Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 1.pdf/376

328 Alcan, Michel

the lyceum of liis native city, he entered Normnli' Siiperieure of Paris in 18(>2. When he left it in ISti") lie beemne a lecturer on mathematics till ISO!), when he undertook the management of his father's piil)lisliin!:l)iisin<'ss at Metz. In 1872 he went to Paris, where in the followinu; year he entered the oUl ptihllsliinir-house of Girmerliail In l.SHO lifre, of which he became the head in ISsy. he orijrinaled a series of school hooks for use in the stufiii's lit

the

fecole

lyccmns; this series embraced works on science, hisThe ]iiil)lications of his firm tory, ami philosophy. include the most considerable works on iihilosophie In 189,") he was cresubj<'(-ts published in France. He is a memated knij;ht of the Leirion of Honor, ber of the Central Committee of the Alliance Israelite Universelle,

BiBI,iooR,»rilv



Gnbemalls, Dictiniitiairr Internalinnal (hi

i'ri-iniiiis (In Ji»«r,

1.

35, 3B.

ALCAN, MICHEL: and author, ment of Meurthr

cian,

lioni at

French engineer, politiDonnelay, in the depart-

el .Mo.sellc,

France, 18(d



died

at

Durin;; his youth his merits as a mcParis, 1877. clianical ciiirinecr were recofrni/.cd l)y the Society of the Friends of Labor, which awardcil to him its silver medal. In Paris he took part in the polit-

events connectc<l with the revolutions of 18^0 In the latter year he was elected to the 1848, National Assembly, and voted with tin' advanced After a political party called "The Mountain." brilliant iiolitical career, he resumed his early studies and graduated from the ficole Centraie as engineer. In 184,'« he was appointed [irofcssor of the arts of spinning and weaving in the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, which position he occupiecl until hisdeath. In 18,')9 he was elected a member of the Jewish Consistory of Paris; in 1867, a mendxr of the CentiiU Consistory in place of Salomon .Miuik. Amoni; hi.s works are: "Essid sur I'lndiistrie des Matitres Textiles." 1847; 2d ed., 18.59; "La Fabrication des fetolTes, Traite Complet de la Filature du Colon," 1H64; "Traite du Travail des Laines," 1866; "Traite du Travail des Laines Peignees," 1873, etc, ical

and

BlBLiooRAPHT:

La

Grntide Encyclnpfdie,

s.v.



Archive."

Isratlitc*, 1»77.

J.

ALCAN, MOYSE:

French I'ublisherand

W. litter-

ateur- born in 1S17; died in .Mc-I/, May 14, 1869; lie father of the Parisian publisher Feli.x Alcan. was a member of the Jewish consistory of Metz and of the Tribunal of Commerce. Alone of the judges can contributed to the " Archives Israelites " and the " Hevue d'Aiistnisic" a number of poems, sonatas, and cantatas, such as "Noema" (1841); "Ruth," a Biblical hymn, (h'dicated to Carmoly (1843); and " Spartacns, " a cantata performed at the public concert of th(! Sociele de I'Union des Arts, at Met/, in 18.52,

and

at

328

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Alchemy

Damascus, 1860.

ALCANIZ A town

J,

W,

in the province of Teniel,

Aragon, Spain; sitmited sixty-three miles southeast of Saragossa, As early as the thirteenth century Jews were resident there. The grand master of the Order of Calalrava, to whom, in 1306, the king of Aragon had ijresented the town, received under his care, with the king's permission, thirty Jewish families, presumably refugees fnmi France (Jacobs, "Sources," No. 914, p. .52, and the other documents listed, il/id. p, 24.5), To aid in the conquest of Naples, the .lews of Alcaiiiz loaned KiuL' Alfonso V. the

sum of 2,22,5 florins (ab(mt SI, 120, or At the disputation in Tortosa, in 1413,

£224* in gold. they were rep-

resented by Don Josepli Ardot and Don Meir Alcoya, In Alcaniz there existed a law which imjiosed a line of seven suehlos upon any Jew who wished to leave the city for the i)iirpose of settling elsewhere,

M, K.

ALCHEMY



The undeveloped chemistry

of the

hamcteiized by belief in the transnnilatioii of ba.se metals into gold, the diseovery of a panacea, etc, Tnices of Ihe connection of Jews with the science of Alclxniy are very scanty in Hebrew lilenilure. Not a singli' disiinginshed adept is found who has left in a Hebrew form traces of his knowledge of the subject. There is, however, scarcely a .Middle .ges,

(

single im])ortant ancient work upon the science which is not directly related to the Jews, with their traditions anil their science. Alchemy, like others of the exact ,scienccs, sulTcredfrom Ihe introduction of foreign elements, and developed from a more or less secret science belonging to a partictdar craft, into a mysterious science dealing with changes in the organic as well as the metallic world. From the art of gihling, it became that of the gold maker; passing from the simple solutions and chemical baths useil in the goldsmith's workshop, it aimed atcom|)ounding the elixir of life and the philoso|dier's stone. In the evolution of Alchemy there ar(^ at least thrive epochs: The first, the (iieek and Egyptian period; the secon<l, Ihe Ambic of the Middle Ages; and the last, or modern, period, extending from the sixteenth century to the present day. Undoubtedly the home of Alchemy was Egypt; an<l the researches of I5ertlielot show conclusively that the ancient Egyjilian tradition conceriung Alchemy has survived ])olilical changes and been preserved in asuiprisingly correct form in Greek, ohl Uoman. and medieval tradition. Alchemy had already in the second or third century assumed a mystical and magical character, exempliticd in such recijies as appear in the ma.iric Jewish papyii. The whole syncretism of the East and Egyptian gnosis. Greek mysteries, and Ophite combineil to produce a cMrrenI of s|)cculations thought which atTecled every mental jiroducticin of the age. They were all thrown into the sanuL' ali'inbic; and the result was ex])ected to be another kind of philosopher's stone a stone that could change this base mundane life into one of ethereal spirituality. Alchemy partook of the same iieculiarity, Gods of the Pantlieon, with Hermes at their head, the godsof Egypt. Ihe patriarchs and ]u-ii|iliets were pressed into the service of magic and Alchemy. .V whole series of so-called pscudepi-

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Pseudgraphic writings exist, though th<-y epigraphic are not all of a purely religious Writings, character. To be great in one department meant to be great in every department in the knowledge of all th<' mysteries. Hence all of the sa.ffcsof the past were credited with such knowledge, and were considered as authors of

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books containing the information sought. Ailaiu luid Abndiam have in their turn been described as authors of aUhenustic treatises, and Moses is repeatedly met with as the author of such works. To Moses are ascribed the Greek treatise known as "Diplosis" (that is, the art of doubling the weight of gold), and the treatise "The Chemistry of Jlo.ses " (dealing with metallurgy 1. publisheil by Berthelot in his "Collection des Anciens Alchinustes Grecs," Paris, 18x7-88. ii, 3(t0-315, iii. 287-301. In the Greek manuscript of St. Mark of the ninth century Z':simos quotes long passages from "The Chemistry of Moses." More important than these texts is the one preserved in tlie magical papyri of Leyden, especially papyrus 11' which contains many such chemical recipes, probably the oldest known. Among other