PREFACE
THE number of books in the English language dealing with the
interesting subject of Alchemy is not sufficiently great to render an
apology necessary for adding thereto. Indeed, at the present time there
is an actual need for a further contribution on this subject. The time
is gone when it was regarded as perfectly legitimate to point to Alchemy
as an instance of the aberrations of the human mind. Recent
experimental research has brought about profound modifications in the
scientific notions regarding the chemical elements, and, indeed, in the
scientific concept of the physical universe itself; and a certain
resemblance can be traced between these later views and the theories of
bygone Alchemy. The spontaneous change of one "element" into another has
been witnessed, and the recent work of Sir William Ramsay suggests the
possibility of realising the old alchemistic dream—the transmutation of
the "base" metals into gold.
The basic idea permeating all the alchemistic theories appears to
have been this: All the metals (and, indeed, all forms of matter) are
one in origin, and are produced by an evolutionary process. The Soul of
them all is one and the same; it is only the
Soul that is permanent; the body or outward form,
i.e., the mode
of manifestation of the Soul, is transitory, and one form may be
transmuted into another. The similarity, indeed it might be said, the
identity, between this view and the modern etheric theory of matter is
at once apparent.
The old alchemists reached the above conclusion by a theoretical
method, and attempted to demonstrate the validity of their theory by
means of experiment; in which, it appears, they failed. Modern science,
adopting the reverse process, for a time lost hold of the idea of the
unity of the physical universe, to gain it once again by the
experimental method. It was in the elaboration of this grand fundamental
idea that Alchemy failed. If I were asked to contrast Alchemy with the
chemical and physical science of the nineteenth century I would say
that, whereas the latter abounded in a wealth of much accurate detail
and much relative truth, it lacked philosophical depth and insight;
whilst Alchemy, deficient in such accurate detail, was characterised by
a greater degree of philosophical depth and insight; for the alchemists
did grasp the fundamental truth of the Cosmos, although they distorted
it and made it appear grotesque. The alchemists cast their theories in a
mould entirely fantastic, even ridiculous—they drew unwarrantable
analogies—and hence their views cannot be accepted in these days of
modern science. But if we cannot approve of their theories in
toto, we can nevertheless appreciate the fundamental ideas at the
root of them. And it is primarily with the object of pointing out this
similarity between these ancient ideas regarding the physical
universe and the latest products of scientific thought, that this book
has been written.
It is a regrettable fact that the majority of works dealing with
the subject of Alchemy take a one-sided point of view. The chemists
generally take a purely physical view of the subject, and instead of
trying to understand its mystical language, often (I do not say always)
prefer to label it nonsense and the alchemist a fool. On the other hand,
the mystics, in many cases, take a purely transcendental view of the
subject, forgetting the fact that the alchemists were, for the most
part, concerned with operations of a physical nature. For a proper
understanding of Alchemy, as I hope to make plain in the first chapter
of this work, a synthesis of both points of view is essential; and,
since these two aspects are so intimately and essentially connected with
one another, this is necessary even when, as in the following work, one
is concerned primarily with the physical, rather than the purely
mystical, aspect of the subject.
Now, the author of this book may lay claim to being a humble
student of both Chemistry and what may be generalised under the terms
Mysticism and Transcendentalism; and he hopes that this perhaps rather
unusual combination of studies has enabled him to take a broad-minded
view of the theories of the alchemists, and to adopt a sympathetic
attitude towards them.
With regard to the illustrations, the author must express his
thanks to the authorities of the British Museum for permission to
photograph engraved portraits and illustrations from old works in the
British Museum Collections, and to G. H. Gabb, Esq., F.C.S., for
permission to photograph engraved portraits in his possession.
The author's heartiest thanks are also due to Frank E. Weston,
Esq., B.Sc., F.C.S., and W. G. Llewellyn, Esq., for their kind help in
reading the proofs, &c.
H. S. R.
THE POLYTECHNIC, LONDON, W.
October, 1910.