Charles Mackay (
1814-
1889), from
Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions And The Madness Of Crowds
Artephius, a name noted in the annals of alchymy, was born in the early part of the twelfth century. He wrote two famous treatises; the one upon the
philosopher's stone, and the other on the art of prolonging human life. In the latter he vaunts his great qualifications for instructing mankind on such a matter, as he was at that time in the thousand and twenty-fifth year of his age! He had many disciples who believed in his extreme age, and who attempted to prove that he was
Apollonius of Tyana, who lived soon after the advent of
Jesus Christ, and the particulars of whose life and pretended miracles have been so fully described by
Philostratus. He took good care never to contradict a story, which so much increased the power he was desirous of wielding over his fellow-mortals. On all convenient occasions, he boasted of it; and having an excellent memory, a fertile imagination, and a thorough knowledge of all existing history, he was never at a loss for an answer when questioned as to the personal appearance, the manners, or the character of the great men of antiquity. He also pretended to have found the philosopher's stone; and said that, in search of it, he had descended to
hell, and seen the
devil sitting on a
throne of gold, with a legion of
imps and
fiends around him. His works on alchymy have been translated into
French, and were published in
Paris in
1609 or
1610.
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