§ 1. The Aim of Alchemy.
Alchemy is generally understood to have been that art whose end was
the transmutation of the so-called base metals into gold by means of an
ill-defined something called the Philosopher's Stone; but even from a
purely physical standpoint, this is a somewhat superficial view. Alchemy
was both a philosophy and an experimental science, and the transmutation
of the metals was its end only in that this would give the final proof
of the alchemistic hypotheses; in other words, Alchemy, considered from
the physical standpoint, was the attempt to demonstrate experimentally
on the material plane the validity of a certain philosophical view of
the Cosmos. We see the genuine scientific spirit in the saying of one of
the alchemists: "Would to God . . . all men might become adepts in our
Art—for then gold, the great idol of mankind, would lose its value, and
we should prize it only
for its scientific teaching."
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Unfortunately, however, not many alchemists came up to this ideal; and
for the majority of them, Alchemy did mean merely the possibility of
making gold cheaply and gaining untold wealth.
