32 Lhe Philosopher's Stone. | January, 
of an inch in diameter, and from one to three inches in length, 
with a hole drilled through lengthwise. They represent a money 
value of from $2.50 to $25.00, according to their length and 
beauty of finish and colormg. From the hardness of the mate- 
rial and the rough tools with which they are made, their manu- 
facture must require a great deal of time and patience. 
While exploring a mound in Contra Costa County several 
years ago, the writer found the charred remains of a human 
skeleton some two feet below the original surface of the soil un- 
der the mound, and with it a large and elaborately worked pestle, 
with a number of coins or beads similar to Figure 2, G mixed 
with red paint, and fragments of others similar to Figure 2, 
H. The body had evidently been burned with the beads, and 
the pestle purposely broken into several pieces; nothing else was 
found with the remains, except fragments of charcoal mixed with 
the surrounding soil. 
The Indian females wear all the money they can command on 
the occasion of a “big dance ” or other public gathering ; but 
during a visit to the Lake country some years since, the writer 
had an opportunity of examining a common trunk filled with 
money and ornaments belonging to a squaw, who was married 
to a white settler (a common occurrence in that country) ; the 
inspection was made without the knowledge of the owner, who 
would probably have objected to it; the larger portion of the 
contents of the trunk consisted of money like Figure 2, B with a 
few like Figure 2, H interspersed. 
—— 
THE PHILOSOPHERS STONE! 
BY WILLIAM E. HAGEN. 
A REVIEW of the history of alchemy will show that the 
effort made by it to produce gold artificially may be under- 
standingly connected with certain phenomena found associated 
with gold in nature, and which may be reasonably supposed to 
have suggested such an undertaking. 
From the early authors of Hellenic literature investigation 
first learns of alchemy as a pursuit of man, and as originating in 
ancient Cushite Arabia, amongst a people who had then been 
famed for great wealth in silver and gold for many ages, and of 
1 Abstract of a paper read before the Troy Scientific Association, February 21, 
1876. 
