Alchemy, ancient and modern . mself successfully performed thetransmutation of the metals on more than one occa-sion, though unacquainted with the composition of themedicine employed (see § 62). Many of his theoreticalviews are highly fantastical. He lived a life devotedto scientific research, and died in 1644. Van Helmont regarded water as the primaryelement out of which all things are produced. Hedenied that fire was an element or anything materialat all, and he did not accept the sulphur-mercury-salt theory. To him is due the wprd gas —beforehis time various gases ^were looked upon as merev
Alchemy, ancient and modern . mself successfully performed thetransmutation of the metals on more than one occa-sion, though unacquainted with the composition of themedicine employed (see § 62). Many of his theoreticalviews are highly fantastical. He lived a life devotedto scientific research, and died in 1644. Van Helmont regarded water as the primaryelement out of which all things are produced. Hedenied that fire was an element or anything materialat all, and he did not accept the sulphur-mercury-salt theory. To him is due the wprd gas —beforehis time various gases ^were looked upon as merevarieties of air—and he also made a distinctionbetween gases (which could not be condensed) l8 andvapours (which give liquids on cooling). In particularhe investigated the gas that is now known as carbon-dioxide (carbonic anhydride), which he termed gassylvestre; but he lacked suitable apparatus for the 18 It has since been discovered that all gases can be condensed,given a sufficient degree of cold and pressure. PLATE 12. PORTRAITS OF J. B. AND F. M. VAN HELMONT. (From the Frontispiece to J. B. van Helmonts Oriatrike). To face page 76] § 59] THE ALCHEMISTS 77 collection of gases, and hence was led in many casesto erroneous conclusions. Francis Mercuries van Helmont (see plate 12),the son of John Baptist, born in 1618, gained the repu-tation of having also achieved the magnum opus, sincehe appeared to live very luxuriously upon a limitedincome. He was a skilled chemist and physician, butheld many queer theories, metempsychosis included. § 58. Johann Rudolf Glauber was born at Karl- stadt in 1604. Of his life little is known. He appears to have travelled about Germany a good JohmU bUd0lf dea1, afterwards visiting Amsterdam,(1604-1668). where he died in 1668. He was of avery patriotic nature, and a most ardentinvestigator in the realm of Chemistry. He acceptedthe main iatro-chemical doctrines, but gave most ofhis attention to applied Chemistry. He enriched thescience with m
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