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177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
90
In
later
times,
some
of
those
who
pretended
to
have
the
secret
and
to
perform
great
wonders
by
the
use
of
it,
became
rich
and
celebrated,
and
were
much
sought
after.
The
most
distinguished
of
these
pseudo-alchemists
was
he
who
passed
under
the
name
of
Cagliostro.
His
life
bears
witness
to
the
eagerness
of
human
beings
to
be
deceived.
Joseph
Balsamo
was
born
in
1743
at
Palermo,
where
his
parents
were
tradespeople
in
a
good
way
of
business.[5]
In
the
memoir
of
himself,
which
he
wrote
in
prison,
Balsamo
seeks
to
surround
his
birth
and
parentage
with
mystery;
he
says,
"I
am
ignorant,
not
only
of
my
birthplace,
but
even
of
the
parents
who
bore
me....
My
earliest
infancy
was
passed
in
the
town
of
Medina,
in
Arabia,
where
I
was
brought
up
under
the
name
of
Acharat."
[5]
The
account
of
the
life
of
Cagliostro
is
much
condensed
from
Mr
A.E.
Waite's
Lives
of
the
Alchemystical
Philosophers.
When
he
was
thirteen
years
of
age,
Balsamo's
parents
determined
he
should
be
trained
for
the
priesthood,
but
he
ran
away
from
his
school.
He
was
then
confined
in
a
Benedictine
monastery.
He
showed
a
remarkable
taste
for
natural
history,
and
acquired
considerable
knowledge
of
the
use
of
drugs;
but
he
soon
tired
of
the
discipline
and
escaped.
For
some
years
he
wandered
about
in
different
parts
of
Italy,
living
by
his
wits
and
by
cheating.
A
goldsmith
consulted
him
about
a
hidden
treasure;
he
pretended
to
invoke
the
aid
of
spirits,
frightened
the
goldsmith,
got
sixty
ounces
of
gold
from
him
to
carry
on
his
incantations,
left
him
in
the
lurch,
and
fled
to
Messina.
In
that
town
he
discovered
an
aged
aunt
who
was
sick;
the
aunt
died,
and
left
her
money
to
the
Church.
Balsamo
assumed
her
family
name,
added
a
title
of
nobility,
and
was
known
henceforward
as
the
Count
Alessandro
Cagliostro.
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