that such wonderful perseverance should have been wasted in so vain a
pursuit, and that energies so unconquerable should have had no
worthier field to strive in. Even when he had fumed away his last
coin, and had nothing left in prospective to keep his old age from
starvation, hope never forsook him. He still dreamed of ultimate
success, and sat down a greyheaded man of eighty, to read over all the
authors on the hermetic mysteries, from Geber to his own day, lest he
should have misunderstood some process, which it was not yet too late
to recommence. The alchymists say, that he succeeded at last, and
discovered the secret of transmutation in his eighty-second year. They
add, that he lived three years afterwards to enjoy his wealth. He
lived, it is true, to this great age, and made a valuable discovery -
more valuable than gold or gems. He learned, as he himself informs us,
just before he had attained his eighty-third year, that the great
secret of philosophy was contentment with our lot. Happy would it have
been for him if he had discovered it sooner, and before he became
decrepit, a beggar, and an exile!

He died at Rhodes, in the year 1490, and all the alchymists of
Europe sang elegies over him, and sounded his praise as the "good
Trevisan." He wrote several treatises upon his chimera, the chief of
which are, the "Book of Chemistry," the "Verbum dimissum," and an
essay "De Natura Ovi."

TRITHEMIUS.

The name of this eminent man has become famous in the annals of
alchymy, although he did but little to gain so questionable an honour.
He was born in the year 1462, at the village of Trittheim, in the
electorate of Treves. His father was John Heidenberg, a vine-grower,