most mystic influences; on the other it is a simple body endowed with one fundamental property.* The search for the elixir vitæ was a natural corollary of that for the philosopher's stone, for wealth without health is of little value. In order to increase the pleasures and length of life they sought the panacea or universal elixir of life; or, in other words, the liquid philosopher's stone. This arose from the high conception which they had formed of that agent in supposing it capable of separating the pure metal from its alloy, and hence inferring that it ought to have the same property in regard to the morbific agents which affect the human organism.† Undismayed by such researches, the enthusiasm of some of the devotees of the art led them to seek to penetrate still farther into the arcana of nature, like her to become the medium of divine agency, and like Prometheus to bring down the fire of the gods from heaven. Spurning their habiliments of clay they strove to enter into communication with spirits, good or bad, according as piety or perversity predominated, and to identify themselves with the "Soul of the world."+ *Pouchet, Histoire des Sciences Naturelles au Moyen Age, p. 123. + Cuvier, Histoire des Sciences Naturelles, t. 1, pp. 573, 574. This spirit finds appropriate utterance in the words of Willis's "Dying Alchemist," as with his expiring breath he pours forth his undying desire to unlock all the mysteries of the material and spiritual worlds: "Earth has no mineral strange- Seasons no mystery and stars no spell, Which the unwasting soul may not compel. "Oh! but for time to track The upper stars into the pathless sky- To tread unhurt the sea's dim lighted halls, To chase day's chariot to the horizon walls." In the poem, as in fact with thousands of these ambitious spirits, death closes the scene upon the desire unfulfilled, the mystery unsolved. The science of the Egyptian priests was not confined alone to the operations of metallurgy, but was a universal science, embracing within its compass all the practices of mysticism, yet having for its point of departure facts and observations. The Chaldeans, the Magi of the East, from whom the Greeks derived the term "magic," and by whom they were instructed, were among the earliest possessors of the art. It also holds a prominent place in the traditions of the Hebrews. Many of its secrets were doubtless communicated to Moses by Pharoah's daughter and the priests of Egypt. The Vades also contain many magical writings, and the practice of magic was known to the Druids of Great Britain, and to Odin and the priests of Scandinavia at an earlier period than to the Greeks and Romans. The universality and antiquity of the practice of magic, or the occult science, is ably illustrated by Salverte,* by a large number of interesting facts drawn from a great variety of sources, and arranged mainly to maintain this thesis-that all their apparent miracles which cannot be referred to adroitness. or imposture are facts of this secret science-real experiments in physics. The sole aim of the Thaumaturgists, or wonder-workers, being to gain power and retain their influence over the people, they also added artifice and incantations to their real knowledge, in order to excite the imagination and divert attention from their secret processes; a practice connected with oracles, enchantments, and impositions in all ages of the world. Yet in the remarkable trials of skill between the Thaumaturgists themselves, these evidently could have had no place. In the disappointment of defeat and exultation of victory they were alike sure to conceal their secrets from the astonished spectators. Death to one or both of the parties was the inevitable result of disclosure, or of interference by one of the initiated with the works of another. In that immortal collection of Eastern tales, which cannot entirely be attributed to the *Des Sciences Occultes, ou Essay sur la Magique. Paris, 1843. workings of an uncontrolled and fervid imagination, we read of a female magician, who interfering with the enchantments of one of the evil genii, a terrible conflict ensues, in which although the enchanter is finally destroyed, the maiden also falls a victim to his arts. The fact that the alchemists always chose their own location for the exhibition of their powers is evidence of their dependence upon mechanical contrivances and chemical preparations. Possessing no comprehensive theories by means of which to associate their experiments, each was an isolated fact, which could be performed only by repeated reference to their books of prescriptions, and by extended secret preparations. At length, all being in readiness, the populace were admitted to the temples to an entertainment unrivalled by modern exhibitors. Greeted with flashes of lightning and peals of thunder, followed by darkness and silence, the spectators were suddenly raised to a giddy height, and as suddenly sunk to gloomy depths, while about them appeared fiery serpents and grim monsters, followed by the shades of departed ancestors; shrieks and moans resounded in their ears, dying gradually away in the distance; voices addressed them from the solid walls and columns, and these withdrawing disclosed, in distant perspective, gorgeous palaces and gardens filled with moving figures of awful aspect, the very dwellings of the gods. The influence of these spectacles in riveting that of the priesthood upon an ignorant populace is incalculable. These effects, and many others even more marvellous, are attributed by Salverte, with great accumulation of evidence, to the knowledge which the ancients possessed of what are so often regarded as the achievements of modern mechanics, optics, chemistry, etc. That their mechanism was carried to a point of perfection not attained in modern times is shown by the difficulty experienced in raising one of the Egyptian monolithes, which they erected in vast numbers. Modern travellers have remarked in the remains of the temple of Ceres the grooves and niches for pulleys by which the movable floors were transferred, with their occupants, to different portions of the temple "as if by magic." The wooden dove of Archytas, a flying chariot capable of being directed at will by the inventor, and a balloon, carrying a man, are ancient inventions in the art of flying, which has never ceased to be an aspiration of man, and which we are certainly not nearer realizing than the ancients. In later times, speaking heads were invented by Albertus Magnus, and a brazen automaton, in the form of a man, which his pupil, Thomas Aquinas, destroyed in his astonishment. Pope Sylvester II., who occupied the papal chair from 991 to 1003, was also accused of magic for having made a speaking head of brass. And the accusation was just if we consider magic as the result of science concealed from the multitude.* The famous statue of Memnon, breathing melodious sounds when struck by the beams of the rising sun, is spoken of by the historians of the period as the result of pure science. In optics we find the so-called miraculous effects produced. in the temples, the result of the use of mirrors throwing magnified and reversed images, and in certain positions intercepting the light, in a manner analogous to polarized light. Thus they produced the wonderful effects of the phantasmagoria, and the diorama, and, by the use of the concave mirror and double lenses, of the magic lantern. It is easy to imagine the effects of these appearances upon the minds of those unacquainted with the means by which they were produced, especially when accompanied by the tricks of ventriloquism in which the performers were expert. Buffon admits the probability of mirrors being used in the port of Alexandria to discern distant ships, but they were doubtless employed long in the temples before they were devoted to this practical use, for nothing was expected from the occult science but the art of working miracles.† These explain also the Nekyomantion to which the bereaved repaired in order to behold the shades of the departed. Here also notice the fact that this could be done only in a certain locality devoted to the purpose of recalling the dead. It is related of the Emperor Basil of Macedon that, grieving * Salverte, Des Sciences Occultes. Paris, 1843. + Salverte. for his lost son, he was permitted to see him fully arrayed upon horseback, but when he rushed to embrace him the apparition vanished. We read in the Arabian Nights of a tube about a foot long and an inch in diameter with a glass in one end, and whoever looked into it could see whatever he pleased. Allowing for the exaggeration of the eastern imagination, have we not the germ of the telescope or the opera-glass at least? When Xerxes opened the tomb of Belus at Babylon, he found the body of the king inclosed in a glass case partly filled with oil into which however much was poured it never rose above a certain level. The principle of hydrostatics are also applied to perpetual lamps. The use of alcohol extends to the remotest times. In an ancient sacred book of the Hindoos, in which are collected the doctrines of remotest ages under the name of Kea-soum, mention is made of the distillation of spirits. Aristotle remarks that art had procured oil from common salt, which may easily imply hydrochloric acid, as sulphuric acid still is known under the more common name of oil of vitriol. The ordeal of fire is known to be most ancient and universal. Sita, wife of Rama, the sixth incarnation of Vishur, walked upon red hot iron. "The foot of Sita," says the Hindoo historian, "being clothed in innocence, the devouring heat was to her as a bed of roses." Zoroaster attested his mission by allowing melted lead to be poured upon him, after he had been well rubbed with certain drugs. This indicates the manner in which the priests, by the use of their preparations for resisting the action of fire, were able to deliver or destroy whom they pleased. There is evidence that they were also acquainted with the power of fine wire gauze to resist heat, afterwards utilized by Davy, and that by these means they effected those wonderful transformations into real or apparent flames, which have been deemed utterly incredible. The science of meteorology was also carried to a high degree of perfection by the Egyptian priests, and thus being able to predict the state of the weather, were readily regarded as being instrumental in causing such weather as pleased them. Salverte is of opinion that it was thus Joseph was enabled to predict and provide |