would be left without a sense of order in the material universe. And,
moreover, the alchemist's conception of an orderly material universe
was so intimately connected with his ideas of morality and religion,
that to disprove the possibility of the great transmutation would be
to remove not only the basis of his system of material things, but the
foundations of his system of ethics also. To take away his belief in
the possibility of changing other metals into gold would be to convert
the alchemist into an atheist.

How, then, was the transmutation to be accomplished? Evidently by the
method whereby nature brings to perfection other living things; for
the alchemist's belief in the simplicity and unity of nature compelled
him to regard metals as living things.

Plants are improved by appropriate culture, by digging and enriching
the soil, by judicious selection of seed; animals are improved by
careful breeding. By similar processes metals will be encouraged and
helped towards perfection. The perfect state of gold will not be
reached at a bound; it will be gained gradually. Many partial
purifications will be needed. As _Subtle_ says in _The Alchemist_--

'twere absurd
To think that nature in the earth bred gold
Perfect in the instant; something went before,
There must be remote matter....
Nature doth first beget the imperfect, then
Proceeds she to the perfect.

At this stage the alchemical argument becomes very ultra-physical. It
may, perhaps, be rendered somewhat as follows:--