

Those who ventured to raise their voices and exert their 

 influence against alchemy were sometimes converted to its 

 support by ingenious stratagems ; how this was accomplished 

 in the case of the two learned Professors at Basle has just 

 been shown; another Professor, Cornelius Martini, who held 

 the chair of Philosophy at Helmstadt, was accustomed in 

 lecturing to students to denounce alchemy as a vain specu- 

 lation, and he too was won over by a master stroke. As he 

 was holding forth on the impossibility of transmutation, a 

 stranger entered the class-room and politely begged permission 

 to argue the matter by a practical demonstration; he asked 

 for a piece of lead, a crucible, and the usual melting furnace ; 

 these were obligingly placed at his disposal and he soon pro- 

 duced a small ingot of gold in the crucible, and handed it 

 over to Professor Martini with these words: "Solve tnihi 

 hunc syllogismum!" 



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