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177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
68
At
last
I
asked
him
point
blank
to
show
me
the
transmutation
of
metals.
I
besought
him
to
come
and
dine
with
me,
and
to
spend
the
night
at
my
house;
I
entreated;
I
expostulated;
but
in
vain.
He
remained
firm.
I
reminded
him
of
his
promise.
He
retorted
that
his
promise
had
been
conditional
upon
his
being
permitted
to
reveal
the
secret
to
me.
At
last,
however,
I
prevailed
upon
him
to
give
me
a
piece
of
his
precious
stone--a
piece
no
larger
than
a
grain
of
rape
seed....
He
bid
me
take
half
an
ounce
of
lead
...
and
melt
it
in
the
crucible;
for
the
Medicine
would
certainly
not
tinge
more
of
the
base
metal
than
it
was
sufficient
for....
He
promised
to
return
at
nine
o'clock
the
next
morning....
But
at
the
stated
hour
on
the
following
day
he
did
not
make
his
appearance;
in
his
stead,
however,
there
came,
a
few
hours
later,
a
stranger,
who
told
me
that
his
friend
the
artist
was
unavoidably
detained,
but
that
he
would
call
at
three
o'clock
in
the
afternoon.
The
afternoon
came;
I
waited
for
him
till
half-past
seven
o'clock.
He
did
not
appear.
Thereupon
my
wife
came
and
tempted
me
to
try
the
transmutation
myself.
I
determined
however
to
wait
till
the
morrow.
On
the
morrow
...
I
asked
my
wife
to
put
the
tincture
in
wax,
and
I
myself
...
prepared
six
drachms
of
lead;
I
then
cast
the
tincture,
enveloped
as
it
was
in
wax,
on
the
lead;
as
soon
as
it
was
melted,
there
was
a
hissing
sound
and
a
slight
effervescence,
and
after
a
quarter
of
an
hour
I
found
that
the
whole
mass
of
lead
had
been
turned
into
the
finest
gold....
We
immediately
took
it
to
the
goldsmith,
who
at
once
declared
it
the
finest
gold
he
had
ever
seen,
and
offered
to
pay
fifty
florins
an
ounce
for
it."
He
then
describes
various
tests
which
were
made
to
prove
the
purity
of
the
gold.
"Thus
I
have
unfolded
to
you
the
whole
story
from
beginning
to
end.
The
gold
I
still
retain
in
my
possession,
but
I
cannot
tell
you
what
has
become
of
the
Artist
Elias."
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