the Philosophers Water of Life the Bloud of Man his red Flesh his Body and Bones Know therefore that there are many sorts of Milk viz. Virgins Milk Womans Milk and also Mans Milk For when first they are joyned in one and she is big having conceived then the Infant must be nourished with Milk But then you may know that this Milk is not Virgins Milk but rather the man and the womans Milk wherewith it is always to be nourished till it is growâ— to that strength that it may be brought up with stronger and fuller food That food which I mean is the leavening of it which gives it form that it may perform Virile work For until the Infant that is this our Stone be formed and leavened with its like the Bloud of the green Dragon and the red Bloud of the red Dragon whether it be the white Stone or the red it will never do a perfect work Know therefore Son that the first Water is that Water Rebar which God made of Nature and it is the cause of Generation as I said before but when after the conjunction which ariseth from the Marriage it begets the Water of Life and the Philosophers Milk with one of which or both you must augment and feed your Stone perpetually Much more could I say to thee Son concerning this first Matter but let this suffice that setting aside impertinencies of words we may now Divine Grace favouring of us proceed to the practice it self of the Philosophick Stone See therefore my Son that thou diligently puttest all these Matters which though they are three things yet are they but one only in a Glass Vessel and lettest them quietly putrefie then put an Alembick upon your Vessel and by distillation draw out all the Water which may be thence distilled Try this first in Maries Bath Then place the Vessel in Ashes and make a gentle Fire for 12 hours then take the Matter out of the Vessel grind it well by it self without the foresaid Water then â—ut it again into the Vessel with Water and stop the Vessel close Put it in the Bath for three days and then distill the Water as before in the Bath and the Matter will be more black than before Do thus three times over and then grind it no more but afterwardâ— as often as you distill it so oft pour Water on the top but between each distillation give it so much Fire for six hours or more till it become indifferent dry then pour Water on the top again and dissolve it again in the Bath under a blind Alembick Also in every distillation separate the Flegm by casting away six or seven drops of Water in the beginning of each distillation And observing this order cause it to drink its proper Water till it hath drank of it seven times its weight which it had at the first But then it will be of a white colour and so much the whiter by how much the more of its own Water it hath drank This is white Elixir Moreover this our Water is called Homogeneal and by many other names Besides know that this Water and Matter generate as well the Red Stone as the White Know also when this first Matter is brought to its compleat whiteness then the end of one is the beginning of the other that is of the Red Stone which is our Red Magnesia and Virgins Brass as we said at first Son see thou well understand these words Our Virgins Brass is our Gold yet I do not say that all Brass is Gold also our Brass is our live Brimstone but all live Brimstone is not our live Brimstone also Quicksilver is Mercury but I do not say that common Quicksilver is our Silver as I said before that Water of Life which is our Seed and first Matter is our Mercury and our Spirit of Life which is extracted out of the blessed Land of Aethiopia which is called Magnesia and by many other names Besides my Son know that there is no perfect generation without corruption for corruption causeth cleanliness and cleanliness corruption Consider therefore Son our dying poison which dyeth and is dyed perpetually and this is our Body our Soul and our Spirit when they are joyned together in one and become one thing which with its parts ariseth also out of one thing besides which there is not any other neither ever shall be Wherefore my Son great folly it is for any one to believe that any other Medicine can be turned into Gold or Silver which Medicine will little profit thee of it self except it be mingled with a Body for then shall it perfect its work according to its form to which it is born For it is never born that it may of it self become a Body Moreover know that there is as much difference between the first Matter which is called the Seed of Metals and the Medicine as is between the Medicine and Gold For the Seed will never be the Medicine without a Body neither will the Medicine ever be a Metal without a Body Much difference also there is between Elixir and the Medicine as between Masculine and Feminine Seed and also an Infant which is generated of those in the Matrice Now you may see that the Seed is one thing and the Infant another though they be one and the same in kind one thing one operation the Vessel finally one though it be called by divers names For of a Man and Woman is an Infant born when as yet the Man is one thing and the Woman another though they be one and the same in kind which you ought to understand in our Stone But what I said before that corruption is the cause of generation and of cleanliness is true For you must know that every thing in its first Master is corrupt and bitter which corruption and bitterness is called dying poison which is the cause of Life in all things as will be sufficiently manifest if you with right reason do weigh the Natures of things Consider well O Son that when Lucifer the Angel of Pride first rebelled against God and prevaricated the Command of the most High be assured that this was made corrupt bitter and harsh to him No less was the fall and prevarication of our first Parents Adam and Eve whom death and condemnation followed made to them corruption and bitterness and likewise to us in whom the same corruption is propagated Many more like examples I could recite if need were But setting aside these to come to what is proper to our discourse consider well that of all precious Fruits which grow out of the Earth their First Matter is bitter and harsh as still retaining some footstep of the former corruption and putrefaction which bitterness by the means of continual action of natural heat is with great virtue turned into sweetness Now therefore Son if thou wiâ—â— be ingenious this little will suffice whereby to find out much more and to perceive my meaning Consider therefore
the spiritual sulphureous fiery Water of Mercury wherein the Body of Sol is dissolved and burnt up and of this dissolved and destroyed Body a new World likewise is created and born and the Heavenly Jerusalem that is an eternal clarified subtle penetrant fixated Body which is able to penetrate and perfect all other Bodies Hence Rogerius saith As that is to be a supernatural Fire which is to break and melt into one another the Elements of the whole World and as out of the broken corruptible Work of the dissolved Elements a new Work will be born which will be an everlasting Work even so the Holy Trinity hath shewed and signified unto us likewise a supernatural Fire in the Heavenly Stone This supernatural Fire my Son the Philosophers have hidden in their Books in parabolical expressions naming the same by innumerable names and especially they term it Balneum Mariae a moist Horse-dung Menstruum Urine Milk Bloud Aqua vitae and the like Of this Fire saith Bernhardus make a vaporous Fire continual digesting not violent subtle airy clear close incombustible penetrant and vital and thereupon he speaketh further Truly I have told thee all the manner and circumstances of the Fire which only performeth all and therefore he bids the Reader to consider well and often the words he said concerning the Fire Consequently he that is wise will easily perceive thence that those words are not to be understood of a common but of a supernatural Fire which also Mary the Prophetess doth hint saying that the Element of Water doth dissolve the Bodies and make them white And concerning this Fire which he calleth Menstruum and its preparation Raymund Lullie speaketh in his Testamentum novissimum in Codice in Animâ Metallorum Luce Mercuriorum Librâ— Mercuriorum de secretis Naturae de Quintâ Essentiâ in Elucidario Testamenti c. 4. saying that it is not Humane but Angelical to reveal this Celestial Fire and that it is the greatest secret of all how to attain to the knowledge of it And moreover he saith in figurative expressions that this Fire is composed of Horse-dung and Calx vive But what is prefigured by Calx vive I will expound in another place And what is signified by Horse-dung I mentioned before viz. that by Horse-dung is meant the Water of the prima materia for it is warm and moist like Horse-dung but it is no common Horse-dung as many ignorant persons do suppose and understand Hence saith the Philosopher Alanus the Philosophers called the moist Fire Horse-dung in which moisture is kept the occult heat because it is the property of the Fire existing in the Horse belly not to destroy Gold but by reason of its moisture to increase it To the like purpose speaketh Alchidonius Our Medicine must be hidden in moist Horse-dung which is the Philosophers Fire And Alanus Dear Son be careful in the work of Putrefaction or Destruction which is to be performed in a gentle heat that is in moist Horse-dung Arnoldus de Villâ novâ in the 9th chap. saith that the heat of Horse-dung is their Fire So likewise Alphidius it is digested and buried in the heat of Horse-dung And Aristotle the Earth or Body will enjoy no virtue unless it be sublimed by the means of Horse-dung And therefore saith Hermes roast and cook it in the heat of Horse-dung And Morienus if thou do not find in Horse-dung what thou lookest for thou hadst best to save thy charges With these agreeth Arnoldus saying Let none seek for any other Fire besides this for it is the Fire of the Wise the melting Furnace of the Wise and their Furnace for calcining subliming reverberating dissolving and performing of Coagulation and Fixation for this Water dissolveth all Metals and calcineth them and melteth it self together with them both into red and white In like manner also the Turba and Senior speaketh Our Water is a Fire and our Water is stronger than any Fire for it reduceth the Body of Gold into a meer Spirit which the natural Fire is not able to do though the natural Fire must likewise be had For then our Water enters into the natural Bodies and changeth it self into the primigenial Water and afterwards into Earth or Powder which doth more forcibly burn the Gold than the natural Fire and accordingly Calid saith â—t is truly a Fire which burneth and grindeth all things But the manner of preparing this Philosophick Water or Fire that is the Aqua Mercurii the Philosophers have concealed however Raymund Lullie of all hath written best of it though in dark expressions Accordingly first of all it will be requisite to purge Mercury from its extraneous humidity and terrene terrestriety yet so as not by means of corruptible things for by such its noble fruitful viridescent and generating Nature would be marred Avicen Arnoldus Geber Raymundus in Codicillo and other Philosophers besides say that Mercury is best cleansed by subliming it from common Salt which done the sublimate to be thrown into warm Water which will dissolve and sever the Spirit of Salt from it afterwards the sublimate being dryed and mixed with Salt of Tartar and forced through a Retort it will revive again and this to be done divers times and by this proceeding Mercury will be freed somewhat from its extraneous moisture and feculency and Bernhardus towards the end of his Epistle saith that this purgation doth not hurt Mercury in regard that the hot Water and Salt do not penetrate into its substance But it is to be noted here my Son that in regard that Mercury is of an uniform indivisible substance it cannot be truly and perfectly cleansed by such an extraneous means especially because its terrestrial impurity lies hid in its inmost center which by no Sublimation is to be sâ—vered thence as many ignorant men though in vain attempt And therefore other means must be used to free Mercury vive from those bonds wherewith Nature hath tyed him uniformly in the bowels of the Earth and to reduce him into its primum Ens which is a Sulphureous spiritual Water which must be done without addition of any heterogeneous thing as Rogerius Bacon under the title of Mercury testifieth and Raymundus in the Theoricâ of his Testament saith that if it be not putrefied and opened after the foresaid manner the Menstruum will not be worth a Fig. But when the quick Mercury without any extraneous thing is set free from its bonds and dissolved into the primogeneal Water then and but then we are capable to cleanse his inside and by distillation to sever the Spirit from the Water and terrene terrestriety concerning which Separation the Philosophers have writ in an occult stile such as no conceited person will easily apprehend but especially they described it figuratively in the distillation of Wine For in the distillation of Wine appeareth evidently that the Spirit of
Wine is mixed with a great deal of Water and terrene terrestriety but by means of an artificial distillation the dry Spirit of Wine may be severed from all the phlegmatick humidity and terrene terrestriety in so much that all the Spirit is severed from the Water existent in Wine and the Water from the Earth and then remain the Lees out of which a white Salt is extracted and joyned again with the Spirit and then the Spirit is distilled and cohobated divers times until all the Salt be gone over with it whereby the Spirit is hugely fortified and acuated And in truth this is a notable typical description represented unto us by the Philosophers which in the preparation of the Water of Mercury we ought to imitate for after its dissolution we ought in like manner as hath been taught of the Wine by Sublimation sever the Water or Phlegm from the Spirit and the Spirit from the Earth and to rectifie the Earth and joyn and distill it together with the Spirit untill all together come over the Helm Of which preparation of this Water none of all the Philosophers hath written more clearly nor better than Raymund Lullie viz. in Testamento novissimo as also in the first Testament in libro Mercuriorum libro Q. Essentiae c. where he doth plainly enough declare that after the Putrefaction Separation Distillation of the Philosophical Spirit of Wine the Spiritual Water is to be mixed again and distilled with its own Earth that it come over with it he declareth also how this Philosophical Wine or Menstruum is fortified and acuated with its own Salt And further it is to be noted that this Water Menstruum or Philosophical Spirit of Wine being thus prepared doth dissolve or open its own Body or Mercury vive into the primum Ens or primogenial Water whereby it is multiplied without end by means of Putrefaction and Distillation But what is said of the Extraction of this Water is confirmed by Arnoldus de Villâ novâ saying It is a substance full of Vapours which containeth in it self a fat humidity whereof the Artist severeth the Philosophers humidity such as is fit for the Work and is as clear as the tears of eyes wherein dwelleth the Quintessence in a Metallick Nature very proper for the Metals and therein is the Tincture to bring forth an intire Metal for it containeth the nature both of Argent vive and also of Sulphur Rosarius Philosophorum saith concerning the distillation of this Menstruum or Water that great industry and care must be had and that the Vessels to be used for the cleansing of this Spirit must be of Glass and exactly closed to the end that the Spirit may find no vent nor place to fly through it being very forward to make its way through any hole it findeth And if the red Spirit should be gone the Artist will lose his labour the Philosophers call the red Spirit Bloud and Menstruum therefore be very careful to have good Vessels and to have the joynts well luted that you may get the dry Spirit with its Bloud into the Receiver by it self without evaporation of its Virtue and keep it until thou have occasion to work with it But concerning this distillation the ocular inspection goeth beyond writing and none can be a Master before he have been a Scholar or Apprentice Be provident therefore and discreet in thy Work lay on a Receiver and first distill by a gentle Fire the Element of Water which being over put it aside and lay on another Receiver and close the joynts exactly that the Spirit may not vapour away increase the Fire a little and there will rise in the Helm a dry yellow Spirit Continue the same degree of Fire so long as the Spirit cometh yellow But when the Alembick beginneth to be red then increase the Fire very gently and keep it going on thus until the red Spirit and Bloud be quite come over which in its ascending and going through the Helm will appear in the form of Clouds in the Air And so soon as the red Spirit is distilled over the Helm will be white and then cease quickly and thus you have in the Receiver the two Elements of Air and Fire having extracted the true dry Spirit and severed the pure from the impure Loe now you have the prima materia Metallorum wherein the Bodies are reduced For all the Metals have their rise from Water which is a â—oot of all Metals And therefore they are reduced into Water like as the frozen Ice by heat is reduced into Water because it hath been Water before Do not marvel at it for all things upon Earth have their root and rise from Water O how many there are that work and never think upon the root which is the Key to the whole Work it dissolveth the Bodies readily it is Father and Mother it openeth and shutteth and reduceth Metals into what they have been in the beginning It dissolveth the Bodies and coagulateth it self together with them the Spirit is carried upon the Water that is the Power of the Spirit is seen there operating which is done when the Body is put into the Water Whereupon the Philosopher saith Look upon that despicable thing whereby our Secret is opened For it is a thing which all know well and he that knoweth it not will hardly or never find it the wise man keepeth it and the fool throws it away and the reduction is easie to him that knows it But my Son it is the greatest secret to free this Stone or Mercury vive from its natural bonds wherewith he is tyed by Nature that is to dissolve and reduce it into its primigenial Water for without this be done all will prove but labour lost for else we should not be able to sever and extract the true Spirit or Watry substance which dissolveth the Bodies And this Solution hath been concealed by all the Philosophers who left it unto God Almighty's disposing anathematizing that man that should openly reveal it And therefore they spake very subtilly and concisely concerning the solution of this crude Body to the end that it may remain occult unto the unwise But my Son thou art to take notice that the solution of Mercury vive will hardly be performed without a means but none such are to be used as are Sophistical as many rude unwise and ignorant fools use to do who by strange extravagant ways reduce Mercury into Water supposing that to be the right Water They sublime Mercury with Corrosives with all sorts of Salts and Vitriols from which the sublimed Mercury attracteth the Salty Spirits and then afterwards they dissolve the sublimate into Water in Balneo or in the Cellar or divers other ways Item they reduce it into Water by Salt-Armoniack by Herbs Sope Aquafort by means of strange kinds of Vessels and many the like Sophistical proceedings all which are but
to be had and taken is a subject common and poor in outward appearance and therefore it is called a little thing and it is in every Mine yet is nearer in some things than in others and in a word in the Mineral Kingdom you must have it in the most excellent work of the Mineral Hierarchy therefore not Animals or Vegetals Know ye then although I deny not Raymonds Canons to be true that the lively Nature being constrained with the strength of Gold in the most subtle heat the Tincture may be made well easily and in a short time which will convert all Metals into perfect Gold but the way of the Philosophers in the Universal Work was out of the Mineral Kingdom leaving therefore Animals and Vegetals I will acquaint you with the Universal Subject Know that all Philosophers affirm that the Matter is but one thing and a vile thing which costeth nothing cast in High-ways and trodden upon which is the hope of Metals or a thing containing all things needful for the Work within it self and albeit curious Wits hold all these to be Aenigma's yet are they true according to the letter Briefly to manifest the truth you shall know that in all Mines whatsoever there doth lye certain Beds of a lutinous or clayish substance under the Earth which in some places is harder than in others the deeper the Mine is the more unctuous is the Clay and this Clay is the Mother of the Metals the feeder of the Mines for in it lies hid the Spirits or the three Principles of Metals viz Salt the Body Sulphur the Soul and Mercury the Spirit not common nor running but a white Vapour which resolves it self into a white Water I say invisibly in this confused lump of Clay lies hid the aforesaid Principles And this is the true Matter or Subject of the Philosophers and mark how that it agreeth with that I said before First that it is one thing which yet containeth three Secondly that it is a vile thing and yet is not so for it is a lump of Clay Thirdly that it is so vile and common that Workmen throw it out of their Mines and tread on it as a thing of no value I have seen High-ways paved with it in Hungary and it is no other in other Countries And is not this a Chaos or confused Matter is not this the hope of Metals be you judge I took my Matter in Hungary out of the Mines of Sol anâ— so I was taught because more decocted and riper or hotter Spiritâ— are there than in any other Mines Paracelsus out of it wrought his Elixir but the Philosophers generally took their Matter which is the same in shew and substance but not so ripe out of the Mines of Saturn and that is their Saturn so often mentioned in their Books not Ore of Saturn nor Mercury of Saturn but the Sperm where the Vegetable Spirits are not specificated to Lead but lye hid in the lutinous lump of Clay Now the difference between that which is taken out of the Mine of Sol and that which is had out of the Mine of Saturn is this in Sol the Matter is so prepared you shall have need but of one Putrefaction but in that taken out of the Mine of Saturn you must have three Putrefactions which indeed is the great and universal Work And thus I have fully and plainly revealed the Matter the Work is easie viz. The Practice TAke this lutinous Clay out of Sol or Saturn for the working in either the Preparation is alike I say take that which is â—rost clammy or unctuous and when you gather it keep it from the Air as close as you can in a Glass or Earthen Vessel for it will which I have admired in an instant indurate and hardenâ— But put it in a Glass Vessel and in that digest it being well stopped in B. M. or in a Blind Head which is better but let three parts of the Vessel be empty and let the heat of your Balneum be such as you may easily hold your hand in it Some Philosophers digested this a Philosophical month which is six weeks but then their Matter was not fresh for if it be fresh then sixteen or twenty days is sufficient After Digestion alter the head and distill and you shall have the Philosophers Oyl which being come your it on the Matter again and this till you have so much Vinegar as will swim four fingers over the Matter then let it stand twenty four hours and it will be tinged yellow pour that gently off and distill away your Vinegar till it come to a gummy substance then pour this Vinegar on the Matter again and it will be tinged yellow distill and reiterate this until your Vinegar be no more tinged yellow then hath it sucked out all the Spirits out of the Clay then from the yellow Liquor distill away all the Vinegar and you shall have a gummy substance like Saccarum Suturni digest this two days then distill away all the Flegm in Balneo then let it cool and put it in a Retort with a great Receiver well luted to it as can be put it into an Ash Furnace and distill it again and by degrees you shall have all your Receiver become as white as Milk which is crude Mercury of Philosophers or the Virgin Milk continue Distillation â—nd a bloud red Oyl shall ascend which is Sulphur of Philosophers incombustible and unctuous continue till no more will come over with so violent a heat for twelve hours that you do almost melt the Glass then let it cool and take off that Receiver and stop it up very close break the Retort and the Feces will be as black as Pitch and hard which grind small on a Marble then Reverberate it in an Earthen Calcining-pan close covered for three days but make not the Matter red-hot and lay it two fingers thick in the Pan then take it out and either with your Vinegar rectified from its Feces or with rain-Rain-water distilled I have tried and found it being well Reverberated that it will take up the Salt but I held the Vinegar the best and most proper digest it therefore with Vinegar twenty hours then philter and distill it in B. M. till it be dry dissolve it again in that Vinegar but first rectifie it let it settle philter and distill and reiterate until the Salt be Crystalline and white then put it in a white glass Body pour thereon this red Oyl which is the Sulphur and also the white Water which is incorporated therewith lute on close and well a Blind Head and digest in Balneo three days and it will be all one thing or pap but then distill away all the humidity that will arise and then put it in an Egg-glass with a short neck nip it up without heating the Matter let the Egg be but a fourth part full This is the gross Conjunction and Preparation without adding any more than Natures proportion put the
of precious Stones artificially better than the Natural Fourthly to turn all Metals into running Quick-silver Fifthly several Magical Operations of several kinds which are past belief till thou seest them and which indeed are above all the rest And here I promise that I will in such plain words set down what I have intended that thou canst not in doing err or do amiss provided thou have the Stone both red and white although there be more works out of it than I dare set down and indeed Angelical wisdom is attained by it But I proceed For Health the use of it thuâ— IN the use of this Medicine many great Philosophers themselves after they had obtained this wonderful blessing desiring to have perfect Health have been so bold as to take a certain quantity of it some no more than a quarter of a grain some less some more but all that did so with it instead of Health took Death it self for there is no small skill to use it for Medicine though every fool think if he had it he could cure all diseases and himself too and set the Elements at unity which few men have known neither is there but one way to it with safety if this be not known more hurt than good may be received by it For the method of Health it is thus Take the quantity of four grains I do not mean the grains of Wheat or Barley grains or corns but four grains of Gold weight and dissolve them in a pint of White or Rhenish Wine but in no hot Wine as Sack c put it into a great clean Glass and instantly it will colour all the Wine almost as red as it self was which is the highest red in the World let it stand so close covered from dust four days for in respect it is an Oylie substance it will not presently dissolve in Wine then add to this a pint more by degrees until it be not so red stirring it with a clean stick of Wood not of Metal nor Glass and so continue the pouring on of fresh Wine until it be just of the colour of Gold which is a shining yellow Beware there be no redness in it for so long as there is any redness in it it is not sufficiently dilated but will fire the Body and exhaust the Spirits neither is it sufficiently brought to yellow until the Wine have round about the sides a ring like Hair of a whitish film which will shew it self plain when well dissolved if it stand but four hours quiet As soon as you see that whitish film then let it run through a clean linen Cloth or Paper so the white film will stay behind and look like a Pearl on the Paper and all the rest will be yellow like Gold This is the token of truth that you cannot wrong your self by this Liquor and without this token it will be either too weak or so strong that it will fire the Body Know this to be a rare Secret Of this Golden Water let the party of what disease soever he be sick of take each morning a good large spoonful and it shall expel the disease whatsoever it be by a gentle sweat for it purgeth not nor vomiteth nor sweateth so much as to make faint but to corroborate I say it strengthens the party and if the disease be of many years continuance or a Chronical disease it will then be perhaps twelve days otherwise but twenty four hours or two or three days at most Thus it must be used for all diseases internal But for all external diseases as Ulcers Scabs Botches Sores Fistula's Noli me tâ—ngere's c. the place must be anointed with the Oyl of the Stone it self not dilated in Wine and after this manner it must be done nine or ten days and be it whatsoever it will it will cure all outward and inward diseases And more than this whosoever carries this Stone about him no evil Spirit can or will stay in the place nay bringing or giving it to a party possessed it drives away and expels the evil Spirits for it is a Quintessence and there is no corruptible thing in it and where the Elements are not corrupt no Devil can stay or abide for he is the corruption of the Elements This Mediciâ—e taken nine days as aforesaid and the Temples of the Head anointed with the Oyl of the Stone each day in the morning it will make a man as light as if he could flie and his Body so aireal it is not to be credited but by him that hath experienced it These most admirable qualities it hath perfect health it giveth till God calls for the Soul and perfeâ—â— knowledge it giveth if the use be known but even this part hath been known but to a few that have made it for it is a Divine and as it were an Angelical Medicine The white is not to be used for any disease but Madness in the same proportion and way or preparation that the red Stone was And so I proceed to the second which is Multiplication The way to Multiply MAny have made the Stone both white and red that never knew how to multiply it for the white Stone will be red by continuing it in the external natural Fire but never make projection higher than one upon ten neither white nor the red few have known this for if they be not armed rightly it will kill them but do thus and thou shalt multiply it infinitely that it shall not congeal to Powder any more When thou hast made the Mercury of the Philosophers which in 40 days is to be done a Water it is and no Water clear as the Heavens then as thou didst make it reduce it back again into Putrefaction E. F. which it will quickly do in a Body with a blind Head and never put into it above twelve ounces and lute it with such lutâ— as I will direct here-under for in a Glass nipt up it will not work When it is like Pitch take out thy Glass and remove it to a common fire of Ashes in a Furnace and when thy Glass hath stood cold 24 hours arm thy self thus Make thee a Case for thy head and face with Hog-skin lined with Cotton and before thy face have Spectacles of Glass and from thy mouth let go a large Tunnel of Glass covered with Leather and let it be tyed under thy Girdle and touch thy Ancles let the bore of the Glass be as big as a Walnut and tye the Hyde of Hog-skin fast about thy Neck under thy Chin but so as thou be sure no Air come in there to which purpose lap it over with more Hog-skin basted with Laten and thus art thou well armed for otherwise it would kill thee Thus armed take off thy blind Head and put on a distilling Head and a Receiver long and large lute the Receiver and joynts of the Head with this lute viz. to one ounce of Powder of Egg-shels calcined 24 hours and ground like
done take one drop of the red blessed Stone and let it fall into the midst of the Water and presently thou shalt see a mist and thick darkness upon the face of the Water as it was in the first Creation then put into it two drops more and thou shalt see the second light come out of the first darkness or rather light come out darkness and then by degrees each half quarter of an hour put in three four five six drops and then no more and thou shalt see appear before thy face on the surface of the Water by degrees one thing after another all things that God did create in six days and the manner of it and Secrets not to be spoken of or revealed which to reveal I have no power nor strength nor dare set down Be on the knees from the beginning of this operation let thine eyes be judge for thus was the World created You cannot but tremble when you shall see it let all alone it will vanish away in half an hour after it begins By this you shall know and see plainly those Mysteries of Divinity which now you are ignorant of as a Child although you thought your self a wise man and that you did understand Moses his Writings of the Creation but I say no more You will now see what Body Adam and Eve had before their Fall and what after their Fall what the Serpent was what the Tree was and what Fruit they did eat where and what Paradice is and what it was you will know What Bodies the Just shall rise in not these we received from Adam but that flesh and bloud which is born and begotten in us by the Holy Ghost and Water such as our blessed Lord brought from Heaven But I have done The Heavens YOu shall take seven pieces of Metals of each of the Metalâ— named after the Planets and on every one of them you shall stamp the sign or character of the Planets in the House of the Planet and let each piece be as big as a Rose-noble only let Mercury be of a quarter of an ounce and no impression on it Then put them as they stand in order in the Firmament into a Crucible and close all the windows in the Chamber and let it be dark and in the midst of the Chamber then melt them all together and drop in seven drops of the blessed Stone and presently out of the Crucible will come a fiery flame and spread it self round about the whole Chamber fear it not it will not hurt you the whole Chamber will shine brighter than the Sun and Moon and you shall see over your head the whole Firmament as it is above the Starrie Skie and the Sun Moon and Planets will go all round in their course just as it is in the Heavens Let it cease of it self in a quarter of an hour it is gone to its proper place Fellowship MOre then this if thou take the Stone each Full Moon when it is over the Horizon where thou art and go apart in a Garden and take some of the clear rain-Rain-water as thou didst in the first operation and drop of thy white Stone as thou didst of thy red and there shall presently even to the Orb of the Moon ascend Exhalations in a strange manner and if thou observe this every month at the due time there is no Philosopher in the Horizon where thou livest that hath the knowledge of the Stone with the use of it but at the same time goeth out and looketh East and West North and South and finding such an Apparition as he soon seeth it he knoweth it is done by some Artist or other that desireth acquaintance with those that have the same Art and will presently in the same manner answer thee when thine is done thus shalt thou know all that have the use of the Stone To meet with thy fellow Philosophers do thus anoint thy temples with the white Stone that night and earnesily pray to know what that party is lay under thy head three Bay-leaves newly gathered and fix thy Imagination upon thy desire to know him so repose thy self to sleep and when thou dost awake thou wilt presently remember thy Vision as the Person his Name and the place of his abode if thou go not to him he will come to thee for perhaps he thinks thou dost not know this Secret The reason why this should be thus is this the universal Spirit of the Air which is inclosed in the Stone causeth it Thus mayst thou accompany thy self with all the wise men in the World who shall appear unto thee rather Beggars than Rich men and perhaps can teach thee more than I can or have done by this for indeed all things that are Natural are done by it a Volume would hardly contain them As to command and converse with Spirits which I forbear to set down I mean good Spirits is not this Angelical wisdom to know these things Astronomy Astrology and all the Arts of the Mathematicks are easily known in their perfection this being done that I have told thee nor is Scholarship required it is the gift of God You must know before you do these things you must take the Stone nine days as I prescribed first and it will make thee have an Angelical understanding thou wilt despise the World and all in it then thou wilt know how to serve God and understand the Scriptures I have written that which was never writ before think whether they be not Secrets and Arcana's and whether thou ought'st to shew this or not to any man but to him that hath the Stone I have now done charging thee to have a care of this Writing commanding thee to serve God for without thou do that thou wilt never have good of this Art serve him in Spirit and Truth and so to God I leave thee to direct thee in his ways Glory to God in the Highest Amen Nicolas Flammell's SUMMARY OF Philosophy Nicolas Flammell's Summary of Philosophy HE that desireth to know how Metals are transmuted he must know from what Matter they are and how they be formed in their Minerals and lest herein we err we must see and observe the transmutations as in the Veins of the Earth Minerals out of the Earth may be changed if they be before spiritualized that they may come into their Sulphur and Argent vivâ— Nature these are the two Sperms the one Masculine the other Feminine complexions and these are composed of the Elements the Male Sulphur is nothing but Fire and Air and true Sulphur is as a Fire but not the Vulgar which is of no Metallick substance the Feminine Sperm called Argent vive is nothing but Earth and Water These two Sperms old wise men called two Dragons or Serpents the one is winged the other not Sulphur not flying the Fire is without wings the winged Serpent is Argent vive born up by the Wind therefore in her certain hour she flieth from the Fire
Vulgar well washed and when the Amalgama is made then let it be put into a little Boults-head with a neck one foot and a half long Afterwards â„ž three groste of our Argent vive formerly extracted and reserved from the Lunary Body and let it be put upon the Amalgama made of the Body and Argenâ— vive Vulgar let the Vessel be luted very well with the best lute and let it be dried when this is done stirring the Vessel exceeding well that the Amalgama may be well mingled and thus the Argent vive may be well mixed with the Body Afterwards put the Vessel in which the Matter is in a little Furnace to a little Fire of Coals and let its heat not exceed the heat of the Sun when Sol is in the Sign of Leo for another heat exceeding that would destroy the Matter and the one would fly from the other and let such a Fiâ—â— be continued until the Matter become black as Coals and thick as Pultis and let the Fire continue in this degree until the Matter be changed into a gray brown colour and when the gray appeareth increase the Fire in one point or degree and let this second degree continue until the Matter begin to become white to the most purest whiteness afterwards augment the Fire to the third degree continuing it until the Matter become whiter than Snow and be converted into pure Powder whiter than Ashes and then you have Calx vive or the quick Slime of the Philosophers and its Sulphury Mine which the Philosophers have so much hidden CHAP. IV. The Property of the said Calx or Slime THe said Calx converteth Mercury Vulgar into most white Powder infinitely which can be reduced into true Silver with some of the Bodies of Luna CHAP. V. Multiplication of the Calx â„ž THe Vessel with the Matter wherein put two ounces of Argent vive Vulgar well washed and dried afterwards lute the Vessel well and put it where it was before governing and administring to it the Fire of the first second and third degrees as before until the Matter be reduced into a most white Powder and so you may multiply to infinity CHAP. VI. The Reduction of this Calx viva into Luna WHen thou thus hast gotten a great quantity of our Calx viva or of our Mine take a Crucible not covered in which put one ounce of pure Lune and when it iâ— melted put thereupon four ounces of thy Powder in small Pills let thy Pills be the weight of the fourth part of an ounce let them be put upon the middle Luna by degrees always continuing the Fire strong until all the Pills be projected and melted together with the Lune and in the end make a strong Fire until it be incorporated afterward project it in an Ingot and thou shalt have five ounces of Silver more pure than the Natural and thus thou mayst multiply thy Philosophical Mine as thou pleasest CHAP. VII Of our great Work to the White and to the Red. REduce the Calx viva as is said before of Luna into Argent vive which is our Secret Take therefore four ounces of our Calx and reduce them into Argent vive as thou didst with Luna of which Argent vive thou mayst have at least three ounces put this in a little Boult-head with a long neck as thou didst before afterwards make Amalgama with one ounce of true Sol with three ounces of Argent vive Vulgar and put upon it Argent vive of Lune moving it strongly with thy hands that all may be mingled together afterward put the Vessel well luted as before in the Furnace making the Fire of the first second and third degree in the first degree thy Matter will become black like to a Coal which then is called the Eclipsis of Luna and Sol and there will be a true commixtion whereby is begotten the Sun and Sulphur which is full of temperate bloud after the appearing of his colour continue the Fire of the second degree until the Matter become gray then continue the third degree until the Matter appear most white afterwards augment the Fire to the fourth degree continuing so that the Matter may appear red as Cinnabar and the Ashes become red this Calx you may reduce into the finest Sol as is said before of Lune FINIS SECRETS DISCLOS'D One Friend to another as Bloomfield suppose The Philosophers Stone the Secrets doth disclose I Shall tell it to you openly Our Medicine is a Stone that is no Stone and it is one thing in kind and not divers things of whom all Metals be made and so it is no Salts nor Waters nor Oyl combustible nor mans Hair nor maâ—â— Bloud nor Iron nor Goats horns nor Herbs nor none such things that discord from Metals as many Fools devise But he is two things for he is Water and Earth not Water of Clouds nor of Corrosives nor Water of Salts but Water of the Sun and the Moon that burns our Earth more than any Fire And it is three things that is Body Spirit and Soul and it is four things Earth and Water and Air and Fire and therefore he is found in every place and in every time And he is also unstable in colour as a shame-fac'd Woman that changeth her colour for dread of her Love that reproveth her of untruth for now she is pale now green now red so our Stone is turned to all colours for he is black and white and pale and blew and green and red of this Matter our Medicine is made that we call Ixir and Elixir that is the Philosophers Stone Take this Stone and put him in a well-closed clear Vessel that thou mayst see his working and when thou hast Water of Air and Air of Fire and Fire of Earth then it is done for the Spirit is departed from the Body and leaveth the Body dead and black But if the Sepulchre be well closed he will come in again to the Body and make him rise again to life and then the Body and the Soul shall ever be together And therefore take a Red man and a White woman and wâ—â— them together and let them go to Chamber both and look that the door and the windows be fast sparr'd for else the Woman will be gone away from her Husband And if she lye with him right warm on Bed then beware that she go no where out for if she do he shall never overtake her if he were as swift as a Faulcon for if she may no where out she will come to him again and lye with him on Bed and then she shall conceive and bear a Son that shall worship all his Kin and then will she never after go away from her Husband For this Man and this Woman getteth our Stone But the Man must be fell and quaint to make her to abide with him with meekness and not with sturdiness for if he be boisterous to her in the beginning she will flee
away from him and if he be easie with her in the beginning she will he his Master a good while This is a hard marriage nevertheless one comfort this is after that she hath born a Child and known somewhat of disease she will be the more sober and never leave him after But shortly all our working is no more but take our Stone and make him rotten in Horse-dung and then seeth him in his own Water and afterwards fry him in his own Grease and then roast him till his Grease and his Water be all dried up and then burn him all to Powder and then bake him on an Oven till he will meâ—â—â—â—â— Wax and then thou hast an end And then thank God that this Work is so easie for thy Stone is but one thing and all one Vâ—ssel and all one working from the beginning to the ending but look that thy Fire be easie and soft in the Putrefaction and in the Solution and the Distillation till it be black but then strengthen it alway till in the Desiccation and the Imbibition and in the Sublimation and in the Coagulation and the Congelation and fixing of the Spirits and in the Calcination and in the Incineration but in the Citrination and Rubification and Inceration and Liquefaction is all their strength But if thou understand not this Friend meddle thou not of this Art until thou have gone better to School and hold this in Counsel for my love as I shall trust to you hereafter Farewell A Philosophical Riddle A Strife late rose in Heaven yet undecided And the chief Deities were by pairs divided Saturn and Luna one Opinion held Which Jove and Mercury combin'd refell'd Venus and Mars that still have loved either Gainsaid them all and would assent with neither In this dire brawl 'tween these three pairs begun To Judge and Umpire they all chose the Sun Therefore amidst them all his place is still With power t' advance and grace which part he will By all their joynt assents for as his might Great is so clearest is of all his Light And those with whom he holds must needs as best And worthiest bear the Glory from the rest And since he needs must joyn with one for odds Cannot remain long 'mongst agreeing Gods Shew me some man that can with which of these Three pairs the God consents and best agrees And on the New Lights word I that before Knew nought will rest and ask no Question more THE ANSWER OF Bernardus Trevisanus TO THE EPISTLE OF Thomas of Bononia Physician to K. CHARLES THE 8 th The Answer of Bernardus Trevisanus to the Epistle of Thomas of Bononia Physician to King Charles the Eighth Reverend Doctor and Honoured Sir WIth the tender of all possible Respects and Services be pleased to understand that I have received your very large and copious Letter by Mr. Awdry together with the Stone of your most secret Work which truly is a remarkable argument of your Friendship by which the confidence you put in me appears manifest and very great and with how great and piercing a Wit also you are illustrated Now then I shall very willingly Answer unto your Epistle Some things I shall approve which you have written learnedly and ingeniously other things I shall briefly touch and refute strictly and Philosophically but not arrogantly and throughly discuss them with submission and respect unto your Honour and request For in this sacred and secret Art as in others the truth of the Theory ought to be confirmed by Practical experience Now therefore Reverend Doctor let us visit one another with such Returns and Treatises since we may not be bodily united But it is your wisdom as you very well know to know and inspect thingâ— by their Causes for Experience is deceitful when not guided by a previous understanding There is necessary to the Students in Philosophy a strong and discreet meditation that the Work they undertake may be conveniently brought on to its utmost perfection For contingent errors happen unto them who will fall to work omitting or neglecting the judgment of a mental practice which the Theory frameth in the mind before the operations proceed to the composure of any Work For Work must attend Nature and not Nature follow Work He then that would effect any thing must prepare his mind with the knowledge of the Natures and eventual Accidents of things and afterwards he may safely put his hands to the Work And indeed I clearly perceive your mind to be highly instructed in these things by your Experiment set down fully in your Epistle For as Water which is cold and moist if it be well mixt with Vegetables assumes another quality and in decoction takes to it and puts on it the quality of the thing wherewith it is throughly mixt so also Quick-silver assumes different natures and qualities in things familiar unto it and throughly mixt with it as if it be joyned to the Sun the qualities of the Sun if to the Moon those of the Moon if to Venus of Venus and so in other kinds of Metals Their kinds therefore ought to be decocters therein and Mercury is their Water in which by a mutual alteration it assumes in a convertible manner their mutations And this Water contracts unto it self from them a Nature in a resemblance to Vegetables decocted in simple Water though these kinds are not altered in their colour outwardly under the form of fluidity in respect of the thickness of the Matter and Earth immersed in and united proportionably to the Water of Mercury but we find it otherwise in other diaphanous humidities For this altered Nature is altered and its colour outwardly is hid under the appearancâ— of Mercury and is not manifest to the sight And this you at large discuss and shew how simple River Water is the first Matter and nourishment of Vegetables and consequently of all living and sensitive Creatures therefore if any of them all be decocted in it it assumes and puts on it self the virtue and propriety of their Nature wherefore being in it self cold in the highest degree yet by means of things decocted in it it works in us the effect of a thing hot in the first degree that I may use your words Moreover there is nothing that nourisheth more than the Broth or decoction of good Flesh and if the Water in which Flesh and Herbs are boyled or the things boyled in Water be eaten moist or the simple Water aâ—ter boyling be taken or drank it hurts not at all yea it will profit and help much although before in its simplicity and nature it would have been hurtful Now this comes to pass because that Water is not such as it was before In likâ— manner Quick-silver is the Matter of all Metals and is as it were Water in the Analogy betwixt it and Vegetables or Animals and receives into it the virtue of those things which in decoction adhere to it and are throughly mingled with it which being
most cold may yet in a short time be made most hot and in the same manner with temperate things may be made temperate by a most subtlâ— artificial invention And no Metaâ— adheres better to it than Gold as you say and therefore as some think Gold is nothing but Quick-silver coagulated by the power oâ— Sulphur c. And thence you would conclude as I think and well that if Gold be decocted and dissolved rightly in the natural way of Art Quick-silver it self will obtain the natural properties of that Gold But the way of this decoction and solution of Metals is known to very few and it manifestly appears for the cause oâ— this Solution is the moistness oâ— Mercury restrained by the compactness of an Homogeneal Earth and contrarywise the coldness of the Earth restrained by a Wateâ—â—omogeneal to it self the Homogeneousness of qualities remaining So that there is in it a single dryness and double coldness a simple moistness but under a disproportion of immaturity to the anatical proportion of the ripe digested Sun The dissolver therefore differs from the dissolvend in proportion and digestion and not in matter because Nature might make this of that without any additional mixture as Nature doth wonderfully and simply produce Gold of Quick-silver as you have learnedly discoursed in your Epistle For in Vegetables the moisture of simple Water is taken for an intrinsick dissolution that things congealed by Art might diffuse into it their effects and the dissolution of things come about with the coagulation of Water and the coagulation of Water with the dissolution of things and contrarywise and so it is likewise in the Mineral Water and things of its kind He therefore that knows the Art and Secret of Dissolution hath attained the secret point of Art which is to mingle throughly the kinds and out of Natures to extract Natures which are effectually hid in them How hath he then found the truth who destroys the moist nature of Quick-silver as those Fools who deform its kind from its Metallick disposition or dissolution and by dissolving its radical moisture corrupt it and disproportion Quick-silver from its first Mineral quality which needs nothing but purity and simple decoction For example they who defile it with Salts Vitriols and aluminous things destroy it and change it into some other thing than is the nature of Quick-silver For that Seed which Nature by its sagacity and clemency oâ—â—osed they endeavour to perfect by violating and destroying it which undoubtedly is destructive to it as far as concerns the effect of our Work For the Seed in humane and sensitive things is formed by Nature and not by Art but it is joyned by Art and well mixed but nothing is to be taken from it nor added to it if the same specieâ— must be renovated by the procreation of its own kind so the same Matter must abide and continue that the same Form may follow which it doth not otherwise Wherefore excellent Doctor false and vain is all their doctrine which altereth Mercury which is the Seed before the Metallick species be joyned with it For if it be dryed up it dissolves not What then can it do in the solution of things of own species For if it be heated beyond its natural digestion it will not cause nor generate in the Metalline species a Feverish heat as it were and will impertinently turn cold into hot and passive into active and the errour from thence will be incorrigible and labour lost For example Fools draw corrosive Waters out of inferiour Minerals into which they cast the species of Metals and corrode them For they think that they are therefore dissolved with a natural Solution which Solution truly requires a permanency of the dissolver and dissolved together that a new species might result from both the Masculine and Feminine Seed I tell you assuredly that no Water dissolves any Metallick species by a natural Solution save that which abides with them in matter and form and which the Metals themselves being dissolved can recongeal which thing happens not in Aquafortis but rather is a defilement of the Compound that is of the Body to be dissolved Neither is that Water proper for Solutions of Bodies which abides not with them in their Coagulations and finally Mercury is of this sort and not Aquafortis nor that which Fools imagine to be a lympid and diaphanous Mercurial Water For if they divide or obstruct the homogeneity of Mercury how can the first proportion of the Feminine Seed consist and be preserved Because Mercury cannot receive Congelation with the dissolved Body neither will the true kind be â—â—novated afterwards in the administration of the Art nay but some other filthy and unprofitable thing Yet thus they think they â—issolve mistaking Nature but dissolve not For the Aquafortis being â—bstracted the Body becometh â—eltable as before and that Water abides not with nor subsists in the Body as its radical moisture The Bodies indeed are corroded but not dissolved and by how much more they are corroded they are so much more estranged from a Metallick kind These Solutions therefore are not the foundation of the Art of Transmutation but the impostures rather of Sophâ—â—tical Alchymists who think that this Sacred Art is hid in them They say indeed that they make Solutions but they cannot make perfect Metallick species because they do not naturally remain under the first proportion or kind which Mercury the Water allows in Metallick species For Mercury is corrupted with Metals by way of alteration not dissipation because Bodies dissolved therein are never separated from it as in Aquafortis and other corrosives but one kind puts on and hides another retaining it secretly and perfectly so Sol and Lune dissolved are secretly retained in it For their nature is hid in Mercury even unto its condensation of which they lying hid are the cause in as much as they are latent in it and as Mercury dissolves them and hides them in its belly so they also congeal it and what was hard is made soft what was soft hard and yet the kind that is Metals and Quick-silver abide still He therefore who thus dissolves congeals rather and the corrupted species conjoyned receive their old-form by an artificial decoction Notwithstanding this dissolution makes several colours appear because the species remain as it were dead yet their intrinsical proportion is permanent and entire So the Lord in the Gospel speaks by way of similitude of Vegetables Unless a grain of corn fallen on the earth do dye it abides alone but if it dye it brings forth much fruit Therefore this alterative corruption hides forms perfects natures keeps proportions and changes colours from the beginning to the end For when the Water begins to cover the Earth the black colour begins to be hid under the white when the Air covers the Water and the Earth the citrine colour appears which is turned to red when the Fire covers the Air or the other