Christology Chemical Book 1 and 2

Christology chemical - BOOK 1

Of the primordial Hylé and first matter of the sages

First chapter

One of the biggest questions in physics is
raw materials ; know if it is real and current,
or if it is only in power: several have held
that there was no raw material, others believed it
actually, and others only potentially, each
providing probable reasons, and authorities for
support their opinion, and the healthiest part holds that it
is, but between being and non-being, or between something
thing and nothing. But chemical philosophers with
foundations more assured than the peripatetics, know well
that at the beginning of the world, there was a chaos created, and
that the four elements were confusedly lodged there by the
All powerful ; which consisted of mercury, salt, and
sulphur, materially and virtually; and all were
hidden within the humid nature, and in the beginning,
as Ovid says Omnia puritus erat. But our chemists
do not seek this very distant first matter, but the
first metallic material; and while they say we must
put the perfect metal back into its first material, their
intention is not to put back and reincorporate in this very
remote and confused matter of the first chaos (also do not
know how to do), but inside the simplicity of the second
matter. And cause why (while improperly) they
call their first matter, is for what the
first in composition, is always the last in
resolution ; or is it that our frozen air in the heat, in the

the midst of waters bereft of their spirit, and which is the salt
central and essential water; is always found at the end of
water resolution and separation; so it will be with
some reason, if they call this aquatic air, first
matter ; and because it is of the nature of water, and it is
endowed with a solidity and sensible circumscription, they
called dry water which does not wet the hands of those
who wield it, and have compared it to mercury or quicksilver. He
also called it, quick gold, gold of the Sages, physical gold, and gold
without which no perfect solution can be celebrated
according to the intention of Nature, because of this same
substance that common gold is composed of; what has them so
induced to make a noticeable difference between their gold and the
common. And when they named him Mercury, because of his
extraction, they made the same difference. They also have
diversified the names of water, sometimes calling it mercury, sometimes
the moon or the money of the philosophers; mercury because they
call all aquosities mercury, and moon because this
star dominates over these; and that everything as well as the great
sun illuminates the moon, and that it receives its light only from this
luminous body, to act and regulate all humidity
aqueous; and thus this mercurial water does not receive its
influence and its property of dissolving metal, nor its rare
and admirable virtues, if she is deprived of the rays of her
presence and of the proper substance of this salt, or central salt.
They also called this essential salt, and vitriol of nature
sulfur or sulphur, having regard to its quality and its functions;
because it is he who burns the metal, and who best imparts its
igneous quality, which the elemental fire cannot do. But so
let the ignorant peat be illustrated with the truth, and let one
can more easily hear which are the three

general principles, namely sulphur, salt, and mercury, I will say
that sulfur is an oleaginous or resinous substance,
or balsamic, which contains internally the fire of Nature
of all mixtures, preserves their life and warmth
natural. It is the medium of all vegetations and
growths, the source of all odor, and the perfect bond of
mercury and salt; and without the union of these there could not be
do, because the mercury would remain in its nature
wet, fluid, and volatile without any riding
noticeable; and salt being too dry without water, and too easy to
solve in it, if the intervention of sulfur (which is
middle substance between one and the other, and also participates
good for each other) was not used as a rope to bind them, and
make them in common substance, and because this sulfur is
pontic, and that it gives the point to the aquatic mercury
to make the philosophical solution, he can also dissolve
what he froze; and since he is the only cause of the
freezing of all aqueous humidities, it is not necessary to find
strange, if it dissolves the metals which are only waters
frozen. As for mercury, it's nothing but a
aquatic liquor, pure and simple, which contains in itself the air,
and the spirit of life, full of an ethereal substance, with
some acidity. It is the efficient cause of the continuity of
bodies, and their colors; it causes the food of
mixed, gives food, feeling, and their movement, and
as sulfur has some analogical relation to fire,
mercury has its own with water and air, because of its
fluxibility and volatility, which easily gives it the
symbolic passage to transmute from water to air. It's necessary
here note that the Alchemists do not intend to conjoin
the moist and phlegmatic parts in these definitions, then

that they talk about the composition of their Pierre, especially as
such parts are rejected, not only as useless
and harmful, of all their substances; because we must
separate the heterogeneous parts, preserving the homogeneous ones,
these as essential, and those as
excremental and accidental. This is why it is necessary
take careful note of this difference, to
tune and hear the chemical authors. Let's come to the salt,
and say it is a dry, pontine, and salty substance,
in its exterior part, but soft in its interior,
which is like the soul and life of bodies, which by means
sulfur (which takes the place of spirit) binds mercury,
preserves and conserves from all corruption, with the other
integral parts, and by virtue of its parts, incise,
penetrates, and opens by changing the mixed in its nature
incorruptible; it is the basis of flavors in general, and makes
contrary operations, depending on whether it is more or less mixed
of mercury, as, to coagulate and dissolve, to fill and
evacuate, and there is no sublunary body which does not participate
of him, and seems that he symbolizes with sulfur, for the
first to generations, since he is always the last
to resolutions, and for this it is called origin of all
frozen bodies, either by cold or heat. He's from
such energy to the elementary mixture, that without it the
mixed would have no life; and can repopulate the
plants, just as if it were with their own
seed, if we believe in Vigenère and Rothésilaus, saying
that a dead body had been raised to be buried
in a chapel, where there was salt. What I believe it takes
understand by metaphor.

From these three principles results the chemical operation, all of
same as in the other operations of art and of Nature. But
spagyria separates the pure from the impure, to raise its
operation beyond the power of Nature, without departing from
the unity of this first matter; because it is composed
of these substances, and that she is copiously drenched in them. And
this first matter is called Hyle of the Sages, and
sometimes Hyleg, from none interpret forest. And holy
Augustine said that one could not conceive of the mind, nor
perceive by the senses, this primordial Hyle, nor conceive,
that in not conceiving, just as in darkness one sees
seeing nothing; because the philosophers wanted too much
particularly see the most ancient and abstruse parts
of the mixed ones, inside their intellect, before making them
go through the senses; but if they had made a curious and
exact anatomy of water, they would have met this pygmy
who slaughters the giants, and this serpent Python who devours the
Briareus, Gerion, Hercules, and even delights the golden arrows
of Apollo. I say, this little central and essential salt of water,
this invigorating air frozen in the middle of the waters, without spirit, and the
true quick gold of Sages, which being conjoined with pure water, and
ethereal, separated from the impurity of its body, and circulated for
make it of fire nature, also easily dissolved the
metals, and without doing violence to them, let the sun melt the
snow, and fire ice; and just as at the beginning,
while mingled with the spirit of water, it served as
chain or rope to bind, freeze, and coagulate
elements and elemental things, without it being itself
frozen ; thus now bereft of his spirit, and of the fire which
lives in water, it freezes; and frozen, it dissolves what it
had previously linked, and puts it back in its first
matter, namely putrefied water. It will be the water that will be,

and which is the matter of all things, and of which all
have originated, and which will be the true remover of
gold, to push it back and re-embed it in its first and
pure matter, to go and die by corruption, then
by new regeneration take new life, and
resuscitate victoriously and gloriously, without being
subject to death, provided that our androgynous Mercury, and who
is composed of this fixed salt, and of its volatile water, do not
touches more; for if he touched him, he would put him to death again;
but as a reward he would glorify her soul tenfold
than it was before, and this, whenever he
would cause death, so much that one could exalt and graduate if
high this son of the sun, this beloved calculation white, and red,
that it would go to infinity, so that if the sea were quicksilver,
lead, or other imperfect metal, it would be animated a little
of this powder, and would take the being of real silver, or very
pure, depending on the red or white fermentation, than before
she would have been given, or according to the coction she would have had
to change from white to red. And all these wonders
proceed from water, I say elementary water, the purest
that we can find, so that it is not contaminated
of any underground ditches, as may be the waters of
fountains, or corrupted, as may be the waters of
ponds and marshes, nor mixed as is the sea in its
abundance of salt, or rain, if the weather is blazing, if
the air is corrupted, if it is too cold or badly constituted; And
for these considerations we take the dew of me from
May, as the most excellent of all waters, the most
pure, and unmixed of all, and with it we make
our Philosophical Mercury, as will be said in its place.

It is not however without astonishment of several people
learned, to see so many properties in simple water, and to
to see him perform operations so contrary; But what ? The water
is it not capable of various and different generations?
Isn't she the mother of cold mixes, as well as
hot ones? It is she who contains the seminary virtues of
all the things of the world, it is the food of all
elements, and elemental things, according to Thales, Milesius,
and Hesiod, she is the beginning of all things; without
water, what continuity would there be in mixed? What
food would they have? What would these plants do without
water wetting? Certainly water is the most necessary
element of all is the semen and menstruation of the world, and
all things have their origin from her, therefore, it is good
right if we call it Hyle and raw material, and its
body is so in love with the air, that it easily converts
in this one, lives in it and facilitates its generations, the water
still contains this divine fire, which fomented them and fertilized
at the beginning of the world. For God is motionless, and the
will be forever. And if he smoldered the waters to warm them with
her spirit, he still vivifies them, she is full of life, air and
of any fertility. And God willed, not without great mystery,
that the regeneration of man at Holy Baptism be made
in water. Clear and subtle water doesn't look premium
first of what it participates. Her body promises us a
homogeneity to sight, and that it is similar to itself in all
these parts; but if we strip its substance, and
we make an exquisite anatomy, we will find that she
discovers to us that it contains in its interior, the stones,
the salt, earth, antimony, and vitriol of nature. It's here
matter of all elemental bodies, and medicine
universal of all flesh, and of all mixed. It contains
the saltpetre of the Sages, the quicksilver of the Philosophers, and the fire
central that devours the metal. It is the living water and the hiding place of
the truth. That's why Democritus said it was hidden
in a well. And the Latins having correctly recognized water as
source of all things, one called aqua, quasi aqua sium
omnia. It will therefore not be without reason if we affirm that
water is the first matter of metals, if they have taken their
kind of her, if frozen by the rope of this central salt,
and if it is thus necessary to say living gold, which wants to dissolve dead gold,
to make it take on new life, through its regeneration.
It is he who gives life to this one, makes it vegetate and grow, and
the cause of the colors, by means of the external fire. And it's there
cause of all perfections, especially as mercury all
perfections derive, and from our water contains and comes the
mercury, which contains in itself the salt and sulfur of nature.

Let's come to another consideration, and say, that so much more
the integral parts their whole, its pure, clear, and
candid, all the more noble is the composition, but is it
that there is no sublunary body, purer, nobler, nor more
precious than gold, nor anything more excellent than the spirit of
our water, and its air congealed to the heat; what follows,
that the composition made of gold, of this igneous water, and of this
frozen air, both greatly repurged by air, will be
greatly pure, noble, and virtuous; so much more
simple are the compositions, all the more so are they noble.
Is gold made of this water, is of its substance, and one
and the other differs only in the single coction, their essence
being similar, which makes the composition all the more
simple, and therefore more noble. Moreover, if by oneself
by nature it is decreed that each thing engenders its own
similar, it will be evident that what will be generated from gold,

will be gold, and so the aurifying species will not wither away,
so much that she can always aurify, and if he is regenerated
and raised from death to life, how gloriously can he operate? And gold gave its tincture to water, and let it be
congealed by him and gradually raised above the
color of gold, what tint will it give to metals
imperfect? He will make as much sound of his fixation, for the gold
reduced to its first matter and regenerated by it, gives
one and the other, and without the salt there would be no tincture
valid, nor any fixation, so powerful is the sulfur of gold,
which being once opened by hyleal water, and from celestial
goodness, come to emit his own seed, and the
vegetate to infinity, which gold cannot do, so and so
long as it remains in its solid consistency. It is
why the solution is necessary, in order to open all
its pores, reduce it into tiny parts, and first
matter. And when it is thus dilated within itself, it does
emission of its own sperm, both in male nature
than feminine; and thus the univocal generation of the son takes place
of the Sun, under the conservation of the aurifying species. Of
which will be more copiously treated in the three chapters
singular ones that follow our Chrisology.

It is necessary here to warn the reader, that whoever wants to introduce
in this Divine science, must know all the operations of
art, and what it has to do for it for the complement of
the work, without running from one practice to another, or
and postponing one operation to another, doing the seven
main operations. And for this the Alchemist will hear everything
progress before getting down to work, otherwise
he puts himself in danger of error, and of losing the oil and his trouble.
What he cannot do, if he has diligently read the books

ancient and modern authors, because by the diversity of
books, one comes to a great intelligence of alchemy, to
because of what one seals, the other discovers it; but you have to
follow the advice of Trévisan, which says that we must hold on, where
that the authors agree, because that is the truth. He is
true that having this book here, it will be very easy to enter
intelligence of the authors, but without it it is strong
difficult, because they wrote only vaguely,
circumlocutions, fables, enigmas, allegories, trapdoors, figures,
and fictions, which makes them so obscure, that one cannot
can hear them, and without the help of God who
opens the intellect of those it pleases, or without a traditional
cabal, or by someone who made the Stone, or without this
this book.

It is almost impossible to achieve this
high knowledge, so much the chemical agent is hidden among the
authors, and still is it not enough to have the science of
real agent and patient, to know chemical operations. He
must still have enough to operate, and dedicate oneself at all to
patience, and without choosing a good practice between
a million fakes, and befitting to be illustrated from the rays
of the natural light of Philosophy, and of the minds of
ancients, to make us conceive that all things
engender its like, that gold is the aurifying principle
which gives the dye, the fixed quality, the fusion, and the others
qualities to water, which gave it its being, and which is of its
same substance, drawn from one root, though divided
in two or three branches. And thus gold will beget gold,
that if this position is not diverted from me, there is no
doubt that gold will be the aurifying principle, and to multiply
his species, he must emit his sperm in one
proper copulation, and retain it within its own womb,

to embryo it and make it vegetate; so that by a
non-destructive corruption, thus preserving the species, it
may produce a fetus, nobler than himself; what's needed
also hear silver, since as well as gold is leaven
or ferment to make the Red Stone, the money is to make
the White one.

All antiquity has granted us this, and there is nothing
has given us anything more real than that, indeed all their
books are stuffed with this substance, if with gold and silver,
we admit their mercury there.

So much so that we can, with good reason, assure that the
Sun, Moon, and Mercury, are the true and sure matter
stone, and water is its first material.

To know if the gold and the silver of the Philosophers are
the common and vulgar

Chapter 2

All the peat of the Sages proclaimed as one
only mouth, that the Sun and the Moon, or gold and
common money, was not that of the Philosophers, that gold
common was dead, but theirs was alive, and there was
a great difference between one and the other; but studying me
to the brevity, and not wanting to insert in this place, if not
sentences or certain axioms, I say that gold and also silver
common are the true passive principles of Alchemy, and
that with them it is necessary to plow in this art, after I have
brought some distinction necessary to hear, that I
reserves to be said in dealing with mercury Physics, in chapter
following.

This is quite self-evident, for if the end of Alchemy is
gold and silver, and that common gold and silver are
aurifying principles, and which contain in their
interiors their own seeds, to pullulate, there is none
doubt that these will be the ones to be used, and that these
metals will be those of the Sages, and from there we can judge,
what the ancients disputed about it, was only to dazzle
the eyes of the ignorant, and to entangle them in a
labyrinth, to deprive them of the knowledge of
real materials. It is true that while these perfect bodies
remain in their opacity, and that their substance is not
open, they are at all useless in this labor, nevertheless they
remain the formal and passive principle of our art, and
thus these two perfect bodies are the common metals, and
true subjects of Alchemy.

Mercury of the Sages and what it is
Chapter 3

If the mercury of the wise had the properties and accidents
common mercury, who could admit that the
vulgar would also be theirs, that our gold and silver are the
same as theirs, but he is so repugnant to his
properties and accidents, which I cannot insinuate that it is
the same, it is quite true that there is some relation
analog between one and the other, but it is only

comparatively, and taking the mercury of the Sages in one
such being as was the common, when he was pure water
metallic, and that the dryness of the earth so dominated him,
let there be dry water which does not wet the hands. Because the
mercury of the Sages is water as clear as water from
fountain, from which, by a subtle artifice, a
salty earthly substance, which is rendered dry water, which does not
no more wets the hand of him who touches it, than would
common mercury. And this salty land was called
often by the ancients physical gold, and igneous water and
which is separated and rectified from it, was also named by
the Sages Moon or the silver of the wise, it is the same or sulfur
of the Moon of the Sages, or even Moon itself, because sometimes
it is called sulfur or gold, and sometimes mercury or moon; and of this
body said Alexandre, our body which is our Pierre
hidden, cannot be known, nor seen by us, If the good Lord does not
inspires us with his holy spirit, or teaches us by some
living man, without which body our science is lost,
what we must carefully distinguish when reading their writings.

As for the weight of one and the other, it is necessary to know if ours
mercurial water is frozen, it cannot have this
similar in weight to common quicksilver, because
every porous body, like water, is made light, like
porous bodies become heavy when frozen
and thick.

That if we still want to notice the virtues of the common, and
put them in parallel with ours, it will be found a lot
different, especially as mercury is harmful, and ruins the
bodies, and dissipates minds, and ours is friend to all
nature, that he is the nourisher of all things, which he
makes grow and multiply, even it is one of the material authors

of any generation, transforming into so many things, that
sometimes he is agent in one thing, sometimes he is patient, sometimes
male, sometimes female.

Now all these properties and accidents, not found in the
mercury, or common quicksilver, make me say that the
common is not that of the Sages. It must also be considered
that the whole society of Philosophers has called all nature
wet and aquatic called mercury, because the water
is a quasi-homogeneous substance like mercury, and
the most recent, with Paracelsus, constituted three
principal substances in all material generations,
namely, the sulfur which they attribute to the fire and which they relate to
the oily substance of the mixture, the salt which is the balsam of
nature, the bond of body and soul, and the source of all
coagulations (which they have for this subject referred to the earth), and
finally mercury, which they referred to water and air,
especially as water being porous and contiguous with air, it
easily conceive the spirit of life which is in the air, and
having imprinted it, it is so fruitfully full of it that it
begets, conceives, nourishes, preserves and multiplies all
material things.

Nevertheless, the mercury of the Sages is not common water
considered in its nature merely aquatic, for ours
mercury is an aerial igneous water, full of life, and
fecundity, which has such great subtlety, both on the part
of her internal fire, than of her pontic salt, which she incises,
opens, expands, and reduces the more perfect metals in their
first metallic material. And for this incisive faculty and
solvent, the ancients gave Mercury a cutlass
sharp; and because of the subtlety of its igneous water,
which flies away easily, they imposed a salad of

winged iron, which covers the head, designating by this, that it is necessary
keep the dishes where it is locked up tightly closed, otherwise this
ethereal spirit, which has an extreme suitability with the air and the
fire, would vanish into the air without returning, thus the oil and the
time would be wasted.

As for the tallaires that they attached to the feet of this
messenger of the gods, there is nothing more certain than this
summer to designate, although salt is of a compact nature and
therefore present, if is that by incisive subtlety,
penetrating and dissolving, gold will be rarefied, and so
open in its pores, which it will fly to the highest of the
container dishes, for the life of the air and make the connection
elements. And because gold, silver, and mercury, are
both active and passive matter of the Physical Stone, and
although they are three distinct bodies, and separated one from
the other, they must end up in one body; they are
served from the hieroglyph of the caduceus, which consists of
two serpents, and a wand or scepter, and because
this mercury is the true panurgos, and that he does everything by himself,
many have depicted it without hands, with reason that it dissolves,
freezes, sublimates, calcines, and does all the operations
chemicals without leaving the ship, using Vulcan. This
which makes it clear that our Mercury is greatly
different from the common, and that ours is the true.
What are metals and ours made of?

Mercury, and their first metallic matter
Chapter 4

By common consent of the spagyric school,
all metals are composed of sulfur and
mercury. And certainly, if it is true that all bodies are
engendered from what they resolve into, it will be easy to
prove that the assertion is correct, since all the
metals resolve into mercury flowing like the vulgar,
by a reincrudation which is done with the tartar and the salts, the
sulphurous faculty being taken from it by them, and this faculty
sulphurous, is the coagulative fire, which greased and congealed this
mercurial and mineral water, by means of which it does not
did not wet his hands.

But if we want to exactly peel, what causes
generative must be to this generative sulfur and quicksilver,
we will be forced to say that the vapors and
exhalations which rise from the earth, and sojourn in the
winds, are the raw material of metals, and by
consequence of mercury.

That if we still want to backslide to the side of their
genesis, and that curiosity leads us to know from where have
process these vapors and exhalations, we will find that these
vapors were generated by aquatic humidity
contained in the earth, and perfumed in this vast abyss,
as also the exhalations will be engendered by
the antiperistasis of heat enclosed in the earth, passed on
by the external frigidity of the latter, and both aided by the
astral influences, and luminous rays, both from the Sun and
of the celestial moon, only planets, fixed and wandering stars,
with the eighth sphere rapid movement. And more if
we want to have the desire to see where this
watery and earthly substance, we will find ourselves
fallen into the first matter of all things; The one that does not

would give little trouble to the peripateticians, who doubt whether he
there is one, or if it is only in substance as it
is said. But because our goal aims rather to put the
second matter in work, than not the first. I
deport from this more curious than notable research, and
would say that our spagyric school is content to say, that
substantially, the elementary matter which contained, at
beginning, all other elements, must be deemed the
first material. Was the elementary world
first hatched from nothing, by the Word of the Father, in a
chaos and confusion of all the elements, which without order,
were lodged in the humid nature, (which was real water),
upon which the spirit of the Lord was centered, which
fertilized and vivified them.

It will therefore follow that water is the first sensible matter
of all things, and therefore she will be the first
material of metals.

By this we see that what constitutes the metal being
sulfur and mercury, will have the same formal principles as the
metals, and shall be begotten from substance and nature
moist, and differ only in coction.

But because our mercury requires a portion of
fire, and the aquatic substance, one might doubt, if the water
commune contains within itself this spirit of life and a fire so
contrary to this aqueous element. Whereupon I answer that water
is not a purely simple element, but it is a body
elemental, and therefore it participates in the fire secondly, it is necessary
believe that God has always been motionless, is, and
will be, was God upon the waters, warming them,
brooded, and fertilized by vivifying them in the beginning
as it is said, so there is still now, who
19
fruitful and vivifies, and gives them the same power as they
had at that time. No, no, dew or rain water
is not barren of fire, also sapience, in the final chapter, and
in the sixth, mentions astonishment at seeing fire burning
inside the water, without going out, since it is of its nature
to put out the fire, and the water, forgetting this duty, gives birth
such astonishment. However those who know that
this fire comes from the life of the air, which the water draws to itself, for
give life and increase to all the plants of the universe,
do not admire this, any more than to see a beautiful land in
any extremity come out of this wet nature, (if the water is
separated from its igneous spirit), which being vulcanically
prepared, and conjoined with his igneous spirit, which burns within
water, is cause that this mercury is true natural solvent
hard bodies, and reduces them to their first matter
watery. In what it appears that we derive our mercury
physics of dew or rain water, and that we
let us be our universal agent, to give life and fecundity to
our fetus and without water no generation can be made
and preserved. Water is the matrix of aerial fire, the support and
the home of the earth, containing within itself the nursery of
seminal virtues, even it seems to be the seed of
God, with whom he causes all things to sprout, makes them
grow and multiply, or it is like the soul of the world,
as she took life from the air, which animates and invigorates
all that is on the earth, that if the water has such power (and that
no doubt experience assures us of this), whatever
still mixed with many impurities, what can
our Mercury well purged of all its filth, and
conjoined with his frozen darling, the spirit of which is worth
better than all the universal earth? Aristotle at 4 of
meteors, refers gold, silver, brass, lead, tin, to
water, to teach us that they originated from it.

From all this it follows that water is not only the mother
of all metals and all liquefiables, under
what the metal is shiny, white, liquable, extensible under the
hammer, and that it can melt hot, as it
freezes cold; but also that she is the mother of all
plants and animals, and that from her they took their
source, their origin, and that it is the principle of all
material bodies and therefore metals.
To know if there is no other mercury among
philosophers, than that which came from water;
and if there are not a few plants that can
produce another

Chapter 5

It is a definite thing among the Philosophers
spagyrians that there is only one mineral mercury, which
can constitute their Mineral Stone, that it is one thing
vile, which is found everywhere at a low price, and nevertheless that it is
the beginning and the end of the mine. What they said for
veil their secret: for it is very certain that there is one or
several other mercuries than the one specified above, since Raymond the Abbot affirms, that the spirit of wine,
or tartar sharpened in distillation, is the true mercury
vegetable, and by all the quintessence, and his testament, he
shall be no other mercury than that which is drawn from wine, or from
its parts; how much he admits the new honey, the
red lily flowers, rosemary, celandine, for
mercurial principles in this work.

For me, I hold that all bodies being composed of air and
of water, also have in them the spirit of life, and the igneous water that we
require in our art, but it is difficult to extract it sos
its entire preservation, that our life would be too short
to do this hard work. But bread and wine,
are the plan of this way, and of this ethereal water,
can produce at least as much as dew, besides
that their soil has the required ponticity, to dissolve the
metals, when it is methodically prepared. I am
all the more confirmed in this, as I conjecture Jacob, to have
had this great secret which is called the science of the saints, which he
had all discipline, that sapience dwelt in him, he
abounded in all good things, that God led him by the hand,
carried on his shoulders, gave his blessing upon him, did
honorable in his labors which he made him accomplish, giving him
truth and caused his work to find good in the hand of the workman,
and as he loved Jacob (who sought only the truth)
, he hated his enemies exceedingly, for those who labor
to sophistications, make a work of laughingstock that will endure
no use or test, and therefore, this work will have nothing
common with that of Jacob. And God filling him with
blessings, gave him gold instead of bronze, silver instead of
place of iron, and gave him prerogatives, which did not breathe
than Alchemy, and yet his eye was fixed on the earth of
bread and wine, and on the dew-absorbed Heaven, which are the
three agent principles of our famous Peter. So that I
collige of what is said, that the mercury of the Sages can be
made of bread and wine, or water? What has been greatly

hidden by the authors, who have veiled their
agent, as their patient, confessing him to be gold.

To know if the reduction of perfect bodies in their
raw material is needed
Chapter 6

Avicenna said that the Alchemists would not change
never the species into another species, if he does not
reduced to their first matter, by we do not seek
not by our art of transmuting the species, especially since there is
a species of metal, differing among themselves only in
rawness and coction: but well we transform the
impure individuals in the purity of the purest. For what
achieve it is necessary to raise gold to its highest
degree that nature has raised it, so that super abundant
tincture and fixed substance, it can temper
gold all the imperfect metals which have not yet reached
the perfection of gold: what we could not do without
to resolve gold and silver into water, which is the first material
metals, for gold and silver are of compact substance,
composed of strong mixtures of elements well and carefully
proportioned, by the sapience which governs all, what does, what
are fixed and sustain all the rigors of art, and
during the time that they remain in this state, they cannot
and cannot improve others without contaminating themselves.

This is why we are forced to pull back gold and
silver into their own mercury, by their own mercury, and
thus reincrude them to make the regeneration sustainable,
taking away their life by the destruction of their bodies, which
resolves into its aqueous and mercurial principle, then returning to it
the soul, which will make this body glorious and eternal. And it happens
by the aforesaid reduction, especially as notwithstanding that the gold
is of very strong and measured composition, if it is what exists
of act and power, actually being gold, he is gold, he is
therefore in power, or more than gold, or less than gold to be in
power less than gold, it would not be seen that it is already gold, because
that the generations are always more noble than the
corruptions, and that according to the sage a living dog is worth
better than a dead lion, so it will follow that he will be more
than gold in power. This procedure will take its
beginning in the solution of the body, in which it
spiritualizes and makes itself subtle, light, porous, and changes
so many of its qualities, or whether it is under the conservation of
the species, because the dissolved parts do not come out of their
kind, but they mutually communicate their
properties, for changing and altering elements
which constitute the mixed, which causes the fixed to become
volatile, by modifying the impure and improving the pure, by the
means of the purity of our mercury, which is never in the
sublime perfection, that he did not make the solution of the body
solar, then receives no mercury other than that which
is in gold, which is true quicksilver being worked out in the
earth, is in the sublime degree of his dignity, because he has
reaches the highest perfection that nature and the stars him
could give, whence it follows, that being rendered in water
clear, and that the Sun in all its parts are resolved into

mercurial water, how noble it is in every extremity, still
that it is a work of nature, but art intervening,
means of the external agent corrupts this natural purity,
to make it a supernatural regeneration. I say
supernatural, for the reason that without art, nature could not
do, and can only lead it to perfection if art helps
by nature can do. But nevertheless the whole proceeds from
our Mercury, which is the secret key to open the
bodies, to mortify them, and to blacken them, the more to whiten them, and
resurrect. Mercury who took his being from the same essence
gold as it is said previously, and which makes return
gold in its early youth, which would have prompted antiquity to
say, that the child had to be returned to its mother's womb at
because of the regeneration that must be done, or else they
said: My mother begat me and by me she is
begotten, and if I am older than her. And many others
riddles they invented, to obscure science and
make more veiled.

Whatever it is, it is the only fountain in which the King
and the Queen, namely the Sun and the Moon, must bathe,
swim, rot, renew, re-generate, resume
new bodies, resuscitate, and receive the impassive soul,
which will make the body such, and to remain permanent against
all art proofs.

Therefore this water is the permanent water, the water of life,
the ambrosia of gold, and the sweet drink of silver. It's her
who makes peace between enemies, softening the hard,
hardening the soft, cooling the hot, warming the cold,
moistens the dry, and dries the wet, making a comixion
of natures, change of opposites, makes spirit the body,
the body-mind, of the hard and the soft makes it tempered, it is she

which pulls the white and red dyes, warms their
color, purifies them, and gives them back a hundredfold, it is she who
makes the spirit of the body, and renders to them and is made in the same
nature with him, returning the soul that she had insinuated into this
body, incorporating so much, that mind and soul
become bodies, and that the spiritualized body penetrates all
body by improving it and adhering eternally. She is the one who
makes the physical compound which has spirit, soul, and body, and which
causes the spirit to penetrate the fixed body, the soul tinges and conjoins.

And all this proceeds from the solution, for if the gold is not dissolved,
how can it be corrupted, nor begotten?

And inside what matrix can he be reborn, if not the one that gave him
his being. And let nature be merry in its nature, isn't it
in this bath that we must monify this fetus that has taken
its origin from him? Aren't they of the same nature, again
that they differ in coction and matrix? Could we pull the
dyeing bodies without reducing them to water? If we extract the
tincture which is the soul of bodies, how could their
return after their death? Can bodies dye?

Certainly if the saffron is not dissolved with some humidity, it
will not leave much of its tincture, and if the body is not
not dissolved by the volatile, it will always remain fixed, without
produce no fruit: but coming to be dissolved with the
generalissimo, he makes himself volatile by the
subtlety of the water which generated it, and is altered in all its
qualities, to make it fit for solemn regeneration.

So much so that I can conclude that the reduction of bodies
perfect in their first matter is necessary in this work.

To know if after the universal dissolution, it is necessary
distill mercurial water, or not

Chapter 7

Here we are out of the general deluge. The snake
Python is nevertheless hidden in the water. It's necessary
see now with which arrow we have to do it
die, but before absolutely ending this
business, I warn the Alchemist not to rush into this
labor, if he has not well and carefully designed in his
intellect what practice he wants to follow, and what author
always regulating on the possibility, and the movement of the
nature, and take heed of the general genesis of this universe,
especially since our work is its epitome and epitome, because
this one last animadversion we can lead to
a large notice, and the first makes us distinguish the
veracity of the authors, and on what subject they base their work.
But rightly the speech is long, I will pass here under
silence, to make it a separate chapter, below. And for
Back to ours, I say no one can resurrect
without paying the tribute of death, and that the soul has not left
his body.

Is it that by the solution the body dies, and the soul of the metal
mingles spiritually in the spiritual mercury, with
which she has great conformity and propriety, as
having taken their natural exodus from the same source. This
demotion not being a return of the child to the womb
of his mother, as it is said. But the body although dissolved,
is not deprived of it at all, and cannot be said dead
absolutely, let the soul be separated from him at all, and this
separation can only be made in two ways, one of which
one is useful, and the other is useless, this one is done by
let us exhale, without receiving the soul, as well as experience
those who do not clog their vessel well, and its
forced with Odysseus to return with the fleet, instead of
they have arisen to start again, or who have not followed the
precept of Ecclesiastes in chapter 24, which forbids
give as much outlet as possible to our water, because (he said
elsewhere) that where there is no hedge the inheritance will be spoiled, and
this way the soul exhaling in the air, we cannot
recall to return to the dead body, and thus we do not
could resuscitate this body, mourn the one who goes outside,
for he shall return no more, neither shall he see the land of his
nativity, says Jeremiah in chapter 22.

The other way which is useful, is done by distillation, by
which the soul finding no air is forced to
separate from the body, and to elect domicile with this
water that prevails. How clearly it is demonstrated that
the soul never leaves the body until it is deprived of life, and the
death of the metal is indeed the solution, but it is the solution
absolute, which is never such, as the black color
appears, which we call dead, and the true sign of
solution and putrefaction.

It will therefore be necessary to distill this solution, to
completely separate the soul from the metal, in order to be able to
life by the resurrection, by which the body will be glorified,
and now made immortal. However, we can without
to distill to do the work, as do those who do not put
that once the hand to the said work closing the vessel without
no longer touch it.

To know when, and how the soul must be
handing over to the dead body

Chapter 8

Just as the form calls its own matter, and the
matter its own form, thus our metallic body,
having been imbued with the solar form, naturally desires it,
and languishes in its privation, until its own form
will be returned.

But in order not to make him suffer more, it is expedient
to give him back his soul as soon as possible, to revive him,
vegetate, and swarm, that to do this, it must be considered that
the soul being separated from the body, there still remains something
spirit common to the said body, which gives it the ability to
regeneration, and in order not to completely deprive our bodies of
this spirit, the soul should not be pushed into the water so much as the
earth remains dry and scorched, so it must leave a
small moisture, and make it silt-like, then it
give back his water, in which his soul is lodged. In what we
sees the ignorance of those who calcine this earth after the
solution, not considering that it is not necessary for
resuscitate, to await the solemn dissolution of the universe
by the flame, and which we have often seen resuscitate bodies
without burning them, so it is not the body that glorifies the soul, but

it is the soul that glorifies the body. As soon as we can
to restore the soul to the body deprived of life, that will be the best.

But because it's easier to lead a man to the
demise, than to bring it back to life, one must carefully think
how we can resuscitate our bodies
solar being dead, and wherein lies the greatest difficulty, for
to restore all his soul to him, one would completely suffocate him, and
would we drown the embryo. Besides, if the soul is not divisible
in several parts, it seems that the body will not resurrect
not, if he does not have all his soul, and thus he remains a great
doubt to the myth of this physical regeneration. For what
to resolve, it is expedient to distinguish the reasonable soul
vegetable, and say that our mercury (which contains this
vegetative soul), is homogeneous in all its parts, and
that a portion contains the soul as well as the whole,
whereby the vegetative soul of our Mercury is
divisible, and can fit into its own body several times
and various times, and all the more so as it will enter it many times,
all the more it will have dye, and fiction, as it
will be said when speaking of multiplication. Because water being the
mother of all liquefiables, makes the Stone fusible, and
tinging, especially since she drinks her water, and this
all the more obviously since this water is extracted from the
solar body, which fuses itself, so is it suitable
that a body is all the more agile and active, that it possesses
the soul, and especially when it is divisible, as is
that of solar or lunar mercury.

Now, since this soul is divisible, and it is necessary to
make our water from term indescribable to term
conscriptive, and that it must be frozen by means of its
body, it will be difficult to divide the water into two parts, so

that one can make the required imbibitions, in
giving little water to this weathered land, for the first time
and the last, adjusting the others by increasing the
irrigations as the child grows, and keep the other
half to do the multiplication, or increase.

This is the most common method, and the one best observed by
authors. Nevertheless there are several who do not put
only once the hand is at work, after the first preparation
mercury, and the disposition of the metal, close the matrass
hermetically, and never open it more than the Peter
be perfect, letting the mercury do its thing, helped by its agent
external, fire, all that has to do. Certainly these do not
not too badly, but the work is later, for the reason that it
is difficult to freeze a large amount of water, and that
it's sooner to freeze it by degrees, how many than
this path is more assured, because we better preserve
soul and spirit of mercury, which cannot be
opening the dishes seven or eight times. However, I leave the
choice and election to the Artisan.

Of the separation of the elements, if it is
necessary or not
Chapter 9

Mixed bodies are always so much more noble and pure,
that the constituent elements are purged, and
are pure in their interiors, this is why Antiquity has

thought of separating the four elements of our Peter, in order
to purge them at any end, to join them, and
reanimate with a conjunction purer than it was
before this separation from all impurity, and that it
can produce more effect in the projection.

In truth it is reasonable to believe in this
proposal, and that it is impossible to concede that a beautiful
body still desires a beautiful shape, by the procedure
which is done by the separation of the elements is so long
that it takes us on a long journey. Nevertheless the profit
is greater, and the Stone is made more virtual,
therefore, who can take the trouble, and patience all
together, it will be open to him, and will be able to accomplish it, if he is
called of God to do this.

The practice which is done by this so painful separation, does not
not please many, who say that there are no elements
pure, if we except the fire, and even though we have
separated the water from the earth, that either part is one
mixed body, and as they are mixed bodies, they are
composed of four elements, what is meant by
all divisions, and subdivisions, that we can make such
parts, and that these being always mixed bodies, will redo
always mixed bodies of the elements, so much so that it is
currently impossible to separate the pure elements from
each mixed, and that therefore it is a vain labor.

But this is too remote from the spagyric intention, which
wants us to take these elements broadly, and call
the more aqueous part of the mixed water; air, the more part
oily and resinous; fire, the hottest part, and the earth,
the most starchy, grime and slimy. All of which
parts can be purged by various fires, and monify
by several enemas and distillations (as will be said
below), to join them together and give them a
most noble composition. So that in this way the
elements can separate currently, for better
repurging, and reviving a more exquisite composition
through corruption.

However, it is not necessary to go through this, if one
wants, but we can make our own Pierre without the separation
current elements but it is necessary to make clear
the parts of our compound, namely, to separate the phlegm from
ethereal and igneous water, and to sublimate the earth, and to monify it
extremely, because on these two depends the mixture of the four
elements, since water contains air, earth fire.

Thus for various respects, one can currently separate
or not the elements, to make the composition of ours
wonderful Peter.

Weight and proportion of materials
Chapter 10

Our work being a natural operation, requires
a composition pleasing to nature, but is it that the
nature has a certain weight which is agreeable to it, with which
it makes ten parts air one part water, ten parts water
one of earth, and ten of earth a part of fire, both by the
active symbol of one, than by the passive of the other, by means
of which the conversion of the elements takes place, and that the hard

soft, and the soft hard, the dry wet, and the wet dry, the
hot cold, and cold hot, and so are the operations
opposites with the weight of ten to one, teaching us
clearly that is the true weight of nature.

So much so that to follow the movement and the intention of the
nature, the same weight will be required, and it will be necessary to take
ten parts of our Mercury (so repurged that it may
dissolve the perfect metal), to join it with a part
of Sun or Moon, well and exactly prepared and
calcined, to be dissolved separated, and join them, for
two bodies become one by means of the external agent.

To know if it is necessary in the work of always
join silver, gold, and mercury together

Chapter 11

Silver being the leaven of the White Stone, like gold
of the red stone, has the property of always whitening,
just as the Sol has the property of always blushing, so
that the mixture of white with red, makes a color
pale between gold and silver.

Should our work be superabundantly red,
so that from her exuberant tincture she may overheat
the white mercury contained in imperfect metals, in order to
perfect. From there it follows that one should not give the tincture
white on red, and do not mix silver with gold,
as much to white smoke as well as red, because

that we push it back into its first matter, into
reincruding, as thus is that the metals are perfected in
ground by term of circulation, and that mineral water it is
made of common mercury, of mercury it becomes lead,
lead tin is made, and eventually silver and gold are made by
degrees of perfection. So the gold being put back in first
own matrix to regenerate into igneous water, and ethereal
physical mercury content, being already self mercury,
comes to rot, at which time the color appears, which
cannot pass through poppy red without being washed and
bleached, and thus it is more certain to plow on him
alone, than mixed with the money

Nevertheless there is no doubt that if you want
take white leaven in the beginning, to push it
until white, and then moisten it with the red water of the sun
will be open to you, so did Arthéphius, Abbot Sinesius
Greek, Nicolas Flamel, and many others. The reason for this
is, that gold being drawn back and re-embedded in its first
matrix, and having reached white, has for then no other
active quality than silver, but does not differ in anything in it
currently, but in power, it can pass in a short time
time to red, which he once owned, what money does
could do so soon, so much so that gold at this time does not differ
silver, the red water of the Soil will be able to dye the earth as well
white of silver, than the white earth of gold; since in this
time of whiteness, it must be moistened with mercurial water,
who will have dissolved the gold, and who by this means will have the smoke
red. So it is expedient to take gold rather than
the money, at the beginning, if one wants to pass until
red, but those who are content with white only,
will be able to put the money for base and leaven when it

will begin their work, or else they will be able to moisten the
white earth of the moon, with solar mercurial water, and not
otherwise or at any other time, if they want
pass to red, which must be observed.

To know if it is necessary to calcine the soil of the
mercury before conjoining it with its water
Chapter 12

We have said before that so much the more the bodies
mixed mystics were composed of very
pure, that the compound was purer. Is it that by the
calcination all heterogeneous parts are consumed
by the fire, and the homogeneous ones preserved, with a very
high purity; besides the salt which remains incremable and
incombustible, and which fertilizes mercurial water (which
would remain sterile without him), and gave him ponticity
required to dissolve metal, also remains purer
being separated from the phlegmatic parts, than to contain it in
self.

And thus we obviously see that the calcination of the
earth, whether made from wheat, wine, or water, must be
permitted, nevertheless one can draw the soul of the earth from the water,
by extraction of the tincture before calcining, as will be
said in its place.

When by means of extracting these lands, it will be touched to the
following book, whereabouts, the means of extracting igneous water and
ethereal, wheat, wine, and water, will be specified by chapter

apart, and by the same means the method of separating the earth
will be described.

fires in general
Chapter 13

after choosing a good material so as not to
fail in principles, it is required that the craftsman know
all fire regimes perfectly, especially as there are
various subjects, on which one can certainly
work, namely bread, wine, and water, as it is said above, and which each require a separate method, and
a very big difference from one to the other, besides that
the external agent, which is fire, must be regulated according to the
subtlety, or gross substance of the mixed, and that in various
time and operations, it is necessary to increase or decrease the fire,
moreover, it is necessary to consider the diversity of practices that
offer themselves in our labor according to the various opinions of
authors, because one works without separating the elements, the other
separates them, and repurges to join them, and the air and the fire do not
can go out through Marie's bath, but they need the fire
ashes, and sand, and all these fires can still be
considered differently, because they are each subdivided
in three degrees, namely weak, mediocre, and strong. So the
phlegm separates from the mediocre or weak water bath without
pass further, the ashes separate the air, and the fire is drawn
by the mediocrity of the fire of sand, the earth asking for the fire
of flame, which is the fourth degree.

Moreover, the work is cooked differently and to varying degrees,
because matter is highly volatile at
beginning, and is weak, therefore it needs a strong deu
weak, and which does not exceed the heat of a hen brooding its
eggs, and this fire is fit for putrefaction, but this one
arrival, and the water is separated from it, it is necessary to increase a little
heat until white, due to the fact that the water starts a
little to thicken, and that the said volatile becomes fixed, and since the
white to red, in this it is necessary to increase the fire, since
all matter is fixed, and that it no longer fears rigor
fire.

The calcinations of earthly materials such as the earth of the
wheat, wine, and water, require extreme fire, without
nevertheless go through the merger, because it would be useless in this
toil, and the fire of strong flame suits him until
this earth becomes greatly white, which is enough
difficult and long, because the earth (especially wine, or
tartar) contains in itself a purpurin color, which does not yield
easily in the flame, therefore it takes a length of
time, to whiten this land, which was necessary to
know.

As for the material of the fire which must cook the work, it is
find several kinds, some take coal
common, vitanthrax or stone charcoal (which the
Liège call coal, others have Gallic wood, and
of oak sawdust, the others want the thermal bath
suffice, or the bain-marie, or his vicar the manure of
horse, the others take rectified brandy, to
light under the matrass, the others wanted the lime
live mixed with manure is sufficient, others want

preference is given to bitumen, sulphur, jet, and their
similar. Others wanted to prefer the lamp fire
garnished with olive oil, plain, or mixed, or distilled, other
take oil of any kind. And in this
diversity there is great danger of error, in order not to achieve
to this, it must be considered necessary by disguising
the work, to hear having a slow and continual fire, and that
to have such a fire, it is necessary to represent a material suitable for
that, which you can regulate according to your will, for
to have it at all times equal; and that if you take
coal, get anthrax, or wood, whatever register there may be
have in an athanor. It can only be done at any time
your fire be equal, which is also suitable to hear for
all other fires, except the fire of lamps,
which is the best, the most assured, and the pus
recommendable, provided that the lamp is full of oil
at all times, and that it be accommodated with a wick
clean, and let the oil be olive, for antiquity even for
this subject, dedicated the olive tree to Apollo, as it is seen in
Theocritus in his Hercules, where he says that the verdant olive tree
St Lastre d'amphirise is sacred, which more than any other, it
socket. And Philostratus in his flat paintings says to the painting of
Palestra, that Palestra in his fight loves the said plant very much,
because it favors the said fight, which is done with the matrass,
or in Arcadia.

It will therefore be resolved that it will be necessary to hold on to the lamp, armed
of olive oil, whether distilled or not, taking
beware that if it is not distilled, the matter remains longer
dirt, and therefore the fire is hotter, but if
it is distilled with quicklime, sand, salt,
calcined tartar, pumice stone, and their like, oil

will be more subtle, defecated, and clearer, will have more
glow than the other, and will last much longer, however it
will not have so much ardor and warmth as the other, and so much more
that it will be cohobed and rectified, it will increase by so much
more in all of the above properties. So much oil
of distilled and rectified olive, can be used for the first
boiling time, and the undistilled for the end, because
that it is more violent in its ardor, and that one can in this
time grow the locks more than usual, or
multiply according to requirement, diligently cleaning them from
their fungus, and often, in order to also continue the
heat required, therefore it will be necessary to stick to this
fire, to be more convenient than all others, easier
to regulate and maintain, also it is this fire of Arthéphius, that
none other than him wanted to describe sharply, as he
see in the margin

Wicks and what they should be
Chapter 14

Wicks that last longer in the fire without
burn, which make months of fungus, have heads of
flies in their extremities, are always the best.
This is the cause that antiquity struggled to seek
several things to serve as wicks that can
having this quality, so they made of gold drawn into small threads, so
that it may be charged with oil, and burn without leaving these

impurity that forces us to blow our noses and clean them,
others have cut in small and subtle Venetian talc,
to bind it with a small filer of gold, or archal, in order to
make a lasting wick, since the talc remains
perpetually in the fire without altering there; others
take elderberry pith. There are those who make it with a
feather alum, which they dip four or five times in
the spirit of wine rectified, then mixed with camphor oil
also rectified; others usurp the simple cotton net,
that they degrease in raw detergent, then dried out they put it
in the oil of tartar made in the cellar, and thus moistened, he
sprinkles with this following powder, namely feather alum,
and pitch resin, or rosin; others are fine
flour, olive oil, and strong wine which they knead
together, and make a paste of it; everyone can do their own
fancy, but I find good one or the other of the three
past, how many others are not to be despised.
As long as it is in this fire that the greatest
secret of the art, and that the craftsman must put his utmost
cure, since without a fire required and which lasts continuously
without failing for a single moment, there would be no action,
otherwise if he failed even a little, all the labor would be
useless.

So that everyone is careful to have the lamp and the oil
clean, and a wick that lasts a long time without causing those
heads of flies, or those mushrooms which proceed from the
flame, so that in a clean light one does not put
often the hand, either for the oil or for the wick, and the
govern very gently.

Clean stoves and vessels for
come to the end of our work
Chapter 15

For as well as there are various matters on which have
can certainly operate, and with these it is done
various operations; thus is it necessary to have various
furnaces and vessels to work there prudently. There
water bath and at all necessary for the separation of des
minds in both matter and practice, and hence it is
with him that we must begin, and nevertheless, to draw
the spirit of water, and separating it from its body cause it to freeze
mindless water by means of the heat of the sand, it will be
required to use the three-pointed ship, but to
calcine the earth, the crucible filled with it, will be placed
street lamp fire, to whiten them, while we rectify
the waters to purge them in stills, well closed and
well joined to their containers, or put them in the pelican or
circulatory system, bath or manure, in order to steal them
more, before joining the parts together, and y
put in the matrass. What we can't do
absolutely without having retorts, various containers,
stills, pelicans, circulatory, matras of
crucibles, and various furnaces, both for preparations,
that for the coction, all all of which pieces, I
give to the following book, to which the reader may have
appeal.

Means of proceeding in the election of a good
practice, among all those that the authors have
written, and as they should be heard, the
agree, and distinguish on what matter they have
heard

Chapter 16

Since there are various subjects, namely three, on
which one can faithfully and surely operate. There's
will also have various practices, but to be assured on
which we have to operate, we must carefully read the
good authors, make commonplaces of their practices, and
see in which the aforesaid authors agree best
and agreed together, carefully discerning the good
from the wicked, the faithful from the envious, and the
true from liars. What we can't do
without the aid of the sovereign Creator of all things, and enjoy
with plenty of natural light, to build on the
possibility of nature, and track its movement
particular regular. Although our stone is almost
Divine, if it happens naturally; hence it is necessary
great circumspection, and be careful to discern the
truth from lies, and the possibility of
the impossibility, besides that it is not enough to be satisfied
what approaches the probable, to the true itself,
as for example I will draw up the following syllogism,

which is usually usurped by several operations,
believing themselves to be well-founded in their matters, if they operate
according to the conclusion of it: dissolve therefore, that ours
Stone having its direction on the metals, which must
to be perfect by that, must also be chosen between the
metals. Especially since the material of the Stone is the
beginning and end of the metallic material, it must
also be made of metallic substance. Is quicksilver the rudiment and beginning of metal, and gold the
is the end, being both metallic in nature. It will follow
so that the material will not be the stone will be quicksilver
common on the one hand, or the Sun or gold on the other. That is
consistent with all authorities, since all authors
agree that gold and mercury make the Stone red; And
silver and mercury make white, parrying it will be good
right if we take gold, silver, and mercury, for the
stone material. But to answer this precious
argument, our spagyric school says that we must distinguish this
Mercury, by what the same authors have told us
that the mercury was not that of the common, also the
common mercury is not the first matter of metals,
and the gold even in it cannot be reduced to its first
matter. It is necessary to move back further, to put it on and
to bring into the first matter quicksilver, what is
water, otherwise it will never take the vegetation, which we
desire of him, and cannot grow by improving under the
conservation of its species. This is easy to show, in that
than gold and silver amalgamated with common quicksilver,
silver swims above it, and gold more compact and heavy
goes to the bottom, without getting involved in minimal parts, nor
dissolve, so that its pores are not opened by

this kind of solution, which can always return to its
preceding body, but by the solemn solution which is made
mercurial water (which is the material principle
generalissimo, not only of metals, but of all
other material things) gold becomes spirit by becoming rare, and
extremely opening its pores it expands, expanding it expands
made light, and heavy he rises on the mercurial water, and by
the means of the external agent, it rots, and the conversion
elements are in fact, so much so that we lead him to the
desired term. This exactly considered, we can
judge that practices based on Sol and quicksilver
common, are not valid, and that it is expedient to
choose another practice as more assured, and that the
aforesaid position cannot take place.

Secondly, it is necessary to have regard to the quality and reputation
of the author that you must follow, since several booksellers
and printers are very curious to put under
press everything they find written after the death of
several great authors, who having wanted to leave
written their opinions of this Stone and its matter, have
written according to their judgments, and before they got their hands
at work to be sure whether they were well-founded or not.
And yet they sell these books as approved, without
contain in them a single grain of sapience. What makes you wander
several, believing that they are proceeding well if with them they
undertake this work.

The craftsman also has to take care of all
combination, alteration of metals, and minerals, and for this
when he sees a practice in which he enters
imperfect metals (except to operate by the small
work of Raymond Lully, which will be discussed in the book
next) antimony, marcasites, vitriol, alum, sulfur and
their fellows he must avoid.

It is quite true that with these one can
dye, to color the metal, but that is only
deception, since to operate according to the truth, it is necessary
metamorphose the imperfect metal to the perfect, having the real ones
accidents, properties, and virtues of silver or gold,
otherwise it is pure deception.

What all imperfect metals, antimony, are
marcasites, orpiment, vitriol, arsenic, verdigris, bronze
burned, tutie, sandarac, nor all these things can
do, nor can give, which they do not have, and they
have no faculties to argentify or aurify. It will be
therefore with good reason if the artisan rejects them from his labor.

As for human blood, I do not doubt that it contains
in itself the spirit of life that we desire to find in order to
our work, and on condition of conjoining it with its land
exalted and sublimated, but it must be the blood of a
healthy man, and who usually drinks good wine;
nevertheless, in order not to appear to be cruel, I advise all
craftsmen to avoid the practice, since there are materials
fitter, and more willing to God and Nature, on
which we can operate. I say better disposed, because
that human blood receives this power only by virtue of wine
who was converted to the blood within man, and to me of this
igneous spirit, which we seek, than wine itself. What
infers that it is better to stick to the said wine, than to the blood
human. The craftsman should also take care not to
amuse themselves with the freezings of common mercury, both by
vapor of the lead, than by the cooking of this one, with the oil and
sulphur, with walnut catkins, henbane, and their
similar because it is only deception.

It will also avoid extractions from the Sol in the Moon, because
it's a more expensive sauce than fish, cloves
cinnabar, and mixed with lead and sulfur, will be
also cooked. All solutions made with strong water,
distilled or undistilled vinegar, will be put back. Because
these are solutions against nature and against the true
Alchemy, which can only endure the natural solution
and made radical things of his reign, namely water, or
in wheat, or wine, to which God by a prerogative
housed wisely and powerfully, this property
much sought after. What has been extremely hidden in lez
authors. And to make it short, that the wise craftsman
abstain from all practices, except those which are
on the Sol, the Moon, and our Mercury, which is not the
common, but that which is extracted from the dew of May, or from
rainwater, or wheat, or wine; because apart from these, there is
nothing that can validly bring about the reduction of the Sol in its
raw material, as shown above
especially in the fifth chapter of this present book.

But now, I ask that our artist be deliberate to
follow my advice, and that he wants to adhere to it at all, but I
I still want to warn him that he is careful not to be mistaken, when
he will hear of arsenic, sulfur, sulfur water, milk
virginal, mercury, oil, vinegar, martech, and an infinity
other names, which the ancient sages imposed, for
darken the eyes of the ignorant. Because whatever they have
diversified the names, if they only heard one
same thing, which is easy to see, when they
often call mercury sulfur, and sulfur mercury. That
if they hear of the parts of our Peter, namely the
fixed, and volatile, of the Sol and the Moon. He doesn't have to
amused to believe that it is the common or
common, which they pass into their natural habits. But
he must know that the fixed is the earth, both on the side of the
mercury than perfect metals, and always taken for the Sol
by these authors, and the humid mercury for the Moon, because
that she has dominion over all moist things.

It is necessary to hear as much of Saturn, because what they call
saturn, is the body, while it is rotten, and changed into the
black color.

The same must be said of mars and venus, because
mars is taken for the strong strength of our curd, or earth, and
venus for the open body, as it rides hot on
his female the water.

They have also diversified these into other words, and we
called magnesia after solution and distillation done,
especially since magnes has a very great greed to
conjoin with iron, so there is a reciprocal greed
between this land and water, by means of which these parts
separated, request and demand their reintegration into their
everything, and on this subject they called one Magnes, the other Calibs.

In addition, we must consider the fictions of poets and others
ancients, who under various riddles occultly wrote about it,
but the means of doing so will be described in the following chapter.

There are still various things to observe here. But the one who
will hear what is said, and be initiated into the principles of the art,
can easily get rid of the pitfalls that the
ancients have drawn up, to ensnare the ill-advised.

As for their practice, we must carefully distinguish between
who are those who work with the separation of
elements, or without any separation.

Those who work with separation are most often
founded on water, wine, or its vicar human blood, and
these are very easy to separate from the others, since all
boldly conclude this separation.

Nevertheless there are some who derive the elements of gold with the
mercury of wine, which they call vegetable mercury, or it
fix their mercurial water on the proper land of wine. And
these do the opposite of the others, because the first
admit gold at the beginning of the work, and the last
only admit it at the end, when they do the
fermentation, and this is a work of three days, as it
will be told in the next book.

Those who work without any current separation of
elements, still have diversities of practices, we want
that as soon as the mercury is made, the le must be conjoined with
the Soil according to the weight of nature, put it in the egg
philosophical, hermetically sealed, without more
move from one vessel to another, until the end of the work.
Others want that as matter corrupts,
and that the fixed becomes volatile, swimming in substance on the
surface of the water, which must be separated in a cunning way, from
day by day with a feather, for after the separation from
water made, to distill it, by the reduction of water
on earth, and to wash the Latvian from it, which was said for
disappoint the most cunning. What is sufficiently manifested in
Athephius, who allows him not to be envious as
other authors, except that he used this trick.

What I wanted to infer from one word to another in this place,
although I had deliberated in this chemical abbreviation that of
use only a point of view or authority, only on the margins
only. So he says at the beginning of his book of

occult art; take gold raw, foliated, or rolled, or calcined by
mercury, put this one in our antimonial vinegar
saturnine, mercurial, and drawn from the armoniacal salt (as they say),
put it in a glass vessel four wide and high
fingers or more, and leave it in moderate heat, and you
you will see in a short time rise like an oil liquor
supernatant above in the form of a pellicle, collects the
with a spoon, or by wetting a feather, and so on
day and several times. Reunite her until there's nothing left
does not rise, then causes the fire to evaporate the water, i.e. the
superfluity of vinegar and its humidity; you will have one left
quintessence of gold in the form of white incombustible oil,
into which the Philosophers have placed their greatest
secrets, and this oil is extremely gentle.

But
about halfway through his book he hits the mark, and says:
just put your body in your water once, and the good
to close, until the separation is made, which is called
by the envious, conjunction, sublimation, extraction,
putrefaction, liquefaction, nuptials, subtilization, generation
&c, and that the whole magisterium be perfect, do so as in
the generation of man, and all vegetables; put
only once the seed in the womb, and then closed the
GOOD. You see by this way how we don't need
several things, and that our work does not require
great expense, because there is only one Stone, one
medicine, a vessel, a diet, a disposition
successive to both white and red. And how much we
say in several places, take this, take that, however
we don't mean to take just one thing,
that you have to put only once, and then close the ship,
until the work is done. Because the envious put
that we take these various things, in order to make the
ignorant little shrewd. These are his words.

Now by these, it costs enough that the assertion I have made
previously, concluding that the practice being done without
division of the elements, and which enters only one wood in the
bottle to close it, and seal hermetically, in order to
to cook the compound of gold and mercury over a slow and graduated fire, is
most assured.

Notwithstanding, I do not infer that the practices that are carried out by
various imbibitions, are not good, but it is then that
one works with the spirit of wheat or wine.

Although with water it is possible, it is still necessary that
the craftsman recognizes something that is very important to him,
know that when the authors say that ours made up
is one and the same thing, whether they hear the la
practice of water, especially since gold, having originated from
water, and that it is only water congealed by its curds,
sulphurous and mineral, both of which originated
from the same source. It will follow that it is only one
thing, and will differ only otherwise in accident, crudeness, and
of digestion. On this occasion the Cosmopolitan said that
the one who could freeze in the heat, that he would find
what gold was made by nature. This animadvertance
will show that the practice which is done on the water, and which can
return gold to its first natural material, for the
corrupt, rot it, and bring forth a purer
substance under the conservation of the species, shall be deemed
the best.

As for the other two materials, bread and wine, I
no doubt that they are filled with igneous water
mercurial, and of the earth required in this labor, but because

that these are matters in which God has lodged
divinely such properties, and that this is too remote from
human senses, it seems that naturalists should rather
approve of water as bread or wine. Nevertheless, if we
let's take a look at Esdras in book 4 chapter 9, we will see
that these two plants are perfect plants by hand
of God, and therefore we cannot doubt that we are
well founded on one or the other of these three matters. Gold
from all this, I can conclude, that the practice which is done without
separation of the elements, is the best, for the reasons
say before.

And especially since the practice of water is the easiest, and
that in vain one makes various and long operations in the
preparation of the other materials, pure leave this one more
easy to do, that you will have to stick to it. However this
does not prevent whoever wants to have more lucre in the
projection, first to purge and monify the
separate elements, to join them to make a compound
more noble, but this painful preparation is more
boring than the other, and more lengthy.

Let us see now, how our artist can well and
wisely discern the matters on which the authors
have laid their foundations to make their chief agent, and
how he will be able to recognize the good authors with
the false. Hermès at the beginning of his Pimandre wants
that from humid nature be procreated all that exists of
material, and because this nature is water, it is according to
itself, the first matter of matter, and that it is
question of rolling back the gold in this one, it will follow that it takes
water for its external agent, or first agent, and that it is
a good author. We can say about the old man

Arthéphius, who rightly says that the dew of May, or
rainwater, wash the bodies we have to wash.

Peat belongs to this category, as does Trévisan,
the author of the enchiridion of restored physics, Sinesius
the Greek abbot, the Cosmopolitan, Vigenère, and others who have
held the same path, which came in small numbers.

Raymond Lully, Rupescica, Flamel, and an infinity of great
authors, take wine as an agent, and all the
Peat of the ancients, Egyptians, Arabs, Greeks and Latins, both
speakers as poets are with them.

As for bread and human blood, there are few who have
based their practices on them, whether they have
ignored, or they have abandoned them for the difficulty
of the preparation of the mercury which must be extracted from it, and
thus the operator will not be too much prevented from distinguishing the
practice.

But because the authors who wrote about this divine
science, spoke of it only in riddles and covertly, it
will have to judge with sound judgment their intention.
Thus Flamel, by hiding his agent, manifests it sufficiently to those
who feel good, and who are initiated into the mysteries
cabbalistic, and which were born proper to unravel the
riddles of the poets, and the Gordian knots of the ancients
wise. This author says in chapter 3 of his book of figures
hieroglyphics, that these two snakes (he hears the fixed
on the one hand, and the volatile on the other) are sulfur and quicksilver,
not the vulgar ones and which are sold by merchants and
apothecaries, but those who give us these two beautiful
and dear bodies that we love so much. Now is it that gold and
wine are the two bodies that we naturally love,
will therefore be of these that he hears of. It is easy to

confirm because in the second chapter, he says that the matrass
must be full of confection, like the foam of the sea
red, and of the grease of the mercurial wind, which is a
same as above, especially since the wine must be
red, because of its abundance it is taken for the sea
red, and gold being only pure mercury fire, it is good
right if it is called mercurial grease. And in his front
about the figures contained in the book of Abraham the
Jew, he says that on the fifth leaf there was a beautiful rosebush
flowered in the middle of a beautiful garden climbing against an oak tree
hollow.

But at the end of chapter 3, he says of this matter that the
ancient Cabalist Sages, described it in the
metamorphoses, under the story of the serpent of March, which
had stolen the companions of Cadmus, who killed him,
throwing his spear against a hollow oak tree. And in order to awaken the
reader, he adds, note those oaks, because the barrels
are made of oaks, in which wine and tartar are lodged,
and so it is a hollow oak, and not content with this, this
author free from envy, wanting us to insinuate more
clearly in mind, that its agent was wine, it
explains in what month of the year he collects himself and says, I have
care to write or represent where is what we hide
the keys that can open all the doors to the secrets of
nature, and turn the earth upside down,
content to show things that teach it to all
person to whom God will have allowed to know that she
property at the sign of the balance, when it is illustrated with the
Sun and Mercury in October. Everyone knows that in
this season the harvest is done, and above, the good
artisan will be able to conclude that the agent of Famel was the wine, or

everything less the tartar, that he says the secret is found
among the bones of the dead, because to have said
tartar, it is necessary to empty the wine from the barrel, and for this there is
many who write, that the matter of the Stone feels
the odor of the dead, which is found in their sepulchres, and
in the beds of the mothers.

Raymond Lully did not hide this agent so much, because in his
Quintessence and in his Testament, and in several others from
his books, he rightly says that it is wine, and that those who
seek another water are not wise.

Most of the ancients have said the same for
those who hear them, what will be spoken about in the chapter
following.

As for those who work on dew or rainwater,
they are easy to discover, especially since they deal with more
naturally from the principles of metals and their origin.
And all of them are based on the hydra or primordial hyle, or the
raw material of all things, then you see them
expand on the properties of water, the air it contains
and gives it life, together of harmony and propriety
that there is between the celestial and terrestrial Sun, of this substance
skilful who draws himself by artifice from water, which they call salt
armoniac, which is the cause of the freezing of all
frozen mixes, then you see them dealing with
primary matter of all material things, which is water,
and because she is the true pantomorphon, or form
universal, and that it can take all forms, l make it
a clean slate in which one can depict everything
we want. Afterwards they say that the matter of the Stone is
vile, that it is everywhere, that the poor have as many
than the rich, that we cannot live without it, that each

sees her, although he does not know her, and things
similar that cannot be adapted to wine, but to water
alone. And the greater part of the ancient and neothexis,
are based on it. So much so that by this means we can
easily find out about these and what materials they founded
their practices, and the one who curiously and exactly
will read, he will not have much difficulty in getting them right
to discern, if with these considerations it joins the following ones.

Conditions required of the craftsman who wants to be
introduce into this science, and lay hands on
the work
Chapter 17

The first condition required of our craftsman is that he
fear God above all, and let him be a good man,
this science is a gift from God, and can never enter into
wicked soul, therefore, he will always devote himself to the service of
God, requiring science by continual prayers. Because the
prayer is a second seed (says Hermes) through
let it be made with purity of heart, clarity of soul, and all
humility and good-naturedness. In this way the prayer is worth
much, since according to Isaiah, God says that he will lead the
blind in the way they do not know, and will make them
walk on paths unknown to them and will convert before
they darkness into light, and things twisted into straight.
And just as God opens the intellect to righteous people and

humble of heart who ask him for something
prayer; thus according to Job, God dispels the thoughts of
clever, so that their hands cannot perfect what they
had started. Prayer being a union with God,
being present with us. And according to Hermès in its
Pimandre, God assists his own who are pure, good,
merciful, and who live religiously: his presence
help them, and immediately they all recognize
things, and easily make the Father appeased, and will not allow
than the bodily effects that run over them, to be
led to their ends, because he is the gatekeeper, and closes the
transition to bad effects, by breaking in front of
thoughts. On the contrary, he dwells far from the ignorant, evil
iniquitous envious, avaricious, homicidal, or irreligious, and
gives well to the vengeful spirit, which applies to them the point of the
fire, afflicts their senses, and prepares them more and more for
iniquity, that they may fall into greater torment, and not
ceases to move their desires insatiably, up to the
that they cannot accomplish; and true prayer and piety
often compel God, to do what otherwise He would not
point, and knowing a man with a faithful soul, he
visit by night (as Job says) by dream in vision, and in this
he opens the ears of men and teaches them, instructs them
of doctrine. This is what I desire for our worker for the
first chief.

Secondly he must have a most perfect charity,
freely giving his property to the poor for the love of
God, and without hesitation. For God will have mercy on him, you will open to him
eyes in the midst of darkness. Let's hear Isaiah above,
break your bread (said he) to him who is hungry, and bring to your
houses the poor and the wanderers, when you see the one who

is naked cover it, and do not depreciate your flesh, then the
light will lead you out like the evil one, and your health will
rather shall rise, and your righteousness shall go before your face, and the glory of
Lord will clothe you. So you will call on the Lord
will hear you, you will cry out, and he will tell you here I am, for I am your
Merciful Lord God; if you take away from your midst the
chain, and stop stretching out your finger, and talking about what
that I do not profit, if you offer good courage to eat at
the hungry, and you satisfy the afflicted soul, your light
will be born in darkness, and your darkness will be like noon, and
the Lord your god will always give you rest, and will fill
your soul of light.

It is not enough to be charitable to the poor, one must
also that our charity extends further, because for
ask God for the enjoyment of this secret for a
part of it to do good to the poor, and convert the rest into
misuse, it will never be licensed to us, which is
proven by the epistle of St James saying: you ask and
you will not receive, because you ask badly, so
that you spend it in will and voluptuousness. It is therefore necessary to
firmly propose to use (if not all, at least the
greater part) of income from this calculation to the service and
glory of God, of his catholic, apostolic church, and
Roman, and to the usefulness of the oppressed poor, captives, widows,
orphans, and all kinds of works that may be
pleasing to God.

Still ain't enough to do such things, it takes
also that our charity is so strong, that it extends to do
good to our own enemies, since God
command to love them to be perfect. It is therefore necessary
resolve to love God, punctually follow his

commandments, and trusting in him, doing well, and God
will enlighten us in our darkness. What David seems to have
touched saying, Hope in the Lord, and do well, and dwell in
the earth, and you will be sated with riches, take pleasure in
Lord, and he will give you what your heart asks for, raise
your way in the Lord, and hope in him, and he will make you and put
show forth your righteousness as light, and your judgment
like noon. Be subject to the Lord and pray to him.

Thirdly, you have to be discreet and secret, to please God
in this work, especially as those who uncover this secret
admirable to the unworthy, they are hated by God, and by men
of God, because of the mysteries contained in the essence of this
calculation, and men, so that an infinity of deceivers
have so profaned this science, that whoever
would confess to be real, would be the laughingstock of the people, therefore he
must resolve to harpocratic silence, and will be permitted in
company, where someone would talk about it, to deny the science
quite, or to talk about something else, so as not to
suspect no one that this one has the science and the
awareness.

The precept is not mine, it is taken from the 37th chapter of
Ecclesiastes, and corroborated by Solomon in the 30th of his
proverbs, here are the words of this one: I am (he said)
very mad men, and sapience is not with me, I have
not learned sapience, nor the science of the saints; and the first
said, deals with holiness with the irreligious man, and
justice with the unjust, and with women the things they
want, with the coward of war, with the merchant of
transportation, with claim buyer, with man
envious to give thanks, with one who is merciless to
pity, with the dishonest of honesty, with the worker of

fields of all trades, with the one who works per year
to the conformation of the year, with the lazy servant of
lots of works. Never has a true alchemist
boasted of having nor of obtaining the reality of this secret, that it does not
repented, for if he boasted of it, he put himself in peril so
forbidden by Ecclesiastes, knowing that one must not
seek to be wise before the king, that by chance the
strangers are full of your strength, and your labors are not
be in another's house, and you do not groan
last days, when you have consumed your flesh and your body.

There is also another danger, which is that God takes away from such factors
wisdom, and bury their spirit in the tomb of oblivion. I
I refer to Crollius in his Royal Chemistry, where he
said that in his time, two expert Philosophers were thus
touched by the hand of God.

It seems that in Ezekiel 28 the king of Tire was of the same
rank than those of Crollius, and Athephius said to the chemists,
when you have seen the very sparkling redness with a
great terror, you will praise God very good at once, which
gives Wisdom to those whom he wills, and therefore
riches, and according to the iniquity of the people, theirs take away and
perpetually subtracted, plunging them into the bondage of
their enemies.

Unless he obtains from God the gift of sapience by both
first conditions, and God will sell it to the
price of sweat and study, it will be expedient that ours
craftsman be learned, both in the holy letters and the
profane, let him study the religious ceremonies of the
Egyptians, the cult of their Isis, Osiris, Janus, Inache, Game, and
an infinity of others, which signify none other than Bacchus and
the ceremonies of Bacchus, breathe nothing but the

true Alchemy; For Bacchus is all gold, his island is gold, his
bacchantes are gold, and everything is gold with him; even
Bacchus gave power to Midas, that what he would touch
would be gold. May our man have the discretion to read the
mythologists of the gods, ancient hieroglyphics, and
curiously all the ancient poets, considering
exactly the etymologies of proper names, and he will find
that everything comes back to our Bacchus, who is the wine, and that
rarely have they usurped any other chemical agent than this, although they have called it by various names, and because there are
has several contrary substances in wine, it also received
names of opposite meanings, witness the story of
Biblis and brother Camus, including this Camus which means
superb, and who has a good opinion of him, also means the spirit
of wine, and its hottest and most angry part, which must be
separated from the phlegm that Ovid calls Biblis, because of the wine
Biblical, who his prominence, and phlegmatic, and in this effect he
turns this sister biblis into a fountain, because
that this phlegm smells no more than water.

Homer describing this science, called this black red wine,
(which is the one to choose) according to the same as Raymond
Lully calls it black, blacker than black, from the name of Atreus who
means Noio, father of Agamemnon, which means mighty king,
And if you take heed of all the proper names of his
history, there is not one that does not represent wine, or
some of its parts, like Ulysses which means
transient, cauli and subtle, will also mean the spirit of wine,
the same is also true of the chief of the Mirmidons Achille, who
means without juice, because it denotes the land of wine,
which appears in large grains of sand, whereas it is
reduced by evaporation to the form of honey, and resides six or

seven hours in lava, from this substance is derived
ammophysics, and Jupiter Ammon's ass which means
sand, but with good reason that gold must be combined with water
mercurial, Homer faked the Abduction of Helen by Paris, she
meaning tear of the Sun, from him is born towards the waters, others
called this strong wine full of ethereal fire, the name of
Jupiter, and gave him the island of Caudie for the place of his
nativity, because in it grows Malvasia, which is the wine
the most prized among the others, Philostrates, nevertheless in his
flat paintings is content with Greek dressed in the ethereal way,
know purple.

And if our man hears this author,
nothing of art is hidden from him, for he begins with the fire which
goes up the Scamandre river (it is by the distillation of
the igneous spirit which takes flight first) separates two
substances, Mortal Scamander, and Immortal Xander, who
same as fiery spirit and phlegmatic water. The second
table is, as we testify, that it is wine
that he separates from the two appropriate matters, namely the spirit and the
earth, the 3rd teaches us that it is fables that we need
have recourse, and that the wise must listen to them, the 4th and of
Medectus and Creon in the battle of Tèbes, at seven gates, but
it should be noted, that through all Tebes is Alchemy, and these seven
gates are the seven main operations of these, and the
serpent is the land of wine, which must pour out its juice in
the spirit of wine its solution. The fifth is the solution
designated by the Nile, which originates in Ethiopia, as
this land in the swarthy color of wine, that if you remove
by distillation of the water, there will remain between these two parts a
magnetic love, which is designated by the loves and
table 6. The 7 is from Memnon, which is our spirit
previously subtle, clear and fiery, which is put to death by

Achilles, which is the earth, because the water having taken on the faculty
purifying the earth, she has left her fire as a reward
in the earth, and when withdrawing this water there is heard a little
murmur reported to this statue, that at sunrise
led a sweet noise, and as Memnon must have been
turned to stone, so our water had to, I mean, the
must have been by the fixed curd of the earth. The eighth we
teaches that the solution is complete and all the rest of its
work, having passed through the white, which he calls Venus
elephantine (or ivory) leaving nothing that is
wisely narrated, but mystically explained.

Our worker must also take heed of the nativity of
Mercury, for if Mars is given to him as his mother, he will be known to
dew of May, if he is son of Methy it will be wine. What he
know better by reading the ancient poets, as if
proceeds from Ceres, it must be understood that it is wheat,
remembering that all the gods of paganism are all
referred to Bacchus, and that this plurality was only introduced
among the ancient Rablins, except that to veil this secret, the
superstitious religion of the Egyptians not having been in vogue
only for this purpose. There would be too much to say on this subject if one
wanted to prolong this discourse, but our Alchemy will be able
settle on what is said.

Fourthly, one must diligently and assiduously read the
good chemical authors, and by order collect their
sentences, especially as one book shows what the other hides,
and one takes erroneously what the other justly despises. He
he must be careful where they agree, because there is the
truth. We must also not be deceived by the
plurality of names, because they all mean the same thing, or
two, or three, or four, namely one, the agent matter,

two, mercury composed of its earth, and of its water, three,
joint gold or silver to operate, and four for the
elements, soundly judging of what matter, one to each
of these wants to take to do his work.

Fifthly he must know all the operations
chemicals with all circumstances.

He should also be familiar with the furnaces and the
vessels, so much to distil, sublimate, calcine, rot,
to dry out, to soak, in short, everything that depends on art.

Sixthly one must be patient, for without patience his
labor is in vain.

But to have these qualities, it is obvious that it is necessary to have them
others, because you have to be at least moderately rich, to
refrain from working in any other business, since this
asks a whole man. There is also a need for diversity
books, vessels, furnaces, gold, silver,
and all that is necessary in this work, namely, wood,
coal to calcine, oil to cook the work,
the lights, and the wicks. More he must enjoy this
quality, because it must be continuously bandaged in sound
work, without being forced to leave it ever so slightly, by
twelve or fifteen months to provide for his house and his
family. After all these conditions and not before, it will be
allowed to enter the practice, alone, without any
association if doing this little, especially as two or three are
always disagreeing with each other about something that ruins
All.

It is also necessary to resolve to fail sometimes, consequently, it does not
must be surprised at a mistake, but start over, or
to correct, being impossible for him who does not have knowledge of it,
if not by the books, that he does not commit some error.

These are, in my opinion, the main qualities that must be possessed
our Alchemist, who must examine himself, so that
without flattering himself, he judges whether he is capable, before putting his hand at work.

There is still something to consider, that there is no
small moment, namely that there are several who do their
mercury mixed with wheat and wine, which our artist
easily recognize by the genealogy that they make of their
Mercury, in which Ceres is always with Bacchus, the
Egyptians were of this number, which Herodotus having
learned from them said, that Diana and Apollo were children of
Ceres (or Isis) and Dionise, nurtured and brought up by Latona, and
for this Echile calls Diana daughter of Ceres, whom the
Egyptians also call Isis. And so we discover that the

Pierre can be mixed, to which it is necessary to be careful.
colors in general
Chapter 18

There are three kinds of colors in the work, which are its
main ones, which are also described by
Pierre Rosset in the life of St Paul, in these verses:

Ô superi vester patuit si candon in albis
consilium in nigri latuit vis maxima vestra est
si rubeant illi et varii diferiminia signant
scilicet ut summi mediis mediique ministrant
extremis mentem extremi mortalibus absunt

Ô Your upper body was clear if you were white
The plan hidden in black is your greatest strength
if they blush, they signify various differences
that is, to minister to the highest and the middle
the ends of the mind are far from the ends of mortals

The first is the quarter note, which must appear in A
putrefaction, and is a sign of the good solution. The other
principal is the shining white one like a cutlass well
polished, and that on the edges of the matrass it is already beginning to
yellow. And the last one is red, a flower red
pomegranate, or field poppy, but it should be noted that,
before coming to the latter, he spends such a great
quantity of intermediate colors, which it is impossible to
determine the colors that manifest in the vessel,
this comes from the universality of our matter, which is
capable of all accidents, especially when
colors. But beware that the order of black
first, secondly white, and later the
red, anticipates its companion or precedes it, because if the
redness preceded the white, it would be a sign that the flowers of
the gold would be burned, and the fire would have been too violent,
before white. You have to hear as much about black, because if the
white appeared before black, it will indicate that there was no
of corruption in our matter, and if there were no
corruption, it would be impossible to bring out the
generation, since according to the artist, the corruption of one is
the generation of the other; and since then, you have to double
design these colors, namely in practice that is done
separation of the elements, nor any irrigation. And the other
which is done from the said irrigation, especially since where there is
only once to put the matter in the dishes without anything there
moisten, the black color appears only once, but where it
must be moistened seven or eight times, the black color will appear
as many times as you will do said imbibitions. And for
that there are several authors who say that, often ours
work whitens, and often darkens; the reason is

that as many times as one moistens, it is always done
corruption of matter, to ascend into generation, thus
often moistening, the black color often appears, and the
irrigations are done, so that the Stone is more subtle, and that
earth or its curd, can better and surely fix its
water.

There are still some, besides these two practices, which admit
another for third, namely to moisten it with water
solar, the Stone being at perfect white, and then the true black
does not appear, but a dark purple, and since white
down to poppy red, all colors are good. And
this is what we can say about the colors of the
Stone universally.

Multiplication
Chapter 19

Multiplication is a partial surrender of the Stone,
to white, or to red, with lunar mercury or
solar, and as many times as we multiply it in quantity, we
also multiplies ten times in quality, as if from the first
times, a weight of matter went by projection of a weight
out of ten, the second out of a hundred, the third out of a thousand, the
fourth out of ten thousand, and so on ad infinitum. Because the dye of
the Stone comes from its fluxibility, and the fluxibility comes from the water
mercurial, and thus, all the more there will be water
frozen, all the more it will be staining and fixed, having

more fusion. The weight of water on the Perfect Stone is not
not well determined. But in any case, a weight of stone
perfect can always set twenty, because in his
imperfection, a weight went out of ten, being perfect, it can
at least tolerate double.

There are those who multiply and make a new Stone
together, namely by taking one-thirteenth of the Stone at the
red, with two ounces of Calcined Sol, joined with two pounds
of solar water, and so they operate in less time than
start the work again, and the first multiplication; and of
enough said.

But there is another multiplication which we call
quantitative simply, it is done by throwing such
quantity of white or red powder, as you like,
over hot mercury or molten metal, and it will be
medicine to make another projection, and of the latter, in
make another, continuing this order, as long as the metal on
which the last medicine will be discarded is converted to true
Moon or true Sol. This is done because the Stone is so
full of fire, that it burns the superfluous sulfur of the metal and its
edustible part, and its abundant fixing and dyeing,
its sulfur fixes and tints so closely the mercury of the metals
imperfect, that in an instant, he reduces it to powder, then to a
weight of it over a lot of other metal, makes it more
fixes and tints only the nature of the Sol and the Moon, so long as in the end,
by doubled projections, one puts these imperfect metals
to the true temperament, qualities, properties, and accidents of
gold or silver. That if there was such a large amount of
metal that the small amount of powder cannot fix it,
and that the metal does not produce its last term per carat, it
will have to give the dish with its double or triple of
lead, and this will reduce it to the desired temperament.

From the calcination of metals, so perfect that imperfect
Chapter 20

Whether for the great or the small work, it is always necessary
calcine the metal, both for the solution and for the
sublimation by which leafy earth is made, which is salt
admirable so sung by antiquity. The Sol receives various
calcinations, but because it must be purified, and the
segregate from all superfluities, he that he should be free from
all foreign bodies, it must be prepared for calcination by the
royal cement, and not by antimony, nor strong water, especially
that at the end the Moon remains partly with the antimony, and
by strong water, there remains an erosive faculty, of which
we don't need, and that lightly wouldn't go away
by ablution. He therefore invites him to give his
purge with either of the following cements: Take
decrepit salt, reddened vitriol, and powder of old bricks, of
each equal part, urine as long as it takes to make
a cement paste. Or take red vitriol, saltpetre
rubefied, armoniac salt, rubefied verdigris, armenia bowl, and
burnt bricks, each of equal weight, and with urine
make a paste, or take dead heads of strong water,
red vitriol, two ounces each, armoniac salt, verdigris
, sea salt, crushed bricks, each one ounce, saltpetre six

thirteenths, with urine or vinegar, be made into a paste
cement S.S.S. At wheel fire by four o'clock. The gold must
to be not of one who has been laid to work, and half broken
by so many strange mixtures, than to be crucified by
etchings, but we must take old ducats, be they
from Hungary, Turkey, or elsewhere, in case we don't
couldn't find it in ridges, as one brings it from
Levant. In two or three cementations, you will have a
very pure gold at twenty-four carats, which will be ready to burn.
The money is purged through the cup, an easy thing to do. If the gold
and leaf money were so expensive, they would be good, for
they hold nothing of alloy, and are in the title that they should
be. But to calcine them, they must be opened with mercury,
not with lead smoke, in imitation of many. He
must therefore take eight parts of pure mercury and one part
of Sol or Moon in sheets or flakes, and the crucible being
in the fire, when it smokes, and being in a crucible, it is necessary to throw
the metal well annealed, moving it for a long time with
rod of iron, (beware of the smoke which is
enemy of the brain) as long as it is unanimously mixed,
and that thrown into cold water, it hardens and becomes
switchable. This done, it must be ground on a marble surface with
salt, as long as everything is reduced to an impalpable powder, put the
everything in a vessel of earth or glass, and wash it with
lukewarm water, as long as the salinity is removed from said metal, and
that it remains in very subtle powder, which it will be necessary
put on the lamppost for three or four hours, and then it will be
ready to receive our mercurial water. Tin and lead are
calcined in an iron pot, and these melted be stirred
with an iron rod, let them remain in powder. the venus
calcines with sulphur, if one does not prefer to take

the asustum which is the same. The march is read in laminae, or in
flakes, or filings, in the glass or lime kiln
to reverberate it, so long as it is red as blood,
impalpable and very spongy. I put here the calcinations of the
metals, so more on that in the next book.

Our artist however will note that there is a large
number of authors, who defend the calcination of the Soil and
the Moon, if it is not made with our mercury, which burns
better than vulgar fire, and will ensure that then they do not wear
only Sol with mercury, which they put only once
to the matrass, without moving the dishes from the fire, that all the work
be all finished. These are very easy to discern, for they
always add that mercury corrupts, calcines nourishes,
whitens, reunites, distills, sublimes, imbibes, inceres, blushes, and
does all the chemical operations on his own, which is also
real, the whole (and note this well) consisting in making a good
mercury, whether of water, or wheat, or wine, or composed of
these last two. The sign that mercury is good is when
it also gently and noiselessly dissolves the Sol or the Moon,
as if it were ice in hot water, and the one
who has such mercury, is sure to recoil the gold in his
true principle and raw material, especially as gold by
nature is made with the same principles, as its mercury
is made, by means of which gold is opened naturally,
not violently, but lovingly, nature brightening
with nature, improving on it, improving on it, and
perfecting; also with external heat exhibited
moderately and without interruption, the gold rots,
corrupts, and from the height of corruption, and deprivation of being
first, there is a new generation under the
conservation of the species, higher a hundred thousand times than the
first generation gold.

Let our artist, then, reflect on gold, and let him
consider it the noblest insentient body of all
elemental bodies, that to make it such, the Sun (its true
father) and the stars, have infixed him their most noble rays, and
influenced their richest properties, whence it comes that all believed
it has admirable effects in medicine, that if it comes to be
improved to the thousandth and more, what faculty will he be able to
possess ? Certainly, the terrestrial sun conjoined with its father the
heavenly, quickening each other, and in the quickening
warmth of the father is manifested the admirable productions of the
son, and while there would be no other reason for us
persuade, that the material of the Stone is gold and its mercury,
we would have a strong enough argument to do so
judge thus, from there our Alchemist will derive an axiom
infallible, which will induce him to break, rescind, and reject all
receipts from whatever authorities they may be, who
require extractions of metallic mercury,
antimony, marcasites, lead mines, and their
similar, as well as banishing from his laboratory all
albifications, rubifications, fixations of mercury, the
gold and silver mines, and an infinity of other things
similar, as also of all recipes, what they
may be, other than I have specified above, because this
are works of laughingstock that will perish in the time of their
visitations, without tolerating a single trial, having nothing
common with the part of Jacob, as it is said in Jeremiah
in 10 and 41.

It is therefore necessary that our craftsman lets himself be taken in these
childish nonsense, but you have to push right into it
the sanctuary of nature, to contemplate its matter

universal, its tools, its dye, its brushes, its method,
and its power, considering as its wet nature (not
of vinegar or strong water) were generated from the metals of
all kinds, as also all plants and animals,
and therefore we must imitate this wise and ancient mother, and
not the paths of the ignorant troop, which seeks only
simulation instead of truth; also when they design
falsehood, they only give birth to iniquity, which is the
seed that is sown in the ground, such is the gathering, and
there he will see that to collect gold, that is the reason he
sow.

He must also be clear of false allegations
ordinary, which nevertheless disappointed several beautiful
spirits, who made themselves believe that there was only one body
mineral sufficient to silver and aurify, and that in this alone
subject, though vile and abject, was contained the whole secret. This
which is false, because nothing can auriferate but gold and its mercury,
neither silver but silver and his, and gold is not base.

After all these considerations, it is still necessary that our
worker considers future times, and that no one can
return to heaven if not regenerated in water, and in the holy spirit,
a glorious being only in the resurrection, and that for
to resuscitate, one must die; so if he has read the authors well, he
will remember that they all said with one mouth, that
ours Peter was its figure. I dare not go any further
afraid to awaken Harpocrates, be satisfied with what I have
said of the natural, which is more what all the authors have of it
never said of the supernatural, read, reread the holy notebooks, and if you
is wise, you will find that there is only one God in three
people, one good religion and that in the church
Catholic, Apostolic and Roman, concatenated in this

sacred stone, which represents her as inside a beautiful
mirror, with all these circumstances, read, learn, and
shut up if you are wise.

---

Of Christology BOOK 2
book second
to which most of the practices
are very amply specified, and
deducted to make the Stone of the Sages
In the work of this you will hardly plow, and you
eat your income early

Benedictum dominum qui tribuit mihi intelectum
Blessed is the Lord who gives me understanding
Psalm. 15

Virgilia Hominus vita
Ingenio quam sumptibus
Virgil's Life of Man
Talent than costs

Foreword

Chapter 1

I have deliberated to follow the patriarch Jacob in the order he has
held dealing with our three subjects, which narrates the
wheat first, then wine, and later water.

Nevertheless I do not want to undo punctually
all the practices that one would know how to do on wheat, wine and
tartar, alone or in combination. It would go from one
too long a breath, only I will deduce in one chapter from
the little work, the means of making leafy earth, and the salt
admirable, to which place you will have recourse, for be bread,
wine, human blood, perfect or imperfect metal, there is
the same way to do this. I had deliberated not to give
if not two practices in this book, again without any
separation of elements; namely one that is made with wine,
and the other with water, like the most commonly used, but not to
leave you in suspense or doubt something, I have
prefer to describe several of them to you, not however that
attach to all of them, especially as it would be superfluous and
useless, but so that you don't ignore them, let's deal with
now as succinctly as we can.

Wheat and its chemical operation
Chapter 2

The said wheat must be separated from all kinds of other grains, the
to germinate in a warm and humid place, to pound it,
crush, and put to rot in a bain-marie, or in manure,
the space of fifteen days, then distill it by bathing, and
draw all the water you can get from it, without breathing
no air whatsoever. Calcine the earth as long as it
be all white, during which, and said calcination, it
you will have to rectify your water four or five times. To know if
from the first distillation you had two pots of water, in
the second you will distill only one, the rest being useless.
This pot that you will have distilled is put back in the bath, and
extract three pints, and this be continued as long as the water of
the last distillation is without phlegm, and that it burns everything
in the fire, this will be tested by taking a little dry cotton, and
soak it with your water, then with a lighted paper put
the fire, if all the cotton burns the water is without phlegm, otherwise there
still has some, which will have to be removed by another distillation. PULL
the sublimation of this calcined earth by the way described in the
small work, then a weight of said sublimate be put with ten
parts of igneous water (which is the Cerenian mercury) to
make the solution; that you want to fix the water on its own
earth, it will be necessary to divide the waters in two, half will be
subdivided into eight, unequally, to make imbibitions,
as will be said elsewhere, and half will be returned to his
clean earth, to cook it according to the art, and as I will say in
its place, if one passes thus until the perfect red, then it
will need to join three parts of Pure Sol, with one part of
this earth, which is universal and physically calcined
until red, and put them on the melting fire in a
crucible by three continuous days; this is fermentation
of the Ground, and the so-called three-day work.

There is yet another practice which is done on the contrary of
the first, especially since the gold enters it from the
beginning, and water at the end. So we take the mind
igneous wheat, by the weight of ten parts and one of its earth
sublimated, which is circulated in the manure or in the bath,
that all the earth is dissolved, and that the water has acquired a
very sulphurous smell, then one takes ten parts of this water,
with part of Sol calcined as it says
previously, and it is cooked in the matrass, sigillé
hermetically, by lamplight, by the degrees that will be
said in their place, passing the colors, as long as the
desired red manifests itself.

As for the method of extracting the elements from wheat, the
purge, wash, monify, and rejoin, it only differs from
matter to human blood, and to wine; all the rest of the
practice is similar, therefore, we will have recourse to the chapter
who will teach the way, and procedure, to do the said
separation.

Practical on wine and tartar, both natural
only artificial, without separation of the elements
Chapter 3

The greatest difficulty of true chemistry is to make
a good mercury: and to be good, it must
dissolves metals as easily as fire would
with ice, the Sun with snow. It is therefore necessary to struggle
compose this mercury, which can be by the way
next.

Take purple or black wine, the stronger and more robust
that you can find, like that of Spain, Italy,
or Gascony, have it distilled in a bath, after it is
putrefied nine or ten days to circulate the spirit, and if you
have twenty pots to distill, pull in five pots, which you
rectify to par in another still, while the rest
wine will distill its phlegm, and while said wine will be reduced
by evaporation and without any cooking, up to a
consistency of raw honey and a little thick, in only the heat
had in no way diminished, nor that it was interrupted in any way
little, then put your wine thus reduced, on the evening, in a
cellar, and suddenly it will have taken on the humidity and frigidity of the
cellar, a quantity of shiny sand will form (which Flamel
call the innocent), which you will wash away with the phlegm
of the said wine, after that by inclination you have elapsed this
blackish and swarthy syrup which covered the said sand, this one
being well ground and washed, or put in the calcining furnace
similar to the one which will be represented to you, to calcine it in
perfect whiteness. Which is quite difficult, nevertheless, the
fire (which said Famel calls king) will overcome it at the
long, but note that it will not melt this artificial scale, or this
sand, but it must be administered a mediocre flame, and
while all this is being done, and time must not be wasted
properly rectify the spirit of the wine, and separate it from all its phlegm,
keeping the spirits so vaporous that he can't do anything
get lost.

The sign that said spirit is rightly rectified, is so
you soak a very dry cotton in it, and that you
light it with a wisp, or burning paper, and let everyone
cotton burns, it is ground enough, otherwise it still needs the

distill leaving a little at the bottom of the still, which
will be almost nothing but phlegm. But with this mind so deprived
of superfluous humidity which is only a real ether, it is necessary
to make leafy earth, or the sublimation of wine, by the order which
will be described in the small work, then having it, it must circulate
till that wonderful smell, and then he'll be ready to
dissolve the gold, taking ten parts of the said mercury and one
of gold, and cook it under the lamp until perfection, without
put your hand, and this way is the least laborious, and the
most assured of all wine practices.

That if you want to do universal practice with him, he
will have to fix its water on its own land, proceeding by the
separation of water, and septenary imbibitions or
octonarians, as it is said of wheat in the preceding chapter.

Tartar also receives a similar practice, for if you
moisten tartar with calcined white, with brandy
well rectified, and that you proceed by putrefaction,
distillation, and reduction of new brandy on it,
this tartar will soak up such a large quantity of sulfur or salt
spiritual and volatile armonia contained in the water of life, whether
will fortify so strongly, that hardly a man could hold one
little on his tongue, and so much the more that this tartar will be moistened with
its volatile sulfur, so much the stronger it will become. There are
which moisten it up to fifty times or more. It must
so moisten with brandy as long as it exceeds two
fingers, and leave it in the bath, or in manure for a few days
to distill it, and always continue these imbibitions, as long as
times, and always with new eau de vie very well
rectified, and still rotting and distilling, as long as this land
being placed on a lamina reddened with fire, it goes away
smoke. That done take all your land, and put it in

a glass sublimation, made like the one you will see
in the chapter of ships, and give it a slow sand fire
at the beginning, then gradually increase the heat until
may your material be sublimated in foliated, white earth
like the talc of Venice, then you will have the secret salt, which
being joined with its igneous and rectified water, is the true
solvent, which you can use in the same way
than artificial tartar.

It does not matter whether this salt is raised by the little work,
one of the ways being as good as the other, but whatever
anyway, it is necessary in our chemistry to have this salt
secret, and this admirable sublimate, especially since without it
Alchemy would produce nothing good or true.

And for this matter Alchemy proclaims aloud these words,
make the volatile fix it, and refix the volatile, for in that consists everything
the secret of the art. Now let this also be heard of gold
dissolves in its own water, for in it it opens, and
becoming light he rises on the water in incombustible sulphur, and
from black it becomes white.

This is the real way to make mercury suitable for making gold
drinkable, to back the said gold into its first material
watery, and make it take on new vegetation for the
grow and multiply ad infinitum, as will be shown
fuller in its place.

There are chemists who are content with tartar simply
drawn from a red wine, but it is as soon as the wine is drawn from it,
and that the said tartar is still full of these vinous spirits, and
sulphurous, following the much-celebrated advice Noli acipere
lapidem misi resentem. They grind it on a marble, then
rot in the manure in a closed vessel, that dispatched, they
distil its spirit, rectify it, calcine the earth, and

sublime to make it all the same as we said of
the other tartar; which I do not disapprove of, because everything comes back
one, and drinkable gold is made of it.

In the same way there are some which calcine the tartar of red wine, and
extract the salt from it by dissolution, which they make of it into hot water,
which they filter, drying it out recalcining it, dissolving and
stare, reiterating this so many times that said sec is very white,
and afterwards they recalcine it again, and soak it for forty or
fifty times with a good rectified brandy,
rotting, distilling and reiterating ever new water of
lives on this salt, and by this means the igneous spirit freezes into
this salt, becoming much stronger with each imbibition, then
they sublimate it by operating as above.

Those who wanted to work with calcined tartar, without
sublimate its leafy earth were disappointed, because they never knew
make a perfect solution, of said tartar with the spirit of wine,
or rectified brandy, so that the water becomes charged
enough of its salt, and thus leaves the rest unsolved,
therefore, do not amuse yourself with these vain practices, but
lightly go through the chemical operations, and make
sublimate your tartar, either natural or artificial. Join it
then with your water well rectified, according to the weight of the
nature, and put your gold, one in ten of water, in the sigilated matrass
hermetically, and cook it over a lamp fire, so gently
that there is no more heat than a hen gives to her eggs, the
brooding, and you will see that in fifty days the
putrefaction will be made, and its black color will appear,
continue cooking, as long as the Ground is rarefied and so light
let him rise to the surface of the water, and let the black crow be
changed into a swan, i.e. the gold floats in the form
of white oil, and then the compound is animated with the soul

vegetative, and advances in a crescent, slightly increase the
lamp fire, as long as the matter is fixed, increase
fire again until the color red has arrived, and
true red appearing, being of the color of the flowers of
pomegranate, or field poppy, you tighten the
decoction. Note that in the absence of this sublimate, there is a
infinity of practices on wine, tartar and wheat, and now
that they are diversified among themselves, if everything
amounts to almost one, if they are done in the current separation
elements ; therefore, having sorted out these subscribed operations
of many others, and approving them best
them, I will content myself with what is written about them, and
will proceed through the practices of the said subjects which are done in
separating these elements.

Means of making the Stone with wheat alone, wine or
tartar alone, or these mixed together by
separation of elements
Chapter 4

This painful practice requires a worker who is not
not ignorant of all the operations that depend
of Alchemy, and one of the main things is good
know his prime agent, which is not like the
previous ; for the former may be called simple, and this the compound, which again divides into two kinds, that the

venerable Raymond Lully with Arnauld de Villeneuve, of
Rupescissa and others, call Lunar and Sky, the Lunar
belongs more to the small work, than to the great one, too
that it is less noble than the Heaven of the Philosophers; when to
the toadflax, it is made with wine as we said of
our mercury, namely by distillation, separation of
phlegm, rectification of the spirit, and by the conjunction of its
calcined earth, but we do not proceed to sublimation
of it; so there is no need to push it
always in this degree to work without separating the
elements, it is enough that the earth is so much subtilized by force
to rot, distill, cohober and repeat these operations, that
all the earth passes with the water, through the mouth of the still; because
then water has the faculty of its earth, and is enough of it
impregnated, to dissolve the metal and make it vegetate:

So imagine that you have two or three books of
this water thus impregnated, make it circulate ten or twelve
days to the pelican, or its curate, and afterward take an ounce of
moon well cupelled and rendered in very delicate spangles, that
you will put in your circulating water, and immediately the money
will easily dissolve, and by this the mercury receives the said
moon, and is called lunar.

But our Heaven has a much higher property, because
this mercury thus impregnated with its earth, receives the exalted Sun
and sublimated, to make it circulate so long that it has
acquired that fragrant odor, that if all the odors of the
world were gathered together, she could not
equivalent it. This one is called Heaven, not that it is made
of water and fire purged at all ends, like the great
Heaven, which the Hebrews therefore called Shamaim, who
means fire and water, and because like the great sky it is

made of the substance that quint being, and all as Heaven
with its Sun (which governs and illuminates all the other stars, and
these only give what they receive from him) influences his
properties in all earthly substances, and cause to grow and
vegetate our Peter, being aided by the own fixed stars
and wandering which constitute it, namely the fixed substance
and volatile of ours mixed. And this is how you should hear
Raymond Lully and Rupescissa, as they deal with the
lunar and Heaven, the lunar having taken its name from the Moon,
as said previously. This being well known, it
must see if the practice we want to follow, and on wheat,
or on the wine or on the tartar alone, and separately, or mixed
together, then proceed to extract the elements using the
way of the small work, as long as the earth is
exalted and sublimated with natural sulfur and admirable salt
above said.

And therefore, that to do the work, either the small or the large,
one must always proceed by way of the small. I put it
before the big one by separate chapter, so you can
have recourse to it, according to the indigence and the necessity that
you might have some; advising you that the lunar serves to
do the small, like Heaven for the great work. Others
way to do it, are all the exalted lands of all
metals ; the imperfects serve as matter, and the sulfurs
perfect in nature, being reduced to incombustible oil,
serve as forms, and sometimes the only limes of the
imperfect, can serve as material, whether they are
simple or compound. Noting that if the lime one wants
incinerate, and from Saturn, it will be necessary to project on Saturn,
if it is of Saturn and Jupiter, or of some other metal,
will have to melt the similar metals from which your
lime, and spray on it.

Method for carrying out the small work
Chapter 5

Take lime of whatever metal you want, or
several for the above reasons, and put it in
a long-necked matrass, and throw moonshine on it, so
that she floats the lime with four fingers, close the
matrass, and put it on hot ashes, for two days
natural, without being able to get in any air, observing that
in all operations, then the material is placed in alembic
covered with its blind capital, to digest in the bath or
manure for two days, then the cooled vase, or put the
spouted capital, to distil from it in the bath what you
can. It is therefore necessary to cohober your water on the lime, and
keep them in the dunghill for two days with the blind marquee,
and the cold vessel, you will tilt your water gently
in a clean vessel to put all your solutions,
put as much lunar back on the whitewash, rot by two
days, bow, and reiterate so many times with lunar new,t
always setting apart the dissolutions in a lukewarm place, and if there
happens that the lunar fails, it will be necessary to distill a part of it
of that which has dissolved the lime, which will be as good as
the news, putting back that which will remain in a warm place
as it says. So you will continue these imbibitions,
burials, putrefactions, and separations, as long as everything

the spirit is separated from the body. What you will know if you
take a little of this earth, and dry it well in the sun, or
similar heat, and if you put it on an iron blade
reddened, it does not smoke at all, if not, repeat
the aforementioned operations, as long as the sign appears to you.

As it is necessary to steal the earth without spirit
Chapter 6

The earth having given the aforesaid sign, be put in
the still without a spout, with three times as much lunar
to circulate them in the bath, or in the manure, by four days,
put a spouted capital, and distill over a slow fire, the water be
kept apart, the dry earth remaining at the bottom of the still,
will be moistened with lunar news, as before,
digest, circulate, then distill, and repeat so many times these
operations that the said earth remains in powder form
impalpable, always keeping the water warm, without any
vent.

Exhubation of water coming from above the earth
Chapter 7

put the capital to the vessel where all are
your solutions, with the earth above, and distill at
bath as long as the bottom remains as honey or molten earth,
let the vessel cool, and discharge distilled water,
that she surpasses by four fingers, put her in the bath by
twenty four hours, distill, and repeat as many times these
operations as long as the earth passes with the water through the still,
strength to rot, distill, cohob, and reiterate. So yours
water will be called lunar quicksilver, virginal milk, and many
other names, and must be such to dissolve the Moon and
called truly lunar, and our vegetable mercury; by
this same method is also done the lunar, taking water from
rectified life or the spirit of wine dephlegmated at all to
exuberate the water and the earth either with artificial tartar or with
natural, as mentioned above.

As it the rectified brandy must put this
menses or quicksilver on own body
Chapter 8

note that the land we discussed in chapter 6
which remained in impalpable powder, must be
weighing, and know its weight because by the last
practical, it will not have passed with the other, to be
still too dry, so know its weight, and put it with
half exuberant water, digest in the bath a week, and the
material will be very wet, distill it, and over a slow fire dry it out

said earth, set apart the solutions, and reiterate these
operations with exuberant water as long as the land is well
imbued with the igneous spirits of water, which you will know
if you dry out a little of this earth in the Sun, and put on
a hot roll, it goes up in smoke, otherwise
repeat the imbibitions, putrefactions, distillations and others
operations, as long as the aforesaid sign appears to you.

As it is necessary to sublimate the earth to make it the
natural sulfur and admirable salt

Chapter 9

The aforesaid sign having appeared to you, take your land, and
put it in a sublimator of covered glass and well
fought from all sides, put this ship on the fire of ashes,
giving it a little fire from the beginning, gradually strengthening
little until the earth will be sublimated, both in the summit
of the vase, than to the lateral parts of it, then let the
vessel to cool, then open it, and receive this sulfur from
nature, quickly and carefully, and if this sulfur is made
of imperfect metals, it will serve as material to be incised
with the oil of gold or silver, which is their own form
aurifying or argentifying, if the lime was from Jupiter, the
projection will go from one weight to one hundred, if it is from Saturn which is
less digestible, out of fifty only, having regard to the
simplicity or the mixing of lime to spray on the
same, as I taught above; and gold as well
the money that will be made by this work, will be as good as the
purer than can be mined. Let's see now

By what method should the oil of the Sun be made and
from the moon
Chapter 10

Two or three ounce lime will have to be taken
gold, or silver, and proceed in the same way as we made
other limes, until said lime remains at the bottom
in the form of melted honey, as it is said in chapter 7. that
being, put lunar lunar on it as long as it
surpasses by four fingers, digest to manure by twenty
four hours, cool and tilt the solution in one
clean vessel kept in a warm place; put back another
lunar on it to rot, tilt and distill moisture
which will remain after the last tilts, and repeat so many
once all the earth is dissolved, then put the waters
distilled with the solutions and hold them in the bath or manure
for eight days, then adapting the beaked capital to him, he
will have to begin to extract the elements, to do this three
kinds of fire are necessary, since the water is pulled through the
bath, air by ashes, and fire by sand. You will shoot
therefore through the bath all the water that can come out of it, then what
you will have pulled (by a moderate heat) be thrown on the
matter, and rot in bath or manure for seven days,
put the screed on it and distill through the moderate ashes

what you can get out of it and have, and immediately will be
contains the air with the water, which you can easily separate
by putting them in a small still apart, distilling them in
bath, and the water will pass without the air coming out, but it
will remain at the bottom the same color as the water, but more
viscous and thick. Separate this air apart in a warm place, and
throw the water back on the earth, rot for another seven days,
then distil over the fire of sand, and the water will pass with the fire,
which you will also separate by the bath, and the fire will remain in the
bottom, thicker than water and air, and your land thus deprived
of its moisture must be impalpable powder.

From the reduction of water to sublimate this land
Chapter 11

weigh the earth exactly, in order to put on it the
half its weight in water, of that which you will have
drawn by the ashes, put to rot in the bath or in the manure
for eight days, making the same burials,
putrefactions, distillations and reiteration as I said in the
first reduction in Chapter Eight, and follow the same
order and the signs specified to fit the earth to be
sublimated. This will have to be done by the same order specified in
chapter 9

As it is necessary to reduce this sublimate or sulfur of
nature to lead it into water that we

let's call incerative oil
Chapter 12

Having quickly and neatly received this beautiful land,
white like camphor, and leafy like talc
of Venice, put it in its curcurbite with the manure, during
eight days, or more if it is of difficult solution, and
being completely dissolved, you will have the liquor that we
let us call incombustible oil, ointment of the Philosophers, and
the incerative treasure of limes. Noting that if she couldn't
be dissolved or reduced to liquor, which should be added
a little well rectified lunar.

How to insert
Chapter 13

Take sublimate of one or more metals
imperfect, and heat in a crucible, then
pour the liqueur described above drop by drop, as long as the
mass remains like cold honey, remove it from the fire, take
a little at the end of a very sharp knife, and put there at the
candle flame; if it flows gently like wax,
and without casting any smoke, it is done; but if she doesn't
this sign, return to insert drop by drop as
before as long as the said sign appears to you.

It should be noted here that the air and the fire that you will have extracted from this earth, being well rectified, are fit to do the same
incerations the air having the power to dye white, and the
red light, which the Quintessence of the Moon also does and
of the Sun.

This is the true method that must be followed to make gold and
money by small work. What can be performed in
four months, if the workman is not ignorant of the art, and of fires.
I wanted to put this little work before the
great, than to make the great by separation of
elements, it must be used, but not for him
give prerogative, because the small, although real, if
can't she bring the lucre of the great, rightly
that the elements being well purged, and rejoined, it is
a very noble generation. I find that the great work
which is made by the elementary separation, is double. There
first is less noble than the second, which is made
with the Heaven of the Philosophers; and the first by the moon
would suffice, if the mercury were sufficiently impregnated with its earth to
dissolve the Sol entirely. So the first way,
extends to dissolve gold, to draw out its elements, and to incinerate
his own sublimated with air and fire. But the second
begins with the said Heaven, on the own sublimated or earth
leafed with gold, or silver, to extract the elements.
This is indeed the most excellent, but it is of a long
breath, but it takes twenty-seven months, or two and a half years,
to perfect it. Nevertheless so that you
do not ignore anything that depends on the intelligence of
authors, nor of their practices, I will give a formula, e,

starting with the most ignoble, and the shortest.

First universal practice

Chapter 14

Practice: Take vegetable mercury, or water from
dew, or rain, or wheat, or lunar, or
Heaven of the Philosophers, any of these, provided
that he is so powerfully impregnated with his land, that it
can easily dissolve Sol, and all metals;
put in on gold or silver lime, so good you
seems to operate on white alone, as long as it floats four
fingers, which you will put to dissolve in the bath, or in manure,
by six days, the whole being dissolved, distill in the bath the water
(noting once and for all, that in all changes of
crockery, and in all operations, it is necessary to sign closely,
and prevent the air as much as possible, otherwise everything is
lost) put this water aside in a lukewarm place, and throw some
new mercury on the land of gold, let it rise above
four fingers, digest in the bath every six weeks, or
manure; then distill in a mediocre bath, and put the water with
the first, adapt your still to the ashes, and draw
air, which will be thicker than water, keep this air apart, and
throw new mercury into the earth, and hold them
manure for another six weeks; then distill in a bath, and
to the ashes as before, to pull the air and separate it
with the other, and put it with the other, like water also with

the other water, at the aforesaid heat, repeat these operations as long as
that no more air comes out, or so little that it is known to
Nothing ; take all this air, and throw it on his earth, so that by
the symbol of heat, one can better draw fire from it,
rot in bath or manure by forty days, put
the beak still, and distill through the sand moderately
heated, taking care to heat it as much as the bottom of the vessel
blush, for all would be lost. Separate the air by the
ashes, and the fire shall remain in the bottom of the curcurbite, and the
keep apart in a warm place, air and fire; put it all back
the air on his land, and repeat the above operations so much that he
no longer comes out of fire, which you will recognize only when it
little or nothing will come out of it, and the earth will be red
black or tan; then it will be necessary to purify your elements,
taking the air apart, and put it in manure a week,
gently distil in a bath of light ashes, and what
will remain dry at the bottom of the vessel, it must be put with its
earth, rot your air for another eight days, and distill
repeating this operation seven times, always throwing the
faeces on the earth every time, and you will have the soul of the air
repurged. The same must be done with fire, rotting it by
as long, and gently distilling through the sand, throwing
always faeces with the earth, and you will have air and fire
well repurged, which you will keep apart in a warm and
humid. As for the earth, it must be given the same
practice that I specified above to sublimate it; that
done you will have the wheel of corruption done, and it will take
proceed generatively. So take, four parts
of fire, and fifteen of air, and put them in the manure by fifteen
days, distill in the bath, and repeat this so often
that everything remains at the bottom of the vessel in the form of oil very

resplendent, then these two elements will be mixed
proportionately, according to justice, and not weight, and this
shall be called silt or composed of the Soil; and as you will have
made of these two elements, it will be necessary to do the same on
water and on the earth, taking six parts of mercury and one of
sublimated, and rotting them by thirty days, then mixing all
together, and give it to the sigillata matrass, the lamp fire
a hundred and fifty days, while waiting for the colors, that if
you want to shorten the work without fixing the water on the others
elements, insert the gold sublimate with the aforesaid silt,
that by candlelight it flows like wax, without smoking, and cook it
by a hundred and fifty days and you will have the Stone.

It should also be noted that if you only want
argentify, that it will be necessary to use the air alone, being
largely well repurged; as also one can blush
for gold with fire apart, and can make various mixtures of it
with these silts, to perform various operations. Of the
silts of all metals and their waters, one of which fixes,
and the other is fixed, are made the precious stones, of
all kinds, with their hardnesses, colors, and even virtues and
properties than the natural ones. But this must be said to
lapidary, as in its own place.

Second and most perfect universal practice
Chapter 15

Take from the Sky of the Philosophers three books, of the sublime
of gold, or leafy earth as it is said in the
small work, three ounces; if you want to go red,
otherwise two ounces of silver, namely two ounces of earth
of sublimated silver, will be sufficient for two books
of water: put this in his own vessel to
rot, then by the same route as I said in chapter
precedent, it is necessary to separate the elements, to rectify them, in
once again exalt the sulfur of nature in leafy earth,
to join them and make them a generation many
more valuable than all the previous ones. Because the elements
having been first separated, and this leafy land thus
exalted, it retains only a small portion of the elements
who constitute it, but greatly elevated in dignity;
so much that if corruption is made of a substance
greatly pure, and that the elements are still
purged in all extremities within their interior. There is
there is no doubt that the generation that will come from it will also be
greatly noble. The practice therefore of this Stone is
boring and long, but the gain is much greater.

It should be noted here that the sky is therefore joined with the earth
with wine, that it must be made to take this admirable
smell by circulation, before separating the elements.

Of human blood and its practice
chapter 16

lest you dwell in ignorance, and
that you are instructed in all the practices that
ordinary Alchemy teaches, I gave you this
practical than on human blood, how much I do not
not advise you to have fun there, that being more cruel than
substantially true because (as is said
above) that said blood does not receive its property
mineral than on the wine side, and that wine being more
copiously filled, it is better to base one's practice on the
wine, than on said human blood; but if your essay extends
on said blood.

Take blood from a young Rousseau (who
Ordinarily drink good wine) as long as it is enough,
will have to shake alone, and dry it in the shade, put it in
subtle powder, and put in the still, all the joints
well fought, you will distill in the arena, or fire sand
mediocre, and there will rise from it a white substance like the
milk ; after the volatile salt showed to the lateral parts of the
vessel flowing like wax, which you will keep
preciously, and finally it will come out a very red oil,
that you will receive in a new container; burn your head
dead, and calcine it for eight days in the glassmakers' oven,
very white lime; extract the salt with lukewarm water, which you
filter and dry, which will be good smelling and flowing,
calcine this salt again, then dissolve, filter, and so many times
be reiterated, that the salt be very white and in perfect purity, this
prime salt, which is volatile, hence sublimated four or five times,
changing the lower vase each time, sublimating it alone;
the red oil is rectified so many times that it remains clear
like a ruby, and sweet-smelling. Add a part of salt
volatile with three of fixed, and of the aforesaid oil fifteen or sixteen
parts, put everything in the matrass, and cook it over a lamp fire

waiting for the colors, and leading him into perfection
required. This done, melt four parts of pure gold, and put it
melting fire with some of the red medicine, the
thus leaving them faded together by three days.

There are many practices that are done with antimony,
mercury from tartar, or cinnabar with salt. But this is
rather for medicine than for Alchemy, as also
the extractions of mercury from the Sol, and from the Moon,
do not yield the desired fruit, and we must not
imagine that the Sol or the Moon can vegetate, if they are not
reduced to mercury from mercury by mercury, i.e.
in clear water. You can ask me what practice
I bring more faith, which I would like to work on, and on
which one will I have more support? To which I answer that for
put you beyond doubt, that confess that the practice which
is made from the sublimation of gold, without separating the elements,
seems to be the best; and secondly, the one who takes the
Calcined ground simply for the basis of labor, and which has its
mercury from the dew of May, or from rainwater which is
fallen in mild weather, and without corruscations; I tell you
I will give the practices, both, with their
circumstances so that you cannot wander there, and
I'll start with the simplest, to end with the other more
difficult, but more energetic, and full of strong operations
in the projection.

Convenient dew water or rain water
chapter 17

Take some May dew water collected from the
laurels, or oaks, or on wheat, about a hundred pounds,
or fallen rainwater when the weather is clear of
all putrefaction, thunder, hail, and fulgurations, and
put that into various retorts over moderate sand fire,
taking care that the water does not boil, adapt your retorts
to the three-pointed sticks figured in the chapter of
vessels, and distill whatever is in your retorts,
which being cold, will be well washed to clean them
faeces and excrement from the water, which are useless in
this labor. Be careful to put aside, and in vessels
which cannot have any air, all the spiritual water,
and the most subtle which will be contained to the vessel marked CC,
and that which will be contained in the container marked DD, or also
kept apart, for these two waters have very opposite effects,
although drawn from the same body, especially as the water of the
CC container, will and must be igneous water, the other must be
without any spirit, because all water without spirit freezes
in heat, and in coldness, if it is with spirit.

And to
because we have to freeze a portion of our water to make
to be born the armoniac salt of nature and the Pontic earth, which must
give point to the spiritual water, to dissolve the metals,
as gently and naturally as hot water melts the
ice, and without any noise. When therefore all your water will be
thus distilled and separated, it will be necessary to take the water from the container

D , and distill it again with a three-pointed stick, for the
still deprive of his mind, and what will come out of the container
CC , be put with the spiritual water already put aside, the whole
having passed, the retort is purged of its watery excrement,
and the spiritless water be put in again, for again
deprive her of the said spirit, if any spirit has one. And it will take
repeat these distillations and operations seven times, without
stop at the fourth or fifth, by sulphides
stony rocks that often appear around this time. There
seventh therefore expired, it will be necessary to put this water without spirit
in a circulatory pelican, or large still, in a bath of
Marie, and immediately the heat will create small lapilli
of various colors, which are better than any earth
universal, being thus formed, it will be necessary to tilt your water
gently, and separate those crystals that have gone to the
background, to monify them with a white cloth, and keep them
carefully without air, to join them to their water
spiritual, which also will be rectified as the
other distillations will be made, and will be circulated for
make it more subtle and fiery. If they burn like the spirit
of wine, they are sufficiently subtilized. Join yours
land with a portion of the said water in a matrass, both
that water passes four fingers over this earth, and
put it in the bath, or in the manure every three days, incline the water
in a clean vessel, and without air, to put new ones
on the said land, to draw tincture and strength therefrom, by three
other days in the bath, repeating five or six times this
operation. Calcine perfectly your land remained, so long
that it is extremely white, and then steal it, if
strong, and so often, by frequent dissolutions, putrefactions,
distillations, and repeated operations, that all the earth passes

by said still; circulate this water again every fifteen days,
and you will have the true Mercury, son of Jupiter and Mars;
this spiritualized earth can be sublimated, so you see
as each of the mixed bodies resolves itself into its principle, to
namely salt, sulfur, and mercury, universal principles of all
the sublunar bodies. However, it should be noted that if you have a
quite a good amount of this mindless frozen water, to
to make a dish out of it with gold, that would be a great abbreviation,
especially since these crystals resolve themselves into the
heat stronger than the bath, and are converted into water, which
which is real mercurial water, and very clean without being
joined with the aquatic spirit, and powerfully dissolves gold.

Your water being finished, take ten ounces of it, with
an ounce of calcined gold, as it is said in the preceding book,
put that in a matrass that is half full, or a little
more, and seal it hermetically, without it being able to
breathe no air, give him the lamplight in a
furnace proportioned to matter and light, and that the
fire be gentle from the beginning. The solution will be done in one
philosophical month, or thereabouts (which are 40 days) and the
darkness will be on the surface of the water and the depths.
Pursue digestion without any intermission, and the gold
will become spongy, light, and gradually change into
a whiteness, and an oily substance of great
candor; increase the heat a little, making the wicks a
slightly larger than usual, and enjoy seeing
pass the intermediate colors, and you will see that there is
of color that one can imagine in the world that does not appear,
from the beginning to the perfect red, which
having arrived, you will have the glory of everyone. It won't be
here inappropriate to bring the practice of Arthephius, which

having passed to snowy whiteness, separates the
quintessence of white gold, black faeces, and earth
damned who remains at the bottom of the vessel of the matrass, what
you will be able to see in this one, on pages 32, 38, 20, 40, 42.
should be noted, that with the mercury of the wine made able to dissolve
gold, the same operation; and on these two
mercuries, namely on him who makes himself strong wine, and purple
(like Italian, Greek, Spanish, or Gascon) and
rain or dew water, the main authors founded
their operations.

That if you want to do the seven or eight imbibitions
required by several reliable authors, it will be necessary
always dissolve gold with water at the same weight as above; and the color black having come, and the gold being mingled
in small parts with water, it will be expedient to distil
water at such a slow fire, that between the fall of a drop one can
count sixty moments, but you don't have to push so much
let all the earth be parched, but remain in
form of silt; put this silt back in its matrass with the
just half of its water, and the sigilla, not hermetically,
but with a glass brooch, which you will surround with
clean cement, and cook it in a lamp as it is said
previously. The other half of the water is subdivided into
seven or eight unequal portions, I say unequal, especially since
the first imbibition should be small, lest you suffocate
the embryo, and as it grows, it will be able to support 'water
more and more he will grow stronger; but you don't have to do the
aforesaid imbibitions, that the matter is not dried out.

As for the other particularities, they are quite specific.
to the previous book, to which place you can have recourse,
and see how often the Stone turns black, and often
whitens, because of the new wettings of the material,
and continual heat; but finally, you have to push after
the last, and increasing the fire a little, go through and
until the perfect red. And then this great captain
Themistocles, or the temper of the goddess Themis, will have drunk the
blood of the bull for the complement of the work. Let's come
now with the practice that is done with the sulfur of
nature of gold, and its sublimated earth.

Means of carrying out the structure of the stone
occult without actual separation of elements
Chapter 18

Take gold exalted with the sulfur of nature and reduced to
sublimated by the order specified in the small work, a
ounce, and of our vinous or aqueous mercury, ten ounces,
put it in the matrass over a very low lamp fire, and cook
as long as the black color which must come, appears to you,
then you will be assured that your matter has gone through
tampering, and is in corruption, and approaches the
generation by means of deprivation, or rather of
the amorous passage that is made from the height of corruption to the
generation. Carry on this heat as long as the black perishes
by a gray who will occupy his place, to make his way to the
white ; so, make sure that the bones, tendons, and
nerves of the Son of the Sun are made, and for this he can endure
more heat; increase yours a little

wick, to pass this white color, to a
metallic color and shiny like a well-polished sword, and
make her enter the yellow as saffron, and then the child
is formed and organized of all its members, and the vegetable spirit
is evidently at home; increase the heat a little more,
and continue always without any intermission the heat,
as long as red appears to you; and then the spirit and the soul
are conjoined to the body, but just as in the tender
youth of a child, the minds and soul seem to be
weak, for the delicacy and softness of the child, and that he
takes time to dry out the superfluous moisture from the
body, to better brighten the functions of the mind and
the soul in this body, thus our son of the Sun being born, he has
well this red color and liveliness, which testifies to us enough
that he enjoys the spirit and the soul, but the body is not enough
desiccated nor fixed, to witness the robust effects of these
two pieces concatenated in this body, still too soft.
It will therefore have to be powerfully dried out, and continue in
vigorous fire, as long as the red of country poppy, or
pomegranate tree shows you its sign; you will see
many other colors which will pass, which are not used
only way to lead to these three main ones, and are
little considerable in this art, therefore, take care that the three
come one after the other, if you will operate.

Or if yours stone driving up to red enough
fusion, and that by this means the mercury flies away in the fire
before your Stone melts, and flows like wax before the
sequel to said mercury; you should consider that
water is the mother of fusion, and of all liquefiables;
therefore you will have to moisten your stone with new
mercury, but similar to the one you will have put a
work in the beginning, so your Peter will become
fusible and dyeing.

It is true that you will be obliged to return all
colors that will have passed through the first operation, and
cause the Stone is in greater perfection
than it was, they will all pass in a very short time.

So much so that if the first operation lasted a year, this one
will be one month. And that by this is manifested enough the
multiplication, and that it is done by the reduction of water
mercurial on the perfect body only, and on the or more
that perfect all together, I will not make a chapter of it
part, contenting myself with having said, that all the more ours
Stone is dissolved and coagulated, which it increases tenfold
his strength and virtue. So much that if she stared at
beginning and tinged with a weight in a hundred, the second
once it has been dissolved, and coagulated by our fire, it
will fix a weight on a thousand, and so will go on to infinity, by
the means of the body which is spiritualized with the fused spirit of
water, and is nothing more than a pure soul joined to a body
glorious, which could animate in a moment, and in
all these parts the great ocean if converted into
flowing mercury, and a little heated, or in imperfect metal
melted, so much our aqueous mercury, and vinous to be able in
this art more divine than human.

From the time of the decoction
Chapter 19

Just as a child in its mother's womb does
remains only nine months, if the woman is well
tempered, or that she miscarries, if she has too much blood and
natural heat, or if it is languid or feeble, by excess
sickness, or stomach leaks, or by some accident, the
fetus does not come out until the sixth or eleventh month, depending
the administration of strong, weak, or temperate fire, ours Peter
advances or delays its perfect coction; for that
nevertheless, one should not increase the heat, thinking by
this means to accelerate the work, fearing to lose everything, seen
that according to Géber, precipitation comes from the devil,
but you have to sacrifice patience, and it is better to make a
stupid fire that too hot, provided that the heat is there
continual, because if there was intermission even a little, the
heat could no longer have her act, and so she would be
deprived of its end, and of privation to habit, there is no
back, so don't get tired of cooking, and keep on fire
your material very gently, until the perfect red. THE
ordinary term is one year or so, since the
preparation of mercury

Sic infe sua (says Virgil) per vestigia voluitur annus.
Thus his inferno (says Virgil) through his steps
the year is wanted

There are also diversities of practices that diversify the time
cooked, thus the practice which is done with the sulfur of
nature, having its earth more perfect, more digestible, and more
purified than gold, it receives its cooking more easily, with
less time to reach its perfection, than lime
gold or silver. And the one that is done by separation
elements, takes two and a half years, or thereabouts, to
cause gold being of compact composition and commendable
union of the elements, it takes a long time for the

destroy by the putrefaction of his body, so he must
always six weeks for each putrefaction in the
separation of the elements, so it can be seen by the month
philosopher, of whom I spoke when describing the method of
make the Stone with the separation of the elements.

That if you set the land of wine or water on its own
virtue, and that it soaks its water so much, that from the term
incircumscribable it reduces it to circumscribable and
stony, to ferment afterwards with silver or gold,
(depending on whether you have done the white or the red) in
doing what we called the three-day work. This
practice can be done in nine months. That's all in my opinion
which may belong to true Chemistry, which I have
elucidated, without any hesitation, and I have faithfully declared to you,
in order to get rid of an infinite labyrinth, which you
you will be able to meet in this vast ocean, and where so many people have
sailed without taking because (afterwards nevertheless, that they have some
variously written) that most were shipwrecked there, fault
to have correctly recognized the first agent, and what could
step back and put the gold in the first matter, without which
reduction Alchemy is dead, or it is pure nonsense;
and thus you verify what is said of antiquity, to
know, that without universal dissolution, the generation
could do, this putrefaction being the real Latona, and which
latently is pregnant with Diana and Apollo, that is to say
whether she gives birth to white before red, or silver before
gold; and this in the island of Dedos, that is to say, so much in
hiding place, that the common eye cannot perceive it. And because
that olive oil is the material that must maintain our
fire, these ancients pretended, that Latona had given birth to this
double fetus under an olive tree, so it is sacred to Apollo. And

so you can hear the hidden things of
Alchemy. And since Latona reminds me
some poetic fictions, which can confirm you
more in the election of the real first agent, and that the
golden fleece, so celebrated by authors, is one of the
main ones, I will give you a word of truth
interpretation; know that the mast and the ship of Argos,
was built of an old oak tree, which Jupiter used to
give the real oracles, in the cellar where the tripod was
(which they called the divine home) to give answer,
without having previously made a libation of wine, still
she didn't give answers to all kinds of people. This
denoting that the true path to achieve the true
Alchemy must begin with wine, and the oracle of
old hollow oak tree (of which we have spoken above) must
proceed from it. The fleece was of that sheep that bore
Phrixus, and she among the air, that is, that sublime land of
gold, and Jason which means wine, wants to possess it in spite of
this watchful dragon, throwing fire through its mouth, which is also the
continual fire. Hercules was well with the fleet at
beginning, because there is labor in the
preparation, but he wasn't there at the end, because it was a game
of a child, and a work of a woman. Medea taught
Jason to get out of this maze to steal this fleece, and
Medea is the art aided by nature, by means of which it is made
an infinity of reflections, and circulations in the dishes
before the water is fixed by the earth (which is also the
bull vomiting fire) that this is rightly represented
by a Daedalus or a labyrinth. This fixation being
cadmium, since the whole is converted into Stone, and that
the water contributed to this with its mineral and sulphurous virtue for

powerfully alter the earth, and the earth its fixed quality for
coagulate its water. It follows that victory leans as much
one side than the other, or that one does not have victory over his
companion, without much loss of self,
nevertheless the Stone being in its perfection, eats and
absorbs the combustible sulfur from the metal, and converts it into
true mineral substance, what is called sowing the teeth of the
Cadmus serpent. But not everyone was born to hear
these mysteries. This girl don't answer at all, is
is permitted for anyone to go to Corinth, whoever can
take, let him take. And take heed (as it is
said) that the greater bet of authors have wine for their
first officer. Establish your intention well, knowing
though you sow gold, in the harvest you will reap
gold. If you know how to work prudently in this art, you
remembering this passage from Ezra taken from book 4 in chapter
9, who says, what is the field, such is also the seed, and
such are the flowers, such are also the dyes, and what is
worker, what is also his work, and what is also the
plowman, what also is his labor.

Found your labor on the possibility of art, on reason,
and on the authorities, and pray to this great promoter, that he
assist in this purpose, consecrate him in glory, dedicate to the
Lord in all truth, the fruit of your labor, assist the
poor, orphans, oppressed, captives, pilgrims,
and you exercise the commandments of God, and adhere
firmly to the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church, and
Above all, be secretive.

Vessels suitable to our art
Chapter 20

Although several authors have written, in this work,
only one vessel is needed, nothing more, if
that it is true that it takes several to make the first
preparation of the work, among others the retorts, the stills
with their capitals, both with beaks to make the distillations,
only beakless or blind to putrefy.

A shows us the figure of the retort, C and D of the alembic at
beak, and B that without a beak to rot matter.



A retort A should be adapted to a larger container
than said retort, so that the spirits may better play
therein and rejoin in water, which will be represented, in the
page by E, as it is also necessary to join a
another container with a spout capital marked C, which
container is marked F, as seen in the following figure






Next follows the vessel called pelican, which is made
as having two arms at the sides, and is marked G





In the absence of the pelican, we can use vessel B to
to circulate water and to subtilize it, or marked circulatory
here by O O

Then follow the twins, who are represented by H and I, which
enter into each other, one receiving and being received from
the other so





The three-pointed vessel which I passed above, and which
will be to separate the body the soul and the spirit from the water of dew
or rain, to make the real mercury, and with which we
may represent all the meteors that occur in winter
large world, in the strongest heat of summer, is represented by
double letters as you see on the next page





This complete ship is also called arcane ship,
for the rare effects it produces.
As much as the vessel B and B will be large and ample, so much the better
the chemical operations and the aforesaid meteors will be made of it.
But it should be noted that when distilling your water, you must hold a
linen washed constantly with cold water, or do
run an artificial fountain over it in the absence of a
natural

in order to retain the igneous spirits contained in the container C C,
thus you will separate this spirit to be rectified; and water from
vessel D D will be redistilled, to rob it of its spirit, and
freeze it warm as it says, the faeces left behind
remained in the retort will be rejected as many times as
useless, that it will remain after the distillations.

After the vessels follow the matras, which must
be of many sizes, and the eggs of the philosophers who
are suitable for firing the work. The matras will be marked with
K and said eggs by L, then the sublimation marked L





These are the ships most needed for operations
spagyric, let us now come to the structure

Stoves, lamps, and other tools used in
this labor
Chapter 21

The furnace we want to use to fire
the spirit of wine is the fairly common Marie's bath
among the distillers, and the Alchemists, nevertheless I
gives here the figure of it and this one will be marked by I





The furnace which must be used to distil by the ashes is
similar to that of sand, otherwise only change
the said ashes to the sand, the ashes must be of vines
riddled and the sand must be river riddled in the same way
figure of these two furnaces will be explained by a sele
figure marked 2 2 2





The calcining furnace am after under the mark of 3 made
According to the following figure, how many ovens to bake at
lime or that of glassmakers, would be more suitable, especially
to calcine the tartar and the sand of the wine, which
leave their Tyrian and red color, and nevertheless it takes
so that the lime comes out very white.





Let us now come to the oven of Athanor, so said by the
negative particle gecque a and tavatos which means immortal
because it is necessary that without any intermission the fire has its
action in this one, and depending on how much fire you want. This
oven is suitable for cooking the work and for making fermentations,
it is here marked by the number 4





The next marked 5 is of the same nature, but more
convenient, because in the same stove you can
give three essential degrees of fire, and put yours
matrass or egg, to what degree you like, here is the
face





But the lamp oven being the most specific to
philosophers, having been much concealed by these, and discovered
by the only Arthephius is next marked 6. this oven is the
arcane furnace, the tripod of the wise, and best of all,
especially since you can adjust the fire according to your will
and make it last in proportion to matter, if
long as you want without intermission, here is the figure





The melting furnace is next marked with 7. This is
properly a wind oven, and is suitable for making the
fermentation of gold with the Stone, which above I have
called the three-day work. Cefour is useful for those who do not have
not put solar ferment at the beginning of the work and
who put some only on the end, it takes two good
iron bars in this furnace to support the vessel and the
material, and if you add a curved cover it will
street lamp.





These are the stoves most necessary to the operations of the
real chemistry, and by means of which one can do without
all the others. However, I wanted to add another
furnace, which I can justly title with the name of abbreviation,
because it can serve as a shorthand to separate the spirits from the
wine and water from dew or rain, and to rectify them. He is
composed of various stills all distilling by a single fire, it
is such, marked by 8

There are various tools that are still needed in this
Divine science, of which I give no figures, to
cause they are fairly common among goldsmiths and
chemists, such are the tweezers or calves to pinch the
coals, crucibles for melting metals, ingot molds
to throw it in being melted, the rods of iron and the
hooks to detach the coals suspended around the
Athanors, bellows for melting, the forge, cups and
the means to make them, the iron horn to purge the gold with
antimony, tines, etchings and vervets, to
try if the gold is carat and color it with said
verdet, armoniac salt, red-calcined vitriol, and
vinegar, the indire or touchstone, and a large number
other things pertaining to this office, all of which being quite
known to oneself, and which one can know without a figure, hence
I leave them on purpose.
Of the luts and sigils of the vessels
Chapter 22
In the operations of Alchemy one encounters various
practices, which require various stoves and
vessels, so it is necessary to make a diversity of
luts and muds to close the vessels, against violence
fire, and to prevent the most subtle spirits
exhale while distilling.

The lut for the stoves which is called the lut of sapience,
is done with sandy soil, litter, salt water, manure
horse, and crushed iron scales, and if the ground is rich, he
need to add some sand. The retorts will be fought at
various shirts, with the land above specified, if you
add some scorched earth powder, or brick,
or crushed glass.

Subtle and airy and warm spirits, will be retained with
quicklime, egg white, and recent soft cheese,
to apply them on the strips, and surround the
cracks and orifices of vessels, such as the mouths of
retorts with their receptacles, and the yokes with their
stills, we will happily use strips made
beef or pork bladder, moistened and rubbed with batter
soft, or liquid starch, or on their own if they
are well moistened.

The cracks and ruptures of the vases will be joined together,
if on leather or canvas you lay the lut on it
next, and apply it hot on the broken or cracked glasses,
take bowl of armenia, minium, and white lead, each
equal parts in fine powder, and soak them in oil
linen, or liquid varnish; quicklime mixed with the said
varnish is good.

As for the whistling of the glass vessels, I find
that can be reported in two heads, the first looks at the
practice which is done by putting the material once in the
matrass, or the philosopher's egg, without opening any more, and this seal
must be that of Hermès which is done by pushing the
belly and part of the neck of the vessel in a terrine
full of fairly tight ashes, and little by little put
burning coals around the said pass, also approaching
gradually the fire, fearing to break the glass, then

increase the fire so much by blowing that the glass melts and
that said pass inclines towards the ground of itself, then take
said collar with calves, or tweezers, and twist the collar so much
uplifting and depressing, and so butchered that no air
can expire or enter.

The other seal is made when it is often necessary to open the
dishes to make imbibitions, and this one is made in
first putting a glass brooch in the neck of the
matrass or egg, then with the lut made of quicklime above (either with the varnish or not) or surrounded the said collar,
driven with the glass spit, sometimes the bladders
are sufficient, if one does not want to give too much caud to the
vessel.
When it comes to cutting glasses, this is best learned by
practice only by speech, therefore, it will not be spoken about
here.
There would be much more to say if our purpose were to
show in this place all the operations that can be done in
spagyria, and separation of mixed of all kinds
which can be used variously in medicine,
but my goal is only to mount only what depends
stone or powder of the Sages, without amusing myself with
peculiarities of Medicinal Alchemy, sending you back to
the authors who have dealt expressly with this matter.
Here, then, is summarily the material of this Stone
celebrated, explained with the method to carry out the
construction of it, until its complete perfection.

Admonition on some peculiarities of the
stone practice
Chapter 23
I have no doubt that by reading the authors, you
find a greater diversity of practices than
those that I treated you. Some based on a good
matter, namely, scale or dew water, and the others on
mercury extracted from minerals, semi-minerals, or
metals, and will appear to be more apparent in meaning because
of closeness to metallic nature, whereupon ours
powder said to base its action. But don't let yourself
seduce by this specious appearance, and vain ostentation,
love the truth, and God will show you his occult secret, and
the mysteries of sapience. I gave you both the way and the
path, which Isaiah calls holy and so straight, that fools
even can no longer wander in it. And to avoid the
plurality of practices, I advise you to operate only
on wine or on water, these two substances being the most
used from antiquity. And if by accident you fall into
some error, do not, however, neglect to operate, praying
God help you

Animi quiores estote fili mi et proclaimate ad dominim erit
enim memoria vestra ab co qui duxit vos sicut enim leak
sensus vester ut erraretis tamen plenim
convenientes requiretis qui enim induxit vobis mala ipse
rursum adducet vobis sempiternam jucon ditatem cun
hello vestra

said Baruch; According to pagan the curse is on those who
have lost patience, and have forsaken the straight ways, and
have entertained themselves in perverse ways, said Ecclesiastes; born
seek nothing that is not lawful, fair, and merchantable, and God
will assist you. That if you think well of the great treasure that
you wish to find in chaste Alchemy, the pain you
will seem light, the fruit is this great Themistocles, I say the
excellent glory of Themis, which retains the right to whom
belongs to him, so in all this labor you deprive nothing of the
property of others, the costs are small, respecting the lucre that
it is claimed.

Thus those who want to be introduced into this science, they
must withdraw from all evil thoughts, have
good intention, and often imploring the assistance of St.
Spirit, working patiently, remembering that God does not
don't give this science in truth to all those who
ask, but he gives or takes it to whom and when he pleases.

Summary of all the work
Chapter 24

The greatest pain that Alchemists endure
ordinarily, is to sweat in the knowledge of the
first agent, because he who errs in principle does not
never achieves the desired end. But I delivered you from this
fatigue, faithfully teaching you what is this longed-for
agent, in what it consists, the means of preparing it, and of
serve to come to the point of true Alchemy.

So take either of the two bodies that I have for you
said, work methodically to separate the spirit
sulphurous, and universal aquatic, depriving the rest of the water
completely of this spirit with the three-pointed stick, and do
be born in this mindless water, the earthly Python, be n
the cellar if you worked with wine, or in the still,
distilling this mindless water in the bath, after the seventh
distillation, and while distilling you will see the desired lapilli
be created which will go to the bottom of the said still, and then
stop the distillation and let these pebbles stale, and by
inclination pour the water to distinctly receive said
stones, which are the true fixed armoniacal salt of nature, its
antimony, her vitriol, the brush with which she decorates her flowers,
and causes the colors in the work, being therefore called the
prophet teacher lie, because of one color
immediately she goes to another. This substance
that can fix to the lamp fire, in four months in a
permanent body, but it excels if it is joined with the spirit of the
Ground.

Similarly if this earth is dissolved by its water and
that she stripped him of all his volatile nature, then said earth
being calcined by the same sulfur-sublimated water of
nature, then again joined to its water to make water
standing of the Sages, for ten weights thereof on a
of soil to make the compound, to bake it to perfection. He
will make of it the Phoenix of Arabia, which alone can live from its
ashes is also the new world from which the
Cosmopolitan said in his book of sulphur, that God high
will be the most pure fire that is in the firmament, above the waters
overcelestial, and will give a stronger degree to the central fire,

so that all the waters will dissolve into air, and the earth
will calcine, in such a way that the fire having consumed everything
what is unclean, he will steal the waters they have
circulated in the air, and will return them to the clean earth, and help God
will make it a nobler world than this.

And indeed, from the beginning of the universe, God
disposed the common seeds, or the seminal virtues of
all things, within the womb of this watery element,
as the most necessary of the elementary family, or for
this same thing that in this one the others were
enclosure to the primordial hyle with which he had resolved to make
all things, and for this reason it is rightly called the
raw material of all things, and with which one can
reduce all things to their first hyle and without news
creation, form it whatever the wise craftsman wants
TO DO. Especially since this raw material, reduced to a si
great simplicity that it enjoys no form
particular, but she is deprived of it, and can only enjoy
the universal, whence comes that it is fit to receive all the
forms and greedily embrace it, and with a magnetic love
join with her. This lesson making us see from afar,
that not only perfect metals can be
improve infinitely in this aquatic substance and
first, but also precious stones and any body of
the mineral family; which cannot deny that water does not
either the generalissimo sperm and that it is not the menstruation of the
world, aided in this by the air which supplants its life, for the
to supedite with all that it nourishes; water is therefore the key to
secrets and the universal mother of fuses, and plants, the
support of animals, and that in its deep entrails
contains the latent properties of all bodies, being only outside

of reason if Democritus said, that the truth was enclosed
inside a well.
From all that is above, it will result that those who
wisely will base their operations on water, will be in
insurance, as long as they know how to settle the external agent,
and cautiously inform this first matter, that by
itself it will be reduced to first matter, that of the
common name among the wise, is called mercury or quicksilver; not the common, because this one makes one wander without hope of
correction, but ours which is only clear water and
liquid like fountain water. So this mercury is
thus named only by comparison, to what the craftsman will take
guard ; that if he comes to enter into this knowledge, and that he
have judgment like this nitre salt of nature, or this salt
armoniac draws itself from this water when it is at its last bay,
and that she is universally deprived of all her minds. He
will also see how all things are made one by one
meditation of one, as Hermes says in his emerald table,
and that the reduction of the quaternary by the ternary, reduced to the
binary inside the monad, is easy, since even by
our practice everything can fit in the unit to rest there
perpetually as in the true Sabbath. As for wine,
reason would belie if we naturally wanted him
attribute as much prerogative as to water, but if we
let's take a spiritual eye on this substance, we will find it
Divinely filled with greater virtues, especially as
it is a truly high plant, which God guards night and
day, and on which Jacob plowed, and therefore we do not
we can deny the effects full of wonders, and especially
if we look at Esdras, who says that God pained himself
to make this plant being certain that in the perfection of

God is once put, there is nothing more to perfect, as much in
can we say bread for the same reasons as
wine, because it is a perfect plant as well as said
wine, and that God will never give it to the enemies of our
Jacob, according to Isaiah in chapter 62.

The Lord swore by his right hand and his mighty arm: "Never
no longer will I give your wheat as pasture to your enemies; Never
no longer will the sons of foreigners drink your wine, the fruit of your
toil. Those who harvest it will eat it and celebrate
the eternal: those who have collected it will drink it in the courts
of my sanctuary.
All who seek vanity have nothing in common
with Jacob (says Moses in Deuteronomy) drinks his strength and
receives the works of his hands, bruises the loins of those who
rise up against him, and let those who hate him rise up
more. The elements mixed by Jacob are well kneaded, his
work is called good in the hand of the worker, there is
no idol in Jacob, no simulacrum in Israel; all the
others are driven mad by their own science, every worker
is confused in his work, for what he has made by casting is
false, and there is no spirit in them, they are vain and
work is worth laughing about, they will perish in the time of their
visiting; the part of Jacob is not like them
(Jeremie said). So work with Jacob, who was throwing his
eye on the land of wheat, wine, and water. Found yourself
on any of these three principles, work with
science, doctrine, sapience, never forsake the lord,
and do not forget his holy mountain, and do not set up the
table to fortune, and do not sacrifice it for it (said
Isaiah). Remember that God's elect will not plow
not in vain, and give his blessing on the seed of

righteous, remember that damn science is science
of the saints, and that to obtain it it is necessary to dispose
holiness, and to require this science from the hand of God,
fasts, prayers, alms, and all good works. Here is the
path that must be taken to arrive at the sublime degree of this
work, and who tries to enter it by another way, he tries
the impossibility. It is indeed the truth that in these two books
precedents I gave you the true formula to operate it;
but if God does not help everything is nothing, appease his wrath
in hymns and songs, praise his glorious name without
intermission, devote yourselves of everything to him, and he will bless you;
blessing you, he will fill you with holy graces, and you
will make enjoy this so much desired calculation to which he has written a name
new. And if you want get it from him and
still means this Cornerstone, only tell you about it
alone because it is better to remain silent than to talk about it without
proper light of such lofty mysteries.

And before I finish this book and this chapter all together, I
want to warn you that this work can be shortened; what
will be done if you take Sol or Moon, sublimated to the
sulfur of nature, and put half an ounce in each
vessels that I called twins in the chapter of
vessels, then put some good philosopher's mercury in
each borie half a pound, and hold them in the bath or in a
Athanor, to have low and even heat without
intermission, and without putting more hand to it; water by
various circulations and walks from one land to another,
in a short time the water will be fixed, better and rather than in
the mattresses. Nevertheless, we will have to wait for the colors
as well as to the great work. There are other abbreviations,
which are made with the lead of the Sages, but that is not

the consideration of this spagyria
Therefore, be happy
and praise God
Amen
END