Helvetius’s Gold Further Tested.
§ 67. “Then we tried another test, viz., that which is performed by means of a septuple of Antimony; at first it seemed as if eight grains of the gold had been lost, but afterwards, not only had two scruples of the silver been converted into gold, but the silver itself was greatly improved both in quality and malleability. Thrice I performed this infallible test, discovering that every drachm of gold produced an increase of a scruple of gold, but the silver is excellent and extremely flexible. Thus I have unfolded to you the whole story from beginning to end. The gold I still retain in my possession, but I cannot tell you what has become of the Artist Elias. Before he left me, on the last day of our friendly intercourse, he told me that he was on the point of undertaking a journey to the Holy Land. May the Holy Angels of God watch over him wherever he is, and long preserve him as a source of blessing to Christendom! This is my earnest prayer on his and our behalf.”[87]
[87] J. F. Helvetius: The Golden Calf, ch. iii. (see The Hermetic Museum, vol. ii. pp. 283 et seq.).
Testimony such as this warns us not to be too sure that a real transmutation has never taken place. On the whole, with regard to this question, an agnostic position appears to be the more philosophical.