explain away, but
I cannot deal with this question here, but must refer the reader to a
paper on the subject by Mr GASTON DE MENGEL, and the discussion thereon,
published in vol. i. of _The Journal of the Alchemical Society_.

In conclusion, I will venture one remark dealing with a matter outside
of the present inquiry. Alchemy ended its days in failure and fraud;
charlatans and fools were attracted to it by purely mercenary objects,
who knew nothing of the high aims of the genuine alchemists, and
scientific men looked elsewhere for solutions of Nature's problems.
Why did alchemy fail? Was it because its fundamental theorems were
erroneous? I think not. I consider the failure of the alchemical theory
of Nature to be due rather to the misapplication of these fundamental
concepts, to the erroneous use of _a priori_ methods of reasoning, to a
lack of a sufficiently wide knowledge of natural phenomena to which
to apply these concepts, to a lack of adequate apparatus with which to
investigate such phenomena experimentally, and to a lack of mathematical
organons of thought with which to interpret such experimental results
had they been obtained. As for the basic concepts of alchemy themselves,
such as the fundamental unity of the Cosmos and the evolution of the
elements, in a word, the applicability of the principles of mysticism to
natural phenomena: these seem to me to contain a very valuable element
of truth--a statement which, I think, modern scientific research
justifies me in making,--though the alchemists distorted this truth and
expressed it in a fantastic form. I think, indeed, that in the modern
theories of energy and the all-pervading ether, the etheric and
electrical origin and nature of matter and the evolution of the
elements, we may witness the triumphs of mysticism as applied to the
interpretation of Nature. Whether or not we shall ever transmute lead
into gold, I believe there is a very true sense in which we may say
that alchemy, purified by its death, has been proved true, whilst the
materialistic view of Nature has been proved false.

X. THE PHALLIC ELEMENT IN ALCHEMICAL DOCTRINE

THE problem of alchemy presents many aspects to our view, but, to my
mind, the most fundamental of these is psychological, or, perhaps I
should say, epistemological. It has been said that the proper study of
mankind is man; and to study man we must study the beliefs of man. Now
so long as we neglect great tracts of such