The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1889-09-14
cAeLIos1Ro's ELIXIR.
A Nostrum That Once Sold for 81 600
Bottle,

travels IN cyles or periods, and tha
ideas which flourish and fade in ont
age are revived in another later
The dream of medieval times wat
the elixir of Life" and wise mer
spent their lives in search of it, and
some supposed that they found this
secret, but, alas ! on their deathbeds
realized that they were deceived
Then came the skeptical ages, when
the subject was ridiculed and driven
boisterously out of court. But now
what do we see? Here is the most
eminent of French physicians com
ing forward with the confession that
for long time he himself has been
pursuing this ancient quest and be-
lieves that he has secured the treas
ures that for centuries beguiled and
eluded SO many others.
About hundred years ago, or a
little more, there was strange char
acter who was travelling all over Eu-
rope selling to kings and princes
and the highest nobility, who alone
were able to buy it, the genuine
Elixir of Youth, compounded by
himself according to a formula he
had learned by magical process.
This man has been imortalized by
two great writers-Carlyle and AL
exander Dumas-the first Of whom
presents him in a shabby aspect,
the other in a highly romantic one.
To the Scotch philosopher he was
the greatest of villains; no language
is too hard to break upon his pate.
"A bullnecked forger" is one of the
terms applied, and in the essay there
are others even grosser. But, in
truth, Cagliostro was not as bad a
man as Carlyle and some others
have painted him. He had much
originality of character and much
ability, otherwise he could not have
been, as he was, for a number of
years, almost the leading figure of
Europe. He travelled over every
part of the world, and the people
and the courts were dazzled with
him. Italy and Germany paid him
tribute in honors and gold, and he
even held a certain amount of credit
in Russia.
His real name was Joseph Bal
samo and he was born at Palermo
in 1743. His history has been
written by different persons and it
is full of romantic adventures. It
is said that he understood alchemy
and all the cabalistic arts, that
he commanded spirits and foretold
future things, and that, above all,
he was skillful in clalrvoyance.
The account Of his hypnotic ex-
periments with a little boy who
travelled with him are curious.
"This child" we are told, chad to
kneel before a small table, on which
a can of water and some lighted
candles stood. He now instructed
the boy to look into the water can
and so commenced his conjuration ;
laid his hand on the head of the boy
and in this position addressed a
prayer to God for a successful issue
of this experiment. The child was
now clairvoyant and said at first
that he saw something white, then
he saw child or an angel, etc., and
after this spoke of all sorts of flu
ture things. Cagliostro availed
himself also of an orphan maiden
at Mitau, who being already of
manageable age could not, of
course, be considered as simple and
as innocent as small boy.
The questions that he put to the
orphan girl did not confine them
selves to the angel, but extended to
the discovery Of secrets and future
events, when he frequently made
his experiments without a can of
water and merely placed the orphan
behind a screen. He alse, it is not
known whether the more thorough
ly to convince the spectators or to
throw dust in their eyes, laid his
hands on other individuals, and
transferred to them a portion of his
own power"
This was merely the practice of
modern magnetism; familiar now,
out apparently of diabolical origin
hen. AT the Inquisition Caglios-
.ro declared that he had never any
hing to do with the devil, "and if"
he said, ~ am a sinner, | trust a
nerciful God will forgive me-" He
declared also that he believed his
Egyptian system had nothing what
ever to do with the Church of Rome
and especially in what related to
he employment of the orphans. In
1871 the inquisition, notwithstand-
ng his protestations, condemned
him as deserving Of the severest
awarded to heretics.
teachers of errors, writer's and ad-
aerers of superstitious magic. He
lied in prison four years afterward.
In the height of his success, when
he was travelling triumphantly
through Germany, he made enor-
nous sums of money, which he
anenf as freely "a such Adventures