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177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
66
After
some
further
conversation,
the
Artist
Elias
(for
it
was
he)
thus
addressed
me:
'Since
you
have
read
so
much
in
the
works
of
the
alchemists
about
this
stone,
its
substance,
its
colour
and
its
wonderful
effects,
may
I
be
allowed
the
question,
whether
you
have
not
prepared
it
yourself?'
On
my
answering
his
question
in
the
negative,
he
took
out
of
his
bag
a
cunningly-worked
ivory
box,
in
which
were
three
large
pieces
of
substance
resembling
glass,
or
pale
sulphur,
and
informed
me
that
here
was
enough
of
the
tincture
for
the
production
of
twenty
tons
of
gold.
When
I
had
held
the
precious
treasure
in
my
hand
for
a
quarter
of
an
hour
(during
which
time
I
listened
to
a
recital
of
its
wonderful
curative
properties),
I
was
compelled
to
restore
it
to
its
owner,
which
I
could
not
help
doing
with
a
certain
degree
of
reluctance....
My
request
that
he
would
give
me
a
piece
of
his
stone
(though
it
were
no
larger
than
a
coriander
seed),
he
somewhat
brusquely
refused,
adding,
in
a
milder
tone,
that
he
could
not
give
it
me
for
all
the
wealth
I
possessed,
and
that
not
on
account
of
its
great
preciousness,
but
for
some
other
reason
which
it
was
not
lawful
for
him
to
divulge....
Then
he
inquired
whether
I
could
not
show
him
into
a
room
at
the
back
of
the
house,
where
we
should
be
less
liable
to
the
observation
of
passers-by.
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