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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60662	Medicina practica, or, Practical physick shewing the method of curing the most usual diseases happening to humane bodies ... : to which is added, the philosophick works of Hermes Trismegistus, Kalid Persicus, Geber Arabs, Artesius Longævus, Nicholas Flammel, Roger Bachon and George Ripley : all translated out of the best Latin editions into English ... : together with a singular comment upon the first book of Hermes, the most ancient of philosophers : the whole compleated in three books / by William Salmon ...	Salmon, William, 1644-1713.; Khālid ibn Yazīd al-Umawī, 7th cent.; Jābir ibn Ḥayyān.; Artephius. Liber secretus artis occultae. English.; Flamel, Nicolas, d. 1418. Figures hierogliphiques. English.; Bacon, Roger, 1214?-1294. Speculum alchemiae. English.; Bacon, Roger, 1214?-1294. Radix mundi. English.; Ripley, George, d. 1490? Medulla alchimiae. English.	1692 (1692)	Wing S434; ESTC R183203	439,154	1,009

almost as much Gold much better indeed than common Gold more soft also and more pliable V. I speak it in all Truth I have made it three times with the help of Perrenelle who understood it as well as my self because she assisted me in my Operations And without doubt if the would have indeed done it alone she would have brought the work to the same or full as great perfection as I had done VI. I had truly enough when I had once done it but I found exceeding great pleasure and delight in seeing and contemplating the Admirable Works of Nature within the Vessels VII And to shew to you that I had then done it three times I caused to be depicted under the same 〈◊〉 three Fornaces like to those which serve for the operations of this work VIII I was much concern'd for a long time lest that Perrenelle by reason of extream joy should not hide her foelicity which I measured by my own and lest she should let fall some words among her Relations concerning the great Treasure which we possessed IX For an extremity of Joy takes away the Understanding as well as an extremity of Grief and Sorrow but the goodness of the most great God had not only given and fill'd me with this Blessing to give me a Sober and Chaste Wife but she was also a Wise and Prudent Woman not only capable of Reason but also to do what was reasonable and was more discreet and secret than ordinarily other Women are X. Above all she was exceedingly Religious and devout And therefore seeing her self without hope of Children and now well stricken in years she made it her business as I did to think of God and to give our selves to the Works of Charity and Mercy XI Before the time wherein I wrote this Discourse which was at the latter end of the Year of Our Lord 1413. after the Death of my Faithful Companion whose loss I cannot but lament all the days of my life She and I had already founded and endowed with Revenues 14 Hospitals 3 Chappels and 7 Churches in the City of Paris all which we had new built from the Ground and enriched with Great Gifts and Revenues with many Reparations in their Church-yards XII We also have done at Boloigne about as much as we have done at Paris not to speak of the Charitable Acts which we both did to particular poor people principally to poor Widdows and Orphans XIII Whose Names should I divulge with the largeness of the Charity and the way and manner of doing it as my reward would then be only in this World so neither could it be pleasing to the persons to whom we did it XIV Building therefore these Hospitals Chappels Churches and Church-yards in this City I caused to be depicted under the said fourth Arch the most-true and essential Marks or Signs of this Art yet under Vails Types and Hieroglyphick Covertures in imitation of those things which are contained in the Gilded Book of Abraham the Jew XV. This representation may signifie two things according to the capacity and understanding of those who may view them First The Mysterie of the Resurrection and day of Judgment wherein Christ Jesus our Lord whom I pray and beseech to have mercy upon us shall come to judge the World XVI Secondly It might signifie to such as have learned Natural Philosophy all the principal and necessary Operations of the Magistery or the true and whole Process of the Grand Elixir XVII These Hieroglyphick Figures serve also as a double way leading to the Heavenly Life The first demonstrating the Sacred Mysteries of our Salvation as shall be hereafter shewed The other demonstrating to the Wise and Men of Understanding the direct and perfect way of Operation and lineary work of the Philosophers Stone XVIII Which being perfected by any one takes away from him the root of all sin and evil which is Covetousness changing his evil into good and making him Liberal Courteous Religious Devout and fearing God how wicked soever he was before XIX For from thence forward he is continually ravished with the goodness of God and with his Grace and Mercy which he has obtained from the fountain of Eternal Goodness with the profoundness of his Divine and adorable power and with the Consideration of his Admirable Works XX. These are the Reasons which moved me to set these Figures and Representations in this manner and in this place viz. to the end that if any Man obtain this inestimable Good or becomes Master of this Rich and Golden Fleece XXI He may consider with himself as I did not to hide this Tallent which God has bestowed upon him in the Earth buying Houses Lands and Possessions which are the Vanity and Follies of this World XXII But rather to persue his Work and to bestow the product with all Love and Charity among the Poor and Needy remembring that he learned this Secret among them that possessed nothing to wit among the Bones of the Dead in which number he himself shall shortly be found XXIII And that after this Life he must render an Account before a most just and mighty Judge who will judge every one according to his Works and to whom he must render an account for every vain and idle word XXIV Having therefore well weighed my words and well understood those my Figures having also the knowledge of the prima materia or first Agents persue thou the Work to the perfection of this Magistery of Hermes for the Glory of God and the good of Necessitous and Distressed human kind XXV But more especially to those who are of the houshold of Faith to such as are truly poor and just people Aged persons and Widdows Orphans and forlorn the despised and forsaken whom the world is not worthy of dispersing bounteously of this your hidden Treasure with an open and Liberal but Secret hand CHAP. XXVII The Theological Interpretations given to these Hieroglyphicks according to the Mind of Flammel the Author I. OVer against one of the Pillars of the Charnel-house which I gave to the Church-yard of the Innocents I caused to be painted a Man all black who looks directly on these Hieroglyphicks who pronounces I see a Wonder at which I am much amazed Also three Plates of Iron and Copper on the East West and South of the aforenamed Arch where these Hieroglyphicks are in the midst of the Church-yard representing the holy Passion and Resurrection of the Son of God II. Whos 's Interpretation in a Theological sense is that this Black Man proclaims it a wonder as well to see the admirable Works of God in the Transmutation of Metals figured in those Hieroglyphicks which he so attentively beholds as to see the Resurrection of the Dead to the fearful and terrible Day of Judgment III. But the Earthen Vessel on the right hand of these Figures within the which there is a Pen-case and Inkhorn or rather a Vessel of Philosophy if you take away the Strings

heavenly Bird even to the last moment of its Exit But I deprecate or wish a Curse from our Benefactor the great and Living God even to all the Sons of the Philosophers to whom it shall please God to give of the Bountifulness of his Goodness if they shall undervalue or divulge the Name and Power thereof to any Foolish or Ignorant Person or any Man unfit for the knowledge of this secret Salmon He teaches here that in the matter of the Stone is to be Conserved the Sea the Fire and the Heavenly Bird to the Perfection or Consummation of the Word by the Sea is understood the Humidity of the Mercury for that no Generation can be made in a dry but in a humid matter Therefore Mercury is to be Conserved in a Liquid form citrà tamen sui Corruptionem but without its Putrefaction for that hard things or Bodies as Raymund Lully saith receive not the Heavenly Virtue nor yeild to the heavenly Influences A Seal puts not its Print upon a hard Stone but upon soft wax so our matter by being made soft and Rarisied is made fit to receive the influx of the superior Bodies i. e. of Sol and Luna and is made to obey the Government of the Sun By the Fire and the Heavenly Bird is understood the twofold Fire the External and the Internal with both which it is to be conserved and nourished to the end of the Work III. Hermes Whatever any Man has given to me I have returned it again nor have I been behind hand with any or desisted to return an equal kindness even in this Friendship and Unity consists the chief matter of this Operation Salmon This not only demonstrates the Generous and Noble Spirit of our great Hermes but also the relation which the parts Composing this Magistery have one to another for saith he even in this Friendship and Unity consists the chief matter of this Operation IV. Hermes This is the concealed Stone of many Colors which is Born and brought forth in one Color only Understand this and conceal it Salmon By the many Colors here is understood the Black White and Red of which we have spoken before and tho' there may appear many other Colors in the course of the Operation yet those three are the chief of which the one Color which for ever remains is the Never fading Red than which nothing can be more noble or perfect this if thou attainest to be an Adept a true Son of Art be sure to hide and conceal it as here thou art admonished V. Hermes By means of it through the permission of the Omnipotent the greatest Disease is Cured and every Sorrow Distress Evil and hurtful thing may be Evaded and through the help thereof you may come from Darkness to Light from a Desert or Wilderness to a Habitation or Home and from straightness and necessities to a large and ample Fortune Salmon This Our Tincture Our Elixir Cures not only all the Diseases of Metals but all the cureable Diseases in Humane Bodies It gives also not only Health and long Life but removes Poverty and Want and the attendant Evils of a narrow and pinching Fortune It is indeed the great preservative against all the Afflictions Sorrows and Miseries of Humane kind of what Nature and quality soever It is Nectar and Ambrosia to all the Vital Powers through the Efficacy of which Nature is made able to contend resist and overcome all her adversaries CHAP. IV. A Continuation of the Explication of the First Operation I. HERMES Now my Son before all things Iadminish thee to fear God in whom is the Blessing of your undertakings and the Uniting and disposing of every thing which you Segregate put together or Design for this purpose Salmon This great Philosopher well knew that the only way to attain to the Mystery was to be acquainted with that Spirit which knew all things yea the deep things of God and to be acquainted with that Spirit was to feur God for so says the Holy Spirit it self The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom and the Knowledg of the Holy is understanding And therefore our Hermes advises us above all things to fear God in whom is the Blessing of this undertaking He shall not Err who becomes acquainted with and joyned to that Spirit which is the Fountain of all Knowledge and Wisdom For being United with that you are Centred into the very Root from whence all Wisdom and Knowledg spring and being Ingrasted into that Root the true understanding will grow up in you and fill you even as the Soul is filled with Life II. Hermes Whatever I speak or write consider it and reason about it in your mind I advise not them who are depraved in their Reason and Understanding nor the Ignorant or Insipid of Judgment Lay hold of my Instructions and Meditate upon them and so fit your Mind and Undestanding to conceive what I say as if you your self were the Author of these things I Write Salmon He here speaks to such as fear God not to be depraved in their understandings as all Profane and Wicked Men are nor the Ignorant who are unacquainted with the true Fountain of knowledge which is the Spirit of the Living God as he himself has instructed Chap. 1. Sect. 1. aforegoing nor to the Insipid of Judgment who has not Pondered nor Meditated upon these things You must Enter with your Spirit and Soul into the Center of Nature and there behold how all things are begun continued and perfected but you must first enter into that Universal Spirit which is the Former of all things which pierces through and dwells in that Central Root and by entering into that it will like as a Vehicle carry you into the same Root where all things are hidden and reveal to you the most abscondite Mysteries and shew you as in a Glass the whole work and all the Operations of Nature III. Hermes For to what Nature is hot if it shall be made cold it shall do no hurt or injury to it so in like manner he to whom Reason is become a guide does shut against himself the Door of Ignorance lest he should be securely deceived Salmon That is if the Spirit and Soul or hot Mercury and Sulphur be made more cold by a Conjunction with the cold Body you shall not do a miss but proceed rightly on in the Work and this you must apprehend by your Reason and the Nature of the thing He to whom saith he Reason i. e. the Spirit of knowledge is become a guide does shut from himself the Door of Ignorance i. e. open to himself the Door of knowledge leading into the Mysteries of this Our Philosophick Work IV. Hermes Take my Son the Flying Bird and Dround it Flying then divide separate or cleanse it from its Filth which keeps it in Death expel it and put it away from it that it may be made Living and answer thee not by Flying in

the Water and the Fire dwelling therein which does contain its own Water drawn from the Four Elements and their Waters This is not Water in its form but Fire containing in a strong and pure Vessel the Ascending Waters lest the Spirits should flie away from the Bodies for by this means are they made Tinging and Permanent or Fixed Salmon That is the Mercury and the Sulphur dwelling in the Salt or the Spirit and the Soul dwelling in the Body which is our Stone The Fire saith he contains its own Water drawn from the Four Elements That is the Sulphur contains the Mercury drawn from its Original Fountains This is not Water in Form but Fire Nor is it Quick-Silver in form but Sulphur nor Spirit in form but Oyl or Tincture containing the Clouds and Ascending Waters which are of a dry consistency or Body sticking to the sides of the Glass lest they should flie away in sublimation from the Bodies by this means being often iterated at least three times but if it be six or seven times it is yet better the Spirit enters into and peirces and penetrates the Body in Order to its Fixation which at length is perfected which the highest Fixation and Tincture by the Fixing Oyl or Sulphur VII Hermes O Blessed Water in the form of Sea which Element thou dissolvest Now it behoves us with this watery Soul to possess a Sulphurous Form and to mix or joyn the same with our Vinegar Salmon Great is the Virtue and Power which dwells in the Aqua Philosophica from whence it is caled Blessed For as common Water washes away the Filth from things and cleanses them outwardiy so this our Elementated Water not only Dissolves Bodies but also Washes away and Cleanses them inwardly from all manner of Defilemens and Impurities and being joyned with the Philosophick Vinegar brings forth from them their incombustible Sulphur which by projection tinges and transmutes all imperfect Metals into most pure fine Gold and Silver This Water is the Key of the Art by which the Bodies are oftentimes to be opened that is they are to be Dissolved and by the same to be again Coagulated to be made more noble pure and perfect So that no Foot-steps of Death Blackness Corruption or Imperfection may any more remain in them The preparation of this Water is known but to a few nor do many attain to it because the Well is Deep out of which it is drawn nor do the Vulgar Chymists understand it But whatever you do you can do no great Matter without the help of Nature and tho' Aqua Fortis and Aqua Regis and such-like are usefull in their places to dissolve and Tear Bodies into Atoms yet are they Alien and far from the true Aqua Philosophica which has the Power to enter into the insides of Metals whereas they only divide them into many Superficies And therefore say the Philosophers the preparation of this Water is not to be Learned of Masters but it must be taught by the Dictates of Nature her self VIII Hermes For when by the Power of the Water the Compositum also is Dissolved you have the Key of the Restauration then Death and Blackness flie away and Wisdom proceeds on to the Finishing of the Work Salmon This Water does not Tear or Gnaw Bodies into Pieces and Bits but it Radically Dissolves them and reduces them into their Prima Materia as they were in their Original Generation Of this Nature are those Fountains Springs in Hungaria which have a Faculty of Transmuting what Iron soever is cast into them into good Coper and those other Fountains into which if any Wood be cast so as it remains but some certain time by the Lapidescent Virtue of the Water it is transmuted through its whole substance into Stone which Memorable and well known Powers and Operations of Nature in these particular things are in part a demonstration or at least an Argument to persuade one to the belief of other Operations and Transmutations in the Metalline Kingdom Ignis Azoth say the Philosophers are enough for the whole Work Learn therefore from Nature the preparation of this Azoth or Water of the Philosophers which Water being prepared does with a simple Operation through the help of Nature gently boyling in a soft Fire bring the work to a conclusion and perfect the same This Operation indeed or simple Coction is that which opens the Door into the Chambers of Life making Putrefaction and Death and blackness and darkness to vanish and flie away This Water and this Fire tho' simple and simple in their Operation yet are they hid and known but to a few for that they lead into the most recluse and abscondite recesses of Nature CHAP. VII The Operations of Nature in the Aqua Philosophica as in a Seed I. HERMES Now know my Son that the Philosophers chain up the Matter with a strong chain or band when they make it to contend with the fire because the Spirits in the washed Bodies desire to dwell therein and to rejoyce there In these habitations they vivifie themselves and dwell therein and the Bodies hold or contain them nor from them can they ever be separated Salmon The Bodies before they can be 〈◊〉 united with the Spirit and joyned one to another in a strong Confederation must first be purified and washed with Azoth and 〈◊〉 for the washing is that which puts an end to the blackness and the purification is made and continued till the White Elixir is made perfectly white and till the red is made perfectly red being thus cleansed and purified the Spirit out of a natural propension is drawn to the Bodies in which being ardently inflamed it immediately commixes with them and they are conjoyned with an indissoluble conjunction under the Chains of which they remain inseparable for ever Now this conjunction is not made by chance but from the meer affinity which is between the Bodies and Spirit for they both proceed from one fountain and principle though of the two the spirit by reason it vivifies and holds the Particles of the Bodies together is much the more noble the more excellent and most powerful Agent II. Hermes Then the dead Elements are revived and the Compositum or 〈◊〉 Bodies are tinged and altered and by wonderful operations they are made permanent or fixed as the Philosopher saith Salmon The Domicils of themselves remain dead but the Inhabitants in them are alive Now the Bodies of the Metals are the Domicils of their Spirits which when they are received by the Bodies their terrestrial substance is by little and little made thin extended and Purified and by their Vivifying Power the Life and Fire hitherto lying Dormant is excited and stirred up For the Life which dwells in the Metals is laid as it were asleep nor can it exert its Power or shew it self unless the Bodies be first Dissolved Exalted and turned into Spirit for that the Spirit does only Vivifie being brought to this

their own Body and this Work must be so often reiterated till no more Clouds arise viz. till the Dragon is wholly Slain This done he must be restored to Life again and made to live and then killed again as aforesaid and then it does live as we have demonstrated in the Explication of the former Paragraph even in Putrefaction from which it must at length by the order and course of the Operations be freed and brought to its Ultimate Perfection VI. Hermes In the Life and Death thereof the Spirits Work For as it is Killed by taking away of the Spirit so that being restored it is again made Alive and rejoyces therein Salmon The Spirit is used both in the Killing of it and in the making of it Alive again but this is by some doubtfully understood whether it be meant of the innate or indwelling Spirit only or of that Spirit joyned with another Metallick Spirit because he uses Spirits in the Plural number However this is certain that as Death is induced by taking away the Spirit so Life is retrieved by restoring it again VII Hermes But coming to this that which ye seek by affirmation ye shall see I declare also to you the signs of joy and rejoycing even that thing which does fix its Body Salmon That is he declares the cause of life and death to be in the Spirits to wit in the natural Spirits whether Animal Vegetable or Mineral He who knows how to revive dead Minerals and to purify them knows how to exert their powers and is in the High-way to the greatest of Secrets 'T is this Spirit joyned with its Philosophick Earth which has power to fix both perfect and imperfect bodies and to tinge them into the highest perfection of Silver and Gold which he calls the signs of joy and rejoycing VIII Hermes Now these things our Ancestors gave us only in Figures and Types how they attained to the knowledge of this Secret but behold they are dead I have now opened the Riddle I have demonstrated the proposition so much desired so much aimed at I have opened the Book of Secrets to the Skilful and Learned yet I have also a little concealed the hidden Mystery Salmon He declares that the ancient Philosophers delivered the Matter and Process of the Philosophick Tincture in AEnigma's and Types Shadows only they left no footsteps of the true thing behind them but what every one might think of at pleasure therefore from them our Hermes could receive nothing and he professes Ch. 1. Sect. 1. That he obtained the knowledge of this Art by the inspiration of the Living God only God it was who did reveal and open the Secret to him This Secret he has opened in this Work and made so plain that the skilful and learned may understand it 'T is true he has not unfolded every particular but yet he has made things so plain that he who can read him with a Philosophick mind may at length haply find out the truth notwithstanding what he has revealed he declares he has a little concealed the hidden Mistery IX Hermes I have kept the things which ought to be put a part within their own bounds I conjoyned the various and divers figures and forms of its appearance in the operation and I have confederated or joyned together with them the Spirit Receive you this as the gift of God Salmon The meaning of which is that he has first separated what ought to be separated viz. the pure from the impure and the Spirit from the Body which is the first work in order to putrefaction corruption and death Then secondly he has joyned again what ought to be conjoyned to wit the various and divers figures and forms the Soul with the Body that it may again be enformed with Tincture and Substance Thirdly he has confederated or joyned together with them the Spirit which ties the Particles of the Body and Tincture so firmly together that they can never be separated and unites them in a perpetual conjunction with a fixity which will endure for ever CHAP. XI The Practical part farther Explicated I. HERMES It behoves you therefore to give thanks to God who has largely given of his bounty to all the Wise who delivers us out of the Snares and Clutches of Misery and Poverty Salmon For this inestimable Gift of God it is but gratitude to return him the Tributes of Humility and Thanksgiving to abase our selves before his Divine Majesty with all humbleness and submission who thus raises you out of the Dust to sit among Princes making you to despise the Glories of Crowns and Scepters as insignificant Baubles and to rest with infinite content in the meanness of a despicable Cottage for that you carry within your Brests the true Treasure more valuable than all the whole World besides II. Hermes I am proved and tried with the fulness of his Riches and Goodness with his probable miracles and I humbly pray God that whilst I live I may pass the whole Course of my life so as I may attain him Salmon When a Man becomes Master of this Arcanum he is then tried and proved indeed how in the midst of such a fulness of Riches and Happiness he can humble himself and sink in to the deep Abyss of nothingness abstracting himself from all the goodly things of this life In this humble state God is only to be met with for the proud he beholds afar off and in this abjection and self-denial in this mortification of the first life and birth a second is to be found a being brought forth in the love of God the birth of the new Man formed after the Image of the second Adam a new Spirit a new Life joyned and United to the Life of God which can never Perish or Decay a Fountain of Eternal Delights an inexhaustible Treasure infinitely exceeding that which we have all this while thus earnestly been seeking after and pursuing III. Hermes Take then from thence the Fat 's or Sulphurous Matter which we take from Suets Grease Hair Verdigrease Tragacanth and Bones which things are written in the Books of the Ancients Salmon By the Fat 's or Sulphurous Matter understand the Sulphurs of all kinds educed by the Alchymick Art out of Natural things of which Sulphurs one only is fixed and incombustible and it is a thing which is both in the Earth and in the Heavens it is in Act Animal Vegetable and Mineral found every where known but by a few and expressed by its proper Name by no Body shadowed forth under Various Figures and AEnigmaes This fixed Sulphur the Philosophers understand to be nothing else but the true Balsam of Nature with which the Dead Bodies of the Metals are imbibed and as it were throughly moistned to preserve them perpetually from Corruption The more any thing abounds with this Balsam the longer it lives and is preserved from perishing From things therefore abounding with a Balsam of this kind is this Our

take this quantity weigh it exactly and add to it as much moisture as it will drink up the weight of which we have not determined Then work them as before with the same Operations of a first imbibing and subliming it This Operation is called Albification and they name it Yarit that is Silver or White Lead III. When you have made this Compound white add to it so much of the Spirit as will make half of the whole and set it to working till it grows red and then it will be of the colour of Al 〈◊〉 Cinnabar which is very red and the Philosophers have likened it to Gold whose effects lead to that which the Philosopher said to his Scholar Arda IV. We call the Clay when it is white Yarit that is Silver But when it is red we name it Temeynch that is Gold Whiteness is that which tinges Copper and makes it Yarit And it is redness which tinges Yarit i. e. Silver and makes it Temeynch or Gold V. He therefore that is able to dissolve these Bodies to subtilize them and to make them white and red as I have said that is to compound them by imbibing and convert them to the same shall without doubt perform the work and attain to the perfection of the Magistery of which I have spoken VI. Now to perform these things you must know the Vessels for this purpose The one is an 〈◊〉 in which the parts are separated and cleansed in them the matter of the Magistery is depurated and made compleat and perfect VII Every one of these Aludels must have a Furnace fit for them which must have a similitude and figure fit for the Work Mezleme and some other Philosophers have named all these things in their Books shewing the manner and form thereof VIII And herein the Philosophers agree together in their Writings concealing the matter under Symbols in many Books but seting forth the necessary Instruments for the said four Operations The Instruments are chiefly two in number one is a Cucurbit with its Alembick the other is a well made Aludel or sublimatory IX There are also four things necessary to these viz. Bodies Souls Spirits Waters and of these four does the Mineral Work and Magistery consist all which are made plain in the Books of Philosophers X. I have therefore omitted them in mine only touching at them and created of those things which they over-passed with silence which what they are by the sequel of the Discourse you will easily discern but these things write I not for the Ignorant and Unlearned but for the Wise and Prudent that they may know them CHAP. XXV Of the Nature of Things appertaining to this Work Of Decoction and its Effects I. KNow then that the Philosophers have called them by divers names Sometimes they call them Minerals sometimes Animals sometimes Vegetables sometimes Natures for that they are things natural and others have called them by other names at their Pleasures or as they liked best II. But their Medicines are near to Natures as the Philosophers have taught in their Books for that Nature comes nigh to Nature and Nature is like to Nature Nature is joyned to Nature Nature is drowned in Nature Nature makes Nature white and Nature makes Nature red III. And Corruption is in conjunction with Generation Generation is retained with Generation and Generation conquereth with Generation IV. Now for the performance of these things the Philosophers have in their Books taught us how to decoct and how decoction is to be made in the matter of our Magistery This is that which generates and changes them from their Substances and Colours into other Substances and Colours V. If you err not in the begining you may happily attain the end But you ought to consider the seed of the Farth whereon we live how the heat of the Sun works in it till the Seed is impregnated with its influences and Virtues and made to spring till it grows up to ripeness This is the first change or transmutation VI. After this Men and other Creatures feed upon it and Nature by the heat that is innate in Man changes it again into Flesh Blood and Bones VII Now like to this is the Operation or Work of our Magistery the Seed whereof as the Philosophers say is such that its progress and perfection consifts in the fire which is the cause of its Life and Death VIII Nor is there any thing which comes between the Body and the Spirit but the fire nor is there any thing mingled therewith but the fire which brings the Magistery to its perfection this is the truth which I have told you and I have both seen and done it CHAP. XXVI Of Subtilization Solution Coagulation and Commixion of the Stone I. NOW except you subtilize the Body till it becomes water it will not corrupt and putrefie nor can it congeal the Fugitive Souls when the fire touches them for the fire is that which by its force and spirit congeals and unites them II. In like manner the Philosophers commanded to dissolve the Bodies to the end that the heat might enter into their Bowels or inward parts So we return to dissolve these Bodies and congeal them after their solution with that thing which comes near to it till all the things mixed together by an apt and fit commixtion in proportional quantities are firmly conjoyned together III. Wherefore we joyn Fire and Water Earth and Air together mixing the thick with the thin and the thin with the thick so as they may abide together and their Natures may be changed the one into the other and made like and one thing in the compound which before were simple IV. Because that part which generates or ferments bestows its virtue upon the subtil and thin which is the Air for like cleaves to its like and is a part of the Generation from whence it receives power to move and ascend upwards V. Cold has power over the thick matter because it has lost its heat and the water is gone out of it and the driness appears upon it This moisture departs by ascending up and the 〈◊〉 part of the Air has mingled 〈◊〉 self with it for that it is like unto it and of the same nature VI. Now when the thick body has lost its heat and moisture and that the cold and dryness has power over it and that their parts have mixed themselves by being first divided and that there is no moisture left to joyn the parts divided the parts withdraw themselves VII And then the part which is contrary to cold by reason it has continued and sent its heat and decoction to the cold parts of the Earth having power over them and exercising such dominion over the coldness which was hidden in the said thick Body that by virtue of its generative power changes the thick cold Body and makes it become subtil and hot and then strives to dry it up again by its heat VIII But afterwards the subtil