An Alchemist's Trick.

Otago Witness, Issue 1418, 25 January 1879, Page 22

An Alchemist's Trick.

— 40>The neatest swindling trick ever perpetrated by an alchemist was played off, about the middle of the sixteenth century, upon Duke Cosmos I. of Florence by one Daniel of Herraannstadt, in Transylvania; who was, descended from an old patrician family of, Numberg. Hermannstadt, the actual military, capital of Transylvania, was originally founded in 1140 by one Hermann of Nuin«, berg, who led a German colony there. \ Daniel's first Transylvania ancestor hadj been one of the leaders of that colony.g Daniel was a wealthy man, an eminent 1 physician and a distinguished adept in al-j chemy. It would appear that a favourite niece of his was deeply in love with Bufoj Szechenyi, a young Magyar cavalier, who had joined the anti-medician faction of the! Strozzi, tbe PazzJ, the Salviati, theßidolf| and other Florentine families. The y<mngi man had fallen into the bands of Cosmos,; the most unscrupulous and cruel tyrant or the murderous house of Medici,- with -whom the slaying of their kinsfolks was simply a family tradition. Deaf to all entreaties,' the ducal trader insisted upon a ransom of 20,000 ducats, keeping the unhappy young Magyar meanwhile confined in the Bargello of Florence in carcere duro. When the sorrowstricken bride of the prisoner made an appeal to her wealthy uncle to assist the Szechenyi family in raising this enormous sum, the old doctor pondered long and deeply. He was a wise man. He distrusted the wily ruler of Florence, fearing lest the the huge ransom once paid, wholly or in part, the unscrupulous Cosmos might devise some scheme of creeping out of his share of the part. At lasb an idea Beemed to strike him. "Patience, my dear niece," he said with a grim smile, "and fear not; I promise you to set your lover free, and make his ciptor and jailor bestow a handsome dower upon you in the bargain." "With this somewhat bold promise the poor young woman had to rest content. To all her eager questions as to how and when, the old mwi replied, ' simply, "Patience, my dear; trust me, and you will not bo disappointed." He set cheerfully to work. He first amalgamated the sum of 4,000 golden ducats ■with the requisite quantity of quicksilver ; he then melted 30 pounds of wax and colophony over a slow fire, and added to the melted mass sufficient coal-dust to give the whole a deep black tinge. Thid he mixed with auromercurial amalgam. When the mixture was cold he reduced it to a powder. The whole process was extremely simple. Master Darnel had how a black powder of no apparent value, yet which contained the gold of about 2,000 sovereigns. This powder he packed in a great number of cardboard caseg, put the whole on the back of his aumter-mule, and set out on his travels to Italy. Here he wandered through the north as a travelling physician. Experienced and skilful, and crafny withal, he soon gained a high reputation for marvellous cures — easy enough to accomplish, ss he generally managed to give a desperate aspect to the ailments of his patient* by, in the first place, administering to them cunnimly and deftly, and without exciting suspicion, some noxious substance, producing alarming symptoms, which he found it, of course, easy to remove by his prescriptions. Among the ingredients of tho latter figured invariably a certain powder, ingeniously christened by him usvfur. No apotecary in the north of Italy ever heard of this powder, which acoordingly could not bo supplied. The great wonder-doctor expressed astonishment at this, but consented to add this from bis own store. Having thus achieved a reputation, and' created a demand for usvfur, he disappeared from the scene fo* a time ; but he soon returned in the disguise of a German drug pedlar, who, straDge to pay sold the powder usvfur for next to nothing. Then the doctor came again on the scene, and managed to get back liis costly powder. So ho worked for about two years, when he succeeded in distributing the whole stock of usufur among the druggists of Florence. He then dropped the doctor and put on the adept instead. As Cosmos had long been in search of the great secret, Daniel' found it easy to gain access to him, and to impress the Duke with abtlief in his profound alchemistic knowledge. He produced a small quantity of gold ia the presence of the Duke, allowing his Highness to procure and supply all the ingredients, among which also figured the powder usufur, easily obtainable then for a few pence. The ingredients altogether came to about a ducat, to produce solid gold to the value of 50 ducats. A cabalistic foimula, which the adept] reteudedrnustriotbeuttered. aloud, but recited in mind by the operator, vas declared iudicpenaiblo to tho success of the transinutaljon process. Of this he gavethn Puke convincing proof. Ha and ' the ruler of Flo? enco operated with equal

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halveß of the great ingredients, only that by a olever sleight of hand the usufur in the Duke's half was replaced by common coaldaßt. So Daniel produced his gold in the uaual way, while the Duke utterly failed. Cosmos, thoroughly convinced now ot the genuineness of the affair, subscribed willingly to Daniel' 3 conditions. He set young Kufo free, and promised to pay Daniel the sum of 30,000 ducats in money untainted by magic origin, which the adept avowed was intended to build a church in redemption of his soul. The first conditions being fulfilled, and young Kufo out of the Duke's clutches, Daniel taught the Duke the patent formula ; and behold ! the next experience — made by the D^ke alone and unaided, and upon a large mass of matter, as per the wondrous adept's recipe- succeeded most fully, yielding something like a clear profit of 3000 ducats upon the outlay of less than 60 ducats. The Duke, overjoyed, and dreading, 1 perhaps, the devil's vengeance if he played the adept false, for once in his life kept his word. Daniel got his 30,000 ducats, and was sent to, France in a ducal sedan chair, escorted by two companies of the Duke's own body guard. As soon as the adept found himself all safe, he had the matchless effrontery to send Cosmos a detailed account of the swindle. He gave the 30,000 ducats as a dower to his beloved neice, and j the descendants of Eufo Szechenyi rank to tha present day among the most distin guished magnates of Hungary. — Harper's Weekly.