Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review Volumes 32 and 33.djvu/176

164 not long in finding his way to the latter. As it was possible by physical discipline to lengthen the period of life, he conceived that the process might be carried far enough to result in corporeal immortality, accompanied by a mastery of matter and all its potencies. The success of the process, though, like the quest of the Holy Grail, involving certain moral qualifications, depended mainly on diet and medicine; and in quest of these he ransacked the forest, penetrated the earth, and explored distant seas. The natural longing for immortality was thus made, under the guidance of Taoism, to impart a powerful impulse to the progress of discovery in three departments of science—botany, mineralogy, and geography. Nor did the other great object of pursuit remain far in the rear. A few simple experiments, such as the precipitation of copper from the oil of vitriol by the application of iron, and the blanching of metals by the fumes of mercury, suggested the possibility of transforming the baser metals into gold." This brought on the stage another, and, if possible, a more energetic, motive for investigation. The bare idea of acquiring untold riches by such easy means inspired with a kind of frenzy minds that were hardly capable of the loftier conception of immortality. It had, moreover, the effect of diverting attention particularly to the study of minerals, the most prolific field for chemical discovery.

These remarks, although made of the Chinese, apply to other countries where alchemy came to be practised. They show what potentialities lie in the pursuit of the elixir of life, and what an important part it must have played in the advancement of knowledge. We are only now beginning to realise the effects upon men's minds of the