292 
Original Communications. 
rated with the weakness of an unexercised intellect to blind 
the judgment to the truth. The hope of living for a thousand 
years, and of possessing wealth and consequently power be- 
yond the reach of human conception, was too dear to the 
heart to yield to the feeble contradiction of a weak and be- 
wildered reason. The elixir of life and the philosopher's 
stone, which were to be the instruments of gratification to 
these lofty wishes, did not seem to be impossibilities in a world, 
where nothing was known to be impossible which did not in- 
volve a contradiction. The zeal therefore, which sought 
these creatures of the imagination through every region of 
nature, is not in fact, surprising. It was amply repaid both in 
its failure and its successes; for the objects longed for, would, 
if attained, have proved a curse to mankind, while the nu- 
merous discoveries made in the progress of the search have 
proved a blessing. In digging for gold, the Alchemists, 
though they failed to find the metal, prepared the soil for the 
production of a more useful harvest. The resources of the 
medical art were greatly extended by their labours; and 
some of the most efficient instruments now employed in the 
treatment of diseases, had their origin at this period, The in- 
troduction of the antimonials and mercurials into the Materia 
Medica was an event which alone would illustrate an age. 
The maritime discoveries of that eventful era contributed 
also greatly to enrich this department of medicine. Several 
new and highly important remedies were introduced into 
Europe from the new continent, and those derived from In- 
dia, particularly the spices, became more abundant in conse- 
quence of their cheaper carriage by the southern passage. 
Up to the close of the seventeenth century, we may con- 
sider that the process of accumulation, in relation to medi- 
cines, was steadily going on ; and that, though some enlight- 
ened spirits had escaped from the bondage of authority and 
superstition, the great majority still adhered to the absurdities 
of past ages ; and the Materia Medica, with its new acces- 
sions, retained most of its former vices and superfluities. At 
length, however, that intellectual craving which had followed 
