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980ggs g,9996gMEDULLALCHYMIE

THEMARROWF ALCHEMYWritten in Latin by George Ripley, Canonof Bridl ington, which he sent oul of I talyanno L476. To the Arch-Bishop of york.

Transiated into EngJ. ish and now revised and claused, bu:l{ILLIAIISALIVION

proffessor of physick


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CHAPTER LXITHE REFACEOTHE RCH-BISHOPFYORK,I . T Shal l endeavour Sir , to expl icate, open, and makeplain to you, the Secrets of ALchgmie, which I haveat tained to, by my Travels through I taTg; and otherCountries and Kingdoms for the space of -Nine years, d.raw-ing Forth, and Select ing the true Root, and Marrow ofNature (by a series of Experiences) from its most inwardRecesses, and secret Habitat ions.

I I . The which I am moved and compelled to from thesingular Good-wi l1, ent i re Af fect ions, and Sincere Love,which as wel-I as in t imes past, I now at present bearunto you: And therefore shal l fa i thful ly ( thor br ief ly)declare the Secrets of this Art to you; plainly and open-Ly, not Dark ly and Aenigmat ical ly , ds i f i t was done undera Shadow or Vai1.

f f f . Such indeed is your Li fe (your Works witnessingthe same) that you are as a healing Balm, a Refuge ofof Defence, and Shelter to the Church of God., a pi l larof his Holy Temple, tor which Reasons, I am obl iged toreveal these hidden Mysteries, and make known to youthe abscondite Paths of Nature, not to rejoyce youroutward Man only, by adding Health and long Li fe,leaping up Treasures, and external Honours and App1ause,


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in the World, but to excite in you the highest Devotionto God Almighty, that you might become good. to al l lvlen,prof i table to the Church, a Father to the Father less,and a Sanctuary to the Needy and Distressed.

IV. And in these things, I am conf ident of you, in whomis found such a Port ion and Treasure of Vertue, Prudence,Piety, and true Wisdom, but most chief ly, for that Iknow you to be such a one, who has God always before yourEyes.

V. And therefore I speak t ruly and fervent ly , and I wi l ldeclare the Truth to you, with al l fa i thfulness accordingto the reali ty of my Soul; I shall Elucidate the undoubtedVerity, and declare such thingsr rs with much Labour,Care, and Di l igence I have sought out , and obtained theknowledge of; which I have seen with my Eyes, and havehandled with my Hands, and which my own self has done:And in this matter I wi l l nei ther be tedious nor ob-scure, lest that love which I profess to you, shouldseem to be deficient or imperfect.

VI . Whatever I wr i te, f shal l open the same br ief ly andplainly beseeching God, that the matter whereof I sha1lentreatr r l lay become profitable unto you; and that if youshall please to put the same into pract ice you may f indthe fai thful exper ience thereof , and not be deceived, oxspend your t ime in vain: For we know certainly, that of al l

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t ransi tory things, T ime is t ruly the most pret ious.

VII. Wherefore I write unto you (honourable and dearlybeloved Fr iend) such things only as may be prof i table;making this humbl-e suit unto your Excellency, that theRevealed Secrets and Experiments which I send you inthis l i t t le Book, Ray not be prost i tuted, or bestowedupon unworthy Men, who are naugrhty t ot swoln up withPrider or whose Souls are bound up in their Covetousness.

VI I I . I requj-re not of you for this Secret , a greatSummof Gold or Silveri nor d.o I put this Secret inwrit ing, for you to bestow much Cost and Expences uponit ; nor do I for my self desire any reward, these thingsagree not wi th the Phi losophick Veri ty , which professes,that i ts Works are not chargeable and Expensive. I , Ior ienussai th, beware that you spend nothing in this Magistery ofGold. And Dast ine, sai th wi th the Value of one Nobleis the whole Magistery performed.

IX, Since then i t is sor in what thing is our Gold tobe found? Is i t not in Mercury, which is cal led Quick orl iv ing Gold? Rasmandus sai th, H that wi l l reduce QuickGold into thin water, must make it , doe it , and Work itby i ts contrary. For sai th he, Quick or l iv ing Gold,has in its se1f, four Natures, and four humours orE1ements. And therefore sai th he, i f you putref ie i tsCold with i ts Hot, and i ts Dry with i ts Moist , you shal l

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not only have the Humidi ty of al l Bodies, but you sha1lhave a Menstruum, which wi l l d issolve Argent Vive for ever.For the least part of Mercury being once dissolved, thed. issolved Mercury wi l l a lways dissolve Mercury ad rnf ini tunr.

X. (Mercury may as wel l be cal led Ouick-Go1d, a.s euick-Si lver, for i t contains them both, I f Air wi l l make thisSeparat ion, we must put thereto divers contrary things, asRoger Bacon saith in speculo. But this putrefact ion can-not be done, t i l l i t is dj-ssolved in Water white as Mi lk ,putr i f ie that Mi lk 15 days in B.M. then separate i tsElement, and cleanse i ts Earth, and af ter that joyn i tagain in equal weight, then is the Elixir mad,e compleatefor Saturn and Jupiter. Quick-Gold is Crude, fmperfect ,and unf ix t in every degree, and yet i t is accounted aBody, al tho' there be no f ixat ion in i t , and therefore i tmay be much sooner brought to i ts f irst matter, than anyother of the Bodies, that have any part of f ixat ion inthem, fo r they must have much Labour and long time toseparate them, and bring them back into their f ixt matter. )

xr . For sai th Lu7rg, The Elements of Mercury may be dis-solved, and being so dissolved, they may be separated..There be some that think our Resoluble seed t ot dissolvedMenst tumt is the water of Argent v ive, made only by i tsel f , because j- t does dissolve both Metals, and pret iousStones which we cal l pear ls ; and so i t is . Now how this

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dissolving },Ienstrun is made, not only Raymund seems toshew, but Roger Bacon in l ike manner in his SpeculumATchgmia, where he sai th, put the Body which is mostweighty, into a Dist i l latory, and draw forth thereof , i tsSweet Ros, or Dew, with a l i t t le Wind, or Breath: ( forbetwixt every drop of Waterr comes forth a Breath, ds i twere of a Man, which is the substance of Argent v ive, andwhich the Phi losophers cal l our Mercury; which i f i t bewell putref ied before hand, wj-1I then yield the more, andissue out forc iblyr Ers i f i t were Wild- F ire out of aTrunk, especial ly when the Red Fume comes,) Thus haveyou one of our Argent Vives.

Xff. To the same thing Raymundus assents, where hesaith, then have you that Argent Vive, which is calledours; and so i t is indeed one of our Argent v ivei al thotthe intent of the same Phi losopher in Libro Animae Art isTransmutator iae, cap. 2 was touching another more nobleand more excellent Water (supposed by some, to be OurBurning-Water, drawn out of the Gum of Vi t r io l , ) by thevir tue of which most Noble and Excel lent , at t ract iveWater, he did. not only of ten dissolve the Body of Sol(not as he doth i t wi th the aforesaid Argent v ive com-

monly dissolved) but also the same solar Body, by forceof that at t ract ive Vir tue, is disposed in a more noblemanneri as I my self have seen d.one, not only in theMetal l ine El ix i r , but also in the E1ix ir of Li fe, ds here-af ter sha1l be declared, Chap. 7L, 72.Sect .

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xrrr- r t is fancied by an Experienced phi losopher, thatMercury did speak, and said, r am the Father of Enchant-ments, Brother to the Sun, and Sister to the Moon, I amthe water of Li fe drawn out of wine, ( i .e. out of theWine of uercurg) I k i l l that which was al ive, and makealive that which was dead; r make Black, and T make white,and r carry in my Belly the ,so-zof philosophers; and there-fore he that can joyn me after that r am d.issorved, andmade the pure clear and silver l ike water, cal led zacvirginis 1 with my Brother the sun, he sha11 t inge himwith my Soul, not only muih more than he was before byan hundred foId, but also if he be joyned. with my sisterLuna' he shar l make a1l things fair and br ight . ( thisLac virginis is a s i lver- l ike water somewhat thick. )

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CHAPTER LXIIA FARTHERISCOURSEFTHEPHILOSOPHERS'IERCURY.

I . Of this Mercury, speaks another Phi losopher thus, whenits Elements are separated, and again joyned and mixedtogether by equal weight, then is i t made a compleatEl ix i r upon saturn and Jupiter i but i ts Elements cannotbe separated, unt i l such t ime as i t is dissolved: andof this Metall ine Water, ought the Art ist to draw theTinctute.

f f . (The Elements of Mercury being separated. , and againcommixed by equal weight or proport ion, make the Elixircompleat with of ten dissolv ing and congeal ing of theSpir i t , which must be done upon a Marble Stone, weigh-ing the Body, and then tak ing i ts weight of the SecretsSalt , gr inding them together very subt i l , then put t ingthem into Balneo, that they may be dissolved; which done,take it out, and make your congelat ion a dry Fire, do soof tent imes, and then, etc. )

f I I . And therefore to conf i rm this, Ragmund.ussai th, Omy Son, Our Tincture is drawn out of one Vile thing, andis decked, f in ished, and ended with another thing whichis more Noble; for we do Ferment i t wi th vulgar Gold:He cal ls i t Vi le, because he sai th i t is somet imes found

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in Vi le Placesr Ers in Old draughts: also i t is Vi le,because (as Raymundus saith) it is found not only in af i l thy form, and ugly shape, but because i t is in everything, of the which (sai th Albertus) is made a permenentor f ix t Water.

IV. (Here is to be Noted, that Raymundus commands thisTincture to be drawn out of the Body of venus, whichTincture he does Ferment with the prepared calx of commonor Vulgar Gold. )

V. And therefore sai th Avicen, i t behoves you to have agreat quantity of our Gold, and of our Silver, to the end,that thereby the humours may be drawn forth z viz. to haveat the least s ix ty pounds weight , which wi l l be a suf-f ic ient quant i ty for your whole l i fe. He also sai th, thebest Mercurg is brought in sk ins, f rom rqount pasul lane.Of this Mercurg, Geber sai th, you must labour in al l yourwork t


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never congealed. wi thout a congeal ing suTphur; and beingcongealed, you have a great secret : for in the dissolved,Deeocted Mercurg, is a great and hidden Mystery.

VIT. Another Phi losopher also sai th, that there is acertain subti l Fume, which does spring forth from itsproper Veins, dispers ing and spread. ing i ts sel f abroad.the which thin Fume if it be wi-sely gathered togetheragain, and spri-nkIed upon its proper Veins or Matri-x, i twil l make not onJ-y a certain f ixat ion (of which thin Fume,in short space is made the true El ix i r ) but also c leansesthe Impure Metals or Alchgmick Body.

VI f I . (as to the Tincture ment ioned at Sect . 4 above, i trather seems by other works of the said Raymundus, that hedrew it out of Quick-SiLverr dnd no other v i le thing, ofwhich lulercurg is made. What is meant at Sect . 6. bynot joyning the Crude with the Decocted, fs to be under-stood of not joyning Crude ltercurg to the Decocted Bodiesor Metals, but to put to them Decocted. , i .e, dissolvedMercurg. And herein is hidden a great secret , for Mer-curg being dissolved, is an hot and moist Sperm; butCrude' i t is cold and dry saturn. So that i f you putr i f ieits hot and moist Sperm with its cold and dry Earth, youwi l l have Quick-Si lver dissolved, which is not Crude, butDecocted Mercury. So that in Crude l4ercury dissolved ishidden a great Mystery. And however it is dissolved by a

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Fire not natural or against Nature, yet i t must be mixed,conjoyned, f ixed. )

IX. This Alchymick Body is ca1led Leprous GoId, whereinGord and si lver, are in Essence and power, but not in f ightor appearance; in i ts Profundi ty or Depth, i t is Airousor Spir i tual Go1d, which none can obtain, unless the sameBody be first made clean and pure. The which impure Bodyafter mundif icat ion, is a thousand times better than arethe Bod.ies of coInmon soL and. Luna, Decocted by naturalheat .

X. (This Leprous Gold the Phi losophers cal l , Aclrop, orAdrup, which Gold is the Phi losophers Lead. This Alchy-mick Body ( in his Concord) he cal ls venus in the lesserwork ' both for Gold and s i lver, because i t is a NeutralBody, and very easie to be changed to either: and by thisthe sense of sect . 4 and g. aforegoing may be more easi lyunderstood. The Earth, the uncleansed Body, is to beputr i f ied with i ts own water, and af terwards nourishedwith i ts t t tothers Mi lk , which is cal led the Sulphur ofNature. )

Xf . The f j-rst Matter of this unclean Alchymical Body 5_sa v iseous water, which i-s thickened in the Bowels of theEarth. And therefore of this Impure Body (as vincent

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saith) is made the great Elixir of the Red and White, whosename is Adrop, or Adrup, vLz. the Phi losophers .Lead. Fromthe which Raymundus commands an Oy1 to be drawn: from theLead of the Phi losophers (sai th f re) Iet there be an oyld.rawn of a Golden Colour i i f you can separate this OyI(wherein is Our second Tincture and Fire of Nature) fromits Flegm, which is i t watr ishness, and wisely search outthe Secret thereof, you may in the space of thirty daysperform the Work of the Phi losophers Stone.

XfI. This Oyl does not only make the Medicine pene-trable, being amicable and conjoynable to al l Bodies orCorporeal things, but i t is also the hidden or Secret f ireof Nature; which does so augiment the Excellencies ofthose Bodies to whom j-t is so joyned, that it makes themto exceed in inf in i te proport ions of goodness and puri ty .So much as does appertain to the Work of ALchgmiae, whichis only for the El ix i r of Metals is now suff ic ient lyopened, which i f you r ight ly understand, you wi l l f indthat no great cost is required to the performance of thisPhi losophick Operat ion.

XI I I . ( The fnnatural Fire is Our Aqua Foetens r or Sea-Water, sharp, peirc ing, and burning al l Bodies moref iercely than Elemental Fire, making of the Body of so7 ,a meer Spiri t , which cofirmonElemental Fire has notpower to do. )

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XIV. But this El ix i r o f Metals is not al l that I intendto shew you; the El- ix i r of Li fe is that which I chief lydesigned, inf in i te ly exceeding al l the Riches of thisWorld, and to which the most excellent of al l the Earthlythings cannot be compared.. And therefore, f shall 1. Shewin the MineraL Kingd.om, the Elixir of Metals, and thatafter divers manners . 2. fn the Vegetable Kingd.om, theEl ix i r both of Metals, and of Li fe. 3. fn the AnimalKingdom, the El ix i r of Li fe only; albei t the same El ix i rof Li fe is most excel lent for the t ransmutat ion of Metal1s.

XV. There are three things necessary to this Art, of whichyou ought not to ignorant, vLz. 1. The Fire wherewith:( fhe f ire of Nature, InnaturaT, ElementaT, and which isagainst , Nature, destroying the special form of aI l thatis dissolved therein.) 2.The Water whereby: (as in theCompound watet . ) g. And the thing whereof : ( j s made thecongeaTed Earthr ds white as snow*) or al l which in theirproper order.* (compare with Golden Chain of Homer-HWN)

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CHAPTER LX I I IOFTHEV1IERALTONE,NDPHLOSOPHCKF RESI . On a t ime as I have learned, there was an Assembly ofPhi losophers, where the tuat ter of the Secret stone, andthe t t lanner of work ing i t , was propounded. Several spoketheir Opinions, but at length, one younger in Years, and(as was thought) Infer iour in Learning, declared histhougrhts and knowled.ge concerning that Secret. I knowsaith he, the Regiments of the Fires. When they hadheard what he could sdy, they al l as a mazed held theirpeace for a whi le.

I I . At length, one of the Company made answerr I f th isbe true which thou hast said, thou art Master of us all 'and thereupon with one consent, they gave him the RightHand of Fellowship. Whereupon they gathered, that theSecret of this wonderful T incture lay chief ly in the Fire.

I I f . But the Fire di f fers af ter several manners; oneNatural . another innatural or preternatural , anotherElemental, another against Nature. The Natural Firedoes come from the Inf luence of SoJ, and Luna, and theAster isms, or the sun, i r foon and Stars , of the which areIngendred, not only the burning Waters, and potentialVapours of Minerals, but also the Natural Vir tues ofl iv ing things.

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IV. The Innatural or Preternatural Fire, is a thingaccidental , as Heat in an Ague, being made Art i f ical ly , andcal Ied by the Phi losophers a moist F ire, Our generat ingWater, the f ire of the f irst Degree; and for the temper-ature of i ts Heat is cal led a Bath, a Stew, a Dunghi l , inwhich Dunghil is made the putrefact ion of our Stone. SeeSect. 13 of the former Chapter, where it is more amplydef ined.

V. The Elemental f i re, is that which does Fix, Calc ineand Burn, and is nourished by Combustible things.

Vf , The f i re against Nature (which is a v iolent st rong,Corrosive, destroying the special form of that which isdissolved therein,) is that which in Power Dissolves,Frets, Infects, and destroys the generat ive Power of theform of the Stone: i t does Dissolve the Stone into Waterof the Cloud, with the loss of i ts Natural , At t ract ive,and special Form, and is cal led Fire against Natute (asRaymundus sai th) f rom its operat ion: for that whichNature does make, this f i re against Nature d.estroys andbrings to Corrupt ion, unless there be f i re of Natureput to i t .

VfI . Here as Raymundus saith, I ies contrary Operat ions,(as in the Compoanded Water) for as xhe f ire against. lvature, does Dissolve the Spir i t o f the f ixed Body; theVolat j- le Spir i t is thereby constrained to ret ire into a

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f ixed, Earth, (a Congealed Earth as White as Snow. '1

vrrr. For the f ire of Nature does congeal the Dissorvedspirit of the fixed Body into a glorious Earth: and theBody of the Volat i le being f ixed, by the same f ire againstNature, is here again by the f ire of Nature resolved intothe water of Philosophers, but not into the water of thecloud: and so by this means the f ixed is returned backagain into its wonted Nature of Flying, and the moist ismade d=y, and the ponderous is made light.

fX. But yet he sai th, this f i re which is against Natureis not the Work of Our Magistery, but i t is fhe f i rewhieh is pureTg NaturaT. This he Saith, because he wouldshew us thereby the dif ference between the Mineral Erixir,and the Vegetable, and the Animal. For that these threeseveral El ix i rs are made of three several waters, v iz .

' Mi-neral, Vegetable, and Animal, which serve for the Workdivers ways.

X. And First we wi l l f reat of the Mineral El ix i r , thenof the other in order. The Fj_re against Nature is aMineral Water, (vLz. the Humour or Tincture drawn outof Body of Venus Dissolved in i ts Mineral Spir i t ) verystrong and l' lortal. serving only to the Mineral Elixir,

XT. This l t { ineral Water, oy Fire against Nature, isdrawn with f ire Elemental, from a certain st inking Men-struumr as Raymundas sai th, and is made of four things.

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I t is the strongest Water in the World, whose only Spir i t ,(sai th he) does wonderful ly increase and mult ip ly theTincture of the Ferment: for here So1 or Gold is T ingedwith the Mineral Spir i t , the which Ivl ineral Spir i t is thestrength of the most simple suTphur without much Earthi-ness.

XI f . (Thin Mineral Water is the dropping of Adrop orAdrup, Venus, which is the noble Tincture cal led thenatural Roman Vitr iol, and which for the abundance ofi ts noble Tincture, is cal led Roman Goid.)

XI I I . This some do cal l the Spir i t o f the Green Lgon,others the blood of the Green Lqon. . wherein almost al lErr , and are deceived: for the Green Lgon of the phi-J-osophers, Ls that Lgont by whose Vir tue at t racLive, a l lthings are t i f ted up from the Bowels of the Earth, andthe Winter-l ike Caverns, making them to Wax green andf lour ish: whose Chi ld (for al l the El ix i rs are to behad f rom it ) is to us most acceptable and suf f ic ient .

XfV. (The Chi ld of Phi losophers is generated of theirGreen Lyon, of which Child is had the strength of SuI-phur, both White and Red; Our two Sulphurs of Nature arethe GoId and Si lver of the Phi losophers, and theirhidden Treasure. )

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xv. of this child of the Green r,yon of the philosophersis drawn the strength of Sulphur White and Red, but notBurning as Avicen saith, which are the two best thingsthe Alchymist can take to make his Gold and si lver of:and this is suff ic ient to be said., for the attaining theknowledge of the Green Lyon: which is so called, because,that when he is dissolved. he is streight ways adornedwith a green vesture. ( i .e. when our sulphur of Natureis dissol-ved in i ts own Menstruum,which is the v irgins

Milk, i t is cTot,hed with thrs gl reenness I and theref orecalTed the Green Lyon. )

xvr- But of the'Green Lgon of Foors, this we sdy, thatfrom it with a strong, f ire is drawn Aquafort is, in thewhich, the aforesaid Philosophers Lyon of the Mineralstone' ought to be Elixirated, and assumes its Name.Ralrmundus sai-th, i t were better r or safer, to eat, theEyes of a BasaLisk, than that Gold, which is made withthe Fire against Nature.

xvrr- And r say aIso, that the things from whence thesame Aquafort is is drawn is green vi t r io l and Azoxh: i .e.Vi t r io l Natural , not Art i f ic ia l , v Iz. the droppings ofCopper, ca77ed. also Roman vit r ioT, Roman Gold, by many ofthe Philosophers, from the abundance of i ts noble Tincture,the whi-ch Tincture must be Fermented with conrmon Gold-

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XVIII . How great and Secret a Virtue, then, and of, whatstrength, the Fire against Nature is, evj-dent ly appearsin the construct ion of the Body of the Volat i le Spiri t ,being by its vulgarly sublimed in the form of Snowy white-ness. Raymundus in the end of the Epist le of his Abridg-ment saith, feed Argent Vive with this Oy1, vj-z. withthe Oy1, wherewith the SpJ-rit of the Quintessence isthickened, etc.

XTX. For want of such, Natural Vir t io l , the true andnatural Pr inc iple, not Art i f ic ia l , (as vincent sai th)made of Sal ts , Sulphurs, and. A1ums, which cut and gnawMetals, is to be chosen, lest in the end of your workyou fai l of your desire. (The Phi losophers wi l l you toCalcine So1 with Ivlercury Crude, t i I l i t be brought intoa Calx Red as Bl-ood: Here comes in the work of SoI andMercury together, brought into a dry Red Pouder andfixed, but whether it is to be done with Mercury orSulphur, the Water of him, is doubt ful . )

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CHAPTER LXIVTHE\ANNERFELIXIRATIONlITH HEFIREAGAINSTATURE,I . Take the f i rs t So1, Calc ined with the f i rs t Water,v iz- the Mercur ial Spir i t , very clean, and brought intothe Color of Blood, in the space of 20 days, ( in lessert ime it is not to be done. ) This Calcinat ion cannot beso prof i table, ds i t would be, unless So1 be f i rs t Mer-cur ial iz 'd into such a thi .nness, as i t may cleave to-gether to that to which it must be joyned in a 24 foldproport ion, (vLz. as 1. to 24.) s t rained through aclean Linnen C1oth, without any remaining substance ofthe Gold.

I I . I my self have seen it so ordered and done; and theni t may certainly , in a strong Bolt - Head. , wel l Luted onevery s ide, except on the Topr boyl ing in a st rong Firefor the space of 20 days, be precipi tated into a RedPouder, l ike Cinnaber, (a11 which I have seen performed. )Every part ic le of this Pouder you shal l so f ix , as thati f i t be put upon a Red-Hot I ron Plate, i ts Spir i t shal lno t fume or fly away.

TI f . This Pouder Dissolve with, or in our Fire againstNature; being Dissolved, abstract the Water of the Fireagainst Nature from i t , so long t i l l the substance of thePouder so Dissolved, do remain in t 'he Vessel , ds thick asan Oyl; which Oyl, f i rs t , wi th a sof t f i re, and af ter wi th


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a stronger, f ix into dry Pouder.

IV. (This Work is not to be done al l at once, but byl i t t le and l i t t le at a t ime, t i l1 i t goes through withi t in the Color of Blood; then wi l l i t precipi tate intoa Red. Pouder, cal led by the Phi losophers Sericon: Dis-solve i t wi th as much of Our Vegetable Sal Anatron, thespace of an hour, then set i t in balneo, in a longReceptory, t i l l i t be c leanly dissolved, and becomes asi t were a f ine Wine, which with the very sof test heat ,make it to Evaporate, and Congeal, so wil l you have apure Stone, and of subt i l parts.

V. A1so if you dissolve this same Red Pouder of Mercuryin Water or Spir i t of CommonSa1t, prepared as Bachonand Al-bertus have taught, you shall have an Oyl or Salt ofGo1d, which no Fj-re can destroy, which wi l l melt and t ingewith a solar Color upon a Plate of Venus. This Treasurecarry always with you, wheresoever you go: Who knowsnot the Secret of this prepared Salt in Our lesser Works,knows I i t t le of the hidden thi-ngs of Alchymie.)

VT. Try this f ix t Pouder (at Sect . 3. above) for thef ixat ion, rei terate st i l l the Work with the same Fireagainst Nature upon the same Pouder Ten t imes, and itwil l be dryed up no more into Pouder, but remain in athick Oyl, the which wi l l turn Argent Vive, and al l Bodiesj-nto pure Alchymick Go1d, suf f ic ient ly good for al l works

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of the GoLdsmixh, but not for l" ledicine for I"Ian's Body.

VII. A Second wdy, Gold is much more wonderful ly EIix-i rated by the said Fire against Eature, compounded withthe Fire NaturaT, af ter this manner. Let v i t r io l of theFire of Nature, made of the most sharp Humidi tyr ormoisture of Grapes, and. Sericon, joyned together in aMass, with the Natural Mineral Vi t r io l (ca7Led the Gumof Adropt ot v ixr ioT Azothr) made somewhat dty, and withSal Nit re, be dissolved.

Vf I I . F irs t Ascends a Fair , Weak, Flegmat ick Water, whichcast away. Then a White Fume, making the Vessel appearWhite l ike Mi lk , which Fume must be gathered into thereceiverr so long t i I I i - t ceases, and the Vessel becomesclear, o f i ts own Color. This water of the White Fumeis the st ink ing Menstruum, which is cal led Our Dragonagainst Nature. This Menstruum, if the said Dragonagainst Nature was absent, would be our Fire Natural, ofwhich we shal l hereaf ter speak in i ts proper place.

IX. (Ralzmundus saith, this water is mad.e of four things2L.fhe Composit ion of SaI Amarum. 2. Menstruum Foetens.3. Argent Vive, which is a common substance in evergcombust ibLe bodg. 4. Mineral Vit r iol .

X. This compounded Water Mineral, and Water Vegetable,being mixed together, and made one Water as aforesaid,

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doth work contrary operat ion, which is wonderful , i tDissolves and congeals, i t makes moist and dry, i t putr i -f ies and pur i f ies; i t d iv ides asunder and joyns together;i - t destroys and restores; i t k i t ls and makes al ive; i twounds and heals again; i t makes sof t and hardens; i tmakes thin and thick; i t resolves compounds, and com-pounds again: rt begins the work and makes an end ofthe same.

xr. These two Minerar waters compounded together in one,are the two Dragons Fighting and striving to gather oneagainst the other in the Flood of satai iaz vrz. TheWhite Fume and the Red; and one of them shal1 devour theother. And here the solutory Vessels ought to be Lutedbut gent ly , or c losed with Linnen cloth r or with Mast ick,or common Wax, or Cerecloth.

XfI. These two Dragons are Fire and Water, within theVessel and not without; and therefore i f they feel anyexteriour Fire, they wil l r ise up to the top of theVessel , and i f they be yet forced by the v iolence orstrength of the Fire, they wi l l break the vessel , and soyou wi l l lose a1I your Work.

xrrr- This compoundedwater aforesaid,, does congeal asmuch as i t does Disso1ve, and l i f ts i t up into a gloriouscrystal l ine Earth. This is our secret dissolut ion of thestone, which is always done with the congeration of i ts

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water. The Fire of Nature is here put to the Fire againstNature; therefore as much as the stone has lost of i tsform by the power and strength of the water, or Fire againstNature; so much has i t got ten and recovered again of i tsform, by the vir tue of the water, or Fj-re of Nature. Butthe Fire against Nature, bY the means of the Fire of Nature'cannot be destroYed.

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CHAPTER LXVTHEPRACTICEITH HESAIDCOIV]POUNDED.lATER, PONHE

CALX FTHE ODYISSOLVED,I . The Practice with the said Compounded Water, upon theCalx of the Body duly dissolved and prepared: Take theprepared Body (made with a thick Oyl, ) put to i t so muchof the Compounded Water as may cover the same Calx (i.e.Our prepared Calx with Our Vegetable Menstruum) by thedepth of hal f an fnch. The Water wi l l present ly boi l - overthe caTx without external dj-ssolving the Stone, and l i f t -ing it up into the form of Ice 1 with the drying up alsoof the said Water.

I1. The said caTx being so dissolved and subl imed intothe form of rce, you must take away; af ter this is done,the residue of the Calx remaining in the Vessel , undis-solved, shal l again be wel l dryed by the Fire, upon whichput so much of the said Compounded Water as you did be-fore, dissolv ing, subl iming and dry ing, t i11 the Calxis whol ly dissolved.

f f f . The substance thus dissolved, subt i ly separatedand brought into a Pouder, must be put (as thereaftershal1 be shewed) into a good quantity of the Fire ofNature (which js a Quintessence) the same being f i rs t wel lrect i f ied, and the Vessel wel l s topp'd, to the end, that

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the means of the heat outwardly administred unto it , pro-curing the inward heat to work, i t may be dissolved intoan Oyl; the which wil l soon be done, by reason of thesimpl ic i ty of the Water, or s imple Fire of Nature.

rv. And therefore when you have brought the said pouderso dissolved, sublimed, and prepared with the said Com-pound.ed water into an oy I (then is our Menstruum visibleunto sight) by putt ing thereto a good quantity of theaforesaid rect i f ied simple Fire of Nature, as before de-clared; then abstract or draw away the said Water againfrom the same Oyl, by Dist i l l ing the same in a moist ,Temperate heate so long ti l l there remains in the bottomof the Glass a thin Oyl.

V. This Oyl, the of tner i t is dj-ssolved with the saidsimple rect if ied Fire of Nature, and the said WaterAbstracted or Dist i l led by a Temperate heatr so much themore wi l l the said Oyl be made subt i l and thin.

vr- with the said oyl (provided the calx be the calx ofsol or Luna) you may incere the substances or calces ofother Bodies, the said Bodies being f i rs t dissolved, ex-alted, sublimed, and prepared with the said CompoundedWater, in manner and form of Ice aforesaid, t i l l that bythe fncerat ion of the said subti l and thin Oy1 of So1 andLuna, the said substances of other Bodies be made f ixed,and to f low like Wax.

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vrr . wi th which f lowing substance, you shaI l not only con-geal Argent Vive into perfect So1 and Luna, according asyou have prepared your Medicine, but you shall also withthe same fluxible and flowing substance, transmute andchange al l such other imperfect Bodies, (as they were,whose Calces were so sublimed, and from whom, &t theirf i rs t subl imat ing or l i f t ing up, they took their beginning)into So1 and Luna aforesaid.

VI I I . And this thin and subt i l OyI , being put into Kemiai ts proper Vessel , f i rs t sealed up, to putr i f ie in theFire of the f i rs t degree, being moist : j - t becomes asblack as liquid Pitch. The fire may then have itsAct ion in the Body, to corrupt i t , ( the same Body as be-fore so opened.. )

IX. Therefore i t grows f i rs t black, l ike melted pi tch,because the heat work ing in this moist Body, d.oes f i rs tbeget a blackness, which blackness is the f i rs t s ign ofCorruption: and since the Corruption of one thing is thegenerat ion of another; therefore of the Body corrupted,is generated a Body Neutral , which is certainly apt ,decl inable, and appl icable unto every Ferment whatso-ever you please to apply it to.

X. But the Ferment must be al tered together with theAlchgnick Body; and the whole substance of our Stone or

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ELix ir must partake of the Nature of the Quintescence,otherwise i t wi l l be of no ef fect .

XI . And between the said s ign of blackness and perfect ' rwhi teness, which wi l l fo l Iow the said blackness, therewil l appear a green Co1or, and as many variable Colorsafterwards as the mind of Man is able to conceive.

XIr . When the present White Color shal l begin to appearl ike the eyes of f ishesrthen may you know that Summer isnear at hand, af ter which Autumn or Harvest wi l l happi lyfo11ow with r ipe frui t , which in the long looked forRedness: This is af ter the Pa1e, Ashy, and ci t r ine Color.

XI I I . F irs t the Sun does perfect ly Descend by i ts dueCourse, from its Meridional height and G1ory, throughits gross and natural solut ion into an imperfect Pale,and Ashy Co1or, shining in the Occidental parts of theWest, which is somewhat of a yel lowish or Brick dustColor: from thence it goes to the Septentrional partsof the Earth, being of a Variable watr ish blackness, ofa dark, c loudy, al terable, putrefact ion watr ishness.

XIV. Then it Ascends up to the Oriental parts, shiningwith a more perfect Crystal l ine, Summerl ike, and Para-dis ieal White: Last ly , he Ascends his Fierg Chariot ,direct ing his Course up again to his Meri-dional Li fe,

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Perfect ion and Glory,br ightness, splendor,in the highest , most

there to RuIe and Shine, in f i re,and the highest perfect ion, even

pure, and fmperial Redness.

XV. When this aforesaj-d simple Oyl of the al tered Body,being in i ts Vessel duly sealed, is by the Fire thus d. is-posed, what is there more than one simple thing, whichnature has made to be grenerated of Sulphur and Mercurgin the Bowels of the Earth?

XVf. Thus i t is evident, that our Stone is nothing elsebut ,5o-Zand Luna, SuTphur arrd MercurVi Maie and FemaTe;Eeat and co7d. And therefore (to be more short , ) when allthe parts of our Stone I are thus gathered together, i tappears plainly enough, what is o:ur Mercurg, Our SuLphur,Our alchemick Body, Our Ferment, Our uenstruum, Our GreenLgon: And what Our 'white Fume, Our two Dragons, Our Fire ,and our Egg, in which is both the whiteness and the Red-ness.

XVII . As also what is l4an's BLood, Our Aquae vitae, OurBurning water , and what are many other things, which inthis our Art are lv letaphor ical ly, or f igurat ivery named. todeceive the Foolish and unwarv.

XVfI f . Afso there is a simi l i tude of a Tri-une, shining,in the Body, Soul and Spiri t . The Body is the substanceof the Stone. The Soul is the Ferment which e annot be

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had, but f rom the most perfect Body; and the Spir i t isthat which raiseth up the Natures from Death and Corrup-t ion to Li fe, Perfect ion and G1ory.

XIX. fn SuTphur, there is an Earthiness for the Body: InMercury, there is an Aerealness for the Spiri t , and inthem both a Natural Unctuosity fo r the Soul or Ferment;al l which are inseparably United in their least parts forever: From this Fermental Body the Stone is formed, andwithout it , i t cannot be made.

XX. f t is the pecul iar property of so7 and Luna, ( thewhich property appertains to the Stone it self) to givethe form of Gold and Si lver. And therefore the El ix i r ,whether i t be White or Red, may be fnf initely augrmentedwith the Fermental Oy1: i f you do cast the same uponMercury, i t shal l t ransmute i t into the El ix i r , whichEl ix i r must be cast af terwards upon the fmperfect Bodies.

XXI. l , loreover the said White Elixir is augmented withMercur ial Water, and the Red El ix i r wi th the Mercur ialOyl ; the which two, v i .z . the Mercur ial Water and Mer-cur ial Oyl , can only be had of Mercury dissolved of i tsel f .

XXII . See what the Scr ipture saith, I Ie stroke the Sfoneand water fTowed out, and he brought for th Ogf out of the

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Flintg Rock. We may Note the whole composit ion of theEl ix i r in these four Verses fol lowinq.

xxrrr . He strexched forth the Heavens as a curtain. TheFlaters stood above the Mountain: This is the water whichdoes cover Our Matter, and performs the dissolut ionthereof , causing a c loudy Ascension. That does waJ-kupon the t t ings of the Wind. This f igures forth thesublimation of our Stone.

xxrv- who makes his AngeTs spir i ts , and his ainis tersa fLame of Fire. By this is shadowed forth the rect i f i -cat ion, separat ion, and disposi t ion of the Elements. whohas founded the Earth upon its Basis; so f ix t , that iXsha77 not be moved for ever. under which i .s descr ibedthe fixat ion of the Elements, and the perfect ion of thePhi losophick Stone.

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CHAPTER LXVIANOTHER.lAYOFELIXIRATINGOLDYTHEFIRTAGAINSTATURE,r. Another way, by which the Body of Gold is Elixiratedby t 'he power of the Fire against Nature, through thehelp of the operat ion of the Fjre of Nature; which is thus,Dissolve the Body of pure Gold in the Fjre against Naxurerthe same f ire being wel l rect i f ied. Arsenick (Mercurvsublimate) as the manner is; from which Gold being sodissolved into a Cit r ine, c lear and shining Water, wi th_out any Heterogenity or sand remaining, Iet the waterbe abstracted, t i l l the Body does remain in the bottom ofthe Glass, l ike a f ix t OvI .

I I . Upon this Oyl, af fuse the said Water, ox Fire againstNature again, and abstract again, and this work so oftenrepeat t i1l the Water or: f , i re aqainst Nature, have nomore sharpness upon the Tongue than common well-water.

f f l . This done, draw such another new waxer or f i reagainst Nature, which Affuse upon the former oy1, and.abstract in al l respects as before is taught : then Affuseupon this oyl the water oy f i re of Nature werl rect i f ied,and ret it be double in quantity or proport ion of the saidoyl of the Body so dissolved, and put i t into a vessel ,which stop weI l , and set i t in Balneo for seven days; sowi l l the water ot f i re of Nature become a c i t r ine color.

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rv. This water ot f i re of Nature by i ts at t ract ive vir-tue, wil l draw away the Tincture from the f ire againstNaturer ds Raymundus saith in his pract l-cal Alphabet. Andaltho' i t is somewhat opposi te to Nature, to dissolve theBodies with the f i re against Nature; yet i f you know howto comfort the matter with the f i re of Nature, and byBalneat ion in 15 days, to draw it f rom the blackness ofthe water, or f i re against Nature, (Lhe which may be done,as I have proved, in 6 days) you sha1l perfect the work,and at tain the desired end.

V. Let the aforesaid Natural Water or f i re of Nature, sot inged with a Yel1ow Color, be always wari ly empt ied,and poured off from the aforesaid dissolved Bodies, i.ntoanother Vessel, with a narrow Mouth, that may be firmtystopped: and then with more of the said f i re, le t therebe made in Balneo, in the space of t ime aforesaid, anotherquant i ty of the said Oy1.

Vf. And so the same water being tinged with Sol or Go1d,let i t . be wari ly emptied, and poured off as before: andwhen the water of Nature wil l be t inged no more, then itis a sign, that the Tincture is al l drawn forth from thedissolved Body by the Fire against Nature.

VI f . Put the Tinctures thus decanted of f into a GlassSt i l latory. and with a sof t or easie Fire abstract the

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Water or Fire of Nature f rom the samer so long t i I l yousee in the bottom an Oyl; to which you must put New Fireof Nature again, wel l rect i f ied: and af ter the Matter hasstood in Balneo for the space of 6 days, then abstract thesaid water or f i re of Nature bv dist i l lat ion.

VIII . And 1et the work with the same water be repeatedupon and from the said. Oyl, after the same manner so longti1l you have brought your Oyt of GoId. to be most su-bt iIand pure, without any Foeculent grossness, wherein Ietnothing of the water or f i re of Nature be lef t behind,but the substance of Gold only, turned to Oy1.

IX. This subt i l and pure Oyl of GoId, being put in Kemia,or i ts proper Vessel , and f i rmly sealed up, may be theaforesaid Regiments be changed into the great El ix i r r dsit is shewed before with the other simple Oyl, madewith the Compounded Water, in the former pract ice, dtSect . 8, Chapter 65. aforegoing.

X. But to proceed: subl ime Quiek-s i lvet with RomanVitr iol and prepared or Calcined Salt; and after that sub-l ime i t by i t sel f alone three t imes from i ts Foeculentsubstance. This done, and the same made into Pouder,put this subl imate Pouder into a f ixatory Vessel , and putthereto a certain guantity of your aforesaid Oyl of GoId'but so much on1y, as may scarcely cover the subl imate:f i rmly c lose the Vessel . and set i t in a sof t F ire ' t i l lthe Natures are perfect ly joyned together.

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XI. This done, gr ind i t upon a Marble, and Inc inerate i tagain with your said Oyl of Go1d, and af ter put i t againinto i ts Fixatory Vessel , under a f i re of the f i rs t Degrreeas before, and let the same Vessel stand twice as long asit did before, to the fntent that the Natures may befirmly Compact and United together.XI I . Now this Rule is general ly to be Observed: that theVesse1 with the Matter in i t to be f ixed, ought always tobe set over the f ire from time to t ime to be augmented,and this Incinerat ion to be continued sti l1 upon theArgent v ive subl imed, unt i l the same is perfect ly f ixedwith the said Oy1 or substance of GoId.XI I I . The which must be proved upon a P1ate of Si lverRed Hot: And if i t be found f ixed, 1et i t have for thegreater certainty, one fncinerat ion more of the said Oyl ,which set under a st rong f i re for the space of three days:then grind it with your Oy1 upon the same Stone, t i1I i tbe as thick as an Oyntment; which make perfect ly dry withan easie f ire, and then let i t be Calcined with a strongfire for the space of eight hours.XfV. Which done, then Incinerate i t , and dry i t again witha sof t or gent le f i re of tent imes, t i l1 i t s tands in thef i re l ike melted Wax. This medic ine wi l l t ransmute Si lversubstant ial ly and perfect ly into f ine and pure ATchgnickGoTd perfect to a l l the works of Goldsmit f ts br: t not toIr{edicine for Men.

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CHAPTER LXVIITI,IO THERVIINERALLIXIRS,ORT}.lO THERROCESSESF

t'lERCURY,I . There be many other Noble and Prof i table Secrets inthis Art , or Mystery of our Mineral Stone; v iz . goodEl ix i rs to be mad.e out of Metal l ine Bodies i of whichMineral Elixirs, two are more excellent than the rest, thef irst of which we shall handle in this Chapter-

(gere comes the Process or Pract icaT operat ion of.Mercur. t l ment, ioned Chap. 61 . Sect. 13 . af oreqoing .)

I I . The f i rs t of these El ix i rs is only in Mercury: Thesecond, in Mercury and the White Body for the WhiteEl ix i r ; and with the same to the Red too, i f you soplease, being prudent ly pursued. and sought af ter.

I f I . The f i rs t manner to El ix i rate only with Mercurg Lsthus. Dissolve l lercurg only, by i t sel f into a Milkywater, wi th the which Mercutg so dissolved, you may dis-solve so much more Mercurg, and so cont inual ly , as longas you please.

fV. Put this into a gent le Fire to be Dist i l led, soshal l you have Our Virgins Mi lk White and Crystal l ine,wherewith al l Bodies may be dissolved into their f i rs tIvlanner, Washed and Purged.

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v. This water is of a si lver corour, which i f you f ixwith i ts Earthy Faeces calc intd, and af ter that dissolvedagain in the quantity of its remaining water, and thenagain Coagulated and Congealed., (rohich work is to be d.oneupon a stone) you wil l have at length the Elixir ofArgent v ive. , which wi l l t ransmute alr rmperfect Bodiesto a perfect Whiteness.

vr - And so of this ]vlercurial substance is made a waterpermanent or f ixt , wherewith the calces of arl Bodiesmay be so depurated and whitenedr Ers thereby to becomethe most pure and fine Silver.

vrr- And therefore as f have said before in the beginningof this work, when Mercurg is dissolved, then are i tsElements separable; and af ter the separat ion of i tsMercurial Liquor, and that a competent putrefact ion i_sperformed; after the sane white Liquor, there wirl Dis-t i1l a Golden moisture or humour, to t^rhich if you add asmall quantity of the Ferment of the Gum of the afore-said Elixirated white stone, that then the same whitestone' with the said Golden'humour, shal I be made theRed stone, which shaI1 transmute Argent v ive, and al lMetal l ine Bodies into the finest and most pure Gold.

VI I I . Again, Lf you take the aforesaid Red humour ofMercurg and Dissolve in i t a l i t t le of the aforesaid RedFerment, being made as aforesaid of the white stone, and

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then with the same Red humour of Mercurgr so Fermentedwith i t sel f , the Calces of a1I Bodies, may be so depura-ted and Citr inated, that thereby they may become mostpure Go1d.

IX. When also Argent v ive is dissolved, then dissolvein i t a l i t t le of the aforesaid Red Ferment, and so putal l into Kemia, or a proper Vessel , which f i rmly c lose upwith a Phi losophick Seal. Then with a cont inual andeasie or gent le Fj-re, draw out the Chariot of the fourElements through the Depth of the Sea, unti l ( the Floodsbeing dryed up) there appears in the Matter a bright shin-ing substance, l ike to the Eyes of the Fishes.

X. For by this Operat ion, if you keep your TemperateFire cont inual ly al ive, the Floods shal- l dry up, wi th anexceeding drought, and the dry Land. or Earth shall appear,as in the days of Noah, the waters hrere dryed up from offthe Earth, and behold the Face of the Ground was dry.And by l i f t ing up the Rod of t r4oses, and stretching out hishand, the waters were dryed up, and the dry Groundappeared in the midst of the Sea: for so says David, HeRebuked the Red Seat and i t was drged upi he fed themthrough the Depths as throug'h the WiTderness.

XI. And then by the Space of Forty days fol lowing, i tshal l be Rubif ied. (as the Phi losophers Demonstrate) bythe help of a Vehement Firer eis the Nature of i t requires,


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continuing and remaining in the same strong Fire t i I Ii t melt and flow like wax, whereby it wil l be able totransmute all Bod,ies into pure f ine Gold,.

XII . And thus the White and Red Medicines are mult ipl iedwith their own proper humidit ies z viz. only by the sol-ut ion of the white Medicines in their own Proper whiteand Red humours, and by their Coagulat ion again of thesamer Ers necessity requires. Thus have we explicatedwith s ingular plainess of Speech, the El ix i rat ion ofIvlercury pe r s r or Argent vive a10ne.

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CHAPTER LXVIIITHESECONDFTHEFORI'IERLIXIRS, lITH'IERCURYND HEBODYLCHYIVIICK,r- To El ix i rate with Mercurg and the Body Archgnick- TakeOne part of the most pute Kibr ick (quod est pater Mer_cur i i & omnium Liquabi l iumr) sea water twelve parts, inwhich dissolve the Kibr ickz being dissolved, strain thewater through a Linnen Cloth; and what remains undis_solved, which wi l l not go throughr put into the vesselcal led Kemiar set i t over a gent le f i rer ds i t were theheat of the sun, unti l l there appears on the Top a RedColor.

rr- Then put to it a quarter more of the sea-water afore_said, being kept in a very clean Vessel , set iL on avery gent le f i re, and dry i t up againr ds you did before,by l i t t le and l i t t le at a t ime.

I f f . For in this Work, by so much less there j_sthe Spiri t , and more of the Body; for so much theand better shall the Solut ion be made; the whicht ion is made by the Congelat ion of i ts water.

put ofsooner

SoIu-

rv- And therefore as the Rosarg saithr lou must. bewarethat the Bel ly be not made over moist , for i f i t be, thewater shaI l not receive or at tain to i ts dryness.

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V. This manner of Imbibit ion must be Observed and con-t inued so long, t i l l the whole water by several Imbibi t ionsshall be dryed up into a Body.

Vf . This done, let the Vessel be f i rmly and Phi lo-sophical ly Sealed up, and placed in i ts proper Fornace,with a mean or gent le f i re, which must not wax cold, f romthe first hour you begin to set the same into the Fornace,t i11 you have made an end of the whole work.

VI I . And when the matter is subl imed, then 1et i t bemade to Descend by l i t t le and 1it t1e without Violence,the f i re being Art i f ic ia l ly made or set over i t ; whichdone, le t i t be again subl imed as before.

VI I I . And so 1et the Soul of the Sun of the Vulgar ( thewhich Soul is O ur unclean Oyntment, the Spiri t not yetconjolmed with the Body) Ascend from the Earth to theHeaven; and again make it to Descend from Heaven to theEarth, t i l1 al l becomes Earth, which before was Heaven.

fX. To the end there may be made a substance, not sohard as the Body, nor yet so sof t as the Spir i t ; butholding a mean disposi t ion, s tanding f ixed and Permanentin the f i re, l ike a White peice of melted Wax, f lowingin the bot tom of the Vessel .

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X. The which White substance, of a mean or middle con-s istency, must be fed and nour ished with Mi lk and Meat,t i11 the quantity thereof be increased according to yourdesire.

XI. This Ivledicine being Fermented to the Red, with aport ion of so- l Dissolved in the water of the Sea, byreason of separat ing the f irst; the form from the Matter,to the end,, that i t may be in a more noble form than itwas before, when the f irst quali t ies did remain undivid.ed;and that it may be brought into a purple colour by thehelp of a strong and continual f ire: whereby is madethe true Elixir, both for the White and Red Work.

XTI. Now this El ix i r , be i t White or Red, shal l beincreased an hundred fold more, both in Vir tue, andGoodness, i f i ts euintessence be f ixed with i t , and thatthen afterwards it be brought and reduced by the Fire ofNature into a thin Oy1, the which must be done in acirculatory Vessel : for t ruly , then the least drop thereofdoes congeal a thousand drops of tr4ercury into the verygreatest ivledicine.

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CHAPTER LXIXOFTHEVEGETABLETONE,

f . The Vegetable Stone is got ten by Vir tue of the Fire ofNature, of the Composit ion of which f ire we now intendplainly to treat and of the way how to work with i t , inevery respect.

I I . (f ts Composit ion is of four things, Ers Raymundussai th, in his .BooJ< f Quintessences: ft is a Composi-t ion of SaI Amarum, which is rgnis adeptus, a f i re thatis gotten without Wood or Coa1, and by an easie working,does work against al l manner of sharpness of Action ofthe Vis ible Fire, I ike as i f i t were the f i re of HeI l ;and therefore, al tho' Wine be hot , yet this water ofMercury is hot ter: for i t is able to dissolve al l Bodies,to putref ie, and also to div ide the Elements, whichneither conrmon Fire nor Wine can do.

If I . Some think that this Fire of Nature is extracted ordrawn from Wine, according to the common wdy, and that i tmust be rect i f ied by of ten Dist i l lat ions, unt i l i ts Flegmis whol ly abstracted, which hinders i ts Heat , Vir tue,Strength and Burning. But this , when i t is done to al ladvantages, and i ts highest perfect ion (which Fools cal lthe pute spir i t ) and then put to the caLx of the Body

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never so wel l prepared, yet wi l l i t be weak and inef fectualto Our purpose, for Dissolut ion, Conservat ion, etc.

IV. (The true and pure Sprr i r is Our Si lver ish Spir i tof Wine, which is our Vegetable Mercury, and the truewater of the Phi losophers. Concerning which, see inRipleyrs secret Concord. )

V. Wherefore since the vulgar Spir i t or Wine is such, i tis evident that there is an Error in choosing of thisPr inc iple: for the true Princ iple, (which is the beginning)is the RESoLUTiVE MENSTRWM which -zs the souL or Mercursrand this Tincture is a vet7 Og7, separate from its fouTEarth and faint water ) whichr rs we know, and accordingto the t radi t ions of the Wise Phi losophers, is anUnctuous moisture, which is the nearest l t {atter of OurVegetable and Philosophick Mercury.

VT. The which Pr inciple, Resolut ive Menstruum, jVearMatter , or unctuous Moisture, Raymundus ( in Cap- 6 andCap. 8. of his Clav is) does cal l Black, Blacker thanBlack: The which Black thing or Matter I certainly know.

VII . But s ince Raymundus sai th, that this Resolut iveMenstruum, does come from Wine t oE the Lees t oE Tartarthereof , how is he to be understood? Tru1y, he himselfunfolds the Mystery: Our Water or Menstruum, is a MetaT-l- ine Water, generated of a Metal l ine Matter only: So that

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Ralrmundus speaks, ei ther of the Resolut ive lu lenstruum orof the ResoLubJ-e Menstruum,

v-Lrt . ( ' r - 'nr-s , Ienstruun spr ings from a Si lver Wine, whichdoes Natural ly make a dissolut ion of i ts own suTphur. I tis apparent in the 11. Cap. of Fagmundus, that Our Mer-curial and Radical moisture is not only Congealed j-ntoperfect Meta1, by Vapour of i ts hot and dry suTphur, butthat also the same Metall ine Water, being so terminatedin the form of a Metal , af ter i ts Resolut ion in Ashes haspower natural ly of a Menstruum to dissolve Our stone orsuTphur, and change it to i ts Vegetable Nature, wi thoutprejudice or hurt to i ts own Nature.

fX. (wherefore he says, that f rom whatsoever any thingdoes spring or grow by Nature, that into the same itmay again be resolved. )

X. If he (v iz. Ragmundus) speaks of the f i rs t water orResolut ive Menstruum; you are to understand that it is(so as he speaks) not a Metal l ine !{ater, but af ter acertain manner: for this water of the Resolut ive Men-struum. is both a Sulphurous and a Mercurial Vapour(rgnis and Azoth) and by reason of i ts Sulphur i ty ' i t

burns with the f ire.

XI . ( f f r is Reso-Zut ive Menstruum is our Vegetable Mercutg,which is Our Vapourous I t lenstTuum, and every burning water

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of Li fe, Aqua Vitae ardens, by whose at t ract ive Vir tue,the Body of the Volat i le Spir i t , being f ixed by the f i reagainst Nature, is dissolved natural ly into the water ofPhilosophers, and exalted and l i f ted up from its Salt andCombustible Dregs into a clear Mercurial and Natural sub-stance, which must be Fermented with the Oyl of SoI andLuna, and then is made thereof the great El ix i r ; wi thwhich Mercur iai substance we also counterfei t Pear ls andPret ious Stones. )

XI I . We see a1so, that in Tartar dryed only in the Sun,there are certain Mercur ial Qual i t ies shining and giv ingof l ight to the Eye, but the kind of Metals is a Com-posi t ion of suTphur and Argent v ive. And therefore, i fhe means after this sort, then the Resolut ive lvlenstruurn,may be taken for a Metall ine water; for otherwise it isnot Answered.

XI I I . Again, Ragmundus proves clear ly to the contrary,where he answers him who demanded of him; in what js theVegexable Mercury, in Goid ot in SiJ-ver? f t is, (sai thhe) a s impTe coessent ial substance, the which is broughtfrom its own Concrete parts and proper Veins, to such apass or point by the Dissolut ive Menstruum, that byVirtue of the simple and Co-essential substance, they areable to mult iply their simil i tudes in l" lercuries, whichhave none in themselves, and are also apt Ivledicines for

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Iulens Bodies, and to expel and put away from them manyDiseases, & to restore to the OId and Aged, their formerYouth, and preserve them in Health so long a t ime as Godhas designed them to Live.

XfV. (This Coessential substance is Our White and RedTincture by whom these Earths that are wanti"g, are mult i-plyed in Tincture, whereby they are made El ix i rs , topurge Metals, and a Medic ine for Man's Bod.y.)

XV. Therefore, Our tTue MetalTine Waxer is an Unctuoushumidi ty of the Body dissolved to the simi l i tude of BlackPitch, Liquid and Melted; and this Unctuous and Blackhumid. i ty is ca1led the true Reso-Zub7e Menst , ruum. Andbecause we shall afterwards demonstrate the true Res-olut j-ve Menstruum, required in this Workr w wil l hereonly declare from what pr inc iples, and how the saidResoiut ive Menstruum is d.rawn.

XVT. (Our Metall ine Water is separated from the Body ofLUNARIA, which is i ts terminated and Radical humidi ty inthe k ind and Color of White shining Si lver, and i ts Body,is Our black sulphurz Therefore see Chap. 63. in theLunary Branch, and in his Clavis where you wil l f ind theRadical humidity to be the true Menstruum wherewith thesolemn dissolut ion of i ts own black Body is made. )

xVfI. Raymundus doth sdy, that an Unctuous Humidity isthe l-ast comfort and support to the Humane Body, which


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what i t is , is manifest to the phi losophers; i t makes anoi-se or sound in the vessel , and is Dist i r led. with agreat deal of Art . He also sai th, that Our Stone ismade of the hot test Matter or substance in Nature: Andr say that wine is hot; but there is another thing whichis much hot ter than wine, whose substance, by reason ofits exceeding Airyness or spir i tuosity i-s most quicklyinf lamed by the Fore.

XVIf f . And the Lees r er TARTAR, and Dregs of thisUnctuous humidity, is gross, l ike the Rinde or Bark of aTree: and the same Tartar is blacker than the Tartar ofthe black Grape of Catalonia, for which cause i t iscal Ied by Ralrmundus, a Black, more Black than Black.(BC these Lees t or Tartar and, Dregs, -rs meant the Leesof our SiTver Wine, separated from the Lunatg Bod.t l ) .

xrx- And because that this humidi ty is unctuous, there-fore it better agrees r^/ i th the unctuosity of Metals, thanthe Spiri t drawn from CommonWine; for through itsLiquefact ive vir tue, Metals do Melt , and are made f low-ing and moist in the Fire; the which operat ion truly theSpir i t of CommonWine cannot do.

XX. For the Spiri t of I ,rf ine, how strong soever it be, is(comparatively) but crean Flegm or water: whereas contra-r iwise, in Our Unctuous Dist i l led Spir i t , there is nowatr ishness at al l . But this thing being rare in our

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parts, as wel l as other Countr ies, Guido I tontanor found outanother Unctuous humidity, which swims upon other Liquors,which humidi ty proceeds from Wine, which Ragmundus, andArnaLdus knew, with some others, but they taught not howit should. be obtained.

XXf. (Our Tincture in Dist i l l ing, is separated both fromthe Flegm and its gross Foeces, t i I l i t be l ike an Oyl,and that is the Soul of Mercury, which is Air and Fire,separate from its two extreams; and so it being anUnctuous moisture, is the mean. See the f i rs t and lastchapter of Raymund's Codic i l . )

XXII. Notwithstanding, Raymundus saith, i t must be drawnfrom Death, and from the Faeces of Wine by rect i f icat ion,that i t may be acuated in Dist i l lat ion by hot Vegetablesubstances, thereunto appertaini-ng, ds Pepper, Euphor-biumt etc. for wi thout these things he sai th, the Vir tuethereof is not suf f ic ient , but by long t ime to dissolveMetals.

XXff I . (Raymundus sai th in the end of his naturalI" lagick, that there is a Salt made of the Lees or Tartarof Winer or Aquae v i tae, cal led the Salt of Art and Mer-cury, wi thout which Salt (sai th he) there is nothing canbe done: Also he begins his Pract ice with this Salt inthe f i rs t and last Chapter of his Codic i l . )

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XXIV. Wherefore as the same Philosopher affitrms, anongthese things is this Menstruum one of the Secrets of thl.'sArt, whose Virtue must be increased by a wise managementof the Matter: you must circulate this Menstrurrm l-n theUnctuous humidity in a Vessel of Circulation, by rotationcontinuaLly, an hundred. and twenty days, in the hottestFornace.

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CHAPTER LXXTHEREIVlAININGROCESSFTHEVEGETABLETONE,I . Hi therto the Process of the Vegetable Stone has beenlong and Obscure; but that nothing may be doubtful to theprejudice of my professed Love to your Lordship, I saythat al l these things spoken by Raymundus are coveredwith the Mant le of Phi losophy. Truly his intent ion is ,that there should be made a dissolut ion with the Spir i tof Wine, but that this Spir i t of Wine should be joynedwith another Menstruum resoluble, without which Resolu-t ion can never be attained..

I f . (Eere the two Spir i ts are jogned togeXher, the Vege-tabJe Mensttuum ot White Og7 of Tartat l and out MetaTTineOgi) . * ( is this aTcohoT? HWN)

III. And that Menstruum Resoluble is generated only ofIv1etal l ine kind: for it is a potential or mighty Vapour,being in every Metall ine Bodyrjoyning together two ex-t reams, Sulphur and Atqent Vive.

IV. And so indeed af ter this sort , Our water is aMetal l ine water, which because i t does favour of theNature of ei ther extream, i t therefore br ings our Reso1u-t ive Menstruum into Act.

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v- Now how this Menstruum, which is unctuous, Moist ,sulphurous, and Mercur iar, agreeing with the Nature ofl letals , and wherewith Bodies must be Art i f icar ly dissolved,may be had, we wi l l here shew by clear pract ice.

Vf . Take the sharpest humidi t ; r of Grapes, and in i tbeing Dist i l led, dissolve the Body, wel l calc intd into aRedness, into a chyrstal l ine crear and ponderous water,the which Body calc in 'd into Redness, is of the Mastersof this Sci-ence cal led ser icort -

VI I . (now comes in the pract iee of pupiJJa, of the dis-solut ion of the Red Lgont for the f i re of nature, cal Iedalso Red. Lead, Red CoraLr Sericon is of the Nature ofBlack Pepper, Euphorbium, etc. of a hot bi t ing and. f ieryNature, a l l which things are spoken only by way ofComparison. )

vrrr" Then of this crystal l in* water, let there be madea Gum, the which in Taste wi l l be l ike to Alurt t . ThisGum by Raymundus is called vitr ior azoth, from which 1etthere be drawn with a gent le Fire, f i rs t a weak water,wi th no more Taste or sharpness than simple wel l water.(Fresher water there is none jn Taste, gt wiI I i t neverConsume ot Waste, tho, i t be used never so of teni norwi77 i t , be ever f ,ess in quant i tC) .

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IX. And when the White Fume shaIl begin to appear,change your Receiver, and Lute i t s t rongr ly , that i tbreath not forth; so sha1l you have our burning water,Our Aguae vi t .ae, and Resolut ive Menstruum, (the whichbefore was Resolubre) a vapour potent ial , a mighty vapour,able to dissolve Bodi-es, to putr l f ie, and to pur i- f ie, todiv ide the Elementsr and also to exal t the Earth into awonderful sal t , by the force of i ts at t ract ive vir tue.This is our Fire of Nature.

x- This water has a bi t ter sharp Taste upon the Tongue,and also a kind of st ink ing Menstruum: and because i t isa water which is very spir i tuous and Volat i le, thereforewithin a Iv lonth af ter i t is Dist i l led, i t . ought to be putupon its calx. when it is Af fused upon the ca1x, l t wi t lwi thout any externar Fire, boi l i f the vessel be closelyshut ; and i t wi l l not cease to Ferment or work. t i t l i tbe al l dryed up into the Calx.

xr . Therefore you must put no greater a quant i ty of i t tothe Calx, but what may just cover it as it were and soproceed, (when the Fornace is d.rged up) to the whole com-plement thereof, (as in the Operat ion of the Compoundwater, ) and as the work requires.

XI I . And whenColor, then let

thei t

El ix i r shal l be brought into a Purplebe dissolved with the aforesaid Veqe-


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table Ivlenstruum into a thin oyI, the same Menstruum beingf i rs t rect i f ied, and let the same by the Circulat ion ofthe Spir i t of our water be f ixed; so wi l l i t have power totransmute or change al l Bodies into pure Gold, and to Healand Cure al l Inf i rmit ies and Diseases in Man's Body, tenthousand t i -mes bet ter than al l the Pot ions and Prescr ip-t ions of Galen or Hippocrates.

XI I r . This El ix i r is the true AURUMPOTABILE, and noother; for i t is made of Gold Elementated and Circulatedby the spir i tuous wheel of Phi losophy; and i t is sowrought wi th the Air , Gass, potency, or spir i t of lv lercurydissolved by i - ts sel f , subl imed and rect i f ied, as that thebody of Gold by it may not only be curiously and exquisitelyEl ix i rated; but also that i t may then af terwards bebrought to such a perfect ion by this our Art r ds to beappl ied prof i tably to the most desj-rabIe work-

XIV. Thus you may see, we have hid nothing concerningthis our desired El ix i r of the Vegetable Stone: I shal1now proceed to that of the Animal Stone, which is but awork of three days; and in three days wi l l be compleat lyended. My advice to you is, not to gather the Leaves ofWords; but the Frui ts of Works, the prof i t of the thingsfought after.

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xv. And know that in this work, r have not so much affectedthe Curiosity of Langudgr or Elegancies of Stiler ds Lhedenudating the Essential Verity, and exposing the veryPower of Truth to your. View, whtch by reason of my hasteI have nolr concisely done in few words.

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CHAPTER LXXIOFTHEANIIVIALTONE,

I . We now come to reveal the most noble and High Secretof Secrets, v iz . the Mystery of our Anima1 Stone desiredof al l Mankind, and the way and manner of i ts El ix i rat ion.But this Animal Elixir is neither from Wine, ES it isWiner Dor from Eggs, Hair or Bloodr ds they are suchthings, but only f rom the Elements: And these Elements weought to search out, in the Excellency of their exceedingSimpl ic i ty and Rect i f icat ion,

I I . The Elements as Roger Bachon sai th, are the Rootsof al l th ings, the Mothers of every thing: yet theElements of the said things do not enter into the Work ofthis Our Elixir; but only by the Vj-rtue and Commixt ion ofthose Elements, with the Elements of Spir i ts , and Bodiesof Metals.

f IT. Yet sothose things(thor not toElixir .

indeed as Rogeraforesaid do sodwell ther) and

Bachon sai th, the Elements ofenter in as to pierce throughto Accomplish this Our great

IV. NotwithstandingNatural , (as al l thetaken, ) there is one

among all those things which berest be, which Phi losophers havething yt, which is found more

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pret ious, more excel lent , more proper, and more Naturalthan al l the rest , for this our purpose.

V. The which one thing, because i t is more excel lent thanal l the rest , the Phi losophers have taken for the nearest ;because of the singular perfect ion which God has given tothe tt l icrocosim or lesser World, in whom are not only thefdeafs of the Courses and ef fects of the Planets, Stars,and Aster isms, but also the Complexions, humours, Spir i ts ,and Natural Vir tues of the Elements.

VI . And therefore consider the most noble Bird of Hermes,which when the Sun is in Aries, begins to f ly ; and as i tis advisedr so let i t be brought forth and. sought for.Seek out the true 'Suf .phur f rom his Mine s7 Mipera, notbeing corrupted, for the whole perfect ion l ies in theuncorrupt Sulphur.

VI I . This is our Stone, the which as Aristot le sai th, inhis Secret of Secrets, is generated in the Dunghi l , High-ways, and must be divlded into four parts: because saithhe, each part has one Nature, the which parts must bejoyned together again, t i l l they resist or s t r ive nomore; when they are joyned unto i t , i t shal l be White;i f F ire, Red; as you please.

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vrrr . But understand, that this Div is ion, must not be aManual Div is ion, (but in power and Ef fectr) wherefore, le tthis one thing which al l Men have ( i ts over- f lowing Fleg-matick property being somewhat Evacuated) be put intoKemia or proper Vessels, which Seal up phi losophical ly ;let i t putr i f ie in a moist Fire a long Season, into ablack thickness.

fX" Then by the seeond Degree of Fire, 1et i t be Coag-ulated into a dryness, af ter many Bubl ings which i t wi l lmake, wherein shall shine innumerable Colors: and whenal l that which is f ine and subt i l , shal1 Ascend upwards(or subl ine) in the Vessel most White, l ike as the Eyesof Fishes, the work is compleat in the f i rs t part .

X. This t ruly is a marvelous thing, more to be wondred dt ,than any Miracle of Nature, for then the sel f same White,

' has fu1ly the Nature of White Sulphur, not Burning (orSiTver, ) and is the very Sulphur of Nature and ArgentVive.

XI. Let some quantity of Luna be added to it in themanner of an Amalgama; then i t br ings forth, by Operat ion,or generat ion of White into White; and the same thingworketh it into Red, and is made compleat into Red, by agreater Di-gest ion in the Fire.

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XfI. Thenr rs the PhilosoFhers adviser let the two Su1-phurs, vJ-z, the White and the Red be mingled" with theOy1 of the White Elixir, that they may work the morestrongly; upon which, i f the Quintescence of the Vege*table Stone shaIl be f ixed, you shall have the highestMedicine in the Worl-d, both to Heal and Cure HumaneBodie's, and to transmute the Bodies of Metals in to themost pure and fine Gold and Silver.

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CHAPTER LXXIITHERESERVEDECRETXPLICATED.

I . And now we are drawing near to the end of this work,we shall hereunto add and. Explicate one Secret, even ourreserved Secret , hi therto Buried in the Abyss of Aenigma'sand deep Si lence,

I I . We say that the Body of the Volat i le Spir i t , f ixed,by Fire against Nature, ought to be dissolved in theVegetable Water, that is to say, in our Vaporous Men-struumi not in water of the Cloud, but in \, irater of thePhi losophers.

r I I . In which Dissolut ion, the Body j-s made l ight , fori ts more pure and subt i l part is l i f ted up (or subl ined)from Salt and Combustible Faeces, by Virtue of thewater attract ive: which is more clear than the water of1cl:e uargarite r EIS I have seen,

Iv. And of this substance Fermented with the oyl ofLuna or so-z is made the great Elixir, for the transmu-tat ion of imperfect Bodies.

V. I t must of tent imes be dissolved and Coagulated withits Ferment, that it may work the better; and with thissaid l" lercurial substance, thus Elevated (or sublimed)

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we Counterfei t the most pret ious Margar i tes or Pearls ,not inferior to the sight, to the very best that everNature produced.

VI . And with these Art i f ical pret ious Stones, w shal lf in ish the discourse of Our pret ious Stones, (Mineral 'Vegetable, and Animal) the abscondite Mysteries of which'being by the Wise and upright Sons of Art prudently keptSecret .

VII .Pray the most Good. and Gracious God., to open andreveal the same, at one time or another' even as itshal l p lease him, to his despised Servants and l i t t leones.

VIrr . O most incomprehensible I ight , most Glor ious in

I4ajesty, who with the Charity of thy Heavenly Rays dostDarken our Dimmer Light; O Substantial Unity, the Divinethree, the joy and Rejoycing of the Heavenly Host ' theGlory of Our Redemption.

IX. Thou most Merci ful , the Puri f ier of Souls ' and theperpetual subsistancei O most Grat j -ous, through dai lyDangers and Peri ls which thou suffers us to undergo, andthrough this Vexatious vail of Vanity, bring us to thyheavenly Kingdom.

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X. O Power and Wisdom, thou goodness inexpl icable,hold us dai ly , and be Our Guide and Directorr thatnever displease thee al l the days of our Lives, buttheer ds Faithful processors of thy Holy Name.

up-we mayobey

Xf. Ear ly , even bet imes O Lord, hear thou my prayers,by the Virtue of thy Grace, help forward my desires,and enable me r beseech thee to perform they Holy wil1.

Xf f . O most excel lent Fountain, boundless in Treasures,thou scatterest thy good things without measure amongstthe sons of Men, and thou makest every other creature topartake of thine especial k indness.

XfI f . Thou arethy Hand and tothat we may notof our years in

worthy O Lord, to behold the Works ofdefend what thy Right Hand has planted,l ive unprof itably, nor spend the courseVanit ies.

xrv' Grant therefore we beseech thee, that we may livewithout falshood and deceit , that avoiding the Greatdanger of a sinful course of Li fer w may escape theSnares of Sin.

xv' And as r Renounce the Loves of the things of thisLi fe and the concupiscences or Lusts thereofr so accept ofme thy Servantr ds a true and Spontaneous Votary, who


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wholly depends on thy goodness, with al1 confidence,possessing nothing more.

XVf. We submit our selves to thee, for so it is fit;vouchsafe thy right to discover to us the rnunortalTreasures of Lifei shew us thy hidden things, and be mer-ciful and good unto us.

xvrr' Among the rest of thy servants who profess thyName, f offer my self with all humble Submission; And rbeseech thee o Lord, to forgive me, if I open and revealthy Secrets to thy Faithful Servants, Amen.


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CHAPTER LXXIIIRIPLEY'SHILOSOPHICALXIO|vlSUTOFTHE HEATRUM

cHYfvlltjlvlI . Our Stone is cal led the r icroeosmt One and Three;Magnesia and suTphut and Mercurg t al l proport , ioned byNature her self . Now understand that there are threeMERCURIES,which being the Key of the whole Science,Raymundus calls his Menstruums, without which, nothing isto be d.one in this Art : but the Essent iaL Mercurt t of theBodies is the chief mater ial of our Stone.

II . Our Stone is a Soul and a substance, by which theEarth does receive i ts splendor: what other thing isSol or Luna than a Texra Munda, a pure Earth, Red andWhite? The whole Composit ion we cal l our Plumbum orLead, the Quality of whose splendor proceeds from .9o1.and runa.

II f . No impure Body, one excepted, which the Philosophersvulgar ly cal l the creen LVon, (which is the l t ledium whichConjoyns the Tinctures between .9o-Zand Luna with per-fect ion) does Enter into our Magist ry.

IV. These Menstruums you ought to know, without which notrue Calc inat ion, or natural dissolut ion can possibly bedone. But our principal lvlenstruum may be said indeed to

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be Invis ible or Spir i tual ; yet by the help of our AQUAPHILgSgPHICA SECUNDA, hrough a separat ion of the Elements,in form of c lear water, i t is brought to l ight , and madeto appear.

V. And by this Menstruum lyith great Labour is made theSulphur of Nature, by Circulat ion in a pure Spir i t ; andwith the same you may dissolve your Body after diversmanners: and an Oyl may be extracted therefrom, of aGolden Color, l ike as f rom Our Red Lead.

VI . 1. DE CALCINATIONEI Calc inat ion is the Purgat ion ofour Stone, restor ing i t to i ts own Natural Color, inducingf i rs t a necessary dissolut ion thereof , but nei ther withC'orrosives, nor f i re alone, nor A. F. now with otherBurning watersr or the Vapour of Lead, is our StoneCalc ined; for by such Calc inat ions, Bodies are destroyed,for that they diminish their humidit ies.

VI I . Whereas in our Calc inat ion the Radical humid^i ty isAugmented or mult ip l ied, for l ike increases l ike, hewhich knows not this knows nothing in this Art. Joynl ike with I ike, and kind with kindr Ers you ought ; everyseed answers and rejoyces in seed of i ts own kind: andevery Spir i t is f ixed with a Calx of i ts own kind orNature.

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vrrr- The phi losophers make an unctuous calx, both whiteand Red, of three Degrees, before i t can be perfected, ,that shal l melt as wax, t i11 which i t is of no use. r fyour water shal l be in a r ight or just proport ion withyour Earth, and in a f i t Heat, your Matter wil l Germin-ate, the white together with the Red, which wil l endurein a perpetual Fire.

fX. Make a Trini ty of Unity , without dissent ion; thisis the most certain and best proport ion: and by how muchthe lesser part is the more spir i tual , by so much themore easi ly wi l l the dissolut ion be performed:droron notthe Earth with too much water, lest you destroy thewhole Work.

X. 2. DE DISSOLUTIONEinot in i t , as in Eggs,other middle Minerals;thj-ngs not Metal l ick:through Metals, Metals

Seek not that in a thing which isBlood, Wine, Vi t r io l , and thethere is no prof it to be had in

In Metals, f rom Metals, and by orare made perfect .

Xf. F irst make a Rotat ion of a1l the Elements; and be-fore a1l things, convert the Earth into water by dissolu-t ion: Then Dissolve that Water into Air , and then makethat Air into Fire: this done, red.uce i t again intoEarth, for otherwise you labour in vain.

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xrr . Here is nothing besides the sister and the Brother;that is, the Agent and the Pat ient , Sulphur and Mercvry,which are generated Co-essent ial substances. The dis-solut ion of one part of the Corporeal Substance, causetha Congelat ion of another part of the spir i tual .

XI I I . Every Metal was once a Mineral Water, whereforethey may al l be dissolved into Water again; in which Waterare the four repugnant Qual i t ies with divers i ty . Tn oneGlass a1l things ought to be done, made in the form of anEgg, and wel l c losed.

XIV. Let not your Glass be hot ter than you can endureyour naked Hand uponr so long as your matter is in dis-solut ion: When the Body is al tered. f rom its f i rs t form,it immediately puts on a new form.

xV. 3. DE DISPOSITIONE: Beware that you open not yourGlassr nor ever move i t , f rom the beginning of the workto the end thereof; for then you wil l never bring yourwork to perfect ion. Dry the Earth t i l l i t becomesthirsty in Calc inat ion, otherwise you Act in vain.Divide the matter into two parts, that you may separatethe subt i l f rom the gross, or thin f rom the thick, t i l lthe Earth remains in the bottom of a Livid Color.

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XVI. One part is Spir i tual and Volat i le; but they oughtal l to be converted to one matter or substance. And dis-t i l l the water, wi th which you would viv i f ie the stone.t i l1 i t be pure and thin as water, shinning with a BlewLiv id Colour, retaining i ts Figure and Ponderosi ty : wi ththis Water Hermes moistens or waters his Tree, whi ls t inhis Glass, and makes the Flowers to increase on high.

XVII . F irs t div ide that , which Nature f i rs t tyed together,convert ing the Essent ial Mercury into Air , or a Vapour,without which natural and subti l separat ion, no futureGenerat ion can be compleated.

XVIII . Your Water ought to be seven t imes subl j-med, other-wise there can never be any natural Dissolut ion made; norshaI I you see any Putrefact ion l ike Liquid Pitch; norwi l l the Colors appear, because of the defect of theFire Operat ing in your G1ass.

XIX. 4. EE IGNiBUS: There are four k inds of F ires whichyou ought to know; the Natural , the fnnatural , that con-t rary to Nature, and the Elemental , which burns Wood:These are the f i res we use, and no others.

XX. The Fire of Nature is in every thing, and is thethird Menstruum. The Innatural F ire is occasional ly socal led, and i t is the Fire of Ashes, of Sand, and Bathsfor putrefy ing: and without this no Putrefact ion can bedone.

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XXI. The Fire against Nature, is that which tears Bodiesto pieces or Atoms; which is the f iery Dragon, v iolent lyburning like the f ire of HelI . Make therefore that yourf i re within, in your Glass, which wi l l burn the Bodiesmuch more powerful ly than the vulgar Elemental f ire can do.

xxrI . 5. DE CSNJUNCTIgNE; Conjunct ion is the joyningtogether of things separated, and of di f fer ing Qual i t ies;or the Adequation or bringing to an equality of princi-ples: he which knows not how to separate the Elements, andto div ide them, and then to conjoyn them again, errs, notknowing the true way.

XXIf I . Div ide the SouI f rom the Body, and get that , fori t is the Soul which causes the perpetual Conjunct ion:the Male, which is our S o1, requires three parts; andthe Female which is his Sister, nine parts; then l ikerejoyces witn l ike for ever.

XXIV. Certainly Dissolut ion and Conjunct ion,st rong pr inc iples of this Science, thor thereother pr inc iples besides.

aremay

twobe many

xxv. 6. DE pUTREFACTIONE; The Destruct ion of the Bodiesis such, that you are di l igently to Conserve them in aBath t oy our Horse-Dung, v!2. in a moist heat for nintydays Natural: but the Putrefact ion is not compleatlyAbsolved, and brought to whiteness, l ike the Eyes of

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Fishes, in less than 150 days; the blackness f i rs tappearinq, is the Index or Sign, that the matter draws onto Putrefact ion.

XXVI. Being together Black l ike Liquid Pitch, in the samet ime, they swel l and cause an Ebul i t ion, with Colors l ikethose of the Rainbow, of a most beaut i fu l aspect ; and thenthe water begins to whiten the whole Mass.

XXVII . A temperate heat work ing in moist Bodj-es, br ingsforth blackness, which having obtained, there is nothingthat you need fear, for in the same wdy, the Germinationof our Stone does fol low, and forthwith, to wit , in thespace of thir ty (or Fortg) days, You have Gas, or Adrop,which is our tJz i fer or Cinnabar, and our Red Lead.

XXVII I . Take heed to defend your Glass from a ViolentHeat, and a sudden Cold; make use of a moderate Fire,and beware of Vitr i f icat ion. Beware how you bind up yourmatter; mix i t not wi th Salts , Sulphurs, nor the middleMinerals; 1et Sophisters prate what they wi l1, Our SUI-phur and our Mercury are found in Metals only.

xxIX. 7. DE COAGULATIONE; Coagulat ion or Congelat ionis the indurat ion or hardning of things, in caTote can-dido, and the f ix ing of the Volat i le Spir i t . The Elementsare forthwith converted, but the Congelat ion is no wayimpeded, for those things which are Congealed in the Air '

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melt or soften not in the Water; fot i f so, Our work wouldbe destroyed, and come to nothing.

XXX. When the Compositum is brought to Whiteness, thenthe Spir i t is United and Congealed with the Body; but i twil l be a good length of t ime before such a Congelat j-onwil l appear in the l ikeness or Beauty of Pearls. Thecause of al l these things is the most temperate heat 'continually working and moving the Matter. Believe mea1so, that your whole Labour is lost , except you reviv i f ieyour Earth with the Water, without that you shall neversee a true Congelat ion.

XXXI. This Water is a Secret drawn from the Li fe of al lth ings exist ing in Nature; for f rom Water al l th ings inthe World have their f irst beginning, as you may easi- lyperceive in many things. The substance or lvlatter isnourished with its proper Menstruum, which the Water andthe Earth only produce, whose proper Color is Greenness.

XXXII. Understand also that our f iery Water thus acuatedis cal led the Menstrual Water, in which Our Earth is dis-solved, a nd natural ly Calc ined by Congelat ion; when youhave made seven fmbibi t ions ' then by a Circumvolut ion,putr i f ie again al l the Matter wi thout addi t ion, beholdingin the f i rs t place the blackness, then the Whiteness ofthe Conqealed Matters.

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xxxrrr- Thus your water is div ided into two parts: wi ththe f i rs t part , the Bodies are pur i f ied: the second partis reserved for fmbibi t ions; with which af terwards thePlatter i-s made black, and presently after with a gentlef i re, made White, then reduce to Redness.

XXXTV. 8. DE CIBATIONE; Cibat ion, is the Feeding orNourishing of our dry Matter with Milk and Meat, beingboth administ red moderately, t i l l i t is reduced to thethird order: you must never give so much as to cause asuffocation, or that the Aqueous humour should exceedthe Blood: i f i t dr inks too much, the work wi l l be hurt -

xX)f i /- Three times must you turn about the philosophickwheel, observ ing the Rule of the said cibat ion, and thenin a l i t t le t ime it wi l l feer the Firer so as to meltpresent ly l ike Wax.

XXXVI. 9. DE SUBLIMATIONE; Subl ime not the matter tothe top of the vessel , for without v iolencer lou cannotbring it down to the bottom again; by a temperate heatbelow, in the space of 40 days, i t wi l l become brack andobscure. when the Bodies are purif ied, ret them be sub-l imed by d.egrees more and more, t i l1 they shaI l be al

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