8 14 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



body ; but it is very irascible, and directly it is frightened it ele- 

 vates the frill or ruff and makes for a tree, where, if overtaken, it 

 throws itself upon its stern, raising its head and chest as high as 

 it can upon the fore-legs, then, doubling its tail underneath the 

 body, and displaying a very formidable set of teeth from the con- 

 cavity of its large frill, it boldly faces an opponent, biting furi- 

 ously whatever is presented to it, and even venturing so far in its 

 rage as to fairly make a charge at its enemy." M. Mocquard says 

 it is quite inoffensive. It is nearly three feet in length, including 

 its very long tail, is of a tawny color, with mottles on the back 

 and blackish rings on the tail. The teeth on its fringe have white 

 ends, and at a distance look like pearls. It belongs to the family 

 of the agamians, and is represented only by a single species, 'in 

 Australia. Editor.] 



ALCHEMIST'S GOLD. 



By M. A. DE EOCHAS. 



64 n^HE definite and unchangeable existence of sixty-six distinct 

 -L elements, as we regard them now, would assuredly never 

 have occurred to an ancient philosopher,, or rather would have 

 been dismissed by him as ridiculous : it had to be imposed upon 

 us by the incontestable force of the experimental method. Is this, 

 then, the final -#imit of our conceptions and hopes? Not at all; 

 for really this limit has never been accepted by chemists except 

 as a present fact, which they have always hoped to pass by." 



This paragraph, quoted from Berthelot's " Origins of Chem- 

 istry," explains why so many distinguished men have spent their 

 days in seeking the transmutation of metals. Did they find it ? 

 Excellent minds assure us that they did not, because, in spite of 

 the infinitely more powerful forces we now have at our disposal, 

 we have not been able to decompose any metal. Others maintain 

 that the reasoning is not conclusive; for numerous industrial 

 processes have been lost, and we knew how to convert alcohol into 

 vinegar long before we could analyze either substance ; and there 

 is one element time which the moderns, with their intensive 

 life, can not use as their predecessors did. Where is the man now 

 who' would bind himself down for years to make the projecting 

 powder or the philosopher's stone representing the hypothetical 

 ferment of inorganic substances or who could count enough 

 upon the future to bequeath the continuation of his experiments 

 to his heirs, as did the adepts of old ? 



There have been many alchemists who, notwithstanding the 

 satirical definition of their art" Ars sine arte ; cujus principium 

 mentiri, medium laborare et finis mendicare " (" An art without 



