necessary and naturally dry neither is there any thing cold which by the same reason is not moist Whatsoever is besides contingent hereunto is not by Nature but by accident It is no otherwise amongst the Elements the Fire and Water have the chief place and the Earth borrows her coldness from her Companion the Water and her driness from the Fire for her self she is never hot moist nor cold nor dry but serveth her two other Princes as the Wax submits to every Seal In like manner we are to judge of the Air for so the Air receiveth heat and driness from his Father the Fire and cold and moisture from his Mother the Water therefore they are generated as from their Parents the Fire and Water the Air Masculine or rather a Hermaphrodite and the Earth a Female And thus far of the natural Instruments and the Matter The fourth Degree is Putrefaction This for its excellency might deserve the first place if it were not repugnant to the true order and a secret in this place hidden to many and manifested to few It ought therefore to remain placed in its due Series even as the links in a Chain wherein if one be wanting the Captive detained therewith escapes and flies away The property therefore of Putrefaction is that consuming the old Nature of things it introduceth a new Nature and sometimes produceth Fruit of another Generation for all living things die with corruption and being dead they putrefie and again acquire life by the Transmutation of their Generation into them And by it corrosive Spirits are dulcified and mollified and all Colours are thereby turned into others and thereby the pure is separated from the unclean Now the Members of Putrefaction are Digestion and Circulation The fifth Degree is Distillation which is nothing else but a Separation of the moist from the dry and the thin from the thick The Members hereof are Ascension Lotion Imbibition Cohobation and Fixation Cohobation which concludeth all the rest is an often effusion or pouring of the distilled Liquor to its feses and often distilling it over As Vitriol with Cohobations is fixed by its own proper Water and then it is called Allumen Saccarinum which being dissolved into Liquor and then putrefied by the space of a Month and distilled yields a most sweet and pleasant Water after the manner of Sugar which is a most excellent Medicinal secret far above others to extinguish the Microcosmical Fire which happeneth to the Diggers of Metals which is largely spoken of in the Book De Morbis Fossorum Mineralium Of the Diseases of the Diggers in Mynes After the same manner also may any other Minerals and Waters as Sal Nitrum be fixed by Cohobations The sixth Degree is Coagulation which also is twofold answering contrary to Solution consisting of heat and driness that is of Air and Fire Again Coagulation is twofold as having two parts cold and as many of hear The first of cold is made of common Air without Fire and the last of the superior Firmament by the Hyâ—â—al Stone which congealeth all Waters into Snow and Ice But the first Coagulation of heat is made by industry in Art observing the gradations of the Fire and is fixed but the other Degrees of cold in Alchymy are not fixed The later Coagulation of heat is made by an Aetnean Fire and Mineral under the Earth and under the Mountains and is gradated by a natural Arch of the Earth Not unlike to this is the Fire which being gradated by the Art of Alchymy is excited and brought to Coagulation Whatsoever is coagulated by this Aetnean Fire remains fixed as is manifest by Metals and Minerals all which consist from the beginning of certain Muscilaginons matter coagulated by the Aetnean Fire and the natural Arch and Artifice of the Earth under the Mountains into Stones Metals Pearls Salts c. The seventh and last Degree of the Scale or Ladder of Transmutation is Tincture the most noble Medicine above all others that are procured by the Chymical Art whereby all Metallick and humane bodies are dipp'd into a far more noble better and excellent substance then before they were naturally of and are thereby reduced to the highest Degree of soundness colour and perfection and to a more strong and excellent Nature Various are the kindes and species of these Tinctures in this place least of all intended to he treated of The Metallick bodies ought first to be removed by Fire from their Coagulation and to be liquefied otherwise they will not receive any active Tincture unless they be opened Also all the Tinctures of Metals ought to be fixed substances easily fusible and of an incombustible Nature that being poured upon a fiery Lamen they may flow forthwith like Wax and soon penetrate the Metal without smoke as Oyl doth Paper or as Water enters into a Sponge so they dye that into a white and red colour remaining in the Fire and enduring every trial Therefore in the first Degree of Calcination to come to these Tinctures the Metals being brought into Alcol they acquire an easie liquefaction in the second Degree to wit of Solution and then by Putrefaction and Distillation their Tinctures may be fixed and made incombustible and the colours unvariable But to restore recover conserve or renew the Health of humane bodies they ought to be drawn from Gold Pearl Antimony Sulphur Vitriol or the like Various also are the Subjects of the Fire and they have several and divers Operations in Chymistry as one Fire made of the flame of Wood and this they call living Fire wherewith is calcined and reverberated the bodies of all Metals and other things another is a continual heat of a Candle or Lamp wherewith they fix Volatiles there is another Fire of Coles wherewith bodies are cemented coloured and purged from their Excrements also Gold and Silver are thereby brought to a higher Degree Venus is refined and all other Metals are renewed the fiery Lamens of Irons have another Operation for thereupon is made the trial of Tinctures Another heat is raised by Fire by the filings of Iron another in Ashes another in Salt another in Balneo Mariae wherewith are made many Distillations Sublimations and coagulations There is also another Operation made by Balneum Roris which sometimes I have elsewhere called Balneum Vaporosum wherewith many Solutions of corporal things are made Then the Venter Equinus hath another Operation in which are made the chief Putrefactions and Digestions also the invisible Fire hath an Operation far beyond all these that is of the Beams of the Sun which plainly appeareth by his Operations as by a Speculum or Chrystal And of this the Ancients have not made mention By this Fire the three Principles of every thing may be separated upon a Table of Wood without any fear of flagration or adustion and all Metals liquefied without any visible Fire and all combustibles consumed into Coals and Ashes But the Transmutation of Metals to bring
which are not permanent but they go about fixed Cures with unconstant means undertaking that which is impossible for them to perform But what shall I say more unto these they have never yet learned otherwise in their Academies The Spirit of Venus is derived of a permixtion of more crass elements then the former wherefore it is inferiour and subject unto them but it is more perfect then the other Spirits and Tinctures which follow excelling them in fixation and constancie not yeelding to the fire nor so subject to be corrupted as the others subsequent and remaineth more fixed in the fire which vertue Venus hath not in her own body but from a Spirit What operation soever it hath in its Mercury the same it doth also in humane bodies according to the degree of nature for it defendeth wounds and ulcers from accidents and expelleth such diseases as are under its degree and power and disperseth the root thereof If it be mixed with any other Metals it breaketh their perfect bodies that they will not be malleable any more until they be freed from it The like effect it hath in humane bodies especially if it be taken for any Disease not destined unto its degree by nature it bringeth Contractures of the members VVherefore the Physitian ought perfectly to learn the Natures and Tinctures of Metals how they agree with the Nature of Bodies before they venture to give them lest they endanger their Patient The tincture of Mars consists of an adustible and crass permixion of the Elements having a more hard and less tractable substance then the other imperfects hardly fusible but corruptible both with Air and VVater easily subject to be consumed with rust but in hardness and driness it abounds above all other Metals as well perfect as imperfect It torments the body of man if applied to any disease other then becometh its Nature yet it wanteth not power and vertue granted to it by God and Nature in its special propriety The Spirit of Jupiter is created of a white pally substance of Fire by nature intractable with the hammer but not so much as Mars Being mixed with others it discontinueth and mixeth with them especially with Luna that it will hardly be separated herefrom The like operation it hath in all other Metals except in Saturn if it be taken contrary to its Nature to operate upon mans body it afflicts the members with cruel passions and pains and gnaweth them with such burning that they cannot exercise their natural faculties being outwardly applied to Fistula's Cancers Carbuncles and such-like which exceed not the degree of its Nature it is the best remedy expelling every evil The Spirit of Saturn is created of an obscure tenebrose and cold permixture of Elements whereby it comes to pass that it less endures the Fire then any other It mundifies the bodies of Sol and Luna and purgeth them from superfluities it afflicteth the body taken inwardly more then Tin or Iron but because it is coagulated with more cold then the other it operates not so sharply it hath an excellent faculty to heal Fistula's Cancers and such-like ulcers and many other infirmities But having performed its operation unless it depart from the body together with the disease it doth more hurt then good Wherefore let the Physitian that desires to make use hereof first know with what diseases it agrees and how it is naturally ordained for Medicine Lastly the Spirit of Mercury hath no certain determinate form but is subject to all the other as wax to the impression of a seal for it receiveth every Spirit whatsoever unto it self as when the Spirit of Sol is impressed into it it transites into Sol if Luna into Luna and so of the rest he putteth on their nature and embraceth every Metal His body may be compared to the Spirits of other Metals as the Female to the Male not by a corporal mixture but when a Spirit is educed from its Metal and after the preparation projected into Mercury then at length he exhibits his transmutation no otherwise then a dead female of Metal although it be as an untilled Field or Earth if it be macerated or vivified with the Philosophers Plough which female in this work remains fixed and uncorrupt it is united to the said corporal Spirit by the degrees of the fire into his nature and substance this with the dead body of Metal which with the crass Spirit of Mercury cannot be done And although the body of Sol exist of Mercury or Argent vive and is fixed nevertheless common Mercury not fixed or mortified never cometh to its Resurrection For the Resurrection of Metals is an immortal Regeneration and the medium whereby the tinctures are promoted to their generation Wherefore it cannot be united with dead bodies into fixation but only with extracted Spirits of the corporals before spoken of which are subject to Metals as the common Mercury is subject to all Metallick Spirits For the crass Spirit of Mercury doth in no wise generate this tincture in substance no more then a concubine legitimate issue We are to judge in like manner of the crass Spirit of Mercury so long until the metallike and corporal Spirit is made by the medium of the natural matter without this medium it is impossible to attain to any good and perfect work in these kinde of tinctures moreover if the fire be too strong it cannot generate if too remiss the same event happens CHAP. X. Of the plain Manifestation of this Art WHen thou wilt make the Heaven or Sphere of Saturn to run with life upon the Earth impose thereupon all the Planets or which you will but let there not be too much of Luna but add less thereof then of the other Permit them all to run until you see the Heaven of Saturn quite to vanish by this means all the Planets will remain of such a consistency that their ancient and corruptible bodies being dead they have put on a new perfect and incorruptible body This is the Spirit of Heaven by which the said Planets are again made corporal and living as at first Take this new body from the Life and from the Earth and this keep for this is Sol and Luna After this manner thou hast the whole Art made manifest and plain but if thereby thou dost not know or understand the same it is well for so it ought to remain not vulgarly and indifferently laid open to all Finis de Transmutatione Metallorum Of the Genealogy and Generation of Minerals CHAP. I. WHen I had diligently and accurately read the writings of the Ancients concerning the Generation of Minerals I appredended that they understood not the ultimate matter of them and by consequence much less the first Truly if the beginning of any matter may rightly be written certainly the end thereof may very fitly be declared I have therefore in the first place decreed to propose unto you the ultimate matter of all Minerals whereby you may
will force them stand before 'um And bring them up in Cavea stultorum But princely Nature from his boundless store Provides a Salve for every dang'rous sore And thus hath made our Authors happy Pen The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of good to unlearn'd men Go on good Friend to other things for we By this thy Book are able to foresee Great Paracelsus Learning Hermes Skill Shall English speak by thy ingenious Quill John Gadbury 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paracelsus Paracelsus OF The TRANSMUTATION OF METALS CHAP. I. Of the Scale of Transmutation TRansmutation is an alteration or changing of the forms of natural things into other forms as of Metals or Wood into Stones or Glass the changing of Stones into Coles c. It hath been found out That Metals that have been first coyned into Money have been by Nature changed under the Ground into a stony substance and yet have retained the impression of the Image that hath been stamped upon them and That the Roots of Oaks being smitten with Thunder or some other influence of the Stars have been turned into true Stones There do also arise Springs of Rivers in many places that by a certain natural poperty do transform all things whatsoever are cast into them into hard Stones These and such-like works of Nature wise men have contemplated and have thereby learned likewise to do the fame things by Art by observing the same Order which Nature teacheth by her Instruments This we see frequently done in many Mountains That Coles are generated of Stones naturally by a certain Aetnean fire of which Carpenters have frequent use So that this last kinde of Transmutation is done by Fire in the Earth the other before spoken of by Water and Air These are the Instruments of Nature and they are for the Matter the Motion for the Form What therefore if a natural Composition may be made Earth by Fire and that made Water by Air and this made Fire by Fire and that again descending may be made Air by Air and then this be made Water by Water and at last that may be reduced into Earth by Fire what Transmutation I pray do thou think will come thereof if you were expert you would know it The vulgar and ignorant see not these things and that for no other cause but because they do not consider the secrets of Nature Whosoever therefore together with them is ignorant of or denieth these things which Nature hath set before the Eyes of all how learned or wise soever he would seem to be he is not worthy of the Name of a Philosopher nor Physitian Whence hath Physick her first Foundation out of the appearance onely or manifest superficies of natural things Nothing less but out of the most occult and hidden secrets of Nature compared to the most manifest effects Wherefore as Nature her self is undiscernable by every sence no otherwise are all her Operations Who ever saw a Tree to grow or the Sun or Stars move No body But that the Trees have grown and the Sun and Stars have been moved by a space of time who knoweth not Therefore Operations in Physick do more chiefly consist in the Understanding rather then in the Eyes or the other Sences although they in their courses are the Directors unto us that we may make further progress otherwise between the Philosopher and the Clown there would be no further difference But to return to the purpose The Scale or Ladder of Transmutation hath seven Steps or principal Degrees which are Cascination Sublimation Solution Putrefaction Distillation Coagulation and Tincture Under Calcination are contained these his Members Reverberation Cimentation and Incineration wherewith in all Operations all things are turned into Chalk or into Ashes Therefore in the first Degree of Transmutation the elementative natural bodies are converted into Earth with a middle Fire as the Instrument And here first of all is to be noted the difference between material Elements and instrumental of which by the way we shall speak for these are external but the other are internal as when the first Operation is compleated whether it be by Calcination or Reverberation Cimentation or Incineration Sublimation succeedeth out of the order of Preparations which Earth now being calcined is converted either into Water or into Air according to the Nature and property of the thing so to be converted for if it be of dry things then chiefly is to be used the elevation of the Volatile parts from the fixed Wherefore Sublimation is convenient for things of that Nature But if there ought to be made a separation of moist things as of Vegetables or Animals then it is convenient to use Sublimation thereof in the fifth Degree to wit Distillation But because in this place it is chiefly intended to treat of dry things as Metals and Minerals the order congruent to their Natures is likewise to be observed Therefore the Volatile part is to be sublimed as in moist things by Cohobations that is by re-conjoyning of the parts separated and by iterating or separating them over again until they become fixed and remain within with the parts fixed and ascend no more but remain consisting in the substance and form of Oyl of or a Stone for with Solution by the Air they are turned into Oyl and with Coagulation by Fire into a Stone Let Sal Armoniak be an example for every Metal for that in Sublimation successively becomes Stone By this Operation of Sublimations many corrosives are dulcified and mollified and on the contrary with the addition of another substance Also many sharp things are sweetned and many sweet things on the contrary are sharpened somtimes by themselves or with other things prepared after this manner Afterwards happens the third Degree to wit Solution and that is twofold the one of cold the other of heat Salts Corrosives and whatsoever things are calcined are coagulated by Fire and then by the coldness of the Air are resolved into Liquor Water or Oyl in a moist place as a Cellar or in the Air being placed upon a Marble-stone or Glass But fat and sulphureous things are dissolved by the heat of the Fire and that which the Fire dissolveth by heat the same is coagulated by the coldness of the Air On the contrary that which is dissolved by the coldness of the Air is coagulated by the heat of the Fire Note here the Reason wherefore we call the Air cold which seems to oppose and contradict the Opinion of some Philosophers for they will have it to be hot and moist but they consider not whereof the Air consists doth it not consist of Fire and Water for what else is the Air but Water dissolved by Fire Wherefore from one part thereof to wit the Fire it borroweth heat and driness and from the other part the Water coldness and moisture for they are the two chief qualities thereof and the other two are her Ministers for there is nothing hot by Nature which is not also
tell us of an eternal Liquor of most strong Coaction rained down from Heaven here is like descent she is called Hyperiwn or Daughter of the Sun a Body of like weight and vertue with Gold fair cleer quick only coacted and brought from the Empire of humidity to suit the person which in her crude Nature shews strong Affection and turns the noblest of Metals into her own colour Therefore the Artist studies how to disponsate these two And first denudateth the Lady of her frosty Garments that she may have the first activity and liquefie her fettered Lord then are they both in the power of Art to better It is objected This Heaven-born Hermodactylus or Hydromel is of a Nature so obstinate and incorrect she will by no means receive the best impression Consider Her names signifie mixt matter of contrary quality therefore may be separated and although her original obscure condition because it is unknown by the innate affections and subsistance for it is an Airy Body or Air it self with Mercurial Spirit subsisting of internal heat and external cold Others say It is composed of the Spirit of the World corporate in the womb of the Earth and apt to receive the qualities and properties of all natural things as wax impression and being composed of Spirits the weight is of greater wonder Others say It is a crude Sperm not sufficiently decocted yet not to be profaned Others call it an immature Gold which kills it self and the Father and the Mother to bring forth a pure Infant by her they overcome the Fire she is the perfection of the Universal Medicine what Conformity what Similitude what Identity she holds with the Metallical Urne being the original matter and substance thereof and may be coagulated to the equal temper of Gold is as the whiteness in Snow Therefore the Ancients magnifie the most Blessed who created such a substance and gave it such properties as no other thing in Nature doth possess yet we see it is a vitious matter which hath superfluous Humidity proper and appropriate Qualities separable and inseparable Accidents Therefore the separable may be removed to which end she is included in a Well of Tears that the VVatriness may be vapored or through long Decoction by Driness vanquished Then doth it as it were congeal and fix and become more apt for durance and extension for whatsoever is contrary to the natural doth debilitate and like by his like is nourished but heat is contrary to cold and the natural property of scalding heat is to weaken and dry The fresh Water adds power and heat heat augmented becomes Fire and Time turns Strength to Corruption This glutinous substance hath natural heat from which is the Life and Death of the Elements Therefore as common Fire bringeth all things to his own Nature so the external working upon the internal heat it doth necessarily obtain victory Therefore if you can believe that heat and driness shall overcome cold and moisture that lineary and successive course hidden to all the World is open to you Therefore as Nature delights in Concord so the Lovers and Searchers into Natures Work must be of constant mindes and Gideon-like resolve to race the City Meroz not refusing to assist the publick good and then the Marriage for the Princess never unmasks her Virgin-Beauty except to him that hath skill and power to espouse her in a bed of Love which none can do before the despoliation of the exterior form but the Obstacles removed and Nature set on work the external Decree doth necessitate the effect for being now warm and blyth and apt for new Generation and pounded with her Lord grated to Dust his unnatural softness deceives the sense and they passionately condole each others Exile and in their imbraces fall in a sound until their dissolved Bodies shew corruption and the more pure being corrupted are more vile The Artist finding them out of their Indian Paradise corrects their central virtue and raising them from the Earth leads them the thorny path to threefold happiness and by fiery trial purifieth the Quantity and changeth the Quality and so brings them to perfect rest whereby they have power over the bodies of Men and Metals and are crowned in token of their dignity and boundless Territories Now considering the rarity of true Knowledge the Honor and Dignity of things desired what Spirit is so ignoble to think much either of Cost or Time when that which is sought is of all Terrestrial Treasure most excellent FINIS An Appendix of the Vertues and Use of an excellent Essential Water made and approved by Stephen Trigge Student in Physick and Astrology and by him gained and experimented at Amsterdam and also in London IN all manner of Fevers both Pestilential and others Calentures Apoplexies and all Epidemical Diseases it is a perfect and certain Remedy and in Quartain and Quotidian Feavers where the Disease ariseth from Choler It perfectly remedies the Bloody Flux and all other Fluxes either of the Stomack or Belly Vomiting Scowring and Excoriation of the Bowels and where the Stomack is spoiled for want of Appetite this is a sure Fortification for it wonderfully strengthens the Stomack both the vital and animal Spirit and mightily succors the Heart that is oppressed with heat And being taken in Aqua Melissae it doth speedily help the extream beating and panting of the Heart Convulsion-fits and falling Sickness it cureth safely and speedily and all manner of heat breaking out in the Face and any other part of the Body being either caused by the heat of the Sun or by some noisome Food taken into the Body that doth cause putrefaction of the Blood The way to take it is this in a burning Feaver take of it in Planten-Water if there be loosness in the Belly and sweeten it with Syrupe of Clove-Gilly-Flowers and drink it as your constant Drink till the Feaver is abated and the Appetite recovered In the Calenture Drink it in Balm-Water being made far sharper then white-Wine-Vinegar and mixed with Syrupe of Cowslip-Flowers it must be drunk very often till the senses come and the Patient remain cured which will be in few dayes for it penetrateth the Blood makes it thin quencheth the Feaver reviveth the Heart and Brain and quickneth all the digestive Faculties In the Apoplexy take it in Betony-Water and Aqua Vitae with Syrupe of Stoechas take the Dose as in the Calenture or stronger if the Patient be able to bear it and it shall be holpe in forty eight hours or thereabouts If there be any thing in this World that will preserve Man if the Glass of God's determination be not quite run out this will help Though he be lame over all his Body his Senses gone his Speech lost and to the judgement of many as dead yet this precious Liquor will in a wonderful manner restore them speedily and safely In the Scurvy Canker Squinancy and Inflammation of the Uvula this doth excel all ordinary Medicines for it doth
and the menstruum shall draw into it self the Tincture of it or the colour and it will become citrine bright resplendent shining and most acceptable to the sight then by little and little inclining the Vessel transfuse the menstruum into another clean Vessel of Glass but do this warily lest the Earth or Feces of Gold be not poured out together with the menstruum and Cucurbite then to the golden Earth which is setled pour again two ounces of the menstruum and shut the Glass with Hermes his Seal and set it first in a fire of the first degree and then of a second and when the menstruum shall have the colour of Gold ejaculate it into another Vessel of Glass yet so that the Earth be not mixed with the menstruum but may remain in the bottom and leaving the Feces of the Gold in the Vessel pour again two ounces of the menstruum upon it and shutting the Glass Hermetically set it in the heat of the first then of the second degree Then empty the golden menstruum into another Vessel taking heed lest the Feces go out with it together reiterate these operations so oft as before till you see the menstruum draws no more of the Tincture of Sol and that the body of it remain in the bottom white which will be done in seven times if you do all these things well Now when all the Tincture of Gold is prepared from his Body it is requisite that all the dissolutions be joyned together and be put in a fit Vessel then purifie And then lastly having put on a blind Head and having shut carefully all the Joynts set it in a Furnace and give it a heat in the second degree and exuberate from thence the most precious Liquor of Gold then you shall have the Tincture of Gold separated from the Body of it and made volatile joyned with the Heaven or vegetable Quintessence from which it must be separated by the way which I will shew you in the following Chapter The manner how to separate the Tincture of Gold from the Quintessence vegetable and the way to circulate the same that it may be converted into Quintessence or Celestial Nature and Spiritual and almost Incorruptible HItherto we have shewed you how to draw the Tincture from the Body of the Sun and how they exuberate it in a cleer and open speech Now we intend to shew how the same Tincture may be separated from the menstruum which is Celestial and by Circulation is converted into a Quintessence most fragrant and in strength most eminent and incorruptible as the Heavens To do this proceed thus Take a Stillatory of Glass and infuse into it the vegetable Menstruum which is circulated in which is the Soul of the Gold then add to it of the Element of Water in the same thing to wit of the Lunary of the Philosophers so much as is of the menstruum it self then put your Vessel in a Physical Furnace and putting an easie fire of the first degree to it distil from it the vegetable Quintessence and the Element of Water admixed to it so the Tincture of Gold shall remain in the bottom like Wax melted or like the fluid gum and in colour most like unto a Ruby To purifie this Tincture from the superfluity of the Elements and to make it to a Quintessence by Circulation proceed thus Take a fit Vessel of Glass and put in it the Tincture of the Sun most red exulerated and separated from the vegetable Water and pour upon it a convenient quantity of the vegetable Quintessence and having shut the Glass Hermetically put the Vessel in a Physical Vaporary and with continual heat as of the Sun suffer it to be circulated a sufficient space which done you shall see in the bottom of the Glass an Earth like unto Slime which must most be separated from the Tincture mixed with the vegetable as a superfluous thing which is done by the Distillation of the menstruum with the Tincture in the fire of the second degree which being done put the Vessel containing the Quintessence vegetable mixed with the Tincture in the Physical Bath and putting to it the fire of the first degree by Distillation extract the vegetable Quintessence and so the Tincture of Gold most beautiful being purified from the Dregs of the Elements and Slime of the Earth and made spiritual and volatile shall be setled in the bottom of the Circulit converted into a Quintessence and into a Celestial and Incorruptible Nature to which no earthly thing may be compared in smell or sweet favour nor in vertue and excellent operations Keep the Quintessence most carefully as a most precious Treasure for it is the true potable and mutable Gold The true Elixir of the Sun Power The true Diaphoretical and Universal Medicine The true Mercury of the Philosophers without which there is no Transmutation of Metals The way to reduce the liquid and volatile Quintessence of Gold into a fixed Stone and transparent like to a Rubie with the multiplication of Celestial Vertues ALthough I have hitherto delivered the true and perfect way to prepare Sol and to convert it into a Quintessence so that it serveth for all Medicinal effects universally and needeth no further preparation Nevertheless because the vertues of it may be further augmented I will now reveal how it may be fixed into a Stone which by a manifold Solution Coagulation by heavenly Influences doth attain unto the highest degree Perfection and efficacy to all effects both within and without the body of man The way to make it is thus Prepare a Fixatory Vessel of equal bigness with their heads having heads equally proportionable whose heads must be disposed that the head of each one may enter into the belly of each other mutually and that the mouth of the one Vessel may enter into its own head but that the mouth of the other may receive within it self the mouth of its own head then put in each Vessel one part of the Quintessence of Gold and to each part severally pour thirteen parts of the Quintessence vegetable which being done put the heads upon the Cucurbites and joyn the Vessels together as they ought to be and shutting the Joynts most carefully that there an Anchanor and having given a most temperate heat of the other or second degree let the Quintessence be so long moved till the vegetable Water hath laid off the Tincture or Colour of Gold and shall have ascended and descended no more citrine in colour but white like a distilled Water which will be done in three or four weeks at the most which time being past and when you have seen the aforesaid sign then suffer the Furnace to wax cool of it self then taking the Vessel from the Furnace open them and in the bottom of each Glass you shall finde a Stone like unto a Rubie or Carbuncle which is the potable Gold congeal'd through the vegetable vertue and the purest of the vegetable Sulphur working upon the Quintessence of Gold from which Stone by the Inclination of the Vessels you shall separate the vegetable Waters then take out both the Stones out of both the Vessels without any moisture and you shall put it into a fit Vessel very carefully that it suffer no harm by the Air and when you would have this Stone to become more pregnant and powerful in operation by Celestial Vertues proceed thus Bray it in a Marble or Glass-Morter with a Glass-Pestel and being brayed put it into a small Glass-Vessel 〈◊〉 to that effect and being Hermetically shut put it into the Physical Bath and leave it there three dayes in which time it will turn into a Water or Liquor very red which Liquor put into the Achanor and suffer it to be digested five dayes in a temperate heat and then again it will be conduced and become a stony substance red and transparent from thence take out again the Stone and bray it to a powder and then again put it into a Physical Bath the space of one natural day and then again it will be dissolved into a most red Liquor which again put into the Achanor to be digested the space of two dayes which time past you shall finde again a Stone most transparent and like to a Ruby which may be melted upon a red hot Plate of Iron and will send forth no smoak at all Now this same so prepared hath so many Vertues that no tongue of man is able to express them FINIS
the imperfect to perfection cannot be very well done without the Stone or Tincture of which we will hereafter treat in their due places And we will also say something of the Transmutation of imperfects into imperfects bringing them only for the probation of Transmutations But we shall first treat of the Fire whereupon hangs the hinges of all the Art and teach some process of the Stone of Paracelsus CHAP. II. Of the simple Chymical Fire HAving now sufficiently spoken to the wise and ingenious of the Art of Transmutations by the Scale and Degrees thereof that the order before spoken of may be kept it will be necessary in the first initiation to propose and lay down the manner of the Instruments before the matter it self lest that the rude and unskilful should first use the foot in stead of the hand Let them not therefore approach hither whose understanding hath no eyes and whose hands cannot serve them for the feet and the fleshly eye without a sound and uncorrupted understanding is altogether ignorant The chiefest Instrument which ought most diligently to be sought after is the Fire which being living of its own proper Nature is not vivified by any other Fire From hence also it comes to pass that it hath power and vertue to vivifie whatsoever else lies hidden in other things As the Sun in the World is created by God to vivifie stir up and quicken the Fire resting in all other things as of the ☽ ☿ ♀ ♂ ♃ and ♄ and that he might heat the Spheres of all the other Stars by his Fire which otherwise have no heat of their own neither can they give forth any of themselves for they are dead of themselves but being kindled by the Solar heat they live and give forth their Operations according to their several proprieties For the Sun doth not receive the Light Life and Fire which he hath from any other Star but onely from God that created and ruleth him so that he alwayes giveth Heat and Life in himself illuminating every other natural Light Even so is the Fire of the Philosophers secret Furnace to be accounted in the Spagyrick Art which heateth the Furnace and Sphere of the Vessel and the Fire of the matter even as the Sun is seen to operate in the universal World without which nothing can be generated therein In like manner nothing can be effected or brought to pass in this Art without this simple Fire it being the chief part and Operation of the whole Art comprehending all the other parts thereof in it self and is comprehended of nothing for it consisteth of it self not wanting any of the other but all other Operations whatsoever are made stand in need of this simple Fire from which they receive Life together with the matter it self Paracelsus speaking elsewhere of the simple Fire saith thus This saith he is the Opinion of the most excellent Philosophers The Fire and Azor are sufficient for the Fire alone is the whole Work and the compleat Art Some do build their Fire simply of Coals they erre containing the Vessels therein or thereupon others in vain attempt it with a Fire of Horse-dung with the Fire of Coals they sublime the matter without any medium and dissolve it not others have stirred up Heat with Lamps asserting this to be the secret Fire of the Philosophers to make their Stone others have placed it in Balneo and set this in an Emmet's Nest some have placed it in Ashes of Juniper and others have sought this Fire in Calce viva in Tartar Vitriol Nitre and the like others have thought it to be in hot burning Water as Thomas Aquinas falsly speaks of this Fire saying That God and his Angels cannot want it What blasphemy is this is it not a manifest lye cannot God want or be without the elementary Fire of hot VVater and be without all the other Creatures when he pleaseth doth he stand in need of any of them All those Heats that are stirred up by the means and Fires now spoken of are altogether unuseful for this purpose See also that you be not seduced by Arnold de villa nova who writes of the Fire of Coals for in this thing he deceives you Almadis saith That the invisible Sun-beams are sufficient for our Fire He produceth another example That the celestial Heat by his reflexion and continual motion doth chiefly make the perfection and coagulation of Mercury And again he saith Make a vaporous continual digesting separating Fire but not flying or boyling up but altering and penetrating Now I have told and that truly the whole way of stirring up the Heat of this Fire if thou art a true Philosopher thou well understandest this is it Salmanazer saith Our Fire is a corrosive Fire which bringeth an Airy Cloud over our Vessel in which Cloud the Beams of this Fire are hid This due Cahos and humidity of the Cloud being wanting there is error committed Again Almadir saith Unless the Fire heat our Sun by his humour by the excrement of the mountain with a temporate Ascension we shall not be partakers neither of the white nor red Stone All these things do sufficiently demonstrate unto us the occult Fire of the wise men In brief this is the matter of our Fire to wit That it be kindled by the quiet Spirit of a sensible Fire which again expelleth the hot Cahos as from its opposite above our Philosophical matter which Heat waxing above our Vessel temperately urgeth it forwards to the motion of perfect Generation constantly without intermission Thus faith Paracelsus of the simple Fire of the Philosophers CHAP. III. Of the multiplicity of the Philosophers FIRE HAving spoken of the simple Fire we hold it convenient to treat also of the multiplicity of Fire and that more copious and cleerly then of the other before for by this later we may attain to a perfect sight as through a Casement Fire therefore is manifold as well because of the diversity of the Subject in which it floweth as that afterwards it is excited in divers other Subjects it is varied and changed as the Fire of Ashes Sand Balnei Limatures c. have a mediate Heat flowing from an immediate into the Subject-matter of the Instrument and from hence into the matter subjacent to the Art In this manifold Fire there is a difference of place and this is the Reason Because in all things there is nothing in the Nature of things that can be seen in all things and by all things like one to another although they are both of the same Species and their members of the same individuals as one Metal produceth Gold from that which generateth Silver another Saturn Venus Mars and every one of them is varied according to the difference of the place from whence they spring and are created neither are two men or two members of one body nor two Leaves of one and the same Tree found alike to one another and so of other things The
easily understand the first from whence they all deduct their original The first example we shall bring from Medicine whereby a disease is to be known from the issue and not from the beginning in which there is no Science introduced by blindeness but must be blinde likewise but the end is visible from the issue to which it is perceived to tend as to its end proposed to it Furthermore nothing can be better known then by a perfect knowledge of the end for which God created it otherwise it may come to pass that the true use of the Creatures of God may be turned into abuse for every thing which God hath created he would have us enjoy and possess it according to the right use thereof Therefore learn the last and first matter of things from the fire for this is the key that unlocketh the Ark of secrets and maketh every occult thing manifest For example If a Metal be dissolved in the Fire it presently shews the first beginning thereof to be a Mercurial water and not Sulpher because the resolution thereof flameth not like Rozin It is demonstrated not to be Salt because the first beginning of its Resolution is not Friation besides Liquation and Flagration as of some terrene stones is seen to be Nevertheless every Metal hath Sulphur and Sal in him but Mercury hath the chiefest place therein But it seemed good to God the Creator to create a watry Element and from thence to produce every Metal for the use of man that it should be the Mother thereof in which as in her wombe the Mineral Fire Sal and Mercury should be decocted into Metals Stones and every Mineral substance although the birth be not of the same existence with the Mother So that the water is unlike its Metallick issue neither is the Son like the Mother even as the Earth is not Wood nor the VVood Earth although it spring and hath its original from the Earth So likewise are VVood and Iron created by the VVater yet they are not of the same existence as VVater Earth also is made of that which it is not in it self and so likewise is Man So God is one in every thing and the first and last matter of all things so great an Artisex in every thing as hath none before him neither shall have any after CHAP. II. Of the first and last matter of Minerals THe first beginning with God was the last matter which he made the first as the fruit which should bring forth other fruit that hath in it self the seed and this seed is in the first matter Likewise in the ultimate matter of Minerals is made the first matter that is it is made into sperm or seed which seed is the Element of Water which is resolved so that it is made Water Therefore Nature taketh that which is in water under her power and separation and what belongs to Metal she segregates into Metal every one by himself severally according to his own nature with their several genus and species congruent thereunto Therefore where Nature ceases there the Art of man begins for the ultimate matter of Nature is the first nature of man again the corruption of Nature by Art is the ultimate matter of man So wonderfully hath God created Water the first matter of Nature which though it be so tender and feeble a substance yet from thence is created the most solid and durable fruit as Metals and Stones c. as the most hardest and durable from the most soft and feeble and that Fire should be producted from Water is beyond the reach of humane capacity yet not beyond or above the work of Nature Thus having in the first place handled the Regeneration and Chymical and Natural Operation of Metals we esteemed it most necessary to add these few words of the natural Generation of Minerals whereby the Operation thereof may be the easier known This is the Opinion of all Philosophers and Students in this Art that he that would be an Artist in this Profession ought most exactly to imitate Nature in all her Operations And whosoever understands not this shall never attain to the accomplishment of his desires in this thing Therefore let him that searcheth a thing so secret and difficult be a Scholar not only of Art but of Nature and it shall be done FINIS Vrim and Thummim shewed to be made by Art and are the same with the Universal Spirit corporate and fixed THe Truth seems buried because it brings forth little Fruit but it is great and prevaileth to make all things manifest so far as is possible for men for in common sense and reason all agree in mysteries never so that we may not speak of Science without Knowledge which breaks the Gates of Brass and cuts asunder the Bars of Iron before the eyes of Understanding that the treasures of darkness may be opened and the bright and fiery Sword discovered which turns every way to keep Transgressors out of Paradise For if we consider wherein the Celestial and Terrestrial Bodies agree we shall finde something objective in the inferiour Bodies whereby they communicate their Celestial Vertue and Influence which president Art doth imitate to produce a glorious substance of connexed Forms and of Cleerness Vertue and Beauty beyond expression The Mathematicians say The Celestial Influences do hold and govern every natural Body and by many unities collect a quantity subsisting without shadow for the real Vertues affect to be specificate and as living Fire gives life to other things which central substance of Celestial Vertues or Form of Metals is the Subject of this short Discourse That Urim and Thummim which were given in the Mount cannot be proved that they are the potential from the Creation may appear for they were substances whose Name and Essences did predicate each other being convertible terms the Name and Essence one the words signifie Light and Perfection Knowledge and Holiness also Manifestation and Truth even as Science and Essence make one Perfection It is likely they were before the Law given for the Almighty God commanded Noah to make a cleer Light in the Ark which some take for a Window others for the arching and bowing of the upper Deck a Cubit but sith the Text saith Day and night shall no more cease It seems it did then cease and whether this were one or more Windows is uncertain but when the Windows of Heaven were opened and the Air darkned by pouring out Rain the Sun not giving his Light but prohibited the generative Spirit of the Creatures in the Ark what exterior cleerness could be expected Therefore some of the Rabbins say The Hebrew word Zohar which the Chaldee translate Neher is not found in the Scripture but in this place so that like the word it seemed to be a rare Light and that which is generally doubted to be The Creator commanded Noah to make by Art Other Hebrew Doctors say It was a precious Stone hanged in the
because the intellect doth so far excel the sense this is a work of a second intention and the beginning upon the vertue of Elements that is a pure bright and cleer Water of Putrefaction for the perfection of every Art properly so called requires a new birth as that which is sowed is not quickned except it die but here death is taken for mutation and not for rotting under the clods Now therefore we must take the Key of Art and consider the secret of every thing is the Life thereof Life is a Vapor and in Vapor is placed the wonder of Art whatsoever hath heat agitating and moving in it self by the internal Transmutation is said to live this Life the Artist seeks to destroy and restore an eternal Life with Glory and Beauty This Vapor is called The vegetable Spirit because it is of degree of heat with the hottest Vegetable and being decocted till it shine like brightest Steel you shall see great and marvelous secrets not by the separation of Elements by themselves but by predomination and victory of that pure Fire which like the Celestial Sun enters not materially but by help of Elemental Fire sends forth his influence and impression of form Here we must observe difference of perfections for although ye have now the Fountain of compleat white yet you are not neer your chief delight which is the Fountain of Life and Centre of the Heart the universal Spirit which lives in the radical humidity and doth naturally vivificate and is the masculine Seed of the Celestial Sun here is that Rule made good Except ye sow in Gold ye do nothing Therefore we must take heed what we understand by Gold whereof there are three sorts Vulgar Chymical and Divine which is therefore so called because it is a special Gift of God The Theosophists are perswaded by exact diet and by certain form of prayers at certain times to obtain the Angel of the Sun to be their Guide and Director The Philosophers advise to take the like matter above Earth that Nature hath made under the Earth Others to search the most precious treasure from a vile thing all which is easily agreed if rightly understood for in the lines following the same Author saith The vile thing is from the Sperm of Gold cast in the matrix of Mercury by a prime conjunction Others affirm Azoch and Ignis to be sufficient for this high perfection the which Azoch among the Germans is Silver with the Macedonians Iron with the Greeks Mercury with the Hebrews Tin with the Tartars Brass with the Arabians Saturn and with the Indians Gold All which being diverse in Nature are potential in one composition and by the duel of Spirits the Celestial Gold obtaineth victory over all the rest and is made though not with hands a body shining like the Sun in glory which is called Ens omnis privationis expers or Thummim This is the Key that made the pure cleer Fountain and of it was made himself the fair Woman so loving the red Man she became one with him and yielded him all glory who by his Regal power and soveraign Quality raigneth over the fourfold Nature eternally but if any shall understand either common or Chymical Gold to be the substance of this sacred body he is much mistaken for a glorious Spirit will not appear save in a body of his own kinde Although pure Manchet be made of the finest Meal yet Wheat is not excluded and so Bread is said to be of the second and neerer causes rather then the remote notwithstanding that which is made by the effect in a successive course is as certain as that which is made with hands After we fell from unity we groan under the burden of division but three makes up the union first temporary and afterwards eternally fixed He that knoweth a thing fully must know what it was is and shall be so to know the several parts of a successive course is not a small thing neither the honor little in the right use of the Creature Air turned into Water by his proper mixture becomes Wood and the same Wood by Water is turned into a Stone A Spring in Italy called Clytinus makes Oxen white that drink it And the River in Hungary turns Iron into Copper VVhat excellency things may attain by habitual vertue or what power when Nature and Art make one perfection who is able to express If you desire by Art to have a thing of admirable sweetness and odor you will take a substance of like quality to exalt into such excellency the proper quality of Fire and Air is sweetness it is but appropriate in Earth and Water what bodies shall we finde where these are most abundant to be wrought upon As the Celestial Bodies give no Tincture yet they are most abundant in Tincture Air is cause of Life Mercury is coacted Air Ethereal and truly Homogeneal which doth after a sort congeal and fix it is called a crude Gold and Gold affixed and mature Mercury And although the crude Quality be cold and dry some hold for the excellency of its temperature That it is all Fire or like to it whereby it is dissolved however it is at large proved those bodies are most abundant in pure Fire and Air whose proper Quality is sweetness Therefore those are the fittest subjects to make the most precious perfume in the world and considering cleerness and brightness is the centre of each thing and those bodies have both centre and superficies cleer and bright whensoever they are purified by Art and the bodies made spiritual and those Spirits corporated again they must necessarily be Bodies of greatest or cleerest Light and Perfection as one compareth a glorified Body to a cleer Lanthorn with a Taper in it saying The more a man excels in vertue the greater or lesser was the Taper But the work cannot be manifest without the destruction of the exterior form and the restitution of a better which is the glorious substances of Urim and Thummim which in their being and Physical use preserves the Temple of Man's Body incorruptible Some observe not just difference between Liquification and Solution but all Corrosives or violent Operations Nature hates because there can be no Generation but of like Natures neither can you have the precious Sperms without Father and Mothers And although one Vessel is sufficient to perfect the Infant in the Wombe yet Nature hath provided several breasts to nourish it and different means to exalt it to the strength of a man How Gold should be burnt which the Fire cannot consume is questionable but every exaltation of this soveraign Spirit adds a tenfold vertue and power then take one part of this Spirit which is become as insensible as dust and upon molten Gold it turns all into powder which being drunk in White-wine openeth the Understanding encreaseth Wisdom and strengtheneth the Memory for here is the Vein of Understanding Fountain of Wisdom and River of Knowledge
The Truth of every thing is said to be his incorrupted Nature for nothing shall rest eternally visible at the last fire but that which is of pure vertue and essential purity Truth and Science is not led by chance or Fortune but the Spirit of God guides by the Hand of Reason And it seems the Prophets esteem of these Stones of Fire some meaning the Stone of Darkness and as it were Fire turned up Others the Stone of Tin and Ezekiel the Stones of Fire attained by Wisdom which he differeth from the natural precious Stones as pure Fire from common Fire Therefore let modesty allow that possible whereof he understands not the termination and degrees neither refuse the Waters of Shiloah because they go slowly for they that wade in deep Waters cannot go fast To obtain the Treasures of Nature you must follow Nature onely Isaiah 8.6 who gives not the like time to every Generation but as the Mare hath ten months the Elephant three or as some say nine yeers and fifty before conjunction Be patient therefore in a work of Nature for thereunto onely is promised Victory and the chief errors in Art are haste and dulness The Regeneration of Man and the Purification of Metals have like degrees of Preparation and Operation to their highest Perfection The first beginnings of Transmutation or Naturation is the smallest measure of pure Sulphur with both Riches and Honor in the left-Hand and length in the right In natural Generations the form prepares the matter yet there are precedent Preparations The beginnings of Transmutation must be distinguished some are begun of Preparation and some are begun of Composition Beginnings of Preparation in the well of Tears doth qualifie the coldness and dulness of the crude disposition and tame and subdue the fearful quality of swift flying and changeth the colour of this eternal Liquour turning the inside outward and adding heat by the internal Sulphur of the Homogeneal Body which is by means of changed Water because Water by Water can onely be extracted yet it is excluded in the conclusion for though it be a necessary preparation to the alteration following yet is but the servile and passive which hath the first operation being preserved unhurt in weight and purity Beginnings of Composition are those inward Operations and Changes that follow after that scalding deluge which by mixing with fixed Sulphur doth dissolve the stubbornness of this Urne and by help of the external heat the internal Sulphur is excited by Operation and purifieth the substance but onely to a pale whiteness more hurtful then profitable to the Body of Man what these are shall afterwards appear Again Sulphur must be distinguished white Sulphur and living or reviving Sulphur white Sulphur is of like Operation and is perfected by restraining and healeth almost all diseases and tingeth to white ad infinitum By knowledge hereof even meer natural men have believed the Resurrection become sober temperate and patient not doubting within the centre of compleat white rests the red Stone of most delight This hath caused men justly to condemn all Cementations Calcinations and Citrinations being enlightned with the glorious object which is as cleer as a Christal Looking-Glass Reviving Sulphur is the secret of secrets and the glory of the whole world and onely proper to such whom the Creator hath apted by way of natural disposition for they do not onely mortifie but purifie a pure body quickning it with the same essential form and are said to make a spiritual Body because there is no corruption to resist the Spirit but the bodily Nature being wholly subject is with the Spirit eternally fixed in a transparent Body shining as the Sun Therefore the conclusion must be understood of the second and not of the first for though a man have never so much white Sulphur if he have not of this reviving Sulphur he is as far from the precious Spirit which hath power over all inferior bodies as any other for onely that which is of the Nature of the Sun shall shine like the Sun in glory A Synod of Philosophers adviseth us in seeking the treasures of Health and Riches we should shew affections to Justice and Prudence like Solomon asking Wisdom Riches were given to him as advantage Let us search therefore celestial Vertue which is the centre of all things so will it be easie to manifest the soveraign Spirit of Health and Riches for the vegetable Sulphur is the first Mover in Nature and onely the Mercurial Nature hath power of Metallical Life and Death Crude Mercury is originally a vapor from cleer Water and Air of most strong composition coacted or Air it self with a Mercurial Spirit by Nature flying Etherial and Homogeneal having the Spirits of heat and cold and by exterior and interior heats doth congeal and fix Also Gold is a fixed Fire or mature Mercury and may be made more volative then Mercury but onely by divers Mercuries made Of Mercury is Nature set on work the fixed Body loosed the vegetable Sulphur created and the universal Spirit fixed For the Authority of the ancient Writers Divine and Natural Reasons assure us this and no other is the true course to manifest those Lights wherein the Creator hath heaped up vertue and power But it 's objected The Philosophers do not agree amongst themselves Answ Instruments of divers strings make sweet harmony if they be well tuned but their Readers do rather seek to over-rule them then by painful industry to finde them consent Object Affirm Contraries Answ The Artist his intention is to agree contraries Object They exclude Gold and Mercury from the creation of the Stone Answ Because their crude matter is from the destruction of the exterior form Object They say The vertue of Elements is their materials Answ Right in respect of their beginnings upon pure bodies Object All their secrets spring from one vile thing common to rich and poor Answ Precious things corrupred are most vile and Science is common to rich and poor and hath much use of Calcination or Dust Object No Metal is required to the making of the Stone Answ As no part of man to the making of man Object One thing one Glass one Furnace is sufficient Answ True when two things of one kinde are apted and conjoyned Object Out of one Root proceeds white and red Answ Even as Male and Female from one Womb. Object The Stone is vegetable animal and mineral Answ Right joynt and several it is said to be vegetable because in the maturation it is multiplied in vertue and quantity it is said to be animal because it encreaseth his own kinde and it 's said to be Mineral because his original is from Metal or their Mineral Here we may remember the Bishop of Otrecht who lost his life for discovering his secret Why should we prevent the highest distribution who hath not made knowledge hereditary but wrapt things in secret that we might difference things in being and in being
needed not so to have done and then they cry out and blame this Science which is their own fault Lastly there be many men that work daily upon receits that they gather here and there without seeing or making that which they do work whether it be agreeing with the Nature of the Science or from whence the receits do come or spring or who have written them whereby they also consume their substance which is their own fault and not the Science And also God will not have the Science wrought by some men and yet they will work it and thus they lose their goods And therefore gentle Reader if you will keep your self from damage or loss so read this Treatise over not once but many times so shalt thou finde the sweet Kernel or Marrow of the Philosophers and right Science of Transmutation of Metals that be base into most pure Metals of Gold and Silver And therefore think not the reading and studying of this Science or Treatise to be tedious unto thee considering the great profit thou shalt reap by it The Lord grant that thou maist finde it and use it to the honour of God and profit of Christ and his poor afflicted Church Raymund Lully The Contents of the first Part. Chap. 1. TO prepare the Salt for the red and white Elixir Chap. 2. To make the Elixir to the white work Chap. 3. Of the Key of Sciences and Properties of Salt Chap. 4. The Composition of the red Elixir Chap. 5. The projection with the red Elixir Chap. 6. The Composition of the Cement for Gold Chap. 7. To make Silver heavy as Gold Chap. 8. The difference between the Elixirs and Philosophers Stone Chap. 9. The living and dead Sol and Luna The Contents of the second Part. Chap. 1. THe Composition of the Philosophers Stone Chap. 2. The Elixir of Life Chap. 3. To sublime Mercury to the red Elixir Chap. 4. To sublime Mercury to the white Elixir Chap. 5. To prepare the white Stone upon all Bodies Chap. 6. To make the Lutement to all works Chap. 7. To understand moral and natural Philosophy To draw Spirits out of a ponderous Body or Earth by Distillation Tract ult Upon Saturn the Tincture of Gold the Quintessence and Aurum Potabile and the matter of the Universal Medicine Philosophical and Chymical EXPERIMENTS OF The Famous Philosopher RAYMVND LVLLY CHAP. I. Teacheth how to prepare the Salt for the white and red Elixir TAke in the Name of God great Bay-Salt as it is made out of the Sea take a good quantity and stamp very small into a stone-Morter then take Cucurbites of Glass and pour your Salt therein then take fair Well-water and let your Salt resolve into cleer water being all dissolved then distil it by Filter that is to say hang a jag Felt or Woolen-cloath in the Cucurbite and let the other and hang in another Glass beside it set as it were under it that the Water may drop into it that the Felt or Cloath will draw out and that shall be cleer as Silver and when that all the water is dopped over look to it if that it be very cleer if it be not filter it again into another Glass till it be cleer or Christalline and when it is so put it into a Glasen Pan set it upon a Sand-Oven and let the Water vapour away till that it do come above like unto white-Salt then take stone-piss-Pots or Pots made of Cullen-Earth such as the drinking Pots be made of and put the Water and the Salt that remains therein and set upon the said Oven and let it vapour away and while that it doth dry stir it with a stick till that it be very dry otherwayes it will come into a lump or mass and this being well dried beat it in a stone-Morter very fine as you did before and then put it into a melting Cruce and set them into a glowing Oven or Say-Oven which is an Oven that the Gold-smiths do enamel their Rings in the Oven being very hot take the Cruses that be filled with Salt and set them into the Oven and let them stand until they be glowing hot and see that they be no hotter behinde then before if they be then turn them round with a pair of Gold-smiths Tongs put but one Pot in the Oven at a time that you may do them the better and when that Pot is red glowing hot take it out and put in another to be calcined And then when cold put it again into your Morter and break it as small as you can the third time and then set it in the Fire of the Oven to glow as aforesaid Two or three times glowing and breaking of it every time in a stone-Morter until seven times and then put it into Well-water to dissolve till it be all dissolved into cleer water Then distil it by Filter until it be as cleer as Christal then set it again upon your Oven to dry and the Water to vapour until that it be Salt and stir it with a stick as before-said And when that it is dry set it to calcine again as beforesaid in the Sand-Oven and when that all the Pots that have the Salt be all glowing hot then take them out and beat them to Powder as before and again dissolve into Water Then distil it again by Filter as before this shalt thou do so many times to say dissolve into Water and then distil by Filter and then congeal it into dry Salt glowing it by Fire this do without resting until it come to be fat and that it will melt upon a hot glowing Plate of Luna and if it will not melt like Wax you must dissolve distil congeal until that it will come to that point or perfection and you must be careful lest that it should melt in the Calcination for then all your labour is lost Keep this for a great secret and such a preparation doth appertain to the Salt that which is the Riches of this world For otherwise thou shalt never come to the perfect end of any Elixir without such Salt prepared as aforesaid to say to the white Elixir nor yet to the red Therefore my beloved Son he that doth know the Secrets of this Salt to say his Solution his Congealation Distillation and Calcination and can well understand knoweth the whole Secrets of Natural Philosophy and wise men also that is to say how and in what manner he ought to dissolve distil congeal and calcine Therefore let not the labour in preparing of this Salt be grievous unto thee for without great cost you may learn herein to distil by Filter dissolve congeal and calcine and to form all the works that be needful unto thee in this Science So that you come to the principal work you shall not be to seek or to learn Therefore be patient and leave not off to work until thou hast brought thy Salt to that pass as I have taught thee before until it melt upon a
hot glowing Plate of Silver as Wax in the fire for without this Salt thy labor is in vain for it is the Key of this Science CHAP. II. Teacheth with this prepared Salt to make the Elixir to the white work TAke of Salt-Peter two parts and one part of Allome and distil thereof a strong Water Then take of your prepared Salt so much as you will set to work and take as much fine Capel Luna as you have of your Salt Beat your Luna into thin Plates and dissolve into the strong Water a part in a Glass by it self Likewise your Salt you must dissolve in the said strong Water by it self And when your Luna and Salt is dissolved in both Glasses put the two cleer Waters together and note that you put no more Water to the dissolution of these two matters then will dissolve them and you shall see your Luna fall to the bottom of the Glass white like Milk take the Glass properly and shake it in your hand and let it stand and you shall see your Luna as a green Water to rise above the which you shall pour properly off into another Viol of Glass then pour upon it more strong Water that hath not occupied and do as aforesaid putting the green Water off in the first green Water shaking it as aforesaid This do until all your Luna be dissolved into green Water that no Feces remains otherwise your work will not be perfected and when you have all into cleer Water without Feces put the same into a Cucurbite of Glass with a Helm and a Recipient and Lute it strongly and when your Lutement is dry then set your Cucurbite in Balneo and make fast to the bottom of your Glass a round Certel of Lead like a Fol and as your Lutement doth dry so increase your fire a little to distil of the flame that there shall remain no more strength in it then common water and to know this put a clout in the mouth of the Alimbeck and when the clout doth begin to look yellow pull all the fire out of the Oven for then the Spirits of the strong Water do begin to come Therefore look well to your work lest your fire be too hot that no Spirits come out of your Water otherwise you shall fail in your work Then let your Glass and Oven stand and cool two hours long then take off the Helm of your Cucurbite and have a Cover of Glass that may pass just in the mouth of your Cucurbite wherein your Medicine is in fast luted to with Lutement or with white Wax then set it in your Sand-Oven or warm Ashes not very hot Then take fair Capel Luna beaten very thin into Plates and cut into small pieces and put in a little at a time till it be dissolved and when that is dissolved put in more till it be dissolved also And thus let your Glass stand in warm Ashes and look that no Air go out of your Glass nor Cement This nourishing shall continue until it will dissolve no more but lie in the Glass undissolved two or three days long and then is your Medicine nourished like a Child in the Mothers Womb. Then may you let your Glass wax cold and you shall understand without this nourishing the Medicine cannot ingender and therefore it is needful that it be nourished that it may get strength of Generation and when your Glass is cold lute your Glass well with good Lutement that may indure against Water the which I will learn thee in a Chapter apart and let the Lutement dry by it self then set the Glass in Balneo Mariae to putrefie fourty days long to hold it in such a heat as the Sun in Summer for great fire may destroy your Medicine Therefore let your fire be alwayes of one heat for in that there doth remain a great secret of the Medicine And within the forty dayes your Medicine shall be dissolved and if it be not dissolved in forty dayes let it stand longer until it be dissolved for this is the primest of all the work for the dissolution is done by heat and moisture and congealed by heat and drowth This Point being obtained you have the Key of the Chamber and he is blessed of God that hath this point For this is a token of goodness for in every Dissolution and Congealation you do augment your Medicine and Degree for the first time it will do projection one ounce upon seven and dissolve and congeal again one ounce will project upon fourteen ounces and the third time upon twenty eight ounces And so it goeth forth double in projection every Dissolution and Congealation But you shall understand that the Congealation that cometh of warmth is no perfect Congealation but it ought to congeal in the Glass or in the Ampule with heat to say standing in warm Ashes and therefore whenas your Medicine is dissolved in your Glass let it cool then take it out of your Balneo and dry your Glass And look well to your Lutements that they be close without any clefts to let out the Spirits then set it in your Sand-Oven in Ashes then put fire in your Oven and let your fire be no greater then that you may hold your finger in the Ashes and so let it stand twenty four hours to congeal if not congealed in that time you may let it stand longer and when you see that it is congealed give God thanks and rejoyce for it is ready to do projection in this manner Take to project on Fair red Copper the best that you can get and take from him his redness which serveth not in the work the which you shall do after this manner Beat your Venus into thin Plates and cut it in small pieces and anoint them with this paste or pap Take white Arsnick and grinde it on a Marble-stone with Oyl of Tartar that it be thick like Pap and with this matter anoint your Copper Venus pieces then take great Bay-salt and put some part of it into a melting-Pot bottom and lay your Copper Venus pieces upon that and then Salt upon them and Copper Venus pieces upon that Stratum super Stratum till all your Pot is full and uppermost in your Pot let there be a good quantity of Salt take a tile-stone and make a round Covet for the Pot and lute it well too and when the Lutement is dry set it in an Oven in fire of Calcination for twenty four hours long Then let it cool and then break your Pot open and cast the matter that is in your Pot in warm Water and stir them with your Hand until the pieces be clean and that the Water comes fresh from them Then dry them and beat them in an Iron Morter so small as you can Then put your Venus so beaten into a Canvas Bag that is sowed close up and round like a Ball. Then take fat Clay that is mixed with hair and therewithal streak over your Bag thinly
into subtil Powder and sift them through a hairen sieve then take common Salt that is once dissolved distilled by Filter and once well-glowed in the fire and beaten into a Powder and passed through a sieve then take Romane Vitriol and rubefie it as I shall shew thee hereafter then take good red-wine-vinegar distilled in a stillatory of Glass and in that Vinegar you shall dissolve your Vitriol then distil it by Filter very cleer then set it on warm Ashes to congeal or dry that the Water may vapor away and you shall finde your Vitriol to rest very fair in the bottom then take a new earthen Pot or Pan and put your Vitriol therein and set it on a cool fire and stir it well with a stick and so it shall rubefie and wax red as blood then let it cool and make it into Powder and pass it through a Sieve and in the same Water you shall take Spanish Green or Verdigreece and dissolve it in distilled Vinegar then vapor it and dry it then glow it in the fire doing all things as the Vitriol aforesaid then take as much Salt Armoniack and dissolve it in red-wine-vinegar that is not distilled then take of all these substances of Powder alike much and sprinkle lightly over with the Vinegar wherein the Salt Armoniack is dissolved and let there be as much of the Salt Armoniack dissolved as there is of any of the other parts then take a melting-Pot and lay in the bottom of your Pot a good Ground of your Cement and of your Sol-Venus Plates upon the Cement so that the Plates do not touch one another then put more of your Cement-powder upon it and so Stratum super Stratum till that the Pot be full let the uppermost lain be Cement Then take a Tile-stone and make a Cover just for the mouth of the Pot making a little hole in the Cover or else the Salt Armoniack will break your Pot or blow up the Cover and when you have made this vent-hole lute it fast together and when your Lutement is dry set it into your winde-Oven and first give it a small fire two hours long the next two hours more stronger and thus still augment your fire till that you see the Pot be glowing red and so let it stand in the heat twenty four hours long then let your Oven cool and take it out and open your Pot and you shall finde your Plates augmented in colour The first my Son if you will make this work in the Reverber Oven so make your fire the first half hour small fire of coals and the other time of dry wood that may be without smoke and work in the high Ovens a yard from the ground and in this manner you must cement your Gold seven times every time new Pots and new fresh Powder or Cement every time melting your Sol with new Venus and beating in Plates as aforesaid for in every Cement your Venus shall be consumed and in the Sol no more shall remain of the Venus but the Tincture and Colour and your Sol shall keep alwayes his first weight but his colour shall be so high that none shall judge it to be Sol and you shall understand that if there were so much Luna being made without sound and augmented in weight melted with the said Sol it would seem to be fine Sol. But I counsel thee not to do it for in divers meltings it will lose its colour and come white as afore because your fixed Elixir or medium is not put to it therefore I counsel thee not to do it for in the end it will shame his Master and peradventure bring him in perill of his life if he should sell it for fine Sol. Therefore look well to thy self and see that thou use no falshood CHAP. VII Teacheth thee to make thy Luna deaf of sound and heavy of weight as Sol aforesaid MY beloved Son Take Vitriol and distil thereof a strong Water and dissolve therein Salt Armoniack as much as it can dissolve then set it upon warm Ashes and put into it as much living Sulphur as there is Salt Armoniack and then shake it together with your hands stopping your Glass well that no Spirits go out and set it upon Ashes and lute a Helm upon it with a recipient and make a proper fire under it till the Water be distilled forth of the Glass then let it cool and take away the Water and stop the pipe of the Helm fast that no vent come forth and make stronger fire then shall the Sulphur and Salt Armoniack sublime up into the Helm keep it well then take fine Capel Luna and melt it in a melting-Pot and cast of that sublime upon your Luna three times stirring it well together in the Pot with a wooden stick but no Iron and this shall make your Luna heavy of weight and deaf of clank like Sol and you shall understand that if you have ten Ounces of Luna you shall cast one Ounce of this same Powder upon it stirring it as aforesaid and if your Luna be black as it will be that is a good token then cast it out in an Ingot and quench it in Water and it shall come blue then seeth it in Goldsmiths-water that is made with Tartar and Salt-common one hour long and it shall come white as at first and thus is your Luna prepared to receive your red Elixir CHAP. VIII Teacheth thee the difference between the Elixir and the great Stone of the Philosophers MY beloved Son Our Elixir white and red be called Stones and no Stones for in manner to speak there is no Stone so full made as is our great Stone of the Philosophers that is called Major for the great Stone is full made and a perfect work serving to all unperfect Metals for to transmute them into true fine Sol and Luna after the preparation hereof for if he be prepared into Luna so shall he ever set them into Luna for every one of them doth engender his like the which great Stone I will learn thee how thou shalt make it in his place hereafter if it please the Almighty God The great Stone that doth serve for the red work or to Sol is called Lapis Philosophorum major and to the white it is called Lunary but the Elixirs be called Stones and no Stones but we call them Elixirs de Sale that is Elixirs of Salt because they be compounded of Salt to say of great Bay-Sea-Salt that is clarified by dissolving and congealing as is before learned and also with another Salt that is called Saltpeter the which doth conjoyn himself to the Salt that is in the depth of the Body of Sol when the Tincture is given him by the Cement And if the people in times past had well understood the meaning of this Salt they had come to the end of their work but for lack of understanding they have changed the words of the Philosophers that say Our Stone is Stone
after the beginning of your work for your white doth engender nothing but Luna andyour red nothing but Sol and his projection one upon a thousand that is to say if you will melt a thousand ounces of unperfect Metals you need put to it no more then one ounce of this same last Medicine and it shall set it over into perfect Luna or Sol better then any that comes out of the Earth to pass all proofs and examinations that may be done upon it And herein now following I will learn thee the composition of both these Stones to the red and white and I will first begin with the red and then with the white which is called Lunaris CHAP. II. The Elixir of life THou shalt take my beloved Son the red Elixir here before written and set it in putrefaction the time of forty dayes so that your fire be alwayes of one heat and not hotter one time then another night and day and the same must be done in Balneo Mariae this time being ended you shall finde your Elixir to be dissolved into cleer Water if that you have kept the fire all the time of one heat and your Elixir being dissolved into cleer Water then shall you dissolve therein Mercury that is sublimed as I will learn thee hereafter and dissolve therein as much of the sublimed Mercury as the Elixir doth weigh and see well hereto that the Spirits fly not out as neer as you can then shake it softly between your hands without opening the Glass and take heed that your Glass break not through the force of the Spirits and lute the mouth of the Glass fast with Lutement that is strong that it may endure the warmth of Balneum without opening the which I will learn thee hereafter in a Chapter a part and when the Lutement is very dry then set the Glass in Balneo to putrefie the time of forty dayes as aforesaid holding the fire of one heat continually the time of forty dayes and nights as aforesaid The forty dayes being ended look if all be dissolved if it be not let it stand longer till it be dissolved and being all dissolved let the Balneum cool and in any case see you take it not out hot lest your Glass break then take it our and dry your Glass and set it upon Ashes to congeal and make your Ashes no hotter then you can suffer your finger to thrust it down to the bottom and let it so stand the time of twelve dayes without taking any thing out of it but let it remain alwayes in that Glass wherein it was putrefied and see well to it that the Lutement be not broken in any place if it be lure it well again that the Spirits flie not out and the twelve hours being ended it ought to be congealed if your fire be well governed if it be not let it stand longer till it be congealed and when it is congealed then is the Stone fully made and perfectly ended and it is the riches of the whole world God grant that you may obtain it and give unto Almighty God a good reckning of the health of thy Soul c. My Son thou shalt understand that Mercury is called a Fountain and the first matter of all Metals as in Truth it is and therefore cannot be done any great Transmutation without Mercury be joyned therewith there may be made small Augmentations and Transmutations like as we have spoken before in our Elixir but they cannot do any high projection for they do but one upon seven but when Mercury is put thereto and so perfectly made it doth projection in infinitum as here before is written whereby it doth appear that the Mercury is as aforesaid the beginning off-spring of all Metals And therefore my Son we take the Elixir and mingle therewith our purified Mercury and conjoyn these together with our purified Salt which is our Sperm so be they so fast bound together that now nor never can they be parted asunder for they do claspe and inclose together so friendly as doth the Body and the Soul if so be ye do it as we have written it And when these three to say Sol that is Ferment with the Salt and the Mercury be joyned together then do they make perfect all things they be cast upon not onely it doth take away the sickness of the Metal and doth heal it but it heals all Inconveniencies of mens Bodies as one grain of this Stone being drunk with Wine being made hot and then the party to go to a warm bed and to sweat which shall be incontinent like as though he did lie in Water and in three dayes he shall be made whole of what sickness soever be have Therefore he may think himself happy in this world that hath gotten him this Treasure and well can keep it secret and use it godly to the help of the poor for they be not all Masters that do advance themselves in this Science to do many things for many are called but few are chosen There be many that busie themselves in this Science but very few that do bring it to a right end for it may be that it is not God's will but thou my Son have thou no doubt so long as thou followest these Precepts that I have left thee written in this Treatise and continue thy self alwayes in labour and exercise and thou shalt soon come to a perfect end of it if it please Almighty God for I have written thee in this Science the right Treatise and Truth as I have wrought it with my own hands and brought it to a perfect end as many people do know it in this City of Paris although I have alwayes kept it from thee till now that have I done for certain causes that I will not open Therefore comfort thy self and be patient and think not thy labour long for by diligent labour thou shalt come to the end sooner with studying and reading there can come none of the knowledge of this Science but onely by labour the study doth give a man how to work and how he shall follow Nature in his working for the end and profit of this Science is the handy-work for a Cobler cannot set a piece on his shooe with reading but he must put his hands to it and labour to bring it to a perfect end CHAP. III. Teacheth to sublime Mercury to the red Elixir MY beloved Son take one pound of Mercury one pond of Roman Vitriol and break the Vitriol to powder and then take one pound of common Salt that is two times dissolved and distilled by Filter and vapoured and calcined as aforesaid is learned and then break them to powder in a stone-Morter occupy no Iron or Metal in this work for if you shall it will mar it and when that your Mercury is mingled with the other water with continual stirring that you see the Mercury no more but that he is wholly lost in the other substance then
shall you make moist with red-wine-vinegar but not too much and dry it then by the fire or by the Sun then put the same in a Glass to sublime that is well luted beneath and set it on warm ashes and so long let your Glass remain open and when you see the mouth of your Glass to look white in the sublimation or that your Mercury begin to flie up then take a linen cloath filled with Cotten-wool and therewith you shall stop the hole above as surely as you can but your Glass must be somewhat high that the clout with the Cotten that is in the mouth of the Glass do not burn for then you shall consume your stopple and then the Glass is well stopped so augment your fire a little two hours long and then four hours greater and at the last so great as your Glass will bear without melting and so hold your fire in that degree four hours long then let it cool and when your Oven and Glass is cooled then take it out and break it open and you shall finde your Mercury above in the Helm as white as Snow and some part shall lie below upon the Feces very fair and white then take it up as clean as you can both that which is flown up and that that lies in the bottom on the Feces Now to know whether that you have done right or no take the Mercury so sublimed and weigh it and see what is diminished of the first weight for if it be truely done it will lack but one ounce in the pound weight if it want more it is not well done for you have made your fire at the first too great or at the last too small And if at the first your fire were too strong then is there of your Mercury flown away with the moisture so that the weight comes short and if at the later end your fire were too great it may be that your Glass is molten or crackt with the force of the fire and then is your sublimation lost and if at the last your fire were too small then is there of your Mercury on the Feces and thereby is your weight diminished Thus shall you understand that I have found it that there is but one ounce lacking in a pound weight being rightly sublimed Then take fresh powder of Vitriol c. and mingle your sublimated Mercury herewith as you have done before and sublime it again and this must you do seven times in all points as before or at the first and in every sublimation after the first it shall diminish one quarter of an ounce if you have done it right as aforesaid and no more and when it is sublimed in this manner as aforesaid then it is ready to put into the red Elixir to make the Philosophers stone therewith CHAP. IV. Teacheth thee to sublime Mercury to the white Elixir MY beloved Son you shall understand that the Sublimation of Mercury serving to the white Stone is done as the other before in the third Chapter for the red Stone there is no other difference but that you must put in the place of Vitriol Roch-Allom Saltpeter and prepared Salt as aforesaid and written and do in all points as in the third Chapter unto seven times and then is your Mercury ready and perfect to put to your Elixir to make the white Stone of the Philosophers CHAP. V. Teacheth thee to prepare the white Stone upon all bodies MY beloved Son you shall take in the Name of God your white Elixir and set it in Balneo to putrefie the space of fourteen dayes and nights and in that space your Elixir shall be dissolved into cleer Water if that you have governed your fire all the while in like warmth or else it must stand longer until it be dissolved without Feces then put of your sublimated Mercury thereto so much as your Elixir doth weigh Then take it and shake it properly between your hands that your Glass breaks not by the force of the Spirit and look well to your Glass before you do shake it that it be well luted or stopped that the Spirits by no means fly out for if they do it will mar your work This done you shall set it well luted with the Lutement I have spoken of in the red Elixir and set it to putrefie in Balneo forty days as you have done in the third Elixir or Stone and in that time it will be dissolved if that your fire be all that time well governed for it lieth much in the government of the fire and when it is well dissolved set it to congeal as you had in the red Stone it shall be congealed in twelve days into the white Stone of the Philosophers the which will transmute all imperfect bodies into perfect Luna to pass all proofs and examinations and it shall be better and more finer Luna then any that comes out of the Mines CHAP. VI. Teacheth thee to make the Lutement serving to these works NOw to make the Lutement so often spoken of before that shall not untemper in the moisture and warmth of Water and also another Lutement that shall keep your Glasses from breaking in the fire for it must hold against the heat of the fire and in the first place you shall take the white of Eggs so much as you shall need and beat them till they be all thin as water then let it through a spunge with your hand till that it be cleer as Fountain-water of this same take as much as shall be needful to temper the powders hereafter take the Flower or the Meal that hangeth or sticketh about the walls of the Mill or Backhouse commonly called in places beyond the Seas Stuff-Meal eleven ounces Bol-Armoniack one quarter of an ounce Sanguis Dragonis an half quarter of an ounce white hard Cheese the parings being done off one ounce break all these into powder and searse them finely through a Sieve of Hair temper them with the whites of Eggs and therewithal lute your Glasses with Linen-clouts dipped in this Lutement in form of a plaister so bound about the helm and mouth of your Glasses let it dry by it self This Lutement doth serve to lute the Helms upon the distilling-Pots and also to lute the Glasses that you do putrefie in and dissolve also to congeal And now to the other Lutement spoken of before that doth serve to lute your Glasses to defend them from great heat of fire that they shall not break nor melt for then were your work lost you shall take to this Lutement good fat Pot-earth whereof the Potter doth make his Pots and mix with it a little Sanguis Dragonis Bol-Armoniack as much as the half of the Earth of the Potter doth come unto and unsleked Lime as much as half the Potters Earth make all these into fine powder apart by themselves and then temper them all together with whites of Eggs well beaten the blood of Oxen alike
much or if you cannot get Ox-blood you may take Sheeps-blood then take Linen-clouts and scrape off the Lint till you have as much as the Bol-Armoniack doth weigh and then mingle them and temper them all together and beat them with a piece of board till that it be as soft as fine Paste or dough and with this Lutement you shall lute your sublimations under that part that standeth in the fire and also your Glasses wherein you distil your strong Waters for it will defend them from melting and breaking and use it to all things that you do occupy in great fire for you cannot have a better then this to defend you Glasses against the force of the fire Now I have written you enough of the Lutements and in this Chapter I will write in brief a part of Philosophy as well moral as natural CHAP. VII Teacheth thee understand Philosophy as well moral as natural MY Son I have given thee to understand in this Book and declared all the Philosophy as well to the red as to the white so right and simple as possibly I may for if I could have left to thee any briefer I would not for if that I should thou couldst never have understood it and therefore I have thought it good to shew it thee in plain Words and Reasons to declare the same to make thee perfectly to understand to make this work that thou shouldst impute no fault to me if that thou shouldst not come to the right knowledge of this Science but the fault should be in thy self and in no man else for I have written it in right and plain Words and Reasons but take heed that thou be not as many men be that do think themselves Masters of all Sciences when that they never saw the Door wherein the Science was learned but I would have thee use thy self to reading and studying of this Book and print all these Reasons in thy heart and then thou maist go to work with a good and glad courage and God will bless thy proceeding if thou wilt serve him and pray to him as it is thy duty to do and also thou must have a diligent care to keep God's Commandments for as I have often said with bodily pains taking and diligent labour both of thy body and minde thou shalt bring this Stone to a perfect end for the Philosophers have hidden this Science and have written it very darkly and have coloured it over with many parables dark sentences that it is almost impossible to come to the understanding of them without great instructions of others Masters of this Science or else through the great gift of God Therefore I have written this Book that thou maist learn the Words and Reasons that I do leave after me to the end that thou shalt not fall into any error but to come to the right end of this Science My Son thou shalt understand that there be many Books written by the Philosophers remaining after their deaths of the which they have written the Truth but in a very dark sense here in one word there in another the which have brought divers men unto great errors thinking they did understand the meaning very well when they were furthest from it Therefore my beloved Son through the great love I have to thee I have thought it good to open this Science unto thee that thou mayst take heed of the dark sayings of the Philosophers that thou do exercise thy self in this Book for if thou do observe these my precepts you shall not come to any error But I desire thee upon the salvation of thy Soul that thou do not forget the poor and in any case to look well to thy self that thou do not disclose the secrets of this Science to any covetous worldly man for if thou do it will turn to thy hurt for I have declared to thee as I trust to be saved upon my Salvation the thing that my eyes have seen and my hands have wrought and my fingers have pulled forth and I have written this Book with my own hand and set to my name as I did lie on my death in the yeer 1432. May 7th Johannes Strangunere To draw the Spirits out of the ponderous Body or Earth by Distillation MAke a great many plates of new Lead of the quantity of Groats as thin as a peny and hang them on a thred or small Wyre and fill a Body of Glass full of them and fasten the Thred above the mouth of the Vessel set thereon a Head and lute it fast and surely and put thereto a Receptory and put it in a Furnace with as easie a heat that you may alwayes suffer your hand under the bottom thereof and water shall distil every day from it fait and cleer as Rose-water and at the last the said Plates will wax soft as they were mire and fall down to the bottom and then take the Glass set it in Balneo or Fimo Equino until the mire be dissolved into black Pitch Liquor then put it into your Philosophers Vessel and mix it and continue it in easie fire that it may by Circulation become a dry earth as black as a Raven which afterwards shall wax as white as Snow the which is the white Elixir the which you shall take from the Feces that lie there-under for as Philosophers say Totum quod subtile est ascendit sursum in vase quod spissum manet in fundo Then put the white in a Fixatory luted up and continue it with more Fire or heat till it be first gray and after that citrine as a yellow Flower and finally purple-red the which is the great Elixir that fixeth all Amalgems into Medicine which altereth all Bodies into Sol and Luna In the Name of God Amen Upon Saturn Philosopher of Holland UNderstand That out of Lead comes the Stone called Lapis Philosophorum and therefore when he is throughly made he doth projection as well in a mans body as without of all diseases that come to man as upon Metals and in many vegetable Books is no greater secret then this is for we finde not in Gold a like perfection as we finde in Lead for Lead is in his inner part Sol and therefore do all Philosophers agree for he lacketh nothing else but that his superfluity be taken away from him and that is his uncleanness therefore make him clean and turn his inward part out and that is his crudeness and then is he Sol for vulgar Sol cannot be so lightly as Lead for Lead will quickly be dissolved and congealed and he suffers his Mercury quickly to be drawn from him that Mercury which is drawn from him if it be well clarified and sublimed as the use is to sublime Mercury I tell you That that Mercury is as good as the Mercury drawn from the Sun in all manner of works and it is better in our work then the Mercury of Sol. Also if you should take Mercury out of