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Democritus the Abderite; Ariftotle, Hermes, faV. are alfo re- puted to have been Akbcmijis. Fabric. Bibl, Graic. 1. 6. c. 7. foft. 17. It. 1. 1. c. io. T. 1. p. 66.feq. We have had fevere laws againit the praflice of Alchemy, and the multiplying of metals, as much as againft coining. Ry- mer furniihes us a licence for pra&ifing Alchemy, granted by Edward the fourth, in 1476. V: JZym. Vxdcr.T. 12, Bibl Anc. Mod. T. 9. p. 67.
Great complaints are made concerning theobfebrity and myf- terioufnefs, the frauds and impoftures, the folly, vanity, mifery, He. of Alchemijh. The Italians have a proverb, Ntm ti fill- are all Alchcmijla pavers, medico cwtalato ; never truit thy- felf to a poor Alchemljl, or an unhealthy phyfician. Agrlpp. de Vanit. Art. c. go. Unfit. Colloq. p. 269. Cajjliub. in Credul. p. 15. Mem: de Trev. 1726. p. <oa. lour, des Scav. T. 73. p. ,26. r iW a
The writer of Mr. Leibnitz's elogjr fpeaks of a foclety of Al- cherm/ls at Nuremberg; who lived in great fecrecy, and wrought on the philofopher's (lone. Ml Leibnitz had a flrong delire to be of the body, but the difficulty was to have a competent acquaintance with the myfterics bf the fciencej to procure him admiffion. For want of this) he had rccourfe to fome books of Alchemy, out of which he picked all the moft quaint, oblcure expreffions, and thence compofed an cpiflle unintelligible to himfelf, which he addrclfed to the prefident of the fociety, demanding to be admitted, on this proof of his (kill and proficiency. The author of the letter, it was orefently granted, mull be an adept ; accordingly, he was received with honour into the laboratory, and the poft of fecretary committed to him. Fontenell. Elog. de Leibnitz.
Kircher, fully inilrufted in all the fecrets of chemiftry, has difphyed at large the feveral artifices and impoftures of Alche- mijh-, yet bow many have been duped by them, fince that time r M. Gcott'roy has lately published a new deteffion ; which will be at leaft of this ufe, to fliew that treachery and avarice, as induftrious and inventive as they are, have dif- Covered no new device thefe hundred years ; but that inadver- tency arid forgetfulriefs on the part of mankind, fuoply the want of new artifices on the part of importers. It may even be doubted, whether by pubiifllirig thefe myfteries of ini- quity, authors do more good, or harm. It is well known molt of the modern Alchemifts and Chadetans learnt their tricks in Kircher. Men fcem naturally more inclined to be deceived than to be undeceived. An author who inftructs men in what is evil, with a delign to give them an averfion for it, is always fure to teach the evil, but is not always fine to give the averfion.
An Alchemljl puts into a crucible; the matter which is to be fconyerted into gold ; this he lets on the fire, blows it, ftirs it it with rods ; and, after divers operations, gold is found at the bottom of the crucible, inftead of the matter firft put in : this there are a thoufand ways of effefling without any tranf- mutation. Sometimes it is done by dcxtroufly dropping in a piece of gold concealed between the fingers, fometimes by offing in a little of the dull of gold, or filver, difgirifed under the appearance of fome elixir; or other indifferent matter : fometimes a crucible is ufed which has a double bottom, and gold put between the two ; fometimes the rod ufed to flir the matter is hollow, and filled with the dull of the metal defined ; at other times there is metal mixed with the char- coal, the allies of the furnace, or the like. Kirch. Mund. Subterran. 1. 11. and r2. Guff, in Mem. Acad. Scienc. 1722. p. 8r. Fontenel. Hid; ib. p. 52. Mem. de Trev. 1722. p., 1627. feq. ALCHIMILLA, Ladles- Mantle, in botany, the name of a ge- nus of plants, the characters of which are thefe. The flower is of the apetalous kind, being compofed of a number of ftamina, aril'mg out of a funnel fhaped cup, which is divided into feveral fcgments at the edge. The piftil which Hands in the center ot thefe, finally becomes one or more feeds, con- tained in a capfule, which was originally the cup of the flower.
The fpecies of Ladles-Mantle, enumerated by Mr. ToufHe- fort, are thefe.
1. The common ladies-mantle. 2. The ladies-mantle with white flower cups. 3. The lefl'er alpine ladies-mantle. 4. The common little ladies-mantle. 5. The little hoary al- pine ladies-mantle. 6. The little cinquefoil alpine ladies-man- tle, with fimbriated leaves. 7. The leaft mountain ladies-man- tle, called by the French errepercepl, or parfly piert. 8. The cinquefoil ladies-mantle, with leaves filvery underneath. 9. The procumbent Alchlmllla, with graffy leaves and finall' flowers, called by fome the narrow-leaved knot graft. 10. The ereft graffy-leaved ladies-mantle, with (mall flowers, n. The grafly-leaved Alehlmilla, with larger flowers. 12. The toad- flax-leaved Alchlmllla, with white cups : and 13. The toad- ftxK-leaxe&dtshimilla, with yeUowcupsi Tcurmf.hA. p,4o5. 1 he fpecies of this plant are all recommended as vulneraries, and incraflants ; and authors in general afcribe to the com- mon kind very confiderable efficacy, in flopping the flood- ings of the menfes, and the jluor alius. I he name ALhimilla is faid to have been given this plant by alchemifts, among whom it has been much tortured, from an expectation oi finding fomethin<r extraordinary in it.
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The officinal kind is called Alchlmllla vulgaris ; fometimes Fes, I atta, or Lecmis, Planta, Pftadlum, Stella herba, Stella- rta, Leonnpodium, Drafira and Dreftum; in Enghfh, ladies- mantle. ° A diddled water and a rjorifcrve, have formerly been procured from its flowers ; but they are now out of ufe. Some apply it externally in the vomica pulmonnm. Lemery, Tr. des Drog. p. 24. Burggr. Lex. Med; T. 1. p. 401. feq. Junck. Confp. Med. p. 178. r *i J e
Alchimilla, in the Linntean fyftem of botany, the name of a genus of plants, the charaders of which are thefe. I he cup is a tubular perianthium, remaining till the feed ripens ; it is compofed of one leaf, divided at the extremity into eight fegments alternately larger and fmaller. It has no petals; the ftamina arc four very finall ereit, pointed filaments, lnlerted in the rim of the cup ; the antheras are roundifh ; the germen of the piffillum is of an Oval figure ; the ftyle is (lender, of the length of the ftamina, and inferred on the bafis of the germen ; the ftigma is of a globofe figure. The neck of the Cup (hutting together; makes it ferve in the place of a fruit, containing a (ingle compreffed feed of ah elliptic figure. Lin- nxus, Gen. Plantar, p. 52.
ALCHITRAM, among the alchcmifts, denotes fometimes the oil of juniper, fometimes liquid pitch, and fometimes arfenic prepared by ablution. Rul. Lex. Alch. p. 26. Call. Lex. Med. p. 29.
This is otherwife written Alchieram and Alchitran ; fometimes .Alchytran and AUytran.
ALCHYMY (Cycl.) — The word is alfo written Alchimy; and by the modern Greeks, Archcmia. Some will have its genuine orthography to be Halchymia.
The curious may confult the following authors concerning the origin, progrefs, and pretenfions of Alchymy. Firmkus Matern. Mathef. 1. 3. c. 15. Borricbius, de Ort. & ProgrefT. Client. Hafn. 1668. 4°. Ejufd. Hermet. ^Egypt. & Chym. Sapient; paffim. Conringius, de Hermet. Me- dicin. 1669. An extraa of which is given in Hettman, Aft. Philof. T. 2. p. 662. feq; Plinii, Hid. Natur.l. 33. c. 14. Boerhaave, Elem. Chem. T. 1. p. 9. feq. As alfo Panclrollus, de Reb. Memor. P. 2. Tit. 7. Sat- muth. Annot. ad Eund. p. 137. feq. Fabrlcil. Cod. Pfeu- depigr. Vet. Ted. T. 1. p. 304. feq. Langii. Epifl. Medic. 1. I. Ep- 53. Jour, des Scav. T. 37. p. 27. feq. Senac. Nouv. Courf. de Chimic, T. 1. in Pref. Jour, des Scav. T. 74. p. 81. It. T. 75. p. 644. It. T. 44. p. 267. Lambecii Prodrom. Hid. Liter. 1. 1. c. 4. p. 13. feq. Bibl. Anc. & Mod. T. 20. p. 398. The reality and poffibility of Alchemy, Niewcntit, Relig. Philof. p. 291. feq. Civil laws relating to Alchemy, Pettus, Hid. Miner, p. 103. We have numerous writings on Alchemy, in Greek, Latin, Englifh, High-Dutch, iic. under the titles of introductions, elements, practices, procclles, myfteries, examinations, vin- dications, revelations, CSV. Among the Greeks, the chief are Heliodorus, Syneflus, Zozimiis, Pappus, Theophraftus, Oftanus, Archelaus, Olympiodorus, Stephanus, Democri- tus, Pelagius, Eugenius, Johannes Archiereus, Ills, Agatho- dsemon, Jamblichus, Comarius, Diofcurus, Cleopatra, Mi- chael Pfellus, and divers anonymous authors under the appel- lations of Chriftianus, Hierotheus, &c. all preferved in MS. in feveral libraries, particularly the French king's library at Paris, the imperial library at Vienna, the Vatican at Rome, the Efcurial at Madrid, and others at Venice, Milan, Go- tba, (Jc.
Thefe authors appear to have been partly heathens, and Jews, but the greater part Chriffians, and chiefly monks, living at Alexandria, and Conftantinople, from the fifth century down- wards. The colleftion appears to have been firft brought into Italy in the fifteenth century, by the Greek refugees who came for fhelter there; upon the taking of CoflftanSno- ple by the Turks. The genuinenefs of many of them is much difputed by Reinefius, and others ; tho' defended by Morhof. Leo Allatius had a defign to have publifhed them : his failure herein has been much lamented by feveral ; two of them viz.: Heliodorus and Synefilis, have aflually feen the light by the Care of Fabricius.
[Vid. Fabric. Bibl. Grsec. 1. 6. c. 8. T. 12. p. 747. f eq . Borrlch. de Ort. Chem. p. 97. Labb. Bibl. Nov. MSS.p. 129. Monfaue. Palseogr. Grsec. I. 5. c. 6. p. 374. Nouv. Rep. Lett. T. 45. p. 489. Cafaub. Exerc. in Baron, c. 10. p. 70. Lambec. Comment. Biblioth. Vindolo. 1. 6. p. 168. feq. Cy- prian. Catal. Codic. MSS. Bibl. Goth. p. 71. and 87: Reinef. Judic. de Colleft. MSS. Chemic. Gra:e. ap. Cyprian. & Fa- bric, loc. cit. Morhof. Polyhifl. Liter. 1. 1. c. II. n. 16. p. 100. feq. Boerhaave, Elem. Chem. P. 1. p. 12. feq Fabric. Bibl. Grtec. T. 6. p. 789. Id. ibid. T. 8. p. 232.] The Englifh alchemilts, who have written on the fcience in their own language, are Norton, Ripley, Pearce the black monk Carpenter, Andrews, Charnock, Blomefield, Kelly, and Ro' binfon. Others, as Dr. Dee, is'c. have written in Latin, who have been all publifhed together with notes, &c. by Elias Afhmole ; which editor has alfo publiftied a piece of his own on the fubjea, and tranflated another of Dr. Dee's. See Ifml, Allien. Oxon. and the Thcatr. Chym' Britan, *
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