Some Days after this I appointed a Time, and bade him bring me ten Ducats. He cast those ten Pieces of Gold into one of my Crucibles, and I threw my Powder of Multiplication into the other. Then I mix'd the whole, and stirr'd it well with a hollow Rod of Iron into which I had put Gold-Dust to the Value of fifty Livres, having stopp'd it up with a little Wax, which immediately melted, so that the Gold-Dust ran out, and augmented the Mass of Metal which he himself had thrown in. The Time fix'd for the Operation being expir'd, I put into his Hands the little Ingot that resulted from the Mixture which he carry'd immediately to his Friend the Goldsmith, who told him that it was the best Gold that ever came out of a Furnace. He was charm'd with the Secret, and would have persuaded me to work at it every Day. I told him that I had already Money enough by me for my present Occasions, that it was time enough for me to work when I wanted more, and that as long as I had no House nor Family, I should not be solicitous for amassing a great deal of Wealth; besides, that it was very difficult to get the Powder I made use of, and that a Man endangers his Health in the Operation unless he has a great Laboratory, and all the Tools fit for a Work of such Importance. You long Gentlemen, no doubt, to hear all these Particulars, but to cut the matter short by omitting many others, which perhaps would not be disagreeable at another Time, they did not put me under the Necessity of starting the Affair of the Marriage, for there were certain Matchmakers that propos'd it to me themselves. I was willing that every thing should be done in form, and being sure of my Point, I demanded the fair _Jew_ of her Parents who granted her to me with Marks of entire Satisfaction, and took me immediately into their House.
We had not been marry'd long before my Father-in-law began to talk to me of the main Chance. You have a Talent, Son, _said he_, which ought not to be bury'd, let us be doing while we have the Means, and get Estates for ourselves and our Posterity, I immediately gave into his Sentiment, and we resolv'd to erect our Laboratory at his Country-House six Miles out of Town, that we might work without being disturb'd or observ'd. But my Multiplication Powder was all spent, more must be prepar'd, and because it would take up Time, and could not be done without great Charge and Trouble, we resolv'd to make enough of it at once as should serve for a Million of Ducats. Thereupon I gave him a List of the Drugs of which the Composition was to consist, of which the greatest Ingredient was Mercury. Then I made him believe that I must have Bay-Salt, Mineral-Salt, Antimony, the Seed of Pearls, Coral, the Ashes of a Heifer, Hartshorn, and the Horn of a Unicorn, the Eyes of a Lobster, Elephants Tooth, Dragon's Blood, Eagle's Claws, Birds of Paradise, the Beaks of _American_ Parrots, the Heads of Vipers, the Bones of a Camel, the Tail of a Crocodile, the Head of a Porpoise, the Rib of a Whale, all the Metals, and most of the Minerals; I told him likewise that a certain determin'd Quantity of each of these must be infus'd three Days in Sheep's Urine mix'd with one third in Proportion of the Dung of a Grey Cow, which had been steep'd in the Water of the Rhine the space of nine Days, which is the Square of Number 3; and the Cubic Number of that same Quantity, _viz._ 27 Days or a Periodical Month, was the Time requisite for calcinating the whole Mass, and reducing it by, a slow Fire to this pretended Powder of Projection.