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ALCHEMY: ANCIENT AND MODERN. Being a brief account of the alchemistic doctrines, and their relations, to mysticism on the one hand, and to recent discoveries in physical science on the other hand; together with some particulars regarding the lives and teachings of the most noted alchemists.

  
[frontispiece]
  
[title page]
  
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
  
PREFACE
  
CONTENTS
  
LIST OF PLATES

collapse section1. 
ALCHEMY: ANCIENT AND MODERN CHAPTER I THE MEANING OF ALCHEMY
 1. 
§ 1. The Aim of Alchemy.
 2. 
§ 2. The Transcendental Theory of Alchemy.
 3. 
§ 3. Failure of the Transcendental Theory.
 4. 
§ 4. The Qualifications of the Adept.
 5. 
§ 5. Alchemistic Language.
 6. 
§ 6. Alchemists of a Mystical Type.
 7. 
§ 7. The Meaning of Alchemy.
 8. 
§ 8. Opinions of other Writers.
 9. 
§ 9. The Basic Idea of Alchemy.
 10. 
§ 10. The Law of Analogy.
 11. 
§ 11. The Dual Nature of Alchemy.
 12. 
§ 12. "Body, Soul and Spirit".
 13. 
§ 13. Alchemy, Mysticism and Modern Science.
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CHAPTER II THE THEORY OF PHYSICAL ALCHEMY
 14. 
§ 14. Supposed Proofs of Transmutation.
 15. 
§ 15. The Alchemistic Elements.
 16. 
§ 16. Aristotle's Views regarding the Elements.
 17. 
§ 17. The Sulphur-Mercury Theory.
 18. 
§ 18. The Sulphur-Mercury-Salt Theory.
 19. 
§ 19. Alchemistic Elements and Principles.
 20. 
§ 20. The Growth of the Metals.
 21. 
§ 21. Alchemy and Astrology.
 22. 
§ 22. Alchemistic View of the Nature of Gold.
 23. 
§ 23. The Philosopher's Stone.
 24. 
§ 24. The Nature of the Philosopher's Stone.
 25. 
§25. The Theory of Development.
 26. 
§ 26. The Powers of the Philosopher's Stone.
 27. 
§ 27. The Elixir of Life.
 28. 
§ 28. The Practical Methods of the Alchemists.
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CHAPTER III THE ALCHEMISTS (A. BEFORE PARACELSUS)
 29. 
§ 29. Hermes Tismegistos.
 30. 
§ 30. The Smaragdine Table.
 31. 
§ 31. Zosimus of Panopolis.
 32. 
§ 32. Geber.
 33. 
§ 33. Other Arabian Alchemists.
 34. 
§ 34. Albertus Magnus.
 35. 
§ 35. Thomas Aquinas.
 36. 
§ 36. Roger Bacon.
 37. 
§ 37. Arnold de Villanova.
 38. 
§ 38. Raymond Lully.
 39. 
§ 39. Peter Bonus.
 40. 
§ 40. Nicolas Flamel.
 41. 
§ 41. "Basil Valentine" and "The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony".
 42. 
§ 42. Isaac of Holland.
 43. 
§ 43. Bernard Trévisan.
 44. 
§ 44. Sir George Ripley.
 45. 
§ 45. Thomas Norton.
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CHAPTER IV THE ALCHEMISTS (continued) (B. PARACELSUS AND AFTER)
 46. 
§ 46. Paracelsus.
 47. 
§ 47. Views of Paracelsus.
 48. 
§ 48. Iatro-Chemistry.
 49. 
§ 49. The Rosicrucian Society.
 50. 
§ 50. Thomas Charnock.
 51. 
§ 51. Andreas Libavius.
 52. 
§ 52. Edward Kelley and John Dee.
 53. 
§ 53. Henry Khunrath.
 54. 
§ 54. Alexander Sethon and Michael Sendivogius.
 55. 
§ 55. Michael Maier.
 56. 
§ 56. Jacob Boehme.
 57. 
§ 57. John Baptist van Helmont.
 58. 
§ 58. Johann Rudolf Glauber.
 59. 
§ 59. Thomas Vaughan (Eugenius Philalethes).
collapse section5. 
CHAPTER V THE OUTCOME OF ALCHEMY
 61. 
§ 61. Did the Alchemists achieve the "Magnum Opus"?.
 62. 
§ 62. The Testimony of van Helmont.
 63. 
§ 63. The Testimony of Helvetius.
 64. 
§ 64. Helvetius obtains the Philosopher's Stone.
 65. 
§ 65. Helvetius performs a Transmutation.
 66. 
§ 66. Helvetius's Gold Assayed.
 67. 
§ 67. Helvetius's Gold Further Tested.
 68. 
§ 68. The Genesis of Chemistry.
 69. 
§ 69. The Degeneracy of Alchemy.
 70. 
§ 70. "Count Cagliostro".
collapse section6. 
CHAPTER VI THE AGE OF MODERN CHEMISTRY
 71. 
§ 71. The Birth of Modern Chemistry.
 72. 
§ 72. The Phlogiston Theory.
 73. 
§ 73. Boyle and the Definition of an Element.
 74. 
§ 74. The Stoichiometric Laws.
 75. 
§ 75. Dalton's Atomic Theory.
 76. 
§ 76. The Determination of the Atomic Weights of the Elements.
 77. 
§ 77. Prout's Hypothesis.
 78. 
§ 78. The "Periodic Law".
 79. 
§ 79. The Corpuscular Theory of Matter.
 80. 
§ 80. Proof that the Electrons are not Matter.
 81. 
§ 81. The Electronic Theory of Matter.
 82. 
§ 82. The Etheric Theory of Matter.
 83. 
§ 83. Further Evidence of the Complexity of the Atoms.
 84. 
§ 84. Views of Wald and Ostwald.
collapse section7. 
CHAPTER VII MODERN ALCHEMY
 85. 
§ 85. "Modern Alchemy".
 86. 
§ 86. X-Ray's and Becquerel rays.
 87. 
§ 87. The Discovery of Radium.
 88. 
§ 88. Chemical Properties of Radium.
 89. 
§ 89. The Radioactivity of Radium.
 90. 
§ 90. The Disintegration of the Radium Atom.
 91. 
§ 91. Induced Radioactivity.
 92. 
§ 92. Properties of Uranium and Thorium.
 93. 
§ 93. The Radium Emanation.
 94. 
§ 94. The Production of Helium from Radium.
 95. 
§ 95. Nature of this Change.
 96. 
§ 96. Is this Change a true Transmutation?
 97. 
§ 97. The Production of Neon from Emanation.
 98. 
§ 98. Ramsay's Experiments on Copper.
 99. 
§ 99. Further Experiments on Radium and Copper.
 100. 
§ 100. Ramsay's Experiments on Thorium and allied Metals.
 101. 
§ 101. The Possibility of Making Gold
 102. 
§ 102. The Significance of "Allotropy."
 103. 
§ 103. Conclusion.

  
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previous sectionCHAPTER VI THE AGE OF MODERN CHEMISTRY ALCHEMY: ANCIENT AND MODERN. Being a brief account of the alchemistic doctrines, and their relations, to mysticism on the one hand, and to recent discoveries in physical science on the other hand; together with some particulars regarding the lives and teachings of the most noted alchemists.
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§ 71. The Birth of Modern Chemistry.

Chemistry as distinct from Alchemy and iatro-chemistry commenced with Robert Boyle (see plate 15), who first clearly recognised that its aim is neither the transmutation of the metals nor the preparation of medicines, but the observation and generalisation of a certain class of phenomena; who denied the validity of the alchemistic view of the constitution of matter, and enunciated the definition of an element which has since reigned supreme in Chemistry; and who enriched the science with observations of the utmost importance. Boyle, however, was a man whose ideas were in advance of his times, and intervening between the iatro-chemical period and the Age of Modern Chemistry proper came the period of the Phlogistic Theory—a theory which had a certain affinity with the ideas of the alchemists.

previous sectionCHAPTER VI THE AGE OF MODERN CHEMISTRY ALCHEMY: ANCIENT AND MODERN. Being a brief account of the alchemistic doctrines, and their relations, to mysticism on the one hand, and to recent discoveries in physical science on the other hand; together with some particulars regarding the lives and teachings of the most noted alchemists.
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