Alchemy Essay

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Alchemy

ALCHEMY: The science by aid of which the chemical philosophers of

medieval times attempted to transmute the baser metals into gold or 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 the late Greek chemica=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',

or `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 skillful 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 marvelous powers, and

it was thought that there resided within in 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. Its was probably in

the Byzantium of the fourth century, however, that alchemical science

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 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 alchemic science,

and the colleges of Seville, Cordova and Granada were the centers from

which this science radiated throughout Europe.

The first practical alchemist may be said to have been the Arbian Geber,

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 inspirations from a still older unbroken line of adepts.

He was followed by Avicenna, Mesna and Rhasis, and in France by Alain of

Lisle, Arnold de Villanova and Jean de Meung the troubadour; in England by

Roger Bacon and in Spain itself by Raymond Lully. Later, in French alchemy

the most illustrious names are those of Flamel (b. ca. 1330), and Bernard

Trevisan (b. ca. 1460) after which the center of of interest changes to

Germany and in some measure to England, in which countries Paracelsus,

Khunrath (ca. 1550), Maier (ca. 1568), 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 the time. On the introduction of

chemistry as a practical art, alchemical science fell into desuetude and

disrepute, owing chiefly to the number of charlatans practicing 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 in the department of this article "Modern Alchemy" will

demonstrate that the science has to a grate 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 or silver; (2) the discovery of an elixir by which life might be

prolonged indefinitely; and there may be added (3), the manufacture of and

artificial process of human life. (for the latter see Homunculus)

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 exilir 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 the 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 fir, capable of producing a universal

dissolvent. These terms the neophyte must be cautious of interpreting in

their literal sense. 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 alchemist

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 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 is 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 unfavorable 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, summarizing the

alchemical process once the secret of the stone is unveiled, says: "Given

the matter of the stone and also the necessary vessel, the process which

must be then undertaken to accomplish the `magnum opus' are described with

moderate perpicuity. 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 glittering whiteness is apparent. Fermentation afterwards fixes

together the alchemical earth and water, and causes the mystic medicines 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 the chief

stages characterized 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 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 transmutations 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 purhaps the

chief protagonists of the belief the by spiritual processes akin to those

of the chemical process of alchemy, the soul of man may be purified and

exalted. But both commit the radical error of stating the 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 Philaletes, 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 be made, or it may not, but the truth or fallacy of the alchemical

method lies with modern...

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