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ROSICRUC1ANISM, ALCHEMY, AND MAGIC. 207
the Rosicrucians in that school of alchemy to which I made
reference at the close of the first chapter, and whose aim
was to accomplish the spiritual side of the magnum opus, or
great work of alchemical reconstruction. For them the
transmutation of metals being no operation of common
chemistry, 1 both the " Fama " ad " Confessio "
appear to
condemn indiscriminately all professors of the purely phy-
sical process, which they call " the ungodly and accursed
gold-making." Here, as in their other opinions, they echo
Paracelsus.
" What shall I say to you about all your
alchemical prescriptions, about all your retorts and bottles,
crucibles, mortars, and glasses ;
about all your complicated
processes of distilling, melting, cohibiting, coagulating, sub-
limating, precipitating, and filtering, all the tomfoolery for
which you throw away your time and your money. All
such things are useless, and the labour over them is lost.
They are rather an impediment than a help to arrive at the
truth." After the same fashion, the " Confessio " de-
nounces the " monstrous symbols and enigmas "
by which
pseudo-chymists impose upon credulous curiosity. Ac-
cording to Dr Hartmann, " Paracelsus asserts that it is possible
to make gold and silver by chemical means ; still he
condemns such experiments as useless, and it seems to be
more than probable that even in such chemical experiments
as may have succeeded, something more than merely
chemical manipulations was required to make them suc-
cessful."
5
Eliphas Le>i, one of the most profound com-
mentators on Paracelsus, declares that " there is light in
gold, gold in light, and light in all things."
Thus the first
1 On this point see "Mysteries of Magic," Biographical and
Critical Preface, p. xliii.
2 Hartmann's " Paracelsus," pp. 177, 178.