One Hundred Years of Solitude

much on his experiments in
silverwork that he scarcely
left the laboratory to eat.
Worried ever his inner
withdrawal, José Arcadio
Buendía gave him the keys to
the house and a little money,
thinking that perhaps he
needed a woman. But
Aureliano spent the money on
muriatic acid to prepare some
aqua regia and he beautified
the keys by plating them with
gold. His excesses were