laid upon the distinct blood-supplies of 
the glomeruli, and of the convoluted and straight tubes, 
and upon the distinct regulating mechanisms, while an 
attempt is made to classify diuretics accordingly. 
ALCHEMY 
Die Alchemie in alterer und neuerer Zeit. By Hermann 
Kopp. Pp. 685. (Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 1886.) 
HIS work is in two parts; the first part treats of 
alchemy up to the year 1775, and the second part 
subsequent to this date. 
It is not written purely for the chemist, and indeed the 
student who looks here for the minor details of alchemy 
will be disappointed. These have already received ample 
treatment at the hands of Prof. Kopp in his “ Beitrage 
zur Geschichte der Chemie,” and the object of the present 
work is rather to lay stress upon the philosophy of the 
alchemists, to give some account of the organisations 
from which they received support, and to point out that 
such organisations had wider aims and a more dis- 
tinguished following than is perhaps generally known. 
It will be read with as much pleasure by the student of 
literature and history as by the chemist. The difficulty 
of dividing a work of this nature into chapters is no doubt 
great, but we cannot help thinking that such a division 
would have been conducive to clearness ; there is, how- 
ever, a table of contents, a full and well-arranged index, 
and change of subject is indicated in the text by a break 
in the paragraphing. We have presented to us alchemy 
as a search after scientific truth under the guidance of 
principles which if ill-founded were yet sufficiently real to 
attract philosophers as well as representatives of wealth 
and power ; as a science which survived persecution and 
failure, and whose allurements outlived the discredit 
brought upon it by dupes and swindlers. The relation 
between alchemy and medicine is traced in an interesting 
and careful manner. Although it has been by no means 
the author’s intention to act as biographer, yet we have, 
if we may so speak, medallions of many of the more dis- 
tinguished alchemists, in which the features calculated to 
indicate the growth and progress of principles are brought 
out with great clearness. Of such a type is the sketch of 
Leonhard Thurneysser, whose chequered career is indeed 
a romance of real life. In the second volume we have an 
interesting account of the “ Rosenkreuzerbund,” a secret 
society founded by Christian Rosenkreuz at the beginning 
of the fifteenth century. In this and kindred societies 
the “ brothers” were encouraged to travel, gaining expe- 
rience and knowledge which at their periodical meetings 
were retailed for the common interest and instruction of 
the members. Considerable latitude was allowed to the 
individual, and the following lines, by one who was him- 
self connected with such a society, show that there was 
not always a servile respect for tradition :— 
NATURE 
[Oct. 7, 1886 
DeER WEISE UND DER ALCHYMIST 
Gesund und frdhlich, ohne Geld 
Lebt einst ein Weiser in der Welt. 
Ein Fremder kam zu ihm und sprach: ‘‘ Auf meinen Reisen 
Hort ich von deiner Redlichkeit ; 
Du bist ein Phénix unsrer Zeit. 
Nichts fehlt dir als der Stein der Weisen. 
Ich bin der Trismegist, vor dem sich die Natur 
Stets ohne Schleier zeigt ; ich habe den Merkur, 
Dadurch wir schlechtes Blei in feines Gold verkehren— 
Und diese Kunst will ich dir lehren.” 
‘OQ dreimal grosster Trismegist !— 
Versetzt der Philosoph—du magst nur weiter reisen ! 
Der ist ein Weiser nicht, dem Gold so schiatzbar ist. 
Vergniigt sein ohne Gold, das ist der Stein der Weisen.” 
| 
The constitution of these societies is explained, and we 
are initiated into the mysteries of the various grades of 
rank: the juniors, the theorists, the practitioners, the 
philosophers, the minors, the majors, the adepts, the 
magister, and finally that rarest honour, the magus. 
A considerable space is occupied with the history of 
one who was ever active in the welfare of such organisa- 
tions—-Georg Forster—born near Danzig in 1754. He 
was a remarkable man in every respect, unstable to a 
degree, holding peculiar opinions on religious topics, un-— 
skilled in all which contributes to success in the general 
occupations of life, and yet wielding powerful influence in 
the circle within which he moved. His earlier travels led 
him to England, where he was at the age of thirteen 
engaged in teaching French and German in a school at 
Warrington ; then he passed into the East India Com- 
pany’s service ; whilst at the age of eighteen we find him 
as a companion of Cook in his second voyage round the 
world ; later he returned to the Continent, and became 
Professor of Natural History at Halle. Some thirty 
pages are devoted to a charming sketch of Georg Forster's 
character, and we do not know any other passage which 
affords such enjoyable reading. ‘ 
S. Th. Sémmering was Forster’s bosom friend and— 
companion, a man not unlike him, and who shared all his 
trials and difficulties. In the concluding pages of the 
book it is shown how with the dawn of dynamical and 
quantitative ideas in chemistry at the close of last century, 
alchemy underwent modification, ‘and, ultimately, rapid 
decline. One is tempted to wish that the author had 
given a concluding chapter on the rise and development 
of the principles of chemistry as shown by an examina- 
tion of the doctrines of the alchemists. 
Notes and references have been freely used throughou 
the work, and where remarks of sucha length are require 
as to interfere with the continuity of the text, these are 
arranged in an appendix. These addenda occupy over 
200 pages, and constitute in fact a most valuable contri- 
bution to the history of alchemy. The style and general 
character of the work will appear from the remarks thag 
have been already made, and if there are occasionally 
passages that are somewhat abstruse, yet on the whole 
we have aclearness and picturesque delineation excelling 
in our opinion, anything that has hitherto appeared on 
the subject, and we congratulate the veteran author on 
his success in a new phase of literary effort. Our English 
readers will be glad to know that the book is printed in 
Roman type, and can be had bound in boards. 
G. H. BAILEY 
