Witch, Warlock, and Magician

"[...]little ball of wax. At the end of a quarter of an hour he found the lead transmuted (so he avers) into gold. Its colour at first was a deep green; but the mixture, when poured into a conical vessel, turned blood-red, and, after cooling, acquired the true tint of gold. A goldsmith who examined it pronounced it to be genuine. Helvetius requested Purelius, the keeper of the Dutch Mint, to test its value; and two drachms, after being exposed to aquafortis, were found to have increased a couple of scruples in weight—an increase doubtlessly owing to the silver, which still remained enveloped in the gold, despite the action of the aquafortis. It is obvious that this narrative is a complete mystification, and that either the stranger was a myth or Helvetius was the victim of a deception. The recipes that the alchemists formulate—those, that is, who profess to have discovered the stone, or to have known somebody who enjoyed so rare a[...]".