Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1895-01-19

UEN n mtlItIUN ANaL WOulN cure 900 NNN
ills mortal flesh Is heir To and prolong
life indeinite.y-wa not this % result
worth any cost AT last he succeeded
In making aqua rcgid, the king OF liquids,
q solvent for gold. but how great must
have been his disappointment when be
painfully observed that potable gold did
not produce the desired resuIH}
His faith iu alchemy, however never
wavcrcd lie regarded the tansmuta-
ton of metals as % fact beyond question.
Hc was aware that when copper was
melted with tutty, an impure oxide OF
zinc, the golden yellow brass was OBJ
tanned. Further, he knew that when
copper was fused with arsenic a silver
white alloy resulted. Hence had not
much been done towards making gold
and silver from clppcn With many
alchemists, especially those OF later
date, q change in the color OF a metal
was regarded nm identical with Dos trans.
mutation Again. Gcber succeeded iu
making an amalgam of lead and muir
curry which 70 closely rcscm1led ilu
that he firmly believed He had made tin.
Therefore. u 30 IS possible io make tin
from other metals, why cannot gold and
silver be NADER TO GcbUr and bis sue
cessom but one answer came 100 the
gu, suou-g gold and silver can be made
from other metals.
When the human mind observes re-
suits, apparent or real, the question at
once comes up, What IS the cause OF
the results" or why can this or that be
done" The same question was suR.
ges,cd 10 GCbcr in regard 10 transmuta-
ton. OF what are the metals com
posed that they may bee changed one
into anoihcri ln answering this quel
lion, Gcbcr was the first TO compound "a
chemical theory embracing all the
metals. And though this theory was
very hr from the truth, 1t held sway in
some form as long as aIchemstIc ideas
we're entertained by scientific men.
Gebcr assumed that al metals are
composed ol mercury and silver in dil.
lercut proportions aud Boo different states
1i purity. Though at times Dee is silent
IS TO whether these compounds are
Identical with the common substances
which bear these names, at other time,
10 meet obvious objections, be states
that they are not identical, but that they
are OF an abstract nature According
10 this theory mercury ConicrB tue pro.
peflies OF glanse, malcabIIlty, lusibllty,
and what we regard as metallic proper.
AANH hNAlNN HAiNH MAlNNN NNAANN NNA AN NAAlNNA
Of is Combustibility, was regarded as
being present owing 10 the alienation
OF many metals in the IRE. Gold. aud
silver being una'teTablc in the fire. con.
Gst OF almost pure mercury, which, how
ever, cannot he Identical with ordinary
mercury since the latter Is volatile, due.
according to Gubcr, 10 the fact that il
contains sulphur. Gobcr regarded gold
as consisting Of very pure mcrgyry and
red sulphur, while silver consists
OF mercury and white sulphur. The
color OF each metal b due 90 the sui.
phur.
BY an arbitrary alteration OF the com.
position Of metals, Gcbcr believed that
trunsmutation could be ELECTED: the
ennobllng oil them, specially, consisting
In puuhcatiOn and hNatiun OF the mUr-
curry, The idea OF creating metal
anew, which is found firmly liked in the
minds OF European alchcmlsts OF q later
period, Is not TO be found In Gebcrs
writings. On the contrary he says. ITO
assert that one substance can be pro.
duccd from another which does not con-
tain Il, is FOLLY. nSnce, however. all
metals consist Of sulphur and mercury,
we can add TO them the constituent in
which they are deficient, OF abstract the
one present IN excess. In order to
achieve this, make use OF the art. cal
cination, sublimation, decantation, solu.
ton, distllation, equalization and fxa.
ton. The active agents are salt. alums,
utuols. bomx, the strongest vinegar
and fire." A chemical student OF To.
day would say that mud is clear IN com.
parison with the process here outlined.
Is Il any wonder that no one OF Gebcr's
disciples, OF whom there were myfiads,
ever succeeded In making gold by FOL.
lowing directions no more explicit than
thesei
But the wonder Is how a theory OF the
composition Of metals 80 Car from the
truth as that proposed by Gebcr should
have dominated the minds OF men so
long. We cannot now understand why
they did not Try to prepare the mercury
and the sulphur OF which they supposed
the metals TO consist. Having prepared
these elements Ia their lpunty, L would
seem that no difficulty could be en-.
counIercd In making gold by mixing
them Ia proper proportion. But the
methods them were entirely different
from those now In vogue. They
formulated their theories without any
real data whatever, aud then tried To
make an their observations agree with
the hypothesis, while now, chemical
theories are based only upon a long
series Of careful experiments and are
formulated for the sole purpose of "a
planning the facts observed aud enabling
still greater development to be attained.
With them, II an observation would
seem TO contradict pet theory, they
would Try TO warp the observation to
make Il IL the theory, or they would
start some new hypothesis To explain
the discrepancy Now however, u oh.
served phenomena contadiCts hypn
thesis, the latter Is rejected and ,omc.
thing more rational sought for 10 take
It's place. II may be added, however
that most men simply accepted GeBcr's
theory without ever asking themselves
II there was a probability that Il was
wrong or making any experimental
efforts to prove It's correctness IL was
results they were ai.er Regarding the
onuOblng OF metals as fact beyond
question Geher's theory offered the
simplest explanation as 20 the reason
why this could be done, and they de-
voted all their enePic, 10 the problem
involved in the process of the lransmu.
tation.
For the solution OF the possible prob.
lem OF the tansmniauum OF metals
possible, that Is in the sense of the lore.
going theory -sO-CaIled medicines are,
according TO GebeT requisite, these
being OF three orders, distinguished by
their power and virtue. The medicines
Of the iT5t order produce changes Boo
the metals, but these changes are not