170 Josiah Wedgwood CHAP. 



at Capo di Monte, near Naples, in Italy; and near 

 Madrid and Oporto, in Spain and Portugal. Another 

 discovery of white kaolin was made at Aue in Saxony, 

 in 1709, to which a very remarkable story is attached. 



Porcelain is soft or hard, but the latter is the more 

 important. Soft porcelain was first manufactured at 

 St. Cloud in 1695, but after the discovery of hard 

 porcelain by Bottgher at Meissen near Dresden, the 

 manufacture of soft porcelain was discontinued in 

 France, and nothing but hard porcelain was thereafter 

 manufactured at Sevres. The story to which we refer 

 is as follows : 



John Frederic Bottgher was born at Schleiz in 1685, 

 and at twelve years of age he was bound apprentice 

 to an apothecary at Berlin. He occupied many of his 

 leisure hours in chemical experiments. Alchemy was 

 then in vogue, and after several years Bottgher pre- 

 tended that he had been able to convert Copper into 

 Gold. The news spread abroad that the apothecary's 

 apprentice had discovered the grand secret, of which 

 every alchemist was in search, and crowds came from 

 all quarters to see the " Young Gold-Cook." Perhaps it 

 may have been to the apothecary's advantage to notice 

 the wonder excited by his apprentice. 



Frederick I., King of Prussia, was very much in want 

 of money at the time. He desired to appropriate at 

 once the great converter of copper into gold. The King 

 had an interview with Bottgher, who presented him 

 with a piece of gold which he pretended had been con- 



