was born of a noble family. He studied at Louvain, and became eminent
in mathematics, algebra, the doctrines of Aristotle and Galen, and the
medicine of Vopiscus and Plempius. At seventeen he lectured on physics
as prælector, and took his degree of medical doctor in 1599. He read
Hippocrates and the Greek and Arabian authors before he was twenty-two
years old. He then passed ten years in the unsuccessful practice of
physic, until he met a Paracelsian chemist, who discovered various
chemical medicines to him. He retired thereupon to the castle of
Vilvord, near Brussels, and laboured with unremitting diligence in the
chemico-experimental analysis of bodies of every class. He passed his
life in retirement, and was almost unknown to his neighbours, whom he,
nevertheless, attended in illness, without accepting a fee. He declined
an invitation and flattering offers from the Emperor and the Elector
Palatine, and after writing several tracts, which even at this day are
held in considerable estimation, he died in the sixty-seventh year of
his age.
This author, so illustrious throughout Europe for his scientific
knowledge, and no less celebrated for his noble rank than by the
probity of his character, testifies in three different places that
he has beheld, and himself performed, transmutation. In his treatise,
_De Vita Eterna_, he declares himself as follows:--“I have seen and I
have touched the philosophers’ stone more than once; the colour of it
was like saffron in powder, but heavy and shining like pounded glass.
I had once given me the fourth part of a grain--I call a grain that
which takes six hundred to make an ounce. I made projection therewith,
wrapped in paper, upon eight ounces of quicksilver, heated in a
crucible, and immediately all the quicksilver, having made a little
noise, stopped and congealed into a yellow mass. Having melted it in
a strong fire, I found within eleven grains of eight ounces of most
pure gold, so that a grain of this powder would have transmuted into
very good gold, nineteen thousand one hundred and fifty-six grains of
quicksilver.”
Had Helmont possessed the art of making the transmuting powder, his
testimony might be open to suspicion. He says, on another occasion,
that an adept, after a few days of acquaintance, presented him with
half a grain of the powder of projection, with which he transmuted nine
ounces of quicksilver into pure gold. He tells us further, that he many
times performed a similar operation in the presence of a large company,
and always with success. On these grounds he believed in the certainty
and in the prodigious resources of the art, citing his acquaintance
with an artist who had so much of the red stone as would make gold to
the weight of two hundred thousand pounds.
Though ignorant of the nature of this powder of projection, Helmont
professed the knowledge of the alcahest, and the methods of preparing
medicines of transcendent efficacy by its means.
BUTLER.
In the reign of James the First the attention of the curious was
attracted by a report of several transmutations performed in London
by an artist of the above name. He was an Irish gentleman, who had
recently returned from his travels. It was said that he was not
himself acquainted with the secret of the stone, so far as regards its
manufacture. To account for possessing it, the following story was
related:--The ship in which he took passage during one of his voyages
was captured by an African pirate, and on arriving in port he was sold
as a slave to an Arabian, who was an alchemical philosopher. Butler,
appearing to his master skilful and ingenious, was employed in most
difficult operations in the laboratory. Having a perfect knowledge of
the importance of the process, as soon as it was finished he bargained
with an Irish merchant for his ransom, and made his escape, taking with
him a large portion of the red powder.
The performers of public transmutations generally found it necessary
to conceal their real knowledge by similar inventions. A physician,
who was a countryman of Butler, however formed a plan for discovering
his secret. He presented himself as a servant in search of a place,
and was hired in that capacity by Butler. He found the philosopher so
circumspect that he sought in vain for some circumstance to justify the
public report of his treasures, until at last Butler sent him into the
city to purchase a large quantity of lead and quicksilver.
The disguised doctor now hoped to make a discovery. He executed his
commission with dispatch, and prepared a little hole in the wall of his
master’s room, through which, from the adjoining apartment he could
see what was going on. He soon perceived Butler taking something out
of a box, which he put on the melted lead, and deposited the box in a
concealed place under the floor of his room. At this moment the table
and chair on which the doctor was elevated to the spy-hole, gave way,
and he fell with a loud noise to the ground. Butler rushed out of
his room to learn the cause of this disturbance, and perceiving the
spy-hole, he with difficulty refrained from running his servant through
the body with his sword.
Finding there was no hope of obtaining anything from Butler, the doctor
expected to surprise his treasures by reporting to the officers of
justice that he was a coiner of false money. A vigilant search was made
according to his directions, but nothing was found, for Butler had
already removed whatever could betray him--his furnace, crucibles, and
eighty marks of gold were all he appeared to possess. He was therefore
liberated from the prison in which he had been confined during the
investigation.
Butler was afterwards entombed in the Castle of Vilvord, in Flanders,
where he is said to have performed wonderful cures by means of Hermetic
medicine. A monk of Brittany, who was one of his fellow-prisoners,
having a desperate erysipelas in his arm, was restored to health in
an hour by drinking almond milk in which Butler had merely dipped the
stone. The next day at the rumour of this circumstance, the celebrated
Helmont, who abode in the neighbourhood, went with several noblemen to
the prison, where Butler cured, in their presence, an aged woman of a
megrim by dipping the stone into oil of olives and then anointing her
head. An abbess, whose arm was swelled, and whose fingers had been
stiff for eighteen years, was also cured by a few applications of the
same stone to her tongue.
These cases are attested by the illustrious van Helmont in his works.
JEAN D’ESPAGNET.
This Hermetic philosopher is known to us by two treatises--_Enchiridion
Physicæ Restitutæ_ and _Arcanum Philosophiæ Hermeticæ_, which, however,
has also been claimed as the production of an unknown individual who
called himself the _Chevalier Impérial_.[AA] “The Secret of Hermetical
Philosophy” comprises the practical part of the _magnum opus_ and
the Enchiridion, the physical theory on which the possibility of
transmutation is founded. D’Espagnet is also the author of the preface
to the _Tableau de l’Inconstance des Démons_, by Pierre Delancre.
“The Arcanum of Hermetic Philosophy” is better known under the title of
the “Canons of Espagnet,” and, as I have shown in the Introduction, it
is claimed as a treatise on mystical alchemy. The author, however, very
plainly states that “the science of producing Nature’s grand Secret
is a perfect knowledge of Nature universally and of art, concerning
the realm of metals; the practice whereof is conversant in finding the
principles of metals by analysis.” Moreover, the authors whom Espagnet
recommends as a guide to the student include those who, like Trévisan,
are known to have spent their existence in practical alchemy. The
Sethon-Sendivogius treatises are also respectfully cited. At the same
time, it may be freely granted that much of the matter in the canons,
though treating of a physical object, may be extended to the psychic
side of the Hermetic art.
FOOTNOTES:
[AA] Ce chevalier, très-révérée des alchimistes, est mentionnée souvent
dans la _Trompette Française_, petit volume, contenant une _Prophétic
de Bombast sur la Naissance de Louis XIV._ On a, du Chevalier Impérial,
le _Miroir des Alchimistes_, avec instructions aux dames pour
dorénavant être belles sans plus user de leurs dards venimeux, 1609,
16mo. _Dictionnaire des Sciences Occultes._
ALEXANDER SETHON.
None of the adepts suffered from imprudent exposure of their power more
than the subject of this article. He was a native of Scotland, and
is supposed to have inhabited a mansion at a village in the vicinity
of Edinburgh, and close to the sea-shore.[AB] In the summer of 1601
a Dutch vessel was wrecked upon the coast, and some of the crew were
saved through the instrumentality of Sethon, who received them into his
house, treated them with great humanity, and provided them with the
means to return to Holland. One year later he visited James Haussen,
the pilot of the ship, one of the rescued persons, at Erkusen, in that
country. The sailor received him with joy, and detained him for several
weeks in his house, during which period he beheld with astonishment
several transmutations performed by his guest, who confessed that he
was an alchemical adept. He was bound in gratitude and friendship to
the most inviolable secrecy, but he could not refrain from confiding
the wonder which he had witnessed to Venderlinden, the physician of
Enkhuysen, who was a man of integrity and prudence, and to whom he
presented a piece of gold, which had been transmuted in his presence
from lead on the 13th March 1602. This curiosity came into the hands of
the doctor’s grandson, who showed it to the celebrated George Morhoff,
by whom it was mentioned, with its history, to Langlet du Fresnoy, in
an epistle on the transmutation of metals.
From Enkhuysen, Sethon proceeded to Amsterdam and Rotterdam,
subsequently embarking for Italy, where, after a short stay, he
passed into Switzerland, and so entered Germany, accompanied by
Wolfgang Dienheim, an adversary of Hermetic philosophy, whom by ocular
demonstration he convinced of his error, in presence of several
distinguished persons of Basle.
To this adversary we are indebted for a description of Sethon, whom he
declared eminently spiritual in appearance, short in stature, but very
stout, having a high colour, and a beard of the French style. He calls
him Alexander Sethonius, and states that he was a native of Molier, “in
an island of the ocean.”
The lead required for the transmutation was brought by Jacob Zwinger
from his own house, a crucible was borrowed from a goldsmith, and
common sulphur was purchased on the road to the house where the
operation was to be performed. During the whole course of the
experiment, Sethon touched nothing, simply supplying the small packet
which contained the powder of projection, and which transformed the
base metal into gold of the purest quality, equivalent in weight to the
original lead.
The experiment was repeated on another occasion with the same brilliant
success, and, in addition to the testimony of Dienheim, we have also
that of Zwinger, a name highly respected by the Germans in the history
of medicine.[AC]
Alexander Sethon departed from Basle, and went under an assumed name
to Strasbourg, whence he proceeded to Cologne, and abode with an
amateur alchemist named Anton Bordemann, by whom he was brought into
acquaintance with the other souffleurs of that city. He began a kind
of alchemical crusade among them, imprudently exposing his knowledge
to credulous and sceptical alike, and producing on one occasion six
ounces of the precious metal by means of a single grain of his great
philosophical tincture.[AD]
Leaving Cologne altogether petrified by his marvellous operations, the
illustrious hierophant of the art Hermetic betook himself to Hamburg,
where his further amazing projections are described by George Morhoff.
At Munich, the next stage in his alchemical pilgrimage, he performed no
transmutations, suddenly disappearing with the daughter of one of its
citizens, whom he appears to have legally married, and to whom he was
henceforth most devotedly attached.
The renown of Sethon about this time attracted the attention of
Christian II., the young Elector of Saxony. He sent for the alchemist,
but the latter, absorbed by his passion, had merged the Hermetic
propagandist in the lover, and sent William Hamilton, his apparent
domestic, but in reality a confidant and friend, to convince the
Elector of the verity of alchemical operations by ocular evidence.
A projection was performed by Hamilton with perfect success in the
presence of the whole court, and the gold then manufactured resisted
every test.[AE]
The Elector, previously a sceptic, was now more desirous than ever
to behold the adept. Sethon reluctantly consented, and at this
juncture seems to have been deserted by Hamilton. He was received with
distinction and favour, and presented a small quantity of the powder
to Christian II., who soon endeavoured to possess himself of the whole
secret of the philosopher. Sethon refused to gratify him, and was
deaf to persuasions and menaces; but the Elector, convinced that he
was in possession of a living treasure, determined to overcome his
reluctance, whatever the means employed. He imprisoned him in a tower,
which was guarded by forty soldiers, who had strict orders to keep a
constant watch on him. The unfortunate adept was subjected to every
torment which covetousness and cruelty could suggest. He was pierced
with pointed iron, scorched with molten lead, burnt by fire, beaten
with rods, racked from head to foot, yet his constancy never forsook
him. At length he outwearied his torturers, and was left in solitary
confinement.
At this time Michael Sendivogius, a Moravian gentleman, generally
resident at Cracovia, in Poland, chanced to be tarrying at Dresden. He
was a skilful chemist, who, like others of his period, was in search of
the philosophical stone, and who naturally took interest in the case of
Alexander Sethon. Having some influence at the court of the Elector,
he obtained permission to see him; and after several interviews, at
which the adept was exceedingly reserved on all subjects connected with
the divine science, he proposed to contrive his escape. The tortured
alchemist gladly consented to his plans, and promised to assist him
in his Hermetic pursuits. As soon as the resolution was formed,
Sendivogius departed to Cracovia, sold his house in order to raise
money, and returning to Dresden, established himself in the vicinity
of the prison, gaining the favour of its warders by his prodigality
and indirect bribes. At length the day came for the execution of his
plan; he regaled the guards better than usual, and when they were all
drunk, he carried Sethon, who was unable to walk, on his back to a
post-chaise, in which they proceeded without discovery. They called at
the house of Sethon for his wife, who was in possession of a quantity
of the transmuting powder, and then made all haste to reach Cracovia.
There Sendivogius required from the alchemist the fulfilment of his
promise, but was blankly refused by the adept, who referred him to God,
saying that the revelation of so awful a mystery would be a heinous
iniquity.
“You see what I have endured,” he continued, “my nerves are shrunk, my
limbs dislocated; I am emaciated to the last extremity, and my body is
almost corrupted; even to avoid all this I did not disclose the secrets
of philosophy.”
Sendivogius was not, however, destined to be deprived of all recompense
for his pains and self-sacrifice. Alexander Sethon did not long enjoy
the liberty which his friend had obtained for him, and on his death,
which occurred two years after his escape, he presented his preserver
with the remains of his transmuting powder.
FOOTNOTES:
[AB] The names Seton or Seatoun have been given as that of the village
in question, but in Camden’s “Britannia” it appears as the name of
the house itself. The alchemist himself is sufficiently myrionimous,
being variously denominated Sethon, Sidon, Sethonius, Scotus, Sitonius,
Sidonius, Suthoneus, Suethonius, and even Seehthonius.
[AC] _Epistola ad doctorem Schobinger_, printed by Emmanuel Konig in
his _Ephemerides_.
[AD] Théobald de Hoghelande, _Historiæ aliquot Transmutationis
Mettalicæ pro defensione Alchemiæ contra Hostium Rabrein_. Cologne,
1604.
[AE] Galdenfalk, “Alchemical Anecdotes.”
MICHAEL SENDIVOGIUS.
Sendivogius, whose true name was Sensophax, was born at Moravia in
1566, and was therefore about thirty-eight years of age on the death
of his taciturn master. He is said by some of his biographers to have
been the natural son of a Polish nobleman, named Jacob Sendimir. His
life has been written at some length by his advocate, an anonymous
German, who, however, produced a romance rather than a history, among
other fictions representing his hero to have been sent by the Emperor
Rodolph II. to the east, where he received from a Greek patriarch the
revelation of the grand mystery. As a matter of fact, Sendivogius had
made no progress in alchemy before his acquaintance with Sethon.
Having almost exhausted his fortune to obtain the liberation of that
adept, and having a taste for extravagant living, he was dissatisfied
with the mere possession of a portion of the transmuting powder, and
was more eager than ever to penetrate the mysteries of the Hermetic
art. He married the widow of Sethon, but she was wholly unacquainted
with the process, and her only possession was the manuscript of that
celebrated treatise, “The New Light of Alchemy,” with the dialogue
of Mercury and the alchemist, which Sendivogius appropriated and
eventually published as his own composition. From this work the
uninitiated inquirer believed himself to have discovered a method of
augmenting the powder, but he only succeeded in diminishing it.
Foiled in this attempt, he was still anxious at any rate to appear as
an adept, and acquired an immense reputation by incessant projections,
which, assisted by his sumptuous living, made him pass for a great
hierophant. At Prague he presented himself to the Emperor Rodolph II.,
and, in presence of several nobles, the king himself made gold by
projection, and overjoyed at the success of the operation he appointed
Sendivogius as one of his counsellors of state. A marble tablet with
the inscription--
_Faciat hoc quispiam alius
Quod fecit Sendivogius Polonus_,
was set up in the chamber where the transmutation had been performed,
and the occasion was celebrated in verse by the court poet, Mardochie
de Delle.
This achievement Sendivogius followed by printing at Prague the
treatise written by Sethon under the name of Cosmopolita. It passes
for the work of its editor, as he included his name anagrammatically
on the title-page, in the motto--_Divi Leschi genus amo_, and gave
no information concerning the real author. Some time after he issued
a tract on sulphur, which was probably his own composition. The
motto on the title-page--_Angelus doce mihi jus_--is another anagram
of his name. There are discrepancies between this tract and the
twelve treatises which comprise the work of Sethon. This Sendivogius
perceived, and in the second edition of the latter work he made
alterations in its text.
From the Court of Rodolph II. the alchemist proceeded to that of
Poland. As he passed on his way through Moravia, a lord of the country,
who had heard of his transmutations at Prague, and suspected that he
had abundance of the transmuting powder, laid an ambush for him on the
road, seized him, and secretly imprisoned him, with the threat that
he should never be liberated until he communicated the secret of his
treasure. Sendivogius, dreading the fate of Sethon, cut through the
iron bar that crossed the window of his dungeon, and making a rope
of his clothes, he escaped almost naked from the power of the little
tyrant, whom he summoned to the emperor’s court, where he was condemned
to be fined, a village on his estate was confiscated and transferred to
Sendivogius, who afterwards gave it as dower with his daughter at her
marriage.
Sendivogius made several transmutations at Varsovia, but his powder was
visibly diminishing. Duke Frederick of Würtemberg invited him to visit
him, and two projections took place in the presence of this noble, who,
to place him on the footing of a prince of the blood, gave him the
territory of Nedlingen.
He was destined, however, to meet with a severe reverse at Würtemberg
through the machinations of an envious alchemist already attached to
the Court, and who persuaded him that the Duke Frederic had formed
plans which menaced the freedom of his guest and the safety of his
transmuting treasure. Sendivogius, once more vividly reminded of the
fate of his master, precipitately fled, only to be pursued by his
treacherous brother in science, who overtook him with twelve armed men,
well mounted, arrested him in the name of the prince, robbed him of
the philosophical treasure, and caused him to be cast into prison. Then
this infamous souffleur, whose star had been overwhelmed by the sun of
Sendivogius, proceeded to perform transmutations, more than regaining
his lost reputation; but the report of this discreditable transaction
spread, public opinion decided that the duke was a party to it, and the
wife of the victim applying to the King of Poland, soon obtained the
liberty of alchemist.
Once more Sendivogius appealed for redress to the Emperor Rodolph, who
demanded the person of the souffleur from the Duke of Würtemberg. The
possessions of Sendivogius were at once restored, with the exception of
the powder, all knowledge of which was denied. The souffleur was hanged
by the duke, but from this time the pupil of Sethon perceived his sign
descending. He had but an infinitesimal quantity of the powder in his
possession, which, ever in search of notoriety, he dissolved in spirits
of wine, carefully rectified, and began to astonish the physicians
of Cracovia, whither he had again repaired, by the marvellous cures
which he performed with this for a medicine. Desnoyers, secretary to
the Queen of Poland, and one of the alchemist’s biographers, was in
possession of a crown piece which Sendivogius dipped red-hot into the
same spirit, in the presence of Sigismund III., King of Poland, and
which was partially transformed into gold.[AF] The elixir relieved the
same king from the effects of a serious accident.
When every particle of his powder was expended, Sendivogius appears
to have degenerated into a mere charlatan, obtaining large sums on the
pretence of manufacturing the powder of projection. On one occasion he
so far descended as to silver a piece of gold, and pretending that he
possessed the elixir, he caused the silver to disappear by a chemical
process, which he imposed on the ignorant as a projection of the
tincture and a conversion of silver into gold.
His confidential servant, Bodowski, explains this deception as a
finesse to conceal his real character, having learned from experience
the necessity of defending himself from the violence of covetous men.
He sometimes feigned poverty, or lay in bed as one attacked with
the gout or other sickness. By these means he diverted the general
suspicion that he possessed the philosophers’ stone, preferring to pass
for an impostor than for one in the enjoyment of illimitable wealth. He
frequently travelled in a servant’s livery, concealing most of his red
powder in the footstep of his chariot, and causing one of his servants
to sit inside. He kept some of the powder in a small gold box, and with
a single grain of it would convert so much mercury into gold as would
sell for five hundred ducats.[AG]