The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-23
GOLD MADE OF SILVER.
DR. EMMENs MAY HAVE FOUND
~PHILOsOPHER' Stone"

-AA@e SILVER INTO HplU ~ -
Done.
From the New YORK Journal
The dream OF the alchemists OF old
has been realized The -ransmutation o.
metals. in seeking which they spent their
| lives. has been accomplished
such are the claims Of DR.. stephen H
Emmens. a well-lnoEn metallurgist and
inventor. Of this city He is a member
OF many scientific bottles s. the inventor
OF Emmensite, the Unl-sl states govern
ment's official explosive now used in our
army and navy, is an authority on nick
FL. for his work on which he received a
first prize from the worlds fair, has been
| employed by the war department. % test
aluminium bronze. and his work on ord
nance material has been published by
the United States Naval Institute.
DR.. Emmens now positively asserts that
he can make gold out o. silver. II he can,
as he claims. manufacture gold in paying
quantities. his work. which he is now
preparing to carry out on large scale,
viii reduce the price Of god and enhance
the price OF silver. for which it Will pro-
vide permanent market.
THE metal which We have made from
silver" writes Dr. Emmens. answers
every test TO which the United States
! government assay Office subjects the gold
offered there for sale. II is. therefore,
gold TO all intents and purposes.
This metal made from pure silver by
the process discovered by us could be
proved 10 be gold in a court Of law. 1t
not only answers every test Of the gov
eminent minis. but it also has every quail
| ity required by the gold Of commerce,
having the same color, weight and
strength"
DIR. Emmens says he has already made
four ounces Of gold from about six ounces
Of silver and that the loss in the process
/ is about Is per cent. He was asked II he
| had himself tested his metal by the Uni
/ ted States government tests for gold, and
he replied most positively that he had,
and that IL had responded TO every test.
The amazing claims which DR.. Emmens
makes would carry no weight did they not
come from practical metallurgist and
| scientific man Of established reputation.
| Moreover. his readiness to subject his
product to the most critical analysis
| shows that he has no doubts in his own
| mind as to Just what he is doing.
He has been at work now upon this
matter for some years. and every step
/ has been marked by care and patience.
Just how be was led 20 make these re-
! searches and exactly how ne proceeded,
he tells below in his own words;
Our work, which converts silver into
gold, had its origin in the course of GER
tain Investigations which I undertook for
the purpose Of preparing chemically pure
| nickel. This was in the year 1892
Commodore Folger, who was then Chief
Of the Bureau of Ordnance Of the United
I States Navy Department, had forwarded
/ to me for investigation a very remarkable
| specimen of rustless nickel-steel which
/ 1t was proposed to use as a material for
/ torpedo netting. 1 found the physical
/ properties OF this material to be so extra
| ordinary that desired to investigate the
/ physical behavior Of a similar alloy made
/ with absolutely pure iron and pure nickel.
In attempting 10 prepare these pure
/ metals a certain product was obtained
| which seemed to differ from anything re-
! corded in the textbooks. The same pro-
duct was subsequently found when the in
| vestigaton was extended to the case OF
metallic cobalt.
And, finally, those who were associated
| with me in the investigation agreed with
me in considering that the phenomenon
observed afforded indications of the exist
| ence of some substance common to the
whole of the elements in what is known
as series Of group of the Classification
| of Chemical Elements, now universally
adopted by scientists in accordance with
what is known as the Periodic Law Of
| the Elements. We did not further pur-
| sue the particular line of investigation
| upon which we had set out, because il
| appeared to US almost self-evident that II
we were right in supposing common
substance to be present in any single Sc
| ries of elements, the same would hold
| good for each group.
And as group 1 of the classification con
tains the precious metals-gold and sill
| vert was obvious that our time anG
attention should be directed to these
metals rather than to any others. Il
was determined, therefore, to pursue tbs
| work in a persistent and methodical man
ner. each member of the scientific syndi
cate-and there were four of us-taking
up his own branch of the inquiry.
Realizing also the vast pecuniary in
| terest at stake, it seemed desirable that
no single one of us should be placed in &
| position of complete knowledge. We were
all TO be kept advised of the results OBJ
tanned by each of us, but we were not Il
be fully informed as to the details o.
the methods and apparatus employed.
1t may be that as the director of the In
| Vestigation, l am. perhaps more familiar
with what has been accomplished than is
either OF my associates. 1 am, at any
rate, in position to say. now that work
on a practical scale is about to be begun
that I see no insuperable difficulties in
our way.
1t is, Of course, out OF the question fol
me to make public the whole of ouI
knowledge in this matter. But I may
without danger to our interests give a
general explanation of our work which
will be satisfactory TO the scientific
! world.
Our. starting point so far as silver and
gold We're concerned was afforded by the
remarkable discoveries of Mr.. Cary Lea
with regard to the changes that could, by
laboratory methods, be induced in the
molecular structure of metallic silver
That gentleman discovered a means OF
causing silver while still in a metallic
| condition to enter into aqueous solution.
| In other words, he discovered a method
| of reducing metallic silver to a condition
| of extremely minute subdivisions. II
was found, as might have been expected
| by anybody familiar with the periodic law
of the elements, that this subdivision OF
| metallic silver was attended by very con-
siderable changes in the physical proper
| ties Of the substance.
/ The inference was obvious that if such
| subdivisions could be pushed a stage fur
| Their, the silver molecules would become
/ ASSOCIATED if they were in themselves of