I. I speak not fictitious things, but what is true

and most certain.
2 Dr. Everard's translation of this work forms vol. ii. of the Collectanea Hermetica, edited by W. Wynn Westcott, M.B., D.P.H. It is now, however, out of print.
§30] THE ALCHEMISTS 41
2. What is below is like that which is above, and what is above is like that which is below, to accomplish the miracles of one thing.
3. And as all things were produced by the medi- ation of one Being, so all things were produced from this one thing by adaptation.
4. Its father is the Sun, its mother the Moon ; the wind carries it in its belly, its nurse is the earth.
5. It is the cause of all perfection throughout the whole world.
6. Its power is perfect if it be changed into earth.
7. Separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, acting prudently and with judgment.
8. Ascend with the greatest sagacity from the earth to heaven, and then again descend to the earth, and unite together the powers of things superior and things inferior. Thus you will obtain the glory of the whole world, and all obscurity will fly far away from you.
9. This thing is the fortitude of all fortitude, because it overcomes all subtle things, and penetrates every solid thing.
10. Thus were all things created.
1 1 . Thence proceed wonderful adaptations which are produced in this way.
12. Therefore am I called Hermes Trismegistus, possessing the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world.
13. That which I had to say concerning the operation of the Sun is completed.
These sentences clearly teach the doctrine of the alchemistic essence or ''One Thing," which is every- where present, penetrating even solids (this we should
42 ALCHEMY [§ 31
note is true of the ether of space), and out of which all things of the physical world are made by adapta- tion or modification. The terms Sun and Moon in the above passage probably stand for Spirit and Matter respectively, not gold and silver.
§ 31. One of the earliest of the alchemists of whom
record remains was Zosimus of Panopolis, who
flourished in the fifth century, and was
PanoDolis regarded by the later alchemists as a master of the Art. He is said to have written many treatises dealing with Alchemy, but only fragments remain. Of these fragments. Professor Venable says : " ... they give us a good idea of the learning of the man and of his times. They contain descriptions of apparatus, of furnaces, studies of minerals, of alloys, of glass making, of mineral waters, and much that is mystical, besides a good deal referring to the transmutation of metals." 3 Zosimus is said to have been the author of the saying, '' like begets like," but whether all the fragments ascribed to him were really his work is doubtful.
Among other early alchemists we may mention also Africanus, the Syrian; Synesius, Bishop of Ptolemais, and the historian, Olympiodorus of Thebes.
§ 32. In the seventh century the Arabians conquered Egypt ; and strangely enough, Alchemy flourished under them to a remarkable deg^ree. Of all the Arabian alchemists, Geber has been regarded as the greatest; as Professor Meyer says : '* There can be no dispute that with the name Geber was propagated the memory of a personality
3 F. P. Venable, Ph.D. : A Short History of Chemistry (1896), P- 13-
§32] THE ALCHEMISTS 43
with which the chemical knowledge of the time was bound up." 4 Geber is supposed to have lived about the ninth century, but of his life nothing definite is known. A large number of works have been ascribed to him, of which the majority are unknown, but the four Latin MSS. which have been printed under the titles Summa Perfectionis Mettalorum, De In- vestigatione Perfectionis Metallorum, De Inventione Veritatis and De Fornacibus Construendisy were, until a few years ago, regarded as genuine. On the strength of these works, Geber has ranked high as a chemist. In them are described the preparation of many important chemical compounds ; the most essential chemical operations, such as sublimation, distillation, filtration, crystallisation (or coagulation, as the alchemists called it), &c. ; and also important chemical apparatus, for example, the water-bath, improved furnaces, &c. However, it was shown by the late Professor Berthelot that Summa Perfectionis Mettalorum is a forgery of the fourteenth century, and the other works forgeries of an even later date. Moreover, the original Arabic MSS. of Geber have been brought to light. These true writings of Geber are very obscure ; they give no warrant for believing that the famous sulphur-mercury theory was due to this alchemist, and they prove him not to be the expert chemist that he was supposed to have been. The spurious writings mentioned above show that the pseudo-Geber was a man of wide chemical knowledge and experience, and play a not inconsiderable part in the history of Alchemy.
♦ Ernst von Meyer: A History of Chemistry (translated by Dr. McGowan, 1906), p. 31.
44 ALCHEMY [§ 33
§ 33. Among other Arabian alchemists the most celebrated were Avicenna and Rhasis, who are sup- posed to have lived some time after ^Akh^te*" Geber; and to whom, perhaps, the sulphur-mercury theory may have been to some extent due.
The teachings of the Arabian alchemists gradually penetrated into the Western world, in which, during the thirteenth century, flourished some of the most eminent of the alchemists, whose lives and teachings we must now briefly consider.
§ 34. Albertus Magnus, Albert Groot or Albert von Bollstadt (see plate 7), was born at Lauingen, probably in 1193. ^^ ^^^ educated at (iiQoicJ^\ Padua, and in his later years he showed himself apt at acquiring the knowledge of his time. He studied theology, philosophy and natural science, and is chiefly celebrated as an Aristotelean philosopher. He entered the Dominican order, taught publicly at Cologne, Paris and elsewhere, and was made provincial of this order. Later he had the bishopric of Regensburg conferred on him, but he retired after a few years to a Dominican cloister, where he devoted himself to philosophy and science. He was one of the most learned men of his time and, more- over, a man of noble character. The authenticity of the alchemistic works attributed to him has been questioned. § 35. The celebrated Dominican, Thomas Aquinas (see plate 8), was probably a pupil of Thomas Albertus Magnus, from whom it is thought (122&-1274). ^^ imbibed alchemistic learning. It is very probable, however, that the alchem- istic works attributed to him are spurious. The
PLATE 7.
[by de Bry]
PORTRAIT OF ALBERTUS MAGNUS.
face -taHe 44]
§ 36] THE ALCHEMISTS 45
author of these works manifests a deeply religious tone, and, according to Thomson's History of Chemistry, he was the first to employ the term ** amalgam" to designate an alloy of mercury with some other metal. 5
§ 36. Roger Bacon, the most illustrious of the medi- aeval alchemists, was born near Ilchester in Somer- set, probably in 12 14. His erudition, ^1214-12941^^ considering the general state of ignorance prevailing at this time, was most remark- able. Professor Meyer says : " He is to be regarded as the intellectual originator of experimental research, if the departure in this direction is to be coupled with any one name — a direction which, followed more and more as time went on, gave to the science [of Chemistry] its own peculiar stamp, and ensured its steady development."^ Roger Bacon studied theology and science at Oxford and at Paris ; and he joined the Franciscan order, at what date, however, is uncertain. He was particularly interested in optics, and certain discoveries in this branch of physics have been attributed to him, though probably erroneously. It appears, also, that he was acquainted with gunpowder, which was, however, not employed in Europe until many years later. 7 Unfortunately, he earned the undesirable reputation of being in communication with the powers of darkness, and as he did not hesitate to oppose many of the opinions current at the time, he
5 Thomas Thomson : The History of Chemistry, vol. i. (1830),
P- 33.
^ Ernst von Meyer : A History of Chemistry (translated by Dr. McGowan, 1906), p. 35.
7 See Roger Bacon's Discovery of Miracles, chaps, vi. and xi.
46 ALCHEMY [§ 36
suffered much persecution. He was a firm believer in the powers of the Philosopher's Stone to transmute large quantities of '' base " metal into gold, and also to extend the life of the individual. '' Alchimyy' he says, " is a Science, teaching how to transforme any kind of mettall into another : and that by a proper medicine, as it appeareth by many Philosophers Bookes. Alchimy therefore is a science teaching how to make and com- pound a certaine medicine, which is called Elixir, the which when it is cast upon mettals or imperfect bodies, doth fully perfect them in the verie projection." ^ He also believed in Astrology ; but, nevertheless, he was entirely opposed to many of the magical and super- stitious notions held at the time, and his tract, De Secretis Operibus Artis et NaturcE, et de Nullitate MagicB, was an endeavour to prove that many so-called ** miracles " could be brought about simply by the aid of natural science. Roger Bacon was a firm supporter of the Sulphur- Mercury theory: he says :**... the natural principles in the mynes, are Argent-Vive^ and Sulphur, All mettals and minerals, whereof there be sundrie and divers kinds, are begotten of these two : but I must tel you, that nature alwaies intendeth and striveth to the perfection of Gold : but many accidents coming between, change the metalls. . . . For accord- ing to the puritie and impuritie of the two aforesaide principles, Argent-vive and Sulphur, pure, and impure mettals are ingendred." 9 He expresses surprise that any should employ animal and vegetable substances in their attempts to prepare the Stone, a practice common to some alchemists but warmly criticised by
^ Roger Bacon : The Mirror of Alchimy (1597), p. i- 9 Ibid. p. 2.
§ 38] THE ALCHEMISTS 47
others. He says : '* Nothing may be mingled with mettalls which hath not beene made or sprung from them, it remaineth cleane inough, that no strange thing which hath not his originall from these two [viz., sulphur and mercury], is able to perfect them, or to make a chaunge and new transmutation of them : so that it is to be wondered at, that any wise man should set his mind upon living creatures, or vegetables which are far off, when there be minerals to bee found nigh enough : neither may we in any wise thinke, that any of the Philosophers placed the Art in the said remote things, except it were by way of comparison." i° The one process necessary for the preparation of the Stone, he tells us, is "continuall concoction" in the fire, which is the method that "God hath given to nature." ^^ He died about 1294.
§ 37. The date and birthplace of Arnold de
Villanova, or Villeneuve, are both uncertain. He
studied medicine at Paris, and in the latter
V*ll P^^^ ^^ ^^^ thirteenth century practised
(12 — ?-i3io?). pi'ofessionally in Barcelona. To avoid persecution at the hands of the Inquisi- tion, he was obliged to leave Spain, and ultimately found safety with Frederick H. in Sicily. He was famous not only as an alchemist, but also as a skilful physician. He died (it is thought in a shipwreck) about 1 3 10-13 1 3.
§ 38. Raymond LuUy, the son of a noble Spanish family, was born at Palma (in Majorca) about 1235. He was a man of somewhat eccentric character — in his youth a ma n of pleasure ; in his maturity,
^° Roger Bacon : T^e Mirror of Alchimy (1597), p. 4. " Ibid. p. 9.
48 ALCHEMY [§ 38
a mystic and ascetic. His career was of a roving
and adventurous character. We are told that, in his
younger days, although married, he be-
^ifT^^ came violently infatuated with a lady of (1235 7-1315). the name of Ambrosia de Castello, who vainly tried to dissuade him from his profane passion. Her efforts proving futile, she re- quested Lully to call upon her, and in the presence of her husband, bared to his sight her breast, which was almost eaten away by a cancer. This sight — so the story goes — brought about Lully 's conversion. He became actuated by the idea of converting to Christianity the heathen in Africa, and engaged the services of an Arabian whereby he might learn the language. The man, however, discovering his master's object, attempted to assassinate him, and Lully narrowly escaped with his life. But his enthusiasm for missionary work never abated — his central idea was the reasonableness and demon- strability of Christian doctrine — and unhappily he was, at last, stoned to death by the inhabitants of Bugiah (in Algeria) in 1315.^2
A very large number of alchemistic, theological and other treatises are attributed to Lully, many of which are undoubtedly spurious ; and it is a difficult question to decide exactly which are genuine. He is supposed to have derived a knowledge of Alchemy from Roger Bacon and Arnold de Villanova. It appears more probable, however, either that Lully the alchemist was a personage distinct from the Lully whose life we have sketched above, or that the alchemistic writings attributed to him are forgeries of a similar nature to
" See Lives of Alchemystical Philosophers (1815), pp. 17 et seq.
§39] THE ALCHEMISTS 49
the works of pseudo - Geber (§ 32). Of these alchemical writings we may here mention the Clavi- cula. This he says is the key to all his other books on Alchemy, in which books the whole Art is fully declared, though so obscurely as not to be under- standable without its aid. In this work an alleged method for what may be called the multiplication of the *' noble " metals rather than transmutation is described in clear language ; but it should be noticed that the stone employed is itself a compound either of silver or gold. According to Lully, the secret of the Philoso- pher's Stone is the extraction of the mercury of silver or gold. He writes : " Metals cannot be trans- muted. ... in the Minerals, unless they be reduced into their first Matter. . . . Therefore I counsel you, O my Friends, that you do not work but about Sol and Luna, reducing them into the first Matter, our Sulphur and Argent vive : therefore, Son, you are to use this venerable Matter ; and I swear unto you and promise, that unless you take the Argent vive of these two, you go to the Practick as blind men without eyes or sense. . . . " ^3
§ 39. In 1546, a work was published entitled Magarita Pretiosa, which claimed to be a '* faith- ful abridgement," by "Janus Lacinus
^?.*fi^^°''''' Therapus, the Calabrian," of a MS. (14th Cen- . / « „ • 1 r
tury). written by Peter Bonus m the four- teenth century. An abridged English translation of this book by Mr. A. E. Waite was published in 1894. Of the life of Bonus, who is said to have been an inhabitant of Pola, a seaport
^3 Raymond Lully : Clavicula^ or, A Little Key (see Aurifontina Chymica, 1680, p. 167).
6
50 ALCHEMY [§ 39
of I stria, nothing is known ; but the Magarita Pretiosa is an alchemistic work of considerable interest. The author commences, like pseudo-Geber in his Sum of Perfection, by bringing forward a number of very ingenious arguments against the validity of the Art ; he then proceeds with argu- ments in favour of Alchemy and puts forward answers in full to the former objections ; further diffi- culties, &c., are then dealt with. In all this, compared with many other alchemists. Bonus, though somewhat prolix, is remarkably lucid. All metals, he argues, fol- lowing the views of pseudo-Geber, consist of mercury and sulphur ; but whilst the mercury is always one and the same, different metals contain different sulphurs. There are also two different kinds of sulphurs — inward and outward. Sulphur is necessary for the development of the mercury, but for the final product, gold, to come forth, it is necessary that the outward and impure sulphur be purged off. " Each metal," says Bonus, ''differs from all the rest, and has a certain perfection and completeness of its own ; but none, except gold, has reached that highest degree of perfection of which it is capable. For all common metals there is a transient and a perfect state of inward completeness, and this perfect state they attain either through the slow operation of Nature, or through the sudden transformatory power of our Stone. We must, however, add that the imperfect metals form part of the great plan and design of Nature, though they are in course of transformation into gold. For a large number of very useful and indispensable tools and utensils could not be provided at all if there were no copper, iron, tin, or lead, and if all metals
§ 40] THE ALCHEMISTS 61
were either silver or gold. For this beneficent reason Nature has furnished us with the metallic substance in all its different stages of development, from iron, or the lowest, to gold, or the highest state of metallic perfection. Nature is ever studying variety, and, for that reason, instead of covering the whole face of the earth with water, has evolved out of that elementary substance a great diversity of forms, embracing the whole animal, vegetable and mineral world. It is, in like manner, for the use of men that Nature has differ- entiated the metallic substance into a great variety of species and forms." H According to this interesting alchemistic work, the Art of Alchemy consists, not in reducing the imperfect metals to their first substance, but in carrying forward Nature's work, developing the imperfect metals to perfection and removing their impure sulphur.
§ 40. Nicolas Flamel (see plate 8) was born about
1330, probably in Paris. His parents were poor, and
Nicolas took up the trade of a scrivener.
Nicolas ii^ tj^g course of time, Flamel became a Flamel , , , ,
(1330-1418). ^^^y wealthy man and, at the same time,
it appears, one who exhibited consider- able munificence. This increase in Flamel's wealth has been attributed to supposed success in the Her- metic Art. We are told that a remarkable book came into the young scrivener s possession, which, at first, he was unable to understand, until, at last, he had the good fortune to meet an adept who translated its mys- teries for him. This book revealed the occult secrets of Alchemy, and by its means Nicolas was enabled
'^ Peter Bonus : T/ie New Pearl of Great Price (Mr. A. E. Waite's translation, pp. 176-177).
52 ALCHEMY [§ 41
to obtain immense quantities of gold. This story, however, appears to be of a legendary nature, and it seems more likely that Flamel's riches resulted from his business as a scrivener and from moneylending. At any rate, all of the alchemistic works attributed to Flamel are of more or less questionable origin. One of these, entitled A Short Tract, or Philosophical Summary, will be found in The Hermetic Museum. It is a very brief work, supporting the sulphur- mercury theory.
§ 41. Probably the most celebrated of all alchemistic books is the work known as Triumph- Wagen des
Antimonii. A Latin translation with a " Basil Valen- ^ l t-i_ j ^r i • •
tine "and commentary by 1 heodore Kerckrmgius
*'TheTrium- was published in 1685, and an English phal Chariot^ translation of this version by Mr. A. E. Waite appeared in 1893. The author describes himself as '' Basil Valentine, a Benedictine monk." In his '' Practica,'' another alche- mistic work, he says : '* When I had emptied to the dregs the cup of human suffering, I was led to con- sider the wretchedness of this world, and the fearful consequences of our first parents' disobedience . . . I made haste to withdraw myself from the evil world, to bid farewell to it, and to devote myself to the Service of God."i5 He proceeds to relate that he entered a monastery, but finding that he had some time on his hands after performing his daily work and devotions, and not wishing to pass this time in idle- ness, he took up the study of Alchemy, ''the investiga- tion of those natural secrets by which God has
'5 "Basil Valentine": The '' PracHca" (see The Hermetic Museum, vol. i. p. 313).
PLATE 8.
'o face pa^e 52]
§ 42] THE ALCHEMISTS 53
shadowed out eternal things," and at last his labours were rewarded by the discovery of a Stone most potent in the curing of diseases. In The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony are accurately described a large number of antimonial preparations, and as Basil was supposed to have written this work some time in the fifteenth century, these preparations were accordingly concluded to have been, for the most part, his own discoveries. He defends with the utmost vigour the medicinal values of antimony, and criticises in terms far from mild the physicians of his day. On account of this work Basil Valentine has ranked very high as an experimental chemist ; but from quite early times its date and authorship have been regarded alike as doubtful ; and it appears from the researches of the late Professor Schorlemmer "to be an undoubted forgery dating from about 1600, the information being culled from the works of other writers. . . ."^^ Probably the other works ascribed to Basil Valentine are of a like nature. The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony does, however, give an accurate account of the knowledge of antimony of this time, and the pseudo-Valentine shows himself to have been a man of considerable experience with regard to this subject. § 42. Isaac of Holland and a countryman of the same name, probably his son, are said to have been the first J . Dutch alchemists. They are supposed Holland to have lived during the fifteenth century, (15tli Cen- but of their lives nothing is known. ^"^ Isaac, although not free from supersti-
tious opinions, appears to have been a practical
'' Sir H. E. RoscoE, F.R.S., and C Schorlemmer, F.R.S. : A Treatise on Chemistry y vol. i. (1905), p. 9.
54 ALCHEMY [§ 43
chemist, and his works, which abound in recipes, were held in great esteem by Paracelsus and other alche- mists. He held that all things in this world are of a dual nature, partly good and partly bad. '' . . . All that God hath created good in the upper part of the world," he writes, " are perfect and uncorruptible, as the heaven : but whatsoever in these lower parts, whether it be in beasts, fishes, and all manner of sensible creatures, hearbs or plants, it is indued with a double nature, that is to say, perfect, and unperfect ; the perfect nature is called the Quintessence, the un- perfect the Feces or dreggs, or the venemous or com- bustible oile. . . . God hath put a secret nature or influence in every creature, and ... to every nature of one sort or kind he hath given one common in- fluence and vertue, whether it bee on Physick or other secret works, which partly are found out by naturall workmanship. And yet more things are unknown than are apparent to our senses." ^7 He gives direc- tions for extracting the Quintessence, for which mar- vellous powers are claimed, out of sugar and other organic substances ; and he appears to be the earliest known writer who makes mention of the famous sulphur-mercury-salt theory.
§ 43. Bernard Trevisan, a French count of the fifteenth century, squandered enormous sums of money in the search for the Stone, in which the whole oi his life and energies were engaged. He seems to have become the dupe of one charlatan after another,
•' One hundred and Fourteen Experiments and Cures of the Famous Physitian Theophrastus Paracelsus^ whereunto is added . . . certain Secrets of Isaac Hollandus, concerning the Vegetall and Animall Work (1652), p. 35.
§ M] THE ALCHEMISTS 55
but at last, at a ripe old age, he says that his labours
were rewarded, and that he successfully performed the
magnum opus. In a short, but rather
Bernard obscure work, he speaks of the Philoso- Trevisan (1406-1490). pher s Stone in the following words :
"This Stone then is compounded of a
Body and Spirit, or of a volatile and fixed Substance,
and that is therefore done, because nothing in the World
can be generated and brought to light without these
two Substances, to wit, a Male and Female : From
whence it appeareth, that although these two Substances
are not of one and the same species, yet one Stone
doth thence arise, and although they appear and are
said to be two Substances, yet in truth it is but one, to
wit, Argent-vivey ^^ He appears, however, to have
added nothing to our knowledge of chemical science.
§ 44. Sir George Ripley, an eminent alchemistic
philosopher of the fifteenth century, entered upon
a monastic life when a youth, becom-
Sir George jj^g ^^^ ^f ^^ canons regular of
yi4 7-1490?). Bridlington. After some travels he
returned to England and obtaining leave from the Pope to live in solitude, he devoted himself to the study of the Hermetic Art. His chief work is The Compound of Alchymie , . . conteining twelve GateSy which was written in 1471. In this curious work, we learn that there are twelve processes neces- sary for the achievement of the magnum opuSy namely, Calcination, Solution, Separation, Conjunction, Putre- faction, Congelation, Cibation, Sublimation, Fermen-
'^ Bernard, Earl of Trevisan : A Treatise of the Philosophers StonCy 1683 (see Collectanea Chymica : A Collection of Ten Several Treatises in Chemistry ^ 1684, p. 91).
66 ALCHEMY [§ 4S
tation, Exaltation, Multiplication, and Projection. These are likened to the twelve gates of a castle which the philosopher must enter. At the conclusion of the twelfth gate, Ripley says : —
** Now thou hast conqueryd the twelve Gates ^
And all the Castell thou holdyst at wyll,
Keep thy Secretts in store unto thy selve ;
And the commaundements of God looke thou fulfuU:
In fyer conteinue thy glas styll,
And Multeply thy Medcyns ay more and more, For wyse men done say store ys no sore.^^ '^
At the conclusion of the work he tells us that in all that he wrote before he was mistaken ; he says : —
" I made Solucyo7is full many a one,
Of Spyrytts, Ferments, Salts, Yerne and Steele;
Wenyng so to make the Phylosophers Stone :
But fynally I lost eche dele.
After my Boks yet wrought I well ; Whych evermore untrue I provyd. That made me oft full sore agrevyd."^°
Ripley did much to popularise the works of Ray- mond Lully in England, but does not appear to have added to the knowledge of practical chemistry. His Bosom Book, which contains an alleged method for preparing the Stone, will be found in the Collectanea Chemica (1893).
§ 45. Thomas Norton, the author of the celebrated Or dinall of Alchemy, was probably born shortly before
'^ Sir George Ripley : The Compound of Alchemy (see Tlieatrum Chemicum Britannicum, edited by Elias Ashmole, 1652, p. 186).
^ Ibid. p. 189.
§45] THE ALCHEMISTS 57
the commencement of the fifteenth century. The
Ordinall, which is written in verse (and which will
be found in Ashmole's Theatrum Chemi-
Thomas ^^^^^ Britannicum), ^i was published Norton 15th , , ^\ i > -j .-.
Century). anonymously, but the authors identity
is revealed by a curious device. The
initial syllables of the proem and of the first six
chapters, together with the first line of the seventh
chapter, give the following couplet : —
"Tomais Norton of Briseto, A parfet Master ye male him call trowe."
Samuel Norton, the grandson of Thomas, who was also an alchemist, says that Thomas Norton was a member of the privy chamber of Edward IV. Norton's distinctive views regarding the generation of the metals we have already mentioned (see § 20). He taught that true knowledge of the Art of Alchemy could only be obtained by word of mouth from an adept, and in his Ordinall he gives an account of his own initiation. He tells us that he was instructed by his master (probably Sir George Ripley) and learnt the secrets of the Art in forty days, at the age of twenty-eight. He does not, however, appear to have reaped the fruits of this knowledge. Twice, he tells us, did he prepare the Elixir, and twice was it stolen from him ; and he is said to have died in 1477, after ruining himself and his friends by his unsuccessful experiments.
^' A prose version will be found in The Hermetic Museum^ translated back into English from a Latin translation by Maier.