The chemistry of commerce : a simple interpretation of some new chemistry in its relation to modern industry / by Robert Kennedy Duncan.

  • Duncan, Robert Kennedy, 1868-1914.
Date:
[1907]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The chemistry of commerce : a simple interpretation of some new chemistry in its relation to modern industry / by Robert Kennedy Duncan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    II CATALYSIS: HOW A PHENOMENON, RECOGNIZED ANEW, MAY AFFECT MANY INDUSTRIES IN a certain very old book ascribed to Bamundus Lullus, Doctor Illuminatissimus, there is contained the account of a remarkable substance. “ Take of this precious medicine/’ he says, “ a piece as large as a bean. Throw it upon a thousand ounces of mercury, and this will be changed into a red powder. Place one ounce of this latter upon one thousand ounces of mer¬ cury, which will thereby be transformed into a red powder; of this again, an ounce thrown upon a thou¬ sand ounces of mercury will convert it entirely into medicine ... of this last medicine, throw once more an ounce upon a thousand ounces of mercury, and this will be entirely changed into gold which is better than gold from the mines.” Concerning the actual existence of this transcen¬ dental medicine, it must be confessed that the Illu¬ minated Doctor was either dreaming or scheming, though the essence of our incredulity lies, possibly, in. our reluctance to admit that this “ medicine99 could act by its mere presence, by merely being there, and