construction, on which lay a sandglass, sieves, knives, scissors, 

 and so littered with broken funnels, scraps of paper, fragments 

 of alembics and earthen jars, as to prevent a legitimate use 

 of the table. 



Near the door of the corridor leading without stood two 

 covered barrels of water. Along the side was a series of low 

 steps on each of which was a cucurbit, or bowl, arranged 



AN ALCHEMIST'S LABORATORY. 

 Tenicrs. 



so as to make a self-filtering battery of ancient style ; a. wad 

 of lampwick hung in each vessel like a siphon through which 

 the liquid trickled slowly. 



Several alchemists and physicians, assisted in manual 

 drudgery by their servants, were at work in this laboratory. 

 Dr. Leonhard von Erbach was distilling from glass a quan- 

 tity of dew that he had collected at early dawn when the 

 Moon was in Sagittarius; after twenty-nine distillations it 

 would furnish the physician with a precious panacea for 



135 



