This History has been written because of a conviction, from my own experience and experience with my students, that one of the best aids to an intelligent comprehension of the science of chemistry is the study of the long struggle, the failures, and the triumphs of the men who have made this science for us.
The ovum from which chemistry has... slowly evolved seems to have been sorcery and magic.
The word χημεία occurs first in the writings of Suidas, a Greek lexicographer of the eleventh century. It is there defined as the "preparing of gold and silver." This is manifestly a Greek rendering of the name Chema or Chemi, which is of Egyptian origin, and all attempts at deriving it from χεω, to fuse, or χνμα a liquid, are without import.
Plutarch tells us that Chemia was a name given Egypt on account of the black soil, and that this term further meant the black of the eye, symbolizing that which was obscure and hidden.
The Coptic word khems or chems is closely related to this, and also signifies obscure, occult, and with this is connected the Arabic word chema, to hide.
It [chemistry] is therefore the occult or hidden science, the black art.
No original manuscript of the earliest writers on chemistry or alchemy has been discovered. Our knowledge must be gleaned from the pages of those writing upon other subjects, or must come from fragments handed down to us through several copyists.
The reason generally assigned for this absence of early records is that burned all writings of the Egyptians bearing upon alchemy, because, as he said, these taught the art of making gold and silver; and, by destroying them, he took away... the power of enriching themselves and rebelling against the Romans.
[T]he Chinese... had... knowledge of metals, alloys, colors, and salts for a long time, and that they manufactured gun powder and before they were known in Europe.
In... India... knowledge of the extraction of metals, the making of steel, the preparation of colors, and similar technical operations, dates back to the most remote antiquity. They also theorized as to the elements and their number. Their synonym for death was, "man returns to the five elements."
[T]here is a similarity easily detected between the hieroglyphics and the alchemical signs.
The phraseology in the early treatises is similar to that in the priestly writings.
[N]ote the important part played by the number four with the alchemists as well as with the Egyptian priests. There are the four bases or elements, the tetrasomy of ; the four zones, four funeral deities, four cardinal points, four winds, four colors, etc.
Ostanes, the Mede, was one of the celebrated early alchemists. Several writers have recorded for us the existence of a book called The Book of the Divine Prescriptions, which seems to have been the most famous writing of these Persian sages.
The belief in some wonderful connection between planets and metals is due to these ns. The signs of the heavenly bodies became the symbols for the metals. These planets influenced a supposed growth of the metals, and were esteemed all-powerful in regulating human life and fate. Many of these notions are to be attributed to the Alexandrian epoch.
The idea of the macrocosm, or outer world, and the microcosm, or little inner world of a man's own nature, which is so often referred to and utilized in alchemical writings, originated also at .
[A]part from mysticism and magic... the practical and useful came first before all theory.
[A]t Babylon and in Egypt, the industrial arts were practised with a high degree of skill; but... all was empirical, and... slow of development. There is little evidence of any attempt at finding out the causes of the changes observed or brought about.
To most this seems a meaningless forgery of the early alchemists. Still, this mystical personage ] had great influence... through many centuries. We find various axioms ascribed to Hermes, also a mystic hymn, and a so-called instrument or table of figures for predicting the outcome of disease, a life's fate, etc. Such tables were used in very ancient times in Egypt.
The alchemists called themselves the Hermetic Philosophers, and followed the Hermetic Art or Hermetics. To close anything very securely, as, for instance, to seal it in a glass tube, is called to this day sealing it hermetically.
In old times the symbol of Hermes was affixed to the article, and it was thus sealed with "Hermes, his seal."
The earliest historical personage connected with alchemy is Demokritos of Abdera... the founder of the atomistic school, extending and developing the theory of Leukippos. His definition of the atom is almost as absolute and precise as that found in modern treatises. His chief work was entitled "Physica et Mystica."
Aristotle frequently cites from the writings of Demokritos. Many works have been ascribed to him which were undoubtedly the productions of later centuries. As was customary for men of learning in early times, Demokritos visited Egypt, , and various parts of the East, in the search of knowledge, and doubtless owes much to the wise men of those regions.
The works of Demokritos and his school formed a sort of encyclopaedia of philosophy and science. These books are unfortunately lost, with the exception of a few fragments.
Pliny tells us that Demokritos was instructed in magic by Ostanes the Mede.
[T]he Sphere of Demokritos, for foretelling death or recovery from a malady ...was similar to the table of Hermes...
It is impossible to tell how much of the magical and alchemical should justly be accredited to Demokritos].
One of the [Ancient Greek] philosophers is said to have gone to the length of putting out his eyes, in order that his mind might not be influenced by external objects, but might wholly give itself to pure contemplation. The intellectual power and grasp of these philosophers were wonderful, but faulty and misleading, since the real and practical was left out.
The Egyptians and other ancient peoples held the same idea of the mutability of all external objects, and the absence of law in their changes. ...The investigation of nature was ...considered impious. The phenomena of nature were brought about by the gods, and their actions should not be inquired into too closely by men. This manner of thinking is not yet extinct.
Thales of Miletus... the "first of the natural philosophers," affirmed that water was the first principle of all things. This theory had its supporters even during the Middle Ages, philosophers who got water from air and solids by evaporating water, and carefully proved that plants would grow when fed with water only. The theory was not completely disproved until a little more than a century ago.
Anaximenes regarded air as the primal element... According to Anaximenes, clouds are caused by the condensation of air, and rain by the condensation of clouds.
Archelaus said that air, when rarefied, became fire; when condensed, water; and water, when boiled, became air.
Empedokles introduced the idea of four distinct elements, — earth, air, fire, and water, — which were not interchangeable, but formed all things by mixing.
Anaxagoras of Klazomene (500 b.c) seems to have been the first of the Greeks to formulate a theory approaching the atomic. This was more clearly expressed by Leukippos and extended by Demokritos. Long before the time of any of these, however, the idea seems to have been conceived in India.
The motive principle causing combination and change was, in the philosophy of Anaxagoras. the νους; in that of Demokritos, ἀνἁγκη; of Herakleitos, fire; of Aristotle, the moving ether. In our day we call it affinity, but we are still a long way off from solving the mystery of its nature.
Africanus, another of these alchemists, was a Syrian of the time of Heliogabalus. He is said to have written on medical, agricultural, and chemical subjects. Certain geographical and military works are also attributed to him.
... was named Bishop of Ptolemais, and was an astronomer, physician, agriculturist, and embassador. His works... are mostly philosophical and commentaries on Zosimus.
Olympiodorus... wrote a history of his times. He was not so obscure in his language as Zosimus. ...He seems to have been the first to divide matter into the fixed and the volatile, a distinction depending upon the combustibility.
The light of science was transferred to , communicated in the sixth and seventh centuries to the Arabians, and by them in turn to their brothers of and Spain.
The name alchemy, al-embic, al-cohol, etc., are of Greek origin, with the Arabic article prefixed; and they point to the source of the knowledge possessed by the Arabians when Europe was in darkness.
[T]he ancients... had a sort of practical or technical chemistry. In certain branches of metallurgy, in glass-making, dyeing, and tanning, they attained decided proficiency.
Six metals were well known, — gold, silver, tin, , copper, and . Homer mentions these six, and the Bible does also; so they seem to have been in use from a very early antiquity. Mercury was afterwards added to the list.
The derivation of the word metal is from the Greek word μεραλλάω, "to search after," and the noun first meant or referred to mines.
The ancients, especially the Egyptians, were very skilful workers in metals. They made gold wire and leaf, and fine inlaid work, and very beautiful ornaments.
Gold was the first known of the metals apparently. Its color, lustre, and malleability attracted the attention of the early peoples. Its occurrence free in nature and in a bright pure state would doubtless account for its being utilized first of the metals. Early vessels were made of it; and it was used for coating, or plating, over wood and other materials.
Silver seems to have been known at very nearly the same time as gold. It also occurs free, and was easily prepared ready for use. Then follow copper, , tin, and .
The purification of gold and silver by the process was known before the Christian era, but there was no means of separating gold from silver. The alloy of the two metals, as they are often found together in nature, was regarded as a peculiar metal itself, and was called . The oldest coins we have are made of this electron, or pale gold. This alloy was made artificially out of three parts of gold and one of silver.
Copper was in use before iron, and was called χαλκός by Homer. From this we get the word and others. The Romans got it first from the Island of Cyprus, and called it aes cyprium; and from this it became cuprum, and in English copper. It was used mainly in alloys.
Aurichalcum, or golden copper, they called the alloy made from copper and an ore of zinc; and this is known now as brass.
They were ignorant of the metal in the free state.
was an alloy of copper and tin, and was known also before metallic tin. This was very strong, and much easier to work into shape than iron, and hence was a substitute for it. Weapons and many utensils were made from it.
Steel was made in India at a very early period. The difficulty of reducing iron from its ores, and the fact that it does not occur free, would account for its not being used more largely and at an earlier time.
According to Sir Humphry Davy, the ancient Greeks and Romans had almost the same colors as those employed by the great Italian masters at the period of the revival of arts in Italy.
Soda and were both used in washing and whitening clothes, in glass-making, and in saponifying the fats for soap and s.
Lime was burned and mortar made from it, though the earliest cementing material was bitumen.
Bitumen and were also used for torches and embalming.
The art of glass-making is exceedingly old, and apparently originated with the Egyptians. They reached a high degree of proficiency in its preparation, knowing how to color it, and also how to prepare imitation precious stones from it. Clear, transparent, colorless glass was not known by them, however.
[The Egyptians] were... skilful in the production of clay-wares and pottery. The Egyptians decorated these wares with colored enamels. The Etruscans showed great skill in the ceramic art. From the earliest ruins have been unearthed specimens of pottery. The Chinese, alone of early nations, knew how to make .
Leather was tanned, at first by means of oil, and later with bark, very much after the manner in use now. The hair was removed by means of lime, as is still done. Some leather, said to have been tanned at the time of Solomon, has been found in modern times fairly well preserved.
Soap was made by mixing wood ashes with animal fats, thus saponifying them. It was used as a kind of pomatum; s, oils, etc., were rubbed upon the body in the place of soap as used in modern times. Both hard and soft soap were known. Burnt lime was often added in the manufacture.
Islamism prohibited magic and all arts of divination, and also all dissection of the human body after death. In the hands of the Arabians, therefore, alchemy was chiefly applied to the preparation of medicines. During this period there were two especially famous authors and workers, Geber and Avicenna.
Geber (eighth century) was a Sabean of Mesopotamia, of Greek parentage, but a convert to Islam. His name in full was Abou-Moussah-Dschafer-al-Sofi. ...He gathered together all the chemical knowledge attainable, systematized it in a measure, and sought to apply it to medicine.
He considered all metals as compounds of mercury and sulphur in varying proportions, an opinion which he says he derived from the ancients... Gold and silver were the perfect metals, the others imperfect.
As to , [Geber] says: "Arsenic is composed of a subtile matter, and of a nature analogous to that of sulphur. It is fixed by the metals as sulphur; and one prepares it, like the last, by the calcination of minerals."
He understood the purification of bodies by crystallization, solution, and filtration, calling the latter process distillation through a filter. The majority of the chemical processes in use up to the eighteenth century were known to Geber.
The alkaline carbonates were known to [Geber], and he prepared caustic soda. He knew also saltpetre and sal ammoniac, and evidently made use of the mineral acids, nitric, sulphuric, and . He made use of these as solvents, and thus the wet processes of modern chemistry began to substitute the furnaces of the old.
Various s or sulphates were spoken of by [Geber], and also and purified common . Certain compounds of mercury were prepared by him; among others, the chloride or corrosive sublimate and the red oxide.
[Geber's] method of preparing , which he discovered. "Dissolve silver calcined in solutive water (nitric acid)... which being done, coct it in a phial with a long neck, the orifice of which must be left unstopped, for one day only, until a third part of the water be consumed. This being effected, set it with its vessel in a cold place, and then it is converted into small fusible stones, like crystal."
His [Geber's] philosophy was not very advanced, as he ascribed the various phenomena he observed to occult causes.
Avenzoar (eleventh century), a Spanish physician, is quoted as making some additions to the knowledge of medicinal preparations.
In the beginning of the twelfth century Averrhoes attained prominence as a physician and chemist.
The characteristics of the age were a shameful mental imprisonment and caging of the human reason. Free striving for higher light, or criticism of accepted authorities, was looked upon as high treason to the Holy Church, and punished by the Inquisition. Those who dared to think clearly for themselves, wrote mysteriously for their fellows as a measure of safety.
[Magnus] was a diligent and successful worker, and added many chemical facts to those known by Geber, as, for instance, the purification of gold, the preparation of arsenic, etc.
Roger Bacon... subjected organic substances to , and noticed that inflammable gases were produced; and he showed that air was necessary for the burning of a lamp. He was an ardent supporter of the belief in the transmutation of the metals, and related some very wonderful things as to the power of the philosopher's stone. ...he drew direct from Albertus Magnus and the Arabians.