the preparation of sulfur and sal mirabile; by the total sub- 

 mersion of the Dragon in the Stygian Lake is intimated the 

 fixation of sulfur by aqua fortis." 



This spagyric interpretation of the Grecian myth won 

 great applause from the assembly, but the learned Dee 

 whispered to Dr. von Hayek: "The speaker has stolen his 

 idea from Dionysius of Mitylene, who died 50 B. C." 



Daniel Prandtner next addressed the company and stated 

 he had lately found in an ancient manuscript a recipe for the 

 quintessence composed by the Egyptian " Father of Sciences," 

 Hermes Trismegistus, and although he had not essayed its 

 merits he would communicate it unselfishly to his friends. 

 "Take of moisture one and one-half ounces, of meridional 

 redness, that is the soul of the sun, a fourth part, that is 

 half an ounce ; of yellow seyr likewise half an ounce ; and of 

 auripigmentum a half ounce, making in all three ounces. 

 Know that the vine of wisemen is extracted in threes and 

 its wine at last is completed in thirty." 



Bawor Rodowsky rose with a melancholy air that agreed 

 well with his shabby appearance, and said that for his part 

 he found the old saying true that "Alchemy is a coquette 

 inviting flirtation, but denying favors; an art without art; 

 of which the beginning is avarice, the middle falsehood, and 

 the end either a beggar's staff or the gallows." but he hoped 

 to escape this tragic end. He was inclined, moreover, to agree 

 with that mystical philosopher, Henry Cornelius Agrippa, 

 who styled alchemy the "sister of theology," for the latter 

 directs man to eternal happiness after death by false paths, 

 dreams and myths, while the former promises to the living 

 long life, health and immeasurable riches by false speculations 

 and useless labor. At this point, von Hustrian was inter- 

 rupted by Martin Rutzke, who inquired whether the speaker 

 believed the artificial gold made by alchemy to be true gold 



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