Please see the Transcriber’s Notes at the end of this text.
ALCHEMY: ANCIENT AND MODERN
ALCHEMY:
ANCIENT AND MODERN
BEING A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE ALCHEMISTIC DOC-TRINES, AND THEIR RELATIONS, TO MYSTICISM ONTHE ONE HAND, AND TO RECENT DISCOVERIES INPHYSICAL SCIENCE ON THE OTHER HAND; TOGETHERWITH SOME PARTICULARS REGARDING THE LIVESAND TEACHINGS OF THE MOST NOTED ALCHEMISTS
BY
H. STANLEY REDGROVE, B.Sc. (Lond.), F.C.S.
AUTHOR OF “ON THE CALCULATION OF THERMO-CHEMICAL CONSTANTS,”
“MATTER, SPIRIT AND THE COSMOS,” ETC.
WITH 16 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS
SECOND AND REVISED EDITION
LONDON
WILLIAM RIDER & SON, LTD.
8 PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. 4
1922
| First published | 1911 |
| Second Edition | 1922 |
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
It is exceedingly gratifying to me that a secondedition of this book should be called for. But stillmore welcome is the change in the attitude of theeducated world towards the old-time alchemists andtheir theories which has taken place during thepast few years.
The theory of the origin of Alchemy put forwardin Chapter I has led to considerable discussion; butwhilst this theory has met with general acceptance,some of its earlier critics took it as implying far morethan is actually the case. As a result of furtherresearch my conviction of its truth has become morefully confirmed, and in my recent work entitledBygone Beliefs (Rider, 1920), under the title of “TheQuest of the Philosopher’s Stone,” I have foundit possible to adduce further evidence in this connection.At the same time, whilst I became increasinglyconvinced that the main alchemistic hypotheseswere drawn from the domain of mystical theology andapplied to physics and chemistry by way of analogy, italso became evident to me that the crude physiologyof bygone ages and remnants of the old phallic faithformed a further and subsidiary source of alchemistictheory. I have barely, if at all, touched on this[vi]matter in the present work; the reader who isinterested will find it dealt with in some detail in“The Phallic Element in Alchemical Doctrine” inmy Bygone Beliefs.
In view of recent research in the domain of Radioactivityand the consequent advance in knowledge thathas resulted since this book was first published, I havecarefully considered the advisability of rewriting thewhole of the last chapter, but came to the conclusionthat the time for this was not yet ripe, and that, apartfrom a few minor emendations, the chapter had betterremain very much as it originally stood. My reaso