Essay About Illustrious Names And Egyptian Word Khemeia

Alchemy
Essay title: Alchemy
Alchemy
ALCHEMY: The science by aid of which the chemical philosophers of
medieval times attempted to transmute the baser metals into gold or silver.
There is considerable divergence of opinion as to the etymology of the word,
but it would seem to be derived from the Arabic al=the, and kimya=chemistry,
which in turn derives from the late Greek chemica=chemistry, from chumeia=a
mingling, or cheein, to pour out or mix, Aryan root ghu, to pour,
whence the word gush. Mr. A. Wallis Budge in his “Egyptian Magic”,
however, states that it is possible that it may be derived from the
Egyptian word khemeia, that is to say the preparation of the black ore,
or powder, which was regarded as the active principle in the
transmutation of metals. To this name the Arabs affixed the article al,
thus giving al-khemeia, or alchemy.
HISTORY OF ALCHEMY: From an early period the Egyptians possessed the
reputation of being skillful workers in metals and, according to Greek
writers, they were conversant with their transmutation, employing
quicksilver in the process of separating gold and silver from the native
matrix. The resulting oxide was supposed to possess marvelous powers, and
it was thought that there 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 underworld form of the
god Osiris, and consequently was credited with magical properties. Thus
there grew up in Egypt the belief that magical powers existed in fluxes and
alloys. Probably such a belief existed throughout Europe in connection
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 Hellenic sources was the foundation upon
which the infant science was built, and this is borne out by the
circumstance that the art was attributed to Hermes Trismegistus and
supposed to be contained in its entirety in his works.
The Arabs, after their conquest of Egypt in the seventh century, carried
on the researches of the Alexandrian school, and through their
instrumentality the art was brought to Morocco and thus in the eighth
century to Spain, where it flourished exceedingly. Indeed, Spain from the
ninth to the eleventh century became the repository of alchemic science,
and the colleges of Seville, Cordova and Granada were the centers from
which this science radiated throughout Europe.
The first practical alchemist may be said to have been the Arbian Geber,
who flourished 720-750. From his “Summa Perfectionis”, we may be justified
in assuming that alchemical science was already matured in his day, and
that he drew his inspirations from a still older unbroken line of adepts.
He was followed by Avicenna, Mesna and Rhasis, and in France by Alain of
Lisle, Arnold de Villanova and Jean de Meung the troubadour; in England by
Roger Bacon and in Spain itself by Raymond Lully. Later, in French alchemy
the most illustrious names are those of Flamel (b. ca. 1330), and Bernard