Evening journal., 1892-11-19
ARTIFICIAL GOLD.
HOW ALcHEmlsTs USED TO MAKE
1T IN TIE oLDEN TIME.

An American Turns "A Trick.
It has often been stated, ana with
truth, that modern chemistryis indebted
for much Of its knowledge to the al
chemists Of old, whose experiments for
the purpose Of making gold by artifice
were certainly extraordinary to the ut;
most point of absurdity. Some Of theia
actually attempted to imprison the suns
rays. which they tried to caleine 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 Co serve as an IN
gredient. Still others believed that gold
grew from seed, other metals merely fur
nishing a fruitful soil in which the yel-
low germs developed like plants
In a work now rare, called the "His-
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 III, and that from this supply Of
the yellow metal the first rose nobles
were coined. The credibility Of The
story is somewhat diminished, however
by the circumstance that the same mon
arch was soon after obliged TO coln
money from his own and the queen
crown, and from the golden vessels Of
churches and cloisters. It IS gravely re.
corded that the Emperor Frederic III, GA
Jan. l5, 1913, at Prague, changed Three
pounds of mercury into two and one
half pounds Of gold by means Of one
grain of lead powder given to him ny
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 oti-
GIN This medal was long preserved in
the Vienna treasury.
In 1905 Saxon lieutenant named Pay
kull was taken prisoner by Charles XII
at Warsaw and condemned to death
He promised to make 81 00O, ,0O0 w0rla
Of gold each year if his life were spared
In the presence of witnesses Paykuil
changed six ounces of lead into gold 1y
means Of q tincture which containel
antimony, sulphur and saltpeter amouf
other ingredients. Out of this goii
medals We're stamped But PaykuN
must have failedin subsequent attempts
because he was afterward executed. lf
this goose had been able TO lay renl
golden eggs it is TO be presumed that lo
would not have met with 80 melancholy
fate.
The business Of manufacturing gold
in those days seems to have been an exc
tremely dangerous one, commonly
bringing persons who pursued it to a.
violent deat.. George Honauer promised
totransforin thirty-six hundredweight of
iron into gold for the prinoeof Wurteri-
berg. The prince detected a boy, who had
been concealed in the laboratory. in the
act of putting gold in the crucible. he
thereupon ordered an iron gallows to be
constructed, from which the imprudont
fakir was hanged in 1897. Two other
goldmakers were likewise hanged from
this same gallows at Stuttgart in 1895
and 1888 respectively.
In 1877 a man named Krohnemann en-
tered the service of the marquis of
Brandenburg with the rank of colonel
He soon won reputation as a goldmakcr,
and was given charge of the mint and
mines. subsequently he was suspected
Of fraud, and on his trial it was proved
that he had stolen gold and silver from
the treasury Of the margrave for use in
the deception. He was condemned to be
hanged.
A quack named Daniel supplied Ital
ian apothecaries with a wonderful gold
powder called 'usufur." which was sup
posed TO have astonishing medicinal
value. Pretending that the art Of com
pounding this usufur with other Drug
was a mystery known only to himself
he directed his patients not to permi
the apothecaries TO mix the ingredient
of his prescriptions, but to buy them
including the usufur, and bring them O,
him for putting together. He mixed thl
drugs, emitting the usufur, in whicl
manner he succeeded in having restore,
to him the gold powder. previously sol,
by him at a high price to the apothe
carries. The powder soon became ia
NOUS, and the quack finally offered q
teach Duke Cosmos III Of Florence TN
art Of making gold. The duke pai
Daniel 10000 ducats for the secret, AM
the swindler fed to France with th
money.
Count Cajetan in 1905, in the presenc
Of Frederick Of Prussia, changed on
pound of mercury into gold by means q
red tincture. Subsequently he prom
ised to make $4,000, 600 worth Of gold /
six weeks. but. failing to keep his worc
ne was hanged, draped in gold lea
which became the customary method G
dealing with alchemists. The tribe c
alchemists is not yet entirely extinc
IN 1880 an American named Wise dupe
a member of the Rohan family and
collateral descendant Of the ''necklae
cardinal" +" whom Cagliostro deceived b
pretending to make gold. Wise got
considerable sum Of money from Roha
and decamped. Only a few days az
the writer picked up little pamphll
on a bookstall in New York which cor
tanned several pages Of advertisement
Of a substance for transmitting 9TH
metals into gold, the price being on
i've dollars Washington Star.