862 
embroidered in gold and silver. In all his 
chemical operations he must project psychic 
force into the reagents. 
Bright prospects for the future of chemical 
science are claimed by this school of philos- 
ophers. Inorganic chemistry is destined 
to follow the lines in which inorganic chem- 
istry has prospered; the formation, deriva- 
tion, or rather the evolution of metalloids 
(so-called) and of metals will be realized 
through etheric cyclones, different degrees 
of condensation of hydrogen. Chemical 
bodies are of onekind only and they are all 
organic and living. 
There is a growing belief among advanced 
chemists in the theory that the elementary 
bodies as known to us are compounds of a 
unique primary matter (protyle), and that 
transformation of one kind into a similar 
one is not beyond the bounds of possibility, 
but we do not think that the modern 
hermetists are pursuing the right path to 
accomplish this end; nor do we believe that 
the world of science is any nearer the 
coveted goal of alchemical avarice. 
The revival of alchemical pursuits in 
France finds concurrent sympathy in other 
parts of the world. Especially does this 
pseudo-art flourish in India, where the Sann- 
yassis, a caste initiated in occultism, prac- 
tice the transmutation of tin, zinc, copper 
and mercury into silver, or at least into a 
metal resembling silver superficially. In 
the published recipes for effecting this 
change arsenic plays a prominent part, a 
substance used for the same deception by 
the alchemists of the Middle Ages. In 
China a belief in alchemy has existed from 
very early times; reprints of ancient trea- 
tises are still for sale, and the experimental 
phase is quietly studied by semi-educated 
persons. 
In the United States two notable events 
have occurred within twelve months, one 
of which seems to threaten financial revo- 
lution. A bold claim to manufacture gold 
SCIENCE. 
[N. 8. Von. VI. No. 154. 
of pure antimony has been made by Hd. 
ward C. Brice, of Chicago; having been re- 
fused a patent on his process by the United 
States Patent Office, he demanded a test to 
be made, and three assayers of the United 
States Mint conducted the trial under 
Brice’s instructions. Needless to say, the 
experiment did not verify the claim; the 
assayers found that all commercial anti- 
mony contains a trace of gold, and that 
Brice did not even recover the whole of this 
by his process. Brice’s previous record 
does not bear the full light of investigation, 
so that this attempt to revive alchemical 
practice is on a par with many that have 
preceded it. 
Quite different seems to be the equally 
bold claim of Dr. Stephen H. Emmens, that 
he has discovered a body intermediate be- 
tween silver and gold and capable of being - 
changed into gold; this substance he has 
named argentaurum. Dr. Emmens, who is 
an Englishman by birth, is the author of 
many books on a great variety of topics; a 
treatise on logic, another on explosives, sev- 
eral novels and many papers on chemistry, 
electricity and metallurgy as well as some 
poems show his versatility. He is a mem- 
ber of several learned societies, and in- 
ventor of the high explosive ‘emmensite.’ 
Dr. Emmens has established a laboratory 
for the manufacture of gold from silver by 
a secret process in which mechanical treat- 
ment plays an important part. Since April 
18, 1897, he has sold to the United States 
Assay Office six ingots of an alloy of silver 
and gold for the gross sum of $954, as 
proofs of his success in transmutation. 
This matter having been exploited in. the 
daily press, details need not here be repro- 
duced. 
In the United States, where education is 
so general and a shrewd, calculating, 
‘Yankee’ spirit looks askance at such en- 
ticements, alchemy is not likely to flourish ; 
on the other hand, hermetism, the meta- 
