Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	body_n	divine_a	unite_v	2,443	5	9.2437	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67915	Collectanea chymica a collection of ten several treatises in chymistry, concerning the liquor alkahest, the mercury of philosophers, and other curiosities worthy the perusal / written by Eir. Philaletha, Anonymous, Joh. Bapt. Van-Helmont, Dr. Fr. Antonie ... [et al.].; Collectanea chymica.	Philalethes, Eirenaeus. Secret of the immortal liquor called Alkahest. Latin and English.; Helmont, Jean Baptiste van, 1577-1644. Praecipiolum.; Anthony, Francis, 1550-1623. Aurum-potabile.; Bernard, of Trevisan. De lapide philosophorum. English.; Ripley, George, d. 1490? Bosome-book.; Bacon, Roger, 1214?-1294. Speculum alchemiae. English.; Starkey, George, 1627-1665. Admirable efficacy and almost incredible virtue of true oyl.; Plat, Hugh, Sir, 1552-1611? Sundry new and artificial remedies against famine.; H. V. D. Tomb of Semiramis hermetically sealed.	1684 (1684)	Wing C5103; ESTC R5297	83,404	240

Glasen Stills which will hold a gallon or two apiece the Balneum 2 foot ●nd a halfe square to hold many Glasses Get about 6 gallons of the strongest red Wine Vinegar Vineger of Claret or White-Wine are too weak made of red Wine Sack or M●scadine and set as many Stills going at a time as your Balneum will hold take a pint of that which runneth first and put it away as weak and not for his use then Still ou● all the rest till the Still be dry wash the Still with a little of the flegm the first running and then wipe him dry then put in that which was distilled and do as before putting away the first pint and so do five times so of a gallon you shall have 3 Pints of the Spirit of Vineger and of your 6 gallons only two gallons and two Pints and if your Spirit be yet too weak distil it oftner This keep in a Glass close stopped to make your Menstruum with● you may stop it with Cork and Leather over it You must provide three strong green Glasses to make Menstruum with little Ma●s round the bottoms containing four Pints apeice To Lute them fit a Wooden stoppel of dry Wood first boyled and then dryed in an Oven to the Mouth then melt hard Wax to fill the Chinks then paste a brown Paper next over that then prepare luting of Clay Horse●dung and Ashes and stop over all that Glass Stills 2 or 3 to distil the first Infusions on the Earth cover 3 or 4 Pints a peice of green Glass The Rule of ●ll Stillings you must paste brown Paper to the closing of the head of the Still and also paste the Receiver and nose of the Still together so that no strength go forth Calcining Pots provide about a dozen for many when they are put into a strong Fire will break then must you let your Fire slack FINIS A TREATISE OF BERNARD EARL OF TREVISAN OF THE Philosophers Stone LONDON Printed for William Cooper at the Pelican in Little Britain 1683. A Singular Treatise of Bernhard Count Trevisan concerning the Philosophers Stone COnsidering the long Desires and Hopes of the Students in the Chymick Art I will in the present Treatise briefly and openly declare this Art First therefore the Subject of the Art is to be known in the second place the Foundation in the third the Progress fourthly and lastly the Extraction of the Elements Which being known every one may most easily attain the end of the Art The Subject of this admired Science is Sol and Luna or rather Male and Female the Male is hot and dry the Female cold and moyst and know for a certain that our Stone is not compounded of any other thing although many Philosophers name several other things of which they speak Sophistically Nevertheless by Scotus Hortulanus St. Thomas and Christopher Parisiensis and very many others many other things for an other Cause are sophistically reckoned up that Ignorant Men may be deceived because it is not fit for Fools to know our Secrets And this is it which I thought fit at this time to propound concerning the Subject of our Art The Foundation of this Art is the Knowledge of the four Qualities and that in the beginning of the work Coldness and Moysture have the Dominion For as Scotus saith As the Sun dryeth up the abundance of Water in Fenny and Boggy Places after the same manner our Sulphur when it is joyned with its Water or Mercury doth by little and little consume and drink up the same by the help of the Fire and that by the assistance of the only living God The Progress is nothing else than ●a certain contrary Action for the Description of contrary things is one and the same and if thou shalt have twice made this equality thou shalt finish the whole Progress But now all skill consisteth in drawing forth the Elements wherefore read over that which followeth so often until thou canst conceive and understand it and know that no one ever spoke so plainly as I in this Place as thou wilt find by what followeth Therefore give thanks to the great God and be grateful to thy Friend who communicated to thee this Tractate Live also according to God and reason because Divine Wisdom will not enter into a wicked Soul nor into a Body subjected to Sins The Extraction of the Elements is a certain Composition of Blackness Whiteness Yellowness and Redness And know that Natures ought to be drawn from their Root But the Root is a certain Congregation of Elements consisting in Sulphur and Mercury which they call a confused Mass. But the Natures which are drawn forth from the Root are Sulphur and Mercury which when they are joyned together are separated and purified that they may be the better mingled afterwards and united with the Body out of which they are drawn And after the Colours have passed and that which is above is made like that which is below and that which is below like that above then Miracles will from thence appear Which being done thou hast a Triangle in a Quadrangle and a fifth thing which is contained in four Now remaineth the Multiplication in which this briefly is to be noted That the Elixir ought to be nourished out of the same things from which at first it had its Composition No Philosopher before now hath so openly declared this as I have here done and that for two Causes first because from the beginning to the end of the work a long time is required although some Philosophers do say the Stone may be made in one day and others in one month But know that they speak Enigmatically and that their words ought not thus to be understood Nevertheless I say with Scotus that the Stone or perfect work may be made in one year Secondly because Man's Life is short and he groweth Old before he comprehendeth and understandeth what is needful to be done in the Composition of the Stone And therefore I have here so openly explained all things least this so noble a Science should be lost and perish The Theory of the same Author Use venerable Nature for the Philosophers from their own Authority have imposed various Names on this Nature by reason of divers Colours appearing in its Alteration For when it appeareth under the form of Water they have called it Argent vive Permanent Water Lead Spirit Spit●tle of Lune Tinn c. And when it 's made dry and becometh white they have named it Silver Magnesia and white Sulphur And when it groweth red they call the same Gold and Ferment But they do not vary in the thing it self when that is always one thing only and the same matter and always of the same Nature in which nothing entreth which is not drawn from it and this which is next to it and of its Nature And this is most true to wit the Stone is one and one Medicine and it is a Water clear and

in the Urine beside Salt is unprofitable Phlegm 23. Q. How doth it appear that there is a plentiful Phlegm in Urine 24. A. Thus suppose first from the Taste secondly from the. Weight thirdly from the Virtue of it 25. Q. Be your own interpreter 26. A. The Salt of Urine contains all that i● properly essential to the Urine the smell whereof is very sharp the taste dif●ers according as it is differently ordered so that sometimes it is also Salt with an urinaceous Saltness 27. Q. What have you observed concerning● the weight thereof 28. A. I have observed thus much that three ounces or a ●ittle more of Urine taken from a healthy man will moderately outweigh about 80 Grains of Fountain● Water from whence also I have seen a Liquor distilled which was of equal weight to the said Water whence it is evident that most of the Salt was left behind 29. Q. What have you observed of its Virtue 30. A. The Congelation of Urine by cold is an Argument that Phlegm is in it for the Salt of Urine is not so congealed if a little moistned with a Liquid tho' it be Water 31. Q. But this same Phlegm tho most accurately separated by Destillation retains the Nature of Urine as may be perceived both by the smell and taste 32. A. I confess it tho little can be discerned by taste nor can you perceive more either by smell or taste than you may from Salt of Urine dissolved in pure Water 33. Q. What doth Pyrotechny teach you concerning Urine 34. A. It teacheth this to make the salt of Urine volatile 35. Q. What is then left 36. A. An earthly blackish stinking Dreg 37. Q. Is the Spirit wholly uniform 38. A. So it appeareth to the sight smell and taste and yet containeth qualities directly contrary to each other 39 Q. Which be they 40. A. By one through its innate Virtue the Dulech is coagulated by the other it i● dissolved 41. Q. What further 42. A. In the Coagulation of Urine it Spirit of Wine is discovered 43. Q. Is there such a Spirit in Urine 44. A. There is indeed truly residing i● every Urine even of the most healthful man most which may be prepared by Art 45. Q. Of what efficacy is this Spirit 46. A. Of such as is to be lamented and indeed may move our pitty to mankind 47. Q. Why so 48. A. From h●nce the Dulech its mos● fierce Enemy hath its original 49. Q. Will you give an Example of this thing 50. A. I will Take Urine and dissolve in it a convenient quantity of Salt-peter let it stand a Month afterwards distil it and there will come over a Spirit which burns upon the Tongue like a coal of Fire pour this Spirit on again and cohobate it 4 or 5 times abstracting every time not above half so the Spirit becometh most piercing yet not in the least sharp the heat which goeth out in the first destillation of the Liquor afterwards grows sensibly mild and at length almost if not altogether vanisheth and the second Spirit may be perceived mild both by the smell and taste which in the former was most sharp 51. Q. What have you observed concerning the former Spirit 52. A. If it be a little shaked oily streaks appear sliding here and there just as Spirit of Wine destills down the Head of the Alembick in streaks like Veins 53. Q. What kind of Putrefaction should the Urine undergo that such a Spirit may be got from it 54. A. In a heat scarce to be perceived by sense in a Vessel lightly closed or covered rather it may also be sometimes hotter sometimes cooler so that neither the heat nor cold exceed a due mean 55. Q. How may this winy Spirit become most perspicuous 56. A. By such a putrefaction which causeth a Ferment and exciteth ebullition which will not happen in a long time if the Urine be kept in a Wooden Vessel and in a place which is not hot but yet keeps out the cold as suppose behind a Furnace in Winter where let it be kept till of it self a ferment arise in the Urine and stirrs up bubbles for then you may draw from it a burning Water which is somewhat Winy 57. Q. Is there any other Spirit of Urine 58. A. There is for Urine putrified with a gentle heat the space of a fortnight o● thereabout sends forth a coagulating Spirit which will coagulate well rectified Aqua-Vitae ● 59. Q. How is that Spirit to be prepare● which forms the Duelech of it self with ● clear Watery stalagma and also that whic● dissolves the same 60. A. Urine putrified for a month an● half in a heat most like the heat of Hor●● dung will give you in a fit Vessel each still●●titious stalagma according to your desire 61. Q. Doth every Spirit of Urine coagula● the Spirit of Wine 62. A. By no means this second Spirit observed to want that Virtue 63. Q. What doth Urine thus ordere● contain besides the aforesaid Spirits 64. A. It 's more fixed Urinaceous Sal● and by accident forreign Marin Salt 65. Q. Can this more fixed Salt 〈◊〉 brought over the Alembick with a gent●● heat in form of a Liquor 66. A. It may but Art and ingenuity a● required 67. Q. Where is the Phlegm 68. A. In the salt for in the Prep●ratio● of putrefaction the Salt being putrified 〈◊〉 the Phlegm ascends together with it 69. Q. Can it be separated 70. A. It may but not by every Artis●● 71. Q. What will this Spirit do when i● is brought to this 72. A. Try and you will wonder at wh●● you shall see in the solution of Bodies 73. Q. Is not this the Alk●hest 74. A. This Liquor cannot consist withou● partaking of the Virtues of Mans blood and in Urine the Footsteps thereof are obse●vable 75. Q. In Urine therefore and Blood t●● Alkahest lies hid 76. A. Nature gives us both Blood and U●rine and from the Nature of these Py●●●techny gives us a Salt which Art circula●● into the circulated Salt of Paracelsus 77. Q. You speak short 78. A. I will add this the Salt of Bloo● ought so to be transmuted by the Urina●●ous ferment that it may lose its last Li●● preserve its middle Life and retain its sal●●ness 79. Q. To what purpose is this 80. A. To manifest the excellency whic● is in Mans blood above all other Blood wha● ever which is to be communicated to the U●rine after an excrementitious Liquor is sep●●rated from it whence this Urine excells a● others in a wonderful Virtue 81. Q. Why do you add Urine 82. A. You must know that to transmu●● things a corruptive Ferment is required in which respect all other Salts give place to the strong urinous Salt 83. Q. Cannot the Phlegm be collected apart from the Salt 84. A. It may if the Urine be not first putrified 85. Q. How great a part of the Water i● to be reckoned Phlegm 86. A. Nine parts of ten or there

in Mercury of white matter and of white Substance cometh that Mercury For so he is of a pure subtil Earth Sulphur most clear and most subtil commixed with pure Water and with Commixtion and heat these two Elements digesteth with Temperance of heat and so turneth into Mercury the Sperm of Metals therefore Water and Earth is the first matter of Mercury and Mercury is the first matter of all Mettals and when they be put into that Water they all melt and dissolve in him as the Ice doth in warm Water and why do they so because they were first Water coupled by cold and now here is Aristotles's Principle assoyled And although there were two things first yet nevertheless when they be resolved into clear currant Mercury and no palpable thing of the Body seen nor felt but passeth through the Philter clean as Water then is it but one thing upon the which all Philosophers accord and ground them est una Sola res And here now I have shewed you more plainly then it hath been shewed here before And I say to thee for truth this is the very true Key of this Science for Merlin and many others write here of divers ways as in the verse of Merlin dissipare leviter extracta c. and Albertus in the fifth Book de mineralibus de semine Metallorum where he upon a little Gloss teacheth Solution as there ye may see But of all special Books that ever I could read or see Stella Complexionis is the Father of Truth and Doctrine shewing the clear light and the right way of the Preparation of this precious Treasure and he expoundeth all the Figures of the Philosophers openly where I doubt not but God hath his Soul in everlasting ●iss For by the space of thirty years I ever ●udied and busied my self upon the Mystery ●arables Figures and Sayings of old Phi●oso●hers in the which I was marvellous blinded ●nd overseen and specially by one book which is called the 12 Chapters or 12 Gates ●n Metre in English which was made by a suf●●cient Clerk and well learned but I warn ●very man to beware of him for by him ye ●hall never know the privity but rather he ●eadeth you out of the way for he sayeth it is ●ne Vessel one thing one furnace and no ●ore True it is that it is but one thing as I have before opened and shewed It is one ●orm of a Vessel as Stella Complexionis declareth And I say to you this one thing in the which all ●he Wise Philosophers have grounded themselves on it is after the full putrefying and utter rotting of the Elements then to be separate and every one of them well rectifyed and then reduced again to the Body by Nature in marvellous Sulphur elect And here I Counsel thee to Practise truly and to remember and consider the saying of the great Philosopher Constantius Affricanus in the Book of Elements where he● sheweth that man is made by ingression of contrary things which is to be ●●●derstood of the four Elements and after this Body reverted to him simple then all his humour is turned into Water the Spirit into Air the heat into Fire and the Bones and Flesh into Earth now mayest thou hea● and know by visible Experience and in likewise with our Water one thing by rotting is turned again into his simple Elements and moisture then separate them and the first shall ascend as a Smoak and turn into Air as Water keep that Treasure and then thou shalt distil after that an Air more intentive and thicker and one drop of this will swim and go above Water if thou mix it with Water and in this Air is Fire aud beneath in the bottom of your Cucurbit is your Earth as a dead Body corrupt and infect Note well here be the four Elements reverted into their Simple as before is said by the Authority of Constantius And I assure you that this is as true as ever God made Gold and Silver and all things else and Heaven and Earth and the Sea therefore believe me if thou wilt or chuse thee to thy own folly and leave off true Doctrine of the Philosophers and wander forth in the World as Mist in the Wind and so thou shalt never come to thy purpose but thou must first make the Bodyes water after digest them not burning nor destroying their radical moisture which is the life of Tincture of this precious Treasure and utterly rot them and after divide the Elements and well rectifie thy Earth by due Calcination and with washing of his own Water till it be pure clear bright and white shining and then sublime up all the quintessence again then thou hast the wonderful Earth called Terra foliata Sulphur Elect of the Philosophers more noble more precious then Gold or Silver if ●hou wilt work it up as thou mayest at thy pleasure by continuance of Reiteration and Sublimation then he will become clear as Heaven Christaline shining bright as thou mayest see in the Rosary of the Secrets of all Philosophers in the last work Therefore may you see and understand when your Tincture is perfect which is in the fourth Governance plainly in writing and also mark other Authors of this secret Science for when he is perfect fixt and stable and will not fume then he will run through a Plate of Copper and make it perfect Silver or perfect Gold better then ever was produced out of the Mine by Nature and also the very truth of this Secret is more wo●th and richer then man can devise for of his own sperm or seed he shall evermore encrease and multiply to the Worlds end for as fire elemental burneth all and overcometh all things and nothing can overcome him even so this Magnesia the Child of Fire shall never be blemished nor va●quished by the Fire but ever standing and abiding bright shining clear so that almost man cannot express the brightness which is incredible to any man except to them that have seen it with their Eyes And thou that art a finder of this Book I charge thee as thou wilt answer to God that thou never shew this but to a vertuous and wise discreet and well disposed man which is ever glad to help the Poor and needy People for with this glorious Science ye may procure many glorious Gifts of the blessed Trinity both in Riches and Soul which shall never fail you everlastingly Da gloriam Deo Amen Magnalium Dei FINIS RAECIPIOLVM OR THE Immature-Mineral-Electrum THE FIRST METALL Which is the MINERA OF MERCVRY By Ioh. Bapt. Van-Helmont LONDON Printed for William Cooper at the Pelican in Little Britain 1683. Electum Minerale Immaturum id est Metallus primus est Minera Mercurii TAKE of the best Argentum vivum which you shall Distil from its own Minera that is of the best Hungarian Minera which shall hold abundance of Argentum vivum one pound will hold twelve thirteen or fourteen ounces of

bright permanent pure and shining of a Celestical Colour And if Water did not enter into our Medicine it could not purifie nor mend it self and so thou couldst not obtain thy desire But that which doth mend it is Sol for the Water cannot be made better without it For without Sol and his shadow a tinging Poyson cannot be generated Whoever therefore shall think that a Tincture can be made without these two Bodyes to wit Sol and Lune he proceedeth to the Practic● like one that is blind For Body doth not Act upon Body nor Spirit upon Spirit Neither doth Form receive an Impression from Form nor Matter from Matter when as like doth not Exercise either Action or Passion upon its like ● For one is not more worthy than an other wherefore there can be no● Action betwixt them when as like doth not bear Rule over like But a Body doth receive Impression from a Spirit as Matter doth from its Form and a Spirit from its Body because they are made and created by God that they may● Act and suffer each from other For Matter would flow infinitely if a Form did not retard and stop its Flux Wherefore when the Body is a Form informing it doth inform and retain the Spirit that it afterwards cannot flow any more The Body therefore doth tinge the Spirit and the Spirit doth penetrate the Body whereas one Body cannot penetrate an other Body but a subtil Spiritual congealed Substance doth penetrate and give Colour to the Body And this is that Gummy and Oleaginous Stone proportioned in its Natures containing a Spiritual Nature occul●●y in it self together with the Elements purifyed Therefore the Philosophers-Stone is to be wholy reduced into this Gumminess by the last Reiteration or Inceration of a certain gentle Flux resolving all the Elements that they flow like Wax But when it is the Stone it appeareth like Copper whereas notwithstanding it is a certain Spiritual Substance penetrating and colouring or tinging all Metallick Bodys From hence thou mayst easily guess that this doth not proceed from the cras●itude and grossness of the Earth but from a Spiritual Metallick Substance which doth penetrate and enter Wherefore it behoveth thee to resolve the Body into a subtil Metallick Spirit and afterwards to congeal and fix retain and incerate it that it may flow before ●it tinge For Gold doth Colour nothing besides it self unless first its own Spirit be extracted out of its own Belly and it be made Spiritual And know that our Mercurial Water is a living Water and a burning Fire mortifying and tearing in pieces Gold more than common Fire And therefore by how much more it is better mixed rubbed and ground with it by so much more it destroyeth it and the living fiery Water is more attenuated But now when three are made one in the Form of a congealed Substance then it hath in it a true Tincture which can endure the Violence of the Fire Therefore when the Body is so tinged it can tinge another and it hath in it self all Tincture and Virtue And from hence all they who tinge with Sol and his Shadow viz. with the Poyson that is Argent vive do perfectly compleat our Stone which we call the great and perfect Gumm And know for certain that it is not necessary that our Stone or Gumm lose its first Mercurial Nature in the Sublimation of its crude and first Spirit for the Oyl and Gumm pertaining to this Stone are nothing else then the Elements themselves Mercurialized and made equal together shut up and coagulated resoluble and living retained or bound in the viscosity of the Oyly Earth and inseparably mixed And we ought to know that that Gum or Oyl is first drawn out of the Bodys which being added it is reduced into a Spirit until the superfluous humidity of the Water be turned into Air drawing one Element out of another by digestion until the Form of Water be converted into the Nature of Oyl and so our Stone in the end getteth the Name of Gumm and Sulphur But whosoever hath brought the Stone thus far that it appear like a mixing Gumm and suffereth it self to be mixed with all imperfect Bodies he verily hath found a great Secret of Nature because that is a perfect Stone Gum and Sulphur This Stone then is compounded of a Body and Spirit or of a volatile and fixed Substance and that is therefore done because nothing in the World can be generated and brought to light without these two Substances to wit a Male and Female From whence it appeareth that although these two Substances are not of one and the same species yet one Stone doth thence arise and although they appear and are said to be two Substances yet in truth it is but one to wit Argent-vive But of this Argent vive a certain part is fixed and digested Masculine hot dry and secretly informing But the other which is the Female is Volatile crude cold and moyst and from these two Substances the whole may easily be known and the whole Stone intirely understood Wherefore if our Stone did only consist of one Substance in it there could be no Action and passion of one thing towards the other for one would neither touch nor come nigh or enter into the other As a Stone and piece of Wood have no Operation on each other since they do consist of a different matter and hence they can by no means no not in the least be mixed together and there is the same reason for all thing● that differ in matter Wherefore it is evident and certain that it should be necessary for the Agent and Patient to be of one and the same Genus but of a different species even as a man differeth from a Woman For although they agree in one and the same Genus yet nevertheless they have diverse Operations and Qualities even as the Matter and Form For the Matter suffereth and the Form acteth● assimulating the Matter to it self and according to this manner the Matter naturally thirsteth after a Form as a Woma● desireth an Husband and a Vile thing a precious one and an impure a pure one so also Argent vive coveteth a Sulphur as that which should make perfect which is imperfect So also a Body freely desireth a Spirit whereby it may at length arrive at its perfection Therefore Learn thou the Natural Roots and those that are better with which thou oughtest to reduce thy Matter whereby thou mayst perfect thy work For this blessed Stone hath in it all things necessary to its perfection The Practick of the same Author If we well consider the Words of Morienus that great Philosopher in Alchimy who saith Mix together Water Earth Air and Fire in a due weight without doubt thou wilt obtain all the Secrets of this Divine Science And first when he saith put into the Water or putrifie the Earth in Water this signifieth nothing else then the Extraction of Water out of

and keepeth them clean and if the Sickness be of one Months continuance it healeth it in one day if of one Years continuance it healeth it in 12 days and if the grief be very old it healeth it in one Month. To conclude whosoever hath this Medicine he hath an incomparable Medicine above all Treasures of the World Praise God FINIS SPECVLVM ALCHYMIAE THE TRUE GLASS OF ALCHEMY WRITTEN By ROGER BACON LONDON Printed for William Cooper at the Pelican in Little Britain 1683. Speculum Alchymiae The true Glass of Alchimy by Roger Bacon I Salute or greet unto thee most dearly beloved the Glass of Alchemy which in my heart I have figured or Printed and out of the Books of wise-Men have drawn in the which is contained fully all that they have gathered to the Perfection of Alchimy I do give it unto your Person and in the which all things which are required to this Art be here gathered together and those which be in divers places dispersed I shall thus answer unto your Prudence and Wisdom all things be created of the four Elements and they be the Roots and matters of all things and the diversity of things consisteth in three that is to say Colour Tas●e and Smell There is not to me but three viz. Diversities of Elements divers Proportions divers Decoctions and divers Mixtions Wherefore if ye will one Metalline Body transform into another ye must know the Nature of one contrary and of another in every diversity and when you know this then you may by Addition and Substraction put to more of one Element and the less of another and ●eeth them together well or evil and also to mix them together well or evil unto your own will and desire And that may a Man do well in Metalls if he might know without errour how to separate the Elements that is to say to reduce them to their first Matter and Root which Root is Brimstone and Quicksilver or Sulphur and ☿ and then that is the Root or Matter nearest or nearer but because the separation of Elements in Metalls is difficult and hard the Masters did seek how to get the Roots nearest without any labour from Brimstone and Quicksilver and of these they made their Separation of Elements which they used and said that only the Elements did cleave in Metalls and that strange Elements of other things as the blood Eggs and Hair do not enter but by Vertue or by Commixtion of them with the aforesaid Elements drawn of the Spirits and Bodies Metalline but because we cannot resolve or separate as Nature doth for Nature separateth without Apposition of any strange thing in the space of a thousand years and we cannot live a thousand years therefore if we will make this Separation we must find the cunning or knowledge by the which we may do it sooner but this we cannot do by no ways except ●e do put unto them things divers and contrarious for by his contraries ought ye to separate the Elements by our Knowledge and Mastery therefore when two contrary things be mixed together one worketh in another and so maketh him to give of his Complexion and Virtue part thereof for this cause ye must first learn to know the Complexion and Properties of all things before you do enterprise to make commixtion together in their proper Natures and it is needful that you know the works of Nature which you intend to do and how much and what every thing doth give of his Nature and Complexion and how much and what he lacketh of another Complexion and Nature by the means of the working which you do and by the Nature of contrary things which you do commix together and if you do err in any of these to know how much and in what for if you know this then you do know how to rectifie any thing of the World and to reduce any thing unto his first Matter or Complexion or to any other thing according to your desire then by the contrary if you know not this you shall not enterprise to meddle but by means of some things to attempt to make ingression or such like until you do know this and this is in light or in light things and the Philosophers do say that if any Man do know how to convert one Nature into another he knoweth all the whole Mastery and Avicen doth say the same that so it is all your desire ought to be to this for this which I have said be the beginnings or Roots of Alchemy Philosophical and Medicine And without the Knowledge of these Roots if you will do any work or Medicine which is called the Elixir in this Art to transmute imperfect Bodies into Sol and Lune of whatsoever the Medicine was in his Confection you must think well of four things which I shall tell you The first is that you do know how to prepare well all your things and that you do know how to remove that which doth hurt most and that which doth comfort your Intention and that you know the sign when you have that which you desire to have and that you know how to remove that which you ought to remove For all that Man doth hath an end and a certain Term for according to Philosophers when Nature intendeth to destroy any thing to generate another thing worse or better it intendeth to seek a certain degree which it doth not pass beyond and so standeth and then another thing preparate doth so provoke another special form which he had not before The second is that your things preparate you do know to commix them well together and that is of sundry and divers things to make one Substance to be inseparable for ever for if you know not how to mix your things well and naturally so that every thing be destroyed and so brought first unto their own primary being and proper species and one new thing to be generated of them it is worth nothing that you have done and that you know the sign when your mixtion is compleated The third is that you know the certain proportion that is the certain quantity of such things as thou oughtest to mix together and also to know by reason why it should be so that thereby you may be sure to find the thing that you look for By the quantities that you know to have mixed upon your melted Bodies it will away at the last slowly or quickly how well soever the things were prepared without they were mixed together according to Knowledg and Nature thou hast lost all thy Labour as much as the final complement doth contain and that shall be well perceived in the Examination thereof when the Body transmuted is put to Examination in Ashes or the Test for there he will consume and waste away according as there was too much or too little of his Proportion at the first but if the Proportions were rightly mixed according to Knowledg and Reason then it shall not do so

think you will find it in his best forme and of farthest extention when it is in his p●p or pulp for his Body is exceeding waterish and vanisheth away to a small sub●●ance if you seek to dry it This I write by mine own trial yet peradventure the Goord of Naples which he calleth Cucurbita may b● of a differing nature from our Pompions How to save much fl●wer● or meal that is lost in all our usual Corn mills that grind either with Wind or Water IF I teach the Miller so to grind his wheat as that neither the starchmaker if I be not deceived shall have stuff to make his starch with except he grind for himself after the a●cient manner nor the brown Baker any bran to make horsebread withal I hope that my fault will be pardonable at this time because I hold it much b●tter to want flower about our necks then in our bellies and that horses should s●●rve before their masters The conceit is short and easie and I hope without controlment Let every Mill that grindeth corn have also a boulting mill annexed unto it that the same mover may play upon both and by shaking of the boulter make a division of the bran from the flower This bran as soon as it is divided from the flower must be returned again into the hopper amongst the rest of the wheat that is unground and so as fast as you gather any bran you must mix it with more corn And by this means you shall have much less bran and also more flower though you would notwithstanding this course pass the same through a fine boulter again It is an usual manner in the higher part of Germany to boult with these mills but not to grind over their bran again in the first mill for ought that I know or as yet can learn How to make starch without any corn IT is well known that those Aaron-roots be●ore mentioned will make a white and delicate starch You must gather them in March or April washing them clean and paring away all the filth or foul skins from them and after slicing them into thin slices and so leaving th●m in fair clear water and changing your water every 12. hours for the space of four or five days till they become exceeding white and clean then stamp them and force them through a strainer with clean water and when the substance of the starch is setled in the bottom which will be in a few hours then drein away all the clear water that fleeteth on the top very gently and expose the rest being in flat earthen pans or clean tubs to the Sun which will attract or draw up all the water and leave a hard cake in the bottom But in the winter time when you cannot have the Sun of a sufficient force for this purpose then set your stone pans or pewter basons wherein you have strained out your starch upon a pot with s●alding water and so you may dry the same in a sufficient quantity for your own use all the year long And if you would harden the same without charge then place your pan upon your bief pot and so you shall make one fire to perform several actions at once But because these roots are not to be had in all places nor at all times of the year therefore for a second supply I have thought good to set down this receit following Take of the whitest Gum Arabique that you can buy at the Grocers let them beat the same into pieces for you as big as hasel nuts in their great morters then take 3. ounces of this Gum and first wash it in fair Conduit water in a Stone Bason stirring it up and down with your hands to take the filth from it then wash it again with some more water and pour that also away and then to every 3. ounces so washed put a wine pint of fair Conduit-Water stirring it up and down 3. or 4. times aday to procure a speedy solution or dissolving of the Gum Then cover your Pan and when all the Gum is dissolved strein the water through a clean and thin Linnen cloth and reserve the same in Glasses well stopt till you have cause to use it It will last sweet at the least three weeks after it is made When you would use this starch if you desire to have your ruffs to carry a pure and perfect white colour you must mingle some blew with the water stirring it up and down with your finger in a Porrenger and before the blew settle to the bottom wet your ruff therein and presently wring it out again then put it till it be clear and after set it as you do in your common starch I do find by experience that half the time that is lost in the other manner of starching is here gained For by reason that your starch is in a thin water the Lawn and Cambrick will be soon cleared and with much less beating And I think that a second profit will here likewise fall out by the way viz. That your Lawn and Cambrick will last much longer For if I be not deceived the continual patting or beating thereof between the hands in our usual starching worketh a great fretting and wearing of the same And I doubt not but that there be many other sorts of Grain Pulse and Roots which will make as good Starch as Wheat which at this time I leave unto the studious indeavours of those that are careful for the common good It may be that at my better leisure I may handle this subject more at large but now the present times inforce me to deliver that knowledg which I have And thus much for starch Sweet and delicate cakes made without Spice or Sugar SLice great and sweet Parsnep roots such as are not seeded into thin slices and having washed and scraped them clean dry them and beat them into powder here a mill would make a greater dispatch searcing the same through a fine searce then knead two parts of fine flower with one part of this powder and make the same into cakes and you shall find them to taste very daintily I have eaten of these cakes divers times in mine own house Quaere what may be done in Carots Turneps and such like roots after this manner Here I think it not impertinent to the purpose which I have in hand to wish a better survey to be made of my book of Husbandry being a parcel of the Jewel house of Art and Nature Printed an 1594. Wherein sundry new sorts of Marle are familiarly set down and published for the good of our English Farmers amongst the which those waste ashes of the Sope-boylers for such as dwell near unto the City of London or may by easie water carriage convey them unto their hungry and lean grounds have a principal place for the enriching of all cold moist and weeping grounds The book is to be had at the Peli●an in Little Britain And if there were

Mercury and the Mercury of Metals which many have sought but few have found Ioachimus Poleman of the Mystery of the Philosophers Sulphur by help of his duplicated and satiated Corrosive divides a Metal into the least Atomes and dilacerates it to be delivered to the ●●ry Menstruum dissolving it to a tinging Soul It is calcined by us another and better way which Calcination we rather call the first solution and it is done by pouring the Wine of Life to the Calxes of Sol or Luna aforesaid put into a Phial which is our Menstruum of which hereafter in Chap. 6. to the heighth of a fingers breadth and putting to an Head or Alembick they must be digested in Ashes or also in Sand and coagulated being coagulated you must pour on new Menstruum as before and coagulate and that three or four times or till the metallick Calx melt at the ●●re like Wax or Ice which is a sign of sufficient Philosophical calcination and this is done with the preservation of the Metal in its primitive vertue and this is that which Aristotle saith in the Rosary joyn your Son Gabricius deare● to you then all your Children with his Sister Beja who is a tender sweet and splendid Virgin CHAP. IV. Of the second and true Philosophical Solution of Bodies and their reduction into Mercury HAving performed Calcination or th● first Solution whereof we have spoke● in the preceding Chapter and which a● the anonymous Philosopher in his Golden Treatise of the Philosophers Stone in his Answer hath it ought to be sweet and full natural that is which should without noise dissolve the Subject with the preservation o● its radical moisture then the Bodies so calcined● must be put into a Phial hermetical●y sealed and in a gentle heat of Bal. Mar●r Dew be digested or putrified the space ●f a Philosophical Month for a voluntary ●olution is better than a violent a tem●erate than a speedy as the Philosopher ●ath it And thus is made the second and true Solution of a Metal into viscous water ●r a certain Oleity with the preservation of ●he radical moisture in which is the true metallick Sulphur together with the true ●nd most noble Mercury for one of them is always the Magnet and remains solving with ●he solved and desires to continue inseparably and that because of the similitude of substance Wherefore the Ancients said Na●ure rejoyceth in Nature Nature overcom●th and altereth Nature whereby the essen●ial or formal Solution is distinguished from the corrosive Solution But you must know that from Luna is obtained a liquor or green ●incture which is the true Elixir of Luna and the highest Arcanum to comfort the Brain But from Sol by equal putrifaction ●s produced a Liquor of the highest redness which is the true Elixir of Sol and the quinessence of Metal Whereof saith Geber we make sanguine Gold better than that produced by Nature which Nature no wise makes Concerning this Viscosity Geber further speaks briefly We have most exactly tried all things and that by approved Reasons but we could never find any thing permanent i● Fire except the viscous Moisture the sole radi● of all Metals when as all the other Moisture being not well united in homogenei●y do easily ste● from Fire and the Elements are easily separated from one another but the viscous Moisture to wit● Mercury is never consumed with Fire nor is the Water separated from the Earth but they either remain altogether or go altogether away But will you enquire in what weight the Menstru●m is to be ●spoused to a Metal The Philosophers Rosary saith As in the working of Bread a little Le●ven le●veneth and sermenteth a great quantity of Paste so also a modicum of Earth is sufficient for the nutrition of the whole Stone Aristotle nominates the weight saying do thus and coct till the Earth that is the Gold hath exhausted ten parts of the Water The Author of Novum Lumen at the end of his Book breaks forth into these words There ought to be ten parts of Water to one part of Body and by this way we make Mercury without common Mercury by taking ten parts of our Mercurial Water that is the Mercurial Oyl of Salt putrefied and alembicated which is an unctious vapour to one part of the body of Gold and being included in a Vessel by continual coction the Gold is made Mercury that is an un●●uous vapour and not common Mercury as some falsly do imagine CHAP. V. What a Quintessence properly is PARACELSVS in his third Book of long Life chap. 2. discoms●th thus A Quint●ssence is nothing else but the goodness of Nature so that all Nature passeth into a spagyrick mixture and temperament in which no corrup●ible thing and nothing contrary is to be found He also in his fourth Book Archidox of the Quintessence saith A Quintessence is a matter which is corporally extracted out of all Creseitives and out of all things that have life being separated from all impurity and mortality most purely subtiliated and divided from all the Elements thereof And a little after in the same place You ought to know concerning the Quintessence that it is a matter little and small lodged and harboured in some Tree Herb Stone or the like the rest is a pure body from which we learn the separation of the Elements Rupescissa concerning the Quintessence in chap. 5. about the end saith The Quintessence which we seek is therefore a thing ingeniated by divine breath which by continual ascensions and descensions is separated from the corruptible body of the four Elements and the reason is because that which is a second time and often sublimed is more subtile glorified and separated from the corruption of the four Elements then when it ascends only once and so that which is sublimed even to a thousand times and by continual ascension and descension comes to so great a vertue of glorification that it is a compound almost incorruptible as the Heavens and of the matter of the Heavens and therefore called Quintessence because 't is in respect of the Body as the Heavens are in respect of the whole World almost after the same way by which Art can imitate Nature as by a certain like very near and connatural way CHAP. VI. Of the Philosophical Fire or Dissolving Menstruum or our Liquor Alkahest THe preparation of this Water or most noble Juice which is the Kings true Bath the Philosophers always held occult so that Bernard Count Tresne and Neigen Book 2. said he had made a vow to God to Philosophers and to Equity not plainly to explain himself to any man because it is the most secret Arcanum of the whole Work and is so indeed for if this Liquor were manifested to every man Boys would then deride our Wisdom and Fools would be equal to the Wise and the whole World would rush hither with a blind impulse and ●un themselves headlong without any regard to Equity or Piety to the bottom of Hell