A Compendium of Irish Biography/Butler, William

by Alfred Webb

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Butler, William, a well-known alchemist, the pretended discoverer of the philosopher's stone, and of a powder for bringing the dead to life, was born in Clare about 1534. He died at sea, on his passage to Spain, 29th January 1617. ^[1]

Authorities

1. Biographie Générale. 46 vols. Paris, 1855–'66.
   An interleaved copy, copiously noted by the late Dr. Thomas Fisher, Assistant Librarian of Trinity College, Dublin.