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Elixir of Life

No doubt exists that the mediæval alchemists and mystics believed that they were perfectly justified in their search for the Elixir of Life, the universal medicine, and the renewal of youth. This, with the quest for gold, became the grand aim of alchemy, and although this search may have had a psychical and mystical side, it most certainly had a physical one. But there does not seem to have been any standard method of accomplishing the manufacture of the elixir. Thus in Petit Albert one is instructed to take 8lbs. of sugar of mercury as the foundation of such a mixture; while Bernard Trévisan believes that the precipitation of the philosopher's stone into mercurial water results in the manufacture of the elixir. he states, will when elaborated to the Red, transmute copper and other metals into pure gold, and if elaborated to the White, will produce unalloyed silver.

This But the application of the elixir to the prolongation of life was undoubtedly the chief reason for its continued search. The retired alchemist in his later years, wearied with his quest for gold, craved the boon of youth and desired renewed health and strength to assist him to carry out his great purpose. As an illustration of the alchemical conception of the elixir of life, we quote the following from a work dealing with the secret of rejuvenescence, originally supposed to have been written by Arnold de Villanova, and published by Longueville-Harcourt at Paris in 1716:- "

To renew youth is to enter once more into that felicitous season which imparts to the human frame the pleasures and strength of the morning. Here it is to no purpose that we should speak of that problem so much discussed by the Wise, whether the art can be carried to such a pitch of excellence that old age should itself be made young. We know that Paracelsus has vaunted the metamorphic resources of his Mercury of Life which not merely rejuvenates men but converts metals into gold; He who promised unto others the years of the sybils, or at least the 300 winters of Nestor, himself perished at the age of thirty-seven. Let us turn rather to Nature, so admirable in her achievements, and deem her not capable alone of destroying what she has produced at the moment she has begotten them. Is it possible that she will refuse unto man, for whom all was created, what she accords to the stags, the eagles, and the serpents, who do annually cast aside the mournful concomitants of senility, and do assume the most brilliant, the most gracious amenities of the most joyous youth? Art, it is true, has not as yet arrived at that apex of perfection wherefrom it can renew our youth; but that which was unachieved in the past may be accomplished in the future, a prodigy which may be more confidently expected from the fact that in isolated cases it has actually already taken place, as the facts of history make evident. By observing and following the manner in which nature performs such wonders, we may assuredly hope to execute this desirable transformation, and the first condition is an amiable temperament, such as that which was possessed by Moses, of whom it is written that for one hundred and twenty years his sight never failed him. "

The stag, eagle, and sparrow-hawk renew their youth. Aldrovandus has written on the rejuvenescence of the eagle. Among the birds of the air, we are told by Pliny that the raven and the phenix live, each of them six hundred years. No one denies that the stag is renewed by feeding on vipers and serpents, while the apes of Caucasus, whose diet is pepper, prove a sovereign remedy for the lion, who grows young by devouring their flesh. Those who have written of the elephant maintain that his normal life is extended through three centuries, while the horse, which alone in creation participates in the natures of man, of the lion, of the ox, the sheep, the mule, the stag, the wolf, the fox, the serpent, and the hare, from each deriving three of its qualities, has occasionally survived with undiminished vigour the lapse of a hundred years. The serpent, who is instrumental in the rejuvenescence of the stag, himself renews his youth at the shedding of his scales, from all which considerations, it follows that it is not beyond belief that a like prodigy may be found in the superior order of the same productions whence man has been himself derived, for man is assuredly not in a worse condition than the beasts whom he rules."

Trithemius (q.v.) on his death-bed dictated a receipt which he said would preserve mind, health and memory with perfect sight and hearing, for those who made use of it. It consists of among other things, calomel, gentian, cinnamon, aniseed, nard, coral, tartar, mace, and five grammes of it were to be taken night and morning in wine or brodium during the whole of the first month; during the second month, in the morning only; during the third month thrice in the week, and so continuing through life. This is a more understandable receipt than that of Eugenius Philalethes, who says: "Ten parts of cœlestiall Ellide slime; separate the male from the female, and each afterwards from its own earth, physically, mark you, and with no violence. Conjoin after separation in due, harmonic vitall proportion; and straightway, the Soul descending from the pyroplastic sphere, shall restore, by a mirific embrace, its dead and deserted body. Proceed according to the Volcanico magica theory, till they are exalted into the Fifth Metaphysical Rota. This is that world-renowned medicine, whereof so many have scribbled, which, notwithstanding, so few have known." In his History of Magic Eliphas Levi gives Cagliostro's great secret of rejuvenescence in the following terms: "Let us now turn to the secret of physical regeneration to attain which according to the occult prescription of the Grand Copht-a retreat of forty days, after the manner of a jubilee, must be made once in every fifty years, beginning during the full moon of May in the company of one faithful person only. It must be also a fast of forty days, drinking May-dew-collected from sprouting corn with a cloth of pure white linen-and eating new and tender herbs. The repast should begin with a large glass of dew and end with a biscuit or crust of bread. There should be slight bleeding on the seventeenth day. Balm of Azoth should then be taken morning and evening, beginning with a dose of six drops and increasing by two drops daily till the end of the thirty-second day. At the dawn which follows thereafter renew the slight bleeding; then take to your bed and remain in it till the end of the fortieth day. 66

On the first awakening after the bleeding, take the first grain of Universal Medicine. A swoon of three hours will be followed by convulsions, sweats and much purging, necessitating a change both of bed and linen. At this stage a broth of lean beef must be taken, seasoned with rice, sage, valerian, vervain and balm. On the day following take the second grain of Universal Medicine, which is Astral Mercury combined with Sulphur of Gold. On the next day have a warm bath. On the thirty-sixth day drink a glass of Egyptian wine, and on the thirty-seventh take the third and last grain of Universal Medicine. A profound sleep will follow, during which the hair, teeth, nails and skin will be renewed. The prescription for the thirty-eighth day is another warm bath, steeping aromatic herbs in the water, of the same kind as those specified for the broth. On the thirty-ninth day drink ten drops of Elixir of Acharat in two spoonsful of red wine. The work will be finished on the fortieth day, and the aged man will be renewed in youth. 66

By means of this jubilary regimen, Cagliostro claimed to have lived for many centuries. It will be seen that it is a variation of the famous Bath of Immortality in use among the Menandrian Gnostics."

Aristeus is stated to have left to his disciples a secret which rendered all metals diaphanous, and man immortal. The process would appear to consist in a mystic treatment of the atmosphere, which is to be congealed and distilled until it develops the divine sparkle, and subsequently becomes liquified. It is then subjected to heat and undergoes several other processes, when the elixir emerges. There is surprisingly little literature upon the subject of the Elixir of Life. But a more prolonged notice on the subject will be found under the article "Philosopher's stone" (q.v.).