part could not read, to whom therefore one great

avenue of knowledge was closed. The ignorant are especially impressed by pictorial teaching, and grasp its meaning far more readily than they can follow a written description or a spoken discourse/' ^
The subject of symbolism in church architecture is an extensive one, involving many side issues. In these excursions we shall consider only one aspect of it, namely, the symbolic use of animal forms in English church architecture.
As Mr Collins, who has written, in recent years, an interesting work on this topic of much use to archaeologists as a book of data,^ points out, the great sources of animal symbolism were the famous Physiologus and other natural history books of the Middle Ages (generally called " Bestiaries "), and the Bible, mystically understood. The modern ten- dency is somewhat unsympathetic towards any attempt to interpret the Bible symbolically, and certainly some of the interpretations that have been forced upon it in the name of symbolism are crude and fantastic enough. But in the belief of the mystics, culminating in the elaborate system of cor- respondences of SwEDENBORG, that every natural object, every event in the history of the human race, and every word of the Bible, has a symbolic and spiritual significance, there is, I think, a fundamental truth. We must, however, as I have suggested already, distinguish between true and forced symbol-
1 F. Edward Hulme, F.L.S., F.S.A. : The History, Prin- ciples, and Practice of Symbolism in Christian Art (1909), p. 2.
2 Arthur H. Collins, M.A. : Symbolism of Animals and Birds represented in English Church Architecture (1913).
8
114 BYGONE BELIEFS
ism. The early Christians employed the fish as a symbol of Christ, because the Greek word for fish, ^X'^vs, is obtained by notariqon ^ from the phrase
'IricTOvg Xpia-TO^, Oeov YI69, ^cory'ip — '* JeSUS ChRIST, the
Son of God, the Saviour." Of course, the obvious use of such a symbol was its entire unintelligibility to those who had not yet been instructed in the mysteries of the Christian faith, since in the days of persecution some degree of secrecy was necessary. But the symbol has significance only in the Greek language, and that of an entirely arbitrary nature. There is nothing in the nature of the fish, apart from its name in Greek, which renders it suitable to be used as a symbol of Christ. Contrast this pseudo- symbol, however, with that of the Good Shepherd, the Lamb of God (fig. 34), or the Lion of Judah. Here we have what may be regarded as true symbols, something of whose meanings are clear to the smallest degree of spiritual sight, even though the second of them has frequently been badly misinterpreted.
It was a belief in the spiritual or moral significance of nature similar to that of the mystical expositors of the Bible, that inspired the mediaeval naturalists. The Bestiaries almost invariably conclude the account of each animal with the moral that might be drawn from its behaviour. The interpretations are fre- quently very far-fetched, and as the writers were more interested in the morals than in the facts of natural history themselves, the supposed facts from which they drew their morals were frequently very
^ A Kabalistic process by which a word is formed by taking the initial letters of a sentence or phrase.
To face p. 114.
PLATE 18.
O (o
•S §
■3 I
£ o
c o
ARCHITECTURAL SYMBOLISM 115
far from being of the nature of facts. Sometimes the product of this inaccuracy is grotesque, as shown by the following quotation : " The elephants are in an absurd way typical of Adam and Eve, who ate of the forbidden fruit, and also have the dragon for their enemy. It was supposed that the elephant . . . used to sleep by leaning against a tree. The hunters would come by night, and cut the trunk through. Down he would come, roaring helplessly. None of his friends would be able to help him, until a small elephant should come and lever him up with his trunk. This small elephant was symbolic of Jesus Christ, Who came in great humility to rescue the human race which had fallen * through a tree.' " ^
In some cases, though the symbolism is based upon quite erroneous notions concerning natural history, and is so far fantastic, it is not devoid of charm. The use of the pelican to symbolise the Saviour is a case in point. Legend tells us that when other food is unobtainable, the pelican thrusts its bill into its breast (whence the red colour of the bill) and feeds its young with its life-blood. Were this only a fact, the symbol would be most appropriate. There is another and far less charming form of the legend, though more in accord with current perversions of Christian doctrine, according to which the pelican uses its blood to revive its young, after having slain them through anger aroused by the great provoca- tion which they are supposed to give it. For an example of the use of the pelican in church archi- tecture see fig. 36.
Mention must also be made of the purely fabulous ^ A. H. Collins : Symbolism of Animals, etc, pp. 4i^and 42.
ii6 BYGONE BELIEFS
animals of the Bestiaries, such as the basilisk, centaur, dragon, griffin, hydra, mantichora, unicorn, phoenix, etc. The centaur (fig. 39) was a beast, half man, half horse. It typified the flesh or carnal mind of man, and the legend of the perpetual war between the centaur and a certain tribe of simple savages who were said to live in trees in India, symbolised the combat between the flesh and the spirit.^
With bow and arrow in its hands the centaur forms the astrological sign Sagittarius (or the Archer). An interesting example of this sign occurring in church architecture is to be found on the western doorway of Portchester Church — a most beautiful piece of Norman architecture. " This sign of the Zodiac,'' writes the Rev. Canon Vaughan, M.A., a former Vicar of Portchester, ** was the badge of King Stephen, and its presence on the west front [of Portchester Church] seems to indicate, what was often the case elsewhere, that the elaborate Norman carving was not carried out until after the completion of the building." ^ The facts, however, that this Sagit- tarius is accompanied on the other side of the door- way by a couple of fishes, which form the astrological sign Pisces (or the Fishes), and that these two signs are what are termed, in astrological phraseology, the " houses '' of the planet Jupiter, the ** Major Fortune," suggest that the architect responsible for the design, influenced by the astrological notions of his day, may have put the signs there in order to
1 A. H. Collins: Symbolism of Animals, etc., pp. 150 and
153.
2 Rev. Canon Vaughan, M.A. : A Short History of Port- chester Castle, p. 14.
To face p. ii6.
PLATE 19.
Fig. 38.
Western Doorway of Porch ester Church, Hants, showing Sagittarius and Pisces.
ARCHITECTURAL SYMBOLISM 117
attract Jupiter's beneficent influence. Or he may have had the Sagittarius carved for the reason Canon Vaughan suggests, and then, remembering how good a sign it was astrologically, had the Pisces added to complete the effect.^
The phoenix and griflin we have encountered already in our excursions. The latter, we are told, inhabits desert places in India, where it can find nothing for its young to eat. It flies away to other regions to seek food, and is sufficiently strong to carry off an ox. Thus it symbolises the devil, who is ever anxious to carry away our souls to the deserts of hell. Fig. 37 illustrates an example of the use of this symbolic beast in church architecture.
^ Two other possible explanations of the Pisces have been suggested by the Rev. A. Headley. In his MS. book written in 1888, when he was Vicar of Po richest er, he writes : " I have discovered an interesting proof that it [the Church] was finished in Stephen's reign, namely, the figure of Sagittarius in the Western Doorway.
" Stephen adopted this as his badge for the double reason that it formed part of the arms of the city of Blois, and that the sun was in Sagittarius in December when he came to the throne. I, therefore, conclude that this badge was placed where it is to mark the completion of the church.
" There is another sign of the Zodiac in the archway, apparently Pisces. This may have been chosen to mark the month in which the church was finished, or simply on account of its nearness to the sea. At one time I fancied it might refer to March, the month in which Lady Day occurred, thus referring to the Patron Saint, St Mary. As the sun leaves Pisces just before Lady Day this does not explain it. Possibly in the old calendar it might do so. This is a matter for further research." (I have to thank the Rev. H. Lawrence Fry, present Vicar of Portchester, for this quotation, and the Rev. A. Headley for permission to utilise it.)
ii8 BYGONE BELIEFS
The mantichora is described by Pliny (whose statements were unquestioningly accepted by the mediaeval naturaUsts), on the authority of Ctesias (fl, 400 B.C.), as having " A triple row of teeth, which fit into each other like those of a comb, the face and ears of a man, and azure eyes, is the colour of blood, has the body of the lion, and a tail ending in a sting, like that of the scorpion. Its voice resembles the union of the sound of the flute and the trumpet ; it is of excessive swiftness, and is particularly fond of human flesh." ^
Concerning the unicorn, in an eighteenth-century work on natural history we read that this is " a Beast, which though doubted of by many Writers, yet is by others thus described : He has but one Horn, and that an exceedingly rich one, growing out of the middle of his Forehead. His Head resembles an Hart's, his Feet an Elephant's, his tail a Boar's, and the rest of his Body an Horse's. The Horn is about a Foot and half in length. His Voice is like the Lowing of an Ox. His Mane and Hair are of a yellowish Colour. His Horn is as hard as Iron, and as rough as any File, twisted or curled, like a flaming Sword ; very straight, sharp, and every where black, excepting the Point. Great Virtues are attributed to it, in expelling of Poison and curing of several Diseases. He is not a Beast of prey." ^ The method of capturing the animal believed in by mediaeval writers was a curious one. The following is a literal
1 Pliny: Natural History, bk. viii. chap, xxx. (Bostock and Riley's trans., vol. ii., 1855, p. 280.)
2 [Thomas Boreman] : A Description of Three Hundred Animals (1730), p. 6.
To face p. ill
PLATE 20.
Fig. 39. Centaur, from Vlyssis Aldrovandi's Monstrorum Historia (1642).
Fig. 40. Mantichora, from A Description of Three Hundred Animals (1730).
ARCHITECTURAL SYMBOLISM 119
translation from the Bestiary of Philippe de Thaun (i2th century) : —
*' Monosceros is an animal which has one horn on its head, Therefore it is so named ; it has the form of a goat, It is caught by means of a virgin, now hear in what manner. When a man intends to hunt it and to take and ensnare it He goes to the forest where is its repair ; There he places a virgin, with her breast uncovered. And by its smell the monosceros perceives it ; Then it comes to the virgin, and kisses her breast. Falls asleep on her lap, and so comes to its death ; The man arrives immediately, and kills it in its sleep, Or takes it alive and does as he likes with it. It signifies much, I will not omit to tell it you.
" Monosceros is Greek, it means one horn in French : A beast of such a description signifies Jesus Christ ; One God he is and shall be, and was and will continue so ; He placed himself in the virgin, and took flesh for man's sake. And for virginity to show chastity ; To a virgin he appeared and a virgin conceived him, A virgin she is, and will be, and will remain always. Now hear briefly the signification.
" This animal in truth signifies God ; Know that the virgin signifies St Mary ; By her breast we understand similarly Holy Church ; And then by the kiss it ought to signify. That a man when he sleeps is in semblance of death ; God slept as man, who suffered death on the cross. And his destruction was our redemption. And his labour our repose.
Thus God deceived the Devil by a proper semblance ; Soul and body were one, so was God and man, And this is the signification of an animal of that description."^
^ Popular Treatises on Science written during the Middle Ages in Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman, and English, ed. by Thomas Wright (Historical Society of Science, 1841), pp. 81-82.
120 BYGONE BELIEFS
This being the current belief concerning the sym- bolism of the unicorn in the Middle Ages, it is not surprising to find this animal utilised in church architecture ; for an example see fig. 35.
The belief in the existence of these fabulous beasts may very probably have been due to the materialising of what were originally nothing more than mere arbit- rary symbols, as I have already suggested of the phoenix.^ Thus the account of the mantichora may, as BosTOCK has suggested, very well be a description of certain hieroglyphic figures, examples of which are still to be found in the ruins of Assyrian and Persian cities. This explanation seems, on the whole, more likely than the alternative hypothesis that such beliefs were due to mal-observation ; though that, no doubt, helped in their formation.
It may be questioned, however, whether the archi- tects and preachers of the Middle Ages altogether believed in the strange fables of the Bestiaries. As Mr Collins says in reply to this question : '* Prob- ably they were credulous enough. But, on the whole, we may say that the truth of the story was just what they did not trouble about, any more than some clergymen are particular about the absolute truth of the stories they tell children from the pulpit. The application, the lesson, is the thing ! '' With their desire to interpret Nature spiritually, we ought, I think, to sympathise. But there was one truth they had yet to learn, namely, that in order to in- terpret Nature spiritually, it is necessary first to understand her aright in her literal sense. ^ " Superstitions concerning Birds."
IX
THE QUEST OF THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE
The need of unity is a primary need of human thought. Behind the varied muItipHcity of the world of phenomena, primitive man, as I have in- dicated on a preceding excursion, begins to seek, more or less consciously, for that Unity which alone is Real. And this statement not only applies to the first dim gropings of the primitive human mind, but sums up almost the whole of science and philosophy ; for almost all science and philosophy is explicitly or implicitly a search for unity, for one law or one love, one matter or one spirit. That which is the aim of the search may, indeed, be expressed under widely different terms, but it is always conceived to be the unity in which all multiplicity is resolved, whether it be thought of as one final law of necessity, which all things obey, and of which all the various other ** laws of nature '' are so many special and limited applications ; or as one final love for which all things are created, and to which all things aspire ; as one matter of which all bodies are but varying forms ; or as one spirit, which is the life of all things,
122 BYGONE BELIEFS
and of which all things are so many manifestations. Every scientist and philosopher is a merchant seeking for goodly pearls, willing to sell every pearl that he has, if he may secure the One Pearl beyond price, because he knows that in that One Pearl all others are included.
This search for unity in multiplicity, however, is not confined to the acknowledged scientist and philo- sopher. More or less unconsciously everyone is engaged in this quest. Harmony and unity are the very fundamental laws of the human mind itself, and, in a sense, all mental activity is the endeavour to bring about a state of harmony and unity in the mind. No two ideas that are contradictory of one another, and are perceived to be of this nature, can permanently exist in any sane man's mind. It is true that many people try to keep certain portions of their mental life in water-tight compartments ; thus some try to keep their religious convictions and their business ideas, or their religious faith and their scientific knowledge, separate from another one — and, it seems, often succeed remarkably well in so doing. But, ultimately, the arbitrary mental walls they have erected will break down by the force of their own ideas. Contradictory ideas from different compart- ments will then present themselves to consciousness at the same moment of time, and the result of the perception of their contradictory nature will be mental anguish and turmoil, persisting until one set of ideas is conquered and overcome by the other, and harmony and unity are restored.
It is true of all of us, then, that we seek for Unity — unity in mind and life. Some seek it in science and
QUEST OF PHILOSOPHER'S STONE 123
a life of knowledge ; some seek it in religion and a life of faith ; some seek it in human love and find it in the life of service to their fellows ; some seek it in pleasure and the gratification of the senses' demands ; some seek it in the harmonious development of all the facets of their being. Many the methods, right and wrong ; many the terms under which the One is conceived, true and false — in a sense, to use the phraseology of a bygone system of philosophy, we are all, consciously or unconsciously, following paths that lead thither or paths that lead away, seekers in the quest of the Philosopher's Stone.
Let us, in these excursions in the byways of thought, consider for a while the form that the quest of fundamental unity took in the hands of those curious mediaeval philosophers, half mystics, half experimentalists in natural things — that are known by the name of " alchemists."
The common opinion concerning alchemy is that it was a pseudo-science or pseudo-art flourishing during the Dark Ages, and having for its aim the conversion of common metals into silver and gold by means of a most marvellous and wholly fabulous agent called the Philosopher's Stone, that its devotees were half knaves, half fools, whose views concerning Nature were entirely erroneous, and whose objects were entirely mercenary. This opinion is not abso- lutely destitute of truth ; as a science alchemy in- volved many fantastic errors ; and in the course of its history it certainly proved attractive to both knaves and fools. But if this opinion involves some element of truth, it involves a far greater proportion of error. Amongst the alchemists are numbered some of the
124 BYGONE BELIEFS
greatest intellects of the Middle Ages — Roger Bacon {c. 1214-1294), for example, who might almost be called the father of experimental science. And whether or not the desire for material wealth was a secondary object, the true aim of the genuine alchemist was a much nobler one than this — as one of them exclaims with true scientific fervour : " Would to God ... all men might become adepts in our Art — for then gold, the great idol of mankind, would lose its value, and we should prize it only for its scientific teaching." ^ Moreover, recent develop- ments in physical and chemical science seem to indi- cate that the alchemists were not so utterly wrong in their concept of Nature as has formerly been supposed — that, whilst they certainly erred in both their methods and their interpretations of individual phenomena, they did intuitively grasp certain funda- mental facts concerning the universe of the very greatest importance.
Suppose, however, that the theories of the al- chemists are entirely erroneous from beginning to end, and are nowhere relieved by the merest glimmer of truth. Still they were believed to be true, and this belief had an important influence upon human thought. Many men of science have, I am afraid, been too prone to regard the mystical views of the alchemists as unintelligible ; but, whatever their theories may be to us, these theories were certainly very real to them : it is preposterous to maintain that the writings of the alchemists are without mean-
1 EiRENiEUS Philalethes : An Open Entrance to the Closed Palace of the King. (See The Hermetic Museum, Restored and Enlarged, ed. by A. E. Waite, 1893, vol. ii. p. 178.)
QUEST OF PHILOSOPHER'S STONE 125
ing, even though their views are altogether false. And the more false their views are believed to be, the more necessary does it become to explain why they should have gained such universal credit. Here we have problems into which scientific inquiry is not only legitimate, but, I think, very desirable, — apart altogether from the question of the truth or falsity of alchemy as a science, or its utility as an art. What exactly was the system of beliefs grouped under the term " alchemy," and what was its aim ? Why were the beliefs held ? What was their precise influence upon human thought and culture ?
It was in order to elucidate problems of this sort, as well as to determine what elements of truth, if any, there are in the theories of the alchemists, that The Alchemical Society was founded in 19 12, mainly through my own efforts and those of my confreres, and for the first time someting like justice was being done to the memory of the alchemists when the Society's activities were stayed by that greatest calamity of history, the European War.
Some students of the writings of the alchemists have advanced a very curious and interesting theory as to the aims of the alchemists, which may be termed ** the transcendental theory ". According to this theory, the alchemists were concerned only with the mystical processes affecting the soul of man, and their chemical references are only to be understood symbolically. In my opinion, however, this view of the subject is rendered untenable by the lives of the alchemists themselves ; for, as Mr Waite has very fully pointed out in his Lives of Alchemystical Philosophers (1888), the lives of the alchemists show
126 BYGONE BELIEFS
them to have been mainly concerned with chemical and physical processes ; and, indeed, to their labours we owe many valuable discoveries of a chemical nature. But the fact that such a theory should ever have been formulated, and should not be altogether lacking in consistency, may serve to direct our atten- tion to the close connection between alchemy and mysticism.
If we wish to understand the origin and aims of alchemy we must endeavour to recreate the atmo- sphere of the Middle Ages, and to look at the subject from the point of view of the alchemists themselves. Now, this atmosphere was, as I have indicated in a previous essay, surcharged with mystical theology and mystical philosophy. Alchemy, so to speak, was generated and throve in a dim religious light. We cannot open a book by any one of the better sort of alchemists without noticing how closely their theology and their chemistry are interwoven, and what a remarkably religious view they take of their subject. Thus one alchemist writes : " In the first place, let every devout and God-fearing chemist and student of this Art consider that this arcanum should be regarded, not only as a truly great, but as a most holy Art (seeing that it typifies and shadows out the highest heavenly good). Therefore, if any man desire to reach this great and unspeakable Mystery, he must remember that it is obtained not by the might of man, but by the grace of God, and that not our will or desire, but only the mercy of the Most High, can bestow it upon us. For this reason you must first of all cleanse your heart, lift it up to Him alone, and ask of Him this gift in true, earnest and
QUEST OF PHILOSOPHER'S STONE 127
undoubting prayer. He alone can give and bestow it." 1 Whilst another alchemist declares : " I am firmly persuaded that any unbeliever who got truly to know this Art, would straightway confess the truth of our Blessed Religion, and believe in the Trinity and in our Lord Jesus Christ." ^
Now, what I suggest is that the alchemists con- structed their chemical theories for the main part by means of a priori reasoning, and that the premises from which they started were (i.) the truth of mystical theology, especially the doctrine of the souFs re- generation, and (ii.) the truth of mystical philosophy, which asserts that the objects of Nature are symbols of spiritual verities. There is, I think, abundant evidence to show that alchemy was a more or less deliberate attempt to apply, according to the prin- ciples of analogy, the doctrines of religious mysti- cism to chemical and physical phenomena. Some of this evidence I shall attempt to put forward in this essay.
In the first place, however, I propose to say a few words more in description of the theological and philosophical doctrines which so greatly influenced the alchemists, and which, I believe, they borrowed for their attempted explanations of chemical and physical phenomena. This system of doctrine I have termed ** mysticism " — a word which is un- fortunately equivocal, and has been used to denote various systems of religious and philosophical thought,
^ The Sophie Hydrolith ; or, Water Stone of the Wise. (See The Hermetic Museum, vol. i. pp. 74 and 75.)
2 Peter Bonus : The New Pearl of Great Price (trans, by A. E. Waite, 1894), p. 275.
128 BYGONE BELIEFS
from the noblest to the most degraded. I have, therefore, further to define my usage of the term.
By mystical theology I mean that system of religious thought which emphasises the unity between Creator and creature, though not necessarily to the extent of becoming pantheistic. Man, mystical theology asserts, has sprung from God, but has fallen away from Him through self-love. Within man, however, is the seed of divine grace, whereby, if he will follow the narrow road of self-renunciation, he may be regenerated, born anew, becoming transformed into the likeness of God and ultimately indissolubly united to God in love. God is at once the Creator and the Restorer of man's soul. He is the Origin as well as the End of all existence ; and He is also the Way to that End. In Christian mysticism, Christ is the Pattern, towards which the mystic strives ; Christ also is the means towards the attain- ment of this end.
By mystical philosophy I mean that system of philosophical thought which emphasises the unity of the Cosmos, asserting that God and the spiritual may be perceived immanent in the things of this world, because all things natural are symbols and emblems of spiritual verities. As one of the Golden Verses attributed to Pythagoras, which I have quoted in a previous essay, puts it : *' The Nature of this Universe is in all things alike ''; commenting upon which, Hierocles, writing in the fifth or sixth century, remarks that ** Nature, in forming this Uni- verse after the Divine Measure and Proportion, made it in all things conformable and like to itself, analogi- cally in different manners. Of all the different
QUEST OF PHILOSOPHER'S STONE 129
species, diffused throughout the whole, it made, as it were, an Image of the Divine Beauty, imparting variously to the copy the perfections of the Original."^ We have, however, already encountered so many in- stances of this belief, that no more need be said here concerning it.
In fine, as Dean Inge well says: *' Religious Mysti- cism may be defined as the attempt to realise the presence of the living God in the soul and in nature, or, more generally, as the attempt to realise, in thought and feeling, the immanence of the temporal in the eternal, and of the eternal in the temporal'' ^
Now, doctrines such as these were not only very prevalent during the Middle Ages, when alchemy so greatly flourished, but are of great antiquity, and were undoubtedly believed in by the learned class in Egypt and elsewhere in the East in those remote days when, as some think, alchemy originated, though the evidence, as will, I hope, become plain as we proceed, points to a later and post- Christian origin for the central theorem of alchemy. So far as we can judge from their writings, the more important alchemists were convinced of the truth of these doc- trines, and it was with such beliefs in mind that they commenced their investigations of physical and chemical phenomena. Indeed, if we may judge by the esteem in which the Hermetic maxim, " What is above is as that which is below, what is below is as that which is above, to accomplish the miracles of
^ Commentary of Hierocles on the Golden Verses of Pytha- goras (trans, by N. RowE, 1906), pp. loi and 102.
2 William Ralph Inge, M.A. : Christian Mysticism (the Bampton Lectures, 1899), p. 5.
130 BYGONE BELIEFS
the One Thing," was held by every alchemist, we are justified in asserting that the mystical theory of the spiritual significance of Nature — a theory with which, as we have seen, is closely connected the Neoplatonic and Kabalistic doctrine that all things emanate in series from the Divine Source of all Being — was at the very heart of alchemy. As writes one alchemist :**... the Sages have been taught of God that this natural world is only an image and material copy of a heavenly and spiritual pattern ; that the very existence of this world is based upon the reality of its celestial archetype ; and that God has created it in imitation of the spiritual and in- visible universe, in order that men might be the better enabled to comprehend His heavenly teaching, and the wonders of His absolute and ineffable power and wisdom. Thus the sage sees heaven reflected in Nature as in a mirror ; and he pursues this Art, not for the sake of gold or silver, but for the love of the knowledge which it reveals ; he jealously conceals it from the sinner and the scornful, lest the mysteries of heaven should be laid bare to the vulgar gaze." ^
The alchemists, I hold, convinced of the truth of this view of Nature, i.e, that principles true of one plane of being are true also of all other planes, adopted analogy as their guide in dealing with the facts of chemistry and physics known to them. They endeavoured to explain these facts by an application to them of the principles of mystical theology, their
^ Michael Sendivogius (?) : The New Chemical Light, Pt. II., Concerning Sulphur. (See The Hermetic Museum, vol. ii.
p. 138.)
QUEST OF PHILOSOPHER'S STONE 131
chief aim being to prove the truth of these principles as applied to the facts of the natural realm, and by studying natural phenomena to become instructed in spiritual truth. They did not proceed by the sure, but slow, method of modern science, i.e. the method of induction, which questions experience at every step in the construction of a theory ; but they boldly allowed their imaginations to leap ahead and to formulate a complete theory of the Cosmos on the strength of but few facts. This led them into many fantastic errors, but I would not venture to deny them an intuitive perception of certain fundamental truths concerning the constitution of the Cosmos, even if they distorted these truths and dressed them in a fantastic garb.
Now, as I hope to make plain in the course of this excursion, the alchemists regarded the discovery of the Philosopher's Stone and the transmutation of *' base " metals into gold as the consummation of the proof of the doctrines of mystical theology as applied to chemical phenomena, and it was as such that they so ardently sought to achieve the magnum opuSy as this transmutation was called. Of course, it would be useless to deny that many, accepting the truth of the great alchemical theorem, sought for the Philosopher's Stone because of what was claimed for it in the way of material benefits. But, as I have already indicated, with the nobler alchemists this was not the case, and the desire for wealth, if present at all, was merely a secondary object.
The idea expressed in D Alton's atomic hypo- thesis (1802), and universally held during the nine- teenth century, that the material world is made up
/
132 BYGONE BELIEFS
of a certain limited number of elements unalterable in quantity, subject in themselves to no change or development, and inconvertible one into another, is quite alien to the views of the alchemists. The alchemists conceived the universe to be a unity ; they believed that all material bodies had been de- veloped from one seed ; their elements are merely different forms of one matter and, therefore, con- vertible one into another. They were thorough- going evolutionists with regard to the things of the material world, and their theory concerning the evolution of the metals was, I believe, the direct out- come of a metallurgical application of the mystical doctrine of the soul's development and regeneration. The metals, they taught, all spring from the same seed in Nature's womb, but are not all equally matured and perfect ; for, as they say, although Nature always intends to produce only gold, various impurities impede the process. In the metals the alchemists saw symbols of man in the various stages of his spiritual development. Gold, the most beautiful as well as the most untarnishable metal, keeping its beauty permanently, unaffected by sul- phur, most acids, and fire — indeed, purified by such treatment, — gold, to the alchemist, was the symbol of regenerate man, and therefore he called it *' a noble metal '\ Silver was also termed ** noble " ; but it was regarded as less mature than gold, for, although it is undoubtedly beautiful and withstands the action of fire, it is corroded by nitric acid and is blackened by sulphur ; it was, therefore, considered to be analogous to the regenerate man at a lower stage of his development. Possibly^ we shall not be
QUEST OF PHILOSOPHER'S STONE 133
far wrong in using Swedenborg*s terms, '' celestial " to describe the man of gold, '' spiritual '' to designate him of silver. Lead, on the other hand, the al- chemists regarded as a very immature and impure metal : heavy and dull, corroded by sulphur and nitric acid, and converted into a calx by the action of fire, — lead, to the alchemists, was a symbol of man in a sinful and unregenerate condition.
The alchemists assumed the existence of three principles in the metals, their obvious reason for so doing being the mystical threefold division of man into body, soul (i.e. affections and will), and spirit {i.e, intelligence), though the principle corre- sponding to body was a comparatively late intro- duction in alchemical philosophy. This latter fact, however, is no argument against my thesis ; because, of course, I do not maintain that the alchemists started out with their chemical philosophy ready made, but gradually worked it out, by incorporating in it further doctrines drawn from mystical theology. The three principles just referred to were called ** mercury,'' ** sulphur," and ** salt " ; and they must be distinguished from the common bodies so designated (though the alchemists themselves seem often guilty of confusing them). " Mercury " is the metallic principle par excellence, conferring on metals their brightness and fusibility, and corre- sponding to the spirit or intelligence in man.^ *' Sulphur," the principle of combustion and colour, is the analogue of the soul. Many alchemists postu- lated two sulphurs in the metals, an inward and an
^ The identification of the god Mercury with Thoth, the Egyptian god of learning, is worth noticing in this connection.
134 BYGONE BELIEFS
outward.^ The outward sulphur was thought to be the chief cause of metallic impurity, and the reason why all (known) metals, save gold and silver, were acted on by fire. The inward sulphur, on the other hand, was regarded as essential to the development of the metals : pure mercury, we are told, matured by a pure inward sulphur yields pure gold. Here again it is evident that the alchemists borrowed their theories from mystical theology ; for, clearly, inward sulphur is nothing else than the equivalent to love of God ; outward sulphur to love of self. Intelligence (mercury) matured by love to God (in- ward sulphur) exactly expresses the spiritual state of the regenerate man according to mystical theology. There is no reason, other than their belief in analogy, why the alchemists should have held such views concerning the metals. " Salt,'' the principle of solidity and resistance to fire, corresponding to the body in man, plays a comparatively unimportant