In his unknown retreat[V] the adept recorded his adventures and experiences when in search of the philosophical stone, _ut divertarem bonos piosque vivos, à sophisticationibus, ad viam rectam perfectionis in hoc opere divino_. His little work is entitled simply _Opusculum Chemicum_; it opens with the romantic narrative which I have cited almost _in extenso_. It calls Hermes _magnus propheta noster_, insists that the art is the gift of God alone on the authority of all the initiates, and quotes so largely from previous writers that it can scarcely be considered an original work on the Hermetic philosophy. The life of Bernard Trévisan has abundantly testified to the physical nature of his object, which is amply confirmed by this treatise. The methods of projection upon metals, the composition of precious stones, and the application of the tincture as a medicine for the human body, are successively considered. One grain of the _divinum opus_, dissolved in white wine, transmutes that liquor into a rich citron colour, and has innumerable hygienic uses. FOOTNOTES: [V] See Appendix I. BERIGARD OF PISA. The following account of a transmutation performed by himself, is recorded by the celebrated Italian philosopher, Claude Berigard, and will be found on the twenty-fifth page of his _Circulus Pisanus_, published at Florence in 1641. “I did not think that it was possible to convert quicksilver into gold, but an acquaintance thought proper to remove my doubt. He gave me about a drachm of a powder nearly of the colour of the wild poppy, and having a smell like calcined sea-salt. To avoid all imposition, I purchased a crucible, charcoal, and quicksilver, in which I was certain that there was no gold mixed. Ten drachms of quicksilver which I heated on the fire were on projection transmuted into nearly the same weight of good gold, which stood all tests. Had I not performed this operation in the most careful manner, taking every precaution against the possibility of doubt, I should not have believed it, but I am satisfied of the fact.” CHARNOCK. Thomas Charnock was born in the Isle of Thanet, in the year 1524. He calls himself an unlettered scholar, and student in astronomy and philosophy. He practised surgery, and, though he knew only the rudiments of Latin, it appears that he was famous in the neighbourhood of Salisbury, where he had established himself, for his accomplishments in the liberal sciences. He had two masters in alchemy, the first being Sir James S----, a priest, dwelling in the cloisters, near Salisbury, who informed Charnock that he did not derive his knowledge from any living adept, but that by meditation upon the words of the philosophers, he had mastered the principal secrets of alchemy as he lay in his bed, and had accordingly succeeded in making the silver powder.