III. Tahe of lead calcined or rabified, or the best mil

■that is, mineral rm-rimony, prepared, wjhat quantity you pl<
yet with this consideration, that you niust have so manj <;:.
of distilled vinegar, as you hare pounds oi the aforesaid cal<
lead; to this vinegar pour the aforesaid lead in a large earthen

. 1 well glazed, then for the space of three days stir
matter strongly with a wooden spatula six or seven times a
day, cover it well from cht.-t, i\nd let it not be put to the fire by
any menus during all this lime, alter which separate all that is
clear and crystalline by a filter into another vessel, then put it
into a brass skillet to a gentle fire, that all the phlegmatic
water may evaporate, till a very thick oil is left in the bottom
of the vessel, which suffer to cool; which being done, the
matter will become like gum, so as to be cut with a knife,
hereof put four pounds into a glass cucurbit with an alembic,
the joint being well luted with a paste made of the scales of
iron, flour, and the whites of eggs well beaten together : — put
the vessel in a furnace of sand, and not in ashes, and let the
vessel be buried in the sand even to the middle of it, and. let
the sand be two linger;-: thick under the bottom of the vessel ; —
then put a receiver to it, but not luted, till you have drawn out
all the phlegmatic water with a most gentle fire, which wa-
ter throw away. When you see a white fume appear, then lute
the receiver, which must be two foot long ; which being drawn,
out, strengthen the fire as much as yon can, and continue it till
you have distilled all that can be extracted in twelve hours,
and so will you have the blood of the red lion, most red as
blood, which is our mercury, and our tincture now prepared.,
to be poured upon its ferment, that is, upon the calxes of most
pure gold, &c. But if you would use it i\x* the white work, you
must distil your mercury three times with a slow fire, always
reserving the faeces apart in every distillation, and then will you
have your mercury most white as milk. And this is our vir-
gin's milk, whitened menstruum, and our argent vive philosophi-
cally exuberated; with which by circulation make an oil out of
the calxes of luna, and proceed in all things, as you did with
the red mercury upon the calxes of gold, and you will have a
white elixir, which will convert any metal into perfect luna. —
But the golden oil ought to be perfected and tempered, and
well united with artificial balsom, by the way of circulation,
till out of them is made a most clear and resplendent golden
liquor, which is the true aurum potabile, and elixir of life,
more precious for mens' bodies, than any other medicine of the
world. — Pupilla Alchimia, p. 303.

316 Alchemical Treatises.