The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1854-09-02
from the t"unt,y GenN,mcn.
TIE WORST OF ALL THE Crxr,

u
Will call Alchymy. was digging in an out Of
'"c way corner OF laboratory He was
surrounded by a variety of strange. odd-shan.
ed 'Inp!cmcnts-crucibles, vials, acmbics. re-
'or'>' and ci>tcrnS. L pom small but pow
criu furnace. which was glowing with red
neat, there stood vessel that was spuminc
forth gaseous vapor rwhch was carefully en-
/ trapped by means Of cooling apparatus. and
when condensed was conveyed away bv ST.
phons and conduct-ripes into hagon of con
siderable dimensions AItogether,the strange
haggard, thoughtful look of the man. and the
mysterious looking tools. anu the clare the
heated furnace, made the place appear more
IKE the haunt OF some wizard or nccroman-
Ger, than the study of an alchvmi>t: and his
apparatus was certainly more surcrstive of a
dstllIery OF poison than good and wholesome
drinks
However.he was evidently hcnt unon eth
cr hiding or boFvin" some potion or Snht,c
essence he has! INST made. for 4 vessel con.
'ainIn2 ruby coorcd liquid was standing
close by TIE hole in which he was at work.
But as it was the custom Of some of the early
alchvmists to bury certain essences in thc
earth from the commencement to the end of
the Tuadraturc ofthe moon, il, order that na-
turc might perfect their lahor: the old man
dug away with vi"or that was more in uni-
son with youth than age. But suddenly he
struck his spade against some hard substance.
and stopping. he said. "IIoIa. have found
clthera box of gold or Jar of Transporting
iia! buried here by nv Predecessor. Al.
Ah :" he went On chrrklin.. II always thou't
should find something in this old laIora.o-
rv II only du, deep cnou.'I."
The Old fellow went on iyi>urclv removing
tie earth, every now and then >iori,inr to
examine lis prize; a:,d at lrnctl he had re-
moved the soil from 'hc niJ>tlric.anl then he
ascertain.d that he had found a c!a>s bottle.
'9mctlin. Ike those upon his own shelves.
and which one sees now-a-da,S in our chem
il::s' shops and we s'ard AID stare al their
..at;rnci sides. Ion. scra. ..s,y nccks. anl mys-
tenonS -ignS as lnlentiv a. Alrhvmv did a.
tic one he had 50 unexrcc:, l!v found. The
old Eii IN waS. OF con, So. very mu.b drlioh,e1
with IT'S tr'a>urc-'rovc for he expected to
reap the reward oi some aichvm;>t'> lahor>.
who hal probably died. and nad, 10 si.,n of
'he secret he had lett in his laboratory. At
,r-t he handled it and examined i, curiouslv.
then h. tried to Guess at its contents. and
then 'ld what most sensible people woulu
have done first. he looked at the cork. and
discovered that it was carefully and heavily
sealed
Il was not. however. The oo:lrn seal of Sol
ONION that was >iainpe,; upon ihc bottle. as
that seal WAS only used. according to Eastern
hI>'or ian>.whc it was necessary to coniinc 4
powerful genie: bu; it was a seal of GREAT rt.
Hra'v nevertheless. fox !, was the seal Of pr;--
DENCr. the mcr!; eyed lamsrl of Wisdom :
and the device exhit ted the beautiful darn.,-
ter of Temperance offering a cohlet of water
to Exercise, and it was struck with y;rcin
wax.
Alchymv looked at the bottle arain and
again; presently he held it up to the licht.an
then he saw that it contained a bright clear
liquid but somehow. though it looked even
brighter and clearer than water. vet thcrc
was ucy. oily humor, lurking and working
about in the bottle, that told the old man
that the vessel contained mysterious and
subtle essence. Fooled in gratifying his Gu
riosity by the means he had adopted he held
the bottle to his ear after he had shaken Il;
we'll. "Ah, said be, IL thought So" and
b" appeared rot 20 be disappointed, for a.
first he thought he heard low murmu,S that
"nr"!rd forth from the elastic bubbles given
eli by The volatile essence that had now be-
gan to i"rmcnt from the shaking il had re-
''iVtd. In the excitement Of the moment the
P"rr"z!ed Imagination of the ai,hvmist heard
iitii-!o:mcd words. broken expressions. ccm
i''>c': OF curses. blessings, oatlls. and cntrca-
ties bat the noise was as inGiscrib,bIc as
bits of dreams. and. Ike tale mou,hed bv \
maniac, was full Of sound and fury, and sig
niiicd nothing that was intcllirible.
-ind now acold trembling crcpt over the
old man. yet he could not help listening; he
felt cntranccd spell bound. for the murmurs
within the bottle seemed to hold communion
with himself, and to be answered from the
very depth of his brain. He tried to speak.
10 utter a counter -charm-hc made his cabal-
istic sicn.but all to no purpose: for his .onrue
refused to give voice to the strange workings
and warnings within him. and an awful con-
sciousnesS grew up in his mind that a subtle
spirit in his own heart was conversnc with
subtle spirits in the mysterious bottle.
Ills first impulse was to fly; his second was
to tear away the seal with which Pru1tnce
had covered the neck of the bottle. For an
instant he hesitatcd; but in rash moment
acting under the influence of some uncontrol-
able spell, he gave the seal wrench. and
settled the business. For a few moments AL.
chvmv stood somewhat astonishcd at his own
temerIty' as he started back instinctiveIy, and
placed the open bottle on the floor of the lab
oratory. But as nothing very alarming en-
sued'he gradually took courage and approach