THE ALCHYMISTS.

PART I.

HISTORY OF ALCHYMY FROM THE EARLIEST PERIODS TO THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.

PRETENDED ANTIQUITY OF THE ART. -- GEBER. -- ALFARABI. -- AVICENNA. --
ALBERTUS MAGNUS. -- THOMAS AQUINAS. -- ARTEPHIUS. -- ALAIN DE LISLE.
-- ARNOLD DE VILLENEUVE. -- PIETRO D'APONE. -- RAYMOND LULLI. -- ROGER
BACON. -- POPE JOHN XXII. -- JEAN DE MEUNG. -- NICHOLAS FLAMEL. --
GEORGE RIPLEY. -- BASIL VALENTINE. -- BERNARD OF TREVES. --
TRITHEMIUS. -- THE MARECHAL DE RAYS. -- JACQUES COEUR. -- INFERIOR
ADEPTS.

For more than a thousand years the art of alchymy captivated many
noble spirits, and was believed in by millions. Its origin is involved
in obscurity. Some of its devotees have claimed for it an antiquity
coeval with the creation of man himself; others, again, would trace it
no further back than the time of Noah. Vincent de Beauvais argues,
indeed, that all the antediluvians must have possessed a knowledge of
alchymy; and particularly cites Noah as having been acquainted with
the elixir vitae, or he could not have lived to so prodigious an age,
and have begotten children when upwards of five hundred. Lenglet du
Fresnoy, in his "History of the Hermetic Philosophy," says, "Most of
them pretended that Shem, or Chem, the son of Noah, was an adept in
the art, and thought it highly probable that the words chemistry and
alchymy were both derived from his name." Others say, the art was
derived from the Egyptians, amongst whom it was first founded by
Hermes Trismegistus. Moses, who is looked upon as a first-rate