PDF - Cunningham Memorial Library

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PRELIMINARY
Alchymy: This word is compounded, acconting to
some writers, of the Arabic particle 'ttl, " the," nnel the
word keemiyu, or seemi!Ju, " chemistr)' ;" or otherwise,
as some authors imagine, from the Greek verb elmo,
" I melt." The objects of Alchymy were two-fold:
1. The art of making gold from any other metal, including
the search after the" Philosopher's Stone,n
which was to effect this transmutation; nnd, 2. The
discovery of a panacea or mcdicine for the cure of a1l
diseases to which the human body. is liable. 'This
study was pursued for many centuries, notwithstand.
ing the failurcs, the disappointments, and the losses,
which those who gavc way to it sustaincd. ,Tllis
delusion scems to havc commenced about the fourth
ccntury, appears to have .reached its greatest height
about the eleventh or twelfth, and to have prevailed
with unabated energy till the sixteenth.
Some of the Alchymists in Germany, who had the
unfortunate reputation ofpossessing the Philosopher's.
Stone, were imprisoned, and furnished with apparatlls
be converted into a seed, as lead .into mercury,· or mercury
into gold. Dr. Lmvis, speaking of Commerce, says,
" This is the true Philosopher's Stone, so much sought
after in former times, the discovery of which has beenreserved
for genius, when studying to improve the
mechanic arts. Hence, a pound of raw materials is converted
into stuffs of fifty times its original value; and the
metals too nre not converted into gold - they are more;
for the labour of man has been able to work the baser
metal, by the ing'enuity of art, so as to become worth
more than manY,times its weight in gold."