THE LAST OF THE ALCHEMISTS 85 



the founders of the Royal Society in the later years of 

 the seventeenth century, little was heard of " alchemy," 

 and the word " chemistry " took its place, signifying a 

 new method of study in which the actual properties of 

 bodies, their combinations and decompositions, were 

 carefully ascertained and recorded without any pre- 

 possessions as to either the mythical philosopher's stone 

 or the elixir of life. But as late as 1783 only a 

 hundred and twenty-five years ago we come across a 

 strange and tragic history in the records of the Royal 

 Society associated with the name of James Price, who 

 was a gentleman commoner of Magdalen Hall, Oxford. 

 After graduating as M.A., in 1777 he was, at the age 

 of twenty-nine, elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of 

 London. In the following year the University of Oxford 

 conferred on him the degree of M.D. in recognition 

 of his discoveries in natural science, and especially 

 for his chemical labours. Price was born in London 

 in 1752, and his name was originally Higginbotham, 

 but he changed it on receiving a fortune from a 

 relative. 



This fortunate young man, whose abilities and 

 character impressed and interested the learned men of 

 the day, provided himself with a laboratory at his 

 country house at Stoke, near Guildford. Here he 

 carried on his researches, and the year after that in 

 which honours were conferred on him by his university 

 and the great scientific society in London, he invited a 

 number of noblemen and gentlemen to his laboratory 

 to witness the performance of seven experiments, 

 similar to those of the alchemists namely, the trans- 

 mutation of baser metals into silver and into gold. 

 The Lords Onslow, Palmerston, and King of that date 

 were amongst the company. Price produced a white 

 powder, which he declared to be capable of converting 

 fifty times its own weight of mercury into silver, and a 

 red powder, which, he said, was capable of converting 



