Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-11-22
UNIQUE AND CURIOUS.
The Collection of Works on Alchemy In y
ST. Louis Library.

~. Louis Library.
In this age Of electrical develop
ment aud mechanical progrcss-this
prosaie age, when the minds Of men
are bent To the solution Of the practi-
cal problems of daily life-it is re
freshing to glance occasionally at the
embodied thought of three or -four
centuries ago, when science was In Its
infancy; astronomy was, as yet, but
astrology; chemistry was alchemy;
mechanical invention was black art
or magic; philosophy was dream and
vision; religion was, on the one hand,
autocratic dogma, and on the other,
unqueStioning superstition. Such a
peep into the past is afforded by a col
lection of books recently placed by
Mr.. Henry Hitchcock in the Mercan-
tile library. Ii consists of 26G vol.
umes Of the works of the alchcmistS,
astrologers and other Hermetical phi.
losophers of the Middle Ages. gathered
by Gen. Ethan A. Hitchcock while
pursuing the studies which resulted in
his Remarks on Alchemy and the
AlchemistS, and other kindred works,
The editions are chiefly of the Sever.
teenth and the early half Of the Eight
zenith centuries. although some are
much older, many of them being man
uscripts never printed, one of which
bears date 1920. while Others range
from 1851 10 1897.
Here is the Divine Pymandcr of
Hermcs I~rismcgistus (the thrice great
god Mercury OF the Egyptiansl, the
father OF Hermetic philosophy, and
whose writings are claimed TO ante.
date those of Noses; here lsa volume
of the learned Albertus Magnus, 1893
1880; Friar Roger Bacon, l2ll-l2Si,
is well represented; we have Gebir's
''Sun Of Perfection translated from
the Arabic of the Eighth century-the
Oldest book on chemistry proper III
the world. Raymond Lully Tor
Lulle) is here, whose life was one long
romance, ending in his being stoned
10 death q3l5), a martyr TO his Chris.
tan zeal. Here We have Friar Basil
Valentine period uncertain), whose
writings, legend says, were long con.
cealedin apillar, " hich heaven, at last,
in mercy TO the human race, shattered
by thunderbolt thus giving TO man.
kind the philoscphic treasures; Para.
CELSIUS (149O-l5lD, the forerunner of
modern empiriClsts, a violent man In
a violent age, who died Of a broken
neck when pitched out Of q window
by his irate medical rivals, with a
host Of the greater and lesser lights Of
alchemical literature. Here the mod
ern theosophist or esoteric may study
at fountain head, Haydon's 'Glorie
of the Rosie Cross Gilman's "Mys.
teries of the Invisible World" Ash,
mole's Grand Secret" the Golden
Sentences" Of S~andovigius, and other
occult aud mystical writings.
Here the curious may decide by an
inspection Of original productions
whether the alchemists were sOrdid
seekers afterth the art of transmitting the
baSer metals into gold and Of prOlong.
ing the life on earth beyond the allot-
ment Of nature, or whether they were
pure and profound philosophers,
searching for high spiritual y~erities
and ~concealing their discoveries from
the ignorance of the vulgar and the
lynx eyed hieFarchs of the lnQuisition
under parable and myth; using such
forms rs sulphur. mercury and salt,
the philosophers stone, the aloahest,
virgins milk. rcd b~ridcgrooms, lily
brides, ruby lions, sol, luna, clc., only
10 veil the lofty mysteries OF man. Of
the body and the soul, Of conscience
and purity, Of the Spirit Of God. and
the e~xaltation Of the human mind and
lie. To all, the quainucss Of style,
the quaintncss often, too, Of hand
writing, and the odor Of antiquity
must make the collection Que Of rare
interest st Louis Republic.