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177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
65
"On
the
27th
December
1666,
in
the
forenoon,
there
came
to
my
house
a
certain
man,
who
was
a
complete
stranger
to
me,
but
of
an
honest
grave
countenance,
and
an
authoritative
mien,
clothed
in
a
simple
garb....
He
was
of
middle
height,
his
face
was
long
and
slightly
pock-marked,
his
hair
was
black
and
straight,
his
chin
close-shaven,
his
age
about
forty-three
or
forty-four,
and
his
native
province,
as
far
as
I
could
make
out,
North
Holland.
After
we
had
exchanged
salutations,
he
asked
me
whether
he
might
have
some
conversation
with
me.
He
wished
to
say
something
to
me
about
the
Pyrotechnic
Art,
as
he
had
read
one
of
my
tracts
(directed
against
the
Sympathetic
Powder
of
Dr
Digby),
in
which
I
hinted
a
suspicion
whether
the
Grand
Arcanum
of
the
Sages
was
not
after
all
a
gigantic
hoax.
He,
therefore,
took
that
opportunity
of
asking
me
whether
I
could
not
believe
that
such
a
grand
mystery
might
exist
in
the
nature
of
things,
by
means
of
which
a
physician
could
restore
any
patient
whose
vitals
were
not
irreparably
destroyed.
I
answered,
'Such
a
medicine
would
be
a
most
desirable
acquisition
for
any
physician;
nor
can
any
man
tell
how
many
secrets
there
may
be
hidden
in
Nature;
yet,
though
I
have
read
much
about
the
truth
of
this
art,
it
has
never
been
my
good
fortune
to
meet
with
a
real
master
of
the
alchemical
science.'
...
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