Alamut Dicla de Lapide Philosophico was published at Leyden, bearing on its title-page the name of Alanus Insulensis. It was thus ascribed to Bernardine, to the“ Universal Doctor," and, by still others, to a German named Alanus. Supposing the two first-mentioned to be separate and distinct persons, we have nevertheless no proof that either was interested in alchemy; and as for the third, there is no proof that he existed at all. On the other hand, we know that it was customary at that time to ascribe works of a very inferior nature to illustrious persons who had died, and were thus unable to deny them. The Dicta de Lapide Philosophico, a work of no great alchemistical value, on account of its vague and indefinite nature, may be, and probably is, a spurious work, wrongly ascribed to Alain. Alamut: A mountain in Persia. (See Assassins.) Alary (François): A visionary, who had printed at Rouen in 1701, The Prophecy of Count Bombaste, (Chevalier de la Rose-Croix), nephew of Paracelsus, (published in 1609 on the birth of Louis the Great.) " Alastor: A cruel demon, who, according to Wierius, filled the post of chief executioner to the monarch of Hades. The conception of him somewhat resembles that of Nemesis. Zoroaster is said to have called him The Executioner.' Others confound him with the destroying angel. Evil genies were formerly called Alastors. Plutarch says that Cicero, who bore a grudge against Augustus, conceived the plan of committing suicide on the emperor's hearth, and thus becoming his Alastor. 8 Albertus Magnus: No fewer than twenty-one folio volumes are attributed to this alchemist, and though it is highly improbable that all of them are really his, the ascription in several cases resting on but slender evidence, those others which are incontestably from his pen, are sufficiently numerous to constitute him a surprisingly voluminous writer. It is noteworthy, moreover, that according to tradition, he was the inventor of the pistol and the cannon; but, while it is unlikely that the credit is due to him for this, the mere fact that he was thus acknowledged indicates that his scientific skill was recognised by a few, if only a few, of the men of his own time, Albertus was born at Larvingen, on the Danube, in the year 1205, and the term Magnus, which is usually applied to him, is not the result of his reputation, but is the Latin equivalent of his family name, de Groot. Like many another man destined to become famous, he was distinctly stupid as a boy, but from the outset he showed a predilection for religion, and so it came about that one night the blessed Virgin appeared to him, whereupon his intellect suddenly became metamorphosed, acquiring extraordinary vitality. Albertus therefore decided that he must show his gratitude to the Madonna by espousing holy orders, and eventually he won eminence in the clerical profession, and was made Bishop of Ratisbon; but he held this office for only a little while, resigning it that he might give his entire time to scientific researches. Thenceforth, until his death, the exact date whereof is uncertain, he lived chiefly at a pleasant retreat in Cologne; and it is reported that here his mental vigour gradually forsook him, being replaced by the dullness which characterised him as a youth. Albertus was repeatedly charged by some of his unfriendly contemporaries with holding communications with the devil, and practising the craft of magic; while apropos of his reputed leanings in this particular, a curious story is recounted in an early history of the University of Paris. The alchemist, it seems, had invited some friends to his house at Cologne, among them being William, Count of Holland, and when the guests arrived they were amazed to find that, though the season was mid-winter and the ground was covered with snow, they were expected to partake of a repast outside in the garden. Great chagrin Albigerius was manifested by everybody, while some even declared themselves insulted; but their host bade them be seated, assuring them that all would be well. They continued to be dubious withal, yet they took their places, and hardly had they began to eat and drink ere their annoyance vanished, for lo! the snow around them melted away, the sun shone brightly, the birds sang, and summer appeared to be reigning indeed. Michael Maier, the author of Museum Chimicum and numerous other alchemistic works, declares that Albertus succeeded in evolving the philosopher's stone, and that ere his death he handed it over to his distinguished pupil, St. Thomas Aquinas, who subsequently destroyed the precious article, suspecting it to be a contrivance of the devil. The alleged discoverer himself says nothing on this subject, but, in his De Rebus Metallicis et Mineralibus, he tells how he had personally tested some gold which had been manufactured by an alchemist, and which resisted many searching fusions. And, be this story true or not, Albertus was certainly an able scientist, while it is clear that his learning ultimately gained wide recognition, for a collected edition of his vast writings was issued at Leyden so late as 1653. Albigenses: A sect which originated in the south of France in the twelfth century. They were so called from one of their territorial centres, that of Albi. It is probable that their heresy came originally from Eastern Europe, and they were often designated Bulgarians, and undoubtedly kept up intercourse with certain secretaries of Thrace, the Bogomils; and they are sometimes connected with the Paulicians. It is difficult to form any exact idea of their doctrines, as Albigensian texts are rare, and contain little concerning their ethics, but we know that they were strongly opposed to the Roman Catholic Church, and protested against the corruption of its clergy. But it is not as a religious body that we have to deal with the Albigenses here, but to consider whether or not their cult possessed any occult significance. It has been claimed by their opponents that they admitted two fundamental principles, good and bad, saying that God had produced Lucifer from Himself; that indeed Lucifer was the son of God who revolted against Him; that he had carried with him a rebellious party of angels, who were driven from Heaven along with him; that Lucifer in his exile had created this world with its inhabitants, where he reigned, and where all was evil. It is alleged that they further believed that God for the re-establishment of order had produced a second son, who was Jesus Christ. Furthermore the Catholic writers on the Albigenses charged them with believing that the souls of men were demons lodged in mortal bodies in punishment of their crimes. All this is, of course, mere tradition, and we may be sure that the dislike of the Albigenses for the irregularities then current in the Roman Church, brought such charges on their heads. They were indeed the lineal ancestors of Protestantism. A crusade was brought against them by Pope Innocent III., and wholesale massacres took place. The Inquisition was also let loose upon them, and they were driven to hide in the forests and among the mountains, where, like the Covenanters of Scotland, they held surreptitious meetings. The Inquisition terrorised the district in which they had dwelt so thoroughly that the very name of Albigenses was practically blotted out, and by the year 1330, the records of the Holy Office show no further writs issued against the heretics. Albigerius: A Carthaginian soothsayer mentioned by St. Augustine. He would fall into strange ecstacies in which his soul, separated from his body, would travel abroad and find out what was taking place in distant parts. He could read people's inmost thoughts, and discover any Albumazar thing he wished to learn. These wonders were ascribed to the agency of the Devil. St. Augustine also speaks of another case, in which the possessed man was ill of a fever. Though not in a trance, but wide awake, he saw the priest who was coming to visit him while he was yet six leagues away, and told the company assembled round his couch the exact moment when the good man would arrive. Albumazar: An astrologer of the ninth century, born in Alcahest The universal solvent. (See Alchemy.) 9 Alchemy laboratory should be. Yes, there was the sage, surrounded by his retorts, alembics, crucibles, furnace, and bellows, and, best of all, supported by familiars of gnome-like appearance, squatting on the ground, one blowing the fire (a task to be performed daily for six hours continuously), one pounding substances in a mortar, and another seemingly engaged in doing odd jobs. Involuntarily my eyes sought the pentacle inscribed with the mystic word' Abracadabra,' but here I was disappointed, for the black arts had no place in this laboratory. One of the familiars had been on a voyage of discovery to London, where he bought a few alchemical materials; another had explored Spain and Morocco, without finding any alchemists, and the third had indeed found alchemists in Algeria, though they had steadily guarded their secrets. After satisfying my curiosity in a general way, I asked the sage to explain the principles of his researches and to tell me on what his theories were based. I was delighted to find that his ideas were precisely those of the medieval alchemists namely, that all metals are debased forms of the original gold, which is the only pure, non-composite metal; all nature strives to return to its original purity, and all metals would return to gold if they could; nature is simple and not complex, and works upon one principle, namely, that of sexual reproduction. It was not easy, as will readily be believed, to follow the mystical explanations of the sheikh. Air was referred to by him as the 'vulture,' fire as the scorpion,' water as the serpent,' and earth as 'calacant'; and only after considerable cross-questioning and confusion of mind was I able to disentangle his arguments. Finding his notions so entirely medieval, I was anxious to discover whether he was familiar with the phlogistic theory of the seventeenth century. The alchemists of old had noticed that the earthy matter which remains when a metal is calcined is heavier than the metal itself, and they explained this by the hypothesis, that the metal contained a spirit known as 'phlogiston,' which becomes visible when it escapes from the metal or combustible substance in the form of flame; thus the presence of the phlogiston lightened the body just as gas does, and on its being expelled, the body gained weight. I accordingly asked the chemist whether he had found that iron gains weight when it rusts, an experiment he had ample means of making. But no, he had not yet reached the seventeenth century; he had not observed the fact, but was none the less ready with his answer; the rust of iron was an impurity proceeding from within, and which did not effect the weight of the body in that way. He declared that a few days would bring the realisation of his hopes, and that he would shortly send me a sample of the philosopher's stone and of the divine elixir; but although his promise was made some weeks since, I have not yet scen the fateful discoveries." Alchemy: The science by aid of which the chemical philosophers of medieval times attempted to transmute the baser metals into gold and silver. There is considerable divergence of opinion as to the etymology of the word, but it would seem to be derived from the Arabic al=the, and kimya chemistry, which in turn derives from late Greek chemeia chemistry, from chumeia a mingling, or cheein "to pour out," or mix," Aryan root ghu, to pour, whence the word gush." Mr. A. Wallis Budge in his Egyptian Magic, however, states that it is possible that it may be derived from the Egyptian word khemeia, that is to say the preparation of the black ore,' ог powder," which was regarded as the active principle in the transmutation of metals. To this name the Arabs affixed the article al, thus giving al-khemeia, or alchemy. " " History of Alchemy.-From an early period the Egyptians possessed the reputation of being skilful workers in metals, and, according to Greek writers, they were conversant with their transmutation, employing quicksilver in the process of separating gold and silver from the native matrix. The resulting oxide was supposed to possess marvellous powers, and it was thought that there resided within it the individualities of the various metals-that in it their various substances were incorporated. This black powder was mystically identified with the underworld form of the god Osiris, and consequently was credited with magical properties. Thus there grew up in Egypt the belief that magical powers existed in fluxes and alloys. Probably such a belief existed throughout Europe in connection with the bronze-working castes of its several races. (See Shelta Thari.) It was probably in the Byzantium of the fourth century, however, that alchemical scienee received embryonic form. There is little doubt that Egyptian tradition, filtering through Alexandrian Hellenic sources was the foundation upon which the infant science was built, and this is borne out by the circumstance that the art was attributed to Hermes Trismegistus (q.v.) and supposed to be contained in its entirety in his works. The Arabs, after their conquest of Egypt in the seventh century, carried on the researches of the Alexandrian school, and through their instrumentality the art was brought to Morocco and thus in the eighth century to Spain, where it flourished exceedingly. Indeed, Spain from the ninth to the eleventh century became the repository of alchemical science, and the colleges of Seville, Cordova, and Granada were the centres from which this science radiated throughout Europe. The first practical alchemist may be said to have been the Arabian Geber (q.v.), who flourished 720-750. From his Summa Perfectionis, we may be justified in assuming that alchemical science was already matured in his day, and that he drew his inspiration from a still older unbroken line of adepts. He was followed by Avicenna, Mesna and Rhasis (q.v.), and in France by Alain of Lisle, Arnold de Villanova and Jean de Meung (q.v.) the troubadour; in England by Roger Bac n and in Spain itself by Raymond Lully. Later, in French alchemy the most illustrious names are those of Flamel (b. ca. 1330), and Bernard Trévisan (b. ca. 1406) after which the centre of interest changes to Germany and in some measure to England, in which countries Paracelsus, Khunrath (ca. 1560), Maier (ca. 1568), Böhme, Van Helmont, the Brabanter (1553), Ripley, Norton, Dalton, Charnock, and Fludd kept the alchemical flame burning brightly. It is surprising how little alteration we find throughout the period between the seventh and the seventeenth centuries, the heyday of alchemy, in the theory and practice of the art. The same sentiments and processes are found expressed in the later alchemical authorities as in the earliest, and a wonderful unanimity as regards the basic canons of the great art is evinced by the hermetic students of all time. On the introduction of chemistry as a practical art, alchemical science fell into desuetude and disrepute, owing chiefly to the number of charlatans practising it, and by the beginning of the eighteenth century, as a school, it may be said to have become defunct. Here and there, however, a solitary student of the art lingered, and the department of this article on "Modern Alchemy" will demonstrate that the science has to a great extent revived during modern times, although it has never been quite extinct. The Quests of Alchemy. The grand objects of alchemy were (1) the discovery of a process by which the baser metals might be transmuted into gold and silver; (2), the discovery of an elixir by which life might be prolonged indefinitely; and there may perhaps be added (3), the manufacture of an artificial process of human life. (For the latter see "Homunculus.") Alchemy The Theory and Philosophy of Alchemy. The first objects were to be achieved as follows: The transmutation of metals was to be accomplished by a powder, stone, or elixir often called the Philosopher's Stone, the application of which would effect the transmutation of the baser metals into gold or silver, depending upon the length of time of its application. Basing their conclusions on a profound examination of natural processes and research into the secrets of nature, the alchemists arrived at the axiom that nature was divided philosophically into four principal regions, the dry, the moist, the warm, the cold, whence all that exists must be derived. Nature is also divisible into the male and the female. She is the divine breath, the central fire, invisible yet ever active, and is typified by sulphur, which is the mercury of the sages, which slowly fructifies under the genial warmth of nature. The alchemist must be ingenuous, of a truthful disposition, and gifted with patience and prudence, following nature in every alchemical performance. He must recollect that like draws to like, and must know how to obtain the seed of metals, which is produced by the four elements through the will of the Supreme Being and the Imagination of Nature. We are told that the original matter of metals is double in its essence, being a dry heat combined with a warm moisture, and that air is water coagulated by fire, capable of producing a universal dissolvent. These terms the neophyte must be cautious of interpreting in their literal sensc. Great confusion exists in alchemical nomenclature, and the gibberish employed by the scores of charlatans who in later times pretended to a knowledge of alchemical matters did not tend to make things any more clear. The beginner must also acquire a thorough knowledge of the manner in which metals grow in the bowels of the earth. These are engendered by sulphur, which is male, and mercury, which is female, and the crux of alchemy is to obtain their seed-a process which the alchemistical philosophers have not described with any degree of clarity. The physical theory of transmutation is based on the composite character of metals, and on the presumed existence of a substance which, applied to matter, exalts and perfects it. This, Eugenius Philalethes and others call "The Light." The elements of all metals are similar, differing only in purity and proportion. The entire trend of the metallic kingdom is towards the natural manufacture of gold, and the production of the baser metals is only accidental as the result of an unfavourable environment. The Philosopher's Stone is the combination of the male and female seeds which beget gold. The composition of these is so veiled by symbolism as to make their identification a matter of impossibility. Waite, summarising the alchemical process once the secret of the stone is unveiled, says: Given the matter of the stone and also the necessary vessel, the processes which must be then undertaken to accomplish the magnum opus are described with moderate perspicuity. There is the calcination or purgation of the stone, in which kind is worked with kind for the space of a philosophical year. There is dissolution which prepares the way for congelation, and which is performed during the black state of the mysterious matter. It is accomplished by water which does not wet the hand. There is the separation of the subtle and the gross, which is to be performed by means of heat. In the conjunction which follows, the elements are duly and scrupulously combined. Putrefaction afterwards takes place, 'Without which pole no seed may multiply.' Then, in the subsequent congelation the white colour appears, which is one of the signs of success. It becomes more pronounced in cibation. In sublimation the body is spiritualised, the spirit made corporeal, and again a more Alchemy glittering whiteness is apparent. Fermentation afterwards fixes together the alchemical earth and water, and causes the mystic medicine to flow like wax. The matter is then augmented with the alchemical spirit of life, and the exaltation of the philosophic earth is accomplished by the natural rectification of its elements. When these processes have been successfully completed, the mystic stone will have passed through three chief stages characterised by different colours, black, white, and red, after which it is capable of infinite multication, and when projected on mercury, it will absolutely transmute it, the resulting gold bearing every test. The base metals made use of must be purified to insure the success of the operation. The process for the manufacture of silver is essentially similar, but the resources of the matter are not carried to so high a degree. According to the Commentary on the Ancient War of the Knights the transmutations performed by the perfect stone are so absolute that no trace remains of the original metal. It cannot, however, destroy gold, nor exalt it into a more perfect metallic substance; it, therefore, transmutes it into a medicine a thousand times superior to any virtues which can be extracted from it in its vulgar state. This medicine becomes a most potent agent in the exaltation of base metals." There are not wanting authorities who deny that the transmutation of metals was the grand object of alchemy, and who infer from the alchemistical writings that the end of the art was the spiritual regeneration of man. Mrs. Atwood, author of A Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery, and an American writer named Hitchcock are perhaps the chief protagonists of the belief that by spiritual processes akin to those of the chemical processes of alchemy, the soul of man may be purified and exalted. But both commit the radical error of stating that the alchemical writers did not aver that the transmutation of base metal into gold was their grand end. None of the passages they quote, is inconsistent with the physical object of alchemy, and in a work, The Marrow of Alchemy, stated to be by Eugenius Philalethes, it is laid down that the real quest is for gold. It is constantly impressed upon the reader, however, in the perusal of esteemed alchemical works, that only those who are instructed by God can achieve the grand secret. Others, again, state that a tyro may possibly stumble upon it, but that unless he is guided by an adept he has small chance of achieving the grand arcanum. It will be obvious to the tyro, however, that nothing can ever be achieved by trusting to the allegories of the adepts or the many charlatans who crowded the ranks of the art. Gold may have been made, or it may not, but the truth or fallacy of the alchemical method lies with modern chemistry. The transcendental view of alchemy, however, is rapidly gaining ground, and probably originated in the comprehensive nature of the Hermetic theory and the consciousness in the alchemical mind that what might with success be applied to nature could also be applied to man with similar results. Says Mr. Waite : The gold of the philosopher is not a metal, on the other hand, man is a being who possesses within himself the seeds of a perfection which he has never realised, and that he therefore corresponds to those metals which the Hermetic theory supposes to be capable of development. It has been constantly advanced that the conversion of lead into gold was only the assumed object of alchemy, and that it was in reality in search of a process for developing the latent possibilities in the subject man." At the same time, it must be admitted that the cryptic character of alchemical language was probably occasioned by a fear on the part of the alchemical mystic that he might lay himself open through his magical opinions to the rigours of the law. " Modern Alchemy. That alchemy has been studied in modern times there can be no doubt. M. Figuier in his L'Alchimie et les Alchimistes, dealing with the subject of modern alchemy, as expressed by the initiates of the first half of the nineteenth century, states that many French alchemists of his time regarded the discoveries of modern science as merely so many evidences of the truth of the doctrines they embraced. Throughout Europe, he says, the positive alchemical doctrine had many adherents at the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth. Thus a vast association of alchemists," founded in Westphalia in 1790, continued to flourish in the year 1819, under the name of the "Hermetic Society." In 1837, an alchemist of Thuringia presented to the Société Industrielle of Weimar a tincture which he averred would effect metallic transmutation. About the same time several French journals announced a public course of lectures on hermetic philosophy by a professor of the University of Munich. He further states that many Hanoverian and Bavarian families pursued in common the search for the grand arcanum. Paris, however, was regarded as the alchemistical Mecca. There dwelt many theoretical alchemists and " empirical adepts." The first pursued the arcanum through the medium of books, the others engaged in practical efforts to effect transmutation. M. Figuier states that in the forties of last century he frequented the laboratory of a certain Monsieur L., which was the rendezvous of the alchemists of Paris. When Monsieur L's pupils left the laboratory for the day the modern adepts dropped in one by one, and Figuier relates how deeply impressed he was by the appearance and costumes of these strange men. In the daytime he frequently encountered them in the public libraries, buried in gigantic folios, and in the evening they might be seen pacing the solitary bridges with eyes fixed in vague contemplation upon the first pale stars of night. A long cloak usually covered their meagre limbs, and their untrimmed beards and matted locks lent them a wild appearance. They walked with a solemn and measured gait, and used the figures of speech employed by the mediæval illuminés. Their expression was generally a mixture of the most ardent hope and a fixed despair. " Among the adepts who sought the laboratory of Monsieur L., Figuier remarked especially a young man, in whose habits and language he could see nothing in common with those of his strange companions. He confounded the wisdom of the alchemical adept with the tenets of the modern scientist in the most singular fashion, and meeting him one day at the gate of the Observatory, M. Figuier renewed the subject of their last discussion, deploring that a man of his gifts could pursue the semblance of a chimera." Without replying, the young adept led him into the Observatory garden, and proceeded to reveal to him the mysteries of modern alchemical science. The young man proceeded to fix a limit to the researches of the modern alchemists. Gold, he said, according to the ancient authors, has three distinct properties: (1) that of resolving the baser metals into itself, and interchanging and metamorphosing all metals into one another; (2) the curing of afflictions and the prolongation of life; (3), as a spiritus mundi to bring mankind into rapport with the Alchemy supermundane spheres. Modern alchemists, he continued, reject the greater part of these ideas, especially those connected with spiritual contact. The object of modern alchemy might be reduced to the search for a substance having the power to transform and transmute all other substances one into another-in short, to discover that medium so well known to the alchemists of old and lost to us. This was a perfectly feasible proposition. In the four principal substances of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and azote, we have the tetractus of Pythagoras and the tetragram of the Chaldeans and Egyptians. All the sixty elements are referable to these original four. The ancient alchemical theory established the fact that all the metals are the same in their composition, that all are formed from sulphur and mercury, and that the difference between them is according to the proportion of these substances in their composition. Further, all the products of minerals present in their composition complete identity with those substances most opposed to them. Thus fulminating acid contains precisely the same quantity of carbon, oxygen, and azote as cyanic acid, and cyanhydric acid does not differ from formate ammoniac. This new property of matter is known as isomerism." M. Figuier's friend then proceeds to quote in support of his thesis and operations and experiments of M. Dumas, a celebrated French savant, as well as those of Prout, and other English chemists of standing. 12 Passing to consider the possibility of isomerism in elementary as well as in compound substances, he points out to M. Figuier that if the theory of isomerism can apply to such bodies, the transmutation of metals ceases to be a wild, unpractical dream, and becomes a scientific possibility, the transformation being brought about by a molecular rearrangement. Isomerism can be established in the case of compound substances by chemical analysis, showing the identity of their constituent parts. In the case of metals it can be proved by the comparison of the properties of isomeric bodies with the properties of metals, in order to discover whether they have any common characteristics. Such experiments, he continued, had been conducted by M. Dumas, with the result that isomeric substances were found to have equal equivalents, or equivalents which were exact multiples one of another. This characteristic is also a feature of metals. Gold and osmium have identical equivalents, as have platinum and iridium. The equivalent of cobalt is almost the same as that of nickel, and the semi-equivalent of tin is equal to the equivalent of the two preceding metals. This M. Dumas, speaking before the British Association, had shown that when three simple bodies displayed great analogies in their properties, such as chlorine, bromide, and iodine, barium, strontium, and calcium, the chemical equivalent of the intermediate body is represented by the arithmetical mean between the equivalents of the other two. Such a statement well showed the isomerism of elementary substances, and proved that metals, however dissimilar in outward appearance, were composed of the same matter differently arranged and proportioned. theory successfully demolishes the difficulties in the way of transmutation. Again, Dr. Prout says that the chemical equivalents of nearly all elementary substances are the multiples of one among them. Thus, if the equivalent of hydrogen be taken for the unit, the equivalent of every other substance will be an exact multiple of it-carbon will be represented by six, azote by fourteen, oxygen by sixteen, zinc by thirty-two. But, pointed out M. Figuier's friend, if the molecular masses in compound substances have so simple a connection, does it not go to prove that all natural bodies are formed of one principle, differently arranged and condensed to produce all known compounds? Alchindus If transmutation is thus theoretically possible, it only remains to show by practical experiment that it is strictly in accordance with chemical laws, and by no means inclines to the supernatural. At this juncture the young alchemist proceeded to liken the action of the Philosophers' Stone on metals to that of a ferment on organic matter. When metals are melted and brought to red heat, a molecular change may be produced analogous to fermentation. Just as sugar, under the influence of a ferment, may be changed into lactic acid without altering its constituents, so metals can alter their character under the influence of the Philosophers' Stone. The explanation of the latter case is no more difficult than that of the former. The ferment does not take any part in the chemical changes it brings about, and no satisfactory explanation of its effects can be found either in the laws of affinity or in the forces of electricity, light, or heat. As with the ferment, the required quantity of the Philosophers' Stone is infinitesimal. Medicine, philosophy, every modern science was at one time a source of such errors and extravagances as are associated with medieval alchemy, but they are not therefore neglected and despised. Wherefore, then, should we be blind to the scientiñc nature of transmutation? One of the foundations of alchemical theories was that minerals grew and developed in the earth, like organic things. It was always the aim of nature to produce gold, the most precious metal, but when circumstances were not favourable the baser metals resulted. The desire of the old alchemists was to surprise nature's secrets, and thus attain the ability to do in a short period what nature takes years to accomplish. Nevertheless, the medieval alchemists appreciated the value of time in their experiments as modern alchemists never do. M. Figuier's friend urged him not to condemn these exponents of the hermetic philosophy for their metaphysical tendencies, for, he said, there are facts in our sciences which can only be explained in that light. If, for instance, copper be placed in air or water, there will be no result, but if a touch of some acid be added, it will oxidise. The explanation is that "the acid provokes oxidation of the metal, because it has an affinity for the oxide which tends to form '-a material fact almost metaphysical in its production, and only explicable thereby. He concluded his argument with an appeal for tolerance towards the medieval alchemists, whose work is underrated because it is not properly understood. (See also Elixir of Life, Homunculus, and the many lives of the alchemists throughout this book.) LITERATURE. Atwood, A Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery, 1850; Hitchcock, Remarks on Alchemy and the Alchemists, Boston, 1857; Waite, Lives of the Alchemystical Philosophers, London, 1888; The Occult Sciences, London, 1891; Bacon, Mirror of Alchemy, 1597; The works of the Hon. Robert Boyle; S. le Doux, Dictionnaire Hermetique, 1695; Langlet de Fresnoy, Histoire de la Philosophie Hermetique, 1792; Theatrum Chemicum, (Essays by many great alchemists), 1662; Valentine, Triumphal Chariot of Antimony, 1656; Redgrove, Alchemy Ancient and Modern; Figuier, L'Alchimie et les Alchimistes, Paris, 1857. Alchindi: (See Arabs.) Alchindus: An Arabian doctor of the eleventh century, placed by some authorities among the number of magicians, but regarded by others as merely a superstitious writer. He used charmed words and combinations of figures in order to cure his patients. Demonologists maintained that the devil was responsible for his power, and based their statements on the fact that he had written a work entitled The Theory of the Magic Arts. He was probably, however, nothing more formidable than a natural philosopher at a |