§ =33.= Among other Arabian alchemists the most celebrated were =Avicenna= and =Rhasis=, who are supposed to have lived some time after Geber; and to whom, perhaps, the sulphur-mercury theory may have been to some extent due.
The teachings of the Arabian alchemists gradually penetrated into the Western world, in which, during the thirteenth century, flourished some of the most eminent of the alchemists, whose lives and teachings we must now briefly consider.
§ =34.= =Albertus Magnus=, Albert Groot or Albert von Bollstädt (see plate 7), was born at Lauingen, probably in 1193. He was educated at Padua, and in his later years he showed himself apt at acquiring the knowledge of his time. He studied theology, philosophy and natural science, and is chiefly celebrated as an Aristotelean philosopher. He entered the Dominican order, taught publicly at Cologne, Paris and elsewhere, and was made provincial of this order. Later he had the bishopric of Regensburg conferred on him, but he retired after a few years to a Dominican cloister, where he devoted himself to philosophy and science. He was one of the most learned men of his time and, moreover, a man of noble character. The authenticity of the alchemistic works attributed to him has been questioned.
§ =35.= The celebrated Dominican, =Thomas Aquinas= (see plate 8), was probably a pupil of Albertus Magnus, from whom it is thought he imbibed alchemistic learning. It is very probable, however, that the alchemistic works attributed to him are spurious. The author of these works manifests a deeply religious tone, and, according to Thomson’s _History of Chemistry_, he was the first to employ the term “amalgam” to designate an alloy of mercury with some other metal.[45]
[45] THOMAS THOMSON: _The History of Chemistry_, vol. i. (1830), p. 33.
