The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-22
TRIALS At GOLDMAKING
THE EXPERIMENTS OF THE AL
CHEMISTS, EARLY AND MODERN.
The Attempts Began with the EarIi-
est OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES n Nee
essary FactOr-Trick Gold.

cred absurd, but according to the latest
chemical theory there is only one element,
of which all the rest including gold, are
either compounds or variants Other theo-
rists assume two or three elements as a
basis for the rest. Still another theory,
which has been discussed with great seri-
ousness, is as wild as anything imagined by
the alchemists of the middle ages. 1t is the
invention of a Russian mathema tician,
rather his adaptation from an old Greek
idea. Those who attempt to master this
system will find their brains Keeling as they
| read of 1.-The curvature of space" worthless
in the ether" and the like mysteries, all of
which are reducible to what common sense
will always pronounce the absurdity that
everything is made out of nothing at all,
but is merely a manifestation of force, OPP
Grating through vibrations in the ether"
Amy one who thinks he can understand
this is fully prepared to begin the manufac-
ture of gold on the same lines now being
pursued by the New York alchemist who,
the other day, took about $40 worth of bull
| lion to the government assay office, and,
when it tested over goo fine, reported TO the
newspapers that his formula for the trans
mutation of other metals into gold was
success. Naturally he kept this formula
| SCNltl, Dul llS HdlQIG Is lOI IlOIS ySlCIl-
Gus than his reason for taking the public
| into his confidence-unless, indeed, he is
preparing to capitalize himself and his in
vention in the usual way This has always
been a habit of alchemists, ancient and
modern. Finding way to make 500 worth
of gold at gross cost of so cents, they are
illogical and improvident enough to try to
make money on the formula instead of with
| it. Hence, though before and since the time
of Paracelsus they have never failed to find
disciples, the general public will continue
| to regard them with that wholesome suspi-
cion which is its best defense against all
| great geniuses, reformerS, inventors,
quacks and confidence operators
| According to the new chemistry 1T is pos
sibe that gold may be chemically produced
at some time in the future, but impossible
! that it should be done with our present
| knowledge of chemical synthesis"-that is,
| of putting things together" In fact, our
| chemistry at present IS almost wholly ana
| lytical, based on observations made when
| taking things apart LAS a science, it is
| the whole of that time has been devoted
| to analysis. 1t is only in the last genera
ton that chemists began synthesis, work
| ing the great miracle of making things
| which are radically different from the same
| elements combined in the same proportions
When they find that liquids having me
vilest imaginable odorS can be changed INTO
| the perfumes of fruit and Mowers without
changing their composition, chemists do
| not 1t follows that SOlQ can De Lndue OIL
| copper. They only say that it may be pos
| sible for all they know to the contrary.
A PRODUCT OF HEAT.
Wherever gold exists in nature it resem-
| bles diamonds and all the rare metals in
being obviously the product of the greatest
| conceivable heat and the highest conceiva-
bic pressure Diamonds of considerable size
| are now being made in Paris by subjecting
| charcoal to these conditions. 1t is found
| that when plunged into superheated mott
| en- metal, the charcoal (carbon) will some
| times crystalline out into the form of dia-
monds under the very great pressure
brought to bear on it by the contraction
of the metal as it changes from a liquid
| to a solid in cooling. The richest gold re-
gion of America is the great volcanic ridge
stretching from the arctic circle almost to
| the antarctic. In this great laboratory ra-
| ture wrought her most precious substances
| by intensifying her forces to their highest
| pitch, producing heat through the pressure
| of the earthquake movements, which raised
| the mountains from the original level of
| the paleozolc plain. This heat and pressure
| made crystals of gold and silver-bearing
! quartz through a natural process closely
| related to that through which French sci
| entiStS are now attempting to make dia-
| monds. Whether or not gold is simple
| substance, it is certain that it appears as
product of natures workshop only under
| COIulllOHS winch produce quartz as what
| might be called by product of the OPP
Grafton.
The attempt to make gold artificially was
| the beginning of modern civilization. Cur
| knowledge of the properties of force, cur
| ability to use steam and electricity, are di-
| rectly due to it, Without "alchemistrv''
| we would have had no chemistry. 1t is a
| curious fact that the same desire for gold
which settled California built the transcon-
he % esmy Of and
| States, had previously made it possible to
| harness the steam which now drives loco
| motives at fifty miles an hour where the
| fortyniners toiled across the desert in
| their prairie schooners.' "Alchemstry"
which means simply the chemistry" be-
| gan in Europe with the Moorish occupation
| of Spain. At a time when the greatest no.
| bles of England and Germany were still
| signing their names with cross marks the
Arab doctors Of Spain were reviying the
| learning of the Greeks and Romans and
| blending it with the old science and pseudo
! science of the Chaldeans and the Persian
Magi The descent of our science in it's
! highest reaches from that of the priests
! and soothsayers of three thousand years
| before Christ is direct and unmistakable.
| The brick books" which American ex-
| plorers are now digging out from under the
ruins of ancient Babylon make it possible
to understand the greatness of America and
| what would otherwise be the unaccountable
achievements of nineteenth century science.
GREEK THEORIES.
The Greek mind was logical and meta
| physical. 1t rejected the Babylonish idea
| as superstition The Greeks did attempt to
| make a steam engine, and almost succeed
| ed but the case was exceptional. We could
not have derived the beginnings of our sci
| ence from them alone. They were too
| philosophical, too abstract, too unwilling to
| accept anything they could not reason out
| ever to have given us our progress without
| the Intervention of the Arab mind. TO the
| Greek, 1.-The empiric"-the man who tries
experiments-was quack, and the word
| retains that meaning until this day. though
| the empiric is now really the scientist and
| the man who refuses to experiment the
| quack. The Arab doctors learned all they
could from Aristotle, who of all the old
| enlist in the modern sense of the word.
| But they did not stop at Aristotle. They
| began to experiment, having the two most
| powerful motives which animate the
i human mind-the love of great riches and
| of long life. From somewhere, without
they had derived the notion that it was
possible to make an elixir which would
give them Immortality and to create
compound capable of turning all base
metals into gold.
Both these ideas were new to Europe.
Gated Greeks and Romans regarded Asiatic
superstition prevents any trace of the be-
lief in the elixir vitae or the philosophers
stone from appearing even in later Roman
! literature. The Roman epicurean laughed
at the idea of Immortality as an absurdity.
worth while to try to make gold long
as their mastery of the short sword, the
most potent weapon of ancient times en-
abled them to take it as tribute from