There Is Truth in Chalk

DOUBLE-BOTTOM CUPELS, HOLLOW STIRRING RODS, AND OTHER FRAUDS 

Filter papers with minute amounts of concealed gold or silver to be recovered upon ashing of the paper 

ladies, gentlemen, and children of all ages— watch as I scratch this little black crystal of samarium oxide (SmS). Presto—it changes to gold (colorwise, that is). Who will be the first to purchase some of this black gold  

Apparently, even today there are alchemists busily working away in France earnestly trying to discover the Stone of the Philosophers. Eureka There may yet be a customer to buy the famous Pont de Brooklyn from me. 

Nutnmedal, Fraud and the Problem of Authority in Early Modem Alchemy, The International Conference on the History of Alchemy and Chymistry, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia, 19-22 July 2006. 

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In vino veritas ( there is truth in wine ) implies that, suitably lubricated, a person may be more likely to confess all. However, the German apothecary Johann Friedrich Meyer (1705-1765) might well have said In colds veritas ( there is truth in chalk ) since it is through calcium carbonate (chalk limestone) that he discovered his acidum pingue—said to be the general principle innate in all bodies, the principle in fire, and the component of all acids (see Figure 178). And... 

There is truth in chalk is self-evident to any teacher who has not been fully converted to the computerized classroom. 

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