A L C 



fore, we fliall lay down fome general confidcrations, which 

 by their agreement or dilagTeemtnt with any particular 

 cafe, will enable us to fonn a prohable judgment of its 

 truth or falichood. Nor is this, althougli a iummai-y way 

 of treating the queftion, unfair or unallowed. In any 

 fyftem that is offered to our belief, if we can' point cut 

 a fundamental eiTor or contradiction, we may well exeufe 

 ourlelves from dileiiftmg the proofs adduced in favour of 

 detached parts. With what ftreiigth of evidence are many 

 Itories of apparitions and witchcraft fupportal, how ge- 

 nerally were t'ley believtu at the time of their occurrence, 

 aiid how univerlally are they flighted and ridiculed at pre- 

 fent, not from any new flaw dilcoverable in the evidence, 

 but from their variance with general principles and ex- 

 perience J 



That the philofopher's ftone never exifted, that no metal 

 has ever yet, by human art, been produced or decompofed, 

 is highly probable, from the convincing proofs which have 

 been afforded by the progrefs of chemical philofoph) , of 

 the fundamental errors, both in faft and theory, to wliieh 

 even the ableit of the alchcmiils were fubjett. All che- 

 mical knowledge was anciently made a fecrct of ; but by 

 the invention of printing, and the rile of a more liberal 

 fpirit of communication, it may be added alfo, by the fu- 

 periority of modern over ancient Icience, all noihu.ns and 

 myftcries have in a great meafurc difappeared, and what- 

 ever was of fufScient importance to attraft general attention, 

 has been added to the flock of genera! information. In 

 the mean time, alchemy has ceafed to be an ohjeft of cu- 

 riofity, not becaufe its end was mean and trivial, but be- 

 caufe all its fup))ofed great fafts have been refolved into 

 niiftakes. The value of the precious metals, inftead of di- 

 minilhing has rather been increafing, the direct contrary 

 to which would have been the cafe, had they been capable 

 of being produced from any of the bafer ones. The pro- 

 feffors of alchemy have been chiefly poor, and have in many 

 cafes even offered to divulge their fecret for a funi of money ; 

 that is, being in pofkflion of the art of producing gold 

 ad infinitum, they liavc offered to communicate tliis won- 

 <lerful knowledge for a few ounces of the very fubftance 

 which they could manufacture by the hundred weight. 

 Some of the alchemifts in the dark ages, efpecially in Ger- 

 many, wh^) had the unfortunate reputation of pofii.'ffing 

 the philofopher's Itonc, were imprifoned by the princes of 

 the country and furnifiied with chemical appaiatus, till 

 they fhould have pnrchafed their liberty, by producing a 

 certain weight of gold, but not an ounce was ever pro- 

 cured bv this method. It is remarkable too, that the 

 moft fl;ih'ul and reputable of the alchemills, although they 

 maintain the pofTibility of tranfmiitaticn, and profefs to 

 know the method by which it is to be effefted, are very 

 far from afhnning, that they have thercfelves aftually fuc- 

 ceedcd in the attempt. Again, if from the bell atteftcd 

 inftances of gold-making, we exclude thofe which depend 

 on the fulpicious teflimony of the alchemifts themfelves, 

 or the incompetent evidence of men entirely ignorant of 

 chemical fcitnce, we fliall find the remainder reduced almofl 

 to notiiiiig. The royal academy of fcienccs at Paris, dur- 

 ing the firil years of its inftitution, was almofl overwhelm- 

 ed with applications from men who profeftcd to be able to 

 make or deteriorate gold at pleafure ; either in this refpcft 

 deceiving themfelves, or in the hope of facilitating their 

 attempts on the public credulity, by the fanftion of that 

 learn id body : many experiments were in confequence ma'le 

 in their prefence, all of which tot;dly failed of fuccels, 

 Thefe repeated deteftions, like thole on the fubjctc of 

 witchcraft, appear to have decided the opinions of phi- 



A L C 



lofophers rcfpcfling the falfehood of alchemy, and though 

 the wonder of the ignorant is (till occallonr.lly callid forth 

 - on both thefe fiibjeiil?, t!icy are no longer coniidered as 

 WO' thy of a ferious refutation. 



Boerhaave F.Iemcnta Chcmioe. Bergman's EfTays. En- 

 cycloped. Method. Art. Alchimic. Macqucr's Chemical 

 Didtionary. 



ALCI-IIMELECH, in Bohwy, the Egyptian melilot. 

 Ray. 



ALCHINDUS, Jamfs, in Biography, an Arabian phy— 

 ficiim, is fuppofed to have lived about the middle of the 

 twelfth century. His work, " De Medleinarum compofi- 

 taium gradibus invclligandis," was piibliflied with the works 

 of Mefue, at Venice, in folio, in lj6i, and 1603. 



ALCHOLLEA, a kind of food in ufe among the 

 weftern Moors, being flefliy meat, piclded, dried, boiled, 

 and potted. 



ALCHORNEA, in Botany, a genus of the diocc'ia mona- 

 ddphia clafs and order of profefTor Martyn, and monadel- 

 phia odanclria of Swartz and Gmelin, the charafters of 

 which are, that the calyx of the male is a three or five-leaved 

 perianthium ; leafiets ovate, concave, equal, coloured, and 

 deciduous : no corolla ; the llamina have eight filaments, 

 equal, fcarcely longer than the calyx, flightly connate at the 

 bale, anthers ovate and upnght ; the piftillum is a rudi- 

 ment : the calyx of the female is a one-leafed, four or five- 

 toothed perianthium, the teeth equal and fmall ; no corolla; 

 the piflilhim has a germ twin, fnperior, flyles two, very 

 long and filiiorm, ftigmas fimple and acute ; the pericar- 

 pium is a capfnle berried, two-feeded, two-celled, two- 

 valved ; the feeds are folitaiy, large and oblong ; there is 

 one fpecies, r;z. A. latifolia. 



ALCIATI, Andrew, in Bhgral^hy, an eminent civi- 

 lian, was born at Milan in 1492. Having fludicd the law 

 in the nniverfity of Pavla, and in that of Bologna, he com- 

 menced the cxercife of his profcflion at Milan in 151 7, and 

 became profefTor of civil law, in the univerfity of Avignon, 

 in 15 1 8. Although his falai-y amounted to 600 crowns, 

 and the number of his auditors was 800, he left this lu- 

 crative and honourable fituation in difguft, becaufe the city 

 of Avignon was unable to make a regular payment of his 

 flipend, in 1522, and refumed his fiift profeflion at Milan. 

 In 1529, he was invited by Francis 1. the king of France, 

 to promote the tludy of the civil law at Bourgcs ; but im- 

 pelled by avarice, he fucceffively changed his fituation to 

 Pavia, Bologna, and Ferrara, in each of which places he 

 had many fcholars and clients, and received ample rex:om- 

 pence for his labours. When he v. as cenfured by his friends 

 for his frequent changes, he vainly interrogated them, whe- 

 ther they blamed the fun for revolving to enhghtcn all na- 

 tions ; or, whether, v.htn they admired the fixed flars, 

 they found fault with the phinets. But his predominant 

 principle was avarice : and tl'.is principle induced him to 

 decline accepting the offer of Paul III. to quit Ferrara 

 and fettle at Rome. " Why," faid he, " fliould I, for the 

 uncertain and empty hope of the purple, relinquifh the 

 honours of my profcfTion, accompanied with the poflTefllon of 

 a rich flipend :" Frjm Ferrara, Alciati returned to Pavia, 

 and in 1550, died of a furfeit, occafiontd by excefs of eat- 

 ing. He pofTclTed, without doubt, diflinguilhed talents, 

 blended with a confiderable degree of feltlflmers and mean- 

 nefs ; and he veiy materially contributed to the improvement 

 of his profeflion, intrcducir.g a lailc for polite literature, 

 and banidiing thai barbarous h tinity, which had before his 

 time prevailed in tlie lech'res and v.'ritings of the .iviiians. 

 Erafmus bellows upon him this high encomium : " The 

 praifc which Cicero divides between Scievola and Craffus, 



whca 



