Curious Chemical Library

TO THE READER.

The sign of the Green Cross is seen hanging where he was received. When he had stayed there for a day or two, he requested of the master of the inn, named De Luc (whose son still lives there today, practicing the same profession), that someone skilled in the Italian language be found for him, with whom he might travel through various parts of the City and visit the more curious things occurring therein. No delay was made; for since a Mr. Gros—then about 20 years old and staying in this City of ours for the sake of his studies—was well known to Mr. De Luc, the host went to ask him whether he would be willing to perform the service requested by the aforementioned Italian gentleman. He gladly agreed to the request, and being placed at the stranger’s side, he was his constant companion for fifteen days. But when this interval of time had elapsed, the Italian began to complain that his coins were failing him, and thus he disturbed his companion not a little, since the latter feared that, having used such a beginning, the traveler might wish to borrow money from him, who was likewise quite poor at that time.

But his fear deceived him; for soon the Italian inquired of him whether he knew any goldsmith whose bellows and other instruments might be used, and who would not refuse to supply various things necessary for performing a certain work. Mr. Gros pointed out a certain man named Bureau, and immediately led the Italian to him. The goldsmith not unwillingly supplied crucibles, pure tin, running mercury original: "mercurium currentem"; liquid quicksilver., and other things requested by the Italian man. What happens next? The goldsmith, having left his own workshop so that his presence would not be troublesome to the stranger, and the stranger having allowed only a single servant and Mr. Gros to remain as his companions, he put tin into one of the crucibles and running mercury into the other. When he had moved the first to a fire stirred by bellows and had thus promptly melted the contained metal, he gave the second to a slower and gentler fire original: "remissiori ac placidiori... vulcano"; 'Vulcan' was often used by alchemists as a metonym for fire. just for the heating of the mercury; and having arranged it thus, he mixed it with the melted tin, and without delay threw some wax, into which a red powder had been mixed, into the combined metals.

From this, some commotion and much smoke arose in the crucible; but the discords were not long-lasting, since in a moment everything was calmed, and the material, soon poured into molds, provided six masses, quite heavy and truly gold-colored. Thereupon the master of the workshop, the goldsmith, was called in, and the Italian requested of him that he subject the material he offered him—namely, the smallest of those masses which he had drawn from the molds after the recently mentioned pouring from the crucible—to a rigid and severe examination. The goldsmith, by no means content with the touchstone original: "lapide lydiô"; a dark stone used to test the purity of precious metals by the color of the streak they leave. and the application of "stygian water" original: "aquâ stygiâ"; likely nitric acid or aqua fortis, used to dissolve base metals and test gold., took small portions of the material handed to him and tormented them for some time through the tortures of the cupel cupellation A refining process where ores or alloyed metals are treated under high temperatures to separate noble metals, like gold and silver, from base metals. (or the ash-furnace which happened to be ready then) and the "voracity of antimony" Antimony was known as the "wolf of metals" because it "devoured" or reacted with almost all metals except gold, thus purifying it.. When he saw that it endured without any loss of weight, and saw the excellent ductility and perfection of weight in the metal, he cried out in wonder that he had never handled such gold. And when he had received a small mass of it from the Italian with many thanks as the price for all that he had supplied, the stranger went away with Mr. Gros to the public Mint Master named Bacuet, to whom he offered his gold, and in exchange for it he received an equal weight in Spanish doubloons.

Then he gave twenty doubloons to Mr. Gros as a gift for the service he had kindly performed, and after he had counted out money to the master of his inn for the expense he had incurred there to his absolute satisfaction, he added fifteen doubloons besides, so that with them Mr. Gros and Mr. Bureau (with whom he had worked) might live sumptuously for some days. Meanwhile, he ordered a magnificent dinner to be prepared for himself, so that upon returning from a certain walk, he might eat with the aforementioned men. But in this way he escaped and was seen no more, leaving behind a longing for himself, and indeed admiration, in those who had known him, and furthermore the aforementioned money, with which they lived elegantly according to the giver’s intent until its total consumption.

The second story was explained to me in the year 1685 by a most Reverend and Illustrious man now occupying a Bishopric in England by his great merit; he likewise showed me at that time a small piece of the metal of which I am about to speak, weighing at least half an ounce. The story is as follows: A certain unknown man, dressed in somewhat shabby clothing, once approached the most Illustrious Boyle, and after some conversation about Chemical labors, he requested of him that through the servants (that is, the aforementioned Boyle's servants), antimony with certain other very common metallic materials—which by chance happened to be in the most Noble Boyle's laboratory—be thrown into a crucible, and that the crucible be put into a furnace fit for melting metals. When this had been done, and the contents of the crucible were seen to be already melted, the same unknown man showed a small powder to the aforementioned servants for them to throw into the same crucible, and in a moment he departed, ordering that the crucible be kept in the furnace until the absolute extinction of the fire, and promising besides that he would return after several hours.

But when he had forgotten his promise, and was not seen through that whole day nor the following one, nor indeed ever afterward, Mr. Boyle, drawing the crucible from the furnace, beheld in it a truly golden material. Subjecting it to all tests, he was compelled to hold it as genuine gold, except that it was of a slightly lower weight This likely refers to its specific gravity or density being slightly off compared to natural gold.. And this is that very same material, a portion of which I saw with wonder in the possession of the most Illustrious man who benevolently communicated the story to me, as I said at the beginning of this narration.

The possibility and truth of the Gold-making Art or metallic transmutation having been supported thus far by reasons and histories, we would add nothing further to so litigious an argument, were it not that we thought we would gratify the Curious Reader if we were to bring forward two processes here: the first indeed copied from the most famous Carlo Musitani’s Mantissa added to Misichtus’s Chemical Armory; the second truly redeemed at a great price recently by a certain Illustrious man and communicated to us, but so far by no means proven by our own experiment.