ely a believer in the
medical dogmas of the alchemists, he was actually the discoverer of a
new _elixir_, which went by his name, and which was sold in every
apothecary's shop as a specific against the epidemic diseases which were
then ravaging Germany. The Emperor Rudolph having heard of this
celebrated medicine, obtained a small portion of it from Tycho by the
hands of the Governor of Brandisium; but, not satisfied with the gift,
he seems to have applied to Tycho for an account of the method of
preparing it. Tycho accordingly addressed to the Emperor a long letter,
dated September 7, 1599, containing a minute account of the process.
The base of this remarkable medicine is Venetian treacle, which
undergoes an infinity of chemical operations and admixtures before it is
ready for the patient. When properly prepared he assures the Emperor
that it is better than gold, and that it may be made still more valuable
by mixing with it a single scruple either of the tincture of corals, or
sapphire, or hyacinth, or a solution of pearls, or of potable gold, if
it can be obtained free of all corrosive matter! In order to render the
medicine _universal_ for all diseases which can be cured by
perspiration, and which, he says, form a third of those which attack the
human frame, he combines it with antimony, a well known sudorific in the
present practice of physic. Tycho concludes his letter by humbly
beseeching the Emperor to keep the process secret, and reserve the
medicine for himself alone!

The same disposition of mind which made Tycho an astrologer and an
alchemist, inspired him with a singular love of the marvellous.

He had various automata with which he delighted to astonish the
peasants; and by means of invisible bells, which communicated with every
part of his establishment, and which rung with the gentlest touch, he
had great pleasure in bringing any of his pupils suddenly before
strangers, muttering at a particular time the words "Come hither,
Peter," as if he had commanded their presence by some supernatural
agency. If, on leaving home, he met with an old woman or a hare, he
returned immediately to his house: But the most extraordinary of all his
peculiarities remains to be noticed. When he lived at Uraniburg he
maintained an idiot of the name of Lep, who lay at his feet whenever he
sat down to dinner, and whom he fed with his own hand. Persuaded that
his mind, when moved, was capable of foretelling future events, Tycho