The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-06-13
MODERN ALCHEMY.
Latest Attempts to Trnnsmute Base
Metal Into Gold.

Latest Attempts to Trnnsmute Base
Metal Into Gold.
From the St. Louis Globe-Demccrat.
Washington, d. C.-Inventor Brice of
Chicago declares that the treasury failed
to get any gold by his process because
the experts insisted on mixing tartar
emetio with the raw materials Then he
threw up the whole business. However,
there is no reason why anybody should
not try it for himself. with the inventors
own recipe, which is stated in full in his
application for a patent filed the other
day. Go ahead and make your own gold,
twenty-four carats fine the crude ingre-
dents are cheap enough. All you want Is
anthony, iron, sulphur ana charcoal
You take an ordinary crucible and place
at the bottom of the receptacle layer of
powdered charcoal. Upon this you put
LAYER of sulphur, then another layer OF
charcoal; next a layer of graduated anti
mony. The proportions are not very es-
sential though 1t is just as well TO nave
about fifteen parts of antlmony 10 ten
parts of sulphur, three parts OF iron ana
two parts of charcoal. The charcoal Is
not absolutely essential, ana may pe oHi'I-
ted.
one great advantage of this method of
manufacturing gold is its extreme SIM
plicity 1t might almost be conducted IN
the nursery. in the intervals of heating
pap, with a crucibe on the back OF the
stove. An essential point, however is
very high heat so that a furnace is indls-
pensable. At an elevated temperature the
metallic ingredients are fused together, an
assay of the resulting mass showing the
presence of large quantities OF gold ana
silver also Given a furnace not enough
a temperature high enough, and a time
long enough, and one ton OF antlmony,
with some iron and sulphur, VIII yleid zyO
ounces of gold and 700 ounces OF SILVER
You just chuck the stuff In ana SIT ooWu
to walt. -
There is no use in working for a living
wle1 one can go ahead manufacturing the
stsedard of value at this rate. Mr.. Brice
SHAVED to your correspondent a lot OF mug
ges.. Ia whole bag full of them, in fact
wtShh were about so per cent. gold and
thS~alance silver, with possibly rev I'M
plfSsc es. They were white, with yellow
gfe b Then the inventor put them back
il Blrit1e sack one by one with a dull, sick
REfo thud. and did not offer to bestow a
Psning lump upon the newspaper man,
sihsisgazed upon the precious stun with
VINO Ag eyes 1t was a case where gloat
cuts no ice whatever.
My process is merely an imitation OF
natures own method" said Mr.. Brice,
nibbling the last nugget as II to exhibit
it's quality. Mature is continually engag-
ed in manufacturing gold. She makes 1t
out Of baser metals-transmutes the latter
into the precious substance that is to say,
by fusing them together at an enormous
heat under suitable conditions. All gold
is of volcanic origin. So we counterfeit
the volcano by means of furnace, and
from similar raw materials we evolve the
That result is Rpld-VHllOW
gold, with more or less silver. The pro-
cess requires twenty-four hours, and I'M
der the most favorable circumstances we
get 5000 ounces of gold and silver from a
ton of anthony and etceteras. So there
you are!'
Before granting exclusive rights in an
idea, the patent office requires evidence to
show that II is useful. That Is the STUN
bling block encountered by inventors of
perpetual motion machines; the govern
ment insists on a working model. For the
same reason, a demonstration OF the prac-
ticableness of Mr.. Brice's method Of
making gold was demanded and that is
how 1t was brought to the attention OF
the treasury experts. The matter was
handed over to the treasury by the patent
office because the latter establishment did
not possess an adequate metallurgical lab
ora tory. Science to-day by no means de-
mics that II may be possible TO transmute
base metals into gold; yet there Is GER
tainly an amusing picturesqueness in the
notion that the government OF the United
States, I'm the year 1897, should take up
seriously the pursuit of the philosopher 5
stone.
on the files of the patent Office is a curl
GUS English patented recipe for making
gold. 1t is as follows:
"Cut Whole wheat straws into little
square ships the width Of the straw, and
mix this with a quart measure Of the grain
Measure out half a two-quart saucepan
and set II aside. Fill the saucepan three
quarters full OF water and set It to boil
on the fire. Pour in the mixture, and let
IL boil two and a quarter hours, adding
water at intervals. Then strain on the
liquor In thin layers into soup plates. and
allow the same 10 rest thirty-elght hours
at a temperature OF IS degrees Fahrenheit.
Then slowly bake them dry, and find the
gold, adhering 10 the plates"
The above, az a household method Of
making god. so 20 speak. II uneaualed.
But. II you choose TO travel 20 India. you
will find other equally valuable recipes In
actual employment by the native faklrs-
men who pursue the abstruse problems OF
alchemywith az much earnestnoss as ever
did the philosophers Of the immdle ages.
Hector Leveille. the famous savant and
traveller. testified that he had repeated. "
HNfN NAfAhA AAhf NRAN ANNhANN AI0ul AfN.lI
crucibles-metal that could not be dlstln-
guishod from gold by the touchstone."
These oriental alchemlsta, Levellle states.
are always faklrs or 'penitentsf-the latter
a class OF beings accustomed from youth
TO eat poisons and TO resist heat and cold.
They are regarded as sacred. The best
evidence goes 20 show that for many cen
turtles past the transmutation OF tin, zinc,
copper and mercury into gold and silver
has boou uracticed by thesa holy spraoug
The processes they use are somewhat
elaborate. one OF the recipes requires the
follow ingredients: Sulphur. ounces;
seeds OF Abra precatorius, "a ounces: one
garlic; cinnabar, ounces; orpimlent, 2
ounces: sal ammoniac. ounces.
These are 70 be pounded separately and
made into q paste with three quarts Of the