EXPERIMENTS FOR PREPARATION
OF THE MERCURY OF THE SAGES
By the Moon and the Martial Regulus
of Starry Antimony, for the Stone of the Philosophers
Experiments for the preparation of the Sophick Mercury
By Luna, and the Antimonial-Stellate-Regulus of Mars,
for the Philosophers Stone
Written by Eyrenée Philalethe
English and Cosmopolitan
(George Starkey) London, 1678
I
The Secret of Philosophical Arsenic
I took one part of the Igneous Dragon and two parts of the Magnetic Body, prepared them with a torrid fire, and at the first preparation there were about eight ounces of true Arsenic.
II
Secret of the preparation of Mercury with its arsenic, to separate it from its faeces
I took one part of excellent Arsenic and, with two parts of the virgin Diana, I made the marriage in a body; I crushed them finely and with that I prepared my Mercury, working them in the heat until they were intimately incorporated; I then purged it with salt urine so that the faeces would come off, which were rejected..
III
Purification of the Mercury of the Sages
The Mercury thus prepared is still stained with external impurities, and it should be distilled three or four times in its own still with its steel curcurbite. Then wash it with the salt of urine until it is clarified and leaves no tail behind in its movements.
IV
Another excellent purge
Take ten ounces of decrepit salt and Mars slag. Add one and a half ounces of prepared Mercury. Very finely pulverize the salt and the slag in a marble mortar, and mix in the Mercury: grind until it no longer appears. Put in a vitreous body and distill through the sand in the glass still until the mercury is fully risen, pure, clear, and splendidly brilliant. Repeat this three times and you will have the Mercury excellently prepared for the Magisterium.
V
Secret of the correct preparation of the Mercury of the Sages
Each preparation of Mercury with its Arsenic is an eagle, the feathers of the eagle being purged of their blackness similar to those of the raven, make the eagle perform its seventh flight, which can be done up to the tenth flight.
VII
The secret of the Mercury of the Sages
I took an adequate amount of Mercury and mixed it with his true Arsenic; that is, four ounces of Mercury; and I mixed them finely; I then purged this mixture in the proper way and distilled it; I thus obtained a pure Moon body; and thus I knew that I had operated adequately.
Then I added its weight of Arsenic to it and increased it by the previous weight of Mercury, enough for the Mercury to carry it away in a subtle flow and so I purged it until the blackness dissipated, roughly up to the dazzling whiteness of the Moon .
Then I took half an ounce of Arsenic, of which I made the proper marriage, having married it to this Mercury, and so was made the right mixture, similar to the potter's lul, at least somewhat finer.
I purged it again in the proper way, a laborious purge which I made for a long time by the salt of urine, which I recognized to be the best in this work.
VII
Another very excellent purification
I have found the best way to purge with vinegar and pure sea salt so that an eagle can be operated on in half a day.
I flew the first eagle and Diane stayed with a little brass dye.
I started the second eagle to remove the superfluities, then I flew it and again the Doves of Diana remained, with the brass tint.
I conjoined and purged the third eagle, I conjoined and purged it of superfluities to dazzling whiteness, then I flew it and there remained a great deal of brass with the Doves of Diana. I then flew her twice separately by herself, for the complete extraction of the whole body.
Then I conjoined the fourth eagle, adding to it more and more of its temper, by gradation, and there came a well-tempered consistency in which no dropsy was found, like that which was everywhere in the first three eagles.
VIII
I discovered the best way to prepare the Mercury of the Sages
I put the Amalgam - intimately joined by an adequate marriage - in a crucible, then in a sand oven, for half an hour, but in such a way that it cannot sublimate; so I took it out and carefully crushed it; then I put it back into the crucible, and then into the furnace, and after a quarter of an hour I crushed it again and reduced it to powder, having heated the mortar, and by this means the Amalgam began to purify itself and produce a large amount of powder; then I put it back in the crucible, and in the fire as before, for an adequate time, so that it does not sublimate, the fire being otherwise as strong as possible. And so, I crushed it several times, until the powder disappeared completely, then I washed it,so that the faeces were conveniently eliminated and the Amalgam became whole and without any heterogeneity; then I washed it with salt, heated it and crushed it again: and this I repeated until I washed it of all spells of faeces.
IX
Triple test of the good quality of Mercury prepared
Take your Mercury prepared with its arsenic of seven, eight, nine or ten eagles. Put it in a vial which you will lute with the Lut of Sapience, and place it on the sand oven and let it have a heat of sublimation, so that it rises and falls in the glass until it is coagulated to a consistency somewhat thicker than butter; continue for the perfect coagulation until the whiteness of Silver.
X
another test
If, shaking it in a glass container with the salt of urine, it becomes an impalpable powder of its own accord, so that it no longer seems to be Mercury, and of its own accord it coagulates again in a fine Mercury, that is enough .
It is however better if, with fountain water, it is transformed into small particles; for if a grain is in the body, it is not thus converted into fine parts and it does not likewise separate.
XI
The third test
Distilled in a glass still, from a glass curcurbite. If it passes and leaves nothing behind, the mineral water is good.
XII
Extraction of sulfur from living Mercury by separation
Take your compound, mixture of corporeal and spiritual, whose body is coagulated from the volatile by digestion, and separate the Mercury from its sulfur by the glass distillery, and you will have the white Moon fixed, resistant to strong water and of more weight than vulgar silver.
XIII
The Magical Sun extracted from this Moon
From this white sulfur, by fire, you will obtain a yellow sulfur, by manual operation, and this sun is the red lead of the Philosophers.
XIV
Potable gold extracted from this sulfur
You can transform this yellow sulfur into an oil as red as blood, by circulating it with the menstruation of the volatile Philosophical Mercury; thus you will have an admirable panacea, or universal medicine.
XV
Gross conjunction of Menstrue with its sulphur, to engender the progeny of fire
Take Mercury prepared, purged, and of the best choice, from seven to at most ten eagles; mix it with prepared brass, or its red sulphur, that is to say, two parts of water, or three at most, to one part of pure sulphur, purged and triturated. Note: it is better to use two parts for one.
XVI
Elaboration of the mixture by manual operation
Crush this mixture very finely on the marble, then wash with vinegar and harmoniac salt, until all the black faeces are removed; then eliminate all saline humor and all acrimony by fountain water, then dry it on a clean white paper, spreading it all over it, stirring it with the point of a knife until it is perfectly dry.
XVII
Introduction of the Fetus into the Philosophical Egg
Now put this dried mixture into an oval glass which is of the most transparent glass, the size of a hen's egg: in such a glass the matter does not exceed one ounce; hermetically sealed.
XVIII
The regime of fire
Now you have built an oven in which you can keep an immortal fire; in it you will produce a sandy heat in the first degree, in which the dew of our compound may rise and circulate ceaselessly, day and night without interruption, and in such fire the body is put to death and the spirit revived, and in the long run the soul is glorified and united with a new immortal and incorruptible body. Thus is created a new sky.
*
* *
EXPERIMENTS FOR THE PREPARATION
OF THE SOPHICK MERCURY
By Luna, and the Antimonial-Stellate-Regulus of Mars,
for the Philosophers Stone
Written by Eirenaeus Philalethes, an
Englishman, and a Cosmopolite.
1. The Secret of the Philosophick Arsnick
I took one part of the Fiery Dragon, and of the Magnetical Body two parts, I prepared them together by a strong Fire, and in the first fusion there was made about eight ounces of the true Arsnick.
2. The Secret of Preparing the Mercury with His Arsnick, for the Separating its Faeces
I did take one part of the best Arsnick, and I made a marriage with two parts of the Virgin Diana into one Body; I ground it very fine, and with this I have prepared my Mercury, working them all together in heat, until that they were most exquisitely incorporated: then I purged it with the Salt of Urine, that the Faeces did separate, which I put away .
3. The Purification of the Sophick Mercury.
The Mercury thus prepared, is yet infected with an external uncleanness, wherefore distill it three or four times in its proper Alembick, with its Steel Cucurbit, then wash it with the Salt of Urine, until that it be clear and bright, and in its motion leaves no tayl behind it.
4. Another most excellent Purgation.
Take of decrepit Salt, and of the Scoria of Mars, of each ten ounces, of prepared Mercury one ounce and an half, grind the Salt and the Scoriae very fine together, in a Marble Mortar; then put in the mercury, and grind it with Vinegar, so long until no more of the Mercury appears: put it into a Glass Body, and distill it by Sand in a Glass Alembick, until all the Mercury be ascended, pure, clear, and splendidly bright; reiterate this three times, and you will have the Mercury excellently well prepared for the Magistery.
5. The Secret of the just Preparation of the Sophic Mercury
Every single preparation of the Mercury with its Arsnick is one Eagle, the Feathers of the Eagle being purged from their Crow-like blackness, make it to fly the seventh flight, and it is prepared even until the tenth flight.
6. The Secret of the Sophick Mercury
I have taken the proper quantity of the Mercury, and I mixed it with its true Arsnick, to wit, about four ounces of Mercury, and I made a thin commixed consistency; I purged it after a due manner, and I distilled it, and I had a pure Body of Lune, whence I knew that I had rightly prepared it: afterwards I added to its weight of Arsnick, and I increased its former weight of Mercury, in so much that the mercury might prevail to a thin flux, and so I purged it, to the wasting of the blackness almost to a Lunary whiteness: then I took half an ounce of the Arsnick of which I made a due Marriage, and there was made at temperature like Potters Loam, but a little thinner;I purged it again, after a due manner, the Purgation was laborious: I made it with the Salt of Urine, which I have found to be the best in this Work.
7. Another Purgation, but yet better.
I have found out a better way of putting it, with Vinegar and pure Sea-Salt, so that in the space of half a day I can prepare one Eagle: I made the first Eagle to fly, and Diana is left, with a little Tincture of Brass; I began the second Eagle by removing the superfluities, and then I made it fly, and again the Doves of Diana are left, with the Tincture of Brass; I conjoined the third Eagle, and I purged the superfluities, by removing them, even to a whiteness, then I made it fly, and there was left a great part of Brass, with the Doves of Diana; then I made it fly away by it self, to the whole extraction of all the body; then I joined the fourth Eagle, by adding more and more of it own humor by degrees, and there was made a very temperate consistency, in which there was no Hydrops,
8. I have found the best way of preparing the Sophick Mercury, viz. such as follows.
The Amalgamated Mass, espoused or joined very intimately by a due Marriage, I put into a Crucible, and into a Furnace of Sand for half an hour, but so that it might not sublime; then I take it out, and strongly grind it; then I put it again in a Crucible, and in the Furnace, and after a quarter of an hour or thereabouts. I grind it again, and I make the Mortar hot, by this means the Amalgama begins to be clean, and to cast forth a great deal of Powder: then I put it in the Crucible again, and to the Fire as before, for a convenient time, so that it be not sublime, otherwise the greater the Fire is, the better it is;so continually grinding it, till almost all the Powder doth* wholly disappear, then I wash it, and the Faeces are easily cast out, and the Amalgama becomes intire without any Heterogeneity; then I wash it with Salt,
(* LAT's note: "doth" being, in the past, the third person singular of the present tense of "do")
9. A Threefold Tryal of the Goodness of the Prepared Mercury
Take thy Mercury prepared with its Arsnick of seven, eight, nine or ten eagles, put it into a Phial, and thou shalt lute it with the Lutum Sapientiae: place it in a Furnace of Sand, and let it stand in an heat of Sublimation , so that it may ascend and descend in the Glass, until it be coagulated a little thicker than Butter: continue it unto a perfect Coagulation, until it be as white as Silver.
10. Another try.
If by shaking it in a Glass with the Salt of Urine, it be turned into an impalpable Powder of its own accord, so that it doth not appear as Mercury, and of its own accord in an hot and dry place it coagulates again into a thin Mercury, it is enough; but yet better if being agitated in Fountain-water, it runs into small heads or particles, for if the grain be in the Body, it will not be thus converted and separated into small minute parts.
11. The third trial.
Distill it in a Glass Alembick, from a Glass Cucurbit; if it passes over and leaves nothing behind it, it is a good Mineral Water.
12. The extraction of the Sulfur from the living Mercury by Separation.
Take thy mixed corporal and spiritual Compound, the Body of which is coagulated of the volatile by digestion, and separate the Mercury from its Sulfur by a Glass Still, and thou shalt have a white Luna fixed and resisting Aqua fortis, and more ponderous than common Silver.
13. The Magical Sol out of this Luna.
Out of this white Sulfur by Fire thou shalt have a yellow Sulfur, by a manual Operation, which Sol is the red Lead of the Philosophers.
14. Out of this Sulphur, Aurum potabile.
Thou mayst turn this yellow Sulfur into an Oyl as red as Blood, by circulating it with the Volatile-Mercurial-Philosophical Menstruum, so thou shalt have an admirable Panacea, or Universal Medicine.
15. The gross conjunction of the menstruum with its Sulphur, for the formation of the Off-spring of the Fire.
Take of thy purged, best prepared and choicest Mercury, of seven, eight, or at most ten Eagles, mix it with the prepared Laton, or is red Sulphur, that is to say, two parts of the Water, or at the most three , with one of the pure Sulphur, ground and purged; NB but it is better that thou takesst two parts to one.
16. The working of the mixture by a manual Operation.
This thy mixture thou shalt grind very well upon a Marble, then thou shalt wash it with Vinegar and Sal Armoniac, until it hath put off all its black Faeces; then thou shalt wash off all its saltness and acrimony with clear Fountain-water, then shalt thou dry it upon clean white Paper, by turning of it from place to place with the point of a Knife, even unto an exquisite dryness.
17. The putting in of the Fetus into the Philosophical Egg.
Now thy mixture being dryed, put it into an Oval Glass, of the best and most transparent Glass, of the bigness of an Hens Egg; in such a Glass let not thy Matter exceed two ounces, seal it Hermetically.
18. The Government of the Fire.
Then you must have a Furnace built, in which you may keep an immortal Fire; in it you shall make an heat of Sand of the first degree, in which the dew of our Compound may be elevated and circulated continually day and night, without any intermission, &c. And in such a Fire the Body will die, and the Spirit will be renewed, and at length the Soul will be glorified and united with a new immortal and incorruptible Body: Thus is made a new Heaven.
FINISHED.