found also other baths the power and vertue whereof consists not in any spiritual sulphur nor in any metallick body mixed with salt but only in a certaine spiritual salt mixed with a certaine subtile fixed earth which waters do not run through metallick mines as others do but rather stones of the mountaines calcined with a subterraneal fire whence also they borrow their subtile acidity with their insipid earth And this no man will deny that hath the knowledge of volatile and fixed salts of minerals and metals that which I am able to demonstrate with very many and most evident reasons if time and occasion would permit but it shall be done sometime or other as hath been said in a peculiar treatise Now therefore I will only teach how by salts minerals and metals artificial Bathes may be made which are not only not inferiour to the natural in vertue but also oftentimes far better and that without much cost or labour which any one may use at home in stead of natural for the expelling of diseases and recovering of health And although I am resolved to set forth a book that shall treat largly of the nature and original of Bathes and of their use yet I am willing now also to say something in brief concerning it and that from the foundation seeing that there are so many different opinions of learned men and those for the most part uncertain As concerning therefore the original of the acidity as well volatile as corporeal as also the heart of Baths though that is not one and the same for else each would have the same properties but daily experience testifies the contrary For it is manifest that some Bathes help some diseases and others are hurtful for them which comes from nothing else but from the difference of the properties of the mineral waters proceeding from a diversity of mines impregnating those waters In a word sweet waters attract their powers and vertues in the caverns of mountaines from some metal and minerals of divers kinds that have naturally a most acid spirit of salt as are divers kinde of marcosites containing copper and iron and sometimes gold and silver also kinds of vitriol and allome called by the ancients Misii Rarii Chalcitis Melanteria and Pyritis whereof some are found white like metals but others dispersed in a fat earth of a round figure in greater or lesser pieces which sulphureous salt mines whilest the water runs through and humectates that spirit of salt is stirred up having got a vehiculum and fals upon the mines by dissolving them in which solution the water waxeth warme as if it had been powred on quick lime or like spirit of vitriol or salt mixed with water and powred on iron and other metals where continually and daily that water running through the mines whose nature and properties it imitates carryes something with it wherefore there are so many and such various kinds of Baths as are the mines by which the water is heated Let him that will not believe take any mineral of the aforesaid quality and wrap it up in a wet linen cloth for a little while and he will see it experimentally that the minerall stone will be heated by the water and so heated as if it were in the fire so as thou canst scarce hold it in thy hand which at length also by a longer action will cleave in sunder and be consumed like quick lime I will publish some time or other God willing more fully and cleerly in a peculiar treatise this my opinion which I have now delivered in very few words Although to the sick it be all one and it matters not them from what cause the baths come and whence they borrow their vertues if so be they may use them this controversie being left to natural Philosophers that will controvert it which none of them can better decide then a skilful Chymist that hath the knowledge of minerals metals and salts And first of sulphureous Bathes that have a subtil acidity IN the second Treatise I have demonstrated the manner of distilling subtile volatile sulphureous spirits viz. of common salt vitriol allome nitre sulphur antimony and other salts of minerals and metals and their vertues and intrinsecal properties now also I will shew their extrinsecal use as they are to be mixed with waters for Baths The vertues therefore of Baths coming not from insipid water but from those most subtile volatile sulphureous and salt spirits but these being of themselves not mixed with water unfit for Baths to be used for recovering of health by reason of their too great heat and subtilty the most high God hath revealed to us unworthy and ungrateful men his fatherly providence shewing to us by nature the use of them and the manner of using of them for the taking away of diseases which nature being never idle works uncessantly and like a handmaid executes the will of God by shewing to us the various kinds of distillations transmutatious and generations From which teacher we must learn all arts and sciences seeking a certain and infallible information as it were out of a book writ with a divine hand and filled with innumerable wonders and secrets And this is a far certainer knowledge then that empty and imaginary Philosophy of those vulgar disputing Philosophers Dost thou think that that true Philosophy can be sold for a hundred Royals How can any one judge of things hid in the earth who is wilfully blind in things exposed to the light of the Sun hating knowledge I wish knowledge were sutable to the name how can any one that is ignorant of the nature of fire know how to work by fire fire discovers many things in which you may as in a glass see things that are hid The fire shewes to us how every thing waters salts minerals and metals together with other innumerable things are generated in the bowels of the earth by the reflexion of that central and astral fire for without the knowledge of fire all nature remaines vailed and occult Fire always had in great esteem by Philosophers is the key for the unlocking of the greatest secrets and to speak in a word he that is ignorant of fire is ignorant of nature with her fruits and he hath nothing but what he hath read or heard which oftentimes is false according to that He easily speakes untruthes that speaks what he hath heard He that is ignorant knows not how to discern betwixt the truth and falshood but takes the one for the other I pray thee thou that art so credulous dost thou think that thy teacher writ his books from experience or from reading other Authors May they not be corrupted and sophisticated by antiquity and frequent description Also dost thou understand the true and genuine sense of them It is better to know then to think for many are seduced by opinions and many are deceived by faith that is without knowledge There are many indeed ambitious of sciences that are
the operation is performed better with the flowers of these metals the preparation whereof shall be hereafter taught Take therefore the flowers upon which in a gourd glass pour the spirit of salt and presently the spirit will work upon them especially being set in a warm place filter the yellow solution and abstract the humidity untill there remain a yellow heavy oyle which is proper against pitrid ulcers Oyle of Mercury NEither is this easily dissolved with the spirit of salt but being sublimed with vitriol and salt is easily dissolved Being dissolved it yeelds an oyle very corrosive which must be used with discretion wherefore it is not to be administred unless it be where none of the other are to be had For I saw a woman suddenly killed with this oyle being applyed by a certain Chirurgeon But this oyle is not to be slighted in eating ulcers tetter c. which are mortified by it Oyle of Antimony CRude Antimony that hath never undergone the fire is hardly dissolved in spirit of salt as also the Regulus thereof but the Regulus being subtilly poudered is more easily wrought upon in case the spirit be sufficiently rectified The Vitrum is more easily but most easily of all the flowers are dissolved being such as are made after our prescription a little after set down Neither is Butyrum Antimonii being made out of sublimed Mercury and Antimony any thing else but the Regulus of Antimony dissolved with spirit of salt for sublimed Mercury being mixed with Antimony feeling the heat of the fire is forsaken by the corrosive spirits associating themselves with antimony whence comes the thick oyle whilest which is done the sulphur of Antimony is joyned to the quick-silver and yeelds a Cinnabar sticking to the neck of the retort but the residue of the Mercury remains in the bottom with the Caput Mortuum because a little part thereof doth distill off And if thou hast skill thou maist recover the whole weight of the Mercury again And these things I was willing the rather to shew thee because many think this is the oyle of Mercury and therefore that white pouder made thence by the pouring on of abundance of water they call Mercurius vitae with which there is no mixture at all of Mercury for it is meer Regulus of Antimony dissolved with spirit of salt which is again separated when the water is poured on the antimoniall butter as is seen by experience For that white pouder being dryed and melted in a crucible yeelds partly a yellow glass and partly also a Regulus but no Mercury at all Whence it doth necessarily follow that that thick oyle is nothing else but Antimony dissolved in spirit of salt For the flowers of Antimony being mixed with spirit of salt make an oyle in all respects like to that butter which is made of Antimony and sublimated Mercury which also is after the same manner by the affusion of a good quantity of water precipitated into a white pouder which is commonly called Mercurius vitae It is also by the same way turned into Bezoardicum minerall viz. by abstracting the spirit of nitre and it is nothing else but Diaphoretick Antimony For it is all one whether that Diaphoretick be made with spirit of nitre or with nitre it self viz. corporeal for these have the same vertues although some are of opinion that that is to be preferred before the other but the truth is there is no difference But let every one be free in his own judgement for those things which I have wrote I have not writ out of ambition but to finde out the truth Now again to our purpose which is to shew an oyle of antimony made with the spirit of salt Take a pound of the flowers of Antimony of which a little after upon which pour two pound of the best rectified spirit mix them well together in a glass and set them in sand a day and night to dissolve then pour out that solution together with the flowers into a retort that is coated which set in sand and first give a gentle fire untill the flegme be come off then follows a weak spirit with a little stronger fire for the stronger spirits remaine in the bottom with the Antimony then give a stronger fire and there will come forth an oyle like to the butter of Antimony made with sublimed Mercury and is appropriated to the same uses as follows The flowers of Antimony white and vomitive TAke of this butter as much as you please upon which in a glass gourd or any other large glass pour a great quantity of water until the white flowers will precipitate no more then decant off the water from the flowers which edulcorate with warm water and dry with a gentle heat and thou shalt have a white pouder The Dose is that 1. 2. 3. 8. 10. grains be macerated for the space of a night in wine which is to be drank in the morning and it worketh upward and downward But it is not to be given to children those that be old and weak but to those that be strong and accustomed to vomiting When at any time this infusion is taken and doth not work as sometimes it fals out but makes the patient very sick he must provoke vomiting with his finger or else it will not work but make those that have taken it to be sick and debilitated even to death We must also in the over much working of these flowers drink a draught of warm beer or rather of warm water decocted with chervil or parsly and they will work more mildly But let not him that is able to bear the operation thereof any way hinder it for there is the greater hope of recovering his health thereby for they do excellently purge choler and evacuate flegme in the stomack being humors that will not yeeld to other Catharticks they open obstructions resist the putrefaction of the blood the causes of many diseases such as are feavers headaches c. they are good for them that are leprous scorbutical Melancholical hypochondriacal infected with the French pox and in the beginning of the plague In brief they do work gallantly and do many things After the taking of them the patient must stay in his bed or at least not go forth of his house for to avoid the aire or otherwise they may be mistrusted And because of their violence they are feared and hated I shall in the fourth part of this book for the sake of the sick set down such as are milder and safer such as shall work rather downward then upward causing easie vomits which also thou mayest give to children and those that are old without danger yet some respect being had of the disease and age The flowers of Antimony diaphoretical THE foresaid flowers if they be cast into melted nitre and be left a while in melting are made fixt so as to become Diaphoretical and lose their Cathartical vertue The acid water being separated from the flowers if
attain unto this oyle the later Physitians took great paines but all in vaine because they did not understand at all the Ancients about the preparing of this oyle but thought to get it by the force of fire and so using violent distillation they got no sweet oyle but such as was very sowre and corrosive which in taste efficacy and vertue was not comparable at all to the former However they ascribed unto it though falsely the same vertues which the ancients according to truth did unto theirs But daily experience sheweth that the oyle of vitriol as it is found ordinarily cureth no falling sickness nor killeth worms whereas this Philosophical doth it very quickly Whence it appeareth that the other is nothing like unto the true medicinal oyle of vitriol neither is it to be compared to it I must confess indeed that per descensum out of common vitriol by the force of the fire there may be got a greenish oyle which yet is not better then the other because it proveth as sharpe in taste and of as corroding a quality as if it had been distilled through a Retort Those that found out this oyle as Paracelsus Basilius and some few others did alwayes highly esteem it and counted it one of the foure maine pillars of Physick And Paracelsus saith expresly in his writings that its viridity or greenness must not be taken away or marred which indeed a very little heat can do by the fire for saith he if it be deprived of its greenness it is deprived also of its efficacy and pleasant essence Whence it may be perceived sufficiently that this sweet green oyle is not to be made by the force of the fire as hitherto by many hath been attempted but in vaine And it is very probable that the ancients which did so highly praise the oyle of vitriol happily knew nothing of this way of distilling which is used by us now a dayes for they only simply followed Nature and had not so many subtle and curious inventions and wayes of distilling But however it is certain that such a sweet and green oyle cannot be made of vitrioll by the force of the fire but rather must be done by purification after a singular way for the Ancients many times understood purification for distillation as it is evident when they say Distill through a filtre or through filtring paper which by us is not accounted for distillation but by them it was However this is true and very sure that a great Treasure of health or for the health of man lyeth hidden in Vitriol yet not in the common as it is sold every where and which hath endured the heat of the fire already but in the Oare as it is found in the earth or it s mine For as soon as it cometh to the day light it may be deprived by the heat of the Sun of its subtle and penetrating spirit and so made voyde of vertue which spirit if by Art it be got from thence smelleth sweeter then musk and amber which is much to be admired that in such a despicable mineral and gross substance as it is deemed to be by the ignorant such a royal medicine is to be found Now this preparation doth not belong to this place because we treat here only of spirits which by the force of fire are driven over Likewise also there doth not belong hither the preparation of the green oyle because it is made without the helpe of fire But in regard that mention hath been made of it here I will though I kept it alwayes very secret publish it for the benefit of the poor patients hoping that it will do much good to many a sick man For if it be well prepared it doth not only cure perfectly every Epilepsie or Convulsion in young and old and likewise readily and without faile killeth all worms within and without the body as the Ancients with truth ascribed unto it but also many Chronical diseases and such as are held incurable may be happily overcome and expelled thereby as the plague pleuresie all sorts of feavers and agues what ever they be called head-ach colick rising of the mother also all obstructions in the body especially of the spleen and liver from whence Melancholia Hypochondriaca the scurvy and many other intolerable diseases do arise Also the blood in the whole body is by the means thereof amended and renewed so that the Pox Leprosie and other like diseases proceeding from the infection of the blood are easily cured thereby Also it healeth safely and admirably all open sores and stinking ulcers turned to fistula's in the whole body and from what cause so ever they did proceed if they be anoynted therewith and the same also be inwardly used besides Such and other diseases more which it is needless here to relate may be cured successefully with this sweet oyle especially if without the loss of its sweetness it be brought to a red colour for then it will do more then a man dare write of it and it may stand very well for a Panacea in all diseases The preparation of the sweet oyle of Vitriol COmmonly in all sat soyles or clayie grounds especially in the white there is found a kinde of stones round or oval in form and in bigness like unto a pigeons or hens-egg and smaller also viz. as the joynt of ones finger on the outside black and therefore not esteemed when it is found but cast away as a contemptible stone Which if it be cleansed from the earth and beaten to peeces lookes within of a fair yellow and in streaks like a gold Marcasite or a rich gold Oare but there is no other taste to be perceived in it then in another ordinary stone and although it be made into powder and boyled a long time in water yet it doth not alter at all nor is there in the water any other taste or colour then that which is had first when it was powred upon the stone to be perceived Now this stone is nothing else but the best and purest Minera or Oare of Vitrioll or a seed of Metals for Nature hath framed it round like unto a vegetable seed and sowed it into the earth out of which there can be made an excellent medicine as followeth Take this Oare or Minera beaten into peeces and for some space of time lay or expose it to the coole aire and within twenty or thirty dayes it will magnetically attract a certain saltish moysture out of the aire and grow heavy by it and at last it falleth asunder to a black powder which must remaine further lying there still untill it grow whitish and that it do taste sweet upon the tongue like vitriol Afterward put it in a glass-vessel and poure on so much faire â—aine water as that it cover it one or two inches stirr it about several times in a day and after a few dayes the water will be coloured green which you must powre off and powre on more faire
give the substance or body of Mercury but onely its vertue But this gross preparation is no better then if they had ministred the running Mercury it self Neither have I ever seen that the use of Mercurius dulcis or of the gray coloured water was seconded with good success in killing of the worms But it is credible that it may be done by yellow or red precipitate in regard of its strong operation But who would be such an enemy to his childe as to plague and torture it with such a hurtfull and murthering medicine especially there being other medicines to be had which do no harme to the children as is to be found by iron or steel and the sweet oyle of vitriol And so much of the abuse of Mercury I hope it will be a good warning unto many so that they will not so easily billet such a tyrannical guest in any ones house whereby the ruine thereof of necessity must follow And that cure deserveth no praise at all whereby one member is cured with the hurt of two or three other members As we see by the pox when one infected member is cured by Mercury and that but half and not firme at all that all the rest of the body is endangered thereby for the future And therefore it would be much better that such crude horse-physick might be severed from good medicaments such used instead of them as may firmely safely and without prejudice to other parts perform the cure of which kinde several are taught in this book But in case that you have patients which have been spoyled by such an ill-prepared Mercury then there is no better remedy to restore them then by medicines made of metals wherewith Mercury hath great affinity as of gold and silver for when they are often used they attract the Mercury out of all the members and carry it along with them out of the body and so do rid the body thereof But externally the precipitated Mercury may more safely be used then internally in case there be nothing else to be had viz. to corrode or eat away the proud flesh out of the wound But if in stead of it there should be used the corrosive oyle of Antimony Vitriol Allom or common salt it would be better and the cure much the speedier and it would be better yet that in the beginning good medicaments were used to fresh wounds and not by carlesness to reduce them to that ill condition that afterwards by paineful corrosives they must be taken away But such a Mercury would serve best of all for souldiers beggers and children that go to schoole for if it be strewed upon the head of children or into their clothes no louse will abide there any longer In which case Mercury must by his preparation not be made red but onely yellow and it must be used warily and not be strewed on too thick lest the flesh be corroded which would be the occasion of great mischief Of Aqua fortis OUt of Salt nitre and vitriol taking of each a like quantity or if the water is to be not altogether so strong two parts of vitriol to one part of salt nitre a water distilled is good to dissolve metals therewith and to separate them from one another as gold from silver and silver from gold which in the fourth part punctually shall be taught The Aqua fortis serveth also for many other Chymical operations to dissolve and fit metals thereby that they may be reduced the easier into medicaments but because the spirit of salt nitre and the Aqua fortis are almost all one and have like operations for if the Aqua fortis be dephlegmed and rectified you may perform the same operations with it which possibly may be performed with the spirit of salt nitre and on the other side the spirit of salt nitre will do all that can be done with the Aqua fortis whereof in the fourth part shall be spoken more at large Now I know well that ignorant laborators which do all their work according to custome without diving any further into the nature of things will count me an Heretick because I teach that the Aqua fortis made of vitriol and salt nitre is of the same nature and condition with the spirit of salt nitre which is made without vitriol saying that the Aqua fortis doth partake likewise of the spirit of vitriol betause vitriol also is used in the preparation of it To which I answer that although vitriol be used in the preparation of it yet for all that in the distilling nothing or but very little of its spirit comes over with the spirit of salt nitre and that by so small a heat it cannot rise so high as the spirit of salt nitre doth and the vitriol is added onely therefore unto the salt nitre that he may hinde its melting together and so the more facilitate its going into a spirit And for the more to be convinced of this truth the unbelieving may adde to such spirit of salt nitre as is made by it self a little of oyle of vitriol likewise made by it self and try to dissolve silver gilded with it and he will finde that his spirit of salt nitre by the spirit of vitriol is made unfit to make a separation for it preyeth notably upon the gold which is not done by Aqua fortis Of the sulphurized spirit of salt nitre THere can also be made a spirit of salt nitre with sulphur which is still in use with many viz. that they take a strong earthen retort which hath a pipe at the top and fasten it into a furnace and having put salt nitre in iâ— they let it melt and then through the pipe they throw peeces of sulphur of the bigness of a pea one after another which being kindled together with the nitre doth yield a spirit called by some spirit of salt nitre and by others oyle of sulphur but falsely for it is neither of both in regard that metals cannot be dissolved therewith as they are done with other spirit of salt nitre or sulphur neither is there any great use for it in physick and if it were good for any Chymical operations by the help of my distilling instrument might easily be made and in great quantity N B. But if salt nitre be mixed with sulphur in due proportion and in the first furnace be cast upon quick coles then all will be burnt and a strong spirit cometh over whose vertue is needless here to describe but more shall be mentioned of it in another place Of the Clissus AMong the Physitians of this latter age there is mention made of another spirit which they make of Antimony Sulphur and salt nitre a like quantity taken of each which they call Clissus and which they have in high esteem and not without cause because it can do much good if it be well prepared The inventor for the making thereof used a retort with a pipe as was mentioned by the sulphurized
take ten or twelve grains of prepared Antimony for an old body but for a young one 5. 6 grains or more or less according to the condition of the person and â„¥ ss or Ê’vj of pure Tartar and together with â„¥ iiij or â„¥ v. of water put it in a little pipkin and boyle it a quarter of an houre then poure the solution onely into a cup and dissolve a little sugar in iâ— whereby the acidity of the Tartar will be somewhat qualified This decoctum drink warm and keep your self as it is fit and it will work much better then it had been steeped over night in wine which not every one can abide to take fasting but this decoctum because it tasteth like warm and sweet wine is much pleasanter for to take N. B. It is to be admired that well prepared Antimony is never taken in vaine for although it be given in a very small quantity so that it cannot cause either stooles or vomits yet it worketh in sensibly viz. it cleanseth the blood and expelleth many malignities by sweat so that mighty diseases may be rooted out thereby without any great sensible operation Which many times hapned unto me and gave me occasion to think further of it and therefore I sought how to prepare Antimony so that it might be used daily without causing of vomits or stooles which I put in execution accordingly and found it good as afterward shall follow Of the solution above described viz. of the flores of Antimony with Tartar make a good quantity and after the evaporation of the water distill a spirit of it and there will also come over a black oyle which must be separated from the spirit and rectified per se and externally applyed it will not onely do the same wonderful operations which above have been ascribed to the simple oyle of Tartar but it goeth also far beyond it for the best essence of Antimony hath joyned it self thereunto in the distilling and so doubled the vertue of the oyle of Tartar and this oyle may with credit be used not onely for all podagrical tumors to allay them very readily but also by reason of its dryness it doth consume all other tumors in the whole body whether they be caused by winde or water for the volatile salt by reason of its subtlety conveigheth the vertue of Antimony into the innermost parts of the body in a marvellous and incredible way whereby much good can be performed in Chyrurgerie As for the spirit you may not onely use it very succesfully in the plague pox scurvy Melancholia Hypochondriaca feavers and other obstructions and corruptions of blood but also if you put some of it into new wine or beer and let it work with it the wine or beer comes to be so vertuous thereby that if it be daily used it doth stay and keep off all diseases proceeding from superfluous humors and corrupted blood so that neither plague scurvy Melancholia hypochondriaca or any other disease of that kinde can take roote in those that daily use it wherein no metal or mineral except gold can be paralleld with it but in case you have no conveniency for to make that spirit and yet you would willingly have such a medicinal drink made of Antimony then take but of the solution made with Tartar before it be distilled and put lb i. or lb iss of it into 18. or 20. gallons of new wine or beer and let it work together and the vertue of the Antimony by the fermentation of the wine will grow the more volatile and efficacious to work And if you cannot have new wine in regard that it doth not grow every where you may make an artificial wine of honey sugar peares figs cherries or the like fruit as in the following third part shall be taught which may stand in stead of natural wine These medicinal wines serve for a sure and safe preservative not only to prevent many diseases but also if they have possessed the body already effectually to oppose and expel them Also all externall open sores which by daubing and plastering could not be remedied by daily drinking thereof may be perfectly cured For not only Basilius Valentinus and Theophrastus Paracelsus but many more before and after them knew it very well and have written many good things of it which few did entertain and because their description was somewhat dark most despised and diffamed them for untruths In like manner and much more may this my writing be lightly esteemed of because I do not set down long and costly processes but only according to truth and in simplicity do labour to serve my neighbour which doth not sound well in the ears of the proud world which rather do tickle and load themselves with vaine and unprofitable processes then hearken unto the truth and it is no wonder that God suffereth such men which only look after high things and despise small things to be held in error Why do we look to get our Medicines by troubling our braines and by subtle and tedious works whereas God through the simple nature doth teach us otherwise Were it not better to let simple nature instruct us surely if we would be in love with small things we should finde great ones But because all men do strive only for great and high things therefore the small also are kept from them and therefore it would be well that we could fancy this maxime that also things of small account can do something as we may see by the Tartar and the despicable Antimony and not only so many coles glasses materials and the like but also the pretious time would not be wasted so much in preparing of medicaments for all is not gold that glistereth but oftentimes under a homely coate some glorious thing is hid which must be taken notice of Some may object why I do teach to joyn the Antimony first with the Tartar by the help of common water before its fermentation with the wine whether it would not be as good to put it in of it self in powder or to dissolve it with spirit of salt which would be easier to do then with Tartar and so let it work To which I answer that the working wine or drinke receiveth no metallical calx or solution unless it be first ptepared with Tartar or spirit of wine For although you dissolve Antimony or any other metal or mineral in spirit of salt or of vitriol or of salt nitre or any other acid spirit and then think to let it work with wine or any other drink you will finde that it doth not succeed for the acide spirit will hinder the fermentation and let fall the dissolved metals and so spoyle the work and besides Tartar may be used among all drinks and doth more agree with ones taste and stomach then any corrosive spirit In the same manner as was taught of Antimony other minerals and metals also may be fitly joyned with wine or other drink the
be melted out of it but also that other inferior metals may be purified thereby so that they are like unto the best gold and silver in all tryals and although I never got any great profit by the doing of it yet it doth suffice me that I have seen several times the possibility and truth thereof which in its proper place likewise shall be taught This liquor of the flints is of that nature toward the metals that it maketh them exceeding faire but not so like women do scowre their vessels of tin copper iron c. with lye and smal sand till all filth be scoured off and that they get a bright and faire gloss but the metals must be dissolved therein by Chymical art and then either after the wet or dry way digested in it for its due space of time which Paracelsus calleth to go into the mothers wombe and be born again if this be done rightly then the mother will bring forth a pure child All metals are engendred in sand or stone and therefore they may well be called the mother of metals and the purer the mother is the purer and sounder child she will bear and among all stones there is none found purer then the peble crystal or sand which are of one nature if they be simple and not impregnated with metals And therefore the peble or sand is found to be the fittest bath to wash the metal withal But he that would take this bath to be the Philosophers secret Menstruum whereby they exalt the king unto the highest purity would be mistaken for their Balneum is more friendly to gold by reason of its affinity with it then with other metals but this doth easier dissolve other metals then gold Whereby it is evident that it cannot be Bernhards his fountaine Bernhardi fontina but must be held only to be a particular cleanser of metals But omitting this and leaving it to the further practise and tryal of those that want no time nor conveniency for to search what may be done with it let us take notice of the use of this liquor in physick for which uses sake this book is written That which hath been said was onely done to that end that we may observe that we must not alwayes look upon dear and costly things but that many times even in mean and contemptible things as sand and pebles much good is to be found How to extract a blood-red Tincture with spirit of wine out of the liquor of peble-stones IF you will extract a Tincture out of peble-stones for use in Physick or in Alchymie then in stead of the white take a faire yellow green or blew peble or flint whether it hold fixed or volatile gold and first with salt of Tartar distil the spirit thereof or if you do not care for the spirit then melt the mixture in a covered crucible into a transparent soluble and fusible glass and in a warme morter make it into fine powder put this powder in a long necked glass and powre upon it rectified spirit of wine it needeth not to be dephlegmed it maters not if it be but pure let it remaine upon it in a gentle warmth till it be turned red the glas with the prepared peble or flints must be often stirred about that the peble be divided and the spirit of wine may be able to work upon it then powre off the coloured spirit of wine and powre on other and let this likewise turn red this powring off and on must be iterated so often till the spirit of wine get no more colour out of it All the tinctured spirit of wine put together and abstract in a Balneum through a Limbeck from the Tincture which will remaine in the bottome of the glass body like a red juyce which you must take out and keep for its use The use of the Tincture of pebles or flints in Physick THis Tincture if it be made of gold pebles or sand is to be held for none of the least medicines for it doth powerfully resist all soluble Tartareous coagulations in the hands knees feet reins and bladder and although in want of those that hold gold it be extracted but only out of common white pâ—ble it doth act its part however though not altogether so well as the first Let no man marvel that sand or pebles made potable have so great vertue for not all things are known to all and this Tincture is more powerful yet if first gold have been dissolved with the liquor of pebles before the extraction And let no man imagine that this tincture comes from the salt of Tartar which is taken to the preparing of the oyle of sand because that of it self also doth colour the spirit of wine for there is a great difference betwixt this Tincture and that which is extracted out of the salt of Tartar for if you distil that of the salt of Tartar in a little glass body or retort there will come first a cleer spirit of wine then an unsavory phlegme and a salt will remaine behinde in all like unto common salt of Tartar wherein after its calcining not the least colour appeareth and because none came over neither it might be questioned where it remained then To which I answer that it was not a true Tincture but only that the sulphur in the sprit of wine was exalted or graduated by the corporeal salt of Tartar and so got a red colour which it loseth as soone as the salt of Tartar is taken from it and reassumeth its former white colour even as it hapneth also when the salt of urine or of hartshorn or soot or any other like urinous salt is digested with spirit of wine that the spirit turneth red of it but not lastingly but just so as it fals out with the salt of Tartar for if by rectification it be separated again from the spirit of wine each viz. both the salt and also the spirit of urine doth recover again its former colour whereby it appeareth that as above said it was not a true Tincture He that will beleeve it let him dissolve but â„¥ i. of common white salt of Tartar in lb i. of spirit of wine and the spirit will turn as red of it as if it had stood a long time upon several pounds of blew or green calcined salt of Tartar and if I had not tryed it my self several times I should have also been of that opinion but because I found it to be otherwise therefore I would not omit to set down my opinion though I know I shall deserve smal thanks of some especially of those which rather will err with the greater number then to know and confess the truth with the less number However I do not say that the supposed tincture of the salt of Tartar is of no vertue or useless for I know well enough that it was found very effectual in many diseases for the purest part of the salt of Tartar hath been dissolved by
the help of iron or copper can be restored unto it so that it recovereth its former faire colour so that you cannot see at all that it ailed any thing before But if its life be gone from the body it is impossible for any ordinary metal or mineral to restore it to life but it must be done by such a thing which is more then Gold it self hath been for even as a living man cannot give life unto a dead man but God must do it who hath created man so Gold cannot restore to dead gold the life which hath been taken from it and how could it then be done by an unfixt mineral but there is required a true Philosopher for to do it such a one as hath good knowledge of gold and its composition Now as we heard that like cannot help its like but he that shall help must be more then he that looks for help from him Hence it is evident that the Tincture whose remaining body from which it is taken is still gold can be no true Tincture for if it shall be a true Tincture it must consist in its three principles and how can it consist therein the body from whence it came being yet alive and possessing indivisibly all its three principles How can a mans soul be taken from him and yet the body live still some will say that for all that this may be counted a true tincture although the body still remaine gold and have kept its life even as man may spare some blood out of his body which though it will make him somewhat pale yet he liveth still and the lost blood may be supplyed again by good meat and drinke But what lame and senseless objections are these who would be so simple as to think that a handful of blood may be compared to a mans life I believe no wise man will do it Although life goeth forth with the blood yet the blood is not the life it self else the dead could be raised thereby if a cup full of it were poured into a dead body but where was such a thing ever heard or seen With such groundless opinions some did presume to censure the truth set down in my treatise de Auro Potabili vero saying Geber and Lullius were also of opinion that a true tincture can be extracted out of gold the same nevertheless remaining good gold but it may be asked what it hath lost then for to yeild a true Tincture since it remained good gold Here no body will be at home for to answer I doubt What are the writings of Geber or Lully to me what they have written I do not despise they were highly enlightned and experienced Philosophers and would defend their writings sufficiently if they were alive and what I write I am also able to maintain Do those men think that the writings of Geber and Lully are to be understood according unto the bare letter shew me a tincture of gold which was made by the writings of Geber or Lully if it were so then every idiot or novice that could but read Latine would not only by their writings be able to make the Tincture of gold but also the Philosophers-stone it self whereof they have written at large which doth not follow because it is seen by daily experience that the most worldly learned men spent many yeers and have been at vast charges and taken great paines and studied in their books day and night and found not the least thing in them Now if such Philosophers were to be understood literally doubtless there would not be so many poor decayed Alchymists Therefore the writings of such worthies are not to be understood according to the letter but according to the mystical sense hid under the letter But because the truth is eclipsed in their books by so many seducing and sophistical processes there will hardly any man be able to pick it out from so many seducements unless a light from God be given to him first whereby he may be able so to peruse the darke writings of those men that he know how to separate the parabolical speeches from those that are true in the letter it self or if an honest godly Chymist by the grace of God in his labours do hit upon the right steps and yet do doubt whether he be in the right way or no then by reading of good and true Philosophers books he may at last learn out of them the firme and constant truth else hardly any ones desire may be obtained out of their books but rather after the pretious time spent means and health wasted a man shall be forced to fall a begging at last In like manner if the true tincture be taken from copper the rest is no more a metal nor by any Art or force of fire can be reduced to a metallical substance N B. But if you leave some tincture in it then it may be reduced into a brittle gray body like unto iron but brittle Another way to extract a good Tincture out of gold by the help of the liquor of sand or pebles TAke of that gold calx which was precipitated with the oyle of sand one part and three or four parts of the liquor of crystals or of sand mix the gold calx in a good crucible with the liquor and set this mixture into a gentle heat so that the moystness may evaporate from the oyle of sand which is not easily done for the peble or sand by reason of their dryness keep and hold the moysteness and will not let it go easily it riseth in the pot or crucible as borax or Allome doth when you calâ—ine them therefore the crucible must not be filled above half that the liquor together with the gold may have roome enough and do not run over the pot and when it riseth no more then strengthen the fire till the pot be red-hot The mixture standing fast put a lid upon it which may close well that no coals ashes or other impuritie may fall into it and give it so strong fire in a winde furnace that the liquor together with the gold-calx may melt like water keep it melting so long till the liquor and gold together be like unto a transparent faire ruby which will be done in an houres time or thereabouts then powre it forth into a clean copper morter let it coole and then make it into powder and powre spirit of wine upon it for to extract which will look like unto thin blood and it will prove more effectual in the use then the above described Tincture The residue from which the Tincture is extracted must be boyled with lead and precipitated and driven off as you do oares and you will get the remaining gold which went not into the spirit of wine but it is very pale and turned like unto silver in colour which if it be melted through Antimony it recovereth its former colour without any considerable loss in the weight How the melting in crucibles and boyling
an acid insipid humidity as experience testifies when as yet when fermentation is made feeling heat loseth its burning spirit viz. it s better part the insipid and unprofitable being left behind as you may see in the distilling of wine It follows therefore that new wine assoon as it is pressed forth must before its fermentation be boiled to the consisting of honey but not after that tedious way in a cauldron which gives an ungratefull tast to the new wine but in a certain peculiar secret vessel The humidity being evaporated there remains the eight or tenth part which resembles honey in its form in which all the vertue lies Which juice being thickned and brought into a narrow compass and shut up in a vessell may more easily be transported into other places then those ten parts not inspissated the carrying or transportation whereof is not only far dearer but also oftentimes is suspected of being sophisticated by the wagoners mixing water with the wine That inspissated juice being transported to other places is turned into wine if it be dissolved in a sufficient quantity of water viz. as much as went from it in the decoction or inspissation or in a less quantity if thou desirest a stronger and better wine and being dissolved is put up into the vessels to be fermented Not only one kind but divers kinds of wines may be made out of new wine inspissated viz. according to the different quantity of water that is to be mixed with it and indeed not without great gain so that we need not that tedious costly transporting of outlandish sweet wines out of France Spain and Italy N. B. that the new wine is not to be inspissated in a cauldron by reason of the ungratefull odour and tast which it contracts thence or adustion But there is required a certain peculiar precipitation by the help whereof that yellowness and tast contracted in the decoction of the new wine is separated for clarification sake without which two secrets viz. the secret decoction and precipitation or clarifying in time of fermentation good wine cannot be made He therefore that knows those may within a few yeares get great riches by the making of divers sorts of wines but let the ignorant abstain from this wine-making Thou maist first make tryall in a Cauldron inspissating new wine of a lesser value and thou shalt see by experience that no wine goes from the new juice that which inspissated being left in the bottom of the vessell and to this thou maist again mix a sufficient quantity of water for the dissolving of it and thou shalt have a new wine having the same sweetness of the first except the tast attracted from the Cauldron which dissolution fermentation being made yeelds a wine but ungratefull by reason of the yellowness and tast contracted from the Cauldron But if thou knowest those two aforesaid secrets withous doubt thou shalt make most excellent wines of new wine inspissated PARAG. XIV A very easie preparation of verdygrease out of old copper of which a pound doth not exceed the price of 6 stivers THis indeed is a very good secret whereby after a most easie not tedious or costly way verdy-grease is made in great quantity very usefull for Painters whereby any one may be able to maintain his family honestly PARAG. XV. A new and unheard of distillation of vineger in great quantity of which two runlets of nine gallons exceed not the price of half a ryall with which many excellent things may be done especially the crystallizing of verdy-grease of which one pound doth not exceed the price of half a ryall THis way of distilling hath yet hitherto been altogether unknown and worthy to be mentioned in this place because no body can be without distilled vineger in Chymicall operations and the rather because by the help thereof colours are purged and clarified so as to be sold for a greater price by which means any man may honestly maintaine his family Which otherwise cannot be done in the distilling of vineger in glass vessels which is tedious and costly PARAG. XVI A very easie distillation of the most strong spirit of urine very speedy not costly nor tedious where 20 or 30 pints may be made for a ryall by the help whereof many excellent things may be done in Physick Alchymy and Mechanicall affaires but especially with it vitrioll is made out of copper very beautifull blew and most excellent in Medicine and Alchymy with which silver is made so fusile that by the help thereof glass vessels as cups basons dishes and other vessels may as well inwardly as outwardly be gilded so as to appear like silver IN the second treatise of the Philosophicall Furnaces I made mention at large of the distllling of this spirit and I shewed divers wayes of it but of this way of which here I treat I made none because this distillation hath no affinity with all others that are to be done by instruments whether of earth glass or metall but only by wooden without any fire so that 100 pints require not one pound of coals where not onely 20 30 but even 100 pints may be made for one ryall Which distillation indeed is artificially N. B. After the same manner almost is the distillation of vineger performed Now what I said in the appendix of making 20 or 30 pints for one ryall I did it therefore because it might be more probable then if I had said 100. And because that price of 20 or 30 pints doth not seem probable to the ignorant I say now openly that the price of 100 pounds doth not exceed one ryall let him therefore beleeve it that will it is all one to me whether thou beleevest or not because the truth is certain Although this spirit be most excellent in divers Chymicall operations yet I shall communicate only the medicinall uses thereof for if it be made in a great quantity easily without costs and labour it may be used liberally in medicine but especially in moist and dry baths by the help whereof may grievous and otherwise incurable diseases are oftentimes happily cured For this spirit doth many wonderfull and incredible things so that honours and riches follow it Hence therefore it is manifest that this paragraph is not to be contemned after the manner of detractors I could adde more things concerning the power and vertues thereof but time will not now suffer PARAG. XVII A most easie and not costly way of distilling of the spirit of salt of which one pound may be sold for the price of 6 stivers and it is very profitable in medicine Alchimy and other mechanicall arts but especially for the doing of those things which follow IN the first part of our Philosophical furnaces I shewed an easie way of â—iâ—tilling of spirit of salt in a great quantity But this Paragraph treats of another certain peculiar distillation which I wil not divulge new spirit of salt being necessarily requisite for divers excellent
hath come my experience neither doubt I but by it to obtaine that universal Salamander which lives in the fire These things which I write are true and no fallacies And though this secret be incredible to the ignorant for the wonderful vertues it sheweth in the preparation of medicines I would willingly publish it to the world for publike good but on consideration I held it not meet to communicate it for certain causes But only lest the knowledge of it should perish and that the true and almost extinct medicine for the curing of diseases vulgarly incurable might flourish I have revealed this secret menstruum to two friends viz. its preparation and use But do thou not think because I write of these high things that I do intend to make common the secret to all in general not so but I endeavor to confirm him that seeketh and give him occasion to search this secret deeper which being found he shall not only finde the truth of my words but he shall daily by exercise obtaine far greater things then these And because I have never aspired after vaine riches and honors nor never desire them I might well be perswaded to leave to others as yet not hating the wicked world my troublesome labors because in this my painful age such tedious labors are very burdensome besides Philosophy hath pointed me another way so that what I am able I have determined to abstaine from these vanities and to seek a perpetual good the life of rest but my counsel shall not be wanting to those that seek it for besides moved with the former reasons also seeing innumerable many vaine Philosophers as well learned as unlearned uncessantly working and losing rheir time and labour and at last despairing are perswaded that there is no truth in the Philosophers writings but to be all filled with lyes and dâ—cits whence royal Chymistry is disgraced But seeing and marking the infallible truth of ancient writings suffering injury by unskilful Zoilus's I could not but defend their worth and vindicate them from injuries viz. in a few words demonstrating the possibility of metallical transmutation But I do not affirme that by the art which I have many yeers exercised and the possibility of which I defend I have gotten much wealth because hitherto I could not make trial but in smal quantity for finding out the possibility without any gaine and only particularly for I have never tried any thing in the universal work reserving it to a more convenient time and place But I will not deny such a universal medicine because I have seen the principles of it and foundations of the art wherefore houshold cares being removed I intend to make tryal of it For who will longer doubt of the possibility of it being proved by most excellent men yea Kings and Princes which godly and honest men have not written for gaine some of whom though they lived with Ethnicks yet were they not Heathens who had more knowledge of Christ by the light of nature then those foolish detractors of Christian truth as they appear to be by their writings But thou wilt urge that if those things were true which they write then it might be found in them but it is not because all and every one miss of it in their practice so that their time labor and charges are spent in vaine I answer Their writings are not to be understood according to the letter but according to the hidden sense according to which they have written the naked truth which to the illuminated is conspicuous And this menstruum sufficeth to defend the writings of the Philosophers without the metallick transmutations so that I verily believe the time to be neer when the omnipotent God before he judge the world in fire will shew his omnipotency to the nations by the revelation of the wonderful and incredible things of nature of which transmutation of metals is not the least which in the third part of this mineral work I shall deliver to the last age being acceptable to God to the profit of my neighbor and for demonstration sake Wherefore I now pass over such things with a firme hope that this faithful admonition shall be received as an undoubted and infallible truth How the aforesaid Regulus of the flowerss and dross of Antimony is to be used in the bettering of course metals shall be shewen that art may not be abused THe Antimonial Regulus a radical metallick humor may help to perform wonderful things for being reduced to a water without a corrosive it resolveth all metals cleanseth washeth and purifieth them and turns them into a better species so that particularly not a smal gaine may be from thence received But how it may be redueed into water and how by its help metals may be resolved volatized and again fixed hath been demonstrated by Artephius Basilius and Paracelsus wherefore we need not here repeat their writings but refer the readers to their works But not only the Regulus but also all Antimony may many wayes be used in the separation of metals viz. For the extraction of hidden gold which cannot be done without Antimony as shall appear by the following example When you finde a marcasit or other ironish fossile that will not yeeld to the tryal by lead add to it three parts of Antimony and being well mixt melt them in a covered crucible and being melted powre it into a cone and when all is cold separate the Regulus which purge againe by fire as before and thou shalt finde gold contained in the aforesaid fossile And if it be indued with more plenty of gold for it is not all drawn out at one time viz. with the first Regulus another Regulus is to be melted by adding more iron and salt-peter which is also of a nature near to Sol. And if these marcasit fossiles are not ferreous you must in the first fusion adde iron and nitre to them or else they yeeld no Regulus By the adding more scals of iron more Regulus is made and for the same use as that is of which above in the fusion and separation of extracted gold weights also may be made out of the dross And thus are lapis calaminaris marcasit kobolt zinck talc and other fossiles separated viz. containing gold But all gold containing iron as that of Stiria Carinthia the Granâ—cia and of Transylvania c. may this way be easily separated with profit by the help of iron And if the iron have no gold yet if the Antimony have it it may thence be separated by fusion with iron viz. if it be brought to a Regulus The rest of the Antimony may again be fused with new iron and new glass of more weight then it but less then this and be reduced into a Regulus fit for the following uses Out of the dross let weights that nothing may be lost be made that thou maist have the more gaine as may appear from the following example When you have the Antimony
the spirit of wine it being thus coloured thereby and therefore that tinctured spirit of wine may very fitly be used But as for the Tincture which is extracted out of the prepared pebles it is clean of another condition for if you abstract the spirit of wine from it though it also cometh over white yet there remaineth a deep tinctured salt whose colour is lasting in the strongest fire and therefore may be counted a true Tincture How by the help of this liquor out of Gold its red colour may be extracted so that it remains white THis oyle or liquor of pebles is of such a condition that it doth precipitate all metals which are dissolved by corrosives but not after that manner as the salt of Tartar doth for the calx of metals which is precipitated by this liquor because that the pebles do mingle themselves therewith is grown much heavier thereby then if it had been only precipitated with salt of Tartar For example dissolve in Aqua Regia as much Gold as you please and powre of this liquor upon it till all the Gold fall to the bottome like a yellow powder and the solution turn white and cleer which you must powre off and edulcorate the precipitated Gold with sweet water and then dry it as you was taught to do with the Aurum fulminans and you need not fear that it will kindle and fulminate in the drying as it useth to do when it is precipitated with salt of Tartar or spirit of urine but you may boldly dry it by the fire and it will look like yellow earth and will weigh as heavy again as the Gold did weigh before the solution the cause of which weight are the peble stones which did precipitate themselves together with the Gold For the Aqua Regia by its acidity hath mortified the salt of Tartar and robbed it of its vertues so that it could not choose but let fall the assumed pebles or sand on the other side the salt of Tartar which was in the liquor of pebles hath annihilated the sharpeness of the Aqua Regia so that it could not keep the dissolved gold any longer whereby both the gold and the pebles are freed from their dissolver This edulcorated and dryed yellow powder put into a clean crucible and set it between live coals that it begin to be red hot but not long and the yellow will be changed into the fairest purple colour which is pleasant to behold but if you let it stand longer then the purple colour vanisheth and it turns to a brown and brick colour and therefore if you desire to have a faire purple coloured gold you must take it off from the fire as soon as it is come to that colour and let it not stand any longer else it loseth that colour again This faire gold-powder may be used by the rich which are able to pay for it from ℈ i. to Ê’ss in convenient vehicles and in all diseases where sweating is needâ—ul for besides the provoking of sweat it comforteth not onely the heart but also by the vertue of the peble it expelleth the stone in the reines and bladder if it be not grown to the height of hardness like sand together with the urine so that it may be safely used as well to prevent as to cure the plague gout and stone How to make further out of this purple coloured gold a soluble Ruby for medicinal use shall be taught in the fourth part for in regard that it must be done by a strong fire in a crucible it doth not belong hither but to its proper place where other like medicaments are taught to be made If you will extract the colour out of this precipitated gold then powre upon it before it be put into the fire for to calcin of the strongest spirit of salt and in a gentle heat the spirit will dissolve part of the gold which will be much fairer and deeper in colour then if it had been done with Aqua Regia upon this solution powre five or six times as much of dephlegmed spirit of wine and digest both together its due time then by the digestion of a long time part of the Gold will fall out of the solution to the bottome like a faire white powder which may be reduced with Borax or salt nitre and Tartar it is white like silver and as heavy as other gold and may easily get its colour again by the help of Antimony The residue out of which the white gold is faln viz. the spirit of salt mingled with the spirit of wine must be abstracted from the Tincture and there will remaine a pleasant sowre liquor coloured by the gold upon the bottome of the glass body which is almost of the same vertue which above hath been ascribed to other tinctures of the gold Especially this liquor of gold strengthneth the heart braine and stomach N. B. Sometimes there comes over with the spirit of wine a little red oyle which the strong spirit of salt hath separated from the spirit of wine and it is impregnated with the Tincture of gold It is an excellent cordial few are found like unto it whereby weak people decayed by sickness or age may be kept alive a long time they taking daily some drops of it who else for want of the humidum radicale would be forced to exchange their life for death Here some body may ask whether this Tincture is to be counted or taken for a true Tincture of gold or whether there be another better to be found To which I answer that though many hold it to be such and I my self do call it so here yet that after due examination it will not prove to be such for although some vertue is taken from the gold by this way yet it doth stil keep its life though it be grown weak and pale because it can so easily recover its former sound colour by a contemptible mineral if its true Tincture or soul were gone from it surely an inferior mineral could not restore it to life but of necessity there would be required such a thing for to do it which hath not onely so much as it hath need of for itself but hath a transcendent power to give life unto dead things As we may see by a man or any sensible beast that if they have lost their vigor by adversities in that no life more is perceived in them yet by medicines fit for the purpose they may be refreshed and brought to their former health so that their former disease appeareth no more in them but if their soul be once gone the dead body can by no medicines be restored unto life again but must remaine dead so long till he in whose power it is to give and to take life have mercy upon it So likewise it is to be understood of the gold when its colour is taken from it and yet its life is left which by the help of Antimony being its medicine as also by
how to help their sowre spring wine and if there follow a yeare fertile enough producing sweet grapes yet those wines cannot wanting their own proper goodness be sold wherefore they cannot adde any goodness to the sowre wines of the former year their own being scarse sufficient for them Wherefore those have need of a very good helper which yet they have not found For I have often had experience for the space of many yeares of the various corruptions of those wines being lost Also it often fals out that the vinedressers doe in a bad harvest choose only the better grapes the worst being left on the wine to their great disprofit who if they knew how to take away the sowreness of the unripe grapes would not without doubt cast them away thus For sowre wine being expressed from unripe grapes may easily be corrected and amended so as to be taken for the best that which I know by my own experience viz. that very good wine may be made out of unripe hard grapes being pounded and pressed like to Rhenish in the judgement of all Let others also judg of the excellency of this secret by the help whereof not only in colder places where wine cannot at all come to maturity but also in hotter countries by reason of the inclemency of the air may be so corrected and amended by helping the unripe grapes that it becomes to be the best and most excellent which being known to many it may be so helped that afterwards they may sell wines corrected by their Art so much the better Moreover unripe grapes growing natural in vineyards unmanured by reason of the distemper of war left upon the vines and otherwise unprofitable may by the help of this Art be corrected and bettered as to yeeld good wine This Art therefore if it be practised is very good and profitable yet not to be communicated to all and each indifferently because it may being published be helpfull to enemies as to friends wherefore it is rather to be concealed then to be revealed to the disprofit of others untill it shall please God at last to have it done Let this suffice therefore to have been said of the possibility therefore PARAG. IX Also the preparation of wholesome drinks out of Gooseberries Barberries Mulberries and other wild fruits THis refers it self to the second and 8 Paragraph for the same Art which makes for the maturation of immature grapes serves also for this business and it is one and the same process on al sides only one excepted which is the correcting of that wild odor of those wild fruits which is not in grapes for which cause grapes are to be preferred before those but those before these for the aboundance of them in every place and these also may be planted sooner and easier then grapes which cannot be propagated in unmanured places For if any sprout of one or two spans of gooseberries or barberries be set in the earth in the spring it can produce fruits the very same yeare even in cold countries and unmanured places yet a fatter place produceth fatter and greater kernels and fruits PARAG. X. The correcting of troubled viscous wines and such as begin to be red musty and sowre THis Paragraph seems to be of no moment yet vintners cannot well be without this secret For we often see that whole buts of wines are spoiled and contract a viscousnesse redness filthiness and stink Are such now to be cast away No for it would be a great loss but we may help them by medicaments as we doe sick men If therefore thou chance to have such wine thou must precipitate all its filth and within a few dayes it will recover all its former goodness color and clearness Also that which begins to be sowre and is not yet turned to vineger may recover its former goodness viz. being helped by due means but that which is too acid is rightly turned into vineger which no one can want and that without losse PARAG. XI A very easie making of vineger in great quantity out of certain vegetables that are every where to be had viz. very good clear and durable like to French vineger c. THis is a very excellent secret by the help whereof very good and durable vineger may be made in any place of the world out of certain vegetables and that in great quantity and with little costs And this secret is for those great Sea Mart-towns where there is great trading whence with great gain it may be carryed into other Provinces PARAG. XII A production of wines in cold places which otherwise by reason of the cold air doe not bring forth wines the coldest places of all only excepted viz. of the best sweetest odoriferous and durable not giving place for goodness clearness sweetness durableness to those that are made in Germany France Italy and Spain THis secret agrees almost with 8 or 9 but this here is required in the first place that the Vine-dresser apply to the root of the Vine that is to be helped a nourishing comfortting and fructifying medicine which may also preserve it from the cold which is necessary for the production of grapes which although they doe not attain to a mâ—turity may yet afterwards as well as in the fermentation be perfected so as you may have very good and excellent wine from thence PARAG. XIII A certain secret by the help whereof wines are easily transported from mountainous places remote from rivers and destitute of other conveniences of carriage so that the carrying of ten vessels is of a cheaper price then otherwise the carrying of one THis Paragraph offends many as well learned as unlearned ignorant of secrets judging the thing impossible and nothing else but dreams and fancies Which comming to my ears made me repent of what I had wrote because I have created to my self divers troubles and the contradictions of many Yet I was comforted again considering that this is the fashion of this perverse and ignorant world being wont to carp at honest men and their knowledge Many judge this thing incredible because of the want of winged Carts that need not horses confirming one the other in unbeleife leading one another after the manner of the blind by the hands and concluding the impossibility thereof But wherefore I pray thee dost thou judge so perversly for if thou wast master but of one secret before others thou wouldst not judge so rashly but rather wouldst judge of things unknowne to thee as not to be contemned for it is the manner of detractors to seek their own glory despising the opinions of others who if they were not blockish and sluggish need not play the Parasites and Sycophants being crafty appendixes of Courts doing all their businesses cunningly whose misfortunes are not to be lamented being ashamed to learn and to handle coals But to my purpose that I may demonstrate the truth New wine decocted and inspissated before its fermentation loseth nothing of its vertues besides