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NA TURE 



\Oci. 3, i8^i 



this, it would be difficult to overrate the services which La- 

 vois'ier rendered to chemistry. But the science has grown up by 

 a graduil process of evolation ; upon its s.n-face we find the im- 

 press of many and diverse phases of tliought and of action ; the 

 science of to-day is the summation of many intellectual elTorts 

 produced by the constant struggle of the human mind for 

 truth. How often that truth has been hidden by a mass of 

 sophistries; how often it has been absoibed by some false phi- 

 losopliy to appear again untarnished in due time ; how often 

 the attempt has been made to crush it under foot ; and how it 

 has ever risen to the surface at last, all who read the history of 

 faiths, nations, ideas, must know. It will be our object to show 

 tliis is tlie study of the particular science which now engages our 

 attention. 



Tlie word xii^^^" Ai'st occurs in tlie Lexicon of Suidas, a 

 Greek writer of the eleventh century ; he defines it as " the 

 preparation of gold and silver." In the "Lexicon Gra;co- 

 Latinum" of Robertus Constantinus, published in 1592, the 

 same definition is given, and Suidas is quoted as the authority. 

 According to Olaus Borrichius, hov/ever, there were Greek 

 writers on alchemy before this date ; there is said to be a tireek 

 MS. of tlie fifth century on alcliemy in the King's Library in 

 Paris, and otliers of a somewhat later date in the libraries of 

 Munich, Milan, Venice, Hamburg, and Madrid ; but we are 

 inclined to doubt whether any of these were written before the 

 ninth or tenth century. They are probably the work of monks 

 living at Alexandria and Constantinople ; indeed, one of them is 

 entided, " Cosma the Monk, his Interpretation of the Art of 

 making Gold." The tides of some of the otliers will prove to 

 us that we can place but little faith on any date which may be 

 assigned to tliem : — 



" Ileliodoruson the Art of making Gold " (irepixpucoTroiTjirms). 

 " John the High Priest, in the Holy City, concerning the Holy 

 Art." 



" Isis the Prophetess to her son Orus." 



"Mo5es the Prophet onCliemical Composition" (jrepi'xi),iiei'ri/(;')s 

 (ruj/ra|£os). 



" Cleopatra on the Art of making Gold." 

 " Democritus the Abderite, the Natural Philosopher, on the 

 Tincture of Gold and Sdver, and on Precious Stones and 

 Purple." 



Equally worthless, we believe, are the Greek derivations 

 of the word chemistry. Many (among others M. Hoefcr) de- 

 rive the vtord from x^'-^. to fuse or melt, because the majority 

 of old chemical operations were effected by fire — witness calcina- 

 tion, ignition, distillation, sublimation, desiccation, reverberation. 

 The earliest chemical arts, such as the smelting of metals and 

 the production of glass, were also oper.\tions of fire. Indeed, 

 the science has been called PyroU-cltina [iivp rex'^V, the art of 

 fire), because, says Lemery, in his " Cours de Chimie," " we in 

 effect produce all chemical operations by means of fire." Otliers 

 derive chemistry from x'^l^" — th^t which is poured out, a liquid, 

 in allusion to the v.arious liquid; used in chemical operations ; 

 but this derivation is not worth a moment's notice. We must 

 rather look to an Egyptian source. Plutarch tells us that Egypt 

 was called Chania, on account of the black colour of the soil, 

 and that the same term was applied to tlie black of tlie eye, 

 which symbolises that which is obscure and hidden. This word 

 is related to the Coptic kitcins or chcins, which also signifies 

 obscure, occult, and is connected with the Arabic chcma, to hide. 

 It is probable that we have here the true derivation of the word 

 chemistry. The first treatise on the science, the date of which 

 is known with any certainty, was written by the Ar.abian Yeber 

 or Geber, and at that time (the eighth centuiy), Aralnc learning 

 had considerable influence on Europem culture. The science 

 was called the Oiciilt, or liiddeu, because it related principally to 

 the secret art of the transmutation of metals, as the definition of 

 Suidas, given above, and the earlier works on the science prove. 

 The term hlack art has been applied both to alchemy and to the 

 magical arts so often associated with it, and clearly .agrees with 

 the above derivation. The al in alchemy is the Arabic particle 

 tin; so that alchemy signifies " the hidden science " piir iwcd- 

 h'licc ; we notice the same prefix in ir/koran, 17/cohbl (the burning 

 liquid), «/kali (the acrid substance), (z/gebra, n/erabic (the cup- 

 shaped vessel), and in the names of many stars, as Aldebaran, 

 Algenib, Alpheratz, — all words of Arabic origin. 



Whatever difficulties there may be in determining the precise 

 derivation of the word chemistry, there can be none in defining 

 the science as distinctly and definitely the science which treats of 

 the changes which matterundergoes ; while physicsproper treats of 



the action of variotis forces — heat, light, electricity, magnetism — 

 upon matter, in all cases unaccompanied by any change of com- 

 position. If we heat a piece of iron to redness, or cause it to 

 convey an electric current, or place it in contact with a m.agnet, 

 it has been submitted to various actions, but when they are re- 

 moved it returns to its original condition. On the contrary, if 

 we fuse it with sulphur a chemical change takes place, a new 

 substance is formed, and the iron does not return to its original 

 condition. This idea of change is the fundamental chemical 

 conception. The first man who made glass, or extracted a metal 

 from its ore, effected a chemical change ; the idea became most 

 sovereign and dominant in alchemy, tlie attempt to change base 

 metals into gold ; it reigned throughout the period of phlogistic 

 chemistry, for was not phlogiston a subtle entity which effected 

 changes in matter according as it was assimilated by matter or 

 rejected from it ? It is equally the character of the chemistry 

 of Lavoisier and Cavendish, of Davy and Dalton, of Bertholet 

 and Cannizzaro. The "philosopher's stone" (of which much more 

 anon) was a substance supposed to chair^e all things into gold ; 

 the " elixir viuu" was a substance which was to chxii:;^ o\d. men 

 into youths ; the " universal solvent " was to c//flHj,>v everything 

 to a liquid form. Let us look at some of the definitions of 

 chemistry. Boerhaave says, " Chemistry is an art which teaches 

 the manner of jierforming certain physical operations, whereby 

 bodies cognizable to the senses, or capable of being rendered 

 cognizable, and of being contained in vessels, are so changed by 

 means of proper instruments, as to pro;luce certain determined 

 effects, and at the same time discover the causes thereof, for the 

 service of various arts." Sir Humphrey Davy writes as fol- 

 lows : — "Most of the substances belonging to our globe are 

 constantly undergoing alterations in sensible quantities, and one 

 variety of matter becomes, as it were, transmuted into another. 

 Such changes, whether natural or artificial, whether slowly or 

 rapidly performed, are called chemical ; thus the gradual and 

 almost imperceptible decay of the leaves and branches of a fallen 

 tree exposed to the atmosphere, and the rapid combustion of 

 wood in our fires, are both chemical operations. The oliject of 

 chemical philosophy is to ascertain the causes of all phenomena 

 of this kind, and to discover the laws by which they are 

 governed." Quite recently Dr. Miller defined chemistry as "the 

 science which teaches us the composition of bodies," and such 

 knowledge we can only obtain by pulling matter to pieces 

 (analysis), or by building it up (synthesis). Dr. Hofmann of 

 Berlin has defined the vast body of so-called organic chemistry 

 as "the history of the migrations of carbon," and is not migra- 

 tion change of place? 



Chemistry, then, is the science which treats of the various 

 kinds of matter, whether simple or compound, of which the 

 world is composed, their properties, and the laws which govern 

 their combination with, and separation from, each other. We 

 shall first discuss any ideas of the ancients which bear upon 

 changed matter in any form or condition : thus their early cos- 

 mogonies ; the knowledge they possessed of metals and com- 

 pound bodies ; and their various technical operations, such as 

 glass-makhig and smelting, alike demand our attention. 



If we compare all the earliest ideas as to the forin.ation of the 

 world, we find them resolve themselves into the belief that the 

 ether and chaos, mind and matter, were the original principles 

 of things. The ether, a subtle vivifying principle, " passing as 

 a mighty breath over the chaos ; the chaos a boundless watery 

 expanse without form." Ifwas thus according to Sanchoniathon 

 in the belief of the Phoenicians, and the twenty- five principles of 

 the Hindu philosophy of San'chya are finally reduced to these — 

 matter and spirit, nature and soul. The Egyptian deity was called 

 Num as the spirit moving over the face of the waters, Pihah as 

 the principle of production. The Hindu deity Brahme typified 

 the productive force of nature. Among more western nations 

 Gaia, the personification of earth, was held to be the first that 

 sprung from Chaos, !".ik1 the wife of Ouranos. Okcanos was 

 their SOI, and according to Homer was the source of all the 

 gods. The worship of the elements, and of the sun and moon, 

 was among the very earliest forms of worship ; thus we have in 

 India, Agni the god of fl e, Indra the god of the firmament ; the 

 sun was sometimes worsiiipped as a symbol of the deity, some- 

 times as a deity ; fire was worshipped by the ancient Persians as 

 a symbol of tlie deity ; in the Homeric religion we find the 

 Olympian Zeus, lord of the air, who possesses absolute and 

 Universal power. We must notice, too, Aidoneus, the brother of 

 Zeus, and lord of the Underworld, said by some of the Greek 

 philosophers to designate earth, and undoubtedly an old nature 



