The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-22


was done between Venice Constantinople
ana ana me Chinese cities. The Pope sent
!esdie 10 the Chinese Emperor. and it was
not long after this intercourse that Europe
HTst developed the three great discoveries
Whlch forced the end of medlaeValism and
were SunpoWder, paper making and print
ING an came from China. without doubt;
greatly advanced by the work of the gold
makers II would never have been possible
elther 10 md the constituents OF gunpow-
uer or 10 combine them when found.
Until the first bullet was rammed down
on me hrSt charge of gunpowder the man
on horseback was supreme in Europe.
Clad in armor of proof he could ride rough
shod over the man on foot, who could af-
I0rd only leather jerlfin, easily pierced by
the lance of the chivalric knight But
When bullet would go through Sir Lionels
arInor as easily as spear through Hodges
yyerkln, Slr Lionel the chivalric, could no
longer Keep the odds, and from that day
uhtlI the present he has been growing more
ana more considerate of Hodges feelings.
1t is the true philosophers stone, the real
elixir vitae, the greatest Of all great dis
coVerles-this, that 1t really hurts the feel.
lngs OF a common everyday, unwashed
person TO be ridden over by a gentleman on
horseback and pinned to the earth with
spear in passing That once chivalric eX-
erc1se has now degenerated into the game
or polo. And thus ii is entirely WITHIN
POUNDS TO say, metaphorically, that when
Friar Bacon blew up his gold manufactur
ing plant in successful attempt to make
gunpowder, he not only created modern CIV
lllzation for those who are capable of work
ing it out but made polo possible for those
who have nothing to do but amuse them
selves with the long results of time
ASTROLOGICAL AID.
Astrology, the science of reading the
planets, was almost universally practiced
by the alchemists. This was a necessity,
because according to the best authorities
it was impossible to turn anthony, lead
quicksilver or any of the baser metals into
gold except under a favorable conjunction
of the planets. The modern science OF
astronomy was thus born out of the mania
for goldmaking. The great Keppler him
self, although never an alchemist, was an
astrologeT who took fees for casting hOrO-
scopes and reading nativities. 1t does not
appear that he was wholly conscious of the
delusive nature of such work, but he more
than suspected it, for he defended it on the
ground that it helped to keep him alive so
that he could study astronomy. Here, as
elsewhere, who excuses, himself, accuses -
but it is easily possible to forgive a great
deal more to Keppler than the casting Of
horoscopes. Until the beginning of the
present century chemistry was still full of
decisions derived from the goldmakeTs. It's
theories of "PhlogistOn" and the like be-
lOnged rather to the science of the six
teenth than of the nineteenth century. AS
result of this search for the philosophers
stone, an immense mass of facts had been
recorded and many far-reaching discover
les had been made, but the science of the
present begins only when the human mind
had become capable of grasping the great
working theory that such primary forces
as heat, light and electricity are correlated
forms of energy" capable of producing
each other and being converted into power.
If alchemy gave US these wonderful re-
Suits it is also responsible for others, per-
haps not less wonderful If less admirable,
among them what is now known as hyp
&c IN q ffSh
Museum the crystal used by the great En-
glish alchemist, DR.. John Dee, in consulting
the spirits who directed him in his gold
making operations. In using this stone,
DIR. Dee followed the process now used by
the Charcot school to produce the hypnotic
trance. "A sensitive subject is liable to fall
into this trance If any bright object Is held
very close to the eyes and the attention
fixed on it. DR.. Dee did this in consulting
strained his whole attention on it until the
forms of spirits began to appear in its
dopths5Ithat is no DOUBT until ne had a. hyp-
binary state he could not recall what the
spirits said to him. and in order to over
come this difficulty he associated with him.
self another alchemist named Edward KEEL
ley who took down his saying while he
was engaged In conversation with the
spirits. The volume which resulted from
Kelley's transcription is still preserved
among the Harleian manuscripts In the
British Museum DR.. Dee said and per
haps was mailman enough to believe, that
| the piece of rock crystal used in these mag
ical operations was given him by, the angel
Uriel, who appeared to him While ne was
at prayer in November, 1882
ALCHEMISTS' TRICKS.
The use of such glasses was common
mong the alchemists. The celebrated Cor
nelius Agrippa had one of them with which
he practiced what is now known as 'clair-
voyance," showing the forms Of people
| hundreds of miles away. 1t is thought by
some scholars that in ST. Pauls celebrated
chapter on charity the Greek words which
are translated now we see as through a
| glass darkIy' (now we look as into a glass
in an engma) refer to the use of such
| glasses among the magians, astrologers
| and soothsayers who abounded at Jerusa-
lem, Rome and Alexandria III his day.
AS there are many well-attested cases
| where gold was actually produced by the
alchemists after mixing base metals in their
| crucibes, the Paris Academy of Sciences
| appointed q committee to investigate their
methods. In the report, made for the COM
mittee by the elder Godfrey, it is said that
| the faVorite method of producing this gold
| in the presence of witnesses was the dou-
| ble-bottomed crucibe The gold was put
| between the two bottoms, and as the upper
| bottom made of a substance which
would melt in the furnace before the metals
| used in goldmaking did, there was, of
course, no trace of it when the triumphant
|
| gold to convince the most incredulouS. An
4 other method was to incloSe lump or gold
| in a larger lump of lead, to be used with
other ingredients of the goldmakng., The
melting of the lead left the golo ready Tor
minting into such celebrated coins of all
| chemists gold as are said to have been
| struck by the great Gustavus AdOlphus and
other sovereigns. For a long time alchem-
| lists were in demand at European courts,
| and some of them were handsomely sal
aried, but by the time of Queen Elizabeth
| royal intelligence was able to grasp the
axiom that a man who could make gold
in his private laboratory did not need to
| draw it from the public treasury. AS a re-
| suit of this reasoning, DR.. Dee, who
| thought himself the greatest scientist OF his
| day-as perhaps he was-came near dying
of starvation, though there was then more
| gold in England than ever before in his
tory, fact explained by the successful be-
ginnings the English were then making OF
buccaneering in West Indian waters. and
by the good old English alchemlstry OF
transmitting other peoples gold into En-
glish currency.
Charity.
Came two yodng children to their mothers shelr
zone was quite little, and the other big),
And each in freedom calmly helped hlmSen