The Third Experiment

...to pass through; thus, for this time, our joy had fallen into the well A German idiom meaning their hopes were dashed or the plan failed., for we believed that if it would dissolve in water, it would undoubtedly also work in spirit of wine spirit of wine original: "Spiritu Vini," high-proof alcohol or ethanol.. We should have nearly met the mark set by Friar Basil original: "Fr. Basilii," referring to Basil Valentine, a legendary 15th-century alchemical author. in his verses, where he speaks of the salt with these formal words:

The spirit of wine causes me anguish and pain,
That produces potable gold.
original: "Der Weingeist thut mir Angst und weh, Das zeugt aurum potabile." "Potable gold" was a legendary medicinal elixir made from gold that was believed to cure all ailments.

However, I recall here a miracle often recounted by my late father. This man, my late father, knew how to use sweet spirit of salt sweet spirit of salt original: "Spiritum Salis dulcem," typically a mixture of hydrochloric acid and ethanol. to extract a quarter-part of gold from a piece of ducat-gold High-purity gold used for minting coins.. The remainder stayed entirely white, like silver, though it contained the antimony antimony original: "Antimonium," a silvery-white metalloid.. With that extracted quarter-part of the ducat, he tinged An alchemical term for transmuting or "coloring" a base metal into a noble one. three-quarters of a ducat's worth of his silver, and this became the finest gold. I once tried to replicate this, but it did not happen as I expected, but rather quite differently. I proceeded as follows, and will include it here because it is curious, as [it] should be

The Fourth Experiment

counted.
I prepared a fulminating gold fulminating gold original: "aurum fulminans," an explosive gold compound (gold hydrazide) that was a popular subject of 17th-century chemistry. in the common manner original: "vulgari modo."; namely, after the gold was dissolved in aqua regia aqua regia original: "aqua regis," a powerful mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids., I precipitated Caused a solid to separate from the liquid solution. it with oil of tartar oil of tartar original: "oleo Tartari," a concentrated solution of potassium carbonate.. I then poured over this fulminating gold...