five hundred years before us, should know what happened eight hundred years before him? To which Borrichius answers, that he had learnt it of Eudemus, Helladius, Zosimus, Pamphilius, &c. as Suidas himself relates.

Kercher asserts, that the theory of the Philosopher's Stone, is delivered at large in the table of Hermes, and that the ancient Egyptians were not ignorant of the art, but declined to prosecute it. They did not appear to transmute gold; they had ways of separating it from all kinds of bodies, from the very mud of the Nile, and stones of all kinds: but, he adds, these secrets were never written down, or made public, but confined to the royal family, and handed down traditionally from father to son.

The chief point advanced by Borrichius, and in which he seems to lay the principal stress, is, the attempt of Caligula, mentioned by Pliny, for procuring gold from Orpiment, (Hist. Nat. l. xxxiii. c. 4.) But this, it may be observed, makes very little for that author's pretensions; there being no transmutations, no hint of any Philosopher's Stone, but only a little gold was extracted or separated from the mineral.

The principal authors on Alchymy are, Geber, Friar Bacon, Sully, John and Isaac Hallandus, Basil Valentine, Paracelsus, Van Zuchter, and Sendirogius.

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ALKAHEST, OR ALCAHEST,

IN Chemistry, means a most pure and universal menstruum or dissolvent, with which some chemists have pretended to resolve all bodies into their first matter, and perform other extraordinary and unaccountable operations.

Paracelsus and Van Helmont, expressly declare, that there is a certain fluid in nature, capable of reducing all sublunary bodies, as well hemogeneous as mixed, into their ens primum, or original matter of which they are composed; or into an uniform equable and potable liquor, that will unite with water, and the juices of our bodies, yet will retain its radical virtues; and if mixed with itself again, will thereby be converted into pure ele.mentary water. This declaration, seconded by the asseveration of Van Helmont, who solemnly de.. clared himself possessed of the secret, excited succeeding Chemists and Alchymists to the pursuit of so noble a menstruum. Mr. Boyle was so much attracted with it, that he frankly acknowledged he had rather been master of it, than of the Philosopher's Stone. In short, it is not difficult to conceive, that bodies might originally arise from some first matter, which was once in a fluid form. Thus, the primitive matter of gold is, perhaps, nothing more than a ponderous fluid, which, from its own nature, or a strong cohesion or attraction between its particles, acquires afterwards a solid form. And hence there does not appear

any absurdity in the notion of an universal ens, that resolves all bodies into their Ens Genitate.

The Alcahest is a subject that has been embraced by many authors; e. g. Pantatem, Philalettes, Tachenius, Ludovicus, &c. Boerhaave says, a library of them might be collected; and Werdenfelt, in his treatise de Secretis Adeptorum, has given all the opinions that have been entertained concerning it.

The term Alcahest is not peculiarly found in any language: Helmont declares, he first observed it in Paracelsus, as a word that was unknown before the time of that author, who in his second book, De Viribus Membrorum, treating of the liver, has these rather remarkable words: Est etiam alkahest liquor, magnam sepates conservandi et confortandi, &c. "There is also the liquor Alkerhest, of great efficacy in preserving "the liver; as also in curing hydropsical and all "other diseases arising from disorders of that part. If it have once conquered its like, it be"comes superior to all other hepatic medicines ; "and though the liver itself was broken and "dissolved, this medicine should supply its place."

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It was this passage alone, quoted from Paracelsus, that stimulated succeeding chemists to an enquiry after the Alkahest; there being only another indirect expression, in all his work, relating to it.

As it was a frequent practice with Paracelsus to transpose the letters of his words, and to abbreviate or otherwise conceal them; e. g. for tartar, he would write Sutratur; for Nitrum, Mu

trin, &c. it is supposed that Alcahest must be a word disguised in the same manner. Hence some imagine it, and with much probability, to be formed of alkali est; consequently that it was the Alkaline salt of tartar salatilized. This appears to have been Glauber's opinion; who, in fact, performed surprising things with such a menstruum, upon subjects of all the three kingdoms. Others will have it derived from the German word algeist, that is, wholly spirituous or volatile; others are of opinion, that the word Alcahest is taken from saltz-geist, which signifies spirit of salt; for the universal menstruum, it is said, is to be wrought from water and Paracelsus himself calls salt the centre of water, wherein metals ought to die, &c. In fact, spirit of salt was the great menstruum he used on most occasions.

The Commentator on Paracelsus, who gave a Latin edition of his works at Delft, assures us that the alcahest was mercury, converted into a spirit. Zwelfer judged it to be a spirit of vinegar rectified from verdigris, and Starkey thought he discovered it in his soap.

There have nevertheless been some synonimous and more significant words used for the Alkahest. Van Helmont, the elder, mentions it by the compound name of ignis-aqua, fire-water: but he here seems to allude to the circulated liquor of Paracelsus, which he terms fire, from its property of consuming all things; and water, on account of its liquid form. The same author calls it liqoer Gehennæ, infernal fire; a word also used by Paracelsus. He also entitles it, "Summun et felicis

"mum omnium salium," "the highest and most successful of all salts; which having obtained the supreme degree of simplicity, purity, and sub"tilty, enjoys alone the faculty of remaining unchanged and unimpaired by the subjects it "works upon, and of dissolving the most stub"born and untractable bodies; as stones, gems, glass, earth, sulphur, metals, &c. into real salt,

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equal in weight to the matter dissolved; and "this with as much ease as hot water melts down "snow."—" This salt," continues he, "by being "several times cohobited with Paracelsus,' Sal "circulatum, loses all its fixedness, and at length "becomes an insipid water, equal in quantity to "the salt it was made from."

Van Helmont positively expresses that this salt is the product of art and not of nature. "Though, says he, a homogeneal part of elementary earth may be artfully converted into water, yet I deny that the same can be done by nature alone; for no natural agent is able to transmute one element into another." And this he offers as a reason why the Elements always remain the same.

It may throw some light into this affair, to observe, that Van Helmont, as well as Paracelsus, took water for the universal instrument of chymistry and natural philosophy; and earth for the unchangeable basis of all things-that fire was assigned as the sufficient cause of all things-that seminal impressions were lodged in the mechanism of the earth-that water, by dissolving and fermenting with this earth, as it does by means of fire, brings forth every thing; whence originally pro