Extraordinary Popular Delusions Vol 3 | Page 9

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.
ALAIN DE LISLE.
Contemporary with Albertus Magnus was Alain de Lisle, of Flanders,
who was named, from his great learning, the "universal doctor." He
was thought to possess a knowledge of all the sciences, and, like
Artephius, to have discovered the elixir vitae. He became one of the
friars of the abbey of Citeaux, and died in 1298, aged about one
hundred and ten years. It was said of him, that he was at the point of
death when in his fiftieth year; but that the fortunate discovery of the
elixir enabled him to add sixty years to his existence. He wrote a
commentary on the prophecies of Merlin.
ARNOLD DE VILLENEUVE.
This philosopher has left a much greater reputation. He was born in the
year 1245, and studied medicine with great success in the University of
Paris. He afterwards travelled for twenty years in Italy and Germany,
where he made acquaintance with Pietro d'Apone; a man of a character
akin to his own, and addicted to the same pursuits. As a physician, he
was thought, in his own lifetime, to be the most able the world had ever
seen. Like all the learned men of that day, he dabbled in astrology and
alchymy, and was thought to have made immense quantities of gold
from lead and copper. When Pietro d'Apone was arrested in Italy, and
brought to trial as a sorcerer, a similar accusation was made against
Arnold; but he managed to leave the country in time and escape the fate
of his unfortunate friend. He lost some credit by predicting the end of
the world, but afterwards regained it. The time of his death is not
exactly known; but it must have been prior to the year 1311, when Pope
Clement V. wrote a circular letter to all the clergy of Europe who lived
under his obedience, praying them to use their utmost efforts to
discover the famous treatise of Arnold on "The Practice of Medicine."
The author had promised, during his lifetime, to make a present of the
work to the Holy See, but died without fulfilling it.
In a very curious work by Monsieur Longeville Harcouet, entitled "The
History of the Persons who have lived several centuries, and then
grown young again," there is a receipt, said to have been given by
Arnold de Villeneuve, by means of which any one might prolong his

life for a few hundred years or so. In the first place, say Arnold and
Monsieur Harcouet, "the person intending so to prolong his life must
rub himself well, two or three times a week, with the juice or marrow
of cassia (moelle de la casse). Every night, upon going to bed, he must
put upon his heart a plaster, composed of a certain quantity of Oriental
saffron, red rose-leaves, sandal-wood, aloes, and amber, liquified in oil
of roses and the best white wax. In the morning, he must take it off, and
enclose it carefully in a leaden box till the next night, when it must be
again applied. If he be of a sanguine temperament, he shall take sixteen
chickens -- if phlegmatic, twenty-five -- and if melancholy, thirty,
which he shall put into a yard where the air and the water are pure.
Upon these he is to feed, eating one a day; but previously the chickens
are to be fattened by a peculiar method, which will impregnate their
flesh with the qualities that are to produce longevity in the eater. Being
deprived of all other nourishment till they are almost dying of hunger,
they are to be fed upon broth made of serpents and vinegar, which
broth is to be thickened with wheat and bran." Various ceremonies are
to be performed in the cooking of this mess, which those may see in the
book of M. Harcouet, who are at all interested in the matter; and the
chickens are to be fed upon it for two months. They are then fit for
table, and are to be washed down with moderate quantities of good
white wine or claret. This regimen is to be followed regularly every
seven years, and any one may live to be as old as Methuselah! It is right
to state, that M. Harcouet has but little authority for attributing this
precious composition to Arnold of