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

Concerning the Kinds of Sulphur. As often as you get nevsr metal, so often you get sulphur ; because no metal is without sulphur. Every metallic body consists of three things, sulphur, salt, and mercury. In the perfection or generation of metals, however, the superfluous sulphur is removed. You see a nut generated, not simply per se, but with a skin and a shell, and you know that these are superfluous save for the embryonic conservation of the kernel, as is explained in the treatise concerning generation. I adduce this illustration to shew that there are as many kinds of sulphur as of metals, each bearing relation to the nature of its own metal. And this is true not only of metals, but of stones. There are as many kinds of sulphur as of stones. All bodies having their own substance are made up of the three constituents just mentioned. On this account they have an embryonated nature. Hence arise different names of sulphur, for example, the embryonic sulphur of gold, silver, sapphire, marble, etc. The sulphur is distinguished by the name of the embryo, which arises from the generation of a single product, be it metal or stone. Nor do I speak of metals and stones only, but also of all the different corporalities, such as vitriol, alum, marcasite, bismuth, antimony, etc. Each of these com.prises an embryo, which takes its name according to the speciality of its own generation. For instance, the embryonate sulphur of Mars is different from the embryonate sulphur of vitriol or of jaspis. The same holds good concerninogrowing bodies of the earth, as woods, herbs, and the like, each of which contains in itself a sulphur of this kind.

One thing should here be mentioned. It sometimes happens that embryonal sulphur of this kind produces metals of fair quality, gems pure and bright, and other matters of like nature, because in that generation whereby they are produced, something is united therewith which is, as it were, a certain spirit of that body. And not only the spirit, but with that same also a corporality, but a subtle and ephemeral one, which cannot sustain any fire. Apart from the Vulcanic operation it is produced in those metals whence it arises, in gold from gold, in lead from lead. Similar preparations are also sometimes made in the sulphureous embryos of gems, by which are separated mutually from one another dead sulphur, of a weak character, and a precious stone, latent in it, all which things have been discovered and investigated by art. But this stone was like that from which it was produced, granate from granate, hyacinthus from hyacinthus. Relegating these things, however, to the alchemical process, we will here point out only what experience has taught and confirmed in the science of finding out secrets of this kind. Let the alchemist, therefore, in investigations of this nature, give his attention to finding out the embryo, lest by chance he light upon something else. Let so much be said, then, concerning one kind of sulphur, as to its origin. Besides this there is another generation of sulphur, per se. This I will now describe, and will set forth its virtues in medicine, Alchemy, and other arts.

Sulphur, then, has still another generation, and one peculiar to itself, without any embryonic nature and condition, so that it is a thing growing by itself, like a beech or an oak, separated from other substances by its own special genus. This is called mineral sulphur. This sulphur is a mineral /e/' se. And as the Vulcanic art teaches how to separate minerals so that the true body may be taken away from the false, — as silver or iron from its ore, — so also in mineral sulphur there is a body which is extracted, as tin from its zwitter. That body is mineral sulphur. Of this sulphur there are many different kinds, no one exactly like another. Thus you see in all those things in which Nature abounds for us, that the genus is distributed not into one but many species. There is not only one lead, one copper, one gold. So, there is not only one sulphur ; since one sort is of a higher, another of a lower grade, or they have more or less of transparency and clearness. For this reason medical properties also should be sought therein. And this difference should be especially kept in view by alchemists, so that the particular species which is sought may forthwith be found. From this, it is sufficiently clear what are the different kinds and conditions of sulphur, and how they are to be recognised. But beyond these, I should wish you to know of another kind which is a special secret, as follows :

— In alchemical separation, gold is dissolved from its corporality, as also silver, every metal, and gems, from all which the sulphur withdraws, is prepared, and extracted. Of this kind are the sulphur of gold, the sulphur of jaspis, the sulphur of vitriol, etc. And in truth, various secrets are here used ; but this sulphur is so excellent an arcanum that nothing like it can be put forward, nor, indeed, ought to be in this place since this matter relates to Vulcan. So, thus far, we have put forward a triple

sulphur. Of these three, I will point out how they are useful to the physician, the alchemist, and the soap maker respectively. Concerning embryonated sulphur it should be known that it has different virtues according to that from which it is derived, that is, from its generators. Let us use an illustration to explain our meaning. A nut, per se, is simply the kernel. But the kernel contains in itself an integument which corresponds to the nut. As in foods, the kernel differs from its integument ; so do their virtues differ. Over against this, again, a dry shell is produced, which is of a nature altogether different from the nut. As the bodies differ, so do their properties. Over this, finally, grows a green rind or bark, where the same diversity is once more observed. The chestnut, for example, has these two coatings. And as the chestnut differs from the bark when masticated in the mouth, so do the properties differ. I say this in order that you may understand how embryonated sulphur is also a similar impurity from its embryo and differs from its true products by as wide an interval as its form, essence, substance, and corporality differ. The virtue of the nut is not to be looked for in the shell ; so neither is it in embryonated sulphur that one must seek the virtue of gold, silver, tin, copper, emerald, or jacinth ; but another virtue must be selected for medicine.

Many virtues are hidden in these sulphurs, each differing from the other. This, also, which now we are going to say should be noted before all else, namely, that with all these sulphurs the spirit of arsenic blends, more subtly in one than in another. As is that which is generated, so also is that arsenic sometimes like realgar, sometimes like auripigment, sometimes like crystalline, etc. I adduce these facts in order that you physicians may understand that you ought to be naturalists— not sophists — so that you may know natural substances, and discover what is this arsenic in embryonated sulphur, so that you may not treat men as though you were robbers. They only know the sulphur of the hucksters' shops. They would not even know that if they had not heard it talked about. Yet, all these things ought to be known thoroughly from Nature herself, if we would not lend ourselves to robbery, but would have a good conscience towards God. You Academicians think nothing of this, content with one thing — if money flows into your pockets. Yon care nothing for God, the Creator of yourselves and of all Nature.

Moreover, note this with reference to the embryonated sulphur of the metals. It can be clearly seen how it firmly conserves and restores its own particular member. For all the seven members require minerals only, and no other remedies for their ailments. Thus the sulphur of gold is beneficial to the heart, the sulphur of silver to the brain, the sulphur of copper to the .kidneys, the sulphur of lead to the spleen, the sulphur of iron to the gall, the sulphur of tin to the liver, the sulphur of quicksilver to the lungs. But all these avail in one disease only, as in the suffocation of these members, if there be a flux of humours in them which threatens such suffocation. Although among the ancient and rival physicians no recipes are found against suffocations of this kind, still they one and all decline learning how to prepare these embryonate sulphurs, and to administer them to their patients when necessity requires. I write here, therefore, concerning this one sole virtue, because no medicine has been found for suffocations, which is able to do what these metallic embryonated sulphurs do. As to their other virtues, these will be dealt with under the head of mineral sulphur. They suit all operations ; but the metallic are stronger than the mineral sulphurs, and must be used with greater caution.

Moreover, there are also the sulphurs of gems in which precious stones He as a chestnut within its thorny bark. The constitution of eagle-stones is well known. In the same way, also, all gems are by Nature enclosed in some thing which is their embryonate. In that embryonate, sulphur lies hid. When this is extracted you have no less virtue than in the stone itself, not, indeed, for wearing, but for using in place of medicine. So it is well known that in the sapphire is concealed the virtue of removing anthrax, and reducing it to an eschara above all other corrosives, and yet without any corrosion. Of the same nature is its sulphur, if, indeed, it be extracted from the body and be used as a plaster. Laid on thus, it produces the same effects. And this is the case not only with anthrax, but also with cancer and Persian fire, especially at the beginning, if it breaks forth with an abscess. Care must be taken, therefore, that from those gems which we Germans have we extract the virtues which are applicable to these special uses. If you have these virtues in gems you will have them also in sulphur, with the same mode of operation. They are not, it is true, equally strong in the sulphur, but still they are there. The application, separation, and gradation cause it to accomplish the same result. The correction and gradation alone tend thereto, otherwise none of these results could be brought about.

As in the beginning, I took an illustration from the difference of the shell and the kernel in a nut, so is it to be understood here. But if the kernel of the nut be corrupted or dissolved, so that it is no longer useful for food, the nut still has the same properties as its shell. Let us take a further illustration. Suppose the kernel is burst, and an alkali formed from it, then, in like manner, the shell becomes an alkali too, and both tinge with a black colour those substances which were not previously black. When, therefore, I say that the virtue of the embryonate is like that of the generated, I would be understood thus, if the -generated be dissolved and reduced to a Vulcanian preparation. The same must be understood of all the embryonates of gems and the rest.

But with regard to embryonated sulphurs in cachimiae, such as marchasites, antimony, talc, etc., it should be known that if they are extracted from their bodies and from the matters adhering to them, they produce a similar clear and bright sulphur. In proportion as the degrees hereof are graduated in the operation, the operation itself and the virtue answer to that degree. As this is extracted, so are all other embryonates, of which there is more to be said in their alchemical operation, which cannot properly be recounted here. But the virtue is this, that it rivals those which are generated if it be corrupted in the preparation. Secondly, they are specially useful in all phlegmatic cases, especially in phthisis, peripneumonia, empyemata, and every kind of cough. Whatever can be naturally supplied in any way, that this sulphur brings to its condition. I have no greater desire or longing than that the state of the world to-day, among its princes, kings, and magnates, may be the same as it was ui the time and age of the Magi. Then the virtues in all things would so shine forth that all men would admire God, being such a profound artificer as He is, since He has hidden so many miracles in Nature, in order that man may trace them out. The Magi passed away, and the drunkards rushed into their place, and now nothing remains but whoremongers, mockers, robbers, and thieves.

One ought to grieve from the heart that there is to-day no Magus flourishing among princes, but all things on every side have degenerated into mere trifling and ineptitude, while wolves sit at our councils, and have the mastery, who by their exactions and their usuries make more than enough gain for themselves and their lords. This fate awaited the Science of the Secrets of Nature, that after the passing away of the Magi, or of Magic, all the sciences also perished together by the same fate ; and in their place arose scribes with long garments, and rapacious wolves, who, swaying all rights by their mere nod, threw all things into a state of terrorism. What shall I say ? The arts have perished, and in their place a den of robbers has been substituted.

Next in order, concerning the embryonated sulphur in vitriol and its cognates, which are species of vitriol. Know this, that they all produce a wonderful sulphur when animated bodies are separated from their embryonates, as from salt, from the sal gemmae, from different species of alum, from vitriols, etc. Here I will lay down a general rule for you, namely, that all sulphurs formed from vitriolated salts are stupefactive, narcotic, anodyne, and sleepproducing, with this special property, however, that here the somniferous condition is so placid and gentle that it is free from all harm, and does not act as an opiate, as is the case with henbane, pepper, mandragora, etc., but safely, quietly, effectually, yet without evil consequences. Such a sleep-producing stupefactive, therefore, decocted, prepared, and corrected by Nature herself, is v/orthy of the highest praise. Physicians are agreed that soporifics of this kind produce many wonderful effects. In opiates, on the contrary, there is so much poison that, except in the form of a quintessence, they cannot be used • and the more confidence should be placed in this present soporific, since we know that there are many diseases which are not curable without anodynes, and of which the whole remedy has been placed by God in these anodynes. This is the reason why I write the more carefully about this sulphur. How it is found and prepared is described in the alchemical process. Here, however concerning this same sulphur, it may be mentioned that of all the productions of vitriol it is the best known extract, because it is fixed of itself. Then too

it has a certain amount of sweetness in it, so that poultry will eat it. It sends them to sleep for some time, but they wake up by-and-bye without feeling any evil effects from it. Concerning- this sulphur there cannot be two opinions ; in all diseases curable by anodynes, without any ill effect, it lulls all passions, soothes all pains, reduces all fevers, and prevents the severe symptoms of every disease. This ought to be the first remedy and preventive in all ailments, being followed up by the quintessence as a tonic. What other means can raise physicians to a higher position, beyond all Apollos, Machaons, Hippocrates, and Polydores ? And this is called the philosophers' sulphur, because all philosophers aim at these results — to prolong life for many centuries, to make men live in health and resist disease, and they have found this faculty in its highest degree in this sulphur. That is why they have given it this name. Give your utmost attention that you may learn how to graduate, separate, and purify it. Besides this there is another kind of embryonated sulphur in wood. This sulphur is only fire, which none can kindle save in wood, which also perishes with the wood. This sulphur exists in all substances which are wooden, or which in burning can be reduced to ashes. It is vegetable, not fixed, and available only for those substances which have to be prepared by fire.

Everyone knows that this sulphur indicates the virtue of other sulphurs in that way. As it is itself fire, consuming all things, so every sulphur is an invisible fire consuming diseases. As fire consumes wood visibly, so does the other invisibly. For this reason the element of fire is a great arcanum in all diseases. Whatever physician has not this element of fire in its arcanity — if I may coin that word — cannot boast that he is a true and tried physician. He is a mere tyro, and pilferer of people's purses. One may now say, then, that sulphur is the element of fire. But if you , contend that sulphur is fire in its medicinal effect, you must take care that it be reduced to its proper volatility, so that it may vanish like flame, that is, it shall be so subtilised that it will leave its own body, and its own body is separated from it, because it is not an element of fire. The sulphur being reduced to subtlety and volatility, then at length the consuming body must be consumed, that, namely, which is not fixed by Nature. So diseases are not fixed ; but the body is fixed against the element ; and the element of fire, at least, is opposed to that which is not fixed against it, that is, it is opposed to diseases. Now, if sham physicians had acted thus, if this our philosophy had found a place and acquired development in the schools of medicine, while the triflers and mountebanks, with their blind eyes, were banished, there is no knowing what position might have been reached, while these people would have avoided any number of homicides of which they have been guilty by their rashness.

In the meantime, since they have no consciences, what can one do but let them pose as sham physicians ? But whoever wishes to be a true physician must hunt out the virtues of the elements in natural things. There he will find, not only truth, but how to cure his patients. There are, then, two kinds of embryonated sulphur, one fixed, but made volatile, the other pure fire. That is

to say, one is living fire, the other insensible fire. Each, however, the sensible as well as the insensible, has a like consummation, the one in wood, the other in diseases. The following is a brief dissertation on mineral sulphur. Of the mode of separation from its scoria it is not necessary here to speak. This is treated of in the book on "The Generation of Minerals." It is well, however, to know something of its virtues. It must not be used in its crude form for medicinal purposes, but has to be separated from its fseces. In this way it is a remarkable medicine, if it be raised in the second or third degree from aloes and myrrh. It is an excellent preservative in the plague, in pleurisy, in all abscesses and putridities of the body. Taken in the morning it prevents the pestilence for that day, or pleurisy, or abscesses, especially if it be prepared according to the following prescription. Rec. Of purified sulphur as above described, |x. ; of Roman myrrh, gi. and a halt ; best aloes [aloe epaticus), §i. ; oriental saffron, gss. (half). Mix and make into a powder. Moreover, if it be elevated several times from vitriol (the oftener the better), it then takes into itself the essence and virtues of vitriol. In this way it is a preservative in all fevers, and a curative in every kind of cough, whether recent or of long standing.

It is also a preservative against the falling sickness, and a curative in childhood. If it be taken daily it preserves the health, and prevents anything untoward from happening. In business and commerce it is a corrective of wine, so that it remains sound and uncorrupted, and is wholesome for those who drink it. It must not, however, be used in a crude state. It is so powerful a preservative for wine that it leaves nothing impure in the wine, but drives it all out. If wine is treated herewith it does not produce gravel or calculus, apoplexy, abscesses of any kind, fluxions, coughs, fevers, etc. Nothing can be found like it, or of equal efficacy with it, when it is prepared. It is not without reason, therefore, that I here sound its praises. If one had time, a very few pages of this our writing would suffice to establish this point in discussion with the academic doctors. Pearls are not to be cast before swine ; and these would rather see people sicken and die than yield a jot of their opinion, although they are not able to be of the slightest use to the sick. But to return to mineral sulphur : observe once more that it must not be used in a crude state, but prepared. The more carefully it is prepared, the better it turns out ; at length it throws off all its dregs and poisonous character, and everything in it that is useless retires from it ; what remains is a pearl of price and the most desirable of medicines.

Crude sulphur has the property of bleaching red colours with its fumes. It turns red roses into white ones. If it be used medicinally in an elevated state it produces whiteness, but only externally. Moreover, it should be observed that there are several kinds of sulphur, differing in colour. There is, for instance, the yellow, the yellowish, that which is red in a greater or less degree, purple, black, white, ash-coloured ; but of these colours none is any use except the yellow. The more yellow sulphur is, and the more it inclines to gold colour, the better and more wholesome it is. The others contain a good deal of arsenic, realgar, etc., and so are avoided in medicine. But so far as concerns alchemy, these others are better on account of the ingress which they have through such spirits of realgar. Moreover, it is worth mentioning that this sulphur removes skin diseases and other external affections of the body. In these cases the coloured sulphurs are better than the yellow, on account of their subtle arsenical spirits. If these sulphurs are sublimated with vitriol, alum, sal gemmse, sal plumosum, etc., several times, they become so subtilised that they completely eradicate skin disease and ring-worm. This treasure is so precious because it removes externally those blemishes which have an internal origin. As the magnet attracts iron to itself, so that it moves from its position and does not remain where it was, so here are magnetic powers which cannot be altogether explained. A single experiment in the Vulcanic art opens up these marvels of Nature.

God has supplied medicine in sufficient quantity. The blindness lies in the fact that no one attempts their preparation, so that the useless may be separated from what is useful. They think it suffices if, like apothecaries, they jumble a lot of things together and say "Fiat unguentum." This has been so far esteemed learning : and the world has returned to such a condition that medicine is mere trifling, and not, as it once was, an art or a science. It is not the artists in medicine, but the mere sophists, who have the preeminence. Yet, if medicine were handled by artists, a far more healthy system would be set on foot. Note, then, with regard to sulphur, that when it is granulated it is a most useful medicine for man, not, indeed, taken internally, but exhibited externally, even in the form of fumes. In this way, as we have said, it preserves and conserves, with the addition of some grains of juniper, rosemary, etc. Concerning Metallic Sulphur : that is. Sulphurs prepared from the Alchemy has devised certain arts and modes whereby metals are drawn out of their bodies, so that they are no longer metals but a certain destroyed matter which has lost its former condition. On this subject it should be remembered that every metal is made up of three constituents, salt, sulphur, and mercury. Since these three, then, are the primal material of the metals, it follows from hence that these three can be destroyed and dissolved and so subjected to art, that they can be reduced to another essence and transmuted. This destruction having been made, the three primals can be still further separated by art, so that the sulphur remains solitary and by itself, as does the salt, and the mercury respectively. We will speak here of the sulphur,

leaving the other two on one side. Sulphur is separated from other metals in this very way. Whatever forces I have assigned to sulphur generally, these also exist in the metallic sulphurs ; and the more so because the metal has acquired a special nature from that which makes it a metal. Of these virtues some are conferred on sulphur, so that the metallic is more excellent and more noble than other sulphurs. And the physician ought to know that all the virtues of sulphur are present in this kind of sulphur, graduated to their very highest degree (if I may so say), and endowed with the condition of the metal. Hence, sulphur acquires from gold the virtues of gold, from silver the virtues of silver, from iron the virtues of iron. Whatever iron does, whatever the crocus of Mars does, whatever the topaz of iron does, all these same things the sulphur of iron does. In like manner is it with the sulphur of castrum, of lead, and of other metals. Every physician, therefore, should get possession of these sulphurs. The dose of them is small, but the effect is marked. These should convince the physician that God has set a remedy over against every disease. It this be true, the physician should be produced by magic, whereby he may understand all the secrets of Nature. Thus it will be made clear that Nature has such resources as to heal even the lepers. The physician who is unacquainted with magic is a mere tyro, and will remain such so long as he lives. It is a difficult matter to have understood medicine, and to have visited its innermost shrines, at all events for those who are unacquainted with the Cabbala and with magic.

Concerning the Alchemical Virtues of Sulphur : and First Concerning The extraction of embryonated sulphur is brought about by sublimation, and sometimes by descent, if the sulphur be properly ripened and there be a plentiful supply, without the admixture of other bodies. Sometimes, if it be too subtle, it will not admit of sublimation or descension, but must be extracted with strong waters, so that by means of other bodies it may be reduced to water and then coagulated again from the water. There are many kinds of these strong waters, which we will not recount here, but they should be of such a kind as not to take away or change the power of the sulphur. For if they be extracted by art, according to their own concordance, they will not, indeed, be golden, but in alchemy they will be very convenient sulphurs for other preparations. They admit of fixation, and so produce in cements a volatile subtle gold in metals, in such a way that they bear separation in strong waters and put forth their gold. Otherwise, from this sulphur nothing can be hoped for in alchemy, unless it be extracted, according to its concordance, from those things in which it is latent, and afterwards be fixed. If, as is often the case, it contains gold, that is discovered by fulmination. It is likewise so fixed for retaining all volatile gold that it cannot otherwise be restrained, nor is it taken in separation on account of its tenuity of subtle corporality. Many processes have, indeed, been tried for making a tincture out of

sulphur. These have not succeeded, because there is no tincture in it. It is, therefore, labour in vain. Unless gold were contained therein, nothing can be sought there, nor ought it to be attempted that gold should be produced in other bodies. There is none of a silver character, only golden, and one kind more so than another. As far as concerns antimony, red talc, gold, marcasite, etc., they are rarely deficient in gold. Whoever wishes to treat this, let him take care to separate the sulphur so subtly that nothing shall depart from the gold. And unless God opposes (for He does not wish all to be rich, and Himself knows the reason why goats have not longer tails), much could be here imparted in few words. But since riches lead the poor man astray, and take away his modesty and humility, adding haughtiness and pride in their place, therefore it is better to be silent and let these people remain poor. Next in order I will impart to you some marvels, though I am aware that this discourse concerning the wonderful use of sulphur in alchemy will be unacceptable to many. It is known to all that the spirit of the sciences does not take holiday, but works constantly and unremittingly, that it may hunt out and discover those facts in the secret things of Nature which God has hidden. With this spirit there goes together for the most part another bad and false spirit, not only in this art, but in others too, even those which regard the soul.

But concerning this false spirit I keep silence. The devil, indeed, mixes himself up in all matters, but I make no remark on his deceits. For the sake of this mineral sulphur the alchemical art has made many attempts to form something from it which shall be more than sulphur. Now this itself is a miracle — to make something more out of a thing than the thing of itself is. This, however, God has allowed to be done by art. Now, since this would be the very potency of art, the great Master of the art Himself has, by superintending the art, made experiment as to what can be formed from sulphur, and how ; something which is not in the sulphur itself, but, however, can be obtained from it. The woman by herself cannot beget children, but she begets them with the man. If this begetting is to be accomplished it must be by means of two. Here art is the man and the father who brings all things to perfection. But now that stage of the operation has been reached when the spirit of transmutation has given its prescription for making the liver or lung from the oil of flax and sulphur. The distillation of this liver or lung is manifold. But it is found out by operating that this liver is given by milk, which differs in no respect from common milk, but is thick and fat.

It also gives a red oil, like blood. This milk and that blood have not confounded their colour and essence in the process of distillation, but these have remained distinct and separate, the white subsiding to the bottom and the red ascending to the top. Art, it is true, has urgently sought to form silver out of the white or the milk and gold out of the red. But I am certain that this

has never been able to be done, either by the ancients or by those of more recent times. I say, therefore, that the milk is dead, and nothing is contained in it. But concerning this red oil, which gives the liver-mark. Any crystal or beryl which has been previously well polished, if it be placed in this oil for some time, namely, for three years, becomes a jacinth. If there be placed in it a ruby which is not highly graduated, in a space of nine years it becomes so clear and bright that it shines in the darkness like a burning coal, and can be seen everywhere. This has been proved experimentally. Alchemists, indeed, have tried to make a carbuncle of it by placing a jacinth of good quality for some time in the oil. But my experience says that this cannot be done. And this colouring does not take place only in the ways that have been mentioned; but the same oil tinges a sapphire also a blue colour, mixed with green. In the same way it colours other gems. Over glass and similar substances it has no power. But it so exalts gems that they attain their highest degree of excellence, a higher one, indeed, than that to which they could be exalted by Nature. Concerning other gradations and colourings of gems nothing more has been heard or written than that the red blood of sulphur colours and tints them.

And here observe that all silver, if it be placed therein and left for a due time, by-and-bye grows black, and deposits a calx of gold, which until the proper season is not fixed, but is a volatile and immature substance. If, however, it reaches its proper limit, by its own despatch it hastens on other things, about which I must not say more here. So, then, remark concerning sulphur, that if it be duly graduated, the more subtle, beautiful, high, and quick in operation it is, the higher and greater will be the result. In this way metals and stones are formed. Let him who is about to make the attempt not think, but be sure, that he can do it. For this is the most perilous work of all in alchemy, needing for its accomplishment great experience and continual practice. It should not depend on mere hearsay, but on manifold practice. Of the virtues themselves and how they are graduated, I cannot say anything. I speak of the colourings only, that they should be exalted to the highest degree. But that this should take place in colours I do not think possible. This is a tincture not of virtue, but of mere colour.

Concerning the Use of Sulphur of the Metals in Alchemy. I have several times in this chapter mentioned sulphur prepared from the decomposed metals, and added something as to their use in medicine. So far as relates to alchemy, I would have you know that many have tried to extract from it a tincture with which they should change things from one tint to another. This has not been successful, for a reason not to be mentioned here. But whoever has the sulphur of gold can by means thereof graduate other gold from 24 to 36 grains or more, so that gold cannot mount any higher, whilst it abides and remains in antimony and quartarium. But the sulphur of silver, too, so exalts silver in its whiteness, that if copper and silver are mixed in equal proportions, they cannot be discriminated by the needle or the Lydian stone, but both seem to be equally pure and choice silver. In the same way, by the sulphur of copper, the metal copper can be brought to such a state that it is proof against lightning, even though it be not graduated, and retains its own colour. From the sulphur of Mars is made the best and most excellent steel. From the sulphur of Jove, the best tin, which will bear the lightning. From the sulphur of Saturn is made fixed Saturn, which gives neither white lead, nor minium, nor any other spirit. The sulphur of quicksilver reduces quicksilver to such a point that it can be wrought with the hammer, and bears the fire as well as copper does. The ashen fire, however, it does not bear. This is the power exercised by the sulphur of the metals over its own special metals. This is per se. If the sulphur of gold is applied to silver it colours it, but has no power of fixation ; and this is always the case with the transmutation of sulphur into some other metal.

So far, then, you have learnt how many kinds there are, and what are the nature, properties, and essence of sulphur. Whoever wanted to say all that can be said about sulphur would consume a great deal of paper. The subject demands a careful workman, a ready and skilled artist, one who does not shout or traflSc in trifles, who does not deal with his art by mouth and tongue only, but puts it to the test of work itself. Miracles will abound for such an one. He who knows nothing about sulphur is a man of no worth, unskilled both in philosophy and medicine, and conscious of none of Nature's secrets.

IN the year 1582 an octavo edition of the Archidoxorum Libri Decern was published in Latin at Basle, and included several other treatises of great importance, some of which are absent from the Geneva folio. Among these there is one upon the Mercuries of the Metals, which fills a somewhat curious lacuna in the writings of Paracelsus, as there is no other extant work attributed to him which treats individually of Mercury, while concerning Salt and Sulphur there is an abundance of material which not a little embarrasses selection. It is entirely devoted to experiments, and it will be consequently of the more value to practical students of early chemistry. A Little Book concerning the Mercuries of the Metals, by the Great Theophrastus Paracelsus, most Excellent Philosopher AND Doctor of both Faculties. Extract aquafortis out of 4 lbs. of salt nitre, with 3 lbs. of green vitriol, Bii. of alum, and Si. of sal ammoniac. After it has subsided with a little copper, dissolve in this water §1. of crude sal ammoniac, which has previously been slightly pounded. Let there be hence produced aqua regis through V. In this water dissolve gii. of gold, which has previously been well and most exactly purged by antimony. After the dissolution has taken place let the calx subside ; effect separation by drawing off the aquafortis ; and then reduce the calx by washing to a sweet condition. For this purpose wash six or seven times with sweet water until no sharpness of the aquafortis any longer remains.

Subsequently dry the calx over a slow fire, weigh it, and you will find that a third part of the weight has been extracted. Thereunto add an equal proportion of very finely pounded sulphur, a double quantity of vitriol, and white calcined tartar to the weight of all the aforesaid things. Pound all of them very finely, place in a glass vessel, and pour upon the top exceedingly strong vinegar, together with salt water, so that aqueous matter may swim upon the top to the height of two fingers, more or less. Seal the vessel efi^ectually, and place it in a cupel, or alchemistic furnace, for thirty days. The furnace must not be of sufficient heat to burn the finger when placed therein. At the expiration of the time specified break the glass, when the matter will be in the form of washed silver, or calx of silver which

is friable into small grains. Mercury, meanwhile, is not visible. Therefore place the said matter in a mortar, and pound with a wooden pestle, for Mercury is compelled by pounding. Let this process continue until Mercury shall become complected, and a live matter, or body, shall have been produced. Nevertheless, it is not so quickly produced or composed as Mercury of Saturn. Next cleanse the remaining matter with fresh and clear water ; dry it perfectly ; and you will have Mercury of the Sun, when the gold will be no longer fixed but voluble, and can be sent through the corium, whereby any impurity which may chance to remain is separated. Mercury of the Moon. Let silver be reduced to thin plates, in such a way that it may be easily removed, and at the same time well purified. Sprinkle one of such plates with strong vinegar, and set aside in a humid place for a short space of time, until it becomes completely blue. Then dissolve with aquafortis separated by the separation of solution, and after it subsides, and the aquafortis has been afFused but not sweetened by washing, and dried gradually, pour vinegar again upon the calx, and then separate until the whole becomes completely blue.

Then take Sii. of mountain or mineral cinnabar ground to a very fine powder, and afterwards Si. respectively of calx of silver, cinnabar, alumen, sulphur, and vitriol. When ground subtly place all these in a jar, including the calx of silver, which ought to sink to the bottom. Furthermore, cover the surface of the matter, or compound, at the top of the jar, with welding sand, such as the workers in iron are accustomed to use. Afterwards place this jar, mouth downward, on the top of another jar, which must be filled with pure water, and hidden in the earth by descent. About the upper jar kindle a slow fire, and increase it more and more until the whole of the said upper jar shall become white with heat. Let it cool a little, and the Mercury of the Moon will be found in the lower jar. Let the jar remain for two hours, more or less, at a white heat, and thus out of §ii. of the Moon is produced Si. and a half of Mercury, which is altogether like crude Mercury. This is again pressed through the corium, so that the pure may be separated from the impure.

Mercury out of Venus. Take copper reduced to thin plates and purged to the utmost of all dross. Divide it into small particles, and confect with salt on a tigillum, layer upon layer. Seal the upper orifice of the tigillum, so that nothing may evaporate. Place the said tigillum on the hottest part of a brick furnace for nine days. Then take out the copper, when it will be of red colour approaching blackness. Pound it with salt in a mortar as soon as it has been removed from the tigillum. Macerate the powder in strong wine, and let there be added to each 5 v. of subtly ground arsenic, S'- and a half of copper. Leave each of these together for the space of fifteen days. Let the measure of wine be sufficient to swim over the powder to the height of two straws. When removed there will remain an excellent, brilliant, whitish calx. Wash this in fresh spring water. Take of the Calx, |ii. of Gluten of Sulphur, §ii. of Arsenic >- each Sss. of Alum J Mix each of these, when very finely pounded, with half a measure of the best vinegar. Let them all be distilled through the alembic until no further water can be extracted. Then add fire, remove the water, and there will collect on the side of the top of the alembic a white powder. This is the Mercury of Venus. Sprinkle this upon hot water, and it will flow together. It is sufficient if the cucurbite be at a white heat. From one pound of Venus .?ii. and a half of Mercury are obtained; such Mercury is altogether thin and subtle, and is so soluble that it escapes in boiling water. Wherefore the said water is only tepid.

Mercury out of Mars. Reduce Mars into coarse filings, but avoid chalybs, wherefore filings de calcaribus are the best. Take thereof ten pounds, and sprinkle well with salt water ; leave for ten days or longer — the longer the better. Afterwards wash Mars in such a fashion as to avoid separatmg the turbidity. At length the water becomes clear, for the turbidity sinks to the bottom in the form of a red viscosity. Separate the water gradually by straining ; keep the matter ; dry it so that no excremental or gross part may remain. Take of this viscid matter gv., of pounded sulphur gxxx., compound delicately to the form of fine flour. Place it in the tigillum. Seal up securely, so that nothing may escape, and let the tigillum glow for an hour. Then let it cool, break it, and a grey powder will be found. Add thereto §i. of spume of glass, Bss. of sal ammoniac, and Sv. of vitriol. Place on a smooth stone in a humid spot, and the water will flow out. But leave it for ten days ; crush it in the hands, and you will have live Mercury, which is Mercury of Mars. Out of ten pounds of Mars one drachm and a half will be obtained. It is black and dull in colour.

Jupiter is calcined in the following fashion : Take filings corresponding in grossness to the back of a knife. Place in good distilled vinegar for twelve hours. Dry, and there will adhere a whitish cuticle. Remove this carefully* with the hare's foot and set it apart. Again moisten, and again dry the filings ; separate a similar cuticle a second time, and repeat this process till there is enough of the white calx. This take, and subject to all the processes to which the Calx of Lead is subjected, but avoiding the addition of Succinum or white vitriol. Put green copper rust in place thereof, and the work will be accomplished. Jupiter does not yield so much Mercury as Saturn, for one pound of the metal produces less than §vi. Take Villarensian Lead, or any other in which there is no silver, otherwise it must be purged in the following manner : If it has been calcined, let the calx boil for two whole hours in a lixivium composed of willow ashes, in which have been first dissolved one ounce of alumen and eight ounces of salt. In coction it is purged of all sulphur and, other viscous matter. Calcine this lead in the following manner with salt : Melt the lead, pour it into a wooden receptacle, mix it well with common salt, and it will be reduced to a powder like sand. Cleanse the salt away ten or twelve times, till no saltness remains in the lead.

Dry the calx gradually by continual agitation. When it has been dried, produce water as follows : Take of white vitriol, otherwise called succinum, five ounces, and one measure of vinegar, to six pounds of calx of lead. Dissolve the vitriol in vinegar. Sprinkle the calx of lead with this water, or perfectly saturate, or so place the calx in water that it protrudes above it. Leave it for thirty-six hours, so that it becomes an ashen-coloured powder. Then take a light marble vessel, the larger the better. Put it obliquely in a humid place, or in a wine cellar, and in front of it so place a wooden receptacle that it will receive whatever shall flow out. Calx of lead may be dissolved with three measures thereof. Again take this water and add to it a small quantity of fresh matter, which will concrete in the form of flour at the bottom. Place it in a similar marble, put a copper operculum over it, and make a small charcoal fire at the top of the operculum. When the said matter receives the heat Mercury comes forth ; the fire is preserved in good order and grade until no more of the calx of lead remains. Therefore, Mercury of Saturn which flows into that wooden receptacle should be well washed and purified, so that if perchance crude Saturn flows down at the same time, as often happens, the same may be separated.

From ten pounds of Saturn are made eight pounds, and often eight pounds and a half, of Mercury. Note. — Let not the fire in the operculum be too great or fierce, for otherwise much crude matter of Mercury will flow down at the same time. To the said marble apply a copper operculum corresponding to the size of the marble, which operculum should be at its sides and ends of the height of a spithmia, and should be shaped like a frying-pan. Let the front part be open for the passage of the Mercury. Then take greyish powder made from lead, together with succinous matter, and add to it the following water :

Take of Alum, l\. of Salt Nitre, 5Ii. and ss. of Mountain Verdigris, §ss. of Rock Salt, 5ii- Pound these substances minutely, saturate with stale wine, then distil, and there will proceed water of yellowish colour (golden, or crocus). To this water add semi-vitrified calx of lead, and the calx will sink at the bottom. Afterwards gradually pour off the water. Set the same apart, because it never turns putrid, and a centenarius of fire should therefore be maintained in an equal and moderate grade. If the crude Mercury flow forth at the same time, it remains after passing through the corium, and must be cooked out from the rest, for another confection, and thus thou hast Mercury of Saturn by the most simple way. IN the year 1581 a Congeries Paracehicce Chemice de Transmutaiionibus Metallorum appeared in octavo at Frankfort. In the notes to the Aurora of the Philosophers, Concerning the Spirits of the Planets, and elsewhere, some references have been already made to this work, which antedates by nearly a century the Geneva edition of the writings of Paracelsus. As its title indicates, it attempted to collect and digest into a single methodical treatise the whole substance of alchemy, as taught and practised by Paracelsus. While in many respects the digest was passably well done, and aifords a tolerably representative notion of the opinions and experiments of Theophrastus, it is perhaps needless to say that, as it was included in the compass of a small volume, it is really very meagre.

There is, however, one point in which it may be of value to the student. The Congeries is, in all probability, an adaptation of autograph manuscripts, and where its readings, which is by no means invariably the case, can be distinguished from editorial interpolations and extensions, they may be useful in so far as they vary from the readings of the Geneva folio and some other less carefully supervised editions. Perhaps, after all, the value, such as it is, of this point, is likely to be appreciated only by that very small circle of readers who believe that in ancient practical alchemy there are chemical secrets hidden which are unknown to the chemistry of to-day. For these the importance of a perfect text of the old alchemical processes, whether in the case of Paracelsus or in that of any other recognized master, is no doubt very high. In the present instance, the difficulty of distinguishing between the text and its editor, in so far as there are substantial variations, makes it needless to tabulate the readings, and the purpose of this appendix is of a far less pretentious character. There are a few paragraphs in the Congeries vi\\\z\\^ it has not been found possible to identify in the collected editions of Paracelsus, or at least they offer very conspicuous differences, and these it is desirable to cite. The first has regard to the erection of the philosophical furnace, which The Aurora of the Philosophers affirms it is difficult to describe, at least as regards its form, while the specific direction contained in the third treatise, Concerning the Spirits of the Planets, only partially corresponds to what is stated in the following excerpt, which constitutes the fourth chapter of the Congeries Paracelsicce Chemice. The

editorial argument which follows is also worth inclusion, as it is concerned with a matter which, in more than one instance, must have struck the reader of the present translation, namely, that it is not altogether easy, in every case, to harmonize Paracelsus with himself. Concerning the Visible and Local Instruments : and first of ALL CONCERNING THE SpAGYRIC UtERUS. Before we come to the matter, we must describe in order all the instruments, both actual and local, which are required in this art. We have said that the first actual instrument is the fire. The first local instrument is the furnace, designated by the ancients under the alchemical name of athanor. This takes the place of the uterus in spagyric generation. Hermes Trismegistus, though he was not the inventor of this art, no less than Paracelsus in spagyric medicine, deserves to be called its restorer. He asserts that this spagyric work, in which human philosophy reaches its extreme point, originated in the meditative contemplation of the greater world, intimating that the spagyric athanor ought to be constructed in exact imitation of the heaven and earth. In order to exercise the ingenious it will not be amiss to examine this comparison, and I think I shall be able thereby to profit my readers.

No philosopher will deny that the sun generates a sun like itself ; but it is not every one who will acknowledge that this foetus exists in the centre : least of all will those disciples of the philosophers who have no other knowledge of the Actnasan fire than that which comes from the fleshly eye, just like rustics in this respect. This terrene sun of the lower, or elementary, machinery is kindled by the fire of the higher sun. Just in the same way the centre of our matter is kindled by the centre of our world, or athanor, which is a fire, discharging after a manner the function of the natural sun. Who does not see — I ask you, my brethren — that the form of the whole created universe has the similitude of a furnace, or, to speak more respectfully, the form of that which contains the matrix of a womb — the elements, that is to say, in which the seeds of the sun and the moon, cast down by the stars in their different influxes, are decayed, concocted, and finally digested for the generation of all things ? These things are transparently clear, I will not say to philosophers, but even to boys, wherefore we will not insist upon them further.

Let us come, then, to the construction of our athanor. First let a furnace be built seven spans in height, and let the rounded interior be the height of one span, the lower part a little broader than the upper part inside, and let it be polished, so that the coals, when put in, may not stick through the roughness of the surface, but may be able easily to fall down through the grating while they are being burnt. To equalise this let there be two or three holes, with which two or three lateral or uterine furnaces or, if you like, a single one— shall correspond : the breadth of the mouths should be four fingers. To every furnace let a brazen vessel be fitted, and these are to be filled with water. Let the others be shut up ; as the ^^^ in the hen, so is the glass in its uterus for the work of the maglstery. Then, when you are going to work, and all has been carefully prepared, having broken coals into pieces the size of walnuts, or a little larger, fill up the turrets with these and kindle the fire at the door beneath ; but let the top be kept shut, so that the coals at the top or in the middle may not be kindled, thus stirring up a heat that shall destroy the whole work, and burn everything together. When the heat shall appear to exceed what is proper, it can be controlled by applying a small brick or tile to the mouth ;

on the other hand, if it be too slack, let the coals be stirred up with an iron rod beneath the grating. The fire can be still more readily controlled by registers (which are called governors). Experience teaches the uses of those things which are necessary in preparations before you have arrived at this stage. The fire, then, having been regulated to a just proportion, as Nature teaches in all things, the heat will cause a fermentation, and by-and-bye this will affect the matter lying hid in the &%z.

Henceforwards, just as the sun in the great universe shines, illuminates, and gives life to the rest of the stars and to the elements, so the spagyric fire, illuminating its athanor, with all the instruments, and warming the sea-bath, acts just like a hen which hatches its animated &%^. But I hear a giant roaring like a lion against the furnace, and seeking Paracelsus to devour him. "See," says he, "how he contradicts himself! Just now he told us, and that with considerable severity, not to build a fire with coals ; now he is teaching the use of coals for this art of his ! " You have touched the matter, no doubt, but only in the same way as you have judged that the other writings of Paracelsus are contradictory. Open the other eye, my one-eyed friend, or you will act the part of a blind man passing a judgment about colours. Can you not see what is the meaning of this particle — simple and without middle meaning — added to the interdiction of coals ? Do you not see how Paracelsus, though dead, answers you and his other calumniators in his living works, saying — "You, who adjudge me to err, yourselves err, even when judged by yourselves. Have I not often admonished you, and those like you, envious people that you are, in almost all my works, not to pass over even a little word which you have not thoroughly appropriated, lest the same thing happens to you, giants, fighting with my pigmy homunculus, as formerly happened to Goliath fighting with the boy David ?

Take care, I say, lest you collide with this stone of ours as the great mystery, and sink down with it to the abyss whereto you would consign me ! " Thus seems Paracelsus to thunder forth in his tomb. We must not, my brothers, speak unfairly of the dead, even of those whose deserts were small. Let them all remain at rest, and all await their deeds. It is easy to carp, but to avoid judgment to-day is difficult ; at the last it will be impossible. What are you which I am not, or what am I which you are not ? Again,

what has happened to both of us save that which may occur to another, namely, to err ? We are all men ; and error happens to men more than it does to brutes without reason, who are stirred solely by the promptings of Nature. I confess that I err in very many things, and you err. It is yours to confess it, and mine to admonish, not to judge. Be it your duty, as it is mine, not enviously to disclose those things of your brothers which have not been duly done, before that, with a certain amount of modesty, you have admonished him according to the discipline of true philosophy, otherwise neither you, nor he, nor I, if we act in a contrary manner, are worthy of the name of philosophy. But this philosophic discipline (alas, that it should be so !) is impugned even by the most learned : and so much has the dogma of heathen philosophers prevailed, being at the present day very celebrated among these people, that they do not take a comprehensive glance at what is without and within ; they display nothing beyond a mere ambition for honour and renown. This is the chief end of their study and toil. Hence it has come about that everybody tries to get credit for himself by tripping up or blackening the character of somebody else. But these wretched people do not consider that no great ill can be done which will not incur a greater punishment still, at least if we are all foolish together, and nobody even approaches wisdom.

Many are wise, a few very wise, who still preserve no medium. Let us look to it, then, lest what we parade as wisdom may, even in this our day and generation, be turned by the good God into open folly, and that through our own efforts. If, then, we have erred at all, and our own conscience tells us that we have done so, by which error on our part it seems only too likely that we may mislead others, let us in the presence of God and men retract, and that without reserve. The wisest of men are ever ready to acknowledge their common error, but stubborn men and fools are not ready to do this. Every made course seems the straight road for them, and vice versd.

The following passage appears as a sequel to the Treasure of Treasures, which, in a somewhat modified form, occupies the thirteenth chapter of the Congeries. It may be entitled The Phcenix of the Philosophers. The exposition of the cabalists has, under the name of the Phoenix, that it is the Flying Eagle, whose feathers fly without the wind, and bear the body of the phoenix to its nest, in which is nourished the element of fire. Its young peck out their mother's eyes with their beak, and there is produced a whiteness in its separated sphere. In this consists the life of its heart and the balsam of its intestines. According to the Cabalists' this refers to the sulphur of cinnabar, to which Paracelsus alludes. Very lately, when electrym was being treated, I referred the reader to cinnabar, and not without cause, since it has the greatest affinity therewith. What is cinnabar but a composition or mixture of two minerals, sulphur and quicksilver ? What, too, is electrum but a mixture of two or more, whether minerals or metals ? The sulphur of Sol, therefore, joined artificially with philosophic Mercury of Luna,— why should not this be electrum, why not cinnabar? Whether each is made by Nature or by chemistry, the component parts do not differ.

The last citation which it will be necessary to make is the fifteenth chapter of the Congeries. It is an exceedingly concise abridgment of the fifth book of the Archidoxies as regards the section on the Stone of the Philosophers, and it is inserted at this point as an illustration of the method of the editor. It is called A Very Brief Process for Attaining the Stone. I neither am nor wish to be a teacher or a follower of that Stone which is taught in different ways by very many. Leaving, therefore, this process for its attainment, I have proposed to describe in very few words that which has been discovered by me through practice and experience. This, no less than the other, affects the bodies of men, though it is not prepared by the same process. Take, then, mercury, otherwise the element of mercury, and separate the pure from the impure. Afterwards let it be reverberated even to whiteness, and sublimate this with sal ammoniac until it is resolved. Let it be calcined and dissolved again, and digested in a pelican for one month, being afterwards coagulated into a body. This is no longer burnt, or in any way consumed, but remains in the same condition^ The bodies penetrated by it are permanent in the cineritium, so that they cannot be reduced to nothing or be altered ; but it takes away, as we have often said, all superfluous qualities both from sensible and insensible things.

Although I have here set down a very brief way and process, it requires long labour, and one that is involved in many intricate circumstances ; demanding, at the same time, an operator who is unassailable by fatigue, and in the highest degree diligent and expert.

IN the nineteenth chapter of his Rituel de la Haute Magic, Eliphas Levi observes that "amongst the rare and precious books which contain the mysteries of the Great Arcanum, there must be placed in the first rank the Chemical Path-way, or Manual of Paracelsus, which contains all the mysteries of demonstrative physics and of the most secret cabala. This manuscript work, unique and priceless, exists in the library of the Vatican. A transcription of it was made by Sendivogius, and this was made use of by Baron Tschoudy for the compilation of the Hermetic Catechism contained in his work entitled The Burning Star. This catechism, which we point out to instructed cabalists, as a substitute for the incomparable treatise of Paracelsus, contains all the veritable principles of the great work, after so satisfactory and explicit a manner that a person must be absolutely wanting in that quality of intelligence which is requisite for ocultism if they fail to attain the absolute truth when they have studied it." The manuscript to which reference is made in this interesting citation, is still an unedited treasure, although, as will be seen in the next appendix, there has been at least one Manual attributed to Paracelsus, which has been in print for four centuries. In the absence of the Vatican treatise, the student who desires to make acquaintance with a work of Paracelsus which adepts in the Art of Alchemy seem to prefer before all published writings of the same author, must make shift with the Hermetic Catechism, as suggested by Eliphas Levi.

He will find it an exceedingly, succinct, and simple presentation of the fundamental alchemical theories. Though it may not initiate the reader, whatever the quality of his intelligence, into the mystery of the Great Arcanum, it is, in its way, very lucid and direct. Whether this merit belongs to Paracelsus or his interpreter, is an unprofitable subject of speculation in the absence of the original text, which few persons have had the opportunity or disposition to to consult. The work of Baron Tschoudy was published in two volumes at Hamburg, in 1785, and later on there was another edition at Paris. Having regard to its period, it is a sensible, though somewhat romantic, attempt to trace back Free Masonry to its historical origin, while, over and above this, it constitutes a valuable hand-book of the analogies which subsist between that system and Hermetic science, more especially Alchemy. The catechism itself,

which is the most important section of the Burning Star, teems with analogies of this kind, which, of course, are the creation of the editor, and are suppressed jn_the_translatjon which follows, in part because they exceed the intention of the present work, and in part for other reasons. A Short Catechism of Alchemy Founded on the Manual of Paracelsus preserved in the iQ. What is the chief study of a Philosopher? -v A. It is the investigation of the operations of Nature. Q. What is the end of Nature ? A. God, Who is also its beginning. Q. Whence are all things derived ? A. From one and indivisible Nature. ■■ Q. Into how many regions is Nature separated ? - . A. Into four palmary regions. iQ. Which are they ? 'A. The dry, the moist, the warm, and the cold, which are the four elementary qualities, whence all things originate. ,Q. How is Nature differentiated ? A. Into male and female. Q. To what may we compare Nature ? A. To Mercury. Q. Give a concise definition of Nature. A. It is not visible, though it operates visibly; for it is simply a volatile spirit, fulfilling its office in bodies, and animated by the universal spirit — the divine breath, the central and universal fire, which vivifies all things that exist. ""nQ. What should be the qualities possessed by the examiners of Nature? ''A. They should be like unto Nature herself. That is to say, they should be truthful, simple, patient, and persevering.

-~iQ. What matters should subsequently engross their attention? "aA. The philosophers should most carefully ascertain whether their designs are in harmony with Nature, and of a possible and attainable kind ; if they would accomplish by their own power anything that is usually performed by the power of Nature, they must imitate her in every detail. Q. What method must be followed in order to produce something which shall be developed to a superior degree than Nature herself develops it. A. The manner of its improvement must be studied, and this is invariably operated by means of a like nature. For example, if it be desired to develop the intrinsic virtue of a given metal beyond its natural condition, the chemist must avail himself of the metallic nature itself, and must be able to discriminate between its male and female differentiations. Q. Where does the metallic nature store her seeds ? A. In the four elements. ■^mQ. With what materials can the philosopher alone accomplish anything ? -^ A. With the germ of the given matter ; this is its elixir or quintessence, more precious by far, and more useful, to the artist, than is Nature herself. Before the philosopher has extracted the seed, or germ, Nature, in his behalf,

will be ready to perform her duty. Q. What is the germ, or seed, of any substance ? A. It is the most subtle and perfect decoction and digestion of the substance itself; or, rather, it is the Balm of Sulphur, which is identical with the Radical Moisture of Metals. Q. By what is this seed, or germ, engendered ? A. By the four elements, subject to the will of the Supreme Being, and through the direct intervention of the imagination of Nature. ~^Q. After what manner do the four elements operate ? "^A. By means of an incessant and uniform motion, each one, according to its quality, depositing its seed in the centre of the earth, where it is subjected to action and digested, and is subsequently expelled in an outward direction by the laws of movement. Q. What do the philosophers understand by the centre of the earth ? A. A certain void place where nothing may repose, and the existence of which is assumed. Q. Where, then, do the four elements expel and deposit their seeds ? A. In the ex-centre, or in the margin and circumference of the centre, which, after it has appropriated a portion, casts out the surplus into the region of excrement, scorise, fire, and formless chaos.

Q. Illustrate this teaching by an example. A. Take any level table, and set in its centre a vase filled with water; surround the vase with several things of various colours, especially salt, taking care that a proper distance intervenes between them all. Then pour out the water from the vase, and it will flow in streams here and there ; one will encounter a substance of a red colour, and will assume a tinge of red; another will pass over the salt, and will contract a saline flavour ; for it is certain that water does not modify the places which it traverses, but the diverse characteristics of places change the nature of water. In the same way the seed which is deposited by the four elements at the centre of the earth is subject to a variety of modifications in the places through which it passes, so that every existing substance is produced in the likeness of its channel, and when a seed on its arrival at a certain point encounters pure earth and pure water, a pure substance results, but the contrary in an opposite case. Q. After what manner do the elements procreate this seed ?

A. In order to the complete elucidation of this point, it must be observed that there are two gross and heavy elements and two that are volatile in character. Two, in like manner, are dry and two humid, one out of the four being actually excessively dry, and the other excessively moist. They are also masculine and feminine. Now, each of them has a marked tendency to reproduce its own species within its own sphere. Moreover, they are never in repose, but are perpetually interacting, and each of them separates, of and by itself, the most subtle portion thereof. Their general place of meeting is in the centre, even the centre of the Archeus, that servant of Nature, where coming to mix their several seeds, they agitate and finally expel them to the exterior. Q. What is the true and the first matter of all metals ? A. The first matter, properly so called, is dual in its essence, or is in itself of a twofold nature ; one, nevertheless, cannot create a metal without the concurrence of the other. The first and the palmary essence is an aerial humidity, blended with a warm air, in the form of a fatty water, which adheres to all substances indiscriminately, whether they are pure or impure.

Q. How has this humidity been named by Philosophers ? Q. By what is it governed ? A. By the rays of the Sun and Moon. Q. What is the second matter ? A. The warmth of the earth — otherwise, that dry heat which is termed Sulphur by the Philosophers. Q. Can the entire material body be converted into seed ? A. Its eight-hundredth part only — that, namely, which is secreted in the centre of the body in question, and may, for example, be seen in a grain of wheat. Q. Of what use is the bulk of the matter as regards its seed? A. It is useful as a safeguard against excessive heat, cold, moisture, or aridity, and, in general, all hurtful inclemency, against which it acts as an envelope. Q. Would those artists who pretend to reduce the whole matter of any body into seed derive any advantage from the process, supposing it were possible to perform it ? A. None ; on the contrary, their labour would be wholly unproductive, because nothing that is good can be accomplished by a deviation from natural methods. Q. What, therefore, should be done ? A. The matter must be eff"ectively separated from its impurities, for there is no metal, how pure soever, which is entirely free from imperfections, though their extent varies. Now all superfluities, cortices, and scoriae must be peeled off and purged out from the matter in order to discover its seed.

Q. What should receive the most careful attention of the Philosopher ? A. Assuredly, the end of Nature, and this is by no means to be looked for in the vulgar metals, because, these having issued already from the hands of the fashioner, it is no longer to be found therein. Q. For what precise reason ? A. Because the vulgar metals, and chiefly gold, are absolutely dead, while ours, on the contrary, are absolutely living, and possess a soul. Q. What is the life of metals ? A. It is no other substance than fire, when they are as yet imbedded in the mines. Q. What is their death ? A. Their life and death are in reality one principle, for they die, as they live, by fire, but their death is from a fire of fusion. Q. After what manner are metals conceived in the womb of the earth ? A. When the four elements have developed their power or virtue in the centre of the earth, and have deposited their seed, the Archeus of Nature, in the course of a distillatory process, sublimes them superficially by the warmth and energy of the perpetual movement. Q. Into what does the wind resolve itself when it is distilled through the pores of the earth ?

A. It resolves itself into water, whence all things spring ; in this state it is merely a humid vapour, out of which there is subsequently evolved the principiated principle of all substances, which also serves as the first matter of the Philosophers. Q. What then is this principiated principle, which is made use of as the first matter by the Children of Knowledge in the philosophic achievement ? A. It is this identical matter, which, the moment it is conceived, receives a permanent and unchangeable form. Q. Are Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, the Sun, the Moon, etc., separately endowed with individual seed? A. One is common to them all ; their differences are to be accounted for by the locality from which they are derived, not to speak of the fact that Nature completes her work with far greater rapidity in the procreation of silver than in that of gold, and so of the O^ther metals, each in its own proportion. Q. How is gold formed in the bowels of the earth ? A. When this vapour, of which we have spoken, is sublimed in the centre of the earth, and when it has passed through warm and pure places, where a certain sulphureous grease adheres to the channels, then this vapour, which the Philosophers have denominated their Mercury, becomes adapted and joined to this grease, which it sublimes with itself ; from such amalgamation there is produced a certain unctuousness, which, abandoning the vaporous form, assumes that of grease, and is subllmised in other places, which have been cleansed by this preceding vapour, and the earth whereof has consequently been rendered more subtle, pure, and humid ; it fills the pores of this earth, is joined thereto, and gold is produced as a result.

Q. How is Saturn engendered ? A. It occurs when the said unctuosity, or grease, passes through places which are totally impure and cold. Q. How is Venus brought forth ? A. She is produced in localities where the earth itself is pure, but is mingled with impure sulphur. Q. What power does the vapour, which we have recently mentioned, possess in the centre of the earth ? A. By its continual progress it has the power of perpetually rarefying whatsoever is crude and impure, and of successively attracting to itself all that is -pure around it. Q. What is the seed of the first matter of all things ? A. The first matter of things, that is to say, the matter of principiating principles is begotten by Nature, without the assistance of any other seed ; in other words. Nature receives the matter from the elements, whence it subsequently brings forth the seed. Q. What, absolutely speaking, is therefore the seed of things ? A. The seed in a body is no other thing than a congealed air, or a humid vapour, which is useless except it be dissolved by a warm vapour. Q. How is the generation of seed comprised in the metallic kingdom ? A. By the artifice of Archeus the four elements, in the first generation of Nature, distil a ponderous vapour of water into the centre of the earth ; this is the seed of metals, and it is called Mercury, not on account of its essence, but because of its fluidity, and the facility with which it will adhere to each and every thing.

Q. Why is this vapour compared to sulphur ? A. Because of its internal heat. Q. From what species of Mercury are we to conclude that the metals are composed ? A. The reference is exclusively to the Mercury of the Philosophers, and in no sense to the common or vulgar substance, which cannot become a seed, seeing that, like other metals, it already contains its own seed. Q. What, therefore, must actually be accepted as the subject of our matter ? A. The seed alone, otherwise the fixed grain, and not the whole body, which is differentiated into Sulphur, or living male, and into Mercury, or living female. Q. What operation must be afterwards performed ? A. They must be joined together, so that they may form a germ, after which they will proceed to the procreation of a fruit which is conformed to their nature. Q. What is the part of the artist in this operation ? A. The artist must do nothing but separate that which is subtle from that which is gross. Q. To what, therefore, is the whole philosophic combination reduced ? A. The development of one into two, and the reduction of two into one, and nothing further.

Q. Whither must we turn for the seed and life of metals and minerals ? A. The seed of minerals is properly the water which exists in the centre and the heart of the minerals. Q. How does Nature operate by the help of Art ? A. Every seed, whatsoever its kind, is useless, unless by Nature or Art it is placed in a suitable matrix, where it receives its life by the coction of the germ, and by the congelation of the pure particle, or fixed grain. Q. How is the seed subsequently nourished and preserved ? A. By the warmth of its body. Q. What is therefore performed by the artist in the mineral kingdom ? A. He finishes what cannot be finished by Nature on account of the crudity of the air, which has permeated the pores of all bodies by its violence, but on the surface and not in the bowels of the earth. Q. What correspondence have the metals among themselves ? A. It is necessary for a proper comprehension of the nature of this correspondence to consider the position of the planets, and to pay attention to Saturn, which is the highest of all, and then is succeeded by Jupiter, next by Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and, lastly, by the Moon. It must be observed that the influential virtues of the planets do not ascend but descend, and experience teaches us that Mars can be easily converted into Venus, not Venus into Mars, which is of a lower sphere.

So, also, Jupiter can be easily transmuted into Mercury, because Jupiter is superior to Mercury, the one being second after the firmament, the other second above the earth, and Saturn is highest of all, while the Moon is lowest. The Sun enters into all, but it is never ameliorated by its inferiors. It is clear that there is a large correspondence between Saturn and the Moon, in the middle of which is the Sun ; but to all these changes the Philosopher should strive to administer the Sun.

Q. When the Philosophers speak of gold and silver, from which they extract their matter, are we to suppose that they refer to the vulgar gold and silver? A. By no means ; vulgar silver and gold are dead, while those of the Philosophers are full of life. Q. What is the object of research among the Philosophers ? A. Proficiency in the art of perfecting what Nature has left imperfect in the mineral kingdom, and the attainment of the treasure of the Philosophical Stone. Q. What is this Stone ? A. The Stone is nothing else than the radical humidity of the elements, perfectly purified and educed into a sovereign fixation, which causes it to perform such great things for health, life being resident exclusively in the humid radical. Q. In what does the secret of accomplishing this admirable work consist ? A. It consists in knowing how to educe from potentiaHty into activity the innate warmth, or the fire of Nature, which is enclosed in the centre of the radical humidity. Q. What are the precautions which must be made use of to guard against failure in the work ? A. Great pains must be talten to eliminate excrements from the matter, and to conserve nothing but the kernel, which contains all the virtue of the compound.

Q. Why does this medicine heal every species of disease ? A. It is not on account of the variety of its qualities, but simply because it powerfully fortifies the natural warmth, which it gently stimulates, while other physics irritate it by too violent an action. Q. How can you demonstrate to me the truth of the art in the matter of the tincture ? A. Firstly, its truth is founded on the fact that the physical powder, being composed of the same substance as the metals, namely, quicksilver, has the faculty of combining with these in fusion, one nature easily embracing another which is like itself. Secondly, seeing that the imperfection of the base metals is owing to the crudeness of their quicksilver, and to that alone, the physical powder, which is a ripe and decocted quicksilver, and, in itself a pure fire, can easily communicate to them its own maturity, and can transmute them into its nature, after it has attracted their crude humidity, that is to say, their quicksilver, which is the sole substance that transmutes them, the rest being nothing but scoriae and excrements, which are rejected in projection. Q. What road should the Philosopher follow that he may attain to the knowledge and execution of the physical work ?

A. That precisely which was followed by the Great Architect of the Universe in the creation of the world, by observing how the chaos was evolved. Q. What was the matter of the chaos ? A. It could be nothing else than a humid vapour, because water alone enters into all created substances, which all finish in a strange term, this term being a proper subject for the impression of all forms. Q. Give me an example to illustrate what you have just stated. A. An example may be found in the special productions of composite substances, the seeds of which invariably begin by resolving themselves into a certain humour, which is the chaos of the particular matter, whence issues, by a kind of irradiation, the complete form of the plant. Moreover, it should be observed that Holy Scripture makes no mention of anything except water as the material subject whereupon the Spirit of God brooded, nor of anything except light as the universal form of things. Q. What profit may the Philosopher derive from these considerations, and what should he especially remark in the method of creation which was pursued by the Supreme Being? A. In the first place he should observe the matter out of which the world was made ; he will see that out of this confused mass, the Sovereign Artist began by extracting light, that this light in the same moment dissolved the

darkness which covered the face of the earth, and that it served as the universal form of the matter. He will then easily perceive that in the generation of all composite substances, a species of irradiation takes place, and a separation of light and darkness, wherein Nature is an undeviating copyist of her Creator. The Philosopher will equally understand after what manner, by the action of this light, the empyrean, or firmament which divides the superior and inferior waters, was subsequently produced ; how the sky was studded with luminous bodies ; and how the necessity for the moon arose, which was owing to the space intervening between the things above and the things below ; for the moon is an intermediate torch between the superior and the inferior worlds, receiving the celestial influences and communicating them to the earth. Finally he will understand how the Creator, in the gathering of the waters, produced dry land. Q. How many heavens can you enumerate ? A. Properly there is one only, which is the firmament that divides the waters from the waters. Nevertheless, three are admitted, of which the first is the space that is above the clouds. In this heaven the waters are rarefied, and fall upon the fixed stars, and it is also in this space that the planets and wandering stars perform their revolutions. The second heaven is the firmament of the fixed stars, while the third is the abode of the supercelestial waters.

Q. Why is the rarefaction of the waters confined to the first heaven ? A. Because it is in the nature of rarefied substances to ascend, and because God, in His eternal laws, has assigned its proper sphere to everything. Q. Why does each celestial body invariably revolve about an axis ? A. It is by reason of the primeval impetus which it received, and by virtue of the same law which will cause any heavy substance suspended from a thread to turn with the same velocity, if the power which impels its motion be always equal. Q. Why do the superior waters never descend ? A. Because of their extreme rarefaction. It is for this reason that a skilled chemist can derive more profit from the study of rarefaction than from any other science whatsoever. Q. What is the matter of the firmament ? A. It is properly air, which is more suitable than water as a medium of light. Q. After the separation of the waters from the dry earth, what was performed by the Creator to originate generation ? A. He created a certain light which was destined for this office ; He placed it in the central fire, and moderated this fire by the humidity of water and by the coldness of earth, so as to keep a check upon its energy and adapt it to His design.

Q. What is the action of this central fire ? A. It continually operates upon the nearest humid matter, which it exalts into vapour ; now this vapour is the mercury of Nature and the first matter of the three kingdoms. Q. How is the sulphur of Nature subsequently formed ? A. By the interaction of the central fire and the mercurial vapour. Q. How is the salt of the sea produced ? A. By the action of the same fire upon aqueous humidity, when the aerial humidity, which is contained therein, has been exhaled. Q. What should be done by a truly wise Philosopher when he has once mastered the foundation and the order in the procedure of the Great Architect of the Universe in the construction of all that exists in Nature ? A. He should, as far as may be possible, become a faithful copyist of his Creator. In the physical chaos he should make his chaos such as the original actually was ; he should separate the light from the darkness : he should form his firmament for the separation of the waters which are above from the waters which are below, and should successively accomplish, point by point, the entire sequence of the creative act.

Q. With what is this grand and sublime operation performed ? A. With one single corpuscle, or minute body, which, so to speak, contains nothing but Jaces, filth, and abominations, but whence a certain tenebrous and mercurial humidity is extracted, which contains in itself all that is required by the Philosopher, because, as a fact, he is in search of nothing but the true Mercury. Q. What kind of mercury, therefore, must he make use of in performing the work ? A. Of a mercury which, as such, is not found on the earth, but is extracted from bodies, yet not from vulgar mercury, as it has been falsely said. Q. Why is the latter unfitted to the needs of our work ? A. Because the wise artist must take notice that vulgar mercury has an insufficient quantity of sulphur, and he should consequently operate upon a body created by Nature, in which Nature herself has united the sulphur and mercury that it is the work of the artist to separate. Q. What must he subsequently do ? A. He must purify them and join them anew together. Q. How do you denominate the body of which we have been speaking ?

A. The Rude Stone, or Chaos, or Iliaste, or Hyle — that confused mass which is known but universally despised. Q. As you have told me that Mercury is the one thing which the Philosopher must absolutely understand, will you give me a circumstantial description ot it, so as to avoid misconception ? A. In respect of its nature, our Mercury is dual — fixed and volatile ; in regard to its motion, it is also dual, for it has a motion of ascent and of descent; by that of descent, it is the influence of plants, by which it stimulates the drooping fire of Nature, and this is its first office previous to congelation. By its ascensional movement, it rises, seeking to be purified, and as this is after congelation, it is considered to be the radical moisture of substances, which, beneath its vile scoriee, still preserves the nobility of its first origin. Q. How many species of moisture do you suppose to be in each composite thing ? A. There are three — the Elementary, which is properly the vase of the other elements ; the Radical, which, accurately speaking, is the oil, or balm, in which the entire virtue of the subject is resident— lastly, the Alimentary, the true natural dissolvent, which draws up the drooping internal fire, causing corruption and blackness by its humidity, and fostering and sustaining the subject.

Q. How many species of Mercury are there known to the Philosophers ? A. The Mercury of the Philosophers may be regarded under four aspects ; the first is entitled the Mercury of bodies, which is actually their concealed seed ; the second is the Mercury of Nature, which is the Bath or Vase of the Philosophers, otherwise the humid radical ; to the third has been applied the designation. Mercury of the Philosophers, because it is found in their laboratory and in their minera. It is the sphere of Saturn ; it is the Diana of the Wise ; it is the true salt of metals, after the acquisition of which the true philosophic work may be truly said to have begun. In its fourth aspect, it is called Common Mercury, which yet is not that of the Vulgar, but rather is properly the true air of the Philosophers, the true middle substance of water, the true secret and concealed fire, called also common fire, because it is common to all minerae, for it is the substance of metals, and thence do they derive their quantity and quality. Q. How many operations are comprised in our work? A. There is one only, which may be resolved into sublimation, and sublimation, according to Geber, is nothing other than the elevation of the dry matter by the mediation of fire, with adherence to its own vase.

Q. What precaution should be taken in reading the Hermetic Philosophers ? A. Great care, above all, must be observed upon this point, lest what they say upon the subject should be interpreted literally and in accordance with the mere sound of the words : For the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. Q. What books should be read in order to have an acquaintance with our science ? A. Among the ancients, all the works of Hermes should especially be studied; in the next place, a certain book, entitled The Passage of the Red Sea, and another, The Entrance into the Promised Land. Paracelsus also should be read before all among elder writers, and, among other treatises, his Chemical Pathway, or the Manual of Paracelsus, which contains all the mysteries of demonstrative physics and the most arcane Kabbalah. This rare and unique manuscript work exists only in the Vatican Library, but Sendivogius had the good fortune to take a copy of it, which has helped in the illumination of the sages of our order. Secondly, Raymond LuUy must be read, and his Vade Mecum above all, his dialogue called the Tree of Life, his testament, and his codicil. There must, however, be a certain precaution exercised in respect to the two last, because, like those of Geber, and also of Arnold de Villanova, they abound in false recipes and futile fictions, which seem to have been inserted with the object of more effectually disguising the truth from the ignorant.

In the third place, the lurha Philosophorum, which is a collection of ancient authors, contains much that is materially good, though there is much also which is valueless. Among mediaeval writers Zachary, Trevisan, Roger Bacon, and a certain anonymous author, whose book is entitled The Philosophers, should be held especially high in the estimation of the student. Among moderns the most worthy to be prized are John Fabricius, Francois de Nation, and Jean D'Espagnet, who wrote Physics Restored, though, to say the truth, he has imported some false precepts and fallacious opinions into his treatise.

Q. When may the Philosopher venture to undertake the work ? A. When he is, theoretically, able to extract, by means of a crude spirit, a digested spirit out of a body in dissolution, which digested spirit he must again rejoin to the vital oil. Q. Explain me this theory in a clearer manner. A. It may be demonstrated more completely in the actual process ; the great experiment may be undertaken when the Philosopher, by the medium of a vegetable menstruum, united to a mineral menstruum, is qualified to dissolve a third essential menstruum, with which menstruums united he must wash the earth, and then exalt it into a celestial quintessence, to compose the sulphureous thunderbolt, which instantaneously penetrates substances and destroys their excrements. Q. Have those persons a proper acquaintance with Nature who pretend to make use of vulgar gold for seed, and of vulgar mercury for the dissolvent, or the earth in which it should be sown ? A. Assuredly not, because neither the one nor the other possesses the external agent — gold, because it has been deprived of it by decoction, and mercury because it has never had it. Q. In seeking this auriferous seed elsewhere than in gold itself, is there no danger of producing a species of monster, since one appears to be departing from Nature ?

A. It is undoubtedly true that in gold is contained the auriferous seed, and that in a more perfect condition than it is found in any other body ; but this does not force us to make use of vulgar gold, for such a seed is equally found in each of the other metals, and is nothing else but that fixed grain which Nature has infused in the first congelation of mercury, all metals having one origin and a common substance, as will be ultimately unveiled to those who become worthy of receiving it by application and assiduous study. Q. What follows from this doctrine ? A. It follows that, although the seed is more perfect in gold, it may be extracted much more easily from another body than from gold itself, other bodies being more open, that is to say, less digested, and less restricted in their humidity. Q. Give me an example taken from Nature. A. Vulgar gold may be likened to a fruit which, having come to a perfect maturity, has been cut off from its tree, and though it contains a most perfect and well-digested seed, notwithstanding, should anyone set it in the ground, with a view to its multiplication, much time, trouble, and attention will be consumed in the development of its vegetative capabilities. On the other hand, if a cutting, or a root, be taken from the same tree, and similarly planted, in a short time, and with no trouble, it will spring up and produce much fruit.

Q. Is it necessary that an amateur of this science should understand the formation of metals in the bowels of the earth if he v/ishes to complete his work? A. So indispensable is such a knowledge that should anyone fail, before all other studies, to apply himself to its attainment, and to imitate Nature point by point therein, he will never succeed in accomplishing anything but what is worthless. Q. How, then, does Nature deposit metals in the bowels of the earth, and of what does she compose them ? A. Nature manufactures them all out of sulphur and mercury, and forms them by their double vapour. Q. What do you mean by this double vapour, and how can metals be formed thereby ? A. In order to a complete understanding of this question, it must first be stated that mercurial vapour is united to sulphureous vapour in a cavernous place which contains a saline water, which serves as their matrix. Thus is formed, firstly, the Vitriol of Nature ; secondly, by the commotion of the elements, there is developed out of this Vitriol of Nature a new vapour, which is neither mercurial nor sulphureous, yet is allied to both these natures, and this, passing through places to which the grease of sulphur adheres, is joined therewith, and out of their union a glutinous substance is produced, otherwise, a formless mass, which is permeated by the vapour that fills these cavernous places. By this vapour, acting through the sulphur it contains, are produced the perfect metals, provided that the vapour and the locality are pure. If the locality and the vapour are impure, imperfect metals result. The terms perfection and imperfection have reference to various degrees of concoction.

Q. What is contained in this vapour? A. A spirit of light and a spirit of fire, of the nature of the celestial bodies, which properly should be considered as the form of the universe. Q. What does this vapour represent ? A. This vapour, thus impregnated by the universal spirit, represents, in a fairly complete way, the original Chaos, which contained all that was required for the original creation, that is, universal matter and universal form. Q. And one cannot, notwithstanding, make use of vulgar mercury in the process ? A. No, because vulgar mercury, as already made plain, is devoid of external agent. Q. Whence comes it that common mercury is without its external agent ? A. Because in the exaltation of the double vapour, the commotion has been so great and searching, that the spirit, or agent, has evaporated, as occurs, with very close similarity, in the fusion of metals. The result is that the unique mercurial part is deprived of its masculine or sulphureous agent, and consequently can never be transmuted into gold by Nature. Q. How many species of gold are distinguished by the Philosophers ? A. Three sorts : — Astral Gold, Elementary Gold, and Vulgar Gold.

Q. What is astral gold ? A. Astral Gold has its centre in the sun, which communicates it by its rays to all inferior beings. It is an igneous substance, which receives a continual emanation of solar corpuscles that penetrate all things sentient, vegetable, and mineral. Q. What do you refer to under the term Elementary Gold ? A. This is the most pure and fixed portion of the elements, and of all that is composed of them. All sublunary beings included in the three kingdoms contain in their inmost centre a precious grain of this elementary gold. Q. Give me some description of Vulgar Gold ? A. It is the most beautiful metal of our acquaintance, the best that Nature can produce, as perfect as it is unalterable in itself. Q. Of what species of gold is the Stone of the Philosophers ? A. It is of the second species, as being the most pure portion of all the metallic elements after its purification, when it is termed living philosophical gold. A perfect equilibrium and equality of the four elements enter into the Physical Stone, and four things are indispensable for the accomplishment of the work, namely, composition, allocation, mixture, and union, which, once performed according to the rules of art, will beget the lawful Son of the Sun, and the Phoenix which eternally rises out of its own ashes.

Q. What is actually the living gold of the Philosophers ? A. It is exclusively the fire of Mercury, or that igneous virtue, contained in the radical moisture, to which it has already communicated the fixity and the nature of the sulphur, whence it has emanated, the mercurial character of the whole substance of philosophical sulphur permitting it to be alternatively termed mercury. 302 The Hei'metic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus. Q. What other name is also given by the Philosophers to their living gold? A. They also term it their living sulphur, and their true fire ; they recognize its existence in all bodies, and there is nothing that can subsist without it. Q. Where must we look for our living gold, our living sulphur, and our true fire ? A. In the house of Mercury. Q. By what is this fire nourished ? A. By the air. Q. Give me a comparative illustration of the power of this fire ? A. To exemplify the attraction of this interior fire, there is no better comparison than that which is derived from the thunderbolt, which originally is simply a dry, terrestrial exhalation, united to a humid vapour. By exaltation, and by assuming the igneous nature, it acts on the humidity which is inherent to it ; this it attracts to itself, transmutes it into its own nature, and then rapidly precipitates itself to the earth, where it is attracted by a fixed nature which is like unto its own.

Q. What should be done by the Philosopher after he has extracted his Mercury ? A. He should develop it from potentiality into activity. Q. Cannot Nature perform this of herself? A. No ; because she stops short after the first sublimation, and out of the matter which is thus disposed do the metals engender. Q. What do the Philosophers understand by their gold and silver ? A. The Philosophers apply to their Sulphur the name of Gold, and to their Mercury the name of Silver. Q. Whence are they derived ? A. I have already stated that they are derived from a homogeneous body wherein they are found in great abundance, whence also Philosophers know how to extract both by an admirable, and entirely philosophical, process. Q. When this operation has been duly performed, to what other point of the practice must they next apply themselves ? A. To the confection of the philosophical amalgam, which must be done with great care, but can only be accomplished after the preparation and sublimation of the Mercury. Q. When should your matter be combined with the living gold ? A. During the period of amalgamation only, that is to say, Sulphur is introduced into it by means of the amalgamation, and thenceforth there is one substance ; the process is shortened by the addition of Sulphur, while the tincture at the same time is augmented.

Q. What is contained in the centre of the radical moisture ? A. It contains and conceals Sulphur, which is covered with a hard rind. Q. What must be done to apply it to the Great Work ? A. It must be drawn out of its bonds with consummate skill, and by the method of putrefaction. Q. Does Nature, in her work in the mines, possess a menstruum which is adapted to the dissolution and liberation of this sulphur ? A. No; because there is no local movement. Could Nature, unassisted, dissolve, putrefy, and purify the metallic body, she would herself provide us with the Physical Stone, which is Sulphur exalted and increased in virtue. Q. Can you elucidate this doctrine by an example ? A. By an enlargement of the previous comparison of a fruit, or a seed, which, in the first place, is put into the earth for its solution, and afterwards for its multiplication. Now, the Philosopher, who is in a position to discern what is good seed, extracts it from its centre, consigns it to its proper earth, when it has been well cured and prepared, and therein he rarefies it in such a manner that its prolific virtue is increased and indefinitely multiplied.

Q. In what does the whole secret of the seed consist ? A. In the true knowledge of its proper earth. Q. What do you understand by the seed in the work of the Philosophers ? A. I understand the interior heat, or the specific spirit, which is enclosed in the humid radical, which, in other words, is the middle substance of living silver, the proper sperm of metals, which contains its own seed. Q. How do you set free the sulphur from its bonds ? Q. What is the earth of minerals ? A. It is their proper menstruum. Q. What pains must be taken by the Philosopher to extract that part which he requires ? A. He must take great pains to eliminate the fetid vapours and impure sulphurs, after which the seed must be injected. Q. By what indication may the Artist be assured that he is in the right road at the beginning of his work ? A. When he finds that the dissolvent and the thing dissolved are converted into one form and one matter at the period of dissolution. Q. How many solutions do you count in the Philosophic Work ? A. There are three. The first solution is that which reduces the crude and metallic body into its elements of sulphur and of living silver ; the second is that of the physical body, and the third is the solution of the mineral earth.

Q. How is the metallic body reduced by the first solution into mercury, and then into sulphur ? A. By the secret artificial fire, which is the Burning Star. Q. How is this operation performed ? A. By extracting from the subject, in the first place, the mercury or vapour of the elements, and, after purification, by using it to liberate the sulphur from its bonds, by corruption, of which blackness is the indication. Q. How is the second solution performed ? A. When the physical body is resolved into the two substances previously mentioned, and has acquired the celestial nature. Q. What is the name vi^hich is applied by Philosophers to the Matter during this period ? A. It is called their Physical Chaos, and it is, in fact, the true First Matter, a name which can hardly be applied before the conjunction of the male— which is sulphur — with the female — which is silver. Q. To what does the third solution refer? A. It is the humectation of the mineral earth, and it is closely bound up with multiplication. Q. What fire must be made use of in our work ? A. That fire which is used by Nature.

Q. What is the potency of this fire ? A. It dissolves everything that is in the world, because it is the principle of all dissolution and corruption. Q. Why is it also termed Mercury ? A. Because it is in its nature aerial, and a most subtle vapour, which partakes at the same time of sulphur, whence it has contracted some contamination. Q. Where is this fire concealed ? A. It is concealed in the subject of art. Q. Who is it that is familiar with, and can produce, this fire ? A. It is known to the wise, who can both produce it and purify it. Q. What is the essential potency and characteristic of this fire ? A. It is excessively dry, and is continually in motion ; it seeks only to disintegrate and to educe things from potentiality into actuality ; it is that, in a word, which coming upon solid places in mines, circulates in a vaporous form upon the matter, and dissolves it. Q. How may this fire be most easily distinguished ? A. By the sulphureous excrements in which it is enveloped, and by the saline environment with which it is clothed. Q. What must be added to this fire so as to accentuate its capacity for incineration in the feminine species ?

A. On account of its extreme dryness it requires to be moistened. Q. How many philosophical fires do you enumerate ? A. There are in all three — the natural, the unnatural, and the contranatural. Q. Explain to me these three species of fires. A. The natural fire is the masculine fire, or the chief agent ; the unnatural is the feminine, which is the dissolvent of Nature, nourishing a white smoke and assuming that form. This smoke is quickly dissipated, unless much care be exercised, and it is almost incombustible, though by philosophical sublimation it becomes corporeal and resplendent. The contra-natural fire is that which disintegrates compounds, and has the power to unbind what has been bound very closely by Nature. Q. Where is our matter to be found ? A. It is to be found everywhere, but it must specially be sought in metallic nature, where it is more easily available than elsewhere. Q. What kind must be preferred before all others ? A. The most mature, the most appropriate, and the easiest ; but care, before all things, must be taken that the metallic essence shall be present, not only potentially but in actuality, and that there is, moreover, a metallic splendour.

Q. Is everything contained in this subject ? A. Yes ; but Nature, at the same time, must be assisted, so that the work may be perfected and hastened, and this by the means which are familiar to the higher grades of experiment. Q. Is this subject exceedingly precious ? A. It is vile, and originally is without native elegance ; should anyone say that it is saleable, it is the species to which they refer, but, fundamentally, it is not saleable, because it is useful in our work alone. Q. What does our Matter contain ? A. It contains Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury. Q. What operation is it most important to be able to perform ? A. The successive extraction of the Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury. Q. How is that done ? A. By sole and perfect sublimation. Q. What is in the first place extracted ? A. Mercury in the form of a white smoke. Q. What follows ? A. Igneous water, or Sulphur. Q. What then ? A. Dissolution with purified salt, in the first place volatilising that which is fixed, and afterwards fixing that which is volatile into a precious earth, which is the Vase of the Philosophers, and is wholly perfect.

Q. When must the Philosopher begin his enterprise ? A. At the moment of daybreak, for his energy must never be relaxed. Q. When may he take his rest ? A. When the work has come to its perfection. Q. At what hour is the end of the work ? A. High noon, that is to say, the moment when the Sun is in its fullest power, and the Son of the Day-Star in its most brilliant splendour. Q. What is the pass-word of Magnesia ? A. You know whether I can or should answer : — I reserve my speech. Q. Give me the greeting of the Philosophers. A. Begin ; I will reply to you. Q. Are you an apprentice Philosopher ? A. My friends, and the wise, know me. Q. What is the age of a Philosopher ? A. From the moment of his researches to that of his discoveries, the Philosopher does not age. v [The manuscript of Paracelsus which is preserved in the Vatican Library is not the only treatise which is attributed to him under the title of Manual. The octavo volume, which has already supplied the material for the fourth appendix, contains two extensive collections of processes, the one devoted to chemistry and the other to medicine, which are respectively described as the Primum. and the Secundum Manuale. The latter is wholly outside the scope of this translation, but the first, which here follows, would have assuredly deserved a position of palmary importance in its proper section if there were not grave reason to doubt its genuine character.

The preface has already stated that there are no satisfactory rules for distinguishing between the authentic and forged writings which pass under 'the name of Paracelsus. The early date of the Basle octavo might be regarded as in favour of its contents ; it contains the Archidoxies, which are themselves indisputable, and it will be seen that the Primum Manuale claims to have been printed direct from an autograph manuscript. At the same time it does not correspond in any traceable manner with what is known of the Vatican treatise, and its "demonstrative physics" would appear to belong rather to the most suspicious section of alchemical literature than to serious experimental records. While this, of course, is an individual opinion, it is based upon a somewhat wide acquaintance with the great masters of alchemy, and on the evidence of other writings contained in the present volume which are less open to question. But whatever its actual value, it would by no means be right to exclude it because it is of doubtful authenticity, or because it is not in correspondence with what is known concerning a manuscript to which few have an opportunity of access. It has been, therefore, reserved to an appendix, where it may be accepted for what it is worth. ' If it be really a work of Paracelsus, the veils of the great mystery have been folded very thickly, and are not of an inviting texture.]

That most excellent Philosopher and Doctor of both kinds of Medicine; A Thesaurus of Special Alchemical Experiments under the Autograph OF the Author himself — Paracelsus. The Work on Mercury for Luna and Sol, which I have done with my Own Hands. TAKE of calcined tartar 2lb., and of quicklime ilb. Mix together. Place, in a vessel well luted, in a potter's furnace, that it may be calcined and rendered white. Dissolve that matter in the following^ lixivium. Let it stand until the calx in the bottom shall become tartar turned into water. Then distil by a filter ; afterwar-ds take the lixivium and place on it lib. of egfg shell with ilb. of quicklime. Make all boil together, so that it may become a stone. Put this to be again calcined as before, and also place ■ it again in the lixivium ; dissolve and distil it by the filter. Treat it again with &%% shell and quicklime, as above, and repeat this three or four times ; lastly, take the lixivium distilled by the filter, and make it boil until it is congealed. Let that tartar be calcined by itself for 15 or 16 hours ; then dissolve it into an oil, and thus you will have oil of tartar. Then take the Mercury, sublimate it with quicklime and ^^^ shell and calcined sulphur three or four times. Imbibe it nine times with the aforesaid oil, and sublimate it. What remains at the bottom, preserve in a glass vessel. What ascends, imbibe another nine times, sublimate, and preserve what remains. Imbibe yet again, and continue doing so until nothing ascends. Then take the mercury, pound it well, and imbibe it yet once again. Then dissolve it into an oil in a cold cellar. When all is dissolved put in 6 oz., i oz.'of silver foil. Place it in horse-dung, that it may be dissolved into water, and, when dissolved, coagulate it into Luna.

Into Sol. In the place of Luna take Sol, and in the imbibition of the Mercury add crocus of Mars, that it may become red. The Lixivium in made thus : R Quicklime Wood ashes Egg shell of each a sufficient quantity ; and boil to the thickness you know to be sufficient. The Work of Sulphur, according to our Operation. R Sulphur lib. Crocus of Mars ilb. Colcothar ^Ib. Place in a glazed vessel, and boil with the aforesaid lixivium until it be well reddened. Then distil, calcine the remains, repeat operation, and do the same twelve times, or even more, till one part of it becomes red and the other remains white. Let that whiteness be distilled by itself so long as it does not burn. Then mix with oil of tartar, and let it fix the mercury. It will congeal it if it be boiled therein, and will be fixed by sublimation and putrefaction, so that one part tinges a hundred parts. Take the red part of that oil, place it on silver foil, and let it stand for a week. Afterwards purify by ashes, and you will have good and excellent Sol. Or boil mercury in the same and a similar result follows. Hamelius first made a lixivium, and says that out of ten pounds there is scarcely one of tartar. Let it be very acid.

Take mercury, and pound it with egg-shells. Boil it with oil of tartar, and, afterwards sublimate it. Repeat this fifty times. Then take that mercury, and imbibe it with oil of Luna. Having done this, add a little of the oil of tartar and sublimated mercury. Mix all together and put in a flask, well luted, on a gentle fire for 24 hours, and then for four hours on a fierce fire. You will then find a stone which will perform wonders. Dissolve this in water, and the water tinges to Luna. Dissolve in it as much Luna as possible, and afterwards coagulate. To Reduce the Dust of Metals into Ashes. Take of the dust of the metal i quartal ; borax, tartar, i quartal each ; imbibe with oil of tartar, and afterwards dissolve. Concerning Stelliones or Spotted Lizards. If stelliones are distilled by descent, they yield an oil, of which it is said that it should fix mercurj' and convert it into Sol. Another. We believe that the ashes of a stellio should convert Luna into Sol, if they be projected on Luna. Another. If you pour into their stomach, by means of a reed, a quantity of Mercurius vivus, put it into a luted vessel, and burn it, you will find fixed mercury, which is Luna. Take particular notice of these stelliones.

Concerning Lizards. As we have prescribed in the case of stelliones, so do we also write concerning common lizards. The virtue of these animals should be carefully noted. To Cut Iron with Iron. Take a leek, a radish, and some earth-worms. Distil the water from them, in which dissolve a small knife as long as may be necessary. An Opinion on the Fixation of Spirits. We have an opinion that the fixation of mercury can in no way be better effected than in the following : Take the white of eggs and purify it with vitriol, alum, salt of nitre, and colcothar. Distil it again and again. Then distil with calcined tartar and the ashes of eggs from three to six times. Then imbibe the mercury from the colcothar and calcined tartar with the aforesaid oil until it remains on red-hot iron. Place that mercury in a glass vessel and dissolve it in water. That water dissolves Luna. When it has been dissolved, put it again to digest until it is altogether turned to water. Coagulate this with water and project this stone, virhereupon it is dissolved and converted into Luna. It will last for ever. But if you desire to turn it to a red colour, take gold instead of Luna, and it is coloured red with water of the crocus of Mars. Investigate concerning the calx of Luna and fixed arsenic.

The Preparation of Tuthia for Perpetual Redness. Take some green tuthia and pound it. Mix it with salt, and place it on a fire, in a well luted crucible, for a day and a night. Afterwards open crucible and sweeten the compound. Repeat this process ; then scatter Luna upon it, and it will be reddened for ever. For Fixing all Spirits. Take of the salt of tartar, vitriol, and saltpetre i lb. each, of common salt, wood ashes, oak ashes, vine-wood, and aminon 5 lb. or 6 lb. each, with I lb. of calcined tartar, quicklime, and alum. Pour acetum over this, and let it stand for three days. Constantly shake it, and afterwards set it to boil for an hour. Then let it be luted and leave it to stand for fifteen days, it being shaken five times in each day. Then distil it by means of a filter, and keep it. You can pour in fresh acetum upon it until the virtue is thoroughly extracted. Then place spirit in that water, congeal and dissolve it, and it will be congealed. The Fixation of Spirits. Take of prepared common salt, sweet water, prepared salt of alcali, sal ammoniac, oil of urine, and tartar, i lb. each, and of honey 5 lb. Place these in a glass vessel in horse-dung for a period of eight days. Afterwards take them out and let them boil gradually in succession. Then you will find a clear white stone. Project this in acetum, and it is turned into water. With this water imbibe the spirits and the calcined bodies ; thus mercury is converted into Luna.

The Fixation of Spirits. Imbibe the spirit with oil of tartar, and then the oil is distilled or extracted from it. Keep doing this until it will stand a somewhat strohg fire. Take the sublimated spirit, etc., and pound it on marble with oil of tartar. Place it in an alembic upon the sublimating furnace, and distil the oil from it until it is perfectly dried. Do this until nothing is evaporated from the coal. Afterwards put it in a phial and plunge it in dung for ten days, until it is consumed into water. Afterwards put it in a hot furnace with a clear fire until it is congealed. Note, that you can fix the spirit with oil of sulphur, or of sal ammoniac, and with water of white vitriol. But for conversion into Sol it must be treated with water of tartar. How Spirits should be Dissolved. Put into water eggshell, salt of alcali, and sal ammoniac. This water is poured on the warm or fused Spirit and it becomes a powder. Afterwards dissolve and congeal it. Dissolve nine times and it will be fixed. The Fixation of Salts and of Spirits so that they will remain in

Dissolve salt in acetum and place therein mercury at pleasure, sulphur, and arsenic, and they will melt together. Make a lixivium as strong as possible, pour oil on it, and let it stand for two days. Shake it frequently, and it will be converted into milk. Having done this, try whether it will stand the fire. If it does, well and good ; but if not, put it on again until it does stand, and it will be fixed. Do this for seven days, imbibing and drying it over a slow fire. It will then flow like lead. Concerning the Virtue of Oil of Tartar. Distil the oil from crude tartar. It avails in all diseases of the joints and of the spleen, whilst it also absorbs ulcers. The Fixation and Tincture of Spirits. Take of calcined tartar one part, of water of the body quantu-m suff. Let it boil, and note that it is well imbibed with oil of tartar. Distil until it is dried, and repeat this as long as the ingredients remain in the fire. Afterwards take the spirit, pound it, and place it within a glass vessel in horse dung. Let it remain for ten days, desiccate over fire the water thence produced, and thus it will be fixed. Note that you can fix spirits with oil of sulphur or with water of sal ammoniac, or with water of white vitriol. Distemper the water of tartar in the sun with crocus of Mars, as above, etc.

To Dissolve Tartar in one hour without a Furnace. Take marble and place upon it some tartar. Let it stand in water as lonoas possible, but so that the water shall not touch the tartar, and it will soon be dissolved. /I Manual of Paracelsus the Great. 3 1 1 Note Concerning Minerals. Note concerning alcali, which has been made from the strongest lixivium. If a mineral be imbibed therewith in a glass vessel, it will be fixed. Another Method of Combustion, which holds good for all Minerals. Take Mineral, 4 lbs. Calcined Tartar, i quartal. Flour, Yz lb. Bruised Glass, i lb. Good lute and oil, quant, stiff. Make a ball the size of your fist. Dry it and burn it for ten hours in a closed vessel or a hollow globe. Having done this, break and wash it, imbibe it with litharge and anatron in Saturn, with glass or sand strewn over it, for two or three hours. Afterwards it must be fulminated ; but note this, that it should be imbibed with the sand until no smoke ascends, and then fulminated. Note on the above. Ev^ery mineral should be first evaporated in Saturn before it is placed in the ashes.

For Sulphureous and Antimoniac Minerals. Distil the sulphureous or antimoniac minerals by descent for 6 or 8 hours. Then the sulphur is distilled by descent, and the mineral holds Luna or Sol, which is purged by lead, as you well know how. But if a lixivium is put into the lower vessel, then the sulphur is converted To Separate Luna from Venus in Money. Take equal parts of arsenic and saltpetre. Dissolve by successive degrees over a slow fire. Then the money in a state of flux is put in, piece by piece, and left in a state of fusion for about a quarter of an hour. Pour in a regulus, and the Luna is separated from the Venus. The Coagulation of Mercury. Fill an egg-shaped crucible with mercury, fasten the opening with a lute, then place it in an open vessel. Pour on lead, and put it to cool. Thus you will have it coagulated. Let it be distilled by descent, and afterwards let water be placed in the lower vessel. The sulphur will adhere, and will be coloured red. Take Sublimated Mercury, lb. ij. Sublimated Sal Ammoniac, lb. i. Crude Tartar, lb. ij. Calcined Tartar, lb. iij. Mix together and place in a glass vessel in cold water, so that it may be

dissolved. When dissolved put in it 6 oz. of calx of Luna. Let this dissolve, * From this point tlie recipes are given partly in Latin and partly in German, the greater part being often in the latter language. and when you have done so, coagulate. Dissolve and coagulate a second Take Oil of Antimony, iiij. parts Crocus of Mars, i. part Salt of Nitre, i. part Reddened Flos Aeris, i. part Let them be imbibed with oil of antimony and dried, until the whole of the oil is imbibed. Take of these powders 5iij., and of Luna Is. Let them remain continuously for 12 hours in a state of fusion. You will find in the separation of the strong waters, Ix. d. of good gold, or more ^^ by the side of ^O white or yellow arsenic, ^o by the fusion of sulphur .... lily. Take of this oil half an ounce, of fixed sulphur and sal ammoniac 5 i., and of A Cement of Part with the Part. Take 3 iiij- each of Bolus Armenus Fixed Salt of Nitre Fused and prepared Common Salt Red Vitriol. Si. each of Sal Ammoniac Flos Aeris. §i. each of Burnt Brass Red Calamine Stone. Let the powders be imbibed with urine, and the/ara cum parte of Sol and Luna be cemented for twelve hours. Then let it stand in a state of flux for six hours. Let this process be repeated by cementing three times, and you will have Sol of 24 degrees according to every test.