historical chemistry:—Les Origines de l'Alchimie (1885); Collection des Alchimistes Grecs, in three volumes (1887-88); Introduction à la Chimie des Anciens et du Moyen Âge (1889); and La Chimie au Moyen Âge, in three volumes (1893): the first is an "essai sur la transmission de la science antique"; the second on "l'alchimie syriaque"; and the third volume is on "l'alchimie arabe." These historical works are of the most learned kind, necessitating laborious researches in the libraries of Leyden, London, and Paris. Manuscripts in the Bibliotheque Nationale, that of St Mark at Venice, the palæographs of the tenth century, the alchemical papyri of Leyden of the third century, the ancient philosophies of Syria, Arabia, Greece, and those of the Middle Ages, were all utilized by Berthelot in writing the works mentioned above.
Concerning these books the Société Alchimique de France addressed him, at his jubilee, in the following words:—
La Société Alchimique de France adresse à l'occasion de son glorieux Jubilé, à Monsieur Marcellin Berthelot, l'hommage de sa respectueuse et profonde admiration.
Elle's'incline devant le génie de Berthelot, qui a réellement constitué la Chimie Synthétique et qui écrit ce volume immortal: "Les Origines de l'Alchimie."
The Society was founded for the purpose of investigating the researches, doings and sayings of the old alchemists.
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