Note 85 — Chapter VII

It will be found in examining any of the works of the alchemists,—particularly those of Geber, De inveniendi arte Auri et Argenti, and his De Alchemiâ; Roger Bacon’s Opus Majus, or Alchymia Major; Helvetius’ Brief of the Golden Calf; or Basil Valentine’s Currus Triumphalis,—that in the processes of transmutation the solar light was supposed to be marvellously effective. In Boyle’s Sceptical Chemist the same idea will be found pervading it.

Amid all their errors, the alchemists were assiduous workmen, and to them we are indebted for numerous facts. Of them, and of their age, as contrasted with our own, Gibbon remarks:—“Congenial to the avarice of the human heart, it was studied in China, as in Europe, with equal eagerness and equal success. The darkness of the middle ages ensured a favourable reception to every tale of wonder; and the revival of learning gave new vigour to hope, and suggested more specious arts of deception. Philosophy, with the aid of experience, has at length banished the study of alchemy; and the present age, however desirous of riches, is content to seek them by the humbler means of commerce and industry.”—Decline and Fall, vol. ii. p. 137.