WORD " CHEMIA '* OR " CHEMISTRY." 107 



criticised. If we can prove it to be associated with or to 

 mean '' heat," it is more nearly associated with such arts 

 than any we know. But the people who obtained the word 

 in Europe did not obtain the arts, except in a very imperfect 

 manner; and thus, when the meaning was sought^ it was 

 given also in that imperfect manner which ignorant people 

 are driven to. Thus many have imagined that it referred 

 only to gold-making ; but we are not called upon to take 

 their definition of the word, as no early writer has considered 

 the subject from a wide view. 



I say, when the word came out of darkness ; with this I 

 mean that when it came to be used in the West, it came 

 with all its connexions traced to Egypt. Nay, the first 

 reputed writer on subjects distinctly chemical comes from 

 Egypt. It may be said that we are not sure of his history ; 

 still it is also true that he has no claim to come from any 

 other place, and there seems no reason to deny the con- 

 nexion. I refer to Zosimus. He might be enough, had we 

 no other writings having a frequent reference to Egypt ; and 

 although these may in some (not quite in all) cases have been 

 written in Christian periods, there seems no reason to 

 suppose that the writers were mistaken in attributing the 

 origin of the ideas to Egypt. The Egyptian system was 

 slowly broken up, and traces of its knowledge were scattered 

 in miserable fragments among writers, although artisans 

 may, in a traditional way peculiar to themselves, have 

 retained many useful inventions. 



While this is a fair view of a possible case, I do not 

 think it probable that the word came directly from "heat " 

 by one act of the mind of any Egyptian or other man. 

 It came, as many words do, by a tortuous route, but 

 keeping, as it were, in view its true origin by a constant 

 association with things and places connected with heat. 



It appeared to me that the Hebrew was not the 



