It is doubtful whether Thomas Norton ever enjoyed the fruits of his supposed knowledge. He does not speak of his own transmutations, and if he is called by one of his contemporaries _alchemista suo tempore peritissimus_, by others he is termed _Nugarum opifex in frivola scientia_. The latter declare that he undid himself by his labours, and that all his friends who trusted him with their money were as much ruined as himself. According to Fuller, he lived and died very poor; nevertheless his family appears to have been held in high repute under King Henry VIII. There were nine brothers of the name of Norton. One anonymous writer asserts that they were all of them knights. The tomb of Sampson Norton, master of the king’s ordnance, and buried in Fulham Church, was adorned with Hermetic paintings, according to one account, but Faulkner, in his historical account of Fulham, describes it as a rich Gothic monument, ornamented with foliage and oak-leaves, and bearing an obliterated inscription. Thomas Norton died in 1477. His grandson Samuel followed in his steps as an alchemist, and was the author of several Hermetic treatises, which are not very highly esteemed. * * * * * “The Ordinal of Alchemy” testifies that the stone is one. In appearance it is a subtle earth, brown, and opaque; it stands the fire, and is considered to be of no value. There is also another and glorious stone, which is termed the philosophical magnesia. Alchemy is a wonderful science, a secret philosophy, a singular grace and free gift of the Almighty, which was never discovered by independent human labour, but only by revelation or the instruction of one of the adepts. “It helpeth a man when he hath neede, It voideth vaine Glory, Hope, and also Dreade: It voideth Ambitiousnesse, Extorcion, and Excesse, It fenceth Adversity that shee doe not oppresse. He that thereof hath his full intent, Forsaketh Extremities, with Measure is content.” A certain mineral virtue is said to be the efficient cause in the production of metals in the bowels of the earth; it is in correspondence with the virtues of the celestial spheres. The red stone lengthens life, but it is vain to seek it till after the confection of the white. THOMAS DALTON.