ID. This compositum then has its mundification or cleanings

by our moist fire, which, as Azinabam saith, by dissolving and
subliming that which is pure and white, it casts forth or rejects
its foecis or filth, like a voluntary vomit. For in such a disso-
lution and natural sublimation or lifting up, there is a loosening
or untying of the elements, and a cleansing and separation of
the pure, from the impure. So that tlie pure and white substance
ascends upwards, and the impure and earthy remains fixed in
the bottom of the water and the vessel. This must be taken
away and removed, because it is of no value, taking only the
middle white substance, flowing, and melted or dissolved, re-
jecting the fceculent earth, which remains below in the bottom.
These feces were separated partly by the water, and are the
dross and terra Samnata, which is of no value, nor can do any
such service as the clear, white, pure and clean matter, which is
wholly and only to be taken and made use of.

20. And against this capharean rock, the ship and knowledge,
or art of the young philosopher is often, as it happened also to
me sometimes, dashed together in pieces, or destroyed, because
the philosophers for the most part speak by the contraries. That
is to say, that nothing must be removed or taken away, except
the moisture, which is the blackness ; which notwithstanding
they speak and write only to the unwary, who, without a master •'
indefatigable reading, or humble supplications to God Almighty,
would ravish away the golden fleece. It is therefore to be ob-
served, that this separation, division, and sublimation, is, without
doubt, the key of the whole work.

21. After the putrefaction then and dissolution of these bodies,
our bodies also ascend to the top, even to the surface of the dis-
solving water, in a whiteness of colour, which whiteness is life.
And in this whiteness the antimonial and mercurial soul, is by a
natural compact infused into, and joined with the spirits of sol
and luna, which separate the thin from the thick, and the pure
from the impure. That is, by lifting up by little and little the

140 Alchemical Treatises.

thin and pure part of the body, from the fceccs and impurity,
until all the pure parts are separated and ascended. And in this
work is our natural and philosophical sublimation com pleated. —
Now in this whiteness is the soul infused into the body, to wit,
the mineral virtue, which is more subtile than fire, being indeed
the true quintessence and life, which desires or hungers to be
born again, and to put off the defilement and be spoiled of its
gross and earthly fceces, which it has taken from its menstruotis
womb, and corrupt place of its original. And in this is our
philosophical sublimation, not in the impure, corrupt, vulgar
mercury, which has no properties or qualities like to those, with
which our mercury, drawn from its vitriolic caverns, is adorned.
But let us return to our sublimation.

22. It is most certain therefore in this art, that this soul ex-
tracted from the bodies, cannot be made to ascend, but by
adding to it a volatile matter, which is of its own kind. By
which the bodies will be made volatile and spiritual, lifting them-
selves up, subtilizing and subliming themselves, contrary to
their own proper nature, which is corporeal, heavy, and ponder-
ous. And by this means they are unbodied, or made no bodies,
to wit, incorporeal, and a quintessence of the nature of a
spirit, which is called avis hcrmeiisr and mcrcurius cxtractusy
drawn from a red subject or matter. And so the terrene or
earthy parts remain below, or rather the grosser parts of the
bodies, which can by no industry or ingenuity of man be brought
to a perfect dissolution.

23. And this white vapor, this white gold, to wit, this quin-
tessence, is called also the compound magnesia, which like man
does contain, or like man is composed of a body, soul, and spirit.
Now the body is the fixed solar earth, exceeding the most subtile
matter, which by the help of our divine water is with difficulty
lifted up or separated. The soul is the tincture of sol and luna,
proceeding from the conjunction, or communicating of these
two, to wit, the bodies of sol and lima, and our water. And
the spirit is the mineral power, or virtue of the bodies, and of
the water which carries the soul or white tincture in or upon
the bodies, and also out of the bodies, like as the tinctures
or colours in dyeing cloth are by the water put upon, and
diffused in and through the cloth. And this mercurial
spirit is the chain or band of the solar soul ; and the solar
bod}' ; is that body which contains the spirit and soul, hav-
ing the power of fixing in itself, being joined with luna. The
spirit therefore penetrates, the body fixes, and the soul joins
together, tinges and whitens. From these three united together,
is our stone made; to wit, of sol, luna, and mercury.

24. Therefore with this our golden water, a natural substance
is extracted, exceeding all natural substances; and so, except the
bodies be broken and destroyed, imbibed, made subtile, andfiue,

Secret Book of Artephiiis. 14L

thriftily and diligently managed, till they are abstracted from, or
lose their grossness or solid substance, and be changed into a
thin and subtile spirit, all our labour will be in vain. And unless
the bodies be made no bodies, or incorporeal, that is, be con-
verted into the philosophers mercury, there is no rule of
art yet found out to work by. The reason is, because
it is impossible to draw out of the bodies all that most thin
and subtile soul, which has in itself the tincture, except it be first
resolved in our water. Dissolve then the bodies in this our gol-
den water, and boil them till all the tincture is brought forth by
the water, in a white colour, and a white oil ; and when you see
this whiteness upon the water, then know that the bodies are
melted, liquified, or dissolved. Continue then this boiling, till the
dark, black, and white cloud is brought forth, which they have
conceived.

25. Put therefore the perfect bodies of metals, to wit, sol and
luna, into our water in a vessel, hermetically sealed, upon a
gentle fire, and digest continually, till they are perfectly resolved
into a most precious oil. Saith Adfar, digest with a gentle fire,
as it were for the hatching of chickens, so long, till the bodies are
dissolved, and their perfectly conjoined tincture is extracted,
mark this well. But it is not extracted all at once, but it is
drawn out by little and little, day by day, and hour by hour
till after a long time the solution thereof is compleated, anil
that which is dissolved, always swims a top. And while this
dissolution is in hand, let the fire be gentle and continual, till the
bodies are dissolved into a viscous and most subtile water, and
the whole tincture be educed, in colour first black, which is the
sign of a true dissolution.

26. Then continue the digestion, till it becomes a white fixed
water ; for being digested in balneo, it will afterwards become
clear, and in the end become like to common argent vive, ascend-
ing by the spirit above the first water. When therefore you see
bodies dissolved in the first viscous water, then know, that they
are turned into a vapour, and that the soul is separated from the
dead body, and by sublimation, brought into the order of spirits.
Whence both of them, with a part of our water, are made spi-
rits flying up into the air ; and there the compounded body, made
of the male and female, viz. of sol and luna, and of that most subtile
nature, cleansed by sublimation, taketh life, and is made spiri-
tual by its own humidity. That is by its own water ; like as a
man is sustained by the air; whereby from thenceforth it is mul-
tiplied, and increases in its own kind, as do all other things. —
In such an ascension therefore, and philosophical sublimation,
all are joyned one with another, and the new body subtilized,
or made living by the spirit, miraculously livcth or springs like
a vegetable.

27. Wherefore, unless the bodies be attenuated, or made thin,
by the fire and water3 till they asceijd in a spirit, and are made,

142 Alchemical Treatises.

or do become like water and vapour, or mercury, you labour
wholly in vain. But when they arise or ascend, they are born or
brought forth in the air or spirit, and in the same they are
changed, and made life with life, so as they can never be sepa-
rated, but are as water mixed with water. And therefore it is
wisely said, that the stone is born of the spirit, because it is
altogether spiritual. For the vulture himself flying without wings
cries upon the top of the mountain, saying, I am the white,
brought forth from the black, and the red, brought forth from the
white, the citrine son of the red ; I speak the truth, and lye
not.

28. It sufficed) thee then to put the bodies in the vessel, and
into the water once for all, and to close the vessel well, until a
true separation be made. This the obscure artist calls conjunc-
tion, sublimation, assation, extraction, putrefaction, ligation,
desponsation, subtilization, generation, &c.

29. Now that the whole magistcry may be perfected, work, as in
the generation of man, and of every vegetable ; put the seed
once into the womb, and shut it up well. Thus you may see,
that you need not many things, and that this our work requires
no great charges, for that as there is but one stone, there is but
one medicine, one vessel, one order of working, and one suc-
cessive disposition to the white and the red. And although we
say in many places, take this, and take that ; yet we under-
stand, that it behoves us to take but one thing, and put it once
into the vessel, until the work be perfected. But these things
are so set down by the obscure philosophers, to deceive the un-
wary, as we have before spoken ; for is not this ars cabalistica,
or a secret and a hidden art ? Is it not an art full of secrets ? and
believest thou O fool that we plainly teach this secret of secrets,
taking our words according to their literal signification? Truly, I
tell thee, that as for myself, I am no ways self-seeking or envious as
others are ; but he that takes the words of the other philoso-
phers, according to their common signification ; he even already,
having lost Ariadncs clue of thread, wanders in the midst of
the labyrinth, multiplies errors, and casts away his money for
nought.

30. And I, Artephius, after I became an Adept, and had
attained to the true and complete wisdom, by studying the books
of the most faithful Hermes, the speaker of truth, was sometimes
obscure also, as the others were. But when I had for the space
of a thousand years, or there abouts, which are now passed over
my head, since the time I was born to tins day, through the
alone goodness of God Almighty, by the use of this wonderful
quintessence. When I say for so very long a time, 1 found no
man that had found out or obtained this hermetic secret, because
of the obscurity of the philosophers words. Being moved with
a generous mind, and the integrity of a good man, I have de-

Stcret Uovk of Arteplthis. 143

terminer! in these latter days of my life, to declare all things
truly and sincerely, that you may not want any thing for the
perfecting of this stone of the philosophers. Excepting one
certain thing, which is not lawful for me to discover to any,
because it is either revealed or made known, by God himself, or
taught by some master, which notwithstanding he that can bend
himself to the search of, by the help of ajittle experience, may
easily learn in this book.

31. In this book I have therefore written the naked truth,
though clothed or disguised with a few colours; yet so that every
good and wise man may happily gather those desirable apples of
the Hesperidcs from this our philosophers tree. Wherefore
praises be given to the most high God, who has poured into
our soul of his goodness ; and through a good old age, even an
almost infinite number of years, has truly filled our heart with
his love, in which, methinks, I embrace, cherish, and truly
love all mankind together. But to return to our business. — ■
Truly our work is perfectly performed ; for that which the heat
of the sun is an hundred years in doing,- for the generation
of one metal in the bowels of the earth ; our secret fire, that
is, our fiery and sulphureous water, which is called Balneum
Marias, doth, as I have often seen in a very short time.

32. Now this operation or work is a thing of no great labour
to him that knows and understands it ; nor is the matter so dear,
considering how small a quantity does suffice, that it may cause
any man to withdraw his hand from it. It is, indeed, a work so
short and easy, that it may well be called a womans work and
the play of children. Go to then, my son, put up thy supplica-
tions to God Almighty ; be diligent in searching the books of
the learned in this science ; for one book openeth another ; think
and meditate of these things profoundly ; and avoid all things
Which vanish in, or will not endure the fire, because from those
adustible, perishing or consuming things, you can never attain
to the perfect matter, which is only found in the digesting of
your water, extracted from sol and luna. For by this .water,
colour, and ponderosity or weight, are infinitely given to the
matter; and this water is a white vapour, which like a soul,
flows through the perfect bodies, taking wholly from them their
blackness, and impurities, uniting the two bodies in one, and
increasing their water. Nor is there any other thing than
azoth, to wit, this our water, which can take from the perfect
bodies of sol and luna, their natural colour, making the red body
white, according to the disposition thereof.

33. Now let us speak of the fire. Our fire then is mineral,
equal, continuous ; it fumes not, unless it be too much stirred up,
participates of sulphur, and is taken from other things than from
the matter ; it overturns all things, dissolves, congeals, and cal-
cines, and is to be found out by art, or after an artificial manner.

144 Alchemical Treatises.

It is a compendious thing, got without cost or charge, or at least
without any great purchase; it is humid, vaporous, digestive,
altering, penetrating, subtile, spirituous, not violent, incombus-
tible, circumspective, continent, and one only thing. It is also
a fountain of living water, which circumvolveth and contains the
place in which the king and queen bathe themselves; through
the whole work this moist fire is sufficient ; in the beginning,
middle, and end, because in it, the whole art does consist. This
is the natural fire, which is yet against nature, not natural, and
which burns not ; and lastly, this fire is hot, cold, dry, moist ;
meditate on these things, and proceed directly, without any
thing of a foreign nature. If you understand not these fires,
give car to what I have yet to say, never as yet written in any
book, but drawn from the more abstruse and occult riddles of
the ancients.

3k We have properly three fires, without which this our
art cannot be perfected ; and whosoever works without them,
takes a great deal of labour in vain. The first fire is that of
the lamp, which is continuous, humid, vaporous, spiritous, ;-.nd
found out by art. This lamp fire ought to be proportioned to
the enclosure; wherein you must use great judgment, which
none can attain to, but j$s that can bend to the search thereof.
For if this fire of the lamp be not measured, and duly propor-
tioned or fitted to the furnace, it will be, that either for want of
heat you will not sec the expected signs, in their limited times,
whereby you will lose your hopes and expectation by a too long
delay : or else, by reason of too much heat, you will burn the
Jlores auri, the golden flowers, and so foolishly bewail your lost
expence.

35, The second fire is ignis cinerum, an ash heat, in which the
vessel hermetically sealed is recluded, or buried : or rather, it is
that most sweet and gentle heat, which proceeding from the tem-
perate vapours of the lamp, does equally surround your vessel. — •
This fire is not violent or forcing, except it be too much excited
or stirred up ; it is a fire digestive, alterative, and taken from
another body than the matter ; being but one only, moist also,
and not natural.

36. The third fire, is the natural fire of water, which is also
called the fire against nature, because it is water; and yet never-
theless, it makes a mere spirit of gold, which common fire is not
able to do. This fire is mineral, equal, and participates of sul-
phur ; it overturns or destroys, congeals, dissolves, and calcines ;
it is penetrating, subtil, incombustible and not burning, and is
the fountain of living water, wherein the king and queen bathe
themselves, whose help we stand in need of, through the whole
work, through the beginning, middle and end. But the other
two above mentioned, we have not always occasion for, but only
at sometimes. In reading therefore the books of philosophers.

Secret Book of Artcphius 145

conjoin these three fires in your judgment, and without doubt,
yon will understand whatever they have wrote of them.

37. Now as to the colours, that which does not make black
cannot make white, because blackness is the beginning of white-
ness, and a sign of putrefaction and alteration, and that the
body is now penetrated and mortified. From the putrefaction
therefore in this water, there first appears blackness, like unto
broth wherein some bloody thing is boiled. Secondly, the black
earth by a continual digestion is whitened, because the soul of
the two bodies swims above upon the water, like white cream ;
and in this only whiteness, all the spirits are so united, that they
can never flie one from another. And therelbi'e the latten must
be whitened, and its leaves unfolded, i. e. its body broken or
opened, lest we labour in vain ; for this whiteness is the perfect
stone for the white work, and a body enobled in order to that
end ; even the tincture of a most exuberant glory, and shining
brightness, which never departs from the body it is once joined
with. Therefore you must note here, that the spirits are not
fixed, but in the white colour, which is more noble than the
other colours, and is more vehemently to be desired, for that it is
as it were the complement or perfection of the whole work.

38. For our earth putrifics and becomes black, then it is putri-
fied in lifting up or separation ; afterwards being dried, its black-
ness goes away from it, and then it is whitened, and the
feminine dominion of the darkness and humidity perisheth : then
also the white vapor penetrates through the new body, and the
spirits are bound up or fixed in the dryness. And that which is
corrupting, deformed, and black through the moisture, vanishes
away ; so the new body rises again clear, pure, white, and im-
mortal, obtaining the victory over all its enemies. And as heat
working upon that which is moist, causeth or generates black-
ness, which is the prime or first colour ; so always by decoction^,
more and more heat working upon that which is dry, begets
whiteness, which is the second colour ; and then working upon
that which is purely and perfectly dry, it produceth citrinity and
redness, thus much for colours. We must know therefore, that
the thing which has its head red and white, but its feet white and
afterwards red ; and its eyes beforehand black, that this thing,
I say, is the only matter of our magistery.

39. Dissolve then sol and luna in our dissolving water, which
is familiar and friendly, and the next in nature unto them ; and
is also sweet and pleasant to them, and as it were a womb, a
mother, an original, the beginning and the end of their life. —
And that is the very reason why they are meliorated or amended
in this water, because like nature rejoiceth in like nature, and
like nature retains like nature, being joined the one to the other,
in a true marriage, by which they are made one nature, one new-
body, raised again from the dead, and immortal. Thus it behoves
you to joia consanguinity, or sameness of kind, by which these

s

J 46 Alchemical Treatise?.

natures, will meet and follow one another, purify themselves,
generate, and make one another rejoice ; for that like nature,
now is disposed by like nature, even that which is nearest, and
most friendly to it.

40'. Our water then is the most beautiful, lovely, and clear
fountain, prepared only for the king, and queen, whom it knows
very well, and they it. For it attracts them to itself, and they
abide therein for two or three days, to wit, two or three months,
to wash themselves therewith, whereby they are made young
again and beautiful. And because sol and luna have their origi-
nal from this water their mother ; it is necessary therefore that
they enter into it again, to wit, into their mothers womb, that
they may be regenerate or born again, and made more healthy,
more noble, and more strong. If therefore these do not die,
and be converted into water, they remain alone, or as they were
and without fruit ; but if they die, and are resolved in our
water, they bring forth, fruit, an hundred fold; and from that
very place in which they seemed to perish, from thence shall
they appear to be that which they were not before.

4-1. Let therefoz-e the spirit of our living water be, with all
care and industry, fixed with sol and luna ; for that they being
converted into the nature of water become dead, and appear like
to the dead ; from whence afterwards, being revived, they en-
crease and multiply, even as do all sorts of vegetable substances.
It suffices then to dispose the matter sufficiently without, because
that within, it sufficiently disposes itself for the perfection of its
own work. For it has in itself a certain and inherent motion,
according to the true way and method, and a much better order
than it is possible for any man to invent or think of. For this
cause it is, that you need only to prepare the matter, nature
herself alone will perfect it; and if she be not hindred by some
contrary thing, she will not overpass her own certain motion,
neither in conceiving or generating, nor in bringing forth.

42. Wherefore, after the preparation of the matter, beware
only, lest by too much heat or fire, you inflame the bath, or
make it too hot; secondly, take heed, lest the spirit should exhale,
lest it hurts the operator, to wit, lest it destroys the work, and
induces many infirmities, as sadness, trouble, vexation, and
discontent. From these things which have been spoken, this
axiom is manifest, to wit, that he can never know the neces-
sary course of nature in the making or generating metals, who
is ignorant of the way of destroying them. You must therefore
join them together that are of one consanguinity or kindred ;
for like natures do find out and join with their like natures, and
by putrifying themselves together, and mixed together and mor-
tify themselves. It is needful therefore to know this corruption
and generation, and how the natures do embrace one another,
and are brought to a fixity in a slow or gentle fire ; how like

Secret Book of Artcphius. 147

nature rejoiceth with like nature; how they retain one another,
and are converted into a white siibsistency.

43. This white substance, it' you will make it red, you must
continually decoct it in a dry fire, till it is rubified, or becomes
red as blood, which is then nothing but water, fire, and true
tincture. And so by a continual thy lire, the whiteness i-
changed, removed, perfected, made citrine, and still digested till
it comes to a true red raid iixeel colour. Anel consequently by
how much more this red is decocted in this gentle heat by so
much the more it is heightened in colour, and .made a true tinc-
ture of perfect redness. Wherefore with a dry fire, and a dry
calcination, without any moisture, you mnsjt decoct this co.mpo-
situm, till it be invested with a most perfect red colour, and then
it will be the true and perfect elixir.

44. Now if afterwards you would multiply your tincture, you
must again resolve that red, in new or fresh dissolving water, and
then by decoctions first whiten, and then rubify it again, by the
degrees of fire, reiterating the first method of operating in ihis
work. Dissolve, .coagulate, and reiterate the closing up, the
opening and multiplying in quantity and quality at your own
pleasure. For by a new corruption and generation, there is in-
troduced a new motion. Thus can we never finel an end, if we
do always work by reiterating the same thing over anel over
again, viz. by solution and coagulation, by the help of our dissolv-
ing water, by which we dissolve and congeal, as we have for-
merly said, in the beginning of the work. Thus also is the
virtue thereof increased and multiplied, both in quantity and
quality ; so that, if after the first course of operation you obtain
an hundred ibid; by a second course, you will have a thousand
fold; and by a third, ten thousand fold increase. And by pur-
suing your work, your projection will come to infinity, tinging
truly and perfectly, and fixing the greatest quantity how much
soever. Thus by a thing of an easy or small price, you have
both colour, goodness, and weight.

45. Our fire then and azoth, are sufficient forj-ou; decoct,
reiterate, dissolve, congeal, and continue this course, aeeord-
ing as you please, multiplying it as you think good, until
your medicine is made fusible as wax, anet has attained the quan-
tity and goodness or fixity and colour you desire. This then is
the compleating of the whole work of our second stone (observe
it well) that you take the perfect body, and put it into our water
in a glass vesica or body well closed with cement, lest the air

in, or the inclosed humidity get out. Keep it in digestion in a
gentle heat, as it were of a balneum, or the most temperate
horse dung, anil assiduously continue the operation or work
upon the fire, till the decoction and digestion is perfect. And
keep it in this digestion of a gentle heat, until it be putrified and
resolved into blackness, and be drawn up and sublimed by the
water, and is thereby cleansed from all blackness and impurity,

148 Alchemical Treatises.

that it may be white and subtile. Until it comes to the ultimate
or highest purity of sublimation, and the utmost volatility, and
be made white both within and without: for the vulture flying in
the air without wings, cries out, that it might get up upon the
mountain, that is upon the waters upon which the spiritus albus,
or spirit of whiteness is born. Continue still a fitting fire, and
that spirit, which is the subtile being of the body, and of the
mercury will ascend upon the top of the water, which quintes-
sence is more white than the driven snow. Continue yet still, and
toward the end, encrease the fire, till the whole spiritual sub-
sistence ascend to the top. And know well, that whatsoever is
clear, pure, and spiritual, ascends in air to the top of the water
in the substance of a white vapor, which the philosophers call
their virgins milk.

46. It ought to be, therefore, as one of the Sybills said, that
the son of the virgin be exalted from the earth, and that the
white quintessence after its rising out of the dead eavth, be raised
up towards heaven ; the gross and thick remaining in the bottom
of the vessel and of the water. Afterwards the vessel being
cooled, you will find in the bottom the black fceces, scorched and
burnt, which separate from the spirit and quintessence of white-
ness, and cast them away. Then will the argent vive fall down
from our air or spirit, upon the new earth, which is called argent
vive sublimed by the air or spirit, whereof is made a viscous
water, pure and white. This water is the true tincture separated
from all its black fasces, and our brass or latten is prepared with
our water, purified, and brought to a white colour. Which
white colour is not obtained but by decoction, and coagulation
of the water: decoct therefore continually, wash away the black-
ness from the latten, not with your hands, but with the stone, or
the fire, or our second mercurial water, which is the true
tincture. This separation of the pure from the impure is not
done with hands ; but nature herself does it, and brings it to
perfection by a circular operation.

47. It appears then, that this composition is not a work of
the hands, but a change of the natures ; because nature dissolves
and joins itself, sublimes and lifts itself up, and grows white,
being separate from the faeces. And in such a sublimation, the
more subtile, pure, and essential parts are conjoined ; for that
with the fiery nature or property lilts up the subtile parts, it sepa-
rates always the more pure, leaving the grosser at the bottom. —
"Wherefore your fire ought to be a gentle and a continual vapour,
with which you sublime, that the matter may be filled with
spirit from the air, and live. For naturally all things take life
from the inbreathing of the air; and so also our magistery
receives in the vapour or spirit, by the sublimation of the
water. • - ..<

48. Our brass or laten then, is to be made to ascend by the de-
grees of fire, but of its own accord, freely, and without violence j

Secret Booh of Artephhis. 149

except the body therefore be by the fire and the water broken,
or dissolved, and attenuated, until it ascends as a spirit, or
climbs like argent vive, or rather as the white soul, separated
from the body, and by sublimation dilated or brought into a
spirit, nothing is or can be done. Rut when it ascends on high,
it is born in the air or spirit, and is changed into spirit; and
becomes life with life, being only spiritual and incorruptible. —
And by such an operation it is, that the body is made spirit,
of a subtile nature, and the spirit js incorporated with the body,
and made one with it; and by such a sublimation, conjunc-
tion, and raising up, the whole, both body and spirit are made
white.

49. This philosophical and natural sublimation therefore is
necessary, which makes peace between, or fixes, the body and
spirit, which is impossible to be done otherwise, than in the
separation of these parts. Therefore it behoves j'ou to sublime
both, that the pure may ascend, and the impure and earthy may
descend, or be left at bottom, in the perplexity of a troubled sea.
And for this reason it must be continually decocted, that it may
be brought to a subtile property, and the body may assume, and
draw to itself the white mercurial soul, which it naturally hold?,
and suffers not to be separated from it, because it is like to it in
the nearness of the first, pure, and simple nature. From these
things it is necessary to make a separation by decoction, till no
more remains of the purity of the soul, which is not ascended
and exalted to the higher part, whereby they will both be re-
duced to an equality of properties, and a simple or pure
whiteness.

50. The vulture flying through the air, and the toad creep-
ing upon the ground, are the emblems of our magistery. When
therefore gently and with much care, you separate the earth from
the water, that is, from the fire, and the thin from the thick, then
that which is pure will separate itself from the earth, and ascend
to the upper part, as it were into heaven, and the impure will
descend beneath, as to the earth. And the more subtil part in
the superior place, will lake upon it the nature of a spirit, and
that in the lower place, the nature of an earthy body. Where-
fore let the white property, with the more subtil parts of the body,
be by this operation, made to ascend, leaving the lieces behind,
which is done in a short time. For the soul is aided by her
associate and fellow, and perfected by it. My mother, said the
body, has begotten me, and by me, she herself is begotten: now
after I have taken from her her flying, she, after an admirable
manner becomes kind, nourishing and cherishing the son whom
she has begotten, till he comes to be of a ripe or perfect age.

51. Hear now this secret: keep the body in our mercurial
water, till it ascends with .the white soul, and the earthy part
descends to the bottom, which is called the residing earth. Then
you shall see the water to coagulate itself with its body, and be

150 Alchemical Treatises.

assured that the art is true; because the body coagulate* the
moisture into dryness, like as the rennet of a lamb or cfclf turns
milk into cheese. In the same manner the spirit penetrates the
body, and is perfectly commixed with it in its smallest atoms,
and the body draws to itself his moisture, to wit, its white soul,
like as the loadstone draws iron, because of the nearness and
likeness of its nature ; and then the one contains the other. And
this is our sublimation and coagulation, which retaineth every
volatile thing, making it fixt for ever.

52. This compositum then, is not a mechanical thing, or a
work of the hands, but, as I have said, a changing of natures ;
and wonderful connexion of their cold with hot, and the moist
with the dry : the hot also is mixed with the cold, and t)ie dry
with the moist. By this means also is made the mixtion and con-
junction of body and spirit, which is called a conversion of con-
trary natures; because by such a dissolution and sublimation, the
spirit is converted into a body, and body into a spirit. So that
the natures being mingled together, and reduced into one, do
change one another: and as the body corporifies the spirit, or
changes it into a body : so also does the spirit convert the body
into a tinging and white spirit.

53. Wherefore, as the last time I say, decoct the body in our
white water, viz. mercury, till it is dissolved into blackness, and
then by a continual decoction, let it be deprived of the same
blackness, and the body so dissolved, will at length ascend or rise
with a white soul. And then the one will be mixed with the
other, and so embrace one another, that it shall not be possible
any more to separate them, but the spirit, with a real agreement,
will be united will the body, and make one permanent or nxed
substance. And this is the solution of the body, and coagulation
<>f the spirit which have one and the same operation. Who
therefore knows how to conjoin the principles, or direct the
work, to impregnate, to mortify, to putrify, to generate, to
quicken the species, to make white, to cleanse the vulture from
its blackness and darkness, till he is purged by the fire, and
tinged, and purified from all his spots, shall be possessor of a
treasure so great, that even kings themselves shall venerate him.

54-. Wherefore let our body remain in the water till it is dis-
solved into a subtile powder in the bottom of the vessel and the
water .which is called the black ashes: This is the corruption of
the body which is called by philosophers or wise men, salumus,
&s, plumbum pkilosophorum, 8$ pulvis di scout imiatus, viz. saturn,
Lit ten, or brass, the lead of the philosophers, the disguised
powder. And in this putrefaction and resolution of the body,
three signs appear, viz. a black color, a discontinuity of parts,
aixl a stinking smell, not much unlike to the smell of a vault
where dead bodies are buried. These ashes then arc those of
which the philosophers have spoken so much, which remained
m the lower part of the vessel, which we opght not to under-

Secret Book of Artcphius. 151

ralue or despise. In them is the royal diadem, and the black and
unclean argent vive, which ought to be cleansed from its black-
ness, by a continual digestion in our water, till it be elevated
above in a white colour, which is called the gander, and the bird
of Hermes. He therefore that maketh the red earth black, and
then renders it white, has obtained the magistery; so also he
who kills the living, and revives the dead. Therefore make the
black white, and the white black, and you perfect the work. —
55. And when you see the true whiteness appear, which
shineth like a bright sword, or polished silver, know that in
that whiteness there is redness hidden. But then beware that
you take not that whiteness out of the vessel, but only digest it
to the end, that with heat and dryness it may assume a citron
colour, and a most beautiful redness. Which when you see,
with great fear and trembling, render praises and thanksgiving
to the most great and good God, who gives wisdom and riches
to whom soever he pleases ; and according to the wickedness of
a person, takes them away, and withdraws them for ever again,
depressing him even to the bottom of hell. To him, I say,
the most wise and Almighty God, be glory to the ages of ages. —
Amen.

The ancient War of the Knights ;
Or, Victorious Stone.

BY A GERMAN ADEPT— 1604.

A true philosopher writes thus : In the presence of God
Almighty, the Saviour of my soul, do I tell you, lovers of this
excellent art, from a sincere heart, and out of compassion for
those who have sought a long time in vain, that our whole work
comes forth out of one thing, which is completed in itself, ami
needs no more but to be dissolved and re-coagulated ; and this it
must do of itself, without all foreign things.

As ice which is put over the fire in a dry vessel, and by heat
turns into water : in the same manner it is with our stone, which
wants nothing but the help of the operation of the artist, and
of the natural fire. For of itself it cannot do it, although it
should lie or remain for ever in the earth, therefore it must be
assisted ; yet not so, as to join foreign and contrary things with
it. But thus, as God gives us the corn in the field, and we
must grind and bake it for to make bread thereof; in like man-
ner in this ; God has created for us this mineral, or ore, which
we take by itself, destroy the gross body, extract the interior
goodness, put away the superfluity, and make out of the poison,
a medicine.

That you may understand this the better, I will recite you a
fine dialogue and disputation which happened betwixt the stone
of the philosophers, gold and mercury, by which those who
know a little, or in some measure, how to deal with metals and
minerals, having sought a long time in vain, may easily arrive
to the true foundation. And it will be necessary, that one
learn to know the exterior and interior quality of each thing in
the earth, and what it is radically capable of, or what it is ca-
pable of by the foundation of nature. Gold and mercury came
at a certain time to a stone with an armed hand, in the inten-
tion to subdue it. And Gold began thus in a rude manner,
saying,

Gold. — You poisonous worm and dragon, why do you pre-
tend to be above me and my brother Mercury? Being I am
the most high, most noble, and most constant metal; and all
princes and lord.*, and likewise all ordinary men, seek to obtain
riches from, or to grow rich by working with, me and my bro-

The Victorious Stone. 153

• Mercury, whereas you ore an enemy of all men and
metal:.;, and yoii know, that the physicians praise me exceed-
ingly to be tor the health of men ?

To which our Stone answereth : Dear Gold, why are you
not angry with Got!, ami enquire, why he hath not created in
you, what is found in me ?

Gold. — God has .g^ven me ^he honor, the beauty, and the
praise, wherefore, I am desired by the whole world, and because
I am the most constant metal, in the fire and out of the fire, for
that reason I am loved by » . ery body. But as for you, you are
volatile, you turn unfaithful and deceive the people ; lor one sees,
that you fly away or escape out of the hands of those that work
with you.

The Stone. — Dear Gold, it is true, God has given you
honor, beauty and constancy, for which } ou ought to be
thankful unto God, and not despise others ; but as for your
disparaging me thus, you do it with untruth ; and I Kiy,
you are not the gold, of which the philosophers write, but the
same is concealed within me ; for although it is true that I am
volatile in the lire, nevertheless you know, that God and nature
iiave ordered me thus, and I must be so, for my volatility- is to
the advantage of the artist; and if he, the said artist, can duly
.extract the same, yet remains within me the constant soul,
which is much more constantthan vou wold, and all vour brothers
ana companions ; no fire or water can consume or destroy her,
as long as the world lasts. Nor is it to be imputed to me, that
I am sought for by those, who cannot duly work with me, or
prepare me, and join often foreign and contrary things with me,
such as waters and powders, whereby they destroy my innate
nature and quality, or property. Besides this, there is not one
in an hundred, that works with me, but all of them seek to
complete the art with you gold, and your brother mercury,;
wherein however they err, and work falsely, it being apparent,
that all of them bring nothing to effect, but employ their
gold in vain, destroy or ruin themselves by it, and are reduced
to poverty ; which is most to be imputed to you Sol, who know
particularly well, that no true gold or silver can be made without
me, for I alone have that power. Wiry then do you allow
that almost the whole world works chiefly with you and your
brother Mercury ? If then you were indeed sincere, and did
desire to deal honestly, you would apprise the people, and
warn them to avoid damages ; wherefore I may well say with
truth, that you are the cheat.

Gold. — I will prove it by the philosophers sayings, that the
art may be completed by me and my brother Mercury. I or
read Hermes, who says thus : The Sun is its Father, and the
Moon is its Mother ; now it is I who am compared to the Sun.
Likewise Aristotle, Avicenna, Pliny, Serapion, Hippocrates,
X>j. oscorides, Mesne, Rhasis, Averrocs, Gcber,- Kaymund

154 Alchemical Treatises.

Lully, Albertus Magnus, Arnold of Villa-Nova, Thomas
Aquinas, and many others, which I omit for brevity's sake ; all
these say plain and distinctly, that the tinctures, as well as the
metals, must be composed of sulphur and mercury, and the
sulphur must be red, incombustible, and constant or fixed in
the fire, and the mercury must be bright or clean, and clearly
purified, and they write without any winding expressions or
circumlocution, naming me openly by my name, and say, that
in me gold, is the well digested, constant, or fixed incombus-
tible, red sulphur, which is also true; and it is obvious to every
body, that I am the most constant metal, and have the best sul-
phur of all, which cannot be consumed by fire, but is quite
fixed. Then Mercury assented with his discourses to what the
Gold had advanced, and added : It were true, what his brother,
the Gold had told* and might be proved by the aforesaid
masters. And that likewise it were known commonly and by
every body, what great love and unity there were betwixt them
two, above all other metals ; which might easily be proved by
only this ocular demonstration, that when goldsmiths, or such
like workmen will gild things, they cannot do without gold
and mercury, but take them and put them together, and unite
them with very little pains. What then might not be done,
with more pains and diligence, with more work and longer
labour ?

Our Stoxe. — Then our Stone replied in a merry humour;
truly, you both deserve to be laughed at with your proofs ;
and I admire more especially of you Gold, who boast so very
much of yourself to be good for a great many things, or uses,
that you have no more sense than that comes to ; do you think
that the old philosophers have fitted their writings barely to
the common literal sense or interpretation, and will be under-
stood in that manner ? ' - ' • ' •■

Gold. — -The aforesaid masters have writ no untruth, and
they all agree concerning my virtue* but there have been some,
who have sought for my virtues in other improper things, viz.
in various herbs, animals, blood, urine, hair, sperm, and the
like, who therefore have erred, and perhaps have writ erro-
neously too ; but the aforesaid masters have good testimony,
that they have possessed the art indeed ; for which reason their
writings may very well be credited.

The Stone. — I do no ways doubt, and it is very true that
they have possessed the art indeed ; some however excepted of
those whom you have quoted. But when they name barely the
name of Gold and Mercury, they do it to hide the art from
the senseless dunces and the unworthy, knowing very well,
that such only dwell upon names and written processes, without
meditating further upon the foundation of this matter. But the
prudent and diligent read with prudence, and ponder how one
squares with the other ; out of which they get a foundation;

The Victorious Stone. 155

finding thus by speculation, and from the philosophers sen-
tences, the true matter, which no philosopher ever named and
described openly by its true name.

This they prove themselves, when they say, where we write
plainest, or open, according to the common sense or interpre-
tation, there we have most concealed the art. But where we
speak by parables and sentences, there we have truly disclosed
the art. And where they write of Gold or Mercury, they how-
ever soon after that, tell and explain themselves, saying, that
their gold is no common gold, nor their mercury common mer-
cury; by reason, that gold, because of its perfection, cannot be
altered or changed, because it is grown already to a quite per-
fect metal ; and although one should extract its colour a hundred
times, and work ever so artful with it, nevertheless it cannot
tinge any more, than just so much as it has colour and tincture
in itself. Therefore the philosophers say, if you search in im-
perfect things, you there will find the perfection, as you may
read in the Rosary. Likewise Raymund Lully, whom yourself
have quoted as a testimony, says thus : what shall be meliorated,
must not be perfect; nothing is changed or altered in perfect
things, it rather is quite destroyed and spoiled.

Gold. — I know indeed that they say thus ; but that may be
understood of my brother Mercury, who as yet is imperfect ;
and when we two mix ourselves with each other, he then is made
perfect by me ; for he is of the feminine, and I of the masculine
sex. Therefore the philosophers say, that the art is entirely an
homogeneum. You see the same in men, that no child is pro-
duced, but by conjunction of male and female. And the same is
to be seen in all animals which have life.

Our Stone. — Thy brother Mercury is indeed imperfect, yet
therefore is not he the Mercury of the philosophers ; and if you
two should mix yourselves together, and were kept in the fire
or in digestion for many years, it were nevertheless impossible
that you two could really be united together ; for as soon as
Mercury feels the fire, he slips from you going on high, and sub-
limes itself on the top, leaving you in the bottom. Or if you
are joined together with corrosive waters, and are dissolved,
distilled, and coagulated, you yield nothing else but a red pow-
der and pnecipititc, which if it is thrown by projection upon
imperfect metals, it tinges not; but only so much of you Gold
is found again, as was taken at the beginning, and your brother
Mercury escapes entirely from you ; which the searchers in
alchemy have experienced for many years, and are convinced
of it by their own no small damage. But as for your referring
to the sentences of the ancients, who say, that the art is wholly
an homogeneum, and that no child can be produced but by male
and female, which you fancy, the philosophers did to hint at you
and your brother Mercury by it; that is not thus neither, but
misunderstood by you. although they writing thus speak very

] 56 Mclumical Treatises.

right and proper ; for I tell you in tvulli, tliat even this 10 the*
corner-stone laid by the ancients, at -which many thousands have
stumbled. Do you imagine it is with metals, just as with other
things, vvhich have life ? You tare in this, as ah* tho^e who
work wrongly in this art ; when you read these things in the
philosophers writings, you do not meditate on the scope, and
whether it agrees with what has been said before, or what is
said after that ; for what the philosophers have described ot'thi--.
art with such parabolical words, is solely to be applied to mo,
and to no other thing in the world ; for it is I alone that do
perform it, and without me no true gold or silver can be
made.

Golo. — Good God 1 are you not afraid to commit a sin, and
•have no shame to tell such a lie ? And are you so audacious, as
to apply or attribute solely unto you, what so many philosophers
and learned men have written of this art in several ages ? You,
who are only a gross, poisonous, and unclean thing, and yet
confess, that tlie art is an homogeneum ; and you- affirm besides
this, that without you, who are the universal, no true gold or
silver can be made ;■ whereas it is known, that many have sought
so assiduously and diligently, that they have found some other
ways, which are called particulars, from which they may have a
good profit.

Our Stone-. — My dear G&\d,. do not won<3cr at what I have
told you, and do not thus impudently and imprudently give me
the lie, because I am older than yourself. And although I had
been mistaken in this, you ought to spare my age ; for you are
not ignorant, that age ought to be honored.

But to save my honor,. I will prove by the masters you have
cited, that I spoke truth, whose testimonies being quoted by
your own self, you have no reason to object against. And first,
Hermes says thus: in truth, without lie, certain, and most true,
is this, that that which is under, is like to that which is above,
and that which is above, is like unto that below, by this you may
attain to the miracles and wonders of one thing.

Item. Aristotle writes thus ; Oh \ what a strange thing is this,
for it has in itself all what we stand in need of; it kills itself,
and gets life again of itself,* it espouses itself, it begets itself, and
brings forth or generates of itself; it dissolves itself in its own
blood, and re-coagulates itself with the same; it grows white and
red ot itself and we add nothing more to it, nor do we change
any thing, only we separate the terrestreity and the grossness
from it.

Item. Plato, the philosophei-, says thus of me : it is even but
one and the same or only thing in itself; it has a bodj', a soul, a
spirit, and the. four elements, over which it has dominion ; and
it does not want to borrow any thing of other bodies, for k
brings forth or generates itself only of itself, and all things
are in it..

Ihc Victorious SIoju lb'

Many testimonies more of these roasters opukl I prolkr, but it
boilig unnecessary, I omit them for .brevity's sake. However,
as for particulars, of which you make mention, it is thus with,
them: Some are come thus far, that tliey have bc&u a-bl.c to
e\tract my tinging spirit, which they have Joined to other metals,
and brought it about by many operations, that I have participated
to such metals as had any aflinity with me, a small matter of my
virtue and power: which, however, but very lew succeeded in ;
Likewise did they partly find it by chance. And by reason that
they did not penetrate into the foundation, whence tinctures;
come, therefore they could not proceed further, and thus tUey
could not reap very great advantages thereirom. But if the
artist had looked further about for my own proper wife, anal
joined or united me with her, I then could have tiuged a thou-
sand times more ; but they thus spoiled my nature or property
with foreign things. However, whatever they found, al-
though but a small matter in comparison of my true
power and efficacy, it proceeded from me, and of no otljex
thing whatsoever.

Gold. — What you have said is no sufficient proof; foy akuQUgb
the philosophers write of one only thing, in which arc contained
the four elements, and a bod)', a soul, and a spirit ; they thereby
insinuate, or give to understand the tincture, after the same has
been completely finished ; it must nevertheless be composed iti
the beginning of me Gold, and my brother Mercury, we being
the male and female seed, as has been mentioned ; an J
when we are brought to maturity or completed by di-
gestion, we then are both that one thing, of which, they
write.

Our Stoxe. — It is no ways thus ; and I have told you before,
that it is not possible for you two to perform it, for you two are
not one body, but two bodies, and you are in the foundation ojf
nature, or radically contrary to each other. But as for me,
I have an imperfect body ; a pure, penetrating, tinging, and
constant or fixed spirit ; and besides this, a clear, bright, vo-
latile, and moveable Mercury ; and am alone capable of what
both of you together do indeed boast of, but are not able to per-
form it ; for in me is the philosopher's gold, and the mercury
of the wise. For this reason the ancients say : our stone is not
visible, nor our mercury to be had, but out of the soft uncor-
rupted or proper bodies, and neither of the two can be attained
without the other ; wherefore I alone do yield the male and
female seed, and am wholly an homogeneum ; also am I called an
hermaphrodite.

Richard us Anglus too, witnesses the same of me, saying :
the first matter of our stone is called Rebis, that is to say, a
thing, which by nature has a double quality or property con-
cealed in itself ; and it is likewise called an hermaphrodite, that
is, a matter, which. is not easily to be distinguished, whether it

J 58 Alchemical Treatises.

be a male or female ; by reason, that it inclines to both pan 9.
Therefore a medicine is made out of a thing, or one thing, which
is the water of the body and spirit. This has occasioned the
saying, that this medicine has by its enigma's deceived many
fools. The art, however, requires but one thing, which is
known to every body ; many wish for it, and yet it is but one
only thing, or matter ; nothing is to be compared to it, and yet
it is mean and cheap ; but for this it ought not to be
despised, for it makes and brings forth or completes admirable
things.

Alanus the philosopher says : You operators in this art, you
ought to be of a fixed mind in your work, not beginning and
trying sometimes with one thing, and sometimes with another ;
for the art consists not in multitude of species's, but in body and
soul. And for a certain truth, the medicine of our stone is one.
thing, one vessel, one composition. For the whole masterpiece
of art is begun with one thing, and is ended with one thing;
although the philosophers, in order to hide the art, have pre-
tended to point out many other ways, as for instance : continual
cooking or digestion, mixtion, sublimation, trituration, and
siccation, and as many other names or allegories as the same
may be named withal. However, the solution of the body is not
brought about, but in its own blood. Geber says thus : in the
foundation or in the root of the nature of mercury, is sulphur,
which perfects it, viz. the mercury, by cooking and digesting it
during a long time in the veins of the mines.

Thus, my dear Gold, with what has been said, you are
sufficiently convinced, that it is only in me, and I alone can per-
form all, without the assistance of you and all your brothers ;
nor do I want you any ways, although all of you want me, or
have occasion for me : for I can perfect you all, and bring you to
a higher degree, than what you arc by nature. Then the Gold
grew angry, and not knowing any more what to answer, con-
sulted with its brother Mercury, and agreed upon this, that they
would assist one another, who being two in number, and our
Stone but single, they, because they could get no advantage
upon it by disputing, would by their double power destroy it or
kill it by the sword.

But when the fight began, our Stone issued strength or power,
and destroyed and conquered them both ; and swallowed them
in such a manner, that nothing at all was to be seen of them ; nor
what was become of them.

Thus, you n y dearly beloved, who fear God, you have here
a true and sufficient narrative or instruction to understand the
foundation or root of the highest and most precious
treasure. For no philosopher did ever declare himself so
plain and openly.

You therefore want nothing else, but that you pray to God
that he may £rant you to attain to such a dear and precious

Hie Victorious Stone, 159

jewel. Next to this quicken your thoughts, and read with pru-
dence, work with diligence, and haste not in the preparation of
this precious work ; ior it must have its natural time, or its time
ordained by nature, like fruit on a tree, or grapes on a vine.
Be likewise of a good will and intention, or else the Lord will
grant you nothing ; for God gives it to those, who desire to dp
good with it, and takes it or detains it from such as would empjoy
it to ill uses.

The Lord give you his Blessing. Amen;

:'

EIRENJEUS ' IMIILALETHES.

Secrets rcteuicd. Of the appearances in th-c Jfatras
during the nine months digestion.

Having prepared our sol and our mercury. Shut them in our
vessel and govern them with our fire, and within forty days thou
fahalt see thy whole matter turned into a shadow or atoms,
without any visible mover or motion, or without any heat
perceptible to the touch, save only that it is hot. But if you
be yet ignorant both of our sol and our mercury, meddle not in
this our work, for expenee only will be thy lot, and no gain
nor profit- But if only thou want the full discovery of our
sun, having thoroughly attained the skill of our mercury, and
knowest how to fit it to the perfect body, which is a great
mystery. Then take of sol vulgar well purified one part, and of.
our mercury first illuminated three parts, join them as was before
taught, and set them to the fire, giving a heat in which it may
boil and sweat; let it be circulated day and night without
ceasing ; for the space of ninety days and nights, and thou
shalt see in that space, that thy mercury will have divided
and rc-conjoined all the elements of thy gold ; boil it then other
fifty days, and thou shalt see in this operation thy sol vulgar
turned in-to our sol, which is a medicine of the first order;
thus doth it become our true sulphur, but it is not yet a tey-
ning tincture. Trust me, many philosophers have wrought this
way, and attained the truth, yet it is a most tedious way, and it
is for the grandees of the earth. Moreover when thou hast got
diis sulphur, do not think thou hast the stone, but only its true
matter ; which in an imperfect thing thou mayest seek, and find
it in a week, with our easy, but rare way, which jCrod hath re-
served for his poor contemned and abject saints. Of this thing
I have now determined to write much, although in the beginning
of this book, I decreed to bury this in silence ; for here lies the
knot on which the grand sophism of all the adepti is built. —
iSome write concerning so] and luna vulgar, and they write true ;
and again others deny sol and luna vulgar, and they also say
true. I being now moved with charity, will reach forth my
hand, and therein I dare appeal to all the adepti that eyer wrote,
and tax them all with envy, yea, and I myself that had resolved
to tread in that same path of envy, but that God did inforce me
beyond what I intended, to whom be everlasting praise. I say
then that each way is true, for it is but one way in the end, but

Philakthes. 1G1

not in the beginning ; for our whole secret is in our mercury »
rnul in our sol; our mercury is our way, and without it
nothing is done; our sol also is not sol vulgar, yet in sol vulgar
is our sol, else how could metals be homogeneal ? If then thou
know how to illuminate our mercury as it ought to be, thou mayest
for want of our sol join with gold vulgar, but yet know that the
preparation of the mercury ought to be different for the one,
and for the other, and in a true regimen of them, in a hundred
and fifty days, thou shalt have our sol, for our sol naturally comes
out of our mercury : if then sol vulgar be by our mercury divided
into its elements, and afterwards joined, all the mixture, by the
help of the fire, will become our sol, which then being joined
with that mercury, which we prepared, and call our virgins
milk, by reiterate decoction it will give all the signs which the
philosophers have described, in such a fire as they have written
in their books. But now if you shall in your decoction of sol
vulgar, though it be most pure, use that same mercury which is
used in our sol, though both flow from one root in general, and
apply that regimen of heat, which the wisemen in their books
have applied to our stone, thou art without all doubt in an erro-
neous way, and that is the great labyrinth in which almost all
young practitioners are entangled, for there is scarce one philo-
sopher who in his writings doth not touch both ways ; which is
indeed but one way fundamentally, only one is more direct to the
mark than the other : they then that do write of luna vulgar, as
we sometimes in this treatise, so also Artephius, Flamel and
Ripley, with many others; we are not otherwise to be under-
stood, but that our philosophical sol is to be made out of sol
vulgar and our mercury, which then by reiterate liquefaction, will
give a sulphur and argent vive, fixt and incombustible, and whose
tincture will abide all trials ; also in this sense, our stone is in
-every metal or mineral, forasmuch as sol vulgar may be ex-
tracted out of them, and out of that sol our sol may be made, as
being nearer in it than any metal. So then our stone is in all
metals, but in our sol and luna nearer than in any other ; there-
fore, saith Flamel, some wrought it in jupiter, some in saturn ;
but I wrought it in sol, and there I found it. Yet there is in
the metallic kingdom one thing of a miraculous original, in which
our sol is nearer to be sought than in sol and luna vulgar, if it be
sought in the hour of its nativity; which melts in our mercury
like ice in warm water, and yet it hath a resemblance with
gold : this is not to be found in the manifestation of sol vulgar,
but by revealing that which is hidden in our mercury ; the same
thing may be found by digestion of sol vulgar in our mercury
for the space of an hundred and fifty days. This is our gold,
sought the farthest way about, which is not yet of so great a
virtue as that which nature hath made and left to our hands %
yet turning the wheel thrice, each comes to one end, yet with this
difference, what thou findest in the ojie in seven months, thou

u

16S Alchemical T-, cat tees.

must wait for in the latter the space of a year and a half or it.
may be two years. I am acquainted with both ways, and com-
mend the first to all ingenious men, but in my descriptions I
have most touched the hardest way, lest I should draw on my
head the anathema of all philosophers ; know then, that this is
the only difficulty, in reading the books of those that are most
candid, that all, one as well as the other, do vary the regimen,
and when they write one Work they set down the regimen of
another, in which snare I was entangled myself at first, and it
was long before I could get free out of this net. Thirdly and
lastly, there is a mixt work, where sol vulgar is mixt with our
mercury in a due proportion, and a ferment of our sulphur is
added as much as is sufficient ; then are fulfilled all the miracles
of the world, and the elixir becomes able to furnish the possessor
both with riches and health : seek then our sulphur with all thy
might, which, believe me, thou shaft find in our mercury. —
lake then that mercury which I have described, and unite with
sol to which it is most friendly, and in seven months, in our
true regimen of heat, thou shalt for certain see all which thou
desirest, or in nine months, or ten at the most ; but our luna in
its full thou shalt see in five mouths: and these are the true
periods of these sulphurs, out of which, by reiterate decoction,
thou shalt have our stone and permanent tinctures, through the
grace of God, to whom be all glory and honour for ever.

2. If thou shalt work in sol or luna to find our sulphur in
them, consider if you see this matter like to paste, and to boil like
unto water, or rather to melted pitch ; for our sol and mercury
have an emblematical type in sol vulgar, joined with, and de-
cocted in our mercury. When thou hast kindled thy furnace,
wait for the space of twenty days and nights, in which time
thou shalt observe divers colours, and about the end of the
fourth week, if the fire be continual, thou shalt see a most
amiable greeuness, which will be seen for about ten days, less
or more, then rejoice, for without doubt in a short time thou
shalt see it like unto a coal in blackness, and all the members of
thy compound shall be turned into atoms, for the operation is
no other than a resolution of the fixt in that which is not fixt,
that afterwards both being joined together, may make one
matter ; partly spiritual, and partly corporeal : therefore saith the
philosopher, take the corascene dog and bitch of Armenia, join
them together, and they shall beget thee a son of the colour of the
heaven ; for these natures, in a short decoction, shall, be turned
into a broth, like unto the foam of the sea, or like a thick cloud,
which shall be tinctured with a livid colour ; and once more I
may assure thee, that I have not hidden any thing, save only
the regimen, and this, if thou art wise, thou shalt easily collect
from my lines: supposing then that thou wilt learn the regimen ;
take the stone which I have told you of before, and govern it as
you know how, und there shaU follow these notable things ;

Philalethes. 163

first, as soon as our stone shall feel the fire, it shall flow, its
.sulphur and its mercury together upon the fire like to wax, and
the sulphur shall be burned, and the colour shall change day
by day ; but the mercury is incombustible, only it shall be
affected with the colours of the sulphur for a time, but it
cannot be radically affected, therefore it will wash latton clean
from all its filth ; reiterate the heaven upon the earth, so long
and so often, until the earth receive a spiritual and heavenly
nature. Q blessed nature, which doth that which is impossible
for man to do 1 therefore when in thy glass thou shalt see thy
natures to be mingled like unto a coagulated and burnt blood,
know that then the female is embraced by the male ; therefore
after the first stirring up of the matter, expect that in seven-
teen days thy two natures shall be turned into a bloody or fatted
broth, which shall be turned round together, like unto a thick
cloud, or the scum of the sea, as is before said ; and the colour
of it will be exceeding obscure ; then be sure that the kingly
child is conceived, and from that time thou shalt see vapours,
green, blue, black and yellow, in the air, and at the sides of
the vessel. These are those winds, which in the forming of
our embryon, are very frequent, which are to be kept warily,
lest they fly out, and the work be destroyed ; beware also of the
odour, lest it happen to exhale at any chink ; for the virtue of
the stone would thereby get a most notable detriment ; therefore
the philosopher commands to keep the vessel close sealed,
and beware that you do not break off' abruptly from the work ;
neither open nor move the vessel, nor yet intermit the operation
not an hour, but continue the decoction till you see the mois-
ture begin to fail, which will be in about thirty days ; then re-
joice, and rest assured that thou art in the right way. Attend
the work vigilantly, for in about two weeks from the time, thou\
shalt see the whole earth dry and notably black, then is the
death of thy compound at hand, the winds are ceased, and all
are at rest and quietness. This is the fatal eclipse of the sun and
of the moon, when no lighc shall shine upon the earth, and the
sea shall vanish, then is made our chaos, out of which, at the
command of God, shall proceed all the miracles of the world in
their orders.

3. The burning of the flowers is an error of fatal consequence,
yet soon committed before the natures which are tender are
extracted from their profundity ; they are oftentimes burnt; this
error is chiefly to be heeded after the three weeks ; for in the
beginning there is so much moisture, that if the work be governed
by a stronger fire than is convenient, the vessel being brittle will
not bear the abundance of winds, but will suddenly fly in pieces,
unless the glass be too large, and then sure the vapours will be
so out of measure dispersed, that they will hardly return again
to their body, at least not so much as is necessary for the re-
freshment sf the stone. But so soon as the earth shall begin to

164 Alchemical Treatises.

retain part of its water, then the vapours decreasing, the fire
mav be strengthened without danger of the vessel ; but the work
will nevertheless be destroyed, and will have a colour of a wild
poppy, and the whole compound will at length become a dry
and unprofitable powder, of a half red colour. Thou shalt con-
clude from this sign, that thy fire hath been too strong, so
strong, to wit, as to hinder true conjunction ; for know, that
our work doth require a true change of natures, which cannot
be until an entire union of both principles be made ; but they
cannot be united but in the form of water, for bodies may be
confounded or blended together, but cannot be united, nor yet
can any body with a spirit be united per minima ; but spirits
with spirits may well be united, therefore our operations must
become homogeneal metallic water ; the way to which solution
is our foregoing true calcination, which therefore is not an
exsiccation properly, but a kind grinding of water and earth, into
atoms ; which when they become more subtle than the exigen-
cies of the earth requires, earth is then actually transmuted into,
and doth receive the form of water ; but if the fire be too
vehement, this spiritual nature being struck as with a fatal
stroke, our active will become passive, of spiritual corporeal,
even a red unprofitable precipitate, for in a due heat the colour
will be as black as that of the crow, which though it be dark,
yet it is most desirable ; yet there is also a redness which will
appear in the beginning of the true work, and that very re-
markable, but this is ever accompanied with a due proportion of
moisture, and sheweth that heaven and earth have been in con-
junction, between which the fire of nature is conceived ; by
which redness all the concave of the glass will seem as it were
gilt over with gold, but this colour is not durable long, but in a
short space will be changed into a greenness, then in a very short
time expect blackness ; and if thou wilt be patient, thou for
certain shalt see thy desire accomplished, at least make slow, but
sure progress. Let not thy heat be over strong, and yet strong
enough, and between Scilla and Charybdis sail like unto a skilful
pilot, so shalt thou attain the wealth of cither India ; some-
times thou shalt see as it were little Islands floating, and shoot-
ing out as it were little sprigs and buds, which will be change-
able in colours, which soon will be melted and others will arise
in the stead of them ; for the earth as inclining to a ve-
getation, is always sending forth some new thing or other; —
sometimes thy fancy will be that thou seest in thy glass birds or
beasts, or creeping things, and thou shalt each day behold co-
lours most beautiful to sight, which though they are pleasant
to the eye, are not of a long continuance ; all is hi the keeping
of a due heat without any intermission. So shall all these
pleasant colours in the space of fifty days end in a colour most
black, and a powder discontinuous, which if thou seest not,
blame either thy mercury or thy regimen, or the disposition of

Philahilics. 165

the matter, unless thou either hast moved or meddled
■with the glass, which may either protract or finally destroy
the work.

4. As man}' of the wise men as have wrote of this master-piece
of philosophy) have all spoken of the regimen of Saturn, which
many, understanding wrongs have turned aside unto divers er-
rors, and deceived themselves with their own opinion; some
being thus led with a great deal of confidence, although with
very little advantage. But know that our Saturn is more
noble than any Gold ; it is the Limus in which the soul of our
Gold is joined with its Mercury, that after they may produce
Adam and Eve his wife ; therefore that which is the highest,
shall so humble itself as to become the lowest, then expect
that he will redeem all his brethren by his blood. The sepulchre
in which our King is buried, is named Saturn in our work, and
it is the key of the wrork of transmutation ; O happy is he that
may behold this slow planet ! Pray to God, my brother, that
he would vouchsafe to you his blessing ; for it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him runneth, but on the Father of Lights alone,
this blessing dependeth.

5. Be certainly confident, studious son of art, whoever thou
art, that nothing is hidden in this work, save only the regimen,
ofwhioh, that of the philosopher may be verified, whoever is
master of that science, princes and grandees of the earth shall
honor him. I assure you, upon the word of an honest man,
that if this one secret were but openly discovered, fools them-
selves would deride the art ; for that being known, nothing re-
mains but the work of women, and the play of children, and"
that is decoction. So that not without cause did the wise men
hide this secret with all their might. And rest assured that
we have done the same, whatever we have seemed to speak con-
cerning the degree of heat : yet because I did promise candour
in this treatise, something at the least is to be done, that I may
not deceive the ingenious of their hope and pains. Know
then, that our regimen, from the beginning to the end, is only
lineal, and that is to decoct and to digest, and yet this one
regimen in itself comprehends many others, which the envious
have concealed, by giving them divers names, and describing as
so many several operations. We, to perform the candour we
promised, will make a Far more perspicuous manifestation. So
that, Reader, whoever thou art, if ingenious, thou shalt
find cause to acknowledge our candidness in this to be more than
ordinary.

6. And in the first place, we shall treat of the regimen of
mercury, which is a secret hitherto not discovered by any phi-
losophers ; for they verily do begin their work at the second
regimen, and do give a young practitioner no light in the mas-
tery of the capital signs of blackne^ ; in this point, that good
Marquis of Treviso was silejitj noble Bernard, who in his pa-

166 Alchemical Treatises.

rabies saith, " That the King, when he came to the Fountain.
** leaving all strangers behind him, enters the Bath alone, clothed,
*4 in golden robes, which he puts off, and gives to Saturn, his
" first Chamberlain, from whom he receiveth a black velvet
" suit." But he sheweth not how long the interval of time is,
before he plucks off his golden garment, and therefore he
passeth over in silence the first and most intricate regimen, which
is perhaps forty or fifty days ere it be fully complete ; in which
time the poor practitioner is left to uncertain experiments ; from
the appearing of blackness until the very end of the work, the
sights that do appear are sufficient to refresh the artist, but in
this space to wander without a guide or direction, for the space
of fifty days, I confess is tedious. I say then, that from the
second kindling of the fire, even until blackness, all the inter-
val of time is the regimen of our mercury, even of our sophical
mercury, which all that time doth work alone, his companion
being dead at first, and so remains a great space ; and this secret
before me no man ever yet discovered. Therefore when thy
matters are joined, which are our Sol and our Mercury, do not
think, as some alchemists vainly imagine, that the setting of the
Sun will follow suddenly, no verily, we wraited a long and te-
dious while before a reconciliation was made betwixt the water
and the fire ; and this the envipus have in a short speech mys-
tically comprehended, when they in the first beginning of their
work, called their matter Rebis, that is, made of two substances^
according to the poet,

Res Eebis est bina covjuncta, sed est tamen una
Solvitur, tit prima sint ant Sol aid Spermata Luna.

Rebis are two things joined, yet is but one
Dissolved, that Sol or Lune be Sperm alone.

For know of an undoubted truth, that though our Mercury
devour the Gold, yet it doth it not so as chemical phantastics
dream ; for although the Gold join with our Mercury, yet a
year after you shall separate each from the other in its own na-
ture, unless you decoct them together in a convenient degree of
lire, otherwise they wiil not be altered ; he who will affirm the
contrary, is no philosopher. They who wander in errors
path, do dream that it is a matter of very light concernment to
dissolve the perfect bodies in our Mercury, insomuch, that ac-
cording to their imaginations, Gold in this will be devoured
in the twinkling of an eye ; not well understanding the place
vA' Bernard Trevisan, in his parable concerning his Golden