James Price (chemist) - Work On Transmutation

Work On Transmutation

In the following year, he appears to have been working on the transmutation of base metals into precious metals and on 6 May 1782, after revealing his findings to a few of his friends, he began a series of public experiments hosted at his laboratory in Guildford. He demonstrated that he could produce precious metals by mixing borax, nitre, and a red or white powder of his own devising (known as the powder of production) with fifty times its own weight in mercury and stirring the mixture in a crucible with an iron rod. Mixing in the red powder produced gold; the white powder, silver. He performed seven of the public demonstrations (the final one being on 25 May 1782) which were attended by the elite: peers, clergymen, lawyers, and chemists. Some of the gold produced during the experiments was presented to George III. The accounts of the experiments were published with great success.