Inquiries were sent all the way to Batavia to know
"whether there be a hill in Sumatra which burneth continually, and
a fountain which runneth pure balsam." The astronomical precision
with which it seemed possible that physiological operations might
go on was evinced by the inquiry whether the Indians can so
prepare that stupefying herb Datura that "they make it lie several
days, months, years, according as they will, in a man's body without
doing him any harm, and at the end kill him without missing an
hour's time." Of this continent one of the inquiries was whether
there be a tree in Mexico that yields water, wine, vinegar, milk,
honey, wax, thread and needles.
Among the problems before the Paris Academy of Sciences those of
physiology and biology took a prominent place. The distillation of
compounds had long been practised, and the fact that the more
spirituous elements of certain substances were thus separated
naturally led to the question whether the essential essences of
life might not be discoverable in the same way. In order that all
might participate in the experiments, they were conducted in open
session of the academy, thus guarding against the danger of any
one member obtaining for his exclusive personal use a possible
elixir of life.
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