On this page
-
Text (1)
-
336 GERMAN LITERATURE.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
-E> A Short Time Since We Had Occasion T...
_rriig-Ht not also transmute an inferior metal into real and glittering " gold . In accordance with this ideaa solution of the " Salt of Life _"
• was placed in a jar of water , near a stove , in his laboratory , to see how it would be affected by the action of heat . On examining the jar
a few days afterwards , Semler discovered that it contained thin scales of pure metal ; proving , as he thought , that gold could be
generated , and not only transmuted , as the alchemists had vainly imagined . Such a discovery the conscientious Professor felt it his
duty to make known to mankind . All Germany was in a state of excitement . Jars containing the " Salt of Life " abounded in every
house , just as fern-cases and vivariums abound now , but Semler ' s was the only solution in which gold continued to be found . The
learned theologian attempted to account for this fact by peculiar theories of his own , whilst the known uprightness of his character ,
and the absurdity of the affair , rendered it extremely perplexing . At last the matter came to such a pass , that Klaproth ( one of the
first chemists of the day ) was appointed to analyse the solution in the presence of the king and his ministers . At this examination
great merriment was excited by the discovery of common brass , and not goldin the analysis ; and the police being engaged to
investi-, gate the matter , it was found that a faithful old servant of Semler ' s ( wishing to gratify a whim of his master ' s ) had been in the habit
of creeping into the laboratory , and slipping small fragments of goldleafor whatever metal he could findinto this favourite mixture .
This , discovery was fatal to the pretensions , of alchemy in Germany . Herr Freytag gives further particulars from the life of Semler , with .
a letter from his betrothed , ( Fraulein Dobnerin , ) supposed to have been written in the year 1750 .
This love affair is curiously illustrative of the odd light in which the marriage relation was regarded at this time . When Johanii
Salomo Semler left the University of Halle , he quitted the daughter of Professor Baumgarten with floods of sorrowful tears ,
and immediately resumed the same gushing intercourse with an old love he had left behind him at Saalfeld . Here , again ,, the
absence of any means for housekeeping separated the lovers , who to wait for a sign fromheavenand in the _meau time ,
agree Semler , being overwhelmed in , debt , , and anxious to advance in his theological career , conceives the bright idea of making a
mercenary proposal to a certain young lady , for whom he entertains no sentimental fancy , but who has a little money , and a
clever habit of making ends meet . The prudent Fraulein accepts the Herr Professor . To both of
them it appears that individual preference must be sacrificed to the furtherance of " self-development ; " and that independence of fancy
is as nothing when compared with intellectual usefulness . Plow often do the women of our days contrive to forward a mercenary
marriage with no such plausible excuse ! In the case before
us , there was high principle and good feeling in the subsequent
336 German Literature.
336 GERMAN LITERATURE .
-
-
Citation
-
English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Jan. 1, 1863, page 336, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01011863/page/48/
-