Alchemy.

His name was not Merlin or Ariel. He had no magical powers. He could not cause a fierce storm to appear out of nowhere. His name was John Dee. His fame spread when he caused people in the middle Ages to believe that he could turn a metal as common as lead into pure gold. Did he believe that he could change lead into gold? He did, or else he would not have spent so …showed first 75 words of 1740 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1740 total…cgi-bin/access.cgi?uri=/journals/journal_ of_medieval_and_early_modern_studies/v030/30.3knapp.pdf&session=71349227 Leary, Thomas (Penn). "Cryptology in the 16th and 17th Centuries." Cryptologia: A Quarterly Journal Devoted to Cryptology. July 1996. Online. Google Scholar. Internet. 27 Oct. 2005. Available FTP: home.att.net/~tleary/cryptolo.htm Redgrove, Herbert Stanley. Alchemy: Ancient and Modern. U of Virginia Library 1922. Online. Google Search. Internet. 2 Nov. 2005. Available FTP: athenaeum.asiya.org/Alchemy_Ancient_and_Modern.pdf