94 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



time, which, he admired very much. He recorded of it in his 

 work Concerning the Preservation of Youth : " We extract, by 

 distillation of wine or its lees, burning wine, called also eau-de- 

 vie. It is the most subtile portion of the wine." 



He then exalts its virtues : " Discourse on Eau-de-vie. Some 

 call it water of life ; some of the moderns say it is permanent 

 water, or rather golden water, on account of the sublime nature 

 of its preparation. Its virtues are well known." He next enu- 

 merates the maladies for which it is a cure : " It prolongs life, and 

 therefore deserves to be called water of life. It should be kept in 

 a golden vessel ; all other kinds of ware, except glass, are liable 

 to be acted upon by it." Then he speaks of alcoholates : " On ac- 

 count of its simplicity, it receives every impression of taste, odor, 

 and other properties. When the virtues of rosemary and sage 

 are imparted to it, it exercises a favorable influence on the nerves," 

 etc. The pretended Raymond Lulle, a more modern author than 

 Arnaud de Yilleneuve, speaks of alcohol with equal enthusiasm. 

 He describes the distillation of the inflammable water, derived 

 from wine, and of its rectifications, repeated seven times if neces- 

 sary, till the product burns without leaving a trace of water, and 

 adds, " It is called vegetable mercury." So it appears that the 

 alchemists in the beginning of the fourteenth century were taken 

 with such admiration for the discovery of alcohol that they lik- 

 ened it to the elixir of long life and the mercury of the philoso- 

 phers. Yet we have to be cautious against taking every text con- 

 cerning the mercury of the philosophers or the elixir of long life 

 as applicable to alcohol. 



The elixir of long life is a fancy of ancient Egypt. Diodorus 

 Siculus calls it "the remedy of immortality." Its invention is 

 attributed to Isis, and the composition of it may be found in the 

 works of Galen. The formulas for it in the middle ages were 

 various. It was also reputed to be capable of changing silver 

 into gold, or, in other words, was credited with the same chimerical 

 properties as the philosopher's stone. 



Although the discovery of alcohol did not give realization to 

 these illusions, it has nevertheless had the gravest consequences 

 in the history of the world. Alcohol is an eminently active 

 agent, and thereby at once useful and harmful. It may prolong 

 human life or shorten its term, according to the use that is made 

 of it. It is also a source of inexhaustible wealth for individuals 

 and states a more fruitful source than the pretended philoso- 

 pher's stone of the alchemists could have been. Their long and 

 patient labors were therefore not lost ; and their dreams have 

 been realized beyond their hopes by the discoveries of modern 

 chemistry. Translated for The Popular Science Monthly from 

 the Revue des Deux Mondes. 



