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177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
92
Cagliostro
used
his
young
wife
as
a
decoy
to
attract
rich
and
foolish
men.
He
and
his
wife
thrived
for
a
time,
and
accumulated
money
and
jewels;
but
a
confederate
betrayed
them,
and
they
fled
to
Venice,
and
then
wandered
for
several
years
in
Italy,
France,
and
England.
They
seem
to
have
made
a
living
by
the
sale
of
lotions
for
the
skin,
and
by
practising
skilful
deceptions.
About
the
year
1770
Cagliostro
began
to
pose
as
an
alchemist.
After
another
period
of
wandering
he
paid
a
second
visit
to
London
and
founded
a
secret
society,
based
on
(supposed)
Egyptian
rites,
mingled
with
those
of
freemasonry.
The
suggestion
of
this
society
is
said
to
have
come
from
a
curious
book
he
picked
up
on
a
second-hand
stall
in
London.
The
society
attracted
people
by
the
strangeness
of
its
initiatory
rites,
and
the
promises
of
happiness
and
wellbeing
made
by
its
founder
to
those
who
joined
it.
Lodges
were
established
in
many
countries,
many
disciples
were
obtained,
great
riches
were
amassed,
and
Cagliostro
flourished
exceedingly.
In
his
Histoire
du
Merveilleux
dans
les
Temps
modernes,
Figuier,
speaking
of
Cagliostro
about
this
period
of
his
career,
says:
"He
proclaimed
himself
the
bearer
of
the
mysteries
of
Isis
and
Anubis
from
the
far
East....
He
obtained
numerous
and
distinguished
followers,
who
on
one
occasion
assembled
in
great
force
to
hear
Joseph
Balsamo
expound
to
them
the
doctrines
of
Egyptian
freemasonry.
At
this
solemn
convention
he
is
said
to
have
spoken
with
overpowering
eloquence;...
his
audience
departed
in
amazement
and
completely
converted
to
the
regenerated
and
purified
masonry.
None
doubted
that
he
was
an
initiate
of
the
arcana
of
nature,
as
preserved
in
the
temple
of
Apis
at
the
era
when
Cambyses
belaboured
that
capricious
divinity.
From
this
moment
the
initiations
into
the
new
masonry
were
numerous,
albeit
they
were
limited
to
the
aristocracy
of
society.
There
are
reasons
to
believe
that
the
grandees
who
were
deemed
worthy
of
admission
paid
exceedingly
extravagantly
for
the
honour."
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