So, at least, runs one version of the story of this perverted
being.

Naturally monarchs, constantly in need of funds, were interested
in these alchemists. Even sober England did not escape, and
Raymond Lully, one of the most famous of the thirteenth and
fourteenth century alchemists, is said to have been secretly
invited by King Edward I. (or II.) to leave Milan and settle in
England. According to some accounts, apartments were assigned to
his use in the Tower of London, where he is alleged to have made
some six million pounds sterling for the monarch, out of iron,
mercury, lead, and pewter.

Pope John XXII., a friend and pupil of the alchemist Arnold de
Villeneuve, is reported to have learned the secrets of alchemy
from his master. Later he issued two bulls against "pretenders"
in the art, which, far from showing his disbelief, were cited by
alchemists as proving that he recognized pretenders as distinct
from true masters of magic.

To moderns the attitude of mind of the alchemist is difficult to
comprehend. It is, perhaps, possible to conceive of animals or
plants possessing souls, but the early alchemist attributed the
same thing--or something kin to it--to metals also. Furthermore,
just as plants germinated from seeds, so metals were supposed to
germinate also, and hence a constant growth of metals in the
ground. To prove this the alchemist cited cases where previously
exhausted gold-mines were found, after a lapse of time, to
contain fresh quantities of gold. The "seed" of the remaining
particles of gold had multiplied and increased. But this