Page:The fairy tales of science.djvu/101



has not heard of the Philosopher's Stone, that much-coveted but unattainable red powder of the alchemists, which was supposed to possess the powers of transmuting baser metals into gold, of healing disease, and of restoring youth? Who has not read of those misguided men of former ages, whose lives were passed in attempting to discover this precious substance, which was to confer upon them inexhaustible wealth, health, and longevity, but whose labours too often resulted in poverty, sickness, and death?

In the present day we are too apt to regard the doctrine of transmutation, which formed the basis of alchemy, as a mere hallucination of the human mind; and to look upon the men who entertained it with mixed feelings of pity and contempt. Now