Chapter V.

Of the Second Matter, or Seed in Metals.
All philosophers affirm, with one consent, that metals have a seed by which they are increased, and that this seminal quality is the same in all of them ; but it is perfectly ripened in gold only, where the bond of union is so fixed that it is most difficult to decompound the subject, and procure it for the Philosophical Work. But some, who were adepts in the art, have by painful processes taken gold for their male, and the mercury, which they knew how to rextact from the less compacted metals, for a female : not as an easier process, but to
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find out the possibility of making the stone this way ; and have succeeded, giving this method more openly to conceal the true confection, which is most easy and simple. We shall, therefore, set before the reader a landmark, to keep him from splitting on this difficulty, by considering what is the seed wherein the metals are increased, that the artist may be no longer at a loss where to seek for it, keeping in view the writings of our learned predecessors on this subject.
The seed of metals is what the Sons of Wisdom have called their mercury, to dis- tinguish it from quicksilver, which it nearly resembles, being the radical moisture of metals. This, when judiciously extracted, without corrosives, or fluxing, contains in it a seminal quality whose perfect ripeness is only in gold ; in the other metals it is crude, like fruits which are yet green, not being sufficiently digested by the heat of the sun and action of the elements. We ob- served that the radical moisture contains the seed, which is true : yet it is not the seed,
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90 COLLECTANEA CIIEMICA.
but the sperm only, in which the vital principle floats, being invisible to the eye. But the mind perceives it, in a true artist, as a central point of condensed air, wherein Nature, according to the will of God, has included the first principles of life in every- thing, as well animal and vegetable as mineral ; for in animals the sperm may be seen, but not the included principle of im- pregnation : this is a concentered point, to which the sperm serves only as a vehicle, till, by the action and ferment of the matrix, the point wherein Nature has included a vital principle expands itself, and then it is perceivable in the rudiments of an animal. So in any esculent fruit (as, for instance, in an apple), the pulp or sperm is much more in proportion than the seed included ; and even that which appears to be seed is only a finer concoction of sperm, including the vital stamina ; as also in a grain of wheat, the flour is only the sperm, the point of vegetation is an included air. which is kept by its sperm from the ex- tremes of cold and heat, till it finds a
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proper matrix, where the husk being softened with moisture, and warmed by the heat, the surrounding sperm putrefies, making the seed, or concentered air, to ex- pand and to burst the husk, carrying along in its motion a milky substance, assimulated to itself from the putrefied sperm. This the condensing quality of the air includes in a film and hardens into a germ, all according to the purpose of Nature.
If this whole process of Nature, most wonderful in her operations, was not con- stantly repeated before our eyes, the simple process of vegetation would be equally pro- blematical with that of the philosophers ; yet how can the metals increase, nay, how can anything be multiplied without seed ? The true artists never pretended to mul- tiply metals without it, and can it be denied that Nature still follows her first appoint- ment ? She always fructifies the seed when it is put into a proper matrix. Does not she obey an ingenious artist, who knows her operations, with her possibilities,
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and attempts nothing beyond them ? A husbandman meliorates his ground with compost, burns the weeds, and makes use of other operations. He steeps his seed in various preparations, only taking care not to destroy its vital principle ; indeed, it never comes into his head to roast it, or to boil it, in which he shows more knowledge of Nature than some would-be philosophers do. Nature, like a liberal mother, rewards him with a more plentiful harvest, in pro- portion as he has meliorated her seed and furnished a more suitable matrix for its increase.
The intelligent gardener goes farther ; he knows how to shorten the process of vegetation, or retard it. He gathers roses, cuts salads, and pulls green peas in winter. Are the curious inclined to admire plants and fruits of other climates ? He can pro- duce them in his stoves to perfection. Nature follows his directions uncon- strained, always willing to obtain her end, viz,, the perfection of her offspring.
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Open your eyes here, ye studious searchers of Nature! Is she so liberal in her perishing productions, how much more in those which are permanent, and can subsist in the fire ? Attend, then, to her operations ; if you procure the metallic seed, and ripen that by art which she is many ages in perfecting, it cannot fail but she will reward you with an increase proportioned to the excellency of your subject.
The reader will be apt to exclaim here : “Very fine! All this is well; but how shall the seed of metals be procured, and whence comes it that so few know how to gather it?” To this it is answered that the
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philosophers have hitherto industriously kept that a profound secret ; some out of a selfish disposition, though otherwise good men. Others, who wished only for worthy persons to whom they might im-