disappeared and a button of gold remained which the gold- 

 smith pronounced superior to that of Hungary or of Arabia. 

 It -weighed as much as the lead. The two doctors were 

 amazed, and Seton made fun of them saying: "What has 

 become of all your pedantic arguments now ? You behold an 

 experiment more convincing than your sophism!'* The al- 

 chemist then cut off a piece of the gold weighing about four 

 ducats and gave it to Zwinger who kept it as a souvenir. 



The next appearance of Seton was at Strassburg where 

 he assumed the name of Hirschborgen and took part in the 

 events that brought so much misery on Gossenhauer. He 

 then took lodgings with a merchant named Koch at Offen- 

 bach, near Frankfort, and made a projection in his presence 

 in a similar way ; Koch had a shirt stud made from the arti- 

 ficial gold. At Cologne he accomplished several amazing feats 

 of transmutation ; at Munich where he next appeared, he did 

 not work at alchemy, but fell in love with a beautiful Bavarian 

 Fraulein and married her. Sometime after the Scotchman, 

 who now assumed the name of "The Cosmopolitan," became 

 involved with the despotic young Elector of Saxony, 

 Christian II., noted for his cruel disposition, and at his com- 

 mand gave him a small specimen of the "red tincture"; this 

 did not satisfy the Prince who demanded the secret of its 

 preparation, which Seton obstinately refused to divulge. 

 Coaxing and threats being all in vain Christian (belying his 

 name) resorted to terrible tortures, placing his victim on the 

 rack, burning him with hot irons and with melted lead; the 

 alchemist resisted desperately and the Prince, reflecting that 

 it was unwise to kill the goose that laid golden eggs, ceased 

 the torture and confined the miserable man in a dark cell 

 guarded by brutal jailors. Here he lingered in agony with 

 dislocated limbs and in mental distress, until a stranger, 

 temporarily in Dresden, became interested in his sad plight 



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