An account of a transmutation performed by Cagliostro

Here is a detailed account of how, on June 7, 1780, Cagliostro made money in a Masonic lodge in Warsaw, as recorded by one of its members in a description of that experience.

Cagliostro made me weigh a pound of mercury which I possessed, already purified. Before that, he had ordered me to distill rainwater until all the liquid evaporated, leaving a deposit he called Virgin Earth or secunda materia. About 16 grains remained. On his instructions, I had also prepared a lead extract. After all these preparations were completed, he came to the lodge and entrusted me with the task of carrying out the whole operation with my own hands. I did this according to his instructions in the following order:

The Virgin Earth was placed in a balloon and half the mercury was added to it. I then added 30 drops of lead extract. When I shook the vial a little, the mercury appeared as dead or strongly frozen. I then poured the lead extract supplement over the remaining mercury, which remained unaltered. I then had to place the two portions of mercury together in a larger balloon. After shaking it, the whole contents somehow took on the same solid consistency. The color turned to dirty gray. The whole was then stirred in a half-filled vase. Cagliostro then gave me a small piece of paper that turned out to be just the wrapper for two more dumplings. They contained a shiny carmine-colored powder, probably weighing a tenth of a grain. The powder was mixed in the container and Cagliostro then swallowed the three wrapping papers. During this time, I covered the contents of the plaster of Paris vase previously prepared with hot water. As the vessel was filled, Cagliostro took it from my hands, adding still more plaster of Paris and pressing it firmly with his own hands. He gave it back to me to dry the whole thing over a charcoal fire. The vase was placed in a bed of ashes on the blower furnace. The fire was lit and the container left for half an hour. Then we took him out of the fire with a pair of tongs and carried him to the lodge. The vase was broken there and in the bottom lay a mass of silver weighing 14 and a half ounces.

END