ge of chemical methods and the philosopher's
stone as the result of them.(277)

(277) For an extract from Agrippa's Occulta Philosophia, giving examples
of the way in which mystical names were obtained from the Bible, see
Rydberg, Magic of the Middle Ages, pp. 143 et seq. For the germs of many
mystic beliefs regarding number and the like, which were incorporated
into mediaeval theology, see Zeller, Plato and the Older Academy,
English translation, pp. 254 and 572, and elsewhere. As to the
connection of spiritual things with inorganic nature in relation to
chemistry, see Eicken, p. 634. On the injury to science wrought by
Platonism acting through mediaeval theology, see Hoefer, Histoire de la
Chimie, vol. i, p. 90. As to the influence of mysticism upon strong men
in science, see Hoefer; also Kopp, Geschichte der Alchemie, vol. i, p.
211. For a very curious Catholic treatise on sacred numbers, see the
Abbe Auber, Symbolisme Religieux, Paris, 1870; also Detzel, Christliche
Ikonographie, pp. 44 et seq.; and for an equally important Protestant
work, see Samuell, Seven the Sacred number, London 1887. It is
interesting to note that the latter writer, having been forced to give
up the seven planets, consoles himself with the statement that "the
earth is the seventh planet, counting from Neptune and calling the
asteroids one" (see p. 426). For the electrum magicum, the seven
metals composing it, and its wonderful qualities, see extracts from
Paracelsus's writings in Hartmann's Life of Paracelsus, London, 1887,
pp. 168 et seq. As to the more rapid transition of light than sound, the
following expresses the scholastic method well: "What is the cause why
we see sooner the lightning than we heare the thunder clappe? That is
because our sight is both nobler and sooner perceptive of its object
than our eare; as being the more active part, and priore to our hearing:
besides, the visible species are more subtile and less corporeal than
the audible species."--Person's Varieties, Meteors, p. 82. For Basil
Valentine's view, see Hoefer, vol. i, pp. 453-465; Schmieder, Geschichte
der Alchemie, pp. 197-209; Allgemeine deutsche Biographies, article
Basilius. For the discussions referred to on possibilities of God
assuming forms of stone, or log, or beast, see Lippert, Christenthum,
Volksglaube, und Volksbrauch, pp. 372, 373, where citations are given,
etc. For the syllogism regarding Solomon, see Figuier, L'Alchimie et les
Alchimistes,