Hermetic and Alchemical Writings (Coelum Philosophorum, Aurora of the Philosophers, Concerning the Nature of Things, ...)

But if moderation be not observed it is impossible to perfect a tincture of this kind. If the fire which ought to vivify this tincture be too fierce, the operation will be fruitless ; and so if it be too weak. Therefore it is necessary at this point to know what is the mean in this Art, and what powers and properties it has ; also by what means it is to be ruled, and how to tinge the tinctures, or bring them to their perfect operation, so that they may germinate and become apparent. With these few words we would conclude this first tract.*

* It is prepared, then, so far as the body is concerned, from the aforesaid spirits, just as his wife is prepared for a husband, not by corporeal admixture, but when the spirit has been educed from its own metal and projected, after preparation, into Mercury, then at length it exhibits its transmutation. - Ibid. The End of the First Treatise.

Concerning the Philosopher's Mercury, and the Medium of Tinctures. IN the first treatise we have written concerning the spirits of the metals, their tinctures, etc., malting clear their properties and natures, and what each separate metal generates. In this second we will treat of the medium of tinctures, that is, the Philosophers' Mercury, whereby are made tinctures and fermentations of the metals ; in seven chapters, as follows : —

From what Tinctures and Leavens are Made. Whoever wishes to have a tincture of the metals, must take Philosophers' Mercury, and project it to its own end ; that is, into the quick mercury from whence it proceeded.* Hence will ensue that the Philosophers' Mercury will be dissolved in the quick mercury, and shall receive its strength, so that the Philosophers' Mercury shall kill the quick mercury and render it fixed in the fire like itself. For there is between these two mercuries as much agreement as between a man and his wife. They are both produced from the gross spirits of metals, except that the body of Sol remains fixed in the fire, but the quick mercury is not fixed. The one, however, is appropriated to the other as grain or seed to the earth, which we will illustrate by an example, thus : If anyone has sown barley he will gather barley ; if corn, corn, etc. None otherwise is it in this Art. If anyone sows Sol he will gather gold, while from Luna he will collect silver, and so with regard to the other metals. In this way we say here tinctures are produced from the metals, that is, from the Philosophers' Mercury and not from quick mercury. But this produces the seed which it had before conceived.!

* Notwithstanding, the tincture of mercury is a supreme secret. — De Ulcerum Curatioiu, c. lo. t The dead wife of the metal, like an uncultivated field or soil, if it be macerated or revivified by the philosophic plough (the wife remaining fixed and incorrupt during the process), it is united Co the aforesaid corporal spirit by the grades of fire, into its own nature and substance, and this with the dead body of the metal. Now, this cannot be done with the crass spirit of mercury. And although the mercury or quicksilver of Sol exists and is fixed, nevertheless the common mercury, not as yet fixed, never attains to resurrection. For the resurrection of the metals is an immortal regeneration, and the medium whereby tinctures of this kind are advanced to their generation. On this account, therefore, it cannot be united to dead bodies so as to bring about their fixation, but only to extracted spirits, as to those corporeal ones above-mentioned, which are subject to the metals just as common mercury is to all metallic spirits. The crass spirit of mercury can no more generate this tincture in its substance than a concubine can bring forth legitimate offspring. In the same way must it be judged concerning the crass spirit of mercury, until the metallic and corporal spirit is produced by means of the natural matter. Without this medium it will be impossible for anything good or perfect to be accomplished in tinctures of this kind. Moreover, if the fire be too intense it cannot generate ; if too slack, the same result ensues. — De Transmuiationzbits Aietallornm^ c. lo.

Concerning the Conjunction of the Man with the Woman. In order that the Philosophers' Mercury and the quick mercury may be joined, and this latter united with the fixed, it must of necessity be known how much of it must be taken, since more or less than the proper quantity may hinder or altogether destroy the whole business. For by superfluity the seed is suff'ocated, so that it cannot live until it is fixed by the Philosophers' Mercury. But by defect, since the body cannot be altogether dissolved, it is also destroyed so that it is able to produce no fruit. Wherefore it should be clearly ascertained how much of the one and the other ought to be taken, if, indeed, the artificer would bring this work to its legitimate end. Let the receipt be as follows, namely : Take one part to two, or three to four, and you will not err, but will arrive at the desired end.

Concerning the form of the Glass Instruments. When the matter has been rightly joined, it is necessary that you should have properly-proportioned glass vessels, neither larger nor smaller than is right. If they are too large, the woman, that is, the phlegm, is dispersed, whence it ensues that the seed cannot be born ; where they are too small the germ is suff'ocated so that it cannot come to fruit, just as when seed is sown under a tree, or among thorns, it cannot germinate, but perishes without fruit. No slight error, therefore, may arise through the vessels ; and when once this has occurred it cannot again be remedied in the same operation, nor can it arrive at a satisfactory issue. Wherefore note what follows, namely, that you take three ounces and a half and four pounds ; thus, having proceeded rightly, you will save the matter from being dispersed, and prevent the phlegm, or the germination, from being impeded.

Concerning the Properties of Fire. After you have placed the matter in the proper vessels, you will cherish It with natural heat, so that the outside shall not exceed the inside. For if the heat be excessive, no conjunction will take place, because by the intense heat the matter is dispersed and burnt, so that no advantage arises from it. On this account the mid region of the air has been arranged by Nature between heaven and earth ; otherwise the sun and the stars would burn up all the creatures on the earth, so that nothing could be produced from it. Take care, therefore, that between the matter and the fire you interpose an airy part of this kind, or a certain distance. In this way the heat will not easily be able in any way to do injury, nor to disperse, and still less to burn. For if the heat be insufficient neither will the spirit rest acting in no way upon its own humidity ; so it will be dried or fixed. For the spirits of metals are of themselves dead, and rest, and can effect nothing- unless they are vitalised. None otherwise in the great world the seed cast into the earth is dead, and cannot grow of itself unless it be vitalised by the heat of the sun. In the very first place, therefore, is it necessary to build the fire for this work in just proportion, neither too large nor too small ; otherwise this work will never be carried on to its desired and perfect end.

Concerning the Signs which appear in the Union of Conjunction. When the regimen of the fire is moderated, the matter is by degrees moved to blackness. Afterwards, when the dryness begins to act upon the humidity, various flowers of different colours simultaneously rise in the glass, just as they appear in the tail of the peacock, and such as no one has ever seen before. Sometimes, too, the glass looks as though it were entirely covered with gold. When this is perceived, it is a certain indication that the seed of the man is operating upon the seed of the woman, is ruling it and fixing it. That is, the fixed Mercury acts on the quick, and begins to embrace it. Afterwards, when the humidity has died out before the process of drying, those colours disappear, and the matter at length begins to grow white, and continues to do so until it attains the^supreme grade of whiteness. In the very first place, care should be taken not to hasten the matter unduly, according to the opinion of those who think that such a process is in all respects like what is perceived in the growth of corn, or in the production of a human being, the latter process occupying nine months, the former ten or twelve. Sol and Luna do not ripen so soon, , or are born so soon, as the child from its mother's womb, or the grain from the womb of the earth.

The higher and more perfect anything is and should be in its nature, the longer time is necessary for its production. For it should be known that everything which is born quickly perishes quickly. Both herbs and men afford a proof of this. In proportion as they are quickly produced or born is their life short. It is not so with Sol and Luna ; but they have a more perfect nature than men ; whence it ensues that they exhibit a long life for men and preserve them from many accidental diseases.

Concerning the Knowledge of the Perfect Tincture. In the preceding chapter we have said how the matter itself is graduated. In this we will make clear by what means it may be recognised when it is perfect. Do this : When the White Stone of Luna stands forth in its whiteness, separate a morsel from it with the forceps, and place it glowing over the fire on a plate of copper. If the Stone emits smoke it is not yet perfect, wherefore it must be left longer in decoction, until it comes to the grade of a perfect Stone. But if it emits no smoke, you may believe it to be perfect. In the same way proceed with the Red Stone of Sol in its due gradation.

Concerning the Augmentation or the Multiplying of Tinctures. When you wish to augment or to multiply the tincture which you have found, join it again with the common mercury. Proceed in all respects as before, and it will tinge a hundredfold more than it did previously. You can repeat this as often as you wish, so as to have as much of the matter as you desire. The longer it remains in the fire, the more highly graduated it becomes, so that one part of it will transmute an infinite number of parts of quick mercury into the best Luna and the most perfect Sol. Thus you have the whole process from the beginning to the end. With these few words we will conclude this second treatise, and will now begin the third. The End of the Second Treatise.

IN the second treatise we have described the method by which the tinctures or fermentations should be produced. In this third we will say how the tinctures of Sol and Luna are made. This we Shall make clear at sufficient length, and in what manner Sol, with the other planets, should be produced, namely, with the furnace and fire.

Concerning the Building of the Furnace, with the Fire. Mercurius Hermes Trismegistus says that he who perfects this Art creates a new world. For in the same way as God created the heaven and the earth, the furnace with its fire must be constructed and regulated, that is to say, in the following manner : First, let a furnace be built at a height of six palms, with the fingers and thumb extended, but in breadth only one palm ; round within and plain, so that the coals may not adhere to it. At the bottom let a little mound be raised, sloping on all sides to the border. Let holes be left open underneath, four fingers in breadth, and to each hole let its own furnace be applied with a copper cauldron, which contains water. Then take the best and most lasting coals, and break them into lumps the size of a walnut. With these fill the long furnace, which must then be closed, so as not to burn out. Afterwards, add coals below, right up to the holes. If the fire is too great, put a stove before it : if too little, let the coals be stirred with an iron rod, that they may meet the air and the heat may be increased. In this way you will be able to regulate the fire, according to the true requirements of its nature, so that it shall not be excessive or defective, but adapted to the movement of the matter. This is compared to the firmament. And there is another firmament in this place, namely, the matter contained in the glass. After these things follows the form of the world. The furnace then is to be placed as the sun in the great world, which affords light, life, and heat to the whole furnace itself, and to all the instruments and other things which it encloses.

Concerning the Conjunction of the Man with the Woman. Since we have treated of the furnace in which the tinctures are to be prepared, and of the fire, we now propose to describe more at length how the man and the woman meet and are joined together. This is the manner. Take Philosophers' Mercury, prepared and purified to its supreme degree. Dissolve this with its wife, that is to say, with quick mercury, so that the woman may dissolve the man, and the man may fix the woman. Then, just as the husband loves his wife and she her husband, the Philosophers' Mercury pursues the quick mercury with the most supreme love, and their nature is moved with the greatest affection towards us. So then each Mercury is blended with the other, as the woman with the man, and he with her, so far as the body is concerned, to such an extent that they have no difference, save as regards their powers and properties, seeing the man is fixed, but the woman volatile in the fire. For this reason, the woman is united to the man in such a way that she dissolves the man, and he fixes her and renders her constant in every consideration as a consequence. Conceal both in a glass vessel, thoroughly fastened, so that the woman may not escape or evaporate ; otherwise the whole work will be reduced to nothing.

Concerning the Copulation of the Man with the Woman, etc. When you have placed the husband and the wife in the matrimonial bed, in order that he may operate upon her and impregnate her, and that the seed of the woman may be coagulated into a mass by the seed of the man, without which she can bring forth no fruit, it is necessary that the man should perform his operation on the woman.

Concerning the Philosophic Coition of the Husband with His Wife. As soon as you see the woman take a black colour, know for a certainty that she has conceived and become pregnant : and when the seed of the man embraces the seed of the woman, this is the first sign and the key of this whole work and Art. Therefore preserve a continuous natural heat, and this blackness will appear and disappear through being consumed, as one worm eats another, and goes on consuming until not one is still left.

Concerning the Black Colour. As soon as the blackness appears and is manifest, it may be known that the woman has become impregnated. But when the peacock's tail begins to appear, that is, when many and various colours shall be seen in the glass, it is a sign that the Philosophers' Mercury is acting on the common mercury, and extending its wings until it shall have conquered. When, therefore, the dry acts on the moist these colours appear.

Concerning the Bud appearing in the Glass. When you have seen the different colours, it is necessary that you persevere in the work, by constantly continuing the fire, until the peacock's tail is quite consumed, while the matter of Luna becomes white and glittering as snow, and the vessel attains its degree of perfection. Then at length you may break off a morsel of the regulus, and place it on a heated copper plate. If it remains firm and fixed there, and tinges it, then it is a fermentation brought to the highest perfection of Luna. That King has strength and power, not only for transmuting metals, but also for healing all infirmities. He is a King worthy to be praised, and adorned with many virtues, and so great power, that he transmutes Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mercury into Luna, which will stand all tests. He also frees the bodies of men from an infinite number of diseases, as fevers, the falling sickness, leprosy, the gallic disease, and many mineral ailments which no herbs or roots, or anything of that kind, can remove. Whoever uses constantly this medicament, prepares for himself a fixed, long, and healthy life.

Concerning the Red Colour. After the King has assumed his perfect whiteness, the fire must be continued perseveringly, until the whiteness takes a yellow tint, this being the colour which succeeds the white ; for so long as any heat acts on the white and dry matter, the longer such action lasts, the more is it tinted with yellow and saffron colour, until it arrives at redness, like the colour of a ruby. Then at last the fermentation is prepared for gold, and the oriental King is born, sitting in his seat, and powerful above all the princes of this world.

Concerning Increase and Multiplication. The multiplying of this fermentation should be noted, which is performed in the following manner. Let it be dissolved in its own moisture, and afterwards subjected to the regimen of fire as before. It will act on its own humidity more quickly than it previously did, and will transmute into its own substance, just as a little leaven seems to transmute into leaven the whole of a large quantity of flour. Wherefore it is an unspeakable treasure on the earth, of which the universe has not the equal, as Augurellus witnesses. This secret was accounted by the old Fathers who possessed it as among the most occult, lest it should get into the hands of wicked men, who by its aid would be able more abundantly to fulfil their own wickedness and crimes. We, therefore, ask you, whoever have attained to this gift of God, that, imitating these Fathers, you will treat and preserve this divine mystery in the most secret manner possible, for if you tread it under foot, or scatter your pearls before swine, be sure that you will hear pronounced against you the severe sentence of God, the supreme avenger. But to those who, by the special grace of God, abstain most from all vices, this Art will be more constantly and more fully revealed than to any others. For with a man of this kind more wisdom is found than with a thousand sons of the world, by whom this Art is in no way discovered.

Whoever shall have found this secret and gift of God, let him praise the most high God, the Father and Son, with the Holy Spirit. And from this God alone let him implore grace, by which he may be able to use that gift to God's glory and to the good of his fellow-man. The merciful God grant that this may be so for the sake of Jesus Christ His Son, and our Saviour ! Here ends the Book concerning the Spirits of the Planets. THE ECONOMY OF MINERALS.* Elsewhere called the Genealogy of Minerals.

ALTHOUGH order seems to demand that we should have treated of the generation of minerals and metals before speaking of their transmutations : still, since theory cannot be more lucidly taught than by its practice, I have thought it best for those who study this art to begin from the very beginning. For, above all else. Alchemy is a subject which is not comprised in mere words, but only in elaborate facts ; just as is the case with the rest of those arts, familiarity with which is gained rather by putting them in practice than by any mere demonstrations. It is true that these demonstrations do a very great deal for those who are some way advanced rather than for initiates. For these it is best that from the very first they should have a finger in the pie (as the saying is), and gradually learn from the very mistakes they make. Nobody ever acquired even the easiest art without making such blunders ; and certainly no one will be able to follow up Alchemy without making mistakes before he gets at the truth. No one, again, will ever enter the true path so long as he holds back from the goal through fear of making a false step, or fails to correct his own errors by imitating the course of Nature. It will not be so easy to learn if we fail to compare alchemical with natural methods. So, then, it was thought well to let artificial Alchemy precede the natural, so that we may recall those who are venturing forth in this art to the genealogy of minerals, as if to a safe anchorage. It seemed opportune, nay, even necessary, to provide some such anchorage for this purpose in the case of those who are studying Alchemy.

But the end is visible from the issue towards which we see that disease tending, as though towards a mark set up for it to aim at. Now a thing cannot be better judged than by getting to know for what end it was created by God ; otherwise it will often happen that the true use of this creation of God turns to its abuse. Whosoever, therefore, undertakes any work with anything ought thoroughly to understand that with which he works, so that he may accomplish his task in the order prescribed by God, lest on account of his imperfect knowledge or utter ignorance of the matter, thmgs may turn out ill, and the devil's work rather than God's be done, through abuse of the matter and of appliances. For a rough example, take the case of an axe or club in the hand of a man who does not know how to use the one or the other. They become mere instruments of destruction. He alone should handle such tools who knows how to use them, and how, out of the material he has, to construct something that shall be to his neighbour's benefit, and preserve that material for the purpose for which God created it. On this account God wills that everything He has created should be possessed by one who knows how to use it ; and every man ought to apply himself to that pursuit whereto he feels in his own conscience called, and not to learn some other fanciful thing suggested by the devil. ,-^ Know, then, that the ultimate and also the primal matter* of everything is

fire. This is, as it were, the key that locks the chest. It is this which makes manifest whatever is hidden in anything. In this place, then, we understand by the ultimate matter of everything that into which it is dissolved by fire ; so that among the three universal things which I have discussed elsewhere in different places, this should be regarded as the first and predominating one. You have an illustration in the case of a metal dissolved in the fire. It at once makes it clear that its first beginning was Mercurial Water, not Sulphur, since its resolution is not accompanied with flame, as would be the case with resins. It is also proved not to be Salt, because the first sign of its resolution is not a crumbling besides liquefaction and flame, as would be the case with earth and stones. Every metal, it is true, contains within itself Sulphur and Salt, * I call the ultimate matter of anything that state in which the suhstance has reached its highest grade of exaltation and perfection, as, for example, gold, when it has been separated from all superfluities, foreign matter, etc., and remains in its pure virtue, without any admixture, has been educed into its ultimate matter.— CAzVz/r^rt Magna^ Pt. II. Tract II., c. II. For example, every body made from the first matter is compelled to metamorphose into the ultimate matter. Thus the great ultimate matter has its beginning in the end of the increase of the first matter.— /^/a'.. Part III. Lib, III.

The Economy of Minerals. gi but Mercury holds the principal place therein. Now, it has seemed good to God to create water an element, and that from it should be every day produced minerals for the use of men. Thus it becomes the mother of those things which are developed in her, as it were in her matrix ; that is to say. Mineral Fire, Salt, and Mercury are formed into metals, stones, and all mineral substance, albeit the offspring is quite unlike the mother. In this way the Most High has created all things with their own nature : the birds of the air for one purpose, which is different from that of the fishes in the sea. And so of the rest. Everything is to be committed to His divine will. Who makes everything as it is, and wills that what He makes shall be eternal. As, therefore, water is not like its metallic offspring, nor the son like the mother, in the same way the earth itself is, as it were, wood and not wood, because it comes from that same source. In the same way, stone and iron are produced from water, which, however, becomes such water as never before existed : and the earth, too, becomes something which in itself it is not. So also man must become that which he is not.*

In a word, whatever is to pass into its ultimate matter must become something different from what its origin was — varied and diverse, though from one mother. Thus God willed to be One in all, that is, to be the one primal and ultimate matter of all things. He is such, and so wonderful, an original artificer of all things as never has existed, nor will another ever exist. As, then, you have now heard so far concerning the mother of the minerals, we will in the sequel teach you more fully. The ancients have falsely written that this is the earth ; but they have never been able to prove it.

Concerning the Ultimate and Primal Matter of Minerals. The first principle with God was the ultimate matter which He Himself made to be the primal, just as a fruit which produces another fruit. It has seed ; and this seed ranks as primal matter. Likewise,- out of the ultimate matter of minerals the primal element was made, that is, it was made into seed, which seed is the element of water. This resolves it, so that it becomes water. It has been entrusted to it by Nature, or so arranged that it should produce the ultimate matter, and this is in water. Nature, therefore, takes under its own power and separation whatever there is in water ; and whatever relates to a metal it puts on one side by itself for each particular metal. So also for gems, stones, the magnet, and other things of that kind, each separately and according to its own kind. For as God has appointed to the wheat its proper time for harvest, and the autumntide for fruits, and to other things like these in their elements, so for the element of water He has * It is needful for man to be born a second time from a virgin, not from a wife, by water and by the spirit. For the spirit vivifies that flesh wherein there is no death possible for ever. The flesh wherein death abides profits nothing, and nothing towards eternal salvation can it confer upon man. — Philosophia Sagax, Lib. IL, c. 2.

willed that there shall be a proper season of harvest and autumntide ; and for all other things, each according to its kind, He has foreordained times for the collection of their fruits. So, then, the element of water is the mother, seed, and root of all minerals ; and the Archseus therein is he who disposes everything according to a definite order, so that each comes to its ultimate matter, which at length man receives as a sort of artificial primal matter : that is, where Nature ends, there the Art of man begins, for Nature's ultimate matter is man's primal matter. After such a wonderful method has God created water as the first matter of Nature, so soft and weak a substance, yet from it as a fruit the most solid metal, stones, etc. — the very hardest from the very softest: — • and so that from the water fire should issue forth, beyond the grasp of man's intelligence, but not beyond the power of Nature. God has created wonderful offspring from that mother, as appears also in men ; if they be looked at even in their mother, each will be found peculiar in his intellect and his properties, not according to his body, but according to his own state of constitution.

Concerning the Field, the Roots, and the Trees of Minerals. The Most High created the element of water to be, as it were, a field in which the roots of mineral trees, springing forth from their seeds, should be fixed, and thence the trunk and the branches should be thrust forth over the earth. He separated it, therefore, from the other three, so that neither in the air, nor in the earth, nor in heaven, but placed on the lower globe, it should exist by itself as a free body, to be on the earth and to have its centre there where it was founded, created after such an admirable order that it should bear man upon it like the earth ; so that man borne in a ship should speed over the water and get possession of it. What is more marvellous still is that though it surrounds our globe in every direction, the water does not fall down from its own limits, though the part at our antipodes seems to hang downwards, just as our part seems to them, and yet each remains spread out a plane surface on its own sphere, wherever you look at it, as if some pit should be imagined which, descending perpendicularly to the abyss, should find no bottom nor be sustained by the earth. It is even more wonderful than the &^^ in its shell, provided with all that it requires. The generations of minerals, then, from the element of water are protruded into the earth, just as from the element of earth all fruits are pushed forward into the air, so that nothing but the root remains in the earth.

Exactly so, all metals, salt, gems, stones, talc, marcasites, sulphurs, and every similar substance, pass from their mother, the water, to another mother, namely, the earth, in which the operation of their trees is perfected, while their roots are fixed in the water. For as those things which grow from roots in the earth are finished in the air, in like manner, those which derive their origin from the water are altogether completed by Nature in the earth, so that they reach, as the others did, their ultimate matter. The

ancients, led astray by this opinion, because they saw that metals were found in the earth, were so little advanced that they did not see their error when, on the subject of minerals, they wrote that out of the earth grew nothing but wood, leaves, flowers, fruits, and herbs, and that everything else was produced from water. No less mythical was the saying of that man who asserted that all things which were produced on the earth had their origin from the air, because they are in the air and are perfected there, though he saw their roots in the earth. Because he did not see the roots of minerals with his bodily eyes he would even feign that they are fixed in the earth. Such is the physical science of the Greeks, deduced only from what is seen, recognising nothing occult by mental experiment. It is just a fiction of lazy men who presume to chatter about natural science from eyesight alone ; and who do not experiment so as to observe those occult things which underlie the things which are manifest, the one over against the other.

Concerning the Fruits and the Harvest of Minerals. Just as all the fruits of the earth have their harvest and autumn on the earth and in the air, according to the predestined time in their generation, so the fruits of the water, that is to say, minerals, are gathered at their own time of maturity. When the mineral root first germinates they rise to their own trunk and tree, that is, into the body from which minerals or metals are subsequently produced ; just as a nut or a cherry is not immediately produced from the earth, but first of all a tree, from which at length the fruit is generated. In like manner. Nature puts forth a mineral tree, that is, an aqueous body, in the element of water. This tree is produced in the earth so far as it fills the pores thereof, just in the same way as the earth itself fills the air. From this are eventually produced fruits according to the nature and property of its species, at the extremities of its branches, just as occurs in trees which we see on the surface of the earth. We must seek, then, first of all, for the aqueous tree, and by-and-by for its fruits, by a method not inaptly borrowed from agriculture, and in the following manner. Some of the visible trees produce their fruits covered up ; for instance, chestnuts under a prickly bark, walnuts under one that is green and bitter, under that a wooden covering, and under this again a bitter membrane, and then at last the kernel.

So it happens in minerals, the kernels of which, that is to say, the metals, are separated just like those others by barks. Other trees produce their fruits naked, such as plums, cherries, pears, apples, grapes, etc., where there is no such separation as that just described. So also some aqueous trees produce their gold, silver, corals, and other metals of that kind, free and naked, according to the condition and nature of the water. As we know by the rind what fruit lies concealed within it, and as the spirit is known by its body, just so, in the case of minerals, the spirit of the metal is recognised, though hidden,

beneath its corporeal or mineral bark. The spirit of the aqueous element produces the body, of one kind in the mineral, of a different kind in the fruit. Although, then, gold may be in a mineral body, nevertheless that body is of no moment ; it has to be separated from the gold as impure, while the gold itself is pure. There are, therefore, in a mineral two bodies, of which one is the fruit, the pure body of gold, wherewith its spirit is inseparably incorporated. So the fruits are first introduced from the element into the tree, as the spirit into an impure body, and with that at last into the earth, as something noble and pure. The same thing is seen in man, to whom have been given two bodies, one corrupt, but the other incorrupt, which will be eternally united with him, since it is the image of God, and by its possession especially man differs from all other creatures.*

Concerning the Death of the Elements, especially of Water. Elements die, as men die, on account of the corruption in them. As water at its death, as it were, consumes and devours its own fruit, so does the earth its own fruits. Whatever is born from it returns to it again, is swallowed up and lost, just as the time past is swallowed up by yesterday's days and nights, the light or darkness of which we shall never see again. It is no weightier to-day than yesterday, not even by a single grain, and will after a thousand years be of the same weight still. As it gives forth, so, in the same degree, it consumes. The death of the water, however, is in its own proper element, in that great terminus and centre of water, the sea, wherein the rivers, and whatever else flows into it, die and are consumed as wood in the fire. Rivers, indeed, are not the element of water, but the fruit of that element, which is the sea ; from this they derive their origin, and in this they receive both their life and their death.

Concerning the Death of the Tree of Minerals. After Nature has planted the mineral root of a tree in the centre of its matrix, whether to produce a metal, a stone, a gem, salt, alum, vitriol, a saline or sweet, cold or hot spring, a coral, or a marcasite, and after it has thrust forth the trunk to the earth, this trunk spreads abroad in different branches, * The flesh and blood which man received from Adam can in no wise enter into the kingdom of God. For nothing can ascend into heaven which did not come forth out of heaven. Now the Adamic iiesh is eai-th. Thus it cannot enter heaven, but is again converted into earth. It is mortal, subject to death, and nothing mortal can enter heaven. There is no fire which can purge it from its stains in such wise as to make it fit for heaven. It admits not of purging or glorifying. At the same time, man cannot enter heaven* unless he be true man, clothed upon with flesh and blood. For it is, only by flesh and blood that man is distinguished from the angels, for, otherwise, both are of the same essence. Herein man hath more than the angels, in that he is endowed with flesh and blood, and for man was the Son of God born into the world ; for him He died upon the cross, that so man might be redeemed and made eligible for the kingdom of heaven.

But when God had thus shewn His love for man, his flesh still excluded him from heaven, whence He gave him another flesh and blood which was built up of the Son, and then this creature, not of the Father, but the Son, enters heaven. For the Adamic flesh is of the Father, and returns whence it came, though had Adam not sinned his body would have remained immortal in Paradise. But Christ, compassionating our calamity, gave us a new body. Of the spirit who

the liquid of whose substance— both of branches and stalk— is formally neither a water, nor an oil, nor a lute, nor a mucilage ; in fact, it can only be conceived as wood growing out of the earth, which is, nevertheless, not earth, though sprung therefrom. They are spread in such a manner that one branch is separated from another by an interval of two or three climates and as many regions : sometimes from Germany to Hungary, and even beyond. The branches of the different trees .of the same kind are extended over the whole sphere of the earth, just as the veins in the human body are extended into various limbs far apart from each other. But the fruits put forth by the extremities of the twigs, by the nature of the ultimate matter, soon fall to the earth. There is a momentary coagulation of them, and then at length, when all its fruit is shed, this tree dies and is utterly consumed by dryness, its offspring being left in the earth. Afterwards, according to its state of nature, a new tree appears. So, then, the first matter of minerals consists of water ; and it comprises only Sulphur, Salt, and Mercury. These minerals are that element's spirit and soul, containing in themselves all minerals, metals, gems, salts, and other things of that kind, like different seeds in a bag. These being poured into water. Nature then directs every seed to its peculiar and final fruit, incessantly disposing them according to their species and genera.

These and like things proceed from that true physical science, and those fountains of sound philosophy from which, through meditative contemplation of the works of God, arises the most intimate knowledge of the Supreme Creator and of His virtues. To the minds and mental sight of true philosophers, no less than to their carnal eyes, the clear light appears. To them the occult becomes manifest. But that Greek Satan has sown in the philosophic field of true wisdom, tares and his own false seed, to wit, Aristoteles, Albertus, Avicenna, Rhasis, and that kind of men, enemies of the light of God and of Nature, who have perverted the whole of physical science, since the time when they transmuted the name of Sophia into Philosophy.*

Concerning the Variation of the Primal Matter of Minerals, in proportion to the different species and individuals thereof : also concerning the various colours, etc. We have before said that the primal matter exists in its mother, just as if in a bag, and that it is composed of three ingredients meeting in one. gives life cometh forth a living flesh, wherein is no death but life. This is the flesh whereof man has need, that he may become a new man, and in this flesh and in that blood, at the last day, shall he arise, and shall possess the kingdom of heaven with Christ. Now, this flesh which has its life from the spirit was first born, without the generation of male seed, from a daughter of Abraham, by promise, and became man by the Holy Ghost. So, also, we who aspire to the kingdom must be born again out of a virgin and faith, incarnated by the Holy Spirit. Thus man must to eternity be flesh and blood ; thus is there a dual flesh— that which is Adamic and is nothing, and that of the Holy Spirit which is vivific. — Philosophia Sag^ax, Lib. II., c. 2.

* So high and so lofty is human wisdom that it hath in its power all the stars, the firmament itself, and universal heaven. And as the power thereof pervades all the earth, so also it extends over heaven. The Sun and Moon are its subjects. Even as the hand changes and compels the soil, so also the inner microcosmus compels the zenith to obedience. — De Feste, Lib. 11., c. 2. But there are as many varieties of Mercury, Salt, and Sulphur as there are diiferent fruits in minerals. For a different Sulphur is found in lead, iron, gold ; in sapphire, and other gems ; in stones, marcasites, and salts ; likewise a different Salt in metals, salts, etc. So, too, is it with Mercury : one kind exists in gems, another in metals. Besides, in respect of the composition of these, different individuals are found under the same species. Gold is sometimes found, one specimen heavier or more deeply coloured than another : and so of the rest. Moreover, there are as many Sulphurs of gold. Salts, and diversities of Mercury of gold, and of the others, as there are greater and lesser degrees. Nevertheless, all which among them receives particularity from the subject always is comprised under the universality of one and the same Sulphur, Salt, and Mercury, mysteriously comprehended in universal Nature. In this respect Nature may be compared parabolically to a painter, who from some few colours paints an infinite number of pictures, no one exactly like another.

The only difference is, that Nature produces living pictures, but the artist only imitates these. He represents the same things to the eye; but they are dead things. Now, all natural colours proceed from the Salt of Nature, in which they exist together with the balsam of things and coagulation. Sulphur exhibits the substance of bodies and their building up ; Mercury, their virtues and arcana. God alone assigns life to all, so that from every one should be produced that which He, from all eternity, had predestinated to be thence produced, as He determined and willed that all should be. Whoever, therefore, wishes to understand the bodies of natural things, let him learn from natural Sulphur that which he may first of all have well understood, if he seeks natural colours as the foundation from Salt. But if he wishes to know the virtues of things, he must scrutinise the arcana belonging to the Mercury of that thing whose virtues he wishes to learn. All these matters does that one and the same Nature at once embrace in one, and separate ; at the same time distributing, removing, or completely blotting out the colours from such. Consider, I beseech you, this tiny grain of seed, black or brown in colour, out of which grows a vast tree, producing such wonderful greenness in its leaves, such variegated colours in its flowers, and flavours in its fruits of such infinite variety ;

see this repeated by Nature in all her products, and you will find her so marvellous, so rich, in her mysteries that you will have enough to last you all your life in this book of Nature without referring to paper books. If God, then shews Himself to our discernment in Nature so powerful and so wise, how much more glorious will He reveal Himself by His Holy Spirit to our mind if we only seek Him ? This is the way of safety which leads from below to above. This is to walk in the ways of the Lord, to be occupied in admiring His works and to carry out His will, so far as is in us, or as it should and can be in us. This has been my Academia, not Athens, Paris, or Toulouse. After I had read many deceitful books of wise men I betook myself to this one alone from which I learnt all that I write, which also I know to be true. Still, I confess there are many more things which I do not know, but which will surge up to

the surface in God's own time. There is nothing- so occult which shall not be revealed when the Almighty wills it so to be. This, however, I know, that after me will come a disciple of this school, one who does not yet live, but who will disclose many things.

Concerning the Natural Dispenser of Minerals, and His Ministers. In the manufacture of minerals by men for preparing them and adapting them for use, not one man alone, but many in succession, are required, and each of these has his own special gift and duty. Who is benefitted by a metal being dug from the bowels of the earth, unless it be its separator, preparer, or liquefactor? What is he, again, without the smith? He, too, is of no avail without some buyer, nor the buyer unless there be someone who knows how to adapt those metals for use. Nature does not need all these ; but still she needs her own people. Among these is, first of all, Archeus, the dispenser of minerals, who has ministers under him.* He himself, the minister of Nature, has the following : the first, who exhibits the corporeal matter into which the operation falls, namely, the mineral Sulphur, is this or that condition and nature ; a second, who fabricates the properties and virtues, and operates on the previously existing matter, say, for instance. Mercury ; a third, who, by compaction and coagulation, unites all the single portions together into one body, that is to say, the Salt, which is the confirmer of the work. When all these are brought together into one, and enclosed in an athanor, Archeus decocts them, exactly as the seed in the earth j and not only so, but they are decocted mutually together, one with the other, in the following manner :

The Sulphur submits its body to the other two, that they may do with it what they will, and lead to that end whereto is destined that which has to be done. Mercury is added with the properties of its virtues, and this is decocted by the other two. When all the decoctions of this kind are fulfilled, then, at length, the salt begins to operate on the other matters associated with it, and on itself. By first condensing, afterwards congealing', and, lastly, coagulating, it strengthens the work for its autumn and harvest, so that nothing is wanting except a harvester and a smith.

Briefly, then, we have g^one through the whole genealogy of minerals. It remains that we specially, but still concisely, hear the force and virtue of each in Alchemy and in Medicine respectively, so far as it is necessary to learn these for the aforesaid faculties. I would admonish my readers to put aside for awhile the mere dreams and opinions of others who romance about these things, until they see that they are only philosophers on paper, not in Nature, who have been taught by men like themselves, and with the same amount of * Archeus is Nature and the dispenser of things, — Annotationes in Lihros duos de Tartaro, The anatomy of the Archeus is the anatomy of life. - Fragmenta Anatoinia. Archeus is the separator of the elements and of all those things which exist in them, dividing each thing from the rest, and gathering it into its own place. — De Etemento Ag-uce, Tract II., c. I, learning, to think by rote and not by experience, while they shew themselves to others such as they really are. Though they may not care to see, I will still place them so that at least they may perceive the light and nature and life more easily, without being disturbed through the darkness of death. Beginning, then, from the first principles of minerals, which are Salts, we will run through each, that is to say, right up to the very end of the metals.

Concerning the Virtues and Properties of Salts in Alchemy and God, in His goodness and greatness, willed that man should be led by Nature to such a state of necessity as to be unable to live naturally without natural Salt. Hence its necessity in all foods. Salt is the balsam of Nature,* which drives away the corruption of the warm Sulphur with the moist Mercury, out of which two ingredients man is by Nature compacted. Now, since it is necessary that these prime constituents should be nourished with something like themselves, it follows as a matter of course that man must use ardent foods for the sustenance of his internal Sulphur ; moist foods for nourishing the Mercury, and salted foods for keeping the Salt in a faculty for building up the body. Its power for conservation is chiefly seen in the fact that it keeps dead flesh for a very long time from decay ; hence it is easy to guess that it will still more preserve living flesh. Coming, at length, to its kinds, there are three which are considered specially useful for man's life. The first of these is Marine Salt, the second is Spring Salt, and the third Mineral Salt. Spring Salt is chiefly conducive to health ; in the second place. Mineral Salt ; and, lastly,, Marine Salt. This last and the first are decocted by Art, the other only by Nature. This and the Marine Salt are not comprised under the nature of muria (brine), but that which is decocted is first of all turned thereinto, before it is separated from the water into coagulated salt.

There are, therefore, two descriptions of Salt to be put forward by us, one from muria, the other from wholly refined salt. But, first, consideration should be given to that condition which is common to every Salt. Where Salt has not been used with foods there is no correction ; and if the stomach receives those foods it is unable to digest them. There is in Salt an expulsive force, acting through the excrement or through the urine, and unless these are kept in their regular course and motion, all the vital faculties are prostrated in their endeavours

* White vitriol, red vitriol, cuprine vitriol, rock alum, alumen plumosum, alumen scissum, alumen entali, alumen usnetum, sal gemmae, rock salt, mountain salt, sea salt, spring salt— all these species originate from the salt of the three prime principles, and are subject to calcination, reverberation, or sublimation. Now, if all these things subsist in a proper proportion or, so to speak, essence, they are called by one universal name, liquor of Nature, or liquor of salt or balsam of salt. Besides these, there are arsenic, realgar, ogertum, black auripigment (that is, orpiment), antimony mercury, asphalt. These, in like manner, are subject to calcination, reverberation, distillation, etc., and if they subsist wholly in one essence they are called the balsam of Nature, the liquor of Mercury, or the balsam of Mercury. Finally there are the various species of sulphur, petroleum, carabe, pitch, etc., which are also subject to the same processes and if they subsist unseparated in a single essence they are called the tincture of Nature, liquor of sulphur, or balsam of sulphur. — Fragjnetita Medica, No. 3, and in their powers of expulsion. The blood is in its own nature salt, and does not receive unsalted nutriment. If it does, through extreme hunger, sometimes receive such, it passes away to decay. In order that such a fault might be avoided, Salt has been appointed as an addition to alimentary foods, so that the natural outlets may not be obstructed, or the members be deprived of their due nutriment.

Moreover, there lies hid in Salt a solvent faculty for opening the obstructions which accidentally occur in the pores of the skin, and driving them out by resolving them into urine. The urine is only the salt of the blood, that is, the salt from the natural salt which is associated with the microcosmic salt, and so they both act powerfully for the expulsion of the excrements. Now, this natural conjunction can only be made when tempered with a proper quantity of alimentary salt, otherwise through the stoppage they easily remain and adhere somewhere. Every physician ought to know the power there is in Salt as a medicine, especially when he wishes to purge the natural Salt. Let him more freely prescribe this, especially the kind that comes from gems, which, above all others, has the faculty of attacking and expelling this natural Salt. The operations of these three different kinds of Salt should be carefully watched in practice, a method which opens the eyes far better than any letter or description.

Concerning Muria. I just now mentioned two kinds of Salt, Muria and dry Salt. First of all, Muria has the greatest power of drying up all superfluous moisture. It does more in one hour than dry Salt could effect in a month. Although this has been reduced to Muria, it has not the same power as the natural in curing moist gout, dropsy, moist tumours of the tibia, and other tumours as well, in a word, for consuming all unnatural leprous liquids. Its heat should be so tempered that a patient could sit in it as in a bath without injury. The proof of perfection in Muria is that an e:^^ shall swim on its surface when thrown into it. It should be noticed that a bath of this kind is only adapted for stout people. People who are of a spare habit should not use it, as it dries up too much. If after one or two baths the tumours return, it would be best to live for a time in those places where the decoctions of Muriae and Salt are made.

Concerning Dry Salt. There are various species of dry Salts, such as the common sort used with food, that from gems, stones, and earths, and that which comes through the cones of congelated bodies. Note the common virtue of each. If any one of them be mixed with Sulphur and applied to wounds as a plaster, and then as a lotion, it keeps them from worms, and even if the worms have already been produced, it drives them away and prevents any more from coming. By lOO The Hermetic and Alchemiial Writings of Paracelsus. cleansing alone, and without the use of any medicament, Nature heals wounds, unless any complication prove an obstacle to the free action of the natural balsam. In Salts of this kind is a great remedy for ulcers, scabies, and the like, if they are resolved in baths. The power of Muria is much stronger, and this can be increased by dissolving Salt in it. The same is useful for curing baldness, and other ailments of that kind, especially if these Salts are corrected by addition, or increased in power by the following method : Take equal quantities of dry Salt and Salt of Urine,* as much as you will, let them be calcined together for two hours, and let Muria afterwards be dissolved ; or let them be put by themselves in a cold, damp place. They will exhibit artificial Muria very little less strong than the natural in external surgical cases, but much weaker in internal cures.

The aforesaid Salts will never be found in any other things, even though the alcali be decocted from them. This Salt is not like those before named, but is called the alcali of natural things or Corporeal Salt, because it is fed by the salts of nutriment in the human body, or by the preceding, even the dry and specially nutritive ones. For Alchemy, the Water of Salt is made from the same kind of Salts calcined into a spirit in a vessel where gold is dissolved Into an oil and separated from it so that it remains excellent and potable— Drinkable Gold. Before it arrives at this final condition, as we have heard from jewellers and ironmasters, it is an excellent artifice for gilding silver or iron, and would be a constant treasure if they only knew how to prepare it chemically. It should be remarked, too, concerning pure Salt, congelated by Nature alone either into cones or into the salt of a gem, that this is particularly adapted for the ordinary cementations of silver, and renders the metal malleable without the customary burnings. It does the same with copper by means of a cement reduced to a regulus.

Concerning Salt Nitre. There is also another kind of salt which is called nitre, t It is composed naturally of the natural salt of animals' bodies, and the salt of nutriment in those bodies combined. One salt having thus been formed from two, the superfluity is decocted into Urine, and, falling on the earth, is again decocted in due course. The two constituents are more and more closely united, so that from them results one single and perfect salt through the chemical- separation brought about by artificial decoction from its earth. It shews itself very clearly in the form of cones or of clods, provided it be thoroughly separated from the superfluous nutrimental Salt not yet digested by the animal decoction * Every urine is a resolved salt.— Z)^ yudicio Urinarum, Lib. 11. Salt passes into urine.— De Tartaro Lib. I., Tract III., c. I, expositio. t Nitre forms in the pens and stables where cattle make water. For the earth whereon they make water is afterwards cooked and the salt nitre obtained from it. For all urine is salt.— Z>« Tartaro, Lib. I., Tract III., annotationes in c. 2. Nitre is excrement and the dead body of esile and nutrimental matter. And this dead body is that out of

which putrefaction grows.— Fragmenta Medica, De Tararo Niireo. It is an essential spirit and excrement of all salts, possessing a hermaphroditic nature. — De PesHlitate, Tract I. The Economy of Minerals. loi when it is driven off into the urine. In Alchemy its use is very frequent. It would be idle to recount how great was the violence which a first experiment demonstrated therein with disastrous result, when it was compounded with sulphur and formed into blasting powder, whence it has been deservedly called terrestrial lightning. In the same way, from the salt of the liquor of the earth, which is an universal natural balsam, by which all things are built up in their special combinations, returning at length from this by resolution into the earth again — there is produced, as was stated above, a single salt, which afterwards percolating through the pores of the earth is coagulated in the form of cones of ice adhering to the rocks, from which circumstance it changed its name of Nitre into Saltpetre. Neither the one nor the other is particularly useful as an internal medicine, except in the way of reducing too obese bodies ; nor is it a very safe remedy, unless the two are mixed with Salt of Copper, or else the three are subjected to a process of extraction, and formed into one body for employment in this special way.

Concerning the III Effects of Nutrimental Salt. All salt used with food which has not been digested by the stomach, which also on being expelled has passed down into the intestine, unless it makes a thorough transit, generates colic and suffering in the bowels which are very difficult to cure. Its corrosive nature causes it sometimes to perforate the intestines, as is shewn by anatomy. If, however, it remains unexpelled in the stomach, eructations and heartburns arise, with many other affections of the stomach. It sornetimes happens, too, that the undigested Salt is coagulated in the mesaraic veins, forming a granular deposit, from which proceed many severe diseases which are little understood, and that not only in this particular part of the body but in others also, especially the urinary organs. Enough has been said on the different species of salts, their virtues and their faults. We now pass on to that salt which is more mineral in its character, and is named Vitriol. It excels all others by its utility, both in Alchemy and in Medicine.

Nature produces from the bowels of the earth a certain kind of salt, named Vitriol, possessed of such virtues and powers as can scarcely be described to the full by any. In it are contained perfect cures for the jaundice, gravel, calculus, * An important variation of this and the following chapters on vitriol occurs in the Geneva folio. Concerning the USE OF viTRioLATED OIL IN Alchemv ; and in like manner concerning its crude form. By way of saying something about the hidden alchemical powers in Vitriol, I would iirst of all submit to you, concerning crude vitriol, that each separate kind of crude vitriol makes copper out of iron. It is not the Alchemist who does this, but Natiu-e or Vitriol by the operation of the Alchemist. In the light "of Nature it is the subject of no small wonder to observe how any metal, as it were, -puts off itself and becomes something else. It is really very much the same as if a woman should be produced from a man. In these matters, however. Nature has her own peculiar privileges conferred upon her by God, for the benefit of fevers, worms, the falling sickness, and many other diseases which are very difRcult to treat, and arising from obstructions, as we shall describe at greater length below. In both faculties, that is to say, in Medicine and in Alchemy, it produces marvellous eifects, varying according to the method of its preparation.

As from one log of wood different images are carved, so from this body various most excellent medicines are prepared, not only for internal disorders but also for surgical cases, such as ringworm and leprosy. In a word, whatever other remedies are not able to effect against diseases, on account of their own weakness, this it does from the very foundation by removing the cause of the disease. Some of its powers it puts forth in a crude state, others when it is reduced to water, others when it is calcined, others when it is reduced to a green oil, others in the form of a red oil ; others, again, it possesses when in the form of a white oil. It assumes new powers with every fresh form of preparation which it receives. It can serve for a fourth part of all the diseases and all the drugs ever thought of. There is no need for the true physician to turn his eyes hither and thither. Like a modest maid, he can keep them fixed on the ground, for there, beneath his feet, he will find more power and wealth in this treasure of Nature than India, Egypt, Barbary, and Greece could bring him.

Concerning the Species of Vitriol and the Tests of it. The species of Vitriol are as varied as the mines or sources from which it is extracted. The tests of its greater or less excellence vary in equal proportion. First, if it tinges an iron plate to the colour of copper, the more deeply it does so, the better it is considered. But this is the highest of all kinds. Secondly, when it is taken internally in a crude form it drives out intestinal worms better than any other medicine, and the more effectually it does this the better it is man. I say this concerning transmutation in order to make you understand how that envious philosopher, Aristotle, in his philosophy, has no sure foundation, but is simply fatuous. I will lay before you, in due course, the recipe itself, so that in all parts of the German nation you may know how to make copper out of iron. From this power of transmutation we can easily gather that many other transmutations are possible, though they are at present unknown to us. It cannot be denied that many arts are still occult, and that these are not revealed by God because we are not worthy of knowing them. Of course the change of iron into copper is not of the same importance as the change of iron into gold. God manifests the lesser, but the greater is kept occult until the time of knowledge and of Elias who is to come.

For these arts are not without their Elias. The following is the recipe for transmutation : Take raspings or filings of iron, without any other metal, such as copper, tin, etc., one pound ; add quicksilver, half a pound. Put both into an iron pan or pot ; pour over them one measure of acetum and a quarter of a pound of vitriol, with one ounce and a half of sal armoniac. Let these be boiled together and constantly well stirred with wood. If the acetum be expended, pour in some more and add fresh vitriol. By this decoction the iron is transmuted into copper. If the copper is made it all passes away to the quicksilver. Having continued the decoction for ten or twelve hours, then separate as much of the quicksilver as is left from the iron, and wash it carefully so that it may be quite clean. Receive the quicksilver in a bag made of soft leather or cotton and squeeze it out. Then you will see an amalgam left. Let that amalgam expend itself, and you will find pure and good copper. Of this copper take half an ounce and the same quantity of silver. Let them pass into a state of flux or liquefaction, and the silver will forthwith ascend to the sixteenth degree. And this is the method of proving that such copper is made from iron. It is not, however, true that the grades are fixed.

But whoever can work well with regale will be abundantly rewarded. Everything in this operation depends on skill in working. This is where most operators fail. By the above-mentioned process you can always make copper out of iron. I mention this to confirm the transmutation of one body into another. The nature of vitriol is such that if its colcothar be calcined it is at once, even with slight liquefaction, turned into copper. A remarkable cuprine nature is in it, and there is also an equally remarkable vitriolic nature in copper. If the copper be dissolved in aqua fortis and granulated, all the copper becomes vitriol. There is no more copper left. So, also, copper is made out of vitriol, and no more vitriol

considered to be as a medicine. A third test is when it transmutes iron into copper. The more perfectly and the more rapidly it does this, the better should it be esteemed in both faculties, for there is the greatest affinity between these two metals. Nor is this remarkable when by means of borax water quicksilver is made in like manner from lead. There are other kinds of cachimiae which convert metals ; and besides these there is a fountain in Hungary, or rather a torrent, which derives its origin from Vitriol, nay, its whole substance is Vitriol, and any iron thrown into it is ' at once consumed and turned to rust, while this rust is immediately reduced to the best and most permanent copper, by means of fire and bellows. A fourth test is when its red colcothar, subjected to a strong fire, exhibits copper of itself. This is comparatively weak in Medicine, but of great excellence in Alchemy. We must not omit to speak of its colours. That which is altogether coerulean is not so strong in medicine as that which under the same colour has red and yellow spots mixed together. That which is of a pale sky blue colour should be selected before all others for the preparof the green and the white oil. That which inclines to a red or dark yellow colour is best for preparing the red -oil from it. The last test is when with gall nuts it makes a very black and dark ink. This should be selected in preference to all the others. The species, therefore, are reckoned according to the tests.

Concerning the Virtues of Vitriol, Crude or Calcined, in Medicine. For the most severe pains in the stomach and discomforts arising from the inordinate use of food or drink, exhibit crude Vitriol to the extent of six cometz or three drops, say, three grains. To weak patients it should be administered in wine or in water, to stronger ones in distilled wine. It purges remains, unless it be reconverted into vitriol by a sufficient quantity of aquafortis. This kind of kinship between vitriol and copper is remarkable. Whatever is of the nature of copper gives good vitriol. Thus verdigris gives good and highly graduated blue vitriol. Although for us to discuss these matters at any length would perhaps be ridiculous, still none can deny that there is latent in vitriol a tinctiue, which is of much higher excellence than most people imagine. Happy he who understands this matter ! Note other facts about the oil of vitriol. If the oil of quicksilver and this oil of vitriol be joined and thus coagulated according to their own special process, a sapphire of marvellous nature and condition is produced. It is not, indeed, the sapphire stone, but like it, with a wonderful tinge, concerning which I have much more to say. Hence it is evident that stupendous secrets lie hidden in Nature and in the different creations of Nature or of God ; and it would be much more to our credit if we looked into these and investigated them, instead of indulging in revelry and debauchery.

At present the palm is given to debauchery, until one-third part of mankind or of the population of the world shall be killed, another shall be finished off by disease, and the remaining third only shall be saved and survive. In the present condition of depravity the world cannot last or the arts flourish. It must needs be that the present condition and order of things go to destruction and be altogether eliminated, otherwise no good thing can be compassed. Then at last will flourish the Golden Age : that is, then at last man will use his intelligence and live as a man, not as a brute ; nor will he act the swine, or live in caves and dens of the earth. Since, then, I have so far communicated to you these facts about vitriol, with every good disposition, I now pray you all, that when you see those unlucky and unhappy creatures suffering from critical disease, for the sake of your own conscience, for God's glory, and the love of your neighbour, you will seriously reflect and not despise or lightly esteem the gifts implanted by God in vitriol. Let love constrain you, so that by night and by day you may be occupied herein, and none be found taking his ease, but all ready to do anything for his neighbour's good. Will this not move you lawyers'! Listen to what Christ says ; " Woe unto you, lawyers I " This saying is not effete.

Nor do you theologians place a stumbling block in the way, you who think so much more of your returns and your salaries than about your sick folk. These are they who pass by on the Jericho road. Be you like the Good Samaritan, and follow the example of his virtue. Then God will so enlarge your gifts that in helping the sick you shall suffer no lack. All that you need shall be given you. You only sell this treasiu-e !

out every failing from the roots, driving it up and down. In arcana it is called Vitriol Grillus, or Grilla. Neither hellebore, nor colocynth, nor digridion purge so strongly or cure so perfectly as this, nor have they the same faculty for driving out worms. For curing the falling sickness, too, the purgation by Vitriol is of all methods the best. These properties accrue to it from its twofold nature, that is to say, its acetosity and its saltness. On this account it is a much nobler medicine than others. Its colcothar, or, as they call it, its red Caput Mortuum, should not be taken internally, unless as an adjunct to surgical treatment for putrid ulcers of the first grade of malignity ; but its oil may be taken for those of the second or third grade. Its medicinal virtues^ are contained in other medical books, as, for instance, in the treatise entitled De Naturalibus Rebus. Here we had intended only to treat and to bring to one focus what it does for Alchemy in the way of transmutation. Sometimes medical topics tempt one to stray from one's set purpose. Let us see, then, what Vitriol does in Alchemy beyond the transmutation of iron into copper, as we described above, giving the formula at the outset. Although, then, it is not so difficult a work to transmute iron into gold, God wills that the lesser operations shall be performed first, and that the greater ones should remain occult until the Elias of the Art arrives.

All arts have some one person specially their own, as is understood in other arts. Now, take one pound of iron filing, without the admixture of any other metal, and half-a-pound of Mercury. Over these pour one measure of the strongest Acetum, with a quarter of a pound of Vitriol. Throw in an ounce and a half of Sal Armoniac. Boil all together, and stir constantly with a wooden spoon. As the Acetum wastes pour on fresh, and also Vitriol. After twelve hours let the chief part of the Iron which has been transmuted be entirely separated with Mercury from the other part of the Iron which has not been transmuted ; and when the Mercury has been pressed out by a leather, there will remain a paste of amalgam, and when this is reduced by fire it exhibits the purest copper. Half an ounce of this is at once mixed with an equal part of silver, six degrees being held back, though not fixed but ready to be fixed in regale., so that therefrom the industrious Artist may have moderate gain for food and clothing. Vitriol is also made from Venus, dissolved by means of aquafortis and granulated. This does not return again to copper. So also from the colcothar of vitriol Venus is made (as we have mentioned above among the tests), which is not brought back to vitriol of itself except by a special water. Verdigris, in like manner, exhibits a Spagyric Vitriol of highest degree. In Vitriol so great and powerful a tincture lurks as an inexperienced person could scarcely believe, though he can who understands its arcana. As often as Oil of Vitriol is mixed with Oil of Mercury, and both are coagulated together, they change to a stone of wonderful tint and condition, very Hke a sapphire.

- Having dealt with the Salts, let us now pass on to Sulphur.

Concerning the Threefold Sulphur of Minerals. Sulphur should properly be called the resin of the earth, and in it are latent numberless virtues available in both faculties, though its crude form is useful in neither. Its arcanum alone, when cleansed from impurities, operates in a wonderful way, having been washed to that whiteness which is seen in snow, by means of the Isopic art. It has as many different virtues as it has variety of sources : for every metal or mineral contains Sulphur in itself. As we said above, under the similitude of chestnuts and other nuts, that minerals were likewise enclosed in their rinds, and that the chief excellence lay concealed in their nucleus, which is sustained and nourished by the external integuments, so with regard to Sulphurs, it must be understood that it is the interior one which excels the others, and is Spagyrically termed embryonated, on account of its specific origin, as being the Sulphur of gold, stone, etc. The external Sulphur, in which the embryonated lies concealed, is our mineral. There is also a third kind, extracted from the nuclei of minerals or of metals, which cannot have a better name in the art than " animated " and " Spagyric." It is of universal application in both faculties. In order to better comprehension, the first Sulphur, which we have said to be a resin of the earth, as it were, the mother and the father of other sulphurs, we name universal.

The second kind is where it assumes a metallic or mineral appearance, but it is now embryonated ; the third, which is repurged from these and exists Spagyrically pure from all superfluities, is Animated Sulphur. There are two conditions of this embryonated Sulphur which are worthy of notice. One, passing from the fixed stage, is made volatile ; the other is a pure and living fire which destroys with equal facility a log of wood or a disease. The extraction of the embryonated Sulphur is brought about either by sublimation or by descent. But sometimes it is not found mixed naturally with other ingredients, so that being unable through its great subtlety to stand the heat of the fire in preparations of this kind, it has to be extracted from its minerals by means of aquafortis, and afterwards coagulated. This, when set aside according to its true concordance, contains within itself a golden nature, on which account it is to be sought before all others in Alchemy, because it easily admits of fixation, nay, it fixes the gold in cements, and in other metals where it is not yet mature or volatile. But gold is vainly sought therefrom unless it shall have previously existed there by Nature. It contains no silver, but only gold, one containing more than another, as in the embryonate of Venus, of red talc, of gold or iron marcasite, these rarely lack gold. Now, whoever wishes to turn his hand to these things, let him first of all remember and carefully note to separate Sulphur of this kind from gold with the greatest activity, and cleverly withal, so that nothing shall perish with the gold. I could say more than this, but I must be silent. If it were not diametrically to oppose the will of God, it would be the easiest thing possible to make all rich alike by a very

few words, and to fulfil the wishes of everybody. But since riches altogether lead aside the poor from the right path, taking away humility and piety, and putting pride and self-sufficiency in their place, together with petulance and incontinence, one would rather hold one's tongue, leaving poverty as a bridle against these faults in those who are at once poor and greedy of wealth. To come to mineral Sulphur. The leader of our Art has directed his disciples to a recognition of this fact, that nothing can be generated from the woman without her husband. They have seen, therefore, that this Art is the father which arranges all things. He has summoned the spirit of transmutation whereby the mineral Sulphur is joined to linseed oil, and thence, by means of decoction a certain form results in the shape of a liver or a lung, and from thence afterwards a twofold liquid, one as white as milk, thick and oily ; the other like oil, very red and as thick as blood ; but both of such a nature that one will not mix with the other. The white Hquid sinks to the bottom, the red floating on the surface. Attempts have been made to go farther, and make a white tincture from the white liquid ; but to no purpose. I know that nothing has been done or can be done in this way, because the matter is weak and useless for this Art.

But any crystal or beryl placed therein at the proper tirne, and remaining there for three years at least, is transmuted into a stone very like a jacinth. Likewise a ruby, which has not been sufficiently tinted by Nature, is, in course of time, rendered so clear and bright that it shines by night like a natural carbuncle, and wherever it is placed it can be found at night without a light. The same result follows with a jacinth ; and in the sapphire the coerulean colour is increased beyond the natural hue, with a translucent green tint inserted. It is also a most excellent tincture for other gems, as well as for Luna. If this be placed therein, it grows black, and lays aside the calx of Sol, though it be not fixed until it has arrived at its complete stage of perfection. Enough on this topic. Whoever wishes to work with this tincture, must first learn by means of Alchemy carefully to accomplish its preparation. It is well nigh the most difficult of all alchemical operations so far as preperation is concerned. This oil excels only in tints. In the greater virtues it is not so much to be trusted for acting, because there is a tincture of colour only in it, not of virtue. Some persons have tried also to extract tinctures from the metals. They have failed ; but it would not be well to set down here the cause of their failure.

This, however, is very certain, whoever has the Tincture of Sol, will be able to bring the body of gold beyond its natural degree, that is to say, from twenty-four to the thirty-six, and beyond, so intensely that it cannot ascend higher, though it still remains constant and fixed in antimony and in every quartation. The Sulphur of Luna, too, exalts its own body to such a degree that Venus, with an equal weight of this Luna, is taken for the Lydian stone. The Sulphur of Venus fixes copper, so that it will stand the test of lightning, but, nevertheless, it does not tinge. With the Sulphur of Saturn [it is transmuted into] the best steel ; with the Sulphur of Jupiter, into excellent iron. So, too, tin is fixed with its own

Sulphur, so that it stands lightning, and Saturn is strengthened and fixed by its own [sulphur], so that it no longer affords any ceruse, or minium, or spirit. The Sulphur of Mercury renders its own body malleable, so that it bears the ignition of Venus, but not its ashes. The Sulphur of Sol tinges Luna, but does not fix it. There occur also with the other sulphurs transmutations of things put in them into some other bodies than their own. But this experiment does not turn out as desired. It should be remarked, meanwhile, that Sulphur demands a very expert operator, not a mere boaster or charlatan. Concerning Arsenic used for Alchemy.* It seems right to connect Arsenic generically with Sulphurs rather than with Mercuries, and to treat it immediately after Sulphurs. Some old chemists, or rather sophists, labouring at chemistry, swelling with jaundice, that is, with desire of gold, and a sort qf yellow dropsy, when they saw in arsenic the white Tincture of Venus, and the red tincture in the calamine stone, believing, too, that the true arcanum of the stone was contained in these, thought the white and red electrum were silver and gold until they found out the contrary by tests, and learnt that they had been engaged in a vain work. And not content with that they went on perversely in order to arrive at fixation, and persevered until they had neither house nor possession left. They had wrought a transmutation in themselves rather than in the metals ! And what wonder ? They approached this work without judgment, and possessing no knowledge of minerals and metals, as so many of those who embark in the Art at the present day do. Since the time when the name of electrum given by the ancients passed into oblivion, there has forthwith followed the ruin of those

* In this case, also, the Geneva folio offers considerable variations from the text as it stands above. Concerning THE Alchemical Virtues in Arsenic— A certain name was invented and put forth by our ancestors, namely, electrum. Electrum is a metal proceeding from another metal, and unlike the metal from which it descends. For example : Copper turns to white metal. When its redness is removed it is called electrum. In like manner, from copper, by means of cadmia, is made orichalcum, and this is called red electrum. These different kinds of electrum certain alchemical sciolists and artists reckoned as silver, and sometimes took in place of gold ; nor did they understand or believe anything else save that thU was silver, and so that silver could be produced from copper. Omitting the name of electnmi, they took it for silver or for gold, and did not leave off their investigations so long as a house or a court remained. I point out this in order that error may be avoided, and that due consideration may be given to the questions, What is electrum ? what is gold ? and what is silver ? and that in this way no rash measures may be taken. Now, I will lay before you a certain medicament. Take the metal arsenic, prepared in a metallic way ; cement the same with Venus in the usual manner, and you will find a large quantity of electrum in the copper.

No one need incur great expense for this substance, because it costs a good deal to make electrum. So, then, it is better to leave copper as copper in its own form. In no respect is its electrum better, but rather commoner. So by dissolving it in graduated water it leaves a calx. It is not that silver is produced, but electrum ; and it is rendered so subtle that nothing whatever remains, but it vani.shes, and because it is not fixed it is consumed. Tbus not only in copper, but also in iron, tin, steel, etc., a residuum is left ; but nothing of a fixed character is present, and in this way many are deceived. Eventually matters came to this crisis, that electrum lost its name and was called silver, whereupon there began for the alchemists destruction, exile, misery, and disappointed hopes. There are many recipes of this kind which it is not necessary to recount. They are well known to artists who follow me in this chapter, who also have well weighed their own error in seeking it in vain elsewhere. There is a good deal of seduction for juniors to desert the method of their elders, and when the pupil wishes to be more learned than the master, and no longer remains in the right path, but judges things for himself, and is prepared to abide by his own opinion. All that comes of it is, he labours in vain, thus atoning for his fault and incurring grievous loss. The ancients called this substance electrum, and such is its proper name. The moderns call it silver— its improper name. Our forefathers avoided all loss because they knew what they were about ; the rising generation do not know, and so incur loss. It has been a constant custom in alchemy that

who changed that name into fictitious gold and silver. That has been the destruction ot modern chemists. To define Electrum : it is a metal made from some other by Art, and no longer resembling that from which it was made. For example : arsenical metal, prepared according to the form of metallic preparation, cemented with Venus in the accustomed manner, converts the whole copper into white electrum more worthless than its own copper. What need is there to deprave metals at great expense ? Would it not be better to leave the copper in its own natural essence, to keep one's money, and devote time and labour to a more useful work? The ancients called Electrum by its proper name; the moderns falsely call it silver. The ancients were not losers, because they knew the Electrum itself ; the moderns, because they have no knowledge of Electrum, throw away their faculties, labour, and time. Now, since in Alchemy all mistakes are constantly propped up with some new hope, it was tried to fix Arsenic by means of reverberations for some weeks, and by other devices. Thence it ensued that the Arsenic became red and brittle like coral, but of no use in Alchemy except for Electrum, as was just now said. Then by descent and precipitation they eifected nothing more than by their calcinations. Thus it happens that in Alchemy obstinate men are deceived because they do not learn thoroughly from the foundation all the terms of the Art.

It is true that Arsenic does, in its own natural condition, contain gold ; and that this gold, by the industry of the artist, can sometimes be separated in a cement, or a projection, or otherwise, into silver, copper, or lead by attraction ; but it does not therefore follow that this is produced by his operations and his tinctures. It means only that the gold which was there before has been derived by a process of separation, as it generally is, from its ore. It is nearly always found golden, and very seldom lacks gold, as is the case with many

investigations shall be made with persistent good hope. Hence operators have tried to fix arsenic, and to transmute it into another essence, on the chance that it may be, or may be rendere-^, better, and prove of greater efficacy. Hereupon followed the reverberation of arsenic, and its circulation in a reverberatory of reeds for some weeks, or by some similar process. Arsenic has been rendered like crystal, red and beautiful, like red glass for its hardness, light weight, and fragility. There is no place for the virtues of this arsenic in medicine. It regards only electra, as has already been said. Moreover, it has been attempted to deal with this, too, by another method of preparation, namely, by descent. By this method it is rendered red and yellow, and in potency is equivalent to the species already mentioned. Some have precipitated it, and it has approached, or even reached, a red coloiu* ; and yet not all the operators in this way have reaped the fruit of their labours or arrived at the result they contemplated, but only at the electric stage of it, which, on account of their ignorance and inexperience, led many artists astray. Wherefore it is necessary that everyone in these things should be farsighted. He who has not full knowledge and comprehension of all names does nothing, and the heads, however full of brains, do not get at the foundation of the matter. One thing is wanting to them for a foundation— to know electrum and other substances when they see them.

Then they understand of themselves whether they can progress with electrum or not. Nevertheless it often happens that arsenic is auriferous in its nature, and contains gold in it. Now, if an operator is skilled in separating gold from arsenic, whether by a cement or by some method of projection, or by another process, so that he can reduce that gold to some metal, such as silver copper, or lead, without doubt he will find it to be gold, and of excellent quality too. To follow this up so that a tincture shall be produced, or it shall issue forth from a tincture, is nothing ; but the gold is in the arsenic, and the whole matter lies in depurgation, separation, and kindred processes, according as anyone has experience therein. Arsenic, especially, which comes from auriferous districts, or from gold, is rarely without gold. The only point of importance is that the separation shall be properly made. I know nothing more of arsenic and its species beyond what I have put forward ; at least, nothing which it is lawful and expedient to make known, whether with reference to medicine or to alchemical operations. Whoever has prudence ought to be sufficiently skilful for this purpose. If he has it not, let him altogether abstain. No faculty can subdue itself ; but failiu-e must ensue if due order and a genuine mode of procedure have not been preserved. You should follow the guidance of your own judgment. The man who follows no other guide is not in a state of subservience to any.

other substances. So far, then, have I given concerning Arsenic what I know, or what it is advisable to write. Let everybody first of all diligently examine its name, so that he may understand. Otherwise error is apt to arise easily in both faculties, which is only at length discovered by the result.

Having dealt with salts and sulphurs,, we come to Quicksilver. This ^ cannot be properly termed a metal, but rather a metallic water; but it is called a metal for this reason, because, by means of Alchemy, it is brought to a solid substance and into a metallic colour, sometimes being fixed and sometimes not fixed. It can only be known as the chief material of Alchemists, who are able from it to make gold, silver, copper, etc. , which will stand the test. So, too, perhaps tin, lead, and even iron. It is of a wonderful nature, inscrutable save after great labour. In a word, it shews itself to be, the first material of Alchemists in metallic degrees, and the chief arcanum in medicine. It is a water which wets nothing it touches, an animal without feet, and the heaviest of all metals. It consists of Sulphur, Salt, and Mercury. The first and last matter it discloses in liquefactions of the metals, especially those which liquefy by heat without fire, and in others by flux.

Concerning Cachimi.s; and Imperfect Bodies. There is another kind of mineral bodies which is not saline, nor is it a metal, but metallic ; such are marcasites,'^ chiseta red and white, perfect and imperfect antimoniacs, arsenicals, auripigments, various talcics, cobleta, granata, gem-like bodies, etc. I say these are metallic bodies since they have chiefly the first metallic matter, and derive their origin from the first three metallic bodies, to which they fly, as it were, and are incorporated with them as metals, for instance, gold, silver, copper, iron, etc. But since together with them there is incorporated a metallic enemy, they can only be separated * Marcasites are to be found in all genera, whether you have regard to colour, brilliancy, form, or any other property. For they are nothing else than the superfluity of metals, that is, matter abundant in metals, being something which metals are unable to bear or contain within them, or convert into their own form. First of all, when the salts are separated from Ares (the occult dispenser of Nature), a separation of metals follows. Out of these, firstly, marcasite is produced which is unfit to become a metal, and yet in that matter it so resides that at first out of Ares there grows that matter of the metals. And it is the first matter, consisting of three things, the spirit of salt, the spirit of mercury, and the spirit of sulphur, hut in such a manner that these three are one.

Of these all metals and minerals consist. These things being so ordered, Archeus (the occult virtue of Nature) institutes the first operation of metals, so as to produce them and distinguish them into their forms and natures. But before he deals with the metals themselves, he ejects the superfluity which abounds in salt, mercury, and sulphur, and purges the three, after which the superfluity emerges along a simple line into its own yliadum (chaos), and is at first divided into two genera, marcasites and cachimiae Here it is coagulated into a mineral, consisting of salt, sulphur, and mercury. Yellow marcasite obtains its colour from the predominance of sulphur ; the white from the predominance of mercury. For sulphur and cachimis acquire their colour from salt, for this is derived from the spirit of salt, just as gravity is derived from mercury in all three. But if the separation be properly effected, each of the minerals, that is to say mercury, sulphur, salt, settles in its own place. Of these three all minerals consist.— i?? Elemenio Aqua Tract III., c. i.

by means, of Alchemy when set free from the tyranny of this foe. There are different enemies of this kind which practise robbery against the metals, just as if anyone seeking refuge with a companion should be robbed in his house and killed by the very man whose help he asked. Some of those spoken of consist chiefly of Sulphur, as marcasites, chiseta, cobleta ; others in the body of Mercury, as arsenicals, auripigmentals, antimoniacs, etc. Others in Salt, as all belonging to talc. There are two colours of marcasites, the white and the yellow, according to the imperfect metallic Sulphur arranged in them, which also they need for many purposes. An imperfect metal is made from cobleta. This admits of liquefaction, and passes into a state of flux, is of a blacker colour than lead and iron, but of no brightness or metallic glitter ; it barely admits of malleation, so that scarcely anything can be made from it. Its ultimate matter has not yet been discovered, nor the process of its separation. There is no doubt it is a promiscuous race from the male and female, as is the case in iron and steel, but these cannot be perfectly welded until some method of separation is discovered. There is another similar body called zinchinum ; not that which is commonly so known, but a peculiar kind in which various metals are found to be adulterated, of a liquefiable nature and not malleable.

It differs much in colour from the others, of which the last has not yet been found. In its preparation it is almost as wonderful as Mercury itself. It avoids mixture with anything else, and remains a special glass much to be admired among minerals. Metallic grains are found also in torrents, and are called granates, on account of their outer form. They are liquefied and bear the hammer ; but still are not capable of being made into any implement. The properties of these bodies cannot be known unless they are revealed by Alchemy. Many contain adulterated metals, such as silver and gold, which flow to them, as they are accustomed to do to copper and to lead. They consist of a certain dense kind of Sulphur. Some granates of another kind are clear as crystal, and there is gold and silver in them.*

Concerning Metals free by Nature, Perfect and Imperfect ; and FIRST concerning SaTURN, OR LeAD. Saturn has obtained a body the blackest and densest of all (though white, yellow, and red inhere therem), Mercury a similar one, and Salt one * As in the generation of marcasites, so in cachimise. The superfluity is ejected from the prime principles. Some times mercury, sometimes sulphur, sometimes salt, will predominate, and that which predominates forms a mineral" In marcasites sulphur and mercury prevail, as two very light things which first fly away, then coagulate, and become very heavy. After the superfluity more completely departs, there is more salt and less of the other principles, though they are not altogether absent. Thus originate cachimias, tabulated and fissile, out of the nature of salt, which in sulphur and such mercury is of this property. It has all colours, white and red, receiving them from sulphur and mercury as one or the other predominates. But cachimia is more fixed and solid than marcasite, by reason of its fixed salt. Colours, also, are fixed in it, so that it may receive no injury from the fire. Thus marcasite is the superfluity abounding in the first matter of metals in Ares, which is separated by Archeus into Yliadum, whence afterwards are generated about thirty forms of marcasite and cachimise, all of which are, nevertheless, comprehended under two names. The multiplicity of these genera, which are all derived from one matter, is owing to the unequal manner in which the three prime principles are combined. — Ibid. , c. 2,

The Economy of Minerals. 1 1 1 above all others fusible. By corruption it is easily reduced to its spirit, to white or yellow cerussa, to minium, and lastly, to glass, like the rest. Tin is made up of white fixed Sulphur and fixed Salt but of Mercury not fixed. And because it is fixed in body, not in Mercury, it easily loses its metallic fusion, the spirit passing away by the fire ; and when this is absent it is no longer a metal but an evanescent body. Iron and steel are not of the liquefiable Sulphur, Salt, and Mercury, contrary to tin and lead. Iron is coagulated into the hardest metal of all, and it marries itself : that is, two metals are found in one, steel the male, and the female iron. These can be separated one from the other, each for its special use. Gold is generated from the very purest Sulphur, perfectly sublimated by Nature, purged from all its dregs and spurious admixtures, and exalted to such a transparency that no metal can corporeally ascend higher. This Sulphur is one part of the primal element, and if Alchemists could have this as something easily discoverable in its tree and root, they would be able with due cause to rejoice ; for it is the true Sulphur of the philosophers out of which gold is made, not that other gold out of which is made iron, copper, etc.

This is its universal test. Its Mercury, too, is by Nature perfectly separated from all terrestrial and accidental superfluity, transmuted separately into its mercurial part, and into extreme perspicuity, which Mercury of the Philosphers is the second part of the primal matter of gold, from which gold is generated. Lastly, Salt is the third part of the primal essence of gold, and of the tree from which gold is to be produced, as roses from rose-seeds^ — gold which is brought to its supreme crystalline brightness, and purified from all the acridity, acerbity, bitterness, darkness, and vitriolic nature of Salt, so that nothing of this kind appertains to it, now that it rejoices in its lucidity and transparency.

When these three meet together in one, the gold is decocted into a mass, not, however, always of one and the same condition or degree. Nature exhibits thirty-two grains of gold, and these in Art become twenty-four grains in the highest grade of perfection. The cause of this is that the gold is nourished in its tree as a cow in its pastures, or an epicurean in his cook-shop and eating-house. Directly one of these leaves his feeding-place he grows lean, and so is it with gold ; it is diminished by eight degrees. And as some of these feeding-places are occasionally inferior, it happens that the degrees of the gold are deteriorated or diminished too ; so that Nature's sum total of twenty-six is reduced in Art to ten. The accidents, or rather the incidents, of the stars or of the elements sometimes hinder the generation of gold, so that it becomes ruder and less tractable in its nature. But it is especially inequality in the weights of the three primals which has eff'ect. Too great a portion of Salt renders it too pale. With too much Mercury it grows yellow, and with a too plentiful supply of Sulphur it is rendered red. In Nature, just as much as in the work of man, errors occur by means of these hindrances ; but these can be removed by means of antimony, cements, and quartations. In Sulphur nothing should be looked for but a body, in Salt confirmation, but

in Mercury all virtue, property, essence, and medicine, which do not exist anywhere else as it does therein ; but rather as in a dead body from which the spirit has departed, in which, however, we try to keep some of the elementary powers, as, for instance, the remains of the fire of wine in Acetum, though — ^ these are corrosive rather than nutritive or strengthening. Natural objects clearly shew that they are compounded of the four elements ; but beyond that the matter is occult. They are made up only of the three we have spoken about, which possess a magnet common to them all. This, in the decoction ot the preparation, attracts to itself the trinity of essence. The old philosophers called this state esse, because the trinity acquires a condition of unity in which the natural motion reposes and settles the degree. But that magnetic virtue should deservedly be called a fourth esse (not element) since it attracts the medicine to the Mercury in which it is found. In the ultimate separation, however, the Mercury loses most of its weight. All these matters being thus arranged by Nature, the gold grows up to a tree, spreading forth first from the root by the trunk to its branches and twigs, on which flowers are produced (as we see on the earth), and when these fade the fruit is not always found at the extremities of the twigs, but sometimes a hundred paces farther off in the tree, occasionally in its very midst, or some degrees towards the surface of the earth.

It will sometimes happen that nothing but Mercury is produced, when by its superfluity it has suppressed the other ingredients. If, however, the Salts preponderate, their corrosive nature, like so many worms, consumes the flowers of the tree. By the preponderance of Sulphur everything is burnt up, just as on earth by the too great heat of the sun. Copper is produced by the brown Sulphur, red Salt, and yellow Mercury decocted into a metal. This contains within itself its masculine element, that is, the scoria ; and if it be again reduced to a metal after separation, it returns to masculine copper, which can no longer be corrupted ; and the female will afford no scoriae at all. On malleation and fusion they diff"er from each other only as steel and iron, and can be separated in the same way, so that two different metals are thence produced. Silver is composed of white Sulphur, Salt, and Mercury, naturally prepared and fixed to the highest degree of purity and transparency, next after gold, in ashes, not in antimony, or in royal cement, or in quartation. The difference of fixation between gold and silver can easily be learnt by considering that gold is masculine, and has the male virtues very strongly fixed, while silver, as the female, has them weaker. They are of one and the same primal matter, and differ as to colour and fixing in no other way than as the male and the female.

The metals, then, are seven in number, exclusive of Mercury, namely gold, silver, tin, lead, iron, steel, and copper. The last contains within itself the male and female, when both are welded for use, and are not separated by Nature, as steel and iron are ; so that they are held as one, and since they possess the same malleability and power of being wrought, they are not commonly separated, except when this is done chemically for purposes of the Art. It should be remarked, too, that metals are not always found with their mascu-

line and feminine portions separated by Nature, as is the case witli gold, silver, iron, and steel, each by itself. Often the two are found together, as gold and silver in one metal, also steel and iron together, or tin and lead, the one not hindering the other, or being separated one from the other. Sometimes two adulterated metals are found, as gold and silver naturally mixed with others, on account of their subtlety, especially when several of diverse primal nature meet in one body, just as we see on the earth different fruits engrafted on the trunk of one tree. A fitting treatise on the' natural generation of metals was absolutely necessary in order that it might be understood what is meant by the regeneration of metals brought about through Alchemical Art. The opinion of all those who philosophise on this Art is that the Artist in this profession ought in all things exactly to imitate Nature. So, then, it was necessary to say and to understand how Nature works in the innermost parts of the earth, and what instruments she employs. Whoever has not understood in this way will be little likely to get at the knowledge by his own unaided endeavours. Let him who investigates this difficult and abstruse matter be not so much the disciple of Art as of Nature.

Here ends the Economy of Minerals. IF any one denies that there is great efficacy in the Composition of Metals so far as relates to supernatural aflfairs, we will answer him, and bring forward so many proofs as shall support our own opinion and force him to subscribe thereto. For if the seven metals were, in just and due order, compounded, mixed together, and united in the fire, you must certainly hold that in one body were conjoined and linked together all the virtues of the seven metals. It has been seen good to call this body electrum. Its efficacy, power, and operations, moreover, shew themselves to be much greater, even supernaturally so, than exist in a latent form grafted by Nature on metals in their rude condition. In those solid and rude metals are only those powers wherewith God and Nature herself have endowed them. Gold, indeed, is the noblest of all, the most precious and primary metal, if we rightly consider it ; and we are not prepared to deny that leprosy, in all its forms, can be thereby removed from the human frame. Nor are we unaware that exterior ulcers and wounds are cured by copper and mercury. The other metals, too, have each their own excellences, and these not by any means to be despised ; but we will pass over these for the moment, since you will hear of them when we come to treat concerning the Life of the Metals, f But metals cannot be used in medicine without injury, unless they be first comminuted, altered, and, after being deprived of their metallic nature, transmuted into another essence.

You can hope for little result from them unless the preparation which Alchemy teaches shall have preceded their administration ; that is, if you have not previously reduced them to their arcana, oils, balsams, quintessences, tinctures, calces, salts, crocuses or the like, and then administered them to the patient. Moreover, the supernatural force or effect of the metals, even though it be present in them, will be of no avail unless you first prepare them according to our method in which we will instruct you. But we greatly desire that our electrum should be compounded, since it can afford great and marvellous results in proportion as it is revealed by practice. If we consented to pass

For this reason our ancestors used to have their drinking-cups, dishes, and other utensils made of the said material. There still remain in our age many necklaces and ornaments, such as rings, bracelets, remarkable coins, seals, figures, bells, shekels, made out of this, which of old were hidden in the earth. When they were dug up nobody, or very few, understood them, and in their ignorance they gilded them over or tinged them with silver. It is just a mark of the ignorance of our age that it cares nothing for such objects as these. But God would not have it that such a mystery of Nature and such a great treasure of His own should be hid any longer, but that what had been hidden by the more than Cimmerian darkness of the sophists should now, after a long season, come to light again. We do not assume to exhaust the virtues of our electrum. The ribald genius of the sophists would be hurt ; the crowd of fools would be offended, and would receive what we said with idiotic laughter. Over and over again we have been on our guard against scandalising this impious crowd ; so to avoid such a result it will be safest to pass over these matters in silence. Not, however, that we can altogether pass unnoticed certain stupendous effects of our electrum ; since they came under our own eyes we shall be able to speak the more freely concerning them, without any suspicion that we are romancing or making up a story.

We have seen rings, for instance, which removed all fear of paralysis or spasm from those who wore them on their fingers. These people, too, never suffered from apoplexy or epilepsy. If an epileptic patient put such a ring on the third finger, even though he be so overcome by the violence of the paroxysm as to be prostrated on the ground, he comes to himself and gets up.