manuscript essay on alchemy written by her husband, entitled 

 "Twelve Treatises of the Cosmopolitan." The wily Pole now 

 set out on his travels and by husbanding carefully the powder 

 which he knew not to manufacture, he made several trans- 

 mutations in public at different cities and acquired great 

 renown. All the crowned heads of central Europe were im- 

 patient to receive a visit from him, and Rudolph was among 

 the first to be honored. Sendivogius presented the monarch 

 \vith a small quantity of the powder and he performed the 

 miracle of transmutation with his own hands ; delighted with 

 his success he caused to be placed on the wall of the room 

 in -which the projection was made a marble tablet with the 

 inscription : 



"Faciat hoc quispiam alius 

 Quod fecit Sendivogius Polonus!" 

 "Who'er could do under the rolling sun 

 What Sendivogius the Pole hath done!" 



This Tabula marmorea Pragensis was still to be seen in 

 position as late as 1740. Sendivogius was given the title of 

 Counsellor of State and honored with a gold medal of the 

 Emperor, -while the court poet Mardochaeus de Delle cele- 

 brated the event in Latin verses; poor Seton, however, got 

 no credit for his share in the performance. 



Sendivogius' reputation as a possessor of the Philosophers r 

 stone placed him in great danger, but Rudolph treated him 

 courteously though he still kept Gossenhauer confined in the 

 White Tower; both these men had worked with the same 

 powder, but it brought to one misery and to the other honor. 

 Being permitted to leave Prague, Sendivogius started for 

 Cracow, but on the journey he was seized by a Moravian 

 Count and imprisoned, the secret of transmutation being the 

 price of his liberty. He secured a file, however, sawed the 

 window bars in two and by tearing up his outer clothing 



126 



