87 
Alluding to this later writers state that the fallen angels 
taught women all the secrets of nature.* That one of these 
is the art of making gold and silver is however first 
mentioned by Zosimus. Other Greek writers use the word 
Chemia or Chymia in the same sense ; in print we find it 
first in the Lexicon of Suidas, who lived in the eleventh 
century and defines \r]ixua as the preparation of gold and 
silver.” 
All the earlier Greek writers who mention this word were 
in close connection with the university of Alexandria; from 
this it has been inferred that the artificial preparation of the 
noble metals was first attempted in Egypt. 
That country was conquered by the Arabians in 640. 
Here they made undoubtedly their first acquaintance with 
chemical science; they prefixed their article to the Greek 
name and thus introduced the terms : Alchemy, Alchimy or 
Alchymy. 
The origin and meaning of these terms have often been 
discussed. Plutarch states that the old name of Egypt was 
X»jjuta ; that it was so called on account of its black soil, 
and that the same word designated the black of the eye. 
From this the conclusion has been drawn, that chemistry 
originally meant the science of Egypt, or the black of the 
eye being the symbol of darkness and mystery, chemistry 
was the secret or black art. But alchemy has never been 
called the black art, a name which was exclusively reserved 
for magic or necromancy. 
It has also been stated that the name was derived from 
the Arabic hema, to hide, while others have maintained that 
the founder of our science was Cham or Ham, the son of 
Noah, or an Egyptian king with the name of Chemmis. It 
has further been suggested that the name of the science was 
derived from to melt ; or from x^i^oc, juice or liquid. 
* Kopp, loc. cit. 4. 
