The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1882-08-23
THE "PHILOsOPHER's STONE"

remediable evils Of death, toll and igno-
rance Of the future have been sought
for, how earnestly and tlindly! The al
chemists, whose art hourshed Tor 50
many centuries, would have II that al
chemy was a, old as man himself; that
its name was derived fDm Shem, the
son OF Noah: that Noah himself must
| have possessed the elixir yitf-that
Hermes Irismegsius founded il among
the Egyptians. where Moses learned II,
a. was proved by bis making the gold OF
the golden calf float On the water. Inc
Chinese claim 10 have known AL about
alchemy 4. 40 year ago. certain II IS
that in the first centuries 81 the IRIS
tim era there were pret-nders 10 the art
Of making gold and silver in Rome,
whom the authorize. punished - knavc,
and impostors. and al COn,tanilnopie in
the fourth century tran-mGtailon u met
ais wa, very generally UeAe'ed IN.
These early Greek a!chrmisis held that
al metals were composed OF two -uD-
s,auccs-me'allic earth and red. IN
,aumable substance called "sulphur.'
The pure union Of these produced gold.
hut other metals were mixed with and
contaminated by various iO7ci-n ingrc-
dIeut-. which the philosopher stone
would iniallibiy and instantly detect.
Thence 10 the eighth century, when the
deIu..on reappeared among the Arabs,
il cOur.e canuotbe traced with certain.
IS Gcber, who Eour.shed about ~, !,
credited with writing 80 trea,i,cs on
the philosophers stone and the water
Of life. Gold was 10 him the only
metal in perfect health, and he be-
licyed that preparation Of gold would
cure all the maladics incident 10 the
animal and vegetable kingdom. If he
did not lind the precious stone, be did
find such valuable thing, as corrosive
sublimate, the red oxide Of mercury,
nitric acid, and the nitrate Of silver.
For the next Two ccnturie, the Arabian
philosophers practiced alchemy and Is.
trOlOgy: but after Ayicenna death in
1896 the seat Of their study was trans
fcrrcd 10 Europe. where il was at H.
brightest in the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries. Among the most eminent
men Of tn" time Was Albcrtu, Mpgnu.,
who had lhoma, Aquinas for pupil.
Between them they made. according to
the legend. that famous braIcn statue
which spoke and acted a, servant
Albcrtus had the power Of changing the
seasons, il may b. added. Artephius,
who pretended 10 be OPS wears old, de-
clarcd thai he had found the elixir. and
the stone n, well: to the latter discovery
Alain de Lislc also laid claim. while Ar
noldde Nillcncuyc was said 10 have trans
mutel great quantities Of lead and cop
per. He had AN infalliblc recipe for
perpetual lifc-.emi- weekly anointings
with the marrow Of cas,ia and the
nightly wearing over the heart OF a plas-
ter Of Oriental saffron. red rose lcaye.,
sandalwOOd, alOcs and amber liquclicd
in oil OF roses and white wax. The diet
prescribed was chicken dav, the
fowls having been fattcncd for two
| months on >crpcnt> boiled in vinegar
thickencd with wheat and bran. From
sixteen to thirty days Of this food,
washed down with good white wine or
clarct, made man safe for seven years
of life. His friend, Pictro d'Aponc,
had, il his contemporaries are TO be be-
lieved, seven spirit, bottled up whom he
could rclcQSc on occasion to do his bid
ding in any art or science. Though no
could turn brass into gold, he operated
very SparingIy. and preferred the sim
pier process Of paying his way in mon
cy, which returned 10 him next morn
ing no matter what precautions had
been taken by the person 10 whom it
| had been paid. In an evil hour he fell
into the hands Of the Inqustion and
was ha kcd almost to death, diving,
however, before his trial had been con-
cludct. RAYMOND Lulli was still
more eminent adept, who labored con-
currently at finding the philosopher S
stone and converting the MuSsu'mans.
4 dubious story makes out that he once
visited England aud WAS assigned apart
mrnts in the Tower where, if the
legends do not lie. he made E6, 100000
worth Of gold out Of iron, quicksilver,
lead and pewter. In his "Testament-
UNI, Lulli boosted of having converted
80, 600 pounds OF these base metals into
gold Roger Bacon was q firm believer
in the talismauic stone and an ardent
seeker for it, though he did not there
fore neglect his studies in physics and
astronomy. Pope John MIL wa!
claimed by the alchcmists rs q dstin
gushcd worker in their craft, and the,
insisted that his bulls on the subjec'
were only aimed at false prctendcrs, anC
claimed that the 1900, 900 form, h,
left in his Golfers had been made. be
cause they could not have been amasscd
Jean de Meung, the author OF tn,
"Romande de Ia Rose" was another
achcmist OF note, and played 50,
practical Joke on the Cordelicrs, t.
whom he bcqucathed wcighty chest,
which they fancied would contain his
treasure, but proved to be filled
with States scrawled with hero,
glyphics. Nicholas Flannel after
studying the book written Tin
LatinD by abraham, patriarck jew,
Prince, philosopher. Priest, Lcyitc and
astroIogcr,' for twcnly.four years made
lot OF mercury into silver January
Is, 1882, and converted another large
| quantity oil quicksilver INTO gOIu on
April %. and by simultaneously dis
covering the elixer OF life was enabled
TO prolong his life to the age OF ll6,
when he died, leaving great treasure.
Modern skeptics. however, insist that
he was miser and usurer, who dab
bled in alchemy. The tradition wa'
long current that he was alive and wa
fated 10 see his 6OOth year, and so lat,
as 1916 his house, in the Rue de Mari
yauy. at Paris. was taken and ransackeC
BY a credulous seeker after his hoard
or the secret by which he amas>c'
them. In England, in li0i, the maxim;
Of gold and silver was declared a felony
fears being entertained that some alche
mist working with an ambitious Baroi
might overthrow the throne, but il
, 1854 the King issued severa; patents t.
associations formed for discovering tn
stone and clixer. George Ripley, tn
Canon Of Bridlington, declared quar-
ter of n century later that he had dis