The Mystery and Romance of Alchemy and Pharmacy

THE MYSTERY AND ROMANCE OF ALCHEMY AND PHARMACY
THE SCIENTIFIC PRESS, LTD.
BY C. J. S. THOMPSON AUTHOR OF “POISON ROMANCE AND POISON MYSTERIES,” “THE CHEMIST’S COMPENDIUM,” “THE CULT OF BEAUTY,” ETC., ETC.
LONDON THE SCIENTIFIC PRESS, Limited 28 & 29 SOUTHAMPTON STREET, STRAND, W.C. 1897
It has been my endeavour in the following pages to sketch, however imperfectly, some phases of the romance and mystery that have surrounded the arts of medicine, alchemy, and pharmacy from the earliest period of which we have record down to the close of the eighteenth century. The influence of the past on the present is greater than we commonly suppose. In this age of rapid scientific progress and brilliant research, we are apt to overlook and lose sight of the patient labours of the early pioneers of science, many of whom laid the foundations of discoveries that have since proved of inestimable value to mankind. Hence the history of the past, whether in science or in art, is always worthy of study and attention.
My thanks are due to the Editor of the Pharmaceutical Journal for permission to reproduce several illustrations which appeared in its pages together with a portion of this work.
C. J. S. T
Liverpool, 1897.


ALCHEMY AND PHARMACY: THEIR MYSTERY AND ROMANCE.
The birth of the art of healing goes back to a period of great antiquity. The instinct that first led man to utilise the fruits of the earth for his bodily sustenance, may perchance have suggested the herbs which grew around him as a means of alleviating the ills of his flesh.