End of Alchemy

Alchemy, among scientific men (at least in England), came to an end with the last act of a tragedy; while in Germany, contrary to what might have been expected, it disappeared amidst the hilarious laughter of a comedy.

James Price, a distinguished amateur chemist, and Fellow of the Royal Society of England, imagined that he had at last succeeded in compounding a powder that would, under certain circumstances, convert mercury, or any other of the baser metals, into gold or silver. He hesitated before making public this extraordinary discovery; but having communicated it to a few friends, and the matter becoming a subject of doubtful discussion among chemists, he determined to put an end to cavil by conducting a series of experiments in the presence of a select assemblage of men of rank and science. The experiments, seven in number, were commenced on the 6th of May, 1782, and ended on the 25th of the same month. They were witnessed by peers, baronets, clergymen, lawyers, and chemists; and, in all of these experiments, gold and silver were apparently produced. Some of the gold was presented to the reigning monarch, George III., who received it with gracious condescension. The University of Oxford bestowed upon Price the degree of M.D.; and his work, containing an account of his experiments, ran through two editions in the course of a few months.

A fierce paper conflict ensued, however, on the publication of the experiments; and the Royal Society felt bound to interfere. It accordingly called upon Price, as a fellow of the society, to prove to his fellow-brothers the truth of his transmutations by repeating his experiments in their presence.

From this time Price seems to have lost confidence, and for a long time he tried in various ways to evade the responsibility. He declined to renew his experiments, on the ground that although it was a valuable discovery in science, yet it was not of practical value, since the cost of gold manufactured in this manner was greater than the value of the gold obtained; that it would cost seventeen pounds sterling to make only one ounce of gold.

These excuses were of no avail; Sir Joseph Banks, president of the society, reminding Price that not only his own honor, but the honor of the first scientific body in the world, was implicated in the affair. Yielding at last to the entreaties of his friends, Price consented to make some more of the powder of projection, and to satisfy the Royal Society. For this purpose, as he stated, he left London in January, 1783, for his laboratory at Guildford, faithfully promising to return in a month, and confound, as well as convince, all his opponents. Arriving at Guildford, he shut himself up in his laboratory, where his first employment was to distil a quantity of laurel-water, the quickest and deadliest poison then known. He next wrote his will, and after these preliminaries he commenced the preparation of his promised powder of projection.

After six months he re-appeared in London, and invited as many members of the Royal Society as could make it convenient, to meet him at his laboratory at Guildford on the 3d of August. Three members only accepted his invitation. Price received them with cordiality, though he seemed to feel acutely the want of confidence implied by their being so few. Stepping to one side for a moment, he hastily swallowed the contents of a flask of laurel-water. The visitors, seeing a sudden change in his appearance, though then ignorant of the cause, called for medical assistance; but in a few moments the unfortunate man was dead.

It can never be fully ascertained whether he was himself deceived, or whether he wilfully deceived others; but alchemy in England thus ended in tragedy.

Contemporary with Price, there lived at the university of Halle, Germany, a grave and learned professor of theology, named Semler,--a clergyman who used to relieve his severe mental labors by performing a few chemical experiments in a small private laboratory. When Semler was well advanced in years, a Baron Hirschen discovered, as he announced, a universal medicine or panacea, which he called the Salt of Life. Semler tried some of it, and, fancying that it benefited his health, sat down, and wrote three treatises on its astonishing virtues.

While studying the virtues of the Salt of Life, Semler did not fail to remember the ancient notion of the alchemists, that the Philosopher's Stone, when found, would also be a panacea.

Here, he thought, is a universal medicine that can change all disease into perfect health: why may it not be liable to convert an imperfect metal into pure gold?

He determined to fit up his laboratory once more, and in the mean time placed an earthen jar, containing a solution of the Salt of Life in pure water, near a stone, to see the effect of moderate heat. On examining this jar a few days afterwards, to Semler's surprise, he found that it contained some thin scales of a yellowish metal, which, being tested, proved to be pure gold. Here was a discovery!

He repeated the experiment several times with the same result, until he became perfectly convinced that gold could be generated. Semler thought it his duty to publish his discovery to the world, which he accordingly did.

All Germany was astounded. Salt of Life came into universal demand, and there were few houses where a jar of it might not be seen beside the stove; but fewer still were the houses in which it produced gold--only one, and that was Semler's.

The professor, in a lengthy article, attempted to explain how his solution produced gold. It was owing to the perfect regularity of temperature which was necessary to produce the gold. But Klaproth, the most eminent chemist of the day, having analyzed the Salt of Life, found it to be a mixture of Glauber's salts and sulphate of magnesia, and utterly incapable of producing gold under any circumstances.

The bitter controversy which ensued, turned principally upon the veracity of the respective leaders; and so hard did theology press upon science, that Klaproth condescended to analyze some of Semler's solution in the presence of the king and other distinguished persons in Berlin. The result was surprising. He found the gold, but not combined with the other ingredients, as it could be removed by the mere process of washing. Still, Semler's known probity was his stronghold. Another analysis was still more surprising; Klaproth finding a metal not gold, but a kind of brass called "Dutch Metal." This new discovery created shouts of laughter; but the government, interfering, instituted a legal inquiry, and the police soon solved the mystery. Semler had a warmly attached old servant, who, for the simple purpose of gratifying his beloved master, used to slyly slip small pieces of gold-leaf into the professor's chemical mixtures; and, having once commenced this course, the servant had to keep it up. Being a pensioner, he had to report at headquarters once a year. He intrusted the secret to his wife, giving her money to buy the gold-leaf; but she bought the Dutch Metal instead, expending the balance of the money for brandy, her favorite beverage.

When this laughable discovery was made, Semler fairly confessed his error; and no pretensions to alchemy were ever again listened to in the German states. Alchemy is to modern chemistry what astrology is to astronomy, or legend to history.

Tradition points to Egypt as the birthplace of the science: at a later period it was taken up by the Arabs, and it is to them that European alchemy is directly traceable.

Many important inventions are the result of this ancient science.

It was in searching for the Philosopher's Stone, that Botticher stumbled on the invention of Dresden porcelain manufacture; Roger Bacon on the composition of gunpowder; Geber on the properties of acids; Von Helmont on the nature of gas, etc.