Remarks Upon Alchemy And The Alchemists Indicating A Method Of Discovering The True Nature Of Hermetic Philosophy And Showing That The Search After The Philosopher S Stone Had Not For Its Object The Discovery Of An Agent For The Transmutation Of Metals

Excerpt from Remarks Upon Alchemy and the Alchemists, Indicating a Method of Discovering the True Nature of Hermetic Philosophy: And Showing That the Search After the Philosopher's Stone Had Not for Its Object the Discovery of an Agent for the Transmutation of Metals The writings of the Alchemists are all symbol ical, and under the words gold, silver, lead, salt, sulphur, mercury, antimony, arsenic, orpiment, sol. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The Dictionary of Early American Philosophers, which contains over 400 entries by nearly 300 authors, provides an account of philosophical thought in the United States and Canada between 1600 and 1860. The label of "philosopher" has been broadly applied in this Dictionary to intellectuals who have made philosophical contributions regardless of academic career or professional title. Most figures were not academic philosophers, as few such positions existed then, but they did work on philosophical issues and explored philosophical questions involved in such fields as pedagogy, rhetoric, the arts, history, politics, economics, sociology, psychology, medicine, anthropology, religion, metaphysics, and the natural sciences. Each entry begins with biographical and career information, and continues with a discussion of the subject's writings, teaching, and thought. A cross-referencing system refers the reader to other entries. The concluding bibliography lists significant publications by the subject, posthumous editions and collected works, and further reading about the subject.

The term "Western esotericism" refers to a wide range of spiritual currents including alchemy, Hermeticism, Kabbala, Rosicrucianism, and Christian theosophy, as well as several practical forms of esotericism like cartomancy, geomancy, necromancy, alchemy, astrology, herbalism, and magic. The early presence of esotericism in North America has not been much studied, and even less so the indebtedness to esotericism of some major American literary figures. In this book, Arthur Versluis breaks new ground, showing that many writers of the so-called American Renaissance drew extensively on and were inspired by Western esoteric currents.

In this facsimile reprint of the original 1857 edition, the choice findings of such early writers as Basil Valentine, Thomas Vaughan, Raymond Lully, and Nicholas Flamel are analyzed and interpreted by the grandson of Ethan Allen, who was a personal friend and military advisor to President Lincoln. The original title page reads: "Remarks upon Alchemy and the Alchemists, indicating a method of discovering the true nature of Hermetic Philosophy; and showing that the search after the Philosopher's Stone had not for its object the discovery of an agent for the Transmutation of Metals. Being also an attempt to rescue from undeserved opprobrium the reputation of a class of Extraordinary Thinkers in Past Ages." This work is a valuable source for the study of man's spiritual integration and the contributions of prominent Rosicrucian mystics.