In writing this section on the practical work I wish my readers to realize that I am writing purely from the alchemist's, not the chemist's viewpoint. I fully realized when commencing this work that my only hope of success was to put on one side for the time being any knowledge of chemistry that I might possess and to study alchemystical writings in a sincere attempt to understand the alchemist's language and reasoning, and then, by following out his instructions faithfully step by step, to prove the practicability of this science. The chemist who may read this book must therefore appreciate this point, and understand that at the moment I am not trying to reconcile my findings with the precepts of orthodox chemistry, but merely placing on record my work as an alchemist. . . . . . . The practice of alchemy in the laboratory has been a far from easy task, as those who have at any time studied literature on the subject will fully appreciate. It is only by continuous experiment and constant comparison with alchemystic writings that the present Come with me, therefore, to my little laboratory with its array of alembics, crucibles, and sandbaths, and hear something of the struggles of the would-be alchemist and of the mysteries he seeks to unravel. After a careful study of Basil Valentine's 'Triumphal Chariot of Antimony,' I decided to make my first experiments with antimony. I soon found, however, that on arriving at a crucial point, the key had almost invariably been deliberately withheld, and a dissertation on theology inserted in its place. Gradually, however, I came to realize that the theological discourse was not without object, but actually the means of veiling a valuable clue of some kind. After much labour, a fragrant golden liquid was finally obtained from the antimony, although this was merely a beginning. The alkahest of the alchemist, the First Matter, still remained a mystery. Then followed processes with iron and copper. After purification of the salts or vitriol of these metals, of calcination, and the obtaining of a salt from the calcined metal by a special process, followed by careful distillation and re-distillation in rectified spirits of wine, the oil of these metals was obtained, a few drops of which used singly, or in conjunction, proved very efficacious in eases of anemia and debility which the ordinary iron medicine failed to touch. The conjunction of iron and copper proved to be an elixir of a very stimulating and regenerating character, Here, then, I entered upon a new course of experiment, with a metal for experimental purposes with which I had had no previous experience. This metal, after being reduced to its salts and undergoing special preparation and distillation, delivered up the Mercury of the Philosophers, the Aqua Benedicta, the Aqua Celestis, the Water of Paradise. The first intimation I had of this triumph was a violent hissing, jets of vapour pouring from the retort and into the receiver like sharp bursts from a machine-gun, and then a violent explosion, whilst a very potent and subtle odour filled the laboratory and its surroundings. A friend has described this odour as resembling the dewy earth on a June morning, with the hint of growing flowers in the air, the breath of the wind over heather and hill, and the sweet smell of the rain on the parched earth. Nicholas Flamel, after searching and experimenting from the age of twenty, wrote when he was eighty years old: 'Finally I found that which I desired, which I also soon knew by the strong scent and odour thereof.' Does this not coincide, this voice from the fourteenth century, with my own description of the peculiarPRACTICAL