respecting the trituration of the molten calf, there is yet sufficient to shew, that the operation was effected by an experienced hand; and we may rest assured, that if, once, any data, however trifling or inefficient, were afforded, of the possibility of metallic transmutation, the report would not only gain ground, but become a permanent fiction, too tempting to be ever forgotten or given up by those who were sanguine enough to hope for success. We may, therefore, conclude, that the art was more or less admitted and encouraged, in successive ages; and that books existed, treating upon subjects nearly akin to it, we learn from Acts xix., v. xix., where we are told, that many which "used curious arts, brought their books together, and burned them before all men." That it was practised, and, moreover, to a considerable extent, amongst the Romans, we also know, since a law was passed for the banishment of all who professed it: Cæsar exerted himself to check its progress; and we learn from Suidas, that Diocletian caused a diligent inquiry to be made for all the ancient books which treated of the admirable art of making gold and silver, and, without pity, committed them to the flames; apprehensive lest the opulence of the Egyptians should inspire them with confidence to rebel against the empire. In the fourth century, we again hear of it from certain Greek writers, who speak of it as a well-known art. In the 13th century, it seems to have gained ground, a natural consequence of the enthusiastic, and, at the same time, degraded superstition and ignorance of the times. It infected even amongst those who ought to have soared above such palpable absurdities, for even the learned Thomas Aquinas became a proselyte, though severe laws were enacted and enforced against such as professed it. In the following century, it continued to flourish with an apparent accession of encouragement, going hand in hand with its sister science, astrology, rousing the indignation of Petrarch, amongst others; who, as Ginguene, in his valuable Histoire Litteraire d'Italie, informs us, availed himself of every opportunity to enlighten the world, and combat its errors. "Loin (says he) de se laisser entrainer au torrent, il ne cessa de se moquer de l'astrologie et des astrologues, soit dans ses ouvrages publics, soit dans ses lettres." In England, we have a curious instance on record, not merely of the hold it had on the public mind, but of the most singular piece of royal cajolery ever practised by a monarch on his people; namely, the barefaced expedient, or, as the narrator expresses it, "the beggarly shift," by which Edward I. attempted to replenish an exhausted treasury, and satisfy the claims of his creditors by

* Vol. iii., 147.

the aid of alchymy and sophistication of his coin ;" a project, as the record states, "delectabile et quidem utile." And well did that project deserve such epithets, by which the baser metals were to be metamorphosed into "verissimum aurum et purissimum argentum!"-No sooner had this audacious imposition been published, than the proclamation was followed up by a patent, under the direct authority of parliament, wherein the royal swindler tells his loving subjects, that the happy hour was drawing nigh, when, by means of the philosopher's stone, he would pay all the debts of the nation in real gold and silver"in bona pecunia numerata de auro et argento."-In the 15th century, it again appears sanctioned by the government, and as an indirect source of profit, licenses being granted to practise it, copies of which may be seen in Rymer's Fadera.+ We have not been able to trace its course, in any very conspicuous channel, from that period; still, however, it continued to pass current as a sterling science, and usually contained, in its list of supporters and patrons, names of considerable note, notwithstanding the masterly refutations of the ablest writers of their day, such as Guebert, Gassendi and Kepler. Libavius, who died in 1616, was, we think, the last active experimental philosopher who believed that transmutation had been actually performed. Unless, indeed, we include Boyle, who expressed something very like a belief in alchymy:—and, indeed, the great Lord Bacon himself, who not only learnedly discusses the theories of Paracelsus, but, in speaking of transmutation, says "the work itself I judge to be possible, for we conceive that a perfect good concoction, or digestion, or maturation of some metals, will produce gold." Nat. Hist. p. 160, vol. iv.-Soon after these times, more rational theories usurped the place of these spurious and unintelligible systems, preparing the way those stupendous discoveries of legitimate chemical knowledge, to which, however, it must be conceded, that the alchymists, though working in the dark, with barely a scintillation of truth here and there to lead them on, were the undoubted pioneers. Men, as Lord Bacon observes, similar to those husbandmen, who, in searching for treasures supposed to be hidden in their land, by turning up and pulverising the soil, render it fertile; and, in seeking for brilliant impossibilities, sometimes discover useful realities.

for

Having given a brief sketch of the history of this extraordinary art, we shall proceed to attempt some account of its character, and the principles upon which it is founded. Its object was twofold: the one, to produce a substance capable,

* See "Tover's Judaica," 257.

† Vol. xii., A. D. 1476

by combination, of converting every metal with which it came in contact, into gold; the other, as a pabulum vita, to protract, indefinitely, the period of human life. In the prosecution of this part of our subject, we shall quote largely from the books before us, not only as authorities, but as illustrations of the style and mode of reasoning adopted by the alchymical, or, as they termed themselves, Spagyricall* philosophers. In our progress through the dark, and often intentionally unintelligible phraseology of these singular writers, we occasionally meet with bright gleams of pure science and well-founded rational opinions, bursting in upon the general obscurity, intermixed, also, with strains of eloquence, and, as we have before observed, fervent piety, soothing our well-founded impatience, and, like charity, throwing a veil over a multitude of their presumptuous sins and follies. Thus, to start ab initio, we shall find, that the very stepping-stone on which the alchymist sets his foot, for the purpose of springing into the recesses of nature, was a compound of these qualities, combining much that was true and excellent. 66 'Si vera philosophia et cognitio rerum sit vera scientia, alchymiam excludere non possumus e numero scientiarum: cùm alchymia sit vera philosophia, et cognitio rerum creatarum sunt nomina tantum distincta alchymia et philosophia in rei veritate nullo pacto differant, nisi alchymiam ad metalla tantum determinare velimus."+ Here, divested of its absurdity, we see, that the principal object of the alchymist was a perfection of that knowledge by which the secrets of nature could be laid open; and, so far, it was not only a lawful, but a laudable pursuit; particularly when associated with the prevailing, and frequently repeated, opinion, that the initiated were working under the immediate sanction and guidance of the Almighty. "Itaque in hac sola scientia, non est possibile aliquid in ea scire, nisi per Dei ipsius demonstrationem: nec enim aliquid consequi possunt in ea alchymistæ, nisi Deus eos consequi illud præjudicaverit, nec quicquam in Alchymia retinere valent, nisi per fortitudinem à summo Deo liberis divinitùs collatum sit." Again, "Lapis philosophorum ab omnibus authoribus qui de eo contractarunt, existimatur, summum in terris Dei donum esse," &c. " Cum ergo sit tantum et magnum Dei donum, ut ejus excellentia et præstantia cognoscatur, summa est necessaria sapientiæ, quæ paucissimis est a Deo data." In the New Light, the same opinion is thus expressed-"Thou, therefore, that desirest to attaine to this art,

*This word was coined by Paracelsus, and is derived from the Teutonick word spaher, a searcher. "Propug." 34.

+"Propug." 4.

"Propug." 101.

in the first place, put thy whole trust in God, thy Creator, and urge him, by thy prayers; and then, assuredly, believe that hee will not forsake thee: for if God shall know that thy heart is sincere, and thy whole trust is put in him, hee will, by one means or another, shew thee a way, and assist thee in it, that thou shalt obtain thy desire. Pray, but yet worke," &c.*

Paracelsus, in his treatise on the Urim and Thummim, says, Philosophy is nothing but the study of wisdom considered in a created nature, as well subject to sense as invisible, and, consequently, material; and wisdom's central body is the shadow of wisdom's central essence; and the moral interpretation can never exclude the real effects from ocular demonstration: but where reason hath experience, faith hath no merit; and without faith there is no knowledge of any excellent thing; for the end of faith is understanding." Again, to "obtain the treasures of nature, you must follow nature only,.who gives not the like time to every generation; but as the mare hath ten months, the elephant three, or, as some say, nine years, and fifty, before conjunction: be patient, therefore, in a work of nature; for thereunto only is promised victory; and the chief errors in art are haste and dullness," &c. "Neither refuse the waters of Shiloah, because they go slowly; for they that wade in deep waters, cannot go fast."+

We come next to their philosophical principles, which consisted in a belief, that there were certain primitive monocula, or atoms, partaking of body, soul, and spirit, under the controul, more or less, of a certain spiritual agency. That creation was the determination or arrangement of these elementary atoms by certain established laws; and that the grand arcanum was, by the investigation of these laws, to ascertain the features of this primitive organization, and generate, if we may so express ourselves, or imitate nature by the perfection of art. That nature was a subordinate power or medium, by which Deity exerted his omnipotence, the Deity being a self-existing and indivisible spirit; and that the object of nature was an incessant and persevering tendency or progress towards perfection. By identifying themselves, in a manner, with nature, their excited imaginations, by degrees, impressed them with a presumptuous fancy, that they might, like her, by close application, become a similar dium of divine agency, and, like Prometheus, draw down the fires of heaven, and controul their powers. "Sic proficiscitur opus nostrum ; quod sub fabulæ Promethei cortice obtegatur."§ Keeping in mind this view of their principles, associating

me

+"Paracelsus," 52. § "Propug." 53.

a spiritual and, therefore, indestructible existence with all the varied forms of creative power, we must not be surprised to find, that death was more a term implying transformation than destruction: the passage may be considered as a fair specimen of their mode of reasoning and peculiarity of style. "The perfection of every art (properly so called) requires a new birth, as that which is sowed is not quickened except it die; but here death is taken for mutation, and not for rotting under the clods. Now, therefore, we must take the key of art, and consider the secret of every thing is the life thereof: life is a vapour, and in vapour is placed the wonder of art; whatsoever hath heat, agitating and moving, in itself, by the internal transmutation, is said to live. This life, the artist seeks to destroy, and restore an eternal life, with glory and beauty."* Exclusive of these fundamental principles, we find, scattered throughout their works, repeated allusions to some important phenomena, even in our days but imperfectly revealed and partially understood; for example, the doctrine of latent heat seems to have been an universally admitted fact, but a fact of whose real importance they were ignorant. Their inability to make a practical use, or general application of the principle, reminds us of the old story of the ingenious inventor of a mousetrap, who, after he had completed his work, had not enough wit left to know how to set it. With them, the doctrine of latent heat excites none of that natural admiration with which it was received by the scientific world, when Dr. Black introduced his discoveries, and proved, that a certain portion of matter of heat, called caloric, pervaded all bodies in a latent quiescent state, making no sensible addition to the temperature of the substances in which it existed. Thus, in the Propugnaculum,† "Nullo pacto dubitandum est quin calore suo innato (qui lucem assiduè concomitatur) ex materia elementorum, sibi faciat corpus quoddam," &c. Again where it is introduced under the name of sulphur, and described as "ignis naturæ seu lumen internum, quod calidum innatum constituit omnibus rebus inclusum, &c. In the New Light, § fire is again mentioned as "penetrating, digesting, corroding, and wonderfully adhering,-without visible, but within invisible and most fixed." It is said to be the element, of all "the most quiet, and like unto a chariot, when it is drawed it runs, when it is not drawed it stands still, and in all things undiscernibly. Thou hast an example of this in the flint, in the which there is fire, and yet it is not perceived, neither doth appear, untill it be stirred up by motion, and kindled in it that it may appear."