A curious and fascinating letter, accompanied by a manuscript by Jean Grosse, addressed to the extravagant Marquise d'Urfé, concerning an alchemical experiment aimed at creating gold:
"[...] I presume, in accordance with my wishes, that you are currently enjoying good health, and I wish you continued good health for many years to come. Having done something with the liquid and sediment of the small matras, I have included a small detail on the attached sheet; and it seems to me…
Read moreA curious and fascinating letter, accompanied by a manuscript by Jean Grosse, addressed to the extravagant Marquise d'Urfé, relating to an alchemical experiment aimed at creating gold:
"[...] I presume, in accordance with my wishes, that you are currently enjoying good health, and I wish you continued good health for many years to come. Having done something with the liquid and the sediment of the small matras, I have put a small detail on the attached sheet; and it seems to me that it only remains to see if the bud, which is on the cup, will give some flakes of gold in the solution [...]".
The manuscript attached to the letter, entitled On the Liqueur and Sediment of the Little Matras, meticulously details all the stages of Grosse's alchemical experiment:
"1. The liqueur smokes like the aqua fortis, and smells the same.
2. A drop or two poured on the finger stings a lot and for a long time, and at the end makes a blackish stain; in which this liquid differs from ordinary strong water.
3. This liqueur is very astringent on the tongue.
4. Due to the cold, some flat crystals had formed in the liquid, which, when dried, solidified on the hot coals, and very fine silver globules were resurrected. [...] He adds oil of tartar, copper, spirit of salt, lead, etc. He obtains a green tip "which is common to gold. When Madame has examined it closely in the daylight, I will dissolve it in clear aqua fortis to see if brown flakes separate from it. When I have finished with the red powder, I will also make a small detail of it.".
Grosse, the inventor of sulfuric ether, had clearly worked for, or in connection with, the wealthy and eccentric Jeanne de La Rochefoucauld, Marquise d'Urfé (1705-1775). This widow, a devotee of occultism and alchemy, was relatively gullible.
A small matras is a glass receptacle in the shape of a bottle or test tube, used for the practice of chemistry.
ReduceBrown ink on two double sheets of laid paper, a watermark (griffin). Address on the back of the second sheet of the letter. Partially preserved red wax seal.
