Alchemy

The learning by aid of which the chemical philosophers of medieval sentence attempted to transmute the baser metals into gold or money. in that respect is coarse divergence of opinion as to the etymology of the give voice, but it would seem to be derived from the Arabic al=the, and kimya=chemistry, which in turn derives from the late classic chemica=chemistry, from chumeia=a mingling, or cheein, to pour out or mix, Aryan idea turn ghu, to pour, whence the word gush. Mr. A. Wallis Budge in his Egyptian delusion, however, states that it is possible that it may be derived from the Egyptian word khemeia, that is to plead the preparation of the black-market ore, or powder, which was regarded as the fighting(a) principle in the transmutation of metals. To this name the Arabs affixed the clause al, then giving al-khemeia, or alchemy. HISTORY OF ALCHEMY: From an early on period the Egyptians feature the reputation of being skillful workers in metals and, according to Gr ecian writers, they were conversant with their transmutation, employing quicksilver in the ferment of separating gold and silver from the native matrix. The resulting oxide was supposed to possess heaven-sent powers, and it was thought that thither resided within in the individualities of the various metals, that in it their various substances were incorporated.

This black powder was mystically identified with the snake pit form of the beau ideal Osiris, and consequently was credited with magic properties. Thus there grew up in Egypt the belief that sorcerous powers existed in fluxes and alloys. Probably such a belief existed end-to- end Europe in nexus with the bronze-working! castes of its several races. Its was probably in the Byzantium of the fourth century, however, that alchemical science received embryonic form. There is little doubt that Egyptian tradition, filtering through Alexandrian Greco-Roman sources was the foundation upon... If you want to beat a full essay, place it on our website: BestEssayCheap.com

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