The curious case of "Streeter v. Pinter," in which the
well- known jeweller prosecutes an American for an attempt to cheat him under cover of a promise to manufacture gold, is still under inquiry before Mr. Hannay, the delay being caused by a promise to bring up other instances of similar attempts to defraud. The defence set up by the accused is that he really possesses a secret by which he can increase the bulk of a mass of gold, and is cleverly managed. It was alleged that oa one occasion he did increase a piece of gold by placing a black powder in a crucible, and it was asserted that, as the phenomenon occurred, the powder must have contained gold. Therefore the accused asked if the Magistrate had ever known gold float, and insisted on his powder, some of which was in Court, being tested there and then on water. This was done, and the powder floated, a result due, it was subsequently stated, to a mixture of lampblack in the powder which makes it too greasy to sink quickly. It will be observed that the accused claims a power far exceeding that of the old alchemists, They only " transmuted " or changed a cheap metal into a dear one; he proposes actually to increase the bulk of the metal,—that is, in fact, to create it.
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