APPENDIX 301 



until the alcohol becomes of an intensely green colour. 

 This alcohol is then to be taken away and preserved, 

 and fresh alcohol is put upon the alkaline fluid, and the 

 operation is repeated until all the colouring matter is 

 absorbed by the alcohol. This alcoholic fluid is now to 

 be distilled, and the alcohol evaporated until it becomes 

 of the thickness of a syrup, which is the Primum Etis 

 Melissce ; but the alcohol that has been distilled away 

 and the liquid potash may be used again. The liquid 

 potash must be of great concentration and the alcohol of 

 great strength, else they would become mixed, and the 

 experiment would not succeed." ^ 



1 Lesebure, a physician of Louis XIV. of France, gives, in his " Guide 

 to Chemistry" ("Chemischer Handleiter," Nuremberg, 1685, p. 276), 

 an account of some experiments, witnessed by himself, with the Primwn 

 Ens Melissce as follows : — " One of my most intimate friends prepared the 

 Primum Ens Melissa, and his curiosity would not allow him to rest until 

 he had seen with his own eyes the eflfect of this arcanum, so that he might 

 be certain whether or not the accounts given of its virtues were true. He 

 therefore made the experiment, first upon himself, then upon an old 

 female servant, aged seventy years, and afterwards upon an old hen that 

 was kept at his house. First he took, every morning at sunrise, a glass 

 of white wine that was tinctured with this remedy, and after using it for 

 fourteen days his finger and toe nails began to fall out, without, however, 

 causing any pain. He was not courageous enough to continue the experi- 

 ment, but gave the same remedy to the old female servant. She took 

 it every morning for about ten days, when she began to menstruate 

 again, as in former days. At this she was very much surprised, 

 because she did not know that she had been taking a medicine. She 

 became frightened, and refused to continue the experiment. My friend 

 took, therefore, some grain, soaked it in that wine, and gave it to the old 

 hen to eat, and on the sixth day that bird began to lose its feathers, and 

 kept on losing them until it was perfectly nude ; but before two weeks 

 had paseed away new feathers grew, which were much more beautifully 

 coloured ; her comb stood up again, and she began again to lay eggs." 



In the " Life of Cagliostro " some such rejuvenating medicine is men- 

 tioned, and the names of some persons who succeeded in the experiment 

 are given. These and similar facts have neither been proved nor dis- 

 proved by science, but are waiting for an investigation. The judges at 

 the trial of Cagliostro, before the tribunal of the Inquisition at Rome, 

 were only intent to convict him ; but he who can read their report "be- 

 tween the lines " will find a great deal that speaks in favour of Cagliostro, 

 and much that has not been explained. 



