[12] ARTHUR EDWARD WAITE: _Lives of Alchemystical Philosophers_ (1888), pp. 30, 31. As says another writer of the mystical school of thought: “If we look upon the subject [of Alchymy] from the point which affords the widest view, it may be said that Alchymy has two aspects: the simply material, and the religious. The dogma that Alchymy was only a form of chemistry is untenable by any one who has read the works of its chief professors. The doctrine that Alchymy was religion only, and that its chemical references were all blinds, is equally untenable in the face of history, which shows that many of its most noted professors were men who had made important discoveries in the domain of common chemistry, and were in no way notable as teachers either of ethics or religion” (“Sapere Aude,” _The Science of Alchymy, Spiritual and Material_ (1893), pp. 3 and 4). [13] M. M. PATTISON MUIR, M.A.: _The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry_ (1902), pp. 105 and 106. The Basic Idea of Alchemy. § =9.= The famous axiom beloved by every alchemist--“_What is above is as that which is below, and what is below is as that which is above_”--although of questionable origin, tersely expresses the basic idea of Alchemy. The alchemists postulated and believed in a very real sense in the essential unity of the Cosmos. Hence, they held that there is a correspondence or analogy existing between things spiritual and things physical, the same laws operating in each realm. As writes Sendivogius “. . . the Sages have been taught of God that this natural world is only an image and material copy of a heavenly and spiritual pattern; that the very existence of this world is based upon the reality of its celestial archetype; and that God has created it in imitation of the spiritual and invisible universe, in order that men might be the better enabled to comprehend His heavenly teaching, and the wonders of His absolute and ineffable power and wisdom. Thus the Sage sees heaven reflected in Nature as in a mirror; and he pursues this Art, not for the sake of gold or silver, but for the love of the knowledge which it reveals; he jealously conceals it from the sinner and the scornful, lest the mysteries of heaven should be laid bare to the vulgar gaze.”[14] [14] MICHAEL SENDIVOGIUS: _The New Chemical Light, Pt. II., Concerning Sulphur_ (_The Hermetic Museum_, vol. ii. p. 138).