TWO PSEUDO-SCIENCES 



them, possessed a knowledge of this stone. How, 

 otherwise, could they have prolonged their lives to 

 nine and a half centuries? And Moses was surely a 

 first-rate alchemist, as is proved by the story of the 

 Golden Calf. 1 After Aaron had made the calf of gold, 

 Moses performed the much more difficult task of grind- 

 ing it to powder and " strewing it upon the waters," 

 thus showing that he had transmuted it into some 

 lighter substance. 



But antediluvians and Biblical characters were not 

 the only persons who were thought to have discovered 

 the coveted "elixir." Hundreds of aged mediaeval 

 chemists were credited with having made the discov- 

 ery, and were thought to be living on through the cen- 

 turies by its means. Alaies de Lisle, for example, 

 who died in 1298, at the age of no, was alleged to 

 have been at the point of death at the age of fifty, but 

 just at this time he made the fortunate discovery of 

 the magic stone, and so continued to live in health 

 and affluence for sixty years more. And De Lisle was 

 but one case among hundreds. 



An aged and wealthy alchemist could claim with 

 seeming plausibility that he was prolonging his life 

 by his magic; whereas a younger man might assert 

 that, knowing the great secret, he was keeping him- 

 self young through the centuries. In either case such 

 a statement, or rumor, about a learned and wealthy 

 alchemist was likely to be believed, particularly among 

 strangers ; and as such a man would, of course, be the 

 object of much attention, the claim was frequently 

 made by persons seeking notoriety. One of the most 

 celebrated of these impostors was a certain Count de 



125 



