Yes, alchemy had a bad start . And the position was made the worse by the f act that alchemy was engaged , n ot with ordinary metallurgy, but with the transmuting of base metals into gold , and that it opened up prospects of boundless wealth . Add the decoction o f an elixir which would indenitely prolong the term of human lif e, a nd we see ample reasons , n o t only f o r the popula r view, but f o r t he belief n o t seldom held by adepts themselves that supern atural powers must be enlisted if success were to be attained . ATTITUDE o r THE CHURCH. The reputation f or magical arts f requently roused t he suspicion and hostility of Christian theolog ians . indeed, were inclined t o regard the ve ry S ome , attempt at transmutation as an encro achment o n t he MAGIC AND ASTROLOGY

Zosimus and Tertullian, f o r instance, attributed the o rigin of alchemy t o the teaching of bad angels . The notion is as old as Genesis, with its tree of knowledge, it s demo niac t emptation, and its condemnation of the f ounding of cities, and of their attendant arts and craf ts . The passage f rom this book which asserts that the sons of God took wives f rom among the children of men is of ten quoted by Tertullian and others who shared his views . The story had been adopted and expanded in the book that bears the n ame of Enoch t he patriarch whose lif e was passed in those f atef ul times . There we nd that these sinf ul angels dwelt with mortals and taught them sorceries, enchantments , the properties of roots and trees , magical signs , a n d They betrayed the the art of observing stars . secret of worldly pleasures , showed how t o obtain gold and silver and things made of them, and taught the art of dyeing eeces . We note the combination o f the makin

The application of this to alchemy was obvious .

In the Middle Ages the suspicion was intensied rather than removed . For in those times of dark superstitions, every f act that transcended o rdinary experience was attributed t o supernatural agents , good or bad . And any m an who exhibited unusual powers o r made unf amiliar experiments was branded with the dangerous name of sorcerer. The tendency to such unf avourable judg ments was increased by the attitude and behaviour of many of the adepts them Some who knew that they were g uiltless of the selves . charge against them could n ot resist the temptation 115