yellow glass, explaining that with this amount of the Phi losophers' Stone he could transmute twenty tons of base metals into pure gold. Later, from an inner breast pocket of his coat, the stranger drew forth five massive golden medals wrapped in a green silk handkerchief. These were inscribed with mystical words of adoration, and on one medal it said : "I am made the 26th of August, 1 666."
In the house of Helvetius, this adept performed the trans mutation, and presented his host with a tiny grain of the glasslike stone. . With this minute particle, Helvetius him self transmuted metals in the presence of witnesses. He was visited on tw:o occasions by the adept, who then dis appeared from the community and was never seen again.
In his
Vitulus Aureus,
Helvetius states definitely that the "rustic with the muddy boots" was Elias the Artist. A considerable part of theVitulus Aureus
is devoted to a dialogue between Helvetius and Elias. It is unnecessary for our purposes to publish the full account, so we will digest those parts in which Elias speaks of himself or of matters relevant.The adept said that he was a dose student of Nature's secret and delighted in the company of those of similar aim. He was not a physician, but a brass founder, who from earliest age had been devoted to the secret quality of metals. The Universal Medicine is called by the adepts "the great mystery of Nature." It does not lengthen life, but permits those who possess its power to complete the full term of their days, which is far longer than most realize. Elias kept the five medals in memory of his own Master, for he in turn had been instructed by a certain stranger, both in the philosophy and practice of the art. No torture or bribery could induce him to reveal the secret, yet he had given it to but one other person-an old, good man. Elias read but few books, but recommended the study of Sendivogius. He
1 02 THE ADEPTS
rhen addressed Helvetius thus : "If you find grace in the sight of God, He will commission either me or some other adept of our art to unfold to you the right way of destroying the outward body of metals and seizing the inward vital life-giving soul."
Helvetius concludes the account of his experience in these words : "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 inter course, 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 !"*
Bacstrom's diary extracted several formulas relating to antimony from the edition of the chemical writings of von Suchten published in Frankfurt in 1 680. Included is a reference to an adept named Vieroort, who discussed the processes with Dr. Helvetius at The Hague. Dr. Helvetius is quoted as saying : "Elias Artista has confirmed me in the opinion of Paracelsus that by metals, through metals, and out of metals spiritualized and well purified the living Sophie gold or tincture for human and metallic bodies must be obtained." Bacstrom notes that Elias Artista per sonifies the spirit of life and the secret fire.
The unknown author of
Bibliopraphie Occulte
refers briefly to Elias Artista, the adept, as a great friend of Baron Emanuel Swedenborg. Elias deposited with Swedenborg more than three million francs worth of gold bars and ingots in the Bank of Hamburg, and the register of this bank•The text of the Vitulus Aureus is a�ailable in the Museum Hermeticum Reformatum,
etc., (Frankfurt, 1678), and in the English translation, The Hermetic Museum
.Restored and Enlarged (LondQn, 1 893) . There is an early English translation in A Philosophic Epitaph, etc., published by W. C. Esq. (London,. 1673). All these
has witness to the occurrence. So the mystery grows, and Elias the Artist remains the most spectacular of the elusive adepts of the Hermetic tradition.
The New Phifo.sophy
It is said that the age of modem chemistry began with Robert Boyle
(
1 626- 1 691 ) . Boyle was born the year that Francis Bacon is reported to have died, and was intimatelyassociated with the Royal Society, which was dedicated to
rhe extension of Bacon's scientific concepts. Boyle was the seventh and youngest son of Richard, Earl of Cork, and was born at Lismore in Ireland. He received his academic education at the University of Leiden in Holland, and afterward traveled extensively in France, Switzerland, and Italy. He settled in the University of Oxford about 1 657, devoting his attention to experimental philosophy and chemistry. He frequented the Society of Virtuosi, which met in the lodgings of Dr. John Wilkins. After the restora tion of King Charles II, this Society was enlarged to form the Royal Society, which will be discussed in the next part of this work.
Boyle has been described as "the greatest promoter of the New Philosophy of any among them,"* referring in this instance to the members of the Royal Society. The dis ciples of modem chemistry like to assume that Boyle was emancipated from the chimera of alchemy and other super stitions which had dominated the speculations of his pred ecessors. The facts, however, scarcely supp<>ft such con clusions, for this distinguished savant of the phlogistic theory was not only profoundly learned, but was also deeply devout. He was versed in Hebrew and other Oriental languages, and was a profound student of the Rabbinical writings. He w:as equally informed in the works of the