CHAPTER I.
OF ALCHYMY.
The word chemistry (χημεια, chemeia) first occurs in Suidas, a Greek writer, who is supposed to have lived in the eleventh century, and to have written his lexicon during the reign of Alexius Comnenus.[1] Under the word χημεια in his dictionary we find the following passage:
“Chemistry, the preparation of silver and gold. The books on it were sought out by Dioclesian and burnt, on account of the new attempts made by the Egyptians against him. He treated them with cruelty and harshness, as he sought out the books written by the ancients on the chemistry (Περι χημειας) of gold and silver, and burnt them. His object was to prevent the Egyptians from becoming rich by the knowledge of this art, lest, emboldened by abundance of wealth, they might be induced afterwards to resist the Romans.”[2]
Under the word Δερας, deras (a skin), in the lexicon, occurs the following passage: “Δερας, the golden fleece, which Jason and the Argonauts (after a voyage through the Black Sea to Colchis) took, together with Medea, daughter of Ætes, the king. But this was not what the poets represent, but a treatise written on skins (δερμασι), teaching how gold might be prepared by chemistry. Probably, therefore, it was called by those who lived at that time, golden, on account of its great importance.”[3]
From these two passages there can be no doubt that the word chemistry was known to the Greeks in the eleventh century; and that it signified, at that time, the art of making gold and silver. It appears, further, that in Suidas’s opinion, this art was known to the Egyptians in the time of Dioclesian; that Dioclesian was convinced of its reality; and that, to put an end to it, he collected and burnt all the chemical writings to be found in Egypt. Nay, Suidas affirms that a book, describing the art of making gold, existed at the time of the Argonauts: and that the object of Jason and his followers was to get possession of that invaluable treatise, which the poets disguised under the term golden fleece.
The first meaning, then, of chemistry, was the art of making gold. And this art, in the opinion of Suidas, was understood at least as early as one thousand two hundred and twenty-five years before the Christian era: for that is the period at which the Argonautic expedition is commonly fixed by chronologists.
Though the lexicon of Suidas be the first printed book in which the word Chemistry occurs, yet it is said to be found in much earlier tracts, which still continue in manuscript. Thus Scaliger informs us that he perused a Greek manuscript of Zosimus, the Panapolite, written in the fifth century, and deposited in the King of France’s library. Olaus Borrichius mentions this manuscript; but in such terms that it is difficult to know whether he had himself read it; though he seems to insinuate as much.[4] The title of this manuscript is said to be “A faithful Description of the sacred and divine Art of making Gold and Silver, by Zosimus, the Panapolite.”[5] In this treatise, Zosimus distinguishes the art by the name χημια, chemia. From a passage in this manuscript, quoted by Scaliger, and given also by Olaus Borrichius, it appears that Zosimus carries the antiquity of the art of making gold and silver, much higher than Suidas has ventured to do. The following is a literal translation of this curious passage:
“The sacred Scriptures inform us that there exists a tribe of genii, who make use of women. Hermes mentions this circumstance in his Physics; and almost every writing (λογος), whether sacred (φανερος) or apocryphal, states the same thing. The ancient and divine Scriptures inform us, that the angels, captivated by women, taught them all the operations of nature. Offence being taken at this, they remained out of heaven, because they had taught mankind all manner of evil, and things which could not be advantageous to their souls. The Scriptures inform us that the giants sprang from these embraces. Chema is the first of their traditions respecting these arts. The book itself they called Chema; hence the art is called Chemia.”
Zosimus is not the only Greek writer on Chemistry. Olaus Borrichius has given us a list of thirty-eight treatises, which he says exist in the libraries of Rome, Venice, and Paris: and Dr. Shaw has increased this list to eighty-nine.[6] But among these we find the names of Hermes, Isis, Horus, Democritus, Cleopatra, Porphyry, Plato, &c.—names which undoubtedly have been affixed to the writings of comparatively modern and obscure authors. The style of these authors, as Borrichius informs us, is barbarous. They are chiefly the production of ecclesiastics, who lived between the fifth and twelfth centuries. In these tracts, the art of which they treat is sometimes called chemistry (χημεια); sometimes the chemical art (χημευτικα); sometimes the holy art; and the philosopher’s stone.
It is evident from this, that between the fifth century and the taking of Constantinople in the fifteenth century, the Greeks believed in the possibility of making gold and silver artificially; and that the art which professed to teach these processes was called by them Chemistry.