THE UNIVERSAL SOLVENT, OR ALCAHEST. 9 



therewith. Discovering also, in the worship of 

 their idol, the persistence and apparent immor- 

 tality of gold, a foolish and illogical train of 

 reasoning led them to believe that a solution of 

 this precious metal was the grand desideratum ; 

 and that in fact the elixir of immortality was a 

 preparation of fluid gold. 



How lightly after all did they really estimate 

 the misery of immortal life to an individual in 

 the present world ! An immortality of the be- 

 holding of suffering, sorrow, and sin, of wither- 

 ing hopes, dying friends, unsatisfying occupations 

 was this the object of their search ? Surely it 

 was the voice of mercy, not of wrath, which pro- 

 nounced, in solemn accents, death to be the wages 

 of sin, that it might add the glorious intelligence 

 that the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus 

 Christ our Lord. 



The alcahest, or universal solvent, was the 

 last of these three delusions. It may be con- 

 sidered also the most harmless. Properly 

 speaking, it was simply a foolish fantasy of 

 chemistry. The idea was, that some fluid might 

 be produced which would instantly dissolve all 

 substances exposed to its influence ; and it 

 seems to have had a long existence as a fanciful 

 speculation, rather than as a subject of arduous 

 experiment and tedious research. The expla- 

 nation of this is not difficult. The Universal 

 Solvent had little to offer which could excite 

 the hopes, and nothing which could inflame 

 the cupidity of mankind. Wealth was not in 

 its right hand, nor length of days in its left. 

 It was a reverie of the laboratory, without 

 interest, because it was without effect upon the 



