“The ancients were always distinguished – especially the Chaldean astrologers and Magians – for their ardent love and pursuit of knowledge in every branch of science. They tried to penetrate the secrets of nature in the same way as our modern naturalists, and by the only method by which this object can be obtained, namely: by experimental researches and reason.
If our modern philosophers cannot apprehend the fact that they penetrated deeper than themselves into the mysteries of the universe, this does not constitute a valid reason why the credit of possessing this knowledge should be denied them or the imputation of superstition laid at their door.
Nothing warrants the charge; and every new archeological discovery militates against the assumption.
As chemists they were unequaled, and in his famous lecture on The Lost Arts, Wendell Phillips says: “The chemistry of the most ancient period had reached a point which we have never even approached.” The secret of the malleable glass, which, “if supported by one end by its own weight, in twenty hours dwindles down to a fine line that you can curve around your wrist”, would be as difficulty to rediscover in our civilized countries as to fly to the moon.”
H. P. Blavatsky
The Mark Of God: Understanding Your "I AM Presence" 