Arizona republican., 1893-01-28
ARTIFICIAL GOLD.
,ov kLCHE@STS USED TO @AkE
 IT IN THE oLDEN TIME.

,uorcht to Most of Them an Unhappy
 r,,s-If One Failed to Carry Out an
 r,travagant Promise He Lost His Life.
 4, American Turns a Trick.
 If has often been stated, and with ,.,,tb that modern chemistry is indebted t,r mnch of it's knowledge to the al- ,,omists of old, whose experiments for ,bo nnrpose of making gold by artifice r,sre certainly extraordinary to the ut most pont of absurdity. Some of them astaailv attempted to imprison the suns .srs which they tried to calcine and n1wder, the rays being supposed to con s,stof pure golden sparks. Others sought ,o obtaln the philosophers stone, which ,os t5 transmute all other metals into cold. from honey, sugar, wine, blood, and Even rsinwater. Dead bodies were dug nj, from their graves, and saltpeter was o+tracted from them to serve as an in- gredient. Still others believed that gold Sraw from seed, other metals merely fur fishing fruitful soil in which the yell Inv germs developed like plants.
 h, work now rare, called the "His- tory of Ancient Pharmacy" it is men, foned that Raymond Nully was said to have transformed 50,000 pounds of mer- rpry into gold for the English King Ed ward III, and that from this supply of tbe yellow metal the first rose nobles Vere coined. The credibihty of the story IS somewhat diminished, however, by inc 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. It is gravely re- corded that the Emperor Frederic III, on Jan. 10, l64S, at Prague, changed three pounds of mercury into two and one half pounds cf gold by means of one grain of a lead powder given to hiu by aman 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 ori- gin. This medal was long preserved in tbe Vienna treasury.
 In 1905 Saxon lieutenant named Pay kun WAS taken prisoner by Charles XII at Warsaw and condemned to death. 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 a tinCture which contained mtmOny, 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 sfate
 The business Of manufacturing gold in those days seems to have been an ex- tremely dangerous one, commonly bringing persons who pursued it to violent death. George Honauer promised touansiOrm thirJy-six hundredweighto of iron into gold for the prince of Wurtem- berg, Thepriuce detected a boy, who had been concealed in the laboratory, in the Stt of putting gold in the crucible. He tbereuPon ordered an iron gallows to be constructed, from which the imprudent takir was hanged in 1897. Two other goldmakers were likewise hanged from this same gallows at Stuttgart in 1GO6 aud li3S respectively.
 In lGil a man named Krohnemann en- tered the service of the marquis of Brandcuburg with the rank of colonel. He soon won reputation as goldmaker, 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.
 Aquack named Daniel supplied Ital- ian apothecaIies with a wonderful gold powder called "usufur," which was sup. poSei to have astonishing medicinal value. Pretending that the art of com pounding this usufIlr with other drugs was mystery known only to himself, ne directed his patients not to permit The apothecaries to mix the ingredients G hls prescriptions, but to buy them, 9cluding the usufur, and bring them to hln for putting together. He mixed the Quss, emitting the usufur, in which manner he succeeded in having restored 10 hlm the gold powder, previously sold Uy nun at high price to the apothe- eaHes' The powder soon became fa- nous and the quack finally offered to each Duke Cosmos II of Florence the Sf' or making gold. The duke paid U"hiel 2O,COO duCats for the secret, and Qe swlndlcr fed to France with the nOney
 Count Cajctan in 1905, in the presence I frederick of Prussia, changed one Rund Of mercury into gold by means of sred tncture, Subsequently he prom sea to make $6,OOG, 900 worth of gold in s OK weeks, but, failing to keep his word, U, Ie was hanged, draped in gold leaf, %ich became the customary method of ueahng with alchemists. The tribe of SSlchemists chemists IS not yet entirely extinct. ~ looO an American named Wise duped ASnemGer of the Rohan family and 'y'a'eral descendant of the necklace 'Hulnal, whom Cagliostro deceiyed Inv