Their chief weapon is the blow-pipe, in the use of which they are adepts.
The practices of the Persian adepts also are appealed to in the writings of the pseudo-Democritus,.
Numerous less distinguished adepts also practised the art, and sometimes were so successful in their deceptions that they gained the ear of kings, whose desire to profit by the achievements of science was in several instances rewarded by an abundant crop of counterfeit coins.
Though he lived in an atmosphere of alchemy, he derided the notion of the alkahest or universal solvent, and denounced the deceptions of the adepts who pretended to effect the transmutation of metals; but he believed mercury to be a constituent of all metals and heavy minerals, though he held there was no proof of the presence of "sulphur comburens."
Henceforth she determined to exclude all control save that of two Tibetan adepts or " mahatmas."
