I. Take the green lion without dissolution in vinegar,

(as sometimes the custom is) put it in a large earthen retort,
which can endure the fire, and distil it the same way as
you distil aqua fortis, putting a receiver under it, and lut-
ing the joints well, that it may not respire: — then distil first
with a gentle fire, till you see white fumes appear, then change
the receiver, stopping it well, and distil with a great fire so, as
aqua fortis is distilled, thus continuing twenty-four hours, and if
you continue the fire the space of eight days, you will see the
receiver always full of white fumes, and so you will have the
blood of the green lion, which we call secret water, and ace-
tum acerrimum, by which ail bodies are reduced to their first
matter, and the body of man preserved from all infirmities. —
This is our fire, burning continually in one form within the
glass vessel, and not without. Our dunghill, our aqua vitce,
our balneo, our vindemia, our horse-belly, which effects wonder-
ful things in the works of nature, and is the examen of all bo-
dies dissolved, and not dissolved ; and is a sharp water, carrying
lire in its belly, as a fiery water, for otherwise it would not

' i Alchemical Treatises.

•■c the power of dissolving bodies into their first matter. Bev
Id ! tlus is our mercury, our sol and iuna, which we use in>
)iir worji Then will you find in the bottom of the vessel ibeees
k as coals, which you must for the space of eight days cal-
newitfe agentk (ire, See. — Libro Accnrt. p. 3S3.