Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 51.djvu/688

672 to officially order an investigation, by three of the mint experts, of a process of transmutation, or "creation," of gold which is singularly similar to the old alchemists' plan.

Basil-Valentine concealed his secret from the common people in the following mystic words: "The king's diadem is made of pure gold, and a chaste bride must be married unto him, wherefore, if ye will work on our bodies take the most ravenous gray wolf, which, by reason of his name, is subject to valorous Mars, but by the genesis of his nativity he is subject to old Saturn; found in mountains and in valleys of the world; he is very hungry; cast into him the king's body that he may be nourished by it; when he hath devoured the king make a great fire, into which cast the wolf that he be quite burned, then will the king be at liberty. When ye have done this thrice, then hath the king overcome the wolf, neither can he find any more of him to feed upon."

The mysterious language adopted by the alchemists was not always owing to an intention to deceive; many of these fanatics believed that it was wicked to reveal the hidden secrets of Nature to the common people, and might even cause the death of the author. Thus, Wilhelm von Schroeder, in 1684, wrote a book entitled Necessary Instructions in the Art of Gold Making, in which he says: "When philosophers speak openly, a deceit lies behind their words; while when they speak enigmatically, they may be depended upon."

Reverting to the enigmatical formula of Basil-Valentine, it is said that the key to this mysterious jargon gives the following simple explanation: The ravenous gray wolf is the sulphuret of antimony. The king's body typifies the metal gold. The sulphuret of antimony is decomposed by iron by the aid of heat, and is thus "subject to valorous Mars." When these elements (antimony, sulphur, and iron) are subjected to a great fire in a crucible, the king (gold) imprisoned in the wolf (antimony) is liberated.

The modern process which the three mint experts were called upon to investigate, and upon which they have reported negatively, was at first shrouded in secrecy; but the inventor himself has recently given to the public his formula, in a newspaper interview, which one of the experts stated at a meeting of the Franklin Institute is substantially correct. His process consists