Somerset maughan

Tinctura Physicorum
, which neither 
Pope nor Emperor could buy with all his wealth. It was one of the 
greatest alchemical mysteries, and, though mentioned under the 
name of 
The Red Lion
in many occult works, was actually known to 
few before Paracelsus, except Hermes Trismegistus and Albertus 
Magnus. Its preparation was extremely difficult, for the presence 
was needed of two perfectly harmonious persons whose skill was 
equal. It was said to be a red ethereal fluid. The least wonderful of 
its many properties was its power to transmute all inferior metals 
into gold. There is an old church in the south of Bavaria where the 
tincture is said to be still buried in the ground. In the year 1698 some 
of it penetrated through the soil, and the phenomenon was 

---

witnessed by many people, who believed it to be a miracle. The 
church which was thereupon erected is still a well-known place for 
pilgrimage. Paracelsus concludes his directions for its manufacture 
with the words: 
But if this be incomprehensible to you, remember that 
only he who desires with his whole heart will find, and to him only who 
knocks vehemently shall the door be opened
.' 
'I shall never try to make it,' smiled Arthur. 
'Then there was the 
Electrum Magicum
, of which the wise made 
mirrors wherein they were able to see not only the events of the past 
and of the present, but the doings of men in daytime and at night. 
They might see anything that had been written or spoken, and the 
person who said it, and the causes that made him say it. But I like 
best the 
Primum Ens Melissae
. An elaborate prescription is given for 
its manufacture. It was a remedy to prolong life, and not only 
Paracelsus, but his predecessors Galen, Arnold of Villanova, and 
Raymond Lulli, had laboured studiously to discover it.' 
'Will it make me eighteen again?' cried Susie. 
'It is guaranteed to do so,' answered Dr Porhoët gravely. 'Lesebren, a 
physician to Louis XIV, gives an account of certain experiments 
witnessed by himself. It appears that one of his friends prepared the 
remedy, and his curiosity would not let him rest until he had seen 
with his own eyes the effect of it.' 
'That is the true scientific attitude,' laughed Arthur. 
'He took every morning at sunrise a glass of white wine tinctured 
with this preparation; and after using it for fourteen days his nails 
began to fall out, without, however, causing him any pain. His 
courage failed him at this point, and he gave the same dose to an old 
female servant. She regained at least one of the characteristics of 
youth, much to her astonishment, for she did not know that she had 
been taking a medicine, and, becoming frightened, refused to 
continue. The experimenter then took some grain, soaked it in the 
tincture, and gave it to an aged hen. On the sixth day the bird began 
to lose its feathers, and kept on losing them till it was naked as a 
newborn babe; but before two weeks had passed other feathers 
grew, and these were more beautifully coloured than any that 

---

fortunate hen had possessed in her youth. Her comb stood up, and 
she began again to lay eggs.' 
Arthur laughed heartily. 
'I confess I like that story much better than the others. The 
Primum 
Ens Melissae
at least offers a less puerile benefit than most magical 
secrets.' 
'Do you call the search for gold puerile?' asked Haddo, who had 
been sitting for a long time in complete silence. 
'I venture to call it sordid.' 
'You are very superior.' 
'Because I think the aims of mystical persons invariably gross or 
trivial? To my plain mind, it is inane to raise the dead in order to 
hear from their phantom lips nothing but commonplaces. And I 
really cannot see that the alchemist who spent his life in the 
attempted manufacture of gold was a more respectable object than 
the outside jobber of modern civilization.' 
'But if he sought for gold it was for the power it gave him, and it 
was power he aimed at when he brooded night and day over dim 
secrets. Power was the subject of all his dreams, but not a paltry, 
limited dominion over this or that; power over the whole world, 
power over all created things, power over the very elements, power 
over God Himself. His lust was so vast that he could not rest till the 
stars in their courses were obedient to his will.' 
For once Haddo lost his enigmatic manner. It was plain now that his 
words intoxicated him, and his face assumed a new, a strange, 
expression. A peculiar arrogance flashed in his shining eyes. 
'And what else is it that men seek in life but power? If they want 
money, it is but for the power that attends it, and it is power again 
that they strive for in all the knowledge they acquire. Fools and sots 
aim at happiness, but men aim only at power. The magus, the 
sorcerer, the alchemist, are seized with fascination of the unknown; 
and they desire a greatness that is inaccessible to mankind. They 
think by the science they study so patiently, but endurance and 

---

strength, by force of will and by imagination, for these are the great 
weapons of the magician, they may achieve at last a power with 
which they can face the God of Heaven Himself.' 
Oliver Haddo lifted his huge bulk from the low chair in which he 
had been sitting. He began to walk up and down the studio. It was 
curious to see this heavy man, whose seriousness was always 
problematical, caught up by a curious excitement. 
'You've been talking of Paracelsus,' he said. 'There is one of his 
experiments which the doctor has withheld from you. You will find 
it neither mean nor mercenary, but it is very terrible. I do not know 
whether the account of it is true, but it would be of extraordinary 
interest to test it for oneself.' 
He looked round at the four persons who watched him intently. 
There was a singular agitation in his manner, as though the thing of 
which he spoke was very near his heart. 
'The old alchemists believed in the possibility of spontaneous 
generation. By the combination of psychical powers and of strange 
essences, they claim to have created forms in which life became 
manifest. Of these, the most marvellous were those strange beings, 
male and female, which were called