A L C 



underwent s fevere erair.iintion, from the jcfuit Athanafius 

 Kiiclicr, which it rtvcr afterwards recovered. The ir.ull 

 en-'iiient chemills now abjured aliogethcr the refcarches of 

 alchemy ; and it loll ground daily, as well by its own want 

 of evidence, as by the frauds and ij;norance of the cheats 

 into whofc hands it had fallen. Thus, rapidly declininfj, 

 it was at ItiicjtU wholly loll to the view of the fcicntific world, 

 and at prelent is rarely dttefted, even by the officers of 

 public jufticc, to whofe cart itfclf, with its ancient afi'o- 

 cialc allrolopy, has been commended in all the civilized 

 nations of Europe. 



III. According to the prcfent theory, each metal is 

 coiifidered as a peculiar chemical element, perfeftly tmde- 

 eompofable by any known method, a neceflai-y confequence 

 of which is the utter improbability and hopelelFntfs of all 

 alchemical purfuits ; fince their objeft is the compofition 

 and decompofition of bodies which are either ablolutely 

 fimple, or at lead as yet incapable of furtlier analyfis. 

 This formidable difiicuky at the very outfet, may well 

 diifuadc from all modern attempts at metallic tranfmutation ; 

 but the great fathers of chemical philofophy ought not, in 

 common candour, to be lligmatized as fools or impoftors, 

 for ilrenuoufiy maintaining doctrines which are only, in the 

 prefent advanced ilatc of the fcicnce, felf-evidently ab- 

 furd. In tlie following fummary of the leading theories 

 relative to alchemy, the reader will fcarccly expeft to find 

 a perfect uniformity and confiftency of the feveral parts 

 w ith each other, efpecially when it is confidercd that they 

 are neccfiaiily collected from a variety of authors differ- 

 ing in abilities, in communicativenefs, and in the periods at 

 which they hvcd. 



Ic appears to have been admitted on all hands, that the 

 metals were compounds of metallic earth and fulphur, (by 

 fulphur was merely underftood any pure inflammable fub- 

 ftance). This earth being fuppofed to exift in a larger 

 proportion and lefs mixed with fulphur in mercury than 

 in any other metal, it came in time to be commonly known 

 by the name of mercurial earth. Gold, as being the moft 

 fixed and unchangeable of the metals, was confidered as an 

 intimate combination of pure fiJphur and mercurial earth, 

 while the other metallic bodies were thought to contain, 

 befides thefe two eflential parts, various impurities. Of 

 this opinion, Geber, Roger Bacon, Ripley, Homberg, &c. 

 were ilrenuous advocates ; and it is efpecially to the latter 

 of tliefe chemifts that we owe th.e developement of this 

 theory, together with a memorable experimental argument 

 in its fupport. Having expofed regulus of antimony to 

 the aftion of the great buming-glafs of the Duke of Or- 

 leans, he found that it increafed -j^th in weight, and at the 

 fame time became more fixed : a fimilar effeft was pro- 

 duced by expofing merciiiy to a digefting heat for fome 

 days ; it wps converted into a red powder of greater fixity 

 than the original mercv.iTi had gained in weight, and 

 upon expofure to a red heat was almoft wholly volatilized 

 and reconverted into mercm-v, except a fmall portion of 

 white hard ponderous metal wLich remained behind. From 

 this experiment, Komberg deduces the following conclu- 

 fions : that the pure fulphur of metals is folar light ; that 

 it unites with, and incrcafes the weight of all m.etals that 

 are expofed to its aftion, except gold ; that it gives them 

 a greater fcity ; and that, although when loofely com- 

 bined v;ith mercury it only changes it into a red powder, 

 yet by the further aftion of heat a part of the mercury 

 becomes faturated with this fulphur, and is converted into 

 a hard fixed metal while the reft: is volatihzed. To thefe 

 experiments, important as they were fuppofed lo be at the 

 time of their invention, the fuperior accuracy of modern 



A L C 



chemiAry would objeft, that the gafeoiis produfts were 

 wholly overiooked, and that the fixed metallic refidue from 

 the decompofition of the mercurial oxyd, is oi;ly a proof 

 of the original impurity of the mercury employed, fince 

 no attempt was made by a repetition of the procefs to 

 cfieit the fixation of the whole of the mercury. Fn)m 

 thefe aud fimilar experiments, however, the old chemifts 

 drew t}\e inferences already mentioned ; and by beaiing tliis 

 in miiid, it is eafy to difcover the objefts which they had 

 in view, in fuch of their proceffcs as they condefcend to 

 publifh in intelligible language. There were fuppofed to- 

 be two metliods of making gold, by fynthefis and tranf- 

 mutation. The former of thefe was effefted by the direifl 

 combination of the pure fulphur of metals and mercurial 

 earth ; hence we fee the reafon of the numberltls dilHlk- 

 tions and digeftions, and procefles of all kinds for depriving 

 fulphur of its impurities, and bringing it to the lall ilatc 

 of reftificalion or exaltation : hence alfo the multiplied ex- 

 periments on quickfilver, in order to give it fixity in the 

 fire : this method however was genendly acknowledged to 

 be fo difficult, that few alchemills have even pretended to 

 be able to do more than fix the mercury. The art of tranf- 

 mutation was carried much further : it was taken for 

 y-ranted that the objeft of Nature, in producing metals, 

 was the formation of gold, as being the moft perfeft of 

 thefe fubttances ; and that tlie failure, in all cafes, was 

 owing folely to the interpofition of certain impurities : it 

 was known alfo, that the common methods of refining de- 

 pend:;d on the feparation of tlie precious metals from the 

 bafcr ones, with which they were mixed and contaminated ; 

 the conclufion, theretcre, did not feem a priori, very ex- 

 travagant ; tliat, by an improvement in the art of refining, 

 fuch of the cheaper metals as appeared the moft to refemble 

 gold, might be freed from thofe impurities in which the 

 whole difference between them and gold confifled. Lead, 

 from its fpecific gravity, and copper, from its colour, were 

 the principal fubjefts of experiment ; and when it is con- 

 fidered that arfenic was not yet difcovered to be a metal', 

 and the amazing effefts of this fubftance in difguifing the 

 properties of gold, inftead of being furpiifed at the ac- 

 counts of tranfmutations, the principal wonder is, that they 

 are not ftill more numerous and fupported by more unex- 

 ceptionable evidence. The fubftance capable of effefting 

 this extraordinaiy change was called the elixir, or medicine 

 of metals, the tinfture, the powder of projeftion or phi- 

 lofopher's ftone, a very fmall portion of wliich was adequate 

 to the tranfmutation of a very large proportion of lead 

 or copper ; and by ufing a greater quantity than neceflary 

 of this powder, the gold refulting from the operation ac- 

 quired the property of afting itlelf as an -elixir. Such is 

 the fimpleft and moft confiftent theory of the great '-.lorl; 

 as delivered in tiie writings of the beft and moft philofophi- 

 cal of the alchemills, nor when its real importance is con- 

 fidered in regard to chemical fcienco and many of the 

 arts, when too it is remembered wliat numerous and un- 

 fufpefted fources of error exifled at that early period of 

 chemical inveftigation in which it flourifhed, and the im- 

 pofing theory whereby it was fupported, fhnl! we lightly 

 ftigmatife thofe who honeftly devoted mp.ch of their time 

 to tlie purfuit, with the opprobrious appellation of perti- 

 nacious folly. 



IV. If we were to enter upon a m.inute examination of 

 the evidence, by which the principal inftances of tranfmu-. 

 tation are fupported, it wou'.d extend this article beyond its 

 due hir.its ; the documents befides are fo equivocal, and the 

 witnefTes fo fufpicious or incompetent, that the enquiiy 

 would but ill repay the trouble : in the room of this, therc.^ 



fore. 



