buted to Hermes Trismegistus andsupposed to be contained in its entirety in his works. The Arabs, after their conquest of Egypt in the seventh century, carriedon the researches of the Alexandrian school, and through theirinstrumentality the art was brought to Morocco and thus in the eighthcentury to Spain, where it flourished exceedingly. Indeed, Spain from theninth to the eleventh century became the repository of alchemic science,and the colleges of Seville, Cordova and Granada were the centers fromwhich 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 justifiedin assuming that alchemical science was already matured in his day, andthat 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 ofLisle, Arnold de Villanova and Jean de Meung the troubadour; in England byRoger Bacon and in Spain itself by Raymond Lully. Later, in French alchemythe most illustrious names are those of Flamel (b. ca. 1330), and BernardTrevisan (b. ca. 1460) after which the center of of interest changes toGermany and in some measure to England, in which countries Paracelsus,Khunrath (ca. 1550), Maier (ca. 1568), Norton, Dalton, Charnock, and Fluddkept the alchemical flame burning brightly. It is surprising how little alteration we find throughout the periodbetween the seventh and the seventeenth centuries, the heyday of alchemy,in the theory and practice of the art. The same sentiments and processesare found expressed in the later alchemical authorities as in the earliest,and a wonderful unanimity as regards the basic canons of the great art isevinced by the hermetic students of the time. On the introduction ofchemistry as a practical art, alchemical science fell into desuetude anddisrepute, owing chiefly to the number of charlatans practicing it...
