THE REVIVAL OF ALCHEMY 217 



capable of being minted. This is changed into ordinary gold." With 

 the exception of a few unimportant sentences, this is the entire recipe, 

 but how the final transformation is to be effected is not given. 



To acquire knowledge and power for successful hermetic labors, to 

 become eligible for initiation in the occult societies, is no easy task. 

 The aspirant must strive valiantly against the passions that assail 

 him, casting out of his soul i)ride, anger, jealousy, hatred, avarice, 

 hypocrisy, idleness. If the candidate for honors desires to become 

 worthy of the name hermetic philosopher lie must prove himself a 

 Magian; he must learn to exercise his will on matter in all its forms, 

 and to acquire this power he should practice crystal-gazing and read- 

 ing in magic mirrors; to learn to perceive the invisible he must with- 

 draw from the visible, imposing on himself psychic sleep, called by some 

 hypnosis. As adjuncts to the attainment of the ideal mental state he 

 should use perfumes, music, and light; and eventually the astral body, 

 separated from the physical body, will supply the intellectual, moral, 

 and material illumination indis]3ensable to the great work. 



It is rather discouraging to learn that, even after fulfilling all these 

 hard conditions, no one can realize the perfection desired until he has 

 passed through several of our planetary existences. The would-be 

 alchemist must also follow the percepts of Albertus Magnus; he should 

 be discreet, silent, and must not reveal the result of his labors; he 

 must reside in an isolated i)lace, and choose the time and the hours for 

 his tasks; he must be patient, assiduous, and persevering, and he must 

 be rich enough to bear the expenses of his pursuit. Besides ordinary 

 chemical apparatus, he should provide several objects indispensable to 

 his work, a magic wand, a sword to dissolve the astral coagulations, a 

 magic mirror, a brazier for perfumes, a wooden altar covered with a 

 white cloth, and an alchemist's robe of white linen to be worn with 

 a girdle embroidered in gold and silver. In all his chemical operations 

 he must project psychic force into the reagents. 



Bright prospects for the future of chemical science are claimed by 

 this school of philosophers. Inorganic chemistry is destined to follow 

 the lines in which inorganic chemistry has prospered; the formation, 

 derivation, or rather the evolution of metalloids (so called) and of 

 metals will be realized through etheric cyclones, different degrees of 

 condensation of hydrogen. Chemical bodies are of one kind only, and 

 they are all organic and living. 



There is a growing belief among advanced chemists in the theory 

 that the elementary bodies as known to us are compounds of a unique 

 primary matter (protyle), and that transformation of one kind into a 

 similar one is not beyond the bounds of possibility, but we do not think 

 that the modern hermetists are pursuing the right path to accom])lish 

 this end; nor do we believe that the world of science is any nearer the 

 coveted goal of alchemical avarice. 



