adequate activity and passion for some of the Elements are therein either in an active or passive power and the rest are therein actually But in the Philosophers Stone which is Gold being it is an uniform Work of Nature all the four Elements active and passive are actually therein and permanent in an equal proportion For the Essence or Nature of Gold is nothing else but the four Elements equally mixed not that their form and matter may be said to be therein equal but their passive and active power that is they are each alike and equal not in quantity but in quality because that the active doth not exceed the passive in its acting nor on the other side the passive doth not exceed the active by suffering more because there is an equal proportion as to measure in our Gold or in our Medicine double hot double moist double cold double dry and all these are actually therein by actual action and passion that is Fire Air Water and Earth as we have said before And all these are said to be alike and equal in quality not quantity because they are equal in actives and passives and they are therefore durably permanent in Gold because the passive in it consists permanently in its active and on the other part the passive rises not up against the active And they ought not to be alike in quantity that is there ought not be so much matter of Fire as there is matter of Earth because then the Fire by reason of its quality would be everywhere of an unequal activity with its passive Earth and of a far greater Wherefore there is in Gold as to its matter but not as to its quality much more of the heavier and more passive Element than of the lighter and more active that â—s more in quantity there is in â—t a greater quantity of Earth than Water a greater quantity of Water than Air a greater of Air than Fire wherefore it is the heaviest of all Metals But in this â—nequal proportion of quantity there is an equal and like proportion of quality of hot dry moist and cold because each of these is in Gold as hath been said The cause of which weight is the permanency of the solidity of the Earth and Water and the solution of an homogeneous Water with the Earth because Water dissolves an homogeneous Earth Also their intrinsical thorow mixture in their very least particles is the cause of the weight because the Water as well in Gold as Quick-silver suffers not the Earth to have any â—res in it which is otherwise in other Metals in which pores are insensibly made in their congelation because of the dross mingled in those Metals all over rejected by the Mercurial nature and heterogeneous whereupon their lightness results which is nothing else but want of matter and porousness of the same as weight is nothing else but a solid addition of matter Wherefore if there were in an equal commensurative quantity so much of the solid matter of Fire as there is of the matter of Earth Fire would be as weighty as Earth But the cause of the weight of Saturn is its immature congelation because it dâ—â—â— not yet reject the dross of its parts whence pores are made in it but the pure and impure abide through mixt together in it everywhere as in the first crude Quick-silver in which the inspissation and coagulation is weak for that cause Saturn or Lead retains the weight of its Quick-silver not because of the purity of its solid matter but because of its immature coagulation or coction Wherefore if in this Work you would not destroy the Fire and Air you must preserve in a distinct and like proportion the heat of the Compound But if you would not destroy the Air and the Water then in the same Compound you must cherish the humid so in the same manner you may preserve the Water and Earth or the Earth and the Fire in the said Work by preserving rightly and by the artifice of the Philosophick skill both the cold and dry because if you destroy any one of them the proportionabâ—â— form and kind of Gold is lost For this cause the Philosophers say our Gold is made of every thing that is of every Element every Element being intrinsically preserved in it and actually compounding it wherefore all the Elements are intrinsically in act or power the principles of all compounded alterable things and for that cause are said to be all things Furthermore my Reverend Doctor for your credits sake you must understand the sayings of the Philosophers according to the possibility of Nature and not according to the sound of Words For they have handled this holy and hidden Art and its Secrets under Similitudes Fables Riddles and obscure words and have hid it purposely that it might not be exposed to the unlearned impious and unworthy Furthermore that I may go on to other Heads of your Epistle I understand the artifice of your Stone to be a composure from Gold but from your writing I cannot apprehend it because you set not down the first original of that Composition Therefore I shall not need to handle it more at large till you instruct me fully and more plainly in its Composition and Operation For I cannot neither believe that the Elixir or Philosophers Stone can consist of the signs appearing in it and of the properties of the nutritive vegetation of the flaming Fire which you attribute to it as I have openly shewed in what I have said already But when I received your Work and the gift of so great a Secret sent unto me I at once understood your unfeigned love and free confidence in me Wherefore for your Friendship sake I reserve your Stone with me and keep it as a most acceptable gift and shall write unto you more concerning it when you shall declare it to me more manifestly But whereas you say that in your Stone there are three a Body Spirit and Soul which is manifest to you by your experience and work the Philosophers when they said those three natural things were in their artificial Stone understood it by way of resemblance and experiment For they called the Earth its Body and Bones because it is an astringent Compound and restrains the fluid Elements from their raw flexibility having the Fire also with it symbolically by its driness But they called the Water and Air its Spirit because they are the Elements that moisten and dissolve the Earth But they called the Air and Fire the Soul because they ripen and digest the whole Compound And they named them thus with resemblance unto Humane nature because in a well-constituted Flesh there ought to be Bones to sustain the Body and likewise there ought to be in the Flesh a vivacity of vegetable Accidents which are called its Spirits contrary to the errors of the Pagan Philosophers who thought the vital Spirits to be something distinct from the Body compounded and parts compounding
the spiritual sulphureous fiery Water of Mercury wherein the Body of Sol is dissolved and burnt up and of this dissolved and destroyed Body a new World likewise is created and born and the Heavenly Jerusalem that is an eternal clarified subtle penetrant fixated Body which is able to penetrate and perfect all other Bodies Hence Rogerius saith As that is to be a supernatural Fire which is to break and melt into one another the Elements of the whole World and as out of the broken corruptible Work of the dissolved Elements a new Work will be born which will be an everlasting Work even so the Holy Trinity hath shewed and signified unto us likewise a supernatural Fire in the Heavenly Stone This supernatural Fire my Son the Philosophers have hidden in their Books in parabolical expressions naming the same by innumerable names and especially they term it Balneum Mariae a moist Horse-dung Menstruum Urine Milk Bloud Aqua vitae and the like Of this Fire saith Bernhardus make a vaporous Fire continual digesting not violent subtle airy clear close incombustible penetrant and vital and thereupon he speaketh further Truly I have told thee all the manner and circumstances of the Fire which only performeth all and therefore he bids the Reader to consider well and often the words he said concerning the Fire Consequently he that is wise will easily perceive thence that those words are not to be understood of a common but of a supernatural Fire which also Mary the Prophetess doth hint saying that the Element of Water doth dissolve the Bodies and make them white And concerning this Fire which he calleth Menstruum and its preparation Raymund Lullie speaketh in his Testamentum novissimum in Codice in Animâ Metallorum Luce Mercuriorum Librâ— Mercuriorum de secretis Naturae de Quintâ Essentiâ in Elucidario Testamenti c. 4. saying that it is not Humane but Angelical to reveal this Celestial Fire and that it is the greatest secret of all how to attain to the knowledge of it And moreover he saith in figurative expressions that this Fire is composed of Horse-dung and Calx vive But what is prefigured by Calx vive I will expound in another place And what is signified by Horse-dung I mentioned before viz. that by Horse-dung is meant the Water of the prima materia for it is warm and moist like Horse-dung but it is no common Horse-dung as many ignorant persons do suppose and understand Hence saith the Philosopher Alanus the Philosophers called the moist Fire Horse-dung in which moisture is kept the occult heat because it is the property of the Fire existing in the Horse belly not to destroy Gold but by reason of its moisture to increase it To the like purpose speaketh Alchidonius Our Medicine must be hidden in moist Horse-dung which is the Philosophers Fire And Alanus Dear Son be careful in the work of Putrefaction or Destruction which is to be performed in a gentle heat that is in moist Horse-dung Arnoldus de Villâ novâ in the 9th chap. saith that the heat of Horse-dung is their Fire So likewise Alphidius it is digested and buried in the heat of Horse-dung And Aristotle the Earth or Body will enjoy no virtue unless it be sublimed by the means of Horse-dung And therefore saith Hermes roast and cook it in the heat of Horse-dung And Morienus if thou do not find in Horse-dung what thou lookest for thou hadst best to save thy charges With these agreeth Arnoldus saying Let none seek for any other Fire besides this for it is the Fire of the Wise the melting Furnace of the Wise and their Furnace for calcining subliming reverberating dissolving and performing of Coagulation and Fixation for this Water dissolveth all Metals and calcineth them and melteth it self together with them both into red and white In like manner also the Turba and Senior speaketh Our Water is a Fire and our Water is stronger than any Fire for it reduceth the Body of Gold into a meer Spirit which the natural Fire is not able to do though the natural Fire must likewise be had For then our Water enters into the natural Bodies and changeth it self into the primigenial Water and afterwards into Earth or Powder which doth more forcibly burn the Gold than the natural Fire and accordingly Calid saith â—t is truly a Fire which burneth and grindeth all things But the manner of preparing this Philosophick Water or Fire that is the Aqua Mercurii the Philosophers have concealed however Raymund Lullie of all hath written best of it though in dark expressions Accordingly first of all it will be requisite to purge Mercury from its extraneous humidity and terrene terrestriety yet so as not by means of corruptible things for by such its noble fruitful viridescent and generating Nature would be marred Avicen Arnoldus Geber Raymundus in Codicillo and other Philosophers besides say that Mercury is best cleansed by subliming it from common Salt which done the sublimate to be thrown into warm Water which will dissolve and sever the Spirit of Salt from it afterwards the sublimate being dryed and mixed with Salt of Tartar and forced through a Retort it will revive again and this to be done divers times and by this proceeding Mercury will be freed somewhat from its extraneous moisture and feculency and Bernhardus towards the end of his Epistle saith that this purgation doth not hurt Mercury in regard that the hot Water and Salt do not penetrate into its substance But it is to be noted here my Son that in regard that Mercury is of an uniform indivisible substance it cannot be truly and perfectly cleansed by such an extraneous means especially because its terrestrial impurity lies hid in its inmost center which by no Sublimation is to be sâ—vered thence as many ignorant men though in vain attempt And therefore other means must be used to free Mercury vive from those bonds wherewith Nature hath tyed him uniformly in the bowels of the Earth and to reduce him into its primum Ens which is a Sulphureous spiritual Water which must be done without addition of any heterogeneous thing as Rogerius Bacon under the title of Mercury testifieth and Raymundus in the Theoricâ of his Testament saith that if it be not putrefied and opened after the foresaid manner the Menstruum will not be worth a Fig. But when the quick Mercury without any extraneous thing is set free from its bonds and dissolved into the primogeneal Water then and but then we are capable to cleanse his inside and by distillation to sever the Spirit from the Water and terrene terrestriety concerning which Separation the Philosophers have writ in an occult stile such as no conceited person will easily apprehend but especially they described it figuratively in the distillation of Wine For in the distillation of Wine appeareth evidently that the Spirit of
Wine is mixed with a great deal of Water and terrene terrestriety but by means of an artificial distillation the dry Spirit of Wine may be severed from all the phlegmatick humidity and terrene terrestriety in so much that all the Spirit is severed from the Water existent in Wine and the Water from the Earth and then remain the Lees out of which a white Salt is extracted and joyned again with the Spirit and then the Spirit is distilled and cohobated divers times until all the Salt be gone over with it whereby the Spirit is hugely fortified and acuated And in truth this is a notable typical description represented unto us by the Philosophers which in the preparation of the Water of Mercury we ought to imitate for after its dissolution we ought in like manner as hath been taught of the Wine by Sublimation sever the Water or Phlegm from the Spirit and the Spirit from the Earth and to rectifie the Earth and joyn and distill it together with the Spirit untill all together come over the Helm Of which preparation of this Water none of all the Philosophers hath written more clearly nor better than Raymund Lullie viz. in Testamento novissimo as also in the first Testament in libro Mercuriorum libro Q. Essentiae c. where he doth plainly enough declare that after the Putrefaction Separation Distillation of the Philosophical Spirit of Wine the Spiritual Water is to be mixed again and distilled with its own Earth that it come over with it he declareth also how this Philosophical Wine or Menstruum is fortified and acuated with its own Salt And further it is to be noted that this Water Menstruum or Philosophical Spirit of Wine being thus prepared doth dissolve or open its own Body or Mercury vive into the primum Ens or primogenial Water whereby it is multiplied without end by means of Putrefaction and Distillation But what is said of the Extraction of this Water is confirmed by Arnoldus de Villâ novâ saying It is a substance full of Vapours which containeth in it self a fat humidity whereof the Artist severeth the Philosophers humidity such as is fit for the Work and is as clear as the tears of eyes wherein dwelleth the Quintessence in a Metallick Nature very proper for the Metals and therein is the Tincture to bring forth an intire Metal for it containeth the nature both of Argent vive and also of Sulphur Rosarius Philosophorum saith concerning the distillation of this Menstruum or Water that great industry and care must be had and that the Vessels to be used for the cleansing of this Spirit must be of Glass and exactly closed to the end that the Spirit may find no vent nor place to fly through it being very forward to make its way through any hole it findeth And if the red Spirit should be gone the Artist will lose his labour the Philosophers call the red Spirit Bloud and Menstruum therefore be very careful to have good Vessels and to have the joynts well luted that you may get the dry Spirit with its Bloud into the Receiver by it self without evaporation of its Virtue and keep it until thou have occasion to work with it But concerning this distillation the ocular inspection goeth beyond writing and none can be a Master before he have been a Scholar or Apprentice Be provident therefore and discreet in thy Work lay on a Receiver and first distill by a gentle Fire the Element of Water which being over put it aside and lay on another Receiver and close the joynts exactly that the Spirit may not vapour away increase the Fire a little and there will rise in the Helm a dry yellow Spirit Continue the same degree of Fire so long as the Spirit cometh yellow But when the Alembick beginneth to be red then increase the Fire very gently and keep it going on thus until the red Spirit and Bloud be quite come over which in its ascending and going through the Helm will appear in the form of Clouds in the Air And so soon as the red Spirit is distilled over the Helm will be white and then cease quickly and thus you have in the Receiver the two Elements of Air and Fire having extracted the true dry Spirit and severed the pure from the impure Loe now you have the prima materia Metallorum wherein the Bodies are reduced For all the Metals have their rise from Water which is a â—oot of all Metals And therefore they are reduced into Water like as the frozen Ice by heat is reduced into Water because it hath been Water before Do not marvel at it for all things upon Earth have their root and rise from Water O how many there are that work and never think upon the root which is the Key to the whole Work it dissolveth the Bodies readily it is Father and Mother it openeth and shutteth and reduceth Metals into what they have been in the beginning It dissolveth the Bodies and coagulateth it self together with them the Spirit is carried upon the Water that is the Power of the Spirit is seen there operating which is done when the Body is put into the Water Whereupon the Philosopher saith Look upon that despicable thing whereby our Secret is opened For it is a thing which all know well and he that knoweth it not will hardly or never find it the wise man keepeth it and the fool throws it away and the reduction is easie to him that knows it But my Son it is the greatest secret to free this Stone or Mercury vive from its natural bonds wherewith he is tyed by Nature that is to dissolve and reduce it into its primigenial Water for without this be done all will prove but labour lost for else we should not be able to sever and extract the true Spirit or Watry substance which dissolveth the Bodies And this Solution hath been concealed by all the Philosophers who left it unto God Almighty's disposing anathematizing that man that should openly reveal it And therefore they spake very subtilly and concisely concerning the solution of this crude Body to the end that it may remain occult unto the unwise But my Son thou art to take notice that the solution of Mercury vive will hardly be performed without a means but none such are to be used as are Sophistical as many rude unwise and ignorant fools use to do who by strange extravagant ways reduce Mercury into Water supposing that to be the right Water They sublime Mercury with Corrosives with all sorts of Salts and Vitriols from which the sublimed Mercury attracteth the Salty Spirits and then afterwards they dissolve the sublimate into Water in Balneo or in the Cellar or divers other ways Item they reduce it into Water by Salt-Armoniack by Herbs Sope Aquafort by means of strange kinds of Vessels and many the like Sophistical proceedings all which are but
done take one drop of the red blessed Stone and let it fall into the midst of the Water and presently thou shalt see a mist and thick darkness upon the face of the Water as it was in the first Creation then put into it two drops more and thou shalt see the second light come out of the first darkness or rather light come out darkness and then by degrees each half quarter of an hour put in three four five six drops and then no more and thou shalt see appear before thy face on the surface of the Water by degrees one thing after another all things that God did create in six days and the manner of it and Secrets not to be spoken of or revealed which to reveal I have no power nor strength nor dare set down Be on the knees from the beginning of this operation let thine eyes be judge for thus was the World created You cannot but tremble when you shall see it let all alone it will vanish away in half an hour after it begins By this you shall know and see plainly those Mysteries of Divinity which now you are ignorant of as a Child although you thought your self a wise man and that you did understand Moses his Writings of the Creation but I say no more You will now see what Body Adam and Eve had before their Fall and what after their Fall what the Serpent was what the Tree was and what Fruit they did eat where and what Paradice is and what it was you will know What Bodies the Just shall rise in not these we received from Adam but that flesh and bloud which is born and begotten in us by the Holy Ghost and Water such as our blessed Lord brought from Heaven But I have done The Heavens YOu shall take seven pieces of Metals of each of the Metalâ— named after the Planets and on every one of them you shall stamp the sign or character of the Planets in the House of the Planet and let each piece be as big as a Rose-noble only let Mercury be of a quarter of an ounce and no impression on it Then put them as they stand in order in the Firmament into a Crucible and close all the windows in the Chamber and let it be dark and in the midst of the Chamber then melt them all together and drop in seven drops of the blessed Stone and presently out of the Crucible will come a fiery flame and spread it self round about the whole Chamber fear it not it will not hurt you the whole Chamber will shine brighter than the Sun and Moon and you shall see over your head the whole Firmament as it is above the Starrie Skie and the Sun Moon and Planets will go all round in their course just as it is in the Heavens Let it cease of it self in a quarter of an hour it is gone to its proper place Fellowship MOre then this if thou take the Stone each Full Moon when it is over the Horizon where thou art and go apart in a Garden and take some of the clear Rain-water as thou didst in the first operation and drop of thy white Stone as thou didst of thy red and there shall presently even to the Orb of the Moon ascend Exhalations in a strange manner and if thou observe this every month at the due time there is no Philosopher in the Horizon where thou livest that hath the knowledge of the Stone with the use of it but at the same time goeth out and looketh East and West North and South and finding such an Apparition as he soon seeth it he knoweth it is done by some Artist or other that desireth acquaintance with those that have the same Art and will presently in the same manner answer thee when thine is done thus shalt thou know all that have the use of the Stone To meet with thy fellow Philosophers do thus anoint thy temples with the white Stone that night and earnesily pray to know what that party is lay under thy head three Bay-leaves newly gathered and fix thy Imagination upon thy desire to know him so repose thy self to sleep and when thou dost awake thou wilt presently remember thy Vision as the Person his Name and the place of his abode if thou go not to him he will come to thee for perhaps he thinks thou dost not know this Secret The reason why this should be thus is this the universal Spirit of the Air which is inclosed in the Stone causeth it Thus mayst thou accompany thy self with all the wise men in the World who shall appear unto thee rather Beggars than Rich men and perhaps can teach thee more than I can or have done by this for indeed all things that are Natural are done by it a Volume would hardly contain them As to command and converse with Spirits which I forbear to set down I mean good Spirits is not this Angelical wisdom to know these things Astronomy Astrology and all the Arts of the Mathematicks are easily known in their perfection this being done that I have told thee nor is Scholarship required it is the gift of God You must know before you do these things you must take the Stone nine days as I prescribed first and it will make thee have an Angelical understanding thou wilt despise the World and all in it then thou wilt know how to serve God and understand the Scriptures I have written that which was never writ before think whether they be not Secrets and Arcana's and whether thou ought'st to shew this or not to any man but to him that hath the Stone I have now done charging thee to have a care of this Writing commanding thee to serve God for without thou do that thou wilt never have good of this Art serve him in Spirit and Truth and so to God I leave thee to direct thee in his ways Glory to God in the Highest Amen Nicolas Flammell's SUMMARY OF Philosophy Nicolas Flammell's Summary of Philosophy HE that desireth to know how Metals are transmuted he must know from what Matter they are and how they be formed in their Minerals and lest herein we err we must see and observe the transmutations as in the Veins of the Earth Minerals out of the Earth may be changed if they be before spiritualized that they may come into their Sulphur and Argent vivâ— Nature these are the two Sperms the one Masculine the other Feminine complexions and these are composed of the Elements the Male Sulphur is nothing but Fire and Air and true Sulphur is as a Fire but not the Vulgar which is of no Metallick substance the Feminine Sperm called Argent vive is nothing but Earth and Water These two Sperms old wise men called two Dragons or Serpents the one is winged the other not Sulphur not flying the Fire is without wings the winged Serpent is Argent vive born up by the Wind therefore in her certain hour she flieth from the Fire
three Elements And these last colours abide hiddenly and intrinsically and appear under the shew of a white Spirit in liquid Mercury until it be recondensed in the Powder which is in the Bodies because the Soul lies hid in the Spirit as in the condensation the Spirit and the Soul lie hid in the Powder or Body For there is a corruption in the things to be altered but no dissipation of parts unless some superfluous parts be to be rejected as unprofitable for generation whereupon the Artificer purifies his Work that digestion may succeed better This is manifest by example in Grain for of two grains of Wheat if the one be cast into good ground there it putrifies dies and loses its external form but nothing thereof is dissipated yea in its time it encreases into a multiplicity of Fruit and there is indeed made a corruption only of the form and not any dissipation of the matter But if the other grain be cast into the Fire then both matter and form are corrupted and the whole is dissipated and that corruption is unprofitable for generation Wherefore Water dissolves not Bodies but those only of its own kind and by which it may be condensed nor can Bodies be at all nourished to generation but by their like which can preserve the species destroyed by that transmuting Body through the artifice of the Work though Vegetables are nourished by things of different kinds yet before they nourish them they are assimilated the dissolution of them being first made according to the proportion of the things which suck and draw them to them It must be noted therefore that the Solution of Metals may be made by different ways one which Fools know as is abovesaid with Foreign things which abide not with the dissolved Metals which is rather to be called a corrosive destruction and defilement of the Compound The second Solution is made by the power and force of Fire which is no true Solution but a melting rather of the colligated Elementary parts for the outward heat of the Fire in dissolving the Compound finds out its intrinsical natural or native Fire within which internal and proportional Fire dwells in the Air therefore it dissolves the Air it self But that dissolved Air resides and dwells in the Water and the Water in the Earth and the Water it self dissolves the Earth so that it melts both the active and passive but this melting is no true Solution yea it is a dissipation because the Elements there being homogeneous to one another and proportionably fixed by digestion are mixt and one of them educed out of the power of another generally And therefore this falls out even in pure Bodies in which the Elemental natures are fixed Wherefore in them the flame of Fire causeth melting and dissolves that whole Body to fluidity and not to a separation because Fire cannot flow unless the Air consubstantial to it flow neither doth the Aâ— flow unless the Water be dissolved nor doth the Water flow unless the Earth flow and contrariwise as the Earth is dissolved by the Water so on the contrary side the Water retaineth the Air and congealeth it and in the same manner ascending upwards the Air retaineth the Fire in Congelation because the more fixt and fixing Elements cause fixation by acting together on one another as Earth and Water and in a contrary manner Fire and Air act together each on other unto Solution But this Solution is called a melting of the Compound and not properly a Solution of it because the parts separable from one another in the generation of the Compound are not dissolved as is done in the third and truly Philosophick Solution when the Compound is dissolved in the manner aforesaid and yet the parts abide unseparated though separable so that the virtue of the most digested Elements may be extracted from things to be dissolved by the dissolver that is Quick-silver and the grosser parts in such a dissolution acquire some latitude of subtilty because the Body is turned into Spirit and contrariwise the Spirit into Body fixed things are turned into volatiles and volatiles to fixed For this Solution is possible and natural that is by Art of Nature subserving thereto and this is sole and necessary Solution in the Work of the Philosophers which can be done by no other thing than Quick-silver only with a prudent proportion so as a good Artificer knowing from within the natures and proportions ought to make the proportion from his first entrance upon the Work For these two Sir are sufficient for this Work and nothing else enters it nor generates and multiplies as we have said Besides you say that Gold as most think is nothing else than Quick-silver coagulated naturally by the force of Sulphur yet so that nothing oâ— the Sulphur which generated the Gold doth remain in the substance of the Gold as in an humane Embryo when it is conceived in the Womb there remains nothing of the Father's Seed according to Aristotle's opinion but the Seed of the Man doth only coagulate the menstrual blood of the Woman in the same manner you say that after Quick-silver is so coagulated the form of Gold is perfected in it by virtue of the Heavenly Bodies and especially of the Sun But by your good leave and with respect I must tell you we must not think so For being we are Philosophically perswaded that Gold is nothing but Mercury anatized that is equally digested in the bowels of a Mineral Earth and the Philosophers have signified that this very thing is done by the contact of Sulphur coagulating the Mercury and by reason of its operation that is from Mercury being digested and thickned by a proportionate heat Wherefore we must know that Gold is Sulphur and Mercury together that is the coagulant and the coagulated in one and nothing added from without thereto but only a pure digestion or maturation which multiplies qualities and excites one Element from another out of their pure possibility into act no other thing whatsoever being superadded But this digestion or matutarion is produced actively from the superiour Elements that is the Fire and Air which are not actually but potentially in Mercury which yet being excited and assisted by an external heat and by the proper and natural digesting heat the passive Elements in Mercury are by them subtilized being not only potentially existent but actually towards Water it self and the Water is subtilized towards Air and Air follows to Fire and in this proportionable action of Nature and digestion of Mercury the Male and Femalâ— abide together in closed Natures the Female truly as it were Earth and Water the Male as Air and Fire which Earth and Water the Philosophers do mingle in Gold but called the Air and Fire a Sulphur as it were therein neither is there any other Foreign addition in the bowels of the Earth And therefore in Art above ground neither is there found and Foreign addition to digest or
condense Mercury into the nature of Gold or other species of Metals Therefore the Philosophers have said that Sulphur and Mercury make Sol that is its corporeity and permanency And therefore it is not hence concluded that the external artificial heat stirring up and assisting the proportional intrinsick heat to digest and ripen the other two less digested and immature Elements in Mercury namely its Water and Earth is of the substance of the Compound For the external heat is not permanent within with the quantity and weight of the Matter nor adds any thing thereto But the intrinsick proportionate natural and simple heat is permanent with the quantity and weight of the Mercury digested by it because that heat is an intrinsick and essential part of Mercury it self to wit the two more active Elements in it namely Air and Fire Therefore Fools do ill and absurdly understand that saying of the Philosophers that Sulphur and Mercury beget Sol because as is sufficiently known as neither Air nor Fire in the first Mercurial composition nor afterwards in the natural Metallick digestion depart nor are severed from Water and Earth so neither doth Sulphur which is no other than Air and Fire depart nor is separated from Mercury which is the same with Water and Earth And he is not a natural Philosopher who imagines or asserts the contrary for the digestion of Gold happens and is made of the first Mercurial proportion without any addition made thereto by Nature under or Art above ground as is said Neither is that repugnant to what we have said that a pure Sol and clean Mercury must in this Art be conjoyned because this is not done to that intent to affirm that there is one Sulphur in Sol and another in Mercury or that there is one Mercury in Sol and another in Mercury but because the digestion is more mature and perfect in Sol than Mercury And also in the Sun the Sulphur is more mature and digested and therefore more active than in Mercury whence the Philosophers have affirmed Sol to be nothing else but Quick-silver maturedâ— For in Mercury there are only two actual Elements to wit Water and Earth which are passive but the active Elements Air and Fire are only potentially therein But as it is known when those Air and Fire in a pure Mercury are deduced from possibility into act that is to a due digestion and proportionable concoction then â—t becomes Gold Wherefore in Gold there are four Elements conjoyned in equal and anatical proportion in which therefore there is actually a more ripe and active Sulphur that is Air and Fire than in Mercury Wherefore Gold is by Art dissolved with Mercury that the unripe may be holpen by the ripe and so Art decocting and Nature perfecting the Composition is ripened by the favour of Christ. Whence the cause may be derived why by the help of the Philosophick Art more perfect noble and by many degrees more elevated Gold is made sooner and in less time than by the work of Nature Because Nature doth act and work this by boyling and digesting Mercury alone in the bowels of the Earth without any assistant which cannot be brought on to the due proportion of Gold or any other Metal in a little time But our Art helps the work of Nature by mingling with Mercury ripe Gold in which is a Sulphur excellently digested and therefore maturing and quickly digesting Mercury it self to the anatick proportion of Gold by subtilizing its Elements whereupon there follows by Art a wonderful abbreviation of this natural Work Wherefore my Doctor I return to the former points we must not imagine according to their mistake who say that the Male Agent himself approaches the Female in the coagulation and departs afterwards because as is known in every generation the conception is active and passive Both the active and passive that is all the four Elements must always abide together otherwise there would be no mixture and the hope of generating an off-spring would be extinguished For in every man the Masculine Seed to the end of his life is called in him the Agent when it is first mingled with the Feminine and whether it be shed out or consumed in him Nature for its sake doth vegetate and is wonderfully increased and nourished and makes to it self in the same mans loins the like specifick Seed The like is to be judged of the Feminine Seed in the Women wherefore both these Seeds abide always and are to be esteemed for original Agents and first Patients Yet there is a various or different nativity or generation of Mixts and Vegetables For they are called Simple Mixts which grow under ground out of our sight or about the surface thereof by the commixture of the Elements alone compounded one with another or from their first Solution because they grow not as Vegetables but how much soever of matter was compact and mixt in them so much of their first weight is reserved in the same Compounds For example sake how much soever at first a mass of some Mercurial substance doth weigh in its Mineral disposition in the bowels of the Earth so much weight of Gold will abide digested therefrom and the Scoriae and Faeces rejected from it will rather be diminished than multiplied because they receive no nourishment But there are manifold degrees of this first and simple natural mixture The first is the naked concretion and composition of the four Elements and that immediate in which there is not yet any change made or exaltation of one Element into another but a simple union of a symbolizing composition of them persevering and abiding of which sort Stones are The second degree follows upon the first because from the aforesaid Stones Minerals about which we discourse are generated and the more noble subterraneous species emerge and arise from hence because in these begin the action of Elements and their mutual transmutation though their action is not in so great vivacity and virtue as in Vegetables and Sensitives because they have neither growth nor sense as we have said before The third degree is that which comprehends precious Stones and Gems because in them is found a perfect and compleat action from the virtue of the Elements compacted and acting mutually as I have declared more largely in my Philosophy where I have perspicuously manifested this third degree together with the second to be a mean betwixt the first and second composition of Natural things Then another nativity or generation is that which is not accounted to be of Simple Mixts but Compound Vegetables which are truly divisible into four kinds or Classes as I have discoursed more largely in my other Book which I sent you For there are Vegetables but Sensitives more especially which for the most part beget their like by the Seeds of the Male and Female for the most part concurring and commixt by copulation which work of Nature the Philosophick Art imitates in the generation of
Gold No man can artificially perfect any humane Seed but we can by Art dispose a man to a productive generation of his like For the vital Seeds are only digested in a vegetable manner by Nature in the loins of both Parents but we can by coition mix the Parents Seeds in natural Vessels which copulation is as it were an Art disposing and mingling those natural Seeds to the begetting of Man For example sake the Seed of the Man as more ripe perfect and active is by this artifice joyned with the Seed of the Woman more immature and in a sort passive which Seed of the Man because it actually contains in it the working Elements to wit the Air and Fire is therefore more ripe and active for digestion But the Female Seed doth more actually contain the undigested and passive Elements and which therefore are to be digested as the Earth and Water which being shed out and mingled together in the natural Vessels of the Female no Foreign thing being added thereto but the external heat of the Woman exciting and helping the proportionable inward heat of the Mans Seed the active Elements of the Mans Seed digest and ripen the Feminine Seed and thence a Man is generated compleat and perfect according to his Nature So it is in our Philosophick Art which is like this procreation of Man for aâ— in Mercury of which Gold is by Nature generated in Mineral Vessels a natural conjunction is made of both the Seeds Male and Female so by our artifice an artificial and like conjunction is made of Agents and Patients For the active Elements which obtain the name of the Masculine Seed are naturally conjoyned with the passive Elements which are as it were the Feminine Seed but herein the due natural proportion is always to be observed Now this first Mercurial digestion is called Conjunction in which the act riseth out of the possibility that is the Masculine from the Feminine namely the Air and Fire from the Earth and Water by means of a pure digestion and subtilization of them But the Philosophers and ingenious Artificers imitating Nature besides this natural digestion of the Seeds in Mercury have by a most subtle invention made another conjunction and digestion whence they have not generated simple Gold only but some other far more noble and perfect thing For they commanded Gold in which the Elements are more active as the Male Seed to be joyned with Mercury in which the passive Elements are existent that it might be duly dissolved excluding all Foreign things save that they used an outward heat which by helping doth excite the internal natural heat of Gold to digest actively and ripen Mercury And so as a Man is generate by Nature so Gold by Art Although notwithstanding their Sperm and Seed cannot be generated by Art because Art knows not proportion of the mixture necessary to procreate Seed and in Man it knows neither composition nor mixtion or first proportion nor the causes of subterraneous things which flow out from the Earth where is the proper and natural place of their generation But those Seeds produced by Nature are artificially conjoyned that out of them in a way of composition that which is to be generated may be produced in which both the Seeds abide together well mingled although Aristotle as you write seem to think otherwise Wherefore the Masculine Seed of Mercury or our Sulphâ—r goes not away after coagulation as some falsly affirm and that this falls out in Mercury by the force of the Sun especially and that by its heat chiefly the form of Gold is perfected as some think in subterraneous places Yea rather by the force of the motion of its Globe or of its â—â—b and of the whole Heaven universally because the Solar Rays do only heat the surface of the Earth and not inwardly those its deep places in which the generation of several kinds of Metals is brought about and neither do the influences of Heaven brought down by the Rays reach unto those lowermost parts although the subterraneous motion of the Elements proceed first from the motion of the Heavens and not from its Rays of light nor from their heat nor other influence save motion but how this comes about and what is the cause of this motion of subterraneous things I believe your Reverence is not ignorant and therefore I forbear it at present Therefore the Sun is not the principal cause of Gold or of its form though there be a resemblance in names betwixt them because as the Sun is hotter than the rest of the Planets so Gold is hotter than any of the Metals with the like difference of proprieties The rest of the Planets also have obtained like names whence this errour of Fools doth arise For they believe that every one of the seven Planets generally and specially by its influence doth beget one special kind of Metal whereunto by a certain propriety it agrees and is in its nature resembled But it happens otherwise in subterraneous things than in Vegetables in which Heaven or the Sun is the cause of their generation or augmentation not only by its motion but also by reason of the heat of its Rays For the Sun heats the Vegetables themselves and the superficies of the Earth the Elements being very strongly reflected by its Rays to the surface of the Earth because that its Rays can proceed so far To instance for that from the twelfth Heaven which obtains the utmost degree of height proceeding to descend lower there follow always thicker or less subtle Orbs till you come to the concave of the Orb of the Moon where alterable things have their place or the mixt Elements begin and are terminated under the Hemisphere of things generable and corruptible And therefore the more subtle and simple Fire is there found though not altogether pure because a simple pure Fire cannot be found apart amongst the alterable sorts of things nor any one of the other Elements albeit in every Compound thing simple Fire may be found mixed with other simple Elements else there would not be many Elements but one only Therefore the Rays of the Stars of Heaven of the Sun especially pass through the foresaid Regions unrefracted until they descending farther downwards are reflected in the Fire by reason of its thickness afterwards descending farther through the Sphere of the Fire they by moving it reflect the Fire it self into the Air which is thicker And in like manner the Rays proceeding perpendicularly to lower things through the Sphere of Air into the Water thicker than the Air from which they are reflected back into the Air. And so after its manner they are reflected back by the Water moved by them which also is much better perceived in the Earth with its thickness above other Elements By this decoction and reflection the Elements are moved invisibly though not unperceivably because we perceive heat by the motion of the Heavens and it is always reflected from the
superiour and subtles Element into the inferiour and thicker unto the surface of the Earth by means of the Rays of the Stars descending perpendicularly from aloft to the lowest things and things thus reflected being moved and by the Rays of the Sun reflected accidental heat is produced in the medium though sometimes by the Rays of other Stars other qualities are produced here below as dryness and coldness as is manifest in Astronomy not that the Rays are in themselves hot but that they are the cause of heat in such manner as we have said Now that these things are true is manifestly known from Astronomy and Perspective whence it is understood how generations happen in Vegetatives and Sensitives thus much therefore may suffice But vain Astrologers have other conceits and think that the influences of Heaven are from the virtue of its activity and not from the virtue of its motion which is false because the Rays of Heaven produce or effect nothing in the superiour Orbs. For such Rays cannot be reflected on the aforesaid Orbs nor be mixed with them as they are reflected in the Elements and mingled with them not by composition but by a moving reflection and mixture of the same Elements as hath been said but in the supercelestials there is no capacity to receive new qualities or Foreign impression although the Rays themselves produce wonderful qualities in the Elements moved by their reflection Wherefore my Doctor the Sun in particular is not the cause of the generation of Gold nor yet is it by means of its heat the cause of Vegetables either above the Earth or of Miâ—ts about its superficies which namely we know to be heated by the Rays of the Sun as we have said which is also agreeable to Astronomy But the knowledge of these things need not any longer disputation wherefore I pass on to what remains for if you apply your mind to those things which we have said you will understand and you will find it true that by the activity of Sulphur digesting and coagulating Mercury its form from Gold is specially perfected but yet you must not think that from any other Metal or any Star this may be done as you have written in your Epistle That which we have said is also to be understood of otheâ— Metals in their kind and manner but with difference because in other Metals there is a double Sulphur One which is superfluous and may be separated the form of the Metal still remaining Another Sulphur is an essential part of the Metal but united to its Quick-silver and not separable so that the form of the Metal continues yet that imperfect and Sulphurâ—ous Metal may be perfected by a Medicine corrupting the form of that Metal and introducing another But what we are to think of the duplicity of this Sulphur which you assert in this Philosophick Art I pray you my renowned Doctor without violating the Law of our Friendship or your Authority that you would be pleased to consider This duplicity of Sulphur is not so distinct in Mercury coagulated into diverâ— Metals that one of them should intrinsically and essentially appertain to the generation of the Metal and be esteemed an essential part thereof and the other be ascribed to corruption But there is in every Metallick species equally as in Gold and Silver a simple and single Sulphur which is termed Quick-silver from the first Mercurial composition as hath been declared in the generation of Gold Because Sulphur and Quick silver are nothing else but the four Elements in Mercury it self so or so proportionally disposed as this or that Metallick species requireth But that which is reputed a second Sulphur and to be rejected is a certain Scoria and faeculent part in the Metals contracted in the coagulation of the Mercury or a certain superfluity which being unclean and impure would not in the digestion of the Mercury endure a congelation to the form of a Metal because it was not of an homogeneal and proportionable Nature of Mercury apt to be congealed and digested into a Metal But some Philosophers have called this Scoria a combustible Sulphur because it cannot subsist but vanisheth in the testing of Metals or is separated from them into Faeces And here I may bring this example the bloud in Sensitives and sap in Vegetables in their coagulation have several and different offices because some parts of the bloud have a conformity unto Flesh and therefore may be coagulated and turned into Flesh and retain the uniform nature of Flesh and obtain the name of Flesh. But some parts thereof residing in the pores are of a superfluous humour which can in no wise be converted into solid Flesh and therefore are ejected by Sweat and Medicines and separated from the true Flesh. But in the Sanguine complexion there are many fewer superfluities than in others So we may conclude by way of resemblance that it is in Gold and other kinds of Metals that the purer or impurer Mercury in its first coagulation contained or contracted more or less superfluities or natural impurities Wherefore the difference is made in the coagulation of Mercury which specifies and causes divers Metals and whatever Mercury there is in any sort of Metal is termed incombustible and inseparably permanent though in fixed Bodies it is made volatile by Art yet by Nature it remains inseparable in an Elemental proportion But what dross soever was contracted in the Mercury and mixed with it from the beginning that is in the congelation of Mercury in its first composition by heat digesting it to a Metallick kind and therefore it is by the test taken away from the Mercury that is the homogeneous Mercurial nature and separated from the Metallick kind as rejectaneous and heterogeneal this is not properly called a Sulphur but a dross and certain superfluity because Sulphur is nothing else but a pure act of Air and Fire warming and digesting or decocting the Earth and Water in Mercury proportionable and homogeneous unto it But the dross is that which in the first composition was not pertinent unto the nature of Mercury nor had a proportion to any Metallick kind in the composition and digestion of the first Elements in Mercury From these things it is known that there are not in other sorts of Metals any distinct or more Sulphurs than are in Gold and Silver but one only and simple Sulphur though there are in them more and greater superfluities than are in Gold From hence the truth of your saying is known that Gold of all Metals cleaves most unto Mercury Now this comes to pass by reason of the purity of both because in them is less dross dregs or superfluity than in others For every thing doth naturally desire by a through mixture and union to be joyned to a thing of like nature to it and proportionable in homogeneity rather than with a thing unequal and unlike to it as we know like as Water very easily and without contradiction
it so also there must be in Humane Flesh an informing Soul digesting in man the brutal acts and to work in him the intellectual work But we must understand it otherwise in our Stone in which the Earth hath the name of the Body Air and Water obtain the name of Spirit neither is in it a Soul but because it contains the Air and Fire which I perceive well you do perfectly understand But the Philosophers divided them in this manner By a crude Spirit they extracted a digested Spirit out of the dissolved Body and they had remaining a fixed mass of Ashes to be farther dissolved in which they found an incombustible and stony oyliness and gumminess which they called the Soul which enlivens unites incerates and produces united Natures and in the Spirit they disjoyned the Natures so in the Oyl they re-conjoyned them For our Stoâ—â— hath not an informing nature as a Vegetative or a Sensitive but it hath only a formed form which form is the very Elements themselves because it is homogeneous But mans Body and that of other Sensitives is heterogeneous For Bones Flesh Bloud Marrow Hair and Nails are distinguished differently in it which is otherwise in Gold in which whatsoever there is is found to be of one kind Wherefore my Reverend Doctor the Philosophers speak this by way of similitude by reason of the administration of Art and operation of Nature not because there is a Soul in the Stone but metaphorically as you well know nor Spirit nor Body as an informing form as it is found in Man and other Sensitives Verily I tell you that Oyl which naturally incerates and unites Natures and naturally induces the Medicine into other Bodies that are to be tinged is not compounded of any other extraneous thing but out of the bowels of the Body that is to be dissolved which Oyl retains the colour of its Spirit always until it be rethickned and then first of all it puts on the Royal Ensigns that is a citrineness and Metalline form which it manifests to all in Gold a Golden in Silver a Silver colour and form which Oyl if it be Sol being dissolved is perceived to be red inwardly though outwardly it appear white under the form of liquid Quick-silver Now some think to compound an Oyl as generous and powerful as this Oyl is namely out of Mercury throughly dryed or out of the substance of Tin or Body of the Sun commixed with ingredients of divers kinds but for what concerns our Work their Experiment is fallacious They can indeed reduce the species of Metals into a kind of Oyl but they cannot at any hand reduce them into a Metallick kind observing and keeping the proportion of the things to be mixed sound and entire But that Oyl may be profitable for Medicine to sensitive Creatures because the nature of Gold is dissolved therein but yet impertinently and unprofitably as to our Philosophick Work Besides my Honoured Doctor that I may lightly touch on the remaining Heads of your Epistle you must diligently and wisely observe that Fire and Azor wash Laton But Azor is not raw Quick-silver simply extracted out of the Mine but it is that which is extracted by Quick-silver it self out of the dissolved Bodies which is found to be more ripe upon tryal Wherefore if Laton be an unclean Body it is depurated by such an Azor which you write that you have had formerly and by this Laton purified by Azor we make our Medicine for curing every sick person Indeed this Azor is made of the Elixir because Elixir is nothing else but a Body resolved into a Mercurial Water after whiâ—â— resolution Azor is extracted out of it that is an animated Spirit And it is called Elixir from E which is out of and Lixis which is Water because all things are made out of this Water and Elixir is the second part in the Philosophick Work as Rebis is the first in the same Work But the Tincture constitutes the third Work for as the matter of this Composition produces divers effects so it obtainâ— different names one after another Thence it manifestly appears that Azor is not requisite to the Elixir because in this Work the Elixir goes before Azor and not the contrary like as Water procedes the Oyl and the Spirit the Soul For Azor is drawn and extracted out of the Elixir as Oyl out of Water and not contrariwise as mention is made elsewhere For example sake as in the Art of Physick pure simple Fountain-water by boyling in the first concoction is joyned with theâ—â— Flesh of a Chicken and thence in the first degree of concoction we obtain a Broth a good and perfect decoction the humid watry and airy parts of the Chicken being actually dissolved in the aforesaid Water though there be other Elements therein also actually But that it may be made a much more perfect Medicine and more generous for restoring man's sick Body unto health the decocted Body of the Chick is beaten into a mash with the said Water already altered into a boyled Broth or with part of it and is distilled by a stronger decoction whence a Broth and decoction will be made much more noble and generous partaking of the whole nature of the Chicken Because by this second decoction not only the moist parts but the hot parts that is its aërial and fiery parts being melted into the Broth or decoction are throughly mingled and dissolved and therefore the whole virtue of the Chick is in such a decoction extrâ—cted into the aforesaid Liquor So it falls out in the Philosophick Work because the crude Mineral Spirit like Water is joyned with its Body to dissolve it in its first decoction whence it is called Rebis because it is compounded of two or a double thing to wit of the Masculine and Feminine Seed that is of the thing to be dissolved though it be one thing and matter whence the Verses Rebis is two things joyn'd yet it 's but one Dissolv'd to their first Seeds the Sun or Moon Now out of these two things dissolved together the Elixir is compounded that is a tinged Water whence the Verses Pure Bodies are of Lixis made by Art Hence Greeks Elixir term its second-part Out of this Elixir my Venerable Doctor as out of the first Broth or Bâ—llion of a simple decoction Azor is extracted to wit by a stronger and iterated distillation which Azor resembles and participates the nature of its Body from which it was extracted which is hot and retains its virtue in it self namely an Oylie nature which is hot and moist because it is actual Fire and Air though all the Elements are in it in Essence and by Composition Medicines therefore to cure the Bodies of Sensitives may be composed out of the said Metals by several artifices but they are not pertinent to the Philosophick Work as the Elixir is to Azor that is the vital Spirit and fugitive Soul are not diaphanous nor transparent as the
perceive that Water is the first Matter of all things which are born or generated in the World for certainly 't is manifest unto thee that nothing grows or receiveth increase without the four Elements therefore whatsoever is Elementated by the virtue of the four Elements it must of necessity be that the original of all things that are born or grow should be of Water Yet ought you not to understand this before spoken of Water but of that Water which is the Matter of all things out of which all Natural things are produced in their kind Know therefore that first of all Air is engendred of Water of Air Fire of Fire Earth Now will I more familiarly and friendly discourse with thee I 'le further manifest this Mystery unto thee by degrees lâ—â—t by too much hast it happen to us according to the Proverb That he that makes too much hast oftentimes comes home too late Now therefore that I may satisfie thy desire I will discourse of the first Matter which Philosophers call the fifth Essence and many other Names they have for it by which they may the more obscure it In it for certain are four Elements pure in their Exaltation Know therefore that if you would have the fifth Essence Man you must first have Man and you must have nothing else of that Matter and see that you observe this well This I say that if you desire to have the Philosophers Stone you must of necessity first have the fifth Essence of that same Stone whether it be Mineral or Vegetative joyn therefore species with species and Gems with Gems and not the one without the other nor any thing contrary which may be other than the species or proper Gems beware therefore of all that is not Essential For of Boneâ— Stones cannot be made neither do Cranes beget Geâ—se which if you will consider you 'l find the profit of it by the help of Divine Grace by the assistance whereof let us fâ—rther proceed to speak of this blessed Water which is called the Water of the Sun and Moon hidden in the concavity of our Earth Concerning which Earth know that all that is generated must of necessity have Male and Female from which action and passion arise without which Generation never is But you will certainly never receive profit from things differing in kinds Notwithstanding if you have this Water of the Sun and Moon it will draw other Bodies and Humours to its own kind by the help of the virtue and heat of the Sun and Moon and will make them perfect As an Infant in the womb of its Mother decoction of temperate heat helping it turneth the Flowers into its nature and kind that is into Flesh Bloud Bones and Life with the other properties of a living Body of which 't is needless to say any more And hence you may understand that our Water changeth it self into a perfect kind with things of its own kind For first it will congeal it self into a substance like Oyl then it will change that Oyl by the means of temperate heat into Gum and lastly by the help of the perfect heat of the Sun into a Stone Now therefore know that out of one thing you have three that is Oyl Gum and a Stone Know also that when the Water is turned into Oyl then you have a perfect Spirit when the Oyl is turned into hard Gum then you have a perfect Spirit and Soul and when the Spirit and Soul are turned into a Stone then you have a perfect Body Soul and Spirit together which as it is called the Philosophers Stone and Elixir and a perfect Medicine of mans Body so also that which is leavened with its genus and the fifth Essencâ— Know Son that fifth Essences are divers one whereof is to Humane Bodies another to Elixir and to the imperfect Bodies of Metals For you must consider that the generation and growth of Metals is not as the growth of mans Body for a genus agrees with its genus and a species with its species Moreover know that the first Matter of man which begetteth the Flesh Bloud Bones and Life is a Spermatick Humour which causeth generation through a vital Spirit included therein And when the Matter is generated and congealed into a Body extract thence the fifth Essence of that Body wherewith you may nourish the Body Yet Son will I tell thee moreover that Water or Matter or Seed whereof Man is begot is not the augmenter of the Body Know Son that if the Body be fed with its natural food then its first Matter will be increased and also the Body viz. the first Matter in quality and the Body in quantity the first Matter is that which is called the fifth Essence Yet know Son that the fifth Essence is one thing and the Matter of augmentation is another and as I said before the increase of Metals is not like the increase of mans Body Although the fifth Essence which causeth the augmentation of Metals may be a fit Medicine for Humane Bodies as also the fifth Essence which causeth the augmentation of mans Body may be a fit Medicine for the Bodies of Metals and therefore as before is said the fifth Essence is one thing and augmentation another You see therefore for what reason our Water is called the first Matter and Seed of Metals viz. because of it all Metals are generated Therefore you will have need of it in the beginning middle and end for as much as it is the cause of all generation because by its Congelation it is turned into all sorts of Metals to wit into the first Matter of the sorts Thence it is called the Seed of Metals and the Metallick Water of Life because it affords Life and Bloud to sick and dead Metals joyneth in Matrimony the Red man with the White woman that is the Sun and the Moon It is called also Virgins Milk for as long as it is not joyned with the Sun and the Moon nor with any thing else except only those which are of its own â—ind so long it may be called a Virgin But when it is joyned with a Male and Female and marrieth with them then is it no longer a Virgin because it adhereth to them and becomes one with them to whom it is joyned that is with the Sun and Moon whom it joyns and is joyned with to generation But as long as it remains a Virgin it is called Virgins Milk the Blessed Water and the Water of Life and by many other Names And now my Son that I may say something of the Philosophers Mercury know that when thou hast put thy Water of Life to the Red man who is our Magnesia and to the White woman whose name is Albifica and they shall all have been gathered together into one then you have the true Philosophers Mercury For after that in this manner all is joyned with a Male and Female then it is called the Philosophers Mercury
well Son that according to the old Proverb He sweet deserves not who nâ— bitter tasts But now to speak something more of our Brass know that Brass signifies continuance or continuing Water But what is farther to be considered in the nature of the name of Brass you may easily gather from its English Tetragrammate name that is its name consisting of four letters to wit B. R. A. S. First therefore by B. is signified the Body of ouâ— Work which is sweet and bitter our Olive and our Brass continuing in its form by R. is signified the Root of our Work and the Spring of continuing Radical Humours which is our Red Tincture and Red Rose which puriâ—ieâ—h all in its kind A. signifies our Fâ—ther Adam who was the first man out of whom was born the first woman Eve whence you may understand that therein is Male and Female Know therefore that our Brass is the beginning of our Work our Gold and Olive for it is the first Matter of Metals as Man is the first of Man and Woman S. signifies the Soul of our Life and Spirit of Life which God breathed into Adam and all the Creatures which Spirit is called the fifth Essence Moreover Son by these four Letters we may understand the four Elements without which nothing is generated in Nature They also signifie Sol and Lune which are the causes of all Life Generation and augmentation of all things born in the World In this name therefore of four Letters consisteth our whole Work For our Brass is Male and Female of which ariseth he who is called begot Therefore Son take good notice what is signified by our sweet Brass what is called our Sandiver or the Salt of our Nitre or Nitre what also by the Bloud of the Dragon what Sol and Lune our Mercury and our Water of Life and many other things concerning which Philosophers have spoken darkly and in Riddles Know therefore Son that our first Matter is neither Gold nor common Silver nor is it of corrosives or such like outward things which Denigrators groping in the dark now-a-days do use Take heed therefore Son that by no means you admit any thing contrary in kind for be assured that what a man shall have sowed the same shall he reap Moreover know that when our Stone is compleated in its proper kind then it will be a hard Stone which will not easily be dissolved yet if you add his Wife to him he will be dissolved into Oyl which is called the Philosophers Oyl incombustible Oyl and by many other names Know therefore Son that there are divers leavenings as well Corporal as Spiritual viz. Corporal in quantity and Spiritual in quality Corporal leavening increaseth the weight and quantity of the Medicine yet is not of so great power as the Medicine it self as is Spiritual leavening for it only encreaseth the Medicine in quantity not in virtue but Spiritual leavening increaseth it in both and where the Corporal ruleth above an hundred the Spiritual above a thousand Moreover as long as the Medicine is leavened by Spiritual qualities so long it is called the Medicine but when it is leavened with the Corporal substance it is called Elixir There is therefore a divers manner of leavening and a difference between the Medicine and the Elixir for the Spiritual is one thing the Corporal another Know also that as long as it is Spiritual leavening it is liquid Oyl and Gum which cannot conveniently be carried about from one place to another but when it is Corporal then it will be aâ—Stone which you may carâ—y about in your Pocket Now therefore you see what is the difference between the Medicine and the Elixir nor is the difference lessbetween Elixir and Gold and Silver for Gold and Silver are difficult to melt but Elixir not so for it easily dissolves at the flame of a Candle thence you may easily perceive how various the differences of our composition and temperament are Lastly that we may say something concerning their food and drink know that their food is of airy Stones and their drink is drawn out of two perfect Bodies namely out of the Sun and Moon the drink that is drawn out of the Sun is called liquid Gold or Potable that is that may be drank but that out of the Moon is called Virgins Milk Now Son we have discoursed plainly enough with thee if Divine Grace be not wanting to thee for that drink that is drawn out of the Sun is red but that out of the Moon is white and therefore one is called liquid Gold but the other Virgins Milk one is Masculine the other Feminine though both ariseth out of one Image and one kind Son ponder my words otherwise if thou wanderest in the dark that evil befalls thee from defect of light See therefore that thou beest diligent in turning the Philosophick Wheel that thou mayst make Water out of Earth Air out of Water Fire out of Air and Earth out of Fire and all this out of one Image and Root that is out of its own proper kind and natural food wherewith its Life may be cherished without end He who hath understanding let him understand Glory to God Omnipotent FINIS Colours to be observed in the Operation of the Great Work YOU must expect to have it exceeding Black within 40 days after you have put your Composition into the Glass over the â—ire if it be not black proceed no further for it is unrecoverable it must be as black as the Ravens Head and must continue a long time and not utterly to lose it during five months If it be Orange colour or half Red within some small time after you have begun your Work without doubt your Fire is too hot for these are tokens that you have burnt the Radical humour and vivacity of the Stone Know ye not that you may have Black of any thing mixed or compounded together with moisture But you must have Black which must come and proceed of perfect Metalline Bodies by a real Putrefaction and to continue a long time As for the colours of Blew and Yellow they signifie that the Solution and Putrefaction is not yet perfectly finished and that the colours of our Mercury are not yet well mingled with the rest The Black aforesaid is an evident sign that in the beginning the Matter and Composition doth begin to purge it self and to dissolve into small Powder less than the Motes in the Sun or a glutinous Water which feeling the heat will ascend and descend in the Glass at length it will thicken and congeal and become like Pitch exceeding Black in the end it will become a Body and Earth which some call Terra faetida for then by reason of the perfect Putrefaction it will have a scent or stink like unto Graves newly opened wherein the Bodies are not thorowly consumed Hermes doth call it Terra foliis but the proper name is Leton which must be blanched and made white This blackness
away from him and if he be easie with her in the beginning she will he his Master a good while This is a hard marriage nevertheless one comfort this is after that she hath born a Child and known somewhat of disease she will be the more sober and never leave him after But shortly all our working is no more but take our Stone and make him rotten in Horse-dung and then seeth him in his own Water and afterwards fry him in his own Grease and then roast him till his Grease and his Water be all dried up and then burn him all to Powder and then bake him on an Oven till he will meâ—â—â—â—â— Wax and then thou hast an end And then thank God that this Work is so easie for thy Stone is but one thing and all one Vâ—ssel and all one working from the beginning to the ending but look that thy Fire be easie and soft in the Putrefaction and in the Solution and the Distillation till it be black but then strengthen it alway till in the Desiccation and the Imbibition and in the Sublimation and in the Coagulation and the Congelation and fixing of the Spirits and in the Calcination and in the Incineration but in the Citrination and Rubification and Inceration and Liquefaction is all their strength But if thou understand not this Friend meddle thou not of this Art until thou have gone better to School and hold this in Counsel for my love as I shall trust to you hereafter Farewell A Philosophical Riddle A Strife late rose in Heaven yet undecided And the chief Deities were by pairs divided Saturn and Luna one Opinion held Which Jove and Mercury combin'd refell'd Venus and Mars that still have loved either Gainsaid them all and would assent with neither In this dire brawl 'tween these three pairs begun To Judge and Umpire they all chose the Sun Therefore amidst them all his place is still With power t' advance and grace which part he will By all their joynt assents for as his might Great is so clearest is of all his Light And those with whom he holds must needs as best And worthiest bear the Glory from the rest And since he needs must joyn with one for odds Cannot remain long 'mongst agreeing Gods Shew me some man that can with which of these Three pairs the God consents and best agrees And on the New Lights word I that before Knew nought will rest and ask no Question more THE ANSWER OF Bernardus Trevisanus TO THE EPISTLE OF Thomas of Bononia Physician to K. CHARLES THE 8 th The Answer of Bernardus Trevisanus to the Epistle of Thomas of Bononia Physician to King Charles the Eighth Reverend Doctor and Honoured Sir WIth the tender of all possible Respects and Services be pleased to understand that I have received your very large and copious Letter by Mr. Awdry together with the Stone of your most secret Work which truly is a remarkable argument of your Friendship by which the confidence you put in me appears manifest and very great and with how great and piercing a Wit also you are illustrated Now then I shall very willingly Answer unto your Epistle Some things I shall approve which you have written learnedly and ingeniously other things I shall briefly touch and refute strictly and Philosophically but not arrogantly and throughly discuss them with submission and respect unto your Honour and request For in this sacred and secret Art as in others the truth of the Theory ought to be confirmed by Practical experience Now therefore Reverend Doctor let us visit one another with such Returns and Treatises since we may not be bodily united But it is your wisdom as you very well know to know and inspect thingâ— by their Causes for Experience is deceitful when not guided by a previous understanding There is necessary to the Students in Philosophy a strong and discreet meditation that the Work they undertake may be conveniently brought on to its utmost perfection For contingent errors happen unto them who will fall to work omitting or neglecting the judgment of a mental practice which the Theory frameth in the mind before the operations proceed to the composure of any Work For Work must attend Nature and not Nature follow Work He then that would effect any thing must prepare his mind with the knowledge of the Natures and eventual Accidents of things and afterwards he may safely put his hands to the Work And indeed I clearly perceive your mind to be highly instructed in these things by your Experiment set down fully in your Epistle For as Water which is cold and moist if it be well mixt with Vegetables assumes another quality and in decoction takes to it and puts on it the quality of the thing wherewith it is throughly mixt so also Quick-silver assumes different natures and qualities in things familiar unto it and throughly mixt with it as if it be joyned to the Sun the qualities of the Sun if to the Moon those of the Moon if to Venus of Venus and so in other kinds of Metals Their kinds therefore ought to be decocters therein and Mercury is their Water in which by a mutual alteration it assumes in a convertible manner their mutations And this Water contracts unto it self from them a Nature in a resemblance to Vegetables decocted in simple Water though these kinds are not altered in their colour outwardly under the form of fluidity in respect of the thickness of the Matter and Earth immersed in and united proportionably to the Water of Mercury but we find it otherwise in other diaphanous humidities For this altered Nature is altered and its colour outwardly is hid under the appearancâ— of Mercury and is not manifest to the sight And this you at large discuss and shew how simple River Water is the first Matter and nourishment of Vegetables and consequently of all living and sensitive Creatures therefore if any of them all be decocted in it it assumes and puts on it self the virtue and propriety of their Nature wherefore being in it self cold in the highest degree yet by means of things decocted in it it works in us the effect of a thing hot in the first degree that I may use your words Moreover there is nothing that nourisheth more than the Broth or decoction of good Flesh and if the Water in which Flesh and Herbs are boyled or the things boyled in Water be eaten moist or the simple Water aâ—ter boyling be taken or drank it hurts not at all yea it will profit and help much although before in its simplicity and nature it would have been hurtful Now this comes to pass because that Water is not such as it was before In likâ— manner Quick-silver is the Matter of all Metals and is as it were Water in the Analogy betwixt it and Vegetables or Animals and receives into it the virtue of those things which in decoction adhere to it and are throughly mingled with it which being
most cold may yet in a short time be made most hot and in the same manner with temperate things may be made temperate by a most subtlâ— artificial invention And no Metaâ— adheres better to it than Gold as you say and therefore as some think Gold is nothing but Quick-silver coagulated by the power oâ— Sulphur c. And thence you would conclude as I think and well that if Gold be decocted and dissolved rightly in the natural way of Art Quick-silver it self will obtain the natural properties of that Gold But the way of this decoction and solution of Metals is known to very few and it manifestly appears for the cause oâ— this Solution is the moistness oâ— Mercury restrained by the compactness of an Homogeneal Earth and contrarywise the coldness of the Earth restrained by a Wateâ—â—omogeneal to it self the Homogeneousness of qualities remaining So that there is in it a single dryness and double coldness a simple moistness but under a disproportion of immaturity to the anatical proportion of the ripe digested Sun The dissolver therefore differs from the dissolvend in proportion and digestion and not in matter because Nature might make this of that without any additional mixture as Nature doth wonderfully and simply produce Gold of Quick-silver as you have learnedly discoursed in your Epistle For in Vegetables the moisture of simple Water is taken for an intrinsick dissolution that things congealed by Art might diffuse into it their effects and the dissolution of things come about with the coagulation of Water and the coagulation of Water with the dissolution of things and contrarywise and so it is likewise in the Mineral Water and things of its kind He therefore that knows the Art and Secret of Dissolution hath attained the secret point of Art which is to mingle throughly the kinds and out of Natures to extract Natures which are effectually hid in them How hath he then found the truth who destroys the moist nature of Quick-silver as those Fools who deform its kind from its Metallick disposition or dissolution and by dissolving its radical moisture corrupt it and disproportion Quick-silver from its first Mineral quality which needs nothing but purity and simple decoction For example they who defile it with Salts Vitriols and aluminous things destroy it and change it into some other thing than is the nature of Quick-silver For that Seed which Nature by its sagacity and clemency oâ—â—osed they endeavour to perfect by violating and destroying it which undoubtedly is destructive to it as far as concerns the effect of our Work For the Seed in humane and sensitive things is formed by Nature and not by Art but it is joyned by Art and well mixed but nothing is to be taken from it nor added to it if the same specieâ— must be renovated by the procreation of its own kind so the same Matter must abide and continue that the same Form may follow which it doth not otherwise Wherefore excellent Doctor false and vain is all their doctrine which altereth Mercury which is the Seed before the Metallick species be joyned with it For if it be dryed up it dissolves not What then can it do in the solution of things of own species For if it be heated beyond its natural digestion it will not cause nor generate in the Metalline species a Feverish heat as it were and will impertinently turn cold into hot and passive into active and the errour from thence will be incorrigible and labour lost For example Fools draw corrosive Waters out of inferiour Minerals into which they cast the species of Metals and corrode them For they think that they are therefore dissolved with a natural Solution which Solution truly requires a permanency of the dissolver and dissolved together that a new species might result from both the Masculine and Feminine Seed I tell you assuredly that no Water dissolves any Metallick species by a natural Solution save that which abides with them in matter and form and which the Metals themselves being dissolved can recongeal which thing happens not in Aquafortis but rather is a defilement of the Compound that is of the Body to be dissolved Neither is that Water proper for Solutions of Bodies which abides not with them in their Coagulations and finally Mercury is of this sort and not Aquafortis nor that which Fools imagine to be a lympid and diaphanous Mercurial Water For if they divide or obstruct the homogeneity of Mercury how can the first proportion of the Feminine Seed consist and be preserved Because Mercury cannot receive Congelation with the dissolved Body neither will the true kind be â—â—novated afterwards in the administration of the Art nay but some other filthy and unprofitable thing Yet thus they think they â—issolve mistaking Nature but dissolve not For the Aquafortis being â—bstracted the Body becometh â—eltable as before and that Water abides not with nor subsists in the Body as its radical moisture The Bodies indeed are corroded but not dissolved and by how much more they are corroded they are so much more estranged from a Metallick kind These Solutions therefore are not the foundation of the Art of Transmutation but the impostures rather of Sophâ—â—tical Alchymists who think that this Sacred Art is hid in them They say indeed that they make Solutions but they cannot make perfect Metallick species because they do not naturally remain under the first proportion or kind which Mercury the Water allows in Metallick species For Mercury is corrupted with Metals by way of alteration not dissipation because Bodies dissolved therein are never separated from it as in Aquafortis and other corrosives but one kind puts on and hides another retaining it secretly and perfectly so Sol and Lune dissolved are secretly retained in it For their nature is hid in Mercury even unto its condensation of which they lying hid are the cause in as much as they are latent in it and as Mercury dissolves them and hides them in its belly so they also congeal it and what was hard is made soft what was soft hard and yet the kind that is Metals and Quick-silver abide still He therefore who thus dissolves congeals rather and the corrupted species conjoyned receive their old-form by an artificial decoction Notwithstanding this dissolution makes several colours appear because the species remain as it were dead yet their intrinsical proportion is permanent and entire So the Lord in the Gospel speaks by way of similitude of Vegetables Unless a grain of corn fallen on the earth do dye it abides alone but if it dye it brings forth much fruit Therefore this alterative corruption hides forms perfects natures keeps proportions and changes colours from the beginning to the end For when the Water begins to cover the Earth the black colour begins to be hid under the white when the Air covers the Water and the Earth the citrine colour appears which is turned to red when the Fire covers the Air or the other
Mercury which is such as the Planet is with which it is in Conjunction For that Arnoldus though in other Sciences he were a Reverend and Ingenious Doctor yet in this Art he handled Experiments only without the learning of the Causes Now when he saith that in the first Sublimation the crude Spirit is sublimed from the inferiour salt Minerals and that Mercury it self which in its own nature is cold and moist becomes a Powder of an hot and dry nature as he saith this yet conduces nothing to our Work But let it be so that he makes of Mercury such a Powder as he speaks of that is throughly dried and hot by sublimation from Salts yet those Purifications are vain and impertinent to our Work yea as to the perfecting of our Work they are hurtful For though these inferiour Minerals communicate with Metals in their nature yet not in kind and proportion For the superiour and inferiour Minerals in their nativity and subterraneous formation are of one and the same constitution â—niversally and therefore of the same nature but they differ in proportion quality and kind or form Wherefore if Mercury be distilled with those inferiour Minerals and throughly dried then his internal nature is confounded and disproportioned and is hindred and made unprofitable as to the effect of a Feminine Seed and invalid for our Metallick Work For so soon as he is turned into the form of a Powder except from his Body of Sol or Luna so soon he undergoes a through driness unprofitable to the Philosophick Work Yet I deny not but that a drossie and impure Mercury may and ought by a simple Salt be sublimed or purged once or oftner according to a due Philosophick experience to take from it its droâ—s and outward Mineral impurity so that notwithstanding the fluidity and radical humidity of Mercury may always remain unaltered For the Mercurial kind and form in such a Work ought to remain uncorrupted as hath been said already Nor ought its outward form to be reduced into a throughly dried Powder because its external form being corrupted shews its internal nature to be confounded unless it be in the way of generation that it be altered as may be manifestly seen in the signs which appear in the Work of the natural way For there are Sublimations of Mercury from its own proper Bodies which are conjoyned and mingled with it by an Amalgamation with it in its most inward parts from which being oftentimes raised and reunited it rejects and loses its superfluities and is not confounded in its nature and afterwards it is very agreeable to the Philosophick Work and powerful to dissolve Metallick species yet it is not greatly altered intrinsically for the Philosophick Work unless it be altered by fixed Bodies dissolved in it But wonderful things may be done in Medicines for Sensitives from this dried Powder whether it be reduced into an Oyl or into Water or it abide in a Powder but it is not at all pertinent to the Philosophick Experiment And therefore it must be universally noted that so soon as Mercury is turned into a Powder of whatever sort contrary to the nature of its Body to be dissolved so soon will it be unprofitable to the Philosophick Work There are certain deceiving Sophisters who by joyning Venus to it or adding other species make a Sophistick Work that is they give unto imperfect Copper a colour but not natural they induce indeed a kind of an apparency but not a true nature that is transmutation like as he that paints a dead Image or composes a Statue of Wood which appears only but is not and as much as a living differs from an Image and Picture so much differs their Work from the Philosophick Hence this mixture perseveres not in the Test of the Fire though it be Mineral because Nature attracts it not from a proportionable digestion nor hath Art vehemently decocted it to an alteration of the mixt natures wherefore that Copper appears to be superficially only and not permanently and intrinsically tinged Wherefore we must not adhere to the Experiments of deceitful Sophisters because the truth of the natural Art confutes this Sophistick Work and shews it to be false And if you will instance farther and say that as the said Armaldus by Sublimation purged away the dross of Mercury and dried it in its nature so also as you say he by reviving it moistned it again and made the Mercury it self hot and moist and in its nature conformable to its Body This hinders not my Reverend Doctor nor refutes the truth of the Philosophick Art yea rather an errour appears in the Natural Art For as is manifest Arnaldus doth teach if you regard the found of his words that Mercury thus throughly dried is revived by hot water into which it is cast and he saith that it is made hot and moist when it was first sublimed hot and dry But what true Philosopher would say that Mercury or any other Metal is changed in nature and internal quality by simple Water however hot or boyling or that it could thence acquire its natural humidity and so be revived Therefore Mercury in this revival acquires nothing because common Water neither decocts nor alters it because it neither hath entrance nor ingress into it and that which neither hath entrance nor ingress alters not because every thing to be altered must first be throughly mingled For indeed such a Water may wipe away from it some superficial dross swimming upon it but cannot infuse into it a new quality For what nature soever Mercury reduced into a Powder and mortified by Sublimations retained such nature altogether it retains revived by Water Now this I would have to be spoken in honour and respect unto the said Arnaldus but I contemplate and defend the truth of Nature and Experience Furthermore honoured Doctor that I may by this my Answer satisfie your Epistle and put an end thereto I humbly entreat you that you would take in good part and favourably bear what I have written not by way of Confutation but Disputation But if I have answered any thing that offends you take it yet in good part and favourably or signifie it to me in writing and I will satisfie you to my power as the most true Doctor our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God blessed for ever and ever shall give and teach me Thanks be to Christ. The Prefatory Epistle of Bernard Earl of Tresne to the noble Doctor and most learned Philosopher Thomas of Bononia My Friend IF I had any thing more noble imagine you with what good will I should dedicate it to thee for having considered the wonderful virtue of this Science in its height which you are not ignorant of therefore was I willing to dedicate this my Labour unto thee intreating thee to accept it with as good a will as I give it unto thee and conclude that whilst I give thee this my Labour that I have given a