The Beginnings of Alchemy Article

The Beginnings of Alchemy
Author(s): Homer H. Dubs

Source: Isis, Vol. 38, No. 1/2 (Nov., 1947), pp. 62-86
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science Society
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62 Homer H. Dubs
When after Christs byrth there be expyrde For if the world in that yeare doo not fall,
Of hundreds fifteene yeares, eighty and eyght, If Sea and Land then perish ne decay:
Then comes the time of daungers to be fearde, Yet Empyres all, and kingdomes alter shall,
And al mankynd with dolours it shal freight. And man to ease hym selfe shal haue no way.
Geverin names Leovitius and John Stoffler as sources for the Latin and German lines
respectively, though the latter came to him through Melancthon.6 In his calcula-
tions, it should be noted, he specifies I588 and I593 as the most possible years fo
end, but he indicates that the whole period which begins with I583 is potentially
dangerous.
Geverin's approach to the subject of the conjunction is religious and Harvey's is
astrological; Geverin gives credence, however, to the signs of the stars in so far as they
coincide with Biblical prophecy, and Harvey follows up his astrological arguments
with a fervid religious exhortation. The two publications together could have produced,
I believe, such an effect as that described in the Chronicles. Since the Discourse was
the more recent of the two, and since it centered attention definitely on the time for
the conjunction, it was in the foreground of the public mind; the derisive criticism
that came with the passing of the date was therefore turned sharply against Richard
Harvey, as Holinshed shows in the sequel (p. I.3.57):
howbeit, the day of the coniunction being past, curitie, and condemned the discourser of ex-
with a certeine counterchecke against the said treame madnesse and follie; whereof no more but
astrologicall discourse in some points defectiue, this, Scientia nullum habet sibi inimicum praeter
and no such euents palpablie perceiued as were ignorantem.
prognosticated; people fell to their former se-
The University of Texas
'Eustace F. Bosanquet, in English Printed prophecy. For further accounts of this prophecy
Almanacks and Prognostications, A Bibliographi- and the legend that connects it with Regiomon-
cal History to the Year I6oo (London, I9I7), tanus, see Lynn Thorndike, A History of Magic
pp. 39, II2-3, quotes a line of the Latin stanza and Experimental Science, V (New York, I94),
from an almanac published by John Securis in p. 373, and Biographie Universelle, XXIX, "Jean
I569, and gives an English translation of the Muller," and VI, "Gaspard Brusch."
The Beginnings of Alchemy*

BY HOMER H. DUBS
B ECAUSE alchemy built up the mass of empirical observations upon which was
later founded the science of chemistry, it has been considered to contain a large
admixture of scientific knowledge. In its beginnings, however, it must have been
sheer magic and superstition, an attempt by calling upon certain gods and by manipu-
lating certain sensational and poorly-understood minerals to achieve ends that are
properly religious. The empirical findings of alchemy resulted from failures in this
goal, so that the scientific character of alchemy was an unlooked for by-product.
The actual turning of base metals into precious ones (with which meaning the term
"alchemy" will be used in this paper) would moreover cause grave loss to all those
already possessing such precious metals. Hence severe social pressure is naturally
* Throughout this article most of the Chinese characters corresponding to these superscript let-
words are followed by superscript numerals, e.g., ters will be found in the appendix to this article.
Ying Shaoa or Jou-bi Suan-jing.ae The Chinese
The Beginnings of Alchemy 63
applied by civilized society against the unrestricted practise of alchemy, so that it

becomes a secret art. The Chinese historians, with their great respect for exact state-
ments, have however left us hints from which it is possible to infer many of the cir-
cumstances in the rise of alchemy. In this paper, I propose to present the available
historical material concerning alchemy in the pre-Christian era, in the period before
any experimental alchemy appeared in the Mediterranean world.' Thereafter I shall
attempt a reasonable hypothesis concerning the rise of alchemy.
The earliest historical mention of alchemy seems to have been passed by in the
literature concerning that subject. It is found in a Chinese imperial edict, dated in
January or February, I44 B.C.: "[Emperor Jing] established the statute [fixing]
public execution for [the private] coining of cash or [making] counterfeit gold." 2
Two early glosses upon the above text justify us in interpreting the phrase "counter-
feit gold" as denoting alchemy. Ying Shaod, who lived ca. A.D. 140-206, remarks:
Emperor Wen, in the fifth year [of his reign, vainly [causes] loss and expense, so that it turns
175 B.C.], had allowed the common people to to boasting about one's brilliancy. When [such
coin [cash freely], a law that had not yet been alchemists] become poor, they rise up and turn
abrogated. At previous times there had been to brigandry or robbery. Hence [Emperor] Jing
made much [alchemistic] counterfeit gold. [But] established this law.
counterfeit gold cannot really be made, and
Meng Kange, who lived ca. A.D. I8o-260, also glosses:

At previous times, many of the common peo- the world could be measured.' The expense is
ple made (alchemistic] counterfeit gold, hence very great and it really cannot be made. The
their (present] saying, 'If gold could be made, common people [at that time] moreover mostly
iOn Egyptian alchemy, cf. n. II3. source (cf. HFHD, I, 29 ff), but added material
'Translated in The History of the Former Han from other sources. There is every reason to
Dynasty By Pan Ku, trans. by H. H. Dubs, vol. I accept the passage quoted in the text as possess-
(Baltimore, 1938), p. 323. (This translation is ing the highest historical authenticity.
hereafter denoted by the abbreviation HFHD.
In this paper, I am using my version of Prof.
The Chinese text of the original is denoted by the
C. S. Gardner's modification of the usual Wade
abb. HS [using the paging in Wang Sien-chien's
& Giles transcription for Chinese words. To
ed., the Han-shu Bu-ju']. Ban Gu worked on his
change my spelling to that of the Wade & Giles
HS during his ca. 74 to ca. 84 A.D. This passage
system: for my initials b-, d-, dz-, g-, j-, read
about alchemy seems to have been noticed only
p-, t-, ts-, k-, ch-, respectively. After my initials:
in L. C. Goodrich, A Short History of the Chi-
p-, t-, ts-, k-, ch-, in each case, add an apos-
nese People (1943), p. 68.
trophe. For my initial r-, read j-; for my final
This edict does not appear in the Shzh-i
-zh, read -ih; for my syllables tz, dz, sz, read
(hereafter denoted by the abb. SJ, using the
tz'u, tzu, ssu, respectively. Before the two vowels
paging of the Shiki Kaishu Kjshjb by Takigawa
-i and -u (not before -u), for my ts-, dz-, s-,
Kametaro [Tokyo, I9341). The Shzh-ji was read ch'-, ch-, hs-, respectively. In this distinc-
written by Sz-ma Tsien and his father, so that it
tion I have followed the "New Standard Roman-
was in preparation for some decades down to
ization" in Part II of W. E. Soothill's Pocket
about 8o B.C. This history contains a chapter
Dictionary of Chinese. Other spellings remain
dealing with Emperor Jing's reign, which is
unchanged, except that I always write Giles' op-
translated in 1. Chavannes, Les Memoires His-
tional yi instead of i, and drop his silent final -h.
toriques de Se-ma Ts'ien (hereafter denoted by
the abb. MH); cf. MH vol. II, p. 505. Ban Gu, Thus for "Ban Gu," Wade and Giles would
in writing the HS, had access to material not write "Pan Ku." (In HFHD, the Wade spelling
available to Sz-ma Tsien, in particular, to the is still used.) The reason for this change is not
file of imperial edicts preserved in the imperial merely that thereby the misunderstood and often
archives. He was ordered by Emperor Ming to incorrectly omitted un-English apostrophe can
prepare this history (cf. the Preliminary Volume be discarded, but that the pronunciation given
of HFHD [in preparation], "The Memoir of by speakers of English to syllables written in my
Ban Biao and Ban Gu,' Chinese paging, p. 8b) spelling, e.g., "Ban Gu," "Bei-ping," is much
and was given access to the rich store of material closer to the Chinese original than that given to
in the imperial archives, which amounted to the Wade & Giles or the common spelling, e.g.,
more than 2000 cart-loads (Hou-Han-shuc [here- "Pan Ku" or "Peiping." For place names, I have
after denoted by the abb. HHS, also using the placed, after my spelling, in parentheses, the
paging of Wang Sien-chien's ed.], Memoir 69 A: commonly used transcription for these often
3a). Ban Gu used Sz-ma Tsien's work as his chief mispronounced words.
64 Homer H. Dubs
knew that fact and the violators [of this ordi- this [circumstance, the Emperor] established
nance against alchemy] were few. Because of this law.'
This passage by itself may not seemingly furnish us with much information and
may even sound unconvincing. It omits the characteristically Chinese orientation of
alchemy - that its most important goal was personal immortality. When however
this passage is taken in connection with the evidence to be presented later, it becomes
highly important. It represents the attitude of society outside of alchemical circles.
The enactment of this law, which came before any of the great Chinese histories was
written, is probably responsible for the poverty of our information regarding alchemy
in Han times. Chinese historians do not recount criminal practises except as a warning
to would-be offenders. In order that alchemy should have become so prominent as to
be prohibited by imperial edict, it moreover seems likely that at least a century or two
must have elapsed since the rise of this pseudo-science.
There are a number of earlier Chinese references to what might have been alchemy.
But none of them are sufficiently definite to afford assurance that attempted transmuta-
tion of metals was involved.4
In China, alchemy was connected closely with the elixir of immortality. It will then
be useful to note the earlier history of this concept in China. The desire for long life
is of course extremely ancient. We find it in the earliest extant Chinese literature.5
But nowhere do we find the notion of personal immortality. This fact seems to indicate
that alchemy did not exist in China until the middle of the last millennium B.C.
The notion of personal immortality is however very ancient in Aryan tradition.
The sacred intoxicating drink, called Haoma by the Iranians and Soma by the Aryans
in India, was believed not only to cure diseases but also to confer immortality.6 It was
thus an elixir of immortality. Since this belief is found both in the Rig-Veda and in
the Avesta, it must have antedated the separation of the Iranians and the Indo-Aryans,
i.e., it existed before iooo B.C. and was probably a common possession of various
Aryan tribes. The Yiue-jzh, an Aryan tribe, occupied the western part of the present
Gan-su (Kansuh) Province until the third century B.C., with their capital at Jao-wu,
J Yen Jou Shzh-gut, who completed his great plishments. It can hardly be a reference to
edition of the HS in 64I, approves only Ying alchemy.
Shao's gloss, which fact indicates that he mildly The Lie-dz', also mentioned by Barnes (op.
disapproves of Meng Kang's interpretation. cit., 78), is almost surely from the end of the iii
cent. A.D. (so Maspero; cf. also Y. L. Fung,
While these two commentators represent well
History of Chinese Philosophy, trans. by D.
Chinese opinion in the second century A.D., such
Bodde, pp. 6, 4I3 [hereafter denoted by the abb.
statements as, "At previous times there had been
HCP]). Since, in addition to alchemy, there
made much counterfeit gold," and, "Violators of
were other methods, such as dietary practises
this ordinance against alchemy were few," may
and vegetable drugs which were also supposed in
merely represent their inferences from the text
ancient China to prolong life (cf. Go Hung's
and from their general knowledge, rather than
Bao-pui-dz, ch. 3, trans. by Feifel in Monumnenta
constituting independent evidence.
Serica 6 [I94I], i6o), Barnes' references to the
'W. H. Barnes, "Possible References to Chi- prolonging of life need not imply alchemy.
nese Alchemy in the Fourth or Third Century 'It is found in the Book of History, Pt. V, ch.
B.C.," The China Journal, 23 (I935), 75-79, xvi, which chapter probably dates from the be-
notes a passage from chapter 32 of the Jzuang-dzg. ginning of the Jou period (ca. x cent. B.C.); cf.
But only a small part of the Juang-dz was writ- J. Legge, "Chinese Classics," The Shoo King, p.
ten by the historical person, Juang Jou. Ch. 32 480. It is also found in the earliest Odes (viii
is very likely late, possibly from Han times. The cent. B.C.), cf. Legge, The She King, 257, and
passage Barnes mentions ("Sz-bu Bei-yaoh" ed., elsewhere. The concept here is that the greatest
Juang-dz io: ga) moreover says: "Ju Ping-man of the gods, Heaven, grants long life to the
learned to butcher dragons. . . . His skill became virtuous.
perfect, but there was no way for him to employ 'This belief is abundantly testified: cf. Rig-
his cleverness." While "dragon" was later the Veda, VIII, 48, 3, quoted in "Sacred Books of
term for mercury used by alchemists, there is no the East" (abb. as SBE), XXVI, 385, n. 2;
evidence for that meaning here. This apologue Avesta, Yasna IX, 2, I9, X, 7, 9, SBE XXXI,
is moreover plainly a satire upon useless accom- 23I, 236, 24I.
the present Jang-ye (Chang-yeh or Kan-chow), well inside the present China proper.
Towards the end of that century they were driven west by the Huns.7 From the
Yiie-jzh, this Aryan belief in a miracle-working drug curing disease and conferring
immortality could easily have reached China. We find already in the fourth century
B.C. the notion of an elixir of immortality in China. Here is Sz-ma Tsien's account: 8
From the time of [Kings] Wei and Suan of Emperor [in 221 B.C.], people from Tsi me-
[the state of] Tsi [357-30I B.C.], the disciples morialized these [theories]. Hence the first Em-
of Master Dzou [Yen] 9 discussed and wrote peror [of the Tsin dynasty] chose and employed
about the cyclical succession of the five powers. them. Moreover, from first to last,'0 Sung Wu-
When [the King of] Tsin became [the First] ji,f jeng Bo-chiao,' Chung Shang,' and Sien-
7SJ I23: IO = Hirth, "The Story of Chang in order to develop [themselves. But] after-
K'ien," in Journal of the American Oriental So- wards they were unable to put them into prac-
ciety, 37 (I9I7), 96, 97; Da-tsing Yi-tung-jzh, tise. For this reason, Master Dzou [Yen] was
I842 ed., 266: gb. highly esteemed in [the state of] Tsi. When he
8The following passage is translated from SJ visited [the state of] Liang, King Hui [ruled 370-
28: 23-26. Ban Gu transcribed it into his HS 25 3I9 B.C.] met him in the suburbs [of his capital,
A: I2a-I3a. It is also translated in MH, III, which was near the present Kaifeng, Honan],
435-38 and, in part, in MH, II, I52, n. i and in and performed towards him the etiquette of a
D. Bodde, China's First Unifier, ii6-i7. host towards a guest. When he visited [the state
The notion of immortals and immortality at- of] Jao [with its capital at the present Han-dan
tained by the use of medicines is absent, so far (Han-tan), Hobei (Hopei)], Baronet Ping-yUan,
as I can determine, in pre-Han Confucian classics. [Jao Sheng, a younger brother of the King, who
The Dzo-juanJ (prob. written towards the end of lived ca. 300-25i B.C.], walked [respectfully]
the iv cent. B.C.), for example, seems to contain on one side [of the road] and dusted off the
a covert attack upon these concepts. Three times seat [for him]. When he went to [the state of]
there is repeated the rhetorical question, "What Yen [cf. n. I5], King Jao [ruled 3II-280 B.C.],
man must not die ?" (Legge's trans., "Chinese holding a brush [to sweep away the dust],
Classics," The Ch'un Ts'eu With the Tso Chuan, acted as his usher, and begged permission to
pp. 5837=584b, 7o6"=7iia, 786"5=787b). The take the seat of a disciple and to receive his
notion of earthly immortality is moreover at- instruction. He built for [Dzou Yen] the Jie-
tacked. Master Yen Ying says to his lord: "If shzh Palace, where [the King] went in person
the ancients had not died, you could never have and treated him as his teacher."
even desired the happiness [of ruling this ter- (Jang Shou-dziem [fl. 737] glosses, "The Jie-shzh
ritory, which was anciently that of] the Shuang- Palace was east of the Ning Terrace, 30 li west
jiu clan" (ibid., 6791=684b). This repeated em- of Jin Hsien in Yu Province." The Da-tsing
phasis upon death as the end of human life indi- Yi-tung-jzh? [I842 ed.] 8: I3a accordingly lo-
cates that at the time this work was being written cates this place west of the present Wan-ping,
the notion of attaining immortality was being near Bei-ping [Peiping].)
bruited. This extreme respectfulness on the part of
9Dzou Yen' was a famous philosopher (fl. kings and nobles was much more than was re-
[i.e., lived in the years] 323-298 B.C.), who is ceived even by Mencius. Such adulation prob-
best known for his cyclical theory of history, ably arose because Dzou Yen professed to know
according to which dynasties rise and fall in ac- what powers, numbers, colors, etc. ought to be
cordance with the successive dominance of the cultivated in order that a state should prosper
five powers: earth, wood, metal, fire, and water and conquer. Could another reason for this won-
(cf. super n. 7i). He also proposed certain geo- derful popularity have been that he promised to
graphical speculations: since China was anciently make gold for these princes and make them im-
supposed to have been divided into nine prov- mortal? He may have been the father of al-
inces (called jou'; cf. Legge, The Shoo King, chemy (cf. super n. 94, and n. I29). On his
92-150), he concluded that, by parallelism, China teachings, cf. HCP, I59-i69. For his miracle,
is one of nine similar areas (using the same word, cf. n. 92).
jou, to denote a larger division of land). Each 10MH, III, 436 follows Yen Jou Shzh-gu in
of these units is again merely one of nine con- taking dzui-hoUq as a proper name. Sz-ma Jengr
tinents (jou), separated by impassible seas, so (fl. 713-742) and Wang Ming-sheng' (I772-98)
that China occupies only I,1 of the earth's land declare these two words indicate that these per-
surface. This unusually broad conception of sons "were later than Master Dzou [Yen]." But
China's place on earth indicates contact with dzui means "first" and hou means "later."
occidental countries (cf. n. 93). He opened the "These are the names of four ancient im-
way for imaginative accounts of all sorts. He mortals. Sung Wu-jit is mentioned as an im-
came from the state of Tsi, in the present Shan- mortal in the Ji-dziu-pien" (written dur. 48-33
dung (Shantung), and achieved a quite un- B.C.). The Bo-dze-tu" (prob. written dur. ca.
paralleled social success. SJ 74: 8 (also trans. in i-iii cent. A.D.) states that he is the essence
HCP, i6i), says: (dzingw) of fire.
"When kings, nobles, and great persons first came ' Jeng Bo-chiao' is mentioned by Sz-ma
into contact with his doctrines, they became Siang-ruy (died 117 B.C.; cf. SJ I"7:84=HS 57
fearful and paid attention to these [teachings] B: I5a) and by Yang Hsiung' (lived 53 B.C.-
66 Homer H. Dubs
men Gao,14 were all people from [the state of] Peng-lai, Fang-jang, and Ying-jou. These three
Yen ' who practised the method of [becoming] divine [island] mountains are reported to be in
immortals [by the use of magical] recipes, so the Po Sea,1" not distant from human [habita-
that their bodies would be dispersed, dissolved, tions], {but the difficulty is that, when you al-
and metamorphosed, relying for this upon their most reach them, your boat is blown away from
service to the spirits and gods. them by a wind.}18 Perhaps there were those who
Dzou Yen was famous among the nobles [for reached [these isles. They report that] the vari-
his doctrine] that the yin and yang control the ous immortals, together with the drug that pre-
cyclical movement of destiny. The gentlemen who vents death, are both there; their living creatures,
[possessed magical] recipes (fang-shzh) along birds and beasts, are perfectly white; and their
the sea-shore of Yen and Tsi transmitted his arts, palaces and gate-towers are made of gold and
but without being able to understand them. silver. But if, when you have not reached them
However, from this time on, one cannot count and look at them from a distance, they are like
the constantly increasing number of those per- clouds, when you reach them, these three divine
sons who performed deceptive wonders, flatteries, mountains contrary-wise go below the water,
and illicit practises [i.e., alchemy?]. and, when you approach them, a wind suddenly
Beginning with [Kings] Wei and Suan [of Tsi pulls you away, then no one can really reach
and King] Jao of Yen,'e [rulers] sent people out them. Yet none of the lords of this age would
into the ocean to seek for [the fairy isles of] not be delighted [to go there].
This passage indicates the atmosphere in which alchemy arose - one of magic and
thaumaturgy. The central notion was that of attaining long life or immortality. As
means there is mentioned the use of drugs.19 Along with those notions went the myth
of these mountainous fairy isles out in the ocean, inhabited by immortals and beautiful
birds and beasts, where houses were made of gold, pearls, etc. These isles were usually
located in the sea out from the present city of Peng-lai (the former Tai-jou) on the
great northern promentory of the Shandung peninsula - to this place went in search
of immortals the First Emperor of the Tsin dynasty in 2I9 B.C.20 and Emperor Wu
of the Han dynasty in IIO B.C.21 Mixed with these imaginations were Dzou Yen's
A.D. i8; cf. HS 87 A: i6a) as having been an as well as vegetable drugs were used. The Huai-
immortal. nan Wan-bi-shua3 (prob. written in i cent. B.C.,
' Chung Shanga is unknown. For Chung quoted in the Tai-ping Yu-lan`, an encyclopedia
Shang (which is the SJ reading), HS 25 A: i2a completed in A.D. 983 [hereafter referred to by
has YVianab Shang. Shen Taoac (fl. I8Io-5i) the abb. TPYL] 988: 4a) says, "Azurite makes
suggests reading Yuan Gu'd, and identifies this medicine that causes people not to become old."
person with Hsiuan Su" in the Account of Vari- Alchemical gold was also considered to be a
ous Immortals, p. 62-63 (Lie-sien-juan'g; an ac- medicine or drug.
count of Hsiian Su is in the edition of that work 2 MH, II, I43, I52; III, 437.
in vol. 3347 of the "Tsung-shu Dzi-cheng'h." 8 MH, III, 499. Emperor Wu went along the
The present Account of Various Immortals was seacoast from Shandung all the way to Jie-shzh
probably written in the iii or iv cent. A.D.; Go (near the present Shanhaiguan); HFHD, II, 89;
Hung however attributes it to Liu Hsiang). But HS 25 A: 38a.
Hsuan Su is said to have been a seller of drugs In later periods, these fairy isles were located
and healer who cured the King of Ho-jien, which at a vast distance out in the ocean. Lie-dz 5:
kingdom only came into existence in I78 B.C. 3b-5a (cf. n. 4; this passage is trans. in R. Wil-
"YUan Shang" was moreover the title of a book helm, Lia Dsi, 49-50) gives an imaginative ac-
written by Li Jang, who was Court Architect count of them, which declares that, in the east of
some time during 32-7 B.C. (HS 30: 23b). Shen the Po Sea, distant unknown myriads of miles,
Tao cannot be correct. there is a bottomless gulf, into which flows the
" Sied-men Gaoa' was a famous immortal. water from all regions without changing its wa-
The First Emperor sent Master Lu to search for ter-level, where there are five fairy isles, includ-
this person in 2I5 B.C., but without success; cf. ing the three mentioned in the text above. Build-
MH, II, z65; III, 432. ings there are all of gold and jade; birds and
' Yen was an ancient state located in the beasts are all pure dazzling white [the color of
north of the present Hobei and in southern Man- quicksilver?]. Pearl and coral trees grow there
churia, with its capital at Ji, near the present profusely. Their fruit has a fine flavor. By
Beiping. eating them one does not grow old or die. Those
The latter ruled 3II-280 B.C. who live there all belong to the race of im-
'The present Gulf of Jzh-li (Chih-li) or Po- mortals. They fly about in great numbers. These
hai. five isles have no foundations and floated about
' The statement in braces is omitted in HS on the waves until a high god (di"l) arranged
25 A. that fifteen great sea turtles, by relays of five
'9The jzh mushroom is often mentioned; cf. each, should hold up these isles on their heads.
HFHD, II, 9i, n. 27.2; Proc. Am. Acad. Arts & But a certain giant angled for and caught six of
Sci., vol. 74, pp. 3II-I3, sect. 89-IOI. Mineral these turtles, using their carapaces for divination,
philosophical speculations. If he was really the founder of alchemy,22 that concept
was a secret arcanum embedded in this complex. Alchemy appears first in this area
the north-eastern sea-coast of China, among the "gentlemen possessors of recipes
(fang-shzh)" or magicians, who were popular in this region and who specialized in
curing diseases and selling magical drugs.
After 144 B.C., alchemy could only be practised openly under imperial or royal
patronage. In I33 B.C., we find it appearing at the imperial court, as recounted in
Sz-ma Tsien's great history: 28
At this time,' Li Shao-jun'la was also re- eating] grain [products, he said he knew how to]
ceived in audience by Emperor [Wul, because, by avoid old age.2 The Emperor honored him.
worshipping the Stove and by a method of [not [Li] Shao-jun had been a controller of recipes
whereupon two isles floated away to the north Chuang Tzu, 237, mistranslates) says: "The
pole, where they sank into the ocean and their Stove has [the divinity] Jie."
myriads of immortals had to move elsewhere. Sz-ma Biaoau (ca. A.D. 240-ca. 306, in a note
'Cf. super n. 94 and n. I29. to the Juang-dz passage) glosses: "Jie is the god
of the Stove. She wears red clothes. Her ap-
' The passage translated here is taken from
pearance is like that of a beautiful woman."
SJ 28: 46-48 (which is trans. in MH, III, 463-
66) and in HS 25 A: 22a-23a. It was also copied The word jiea is also pronounced i, meaning
"hair done up in a knot on top of the head,"
into the anciently missing ch. I2 of the SI and is
which was also probably part of this goddess's
now in S I 2: 5-8, which latter passage is useful
attire. The Li-ui, ch. 8, 23: 22b (J. Legge's trans.,
to check the text. This passage is so revealing
"Sacred Books of the East," vol. XXVII, 404;
concerning pre-Christian alchemy and the meth-
this chapter is prob. from i cent. B.C.) says:
ods used in propagandizing it that I translate
"The [worship of] the Stove is a sacrifice [made]
here the entire account. Part of it is also pre-
to an old wife. The container [for the food used
sented by A. Waley in "Notes on Chinese Al-
in this sacrifice] is a [common] bowl and the
chemy," Bull. School Orient. Studies, 6 (I930),
vase is a [common] wine-jar."
2-4 and in 0. S. Johnson, A Study of Chinese
Jeng HsUan"p (A.D. I27-200, in a note to the
Alchemy, 76-77. I do not know of any complete
Li-ji passage) comments: "The 'old wife' was
translation in English.
the first cook. The 'bowl' and 'jar' are cooking
I cannot agree with Waley in his contention
utensils, which makes plain that this was a sacri-
(op. cit., 3) that this passage is a late addition
fice to the first cook and not a sacrifice to the
to the SJ or that it appeared first in the HS in
god of fire."
the i cent. A.D. Ch. 28 of the SI is not one of the
TPYL i86: 4a quotes the Huai-nan Wan-bi-
chapters missing from that work in the i cent.
shu, saying: "On the last day of the month, the
A.D. Jang Yen (iii cent. A.D.) did not suspect
goddess of the Stove goes to Heaven to tell of
its authenticity (cf. HFHD, II, 5). Waley's men's sins."
evidence is weak and entirely subjective. Sz-ma
The present Kitchen God ascends to Heaven
Tsien and his father were interested in divine
at the end of the year to report the deeds of the
beings. The incident of Li Shao-jiun serves as an
family he cares for. Formerly he was also sup-
introduction to an account of the various prac-
posed to report monthly.
titioners who were successively patronized by
When about I2i B.C., the magician Shao-weng
Emperor Wu (cf. the last sentence of this pas-
materialized the deceased favorite of Emperor
sage). When it is read in its setting, it is quite
Wu, the Lady nee Wang, he also produced the
appropriate to Sz-ma Tsien's account of the
spirit of the Stove, possibly because this spirit
imperial religion.
was supposed to care for the occupants of the
Since Sz-ma Tsien and his father (both of
household, so that she would act as a psycho-
whom worked on the SJ) wrote during ca. I40-
pompos.
ca. 8o B.C., we probably have here contemporary
Ru Shun,q (flourished during [i.e., lived in
evidence from an important official in the im-
some of the years during the period] i89-265),
perial court.
in a note to HS 25 A: 22a, glosses: "By 'wor-
The three accounts in the SJ and HS are prac-
shiping the Stove' he would be able to bring
tically identical, word for word, for the HS used
the SJ as a source. I have translated from ch. 28
blessings for "riches"; the word fuaw has both
meanings]." Jie was evidently the ancient
of the SJ, noting variations in the parallel
Kitchen God. She corresponds to a large extent
passages.
but not completely with the present Kitchen
' The date is I33 B.C., as shown by preced- God, who is now represented as a male or a
ing events; cf. MH, III, 462. wedding pair. This information concerning the
' The sacrifice to the Stove (dzaom) was one ancient Chinese Kitchen God seems not to be
of the five regular sacrifices in the homes of found in occidental literature.
bureaucrats: to the Gates, the Doors, the Well, The practise of avoiding grain in one's diet
the Stove, and the Impluvium (HS 25 A: 3b; cf. as a means of immortality, which would be ex-
HFHD, II, IOI, n. 32.2). The Juang-dz, ch. Iv, tremely difficult in grain-eating China, is well
7: sa (this passage probably dates from some known in later literature; cf. Wang Chung's
time during the iii to i cent. B.C.; H. Giles, Lun-heng, trans. by A. Forke, I, 343-45.
68 Homer H. Dubs
among the members of the suite to the former recognized that place, so that all those [at the
Marquis of Shen-tse, [Jao Hsiu].' He concealed banquet] were astounded.
his age and where he had been born and had When [Li] Shao-jiun had an audience with
grown up, and regularly himself said that, [ever the Emperor, the Emperor had an antique bronze
since] he had been in his seventieth [year],27 he vessel and asked [Li] Shao-jun about it. [Li]
had been able to command [spiritual] beings Shao-jun replied, 'This vessel was employed by
and to avoid old age, that he was traveling Duke Huan of Tsi in the tenth year [of his reign]
about in order that his recipes might be every- at the Bo-tsin [Terrace] ." 9 When he had fin-
where known to the nobles, and that he had ished, its inscription was examined, and it was
no wife or children. really a vessel [made for] Duke Huan of Tsi.
People reported that he was able to command Everyone in the palace was startled and con-
[spiritual] beings and that he would not die. One
sidered that [Li] Shao-jiun was god-like, a man
by one they gave him food and presents, so that who was several centuries [old.
he constantly had a surplus of gold, cash, clothes, Li] Shao-jiun spoke to the Emperor, saying
and food. People [accordingly] all thought that 'You should worship the Stove and then you can
he followed no trade and yet had an abundance make [spiritual] beings present themselves;
and moreover did not know what was his native when [spiritual] beings have presented them-
place, so that they all the more believed in him selves, cinnabar powder can be metamorphosed
and vied to serve him. into gold (huang-jin); when this gold has been
[Li] Shao-jiin relied upon his skill in recipesmade, it can be used for vessels for drinking
and was good at making clever statements which and eating, and will increase the length of your
mysteriously hit the mark. He once attended a life; when the length of your life has been in-
banquet given by the Marquis of Wu-an, [Tien creased, the immortals of Peng-lai in the midst
Fen].' Among those present there was a vener- of the ocean can thereupon be given audience;
able man who was more than ninety [years old. when they have been given audience, by [making
Li] Shao-jiun thereupon told about a place to the sacrifices] feng and shan,'? you will never die.
which he had gone with this [man's] grandfather The Yellow Lord did this.' Your subject once
for archery. This venerable man, when he had traveled on the ocean and had an audience with
been a boy, had accompanied his grandfather and Master An-chi.L Master An-chi fed your serv-
' For Jao Hsiu, cf. SJ i8: 72; HS i6: 38a. troller or master of recipes was thus the person
Shen-tse" was located near the present place by in charge of making specially curious, powerful,
the same name, in southwestern Hobei; cf. or spiritual articles -quite the proper position
Wang Sien-chien's note to HS 28 Bii: iga. Li for an alchemist. The common term for "magi-
Shao-jiun may have come from that locality, but cian" is moreover fang-shzhax, lit. "a gentleman
his connection with Master An-chi would locate [possessing] recipes."
him in eastern Shandung. ' Confucius was said to have attained per-
The marquisate of Shen-tse had been ended fection in his seventieth vear (Analects II, iv)
in 148 B.C., when Jao Hsiu was sentenced for this statement is in imitation of Confucius and
crime, dismissed from his marquisate as part of probably equates Li Shao-jiin to a certain extent
his punishment, and put in charge of apprehend- with Confucius.
ing brigands (made a sz-koUat), which latter was ' Tien Fen was a half-uncle of Emperor Wu,
a form of punishment. Since 148, Li Shao-jiin was ennobled in 14i B.C., and became lieutenant
had probably been visiting various nobles, prac- chancellor (the highest minister) in i35. Li
tising his arts. Shao-jiin was thus received in the highest social
HS ch. 25 and SJ ch. 12 find difficult the circles.
phrase "members of the suite (she-renau)"X and ' This date corresponds to 676 B.C., 543 years
emend it by dropping the she. After 104 B.C., earlier! Liang Yii-shengaY (1745-i8i9) points
the title, "member of the suite" was permitted out that, according to the Yen-dz Chun-tsiu"
to be used for retainers of imperial or royal heir- 6: 2b, this terrace was built by Duke Jing, who
apparents only. In the time of Emperor Wen reigned 547-490 B.C. Sz-ma Tsien used this book
and earlier, such titles were used freely by other (SJ 62: io) and this anachronism may explain
nobles. This title, "member of the suite," is ac- his polite scepticism of Li Shao-juin.
cordingly evidence that SJ ch. 28 is the original ' For the sacrifice feng, which was made to
document for this account and that this passage Heaven, cf. HFHD, II, 86, n. 25.i. For the cor-
dates from before 104 B.C. (cf. HFHD, II, 99). responding sacrifice shan, to Earth, cf. MH, I,
In a note to 11S 25 A: 22a, Ru Shun explains xcvi f.
the title, "controller of recipes (ju-fang`)'' as, "The Yellow Lord (Huang-dib", a name usu-
"He was controller of recipes for medicines." But ally and incorrectly translated "Yellow Em-
in the imperial court, the master of recipes peror"; cf. Jour. Amer. Orient. Soc'y, 65 [1945],
(shang-fangaw) was "in charge of the best handi- 27), was considered to be one of the first and
craftsmen, who made the imperial swords and greatest of Daoist immortals, divinities, and
sabers, the various valuable utensils and articles" alchemists.
(HHS, Treatise 26: 7b). The difference between 'In a note to SJ 12: 7, Sz-ma Jeng quotes
the titles "controller of recipes (ju-fang)" and Fu Chien"b (ca. 125-ca. 195) on Master An-chib"
"master of recipes (shang-fang)" is merely one as saying, "An ancient perfect man [an immortal
of lesser or greater dignity. Ju and shang both of a higher grade]." The Account of Various
have the meanings "chief," "director." A con- lhn,nortals, p. 25a,b, contains a notice of him.
ant' jujubes as large as melons. Master An-chi Sometime afterwards, Li Shao-jun became ill
is an immortal who is in communication with and died. The Son of Heaven considered that he
those on [the isle of] Peng-lai. When it suits had metamorphosed and left and had not died,
him, he appears to people, and when it does not so he sent Kuan Shu, a clerk [whose native place
suit him, he remains hidden.' was in the counties] Huang and Chui,8' to receive
Thereupon the Son of Heaven, [Emperor his recipes and to seek for Master An-chi of
Wu], for the first time worshiped the Stove in Peng-lai. He was not able to secure any of
person, sent gentlemen (possessors] of recipes them.' But many gentlemen [possessors of]
(fang-shzh) out into the ocean to seek for Mas- marvellous and strange recipes from the sea-
ter An-chi and similar [beings from the isle of] coasts of [the former states of] Yen and Tsi "
Peng-lai, and paid attention to metamorphosing came one by one and spoke of matters concern-
powdered cinnabar and potions of various drugs ing the gods.
into gold (huang-jin).
This passage indicates that Chinese alchemy originally had as its most important
goal the prolongation of life and was accompanied by a cult of certain demi-gods or
Jang Shou-dzie, in a note to this passage of the pronounced shzh and the other fu. Since shzhb,
SJ, quotes from this Account. In the following lit. "market," would hardly be used as a given
translation, words in the present Account and name [cf. super n. 37], this man's given name
omitted in Jang Shou-dzie's quotation are set in was almost surely Fu.)
braces, those in the quotation and not in the Master Lu was sent out into the ocean in 215
present Account are set in parentheses: B.C.; cf. MH, II, i67. He was probably executed
"Master An-chi was a man from Fou- in 212 with other learned persons; cf. ibid., i8i.
hsiang commune in Lang-ye [commandery] . Master An-chi was a historical person who
He sold medicine on the shore {of the Eastern lived during the iii cent. B.C., down to the be-
Ocean.b People of the time all said that he ginning of Han times. SJ 94: 12 = HS 45: 6a
was an old gentleman a thousand years [of says: "[Kuail Che [fl. 209-200 B.C.; the his-
age] .} tories call him Kuai Tungbt, because Che'g was
"When the First Emperor of the Tsin the given name of Emperor Wu, which word was
[dynasty] {made a trip to the east, [prob. in
accordingly tabooed and changed] was an inti-
220 B.C.; cf. MH, II, 431] he} asked him {to mate friend of Master An-chi, who was from
come to an audience and} talked with him for [the feudal state of] Tsi. Master An-chi once
{three days and} three nights. He granted made a proposal to Hsiang [Dzi] Yubh [who
him gold {and jade circlets to the value of} first became prominent in 208 and died 203/2
millions [of cash]. B.C.], [but] Hsiang [Dzi] Yu could not use his
"When he went out from Fou-hsiang com- plan. Yet when Hsiang [Dzi] Yu wished to
mune [to become an immortal], everyone enfeoff these two persons, these two persons in
gave him [banquets]. When he went, he left the end were not willing to receive [any reward
a writing with a pair of red jade [adorned] from him], fled, and went away."
clogs as a recompense. It said, 'After {sev- Huang-fu Mib" (iii cent. A.D.) identified this
eral} thousand years seek for me at (the foot Master An-chi with the one who talked with the
of) Mt. Peng-lai.' {The First Emperor im- First Emperor.
mediately sent as his messengers, Si! Fu, Mas- ' For "chenbl, your servant," which is the
ter Lu, and others,' [numbering] several hun- reading of HS 25 A: 22b, SJ 28: 47 reads "jijbk
dred persons, out into the ocean. Before they large." The other editions of the passage in
had reached Mt. Peng-lai, they met with Takigawa's SJ 12: 7 read jii, but Sz-ma Jeng
winds and waves and returned. [The Em- quotes Bao Kaib" (fl. dur. 589-6i8) as remark-
peror] set up, by tens, temples on the border ing that jii should perhaps be emended to chen.
of the ocean in Fou-hsiang commune.}"
Jang Wen-hubl (i8o8-i885) remarks that Mao
a Fou-hsiang was a place located near the Dzin'sbm ed. of the SJ (pub. i64I) read chen.
present Tsing-dao (Tsingtao), Shandung. In the Takigawa has emended accordingly. Yen Jou
county of Bu-ji (the present Dzi-mo [Tsi-mo]) Shzh-gu approves chen, saying that it makes
there were in Han times "nine temples to the better sense. MH, III, 466 adopts jiu from SJ
Great One's (Tai-yibd) immortals" (HS 28 Aiii: ch. 28. I read chen.
4a).
b This medicine was probably a drug said to 'SHuangbn and Chuibo were two counties and
produce immortality. This practise of extending
cities located in the north of the Shandung
life by such medical means was a popular cult
peninsula. Chui was near the present Jzh-fou
(Chefoo)bP; Huang was southeast of the present
even in the iv cent. B.C.; cf. super n. I5.
e Si! Fu is mentioned in the SJ as having been place by the name of Huang; cf. MH, III, 466,
n. 3; HS 28 Aiii: ia, 2a.
sent out in 2I9 B.C. into the ocean by the First
Emperor to seek for the isles of Peng-lai and 3 The statement is missing from HS ch. 25 A,
others; cf. MH, II, 151-2, also n. I (Chavannes about seeking Master An-chi and not finding
transcribes his name as "Siu Che" in the text, him.
but as "Siu Fou" in his note. D. Bodde, China's ' This phrase denoted the coastal area of the
First Unifier, ii5, transcribes it as "Hsu Shih."
present Shandung, Hobei, and southern Man-
There are two characters that appear to be churia. It was the area in which alchemy
identical, except for the manner of writing, one originated.
70 Homer H. Dubs
immortals, many of whom were human beings that had achieved immortality and
might bestow this and other blessings. Alchemy was under the care of a special god,
the Stove, a beautiful old woman clad in red garments with her hair done up in a knot
on the top of her head. As the divinity in charge of cooking and brewing medicines,
she naturally took care of alchemy too. There were recipes for turning into gold a
mixture of various ingredients, among which cinnabar (mercuri sulfide) was the most
prominent. This alchemistic gold was to be used for vessels, by eating and drinking
from which, life could be prolonged, and, by additional mystical sacrifices, immortality
could be gained.
It is characteristic of the age that nothing is said about gaining wealth by making
alchemistic gold. This omission is almost surely due to the anti-commercial atmos-
phere of the time. The Former Han rulers inherited an antagonism to mercantile
pursuits from the legalistic philosophic school, whose teachings had been adopted in
the state of Tsin. Merchants were regarded as parasites upon the body politic and
were penalized in many ways. They were called "reprobated persons" and were con-
sidered as almost criminals, they and their descendants being excluded from official
position and being subject to special sumptuary restrictions and to special drafts for
military service in distant regions.37 Ambition for wealth was consequently considered
despicable and official or noble position was esteemed as the only honorable occupation
for an intelligent person. Officials and nobles however took care to provide themselves
with abundant worldly goods. While then the desire for wealth was undoubtedly a
factor in the promotion of alchemy in China, as it was later in the occident, yet,
because of the Chinese cultural atmosphere, this feature was looked down upon and
is not mentioned in the documents.
In December, 123 or January, 122 B.C., there died Liu Anbpa, King of Huai-nan.
A dilettante philosopher, he entertained as guests many persons who were not welcomed
at the imperial court. Eight of these guests wrote for him a book, now called the
Huai-nan-dz.38 This book does not contain any explicit alchemy,39 which fact is
understandable since this pursuit had become illegal. The book does however contain
the earliest mention of the Chinese word for mercury, in a passage that might well have
come from an ancient alchemistic writing: 40
When the effluvia (chi) from the main lands'1 ascend to the dusty heavens,'2 the dusty heavens
87Cf. HFHD, I, 255, & n. 4; II, 63, n. i5.io; of the Huai-nan-dz. The "work of Huai-nan-tzu
68, & n. I7.2; io8, n. 35.2; 255, & n. 4; 392. which is not now known to exist, the Chen
' The title, Huai-nan-dz q means "The Mas- Chung Hung Pao" mentioned "by Ko Hung," of
ter (or Teacher) [in the kingdom of] Huai-nan." which Davis speaks (ibid., 333) is the "'Great
Some parts of this book are translated by E. Treasure' in the pillow" mentioned in the passage
Morgan, under the title, Tao the Great Lumi- translated, super n. 85.
nant. It contains much mystic, supernatural, 'The following passage is from the Huai-
and Daoistic matter. nan-dz (Commercial Press ed., in the "Sz-bu
Liu An believed he ought to succeed to the Tsung-kanbr" ed.) 4: iia, b; also in Liu Wen-
imperial throne. He made mild preparations for dien's ed., the Huai-nan Hung-lie Dzi-jiebs (1921)
a rebellion, but hesitated; it was discovered, and 4: 17a-i8b. It is also quoted in TPYL 7o:
he committed suicide. 5b-6b.
His kingdom was located along the sea-coast "In the TPYL quotation there is an ancient
south of the Huai River, in the present northern gloss: "The main landsbt are the central lands,"
Anhui. His capital was near the present city of i.e., the central part of ancient China; cf. n. 93.
Shou, which is very near the Huai River. This The term chibu, here trans. "effluvia," was a
locality is not far from the Shandung sea-coast, commonly used word denoting any kind of
where alchemistic doctrines flourished. vapor, superstitious emanation, or phenomenon.
'T. L. Davis, "The Dualistic Cosmology of The TPYL gloss explains it as "the moisture that
Huai-nan-tzu and its Relations to the Back- ascendsb"." The later neo-Confucians used chi to
ground of Chinese and of European Chemistry," denote matter-possessing-energy.
Isis, 35 (1936), 334, makes this statement. It is 42The "aib- [lit., "dust"] -heavens" perhaps
not known that Liu An himself wrote any part refers to the dust-storms common in north
in five hundred years 8 givelightning.6
birth to iie,
Those " jue
[effluvia] in
that were above
thereupon come down [as rain],' and the run-
five hundred years gives birth to yellow quick-
silver, 8 yellow quicksilver in five hundred years ning waters thereupon flow along and unite in
gives birth to yellow metal (gold), " and yellow the Yellow Sea.!'
metal in a thousand years gives birth to a yellow When the effluvia from the edge lands'
dragon.47 Where the yellow dragon enters into ascend to the azure heavens," the azure heavens
[permanent] hibernation, it gives birth to the in eight hundred years give birth to azurite,5'
Yellow Springs." When the particles from the azurite in eight hundred years gives birth to
Yellow Springs ascend and become yellow azure quicksilver, azure quicksilver in eight hun-
clouds," the yin and yang beat upon one an- dred years gives birth to azure metal (lead), and
other, produce peals of thunder, and fly out as azure metal in a thousand years' gives birth to
China, which was then the center of civilization. 23.5. The TPYL gloss says, "The essence (dzing)
The TPYL gloss states, "The ai-heavens are the of yellow metal (gold) is the yellow dragon."
central [heavens]." The "Yellow Springs"" are the springs un-
' Gao Yubx (wrote 205-212), in a note, ex- der the earth, and by metonymy, this term was
plains, "The number of the central [quarter] is anciently used to denote the place of the dead.
five, hence in five hundred years it metamor- Duke Juang's mother conspired against him and
phoses once." The Chinese have five quarters: he swore to her, "Not until you have reached the
the occidental four directions plus the center. Yellow Springs will I see you again." Later he
Gao Yu should have added that the central repented, dug a tunnel down to ground water
level,
quarter is under the control of the power, and was reunited with her in the tunnel;
earth,
cf. Dzo-juan, Legge's trans., 29sn, 6a; Erkes,
whose color is yellow and whose number is five
and ten. This doctrine is from Dzou Yen's T'oung Pao, vol. 35, p. I88. The TPYL gloss
theory of the five powers (cf. n. 9, 7i). says, "The 'Yellow Springs' are the intermittent
"The word jiie or chiue is here writtenby springs for the essence (dzing) of the yellow
andb. It should probably be written"a, which is dragon."
the name of some sort of mineral, probably real- This connection of gold with the realm of the
gar. Gao Yu glosses the phrase "yellow metal," dead is probably an allusion to the fairy isles of
saying, "'Yellow metal' is the name of a min- Peng-lai, etc., where dwelt the dead who had
eral." In a note to Wu Pu'scb (iii cent. A.D.) become immortals.
discussion of realgar in his Herbal, Li Shzh-jencc 'The TPYL gloss says, "Their effluvia (chi)
(xvi cent.) remarks, "It can metamorphose into ascend to heaven." The ai "particles" probably
gold, hence the Herbals also call it 'the yellow denote water vapor.
metal (gold) mineral"d';" cf. H. T. Chang, Lapi- ' The TPYL note says, "It means that the
darium Sinicum, p. x8o, in "Mem. Geol. Survey yellow effluvia (chi) precipitate themselves and
of China," ser. B, no. 2, May, 1921 (in Chinese). attack one another." The yin and yang are then
'4 Wang Nien-sun" (I744-I832) remarks that effluvia. Neo-Confucianism included them among
the present text reads, "Jiue in five hundred years the chi.
gives birth to yellow dust, yellow dust in five 'The TPYL gloss says, "Their effluvia (chi)
hundred years gives birth to yellow quicksilver," are injured and return to the world below (tien-
and that eight Chinese characters must be hsiak) "
dropped as a dittographic interpolation, in or- 52 Gao Yu glosses, "The Yellow Sea is the
der to retain the parallelism with subsequent central sea," which could hardly have been the
passages. This emendation is made in the trans- present Yellow Sea. The ancient Chinese placed
lation. four seas at the four extremities of the continent.
Gao Yu also states, "'Hungcf is quicksilvercg." This is the fifth one, in the center, possibly
The TPYL gloss says, "Yellow hung is beautiful philosophical in its location.
icy silverch." "Beautiful icy silver" looks like 6 The TPYL gloss says, "The edge lands
another early name for quicksilver. This is the (pien-tucl) are the lands on the [eastern] quar-
first mention of quicksilver in Chinese literature. ter." Since the ocean is to the east of China, it
Is "yellow quicksilver" a name for a mixture was natural to call its coastal areas "the edge
of mercury and sulfur? These were two impor- lands."
tant ingredients in Chinese recipes for alchemical 'Wang Nien-sun comments that the wordem
gold. Cf. Geber in the x cent. A.D. (Holmyard, ("clear heavens") in the text must be emended
in Proc. Roy. Soc'y of Medicine, i6 [I9231, II; to"f ("azure heavens"), which is the reading of
A. J. Hopkins, Alchemy Child of Greek Philoso- the TPYL and fits the rest of this passage. He
phy 11934], p. 121), "The metals are all, in explains, "It means the eastern heavens."
essence, composed of mercury combined and ' The TPYL gloss says, "Dzeng-tsing00 (azu-
coagulated with sulfur." rite) is an azure (tsing) mineral." For its lon-
""Yellow metal (huang-j-n)"' was anciently gevity producing quality, cf. n. ig. Gao Yu
the common name for gold; cf. HFHD, I I75, explains, "The eastern quarter [is under the con-
n. 2; iii, n. 3; note ii6 of the present paper. trol of the power] wood, whose color is azure
'The yellow dragon was a specially auspi- (tsing). Its number is eight, hence in eight hun-
cious mythological spedes distinct from other dred years it metamorphoses once." Tsing is the
dragons; cf. if. Chavannes, Mission Archeolo-color of nature: of vegetation and of the sky
gique, I1, p. 236 & fig. I67; B. Laufer, Chinese usually green or blue, and even (since the sky is
Grave Sculptures, 26 f, pl. VIII. Yelow dragons sometimes naturally dark) black or gray.
are reported to have appeared in ancient China 'The text reads "eight hundred years," but
at various times; cf. HFHD, I, 258; II, 26I, n. Wang Nien-sun points out that the TPYL quota-
72 Homer H. Dubs
an azure dragon. Where the azure dragon enters cend to the white heavens, the white heavens in
into [permanent] hibernation, it gives birth to nine hundred years give birth to white arsenic
the Azure Springs.! When the particles from the ore, white arsenic ore in nine hundred years
Azure Springs ascend and become azure clouds, gives birth to white quicksilver, white quicksilver
the yin and yang beat upon one another, pro- in nine hundred years gives birth to white metal
duce peals of thunder, and fly out as lightning. (silver),' and white metal in a thousand years
Those [effluvia] that were above thereupon gives birth to a white dragon.' Where the white
come down [as rain], and the running waters dragon enters into [permanent] hibernation, it
thereupon flow along and unite in the Azure gives birth to the White Springs. When the
Sea.' particles from the White Springs ascend and
When the effluvia from the bull lands'9 as- become white clouds, the yin and yang beat
cend to the red heavens, the red heavens in upon one another, produce peals of thunder, and
seven hundred years o give birth to red cinnabar, fly out as lightning. Those [effluvia] that were
red cinnabar in seven hundred years gives birth to above thereupon come down [as rain] and the
red quicksilver, red quicksilver in seven hundred running streams thereupon flow on and unite in
years gives birth to red metal (copper), and red the White Sea.'
metal in a thousand years gives birth to a red When the effluvia from the cow lands'T as-
dragon. Where the red dragon enters into [per- cend to the dark heavens, the dark heavens in
manent] hibernation, it gives birth to the Red six hundred years' give birth to black whet-
Springs.6' When the particles from the Red stones, black whetstones in six hundred years
Springs ascend and become red clouds, the yin give birth to black quicksilver, black quicksilver
and yang beat upon one another, produce peals in six hundred years gives birth to black metal
of thunder, and fly out as lightning. Those (iron), and black metal in a thousand years
[effluvia] that were above thereupon come down gives birth to a black dragon. Where the black
as rain and the running waters thereupon flow dragon enters into [permanent] hibernation, it
on and unite in the Red SeaY2 gives birth to the Black Springs. When the par-
When the effluvia from the weak lands ' as- ticles from the Black Springs ascend and become
tion correctly reads "a thousand years," which is

Si-chuancw, which was at that time in the ex-
required by the parallelism. Someone misplaced treme south of the Chinese realm.
Gao Yu's note (quoted in n. 55) to this place e Gao Yu explains, "It is the sea on the south-
from its original position after the word "quick-
ern quarter."
silver," with the result that the text got altered 'The TPYL gloss says, "The 'Weak Lands'
to fit the number in that note. are the lands on the western quarter." Because
6Wang Mang gave the name of "Azure the Etzin-gol (in present Gansu [Kansuhi and
Springs, Tsing-tsiuan", to a place previously called
Ninghsia) in the west of ancient China was not
Wei-chi"', which was located south of the pres- strong enough for its water to reach the ocean, it
ent Lin-yicq in southeastern Shandung, near the was anciently called the "Weak Water"; cf. Book
coast (HS 28 Aiii: 7b), thus testifying to the of History, III, I, 73; ii, 5; Legge, Shoo King,
connection of "Azure Springs" with the east. 123, I32. The far west is here accordingly called
' Gao Yu explains, "It is the sea in the eastern the "Weak Lands." This name, "Weak Water,"
quarter." later produced the myth that the water of this
Instead of moucr (meaning "the male of ani- river was so weak it could not float articles.
mals") some texts read juang", which is a copy- 'Gao Yu glosses, "The western quarter [is
ist's error. The TPYL note says, "The juang under the control of the power] metal, whose
lands are the lands in the southern quarter." color is white. Its number is nine, hence in nine
Wang Nien-sun points out that the text should hundred years it metamorphoses once."
read mou, since the northern lands are later In II9 B.C., Emperor Wu issued "White met-
called "the pin lands," cf. n. 67. al" coins, debasing the coinage by using an alloy
e Gao Yu explains, "The southern quarter [is of silver and tin; cf. MH, III, 565 ff.
under the control of the power] fire, whose color 5 Outside the Chinese frontier and the ancient
is red. [The word used, chzhct, denotes a rose- Han limes to the extreme west, in the extreme
red, incarnadine.] Its number is seven, hence in northeastern extension of the ancient salt bed of
seven hundred years it metamorphoses once." Lop-nor, there are salt-mounds that were an-
Cinnabar was anciently produced in south- ciently called the White Dragon Mounds; cf. A.
western China; cf. the Book of History I, vii, 52; Stein, Serindia, I, 341.
Legge, Shoo King, p. i55; HS 28 Ai: i6a; HHS, ' Gao Yu explains, "It is the sea on the west-
Tr. 23 A: 8b, i 7b. Hence cinnabar was connected ern quarter."
with the southern quarter. 7 The gloss in the TPYL states, "The cow
61In 202 B.C. a certain Yang Hsi was made lands are the lands in the northern quarter." The
Marquis of a place called "Red Springs (Chzh- word here translated "cow" is pin", which means
tsiiancu, " whose location is not specified. Sz-ma lit. "the female of animals."
Jeng identifies it with a place later called "the ' Gao Yu comments, "The northern quarter
Cinnabar River County (Dan-shui-hsienc") ," [is under the control of the power] water, whose
thus illustrating the widespread ancient connec- color is black. Its number is six, hence in six
tion of "red springs" with "cinnabar"; cf. SJ 7: hundred years it metamorphoses once." "WVhet-
74=MH, II, 32I, & n. 2. This place was located stones" are mentioned because they were con-
in southwestern Honan, south of the present sidered as "hard as iron."
black clouds, the yin and yang beat upon one thereupon come down [as rain] and the running
another, produce peals of thunder, and fly out as waters thereupon flow on and unite in the Black
lightning. Those [effluvia] that were above Sea.'9
The foregoing is exactly what would be expected in a passage from a pre-Christian

Chinese alchemistic book, with all mention of artificial transmutation omitted because
of its illegality. It contains much erroneous geology and chemistry, yet these very
errors account for the ingredients later alchemists used in their attempts to make gold:
realgar, sulfur, white arsenic, cinnabar, and especially mercury. The latter is declared
to transmute into any of the five metals: gold, lead, copper, silver and iron, depending
upon its color. It is what later alchemists called a "spirit," exhibiting its properties
when it is associated with other chemicals.70 With this alchemical material is mixed
the theory of the five powers, their respective colors, metals, and their respective
directions: earth = yellow = gold = center, wood = azure = lead = east, fire = red = cop-
per = south, metal = white = silver = west, and water = black = iron = north. This con-
nexion of the powers with the colors was so pervasive in ancient China that the mention
of a color always raises a strong presumption that its associated power is being
discussed. This theory of the five powers and their correspondences originated with
Dzou Yen. The order of the powers in this passage is that used in Dzou Yen's own
theory.71 This passage may indeed have been taken from a work by Dzou Yen or
someone in his school. Alchemy originated in the area where he lived and taught,72
and he is said to have written on this subject.73
The really interesting part of this passage is the first of these paragraphs, which
explains the production of gold. This metal is given the imperial position - the
center - and is connected with 3ue (very likely realgar or sulfur), yellow quicksilver,
and the future life (the Yellow Springs). Thus it is hinted obscurely that gold is the
drug which produces immortality - an important theme in Chinese alchemy.
The difference between this passage and alchemistic writings is merely that the goal
of the latter is the artificial production of gold, towards which this passage merely
takes the first step, by describing the natural production of gold as a spontaneous
metamorphosis of certain minerals.74 Such metamorphosis or change is a well-known
doctrine in ancient Chinese philosophy,75 which here is applied to minerals. The secret
of early Chinese alchemical method is thus revealed: with the aid of divine beings,
men can hasten this natural metamorphosis and thereby bring about alchemical trans-
mutation. Attention in ancient times was naturally drawn to the "expulsion" of
mercury from cinnabar.76 The reconversion into cinnabar of mercury and sulfur may
also have then been known. It was certainly known later. It is extremely likely that
an analogy with this behavior of mercury brought about the concept of alchemy. The
production of a liquid, mercury, from a solid, cinnabar, appears to be a case of an
actual mineral metamorphosis. Alchemy is then merely a particular case of the many
metamorphoses that continually occur. Since mercury has the power of metamorphos-
ing itcelf into cinnabar, it also metamorphoses into other substances, and, by proper
U Gao Yu explains, "It is the sea on theon deposits of cinnabar, so that such a spon-
northern quarter." taneous metamorphosis was plausible.
'Hopkins, Alchemy, p. 68. ' Cf. HCP, 212, 220, 225-26, 387-9o; Hu Shih,
The Development of the Logical Method in
n Gu Jie-gangey, Gu-shzh-bien", V, 428. The
China (which must be used with caution),
order of the powers was changed by theorists of
131-39.
other schools; cf. ibid., seqq.
'This process was known in ancient China.
' Cf. super n. 2i. This fourth book of the
The Huai-nan Wan-bi-shu, (probably i cent.
Huai-nan-dz, from which is translated this pas-
A.D.) quoted in TPYL 988: 6a, declares, "Ver-
sage, begins with Dzou Yen's list of the nine
milion sand (cinnabar) becomes quicksilver."
continents (cf. n. 89) and ends with this al-
The belief in metamorphosis among living be-
chemistic passage.
ings, such as a fox into a human being, which lay
78 Cf. super n. 87. behind ancient alchemy, was anciently very
Globules of impure mercury occur naturally widespread.
74 Homer H. Dubs
manipulation, can be turned into gold. All that is needed is mercury of the proper
color. We can indeed deduce from the above account a recipe for alchemy: color
mercury with orpiment or/and sulfur,77 appeal to the proper divinity, and apply a
process that will accelerate the natural metamorphosis, probably by having the god of
the Stove roast the mixture some number of times that is a multiple of five - few
would have the patience to roast it five hundred times - and gold will come.
To sum up this incident: in the Huai-nan-dz, written before I22 B.C., there is a
passage stating the doctrine underlying ancient alchemy - the metamorphosis of min-
erals - which comes from the school of Dzou Yen, possibly from that Master himself.
In II3 B.C., another magician, Luan Da or Taida, was sent to Emperor Wu and
made a deep impression upon him. This man had been a slave in the palace of and
master of recipes (skang-fang) to King Kang of Jiao-dung, a kingdom located in the
Shandung peninsula, with its capital at Dzi-mo, near the present place by the same
name, not far from Tsing-dao. This man achieved the highest honors among the suc-
cession of magicians patronized by Emperor Wu. He declared that he had met im-
mortals, such as Master An-chi, Sien-men Gao, and others, but had been despized by
them, because of his status, for they despized even kings. He promised: "Gold can be
made, the break [in the dike of the Yellow] River can be stopped up, the drug that
produces immortality can be secured, and immortals can be brought to come [to the
imperial court]." 78 Emperor Wu is not said to have asked him to produce gold, but
directed him to bring immortals. This omission seems to imply that, in accordance
with Li Shao-jiin's order of procedure,79 alchemical gold vessels had already been made.
Or it may have been that the Emperor was chiefly longing for his deceased favorite,
the Lady nee Wang.80 The Emperor, who had discovered deception in the magicians
that had previously worked for him, had Luan Da carefully watched. When he failed
to achieve any materializations and attempted to flee out into the ocean, he was executed
as a deceiver. This magician, like Li Shao-jiUn, promised to make alchemical gold, but
only the materialization of immortals was attempted.
In an edict dated April, I05 B.C., Emperor Wu mentions an incident that may well
have been a seemingly successful attempt at alchemy: "\WThen We performed the rites
to Mount Shou, the fields at its foot produced precious things which metamorphosed,
some of which became yellow metal (gold)." 81 In view of the fact that this incident
is not mentioned elsewhere, it is impossible to interpret it with any assurance.
Perhaps the most interesting incident in alchemy of the pre-Christian era is Liu
Hsiang's attempt to make gold, assisted by the vast imperial wealth. This incident
has not found its way into occidental literature, probably because it reflects no credit
upon him or upon alchemy, so that Chinese alchemists have neglected it.
Liu Hsiangdb (lived 79-8 B.C.82) was no charlatan or magician, but a thoroughly up-
right man, who later manifested unusual ability as an astronomer, literary man, and
scholar. He was one of the really learned men in Former Han times, and wrote poems,
Either by floating the coloring material upon " Cf. super n. 30.
the mercury or by triturating the mixture to ' Cf. MH, III, 47-.
flour the mercury. 'HS 6: 3ob=HFHD, II, 97.
7SJ 28: 58=HS 25 A: 27b=MH, III, 479. ' On this disputed date, I accept the argu-
For an evaluation of Luan Da, cf. HFHD, II, ments of C. S. Gardner, Chinese Historiography,
19-20. 33, n. 7.
essays, works on astronomy, astrology, portents, etc. He prepared a catalog of the

books in the Imperial Private Library (completed by his son, Liu Hsin), which con-
stitutes the first among the great bibliographies of Chinese literature. He was a fifth
generation descendant from the younger brother of the founder of the Han imperial
line, so that, while he was a sufficiently distant relative and was consequently not
disbarred as a member of the imperial house from office in the bureaucracy at the
imperial capital, yet he was an actual relative of the Emperor and was trusted and
protected because of that relationship. His given name was originally Geng-sheng.
This was his name at the time of his attempt at alchemy. Later he changed his given
name to Hsiang, by which he is commonly known.83 His father, Liu De, was a Daoist
and the Superintendent of the Imperial House (Dzung-jeng), a high ministerial posi-
tion (later for a time attained by Liu Hsiang himself) that gave him general oversight
of the imperial clan. Liu De had been ennobled as Marquis of Yang-cheng with the
income from I300 households.
In 6i B.C., Emperor Siuan became interested in imitating the practises of his grand-
father, Emperor Wu. He accordingly instituted sacrifices to the five sacred mountains
and the four great rivers. Certain gentlemen possessors of recipes (magicians) induced
him to establish governmentally supported worship of some twenty-odd other divini-
ties, among them the immortals of certain mountains.84 In 6o B.C., Liu Hsiang, who
was then only in his twentieth year, was promoted to be a Grandee Remonstrant
(lien Da-fu), an honorary court position as an imperial advisor. Seeing that the Em-
peror was interested in immortals, Liu Hsiang, with a young man's enthusiasm, declared
that gold could be made and suggested that the Emperor have him make the attempt.
Here is Ban Gu's report of this incident: 85
[Liu Geng-sheng Hsiang] presented to the time of Emperor Wu, investigated the case of
throne the matter of reviving the arts and [the King of] Huai-nan, and had secured his
recipes of the divine immortals. Moreover, [the books.'
King of] Huai-nan, [Liu An], had had in his [Liu] Geng-sheng [Hsiang] was young. He
pillow [for safekeeping] writings [entitled "The had moreover read and expounded [these writ-
Great Treasure (Hung-baod`)" and "The Secret ings] and considered them precious, so presented
of the Park (Yfian-bidd)." ' These writings told them [to the throne], saying, "Gold can be
about divine immortals and the art of inducing made." The Emperor ordered that he should be
spiritual beings to make gold, together with Dzou put in charge of [the office of] the Master of
Yen's recipe for prolonging life by a repeated Recipes (Shang-fang),' for the purpose of mak-
method [of transmutation].' People of that age ing [alchemical gold].
had not seen these [writings], but [Liu] De, the He expended very much [money], but with-
father of [Liu] Geng-sheng [Hsiang], had, in the out any success, so the Emperor committed
'To make his identity clearer, in the subse- fident that chung-dao refers to alchemy. This
quent translation I shall append to his earlier "repeated method" was one of the mysteries
given name, Geng-sheng, his later name, Hsiang. often mentioned by later Chinese alchemists.
8'HS 25 B: 8a-gb.
' It cannot have been Liu De who investi-
' This passage is found in HS 36: 6b-7a.
gated the King of Huai-nan in 123 B.C. Liu
' The parallel passage in HS 25 B: gb says:
Feng-shzhd" (1041-1113) remarks that when
"The grandee Liu Geng-sheng [Hsiang] pre-
Emperor Jao ascended the throne in 87 B.C., Liu
sented to the throne the recipes, "The Great
De is said to have been "more than thirty years
Treasure" and "The Secrets of the Park," which
of age" (HS 36: 4b), so that he could not have
had been in the pillow of [the King of] Huai-
been born before I26 B.C. Indeed, he was prob-
nan, [Liu An]."
ably not even born when the King of Huai-nan
' The phrase chung-daode, which is here trans- died. Liu Feng-shzh suggests that it was Liu
lated "repeated method," quite likely denotes the
De's father, Liu Bi-chiang (lived I64-85 B.C.),
procedure of repeatedly heating the alchemical
who investigated the King of Huai-nan's treason.
mixture for the number of times required by the
Liu De may have secured these books from his
number corresponding to the color of the metal
father, so that Liu Hsiang really got them from
- for gold, five or a multiple. Alternatively this
Liu De.
phrase may have denoted the method of purifying
cinnabar bv roasting the raw impure cinnabar to On the duties of this official, cf. n. 26. The
expel its mercury, then heating this mercury with office of the Master of Recipes was located in the
an excess of sulfur to secure purified cinnabar or palace where the emperor regularly lived, the
vermilion. In this context, we can be fairly con- Wei-yang Palace.
76 Homer H. Dubs
[Liu] Geng-sheng [Hsiang] to the [proper] ransom the crime of [Liu] Geng-sheng [Hsiang].
officials. The officials impeached [Liu] Geng- The Emperor also valued [Liu Geng-sheng
sheng [Hsiang] for having [violated the law of Hsiang's] ability, so that he was allowed to
i44 B.C. against] making false [alchemical] [live in prison] over the winter [season, during
gold. He was imprisoned and was sentenced to which time alone executions were performed],
death. [But Liu] Geng-sheng [Hsiang's] elder and, at a [court] discussion, [it was decided
brother, the Marquis of Yang-cheng, [Liu] An- that his sentence of] death should be reduced
ming, presented to the throne a message offering [to the lighter penalty proposed by his elder
to pay [to the imperial government] half of the brother] .'
households in his [marquis's] estate in order to
For the history of alchemy, perhaps the most interesting feature in the foregoing
account in Liu Hsiang's connection of alchemy with the names of Liu An, King of
' The parallel passage in HS 25 B: gb, after had deviated from the deportment [proper to]
the sentence quoted in n. 86, continues: "It was a great minister, so that it would not be proper
ordered that as master of recipes he should make to grant him a posthumous name or to establish
[alchemical gold]. When he was unsuccessful, an heir [to his marquisate. But the imperial]
[Liu] Geng-sheng [Hsiang] was sentenced [and decree said:
the reduction of his sentence] was discussed. 'Grant him the posthumous name Marquis
The governor of the capital (Jing-jao-yin), Jang Miu (Erring) and establish an heir for him [in
Chang, presented to the throne a request, re- his marquisatel.'"
monstrating, which said: 'It is to be wished that The citation of "Marquis Miu of Yang-cheng,
you, our wise Lord, would temporarily forget Liu De," in the "Table of Marquises Who Were
your love for military matters, would avoid the Imperial Relatives by Marriage or Were En-
empty words of gentlemen [possessors of] reci- nobled Because of Imperial Favor" (HS i8: I5b)
pes (fan-shzh), and would spend time in think- declares: "Made a Marquis because as superin-
ing about the methods of [true] lords and kings, tendent of the imperial house and marquis of the
so that the rise of [a condition of] complete imperial domain (guan-nei-hou) his actions were
tranquility may be hoped for.' circumspect and grave and he led [the court] on
"Later the expectant appointees (dai-jao) [in behalf of the imperial house." This passage con-
the office of] the master of recipes were all tinues: "His son, [Liu] An-ming, used five hun-
abolished." dred households [of his father's fief] to ransom
The staff of many offices in the imperial court the crime of his younger brother, [Liu] Geng-
was chiefly made up of persons ranked as ex- sheng [Hsiang], reducing [the rank of the mar-
pectant appointees to a regularly established quisate by] one degree. [The income of the
office (dai-jao'g). For example, in the office marquisate
of was then] fixed as that of 640 house-
the grand astrologer (held by Sz-ma Tsien and holds."
his father), "there were 37 expectant appointees. From the above statement, it is plain what
Of them, six made the calendar, three divined by happened. Liu D'e was ennobled in 66 B.C., with
the tortoise-shell, thirteen were in the antecham- a fief consisting of the taxes from I3oo house-
bers and residences, four took care of the sun holds. When he died, which was immediately
and its seasons, three divined by the stalks with after he had reported in self-defense Liu Hsiang's
the Book of Changes, two had charge of apotro- crime in failing to make alchemical gold, his
paic matters," etc. (From Ying Shao's [ca. I40- eldest son, Liu An-ming, arranged to give up 5oo
206] Usages of the Han Offices [Han-guan-yi"],households of his fief in order to ransom Liu
quoted by Liu Jaodi (fl. dur. 502-520) in a note Hsiang's crime. The subsequent reduction of this
to HHS, Tr. 25: ib). The dismissal of the ex- fief from 8oo to 640 households was the regular
pectant appointees in an office accordingly meant 20% inheritance tax upon noble fiefs (cf. HFHD,
a curtailment in the functions of that office. II, 2I7, n. 7.9).
These persons dismissed were probably mostly I do not believe that Emperor Suan is to be
the "gentlemen possessors of recipes" who in 6i criticized adversely for first ordering Liu Hsiang
B.C. had brought to the Emperor's attention the to make alchemical gold and then condemnina
cult of immortals (HS 25 B: 8b) and who had him for practising alchemy. The Emperor was
cooperated with Liu Hsiang in his attempts at undoubtedly at this time brought to see the need
alchemy (cf. n. 95). for enforcing the law of I44 B.C., so that it
That Liu Hsiang's brother sacrificed a large became imperative to punish Liu Hsiang as an
income in order to ransom Liu Hsiang is evi- example to future would-be alchemists. If Em-
denced by other statements in the HS. The biog- peror Silan had been merely irritated at Liu
raphy of his father, Liu De (HS 36: 5b, 6a), Hsiang for having wasted imperial wealth and
says: "[When Liu De] had held [his marquisate] misleading the imperial person, he could have
to the eleventh year [B.C. 57 or 56], his son, had Liu Hsiang sentenced for having deceived
Hsiang, was sentenced for [attempting] to make the Emperor, which was a capital crime that
false [alchemical] gold and ought to have suf- would have allowed no reduction in its penalty.
fered [execution in accordance with] the law. The mention, in four distinct passages, of Liu
[Liu] De had presented to the throne a message Hsiang's attempt to make gold and its effects,
accusing [his son] of crime, when it happened and their complete harmony, is quite sufficient
that he died. The grand herald (da-hung-lu), proof for the reliability of this account. Ban Gu
[Li Chiang], memorialized that [altho Liu] De almost certainly took the larger part of this
had [loyally] accused his son of crime, [yet] he material from the records of the law-cases pre-
Huai-nan, and of Dzou Yen.9' Liu Hsiang's statement confirms the alchemical inter-
pretation of the passage translated above from Liu An's book. This King was inter-
ested in alchemy as in other Daoistic and supernaturalistic matters.
The mention of Dzou Yen is much more important, for, if Liu Hsiang was correct
in attributing alchemy to him, this art goes back to the fourth century B.C. Dzou Yen
was a contemporary of Mencius and was indeed just the sort of person who would
likely have taken up alchemy. He lived in the region of China from which alchemists
later came.92 It may however be said that these recipes attributed to Dzou Yen were
transmitted thru dubious channels - by these gentlemen possessors of recipes. Such
persons as Li Shao-jiun and Luan Da would very likely attribute their writings to
ancient personages in order to give them authority. Yet Dzou Yen was hardly ancient
enough to be important as an authority. There is moreover the curious circumstance
that, in his geographical speculations, Dzou Yen did not locate the Chinese continent
in the center, but in the southeastern corner.93 He must have been in contact with
travelers who came to China via the Silk Road, thru the territory of the Yiie-jzh,
which enters China from the northwest. He was the sort of person who was ready to
champion bold new ideas. He lived about the time when alchemy probably origi-
nated - the latter part of the fourth century and the first part of the third century
B.C.94 Then there is some likelihood that Dzou Yen may have originated Chinese
alchemy.
To sum up the incident of Liu Hsiang: in the years immediately preceding 56 B.C.,
a thoroughly upright and learned person attempted to make alchemical gold, using the
abundant resources of the Chinese imperial treasury. Liu Hsiang not only secured
the best alchemical writings available, he probably also secured the assistance of those
gentlemen possessors of recipes who in 6i B.C. had brought to the attention of Emperor
Silan the cult of immortals.95. A more complete and adequate test of alchemy could
not have been made.
served in the imperial archives. The evidence later period than Dzou Yen. This story looks
supporting each capital sentence was summarized very much like hagiographic adulation.
in a report to the throne, requesting confirmation ' There are two lists of his nine continents,
of that sentence, and, upon its approval or other which agree for the most part. Both place the
disposition, this document became an imperial Chinese continent in the southeastern quarter.
edict, so that these reports were preserved. Ban They are found in Huai-nan-dz 4: ia and in Li
Gu states, for example, that in the reign of Em- Hsien'sdk (65i-684) note to HHS, Memoir 49:
peror Wu "death sentences were decided upon i6a; cf. Gu Jie-gang, Gu-shzh-bien, V, 4i6.
and inflicted in 13,472 cases, and their documents The term, Jung-guodl, which is used today in
fill a whole building, so that the documents can- the official name for China, and which is com-
not all be looked over [by the historian]" (HS monly interpreted to mean "the Middle King-
23: 15b). The foregoing material is then almost dom," in ancient times meant merely the "cen-
surely transcribed into the HS largely from the tral states," i.e., the most highly civilized part
original report to the throne concerning the case of China. Mencius III, A, iv, 12 (Legge's trans.
of Liu Hsiang. in his "Chinese Classics," 2nd ed., p. 254) states
" The names of these two persons almost that Chen Liang came from the Yang-dz valley
surely come from Liu Hsiang's own memorial to of what is now central China northwards to
the throne, which was found either in the collec- study in jung-guo, the "central states," probably
tion of such documents or was quoted in the in the present western Shandung. Yen Jou
summary of the evidence against Liu Hsiang Shzh-gu explains that jung-guo means, in Han
(cf. n. go). times, the inner part of China, as contrasted
92 For an account of Dzou Yen, cf. n. 9. For with the regions near the border (HFHD, II, 208,
the region in which alchemy developed, cf. n. 36. n. 4.3). The notion that China is the "Middle
Dzou Yen is even said to have performed a Kingdom" is an artifact produced by a Chinese
miracle. Lie-dz 5:i5b says: "Even Dzou Yen's eulogoistic misinterpretation of the ancient phrase
blowing of the musical tubes could not surpass denoting the central, civilized part of China as
his." Jang Jandi (lived iv cent. A.D.) glosses: the jung-guo.
"In the north there was a place that was beauti- 'About that much time is needed in order
ful but cold, so that the various kinds of grains that alchemy should have attained the promi-
did not grow there. Master Dzou [Yen] blew nence necessary to require its prohibition in
the [yang, (i.e. warm)] musical tubes to warm 144 B.C.
it and its millet [ripened] abundantly." But 'If he did not do so, his elder brother and
both the Lie-dz and Jang Jan belong to a much other relatives, who stood to lose half of the
78 Homer H. Dubs
If anything could have put a stop to alchemy, this public and utter failure would
seem to have been able to do so. There was no one in China who knew about alchemy
and could lay claim to greater erudition than Liu Hsiang. But human hope does not
die easily, as experience with perpetual motion proves.
From a lost book by Huan Tan (lived ca. 40 B.C. to ca. A.D. 29), there is quoted
the following story:
A gentleman of the Yellow Gate at the Han His wife said, "I want to try and show you
[imperial court], Cheng Wei, loved the art of something." She thereupon took a drug out of
the Yellow and White [alchemy]. He took a a bag and threw a very little into [the retort].
wife and secured a girl from a household which It was absorbed and in a short while she turned
knew recipes. . . . [Cheng] Wei [tried to] out [the contents of the retort]. It had already
make gold in accordance with "The Great Treas- become silver. [Cheng] Wei was greatly aston-
ure (Hung-bao)" in the pillow [of the King of ished, and said, "The way (Dao) [of alchemy]
Huai-nan, but] it would not come. His wife was near and was possessed by you. But why
however came and watched [Cheng] Wei. did you not tell me sooner?" His wife replied,
[Cheng] Wei was then fanning the ashes to heat "In order to get it, it is necessary for one to
the bottle. In the bottle there was quicksilver. have the [properl fate."'
This story was obviously invented in order to explain Liu Hsiang's failure. The
explanation was that he was not fated to make alchemical gold and also did not possess
the indispensable drug necessarily added to the alchemical mix. This "drug" is plainly
what later alchemists called the "philosopher's stone." That concept, so important in
later alchemy, can thus be dated as having originated in China about the end of the
first century B.C., in a thoroughly natural manner - as the explanation of an out-
standing failure in alchemy.
In the winter of A.D. 9, Wang Mang, then the Emperor, mentions alchemy in a
charter-mandate granted to Chen Chung when the latter was appointed to office.
Wang Mang lists among the six fundamental matters in government the following:
"[3] The casting of counterfeit gold and cash is a means whereby obstacles are put
[in the circulation of] the valuable currency." 96a This brief mention confirms the
implication in Huan Tan's story that alchemical research had continued in China in
spite of Liu Hsiang's failure.
From this date until the second or third century A.D., we know nothing about the
development of alchemy.97 This circumstance is explained by the Han law against
family property by his failure, would certainly conclusion, has presented adequate evidence to
have compelled him to get the best practitioners indicate that "Wei Bo-yang" is a pseudonymn
in the country to work for him (cf. n. go). for the Lao-dz, the founder of philosophic Dao-
'Quoted in the Bao-pu-dz, by Go Hung, ch. ism (lived ca. 3oo B.C. and earlier). "Bo-yang"
i6: 3b (Sz-bu Tsung-kan ed.). This passage is is the well-known courtesy name given to the
also translated in Waley, op. cit., p. 4. On the Lao-dz in Daoistic treatises. He and his son
next page of this chapter, Go Hung (254-334) Dzung (Waley spells this name "Tsung") lived
recounts that a gentleman of the Dao (Dao- in the state of Wei, where the latter became a
shzh) told another man, "Melt lead in an iron general and noble, according to the SJ (cf. H. H.
vessel and throw a drug in small pieces into it. Dubs, Jour. Amer. Orient. Soc'y, 6i [I94I], 217).
It will thereupon become silver. Again melt this Lao-dz would hardly have kept his humble posi-
silver and throw another drug into it, whereupon tion as an "archivist" in Jou (Waley spells this
it will become gold." name as "Chou") after his son had been en-
96a HS 99 B: iib, trans. in HFHD, vol. III (in nobled in Wei. Go Hung says, "No one ever got
process of publication). The "valuable currency" higher dao than Bo-yang" (Waley, op. cit., 6).
was Wang Mang's name for his new coinage. But certainly no one ever got higher dao than
9 The next mention of alchemy is in the Tsan- the Lao-dz, the founder of Daoism. "Wei Bo-
tung-chi (trans. by Lu-chiang Wu & Tenny L. yang" clearly means "Bo-yang of Wei," i.e., the
Davis in Isis, i8 [1932-33], 210-289). It is at- Lao-dz. The attribution of the Tsan-tung-chi to
tributed to Wei Bo-yang, who is supposed to the Lao-dz does not however alter the fact that
have lived ca. A.D. 120-150. But Waley (op. cit., it probably dates from the ii or iii cent. A.D.
5), in spite of his refusal to accept the following (Waley, op. cit., 7).
this practise. This law remained in force until at least the end of the Later Han
dynasty in A.D. 220 and was very likely continued by its successors, the states of
Wei (in north China, 220-265) and Shu (in western China, 22 1-264). It is worth
noting that our next extensive informant about alchemy, Go Hung (254-334) lived
in south China, at first in the state of Wu (located in the Yangdz valley and south,
222-280), where the laws of Wei did not apply, and that in old age he retired to the
extreme south of China, as far as possible from the Dzin imperial court, which latter
may have continued the Han laws.
Go Hung's account indicates that in the three centuries since Liu Hsiang there had
been vigorous alchemical experimentation. Go Hung transcribes dozens of recipes for
producing the elixir of immortality.98 He knows that metals could be tinted externally
and distinguishes alchemical gold as being uniform within and without.99 He offers
the earliest historical description of the preparation of stannic sulfide or mosaic gold.100
The later Chinese discovery of gunpowder and many other chemical items probably
arose out of alchemical experimentation.101 Evidently there was in China much active
alchemical work about which we know nothing, since it was illegal. It was probably
carried out in the rear chambers of artisans' workshops or in the retreats of recluses
in the wilderness or on mountains.
Go Hung knew of Liu Hsiang's failure and indicates how Chinese alchemists ex-
plained that event. The Tsan-tung-chi states that Liu Hsiang did not use medicines
of the proper kind (the philosopher's stone) and did not do his compounding properly.
"Under such conditions, even with the Yellow Lord to operate the furnace, with the
Supreme One to bless it,... failure will be inevitable." 102 Go Hung has additional ex-
planations: One failure proves nothing, any more than does one failure of the crops.'03
Liu Hsiang did not fulfil the conditions.'04 Other things besides chemical operations
are necessary: the alchemist must previously fast for a hundred days and purify him-
self by perfume. Officials, such as Liu Hsiang, cannot perform the necessary fasting.105
Only two or three persons should be present at a transmutation. It must be done on a
famous great mountain, for even a small mountain is inadequate.106 It is impossible
It is possible, as Waley suggests, that the by T. L. Davis and K. F. Chen in ibid., 74 (1940-
Tsan-tung-chi "was originally an exposition of 42), 287-325, "The Inner Chapters of Pao-p'u-
the Book of Changes and that . . . say, in the tzu." The title, Bao-pu-dzdn, which means lit-
latter part of the iv cent., someone doctored the erally "The master who preserves his pristine
text so as to make it serve as a work on alchemy" simplicity," was plainly Go Hung's Daoistic
(ibid., ii). But Go Hung's Bao-pu-dz not only literary designation for himself.
fails to mention the Tsan-tung-chi, it also, sur- Go Hung was a voluminous writer and a very
prisingly enough, fails to mention the classical learned man. He does not however seem himself
Book of Changes, so that Go Hung may merely to have been a practising alchemist. He declares
have been uninterested in works that explained that he is too poor to purchase the expensive
this book. Then his ignorance of these two books materials needed for alchemistical experiments
is quite explicable, contrary to Waley's statement (ibid., 70, 235, par. 6; 257, par. 5). He was an
(ibid., iO). The title, Tsan-tung-chidm, moreover encyclopedist, avid for knowledge and eager to
probably means "The Document Concerning the report what he had learned.
Combinations of Similars" and also "The Docu- lIbid., 26i, par. 25.
ment Concerning the Three Similars," using two 00Ibid., 264, par. 41.
meanings of the word tsan. If the latter meaning, 101 Firecrackers were known in China in the vi
"three," is accepted, these "three similars" are cent.; cf. B. Laufer in Amer. Anthropologist, Ig
plainly: (i) the hexagrams of the Book of (I9I7), 74; L. C. Goodrich, A Short History of
Changes, (2) alchemy, and (3) philosophical the Chinese People, 69.
Daoistic doctrines. Then alchemy must have 02 Isis, i 8, 2 57, ch. 6 i.
been an original constituent of the Tsan-tung-chi. 1Proc. Am. Acad. Arts & Sci., 70, 258, par.
" Chaps. I-III of Go Hung's Bao-pu-dz are 10.
trans. by E. Feifel in "Pao-p'u Tzu Chapters 'Ibid., 259, par. i5.

I-III," Monumenta Serica 6 (1941), 113-211. 10' Ibid., 258, par. ii. The Chinese conception
Chaps. IV and VI are trans. by L. C. Wu and of "fasting" was not abstinence from all food,
T. L. Davis in Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci., 70 but only from certain ones. For Go Hung such
(I935), 221-284, "An Ancient Alchemical Classic, "fasting" may indeed have meant abstinence
Ko Hung." Chaps. VII and XI, together with from grain products; cf. n. 25, ad finem.
summaries of the first twenty chapters, are trans. 'Ibid., 252-53, par. 87-9o.
8o Homer H. Dubs
to perform a transmutation in a palace.'07 The adept must moreover learn the method
directly from those skilled in the art. Books are inadequate. What is written in books
is only enough for beginners. The rest is kept secret and is given only in oral teach-
ing.'08 Worship of the proper gods is necessary.109 The art can moreover only be
learned by those who are especially blessed. People are born under suitable or un-
suitable stars."10 Above all, belief is necessary. Disbelief brings failure."' With
qualifications such as these, any failure can be explained. Thereafter alchemy was
freed from the onus of Liu Hsiang's failure.
To summarize the factual part of this discussion: There is excellent evidence that
alchemy - meaning thereby the attempt to transmute base metals into gold and to
prepare the elixir of immortality - was already flourishing in China during the second
century B.C. We are not given the names of any important alchemists, because
Chinese law made alchemy a capital crime. We can however trace alchemy by its
effects upon the imperial court, from I44 B.C. down to 56 B.C. At this latter time,
alchemy was tried out by an outstanding person with competent assistance, backed
by ample financial resources. It failed completely and publicly. While Liu Hsiang's
failure possibly brought alchemy to a temporary halt, yet by the third century A.D.
the evidence indicates that it had in the meantime been prosecuted vigorously and
that chemical discoveries had been made.
With this factual background for alchemy in the pre-Christian era, it is possible to
infer something concerning its origin and its earliest history. The first practising
alchemist must have been a person who possessed some considerable degree of chemical
knowledge and acquaintance with minerals. Otherwise he could not have even sug-
gested a plausible formula for transmutation. He must, for example, have known that
liquid quicksilver can be obtained from solid cinnabar, something that requires the
roasting of cinnabar in a luted vessel, a practise that is not known in the beginning
stages of chemical activity. At the same time he must have been ignorant of certain
chemical facts, especially about the fixity of gold.
In a country where gold was well known, so that adequate methods of testing its
genuineness were available, the first alchemist could never have succeeded in persuad-
ing any number of intelligent persons that his belief in alchemy was correct. His
alchemical gold would have soon been put to the test and shown to be false. Alchemy
could only have originated in a country in which gold was not well known, where
methods were lacking for distinguishing it from imitations.
Such a situation did not exist in the Mediterranean world of the first centuries A.D.
As early as the fourteenth century B.C., the Babylonians already tested gold in the
furnace. The King of Babylon reported to the King of Egypt that, out of twenty
minas of gold sent him, less than five minas came out of the furnace as actual gold."2
The existence of methods for assaying gold effectually prevented persons conversant
with metallurgy from accepting the claims of alchemists."13
0'7Ibid., 260, par. i6. the application of philosophy to explain the

1'0 Ibid., 259, par i5; vol. 74, 305, par. 59; 307,
artistic creations of the worker in metals. He
par. 68. accordingly dates alchemy in Alexandria as be-
"0Ibid., vol. 70, 252, par. 86. ginning in the i cent. A.D. The foregoing is the
2?Ibid., 258, par. I3; vol. 74, 380, par. wider
79; meaning of "alchemy." This use of the
322, par. 7I. word, denoting any philosophic or pseudo-
'Ibid., 355, par. 86; 304, par. 54. philosophic interpretation of metals or minerals,
' J. A. Knudtzon, Die El-Amarna Tafeln, alsocommon
has been among occidental writers on
S. A. B. Mercer, The Tell El-Amarna Tablets, this subject, e.g., J. Bidez & F. Cumont, Les
tablet IO, lines Ig, 20; cf. also tablet 7, lines Mages Hellenises, vol. I, pp. I98-207. Now the
7I, 72. historical importance of alchemy lies in the fact
'Hopkins, Alchemy, 7-8, defines alchemy that as
it became the parent of scientific chemistry.
The Beginnings of Alchemy 8i
In ancient China, the situation was quite different. Gold was little known to China in
the second millennium B.C. It is rarely found in untouched archeological objects of that
date.' The Chinese language of the ancient period did not even have a word for gold.
Not philosophical speculation, but the practical Zosimus. It became important in medieval
experimentation of alchemists in their attempts European alchemy. This conception arose out
to transmute metals led to the discoveries that of the alchemists' explanation for Liu Hsiang's
produced chemistry. In this paper I shall there- failure.
fore use "alchemy" only in its narrower sense, as There are two objections to the acceptance of
an attempt to transmute metals, especially to Zosimus' statement. (i) No occidental alchemi-
make precious metals or gold. In connection cal manuscript is earlier than iooo A.D. The
with this narrower use of the word, Hopkins text of Zosimus was unprotected, so that inter-
admits that "Chinese alchemy was undoubtedly polations by later scribes are found. Since this
the earliest form of this pseudo-science" ("A one passage seems to be the only one in which
Defence of Egyptian Alchemy," ISiS, 28 [I938], Zosimus clearly affirms a belief in transmutation,
424). it is quite possible that this passage is a later
In his effort to prove that alchemy, in the interpolation. There is then no sure evidence
narrower sense of transmutation, existed in an- that Zosimus accepted transmutation. Since
cient Alexandria, Hopkins assumes that the Pliny the Elder's (lived A.D. 23-79) Natural
Egyptians defined metals merely by their color History "covers every existing field of investiga-
(ibid., 427, 428). But surely the Egyptians tion, shows especial interest in metallurgy, medi-
knew better than that. The Babylonians in the cine, and magic, . . . but does not reflect a single
xiv cent. B.C. were already testing gold by the idea that can properly be called alchemical"
furnace (cf. super my note II2). F. S. Taylor (W. J. Wilson, "Traditional Background of
(in Jour. of Hellenic Studies, 50 [I930], 127) Greco-Egyptian Alchemy," Ciba Symposia, vol.
points out that the ancients had three tests for 3, no. 5 [Aug., 19411, pp. 927-28), there is ample
gold: (I) the touchstone-rubbing it with a evidence that alchemy did not exist in the Medi-
hard black stone, to pass which test a metal must terranean world of the i cent. A.D. and no sure
resemble gold in color and hardness, (2) by fire evidence that it did exist in the iv cent. A.D.
or the furnace, which eliminates all alloys of any (2) It is possible that Zosimus, who was an
base metals, and (3) by density, since the high encyclopedist rather than a practising alchemist,
density of gold cannot be imitated by any alloy received the idea of alchemy and the philosopher's
of base metals. Because the ancient world pos- stone from China. Trade between China and
sessed these tests for true gold, it is not surprising Alexandria was quite brisk in the first few cen-
that the metal-workers of Alexandria recognized turies A.D. In A.D. 97, a Chinese envoy, Gan
that they were merely imitating precious metals Ying, already reached the shore of the Persian
and were not making them. (The Chinese an- Gulf (F. Hirth, China & the Roman Orient, 39,
ciently used a hard stone to polish jade, but the 68). In A.D. 226, a Chinese king sent a Syrian
touchstone for gold is not reported until the xv merchant back to the Roman orient with some
cent. A.D.; cf. Chang, Lapidarium Sinicum, twenty dwarfs from China (ibid., 3o6-o7). Chi-
154-55). nese histories record the arrival of persons from
To support his belief that the ancient Alex- the Mediterranean area in A.D. 87, IOI, 120, i66,
andrians actually attempted the transmutation & ca. 285 (ibid., 36, 37, 39, 42, 45, 47). Naturally
of metals, Hopkins produces two sentences from there must have been many more unrecorded
Zosimus in the iii or iv cent. A.D. His interpreta- travelers. Chinese travelers were quite ready to
tion of the second quotation (op. cit., 428) as talk about alchemy (cf. n. I35). It is quite pos-
referring to transmutation depends entirely upon sible -that Chinese aIchemical ideas may have
translating the noun orpKo-7nO? as meaning "to reached Alexandria before or during the time of
transmute." But in view of the many other quite Zosimus.
diferent meanings of this word and of the fact In summary: before Zosimus in the iii or iv
that no other early writer uses this word in that cent. A.D., Greco-Egyptian metallurgists were
sense, this evidence is quite tenuous. It looks too quite clear that they were merely imitating pre-
much like establishing the occurrence of trans- vious metals. His reference to transmutation
mutation by reading back a later meaning of a may be a later interpolation or may have come
word. from Chinese information. If Zosimus, living in
The other passage (ibid., 427, from M. Bar- a region where metallurgy had been going on for
thelot, Collection des anciens alchimistes Grecs, centuries without the notion of transmutation
vols. II & III, part III, vi, io, ad finem) perhaps being present, suddenly mentions transmutation
proves too much. Here is an attempt at an exact of metals, and if there had been intercourse with
translation: another region in which that idea had long been
"But our gold, when it possesses the [desired] prevalent, the strong presumption is that Zosi-
quality, can make [gold] and tint [into gold]. mus' new idea was an importation from that
Herein is the great mystery, that the quality other region.
[both] becomes gold and that it makes gold." 114 Dr. Roswell S. Brit'ton informs me that the
ThLis passage asserts that "our gold" is the philos- consensus of opinion among experts is that gold
opher's stone - a substance which, when put was not used on Chinese objects before 6oo B.C.
into an alchemical mixture, turns the whole into at the outside and possibly not for a century or
gold. This belief is found in China in the i cent. more later. Dr. J. G. Anderson ("The Goldsmith
A.D. (cf. the story of Cheng Wei, recounted in Ancient China," Bull. Mus. Far East. Antiq.,
super note 96), at least two centuries before 7 [I9351, I-38) reports a large axe of the Shang
82 Homer H. Dubs
The word jindo, now used for "gold

only rarely used. In pre-Han literature, jin refers chiefly to copper or bronze - the
common metal of the time. When gold came to be known, it was called "yellow metal
(huang-jin)," 115 which is the term regularly used for it in Han times.116 Since there are
separate words for all the other common metals, the literary evidence indicates that gold
was the last of the metals to become known in China. Before the fourth century B.C.,
Chinese literature does not mention gold or "yellow metal." 117 The absence of any
reference to "yellow metal" in such a long work as the Dzo-juan (written about the
end of the fourth century B.C.) constitutes strong evidence that gold was unimportant
in feudal China. Even in the first century A.D., only one indigenous source of gold
was known.118 The extremely large quantity of gold in China at the beginning of the
first century A.D. seems to have come largely from the alluvial sources in Siberia,
imported in exchange for silk.119 Gold was not present in any large quantity in China
before the fourth century B.C.
The Chinese of that period must consequently have been quite ignorant about
methods of assaying gold.120 Their chemical industry was quite backward. They had
been using bronze since the second millennium B.C., but iron was still a comparatively
new thing in the sixth century B.C.121 and did not come into common use until the
fourth and third centuries B.C. At this latter period there moreover came to China a
number of important ideas from the west,122 so that some chemical items probably
(or Yin) period (ii millennium B.C.) which is Books of the East," vol. XVI, p. 102) mentions
partly gilded beneath the genuine verdigris. This "yellow metal," but Wang Bilq (A.D. 226-249)
axe may however have been gilded in Han times interprets this phrase as meaning "victorious and
and buried later. The use of gold in early ob- firm" or "central and firm," and Kung Ying-dadr
jects is highly exceptional. (574-648) agrees, so that this classic too perhaps
Professor Dung Dzo-bin of the Academia Sinica does not mention gold. For the only two other
tells me that in the Chinese archeological ex- mentions of gold, in the Book of History, cf.
cavations at the Shang capital near Anyang, n. II8.
there were found a single nugget and a sheet "mBan Gu, in HS 28 Aiii: 42b, mentions a
of gold leaf. The presence of this very small placer, located in the present county of Po-yang,
amount of gold among the very large amount Jiangsi (Kiangsi). This source had been almost
of excavated material does not invalidate my exhausted in his time (HS 28 Bii: 67a). Jiangsi
argument, that gold in the ii millennium B.C. is not now listed as producing gold. The Book
was quite exceptional and its properties were of History, III, 44, 50, in the chapter entitled
not understood in the last millennium B.C. This "The Tribute of Yiu," which was probably writ-
Shang gold probably arrived by trade with ten in the iv cent. B.C. (Legge, Shoo King, II0,
Siberia. After the fall of that dynasty, it is II5) lists gold as a product of the two provinces
likely that no more gold arrived for many cen- Yang and Jing. These two constituted the
turies, so that what had been known about Yangdz valley below the gorges and they prob-
gold was forgotten. ably joined in the neighborhood of Po-yang.
Even after 6cc B.C., gold was used chiefly in Hence these two mentions of gold very likely
inlays. Perhaps typical is Bishop White's large refer to this same placer known to Ban Gu.
rectangular vessel 252 (cf. ibid., 7-10), on which For a more extended survey of ancient sources
only the narrow border is inlaid with narrow for Chinese gold, cf. HFHD, III (in press), ch.
bands of gold, while the next and wider band is XCIX, App. II, note 3.
inlaid with copper and turquoise. So stocks of 9 Wang Mang in A.D. 23 possessed something
gold in China were at first extremely small. like 5,000,000 ounces of gold. The speed with
Cf. n. 46. which gold entered China is indicated by the
116Copper was then called "red metal, chzh- fact that in I23 B.C. the Chinese stock of gold
jin . Waley's statement that "yellow metal" seems to have been well under 2,000,000 ounces;
can also mean bronze (op. cit., 17, n. 3) is un- cf. H. H. Dubs, "An Ancient Chinese Stock of
supported. The ancient Chinese did not distin- Gold," Jour. Economic History, 2 (May, I942),
guish copper from bronze by name, but they did 36-39.
distinguish copper-bronze from gold; cf. Chang, ' Even in the ii cent. B.C., gold was judged
Lapidarium Sinicum, 273-83; also note 46 of the in China by its color; cf. "Ju Shun's note to HS
present paper. 6: 22a," trans. in HFHD, II, 126.
117 The early classics are silent concerning gold. 1"Dzo-juan, Duke Jao, yr. xxix; Legge's
The Jou-li (prob. iv cent. B.C.; this passage is trans., 732 a. This item, dated 5I3 B.C., seems to
trans. in E. Biot, Le Tcheou-li, II, 225) mentions be the earliest mention of iron in China.
"yellow metal" as used for ornamentation on the '2 L. C. Goodrich, A Short History of the
ceremonial garb of a shaman. The Book of Chinese People, 2 7-28, lists a number of such
Changes, Hex. 2I, V. 5 (Legge's trans., "Sacred Mediterranean ideas. One of the most striking
also arrived. The preparation of mercury from cinnabar was known in Mesopotamia
long before this time.123 In the fourth century B.C., China was already in a pro-
nounced philosophical ferment.124 Then, about the time that gold first became freely
available in China, there probably also arrived certain chemical items, such as the
production of mercury. These chemical facts, impinging upon the Chinese conception
of continual change and metamorphosis, 125 and the newly arrived conception of
personal immortality in a pleasant terrestial or super-terrestial location,120 would
naturally produce the notion of alchemy. Thus the conditions for the rise of this
concept were present in China as in no other area.127 Gold was used in Mediterranean
medicine,128 so that it would naturally find a place among the magical drugs used in
China to prolong life. Several items in the early history of alchemy point to Dzou Yen,
on the northeastern coastal area, as the discoverer of this concept.129 There is then
good reason to suppose that alchemy arose in China about the fourth or third century
B.C., from the impact of occidental chemical ideas and from a recent familiar ac-
quaintance with gold, combined with Chinese philosophical concepts.
It is not necessary to suppose that this chemical knowledge came to China from
Egypt. The Egyptian so-called "alchemy" seems not to have begun until the first
century A.D.130 The Egyptians moreover had a tradition that this art was brought to
Egypt by a certain Ostanes "the Mede." 131 In Mesopotamia, chemical activity was
importations was the Pythagorean mathematical Gao-dz, and many other philosophers; cf.
rations between musical intervals, which appear 408.
first in the Lii-shzh Chun-tsiud, a compilation Cf. n. 75.
prepared under the sponsorship of Lu Bu-wei Cf. super n. 6.
(died 235 B.C.; this book was supposedly made lNTIn India, the Rasaratndkara, which men-
public in 238 B.C., cf. R. Wilhelm, Friuhling tions alchemy, is not by Nagarjuna in the ii cent.
und Herbst des Liu Bu We, 69-70 and MH, A.D. (P. C. Ray, A History of Hindu Chemistry,
III, 630-45; the fact that clinches Chavannes' [I909], II, xi), but by the pseudo-Nagarjuna
argument and which he omitted, is that the in the x cent. A.D. This writing moreover ex-
Pythagorean ratios hold only approximately for presses the thoroughly Chinese notion that, by
musical tubes, so that the Chinese could not have partaking of a medicine compounded of gold, the
discovered them from measurements of their indestructible metal, "the devotee acquires a
tubes.) Another importation was the Pythag- body not liable to decay"; cf. ibid., II, 6; Waley,
orean geometrical theorem, which first appears Op. Cit., 22.
in the Jou-bi Suan-'ingdt, which book Maspero'1 Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History,
dates from the end of the iii cent. B.C. to (in its XXXIII, 25, states that gold is medicinal in
later parts) the middle of the ii cent. A.D. The many ways.
ancient Chinese did not attempt to demonstrate 1 These items have previously been men-
this theorem, hence it could not have originated tioned. Among them are: Liu Hsiang's posses-
in China. sion of an alchemical work written by Dzou Yen
There were other borroxvings: In Sz-ma or at least in his school (cf. super n. 87), the
Tsien's SJ there are astrological judgments that union of alchemy with the cult of a medicinal
are almost word for word the same as certain prolongation of life, found in the proposals of
ones found in Ashurbanipal's library of the vii Li Shao-jun and Luan Da (cf. super n. 25 & 78)
cent. B.C. (C. Bezold, "Sze-ma Ts'ien und die together with the derivation of this cult from
Babylonische Astrologie," Ostasiatische Zeit- the locality where Dzou Yen lived and worked
schrift, 8 [1919-20], 42-49). (cf. n. 9, 36), the derivation of the alchemical
'The preparation of mercury from cinnabar paragraphs in the Huai-nan-dz from Dzou Yen's
was known in Mesopotamia in the vii cent. B.C., philosophy (cf. suiper n. 7I), and his own ac-
possibly two or three centuries earlier; R. C. quaintance with the western world (cf. super n.
Thompson, A Dictionary of Assyrian Chemistry 93). He lived at the right time (cf. n. 94) and
and Geology, pp. XX, 29, 30. Cinnabar was well seems to have possessed the adventurous and
known in China, being found in graves of the speculative temperament necessary to produce
second millennium B.C., where it was used as a the concept of alchemy (cf. n. 9).
pigment; cf. also n. 6o. But mercury was not Alternatively, some one of Dzou Yen's fol-
known in China until the end of the last millen- lowers might have made this discovery, or it
nium B.C. The Chinese word for mercury ap- may have been made earlier and Dzou Yen or
pears first in the H-uai-nan-dz (about 122 B.C.); his followers may have merely promoted it.
cf. n. 45, also n. 76. Since however originality is necessary to produce
"' In the iv cent. B.C. there lived Mencius such a new concept, I believe we may most prob-
(ca. 372-ca. 289), Yang Ju, the Lao-dz (prob. an ably attribute it to this Master himself.
old man in 300), Juang-dz (ca. 369-ca. 289), Hui Hopkins, Alchemy, 5.
Shzh, Gung-sun Lung, Shang Yang (d. 338), Ibid., 6 & n. 4.
Shen Bu-hai (d. 337), Shen Dao, Dzou Yen, It is quite possible that the name "Ostanes" in
84 Homer H. Duibs
very ancient. In the seventh century B.C., these people already had a considerable
degree of chemical knowledge.132 Since Mesopotamian astrology certainly reached
ancient China,'33 some of their chemical knowledge could hardly have failed also to be
transferred.
But alchemy could not arise in Mesopotamia, for this people possessed adequate
means of assaying gold, which would eliminate alchemistic productions. When how-
ever Mesopotamian metallurgy reached China in the fourth or third century B.C., the
Chinese had only recently become acquainted with gold and lacked means of assaying
it. The notion of alchemy could consequently arise there spontaneously.134 This belief
in alchemy thereupon amalgamated itself with Chinese religious and medical beliefs
concerning the prolongation of life and the attainment of personal immortality and
became a religious matter, untouchable by ordinary empirical disproof. The foregoing
appears to be a plausible hypothesis concerning the rise of alchemy.
The subsequent history of this pseudo-science can be verified from historical sources.
There can be little doubt that Chinese alchemy was later carried to the Arab capital at
Bagdad. By the ninth century, when alchemy first appears in Arabic countries, the
Chinese were already traveling widely and telling other peoples about the excellences
of their own country. When the Chinese envoy Sung Yiin and the priest Hui-sheng
reached Uddiyana (in the present eastern Afghanistan) about A.D. 520, Sung Yiun is
said to have expatiated to the king of that country on the wonders of China and to
have dilated on the fairy isles of Peng-lai and their immortals.135 Arabic alchemy is
so similar to prior Chinese ideas that its derivation from China is certain.136 By this
the Greek lists of early philosophical alchemists arrival of this test as having occurred between
refers to the famous Magian who is said by these two dates.
Diogenes Laertius to have accompanied Xerxes "The Lo-yang Jia-lan JidU, 5: 8a ("Sz-bu
to Greece in 480 B.C., to whom the Greeks at- Tsung-kan" ed.) states, "Sung Yiin explained
tributed much of their magic and occultism (cf. [to the king] about the virtues of [Confucian-
Bidez & Cumont, op. cit., I, i68-69, I97-207). ism as shown in the Duke of] Jou and Con-
Then this name may have merely arisen from the fucius and of [Daoism, as shown in] Juang-[dz
Greek practise of giving authority to unusual and the] Lao-[dz], and next dilated on the silver
doctrines by attributing them to the hoary East. portals and the golden halls on Mt. Peng-lai,
Alternatively, this name mav indicate their rec- where both god-like immortals and sages are
ognition that Egyptian chemical activity itself present." This passage is also trans. in E. Cha-
came from Babylonia. In view of the high vannes, "Voyage de Song Yun," Bull. de l'Ecole
development of chemical techniques in Babylonia FranCaise d'Extreme-Orient, 2 (I903), 408-09.
in the vii cent. B.C. and of intercourse between S. Beal, trans., Travels of Fah-hian and Sung-
these two regions, the latter interpretation is Yun, I90, states that Sung Yun also discussed
quite likely. "alchemy." Alchemy indeed belongs to the group
"3R. C. Thompson, On the Chemistry of the of ideas mentioned and most other persons would
Ancient Assyrians (I925); R. C. Thompson, A have included it, but Sung Yun, by his mention
Dictionary of Assyrian Chemistry and Geology of Juang-dz, who exalted death as the proper
(1936); summary in his "A Survey of the Chem- end to and metamorphosis of human life, indi-
istry of Assyria in the vii cent. B.C.," Ambix, 2 cates that he does not accept alchemy with its
(1938), 3-I6. Chinese corollary, personal immortality. Those
'3Cf. n. 122. Daoists, like Go Hung, who accepted immor-
Alternatively, the Chinese may have mis- tality, call Daoism the teaching of "Huang-Lao,"
understood or have been deliberatelv misled by i.e., of "the Yellow [Lord] and the Lao-[dz]."
Mesopotamian adventurers into believing that The fact however that a Buddhist envoy to the
gold could be made. This latter hypothesis, west, like Sung Yiin, considered it worth while
which locates in a Mesopotamian, the originality to expatiate on the fairy isles of Peng-lai, etc.,
for the discovery of this concept, does not how- indicates that other persons, of different philo-
ever appear as plausible as the one that this sophic belief, would naturally have also dilated
discovery was made by the admittedly original on alchemy. (Prof. L. C. Goodrich of Columbia
philosopher, Dzou Yen. University first called my attention to this pas-
The failure of Liu Hsiang to make alchemical sage about Sung Yun.)
gold, so different from earlier beliefs and very 'H. E. Stapleton, "Chemistry in Iraq and
likely different from the apparent results of Persia in the x cent. A.D.," Memoirs of the
earlier experimentation, probably indicates that Asiatic Society of Bengal, 8 (1922-29), no. 6,
the Babylonian test for gold by the furnace (cf. p. 406, note, par. 2; "Go Hung's materials were
super n. 112) had arrived in China by 56 B.C. extraordinarily similar to those used by Arabic
If the incident in 105 B.C. (cf. super n. 8i) in- and Greek alchemists." Stapleton shows that
dicates alchemical transmutation, we can date the al-Razi (866-925) knew zinc, of which this Arab
time, the prestige of alchemy was so great and the anecdotes of successful transmuta-
tions were so many that this pseudo-science could flourish in the very Mesopotamian
region where it could not originate. Thence it passed to Europe, where it generated
the science of chemistry.
In China, meanwhile, alchemy was dying out. Already in the sixth century we find
in Hui-sz (517-577) the distinction between exoteric alchemy (wai-dandv) which
uses as its ingredients the tangible substances, mercury, lead, cinnabar, etc., and
esoteric alchemy (nei-dandw), which uses onlv the "souls" of these substances and is
in reality a system of mental discipline unconnected with any chemical practises,
while using alchemical terms.'37 The similarity in language and the utter difference
in content between these two is well illustrated in the "Chapters on Becoming Awake
to the Truth (Wu-ju-pien)" by Jang Bo-duan, a Chinese contemporary of Avicenna.138
Even in translation, a careful reading of his poems indicates that he spiritualizes al-
chemy into a purely mental practise. He merely follows the alchemists in hiding his
meanings under words that have quite different meanings from their apparent ones.139
At the same time that the Arabs and Europeans were taking up alchemy, the Chinese
were spiritualizing it. A millennium of failure, together with the increasingly anti-
superstitious attitude of the Chinese educated class, brought about the downfall of
alchemy. In fourteenth century China, alchemy had already dropped away and, since
the seventeenth century, experimental alchemy has practically ceased to exist there.
The foregoing account leads irresistibly to an observation concerning the curious
relationship of science and religion. Without alchemy, chemistry would not have
developed as rapidly as it did and might indeed not yet have become important. There
was practically no chemical progress in Europe after the end of the second century
A.D., when Egyptian "alchemists" ceased working actively, until true alchemy arrived
from the Arabs in the eleventh or twelfth century. Why? Probably because the
Egyptian art was recognized to be merely one of imitating precious metals. In a time
of stress and strain, such as the intervening centuries, an art of making imitations
could not appear sufficiently worth while to human beings so that they would devote
to it the great amount of time and effort necessary to bring about progress. It appeared
merely a means of making money. In China, on the other hand, alchemy became part
of religion, being a way of attaining immortality, so that, altho China too underwent
a period of stress and strain, individuals treasured these practises and spent themselves
upon them, because of their religious value. These religious men accumulated a body
of real chemical knowledge, until this discipline could at last command attention by
its own intrinsic chemical value and become a genuine science. Only the amalgamation
of alchemy with religion enabled alchemy to persist and to secure the devotion of
humanity until its inherent chemical knowledge became sufficiently large. Insofar as
chemistry has developed out of alchemy, religion has been a nursemaid to science.
Hartford Seminary Foundation.
says, "Its mine is in the land of China" (ibid., be able to anticipate or to control his fate" (ibid.,
407). 103, #2) -a determinism that leaves the elixir
' Waley, op. cit., 14-17. of immortality powerless. He states that he
1 Jang Bo-duan lived 983-l082. His work is teaches "a new ideal of my own which is differ-
summarized by T. L. Davis & Jao Yiun-tsung in ent from that of others" (ibid., 104, #4). He
Proc. Am. Acad. Arts & Sci., 73 (1938-40), says that the true lead is not the vulgar lead
97-II7. (ibid., io6, #26) and it "is found in every house"
'His writings sound like the Tsan-tung-chi, (ibid., #24). "If the secret is disclosed, it will
which is a genuinely alchemistic work. Davis be so simple that everyone may get a good laugh"
considers Jang Bo-duan to have been an al- (ibid., II2, #83). Such a doctrine is plainly an
chemist. But this poet does not describe any alchemy which requires no physical reagents and
chemical processes except those already found in is really a purely psychological teaching, like that
the Tsan-tung-chi. He moreover declares, "There of the Shan (or Zen) Buddhism, which was
is not a single known method by which one may popular in China of that day.
Key to Chi,nese Characters
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The Beginnings of Alchemy

Author(s): Homer H. Dubs

The University of Texas

The Beginnings of Alchemy*

applied by civilized society against the unrestricted practise of alchemy, so that it

Meng Kange, who lived ca. A.D. I8o-260, also glosses:

tion correctly reads "a thousand years," which is

The foregoing is exactly what would be expected in a passage from a pre-Christian

essays, works on astronomy, astrology, portents, etc. He prepared a catalog of the

trans. by E. Feifel in "Pao-p'u Tzu Chapters 'Ibid., 259, par. i5.

0'7Ibid., 260, par. i6. the application of philosophy to explain the

The word jindo, now used for "gold

aa X fiu,abXac ,a& ,af t f ,A- P A fX S

air La irCc ,c t,

c* ,Gb r 4$ cc t tcd W 4i ,p5s

TNR ,cl +-,Cyi,n *,CIcot cp ,

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