Of the philosopher's stone and what convinced Mr de Yvetaus of its possibility

This text, the original of which is on page 119, of the manuscript "Traité des sels", was taken up and commented on in January 1987, in the first issue of Chrysopoeia, the journal published by the Society for the Study of the History of Alchemy (45, rue Saint-Maur, F75011 Paris).


I am neither scholar nor philosopher; but as I have seen and communicated some of them, and read the works of several others, I am very happy to share with the curious what I have been able to collect and from each other. I looked upon this work as pleasant amusement in my solitude, for I am persuaded that innocent occupation brings happiness to life, or at least prevents its boredom.

This is what made me want to tell you that I was not yet twenty-five when, tormented by rheumatism in my arms, which prevented me from sleeping during the night, sorry for the fruitless use ordinary galenic remedies, all of which I had practiced, I wanted to put the born in the medical books, to try to discover for myself what thing in us caused health and disease, and if there was no means of discovering any remedy which could relieve me of the evils which overwhelmed me.

I was in this exercise, when a man named Georges des Closets, son of a big bourgeois from the town of Caen in Normandy, returned from several trips he had made since his absence from his father's house, that he had been obliged to leave, because as a good Frenchman, his father had driven him out of his house like a rascal, who had a wit to tell the truth, but whom he did not put to good use. He was artful, and such a great liar that in truth he was called the real George. He had a marvelous talent and a special genius for music, and I believe that this talent helped him survive for a while, being in Besançon in Burgundy. There he taught music to a young Canon of the family of Mrs du Mennilet of Paris, but this young Canon was from Franche-Comté and had an uncle named Mr de Turelle, Knight of Malta, who commanded a galley of the number of those which took a certain Turkish galleon in which was the Sultana Queen, who was carrying to Mecca the young Ottoman Prince, who was born and destined to be a Great Lord, This young Prince was held prisoner, and we have seen him Jacobin in France, under the name of Father Ottoman.

The commanders of the galleys shared the booty and the prisoners; and the Chevalier de Turelle had among those who fell to him, an old man with a white beard, of an imposing and venerable face, who was a doctor of the seraglio, and traveled with the Sultana and her son to take care of their health. . The great age of this old man, and his considerate countenance, caused the Chevalier de Turelle to set out to procure him freedom gratis, for which the old man, touched with gratitude, took the Chevalier de Turelle in particular, showed him the Metallic Transmutation, and told him that he could not confide such a secret to him, but that if he had some young relative capable of study, that he confide [it] to him, and that he would make him participate in all his know-how.

The Chevalier de Turelle, who had summoned this young nephew Chanoine to Besançon to make him pass Knight of Malta, and make him make his caravans, thought fit to send him to Padua, to join this old doctor there, whom he sent free. in this city, where he waited for the Chevalier du Menillet (thus was the name of this young Canon) and when they had joined, they both went to China, the native country of this good old man, who wanted to see his homeland again before returning to the seraglio where he was First Physician.

During this trip to China, the Chevalier du Menillet was informed by his old man of all his secrets concerning medicine, astrology and the philosopher's stone, but this good man did not confide them to him until after having made him promise that he doctor of the seraglio after him, and to have him received there, they came together to Constantinople where the first difficulty was to become a Muslim, to which the Chevalier du Menillet having refused in any way to consent, he who was a Christian and Catholic, by expediency he was allowed to remain in his religion, and able to have united the Patriarca of Antioch to that of Alexandria, and to have annexed to it two hundred thousand crowns of income, they clothed the Chevalier du Menillet by receiving him First Physician of the seraglio, with the title of Head of the Greek Church,and of the Patriarch of Anthioche, by the authority of his old master, from whom he separated to return to see France once again his dear homeland, while the old man returned to China to see his own, where he arranged to meet the Chevalier du Menillet his dear disciple.

After the Chevalier du Menillet, who was of small stature, a simple man, had finished his business in France, he went to Nantes to mount a ship which was going to the Levant, equipped at the expense of Mrs. of the East India Company, from whom (I do not know by what intrigue) Georges des Closets had obtained a commission to be in this country director or controller of their business for the trade, and he embarked on the same ship, and although there had been twelve or fifteen years since he and this Chevalier du Menillet had seen each other at Besançon, where he had been his music teacher, they renewed their acquaintance and became very close friends during this long journey.

Their familiarity soon made Georges des Closets discover the talents of the Chevalier du Menillet, which induced him to attach himself absolutely to his person, and leaving there his commission, with which he charged another, he followed him to China and there at the Porte, from where the Chevalier du Menillet who had in mind the reunion of the Greek Church with the Roman one, went away again a second time, came to Padua, then to Spain where he had great conferences with don Jouan of Austria, and thence again returned to France, where he disembarked at Nantes, whence he had started, and Georges des Closets did not leave him a step, so that from there they both came by land to Bordeaux, where the Chevalier du Menillet made a present to the Cathedral of the value of more than Six hundred thousand pounds, both for reconstructions, donations,ornaments, and had Georges des Closets established in the dignity of Grand C[h]antre, where he was received and exercised in the Cathedral.

The main occupation of the Chevalier du Menillet, as long as he was in Bordeaux, and even along the road, from Nantes, was to go botanize, and look for simply curious people who were in this country, whose virtues he knew. specific, and as he could not refrain from visiting the sick with reputations for the quality of their extraordinary and inveterate illnesses, he took pleasure in giving them remedies, and performed surprising cures, so that with his natural simplicity, and his rather thin face, he passed for some doctor, but dressed.

This took place at the time that the Chevalier de Rohan was arrested for the conspiracy he was hatching against the King and Monseigneur whom he planned to kidnap; and notice had at that time been given to the court, that the Chevalier de Rohan had an Arab physician who was to come from the Levant, with the purpose of poisoning the whole court, so that the King sent to all the Governors of province of secret advice on this, with orders that if any newly arrived foreign doctor is discovered, he should be arrested.

Mr. le Marechal d'Albret was at the time Commander in Guyenne, and on the noise that the reputation of the Chevalier du Menillet made by his cures, he made himself informed of him. But as he was not known to anyone in the country for what he was, we followed his countermarch to Nantes, where learning that he had arrived by a ship which came from the Levant, it was enough to ensure his person without any other form of process; they visited his coffers, where they found two hundred thousand crowns in gold, of which the Marshal d'Albret having seized himself, increased his suspicions, and gave notice of it to the court.

Georges des Closets was with him when he was arrested, and he had time to tell Georges not to worry, and that he would be out soon when we knew him: indeed we knew he was from the family of Mrs. du Menillet from Paris, and there came an order from Marshal d'Albret to release him from prison. He therefore set him free, and withheld his money, and the Chevalier du Menillet, after remaining a few more days in the free prison, seeing that his money did not return, took a key from the jailer, who knew he was free and a man of justice. consideration, and having made this key red in the fire, half-dipped it in a crucible in which there was liquor, and returned it to the jailer, converted half into good gold, and left.

This Transmutation verified by Marshal d'Albret, who was informed immediately, he gave notice of it to the court, from where he received orders to have the Chevalier du Menillet arrested again, who having suspected it, did not did not wait for the order to come, and went to Spain to Don Jouan of Austria and from there went to the Porte. But on leaving he ordered Georges des Closets to return to Caen to his father's, to make peace with him there and to wait for news from him, which he would send to him from Padua.

And yet, for fear that Georges would lack for his subsistence and his health, he made him two presents, one of Powder of projection in a small box resembling an ivory snuffbox, in which there was plenty for make half a million gold. The other present was a crystal vial stoppered with a glass stopper, in which there was a yellow liquor, smelling of aspic oil, which he was to use for his health, in case he fell ill.

Georges obeyed him, and came to ask pardon of his father at Caen, where he was received as the prodigal son. And it was at this time, around the year 1675, that I was staying at Caen with my father, of whom this true Georges was only too well known, because my father, who had always been grateful for the services which the father and mother of the said Georges had always returned to him as messengers of the house, and even my father had given a brother of Georges the cure of Bourguebus, and then made him have that of the parish of Saint Jean de Caen.

Georges des Closets, who knew me from my youth, and often visited me, seeing me busy looking for remedies, often lives with me, or rather with my father, Mrs. Postel and Hauton, famous doctors of the town of Caen; the first was from the house, and Hauton, with whom I had become friends, had occupied himself with chemistry for twenty years, by natural inclination which he had for this science, and on the occasion of an adventure which I report below.

This Georges des Closets told me that I had to do the Philosopher's Stone to cure myself, and from there took the opportunity to talk to me about it, and to tell me all the above adventures, and several particulars of his travels.

I was like most people in the world, curious, but strongly convinced that the Philosopher's Stone was only in the kidneys or the bladder of the Philosophers, that it bothered a lot, as well as the imagination of people struck by this belief, so that Georges, who was only moderately learned, although he had enough wit and a lot of subtlety, often disputed with me; and as by my reasoning I often put him in a condition not to dare to reply on the alleged proofs which he endeavored to make me understand, < ... > on the possibility of the thing by simple speech.

Finally, on the first day of January 1676, Georges came before four o'clock in the morning to knock on the door of the house. He knew that I slept little, and that at three o'clock I had torches lit to read and amuse myself. I got a lackey up, believing that some sick friend had sent me to ask for imperial water, which I sometimes gave for urgent needs. But I was very surprised to see the real Georges come into my room, who, having made my lackey stay downstairs, close the door and, his coat on his nose, without taking off his hat, saying to me as familiarity: "You claim to have won your case because you are more learned than I, but I bring you a reason for your New Year's gift to which you will have no reply." "Hoho! I said, true Georges, where does this air of familiarity come from? Are you coming out of supper? “No no, he said, I am of a cold sense; and I claim that sleep ahead you look at me with respect and veneration. "At the same time he takes me from his pocket a small ivory box in the shape of a snuffbox, he opens it, and with the point of a common knife, which in Caen is called a gembette, he takes from this box a bit of Projection Powder with which it was almost full, and having taken some paper which I had near me (for I was writing when he entered) and wanted to put it on it. "What do you want, I said to him, that I faced with this minutia? “He in an angry [tone] said to me: “You are not worthy of such a great present and you will only have it to convince you. "And at the same time he cut off at least three-quarters of the small portion he was going to put on the paper, where he dropped only a barely visible atom." Here it is, he said. , enough for you to know for yourself that the Philosopher's Stone that you call madness is not one. “And having told me how to use this solar atom, he left abruptly.

As soon as it was day, wanting to make the test, I drew from my pistols with a wad puller two lead bullets, which I put in my pocket and went myself to fetch from a silversmith friend of mine, named Poulain, a brand new crucible. And having shut myself up in my room, I lit coal in a stove by the corner of my fireplace. I had gone myself to fetch this coal where the provision of that of the house was, without anybody knowing it. When my crucible was heated, I put my two lead balls into it, which were soon melted; but I still blew on the coals and when the crucible was white with fire (what is called igneous candenti), I pushed with a small stick the paper where this atom of Powder of projection was, which so soon the burnt paper made a movement and a little decrepitation of the metal, the noise of which did not last long, and so soon that it was ceased as well as the movement, I was pouring between two paving stones which I had rubbed with tallow the metal which turned out to be pure gold. I took it to the same goldsmith Poulain, asking him what that was. He took the touchstone and, having rubbed it, he said to me: "Sir, I have never seen gold in such a high fineness or such a high carat." "Well, I said to him, it's not gold, you have to test it." He put some in aquafortis, which did not diminish the weight, but only lightened it with a few dross which had remained there. After that, I begged him that we melt it with antimony: he sent for it,

This test gave me a high opinion of the real Georges, who also had White Projection Powder, for although he did not show me any, nor did any transmutation in front of me, he did more than thirty on lead and tin, which he converted into silver both in the city of Caen and in several neighboring places, among others at the Abbey of Fonteney, at the Prior's; and he told them, making fun of them, that he had learned the knowledge of the simple in his travels, and that there were some very common in their country, who had the virtue of making this transmutation, and for their To convince him he chewed a herb in his mouth, for fear, he said, that it would not be recognized, and throwing it all chewed into the crucible where there was lead or molten tin,

A man named Lestorel, Mr. Cousin's clerk, courted him very much because of several projections he had made in front of him, and the doctor Postel (who was curious but very ignorant in this science, although, moreover, a fairly well-dressed doctor galenic). He was a man of great bearing, and big and tall in figure, who spoke well, and knew all the stories of the chemical authors, of whom he had picked up a large number, but in which he had never put his nose; moreover a great admirer of this science, and who looked upon Hauton and me as illustrious scholars, although we understood nothing more about it then, except that we knew how to handle fire and vessels, which he understood nothing about.

So this Lestorel and this Postel, commitment Georges des Closets to show them several tricks of his trade, and here is among other things what he did before them several times. He melted in a crucible four or six pistoles from Spain, and as soon as they were cast iron, he dipped a straw in his vial in which was his universal medicine, which he said had been given to him by the Chevalier du Menillet. and dropping the least drop of this liquor on this molten gold, there was such a great attraction of the air in this crucible, where it seemed to concentrate with so much vehemence, that when a marshal's bellows had blown into this crucible , the air would not have rushed and compressed it with more speed and violence, so that if you had wanted to get your hands on this crucible, the air would have pushed it on you and squeezed it inside; after this attraction made, which lasted only in proportion to the quantity of melted gold, one found the gold which one had put in the crucible while withdrawing it always increased of the third, i.e. of 2 at 3, 4 at 6, or 6 at 9, etc. And one day his brother, the Curé of Saint Jean, secretly took a bit of cotton from him with which he had wiped off the stopper of his vial, without his noticing it, and with the old man from Les Closets, their father, and the carboy from the Drink their uncle, we made the test of it in our private.

So that having melted six crowns of gold in a crucible, we put this cotton, and fit the signs above reported, we found in the crucible the weight of nine crowns of gold, instead of six that we had put there. and compressed inside; after this attraction made, which lasted only in proportion to the quantity of melted gold, one found the gold which one had put in the crucible while withdrawing it always increased of the third, i.e. of 2 at 3, 4 at 6, or 6 at 9, etc. And one day his brother, the Curé of Saint Jean, secretly took a bit of cotton from him with which he had wiped off the stopper of his vial, without his noticing it, and with the old man from Les Closets, their father, and the carboy from the Drink their uncle, we made the test of it in our private. So that having melted six crowns of gold in a crucible, we put this cotton, and fit the signs above reported, we found in the crucible the weight of nine crowns of gold, instead of six that we had put there.

And compressed inside; after this attraction made, which lasted only in proportion to the quantity of melted gold, one found the gold which one had put in the crucible while withdrawing it always increased of the third, i.e. of 2 at 3, 4 at 6, or 6 at 9, etc. And one day his brother, the Curé of Saint Jean, secretly took a bit of cotton from him with which he had wiped off the stopper of his vial, without his noticing it, and with the old man from Les Closets, their father, and the carboy from the Drink their uncle, we made the test of it in our private. So that having melted six crowns of gold in a crucible, we put this cotton, and fit the signs above reported, we found in the crucible the weight of nine crowns of gold, instead of six that we had put there. which lasted only in proportion to the quantity of melted gold, one found the gold which one had put in the crucible while withdrawing it always increased from it third, ie from 2 to 3, 4 to 6, or 6 to 9, etc. And one day his brother, the Curé of Saint Jean, secretly took a bit of cotton from him with which he had wiped off the stopper of his vial, without his noticing it, and with the old man from Les Closets, their father, and the carboy from the Drink their uncle, we made the test of it in our private. So that having melted six crowns of gold in a crucible, we put this cotton, and fit the signs above reported, we found in the crucible the weight of nine crowns of gold, instead of six that we had put there. which lasted only in proportion to the quantity of melted gold, one found the gold which one had put in the crucible while withdrawing it always increased from it third, ie from 2 to 3, 4 to 6, or 6 to 9, etc.

And one day his brother, the Curé of Saint Jean, secretly took a bit of cotton from him with which he had wiped off the stopper of his vial, without his noticing it, and with the old man from Les Closets, their father, and the carboy from the Drink their uncle, we made the test of it in our private. So that having melted six crowns of gold in a crucible, we put this cotton, and fit the signs above reported, we found in the crucible the weight of nine crowns of gold, instead of six that we had put there. one found the gold which one had put in the crucible while withdrawing it always increased by a third, that is to say from 2 to 3, 4 to 6, or 6 to 9, etc. And one day his brother, the Curé of Saint Jean, secretly took a bit of cotton from him with which he had wiped off the stopper of his vial, without his noticing it, and with the old man from Les Closets, their father, and the carboy from the Drink their uncle, we made the test of it in our private.

So that having melted six crowns of gold in a crucible, we put this cotton, and fit the signs above reported, we found in the crucible the weight of nine crowns of gold, instead of six that we had put there. one found the gold which one had put in the crucible while withdrawing it always increased by a third, that is to say from 2 to 3, 4 to 6, or 6 to 9, etc. And one day his brother, the Curé of Saint Jean, secretly took a bit of cotton from him with which he had wiped off the stopper of his vial, without his noticing it, and with the old man from Les Closets, their father, and the carboy from the Drink their uncle, we made the test of it in our private. So that having melted six crowns of gold in a crucible, we put this cotton, and fit the signs above reported, we found in the crucible the weight of nine crowns of gold, instead of six that we had put there. without his noticing it, and with the good man from Les Closets, their father, and the bonbonne from Bois, their uncle, we put it to the test in our private lives. So that having melted six crowns of gold in a crucible, we put this cotton, and fit the signs above reported, we found in the crucible the weight of nine crowns of gold, instead of six that we had put there. without his noticing it, and with the good man from Les Closets, their father, and the bonbonne from Bois, their uncle, we put it to the test in our private lives. So that having melted six crowns of gold in a crucible, we put this cotton, and fit the signs above reported, we found in the crucible the weight of nine crowns of gold, instead of six that we had put there.

When the liquor in this vial diminished, to fill it, he corked it exactly with his glass stopper and, heating it in the coals which he blew strongly afterwards, to make them ardent, it filled up all by itself in this burning brazier. So he called her his salamander.

All these things seen with my own eyes made me caress the real Georges, with whom I spent as much time as possible. He told me that he had indeed seen the Chevalier du Menillet work, and that he thought he knew what he was working on, but that for him he had never made this Powder. He invited me and urged me to study in this science. I had a large number of books that dealt with it and were very curious, and the doctor Postel (who had collected the books of the gentlemen of Flers, whose fortune had come from this science) provided me with some. And Georges took pleasure in me communicating to him the excerpts that I made of them and the thoughts that I put down in writing of what I imagined, suitable for the readings that I had made of them.

Georges, having seemed to me resolved to carry out this project, came with me to Ouilly at Hauton's, and the same evening after having visited the laboratory, he told us that we had to begin by making the physical salt: with such a master we We were careful not to want to pass for dressed, we beg him to worry about it. He took equal parts of saltpeter and vitriol, ground them and having mixed them together in a glazed new earthen pot over the open fire like a vegetable garden, he tells us:
"Bring me the preservative of the sooty vapors of minerals and strong waters." "With that," he said, "you can put your nose to all the vapors of strong water or other malignant without fear that they will do you harm." this pot from which issued sooty black vapors which he called hell. When everything was well calcined, "Make, he says, a laundry of what remains, and you will draw from it after evaporation the physical salt. "

The next day he pretended to have business at Caen, which was five leagues away, and although he promised to come back at once, we were never able to oblige him to do so. Seeing that he did not return, I went to join him in Caen, where he told me that he had received letters from the Chevalier du Menillet, with bulls for a bishopric in his district in partibus infidelium, but that he did not didn't want to be a bishop. He even forced me to write letters to the Chevalier du Menillet on science, and the ideas I had of the material and the operation of the work, which I did without getting any answers. Finally he told me that he had received an order from the Chevalier du Menillet to go to England to meet on his behalf with some bishops of that country for the meeting of the Anglican Church, of the Greek and the Roman, and that he had to take the post, but that he had no money.

"Do it," I tell him. "Yes, but the one who sells it to me should only be here in six days and I must leave." 'receive some from the one we will make.' He chose the shop of the home sergeant, a widower and alone in his shop, which was near the Porte Millet in Caen. and I have thirty louis d'or which will serve you until I receive some of the one we will make. "He chose the shop of the home sergeant, a widower and alone in his shop, which was near the Millet gate in Caen. and I have thirty louis d'or which will serve you until I receive some of the one we will make. "He chose the shop of the home sergeant, a widower and alone in his shop, which was near the Millet gate in Caen.

Georges went to his father's house where he cut off a piece of lead gutter weighing eight or ten pounds, seized the remains of a pot of gray earth of the nature of those in which butter is salted, and we we went to see the marshal of the house, to whom I gave the commission myself to go and look for supposed people in several hostelries in Bourg l'Abbé, and in case he couldn't find them, to go find out. elsewhere, so that we would have enough time to remain alone at his house, where I promised to keep his shop until he returned, without telling him our plan. The marshal left, and Georges cut his gutter into pieces, lit a fire in the forge, heated his stoneware pot broken from above, at first slowly, and when he saw that it endured the fire without breaking , he put in it a few blades of his lead, which he strewn with ashes between them, with a few atom of the sss powder, until he had put everything in. The lead melted in a short time with a kind of rather strong detonation or decrepitation, and a furious movement of the matter, which subsided after having blown well, and all the ash came on it in slag, and we emptied the metal in a another bed of pot greased with tallow, and we drew from it a mass of gold weighing about eight or nine pounds which he left me. The Marshal returned, and our business was done; and the next day Georges took the post office to go to Calais with my thirty pistoles.

The lead melted in a short time with a kind of rather strong detonation or decrepitation, and a furious movement of the matter, which subsided after having blown well, and all the ash came on it in slag, and we emptied the metal in a another bed of pot greased with tallow, and we drew from it a mass of gold weighing about eight or nine pounds which he left me. The Marshal returned, and our business was done; and the next day Georges took the post office to go to Calais with my thirty pistoles. The lead melted in a short time with a kind of rather strong detonation or decrepitation, and a furious movement of the matter, which subsided after having blown well, and all the ash came on it in slag, and we emptied the metal in a another bed of pot greased with tallow, and we drew from it a mass of gold weighing about eight or nine pounds which he left me.

The Marshal returned, and our business was done; and the next day Georges took the post office to go to Calais with my thirty pistoles. The Marshal returned, and our business was done; and the next day Georges took the post office to go to Calais with my thirty pistoles. The Marshal returned, and our business was done; and the next day Georges took the post office to go to Calais with my thirty pistoles.

The man who sold his gold, named Montabas, who said he was from Lyons, arrived four or five days later. I gave him the ingot and he counted out six thousand pounds for me, which I sent to Georges des Closets at his address in England, through a merchant from Caen named Carbonel, who was a friend of mine. A short time later my father died, several big lawsuits arose between my brother and me, I got married in the meantime, and went to Paris with my mother and my wife, where we pleaded strongly against my brothers.

During this time, Georges received in England an order from the Chevalier du Menillet to return to Italy, and to go to Rome with the quality of Ambassador of the Chevalier du Menillet to attend an obedience which several Greek Bishops came to render to the Pope, sent by the Chevalier du Menillet, Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Greek Church. This done, Georges returned to Paris, and brought with him a quantity of liqueurs and wines from Italy, but wanting to show France on the way, for I do not know what reasons, he let himself fall from his horse towards Saumur, he who did not was not a good squire, and had bought some fine ones, so that he injured himself until he was pissing blood. He was nevertheless cured shortly, and being back in Caen, he bought a small piece of land at Bretteville la Pavée, which he gave to his family. But often regaling himself there with his friends and drinking too much of the liqueurs he had brought from Italy, he was taken over by his loss of blood by the urine, and a high fever having joined it, he thought of me immediately. that he was taken, sent for my sister, told her to write to me to come without wasting time, and that it was only me to whom he could entrust the use of his remedy to cure him, and make me the repository of all his secrets. I received this news in Paris, and although I had taken the post office immediately, he was no longer alive when I arrived in Caen, and I am told that having been given some of his medicine, of which he took too much large dose, it coagulated his blood. he was seized again with his loss of blood by the urine, and a high fever having joined it, he thought of me as soon as he was taken, sent for my sister, told her to write to me to come without wasting time. , and that it was only me to whom he could entrust the use of his remedy to cure him, and make me the depositary of all his secrets. I received this news in Paris, and although I had taken the post office immediately, he was no longer alive when I arrived in Caen, and I am told that having been given some of his medicine, of which he took too much large dose, it coagulated his blood. he was seized again with his loss of blood by the urine, and a high fever having joined it, he thought of me as soon as he was taken, sent for my sister, told her to write to me to come without wasting time. , and that it was only me to whom he could entrust the use of his remedy to cure him, and make me the depositary of all his secrets.

I received this news in Paris, and although I had taken the post office immediately, he was no longer alive when I arrived in Caen, and I am told that having been given some of his medicine, of which he took too much large dose, it coagulated his blood. and that it was only me to whom he could entrust the use of his remedy to cure him, and make me the depositary of all his secrets. I received this news in Paris, and although I had taken the post office immediately, he was no longer alive when I arrived in Caen, and I am told that having been given some of his medicine, of which he took too much large dose, it coagulated his blood.

And that it was only me to whom he could entrust the use of his remedy to cure him, and make me the depositary of all his secrets. I received this news in Paris, and although I had taken the post office immediately, he was no longer alive when I arrived in Caen, and I am told that having been given some of his medicine, of which he took too much large dose, it coagulated his blood.

His brother the Curé afterwards put in my hands some red powder which he had found in some vial. But it was not the one whose effect I had seen, and it did not even resemble it, for it was all orange, whereas the one which I had made and seen projecting was a blood red of dark beef, and all bright.

This is what began to give me curiosity for this science that I have always loved since, so that I have made my most pleasant occupation to study it, not by giving as a dupe in all the proposals that the I could have been taught it, because I am convinced that this secret is not communicated so freely by those who have it,
So soon that I could be free from my affairs being a widower, I came back to see Hauton, a frank man, a good friend, a fine mind and cultured with many humanities, but with a vehement imagination, and a great rough draft in operations.

of chemistry, where always wanting to mix drugs with drugs, he often took his imaginations for revelations, even saying sometimes that he would not give for a hundred thousand crowns a thought that occurred, and thus was careful not to succeed in anything of importance. . This Hauton was the son of an apothecary from Falaise, who, having a good mind, had studied medicine at Caen, where he passed himself off as a doctor. He was quite familiar in the house of Mr. de Saint Clair Turgot, father of the Master of Requests, since Councilor of State,

Here is what happened, and gave Hauton the opportunity to work in chemistry, and provided him with the means to mix drugs with drugs, to carry out trials, as he did until he was 63 years old when he died.

Old Mr. Turgot, a powerfully rich man, and even more in the mood to amass wealth, did not leave his old years to be still a man like the others, and friend of a young lady, who, although she was not not the youngest, did not fail to spend almost whole days with him. She had her carriage, and an old squire serving, as was the fashion at that time, to hold her hand. This squire, who usually stayed with the crew without returning home, to amuse himself and get bored during the long visits that his mistress paid to Mr. Turgot, usually went to chat with a chemical distiller, whose shop or laboratory was very near. . He sometimes helped her to wash or hold her vessels,

Finally one day it happened that his work being finished and this good man of squire being present, chatting with him as usual, the distiller said to him: "Thank God, I have come to the end of what I was looking for, I will not miss any more good or health. Here is an excellent remedy to prolong the days and make you younger. I want to give some to you who are old, and will also take some at the same time. " He pours some to this old squire in a spoon. , which he gave him to take: this good man, who trusted only in a good way to these drugs which he considered too strong, raised the spoon so that there were only a few drops poured into it; but the distiller swallowed a good dose, saying of a good thing one must take enough. While this was happening, a lackey came to inform the squire that his mistress was going out. He promptly goes to give her his hand, but no sooner has he got into the carriage with her than he feels himself in such dreadful heat, emotion and sweat, that no sooner has he arrived at the house than he had to put him to bed. While he was in this agitation, they sent to the chemist as quickly as possible to send him some remedy for the evil he had caused: but the messenger, instead of a remedy, reported that the chymist had died suddenly of drug he had just taken after squeezing the vial.

no sooner had he arrived at home than he had to be put to bed. While he was in this agitation, they sent to the chemist as quickly as possible to send him some remedy for the evil he had caused: but the messenger, instead of a remedy, reported that the chymist had died suddenly of drug he had just taken after squeezing the vial. no sooner had he arrived at home than he had to be put to bed. While he was in this agitation, they sent to the chemist as quickly as possible to send him some remedy for the evil he had caused: but the messenger, instead of a remedy, reported that the chymist had died suddenly of drug he had just taken after squeezing the vial.

The old squire, fit for a week of fever, saw his whole body peel off, the hair, the nails, the spoiled teeth, all the hairs fell out; but soon afterwards his hair returned to black from the white it had been before, his fingernails and teeth gradually grew back, and this was accompanied by new and youthful skin, a ruddy complexion, and vigorous vigor. such as he had never felt the signs of such.
This surprising effect made Mr Saint Clair Turgot's mouth water, who, however careful he was, offered up to a hundred thousand pounds to the heirs of this chemist if this drug was given to him. . But you could never recognize her among all the drugs, and all you could know of the old squire was that this chemist had told him that he was working on salts.

At that time, Hauton went every day to Mr. de Saint Clair, and being informed of the prodigious effect that this remedy had had, he who had studied medicine, and had always had an inclination to work in chemistry, and who would have done if he had the means, told Mr. de Saint Clair that he believed he could succeed if he would provide him with the means to work on this secret and the necessary drugs. Mr Turgot helped him, and from that time Hauton got into the habit of experimenting, mixing drugs with drugs, which he never got rid of until his death.

Several people have told me of another adventure that happened at Ponteau de Mer, or in an inn whose master was dying of illness, apt to have been abandoned by Messrs. Ecor and Porée, doctors, one of whom was very old and the other very young. The figure of a poor priest arrived in this hostelry, very ragged, who came to ask for some leftovers out of charity. The servant gave him some leftover bread and drink, which he ate in a corner of the kitchen, whence he saw great consternation at the countenance of all who came there; so that, having asked the servant what it was, he learned that their master was dying. He asked if he couldn't see him. "Everyone goes there, she said, because he is dead.

"He goes upstairs and addressing those who seem to him most interested in the patient, he tells them that his father had brought him a secret from Malta, which could save the dying man. They send for the doctors. The former only made fun of this man like a dreamer; the young man, who was Mr. Porée, said: “Come on, let it be; since he is dead, nothing worse can happen to him. "In short, the poor priest pulls like a small stone from his pocket, dips it in a little wine, makes the patient unclench his teeth and pours some into his mouth, then orders that he be covered and asks where he lives. of the young doctor, where he goes to find him and says to him: "I respect you, Sir, for not having despised my remedy like your colleague, because his dead man will certainly be alive tomorrow. "Mr. Poree, who regarded this as a miracle, listened to this man who told him to be with the patient the next morning to see the effect. What is true was a crisis which occurred to the patient by a great sweat which he had during the night, and he found himself the next morning without any fatal accident, apart from weakness.

This priest then told Mr. Porée to fetch a pound of lead and a crucible, and to go to his house without speaking to anyone in the world. “No doubt you have coal there,” he said, “and I will show you something there that you will like.” Monsieur Porée did as he had been told, and found the priest at home. They went up to the bedroom, where the priest stood at a corner as if to say his breviary, which he took in his hand, and having told him how to get everything ready. What Mr. Porée did himself without the priest approaching him, who said to him when everything was in a suitable fusion: "Come, Sir, approach me."

He gave him a little Powder of projection, and said to him "Come on, sir, put that yourself in the crucible, and when the metal is appeased, throw your metal down, and rub the place where you will put it with tallow beforehand." What Mr. Porée did, and he found a pound of gold instead of the pound of lead he had put in the crucible. This good priest said to him: "Sir, please give me the half that I need, and keep the other for love of me. You are young, you deserve to know, but study. And I want to show you something that will surprise and satisfy you more: don't lose the opportunity or the moment, come to the house of a poor woman who gave me food out of charity last night; do not speak of it to anyone (He pointed it out to him.), but be there at such and such an hour at such and such a clock, for after the hour has struck you will no longer find me; be exact and don't come in front. " Judged if Mr. Porée was attentive. He returned half of the gold to the good priest who took leave of him, and retired to his good wife.

As the hour approached Mr. Porée set out. Unfortunately he met a person in the street whom he could not refuse to listen to for a moment, and that moment was when the hour struck. Mr. Porée ran as long as he could, but he no longer found his man, who said to the good woman: "Tell Mr. Porée that I did not leave until the hour had struck." of the clock was the first step of his departure, and Mr. Poree never could hear any news of it. He had rings made of this gold, of which he always wore one and gave others to his friends of the same gold.

There is an infinity of stories of this nature reported in the authors of the trade. Helmont makes one of Buthler; the preface to the Chemical Library makes others. Northon, Phylalette and many others report several things on this subject, of which I will not enlarge this work, but I will only report what I have seen myself in two meetings.

The first is that a learned traveler by profession, having learned that Hauton, a physician known for empiricism, and I were busy working in chemistry in a country house which belonged to Hauton, two leagues from Falaise, in the parish of 'Ouilly, he came one evening in the posture of a beggar, a bag on his shoulder, knocking on the door of the house where we were. He was tall, with short white hair, a ruddy complexion, very lively eyes, and spoke several foreign languages, both living and dead. He seemed very knowledgeable to us, especially in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, which we understood better than the others. Apt to have told us that he had learned that we were curious, and that he had not eaten for two days, he supped with an appetite to persuade us. And visiting our laboratory afterwards with us,

He told us that the material from which was drawn this medicine which scholars call Philosopher's Stone, was the most common and the most prominent in our laboratory, and added these Latin terms: Lapis ille igne acuatus, habet os magnum omnia vorans tanquam diabolus. Potum illi date, et cum sudore suo ilium coquite. He tells us that the true scholars had the secret of making themselves invisible. They are still credited with the secret of spiritualizing their bodies and of transporting themselves in an instant wherever they want, following the example of thought, which they did one day in Paris at the College of Justice in the time of Cardinal Richelieu, who wanted arrest some unknown scholars, who publicly taught their extraordinary science, the officer whom the Cardinal had sent with his guards,

He also tells us that one day in their assembly where they were questioning a young recipient, an old man entered who spent his life selling brooms, the sum of which he left at the door of the place of this assembly, and interrupting this young man, he asked him with what eyes he viewed nature in order to know it well. This young doctor having wanted to debit his science, he said to him abruptly: "You will never know anything about it if you do not see it with two eyes of this nature!", drawing from his pocket two large carbuncles of a transparent and fulminating red. of luminous radiance. They were, added our scholar, two very multiplied Philosopher's Stones. And at last, after proposing some of the most curious questions on natural secrets to the assembly, this broom-crier came out,
We could get nothing more out of our learned beggar, who, apart from his erudition, seemed to us to have infinite wit. He strongly recommended that we focus only on a single material, without indicating it to us other than by always repeating to us that it was the most visible and the most handmade, and the most common in our laboratory, that it was self-sufficient, and that anything we added to it that did not come from it, or from its nature, would spoil it, and that cooking alone would make it perfect.

The next day he wanted to leave early in the morning, and refusing the money we offered him, he assured us that he had less need of it than we, who did not lack it; and asking us to remain alone in our laboratory, he told us to hurry and put some quicksilver to heat in a crucible so that he would make us custodians of a little secret, which we did fairly quickly. And when the quicksilver was hot enough to begin to evaporate, he put into our hands a very small quantity of red powder, which we threw upon it by his command into the crucible, where having made enough noise, as from a decrepitation or slight detonation, we found after it was soon ceased, about half a pound of very good gold, in place of the quicksilver we had put in,

So soon as we separated from him rather in spite of ourselves, as we returned quickly to take cover in our laboratory because of the storm, I do not know for what reason or whim, he threw a large stone in our garden by above the wall, which rolled right up against the door of our laboratory, which overlooked the garden where he judged that we had returned after having left it. This led us to make many reflections on the circumstances of this adventure. He had made us hope for another visit, but I have never heard of him since.

The third discovery that I made of a powder of projection was in Paris in 1681, in the hands of a Mr. always been to travel with the intention of making acquaintance with scholars, and of recovering curious books. He had been happy enough to make himself known to some of these Gentlemen of the Rose Croix. The merit which they had recognized in his person had brought with him the promise which they had made him of admitting him into their society, and while awaiting the execution, they had confided to him some of their manuscripts, of which he gave me the only inspection of half a quarter of an hour, upon which they appeared to me with a cabalistic expression. They had also given him a present of a talisman, which he showed me, and whose virtue was to cure fevers. Its material was a green stone, dark, non-transparent, engraved with a few singular characters. He also showed me the effect of a Projection Powder which he obtained from the liberality of these scholars - but its effect was weak because it projected only one weight in thirty six, and its color was pale pink. , very shiny and sparkling. He wanted to tell me that these Gentlemen had assured him that this powder had been made of a certain salt, which they drew from condensed air, from which salt he showed me a sample: it was white, of a starry figure. Its material was a green stone, dark, non-transparent, engraved with a few singular characters. He also showed me the effect of a Projection Powder which he obtained from the liberality of these scholars - but its effect was weak because it projected only one weight in thirty six, and its color was pale pink. , very shiny and sparkling.

He wanted to tell me that these Gentlemen had assured him that this powder had been made of a certain salt, which they drew from condensed air, from which salt he showed me a sample: it was white, of a starry figure. Its material was a green stone, dark, non-transparent, engraved with a few singular characters. He also showed me the effect of a Projection Powder which he obtained from the liberality of these scholars - but its effect was weak because it projected only one weight in thirty six, and its color was pale pink. , very shiny and sparkling. He wanted to tell me that these Gentlemen had assured him that this powder had been made of a certain salt, which they drew from condensed air, from which salt he showed me a sample: it was white, of a starry figure. but its effect was weak, for it only projected one weight in thirty-six, and its color was pale pink, very shiny and sparkling. He wanted to tell me that these Gentlemen had assured him that this powder had been made of a certain salt, which they drew from condensed air, from which salt he showed me a sample: it was white, of a starry figure. but its effect was weak, for it only projected one weight in thirty-six, and its color was pale pink, very shiny and sparkling. He wanted to tell me that these Gentlemen had assured him that this powder had been made of a certain salt, which they drew from condensed air, from which salt he showed me a sample: it was white, of a starry figure.

He told me of a glass furnace he had in Poland, where he made his most ordinary residence, because of the freedom one had there to work. He had, he said, the pleasure of seeing through the progress of his material, and he presented me with a small glass barometer filled with spirit of wine dyed red, and marked with colored dots which indicated the degrees. of heat from the stove on which it was placed, by the scarcity of the liquor.

The Grand Master of the Miners of Hungary had presented him with a peculiar and curious piece of rock salt, as big as a head, which was of several colors distinguished by beds, different and transparent by layers. The base appeared dark red tinged with black, supporting an inch-thick bed of crimson garnet, the top tinged with the color of rose, overlaid with a layer of deeper yellow at the bottom. that on the surface, covered with an emerald green, then with a blue, which becoming more celestial ended in a greenish rock salt below, and white above, and this whiteness reigned on the surface, and each of these colored beds was nearly an inch thick, each of an obscure transparency.

I still saw in the hands of this curious man a silver residue, nearly half of which was dyed in gold. It still had the same molding as when it had been struck, and all silver, without it appearing to have been melted, and weighed no more than if it had only been silver, which made one doubt the reality of its transmutation; but to verify it we cut off part of the dyed portion, and in the cast it acquired the weight and volume of gold, for its own contracted, and we saw by that that it was very good gold, which endured all trials.

This residalle was a present which the Queen of Sweden, that learned Christine, had given him, knowing him to be curious. She had a dozen like them, which Sendivogius had thus half transmuted for her to satisfy her curiosity. Here is the story.

Alexander Sidonius, Scottish by birth, adept, and married, sometimes appeared in the Diettes of Germany with seven or eight hundred horses following him, and sometimes he hid himself under the habit of a simple private individual, even of beggars, to dress up better. His imprudence made him known by the Landgrave of Hesse as the possessor of this secret and fell into the hands of this Lord, who, having been unable to draw his secret from him willingly, had him taken prisoner after having made him suffer the question of in such an extraordinary way that he was at the end of it, without having wanted to discover anything. Sendivogius, who knew the story of it, and who found himself held prisoner in the same place for some light business, corrupted the jailer at the expense of all his property, and procured freedom for Sidonius, in the hope of obtaining his secret from him in recognition of the freedom he had procured for him. However, he could only ever get from him enough of the Powder of Projection, although he did not leave him until his death, which soon after happened to this Sidonius, because of the tortures he had suffered. .

Sendivogius believing that the widow of Alexander Sidonius had her husband's secret, he did so much with her that she was willing to marry him. But she didn't know. Thus he had in his possession only the widow and her writings, which he has since printed under the name of the Cosmopolitan, which Sidonius carried while traveling, and under his own. He also put himself in possession of the rest of his Powder of projection which he found, with which he made several metallic transmutations in the courts of the North, which he traveled through, and among other things, having come to Sweden, he dyed at this curious Reine Christine these twelve residalles of which we have just spoken, making them half soak, all reddened in the fire, in her melted powder, oil or liquor which was soaked in it.

This M. des Noiers was at last received into the society of our Roses Croix or scholars of Germany, as they had promised him, and having honored me with his memory, he sent back out of curiosity to Paris where I was then staying, a bunch of grapes that grow in Silembourg in Transylvania, whose pips are naturally covered with gold leaf and the top of the grapes with a golden flower or flour. Finally, he died since, able to have acquired for more than two million lands around Paris, under the name and by the negotiation of Mr Plantier. The heirs of Mr des Noiers did not take advantage of this, nor knew how to make any good use of the quantity of manuscripts and other curious books that he had collected.
Here are many subjects for reflection, as much on the different nature of these great secrets of which we have just spoken, as on the character of the Adepts, and on the name and the order of these Gentlemen the Roses Crosses and the RC seal of their society. , as well as on the history of the foundation of their order, and the inscriptions of the tomb or stone coffin of their founder.

All of which things each deserve a separate treatise. What we may undertake to do if the Lord continues our desire, and gives us the necessary lights to penetrate into it.