The Argosy, Vol. XXIV, No. 3 — page 84: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

468 THE GOLD DELUGE. That same evening, by the continuous use of the dictionary and grammar, he managed to write a short description of his discovery in-French, beginning with the first tests. Next morning he received an order to appear that fore- noon at the office of the Minister of the Interior—Hjelm-Asborg-Hj elmstjerne. The letter was penned by the hand of the minister himself, and was couched in the most polite terms. It stated that for good and sufficient reasons—con- fidential, of course—there was a desire on the part of persons in higher authority to see Mr. Poulsen. Krik could find no reason for declining the desired conference ; in fact, he felt flattered that any attention at all was paid to him. On his way he handed his nianuscript to a printer and ordered the pamphlet to be ready by the following day. His excellency, a fine looking, well built man, about fifty years of age, arose and met Hrik when he entered the office. ‘The minister had a face showing a strong character, and his eyes a piercing, penetrating look. ‘‘ Good day, Mr. Poulsen,’’ he began in a friendly tone, and offered Erik his hand in a hearty shake. ‘‘I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak to you, as certainly it cannot be denied that you have made a most wonderful and startling discovery—important to the highest degree. At first I was in- credulous, but after a test at the university laboratory of your gold (of course, in strict privacy) I must believe that it isa fact. Please be seated and let us chat over the matter. Have a cigar?’’ His excellency was.a man of the world. : They began a conversation about chemistry in general, aud all that should be done forthis important science, and finally his excellency expressed his great pride that it was a Dane who had made this greatest discovery of many ages. But he would take the liberty to ask Mr. Poulsen whether he had carefully planned how he was to make the matter public and what results such publicity would have? Krik replied that he had simply given a written description of his discovery to the printer, and expected to send copies the next day to various scientific societies. Every chemist, by following the directions, could then make his own experiments and convince himself that it is the easiest thing in the world to change gold into silver, platinum, or vice versa. Above all, the old theory of basic elements had been utterly destroyed. — “ But, my dear sir!’ exclaimed his excellency quickly, ‘‘do you not see the _. tendency of all this? I can easily understand that for a scientist like you the greatest value is the scientific one alone, but you surely must agree with me, that the matter is of immense practical importance. I hesitate not in say- ing that no other discovery ever made will have such a gigantic influence upon existing conditions over the entire world, and therefore the announce- ment must not be made until the world has been prepared for it, and that very gradually. Mr. Poulsen, we must positively come to some sort of understanding. Suppose you went to the market. place, and there publicly announced your discovery. At first you would be disbelieved ; people would say you Were insane. Now let us assume that you would throw the gold among the masses, to convince them. What would happen? a =) LNOOLKS