The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-27
PLANS FOR MAKING GOLD
ALCHEMIsTs, ANCIENT AND MODERN,
HAVE SOUGHT THE SECRET.
Dreams of n Royal Road to Wealth
Have Led to Various Experiments
and Childish Ventures.
Household Words.

Household Words
The world owes a good deal to the old
alchemists who, in their blind search for
the secret of transmitting metals and of
the elixir of life, stumbled upon many dis
coveries which helped to lay the founda-
tons of modern chemistry. The notion was
derived from the Arabs. who, under the
Caliphs of Bagdad and Cordova, .had made
considerable progress in chemical science
And when, in the thirteenth century, a
spirit of research and investigation began
to stir among the European nations, the
enticement to short cut to wealth and
power set all the learned on a pursuit that
promised such marvellous results. The pur-
suit of the chinlera called the ''philoso-
piers stone" carried to such lengths
that Pope John XXI issued a bulletin
condemning to perpetual imprisonment
those who attempted to transform one
metal into another. This was in 1917: but
the papal prohibition had little effect in
checking the devotion to the secret art In
1928 our King Edward III issued an order
to bring to him at Ethan, by fair means
or foul, two men who had boasted of their
art to make silver, not for punishment
but that he might set them to work for his
own benefit, and towards the close of the
century Henry " addressed letters pat
ent to professors, mobiles and priests in
citing them to prosecute the search after
the philosophers stone," as a means of
enabling him to pay the debts Of the state.
The respect, however. which princes had
for the ideal science did not extend to the
persons of the adopts, who were laid hold
of without ceremony, and compelled to la
Dor at the projection" OF Ibis there is
an instance in the life of Alexander Sea-
ton, who possessed an estate somewhere
on the coast of Scotland. In 1902 while
travelling for his pleasure in Holland
companied by his wife, he called
Dutch gentleman whom he had treated
with hospitality in his own country, and
in the course of this visit had the impru-
dence to exhibit his skill in the art of
transmutation. He pursued his travels to
Basic, and afterwards found himself in
Saxony and on his route, so frequently
reputation as a living source of treasure
eould not fail to reach the ducal court;
The consequence was that he was seized
and shut up in a tower.
The Duke of SaXony attempted to work
upon him, first by promises, then by
threats, then by torture but all in vain.
The unfortunate alchemist submitted in
silence, and his prosecutors, after having
repeatedly burned his flesh and dislocate ted
ures in despair. and trusted to the effect of
protracted confinement.
COW, then in SaXony, and being him.
self addicted to the dangerous pursuit.
of Seaton. He obtained admission to his
prison, and formed a plan for his deliver
ance. which he ultimately effected by
him and his wife to Cracow, and then de-
manded. as the price of his service to
be initiated in the mystery of the ''phllos-
opher's stone" but Seaton, showing him
his emaciated body. his shrunk nerves
he than disclose
a secret he had won by study and prayer.
He presented him, however with portion
of the precious powder. by means of
which-so the story goes-and not by any
scientific merit of his own, Sandovlgius
became famous as an ai che Sea aioIl
friend. thinking there might be some
chemical virtue even IN MS Wldow, mar mar
sessed of a treatise which has been at
tributed to his own pen by the ignorance
of the learned.
A MAGIC POWDER.
DR. Helvetius. of The Hague. in his
Golden Calf" relates how he became pos
sessed of pinch of this powder, which
converted six drachms of lead into gold
but he could not obtain the secret of its
manufacture from the adept who gave it
to him. The Jesuit Father Kirchir relates
a somewhat similar story, in which the
mysterious adept figures as the devil him.
self. with whom alchemists in general
were said to be on speaking terms.
1t was supposed that the miraculous
power if used in another way, would pro-
long life to an indefinite period, and both
these supersttions were derived immedi-
ately by the Europeans from the Arabians,
although the alchemists professed that
Egypt was the fountain of the occult phi
losophy, which they termed Hermitc
after Hermus or Thoth. However this
may be, the very same delusons had been
productive of much more remarkable dis
orders in China several centuries before
the Christian era. There the infatuation
of the princes in their search after the
water of Immortality and the philoso-
piers stone" was frequently one of the
leading causes of political revolutions, and
it was not only the profligate and depraved
who were addicted to this fatal pursuit
but some of the wisest of the emperors.
In the year 1873 b. c. one, of the, mystic
with the ingredients for composing the mi
raculous draught. telling him first to
to throw some vermilion into, a goblet;
which would become gold and this gold
gave immortal life The The Emperor nhpPe1 brewed
was snatched from his lips by one of his
indignant mobiles, who drank off the
your Majesty cannot kill me; if 1 am not
immortal. you will. Of course, reward me
for opening your eyes to so contemplate
Twenty years afterwards, when the En-
peror was still more in need of the water
gold he fen as blindly into the snare. An
adventurer offered to proceed to the ISL
ands of the Immortals and kidnap one of
the inhabitants for his service. He de-
parted furnished by the Emperor with am
pie means, but was traced by spies to q
certain mountain. where he was welcomed
by a banditti of brother philosophers, and
the whole made the wellin ring with their
Joyous carousalS for three or four months.
till it was time to return from the Islands
of the ImmortalS. One of the gang was
made to personate the kidnapped native.
and fully instructed in the art of making
gold and in due time the learned cortege
arrived in great state at the palace, pre-
ceded some few days by the spies. They
were received by the Emperor and his
court as became their dignity. and when
thew had told their tale and exhibited
their man. the headsman. at given sig
nal appeared upon the scene, land made
them all immortal in a few minutes.
GOLD FROM LEAD.
A curious story of an eighteenth-century
alchemist is told by Pope's Corinna, Mrs.
Elizabeth Thomas, poetess and litterateur
of the period. In Surrey she met with a
physician. who confided to her that he had
discovered the secret of ''the great projec-
ton that is. of producing gold from lead.
The lady furnished him with a quantity
of lead which he presently returned in the
agreeable form Of an ingot of pure gold.
Yet withal. the alchemist was as impe-