SnakeEater
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Early in 1897, the British chemist Stephen H. Emmens, then residing in New York, announced the discovery of a new element which fills the "vacant space existing in the sub-group of Group I", and which he thought to be the intermediate matter from which silver and gold are formed. Dr. Emmens said, “Our claim is that the element in question is therefore neither silver nor gold, but which may, by our new physical methods, be converted into gold.”
Dr. Emmens' Argentaurum Laboratory on Staten Island then produced over 660 ounces of gold from silver and sold it to the U.S. Assay Office. He revealed a few historical and technical details of his transmutation process in his book, Argentaurum Papers #1: Some Remarks Concerning Gravitation:
"Our work, which converts silver into gold, had its origin in the course of certain investigations which I undertook for the purpose of preparing chemically pure nickel... in 1892. In attempting to prepare these pure metals [nickel and iron], a certain product was obtained which seemed to differ from anything recorded in the textbooks. The same product was subsequently found when the investigation was extended to the case of metallic cobalt... The phenomena observed afforded indications of the existence of some substance common to the whole of the elements in what is known as Series 4 of Group 8 of the classification of Chemical Elements... It appeared to us almost self-evident that if we were right in supposing a common substance to be present in any single series of elements, the same would hold good for each group.
And as Group I of the classification contains the precious metals - gold and silver - it was obvious that our time and attention should be directed to these metals rather than to any other....
Our starting point, so far as silver and gold were concerned, was afforded by the remarkable discoveries of Mr. Carey Lea with regard to [colloidal allotropic silver]... It was found that... this subdivision of metallic silver was attended by very considerable changes in the physical properties of the substance... By certain physical methods and by the aid of a certain apparatus, we succeeded in bringing about a further subdivision of the silver. We were not surprised to find that the substance obtained differed so far from ordinary silver that it could no longer be regarded as the same elementary substance. It seemed to require a new name and a new chemical symbol. Inasmuch, therefore, as our theory was that this substance was common to both gold and silver, and in reality was the raw material out of which both gold and silver were constructed by the hand of nature, we named the substance Argentaurum...
The next step was to ascertain whether this substance could be so treated as to be grouped into molecules of greater density than those of silver... We found that... Argentaurum can be aggregated into molecules having a density considerably superior to that of ordinary gold molecules. Whether we are right as to this or not, the condensed Argentaurum presents the appearance and is endowed with the properties of ordinary metallic gold...
We do not consume any chemicals and other costly materials in our process; what we use is mainly energy in some of its various forms, such as heat, electricity, magnetism, gravity, cohesion, chemical affinity, x-rays and the like... Our chief source of expense is the time required for bringing about the desired molecular changes... One ounce of silver will produce three-quarters of an ounce of gold... "
Whatever else transpired, Emmens pocketed the equivalent of $50k in today's money from the US mint. Now, I think I know the full circumstances of this event. Anyone else interested in taking a stab at it?
Dr. Emmens' Argentaurum Laboratory on Staten Island then produced over 660 ounces of gold from silver and sold it to the U.S. Assay Office. He revealed a few historical and technical details of his transmutation process in his book, Argentaurum Papers #1: Some Remarks Concerning Gravitation:
"Our work, which converts silver into gold, had its origin in the course of certain investigations which I undertook for the purpose of preparing chemically pure nickel... in 1892. In attempting to prepare these pure metals [nickel and iron], a certain product was obtained which seemed to differ from anything recorded in the textbooks. The same product was subsequently found when the investigation was extended to the case of metallic cobalt... The phenomena observed afforded indications of the existence of some substance common to the whole of the elements in what is known as Series 4 of Group 8 of the classification of Chemical Elements... It appeared to us almost self-evident that if we were right in supposing a common substance to be present in any single series of elements, the same would hold good for each group.
And as Group I of the classification contains the precious metals - gold and silver - it was obvious that our time and attention should be directed to these metals rather than to any other....
Our starting point, so far as silver and gold were concerned, was afforded by the remarkable discoveries of Mr. Carey Lea with regard to [colloidal allotropic silver]... It was found that... this subdivision of metallic silver was attended by very considerable changes in the physical properties of the substance... By certain physical methods and by the aid of a certain apparatus, we succeeded in bringing about a further subdivision of the silver. We were not surprised to find that the substance obtained differed so far from ordinary silver that it could no longer be regarded as the same elementary substance. It seemed to require a new name and a new chemical symbol. Inasmuch, therefore, as our theory was that this substance was common to both gold and silver, and in reality was the raw material out of which both gold and silver were constructed by the hand of nature, we named the substance Argentaurum...
The next step was to ascertain whether this substance could be so treated as to be grouped into molecules of greater density than those of silver... We found that... Argentaurum can be aggregated into molecules having a density considerably superior to that of ordinary gold molecules. Whether we are right as to this or not, the condensed Argentaurum presents the appearance and is endowed with the properties of ordinary metallic gold...
We do not consume any chemicals and other costly materials in our process; what we use is mainly energy in some of its various forms, such as heat, electricity, magnetism, gravity, cohesion, chemical affinity, x-rays and the like... Our chief source of expense is the time required for bringing about the desired molecular changes... One ounce of silver will produce three-quarters of an ounce of gold... "
Whatever else transpired, Emmens pocketed the equivalent of $50k in today's money from the US mint. Now, I think I know the full circumstances of this event. Anyone else interested in taking a stab at it?
