The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1882-08-24
THE "PHILosoPHERs sruNE. >

Ahe Cnree great remedies for the ir-
remedIable evils of death, toll and igno-
rance OF the future have been sought
t0r' how earnestly and blindly! The al
chemists, whose art fourished for so
many centuries, would have it that ale
chemy was rs old as man himself; that
Its name was derived from Shem, the
son of Noah; that Noah himself must
have possessed the elixir Vite-that
Hcrmes Irismegistus founded it among
the Egyptians, where Moses learned it,
as was proved by his making the gold of
the golden calf float on the water. The
Chinese claim to have known all about
alchemy 4,4O0 years ago. Certain it is
that In the first centuries of the Chris
tlSn era there were pretenders to the art
of making gold and silver in Rome,
whom the authorities punished as knayes
and impostors, and at Constantnople in
the fourth century transmutation of met
ais was very generally believed in.
These early Greek alchemists held that
all metals were composed of two sub.
Stances-metallic earth and red, in-
hammable substance called "sulphur.n
The pure union of these produced gold,
but other metals were mixed with and
contaminated by various foreign ingre.
dicnts, which the philosophers stone
| would infallibly and instantly detect
!hence to the eighth century, when the
uclusion reappeared among the Arabs,
It's course cannot be traced with certain
| ty' Geber, who flouri5hed about 73O, is
credited with writing 500 trcatises on
the philosophers stone and the water
OF life. Gold was to him the only
meta! in perfect health, and he be-
heVcd that preparation Of gold would
cure all the maladies incident to the
animal and vegetable Kingdoms If he
| dld not find the precious stone. he did
find such valuable things as corrosive
sublimatc, the red oxide of mercury.
nitric acid, and the nitrate of silver.
for the next two centuries the Arabian
philosophers practiccd alchemy and as
trology; but after Aviccnna's death i'm
!o5o the scat of their study was trans
lerred to Europe, where it was at its
brightest in the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries. Among the most eminent
men OF the time was Albertus Mapnus.
VINO mad Thomas Aquinas for a pupil.
between them they made, according to
the legend, that famous brazen statue
which spoke and acted as q servant.
Albcrtus had the power of chnp~ino tho
seasons, 1T may be added. Artephius.
who pretended TO be l 1,O2j years old, de-
ciarcd that he had found the elixir and
the stone as well; to the latter discovery
Alan de Lisle also laid claim while Ar
noldde Nillcncuvc was said TO have trans
muted great quantities Of lead and COP
per. He had IN infallblc recipe for
perpetual lifc-semi-wcckly anointinps
win the marrow of cassia and the
nightly wearing over the heart OF q plas-
ter or Oriental saffron, red rose leaves.
sandalwood alocs and amber lquefied
III Oil OF roses and white wax. The diet
al 4 At
fowls having been fattcned for two
months on scrpcnts boiled in vinegar
thlck"ncd with wheat and bran From
sixteen to thirty days of this food.
washed down with good white wine or
claret, made man safe for seven wears
of life. His friend, Pietro d'Apone,
had, if his contemporaries are to be be-
Moved, seven spirits bottled up whom he
could release on occasion to do his bid
dlng III any art Or science. Though he
could turn brass into gold, he operated
very sparingly, and preferred the sim
pier process OF paying his way in mon
ey' which returned to him next morn
ing no matter what precautions had
been taken by the person to whom it
had been paid. In an evil hour he fell
into the hands of the Inquisition and
was hacked almost to death, DIVING.
however, before his trial had been con-
cludcd. Raymond Lulli was a still
more eminent adept, who labored con-
currently at finding the philosophers
stone and converting the Mussulmans.
a. dubious story makes out that he once
visited England and was assigned apart
mcnts in the Tower, where, if the
legends DO not lie, he made G6,0OO,O 900
worth OF gold out of iron, quicksilver,
lead and pewter. In his Testament
um, Lulli boasted of having converted
10000 pounds of these base metals into
gold Roger Bacon was firm believer
III the talismanic stone and an ardent
seeker for it, though he did not there
tore neglect his studies in physics and
astronomy. Pope John XXI. was
claimed by the alchemists as distin
gulshed worker in their craft, and thev
insisted that his bulls on the subject
were only aimed at false prete enders, and
claimed that the 18,O0O, 900 forms he
left in his Golfers had been made, be-
cause they could not have been amasscd.
Jean dc Meung, the author OF the
"Romandc dc In Rose" was another
alchemist of note, and played q sad
practical joke on the Cordeliers, to
whom he bequeathcd q wcighty chest,
which they fancied would contain his
treasure, but proved to be filed
WIN states ScraWleu with HERO
gIyphics. Nicholas Flannel after
studying the book written Gin
LatinD by abraham, patriarch, jew,
Prince, philosopher, Priest, Levite and
astro!ogcr, for twcnty-four years made
lot OF mercury into silver January
13, 1882, and converted another large
quantity of quicksilver into gold on
April 25. and by simultaneously dis
covering the clxcr of life was enabled
to pro!ong his life to the age of 116,
when he died, leaving great treasure
Modern skeptics. however, insist that
he was miSer and usurcr, who dab
bled in alchemy. Tho tradition was
long current that he was alive and was
fatcd to see his 6O0th year, and so late
as 1916 his house, in the Rue de Mari
vauX. at Paris. was taken and ransackcd
by a credulous seeker aFtcr his boards