but enlarge upon the remunerative nature of a scrivener’s occupation
previous to the invention of printing, and upon the careful frugality
of the supposed alchemist; but in the teeth of their own theory they
are obliged to admit that Flamel did become a student of alchemy,
that the hieroglyphics, figures, and emblems in the Cemetery of the
Holy Innocents are evidence of this fact; that, unlike most followers
of Hermes, he was not impoverished by his experiments; and that he
fostered the report that his wealth was in the main a result of his
possession of the mysterious book of Abraham, by which he had been able
to compose the philosophical stone.
Gabriel Naudé, who detested magic, and seems to have despised alchemy,
vilifying the possessors of both of these sciences alike, accounts
for the riches of Flamel by asserting that he managed affairs for the
Jews, and upon their banishment from the kingdom of France, and the
confiscation of their property for the king, “he, knowing the sums due
by several individuals, compromised, by receiving a part, which they
paid him to prevent his giving information which would oblige them to
surrender it entirely.”
This explanation of the source of Flamel’s riches is a purely unfounded
assertion. If we carefully examine history, there were three expulsions
of the Jews from France between 1300 and 1420. They were banished in
1308, were soon after allowed to return, and were again banished in
1320. These persecutions occurred before the birth of Flamel. The Jews
were re-established by Charles V. in 1364, and they remained in quiet
until the riots which occurred in Paris in 1380, at the beginning of
the reign of Charles VI., when the people rose up against the Jews,
committing great outrages and demanding their expulsion. The sedition,
however, was quelled, and the Jews protected until 1393, when, upon
several charges preferred against them, they were enjoined to quit
France, or else become Christians. The historian Mezeray says that
some of them chose rather to quit their religion than the kingdom,
but others sold their goods and retired. Thus it appears that the
only expulsion of the Jews which could agree with Naudé’s surmise was
without the confiscation of their property, and, therefore, could not
give Flamel the opportunity alleged, if, indeed, it were reasonable to
suppose that all the Parisian Israelites entrusted their affairs to a
single person, when it does not appear that necessity required such
an agency. There is, therefore, no reason to suppose that Flamel was
enriched by the property of the Jews, or that those who owed them money
compounded with Flamel, lest he should denounce them to the king.[Q]
Thus the theories of hostile criticism break down before impartial
examination, and to whatever source we may choose to ascribe the wealth
of Nicholas Flamel, we have no reason to question his integrity, nor
to deny the explanation of the alchemists, except upon the _à priori_
ground of the impossibility of transmutation.
The divine gift which was so fortunate a possession to Flamel is
supposed to have been a curse to his descendants. He is reported to
have given some of the transmuting powder to M. Perrier, a nephew of
Perrenelle. From him it descended to Dr Perrier, and was found among
his effects at his death by his grandson, Dubois. The prudence and
moderation that accompanied the gift to the Perriers was not found in
Dubois. He exhibited the sacred miracle to improper persons, says an
anonymous writer on alchemy, and was brought before Louis XIII., in
whose presence he made gold of base metal, and this gold augmented its
weight in the cupel. The consequence of this generosity was an infamous
death. The vanity of Dubois was in proportion to his imprudence. He
fancied that he could make or augment the powder, and promised to do
so, but without success. It seems that he was, consequently, suspected
of withholding the art from the king, a circumstance sufficient in
politics to justify strong measures, lest the possessor of the sinews
of war should go over to the enemy.
Whatever were the charges against Dubois, he was hanged, and his fate
should be a proof, says the writer already quoted, that a science
producing unbounded riches is the greatest misfortune to those who are
unfitted and unprepared to manage the dangerous trust with discretion.
After the death of Flamel, many persons supposed that there must be
doubtless some buried treasures in the house which he had inhabited
during so many years, and in which all his Hermetical triumphs had
been performed. This opinion existed in all its strength, at least in
the mind of one individual, so late as the year 1576, when a stranger
applied to the Prévôt of Paris, and stated that he had been entrusted
by a deceased friend with certain sums for the restoration of Flamel’s
house. As the building was exceedingly dilapidated, the magistrates
availed themselves of the opportunity, and repairs were begun under the
direction of delegates of the works of Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie.
The true object of the stranger soon became evident by the
determination with which he sought to lay bare the whole foundations
of the house, which was ransacked from top to bottom in search of the
treasures it was supposed to conceal. No discoveries rewarded the zeal
of the investigation, which ended in the sudden disappearance of the
stranger, without paying for the operations which he had caused to be
set on foot.
As a completion to the history of Flamel, it may be entertaining to
quote an extraordinary account which is seriously narrated by Paul
Lucas in his “Journey through Asia Minor.”
“I was at Bronosa, in Natolia, and going to take the air with a person
of distinction, came to a little mosque, which was adorned with
gardens and fountains for a public walk; we were quickly introduced
into a cloister, where we found four dervishes, who received us with
all imaginable civility, and desired us to partake of what they were
eating. We were told, what we soon found to be true, that they were
all persons of the greatest worth and learning; one of them, who said
he was of Usbec Tartary, appeared to be more accomplished than the
rest, and I believe verily he spoke all the principal languages of the
world. After we had conversed in Turkish, he asked me if I could speak
Latin, Spanish, or Italian. I told him, if he pleased, to speak to
me in Italian; but he soon discovered by my accent that it was not my
mother-tongue, and asked me frankly what country I came from? As soon
as he knew that I was a native of France, he spoke to me in as good
French as if he had been brought up at Paris. ‘How long, sir,’ said I,
‘did you stay in France?’ He replied he had never been there, but that
he had a great inclination to undertake the journey.
“I did all in my power to strengthen that resolution, and to convince
him that France was the nursery of the learned, and its king a patron
of the sciences, who defrayed the expense of my travels for collecting
notices of antiquities, drawings of monuments, correcting maps, and
making a collection of ancient coins, manuscripts, &c., all of which he
seemed to approve civilly. Our conversation being ended, the dervishes
brought us to their house, at the foot of the mountain, where, having
drank coffee, I took my leave, but with a promise, however, that I
would shortly come and see them again.
“On the 10th, the dervish whom I took for an Usbec came to pay me a
visit. I shewed him all the manuscripts I had bought, and he assured
me they were very valuable, and written by great authors. He was a
man every way extraordinary in learning; and in external appearance
he seemed to be about thirty years old, but from his discourse I was
persuaded he had lived a century.
“He told me he was one of seven friends, who travelled to perfect their
studies, and, every twenty years, met in a place previously appointed.
I perceived that Bronosa was the place of their present meeting, and
that four of them had arrived. Religion and natural philosophy took up
our thoughts by turns; and at last we fell upon chemistry, alchemy,
and the Cabala. I told him all these, and especially the philosophers’
stone, were regarded by most men of sense as mere fictions.
“‘That,’ replied he, ‘should not surprise you; the sage hears the
ignorant without being shocked, but does not for that reason sink his
understanding to the same level. When I speak of a sage, I mean one
who sees all things die and revive without concern: he has more riches
in his power than the greatest king, but lives temperately, above the
power of events.’
“Here I stopped him:--‘With all these fine maxims, the sage dies
as well as other people.’ ‘Alas!’ said he, ‘I perceive you are
unacquainted with sublime science. Such a one as I describe dies
indeed, for death is inevitable, but he does not die before the utmost
limits of his mortal existence. Hereditary disease and weakness reduce
the life of man, but the sage, by the use of the true medicine, can
ward off whatever may hinder or impair the animal functions for a
thousand years.’
“Surprised at all I heard, ‘And would you persuade me,’ said I, ‘that
all who possessed the philosophers’ stone have lived a thousand years?’
He replied gravely:--‘Without doubt every one might; it depends
entirely on themselves.’ At last I took the liberty of naming the
celebrated Flamel, who, it was said, possessed the philosophers’ stone,
yet was certainly dead. He smiled at my simplicity, and asked with an
air of mirth:--‘Do you really believe this? No, no, my friend, Flamel
is still living; neither he nor his wife are dead. It is not above
three years since I left both the one and the other in the Indies; he
is one of my best friends.’ Whereupon he told me the history of Flamel,
as he heard it from himself, the same as I had read in his book,
until at last when Charles VI., who was then upon the throne, sent M.
Cramoisi, a magistrate, and his master of requests, to enquire from
Flamel the origin of his riches, when the latter at once saw the danger
he was in. Having sent her into Switzerland to await his coming, he
spread a report of his wife’s death, had her funeral celebrated, and in
a few years ordered his own coffin to be interred. Since that time they
have both lived a philosophic life, sometimes in one country, sometimes
in another. This is the true history, and not that which is believed at
Paris, where there are very few who ever had the least glimpse of true
wisdom.’”
* * * * *
According to the “Treasure of Philosophy,” alchemy as a science
consists in the knowledge of the four elements of philosophers, which
are not to be identified with the vulgar so-called elements, and which
are convertible one into another. The true _prima materia_ is mercury,
prepared and congealed in the bowels of the earth by the mediation of
the heat of sulphur. This is the sperm and semen of all metals, which,
like other created things, are capable of a growth and multiplication
that may be continued even to infinity. The first step in transmutation
is the reduction of the metals worked upon into their first mercurial
matter, and this reduction is the subject of the whole treatise.
It does not appear that the alchemical works attributed to Nicholas
Flamel have added anything to our knowledge of chemistry. On the other
hand, it is perfectly clear from his history that the physical object
of Alchemy was the end which he kept in view, and that also which he is
supposed to have attained.
FOOTNOTES:
[Q] According to Louis Figuier, there were two minor persecutions of
the Jews, one in 1346, when Flamel was merely a boy, and the other in
1354, when he was scarcely established in business.
PETER BONO.
This adept, born in Lombardy, was an inhabitant of Pola, a seaport of
Istria, where he affirms that he made the much desired transmuting
metal of the sages, in the year 1330. He wrote and published a
complete treatise on the art under the title _Margarita Pretiosa_.
Lacinius, a monk of Calabria, has printed a faithful abridgment of it,
which appeared at Venice in 1546. An _Introductio in Artem Divinam
Alchimiæ_, 1602, and _De Secreto Omnium Secretorum_, Venet. 1546, are
ascribed to this adept.
The first of these works is an exceedingly comprehensive, conscientious
treatise on the history, the theory, and the practice of alchemy,
written after the manner of the scholastics, and naturally containing
much irrelevant matter, but for all this very useful and even
interesting. The difficulties of the art are manfully faced, the
sophistications, deceptions, and contradictions of its professors are
reproved, and the author attempts to show that alchemy is in reality a
short art and a slight practice, though full of truth and nobility. His
other opinions are also of a revolutionary character.
JOHANNES DE RUPECISSA.
This writer is considered one of the most remarkable of the Hermetic
philosophers. He abounds with prophetic passages, and denounces
the fate of nations, but in his alchemical explanation of things
physical is obscure even for an adept. Nothing is known of his
life,[R] beyond the nobility of his origin and his imprisonment in
1357, by Pope Innocent VI., whom he had reprehended. The illustrious
Montfauçon was one of his descendants, and he poses as an initiate of
the secret chemistry in the following works:--“The Book of Light,”
“The Five Essences,” _Cœlum Philosophorum_, and his most celebrated
treatise _De Confectione Lapidis_. There he declares that the matter
of the philosophical stone is a viscous water which is to be found
everywhere, but if the stone itself should be openly named, the whole
world would be revolutionised. The divine science possessed by the wise
is somewhat poetically celebrated as an incomparable treasure. Its
initiates are enriched with an infinite wealth beyond all the kings of
the earth; they are just before God and men, and in enjoyment of the
special favour of Heaven.
FOOTNOTES:
[R] He is said to have been a French monk of the order of St Francis.
BASIL VALENTINE.
One of the most illustrious of the adept philosophers is unquestionably
Basilius Valentinus, born at Mayence, and made prior of St Peter’s at
Erfurt in 1414. His name was supposed to be fictitious and adopted for
the purpose of concealing some accomplished artist, but the history
of the city of Erfurt, published by J. M. Gudemus assures us of the
existence and name of the philosopher, on the authority of the public
records, and shows us that in 1413 he was an inmate of the monastic
house already mentioned, and that he distinguished himself by a
profound knowledge of nature.[S] As the work of Gudemus was printed
in 1675, the veracity of the _Dictionnaire des Sciences Occultes_,
written in the interests of religion and for the blackening of the
secret sciences, may be judged by the following passage:--“His life is
so mixed up with fables that some have disbelieved in his existence. He
is represented flourishing in the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, and
fifteenth centuries; it is even added, _without the smallest proof_,
that he was a benedictine at Erfurt.”
According to Olaus Borrichius, he enclosed his writings in one of
the pillars of the abbey church; they remained for many years in
this hiding-place, but were at length discovered by the fortunate
violence of a thunderbolt. He was the first who introduced antimony
into medicine, and it is said that he originally tried the effects of
antimonial medicines upon the monks of his convent, upon whom they
acted with such undue violence “that he was induced to distinguish the
mineral from which these medicines had been extracted by the name of
_antimoine_--hostile to monks.” But Thomson, who relates this anecdote
in his “History of Chemistry,” shows the improbability of it, for the
works of Basil Valentine, and in particular his _Currus Triumphalis
Antimonii_, were written in the German language. Now the German name
for antimony is _speissglas_ and not antimoine, which is French.
Basil Valentine denounces the physicians of his time with the fury
of Paracelsus. The most ancient systems of chemical philosophy are
preserved in his experiments. He exalts antimony as an excellent
medicine for those who are acquainted with alchemical secrets. To
others it is a poison of the most powerful nature.
No further particulars of the life of Basil Valentine have descended
to posterity. Numerous works have been printed in his name, and the
authenticity of several is questionable. He wrote in high Dutch,
and comparatively few of his treatises have been translated into
other languages. The best are as follows:--1. _De Microcosmo deque
Magno Mundi Mysterio et Medecina Hominis_, Marpurg, 1609, 8vo;
2. _Azoth, sive Aurelia Philosophorum_, Francfurt, 1613, 4to; 3.
_Practica, unà cum duodecim Clavibus et Appendice_, Francfurt, 1611,
4to; 4. _Apocalypsis Chymica_, Erfurt, 1624, 8vo; 5. _Manifestatio
Artificiorum_, Erfurt, 1624, 8vo; 6. _Currus Triumphalis Antimonii_,
Lipsiæ, 1624, 8vo; 7. _Tractatus Chimico-Philosophicus de Rebus
Naturalibus et Prœternaturalibus metallorum et mineralium_, Francfurt,
1676, 8vo; 8. _Haliographia, de præparatione, usu, ac virtutibus
omnium Salium Mineralium, Animalium, ac Vegetabilium, ex manuscriptis
Basilii Valentini collecta ab Ant. Salmincio_, Bologna, 1644, 8vo.
Every letter and syllable of the “Triumphal Chariot of Antimony”
is declared to have its special significance. “Even to the pointes
and prickes” it bristles with divine meanings and mysteries. The
metrical treatise on the first matter of the philosophers declares
that this stone is composed of white and red, that it is a stone,
and yet scarcely a stone; one nature operates therein. Those who
desire to attain it, Basil elsewhere informs us, must labour in
much prayer, confess their sins, and do good. Many are called, but
few chosen to this supreme knowledge. The study of the works of the
philosophers and practical experiment are both recommended. There
is much in the writings of Basil, in his suggestive if impenetrable
allegories, in his curious Kabbalistical symbols, and in his earnest
spirituality, to suggest a psychic interpretation of his aims and his
principles. This is particularly noticeable in the “Triumphal Chariot
of Antimony,” and yet it is clear from this remarkable work, which is
the masterpiece of its author, that Basil Valentine was one of the
most illustrious physical chemists of his age. He was the first to
describe the extraction of antimony from the sulphuret, though it does
not appear that he was the inventor of this process. Previous to his
investigations the properties of antimony were almost unknown. He was
also acquainted with the method of obtaining chlorohydric acid from
sea-salt and sulphuric acid, with the method of obtaining brandy by the
distillation of beer and wine, and the rectification of the result by
means of carbonate of potassium, and with many other operations which
eminently assisted the progress of chemistry.
FOOTNOTES:
[S] Eadem ætate (scilicet anno 1413) Basilius Valentinus in divi Patri
monasteris vixit arte medica _et naturale indagatione admirabilis_.
ISAAC OF HOLLAND.
Contemporary with Basilius Valentinus were Isaac the Hollander and his
son, who are supposed to have worked with success. They were the first
alchemists of Holland, and their operations were highly esteemed by
Paracelsus, Boyle, and Kunckel. In practical chemistry they followed
the traditions of Geber, and their alchemical experiments are the most
plain and explicit in the whole range of Hermetic literature. They
worked principally in metals, describing minutely the particulars of
every process. Their lives are almost unknown. “Buried in the obscurity
necessary to adepts, they were occupied in the practice of the Hermetic
science, and their study or laboratory was the daily scene of their
industrious existence.”[T]
They are placed in the fifteenth century by conjecture, from the fact
that they do not cite any philosophers subsequent to that period. They
speak of Geber, Dastin, Morien, and Arnold, but not of more modern
authorities, while, on the other hand, their references to aquafortis
and aqua-regiæ, which were discovered in the fourteenth century,
prevent us from assigning their labours to an anterior epoch.
The two Isaacs were particularly skilful in the manufacture of enamels
and of artificial gem-stones. They taught that the Grand Magisterium
could convert a million times its own weight into gold, and declared
that any person taking weekly a small portion of the philosophical
stone will be ever preserved in perfect health, and his life will be
prolonged to the very last hour which God has assigned to him.
The _Opera Mineralia Joannis Isaaci Hollandi, sive de Lapide
Philosophico_ is a long and elaborate treatise on the one method of
exalting the dead and impure metals into true _Sol_ and _Luna_. The
first matter is said to be Saturn, or lead, and the vessels in which it
is to be calcined and otherwise adapted to the purposes of aurific art,
are plainly figured in illustrations introduced into the text.
FOOTNOTES:
[T] “Lives of Alchemysticall Philosophers.” Ed. of 1815.
BERNARD TRÉVISAN.
Bernard Compte de la Marche Trévisane is accredited by the popular
legends of France with the powers of a sorcerer in possession of a
devil’s bird or familiar spirit; nevertheless, he is called “the good,”
and enjoyed a particular reputation for benevolence.
Descendant of a distinguished Paduan family, Bernard Trévisan began to
study the time-honoured science of alchemy about the time that Basil in
Germany, and the two Isaacs in Holland were prosecuting their labours
with supposed success. His father was a physician of Padua, where he
himself was born in the year 1406. The account of his alchemical errors
must rank among the most curious anecdotes in the annals of occult
chemistry.
At the age of fourteen years, under the auspices of a grandfather,
and with the full consent of his family, he devoted his attention to
alchemy, which henceforth was the absorbing occupation of his life.
Seeking initiation into the first principles of the art, he began by
the study of Geber and Rhasis, believing they would supply him with a
method of multiplying his patrimony a hundred fold. The experiments
which he undertook during his costly tuition by these oracular masters
resulted in the futile dissipation of eight hundred, or, according
to another account, of three thousand crowns. He was surrounded by
pretended philosophers, who, finding him wealthy and eager in the
penetration of tantalising mysteries, proffered the secrets which they
neither possessed nor understood, obtaining a fraudulent subsistence at
the expense of the boy alchemist.
Disappointed, but not discouraged, he dismissed these impostors
at length, and devoted his concentrated attention to the works of
Rupecissa and Archelaus Sacrobosco, whom he literally followed for a
time in all his practical operations. Hoping to profit by the help of
a prudent companion, he associated himself with a good monk with whom
he experimented in concert for the space of three years. They rectified
spirits of wine more than thirty times “till they could not find
glasses strong enough to hold it.” These operations cost nearly three
hundred crowns.