Sir,--The loneliness in which you have left us cannot be told. I have given the book of my writings to Messer Francesco di Rivarola, in order that he may send it to you, with another transcript of letters missive. Respecting the receipt thereof, and the place in which you will put it, I beg you to be so good as to write to Don Diego. Another similar one shall be finished and sent to you in the same manner, and by the same Messer Francesco; you will find a new writing in it. Their Highnesses made me a promise to give me all that belongs to me, and to put Don Diego into possession of everything, as you will see. I am writing to Messer Gian Luigi and to the Signora my Lady Caterina; the letter is going with this one. I am on the point of setting out, in the name of the Holy Trinity, with the first fine weather, with a great equipment. If Girolamo da Santo-Stefano comes, he must wait for me, and not burden himself with anything, because they will take from him whatever they can, and will then leave him bare. Let him come hither, and the King and Queen will receive him until I arrive. May Our Lord have you in his holy keeping. Done on the 21st of March, in Seville, 1502. At your command ·S· ·S· A ·S· X M Y Xp̄o FERENS.] Christopher Columbus. Translation of the letter written by him to Nicolo Oderigo, shown opposite; made into English by Mr. G. A. Barwick, B.A., of the British Museum. Permission to reproduce both original letter and its translation was given by Messrs. B. F. Stevens & Brown, London.] In the words of Paracelsus, we give the following extracts concerning the loadstone, taken from “The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings ...” by A. E. Waite, London, 1894: _Vol. I. p. 17._--“The adamant. A black crystal called ... Evax ... is dissolved in the blood of a goat.” “The magnet. Is an iron stone, and so attracts iron to itself. Fortified by experience.... I affirm that the magnet ... not only attracts steel and iron, but also has the same power over the matter of all diseases in the whole body of man.” _Vol. I. pp. 132_ and _145_.--“A magnet touched by mercury or anointed with mercurial oil, never afterwards attracts iron ... same if steeped in garlic....” _Vol. I. p. 136._--“The life of the magnet is the spirit of iron which can be taken away by rectified _vinum ardens_ itself or by spirit of wine.” _Vol. II. p. 59._--“Wherever the magnet has grown--there, a certain attractive power exists, just as colocynth is purgative and the poppy is anodyne....” Mr. A. E. Waite says (Vol. II. p. 3) that the ten books of Paracelsus’ _Archidoxies_ stand in the same relation to Hermetic Medicine as the nine books _Concerning the Nature of Things_ stand to Hermetic Chemistry and to the science of metallic transmutation.