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177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
93
Cagliostro
posed
as
a
physician,
and
claimed
the
power
of
curing
diseases
simply
by
the
laying
on
of
hands.
He
went
so
far
as
to
assert
he
had
restored
to
life
the
dead
child
of
a
nobleman
in
Paris;
the
discovery
that
the
miracle
was
effected
by
substituting
a
living
child
for
the
dead
one
caused
him
to
flee,
laden
with
spoil,
to
Warsaw,
and
then
to
Strassburg.
Cagliostro
entered
Strassburg
in
state,
amid
an
admiring
crowd,
who
regarded
him
as
more
than
human.
Rumour
said
he
had
amassed
vast
riches
by
the
transmutation
of
base
metals
into
gold.
Some
people
in
the
crowd
said
he
was
the
wandering
Jew,
others
that
he
had
been
present
at
the
marriage
feast
of
Cana,
some
asserted
he
was
born
before
the
deluge,
and
one
supposed
he
might
be
the
devil.
The
goldsmith
whom
he
had
cheated
of
sixty
ounces
of
gold
many
years
before
was
in
the
crowd,
and,
recognising
him,
tried
to
stop
the
carriage,
shouting:
"Joseph
Balsamo!
It
is
Joseph!
Rogue,
where
are
my
sixty
ounces
of
gold?"
"Cagliostro
scarcely
deigned
to
glance
at
the
furious
goldsmith;
but
in
the
middle
of
the
profound
silence
which
the
incident
occasioned
among
the
crowd,
a
voice,
apparently
in
the
clouds,
uttered
with
great
distinctness
the
following
words:
'Remove
this
lunatic,
who
is
possessed
by
infernal
spirits.'
Some
of
the
spectators
fell
on
their
knees,
others
seized
the
unfortunate
goldsmith,
and
the
brilliant
cortege
passed
on"
(Waite).
From
Strassburg
Cagliostro*
went
to
Paris,
where
he
lived
in
great
splendour,
curing
diseases,
making
gold
and
diamonds,
mystifying
and
duping
people
of
all
ranks
by
the
splendid
ritual
and
gorgeous
feasting
of
his
secret
society,
and
amassing
riches.
He
got
entangled
in
the
affair
of
the
Diamond
Necklace,
and
left
Paris.
Trying
to
advance
his
society
in
Italy
he
was
arrested
by
the
agents
of
the
Inquisition,
and
imprisoned,
then
tried,
and
condemned
to
death.
The
sentence
was
commuted
to
perpetual
imprisonment.
After
two
years
in
the
prison
of
San
Angelo
he
died
at
the
age
of
fifty.
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