jammed so fast together, that they were forced to open his mouth with an iron instrument to pour a little water down his throat. He gradually recovered his senses and the use of his limbs; and when we went to see him was sitting up, supported by two men, and conversed with us in a low, gentle tone of voice, saying that ‘we might bury him again for a twelvemonth, if we pleased.’” That his powers of abstinence are great, there can be no doubt; as Cornet Macnaghten once suspended him for thirteen days, shut up in a wooden box. During the time that he is buried, his hair ceases to grow. Previously to his being buried he lives entirely upon milk, regulating the quantity in such a manner as to be just sufficient for sustaining life. After his release, and on his first taking food, he is said to feel some anxiety, till he has ascertained that the faculties of his stomach and bowels are not injured. CHAPTER XVII. THE DELUSIONS OF ALCHEMY. Origin of Alchemy--Argument for Transmutation--Golden Age of Alchemy--Alchemists in the 13th century--Medals metaphorically described--Jargon of Dr. Dee--The Green Lion--Roger Bacon--Invention of Gunpowder--Imprisonment of Alchemists--Edict of Henry VI.--Pope John XXII.--Pope Sixtus V.--Alchemy applied to Medicine--Paracelsus--Evelyn’s hesitation about Alchemy--Narrative of Helvetius--Philadept on Alchemy--Rosicrucians--A Vision--Hayden’s description of Rosicrucians--Dr. Price--Mr. Woulfe--Mr. Kellerman. The subject of Alchemy occupies so large a space in the humiliating history of the misapplication of talent, as to justify a particular inquiry into the causes of its origin, the grounds of its success, and the reason of its gradual decline. So much mysticism and fondness for ambiguity exist in the writings of the hermetic philosophers, as they were called, that it will not be surprising to find accounts of the origin of the science wrapped in equally extraordinary language.