History of Akhymy. 2d5 



out this art, for thou shalt never find it. To which I replied, 

 As thy master showed it thee, so mayest thou perchance dis- 

 cover something thereof to me, who know the rudiments, and 

 therefore it may be easier to add to a foundation than begin 

 anew. In this art, said he, it is quite otherwise ; for unless 

 thou knowest the thing from head to heel, thou canst not break 

 open the glassy seal of Hermes. — But enough ; to-morrow, at 

 the ninth hour, I will show thee the manner of projection. But 

 Elias never came again; so my wife, who was curious in the 

 art whereof the worthy man had discoursed, teazed me to make 

 the experiment with the little spark of bounty the artist had 

 left me ; so I melted half an ounce of lead, upon which my 

 wife put in the said medicine ; it hissed and bubbled, and in a 

 quarter of an hour the mass of lead was transmuted into fine 

 gold, at which we were exceedingly amazed. I took it to the 

 goldsmith, who judged it most excellent, and willingly offered 

 fifty florins for each ounce." Such is the celebrated history of 

 Elias the Artist and Dr. Helvetius. 



Sir Kekelm Digby, whose name is mentioned in this 

 narrative, was a renowned dabbler in the mysterious art. Under 

 the date of 7th November, 1651, in Evelyn's Diary, " he gave 

 me," says Mr. Evelyn, " a certain powder with which he affirmed 

 that he had fixed mercury before the late king. He advised 

 me to try and digest a little better, and gave me a water which 

 he said was only rain-water, of the autumnal equinox, exceedingly 

 rectified and very volatile ; it had a taste of strong vitriolic, 

 and smelt like aquafortis. He intended it for a dissolvent of 

 calx of gold ; but the truth is, Sir Kenelm was an arrant moun- 

 tebank." 



Nearly all the alchymists attributed the power of prolonging 

 life either to the philosopher's stone, or to certain preparations 

 of gold, imagining possibly that the permanence of that metal 

 might be transferred to the human system. The celebrated Des- 

 cartes is said to have supported such opinions ; he told Sir 

 K. Digby that although he would not venture to promise im- 

 mortality, he was certain that life might be lengthened to the 

 period of that of the Patriarchs. His plan, however, seems to 



