716 
Legends of Sepulchral 
[November, 
The belief in ever-burning lamps mentioned by Wiegleb 
is not unfrequently alluded to in prose and poetry, yet detailed 
and exadt information on this point is to be had only by 
patient research. Many volumes have been written on the 
history of chemistry, and on alchemy, narrating the fanciful 
views and arduous labours of the would-be transmuters of 
the base metals, but they seldom make reference to the 
sepulchral and perpetual lamps. 
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries a belief in 
the adtual existence of ever-burning lamps seems to have 
been very real and widely prevailing. Many learned writers 
maintained that the ancients were acquainted with the pre- 
paration of a combustible fluid, which, while burning and 
giving out light, diminished not in quantity and potency. 
Lamps supplied with this marvellous liquid were placed in 
tombs by the ancient Romans, and continued burning until 
some ruthless explorer desecrated the subterranean places of 
burial and allowed air to enter, whereupon the flame flickered 
and shortly expired. These astonishing lamps “ burned the 
most brightly where there was most want of air, and were 
always extinguished by the immission of external air.”— 
(Dr. Plot.) 
To discover the secret of preparing this combustible yet 
inconsumable liquid was one of the alchemist’s dreams ; in 
their figurative language they endeavoured to “ concentrate 
the four elements, and to make therefrom a wonder-working 
essence.” — (Kriegsmann.) The material upon which their 
operations were conducted, and in which they placed great 
reliance, was fine gold ; this, they said, resolved by hermetic 
methods into a “ clear liquid,” supplied, by its “ incombus- 
tible oiliness,” the perpetual light. Some authors describe 
the liquid in question as an “extract of the elements pre- 
pared with great labour, and possessing the property, when 
provided with a suitable ferment of silver or gold, of forming 
the white or red tindlure capable of transmuting the base 
metals.” But without the ferment it nourished the ever- 
burning lamps, and on account of its exceeding costliness 
was consecrated to the mythological divinity Pluto.” Such 
is the description of this liquid contained in a rare and quaint 
little i6mo., entitled “Taaut,” written by one Wilhelm 
Christoph Kriegsmann, and published at Frankfurt in 1665 
(page 65 of Notes). 
The alchemists did not, however, always employ such 
enigmatical and obscure language when writing of this mys- 
terious liquid. Trithemius — a learned abbot of the fifteenth 
century, who found leisure amid his Benedidtine duties to 
