CHAPTER II

THE THEORY OF PHYSICAL ALCHEMY
§ 14. It must be borne in mind when reviewing the theories of the alchemists, that there were a number SuDDosedi ^^ phenomena known at the time, the Proofs of superficial examination of vfhxph would Trans- naturally engender 9 belief that the transmutation of the metals was a com- mon occurrence. For example, the deposition of copper on iron when immersed in a solution of a copper salt (e.g-., blue vitriol) was naturally concluded to be a transmutation of iron into copper, ^ although, had the alchemists examined the residual liquid, they would have found that the two metals had merely exchanged places ; and the fact that white and yellow alloys of copper with arsenic and other substances could be produced, pointed to the possibility of trans- muting copper into silver and gold. It was also known that if water (and this is true of distilled water which does not contain solid matter in solution) was boiled for some time in a glass flask, some solid, earthy matter was produced ; and if water could be transmuted into earth, surely one metal could be
^ Cf. TAe Golden Tract concerning the Stone of the Philosophers (The Hermetic Museum^ vol. i. p. 25).
3 "
18 ALCHEMY [§ 15
converted into another. 2 On account of these and like phenomena the alcher.ists regarded the trans- mutation of the metals as an experimentally proved fact. Even if they are to be blamed for their super- ficial observation of such phenomena, yet, never- theless, their labours marked a distinct advance upon the purely speculative and theoretical methods of the philosophers preceding them. Whatever their faults, the alchemists were the forerunners of modern experi- mental science.
§ 15. The alchemists regarded the metals as com- posite, and granting this, then the possibility of trans- mutation is only a logical conclusion. In
The order to understand the theory of the
Aicnemistic 1 1 1 i 1 .1
Elements. eieinents held by them we must rid our- selves of any idea that it bears any close resemblance to Dalton's theory of the chemical elements ; this is clear from what has been said in the preceding chapter. Now, it is a fact of simple observation that many otherwise different bodies manifest some property in common, as, for instance, combustibility. Properties such as these were regarded as being due to some principle or element common to all bodies exhibiting such properties ; thus, combustibility was thought to be due to some elementary principle of combustion — the '* sulphur " of the alchemists and the *' phlogiston " of a later period. This is a view which a priori appears to be not unlikely ; but it is now known that, although there are relations existing between the properties of bodies
* Lavoisier (eighteenth century) proved this apparent transmu- tation to be due to the action of the water on the glass vessel containing it.
§ 16] PHYSICAL ALCHEMY 19
and their constituent chemical elements (and also, it should be noted, the relative arrangement of the particles of these elements), it is the less obvious properties which enable chemists to determine the constitution of bodies, and the connection is very far from being of the simple nature imagined by the alchemists.
§ 16. For the origin of the alchemistic theory of the elements it is necessary to go back to the philosophers
. . . , preceding the alchemists, and it is not
Views improbable that they derived it from
regarding the some still older source. It was taught
emen s. ^^ Empedocles of Agrigent (440 B.C.
circa), who considered that there were four elements —
earth, water, air, and fire. Aristotle added a fifth,
*' the ether." These elements were regarded, not as
different kinds of matter, but rather as different forms
of the one original matter, whereby it manifested
different properties. It was thought that to these
elements were due the four primary properties of
dryness, moistness, warmth, and coldness, each
element being supposed to give rise to two of these
properties, dryness and warmth being thought to be
due to fire, moistness and warmth to air, moistness
and coldness to water, and dryness and coldness to
earth. Thus, moist and cold bodies (liquids in
general) were said to possess these properties in
consequence of the aqueous element, and were termed
" waters," &c. Also, since these elements were not
regarded as different kinds of matter, transmutation
was thought to be possible, one being convertible
into another, as in the example given above
(§ 14).
20 ALCHEMY [§ 17
§ 17. Coming to the alchemists, we find the view that the metals are all composed of two elementary- principles — sulphur and mercury — in
The Sulphur- different proportions and dee^rees of Mercury . n • i • n ,
Theory. purity, well-nigh universally accepted
in the earlier days of Alchemy. By these terms *' sulphur" and ** mercury,*' however, must not be understood the common bodies ordinarily- designated by these names ; like the elements of Aristotle, the alchemistic principles were regarded as properties rather than as substances, though it must be confessed that the alchemists were by no means always clear on this point themselves. Indeed, it is not altogether easy to say exactly what the alchemists did mean by these terms, and the question is com- plicated by the fact that very frequently they make mention of different sorts of *'sulphur"and ''mercury." Probably, however, we shall not be far wrong in saying that " sulphur " was generally regarded as the principle of combustion and also of colour, and was said to be present on account of the fact that most metals are changed into earthy substances by the aid of fire ; and to the '' mercury," the metallic principle par excellence, was attributed such properties as fusibility, malleability and lustre, which were regarded as characteristic of the metals in general. The pseudo-Geber (see § 32) says that '' Sulphur is a fatness of the Earth, by temperate Decoction in the Mine of the Earth thickened, until it be hardned and made dry." 3 He considered an excess of sulphur to be a cause of imperfection in the metals, and he writes
3 Of the Sum of Perfection (see The Works of Geber^ translated by Richard Russel, 1678, pp. 69 and 70).
§ 17] PHYSICAL ALCHEMY 21
that one of the causes of the corruption of the metals by fire ** is the Inclusion of a burning Sulphuriety in the profundity of their Substance, diminishing them by Inflamation, and exterminating also into Fume, with extream Consumption, whatsoever Argentvive in them is of good Fixation.'* 4 He assumed, further, that the metals contained an incombustible as well as a combustible sulphur, the latter sulphur being apparently regarded as an impurity. 5 A later alchemist says that sulphur is ** most easily recog- nised by the vital spirit in animals, the colour in metals, the odour in plants." ^ Mercury, on the other hand, according to the pseudo-Geber, is the cause of perfection in the metals, and endows gold with its lustre. Another alchemist, quoting Arnold de Villanova, writes : " Quicksilver is the elementary form of all things fusible ; for all things fusible, when melted, are changed into it, and it mingles with them because it is of the same substance with them. Such bodies differ from quicksilver in their composition only so far as itself is or is not free from the foreign matter of impure sulphur." 7 The obtaining of " philosophical mercury," the imaginary virtues of which the alchemists never tired of relating, was generally held to be essential for the attainment of the magnum opus. It was commonly thought that it could be prepared from ordinary quicksilver by
4 Of the Sum of Perfection (see The Works of Geber, p. 156).
5 See The Works of Geber ^ p. 160. This view was also held by other alchemists.
^ The New Chemical Lights Part II., Concerning Sulphur (see The Hermetic Museum^ vol. ii. p. 151).
7 See Th£ Golden Tract concerning the Stone of the Philosophers {The Hermetic Museum^ vol. i. p. 17).
22 ALCHEMY [§ 18
purificatory processes, whereby the impure sulphur supposed to be present in this sort of mercury might be purged away.
The sulphur-mercury theory of the metals was held by such famous alchemists as Roger Bacon, Arnold de Villanova and Raymond Lully. Until recently it was thought to have originated to a great extent with the Arabian alchemist, Geber ; but the late Professor Berthelot showed that the works ascribed to Geber, in which the theory is put forward, are forgeries of a date by which it was already centuries old (see § 32). Occasionally, arsenic was regarded as an elementary principle (this view is to be found, for example, in the work Of the Sum of Perfection, by the pseudo-Geber), but the idea was not general.
§ 18. Later in the history of Alchemy, the mercury- sulphur theory was extended by the addition of a third elementary principle, salt. As in
The Sulphur- ^^ ^^se of philosophical sulphur and Mercury-Salt 1 1 •
Theory mercury, by this term was not meant
common salt (sodium chloride) or any of those substances commonly known as salts. "Salt" was the name given to a supposed basic principle in the metals, a principle of fixity and solidification, conferring the property of resistance to fire. In this extended form, the theory is found in the works of Isaac of Holland and in those attributed to *' Basil Valentine," who (see the work Of Natural and Super- natural Things) attempts to explain the differences in the properties of the metals as the result of the differences in the proportion of sulphur, salt, and mercury they contain. Thus, copper, which is highly coloured, is said to contain much sulphur, whilst iron
§ 19] PHYSICAL ALCHEMY 23
is supposed to contain an excess of salt, &c. The sulphur-mercury-salt theory was vigorously cham- pioned by Paracelsus, and the doctrine gained very general acceptance amongst the alchemists. Salt, however, seems generally to have been considered a less important principle than either mercury or sulphur.
The same germ-idea underlying these doctrines is to be found much later in Stahl's phlogistic theory (eighteenth century), which attempted to account for the combustibility of bodies by the assumption that such bodies all contain ** phlogiston" — the hypothetical principleof combustion (see § 72) — though the concept of " phlogiston " approaches more nearly to the modern idea of an element than do the alchemistic elements or principles. It was not until still later in the history of Chemistry that it became quite evident that the more obvious properties of chemical substances are not specially conferred on them in virtue of certain elements entering into their constitution.
§ 19. The alchemists combined the above theories
with Aristotle's theory of the elements. The latter,
namely, earth, air, fire and water, were
Alchemistic resfarded as more interior, more primary. Elements and ^^ . . . 1 ,
Principles. ^^^^ the prmciples, whose source was
said to be these same elements. As
writes Sendivogius in Part II. of T^e New Chemical
Light; ''The three Principles of things are produced
out of the four elements in the following manner :
Nature, whose power is in her obedience to the Will
of God, ordained from the very beginning, that the
four elements should incessantly act on one another,
24 ALCHEMY [§ 19
so, in obedience to her behest, fire began to act on air, and produced Sulphur ; air acted on water, and produced Mercury ; water, by its action on the earth, produced Salt. Earth, alone, having nothing to act upon, did not produce anything, but became the nurse, or womb, of these three Principles. We designedly speak of three Principles ; for though the Ancients mention only two, it is clear that they omitted the third (Salt) not from ignorance, but from a desire to lead the uninitiated astray." ^
Beneath and within all these coverings of outward properties, taught the alchemists, is hidden the secret essence of all material things. '' . . . the elements and compounds," writes one alchemist, *' in addition to crass matter, are composed of a subtle substance, or intrinsic radical humidity, diffused through the ele- mental parts, simple and wholly incorruptible, long preserving the things themselves in vigour, and called the Spirit of the World, proceeding from the Soul of the World, the one certain life, filling and fathoming all things, gathering together and connecting all things, so that from the three genera of creatures, Intellectual, Celestial, and Corruptible, there is formed the One Machine of the whole world." 9 It is hardly necessary to point out how nearly this approaches modern views regarding the Ether of Space.
2 The New Chemical Light, Part II., Concerning Sulphur (see The Hermetic Museum, vol. ii. pp. 142-143).
9 Alexander von Suchten : Man, the best and most perfect of God's creatures. A more complete Exposition of this Medical Founda- tion for the less Experienced Student. (See Benedictus Figulus : A Golden and Blessed Casket of Nature's Marvels, translated by A. E. Waite, 1893, PP- 7^ ^"^ 72*)
§20] PHYSICAL ALCHEMY 25
§ 20. The alchemists regarded the metals as growing in the womb of the earth, and a know- ledge of this growth as being of very
^^'^e^Meufs °^ ^""^^^ importance. Thomas Norton (who, however, contrary to the generality of alchemists, denied that metals have seed and that they grow in the sense of multiply) says : —
^^ Mettalls of kinde grow lowe under ground, For above erth rust in them is found ; Soe above erth appeareth corruption. Of mettalls, and in long tyme destruction, Whereof noe Cause is found in this Case, Buth that above Erth thei be not in their place Contrarie places to nature causeth strife As Fishes out of water losen their Lyfe : And Man, with Beasts, and Birds live in ayer. But Stones and Mineralls under Erth repaier." ^°
Norton here expresses the opinion, current among the alchemists, that each and every thing has its own peculiar environment natural to it ; a view controverted by Robert Boyle (§71). So firm was the belief in the growth of metals, that mines were frequently closed for a while in order that the supply of metal might be renewed. The fertility of Mother Earth forms the subject of one of the illustrations in Tke Twelve Keys of *' Basil Valentine" (see § 41). We reproduce it in plate 3, fig. A. Regarding this subject, the author writes : *' The quickening power of the earth produces all things that grow forth from it, and he who says that the earth has no life makes
'° Thomas Norton : Ordinall of Alchemy (see Theatrum Chemi- cum Britannicuniy edited by Elias Ashmole, 1652, p. 18).
26 ALCHEMY [§21
a statement which is flatly contradicted by the most ordinary facts. For what is dead cannot produce life and growth, seeing that it is devoid of the quickeniixg spirit. This spirit is the life and soul that dwell in the earth, and are nourished by heavenly and sidereal influences. For all herbs, trees, and roots, and all metals and minerals, receive their growth and nutri- ment from the spirit of the earth, which is the spirit of life. This spirit is itself fed by the stars, and is thereby rendered capable of imparting nutriment to all things that grow, and of nursing them as a mother does her child while it is yet in the womb. The minerals are hidden in the womb of the earth, and nourished by her with the spirit which she receives from above.
" Thus the power of growth that I speak of is imparted not by the earth, but by the life-giving spirit that is in it. If the earth were deserted by this spirit, it would be dead, and no longer able to afford nourish- ment to anything. For its sulphur or richness would lack the quickening spirit without which there can be neither life nor growth." ^^
§ 21. The idea that the growth of each metal was
under the influence of one of the heavenly bodies
(a theory in harmony with the alchemistic
Astrolo^^ view of the unity of the Cosmos), was
very generally held by the alchemists ;
and in consequence thereof, the metals were often
referred to by the names or astrological symbols
of their peculiar planets. These particulars are shown
in the following table : —
" " Basil Valentine " : The Twelve Keys (see The Hermetic Museum, vol i. pp. 333-334)-
PLATE 3
SYMBOLICAL ILLUSTRATION
Representing the Fertility of tlie Earth.
SYMBOLICAL ILLUSTRATION
Representintj the Amaigarnation of Gold with Mercury.
(See page 33-)
Til }tu^ fagjt 36]
22]
PHYSICAL ALCHEMY
27
Metals.
Planets, &c."
Symbols.
Gold
Sun
0
Silver
Moon
D
Mercury
Mercury
^
Copper
Venus
?
Iron
Mars
^
Tin
Jupiter
U
Lead
Saturn
^
Moreover, it was thought by some alchemists that a due observance of astrological conditions was neces- sary for successfully carrying out important alchemistic experiments.
§ 22. The alchemists regarded gold as the most perfect metal, silver being considered more perfect
Al h * f ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^' ^^^ reason of this view
View of the is not difficult to understand : gold is the
Nature of most beautiful of all the metals, and it
retains its beauty without tarnishing ; it
resists the action of fire and most corrosive liquids,
and is unaffected by sulphur ; it was regarded, as we
have pointed out above (see § 9), as symbolical of
the regenerate man. Silver, on the other hand, is,
indeed, a beautiful metal which wears well in a pure
atmosphere and resists the action of fire ; but it is
attacked by certain corrosives {e,£:, aqua fortis or
nitric acid) and also by sulphur. Through all the
metals, from the one seed, Nature, according to the
" This supposed connection between the metals and planets also played an important part in Talismanic Magic.
28 ALCHEMY [§ 22
alchemists, works continuously up to gold ; so that, in a sense, all other metals are gold in the making ; their existence marks the staying of Nature's powers ; as ** Eirenaeus Philalethes " says: "All metallic seed is the seed of gold ; for gold is the intention of Nature in regard to all metals. If the base metals are not gold, it is only through some accidental hindrance ; they are all potentially gold." '3 Or, as another alchemist puts it : ''Since . . . the substance of the metals is one, and common to all, and since this substance is (either at once, or after laying aside in course of time the foreign and evil sulphur of the baser metals by a process of gradual digestion) changed by the virtue of its own indwelling sulphur into gold, which is the goal of all the metals, and the true intention of Nature — we are obliged to admit, and freely confess that in the mineral kingdom, as well as in the vegetable and animal kingdoms, Nature seeks and demands a gradual attainment of perfection, and a gradual approximation to the highest standard of purity and excellence." H Such was the alchemistic view of the generation of the metals ; a theory which is admittedly crude, but which, nevertheless, contains the germ of a great principle of the utmost importance, namely, the idea that all the varying forms of matter are evolved from some one primordial stuff — a principle of which chemical science lost sight for awhile ; for its validity was unrecognised by Dalton's Atomic Theory (at least, as enunciated by him),
^3 " EiRENiEUS Philalethes " : The Metamorphosis of Metals (see The Hermetic Museum, vol. ii. p. 239).
"* The Golden Tract Concerning the Stone of the Philosophers (see The Hermetic Museum, vol. i. p. 19).
§ 23] PHYSICAL ALCHEMY 29
but which is being demonstrated, as we hope to show hereinafter, by recent scientific research. The alchemist was certainly a fantastic evolutionist, but he was an evolutionist, and, moreover, he did not make the curious and paradoxical mistake of regarding the fact of evolution as explaining away the existence of God — the alchemist recognised the hand of the Divine in nature — and, although, in these days of modern science, we cannot accept his theory of the growth of metals, we can, nevertheless, appreciate and accept the fundamental germ-idea underly- ing it.
§ 23. The alchemist strove to assist Nature in her
gold-making, or, at least, to carry out her methods.
The pseudo-Geber taught that the im-
The perfect metals were to be perfected or
Philosophers * , , , i. . r , . i- • »»
Stone. cured by the application of medicines.
Three forms of medicines were dis- tinguished ; the first bring about merely a temporary change, and the changes wrought by the second class, although permanent, are not complete. '* A Medicine of the third Order," he writes, " I call every Prepara- tion, which, when it comes to Bodies, with its pro- jection, takes away all Corruption, and perfects them with the Difference of all Compleatment. But this is one only." ^5 This, the true medicine that would produce a real and permanent transmutation, is the Philosopher's Stone, the Masterpiece of alchemistic art. Similar views were held by all the alchemists, though some of them taught that it was necessary first of all to reduce the metals to their first
'5 Of the Sum of Perfection (see The Works of Geber, translated by Richard Russel, 1678, p. 192).
30 ALCHEMY [§ 24
substance. Often, two forms of the Philosopher's Stone were distinguished, or perhaps we should say, two degrees of perfection in the one Stone ; that for transmuting the "imperfect" metals into silver being said to be white, the stone or " powder of projection " for gold being said to be of a red colour. In other accounts (see Chapter V.) the medicine is described as of a pale brimstone hue.
Most of the alchemists who claimed knowledge of the Philosopher's Stone or the materia prima necessary for its preparation, generally kept its nature most secret, and spoke only in the most enigmatical and allegorical language, the majority of their recipes con- taining words of unknown meaning. In some cases gold or silver, as the case may be, was employed in preparing the " medicine " ; and, after projection had been made, this was, of course, obtained again in the metallic form, the alchemist imagining that a transmutation had been effected. In the case of the few other recipes that are intelligible, the most that could be obtained by following out their instructions is a white or yellow metallic alloy superficially resembling silver or gold.
§ 24. The mystical as distinguished from the
pseudo-practical descriptions of the Stone and its
preparation are by far the more in-
of the teresting of the two. Paracelsus, in his Philosopher's work on The Tincture of the PhilosopherSy
Stone. ^^jjg ^g ^j^^^ ^Ij ^^^ jg necessary for us to
do is to mix and coagulate the ** rose-coloured blood from the Lion" and **the gluten from the Eagle," by which he probably meant that we must combine " philosophical sulphur " with ** philosophical mercury.'*
§ 25] PHYSICAL ALCHEMY 31
This opinion, that the Philosopher's Stone consists of ** philosophical sulphur and mercury " combined so as to constitute a perfect unity, was commonly held by the alchemists, and they frequently likened this union to the conjunction of the sexes in marriage. '* Eirenseus Philalethes" tells us that for the preparation of the Stone it is necessary to extract the seed of gold, though this cannot be accomplished by subjecting gold to corrosive liquids, but only by a homogeneous water (or liquid) — the Mercury of the Sages. In the Book of the Revelation of Hermes^ interpreted by Theophrastus Paracelsus, concerning the Supreme Secret of the World, the Medicine, which is here, as not infrequently, identified with the alchemistic essence of all things or Soul of the World, is described in the following suggestive language : " This is the Spirit of Truth, which the world cannot comprehend without the interposition of the Holy Ghost, or without the instruction of those who know it. The same is of a mysterious nature, wondrous strength, boundless power. ... By Avicenna this Spirit is named the Soul of the World. For, as the Soul moves all the limbs of the Body, so also does this Spirit move all bodies. And as the Soul is in all the limbs of the Body, so also is this Spirit in all elementary created things. It is sought by many and found by few. It is beheld from afar and found near ; for it exists in every thing, in every place, and at all times. It has the powers of all creatures ; its action is found in all elements, and the qualities of all things are therein, even in the highest per- fection ... it heals all dead and living bodies without other medicine, . . . converts all metallic
32 ALCHEMY [§25
bodies into gold, and there is nothing like unto it under Heaven." '^
§ 25. From the ascetic standpoint (and unfor- tunately, most mystics have been somewhat overfond of ascetic ideas), the development of ^]^® ^^®°^ the soul is only fully possible with the
of Develop- -r - r i i i 1 11
ment. mortihcation of the body ; and all true
Mysticism teaches that if we would reach the highest goal possible for man — union with the Divine — there must be a giving up of our own in- dividual wills, an abasement of the soul before the Spirit. And so the alchemists taught that for the achievement of the magnum opus on the physical plane, we must strip the metals of their outward pro- perties in order to develop the essence within. As says Helvetius : " . . the essences of metals are hidden in their outward bodies, as the kernel is hidden in the nut. Every earthly body, whether animal, vegetable, or mineral, is the habitation and terrestrial abode of that celestial spirit, or influence, which is its principle of life or growth. The secret of Alchemy is the destruction of the body, which enables the Artist to get at, and utilise for his own purposes, the living soul." ^7 This killing of the outward nature of material things was to be brought about by the processes of putrefaction and decay ; hence the reason why such processes figure so largely in alchemistic recipes for the preparation of the ** Divine Magistery."
'^ See Benedictus Figulus : A Golden and Blessed Casket of Nature^ s Marvels (translated by A. E. Waite, 1893, pp. 36, 37, and 41).
^^ J. F. Helvetius : The Golden Calf^ ch. iv. (see The Hermetic Museum, vol. ii. p. 298).
PLATE 4-
SYMBOLICAL ILLUSTRATION
Representing the Coction of Gold Amalgam in a Closed Vessel.
SYMBOLICAL ILLUSTRATION
Representing the Transmutation of the Metals.
[To face page
§25] PHYSICAL ALCHEMY 33
It must be borne in mind, however, that the alchemists used the terms " putrefaction " and ** decay " rather indiscriminately, applying them to chemical processes which are no longer regarded as such. Pictorial symbols of death and decay representative of such pro- cesses are to be found in several alchemistic books. There is a curious series of pictures in A Form and Method of Perfecting Base Metals, by Janus Lacinus, the Calabrian (a short tract prefixed to The New Pearl of Great Price by Peter Bonus- see § 39), of which we show three examples in plates 3 and 4. In the first picture of the series (not shown here) we enter the palace of the king (gold) and observe him sitting crowned upon his throne, surrounded by his son (mercury) and five servants (silver, copper, tin, iron and lead). In the next picture (plate 3, fig. B), the son, incited by the servants, kills his father ; and, in the third, he catches the blood of his murdered parent in his robes ; v* whereby we understand that an amalgam of gold and { ^ mercury is to be prepared, the gold apparently ^ disappearing or dying, whilst the mercury is coloured thereby. The next picture shows us a grave being ^ dug, i.e., a furnace is to be made ready. In the fifth picture in the series, the son "thought to throw his father into the grave, and to leave him there ; ^^^ but . . . both fell in together " ; and in the sixth Ni picture (plate 4, fig. A), we see the son being pre- V vented from escaping, both son and father being left "* in the grave to decay. Here we have instructions in '^ symbolical form to place the amalgam in a sealed ^ vessel in the furnace and to allow it to remain there until some change is observed. So the allegory
4
34 ALCHEMY [§ 26
proceeds. Ultimately the father is restored to life, the symbol of resurrection being (as might be ex- pected) of frequent occurrence in alchemistic literature. By this resurrection we understand that the gold will finally be obtained in a pure form. Indeed, it is now the ''great medicine" and, in the last picture of the series (plate 4, fig. B), the king's son and his five servants are all made kings in virtue of its powers.
§ 26. The alchemists believed that a most minute proportion of the Stone projected upon considerable
The Powers ^^^.ntities of heated mercury, molten of the lead, or other '' base " metal, would
Philosopher's transmute practically the whole into silver or gold. This claim of the alchemists, that a most minute quantity of the Stone was sufficient to transmute considerable quantities of ''base" metal, has been the object of much ridicule. Certainly, some of the claims of the alchemists (under- stood literally) are out of all reason ; but on the other hand, the disproportion between the quantities of Stone and transmuted metal cannot be advanced as an d priori objection to the alchemists' claims, inasmuch that a class of chemical reactions (called " catalytic ") is known, in which the presence of a small quantity of some appropriate form of matter — the catalyst — brings about a chemical change in an indefinite quantity of some other form or forms ; thus, for example, cane-sugar in aqueous solution is con- verted into two other sugars by the action of small quantities of acid ; and sulphur-dioxide and oxygen, which will not combine under ordinary conditions, do so readily in the presence of a small quantity
§ 27] PHYSICAL ALCHEMY 35
of platinized asbestos, which is obtained unaltered after the reaction is completed and may be used over and over again (this process is actually employed in the manufacture of sulphuric acid or oil of vitriol). However, whether any such catalytic transmutation of the chemical " elements " is possible is merely conjecture.
§ 27. The Elixir of Life, which was generally described as a solution of the Stone in spirits of
wine, or identified with the Stone itself, of Life could be applied, so it was thought,
under certain conditions to the alchemist himself, with an entirely analogous result, i,e.y it would restore him to the flower of youth. The idea, not infrequently attributed to the alchemists, that the Elixir would endow one with a life of endless duration on the material plane is not in strict accord with alchemistic analogy. From this point of view, the effect of the Elixir is physiological perfection, which, although ensuring long life, is not equivalent to endless life on the material plane. ** The Philo- sophers' Stone," says Paracelsus, "purges the whole body of man, and cleanses it from all impurities by the introduction of new and more youthful forces wh ch it joins to the nature of man." ^^ And in an )ther work expressive of the opinions of the sarrie alchemist, we read :**... there is nothing which might deliver the mortal body from death ; but there is One Thing which may postpone decay, renew youth, and prolong short human
^^ Theophrastus Paracelsus : The Fifth Book of the Archi- doxies (see The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus^ translated by A. E. Waite, 1894, vol. ii. p. 39).
36 ALCHEMY [§ 28
life . . . " ^9 In the theory that a solution of the
Philosopher's Stone (which, it must be remembered,
was thought to be of a species with gold) constituted
the Elixir VitcB, can be traced, perhaps, the idea that
gold in a potable form was a veritable cure-all : in
the latter days of Alchemy any yellow-coloured liquid
was foisted upon a credulous public as a medicinal
preparation of gold.
§ 28. We will conclude this chapter with some
few remarks regarding the practical methods of
The Practical ^^ alchemists. In their experiments,
Methods of the alchemists worked with very large
*^® quantities of material compared with what
Alchemists. . i i • i • i i i
IS employed m chemical researches at the
present day. They had great belief in the efficacy of time to effect a desired change in their substances, and they were wont to repeat the same operation (such as distillation, for example) on the same mate- rial over and over again ; which demonstrated their unwearied patience, even if it effected little towards the attainment of their end. They paid much atten- tion to any changes of colour they observed in their experiments, and many descriptions of supposed methods to achieve the magnum opus contain :ie- tailed directions as to the various changes of co^)ur which must be obtained in the material operated u -^on if a successful issue to the experiment is desirea.^o
^9 The Book of the Revelation of Hermes, interpreted by Theo- phrastus Paracelsus, concerning the Supreme Secret of the World. (See Benedictus Figulus : A Golden Casket of Nature's Marvels, translated by A. E. Waite, 1893, pp. 33 and 34.)
2° As writes Espagnet in his Hermetic Arcanum, canons 64 and 65 : " The Means or demonstrative signs are Colours, successively and orderly aifecting the matter and its affections and demonstrative
ITo face pafie 37
§ 28] PHYSICAL ALCHEMY 37
In plates 5 and 6 we give illustrations of some characteristic pieces of apparatus employed by the alchemists. Plate 5, fig. A, and plate 6, fig. A, are from a work known as Alchemiae Gebri (1545) ; plate 5, fig. B, is from Glauber's work on Furnaces (1651) ; and plate 6, fig. B, is from a work by Dr. John French entitled The Art of Distillation (1651).
passions, whereof there are also three special ones (as critical) to be noted ; to these some add a Fourth. The first is black, which is ealled the Crow's head, because of its extreme blackness, whose crepusculum sheweth the beginning of the action of the fire of nature and solution, and the blackest midnight sheweth the perfec- tion of liquefaction, and confusion of the elements. Then the grain putrefies and is corrupted, that it may be the more apt for genera- tion . The white colour succeedeth the black, wherein is given the perfection of the first degree, and of the White Sulphur. This is called the blessed stone ; this Earth is white and foliated, wherein Philosophers do sow their gold. The third is Orange colour, which is produced in the passage of the white to the red, as the middle, and being mixed of both is as the dawn with his saffron kair, a forerunner of the Sun. The fourth colour is Ruddy and Sanguine, which is extracted from the white fire only. Now because whiteness is easily altered by any other colour before day it quickly laileth of its candour. But the deep redness of the Sun perfecteth the work of Sulphur, which is called the Sperm of the male, the fire of the Stone, the King's Crown, and the Son of Sol, wherein the first labour of the workman resteth.
" Besides these decretory signs which firmly inhere in the matter, and shew its essential mutations, almost infinite colours appear, and shew themselves in vapours, as the Rainbow in the clouds, which quickly pass away and are expelled by those that succeed, more affecting the air than the earth : the operator must have a gentle care of them, because they are not permanent, and proceed not from the intrinsic disposition of the matter, but from the fire painting and fashioning everything after its pleasure, or casually by heat in slight moisture " (see Collectanea Hermetica^ edited by W. Wynn Westcott, vol. i., 1893, pp. 28 and 29). Very probably this is not without a mystical meaning as well as a supposed application in the preparation of the physical Stone.
38 ALCHEMY [§ 28
The first figure shows us a furnace and alembics. The alembic proper is a sort of still- head which can be luted on to a flask or other vessel, and was much used for distillations. In the present case, however, the alembics are employed in conjunction with appa- ratus for subliming difficultly volatile substances. Plate 5, fig. B, shows another apparatus for sublima- tion, consisting of a sort of oven, and four detachable upper -chambers, generally called aludels. In both forms of apparatus the vapours are cooled in the upper part of the vessel, and the substance is deposited in the solid form, being thereby purified from less volatile impurities. Plate 6, fig. A, shows an athanor (or digesting furnace) and a couple of digesting vessels. A vessel of this sort was em- ployed for heating bodies in a closed space, the top being sealed up when the substances to be operated upon had been put inside, and the vessel heated in an athanor in ashes, a uniform temperature being maintained. The pelican, illustrated in plate 6, fig. B, was used for a similar purpose, the two arms being added in the idea that the vapours would be circulated thereby.
IT.
u
T.i fr,r,> h,l((/> iXl