HERMES UNVEILED

Cyliani

1832


Having spent 37 years of my existence studying the phenomena of nature, I believe I should publish part of my discoveries as well as the sorrows and misfortunes I have experienced, with a view to serving as an example to youth, preventing the ruin of honest people and rendering service to suffering humanity. Born of a dear mother and a respectable and highly educated father, who held a very honorable place in society; being the only boy my father was my mentor and gave me a careful education. From an early age I became the model of the youth of my city by my conduct, my taste for the arts and sciences and my education. I was barely 17 when I could live independently and from the fruit of my talents.My father was in correspondence with scholars among whom there were those who occupied themselves with the search for the philosopher's stone and the occult science of things. Their books had fallen into my hands. I was imbued with it, I said to myself: could it be that kings, princes, philosophers, court presidents and monks had taken pleasure in lying and misleading their fellows? No, that's impossible, I answered myself; it is rather ancient knowledge hidden under the language of hieroglyphs so that the vulgar are deprived of it and that only the elect whom it pleases God to initiate can possess this supernatural knowledge. I was naturally good and a believer; not knowing the detours of the human heart,I believed in the sincerity of these books. I longed to be my master in order to devote myself to this kind of study; in my eyes, life had no more charms except when one was in good health and one could make people happy without their being able to talk about us. The knowledge of the philosopher's stone fulfills this purpose: it then became the subject of my vigils and my moments of leisure; my ambition was also to acquire the certainty of the existence and the immortality of the soul. Such were the knowledge that I wanted to acquire at the very expense of my existence. I longed to be my master in order to devote myself to this kind of study;in my eyes, life had no more charms except when one was in good health and one could make people happy without their being able to talk about us. The knowledge of the philosopher's stone fulfills this purpose: it then became the subject of my vigils and my moments of leisure; my ambition was also to acquire the certainty of the existence and the immortality of the soul. Such were the knowledge that I wanted to acquire at the very expense of my existence. I longed to be my master in order to devote myself to this kind of study; in my eyes, life had no more charms except when one was in good health and one could make people happy without their being able to talk about us.The knowledge of the philosopher's stone fulfills this purpose: it then became the subject of my vigils and my moments of leisure; my ambition was also to acquire the certainty of the existence and the immortality of the soul. Such were the knowledge that I wanted to acquire at the very expense of my existence. it then became the subject of my vigils and my moments of leisure; my ambition was also to acquire the certainty of the existence and the immortality of the soul. Such were the knowledge that I wanted to acquire at the very expense of my existence. it then became the subject of my vigils and my moments of leisure; my ambition was also to acquire the certainty of the existence and the immortality of the soul.Such were the knowledge that I wanted to acquire at the very expense of my existence.

The French Revolution had just broken out. My knowledge appeared, in the eyes of my fellow citizens, more useful in an administration than in the army. I was honored with several places. In my rounds, I saw, on entering a small town, a pretty young lady whose features of kindness, graceful smile and decent air charmed my soul and inflamed my heart. From that moment I promised myself to make her my wife. After having fulfilled the task imposed on me by my duties, I busied myself in looking for some pretext to speak to her: love is not lacking in it, and a few days elapsed until the moment when I received permission to present myself at her house.Finally, the hymen came to fulfill my wishes, and I promised myself to make her the happiest woman in the world. Alas!

A few months after my marriage, I met a talented man whose wife was a famous artist. They both had a taste for alchemy and entrusted me with a small manuscript which had been found behind a cupboard, of which they made a great deal. It was written in a style which inspired much confidence; everything was there except the name of the material, the labors of Hercules and the knowledge of fire. I thought myself then the happiest man on earth. I conceived in the ardor of my immense youth projects: I set to work which made me neglect my part and my own interests.

My boundless love and friendship for the companion of my youth and her tenderness for me gave us a large family which increased my expenses when my fortune slipped away; I saw my wife courageously uphold her position, and the desire to make her happy increased my firm resolution to attain the goal I had set myself. 21 years passed in the midst of the greatest deprivation; I fell into misfortune; my many friends turned their backs on me. We end up trying to explain my position, saw my exemplary conduct, by knowing that my taste for alchemy led me to deprive myself of the most just necessary, I became a laughing stock: public;I was called mad, I was booed, my family rejected me from their bosom, on several occasions, I saw myself wandering in my homeland, forced to suspend my work, having sold even the best of my clothes to pay the wages of a servant who helped me to pass the nights. My wife, responsible for many children, was obliged on her side to take refuge with her parents, never ceasing to be the model of virtues and I, descending to the bottom of my heart, I had nothing to reproach myself with except my taste for a party which had ruined me, and placed my family in a painful and painful position.

I saw myself forced to forget my work and put my talents to good use, but the painful position in which I found myself naturally cast a disfavor on me. Hardly had I organized an advantageous game than my subordinates, or the people who provided me with the funds, seized it, seeking to cast such disfavor on me that I could find no support so that my financial position would shelter them from any claim. Having elapsed about 10 years in this way, and spent part of the night reading almost all the works published on the philosopher's stone, beginning to bend my head under the weight of the years, I felt this irresistible inclination which reminds man of his first loves, I believed myself in good faith better educated, capable of overcoming all the obstacles which had stopped me until then.I spoke to rich people who had my same tastes, I was welcomed with kindness. At the beginning of this new acquaintance, I spent happy days: friendships were washed on me, I could, in return for my work, come to the aid of my family, but as soon as they thought they had my knowledge, they abandoned me under vain pretexts; they even went so far as to make me take a strong dose of corrosive sublimate with a view to destroying me and seizing my writings. I had come to know the human heart at my expense and expense; I was continually on the alert; but the fire which manifested itself in my stomach and the taste which I felt made me resort to counterpoison. I got off with a year of discomfort,and the almost deprivation of the only pleasure I had on earth. Why can I not here, for fear of becoming importunate and too long, tell a story of small human passions and of the inconceivable difference which exists between the amiable man whom we see adorning the evenings of our salons and the same man guided by the lure of riches and his vile greed. They really are different beings.

My pen refuses here the story that my position made me experience, hardly a large folio would suffice to contain my setbacks. Once again I fell into misfortune; it was so complete that my numerous family, composed of charming children, well brought up, virtuous beyond all expression, cherished in society where they stood out for their decency and their talents for pleasantness, took, for love of their unfortunate father, their grief so much to heart that slight illnesses, which any other would have cured at the end of a fortnight, became fatal for them, and in a short time I lost my children.

O irreparable loss! how sad and heartrending it is for a paternal heart to have in this story only tears to shed superfluous regrets! May the Eternal one day allow me to see you again, and the memory of my numberless misfortunes will be erased for me.

In the crushing position in which I found myself, I thought to revive all my strength to make a last attempt: I addressed myself to a rich person, who had a great soul and much education, and was treated by her for several years more generously than by the last people to whom I had addressed and I finally succeeded in doing something encouraging, but it was not yet the work.

One day, walking in the country, seated at the foot of a large oak tree, I no longer thought of going over all the circumstances of my life and judging whether I had any merit, or whether I had incurred the enormous weight of the misfortunes that overwhelmed me, I remembered the useful commercial discoveries that I had made and the benefit that French industry had derived from them; I saw with pain strangers taking advantage of it and my name forgotten; I cast my gaze on people who had had the skill to seize the discoveries of others, after having given them a fashionable twist; I saw them loaded with honors, places, and I found myself wandering and repulsed; I wondered if I had intentionally wronged a penny of one of my fellows, my conscience answered me no;have I ceased for a single moment to be a good son, a good husband, a good father, a good friend for those who deserve it? my heart also says to me: no, your misfortune comes only from not having reached your goal.

I imagined that it was cruel to me to have been so badly paid at various times in my life by my fellow men, even by my friends; the pain that all these memories made me feel overwhelmed me, my strength abandoned me and I put my head on my hands, shedding a torrent of tears, calling on the Eternal for my help. The heat that day was strong, I fell asleep and had the following dream that I will never forget.

I thought I heard the tree at the foot of which I was standing creak, which made me turn my head, and I saw a nymph, model of beauty, coming out of this tree; his clothes were so light that they seemed transparent to me. She said to me: I heard from the bosom of this sacred tree the retelling of your misfortunes. They are great no doubt, but such is the fate to which ambition leads young people who believe they are facing all dangers to satisfy their desires. I will add no reflection so as not to aggravate your misfortunes, I can soften them. My essence is celestial, you can even consider me as an excretion from the pole star.My power is such that I animate everything: I am the astral spirit, I give life to everything that breathes and vegetates, I know everything. Speak: what can I do for you?

O celestial nymph, I said to her, you can revive in me a heart beaten down by misfortune by giving me only a slight notion on the organization of the universe, on the immortality of the soul, and provide me with the means to arrive at the knowledge of the philosopher's stone and of universal medicine. I have become a public laughingstock, my brow bent under the enormous weight of misfortunes, please deign to give me the means to rehabilitate myself in my own eyes.

I am really touched by your painful existence, she replied; listen, unite all your faculties and engrave in your memory the story that I am going to tell you, taking some of my comparisons figuratively, so that I can make myself sensitive to your intelligence.

Picture to yourself a space of almost limitless expanse where floats the system of worlds, composed of fixed suns or stars, nebulae, comets, planets and satellites, swimming in the bosom of eternity or a sun of divine light, whose rays are limitless, and you will have a slight notion of the whole universe, as well as of the finite world and the infinite one.

The system of the worlds and the Eternal or the sun of divine light are of the same origin, they had no beginning and will have no end. The slight changes experienced by certain globes do not alter the order of the universe.

The will of the Eternal or of the creative Spirit can deliberately throw a nebula into space; this one starting from the tangent by traversing the space undergoes the law of the attraction of a sun of which it approached, and finishes by describing a very lengthened ellipse where the two hearths are determined by the action of two suns; then it forms a comet, but after a lapse of centuries it ends up yielding to the stronger attraction of one of the two suns, it regulates its course and ends up being part of its system by revolving around it; then at the end of a certain number of centuries its luminous point or the two which it affects to have meet in a single luminous point which becomes the central fire of this globe,

The planets can by the strong expansion of their central fire be torn into various parts, each of which spread in space becomes so many satellites by attaching itself to the atmosphere of activity of another planet.

A comet, which was in the first place a nebula, can by its action by approaching too close to a planet raise its waters, give rise to a deluge by lowering or raising its axis, which changes the bed of the seas, brings to light what was covered by the waters and buries for centuries under the seas inhabited countries by covering with the silt of the seas the remains of animals and plants piled up on top of each other.

Another planet by passing in the tail of a comet, the latter can ignite its atmosphere and destroy not only all the plants but also the animals and make this same planet a vast tomb. Finally a comet by its too great action can by approaching too close to a planet carry a disturbance in its atmosphere capable of modifying the animal and vegetable existence and even destroying it. Here are the only modifications that the globes experience, but nothing is lost for this in the world. Were these globes reduced to atoms, the latter by the law of attraction would end up forming a whole or a new globe.

The various species of animals which seem to have existed on the earth at times far apart from each other are the result of the creation to which the Creator Spirit gave rise. But all the beings which ensue from it appear at times more or less remote from each other, at the end of the great catastrophes that the earth experiences: the human species itself only dates back nearly 60 centuries.

The suns, the comets and the various globes are so many beings of a particular nature which are in particular governed by a spirit, because the universal hierarchy is infinite. The Eternal is of an order far above these spirits, the latter are like his ministers and the globes like his subjects subject to the direction of these same ministers.

Everything that exists in the material or physical universe is purely mineral; the gases are gas themselves; take note of this confession.

Man is a triple compound; its body or its form is animated by a soul: this is the union of various forces by means of which the spirit governs its form or matter. The soul is directed by the celestial spirit which is an emanation of divine action and therefore imperishable.

Man never perishes except by his form, then the spirit to which the soul serves as a bond or envelope separates from it and his form, deprived of the celestial vital spirit, is delivered up to the reaction of its constitutive principles. The spirit and the soul then live spiritually by seeking the centers that suit them and after a certain time man or the being or the spirit or the spiritual life, which is always perfecting itself, separates itself from its soul or its glorious envelope to return to its universality, which means that man dies twice, that is to say, changes form twice. But man or spirit lives forever. According to my account you cannot now doubt the immortality of the soul.

That's all I'm allowed to teach you here to satisfy your desires.

Now do you want to know how universal medicine acts on the animal economy? Consider as I have just told you that the form or the body of man alone is mortal, you will see that he perishes only on the side of the solids. As the latter are all minerals, all can be regenerated by the mineralizing principle or spirit, which by its various modifications forms the various products known to us. They are therefore all brought back to their primitive state by the action of this same principle and its extraneous force, which restores the balance and enables the spirit to enter and leave freely through our own form like water through a sponge; because the disturbance of our body does not come only, except for mechanical indispositions,only currents of life which cannot flow freely. But the virtue of universal medicine is purely medicinal and non-surgical, it cannot restore a severed or completely destroyed limb, which means that the person who takes it early, usually at the two equinoxes, can live without infirmities for several centuries unless nature has prescribed a short duration of his existence by his organization, which constantly comes to thwart the efforts of life.

Coming now to the subject of all your misfortunes, and if I dare say your fixed point, it took your stubbornness to make you worthy of such a blessing. Listen attentively and never forget your misfortunes, so as to always have the unfortunate present in your eyes. Follow me and don't be afraid.

I then saw a cloud coming out of the bosom of the earth, which enveloped us and transported us into the air. We traveled along the shores of the sea where I saw small bumps. The night came, the sky was very starry, we followed the milky way while directing us to the pole star. An extreme cold seized me and caused a deep sleep. Then warmed by the rays of the sun which appeared on the horizon, I was astonished when I woke up to find myself on the ground and to see a temple there. The nymph took me by the hand and led me to her entrance. Here you are, she told me, at the place where you have to solve the following problem. Since you were a good mathematician, think carefully, because you can't do anything without his solution.From one by one which is only one are made three, from three two and from two one.

You told me to be educated in chemistry, see what means your knowledge can offer you to open only the lock of the door of this temple, in order to penetrate there to the sanctuary.

To conquer without danger, she added, one triumphs without glory. Before leaving you, I still want to observe that you can only fight the dragon which internally defends the entrance to this temple with this spear which you must make red with the help of vulgar fire in order to pierce the body of the monster you must fight, and penetrate to its heart: a dragon which has been well described by the ancients and of which they have spoken so much.

Think of the dew of May, it becomes indispensable as a vehicle and as being the principle of all things. I cast my eyes on her, the nymph began to smile. Finally you will begin the labors of Hercules, gather all your strength and be of a firm will. Farewell. The nymph took my hand and shook it. Do you love life, she told me. In your presence I cherish her more than ever, I replied. Try not to lose it by carelessness; While waiting for the outcome of the fight, I will watch over you and in case of events I will come to relieve you. Farewell. She disappeared.

I was sad to have lost this nymph who was so dear to me. Finally I made up my mind to fight. Having collected branches of dry wood scattered about the place where I was, I set fire to them with the aid of a lens which I found to have on me, and made my spear glow almost white. During this operation I sought the means which could best destroy the lock of the door of the temple. I realized that the nymph had slipped me into my pocket without my noticing a corked jar, full of the substance I needed.

Determined to win or perish, I furiously seized my spear in one hand and the substance in the other, and poured the necessary amount of the latter onto the lock. This in a short time disappeared completely and the two leaves of the door of the temple opened with a crash. I saw a fearsome dragon with a huge three-pointed stinger trying to shoot its deadly breath at me. I rushed at him, shouting:

When we have lost everything, when we have no more hope,

Life is a reproach and death a duty.

He opens his mouth to devour me, I plunge my spear into him with such force that I penetrate to his entrails, I tear his heart; and so that he could not reach me, I at the same time made a hard effort with the aid of my spear to divert the direction of his head. The monster withdrew into itself several times, vomited streams of blood and ceased to exist.

I went immediately to the choir of the temple and I heard a celestial voice which said to me: Audacious ones, do you come to profane this temple to satisfy your vile greed where do you come to seek there the means of relieving suffering humanity? I come, I replied, stripped of all ambition, to beg you on my knees to give me the means only to recover the fortune that I sacrificed to know the philosopher's stone, those also to be able in secret to restore to life virtuous humans; I swear to you and swear it to the Eternal and if you deign to grant me such a blessing, I will never reveal the labors of Hercules nor matter and fire, by a language which can only be understood by those whom God will want to gratify with such a secret, and if I am perjured, may I be punished in an exemplary manner.

I then saw two superb crystal vases each resting on a pedestal of the finest Carrara marble. One of these vases was in the shape of an urn, surmounted by a gold crown with 4 florets; one had written in letters engraved above: Material containing the two metallic natures.

The other crystal vase was a large jar stoppered with emery, very thick, similarly engraved on it was the following: Astral spirit or ardent spirit, which is an excretion from the pole star.

This vase was surmounted by a silver crown adorned with 9 shining stars.

As I finished reading, I saw with joy my lovely nymph who said to me, showing me this big jar: do you see my mirror? Nothing, she told me, can prevent you now from rewarding yourself for the struggle you have sustained with so much courage by taking at discretion the substances contained in these two sacred vessels which are of the same celestial origin. I realize the discomfort your victory makes you feel, which could become fatal to you if you make a longer stay here; hurry to take your reward and get out of this temple as quickly as possible. I'll arrange everything for our departure. She left me alone.

My strength and my courage began to fail: I thought I had to obey the orders of the nymph. I saw beside the two sacred vessels various empty crystal jars, neatly cut, stoppered with emery. I took two, opened the first in the form of an urn, which contained the androgynous matter and the two metallic natures, and filled my vase with it. Having stopped it after having closed the crystal urn, I opened the second and larger vase and poured, trembling, into my second jar of the substance it contained: I had no funnel, time was running out, my strength was fading, I soon closed the large vase and mine with its crystal stopper, and I left the temple with alacrity. Passing by the monster that I had defeated,

As soon as I took the air, I thought I was going to faint. In fear of breaking my two vases by falling, I lay down on the ground with difficulty after having placed my two small jars beside me. I was for a moment breathing with difficulty. My darling nymph came to me smiling; she congratulated me on my courage and on the victory I had just won. She said to me: Agree, unfortunate Cyliani, that it is not good to expose yourself often to such a struggle. What do I see? she told me, a school! These words struck me. I say to him: Explain yourself.One of your jars contains more androgynous matter than you need, but you haven't taken enough astral spirit, you need infinitely more, and as Arnauld de Villeneuve says, you need plenty of water, of distilled spirit, but your fault is excusable, it is the fruit of a well-founded fear . Finally, you have enough to teach you how to make the stone and fulfill your desires. Let's hurry back to our starting point. You no longer think of the companion of your youth or of the anxiety into which your absence has plunged her. Let's go, your life would be in danger here. I saw a new cloud rising from the bosom of the earth, which enveloped us and lifted us into the air. We came a long way.Night came, the sky was spotless and very starry, we were following the Milky Way again, but in the opposite direction. I then felt very cold. Our direction was also on the side of the place where I was born. But leaving a cold region and passing into a warm region,

I called my lovely nymph, she said to me laughing: What more do you want? tell me, what must I do to complete my work?

Now that you have passed the labors of Hercules and that you possess the materials, it is only the work of an attentive and careful woman or child. Listen carefully.

Consider well the works of nature. She formed the metals in the bosom of the earth, but something more is needed, their quintessence. See where she gets the quintessence of things from. It is only on the surface of the earth, in living or vegetating kingdoms: follow nature step by step. Consider also how it operates in the vegetable kingdom, because it is not a mineral that you want to make. See her moistening with dew or rain the seed entrusted to the earth, drying it with the help of celestial fire and thus iterating until the embryo is formed, developed, buddy, flowered, and attained its multiplicative virtue, finally the maturity of its fruit.It's very simple: dissolve and coagulate, that's all, and take care not to use any fire other than that of heaven.

Finally the nymph designed to outline for me all that remained for me to do, as I will say in great detail. I threw myself at her feet to thank her for such a blessing, addressing my humble thanks to the Eternal for having made me overcome so many dangers, then she bade me farewell, adding: do not forget me.

She disappeared, her flight made me feel such pain that I woke up.

Shortly after, I began to start my work over again and with the help of the labors of Hercules I obtained matter containing the two metallic natures, as well as the astral spirit, with the help of my last resources and not those of others, which made me free to dispose of my success as I pleased towards those who in my eyes would deserve it, without hurting my delicacy and propriety, nor trampling under my feet the duties of gratitude.



FIRST OPERATION

MAKING NITROGEN OR MERCURY FOR PHILOSOPHERS

I took matter containing both metallic natures; I began by soaking it with the Astral Spirit little by little, in order to reawaken the two interior fires which had been extinguished, by slightly drying and grinding the whole thing in a circular motion with the heat of the sun; then repeating thus and frequently, moistening more and more, drying and grinding until the matter has taken on the appearance of a slightly thick porridge.

Then I poured over it a new quantity of astral spirit in such a way as to float the matter and left everything thus for five days, at the end of which I skilfully decanted the liquid or the solution which I kept in a cold place; then I dried again in the solar heat the matter remaining in the glass vase which was about three fingers high, I soaked, I crushed, dried and dissolved as I had previously done and repeated thus until I had dissolved all that was capable of being dissolved, having taken care to pour each solution into the same well-stoppered vase, which I put for ten days in the coldest place I could find.

When these ten days were up, I put the total solution to ferment in a pelican for forty days, at the end of which it precipitated by the effect of the internal heat of fermentation a black matter.

It was then that I distilled without fire, as best as I could, the precious liquid which floated above the matter containing its inner fire, and put it in a white glass vase, well stoppered with emery, in a damp and cold place.

I took the dark matter and dried it in the heat of the sun, as I have already said, repeating the imbibitions with the astral spirit, ceasing them as soon as I saw the matter beginning to dry up, and thus leaving it to dry out on its own, and this as many times as was necessary for the matter to become like a shiny black pitch. Then the putrefaction was total, and I ceased the external fire, so as not to damage the material by burning the tender soul of the black earth. By this means matter reached horse manure, its imitation; it is necessary, according to the saying of the philosophers, to allow the interior heat of matter itself to act.

It is necessary here to start again the external fire to coagulate the matter and its spirit. After having left it to dry up on its own, it is soaked little by little and more and more with its distilled and reserved liquid which contains its own fire, crushing it soaked and drying it in a slight solar heat, until it has drunk up all its water. By this means the water is changed entirely into earth, and the latter, by its desiccation, is changed into a white powder which is also called air, which falls like ashes, containing the salt or the mercury of the philosophers.

In this first operation, we see that the solution or the water has changed into earth and the latter by subtilization or sublimation is changed into air by the art where the first work stops.

We take this ash which we dissolve little by little with the help of the new astral spirit, leaving after the dissolution and decantation, a black earth which contains the fixed sulphur. But by reiterating the operation on this last dissolution, absolutely as we have just described it previously, one obtains a whiter earth than the first time, which is the first eagle, and one thus reiterates seven to nine times. One obtains by this means the universal menstruation, or the mercury of the philosophers, or the nitrogen, by means of which one extracts the active and particular force of each body.

It is good to observe here that before passing from the first eagle to the second, as well as to the following ones, it is necessary to repeat the preceding operation on the ashes which remain, if the salt is not, by the central fire of matter, sufficiently elevated by philosophical sublimation, so that after the operation only a black earth stripped of its mercury remains.

Pay close attention here that following the swelling of the matter in the fermentation which follows the dissolution, there is formed at the upper part of the matter a kind of skin under which there are an infinity of small bubbles which contain the spirit. It is then that the fire must be conducted with caution, since the spirit takes on an oily form and passes to a certain degree of dryness.

As soon as the matter is dissolved, it swells, begins to ferment and makes a slight noise, which proves that it contains within it a vital germ which is released in the form of bubbles.

To carry out the operation which I have just described correctly, it is necessary to observe the weight, the conduct of the fire and the size of the vase. The weight must consist of the quantity of astral spirit necessary for the dissolution of matter. The conduct of the outer fire must be directed so as not to evaporate the bubbles which contain the spirit by too much fire, and not to burn the flowers or the sulfur by continuing the outer fire, so as to push the dryness of the matter too far after its fermentation and putrefaction, so as not to see the red before the black.

Finally, the size of the vase must be calculated on the quantity of matter, so that it contains only a quarter of its capacity: hear me.

Do not forget also that the mysterious solution of matter or the magic marriage of Venus with Mars took place in the temple of which I have spoken to you before, on a beautiful night, the sky calm and cloudless, and the sun being in the sign of Gemini, the moon being in its first quarter at its full, by the aid of the magnet which attracts the astral spirit from heaven, which is seven times rectified until it can calcine gold.

Finally, the first operation being finished, we have nitrogen, or white mercury, or salt, or the secret fire of the philosophers. Some sages dissolve it again in the least amount of astral spirit necessary to make a thick solution.

After having dissolved it, they expose it in a cold place to obtain three layers of salt.

The first salt has the aspect of wool, the second of a very small needled nitre and the third is an alkaline fixed salt.

Some philosophers use them separately, others combine them together as indicated by A. de Villeneuve in his Petit Rosaire made in 1306 in the article "Two Leads", and dissolve them in four times their weight of astral spirit, in order to carry out all their operations.

The first salt is the true mercury of the philosophers, it is the key which opens all the metals, by means of which one extracts their tinctures; it dissolves everything radically, it fixes and matures in the same way while fixing the bodies by its cold and congealing nature. In short, it is a very active universal essence; it is the vessel in which all philosophical operations take place. We therefore see that the mercury of the sages is a salt which they call: dry water which does not wet the hands; but to use it, it must be dissolved in the astral mind, as we have already said. Ten parts of mercury are used to one of gold.

The second salt serves to separate the pure from the impure and the third salt serves to continually increase our mercury.


SECOND OPERATION

SULFUR MAKING

The tincture extracted from common gold is obtained by the preparation of its sulphur, which is the result of its philosophical calcination which makes it lose its metallic nature and changes it into a pure earth; calcination which cannot take place by common fire, but only by the secret fire which exists in the mercury of the sages, considering its double property; and it is by virtue of this celestial fire, assisted by trituration, that it penetrates into the center of vulgar gold, and that the central fire, double the gold, mercurial and sulphurous, which is found there as dead and imprisoned, is loosed and animated. The same celestial fire, after having extracted the tincture from the gold, fixes it by its cold and congealing quality;and it becomes perfect, multiplying in quality as well as in quantity. This earth, once it has arrived at fixity, takes on the color of a peach blossom which gives the tincture or the fire which is then the vital and vegetative gold of the sages; which takes place by the regeneration of gold by our mercury.

We must therefore begin to resolve common gold into its spermatic matter by our water of mercury or our nitrogen.

To achieve this, the gold must be reduced to a lime or oxide of a very pure brown red, and after having washed it several times with well distilled rainwater over a low heat, it will be slightly dried in the heat of the sun; it is then that we will calcine it with our secret fire. It is on this occasion that the philosophers say: chemists burn with fire and we with water.

After having soaked and lightly crushed the well calcined gold oxide having its humidity and having made it drink its weight of salt or dry earth which does not wet the hands, and having incorporated them well together, they will be soaked again by successively increasing the imbibitions until the whole resembles a slightly thick porridge. Then we will put on it a certain quantity of water of mercury proportioned to the matter, so that it floats above it; leave the whole thing in the gentle heat of the bain-marie of the sages for five days, at the end of which the solution will be decanted into a vase that will be well stopped and placed in a damp and cold place.

We will take the undissolved matter, which we will dry out in a heat similar to that of the sun; being sufficiently dry, we will start again the frequent imbibitions and triturations as we have previously said, in order to obtain a new dissolution, which we will unite with the first, thus reiterating until you have dissolved all that can be dissolved and only the dead earth of no value remains. The dissolution having been completed and reunited in the tightly stopped glass vase of which we have previously spoken, its color is similar to that of lapis lazuli. We will place this vase in the coldest place possible for ten days, then we will put the material to ferment as we said in the first operation, and by the internal fire of this fermentation, it will precipitate a dark matter;the material will be distilled skilfully and without fire, by putting the liquid separated by the distillation which floated above the black earth in a well stoppered vase and in a cold place.

We will take the black earth separated by distillation from its liquid, we will let it dry out on its own, then we will soak it again with the external fire; that is to say with the philosophical mercury, since the philosophical tree asks to be from time to time burned by the sun and then refreshed by water.

It is therefore necessary to alternate the dry and the humid, in order to hasten the putrefaction, and when one sees the earth which begins to dry out, one suspends the imbibitions, then one lets it dry out on its own until it has reached a suitable society and one repeats this way until the earth looks like black pitch then the putrefaction is perfect.

We must here remember what we said in the first operation, so as not to allow the spirit to volatilize, or to burn the flowers by suspending the exterior fire when the putrefaction is complete.

The color black. that one obtains at the end of forty or fifty days all the times that one has properly administered the external fire is a proof that vulgar gold has been changed into black earth, which the philosophers call their horse manure.

As horse manure acts by the force of its own fire, similarly our black earth dries up in itself its own unctuous humidity by its own double fire and is converted, after having drunk all its distilled water and having turned gray, into a white powder called air by the philosophers, which constitutes coagulation, as we have previously described in the first operation.

When the matter is white, the coagulation having been completed, it is fixed by bringing the matter to a greater desiccation with the aid of external fire, following the same course that we followed in the preceding coagulation, until the white color is changed into the red color which the philosophers call the element of fire. Matter arrives by itself at such a high degree of fixity that it no longer fears the attacks of external or ordinary fire, which can no longer be prejudicial to it.

Not only must the material be fixed as we have just done; but it is still necessary to stone it, bringing the matter to have the appearance of a crushed stone, using the ardent fire, that is to say the first fire used, and according to the same means previously described, in order to change the impure part of the matter into fixed earth, also depriving the matter of its saline humidity.

Then one proceeds to the separation of the pure, the impure of matter; it is the last degree of regeneration, which ends in solution.

To achieve this, after having had the matter well and having placed it in the sublimatory vase, high, as we have already said, three or four fingers high, of good white glass and twice the thickness of that ordinary, we pour over it mercury water, which is our nitrogen, dissolved in the quantity of astral spirit which is necessary for it and previously indicated, by graduating its fire so as to maintain it at a temperate heat, by giving it at the end a quantity of this philosophical mercury as to melt the material. By this means, one carries all the spiritual part of the latter in the water and the earthy part goes to the bottom; its extract is decanted, and it is put in ice, so that the oily quintessence gathers and rises above the water and floats there like an oil,

Gold separates this supernatant oil with the help of a well-washed and wet white pigeon feather and care is taken not to lose any because it is the true quintessence of regenerated vulgar gold, in which the three principles are united there and can no longer be separated from each other.

Observe well here that we must not push the stoning of the way too far so as not to change the calcined gold into a kind of crystal. It is necessary with skill to regulate the external fire so that it gradually dries up the saline humidity of the calcined gold, changing it into a soft earth which falls like ashes, in consequence of its stoning or further desiccation.

The oil thus obtained by the separation is the tincture, or the sulphur, or the radical fire of gold, or, the true coloring; it is also the real drinkable gold or the universal medicine for all the ills that afflict humanity. One takes at the two equinoxes of this oil the quantity necessary to lightly tint a tablespoon of white wine (?) or distilled dew, since a large quantity of this medicine would destroy the radical humidity of man, depriving him of life.

This oil can take all possible forms and be formed into powder, salt, stone, spirit, etc., by its desiccation using its own secret fire. This oil is also the blood of the red lion.

The ancients represented it under the image of a winged dragon resting on the ground. Finally, this inconsumable oil is auric mercury. When done, divide it into two equal portions; we keep a part of it in the state of oil in a small white glass jar, well stoppered with emery, which we keep in a dry place, to use it to make imbibitions in the reigns of Mars and the Sun as I will say at the end of the third operation, and we dry the other portion until it is reduced to powder, by following the same means that I have previously indicated for drying the matter and the coagulate. ule; then divide this powder equally into two equal portions; one part of it is dissolved in four times its weight of philosophical mercury,


THIRD-OPERATION

CONJUNCTION OF SULFUR WITH MERCURY OF THE PHILOSOPHERS

This is where philosophers almost all begin their operations, which has misled many people. It is also in this operation where the sulfur of the philosophers is united with their mercury. Almost all the sages have named this last operation fermentation, since it is in this that the sulfur again dissolves, ferments, putrefies and resuscitates by its new regeneration with tenfold force.

This operation differs from the two previous ones, which is why the philosophers compose it from seven degrees to which they have attributed a planet.

To perform this operation, it is necessary to take half of the reserved powder of which I have already spoken and soak it little by little, since by soaking it in too large a quantity the sulfur is again resolved into oil, which sublimates by supernatant the water, which prevents the union of sulfur and mercury, a serious fault which has opposed the success of several philosophers. It is therefore necessary to soak the material drop by drop by sprinkling it, in order to operate the reunion of the Moon with the Sun of the Angels by forming together a thick porridge.

The external fire, which serves to make these imbibitions, is that of which we have already spoken when we dissolved a quarter of the auric oil reduced to powder in the quantity of philosophical mercury which was necessary for it to dissolve; this exterior fire is regulated by the quantity of matter.

Care must be taken here to maintain the material in a state of unctuousness by repeated imbibitions for as long as is necessary to make the material swell and bring it into fermentation. Its dissolution is complete when the matter takes on a bluish color; this dissolution is called rebis or double mercury and the degree of mercury. This dissolution is immediately followed by fermentation; then one ceases the imbibitions and the exterior fire, by letting the interior fire of the matter act alone and of itself, until the matter has fallen to the bottom of the vase, where it becomes black as coal; it is then that the first degree called that of Saturn begins and that one distills without fire, the liquid supernatant the black matter,

We let the dark matter dry by itself, and when it has reached a suitable state of dryness, we imbibe it again with external fire, ceasing the imbibitions when we see the matter beginning to dry; one lets it acquire a certain degree of dryness on its own, and one continues, by reiterating in this way, until it has reached its total putrefaction; then we stop the external fire so as not to damage the material.

As a result of the action of matter's own fire, this black one becomes grey, without one being obliged to administer external fire to it: one is then at the degree of Jupiter. It is in this degree that we see the colors of the rainbow appear, which are replaced by a kind of black-brown skin which acquires dryness, splits and becomes gray, surrounded on the wall of the vase by a small white circle.

Matter having reached this point, it could be used as medicine. In this case, it would be necessary to let the matter dry and make it become a white powder, using the same processes already described to obtain this color which will be made to turn red with the help of the secret fire.

This medicine would then have a tenfold virtue of the first of which I have spoken. But wishing to use it for the transmutation of metals, after having dried it well, one does not wait until it has become white; but it is made such by amalgamating it in equal parts with common commercial mercury, carefully purified by distillation, well sublimated and revivified; he is the milk or fat of the earth.

Indeed, when vulgar mercury is amalgamated with matter, the whole dissolves under the aspect of a white liquid like milk, which is fixed by matter in a fixed salt, by the action of its own fire.

Then we start again the mercurial lavations which make it white as crystal, with the help of seven different lavations, to each of which we add the revivified mercury in equal part as I said above, then by half, third, quarter, fifth, sixth and seventh part of the weight of the fixed matter, so that the weight of the matter is always greater than that of the revivified mercury used.

But from the first lavation in equal parts, the fire must not be ceased day or night, that is to say the imbibitions of the distilled liquid which contains the fire of matter, so that the latter is not seized by the cold and lost: the compound is the brass of the philosophers, which must be whitened by frequent imbibitions until the amalgamated mercury is fixed by our matter, seconded by its own fire; which completes the degree of Jupiter.

Continuing in this way, the brass becomes yellowish, then bluish and the most beautiful white appears on it: then begins the degree of the Moon. This beautiful white with the appearance of a crushed diamond, it has become a very fine and very subtle powder; fixed white was obtained; put some on a reddened copper plate; if it melts without smoking, then the tincture is sufficiently fixed. Otherwise, we administer the fire to it, continuing it until it has reached its suitable degree of fixity, and we stop there, if we only want to make the dyeing white, part of which transmutes a hundred parts of vulgar mercury into silver better than that of the mine.

But if one wishes to make the red dye, one must continue to fire the material; without letting it cool, if you want it to turn red.

By resuming the administration of the outer fire the matter becomes very fine and so subtle that it is difficult to imagine it; this is why it is necessary to direct one's fire well so that the matter does not volatilize by the force of the fire which must penetrate it entirely, but that it remains at the bottom of the vase, becoming a green powder. It is then the degree of Venus.

By wisely continuing the outer fire, matter becomes lemon yellow: this is the degree of Mars. This color increases in intensity and becomes copper color. At this point, it can no longer increase in intensity on its own; it is then that it is necessary to have recourse to the red auric mercury, that is to say to our reserved oil and to soak the matter with this oil until it has become red: then begins the degree of the Sun.

By continuing the imbibitions with the aurific oil, the matter becomes more and more red, then purpurin, and finally brown red, which forms the salamander of the sages, which the fire can no longer attack.

Finally, the material is inserted with the same aurific oil, soaking it drop by drop, until the oil of the Sun is solidified in the material and the latter, put on a hot blade, melts without smoke. By this means we have obtained the red tincture and the fixed and congealing gold, part of which transmutes one hundred parts of mercury into gold better than that of nature.


MULTIPLICATION

The two dyes of which I have just spoken, white and red, are capable of being multiplied in quality and quantity, when these dyes have not been subjected to the action of common fire, which causes them to lose their radical humidity, by fixing them in the earth having the appearance of a stone. To multiply these two tinctures, white and red, the third operation must be repeated entirely.

It is necessary that the two white and red powders be dissolved in the philosophical mercury, that they pass to fermentation and putrefaction, as well as to regeneration. To achieve this, it is necessary to repeat the imbibitions little by little, to conduct the fire and to adjust it successively as we have previously described. At this second multiplication one part projects onto a thousand parts of mercury and transmutes them into silver or gold according to the color of the powder, into perfect metal.

The multiplication in quality is done by reiterating the philosophical sublimation which takes place by separating the pure from the impure with the help of the philosophical mercury, and one repeats punctually the manipulations of the third operation, after having dried up with the help of the fire of matter and reduced to powder all the white oil if one operates on white and only part of the red oil, if one operates on red, in order to preserve the other part to use it in the degree of Mars and of the Sun, thus than to insert, as I have already indicated, by operating red.

The multiplication in quantity is done by the addition of the revivified vulgar mercury as I have previously said. If you wish to multiply in quality at the same time, you must begin as a general rule, by sublimating the matter by separating the pure from the impure, by drying it completely, if you operate with white, or half if you operate with red, using your own fire, which you will regulate in the same way as I did in the third operation, in order to reduce them to powder, each of which will be divided into two equal parts; one part of it will be dissolved in four times its weight of philosophical mercury, which will serve to soak the other reserved part by absolutely reiterating the third operation.

We can, if we wish, repeat these manipulations up to ten times: the material will acquire a tenfold force each time and will be subtle that it will cross the glass at the last time by completely volatilizing.

We usually stop at the ninth multiplication, where it becomes so volatile that at the slightest heat it pierces the glass and evaporates, so that it is customary to stop at the transmutation of one part in a thousand or ten thousand at most in order not to risk losing such a precious treasure.

I will not describe here very curious operations which I have carried out, to my great astonishment, in the vegetable and animal kingdoms, as well as the means of making malleable glass, pearls and precious stones more beautiful than those of nature by following the process indicated by Zachaire and using vinegar and the material fixed to the white, and very fine grains of pearls or crushed ruby, molding them then fixing them by the fire of the material, not wanting to be perjured and appear here to pass the limits of the human mind.

Having finished my work, I took 100 grams of distilled mercury and put them in a crucible. As soon as they began to smoke, I threw on it 1 gram of my transmuting sulphur, it became in oil above the mercury and I saw the latter which congealed successively more and more. So I increased my fire and made it stronger at the end while continuing it, until my mercury was perfectly fixed, which lasted about an hour. Having cast it in a small ingot mould, I tested it and found it better than that of the mine.

How lively and great was my joy! I was beside myself, I did like Pygmalion, I knelt down to contemplate my work and thank the Eternal for it, I also began to shed a torrent of tears, how sweet they were! how my heart was relieved! it would be difficult for me to paint here all that I felt and the position where I was. Many ideas offered themselves to my thoughts at the same time. The first led me to direct my steps near the Citizen King and make him the confession of my triumph, the other to make enough gold one day to form various establishments in the city which saw me born, another idea led me to marry on the same day as many girls as there are sections in Paris, by endowing them ;another idea led me to get the address of the poor ashamed and to go myself to help them at home, finally I ended up fearing that joy would make me lose my reason. I felt the need to do violence to myself and take a lot of exercise by walking in the countryside: which I did for eight consecutive days. Not a few hours went by without me taking off my hat and raising my eyes to the sky, I thanked him for having granted me such a blessing and I shed abundant tears. Finally I ended up calming down and feeling how much I was exposing myself by taking such steps. After careful consideration, I made a firm resolution to live in the darkness, without brilliance,

I had told my wife of my success and I promised to repeat the transmutation in front of her: she promised me not to talk about it. It was Maundy Thursday 1831, at 10:7 am that I had done the transmutation alone. I had no more mercury at home and put off until after Easter to satisfy my wife. I bought a branch of laurel from a gardener and a stem of immortelle. After tying them together, I wrapped the whole thing in a sheet of stationery, directed my steps to the house where my wife was, who was sitting near a window reading. I rushed to her knees putting my bouquet at her feet, I said to her: here it is, dear friend, laid at your feet; he comes to crown me when you and I go down to the tomb;it cost me 37 years of hard work, and more than fifteen hundred nights without sleep. I have been covered with humiliations, showered with insults, fled from my friends, repulsed by my family and yours; finally I lost the most interesting creatures that one can see and I never ceased to be a good man and to cherish you. My head fell on both of his knees. I started crying. O tears of regret, of remembering my losses, of the tribulations I had experienced, and of joy, how sweet you were! that you relieve my heart! I was reborn, I was a new man. My wife, raising my head, with tears in her eyes, said to me: Get up my friend and stop crying.

It wasn't enough to have confessed my success to her, and to have placed my laurel at her feet, I had to convince her and do the transmutation in front of her.

I took a glass of monte and put in it a small quantity of free-flowing commercial mercury which had been distilled, which was pure and which I had just purchased. I put on it, not my transmuting sulfur in the state of powder, but the state of oil, in the proportion of one part in a hundred, and stirred my glass so as to give the oil a circular motion. We saw with joy the mercury offer a very curious phenomenon and coagulate with the color of the most beautiful gold; I had only to melt it in a crucible and for it; I thus carried out the cold transmutation to the great astonishment of my wife. She then said to me: your success is the culmination of your desires; if you want to make me happy and make me forget the long chain of our misfortunes,live in darkness without display; remove from our asylum everything that could detect your secret and serve as bait for malevolence as well as for the ambitious that nothing can reward, intrigue, baseness or tyranny. I answered him: I have sworn, even if I see myself running from molten lead in my veins, to take my secret to the grave, that is to say the knowledge of matter, of fire and of the labors of Hercules; I wear to you and to God to make you happy by fulfilling your desires; hope that the Lord will protect us from envious, vicious and corrupt men. I have sworn, even if I see myself running from molten lead in my veins, to take my secret to the grave, that is to say the knowledge of matter, of fire and of the labors of Hercules;I wear to you and to God to make you happy by accomplishing your desires; hope that the Lord will protect us from envious, vicious and corrupt men. I have sworn, even if I see myself running from molten lead in my veins, to take my secret to the grave, that is to say the knowledge of matter, of fire and of the labors of Hercules; I wear to you and to God to make you happy by accomplishing your desires; hope that the Lord will protect us from envious, vicious and corrupt men.

O you young people who will probably read my work, may your desire to appear in this world and the lure of wealth not make you undertake the search for the philosopher's stone: if you could know like me the misfortunes of all kinds that I have experienced, to achieve it, you would recoil in terror from the desire to give yourself up to it, unless God makes you meet a man who has succeeded in making the stone, who leads you by the hand from the beginning to the end, reject with horror the idea of ​​indulging in hermetic philosophy , which is more difficult than one thinks to know for oneself. Hoping to be happier than me, if you trample my advice under your feet, and you are happy enough to achieve it, never forget the misfortunes, above all be discreet,

Flee from the corrupt beings of good taste, they have all the means to abuse your good qualities, they ruin themselves in promises which seem to be the outpouring of a beautiful soul, but they enrich themselves by making you their dupe. In a word, do not seek the happiness of life in the two extremes of society, but in the middle class, that is to say in that of honest industrialists; there are, however, a few exceptions to be made, and I would be ungrateful to judge otherwise. I met a well-born man whom I will never forget in my life, to whom I promise to give proof of my attachment.

Esteemable youth, may my life serve as an example to you, and my recommendations for lessons, and deserve in your eyes a few tears to soften the long chain of misfortunes that I have experienced.

Kings of the earth, if you knew the great number of people who devote themselves in secret and nowadays to the search for the philosopher's stone, you would be surprised, and if you knew that hardly one or two men have the happiness of succeeding in the space of 3 to 4 years, which does not offer in commerce the product of a gold mine which is discovered in Peru or elsewhere every 3 or 4 years, far from making those who have succeeded seek out and turn them lie, you would fill them with your kindness by granting them your support and your bene volence so that they can amply serve suffering humanity and make you participate in the benefits of their discoveries.

O my country, o my dear fellow citizens, you who have come on several occasions that you are good Frenchmen by your devotion to the cause of freedom and legal order, if the Eternal allows me to leave you what my heart destines for you out of gratitude, deign to have my mortal remains transported to a place with a limestone base, in front of a small turret bearing a painful emblem of an ancient war, at the bottom of which flows a small stream which has its source at a place from there and drives several mills. s; have them covered only with a large block of hard granite, very common in the little town where I got married, close to the place where I was born, with this single inscription: the mortal remains of the unfortunate Cyliani rest here.

I have had this work printed, since there is no law in any country which forbids the publication of a discovery useful to society in relation to life, as well as the circulation in commerce of gold perfect by its weight, its color, its specific gravity and its fusibility; by what right would one wish to give preference over the gold of the mines to that made by philosophical art, the latter being better?