Ever since the world was young, men have been trying to discover a means
of making gold.

The old alchemists, who were accused of being magicians, and having
dealings with the powers of evil, were always trying to make gold.
Apparently no one ever succeeded.

Lately, a man from Chicago, a Mr. Brice, went to the Government and
asked for a patent on a method of making gold, which he offered to sell
the Government.

It has long been known to scientists that the precious metals, silver
and gold, are present in many of the baser metals, such as antimony and
lead.

Mr. Brice claimed that he could extract the gold from these metals, and
that he could also make gold.

When he applied for his patent it was refused to him, on the ground that
he had not shown that the work could really be done. He continued to ask
for the patent; and, as the laboratory of the Patent Office was too
small for him to show his process to the authorities, he was allowed to
use the laboratory of the Mint Bureau for his experiments.

A committee of scientists was appointed to conduct the experiments, and
Mr. Brice furnished them with his formula for making the gold.

The first experiments were tried with metals that were known to contain
gold and silver. From these, by Mr. Brice's process, eighty-four per
cent of the gold was recovered and fifty-six per cent of the silver.