Los Angeles herald., 1892-12-11
ARTIFICIAL GOLD.
HOW ALCHEMlSTS USED TO MAKE
IT IN THE OLDEN TIME.

It Brought to Most of Them an Unhappy
Tate-n One Failcd to Carry Out an
Extravagant Promise He Lost His Life.
An American Turns q Trick.
1t has often been stated, and with
truth, that modern chemistry is indebted
for much of its knowledge to the al
chemists Of old, whose experiments for
the purpose Of making gold by artifce
were certainly extraordinary to the ut
most point of absurdity. Some of them
actually attempted to imprison the suns
rays, which they tried to calcine and
powder, the rays being supposed to con-
sist Of pure golden sparks. Others sought
to obtain the philosophers stone, which
was to transmute all other metals into
gold, from honey, sugar, wine, blood, and
even rainwater. Dead bodies We're dug
up from their graves, and saltpeter was
extracted from them to serve as an in
gredient. Still others believe that gold
grew from seed, other metals merely fur
nishing fruitful soil in which the yell
low germs developed like plants.
In work now rare, called the ellis
tory of Ancient Pharmacy" it is men
toned that Raymond Nully was said to
have transformed $4,000 pounds of mer-
curry into gold for the English King Ed
ward Ill, and that from this supply Of
the yellow metal the first rose mobiles
were coined. The credibility of the
story is somewhat diminished, however,
by the circumstance that the same mon.
arch was soon after obliged to coin
money from his own and the queens
crown, and from the golden vessels of
churches and cloisters. 1t is gravely re-
corded that the Emperor Frederic III, ON
Jan. 10, 1913, at Prague, changed three
pounds of mercury into two and one
half pounds of gold by means of one
grain of a lead powder given to him by
a man named Richthausen. He created
this man Baron of Chaos, and from the
gold a medal was made which bore an
inscription referring to its artificial orr
gin. This medal was long preserved in
the Vienna treasury.
In 1905 Saxon lieutenant named Pay
kull was taken prisoner by Charles XII
He promised to make $l,000,000 worth
of gold each year if his life were spared.
In the presence of witnesses Paykull
changed six ounces of lead into gold by
means of tincture which contained
antimony, sulphur and saltpeter among
other ingredients. Out of this gold
medals were stamped. But Paykull
must have failed in subsequent attempts,
because he was afterward executed. If
this goose had been able to lay real
golden eggs it is to be presumed that he
would not have met with so melancholy
fate.
The business of manufacturing gold
in those days seems to have been an ex-
tremely dangerous one, commonly
bringing persons who pursued it to a
violent death. George Honauerpromised
to transform thirty-six hundredweighto of
iron into gold for the prince of Wurtem-
berg. The prince detected boy, who had
been concealed in th lapors tory, in ciiie
act of putting gold il th- crucible. He
thereupon ordered g. iro .sallows to be
constructed, from --hi-' The imprudent
fakir was hanged il 1871 Two other
goldmakers were lik' ~iss hanged from
this same gallows at Stuttgart in 1906
and 1888 respectively.
In 1877 man named Krohnemann en-
tered the service of the marquis of
Brandenburg with the r = os colonel.
He soon won reputation. as .Soldpaaker,
and was given charge Of the mint and
mines. Subsequently as WA e-l- -ected
of fraud, and on his trial q was 2soved
that he had stolen gold and Il-ssr from
the treasury of the mar.rsye fc- use in
the deception. He was CT -aned to be
hanged.
A quack named Daniel supplied Ital-
ian apothecaries with wonderful gold
powder called ''usufur." which was sup
posed to have astonishing medicinal
value. Pretending that u g art Of COM
pounding this usufur With other drugs
was mystery known crls' to himself,
he directed his patients no. TO permit
the apothecaries to mix the ingredients
of his prescriptions. but to buy them,
including the usufur, and bring them to
him for putting together. He mixed the
drugs, omitting the usufur, in which
manner he succeeded in having restored
to him the gold powder, previously sold
by him at high price to the apothe-
carries. The powder soon became fa-
nous, and the quack finally offered to
teach Duke Cosmos II of Florence the
art of making gold. The duke paid
Daniel 10000 ducats for the secret, and
the swindler fled to France with the
money.
Count Cajetan in 17o5, in the presence
of Frederick I Of Prussia, changed one
pound Of mercury into gold by means of
red tincture. Subsequently he prom
ised to make $6,00O,0 worth of gold in
six weeks, but, failing to keep his word,
he was hanged, draped in gold leaf,
which became the customary method Of
dealing with alchemists. The tribe Of
alchemists is not yet entirely extinct.
In 1880 an American named Wise duped
member of the Rohan family and a
collateral descendant Of the 'snecklace
cardinal" whom Cagliostro deceived by
pretending to make gold. Wise got a
considerable sum of money from Rohan
and decamped. Only few days ago
the writer picked up little pamphlet
on bookstall in New York which con-
tanned several pages of advertisements
of a substance for transmitting other
mato1e into Gold tho 1,rico baipo oplv