2 PHOSPHORESCENCE. 
no doubt, looked upon shoe-mending as a sorry 
occupation for a man initiated in the secrets of 
the ‘sublime art,” and who might indeed have 
ranked among the first adepts of his day. 
Some time had elapsed since our cobbler had 
set his heart upon gold-making, when, strolling 
one fine Sunday evening near the little eminence 
known as the Monte Paterno, about a league 
from Bologna, he picked up a stone, similar to 
any other stone, save perhaps in one particular, 
its great weight. 
The fact struck him. This stone possesses, 
thought he, one of the properties of gold. Per- 
haps he imagined that it contamed gold which 
might be extracted; or, may be, he fancied it 
would be capable, from its heaviness, of trans- 
forming vile or imperfect metals into gold, by im- 
parting to them its characteristic property. 
Cardan, Van Helmont, Libavius, and many 
other distinguished alchemists, had lived before 
Cascariolo’s time, but I know not whether he stu- 
died their works, and I doubt whether he would 
have profited much by them if he had. 
It is impossible to ascertain therefore what pro- 
minent idea, or what kind of theory reigned in 
the cobbler’s mind on the discovery of this stone, 
destined to become celebrated and to immortalize 
his name. However, no sooner had he collected 
a certain number of specimens, than he hastened 
