it in a convenient Vessel in Balneo till the Matter dissolve it self per deliquium then putting to an Alembick distil the superfluous Water then pour on three Pounds of the aforesaid Simple Spirit ardens and the Vessel being conveniently stop'd as will be manifested below put it into Putrefaction for one Natural Day after the manner following Get you a Brass Vessel about one span and a half broad and three spans and a half long which towards the Orifice must have a Copper Bottom pierced with many Holes the Cover whereof which is to go into the Vessel and stop it well must have one or two Holes but the Glass Vessels which you would put to that Copper Vessel ought to be conveniently covered in the lower part of those Copper Vessels of Putrefaction must be common Water those Copper Vessels put upon a Furnace making a moderate Fire under by the strength of which the fume or vapour of the Water will ascend and heat the Vessels in which your Matter is the whole work of our Supream Magistery will be matured and prepared by this Method then distil conveniently in Ashes with a heat scarce unlike to the heat of the Sun till you have drawn all the Juice from it then dissolve the Matter by pouring to it of the aforesaid Simple Spirit three parts in respect of the Matter which remained in the Vessel after the aforesaid Juice was abstracted from it Repeat the Magistery a fourth time proceeding and observing all things exactly as above So will you have the Spirit of your Chaos which is by the Philosophers called Fire depurated reduced from power into act with the Virtue of the Vegetable Matter Take therefore a Glass Vessel strong able to contain the measure of a common Urne pure and long whose Neck must be strong and two spans and a half long whose Cover must be another Glass called Antenotorium with a Neck turned downward containing the fourth part of a common Urne to be put into the aforesaid Vessel Into this Circulating Vessel put four Pounds and no more of the depurated Spirit which you brought from power to action by Virtue of the Vegetable Matter as I taught you before Circulate in Balneo or Dung the space of sixty Days and when Conversion is made of the Spirit deduced from power to action by the first Vegetable Matter then this you will thereby know that in the bottom of the Vessel will be a Sediment like the Urine of a sound Man Then will you see a Quintessence brighter and clearer then a Diamond which exceeds the Stars in splendour so as to be doubted whether it be contain'd in the Glass or not which you must dexterously separate from its Sediment and keep in a Vessel close stopped in a cold place This is that Virtue which the envious have hidden and obscured by innumerable Metaphors calling it Spiritus Vivus Aqua Argenti vivi Aqua Vitoe Aqua Celestis Aqua Dianoe Anima Menstrui Vegetabilis Fumus Ventus our Heaven Menstrual Blood Vrine sublimed Menstruum our Water of Sulphur our Blessed Stone giving it infinite other Names which we mention not here but have by Experience seen and known them to be one and the same thing Annotations MOst of the Adepts knew no other but this way of acuating the Spirit of Philosophical Wine for they believed there was one only thing and one only Method but this is not the last amongst the difficult Methods nor much different from the Coelum Vegetable of Lully made of the Alkali of Tartar The Tartar of this Wine is less Oyly than common Tartar and therefore adjoyned to this as a higher Kind but that we may the better understand the Receipt 't is convenient to compare it with its Original taken out of the last Testament of Lully 30. The Coelum Vinosum of Lully In Testam Noviss TAke Red Wine which we call the Liquor of Lunaria and Nigrum nigrius nigro and distil an Aqua ardens in Balneo and rectify it till it be without Phlegm which you will know when it burns a piece of Linnen Cloth by reason of its heat which you will make it do in five times sometimes in three and having such a sign divide it into two parts and keep one part for the making of the Menstruum and with the other part abstract the Soul from the Earth a pitchy mass by the way which I shall tell you The way my Son is to distil the Phlegm till it remain in the form of liquid Pitch then put to it of the Water ardens which you rectify'd so much as to swim three Fingers above the Matter and the Vessel being very close set it in Dung or Balneo six Days to digest after that distil all the Water in which is the Soul upon hot Ashes then increase the Fire a little and take out the Oyl which keep then pour in of the other Water ardens or Spirit of Philosophical Wine as before and put it in Putrefaction six Days as before and then distil in Ashes first the Water then the Oyl and thus continue the Magistery the same way till you have extracted all the Soul from the Earth keep it because it is the animated Water and keep the Oyl for the Tincture Then take the Earth being dry and hardened and calcine till it grows white being white give the Soul in the Water reserved to it My Son the way is this Take the Earth being white and depurated Salt and know the weight put it in a Vessel of Glass and pour upon it an eighth part of the animated Water the Vessel being very close and place it in Balneo three days till you see the ardent Spirit condensed in the Balneo and rectify it till it be without Phlegm then having put on an Alembick draw off the Liquor without taste because the Soul hath embraced the Spirit which is in that part and imbibe a second time with a seventh part of the animated Water and digest as before and distil away the moisture A third time imbibe with a sixth part digest and distil away the VVater A fourth time pour on a fifth part of the animated VVater as before The fifth time give a fourth part and digest as you know and continue with the fourth part always digesting and drawing of the Liquor till our Earth be pregnant and white Then take the Earth being pregnant and put it in a subliming Vessel luted and very close in a Fire of the third degree the space of twenty four Hours and sublime the pure from the impure And thus my Son will you have the Vegetable Mercury sublimed clear resplendent in the Form of a wonderful Salt Know you must my Son that the Philosophers and we do call it properly Vegetable Sulphur Sal Armoniack our Sulphur the Sulphur of Nature and many other Names we also give it Take my Son of this Vegetable Sulphur which you made one Ounce put it in a Glass Vessel and pour upon it
melted pitch to which pour of the ardent Spirit so much as to swim four Fingers above it digest for a week in Balneo then distil the animated Spirit by Ashes to the Earth pour new ardent Spirit repeating so oft till the Earth remain dry and in the Form of powder Moreover you must from the Earth distil an Oyl in Ashes with a Fire sufficiently strong so as that the Earth being laid on a red hot Plate casts forth no fume That Oyl as also the Phlegm are of no value in the present Work Calcine or Reverberate the said Earth in a close Vessel to which pour of the animated ardent Spirit an eigth part in an Alembick digest in Balneo three days then gently draw off the superfluous moisture being insipid as common Water imbibe as before and continue so oft till the Earth in a close Vessel to which pour of the animated ardent Spirit an eighth part in an Alembick digest in Balneo three days then gently draw off the superfluous moisture being insipid as common Water imbibe as before and continue so oft till the Earth be made Volatile which you will know if a little of it put on a red hot Plate be almost wholly evaporated This impregnated Earth sublime with a subliming Fire the space of twenty four Hours The Volatile and sublimed Salt sublime by it self yet twice which is to be with the ardent Spirit dissolved distilled and forty or fifty days Circulated into an Odoriferous Liquor Sometimes they impregnated the Earth from the beginning to the compleat saturity of it with a fourth part of the animated Spirit thus The Vegetable Sal Armoniack of Lully In Apertorio suo TAke of the best Juice of Lunaria that you can find one Pound or two and put it into a Vessel with an Alembick the seams being well joynted and luted set it in a little Furnace and underneath make a Fire of one wiek and with such a gentle heat let the aforesaid Spirits be distilled and so long till it begins to make Veins When therefore the Phlegm begins to shew Veins then is it a sign that the Spirit is distilled which contains in it all the perfection of Life and then take that distilled Spirit and keep it very choicely in a Glass well stopt with white Wax then put another Receiver under the Alembick and receive the second Water because it retains yet something of the aforesaid Spirit though not so strong as the first distil from that second Water so long till nothing else comes but Phlegm which is no otherwise then as common Water tasting a little if it has yet any Virtue than may you distil yet more but if it be as the other Water pure in taste then lay aside the Receiver with that second Water and put another Glass to receive all the Phlegm distilling so long till nothing more distils and then let all the Phlegm be poured away because it is that which brings Death to our Precious Stone and this the vulgar knows not but we know Now have you the Earth which remained in the bottom of the Vessel black like melted Pitch For that calcination of the Earth cannot be done with a strong Fire as Sophisters believe but it is done by its own Spirit which keeps it from burning because its Spirit draws the Soul from its Body and repels its superfluous Phlegm and mortifies the Earth and then vivisies it Now therefore calcine the aforesaid Earth in this manner Take the second distilled Water Aqua ardens mix'd with Phlegm and pour it upon the black Earth Pitch in its Vessel and mix well till it be dissolved because the Earth is presently dissolved Then put on an Alembick and lute well and distil the Spirit with one wick as I told you before till you see Veins then again separate the Receiver of the Alembick with the Spirits and set it apart and put another Receiver to and distil on looking if there be yet any Spirits there if not then the Water which is distill'd hath a taste like hot common Spring Water which put away again because such Water is Phlegmatick which causeth Death to our Stone And after the whole distillation take the Vessel with all the Matter which you will then find more hard than before and this is the reason because that Spirit hath attracted the Aereral Soul to it from its Body it being the place in which the Soul is contained that Operation repeat so oft till you see your Matter calcined in the bottom in the Form of a black Powder or even so long till you see no more Phlegm arise so as the last Water to be of as great virtue strength smell and taste as the first And you must not be ignorant that in the third distillation those two Spirits ill and well rectify'd are to be mixed together upon their Earth so long till the Earth and Spirits have those signs aforesaid namely the Earth be calcined and the Spirits yield no Phlegm Then take the Earth and with it a fourth part of its weight of the Spirit and put the Matter into your Vessel which we call Retentorium and place it in a Furnace continuing an easie heat so long till the Spirit be altogether coagulated in the Earth Know Son that the Body which was Dead puts on white Garments as if God please you shall see when you try the things aforesaid Son this must you repeat with new Spirit so long till you see the Earth altogether white as Snow and then is the Earth big and impregnated with Eternal clarity which will bring forth an Infant according to this way When the Earth is very white then Son take it out of its Vessel and grind it into a most fine powder and this do upon a Glass Plate then again put it into a Vessel luting the Joynts of it well and set it on a little Furnace and kindle a Fire continuing it for thirty Hours and in the corners and sides of the Vessel you will find our Infant born and resuscitated in the likeness of a powder most white most fair and in such clearness as the Body of Silver Keep it therefore in high esteem because it is your Terra foliata and it is called the Spirit of sublimed Bodies converted into Terra foliata so winto the same the Soul c. Sometimes they impregnated this Earth without observing any weight as thus Another Vegetable Sal Armoniack of Lully In Luce Mercuriorum TAke Wine red or white putrify it in Balneo twenty days at least that the parts of it may be disunited and the better separated then by distillation of Balneo with a most gentle Fire draw off the Aqua ardens which put in rectification so oft till nothing of the Phlegm remains then draw off the Phlegm by distillation with a Fire of Ashes till a certain matter remains in the bottom of the Vessel like liquid Pitch and the said Phlegm put apart then take the said matter and pour to
Vegetable Heaven dissolved in a mineral Menstruum of Lully 364 145. Ice compounded of Vegetable and Mineral Menstr of Lully Ibid. 146. The Aqua mirabilis of Ripley 365 147. The stinking Menstruum acuated with the Sal Harmoniack of Lully 366 148. The stinking Lunar Menstruum acuated with the vegetable Sal Harmoniack of Lully 366 149. The Spirit of Mercury made with Vitriol and the fiery Spirit of Wine of Basilius 367 150. The mixt Menstruum of Paracelsus Ibid. THE PREFACE TO exempt Diana from being exposed Naked to the Petulant Lust of Vnsatiable Men as also to the Scorns and Contempt of the Ignorant as a Common Prostitute the Adepts have taken care not only to cloath but cover her almost with several sorts of Garments To this kind of Apparel Antiquity has been pleased yet not properly enough to refer an Allegory of the Procreation of Man deduced from the Analogy of Seed anciently received however ill applied to the Mineral Kingdom First They reckon Coition Secondly Conception Thirdly Impregnation Fourthly Birth Fifthly Nutriment If therefore no Coition no Conception without Conception no Impregnation without which no Birth can be premised Which Disposition the Ancient Morienus himself confesseth to have been derived to him from Antiquity Hermes whom they call Father of the Adepts in his Tabula Smaragdina hath described to us the Father Mother and Nurse of the Chymical Infant No wonder therefore that such an Ancient and Easie Doctrine as this should have found so easie an access to Posterity it would be besides the Intention and Scope to offer those things which might be inferred by us against this Analogy of Seed Here let it suffice to remember only that the greater part as also the more ancient Adepts comparing the Chymical Magistery to the Generation of Man did under the Notion of this Allegory call their Dissolvents Menstruums or Feminine Seed but the Things which were to be Dissolved Masculine Seed My Son saith Lully The Vegetable Menstruum is of the Nature of a Womans Menstruum because a Mineral Menstruum proceeds from it by Dissolution of Minerals and Metals and is made artificially as Nature requireth for it hath the property of an incorruptible Spirit which is as a Soul and hath the Conditions of a Body because it generates and produceth Seed as a Woman therefore we call our D. Dissolvent Menstrual Blood or Menstruum because it is Generative and Nutritive and makes the said C and C Metals grow and increase till they be converted into M Sulphur of Nature or Philosophers Mercury or into Q Tincture or Philosophers Stone for as Menstrual Blood perfects the Embryo by nourishing and altering one Principle into another and one Quantity into another and one Form into another yet the Principles and Quantities appearing in every Alteration under divers Forms differing from the first Forms themselves till a certain Substance appears in one entire Quantity dependent upon several Matters which is a Body with Spirit and Soul reduced into Action And thus it is with our Infant Philosophers Stone Lully Distinct 3. Can. 4. Lib. de Essentia When K. Colour appears yellow then let the Artist know that the Body of our Infant is formed made and compleatly organized and begins to be prepared for the reception of the vegetable Spirit into it and Nature continues in that preparation till the yellow K. vanisheth away and a red K. Colour appeareth and then may the Artist be assured that the said Infant is perfect both in Body and Soul so that he may let the Fire alone till it grows cold which being cold the Artist will find our Infant round as an Egg which he must take out and purifie for it is a hard Stone in the middle of many Superfluities as the Infant of a Woman appears after Birth Can. 11. Distinct 3. Lib. Essent and let him take and put it into some clean Glass Vessel c. 3 Distinct 3 Part Lib. de Essent Parisinus Ripley Espanietus and other later Adepts the Disciples of Lully had this Analogy of Seed from him being doubtless the most Learned of the Chymical Philosophers Of this living Heaven saith Parisinus Raymund speaks in his Third Book de Quintessentia in the Chapter beginning Coelum Mercurius noster Our Heaven hath the property of an incorruptible Spirit which is as the Soul of it and hath the Conditions of a Body in it generating and producing Seed as a Woman and herein it differs from the other Principles of the Art It is also sensual because it is apprehended by sense namely by sight taste and smell as is declared in the first Distinction in the Chapter which beginneth Proeterea est principium movendi scilicet corpus sive forma And a little after speakidg of the aforesaid living Heaven he saith And in this point our Understanding knows that D. his living Heaven or Dissolvent hath a Vegetable property the similitude of which R and S Gold and Silver do transmit into the Sulphur of Nature which is the Spirit of Metals or Stone or transforming Poyson according to the signification of Raymund which signification he useth in his Alphabetum figuroe arboris Philosophicoe and therein produceth this following Sentence in Capite de figura Quintoe Essentioe As the Vegetative part of the Mother or Nurse transmits her Likeness into the Son which she generates which property the Son retains so our Mercury The Intention of the Philosopher Lully is to demonstrate that the Philosophers Sulphur or Stone or transforming Poyson receives all its benefit by the excitation of the vegetative Virtue which is in this Divine Vegetative Heaven The same Author in the Continuation of his Doctrine saith And also the Understanding knows that the said Metals R and S Gold and Silver retain the property of Menstruum with which they extend their similitudes into exotick substances transmuting the said substances into their own kind which is the reason why we call it Vegetable Mercury as also because it is extracted out of Vegetables The same thing at the end of the said Chapter he speaks afresh And our Understanding also knows that principle is as a Woman conceiving the Mans Seed and bringing forth in the same form and virtue as it was in the beginning From whence we necessarily conclude that the Elements of this Stone namely Gold ought to be moved by vertue of a living Quintessence and the aforesaid Vegetable Heaven which way I have sufficiently proved and demonstrated Parisinus in Lib. 1. Elucidarii pag. 221. Vol. 6. Th. Chym. Ripley having the same Master as Parisinus expounds this Doctrine more briefly thus As an Infant in the Womb of the Mother does by the concoction of temperate heat convert the Menstruums into its own Nature and Kind that is into Flesh Blood Bones yea Life with all other Properties of a living Body so if you have the Water of Sol and Luna it will attract other Bodies to its kind and make their Humors perfect
may be supplied with the Alkalies of Honey Celandine and the rest of the Individuals named by Lully with which the Adepts did also sometimes acuate their Spirit of Wine as shall be declared below in tht Fifth Kind of Menstruums But these things make also against the Literal sense of our Receipt and do prove that the Salts of the Vegetables not the crude Vegetables themselves were taken in the Receipt But though he made choice of Tartar because of the strongest Alkali to be from thence prepared yet did he not for the same reason intimate that Celandine the Flowers of Rosemary Herb Mercury red Lilly and mans Blood were better than the rest because with these he proceeds another way for he separates the Elements from them with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine from which he takes only the Fire or Oyl which he circulates with the Spirit and so acuates it as is clearly enough evident in secunda Tabula Individuorum But because Honey surpasseth not only its own collateral Individuals but also the Tartar it self for he saith that the Spirit of Wine in Tartar hath one but in Honey two free Operations and therefore attributes his peculiar process to Honey namely by distilling the whole Comb the Honey together with the Wax with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine through an Alembick Now between both processes of Honey and the rest of the Individuals our Receipt keeps a middle station If Honey be volatilized as to the whole substance it becomes thereby a Magistery which being joyn'd to the Spirit of Philosophical Wine yields us a Menstruum of the Third kind But the Fires or Oyls of Celandine of the Flowers of Rosemary common white and red Wine c. are by separation of the Elements made with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine Essences which being added to the said Spirit of Wine do not alter but multiply it rather because an Essence is added to an Essence that is the second to the first Spirit of Philosophical Wine But if Celandine the Flowers of Rosemary as also the Vegetables of our Receipt be distilled with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine it does extract and elevate all their Vnctuosity with it self rejecting the aridity of them being more simple subtil volatile and less loaded with dry Particles than the Vnctuosity of crude Honey and so by being circulated with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine it is made indeed a Magistery yet more inclining to the nature of an Essence and therefore less dry and less altering the Spirit of Wine than that of Honey and so being now deservedly united with the aforesaid Spirit it makes a Menstruum different from the Menstruums of the Third Kind So the Literal Sense of our Receipt does hitherto stand unmoved But not to derogate from the Authority of the Author and his own Commentator Lully it is necessary to suppose that the Spirit of Philosophical Wine being distilled upon the aforesaid Vegetables he did sometimes out of the remainder prepare an Alkali by calcination and acuate his Spirit with it and so make a Menstruum of the Fifth Kind From these and the like Receipts we observe 1. That Wine Lunaria Nigrum nigrius Nigro the Matter of the Menstruum of Vegetable Mercury or Soul of Metals is not Common but Philosophical Wine nor that the Spirit of this Wine is the Common but Philosophical Aqua ardens 2. That a Menstruum of this kind is the unctuous Spirit of Philosophical Wine acuated that is tempered with the common Vnctuosity of Vegetable Oyls Mix digest and distil any common distilled Oyl with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine and you will obtain a Menstruum of the Second Kind much sooner yea you will make the same in a moment if you mix the Essence Spirit of Philosophical VVine with the Magistery of an oyly Vegetable 3. That one oyly Vegetable Saffron or Macis of so many is sufficient for the acuation of the Spirit of Philosophical VVine nor yet will you err if you take Triacle which Spirit of Triacle made with this Spirit of Wine will be a Menstruum of this kind 4. That these Menstruums are Medecines 5. That these Menstruums made out of meer Vegetables are properly called Vegetable Menstruums tho' some which we call Vegetable Menstruums compounded are by reason of the addition of Metals or Minerals sometimes by the Adepts called Mineral Menstruums so Lully in the 34th Experiment calls his Circulatum majus made of Gold and Silver the true Mineral Menstruum But we distinguish them from the Mineral Menstruums because they are corrosive being prepared with the acidity of Miâ—eral Salts But these are most sweet without any Corrosive and do kindly dissolve things that are to be dissolved 6. That a Menstruum is call'd the Soul of Metals Soul is diversly taken among the Adepts First For perfect Metal Gold or Silver So Arnold in Flore Florum Philosophers call the Soul a Ferment because as the Body of man can do nothing without its Ferment or Soul so is it in the thing propounded for Ferment is a Substance which converts other things into its own Nature And you must know there is no Ferment except Sol and Luna that is Gold and Silver appropriated to those Planets c. Ferment therefore must be introduced into the Body because it is the Soul thereof This is that which Morienus said except you cleanse the unclean Body and make it white and infuse a Soul into it you conduce nothing to this Magistery Secondly For Metals and other things volatilized with a Philosophical Menstruum So Lully calls Gold and Silver volatilized in the preparation of his Circulatum majus Menstruum or animated Spirit Take saith he the animated Spirit of Sol and the animated Spirit of Luna joyn them together c. So the Tinctures of Gold and Silver volatilized by a Menstruum as also of imperfect Metals are by him called Souls So in the 20th Experiment he hath the Animal Water of Saturn in the 21th Experiment the Soul of Mars Yea separating the Elements from all things he calls the tinged distilled Liquors Souls or animated Spirits because by them is the dead dry and fixed Earth again revivified volatilized and reduced into a Sal harmoniack See the Revivification of the Salt of Tartar by its own Water in the Volatization of it given in the Second Experiment Thirdly For Menstruums themselves For Menstruums are the Souls of Metals by which the Metals otherwise dead are animated and revivified so Lully of this our Menstruum the Soul of Metals pag. 195. Comp. Anim. Transm Otherwise saith he Metals cannot be dissolved unless they be animated with a Vegetable Menstruum by the power of which Resolution is made in things resoluble And in Elucid Testam pag. 145. Aqua vitoe is the Soul and Life of Bodies by which our Stone is vivified So also Ripley in Libro Mercurii pag. 108. saith The Sperm of Metals is also called Metallick Aqua Vitoe because it administreth life and health to
the Receiver and stop it to prevent respiring and then set the Urinal upon Ashes and if any corruptible part Phlegm and unprofitable Earth remain with the matter let it be burnt and the Vessel having remained two or three Hours in a Fire somewhat remiss and not any thing more distilling through the beak of the Alembick let the Vessel cool and then pour the same Water Aqua Vitoe or Spirit of Philosophical Wine which you kept before stopt in the Receiver upon the matter again This matter therefore being dissolved distil the Water again in Balneo as before which having taken away the Receiver you must keep well stopt from respiring then set the Urinal in Ashes and dry the matter being dryed dissolve it in again with the Water which you kept in the Receiver and if you see the dissolution is not clear and diaphanous you must transmit it so often through a Filter or Linnen Cloth and so oft dissolve and congeal it by turns as before till it be free from all Terrestreity and appear clear and splendid then may you be assured that the impure and corruptible part is separated and you will see the whole matter transmuted into an Oyl But now most dear Son you must proceed to the composition of our Mercury and Sal Armoniack the Powers and Virtues whereof are so many and so great as scarce to be comprehended within the expression of Man The way of which operation is thus You must know the weight of the Salt or Oyl which you beheld in the bottom of the Vessel depurated and pour to it so much of our Spirit that is Aqua Vitoe rectify'd so as to burn a Cloth steeped in it as will be four Fingers above it or let there be six parts more of the weight of the Aqua Vitoe than is the Salt or Oyl the whole being mix'd together put into an Urinal with a Cover or Antenotorium well luted that it respire not putrifie in Balneo the space of two Natural Days then take off the Antenotorium and put on an Alembick with a Receiver close the Joynts well and distil in a Furnace of Ashes with a slow Fire which distillation must be continued till the Beak or Head discover no Veins but suddenly after the Veins disappear lay aside the Receiver with the distilled Water Spirit of Philosophical Wine and stop it close for now comes the animated Spirit Spirit of Wine impregnated with the Essence of Tartar which hath the power of vivifying its Body or Caput Mortuum then continue the same distillation in the end augmenting the Fire that if any part of Phlegm remain it may exhale and be removed by that degree of heat Lastly the Vessel being cold take out the matter and grind it know the weight of the matter and pour to it four parts of Aqua Vitoe more than is the Earth Caput mortuum and covering the Vessel close with its Antenotorium putrifie as before then putting an Alembick to it with a Receiver well luted distill as before in a Furnace of Ashes the Soul being with its Spirit gone over with the same Signs of Veins as before appearing repeat the same Magistery three times For then will you have the Spirit perfectly animated and the Body exanimated and calcined This Spirit with the Soul of Tartar is indeed capable of disposing every Physical operation but in this place we will use it for the vivifying of the calcined Earth Take therefore the aforesaid Earth out of its Vessel and grind it then put a little of it upon a red hot plate which if it melt like Wax without fume is a sign of perfect exanimation if this sign appear not this Magistery must be reiterated till you have obtained that sign Then know the weight of the Earth upon which pour a fourth part of the animated Spirit and the Vessel being covered close with its Antenotorium set it in Balneo two or three days to be congealed or till it be congealed which done remove the Antenotorium putting on a Head and distill in a Furnace of Ashes without a Receiver that if there be any part of Phlegm it may be from thence removed for that which comes out from this distillation will be insipid of no savour or esteem in the Form of Rain Water Then again pour on a fourth part of the animated Spirit as before and congeal in Balneo as before then distil the Phlegmatick moisture by Ashes as before and thus repeat the aforesaid Magistery till the Earth hath drunk up and attracted to it all it s animated Spirit and attain'd to such a sign that if you put a small quantity of it upon a Fire-hot Plate the major part fume away which will be a sign that the matter is disposed for the subliming of our most precious Mercury which hath the power of dissolving any Metal whatsoever with the preservation of its Vegetive and Germinative form Take therefore the aforesaid pregnant Earth and put it into a Bolt-head Sublimatory with a long Neck which you must lute very well with Lutum Sapientioe and the luting being dryed set it with the matter into a distilling Furnace administring in the beginning a gentle Fire till the Bolt-head grow hot whose Mouth must be stopped with Cotton-wooll and continue that gentle heat the space of six Hours then augment the Fire somewhat six Hours more but if it begins not by that degree of Fire to sublime increase the Fire gradually to a more violent degree till it begin to sublime which Fire continue the space of twenty four Hours at the expiration of which time the Vessel being cold take from thence our Sulphur sublimed the Vegetable Sulphur of Nature our Mercury Vegetable our Heaven dry our Sal Armoniack Vegetable our Stone not yet fermented and call'd by many more other Names whose faculty is to acuate its Spirit of Philosophical Wine as shall be made appear by the Experiments hereafter following This Volatilization of the Salt of Tartar is sufficiently tedious yet easie and clear according to the tenour of the Receipt In the following kind of Menstruums we shall have divers examples of making such Sal Harmoniacks wherefore we will thither reserve those things which are to be admonished about this way of making the Volatile Salt of Tartar Lully mixeth three pounds of this Volatile Salt with four of the Spirit of Philosophical Wine successively by various distillations and reduceth the mixture by circulating sixty Days into the Vegetable Heaven But here we are to be advised that the Sal Armoniack of Tartar in its own dry Form is a Vegetable Menstruum and so according to the prescribed method of the Receipt it is not always necessary to reduce that into a liquid substance for that and the Menstruum made from thence are therein different because in the making of Heaven the Vnctuosity of the Spirit of Philosophical Wine being superadded and now prevalent hath absorbed and dissolved the aridity of the Sal Armoniack but this
thus done 28. The Sweet Spirit of Salt of Basilius Lib. Partic. sub Sulphure Solis Rep. 12. Clav. TAke of the Spirit of Salt wholly dephlegmed one part of the best Spirit of Wine free from all Phlegm or the Sulphur of Wine made as I shall tell you lower the Description of which we lately had in the precedent Pages one half part fit an Alembick well luted and distil strongly so as that nothing remains To the Distillation add one other half part of Spirit of Wine and distil and that repeat three times putrefie fifteen days or till it become sweet which must be done in a gentle Balneo thus will you have the Spirit of Salt and Wine without any corrosion for extractions But though this Menstruum may deserve its Praises yet it can scarce be reckoned amongst Menstruums of this Kind where we discourse not of acid Spirits but fixed Salts it must therefore be considered as an Appendix of the circulated Salt to the Illustratino of which it will not a little conduce From the Receipts we observe 1. That by Aqua Vitae or Spirit of Wine the Adepts did not in the least intend Common but Philosophical Aqua ardens for Common Aqua ardens will never perform that which is desired in these Receipts and it being granted that it seems to perform yet Menstruums so made cannot be Menstruums of the Adepts but Common of no efficacy or esteem in the more secret Chymy 2. That Basilius has indeed sometimes used common Aqua ardens for his Menstruums but never by it self but mixed with Vegetable Sal Armoniack or Philosophical Salt of Tartar that is with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine volatilized which Salt being brought into a liquid substance by virtue of this Spirit is his Menstruum for he separates again from thence the Spirit of Common Wine either by Flame or by quick Lime 3. That the greater quantity of Sal Armoniack is joyned with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine the stronger are these Menstruums made wherefore Basilius his Menstruums of this Kind from which all the common Aqua ardens is separated are to be reputed among the best 4. That these Menstruums are the Magistery of fixed Salts by Paracelsus call'd the less Circulatums or Arcanum of the Alkali of Tartar Beans Wormwood as also common Salt Alom Nitre c. 5. And therefore that these Menstruums are Medecines 6. That these Menstruums may be made several ways as these out of the Sal Armoniack of Lully by the method of Paracelsus his Circulatums and so on the contrary provided the Alkalies or fixed salts be volatilized and distilled together with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine through an Alembick 7. That the Spirit of Philosophical Wine is not easily mixed with these Salts but by certain degrees First He extracts the Tincture or Soul from them that is the more unctuous parts which being more volatile than the rest are then easily distilled into a volatile Tincture or to use Luly's phrase into the animated Spirit then the remaining Earth being now fixed by the same means is again volatilized by absorbing the said animated Spirit by degrees and sublimed into Sal Armoniack 8. That these Sal Armoniacks are sublimed with a very strong fire 9. That these Salts are called Harmoniack by reason of the Harmony ar Perfection of their mixtion So have you saith Lully the formal Harmoniack mixtion of all the Elements wherefore wonder not if we call it Sal Armoniack for so it is called because of its exalted and sublimed property the pure and first Matter of Nature Lib. Mercur. pag. 155. 10. That the volatile Salt of Tartar the volatile Salt of Wormwood Carduus Benedictus c. common volatile Salt by Paracelsus call'd Sal enixum are rightly term'd Sal Harmoniacks Philosophical Vegetable Mercuries and Sulphurs of Nature c. 11. That the Spirit of Salt Nitre Vitriol Aqua fortis c. are by being cohobated with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine made sweet The Sixth KIND Simple Vegetable Menstruums made of the Spirit and Tartar of Philosophical Wine 29. The Coelum Vinosum of Parisinus made of the Salt of Philosophical Wine In Appendice Eluc Pag. 271. Vol. 6. Theat Chym. TAke the Philosophers first Matter called Chaos Vegetable Mercury the Philosophers Wine distil its Spirit ardent and Watery Element Phlegm in its convenient Vessel as we shall teach in its proper place till its Body remain in the bottom like melted Pitch which by two distillations wash with its Watery Element then pour its Spirit to it four Fingers above it mixing the Matter well till it be well united and set the Vessel to distil in Balneo with an easie heat then put it into Putrefaction six Days in a convenient Vessel and distil in Ashes the animated Spirit then take other Spirit ardens and that being poured to it put it again into Putrefaction six Days and so repeat this Magistery till you see that the Spirit has imbibed and extracted the Soul out of the Body an infallible sign of which will be when you see its Earth hard and dry for then may you be assured that the Body is for its health-sake dead which you may vivify and make incorruptible and it will no more fear Death nor Corruption in this World Now take the aforesaid Body first weigh it then put it in a convenient Vessel and pour to it an eighth part of its Spirit animated Spirit which extracted its Soul then put your Vessel in a Fire of digestion which we shall speak of afterwards and continue the Fire till you see that the Earth hath imbibed its Liquor then open your Vessel put on an Alembick and gather that little sweat which will have the taste of hot Water Imbibe now your Matter for a second time with a seventh part of the aforesaid Spirit which contains the Soul and proceed in the methodizing of the aforesaid Magistery Now for a third time imbibe with a sixt part for a fourth time imbibe with a fifth part for a fifth time imbibe with a fourth part and do not multiply the weight of the aforesaid Spirit but continue it so observing the aforesaid Method till the Matter which hath drunk up its Spirit and is again united with its Soul be white Take now the aforesaid Earth and put it in convenient sublimation the lower part of the Vessel being luted below the Matter and make the pure part sublime from the impure and so will you have our Mercury which is clear and shining as a Diamond This is that which the Philosophers do by divers Metaphors call the first Vegetable Matter Sal Armoniack our Mercury our Sulphur of Nature whereas notwithstanding 't is one and the same thing Take the other Simple Spirit which you first extracted out of your Chaos that which hath not extracted its Soul and make it more pure and subtil by the way following Take of the Vegetable first Matter Sal Armoniack which you made before one Pound and put
three Ounces of the VVater Aqua ardens rectifyed to the highest revealed to you before and the Vessel being covered close put it in Balneo for one Natural Day then Distil in Ashes till all ascend that can then know the weight of the Salt remaining at the bottom of the Vessel and pour to it three times its weight of the aforesaid Aqua ardens and put it in our Balneo the space of one natural Day then Distil in Ashes and thus do three times Then is all the Vegetable Salt come over the Helm with its own VVater and mixture is made and the Water clear which we call Simple Menstruum My Son Take a Glass Vessel which must be white Glass and sound and it must be a large Vessel and put into it four Pounds or six at most of this Menstruum thus simply dissolved and the Vessel being well shut and sealed put it in Balneo or Dung the space of sixty Days and it will in that time be converted into a Quintessence exceeding Glorious and Odoriferous which you will know when you see in the bottom of the Vessel a Sediment like that in the Urine of a well Complexioned Youth and it will be clear and resplendent as a Star of Heaven Keep it in a hot and moist place as is a Balneo separating it first from its Sediment and sealing the Vessel well as may be Both Receipts agree in all things except that Lully calcines the dead Earth and by dissolving in common Water and calcining purifies it Parisinus not so this Earth notwithstanding seeming by this way of putrifying to be made fitter for the Reception of its Spirit The Receipts consist of these two parts the preparation of the Vegetable Sal Armoniack and the Reduction of the same Salt into a liquid Substance or Menstruum The preparation of the Sal Armoniack is effected by two Operations In the first the Soul is extracted out of the Body by Virtue of the Spirit to exanimate and fix the Earth and make it melt like Wax on a red hot Plate In the second the Soul is stored to this fixed Earth by times and this variously to make it Volatile In both Receipts as well of Lully as Parisinus the animated Spirit is restored to the Earth so exanimated in an eighth seventh sixth fifth and fourth part of its weight till it wholly evaporates upon a fiery hot Plate this method of impregnating or revivifying the Dead Body will be confirmed and illustrated by the Vegetable Sal Armoniack of Parisinus In Apertorio Cap. F. and L. and parte secunda Citharoe vel Violettoe and Cap. 5. Elucid pag. 235. Vol. 6. Theat Chym. OUr Vegetable Mercury is that Principle to be admired above all other things of this Art which consists in the preparation and ablution of its most precious Earth which is of so great Virtue as not to be comprehended by the wit of any Men those only excepted who have attained to the miraculous effects of it Our purpose is to take the matter remaining in the distillation of Philosophical Wine like melted pitch to which pour of its Death Phlegm the height of four fingers above it agitate that the tincture or unctuous superfluous part of it may be dissolved let the matter settle decant the tincture to the remaining matter pour new Phlegm agitating and decanting so oft till no more tincture ascends and the Earth remains white sparkling like a Diamond which dry in the Sun or some such heat being dryed and pulverized pour to it of C that is its ardent Spirit so much as will swim upon it the space of four Fingers digest in a blind Head three natural Days then distil with a slender heat of Ashes till the Veins disappear take away the Receiver stop it well put another to distil away all the Phlegm with a Fire somewhat stronger cool the Vessel take out the Matter being hardened pulverize and putting it in the same Vessel pour to it of C the breadth of three Fingers lute and putrefie three days take away the blind Head distil through an Alembick till the Veins ascend then change the Receiver as before repeat these Operations till the Earth remain white and fume not upon a hot Plate Now take a Phial put the aforesaid Earth into it lute well the Neck of the Phial and set it to digest or calcine rather in Ashes and you will have your most precious Earth now sit to receive its Spirit animated or Soul with the conservation of its radical moisture Take this Earth put it in a round Vessel a hands breadth deep broad about the Orifice and imbibe it with its Soul or animated Spirit as we shall declare cap. L. thus have you so full an Instruction of this Matter that 't is impossible for you to err if you be a faithful Christian I promised he goes on cap. L. to give you full direction for the making of all sorts of Sulphurs for our Magistery that is Mineral Vegetable and Animal Sulphur Wonder not that I did first sublime and vivify the Mineral Sulphur of Nature I doing this to give them in order and that you might the better attend your Practice and Theory though I know you are not ignorant that no dissolution can be made without either Vegetable or Animal Sulphur Now to our purpose Take the Vegetable Earth prepared as I taught you cap. F. imbibe it with it s animated Spirit giving an eighth part of it in respect of the Earth cover the Vessel with a Blind Head digest eight days in Balneo then lay aside this Head and draw of all the insipid moisture in a gentle heat of Ashes or of the Sun then imbibe with a seventh part digesting in Balneo and distilling in Ashes as before then imbibe with a sixth then a fifth lastly a fourth part and with this quantity repeat the rest of the imbibitions till the Earth hath drank up two parts and more of its weight Then take the Earth out of the Vessel pulverize and put a little of it upon a red hot Plate if the greatest part of it fume away put the powder into a Sublimatory and sublime the Philosophers Sal Armoniack giving the beginning of Vegetation to both the terrestrial Luminaries Gold and Silver without which neither the Vegetable nor Animal Work yea nothing at all can be done in this Magistery This Volatilization of the fixed Earth the Adepts performed other ways also not always observing the order of the aforesaid weights of the animated Spirit in the resuscitation or impregnation of the dead Body For sometimes they imbibed this exanimated Earth with an eighth part of its animated Spirit so oft till it became animated again and was made Volatile Thus Lully made his The Vegetable Sal Armoniack of Lully Libro de materia Vegetabili in practica quarta TAke excellent Wine either red or white distil by the Rule of Art an ardent Spirit burning Cotton evaporate the Phlegm till the Matter remain thick as
it of the Phlegm so much as to swim four Fingers above it and put it for two days in Balneo then one day in a Fire of Ashes that it may boyl leisurely and you will find the Phlegm much coloured which empty into another Vessel set it in Balneo again for two days with new Phlegm and for one day in Ashes then empty it into another Vessel and thus proceed till the Phlegm will be no more coloured and if Phlegm be wanting then take the coloured Phlegm and by distillation draw off one half or a third part of it by Balneo and operate with it as before but when that Phlegm is no more coloured then will there remain in the bottom of the Vessel an Earth almost white the Phlegm having attracted all the Oyl out of it if you would separate them asunder put them in distillation of Balneo then the Phlegm only riseth and the Oyl will remain in the bottom of the Vessel most red Take this Earth and pour to the same of Mercury Vegetable or Aqua ardens so as to swim two Fingers above it and put it in a Fire of Ashes for one natural Day so as to boyl gently then draw off distil the Earth by a Fire of Ashes as before and put it apart And of new Aqua ardens pour to the said Earth so much as to swim two Fingers above it and set it in Ashes for a Natural Day then draw it off by distilling in Ashes as before and thus proceed till there be no more Spirit elsewhere called Soul remaining in the Earth but all pass'd over with the Aqua ardens which you may know by the Earth remaining in a most impalpable powder and putting it on a Fire-hot Plate it will yield no smoak which will be a sign that it is without Spirit Soul which Earth put then into digestion in an Athanor and there let it stand ten days in a continued Fire Then take of the Aqua ardens in which the Spirit Soul is and pour it upon the said Earth swimming one Finger above it and put it in an Athanor for one Natural Day then set it in Balneo and by distillation draw off the Aqua ardens without the Spirit Soul the Spirit remaining in the Earth then pour on other Aqua ardens and thus reiterate till the Earth hath drank up all its Spirit which you will know by putting the Earth upon a red hot Plate because the greatest part of it will turn into Smoak which Earth digest for six Natural Days in an Athanor then put it in Ashes increasing the Fire till by the sublimation the Vegetable Mercury riseth at the sides of the Vessel and in the bottom remains the Terra damnata which is not an ingredient to our Work Which Mercury gather speedily and whilst it is new after its rising mix it with its Water for two days and it becomes a Water which hath wherewithal to dissolve all Metals with the preservation of their Form and this Water we call Vegetable Menstruum Animal Sal Armoniacks may also be made the same way as Vegetable Sal Armoniacks thus is made The animal Sal Armoniack of Lully In Testam Novissimo SOn there is another way of this animal Sulphur of Nature in which there is most accurate knowledge as in Vegetables which you must perform by the method which we shall teach you and Son the way is to take the Urine of Young Men of good Complexion and put it in a Glass Vessel forty days till it be putrified then take a Cucurbit and putting on an Alembick in Balneo for the space of forty hours distil a clear Water and the Spirit will remain in the Earth the Soul as Pitch dry it being well luted and rectify the Water seven times and the white Salt Volatile which it made in every distillation gather warily that it may not feel the Air and put it in its Water Spirit Then put the Earth and Water Pitch and Spirit together in Balneo or Dung for four days then distil in the same Balneo and put it again upon the Eaâ—â—â— digest and distil again as before four days then take the Water by it self and put it in Dung the space of two Natural Dâ—ys and distil in Balneo and again putrify in Dung and continue this order five times Then is the Water Spirit perfectly rectify'd and clear This work being ended restore the Water to the Earth Pitch and set it in Dung then distil in Balneo and dry up the Earth and the Alembick being taken off and another Cover put on sublime for the space of twenty four hours the animal Sulphur of Nature Then gather it together and upon the Earth which remained pour its animated Water and put it in Dung and distil in Balneo dry and sublime as before repeating till all the Sulphur be sublimed Son We have revealed to you every way of knowing our Vegetable Sulphurs and also the animal Sulphur with a Declaration of the whole Magistery Now with the help of God we shew you that there is one way and means in the animal and in the Vegetable without any variation This Receipt being less clear in making no mention of the Spirit of Philosophical Wine and yet of no worth without it I will therefore add his sixth Experiment of the rational Animal where thus Very great certainly and incomprehensible Gifts hath the most high God vouchsafed to us in the acknowledgment of which our Duty is both Day and Night to love worship and revere him with our whole heart and everywhere extol his Name with all our might for besides his creating us out of nothing and redeeming us with his most precious Blood he hath also made Man partaker of all the Blessings contained in the greater World and for this reason is called Microcosm for it has by divine inspiration been revealed to us that all Virtues as well Animal and Vegetable as Mineral are in Man himself and this very thing I will prove to be true by this wonderful Experiment Take the Urine of Boys which must be from the eighth to the twelfth Year and no more which Urine gather from those Boys in the Morning rising out of Bed a great quantity of which 't is convenient for you to have which must be very well putrified in a Glass Vessel the Vessel being stop'd not to respire two parts of which Vessel must be full the other empty and thus ought it to be placed in Horse Dung to putrify till the Urine grows black which commonly happens within forty or fifty days but that the Urine may putrify and grow black in a shorter space of time this we have had for a secret and proved it by true Experiment thaâ—â—ixing and joyning a Cup of Aqua Vitoe Philosophical but first highly rectified with the aforesaid Urine will accelerate Putrefaction Putrefaction being done put the Urine in an Urinal Cucurbit with an Alembick and Receiver carefully stop'd two parts of which Vessel must
evaporate being a little of it cast upon a red hot Plate This impregnated Earth being put into a Sublimatory sublime according to Art into a Volatile Salt which digest in Balneo two days and more with six parts of the ardent Spirit circulated decant the dissolution gently and if any thing remain undissolved proceed with it as before this dissolution circulate thirty days and it will be a Quintessence to be compared in Virtue with the Aurum potabile of the Ancients As these Menstruums are made either weaker or stronger according to the variety of weight so also are they more or less pure by longer or shorter or altogether neglected circulation for some Menstruums there are of this kind which the Adepts circulated not For an Example take the following 32. The less Vegetable Menstruum of Lully Lib. de materia Vegetabili in practica prima TAke the best Wine red is the best two pounds of it put into a Cucurbit with a blind Head and luting the joynts well put it in Balneo to putrify kindly the space of forty five days then fit an Alembick to it and augment the heat that the ardent Spirit may be distill'd which rectify thrice by it self or till it is free from all Phlegm and burns Cotton keep this ardent Spirit well stop'd in a cold place take the matter remaining in the first distillation and draw off the Phlegm till it remain thick like liquid Pitch upon which pour of the Spiritus ardens so much as to be the space of four Fingers above it digest three days in Balneo then distil gently by Ashes three days and by Virtue of a stronger Fire the ardent Spirit will carry over the Soul with it which it could not do in Balneo keep the distillation To the remaining Matter pour new Spirit doing so often till all the Soul be come over and that you will know if by being projected in a small quantity upon a red hot Plate it yields no smoak because the matter is now deprived of its Soul which we call dry Earth which imbibe with an eighth part of the animated ardent Spirit digest for three days in Balneo then distil gently in Ashes the superfluous Liquor being insipid as common Water make the second imbibition with a seventh part and so continue doing as before till the Earth be made heavier by a fourth part of its weight and it will be disposed to a reduction into a Volatile Salt by the way of sublimation This Earth therefore being well pulverized put into a Sublimatory administring Fire according to Art and that which you find sublimed white as Snow is the Volatile Salt which keep in a Vessel well stop'd Take of this Volatile Salt one part of the ardent Spirit six parts digest in Ashes and the dissolution is the Vegetable Quintessence apt to dissolve the perfect Bodies of Sol and Luna to make an Elixir and other Medicines precious and grateful Vegetable Sal Armoniack dissolv'd in Aqua ardens one part of the Salt to six of the Spirit makes the present Menstruum but the following is prepared from Sal Armoniack resolved per deliquium 33. The Vegetable Menstruum per deliquium of Lully Lib. de materia Vegetabili in Practica secunda TAke the best white-Wine putrify it in Balneo twenty days or longer then distil the Spiritus ardens according to Art till it burns Cotton then draw off the Phlegm till the matter remains in the bottom of the Vessel thick as liquid Pitch to which matter pour so much of the Phlegm as will swim four Fingers above it digest in Balneo two days and in Ashes one day decant the tinged Phlegm pour new Phlegm to the matter doing as before till no more will be tinged and the matter remains at the bottom of the Vessel like a white Earth upon this Earth pour the height of two Fingers of the ardent Spirit digest for a day in Ashes and the Soul which is in the Earth will enter into the ardent Spirit decant the ardent Spirit being animated pour off the ardent Spirit again upon the Earth doing it so oft as before till the Spirit draws out no more Soul and the Earth remains in the Form of a most fine powder being despoiled of all its Soul which you will know if it smoaks not upon a fiery Plate this Earth digest ten days in Ashes then put it in Balneo and pour of the tinged Phlegm so much as will swim two Fingers over it distil in Balneo cast away the distillation as a thing of no Virtue then again pour the tinged Phlegm upon the Earth repeating as before till no Phlegm remains and the Earth is impregnated with all the tincture that was in the Phlegm This done imbibe the Earth with the animated ardent Spirit digest with an easy heat in Balneo till the Earth is well dryed then again imbibe and so oft as before till the animated ardent Spirit is absorbed by the Earth and is made Volatile which you will know if a little of it cast upon a burning Plate fumes away for the most part then put this matter into a sublimatory and sublime with a subliming Fire and that which is sublimed is the Volatile Salt of the Vegetable matter put that Volatile Salt into a Phial digest in Balneo for a day and it will be reduced into a Water which we call Vegetable Menstruum which is a wonderful dissolvent for the radical dissolving of the two Luminaries These Menstruums the Adepts made sometimes not of Vegetables Sal Armoniack but by the way following 34. The Vegetable Mercury of Lully Lib. de Mat. Vegetabili in practica sexta TAke the best odoriferous Wine put it in a Circulatory large enough stop the said Vessel very well with Sulphur melted and putrify in Balneo twelve or fifteen Days then distil the Spirit and Phlegm according to Art till the Spirit burns Cotton upon the matter remaining like liquid Pitch pour six parts of the Phlegm digest two Days in Ashes shaking the Vessel now and then decant the Phlegm being tinged pour on other and doing as before till it hath extracted all the tincture and a black Earth remains at the bottom of the Alembick put the tinged Phlegm in an Alembick and distil in Balneo and that which remains at the bottom of the Vessel will be the Vegetable Oyl pour the ardent Spirit to the height of four Fingers upon the black Earth distil by Ashes and that which is distilled will be the ardent Spirit impregnated to the matter pour new ardent Spirit repeating as before three times and in the last increasing the Fire about the end Calcine the Earth with a Fire of Reverberation into whiteness out of which extract the fixed Salt with a little of the Phlegm the fixed Salt being pulverized put in an Alembick pour to it the animated ardent Spirit about two Fingers distil gently in Balneo the insipid and useless moisture repeat as before till the animated
be better assured by Examples of the following Books 6. That simple Vegetable Menstruums do as being permanent Waters continue also with things Metallick and stick most perfectly to them not for Medicines only but also for the making of precious Stones yea Tinctures as well particular as universal As to the simple Vegetable Menstruums extract the Essences of Vegetables and the same compounded that they do make Magisteries for a Medicinal use we shall easily agree but for the unctuous and most inflamable Spirit of Philosophical Wine made of combustible Vegetables and Animals to be a constitutive to any Chymical Tincture seems to be an assertion altogether Paradoxical for which cause are we to be admonished that the Adepts rejected every Combustible Vegetable and Animal as a thing useless for their Tinctures but never despised the purify'd Elements of Vegetables and Animals made incombustible or acquiring incombustibility in the process it self though they have declared them to be without the ferment of the Stone insufficient as also Metals alone without these Menstruums being therefore mix'd with Metals they make Tinctures as well particular as universal for Metals Witness Ripley saying If you have a mind to make Gold and Silver by the Philosophical Art you must for that purpose take neither Eggs nor Blood but Gold and Silver which are Naturally and Prudently and not Manually calcined for they produce a new Generation increasing their Kind as all other Natural Things But suppose a Man might with benefit effect it in things not Metallick in which are Colours found in Aspect pleasant as in Blood Urine Eggs and Wine or in half Minerals taken out of Mines yet would it be necessary for the Elements of them to be first putrifyed and joyn'd in Matrimony with the Elements of perfect Bodies Libro 12. portar portu 1. The Elixir he proceeds is not to be made of Wine as Wine nor of Eggs Hair or Blood as meerly Eggs Hair or Blood but of the Elements only and therefore we are to seek in order to obtain the Elements in the excellency of their simplicity and rectification for the Elements saies the Philosopher Bacon in his Speculum are the Roots and Mothers of all things living But the Elements of the things aforesaid are not Ingredients to the making of Elixirs but by the Virtue and Commixtion with the Elements of Spirits whereof he recites four Argent vive Sulphur Arsenick and common Sal Armoniack and Metallick Bodies and so as Roger Bacon saies they are Ingredients and do make the great Elixir Mid. Phil. Chym. Cap. 3. We saith he further take neither of the first Principles they being too simple nor of the last they being too gross and fecualent but only the middle in which is the tincture and true Oyl separated from any unclean Terrestreity and Phlegmatick Water therefore saith Raymund thus The unctious Liquor is the near Matter of our Physical Argent vive And though those Bodies in which those Mercuries are hidden be sold openly by Apothecaries at a low Price according to the saying of the Philosopher in this manner Our Sulphurs we have from the Apothecaries at a mean Price yet if you understand not the Art of separating the Elements according to the Doctrine of Aristotle in is Epistle to Alexander in the Book of the Secrets of Secrets where he saith Separate the subtil from the gross the thin from the thick and when you have drawn Water out of Air Air out of Fire and Fire out of Earth then have you the full Art except I say you understand this you will do little or nothing in my Work Pupilla Alchym Pag. 298. It appertains not to this place to prove these things by more Examples it is enough to have instanced these few by way of anticipation the following Books treating more copiously of this Truth 7. That the Name Hell Fire the Menstruum of Trismosinus is the proper and common Name of Mercurial Menstruums for most of the Adepts do affirm Mercury to be of a most hot yea Fiery Nature some few deny accounting it the coldest Metal Amongst the Affirmers was the great Paracelsus saying We find Mercury to be inwardly of the greatest heat and no way to be coagulated but by the greatest cold Libro 6. Archid. magic Whoever think Mercury to be of a moist and cold Nature are convinced of an open Error it being of its Nature most hot and moist by reason of which it always and perpetually sloweth for if it was of a moist and cold Nature it would be like frozen Water and be alwaies hard and solid and it would be necessary to melt it by the heat of Fire as other Metals which indeed it requires not having a Natural Liquation and Flux through its own heat which keeps it in a perpetual Fluxion and makes it quick that it can neither dye nor be congealed Coelum Phil. Sect. de calore merc pag. 124. No Name can be found for this Liquesaction Fluxion of Argent vive much less the Original of it by which it may be called and no heat being so vehement as to be equivalent to it Hell Fire ought to be compared to it Coelum Phil. can .. 1.121 Basilius taught the same saying The Fiery Spirit of Sulphur being invisibly incorporated in Mercury therefore it prefers it self in Fluxion not to be coagulated c. For Mercury is a meer Fire and therefore cannot be burned by any Fire no Fire toucheth it so as to destroy it for either c. Currus triumph Antimonii Pag. 40. And Sendivogius I Mercury am Fire c. My Spirit and the Spirit of Fire love one another and so far as able one accompanies the other c. If any Man knows the Fire of my Heart he sees Fire is my Food and the longer the Spirit of my Heart eats Fire the fatter it will be the Death of which is afterward the Life of all things c. I am Fire within Fire is my Food Dialog Mercurii Pag. 515. Volum 4. Theat Chym. Ripley did by the most hot things of Lully acuating the Vegetable Menstruum without the Virtue of which things it would not be able to dissolve Metals but in a long time understand Mercury I am saith he forc'd to say that all these things which Raymond speaks of things most hot are covered with a Philosophical Veil for his Saying is That dissolution must be made with Spirit of Wine but his intention also is that in this Spirit of Philsophical Wine may be had another resoluble Menstruum which is only of the Metallick Kind Medul Phil Pag. 168. For that is Raymund's Water which Mary the Prophetess speaks of saying Make your Water as a running Water by Divine Inspiration extracted out of the two Mineral and Vegetable Zaiboth Mercuries that is circulated together into a Cristalline Water c. because as saith Raymund there being in Mercury a Point of Igneity by the power of which is dissolution made it is requisite to
sufficient information of all things from Artists of the more secret Chymy Alchymists and Operators so also to be more instructed by the same in the way of correcting the Spirit of Wine Basilius in his Elucidat 12. Clavium Where he made the following Menstruum spoke of such a graduated Vitriol not common 99. A Menstruum of Basilius made of Hungarian Vitriol In Elucid 12. Clavium IF you have obtained such a highly graduated and well prepared Mineral called Vitriol most humbly beseech God to give Understanding and Wisdom for the success of your Intention and when you have calcined it put it into a Retort well luted Distil it at first with a slow Fire then increase it and the White Spirit of Vitriol will appear in the form of a horrid Fume or Wind and passeth into the Receiver so long as any of the same Matter is in it And take Notice that in this Wind are hidden all the Three Principles proceeding from one and the same Habitation it is not necessary therefore to be always diving in pretious Things because by this Means a nearer way to the Mysteries of Nature lies open and is obvious to all Men apt to learn Art and Wisdom Now if you can well and purely separate and free this Expelled Spirit by the way of Distillation from its terrene Moisture then will you find in the bottom of the Glass Treasure and the Fundamentals of all the Philosophers hitherto known to few which is a Red Oyl ponderous as Lead or any Gold whatsoever as thick as Blood of a burning and fiery quality which is the true Fluid Gold of the Philosophers which Nature compacted of the Three Principles in which are found Spirit Soul and Body and it is Philosophical Gold that Spirit of Philosophical Wine excepted with which the Dissolution of it is performed c. Cinabar the Adepts sometimes added to the Vitriol thus 100. The Mineral Menstruum of Isaacus Pag. 59. Manus Philos TAke of the Roman Vitriol calcined to Redness and Cinaber an equal quantity mix and pulverize then pour Aqua Vitae to them distill and cohobate upon the Caput Mortuum three or four times The same Menstruum hath Lully in Magia Naturali but instead of the Caput mortuum he takes new Species in every Rectification 101. The Stinking Menstruum of Lully made of Vitriol and Cinabar Pag. 371. Magiae Naturalis AFter the Fourth Distillation of the Water aforesaid Aqua Vitae or Ardens made of Philosophical Wine Distill seven times with an equal weight of good Cinabar and Vitriol putting in new things every time constantly and drying the Matter of the Stone Vitriol and Cinabar well in every Distillation before you pour in the Aqua Vitae c. 102. The same Stinking Menstruum of Lully Epist Accurtatoria Pag. 327. THe Vegetable Stone being Distilled the Vegetable Menstruum or rather Aqua ardens or the Spirit of Philosophical Wine till the Water is free from Phlegme and that commonly is in the fifth time take an equal Weight of Vitriol very clear and of the best Cinabar mix and grind them well together dry the Matter in the Sun till all the moisture is exhaled then cast in your Water and Distil first with a gentle Fire and strong in the end as the custom is in preparing the Philosophers Acute Water and then the Spirits or Quintessence of Vitriol and Cinabar which do principally make the Mineral Stone Mineral Menstruum do mix and joyn together with the Spirit of the Quintessence of Aqua Ardens which Spirit is the Vegetable Stone and this continue ten Times beginning after the fifth five times after the fifth Rectification of the Spirit of Philosophical Wine and so continue the Distillations five times with those Bodies Vitriol and Cinabar And you must remember to make the things thorough dry before you put them into the Water so that all the Water all the Phlegme must be dried up evaporated and the Spirits remain which must be joyned together because of the strength of the Aqua Ardens and every Distillation you must put in new things To Vitriol and Cinabar he sometimes added Niter thus he made this call'd 103. The Stinking Menstruum of Lully made of common Vitriol Cinabar and Niter In Clavicula Pag. 299. Vol. 3. Th. Chym. TAke of Roman Vitriol calcined to Redness three Pounds of Salt Peter one Pound of Cinabar three Ounces grind all together upon a Marble then put the Matter in a thick and strong Body Cucurbit and pour Aqua Vitae seven times Rectify'd upon it and put it in Horse Dung fifteen days the Vessel being well Sealed Then Distil with a soft Fire till you have all the Water in the Receiver then increase the Fire till the Head Alembick be red then strengthen the Fire till the Head Alembick be white then let the Vessel cool take away the Receiver Seal it very well with Wax and keep it for occasion Take Notice that the Menstruum ought to be seven times rectify'd by Distillation every time casting away the Feces before it be made use of Besides the Ingredients of Aqua Fortis and Cinabar he sometimes adds also Tartar calcined thus 104. The Stinking Menstruum of Lully made of Vitriol Niter Alume Tartar and Cinabar In Experimento 26. TAke Aqua Vitae so hot as to burn a Linnen Cloth then take Vitriol free from all Phlegme so as to Boyl upon Fire without Liquefaction Vitriol calcin'd the common way the best Sal Niter Roch Alume dephlegmed and dried one Pound of all the aforesaid of white Tartar calcined and Cinabar of each half a Pound grind and sift every one severally through a Sieve then mix and put the Matter into a Retort pouring the aforesaid Aqua Vitae upon it put a Receiver to it the Joynts being very close and the Luting first thoroughly dried The Receiver must be large as those wherein Aqua Fortises are commonly distilled Now the Luting being dried make a gentle Fire at first till the Retort grows warm then continue the Distillation in this degree that you may pronounce ten words between each drop of the Distilling Water and when it will Distill no more with that Degree of Fire increase the Fire so as to return the Distillation again to the same ten Words as at first and this degree continue till the Distillation increaseth again and lastly increase the Fire with Wood covering the Retort round about with Tiles above that it may have a Fire of Reverberation but this observe the Retort must first be strengthened on all sides with strong Luting before this Distillation is begun and when the Distillation is begun and when the Distillation is it ought to be placed in a convenient Fornace with an open Neck but it would be best and most commodious in this Work if the Receiver of this Distilling Water could be handsomly set in a Bason full of cold Water but if that cannot be you must at least lay Linnen Cloths dip'd
of Sol with Philosophical Sulphur which is the second Principle in order and the Spirit of Mercury a little before call'd the White Spirit of Vitriol into pure and malleable Gold as it was before not in the least defective in colour and virtue Sometimes he acuates the Spirit of Vniversal Mercury with the Sulphur and Salt of other Metals Thus 134. The Spirit of Universal Mercury acuated with the Sulphur and Salt of Luna of Basilius Libr. partic in particul Lunae THe Sulphur of Luna being extracted and edulcorated dry the remainder of the Calx of Luna to which pour the same Corrosive Water of Honey that you used for the Salt of Sol digest gently the space of four or five days that the Salt of the Luna may be extracted which you will know by the Whiteness of the Menstruum All the Salt being extracted draw off the Water of Honey edulcorate the Salt distilling and clarifying it with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine The remainder left in extracting the Salt of the Luna edulcorate and dry then pour the Spirit of Tartar to it digest fifteen days and proceed as with the Gold and you will have the Mercury of Luna of which in the Second Book for here we use it not The said Salt of Luna hath excellent Virtues for the Body of Man of which I shall treat in a place more convenient In the mean time the efficacy of the Salt and Sulphur of Luna you will learn by the Process following Take the Lazurine Sulphur of Luna dissolved in the Spirit of Philosophical Wine rectified and coagulated put it in a Cucurbit pour to it double the quantity of the Spirit of Mercury made of the White Spirit of Vitriol In like manner take the Salt of Luna extracted and clarified which mix with three times the quantity of the Spirit of Mercury lute both the Glasses and digest gently in Balneo the space of eight days and nights have a care that none of the Sulphur and Salt be lost but let them be in the same quantity as they were separated from the Silver Putrifaction being ended mix both Dissolutions and distil c. He sometimes acuated this Spirit without Metallick Salt and Sulphurs only thus 135. The Spirit of Universal Mercury acuated with the Sulphur of Sol and Luna of Basilius Libro particul in particul Lunae TAke of the Sulphur of Luna one part of the Sulphur of Sol half a part of the Spirit of Mercury six parts joyn them together lute well digest in a gentle heat and a Liquor will come over of a Red Colour distil through an Alembick so as nothing to remain This Spirit of Mercury he fermented not onely with the Sulphurs of the perfect Bodies but sometimes added to them withal the Sulphur of some imperfect Metal as Mars thus 136. The Spirit of Universal Mercury acuated with the Sulphur of Sol and Mars of Basilius Libro partic in partic Solis TAke of the Sulphur of Sol and of the Sulphur of Mars equal parts of each of the Spirit of Mercury the heighth of two Fingers above them that the Matter may be well dissolved into a C … n Water of a Ruby Colour being mix'd distil through an Alembick that they may become one as they were 〈◊〉 first from one Stem keep it well that nothing may evaporate Besides the Sulphur of Mars he sometimes added also the Sulphur of Antimony thus 137. The Spirit of Universal Mercury acuated with the Sulphurs of Sol Mars and Antimony of Basilius Libro partic in particul Antimonii TAke of the Sulphur of Antimony two parts of the Sulphur of Sol one part mix Take of the Sulphur of Mars three parts of the Spirit of Mercury six parts being well luted di … that the Sulphur of Mars may be wholly dissolved therâ— cast in a fourth part of the Sulphur of Antimony and Sol â—ure again and digest till they be all dissolved then add another fourth part of Antimony and Sol repeating the Work as before till all be perfectly mix'd and the Matter made like a thick Red Oyl distil the whole through an Alembick Sometimes he fermented this Spirit after an unusual way namely without the Sulphur of any perfect Metal but meer imperfect onely thus 138. The Spirit of Universal Mercury acuated with the Sulphur of Mars Jupiter and Saturn of Basilius Libro partic in partic Mercurii Vivi TAke of the Soul of Mars two Ounces of the Soul of Saturn one Ounce of the Soul of Jupiter one Ounce dissolve them in six Ounces of the Spirit of Mercury being well dissolved distil them through an Alembick without any Sediment into a Golden Water like to the transparent Dissolution of Gold Tho these Menstruums of Basilius may well deserve the first place among the Dissolvents of the Adepts yet some of the Adepts made Menstruums not much inferiour to them Isaacus Hollandus not onely the better to dissolve Bodies but tinge them also deeper made his Menstruums of Tinging Menstruums and common Mercury but being satiated with the Tinctures Souls Sulphurs c. of Tinging Things Thus made he the Menstruum call'd 139. A Compounded Mercurial Water for the Red Work of Isaacus Cap. 43.3 Oper. Miner TAke Argent Vive purged with Salt and Vinegar which sublime with an equal quantity of Aes ustum Crocus of Mars Crocus of Venus and Lapis Haematites of Roman Vitriol the weight of all and a little Salt and repeat the Sublimation seven times every time with new Species and the Mercury will be sublimed for the Red. Take of Aes ustum Cinabar Crocus of Mars Venus Lapis Haematites Antimony equal parts of each of Roman Vitriol the weight of all mix and reduce to a fine Powder to which pour of Aqua Vitae compleatly rectifi'd Spirit of Philosophical Wine the height of two hands breadth digest in Balneo three days stirring the Matter daily then draw off the Aqua Vitae with a gentle Fire then increase the Fire gradually lastly force with a most strong Fire for the space of Twelve hours that all the Spirits may ascend This Work must be three times repeated with new Matters continually Take of this Water one Pound of Argent Vive sublimed for the red as much as sufficeth or you can dissolve distil and reserve Besides Mercury he sometimes added also Sulphur and Sal Armoniack sublimed for the red thus 140. The Philosophers Water made of Three Spirits of Isaacus Cap 10.3 Oper. Min. TAke of Roman Vitriol six parts of Lapis Haematites Crocus of Mars of Venus Cinabar Aes ustum Mineral Antimony of each one part dry well and mix put the Matter in a Retort and pour to it of Aqua Vitae rectifi'd Spirit of Philosophical Wine four Pounds distil and cohobate three times with the Caput Mortuum pulverized Divide the Water into two parts whereof save one in the other dissolve one Ounce of Salarmoniack sublimed to redness in Balneo which being dissolved dissolve one Ounce of Sulphur prepared
which he calls the less Medicines so that which was in Paracelsus most difficult to be understood by others became more clear to me than any thing else and so I obtained the End sooner than the Beginning Yet the Joy from thence accrewing fell shorter than expectation for having tried several Experiments in vain I came to understand that these Menstruums of Paracelsus contained something abstruse and unknown to be understood not in the least according to the Letter whereupon examining them more exactly and comparing their Qualities with the Nature of the Liquor Alkahest I found a vast difference between it and them for it is said There is one Liquor Alkahest and that universal but many are the Menstruums of Paracelsus that indestructible that destructible that not mixing with Bodies these abiding with them that preserves the Virtues of things these alter them that ascends after the Essences of things in destillation these before their dissolutions c. I was at a stand sometime which part to take one while I wish'd for one indestructible Liquor rather than many destructible Menstruums supposing that one better than many another while changing my Mind I desired the Menstruums as sufficient for many Uses I knew before Truth overcame at length enabling me now to demonstrate the most if not all the Medicines of Paracelsus in Guido and Basilius On the contrary I perceived the Arcanums of Paracelsus commonly so called as prepared by that Liquor Alkahest or the like to be more and more different yea contrary to the Authentick wherefore as to the Preparation of Medicines I began to abstain yea desisted from further enquiring into the obscure Matter Preparation and Use of that Liquor Alkahest namely that which I find described in one place of Paracelsus as a Medicine but not in the least as a Menstruum Which Obstacle being removed I found an easie way from Paracelsus to Lully Basilius and other Philosophers of the same Faculty who I saw agreed all unanimously in confirmation of the Paracelsian Menstruums yea Light adding Light to Light appeared so clear that their preparation variety simple and literal sense shewed themselves all at once one only Word remaining unknown yet expressing the universal Basis of all the Adepts and that is Spirit of Wine not Common but Philosophical which being known and obtained the greatest Philosophical Medicinal Alchymical and Magical Mysteries of the more secret Chymy will be in the power of the Possessor In no Books of the Adepts hitherto known of me have I found any thing rare that owes not its original Being to this Spirit so that I dare affirm that whatsoever Chymical Spirits lower and higher fixed and volatile are able to do the very same and more will this our Spirit perform This it was that moved me to employ all my Study and Endeavours turning over every Stone in quest of the Spirit of this Wine and continually ruminating upon those abstruse and variously disguis'd Terms whereby they clouded it as the Key of all Philosophy behold the Fame of your great Name welcom'd me to Wilde the Metropolis of Lithuania and observing that You in expounding Natural Philosophy abstained from all manner of Intricacy and as the first and only Person indeed using a plain and candid Series of Words in applying common Examples of Vulgar Chymistry I rejoyced with my self thinking What could not this great man do if Master of the more secret Chymy I resolved with my self therefore to take a Journey into England for your sake alone that I might confer with you about the Menstruums as well as Medicines and other Secrets of Paracelsus from whom also I promised to my self very great Assistance in some other things not yet known Nor indeed has my hope deceived me for besides the easie admission common to all Strangers and Foreigners you have been pleas'd to vouchsafe me a more free Access received me courteously and commended my Studies and thereby rais'd my Mind to greater Things Which Favours do oblige me to Dedicate this part of my Studies to you your self Earnestly and Humbly beseeching you kindly to accept it and continue your Love and Friendly Countenance to him that is and ever will be Your Honour 's Most Obedient Servant J. S. W. TO THE STUDENTS OF THE MORE Secret Chymy UNder Heaven is not such an Art more promoting the honour of God more conducing to Mankind and more narrowly searching into the most profound Secrets of Nature than is our true and more than laudable Chymy This is it which shews the Clemency Wisdom and Omnipotence of the Creator in the Creatures which teacheth not only Speculation but also Practice and Demonstration the Beginning Progress and end of things which restoreth our Bodies from infinite Diseases as by common means intolerable to pristine health and diverts our Minds from the Cares and Anxieties of the World the Thorns and Bryars of our Souls to Tranquility of Life from Pride to Humility from the Love and Desire of worldly Wealth to the Contempt thereof And in a word which raiseth us from earth to heaven Yet for all that may we say of it with the same truth that amongst all the Arts which have yielded any benefit or profit to the World there is none by which less honour has hitherto accrued to God Almighty and less utility to mankind for lest a Science of so great dignity and utility should be too common or ill managed by the ignorant and impious the prudent Possessors of the same made it their business so to describe it as to make it known to their Disciples only but exclude unworthy altogether from it But in process of time the Adepts arriving to a greater perfection of Knowledge and Experience invented sometimes one someâ—imes another shorter Method in their Work altering Fornaces Fires Vessels Weights yea and the Matter it self who being thereby also constrain'd to make new Theories and Terms of Art according to the new invented Practice it happened that the Scholar of one Adept understood not the new Theory much less the practice of another which also sometimes happened to the Adepts themselves those especially which were under the document of some certain Patron in some particular Method and Process for they had not the power of discerning further than they had learnt whereupon they commonly suspected all the Notions of other men especially those that differed from theirs though in themselves good and right as fallacious and contrary to Nature or applied other mens Theories Sentences and Terms of Art unknown to themselves to their own private Process with which they were acquainted as I shall by many Examples elsewhere declare by which very thing they involved this Art in such a Chaos of obscurity that hitherto neither Masters nor Scholars have scarce had the power of communicating any benefit to the learned World It is to be wondred at but rather lamented to see such imperfect Philosophical Systems as have been hitherto bequeathed to us by the Masters
as well the congruity as wonderful dexterity of the Masters that where you take away or deny one of them you cannot but reject all the rest as false on the contrary he that owns one amongst all to be true must repute all the rest true and consequently vindicate the Authors of them our most venerable Masters from all the Infamy of Lying and Scurrility Variety springing out of Unity the Fountain of Truth and returning into it as into its Ocean illustrates the excellency of those Receipts I could never yet satisfie my self whether there be infinite or only one Receipt in our Chymy divided into divers parts and designed for several Uses Variety I observe in the various and distinct parts of these four Treatises but Unity in every part yea in the Individual of every Part you will always find three confirming one Treatise In the the First Book of Menstruums you will find also the Medicines of the Second and Alchymical Tinctures of the Third and Secrets of the Fourth Book which very thing is also to be understood of the Second Third and Fourth Books Lastly These Receipts are not only true but also clear described by plain and common Words to be understood not only according to the Letter but also by their clearness illustrating and explaining Places more obscure otherwise not intelligible so that by one only Process you will sometimes explain more than ten Theoretical Books never explicable but by this Light Now these Receipts I was willing to communicate to you ye indefatigable Students of this Art for the Reasons already given as also that you may throughly apprehend the absolute necessity of Lully's Spirit of Wine in our Chymy before I treat with you concerning the Matter and Preparation of it No man desires that which is unknown to him or pursues that which he knows not the benefit of Wherefore I was desirous first to demonstrate the several Vses of this Spirit by the Experiments of the Adepts which if you find true they will be of such service to you hereafter as to be much to your detriment to be without them but if false slight and give no credit to them but accuse the Masters the Authors of them of Lying Deceit and Villany but such wickedness I never expect from you whatsoever Adversaries the blind and ignorant of this Art will do we little regard and if a Zoilus or Momus appear according to his Custom let him chaw the Shell that is the homely Style the slender and slight Observations and Conclusions given upon the Receipts all which we give him freely but touch the Kernel he cannot But if either now or hereafter you reap any joy or benefit by the sight of Diana attribute it not to Diana though of Ephesus nor to me but to God Almighty who hath by his Light brought us out of this Cimmerian Darkness The time perhaps will come wherein I may be further useful and assistant in procuring liberty for you to embrace Diana in your Arms as also discourse familiarly with her concerning her Doves Forest Fountain Milk Aqua vitoe c. for at present you read the Inscription upon her Forehead Touch me not Wherefore I advise you not to touch the Secrets of Diana unless you have to try the Fate and Fortune of Acteon Inscius Actaeon vidit sine veste Dianam Praeda suis canibus non minus ille fuit Actaeon hunting in the Woods alone When he the naked Goddess saw unknown He for who could her Fury stay Was to her Fury and his Dogs a Prey We may indeed behold her but not embrace her yet a while for this is permitted to none but Adepts and such as are Masters of the Philosophical Wine but if you object with the Poet Quid juvat Aspectus si non conceditur Vsus 'T is not the Sight but Use that gives Delight To these Things I answer you That by viewing Diana naked 1. You will find that all the Secrets of Chymy depend upon one only Center of the Art namely the Spirit of Philosophical Wine 2. You will understand that all the Preparations of all the Secrets are done according to the signification of the Words 3. You will perceive that all Processes of what Method and Matter soever if not without the Spirit of Philosophical Wine are true and will never be false 4. Whatsoever is rare or select dispersed here and there by the best of the Adepts you will have here pick'd and digested into order so as that there will be nothing wanting but the enjoyment of them 5. You will moreover have the convenience of chusing the best and shortest out of all the Processes 6. Or you will be enabled to find out also more of your selves if these please you not 7. You will see that he who hath performed even the least thing in this Art may consequently also perform the greatest 8. One only clear Process will open the understanding of more otherwise most obscure 9. You may know also that the Adepts themselves have been sometimes in the dark and oftentimes understood not the style of anothers Writing That some have corrected others and so made the Art more perfect 10. And to say all at once No man though never so Learned though never so Eloquent though never so subtil an Impostor will be able for the future either by his Authority Perswasion or subtilty to deceive any man and drive him out of our common Road into an untrodden Path except he be willing himself Nor will you alone be free from the Deceipts of other men but your own Mistakes also by which you have hitherto most miserably lost all Time Pains Money Health and what not You have made your very Life it self vain unprofitable and offensive to your selves as well as others Yea and such are the glittering Rays of our Diana that I fear they will dazzle your eyes like as the Israelites were at the sight of Moses descending from the Mountain You will scarce believe me should I affirm that the Secrets of the Adepts are to be understood and prepared according to the Letter if you argue it to be improbable that the Adepts should have exposed their Mysteries to the view of all men they themselves having advertised you of the contrary What then Is not this our Art saith Artesius cabalistical and full of Mysteries And you Fool believe we teach the Secrets of Secrets openly and understand our Words according to the Letter be assured I am not envious as others he that takes the Philosophers Sayings according to the common sence and signification has already lost the Clew of Ariadnes and wanders up and down the Labyrinth and it would be of the same benefit to him as if he had thrown his Money into the Sea The same thing adviseth Sendivogius in the Preface of the twelve Treatises I would saith he have the candid Reader know that my Writings admit not so much a verbal construction but such rather as Nature
Mercury and other things synonymous to the Matter of the Spirit of Philosophical Wine or things prepared by the same Spirit Vegetable Sal Harmoniack Philosophical Vinegar c. For this Spirit of Wine being prevaricated the Adepts knew that all the rest though never so plainly discovered to the Sons of Art could not contribute the least benefit to the Reader Wherefore I fear not the indignation of the Adepts nor the Anathema's which they thundred out against the Betrayers of their Secrets having herein done nothing more but to speak ingenuously less than they themselves I have according to my capacity methodically digested those things which were here and there confusedly dispersed but added nothing of my own and so expect neither Honour nor Thanks from you but this only that I may know if our Studies please and I shall supply those things that are here wanting and desired somewhat more largely for I will not refuse to assist you yet further by the industry of my Studies So that nothing remains but upon our bended Knees to return most humble Thanks to the Father of Lights in vouchsafing us this Art by the Writings of his Servants and the High Priests of Nature without which it would be beyond the power of man to arrive to so great a degree of Knowledge Now celebrate with me the Urns of our pious Masters who have for the Welfare of Mankind rather dispersed than buried their Talents and may you oblige your selves to the same good Office if you have any of their Writings not yet published Finally It is my earnest Suit to the Adepts now living that they would please to employ themselves freely in expounding Nature correcting Philosophy and Medicine And lastly refuting all the deceitful Sects of Philosophers as well in the Academies as private Schools for the advancement of the Glory of God being singularly eminent in this Art So be it The First Book OF MENSTRUUMS RIPLEY Cap. 2. Medullae Philos Chym. We will here demonstrate the clear Practice how such Menstruums as be Unctuous and Moist Sulphureous and Mercureal well agreeing with the Nature of Metals wherewith our Bodies are to be artificially dissolved may be obtained London Printed for Tho. Howkins in George-Yard in Lombard-Street 1685. The Translator to the Reader YOur Business it is not mine otherwise than as a Reader to judge of this Work but the ample and publick Encomiums of Learned Societies beyond the Seas already declaring their Sentiments of its Rarity and Excellency are convictive Authorities far beyond my Opinion and therefore I shall be silent only this I think necessary to let you know that our Author having little spare time himself left his Latine Impression to be by others corrected which has been the cause of many Errors and indeed in some Places so gross that the Author himself could scarce retrieve his own Meaning This to prevent in the English Translation he has been pleased to use all Care to have it exactly import his own Mind I must also tell you that though I have taken no small pains in endeavouring to make this weighty Work speak true and perfect English yet my Copy not being punctually observed you will find many small Mistakes besides the Errata's inserted at the latter end of the Book which you may please as you read to correct Farewel G. C. A Catalogue of Menstruums I. Simple Vegetable Menstruums made of Philosophical Wine only 1. THE Heaven Essence or Spirit of Wine of Lully 1 2. The Essence Soul or Spirit of Wine of Rupescissa 9 3. The Spirit of Wine of paracelsus 11 4. The Essence of Wine of Guido 12 II. Simple Vegetable Menstruums made of Spirit of Philosophical Wine and the hottest Vegetables Herbs Flowers c. being Oyley 5. The Anima Metallica or Lunaria Coelica of Lully 16 6. The Aqua Vitae of Paracelsus 21 7. Another Ibid. 8. The Aqua Vitae of Ripley 23 9. The Compounded Aqua Vitae of Ripley Ibid. III. Simple Vegetable Menstruums made of Spirit of Philosophical Wine and Oyley Sals as Sugar Honey Tartar Common c. 10. The Mellifluous Heaven of Parisinus 31 11. The Spirit of Honey of Lully 34 12. The Spirit of crude Tartar of Guido 36 13. The Spirit of crude Tartar of Paracelsus Ibid. IV. Simple Vegetable Menstruums made of Spirit of Philosophical Wine and Volatile Salts as Sal Armoniack Salt of Blood Urine c. 14. The Spirit of Sal Armoniack of Trismosinus 38 15. A Water of Sal Armoniack of Trismosinus 40 16. The Gelative Sulphur of Lully Ibid. V. Simple Vegetable Menstruums made of Spirit of Philosophical Wine and Fixed Salts of Vegetables and Minerals not Tinging 17. The Coelum Vegetabile of Lully 46 The Volatile Salt of Tartar of Lully 48 18. The Spirit of Wine of Basilius 52 19. The Fiery Spirit of Wine of Basilius 54 20. The Spirit of Calx vive of Basilius 55 21. The simple Spirit of Calx vive of Basilius 57 22. The Tartarized Spirit of Wine of Basilius 58 23. The Vegetable Acetum acerrimum or Ignis Adepti of Ripley 59 24. The Aqua fortissima of Rupescissa 60 25. Vegetable Mercury acuated with the Salt of Tartar of Lully 61 26. The simple Vegetable Menstruum produced from 3 Individuals of Lully 62 27. The Circulatum minus or Water of Salt circulated of Paracelsus 65 28. The sweet Spirit of Salt of Basilius 70 VI. Simple Vegetable Menstruums made of the Spirit and Tartar of Philosophical Wine 29. The Coelum Vinosum of Parisinus 73 30. The Coelum Vinosum of Lully 76 Vegetable Sal Harmoniack of Parisinus 78 Vegetable Sal Harmoniack of Lully 80 Vegetable Sal Harmoniack of Lully 81 Another 83 Animal Sal Harmoniack of Lully 85 Vegetable Sal Harmoniack made by the Accurtation of Lully 89 Another 90 31. Coelum Vegetabile of Lully circulated 92 32. The less Vegetable Menstruum of Lully 93 33. The Vegetable Menstruum per deliquium of Lully 94 34. The Vegetable Mercury of Lully 95 35. The rectify'd Aqua Vitae of Lully 96 36. The Circulatum minus of Guido 97 37. The Animal Heaven of Parisinus 98 VII Vegetable Menstruums compounded of the aforesaid Simple Menstruums 38. The Circulatum majus of Guido 103 39. The Menstruum acutum of Guido 104 40. The Coelum majus of Parisinus 105 VIII Vegetable Menstruums compounded of Simple Vegetable Menstruums and Common Argent vive or other Metals 41. The Ignis Gehennae of Trismosinus 110 42. The Alchymical Mercury of Ripley 113 43. The Exalted Water of Mercury of Ripley 114 44. The Glorious Water of Argent vive of Lully 115 45. The incalcinated Menstruum of Lully 115 46. The Mercurial Water by three Vessels of Lully 116 The Mercurial Sal Harmoniack or Mercury of Mercury of Lully 119 47. The Menstruum of Guido for Pretious Stones 122 48. The Lunar Menstruum of Lully 123 49. The Circulatum majus or Acetum acerrimum of Lully 124 50. The Circulatum majus of Parisinus 126
by its intrinsick Virtue and Heat Ripl Lib. de Merc. Phil. We saith Espanietus to deal plainly and truly affirm that the whole work may be perfected by two Bodies only that is Sol and Luna rightly prepared For this is that Generation which is performed by Nature with the help of Art in which the coition of Male or Female is requir'd and from whence the Off-spring more noble than its Parents is expected Sect. 20. Arcan Herm. Sol is the Male for he yields the active and informing seed Luna is the Female which is called the Matrix and Vessel of Nature because she receives the seed of the Male into her womb and nourisheth it with her Menstruum Sect. 22. Arcan Herm. Phil. But the Philosophers do not by the name of Luna mean common Luna which also acts the parts of a Male in their white work let no man therefore attempt to joyn two males together it being wicked and contrary to Nature nor can he hope for any Offspring from such a copulation but put Gobritius to Beja Brother to Sister Conjugio junget stabili propriamque dicabit That he may have from thence the noble Son of Sol Sect. 23. Arcan Herm. Phil. I would have the Reader know saith Sendivogius that Solution is twofold though there be many other solutions but of no effect the first is only true and natural the second violent under which are all the other comprehended the Natural is that by which the pores of the Boby are opened in our VVater that the digested seed may be injected into its Matrix But our VVater is Celestial not wetting your hands not common but almost like Rain The Body is Gold which yieldeth seed our Luna is not common Silver which receives the seed of Gold Tract 10. Novi Lumin Saturn taking the Vessel drew up ten parts of the VVater and presently took some of the Fruit of the solar Tree and put it in and I saw the fruit of the Tree consumed and resolved as Ice in warm water This water is to this fruit as a VVoman The fruit of this Tree can be putrified in nothing but in this water only for no other water can penetrate the pores of this Apple but this and you must know that the solar Tree sprang also out of this VVater which is extracted from a magnetical virtue out of the Rays of Sol and Luna and therefore they have great affinity one with the other In the Dialogue of Mercury Now here we in this Book intend to treat of this Feminine Seed or dissolving Waters of the Adepts Great indeed yea vast is the Treasure of our Chymy but altogether inaccessible by those that have not the Keys thereof without which the Adepts themselves could neither dissolve nor coagulate Bodies If you know not the way of dissolving our Body it is in vain to operate is the Advice of Dionysius Zacharias pag. 798. Vol. 1. Th. Chym. But he that knows the Art and Secret of Dissolution has attained to the Secret of the Art saith Bernhard pag. 40. suoe Epistoloe For this cause it is saith Parisinus that the wise men say To know the Celestial Water which reduceth our Body into a Spirit is the chief Mystery of this Art in Eluc pag. 212. Vol. 1. Th. Chym. For without these Menstruums things heterogeneous can never be perfectly mixed Coral though never so finely pulverized cannot be mixed with the purest Powder of Pearls Yea Gold mixeth not with Silver much less with Bodies less perfect though both be melted together the Particles of each do indeed touch one another in their extream parts being in a mass or heap consisting of things heterogeneous yet they are and do remain all distinct unblemished and unaltered in their Figures and Properties no otherwise than as a heap composed of Barley and Oats But in the more secret Chymy there is no Body no heterogeneity but what hath its own peculiar Menstruum and with which as being homogeneous to it it runs into one Concrete rejoycing in the inseparable Properties of either So long therefore as you intend to joyn Metals with Metals dry things with dry without the Menstruums of Diana so long to use the Phrase of Espanietus do you presume to joyn males together which is a thing wicked and contrary to Nature Hearken therefore to Bernhard Pag. 757. Vol. 1. Th. Chym. Perswading you to leave Stones and all sorts of Minerals likewise also Metals alone though they are the beginning and our matter Metals are not only the matter but are also call'd by Lully the form of the Stone yet without these Menstruums they signifie nothing The Form saith he which is the Efficient Principle Former and Transformer of all other Forms of less virtue and power is described by C or C Metals cannot of it self only be the Magistery of the greater work c. Very commodious it is for that Principle to be known because hereby the Understanding knows it to be one of the two Substances from which our Infant is produced having in it the condition of a male from which proceeds a sperm in the belly of our D. Menstruum or Dissolvent Lul Dist 3. Lib. Ess Heaven or Mercury Menstruum is the fourth Principle signified by D. It is the Cause and Principle moving C and C from Power to Action ruling and governing them in its belly as the VVoman the Infant which she procreates in her Matrix And in this point knows the understanding of an Artist that D Menstruum hath action upon C and C ruling governing and reducing them into Action even as the Heavens above do by their motion bring things Elementary into action And an Artist is to understand that of the two substances of which our Stone is compounded and by which it is generated this namely D Dissolvent is the more principal Ibid. In the Book de Medicinis secretis pag. 336. he goes on You must know saith he that hitherto I have not told you the most secret thing and matter of the whole Magistery which is our incorruptible Quintessence extracted out of white or red VVine which we call Celestial Crown and Menstruum after the sublimations putrefactions and final depuration of it which Quintessence is indeed the foundation principal matter and Magistery of all medicinal things My Son if you have it you will have the Magistery of the whole thing without which nothing can be done But you My companions know what mean the Menstruums of Diana you know I say they are the highest secrets of the more secret Chymy much more secret than the Menstruums of Women that the same also were never acquired but by the extream Pains and ingenuity of an Adept most cautiously described and recommended to us principally as the Keys of the Art You easily believe Lully saying Without these Menstruums nothing can be done in the Magistery of the Art Mag. Nat. pag. 329. Or Christopher Parisinus That the great secret lies in these Menstruums insomuch
so the Liquor or Essence of Vitriol or Copper is called Wine of the first Metal Cap. 12. Lib. 3. de Vita longa pag. 65. Being now instructed by the light of these Premises let us come nearer to the Spirit of Wine of Lully which we shall find like an Oyl swimming upon its Phlegms deduced not from the Common but Philosophical Aqua vitae by Circulation But all other Essences being made by the belp of some certain Essence this first Essence of Wine alone must by its own virtues emerge its self out of its own foeculencies and impurities In this respect the making of Philosophical Wine red or white renders the work of all the most secret Chymistry most difficult and abstruse of which we shall by the Blessing of God clearly and truly treat in a particular Book namely our Fifth Our purpose at present is to prosecute the Vse of this Wine in the making of Menstruums where we find Aqua vitae the first and weakest of all Menstruums which being by circulation alone reduced into an Oyl is made much more excellent than before Lully 's Receipt is clear enough yet however we thought it advisable to confirm at least if not illustrate it with the Receipts of other Adepts Johannes de Rupescissa a Scholar of Lully had so great an esteem for the first Distinction of his Master's Book of Essence that he made it his own with a little alteration He hath described the Spirit of Philosophical Wine after this manner 2. The Essence Soul or Spirit of Wine of Johannes de Rupescissa described Chap 5. of his Book de Quintessentia REpute me not a Liar in calling Aqua ardens a Quintessence and saying that none of the modern Philosophers and Physicians have attained to it Aqua ardens being commonly found every where for I spoke true of a certain for the Magistery of a Quintessence is a thing occult and I have not seen above one and him a most approved Divine that understood any thing of the Secret and Magistery of it And I affirm for a truth that the Quintessence is Aqua ardens and is Aqua ardens And may the God of Heaven put prudence in the heart of Evangelical Men for whom I compose this Book not to communicate this Venerable Secret of God to the Reprobates Behold now I open the Truth to you Take not Wine too watry nor Wine that is black earthy insipid but noble pleasant savoury and odoriferous Wine the best that can be found and distill it through cooling pipes so oft till you have made the best Aqua ardens you can that is you distill it from three to seven times and this is the Aqua ardens which the modern Physicians have not acquired This water is the Matter out of which the Quintessence which we intend principally in this Book is extracted because when you have your noble water you must cause such a Destillatory to be made in a Glass-makers Furnace all entire of one piece with one only hole above by which the water must be put in and drawn out for then you shall see the Instrument so compleatly formed that that which by the virtue of Fire ascends and is distilled into the Vessel through the Pipes may be again carried back in order to ascend again and again descend continually day and night till the Aqua ardens be by the will of God above converted into a Quintessence and the understanding of the Operation is in this because the best Aqua ardens that can be made hath yet a material mixture of the four Elements therefore it is by God ordained that the Quintessence which we seek for should be by continual Ascensions and Descensions separated from the corruptible composition of the four Elements and this is done because that which is a second time or oftner sublimed is more pure and glorified and separated from the corruption of the four Elements than when it ascends only one time and so to a thousand times and that which is by continual ascent and descent sublimed comes at length to so great an altitude of Glorification as to be almost an incorruptible Compound as Heaven it self and of the Nature of Heaven it is therefore called Quintessence because it is in reference to our Body as the Heavens in respect to the whole World almost after the same manner so far as Art can imitate Nature in a near and connatural similitude Circular Distillation therefore being for many days made in a Vessel of Circulation you must open the hole which is in the head of the Vessel which is indeed suppos'd to have been seal'd with a Seal made of Lutum Sapientioe compounded of the finest Flower and the White of an Egg and of wet Paper most carefully pick'd and mix'd to prevent the least exhaling And having opened the Hole if the Odour which ought to be super-admirable above all the Fragrancies of the world which shall seem to have descended as it were from the sublime Throne of the most glorious God be so great that setting the Vessel in a corner of a house it shall by an invisible force with the fragrancy of the Quintessence which is wonderful and highly miraculous attract to it self all people that enter in then have you the Quintessence which you heard of to which none of the modern Philosophers and Physicians except him that I excepted before have so far as I have been able to understand attained But if you find not the Odour and Influence of attracting men as I said seal the Vessel as before and bring it to the heat above described in order to compass your desire by Sublimations and Circulations namely in finding out this Quintessence so glorified into an Odour of inestimable fragrancy and savour glorified to a wonder and the influx of attraction before expressed and not only so as to yield a wonderful Scent but also to raise it self more fully to a kind of incorruptibility it hath not that heat in your mouth which Aqua ardens hath nor that moistness that is such an Aqueity flowing because the acute heat of the Aqua ardens and its watery moistness is by Sublimations and Circulations wholly consumed and the Terreity will remain apart in the bottom And the Heaven as well as Stars of which this our Quintessence is compounded both as to Matter and Form are not as that which is compounded of the four Elements but there is but little of it glorified so much even to the highest fill'd with so noble a form that the power of Matter cannot aspire to any other Form and so remains uncorrupted till the Composition be destroyed by command of the Creator Nor is the Quintessence which we seek altogether reduced to the incorruption of Heaven as neither is Art equal to Nature yet notwithstanding it is incorruptible in respect of the Composition made of the four Elements because should it be altogether incorruptible as Heaven it would absolutely perpetuate our Body which the Author of Nature
the Lord Jesus Christ forbids Now have I opened to you much of the Secret to the Glory of the immortal God Paracelsus extracts his Essence of Philosophical Wine not out of Aqua ardens but out of Philosophical Wine it self Thus 3. The Spirit of Wine of Paracelsus Described Chap. 9. of the Third Book of Long Life pag. 64. YOur Wine being powred into a Pelican digest in Horse-dung and that the space of two Months continually you will see it so thin and pure that a Fatness which is the Spirit of Wine will of it self appear in the superficies Whatsoever is under this is Phlegm without any nature of Wine but the Fatness alone being put into a Phial and digested by it self is of most excellent energy for long Life Guido used the following Method little differing from the Paracelsian 4. The Essence of Wine according to Guido Described Pag. 1. Thesaur Chym. TAke White or Red Wine which is better distil by Balneo till the Matter remain in the consistence of Honey which being divided into two parts in a duplicated Cucurbit mixt with the distilled Liquor and joyn together again and after the digestion of six weeks a green Oyl will swim upon the Matter which separate through a Funnel From the Receipts we think these Things following worthy of Observation 1. That the Wine Red or White is not Common but Philosophical and that is the only thing that is obscure in these four Books to be understood not according to the Letter but by Analogy but Aqua ardens Aqua vitae Spirit or Essence of a Philosophical Wine are the proper Names of it 2. That the Aqua ardens of Philosophical Wine doth in some things agree with the Properties of Common Spirit of Wine namely it goes before its Phlegm in distillation it is rectified as the Common from its Phlegm Lastly being rectified it is known by burning Linnen Sugar c. 3. That this Aqua ardens doth by Circulation dayly lose its moisture and sharpness and is at length converted into a swimming Oyl the Essence and Spirit of Philosophical Wine But who ever reduced Common Spirit of Wine or Aqua Vitis by bare Circulation into an Oyl Who I say hath by continual Circulation brought that Oyl to Driness so as to be sublimeable as a volatile Salt and that not but by a strong Fire as Isaacus affirms himself to have experienced in the Description of his Vegetable Stone Of which lower in the Third Book 4. That the Oyl or Essence of Wine may be divers ways made out of Philosophical Wine 5. That not only the Time but also the Scent Colour c. of the Essence are varied according to the variety of Method The Essence of Lully is like Heaven that is of a Sky-colour the Oyl of Guido is green 6. That it hath not a Scent so fragrant unless it hath a Body especially a Metallick or Mineral dissolved in it 7. That this Heaven the first of all Menstruums is also a Medecine and is called the Essence or Specifick to a long Life 8. That it is called Heaven for several Reasons by Lully First Because it works Contraries like Heaven Our Vegetable Menstruum saith Lully the Celestial Animal which is call'd Quintessence preserves Flesh from corruption comforts things elemented restores former Youth vivifies the Spirit digests the crude hardeneth the soft rarifies the hard fattens the lean wasteth the fat cools the hot heats the cold dries the moist moistens also the dry One and the same thing can do contrary operations The Act of one thing is diversified according to the nature of the Receiver as the heat of the Sun which hath contrary operations as in drying Clay and melting Wax yet the Act of the Sun is one in it self and not contrary to it self Secondly Because like Heaven it receives the Forms of all Things As the universal Form the Macrocosmical Heaven hath an appetite to every Form so the Quintessence of Philosophical Wine to every Complexion whereby it is evidently manifest that the Quintessence of things is said to be of that complexion to which it is adjoyned if joyned to hot hot if to cold cold c. This therefore the Philosophers called Heaven because as Heaven affords us sometimes heat sometimes moisture c. so the Quintessence in mens Bodies at the Artist's pleasure c. Distinct 1. Lib. Essentioe To this Heaven we apply its Stars which are Plants Stones and Metals to communicate to us Life and Health Ibid. Thirdly Because like Heaven it moveth all things from power to act Therefore Heaven or our Mercury is the Cause and Principle moving G C Metals from power to act And in this point knows the understanding of an Artist that D our Heaven hath action upon C and C ruling and governing and reducing it into action as Heaven brings that which is in Elemental things by its own motion into action c. For we call it Heaven by reason of its motion because as the upper Heaven moves the universal Form and first Master and Elements and Senses to compound Elemented Individuals so D moves C and C and the four Elements to M the Sulphur of Nature or Philosophers Mercury or to Q the Tincture Distinct 3. de quarto principio Libri Essentioe 4. Because like Heaven it is incorruptible Aqua vitoe is the Soul and Life of Bodies by which our Stone is vivified therefore we call it Heaven and Quintessence and incombustible Oyl and by its infinite other Names because it is incorruptible almost as Heaven in the continual circulation of its motion pag. 145. Elucid Testam 5. Because it is of the colour and clarity of Heaven Heaven or our Mercury is the fourth Principle in this Art and is signified by D of an azure colour and line and is signified by that colour because it is celestial and of a celestial Nature as we said before in the description of it Dist 3. Lib. Essentioe This Essence Johannes de Rupescissa calls Humane Heaven for the following Reasons We ought to seek that thing which is to the four Qualities of which our Body is compounded as is Heaven in respect of the four Elements Now the Philosophers called Heaven Quintessence in respect of the four Elements because Heaven is in it self incorruptible and immutable and not receiving strange impressions but by the command of God so also the thing which we seek is in respect of the four Qualities of our Body a Quintessence in it self incorruptible so made not hot dry with Fire nor moist cold with Water nor hot moist with Ayr nor cold dry with Earth but is it a Quintessence able to work Contraries as the incorruptible Heaven which when it is necessary infuseth a moist Quality sometimes a hot sometimes a cold sometimes a dry Such a Radix of Life is the Quintessence which the most High created in Nature with power to supply the necessity of the Body to the utmost term which God hath appointed to our
we are solicitous to describe would be prostituted to all men were this one only Word literally understood by Wine therefore is meant a Philosophical Secret hidden from all the unexpert It is expedient to draw from the Death of Wine by the Office of an Alembick that is we must rectifie so often till it become most pure without the Foeces and Phlegm of Wine which is by Lully called the Death of the Spirit It is saith he purged from all its Superfluity and Phlegmatick corruptible matter which is its Death and which mortifies its Spirit which hath the power of vivifying its Earth let therefore the corruptible Phlegm be purged and separated from it by a subtil method which I will tell you For what reason because if it be not well purged its Earth will never become white nor will Matrimony be made between the Body and Spirit and so that Spirit is call'd the Spirit of the Stone in Apertorio The Method of Rectification omitted in the former Receipt is described in the latter as also in Epistola accurtatoria This Rectification of Philosophical Wine Sendivogius understood not as appears by the Sixth of his Epistles Brux 25. Martii 1646. Where thus The second Article my Companion of the Pagesian work endeavours to repeat the mysterious way of extracting and preparing Mercury more than needed the Authority of Lully being misunderstood and the Precepts of other Philosophers ill applied he commanding the tenth part of his Magnesia first ascending by distillation to be saved as the only useful and truly Mercurial substance but the other nine parts proceeding by continuance of distillation to be cast away as of no use to this end that the said tenth part reserved might at length be restored to the Earth remaining after compleat distillation which Earth is foolishly supposed to be the Salt and Sulphur of Mercury and by repeated cohobations inhumations digestions and sublimations described by him united but it is a grievous Error for that which Authors declare concerning the tenth part containing the Spirit and of inhumations in its own Earth is otherwise referred than to the extraction and preparation of Mercury as shall be elsewhere in time demonstrated nor for the said extraction and preparation of Mercury is there any Rule to be used besides the bare distilling of Magnesia whereby the Spirit and Oyl are together elevated to a Siccity even of the Foeces and separation of the Spirit from the Oyl and rectification of the same Spirit oftentimes repeated But these things we will in their proper place more amply treat of in the Method of operating Parisinus a Disciple of Lully will correct Sendivogius who learnt of Lully to rectifie his Spirit of Philosophical Wine after this manner Take A Chaos our Vegetable Mercury in which the four Elements are found confused pag. 271. Vol. sext Theat Chym. and put it in a Vessel to be distilled through Y Balneo pag. 276. and in this temperate distillation gather its B. Celestial ardent Spirit pag. 269. continue that distillation this way and method till you attain to the Signs declared in our Apertorial and till you know that the said B. is dissolved and separated from its Elemental Nature continuing this Magistery even to the fourth Revolution Then put this Celestial fiery Matter into a pure Vessel and distil slowly with ordinary fire and take only a tenth part in the second distillation take half and in the third two parts of three and in the fourth take four parts of five and more Then take that last Celestial Water and distil it three or four times by the Rule abovesaid taking the whole without any separation appointed This observe and admire the necessity of this Mystery and Foundation and you will understand the reason why dull and ignorant men make the worst Bread with the finest and purest Flower because they mix the course part with the fine The same thing happens to presumptuous Artists who perswade themselves that they are able to find out the beauty of our Quintessence with the exuberated Spirit negligently purified without an exact separation of the pure from the impure in Elucid pag. 230. Vol. 6. Theatri Chym. Which way notwithstanding of rectification so exactly to observe there seems to me to be no necessity rectification of the Spirit being good enough which way soever done either with fewer or more cohobations provided it be separated from the impurities of the Wine which you will know saith Lully when it burns a piece of Linnen by reason of its vehement heat that is as elsewhere more clearly till a Linnen Cloth moistned with this Spirit and kindled be wholly consumed This rectified Spirit is in distilling sharpned with the oyly Vegetables nominated in the Receipt the Oyls of which being nearest to it it easily carrieth with it and is impregnated with the same and acuated by the aridity contained in them Yet are we not obliged to use these Vegetables only and no other or is it necessary to mix all of them together as if one or two would not suffice The Oyl of any Vegetable or drawn out of a Vegetable with the help of the Spirit of Philosophical Wine or already made and added to the Spirit of Philosophical Wine will here satisfie us I will give one form or other in confirmation of this kind of Menstruums of which sort is 6. The Aqua Vitae of Paracelsus Pag. 508. Tom. 1. TAke of the Alcool of Wine exsiccated three pounds of the Flowers of Rosemary Macis Lavender of each half an ounce of Cubebs Cloves Cinamon of each two ounces of Mastick half an ounce of both sorts of Storax half a dram of each of Doronicum three ounces and cohobate seven times The following Vse besides the Alcool of Wine exsiccated testifies that this Water is made with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine Take of the Leaves of Gold Num. 20. of Pearls not perforated Granats Rubies of each half a drachm digest for a Month Then take of this Oyl three or four grains with Malago wine or the water of Majoram or Sage This Menstruum is Vinum Essatum or Essentificatum or Spiâ—it of Philosophical Wine impregnated with the Essences of the Oyly Ingredients with which Paracelsus dissolves Gold and Precious Stones into a most noble Oyl or Elixir which he says is a Secret against the superfluity of Womens Menstruums The Description of this Water being clear requires no other Light I will therefore propose another Receipt more obscure 7. Another Aqua Vitae of Paracelsus Pag. 115. Chyr Min. TAke of the waters of Melissa Roses Cheirus Sage Balsamus of each one pound of all the Peppers Cubebs Ginger Cinamon Mastick red Myrrh Mace Cloves of each two ounces of the Juyce of Honey half a pound of rectifi'd Aqua Vitae sive pound Let them be all digested together for the space of nine days and after that separated and distilled in a Pelican into a Spirit Then to this Liquor add an Apple roasted and
broken and let them be digested together with the following Spices upon Ashes for three days of which take five grains every day The Spices are these Take of Cinamon Cloves Mace of each two ounces of Cheirus Anthos of each half an ounce of Amber two drachms of Musk five grains of Zibeth half a drachm of Ginger Cubebs Nutmegs of each one ounce and half of Amomus two drachms of Zedoary two ounces and half of Grains of Paradise one ounce and half After Digestion of them all separate and keep the Matter in Glass Vessels very close stopp'd From the Dose it self of this Prescription it is manifest that the operation is meerly Philosophical for if by Aqua vitae he would have understood the Common Spirit of Wine it would be altogether ridiculous to give only five grains for a Dose We meet with many more Menstruums of this kind which little differing from the pristine Nature of the Spirit of Philosophical Wine were less observed by some Adepts wherefore Christophorus Parisinus a Noble Sicilian doth not very much commend this acuation of the Spirit of Philosophical Wine Some saith he have made the aforesaid Spirit acute with Vitriol which way is very good some with Nitre some with Cinnabar some with these two some with all three some with their Earth which way displeaseth me because a thick Unctuosity and ponderosity was hereby introduced some use Vegetables as Herbs Roots Flowers and Seeds known to you which have strong Vegetable Mercuries in them wherefore they that handled it after this manner augmented rather its Vegetable Form Vnctuosity than that they made it more soluble Parisinus in Elucidario pag. 231. Vol. 6. Theat Chym. For this reason Ripley following the same Master as Parisinus believed these things to be covered with a Mantle of Philosophy for so he writes in his Medulla Philosophioe Raymund saith it ought to be drawn out from the Death and Faeces of Wine for the space of one hundred and twenty days by continual rotation in a Balneo of of the hottest Dung and that it must be acuated with hot Vegetable things as Piper nigrum Euphorbium Pyrethrum Anacardus Squilla Solatrum Apium Sylvestre and such like for without the virtue of these things as he saith it is not sufficient to dissolve Metals except in a long time but that nothing of doubt or ambiguity may appear I say that all these things are covered and shrowded with a Philosophical Mantle For his meaning is that in this Spirit may be had another resoluble Menstruum because without such a resolutive Menstruum Solution can never be made And that resoluble Menstruum is generated only from the Metallick kind and is by our resolutive Menstruum produced into act Ripley pag. 168. Medul Philos Ripley did by the resoluble Menstruum produced into act by the Menstruum resolutive that is the Spirit of Philosophical Wine mean a certain Mercurial Water of the Preparation of which lower where likewise it will appear that by the aforesaid Vegetables Ripley thought Lully intended running Mercury yet nevertheless his following Menstruum proves that these Vegetables have been sometimes also taken by him literally 8. The Aqua Vitae of Ripley Pag. 338. Viatici THE Menstruum being distilled from the first Faeces circulate it with the hottest Species such as are Black Pepper Euphorbium Pyrethrum Anacardus Grains of Paradise and the like for the space of 100 days in Balneo and after that distil only half of it and make your putrefaction with it c. It is here manifest that Ripley took these Vegetables Not Argent vive because Circulation being finished he distilled only one half of the Spirit as the most subtil part of the Vegetables in which case that Metal Mercury though dissolved would remain in the bottom But whereas Lully acuates the Spirit by distilling and then circulates Ripley does this by circulating and after that distils To this Aqua Vitae he sometimes adds Oyls or Essences either of Metals or Vegetables as followeth 9. The Compounded Aqua Vitae of Ripley Pag. 343. Viatici CIrculate the strongest red Wine with known Vegetables for the space of 120 days with continual Rotation in Balneo and then draw only the purest Spirit by distillation to which put the Oyl of the purest Luna made without a Corrosive and let them be circulated together 100 days more and then is the Water of the nature of the Basilisk because as a Basilisk kills a man at an instant by the Aspect alone so this Water being put upon Argent vive does without any other Fire suddenly in a manner congeal it into the purest Silver And note if the Fire Oyl or Essence of Celandine be put in or the Fire of the Flowers of Thyme after the first Circulation and they circulated together without the Oyl of Luna the Argent vive will be much better congealed c. But that which begets the greater scruple is the Paraphrase of Lully himself upon this place We saith he would not have you ignorant of that you may extract our Argent vive Veget. from it s Myne another way The way my Son is to take the Herb which is called Portulaca marina Apium Squilla c. distil the Faeces which remain calcine draw off the Salt with the distilled water and abstract the water from it purifie the Salt by often dissolving and coagulating and you will have the Salt of the acuating Vegetable Herbs These saith he I meant when I said acuate with acuating Vegetables that is the Salts not the simple Herbs Wherefore you might say it follows that this Receipt of the Metallick Soul hath not at all been described so as to be understood according to the Literal Sense but I have my Answer ready namely that Lully acuated the Spirit of Wine with crude Vegetables also it is easily proved by the third Distinction of his Book of Essence in Figura individuorum alledged by him where he rehearseth the nearest Individuals acuating the Spirit of Philosophical Wine as are red Wine new Honey Celandine Flowers of Rosemary Herb Mercury red Lilly Tartar Mans Blood and white Wine Why he chose these not others and these only it is not my business to answer that which we learn from thence is that he commended two of those Individuals to us before the rest Tartar and Honey of which thus There are some Individuals in which Mercury Vegetable hath a free Act in some respect in Tartar it hath one free operation only and in Honey two and this an Artist ought to know that he may be certified in this Art and the first Truth thereof He prefers Tartar not for the sake of the Tartar but the Alkali made from thence and that he resolves as the best of Alkalies per deliquium and circulates it being purified with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine according to the Doctrine prescribed in prima Tabula individuorum in the second Experiment and in other places The Alkali of Tartar
Metals being sick dead c. Fourthly For the Vnctuosity as well of the Metal as Menstruum Of both saith Ripley pag. 150. Medulloe Phil. There is some certain Similitude of the Trinity to be perceived in the Body Soul and Spirit of our Work The Body is the substance of the Stone the Spirit is the Virtue that is the Quintessence which excites Natures from Death and the Soul is to be taken for the Ferment which cannot be had but out of the most perfect Body Gold in Sulphur of Gold there is a Terrestreity for the Body and in Mercury Menstruum an aereal serenity for the Spirit and in both a natural Unctuosity for the Soul For they are all fermentable in the Unctuosity of the Body being mix'd and inseparably united with it throughout its most minute parts by which Soul is the Stone formed because nothing can be any way formed without it 7. That this Menstruum is called Vegetable Mercury produced from red or white Wine The Adepts have many Mercuries The First is Common Argent vive running or sublimed The Second is The running Mercury of Bodies extracted out of Metals by the Spirit of Philosophical Wine A Third is Any Salt Alkali especially fixed with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine Lully calcines Celandine and from thence extracts a Salt of which thus Repeat this Magistery so often till you have extracted all the Salt which is the Mercurial Part of that Individual Celandine These things therefore being done take all these Dissolutions Lixivia's and transmit them through a Filter or Linnen-Cloth that they may be purged from Terrestreity then distilled by Balneo congeal and the moisture being gone over in the bottom of the Vessel will remain a Mercury or Salt of a white colour and by this means you will have extracted out of this Matter a Mercury which hath almost innumerable Virtues of acuating the Vegetable Spirit drawn from Philosophical Wine so as to have the power of dissolving all Metals with the conservation of the Vegetative and Germinative Form In Magia Naturali He calls Tartar calcined and impregnated with the Vegetable Menstruum by being four times distilled then resolved per Deliquium and coagulated by the Name of Mercury And saith he pag. 379 you wil have the Salt of Art or Testamentary Mercury without which is nothing done Sometimes the Salt or Caput Mortuum in the separation of the Elements called exanimated Earth he calls Mercury So in Exp. 6. The inanimated Earth of Vrine dissolved in Water filtred and coagulated he calls Mercury Then saith he Keep our fixed Sal armoniack our animal Sulphur our fixed animal Mercury Lay a little of which upon a Fire-hot-plate and if it melt as Wax without fume it is a sign you have Argent vive fixed and perfectly depurated wherewith you will be able to produce many Experiments This is that Mercury which hath afforded us most convenient relief The Fourth Mercury is either Vegetable or Animal of which saith Ripley in Pupilla pag. 300. There are more Mercuries than the two above-said Mineral the red and green Lyon namely the Vegetable and Animal Mercury because both may be extracted out of some Liquors as out of Blood and Eggs. Lully Distinct 3. Libri Essentioe in Figuris Tabulis Individuorum describes the Vegetables and Animals in which are found these Mercuries most readily There is saith he lastly this other Secret of Nature for the Artist of this Art to know and really have the knowledge of the Individuals in which our Mercury is found most easily Wherefore let the Artists of this Art know that our Mercury is found in every Elemented Body yet in some so remote as to anticipate the Life of Man before the Artist of this Art can possess it being extracted as is expedient Wherefore we do in that place reveal those things which contain it most nearly Of this Mercury saith Lully Libro Mercuriorum pag. 8. VVhen we say common Mercury we speak of that which the Philosophers understand and when we say vulgar we speak of that which the Rustick understands and which is sold in Shops Which Ripley in the 326th pag. of his Concordance thus expresseth VVhen I speak of Mercury understand Mercury more common than common The Fifth is The Spirit of Philosohical VVine which Lully in Exp. 3. calls Vegetable Mercury So saith he will you have a Vegetable Salt extracted from this Individual Honey which Salt is most precious and hath the power of acuating the Vegetable Mercury and dissolving the two Luminaries c. in Exp. 5. Salts he prepares out of Portulaca Apium Squilla c. with all which saith he you may acuate the Vegetable Mercury extracted out of VVine either joyntly or severally of which lower in the fifth kind of Menstruums The Sixth is The Philosophical Menstruum it self for our present Menstruum is called Vegetable Mercury produced from white or red Wine The Seventh is The animated Spirit or Air of every Body in the separation of the Elements which Mercury being a Fire or Oyl is called Sulphur in almost all Receipts The Eighth is Sal armoniack Vegetable Animal or Mineral the Sulphur of Nature which is also called our Mercury Mercury Sublimate and Philosophers Mercury Necessary it is we should observe these things in the following Descriptions of Menstruums except we would some times confound the things themselves with the Names The Third KIND Simple Vegetable Menstruums made of the Spirit of Philosophical Wine and Oyly Salts or such as can neither be called fixed nor volatile hitherto called Essential Salts such as are Sugar Honey Tartar of Common Wine and other Vegetables 10. The Mellifluous Heaven of Parisinus In practica Elucid p. 231. V. 6. Theat Chym. THe way of acuating this Celestial and Burning B Spirit of Philosophical Wine is to take of the Substances declared to you what quantity you will But we take the Substances of Flowers United that is the Substance of New Honey pag. 269. which we put in a Vessel to distill all the Aquosity through Y Balneo Marioe pag. 270. Then we pour in three parts and more of B upon that Substance prepared after this manner shutting the Vessel with its Cover called Antenotorium and put it in Putrefaction for the space of one Natural Day then with three Distillations by Z. Fire of Ashes pag. 270. we distill till we obtain all the Mercurial Part with the whole Juice of the Blessed Substance by that Method then repeat the aforesaid Magistery with New Substance of Flowers and making this Regiment four times at the end of which you have reduced B solutive from Power into Act by Virtue of the Manna of the Flowers United Now take a strong Glass Vessel able to hold as much Water as a common Pitcher with a Neck one span and a half long to which another Glass Vessel containing a fourth part only of the Pitcher must be joyned and well luted Into this Vessel put four Pounds of C the
making of Medicines and above all the Virtues among Vegetables and Animals are the Virtues of the Juice or Broth of Lunaria and the Fly of Besena which makes Honey Parisinus in his Alphabetum apertoriale hath indeed the same way of acuating the Spirit of Wine but he in the same place superadding the Salt of Honey extracted out of the Caput mortuum calcined to the Menstruum this acuition is referred not to this but to another Kind But the Honey seems to have this special Priviledge as if Menstruums of this third Kind could be made of it alone yet you must know that all Oyly Salts as are Sugar Cristallized Manna Cristallized crude Tartar of common Wine c. do on one side prove their affinity with Oyly things but on the other side with dry and so do by that their Oleosity introduce their own aridity into the Oyly Spirit of Philosophical Wine but by their aridity temper the Oleosity of that Spirit Wherefore the same things are to be understood of Sugar and Manna as have been spoken of Honey one Example or two we will add of crude Tartar being dryer then the things aforesaid 12. The Spirit of Crude Tartar of Guido Pag. 51. Thesaur TAke of crude Tartar two Pounds of Spirit of Wine three Pounds Distill and Cohobate ten times upon its own Caput Mortuum Paracelsus prepared this Spirit of Tartar after this manner 13. The Spirit of Crude Tartar of Paracelsus Lib. 8. Paragraph pag. 505. TAke crude Tartar beat and digest it seven or eight times in the Alcool of Wine and Distill it into a Liquor in which is no Alkali Out of the Receipts we observe the things following 1. That the Spirit of Philosophical Wine hath in dry things no dissolving faculty without acuition 2. That this acuition is the Mystery of the Art being difficult and tedious 3. That it is best made with crude Honey white Sugar-candy and Manna purified 4. That such Menstruums as these are somewhat hard to be made with crude Tartar 5. That Lully by Aqua Vitae Parisinus by the Celestial and Ardent Spirit Guido by Spirit of Wine and Paracelsus by the Alcool of Wine meant not common Aqua ardens which if a Man try an experiment with the Spirit of common Wine he will by his own Experience find the Truth of the Matter confirmed 6. That Menstruums of this Kind are the Magistery of Honey Manna Sugar crude Tartar mix'd with Spirit of Philosophical Wine they are made extempore thus Take of the Essence of Philosophical Wine and the Magistery of Hony or Sugar equal parts of each mix 7. That these Menstruums are Medicaments 8. That not only the Spirit of Philosophical Wine but also the Menstruums themselves have been Circulated by reason of which Circulation the Menstruums are called Circulatums and though it be not always expresly declared in Receipts that they should be Circulated yet it ought to be understood in all for this Circulation is the Purification and Melioration of the Menstruum By F saith Parisinus in Alphabeto Summetta pag. 9. mei M. S s. We mean Aqua Vitoe Circulated thirty Days at least in which Operation it is Purified from its Terrestreity so as to raise it self to the Celestial Virtue of a Quintossence which is called our Heaven Influencing upon the Elements such effects as you may deservedly call miraculous We therefore Name it Quintessence and Aqua Vitoe because it viviâ—â—es Bodies Without this F no alteration can be made in Bodies which caution may serve you for a general Rule It is otherwise called Vegetable Water whereof we have more than often made mention in several places of our Summetta which we sent you affirming the difference between F and D to be greater than between a clear Day and a dark Night as will appear in the Operation of it in particulars as well as generals which Virtue proceeds notwithstanding from our Circulation The fourth KIND Simple Vegetable Menstruums made of Spirit of Philosophical Wine and Volatile Salts such as common Sal Armoniack Salt of Blood Urine Soot c. 14. The Spirit of Sal Armoniack of Trismosinus In Tract Aquil. nig pag. 13. Aur. Veller Germ. TAke of Sal Armoniack one Pound of common Salt melted one Pound and a half being very well pulverized and mix'd sublime them the Matter sublimed sublime again with new Salt and that to be repeated so oft till the Sal Armoniack be made like an impalpable Spirit Powder then imbibe with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine and the Vessel being very close set it in Balneo to be dissolved being dissolved decant and putrify with new Spirit of Wine added the space of eight Days in Balneo then Distill gently one half in Balneo and being Distilled pour it again to the remainder and Distill again but with a stronger Fire that all may ascend through the Alembick Being Distilled rectifie it so often till it be without Faeces Annotations HItherto of things Oyly acuating the Spirit of Philosophical Wine now follow those things which are less Oyly Volatile Salts which though they seem not to be Oyly yet that they are so is easily demonstrated by the following preparations of Salts Harmoniack whose Earths otherwise most fixed and flowing like Wax are by the Vnctuosity alone of the Menstruum made Volatile but this will not now be our inquiry It sufficeth us to use crude and common Sal Armoniack Salt of Vrine Blood c. for the acuition of the Spirit of Philosophical Wine which Salts do by their aridity alter their Vnctuosity of this Spirit more than the aforesaid Oyly Matters and consequently make the Vegetable Menstruum stronger The same Receipt hath Trismosinus Libro novem Tincturarum in Tinctura Quarta pag. 59. as also in Tinctura Pitrumorisonis Philosophi Angli pag. 90. of the aforesaid Book Trismosinus sublimes crude Sal Armoniack several times upon Salt fused to be acuated by the acidity of this Salt and then the better dissolved by the Spirit of Philosophical Wine Geber de investigat Magist pag. 284. Sublimes Sal Armoniack with an equal proportion of Salt Aristotle the Chymist perfected this sublimation after this manner pag. 74. Volum 3. Theat Chym. Take of Sal Armoniack one Pound of Spuma Maris six Ounces of Sal Gemme of common Salt and Alum of each two Ounces grind them all together and Sift through a thick Hair Sieve then put the Matter into an Aludel and sublime and the Sublimation repeat The Sal Armoniack being thus sublimed is impregnated with the Spirit of Wine not common for then would the process not succeed but Philosophical Wine and then dissolved per deliquium For the Vnctuosity of this Spirit cannot dissolve the substance of Sal Armoniack being heterogeneous to it but successively and by slow degrees Wherefore this dissolution will better succeed according to the Method of Lully Dissolve saith he Sal Armoniack in the Phlegme of Vinum of Lotium Philosophical Wine made of Vrine pass it through
this Book as a farewel also will I reveal the Mystery of Calx vive and declare first the way of distilling the Spirit of it which work does indeed require an expert Artist well informed before in this preparation 20. The Spirit of Calx vive of Basilius In Fine Lib. de Med. Supernatur TAke of Calx vive what quantity you will grind and prepare it on a Marble into an impalpable Powder whereto pour of the Spirit of Wine Menstruum in Numb 18. so much as the pulverized Calx is able to imbibe no Spirit swimming upon the Calx Then apply an Alembick lute well and put a Receiver to it abstract the Spirit from it in a most gentle Balneo this abstraction must be repeated eight or ten times this Spirit strengthens much the Spirit of the Calx which is thereby made more fiery Take the remaining Calx out of the Cucurbit grind it very well and add to it of the Salt of Tartar Alkali a tenth part and as much as all of the Earth of the Salt of Tartar or matter left in extracting the Salt of Tartar and well dryed distil them all being well mix'd out of a Retort well luted three parts of which must be empty in a Receiver large and firm Take notice that the Receiver into which the Beak of the Retort is put must have a Pipe one Fingers breadth to which another Receiver is to be applyed in which must be a little quantity of Spirit of Wine Menstruum in Numb 18. then distil with a soft Fire and the Phlegm will ascend into the first Receiver the Phlegm being distilled increase the Fire and then will come a white Spirit in the Form of the white Spirit distilled from Vitriol Philosophical which will not descend into the Phlegm but through the aforesaid Pipe into the other Receiver there joyning it self with the Spirit of Wine even as Fire is easily joyned with Fire Take notice if this Spirit of Calx be not rightly prepared or impregnated with the like Spirit of Wine by the aforesaid cohobations it is in distilling mixed with its Phlegm extinguished and loseth its Virtue so difficult a thing it is to drive deeply into Nature she reserving many things to her self This Spirit being now mix'd with the Spirit of Wine take away the Receiver pour out the Phlegm and keep the Spirits of the Calx and Wine wearily Observe both these Spirits are separated not without difficulty for they embrace one another and in distillation ascend together Wherefore if you kindle the Spirits being mix'd and united in a Glass Vessel the Spirit of Wine is burned but the Spirit of the Calx remains in the Glass which keep diligently This is a great Arcanum few Spirits do exceed its efficacy if you knew the use of it its qualities can scarce be described by way of Compendium This Spirit dissolves Crabs Eyes andthe hardest Cristals these three distilled together through an Alembick and many times cohobated make a Liquor three drops of which taken in warm Wine do break and dissolve the Gravel and Stone in Mans Body this Liquor expells the very root or cause of that Disease without any pain to the Patient This Spirit of Calx at the beginning is of a Sky-Colour but being gently rectified appears white transparent and clear leaving some few Faeces behind it This Spirit dissolves the most fixed Jewels and Precious Stones and on the contrary fixeth all Volatile Spirits by its transcendent heat This Spirit overcomes all Symptoms whatsoever of the Podagra though never so knotty and tartarous all which it dissolves and radically expells If Spirit of Wine acuated with Vegetable Sal Harmoniack be kindled the Spirit of common Wine is burned but the Sal Harmoniack being incombustible ascends in the Form of a Liquor and is called the Fiery Spirit of Wine of Basilius but the same Spirit of Wine joyned with the Sal Harmoniack being absorbed by the Calx vive and then distilled into it self and then kindled the Spirit of common Wine is indeed consumed by the Flame as before but the Spirit of the Calx or rather the Vegetable Sal Harmoniack ascends not as before but remains in the bottom of the Glass because more digested and made more fixed But for the greater elucidation of these Spirits we thought good to add another Description of the Spirit of Calx 21. The Simple Spirit of Calx vive of Basilius In manualibus Operationibus TAke pure Calx vive burn it in a Potters Furnace with a most strong Fire to reduce it to an exact maturity grind it very fine upon a Marble and put it in a Cucurbit pour to it Spirit of Wine made of Philosophical Tartar as I shall teach in my method of making Aurum potabile that the Calx may be made like thin Pap this being done distil from thence the Phlegm till the Calx be dry pour on new Spirit of Wine and draw of repeat it six times then grind the matter very curiously and put it in a Cellar to be dissolved per deliquium and within a few days a Liquor will run from it which being gather'd and distilled by a Retort in Sand first sends forth a Phlegm to be kept by it self after that a Spirituous Liquor which also keep apart Now take Cristals pulverized mix them with the same weight of Vive or Mineral Sulphur burn this matter continually stirring it till all the Sulphur be burned away then reverberate in an open Fire the space of three Hours this done pour the aforesaid Liquor to this matter Take also Crabs Eyes to which also pour the same Liquor of quick Lime in another Glass let them be digested fourteen Days in a heat strong enough and from both will ascend an humidity upon the superficies which decant finely into a little Glass and rectifie in Balneo and a Liquor will remain in the bottom three grains of which administred in Wine have produced very great and admirable effects This Medicine cures also radically the Stone of the Bladder and Kidneys as well in Men as Women The Spirit of Wine made of Philosophical Tartar which Basilius promised to give in his method of making Aurum potabile will confirm all the aforesaid Menstruums of Basilius for those are made of Sal Harmoniack or the Volatile Salt of Tartar being divers ways prepared but this Spirit of Philosophical Wine is acuated with the Salt of Tartar not indeed the common Alcali but that being reduced together with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine into a liquid substance for we are to be admonished that it is not always necessary to make the Coelum or Heaven of Lully and the rest of the Menstruums of this kind with the Salt of Tartar as being Philosophically Volatilized but that sometimes also the same Menstruum may be made of the Salt of Tartar without the sublimation or reduction of it into the Vegetable Sulphur of Nature by cohobating only the Spirit of Philosophical Wine upon
Salt of Tartar till it ascend by distillation in the Form of a Milky Liquor It is thus done 22. The Tartarised Spirit of Wine of Basilius In manal Operation THe first thing to be known is that the Philosophers Tartar wherewith the Lock is opened is not like common Tartar as most Men imagine but is another Salt though springing from the same Fountain This Salt is the only Key to open and dissolve Metals if prepared as followeth Take the Ashes of a fruitful Wine and draw a Lee or Lixivium as strong as may be out of them with hot Water which evaporate by boyling it to a driness that the matter may remain reddish which reverberate in a reverberating Furnace three days or thereabouts with an open Fire till it become white then dissolve it in Spring-Water suffer it to settle decant the clear filter to separate the Faeces being filtred coagulate and you will have the white Salt of Tartar from which the true Spirit is distilled after this manner Take Spirit of Wine rectifi'd to the highest degree and altogether void of Phlegm described in Numb 19. and pour it to the Salt of Tartar in a Phial with a long Neck so as to be three Fingers above it lute an Alembick to the Phial fit a Receiver to it and digest with a gentle heat then draw off the Phlegm most softly and the Spirit of Tartar is opened by Virtue of the Spirit of Wine and by reason of reciprocal and admirable love they both ascend together the Faeces remaining if any be as also the Phlegm must be cast away thus will you have the true Spirit of Wine wherewith Aurum potabile is made This truly is a most Noble Menstruum so as for its excellency to deserve a higher Place than this among the Simple Vegetable Menstruums whereas it ought to have been more rightly transferred to the seventh Kind of Menstruums but it very much at present Illustrating the Menstruums of Basilius and so of greater utility here than there we will not remove it from hence yet will we add some examples more clear of such sort of Menstuums Thus it is done 23. The Vegetable Acetum acerrimum or Ignis Adepti of Ripley made of Tartar calcined Pag. 331. Concord Raym. Guid. TAke the Tartar of Wine and calcine it to whiteness Take of this calcined Tartar one Pound and being pulverized put it in a great Glass Cucurbit and pour to it half a Cup or a little more of the strongest Spirit of Philosophical Wine stop the Mouth very close and let them stand in cold Water twenty four Hours then put a Receiver to it and distil in Balneo with an easie Fire yet so as to be distilled which easie distillation must be continued till the Phlegm ascend which must be known by the taste then let it cool and again put new Spirit of Wine to the aforesaid Tartar the same quantity as before doing all things as before which work you must repeat fifteen times but when the Vessel is opened in every Imbibition above all things have a care of the suddain fume of this Ignis Adepti This work being in fifteen times compleat lay aside three ounces of this fiered Tartar for a part to multiply the Mercurial Oyl as lower will appear Take the other part of this fiered Tartar and distil it in Sand with a most strong Fire which Fire being so distilled hath a white Colour and is our Natura ignita our Mercury our Aqua Vitoe lastly the Key of our Science This Menstruum is the same as to the Ingredients and Virtue with the Vegetable Heaven of Lully but it must be Circulated like that Heaven in order to lose its milky and duskish Colour and acquire the diaphaneity and clearness of this This Receipt hath also Johannes de Rupescissa which it is convenient to compare with this especially he varying somewhat in Circumstances by dissolving per deliquium Tartar impregnated with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine before the distillation of it 24. The Aqua Fortissima and Vertuosa of Johannes de Rupescissa Cap. 43. Lib. Essentiae THe most Blessed God the Creator of Secrets hath made so many wonderful things in Nature that neither can our Understanding perceive some few excepted nor Tongue express the wonderful things of God without stammering and among the Secrets I will reveal to you a Water of Divine Action and the Magistery of it is to take the best white Tartar calcined and put it in an Earthen or Glass Vessel and pour to it the best Philosophical Aqua Ardens you can get put on an Alembick and distil the Aqua Ardens very weak then take it away being little or nothing worth except for washing of the Eyes or other parts Then take you Tartar and you will find it twice as strong and this you may prove each time by your Tongue put other Aqua Ardens to it again many times more because it will be every time strengthned above measure and you may bring it to so great a degree of strength that no created action can be compared to it But if you would make it a hundred times stronger grind it and put it upon a Porphyry or Marble to be converted into Water which then must be distilled through an Alembick There is yet another way of preparing this Vegetable Heaven not by sublimation of the Alcali nor cohobation but simple Circulation namely by digesting the Alcali of Tartar in the Spirit of Philosophical Wine till it swims upon the Spirit of Wine like an Ovl. It is thus done 25. Vegetable Mercury acuated with the Salt of Tartar of Lully In Prima Camera Individuorum dist 3. Lib. Essen IN the first Chamber is signified that our Mercury is in the power of H crude Tartar and in order to draw it out the Artist must put the said H into E that is in a Glass-Makers Furnace three Natural Days and there must be a great quantity of it because but little will be made from thence which H Tartar now calcined you must grind subtilly and put it into H of Arboris Philosophical into dissolution per deliquium upon a Marble in a very cold place and covered because of dust and H will be converted into T oleum per deliquium which T must the Artist distil through a Filtre in a Glass Vessel and the Artist having separated T from H will be able to extract our Mercury out of the said T two ways First by the Magistery of the Chapter beginning Non reputes me c. by Circulation like the Essence or Spirit of Wine of Lully Secondly by the Magistery of the Chapter Non proetermittam by the separation of the Elements of which not in this place Lully sometimes used the Salt of Tartar depurated instead of the Oyl of Tartar per deliquium as in the First Experiment You have saith be another sign more certain of the purification of this Individual the Salt of Tartar namely when this most precious Salt
be full but the third empty and distil in Balneo with a gentle Fire one part of three or till it produceth Veins in the Head which Veins being vanished and gone remove the Receiver and being very close stop'd keep it with the distilled Water which is the Mercury Spirit of it in a place as cold as you can then continue the distillation increasing the Fire and its Phlegm will be distilled which requires a stronger Fire to go over the Helm and thus continue distilling till the Body appears in the likeness of Honey or melted Pitch then let the Vessel cool and keep the Phlegm which shall distil Then take the first Mercury or first Spirit which you distill'd in the beginning and rectify it thus Put it into a large Cucurbit an Arm and a half high then put into the Mouth of the said Vessel Cotton enough to stop the Mouth of it which Cotton must be first moistened with Oyl and pressed out and tyed to a Hempen Thred that when you have a mind you may draw it out of the Neck of the Vessel and that the Cotton may not fall into the Cucurbit then put an Alembick to the Cucurbit with a Receiver the Joynts being very close besmeared with Wheat-Flower and Linnen Swaths that is impasted with the Pap of Flower bound fast to the Neck of the Cucurbit to keep the Vessels from respiring which past Chymical Lute being dryed put the Cucurbit to a Fire of Balneo boyling gently and the matter will be sublimed into a most precious Salt Yet Son take notice of this that the Beak of the Alembick must be large and wide lest the Salt rising and subliming out of the Cucurbit should stop the Mouth of the Beak of the Alembick when it flows over into the Receiver for if so the Vessels would be broken as it hath also happened to us when we brought this Experiment to practice when you see all the Salt gone over by distillation there will remain in the Cucurbit a certain Phlegmatick Water which throw away as nothing worth but the Salt empty with care and keep it in a Glass Vessel very close stop'd which Salt will be Volatile and we will use it either for the dissolving of Bodies or for the making of Medecines There is also another way of rectifying or purging the aforesaid animal Spirit or Mercury Take therefore that animal Spirit and distil by Balneo and half the Liquor being gone over remove the Receiver and throw away that which remains in the Vessel that which is distilled distil again taking two parts of it what remains in the Vessel throw away again as before and what is gone over distil again a third time and take little less than all of it and thus will you have the animal Spirit or Mercury perfectly rectify'd wherewith you may exanimate your Earth which you had before remaining in the likeness of liquid Pitch Take therefore that liquid Pitch or rather Earth dissolved and pour upon it so much of the aforesaid animal Spirit as to rise four Fingers above it the Vessel with its Antenotorium lute with Wax gummed that it exhale not then shake the Vessel or Urinal very well that the Spirit may be incorporated and the Earth being well joyned with the Spirit dissolved put it in putrefaction for two Natural Days then take away the Antenotorium and immediately put on an Alembick with a Receiver lute well to prevent respiring and distil by Ashes Have a care of the fumes when you open the Vessel for they are exceeding strong All the Spirit therefore being by distillation gone over increase the Fire that the Soul may be imprinted into the distilled Water and lastly again increase the Fire thus gradually till some other Salt or Sulphur be sublimed When no more will sublime cool the Vessel and gather the sublimation and lay it with the animated Spirit lately distilled then take out the hard and burned matter remaining in the Vessel and grind it and pour again to it of new Spirit as above cover the Vessel with its Antenotorium again as above and putrify then take away the Antenotorium and putting on an Alembick with a Receiver well stop'd distil the animated Spirit by Ashes which being distill'd again as before increase the Fire at last that some part of the Oyl may be forc'd over and the other part of the Sulphur sublimed but when you see nothing more will distil nor any thing sublime suffer the Vessel to cool and keep the animated Spirit last distilled with the other distilled before So also if any part of the Salt ascends by sublimation mix it together with the aforesaid Spirit as before and keep them all in a Vessel close stop'd then again pour new Spirit upon the Earth so as to rise three Fingers above it and joyning an Antenotorium to it putrify as before and then distil in Ashes as before but when nothing more will distil increase the Fire as much as possible by adding fuel that the Earth may be calcined and in this third Operation converted into a Beretine or ash Colour then the Vessel being cold and the Receiver with the animated Spirit taken away keep it with the rest of the animated Spirit but put the Earth into a Vessel of Earth or Chalk which must be sound and able to endure Fire covered with the like Vessel giving it as strong a heat as can be made with wood and so continue two days then by that time you will have calcined the Earth the Vessel being cold draw out the said Earth which will be almost white or of an ash Colour clear and bright pour so much of its Phlegm upon it as will swim four Fingers above it and let it boyl in Ashes four Hours and then decant the Liquor warily into another Vessel and keep it dry the remaining Earth and pour to it again of new Phlegm as before then make it boyl as before then decant as before and dry the Earth thus repeat the Magistery till all the Earth is dissolved or the most part of it imprinted into that Phlegm which probably will happen in the third or fourth dissolution if any thing remains undissolved throw it away for it is an empty Earth of no Virtue but the Earth which was dissolved in the Phlegm pass through a Filtre and then again through a most fine Linnen Cloth which done congeal the dissolution in a most gentle Fire of Ashes in a Glass Urinal to which must be put an Alembick with its Receiver which being congealed dissolve again in the same Water lately filtred then pass it through a Cloth again and lastly congeal it as before But this Magistery you must reiterate till it yields no more Terrestreity in the Filtre Then keep our Physical Sal Armoniack our Animal Sulphur our fixed Animal Mercury whereof lay a little upon a hot Plate and if it melt as Wax without smoak it is a sign you have the Argent vive fixed and perfectly depurated
wherewith you will be able to accomplish many Experiments This is that Mercury which hath afforded us most seasonable succour as shall be manifested in the following Experiments To this exanimated Earth restore the animated Spirit by various imbibitions according to the ways described in the preparations of Vegetable Sal Armoniacks because saith Lully there is but one way and method in the animal as in the Vegetable nothing varying But the ways of making these Salts being very tedious we will for a conclusion add Lully's way of abbreviation The Vegetable Sal Armoniack made by the accurtation of Lully In Testam Noviss THis Sulphur of Nature may my Son with the help of God be wonderfully abbreviated and the way is this To take our liquid Pitch after the Phlegm is drawn off and put it into a Cucurbit in a Fire of the third degree and extract the Oyl till the Earth remains dry and burned My Son calcine as I have taught you and purify the Earth and to separate the Salt from it and upon it pour a forth part of the Spirit which is in the second Water distilled out of the Ritch and digest as above then drawing off the Liquor superfluous insipid and to be cast away pour again a fourth part digest and dry as before till the Earth be pregnant the sign will be that nothing more of the aforesaid Phlegm or Liquor will distil sublime and you will have the Vegetable Sulphur clean and pure and of the same Virtue with the first I charge you my Son with the fear of God not to reveal this most excellent way of abbreviation to any Man Parisinus in his way of making Vegetable Sal Armoniack declares the Oyl extracted out of the Pitch of Philosophical Wine to be superfluous and inconsonant Separate saith he all the superfluous unctuosities which do burn the perfect and precious Elements mix'd and latent in that Vegetable Matter and are repugnant to that composition and a little after After the separation of the superfluous unctuosity and aereal substance which blacks and burns the other precious Elements of this composition pour to it its ardent and celestial Spirit Yea Lully himself has in some Experiments before declared that Oyl as also the Phlegm of this Wine to be of no Virtue in the present Work nevertheless in this accurtation of Sal Armoniack he not only useth the said Oyl and indeed which you may wonder at for the abbreviation of a most tedious labour but also affirms that Sal Armoniack thus prepared is of the same Virtue with the rest Sometimes he used also the Water or animated Spirit together with the Oyl for present abbreviation thus Another Vegetable Sal Armoniack by the Accurtation of Lully Lib. de materia Vegetabili in practica septima TAke the best red Wine distil the ardent Spirit according to Art so as to burn Cotton after that the Phlegm upon the matter remaining in the bottom of the Alembick being thick as liquid Pitch pour the Phlegm half a foot above it let it boyl three Hours decant the tinged Phlegm pour on other repeating so oft till no more will be tinged if you have not Phlegm enough you must draw off the tinged Phlegms in Balneo which being evaporated a Vegetable Oyl will remain in the bottom of the Glass the tincture being drawn out of the Phlegm the matter will remain like a dry Earth upon this dry Earth pour of the ardent Spirit the height of four Fingers let it boyl two Hours that which is in the mean time distill'd pour again to the Earth let it settle two Hours then decant the animated Spirit from the Spirit or Soul of the Earth pour new Spirit upon the Earth doing as before three times The Earth being black and calcined put into a Glass with a long Neck and pour the Vegetable Oyl aforesaid to it digest in Ashes ten days then decant and put it into an Alembick to which add a fourth part of the ardent Spirit animated digest in a vaporous Balneo for twenty four Hours then continue the superaddition of the other three parts of the animated Spirit every twenty four Hours then distil away the superfluous insipid and useless Liquor gently by Ashes and augmenting the Fire by degrees sublime the Volatile Salt c. Hitherto of the various preparations of Vegetable Sal Armoniacks We will now proceed to the other part of the Coelum Vinosum namely the several ways of reducing these Salts into a liquid substance The Adepts did for the most part distil through an Alembick one part of Vegetable Sal Armoniack with three parts of the Aqua ardens to which Liquor they added again one part of the aforesaid Salt and distill'd and that they repeated three and sometimes four times to make the weight of the Salt and Water equal for the greater the quantity of the same Salt the stronger is the quality of the Menstruum then lastly they circulated the Menstruum thereby to make it more pure and excellent But though this Method was more in use among the Adepts yet either their curiosity or sedulity found out also other ways so instead of the Aqua ardens wherewith they prepared the Vegetable Sal Armoniack as well as the Menstruum they sometimes took Aqua ardens circulated or the Heaven or Essence of Philosophical Wine described in Numb 1. It is thus done 31. Coelum Vegetabile of Lully Circulated Lib. de materia Vegetabili in practica quinta TAke the best white Wine distil the ardent Spirit till it burns Cotton put this Spirit into a Circulatory two thirds empty strengthen the Mouth with Wax and Bury it in hot Dung with its Mouth downward for the Spirit to be circulated and digested the space of forty five Days or till it swims above more pure and clear in the Form of an Oyl see the Heaven or Essence of Philosophical Wine in Numb 1. having seen this sign take out the Glass warily and with a Needle perforate the Wax that the impure may flow out then suddenly turn up the Circulatory that the pure or more fine may remain which we call the ardent Spirit circulated which is of a most delicious Sent now take the residue from which the Spirit of Wine was drawn and distil the Phlegm and upon the matter remaining like melted Pitch pour the said Phlegm so as to swim four Fingers above it digest two days in Balneo decant the tinged Phlegm and pour on other and that repeat so often till the Phlegm will be no more tinged which is a thing useless in this operation Now the Earth calcine in a Reverberatory pulverize put it in an Alembick and imbibe with an eighth part of the ardent Spirit circulated digest in Balneo and distil some certain superfluous moisture by Ashes continue this imbibition digestion and distillation till the Earth be impregnated with the dry Spirit which was in the ardent Spirit circulated of which the sign will be if it doth almost all
stronger than the rest as to the preparation of the Sal Armoniack though it may be sooner made with this Oyl than simple Aqua ardens but as the Sal Armoniack already made is mixed and again circulated not with the thin Philosophical Water but with the Oyl or Aqua Vitae circulated 7. That the divers ways of subliming these Salts do most clearly discover to us as well the Nature of that Spirit of Wine as of these Menstruums and moreover commends the incomparable Experience of Lully in these things 8. Animal Menstruums tho' extracted out of the Vrine and other parts of Man are nevertheless not properly so called so long as the matter of that Spirit of Philosophical Wine was Vegetable and only acuated with an animal thing yea the very Spirit of Philosophical Wine made also out of the animal Kingdom as also acuated would notwithstanding differ not from the simple Vegetable Menstruums in the properties of dissolving because it would together with the said simple Vegetable Menstruums very much vary from the tinging faculty of the compounded Vegetable Menstruums from which it ought to be distinguished whereas otherwise it might be ranked among the Vegetable Menstruums The Seventh KIND Vegetable Menstruums compounded of the aforesaid Simple Menstruums 38. The Circulatum majus of Guido Pag. 4. Thesauri Chym. TAke of the Spirit of Philosophical Wine six Ounces of the Salt of the same Wine four Ounces the Vessel being well stopp'd distil the Spirit in Balneo which pour back upon the Salt of Wine and again distil and this ought to be done twelve times then distil for a Month in Balneo roxido Putrefaction being done take out the matter and distil in a Cucurbit with an Alembick of two Heads or Beaks in Balneo and the Spirit of Wine will ascend through the upper Beak into its Receiver but the Phlegm through the lower into its Vessel Take out the Salt of Wine pour one half of the Spirit of Wine to it and distil with a Retort into the other part of the Wine distil yet once upon the remainder and all the Salt will ascend into a strong Menstruum But if you desire a weaker add six other Ounces of the Spirit of Wine and if you would have it very weak pour to it a greater quantity of Spirit but according to the aforesaid weight it is made our great Vegetable Menstruum or Circulatum majus Annotations HItherto of Simple Vegetable Menstruums now follow those which are said to be compounded not as if they are compounded of more Ingredients but because they are stronger than the Simple as well in their qualities of dissolving as tinging The Menstruums of this Kind differ not from the former in matter nor in the method of preparing but in weight only for the more aridity you add to the unctuous Spirit of Philosophical Wine the stronger are the Menstruums made Guido made his less Circulatum of one part of the Salt of Wine and four parts of the Spirit of Wine but the greater Circulatum he makes of two parts of the Salt of Wine and three parts of the Spirit of Wine The greater quantity of the Salt the stronger is the Circulatum The less Circulatums do extract the Essences or Tinctures of things but the greater Circulatums do dissolve the whole Body into a Magistery as will appear in the second Book Vegetable Menstruums compounded are made also if the simple Vegetable Menstruums be taken instead of the Spirit of Philosophical Wine in the Descriptions of them all as thus 39. The Menstruum acutum of Guido Pag. 8. Thesauri Chym. TAke of the Vegetable Menstruum Circulatum minus described in Numb 36. one Pound of Sal Armoniack common twelve Ounces distil by a Retort first with a weak Fire then a stronger and the Sal Armoniack will in part ascend pour it back and distil yet once then again add twelve Ounces of new Sal Armoniack distil strongly in Ashes pour back and cohobate yet twice and you will have our acute Menstruum Sal Armoniack reduced into a liquid substance by the Spirit of Philosophical Wine is a Menstruum of the fourth Kind but the same Salt distill'd with the Circulatum minus of Guido is made not a simple but compound Menstruum and the better for adding so great a quantity of new Sal Armoniack Parisinus in the third Kind of Menstruums acuates the Spirit of Philosophical Wine with crude Honey by which way it is made a simple Menstruum of that Kind but if mixed with its fixed Salt and distilled through an Alembick 't is made a compound Menstruum 40. The Coelum majus of Parisinus In Apertorio TAke B that is red Wine putrify'd as you know how put it in a Glass Cucurbit with its Alembick and Receiver well luted and set it in Balneo wherein must be so much Water as to swim two Fingers above the said Lunaria and distil gently and forthwith you will see Veins appear in the Alembick continue the distillation so long as they appear and these Veins will be like Tears clear as Cristal and when Death Phlegm comes which kills the Spirit the said Veins or Tears will cease and appear round as Pearls then take away the Receiver stop it that the Spirit may not evaporate and set it in a cold place and so have you separated the Soul Spirit of it tho' it contains a little of its Death yet in it and thus continue the distillation the Receiver being now changed till all the odoriferous Phlegm is ascended and the matter remains like melted pitch black and thick which observe not to dry overmuch but according to the said Signs only And thus will you have two ferments from our B. beware of revealing to any one this Practice which we communicate to you under the peril of your Soul for you would be the cause of much Evil in this World to be committed by the Sons of Iniquity put it therefore into the hands of Almighty God who knows the Will of those that live according to his Will and the triumphant Gospel for the Glory of which you have extracted the Form out of B and the same way you may extract from all Individuals Animal and Vegetable Cap. secundum significatum per C. Take the Soul Spirit of it reserved in the cold place and distil half of it in Balneo or till the precious Veins cease from ascending rectify yet twice observing the same Rules but the third and fourth time so soon as the Veins appear leave off distilling and try whether it will burn a linnen Cloth if not repeat the distillation till it doth then cohobate by it self four or six times in Balneo And thus have you acquired a way fit for the rectifying of the said Matter or Soul Spirit which is of so great Virtue as not to be expressed by any Tongue or the Secrets which the Eternal God hath vouchsafed to it recited as when we were at Venice that Famous City we both
or second Experiment being both of the same strength then distil in hot Ashes with an Alembick and Receiver well luted which being all distill'd add new Salt to it again observing the same weight as before of the Salt as well as Water then distil again as before and this same way distil four times to every distillation adding new Salt as before and distilling in Ashes and so will you have a Mercurial Water fit for all Physical Operations Then take common Mercury washed with Vinegar and Salt and strained through a Goats Skin put it in a Vessel and if there be one Ounce of Mercury add four Ounces of the aforesaid Mineral Water and having put on a blind Head in Ashes let it boyl gently and it will in a short time be all dissolved empty the dissolution into another Vessel warily that if any Terrestreity be left in the bottom it may be separated from the said dissolution as a thing of no effect you may this way dissolve as much Mercury as you will Then take the aforesaid Mercury dissolved and putrify thirty Days in Balneo or hot Dung which must be changed every ten Days that the heat may endure and not be extinguished having putrify'd remove the Vessel and putting on an Alembick to with an Urinal and Receiver well luted distil all the Water in Balneo and the Mercury will remain in the Vessel white as Snow then pour to it so much of this Water which you now distilled as to be four Fingers above it the rest of the Water keep in its Vessel well stopp'd in a cold place then putting a blind Head upon its Vessel and sealing the Joynts putrify a Natural Day then taking away the blind Head and putting on an Alembick with a Receiver close luted distil in Ashes and increase the Fire that the Soul may pass over into its distilled Water lastly distillation ceasing let the Vessel cool take away the Receiver and keep it well stopp'd for that which is distill'd therein is the animated Spirit but to the matter remaining in the Vessel that is the Urinal pour again of the distilled Water so much as will swim four Fingers above it and having put on a blind Head putrify as before and taking away the blind Head by turns and putting on an Alembick with its Receiver wherein you kept the other part of the animated Spirit the Joynts being well luted distil again by Ashes and lastly increase the Fire for the Soul to go over into the distilled Water as before then the Vessel being cold keep the animated Spirit in the Receiver as before well stopp'd and to the matter remaining in the bottom pour again new Water as before and putrify as before distilling in Ashes pour the Spirit into the same Receiver where you kept the other thus repeat the Magistery till the Body remains dead black and void of all moisture which you will prove by this sign take a little of this black Body or Earth and lay it upon a hot Plate and if it fumes not nor flyes away from Fire then take that Earth and put into a little Glass-Globe wel luted and the Mouth well stopp'd set in a reverberating Fire the space of twenty four hours then remove that calcined Earth and put it in hot ashes very well stopp'd to prevent the attracting of any moisture Then take the animated Water and rectify it seven times in Ashes which animated and vivifyed Water divide into two parts whereof one we will use for the vivisying of the Earth the other for the dissolving of Sol and Luna Then take one part of the said Water and know the weight of the Earth reserved before grind first put it in an Urinal then pour upon it of the aforesaid Water a fourth part of its weight and joyning a blind Head to it well luted set the Vessel in Balneo not to touch the Water of the Balneo but for the matter to be heated by the vapour only and so let it remain four days then having taken away the blind Head and put on an Alembick distil in Ashes with a gentle heat like that of the Sun and an insipid Liquor will flow over which cast away as nothing worth then again imbibe with a fourth part of the animated Spirit as above digesting as above and distilling the Liquor by Ashes as above This Magistery thus repeat till the whole Body hath re-assumed its Liquor or Soul and remains white as Snow which Body take out dry and grind being ground put it into a small Cucurbit strongly luted with lutum sapientioe and the Mouth of the Cucurbit stopp'd with Cotton and set the Vessel in a Furnace of Ashes but take notice if the Fire be too violent the matter will turn into Oyl and cannot be sublimed besides there will be danger of breaking the Vessel as has happened to us and therefore we are willing to advise you to continue an easy heat till the matter be sublimed This also observe that this way of subliming may also be done in the Fire of an Athanor but then the matter will not be sublimed in less than the space of three or four days which sublimation will indeed be most white as the Scales of Fish or as Talk Then warily take out the Magnesia the first matter of our common Mercury our Sal Armoniack our Sulphur which keep in a small Cucurbit well stopp'd in Ashes warm as the Sun but that which remains in the bottom and cannot be sublimed cast away because of no efficacy its precious Seed being vacuated Here he dissolves Mercury with calcined Jupiter upon an Iron Plate per deliquium with which he cohobates the Vegetable Salt of the first or second Experiment Salt of Tartar impregnated with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine or sublimed into a Vegetable Sal Armoniack in equal weight yet by degrees through an Alembick instead of this Menstruum may be taken the Vegetable Heaven of Lully with this Menstruum he dissolves common Argent vive and reduceth it into a white Oyl out of which Oyl he draws the animated Spirit repeating the Work till the Earth of the Mercury remains black fixed and without fume on a hot Plate This exanimated and reverberated Earth he revivifies by imbibing it with a fourth part of the animated Spirit seven times rectify'd till it becomes white and volatile which then he sublimes into a Mercurial Sal Armoniack the making of which differs not from the antecedent Descriptions of the Sal Armoniacks but if it be mixed with four parts of Lully 's Vegetable Heaven that which is call'd the incalcinated Menstruum is made from thence and so much the stronger as that Sal Armoniack is stronger than the Oyl of Mercury but if this first matter of Mercury be circulated according to its time you will make a Menstruum deserving the Name of Mercurial Heaven Guido prepares the incalcinated Menstruum not from common Mercury but the Mercury of Metals Sol or Luna 47. The
Menstruum of Guido for Precious Stones Pag. 92. Thesauri Chym. TAke of the Vegetable Menstruum acuated described in the Seventh Kind in Numb 38. or Numb 39. four parts of the Oyl of the Mercury of Sol or Luna one part mix He elsewhere pag. 84. describes the Oyl of the Mercury of Metals thus Take of the Mercury of Sol a Description of which we shall have lower in the third Book three Pounds of the red Lyon Gold sublimed of the preparation of which in its place in the second Book twelve Ounces or equal weight mix very well put it in a Cucurbit with its Alembick lute well and increasing the Fire by degrees sublime and the Mercury will ascend partly quick partly in the form of a wâ—â—â—e or Ash-Colour'd Sublimate and about the lower part of the Glass of a citrine Colour mix the quick Mercury again with the Sublimate and again sublime and that so oft till all the Mercury is sublimed which being so sublimed put into Phials of a large bottom and in every one eight Ounces to putrify in Balneo six weeks and then six weeks in Balneo rorido and the sublimed Mercury of Sol will be resolved into a black Oyl which rectify through an Alembick first with a weak Fire then a stronger lastly most strong so will you have the Oyl of the Mercury of Sol. But besides Mercury that open Metal Menstruums of this Kind may be also made of the other Metals though more compact an Example of which we have in the Lunar Menstruum of Lully 48. The Lunar Menstruum of Lully In Experimento 24. TAke common Mercury and wash it with Vinegar when the terrestreity of it is taken away let it run through a Goats Skin then put it into those your Vessels of which you had a Form before in Numb 46. put the Mercury in those Vessels and distil with repetition till it turns all into Water as I taught you above then take four Ounces of this Mercurial Water and therein dissolve one Ounce of the Vegetable Mercury of the second Experiment Salt of Tartar sublimed or Vegetable Sal Armoniack made of the Salt of Tartar pass it through an Alembick together with the aforesaid Mercurial Water then in every four Ounces of the Water dissolve one Ounce of Mercury as before prepared that is Vegetable putrify eight days then distil by Ashes increase the Fire at last that so it may pass into that which was distilled in which dissolve half an Ounce of Silver cupellated then putrify three Days then distil in Ashes and lastly increase the Fire a little that all the clearness or whiteness of the Luna may go over by an airy resolution in this distillation He extracts not the whole Silver but the more Volatile part of it called in the ways of making Sal Armoniack animated Spirit by the Menstruum of three Vessels already described in Numb 26. with the Description of it there declared you may explain those things which are more obscure in the present Receipt He sometimes joyns the animated Spirit of Luna and the animated Spirit of Sol together and by circulation reduceth them into an admirable Menstruum after this manner 49. The Circulatum majus or Acetum acerrimum of Lully In Experimento 25. TAke the simple Vegetable Menstruum of three individuals described before in Numb 26. then take Luna calcine it with Mercury then take principal care to remove all the Mercury from the calcined Luna and the same way calcine Sol with Mercury then let all the Mercury be taken wholly from it these two Bodies put into Glass Dishes each by it self apart and to them each by it self apart pour clarifyed Honey mixing the Calxes of the two Bodies very well with the Honey upon Ashes so as to boyl then take the Honey from the Calxes by washing them in hot distilled Water and the Calxes will remain in the bottom of the Vessel then mix the Calxes with the Honey again boyling as before and mixing with a Spoon as before and thus repeat your Work three times as well in the Calx of Luna as Sol Then take these two Bodies being calcined and washed and put them into a Vessel of solution severally and pour upon them of the former coelificated Menstruum of the three individuals so much as will swim three Fingers above it cover the Vessel with a blind Head luting the Joynts well with wax gummed that it may no way respire set it in Balneo for a Natural Day so as to boyl gently then for two other Days put it upon Ashes and let it boyl gently as before then empty that part of Sol which was dissolved into another Vessel by it self which solution will be of a yellow Colour So also take out the dissolution of Luna by it self apart and pour it into another Vessel each of which dissolutions keep in each Vessel as before in Balneo but the dissolution of Luna will be of a Sea or Green Colour the undissolved Earth as well of Sol as Luna dry upon Ashes Which done pour again to each of the new circulated Menstruums and the Vessel being covered with a blind Head as before set it in Balneo and make it boyl gently as before and continue the same boyling upon Ashes lastly decant the dissolution of each Body as before into its Vessel wherein the other dissolutions above were kept by themselves apart But this Magistery you must repeat till all the Sol and all the Luna are dissolved these dissolutions putrify by themselves apart the space of forty Days after putrefaction put the dissolutions severally into two Urinals with Alembicks and Receivers stopp'd and the Joynts being well luted distil first the whole Menstruum in Balneo but the Bodies will remain in the form of an Oyl then again pour upon them so much of their Water lately distill'd as to swim three Fingers above the Matter cover the Vessel with a blind Head and putrify twenty four Hours then take away the blind Head and put on an Alembick with a Receiver and luting the Joynts distil with a gentle Fire in Ashes lastly increase the Fire somewhat that the air the animated Spirit may pass over into the Water last of all likewise force it with a stronger degree of heat till the Fire the Soul being more viscous ascends over into the air the Vessels being cold pour again the new reserved Water to the remaining Matter the animated Spirit of each Body being first luted in its Receiver to prevent respiring cover the Urinal again with a Hâ—nd Head putrifying as before and lastly distil in Ashes as before last of all as before increase the Fire thus repeat the Magistery till both the Bodies of Sol and Luna are by an airy revolution transmitted severally through the Alembick But if these Bodies will not entirely come over by distillation a little indeed will remain which keep for the rest of the Experiments then take the animated Spirit of Sol rectify it
c. 2. That these Menstruums are called Circulatums because they were by the ancient Philosophers Circulated for the space of thirty or forty sometimes sixty Days 3. That these are called the greater Circulatums to be distinguished from the less Circulatums being less excellent the greater having greater strength and communicating tincture to things that are dissolved in them 4. That these Circulatums are the first Beings or graduated Essences of Metals and Minerals and amongst things Volatile nothing can be more excellent than they they being exalted from a fixed Essence or Astrum into a much more Noble Essence called an Arcanum 5. That these Circulatums are Medicines or Medicinal Arcanums 6. That these Circulatums ore most red Sublime the Stones saith Paracelsus till they come to redness He extracts the tincture of Lily out of Antimony reverberated to a Purple or Violet Colour but makes the Soul of Metals out of Sulphur reverberated of which thus What Hermes said that the Soul alone is the means of joyning the Spirit to the Body was not impertinently spoken For Sulphur being that Soul and maturing and excocting all things as Fire it will be also able to bind the Spirit with the Body and incorporate and unite them together so as from thence to produce a very Noble Body The vulgar combustible Sulphur is not to be reputed the Soul of Metals but the Soul is something more than a combustible and corruptible Body and therefore cannot be burned by any Fire being all Fire it self and indeed it is nothing else but the Quintessence of Sulphur which is extracted out of Sulphur reverberated by the Spirit of Philosophical Wine and is of a red Colour and clear as a Ruby Which is indeed a great and notable Arcanum to transmute white Bodies and to coagulate running Mercury into fixed and tested Gold Accept this as commended to you to make you Rich and you have reason to be content with this only Secret for the transmutation of Metals Lib. 1. de gener rerum Nat. pag. 87. If Mercury Antimony and Sulphur fixed by reverberation and the Spirit of Philosophical Wine drawn off be red and diaphanous as a Ruby it follows that the same Bodies volatilized with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine do become more red From hence we observe that the Menstruums of Diana are of divers Colours sometimes white milky and opake sometimes most clear sometimes again most red and most transparent so that the Arguments of Bernhard denying the diaphaneity of Menstruums may be easily resolved Where Fools saith he do out of the less Minerals extract corrosive Waters into which they put any sort of Metals and corrode them for they think that therefore they are dissolved by a Natural solution which solution indeed requires permanence together that is of the dissolvent and the dissolved that from both as from the Masculine and Feminine Seed a new Species may result I tell you truly no Water dissolves a Metallick Species by Natural Reduction but that wh … remains with it in matter and form and which the dissolved Metals are able to recongeal which happens not in any sort of Aqua fortis but is rather a defiling of the Composition that is the Body that is to be dissolved Nor is that Water pertinent to Bodies in solution which remains not with them in congelations Mercury is of this sort and not Aqua fortis or that which Fools esteem Mercurial Water clear and diaphanous For if they divide and obstruct the Homogeneity of Mercury how will the first proportion of the Feminine Seed stand and be preserved Pag. 60. Epist ad Thomam The Elixir and Azoth he goes on that is the Vital Spirit Spirit of Life Philosophical Aqua vitae and fugitive Soul animated Spirit are not diaphanous nor transparent nor clear as the Tear of ones Eye nor any dissolving Spirit Pag. 94. Ejusd Epist Which cannot be done in a diaphanous clear and transparent Liquor because if the aforesaid Elixir and Azoth that is Spirit and Soul had or could shew any diaphaneity the Earth would now in proportion have dismissed the Water and separated it self from it whereas otherwise it would have inspissated and coagulated the parts of it caused an opacity in the Elixir and Azoth and made the Metallick Form to stand congelable For in restringing fixed Metallick Species the restringer must of necessity act upon the restringible and the congealer upon the congelable which cannot be done in the aforesaid diaphanous and clear Water otherwise it is in Vegetables in which a simple and diaphanous Water is by decoction inspissated in those Vegetables which notwithstanding vanisheth and evaporates at length by the Tryal of Fire because it is not permanent and fixed in the Composition not having an Earth Naturally Homogeneous to it in Composition with it as Argent vive has which Earth is indeed the cause of permanent fixion in things Homogeneous wherefore simple Water cannot by congelation be fixed with Vegetables as Mercury with Metals If therefore Mercury hath received diaphaneity in the Philosophers Work it will remain in the quality of an irrestringible substance and will not be congealed upon Laton as to a Metallick Form Species and Proportion which carries the congelation of it self neither with it nor in it as Water does Earth which Earth as aforesaid is indeed Mercurial and the first cause of inspissation coagulation and fixation If therefore that Water remains not in Metallick Proportion how can the like Species be produced from this Composition They therefore that think so to extract a clear transparent Water out of Mercury and work many wonders by it are in an Error for suppose they can make such a Water yet would it be of no advantage to the Work nor to the Nature and Proportion of it nor could it restore or erect a perfect Metallick Species for so soon as Mercury is altered from its first Nature so soon is it excluded from being an ingredient to our Philosophical Work because it hath lost its Spermatick and Metallick Nature By these things therefore it is known what Truth your Opinion contains and wherein it is contrary and absurd you asserting it to be necessary in order to perfect the great Elixir to have a Gum in which are all things necessary to it containing the four Elements and is a most clear Water as the Tear of an Eye made Spiritual which causeth Gold to be a meer Spirit For one Body penetrates not another but a pure Spiritual substance congealed is that which penetrates and tingeth a Body Be it as you say my Honoured Doctor that Natures are not joyn'd without a Gum or Oyly Matter c. Had Bernhard disputed only against every Mercurial Water not permanent made diaphanous with Aqua fortis or any other vulgar Menstruum and not also against the most clear Mercurial Water of Thomas de Bononia then the Arguments aforesaid had been of great strength but now the objections against the limpidity of
that which is also called the Philosophers Oyntment made of the Earth united in one Kind but that which was call'd the Vapour of the Elements and put it by it self in another Glass Vessel well Sealed and put it in the Air near the other which you put for a whole Year Take the Menstruum with which you separated the Elements of the Sulphur of Luna and that Menstruum wherewith you separated the Elements of the Sulphur of Sol and put in every Vessel wherein is Menstruum of Luna and the Menstruum of Sol one Drachm of Sulphur or Vegetable Sal Harmoniack and set it in Balneo then in Ashes till you have made it all go over with every Menstruum by it self Then each Menstruum being thus rectify'd or animated put in a Glass Vessel Sealed by themselves in their Cages and hang them in the Air near the other for a Year Take the Oleagineity of Luna the first or first Air which is that which you drew from the Earth of Luna when you prepared it for the making of the Sulphur of Luna which we commanded you to keep and said it should be for the making of the Sulphur of Nature put it in a Glass Vessel Sealed in the Air and there it will be made a Fluxible and Virtuous Water of wonderful penetration And what we said of the white Oyl we say also of the red incerative Oyl of Sol. And now Son you have the Stone Menstruum divided into eight parts three in the Earth and five in the Air. Annotations THe Ten foregoing Kinds of Vegetable as well Simple as compounded Menstruums the Adepts made by tempering the unctuous Spirit of Philosophical Wine with many sorts of dry Bodies and by such means produced Menstruums adapted equally for every use and permanent and inseparable they being of the same Nature with the things that were dissolved In the Kind immediately antecedent we shew'd you that all the aforesaid Menstruums whether simple or compound exalted with so great Labour to the highest degree by tempering them with dry things may be raised yet higher and augmented in their Virtues For what Art cannot do Nature can what the Earth cannot do Heaven can For Menstruums perfected by Art do by being exposed to the Influences of the Heavens attain to very great and incredible Virtues by Nature In the eleventh precedent Kind we had Menstruums for Pretious Stones made of the simple Elements of Metals In this twelfth he takes the Sulphur of Nature Sal Harmoniack or Mercury of the perfect Metals Sol and Luna instead of crude Gold and Silver and by exposing the Elements of them to the Heaven and Earth separates them much more Nobly for the best of all Alchymical Tinctures From the Receipts we observe 1. That Limes in their Compositions are indeed clear but Clouded with a wearisome multilocution and disguised by so great a variety of operations besides also in respect of time made most tedious on purpose to deter young and unadvised Practitioners 2. That these Limes differ from the former Etherial and Terrestrial Waters in fineness of preparation these Elements are of the Sal Harmoniack or Philosophical Mercury of Sol and Luna but those Elements of a crude Metal For said Lully Limes for Alchymical Tinctures ought to be of a purer Nature than those which are for Pretious Stones 3. That these Limes are Essences graduated exposed to the Influences of the Heaven and Earth and consequently are Medicines 4. That the Sulphurs Naturae of imperfect Metals do also by the same method yield Limes as strong in their kind as the Sulphurs Naturae of Gold and Silver in their kind Hitherto have we treated of Vegetable Menstruums now follow those which are called Mineral But before we proceed further we are to take notice that by Vegetable Menstruums are meant also Animal Menstruums For all the Vegetable Menstruums already alleadged are not called Vegetable in respect of Ingredients for besides Vegetables Animals also and minerals were made use of in their preparations but by reason of the Spirit of Philosophical Wine produced chiefly from a Vegetable unctuosity which Spirit if you knew how to extract out of some Oyly Matter of the animal Kingdom as the Adepts have more than often done You might with this Animal Spirit transmute the aforesaid Vegetable Menstruums into Animal Menstruums which nevertheless you cannot apply to Mineral Menstruums for though there are also in this Kingdom thin Oyls swimming upon watrish Liquors as Oyl of Petre Pit-Coals c. Yet these are extraordinary Oyls of this Kingdom produced either by exorbitancy or defect of Nature And therefore such Oyls as these the Adepts referred to both the Vegetable and Animal Kingdoms for they are of one and the same Nature whereas the Oyls of Minerals and Metals are more dry and masculine then to produce our feminine Seed or Menstruum Now to recite the parts of Animals and the way of extracting this Spirit of Philosophical Wine from them is not proper to this place but belongs to a peculiar Book namely our fifth treating more copiously of these things to be published in due time when God permits wherefore not mentioning Animal Menstruums we proceed to the Mineral or Acid Menstruums OF Mineral MENSTRUUMS The Thirteenth KIND Simple Mineral Menstruums made of the Matter of Philosophical Wine only 59. The Green Lyon of Ripley Libro Accurt Pag. 383. TAke the Green Lyon without dissolution in Vinegar as sometime the Custom is put it in a large Earthen Retort which can endure the Fire and distil it the same way as you distil Aqua fortis putting a Receiver under it and luting the Joynts well that it may not respire then distil first with a gentle Fire till you see white fumes appear then change the Receiver stopping it well and distil with a great Fire so as Aqua fortis is distilled thus continuing twenty four Hours and if you continue the Fire the space of eight Days you will see the Receiver always full of white fumes and so you will have the Blood of the Green Lyon which we call Secret Water and Acetum acerrimum by which all Bodies are reduced to their first Matter and the Body of Man preserved from all infirmities This is our Fire burning continually in one Form within the Glass Vessel and not without Our Dunghill our Aqua Vitoe our Balneo our Vindemia our Horse-Belly which effects wonderful things in the Works of Nature and is the Examen of all Bodies dissolved and not dissolved and is a sharp Water carrying Fire in its Belly as a Fiery Water for otherwise it would not have the power of dissolving Bodies into their first Matter Behold this is our Mercury our Sol and Luna which we use in our Work Then will you find in the bottom of the Vessel Faeces black as Coals which you must for the space of eight Days calcine with a gentle Fire c. Annotations HItherto we have mix'd or tempered the
Green Lyon is purified by common Vitriol as thus When the Argent vive is put in a dry Vitriolated Vapour Spirit of Vitriol which is a sharp Water it is presently dissolved by the Incision and Penetration caused by the sharpness being manifestly strong and in dissolving is converted into the Nature of Terrestrial Vitriol not taking a Metalick nor a clear Coelestial Form as appears after the evaporation of the said Water and the congelation of it in the form of Yellow Cristals which Yellowness proceeds from the sharp Sulphurous Terrestreity which was beyond measure mixed in the said Water by Atoms with an Homogeneous Universality and simplicity which simplicity was taken and bound by the said Terrestreity with the alteration of the Light Clarity and Lucidity into Obscurity c. Cap. 89. Theor. Test 141. Vol. 4. Th. Chym. Son the thick Vitriolated Vapours from which Vitriol is produced is very sharp and pontick and therefore penetrates the parts of the Sulphur and Argent vive being depurated and penetrating tingeth that purify'd Matter congealing it into the Form of that Vitriolated and yellow Terrestrial Vapour which is mixed with them Wherefore what we have said is manifest that is This is the great Gate namely that the Terrestrial Virtues must not excel the Coelestial but on the contrary if you will have the thing desired Cap. 85. Theor. Test pag. 137. of the same Volume You may remember that you would put nothing with the Menstrual the Matter of the Menstruum but that which proceeded from it at the beginning of its mixtion for if you add an incongruous thing it will presently be corrupted by the incongruous Nature nor will you ever have that which you would have Gold and Silver and Mercury are dissolved in our Menstrual because it participates with them in proximity and vicinity of the first Nature and from hence will you extract a white Fume which is our Sulphur and the Green Lyon which is your Unguent and the stinking Water which is our Argent vive But it is requesite for the Green Lyon to be throughly dissolved in the Aqua Foetens or stinking VVater before you can have the said Fume which is our Sulphur which Sulphur is indeed the same way dissolved from the Body congealing the Spirit in the form of a dry Water which we call Stone and the highest Medium of all our Work which is the connexion and aggregation of both Natures that is of Body and Spirit Son This Water is called Aqua ignis or if you had rather Ignisaqua that undeclinable Word because it burns Gold and Silver better than Elementary Fire can do and because it contains in it heat of a Terrestrial Nature which dissolves without Violence which common Fire cannot do Wherfore we enjoyn you to make the Magistery of the hottest things you can get in Nature and you will have a hot Water which dissolveth all things Cap. 59. Theor. Test Pag. 98. Of the same Volume These Sayings Ripley comprehends in short thus These Words saith he may serve a Wise Man in order to know and acquire the Green Lyon But this Noble Infant is called Green Lyon because being dissolved it is Cloathed in a Green Garment Yet out of the Green Lyon of Fools Vitriol is extracted by a violent Fire that Water which we call Aqua fortis Spirit of Vitriol in which the said Lyon ought to be Elixirated For all Alchymical Gold is made of Corrosives c. Pag. 139. Medulla Phil. This Argent vive Green Lyon Philosophers Lead c. being purifyed with Vitriol must be further matured or calcined into a red Colour Minium Lead calcined Sericon c. E. that is Vitriolated Azoth Pag. 15. Theor. Test the fourth Medium or Principle is a substance produced from its Mine and in it more near to the Nature of Metals which is by some called Calcantis and Azoth Vitreus Mercury Vitriolated or Azoquean Vitriol which is the Earth and Mine of Metals and is by another Name called Vrisius of shining white and red within Black and Green openly having the Colour of a Venomous Lizard immediately generated out of Argent vive the Matter aforesaid impregnated with the said hot and dry sulphurous Vapour of common Vitriol in its resolution congealed into a Lizard in which Azoth Vitriolated is the form and species of the stinking Spirit in its mixtion the Mineral heat of which is multiplyed which is the Life of Metal and is signified by E. Cap. 3. Theor. Testam Pag. 12. Volume 4. Theat Chym. And a little after In the Work of Nature is Argent vive but not such as is found upon the Earth nor will be till it be first turned into an apostemated and venomous Blood In the same place You must know Son that by Art and Nature Argent vive is congealed by an acute Water understand therefore Philosophically because if it were not sharp and acute it could not penetrate which is the first action in dissolution after which dissolution it is returned into an apostemated Blood by the mutation of its own Nature into another Son there are two things which ought to stick together by the agreement of contrariety one pure the other impure the impure recedes Fire being an Enemy by reason of its Corruption the other remains in Fire because of its purity being transmuted into Blood and this is our Argent vive and our whole Secret cloathed with a tripartite Garment that is black white and red and that alone we want for the purpose of our Magistery Argent vive containing all that is necessary for a Quintessence There is in Mercury whatsoever Wise Men seek for under the shadow of it lies a fifth substance for the substance of it is pure and incombustible and all of it is nothing else but Gold and Silver not common Metals but airy being in Mercury or the Green Lyon melted and fused within and without by Virtue of the Fire against Nature and afterwards purify'd and separated from all its Original Blemish and Pollution for that Gold which is incombustible remains fused and liquid and imparts its Golden Nature in the said Mercury c. Cap. 62. Theor. Test Pag. 103. Volume 4. Th. Chym. Out of this Philosophical Minium calcined Lead or Sericon only the Adepts sometimes distilled their Menstruums for Example the first of this Kind in Numb 59. Sometimes they dissolved this Minium in distilled Vinegar which being drawn off they reduced it into Gum Adrop or Lully's Azoquean Vitriol out of which they then distilled the stinking Menstruum or Menstruum foetens in Numb 60. Sometimes they dissolved Gum Adrop per deliquium first and then distilled it The thirteenth way of practising saith Ripley as it here appears is very curious and that is in Saturn Philosophical rubified in a Glass Vessel stopp'd to prevent respiration with a strong and continual Fire till it becomes red Take therefore that rubified Saturn and pour a good quantity of distilled Vinegar
very small Fire and sometimes increase it by degrees till your Matter begins to sublime which it will do with a little heat and when you see the Matter ascend diligently observe to keep the Fire in the same degree that it may sublime very gently which will be easily done for the Matter is sublimed and ascends with a very little Fire pag. 402. of the same Volume Gold dissolved in this Aqua fortis of Isaack and once or twice cohobated then washed with common Water becomes so volatile as to ascend with a very small heat into a most poysonous Sublimate if any man does the same by as easie a Method with common Aqua Regis made of Sal Armoniack and Niter we declare he needs not Menstruums of this Kind but that common Sal Armoniack is insufficient for such a purpose even the Novices of vulgar Chymistry have long since experienced Besides the Vse of this Menstruum the Encomiums of Sal Harmoniack which agree not in the least with the Common of the same Name do prove the excellency of this Menstruum Now saith he we have a mind to teach you how and which way to joyn Soul Body and Spirit together so as to enter one into the other for a Congregation of Contraries cannot be so as to remain together without a Medium which before in cap. 146. he called Sal Harmoniack or dry Water Take an example from the Dyers that dye Cloaths c. Thus it is with our Stone Though we have rightly prepared the Body Soul and Spirit if they enter not into one another they will neither now nor at any time ever remain together without the Medium of our dry Water Now Beloved where now shall we find this Water For Geber saith Our water is not Rain-water Aristotle saith Our water is a dry water Hermes saith Our water is gathered out of a filthy and stinking Menstrual Matter Danthynus saith Our water is found in old Stables Houses of Office and stinking Sinks And Morienus Our water springs in Mountains and Valleys and Fools understand not these words but think it Mercury it is not Mercury it is a dry water which causeth all Mineral Spirits Soul and Body to enter and mix together and when it has joyned them together it departs from them and lets them remain fixed And this water is found in all things of the world For if this water was not in vain should we endeavour to make the Stone For how should we make one of our prepared Matter enter into another As the Apothecaries gather their Herbs together so ought we to do either in the Vegetable Animal or Mineral Kingdom to make a perfect work or Quintessence we ought to have a dry water out of every distinct thing A dry water therefore is in all things to make themselves perfect Therefore saith Galen All things have their own Medicine to make the Stone either in the Mineral Animal or Vegetable Kingdom without the addition of any exotick things Wherefore when we would make the Stone or any Fixation we ought to make that conjunction with our dry water as was said of the Dyer and Apothecary Therefore is it my Beloved that so many fall into Errors because they do not understand nor follow Nature Therefore did I mention the Dyer and Apothecary for you to understand Nature by that rude way that you may in your own mind perceive that no conjunction can be made without a Medium .. Wherefore all the works above cited are good but those two things are not there named the Spirit that is and Dry Water weights and way of joyning wherein consists our whole Art wherefore I conjure you never to reveal this Secret for all the Art that is in the world is comprehended in it to make the perfect work in a short time and little pains Cap. 147 148 149. 2. Oper. Min. pag. 524 525. Vol. 3. Theat Chym. Ripley hath described the same Water thus 88. The Aqua Regis of Ripley Pag. 349. Viatici MAke a corrosive Water of Salt Peter and Harmoniack and put not above four Ounces in the Destillatory and draw a water with a slow Fire wherein dissolve and make the Oyl of Sol c. This Water Basil Valentine calls the Kings Bath of which thus in the elucidation of the second Key Take notice Friend and seriously consider because here lies the principal Secret Make a Bath have a care that no strange thing enter into it lest the Noble Seed of Gold be radically destroyed after the dissolution of it Exactly therefore and with care examine the things which the second Key informs you of that is what Minerals are to be taken for the Kings Bath wherein the King ought to be dissolved and his external form subverted that his Soul may appear without blemish To this purpose will the Dragon and Eagle that is Niter and Sal-Armoniack serve out of which being united is made an Aqua fortis as you will be informed in my Manuals where I shall treat of the Particular of Sol. 89. The Kings Bath of Basilius Lib. Partic. in Particul Solis TAke of Salt Peter one part of Sal Harmoniack one part of Flints pulverized half a part mix and distil Take notice that this Water must be carefully and exactly distilled for it cannot be distilled by the common method He that is expert in the operations of the more secret Chymy will know what is to be done Observe you must have a strong earthen Retort well luted in the upper part of which must be a Pipe half a span long and two fingers broad put a great Receiver to it lute well and increase the Fire by degrees till the Retort grows red hot Then put in a spoonful of this Matter through the Pipe and suddenly stop the Pipe with a wet Cloath and the Spirits will pass impetuously into the Receiver the Spirits being asswaged put in another spoonful of the said Matter thus proceeding till no Matter remains and you will have Aqua Gehennea or Hell-water dissolving the Calx of Gold in an instant into a thick solution which we mentioned in the third Part as also in the second Key not only dissolving Gold but reducing the same into volatibility c. This Kings Bath is described also by Basilius in Revelatione Manualium Operationum thus 90. A Philosophical Water for the Solution of Gold of Basilius Labore primo Revelation Man Operat TAke of Salt Peter and Sal Armoniack of each two parts of Stones washed one part grind them together and by a Retort with a Pipe distil the Water into a large Receiver putting in two or three ounces through the Pipe the Receiver must be a big one and lie in a Vessel full of cold Water and covered with wet Linnen Cloaths that the Spirits may cool for it will be very hot stop the Joynts of the Retort very close kindle a Fire and the Retort being hot cast in three ounces of Matter the Pipe being suddenly
stopp'd the Spirits will pass through and the Receiver will grow white and drops fall When the Spirits are setled put in three ounces more stopping the Pipe immediately proceed as before changing very often with wet Linnen Continue this Operation till you have water enough which stop very well that it may not evaporate it is the true Water and Mineral Bath for the King That Basilius as well as Isaacus used the Sal Harmoniac not common Sal Armoniac for his Bath the Vse of the same doth also prove Take of this Water three parts of the Calx of Gold one part mix them in a Cucurbit put it with an Alembick upon hot Ashes to be dissolved if it be not wholly dissolved pour out the Water and pour on new and that till all the Calx is dissolved in the water being cold white Faeces settle in the bottom which separate put all the water together and digest for a day and a night in Balneo then removing the Faeces digest the space of nine Days continually distil the Water that the Water may remain in the bottom like Oyl c. distil so often till all the Gold has pass'd through the Alembick In the same place This unctious Bath reduceth Gold and all other Metals into Oyls because it is made of the Oyly Spirit of Philosophical Wine concentrated and dryed in some Vegetable Alcali and Spirit of Nitre whereas on the contrary Sal Armoniack or common Aqua Regis cannot transmute Metals beyond its saline Nature for that Oleity which it hath not it cannot give Isaacus for want of a Retort with a Pipe perhaps not being at that time known sustained no small loss of Spirits in distilling this Menstruum which Basilius did by help of the said Retort endeavour to repair though that also not without some difficulty The later Adepts Crinot Trismosinus and Paracelsus observing the difficulty of distilling and the loss of Spirits made it better who by a plain but better method dissolved the Vegetable Sal Harmoniack in Spirit of Nitre or Aqua fortis without any loss danger or delay 91. The most strong Aqua fortis of Paracelsus Lib. 3. Arch. de separ Elem. pag. 7. TAke Sal Nitre Vitriol and Alume in equal parts which distil into Aqua fortis this again pour to its Faeces and repeat distil in a Glass which Aqua fortis clarify with Silver and dissolve Sal Armoniack in it That Paracelsus neither by Sal Armoniack meant the common is also demonstrated by the use of the Menstruum which he thus describes These things being done take a Metal reduced into Plates and there resolve it into Water in the same Water then separate by Balneo and pour on again this repeating till you find an Oyl in the bottom of Sol or Gold a purple of Luna a lazurine of Mars red and very dark of Mercury white of Saturn livid and lead Coloured of Venus altogether green of Jupiter yellow in the same place Whoever dissolved Metals promiscuously with common Aqua regis both Silver and Gold into an Oyl either purple or lazurine Not to say any thing of the reduction of all Metals into two Fat 's red and white the Essence thereof and the Dead Body It is therefore clear from the effect that Paracelsus dissolved Sal Harmoniack in Aqua fortis for his most strong Aqua fortis In making this Menstruum Guido adds the weight of the Sal Harmoniack which Paracelsus omits 92. The Aqua Regis of Guido Pag. 22. Thesauri Chym. TAke Vitriol common Salt and Nitre distil into Aqua fortis take one Pound of this four Ounces of Philosophical Sal Harmoniack and distil yet once Solomon Trismosinus sometimes dissolved Metals in commâ—â— Aqua fortis and to the solution added Sal Harmoniack Thus he volatalized Silver being dissolved in Aqua fortis with the aforesaid Salt Lib. 8. Tinct quinta pag. 81. Aurei velleris German Take of pure Luna four Ounces dissolve it in common Aqua fortis draw off the Phlegm to the remainder add six Drachms of Sal Harmoniack and pour on new Aqua fortis draw off again in Ashes to an oleity this repeat four times with new Aqua fortis then urge it strongly and the Luna will ascend together with the Aqua fortis Sometimes he volatilized Gold and Silver together with this Menstruum In Tinctura Regis Julaton pag. 16. Aurei veller Take of the filings of Gold of Sal Harmoniack each two Ounces to which put four Ounces of the best Silver dissolved in eight Ounces of Aqua fortis draw off to an Oleity pour on new Aqua fortis and repeat three times with new Aqua fortis and the Gold will ascend with the Silver through the Alembick Lully made his Aqua Regis by dissolving Vegetable Sal Harmoniack in the acid Water of Mercury sublimate 93. The Aqua Regis of Lully In Exp. 17. TAke Mercury being twice sublimed with Vitriol and common Salt prepared each time with new materials grind and if there be one Pound of sublimate take the whites of nine new laid Eggs which whites beat so long that it seems to be Water then mix the white with that sublimate and put it in a Retort with a long Neck joyn a Receiver to it very close giving it a Fire of Ashes at the beginning most gentle till it distils by that degree The distillation ceasing increase the Fire and at last give a most violent Fire and by this means part of the Mercury will turn into Water and part into running Mercury which running Mercury being gone over sublime again then grind and joyn it with the distilled Water and distil again as before repeating the Magistery till all the sublimate is gone over and converted into Water Wherefore you may the same way multiply it as often as you please always putting new sublimate to the Water and distilling till it be converted into Water Now take this Water put it in a small Urinal Cucurbit joyning a Head to it with a Receiver then distil by Balneo till the white seems to be gone over mixt with it which you will thus know take an Iron or Copper Plate upon which let one drop of the distillation fall if it boyls and seems to dissolve take away the Receiver joyning another very well luted and distil by Ashes and again by Ashes repeat this Magistery seven times And thus you will have a Mercurial Water which will serve you in many operations Take now one Ounce of the Salt of the second Experiment Volatile Salt of Tartar declared in Numb 17. and four Ounces of this Water the acid Water now distilled from Mercury sublimate mix them together and the mixture will presently be dissolved being dissolved distil by Ashes with a gentle Fire luting the Joynts well in the last place increase the Fire that all the Salt may with the Water pass through the Alembick then again put one other Ounce of the Salt into the same Water and by distillation
pass it all over as before and thus repeat this Work of distillation four times in every distillation adding an Ounce of the said Salt to that Water Then will you have at length a Mineral Water vegetated and acuated with the augmentation of Virtue and Power proceeding from the said most precious Vegetable Salt without which is nothing done Our Annotations upon the Receipts are 1. That the Menstruums of this Kind are simple Vegetable Menstruums of the sixth Kind dissolved in Acids Take away the Acidity and it will be a Menstruum again of the sixth Kind 2. That these Menstruums are better made of Aqua fortis it being an Acid stronger than the rest yet that they may be also made of any other Acid less strong as distill'd Vinegar Spirit of Salt Sulphur c. 3. That these are the best of all the simple Mineral Menstruums both in the facility of making and excellency of Virtue 4. That it is much at one whether the Metal be first dissolved in common Aqua fortis and then the Vegetable Sal Harmoniack added or the said Salt first and then the Metal 5. That these Aqua regisses differ from the common in that they dissolve all Metals promiscuously Silver as well as Gold and reduce the same not into a Calx but Oyl which cannot be said of common Aqua regis 6. That Metals dissolved in these Menstruums and sublimed become the greatest Poysons belonging to this Art The Nineteenth KIND Mineral Menstruums compounded of the Philosophers Spirit of Wine and Acid Spirits tinging Spirit of Vitriol Butter of Antimony c. 94. Spirit of Vitriol mixt with the Spirit of Wine of Lully Epist accurtatoria pag. 327. THE Spirit of Vitriol is more dry and thick than the Spirit of the Quintessence of Aqua ardens and great affinity there is between the Spirit of Vitriol and the Nature of Gold because they are both derived from the same Principles with Minerals The Spirit therefore of Vitriol being joyned with the Spirit of Aqua ardens inspissates it and makes it suddenly adhere to Gold so as to be fixed with it and believe me this is a very excellent way of Abbreviation Annotations THis Difference you may observe between the Simple and Compounded Mineral Menstruums The Simple dissolve only but the Compounded do both dissolve and tinge things dissolved for they are in a wonderful manner exalted by things tinging and made many degrees better so as to have enough to serve themselves and others also and therefore may deservedly be called graduated as well as graduatory Waters Hitherto we have treated of the Simple In 〈…〉 Nineteenth Kind we are to consider them as Compounded of two Spirits Oyley and Acid tinging as in the prescribed Receipt of the Spirits of Philosophical Wine and Vitriol mix'd together and intimately joyned by two or three distillations The Preparation is most easie in which notwithstanding it will not be impertinent to take notice of this one thing that both Spirits must be without Phlegm and exquisitely rectified according to the Advice of the following Anonymus A burning Oleity is made out of Wine therefore it participates with Sulphur and herein is indeed the greatest virtue of the Metallick Nature which it drew and conceived from the Earth and as this Oleity the Spirits that is are much more agil than the Spirits of other things therefore their Virtues are much more agil than the Virtues of other things but yet you must know that those Spirits as saith the Text of Alchymy and as indeed the truth is which come out of Vegetables and Animals conduce not to Alchymy as they are in a Vegetable Nature but it is requisite for them to attain to a Metallick Nature by many depurations and distillations and then they are serviceable to it Therefore is there one only stone and one foundation necessary to the Art namely the Metallick virtue though sometimes Vegetable and Animal things are taken yet they do not remain in a Vegetable or Animal Nature but are transmuted into a Metallick and Sulphureous Nature which contains a Metallick Virtue Whereupon said Ferrariensis cap. 20. suarum Quoestionum It is impossible to coagulate Argent vive without Sulphur or something that hath a sulphureous Nature because Sulphur is the coagulum of Argent vive and if there be sulphureities in Wine having a burning faculty it argues there is a Metallick Nature in it wherefore some do operate in Wine and Gold or Silver to extract out of the Wine it s most subtil Spirit strengthning the virtue of Gold with it that so the Spirits may be fixed with it by which consequently the Tincture of the Gold is dilated and multiplied and of a certain there is a very great coherence or participation between the Spirits of Wine and the Spirits of Gold they being both of a hot Nature and therefore the Spirits of Wine are inseparably fixed with Gold yet it is to be noted that the Spirits of middle Metals as Vitriol c. are of larger fixation and more nearly allied to Gold both springing as it were out of one Fountain namely out of the Mines of Metals than the Spirits of Wine which proceed from a Vegetable Nature though the Spirits of Wine are more agil and subtil Some therefore do compound the Spirits of them so as to joyn the Spirits of Vitriol with the Spirits of Wine to inspissate one with the other and to make them more easily united to Gold But he that intends to operate with these things must take the strongest Spirits and the purest Matters so that the Spirits must be exactly purified before they are fixed with Gold or Silver Anonym de Principiis Natur. Arte Alchym pag. 30. Syntagm Hermon Rhenani Not only the rectified Spirit of Vitriol but every Acid Spirit is here effectual provided it be tinging and mixed with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine thereby to be made a Menstruum of the same Kind 'T is thus made 95. The Butter of Antimony mix'd with the Spirit of Wine of Basilius Pag. 88. Currus Triumphalis Antim TAke of Common Mercury most purely sublimed of Antimony equal parts grind mix and distil by a Retort which retains the Spirits three times rectifie this Oyl with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine and it is prepared and of a Blood-colour in the beginning it was white and thickens as Ice or melted Butter This Oyl hath done many wonderful things yet the Virtue Faculty and Operation of it hath always appeared making an ill thing good This Composition though given by Basilius as a Medicine not as a Menstruum yet is by Paracelsus in Libro de Gradationibus described as such 96. The Water of the fourth Gradation of Paracelsus Libro de Gradationibus pag. 131. TAke of Antimony one pound of Mercury Sublimate half pound distil both together with a violent Fire through an Alembick and a redness willl ascend like Blood thick which tingeth and graduates any Luna into Sol and
brings this pale Colour to the highest degree of a permanent Colour Though Paracelsus thought it not always necessary to admonish his Disciples of the Spirit of Philosophical Wine as an addition in his Compositions yet nevertheless ought I to declare to you the necessary addition of this Spirit in this Menstruum that you may not err for without it it would be of no consequence but rather a dammage to you in the more secret Chymy The Adepts made sometimes Menstruums of this Kind not with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine but the Matter of it namely some Vegetable Oleosum Thus 97. The Water of the sixth Gradation of Paracelsus Libro de Gradationibus pag. 132. TAke of Sulphur vive two pounds of Linseed Oyl four pounds boyl them to a Composition commonly called the Liver of Sulphur which must be distilled into an Oyl by a peculiar and Philosophical manual Operation appertaining to the making of the Spirit of Philosophical Wine To this must be added again the same quantity of Sulphur vive and boyl'd as before to a Composition and digested in Horse-dung for a Month or if longer better Then must be added of Sal Niter Vitriol Alume Ingredients of Aqua fortis Flos Aeris Crocus of Mars Cinabar to increase the Tincture of the Sulphur of each half a Verto einem halben vierling that is a fourth part of half a pound or two ounces distil whatsoever will ascend and take away the Liquors the Oyls only being kept not Oyl but Oyls because they are two White and Red which must be put into a glass Cucurbit the Species being added as before and the Caput mortuum pulverized distil them again together as before then pour the distillation back to the Faeces and let it be putrified again for a Month and distilled again Then the Colours being evacuated or separated the Red from the White keep the Red and rectifie it as is requisite in which let Plates of Luna be digested a due time and then reduced by cupellation Paracelsus sometimes made this Oyl or Fire of Sulphur by it self without other tinging things for the graduating of pretious Stones as well as Metals It is come to that saith he pag. 200. Lib. de Sulph that the Spirit of Transmutation hath given his Receipt of making a Liver or Lung out of Linseed Oyl and Sulphur The distillation of this Lung or Liver is done many ways but it is sound by operating that this Liver yields a Milk nothing differing from common Milk being thick and fat it yielded also a red Oyl like Blood This Milk and that Blood confounded not their Colour and Essence by distillation but remained distinct and separate one from the other the White setling to the bottom and the Red ascending to the top Now Art has been solicitous in making Silver out of the White or Milk and out of the Red Gold but to me it is plain that never any thing could be either by the Ancient or Modern Philosophers done with the White or Milk of Sulphur I do therefore affirm that Milk to be dead and nothing contained in it But as to the Red Oyl which yields the Liver observe every Cristal or Beril being first well polished or purified c. See the fourth Book concerning the Vse of this Oyl in the Gradutions of Pretious Stones exalts Gems even to the highest degree yea higher than they can be exalted by Nature Here also note that all Silver put into it a due time at length grows black and leaves a golden Calx yet not fixed before its exact time but a volatile and immature thing but if it hath its time it performs all things feasible whereof no more must be here declared Thus therefore observe of Sulphur if it be taken into degrees the more subtil clearer higher and of quicker operation it is the higher and better it is This way are Metals and Stones made He that is about to attempt it must not think but know himself able for it is as to Operation the most dangerous Labour in all Alchymy and therefore requires notable Experience and repeated Practice nor must he proceed by Hear-say but by much Experience c. Yet not being satisfyed with the strength of this Oyl in this twelfth gradation he was willing to exalt it yet higher with other tinging things as Flores Aeris and Crocus of Mars by which Paracelsus meant not Common but Philosophical Medicines We perceive saith he Lib. 4. Archid. de Essentiis pag. 16. Verdegrease is accounted the Quintessence of Venus whereas it is not but the Crocus of Venus is a Quintessence so to be understood Flos Aeris is a common transmutation with a thick and subtil substance together extracted out of the whole Complexion of Copper wherefore it can be no Quintessence but the Crocus of Venus as we have taught is a true Quintessence it being a potable thing without corrosion and in mixtion divided from the Body very subtil yea more than I am minded here to write to avoid prolixity So also the Crocus of Mars and the rust of it has hitherto been esteemed a Quintessence it not being so but the true Crocus of Mars is the Oyl of Mars which is sometimes in a dry form under the Name of an Essence and called the Philosophical Crocus of Mars in the second Book of Medicines From the Receipts we observe 1. That common Spirit of Vitriol Butter of Antimony Arsenick Tin c. mix'd with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine are Philosophical Spirit of Vitriol Philosophical Butter of Antimony c. 2. That the Menstruums of this Kind are the same with the Menstruums of the Fifteenth Kind but with this difference namely in that Philosophical Vinegar not tinging is prepared but in this Philosophical Vinegar tinging because these are made of the Acid Spirits of things tinging that is Metals and Minerals but those of the Acid Spirits of things not tinging that is Vegetable Salts and some Minerals whose dry part was neither Metal nor any coloured Body 3. That these Menstruums are not only dissolving Waters but also gradatory because prepared with things tinging 4. That these Menstruums are the Essences of things tinging or Magisteries dissolved in an Acid and consequently Medicines 5. That these Menstruums may be also made of crude Oyls provided a Man knows the way of preparing the Spirit of Philosophical Wine 6. That the same two Oyls of Sulphur whereof the Red is an Essence after the way of Paracelsus that is the best which Paracelsus elsewhere prepares with the most strong Aqua fortis described before in Numb 91. are here made by the same Author of a crude oyly matter 7. That Vegetables and Animals as such and crude are not Ingredients in Philosophical Works but as they are made incombustible and reduced into a Metallick Nature The said separation saith the Author of Via Veritatis pag. 253. You must well observe for from hence the Ancient Sophi took occasion to inquire into
distillation dissolved in its own Acid Part produced a Menstruum of this Kind whereas in the Precedent Kind that small quantity of Copper dissolved or contained in common Spirit of Vitriol and elevated with a violent Fire is by the Spirit of Philosophical Wine reduced not into the Essence but Magistery little effectual as well through the smalness of its quantity as Tincture This present Oyl of Vitriol is not the least esteemed among the Secrets of Basilius and therefore we will a little more exactly consider his most clear description that by his more abundant Light we may Illustrate darker places First Basilius bids us purifie Roman Vitriol by divers solutions and coagulations which purification is necessary to separate the Vitriol from strange Dust Dross and other impertinent Offals yet this we think Superfluous when the Vitriol is purely cristallized for the Terestreity setling in the dissolution of Vitriol is not Foeces but Copper less dissolved than the rest and left by the Acid being too much diluted with common Water The Vitriol being purified he enjoyns to be distilled with the Spirit of Wine into a red Oyl He reduced not only Natural Vitriol but also Artificial Vitriols made of Metals into such Oyls The Sugar or Vitriol of Saturn he distills together with the Spirit of Wine into a red Oyl curing Melancholy the French Disease c. Coagulating and fixing Mercury but if fixed with the Mercury of Mars tinging thirty parts of Mercury into Gold Libro de Conclu Tract 2. Sect. 1 Cap. 1 de Sulphure Saturni The same way saith he is a red sweet Oyl tinging Saturn into Gold to be distilled out of Sugar or Vitriol of Jupiter in the following Chapter which he repeats in Sect. 2. Cap. 2. de Vitriolis Saturni Jovis Argent vive he dissolves in Aqua fortis and being reduced into Cristal or Vitriol distils with the Spirit of Wine rectify'd before with the Salt of Tartar the Menstruum described in Numb 18. into a sweet Oyl curing the French Pox Old Vlcers Palsie c. to be joyned to Martial Tinctures in the Transmutation of Metals Sect. 2. Cap. 5. de Vitriolo Mercurii The more fixed Metals Gold and Silver he distills in Balneo Regis in Numb 89. through an Alembick which the Menstruum being drawn off he reduceth into Volatile Vitriols to be distilled with the Spirit of Wine into Oyls Sect. 2. Cap. 1. De Vitriolo Solis et Luna The more dry Metals Iron and Copper he prescribes to be distilled into the same Oyls but omits the way of distilling Sect. 1. Cap. 3. De Sulphuribus Martis Veneris Sect. 2. Cap. 3. De Vitriolo Martis Cap. 4. De Vitriolo Veneris but the following Kind of Menstruum will prove that they are to be distilled with Philosophical Vinegar By these places compared together we are better assured of divers things First that the Oyl of Vitriol is not any common Acid of Vitriol though drawn out of Vitriol most exquisitely purify'd for the same Oyls may be made with the Vitriols of all Metals by the same Spirit of Wine Secondly that common Spirit of Wine is altogether useless to this Work but that the Philosophical or Menstruum rather described in Numb 18. is meant by Basilius by the Spirit of Wine Moreover that the Vitriols of Saturn and Jupiter do yield sweet Oyls because made of some weak Acid namely common Vinegar which is easily altered or transmuted by this Philosophical Menstruum But that the Oyls of the other Metals being made with stronger Acids either Philosophical Vinegar or Mineral Menstruums do remain Acid especiaily the present Oyl of Vitriol in the distillation of which the Spirit of Philosophical Wine or Vegetable Menstruum is dissolved by the Natural Acid or common Oyl of Vitriol and with such a prevalent Acidity ascends in the form of a red Oyl Lastly that this Oyl of Vitriol is commended to us by Basilius as a Menstruum to be fermented with Gold which we would have you take special notice of for Basilius hath here and there in his Books discovered many notable things concerning the Menstruum of Vitriol but most rarely advised the distillation of it with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine yet without which all Processes and Labours all Endeavours and experiments are vain and of no importance in the more Secret Chymy For the making this Oyl of Vitriol the Adepts sometimes dissolved it in the Spirit of Philosophical Wine which afterwards being cristallized they called Vitriol corrected or graduated Of this correction or graduation of Vitriol Paracelsus thus The Description of Vitriol saith he is to be directed to Medicine and Alchymy In Medicine it is an excellent Remedy In Alchymy it is good for many other things but the Art of Medicine and Alchymy consists in the preparation of Vitriol For the Crude is not such but like Wood out of which any thing may be carved Lib. de Vitriolo pag. 200. At first he proceeds the Spirit of Vitriol being obtained the custom was to graduate it to the highest wherewith being exalted they cured the Epilepsie whether new or old in Men and Women of what condition soever c. But let us return to the beginning how the Spirit of Vitriol was found First they distilled the moist Spirit of Vitriol by it self from the Colcothar then they extended its degree by distilling and circulating it alone to the highest as the process teacheth Thus the Water began to be used for several Diseases as well Internal as External as also for the Falling Sickness so a wonderful Cure was performed But those that came after were much more diligent in the extraction for they took the Spirit of Vitriol corrected as before and distill'd it with the Colcothar eight or ten times with a most strong Fire so the dry Spirits were mixed with the moist They urged the work so long continually and without intermission extracting till the dry Spirits were over then they graduated both Spirits the moist as well as the dry in a Phial together their own time This Medicine they found to be of much greater operation against Diseases that they confounded all the Humorists in general Yet is there some correction by Artists added by Spirit of Wine for better penetration sake but of no higher degree But I will communicate to you my process which I commend to all Physitians especially for the Epilepsie which hath the only cure in Vitriol wherefore even the Charity of our Neighbour requires us to appoint the more diligent care in that Disease Now my Process is for the Spirit of Philosophical Wine to be imbibed by the Vitriol and then distilled as I said from the dry and moist Spirits c. But you must further know that the aforesaid Receipts of making the moist Spirit of Vitriol cannot be more clearly described for an Artist is required to understand it those sordid Boylers do not in the least understand a thing of so great moment You must expect
Matter into a Glass Plate set it on a Tripos or our Calcining Fornace and there let it stand six Weeks and apply such a heat as if you would keep Lead melted without congealing Those six Weeks being expired let it cool then put it in a cold Cellar and cover it with a Linnen Cloth that no dust may fall in and in the space of six or eight days it will be wholly dissolved into a clear Water Now you must know this is the Philosopers clear Vinegar for when they write our Vinegar they mean this Water and when they say Philosophers Mercury they mean this Water and it is their Vinegar which they write or so wonderfully speak of From the Receipts we observe 1. That Metals and Minerals volatilized with Simple Mineral Menstruums are Menstruums of this Kind 2. That these Menstruums are the same with the Menstruums of the Eighth Kind dissolved in Simple Mineral Menstruums but differ from the antecedent Kind in being made not with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine but Philosophical Vinegar 3. That these Menstruums are the Essences or Magisteries of Things tinging dissolved in Simple Mineral Menstruums 4. That those Menstruums being Mineral or Acid are in Alchymical Processes better than the Vegetable Menstruums of the Eighth Kind because stronger 5. That the dissolutions of Metals performed by these Mercurial Menstruums have been by the Adepts sometimes called Amalgamations You must know saith Isaacus That this is the best Solution that ever was found in the World for herein is no error of Proportion and Weight For Nature errs not For when Mercury is dissolved it dissolves other Metals also as is rightly taught in other places Nor will it dissolve more than it is able nor will it receive more of a Body into it than its Nature can bear For whatsoever has no need of it it cannot dissolve And it is the best Amalgamation that can be found 2. Oper. Min. Cap. 103. Pag. 494. Vol. 3. Th. Chym. That Bernhard in Epistola ad Thomam treated not of a dry but of this moist Amalgamation I shall prove elsewhere 6. That the Menstruum of Venus Sol Luna c. is of the same Virtue as to the faculty of Dissolving with the Menstruum of common Argent Vive this Mercurial Menstruum has been indeed more in use than the other by some Adepts because of the more easie way of operating upon the Open Body of Mercury tho it be less powerful than the rest in Point of Tinging 7. That there are divers Kinds of Stinking Menstruums The Thirteenth Kind taught us how to distil the most Stinking Menstruum of all out of Atrop For there the Oyly Matter of the Spirit of Philosophical Wine being dissolved in Vitriol is in its Distillation purged from all its Putrid Feculencies but the Twentieth Kind treats of Menstruums less stinking being made of the Spirit of Philosophical Wine now purified and sweet The present Kind produceth from the same Matter Menstruums of the same Name indeed but not of the same Stinking Savour Colour c. For Philosophical Vinegar is by reason of the perfect dissolution of the Spirit of Philosophical Wine Diaphanous not of a Milky Colour but in the Distillation of a Menstruum it is made Milky because the Acidity of the said Vinegar being debilitated by the Aridity of a Body dissolved cannot retain the Vnctious Spirit of Philosophical Wine so well as before but in the precipitation of which the Distilled Liquor becomes Milky for this reason the Adepts sometimes added common Vitriol and Niter to the Azoquean Vitriol that the said Spirit might the better be dissolved In a word The greater quantity of Philosophical Vinegar or any other Mineral Menstruum stronger than this is made use of in the making of these Menstruums the less Milky and less Stinking will the Menstruums be because made not of the embrionated Stinking Matter of the Spirit of Philosophical Wine but of the same purified by Circulation and Distillation 8. That these as all other Menstruums are by Digestion made sweet and transmuted into Dissolvents of the Eighth Kind The Two and Twentieth KIND Mineral Menstruums compounded of the Philsophers Vinegar and other Simple Mineral Menstruums and Things tinging being first fixed 124. The Menstruum of Venus of Isaacus Hollandus Cap. 82. 3. Oper. Miner I Will now Son teach you how to make the Stone which God gives us freely You must know it is made divers Ways but I will teach you the Way which I learnt from my Father Take of the Stone which God gives us freely the Vitriol of Venus as much as sufficeth which dissolve in Philosophical distill'd Vinegar let the Feces settle decant the Dissolution from the Feces warily and filter draw off the Vinegar with a gentle Fire that the Matter may remain dry being dried dissolve it again in Distill'd Vinegar decant filter and draw off and that to be four times repeated till no more Feces settle in the Solution Then distil away the Vinegar with a gentle Fire till the Matter becomes so dry as to flie away in the beating of it into Powder yet retains its Spirits Now it is prepared for Calcination You must know Son that this Matter is in its Nature Stiptick and Astringent partly volatile partly fixed and so dissolved in Distil'd Vinegar that it may retain the subtil Spirit of the Vinegar and be calcined together with the said Spirit made more subtil be better opened and dissolved for the Spirit of Vinegar dissolves well before all things The Vitriol being thus prepared Put it in a Glass Bottle or Egg lute hermetically but the Vessels must be fill'd that there may be no space for the Spirits to elevate themselves set it on a Tripos and there let it remain in a temperate heat to subtiliate it self Then take out the Matter and pulverize it put it in a Cucurbit put on an Alembick with a Receiver to it and so distil in Balneo whatsoever will distil it will be distilled in about 20 or 25 days Then lay aside the Distillation take out the Feces lying at the bottom of the Cucurbit grind them very fine upon a Stone put them in a Dissolving Vessel pour all the Distilled Water to them seal hermetically and it will be all dissolved in Balneo without Feces distil the Solution in a Cucurbit through an Alembick in Balneo with a moderate heat that all the Water may separate it self which keep very choicely continue the Distillation in Ashes that you may receive the Element of Air in the form of a very noble Citrine Oyl and this must be done with a strong Fire lay aside the Air by it self very well stopped near the Water The Feces being as red as Blood take out of the Cucurbit grind them to an Impalpable Powder upon a Stone put them in a Glass Bottle or Egge seal and set it 30 days and nights on a Tripos to be subtiliated with a temperate heat then take out the Matter grind
several times dissolved in Philosophical Vinegar and coagulated according to the Receipt in Numb 125 as Mercury is dissolved in the Water of Salt circulated in the Circulatum majus of Mercury This Vitriol being graduated in a close Vessel must be fixed into a most red Powder and being fixed then dissolved and coagulated in Philosophical Vinegar that it may again become volatile as Mercury being fixed in its own Circulatum is again made volatile by virtue of the Spirit of Philosophical Wine At last the Vitriol is to be Distilled into its Spirits Now by knowing the method it is manifest that the mystery of the Receipts consists in the Vinegar but to remove all scruple from these most excellent Menstruums we will prove by the very words of Isaacus himself that he meant not a common but Philosophical Menstruum Have not I taught you saith he how to draw all Metals through the Alembick so as to Distil wholly into Oyl leaving nothing but that alone does the strong Spirit of Vinegar and makes them Metals to be perfectly separated and rectified from their Feces within and without as I taught you and that the inside should be outward and the outside inward and then they are so resolved and subtil that the Elements cannot be separated one from another if you sought all the means in the world you would not be able to separate these Elements by reason of their subtility cleanness and resolution and when they have the subtil penetrating Vinegar with them they pass all together through the Alembick with the Vinegar but if you should put them to fire and any Spirit of Vinegar in sufficient quantity was present they the Metal and Vinegar would be forthwith fixed together and because the Vinegar is copiously in their clean open subtil Body they distil into Oyl and the Spirits of the Vinegar are fixed with the Body Now you must know thdt the Spirit of Vinegar is more Subtil than all things in the World yea a thousand times more subtil than the Quintessence of Aqua Vitae it cannot be contained in any Vessels but it is easily half fixed and therefore it easily fixeth the thing to which it is applied as it is demonstrated in the Vegetable Work where the Discourse is of Wine and the Nature of it where you will be sufficiently instructed what Vinegar is and the Spirit of it how all things are dissolved and ascend Cap. 77. 78. 2. Oper. Miner Pag. 477. Vol. 3. Theat Chym. You must know saith he elsewhere this is the greatest Secret in this Art for the middle parts of Vinegar are of so great Virtue as to be incredible by reason of their great Subtility for every thing they are mixed with becomes exceeding subtil and penetrable wherefore they make the Philosophers Stone a thousand times more subtil than it was before and more penetrable and the subtil parts mix themselves with the Stone for they are of one Nature and are both clean and subtil and are mixed together as Water with Water and it is a Medicine of that Nature as to make every thing fixed which it is mixed with and of its own Nature wherein it is and thus are the subtil parts of Philosophical Vinegar fixed in the Philosophical Stone and are made of one Nature with the Stone and they make the Stone as fusible as an Artist can wish as he oftentimes dissolves the Stone in Vinegar and congeals it for as many or few Spirits remain in the Stone the more fusible is the Medicine Wherefore I have taught my Son how to make his Stone so fusible as thereby to bring Mercury to Sol and Luna and it is a great Secret known to few peruse this Lecture diligently what vertue there is in Vinegar and what with the middle matter of Vinegar may be made Cap. 51. 1. Oper. Min. Pag. 337. Vol. 3. Th. Chym. That Vinegar which is a thousand times more subtil than the Quintessence of Aqua Vitae or Spirit of Philosophical Wine The Spirits of which makes the Philosophers Stone a thousand times more Subtil That is of one Nature with it and fixeth every thing it is mixed with you your selves will say is no common Menstruum but another of more excellent quality Isaacus moreover dissolves and coagulates the Stone in this Vinegar so oft till it is converted into Oyl which will be no more congealed Cap. 51 59 107. of the same Book With the same Vinegar also he made Metals fat and transmuted them into Oyls thus he dissolved and coagulated Gold so often continually in New Vinegar till an Oyl was made thereof as red as blood as Cap. 54. of the same Book Sometimes also he did with the same Vinegar reduce Gold to the consistence of an excellent White Oyl out of which he then distilled a White Spirit and a Red Oyl apart and not immixible together so subtil as that he advised the Artist to have a care lest these Oyls should condense again by too much Rectification for then being forced with too strong a Fire the greatest part of them would by reason of their great Subtility penetrate the Glass and so be lost Cap. 126 128 1. Oper. Min. Pag. 406. Vol. 3. Th. Chym. Who can expect such and so great things from Common Vinegar The same Vinegar that dissolved the fix'd Metal Gold and divided it into Spirit and Oyl the Constitutives of the Stone out of Sol alone the same also is required to dissolve fixed Vitriol and distil it into Spirit and Oyl the constitutives of the Stone out of Vitriol alone of the making of which in the Third Book of Alchymical Tinctures That this Oyl of Vitriol shews light by night affirms Trismosinus who hath described the said Oyl thus 127. The Oyl of Vitriol shining by Night of Trismosinus Libro Gangeniveron sive novem Tincturarum in Tinctura prima TAke of the best Hungarian Vitriol twelve pounds grind and dissolve it in pure clean Water or Rain Water distilled let the Feces settle decant the Solution into a Glass Dish placed in a Brass Bason full of Sand put the said Bason in Balneo and draw off the Water to a thin skin let it cool and stand three days in a cold place and in the mean time you will find green Stones which take out the remainder draw off again to a thin skin and let it Cristallize and this seven times repeat put the Stones in a Stove of the same heat as the Sun in Dog-days and in such a heat they will turn into a White Powder The Vitriol being thus prepared put it in a Cucurbit with a long neck well Sealed in Ashes under which put a Lamp so as that the heat exceed not the Sun in March thus leave it till the Vitriol begins to be yellow being yellow the Fire of the Lamp increase one Degree and thus leave it ten days and nights or till it begins to be red then again increase the Fire in the Lamp another Degree and
close Vessel in Balneo the space of six or eight days stirring it three or four times a day then let it cool and settle filter the tinged Vinegar pour on new repeat this Work till no more Vinegar will be tinged Draw off all the tinged Vinegar in Balneo that a Powder of a golden Colour may remain at the bottom This Powder prepare and extract with Vinegar as before filter the solution and draw it off till at length it leaves no Feces behind it then draw off the Vinegar that the rest of the Matter may remain in the form of a Powder Take of this Powder one part of Salt prepared one part of Roman Vitriol dried six parts mix them all well and sublime by degrees first with a weak Fire secondly stronger lastly most strong for the space of two days sublime the sublimation mix'd with its Feces three times then casting away the Feces sublime with new Species and repeat the Work three times then dissolve the Sublimation in the Dissolving Water for the red of what Description soever in the Twentieth Kind the Water being drawn off sublime pour on New Water and sublime and that do three times Then take seven parts of this Sublimation one part of the Calx of Sol and sublime This Sublimation being put into a Philosophical Egg made of Gold for one of glasswould be of little use for this purpose because it would become soft as wax stop it well and set it upon a Tripos the space of eighteen Weeks to be fixed but the first six Weeks with a gentle Fire the next six a stronger the last most strong These Eighteen Weeks being ended take out the Matter being fixed reduce it to Powder to which being put in a dissolving Vessel pour an equal quantity of our red burning Water of the aforesaid Dissolving Water for the red seal or stop the Vessel very well let it dissolve and settle then take it out and distil it through an Alembick in Balneo with a very small Fire It is necessary for the Receiver to be well luted and the Alembick must have a pipe in the upper part for it must be six times distilled always with new Red Water and your Matter will at length become thick as Honey which distil in Sifted Ashes by degrees and an Air will ascend like Water then changing the Reciver an Oyl of a Golden Colour will distil gilding the Alembick as also the Receiver let it continue in the same heat till the Alembick be of a Blood Colour then take away the Receiver stop it suddenly put another to and increase the Fire for the space of twenty four hours till the Vessel grows red hot in which heat let it continue twelve hours and the Matter will ascend red as blood and at last also a red fume These Spirits no more appearing let the Vessels cool keep the Distillation but the Feces reverberate c. Out of the Receipts these things we observe 1. THat these Menstruums made of the graduated Vitriols of Metals fixed in a close Vessel have the like place amongst Mineral Menstruums as the greater Circulatums of Paracelsus have amongst the vegetable Menstruums Dissolve the aforesaid Circulatums in any Acid Spirit and you will presently make Menstruums of this Kind 2. That these Menstruums are Medicines call'd Volatile Arcanums dissolved in an Acid. 3. That the graduated Vitriol of Venus has some certain peculiar Priviledges above the rest 1. Because in the Distillations of these Menstruums it hath a Fixed Body besides a Soul and Spirit whereby the two aforesaid must be fixed into the Stone but all the other Metals and Minerals being reduced into graduated Vitriols have no Fixed Bodies and are divided into two parts only Spirit and Soul but because the Adepts found it necessary to borrow some Fixed Body elsewhere for the fixing of these they therefore more than often affirmed the possibility of making the Stone out of Vitriol alone without any Addition thus have we heard Isaacus in the antecedent Receipts saying God hath vouchsafed such a blessing to Vitriol that the Philosophers Stone may be made of it alone without Addition it translating all Metals into true Sol but the Oyl of it must be fixed with its Earth or Body but that is not so with Metals for their Earth distils together through the Alembick But who observes not here these Words Without any Addition to be meant of any Foreign Matter and are so to be understood with some certain restriction For this most red Oyl of Vitriol shining by night and which must be fixed with its Salt into the Philosophers Stone cannot in the least be produced from Vitriol alone and that crude being not graduated with Philosophical Menstruums Moreover as the like Oyl being distilled from Gold and fixin the purified but not volatalized part of it is called by Isaacus the Stone of Sol alone whereas notwithstanding he used his Philosophical Vinegar to the making of it so the Stone may be said to be made out of Vitriol alone without Addition though the same Vinegar was used in the preparation of it Lastly It is manifest by the Kinds of almost all Menstruums that no Acid that is dry and incombustible Matter can be reduced into Oyl without an Oyly Menstruum because it must receive this unctiosity from the Vnctions Spirit of Philosophical Wine 2. Because it is of mean value and so by the Adepts call'd the Stone which God hath given us freely This Work saith Isaacus you cannot enter upon with a little Matter you must have at least four or five Pounds of Matter Gold or Silver if otherwise the Work will be insufficient For it is not the Work of poor men except the Stone given us by God freely might happily be obtained then other Charge is not necessary more than Vessels Coals and Food till we have prepared the Stone And the two Stones which God hath given us freely for the White and Red Work require but half the time as the Matter which is to be taken for preparation sake for before we come to Sublimation the Stone given us freely is already almost brought to fixation Cap. 17.1 Oper. Mineral Pag. 313. Vol. 3. Th. Chym. The same thing is affirmed by Basilius saying There is no moisture in Gold unless it be reduced into graduated Vitriol which would be a Work indeed of no Profit but much Charge because of the great quantity of Vitriol required to the making of the Philosophers Stone and though there is in Vitriol the desired Spirit of Gold of a white quality and a Soul and Salt of a glorious Essence but how many Countreys Estates and Riches have been thus consumed I will not reckon but this Admonition I give my Disciples to follow the shorter way of Nature that they may not also fall into extream and inextricable Poverty If you intend therefore he goes on to make the Philosophers Stone out of the Vitriol of Sol as many men indeed endeavour consult
with your Purses and prepare Ten or Twelve pounds of this Vitriol and then you will finish your Work whereas Hungarian or other Vitriol would suffice 3. Because it is our Gold full of the Tincture of common Gold Green Vitriol saith Ripley being Stillicidium Veneris or common Vitriol is by many Philosophers called Roman Gold because of the abundance of its Noble Tincture which ought to be fermented with common Gold Pag. 140. Medulla Philos For Vitriol he goes on is nothing else but Stillicidium Cupri or droppings of Copper in the Mynes wherein Copper is generated as Bartholomaeus an English Monk and Philosopher saith and though it hath an admirable Tincture of redness yet is that Tincture polluted with an unclean terrestreity which is called its original blemish which hinders Gold and Silver from being made of it Therefore saith Raymund let not the Terrestrial Virtues over power the Coelestial Virtues of the Sun and the rest of the Stars and you will have a good thing in Vitriol Pag. 303. Pupillae Arnold to shew the Golden Nature in common Vitriol to his Disciple resolved to prove it by an Experiment in Speculo Alchymiae Pag. 605. Vol. 4. Theat Chym. where thus by the way of Dialogue Disciple I wonder good Master that you commended Brass so much I know not whether there be so great a secret in it I thought it to be a leprous Body because of that greenness which it hath in it Wherefore I still admire what you said that we ought to extract Argent vive Menstruum out of this Body Master Son You must know that the Philosophers Brass is their Gold and therefore saith Aristotle in his Book Our Gold is not common Gold because that greenness which is in that Body is the whole Perfection of it because that greenness is by our Magistry suddenly turned into most true Gold as we know by experience and if you have a mind to try we will give you a Rule Take Aes ustum well and perfectly rubified common to be Sold in Shops and let it drink seven times of the Oyl Duenech Spirit of Philosophical Wine as much as it can drink always assating and reducing cohobating and calcining then cause it to descend melting this Vitriol being impregnated with the aforesaid Oyl into a Regulus for pure Gold settles as grains of Kermes red and pure and you must know that so great a redness descends with it as to tinge some quantity of Silver of a most true Colour c. To alledge all that the Philosophers have said of the Golden Nature of Vitriol would be too much peruse Basilius alone especially the fourth and fifth Chapter De Rebus Naturalibus Supernaturalibus as also in the Elucidation of the 12. Keyes and you will find Vitriol more esteemed by him than any Gold for his Doctrine is that the Tincture of the Vitriol of Venus and Mars is far better than the Sulphur of Gold not indeed in its Kind for it is one and the same in all but that this Tincture is in the Natural as well as Artificial Vitriol of Venus and Mars higher and more noble in Colour more abundant in Quantity of easier Separation from its Body in Preparation and of less Charge in the use than the Tincture that is in Gold 4. Because it is Gold opened not yet fused and so of easier preparation You have laboured saith Isaacus a long time before this Matter is made subtil and spiritual enough to be sublimed But if you could procure the Stone which God hath given us freely there would be no need to prepare it so But you might presently take it reduce it to an impalpable Powder and wash away the uncleanness of it with a common Water till the Matter came clear from it then dry it again and it would be ready for Sublimation in which respect the Work of it is shorter Cap. 22. Pag. 317. Vol. 3. Theat Chym. To speak more plainly saith Ripley I affirm that the more subtil a Body is of the easier Dissolution it is And moreover you must know that Dissolution ought to be performed by our Vegetable Menstruum or some other Vegetable And this Vegetable Mercury Vegetable Menstruum cannot penetrate a Body so as to complete the dissolution of it except the Body be first made spongy but no Lead is so spongy nor so subtil as Red Lead or Minium Vitriol calcined and therefore if we would not be frustrated of our expectation it is necessary for us to take Red Lead that is Antimony prepared which is more spongy and subtil than any other Lead For the Vegetable Water will suddenly penetrate into it and dissolve the most subtil parts of it But now to declare further concerning the second Body which is Roman Vitriol you must know that it is an easier thing to make the separation of the Elements in a thing complexioned which was never before forced into a hard and compact Substance by the violence of Fire than to perform the same in a Substance forced into a hard Mass or in a Metallick and Stony Substance wherein the Congalative Virtue is extinguished and therefore in respect to the other is made Intractable not being soft nor unctious and consequently less obedient to Solution and Separation for Vitriol is nothing else but c. Pag. 301. Pupillae 4. That the Adepts in the more secret Chymy meant four things chiefly by the Stone 1. The Matter of the Menstruum or Spirit of Philosophical Wine of which God willing in the Fifth Book 2. All Menstruums whatsoever made with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine Examples enough you will find in the Receipts of Menstruums produced to you 3. Every Matter of the Philosophers Stone so Gold and Silver are in many places called Stones but by the Stones which God hath given us freely Isaacus meant Vitriol for the Red and Alume for the White Cap. 39. 3. Oper. Miner Pag. 67. He hath besides these two other Stones also made of Arseniek and Auripigment both graduated of which see the Six former Chapters 1. Oper. and Cap. 112. and 113. 2. Oper. Miner But of these in their proper places 4. Every Alchymical Tincture tho not in the form of a Stone but Oyl 5. That Menstruums made of Vitriol or Venus are indeed better than the rest in point of Tinging but not Dissolving The Three and Twentieth KIND Mineral Menstruums made of Mineral Menstruums compounded and Metallick Bodies and other Tinging Things 131. The Oyl of Mars and Venus of Basilius Libro de Conclusion Sect. 1. Cap. 3. TAke of Verdegrese some Pounds and with Philosophical Vinegar distilled make an Extraction which is cristallized into a Noble Vitriol out of which by a Retort is distilled a Red Oyl which dissolves Mars into Vitriol out of which is the Red Oyl extracted again in a long time and with a strong Fire and thus have you the Sulphur of Mars and Venus together with this Oyl is Luna graduated and a good
desired Oyls may be drawn from them the reason why Vitriols alone made of Copper should be deprived of the said Priviledge cannot easily be apprehended It matters not whether Vitriol be graduated according to the method given in Numb 113. or according to the prescription of the present Receipt for the same Spirit and Oyl is produced either way Now this Oyl of Venus being made and diluted in common Water Iron is reduced into graduated Vitriol which must like the Vitriol of Venus be also calcined into a Red Colour and then distilled tnto a White Spirit and Red Oyl The Method of this Process is in Libro particul in particulari Martis thus Take off the Red Oyl of Vitriol one part of Spring-water two parts mix wherein dissolve the Filings of Steel filter the Solution warm then evaporate it gently to the comsumption of a third part and in a cold place you shall find Cristals sweet as Sugar the true that is graduated Vitriol of Mars from which decant the Solution then draw it off a little and in a cold place you will have New Cristals which gently calcine under a Tyle stirring them continually with an Iron Spatula into a Powder of a Purple Colour to which pour Philosophical distil'd Vinegar extract the Soul Tincture or Essence of Mars draw off the Vinegar and edulcorate the Soul This is that Soul of Mars which being dissolved in the Spirit of Mercury and united with the Soul of Sol tingeth Luna into Sol. But of these below The Vitriol of Mars being graduated and calcined into a Purple Powder in our Receipt is without the extraction of its Soul distilled into the Philosophers Mercury and Philosophical Sulphur the true Oyl of Mars and Venus the Menstruum next fore-going in Numb 131. Out of which to make the present Spirit of Mercury the Salt must be extracted out of the Caput mortuum with Philosophical Vinegar which Salt being mix'd with the Oyl of Mars and Venus and distil'd together through an Alembick is call'd the first Matter of Metals Basilius sometimes used the Salt and Sulphur of Sol instead of the said Salt extracted out of the Caput mortuum Thus 133 The Oyl of Mars and Venus acuated with the Sulphur and Salt of Sol of Basilius In Supplemento TAke of the Purple Coloured Gold the Crocus of Sol des Konings Purpur Mantel half an ounce of the Philosophers Oyl of Mercury the Oyl of Mars and Venus one ounce and half dissolve to which add of the Salt of Sol two drachms all being resolved into an Oyl rectifie it by a Retort that it may be clear and pellucid For the Spirit of Universal Mercury Basilius took Copper dissolved in Philosophical Vinegar and cristallized into graduated Vitriol and with gentle calcination reduced it into the true Crocus or Red Powder of Venus But the Iron he dissolved in the Oyl of Venus distilled out of the said Crocus of Venus cristallized and calcined into the Crocus of Mars For the present Menstruum he requireth Gold dissolved in Balneo Regis described in Numb 89. and reduced into a volatile graduated Vitriol which then being dissolved in Distil'd Water he precipitates with three times as much of Argent Vive out of the Menstruum but the amalgame from thence produced he gently calcines under a Tyle into a Purple Powder or Crocus as to the making of which here only by the by but in the following second and third Books we shall treat more fully of it The way of making the Salt of Sol he has thus in Libro particul in particulari Solis described Take the White Body of Sol left in the extracting of its Soul the Essence extracted out of the Crocus of Sol with the sweet Spirit of Salt described in Numb 28. reverberate it gently for half an hour that it may be made corporal then pour to it the Corrosive Water of Honey well rectified which in a gentle heat will extract the Salt in the space of ten days All the Salt being extracted draw off the Menstruum from it in Balneo edulcorate the Salt by repeating Cohobations in common Distilled Water and lastly Clarify it with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine and you will have the Salt of Gold Concerning this Water of Honey Basilius in Curra triumphali Antimonii Pag. 77. thus Out of sweet Honey may be made the strongest Corrosive and Poyson which is to most men a thing incredible The same affirms Paracelsus saying The like is to be understood in Honey which by its elevations is made much sharper than any Aqua Fortis and Corrosive and more penetrative than any Sublimate such a property of sharpness it hath not Naturally but by elevation which changeth this Honey into a Corrosive Libro 5. Archid. Pag. 18. and elsewhere Cap. 14. de Morbis Tartar Pag. 319. Honey of it self is innocent but in the third elevation becomes mortal The way of making this Water is not indeed in the Writings which we have either of Basilius or Paracelsus yet easily will a diligent Disciple learn the same by the Principles of his Art for either the Coelum Mellifluum of Parisinus must be dissolved in distilled Vinegar or some stronger acid or crude Honey cohobated in Philosophical Vinegar that is common mix'd with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine and the Process will be shorter and better But this Salt of Gold may be also made without the said Water of Honey provided the Menstruum be so corrosive as to dissolve the remaining Body of the Gold thus in Labore tertio Revelat. he reverberates the Caput mortuum of Gold the space of three days then calcines it with an equal weight of the Salt of Tartar which he washeth off with Distilled Water and extracts the Salt out of the dried Powder with Vinegar which drawing off the Vinegar he clarifies with the Spirit of Wine that is he dissolves filters draws off and cristallizeth it into the true Salt of Sol. In another place he extracts the Salt of Gold by the Spirit of Vniversal Mercury as in Elucidatione 12. Clavium where he affirms that the Philosophers Stone cannot be coagulated or fixed without this Salt and that he hath taught the way of making it in the fourth Key By the Philosophers Oyl of Mercury he means the Oyl of Mars and Venus not yet reduced into the Spirit of Vniversal Mercury or acuated with its own Salt and the more fixed part indeed of this Menstruum which he calls the Philosophers Sulphur not the more volatile part which is call'd the Philosophers Mercury With this Sulphur he dissolves the Soul or Crocus of Sol and converts it into potable Gold Libro de supernaturali Medicina Yet sometimes he would have us take the same Oyl of Mercury for the Oyl of Roman Vitriol the Menstruum described in Numb 98. So in Libro de particular in particulari Solis he reduceth the white Body of the King Gold left in the extraction of the Soul or Crocus
increase the fire extreamly and that which comes over keep very close for it is the animated Spirit or Soul of the Gold From the Receipts we observe 1. THat the Menstruums of this Kind are more noble than those of the 20th and 21th Kinds there the Essences or Magisteries of Metals were dissolved in Simple Mineral Menstruums but here in the same compounded 2. That these Menstruums differ not from the Menstruums of the Tenth Kind but in the addition of Acidity dissolve a Menstruum of the said Kind in what Acid you will and it will be forthwith transformed into a Menstruum of this Kind 3. That these Menstruums are by Digestion made sweet again and Vegetable as before 4. That these Menstruums are not satiated but by their Dissolutions augmented as well in quantity as quality in infinitum 5. That the Spirit of Universal Mercury or first Matter of Metals of Basilius is by him also called Mercury duplicated wherein the Kings Mantle is to be dissolved Sect. 1. Cap. de Sulphure Mercurii Sect. 2. de Vitriolo Phil. and Sect. 2. Cap. 4. de Vitriolo Veneris In another place the Sulphur of Mars and Venus duplicated Sect. 1. Cap. 3. de dulph Martis Veneris In another place the Soul of Mars and Venus as in Particul Veneris 6. That this duplicated Mercury is made much better by adding the Kings Mantle the Crocus of Sol Luna and other Metals That the Menstruums of almost all Kinds are promiscuously called Philosophers Mercuries but of these more copiously and more exactly in the Third Book 7. That the Spirit of Universal Mercury of Basilius is the same with the Magisteries of Mars and Venus made after the Mineral way dissolve the Magisteries of Mars and Venus in the common Spirit of Vitriol and by this simple Dissolution you will make the same Spirit of Universal Mercury 8. That as Mars and Venus so also Jupiter and Saturn and the rest of the Metals may be made into the said first Matters that is of the same Virtues with the first Matter of Mars and Venus as to the faculty of dissolving But Mars and Venus are preferred for the excellency and exuberance of their Tinctures The Four and Twentieth KIND Mineral Menstruums compounded of Vegetable and Mineral Menstruums mix'd together 143. The Vegetable Fire dissolved in the Calcinative Water of Lully Pag. 363. Magiae Naturalis TAke of the Vegetable Water acuated the Metallick Soul of Lully described in Numb 5. one Ounce put it in a Phial with a long Neck into which you poured three Ounces of the Calcinative Water the Mineral Menstruum described in Numb 68. and suddenly cover the Phial with its Cover luted close with Wax then place it well in a Balneo the space of two Natural days and in that time the whole Vegetable will be converted into Clear Water Animadversions THe Adepts acuated the Spirit of Philosophical Wine divers ways and reduced it into several as well Vegetable as Mineral Menstruums in the antecedent Kinds Now in this 24th and last Kind of Menstruums they mix not either common Oyly or Arid or Acid Matters with the Vnctious Spirit of Philosophical Wine as they did in the aforesaid Compositions of Menstruums but joyn Vegetable and Mineral Menstruums already perfected together in order to make Menstruums of this Kind The like Menstruum almost is made by Luly and call'd 144. The Vegetable Heaven dissolved in a Mineral Menstruum of Lully Pag. 59. Testam Novissimi TAke of the Stinking Menstruum described in Numb 99. one Pound add one Pound or half a Pound which will be enough of Aqua Vitae most perfectly rectified Philosophical described in Numb 30. and acuated with the sublimed Salt of Tartar in Numb 17. or Wine Hold the Vessel in your hands and do not put it on the ground or any other place till the fury of the ebullition is over and it is a mixture of a Vegetable with a Mineral seal it with Wax and let it stand a day then put it two days in Balneo and distil in Ashes and you will have a limpid clarify'd and ponderous Water then put it in a Circulating Vessel very well sealed the space of sixteen days in Balneo conveniently till you return and see the Water well united and at the bottom of the Vessel in the form of a Cristalline Salt keep it The same Menstruum but of different weight he made elsewhere he added half a part of the Vegetable Menstruum to one part of the Stinking Menstruum in the antecedent but in the following Menstruum he takes more of the Vegetable than Mineral Menstruum 145. Ice compounded of Vegetable and Mineral Menstruums of Lully Pag. 68. Testam Noviss TAke of the Mineral G or Stinking Menstruum three Ounces and of Aqua Vitae rectifi'd and acuated with the Salt of Tartar four Ounces put them together in a Glass and distil nine times in Balneo and in that time it will be all converted into one as Ice Ripley mix'd vegetable and mineral Menstruums thus 146. The Aqua Mirabilis of Ripley Pag. 212. Philorcii TAke the Tartar calcined white as Snow grind it upon a Marble and incerate it with Aqua Vitae fortified with its Species as is premised with the Menstruum described in Numb 8. till it be as thin paste then put it in a Circulating Vessel and circulate the Water till it is wholly dried up in the Tartar repeat the same Work and so continue till it hath drank off the Water double its part and quantity in weight which done grind the Tartar and lay it upon a Stone or hang it in a Linnen Bag and put a Glass under to receive the droppings of it and this must be done in a place under ground till all the Tartar is distilled into clear Water out of which after Distillation and Coagulation is made a wonderful Salt of Nature which the Philosophers call Salt-peter and incombustible Sulphur properly the volatile Salt of Tartar which fixeth any Argent Vive But to have perfect Aqua Vitae requisite for this Work put Philosophical Wine in a Circulatory for a hundred days to be circulated with its Species and then extract Aqua Vitae out of it the Menstruum in Numb 23. because if you put to it as much Salharmoniack sublimed as Tartar one drop of it after it is perfected suddenly kills a Cancer in the Flesh of Man and if it be dropped upon ones hand penetrates it and dissolves every Body Without this Water we profit little in this Art and he that has this Water will not in the least doubt of compleating the Art But this Water is made twice as strong if an equal quantity of the Mineral Spirit which is the Philosophers acute Water the Green Lyon of Ripley in Numb 59. be added to it and then circulated upon the Tartar and upon the Sal harmoniack to spissity and then dissolved into Water which if done this Water will be of greater value than any Gold and
Menstruums the Spirit is unsettered as also acuated such Menstruums cannot in the least be said to be made without it There are lastly also Menstruums in the Receipts of which neither the Spirit of Philosophical Wine nor any Oyley Matter is expresly mentioned but these are more rare on purpose alledg'd to shew us either the Envy or Morosity of the Adepts whereas notwithstanding it is by the Vse of the Menstruum manifest that this Spirit is added through necessity for that which is promised could not otherwise be effected Finally There are some which you will affirm may be made with Common Spirit Common Vinegar and Aqua fortis or Common Sal Armoniack without the Spirit of Philosophical Wine Suppose it so but when you proceed to Practice and try an Experiment with such a Menstruum you will soon find it not only too weak but also altogether ineffectual and destructive in the more Secret Chymy For it is impossible to do that with a common Menstruum which the Adepts have prescribed by a Philosophical Menstruum The Secrets of the more Secret Chymy have this Priviledge that they cannot be made by any man but him that is possessed of Philosophical Wine III. That these Menstruums are prepared from any sort of Matter We have demonstrated that the Menstruums aforesaid are made of divers Oleosities Aridities and Acidities of the three Kingdoms You have observed the simple Vegetable Menstruums to be made of things neither Tinging nor Acid Compounded Vegetable Menstruums of things Tinging not Acid Simple Mineral Menstruums made of things Acid and not tinging the Compounded of things both Acid and Tinging Wherefore being now better assured of your Menstrual Matter hitherto so anxiously sought for you may take crude Mercury or Vitriol Niter common Salt Salt of Tartar or Vrine Rain-Water May-Dew the Spirit of the World also by whatsoever Art obtained or any other Matter also which you have made choyce of before the rest for the true and universal Matter of a Menstruum in which choyce you will not err for it is much at one whether you make it of Gold or Mercury whether of Pearls or Arsenick Vegetable or Mineral Salt provided you proceed according to this or that Kind of Menstruums with consideration also of what Vse you would have the Menstruum lest you prepare an Essence instead of a Magistery or a Poyson for an Antidote On the contrary take pure Honey so applauded by Parisinus or the Salt of Tartar commended by Ripley or common Salt esteemed by Paracelsus as the Matrix of Metals or Vitriol abounding with the Tincture of Gold extolled by Basilius or Argent vive magnify'd by most of the Adepts as the open Metal Take I say which of them you please but you must know it cannot in the least answer your expectation except it be joyned that is corrected exalted and graduated with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine IV. That these Menstruums are also prepared by any Method YOV have here had several Methods of Preparation which if not satisfactory you may please to invent new ones Herein is contained nothing secret if your Matter and the Spirit of Philosophical Wine be without any possibility of being separated mixed together and distilled either in part or whole through an Alembick For every Matter by what method soever volatilized and distilled with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine is a Menstruum V. That these Menstruums are sufficient also for every Use YOV have now in this Book observed the Use of the Spirit of Philosophical Wine as also of most Menstruums in these ways of making Menstruums hereafter in the following Books you will perceive them to be sufficient for every purpose By these means you will make all the Medicines of the Adepts reduce all Metals into running Mercury or if you had rather into the Philosophers Mercury or first Matter of Metals By these will you make as well universal as particular Transmutatives of Metals the best of all in respect of deeper Tincture shortness of Time and conciseness of Work Hereby lastly will you prepare whatsoever curiosity has been left us by the Adepts and prescribed in their Books so that if they have any Preparations without the Spirit of Philosophical Wine you may decline them without any dammage For these Menstruums do volatilize all fixed Bodies and fix the volatile and volatilized dissolve the coagulated and coagulate the dissolved Vnder which few Notions are comprehended all the Operations of the more Secret Chymy VI. That these Menstruums are many YOV have observed divers Kinds of Menstruums designed for several distinct Vses Simple Vegetable Menstruums do extract rather than dissolve Bodies the Compounded dissolve only but not extract That which Vegetable Menstruums do the Mineral cannot and so on the contrary Of Vegetable Menstruums are made Medicines only not Poysons but of Mineral Menstruums Poysons only and not Antidotes without the singular dexterity of an Artist An Vse different and contrary to its self admits no universal Menstruum The Spirit of Philosophical Wine is indeed the universal Matter of them all but there is not one of all the Menstruums sufficient for every Vse wherefore unless you will for the same reason call every one universal because they all proceed from the Spirit of Light the universal Basis of all things we cannot but deny an universal Menstruum VII That some Menstruums are corrosive THat Mineral Menstruums are corrosive and therefore dissolve Bodies with ebullition is clearly manifest by the Receipts aforesaid I would not have you being perhaps not sufficiently instructed in the Sayings of the Adepts every where declaring against Aqua fortisses and all Corrosives either despise or think ill of them These are those Menstruums by which the ancient Adepts abbreviated their Time and Labour in preparing their Tinctures And Paracelsus justly entituled himself to the Monarchy of Arcanums he having been the principal Instrument in compleating not only the Abbreviations of Alchymy but moreover introducing these Mineral Menstruums to Medicinal Vse and that with so much dexterity that there seems to be now no hope left to his Disciples of mending any imperfection of this Art as will be demonstrated in the following Books Besides these Menstruums differ from the Vegetable Menstruums no otherwise than that an Acidum is superadded to them or to the Spirit of Philosophical Wine corroding the Aridum and dividing it into Atoms making way for the Oleosum to be sooner and better incorporated and mixed together which notwithstanding do by taking away the Acidum return into the same Vegetable Menstruums they were before VIII That these Menstruums are permanent yea fixed with Things dissolved in them IT is by the former descriptions of Menstruums manifest that as well the Spirit of Philosophical Wine as Menstruums made of it do stick to the things dissolved in them There is indeed no better Argument to confirm the excellency of Menstruums than that they are homogeneous and permanent with things dissolved and