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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65379	Four books of Johannes Segerus Weidenfeld concerning the secrets of the adepts, or, of the use of Lully's spirit of wine : a practical work, with very great study collected out of the ancient as well as modern fathers of adept philosophy : reconciled together by comparing them one with another, otherwise disagreeing, and in the newest method so aptly digested, that even young practitioners may be able to discern the counterfeit or sophistical preparations of animals, vegetables and minerals, whether for medicines or metals, from true, and so avoid vagabound imposters, and imaginary processes, together with the ruine of estates.; De secretis adeptorum. English	Weidenfeld, Johann Seger.	1685 (1685)	Wing W1253; ESTC R12745	271,134	404

consequently Dissolvents transmutable with the dissolved into a third substance different from both These Menstruums therefore are so far from being immutable that according to the Edict of the whole Crowd of Philosophers to wit The dissolution of the Body is the coagulation of the Spirit and so on the contrary nothing in the more Secret Chymy can be more infallible Now this permanence of Menstruums you have observed not only in the volatilizations of Menstruums but also in the fixations of some thus you had the fixation of the Spirit of Philosophical Wine in the greater Circulatums of the Ninth and Two and Twentieth Kinds but you will find more in the Preparations of Medicines as well as Tinctures They were by an Analogy of the Ancients ill called Menstruums unless also they could be transformed into the substance of an Embryo and yield proper Nutriment and augmentation to the Infant The Spirit of our Wine is indeed an absolute Oleosum that is combustible but here being throughly mixed with Aridums it becomes incombustible and despiseth the violence of Fire It is also moist and so uncapable of fixation but the moister and thinner parts which it contains are separated in the work of fixation from the more Oyley Particles being now concentrated So you observed that in the Preparations of the Sal Harmoniacks or Sulphurs of Nature the Spirit of Philosophical Wine as also the Vegetable as well as Mineral Menstruums are partly reduced into insipid Water and partly sticking to the Matters left in the bottom and fixed But better Examples you will have both in the Second and Third Books IX That Menstruums are not satiated with dissolving but become rather more avidous and so are by Dissolutions augmented as well in quantity as quality THough the Spirit of our Wine is the Basis Root and Center of all Menstruums Medicines Alchymical Tinctures and Pretious Stones yet nevertheless doth it dissolve slowly yea only such Bodies as are homogeneous to it that is purely Oyley as it self is a pure Oleosum and associate the same to it transmuting into its own Nature and so multiplies its self by this means Now so soon as this Spirit is transmuted into an Arido-Oleosum it does under the name of a Simple Vegetable Menstruum dissolve Arido-Oleosums that is the Sulphurs or Tinctures of the Mineral Kingdom the pure Aridum being untouch'd and left in the form of a white Powder with which Essences the said Menstruums or Essences may indeed melt together but not in the least be satiated because there is an Addition and Multiplication of like Parts But the same Vegetable Menstruums being now compounded of the Simple do no more extract the Tinctures and Essences of Minerals but dissolve and transmute the whole Mass or Substance of these Bodies into an Oyl swimming above which is called a Magistery Now this being digested together with its Menstruum at length falls in is united and so multiplies the Compounded Vegetable Menstruum For an Example to young Beginners The Spirit of Philosophical Wine being a Menstruum of the first Kind and acuated with the Oyl of Nutmegs is hereby made a Menstruum of the second Kind or acuated with Honey if you would have a Menstruum of the third Kind distil either of those Menstruums with Common Sal Harmoniack and you will have a Menstruum of the fourth but if you desire one of the fifth Kind cohobate either of them with the Salt of Tartar and you will have the Acetum acerrimum of Ripley or with common Salt and you will make the Sal circulatum of Paracelsus Cohobate Mercury or any other Mercury or any other Metal through an Alembick with this Vinegar or Salt and you will transmute the Simple Vegetable Menstruums into the Compounded Vegetable Menstruums of the eighth Kind from which you will further prepare Menstruums of the tenth Kind by dissolving and volatilizing any other Metal in them The same Rule you have as to our Mineral Menstruums But the Common Menstruums cannot receive beyond their Capacity X. That these Menstruums are also Secrets of the Second Book YOu have in this Book observed that among the Vegetable Menstruums there is none but what is either an Essence or a Magistery and it will be more copiously demonstrated in the Book of the Preparations of Medicines You have also taken notice by the aforesaid Receipts of them especially being compared with the following Descriptions of Medicines that Mineral Menstruums are the same Medicines but mixed and dissolved with Acids XI That these Menstruums are likewise Secrets of the Third Book IT is now partly clear by the Receipts of them but will be more clear by the Secrets of the Third Book that the Simple Menstruums are the Philosophers Stones not yet fermented but the Compounded are Menstruums mixed with the Masculine Seed and therefore Volatile and Fermented Stones XII That these Menstruums are in like manner Secrets of the Fourth Book THat these Menstruums do gove Light by Night and consequently are perpetual Lights yield also Matters for Pearls Pretious Stones c. the Receipts themselves do shew which will be confirmed by the Fourth Book RIPLEY Cap. 13. Philorcii Without these Waters we do little Good in this Art but he that hath these Waters will without all doubt compleat the Art The End of the First Book ERRATA EPist Ded. pag. 5. l. 3. read these for that Ep. to the Reader p. 10. l. 10. r. have a mind to Preface p. 3. l. 20. for Vegetative r. Vegetable p. 8. l. 28. for Minerals r. Mineral p. ibid. r. fixt Vegetable p. ib. l. 8. after that r. it scarce deserveth p. 12. l. 6. for mixt r. mix p. 14. l. 26. for is it r. it is p. 24. l. 12. dele of p. 31. l. 3. after oyl r. or middle salts for salts or p. 39. l. 5. for their r. the. p. 42. l. 33. for with r. which p. 45. l. 4. for the r. a. l. 16. for that only are they able to do r. that only is able to do this p. 48. l. 16. for as r. us p. 54. l. 11. for fly r. flow p. 56. l. 14. for drive r. dive p. 69. l. 24. for distil r. distil'd p. 78. l. 19. for stored r. restored p. 81. l. 1. omit the first four lines wholly p. 95. l. 1. for the latter is r. it p. 119. l. ult dele to p. 127. l. 12. for Metallick of r. Metals p. 128. l. 31. for extract r. extracting p. 130. l. 32. for prefers r. preserves p. 138. l. 21. for wherefore r. whereof p. 146. l. ult r. for an Aurum potabile he prepares a Menstruum out of Gold and Silver thus p. 152. for away r. all the. p. 177. l. pen. for out r. out of p. 181. l. 8. for its r. in p. 182. l. 14. for greens r. greeness p. 199. l. 33. for fire r. Firr p. 215. l. 5. for into it r. it into l. ult for greens r. greenness p. 246. l. 22. for Water r. Matter p. 261. l. 3. after Wine r. and Salts p. 296. l. 27. dele and when the Destillation is p. 301. l. 14. for shewing r. shining p. 306. l. 2. after Menstruums r. made p. 326. l. 27. for Tho r. tho p. 349. l. 30. for Acids r. Arids d 351. l. 33. for repeating r. repeated Books Printed for and Sold by Tho Howkins in George-Yard near Lombard-Street CLavis Horologiae or The Art of Dyalling with an Explication of the Pyramidical Dyal set up in His Majesties Garden at Whitehal Anno 1669. Illustrated with 40 Copper Cuts in Quarto By John Holwell A Cabalistical Dialogue in Answer to the Opinion of a Learned Doctor in Philosophy and Theology That the World was made of nothing By F. M. Van-Helmont in Quarto Trigonometry made easie fitted to the meanest Capacity it being the Foundation of Astronomy Surveying Navigation c. in Octavo By John Holwell Mellificium Mensionis or the Marrow of Measuring wherein a new and ready way is shewed how to measure Glazing Painting Plaistering Masonry Joyners Carpenters and Brick-layers Work in six Books and Illustrated with Copper Cuts the like not heretofore Published The Second Edition Corrected in Octavo By Venterus Mandey The Royal Catholick English School Containing a Catalogue of all Words in the Bible beginning with one Syllable and proceeding by degrees to eight divided and not divided c. in Octavo By Tobias Ellis Dr. Everard's Works in Octavo The Paradoxal Discourses of F. M. Van-Helmont concerning the Macrocosm and Microcosm c. in Octavo The Narrow Path of Divine Truth described from living Practice and Experience of its three great steps viz. Purgation Illumination and Vnion according to the Testimony of the Holy Scriptures c. By F. M. Van Helmont in Twelves The Artless Midnight Thoughts of a Gentleman at Court The Second Edition with Additions in Twelves The Young Man's Companion or a very Useful Manual for Youth c. The Second Edition with Additions By William Mather in Twelves

which he calls the less Medicines so that which was in Paracelsus most difficult to be understood by others became more clear to me than any thing else and so I obtained the End sooner than the Beginning Yet the Joy from thence accrewing fell shorter than expectation for having tried several Experiments in vain I came to understand that these Menstruums of Paracelsus contained something abstruse and unknown to be understood not in the least according to the Letter whereupon examining them more exactly and comparing their Qualities with the Nature of the Liquor Alkahest I found a vast difference between it and them for it is said There is one Liquor Alkahest and that universal but many are the Menstruums of Paracelsus that indestructible that destructible that not mixing with Bodies these abiding with them that preserves the Virtues of things these alter them that ascends after the Essences of things in destillation these before their dissolutions c. I was at a stand sometime which part to take one while I wish'd for one indestructible Liquor rather than many destructible Menstruums supposing that one better than many another while changing my Mind I desired the Menstruums as sufficient for many Uses I knew before Truth overcame at length enabling me now to demonstrate the most if not all the Medicines of Paracelsus in Guido and Basilius On the contrary I perceived the Arcanums of Paracelsus commonly so called as prepared by that Liquor Alkahest or the like to be more and more different yea contrary to the Authentick wherefore as to the Preparation of Medicines I began to abstain yea desisted from further enquiring into the obscure Matter Preparation and Use of that Liquor Alkahest namely that which I find described in one place of Paracelsus as a Medicine but not in the least as a Menstruum Which Obstacle being removed I found an easie way from Paracelsus to Lully Basilius and other Philosophers of the same Faculty who I saw agreed all unanimously in confirmation of the Paracelsian Menstruums yea Light adding Light to Light appeared so clear that their preparation variety simple and literal sense shewed themselves all at once one only Word remaining unknown yet expressing the universal Basis of all the Adepts and that is Spirit of Wine not Common but Philosophical which being known and obtained the greatest Philosophical Medicinal Alchymical and Magical Mysteries of the more secret Chymy will be in the power of the Possessor In no Books of the Adepts hitherto known of me have I found any thing rare that owes not its original Being to this Spirit so that I dare affirm that whatsoever Chymical Spirits lower and higher fixed and volatile are able to do the very same and more will this our Spirit perform This it was that moved me to employ all my Study and Endeavours turning over every Stone in quest of the Spirit of this Wine and continually ruminating upon those abstruse and variously disguis'd Terms whereby they clouded it as the Key of all Philosophy behold the Fame of your great Name welcom'd me to Wilde the Metropolis of Lithuania and observing that You in expounding Natural Philosophy abstained from all manner of Intricacy and as the first and only Person indeed using a plain and candid Series of Words in applying common Examples of Vulgar Chymistry I rejoyced with my self thinking What could not this great man do if Master of the more secret Chymy I resolved with my self therefore to take a Journey into England for your sake alone that I might confer with you about the Menstruums as well as Medicines and other Secrets of Paracelsus from whom also I promised to my self very great Assistance in some other things not yet known Nor indeed has my hope deceived me for besides the easie admission common to all Strangers and Foreigners you have been pleas'd to vouchsafe me a more free Access received me courteously and commended my Studies and thereby rais'd my Mind to greater Things Which Favours do oblige me to Dedicate this part of my Studies to you your self Earnestly and Humbly beseeching you kindly to accept it and continue your Love and Friendly Countenance to him that is and ever will be Your Honour 's Most Obedient Servant J. S. W. TO THE STUDENTS OF THE MORE Secret Chymy UNder Heaven is not such an Art more promoting the honour of God more conducing to Mankind and more narrowly searching into the most profound Secrets of Nature than is our true and more than laudable Chymy This is it which shews the Clemency Wisdom and Omnipotence of the Creator in the Creatures which teacheth not only Speculation but also Practice and Demonstration the Beginning Progress and end of things which restoreth our Bodies from infinite Diseases as by common means intolerable to pristine health and diverts our Minds from the Cares and Anxieties of the World the Thorns and Bryars of our Souls to Tranquility of Life from Pride to Humility from the Love and Desire of worldly Wealth to the Contempt thereof And in a word which raiseth us from earth to heaven Yet for all that may we say of it with the same truth that amongst all the Arts which have yielded any benefit or profit to the World there is none by which less honour has hitherto accrued to God Almighty and less utility to mankind for lest a Science of so great dignity and utility should be too common or ill managed by the ignorant and impious the prudent Possessors of the same made it their business so to describe it as to make it known to their Disciples only but exclude unworthy altogether from it But in process of time the Adepts arriving to a greater perfection of Knowledge and Experience invented sometimes one some●imes another shorter Method in their Work altering Fornaces Fires Vessels Weights yea and the Matter it self who being thereby also constrain'd to make new Theories and Terms of Art according to the new invented Practice it happened that the Scholar of one Adept understood not the new Theory much less the practice of another which also sometimes happened to the Adepts themselves those especially which were under the document of some certain Patron in some particular Method and Process for they had not the power of discerning further than they had learnt whereupon they commonly suspected all the Notions of other men especially those that differed from theirs though in themselves good and right as fallacious and contrary to Nature or applied other mens Theories Sentences and Terms of Art unknown to themselves to their own private Process with which they were acquainted as I shall by many Examples elsewhere declare by which very thing they involved this Art in such a Chaos of obscurity that hitherto neither Masters nor Scholars have scarce had the power of communicating any benefit to the learned World It is to be wondred at but rather lamented to see such imperfect Philosophical Systems as have been hitherto bequeathed to us by the Masters

well as perfect Metals from power into action And though I may seem not to have delineated to you the Form of the Glass yet I know and do remember that I left some of them at your House and many other of our Cucurbits which are every one good Govern your self according to your discretion we having sufficiently manifested to you the way of Truth in this Chapter From the Receipts we observe 1. That the Menstruums of this seventh Kind differ from the former simple Menstruums not in matters nor in ways of making but in the weights and use of the Ingredients 2. That these Menstruums tinge not their dissolution which is the property of compound Menstruums Every Vegetable Mercury contains indeed its own tinging Sulphur in its Bowels sufficient both for it self and others as will be demonstrated in the third Book but especially in the fifth nevertheless we affirm that every Spirit of Philosophical Wine wants Tincture as being not acuated with things more tinging The Eighth KIND Vegetable Menstruums compounded of Simple Vegetable Menstruums and common Argent Vive or other Metals 41. The Ignis Gehennoe of Trismosinus made of the Spirit of Philosophical Wine and Mercury Sublimed Pag. 7. Aurei Velleris Germ. TAke of Alum calcined Nitre of each two parts of Salt decrepitated one part mix take of this mixture and Mercury sublimed of each one pound sublime by the Law of Art mix the sublimation with new mixture of Salts and sublime and that repeat three times To this Mercury thus sublimed and pulverized pour the Spirit of Philosophical Wine and draw it off in Balneo to an oleity cohobate sometimes and the fourth time will ascend the Mercury together with the Spirit of VVine rectify the distillation till it leaves no Faeces and it will be a VVater burning like Hell-Fire This VVater rectify again in Ashes till it ascends without leaving any Sediment lastly distil through a Paper seven times double in Balneo and you will have a VVater truly Spiritual which keep in a Vessel close stoped by reason it is very Volatile Annotations THe Kind immediately antecedent is indeed computed in the number of the greater Circulatums or Vegetable Menstruums compounded because the Menstruums of that Kind do in the power of dissolving excell the other Simple Menstruums but not in Tincture which that as well as those do want but we will now offer those which shall be better they will not only dissolve but in dissolving moreover tinge the things dissolved in them and so make them better they will not only extract the Essences of things but transmute whole Bodies into Magisteries Amongst these the Vegetable Mercurial Waters made of common Argent vive and simple Vegetable Menstruums have priority for many of the Adepts being so taught by Experience have called common Argent vive the open Metal for it is sooner dissolved than the other Metals and does by its aridity more temper the unctuosity of the Spirit of Philosophical Wine than the individuals hitherto used in the antecedent Kinds of Menstruums As concerning this matter hear the Philosophers and above the rest the great Paracelsus Prince without question of all the Adepts who saith If you intend to convert Metals into a Magistery and tinge the whole Body altogether into an Essence you must take the chief and open Metal to which all the rest have affinity in Nature and putrify it in its own Matrix which is situated in VVater and is call'd the Mother of all Metals Paracelsus his Circulatum minus made of common Salt purge it from superfluities and reduce it into its liquid first being that is the Metallick Acetum acerrimum the primum Ens of Mercury Lib. 10. Arch. Cap. 3. pag. 37. As a temperate Essence he goes on is drawn out of Herbs as out of a Vine for example by which very Essence the like Essence may be extracted out of all sorts of Herbs and Roots so as that the Mercury of VVine shews not its own Nature but the Nature of that with which it is essentiated for the like reason out of Metals and Minerals the like Mercury or Spirit is extracted out of the open and middle Metal Mercury Lib. 10. Arch. pag. 39. Mercury vive is the Mother of all the seven Metals and ought deservedly to be called the Mother of Metals for it is an open Metal Libro de rebus naturalibus pag. 87. VVherefore call to mind those things which have been said before of half perfect Natural Things among which Mercury vive is one which is not brought into compaction but left in liquidity Besides you must know that every generated thing which is open as Argent vive is like an open House into which every Man that will may enter for so lies Mercury open that every Physitian may take what he will from it but it is not so with Gold Silver Tin c. for that Gate is shut by coagulation till opened dissolved and reduced into the first matter by Art which Metals have indeed many impediments such as are not in Mercury for it is open and wants nothing but the direction of preparation Tract 2. lib. 2. de morbis metallicis 723. Basilius agrees with Paracelsus saying In the beginning of Generation the first of all is Argent vive being open and loosely coagulated because it hath little Salt communicated to it and therefore is more Spiritual than Corporeal the rest of the Metals being derived from its Essence have more Salt and therefore are made more Corporeal Lib. de rebus natural supernat Cap. 2. Chortalassaeus affirms the same saying Argent vive is of divers Colours white skyish ash blackish one slow another swift yet in it self an open Metal and hath a Body easily transmutable Cap. pag. 359. Volum sexti Theat Chym. In searching for Sulphur despair not saith Sendivogius I tell you by all that 's sacred it is in Gold and Silver most perfect but in Argent vive most easy Pag. 213. lib. de Sulphure Of the antient Philosophers I will add Arnold who in Lib. 1. Cap. 7. Rosarii saith The Medicine is as well in Metallick Bodies as also in Argent vive as to Nature because they are found to be of one Nature but indeed in these Bodies harder in the Argent vive nearer but not more perfectly In Argent vive alone it is found more easily and more nearly not more perfectly it being the Father of both those Luminaries and all things fusible for they are all derived from it and therefore are they all resolv'd into it because Nature embraceth its own Nature more amicably and rejoyceth with it more than with that which is Heterogeneous For in it is the facility of extracting that subtil substance Among the Metals there is none that sooner mixeth with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine and is more easily altered than Argent vive wherefore the Adepts esteemed it as an open Metal all other Metals and Mineral Bodies are with

be better assured by Examples of the following Books 6. That simple Vegetable Menstruums do as being permanent Waters continue also with things Metallick and stick most perfectly to them not for Medicines only but also for the making of precious Stones yea Tinctures as well particular as universal As to the simple Vegetable Menstruums extract the Essences of Vegetables and the same compounded that they do make Magisteries for a Medicinal use we shall easily agree but for the unctuous and most inflamable Spirit of Philosophical Wine made of combustible Vegetables and Animals to be a constitutive to any Chymical Tincture seems to be an assertion altogether Paradoxical for which cause are we to be admonished that the Adepts rejected every Combustible Vegetable and Animal as a thing useless for their Tinctures but never despised the purify'd Elements of Vegetables and Animals made incombustible or acquiring incombustibility in the process it self though they have declared them to be without the ferment of the Stone insufficient as also Metals alone without these Menstruums being therefore mix'd with Metals they make Tinctures as well particular as universal for Metals Witness Ripley saying If you have a mind to make Gold and Silver by the Philosophical Art you must for that purpose take neither Eggs nor Blood but Gold and Silver which are Naturally and Prudently and not Manually calcined for they produce a new Generation increasing their Kind as all other Natural Things But suppose a Man might with benefit effect it in things not Metallick in which are Colours found in Aspect pleasant as in Blood Urine Eggs and Wine or in half Minerals taken out of Mines yet would it be necessary for the Elements of them to be first putrifyed and joyn'd in Matrimony with the Elements of perfect Bodies Libro 12. portar portu 1. The Elixir he proceeds is not to be made of Wine as Wine nor of Eggs Hair or Blood as meerly Eggs Hair or Blood but of the Elements only and therefore we are to seek in order to obtain the Elements in the excellency of their simplicity and rectification for the Elements saies the Philosopher Bacon in his Speculum are the Roots and Mothers of all things living But the Elements of the things aforesaid are not Ingredients to the making of Elixirs but by the Virtue and Commixtion with the Elements of Spirits whereof he recites four Argent vive Sulphur Arsenick and common Sal Armoniack and Metallick Bodies and so as Roger Bacon saies they are Ingredients and do make the great Elixir Mid. Phil. Chym. Cap. 3. We saith he further take neither of the first Principles they being too simple nor of the last they being too gross and fecualent but only the middle in which is the tincture and true Oyl separated from any unclean Terrestreity and Phlegmatick Water therefore saith Raymund thus The unctious Liquor is the near Matter of our Physical Argent vive And though those Bodies in which those Mercuries are hidden be sold openly by Apothecaries at a low Price according to the saying of the Philosopher in this manner Our Sulphurs we have from the Apothecaries at a mean Price yet if you understand not the Art of separating the Elements according to the Doctrine of Aristotle in is Epistle to Alexander in the Book of the Secrets of Secrets where he saith Separate the subtil from the gross the thin from the thick and when you have drawn Water out of Air Air out of Fire and Fire out of Earth then have you the full Art except I say you understand this you will do little or nothing in my Work Pupilla Alchym Pag. 298. It appertains not to this place to prove these things by more Examples it is enough to have instanced these few by way of anticipation the following Books treating more copiously of this Truth 7. That the Name Hell Fire the Menstruum of Trismosinus is the proper and common Name of Mercurial Menstruums for most of the Adepts do affirm Mercury to be of a most hot yea Fiery Nature some few deny accounting it the coldest Metal Amongst the Affirmers was the great Paracelsus saying We find Mercury to be inwardly of the greatest heat and no way to be coagulated but by the greatest cold Libro 6. Archid. magic Whoever think Mercury to be of a moist and cold Nature are convinced of an open Error it being of its Nature most hot and moist by reason of which it always and perpetually sloweth for if it was of a moist and cold Nature it would be like frozen Water and be alwaies hard and solid and it would be necessary to melt it by the heat of Fire as other Metals which indeed it requires not having a Natural Liquation and Flux through its own heat which keeps it in a perpetual Fluxion and makes it quick that it can neither dye nor be congealed Coelum Phil. Sect. de calore merc pag. 124. No Name can be found for this Liquesaction Fluxion of Argent vive much less the Original of it by which it may be called and no heat being so vehement as to be equivalent to it Hell Fire ought to be compared to it Coelum Phil. can .. 1.121 Basilius taught the same saying The Fiery Spirit of Sulphur being invisibly incorporated in Mercury therefore it prefers it self in Fluxion not to be coagulated c. For Mercury is a meer Fire and therefore cannot be burned by any Fire no Fire toucheth it so as to destroy it for either c. Currus triumph Antimonii Pag. 40. And Sendivogius I Mercury am Fire c. My Spirit and the Spirit of Fire love one another and so far as able one accompanies the other c. If any Man knows the Fire of my Heart he sees Fire is my Food and the longer the Spirit of my Heart eats Fire the fatter it will be the Death of which is afterward the Life of all things c. I am Fire within Fire is my Food Dialog Mercurii Pag. 515. Volum 4. Theat Chym. Ripley did by the most hot things of Lully acuating the Vegetable Menstruum without the Virtue of which things it would not be able to dissolve Metals but in a long time understand Mercury I am saith he forc'd to say that all these things which Raymond speaks of things most hot are covered with a Philosophical Veil for his Saying is That dissolution must be made with Spirit of Wine but his intention also is that in this Spirit of Philsophical Wine may be had another resoluble Menstruum which is only of the Metallick Kind Medul Phil Pag. 168. For that is Raymund's Water which Mary the Prophetess speaks of saying Make your Water as a running Water by Divine Inspiration extracted out of the two Mineral and Vegetable Zaiboth Mercuries that is circulated together into a Cristalline Water c. because as saith Raymund there being in Mercury a Point of Igneity by the power of which is dissolution made it is requisite to

c. 2. That these Menstruums are called Circulatums because they were by the ancient Philosophers Circulated for the space of thirty or forty sometimes sixty Days 3. That these are called the greater Circulatums to be distinguished from the less Circulatums being less excellent the greater having greater strength and communicating tincture to things that are dissolved in them 4. That these Circulatums are the first Beings or graduated Essences of Metals and Minerals and amongst things Volatile nothing can be more excellent than they they being exalted from a fixed Essence or Astrum into a much more Noble Essence called an Arcanum 5. That these Circulatums are Medicines or Medicinal Arcanums 6. That these Circulatums ore most red Sublime the Stones saith Paracelsus till they come to redness He extracts the tincture of Lily out of Antimony reverberated to a Purple or Violet Colour but makes the Soul of Metals out of Sulphur reverberated of which thus What Hermes said that the Soul alone is the means of joyning the Spirit to the Body was not impertinently spoken For Sulphur being that Soul and maturing and excocting all things as Fire it will be also able to bind the Spirit with the Body and incorporate and unite them together so as from thence to produce a very Noble Body The vulgar combustible Sulphur is not to be reputed the Soul of Metals but the Soul is something more than a combustible and corruptible Body and therefore cannot be burned by any Fire being all Fire it self and indeed it is nothing else but the Quintessence of Sulphur which is extracted out of Sulphur reverberated by the Spirit of Philosophical Wine and is of a red Colour and clear as a Ruby Which is indeed a great and notable Arcanum to transmute white Bodies and to coagulate running Mercury into fixed and tested Gold Accept this as commended to you to make you Rich and you have reason to be content with this only Secret for the transmutation of Metals Lib. 1. de gener rerum Nat. pag. 87. If Mercury Antimony and Sulphur fixed by reverberation and the Spirit of Philosophical Wine drawn off be red and diaphanous as a Ruby it follows that the same Bodies volatilized with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine do become more red From hence we observe that the Menstruums of Diana are of divers Colours sometimes white milky and opake sometimes most clear sometimes again most red and most transparent so that the Arguments of Bernhard denying the diaphaneity of Menstruums may be easily resolved Where Fools saith he do out of the less Minerals extract corrosive Waters into which they put any sort of Metals and corrode them for they think that therefore they are dissolved by a Natural solution which solution indeed requires permanence together that is of the dissolvent and the dissolved that from both as from the Masculine and Feminine Seed a new Species may result I tell you truly no Water dissolves a Metallick Species by Natural Reduction but that wh … remains with it in matter and form and which the dissolved Metals are able to recongeal which happens not in any sort of Aqua fortis but is rather a defiling of the Composition that is the Body that is to be dissolved Nor is that Water pertinent to Bodies in solution which remains not with them in congelations Mercury is of this sort and not Aqua fortis or that which Fools esteem Mercurial Water clear and diaphanous For if they divide and obstruct the Homogeneity of Mercury how will the first proportion of the Feminine Seed stand and be preserved Pag. 60. Epist ad Thomam The Elixir and Azoth he goes on that is the Vital Spirit Spirit of Life Philosophical Aqua vitae and fugitive Soul animated Spirit are not diaphanous nor transparent nor clear as the Tear of ones Eye nor any dissolving Spirit Pag. 94. Ejusd Epist Which cannot be done in a diaphanous clear and transparent Liquor because if the aforesaid Elixir and Azoth that is Spirit and Soul had or could shew any diaphaneity the Earth would now in proportion have dismissed the Water and separated it self from it whereas otherwise it would have inspissated and coagulated the parts of it caused an opacity in the Elixir and Azoth and made the Metallick Form to stand congelable For in restringing fixed Metallick Species the restringer must of necessity act upon the restringible and the congealer upon the congelable which cannot be done in the aforesaid diaphanous and clear Water otherwise it is in Vegetables in which a simple and diaphanous Water is by decoction inspissated in those Vegetables which notwithstanding vanisheth and evaporates at length by the Tryal of Fire because it is not permanent and fixed in the Composition not having an Earth Naturally Homogeneous to it in Composition with it as Argent vive has which Earth is indeed the cause of permanent fixion in things Homogeneous wherefore simple Water cannot by congelation be fixed with Vegetables as Mercury with Metals If therefore Mercury hath received diaphaneity in the Philosophers Work it will remain in the quality of an irrestringible substance and will not be congealed upon Laton as to a Metallick Form Species and Proportion which carries the congelation of it self neither with it nor in it as Water does Earth which Earth as aforesaid is indeed Mercurial and the first cause of inspissation coagulation and fixation If therefore that Water remains not in Metallick Proportion how can the like Species be produced from this Composition They therefore that think so to extract a clear transparent Water out of Mercury and work many wonders by it are in an Error for suppose they can make such a Water yet would it be of no advantage to the Work nor to the Nature and Proportion of it nor could it restore or erect a perfect Metallick Species for so soon as Mercury is altered from its first Nature so soon is it excluded from being an ingredient to our Philosophical Work because it hath lost its Spermatick and Metallick Nature By these things therefore it is known what Truth your Opinion contains and wherein it is contrary and absurd you asserting it to be necessary in order to perfect the great Elixir to have a Gum in which are all things necessary to it containing the four Elements and is a most clear Water as the Tear of an Eye made Spiritual which causeth Gold to be a meer Spirit For one Body penetrates not another but a pure Spiritual substance congealed is that which penetrates and tingeth a Body Be it as you say my Honoured Doctor that Natures are not joyn'd without a Gum or Oyly Matter c. Had Bernhard disputed only against every Mercurial Water not permanent made diaphanous with Aqua fortis or any other vulgar Menstruum and not also against the most clear Mercurial Water of Thomas de Bononia then the Arguments aforesaid had been of great strength but now the objections against the limpidity of

sense of the Receipt but never from Chymical Truth so long as you are guided by the Spirit of Philosophical Wine but here you must have a great care that you do not transmute as sometimes through inadvertence you may the false Receipts of deceitful Distillers into true ones an impossible into a possible a lye into truth and a wicked Man into a Philosopher Sometimes they impregnated common Sal Armoniack with a Tincture to make a Menstruum higher thus 81. The Water of Sal Armoniack of Isaacus Cap. 47.2 Oper min. pag. 460. Vol. 3. Theat Chym. TAke Sal Armoniack sublime it with Roman Vitriol one Pound of Sal Armoniack to two Pounds of Vitriol then grind upon a Stone the Faeces and sublime again then throw away the Faeces and sublime again with two Pounds of new Vitriol do as before repeating nine times pulverize the Sal Armoniack and put the Powder into a Glass pour upon it distilled Vinegar Philosophical or some Menstruum of the Fifteenth Kind so as only to be dissolved and no more than that the Sal Armoniack may be turned only into Water as yellow as Sol because the Sal Armoniack was sublimed by Vitriol and that produced the Tincture And this is that Water of Sal Armoniack which I promised before to teach you how to make From the Receipts we observe 1. That the Oyl or Essence of Salt becomes a stronger Menstruum by the addition of Volatile Salts 2. That this ought to be understood also of the Menstruums of the fifteenth precedent Kind 3. That these Menstruums are the same with the Vegetable Menstruums of the fourth Kind excepting only that they have an Acid added over and above 4. That these Menstruums are of most easy preparation being made by three cohobations only 5. That it is very difficult for a Man to err being experienced in the more secret Chymy for he that understands the practice of this Art will easily explain the Receipt of every Adept be it never so obscure either by the use or title or way of preparing for it is in a manner impossible not to draw some Light from one or other of the said three or direction enough to find the same Receipt more clear in the Writings either of the same or some other Adept And indeed though we sometimes meet with Receipts which in title way of preparation and use seem to be like the Receipts of vulgar Chymistry yet a Desciple of our Art will easily determine either for the approbation or reprobation of these Receipts For there are infallible Signs to distinguish a true from a false Menstruum this one following shall here suffice The quality of a good Menstruum is to dissolve Bodies either gently or violently and make them not only Volatile but fat also yea reduce them into a true Oyl either swimming upon or sinking under watery Liquors This Attribute of a Menstruum is inconsistent to any common dissolvent but proper to the Philosophical and to them alone being made of the unctuous Spirit of Philosophical Wine which Spirit alone doth by its permanence make the dry Sulphur of a Metal both thinner and fatter That Menstruum therefore in the use of which are promised such things as cannot be performed by common Menstruums may be truly called Philosophical with a caution or two to be observed 1. That the Receipt must be of some known and not suspected Author not of every smoak-seller promising great and many things without a Foundation wherefore every Receipt wanting its Authority though it may seem like a true one yet we think ought to be rejected as suspicious 2. That the Receipt must not be alone described not in one but divers places by the same Author or at least most clear in its ingredients For the same Names have one signification with one but another with another Adept so long therefore as it is not known by collateral places what an Author means by his Matters such a Man's Receipts we declare uncertain 3. That the Receipt must import a competent Rule in operating that is declare whether Matters are to be volatilized in part or in the whole but whatsoever are more obscure and concise we lay aside as imperfect The Seventeenth KIND Simple Mineral Menstruums made of Philosophical Vinegar and fixed Salts not tinging as well Vegetable as Mineral 82. The Aqua Comedens of Paracelsus Lib. 10. Arch. pag. 37. BY Aqua Comedens Eating or Corroding Water we mean Vinegar mix'd with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine which must be drawn from common Salt so often till it is dissolved and comes over by distillation in the Vinegar Annotations THe Philosophical Vinegar or Vinegar mix'd with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine which you acuated with Volatile Salts in the precedent Kind is made stronger by the mixing of fixed Salts so called We have described several Vegetable Menstruums made with Alcali Salts in their fifth Kind which if prepared with Philosophical Vinegar instead of the Spirit of Philosophical Wine will produce Mineral Menstruums of this Kind though prepared another way with this only difference that they are made more slowly with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine but with Philosophical Vinegar much sooner yea immediately if either Common or Philosophical Vinegar be joyned to the Vegetable Menstruums Aqua comendens or Eating Water is the third Menstruum that we have observed to be made of common Salt The first is in the fifth Kind of Vegetable Menstruums where common Salt being fused and resolved per deliquium is by Virtue of the Spirit of Philosophical Wine reduced into the Oyl or Essence of Salt which by being sometimes cohobated with the same Spirit becomes sweet and is transmuted into the Arcanum of Salt or Circulatum minus made of common Salt The second is in the fourteenth Kind where the aforesaid Oyl of Salt is left in its acid rather saline Essence The third which is taught in the present Kind agrees with the first except only that it is prepared not with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine but Philosophical Vinegar and so sooner than that and in use is stronger as a Mineral Menstruum Dissolve the Arcanum of Salt or Salt circulated in any Acid not tinging for example common Vinegar distill'd Spirit of Niter Sulphur Salt c. and it will produce the Eating Water by simple mixtion on the contrary if you weaken or take away the Acid of the Eating Water either by precipitating it with common Spirit of Wine common Water c. or digesting it by it self you will have the Arcanum of Salt or Water of Salt circulated That which has been said of common Salt is also to be understood of Niter Alume and all other Salts not tinging The Receipt of the Eating Water is clear of it self except that in the Latin Translation a Salis Nitri Spiritu is read amiss the German Authors own Writing having it a Sale communi Von gemeinen Saltz The Error it is requisite you should correct Menstruums of