ELIXIR OF LIFE, THE. The search for an elixir of life, the Great Elixir, has not been confined to the alchemists of the Middle Ages. Much of what has gone by the name of religion, or philosophy, or science in all ages and in all countries represents a quest for some thing (some power or substance) that will confer upon mankind life, renewed life, and eternal life. From the ancient Egyptian ritual of rebirth to the modern cult of Christian Science, this has been the great quest. This is emphasized by Professor G. Elliot Smith in one of his remarkable essays (" The giver of Life" in the Journal of the Manchester Egyptian and Oriental Society, 191S, p. 53 ff.). Man's first and only concrete idea of death was associated with some physical injury which caused loss of blood (" the blood that is the life thereof "). From the fact that the effusion of the red fluid caused loss of consciousness and death, he Inferred that blood was the substance of consciousness and life. This sug gested that the defective vitality of persons might be remedied by offerings of blood. Blood " became an elixir to restore youth, to ward off danger to life (by adding to the vital substance), and to increase the supply of vitality to the dead, in whom life was not regarded as ended but simply reduced in volume." This belief in the efficacy of blood (or later of a substitute for blood, such as a fluid made of red ochre, or wine) as an elixir of life " not only exerted the most profound and far reaching influence in early religious ceremonies and symbolism, but also was responsible for driving men to embark upon such diabolical practices as head-hunting and human sacrifice to obtain the blood which was credited with such potent magical value." Blood could revitalize. But since in the beginning man had to be born, it was further assumed that to enjoy new life, he must be re-born. " The portal of birth was regarded not merely as the channel by which a new life came into being, but also as the giver of life. The new being and
its vital essence were considered to be actually created by what Semitic-speaking people still call ' the giver of life.' This ' giver of life' was simulated by the cowrie shell, which came to be regarded as an appropriate amulet to add vitality to living or dead, to ward off danger to life or to give renewed supply of life-substance to the dead. But the circumstances of its original sym bolism made it also potent to increase the fecundity of women and to facilitate birth. When the moon also came to be regarded as a controlling influence over these physiological processes in women the moon was drawn into the circle of elixirs of life. This was the commence ment of the belief in a sky-world and a heaven, and also the foundation-stone of astrology and astronomy." Then the pearl found in a shell and actually called by the Persians margan or " the giver of life " came to be regarded as a heaven-sent fragment of moon-substance and as the quintessence of life-giving substance. Magic shells were eagerly sought for, and incidentally provided the first coinage. The wearing of shell-girdles was responsible for the Invention of clothing. Where the shell-amulets were not easily procurable, the practice grew up of making models of the cowries in stone or other materials. " In the deserts between the Nile and the Red Sea (the home of the cowrie cult), which must have been repeatedly traversed by the searchers after shells, the soft, plastic, yellow metal was found in con siderable quantity, lying about unused and unapprec iated." Models were made in gold, and in course of time gold itself acquired the reputation as a " giver of life" which at first belonged only to the form of the amulets made of 4t. Hence the value ascribed to gold, and its use as the basis of currency. See, further, G. Elliot Smith, Dr.