Words Where a living Voice is wanting it is safer to be too timerous then in any wise bold or adventurous although of Antimony I can affirm that being duly prepared it is as harmless a Medicine as Cassia or Manna The whole caution is chiefly about its use after the first preparations because it may still retaiâ— much of its own crude Venome Vse of the Weight or dose that neither more nor less then is fit may be given For above all things the Physician ought well to know whether his Medicament will be weak or strong also whether it will do good or hurt unless he resolve to fatten the Church-yard with the loss of his fame and hazard of his own Soul 5. After the Medicament is taken into the body and hath diffused it self through all the Members that it may search out those defects against which it was administred the Vtility comes to be considered for it is possible that a Medicament diligently prepared and exhibited in due weight may do more hurt then good in some Diseases and seem to be Venome rather then Medicine Hence an accurate reflexion is to be made to those things which profit or help and they are diligently to be noted that we may be mindful to observe the same in other cases Yet both in the * That Indication is to be taken from things helping and hurting is known even to Tyro's But what the Authour subjoyns touching internal and external curation are not so rude as not to deserve good Attention And also those things which he permixeth with his own Satyrical Reprehension if the Reader be so wise as to believe that Basilius intermixed them to deter the unworthy deriders of Chymistry from approaching to his sacred Arcanums he will be wise for himself For whilst others rail and swell with indignation he gathers the fruit of the Authour's Axioms which as another Agent he scattered among these Thorns Whilst you O lover of Chymistry peruse these so long will I keep silence Vse and Vtility this one thing is necessary to be considered viz. whether the Disease be an external and open wound or only an internal and latent evil for as the difference of these is great so the way of curation is not the same Therefore the bottom of every Disease is to be known that it may be understood whether the same may be cured by external remedies only or must from within be driven outwards For if the Center of the Disease be within such a Medicine must be given as can search out apprehend and restore that Center otherwise the Physician 's labour will be fruitless and in vain Moreover if there be an internal Disease which ariseth and is fed from an internal Original it must never be driven inward by external remedies for great discommodity will thence ensue and at length Death it self Which may be understood by the similitude of a Tree for if any one whilst it germinates or flowers repels the Humours to the Interiours whence they proceeded to the nutriment of the Earth that Tree will be so far from bringing sorth the desired Fruit by the flower that a suffocation of the same ariseth from the violent conjunction of humours not finding any out-let Therefore there is great difference between fresh wounds inflicted by Prick Cut or any other way and the old which derive their Original from within For the fresh wounds may be perfectly cured by external remedies only but in those which are nourisned from within an external application of Oyls Balsoms Unguents and Plaisters prosits little unless the Internal Fountain be stopped whence the humours flow to the external parts When the Fountain shall be stopped the Flux will cease and the evil may easily be cured with Diet only It is no great point of Art to heal any fresh wound for this every Country-man can easily effect with crude Lard but to remove all Symptomes which happen in wounds and to dry up the Fountain of the evil this is the work and this the labour of the Artist Now come hither you Physicians how many soever there be of you that arrogate to your selves the Title of Doctor of either Medicine viz. of internal and external Diseases understand ye the Title of your honour and consult your own Conscience and see whether you received that from GOD that is possess it in verity or whether you usurp it as a form for honour sake For as much as Heaven is distant from the Earth so vastly different is the Art of healing internal Diseases from the Sanation of external wounds If the Title be given to you by GOD the same GOD will give a Blessing Felicity Health and happy events but if your Title be vain and only devised and assumed for ambition all things will evilly succeed to you your honour will fail and you will prepare for your self Hell-fire which can no more be extinguished then it can be expressed by words For Christ said to his Disciples You call me Lord and Master and ye do well Therefore whosoever assumes a Title of Honour let him see whether he do well and whether he ascribes not more to himself than he knows and hath learned which is the real abuse of this Title For he who will write himself Doctor of either Medicine ought to understand know and be well skilled in both viz. the Internal and External Medicine Nor should he be ignorant of Anatomy that he may be able to shew the Constitution of the Body and discover from what Member every Disease proceeds together with its Fountain and cause Also remedies with which he may cure the Disease and circumstances of external Wounds are to be understood by him Good GOD where will the Title be found what will become of the Master when an exact Trial shall be made for discovering the ignorance of these Doctors of either Medicine In times past long before my days the Doctors of Medicine did themselves cure External wounds and judged that a part of their Office but in these our times they take Servants whom they employ in these things and this way the noblest of Arts is become a Mechanick Operation and some of those who exercise it are indeed so very rude as they know not Letters and scarcely know how according to the Proverb to drive an Ass out of the Corn. These I say profess themselves Masters in curing wounds and Doctors of Doctors and to speak the truth as it is they may by a better right glory in this Title then thou magnificent Doctor umbratical Chyrurgion and most ignorant Boaster of Titles why do you stile your self Doctor of either Medicine What more now Master Doctor what say you most expert Chyrurgion I pray be not offended at this or take it amiss for you your self will quickly confess if you do but seriously consider wounds made by Prick or Cut that you have as much knowledge in the cure of them as is in the Brain of a dunghil Cock
every One must beware he use it not No that doth not follow Mr. Doctor Batchelor or Master it doth not follow I say Mr. Doctor although you be proud of your Red Hat Treacle is made of the most perillous Venom of a Viper which is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence also it had its Name therefore no man must use it for there is poyson in it Doth this Consequence please you How doth this my Doctrine like you You hear that after Preparation no Venenosity is found in Antimony for by the Spagyrick Art Antimony is converted from Venom into Medicine no otherwise than as of the Venom of a Viper is said which is converted into Treacle but without Preparation you shall find no Good in it nor any thing of Medicinal Help but much loss and detriment Now whosoever desires to become a Disciple of Antimony he must after Prayer and an carrest Invocation of GOD betake himself to the School of Vulcan for he is the Master and Revealer of all Secrets This Master is contemned by the Wise Men of the World set very light by and derided because they by reason of their own Negligence and Malignity have learned nothing of him and all Revelation through their own Sloath is impeded for no Medicine was eyer prepared without Vulcan whatsoever those sensless mad men shall bable and affirm to the Contrary But I will proceed to the Process and Preparation of Antimony for I little value the Clamours of arrogant and self applauding men let them make and bring to light any Work that can excel Antimony It is well known to me that of Antimony may be made Medicines equal to Those which are in Gold and vulgar Mercury I except the Astrum of Sol for of this may be prepared Aurum potabile against the Leprosie of this may be made Spirit of Mercury the highest Remedy against the French POX of this other infinite Remedies may be prepared If those Contemners cannot perceive and understand this what wonder is it None because they have not learned it No man can give a sound Judgment of that which he never learned Let the Ass an Animal like them in stupidity be their Example who cannot teach a Shepherd how to handle his Pipe so as to play an Harmonious Tune because he hath not learned So right Judgement with a solid Foundation cannot be given by a man who before hath not bent his Studies that way that from Writings he may be able to discern what in such a Business is just or unjust After the same manner in this Faculty what can be attributed to any of the Doctors before he hath from Writings and by his own proper labour acquired Knowledge Yet before I pass to the Process it self some One may perhaps interrupt and ask me which way both Minerals and other Things receive their Venonosity What Venom is Whence the Poyson of every Thing hath its Original How it may be taken away also how such a Mineral may without peril securely be used for Health after evacuation of that Venom To these Questions I will briefly and clearly answer The Infusion of Venom falls under a twofold Consideration viz. Natural and Supernatural The first Reason why GOD the supreme Lord of the Stars and the Maker of Heaven and Earth hath proposed to us open Venom especially in Minerals is that by this his Ordination he might shew to us his Wonders and powerful Works for distinction of Good and Evil as in the Law he prescribed to us the Knowledge of That which lies as a Duty on us to do viz. to Choose the Good and Eschew the Evil. So also the Tree of Life in Paradise was proposed its right use tended to Good but its abuse brought the Fall to Evil for by that GOD's Command was broke whence proceeded Destruction and all Evil. This is the first Reason A Second Reason is that by this we might comprehend and understand the Distinction between Evil and Good and at length learn to exterminate Malice and reposit Goodness in its place For GOD wills not that man should perish and be destroyed but that he should depart from Evil and come to amendment of Life that Destruction may be driven far away from his Soul So to Us his Creatures with wonderful Conveniency hath he proposed Good and Evll which is found both in the Precept of the Word and in the Work of the Creature that we may choose what is profitable and good for Health and shun what is evil and pernitions Thirdly Venom is also made by the Stars when contrary Oppositions and Conjunctions of them happen by which the Elements are Infected so as they become the Cause of Pestilences and other Venomous Diseases in this World which also is to be understood of Comets Fourthly Venom is made from Things repugnant each to other as when any One inkindles a deadly Poyson in himself by Anger or Sadness also when a man drinks being above measure hot Fifthly among Venoms may be numbred Weapons with which any One is slain then the Abuse of Arms is Venom to that man But when any One useth Arms for the just and unblamable desence of his Body to which end they were invented then they may be accounted a certain kind of Medicine Lastly the Cause of Venom may be demonstrated by Nature in this manner whatsoever Nature refists is Venom and that because it sights against Nature As when any one eats such Food as his Stomach cannot bear then that Food is Venom to him for it is repugnant to Nature on the contrary if any One eat such Food as is Friendly to his Stomach to him that Food is Medicine But Venom is principally attracted to Bodies in the Earth whilst they are a certain Mercurial Essence now I speak of the Venom of Minerals which yet is in an immature crude and not well digested Form which is repugnant to Nature and difficultly digested because such a Mercurial Essence is not yet perfect well digested to Maturity therefore it passeth through the whole Body as a crude immature undigestible Mineral As if crude Corn should be eaten by men that would be so difficult to be digested by the Stomach as a notable debility of the Body would follow For the natural Heat is too weak to deduce that to a due Concoction and Perfection Corn which receives its Maturity from the Fire of the Great World must afterward be throughly cocted by the Minor Fire that it may be digested by the Microcosm As before we said touching the boyling of Flesh to Maturity so here the same is to be understood of Antimony which being yet crude and not throughly cocted in the Earth to fixedness the Stomach of Man as I may so speak is too weak to bear it or retain the same as by certain Experience is manifested viz. that all Catharticks whether Minerals Animals or Vegetables are venomous because of a certain Mercurial volatile Matter still predominant in them which volatile Spirit
as far as I have experienced them yet what is hid from my knowledge I ought to pass over in silence For it becomes me not to give my Judgment of things unknown and which I have not my self experimented but I leave them commending the same to other Judges who with study and labour in this Subject have made some good progress No one man can be so expert in knowing the Virtues of Antimony as nothing shall remain unknown by him not only by reason of the shortness of his Life as I before said but also and chiefly because some new thing is dayly found in it Therefore let men know that Antimony not onle purgeth Gold cleanseth and frees it from every peregrine Matter and from all other Metals but also by a power innate in it self effects the same in Men and Beasts If a Farmer purpose in himself to keep up and fatten any of his Cattle as for Example an Hog two or three days before let him give to the Swine a convenient Dose of crude Antimany about half a dram mix'd with his Food that by it he may be purged through which Purgation he will not only acquire an Appetite to his Meat but the sooner increase and be fatned And if any Swine labour with a Disease about his Liver or other Parts or else be Leprous Antimony causeth the Leprosie to be dryed up and expelled This Example seems indeed to sound somewhat gross and rustical to the Ears of Great men especially but my purpose in proposing it only was to the end that private Men and Laicks whose Brains were not by Nature fabricated to the most subtle Philosophy of the Learned may see the Truth hereof in the very Operation it self with their own Eyes also that by this rude Proposal they might give greater credit to my other Writings in which I have spoken a little more subtely of these Things Yet I would have no man following me as his Author to give a Medicine of Crude Antimony to men for mute Animals can in their Stomach concoct much more hard Foods than the tender Complexion of Men is able to digest Wherefore he who would rightly and with profit use Antimony he must learn the Preparation thereof first and afterward know the Dose as what is convenient for the Young and what for the Old how much may be given to robust Bodies and how much to the weak in which no small Mystery of this Art consists the ignorance of which will do more hurt than an imprudent Physician can do good Should I confirm all things by Examples that would be the Cause of a very Prolix Writing therefore I will break off this Discourse and pass on to another Preparation of Antimony and describe its fixedness which acts like Wine from which its Spirit is substracted and separated from its Body This Spirit heals the Body internally and if externally applied draws to it self all the Heat of a part inflamed but on the contrary when of the Wine Vinegar is made it cools either inwardly or outwardly applied although the Wine and Vinegar have their Original from the same Root and proceed from the same Stock The Reason of this diversity is because Vinegar is made through digestion only by which Putrefaction of the Wine follows together with a Vegetable Fixation but on the contrary Spirit of Wine is made with Separation by distilling or vegetable subliming which renders the Spirit volatile By like reason Antimony is prepared and according to its divers Preparations hath divers Effects and diversly communicates its Gifts to us which are scarcely comprehensible by the humane Intellect But the Fixedness thereof touching which I here treat is thus prepared Take of Antimony as much as you will grind it to a subtle Powder which put into a Cucurbit and pour on it of Aqua fortis so much as will stand above it the breadth of six Fingers and having well and firmly closed the Vessel place it in a subtle heat for ten Days that the Matter may be extracted Decant off this Extraction pure and clear and filter it that it may be free from all feculencies and Impurities then put this Extraction into a Glass-Body and abstract all the Aqua fortis by Distillation in Ashes or Sand and in the bottom the Powder of Antimony will remain yellow and dry Upon this pour distilled Rain-water and put it in a like Glass in moderate heat and you will have a Red Extraction This again filter and gently distil off the Rain-water by B. M. and the Powder will remain red in the Bottom Upon this red Powder pour strong distilled Vinegar this Vinegar will in some time draw to it self the Colour red as Blood and put down Feces Afterward distil off the Vinegar and there will again remain a red Powder This Powder reverberate continually for three days together without ceasing in an open Fire This being done abstract the Tincture from it by Spirit of Wine and separate the Feces remaining from the Tincture All these Works being with so great labour performed again separate the Spirit of Wine by distillation in Balneo and a fixed * Diaphoretick Antimony is sold in Shops but what here the Author shews us by the name of Fixed Powder of Antimony is not to be bought for Silver or Gold the Virtues of which so far exceed all that of which the Common Sort are Partakers In vain with so great attention and study of which in preparing this Powder there is very great need did our Philosopher intend this Work if these Mysteries of so great Effects must come to the handling of the Vulgar or be publickly sold for Money Let him who attains to this fixed Powder use it in Chronical Diseases especially where Sweats are to be excited and he will see Effects causing him to rejoyce if he use it in himself and by which he will be glorified if he use it in others Red Powder will remain which operates wonderfully Half a dram of this being taken thrice a day viz. Morning Noon and Night or oftner hurts no man for it expels all clotted Blood out of the Body and being long taken securely opens all perillous Imposthums and expels them radically cures the French Disease causeth new Hairs to grow and notably renovates the whole man Now since I have taught to make a fixed Powder of Antimony and the Extraction thereof very commodious for Use leaving this Discourse I purpose briefly to treat of the Flowers of Antimony which may be many ways prepared But the greatest part * How much Chymistry was impeached by Calumnies in the times of Basilius is manifest by the very many Reliques of Writers with which some Theologicians imprudently judging what they understood not and Politicians not much more prudent than them have defamed their own Books and in the mean while also given occasion to Others more throughly searching into the matter of judging those very Authors with no greater circumspection to have likewise
bespattered other innocent Persons with their Censure I do not here speak of those Writers who sharply reprehend certain Vagabond Sophisters that covering their own Wickedness under the Pretext of a most noble Art do by a great Name impose great Frauds upon the People For this kind of men are not only worthy of severe Reprehension but also of due Punishment But what Evil do they deserve if under their Denomination the Good be abused Why is the most certain and so salutary and profitable an Art proscribed Because there are men found which use not the Art it self but the Name and Shadow of this Art Yet I am unwilling to prolong this Apology lest Envy which hath been the greatest Cause of Calumny fall upon me in this manner lamenting whilst I hear Basilius encouraging his and have reason to applaud our own Times in which some part of that most thick Cloud which cast out so many Thunders is already vanished In Shops they now sell Medicaments Chymically prepared as they say and those very Persons who are willing mostly to be esteemed Hippocratick Disciples scarcely dare to condemn Chymistry and since they call into use what are made by the Chymical Art they cannot deny it Are not those Times at hand in which Elias the Artist the Revealer of greater Mysteries is to come Of whose Coming Paracelsus so clearly prophesied in various places of his Writings Perhaps it will be worth our while for the Solace of the oppressed Disciples of Basilius to quote certain places in which he predicts the coming of Elias not then born which if any One cammodiously interpret as all other Sayings of that man are to be taken he will find nothing of absurdity in them unless he resolve to discover his own absurd Stupidity or wicked Envy In the Book of Minerals Chap. 8. Paracelsus thus writes What is most vile GOD suffers to be discovered but what is of greater moment is yet hid from the Vulgar until the coming of Elias the Artist others read until the Art of Elias when he comes And again in his Book of Minerals Treatise the first It is indeed true saith he that many things lie hid in the Earth which I as well as others am ignorant of For this I know GOD in time to come will manifest his Wonders and bring to light many more of them then unto this Day have been known by us Also this is true there is nothing absconded which shall not he revealed therefore there cometh One whose Magnale lives not yet who shall reveal many Things Therefore be comforted be comforted O Lover of Chymistry and prepare the way of that Elias who brings happy times and will reveal more Secrets than our Ancestors by reason of Envy and the Iniquity of their Days durst discover Whosoever thou art conversing in this Art confer some small matter to this felicity and let us give the World that Medicine which by reason of evil Humors predominant it cannot take all at once by degrees that it may gradually recover of its Disease and the Times of Elias come for Arts also as well as is understood of other things have their Elias saith Theophrastus where it will be lawful for us to speak freely of these things and openly to do good to our Neighbours without persecution of the Impious Read understand and comfort your self with these of men neither can discourse of nor answer to these because they have not learned the Processes of such Operations but the least part viz. the Disciples Apostles and Followers of the Spagyrick Art will more esteem my Writings more diligently read them and more prudently give Judgement of the same But my Disciple and Follower if you will imitate me my advice is that you take up your Cross at first and suffer as I have suffered learn to bear Persecution as I have already born it labour as all our Predecessors with me have done with continual Prayers seek unto the Lord GOD and be thou patient and laborious without weariness and then the Most High who hath mercifully heard me will not forsake Thee for this Cause I every hour give thanks to GOD as my Eyes filled with Tears can and do witness Now to proceed in my Instruction touching the Flowers of Antimony it is to be understood that the true Flores of Antimony may be prepared not one but various ways as is known to every Spagyrist There are some who drive them mix'd with Sal-Armoniack over by Retort then they edulcorate them by washing away the Sal-Armoniack and these they greatly esteem for these Flowers are of a fair and white Colour Others have peculiar Instruments for this Work prepared with windy Caverns through which the Antimony may receive the Air and be sublimed Others setting three Alembecks one upon another sublime them with strong Fire and with one and the same labour make white yellow and Red Flores all which ways I have tried and found no Error in them But the Process by which I make Flowers of Antimony most profitable for Medicine and more efficacious in their Operations is this I mixed the red Flowers of Antimony with Colcothar of Vitriol and sublimed them together thrice So the Essence of Vitriol ascends with them and the Flores are more strong which being done I extract the same Flowers with Spirit of Wine The Fâ—ces settle to the bottom and separate themselves from the Spirit These the Artificer lays aside and distils off the Spirit of Wine in B. M. until the Powder remains dry These are my prepared Flowers of Antimony which I administred to my Brethren and others who in there Necessities required help of me for their Souls spiritual in respect of my Ecclesiastical State for their Bodies temporal by reason of the Trust they reposed in my Art These Flores purge gently without frequent or excessive Stools have cured many Tertian Quartan Fevers also very many other Diseases so that I purposed by the help of our Saviour Jesus and his most Holy Mother Mary to ordain in my Testament a perpetual Monument upon my Altar of all the Cures which I have performed by his grace that I might so doing not only give thanks to GOD but also make my Gratitude known to Posterity that they likewise may acknowledge the wonderful works of the Most High which I by my diligence have extracted from the Bowels of Nature and which he himself had hid and absconded in her profound and most secret Recesses But touching the Sublimations of Antimony which are afterward called Flowers let the Reader further observe viz. that they are like Waters which break out in high Mountains Now of the difference of waters which arise in the highest Mountains yea in higher than they if such can be found for even unto them would the waters ascend since it is known that in the tops of the highest Mountains Springs do very often issue it and of other waters which are found by digging deep in the Earth
other kinds of Trees also which by reason of their abundance of Mercury produce and cast forth from themselves a certain Excrescency which neither in Form nor Virtue is in any wise like to their Fruit but hath wholy other properties as in Oaks and Apple-trees is apparent which produce like bastard Fruits or Monsters So the Earth also hath like abortive Fruits which in Separation from the pure Metals are severed and cast out Now although there is so strict an affinity between Antimony and Saturn yet by reason of the too much Sulphur which Antimony hath in it self it is cast out from it because its viscous Body in it's Nativity could not come to perfection and therefore it was constrained necessarily to consist among Minerals because it 's abundance of hot Sulphur was the Cause that hindred it's Mercury that through defect of Cold it could neither come to Coagulation nor into a Malleable Body Moreover I say the Lead in Antimony is no other then it 's Regulus which hath not as yet obtained Malleableness And as above I said when the Regulus and Steel by Liquefaction are united and deduced to a Star there are many who would thence make the antient stone of Philosophers which I before denyed to be possible Yet what Medicines may be prepared of it you have already briefly heard therefore touching them I shall not add a Word more But the Reason why the Regulus is called and accounted Lead is this When that Regulus is taken which Antimony gives forth from it self in making Glass and put into a Crucible well closed which can resist the fire with the Salt of Saturn having been first Cemented with the Salt for three hours and these permitted to melt together in a Wind Fornace the * I not enviously as many Chymists do but affectionately deal with Chirurgeons wishing that they would in their mind as according to their faculty they may and ought endeavor to prepare such helps for their miserably afflicted Patients and such Compendiums of Sanity as may be prepared of this Regulus Would you have me discover to you the Mystery Hearâ— with pleasure and use it This Regulus by the Salt of Saturn rendred Malleable must be mixed with equal parts of Mercury condensed by Saturn and in a vehement fire fluxed and so well mixed The Matter comes forth in it's external Face like unto Silver but in its internal Virtues is more noble and more pretious then any Silver But you Chyrurgeon studious of your own Art and by Art covetous of Glory deduce that into thin Plates and externally apply it to Wounds and Malignane Fistula's So doing you will be amazed when you shall see Nature helped by this Art to perform more in a very short time then you could have hoped for in a longer time by so many unguents and Plaisters The Rusticks to use the Words of Basilius will no more deride and upbraid you saying they can effect more with a piece of crude and stinking Lard then you are able to do with the laborious Process of your whole Chirurgick Art Regulus when taken out is found to be rendred soft and more ponderous then it was before For it receives it's ponderosity from the Spirit of the Salt which also gave it softness so that it's Body now is compact and heavy Therefore I say there is not much difference between the Signate Star and Lead of Antimony which notwithstanding are every where distinguished as two divers things For either of them is made of the Glass of Antimony and prepared into to one and the same Medicine as is already by me sufficiently declared Here therefore I break off my Discourse that I may explain what the stone of fire is after I shall have declared the Appendix which follows O GOD grant thy Grace and open the Hearts and Ears of Men unwilling to hear and to them impart thy Blessing that they may acknowledge Thee in thy Omnipotency and wonderful Works of Nature to thy Praise Honor and Glory and for the Health Solace and Confirmation of the Strength of their Neighbor and also for Restoring the Sick to their pristine Health Amen THE APPENDIX FOr a Conclusion you are further to know that Antimony may be applyed to many other Uses then as above expressed as to Scripture or Printing for which Printers use it Also under a certain Constellation and Concourse of the Planets a Mixture of Metals is made with Antimony of which Artists form Signatures and Characters endued with singular Virtues Of the same Mixture also are made Speculums of many and wonderful Aspects and Properties Also Bells and other Instruments may be made thereof of admirable sound Likewise Images of Men and many other Things The Virtues and powers of Antimony which the Author here in this Appendix so lightly toucheth and passeth over are so many and so various as indeed the hundredth part of them is not yet known to Men. Which Ignorance undoubtedly redounds to the Reproach und Ignominy of our kind because We Men among so many other Animals only endued with Reason and a Faculty of Discoursing are hurryed with so great impetuousness to that wicked and abominable Desire of Gain as scarcely any Man hath leisure to search out the Wonders which the Author of Nature hath insited in his Creatures But I am unwilling to repeat this Reprehension so often spoken of by Valentine I do only call it to mind This Mineral in which lies hid so admirable a Spirit that by Exhausting it cannot be exhausted hath also Virtues which by no man studying can be sufficiently known What I have tryed out of the way of Chymistry and Medicine are sew yet Experience hath taught me so much as I judge Antimony in other things will shew it self no less admirable then in Chymistry and Medicine Yet what I think of Characters and Signatures which the Author saith may be made under a Concourse of certain Constellations I shall not here discover It sufficeth me that I can say that among all Metals and Minerals there is not any Substance known which contains so much of a Coelestial Spirit and hath so great Sympathy with the Stars as Antimony Weigh this with all that I have before said of Antimony but not negligently and Hasten to the Stone which is called the Stone of Fire But since these things concern not Medicine nor appertain to my Order Rule and Calling I rest well satisfied in my Vocation and commend them to the Handling of Others who know them better OF THE Triumphant Chariot OF ANTIMONY AND What the STONE of FIRE is WHen at a certain time an abundance of Thoughts which my internal and fervent Prayer to GOD suggested had set me loose and wholy free from all terrene Businesses I purposed in my self to attend to Spiritual Inspirations of which we have need for the more accurate scrutiny of Nature Therefore I resolved to make my self Wings that I might ascend on high and inspect the stars This