THE PRACTISE OF Chymicall and Hermeticall Physicke for the preseruation of health WRITTEN IN LATIN By Iosephus Quersitanus Doctor of Physicke And Translated into English by Thomas Timme Minister LONDON Printed by Thomas Creede 1605. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE SIR Charles Blunt Earle of Deuonshire L. Mountiâ—y Lieutenant general of Ireland M. of the Ordinance Gouernour and Captaine General of the Towne and Garison of Portsmouth and the I le of Portsey Knight of the noble Order of the Garter and one of his Maiesties most honourable priuie Councell I I may seeme Right Honorable an admirable and new Paradox that Halchymie should haue concurrence and antiquitie with Theologie the one seeming meere Humane and the other Diuine And yet Moses that auncient Theologue describing expressing the most wonderfull Architecture of this great world tels vs that the Spirit of God moued vpon the water which was an indigested Chaos or masse created before by God with confused Earth in mixture yet by his Halchymicall Extraction Seperation Sublimation and Coniunction so ordered and conioyned againe as they are manifestly seene a part and sundered in Earth Fyer included which is a third Element and Ayre a fourth in Water howbeit inuisibly Of which foure Elements two are fixed as earth and fire and two volatil as water ayre That spiritual Motion of the first mouer God hath inspired al the creatures of this vniuersal world with that spirit of Life which may truely be called the spirit of the world which naturally moueth and secretly acteth in all creatures giuing them existence in three to wit salt sulphure and Mercury in one Huposiasis Mercurie congealing Sulphur sulphur Mercurie neither of them being without their Salt the chiefest meane by whose helpe Nature bringeth forth al vegeâ—â—â—ls Minerals Animals So that of these 3. whatsoeuer is in Nature hath his original is compacted of them and so mingled with the 4. Elements that they make one body Therefore this Diuine Halchymie through the operatioÌ„ of the spirit without the which the elemental material Character letter and forme profiteth not was the beginning of Time of Terrestrial existence by which all things liue moue and haue their being consisting of body soule spirit whether they be vegetals minerals or animals reseruing only this difference that the soules of men angels are reasonable immortal according to the Image of God himself the sensuals as beasts and such like not so Moreouer as the omnipoteÌ„t God hath in the beginning by his diuine wisedom created the things of the heueÌ„s earth in weight muÌ„ber measure depeÌ„ding vpoÌ„ most wonderfull proportion harmony to serue the time which he hath appointed so in the fulnesse last period of time which approacheth fast on the 4. Elements whereof al creatures consist hauing in euery of theÌ„ 2. other Elements the one putrifying and combustible the other eternal incombustible as the heauen shall by Gods Halchymie be metamorphosed and changed For the combustible hauing in them a corrupt stinking feces or drossie matter which maketh theÌ„ subiect to corruption shal in that great generall refining day be purged through fire And then God wil make new Heauens and a new Earth and bring all things to a christalline cleernes wil also make the 4. Elements perfect simple fixed in themselues that al things may be reduced to a Quintessence of Eternitie Thus right Honourable you see a Paradox no Paradox a Hieroglyphick plainly disciphered For Halchymie tradeth not alone with transmutation of metals as ignorant vulgars thinke which error hath made them distaste that noble Science but shee hath also a chyrurgical hand in the anatomizing of euery mesenteriall veine of whole nature Gods created handmaid to conceiue and bring forth his Creatures For it is proper to God alone to create something of nothing but it is natures taske to forme that which he hath created VVherefore if the foole which hath in his hart said There is no God will put away the mist of ignorance and infidelitie and behold the power and wisedome of God in his creatures manifested more particularly and inwardly by the Art of Halchymie imitating nature in seperating from one substance be it Vegetall Mimeral or Animal these three Salt Sulphur and Mercurie shal by that mistery as in glasse discerne the holy and most glorious Trinitie in the Vnitie of one Hupostasis Diuine For the inuisible things of God saith the Apostle that is his eternal power and God-head are seene by the creation of the world being considered in his workes This Phylosophy therefore my good lord is not of that kind which tendeth to vanity and deceit but rather to profit and to edification inducing first the knowledge of God secondly the way to find out true medicine in his creatures Plato saith that Phylosophy is the imitating of God so farforth as man is able that we may knowe God more and more vntill we behold him face to face in the kingdome of heauen So that the scope of Phylosophy is to seeke to glorifie God in his wonderfull workes to teach a man how to liue wel and to be charitably affected in helping our neighbour This Philosophy natural both speculatiue actiue is not only to be found in the volume of nature but also in the sacred Scripture as in Genesis in the booke of Iob in the Psalmes in Syrach and in other places In the knowledge of this Philosophy God made Salomon to excel all the kings Phylosophers that were in the world whereby the Queene of Sheba was allured to take a long Iourney to make an experiment of that wisedome whereof she had heard so great fame and found it by effect farre greater Anaxagoras a noble gentleman but more noble in wisdome and vertue Crates Antisthenes with many others contemned the pleasures of the world and gaue theÌ„selues to the studie of naturall Philosophie Philosophers haue brought more profit to the world then did Ceres who inuented the increase of corne grain then did Bacchus that found out the vse of wines then did Hercules which ridde the world of monsters For these things belong to the maintenance of bodily life and pleasure but Philosophy instructeth and nourish the soule it selfe This phylosophy together with the most rare excellent healthful Physicke linked to true grounds and vpholden by daily experience the very marow of true medicine the quintessence of marow it selfe I most humbly present vnto your honours hands as a Iewel of prise to procure and preserue health which Ptolomeus the sonne of Antiochus valued at so high a rate that he gaue to Erasistratus a noble Physitian on hundred talents for the curing of Antiochus My labour herein be it but as the apple which Acontius gaue to beautiful Cydippe to make knowne his amorous affection yet being tendred with no lesse good wil in al humilitie
Ice whereof the maker of Salt-Péeter finisheth his worke purifying the same by sundry dissolutions and coagulations that it may loose his fatnesse quite and cleane This common worke being triuial and no better then mechanical if it be rightly considered and weighed is as I haue said already full of admiration For by the very same preparation the thrée beginnings are extracted out of earth which may be seperated one from the other and yet neuerthelesse the whole thrée doe consist in one and the same essence and are onely distinguished in properties and vertues And herein we may plainly see as in a glasse after a certaine manner that in comprehensible misery of the thrée persons in one and the same Hypostasis or substance which make the diuine Trinitie For thus it hath pleased the omnipotent Creator to manifest and shewe himselfe a vâ—â—trine or Trinne not onely herein that he is found so to be in the nature of earth but vniuersally in all the workes of the creation For this our comparison of the Salt of the earth is general and is euery where found and in all things Also in this comparison of Salt wée may beholde thrée distinct natures which neuerthelesse are and doe subsist in one and the same essence For the first nature is Salt common fixed and constant and the other nature is Volatil Salt the which alone the Sal-péeter-man seeketh after This volatil or flying Salt containeth in it two kindes of Volatil Salt the other full of Sulphur easily catching flame which men call Niter the other Mercurial watery sower partaking of the nature of Salt Armoniac Wherefore in that most common essence of earth these thrée seueral Salts are found vnder one and the same nature of the which thrée all vegetables and animalls whatsoeuer doe participate And we determine to place our thrée hypostatical and substantial beginnings vpon these thrée Salts as vpon the fundamental grounds in that our worke concerning the hidden nature of things and the misteries of Art the which we had thought to haue published before this time whereof we thought it conuenient to say some thing by the way because the ground-worke and beginnings of Medicines depend vpon them Wherefore to the end so large immensurable doctrine may the better and more diligently be considered of all men especially of the wiser sort then heretofore it hath bene I wil set plainly before their eyes those three distinct natures of Salt comprehended as already is sayd in one Hupostasis or substance For the maker of Salt-peter or Niter to make his salt the more effectual volatile and more apt to take fire taketh away the fatnesse as they terme it from the same and seperateth the Salt thereof which is al one with the sea salt or common salt which is dissolued into common water Contrariwise Salt-peted as men cal it is congealed into such péeces as we sée it to be and so there is made a visible seperation of both the Salts For the water wherein the common Salt being defused and dissolued as we said being euaporated or boyled away there remayneth a portion of Salt in the bottome which is somewhat like to our common marine Salt and of the nature thereof for it hath the same brynish qualities it is fixed it melteth not in the fire neither is it set on fire and therefore is wholy different from that which is congealed in the same water which is called Salt-peter The which thing truly deserueth to bée diligently considered not of ordinary Salt-peter-men which are ignorant of the nature of things but of Phylosophers if they desire to be reputed and to be such To whom it shal manifestly appeare that Salt which by nature and qualitie according to the common opinion of Phylosophers is hote and dry a sulphurus Salt fierie and apt to be set on fire such as is Salt peter wil be coagulated or congealed in water wherein al other saltes are dissolued no lesse than that salt which procéeded from the very same essence of Salt-peter may be dissolued in water as we haue said Therefore not without great cause the admirable nature of Salt-peter deserueth to be considered which comprehendeth in it two volatile partes the one of Sulphur the other of Mercurie The Sulphurus part is the soule thereof the Mercurial is his spirit The Sulphurus part commeth to that first moouing of nature which is nothing else but an ethereal fire which is neither hote nor drie not consuming like the Elementarie fyre but is a certaine Celestial fyre and Ayerie humour hote and moyste and such as wée may almost beholde in Aqua Vitae a fyre I say contempered ful of life which in Vegetables wée cal the vegetating soule in Animals the hote and moyst radical the natural and vnnatural heate the true Nectar of life which falling into any subiect whether it bée Animal or Vegetable death by and by ensueth The which commeth so to passe vppon no other cause but vppon the defect of this vital heate which is the repayrer and conseruer of life The same vital heate is also to bée found albeit more obscurely in Minerals which may more easily bée comprehended by the sympathy and concordance which the sayd salt-peter hath with Mettals as is to be séene in the dissolutions whereof wée haue spoken somewhat before Beside that sulphurus part there is also found in salt-peter a certaine Mercurial of ayerie nature and which notwithstanding cannot take fyre but is rather contrary therevnto This spirit is not hote in qualitie but rather colde as appeareth by the tart and sharpe taste thereof the which sharpnesse and coldnesse is wonderful and is farre different from the Elementary coldnesse for that it can dissolue bodies and coagulate spirites no lesse then it doth congeale salt-peter the which sowernesse is the generall cause of Fermentation and coagulation of al natural things This same sower and tart spirit is also found in sulphurs of the same qualitie not burning nor setting on fire and which congealeth sulpur and maketh it firme which otherwise would bée running like Oyle Vitriol among al the kindes of salt doth most of al abound with this spirit because it is of the nature of Venus or Copper which sower spirit inconstant Mercurie which notwithstanding alwayes tendeth to his perfection that is to say to his coagulation and fixation ful wel can make choyse of and attract it to him that hée may bée fixed and coagulated when it is mixed and sublimed with the same vitriol Euen as Bées suck hony from flowers as Ripley saith Furthermore this sharpe sower and cold spirit is the cause why Salt-Péeter hauing his sulphur set on fire giueth a cracke that so salt-péeter may be of the number of them whereof Aristotle writeth as that they are moued with a contrary motion Which words of his are diligently to be considered But what doe I meane to open the gate of passage into the orchard
or that more than some other things For thou canst not easily draw an oyle out of leaues but a mercurial liquor plentifully out of al and out of very fewe some sulphurus or oylie liquor The reason is because Mercurie doth carry the rule in leaues and is their chiefe nourishment beginning and foundatioÌ„ as we haue already said But the sulphurus liquor is the cause of the increase plentie of flowers but yet the same sulphur is not alone and pure but mixed with some portion of Mercurial liquor but with the least quantitie of salt For this cause thou maiest extract out of flowers both Sulphur or oyle and also Mercurie but that oyle more volatil and of Salt the least quantity But out of séedes is extracted much of the more fixed Sulphur but of Mercury and Salt almost nothing The cause is for that Sulphur hath giuen beginning and the principal constitution not that volatil Nitrous and airey Sulphur but that which is indéede oyle-like and fat and which holdeth a meane betwéene fixed and flying both which lye hid in séedes euen in those séedes which are in great Mercurial hearbes and fleshlike fruites as in Apples Peares Goordes and such like But Salt is in all these as the most fixed and necessarie beginning for the constitution and compacting of all bodies But this Salt doth most chiefely reâ—ide in the wood and in the roote not as in his center or proper seate fixed for his principal rooting is in the earth but because it is first and most plentifully communicated to the wood and roote From hence afterward much is deriued to the branches and leaues and but little to the flowers and fruites Whereupon out of many leaues a sufficient quantity of salt may be extracted but out of flowers and séedes a very smal quantitie in regard of the others Thus you sée after what maner these thrée beginnings doe order and determine all vegetables as hypostatical beginnings and doe bring them forth conserue make them to sprout and florish and doe giue vnto them diuers forces and vertues It is also euident that the saide thrée beginnings are in all things but in some more and in other some lesse Therefore none of those thrée beginnings is found simple and alone which doth not paticipate also with another For Salt through the benefite of the other two Saltes Niter and Armoniac containeth in it selfe an oylely and a Mercuriall substance Sulphur containeth a Salte and a Mercurial substance and Mercurie a Sulphurus and Salt substance But euery one of these retaineth the name of that whereof 〈◊〉 it doth most partake But yet if we consider of the matter exactly we shal finde that al the other doe spring from salt as from the firme and constant beginning The nature whereof wil enforce vs to lift vp our eyes to heauen seeing that from these inferiour and natural things that admirable and venerable Trinitie in Vnitie is so clearly and euidently to be séene And forasmuch as those thrée substancefying beginnings are and commonly be found in al the things of nature wée must not thinke that they are so in them as without effect or vtterly spoiled of al vertue but wée must rather bée sure of the contrarie namely that from these chiefely al the qualities properties and vertuals doe spring For whatsoeuer hath taste the same if it bée bitter commeth from Salt Gemme And such haue vertue to clense to euacuate or purge So others which haue in them bitternesse are found to bée such as haue the same from this kinde of Salt and by the benefit thereof are reckoned among the number of clensing and purging medicines Such are all bitter hearbes and their Iuices In like maner all gaules For without these thrée ther can be no due excretion or sepâ—rating in bodies of superfluities and excrements For nature by the conduit of her instrument called Cholidoâ—â—n casting out into the bowels some quantitie of gaule stirreth vp the expulser and prouoketh it to sende forth the excrements and also clenseth purgeth and emptieth it selfe by it selfe The which being vndone the Expulser lyeth as it were buried and ouerwhelmed neither is there any good from thence to be looked for And that bitter Iuices as also the very gaule it selfe are of the nature of Salt it may easily bee gathered hereby because the guale is oftentimes congealed as a fixed Salt into stones in his owne bladder Also out of bitter hearbes as out of Woorme-wood out of the lesser Centaurie which some call the gaule of the earth much Salt is extracted as they that be workemen know Moreouer out of the â—â—ules of liuing creatures there is a Salt to bee extracted very bitter which purgeth wonderfully So also there is Salt in vrine which purgeth the blood by the vaines which send it into the reines and from thence by the water pipes into the bladder and so through the conduit thereto appointed In bitter Opium which all men affirme to be so notably stuperfectiue and cold there is a bitter and Nitrous Salt which if thou canst seperate from his stinking Sulphur by the meanes whereof it is so stuperfectiue thou shalt make it a notable purger So in like maner the skilfull know how to exiract out of Centaury Gentian Rue Fumitory and all such like very good purgers Salt which is alluminous giueth a sower taste Vitriol a stiptic or a stringent taste Armoniac a sharpe taste And a diuers mixture of the same Salts procureth sundry tastes and relishes and that most chiefely by the benefit of the two volatile Salts which of all other wil be best mingled by reason of their subtilty and spiritous substance Armoniac which is sharp is more plentiful in vitriol and in things vitriolated then in any other Salt substance or metallick For that sharpe Salt or that sharpenesse of nature is the fermentation thereof and the cause of coagulations and of the dissolutions of all things as we haue already touched before and will in another place more manifestly declare Therefore it is certaine that those things which are stiptick or stopping and haue outwardly a gréene colour or vitriolated with an inward sharpnesse and certaine rednes as is to be seene in Pomegranats Barberies and Limons it is certaine that they haue it from vitriol and from the sharp Salt Armoniac for the vitriol of nature is outwardly gréene and red within if thou search it by skilful Anatomie So also thou maiest extract out of the barke of the said fruits as of Granates a substance comming most néere to the vertue of vitriol And the liquor which is extracted out of their red graines or out of the iuice of Limons or fruite of Barberies hath force to dissolue pearles and corall euen as the spirit of vitriol hath And this commeth by the vertue of Salt Armoniac sharpe of nature and by the nature of mixture but so mixed as by the industrie of the artificer it
tradition and are deliuered as it were from hand to hand and euery one adorneth his arte with new inuentions according as he excelleth others in dexteritie of wit And albeit it may be said that it is an easie matter to adde to that which is inuented yet both the Inuentors and also the augmentors are to be thankfully imbraced CHAP. II. THere are thrée principall things mixed in euery Naturall bodie to wit Salte Sulphur and Mercurie These are the beginnings of all Naturall things But he from whom all things haue their beginning is GOD vppon whome all things do depende hée himselfe subsisting by himselfe and taking the Originall of his Essence from no other and is therfore the first and efficient cause of all things From his first beginning procéedeth Nature as the second beginning made by GOD himselfe through the power of his worde This Nature next vnder God ought to be religiously estéemed thought of enquired and searched for The knowledge hereof is very necessary and wil be no lesse profitable the searche and raunsacking thereof will be swéete and pleasing The profite which commeth hereby appeareth in this that the knowledge of all things which consist thereof and wherof they borrow thei◠name and are called Naturall things procéedeth herehence whether they bée subiect to our sences or aboue our sences Hereupon great Philosophers both Christians and Ethnicks haue bene mooued to make the signification of the name of Nature to sitte and serue almost all things Insomuch that Aristotle himselfe in that diuision which he maketh of Nature diuiding the same into the first and second Nature and speaking of the first he calleth it Naturam naturantem Naturing nature by which he meaneth God So in like manner Zeno a Prince of Stoikes openlie taught that Nature was no other thing then God Therefore the first Naturing nature is God but the seconde which properly is said to be Nature is subdiuided into vniuersall and particular The Vniuersall is that ordinarie power of God diffused throughout the whole worlde whereof it is sayd that Nature doth suffer this or that or doth this or that as Augustine teacheth in his booke De ciuitate Dei and Lactantius and among heathen wryters Pliny and Seneca This vniuersall Nature is also taken for the diuine vertue which God hath put and implanted in all creatures by the benefite whereof certaine notes of the Diuinitie are to be discerned in them Hereuppon some olde Fathers were woont to say All things are full of Goddes as did Heraclitus among others Some others take this vniuersal nature for a certaine influence and vertue whereby the Starres do worke in these inferior things or else for an acting vertue in an vniuersall cause that is to say in a bodie Celestiall Furthermore that is vniuersall Nature wherof Plato speaketh when he saith Nature is a certaine force and strength infused throughout all things the moderator and nourisher of all things and by it selfe the beginning of motion and of rest in them The which Nature Hermes Trimegistus almost in the same words saith to be a certaine force risen from the first cause diffused throughout all bodies by it selfe the beginning of motion and rest in them This force the Pythagoreans called God And therefore Virgil a great follower of the Pythagorean disciplne wrote thus saying The spirit nourisheth inwardly c. And the Platonicks called the same the Soule of the worlde But yet the Platonicks haue not defined shewed in what maner by what means this Soule of the world doth moderate and order all these interior things and doth stirre vp in the generation of things neither can they yet determine But the more witty and learned sort of Philosophers holde affirme that this world which comprehendeth in the circumference and compasse therof the fowre Elements the first beginnings of nature is a certaine great bodie whose partes are so knitte together among themselues euen as in one bodie of a liuing Creature all the members doe agrée that there is no one part of the parties of that great body which is not inlyned quickened and susteined by the benefite of that vniuersall soule which they haue called the soule of the worlde affirming also that if the bodyes of liuing creatures doe deriue life and beeing from the soule which is in them the same is much more done and effected in the farre more noble and more excellent body of the whole world by the meanes of the more potent and farre more excellent soule with the which this body of the vniuersall world is indued and by which it subsisteth For it all the parts of the world haue life as manifestly appearing it hath then must it needes follow that wholely it liueth for that the parts drawe and deriue their life from the whole from the which they being separated cannot but perish and die And héereupon they inferre that the Heauen compassing all things is that Soule which nourisheth and susteineth all things Also further they affirme that all the formes virtues and faculties of things by which all things are neurished susteined and haue their being doe come from the worlds Soule And as the body and soule are gathered and ioyned together in one through the benefite of the Spirits bond for that it is partaker of both Natures so the soule and body of the world are knit together by the meanes of the Aethereall Spirits going betwéene ioyning each part of the whole into one subsistence And yet hereof we must not conclude as did Aphrodisaeus and Philoponas which were Platonists that the worlde is a most huge liuing creature indued with sense and vnderstanding wise and happie the which is a most absurde and false opinion But the Platonists by the soule of the world gaue vs rather to vnderstand a certaine spirit which cherisheth quickeneth conserueth and susteineth all things as it were a certaine spirit of that Elohym or great God which mooued vpon the waters which Plato might remember as one not ignorant of Moses and thereupon frame his soule of the worlde Whereupon also it must needes come to passe that all these inferior things otherwise transitorie and infirme should soone come to destruction without they were conserued and continued in theyr being by that diuine power perpetually maintaining and suspecting them the which being disseuered a great confusion perturbation of the whole worlde arise therof Which ruine and destruction God of his great goodnes would preuent creating that vniuersall Nature which should defende all this great worke and kéepe it safe and sounde by his vertue and moderation and that by the yearely and continual rotation and reuolution of the right Heauen and by the Influences and vertues of the Starres Planets and Celestiall powers all things might be well gouerned and might constantly remaine and abide in full fastnes of theyr estate vntill the predestinated time of theyr dissolution To this Aethereall spirit or rather Diuine power euery effectuall
and Omnipotent Plato in his Timaeo giueth testimonie when hée speaketh thus When the sempiternall GOD had created this Vniuersal hee put into it certaine seedes of reason brought in the beginning Life that he might beget with the world the procreating force Wherein our explication which I brought before concerning the Soule of the worlde is confirmed Which also agreeth with that which the Prophet Moses hath written and which King Dauid hath in his Psalme in these wordes By the worde of the Lorde were the Heauens made and all the vertue of them by the spirit of his mouth By which vertue of the quickning spirit that great Trimegistus more conuersant and exercised in Moses writings then all other Philosophers vttered these diuine wordes in his second booke which is called Asclepias All spirit saith he in the world is acted and gouerned by the spirit The spirit telleth all things the worlde nourisheth bodies the spirit giueth them soule By the spirit all things in the world are ministred are made to growe and increase And after that he saith againe All things haue neede of this spirit For it carryeth all things and it quickneth nourisheth all things according to the dignitie of eache thing in it selfe Life and the spirit is brought forth out of the holy fountaine By which diuine words it appeareth plainely that this eternal and quickening spirit is infused and put into all things so that it is not obserued to deduce and deriue the actions forces and powers also all naturall things from the spirits as from the causes CHAP. III. HAuing spoken sufficiently of the first and second beginning that is to say of God vniuersal Nature God the first cause vsing that generall Nature as his handmaid it resteth that somewhat be spoken of nature natured that is to say of that which is particular To make an apt and conuenient definition whereof let vs knowe that it is no other thing than euery naturall body consisting of forme and matter For of these two causes and not onely of the causes but also of the parts of the whole compound all nature that is to say euery naturall body consisteth For the Peripateticks do thinke that whatsoeuer is the beginning of generation ought to be called nature by a certaine peculiar right And Aristotle saith that the same from whence any thing is made at the first and whereof it hath the first motion mutation is the very beginning I say the beginning from whence the essence of all natural things ariseth The which nature Aristotle in another place defineth to be the beginning substantiall and the cause of motion and of the rest thereof in the which it is at the first and not by Accidents the explication of which definition he hath comprehended in eight bookes And Aristotle doth rightly call Nature the cause and the beginning of internall motion For those things which are made by Nature and are therefore called naturall haue a certaine beginning of motion whereby they are moued of their owne accord not by force Whereby plainly appeareth the difference betweene those things which are naturall and which are endued with an effectuall spirit and with power to worke by it selfe and those things which are made by Arte which haue no force nor power of doing but are dead and deuoided of all sense and motion By these things it appeareth that things natural are called properly naturall existences or beings and such as haue nature And they are saide to haue nature which possesse in themselues the beginning of their motion and of their rest the which beginning of motion of euery thing is either the forme or the matter wherof we haue spoken Forme which is wholly spiritual hath all her motion likewise spiritual So the soule is of this same nature in a liuing creature the motions and sences plainely celestiall spirituall and a light beginning Whereas the Matter is terrestriall ponderous and corporal the other beginning of naturall motion By whose waight and grossenesse the body tendeth downeward so as this kind of motion procéedeth not from the soule or spirituall forme but from the corporall matter which is terrestriall and heauy by his owne nature Hereof it commeth that the name of nature is giuen as well to Matter as to Forme but more aptly and conueniently to Forme because Forme doth manifestly giue to a thing his being actually whereas Matter alone cannot performe that For not euery liuing creature hath sense and motion from that body which is solid terrestriall and ponderous but onely from the spiritual forme that is to say the soule mouing the body and informing it with the vitall vertues As for example A horse is in act and in truth a horse when he neither moueth leapeth nor runneth but these motions which are spiritual are the effects operations of the soule or forme whereas otherwise the body hauing nothing but the lineaments and visible forme whereby it séemeth a horse is meere terrestriall heauie and deade Howbeit neither the soule alone of the horse can bée saide to bée a horse except it be coupled with the body For both being ioyned and coupled together make a horse Knowe therefore that the Forme is far more noble and excellent then the Matter and that Nature as touching her effects and operations is of that power that it generateth and giueth being to all things it putteth matter on the formes it beautifieth and suffereth nothing to bee corrupted but preserueth all things in their estate Thâ—se her vertues faculties and powers she very apparantly sheweth when as she worketh and causeth all sorts of beings out of the 〈◊〉 and out of the seedes and beginning of all things Salt Sulphur and Mercurie and informeth with great variety of impressions of the vitall spirits colours and taste and with the properties of such kinde of powers and faculties that it giueth to euery thing so much as concerneth the office and dignity thereof in all sufficiencie The which building and 〈◊〉 of things so aptâ—â— and conueniently formed in order in number and measure wee may wâ—ll call diuine not terrestriall and corporall 〈…〉 same be naturall according to the power which God hath giuen vnto Nature And yet wée must not thinke that God hath so forsaken the frame of this worâ—d that he sitteth idle as hauing giuen such admirable and potent â—ffects to nature onely according to the opinion of Anâ—xagoras Protagoras and many other Atheâ—â—â—i all Philosophers which acknowledge no other God but Name as also did the Epicures 〈◊〉 it they be to be accused and condemned for so wicked an opinion then do they deserue no small reprehension which denie nature her partes and offices in working For the offices pecuâ—â—ar both of her first and second cause are to be attributed to either according to 〈…〉 Neither are these places of Scripture any thing repugnant 〈◊〉 is God which worketh all in all And againe in him wee liue moue and haue our beeing For
albeit this is true yet God hath appointed Nature as a meanes to fulfill his will the which Nature hee hauing 〈◊〉 with the vertues of working he by the same beginneth furthereth and perfiteth all things Therefore the second cause is called Nature because by the same as by a vital instrument God who is the first cause worketh all things For thus God féedeth men with bread the which he hath indued with a natural faculty of nourishing that the nature of bread may be said to féede and nourish whereto he hath predestinated the same by the forme of natural bread Thus therefore these things are to be reconciled that we acknowledge God to bee the first cause of working in all other causes because hée hath made the causes and hath giuen power of working and doth himselfe worke together with them and that we belieue that hée stirreth vppe prouoketh directeth and moderateth Nature by the power force and vnitie which hée hath giuen to her to doe all things by her proper motions So that we must séeke the cause and forme of all natural actions in Nature which God hath made potent with spiritual vertues by which it acteth and worketh in the matter for that nothing can procéede from the matter it selfe being dead which is Vital or indued with the faculties of working CHAP. IIII THis word Beginning extendeth very farre For as Artes and Sciences so also all other things haue their proper and set beginnings Plato intreating of Beginnings one while appointeth three namely God Patterne and Matter another while he appointeth two onely that is to say that which is infinite and that which is terminable and to be limited By the word Infinite he meaneth Matter and by the word Terminable he meaneth Forme as bringing a thing within a certaine compasse and restraining a matter excurrent within bondes and limits Aristotle varyed not much from the opinion and sentence of his Maister albeit he declared the same in other wordes calling that Forme which Plato named Terminable And that which Plato called Infinite Aristotle nameth Matter appointing Priuation by it selfe for a third beginning Let it not therefore séeme absurde to any that we appoint thrée beginnings of all things Salt Sulphur and Mercurie as if it were thereby intended to ouerthrowe by our constitution the beginnings of the ancient Phylosophers whereas we ioyne and agrée with them For if wée grant to Aristotle his beginnings what difference will there be betwéene him and vs. Wée admit if you please the distinction by which he diuideth his beginnings namely into the first matter into the simple matter and into that which is remote enduring all alterations of formes or wherein there is power to bée made subiect to all formes and in two contraryes to wit Forme and Priuation the which habilitie of taking forme is in the subiect Wée graunt that these beginnings of all other are the more parciptible in vnderstanding than in sense As therefore our beginnings which we appoint out of which al mixt things are compounded and be cannot by the Aristotelian Philosophers be ouerthrowen so in like Aristotelian beginnings cannot by ours be destroyed For all this whole world is diuided into two Globes to wit into the inferior Heauen which is Aetheriall and Airie and into the inferior Globe which comprehendeth Water and Earth The superior which is Aetheriall hath in it Fire lightning and brightnesse and this firery Heauen is a formall and essentiall Element What things soeuer are comprehended in these foure bodyes which are the Elements and receptacles of all things are eyther simple things or bodyes mixed and compounded of them They are simple which are without mixture existing apart and seuerall by themselues of the which all things are made and into the which all things are resolued They are compound or corporeat which both are made of simples and into simples And simples may be distinguished into those things which are simple formes and into those which are simple matters or into those things which are simply formals and into those which are simply materials So bodyes are diuided into materiall bodyes and into bodyes formall Those things which are simply formall are astrall and spirituall the Elements are formall Seedes are formall and the three beginnings are formall that is to say so spirituall that they come not within the compasse of our 〈◊〉 But the formal Elements whereof we speakâ— are they in wâ—ose closet the astral séedes oâ— things and the formal beginnings are defused and layd vp as in their proper recâ—â—â—â—cles in the which simple and spiritual Elements of seedes and spiritual beginnings the 〈◊〉 and quickening Sciences properties and rootes of propagating 〈◊〉 increase of al things lye hid wherein also all habites 〈◊〉 and figures qualities quantities and dimentions sauours â—dours and coolours are included which doe budde 〈◊〉 and florish out of their bosome in their due time by opertune maturitie And these simple Elements or beginnings doe imbrace the spiritual seedes with so great simphathy and friendship and doe render to the Elements and beginnings mutual reciprocation of loue that being brought by the parents into some particular kinde or forme they neuer make an ende by the recordation of their vnion with the simple Elements but that at the last againe the predestination and 〈◊〉 of the natural bodies being consummated they returne backe againe to their graundfathers and great graundfathers and doe rest there euen as the floods passing and issuing out of their Element of the sea running in their course hither and thither leauing at the length euery where behinde them their generation or their wombe eâ—oâ—erated they returne to their beginning againe wherupon by mutuall copulation they receiue new force and strength to increase their issue And this is the perpetuall circulation by which the heauen is marryed to the Earth and the inferior Elements doe conioyne with the superior For the continuall vapours arising from the center of the earth being expulsed into waters and being caryed from waters into ayre by the attraction of the Coelestiall Starres and also by the force and appetite of the inferior Elements to bring forth issue and to conceiue from heauen the séedes passing too and againe at the last the Elements returne to their parents full and impregnated with Celestiall formes and doe there nourish their séedes vntill at the length they bring foorth in due season and doe exclude their generation The which impregnation commeth from no other than from those astrall séedes and those thrée seuerall beginnings Mercurie Sulphur and Salt furnished and fulfilled with all science properties vertues and tinctures and doe borrowe and fitte to themselues out of their spirituall body a materiall and doe animate and adorne it with their properties For it belongeth vnto Mercurie to giue life vnto the partes to Sulphur to giue increase of body and to Salt to compact those two together and to conioyne them into one firme body GOD the Creator of all things
of the Hesperides in speaking so plainly of salt-péeter giuing thereby a free accesse vnto the doltish and ignorant Be not therefore deceiued in taking my words according to the letter Salt-Péeter of the Phylosophers or fusile salt whereof at the first came the name of Halchymie is not Salt-Péeter or that common Niter yet neuerthelesse the composition and wonderful nature thereof is as it were a certaine example and Lesbian rule our worke Howbeit I haue spoken more plainly manifestly vnto you of this matter then any other which hath gone before me hath done Let therefore Momus from henceforth hold his peace and let slaunderous tongues bée hereafter silenced Also let the ignorant open their eares and eyes and giue good héede to that which followeth wherein shal bée plainly shewed many admirable things and secrets of excéeding great profite Wherewith bée you wel satisfied and take my good will in good part till hereafter I shal deliuer that which shal better content you CHAP. III. Wherein by Examples the forces and properties of Salt are manifested YEe haue séene out of that first remaining Chaos that is to say out of that base earth or out of a matter confused and deformed an extraction and seperation of a fairer bright cléere and transparent forme that is to say of that Salt which is opt to receiue many other formes and which is endued with diuers and wonderfull properties Ye haue also séene how out of one and the same essence thrée distinct and seueral things yea thrée beginnings of Nature are extracted of the which all bodyes are compounded and with skilfull Chymist can extract and seperate out of euery naturâ—ll bodie that is to say out of Mineral Vegetal and Animal to wit Salt Sulphur and Mercurie principles verily most pure most simple and truely Elementarie of Nature all comprehended vnder one essence of Salt Sulphur and Mercurie which Phylosophers are woont to compare with the body Spirit and Soule for the body is attributed to salt the spirit to Mercurie and the soule to sulphur euery one to their apt and conuenient attribute And the spirit is as it were the mediator and conseruer of the soule with the body because through the benefite thereof it is ioyned and coupled with the soule And the soule quickeneth the spirit and the body Yée haue also seene in the aforesaide salt a Hermaphroditicall Nature Male and female fixed and volatil Agent and Pacient and which is more hot and cold fier and Ice by mutual friendship and simpathie ioyned in one and vnited into one substance wherein is to be séene the wonderful nature thereof The properties thereof are no lesse wonderful nay rather much more wonderful For Salt-peter is the especial key and cheife Porter which openeth most hard bodies and the most solid things as wel stones as Metal and bringeth gold and siluer into liquor which the proper water extracted out of the whole maffe without separation of the male or fixed And as it maketh al bodyes metallick spiritual and volatile so on the contrary part it hath vertue to fixe and to incorporate spirits how flying soeuer they bée Who now wil not wonder or rather bée amazed which knoweth that Salt-peter is so apt ready to take fire by which it passeth into ayre and smoake and yet in the meane time seeth that it remaineth liquid and fusible in a red hote crucible placed in the center of burning coales notwithstanding the which most burning heate it conceiueth no flame except the flame or fyre happen to touch it And which is more being of nature so volatil it is at the length fixed neither is it ouercome by the fire neither doth it yéelde bée it neuer so violent and burning no more then doth the Salamander if it be true which is reported of that beast which before notwithstanding it could not abide nor by any manner of meanes indure Thus therefore yée sée that by fire onely his nature is transformed Furthermore the same Saltâ—peter which was of late rightly prepared and clensed so white and Christalline at the least outwardly so appearing being now put into a fixatorie fire you shal sée that it conteineth within it al maner of colours as gréene red yellow and white with many others moe The which if any man wil hardly beléeue because he wil bée rather incredulous than docile I wish him to make tryal thereof and then hée shal learne so notable a mysterie of Nature within the space of tenne houres with very little cost And least yée should take mée for some Lycophrone or Gramarian writer of Tragedies I wil teach you how to worke truely and plainly Take of Salt-peter the finest and clearest one pound or two put it into a glasse Alembic with a couer and set it in sand no otherwise than if you should distil Aqua Fortis Put fyre vnder and moderate the same by degrées according to Art she which fyre thou shalt increase the third or fourth houre after in such wise til the sand appeare very hote This fyre in the highest degrée thou shalt continue by the space of fiue or sixe houres and then thou shalt finde and plainly sée that the spirits of Salt-peter haue penetrated the very glasse of the Alembic and that it hath dissoloued the same as wel within as without Furthermore the spirits of the Salt-peter which are come through the body of glasse cleauing to the out-side therof like vnto flower yée make take off with a soft feather and easilie gather together in great quantitie This flower is nothing else but the spirit of Salt-peter wherein ye shal sée al sorts of colours very liuely expressed That which remaineth in the bottom of the Culcurbit so white as snow and wholy fixed is a special remedie to extinguish al Feauers It is giuen from halfe a drachme to a drachme dissolued in some conuenient liquor And to speake in a word this remedy hath not his like to cut to clense and to purge and euacuate the corruptions of humors and to conserue the body from al pollution of corruption For séeing it is of the nature of Balsamic Salt it must néedes bée indued with such vertues and properties And in very déede to deale plainly and truely I cannot if I would sufficiently extol with prayses the true Salt-peter and Fusile salt of the Phylosophers This Salt Homer cals diuine And Plato writeth that this Salt is a friend and familiar to diuine things And many Phylosophers haue said that it is the soule of the vniuersal the quickening spirit and that which generateth al things It may peraduenture séeme that we haue bene too tedious in the inquisition and speculation as wel of the general as of the particular concerning the nature of Salt but it is so profitable and necessarie that it is the Basis and foundation of al medicinable faculties as more at large shal be shewed in his place that Physitians may haue wherewith to busie themselues and to vnderstand