255 



Mr. Lawrence on Palmgenesia, or the Extraordinary [Nov. 1 , 



he notliing more than a hachis from the 

 It-aviiijis of former days, liandsomely 

 garnished, indeed, tossed up in a variety 

 of forms, seasoned with a more jnodcrn 

 and captivating- aroma, and recom- 

 mended on the authority of the most 

 fashionable cooks. 



Pa/iiiq-eiusia, the ^Cf^-etable and ani- 

 mal Phanix, or tiio miracle of the re- 

 generation or resnscilalion of plants and 

 animals, from their ashes, a favorite 

 pursuit of the learned, was the cotem- 

 porary, or worthy successor of aichymy 

 and the elixir of life. It was held by 

 the chemists as the basis or principle 

 of this art, that not only were salts the 

 grand constituents and cemenlcrs of all 

 elementary bodies, but that even the 

 fictnents themselves, in embryo, were 

 specifically contained in salts; and from 

 tlicm, chemically operated upon, mipjht 

 be obtained the resurrection, ad infi- 

 nitum, of defunct or departed snbslanccs 

 and forms ; at any rate, of forms. They 

 even adduced this hypothesis as a col- 

 lateral evidence of the resurrection of 

 tiic dead, and the reality of apparitions 

 and ghosts ! These processes, or modes 

 of operation, were both by oxidation, 

 or calcination to ashes, and by pu- 

 Irclaction. 



'i"he far-famed Paracelsus is snpposed 

 to have been the orif^inal discoverer of 

 tiic principle of jmlingencsia, or resus- 

 citation; at least, the first among the 

 moderns, by whom it was revived, lie 

 was succeeded by a whole host of 

 learned disciples. Ohms Borrih, a 

 Ciennan chemist, and a disfinguished 

 member of ihis school, wiites, that, 

 Iia\ing- for a whole vcar loi^ether tor- 

 nieidcd quicksilver by re()eated fires, 

 even to its reduction to water, turbilh, 

 and ashes, it re-assumed its first form, 

 by the attiactiou of salt of tartar: also 

 that, lead bcin^ reverberated into nii- 

 iiiiim, melted into glass, reduced to 

 ceruse, and l.urned" to litharge, i-e- 

 assnmed its pristine form in a moment, 

 on the skilful application of lixivial salt. 

 And (he celebralcd Hobert Boyle, long 

 afterwards, discovered by experiment 

 that niirc would resuscitate and restore 

 itself, whoic and inlire, even weight for 

 weight, after having been carried through 

 the complete tour of chemical operations 

 and changes. 



Hereafter follow the names of some 

 of the most eminent palingenesists, or 

 resnrrcctionary|iliiiosophers,fromtlieera 

 of tlieir master Paracelsus, but without 

 any very strict attention to chronolo- 

 gical Older — Hanncmauims ; Lihavius ; 



Qncrcetan, physician to Henry IV. of 

 France; Maijenne ; Coxts ; JDavissmi; 

 Kircher; Daniel Major ; Ferrari ; Faber 

 of 3Iontpelicr ; Ratsiiij ; Mersenne, a. 

 friar; V/irisustom Magnan; Bary ; liars- 

 toffierus of]Suretnb;rg ; Seotiis; Ualtftaz- 

 zar Conradns ; M. Dobrzenski ofNegro- 

 pont, an experimental naturalist of the 

 highest reputation in his time; Pltmis 

 Campeus ; Gaffarel, who meditated a 

 palingenesian experiment upon human 

 bodies, with a view of causing the manes, 

 anima, or spirits of the dead to appear, 

 in transparent bottles of a correspondin^j 

 size. — Dii Cliene, one of the ablest che- 

 mists of his age, who was an eye-witness 

 of the wonders of palingcnesia, and Da 

 Claves, his equal in reputation, who 

 exhibited them daily, to all who desired 

 to witness them ; Kennertis a Lowen- 

 thnrn ; Sir Kentlm Digby, and Iloyle. 

 The t«o latter, our countrymen, seem to 

 be among the last eminent supporter* 

 of this extravaganza. 



I have selected tiiis long bead-roll of 

 names, out of a far greater number; 

 most, or all of them, men eminent for 

 learning and scientific acquirements, 

 and of distinguished reputation, in order 

 to demonstrate to what a tremendous 

 height scientific absurdity may ascend. 

 But that is not all, mere nothing, indeed, 

 to an inseparable and lamentable fact ; 

 namelj', that if we do not believe in the 

 trutii and actuality of their experiments, 

 it inevitably results that, we must con- 

 clude the men to have been notable iui-" 

 poslors, and class them with 

 .Sir Agrippa, for profound 

 And solid lying much reuovni'd. 



They appear in the character of eye- 

 witnesses, and pretend to have exhibited 

 facts ill a living and visible state, to 

 numerous other eye-witnesses, during 

 the course of two or three successive 

 ages. 



The fruits of the human intellect, ag 

 well a.s those of the soil, seem generally 

 to have been transplanted in this coun- 

 try, from the original stocks of the Con- 

 tinent; aniong tlie rest, the palingene- 

 sian science; and a chemist of the name 

 of Coxes, appears to have been among 

 the first who experimented in that cu-. 

 rious line. He tells us, he obtained a 

 dissolution of the salts of a quantity of 

 fern, which Ik? inclosed six weeks in a 

 glass bottle, at the end of which period, 

 real fern plants were seen to rise up ia 

 great numbers, the greater part of tli« 

 salts subsiding to the bottom, and -as- 

 suming a blown colour, a white crust 

 remaimng; upon the swfacs. He niore- 



