Healthy Gold
UT how, you may ask, was the transformation of metals into gold related to the cure of disease? The connection was this. Gold is the only metal free from disease. Tin in cold weather crumbles into dust; it gets what is called tin plague. Iron rusts. Copper tarnishes. Only gold does not suffer from disease.
The search of the alchemists had a dual object, the cure of metals and the cure of men, and the astrological thought of the time made this connection a very strong one. So we find that the procession of the mysterious powder of philosopher’s stone which would transform common metals also guaranteed its owner
a@ iong life. Ihe philosopher’s stone gave wealth and health, and when you consider how truly terrible was the danger of poverty and illness in the Middle Ages, you may understand
the driving power behind the objects of alchemy. I have a quotation here from an alchemical treatise: "Everyone must try to get two things, eternal bliss and earthly happiness. The former is granted by the Kingdom of God, which is taught by the theologians, while the latter is granted by the philosopher’s stone of the alchemist."-(Professor F. G. Soper in the Winter Course series, " Chemistry and Medicine," 4YA, June 25.)
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19400712.2.15.1
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 55, 12 July 1940, Page 8
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212Healthy Gold New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 55, 12 July 1940, Page 8
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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