ething so inviting in the old man's manner, something so
charming in the calm and dignified look that superior intellect
invariably gives, that I could not but comply, and following my guide, I
was conducted through long labyrinths of arches in silence, until I
reached the centre of the cavern, when I found myself in a vast hall
formed by nature, or roughly hewn out of the natural rock, and
illuminated by torches.

Here I saw a number of tables, and at each table sat one man. They
appeared to be all engaged in chemistry, for each man had before him his
crucibles and other instruments. So absorbed did they all seem in their
work that not one of them noticed our entrance, although we were
talking loud enough for all to hear and our voices re-echoed through the
cavern.

I tried to catch the eye of some of them in order to salute them, and
perhaps to enter into conversation with them, but no one looked up.

I felt somewhat chilled at this reception, as it seemed to me that they
must have heard us, and purposely avoided looking up. My guide, who
could read all that was passing in my mind, responded to my thoughts.

"Be not grieved at their apparent want of civility, for they do not even
see you. These spirits see nothing and hear nothing but what is
immediately before them and connected with their pursuits. All you see
here are alchemists. In your terrestrial globe their sole delight was in
the endeavour to make gold. To this end they voluntarily imprisoned
their spirits in one channel in order to concentrate the force of their
intellects towards the object of their pursuit.

"The development of their intellects alone at the expense of everything
else that is human, was their desire in the world; their intellects
alone, therefore, after death remain engrossed in their one pursuit to
all eternity, and they are both deaf and blind to all else."

"And will this be my lot?" I asked of my guide.

"That depends upon yourself," was the reply. "Your spirit is not so
entirely separated from your body as to make your doom irrevocable. In
whatever state you quit the world of the body, in that state the spirit
remains to eternity. If the state of these spirits pleases you not,
there is time to set your affections on another.

"Anon I will show you another class of alchemists. These that you have
seen are spirits who strive to make gold from love of science. Those I
will show you now are those who have the love of gold for their