Charles Froebel

“ The living form sinks to the earth before the power of the thunder-bolt, or the thunder-bolt is conquered by the invention of genius. Death is but a victorious alliance of inorganic forces triumphing over the organic form laid low on the battle-field; life is but the victory of the organic forces over the inorganic hosts. But, do we not also behold a competition taking place between, a struggle for existence. and a natural selection occurring among, inorganic forms? ”

“ For, among that vast group of human activities to which the name of "arts" is applied, there are certain forms, the very essence of which consists in the seemingly unattainable character of their ends. And these activities, constantly striving for the absolute—for ideals of the many forms of beauty and of strength—are those known as the "Fine Arts." ”

“ THERE are few ideas more fatal to the exercise of that prophetic sight, by which we hope to penetrate the uncertainty of the what-is-to be, and distinguish the dark forms of the future, than the two notions: that history repeats itself, and that any form of feeling, of thought, or of motive, when once extinguished, must forever remain so. ”

“ Yet, when limited by comparison, the two ideas find a joint expression in the moral law, that while infallibility is not of the human mind, and while all our views and forms of mental activity enshrine but a spirit of verity in a clay of illusion, it is only this body of error which the scythe of Time consigns to the grave, while the immortal soul of truth lives on. ”

“ But, where a natural selection takes place, artificial selection is also possible; and, when chemistry shall develop before us the spectrum of the law of inorganic creation, the artistic spirit will seize upon the individual colors of truth, and once more-endeavor to paint the image of the chemical ideal. ”

“ The power which fashioned this earth wrote not only upon the bark of the tree and the brow of man, but also upon the cold and passionless rock and the wide expanse of the deep, blue sea, their history. ”

“ Life is the gradual modification of material forms by the action of physical forces; the continuity in time of the changes thus wrought; the competition of the forms thus evolved. It is the projection of the past into the future. It is the persistence of history.
And we may well question whether it were not better to extend our idea of life. Even if that wide gap which we imagine to open between the organic and the inorganic does exist, we may still ask: "Is the organic form the only living one, and the inorganic form so absolutely dead ”

“ But all the forms of the ideal world are a part of the religious system of a time, and for this reason all the fine arts have ever been in such close relation with religious belief. And, consequently, when we consider the essential and persistent characteristics of alchemy, such as its intimate connection with religion, and its endeavors to realize chemical ideals, we are compelled to regard alchemy as a primitive fine art, which fell into decay on account of the extreme inadequacy of its means, and the despondency of the artist. ”

“ The chemistry of to-day is, in part a science searching for forms of truth; in part an art pursuing the objects of the useful. The scientific chemist seeks and discovers realities of fact; the technical chemist produces realities of matter ”

“ To this last cause, constantly active in the organic world, the term "natural selection" has been applied, to distinguish it from the artificial selection of the stock-breeder and gardener. The changes wrought in organic forms by the influence of inorganic forces are generally spoken of as variation. But this variation is in reality merely an extension of the principle of competition. Organized beings are brought face to face with the forces of Nature, with the earthquake, the flood, the lightning, and the storm. Often they meet in mortal conflict. ”

“ Chemistry has taught us to resolve compounds into elements and to unite elements to compounds, but it knows naught of transmutation; all its inductions seem to disprove the existence of any reality corresponding to the idea. Year by year the belief that definite, specific forms of matter, such as water or iron, though resolvable or combinable, are yet in themselves absolutely fixed and invariable, has become more firmly rooted. ”

“ Joining this with philosophical gold—that is to say, the pure spirit of goldenness—he placed the strange mixture in a certain vessel, the philosopher's egg, heated it in the philosopher's furnace, and hatched the philosopher's stone. It is scarcely necessary to say that the substances named do not exist. ”

“ Seeking for the philosopher's stone an ideal of material perfection, and uniting with this pursuit that of the physician, the alchemist was led to regard the imperfection of the baser metals as a disease, the supposed operation of the stone as a process of healing, and to ascribe to it the properties of a universal medicine. ”

“ Some centuries ago, the system of ideas known to history as Alchemy held universal sway over the minds of men; now there are none, among the cultivated at least, who dare to defend its assertions. And yet we may inquire what there was in these ideas that so commended them to men's minds, that at a time their authority was almost beyond dispute. ”

“ But though man may thus unconsciously serve the inscrutable power through which all is that is, and all is what it is, yet of nobler mood is he who, feeling his heart swell in sympathy with her purpose—the creation of ultimate universal perfection—persists in constant faith to work her ends. ”

“ The source whence this thought may be derived is the current of organic science, now distributing far and wide the fertilizing influence of the theory of evolution, a view of creation which, though not new, was not victorious until, within the last decades, Charles Darwin led upon the hard-fought logic-field an array of facts glittering in their strength. ”

“ The facts adduced by the new school of biologists have led to different conclusions, culminating in the assertion that all organic forms are changeable without limit—transmutable without end—capable of a physical, intellectual, and moral elevation, which knows no boundaries. ”

“ Some of the most illustrious of them apparently persevered in their search for the philosopher's stone without a single sordid thought; many sought to make their pursuit tributary to the healing art; many also regarded their labor as one of the duties of a life of religious devotion.
Alchemy is often represented as immature chemical science, but even this view is only partially correct. The essence of science consists in experimental investigation ”

“ He is not aware of a competition or struggle for existence taking place between individual and specific forms of matter. The idea that substances, as we find them, are the result of a process of natural selection has been expressed, but it is as yet unsupported by experiment or interpretation of facts observed. ”

“ And when we inquire, "Has the chemical science of our time, by the unceasing toil of the last two centuries, not already developed the means which might enable us to successfully resume the great work of alchemistic art?" we receive not a favorable answer. ”

“ According to the theory of evolution, the modifications of structure and capability which organic forms are liable to undergo, in the course of generations, may be traced back to three principal causes. ”

“ The third cause is to be found in the competition of the forms so produced under circumstances not equally well adapted to their capacities nor sufficient for their coexistence, leading necessarily to the preservation of those races which are best, and the extinction of those which are least, fitted to endure adversity. ”

“ In making these he is but executing the commands of Nature, as the most skilled workman in her earthly palace of labor, and the approximations to perfection which she initiates by the intellectual and moral lever of his mind distance all others known to us. ”

“ While it was known that among the individuals of any one species certain differences, justifying their being classed as distinct varieties, might arise in the course of successive generations, all such variations were held to be bounded by certain more or less narrow limits of possibility. ”

“ The first of these is the influence of physical forces, as, when the strength of the muscles is enhanced by exercise, the mind invigorated by thought, or, inversely, their function impaired by long-continued disuse. ”

“ The transcendent value of such a substance is readily understood, and it is not to be wondered at that philosophical voyages, undertaken in its search, formed at a time the favorite enterprise of the alchemistic adventurer. ”