Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1892-11-24
NUMBER Is
ARTIFICIAL GOLD.
HOW ALcHEmIsTs USED TO MAKE
1T iN THE oLDEN TIME.

~ lF1E OEDEM lime
re Brought to Most pf Them aH Unhappy
Fate-If one Failed " Carry out an
Extravagant Promise He Lost Hia Li1a.
an American Turns Trick
Y 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 nt-
most point of absMdity. Some of thela
actually attempted To imprison the SUMS
rays. which they tried to calcine and
powder, the rays being supposed to c0n-
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 were dug
up from their graves, and saltpeter was
extracted from them TO serve as an in
gredSent. Still others believed that gold
grew from seed, other metals merely far
nishing q fruitful soil in which the yel-
low germs developed like plsnts
In work now rare called Tile His
tory of Ancient PHARMACY. III is mem
toned that Raymond NuIly va said to
have transformed %, 1000 pounds Ut mer-
curry into gold for the English King Id
ward LII, and that from this supply of
the yellow metal the first rose mobiles
were coined. The credibiIity of the
story Is somewhat diminished, however,
by the circumstance that the same mon
arch was soon after Obliged to coin
money from biz own and the queens
crown, and from The golden vessels Of
churches and cloisters. III Is grayely re-
corded that the Emperor Frederic iii. on
Jan. -, 1913, At Prague, changed three
pounds Of mercury into two and one
half pounds cf gold by means Of one
grain OF lead powder given to him by
man named Richthausen. He created
this man Baron of Chaos, and from the
gold medal was made which bore an
inscription referring to its artificial orr
gin. This medal was long preserved i'll
the Vienna treasury.
In 1705 Saxon lieutenant named Paw
kull was taken prisoner by Charles XIII
at Warsaw and condemned t0 death.
He promised To make I'll .0OO. 600 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 We're stamped But Paykull
must have failed in subsequent attempts,
because be was afterward executed. III
this goose had been able to lay real
golden eggs il j. to he presumed that NV
would not have met with u melancholy
a 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 i
violent death. George Honauer promised
TO transform thirty-six hundredweighto Of
iron into gold for the princeof Wurten-
berg. Tine prince detected Il boy. who had
been concealed In the laboratory, ID the
act Of putting gold III tile crucible. He
thereupon ordered an iron gallDws To be
constructed, from which Tile imprutIent
fakir wa hanged in 1901. Two other
goldmakers were likewise hanged from
this same gallows at Stuttgart in I5s6
and l7SS respectively.
In 1877 man named Krohnelnann en-
tered the service of the marquis Of
BrandenbErg with the rank Of colonel.
He soon won reputation as a goldrn slzer.
and was given charge Of the mint arsi
mines Subsequently III was suspected
Of fraud. and Oh lii trial il WA proved
that he had stolen golL and silver from
the treasury Of the margrave for use in
the deception. Ell wa condemned toba
hanged
a quack named Daniel supplied Ital-
ian apothecaries with wonderful gold
powder called '-usufur. which was sup
posed 10 have astonishing medicinal
value. Pretending that the art of con-
pounding this usufur with other drugs
was mystery known only to himself.
he directed BIZ patients not t0 perni.
the apothecaries To mix the ingredient
of his prescriptions, hut to buy them,
including tile Usufur- Ind bring them wv
him f0rputting together. He mixed the
drugs. emitting the usufur. I'LL which
manner lie succeeded in having rest0r II
to him the gold powder. previously s5li
by him 1t a high price to the apothe-
carries. The powder soon bccame IA
nous, and the quack finally offered 20
teach Duke Cosmos II Of Florence tie
art Of making gold. The dnke paid
Daniel 10000 lucats fur the secret. anl
the swindler flea to France with tha
money.
Count Caletan in iU5. in thc presence
of Frederick J of Prussia. changed 0na
pound Of mercury into gold by means Vii
red tinrture Subsequently he prom
ised to make s., ,0C0. 0o0 worth cf gold ii
six weeks, bat, failing to keep his word
he was hanged, draped in gold leaf,
which became the customary method Of
dealing with alchelnists. The tribe Of
aIchemists Is not yet entirely extinct.
III 1880 an American named Wise dipped
a membcr of tile R0han family ANA u
collateral descendant pf tha necklace
cardinal. whom CA-liusiru deceived lv
pretending Ky make =olt. Wise got
considerable sum of money from R0han
and decampad. Only few days arc
the writer picked up a little rsriphlet
on Il books,all IN New York which con
tanned several pages OF advertisements
of substance for transmitting ether
metals into gold, The price being only
five dollars. Washington Star.
Thr TwclrIh Jurynrsln-
An amecIotc of Lor,i Lllnn's IN tD ti-
effect that when TRYING n rase =i Nar,s
MI. Justice Gould E1isrcd. aIttr twu