CHAPTER II.

Concerning the Conjunction of the Man with the Woman.
Since we have treated of the furnace in which the tinctures are to be pre- pared, and of the fire, we now propose to describe more at length how the
86 The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus.
man and the woman meet and are joined together. This is the manner. Take Philosophers' Mercury, prepared and purified to its supreme degree. Dis- solve this with its wife, that is to say, with quick mercury, so that the woman may dissolve the man, and the man may fix the woman. Then, just as the husband loves his wife and she her husband, the Philosophers' Mercury pursues the quick mercury with the most supreme love, and their nature is moved with the greatest affection towards us. So then each Mercury is blended with the other, as the woman with the man, and he with her, so far as the body is concerned, to such an extent that they have no difference, save as regards their powers and properties, seeing the man is fixed, but the woman volatile in the fire. For this reason, the woman is united to the man in such a way that she dissolves the man, and he fixes her and renders her constant in every consideration as a conse- quence. Conceal both in a glass vessel, thoroughly fastened, so that the woman may not escape or evaporate ; otherwise the whole work will be reduced to npthing.
' CHAPTER III.
Concerning the Copulation of the Man with the Woman, etc.
When you have placed the husband and the wife in the matrimonial bed, in order that he may operate upon her and impregnate her, and that the seed of the woman may be coagulated into a mass by the seed of the man, without which she can bring forth no fruit, it is necessary that the man should perform his operation on the woman.