48 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



It may not be amiss here to state that a severe criticism of Emmens's 

 " Argentaurum Papers " appeared in Science the same year, written 

 by Dr. E. S. Woodward. The libel suit instituted against the critic 

 and Dr. J. McKeen Cattell, the " responsible editor," however, never 

 came to issue. 



A number of cases are on record illustrating the methods pursued 

 in selling secret processes for the manufacture of gold. Accounts of 

 many of these are in my possession as a result of the assiduous search 

 on the part of my private assistant, Mr. W. A. Hamor. A recounting 

 of them is scarcely suitable here. Suffice it to sa} r , that a careful 

 analysis of the motives actuating and methods pursued presents merely 

 an inferior picture of the perfected practises we are gradually learning 

 of as obtaining in that circle termed " high finance." 



Among many communications reaching the writer, one is of more 

 than passing interest. Mr. E. M. Hunter, of Philadelphia, has written 

 concerning " synthetic gold " as follows : 



I have so perfected the process that in my judgment, based upon my actual 

 experience, gold may be manufactured at enormous profit, and to this end I have 

 designed a plant to be erected in Philadelphia and am at this moment nego- 

 tiating for the $500,000 capital for its erection. I realize that the public and 

 most scientific men are adverse to belief in the possibility of such an enterprise, 

 but I know what I am doing and can afford to allow public sentiment to follow 

 its own course. 



Enclosed with the letter was an affirmative affidavit. On request, 

 Mr. Hunter promptly forwarded me samples of silver in which the 

 gold is " growing " and some " grown-up " gold, said to have been 

 produced by his secret process. I have not made analyses of the 

 samples, which are here exhibited. 



Any discussion of the transmutation of the elements must involve 

 a clear understanding of what Ave mean by the term element. By 

 agreement, chemists regard an element as a substance which shows a 

 characteristic spectrum and a definite combining weight. That such 

 characterization is inadequate, that the ground upon which the char- 

 acterization is founded may be shifting sand, and not the firm rock 

 we are wont to liken it to, need not involve the present topic, as the 

 agreed basis suffices for our purpose. 10 



Work on transmutation has by no means been limited to efforts to 

 prepare the noble metals. Fittica's 11 investigations on the action of 

 ammonium compounds on phosphorus in the presence of air led him 

 to the conclusion that a true transformation of phosphorus into arsenic 

 takes place, and that arsenic appears to be a nitro-oxygen compound of 

 phosphorus, namely, PjST 2 0. The formation of arsenic from phos- 



10 These matters are thoroughly discussed in a forthcoming work by the 

 writer from the press of John Wiley and Sons. 



11 F. Fittica, Leopoldina, 36, 40; Chemiker-Zeitung, 1900, 24, 483; Chemical 

 News, 81, 257. 



