part it, could not write of it openly,

because covetousness and vanity have been governing principles in the world ;
94 COLLECTANEA CIIEMICA.
and, being wise men, they knew that it was not the will of the Most High to inflame and cherish such odious tempers, the genuine offspring of pride and self- love, but to banish them out of the earth, wherefore they have been withheld hither- to. But we, finding no restraint on our mind in that respect, shall declare what we know : and the rather because we judge the time is come to demolish the golden calf, so long had in veneration by all ranks of men, insomuch that worth is estimated by the money a man possesses ; and such is the inequality of possessions that mankind are almost reducible to the rich, who are rioting in extravagance, and the poor, who are in extreme want, smarting under the iron hand of oppression. Now the measure of iniquity among the rich hastens to its limit, and the cry of the poor is come before the Lord : “ H''Ao will give them to eat till they shall be satisfied?" Hereafter the rich will see the vanity of their possessions when compared with the treasures com-
THE philosopher's STONE. 95
municated by this secret ; for the riches it bestows are a blessing from God, and not the squeezing of oppression. Besides, its chief excellence consists in making a medicine capable of healing all diseases to which the human body is liable, and pro- longing life to the utmost limits ordained by the Creator of all things.
There want not other reasons for the manifestation of the process ; for scepticism has gone hand in hand with luxury and oppression, insomuch that the fundamental truths of all revealed religion are disputed. These were always held in veneration by the possessors of this art, as may be seen from what they have left upon record in their books : and, indeed, the first prin- ciples of revealed religion are demonstrated from the whole process, for the seed of metals is sown in corruption, and raised in incorruption ; it is sown a natural body, and raised a spiritual body ; it is known to partake of the curse which came upon the earth for man’s sake, having in its com-
9^ COLLECTANEA CHEMICA.
position a deadly poison, which can only be separated by a regeneration in water and fire ; it can, wlien it is throughly purified and exalted, immediately tinge imperfect metals and raise them to a state of perfection, being in this res]>ect a lively emblem of that seed of the woman, the Serpent Bruiser, who, through His suffer- ings and death, hath entered into glory, having thenceforth power and authority to redeem, purify, and glorify all those who come unto Him as a mediator between God and mankind.
Such being our motives, we can no longer be silent concerning the seed of metals, but declare that it is contained in the ores of metals, as wheat is in the grain ; and the sottish folly of alchemists has hin- dered them from adverting to this, so that they have always sought it in the vulgar metals, which are factitious and not a natural production, herein acting as fool- ishly as if a man should sow bread and expect corn from it, or from an egg which
THE philosopher’s STONE. 97
is boiled hope to produce a chicken. Nay, though the philosophers have said many times the vulgar metals are dead, not ex- cepting gold, which passes the fire, they could never imagine a thing so simple as that the seed of metals was contained in their ores, where alone it ought to be ex- pected ; so bewildered is human ingenuity, when it leaves the beaten track of truth and Nature, to entangle itself in a multipli- city of fine-spun inventions.
The searcher of Nature will rejoice greatly in this discovery, as grounded in reason and sound philosophy ; but to fools it would be in vain, should even Wisdom herself cry out in the streets. Wherefore, leaving such persons to hug themselves in their own imaginary importance, we shall go on to observe that the ores of metals are our First Matter, or sperm, wherein the seed is contained, and the key of this art consists in a right dissolution of the ores into a water, which the philosophers call their mercury, or water of life, and an
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earthy substance, which they have denom- inated their sulphur. The first is called their woman, wife, Luna, and other names, signifying that it is the feminine quality in their seed ; the other they have denom- inated their man, husband, Sol, etc., to point out its masculine quality. In the separation and due conjunction of these with heat, and careful management, there is generated a noble offspring, which they have for its excellency called the quint- essence, or a subject wherein the four ele- ments are so completely harmonised as to produce a fifth subsisting in the fire, with- out waste of substance, or diminution of its virtue, wherefore they have given it the titles of Salamander, Phoenix, and Son of the Sun.
CllAlTER VI.
Of the Dissolution and Extraction of the
Seed in Metals.
The true Sons of Science have always
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THE philosopher’s STONE.
accounted the dissolution of metals as the master key to this art, and have been par- ticular in giving directions concerning it, only keeping their readers in the dark as to the subject, whether ores, or factitious metals, were to be chosen ; nay, when they say most to the purpose, then they make mention of metals rather than the ores, with an intention to perplex those whom they thought unworthy of the art. Thus the author of the “ Philosoohical Duel,” or
A. '
a dialogue between the stone, gold, and mercury, says :
“ By the omnipotent God, and on the salvation of my soul, I here declare to you earnest seekers, in pity to your earnest searching, the whole Philosophical Work, which is only taken from one subject and perfected in one thing. For we take this copper, and destroy its crude and gross body; we draw out its pure spirit, and after we have purified the earthy parts, we join them together, thus making a Medicine of a Poison.”
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It is remarkable that he avoids mention- ing the ore, but calls his subject copper, which is what they call a metal of the vulgar, being indeed factitious, and not fit for the confection of our Stone, having lost its seminal quality in the fire ; but in other respects it is the plainest discovery extant, and is accounted to be so by Sendivogius.
Yet the reader is not to suppose that the ore of copper is to be chosen in con- sequence of that assertion, as preferable to others ; no, the mercury, which is the metallic seed, is attainable from all, and is easier to be extracted from lead, which is confirmed by the true adepts, advising us to seek for the noble child where it lies in a despised form, shut up under the seal of Saturn ; and, indeed, let it be supposed, for an illustration of this subject, that any one would propose to make malt, he may effect his purpose in the other corns, but barley is generally chosen, because its germ is made to sprout by a less tedious process, which is to all intents and purposes
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THE philosopher’s stone.
what we want in the extraction of our mercury : neither are the proceedings un-
m
similar in both cases, if regard is had to the fixity of ores, and the ease with which barley gives forth its seminal virtue from the slight cohesion of its parts.
Let the artist remark how a maltster manages his grain by wetting, to loosen the cohesion of its parts, and leaves the rest to Nature, knowing that she will soon furnish the necessary heat for his purpose, if he does not suffer it to escape by mis- management in the laying of his heap too thin, or raising the fermentation too high by a contrary proceeding, as it is well known actual fire may be kindled from the fermentation of vegetable juices when crude ; and ripe corn, under such treat- ment, would soon be fit for nothing but hogs, or the dunghill. Now the intention is to raise such a fermentation only as will draw out the vegetable mercury without spoiling it, either for the earth, if it was cast there to fructify, or the kiln, if it is to
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COLLECTANEA CHEMICA.
be fixed at that precise point, by exhaling the adventitious moisture, and thus pre- serving the whole strength of its seminal quality for the purposes of brewing, or making malt spirits.
Suppose, then, an artist would extract a mineral mercury from the ores, and chooses lead ore for his subject. He can only assist Nature in the process by stirring up a central heat, which she includes in everything not already putrefied, as a root of its life, in which it is increased. The medium by which this central heat is put in motion is known to be putrefaction ; but the ores of every kind are found to resist putrefaction in all known processes extant. They may, indeed, when they have been fluxed in the fire, contract a rust from the air, which is a gradual decomposition of their .substance, but this is only the natural decay of a dead body, not the putrefaction of its sperm for the purposes of propa- gation : and we are sensible from the
o
heat of furnaces which is required to flux
I
THE philosopher’s STONE. IO3
the ores, and the slowness of their decay when deprived of their seminal qualities, by fluxation, that a heat which would destroy the seed in vegetables may be necessary in the first stages of putrefaction for the ores, as they will bear a red fire without being fluxed or losing anything but their sulphureous and arsenical impurities ; in short, a matter in itself as much ex- traneous to the seed of metals, as the chaff to the wheat ; wherefore, a careful separa- tion of these by roasting, or otherwise, is deservedly reckoned among the first operations for the putrefaction of ores, and the rather because that which has been calcined, by having its pores opened, is rendered attractive, both of the air and
other menstruums proper for its decom- position.
Let the artist, therefore, by fire and manual operation, separate the impure qualities from his subject, pounding, wash- ing, and calcining, till no more blackness is communicated to his menstruum, for which
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pure rain water is sufficient. It will be seen on every repetition of this process, that what fouls the water is extraneous, and the ore yet exists in its individual metallic nature, except it is fluxed by a too intense heat, in which case it is no longer fit for our purpose ; therefore fresh ore is to be used.
The matter being thus prepared, its central fire will be awakened, if it is treated properly, according to the process for ex- tracting quicksilver from it ores, by keeping it in a close heat, which is continued with- out admission of the , crude air, till the radical moisture is elevated in the form of a vapour, and again condensed into a metallic water, analogous to quicksilver. This is the true mercury of the Phil- osophers, and fit for all their operations in the Hermetic Art.