Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-03-15
ALCHEMIsTs, OLD AND MODERN.
Prof. FristOe Talks Of the Infancy Of
Chemistry.

Prof. Fristoe Talks Of the Infancy of
Chemistry.
Prof Fristoe of the faculty of the Co
lumbar university delivered an interesting
lecture in the hall of that institution yesterday
afternoon on the subject Of Alchemy. the in
fancy OF chemistry" His talk was full Of odd
fact about this ancient science, and kept the
audience in attention and applause from be-
ginning to end. The lecturer began by stating
that modern physical science dates from the
discoveries Of Copernicus, the first real astron-
| omer: Torricelli and Pasquelle, who discovered
to the world the matter Of the weight of the at
mosphere, and Priesty, the discoverer OF oxygen,
thus giving three distinct eras. Alchemy first
started in form most Of the problems which
science is still engaged in solving, and 1t was
the infant efforts OF chemistry that drew to the
study many men whose donations to science
have been beyond value. The search for gold
was the crisis OF these efforts. accompanied by
wild striving for the philosophers stone and
the elixir of life. The Bible contains many
illusions to the science, but the first record 10
to be found iAan ancient Chinese work dating
back into ages almost beyond computation. in
which the elements stated to be earth. fire,
water. metal and wood. Moses was evidently
an adept in the science, from several references
in the Bible to his works. Rome carried the
study to great extent, and reached
such a degree of proficiency that Diocle-
san upon the eve of reported invasion
by the Egyptians. ordered all books on the
subject to be burned, lest they fall into the
hands of the enemy and thus give them 80
much knowledge that they should be able to
make gold enough to enable them to own the
earth. Aristotle forms quite prominent fig
ure IN the history Of the science, he being the
first man to advance the theory of a universal
element binding all the Others together, cor
responding to what we should call "quin-
En,xl Ixl:x
many students of alchemy up to a compare
lively late day, and it is probably due to him
that philosophy and chemistry did not make
greater strides forward They would have
been thousand years earlier had it not been
for his influence.
SOME QUEER THEORIES.
There were some funny theories held by
those old philosophers as to the essences and
elements of matter. One who lived about 800
years before Christ contended that water was
the source Of all things, another that air was
the primary element. and each had a line of
argument and analogy to prove his idea. A
man who breathed about $50 BE- took the
ground that fire was the prime feature of the
combination and that the human soul was a
hery vapor. Thenceforth the tracing OF the
history Of alchemy and chemistry winds through
a labyrinth of unpronounceable names in Greek
anu LAIN, names that have long since been
forgotten except by the students of this science
who came near the truth when he said that
the earth was made by the falling together
of small PARTICLES This is probably the first
appearance of the atomic theory. This is
sample of the reasoning by which some Of the
ancients arrived at their conclusions as to the
elements of matter: When wood is burned it
produces fire, which gives off air, which in
TURN, when condensed, produces water, while
the ashes OF the wood form earth; therefore
wood is at the bottom of all creation A groW-
tire tn ahnyu hat lr<a
prime element by pouring Oh water every day
until the tree had increased in size and weight
and weighing the earth with which the roots
were surrounded This, said the old chemist,
proved that water had given the tree, or the
wood its increase. Aristotle made up q
schedule OF constructions and juggled with it
to the mystifcation of all his followers. He
said that the four elements-fre, air. water
and earth--are not single and definite sub
stances, but derive their existence from other
more primal elements. Thus, fire was COM
posed of heat and dryness, air of heat and
moisture, water of cold and moisture and earth
OF dryness and cold. On the basis of this table
he constructed some very plausible questions
and led the way to the idea of the discovery of
the one prime element with which one could
transform any substance into anything else.
THE LOST ARTS.
In ancient times the workers in metals and
other substances handed their secrets down
from generation to generation, and in time
some of them we're lost. These are the ''lost
arts" so often mentioned, which are simply lost
family secrets. There was no possibility for
the artisan who understood the nature of the
metals to give to the philosopher any of his
ideas and thus. by the separation made neces-
sary by the civilization Of these two classes,
the progress of the world in this important
subject was deferred. There was need of the
application of some science to the work of the
artisan and OF some common sense to the
At n AaA NH has Ihn
that the artisan couldn't dc it and the philoso-
pher wouldn't do it. From the fifth to the
sixteenth century was the age of fabulous pre-
tensions in alchemy. when every discovery
was kept profound secret. thus making the
time one of almost total ignorance.
The old alchemists some times used good logic
in their arguments as to the existence of the
philosophers stone, and all alchemy was not
the fraud that modern people would think.
There were some good, honest workers in the
ranks. searchers after the truth. as well as the
knaves that are TO be found in every trade and
every branch of life. There was one monk
living in the middle ages who made a specially
OF anthony Thinking it 10 be the great cure
all he first tried some of it ON his hogs and the
beasts fattened so that he thought that it must
be good for human beings. SO he gave it to
his brethren with fatal results. This is sup
posed to be the reason why the metal is called
''antimony," from its bad effect on monks.
There were tricks in alchemy, as in every trade
lieve that the philosophers stone had been
found. Metals containing concealed gold were
so treated as to leave the gold free and visible.
MODERN ALCHEMIsTs
There are alchemists of today just as dis
honest as those of old, men who swindle and
cheat others with tricks that are almost as
primitive as those used by their predeces sors
in the crooked art They have only changed
their forms of delusion and have struck for
higher wages. At this point the lecturer gave
several interesting illustrations on modern al
chemy, particularly of one practiced in this
city, where a man advertised to do wonders
with little electric battery that seemed to give
out electricity enough to do any service. The
real motive power was i'll another room in a
large machine. He also made assays in such a
clever manner as to make ore owners think
they have mines of great wealth from speci-
mems exceedingly poor in metal.
Lightweight Potatoes.
George Jones, who claims that he sells DO
tatoes for a countryman named Thompson who
lives near Laurel, Nd. was in the Police Court
yesterday charged with selling potatoes by