CHAPTER IX.

Concerning the Gross Spirit of Mercury.
The spirit of Mercury » which is only subjected to the spirits above, has no determinate or certain form in itself. Hence it happens that it admits every metaU j'Jst as wax receives all seals, of whatever form. So this dense elementarj' spirit may be compared to the other spirits of the metals. For if it receive into itself the spirit of Sol, Sol will be produced from it ; if Luna, Luna ; and in like manner it does with the other metals. It agrees with them and takes their properties to itself. For this reason, so far as relates to its
• By mlxturt wlilb other metaU it comjpu and decomposes them, espectally Lurui, and; only with great labour can It lie separated therefrom.— /^iV/,
t It leaves thetn broken and decompo*ied after washing.—/^/*/.
I It dUiort* the limb* - . . with more severe pains than even tin and Iron ; but seeing that lhi coagulated with a much more intense cold than others, it does not act ao violently. — Ihid^
8o The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Parcuelsus.
body, it is appropriated to the spirits spoken of above, just as a woman to a man. For Sol is the body of Mercury, save only that Sol fixes Mercury and becomes fixed. The common Mercury is inconstant and volatile ; nevertheless it is subject to all the abovementioned ; and generates again not only the aforesaid metallic spirits and tinctures, but the metal itself by which the beforenamed tinctures arrive at their working. But if moderation be not observed it is impossible to perfect a tincture of this kind. If the fire which ought to vivify this tincture be too fierce, the operation will be fruitless ; and so if it be too weak. Therefore it is necessary at this point to know what is the mean in this Art, and what powers and properties it has ; also by what means it is to be ruled, and how to tinge the tinctures, or bring them to their perfect operation, so that they may germinate and become apparent. With these few words we would conclude this first tract.*
* It is prepared, then, so far as the body b concerned, from the aforesaid spirits, just as his wife is prepared for a husband, not by corporeal admixture, but when the spirit has been educed from its own metal and projected, after preparation, into Mercury, then at length it exhibits its transmutation. - Ibid.
The End of the First Treatise.
THE SECOND TREATISE,
*CONCERNIKG THE PhILOSOPHER*S MERCURYt AND THE MEDIUM OF TINCTURES.
IN the first treatise we have written concerning" the spirits of the nnetals, their tinctures, etc., making- clear their properties and natures, and what each separate metal generates* In this second we will treat of the medium of tinctures, tliat is, the Philosophers* Mercury, whereby are made tinctures and fermentations of the metals; in seven chapters, as follows ; —