A gold elixir of youth in the 16th century French court .Philippe Charlier, Joël Poupon,  Isabelle Huynh-Charlier, Jean-François Saliège, Dominique Favier,et al.  BMJ 2009;339:b5311- Published 16 December 2009, Gold’s supposed powers of regeneration go back to antiquity. Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79)1 describes the preparation of two remedies using gold and their therapeutic properties. In the 13th century, alchemists like Michael Scot, Roger Bacon, and Arnaud de Villeneuve wrote about "Aurum potabile"—drinkable gold—and how to obtain it.Aurum potabile included many gold preparations, from almost pure water to real gold solutions prepared using nitrohydrochloric acid. Some types of drinkable gold were made by distilling alcohol solutions with sulphuric acid. During the process diethyl ether was made and this dissolved gold chloride, which formed a yellow coloured supernatant phase above a colourless aqueous phase.2 This was considered by some to be true drinkable gold.3Drinkable gold was well known in the 16th century French Court, and Alexandre de la Tourette dedicated his book on the subject to King Henri III.4 In the 17th century, many doctors and chemists like . [ See ]