Of the sublimation of plants,
All plants can sublimate themselves because of the pure they contain; for being attenuated & purified, they can be carried upwards by the force of fire in a suitable vessel, & by the aid of moist & volatile mercury, of which all vegetables have a very large quantity in the humid fat, combustible & inflammable, as it is said, it can be taken, that is to say, from the earth, which is the common reservoir of the living,
Hence it comes that in all the stones, minerals and plants there are more spirits of the elements, either fixed or volatile, than in the animals which live from other spirits, and they do not immediately take this nectar of life from their root like all the others. Therefore this perfectly purified humid volatile radical, as it is said in the Chapter on Distillation, is the principal cause of sublimation; for what is fixed in vegetables and in all other mixtures cannot be made volatile without passing into another substance: the volatile acts against the fixed, converts it into its same substance.
By thus mixing the volatile of plants with the unctuous fixed of the same, & by giving a light & continual fire, of the two then only one thing is done, & are inseparable; in which union, just as in separation , appear all the colors, which ordinarily comes from the crudity which the volatile and infix mercury introduces into the fixed mercury; because when the raw mercury is mixed with the cooked mercury, and when it is cooked, indicates the coction by the colors which denote the perfection or the imperfection of the coction.
This is evident & palpable in the perfect stone; for if it is mixed with raw & volatile mercury, & if it is dissolved with it by its virtue, it is increased in quantity & quality. The terracotta stone is re-incrusted, cooking again the colors appear; so that every time she is submerged in its water, as many times she dies; & being then cooked by a light & continual fire, it takes greater forces, as it will be demonstrated in the last Chapter, when we will treat of the multiplication & of all the mysteries.
After they are both united together, & they are no more than one leaf & the same thing, by means of a light fire &c continual, appears the color white or citrine; & then the fire being increased, our sublimation can be done in safety & without any error; then rise very white fumes , and they do not resolve into water, its dryness freezes the moist & watery smoothness.
Hence it is that there are no drops of rain falling, but flowers of crystalline salt, white Like snow, are suspended all around the vessel, just as if one had sublimated living mercury. mixed with saltpeter & vitriol; & their resemblance is equal, because of which; likeness several Philosophers have carefully concealed this sublimation under the sublimation of common mercury, chiefly Geber, in Book 3, chap; 90, where it is said: All the essential point of all the work, is that it is necessary to take the known stone which you will find in the Chapters; then you have to bring all his care to continue to sublimate in order to purify it. & strip it of all its impurities & corruptions, until it becomes very pure in its last perfection, & what is made - very - subtle; by which words Geber does not mean the sublimation of the common mercury, although in the preceding Chapters he has clearly taught it; for he hid all the art in the places where he appears to speak most openly, as in Book 3, Chap. 91: but he means the sublimation of this matter of which we speak, which contains all the others, as one can insert the words of Geber quoted above.
For, although to coagulate is not properly to sublimate, one, the volatile becomes fixed, and in the other the fixed becomes volatile, which of itself nevertheless engenders a contrariety, because to sublimate properly means to bring matter to its ultimate perfection, and this matter cannot be perfected only in coagulation; for this reason, to sublimate is to coagulate, and to coagulate is to sublimate. And considering that in coagulation are hidden and included all the other operations, it is very evident that it is there.
Last operation, & that in it all the others end : thus the end includes all things.
Note. Without sublimation coagulation cannot take place; because without a due sublimation, one cannot make a firm coagulation: for if the arcane is not sublimated, it cannot be of a very light fusion, because it has not had a very large & proportionate amount of raw & aqueous mercury, that is to say wet; for this mercury alone is the main cause of fusion: if it does not melt first, it will not be able to penetrate the center of the metal & perfect imperfect bodies.
Sublimation therefore not being well done, the whole arcana perishes, and without sublimation the chemical arcana cannot be done.
The season of spring represents us & puts before our eyes the natural rudiments of sublimation; the flowers of trees and plants do not testify something other than the very subtle part of the thickness of the elements, which thickness being finally cooked by a continual heat, is perfected & gives sweet fruits, & this is sublimation.
The flowers are therefore the visible signs of natural sublimation; for just as any tree cannot produce fruit if it does not flower first; that is to say that the very subtle part of the thicknesses of the elements which is used for their nourishment, does not sublimate into flowers: thus in the same way the arcane of vegetables cannot be perfected nor that of animals and vegetables . , that their infix and volatile aqueous mercury is not raised in sulfur of very pure nature, which is like the flower of all things; for minerals have their flowers, animals also & all fruits.
Note. The flower is defined & called the most-, subtle- & ethereal part of any mixture whatsoever, pushed from its center to the surface by the celestial heat: thus the seed of man is called the flower of man. This kind of friable down, golden in color and very sweet in taste, which is found on sulphurous mountains, is called flower of sulphur; & that which is born in many hollow places & in the caverns of the mountains, which is white in color & flavored with salt, is called flower of saltpetre, other names which do not suit this flower, but another which resembles it, which is our flower, the eagle of Hermes; & the sulfur of nature which by sublimation is drawn from the fixed body by the mixture of the volatile & infix. Finally, all metals have their flowers; that of gold and silver is called azure, that of Jupiter and Saturn is called ceruse, that of Venus VItriol, and that of iron saffron of Mars; & these are the names that the chemists give to these flowers.
Finally, all kinds of mixtures have their flowers, they are like infallible indices of their virtue in germinating and producing, so that by a certain instinct there is a perpetual sublimation in all things, so that the flowers issue from the center to the surface of the most subtle part of the thickness of the elements, which preserves the seed of all things in its invisible center, which takes the form of a bean.
It is the same with spagyric art, it cannot perfect the mysteries without sublimation, therefore to accomplish the arcana of vegetables after their fixed and permanent mercury will have been; purified by repeated lotions, by frequent filtrations & evaporations, & will have been separated from all terrestrialness their volatile & infix mercury & purged of all excrement aqueous by several distillations, you will join them together until the two make only one & same body, that is to say, a single infixed & volatile mercury which comes out in the distillation, without its companion , remaining the said fixed and permanent companion at the bottom of the vessel, on which it must be poured again, until it rises pure with its companion, which then must be sublimated until it has acquired the utmost purity & that it be very brilliant.
Then you will see like a kind of talec leaves or silvery scales, attached around the sublimatory vessel, which must be carefully picked up and kept apart in a clean, tightly stoppered glass.
Of the sublimation of animals, THE perfection of all mysteries consists in sublimation: the natural sublimation of man is the seed which is called the sublimated by nature, and the seed is the most subtle part of all the parts of animals. who contribute food.
The unctuous fixed matter, volatilized by the volatile & infix, by the name of seed, I mean that it must be sublimated, which substance can be drawn from the alimentary substance of animals by means of the chemical art, & in the same and practical way as it is obtained from plants.
The Philosophers prepare only the alimentary humors of animals, fix them & coagulate them so that they give a firmer & more fixed food, than they would give if they were not prepared, & such as nature produces them; & the spagyric animal arcana is nothing but a perfect, fixed & permanent food, so that it cannot easily be consumed & vanish, as are common foods, which first vanish , which could not be done if the foodstuffs were more fixed, and if their humidity were fixed.
The chymic mysteries contain this watery and airy humidity changed into earth, earthly substance with the help of the earthly substance, & the latter in substance quite fixed, for the reason of which, insofar as it is fixed & pure, perfectly foments & maintains the necessary natural heat, & restores it & strengthens it because of the resemblance of the substance; for in this natural heat all the elements are contained purely coagulated & fixed & principally fire & air.
Hence it comes that our life is nothing other than the quintessence of all the elements rooted, fixed & permanent in the elementary body joined to the soul, completely similar elements & without interruption.
But the quintessence of the elements of our arcane is purer, much more fixed & stable than any other quintessence, which is retained in food, hence it is more fit to maintain & restore life than than any other.
From there it obviously appears how much sublimation is necessary to perfect & accomplish the mysteries; for the fixed together with the pure cannot be animal food; that they are not sublimated, otherwise they will have their elementary impurities which prevent the elements from being converted into food, & the union of fire with air, which are the main supports of life, they cannot be grounded, hence they will not be able to fix themselves &; not being fixed, they will give very little nourishment to sustain life and will not have more virtue and strength than ordinary nourishments.
In this way one could not distinguish the animal arcana from ordinary & common foods, which are corruptible & transient, all of which conditions & qualities are not found in the animal arcana, & far from it its substance is incorruptible, stable. , firm, constant, & permanent, my, principles & philosophically .what I pass over here in silence, then whoever. will use it will not be offended by any accident, he will not age, will not be tired, will always have a healthy mind, a firm & robust body & will live quietly until the end that God has prescribed for him, enjoying perfect health.
Those who possess such marvelous remedies make good use of them for those who are in need, but they avoid with great care the society of the rich of this world, because they have no need of them & that elsewhere they are incapable of making a true friend of him who has them in his power, and even it seems that Providence does not allow it, because that a badly rich person is usually ungrateful, he is miserly when it is necessary to do good and does not reward, as he should, the services rendered to him.
Always occupied with his pleasures and his riches, he distributes them with pride and profusion to frivolity to make a name for himself that means nothing; if he becomes ill it is another thing, as he did not seek, when he was well, the friendship of the one who could get him out of a dangerous state, & make him take the nectar of the life, he finally ends his career by often leaving to ungrateful people, who do not regret it, treasures which he did not want to make good use of for himself.
But with regard to our sublimation it is done first so that the animal spirit in the animal arcana, that is to say the most subtle, volatile part of the animal food, is made body, that is i.e., a fixed & permanent food substance.
Secondly so that the fixed part of the food, which is the substance of the unctuous thickness of the thirst elements made volatile & infix. Thirdly so that these two substances reduced in a single body are purged & purified of all original impurity by raising them by sublimation; then this very pure body will do wonders just as the reasonable soul when it is freed from the bonds of the body, admirable to act, because it would turn and remove from its center the globe of the world that God holds in his hands, it traverses in an instant, according to the permission of God and his will, the infinite space of Heaven, and penetrates with a form invisible all that is solid, the earth, the skies & the elements.
Note. Mania causes prodigious effects, and somnambulists, that is to say, those who walk about during the night while sleeping, have very strong minds, it is therefore evident that the soul when it has hurrahursi subtle & spirituous, it does surprising things, which is why the Philosophers imagined themselves to compose a remedy specific to this effect which I know.
Sublimation, minerals.
THE ARCANE of minerals needs a more subtle sublimation than that of all the other arcane spirits, being more filled with excrement, faeces & tartar; for the earth - although it is the source of the heat of the sky & of the vital heat in the center of which the thicknesses of the elements amalgamate, unite with the subtlety of the sky, which by means of the rays of the planets & of the stars is infused into the earth, for the generation of all things. : However, this heat is less in the earth than in plants and animals, because of the large quantity of excrement which extinguishes this heat, thrown on lighted coals; this is why all the minerals which take their origin immediately from the earth, are colder than all the others, which are engendered & formed immediately by the vital heat of the earth which is the architect of all things, from which they should acquire a warmer quality , being created within her. This heat, however, rising above , leaves in the earth all that is coarse and muddy, from which metals are created, and the subtle is found on the surface of the earth and water, whose animals & plants are created.
The subtle has more of this heat than the coarse & thick, which by a very small heat, which it retains half-dead & suffocated, is preserved, so that no other, except the Philosophers, would believe that there would be a remnant of life hidden in the minerals, which nevertheless certainly retain this vital heat in all its vigor For this heat of life is the only one whose light penetrates the most remote places of the earth, and whose splendor directs the race in the woods dedicated to Proserpina, where the tree of riches covers the earth with its shade, but the lair is covered with a thick oak whose leaves are of gold, which oak among the Philosophers signifies no other excrement and faeces, in which all the minerals abound, which the very learned Virgil expressed in these terms: Latet arbore opaca... is hidden by a dark and bushy tree...
This darkness must be dissipated with the rays of our sublimation, and when they are dissipated the golden fruit will appear resplendent on this dark oak; but it takes a lot of work before having that honor, because our sublimation is not a small work and requires a lot of care, art and pain.
There are many operations to be carried out, which are very difficult, of which we have spoken in some preceding chapters, we have said many things, & it was very difficult to be able to say everything, also to write it. There are many essential things that cannot be manifested except to a true friend as rare as the phoenix. There are operations which can only be learned by experience, one must see them with one's own eyes, it is a manner of speaking; so that those who imagine that by the sole reading and meditation of books they will arrive at the possession of this art and will obtain it without the help of a friend, those, I say, are in error.
It should be observed that the mysteries of minerals are made from the juice of the central root of the minerals, express this juice from the central root, purify it, & with it, water the pure land with this same mineral from which you have drawn the juice in a short time, it will come out of this land a very rich tree with golden leaves.
Note. Sublimation is the last & absolute attenuation of fixed mercury, excrement is called death. This sublimation explains the whole riddle of Aristeas in the peat which says that the children of the art know that there is in mercury all that the wise seek: one should not however hear that of the common mercury, but of that which is pure, dry, brilliant & sublimated with the mineral root.
Note. The infix mercury and the fixed mercury compose all mineral nature .
The Philosophers have imagined rekindling this small fire contained in the metals which was almost extinguished by the terrestrial, aerial, aqueous excrements & frozen by the coarse thickness of the matter & attenuating the matter which contains it, & by adding a fire to it. greater, more abundant or similar, finally they separated this little fire from its pure nature, & got it pure, which then they fixed like very pure gold, & in this way the stone was found. of the Philosophers who has so much virtue, that by this divine remedy the fatal dissolution of the human body is delayed so long, that it seems to be an almost perpetual preservation of man.
Note. All things perish because our fire vanishes, since it is volatile, either taken from the air or from food: if it were permanent, life would be longer. But the Stone of the Philosophers being all of fixed and permanent fire, it brings about a new regeneration in us, so to speak, by restoring to us this divine fire which makes us live, as Medea did to Jason, with this sweet harmony of all elements, Orpheus brought back Euridice from the underworld. This is why, dear children of the Art who intend to practice good, put all your trust in God, pray to him to enlighten you, revive your courage, study until you are able to extract from the center of our precious mineral, this marvelous & pure substance composed of the thickness of the four elements, & to sublimate it into sulfur of a very pure nature, on which depends all the art, & with which one can easily make gold & silver.
when one has this sulfur of nature of the Philosophers, one is very happy, because then the work is very little and the labor inconsiderable to make the mysteries of animals, vegetables and minerals according to their processes.
Of union & fixation in general.
UNION & FIXING have correspondence together; union precedes fixation, but both at the same time, if you want, by a single & same vessel, by a single athanor & the same fire , all these operations can be carried out; this is why the union, for a greater intelligence, & to explain myself as much as possible without revealing such a beautiful mystery which should not be made public. The union, I say, is defined as the conjunction of the pure & brilliant radical moist with the fixed & equally pure & resplendent radical moist where is the union, a new & reiterated pure soul, mingled with its pure body.
It is also called the reunion of scattered things in the Philosophers' scale, volatile & fixed mercury which were joined together raw, not cooked & impure in the mineral body, are again joined together, after they have been separated, to make them deposit their excrements; that is why they are called dispersed.
Being therefore purified, they must be joined, which is called conjunction & union, or reunion of dispersed things.
Note. By souls certain philosophers meant the moist radicals, in the union of which natural metempsychosis consists, by means of which one can transmute some animal into another, that is to say, strip it entirely of the natural virtues of radical wet sound, & make him take on the virtues of another animal.
By the different processes and operations that must be carried out, a liquor will result, by means of which the sweetness of a lamb will be given to a tiger, a lion, a wolf, and the most cruel animals, and for the reason of the contrary, one will give to this same lamb, to a dog, to a dove, and to all the gentlest animals, the fury of the most cruel animals. A Physician must be instructed in these things, and he will learn to cure many diseases for which we do not know the cause nor the remedies.
One of these liquors being put in the stable where the sheep or other animals are, they will be terrified until it is removed.
sheep, ewes, cows or horses, not - growl said liquor will please them infinitely & will make them happy, but also it will protect them from all evils & illnesses by the only beneficial smell; also to men, which will spread through the air, will embalm it & will immediately drive away the plague & the scurvy from the house which would be attacked by this scourge. There are everywhere in the country a large number of these houses which are open sepulchres, those who have the misfortune to enter them, and the seafarers in their vessels often experience the same fate.
But with regard to my chemical metempsychosis, I do not want to ignore the fact that it also extends to all plants, it corrects all their bad qualities & gives them good ones, which is very useful in medicine. It makes wine & fruit delicious, as well as tobacco, tea & coffee, which are articles of commerce of the greatest importance by the product.
With regard to flowers, one can do the most pleasant and at the same time useful things. We can give, if we want, all the properties and smells of a rose, a carnation, a tuberose, etc. ... to a cabbage, a leek, turnips , salads, etc. .. & we will give all the virtues & smells of these vegetables to the flowers above, & to any other we want.
Note. The informer of the celestial faculties is the mercury of the world The bond of celestial virtue is so perfected in the union of the sperm, that is to say, of the fixed & infix spirits of the elementary seed, that the sky in this union is made earth & element, & it follows their nature & their property; although the earth and the element are forced to follow and imitate the virtues and properties of heaven; for in this way all the beings of the universe mingle and bind together.
The abundance of excrement is only the abbreviation of human life, and finally it is its extinction: hence appears the power and the excellence of the arcana, when all the excrement has been carefully separated from it.
I have not given, as we see in this chapter which is partly a key to this whole work, and about which I can say many essential things, neither any operation, nor any process on the useful and curious objects that it contains which are of the greatest importance; I am not permitted to reveal them unnecessarily, unless a curious, rich, and above all very generous man makes me change my resolution , because it is not right to give unnecessarily & without fruit his good and his harvest. He who has sown grain in his field must collect to pay for its pruning.
Of the Union of Vegetables.
In previous chapters, the union of vegetables, without however discovering the greatest mysteries, one can discover them by studying the principles that I give, and which are very good. I have said that the spagyric mysteries have more virtue than all the other mixed ones, and this is very true.
The torrid zone is fertile, because the ardor of the sun sublimates the vapours; hence it is that the rains and the dew are more abundant, by the mixture of which the spirit of the world becomes water with them, and falls on the earth, & he alone causes this great fertility If abundance to the earth, &c. .... Of this natural conversion of the spirit of the world into water & dew, world in physical water to do the chemical operations in their chemical vessels, in the same way in which every day, in the macrocosm & in the vault of the sky, this spirit changes into dew, into hoarfrost , into rain & into ' hail.
Note. The spirit of the world is a pure spirit & a certain invisible vapour, which is only perceptible by smell, because it has a strong smell of sulfur or spirit of wine: this spirit changes into all things, sometimes in water, sometimes in land; which made the Philosophers say that their philosopher's stone was everywhere, because its spirit or soul, without which it cannot be done, flutters everywhere.
The perpetuity & duration of our life consist in the pure. So let's use pure mysteries to prolong life. They are found in all three kingdoms.
Universal death, the end & the last period of all the generations of this world will follow: hence life becomes shorter every day, because of the great heap & accumulation of excrement. Manure, animal droppings & human excrement increase the fertility of the earth, &c.
Of the union of animals.
THE life of animals consists in union, death in dissolution &c disunion: but life is the continual abode of celestial heat. in the subject gathered from the thickness of the elements, from the union of which results the sensitive, vegetative or rational soul. ... .
Celestial heat was the God of Zeno.... The necessity of death comes from the weakness & decadence of our fixed & volatile principles....
The fixed & pure radical humidity of man must be conjoined with the another volatile as pure, so that the two being mixed together make only one, and which are forever inseparable, fixed and permanent.
The phlegm of wine weakens its virtue with its ethereal substance alone. What makes the eau-de-vie is the wine alone. It is therefore evident that the excrement of the water & of the earth prevent the virtues of the mixed ones; this is why the Philosophers have thought of separating it, so that this virtuous substance, being free, could put its power into action.
The radical humidity is nothing other than a certain unctuous matter coming from the seeds of the elements, and gathered together by the elementary and celestial spirits who mingle with it.
So long life depends on the abundance of spirits: the mixed ones follow the properties of heaven, the only freedom that God has given to man dispenses him from the necessity of acting; for otherwise he would be forced to follow the actions of his own something other than the virtues of the planets, which in its birth & at the beginning of its production, formed this same humid radical.
It necessarily follows that man and all living beings are subject to the virtues of heaven. The similar has incorporated into the very powerful similar, because the radical humidity of all things is made & formed of the celestial influences & of the pure thicknesses of the elements.
Who can deny that man and all sublunar things are subject to celestial virtues? But if sometimes prudent men escape from these astral virtues, they are nevertheless imprinted in themselves in their radical humidity, which was given to man in a supernatural way, as being endowed with a reasonable soul, which does not depend on its origin on the thickness of the elements, nor on the celestial spirits, it also has some properties of it -even, & faculties to act which are independent of these substances, of which it makes use as instruments.
What will be the animal arcana, taken from the blood or from the flesh of man, if it is deprived of its own form, that is to say, of the rational soul?
It will be a very great food which man can use to lead a truly vital life for a long time, for a long time the inferior foods of the living, by which reason and motives have been given them this name .of arcane....
Of the union of minerals .
The UNION of minerals, which is the beginning of the perfection of this arcana, consists in the radical humidity, mineral, pure, clear & clean, & separated from all that is heterogeneous to it. When I say radical humid, I mean that double humid of which all minerals are composed; namely, a fixed in which resides the form, & the other volatile & infix, in which consists the nourishment & nourishment of the fixed radical moist, which having a natural heat which from day to day is consumed by the heat itself , is devoured by inner hunger.
This volatile humidity is found only in the mines, while the minerals are.
Without the radical humidity nothing can be done to compose the mysteries. This radical humidity is the mercury of the Philosophers, the eau-de-vie, the spirit of life, the perpetual fountain, & a thousand other names are given to this moist volatile radical.
Read all the books as much & as long as you like, you will find nothing, because this double moist fixed & volatile radical does all, things, and nothing can be done without it. Hermes Trismegistus tells you in his Emerald Tablet: this humidity is the only thing in question. But because one cannot have it, expected that first in the same instant of its generation, it is sublimated in all the pores of the earth by its central heat & in this same way it is made the food of all things, & it is changed in the quality of each thing which it nourishes, because first it is occupied by various spirits of things which roam all over the world, therefore it suffices for us to have the particular humidity of each thing to do admirable mysteries ; therefore the radical humidity of the world is imperceptible, inasmuch as it is first changed into various particular things.
Nature & the humid radical are converted: it is also called mercury of life, element thickness; nature, raw material, fixed & volatile spirit; thus the children of the art from there will better penetrate the secrets of philosophy.
Therefore by this particular moist radical which is found in the center of the mineral, will know the nature of minerals, which being known, they will be able to do for themselves what nature does & can do in minerals , with it- even; because it can do a lot and its power is so great that one cannot believe it.
Because who would believe that the vapor, the wind, the spirit which are so subtle & invisible had the power to engender the sun, Adam, etc... steam, wind & spirit, & if we do not keep them in a well- stoppered vessel, it is certain & indubitable that the work that must be done with all these things perishes & becomes null; & the vulgar call us very inappropriately sellers of smoke, laugh when we say that nothing can prevent the wind.
But we must not despise our fumes, because they are the breather of life & the souls of the whole universe, which being an alcohol & a very subtle substance of all the elements & the stars, they are rightly compared to steam . , in the wind & in the spirit; because smoke, steam, in them is hidden this radical virtue of the whole mixture.
Nature rejoices in nature, and like loves like; this is why this virtue follows the fumes, the winds, the vapors and the other similar resolutions of the mixtures, which, although it is also found in coarse and hard bodies, is however there in all its subtlety and power which does not can manifest only through your Chemistry. Note. Chemical gold & silver are the unctuous & fixed substance of minerals.
We extract from iron and copper a very green excrementous terrestrial substance,
When, for example, of these metals one prepares a vitriol from which then when one separates its spirit or its acid oil, & then from their dead head by dissolving & filtering a pure & clear salt, all that is not of the nature of salt is not dissolved in water, and remains, in its entirety, rushes to the bottom which is very green.
This is the green excrement of Venus and Mars which is their terrestrial substance, superfluous and excrementous, from which emeralds very similar to fine and natural emeralds are made, provided that it is vitrified by a very violent fire.
In the same way one can separate from lead its earthly & excremental substance from the spirit of Saturn, very red of the color of rubies, as of other metals.
But with a good method founded on good principles which are those which nature teaches us, by imitating it one can make all kinds of precious stones of great price & , it is not out of place to believe that the glass can be made malleable by knowing the primary cause of its fragility, it is a question of giving it the smoothness of which it is deprived by the violence of the fire when it is in the crucible; & if one succeeds in it as it is possible, then one will be able to forge this glass which will extend under the hammer like the ordinary metals which are stripped of their fixed and too fixed earthly salt, since this salt holds the place of the unctuous substance which is missing in the glass, which makes it sour & brittle.
With a good method always based on good principles, we will also make fine pearls of great value. What do we not do with the energy of heaven & the virtue of the four elements; does it result in surprising things? Can we travel in the air & do other wonders?
Note. All created things have one and the same substance. The stone of the Philosophers, and the mysteries of the Chymists have a great food force. Life takes root in the unctuous substance alone. This substance unctuous of all things is the unique root of life, which is very abundant in stones, in metals, and in other semi- minerals; but it is useless to support life and restore it when it languishes because of the great abundance of earthly excrement, which, not being separated, so embarrasses this little fire of life, that they preserve it as almost dead.
But how is it to skilfully extract this unctuous substance from the excrement? we have already taught it in several places in this book; so that if what we have said of it is not enough to make you understand the true preparation of the radical humid, we will not add here something else except that it is necessary to put in distilling vessels all the minerals after having calcined them, so that by a single & same operation, the mineral volatile spirit is drawn, & the spirit which is the fixed radical moist, that is to say, the unctuous metallic or mineral matter, when it is separated from its volatile spirit, which must also be separated from all that is heterogeneous to it.
In this way, by distillation alone, which is done in a well- struggled retort, you will obtain our chemical water & our gold, of which being very clean & pure, you will make the first union, so that by this conjunction, the gold can be sublimated, with which being sublimated one makes the second. union with its water, which must also have been stripped of all heterogeneous parts by distillation.
Finally we put the arcane to coagulate according to the art, so that everything is in its perfection, & as the fixation & coagulation are a means for the perfection of the work, we will speak about it in the continuation.
Coagulation & fixation in general.
Uptake & coagulation differ according to more or less; fixation is therefore a permutation of the radical, pure & volatile humidity into a permanent, radical, unctuous substance, which is first called coagulation & then fixation; that's why nothing can be fixed & coagulate, that it does not contain in itself some small portions of the humid...
Note. The hardening of the soft & the concealment of the temper mean the same thing. Fixation & coagulation presuppose humor. In the beginning of the mysteries all things are water, and at the end are powder; this is why it is true to say that if you do not make incorporeal what is corporeal, and what is incorporeal if you do not make it corporeal, you have not yet found the beginning of this work.
In the preceding chapters we have taught the manner of reducing all things to water, except the heterogeneous: it now remains for us to teach how to reduce water to a body or powder.
In the center of anything is hidden an incorruptible substance, immutable in all its parts, always retaining the virtue of the mixture from which this substance has been drawn, purified, & separated from all that is heterogeneous to it very fixed & permanent. If it is mixed with aqueous, ethereal & volatile igneous substances, which are homogeneous with this same substance, it becomes in the end water, & is changed into an ethereal, igneous & volatile substance; but because it is naturally brought to a certain fixity, it comes that by means of a light and continual coction, this a fixed substance gradually overcomes humidity and overcomes it, although it had previously made it water; & in this way it binds what is moist, freezes you by its natural dryness, which little by little has been increased by external heat, & finally by a prompt movement it acquires its ultimate perfection.
The volatile spirit of the fixed substance makes the volatile substance fixed: the fixed substance, although it is dissolved again, it is fixed.
The radical humidity tends naturally to fixation... Perfection when it is brought to its highest degree is then communicable....
Fixation is the symbol of resurrection....
By fixing the chemical mysteries future life and God himself are enlightened.
No mixture dies except through accidents....
The radical humidity in its center does not suffer any corruption in the productive generation....
The excrements are the impediments of nature, the privation of the same excrements is death. ...
In the center of the compound is hidden an incorruptible substance which demonstrates that there is a God...
God absolutely cannot be known by anything other than the mind & spirit of man....
The knowledge of God, which we have of created things, is not absolute but much imperfect....
The excellence of Alchymy is, because it demonstrates by its works that there is certainly an almighty God, creator of the universe.
One cannot know Alchymy without coming to the knowledge of God, all its operations evidently prove it.
The human deity having an origin denotes that there is another which is of origin....
In the human body there is an incorruptible substance....
The resurrection is neither creation nor generation....
The reasonable soul testifies that there is an almighty God....
Man as he is made in the image & likeness of God, we conclude that he is divine....
Man rejoices in his good works, he follows death, and although he does not exercise virtuous works, however he praises them greatly when he sees them practiced by others....
Man strives to imitate God in all things, he is the monkey of God We have said that the fixed is a divine thing: God only rejoices in all that is pure, and he rejects the impure.
Of the coagulation of plants.
AS long as the spirit substance subsists in plants, their virtues are always preserved....
Plants have different spirits from those of animals.
Good chemists must know perfectly well the radical substances of plants.
This is more or less the way to make the arcana of plants.
Take the very spirit substance. pure of the plants, & in it dissolve the fixed substance of the same plants, which similarly must be very pure, imbibe this fixed substance with the spirituous substance by reiterating the dissolutions, the imbibitions & the distillations or cohobations, until this substance fixed, deprived of spirits, sublimates and made volatile.
Then this substance elevated by several sublimations, and of the earth that it was, having been made or become heaven, you will take it and put a certain weight of it in a clear and strong glass, with a long neck, with as much of the said substance.
spirit purified by several distillations, & you will put the vessel in the secret oven of the Philosophers, at a very soft & temperate fire, where you will leave it until everything is fixed: by this method you will be able to make, the arcane of the plants in its ultimate perfection.
Observe that in all things that corrupt, there is something hidden incorruptible which is the object of Chemistry. God manifests & makes himself seen more in the pure parts of nature than in other things....
Man after death very clearly shows his divinity....
All things, if they do not die, do not cannot manifest the shadow of the divinity & the symbol they have.
All action depends on the pure substance. The dissolution of the mixtures is done to remove the excrements....
The chemical remedies are more perfect than all the others, because they are stripped of all excrements.
Several diseases are generated in the stomach when common medicines are swallowed, only chemical remedies have the power to restore a lost stomach & cure its diseases.
The pureness of nature is the only mystery against all diseases. The spagyric art is the column and the support of medicine.
Of coagulation, of animals.
The radical matter of vegetables and animals is the same, nature alone can make the pure in the food and give rise to the seed.
The pure of vegetable nature is easily changed to the pure of animal nature.
The seed of all things proceeds from the seed of the world. In every seed there is some degree of fire...
The pure of plants through nutrition is easily changed to the pure of animals.
The radical humidity of the minerals passes into the humidity of the plants.
Raimond Lully in his theory says, all the arcane virtue of animals consists in coagulation.
The volatile & the fixed need mutual help to be purified.
The mysteries receive their virtues from the fires....
In the riddles of the Egyptians there is a great secret hidden under the dragon, they conjoined the winged & volatile dragon with the crawling dragon, both in a circle, to hide the arcane, & in order not to divulge to all the world the mutual fraternity & the work of the fixed radical humidity with the volatile humidity; for the chymists call these two moist radicals their dragons. .
To compose & make the mysteries, it is necessary beforehand to purify & separate the radical parts from all impurities.
Nature for the generation of animals takes the seed rather than anything else. Alchymy is the separation of the pure from the impure.
Changing the last food represents fixation.
Food is a new generation, Nature in the generation of animals exercises the spagyric art.
Coagulation of minerals!
BY the fixation & coagulation of minerals is meant a hardened union of substance either volatile or fixed made by art & not by nature.
The mineral arcana consists in the fixing of the radical parts: it is therefore necessary to study in the first place & try to have a very large quantity of the volatile radical part of the minerals, & that it be pure & separated from all refuse & from everything that is heterogeneous to it, what we will obtain by distilling it many selves; what you will recognize by taste, sight & touch.
Note. The Mercury of the Philosophers is known by these marks, it has a sweet & acrid taste, just as if it were a pomegranate liqueur; but it is more acrid than sweet & besides this great sweetness & acridity, there is in this liquor a certain igneous violence, like the oil of sulfur made by the bell, mortified, & like the quintessence of wine circulated for a long time & impregnated with the spirit of sulfur...
As regards the marks that it presents to the sight, it is very similar to a very clear liquor, tenacious & of a viscous substance,
After the spagyric chymist will have known all these signs in his liquor drawn from the volatile radical part of minerals, it is necessary, moreover, that he know the qualities of the radical part, and its particular properties, from which one comes in knowledge of its purity & of its perfection;
By what signs one should know Cor, physical.
IN what fixed substance or earth this grain must be sown & planted, that is, this liquor & mineral water must be putrefied & finally fixed, & with both must be made the sulfur of nature, with which immediately & with the same water is made the physical stone & this so famous tincture of the Philosophers.
We know by several indices & marks of its perfection, when this radical fixed part is well purified, & clean & suitable for our work. In the first place, when it is dissolved with its water, and having left it to rest, it does not deposit any faeces at the bottom of the vessel, and there is no atom which flutters in the middle of the water, which disturbs its clarity, but that all the water is clear & transparent, so much so that it appears that the water retains nothing solid in its pores, except that it is red in color; In the second place, that in the solution the water and the earth mingle together, & thicken each other as if the earth were glue & gum; & it is truly the glue of this water.
Thirdly, let them both join together without any noise or struggle, let the earth dissolve in its water little by little on a very light and sweet heat, as ice does in hot water or butter in boiling oil... It must weigh and have the weight of the most perfect metal. When you have seen all these signs, then you can attempt the union of the radical mineral parts without any doubt.
But to make this union & conjunction, it is necessary to take a suitable weight of each moist radical. If any part is moist, i.e. liquid, & having the form of water, must be in greater quantity for several reasons.
i°. If the dry part weighed more than the moist part, there would be no corruption in the arcane, that is to say, we would not see the blackness, which does not appear to be impossible for the two moist to join together . , & let there be a radical union; & without this union the arcana perishes, & corruption would not take place, if not by the wet which dissolves the dry... It is therefore necessary that the wet part weigh more than the dry.
The Philosophers propose various weights in peat, such as Morien, R. Lulle, Aftephius & others; however they do not make fun of the readers, because in the weight & measure of the physical arcanum, there is a certain extent of weight & measure, both in the first and in the second operation, which in various degrees among which is preserved the proper weight of the physical arcana while preserving the generative virtue.
Our arcana can be perfected by various weights, provided that they do not exceed these weights by the latitude of the weight of the physical arcana in which the productive virtue of this arcana is preserved: but the latitude may be within the limits of a single weight of the dry part perfectly purified & sublimated with ten or twelve parts of the moist likewise purified by several distillations without damaging the generative & productive virtue.
So that we can join a part of our foliated earth with two weights of the wet part with a part of the dry part: thus we can make the conjunction & the union of our mercury without any damage or danger, except that when there are six parts wet with one part dry, the coagulation or fixation of the arcana takes place later; this is why there are philosophers who claim to have completed our arcanum in two months, others in twelve months, in twenty-four. So all do not lie, because the short or long time of the composition of our arcana, depends on the weight of water physical which I call the wet part of the wet radical of the minerals. .. .. The secret to making the arcana in less time also depends on the volatile red mercury, which is the physical tincture drawn from our sun, that is, the sulfur of nature rubified by the action of fire , which being dissolved with its water impregnated with the solar mercury, or with its blood or tincture of double weight & being both cooked in the athanor with a very gentle & continual fire, in two months or rather all the arcane will be done & perfect.
In this way we see that all the Philosophers speak of the time they spent doing it & depending on whether the weight of the mercurial water was different, the time likewise was to do their arcana; for mercurial water being raw uncooked & infix volatile cannot cook & fix first, but it cooks & fixes with time, which fix is accelerated by a small amount of our physical gold, which being cooks & sets, cooks & sets promptly the raw parts which are not cooked with mineral water; which it however would not do only in a very long space of time, if it were not our soil which with its internal fire helps & excites the fire. internal of its similar, that is to say, mercurial water, so that it can be fixed more quickly, it would take a very long time, being of the same radical nature as our gold; & for that it could be fixed at the end, & become gold or tincture of the Philosophers, because of its fire or internal sulfur which naturally & of itself tends to the fixation; what made the Philosophers say: // is found in mercury all that the Sages seek; it must nevertheless be understood that they speak of mercury impregnated with the tincture of gold, because this mercury is their true mercury.
Volatile raw mercurial water cannot settle so quickly; that is why if it is not fixed it is vain & almost useless, flying away in the projection & removing the metallic spirits, to perfect the raw metallic substances which are not cooked: this is why it is absolutely necessary that this volatile raw humidity which makes the water mercurial & which contains in itself the metallic spirits, be cooked & fixed, so that likewise with it be baked & fixed the metallic spirits it contains; for these spirits alone are the life and perfection of metals.
But that this can be done without gold, I have never experienced it, and I would not like to prove it; because if the mercurial water alone were enclosed in a vessel, & were cooked, I think that the mystery would be done: but in what time, I don't; for I believe that those who have attempted this work have never fixed this mercurial water all by itself in ten years, & still it cannot be called a perfect fixation. Each weight of earth fixed on ten weights of mercury water requires a year to be perfectly fixed: therefore if a part of our earth fixes ten parts of mercury water in a year, I conjecture by that that if we did not add to it no fixed earth to the mercurial water, it could never settle and perfectly coagulate for another ten years. In the macrocosm however many things coagulate without any parts of this fixed earth.. . ; the archaea or internal spirits govern the moist, radical...
The fixation & coagulation of all things depends on the spirits of salt: mercury is very hot.
The fixed earth parts are added to the chemical arcana to accelerate the fixation & coagulation of the physical arcana.
Of the multiplication of the mysteries,
THE multiplication of the mysteries nff cannot be done unless the whole operation is done & perfect. Here follows the method to do it.
It is necessary that you have a sufficient quantity of well purified mercurial water, and brought to the last degree of perfection by distillation, in which you will dissolve your mineral arcana; being dissolved you will putrefy it: divide the putrefaction: purify it with very light spirits & subtle & by distillations, until it has acquired the last degree of purity, when it will be thus purified, unite it & cook it; finally being cooked over a light fire until it is dried, & the arcana being dried it is cooked again, making it pass through all the colors until the color of purple, by this coction its virtue will be increased a hundredfold from what it was before; & if you again dry the arcana, & if you raise it in subtle flowers by sublimation, having previously dissolved it & cooked until dryness, you will have a very perfect arcana which Virtue will do a thousand times stronger than the first.
Whenever you want to multiply the mysteries of animals, you must have the fixed salt which was drawn from the caput mortuum of the blood when one sublimates the flower of the salt of the animal blood, pure, clear & very red, & being dissolved with the animal spirit which is the flower of its salt in water very clear by putrefaction, it is necessary to extract its tincture from it, and with this tincture spirit it is necessary to dissolve the arcana animal, then cook it to fix it, because everything is renewed by the fire of the chymists, which has an infinite power and a divine virtue to bring out the universal and resplendent hidden light of all nature, all of whose works are admirable.
Treaty of Nature Sulfur.
If the operations of nature which she makes us see every day do not serve as an example enough, no example will serve any purpose: consider carefully how nature operates, & you will learn more from her, who is a learned mistress, than of all her disciples.
The extraction of souls from gold or silver done by any vulgar way whatsoever of alchemists, to be introduced into another body, is pure imagination, this is verified by the damage that this operation causes. On the contrary, he who can do this (as are the Philosophers) without any fraud, that is to say, dye the least metal with profit or not color gold & real silver to all tests, then he has the doors of nature open to go further, & with the help of God to do great things.
The perfection of art consists in the operations of nature alone: follow the good path that nature prescribes in all its operations from which it never deviates, therefore listen to my words, dear children of art, when I speaks to you of the forces of nature which has such great power, & quit all your dealbations & rubifications of the ignorant who lead you into the path of error.
The books of Geber & other Philosophers, you can hardly hear them after having read them a thousand times: their explanation is much more difficult than the text; in everything you read I advise you to stop at the text, apply everything to the possibility of nature, make exact searches to know what nature is.
ALL write with one accord that it is a base, easy, common thing, that is exactly true; but this vile & common thing is known only by the Scholars, & these Scholars will always know it were she among the manure , the dung & the excrements, & the ignorant do not even believe that she is in the gold.
May my dear readers therefore apply all things to the possibility of nature & in the ordinary course of it. And if from my example & from my words one cannot know the operation of simple nature & the ministers of this vital spirit which constrain the air, nor the subject of the first matter, one will hardly hear R. Lully, for it is hard to believe that the spirits have so much power in the belly of the wind.
In past centuries, the confidence of friends, very different from those of today, was complete, because good faith reigned, and this so useful science was in all its luster, and it was communicated verbally to one's friend . ; now that the blackest perfidy has driven good faith from its throne, he who is instructed is often forced to avoid the ambushes of enemies & the destruction of his self; yes, he is forced to keep silent about the useful things he could communicate, and that is how society is often deprived of great enlightenment. We can therefore now acquire this science only by the inspiration of Almighty God, which is why he who loves it with all his heart & fears it, should not despair, by seeking it with care, from the find, because it is easier to get it from Almighty God than from wise, fearing men; rightly the perfidy of the wicked.
God is immense, good & merciful; that's why he never gives up never the one who puts all his confidence in him, with God there is no preeminence of anyone, the poorest & the most despised who has his fear is preferred to the Kings & to all the Princes of the universe who do not have not, he makes much more of those who have a contrite and humiliated heart, and he always has pity on those who turn to him with the intention of doing good . Rekindle your courage then, dear children of the art, put all your hope in God, and he will not refuse you this grace. Adore him & invoke him day & night & unceasingly if you want him to open the true doors of nature to you, &. you are brought into his sanctuary, you will see there, with a pleasant surprise, how nature works with simplicity according to the power it has received from the Creator. As she is simple, she only likes works that are simple.
Believe me, all that is noblest, most marvelous & most surprising in our eyes is precisely what is easiest & simplest when we know it, because all truth is simple. Almighty God did not put anything difficult in nature. Be the imitator of nature, stay in the simple way of nature, & you will find all kinds of goods, & certainly the most solid goods., Work & do not get tired of seek; for if you knock, the door will be opened to you: invoke God, fear and love him, read this work with attention, and that of the illustrious Sabine Stuart, my dear wife, one of the most beautiful models of her sex by her virtues, they will certainly give you very great lights, & it will be possible that by your work you will put yourself in possession of a great fortune to practice good, & I say that if God sees fit to favor you by imitating nature in your operations, & that you arrive happily at the port or in the promised land, according to the end that you propose to yourself, then there is no doubt that you will See with your own eyes, as I have seen myself with my dear Sabine, that everything I have told you is good & true....
Sulfur is not the last among the principles, because it is the part of metal, & even the main part of the Philosopher's stone.
The Sages have left us very true writings of sulphur. Geber says: Sulfur illuminates every body, & it is light from light & tincture. I want to describe here the origin of the principles according to the ancient Philosophers. Sulfur and mercury are the principles of things, principally of metals, and, according to the moderns, these principles are three; namely, salt, sulfur & mercury.
The four elements make their origin. hold great mysteries.
There are therefore four elements, and each of them has in its center another element, by which it is elemented. & these elements make the four statues of the world, separated from the chaos in the creation of the world by the divine wisdom, which by their contrary actions in equality & proportion, govern the machine of this world, & by the influence of the celestial virtues, produce all things, whether in the earth or on the earth. I would go too far if I said more when speaking of fire & water, & above all of the air in which one can see such beautiful sights that would astonish & fill the most incredulous with admiration.
From the element of earth.
In this element there are three others, & principally the fire which rests there: this element is coarse & porous, the center of the world & of the other elements is spongy, receiving all that the other three elements distill & project into it.
The element of the earth produces nothing of itself, but it is the reservoir of others in which everything produced is enclosed, & by the movement of heat putrefies in it, & the pure being separated from the impure. by the same heat, it multiplies; what is heavy is hidden in it, and what is light is pushed by heat to its surface....
The earth is the nurse & the matrix of all seed & all mixtures, it preserves the seed & the compound until its maturity, it is cold & dry, & is tempered by water; from the visible exterior it is fixed, and from the invisible interior it is volatile. It is virgin from the creation of the distillation of the world, separated from the dead head which some day, by divine will, will be calcined after the extraction of its humidity, so that from it a new crystalline earth is created.
This element is divided into a pure part & another which is impure; she uses pure water to produce all things, If the impure remains in her globe.
This element is there hidden, & it is the domicile of all treasures. There is in its center a hellfire holding the great machine of this world in its being, and this by the expression of water.
This fire is caused & kindled in the air by the influences of the stars. This fire is remedied by the heat of the sun tempered by the air to ripen & attract all that is already conceived in its Center; this is why the earth participates with the fire, & it is its intrinsic, & it is not purified without the fire & thus each element is purified by its intrinsic element, & the interior of the earth, or its center, is a very great purity, mixed with the fire where nothing can rest; for it is almost like an empty place, into which the other elements introduce their actions, as we have already said. . The earth is the sponge & the receptacle of the other elements &c...
Of the element of water,
WATER is a very heavy element, full of an unctuous phlegm, outside it is volatile, & inside it is fixed, it is cold & humid & it is tempered by the air; he is the sperm of the world; in which is kept the seed of all things, he is the keeper of all seeds. However, you must know that sperm and semen are two very different things.
The reservoir of the sperm is the earth, and that of the semen is the water; all that the air distills into water because of the fire, it is the water that carries it into the earth; sometimes the sperm does not have enough semen, and this comes from the lack of heat which digests it; for the sperm is always abundant & awaits the seed, which by the imagination of the fire, by the movement of the air is carried into the womb, & very often the seed running out, the sperm enters, but it returns fruitless ; this is what we have spoken of more fully elsewhere, in speaking of salt, the third principle.
It often happens in nature that the sperm enters the womb with a sufficient seed; but the womb being indisposed & full of peccan sulfur or phlegm, then it does not conceive, & it does not do what should have been done, & in this element also there is really nothing, except as it usually is. in semen. He delights much in his own movement which is caused by the air, & mixes easily with things because of his volatile superficial body.
He is the reservoir of the universal seed. The earth is easily purified in it, & resolves, & in the air in it freezes, & conjoins with it intimately.
The menstruation of the world is that which, penetrating the air by virtue of heat, draws with itself the hot vapor, which naturally causes the generation of those things, which nature is impregnated as womb, & when the womb has received a suitable portion of seed, such as it is, it makes its way, & nature operates without intermission until the end, & the remaining moisture, that is to say the sperm, falls aside, acting the heat in the earth putrefies, (what is thrown aside) & from it afterwards another thing is engendered, such as little insects, worms, &c.
A skilful & subtle artist could see in this element as in the sperm various miracles of nature; but he would have to take this sperm, in which is already imagined the astral seed, at a certain weight, because nature makes things pure in the first putrefaction, in the second putrefaction they are purer & more noble; thus nature makes wood in its first composition; & when the wood rots, it generates in it worms having life & sight, & the sensitive animal is more noble than the vegetable, & requires a purer material to form the organs of the animal,
This element is the menstruation of the world, it is purer & very pure. From his most pure substance were created the heavens: the purest dissolved in the air, nature which follows exactly the laws he has prescribed for it, preserves all subtle things, makes a globe with the earth, it has its center in the heart of the sea> & has a polar axis with the earth, by which all the sources of the waters come out & form great rivers: by the outlet of these waters the earth is preserved from combustion, & by this moistening the seed is carried into the pores (I mean the universal seed) of the whole earth, & this speaks means of motion & heat.
Note. All running waters return to the heart of the sea; but where they go next is not known to everyone. The stars are made of air & fire. The waters are held back on the foundations of the earth as in a barrel by the movement of the water, & towards the arctic pole by it are constrained, because there is no vacuum in the world; wherefore in the center of the earth there is a fire of infernal heat, which the archaea of nature governs.
For in the beginning of the creation of the world God Almighty in the first place from this confused chaos, exalted the quintessence of the elements, & it was made more perfect; then he raised above all things the most pure substance of fire to place his most holy majesty, and set it, and established it within its limits.
In the center of the chaos (by the will of the immense wisdom of God) was kindled this fire, which then distilled these very pure waters; but because already this most pure fire has closed with the throne of the Most High God, the waters have condensed under this fire, and to strengthen themselves further the coarser fire has distilled (still acting this central fire) who remained in the waters, under the sphere of fire, & thus the waters between two fires were congealed & compressed in heaven; but this central fire has not ceased & in distilling it has also resolved other less pure waters into air, which also has remained in its own sphere under the sphere of fire, & it is surrounded by the element of fire, & as the waters of the heavens cannot surpass this super-celestial fire, so the element of fire cannot surpass the waters of the heavens, nor similarly the air cannot surpass & rise above the element of, fire, & water with earth has remained in a single globe, because it has no place in the air, except that part which the fire resolves into air, to daily fortify the great machine of this world. For if there were emptiness in the air , then all the waters would distill & dissolve into air; but the sphere of air is already full, because it is filled with the waters which always distill by the continual movement of the central heat; so that the other waters by the compression of the air assemble around the earth, & with the earth they hold the center of the world, which operation is done day by day, & thus the world is fortified & will remain naturally incorruptible, unless unless the will of God, creator of all things, permits otherwise, his will being absolute; because this central fire will not cease to ignite & to heat the waters because of the universal movement, & the influence of the celestial virtues, neither the waters will cease to be resolved into air, nor the air will not cease to compress the remaining waters with the earth, & contain them so strongly that they will not be able to move & move away from their center; & thus naturally this world was made & it is supported by divine wisdom & its omnipotence, & thus in the example of this all things are done naturally in this world, & it is absolutely necessary that it be done so .
All that I have just said is so that you may know that the four elements have a natural sympathy with higher things, because they are the same thing, and they are drawn from a single chaos; but they do ruled by the higher things as being most worthy; & all sublunary things must obey them.
Of the course of the waters & the ebb and flow of the sea.
THE waters flow from one pole to the other. There are two poles, an arctic in the northern upper part; the other, Antarctica under the earth in the southern part.
The arctic pole has a magnetic source to attract; & the antarctic pole has an equal source to hunt & repel; this is what nature demonstrates to us in the effects of the magnet stone, of which she gives us proofs by the experiments that we make of it.
The arctic pole therefore attracts the waters by the axis, into which having entered, again by the axis of the antarctic pole they leave with great impetuosity; & because the air does not allow inequality, they are of again pushed to the arctic pole their center, & are forced to return there immediately, & to make thus their course continuously, in which course they are extended from the arctic pole to the antarctic by means of the axis of the world in the the pores of the earth, & thus according to whether they are more or less widespread, springs form, & then increasing in their course, assemble & form rivers, & again they return to the place from which they have gone out, and this is done without stopping by the universal movement.
Some ignoramuses say that these waters not knowing the universal movement & the polar virtues, that they are engendered by the stars which neither produce nor engender anything material, and only print their virtues and spiritual influences, which however do not give weight.
The waters are therefore not begotten; but you must know that they come out of the center of the sea through the pores of the earth, and that they spread through everyone.
From there comes that the Philosophers have found various instruments to lead, where they would like, the waters of the fountains & the rivers.... because art imitates nature.
Know then, for any conclusion, that the springs do not come from the stars, but from the center of the sea where they go again to go; & so they observe the continual movement, for otherwise nothing is generated at all, neither in the earth nor on the earth, otherwise the total ruin of the world would follow.
It should be observed that the water being distilled & filtered through the pores of the earth loses its salt, it is sweetened when passing through narrow places. & through the sands, from there come the fountains, the springs, the mines, &c.
Similarly, when the waters passing through hot, sulphurous places which burn continuously, they heat up, from there come the mineral waters and the hot baths, in which places nature distills mines of sulfur, and separates them into the bowels of the earth, sulphurous are lit by the central fire. The water running through these hot places, it heats up more or less, according as it moves away from them, and it comes to the surface of the earth, and retains with itself the vapor of sulfur, just as does any kind of broth. In the decoction of meats, the same is done with the water by the places of the mine, either sulphurous or aluminous which retains in passing their flavor.
Such is therefore the creative distiller of all things, in whose hands is this distillery: by whose example, all the distillations of the Philosophers have been invented, what God himself almighty & merciful has undoubtedly inspired in men, who will be able to , please, or put out the central fire, or break the ship, and then it will be the end of all things.
But as his divine goodness always tends to the best, it will one day exalt his glory, & make this fire the purest of all, & will give a stronger degree to the central fire, so that all the waters rise in the air, & for then the earth will be calcined, by this means all the impurity of the fire being consumed, will make the subtle waters & circulated in the air of the pure land, & by this way the world will make a nobler fact, if it is allowed to speak like this. Let the children of art know that earth & water have one globe, & do all things together, which the other two hidden there operate.
Fire preserves the earth & prevents it from being submerged or dissolved; the air preserves the fire so that it does not go out; the water preserves the earth, so that the fire born burns it entirely. This should suffice for the children of art to know in what things the foundations of the elements consist, and in what manner the Philosophers have observed their contrary actions, conjoining fire with earth, air with water, although when they wanted something noble, they cooked the fire, in the water, considering that one blood was purer than the other, as the tear is purer than the urine.
It is therefore evident, by what I have said, that the element of water is the sperm & the menstruation of the world, & also the reservoir of the semen.
Of the Element of Air
AIR is an entire element, very worthy in its quality, very light & invisible outside; but inside heavy, visible & fixed, it is hot & humid, it is tempered by fire, it is more worthy & nobler than earth & water. It is in truth volatile, but it is fixed, and when it is fixed, it makes every body penetrable.
From its very pure substance were created the vital spirits & animals, the less pure remained in the sphere of the air & were raised, & the remainder, the coarser part remained in the water, circulating with it, just as the fire with the earth, because they make friends. This element is very worthy, and it is the true place of the seed of all things; in him the semen is thus imagined as in the man, which then, by the circular motion, is thrown into his sperm.
This element has the form of integrity to distribute the semen to the womb through the sperm & menstruation of the world. In it also is the vital spirit of every creature, intimately joining, penetrating & constraining the seed to the other elements, just as man does to women; it feeds them, impregnates them, preserves them, only live all the animals, the plants & the minerals, but also all the other elements, & all the waters putrefy &. rot without new air, the fire is extinguished if you remove the air from it (hence it is that the chymists, by registers, distribute the fire by the air little by little & by degrees).
The lands are also preserved by the air, & finally the whole machine of the world is preserved by the air, & the same among the animals; for man perishes when the air is taken from him. In the world nothing grows without the force of the air which penetrates, alters, and brings with it the multiplicative nourishment. In this element is imagined the seed by the virtue of fire, menses of the world by this occult virtue as in the trees and in the grass, when through the pores of the earth, by the action of spiritual heat, the sperm come out with the semen, and the virtue of the air constrains it and freezes drop by drop, & so day by day, drop by drop growing they become great trees.
In this element are all things imaginable by the imagination of fire, which element is full of divine virtue; for in it is contained the spirit of God, who before the creation of the world was carried on the waters, and flew on the wings of the winds. There must therefore be no doubt that he left of his divine virtue in this element: for God has adorned this element with the vital spirit of all creation. For in this element is contained the seed of all things dispersed in the world, to which from creation was first contained this magnetic force by the Creator of heaven and earth, which force, if he had not , it could not attract any food, & the seed would thus remain in its small quantity, & would neither grow nor multiply (but as the magnet stone attracts hard iron to itself as an arctic pole which attracts to itself the waters ); thus the air by the vegetal magnet, which is in the seed, attracts to itself the nourishment of the menstruation of the world, that is to say,
All these things are through the air which is the conductor of the waters, and its force is contained and concealed in every seed to attract the radical humidity, which virtue is always in every seed in the two hundred and eightieth part.
We have spoken enough of that element which is most worthy and most noble, in which is the seed and the vital spirit, or the abode of the soul of all creatures .
Of the element of fire
Fire is a very pure element, the most worthy of all, full of an adherent & corrosive unctuosity, penetrating, digesting, corroding & very adherent, from outside it is visible, & from within it is invisible, very fixed, hot & dry, & it is tempered by the earth.
Its substance is the purest of all other substances, and its essence was elevated with the throne of divine majesty before all created things. When the waters of the heavens were formed, as we have said, from their less pure substance, the Angels were created: from the less pure, from the very pure of the air, the luminaries and the stars were created.
The less pure, which was still in the sphere, was raised to enclose the heavens; oh the impure & unctuous substance was left by the very wise Creator in the center of the earth to continue the movement of operations, & has enclosed it there, which we called gene.
All these fires are divided, but they have a natural sympathy against them.
This element is the quietest of all, & similar to a chariot, which runs when it is pulled, & when it is not it remains quiet, it is also in all things imperceptibly.
In this element are the vital & intellectual reasons which are distributed in the first infusion of human life, which is called rational soul, by which only man differs from other animals, & he is like God.
This soul is divinely infused into the vital spirit by this very pure elemental fire. This is why because of this soul man, after the creation of all things, was created in a particular macrocosm.
In this subject of all things, the creator God has placed and placed his seat and His Majesty, as in a very pure and very tranquil subject, which is governed by his sole will and his immense wisdom; this is why God abhors all that is impure, & nothing that is filthy, spotted & defiled can approach God; therefore no mortal can see or hear God naturally.
For this fire, which is in the circumference of God, and which is the trunk of his divine majesty, is so ardent and so pure, that no eye can penetrate it, because the fire does not allow any compound to 'approaching , & the separation of all that is composed.
It is a very quiet subject (it is the truth), otherwise it would follow ( the mere thought of which would be absurd) that God could not rest, for he is very quiet and of a silence that the mind human cannot understand; for example, in the stone fire where the fire is hidden, & which however does not make itself felt, & does not appear until it is excited by the movement & is lit in it so that it appears.
Thus this fire, in which is placed the most holy majesty of our Creator, does not move, except of the own will of the sovereign Master of the universe, when he wants to excite it, make you feel.
For by the will of God there is a very vehement and terrible movement; we have a faint example of this in the courts of the Monarchs of the earth when they sit upon their thrones with great pomp; What tranquillity, what silence is there not then, And when the Monarch comes to move , there is instantly a noise, a movement & a universal tumult, the whole assembly stirs with him ; thus when the King of Kings, whose example the Princes of the earth follow, moves his authority, what a movement then, what a noise and what a tremor is not made, when around him the whole celestial assembly , dominions , powers , virtues, the angels & the archangels come to move?
Note. All these things are manifested to the Philosophers & even by incomprehensible wisdom, many things make them inspired which make them created after the example of nature, & by these marvelous mysteries, they learn that nature follows by operating its model, that is that is to say the sky, and that nothing is done on earth, except by the example of the celestial monarchy, which example we have of the various laboratories of the Angels; thus nothing originates, nor is generated, except naturally, all artifices come from the foundations of nature.
The Almighty Lord God wanted to manifest to man all the natural things, & moreover he showed us the celestial things, even which are made naturally, so that by them we better know his absolute & incomprehensible power & wisdom, all of which things the Philosophers see in the light of nature as in a mirror; this is why they have made a great case of this science, not by greed for gold or silver which are not the object of their research, but because it gives knowledge, not only of all natural things, but also of the power of the Creator himself, and of all this they spoke figuratively, so that the mysteries of God, by which nature is explained, were never manifested to the unworthy, which you will easily understand if you know how to know yourself, who were created not only in the similarity of the macrocosm or great world, but also in the image & likeness of God himself.
So you have in your body the anatomy of everyone; you have in the firmament the quintessence of the four elements, drawn from the chaos of the sperms in the matrix & reserved further in the skin; you have the most pure blood in place of fire, in which the seat of the soul (as well as of the King) is placed by the vital spirit: you with the heart in place of the earth where the central fire continually operates & retains this macrocosmic machine in its being: you have the arctic pole, that is to say, the bone; you also have antarctic & all the members corresponding to the celestials. (I can perhaps speak of this in another work in a much more extended way, because I have many interesting & useful things to say which will surprise my readers, & shed much light on all the arts which can be perfected much more than they are. There is no doubt that great perfection in the arts, which are the glory of the greatest princes and the wealth of a abundance in society}.
The deity accomplishes only a few things which the Ancients reserved for the true children of the art; I wanted to speak about this mystery, so that the incomprehensible power of the most high God enlightens your heart more, & so that this same heart loves it with a more ardent love & adores it unceasingly until the last time of life.
Know then that the soul, in the human macrocosm, holds the place of its almighty Creator God, like a Viceroy, which is placed in the vital spirit, & has its seat in the purest blood & very -pur that one should never shoot; it must be utterly rid of its impurity.
This soul governs the understanding, & the understanding is the body; when the soul conceives something, the mind knows all things, all the members hear the mind & obey the mind, & eagerly wait to do its will; for the body does nothing, the understanding (that is to say the spirit) gives force and movement to the body.
The body serves the spirit, like fervent instruments to the artist, and the soul by which man differs from other animals, operates in the body. But its greatest operations are outside the body, because its dominion outside the body is absolute, & thus differs from animals, because this rational soul governs only the spirit & not the soul of God; Thus similarly our God works in the world the things which necessarily belong to the world, and in these things he is enclosed in the world, hence it is necessary to believe that God is everywhere.
But this immense wisdom of God is excluded from the world & from its body, because it operates outside the world, & imagines other things much higher & sublime than the body of the world could conceive; & these things are supernatural, they are also in the secrets of God alone. As we have the example of the soul, which outside the body imagines very deep things, and through them is similar to God, who outside his world operates beyond nature, candle lit in front of the midday sun, because the soul imagines things, but it executes them only by the spirit: God, on the contrary, executes at the same moment all that he imagines. For example, the mind imagines in Paris to be in Rome, China or elsewhere, which is done in the blink of an eye, but with the mind only. But God does all of this primarily because he is all-powerful.
God therefore is not enclosed in the world, not as the soul is in the body; he separately has his divine & absolute power to do other things incomprehensible to men. He therefore has a very - great power over the body if he wants, Let us return to our subject, & beforehand observe that from all that I have just said I learn to know God as much as that is possible with the man, whose knowledge makes so limited; I also learn the inexpressible difference that there is between the Creator and the wretched creature who is his work , who can only subsist by his infinite goodness. For these reasons, we can understand other greater and more sublime things, if the Creator who drew us from nothingness, and who is the father of lights, judges it appropriate to grant us this grace, by invoking it with humility: the door is open for it; the darkness will dissipate, and it will not be difficult to enter the august sanctuary of nature to admire the wonders of the Creator .
I therefore say that the element of fire is very quiet, and that it is excited by movement , which excitement has been known to the sages. It is absolutely necessary that the Christian philosopher and not that of the world who decorates himself so inappropriately with such a beautiful name, knows the generation of all things and the corruption of this generation, to which not only the creation of heaven is manifest, but also the composition of all things & the mixture of them; & though the Philosophers know, so to speak, all things, yet they cannot do all things, nor even the composition of man in all the qualities and proportions, and even less can they infuse it with a soul.
This great mystery is reserved for God alone, whose power and secrets are infinite; but these things, being supernatural, are not in the disposition of Nature; rather, it does not operate, except when matter is given to it. The first matter comes from the Creator, and the second from the Philosopher; but in the work of the Philosophers Nature has only to excite the fire, which is contained by the Creator in the center of each thing: the excitation of this fire is done by the will of Nature, sometimes by the will of the learned & industrious Artist who arranges Nature.
All the impurities of things are naturally purified by fire; every compound is dissolved by fire, as water washes & purges all unfixed imperfect things, as fire purges all fixed things; & by fire they make perfected, as water conjoins all that is dissolved: thus fire separates all that is conjoined; & all that is of his nature & property, he purges it very well & increases it in virtue. This element acts in an admirable & occult manner in the other elements & in all things: for as the soul is composed of this divine & very pure fire, so the vegetable is of the elementary fire which is governed by the Nature. This element acts in the center of anything in this manner.
Nature gives movement, excites the air; & the air excites the fire, & the fire separates, purges, digests, colors & ripens any seed, & being ripe brings it out, & drives it out by the sperm in various places or matrices pure or impure, more or less dry or wet; & thus, according to the arrangement of the matrix, various things are formed in the earth, & as many places are as many matrices.
Thus the most powerful Creator God has ordered all things so that one is contrary to the other, and yet the death of one is the life of the other; that what one produces the other consumes; & be produced another thing of what is consumed, more 'noble & naturally, & thus is preserved the equality of the elements; & in this manner separation from all things, principally from living things, is a natural death.
This is why man must die naturally: for this purpose the compound of four elements is subject to separation, since every compound separates naturally: but this separation of the compound of man must be done only at the terrible judgment day; for in the earthly Paradise man was immortal, as all theologians and even Holy Scripture testify.
Yet no Philosopher hitherto has given us any sufficient reason for immortality, which the children of the Art must know, that they may see how all these things naturally occur, and may hear them. very easily.
It is true and very true that every compound of this world is subject to corruption, and that it can be separated, which separation in the animal kingdom is called death; & man being also composed of the four elements, who could be immortal, that this happens naturally, it is very difficult to believe: on the contrary, we have looked at this until today as a supernatural thing,
The Lord inspired the Philosophers many centuries before that the death of man was natural.
The terrestrial Paradise is a certain place created by the Creator of all things, of the true non-elemental elements, but very pure & in perfect balance , & all things, created in this Paradise, are incorruptible.
There was also created man from the same incorruptible elements assembled in a just balance & in perfect equality, so that in no way could he be corrupted; this is why he was consecrated to immortality, because God, no doubt, had created this Paradise for men only; but then by the sin of disobedience having transgressed the commandments of God, the Creator of all things, man was cast out of Paradise & relegated to this elemental corruptible world which God had created for beasts; and he was obliged, not being able to live without food, to take his food from the elemental and corruptible elements, by which food the pure elements were infected.
In this manner he gradually declined, & fell into corruption, so that one quality overcame & surmounted the other, the whole compound was ruined by infirmities, & finally separation having come about, death ensued .
After that came nearer to corruption & death those which were created in the elements already corrupted, & from a corrupted seed & out of the earthly Paradise, because the seed which comes from the corrupted foods cannot be enduring; & the longer it is that man has been expelled from the earthly Paradise, the nearer men approach corruption.
Hence it comes that life is shorter, & it will come to an end that human procreation & generation will cease because of the brevity of human life.
There are, however, places where the air is better, and where the stars are more favourable; there, that is to say, in these countries, natures are not corrupted so soon, because men govern themselves better; but in many debauchery, the disorder of life and all the excesses to which sensual men indulge more quickly cause corruption, disease and death, and experience makes us see every day that the unfortunate children who are born of the seed of parents impure & overwhelmed with diseases, do not live long.
But if man had had the happiness of remaining as much for himself as for his posterity in a place suitable to his nature, where the incorruptible elements are all virgin, he would have been eternally immortal, for it is certain that the pure elements are are conjoined by virtue of equality, this subject must be incorruptible, and such must be the earth, of the Philosophers: ancients it was compared to such a creation of man; but modern Philosophers, understanding it literally, tend to the corrupt generation of this century.
This immortality has been the main cause for which the Philosophers have applied themselves greatly to seeking this divine stone; for they knew that man was created from such whole elements. They therefore meditated a lot on this creation, which having known to be natural, they began to examine & try to find means to have these incorruptible elements, or if they could conjoin them & infuse them in some subject, to which the Lord inspired that the composition of such elements was in gold, because it is impossible for it to take place in animals, because they are obliged to sustain their life with corrupted elements.
It is not also found in plants, because in them the inequality of the elements reigns: & all created things tending to multiplication, the Philosophers have concluded that this possibility of nature could only be found in the mineral kingdom, & having proposed to make the experiments, they found this possibility, which being discovered, they recognized that nature contained an infinity of other mysteries, which being secrets of God, they did not come from there to the experiments; but they glad to know about it.
The compound must fall through the element of water, & the fire which is potentially in the other elements, namely in the earth & in the air unite together, :& being conjoined make themselves victorious over the element water, & digest it, cook it, & finally freeze it, & in such a way nature helps nature.
For if the hidden central fire, which was deprived of life, finds itself the victor, it acts in what is nearer to it and purer, being itself very pure and conjoined with it; then & in this way it is the conqueror of its opposite, it separates the pure from the impure; it then generates a new shape; & if he is helped again, the form he takes again becomes better than the first.
It often happened that by the genius and the spirit of a learned artist, one can do immortal things, principally in the mineral kingdom. Thus all things are by fire & by the regime of fire, & take their being from it.
If you hear me you will be happy; I'm speaking to you quite clearly, it's up to you to take advantage of good advice.
On the dangers of rabies and poisons
I believe myself absolutely obliged by my condition to watch over the health of men, and to tell them my opinion on the dangers of rabies and poisons.
poisons, offering very effective relief to those who cannot find it elsewhere. As we have everything to apprehend at every moment of the terrible effects of rabies and poisons which only too often afflict humanity, those who have the misfortune to be attacked by these disastrous accidents, will be able to obtain their cure with the following remedies.
Very powerful arcane against the most dangerous poisons & the bite of rabid animals.
There are great discoveries in chemistry which are too useful to humanity to leave them any longer in darkness and oblivion, it would be doing a crime towards God and a great harm to men, not to not warning that they can procure the greatest remedy of medicine in their pressing needs, & in the obvious dangers in which they may find themselves of losing their lives by unforeseen accidents, to protect themselves promptly from all the most dangerous poisons of nature, v & heal themselves when they have the misfortune of being poisoned or bitten by rabid animals when they least think of it, this happens only too often in all countries.
The virtue of the arcane that I have is so powerful, that it radically cures the rage of men & that of animals; it is a theriac, & minerals, it extinguishes & destroys them entirely. With this mystery we change a venomous matter, as well as the nature of the most violent venoms and poisons into a salutary medicine that we can take without the slightest danger, since it is an effective remedy to cure ourselves.
It is more than thirty years since I experienced this on myself; everyone knows that arsenic is a most corrosive poison, I changed its nature into a salutary medicine, which I then experimented on myself without being sick, to convince myself by its effect, which I examined with the greatest attention to the excellence of the remedy which I had prepared. If I didn't have was not as sure as I was of its effectiveness, of course I would not have tested such a corrosive poison on my person. I would rather have done it on the animals to avoid the danger, & assure myself of the effect of the arsenic which I knew was no longer a dangerous poison, but a good remedy.
This arcana, that is to say my remedy against rage, is a great cordial and a very sovereign cephalic, its virtue surpasses that of all sublunary remedies , it equals that of potable gold; this is why it can be used in all diseases, since it serves to prolong health and life to the most remote term.
It is perfectly good against plague, smallpox & all the most contagious diseases if it is used in a time of calamity; in a word, whoever takes this so sovereign arcana can never be poisoned by any scoundrel, nor by any poison whatsoever, because he will soon be cured, although he is ready to die.
As it is not possible that such a beautiful discovery can ever hold a rank in the class of the most accredited ordinary remedies, & that on the contrary it is a masterpiece of the art of medicine, & a state remedy very precious by its importance & its usefulness, by curing rabies & poisons; this is why it is quite right that it should also be a masterpiece of recognition of those who will have the misfortune to be in an obvious state of losing their lives by the poisons of villains, whose number is so great. , or by the bite of rabid animals, which is frequent, and from which no one is exempt in the best health.
Reflections to be made on the dangers of rabies and poisons.
Against the blows of fate, consider keeping yourself, From afar in the present, look to the future. Non abet eventus sordida proeda bonos - The bad results don't kill the good ones.
The bite of rabid dogs is such a frightening disease, that there is no greater to be feared because of its terrible effects; she filled with terror all the peoples who preceded us, because they saw as we still see it by a sad experience, that the most peaceful person in health who had the misfortune to be attacked by this mortal venom, became Immediately transported from fits of the most violent fury, & throws herself, in the delirium which disturbs her brain, as much on her family as on her best friends, to devour them pitilessly.
Was there ever a more cruel destiny, since it reduces us to the humiliating condition of the most ferocious beasts, which in the transport of their fury and the rage that animates them, The impious Nebuchadnezzar, this so powerful King of Babylon, although stripped of his royalty and degraded of his dignity as a man by the order of God, to live miserably with the animals in the forests, had not, very nearly , a fate as unfortunate as that of a madman, since one is forced to put him to death, however dear he may be to his family and friends, to preserve himself from such an accident for which the remedy is unknown. Vividly penetrated by such a deplorable state which debases man, even if he were more powerful than Nebuchadnezzar, putting him, so to speak, below the lowest animals, the most skilful Doctors hastened to study this kind of disease, as bizarre in its cruel effects, as it is interesting to help their fellows, & preserve themselves from a scourge much more terrible than the most dangerous plague; but after having researched with care and in vain the nature of this dreadful disease which strikes terror in all the bravest men, they confessed ingenuously and with pain that they were ignorant of a cause whose always unfortunate effects would only show themselves to our senses.
It is not difficult to form the prognosis of this disastrous disease, it suffices to examine and remember at the same time the sad events that we see happen in all countries, since indeed, since the birth of Medicine which is so ancient, until our days, the greatest masters of the art have not ceased to moan with reason on the cruel fate of those who have been bitten by truly committed dogs, they assure us that we cannot cite any well-established example of the healing of those who are known to be hydrophobic, that is to say, who fear water: ( the hydrophobes flee water, they are in aversion, because they imagine seeing in it the person or the animal, which bit them, & which still comes with fury to devour them) but it is still much more unfortunate to see that after so many centuries gone by,witnesses of bad success of the remedies that we have made up to now, we have not found a single one in the great number of recipes that we find printed in the books of Medicine, & that we assure to be specific for rabies; but very useless for hydrophobicity.
We have, says a learned Doctor who loves humanity, in the History of Venoms reasons not to despair, to find one day the antidote which is suitable for rabies, & for the diseases which have until now passed for be incurable; & consequently to apply to them all that the great Boerhave says here only of hydrophobia; for I am strongly persuaded that the same Providence, tormented by such great evils, took care to put within their reach the remedies that suited them. Why then, he exclaims, should we not flatter ourselves to discover them, if we bring to their research all the prudence, the study, the zeal, and all the industry that it demands?
Encouraged by this way of thinking, which is so commendable & animated by the same zeal of the great Doctors who preceded me, I have sought in my turn to make myself useful, not only to present-day humanity, but also to all our descendants; I hope that my work will be as pleasant to them as it will be useful to them, since I have spared nothing to make such a beautiful discovery which deserves the most serious attention of Sovereigns and subjects.
In such just persuasion, having meditated much on the nature of Venoms, which are so dangerous & especially when they are used by scoundrels , which is only too frequent; & to protect us from their disastrous effects, I have found the greatest remedies in the three kingdoms, against all the poisons & even the most dangerous, in order to Guarantee the lives of men from the secret ambushes of the cowardly poisoners, who are the enemies hidden from the human race, and much more from the rich than from the wretched who have nothing to lose.
I think I should recall here in abridged form what I wrote about the Venoms in a book entitled: Physico-medical dissertation on the causes of several dangerous diseases & on the properties of a purgative & vulnerary liquor, which is an almost universal pharmacopoeia, dedicated to her Royal Highness &: Electoral Madame l'Electrice de Baviere, whose I I have the honor of being the first Doctor of the Corps, & which was printed in 1758, with the privilege of the King, at Claude Hérissant, Bookseller-Printer, rue Neuve Notre-Dame, in Paris.
This Dissertation is at home & not elsewhere.
I said in my Physico-Medical Dissertation, anything that disturbs the economy of the blood & humors, "anything that can corrode the different parts of the body & stopping the course of the spirits, or exciting the most violent movements is a venom.
There are several kinds; their action is to cause deplorable evils which often only end in death; there are those which gnaw which ulcerate all the solids by their pungent and corrosive salts, which soon causes convulsive movements, gangrene, and then ends the unhappy life of the sick.
Others coagulate the blood; the venom of smallpox is of this nature, it arrests the course of the spirits & acts in our liquors as are the venoms of the viper, of the scorpion, of the toad & of a rabid dog, which is the most dangerous of all in transmuting them into their nature.
It cannot be overstated how greatly the venom of a mad dog is to be feared when it comes to ferment, as does beer, champagne, or any other similar liquor. It kindles a devouring fire in the blood, in the bile, and in the humors that cannot be extinguished; he makes the patient feel the excess of the most violent fury, as if he were in a fiery furnace; it makes the quietest person in health, a beast so ferocious in disease, that one is forced to put him immediately in irons, like the most cruel animals, to avoid being slaughtered or torn to pieces, because in this dreadful disease, a man enraged in the delirium of convulsions more horrible things that disturb his imagination, seeks to devour everything he can find.
He does not know his parents any more than his best friends; he imagines that by biting them he will relieve his pain, which is inexpressible, and which usually ends in the most violent death. These are the most frequent accidents of this secret venom which hides itself from our eyes, and which one nevertheless recognizes by the bizarre effects which it produces for the misfortune of humanity, which must fear such an accident.
This painting must be scary for everyone in general; but it is much more so for the afflicted family, &: for the sorry friends of a madman who is so dear to them, to which, despite the desire we have to preserve it, we are forced to kill, when we do not know the remedy that could cure it.
The air is made to be the domicile & the support of several heterogeneous matters, such as good & bad vapours, exhalations, nitre, sulphur, etc... & for this reason it becomes the scene of a great number of meteors, whose prodigies of all kinds astonish our eyes. That which one breathes from a sick person attacked by the plague or other contagious diseases, does not fail to infect the blood, as well as a venom inserted in this precious fluid, by the bite or sting of some poisonous animal.
By examining closely and with great attention what it is that separation which is made in the disease of the smallpox which is so contagious , one soon finds that it is nothing other than sulfur and excrement. blood , or the gangrenous part of this same blood which is stripped of the mummy , and of this balm by the action of the venom which is of itself terrestrial, full of filth, raw & uncooked, very infected & corrupted, because the mercury and the sulfur which are united in a viscous humor, have never been able to be purified of a filthy and cold aqueousness which coagulates all the fluids, and burns the solids, when the poison is volatile, like arsenic, water-kind,& other poisons of this species which ulcerate & corrode all the parts they attack with their acrid, venomous & prickly salts, which cause inflammation, gangrene & death to those who are poisoned or bitten by a rabid dog.
Rabies is a venom very difficult to tame, and all the more dangerous because it far surpasses by its very great activity which is beyond all that can be said of all the other most contagious venoms. Hardly has one been bitten by a rabid dog, more or less sick, that is to say, which has a greater or lesser degree of venom, acrid or corrosive, and which consequently acts rather or later, whether it passes in large or small quantity with as many swiftness as lightning, or a bird traveling through the air, or anything else, depending on whether the bite is large or small, in all parts of the body, where it does not take long to establish its cruel & fatal empire, and to have its terrible effects felt by the ardor of a burning fire which devours the sick until the last moment of their life.
It is not easy to determine with the utmost exactness the character and quality of such venom, because it is not visible. However, if we judge by its dangerous effects, we can be sure that it has a sulphurous quality, equally putrid, which can multiply as much as light, being as of its very acrid & very caustic nature, capable consequently of infecting all the fluids by a sphacelous corruption, & of immediately ulcerating all the parts of the body which it attacks in a very short time, which causes some death in the first attacks , according to the patient's temperament, whose blood is naturally more or less , the danger is much greater because of the excessive heat which rather causes inflammation in the bile, in the blood & in the bowels. Despite the frightening picture that this kind of disease presents to our eyes, much more to him who is attacked by rage; I advise him, since he is now assured of having the remedy which must cure him in the most horrible state to which he can be reduced, to banish promptly from his heart sorrow and anxiety, because they are mortal. Fear is capable of increasing his evil which is already too great to overwhelm him & lead him to the grave.
It is certain that the soul, which on this occasion may be compared to sailors who are exposed to the most violent tempest, cannot act without making more or less considerable efforts, as brave soldiers do, to overcome their enemies in a bloody battle, a sort of detention which holds it, so to speak, firm and stiff; so that despair coming to release it, it deprives it of the power to act for its preservation.
It is therefore absolutely necessary, when one is ill, to have much more courage than one has ever had; & for certain one will not obtain the health which is the greatest of all goods, if the soul does not make some great effort, & even a heroic effort to revive the languid spirits, & put them immediately in a state to overcome the greatest obstacles, as are the Warriors when they fight in the fields of glory; & this magnanimous effort
That I absolutely demand courage from the sick will be all the easier to do, since we should now know that it has pleased divine Providence to make known a certain remedy for the radical cure of those who have been bitten by rabid animals or poisoned by secret enemies.
If the venom has already attacked the brain, transporting the patient with fury by its quality of venom, the opposite remedy, that is to say, my arcane, which is the most powerful of all the antidotes whose secret has not been known until now, will restore calm there , when the venomous substance in which the venom was contained, will be stripped of its corrosive excrement.
If he has agitated the blood with a great fire, if he has attacked the nerves with violent convulsions, he will no longer agitate them when the points of the salts which agitated them have changed form and nature by the action of heat. the antidote which will have destroyed them, rounding them off like a piece of work which is very polished and soft to the touch.
After having given a slight idea of the nature of some venoms & of their always pernicious effects, about which I would have so many things to say, because the matter is vast, deep & most interesting, for humanity, either at because of venoms, which we are so often attacked without knowing it, or because of secret poisoners, that the wisdom of the laws, with regard to those who can be discovered, cause them to be thrown with good reason into ardent fires, to reduce to ashes these monsters vomited up by hell, to the misfortune of Inhumanity & above all so dangerous to adults of the earth, who are not always on their guard as they should be.
This matter, not having been sufficiently examined, deserves the most serious attention: it is infinitely important to know the nature of each venom in particular, but it is much more important to know the antidote to these dangerous venoms; & I can affirm that I know perfectly the antidote of each venom which kills not only men, but also animals, such as oxen, cows, sheep & others. . . This disease has been desolating Europe for a very long time, and causing immense losses, because we do not know the remedy by bringing it out of the darkness, where it has been hidden for so many centuries: it will then be (if it happens) a of the greatest discoveries that a Physician could have made to preserve men from venoms, also from the wickedness of poisoners, & animals from their diseases, the loss of which has ruined so many countries, & will continue to ruin them until the moment where the remedy will be known & brought to light, as I can do if men know how to reward such useful work undertaken to succor them in their needs.
It is therefore today one of the greatest advantages for the Monarch & his subjects who will have the misfortune to be poisoned or bitten by rabid animals, suffer the pains of the most violent death without having any hope of healing, of to be informed that the remedy has been found, and that they can procure a certain cure in such a desperate state from which no one is exempt. History teaches us that a King of India died in the greatest attacks of this disease, because he had been bitten by a rabid dog. In such a case, it is much to be desired that such a remedy should be known and put into use.
But, it will be said, by what fatality do the most useful discoveries don't they usually succeed in some countries? It is that the implacable jealousy, the cupidity and the wickedness of those who are the enemies of the human race, oppose so many obstacles to those who love the public good, either to appropriate them unjustly, or to prevent them from succeeding . help their fellows, that in the end they discourage them, in spite of the sincere desire they have to serve their country usefully.
It is not the same with a wise and virtuous people who know how to appreciate merit, because by rewarding useful work, they derive all the advantages; this is why an enlightened State always increases its property on the ruin of another: such is the world.
I believe it is not out of place to say here that all discoveries, like all remedies, often appear very simple as soon as we know their composition. This is true, and the one I have for rabies is of this nature; but it must be admitted at the same time that the embarrassment or the great difficulty was to look for it for a very long time before finding it, & that it cost a lot of work & expense to succeed, & then to make it known to those who have made useless research, & to the sick who need it & who did not know him, without which there is no doubt that it would have been used with the same success that I have used it. In that case, it is certain that all the sick people who have been obliged and even forced to kill for so many centuries would not have caused such great desolation in families and such great terror among all nations.
For all the reasons I have just given, I cannot ignore how precious this remedy is; I do at the same time all the important services that it will render to present & future humanity, by healing those who would no longer have the right to life, being bitten by rabid animals, also those who would be poisoned or attacked by some deadly venom.
We are quite right to look for a specific that has virtues similar to mine: I very much hope that we can succeed; in the meantime, as my antidote has been found, I will not refuse to cede its secret to someone who will see fit to make it public, or who will want to use it to derive all the advantages that a single remedy for rabies the most dangerous poisons must necessarily be procured from the rich who will be attacked by this scourge.
All those, moreover, who are prudent, will be delighted to provide themselves with this remedy in case of accident; but I will never give it up except to a very rich and above all very generous man who wants to get it, have worked in vain & spent my wealth to no purpose to make happy people who would be unworthy of so great a good, if they were ungrateful My mystery is a masterpiece of the art of an experienced Physician, for the same reason it must also be another masterpiece of the recognition of men, otherwise they will punish themselves by forcing me, by their ingratitude, to leave such a beautiful discovery that one sought in the times the more remote, and which we still seek today in darkness and oblivion, according to the example of the fig tree of the Gospel which was cursed, uprooted and thrown into the fire because it bore no fruit.
I end this article on rabies, peppers & venoms, by giving the properties of a topical, which is a great remedy for preserving oneself from venoms &c curing oneself when one is attacked by them. It also serves to make known to the Doctor as well as to the patient, if there is venom in a disease, if there is any, this topic will soon attract it, and will cause it to leave the patient's body quickly.
Topical proven to protect against venoms & attract what is in the body.
We will wear this topic hanging from the collar with a ribbon. It must be applied to the stomach or to the heart; but as it must touch the flesh, we will tie it with a band of linen around the body, so that it remains on the stomach or on the heart without disturbing itself.
This topical is a very powerful remedy to preserve all his life from venoms, when one is in a place where the air is contagious; it also attracts all the venom that is in the body, imbibing the effluvium, that is to say, the contagious & pestilential discharges that cause fatal diseases, the cause of which is often not known, because the venom is unseen.
Useful experience to do;
By means of this topic, a Doctor as well as a patient will easily recognize if there is venom in the disease, because it is nailed with a magnetic virtue which contains sympathetic spirits analogous to venom.
which set in motion & attract the morbific humor when it is fixed, in the same way that the magnet attracts iron, or like a dry sponge which receives water in its pores, & imbibes it as much as it may contain.
This topical is perfectly good for epidemic diseases, malignant fevers, smallpox, plague, cancer, cold humors, ulcers, wounds, or any other diseases where there is venom.
It is of the greatest utility to sailors, who are ordinarily attacked with scurvy; they will keep themselves healthy by protecting themselves from this venom and from any other contagious disease.
People who are well, like those who are sick, will serve usefully as this remedy: the former to preserve themselves, the latter to cure themselves; & one will see with astonishment that those who have this condom, will never fall ill by the accidents of venoms; & with the help of this remedy, we will keep ourselves safe and sound in the midst of epidemic and contagious diseases.
We will take care to look at this topic from time to time to see if it changes color, and when we have seen that it has become black, we will detach it promptly; for the blackness indicates that he drew the venom which was in the body.
We will take care to hide this topic well or to bury it in a place where no one can find it, because it is plagued.
If anyone, unfortunately, were to smell this topic emerging from the body of a patient, it is certain that he would fall dead on the spot; this is why it must be taken out with precaution by wrapping it in a cloth soaked in vinegar to bury it afterwards, & before that time we wash our hands with vinegar or any other thing, & we will breathe it for avoid any accident. You can use my cordial, which is a most pleasant remedy to breathe.
We will then put another topical in place, as above, both to protect ourselves from the venom, and to attract the one who could have remained in the body; we will then add a third, if the need requires it, &, in a word, until the last topical applied to the stomach or to the heart remains absolutely white, because then it is a proof certain that there is no more venom in the body.
This topical is also good for animals; it is incorruptible: those who need it will find it with me.
On the nitre; very exact purification of the nitre to carry out the most beautiful operations of chemistry.
It is not in vain that the Philosophers have done the greatest research on the nitre that they have worked in their own way. They got it called cerberus, infernal salt, mercury, earth serpent, their magnet, &c. ...to hide the true name of the nitre from us in the operations they told us about.
Knowing also, like these great men who deserve all the homage of humanity, that the nitre is one of the greatest agents of nature, I made a particular study on this marvelous agent to know its properties which are immense, & put myself in a position to use it successfully in the operations of chemistry, relating to medicine, agriculture & the arts. These important objects to which I applied myself put me in a position to find very good remedies with which I gave relief effective for the sick, & to fertilize the most ungrateful lands. The art of the Salpetrier is everywhere of the greatest utility for the arts, and especially for the preparation of the nitre which is used to manufacture gunpowder; but he is not enlightened enough for so useful a work, since the best purified nitre of the arsenals is always filled with many impurities which prevent the great effects which the nitre is capable of producing, and which it will not produce . never if it is not well purified.
The perfection of such a marvelous art belongs only to Chemistry; it is only by this sublime science, which will always be the torch of the most, great men, whom were found gunpowder, porcelain, glassware , malleable glass; sounds the Emperor Tybere, his eternal lamp which burns without ever being consumed, &c so many other most useful things; it is through it again that we have discovered the marvels of the nitre or of that universal spirit which is the miracle of nature, with which we work so many prodigies when we make use of it for purpose, such beautiful knowledge was never and will never be the responsibility of a mountaineer. too limited in his practice, although he is moreover a very good artist for making ordinary gunpowder.
The Venetians were the first to use it, and by means of it they won, in 1380, a great victory over the Genoese. All the Sovereigns have made use of it since that time to wage war; what a fatality for the human race, to have found such a beautiful secret which should have remained in oblivion, only for war, but which would have been used solely for medicine, agriculture and the perfection of the arts.
Without gunpowder one cannot force or defend the places; and as by its use one overcomes the greatest obstacles, it is therefore necessary to have better powder than usual, if one wants to have it. superiority over his enemies. This article is not my responsibility, because it looks at the war which unfortunately destroys men, whom I want to keep in the best health as much as I can.
Having an indispensable need in my operations for a nitre much better purified than that usually found in arsenals to make remedies of great virtue for the sick, I had to find a way to purify it philosophically. , & for this purpose I used the best purified nitre in the arsenal, not knowing where to find better.
I made several tests before succeeding; because we have nothing fans hardly.
In the last experiment I made, I used six books of the finest nitre of the arsenal & of the purest, & after having purified it according to my method, I only had one pound, a quarter & two gross of well-purified nitre left. What remained in my vessel after the operation was a very impure fixed salt.
I used with success this nitre which I purified and which is very different from that of the arsenal which is given to be very well purified, and which is not nearly as much as it can be according to the experiment that I made & of which I have the proof; I feel that if I purified it even better, as I can , Jupiter already too powerful with his mantle full of filth, a great obstacle to his incomprehensible strength which can be further increased.
All the nitre which will be purified & exalted to such a high degree of purity that mine will have astonishing properties, & will produce effects worthy of admiration, not only in medicine, which is my principal object, but also in agriculture, in artillery & in the arts; it will also be very helpful on occasions when extraordinary strength is needed to level paths by opening mountains to search for mines & uncover them to work them with greater ease.
The different operations of Chemistry on the nitre are clearly seen that it is a of the most beautiful secrets of nature, than to know its properties and the different uses to which it can be applied, whether it is taken from the earth or from the air, it is everywhere admirable, and even it would be incomprehensible if we did not see its surprising effects.
According to the preparation I want to give it, it becomes a blessed salt as sweet as milk; & by a different work, one can make of it the most terrible thunderbolt of nature.
With this infernal matter, the highest mountains are raised, the hardest stones are broken, and all metals are melted with great ease; we see it very often in the dreadful effects of lightning and claps of thunder which shatter, probe, and calcine in an instant, which a thousand forges set ablaze with the most violent fire are not capable of doing as quickly as he.
By these terrible effects which make the most daring tremble & which it is so easy to imitate with a well purified nitre, one must feel what degree of activity & of the most extraordinary force, one can give to the nitre, every time. that he will have prepared by a living hand & in a certain way, either for artillery or for the perfection of the arts, & above all for agriculture this so essential part on which so much has been written & whose usefulness is so recognized, that I do not I will not dwell much here on the properties of nitre in agriculture to have the richest harvests & the most beautiful fruits, nor on its virtue for multiplying plants.
Great property of nitre for agriculture.
The strength of the nitre which is hidden in the simple manure which is very impure, does not fail to demonstrate every day to the people of the countryside the need to use it to have bread, vegetables, & in a word, all the things that the earth produces for our use, and often in abundance, by using a very impure nitre; but what will it be & what greater riches should we not hope for from the earth by using the prepared nitre & purified like mine? I have seen the most surprising effects of them, and I have shown them in my garden to the curious who would have found it difficult to believe them, if they had not seen them with the greatest admiration for the quality and the quantity of different productions with which it was adorned.
It is certain that with all the means I have to carry agriculture to its highest degree of perfection; one can obtain each year the richest harvests, that is to say, that a field of bled of which I will have prepared the grain, or all other things to sow, which usually bring back three years one , without being obliged to use me manure, will yield every year without let the earth rest, and the same field which requires a bushel of seed, will be very well sown with half a bushel; vermin will not get into the grain because of its preparation which will prevent the generation of insects in the ground, in mild & rainy weather; it can be kept for a long time, and the bread will do much better for the health; & one cannot desire anything more to increase one's income.
The field which ordinarily yields fifteen bushels will yield more than forty and even more if we want to push the operation further without ever exhausting the soil which will always be very fertile by the preparation which will have been given to the grain, which is capable of fertilizing the most barren soils without the need for manure.
With regard to seeds for vegetables, or plants, as this preparation is a fire which dissolves without destroying, which opens the bodies without killing them, if only a few drops of this prepared water are put in ordinary water or of rain for twenty-four hours, to then water vegetables and plants, this will cause seeds , fruits and flowers to germinate in an astonishing way, which will quickly reach a degree of growth to which they would never have reached, according to the ordinary laws of nature.
If the feet of the trees are watered with the above liquor, the fruits they will produce will be of extraordinary size & unequaled beauty, they will exhale the sweetest smell & will have the most delicious taste. because this mystery is a real concentrated light, and the invigorating soul of all plants, which serves to make them bear fruit marvelously well.
For Medicine.
If we put about three drops of this mystery in any medicine or potion prepared for a sick person, he will develop and increase its virtue infinitely; & as soon as the infusion is made, the medicine will be changed into a homogeneous, invigorating tincture, & of great efficacy for the one who will use it; in such a case, there is every reason to believe that the most difficult people will never refuse to be treated in such a pleasant way when they are ill.
On the advantages of copper & on its dangers; purification of copper
This metal, which is so useful for all sorts of works, has been proscribed for some years by Doctors and by Magistrates because of the mortal poison it contains, which has been known to perish for several centuries a very great number of people who did not know the danger; that is why it has been forbidden in many uses, which prevents its greater consumption.
Cmies me profcripferunt medici - The doctors are proscribing me. As I have succeeded in purifying it of its verdigris, which is a mortal poison, one can now say that a tandem regenerates me.
ALL Doctors, charged by their state with watching over the safety of public health, have recognized that there was a corrosive poison in copper, and that consequently its use was absolutely dangerous and harmful to the health of citizens . ; it is therefore with just reason that they have condemned its use by their decrees; & that the wisdom of the Magistrates by fertilizing their zeal, defended it by its judgments, not the hazard.
However, as this metal is an inexhaustible source of wealth for commerce , and in particular for the Sovereigns who have mines of it; that besides it is of the greatest utility for all the Nations of the world, I believed to have to interest me in the research of the means which could purge this metal of the corrosive poison & verdigris which it contains & which is so dangerous to health; & after all the suitable work, undertaken for a discovery as difficult as it is useful; in the end I had the satisfaction of persuading myself that I succeeded perfectly, by making a metal as beautiful as gold, with which he was infected hoc opus, hic labor est, it is by work that one recognizes the true workman.
The first Physicians of Sovereigns, among whom I have had the honor to be for a very long time, must maintain the dignity of their state by working continually and tirelessly to make discoveries useful to humanity; it is by this means that they can hold themselves worthy of the choice of Sovereigns, and it is by their success that they can deserve their confidence.
Copper is drawn from several mines in Europe; but much more particularly and in greater quantity in Sweden, it is employed in so many kinds of works, that the consumption, is very considerable. Someone to whom I showed the copper that I purified, told me for Certain, that according to the calculation of the General Farmers, it was proven that it enters France each year, & in strong hundred million copper, brass & bronze books ; this quantity joined to that of the other kingdoms must be immense. In such a case I believed that such a large branch of commerce deserved all my attention to put it in its greatest value.
I acted accordingly & found a way to make copper as beautiful as gold after discarding & even removing all the corrosive & poisonous part.
to the States to which they belong; and if the views of the Sovereigns, seconded by the zeal of the Magistrates who have forbidden its use because of the mortal poison which it contains in its bosom, have been so universally applauded by the Citizens, how much more so will those of the Sovereign owners of these mines , which fertilizing the work of the one who managed to make this metal as beautiful as gold, will contribute by their regulations & ordinances to make it of the greatest utility to their finances, as to their subjects, by the immense consumption which will be when it is proven that its use no longer entails any risk or danger.
past centuries, and those that it would still cause, if its use were perpetuated without the condom that I have.
The attempts of the most skilful chemists have been useless up to now, since it is true that none has yet been able to extricate this mortal poison from this metal ; & I had the satisfaction of having succeeded.
What loss would it be for trade if such a branch did not have all the value that can be drawn from it? what wealth on the contrary for the Sovereign owner of these mines, since I have found the true means of decomposing the substance of this impure metal to achieve the radical destruction of the venom, & to change it into a soft substance apple gold; &c by a double advantage I knew how to give it the color of this precious metal t in order to use it for jewelry works.
By this means one can preserve gold to use it in coins, and one will give copper a value infinitely superior to that which it has ever had.
It will be by contributing to the welfare of the Citizens to pour great treasures into the coffers of the Sovereign owners of these mines which will be used with safety for the most precious objects when in use, such as the kitchen; Chemistry for all vessels, etc., the use of which has become certain, will not expose in the future, neither the health, nor even the life of the Citizens.
We can even employ, with the greatest advantage, this metal to manufacture the smallest money for which we can substitute it, because it will be much more beautiful.
This metal by its rich color and by its purity, will become without being expensive, of a greater price than it is at present, since it has become equal to gold by its color, it will spare this precious metal, & consequently it will contribute to increase the income of the Sovereign owner of these mines.
By this economic means by using gold only to manufacture specie, & by suppressing it in many other objects where it is used in pure loss, as in gilding, on wood & others.... a greater quantity will circulate in commerce, which will then spread abundance, will facilitate agriculture and the arts; it will then be said and with truth that a simple copper mine, the price of which has always been limited because of its risks and its dangers, will be of very great value, and will be worth, so to speak, more than a mine. of gold, because in a large number of works several thousand coppers are used by foundries, and a small quantity of gold by goldsmiths.
From this statement I believe that a Sovereign would not be sorry if the copper of his mines became gold in his hands.
Note. As it is possible to give copper by smelting it, similar to that of silver & just as solid, this is why we can make all the works we want.
There is every reason to believe that the bells would have a much brighter sound , and the guns a better quality, if we used this metal purified of all its impurity; vessels lined with copper would last much longer than with ordinary copper.
Tin purification.
One will always make the most beautiful discoveries in Chemistry, when one works on good principles. The purification of imperfect metals is an object well worthy in all respects of the attention and research of those who cultivate this science to increase the prosperity of commerce by perfecting the arts.
As tin is a very considerable branch of commerce among all nations, I believed that it could be increased much more, if one could succeed in correcting its imperfection, and making it as beautiful as the silver in it. giving its solidity & its brilliance; in this persuasion, I closely examined the nature of this metal which is soft, malleable, filled with an impure sulphur, which tarnishes its whiteness & its brilliance, & causes the cry it has.
After doing all the research suitable for my ideas, I managed to make this imperfect & vile metal because of its filth, as beautiful as silver, having the same solidity, its weight & all its brilliance after having lost its cry.
it results from this discovery made. several years ago, that a simple tin mine can become much richer than a silver mine by the immense output that could be made of this metal, which has become so rich, since it is comparable to silver in beauty, in solidity, and that it is infinitely below the value or the price of silver.
In such a case it is easy to believe that one would prefer to have a large quantity of tableware of this metal - as beautiful and as solid as silver, since it would cost much less; non-hiss we would have dishes, plates & everything used at the table, but also kitchen utensils, even fountains.
Everything that Goldsmiths do in silver, Founders, Boilermakers for all the vessels of chemistry, stills, &c. .. could be made of this metal, as well as the vases, the candlesticks & the large figures of the Churches: one could also make vases & figures of this metal to adorn the apartments & the gardens; they would be made into sword hilts for the troops, buckles, buttons for their clothes, and hat brims.
By this means of saving money would be more abundant in the currencies to make cash; & if the Government deems it appropriate, it could have small coins made instead of sols, farthings & coins of two sols by giving them the appropriate value. This new currency would be more beautiful & more solid than the one that exists in the public.
The dyers, who use pewter for colors, and especially for scarlet, would have, either for silk or for wools, much more brilliant colors than they have for clothes. for tapestries. All these things united or separated would become very rich branches of commerce for the Kingdom, as with foreign countries. (It should be noted that one can also to give this pewter a solid color as beautiful as gold to make vermeil crockery, snuffboxes, buckles, watches & torches, &c. ...: one can also spin this metal for the uses to which they are suited.
I can very well purify the lead to give it a beautiful color of gold and silver.
I have been told that there enters or leaves the Kingdom each year six hundred million weight of lead, tin, and tin.
If all these materials were well purified, it would be a very great advantage for the arts, and trade would be much more considerable with foreigners, who would hasten to provide themselves with them by bringing us their foodstuffs. or his money. ; Mercury can also be purged to the supreme degree of purity of all its heterogeneous materials.
very exalted, those curious about beautiful chemistry could make astonishing & magnificent vegetations of gold & silver color: these marvels of nature would be used to adorn the apartments of Kings & the cabinets of the curious; one would find there the useful and the pleasant.
The oil that can be extracted from metals is of great value to those who know how to use it; that is to say, the metals must be dissolved into oil, which is purified without using any corrosive.
Fine pearls, talc, coral and all precious stones can also be dissolved in water and oil; one can have the greatest remedies to cure all diseases. With the waters and oils, which can be drawn from them when these remedies have been purified very exactly of all their heterogeneous parts, they will act with much more activity to cure the sick according to the desire of the Physician who will be able to choose from the great number of the remedies thus prepared those which will be appropriate best for each disease.
As it will never be possible to catch all the fish which are in the sea, it will be the same of alchymy; she is so rich in all productions of nature, that we will never be able to find all the precious secrets (that she hides from our eyes; we must however believe that God will allow the birth in each century of extraordinary men whom he will fill with his graces to make beautiful discoveries in this inexhaustible science in prodigies: for this reason one must not neglect its study because of the great advantages which one will derive from it.Our elders, who are beautiful models to imitate, have already found many -useful to society; why wouldn't we find them as advantageous & perhaps much more important, if we want to work like them.It is certain that the work undertaken to practice the well always has such happy success.
I wouldn't finish if I wanted to talk about an infinity of very useful operations that can still be done, which would lead me to write several volumes. I will limit myself to finish this work to give ideas to the amateurs of alchymy on the real transmutation which one can make of imperfect metals in gold & silver, so that one can make a good use of this rare secret, if we manage to find it.
Nature makes gold in her mines, that is indisputable. The merit of my operation is to help nature powerfully in her work, and to greatly shorten the time of her work by the help of art and the genius of the Artist.
I do not pretend to say on this occasion, that the art which I use in my work is capable of changing imperfect metals into gold or silver, but I mean that nature being aided by art, it will be able to do, for example, in ten or twenty years, when it will be assisted by a skilful artist, what it could not do for several centuries by its ordinary work, which is always very long.
Chemical operation, natural & very simple to effect the transmutation of imperfect metals into gold & silver, without needing the projection powder of the Hermetic Philosophers, of which nature has never made use IN studying nature, I have seen that we often go to seek very far away, what was very near to us; it is the common defect of most Artists to persist in seeking something where it is not; this is why they will never succeed when they do not want to imitate nature, which must be our compass, and that of reason.
Almost all the Chemists work only to make gold & to procure wealth; they spend their life in error & pain by spending their money badly, & often that of others & never They will succeed in their enterprises, because they do not know the nature which is always obedient to carry out the will of the Creator in the works which he ordered him to do.
If they had taken the trouble to study its movements and the invariable laws which were prescribed for it, and if they had followed it in its ordinary course which accords with reason and experience; they could not ignore that to succeed in an operation, it is always necessary to imitate this learned mistress, to use the same principles that she received from the Creator, and the same ways when one wants to reach the same goal.
After having meditated as much as possible on this learned mistress, who gives movement to all beings in the universe, I believe I am now in state to say to those who want to transmute imperfect metals into gold and silver, that they would most certainly succeed in their enterprise, if I were allowed to communicate to them a very great and very good process. which without being comparable) to the marvels of the great work, is limited only to transmuting imperfect metals into gold or silver, similar to those of the mines, without having any need for the laying of projection which nature has not provided. never served.
It is the work of simple nature; for this operation neither crucible, nor furnace, nor fire, nor any chemical vase is needed for the transmutation of imperfect metals into gold or silver; in a word, I repeat, of the learned nature that must be followed and imitated step by step in all its steps.
By entrusting this rich operation to his care, there is no need for an artist and even less for a laboratory, which is either pleasant; : she will follow her as usual without making mistakes, that is to say, little by little, like a hen incubating her eggs to have chickens & she will do the transmutation of metals herself in a much shorter time purified entrusted to him.
It is quite true that in such a work it would perhaps require more than a hundred years for nature to finish it, but, well, we know that art can shorten much his work; by this means one can make this operation very short, and it is precisely there, where is the merit and the immense profit of this invaluable work.
It does not consist in making a new metal; .but to make useful use of that which nature has already made, and which has remained imperfect because of its excrement with which it is filled, and which has prevented it from reaching maturity, like a fruit or a grape to arrive, rather to her; perfection. It is therefore necessary to purify this metal of its leprosy; with great care & in a certain way by removing all its impurities, & its rawness; one opens absolutely all its pores, one then magnetizes it with a very animated orific and astral sulfur to to vivify its intrinsic heat, which is very languid & almost extinguished because of the impurities with which it is filled, & as it were suffocated; it is then buried at a marked & precise distance in a gold or silver mine in the same way as the plowman deposits his grains in the earth to make them germinate, vegetate & produce their similar, because the mine is filled with spirits & a substance, fixed metallic, which concentrate, bind very strongly, unite intimately & quickly fix themselves in a perfectly solid body to the prepared metal, which has been deposited in the mine & arranged as appropriate, sapienti satis - wise enough.
unclean,. which has then been well purified of its excrement, the pores of which have been very open, having been especially well magnetized by the sulfur of gold, will draw into itself & with the greatest force from the very mine where it is will have buried (in the same way as trees & plants attract the universal spirit of the earth from parts similar to it, that is to say, the sulfur of gold, which continually acts in the metal which has been determined to change himself into gold by the powerful spirits with which he was nourished & impregnated for this purpose in the preparation he had, will then fertilize him & ripen him more quickly by the aid of the central heat of the earth & of that sun & stars which imprint on the sublunar bodies all the strength and all the virtues or properties that God has imprinted on them in their creation. See what becomes of a suckling child, and the wheat that has been sown in good, well- prepared soil....
As these forces and these virtues ceaselessly dart and send their spirits which make of a very subtle and penetrating nature in the mines, to form metals, the prepared iron which one will have buried in the mines, which by its nature inclines to become gold, will change in the nature of gold, because nature by producing & attracting its like, as the magnet attracts iron rejoices in nature itself, like a tender mother with her children, the nature amends nature; it is nature that perfects nature, as Parmenides says, and as experience proves at every moment.
When the Artist has once succeeded in clearing the metal of all its superfluous excrement; the nature for then which was helped to break its bonds, like a prisoner of which one; has broken the irons, has much less work to do, less difficulty in maturing it, and much more facility in giving it its ultimate perfection; what use are the eyes if you don't want to use them?... & the ears if you don't want to hear what I say to my Readers?
Acorns that have been planted by the ordinary method in a wide field, will produce with a very long time a multitude of trees; but if someone has the means, as I do, to grow in a very short time (by an astonishing vegetation and very rich in plants, like metals) these same trees as big and as big as they become in a hundred years by the ordinary work of nature, which is always very long; then there is no doubt that this very considerable abbreviation of work, must have the greatest advantage over that of nature, by imitating her works which are so long. It will be the same with metals purified according to my method, that one could put in mines; they will produce much more than the mines even without exhausting them (because they continually attract astral gold which flutters ceaselessly in the air), and their products would be invaluable by this operation, which is always the same, which nature uses; but which the Author of nature allows to be shortened by means of art, which also comes from him. This is enough to explain myself to show the good will that I have to instruct.
It should be observed that iron in its origin was made to become gold in the course of time, like all the other imperfect metals. If, for example, we use iron, and if we make long and very wide plates of this metal, natural inclination to become gold, which must absolutely be considered as a field, or a real metallic earth, or a matrix in which the seed of gold will be sown to make gold grow, will be converted into gold or silver very pure, which one will not be obliged to separate from the earth at great expense & by long works, as one does in the mines: those who have it must feel the price of such a rare secret which will be an immense product without altering the mine.
There is every reason to believe that the process of which I speak, without giving the key to it, which is of such great importance, will determine several Artists to want to do my operation, which is not easy to find. In this case, allowed to give advice to all those who want to undertake it, so that they do not waste their time & their money: it is to first go to the school of nature, which has always been that of the greatest men, because this skilful Mistress, who is not mistaken, will certainly teach them much more solid doctrine than all the books teach; it will make them see that the nature of animals, vegetables and minerals imprints itself with an incomprehensible force on the matter from which they are formed, have increased, nourished and multiplied. Do we not see that a large quantity of dough by a little leaven becomes all leaven itself? Hence these surprising communications take - their sources? It is only exalted & concentrated spirits (similar to those I use to magnetize iron or any other metal with an aurific sulphur), which by communicating & introducing themselves into the pores of the metal that one wants to change into gold, submit to their empire all that they meet which is fit and disposed to receive their lively impression.
WE have the terrible proof of it in all poisons, but above all in men and rabid animals, which are this horrible transmutation by communicating rage as quickly as lightning to all those they have bitten.
Such a frightening example shows in another genre that it is also very possible to change with the same facility the nature of imperfect metals into gold or silver, when the sympathetic spirits which have been exactly prepared, strongly concentrated, and above all very gently fermented with the astral gold or silver of which ii must be used in this operation, quickly impress like a seal on the wax, or like the tooth of a madman on the flesh, the character of one or the other on the passive & mercurial matter of the imperfect metals which have been purified without experiencing the action of the fire which destroys everything.
So their transmutation into gold or silver is done with as much ease as those of bees, wax; likewise the silkworm, after having converted the leaf of the mulberry tree into silk, it converts itself into a species of bean, and finally passes from the low condition of a reptile to that of a bird; as also volatile toads, bats, butterflies, worms & flying fish.
Water also makes transmutations, it changes into the grass which increases itself, the grass into the beast which grazes on it, the beast into the man who feeds on it , and finally the body of the man in the earth who receives him after his death. the same water in plants changes into roots, into bark, into trunks into branches, into leaves, into flowers of different colors & smells, into seeds, in vegetables, in fruits, & in so many other different things that it is very useless to quote them, because they are too well known; & yet nature repeats every year & every day the same changes which are continual transmutations, from one thing to another. Lord, how great and admirable are your works.
As it is not possible to call into question the different transmutations which are constantly before our eyes, we cannot equally doubt that an enlightened Artist can in his turn perform transmutations similar to those of nature, and abridge much his work by leading it like her (by a shorter path) to its ultimate perfection.
It is also necessary to observe that the base metals are a raw and imperfect gold or silver to which a precious and hidden art, makes, procure the maturity and the perfection which were in the first intention of nature, made to be perfected; this feeling is confirmed by the following experiments.
The assayers of money are not unaware that the base metals are all embryonic from a fixed grain of gold and silver, which in its mines imperceptibly converts the mercurial part into itself by a slow maturation; & these workers are obliged to carefully release this precious grain which is found; already formed by nature in lead, when they want to use this one to test the materials of gold & silver whose title they must note with precision, Quicksilver, as it comes from the mines, after a long & gentle coction which has overcome its rawness a little , returns a few grains of fine gold to the curious patient enough to wait a year for the effect of this ordeal.
But for . return to the transmutation of imperfect metals into gold or silver, as this rich operation is not the responsibility of an individual (whatever science he may have) & that it can only be suitable for the owners of the mines gold & silver, (unless they wanted to give it to me); this is why I saw myself forced to leave this beautiful operation in darkness & in oblivion where it can still remain without ever coming out, because life is always very uncertain, especially at an age as advanced as mine, & which moreover I never wanted to put write down the very important things that I have learned, so that they do not fall into the hands of the ungrateful or those who might misuse them being too rich.
If I could have had a small piece of land in a gold mine, which I would have been sure we would not have touched! then there is no doubt that I would have performed the operation of which I speak, with all the more reason since. I am very certain that she will succeed, operation is very modest, and the product is immense; I would have made gold grow in this mine, like a gardener grows vegetables in his garden, or in warm earth, to have during the winter what nature gives us at the end of autumn, & this mine by the abbreviation of my work would have become the richest mine in the universe.
What satisfaction would I not have felt before finishing my career, which is perhaps so close to its end, if I had been able by such useful work to render the greatest service to all my compatriots and above all to the unfortunate whose number is so great, and that without ever borrowing anything from anyone; but only to nature, which has known me for a very long time, from whom I have always listened to the advice and wise lessons that she was good enough to give me.
I make no doubt that she is a good & tender mother who loves honest people when they cultivate her with the intention of doing good; for this reason I would have addressed myself to her who possesses all the goods of the universe, because she would have been my most solid banker.
She would have lent me her gold and her silver without any interest, and even without wanting to demand any reimbursement from me; she would have opened her prodigal hands, her coffers and her attics, to give me with generosity and profusion, without impoverishment, all that I would have asked of him with the greatest zeal to pay the debts of the State, and to spread abundance there without it costing the least thing to the Nation.
I would have taken from this good mother everything I would have wanted to make the happiest fate for all the brave soldiers, from the first to the last who serve the country on land and at sea, and those of my parents. who are only rich by titles & laurels would not have been forgotten, But what efforts would I not have made for agriculture & the arts, which I have always loved, either to reward them for services that they give us back & to encourage them, & at the same time to favor the trade which is the support of the State? ALL these important objects would have cost him, I agree, immense treasures; despite this I would not have spared them, because it is rich & beneficent towards those who are a good use of its wealth, which as of reason would have served to build a vast edifice that the universe would have admired by its magnificence, & its gilded paneling to the God of medicine & to his wise ministers who would have liked to occupy it; & before all things or at least at the same time to erect superb temples very well endowed to the all-powerful master of this nature which fills us at every moment with all its benefits.
This, I will be told, is the finest of all projects; & if he is not chimerical, he leaves nothing more to be desired, since he certainly gives the best of all means to procure very great wealth & so cheaply, without being obliged to ever have it reimburse anyone?
If someone were to make such an objection, the answer would be very simple, saying that a prudent man should never decide a thing that he does not know, he should even know that what he does not know, another can. know.
Multa negat ratio, at vera experientia monstrat (Reason denies much, but true experience shows). He could also be told to prove the contrary by well-established facts, or to do this himself.
experience if he doubts it, or at least put me in a position to have at my disposal for a certain time a suitable space of ground in a gold mine; then I will experience it at my expense, on condition that I derive the benefit from it.
As I have always been the sincere friend of the public good, on this occasion? it is the desire that I have to oblige him, which commits me to let him know that this operation, which has been unknown until now, exists, and that he can derive great advantages from it.
Moreover, if I did not want to render her such an important service, I am well able to keep silent, and never to bring her out of the darkness where it is hidden, along with many other things that I know of, which are more important than this operation. But in favor of the essential service that I want to render, I will not refuse to test the process of which I speak here, it is well worth it, since the expense is very modest, and the product is immense.
But if circumstances determine me to communicate such a beautiful secret, which is the fruit of my labors & the object of a legitimate fortune, only to an owner of a gold mine, I want to have the most certain proof. , not by vain words which are so ordinary , & bear no fruit; but by effects as real as mine that he in turn wants to be my true friend, by doing to others all the good that I cannot do them or myself with this procedure, which has cost me a great deal of research, since I do not have a mine at my disposal.
In this certainty, I will eagerly take this rich light out of the thick darkness that surrounds it, so that we can experience all its wonders, and derive all the advantages of the most useful operation to make people happy without it. costs nothing to anyone.
By making such a beautiful present in such a disinterested way to him from whom I have received no service; everyone will agree that it is only fair that I should be paid for the return of the most sincere friendship, with such a condition, can be paid very cheaply.
This man certainly exists, that is to say, this gold mine owner who will want to be the benefactor of humanity, if he makes himself known & if he wants to do all the good that I cannot. do with this process, and which I nevertheless wish to do, he can address himself directly to me, if he intends to have this operation carried out, and I will communicate my secret to him, with this express condition, that it will not be made public, because of the abuse that libertines would not fail to make with so much wealth which should not serve to favor debauchery; but on the contrary, they must be employed in doing good, according to my desire, in order to have the great satisfaction of making people happy. Nulla major usura quam pascere pauperes; &c as the great Orator of the Romans very well said: Homines enim nulla re propius accedunt ad Deos quam salutem hominibus dando (For men there is no matter they approach nearer to the Gods than by giving salvation to men).
Men cannot come nearer to the divine majesty than by doing good to men, and especially to the unfortunate whom we must relieve with alacrity to console them in their ills. End of the second volume. 177
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