12 Mr. G. F. Rodwell on the Theory of Phlogiston. 



ceeds this or that metal or mineral, according as one of the 

 three principles acquires dominion, and they have much or little 

 of sulphur and salt, or an unequal mixture of them ; whence 

 some metals are fixed, that is, constant and stable ; some volatile 

 and easily mutable, as is seen in gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, 

 and tin." 



Writers on alchemy adopted a more occult style even than the 

 above, and often conveyed their views in the form of a parable. 

 The following extract, referring to the transmutation of the six 

 inferior metals into gold, is from the Novum Lumen Chemicum 

 of Michael Sendivogius* : — "And there appeared unto me a 

 great man, upon whose forehead was written the name of Sa- 

 turn, and taking a vessel he drew ten parts of water, and took . 

 presently of the tree of the sun and put it in ; and I saw the fruit 

 of the tree consumed and dissolved like ice in warm water. I 

 demanded of him, ( Sir I see a wonderful thing, water to be as 

 it were of nothing ; I see the fruit of the tree consumed in it 

 with a most sweet and kindly heat, wherefore is all this?'' But 

 he answered me most lovingly ; ' My son it is true this is a thing 

 to be wondered at, but do not thou wonder at it, for so it must 

 be. For this water is the water of life, having power to better 

 the fruit of this tree, so that afterwards neither by planting nor 

 grafting, but only by its own odour it may convert the other six 

 trees into its own likeness/ " 



Lastly, let us take a passage from the treatise De Rerum 

 Natura of Paracelsus f : — " The life of metals is a secret fatness ; 

 .... of salts the spirit of aquafortis ; .... of pearls their 

 splendor ; .... of marcasites and antimony a tinging metalline 



spirit; .... of arsenics a mineral and a coagulated poison 



The life of all men is nothing else but an astral balsam, a balsamic 

 impression, and a celestial invisible fire ; an included air, and a 

 tinging spirit of salt. I cannot name it more plainly, although 

 it is set out by many names." 



These extracts are typical of three distinct phases of old che- 

 mical literature. It is difficult to say which author is the least 

 obscure, — perhaps Basil Valentine; but there is not much to 

 choose between them, and we can only wonder how such masses 

 of unintelligible matter ever came to be printed. We must bear 

 in mind, however, that the tone of chemistry had considerably 

 improved before the time of Becher, maiuly through the labours 

 of Boyle and Lemery. The ' Sceptical Chemist ' of BoyleJ was 

 very serviceable in lessening the obscurity of future works on 

 chemistry. Glauber §, although he often indulges in obscure 

 language, and speaks of his "auruni potabile" as capable of 



* Born 1566, died 1646. t Born 1493, died 1541. 



X Born 1626, died 1691. § Born 1604, died 1668. 



