234 History of Alchymy. 



of a coriander seed. No, no, said he, that is not lawful : though 

 thou wouldst give me as many golden ducats as would fill this 

 room ; for it would have particular consequences, and if fire 

 could be burned of fire I would at this instant rather cast it 

 all into the fiercest flames. He then asked if I had a private 

 chamber wliose prospect was from the public street ; so I pre- 

 sently conducted him to my best furnished room backwards, 

 which he entered," says Helvetius, (in the true spirit of Dutch 

 cleanliness,) " without wiping his shoes, which were full of 

 snow and dirt. I now expected he would bestow some great 

 secret upon me, but in vain. He asked for a piece of gold, 

 and opening his doublet showed me five pieces of that precious 

 metal which he wore upon a green riband, and which very 

 much excelled mine in flexibility and colour, each being the 

 siie of a small trencher. I now earnestly again craved a crumb 

 of the stone, and at last, out of his philosophical commiseration, 

 he gave me a morsel as large as a rape-seed ; but I said, this 

 scanty portion will scarcely transmute four grains of lead. 

 Then, said he, deliver it me back : which I did, in hopes of a 

 greater parcel ; but he, cutting off half with his naul, said, 

 even this is sufficient for thee. Sir, said I, with a dejected 

 countenance, what means this ? And he said, even that will 

 transmute half an ounce of lead. So I gave him great thanks, 

 and said I would try it, and reveal it to no one. He then took 

 his leave, and said he would call again next morning at nine. 1 

 then confessed that while the mass of his medicine was in my 

 hand the day before, I had secretly scraped off a bit with my 

 nail, which I projected on lead, but it caused no transmutation, 

 for the whole flew away in fumes. Friend, said he, thou art 

 more dexterous in committing theft than in applying medicine ; 

 hadst thou wrapt up thy stolen prey in yellow wax, it would 

 have penetrated and transmuted the lead into gold. I then 

 asked if the philosophic work cost much or required long time, 

 for philosophers say that nine or ten months are required for it. 

 He answered, their writings are only to be understood by the 

 adepts, without whom no student can prepare this magistery. 

 Fliflg not away, therefore, thy money and goods in hunting 



