alchemy_ancient_and_modern.pdf

ALCHEMY

Alchemy: Ancient and

Modern

Herbert Stanley Redgrove

Get any book for free on: www.Abika.com

A Collection of Sacred-Magick.Com < The Esoteric Library

ALCHEMY

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

IT is exceedingly gratifying to me that a second edition of this book should be called

for. But still more welcome is the change in the attitude of the educated world towards

the old-time alchemists and their theories which has taken place during the past few

years.

The theory of the origin of Alchemy put forward in Chapter I has led to considerable

discussion; but whilst this theory has met with general acceptance, some of its earlier

critics took it as implying far more than is actually the case. As a result of further

research my conviction of its truth has become more fully confirmed, and in my recent

work entitled Bygone Beliefs (Rider, 1920), under the title of "The Quest of the

Philosopher's Stone," I have found it possible to adduce further evidence in this

connection. At the same time, whilst I became increasingly convinced that the main

alchemistic hypotheses were drawn from the domain of mystical theology and applied to

physics and chemistry by way of analogy, it also became evident to me that the crude

physiology of bygone ages and remnants of the old phallic faith formed a further and

subsidiary source of alchemistic theory. I have barely, if at all, touched on this

Page vi

matter in the present work; the reader who is interested will find it dealt with in some

detail in "The Phallic Element in Alchemical Doctrine" in my Bygone Beliefs .

In view of recent research in the domain of Radioactivity and the consequent advance

in knowledge that has resulted since this book was first published, I have carefully

considered the advisability of rewriting the whole of the last chapter, but came to the

conclusion that the time for this was not yet ripe, and that, apart from a few minor

emendations, the chapter had better remain very much as it originally stood. My reason

for this course was that, whilst considerably more is known to-day, than was the case in

1911, concerning the very complex transmutations undergone spontaneously by the

radioactive elements -- knowledge helping further to elucidate the problem of the

constitution of the so-called "elements" of the chemist -- the problem really cognate to

my subject, namely that of effecting a transmutation of one element into another at will,

remains in almost the same state of indeterminateness as in 1911. In 1913, Sir William

Ramsay 1 thought he had obtained evidence for the transmutation of hydrogen into helium

by the action of the electric discharge, and Professors Collie and Patterson 2 thought they

had obtained evidence of the

Page vii

transmutation of hydrogen into neon by similar means. But these observations (as well as

Get any book for free on: www.Abika.com

ALCHEMY

Sir William Ramsay's earlier transmutational experiments) failed to be satisfactorily

confirmed; 3 and since the death of the latter, little, if anything, appears to have been done

to settle the questions raised by his experiments. Reference must, however, be made to a

very interesting investigation by Sir Ernest Rutherford on the "Collision of -Particles

with Light Atoms," 4 from which it appears certain that when bombarded with the swiftly-

moving -particles given off by radium-C, the atoms of nitrogen may be

disintegrated, one of the products being hydrogen. The other product is possibly helium, 5

though this has not been proved. In view of Rutherford's results a further repetition of

Ramsay's experiments would certainly appear to be advisable.

As concerns the spontaneous transmutations undergone by the radioactive elements, the

facts appear to indicate (or, at least, can be brought into some sort of order by supposing)

the atom to consist of a central nucleus and an outer shell, as suggested by Sir Ernest

Rutherford. The nucleus may be compared to the sun of a solar system. It is excessively

small, but in it the mass of the atom is almost entirely concentrated. It is positively

charged, the charge being neutralised by that of the free electrons which revolve like

planets about it, and which by their orbits account for the

Page viii

volume of the atom. The atomic weight of the element depends upon the central sun; but

the chemical properties of the element are determined by the number of electrons in the

shell; this number is the same as that representing the position of the element in the

periodic system. Radioactive change originates in the atomic nucleus. The expulsion of

-particle therefrom decreases the atomic weight by 4 units, necessitates (since the

-particle carries two positive charges) the removal of two electrons from the shell in

order to maintain electrical neutrality, and hence changes the chemical nature of the

body, transmuting the element into one occupying a position two places to the left in the

periodic system (for example, the change of radium into niton). But radioactivity

sometimes results in the expulsion of a -particle from the nucleus. This results in the

addition of an electron to the shell, and hence changes the chemical character of the

element, transmuting it into one occupying a position one place to the right in the

periodic system, but without altering its atomic weight . Consequently, the expulsion of

one -and two -particles from the nucleus, whilst decreasing the atomic weight

of the element by 4, leaves the number of electrons in the shell, and thus the chemical

properties of the element, unaltered. These remarkable conclusions are amply borne out

by the facts, and the discovery of elements (called "isobares") having the same atomic

weight but different chemical properties, and of those (called "isotopes") having identical

chemical characters but different atomic weights, must be regarded as one of the most

significant and important discoveries of recent years. Some further reference

Get any book for free on: www.Abika.com

A Collection of Sacred-Magick.Com < The Esoteric Library

ALCHEMY

Page ix

to this theory will be found in 77 and 81: the reader who wishes to follow the matter

further should consult the fourth edition of Professor Frederick Soddy's The

Interpretation of Radium (1920), and the two chapters on the subject in his Science and

Life (1920), one of which is a popular exposition and the other a more technical one.

These advances in knowledge all point to the possibility of effecting transmutations at

will, but so far attempts to achieve this, as I have already indicated, cannot be regarded as

altogether satisfactory. Several methods of making gold, or rather elements chemically

identical with gold, once the method of controlling radioactive change is discovered (as

assuredly it will be) are suggested by Sir Ernest Rutherford's theory of the nuclear atom.

Thus, the expulsion of two

-particles from bismuth or one from thallium would yield

the required result. Or lead could be converted into mercury by the expulsion of one

-particle, and this into thallium by the expulsion of one

-particle, yielding gold by

the further expulsion of an -particle. But, as Professor Soddy remarks in his Science

and Life just referred to, "if man ever achieves this further control over Nature, it is quite

certain that the last thing he would want to do would be to turn lead or mercury into gold

-- for the sake of gold . The energy that would be liberated, if the control of these sub-

atomic processes were as possible as is the control of ordinary chemical changes, such as

combustion, would far exceed in importance and value the gold. Rather it would pay to

transmute gold into silver or some base metal."

Page x

In 101 of the book I suggest that the question of the effect on the world of finance of

the discovery of an inexpensive method of transmuting base metal into gold on a large

scale is one that should appeal to a novelist specially gifted with imagination. Since the

words were first written a work has appeared in which something approximating to what

was suggested has been attempted and very admirably achieved. My reference is to Mr.

H. G. Wells's novel, The World Set Free , published in 1914.

In conclusion I should like to thank the very many reviewers who found so many good

things to say concerning the first edition of this book. For kind assistance in reading the

proofs of this edition my best thanks are due also and are hereby tendered to my wife, and

my good friend Gerald Druce, Esq., M.Sc.

H. S. R.

191, CAMDEN ROAD, LONDON, N.W. 1.

October , 1921.

Get any book for free on: www.Abika.com

ALCHEMY

1. See his "The Presence of Helium in the Gas from the Interior of an X-Ray Bulb,"

Journal of the Chemical Society , vol. ciii. (1913), pp. 264 et seq .

2. See their "The Presence of Neon in Hydrogen after the Passage of the Electric

Discharge through the latter at Low Pressures," ibid ., pp. 419 et seq .; and "The

Production of Neon and Helium by the Electric Discharge," Proceedings of the Royal

Society, A , vol. xci. (1915), pp. 30 et seq .

3. See especially the report of negative experiments by Mr. A. C. G. Egerton, published

in Proceedings of the Royal Society, A , vol. xci. (1915), pp. 180 et seq .

4. See the Philosophical Magazine for June, 1919, 6th Series, vol. xxxvii. pp. 537-587.

5. Or perhaps an isotope of helium (see below).

Page xi

PREFACE

THE number of books in the English language dealing with the interesting subject of

Alchemy is not sufficiently great to render an apology necessary for adding thereto.

Indeed, at the present time there is an actual need for a further contribution on this

subject. The time is gone when it was regarded as perfectly legitimate to point to

Alchemy as an instance of the aberrations of the human mind. Recent experimental

research has brought about profound modifications in the scientific notions regarding the

chemical elements, and, indeed, in the scientific concept of the physical universe itself;

and a certain resemblance can be traced between these later views and the theories of

bygone Alchemy. The spontaneous change of one "element" into another has been

witnessed, and the recent work of Sir William Ramsay suggests the possibility of

realising the old alchemistic dream -- the transmutation of the "base" metals into gold.

The basic idea permeating all the alchemistic theories appears to have been this: All the

metals (and, indeed, all forms of matter) are one in origin, and are produced by an

evolutionary process. The Soul of them all is one and the same; it is only the

Page xii

Soul that is permanent; the body or outward form, i.e ., the mode of manifestation of the

Soul, is transitory, and one form may be transmuted into another. The similarity, indeed it

might be said, the identity, between this view and the modern etheric theory of matter is

at once apparent.

Get any book for free on: www.Abika.com

A Collection of Sacred-Magick.Com < The Esoteric Library

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: