CHAPTER V.

Concerning the Signs which appear in the Union of Cokjunxtion.
When the regimen of the fire is moderated, the matter is by degrees moved to blackness. Afterwards, when the drj-ness begins to act upon the humidity, various flowers of different colours simultaneously rise in the glass, just as they appear in the tail of the peacock, and such as no one has ever seen before. Sometimes, too» the glass looks as though it wxre entirely covered with gold. When this is perceived, it is a certain indication that the seed of the man is operating upon the seed of the woman, is ruling it and fixing it That is, the fixed Mercury acts on the quick, and begins to embrace it. Afterwards, when the humidity has died out before the process of drying, those colours disappear, and the matter at length begins to grow white, and continues to do so until it attains the supreme grade of whiteness. In the very first place, care should be taken not to hasten the matter unduly, according to the opinion of those who think that such a process is in all respects like what is perceived in the growth of corn, or in the production of a human being, the latter process occupying nine months, the former ten or twelve, Sol and Luna do not ripen so soon, or are born so soon, as the child from its mother's womb, or the grain from the womb of the earth. The higher and more perfect anything is and should be in its nature, the longer time is necessary for its production. For it should be known that everything which is born quickly perishes quickly. Both herbs and men afford a proof of this. In proportion as they arc quickly produced or born is their life short. It is not so with Sol and Luna ; but they have a more perfect nature than men ; whence it ensues that they exhibit a long life for men and preserve them from many accidental diseases.