y delighted with his
powers, entreated him to stay, offering him every inducement that wealth,
power, and dignity could supply; but the alchymist resolutely refused, it
being decreed, he said, that he should never repose till he had discovered
the philosopher's stone. He set out accordingly the same evening, and was
murdered by some thieves in the deserts of Syria. His biographers give no
further particulars of his life beyond mentioning that he wrote several
valuable treatises on his art, all of which, however, have been lost. His
death happened in the year 954.

AVICENNA.

Avicenna, whose real name was Ebn Cinna, another great alchymist, was born
at Bokhara in 980. His reputation as a physician and a man skilled in all
sciences was so great, that the Sultan Magdal Douleth resolved to try his
powers in the great science of government. He was accordingly made Grand
Vizier of that prince, and ruled the state with some advantage; but in a
science still more difficult, he failed completely. He could not rule his
own passions, but gave himself up to wine and women, and led a life of
shameless debauchery. Amid the multifarious pursuits of business and
pleasure, he nevertheless found time to write seven treatises upon the
philosopher's stone, which were for many ages looked upon as of great
value by pretenders to the art. It is rare that an eminent physician as
Avicenna appears to have been, abandons himself to sensual gratification;
but so completely did he become enthralled in the course of a few years,
that he was dismissed from his high office, and died shortly afterwards of
premature old age and a complication of maladies, brought on by
debauchery. His death took place in the year 1036. After his time few
philosophers of any note in Arabia are heard of as devoting themselves to
the study of alchymy; but it began shortly afterwards to attract greater
attention in Europe. Learned men in France, England, Spain, and Italy,
expressed their belief in the science, and many devoted their whole
energies to it. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries especially, it was
extensively pursued, and some of the brightest names of that age are
connected with it. Among the most eminent of them are

ALBERTUS MAGNUS AND THOMAS AQUINAS.

The first of these philosophers was born in the year 1193, of a noble
family at Lawingen, in the Duchy of Neuburg, on the Danube. For the first
thirty years of his life he appeared remarkably dull and