is necessary to carry off the offending Matter And then you are to proceed in the use of the Laudanum to a Cure which will succeed to your good liking Salmon IX Fluxes Cured with Volatile Laudanum Take Decoction of Rue Rosemary or Sage ten Ounces common Spirit of Wine four or five Ounces our Volatile Laudanum ten or twelve Grains Dissolve the Laudanum in the Spirit and mix it with the Decoction and exhibit it warm once a day Clyster-wise it will cure in about three or four days Salmon X. Griping of the Guts and vebement Flux Take Rhubarb thin sliced two Ounces Anniseeds bruised one Ounce and half Gentian Cinnamon ana half an Ounce common Spirit of Wine a Quart mix and make a Tincture Dose from five Spoonfuls to eight twice or thrice a Day 'T is a Medicine without an equal and the best thing in the World for Gripings in Nureses Infants and little Children to whom you must proportion the Dose Salmon XI A pleasant Remedy against Fluxes Take Catechu which is choice in fine Powder three or four Ounces common Spirit of Wine a Quart white Sugar Candy in fine Powder three Ounces mix them put not in the Sugar-Candy 'till the Catechu and Spirit has been ten Days in Digestion then mix and dissolve Dose from half a Spoon full to two or three Morning and Night Salmon XII Fluxes not to be stopt rashly Celsus saith To be Loose for a Day is good for Ones Health or for more so there be no Feaver and it stop within seven Days for the Body is Purged and what would have done hurt is beneficially Discharged but continuance is dangerous for sometimes it causes a Griping and Feaver and consumes the Strength If therefore the Strength be not too much weakned in order to stopping of a Flux you ought first to Purge with our Family Pills such as come from my own Hand not those which Hollier sells and then to take my Guttoe Vitoe Spiritus Anodynus or Volatile Laudanum such as come from my Hand and after eight or ten Doses to Purge again with the Family Pills But if the Strength of the Sick be too much weakned you must not Purge first but as we directed at Sect. 8. aforegoing Salmon XIII Stubborn Fluxes Take Angelus Mineralis Grains ten or twelve Pulp of an Apple rosted as much as a Nutmeg mix and give it at Night going to Bed for eight or ten Nights after Purge with an Infusion of Rheubarb See the Angelus in my Phylaxa Lib. I. Cap. 42. Sect. I. It takes away all those Impurities or Precipitates them which often Creates stubborn Fluxes Salmon XIV An Inveterate Flux in a Scorbutick Habit. An Inveterate Diarrhoea or Flux in a Scorbutick Habit ought not to be stopt with Astringents nor is it easily Cured with Antiscorbuticks Salt of Vitriol is a good thing for it makes revulsion and evacuates upwards You may give it from one Drachm to half an Ounce in Posset-Drink in the Morning Fasting Tincture of Antimony given to sixty eighty or one hundred Drops in Claret-wine is good So also our Tinctura Martis well prepared which is preferred before all others Salmon XV. Several other approved Remedies against Fluxes Powder of unripe Mulberries is an approved thing and gratifies the Stomach Powder of Mastick taken in Conserve of Roses or juice of Quinces is an excellent thing Water thickned with Powder of Acorns by Boyling has Cured an Inveterate Flux universalls premised Quiddony of Sloes ripe or un-ripe is an approved Remedy Riverius commends Juices of spotted Arsmart and Housleek ana mixt and boyled away to a third part as a thing that never fails though the Flux be never so Inveterate Bees-wax given in substance is good but its Oyl in a proper Vehicle of admirable use Or this Take Wax boyl it in a Lixivium of Salt of Tartar then take it out melt it and mix it with Chymical Oyl of Nutmegs Dose twenty Grains to half a Drachm every Night Tincture of Oak-bark is a prevalent thing so also Tinctures of Balaustins and Pomegranate Peels Our Pulvis Bezoarticus has cured several who have been given over by many Physicians which it did by absorbing the Acid and Virulent Humour Nor is our Pulvis Antifebriticus any mean Remedy Salmon XVI To Cure an extraordinary Flux of the Blood Take Mastick in Powder one drachm 2 hard Yolks of Eggs temper them with good Rose-Vinegar Or Juice of Quinces and give it to the Patient to eat first in the Morning By this Medicine alone a Man was Cured of this Distemper who had daily 70. Stools a day when all other means failed XVII Against Gripings and Wind in the Guts Take Oyl of Aniseed half a drachm mix it with White Sugar and in a Cup of Wine drink it fasting it doth the Work XVIII A Clyster against Pains and Gripings in the Bowels Dysenteria Take Cows Milk one Pint common Spirit of Wine four ounces Gum-Tragacanth one drachm the Yolks of three Eggs Oyl of Roses two Ounces make it Blood warm to the dissolving of the Gum and so put it up Salmon CHAP. VI. Shortness of Breath I. Against shortness of Breath TAke of Saffron in Powder one Scruple of Musk in Powder one Grain give them in Wine after take Spiritus Antiasthmaticus in Wine II. For the same Take Juniper Berries two Ounces boyl them well in two Quarts of Water and drink of the Decoction first and last and at other times This helps all Diseases of the Chest and will make you breath freely Salmon III. Against shortness of Breath with a Cough Take the Roots of Valerian and boyl them with Liquorice Raisins stoned and Anniseeds and drink of the Decoction often this is singular good against the said Diseases for it openeth the Passages and causeth the Phlegm to be spit out easily IV. Shortness of Breath Physicians commonly say That the strongest Purges are most proper in this Disease if the Matter be highly peccant and inveterate Paulus advises even to Purge with Coloquintida Some despise Aganick tho' a Plegmagoge because of its weakness Elaterium is a good Purge not only in a Dropsey but also in an Asthma and Orthopnaea for that they are caused by gross Matter it may be given of it self in a proper Vehiele to five or six Grains in Composition you may give it thus Take Scammony ten Grains Gambogiae five Grains Elaterium half a Grain all being in fine Powder mix them for a Dose if the Sick be strong Galen also approves of the most violent things Take Mustard-seed one Ounce common Salt half an Ounce Elaterium fifteen Grains grind them together and make Troches Galen saith eight Troches so that in each Troche you will have almost two Grains of Elaterium Or you may give it in Powder with a little Honey or the Pap of an Apple But that the Cure may he safe Emollients Clysters may be given afore-hand and half a Pint of Aqua Mulsa after These Purges may be given every fourth
Death's door with the Stone If you cannot get the true Balsam Zacutus advises to use instead thereof Stacte which is the precious droppings of Myrrh and comes out of the East-Indies also from Peru which saith he works rare effects In the same Observation he saith That he had many times driven out great Stones that were firmly fixed in the cavities of the Kidnies by the Water distilled out of Green Tobacco which he gave the Patient to drink XXV Platerus in Lib. 2. of his Observations tells us He cured one of the Stone with this Julep Take pellitory-Pellitory-water one Ounce Fennel water bean-flower-Bean-flower-water Julep of Roses ana half an Ounce mix them giving the Patient to drink after a decoction of Pease Bean-shales Parsly Roots and restharrow-Restharrow-Roots Another he cured by giving 1. A Clyster 2. A Narcotick 3. Pellitory and turpentine-Turpentine-water ana half an Ounce by which the Stone got into the Bladder and then into the Yard and there stopt he sate in a Bath and a little after pissed it forth And by the taking of this following Pouder twice a Week a Spoonful at a time a Patient of his voided many Stones and the continued use of it prevented the pain Take Liquorice in Pouder half an Ounce dried Peach-kernels one Ounce Anise and Fennel-seeds ana two Ounces Winter-Cherries one Dram Gromwel-seeds half a Dram Crabs-Eyes two Drams Sugar-Candy one Ounce and a half make a fine Pouder He drank after it a decoction of Pease Parsley and Bean-shales with Butter and a little Salt And in Lib. 3. of his said Observations he commends this Take Turpentine two Ounces Honey one Ounce Yolk of one Egg grind them in a Mortar together 'till they are white then add White Wine pellitory-Pellitory-water Bean-flower-water ana one Ounce and a half Syrup of Limons or Juice of Citrons one Ounce mix them Dose one Ounce and a half The Sick took also these Pills Take Cyprus Turpentine half an ounce Sugar-candy two Drams with Syrup of Limons make Pills Dose one Dram at a time drinking after a decoction of red Pease but while his pain was great he gave him an Opiate and sometimes a cleansing Clyster of Whey Yolks of Eggs Turpentine and Honey Platerus gave this to a Patient thrice which had his Urine stopt Take Turpentine five Drams Yolks of Eggs two Honey one Ounce Wine four Ounces By the use whereof he avoided so many Rags that he wrote to him That a torn Shirt came out of his Bladder Thus was he cured and lived many Years after sound and with the same kind of Potion he cured a French Minister who voided the Stone with the first Dose XXVI I cured a Man after he had been twelve Years troubled with the Stone and Gravel with this mixture Take Venice or Strasburgh Turpentine four Ounces Oyl of sweet Almonds six Ounces Honey two Drams melt and mix them well together it opened the Passages made him presently piss freely and brought away a great quantity of Sand and small Stones He took it Morning and Evening half an Ounce or better at a time for three Months drinking after it Arsmart-water and was perfectly cured so that for many Years after he had not the least Pain or Symptom Another I cured with this Take Strasburgh Turpentine eight Ounces Yolks of four Eggs grind them together in a Mortar 'till they are white then add Oyl of sweet Almonds four Ounces and mix them well by grinding Dose an Ounce Morning and Evening drinking a Glass of Mead after This he continued for eight or ten Weeks it continually brought away Sand and large Gravel and he was perfectly cured Salmon XXVII Bartholinus tells us That he found no ease by any Diuretick except Bean-shale-water which brought away Gravel so that saith he more may be attributed to it in bringing away the Stone than to Millepedes And saith he Egg-shells are given with singular success after the Chickens are Hatched either to break or expel the Stone this Lithontriptick being reckoned among Secrets of this kind For this purpose Ludovicus Mercatus commends the Flower and Seed of Star-Thistle as a thing highly in request for purging and cleansing the Reins and Bladder daily experience saith he still confirming it giving two Ounces of the distilled Water in the Morning Fasting but an Essence of the whole Plant as we have taught in Chap. 5. Sect. 35 and 37 aforegoing is much better XXVIII Augenius in his Medicinal Epistles Lib. 12. Ep. 1 and 2 saith He has cured near six hundred of the Stone by this following Syrup giving three Ounces at a time with six Ounces of the decoction of Eringo for fifteen days together five hours before Dinner Universals being premised Take Saxifrage Knee-holly Eringo Lovage Restharrow Anise Fennel Parsly Grass ana half an Ounce Horse-Radish Roots two Ounces Leaves of Betony Burnet Marsh-Mallows Nettles Penny-royal Rocket Calamint Knot-grass Pellitory of the Wall ana M. qu. Winter-Cherries twenty Sebestens fifteen Seeds of Basil Burdock Parsly Seseli Millet ana three Ounces Bark of the Bay-Tree Root Liquorice ana three Drams Water five Quarts boyl 'till three Quarts only remain strain and with Honey two Pound Sugar four Pound make a Syrup and aromatize it with Cinnamon one Ounce Nutmegs half an Ounce Probably it may do good there is no Argument against Experience yet it looks like a hotch-potch of all together XXIX Crato in Consiliis saith That he prefers Eringo Roots candied or steeped in White-wine and Syrup of the Juice of Speedwel before all though saith he I am not Ignorant that the Roots of Brier and Restharrow do much good when the Stone is manifest And for the pain in the Kidneys caused by the Stone there is nothing saith he better than a Decoction of Speedwel or the Inspissate Juice thereof But an Essence of the Plant crude as we have directed in Chap. 5. Sect. 35 and 37 much transcends them both XXX Fresh Oyl of Hasle-nuts by expression given to three Ounces at a time every day for some time is commended as an excellent thing and a certain Physician attests That by the daily use thereof he has seen several Stones voided The same probably may be done with expressed Oyl of sweet Almonds as also with the expressed Oyl of Wall-nuts but more with the expressed Oyl of Orange Limon or Citron Kernels Outwardly also to anoint with this following Oyl it is of good use Take Oyl of Scorpions four Ounces Oyl of bitter Almonds one Ounce Palm Oyl six Drams Oyl of Juniper-berries half an Ounce mix them and anoint the region of the Loyns therewith Morning and Evening XXXI With this following Remedy I have done almost Miracles in expelling Sand Gravel and Stones out of both Reins and Bladder Take Balsamum Copaybae or as we call it Capivi four Ounces Yolks of Eggs four Oyl of sweet Almonds Honey ana three Ounces Oyl of Juniper berries one Dram Grind all together in a Glass Mortar 'till they are perfectly mixed and
to the flux of the Humor to the sore or raw parts Elder Persons may take my Laudanum Volatile from three to six Grains beginning with the smaller Dose first They that cannot swallow a Pill may take ten or twelve Grains of my new London Treacle in any fit Vehicle These things thicken the fluid acid so that it cannot approach with that violence to the diseased parts IX But whereas Opiates strangely disagree with some People my Tinctura ad Catarrhos answers all the Intentions both of sweetening and stopping the flux of the said Humour and it may be given even to Children with a world of safety and security from half a Dram to one or two in any proper Liquor which the Child will take See it in my Phylaxa Medic. Lib. 2. Cap. 9. Sect. 2. c. X. If an Epilepsie or Convulsion be present or feared you may give with it from ten Grains to fifteen or twenty of Cinnabar of Antimony or from six Grains to twelve of the native Cinnabar levigated into a very subtil Pouder purging presently after with some of the things before named XI If the Child be taken with a vomiting withal it certainly shews the foulness and dissaffection of the Stomach and then you must cleanse it with the most innocent Gilla Theophrasti or the Salt of Vitriol given to fifteen or twenty Grains which has this Property in it not only to cleanse the Ventricle of the sharp and acid Humor causing the Thrush but also even to heal the places already raw And in those of ripe years it is a most admirable thing if given from two Scruples to a Dram in Broth or some such-like XII Sylvius de le Boe saith be prefers a metallick or mineral Sulphur fixt above all in comparison of which nothing saith he that I have hitherto tried does so kindly certainly speedily and safely restrain those vicious effervescencies But what those Sulphurs are or how in his sense to be prepared he has no-where told us I am well satisfied that the Sulphur of Antimony if well made is a most admirable thing But then it must be given to Men and not to Infants Truly I cannot tell whether it may safely be given to Children in any Dose whatsoever or no especially as it is now made There is a Sulphur of Antimony that I know which may be so prepared as it may be given to little ones without danger but that is no where to be sold that I can tell of XIII Among the rest of the ordinary Remedies Lac Sulphuris is no mean thing and it may be given to Infants as well as to elder Persons with a very great advantage XIV Topicks must be also used to the mouth throat and afflicted parts among which elder Persons may use this Take white Vitriol Roch Alum one Scruple Plantane or Spring-water four Ounces mix dissolve and sweeten with Sugar for a Gargarism But Children to whom it cannot so easily be used must have the juice of baked Turneps to wash withal or swallow down or the juice of Parsneps baked with Milk These things are Balsams in their kind and besides their healing Property have a faculty of sweetning and taking off the edge of the acid XV. Moreover you may if you please sweeten these Juices with Honey or Syrup of Roses both which still contribute to the healing of the sore and raw mouth And if the Child has discretion enough it ought to hold the same in its mouth for some time And to these things you may add Syrups of Violets Jujubes Liquorice Lettuce juice of Purslane c for that they all blunt as it were the edge of the sharp Humor and withal contribute to healing XVI But that which is more observable and remarkable but only for Persons of ripe years is the use of Spirit of Wine or pure Brandy for that only held in the mouth and sometimes Gargled with for two or three minutes at a time and that four or five times a day and then spit out certainly heals and cures the afflicted parts to a miracle And though it may smart much at first it is vehement but for a while viz. for the first two or three times using of it afterwards it is easier and at length the parts are as it were pleased and refreshed with the use thereof and in the end it perfectly heals them And this it does not do only from its balsamick Property but also as it is an Alcaly and absorbs the acid in the Ulcer XVII Sylvius commends the Yolk of an Egg mixt with a little Rose-water and Sugar for that it draws to it the acid Humour that hurts the Stomach and so by degrees 〈◊〉 the parts affected and promotes the falling of the Thrush you may use it as the Turnep and Parsnep-Juice Concerning both which Juices you are to note this That they correct the evil Ferment both in Stomach and small Guts whereby the acid effervescency is hindred and the Disease the sooner cured XVIII While the Thrush is ripening to wit gradually falling from the afflicted parts a new Cuticle grows under it and covers the place and although this follows of its own accord by the Benefit of the Medicines now commended yet it will be promoted by Syrup of Red Roses Honey of Roses and the like Also Powder of fine Bole Terra Sigillata Crabs Eyes c. mixt with fair Water and Sugar or Honey and held for some time in the mouth promote the healing XIX This is also observable That as in the curing of other Ulcers Driers are used so on the contrary much spitting is good here as if the Patient was in a Flux for then it is cured with the more speed and ease In other Ulcers things that temper the acid Acrimony and then dry are used In this you must use such things as may temper the said Acid but withal moisten XX. AEtius commends Galls beaten and boiled in Water the strained Decoction made into a thick Syrup with Honey being rubbed upon the place it is good Others commend a Decoction of Cinquefoil Roots You may also if you please use the Leaves too A Decoction of Savory in Wine is said to do it in two or three days If it be malignant Hercules Saxonia used Lixivium of Tartar or vitriol-Vitriol-Water by which he conquered them Joel first washes the part well then lays on this Take Honey of Roses half an Ounce Oil of Vitriol one Dram mix and make a Liniment This he says is a present Remedy whether in old or young XXI Goclenius advises for a Thrush in children this Take Roch Alum Sugar ana half an Ounce boil in Plantane water add Juice of Mulberries a sufficient quantity mix and wash the mouth often with it But Riverius saith that the best and only Remedy is Spirit of Vitriol or Sulphur if there be no Inflammation which in those that are grown may be used alone Dip a little Cotton bound to the end of a stick in it and give
Compounds you may see in our Phylaxa Medicinae Lib. 1. and 2. Salmon LXI In a hot Cause and Constitution Barbet gives this Take Roots of Al theae one Ounce Liquorice two Drams Mallow-Leaves M. ij Melon-seeds half an Ounce boyl them in Barley-water in a Quart of the Colature dissolve Syrup of Corn Poppies two Ounces raw Crabs-Eyes bruised one Dram mix them Dose two Ounces three or four times a Day Or thus Take Rose-water Strawberry and purslane-Purslane-water ana one Ounce prophylactick-Prophylactick-water Cinnamon water ana half an Ounce raw Crabs Eyes bruised one Scruple Laudanum Opiatum two Grains Fernelius his Syrupus de Altheae one Ounce mix them and let it be given by Spoonfuls LXII In a cold Cause and Constitution Take Roots of Rest harrow white Saxifrage ana one Ounce Liquorice half an Ounce Goats blood six Drams Crabs-Eyes bruised Nutmegs Cinnamon ana one Ounce Saffron three Drams Cloves two Drams Strasburgh Turpentine one Pound Spirit of Malmsey-wine five pound the Ingredients being cut and bruised digest fourteen days then distil in B. M. Dose one Ouuce Fasting and twice or thrice a day besides Barbet also saith That Cochinele being taken in fine Pouder in Rhenish-wine to one Scruple is a pleasant and sweet Medicine and of great efficacy LXIII Deckers advises the following Pouder Take Mustard-seed Tartar Vitriolate ana one Dram and a half Crabs-Eyes Salt of Bean-stalks of Broom of Rest-harrow of Pidgeons Dung ana one Dram mix and make a Pouder Dose from one Scruple to half a Dram in Parsly-water The Tincture of the Nephritick Stone is also very good but it is no where described but Moebius has this preparation Take Pouder of the Nephritick Stone put upon it rectified Spirit of Salt digest and there will be a green Tincture Dose from six Drops to twelve or twenty in Wine or proper Water Seeds of Violets are very convenient because they purge and expel the Stone especially if they be used in an Emulsion and is called by Schroder the Nephrocathartick Emulsion it is much commended both by Crato and Hartman and is a good thing against suppression of Urine LXIV Spiritus Acetosae Mineralis Take Tartar Vitriolate one Ounce Julep of Roses one Pound Cinnamon-water four Ounces mix them Dose two Ounces 't is an excellent thing Or Take Tartar Vitriolate one Ounce Radish-water one Pound Juice of Limons two Ounces Syrup of Corn-Poppies and de Altheae ana one Ounce Crabs-Eyes two Drams mix them Dose two Ounces Also Spirit of Juniper-berries affused upon Rob of Elder and Juniper and digested becomes of a pleasant red Colour and in Taste like Malmsey-wine and is truly a Medicine of great efficacy So also a Nephritick Liquor made of Nitre and Sal Gem calcin'd and dissolved per deliquium is a Nephritick of singular use LXV The Urinary Laudanum of Michael Take Spanish Juice of Liquorice dissolved in Winter-cherry-water one Ounce and a half Camphire one Dram Saffron four Scruples Winter-cherries half an Ounce Gum Tragacanth Mastick ana one Dram and a half Laudanum Opiatum two Drams mix them It is much commended for a peculiar Quality of provoking Urine opening Obstructions and expelling the same Michael his Nephritick Liquor Take Lynx-stone Jews-stone Nephritick-stone Sponge Crystal Crabs-Eyes ana q. v. dissolve them in rectified Spirit of Salt filtre the Solutions and distil to dryness so have you at bottom a coagulated Nephritick Liquor LXVI 〈◊〉 his Lithontriptick Pouder Take Crabs-Eyes prepared Goats-blood prepared ana one Dram and a half Jews-stone Nephritick-stone ana one Dram Pikes-Eyes Millet-seed ana two Scruples Crystals of Tartar half a Dram Salt of Tartar one Scruple mix and make a Pouder Dose from half a Dram to one Dram in any appropriate Water LXVII Forrestus his Decoction which some say exceeds all other things Take Red Tares three Ounces Barley hull'd two Drams Seeds of Marsh Mallows Mallows ana three Drams of the four greater cold Seeds ana one Dram fat Figgs nine Sebestens seven Liquorice scraped six Drams fair Water one Pound and a half boil 'till half be consumed then strain for an Apozem These Pills also are esteemed Take Pouder of Millepedes Crabs-Eyes Jews-stone ana one Dram Turpentine two Drams mix and make Pills Dose from half a Dram to one Dram every Morning Fasting Deckers his Apozem is yet better Take Spring-water three Pound red Vetches hull'd Barley ana two Drams Liquorice bruised Juniper-berries bruised ana one Ounce Seeds of Daucus Violets white Poppies Nettles Mallows ana half an Ounce fat Figgs nine Sebestens seven boil to a Quart strain and dissolve therein Syrups of Corn Poppies of the five opening Roots of Diacnicu ana one Ounce and a half Spirit of Sal Armoniack one Dram mix them Dose six Ounces twice or thrice a Day dropping into it at taking 2 or three Drops of the Juniperated Balsam of Sulphur LXVIII The same Deckers commends this Mixture Take parsly-Parsly-water two Ounces Fennel and treacle-Treacle-water ana one Ounce Spirit of Vinegar half an Ounce Crabs-Eyes one Dram Oyl of Juniper-berries six Drops Spirit of Nitre one Scruple Laudanum Opiatum two Grains Syrup of the five Roots or rather Syrup of Corn Poppies one Ounce mix them If the same be great this Emulsion may be given Take Hull'd Barley boil'd 'till it cracks two Ounces sweet Almonds blancht Violet-seeds ana half an Ounce white Poppy-seeds one Ounce with a sufficient quantity of Barley-water make an Emulsion to twenty four Ounces of which add Diacodium Syrup of Corn Poppies ana one Ounce mix them He also commends to all the Spirit of Sal Armoniack given in Rhenish-wine or some Diuretick Spirit or Water as a Specifick Medicine not only to prevent but to cure the Stone if brittle or easie to be broken Universals being given before-hand LXIX Junken Medicus Pars 2. Sect. 1. Cap. 18. prescribes this Take Strawberries fresh gathered a Gallon Winter-cherries half a Pound Horse-Radish Roots scraped two Pound Daucus-seeds half a Pound Juice of Birch or Birch-wine twenty four Pound mix and distil in B. M. Dose frome one Ounce to three with Syrup de Althaea half an Ounce sweet Spirit of Nitre ten or twelve Drops Or thus Take ripe Strawberries four Pound Winter-cherries two Pound Malaga-wine two Pound juniper-Juniper-water of parsly-Parsly-roots ana two Pound Ground-Ivy white Saxifrage-roots ana one Ounce Peach-kernels two Ounces digest in a Vessel close stopt for a Month then distil Dose from a Spoonful to four in the Morning Fasting it is said both to preserve from and cure the Stone Again Take Crabs-Eyes Sperma Coeti ana half a Scruple Volatile Salt of Amber six Grains mix for a Dose and to be often repeated Or thus Take Wild Bryar Seeds half an Ounce Crabs Eyes pure Nitre ana one Ounce mix them Dose one Dram. Or thus Take Crabs Eyes one Scruple Volatile Salt of Amber six Grains Laudanum Opiatum one Grain or two mix them for a Dose Again Take Malaga-Wine one Quart Opium in pouder Salt
preventing Abortion and then use Forcers Loosners and Forcers lest any of the Membranes or after-Birth or any part of it or other foetid and putrid Matter should be left behind by which the Woman would certainly Perish But if the Child be not Dead nor expelled but only a Danger and the foetus retreats then you ought to use restingents and things above directed that Abortion may be prevented and the Child preserved Salmon XV. A Medicine after Miscarriage If part of the After-birth should remain and a continual Flux of Blood for some Months should accompany it the most Excellent Sylvius has restored the sick by three ounces of the following Decoction taken twice or thrice a day Take Bistort-root three Ounces Marjoram Pennyroyal ana a handful Water White-wine of each a sufficient quantity Strain and Sweetten with Syrup of Mugwort a Tenth part Cinnamon-water a Twentieth part By Virtue of this a piece of the After-birth as big as ones Fist was voided and the Flux of Blood stopped and cured CHAP. IX Want of Appetite I. IF want of Appetite proceeds from a cold Cause or cold Flegm afflicting the Ventricle or Stomach 't will be necessary to give a proper Vomit and then such things as may heat and corroborate it II. A Vomit evacuating Flegm and cold and watery Humours Take our Pulvis Argenteum 10. grains mix it with the Pulp of a rosted Apple and give it in the Morning fasting drinking warm Broth or Posset-drink after it The third day repeat the same Dose III. Then to warm comfort and restore the Stomach Take our Tinctura Stomachica from half a Spoonful to a Spoonful in a draught of Ale or Wine Morning Noon and Night a quarter of an Hour or more before eating it does Wonders and restores the Appetite tho lost for many Months I have proved it many Hundreds of times for these Twenty five or Twenty six Years together Salmon IV. Salt Meats are also good because they iritate and provoke the languid Faculties of the Stomach Salts also have an inciding and attenuating Virtue and next to these such things as have a volatile heat and sharpness as Mustard seed Onions Garlick Leeks Shellots c. V. When Flegm disaffects the Ventricle that is tough thick and viscous whereby the Appetite seems to be almost destroyed it will be necessary that you use Medicines of another Nature viz. such as are acid sharp and cutting for that these things not only separate the offending Matter from the Tunicles of the Stomach but also prevent Putrefaction and the Generation of the like for the future VI. For this purpose Spirit of Vitriol is most commended by some and 't is doubtless a good Medicine but ought to be cautiously used to dry Bodies lest it induces a Consumption VII But in fuller and moister Bodies it is not only safe but very profitable more especially if the Anorexia or want of Appetite proceeds from Choler Yellow or Green abounding in the Stomach VIII In this case I commend my Spiritus Aperiens and Syrupus Diasulphuriis see them in my Phylaxa Med. Lib. I. Cap. 14. Sect. I. and Lib. 2. Cap. 36. Sect. I. given the first to 30. 40. 50. or 60. or more Drops in a Glass of Ale the other in all the drink the Sick drinks to a Spoonful more or less as they can Affect it and to take it assidiously for ten Fifteen or Tweny days together they are Medecines that seldom fail of their effects and are beyond my Commendation Salmon IX I always adjust the Medicaments for cure according to the Causes where there is an exceeding Coldness of the Stomach my Tinctura Absinthij is beyond compare so also Elixir proprietatis sine Acido To these things add our Aqua Bezoartica and Tinctura Corallorum Composita given in Wine X. If the want of Appetite is restored by taking Acids it is a Sign that the Acid Humour in the Stomach is Languid debile and weak but if not or it rather is hurt by it it is a sign that it is too Rampant and Vigorous and therefore Alcalies as Tincture of Tartar Volatile Sal Armoniack or our Spirit Antiasthmaticus ought to be given and other like Volatile Salts Bezoar Mineral in our Syrup Volatilis is of good use in this case Salmon XI The loss of Appetite which arises from decay of Strength or old Age is seldom or never cured unless it proceed from a Cold cause in which case Volatile Sulphurs and Spirituous Things are proper but things that dry too much must be cautiously given The Stomach may be Anointed with Oyl of Mace or you may use this Take Balsam of Amber one Ounce common Oyl I dram mix them XII If there be neither Sickness nor weakness nor old Age present and yet the Person complains that he never comes to his Food with a Stomach or eats with an Appetite the only way to restore such an one is to let him fast till he is a hungry for long want of Victualsand emptiness insuch always breeds an Appetite XIII In Women especially such as have Gross Bodies want of Appetite is cured if not with Child by proper Emeticks and Catharticks For the first of these I commend our Cartharticum Argenteum given to a dram in a Glass of Ale For the latter either our Family Pills or our Family Powder both of which may be taken 2 or 3 or 4 times with due intervals Salmon XIV If it happens in a Woman with Child all or most of the Preceeding Courses must be avoided and other Courses taken The juices of Oranges and Lemons with white Sugar may be daily taken for some time so also Canary made acid with juice of Limons and if heat also abounds a Decoction of Tamerinds sweetned alone or mixt A Syrup or Infusion of Rheubarb is of good use XV. Want of Appetite in Consumptive People is of dangerous Consequence some commend as the best thing Elixir Proprietatis given in wine it may be good for a little Season but long it must not be taken left it also induce the Consumption The best thing which I have found by my large experience is Our Tinctura Stomachica given to a spoonsul 2. or 3. times a day in a large draught of new Milk And altho the ingredients thereof heat Violently yet by reason they are of thin Substance and parts their heat is quickly discussed and so do no harm Salmon XVI If Sickness at Stomach and want of Appetite proceed from worms as sometimes it does Our Tincturo Absinthij or Infusion of Worm-wood in Rhenish Wine or Canary is good Salmon XVII Galens Antidotus Thespesiana for want of Appetite Take Smallage-seed xij drams Myrrh Anniseed Opium ana vj. drams White-Pepper V. drams Parsly-seed Long-pepper Spicknard Cassia-Lignea ana iv drams Castor Saffron Flowers of Juncus Odoratus ana iij. drams Cinamon ij drams Honey 1 pound make an Electuary dose the quantity of a Hazle-Nut at Bed-time in a little Drink CHAP. X. Loss of the
be praised But if the Patient be Young or Weak you must proportionably lessen the Dose You may give it in the Morning Fasting and let the Sick beware of taking Cold. Salmon V. The Cholick with a vehement Catarrb and Cough Where the Griping of the Bowels is with Costiveness of Body which is for the most part accompanied with a great Cough and Catarrh there is no better Remedy upon Earth than our Spiritus Anticolicus of which the Sick may take half a Spoonful every Morning and Evening in a Glass of Ale or Wine and if it be vehement in all the Drink they take Salmon VI. The Cholick with a violent Flux of the Belly downwards and a vehement Catarrb upwards I have several times seen this preternatural Flux though it be not common Once I remember I had a Patient afflicted therewith and in a most deplorable Condition I Cured him by giving a Spoonful or Spoonful and half of my Tinctura ad Catarrhos Morning and Evening in a Glass of Ale and in a Weeks time he was perfectly well See it in my Phylaxa Med. Lib. 2. Cap. 9. Sect. 1. Salmon VII One Purge saith Rolfincius given with Judgment in the Cholick does that alone which ten Clysters will scarcely reach especially in the Cholick pain from Obstruction of the Excrements above the value It was observed when a Patient had thirty Clysters given him without any benefit that another Physician gave him an Ounce and half of Manna with two Ounces of Oyl of sweet Almonds in fat Chicken Broth and eased the Patient of his pain We in the West-India's in this case where the Constipation is great give a strong Decoction of the bitter Gourd or bitter Squash made in Water which effectually does the Cure at once if given in the beginning of the Disease Pulp of Colocynthis here will do the same In the West-India's where Peach-Trees are plentlful the Disease is Cured by taking three or four times Syrup of Peaches or by taking a very strong Decoction made of the bruised Leaves of the Peach-Tree Salmon VIII Sometimes when Clysters are given they come not away but almost suffocate by reason of their ascension be ing stopt by much Wind in this case if one two or more Clysters do not come away you must either put up a very sharp Supository or recall them with a small Clyster made of a strong Tincture or Decoction of Pulp of Colloquintida IX Where the Cholick proceeds from a kind of Glassy Phlegm weak Clysters may not be given made of Oyl Hiera and the like these though in a gentle Cholick may do some good yet in a violent one can do nothing rather mischief In this case nothing less than a strong Clyster made with our Tinctura Aurea see Phylaxa Lib. 2. Cap. 5. will do any good After the Clyster has been taken and is come away let the Patient be three or four times Purged with our Pilula Mirabiles see Phylaxa Lib. 2. Cap. 59. and he will be so perfectly Cured that the Disease will no more recur from that numerick Cause Salmon X. In a vehement Cholick with Obstruction of the Courses I gave the following things 1. I Purged the Sick well with my Pilulae Mirabiles thrice 2. I gave the following Powder Take Livers and Galls of Eeles dry them and make them into Powder Dose from one Drachm to two in white Wine Salmon XI A Venereal Cholick There is no better Medicine upon Earth then to give every day for a Week together if it has been of long continuance our Vinum Herculeanum a Sack Glass full at a time three or four times a day The way of making it see in Phylaxa Med. Lib. 1. Cap. 47. Sect. 15. It is much beyond all the the Spicy and Aromatick Things in the World Salmon XII A Clyster against the Cholick Take Decoction of Juniper Berries a Pint Spiritus Aureus one Ounce Aqua Benedicta four Ounces Oyl of Olive two Ounces mix them this works in a small time but which is admirable even before it works the pain ceases Salmon XIII Another Clyster for the same Take Decoction of Dates made in Mutton-Broth a Pint Vinum Emeticum five Ounces mix for a Clyster it gives ease almost in an Instant and brings away the morbifick Cause or Matter after a wonderful manner Salmon XIV Rondeletius saith that Castoreum and Euphorbium are of good use if the pain be constant and stir not from its place yea he estimates them not only as a present but as the ultimate Remedy If you take six eight or ten Grains of Castor in Wine and drink a little after it it will quickly Cure And five or six Gr. of Emphorbium may be Infused and taken the clear Infusion in the same quantity and manner XV. If the pain be in the upper part of the Belly above the Navel Clysters seldom do any good for they never reach the Morbifick or offending Matter yet sometimes even in these cases when the pain is very violent and the Humours crude Clysters may be given but they ought to be made of strong Attractives such as the afore-mentioned XVI This Clyster has done much good Take fat Broth a Pint Aloes dissolved two Drachms Turpentine one Ounce and a half or two Ounces Truly it is a Medicament not to be despised I remember once above all the rest of the times I used it I recovered a young Lady even from the Jaws of Death with it The Sick had been three daies and three Nights tortured with incessant Pain Clysters of most kinds had been given by an Apothecary by the Prescript of a Physitian moreover there had been given previous to those Aromatick Bolus's bitter Decoctions and lastly Opiates but all in vain nor could the Opiates do any good for that they constipated the Bowels much more which were before costive and so rendered the disease to all appearance uncurable so void of true Medical Sense or Knowledge were those Men of great names which had been before concern'd with her In short they neither gave her any Ease nor made her go to Stool so that what with the Anguish and Pain she was given over and lay for dead In this state and Condition a Gentlewoman then present moved that I might be sent for which was accordingly done when I came thither I viewed my Patient no appearance of Life could be discerned so that I had but small encouragement to act however being entreated by her grieved Parents I was perswaded even for their satisfaction The Apothecary was sent for and gave me an account of all that was done I could not forbear blaming the Physitians for acting so preposterously against the rules of Art as to prescribe Opiates in a Cholick with a strong constipation of the Bowels The Apothecary could no waies take their part but was of my Opinion But the business was now what was most fit to be done nothing could be given by the Mouth for her Teeth seemed to be set
keep the Mixture for use Dose from six Drams to an Ounce every Night going to Bed drinking after it three Ounces of the Essence of Speedwel in a Glass of Rhenish-wine and Sugar Salmon XXXII Beverovicius de Calculo Cap. 12. saith That when the ways are loosned I suppose he means with Oily and Mucilaginous things nothing is more effectual to remove the Stone than one Dram of Sal Prunellae to be given in Rhenish-wine warm by which Medicine alone saith he I have often brought away the Stone of the Bladder from Children Crabs-Eyes are of tenuious Parts and Diuretick they break the Stone and force it away by Urine especially the Liquor of them which prepared after this manner is best Take Crabs-Eyes finely poudred two Ounces Acetum Terebinthinatum four Ounces stop and digest for a Night in hot Ashes the next Day decant what is clear and pour on as much more repeating this work so often 'till all the Pouder is dissolved These Liquors filterate and evaporate to dryness and the Salt will remain at bottom which dissolve in a Cellar into Liquor per deliquium Dose gut ten or twelve in Horse Radish Water or some such like This Liquor is much more efficacious than the Crabs-Eyes in substance XXXIII Quercetan his Nephritick-water is of great account and it is thus made Take Juice of Horse-Radish of Limons ana one Pound and a half Waters of Betony Saxifrage Wild Tansey Vervain ana one Pound Hydromel Malmsey ana two Pound Juniper-berries three Ounces Seeds of Millet great Burdock Nettles Onions Anise Fennel ana one Ounoe and a half of the four greater cold Seeds Marsh-mallows ana six Drams burnt Egg-shells Cinnamon ana three Drams Cloves two Drams digest all four or five days in a gentle Balneo then strain out and distill in Ashes He says this Water does wonders in the Stone and against suppression of Urine Dose from two Drams to an Ounce He adds a Dram of two sorts of Lithontriptick Species to the Composition but the smalness of the proportion to the former large quantity signifies but little I am of Opinion the Juice of Limons alone depurated without that specious preparation or given in Malmsey-wine as Guarinonius advises may be as good it is found by experience effectually to purge and cleanse the Reins and to give help to many and that without any harm to the Stomach especially if sheathed with Honey or Sugar XXXIV Brannerus de Calculo commends the following Syrup as an excellent Remedy leaving no calculous Matter behind in the Kidnies if after Purging two Spoonfuls of it be taken at a time in the Morning Fasting Take Juice of Speedwell one Pound Juice of Ground Ivy six Ounces of Purslane three Ounces mix and make a Syrup with Honey one Pound and a half Both Helmont and Faber commend the Liquor of the Birch-Tree which we call Birch-wine as a Remedy that does not only expel the Stone and Gravel but also prevents the Bleeding thereof XXXV Riverius saith The Ashes of Egg-shells given from half a Dram to one Dram in White-wine powerfully expels the Stone lodged in the passages of the Urine So also the Salt of Bean-Cods and Stalks of which half a Dram in White-wine operates after a wonderful manner Also Tartar Vitriolate given in the same Dose Spirit of Salt is also praised some drops of it being taken in the Morning Fasting in Broth or some other Liquor as Wine Decoction of Eringo c. He commends this Potion not a little Take Strawberry and saxifrage-Saxifrage-waters ana two Ounces White wine six Ounces Oyl of sweet Almonds two Ounces Spirit of Vitriol one Dram mix for three Doses to be given six Hours one after another Take Sal Prunellae Crystals of Tartar Pouder of Ivy-berries and Leaves of Cresses ana partes equales with some proper Syrup make Pills of which take one Dram every Morning Fasting XXXVI AEtius Sextus Platonicus and Guarinonius do all of them commend a Hare baked in an Oven 'till it is dry then poudred but Poterius saith the Ashes of a Hare given from one to two Drams in Wine is profitable to expel the Stone some say to dissolve it as also to prevent its breeding for the future made into Pills with Turpentine it is indeed of good use The Pouder of Deers-blood given to one Dram is commended to expel the Stone as Hoferus affirms Motherwort and the Roots of Vervain in Pouder or the Essence of those Plants prepared as we have taught in Chap. 5. Sect. 35 and 37. and drank with White-wine or Mead a little warmed are incredible Remedies in removing all things that hinder the passage of the Urine as Hofman and Marquardus say XXXVII For Medicines given Clyster-wise Fontanus commends the Decoction of Millet given to half a Pint but without doubt it may be much more effectual if half an Ounce of Turpentine be added to it being first ground with the Yolk of an Egg to open its body XXXVIII Zecchius in his Consultations commends yea says nothing is better to bring away the Stone in the Kidnies than warm Water or Veal or Mutton or Chicken-broth five or six Ounces being drunk pretty warm Morning and Evening before Eating And the great heat of the Reins will be taken away which is the essicient cause of the pains of the Stone returning if boyled Water to the quantity of seven or eight Ounces be drank before Meals twice a day for nothing renders the Kidnies so free from Recrements and so temperate and their fiery heat is at length extinguished with the warm Water so that they can never after breed the Stone If to what our Author here says you add to each Draught half a Dram of Salt of Tartar or pure Nitre it will in my Opinion be much more effectual because those Salts do in some measure direct the Water to the parts afficted If also it be sweetned with Honey the Medicament will be still the better for that it will less disaffect the Stomach which in some People it will be apt to do Salmon XXXIX Saxonia in prescribing some familiar Purge for such as are troubled with the Stone mightily discommends the use of Cassia whether for Prevention or Revulsion Petrus Pigray Lib. 7. Cap. 4. says That Cassia agrees very ill with those that are troubled with the Stone Others say that Cassia has increased the Disease and that the heat of Urine always followed the taking of it Fabritius Hildanus tells us That two Ounces of Cassia being given one in a continual Fever it raised such a Flux of Urine that for three days together he made his Urine so hot every time that he thought a red hot Wire had been drawn through his Yard XL To all this we answer 1 That very famous Physicians no ways inferior to the former have constantly used Cassia with very good success Platerus scarcely gave any thing in the Stone without it and often gave it mixt with Manna And the learned
by Urine cleanse the Reins and Bladder open Obstructions of the Urine take away sharpness of the Humors cure inward Ulcers strengthen the Stomach Liver Spleen Mesentery and Womb are prevalent against the Dropsie Cachexy Green-sickness and Scurvy and cure the pissing of Blood LV. Experience has for a long time taught us that strong Diureticks must be used with much caution for that they many times encrease the Pain force the Stone into narrow Passages excoriate the urinary Vessels and many times cause pissing of Blood which cause often times Faintings Swoonings Convulsions Epilepsies and the like In this case Lenient or Emollient Clysters are of singular use for by their discussive property they melt or dissolve the Humors clear the urinary Passages making way for Urine and Gravel A certain Physician had experience of this in his own Person who being in extream Torment had ease by taking three Emollient Clysters in one day the Gravel being loosned and the thick viscous Matter joyned with it being brought away with the Urine for several days together that thence-forth he never fell again into any such pain LVI Emollient Clysters may be made of Mallows Althaea-Roots Millet and the like but Faenugreek-seed is inferiour to none of them If also with the Clyster Turpentine half an Ounce opened with the Yolk of an Egg be added it will be so much the prevalent and efficacious Fontanus accounted the Millet seed given to one Pound or less is an excellent thing and kept it as a secret Dolaeus gives a Milk Clyster or one of Milk and Turpentine with the Yolk of an Egg but he advises against Salt being put in because it is apt to make them stay long LVII Doloeus out of Wedelius prescribes this following Opiate Take Sperma Coeti Crabs Eyes ana one Dram Cinnabar of Antimony one Scruple Volatile Salt of Amber four Grains Laudanum Opiatum half a Grain but I think one Grain or two to be better Troches of Alkakengi with Opium half a Scruple mix and make a Pouder for four Doses In the Fit saith he when the pain is violent an Emulsion or some Opiate will be good LVIII Out of the Fit saith the same excellent Man we must endeavour to extirpate the Coagulator and withal we must always have regard to the Stomach therefore Stomatick Medicines will be good some say there is nothing better either for the cure or prevention of the Stone than this following Antinephritick Take Seeds of Anise Parsly Dill Leaves of Saxifrage ana half an Ounce Juice of a Pike Crabs-Eyes Seeds of Hipps or wild Briar ana one Ounce mix and make a Pouder Dose one Dram at a time The following Pills are also of good use Take Venice Turpentine dried a little at the Fire two Drams Spanish Juice of Liquorice Pouder of the same ana half a Dram mix and make Pills as big as Pease which roul in Pouden of Millepedes Dose one Dram and a half at a time Morning and Evening LIX Some Physicians commend a Vomit for prevention to expel the tartarous Matter before it be derived either to the Reins or Bladder some give it in the Fit because Nature seems to shew the way by their reaching to Vomit This I found true by Experience in a certain Lady a Patient of mine who had lain Bed-rid fifteen or sixteen Weeks of this Disease and though many things were administred nothing did good 'till I gave her a Vomit which was Salt of Vitriol one Dram which gave her six Vomits and this I repeated for five days together it made a great revulsion and had so wonderful an effect that in fourteen or twenty Days she was restored to her perfect Health and though through the extremity of the pain she had Convulsion Fits and many returns of them in a day so that she was given over for dead yet after the first Emetick Dose those Fits ceased and her Pains wonderfully diminished the force of the Emetick being over I then administred Antinephriticks and Stomaticks such as Powers of Juniper Salt of Amber Ens Veneris my Tinctura Stomachica Syrup of Limons with some other things of like nature And without doubt Vomits conduce much to the Cure if there be a real Stone or other obstructing Matter for by straining much it helps the expulsion of the Stone or Gravel as sometimes it does to the delivery of a Woman in Travel by the violent commotion of the whole Body and compression of the Muscles of the Belly This method I have often taken with success and sometimes I have exhibited especially if the Sick was strong Vinum Benedictum or my Catharticum Argenteum with good success but I chose to give Emeticks to such as were apt and easie to Vomit and not otherwise Salmon LX. Barbet saith he has done more by Alteratives and Narcotick Medicines than by any others Clysters he also saith are very proper And because in his Praxis Lib. 3. Cap. 8. Sect. 8 he has given us an ample Catal gue of Antinephriticks I care not greatly if I transfer them hither Roots of Rest-harrow Eringo Grass Liquorice Orrice Parsly Smallage Drop-wort Marsh-mallows Onions Garlick Leeks Leaves of Mallows Maiden-hair Germander Arsmart Pellitory Camomil Ground Ivy Lovage Cresses Saxifrage Savin Golden-Rod Schaenanth Garlick Cloves Flowers of Elder Hops Seeds of Poppy Gromwel the four great cold Seeds Anise Fennel Carrots Daucus Carraways Barley broad Cummin Fruits as Winter-Cherries Straw-berries Figgs Juniper-berries Bay-berries Ivy-berries Woods as Hasle-wood Nephritickwood Guaiacum Sassafras Cassia Lignea Cinnamon Pine-chips Balsams as Turpentine viz. the Laricea Venice Cypress and Chio Balsams of Gilead Peru Tolu and Chili Capivi Balsam of Sulphur simple and compound with Oyl of Anniseeds or Juniper-berries Whey Tooth of a Boar Earth-worms Tartar and all its compounded Medicines Salts as of Tartar Bean-stalks Broom Pot-ashes Ash of Egg-shells of Amber Nitre Sal-armoniack Baths Crabs-Eyes Waters distilled out of the above-said Herbs and Roots Mineral Waters from Iron Mines Mineral Waters artificially made Spirits of Wine of Salt of Sulphur Vitriol Nitre and of Tartar both Acid and sweetned with Spirit of Wine and of Ammoniacum Nephritick Tincture of Mynsicht Syrups of Althaea of white and wild Poppies Diacodium Bizantinus Diuretick Oxymel of Quercetan Oils of sweet Almonds Anniseeds Amber and Turpentine of Carraways Dill Fennel Juniper-berries Nephritick Antidote of Quercetan Montagnana's Electuary Jaw-bone of a Pike Oyster-shells calcined To which we add also our Guttae Vitae Tinctura Martis Spiritus Universalis Antiscorbuticus Anticolicus Anodynus Aperiens Cosmeticus Potestates Baccarum Juniperi Carvi Crinum Humanorum Lithontripticae Pulegii Rosmarini Succini Terebinthinae Anisi Virtutum Elixir de Sulphure Proprietatis cum Acido Opiatum Ciroulatum minus Syrupus Chalybeatus Diasulphuus Nephriticus Sal 〈◊〉 Vitriolatunm Antidotus iostra Theriaca Londinensis 〈◊〉 Laudanum Volatile notrum Pilulae Lunares Miabiles nostrae Nephriticae Lau danum Volatile cum Aloe Manna Honey Mead and Metheglin Rhenish-wine All these latter
of Tartar ana two Ounces mix digest a Week or longer filter and keep it for use Dose one Spoonful This has been used with good success Take Cypress Turpentine one Ounce Balsam of Peru one Dram Pouder of Florentine Orrice-Roots Crabs Eyes ana two Drams Extract of Liquorice one Dram Volatile Salt of Amber half a Dram mix and make Pills Dose from half a Dram to a Scruple LXX Syrup made of Juice of Pellitory of the Wall with Honey is a Specifick in this Disease it opens all the Passages provokes Urine and that without any straining of the parts or pain and expels Sand Gravel or other Matter which obstructs the Passages Take of this Syrup four spoonfuls White or Rhenish-wine a quarter of a Pint mix for a Dose to be given Morning and Evening LXXI Where the Disease is extream and the Sick has not made Water for many days this following Liquor may be given Take Rhenish-wine Malaga-wine ana one Pound and a half Onions and Garlick bruised ana twenty horse-radish-Horse-radish-roots bruised four Ounces Juniper-berries bruised two Ounces Salt of Potashes half an Ounce mix digest four or five days then decant the clear Dose three or four Spoonfuls several times a day CHAP. XX. Of the STONE in the BLADDER I. BEfore we come absolutely to the matter in hand it is necessary to discuss the Point VVhether the Stone in the Bladder can be broken by Medicines or not That it may be broken many Physicians do affirm and bring in proof thereof their Experiences The reason they render for it is That Medicines may do it acting by their tenuity acidity asperity and their diuretick force Or that there is a dissolving Salt as well as a coagulating One which Virtues are not to be denied to Herbs Plants Metals Stones and minerals AEtius Lib. 2. tells us how Philagarius cured the Stone in the Bladder with Goats-blood and a Hedge-Sparrow mixt together Laurembergius cured one of a great Stone by the use of Millepedes A Jesuite at Rome cured a Printer's Son of the Stone with Millepedes rightly prepared Turrianus in Iatro Lib. 4. Pag. 262 saith He broke a Stone which was design'd to be cut by giving a little Pouder of Crystial to drink or the dissoluble substance thereof viz Calcin'd in a Potter's Fornace at least nine times and quenched in Nettle-water to be reduced to a Calx then put into a Cellar to melt per deliquium Rhasis Lib. 9. saith He cured a Stone in the Bladder of long standing with his Pills Horatius Augenius and his Father with some others cured several with the same Medicine Johannes Prevotius saith the Stone in the Bladder is broken by a Plaster of white Onions boiled and applied to the bottom of the Belly Hippocrates Galen Avicenna Dioscorides and others are of the same Opinion And the Author of this Work knew one who was appointed to be cut of the Stone by taking Diureticks was perfectly cured of which Horse Raddish was chief was perfectly cured so that for more than twenty five years since he has not been troubled with it And it is possible that a thousand more of these Examples may be urged II. To all these Things we answer 1. That all these Examples and thousands more of the like can be no Rule to conclude the thing because all the same Things have been used with all care and circumspection to others where the success has not been answerable 2. That it is probable that the Stones dissolv'd by the aforesaid Medicaments and such other like might be only sandy gritty Concretions friable and easily broken whereas we say had the Stone been great and hard like a Flint the Event would not have succeeded 3. We can bring also the Opinion Experience of many great Physicians to the contrary Hartman is of Opinion the Stone in the Bladder if it be confirmed and already come to some magnitude is scarcely cured by any other way than by cutting Barbet saith a crumbling Stone is seldom a hard Stone can never be wasted away or cured by Medicines Guarinonius saith that scarce ever any one saw the Stone broken by Medicines I could name multitudes of others of this Opinion but these may suffice And truly daily Experience to our Grief and the wretchedness of miserable Patients are as demonstrable and irrefutable Arguments of the Impossibility of Cure by Medicines without cutting Though Wincleras in Misc. curios An. 76. Obser. 102. saith he broke the Stone in the Bladder of a Boy 12 old and brought it away peace-meal by this Medicine Take purple Violet = Seed half an Ounce Waters of Strawberries Restbarrow Winter = Cherries ana q. s. make an Emulsion to which add Goats Blood two pound Hog = Lice prepared one Dram Species Lithontriptice half a Dram Spirit of Turpentine one Scruple mix them Dose two spoonfulfs often given which made it come away in pieces Probably this might be such a soft crumbling Stone as Barbet speaks of I have made trial two or three several times and the Experiment succeeded not possibly the Stones might be of a flinty Substance and therefore the Experiment not to be despised The last I tried it upon without success was cut of the Stone which being extracted weighed three Ounces and some odd Grains and was of a hard and marble = like substance III. Moreover when it is to be considered that the distance of Place is far and the ways by which the Medicines pass many and that if they be strong they carry large quantities of Matter from the whole Body to the Bladder and do more hurt by their acrimony and tenuity in scowring off the Lenter Mucus or slimy Matter which usually sticks to the Stone and serves it for a Bed whereby the Stone is made sharper and harder and thereby raises more intense pains than before But if they be weak they lose their Virtue before they come at the urinary Passages and Bladder whereby they do little or no good at all I say all these things being considered they still confirm me in my Opinion That if a Stone be large and of a flinty or Marble-like hardness or substance there is no Cure for the same by Medicines but by the Hand only of the Operator IV. Sometimes also we are deceived and think there is a Stone when indeed there is none as is recorded concerning a Noble-Man who after he had been tormented with pain and difficulty in making Water the Physicians and Chyrurgions doubted whether there was a Stone or no having used Medicines to no purpose he was cut for the Stone as is usual and was eased of his pain yet they found no Stone but a fungous Flesh in the neck of the Bladder which by degrees was consumed by convenient Medicines A like Example to this I can relate of a Patient of mine viz. Mr. S not long since one of the Shreiffs of the City of London who having been for some Months troubled with Pain and Obstruction of
joined with a volatile Alcalie and such are the Spirit of Wine and Essence of the Blood Dose from ten to twenty or thirty or forty Drops in any convenient Liquor It opens all manner of Obstructions in any part of the Body provokes Urine powerfully and is an admirable good thing against the Disury and Ischury viz. where the Water comes scalding and by drops or where it is totally supprest IX I have found much good in this following for bringing away Sand Gravel or any mucous Matter obstructing the Urine Take Strasburg Turpentine two Ounces Oleum Petroleum one Ounce Oleum Anisii Baccarum Juniperi ana half an Ounce Millepedes prepared Earth-worms prepared pure Salt of Tartar volatile Sal-Armoniack ana three Drams mix them Dose from six Drops to twelve or more in a Glass of Ale Wine or Mead. Sometimes I prepared it thus Take Strasburg Turpentine two Ounces Oleum Petroleum one Ounce Oil of Limons Caraways sweet Fen nel-seed ana half an Ounce Crabs Eyes Goats Blood prepared volatile Sal-Armoniack volatile Salt of Amber ana three Drams strong Tincture of Thebian Opium made with the best rectified Spirit of Wine an ounce and half mix them Dose from ten Drops to twenty thirty or more according to age and strength in any proper Vehicle X. This is a thing I have often experienced with good success Take of our Spiritus Universalis two Pound brui sed Onions eight Ounces Parsley bruised four Ounces digest twenty four hours strain out by pressing then pass it through a Filter Dose from half a spoonful to a spoonful or more in a Glass of Ale Mead Wine or Parsley or arsmart-Arsmart-water Or thus Take common Spirit of Wine a Quart bruised Onions Aniseeds Parsley roots ana six Ounces mix digest three days strain filter and keep it for Use Dose three or four spoonsuls in any fit Vehicle XI Laurenbergius Riverius and others mightily commend this as a thing almost infallible Take pure Salt of Tartar one Ounce Parsley-water a Quart mix dissolve and filter it two or three times through brown Paper that it may become clear then put into it the fresh outward Rind of Orange peels so much as to colour it of a Citron-colour viz. about two Ounces after three days decant the clear and keep it for Use The Dose is a spoonfull or more in half a Pint of White or Rhenish-Wine or Wine in which Mustard-seed or Horse-Radish-root has been infused XII This is commended by some for to expel the Stone in the Bladder Take Millepedes prepared Bedugar or Sponge of the Briar bush seeds of purple Violets ana one Ounce Species Lithontripticae two Drams mix them make a Pouder Dose two Drams in ten Ounces of a Diuretick Decoction mixt with two Drams of Spirit of Juniper It was given at five in the Morning for some time and a little after a great quantity of reddish Urine came away with flakes like Scales of Fishes which was the Coat or Crust loosned from a larger Stone and by the continual use thereof the Sick was freed from his Disease XIII This has been approved of Take a Hare with young calcine it to Ashes these Ashes mix with an equal quantity of Sugar Dose two Drams in any convenient Vehicle as Syrupus Nephriticus mixt with a Glass of White or Rhenish-Wine But Arnoldus de Villa nova took a Hare and fill'd the Bolly with the skin Saxafrage Millet Lapis Lyncis Lapis Judaicus Lapis Spongiae Cinkfoil and golden Rod and then calcin'd it of which he gave a spoonful in a Glass of Wine every day it broke says he and forced away the Stone in the Reins and Bladder XIV I have often given this following Medicine with incredible success Take Strasburg Turpentine two Ounces Hercules noster half an Ounce Bezoar Minerale Crabs Eyes Millepedes prepared ana q. s. mix and make Pills Dose two Drams twice a day drinking after it the following mixture Take Rbenish-Wine eight Ounces Syrupus Nephriticus an Ounce Potestates Litbontripticae fifteen Drops mix for a Draught This I have also proved with good Success Take Balsam of Peru half a Dram Oils of Nard and Mastich ana ten Drops Oil of Juniper six Drops Lapis Judaicus prepared Crabs Eyes fifteen Grains mix and give it in White or Rhenish-Wine or a Decoction of Millet XV. If by these or some of the Medicines mentioned in the former Chapter the Sick receives no benefit you must come to manual operation how that is to be performed whether by the Apparatus minor or major we have taught in our Synopsis Medicinae Lib. 3. Cap. 16. Sect. 7. 8. to which we shall refer you But there is another way of taking out the Stone which is thus The Artist puts his Finger up the Anus and moves the Stone to the fore-part of the Belly and then by a hole cut in the Musculus Rectus according to the Duct of the Fibres above the Os Pubis he takes out the Stone by the help of the Lapidillium or a pair of Forceps The Operation being performed this way a dripping of the Urine need never be feared and besides a larger space is allowed to take out the Stone in However this Operations is not without its danger besides the trouble for if the Lips of the Wound made in the Bladder be not united to the Muscles of the Abdomen an Exulceration of the Bladder follows which both makes much pain and creates an Ulcer more incurable than the Stone it self Roussetus commends cutting in the Groin especially for Children and is approved by Hildanus in larger Stones which cannot be brought to the Perinaeum it being there taken out with less pain and danger of an Hemorrhage The healing of the Bladder is not extraordinary because it has fleshy Fibres by the help whereof and the innate heat the Wound is the more easily cured XVI Some inject by a Catheter into the Bladder thinking thereby to break the Stone for that the Medicines are not altered in their passage nor lose any thing of their Virtue as those do which are given by the mouth but reach the Stone immediately I have injected Opiates with good success for giving ease If the Liquors be sharp they ought to be such that breaking the Stone they may not hurt the Bladder as Waters made of the Ashes of Scorpions parsley-Parsley-roots Kneeholm Crabs Eyes Pellitory of the Wall Pigeons dung c. Baverius injects Petroleum in which Lapis Lyncis has been boiled and strained forth embrocating at the same time with a Decoction of Mallows He says it wonderfully breaks the Stone in the Bladder Or you may inject with this Take a small Lixivium of Pot-Ashes one Pound crude Opium two Drams mix digest twenty four hours then strain out the Liquor for use CHAP. XXI Precipiolum The Universal Medicine of PARACELSUS WHat we have aenigmatically delivered in our Doron Medicum Lib. 1. Cap. 27. concerning the universal Medicine of Paracelsus by reason of
tho' most Vehement and Fusory or in the strongest reverberation without the least Diminution Detriment or Corruption But the Mercury is fixed by the Spirit of the Sulphur not by its Corporeity the Corpo real Particles only give form and convey the Spirit to the Mercury which could not be brought to it in or by any other Vehicle By the Fire all the Heterogene or impure parts of the Mercury are destroyed the pure left behind and held fast by the Power of the fixing Spirit which otherwise without the assistance and help of that Spirit would have vanished also This Volatile substance it seizes upon changes or trans mutes and fixes that is brings over into its own property This tho' a Spirit contains in it the highest fixity and its Body being Opened is the Sulphur or Seed which must be sown in the Philosophick Earth or Mercury as we have often said that it may there Die and resume a new Body a thousand fold more in quantity than its own which by the enforming Power of the Energetick Spirit will be made to live spring up and grow to be a Tree of the first Magnitude bearing Golden Apples whose Seed will be and remain in its self for ever and bring forth a new to infinity of Generations It s perpetual new Substance or Body being made out of the Substance of the Mercurial Earth by the Power of the transmuting or Vegetating Spirit and Soul VI. Hermes And that which rests or remains upon a strong Fire is fixed and is also a strong Fire it self And that which in the heat of a strong or boyling Fire is corrupted or destroyed or made to sly is Cambar Salmon By Cambar also he means the self same thing to wit our Volatile Mercury in its Corruptible State or rather the Corrubtible and impure part thereof which must be corrupted or destroyed and made to fly away that that which is pure and will not fly may appear and remain but the purifying Fire must be known in which the great Secret of the Operation lies and without which nothing can be done which Fire as we have formerly said is two fold viz. Internal and External the latter being used only to excite the former VII Hermes And know ye that Our AEs Brass or Laton is Gold which is the Art of the premanent or fixed Water and the Coloration of its Tincture and Blackness is then turned or changed into Redness Salmon That is Our Gold or Stone or Tincture is the product of the permanent or fixed Water by which he means the Philosophick Mercury impregnated with the Spirit of the fixed and incombustible Sulphur And by this you may perceive he puts a difference between the AEs Brass or Laton which is made by this permanent Water and the Corpus aeris or Body of common Brass Now the Aqua permanens is that which contains in it self the Tinctures of all Colors Black only excepted which is taken away from it for that it is a sign-of imperfection and impurity By this Water alone Mercury is turned or changed into the true Red that is into the Tincture of Sol. But to take away its Corruption and to reduce it into the incorruptible and fixt Nature of Sol that must be done by Sol alone and not by any corruptible and Forreign Matter or Substance for that Sol contains in himself the Seeds of fixity and Tincture which no other Body in the World does besides But to make Sol do or perform these things its Body must be opened prepared and made fit for this purpose by Virtue of the Aqua permanens or Aqua Philosophica VIII Hermes I confess that through the help of God I have spoken nothing but the Truth That which is destroyed must be restored and renewed and from thence Corruption is seen in the Matter to be Renovated and from thence the Renovation appears And on both or either side it is the sign of Art Salmon He has 〈◊〉 erto been teaching you the first part of the Work which is the Destruction of the first Birth and Life concerning which he assures us he has spoken nothing but the Truth Our Mercury must be undone and unmade that is corrupted and destroyed and brought through Putrefaction into a pure and Limpid Water that it may be able to peirce the Metalline Bodies from which State by Conjunction with a pure fixt and incombustible Sulphur and by Virtue of a subtle living and fixing Spirit invisible without length breadth or thickness which Spirit is the Philosophick Fire it is to be renewed and regenerated the Water is to be dryed up the spiritual is to be made corporeal the thin to be made thick the Volatile to be made fixt and the changeable Colors reduced to a Unity and Permanency either White or Red according to the Order and Root of the Operation one and the same Mercury does corrupt and destroy the Bodies and again exalt perfect and fix them The Matter of Our Stone is but one and therefore nothing can be more Alien from the Art than to fetch it from many things Nature is not mended or made better but by a Nature of its own kind as Vinegar makes Vinegar so Our Art begins with Mercury and with the same Mercury it is Finished It is a kind of Proteus which creeping upon the Earth assumes the Nature of a Serpent but being Immersed in Water it represents a Fish presently taking to it self Wings it ascends a loft and flies like a Bird yet notwithstanding it is but one and the same Mercury with this the Artist does Work and with it he transacts all the necessary Operations of our Stone being fit and proper for them all viz. for Putrefying Distilling Coagulating Mortifying Vivifying Subliming and Tinging without which seven Operations you labour wholly in vain Till you have Putrefied the Matter you have not made one step in the true way but that being done you have accomplished the first sign of the Art as Hermes testifies CHAP. X. The Practical part of the Philosophick Work I. HERMES My Son that which is born of the Crow is the beginning of this Art Salmon The Crow is the Blackness and Darkness of the Matter being Corrupted Now nothing was ever Generated or brought to light which had not its beginning from blackness and darkness ex nocte Orphei i. e. from principles Invisible for so it is said concerning the Creation of the great World In the beginning when God Created the Heavens and the Earth the Earth was empty and void and darkness was upon the Face of the Deep and God said let there be Light and it was so From whence we may gather that Darkness was Prior to Light And so it is in this our Philosophick Work and altho' it is commonly thought that the darkness or Dark principle is taken for the true Seed of things yet it is no such thing but only certain Rudiments or rather the Domicil wherein the true Seeds of things
and Water too soon it will not be Levened If it lies too long it will be over done so in our Work if you be too hasty you will perform nothing at all If too long and with too Violent a Fire you will hazard the breaking of your Vessel and by an over Volatility frustrate the fixity of your Medicine The making of Cheese is Famous for almost every Housewife can tell you how easie it is to ruin or spoil all how good soever your Milk and Rennet may be if you be unskilful in the Art If the Milk be too hot or too cold or the Rennet be too much or too little or the Coagu lum lies too short a time or too long you may spoil your Cheese and miss the Perfection or Goodness which therein you seek after These are Familiar examples and need no farther exposition The Matter therefore is first by our Ferment corrupted and brought into a blackness by Death but not such a blackness out of which it cannot be recovered but so that in the Course of the Fermentation the Mass of the Confection may pass through the mutation or changes of all the Colors Now Heat working at the first in humidity brings forth the blackness but Heat working in the dryness causeth Whiteness and in the White the Citrinity and wonderful deep Redness These Varieties of Colors are caused only by the Ferment in a proper and fit heat so that the Corruption of one is the Generation of another and the Ferment becomes the Ferment of the Ferment as the Philosophers speak He who cannot taste the Sapor of Salt will never attain to this desired Ferment of Ferments which is the Soul even before Fermentation If therefore this Ferment be not well prepared your Magistery will be nothing worth and know that this Fermentum is taken only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Luna that is from Gold and Silver and converts the other Bodies into its own Nature Therefore it behoves you to know how to introduce this Ferment into Dead and imperfect Bodys that is to make Ingression because it is the Soul and this Soul gives to them Life and Perfection so that together with this living and perfect Soul they are made alive and perfect and one perfect Body II. Hermes The certain Color of the Golden matter for the Red and the Nature thereof is not sweetness therefore of them we make Sericum which is Ixir the Ferment and of them we make Enamel of which we have Written Salmon Altho' it does not here sufficiently appear what our Author means by Sweetness and Sericum yet afterwards he so explains himself that we may guess at it and that it is the Golden Ferment for the Red the adumbration whereof he gives us under the Mask of Encaustum or Enamel and truly by Figures 〈◊〉 and Tropical ways of speaking he has been pleased to deliver himself through this whole Work I suppose he uses the Similitude of Sweetness here in respect of Leven for that Leven is not Sweet III. Hermes And with the King's Seal we have tinged the Clay and in that we have put or placed the color of Heaven which augments the sight of them who can already in some measure see Salmon By the King's Seal is meant the Virtue Power Character or Tincture of Gold which tinges Lutum the Clay that is the Mercurial Mass or Earth which is now but one thing and a Secret drawn out of the Fountains of the Wise for which reason it is by some called Sigillum Sapientum Also Sigillum Hermetis and Sigillum Mercurii This is the thing which many have sought after in vain and could never find that is the outward turned inward and the inward parts turned outwards that which was below raised up and that which was above laid down below the Superiors and Inferiors the Heavens and the Earth joyned together in one Globe or Mass and digested together in one till they produce the heavenly color the light of Sol which gives such as have Eyes to see the happiness of seeing a Fountain inexhaustible an Eternal Spring the permanent and endless Treasure IV. Hermes Gold therefore is the most pretious Stone without Spots also temperate which neither Fire nor Air nor Water nor Earth is able to corrupt or destroy the universal ferment rectifying all things in a middle or tempe rate Composition which is of a Yellow or true Citrine colour Salmon Our Hermes here confesses plainly that the Philosophick Gold is this most pretious Stone without blemish and incorruptible and differs as much from vulgar Gold as Leven does from the Paste or Yest from the Ale or Beer which is made by it For as clear well-wrought Ale cannot change other Wort into Ale nor Levened Paste leven another Mass of Meal and Water till it 〈◊〉 brought to the perfection of Leven so neither can vulgar Gold which is the product of Mercury and Sulphur transmute or change any other body into its own Purity Tincture and Fixity No This is only the work of our Stone Elixir Tincture the true Philosophick Gold V. Hermes The Gold of the Wise Men boiled and well digested with a fiery Water makes Ixir Salmon The Gold is to be exquisitely boiled as much as you please with a fiery water and digested This fire is found no where more perfect better or more powerful than in Minerals and their Roots which Roots the Philosophers say are in the Air And the Gold is Spiritual Gold not the body of vulgar Gold unprepared This Aqua Ignea is nothing else but the Mercury of the Philosophers drawn from its Mineral Root This Water is the Mother which does dissolve the Gold conceived in its Belly being digested and nourished there for forty Weeks at the end of which digestion like as in the hour of a mans Nativity the Soul i. e. the Tincture arises but not first nor quickly In this point is all the hazard but this being past there is no more peril the danger is wholly over VI. Hermes For the Gold of the Wise Men is more weighty or heavy than Lead which in a Temperate or due composition is the ferment of Ixir and contrariwise in a distemperature or undue Composition the distemperature or hurt of the whole Work or Matter Salmon Our Gold the Off-spring of this great Work is much heavier than Lead because of its Weakness Volatility and Intemperature Our Infant is of a most strong and temperate Composition healing the Infirmities of its proper Parents and tinging the Mercury of all Bodies whatsoever into the best and most pure fine Gold By this is understood the Vital Roots of the Minerals into which if the Bodies be reduced they are made apt or fit for a new Regeneration so that from the same you may have the true Tincture of the Philosophers VII Hermes For the work is first made from the Vegetable Secondly from the Animal in a Hens Egg in which is the greatest assistance and the constancy of the Elements
part which causes the Natures to ascend when it has lost its Occidental heat and waxes cold then the Natures are changed and become thick and descend to the center where the earthly Natures are joyned together which were subtilized and converted in their generation and imbibed in them IX And so the moisture joyneth together the parts divided But the Earth labours to dry up that moisture compassing it about and hindering it for going out by means whereof that which before lay hid does now appear nor can the moisture be separated but is held fast and firmly retained by dryness X. In like manner we see that whatsoever is in the World is held or retained by or with its contrary as heat with cold and dryness with moisture thus when each of them has besieged its Companion the thin is mixed with the thick and those things are made one substance viz. their hot and moist Soul and their cold and dry Body are united and made one XI Then it strives to dissolve and subtilize by its heat and moisture which is the Soul and the Body labours to enclose and retain the hot and moist Soul in its cold and dry substance And in this manner is their Virtues and Properties altered and changed from one thing to another XII I have told you the Truth which I have seen and my own self has done And therefore I charge you to change or convert the Natures from their Substances and Subtilties with heat and moisture into their Substances and Colours If you proceed aright in this Work you must not pass the bounds I have set you in this Book CHAP. XXVII The manner of Fixation of the Spirit Decoction Trituration and Washing I. WHen the Body is mingled with moisture and that the heat of the fire meets therewith the moisture is converted into the Body and dissolves it and then the Spirit cannot go forth because it is imbibed with the Fire II. The Spirits are fugitive so long as the Bodies are mixed with them and strive to resist the fire its heat and flame and therefore these parts can scarcely agree without a good and continual Operation and a steadfast permanent and natural heat III. For the nature of the Soul is to ascend upwards where its Center is and he that is not able to joyn two or more divers things together whose Centers are divers knows nothing of this Work IV. But this must be done after the conversion of their Natures and change of their Substances and matter from their natural Properties which is difficult to find out V. Whoever therefore can convert or change the Soul into the Body and the Body into the Soul and therewith mingle the subtil and volatile Spirits they shall be able to tinge any Body VI. You must also understand that Decoction Contrition Cribation Munidification and Ablution with Sweet Water are most necessary to the Secret of our Magistery VII And if you bestow pains herein you may cleanse it purely for you must clear it from its blackness and darkness which appear in the Operation VIII And you must subtilize the Body to the highest point of Volatility and Subtility and then mix therewith the Souls dissolved and the Spirits cleansed and so digest and decoct to the perfection of the matter CHAP. XXVIII Of the Fire fit for this Work I. YOu must not be unacquainted with the strength and proportion of the fire for the perfection or destruction of our Stone depends thereupon For Plato said The fire gives profit to that which is perfect but brings hurt and destruction to that which is Corrupt II. So that when its quantity or proportion shall be fit and convenient your Work will thrice prosper and go on as it ought to do but if it exceed the measure it shall without measure corrupt and destroy it III. And for this cause it was requisite that the Philosophers have instituted several proofs of the strength of their Fires that they might prevent and hinder their burning and the hurt of a violent heat IV. In Hermes it is said I am afraid Father of the Enemy in my House To whom he made Answer Son Take the Dog of Corascene and the Bitch of Armenia and joyn them together so shall you have a Dog of the colour of Heaven V. Dip him once in the Water of the Sea so will he become thy Friend and defend thee from thine Enemy and shall go along with thee and help thee and defend thee wheresoever thou goest nor shall he ever forsake theee but abide with thee for ever VI. Now Hermes meant by the Dog and Bitch such Powers or Spirits as have power to preserve Bodies from the hurt strength or force of the Fire VII And these thing are Waters of Calces and Salts the Composition whereof is to be found in the Writings of the Philosophers who have discoursed of this Magistery among whom some of them have named Sea-water Virgins Milk food of Birds and the like CHAP. XXIX Of the Separation of the Elements I. AFterwards take this precious Stone which the Philosophers have named yet hidden and concealed put it into a Cucurbit with its Alembick and divide its Natures viz. the four Elements the Earth Water Air and Fire II. These are the Body and Soul the Spirit and Tincture when you have divided the Water from the Earth and the Air from the Fire keep each of them by themselves and take that which descends to the bottom of the Glass being the Faeces and wash it with a warm fire till its black ness be gone and its thickness be vanished III. Then make it very white causing the superfluous moisture to fly away for then it shall be changed and become a white Calx wherein there is no cloudy darkness nor uncleanness nor contrariety IV. Afterwards return it back to the first Natures which ascended from it and purifie them likewise from uncleanness blackness and contrariety V. And reiterate these Works upon them so often till they be subtilized purified and made thin which when you have done render up thanks and acknowledgments to the most Gracious God VI. Know then that this Work is but one and it produceth one Stone into which Garib shall not enter i. e. any strange or foreign thing The Philosopher works with this and therefrom proceeds a Medicine which gives perfection VII Nothing must be mingled herewith either in part or whole And this Stone is to be found at all times and in every place and about every Man the search whereof is yet difficult to him that seeks it wheresoever he be VIII This Stone is vile black and stinking it costs nothing it must be taken alone it is somewhat heavy and is called the Original of the World because it rises up like things that bud forth this is the manifestation and appearance of it to them that seek truly after it IX Take it therefore and work it as the Philosopher has told you in the the Book
where he speaks of it after this manner Take the Stone and no Stone or that which is not a Stone neither of the nature of a Stone it is a Stone whose Mine is in the top of the Mountains X. By which the Philosopher understands Animals or living Creatures whereupon he said Son go to the Mountains of India and to its Caves and take thence precious Stones which will melt in the water when they are put into it XI This Water is that which is taken from other Mountains and hollow places they are Stones and no Stones but we call them so for the resemblance they have to Stones XII And you must know that the Roots of their Mines are in the Air and their Tops in the Earth and they make a noise when they are taken out of their places and the noise is very great Make use of them very suddenly for otherwise they will quickly vanish away CHAP. XXX Of the Commixtion of the Elements which were separated I. NOW you must begin to commix the Elements which is the compass of the whole Work there can be no commixti on without a Marriage and putrefaction The Marriage is to mingle the thin with the thick and Putrefaction is to rost grind water or imbibe so long till all be mixt together and become one so that there be no diversity in them nor separation as in water mixed with water II. Then will the thick strive to retain the thin and the Soul shall strive with the fire and endeavour to sustain it then shall the Spirit suffer it self to be swallowed up by the Bodies and be poured forth into them which must needs be because the dissolved body when it is commixed with the Soul is also commixed with every part thereof III. And other things enter into other things according to their similitude and likeness and both are changed into one and the same thing For this cause the Soul must partake with the conveniency propensity durability hardness corporcity and permanency which the body had in its commixtion IV. The like also must happen to the spirit in this state or condition of the Soul and Body For when the Spirit shall be commixt with the Soul by alaborious operation and all its parts with all the parts of the other two viz. of the Soul and Body then shall the Spirit and the said two be changed into an inseparable substance whose natures are preserved and their Particles agreed and conjoyned perfectly together V. Whereby it comes to pass that when this Compositum has met with a body dissolved and that heat has got hold of it and that the moisture which was in it is swallowed up in the dissolved body and has passed into it into its most inward parts and united or conjoyned it self with that which was of the nature of moisture it becomes inflamed and the fire defends it self with it VI. Then when the fire would enflame it it will not suffer the said fire to take hold of it to wit to cleave to it i. e. to the Spirit commixt with the water The fire will not abide by it until it be pure VII And in like manner does the Water naturally fly from the Fire of which when the fire takes hold it does by little and little evaporate VIII And thus is the Body the means to retain the Water and the Water to retain the Oyl that it might not burn and consume away and the Oyl to retain the Tincture which is the absolute matter and cause to make the colours appear in that wherein otherwise there would be neither light nor life IX This then is the true life and perfection of this great Work even the work of our Magistery which we seek after Be wise and understand search diligently and through the goodness and permission of God you shall find what you look for CHAP. XXXI Of the Solution of the Stone compounded and Coagulation of the Stone dissolved I. THE Philosophers take great pains in dissolving that the Body and Soul might the better be incorporated and united for all those things which are together in Contrition Assation and Rigation have a certain affinity and Alliance between themselves II. So that the fire may hurt or spoil the weaker principle in nature till it be utterly destroyed and vanish away and then it turns it self also upon the stronger parts till it divests the Body of the Soul and so spoils all III. But when they are thus dissolved and congealed they take one anothers parts striving in each others mutual defence as well the great as the small and they incorporate and joyn them well together till they be converted and changed into one and the same thing IV. When this is done the fire takes as much from the Soul as it does from the Body nor can it hurt the one more than the other neither more nor less which is a cause of perfection V. For this reason it is necessary in teaching the composition of the Elixir to afford one place for expounding the solution of simple Bodies and Souls because Bodies do not enter into Souls but do rather prevent and hinder them from Sublimation Fixation Retention Commixtion and the like Operations except purification go before VI. Now understand that Solution is done by one of these two ways either by extracting the inward parts of things unto their Superficies an Example whereof we have in Silver which seems cold and dry but being dissolved so that the inward parts appear outward it is hot and moist VII 〈◊〉 to reduce it to an accidental moisture which it had not before to be added to its own natural humidity by which means its parts are dissolved and this is likewise called Solution VIII But as to Congelation the Philosophers have said Congeal in a Bath with a good Congelation This I tell you is Sulphur shining in Darkness a Red Hyacinth a fiery and deadly 〈◊〉 the Elixir the which there is nothing better a Lyon a Conqueror a Malefactor a cutting Sword a healing Antidote which cures all Infirmities and Diseases IX And Geber the Son of Hayen said That all the Operations of this Magistery are comprehended under these six things 1. To make fly ascend or sublime 2. To melt or liquify 3. To incerate 4. To make white as Marble 5. To dissolve 6. To congeal X. To make fly is to drive away and remove blackness and foulness from the Spirit and Soul to melt is to make the Body liqnid To incerate is properly to subtilize the Body To whiten is to melt speedily To dissolve is to separate the parts And to congeal is to mix joyn and fix the Body with the Soul already prepared XI Again To fly of ascend appertains both to Body and Soul To melt to incerate to whiten and to dissolve are accidents belonging to the Body But congelation or fixation only belongs to and is the property of the Soul Be wise understand and learn CHAP. XXXII That Our Stone
fire for 40 days of Elemental heat and in that decoction of 40 days the Body will rejoyce with the Soul and the Soul will rejoyce with the Body and Spirit and the Spirit will rejoyce with the Body and Soul and they will be fixed together and dwell one with another in which Life they will be made perpetual and immortal without separation for ever CHAP. XXXV A farther Explication of this matter I. OUR Medicine is made of 3 things viz. of a Body Soul and Spirit There are two Bodies to wit Sol and Luna Sol is a Tincture where with imperfect Bodies are tinged into Sol and Luna tingeth into Luna for nature brings forth only its like a Man a Man a Horse a Horse c. II. We have named the Bodies which serve to this Work which of some are called ferment for as a little leven levens the whole lump so Luna and Sol leven Mercury as their Meal into their Nature and Virtue III. If it be demanded Why Sol and Luna having a prefixed Tincture do not yet tinge imperfect Metals I Answer A Child tho' born of humane kind acts not the Man it must first be nourisht and bred up till it comes to Maturity So is it with Metals also they cannot shew their power and force unless they be first reduced from their Terrestreity to a Spirituality and nourisht and fed in their Tinctures through heat and humidity IV. For the Spirit is of the same matter and nature with our Medicine We say our Medicines are of a siery nature and much subtiler but of themselves they cannot be subtil nor simple but must be maturated or ripened with subtil and penetrating things V. Earth of it self is not subtil but may be made so through moist water which is dissolving and makes an ingress for Sol that it may penetrate the Earth and with its heat make the Earth subtile and in this way the Earth must be subtilized so long till it be as subtil as a Spirit which then is the Mercury more dissolving than common water and apt to dissolve the said Metals and that through the heat of fire to penetrate and subtilize them VI. There are several Spirits as Mercury Sulphur Orpiment Arsenick Antimony Nitre Sal-armoniack Tutia Marchisits c. but Mercury is a better Spirit than all others for being put into the fire they are carried away and we know not what becomes of them But Mercury as it is much subtiler clearer and penetrative so it is joyned to the Metals and changed into them whereas the others burn and destroy them making them more gross than they were before VII Now Mercury is of such a subtil nature that it transmutes Metals into simple and pure substances as it self is and attracts them to its self But no Metal can be transmuted by any of the other Spirits but they burn it to Earth and Ashes which Mercury it becomes impalpahle and therefore is called Argent Vive VIII We take nothing else to subtilize Metals to make them penetrative or to tinge other Metals Some call it Argent Vive or a Water an Acetum a Poyson because it destroys imperfect Bodies dividing them into several parts and forms our Medicine is made of two things viz. of Body and Spirit And this is true that all Metals have but one Root and Original IX But why cannot this Medicine be made of two compounded together I Answer It may be made of all these together but they must be reduced into a Mercury which would be difficult of the shortness of Man's Life Therefore we take the next matter which are the two aforesaid things viz. Body and Spirit X. Some Philosophers say our Medicine is made of four things and so it is For in Metals and their Spirits are the four Elements Others say true also That Metals must be turned into Argent Vive Here many Learned and Wise Men err and loose themselves in this path Thus far of the matter of which our Medicine is made or with which it is ioyned Now of the Vessels XI The Vessel ought to resemble the Firmament to enclose and encompass the whole Work For our Medicine is nothing else but a change of Elements one into another which is done by the motion of the Firmament for which reason it must needs be round and circular XII The other or second Vessel must also be round and be less than the outward Vessel 6 or 7 Inches high called a containing Cucurbit on which you must place an Alembick or Head through which the Vapors may ascend which must be well luted with Lute made of Meal sifted Ashes Whites of Eggs c. Or of Meal Calx Vive ana j. part tempered with Whites of Eggs which you must immediately use Lute it so well that no Spirits may fly away the loss of which will prejudice your Work extreamly therefore be wary XIII The Fornace or Oven must be round 12 or 14 Inches high and 6 or 7 Inches broad and 3 or 4 Inches in thickness to keep in the heat the better XIV Our matter is generated through or by help of the heat of the fire through the Vapour of the Water and also of the 〈◊〉 which must be nourished be wise and consider and meditate well upon the matter XV. Now in order to this Work there is 1. Dissolution 2. Separation 3. Sublimation 4. Fixation or Congelation 5. Calcination 6. Ingression XVI Dissolution is the changing of a dry thing into a moist one and belongs only to Bodies as to Sol and Luna which serve for our Art For a Spirit needs not to be dissolved being a liquid thing of it self but Metals are gross and dry and of a gross nature and therefore must be subtilized XVII First Because unless they be subtilized through dissolution they cannot be reduced into water and made to ascend through the Alembick to be converted into Spirit whose remaining foeces are reserved for a farther use XVIII Secondly Because the Body and Spirit must be made indivisible and one For no gross matter joyns or mixes with a Spirit unless it be first subtilized and reduced into Argent Vive then the one embraces the other inseperably For Argent Vive meeting with a thing like it self rejoyceth in it and the dissolved Body embraces the Spirit and suffers it not to fly away making it to endure the fire and it rejoyces because it has found an equal viz. one like it self and of the same nature XIX Dissolution is thus done Take Leaves of Sol or Luna to which add a good quantity of pure Mercury putting in the Leaves by little and little into a Vessel placed in so gentle a heat that the Mercury may not fume when all is dissolved and the Mass feems to be one Homogene body you have done well If there be any foeces or matter undissolved add more Mercury till all seems to be melted together XX. Take the matter thus dissolved set it in B. M. for
soft substance This is done with Ignition in their Fusion thus With Saturn or Jupiter the substance of Argent Vive or Sulphur fixed or of Arsenick must be mixed in their profundity Or they must be mixed with hard and not fusible things as the Calx of Marchasite and Tutia for these are united with and embraced by them and harden them so that they flow not till they are red hot The same thing is also compleated by our Medicine perfecting them of which hereafter XX. Fixation by removal of their fugitive substance This is done by calcination in a fire proportional to their substance In order to which 1. All their corrupting adustive substance must be cleansed from them as aforesaid 2. Then their earthy superfluity must be taken away 3. They must be dissolved and Reduced or compleatly washed in a Lavement of Argent Vive This is necessary and profitable XXI Saturn is specially hardened by a Calcination with the Acuity of Salt and by Talk it is especially dealbated as also by Marchasite and Tutia Calcine Saturn fluxed with common Salt putrefied stirring it continually with an Iron Spatula till it comes to Ashes Decoct it for one Natural day and let it be a little Fiery hot but not much then wash it with pure clean water and Calcine it for 3 daies till it be Red both within and without If you would have it to be prepared for the White Imbibe it with water of White Alum and reduce it with Oyl of Tartar or its Salt But if you would have it for the Red Imbibe it with the water of Crocus Martis and of Verdigrise and reduce it with Salt of Tartar as before This work Reiterate as often as need requires XXII The Calcination of Saturn and Jupiter Let a great Test or Calcining Pan be placed in a Fornace and put Saturn and Jupiter into it with as much common Salt prepared and Roch Alum Calcined being in Flux let the Metal be continually stirred with an Iron Spatula full of holes till the whole be reduced to Ashes which sift and set chem in the Fire again keeping them continually Red Fire Hot till the Calx of Jupiter is whitened or that of Jupiter is rubified as Minium XXIII The Regimen of Saturn and Jupiter for the White Take Saturn purified three Pound melt or add to it clean or purified Mercury twelve Pound stirring the whole that they may be mixed This mixture put into a Bolt-Head of a Foot in Length which place in the Athanor with a gentle Fre for a week Take purified Jupiter one Poind melt and add purified Mercury 12 Pound doing in all respects as before with Saturn In this weeks time you will have a Paste dissolved fit to be Fermented with the White Ferment Thus. XXIV Take of the White Ferment one Pound of the Paste of Saturn two Pounds of the Paste of Jupiter three Pounds These being dissolved mix through their least parts and set in putrefaction in a moderate Fire like as in dissolution for seven daies Then take them out well mixed and Strain or Squeeze their more Liquid parts through a Cloth The thick Matter remaining put into a Glass Seal it well up and place it in an Athanor for the time aforesaid which do thrice till it has Imbibed all the humidity Then put the Vessel with its Matter into a Fornace of Fixation for twelve daies which done take it forth and reduce it with things reducing so will you find that which our Ancestors found not without great Study viz. The Generated generating Prove this upon the Cineritium or Cupel with Lead and you will find the Body perfect in Whiteness perpetually generating its like XXV The Regimen of Saturn is also compleated if being prepared and dissolved I suppose he means in his dissolutive Water made of Nitre and Vitriol it be mixed with a third part of its Red Ferment dissolved also and then Distilling off the Water and Cohobating seven times Reduce it to a Body and prove it by its Examen and you will rejoyce in the bountiful Body which is generated XXVI White Medicines for Saturn also solar Medicines for Saturn Because the Medicines and the work are wholly or altogether the same as for Jupiter and that in the Chapter of Jupiter we have explicitely and largely declared the matter we shall refer you thither saying no more thereof in this place see Chap. 43. Sect. 16 17 18 19 20 21. following CHAP. XLIII The Alchymie of Jupiter I. TO prepare Jupiter Put it into a fit Vessel in a Fornace of Calcination and make a good Fusion stirring the melted Metal with an Iron Spatula full of holes drawing off the Scum as it arises and again stirring the Body and thus continuing till the whole quantity is reduced to Pouder or Ashes This Pouder sift and replace it in the Fornace again in the same heat of Fire stirring it often for 24 hours till its whole accidental and superfluous humidity is abolished with all its combustible and corrupting Sulphur Then often well wash it with common Salt cleansed and Alum purified and sharp Vinegar and dry it in the Sun or Air. Grind it again washing and drying it doing this so long till by the acuity of the Salts Alums Vinegar its whole humidity blackness and uncleanness is taken away This done add Glass in fine Pouder to it impaste the whole together and with a sufficient Fire make it flow in a Crucible with a hole in its bottom set within another so will the pure and clean Body descend the whole Earthy and Faeculent substance remaining above with the Glass Salts and Alums in which pure Body is an equal and perfect proportion Argent Vive and White Sulphur not burning Then Calcine this pure Body with pure and clean Sal Armoniack till it be in weight equal or thereabout being well and perfectly Calcined Grind the whole well and long upon a Porphyrie and set it in the open Air in a Cold moist place or in a Glass Vessel in a Fornace of Solution or in Horse-Dung till the whole be dissolved augmenting the Salt if need be This Water ought to be esteemed for it is what we seek for in the whole II. Tin is a Metallick Body White Livid not pure and a little sounding partaking of little Earthiness possessing in its Root harshness softness easiness of Liquefaction without Ignition not abiding the Cupel or Cement but extensible un der the Hammer Therefore Jupiter among Bodies diminished from perfection is in the Radix of its Nature of affinity to Sol and Luna but more to Luna and less to Sol. III. Jupiter because it receives much whiteness from the Radix of its generation it whitens all other Bodies which are not White but it has a fault that it breaks or makes brittle all other Bodies except Saturn and most pure Sol Jupiter adheres much to Sol and Luna and therefore does not easily receede from them in the examen or Tryal by the
is white a little livid crashing much a little sounding and something bright Of the Differences of which we have already spoken in their particular Chapters aforegoing XIV From which Causes of Difference according to more and less you must collect the order of the Preparations wherein we have shewed first The Preparation of Bodies afterwards of Argent Vive coagulable Now in the preparation of Bodies nothing of Superfluity is to be removed from their profound or inward Parts but rather from their manifest or outward CHAP. LIX Of the Medicine Tincture Elixir or Stone of the Philosophers in General 1. The five different Properties constituting this Medicine I. UNless every thing superfluous be taken away either by Medicine or preparation from imperfect Bodies viz. Every superfluous Sulphureity and every unclean Earthiness they cannot be purified so as that in Fusion they be not separated from the Commixtion after prolection of the Medicine altering them when you have formed this you have found one of the five differences of perfection II. Also if the Medicine do not illustrate and alter and alter into a White or Citrine Color according to what your intention is inducing a splendent brightness and admirable Lucidity Bodies diminished from perfection are not perfected to the utmost III. So also if it abides not Lunar or Solar Fusion it is not changed into perfection because it abides not in the Tryal but is altogether separated and receeds from the Commixtion which you may more amply determine by the Cineritium of which we shall speak hereafter IV. If likewise the Medicine be not perpetuated with 〈◊〉 firm alteration so that the Impression of Tincture and Finity is not permanent but vanishes in the Fire upon probation V. If it attains not to the weight of Perfection having the true ponderosity of Luna and Sol it is not firmly changed to a perfect compleatment of Nature for this weight is one of the signs of perfection Seeing therefore these differences of perfection are five there is a necessity that our Medicine should exhibit these Differences in Projection Also it is evident from hence That this Medicine must be prepared from Things having Affinity to Bodies readily altering and amicably adhering to them in their profundity But searching through Universal Nature we have found nothing which can do all this so well as Argent Vive prepared according to our Directions of which the true Medicine is made to the highest Perfection 2. The Preparations of the Medicine that it may give the aforesaid different Properties VI. Now since it changes not without the alteration of its Nature therefore it ought necessarily to be prepared that it may be mixed even in the profundity of Bodies viz. That its substance may be made such that it may be mixed even in the profundity of the Body alterable without separation for ever VII But this cannot be done without it be very much subtilized with certain and determinate sublimations as we have taught in Chap. 48. Sect. 3 4 5 6 7. aforegoing Likewise its Impression cannot be permanent unless it be fixed nor can it illustrate unless its most splendid substance be extracted from it according to Art with a fit fire VIII Nor can this Medicine have perfect Fusion unless great Caution be used in its fixation that it may soften hard Bodies and harden the soft And it can only do that when a sufficiency of its humidity is preserved proportionate to the necessity of the 〈◊〉 desired IX Whence it is evident that it should have such a Preparation as may make it a most fulgent and purely clean substance and fixed also but these things must be done with such great Caution in respect to the regulation of the fire and way of fixing that in removing its Humidity so much may be still left for compleat and perfect Fufion X. If by this Medicine you would soften Bodies hard of Fusion in the beginning of its Preparation a gentle sire must be adhibited For a soft fire is Conservative of Humidity and Perfective of Fusion XI There is also many other Considerations of the Weight with their Causes and Order The Cause of great weight is the subtiltv of the substance of Bodies and uniformity in their Essence By which the parts of them may be so condensed that nothing can come between And the Density of Parts is the encrease of weight and the Perfection thereof 3. The Six Properties of things from which the Medicine is extracted XII First They have in themselves an Earth most subtil and incombustible altogether fixed with its own proper Radical Humidity and apt for fixing XIII Secondly They have an airy and fiery Humidity so uniformly conjoyned to that Earth that if one be Volatile so is the residue And this same Humidity abides the fire beyond all Humidities even to the compleat termination of its own Inspissation without Evaporation inse parable from the Earth annexed to it with a compleat permanency XIV Thirdly The Disposition of their Natural Humidity is such that by help of its own Oleaginity in all differences of its Properties it contemperates the Earth annexed to it with such an Unctuosity and with such a Homogene and equal Union and bond of inseparable Conjunction that after the degree of final Preparation it gives a good Fusion XV. Fourthly The Oleaginous Property is of so great purity of Essence and so artificially cleansed from all Combustible matter that it burns not any Bodies with which it is conjoyned through their least parts but preserves them from Combustion Hermes Chap. 12. Sect. 5. aforegoing XVI Fifthly It has a Tincture in it self so clear and splendid White or Red clean and incombustible stable and fixed that the fire cannot prevail against it to change it Nor can Sulphurous Adustive or Sharp Corroding Bodies Corrupt and Defile the same XVII Sixthly The whole Compositum incerated with its final Compleatment is of so great Subtilty and Tenuity of Matter that after the end of its Decoction it remains in Projection of most thin Fusion like water andis is of profound Penetration to the greatest perfection of the Body to be Transmuted how Fixed soever it be adhering thereto with an inseparable Unity or Conjunction against the force of the strongest Fire and in that very hour by virtue of its own Spirituality reducing Bodies to Volatility 4. The Seven Properties of the Medicine it self XVIII First Oleaginity Giving in Projection Universal Fusion and Diffusion of the Matter For the first thing after Projection of the Tincture is the sudden and due Diffusion of the Medicine it self which is perfected and rendered Viscous with a Mineral Oleaginity XIX Secondly Tenuity of Matter or the Spiritual substance thereof flowing very thin in its Fusion like Water Penetrating to the Profundity of the Body to be Transmuted for that immediately after Fusion the Ingression thereof is necessary XX. Thirdly Affinity or Vicinity between the Elixir or Tincture and the Body to be Transmuted giving
exeat X. In digestione lenis coloris veluti balnei vel fimi temperatissima cum oper is instantia assiduetur per ignem super ipsum perfectio decoctionis XI Quousque putrescat resolvatur in nigrum postea elevetur sublimetur per aquam ut mundetur per hoc ab omni nigredine tenebris ut dealbetur subtilietur XII Donec in ultima sublimationis puritate deveniat ultimo volatile fiat album reddatur intus extra quia Vultur in aere sine alis volans clamavit ut possit ire supra montem id est super aquam super quam spiritus albus fertur XIII Tunc continua ignem convenientem spiritus ille id est subtilis substantia corporis Mercurii ascendet super aquam quae quinta essentia est nive candidior XIV Et in fine continua adhuc fortifica ignem ut totum spirituale penitus ascendat XV. Scitote namque quod illud quod est clarum purum spirituale ascendit in altum in aera in modum fumi albi quod lac Virginis appellatur I. NOW if afterwards you would multiply your Tincture you must again resolve that Red in new or fresh dissolving Water and then by decoctions first whiten and then rubifie it again by the degrees of Fire reiterating the first method of operation in this Work II. Dissolve coagulate and reiterate the closing up the opening and multiplying in quantity and quality at your own pleasure III. For by a new Corruption and Generation there is introduced a new Motion IV. Thus can we never find an end if we do always work by reiterating the same thing over and over again viz. by Solution and Coagulation by the help of our dissolving Water by which we dissolve and congeal as we have formerly said in the beginning of the work V. Thus also is the virtue thereof increased and multiplied both in quantity and quality so that if after the first course of Operation you obtain an hundred-fold by a second course you will have a thousand-fold and by a third ten thousand-fold increase VI. And by persuing your work your projection will come to infinity tinging truly and perfectly and fixing the greatest quantity how much soever VII Thus by a thing of an easie or small price you have both colour goodness and weight VIII Our Fire then and Azoth are sufficient for you Decoct decoct reiterate dissolve congeal and continue this course according as you please multiplying it as you think good until your Medicine is made fusible as Wax and has attained the quantity and goodness or fixity and colour you desire IX This then is the compleating of the whole work of our second Stone observe it well that you take the perfect Body and put it into our water in a glass Vesica or Body well closed with Cement lest the Air get in or the inclosed humidity get out X. Keep it in digestion in a gentle heat as it were of a balneum or the most temperate Horse-dung and assiduously continue the operation or work upon the fire till the decoction and digestion is perfect XI And keep it in this digestion of a gentle heat until it be putrified and resolved into blackness and be drawn up and sublimed by the water and is thereby cleansed from all blackness and impurity that it may be white and subtil XII Until it comes to the ultimate or highest purity of sublimation and the utmost volatility and be made white both within and without For the Vulture flying in the air without Wings crys out that it might get up upon the Mountain that is upon the waters upon which the Spiritus albus or Spirit of whiteness is born XIII Continue still a fitting fire and that Spirit which is the subtil being of the Body and of the Mercury will ascend upon the top of the water which quintessence is more white than the driven Snow XIV Continue yet still and toward the end encrease the fire till the whole spiritual subsistance ascend to the top XV. And know well that whatsoever is clear pure and spiritual ascends in Air to the top of the water in the substance of a white vapor which the Philosophers call their Virgins Milk CHAP. XIX Of Sublimation in particular and Separation of the pure from the impure I. OPortet ergo ut de terra inquiebat Sybilla exaltetur filius Virginis quinta substantia alba post resurrectionem elevetur versus coelos in fundo vasis aquae remaneat grossum spissum II. Vase de hinc infrigidato reperies in fundo ipsius faeces nigras arsas combustas separatas ab spiritu quintaessentia alba quas projice III. In his temporibus argentum vivum pluit ex aere nostro super terram novam quod vocatur argentum vivum ex aêre sublimatum ex quo fiat aqùa viscosa munda alba IV. Quae est vera tinctura separata ab omni faece nigra sic aes nostrum regitur cum aqua nostra purificatur albo colore decoratur V. Quae dealbatio non fit nisi decoctione aquae coagulatione Decoque ergo continuò ablue nigredinem à latone non manu sed lapide sive igne sive aqua Mercuriali nostra secunda quae est vera tinctura VI. Nam non manibus fit haec separatio puri ab impuro sed ipsa natura sola circulariter ad perfectionem operando verè perficit VII Ergo patet quod haec compositio non est manualis operatio sed naturarum mutatio quia nature seipsam dissoluit copulat seipsam sublimat elevat albescit separatis faecibus VIII Et in tali sublimatione conjunguntur partes subtiliores magis purae essentiales quia natura ignea cum elevat partes subtisiores magis puras semper elevat ergo dimittit grossiores IX Quare oportet igne mediocri continuo in vapore sublimare ut inspiretur ab aêre possit vivere X. Nam omnium rerum natura vitam ex aêris inspirationerecipit sic etiam totum magisterium nostrum consistit in vapore aquae sublimatione XI Oportet igitur aes nostrum per gradus ignis elevari quod per se sine violentia ascendat libere ideoque nisi corpus igne aqua diruatur ac attenuetur quosque ascendat ut spiritus aut ut argentum vivum scandens vel etiam ut anima alba à corpore separata in spirituum sublimatione delata nihil fit XII Eo tamen ascendente in aêre nascitur in aêre vertitur fitque vita cum vita omnino spirituale incorruptibile XIII Et sic in tali regimine corpus fit spiritus de subtili natura spiritus incorporatur cum corpore fit unum cum eo in tali sublimatione conjunctione elevatione omnia fiunt alba I. IT ought to be therefore as one of the
Sybills said that the Son of the Virgin be exalted from the Earth and that the white Quintessence after its rising out of the dead Earth be raised up towards Heaven the gross and thick remaining in the bottom of the Vessel and of the Water II. Afterwards the Vessel being cooled you will find in the bottom the black Faeces scorcht and burnt which separate from the Spirit and Quintessence of Whiteness and cast them away III. Then will the Argent vive fall down from our Air or Spirit upon the new Earth which is called Argent vive sublimed by the Air or Spirit whereof is made a viscous Water pure and white IV. This Water is the true Tincture separated from all its black Faeces and our Brass or Latten is prepared with our Water purified and brought to a white Colour V. Which white Colour is not obtained but by decoction and coagulation of the Water Decoct therefore continually wash away the Blackness from the Latten not with your Hands but with the Stone or the Fire or our second Mercurial Water which is the true Tincture VI. This separation of the pure from the impure is not done with hands but Nature her self does it and brings it to perfection by a circular Operation VII It appears then that this Composition is not a work of the Hands but a change of the Natures because Nature dissolves and joyns it self sublimes and lifts it self up and grows white being separate from the Faeces VIII And in such a Sublimation the more subtil pure and essential parts are conjoyned for that with the fiery nature or property lifts up the subtil parts it separates alwaies the more pure leaving the grosser at bottom IX Wherefore your Fire ought to be a gentle and a continual Vapour with which you sublime that the matter may be filled with Spirit from the Air and live X. For naturally all things take Life from the inbreathing of the Air and so also our Magistery receives in the Vapour or Spirit by the sublimation of the Water XI Our Brass or Laten then is to be made to ascend by the degrees of Fire but of its own accord freely aand without violence except the body therefore be by the Fire and the Water broken or dissolved and attenuated until it ascends as a Spirit or climbs like Argent vive or rather as the white Soul separated from the Body and by sublimation delated or brought into a Spirit nothing is or can be done XII But when it ascends on high it is born in the Air or Spirit and is changed into Spirit and becomes Life with Life being only Spiritual and Incorruptible XIII And by such an Operation it is that the Body is made Spirit of a subtil nature and the Spirit is incorporated with the Body and made one with it and by such a sublimation conjunction and raising up the whole both Body and Spirit are made white CHAP. XX. Of Digestion Sublimation and Separation of the Bodies for the perfection of the Work I. ERgo necessaria est haec sublimatio philosophica naturalis quae componit pacem inter corpus spiritum quod est impossibile aliter fieri nisi in has partes separentur II. Idcirco oportet utrumque sublimare ut purum ascendat impurum terrenosum descendat in turbatione maris procellosi III. Quare oportet decoquere continuò ut ad subtilem deducatur naturam quousque corpus assumat attrahat animam albam Mercurialem quam retinet naturaliter nec demittit eam à se separari quia sibi compar est in propinquitate naturae primae purae simplicis IV. Ex his oportet per decoctionem separationem exercere ut nihil de pinguedine ani mae remaneat quod non fuerit elevatum exaltatum in superiori parte sic utrumque erit reductum ad aequalitatem simplicem ad simplicem albedinem V. Vultur ergo volans per aerem Bufo gradiens per terram est magisterium VI. Ideo quando separabis terram ab aqua id est ab igne subtile ab spisso suaviter cum magno ingenio ascendet à terra in coelum quod erit purum descendet in terram quod erit impurum VII Et recipiet subtilior pars in superiori loco naturam spiritus in inferiori verò naturam corporis terrei VIII Quare elevetur per talem oporationem natura alba cum subtiliori parte corporis relictis foecibus quod fit brevi tempore IX Nam anima cum sua adjuvatur socia per eam perficitur X. Mater inquit corpus me genuit per me gignitur ipsa postquam autem ab ea accepi volatum ipsa meliori modo quo potest fit pia fovens nutriens filium quem genuit donec ad statum devenerit perfectum I. THIS Philosophical and Natural Sublimation therefore is necessary which makes peace between or fixes the Body and Spirit which is impossible to be done otherwise than in the separation of these parts II. Therefore it behoves you to sublime both that the pure may ascend and the impure and earthy may descend or be left at bottom in the perplexity of a troubled Sea III. And for this reason it must be continually decocted that it may be brought to a subtil property and the Body may assume and draw to it self the white Mercurial Soul which it naturally holds and suffers not to be separated from it because it is like to it in the nereness of the first pure and simple nature IV. From these things it is necessary to make a separation by Decoction till no more remains of the purity of the Soul which is not ascended and exalted to the higher part whereby they will both be reduced to an equality of Properties and a simple or pure Whiteness V. The Vulture flying through the Air and the Toad creeping upon the Ground are the Emblems of our Magistery VI. When therefore gently and with much care you separate the Earth from the Water that is from the Fire and the thin from the thick then that which is pure will separate it self from the Earth and ascend to the upper part as it were into Heaven and the impure will descend beneath as to the Earth VII And the more subtil part in the superior place will take upon it the nature of a Spirit and that in the lower place the nature of an earthy body VIII Wherefore let the white property with the more subtil parts of the body be by this Operation made to ascend leaving the faeces behind which is done in a short time IX For the Soul is aided by her associate and fellow and perfected by it X. My Mother saith the Body has begotten me and by me she her self is begotten now after I have taken from her her flying she after an admirable manner becomes kind nourishing and cherishing the Son whom she has begotten till he comes to
know what the wreath of this black Girdle signifies and follow that which they teach you which is the quantity of the Imbibitions XIII The two ends which are not wreathed about at all represent the begining and the ending for the begining it shews you that you must Imbibe it at the first time gently and sparingly giving it then a little Milk as to a Child new born to the intent that Ixir as Authors speak be not drowned XIV The like must we do at the end when we see that our King is fall and will have no more XV. The middle of these Operations is explicated by the fire whose wreaths of the said black Girdle at what time because our Salamander lives of the fire and in the midst of the fire and indeed is a fire and an Argent-Vive or Quick-silver which runs in the midst of the fire fearing nothing you must feed him abundantly so as that the Virgins Milk may encompass all the matter round about XVI The wreaths I painted black because they signifie the Imbibitions and by consequence the blacknesses For the fire with the moisture as I have often told you causeth blackness XVII And as these five Leaves or Rounds shew that you must do it five times wholly so likewise they let you know that you must do this in five whole Months a Month to every Imbibition XVIII And now you may see the reason why Haly Abenragel said The decoction of the Compositum or Matter is done in three times fifty days XIX It is true that if you count these little Imbibitions at the beginning and at the end there are seven whereupon one of the most obscure has said Our Head of the Crow is Leprous and he that would cleanse it must make it go down seven times into the River of Regeneration viz. of Jordan as the Prophet commanded Leprous Naaman the Syrian XX. Hereby comprehending the beginning which consists but of few days the middle and the end which is also very short And therefore by this Hieroglyphick I tell you that you must whiten your body which by kneeling begs that thing at your hands XXI For nature always tends to perfection and this is to be accomplished by the help of the Virgins Milk and the decoction and digestion of the Compositum which you shall make with this Milk which being dryed upon your body will tinge it into the same white Yellow or yellowish White which he who takes the Sword is cloathed withall and in which Colour you must make your Corsufle to come XXII The Vestments of the Figure of Paul the Apostle are bordred largly with a Golden and red Citrine colour XXIII Give praise now my Son if thou ever seest this for then by the good Hand of Heaven thou hast obtained a Treasure which you must then imbibe and tinge it by decoction and digestion so long till the little Infant becomes hardy and strong to encounter against both the water and the fire XXIV In accomplishing of this you must do that which Demageras Senior and Haly have called the putting of the Mother into the Infants Belly which Infant the Mother had lately brought forth XXV Now they call the Mother the Mercury of the Philosophers wherewith they make their Imbibitions and Fermentations And the Infant they call the Body the which the said Mercury is gone forth to tinge or colour XXVI I have therefore given you these two Hieroglyphicks to signifie the Albification for now it is that you have need of great help and here it is that all the World is deceived XXVII This Operation is indeed a Laborinth for here is presented a thousand ways at the same Instant besides that which you ought to go and prusue to the end of the Work which is directly contrary to the beginning to wit in coagulating what before you dissolved and in making that Earth which before was Water XXVIII When you have made it White then you have overcome the Enchanted Bulls which cast Fire and Smoak out of their Nostrils XXIX Hercules now has cleansed the Stable full of Ordure rottenness and blackness Jason has poured the digested Broth or Liquor upon the Dragons of Colchos and you have now in your power the Horn of Amalthea which tho' it be white may replenish you through the whole course of Life with Riches Honour and Glory XXX But to obtain this you must bestir your self and pursue the Work like Hercules wich invincible resolution for this Achelous this moist River is endowed with a most mighty force and often transfigures it self from one shape to another and now in a manner you have done all for that what remains is performed without any difficulty XXXI These transmutations transfigurations or changes are particularly described in the Book of the Seven Egyptian Seals where as also by other Authors it is said That the Stone before it will wholly forsake its blackness and become white to the appearance of the most shining or polished Marble and of a naked flaming Sword will put on all the colours that thou canst possibly imagine XXXII And that it will often 〈◊〉 it self and as often coagulate it self again and in the midst of those divers and contrary Operations which it performs by virtue of the Vegetable Soul which is within it at one and the same time it will grow Citrine Green Red but not of the true Red and become Yellow Blue and Orange colour even till that being wholly overcome by driness all these various colours shall Vanish and end in this adrable Citrine whiteness XXXIII Which last colour is that of Paul's Garment and will in a short time become like the colour of the naked Sword afterwards by means of a more strong and long digestion towards the end of the work it will be changed into a Red Citrine colour and at last into the perfect Red of the Vermilion where it will repose or fix it self for ever XXXIV Of this also be advised that the Milk of Luna is not like the Virgin Milk of Sol and that the Imbibitions of Whiteness require a more White Milk than those of the Golden Redness XXXV In this very matter I was in danger of missing my way and so I had done indeed had it not been for the Book of ABRAHAM the Jew And therefore for this reason I have made to be depicted for you the Figure which takes hold of the naked Sword in the proper and right colour for it is the Emblem of that which whitens CHAP. XXXII Of the Green Field with the three Resuseitants two Men and one Woman altogether in White Two Angels beneath and over the Angels the Figure of our Lord and Saviour coming to Judge the World cloathed with a Robe perfectly Citrine-White I. I Have depicted the Field Green because that in this decoction the Compositum becomes Green and keeps this colour longer than any other after the Black II. This Greenness demonstrates particularly that our Stone has a Vegetable
or dwindling away But if they be fed with heat and due moisture on their Trees then they prove Elegant and fruitful For heat and moisture are the Elements of all Earthly things Animal Vegetable and Mineral XXXV Therefore Fires of Wood and Coal produce or help not Metals those are violent Fires which nourish not as the heat of the Sun does that conserves all Corporeal things for that it is natural which they follow XXXVI But a Philosopher acts not what Nature does For Nature where she rules forms all Vegetables Animals and Minerals in their own degrees Men do not after the same sort by their Arts make natural things When Nature has finished her work about them then by our Art they are made more perfect XXXVII In this manner the ancient Sages and Philosophers for our information wroughr on Luna and Mercury her true Mother of which they made the Mercury of the Philosophers which in its Operation is much stronger than the Natural Mercury For this is serviceable only to the simple perfect imperfect hot and cold Metals But our Mercury the Philosopher's-Stone is useful to the more than perfect imperfect Bodies or Metals XXXVIII Also that the Sun may perfect and nourish them without diminution addition or immutation as they were created or formed by Nature and so leaves them not neglecting any thing XXXIX I will not now say that the Philosophers conjoyn the Tree for the better perfecting their Mercury as some unskilful in the nature of things and unlearned Chymists affirm who take common Sol Luna and Mercury and so unnaturally handle them till they evanish in smoak These Men endeavour to make the Philosophers Mercury but they never attained it which is the first matter of the Stone and the first Minera thereof XL. If you would come hither and find good and to the Mountain of the seaven where there is no plain you would betake your self from the highest you must look downward to the sixth which you will see afar off XLI In the height of this Mountain you will find a Royal Herb triumphing which some have called Mineral some Vegetable some Saturnine But let its Bones or Ribs be left and let a pure clean Broth be taken from it so will the better part of your work be done XLII This is the right and subtil Mercury of the Philosophers which you are to take which will make first the white work and then the red If you have well understood me both of them are nothing else as they term them but the practick which is so easie and so simple that a Woman sitting by her Distaff may perfect it XLIII As if in Winter she would put her Eggs under a Hen and not wash them because Eggs are put under a Hen without washing them and no more labour is required about them than that they should be every day turned that the Chickens may be the better and sooner hatched concerning the which enough is said XLIV But that I may follow the Example first wash not the Mercury but take it and with its like which is fire place it in the Ashes which is Straw and in one Glass which is the Nest without any other thing in a convenient Alembick which is the House from whence will come forth a Chicken which with its Blood will free thee from all Diseases and with its Flesh will nourish thee and with its Feathers will cloath thee and keep thee warm from the Injuries of the cold and ambient Air. XLV For this cause I have written this present Treatise that you may search with the greater desire and walk in the right way And I have written this small Book this Summary that you might the better comprehend the Sayings and Writings of the Philosophers which I believe you will much better understand for time to come The End of Flammel's Book ROGERII BACHONIS RADIX MUNDI Translated out of Latin into English and Claused By WILLIAM SALMON CHAP. XXXVII Of the Original of Metals and Principles of the Mineral Work I. THE Bodies of all Natural Things being as well perfect as imperfect from the Original of time and compounded of a quaternity of Elements or Natures viz. Fire Air Earth Water are conjoyned by God Almighty in a perfect Unity II. In these four Elements is hid the Secret of Philosophers The Earth and Water give Corporeity and Visibility The Fire and Air the Spirit and Invisible Power which cannot be seen or touched but in the other two III. When these four Elements are conjoyned and made to exist in one they become another thing whence it is evident that all things in nature are composed of the said Elements being altered and changed IV. So saith Rhasis Simple Generation and Natural Transformation is the Operation of the Elements V. But it is necessary that the Elements be of one kind and not divers to vit Simple For otherwise neither Action nor Passion could happen between them So saith Aristotle There is no true Generation but of things agreeing in Nature So that things be not made but according to their Natures VI. The Eldar or Oak Trees will not bring forth Pears nor can you gather Grapes of Thorns or Figs of Thistles things bring not forth but only their like or what agrees with them in Nature each Tree it s own Fruit. VII Our Secret therefore is to be drawn only out of those things in which it is You cannot extract it out of Stones or Salt or other Heterogene Bodies Neither Salt nor Alum enters into our mystery But as Theophrastus saith The Philosophers disguise with Salts and Alums the Places of the Elements VIII If you prudently desire to make our Elixir you must extract it from a Mineral Root For as Geber saith You must obtain the perfection of the Matter from the Seeds thereof IX Sulphur and Mercury are the Mineral Roots and Natural Principles upon which Nature her self acts and works in the Mines and Caverns of the Earth which are Viscous Water and Subtil Spirit running through the Pores Veins and Bowels of the Mountains X. Of them is produced a Vapour or Cloud which is the substance and body of Metals united ascending and reverberating upon its own proper Earth as Geber sheweth even till by a temperate digestion through the space of a Thousand Years the matter is fixed and converted into a Mineral Stone of which metals are made XI In the same manner of Sol which is our Sulphur being reduced into Mercury by Mercury which is the Viscous Water made thick and mixt with its proper Earth by a temperate decoction and digestion ariseth the Vapour or Cloud agreeing in nature and substance with that in the Bowels of the Earth XII This afterwards is turned into most subtil water which is called the Soul Spirit and Tincture as we shall hereafter shew XIII When this Water is returned into the Earth out of which it was drawn and every way spreads through or is mixed with it as its
a Bird is made the Shell being whole until the coming forth or Hatching of the Chicken so is it in the work of the Philosophers Stone Of the Citrine Body and White Liquor with a temperate or gentle Heat is made the Avis Hermetis or Philosophers Bird. X. The Vessel being well and perfectly closed and never so much as once opened till the perfection or end of the work so that you see the Vessel is to be kept close that the Spirit may not get out and evanish XI Therefore saith Rhasis Keep thy Vessel and its junctures close and firm for the Conservation of the Spirit And another saith close thy Vessel well and as you are not to cease from the work or let it cool so neither are you to make too much haste neither by too great a heat nor too soon opening of it XII You must take special care that the Humidity which is the Spirit gets not out of the Vessel for then you will have nothing but a Dead Body remaining and the work will come to nothing XIII Socrates saith Grind it with most sharp Vinegar till it grows thick and be careful that the Vinegar be not turned into fume and perish CHAP. XLII Of the Philosophers Fire the kinds and Government thereof I. THE Philosophers have described in their Books a two fold Fire a moist and a dry II. The moist Fire they called the warm Horse Belly in the which so long as the Humidity remains the Heat is retained but the Humidity being Consumed the Heat vanishes and ceases which Heat being small seldom lasts above five or six days but it may be Conserved and renewed by casting upon it many times Urine mixt with Salt III. Of this Fire speaks Philares the Philosopher The property of the fire of the Horse Belly is not to destroy with its dryness the Oyl but augments it with its humidity whereas other fire would be apt to consume it IV. Senior the Philosopher saith Dig a Sepulchre and bury the WOMAN with her MAN or Husband in Horse-dung or Balneo of the same heat until such time as they be intimately conjoyned or united V. Altudonus the Philopher saith likewise you must hide your Medicine in Horse-dung which is the fire of the Philosophers for this Dung is hot moist and dark having a humidity in it self and an excellent light or Whiteness VI. There is no other fire comparable to it in the World excepting only the natural heat of a Man or Womans Body VII This is a Secret The Vapour of the Sea not burned the Blood of Man and the Blood of the Grape is our Red Fire VIII The Dry Fire is the Fire of the Bodies themselves and the Inflammability of every thing able to be burned Now the government of these Fires is thus IX The Medicine of the White ought to be put into the moist fire until the Complement of the Whiteness shall appear in the Vessel For a gentle fire is the conservation of the Humidity X. Therefore saith Pandolphus You are to understand that the Body is to be dissolved with the Spirit with which they are mixed by an easie and gentle decoction so that the Body may be spiritualized by it XI Ascanius also saith A gentle fire gives health but too much or great a heat will not conserve or unite the Elements but on the contrary divide them waste the humidity and destroy the whole work XII Therefore saith Rhasis Be very diligent and careful in the sublimation and liquefaction of the matter that you increase not your fire too much whereby the water may ascend to the highest part of the Vessel For then wanting a place of Refrigeration it will stick fast there whereby the Sulphur of the Elements will not be perfected XIII For indeed in this work it is necessary that they be many times elevated or sublimed and depressed again XIV And the gentle or temperate Fire is that only which compleats the mixture makes thick and perfects the work XV. Therefore saith Botulphus That gentle fire which is the White fire of the Philosophers is the greatest and most principal matter of the Operation of the Elements XVI Rhasis also saith Burn our Brass with a Gentle Fire such as is that of a Hen for the hatching of Eggs until the Body be broken and the Tincture extracted XVII For with an easie decoction the water is congealed and the humidity which corrupteth drawn out and in drying the burning is avoided XVIII The happy prosecution of the whole work consists in the exact temperament of the fire Therefore beware of too much heat lest you come to solution before the time viz. before the matter is ripe For that will bring you to despair of attaining the end of your hopes XIX Wherefore saith he Beware of too much fire for if it be kindled before the time the matter will be Red before it comes to ripeness and perfection whereby it becomes like an Abort or the unripe Fruit of the Womb whereas it ought to be first White then Red like as the Fruits of a Tree a Cherry is first White then Red when it comes to its perfection XX. And that he might indigitate a certain time as it were of Decoction he saith That the dissolution of the Body and Coagulation or Congeiation of the Spirit ought to be done by an easie decoction in a gentle fire and a moist Putrefaction for the space of one hundred and forty Days XXI To which Orsolen assents saying In the beginning of the mixture you ought to mix the Elements being sincere and made pure clean and rectified with a gentle fire by a slow and natural digestion and to beware of too much fire till you know they are conjoyned XXII Bonellus also saith That by a Temperate and Gentle heat continued you must make the pure and perfect Body CHAP. XLIII Of the AEnignia's of Philosophers their Deceptions and Precautions concerning the same I. YOu ought to put on Courage Resolution and Constancy in attempting this great work lest you Err and be deceived sometimes following or doing one thing and then another II. For the knowledge of this Art consisteth not in the multiplicity or great number of things but in Unity Our Stone is but One the matter is One and the Vessel is One The Government is One and the disposition is One. The whole Art and Work thereof is One and begins in One manner and in One manner it is finished III. Notwithstanding the Philosophers have subtily delivered themselves and clouded their instructions with AEigmatical and Typical Phrases and Words to the end that their Art might not only be hidden and so continued but also be had in the greater Veneration IV. Thus they advise to Decoct to Commix and to Conjoyn to Sublime to Bake to Grind and to Congeal to make Equal to Puttefie to make White and to make Red of all which things the order management and way of working is all one which is only to