alchemy a bad reputation, and it is not always accorded the place in the history of science to which it is entitled. As the belief in the possibility of the transmutation of metals was almost universal, much of the work of the alchemists was directed to the production of gold. Often the work was perfectly honest, but many instances of charlatanism are on record. Dishonest men practised on the greed of rulers. If discovered to be guilty of fraud, capital punishment was sometimes administered. Henry IV of England exhorted the learned men of his kingdom to study alchemy, and pay off the debts of the country by discovering the philosopher's stone. In the sixteenth century practically all rulers patronized alchemists.
Many clerics were alchemists. To Albertus Magnus, a prominent Dominican and Bishop of Ratisbon, is attributed the work "De Alchimia", though this is of doubtful authenticity. Several treatises on alchemy are attributed to St. Thomas Aquinas. He investigated theologically the question of whether gold produced by alchemy could be sold as real gold, and decided that it could, if it really possess the properties of gold (Sum. Theol., II–II. Q. 77, Art. 2). A treatise on the subject is attributed to Pope John XXII, who is also the author of a Bull "Spondent quas non exhibent" (1317) against dishonest alchemists. It cannot be too strongly insisted on that there were many honest alchemists. Chemists have never given up the belief that the transmutation of elements might yet be effected, and recent work in radio-activity goes to prove its possible accomplishment in the case of radium and helium.
The literature of the subject is extensive. Many of the works of the old writers have been preserved, often unintelligible on account of the terminology. Modern authors have also written treatises on the history of the subject. Berthelot has edited a work "Collection des anciens Alchimistes Grees" with the Greek texts. He has written "Les Origines de l'Alchimie" and other works on the same subject. Schmieder's "Geschichte der Alchimie" (Halle, 1832) is useful. Observations on the subject will be found in treatises on the history of chemistry, such as Liebig's "Familiar Letters", and Thomson's "History of Chemistry", and in the introductory portions of manuals of chemistry.
Alcmund, Saint, Bishop of Hexham; d. 781. Though we know practically nothing of the life of St. Alcmund, or Alchmund, it is clear that he was regarded with much veneration at Hexham in Northumberland. The church founded by St. Wilfrid at Hexham became an episcopal see, and Alcmund, succeeding as bishop, in 767, led a life of remarkable piety until his death, 7 September, 781. He was buried beside St. Acca outside the church. About two centuries and a half later, after the country had been laid waste by the Danes, all memory of his tomb seemed to have perished, but the Saint is said to have appeared in a vision to a man of Hexham bidding him toll Alured, or Alfred (Alveredus), sacrist of Durham, to have his body translated. Alured obeyed and, having discovered and exhumed the Saint's remains, stole one of the bones to take back with him to Durham, but it was found that the shrine could not be moved by any strength of man until the bone was restored. In 1154, the church having again been laid waste, the building was restored, and the bones of the Hexham saints, those of Alcmund among the rest, were gathered into one shrine. The whole, however, was finally pillaged and destroyed by the Scots in a border raid, a.d. 1296.
Acta SS., 7 September, III; Stanton, English Menology (London, 1892), 438; Dict. Nat. Biog., s. v.; Dict. Christ. Biog.—Our principal information comes from Simeon of Durham, and Ælred, On the Saints of Hexham, both printed in Rolls Series, and a full account will be found in the Preface and Documents of Raine, Priory of Hexham (Surtees Society, London, 1864–65).
Alciati, Andrea, an Italian jurist, b. at Alzano, near .Milan, 8 May, 1492; d. at Pavia, 12 June, 1550. He was the only son of a Milanese ambassador to the Republic of Venice. He studied law at Pavia and Bologna, and published (1522) an explanation of the Greek terms in the Roman law, under the title of "Paradoxa juris civilis"; he had composed this work at the age of fifteen. In 1518 he became a professor of law at Avignon, then a Bourges; finally he returned to Milan in 1538, and was appointed professor of law at Pavia, after which he taught at Milan, Bologna, and Ferrara. He was highly honoroured by Paul III and Charles V, and was acknowledged as the first of the scholars of his age who had known how to embellish with literary skill the legal lore that had hitherto been presented in a very barbarous form (De Feller). His works on jurisprudence were collected and published at Padua (1571, 6 vols. Fol.), but he wrote other works not included in that edition: "Historia Mediolanensis" (published posthumously at Milan, 1625), "Responsa" (Lyons, 1561), "Formula romani imperii" (1559), and "Epigrammata" (1539). His gravity and moderation, and his caution in the solution of legal difficulties, are praised by his biographers. He is best known to the modern world by his curious and entertaining "Emblemata", a metrical collection of moral, proverb-like sayings, in which the ethical teaching is couched in elegant and forceful diction, though it lacks, somewhat, simplicity and naturalness. This work was first edited by Peutinger (Augsburg, 1531); an excellent edition is that of Padua (1661), with commentaries.
De Feller, Biographie Universelle (Paris ed., 1847), 109; Mazzuchelli, Scrittori d'Italia, s. v.; Green, Andrea Alciati and his Book of Emblems (1873); Id., Shakspeare and the Emblem-writers, etc., down to 1616 (1872).
Alcibiades of Apamea. See Elcesaites.
Alcimus (Ἄλκιμος, "brave," probably a Graæcized form of Heb. אלִיקִים, Eliacim), high-priest, the leader of the hellenizing party in the time of Judas Machabeus. By antagonizing the religious and national sentiments of his countrymen, he won favour at court, and though not of high-priestly stock, he was appointed high-priest by Lysias, the regent of Antiochus Eupator (162 b.c.); but the opposition to the Machabean party prevented him from exercising the office. He therefore went to Demetrius Soter, who in the meanwhile had overthrown Eupator and denounced Judas and his adherents as rebels and disturbers. Demetrius reappointed him to the high-priesthood and sent Bacchides with an army to install him. But the perfidious slaughter of sixty prominent Assideans, the cruelties of Bacchides, and the excesses of Alcimus's followers strengthened the Machabean party, and Bacchides had hardly left the country when Alcimus was forced to appeal to the king for help. Demetrius first sent Nicanor with an army, and, after his defeat and death, Bacchides, in fighting against whom Judas died a heroic death at Laisa (Eleasa), 160 b.c. Alcimus now set to work to carry out his hellenizing policy and to persecute those faithful to the law. But that same year he was stricken with paralysis and died in great suffering.
I Mach. vii. 5–ix, 56; II Mach. xiv. 13–xv. 35; Josephus, Antiq., XII. ix. 7–xi, incl.; Schürer, History of the Jewish People, (New York, 1891) I, i, 227–236.
Alcock, John, Bishop of Rochester, Worcester, and Ely, b. at Beverley, 1430; d. at Wisbeach Castle,
