94 MR. MORTON’S INTRODUCTORY LECTURE 
wondered at, for the Peruvians made the same mistake when the 
Spaniards first landed on their coasts. 
Chiron was celebrated among these horsemen for his knowledge 
of archery and music, and also of medicine. This would neces- 
sarily embrace some knowledge of pharmaceutical chemistry. He 
was acquainted with the properties of various plants and medicinal 
herbs, and, furthermore, he did not disdain to practise on brutes, 
so that he may be said to be the first veterinary surgeon on record, 
as well as the teacher and father of physic. Among his disciples 
was HSsculapius, who accompanied the Argonauts in their expedi- 
tion to Colchis, probably as their medical adviser ; for it is said 
that so successful was he in his practice, he restored so many to 
life, that Pluto complained of him to Jupiter, who destroyed him 
with his thunderbolt. His daughter Hygeia also practised the 
medical art, and with so much skill and success, that she was after- 
wards worshipped as the goddess of health. 
Another of the disciples of Chiron was, as some interpret the 
mythology of those times, connected with the diffusion of chemical 
science. He was of royal descent, but had been driven from the 
throne of his forefathers. At length his birthright was promised 
to be restored to him on the accomplishment of some fearful feats, 
the last of which was to destroy the ever-watchful dragon that 
guarded the golden fleece, and to carry away that treasure. 
This, by the aid of Medea, the daughter of the usurper, and a 
magician, i. e., one skilled in the knowledge of herbs, and certain 
other natural phenomena, he easily accomplished. By the narcotic 
influence of some herbs the dragon was sent to sleep and destroyed, 
and the golden fleece carried away. 
Some have imagined that this golden fleece w'as a treatise writ- 
ten on skins, one of the ancient methods of preserving records ere 
the art of printing was introduced — teaching how gold might be 
prepared by the aid of chemistry, for the original meaning of the 
word is the art of making gold and silver. It was called the 
golden fleece on account of its immense value. Hence the art of 
chemistry was conjectured not to be of human invention, but com- 
municated by angels or demons to man. The word chemistry is 
first met with in a Greek writer who is supposed to have lived 
about the eleventh century. It is in the lexicon of Luidas, and 
the passage abbreviated runs thus : “ Chemistry, the preparation 
of silver and gold; the books of which Diocletian, having inquired 
for, burned on account of the new projects of the Egyptians against 
him, so that no longer wealth might come to them from this art, lest, 
encouraged by it, they might be led to resist the Romans.” 
From the Greeks chemistry passed to their conquerors the Ro- 
