Philosophical Discourse On the three Principles, Animal, Vegetable, & Mineral VOLUME 1

PHILOSOPHICAL DISCOURSE On the three Principles, Animal, Vegetable, & Mineral.

OR THE KEY TO THE PHILOSOPHICAL SANCTUARY

VOLUME ONE

SABINE STUART DE CHEVALIER

Nature has received absolute power from God to exercise its empire over all beings in the universe; it embraces all the Kingdoms, all the Provinces, and all places in particular, to distribute everywhere, at the same time, that which suits the perfection of each being: it has constituted princes the four Elements, and has given them the power of to fulfill the will of the Creator, by arranging them in such a way that they continually act one within the other. Fire began to act in the Air, where it produced sulfur. Air began to act in Water, where it produced mercury. Water began its operations in the Earth where it produced salt.

The Earth, having no subject on which it could have acted, produced nothing; but she kept all the productions in her bosom. This is why there are only three Principles, the earth being the nurse & matrix of all other beings. The Ancients only described two effects of the Elements or two Principles; they perhaps knew the third, and said nothing about it for particular reasons; not fearing severe criticism, in dedicating their works to their children, they limited themselves to describing sulfur and mercury which are the basis of the metals from which a medicine that they knew perfectly is extracted.

A Child of Art must know all accidental things, when he wants to approach an element, so that he can distinguish & choose the means he must use to achieve the end he proposes: if he wants to fill the number four, he must know that the three Principles were produced by four, and not ignore either, that it is still necessary to diminish and reduce the three Principles to two, which are the male and the female , and that these last two produce one which is incorruptible, which contains the four equally and in the supreme degree of purity. This is the way to know that the quadrangle is contained in the pentagon, where the purest quintessence in the world is found. The Artist is obliged to separate this quintessence, & purify it from a large number of opposites, to have in three essences, in each composition, the body, the spirit & the hidden soul. After having thus separated & purified these three things, they must be united again, by imitating Nature; & if we are fortunate enough not to deviate from it, we are assured of reaping the fruit of our labors.

This is the origin of the three Principles, from which, by imitating Nature, we withdraw the universal solvent, which we easily separate from it, when we know well how all beings were formed.

These three principles are found in everything; without them, nothing would happen naturally in the world. I said above that the Ancients had only named two Principles which are mercury and sulfur, and that they however knew an incomparable medicine which comes from them.

This is why I will add that they must necessarily have known salt, which is the key & principle of Chemistry because it is sulfur which makes the salt stay where it was placed.

But let us now establish a proposition to demonstrate that these three Principles are truly the next material of the medicine of which we are speaking.

All metals are composed of a nearby material and a distant material; the next material is sulfur & mercury; the four elements are distant matter which was created by God himself, who alone has the power to create by means of the elements. This is why we must abandon the elements with which we will never produce anything other than the three Principles, because Nature has not given them any other property.

If then we can only extract from the elements the three Principles that Nature has produced by their means, what is the point of wasting our time in seeking and wanting to do what Nature has already generated, and which she presents to us ready-made?

We must therefore limit ourselves to the three Principles with which Nature produces all beings on earth and in the earth, since we will find them in everything by making a suitable separation and conjunction.

Nature produces metals & stones in the mineral kingdom; trees & plants in the plant kingdom; the body, mind & soul, in the animal kingdom.

The body is earth; the spirit is water; the soul is fire, sulfur or gold.

The spirit increases the quality of the body, the fire strengthens it; the spirit being exalted, has more weight & oppresses the fire which sucks each of them, & makes them increase in virtue, & the earth which is intermediate, also increases the weight of the bodies.

We must think carefully about what we want to look for in these three Principles, to the aid of which we are obliged to come to overcome the opposites.

We must then add to the weight of Nature the weight which is necessary for it, to fill its defects, by means of Art, by destroying the opposites.

Earth, elements, the second subject in which fire & water continually fight by means of air; if water predominates, temporal and corruptible things result; if, on the contrary, fire wins the victory,
perpetual and incorruptible beings result.

Let us now reflect on what is necessary for us; let us consider that fire & water are found in everything; but they do nothing other than fight violently, not by themselves, but by the excitation of intrinsic heat, which is fomented by the movement of the Stars in the bowels of the earth, and without this celestial movement, fire & water would never do anything; they would remain at their term and in their balance.

But after Nature has united these two opposites in proportion, the intrinsic heat excites them, they begin to fight, and each of them calls his fellow man to his aid. This is how they rise and grow until the earth can no longer rise. Therefore, the fire & water being thus retained in the earth, they are stolen there because they are perpetually in movement & circulate constantly through the pores that the air prepares for them in the earth, which then produces flowers & fruits that are friendly to water.

When you have purged something well, make fire and water become friends; you will succeed easily by means of the earth which rose with them.

We are much sooner at the end of this operation than Nature, provided that we have the precaution to observe its weight by making the conjunction.

We must not settle on the weight that Nature has used; but it is on its current needs, relative to what we want to do, that we must base all our operations.

Nature, in all her compositions, uses less fire than anything else; but it adds an extrinsic fire to excite the internal fire relative to its will. The time it takes to carry out its operations depends on the fire being more or less strong; if he is victorious, something perfect results; but if it is overcome by water, the work of Nature remains imperfect. This happens in minerals as well as in plants.

Extrinsic fire does not enter, as an essential part, into the composition of beings to perfect them, because material fire is sufficient, provided however that it has its nourishment to make it grow and multiply; because growth & multiplication are always relative to food.

This is why extrinsic fire, in all our operations, must never be too strong because it would suffocate the spirits.

The extrinsic fire must be multiplicative & nourishing; but it should not be devouring, because cooking is perfection in everything.

Nature thus adds weight to perfect her work. But as it is difficult to add to a composition, and it requires a long work, we decided to separate the superfluities, as much as possible,
according to the needs of Nature.

When we have separated the superfluities, we can make our mixture, Nature will show us what is necessary for her.

We must also have enough knowledge to see if Nature has joined the elements well or badly, because no conjunction takes place without the participation of all the elements; but there are many who sow straw or husk for grain, just as there are ignorant people who sow straw and grain at the same time; others reject what true Artists carefully preserve; finally others begin where they should end or abandon the work through inconsistency, when they are on the point of reaping the fruit of their labors. Science is tricky, and most would like an easy and very short job.

The essential point consists in the preparation of the hidden things; this is what leads a large number of Artists into error: because, when they prepare the material which really contains philosophical mercury, they reject the best parts and retain the worst.

But true Artists know how to protect themselves from all these disadvantages, by combining the elementary virtues in equal parts, heat, cold, natural aqueous humidity. In a word, the fundamental point
consists in the conjunction of the male with the female to effect generation, and to develop this essential point, I will add that this male and this female are nothing other than the humid radical of metals.

We must never lose sight of the fact that our weight must be that of Nature. You have to double the mercury and triple the sulfur to make a perfect work. We will see sulfur and double mercury appear; but we must not ignore that they come from the same root, and that they must not be raw nor overcooked.

The Mercury of the Philosophers, as well as the matter which contains it, have admirable properties. This mercury dissolves metals & invigorates them by the virtue of its sulfur which is of a penetrative & fixative nature. Common mercury dissolves neither gold nor silver, so that it cannot be separated from them.

The mercury of the Philosophers, on the contrary, dissolves metals and unites with them inseparably. Common mercury contains a combustible, impure sulfur, which blackens metals; it is cold & humid, it converts into gray powder in its precipitation, or into bad sulfur. Philosophical mercury
contains a pure, incorruptible sulfur, which whitens & reddens metals, which is hot & humid, which becomes dazzlingly white by means of a gentle heat which makes it fixed & fusible.

All these circumstances prove the difference between these two mercuries.

---

ON THE
VIRTUES
AND
PROPERTIES
OF THE PHILOSOPHERS' MERCURY,

This mercury is so rich that it has everything it needs for itself and
for us, without it being necessary to give it any help by adding foreign matter. It freezes and dissolves by simple natural cooking.

If we carefully examine the nature of plants, minerals, and metals, we will recognize that they all contain the true mercury of the Philosophers, which is also found everywhere else; but there is a subject where it is closer, and to discover it, one must have a perfect knowledge of natural things, especially those relating to Mineralogy & Metallurgy.

A large number of people claim to find this material by pure chance, without having the necessary knowledge to follow its traces & go back to the source. I agree that it can be found by chance, &
I will add that many people have put their hands on it without thinking about it;
but what resulted? They wanted to work on it without principles, and fell into the error that they could not know or avoid; so they lost it in the same way they found it.

We must therefore work with knowledge of the facts, not being stubborn or being seduced by what we can see, if we do not understand the real cause.

PRINCIPLES OF CHEMISTRY.

_ A good Chemist must imitate Nature in all her operations; he must never deviate from the natural principles, which are the basis of art. One must have a perfect knowledge of the natural generation of metals, to be able to imitate Nature in its principles. Water & earth make up the material of stones; the rocks are formed with earth mixed with viscous humidity.

quicksilver with sulfur, by means of temperate heat, in the bowels and deep caverns of the earth.

These vapors contain humidity which condenses by means of earthly dryness with temperate heat, which mixes, dissolves & sublimates these vapors in suitable places where they are digested.

This humidity is the cause of the fluidity of metals which can then convert into gold, silver, or other metals, depending on the quality of their sulfur or the degree of heat they encounter.

These vapors are attracted by quicksilver; this is why it is clear and indubitable that sulfur and quicksilver are essential to all metals, and that they produce the vapors which freeze all metallic bodies.

Sulfur is nothing other than the fat of the earth which is cooked in its
mining with a moderate heat; but quicksilver is a heavy water
which contains a white earth, very subtle, well incorporated and which digests
until the humidity is perfectly united with the earth, and until
one and the other other are transmuted.

The entire success of this natural operation depends on quicksilver which is
the common material of all metals; but it must be mixed with the sulfur which is found in all minerals and which is necessary for the formation
of all metals.

There are mines where sulfur and quicksilver are found separately; but if they are not united and conjoined, they will never produce any metal:
both will remain as they are, without changing form.

This is why all mining sites emit a stench of sulfur. This is
proof that the spirit of sulfur and quicksilver unite in the generation of metals; sulfur is active, and quicksilver is passive. One is male, and the other is female, and their conjunction is as necessary for the propagation of metals as the conjunction of man and woman for
the propagation of the human species.

The same thing happens in the conjunction of sulfur with quicksilver which is the material from which metals are formed. Sulfur enters as an agent, which carries the propagative seed, because it contains an occult virtue which is a natural metallic heat, which digests, generates & excites generation in quicksilver.

Sulfur, by its agile, subtle & penetrative virtue, generates gold in
quicksilver where the body of gold is already found; it separates the superfluous parts
& coarse sulphurous; thus quicksilver, by its virtue and its sulfurous principles, is cooked and determined into perfect gold with the vapors of sulfur, which is compared to the heart which rises from the animal fetus.

The shape and tincture of gold are in the Mercury of the Philosophers, like the heart in an animal; but an external sulfur is added, which by its virtue and active power, sets the quicksilver in motion, strengthens it by separating all the coarse sulfur, and converts it into perfect metal according to the nature of this same sulfur.

This is why we find sulfur and stones in all
metal mining, because it contains a natural metallic virtue, which freezes,
fixes and hardens quicksilver. The quicksilver which hardens simply by the vapor of lead, or, to put it better, by the sulfur exhaled by molten lead, is unequivocal proof of this. Sulfur, in the bowels of the earth, begins the coagulation and hardening of quicksilver by the virtue of the
Stars which give it admirable properties.

There are two different sulfurs, just as there are two different metallic dyes; one is composed of a coarse sulfur, and the other of a subtle sulfur.

These two sulfurous substances coagulate & dye the quicksilver metal;
but coarse sulfur only ever produces an imperfect metal, while
subtle sulfur always converts quicksilver into perfect metal, because
it contains a perfect tincture.

We must conclude, from what we have just said, that sulfur is the agent of metals, and that quicksilver is the material of which they are composed. If the impure & coarse sulfur were separated from the metals, they would all be perfect, because they would be cured of their leprosy.

By going back to the origin of metals, we recognize that Nature
only uses sulfur and quicksilver to form them. Sulfur is the seed and the agent which withdraws when it has carried out its operation and made its work perfect: quicksilver remains as the material which produces the body.

Nature, at the beginning of the generation of metals, uses
heavy water, with a mixture of viscous parts and a
very subtle sulphurous white earth, which digests, hardens and compresses the humidity of the water
by its dryness and which brings all parties together. If Nature, in producing
quicksilver, uses a pure material, it will become perfect gold,
provided that it finds all the aid it needs in the bowels of
the earth; but if the male and the necessary warmth are refused to him,
it will always remain quicksilver; because it absolutely needs moderate heat
to sublimate it & elevate it with the vapors of mining, where it is purified
& dyed by the heat of the sulfur which is stripped at the same time of
all its gross superfluities.

When this sulfur has reached the supreme degree of purity; he converts
into gold all the parts of quicksilver on which he can spread his vapor;
because Nature intends all quicksilver to be perfect gold,
but it must be purified with very pure sulfur.

Quicksilver & gold having only one and the same origin, we must conclude
that by cooking, digesting & ripening quicksilver, according to the principles of Nature, we will make gold from it. Perfect.

If we observe with a little attention the principles of gold in its
natural generation, we will recognize this truth; for if the quicksilver is not pure, after its formation, or if some accident or obstacle subsequently happens to it, such as too much or too little heat; or if the seat it occupies is unclean or infected with contrary vapors, it is what we call quicksilver mixed with mixed and coarse sulfur which Nature has not had the opportunity to separate or destroy.

In this case, quicksilver remains such, and Nature will never convert it into gold; if the impurities are only at a certain point, it will convert into silver; but if it contains a large quantity, it will be determined as copper, tin or lead, or iron, depending on the degree of heat it finds in the bowels of the earth, and the quantity of impure sulfur with which it contains. will be loaded.

We must not ignore that, although these impurities are, like the bad sulfur, mixed with the quicksilver, it is not a mixture which is in the case of making it combustible with the sulfur, because the experience proves to us, by making cinnabar, that the sulfur burns and is destroyed without the quicksilver losing the slightest bit of its weight which we always find after we have revived the cinnabar: this proves that the quicksilver Silver is still incombustible despite its impurities.

It is obvious, from what we have just said, that the beginnings of
imperfect metals come from bad sulfur, and not from quicksilver. Nature continually acts on them to make perfect gold, and if she does not succeed, because of the obstacles of which we have just spoken, she makes of them what she can: silver, copper, tin, iron; but she does not want to abandon them in this state of languor: she continues to take care of them by removing all obstacles, by cooking them, until they are reduced to pure quicksilver to make them digest into gold.

& iron, where we find gold & silver mixed with these imperfect metals. We also very frequently find mines of imperfect silver, which must be abandoned for a certain time, to let them cook, digest & mature.

If imperfect metals were intended by Nature to remain such, they would certainly always remain in this state; we see, however, that it
continually strives to mature and convert them into perfect gold, because we
recognize in mining that the metallic parts which are closest
to the hearth are always converted into perfect gold, while those
which are far from it are still only copper, iron and other imperfect metals.

It is therefore evident that all metals contain a property, a natural disposition by means of which they can reach the degree of perfect gold: this proves that there is another way of generating gold with quicksilver. pure silver, which is contained in imperfect metals & even with all their substance, because it is only by accident that they remained imperfect, since Nature continually acts on them to reduce them to pure quicksilver & then Golden.

This second generation of gold is the last disproportion which differs from the first by the means that Nature uses by working in a different way than in the first generation, where it operates on a pure & natural quicksilver, which does not does not require such long work as in the second generation of gold which is made with imperfect metals, although they are all formed of the first material which is uniform.

Matter must be equally pure in these two generations; quicksilver must be stripped of all its impurities to be fixed into gold; but it can only reach this degree after having been stripped of its coarse and combustible sulfur which is destroyed during long cooking.

Nature provides us abundantly with quicksilver and imperfect metals
throughout the earth; but they are infected & filled with impure materials from which we cannot strip them by the means that Art can provide us; because if we cooked and digested them for a century they would not be purer or more ripe, because we do not know the degrees of heat that Nature uses to make gold; This is why we cannot imitate him in this circumstance, when it is a question of separating superfluities through digestion and cooking.

This is Nature's intention; she placed the matter of gold in all imperfect metals; it is the quicksilver that it has arranged to receive the form of the gold which already exists there,

Nature has given us several means to destroy, burn & consume
all these impurities with powerful spirits that exist in the metallic kingdom. This is where we must look for the first material of Chemistry, and not elsewhere.

We are not speaking here of peripatetic or platonic matter, but of the first matter of the sulfur of the Philosophers, & of the natural subject from which we must draw it.

OF
THE
FIRST
MATTER
OF CHEMISTRY.

The first material of sulfur is one of the two materials which are necessary
to complete the hermetic work. If we carefully consider this essential point, we will surely recognize this first material, which is cold & humid when taken to extract its quintessence.

There are three matters in the composition of the Hermetic Magisterium, or to put it more clearly, it is the same and unique matter that we call, distant matter, near matter, and very close matter.

Philosophers have thus divided this matter, because it appears triple in operation; because in the time that it is taken from the mine to prepare it, it is moved away; after the impurities have been separated from it, it becomes proximate; & finally, when we reduce it to the disposition of Nature, it is very close.

We must take distant matter to extract philosophical mercury from it, and abandon nearby matter, and not imitate those who work without principles; for they take the near matter, not knowing the price of the distant matter.

All Philosophers, both ancient and modern, have sufficiently indicated to us
where we must take the first material of Chemistry. They said it was necessary to look for it in the belly of the ram; but we must not confuse the astronomical ram with the philosophical ram. However, this is what happened to many people who worked without principles; but we will give an explanation of this essential point, which will prevent falling into such a mistake. The article on the Elements
into which we are about to enter will leave nothing to be desired on this subject.

DISCOURSE
OF THE
ELEMENTS.

Philosophers have agreed to represent the elements under different figures, for reasons which we need not discuss.

They represented water in the form of a dragon;

The air, under that of a bird;

Fire, under that of an Angel;

And the earth, under that of a ram.

Water makes the earth live, the earth is the vessel which contains the water; if the whole earth is the vessel of water, it follows that water dwells in the earth.

The Philosophers having chosen the ram to indicate the earth, it is very clear that the water which inhabits the earth will be the belly of the earth.

Hermes' expression supports this truth. Visit the bowels of the earth, says this Philosopher, by grinding you will find the hidden stone, which is a real medicine.

It is very essential to know the quality of the items, as well as the quantity. The success of chemical operations depends on this knowledge.

The earth is dry & cold; the air is humid & warm; the fire is hot & dry; the water is cold & humid.

Although all the elements are different and contrary, in whole or in part, the earth is found, in a sense, only in the water, and the water is only found in the earth; these two elements only agree in one genre; that is to say, in the cold: because fire can only be found in the air, and these two elements are in agreement as far as heat is concerned only. This is why we clearly see that the earth lives on the substance of water, and fire on that of air. For the same reason, water participates, in one genus only, with earth in relation to cold, and with air in relation to humidity. Earth, on the contrary, appears intermediate, and fire participates in air in relation to heat, just as it does with earth because of drought.

Air is intermediate between fire and earth, and this is why all the elements are contained in each other. This is why we cannot convert an element into the nature of another element, without converting the intermediate element, which is contrary to it.

If, for example, we wanted to convert water into fire through its opposite, we would first have to convert the water into air, to convert and dry out the humidity in the water. Then the element of water would be totally converted by another contrary element which is that of fire.

Likewise, if one wanted to convert fire into water, one would necessarily have
to convert the heat of the fire into cold; for then, fire would become earth, which is its intermediate element; but it would absolutely be necessary to convert the dryness of the fire into humidity.

This is the way to convert fire into water by means of an opposite.
We can likewise convert water or air into earth, and earth into fire by means of a suitable intermediary.

We have already said, and we repeat it again, that we are not talking here about peripatetic water; philosophical water is only the subject we deal with.

of all the gross parts of the elements, by philosophical manipulation: when it is thus purified, it can be considered as a true spirit, since it contains everything necessary for the hermetic magisterium.

This spirit must be delivered from its body by a purgation repeated
up to seven times, and even beyond.

AIR.

Everything that we have just said about water can be applied to air, which is nothing
other than water vapor. This is why, when you have philosophical water, you will at the same time
possess the air of the Philosophers. As soon as you have separated
the gross parts from the physical body, you will have a pure & philosophical mind, with which you will do wonders, provided that you have the secret of discovering what it contains internally.

Géber says that this spirit contains a dry thing, consequently the
philosophical air contains a fire & a virgin earth with which one can work
wonders.

FIRE.

Fire is that of all the elements which has the most influence over all compounds, it can only exist in the universal spirit which is found everywhere and in particular in the four elements. This opinion is contrary to that of those who admit simple bodies, without considering that simple beings cannot have different qualities, favorable and contrary at the same time.

This is what made us resolve to deny the existence of simple bodies, because every body is undoubtedly composed of several beings united.

Philosophy, moreover, does not admit any being that is not composed of the four elements.

Physical fire is absolutely necessary to dye the Mercury of the
Philosophers, & philosophical fire is also necessary to mature it.

Pontanus has written an excellent treatise on philosophical fire, but not everyone is able to read it fruitfully. Those who work without principles seek this fire everywhere, while it is in their hands; they do not know it, because they did not want to take the trouble to study Nature.

There is a combustible fire, which throws out a flame, which burns and consumes,
when Nature is in agitation. We have a condensation &
a rarefaction by means of which the mixed ones coagulate & become corporeal in their mixture. There are two species of rarefactions which Nature uses, like two hands, to work; it is the ferment & the fire
of fermentation,

Fermentation takes place by the elevation of sulphurous particles, which
condense and become rarer by means of a ferment in the universal air.

It is impossible to ferment anything whatsoever without breaking it
or opening it, to give it enough air to excite the fermentation, which
always has two ends, & nothing can ferment without sweet liquor, because the
acids of salt of niter & common salt do not ferment.

If the fermentation goes beyond the prescribed times, the saline particles rise and predominate over the sulphurous parts, and a distilled vinegar results . It is impossible to acquire a fiery spirit without fermentation, after which three things result, the feces, the middle substance, the acid substance, and the sulfurous spirit part. Combustion is nothing other than an elevation and rarefaction of the condensed sulfurous parts which extend by means of the ferment of a fire lit by the interposition of air. Nothing can burn or ignite in a material which is not opened, or in a closed vessel; lit coals go out as soon as they are deprived of air. Nothing can ignite and burn unless it is a fatty and sulfurous material; because acids, like vitriol, salts, arsenic, mercurial materials cannot ignite or burn, if the sulfurous parts do not predominate, as in niter and common sulfur. If combustion is continued beyond the time necessary for fermentation, the saline parts rise and dominate over the sulphurous parts, which from coals become acidic salts, as we see in soot. After the combustion of a material, there remain coals, ashes and soot: because the oily parts have become rarefied by the action of the fire, and have passed into flame, and then into soot: a part condenses in coals; another part freezes in the ashes, from which comes the alkali salt, which is nothing other than an extremely condensed and concentrated sulfur. But volatile salt, on the contrary, is found in soot, because its sulfur is very volatile & rarefied. When the feces are earthy after fermentation, they have the virtue of attracting the spirit. We can conclude, from what we have just said, that fermentation and combustion tend to the same end, and are like a single method which rarefies, subtilizes and alters the mixed. Let's observe carefully, things, depend on sulfurous and saline particles: and when the first predominate, the bodies always ignite; but if acids

dominate, they resist fire. The pores also prevent the division and density of bodies, and prevent them from opening to internally receive the action of fire.

Sulfur, for example, although very prone to ignite because of the large quantity of fatty matter it contains, can be made incombustible by adding silt, quicklime, or other
mercurial parts.

Gold, which can remain for centuries in a violent fire without altering, can be made subtle to the point of igniting and burning, because it contains a subtle earth like atoms.

It is incontestable that we can make incombustible the material most likely to ignite, and that we can make combustible that which has the virtue of resisting fire.

These facts, at first glance, do not appear to be of great consequence;
but if we examine them closely, we will recognize that they are means of reducing Nature to its first principle.

If you melt a metal and sprinkle pulverized sulfur on it little by little, part of the sulfur will burn as well as part of the metal; but the metal will regain the substance of the sulfur, what it loses in the flame, and after having kept it in fusion for several hours, under the caput mortuum of the sulfur, you will find very nearly the same weight of metal that you have used, and it will be dyed with the substance of sulfur: you can melt it as much as you want: it will always retain its dye; but if you dissolve it in etching, the sulfur will precipitate to the bottom of the vase: dry this powder, it will be liable to catch fire in the same way as gold made combustible.

Antimony slags have the same property when they are fixed in sulfur by means of an alkali. Dissolve the same metal that you have dyed with sulfur in the spirit of salt, put the solution
in a matra, and distill it until dryness: you will have a mass
which will burn like sulfur, and throw out a dazzling flame ; but if
you condense this same mass, it will become metal again. Thus, whatever
way we can work the sulfur, we always make it return to its first disposition; we make it incombustible, and we make it become
combustible again successively. These little lessons can provide
great enlightenment to anyone who wants to make progress in Chemistry.

It is the same with any mercurial substance; we can also
make it combustible, & make it become incombustible again successively: this proves to us that everything that is combustible is not always volatile, & that everything that is incombustible is not always fixed.

We must conclude from this that fire is not a natural element,
but that it is produced by the rarefaction of atoms and earthy and subtle corpuscles
which reduce it to a body, as we see in the
reaction of iron, where it acquires an increase in weight.

There is a big difference between actual fire and potential fire which throws
flames and gives light.

Every current fire heats up; the potential fire cools and ceases after
throwing out its flames. The fire that illuminates neither heats nor consumes.
There is a fire that spreads a lot of flame, a lot of light, without
heating or consuming.

There also exists a fire which illuminates and heats without consuming: because we
see that the fire of the atmosphere extends very far, and that the flame
it produces is capable of an increase in power and extension.

It would be advantageous to know if the atoms of fire penetrate the vitrified gold,
and if they mix with the bodies to increase their weight and volume;
but we would have to know how to distinguish the atoms of fire and the atoms of gold. It does not appear that the Sun is an actual fire which throws out a flame, although it ignites corpuscles and other matters of this kind.

No one is unaware that lead acquires an increase in weight during the operation of the cup: how would this happen if the atoms of fire were not concentrated and fixed into a body?

The variations found in the different digestions of Chemists
prove nothing; because they depend on the material and the regime of the fire.
The material takes a different form in the bath than on the ashes; on the
sand, on an open fire, in the sun or in horse manure. These variations
are caused by the greater or lesser quantity of atoms which carry
corpuscles in the digestions and which come together with the matter which is being
worked, by the virtue of the principal agent, which is fire.

It seems that these corpuscles of fire which accompany this element are
like effluvia; for they are of such a subtle nature that they penetrate
the glass.

This truth is demonstrated by the magnet, whose corpuscles penetrate
the iron particles which are enclosed in a vase and even in a
mass of glass.

We will not speak here of the earth that we trample underfoot; we will
deal with a land which is found in the vaporous exhalations, and
which is called virgin land of the Philosophers: it requires no other preparation
than that of purifying the spirits which it contains, and it will be well prepared
when the spirits it contains will be well purified; but we can only
use it as matter after having made it lose its form, and having
given it another, by reincrusting its seed to ripen the fruits
of which it contains the germ. When we have acquired this earth, which we call
volatile salt, we possess at the same time the fire, the air & the mercury of the Philosophers.

Nature, from the beginning, prepared this earth by the conjunction
of the four elements: she continues to operate on this matter to separate
all impurities & superfluities, & she will not abandon it before it is subtle, agile, & that it shows the form intended for it.

Animals and minerals drew their first material from the four elements which then gave them their form, their formal virtue, or their seminal force. These admirable properties descend to the earth by the rays of the stars which penetrate our globe, where the four elements are contained.

All the rays of the stars are directed to the center of the earth; it is there where they gather, and where they attract with them the seminal virtues of the forms of all things.

The earth is therefore the mother of all things, preferentially to all
other elements, because it conceives & contains the seed of all
things: it continually distributes the gifts it receives from above, and it will continue thus as long as that the heavens will be in motion.

Raimond Lulle thinks that it is waters contained in the center of the earth which attract these celestial influences; above all, those which operate the generation of metals, by stirring, by provoking certain agile spirits which condense and separate the vapors.

If, by means of art, we prepare these spirits & make them suitable & agile to foment the first matter, which is the metallic earth in which we must place these spirits, they will attract all
the virtues with which they are endowed; they will only attract spirits prepared and
analogous to the generation of metals, in the same way as the magnet attracts
iron. The same Author adds that these spirits can be attracted with water whose composition he gives, and that they have the virtue of coagulating and fixing quicksilver.

double portion of matter, because they contain at the same time formal virtue.

Matter comes from the elements, and the form comes from the celestial virtues which make
the matter of the elements take a form. This is why matter which comes from the elements is like the instrument of nature and celestial virtues; & the more subtle this elementary matter is, the more strength
and virtue it has to operate in the time it is used.

This matter being well prepared, becomes a penetrating spirit, which has admirable properties; it separates all heterogeneous materials, and only attaches to the material which is intended by Nature to produce perfect gold.

We must know the materials which prevent gold from reaching its degree of maturity, or which cause it to perish on the way. We must also not ignore that gold is produced by these two materials, that is to say, by that which serves as a magnet, and by that which is attracted from above.

Nature is the instrument of art; to use it successfully, we must know the origin of metals & know the matter from which they are formed, as well as the means that Nature uses to generate them, so that we can imitate it as much as possible.

The material of stones is not much different from that of the elements.
The stones are composed of water and earth, which have not yet undergone
transmutation. This material is a viscous & earthy humidity,
which collects, coagulates & hardens.

The generation of animal bodies also only occurs after the vapors have mixed with the matter.

But although we must imitate Nature in her operations,
yet it is impossible for us to imitate her especially in the generation of gold;
because it generates it with quicksilver, or with imperfect metals,
from which it separates all impurities and superfluities, which we will never be able to do by means of art, because, as we have already said, we will never be able to give temperate heat to quicksilver in imitation of Nature, & because the life of man is too short to wait until all these heterogeneous materials are burned or destroyed; but, with art, we nevertheless imitate Nature in part of these works.

Several Authors claim that the sulfurous parts should not be separated
imperfect metals; but that it is necessary to make a tincture, a medicine, which does not separate the sulfur from quicksilver or from metals. This medicine, on the contrary, hides and covers the sulfur to make a kind of gold and silver. True Philosophers say that this way of operating is false and illicit, because perfect gold and silver must not contain impure sulfur.

Other Philosophers want us to completely purge imperfect bodies
of all their impure sulfur, by means of some waters that they prepare
with minerals of which Géber spoke in his Summa; but this means is still imperfect, because gold will never be pure as long as the subtle matter smokes in the imperfect metals, which we want to transmute.

All the medicines that Géber placed in his Alchemical Text,
Chap. 1. can be lacking & lead into error, with the exception of a single one
which has the virtue of separating water from imperfect metals, & dyeing their sulfur
to make a perfect metal.

But to imitate Nature more perfectly, it is necessary to make a real
medicine to dye quicksilver and imperfect metals, and
completely separate impure sulfur.

This perfect tincture exists as well as the means of increasing the strength of gold & silver in their own substance; there is no question of extracting
the agile material to strengthen it; but it is necessary to take this tincture in
the proper substance of gold or silver, to fortify it & increase it
with spirits that are drawn from a combined quantity, of vitriol, of
nitre salt & of rock alum.

You must put these three minerals in a retort, distill the phlegm
until the powerful and dissolving spirits rise: then you must
change the container and make a violent fire. This is the way to acquire a
large quantity of good spirits which must then be rectified in a bain-marie,
working together until nothing wants to distil anymore, and the spirits
will be like oil at the bottom of the vase. .

Put this oil in a glass matrix, the shape of which is triangular,
close the vase hermetically & make the spirits rise to the top of one point of the matrix, then turn it over to make them rise to another point, & continue this operation until they no longer want to rise and will remain at the bottom of the vase.

These spirits, thus worked, have the property of freezing raw mercury,

have drawn into the earth; they also contain a sulfur which has a metallic virtue which also comes from metals.

The more subtle these spirits are, the more powerfully they will act on metals;
but they must be purified, matured, separated from the coarse part, and made
agile after separating the harmful parts.

But to derive any advantage from these spirits, we must consider the lower metals, carefully examining their nature; this is the essential point of
art. Imperfect metals contain a precious sulfur which has the virtue
of coagulating quicksilver.

For the same reason, we extract from wine a combustible oil which has admirable metallic virtues, because it contains a sulfur which comes from the earth; & when this oil is prepared in a suitable manner, it has a superior force over all other spirits.

However, we must not ignore that everything that comes from animals
and plants will never lead us to the perfection of the great work,
as long as it has the animal and plant nature: this is why it is absolutely
necessary to purify , by distilling, everything that comes from these two kingdoms, until it is of the metallic nature; for then, it can be used for metals: because there is only one stone & one foundation; that is to say, only metallic virtue can enter into the composition of the magisterium.

If we want to use what comes from minerals and plants, we must strip them of their nature and clothe them with metallic nature; because it is impossible to coagulate quicksilver without sulfur or without a material which contributes to this mineral: because wine only has and can only have metallic virtue because it contains sulfur, and this sulfur contains gold or silver: this is why we extract from wine, a very agile spirit, which increases the virtue of gold, because it fixes itself with gold, of which it dilates & multiplies the tincture, & I can certify that there is a great analogy between the spirit of wine & the spirit of gold: these two spirits participate in the same hot nature, this is why the essence of spirit of wine congeals inseparably with gold.

It must however be observed that the spirits of nitre, vitriol and alum are of a more distant fixity, because they are not yet mature; They nevertheless have
a great suitability with gold, because they have almost the same origin as wine, the spirit of which is of an agile and subtle nature.

It is as a result of these considerations,

The celestial virtues have a great property; they act powerfully on metals; but they are only regarded as an instrument suitable for working on inferior things. We must arrange the subject on which
we want to make them operate, that is to say, when we want to apply minds, we must make agile the matter on which these same minds must operate.

When a true Artist wants to begin the operation, he takes care to prepare the gold to extract its seminal virtue: it must be reduced to its first material, where it was before becoming gold; from then on, it will vegetate and produce fruit; but it must be visited to its root and reduced to putrefaction; this is the only way to make gold grow.

The wheat placed in the ground teaches us the way of working in the
hermetic magisterium. Wheat must rot in the ground before germinating, and when putrefaction has developed its germ, it attracts from the earth and the stars virtues analogous to its nature; his spirits are strengthened, and put him in a position to produce a hundredfold.

We find this method in the Gospel, where we read that if the
wheat does not rot in the earth, it will not produce fruit, because without this it could not attract the generative virtues from the earth and the waters of heaven.
by the development of the root which nourishes it with everything that
is analogous to its substance.

For the same reason, it is also necessary to develop the root of gold to put it in a position to attract a metallic and seminal virtue, it must be reduced to
its first material to be a subject suitable for receiving and attracting all the Virtues which are necessary for him in his generation.

This root of gold, as we have already said, is nothing other than a fatty and vaporous humor extracted from two natures which are sulfur and quicksilver.

Several Chemists calcine gold & water it with oils or spirits
to extract its agile nature; they cook the golden lime with
metallic & agile spirits with which they freeze it, until its
seminal substance is well fortified & reduced to tincture.

This operation is nothing other than what would have to be done if we took the seed of the wine in the wine itself, and if it was suitable, we would cook it in all its members, we would make it digest well. , then,

he would receive & attract several spirits with whom he would expand through
his seminal virtue. The smell of a wine thus prepared would give extraordinary strength to a man who would do nothing other than smell it.

Philosophers derive agile matter from gold in the same way; they
then enclose them in glass vases with agile spirits, &
coagulate them with metallic virtues. They digest them until the
material is well impregnated with the virtue of these spirits, and until it
has the property of dyeing and congealing all metals, especially quicksilver.

It is very obvious, from what we have just said, that the mercury of the
Philosophers is nothing other than the agile matter of gold.

Although there are several means of increasing gold, there is none
more advantageous than that of which we have just spoken.

It is only a matter of reducing this metal to first dry & agile mercury, imitating Nature. The gold thus prepared, takes on the nature of quicksilver with the mixed sulfur, which cooks it, separates all the coarse sulfur, so that only
pure quicksilver remains, which takes the form gold, in the same way
that Nature gives this same form to pure quicksilver in the bowels
of the earth.

We must, for the same reason, give to pure quicksilver a
formal and seminal virtue, or to put it more intelligibly, we must only
take the purest substance of quicksilver, because this substance
is capable of form of gold, of all its virtue, of all its spirits, from which the form of gold takes its origin.

Géber says that the agile substance must be extracted from quicksilver to make stone; but it is necessary to know that this mercury, this agile substance, is found ready prepared by Nature in gold, from where we must draw it to prepare it according to the principles of Nature.

We must not take quicksilver alone, nor sulfur alone, but both together and well incorporated; We must not take common sulfur or quicksilver, but those that Nature has composed and brought to the supreme degree of perfection by gentle cooking and temperate fusion. We will never find this material elsewhere than in the body of gold, which contains a mixture of sulfur and quicksilver which are united together by Nature in a perfect manner.

It is not possible to imitate the Mature, by wanting to make such a mixture
to produce the form or generation of gold.

This admirable union is made by the Author of Nature in favor of Art, for the increase of the virtues of which this agile matter is susceptible.

It attracts, from the spirits, all these virtues, which are the source of the form of gold.

Avicenna says that the sulfur that Nature uses in the bowels of the earth is only found in the two perfect metals, and to have it perfected, it must be taken from gold or silver, because these two metals are pure, and art has no other mineral. The mercury from which they are formed is the root of dye and the beginning of stone, and of the nature of gold which every true Artist must easily know.

This mercury appears white at the end of its preparation, although previously
it contained several colors different from those it had before its
extraction.

Géber says that the natural color of sulfur is always yellow, because this is the true color of gold; but when the sulfur disappears, and the quicksilver becomes visible, the color becomes white: the white color is therefore the true color of the Philosophers, or, to put it better, the color of their sulfur, because it is composed of a pure quicksilver, the last sign of which is whiteness and crystalline clarity.

We must be careful that when gold makes mercury flower, this sign announces that gold is working on generation through its root which is already open at that time, and that it is growing like a plant.

At this time, the sown gold is already putrefied, the germ is already developed, it grows flowers to give fruit in the time of its maturity; at the same time, sulfur & mercury are truly philosophical.

When this young plant begins to appear, you must take care of it and not let it perish. It is necessary to fix the mercury with the sulfur to preserve both; because if mercury is allowed to precipitate, it will no longer settle and will perish. This is why we must not forget to ferment this material with other fixed gold. This is what a Philosopher indicated by the old man who seeks to rejuvenate. That is to say, one must divide the bodily gold, cook it to the point of perfection, and its divided members will come together, reconsolidate, and the old man will be rejuvenated according to his desires; & while its guardian will be asleep by the perfect cooking, its members will dissolve into steam.

This philosophical parable indicates nothing other than the perfect cooking of gold which must be penetrated to its root, to its mercury, which alone is capable of receiving the virtues of spirits.

As soon as this mercury has been extracted, it must be set aside and fixed; because if we cook it longer, it will fly away, & if we wanted to take it before it was perfectly cooked, it could never be of any use; This is why you must be careful to only take the appropriate amount of time for its preparation. Excess & deficiency are equally harmful.

Nature shows us the rules of Art; for if she does not prepare her
mercury in a suitable manner, it will never set into gold.

It is the same with Art: if one lacks an essential point in the preparation of philosophical mercury, it will never produce a tincture of gold.

There are rules to observe from which we must not deviate: as soon as anything is cooked, if we do not remove it promptly from the fire, it burns and perishes entirely; & if we remove it before it is sufficiently cooked, we can't do anything with it.

We are obliged, for all these reasons, to continually be on our guard to see when the sign of perfect Mercury will appear. This sign is nothing other than the whiteness of the mercury which manifests itself, and which announces that it has reached the supreme degree of purity through cooking. This is
what Philosophers call the raw material of the magisterium, and from which the true tincture of gold is made.

This first material must be pure and without any mixture of heterogeneous things: it is simple, and the four elements are contained there separately: it is gold reduced to its first material, which is capable of generating and attracting other virtues, especially of the spirits.

As long as gold remains in its substance and is not corrupted,
it will never have the property of attracting and receiving the virtues and the
seminal forces, because it can only be disposed for this purpose by putrefaction, which reduces Nature to its first matter: then it receives the virtues and benefits from them like plants.

Hali says that when the stone appears, it is like a plant.

To make a real tincture, you must have an agile substance, a mercury prepared in essence and material, according to natural rules, in the same way as if it were Nature which was responsible for carrying out this operation in the bowels of
the earth: as soon as mercury is formed and well purified, it quickly takes the form of gold.

We must therefore obtain an agile mercury into which we will pour a tincture of gold. We can take this mercury in gold, in quicksilver, or in any other thing, where this same agile matter is found,
which must be pure, subtle, clear as it was when Nature gave it the form of the 'gold.

The whole secret of our art consists in making the thing as it was before; but to achieve this, we must not make contrary transmutations, that is to say we must make a simple separation of the terrestrial substance from the elements:

Plato says that our operation is not entirely similar to the operations
of Nature, which from a simple thing makes a composite one, by means of the elements; but we do the opposite; from a compound thing we make a simple one, as with gold from which we separate the harmful parts to make an agile nature, from which we make a tincture.

This simple material, extracted from gold, is an agile mercury, which Nature
has not yet completed, because she does not make a tincture of it; but it only gave it a form capable of change.

By means of art, we can give it this dye that Nature has refused it, and it will be what is called true silver, which precedes gold, which can be decorated with gold; because this silver is the real mercury which must be decorated & formed with gold, as we will briefly demonstrate in the following. We will show that gold contains the soul of this mercury, according to the feeling of the old man, who says, that gold is born when silver grows, and that silver is a dead body, which is animated by giving her the soul that is drawn from gold, and that this same silver is a woman to whom a husband is given to beget children.

Rasci, in his book entitled, The Light of Enlightenments, says that one must carefully preserve red gold when he has married a white woman.

It must be observed that this white woman is an extremely agile & subtle thing
, which takes the form of gold, when she is well purified, subtilized & stripped of all her earthliness.

The same thing happens, if we take this same material from gold, if we reduce it to mercury, that is to say, to the first material: for then, it is very disposed to receive and communicate the forms gold by its penetrative virtue.

Let us not lose sight of the fact that we are talking here about the substance that we extract from gold, and which is the true mercury or sulfur of the Philosophers, which is the only means of combining the tincture of which Géber speaks in his Summa, and when we have the means of making this conjunction, we easily complete the operation in a very short time. The Philosophers say, that this sulfur is called the nascent stone; but let us now come to the hidden stone which is the soul & the form of this visible stone.

Philosophical mercury must be made fugitive, but it must then be fixed and made stable; he was put to death; his soul was separated from his body; but we must restore its form & its soul to make it stable & alive so that it can produce fruits of its kind.

This form is nothing other than the gold or the soul that has been separated from it; this matter is much more agile than the gold composed of its bodily substance & spiritual. It is for this same reason that Rhafis says that the body of gold is the form of the stone, and that its spirit is its matter, and he speaks the truth, because this matter cannot exist without form and without a solar body, which contains the form of the Mercury of the Philosophers.

Without the reincrusted gold, it is not possible to make a real dye, because only gold can submerge itself in mercury. It really submerges and dissolves in philosophical mercury, if it is prepared properly to make a real tincture.

Spirits only mingle and congeal with gold through art, and it is not possible to complete the work without making the conjunction of gold and silver. ; but this expression must be understood carefully; because the money of which the Philosophers speak is nothing other than the philosophical mercury of which we have just spoken.

We can consult, on this subject, Virgil's Aeneid, song 6, where we see that Aeneas and the Sybil attacked a shrub, that they cut it in two, and that despite this amputation it still grew again . This shrub is the river of gold of which the Pagan Poets speak in their Works.

This gold and this tree mean nothing other than the ferment which perfects
the tincture, and most certainly the whole secret of the art consists in the application of this ferment and in the manipulation of this tincture,
because it is the body of the stone which contains its soul, which cannot exercise its power unless it is joined to a body. For the same reason, the tincture cannot be perfected without also being united to a body.

It is for this same reason that as soon as this matter appears, it must be reduced to a body and locked up to make it stable and prevent it from flying away.

Plato says that we must immediately give a soul to this body, and that this soul must be of the nature of gold, because it only receives life through its own body, in the same way as dough. must be fermented with a leaven which must be of the same species and nature as the dough.

Thus the philosophical mercury which comes from gold or its first material, must be enclosed with gold.

Hermes says that the ferment of gold is nothing other than gold itself, and although the matter is white in the beginning, it is nevertheless of the nature of gold, because it comes from the however, and towards the end of the operation, this material transforms into a very red crocus, but this only happens after the ferment has been applied to it.

Philosophical mercury & ferment are two elements that must be combined. These two elements are dry & wet.

The humid one is mercury taken from gold, which was made volatile & fugitive in
the first operation.

The dry is the body or ferment by means of which we coagulate these two things together.

We set aside mercury, and we call it the hidden stone, because we cannot sufficiently admire the sulfur it contains, nor the material of which it is composed, nor from which it attracts the admirable virtues that it it contains; because it makes the body to which it is joined fugitive: it is a fixed body, which attracts a fugitive mercury, and which it preserves until it is old enough to produce its like by multiplying it to infinity : they come together easily because they are of the same nature.

This body is the hidden stone, because it contains a virtue & an agility
that we cannot perceive. This is what made Géber say that philosophical mercury cannot have a yellow color without something being mixed with it
that can dye it throughout the entire extent of its body. Only
Nature can know the admirable properties of this divine
matter.

We will never succeed in dyeing mercury without using gold,
because it contains a perfect dye, which is impossible to find
elsewhere. Gold is a blessed stone, without the help of which the
nascent stone of mercury would infallibly perish.

This blessed stone is the heart, shape & tincture of gold. Hermes says, on this subject, that at the end of this century, heaven and earth will unite. This Philosopher understands, by heaven and earth, the two beings of which we have just spoken.

This operation has two parts as matter is composed of two materials in appearance.

The first part of the operation consists of the preparation of the mercury;
the second, in the fixation & fermentation of this double mercury,
because in this case, a true conjunction of the elements takes place: the
active virtues & the passive virtues come together & combine inseparably; but these two things must be well prepared and fit together to bring out their full effect. They must
be enclosed in a glass vase and exposed to moderate heat;
for then the matter acts as naturally, and in the same way
as it would do, if it were in the earth.

The material is certainly the foundation of the work. The entire success of
the operation depends on the preparation of this material. It must be made susceptible to the form for which it is intended, and above all put it in a position to receive the influences of the stars; without this it is not possible to succeed.

With art, we do nothing other than prepare the material; it is Nature which does the rest and which gives the suitable form.

Thus with the two things of which we have just spoken, we make only
one substance, which has the virtue of dyeing all metals gold, and this must
necessarily happen for the reasons that we have just given.

Plato believed that it was necessary to combine these two forms separately, by
means of art, with the material he obtained from imperfect metals. This
double form does not, however, receive metals entirely, it
only admits the most subtle and purest substance of these bodies, and it is only this part which is converted into gold; the other part of the material is abandoned, it falls into slag while making the projection.

The intention of the Alchemists is not to make gold; but they tend to make something much more valuable than gold itself. They seek the tincture of gold, which in action is the true form of gold. The form is also called the ferment of imperfect metals, although gold is the ferment of the mercury that is previously extracted from it, because mercury and the ferment are of the same nature; but this ferment must be agile & spiritual to be able to combine it in the same way that one could combine water with water.

After this mixture, what the body contained obviously appears, and what appeared is hidden, as happens when wax is melted; both become of the same nature.

These two spirits coagulate in the same way that we coagulate
milk to make cheese, which we make with milk which is of the nature of cheese. Not all of the milk substance can be converted into cheese: it is
necessary to separate the whey or the aqueous part which cannot coagulate.

The coagulation of metals is done in the same way, to make a
palpable comparison: not all the substance of imperfect metals is converted into gold, but only the parts which are suitable and which are of the same nature as gold. only these parts can dye it
gold, and these parts are nothing other than pure quicksilver.

We must now know if quicksilver dyes in the same way, or if it coagulates into gold, or if it is only its sulfur which dyes and coagulates. If this happened, the sulfur would certainly be weakened, or
better said, killed; because if we coagulate quicksilver with its sulfur, an
imperfect metal results, and if we separate the sulfur, it is converted into perfect gold.

When Nature wants to make gold from imperfect metals, she begins
by stripping them of their harmful sulfur, but it takes a lot of time to do this operation in the bowels of the earth. With tincture, on the contrary, we do this in a very short time, by the great analogy
which is found between imperfect metals and the tincture which we use
to cure their illnesses.

It is therefore obvious, from what we have just said, that imperfect metals
all have the same origin as gold, the two natures of which are very similar. The art teaches how to convert metals into gold, and not stones and other materials: for if one could transmute stones into gold, one could say that it is a miraculous transmutation, while the transmutation of imperfect & metallic bodies made of gold, is nothing but very natural, because if the matter was not already disposed by Nature to receive the dye, we could never succeed in converting them into gold by means of 'art.

This is the only reason by which it is possible to convert all imperfect metals
by means of gold and with the help of Nature.

We can prepare their form & their matter with other spirits which contain infinite metallic virtues.

We have just spoken in general to true Alchemists who are well
imbued with the principles of this science, which leads to the source of all happiness
: if all those who want to work in the magisterium take the trouble
to reflect on what we have just said, they will infallibly discover
the truth.

DIANE ’S DOVES.

The Diana of the Philosophers is the volatile salt of the earth or the virgin earth that is drawn from salt. Happy a hundred times he who can give birth to this Diana. It will be published between May 7 & 9.

When Diana comes into the world, she is always accompanied by her doves, which serve to nourish and strengthen her until she has reached the degree of perfection of which she is capable. Let us arm ourselves with patience while waiting for the birth of this Goddess, and we will soon see her doves appear, which are nothing other than the sulfur of the Philosophers or the dye for white and red. This sulfur nourishes, causes philosophical gold to grow and multiply. These doves must be united with mercury, because sulfur itself is the form that it communicates, it is it which fixes the mercury, and it is also mercury itself which must fix it. The doves of Diana and the gold or silver of the Sages are the same thing.

They are also what we call the fire of the Sages, which people who take everything literally seek with such eagerness, while it is from Nature that we must expect its birth and all its operations. In a word, the doves of Diana are the fulfillment of the magisterium.

MERCURY.

The Philosophers assure that all bodies are composed of mercury and sulfur
: Sendivogius says that they give the name mercury to all the bodies
that are used in Chemistry, and these bodies are four in number. We
also use four mercuries, and all this multiplicity of names that they
have given to the same thing, only serves to confuse the heads of readers
who are not thoroughly instructed in all the operations of Nature: it is why I will explain below, what these different mercuries mean.

1°. The base & foundation of Philosophy is called mercury of
bodies, or matter distant from the Sages. This mercury contains philosophical water and the entire stone; it contains at the same time everything we are looking for, both in our body and elsewhere. Mercury contains at the same time the two dyes for the red and white stone, and it is
for this same reason that the Philosophers have indicated so many means
to discover it, or better to say, to hide it.

2°. The second mercury is called mercury of Nature, because it contains the proximate matter of the Sages; but he who has a limited mind will have great difficulty acquiring it: because it is the basis of the work of the Sages: it is the philosophical water, the sperm of metals & the source of their propagation: c It is the radical humidity, thus arranged by Nature.

3°. The third mercury is the true mercury of the Philosophers, because only they have the means to acquire it, because it is not sold: it is the true proximate matter, the true Diana, the sphere of Saturn, the true salt of metals; but the means we use to acquire it are beyond human understanding.

4°. The fourth mercury is called common mercury, because it has communication in all mines; but it is not common mercury that is sold in the shops that I want to talk about: we are talking here
about a mercurial water, an average substance which contains a real
occult fire, the real doves of Diana, & the true tincture of the Sages, which has the virtue of changing all bodies into its nature.

Now consider which sulfurs and which mercuries you must use to make the stone: this knowledge is absolutely necessary for you if you want to enter the sanctuary of Hermetic Philosophy.

OF SULFUR.

There is no compound which does not contain sulfur of a luminous nature;
but it is necessary to separate the impure part, and you will have an internal agent which operates in its mercurial matter, which is the humid radical in which it is enclosed.

He himself is the form which he communicates to all bodies. It is he who operates all generations in an alterable subject. This is why he makes so many different colors appear; but its natural color is perfect red which is analogous to its nature, after having altered the subjects with which it has been conjoined, but no Philosopher has explained the operations clearly. They said in general, spiritualize your bodies until they have a crystalline form; reduce them to water; but only true children of art can understand the true meaning of all these expressions. Vulgar Chemists understand nothing about it, because they do not have the alphabet of true Philosophy. They do not want to believe that the Philosophers are all in agreement and that they have agreed not to expose such a sublime thing to
be profaned by the impious.

We cannot understand by what motives people who have only ever read vague recipes can decide to undertake an operation; they may fail every day, but nothing is capable of curing their stubbornness once they have made a resolution. It is not possible to persuade them that a body will never penetrate another body, and that physical bodies must be united by means of something of little
consequence. After wasting their time and their fortune, these kinds of
Chemists curse the Philosophers whose books are not accessible
to everyone.

Before embarking on operations, study Nature in all its productions, try to know its principles. This is the true way to know the material of the Stone of the Sages. We will thus learn, ourselves, with the help of heaven, to direct all our operations, and we will achieve the height of our desires.

FROM THE MATERIAL OF STONE.

We must not look for this matter in the animal or vegetable kingdoms, because the Philosophers have specified them, but we must take what they have never spoken of; It is up to us to do research to go back to the origin of the three principles, of the three kingdoms, or to speak more intelligibly, we must take the mining of mining, or the raw material of metals.

This mining does not only influence mining; because the plants
& minerals also owe their existence to it as well as the basis of their composition.

Listen to what Aristotle says. All beings are converted into what they
were composed of. They can be resolved into water mixed with a small portion
of earth: it is therefore obvious that they are composed of earth and water, which has a particular quality.

I will give two reasons why we should not take the specified material. The first is, because Philosophers have particular material that Nature herself prepares for them.

The second is, because dead bodies are not suitable for the operation of the stone: I say dead bodies, because everything that is taken from the center of the three kingdoms of which we have just spoken, is considered dead; but we can resurrect them.

Experience shows us that as soon as an animal is deprived of air, it perishes. The fish dies as soon as it is out of the water. A plant perishes as soon as it is uprooted from the earth. Both no longer multiply and die for the sole reason that they are deprived of their food and their element.

We must carefully consider all these things, and we will learn to know a lively and multiplicative sulfur to make stone. A dead man is no longer fit to multiply his species, and all other beings resemble him on this occasion.

The Philosophers, in describing this admirable magisterium, said that we must
imitate God in the creation of the world, that is to say that we must make a new heaven, a new earth, but as there is only Only God can create from nothing and make chaos out of it, we must therefore take part of this chaos, and this same part must have remained imperfect. We must separate the waters from the waters, and make the four elements, which are part of the chaos, appear visibly; mercury from bodies; distant matter; the lead of the Philosophers; the universal menstruation; the dragon who feeds & devours; the philosophical body, the mining of mining, & the first material which is absolutely necessary to make stone.

Here are the expressions of the Philosophers on this essential point. Some say
that the material of the stone is mercury by nature, others Neptune.
with his trident; the womb which carries in its womb its son which is gold & philosophical water, Jupiter which kidnaps Ganimède, the bath where the King washes himself; the vase of the Sages which contains salt, sulfur, the sperm of metals; & their radical humidity, of which they make a philosophical mercury by an artificial operation which they make compete with Mature to effect the closest matter; but to make it such, it must be subjected to the twelve labors of Hercules, and we have the virgin earth, the naked Diana, the salt of metals, the woman who awaits her husband, matter deprived of its form,
the dry water, the royal child, the sulfur of the Philosophers who have given their matter such a large quantity of names, that they have put the ignorant in the position of not being able to decide to choose
one matter preferentially to another, without be able to distinguish the good
from the bad.

RULES THAT MUST BE FOLLOWED TO ACHIEVE THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE MAGISTERY.

It is necessary to take mercury from bodies in sufficient quantity, and make it a mercury of Nature, by sublimating it up to seven times and beyond. At each sublimation, a quarter of the matter must be left in the sublimatory vessel; this quarter cannot be used for anything, it is what the Philosophers call damned earth. It is then necessary to separate the pure part from the impure part, and put the sublimate in a hermetically closed glass vase; make arrangements so that three-quarters of the vase can remain empty, so that the material has the space it needs to circulate at ease. We then place the vase in a bain-marie where it should have a heat similar to that caused by a hen incubating eggs. The fire must be continued at the same degree for six months, at the end of which the four elements will be distinctly separated in the vessel. These four elements must be placed in four vases separately, and carefully enclosed, because they are of a volatile nature. Precious soil will rush to the bottom of each vase. This earth is the diadem, the heart of the King, which must be gently dried up; and if we have the weight of three ounces, we add an ounce of white water or red water, and we close the vase hermetically. The stars then appear on this earth, which putrefies with the water, and the water also putrefies with the earth at the same time. It is putrefaction which causes this variety of colors, which appear successively. The black one appears first; then come the white & the red,

We never touch the material before it has reached white or red.

Multiplication consists of repeating this same operation, to increase the stone in quantity and virtue.

The most perfect principle of Hermetic Science consists in the reduction of the hexagon to the circle by the numbers 1, 2, & 3.

All things depend on a principle, exist in a principle, & tend towards the same end through the number 2. This is why we must look for ways to exalt the number 1 from earth to heaven to then bring it down to earth by the number 2, which is the same operation as that which is done with the number 1 This

is the key to the temple of the Philosophers; if we are fortunate enough to reach the sanctuary, we will discover all the operations of the magisterium there.

We must be careful not to make a mistake in the choice of the subject that we want to exalt, and remember that all astronomical and medical Philosophy is covered with the same veil.

OF THE MYSTERIES OF HERMETIC SCIENCE.

The greatest mystery of the magisterium consists of the dissolution of the parts
in viscous water, which does not adhere to what it touches.

This water is dry and of the nature of salts, sulfur and mercury which
is the key to the entire magisterium. She is the true mercury of the Philosophers, the child of Nature who regenerates everyone; it is the soap which contains a particular virtue to which all beings owe their existence.

Draw this divine water from the earth, put it back on the earth to make them
putrefy together, so that they come together and make only one thing,
that is to say a dry mercury.

When you have led the magisterium to this point, you will easily make it reach the degree of perfection of which it is capable, provided that you observe the rules that we are going to indicate.

Distill this mercury with suitable heat, to make it return to
the form which suits it; because it is distillation which vivifies the material and which provides it with its tincture. This is why it is necessary to convert the materials we have spoken about into water, so that they can develop the germ they contain. Take an ounce of this water, mix it with an ounce of very pure gold: putrefy them together, so that they become one and the same thing.

Then make some abstractions until the destruction of philosophical nature; because he who knows how to destroy in this operation will know how to build later.

Close the vase tightly, place it in the bed of the secret fire, & cook
the material for a suitable time until you see a perfect union.

When you see the color of the lily appearing, you will be assured of
happy success. Therefore you must be more vigilant than at any other
time; because if you let the fire go missing, the philosophical child will perish for lack
of food. At this time, matter no longer needs the work of hands.

This is the language of Morien the Roman & several other Philosophers.

Don't miss the fire, and you will see the King appear crowned
and covered in a golden robe as well as his wife. You will see a real
metamorphosis; you will have a tincture of which you can throw some
parts on imperfect bodies.

It is not possible to obtain this divine material without the help
of Mars; it is he who will bring out three streams of immense size, and
five other small streams which run through the entire extent of the mine
from which you must necessarily draw it.

Among these streams there are seven main ones which are converted into air,
when a portion of this matter is exposed by the force of
Mars, and immediately they produce a great abundance of water which washes the
mineral and makes it fertile by watering it.

These waters come out less easily through the intervention of Jupiter & Venus.
This is why this earth is so beautiful & so brilliant after it has been washed
of its gross & superfluous impurities.

Philosophers say that this mineral is a true water of life, because it makes its source live in the same way that water makes plants live to be able to draw from above and below the nourishment that is necessary for them. to reach maturity.

We see from this that the operations of Nature are approximately the same
in these three kingdoms. If water did not circulate in the mines, they
would not bear fruit, they would not ripen, mercury would not form there
; & if, after all the materials are arranged to make a rich and abundant mine, the water ceases to circulate there, from that moment this same mine would be as if dead, because the circulation of the universal spirit would be interrupted there. The radical humidity which gives life to everything would be completely destroyed if the mineral were to be dried up or deprived of water which is also the food of metals, minerals & plants. In a word, everything that grows on earth and in the earth needs water, and cannot live without water.

The material of the Stone of the Sages is contained in all metals and in all minerals. It is a mercurial part that is much more exalted than the purest gold.

Sulfur & salt are the essential substance of all oily principles. Common mercury is a mixed body composed of sulfur & salt to coagulate it; we recognize the properties it contains when we analyze it and when we use it for different uses. It is converted into cinnabar with sulfur, and it is frozen by exposing it to the vapor of molten lead. This is why common sulfur comes very close to the material of stone, when it is prepared; but it contains an acid and a fixed salt which make it doubtful whether it is really the first Principle.

Common salt is reputed to be closer to the first Principle than sulfur, because it contains a triple oleaginous and aqueous substance, as we see when we analyze it.

Philosophers say that the three Principles are contained in common salt, and that they are the same as those of stone. We must imitate Nature according to such examples which we must never lose sight of.

Whenever the Philosophers say, our Principles, our salts and our sulfurs, we must always look for these objects in the mineral kingdom and among the metals, above all; for it is there where Nature has hidden her treasures, and where they are free from corruption.

The metals have a great affinity with common sulfur; There is no metal in mining that is not cooked & generated with sulfur or vitriol. Nature alone can perfect this sulfur through different circulations in the bowels of the earth.

The Sages say that their smoke is a mercurial sulfur, because Nature makes metals, in all mining, with sulfur and mercury; this is why if we want to make metal with art, we must also take sulfur & mercury.

Metallic sulfurs or those derived from metals contain a mercurial water
which proves that they are composed of a double mercurial water, in relation
to the part from which it is formed, which in the beginning was
only a water which is thickened little by little, to reach the consistency of mercury, which a natural and continuous fire has forced to take various forms.

The germ of propagation comes from blood, and for the same reason the germ of metals comes from common sulfur.

Sulfur causes salt to coagulate; he tightens it, makes it ferment. The salt in turn acts on the sulfur, dissolving it and reducing it to putrefaction. Salt, in its first operation, reduces sulfur into viscous & vitriolic water, which is the first material of nature & art.

We must be careful; to all this we can mix the oil with the water by means of salt: this is why salt is needed to reduce the sulfur into pure quintessence.

Iron is the base & foundation of all copper, gold & silver mining; & this is so true that there is no iron that does not contain copper, gold & silver. The subtle earth found in iron mines gives copper; & when it is very subtle, we extract subtle & pure gold & silver from it.

Lead & tin are only coagulated antimonial sulfur. If we decompose antimony, we will have a common sulfur.

Quicksilver is nothing other than fluid arsenic; iron is a friend of all metals, and this is why it is the cause of the transmutation and alteration of all metals.

Everything that operates in the universal transmutation of metals consists of the mercurial, martial & arsenical earth of metals.

Philaletus says that the work of Nature in mining is nothing other than a filtration, from which results a mercury or an oil, which is animated by the virtue of the resolving salt of Nature with the martial earth, which makes ferment the matter, and which then produces the Mercury of the Philosophers to animate quicksilver.

To achieve the accomplishment of the magisterium, Nature presents us with two paths, two subjects, and two different operations. Many people assume that these two subjects are known to everyone, and
that they are bought at a low price from druggists; but before deciding to use them, you must know their origin and their properties. We are going to shed some light on this subject.

When we want to work on the transmutation of metals, we must, first of all, convince ourselves that we must not leave the metallic & mineral kingdoms; because he who wants to harvest wheat must necessarily sow
wheat and not barley.

God has established immutable laws that Nature will never transgress: it is by virtue of these same laws that each being produces its fellow.

It is obvious that all minerals are composed of salt, sulfur & mercury.

All metals are composed of a triple earth; the first is vitrifiable, & serves as a base & matrix for metals; the second is a loam which collects the sulfur and retains the dye; the third is land
subtle that we call mercury, or better said, the arsenic of metals.

The ancient Philosophers wrote that all bodies are composed of salt, sulfur & mercury; but we must not believe that they are entirely composed of these three substances; that is to say, from any body
, we can remove some parts of salt, sulfur and mercury, or which will be analogous to these three minerals. This is why these parts have retained the name that is still commonly given to them.

The corporeal substance of salt is considered in its principle as a fixed alkali salt, drawn from ashes by leaching, and which becomes the substance of fixed bodies.

The soul of all materials is an oleaginous, unctuous, fatty and flammable substance, which can be compared to sulfur, because of its analogy with this mineral.

The spirit or the subtle, volatile, clear substance is called mercury, because its homogeneous base completely resembles it; it is subtle, volatile, and inexpressibly penetrating.

The Sophists who take things literally are grossly mistaken in claiming that the salts, sulfurs & mercuries of metals resemble common sulfurs, salts & mercuries.

In the order of the principle of all metals, we remove the soul & spirit of
salt, sulfur & mercury which entered into the composition of all metals
, as well as the mixed ones found in the bowels of the earth,
& of which we will give the explanation.

After we have separated the soul & spirit from the salt, sulfur & mercury of the
metals, there remains an earth or dead head of the metals, & we distinguish three different species, which are all mixed with water & air.

The first earth or metallic ash, is in the case of being able to be calcined or vitrified, because it contains a mixed substance of two kinds, in the same way as animals are composed of bones; & plants, ashes; minerals, stones, sand, opaque, diaphanous, fusible or fire-resistant earth.

The ancients called these materials fixed sulfur, mixed earth, dead head, & damned earth; but the end of all things is the calcination of metallic bodies to remove the alkaline salts by leaching, and this same salt is converted into fire or glass.

The second earth gives a mixture which has consistency, heat and taste; it is also of two kinds; it has consistency or it is liquid, in the same way as in animals where we find fat and juice.

Plants contain an oil, a gum; metals & minerals a bituminous sulfur, as seen when they are in the middle of a coal or wood fire.

Metals only differ from fossils by their volatility, their fixity, and by the degrees of incombustibility; from which we can conclude that all bodies differ from each other in form, species & quality.

The third earth gives to the mixed the penetrative form, the odor, the weight, the clarity, the sound; it is also composed of two genera; sometimes it is pure, sometimes mixed, saline, aqueous, spirituous. The form is visible in animals, in the form of a volatile salt: we see it in
the spirituous waters distilled from plants and vegetables, which are converted into soot or water. We see it in minerals in the form of quicksilver, or in arsenic, which has a real consistency.

This is why the three principles are called salt, sulfur & mercury, because we reduce all three to their primitive matter, which is the earth from which we remove a fat which is a volatile salt compound.

If water & air succeed these mixed ones, or metals or minerals reduced to first matter: it is a mark that we are approaching the true principle which leads to the magisterium, whose most essential operation is to reduce the earthen material; & we divide this same earth into six branches, which
all have particular virtues, qualities & properties.

There are calcinable, vitrifiable, flammable, fixed, shiny
& opaque earths. We achieve admirable things by mixing these earths to which we give various forms, the details of which we see in the triumvirate and the scyphon of Beccher.

We therefore distinguish three kinds of earth, the fixed, the fatty and the subtle: these three different earths contain the three Principles.

The first earth is a sulfur composed of alkali or lime of all mixed, fusible or vitrifiable, as we see in the destruction of animals, & in the ash taken from plants, minerals, & all vitrifiable materials of different species, which are the assembly of corpuscles.

The second earth or sulfur is that from which the salt of niter is removed, which is
why a caustic, corrosive, acidic fire is obtained from it, in the form of
salt, by means of the water with which we condense the bituminous sulfurs; we also separate from it at the same time a rarefied, pure earth, which appears in
the fat of animals, in the oil of plants, and in the sulfur of metals.

The third earth is a sulfur from which we extract a common salt, a urine salt,
or an arsenical sulfur; as seen in arsenic & silver treated with common salt or antimonial sulfur, by means of which arsenic & silver is reduced to fluid mercury.

Volatile salts are found in the soot of metals, as well as in the fat of bodies, and even in the smoke of metals.

The earth of tartar contains in abundance a solid and fluid arsenic, which is a real quicksilver which whitens gold in a single fusion.

These are the three very simple principles which are contained in these three kinds
of earth, as well as in ashes, coal, soot, alkali salt, common salt, sulfur & arsenic.

The flammable vitrifiable earth, or which penetrates metals, is mercury or arsenical earth, subtle, which whitens, because quicksilver is a fluid and solid arsenic, as it appears to the eye and to the touch. We also recognize the wonderful effects that it produces when it is incorporated with metals or minerals.

When Philosophers speak of salt, we must understand this expression;
they only hear of anything other than a vitrifiable or calcinable earth,
such as pebbles which are converted into glass, just like sand, and bones which are converted into lime.

These are the simple & particular principles of all metallic bodies; their soul is sulfur, coal is their mother, according to the methods of the Philosopher
Berteg; the spirit of metals is contained in mercury, and their sulfur is contained in soot.

The vitrifiable, fusible stones are always a good matrix which announces
a good mining, because the smoke embraces the smoke to perfect it, and the white earth absorbs them both.

This is the true matrix of stones and metals where the spirits are contained to multiply and take on various tinctures; but stones which are not meltable are not suitable for the generation of metals, and cannot produce any.

Sand, talc, pebbles, stones which can become vitrified, can serve as a base for metals, where they are as if in a matrix to be nourished by vapors and sulfurous exhalations.

This is why we find metals in pebbles, in stones and other materials, where they are generated; & it must be concluded that any vitrifiable stone is a true matrix of metals.

When we melt the material taken from the mines to separate the metals,
we always add ralkrins, which releases the metal from the stones which serve as their base & matrix; but
all kinds of stones are not suitable for this operation: those from which quicklime is made would be of no use, because they are contrary to the generation of metals; they only serve to obstruct the
dies to contain the germ during cooking.

Those who believe that common flammable sulfur is the second principle of metals are in a gross error, since there are metals which do not contain sulfur of this species, like gold and silver, which do not
contain not the slightest portion of flammable sulfur; because if they were found in the mines, the metals would never reach the degree of maturity of gold or silver. The Philosophers place metallic sulfur only in one particular subject which is an earth or a matter which they commonly call the mining of metals.

Gold sulfur is a subtle yellowish earth. Silver sulfur is also a subtle, but whitish, shiny earth; these two earths are contained in the bodies of these two luminaries; we see them in the precipitous dissolution of gold and silver. Copper sulfur is red; that of iron is a dark and obscure crimson, as is that of lead and tin, which are very little shiny in these last two bodies only.

Before the mixture of these lands, they are of a nature which approaches that of the lut, and subsequently, they are determined in marcasite, in tutie, in talc, in bowl, in ruby, in hematite stones, or in stones precious, or finally, according to the degree of purity of the sulfur, in gold, or in silver, if no accident occurs.

We can remove and metallify the metallic part which is found in these same earths, and we find at the bottom of the dissolution of each metal, the same earth which was used for its composition; & after the dissolution & perfect separation, all the substance of the metals is converted into true
mercurial substance.

It is therefore false that the substance of the metals is an inflammable sulfur, or
common sulfur; but that it is the earth of which we are speaking, which is impregnated with
sulphurous vapors in the mines where the metals are determined by means of a proportionate heat which is found in the bowels of the earth, and which it does not is not possible to imitate with art.

There are people who confuse the third principle of metals with the mercurial principle, and believe that no metal can be formed without mercury.

Stones and pebbles are the basis of metals in mining; but it requires an addition of subtle arsenical earth which must exhale a vapor in the form of sulfur or quicksilver, which must communicate with the mass to determine it into any metal, according to the nature of the sulfur.

Without this communication of sulfur by means of a vivifying fire of Nature
in the bowels of the earth, no metal would ever form there.

We must imitate Nature with art; it does not admit quicksilver alone, nor sulfur alone, nor mixed together; but we must take the matter mixed according to its own principles by the operation of Nature. This matter must be supported with double vapor or double mercury.

This double matter or vapor is nothing other than the arsenic of Nature, which is composed of sulfur and mercury, joined together by means of the subtle and sulphurous earth which is the nymph of Nature.

We can easily reduce this earth to quicksilver, to arsenic, which is the mineral soot that we remove from metals by decomposing them.

It is therefore obvious, from what we have just said, that metals are
composed of three terrestrial principles, the first of which is found in
fusible and vitrifiable stones, the second in pure, unctuous arsenic; & we
can say, when it is dissolved, that the matrix of metals is prepared.

The third principle is sulfur-mercurial-arsenical vapor.

In the decomposition of metals, we always recognize that they abound
in one or other of these three principles:

1°. Depending on the meltable or vitrifiable nature of the stones that Nature used
to form the metals.

2°. According to the nature of the earth, which does not have the appropriate quality, it produces
bile and fragile metals.

3°. Depending on the degree of cooking of the sulfur & mercury; because, if they are too raw, the metals will be volatile or combustible, and they will always have a significant variation according to the proportions of these three principles: this is why
when we mix borax with zinc, antimony, bismuth, arsenic, realgar, cinnabar, sulfur, common mercury, with metals, the mixture of these minerals produces in whole or in part sapphires, precious stones, and marcasites.

Of all metals, only lead and tin melt before being ignited or reddened by fire.

Copper and iron must redden in the fire before melting.

Gold & silver melt as they begin to ignite; this is the nature
of metals; but they are exempted from these rules by means of art.

According to the decomposition of the above three metallic earths,
different metals can be produced, they can be converted into quicksilver with arsenic.

With sulphurous earth we can make flammable sulfur by means of
common sulfur; it can also be converted into glass using pebbles;
it can likewise be converted into salt, vitriol, water, lime, spirit and tincture.

We also make an infinity of different compositions by joining different
things to these metallic principles, like the universal acid which is capable
of liquefying the underground world, & dividing it into an infinity of dissolutions.

When you reduce earth or limestone to water, you make alum.

When you reduce limestone to water, you not only make alum, but also borax. If you dissolve a bituminous material, it results in live sulfur; the dissolution of iron ore produces vitriol.

Expose the metallic earth impregnated with sulfur to the air, the result is arsenic to which common sulfur can be added to make orpiment, realgar. If the aqueous part is then separated, flowing mercury will result; add sulfur to this mercury, and you will have cinnabar.

Everything I just said is true; I have made twelve different compositions for reducing metals to their first matter or principle, by means of the acid of which I spoke above.

But let us now move on to the mixture of the dissolutions of the metallic principles to see their actions & their reactions, by means of alkaline salts, nitre salt, & common salt.

Nitre salt easily changes into alkali salt, and common salt also changes into alkali salt.

Urine salts, nitrous and sulphurous, have a powerful action on arsenicals, and these act powerfully on sulphurous ones after the reaction, to then produce factitious salts, such as volatile alkalis,
ammonias, sloe, sublimate, sugar of Saturn, & the lily of Paracelsus.

The spirits or oils of common salt, sulfur, vitriol & urine, are almost the same. Those of nitre & vinegar are not quite like those of other salts although they have some analogy together.

The spirit of wine sympathizes with that of turpentine, and from their mixture we make different menses.

If we want to make a menstruum or solvent which is alkaline and volatile we only have to take subtle main earth, and mix it with alkalis of wine and common salt.

We make three large compositions with the things we remove from the bowels of the earth, mixing them together.

There is a way of mixing earth with mercury, and this mixture makes good metal.

There exists in the bowels of the earth a material which is mixed with the oil
or grease of the earth, and the result is a mixture which is a sulphurous and bituminous litharge.

There is also a substance in the earth which has caused it to mix with water,
and this results in mixtures which produce different salts.

By adding or subtracting something from these three principles, that is to say, if we know how to add salts, metallic sulfurs, we will do wonderful things, both in composing and in decomposing; in a word,
by separating the terrestrial and gross parts, and by adding sulfur,
we can make a universal menstruation which reduces bodies to first
matter.

All beings are composed of earth, and they must return to earth; this is what we frequently see in all decompositions: we can be sure of this truth in a cemetery.

To make a perfect composition, we have nothing else to do than to
draw metals, salts, sulfurs, earth, air & fire, and reduce
all these things into a single & same natural principle. By adding &
subtracting thus according to the rules of Nature, we will obtain the mercury of the Sages.

The stones & fat of the earth are the basis of all metals & minerals. This substance is the soul of plants, animals & minerals. Arsenical sulfurs are a real mercury, which is a fat, an oil that can be metallized, and from which a gold tincture can be removed; at least this is the opinion of many Philosophers, whose works are highly esteemed.

Clay or potter's earth contains a large amount of this fat.

Nature has placed it everywhere, even in the woods, as well as in the
earth. You just have to look into a brick kiln to get to
know it; it oozes into the fire, where it becomes vitrified. This is why we often see
several bricks or tiles which are stuck together by this
vitrified fat, which is the radical humidity of bodies. The gold is abundantly impregnated with it, without which we could never succeed in vitrifying it.

This word clay is taken universally, and it extends to that of which brick and stones are formed; it is she who makes plants grow; it is she who produces brilliant gold: it is this clay, this fat of the earth which is the base & the material of which the Creator formed all the stars which bring together all the smooth clay atoms, which enter into the composition of all metallic bodies. We must therefore conclude from this that all beings are composed of smooth clay atoms.

The iron tree demonstrates without reply that arsenical sulfurs and volatile mercury are fixed by underground fires.

Moreover, all firestone is converted into quicklime, and is used to form
opaque bodies; or if it does not calcine, it becomes vitrified when it is joined to diaphanous bodies. The stones of this species are pebbles & sand, or subtle earth mixed with atoms.

The greater part of the earth is composed of stone, smooth clay,
or sand; & it is obvious that the three universal Principles of bodies are the stones, the clay & the fat of the earth. These three Principles are reducible to ashes, foam & soot. They are common, and are divided into three general compositions which produce the salts, alkali, nitre, and common, which are united together.

Alkali salts contain clarified & vitrifiable earth.

Niter salt contains a very subtle, red, fatty earth.

Common salt contains an arsenical, mercurial, incombustible earth which has the virtue of whitening.

These three principles are found almost everywhere in abundance; the sea
is also filled with alkaline earth, nitrous air, and nitre salt mixed with common salt.

We can buy at a low price a material which contains these three principles;
but few people are in a position to separate them: it contains an earth from which
it must be delivered and its quintessence removed.

We know in mineral alkali, a glass which purifies the niter salt, and which gives it, or, to put it better, which develops its tincture.

Common salt converts metals to arsenic & mercury; At least that’s Father Kirker’s opinion.

If we soak lead blades in stagnant, salty water, it is converted into mercury, which is commonly called silver horn or moon arsenic.

The spirit of niter dyes silver gold. The liquor drawn from fixed niter or any other alkali has great power over metals, it matures them & transmutes them by altering them; but this liquor would have an infinitely greater power, if you separated the three Principles. Then you would have proof of what I just said.

We can easily remove a salt from gold, and from the volatile parts of all
other metals: we can also remove common mercury and antimony, from human urine, and it does not require much science. to carry out this operation: it is enough to simply use vulgar calcination & ordinary sublimation, & throw the calcined materials into boiling water, which must be filtered & evaporated.

To demonstrate that the three principles of metals are formed of stones,
earth and arsenical soot, we must do nothing other than decompose them and reduce them to their primitive matter; which, after decomposition, will be nothing other than stones, earth, and arsenical soot.

Nothing is so easy as to convert metals into quicksilver, without even excluding gold or arsenic, provided that the earth or crocus is separated from them, and only one
earth remains. irreducible & stripped of arsenic or the principle of this mineral.

Vitrification is the easiest way to achieve the decomposition
of metals; it is through this operation that all the slag and heterogeneous parts are separated .

We decompose metals and enliven them with quicksilver and arsenic,
cementing them with sulfur, vitrifying them with lead, pebbles and alkaline salts.

The metallic principles are well contained in nitre salt & in
common salt; but they are further apart than in any other subject; that is to
say, in the metals themselves, where they are with a certain harmony; They
are, however, less pure than in another mineral subject which is bought at a
low price.

Lead produces nothing other than a vitrifying alkali, which acts powerfully with an acid.

The sand also contains an excellent vitrifying alkali; the iron contains only a
crocus or styptic earth. The lead ashes freeze the iron, ignite it
and cause it to deposit; they are as combustible as sulfur and niter salt.

Quicksilver is nothing other than fluid arsenic; arsenic is nothing other
than a concentrated common salt sulfur, because the symbols of the general principles of metals are all saline & metallic, combined with each other.

All acids have great power over alkalis; this is why they
provide the means to make three decompositions of salts by means of salts, & then of metals by means of salts, & the decomposition
of the whole incorporated.

Dry metals & minerals work well with wet ones; the styptics
with fluids; the volatile with the fixed; the homogeneous agree
with the heterogeneous by the combination of the same principles.

We carry out the reaction of the salts, by mixing them with the metals, and by incorporating
the alkalis with the sulfurs, and the sulphurous salts with mercury; by mixing quicksilver with the salts and sulfur of the metals, the reaction of the same salts is carried out in the same way.

But let us now come to the article of coarse metals; because we have mines filled with a material similar to the slag of glass, friable, volatile, arsenical, antimonial, mercurial, imperfect.

Styptic earth is converted into pyrites, bowl, crocus, or soft & crumbly earth; & sometimes, when the degree of fire is there, it results in a perfect metal, or mixed, or finally a white similor.

When we separate these imperfect or bastard metals, we extract gold, silver, white copper and antimonial martial lead.

Let us now examine nitre salt, common salt, sulfur, arsenic & electric quicksilver, or magic antimony, martial lead, the magnet or sulfur of mercury.

I have said, and repeated several times, that sulfur has two principles, one male, the other female, one tending to white, the other to red, and that we can however marry them together.

The principle of sulfur tending to red is in the salt of nitre; white sulfur
takes its origin from common salt joined with common sulfur.

Fiery sulfur predominates and whitens in the earth with common sulfur, as can be seen by its mixture with copper.

It is therefore obvious that common sulfur contains common salt, and that it can be easily separated from it; & we can separate & remove common salt, a true common sulfur, a pure quicksilver; Like common salt, pure arsenic can also be removed.

Salt & sulfur have the same common principles, arsenical & mercurial; but there is much more sulfur than mercury, just as there is more arsenic than mercury, and very little incombustible sulfur.

If you take mercurial sulfur as male, and sulphurous mercury as female, you will easily make the arsenical marriage. What you can easily see would happen by putting petroleum oil on sulfur
or solid bitumen. You would see the same effect if you put quicksilver on hard & solid arsenic, which have the same origin.

Sulfur is an alkaline & calcareous earth; the oils of sulfur and vitriol prove this truth to us; we recognize that the hardness of sulfur and arsenic is the same, and that it comes from a mixture of alkaline and saline sulfur, as we see in the horns of silver and arsenic which are cooked and retained together with mercury, which strengthens and hardens them, although it is not fluid; but it is nevertheless homogeneous.

Although common sulfur appears very different from flowing mercury, these two minerals nevertheless mix well together, and cinnabar results.

We can also make a beautiful realgar by mixing sulfur with arsenic, and from this mixture we can make an excellent elixir; with fixed sulfur and arsenic, we do admirable things.

This is how Nature plays with Art; but we must try to imitate him.

Now we come to the article of magical-electric antimony, the magnet,
the philosophical mercury of lead, iron, copper & antimony.

1°. Nothing can act with more power on metals than fire and
water, although they are outside their spheres. The fire which rarefies water is a burning caustic, which rarefies in a particular way.

2°. In a great decomposition, nitre salt & common salt
produce the same effect; their substance has the virtue of condensing, but we will talk about it in a more particular way later.

3°. All Chemists and Goldsmiths know that common sulfur
and common mercury have great power over metals; they
harden them by cementing: they calcine them, animate them, preserve them
in their fixity, & precipitate them; but they cannot produce the slightest
effect from which the slightest emolument could be derived.

Common sulfur contains very little incombustible sulfur and very little fixed mercury. This is why no matter how much we expose them to a violent fire
with metals, they always retain their internal fire from which they are released more easily with a slow fire; by following this method, we never alter the metals with which we cement.

Although quicksilver appears to be well united with a metal, they are far from being really united together, because quicksilver contains too little fixed sulfur to effect a perfect bond; it can
nevertheless contribute to perfecting or altering metals, depending on the quantity
of fixed sulfur it contains; but a true Philosopher does not amuse himself
with such operations, a beginner can, however, make some experiments of this kind; if they are not profitable for him, they will be less for him excellent lessons, which he will be able to benefit from when he has acquired greater knowledge.

In strong conjunctions of these two metals, the vices of both always prevent them from producing a good effect. This proves that it is not possible to make a metal with sulfur alone, nor with mercury alone, I am talking about common mercury and common means; no matter how much we marry them, they will never beget anything; we see, moreover, that the nature of all metals is such that they want to be married according to natural rules; that is to say, a male with a female who has her ordinary periods, who contains a generative seed, which must be cooked in a suitable womb.

We are now going to enter the mineral class which comes closest
to the metallic one, with regard to the stone of the Sages, which, as
is obviously demonstrated, is composed only of sulfur mercury,
and of sulphurous mercury, which are conjoined inseparably together; or
to put it better, it is the same hermaphrodite subject or double mercury,
an arsenical metallic seed which is the double mercury of the Philosophers,
or the magical electric magnet, antimony, lead of Mars.

Since neither common sulfur nor common mercury can enter into the generation of metals, either jointly or separately, and compound principles are required which they do not have, we can conclude from this that
they are not the true subject of the hermetic magisterium.

There is necessarily a third subject who participates in the nature of sulfur and mercury, and who, for this same reason, is called the hermaphrodite of the Sages.

But what is this third subject? who is this hermaphrodite of the Sages?
I will declare it to you ingenuously, and in the pure truth; it is arsenic;
but make no mistake, it is not common arsenic; it is that of the Sages. It is a coarse arsenic, it is the wife, the nymph who resides in antimony & in another subject.

There are certain signs to recognize it, so as not to be mistaken.
When this material is on the fire, it continually emits steam
and white flowers, especially when it is molten.

Although Philalethes, & other Philosophers, seem to imply
that it is antimonial arsenic, they nevertheless agree that this intermediate vapor is contrary to common mercury with which it has no connection, although it takes its origin from same principle.

However, we cannot deny that after tormenting quicksilver through long work, we give it a particular quality for dissolving metals.

Several philosophers, among whom is Flamel, say that after having
subjected certain operations to common mercury, it is sharpened by means of
mineral vinegar, by the virtue of nitre salt and metallic salt.

The Artist cannot understand the wonders he works by working
and incorporating all these materials.

Whenever we combine the arsenical sulfur of the earth, or
the common sulfur, the union will always produce minerals or metals.
If we make any metal celebrate the hymen, it will quickly be converted into flowing and corporeal mercury; but when it is reduced to this point, it is volatile & electric, in metallic form. It can easily be amalgamated with common mercury to sharpen them together and join them to another metal on which they will have an incomparable penetrative virtue.

This distinction from common arsenic combined with common mercury
is made because the mixture acquires a fixative and penetrative virtue, although it is as easy to melt over a fire as wax; it is for this same reason that its virginal vapor penetrates, coagulates by its virtue, which spreads like a magnetic vapor, by means of arsenic & mercury
which attract the sulfur of gold.

This material has an infinite number of names. The ancient Philosophers called it
antimonial electra - magical, martial lead & antimonial. In fact, the
metallic vapor coagulates with the sulphurous & saline hymen which holds an intermediate rank between the liquid part & that which has a little consistency,
because arsenic & mercury have received from Nature a similar quality, fixative & attractive.

This material is very common in England, especially in the Province
of Cornwall, where, in a short time, one can obtain enough to load a ship.

We put this mineral on the fire in a crucible, and we soon see
the nymph appear dressed in a dress of several colors.

I put this material in a retort of crucible earth, without any
addition; I made the retort red, & at the end of the distillation, I found
a dazzling sublimate attached to the neck of the retort. This sublimation was as
beautiful as cup silver; I have never seen a sublimated person who had
such great magnetic, attractive and penetrative virtue.

The fixed sulfur must be separated from this sublimated sulfur with skill, purified well
and returned to it. This fixed sulfur is nothing other than the ashes or
living sulfur, or the arsenic of the Philosophers.

If you worked on antimony, lead, tin, iron, silver, or the gold of the Philosophers, and you reduced them to their first material melting like wax, and you deprived of any mercurial substance, you no longer have anything to desire; you are the possessor of the electre, amber or lead of the Philosophers.

Amber, according to the Ancients and the Moderns, is a species of succin which forms in the Adriatic Sea, towards Ionia. It comes from a pebble that comes loose from the mountains and rolls into the sea, where it ripens by the freshness of the sea water; it oozes from these stones and coagulates in the water; & when we collect it, it is like Burgundy pitch, or like a bituminous body.

It is claimed that this amber is composed of gold and silver; this is why
the Philosophers took the name to give it to their matter, after
they had subjected it to the appropriate operations; but only one fifth of silver ever enters
into the composition of artificial or philosophical amber.

It must be remembered that amber and arsenic are two synonyms among Philosophers.

After having reduced any metal to flowing mercury, this mercury has the virtue of attracting natural sulfur from the air, and quickly fixing metals; & to give it greater virtue, it is cooked with
common mercury to attract even more abundantly celestial sulfur.

This is the only virtue of common mercury: Alchemy knows no other.

But let us now occupy ourselves with another more essential object; let's
enter the mining from which we must extract the Stone of the Sages, or at least the material
of which it is composed: I want to talk about mercurial sulfur, & sulphurous mercury combined together, or the hermaphrodite, or the double mercury which contains the metallic seed, or our arsenic, our mercury; but make no mistake: it is the same subject that we have just been talking about; because we only distinguish it under several names because of the different operations that we put it through in its preparation and in the uses to which it is used.

Let us conclude from the principle that all metals are composed of earth
and arsenic; we know these two subjects, which,

The assembly of these two substances makes an earthy & mercurial body,
compared to arsenic which is contained in the four elements, & everywhere
else.

We have already said that the earth was the matrix of all beings, and we will add that it is calcareous, aluminous, stony, glairy, barbed and talcose.

Arsenic is of two kinds only; it is a purely mineral mercurial vapor, or the nymph & sulfur fixative of nature, which is the amber & sulfur of mercury, melting like wax, after it has been subjected to philosophical operations.

Arsenic is nothing other than a mineral vapor, a quicksilver, which, when still deprived of natural sulfur, has no life; This is why we must look in another subject to make up for what is lacking,
and we will have perfect material.

The mineral with which we are concerned has a great sympathy with common sulfur, it quickly swallows up a good quantity of it, and becomes like antimony cinnabar, which desires sulfur and becomes saturated at the same time with the common arsenical salt from which we make the sublimated.

We always distinguish arsenic which contains common sulfur with a little
mercury, from that which contains a little real incombustible sulfur.

It is very necessary to know common arsenic, which contains much
sulfur externally, which announces that it also contains a little true sulfur internally.

Vulgar mercury differs from philosophical mercury, because the first
has no fixative virtue, while the second fixes perfectly, coagulates
& penetrates with astonishing rapidity.

There is also a great difference between vulgar arsenic and philosophical arsenic, they however appear similar externally, one contains the virgin's milk and incombustible saline sulfur, and the other does not contain any; both however coagulate the sublimated mercury, and combine with orpiment and realgar.

Several subjects present to us the arsenic which enters into the composition
of the magisterium, lead, tin, borax, zinc, are among this number but especially lead; this metal, although vile, diseased and leprous, contains a nitrous sulfur which devours all metals, as we see through the cup. Lead provides the same benefits as arsenic; these two metals differ only in that one is more sulphurous than the other; but that which has more sulfur has less mercury, and that which contains less sulfur contains a greater abundance of mercury.

We will add that the fatter the body, the more sulfurous and less
arsenical it is; the more arsenical it is, the more suitable it is for the great work.

But let us now come to the mixture of earth with arsenic, that is to say, to the metallic mixture. Earth & arsenic can be considered as the material of the Philosophers' stone, because these two materials contain mercury & sulfur which are incorporated therein: this is what produces pyrites, marcasite which are the basics of metals; & if they do not become metallic to their degree of perfection, it is because they do not have a sufficient quantity of arsenic.

However, the mercurial part does indeed draw from the air this arsenical part
which it lacks, as well as the sulfurs of this nature, as well as the vitriolic salts. This is why Rupecisse says, as does Basil Valentin, and several other Philosophers, that vitriol is the true principle of metals; we must also understand at the same time, and admit in the same class, all
the marcasites & pyrites which have been vitrioled before.

Moreover, if the material contains a greater quantity of arsenic, this comes from the species of mineral earth, as happens in England, in the Province of Cornwall, where the vitriol has a superior quality and is extremely suitable for chemical operations.

This material is composed of arsenic & martial styptic earth; it is different from iron in that its arsenical mercury is not inseparably united with the earth, and that it can be easily separated from it. After this material is separated, a purple crocus results, like a beautiful tulip.

If arsenic is a ferment adhering to the earth, it results in a real
metal which is a good iron, as we have already demonstrated.

It is therefore obvious that iron is the foundation of all metals, with the exception of lead and tin, which come from mercury coagulated by means of antimonial sulfur.

Borax & antimony are also coagulated by common sulfur; but after having decomposed them, a real quicksilver results, and this quicksilver is fluid arsenic proper.

If the martial earth is very pure & subtle, it produces copper; if it is very pure & very subtle, it produces gold; if it is white, pure, fixed & subtle, it produces money.

This is why there is no iron that does not contain gold and silver, as well as copper.

Iron being cooked with a sufficient quantity of arsenic, desires to unite with the superior metals, it pleases with arsenic & salt, as well as common sulfur.

If we melt iron with sulfur & arsenic, lead will most certainly result: this is why there is a lot of advantage in melting iron ore with sulfurous & arsenical bodies; because
this is the way to constantly remove a very pure metal.

Iron always refuses to combine with quicksilver; It is not possible to amalgamate these two metals together, because arsenical sulfur is not found in the mixture.

Sublimated mercury, however, acts very powerfully on martial lead,
from which it dries up the humidity, imbibing all its arsenical parts.

Arsenic is a friend of tin, silver and iron; it is for this same
reason that there is no arsenic mine that is not surrounded by iron; but this iron has a superior quality which it acquired with arsenic, because it is melted as easily as copper, and it is amalgamated with gold without difficulty.

It took a long time to discover all these metallic properties; we were obliged to carry out a large number of costly and dangerous experiments, altering metals, or better said, destroying them; it has been recognized that iron is the principle, the base & the progressive means of all metals. It is iron which imparts to copper, gold and silver the property they have of not melting without being ignited and
pushed to a violent degree of heat.

Several philosophers say that stone can be made with common mercury, both dry and wet; but it must be sublimated, precipitated & reincruded by means of a sulfur, knowledge of which
leads directly to the sanctuary of hermetic philosophy.

Basil Valentin assures that stone can also be made with the sulfur of Roman vitriol, and he advises not to seek the azoth of the Philosophers in another subject.

The bright red that we see in the sulfur of vitriol after its fixation indicates that it contains a great arcana; but to derive all the advantage promised by the Philosophers, it is necessary to animate it with a metallic spirit, of which all the authors have spoken, and of which they have all kept the secret.

When we want to work on vitriol, we must first calcine it well in a glass furnace, where we reduce it to ashes, from which we remove the fixed salt, leaching them with rain water which it is then filtered and evaporated.

This salt contains a sulfur which would remain for a century in a fusion fire
without altering, if it was subjected to philosophical operations. It is probably because of this quality that Philosophers compared it to the salamander.

Dissolve and coagulate this sulfur as many times as you see fit, and you will see that it will resolve into water as soon as it is exposed to the air.

Take a part of this salt, dry it well, and add to it as much weight
of flower of common sulfur; put the mixture in a crucible which you
will place on the wheel fire; approach the coals by degrees for an hour; make the crucible redden, and you will have an earth that no etching can dissolve.

Common sulfur, when consumed, penetrates the vitriol to the heart, and brings out this indissoluble substance which contains and indicates a great arcana.

This experiment is very inexpensive, and is carried out very quickly; this is perhaps what will cause it to be considered of little consequence by many people; but he who really wants to learn will not despise it, and will be able, by comparing the cause with the effects, to obtain great enlightenment: because this indissoluble earth with the way of preparing it, indicates the means of achieving the knowledge of the philosophical fire which is not an object of little importance.

The sulfur, in this operation, by its flame, completely destroys all the humidity found in the salt of the vitriol, and concentrates a fire there which prevents it from dissolving in the etching.

The central & saline fire of vitriol, combines at the same time, by the virtue of sulfur, in the same way as happens in the bowels of the earth, where sulfur destroys all the humidity of the mercury, fixes it & cooks it in metal, perfect or imperfect, sometimes by its flame, sometimes by its smoke, and other times by its vapor only.

We see from this that sulfur continually destroys and compounds in mining where it cooks metals with visible and invisible fire.

Common sulfur is a true type of philosophical fire which burns and destroys
all the superfluities found in the material of the stone after
calcination; but this fire must only destroy the earthy and superfluous parts, and must preserve the essential parts, without damaging them in any way.

The Sophists regard lead with disdain, with contempt, because of its blackness, because of its leprosy; but the true Philosophers who know its properties, and who see through its dirty clothing, the precious things it contains, esteem it infinitely and regard it as the father of all metals, because everything it contains externally is of the type of gold: for the sulfur of this metal, after having been worked by a philosophical hand, has the virtue of fixing common mercury into perfect gold.

the air for a century, contains a sulfur which is the true philosophical magnet which is hidden in its black earth.

This black earth of common lead contains the same properties as that of the antimony of the Philosophers from which we extract the philosophical mercury which we make to vegetate like a plant.

The mercury which is extracted from lead according to the philosophical method, contains
a real golden sulfur with which one of the most precious medicines in the world is made; but it must be putrefied in a water bath to separate the four elements, which must be well purified and reunited at the end of the operation.

Pure brandy also contains a sulfur of gold, but it does not have as great a virtue as that of lead, and it takes much more time to extract it.

But antimony is still much more precious than lead, in the eyes of Philosophers; also it is their favorite material, because with this mineral, by philosophical means, universal medicine is made in a very short time; because it is claimed that if we have the good fortune to radically dissolve silver in the quintessence of antimony in which we then dissolve gold, we can make the stone in a philosophical month.

To extract a pure quintessence from antimony, it is necessary to begin by reducing it to fluid mercury, visually similar to common mercury; we sublimate it, we rush it & we fix it to make it lose its whiteness & discover the dazzling red it contains.

This red color indicates perfect gold sulfur; it is extracted with distilled vinegar which is then evaporated, and a metallic spirit is added to it to give it a fixative and penetrative virtue.

If you are fortunate enough to succeed in the choice of the metallic spirit, which you must combine with this antimonial gold sulfur, you will soon have a medicine which cures, as if by a miracle, all the diseases of the human body. , & converts all imperfect metals into perfect gold or silver.

Iron also contains a precious sulfur which is absolutely necessary for the composition of the magisterium; but the Philosophers have never taught the true way of preparing it.

This metal is all the more essential in the composition of the triangular stone, as it internally contains true philosophical silver with true gold sulfur. This is why it is claimed that iron is hermaphroditic, the silver it contains being the female; & the golden sulfur the philosophical male which operates the coagulation of
the transmutative stone.

OF THE TRANSMUTATION OF METALS.

The transmutation of metals takes place by the universal route, or by a
particular means.

The first transmutation is carried out by means of a mercurial-
arsenical fluid, drawn from a styptic & martial earth, which is composed of a
very pure metallic arsenic & a sulfur of a fixative nature. It is reduced to realgar by means of fire, it is digested to melt it, to fix it, and convert it into an elixir or tincture.

The second transmutation is done with a fixed, melting, subtle earth, of an astringent nature.

The first transmutation is done by means of a metallic substance
which contains medicine composed with the mercurial fluid which is analogous to all metals. This is why when this medicine is projected, it insinuates itself into metals like wax; it penetrates them with its mercurial ferment, tempers them and makes them perfect. Its virtue is so great that one part projected onto a thousand parts of raw metal has the property of maturing it to the supreme degree of perfection, and of making it into perfect gold.

The second transmutation is done by the cementation or fusion of the silver
prepared with an earthy & metallic material, which has a styptic
& fixative virtue, which absorbs all the humidity of the silver mercury, tightens
its pores, & gives it warmth & perfect gold color.

In these two transmutations, nothing can be done without the help of the
mercurial-arsenical earth or the martial-arsenical earth.

The universal way is very long, while the particular way is very short.

The Philosophers have united these two paths by means of a path which communicates from one to the other.

This means of meeting is nothing other than the mercury of the Philosophers which contains the salt of nature. This salt is resolving when it is sharp & animated
with a martial earth & a philosophical sulfur which contains the germ
of gold; but it is still necessary to add a natural ferment. The whole secret
consists in the preparation, separation, purification & conjunction of the
matter.

The preparation consists of the separation of the earthy, coarse & heterogeneous parts
which are mixed with the subtle spirits; there is no
other way to succeed than calcination in a glass furnace
or in a streetlight fire. This operation being essential, we will put it back from time to time before the Reader's eyes, so that he does not forget it.

The conjunction is made by means of repeated distillations & cohobations
until the matter, from fixed as it was, is made volatile, spirituous & igneous.

Those who will have the good fortune to succeed in these preliminary operations,
will be able, with the help of God, to reach the end of the magisterium, by cooking the matter according to the art.

These two paths present two subjects, and two different operations; but we must never lose sight of the fact that these two different subjects or materials
are contained in the metallic kingdom. As soon as we have the pleasure of knowing them, we must melt them in a crucible with a violent flame to make them styptic. After fusion, the mercurial part
precipitates to the bottom of the vase and the slag floats and calcinates.

Flamel recommends taking great care of these slags; he advises
putting them in an iron mortar, to pound them & wash them with boiling water
which must be renewed until it is clear. We keep
all this water, filter it and evaporate it to remove the fixed salt which must be combined with the mercury which we have extracted from the same material.

This is the double mercury or the hermaphrodite of the Philosophers. This
preparation indicates the material quite clearly, although it is not
named. We can clearly see that it can only be a fusible metal which contains
a lot of earthy materials which are separated by calcination to release
the philosophical mercury which is contained therein.

Here is the arsenical & saline nymph; at this time, it refused to amalgamate with common mercury; but there is a means that can be used to make them friends: for Art surpasses Nature on many occasions, without however departing from its principles. We must sublimate this double mercury to clip its wings, and we can do with it whatever we want; he will lend himself to all the wishes of the Artist, who, if he has enough intelligence, will know how to make good use of it, by amalgamating it with common mercury, which will weaken the excessive fire of double mercury, & will prevent it from acting so quickly, so that we can make it undergo all the necessary operations to make it a pure & perfect material.

Therefore, we can call it triple, because it is composed of three
different substances, which nevertheless all come from the same principle. This is
the bath of the king or of gold; but this metal must be very pure to enter it.

If you want to purify gold to the highest degree, melt it, as Basil Valentinus says, with the voracious wolf who devours all metals except gold. If you repeat this operation up to ten times, you will be assured that if the gold contained some heterogeneous materials, they will have been devoured by the wolf in these different fusions.

Then put this gold through all the philosophical operations; animate it; make eagles appear using lead, borax & arsenic coagulates which are found in the material.

If, when this material is in fusion, you add common mercury to it,
it immediately becomes arsenical and resolving. If you then separate this mercury by distillation, it will always have a quality and a nature very different from the common mercury from the class from which it came.

You can amalgamate this mercury with prepared gold and silver, and cook them in the philosophical egg, to make a tincture which has incomparable virtues.

Philosophers know a way to mercurify this material, without adding common mercury, by separating the arsenical earth which produces the same effects as common arsenic.

This same earth has the property of reducing the silver horns to
flowing mercury, & they then convert this mercury into perfect gold.

But let us now come to the slag of this matter; when they are stripped of mercury & arsenic, we can consider them as a martial earth & an incombustible sulfur.

The martial part in this operation cedes its arsenical & mercurial sulfur to the antimonial part, & the latter cedes, at the same time, its phlogistic sulfur to the martial part, & the two metallic ends meet in this operation, the result of which is that the slag is as valuable as the part which converts into fluid mercury.

If we dissolve these slags in aqua regia, a fixed and incombustible sulfur will precipitate
, entirely similar to that which is separated from antimony before its reaction.

If the mercurified part is dissolved with the slag, a sulfur indeed results, but of a very different nature from that which comes from the slag.

It seems that the mercurial part gives its incombustible sulfur to the martial part, because of its styptic & astringent quality, which naturally attracts common sulfur and is impregnated with it very easily.

Experience, moreover, sufficiently proves this sympathy; for iron melts quickly when put on the fire with common sulfur; if, then, we melt this material with tartar, a powder will result which will ignite as soon as it is exposed to the air. The cause is very obvious: it is nothing other than the martial fire which is blown and animated by the common mercury which is contained in this substance.

This little digression only serves to give an idea of ​​the extraordinary force
of the antimony of the Philosophers,

The antimony of the Philosophers being dissolved, gives a flowing gold-colored mercury, which radically dissolves this king of metals, which common antimony mercury will never do.

The slags of antimony of which we speak, being exposed to the air, produce a dazzling saffron, although they are entirely free of mercury and arsenic; this is why we cannot, in any way, use it for the reduction of metals, even if we add mercury which has been extracted from them, because they are not susceptible to a second reaction, nor capable of receiving the mercurial part that could be presented to them.

The mercurial part, after separation, contains the true arsenic of the Philosophers, & the slag simply contains a martial earth which is entirely stripped of mercury. These two materials, the part & the slag also contain a substance which is absolutely necessary for the composition of the magisterium.

If we properly separate the phlogiston sulfur found in these slags, we will have the true martial phlogiston sulfur from the antimony of the Philosophers, or philosophical gold.

This mercury and this gold, being well combined together, make the material or the true tincture which dyes all imperfect metals, and expels from the human body all the diseases with which it can be attacked.

This is one of the ways to arrive at the center of Hermetic Philosophy in a very short time. There is another way, another subject that we prepare in a different way; but it takes a lot more time.

Sulfur of martial gold can be removed from several subjects, such as bolar lands, and from several others of this species.

Iron itself also contains a fairly large quantity of this precious sulfur; but to be able to remove it, we must begin by reducing this metal into earth, to separate the mercury from it, and this same earth must no longer be reducible into metal, and that it is no longer possible to sublimate it into exposing him to streetlight fire.

The martial antimony mercury of the Philosophers must be animated with
common mercury to heat the dissolution; but they must be mixed according to
the rules & proportions that Flamel detailed in his works.

Gold & philosophical martial sulfur must also ferment together according to philosophical rules.

Martial & mercurial magnetism is clearly visible; if it is prepared properly, it can absorb and precipitate common mercury in a very short time.

The entire success of this operation depends on the preparation of saffron & the philosophical antimonial martial quintessence: the soul of the mercury of the Sages is contained in these two substances. Above all, the material must be prepared in such a way that it is no longer possible in any way to reduce it to a metallic body; because if it could be melted and reduced to metal, instead of dyeing the silver gold, it would dye it black and give him leprosy from which it would be very difficult to cure him.

I once carried out some operations with this material: I acquired a saffron which, when placed in a cup, with silver, did not produce gold, but I obtained from it an infinitely more precious martial substance. than gold.

Suathen says that the first slag of martial gold contains an arcane, and that the slag of martial earth is of little consequence, and that one can only make bad iron by working with it. same; but if we make them undergo the reaction by soaking them, it is certain that we will open them enough to allow gold and silver to enter.

Those who work in hermaphrodite mines notice virgin mercurial arsenic every day; they can collect it & purify it. If they knew how to add a sublimated martial earth, according to the proportions that Flamel indicated, they would soon have a perfect medicine.

We can see, from what we have just said, that all the mineral materials that we extract from the bowels of the earth, are in the beginning a calcareous earth, arsenical vapors, or a compound of three bodies.

The material exceeds in the hematite stone, the talc, the tuthia, from which only the metallic vapor is taken.

If the arsenic is coagulated, we only take the arsenical sulfur, and not the earth, because these two substances are arranged in bodies which tend to be converted into lead, antimony, or quicksilver. When metallic earth is well mixed, iron, copper, gold or silver results .

We know the nature of metals by dissolution; some, like gold, must be dissolved in aqua regia, others in etching.

The cause of the dissolution of metals in corrosive waters does not come
from the distillation of salts which are rarefied; but the real cause consists of some particles of earth analogous to metals, and the particles are found in niter salt and in common salt.

This is the only reason why metals undergo a reaction with
the spirit of niter & common salt, because these two salts contain a
mixed,

Niter contains, in addition to this homogeneous earth, particles of sulfur or fatty and sulfurous earth. Common salt contains arsenical or sulfurous earth particles which appear as a
red precipitate; but this sign would appear much more visibly if we distilled the spirit of niter with mercury, then we would notice particles of sulfur as red as the finest cinnabar.

When spirit of nitre is distilled with scrapings of lead, the result is
a very red glass that melts at low heat, like wax.
The cause of this vitrification is in the sulfur of the nitre which acts powerfully and quickly on the lead.

A solution of silver mixed with the spirit of common salt produces
silver horns, which are nothing other than an antimonial arsenic; they are meltable, like wax. Arsenical sulfur produces this effect.

This is why the spirit of niter dissolves all metals which, in cementation or liquefaction, always discover their sulfur, which is divided by the spirit of salt which attracts mercury & sulfur which are reduced to cinnabar during cooking or
fermentation .

Sublimated mercury dissolves in etching & aqua regia, as do
antimony & iron. The sulfur of these metals, as well as this salt, are
altered in fusion or cementation, when spirit of niter or common salt is added.

We use these spirits in the wet and liquid way, as we use
sulfur and common salt in the dry way; these liqueurs, moreover, are nothing other than a liquid and aqueous salt.

Metals naturally desire sulfur & salt as their
fundamental principles. White & red sulfur, arsenical & mercurial, always have a great sympathy with metals.

Stones are formed by the silt of the earth from the beginning of the world; this is why we can say with truth, that they are nothing other than a fatty, stony, sandy & nitrous earth coagulated & cooked by a central heat.

Metals are generated at certain times and in places where they had never been before.

Minerals can be regenerated, because they are composed of
metallic vapors, such as lead, quicksilver, antimony, sulfur & arsenic.

If, by means of art, we knew how to imitate Nature, we could make
metals with the principles of antimonial earth, in the same way
that Nature makes them before our eyes.

the proportions, by making mixtures by principles, by cooking, by digesting with a natural fire.

Nature continually produces a white & red, fatty & arsenical sulfur
in the bowels of the earth; This sulfur is a niter salt in the beginning, and subsequently, it becomes common salt.

The air is the seat of nitre salt, and the sea that of common salt: these two
salts are generated by the sun; they are the principle removed from all
metallic bodies.

Beccher says that the world is chained with nitre salt, common salt,
& atoms which develop by means of combined elements.

The sea is the symbol of the earth; it is filled with elixir which is contained in its salt.

Nitre salt contains a simple & sulphurous earth; common salt contains mercury which generates silver. This same earth has the virtue of dyeing silver into the purest gold.

There is a magnetic virtue between nitre salt and common salt, stronger
than that of the magnet with iron. Mercury is also the magnet for gold,
which is attracted with astonishing force to this volatile metal.

All metals are the alphabet of Hermetic Philosophy. Minerals can also lead a disciple of Hermes to very great discoveries; they can be considered as so many cups full of incombustible elixir.

The sun presides over all generations; without him, there would be none;
it is he who causes all the germs which are contained in the elements to develop.

Nature has such great care for all creatures, that she has given them everything necessary for their preservation.

A healthy man can obtain from his urine food to sustain himself
every day, provided he has the way to work with it and apply it properly.

There are very few remedies that can give an ordinary Physician a great reputation. We can live with very little; So if we have enough to live on, to cover ourselves, should we be worried?

The following reflections are a supplement, or better said, an explanation of what we have said previously: he who has a healthy mind and body will find the means to preserve his health and prolong his
life; we must regard these two objects as an incomparable treasure.

Life & health are contained in the universal mind.

The unique fomentation is contained in the universal sea; just because it is salty, it contains treasures,
& the seeds of gold & silver in an inexhaustible quantity.

Free air contributes greatly to mercurifying minerals & half-minerals.

Cornelius Agrippa named a subject in his writings; it is a common matter which has the virtue of attracting this very salutary spirit. We will attract a lot of them in a while.

This universal spirit is so powerful, that it cures almost all ills by its vapor & smell alone; it is hidden in an aerial, aqueous, earthy & saline form. We attract it from the air with a magnet; it is also contained in dew & rainwater.

Borelli found a way to dissolve gold with
prepared dew from the month of May and with putrefied and distilled rainwater. When rainwater, and especially thunderwater, is concentrated, it gives a spirit which spreads a sweet odor. This same spirit is a real fire; it is as ardent as the spirit of wine; but it has very different properties. The spirit of dew and rainwater have the property of dissolving gold without boiling; they also cure a large number of diseases in a marvelous way.

The mineral class also contains decomposed substances, which change their nature
when they are subjected to certain operations.

Lead, by itself, has no flavor; the spirit of vinegar is a penetrating acid.

All mixtures can make a compound or a decomposition that can be made sweeter than sugar.

The spirit of nitre salt, with silver, becomes a medium salt. The silver, in this operation, gives what we commonly call silver horns, the virtue of which is not yet perfectly known to us.

Raw antimony does not operate appreciably by itself; but when mixed with salts, it becomes a powerful emetic, purgative & diaphoretic.

Raw quicksilver almost never produces the slightest effect when taken; but if it is mixed with salts, sometimes it becomes corrosive, sometimes sweet, other times diaphoretic.

Raw gold has no perceptible effects in the human body; but if we decompose it by means of a certain spirit which divides the three principles of which it is composed, it becomes what we call potable gold, which has admirable virtues; it has an astringent & fortifying force, it is an alexipharma & an excellent cordial.

It is the same for other raw or mixed metals with a suitable menstruation. They have the virtue of dissolving & coagulating philosophically: they can provide a solvent which is not corrosive. We get
a sweet essence with a sweet smell.

We must carefully examine Nature, and try to see where the three principles of gold come from; it is there where we must draw the universal spirit which makes all plants vegetate; & grow all metals.

By crushing gold by itself, it can be reduced to oil; several other subjects are also reducible to oil by themselves; this happens and must happen necessarily, because the universal spirit is incorporated with all the things which are of its nature.

The loamy, fatty earth and the blue lily contain a spirit which has marvelous properties, of which Beccher spoke in his Underground Physics.

Firestones, the hardest pebbles, contain a large quantity of universal spirit, which has the virtue of curing a large quantity of dangerous diseases; in a word, it can serve as drinking gold.

This spirit is also contained in an infinity of metals & minerals; this is why it is said that it is an infinite goodness which is found in everything, even in common places where it is mixed with excrement, from which we can, as is done in England and elsewhere, derive a good vegetative & restorative medicine; but the spirit that must be used to create universal medicine is much more liberal than that which we draw from commonplaces, although it contains precious pearls. Both the poor and the rich can acquire it; but you need a salt magnet to attract it. Those who are fortunate enough to know this salt will be able to easily practice universal medicine.

When we put this salt in a retort to distill it, we extract a spirit which is redder than cinnabar; he tastes like the spirit of wine; he smells it; it is less spicy on the tongue, and contains admirable properties; it is a true cordial elixir, which restores the lungs & attracts
the tincture of gold, which then remains as white as silver.

This salt contains terrestrial and aqueous parts from which it must be stripped,
and we will never derive the slightest advantage from it unless we make a perfect
analysis of it. It must then be fixed to extract the sulfur it contains:
this sulfur is made to appear in the form of a very soft oil, which contains the germ of gold.

If we combine this salt with water, the compound is a philosophical acid:
it is a high sulphurous earth, as strong water and the spirit of niter
prove to us; for we see that the salt of nitre frozen in its solid form, is not a corrosive in itself; the spirit obtained from it is a very powerful acid for separating metals; but it will never penetrate them until center, that is to say, their sulfur cannot be dissolved with this menstruation.

We prefer to use common salt over any other salt to season food because it contains less sulfur.

Nitre salt, on the contrary, contains such a great abundance of sulfur
that it detonates; when it is divided, a horrible corrosive is removed, which divides
not only metals, as we have just said, but also the
hardest stones, because the whole substance of this salt is elevated in
the distillation.

The niter spirit reduced to water by rarefaction can be reduced to a solid mass by very simple manipulation.

It is the same with common salt and its spirit; this is why it is very
difficult to reach the center and the level of these two general subjects.

Make the verdigris, which is the male, appear on its feminine subject; this
greenery is admirable, it is a sulfur which is produced by a combined subject;
it is the character of the two general subjects united together, which manifests itself
under the greenery.

These signs, these colors which appear on foreign subjects, are, for a beginner, a light which can lead him to the temple of Hermetic Philosophy, whose door is open to
anyone who knows how to draw the quintessence of the azoth, from which it is necessary separate the terrestrial, coarse & heterogeneous parts, by distilling, cohobbing, & rectifying.

The two salts or general subjects of which we are speaking, contain a material
which has the virtue of separating, digesting & ripening silver, & dyeing it in gold throughout
the extent of its body, for the sole reason that these two subjects contain real pure & fixed silver.

If we had exalted gold, we could add silver fixed to the
point of being able to resist strong water. If we could obtain these
two subjects, we would have enough to make what we call a good private individual,
which without being comparable to the great work, would still be a
source of wealth.

Géber speaks of this secret in his book Du Fourneau, chap. 18, and to
succeed in this operation, the same Philosopher says, under the veil of enigma, that it is necessary to extract the yellow dye from gold, and project it onto molten silver
. This silver will immediately be dyed into pale gold, which can
easily be made yellow by means of the spirit of nitre, or by melting it
with antimony, or with rosette copper, of which the gold would attract the dye.

the gold for the previous operation is found in Boyle's Book.

Paracelsus also gave a particular, very true secret in his Book of Vexations, in the Second Supplement. This secret consists of a mixture of metals with quicksilver. We make an amalgam which we crush strongly, and we let it digest.

We also carry out an advantageous operation, by combining quicksilver on
copper. Trituration converts the mercury into powder, which is reduced to
lead bodies, according to the degrees of mixing that must be observed; & it is on these rules that we find in the works of these two Philosophers, that a beginner must reflect, if he wants to make progress.

All volatile salts are truly urinous, and of the same nature, as all fixed salts are alkaline; they hardly differ from each other except in their specific quality. They are all oily, and differ only in smell; this is why they are almost all of the same nature.

It is the same with ardent spirits whose phlegm and caput mortuum have almost all the same quality.

Boyle & Pancard say that to carry out the transmutation of metals, it is necessary to extract metallic corpuscles and prepare them for this purpose.

Beccher assures us that the foundation of metals consists of a triple earth, the mixture of which produces a metal; but to extract the quintessence of this matter, it must be decomposed.

These three metallic earths are found throughout the earth, in the
deepest abysses, in the bottom of the sea, as well as in the bowels
of the earth.

When we have had the good fortune to know this matter, which is the azoth of the Philosophers, we must calcine it, mercurify it, and reduce this mercury into first matter; & we will have the true solvent of gold, which melts in this liquor, without boiling, like butter or ice in hot water, because both are homogeneous, and come out of the same principle.

When we seek the azoth of the Philosophers, we must have no other motive than that of glorifying God, of providing for our preservation, and of relieving the poor, who are the Members of Jesus Christ. We must distance ourselves from everything that may be contrary to Religion, submit ourselves entirely to the morality of the Gospel, and above all, banish from our minds all affection for riches, which we are not permitted to have. desire for no other reason than to relieve the poor, widows and orphans, especially if we have the necessities of life.

Knowledge of this treasure can only come from God, who grants it to those who have all the necessary dispositions to use it with prudence; because God will never allow an impious person, a voluptuous person and a man without faith, to be the possessor of such a precious thing, to use it to feed his pride by vexing and crushing good people who are in trouble, and whose unfortunate fate would not affect him in any way.

We must not ignore that we will not find the gold solvent in the first thing that comes to hand, although it is found everywhere; because it is necessary to choose a subject analogous to gold and silver, and which is of a metallic nature.

It must be considered that all sublunary things contain viscous and mineral water, with a slightly spicy taste on the tongue. This is more or less the definition of the gold solvent, or the universal menstruation. The matter that must be used can only be the universal spirit, which produces everything which preserves everything; but this universal spirit is invisible, which is why it
is not possible to acquire it in its spiritual form.

We must therefore take the solid mass in which it resides; this solid mass is a metallic body, to which the universal spirit adheres; let's take this metallic body, calcine it to extract the universal spirit, and we will soon be possessors of universal medicine.

We have already said above that the earth is the first matter of all beings. Earth is the basis of all metals, minerals, stones, sand & pebbles; but all these bodies were formed from more or less pure earth; the philosophical azoth must have been formed from a very pure earth, we will be able to recognize this truth by decomposing it; for every body after its dissolution or decomposition returns to its first matter, man, himself, who is the image of God, man, I say, was most certainly formed of earth, since we see every day in the cemeteries, that men return to the earth, and truly become earth again after their death, that is to say, that man, after his death resumes his first form.

The earth is therefore obviously the universal matter of which all beings are formed; it is she who preserves them; it is in the caverns of the earth that we must look for the universal spirit, or at least the natural magnet to attract and unite it.

This is, more or less, all the most positive things that can be said on this subject; we have not omitted any essential circumstance. We will declare below the manner of proceeding; but we warn our Readers that we are not permitted to speak in a more intelligible manner, and that we will use philosophical allegories to declare certain operations.

After having recognized the material of the stone by its decomposition, as
we have just said, it must be pounded in a mortar to facilitate calcination. It can be calcined without fear in a lamp furnace, and even in a glass furnace, because the material of the stone is like
the salamander which does not fear fire; it is the expression of all Philosophers. Then draw the fixed salt from the lime by leaching, then boil the lye until reduced by half; fill the vase with such lye, and boil it again until reduced by half. This operation must be repeated up to eight times.

After that, you will have perfect salt, this is what the Philosophers call
water which does not wet the hands; without this water, nothing could grow in the world. This is one of the greatest secrets of the Philosophers; here is the universal spirit corporified, and which can be used to cure the most dangerous diseases. This is the philosophical operation that we say is the work of women, because it is laundry, because it is women who do the laundry.

This salt, thus prepared, is the true salt of the earth, which, to the eyes, appears only one and the same thing; but it nevertheless contains three different ones with the four elements.

1°. It contains first of all a volatile and fixed spirit at the same time, although it is only of an average nature.

2°. It contains an ammonia salt or volatile salt.

3°. It contains a saline, fixed, alkaline substance. This is what is contained
in the substance of philosophical salt, which is the Symbol of the Most Holy
Trinity.

PREPARATION OF THE SPIRIT OF PHILOSOPHICAL SALT.

Take three pounds of philosophical salt, grind it with a pound of the calcined earth from which it was taken; water them with summer rainwater; grind everything until it has a paste consistency, from which you will form balls the size of a small walnut: dry them in the shade, put them in an earthen retort, and distill the spirit of salt philosophical according to art.

The volatile part of the salt will sublimate and attach itself to the neck of the retort.
When your vase has cooled, you will detach the sublimate with a feather,
& you will put it in the mind, where it will dissolve & be incorporated quickly; because the spirit and the volatile salt are of the same nature.

You will continue this operation with the other parts of philosophical salt,
incorporating them, as above, with a third of calcined earth;
& rainwater, to make balls, from which you will draw the spirit &
the volatile salt, until you have a sufficient quantity.

You will then put all the spirits and the sublimated salts, in a glass matrass
, with a spouted capital and a well-lit container; place the vase in a
bain-marie, or on the hot ashes, to separate the phlegm & properly
rectify your liqueur.

It must be observed that these spirits are violent; This is why we must never
leave less space than half of the vase, otherwise it would break with a terrible explosion.

PREPARATION OF PHILOSOPHICAL FIXED SALT.

After having thus drawn the spirit & the volatile salt from the philosophical salt, you will find a dead head at the bottom of your retort, in which all the fixed philosophical salt is contained with earthy parts, from which it must be delivered by leaching with l distilled rainwater. The solution must then be filtered, evaporated, and the fixed salt will remain at the bottom of the evaporating vessel. This salt will be as white as snow, and will melt, like wax, in a gentle heat.

After this operation, from a single thing, which is the azoth of the Philosophers,
you will have made three, which are the body, the soul & the spirit taken from the same subject. Keep them separately to bring them together when necessary, with a part of fixed salt, reduced to an impalpable powder. You will enclose everything in a well-lit pelican, and you will digest the material on lukewarm ashes for forty days.

During digestion, you will see that the three principles will come together and
be converted into philosophical mercury, by means of which you will be able to reduce the calcined gold into its first material, you will no longer have any other operations to do than that of bring this material to the degree of perfect dyeing by means of a graduated fire, according to the circumstances and the different colors that you see appear.

This is what we call menstruum or universal solvent, which generally dissolves all metals, minerals, stones, gums, and which
unites and incorporates itself with all these materials, none of which combines
more easily . than gold, which, in this salutary bath,

Gold is washed in a miraculous way in this bath, refreshed and returns to its original form. There he takes on a new body, much more perfect than the one he had before.

Here is an idea of ​​the admirable properties of the philosophers' mercury, which does not need the help of any other foreign matter; that which we have just indicated is sufficient to give it this force; This is why we must conclude that all methods which teach mixtures of different drugs are false.

Our mercury only germinates or fructifies in the case where it is joined to a
substance analogous to its nature: gold and its seed must be deposited in
their appropriate matrix, as happens with plants and animals;
because if the grain of wheat is not placed in the ground, that is to say, in its matrix, it will never germinate, because the earth is the only matrix of plants.

For the same reason, gold must be deposited in a metallic matrix of the same kind; otherwise it will never germinate or bear fruit.

There are many people who claim that stone can be made with common quicksilver, without the addition of any other material; these same people base their claims on what Géber says, that we can do all things with quicksilver alone; However, all the Philosophers have made it clear enough that quicksilver must be reduced to its first material, and made to lose the form it has when leaving the mine, because in this state, it cannot be used to Nothing; but when we have reduced it to its first material, it is enough to put it back into its natural matrix, to make it reach the degree to which Nature intended it when it produces it.

It is certain that gold and even stone can be made with quicksilver, because it is the source and sperm of all metals; but it must be reduced to its first material, made to go around the philosophical wheel, and made to undergo the preparation and digestion necessary for this purpose.

The stone of the third order dissolves metallic bodies, and reduces them to their first matter, to unite them in an inseparable manner; This is called permanent dye. The knowledge of this science comes from God, who gives it to those who have the necessary dispositions to make a holy use of it, as we have already said.

The mercury of the Sages and universal medicine are only one and the
same thing that God created for the preservation of the health of the human race, to cure it of all its illnesses, and to give it, at the same time, the means to obtain everything he may need in the world; But you must take this mercury yourself from the subject where it is hidden; you will be able to make it appear by means of art, without which you will never make a perfect composition.

All the materials that can be resolved in water are of the nature of salts; because all salt is coagulated water which can be dissolved into water in the same way as ice in hot water.

All arid materials which have the property of drying are of the species of sulfur; & all those which are serious and shiny, are included in the class of vulgar mercury, which must be reduced to its first material, to make it philosophical mercury. This reduction is the essential point where thousands
of Chemists have failed; but when one has the good fortune to succeed, it is absolutely necessary to add a common ferment of gold; but purged with antimony, & calcined in a suitable manner. Without the help of this ferment, it is impossible to make a metallic dye.

Pure gold is used to make a red dye; & to make a white dye, you have to take cup silver.

It is very essential to observe that the common gold and silver which are used to make the two ferments must be entirely dissolved in the menstruum or common mercury reduced to the first material. If the gold is not completely dissolved, it will never re-incrude, and will therefore be unable to multiply to dye imperfect metals.

It is therefore necessary to reduce common gold to its natural state, that is to say, to water; then it will no longer be vulgar gold: but a true philosophical gold, such as it was in its origin in the bowels of the earth; because gold converted into water, by means of philosophical mercury, is water
of the same species as that from which this king of metals is formed in the mine
where it is frozen by the crudity of the air.

We have already said that at the time when common mercury is formed
in the bowels of the earth, it first exists in the form of limpid water, and we will add that it falls into tears when Nature produces it. in mines, where it settles, cooks and is converted into metal by the smell of more or less pure sulfur, which produces all perfect and imperfect metals, depending on the degree of purity in which this sulfur is found, when it spreads its vapor on the mercury, which is about to metallize.

But when the sulfur of nature is not found at the necessary degree of perfection, and well impregnated with the universal spirit, he cannot produce gold or silver; he only makes bastard metals, minerals,
half-metals & stones.

Abundant mining always owes its existence to an abundance of sulfur, which always operates an abundant metal generation. When the circulation of sulfur is interrupted, the metallic water no longer settles, no longer freezes, and flows back from the bowels of the earth outside. As soon as this same water smells of the rawness of the air, its natural heat is concentrated internally; it coagulates in the form
of liquefied lead, retaining continuous movement, and this is what we call common mercury.

To have philosophical mercury, it is necessary to dissolve this vulgar mercury or this metallic water, without reducing its weight in any way; for all its substance must be converted into philosophical water.

Philosophers know a natural fire which penetrates to the heart of mercury, and which extinguishes it internally: they also know a solvent which converts it into Argentine water, which is pure and natural; it does not and should not contain any corrosive.

As soon as mercury is freed from its bonds and overcome by heat, it takes the form of water, and this same water is the most precious thing in the world. It takes very little time for common mercury to take this form.

This water does not wet and does not stick to the hands like common water; when we put it with imperfect metals, it only separates, in a marvelous way, all the impurities with which they are filled; it unites with them, fixes itself and corporifies into a metallic substance.

There are two means of carrying out this reduction of vulgar mercury into water or philosophical mercury: the Philosophers having completed the previous one, observed that Nature left in an aqueous and metallic substance, the true seed of gold, and this is very evident in stone practice. We have been convinced that the entire metallic kingdom tends towards the species of gold and silver.

There is no doubt that the seeds of gold and silver are found in the metallic kingdom; but in what metal or mineral shall we look for this seed? This is the essential point; all success depends on choice: this seems very difficult to a person who is attached to external objects, and who does not have the courage to penetrate further; but he who wants to use his reason must see clearly that if we want to obtain a pure and perfect seed of gold and silver, we must look for it in gold and silver, & that to
extract it from these bodies, where it is like in a prison, they must be opened, divided,

The reason why we must look for the seed of gold and silver in the body of these two metals is very obvious. This is because they are perfectly fired, & no other metal can be compared to them for perfection.

It is much more reasonable to look for the germ of gold in gold itself, than in lead, as so many ignorant people do who claim to find it there.

We cannot deny that lead contains a great arcana; but we must not mistake vulgar lead for philosophical lead; because the lead of the Philosophers is a mineral which contains two substances which produce all metals. These two substances are the hermaphrodite which produces the mercury of the Philosophers by a magnetic virtue.

The azoth, or Saturnia of the Philosophers, appears vile, black, dirty; we sell it at a low price, because we don't know the treasures it contains.

It is as venomous as a viper, when it has not yet been subjected to the preliminary works, which are calcination and sublimation; but after this saturnia has been purified by fire, its venom changes into salutary balm. The fire strips it of its snake skin, its unbearable odor is changed into a sweet odor which delights when it hits the nostrils, because it contains the greatest specificity whose basis is the universal spirit & the humid radical of all metals.

We must adore the decrees of Providence which wanted to hide such a beautiful rose in such a dirty and stinking material. This is why it is neglected, despised, and known to so few people.

We can say that this material is a real gold and a real silver at the same time, because it contains the tincture of these two perfect bodies.

It is called Jupiter because of its instability; it contains two different salts, one volatile and the other fixed, which must be united by means of an indissoluble bond, to make philosophical mercury, which is the only son of gold.

This is the description of azoth, or Saturnia of the Philosophers, which is an incombustible material, from which we obtain the mercury of the Philosophers which is flowing, heavy, and similar to common mercury, only by sight.

Philosophical mercury, although similar to common mercury, cannot however be compared to it in any way with respect to the marvelous effects that it can produce after all the gross parts have been separated and it has been properly rectified. by distillation, after which a dead head remains at the bottom of the still. This residence must not be rejected, although it cannot enter into the composition of the magisterium; because it can be calcined to extract the pure gold it contains in large enough quantities to take the trouble to collect it.

It appears at first glance that this gold could produce marvelous effects if it were projected onto imperfect metals in fusion; but we would be mistaken if we claimed to do anything other than give a very light tint to the metal on which we would project it. It would only be a mixture of gold with another metal to perfect it, in the same way that we combine gold with copper; there would be no transmutation, and it could not take place there, because this gold has no entry, given that it has not been put to death, to be reduced to putrefaction, and resurrected then with a new body infinitely more perfect than the one he had before.

When the Philosophers found this gold, they soon discovered where the true source of mercury came from. They then sowed the gold in suitable soil to multiply it in virtue and quantity; this is what Philosophers call rotation. They put this same powder back with new mercury from the first operation, and the material passes through all the colors in the space of three months; & the more we repeat this operation, the more we increase the virtue and the quantity of the medicine; but in working it in this way, art must always be in agreement with Nature, to which assistance is given to help it bring its work to the point of perfection of which it is capable.

There exists a metallic seed in the mineral kingdom, by means of which putrefaction and multiplication take place in the mines.

This seed does the same thing in the mineral kingdom as does the seed of plants that the gardener plants. Everything comes from a seed; there can be no multiplication without seed. Philosophers are the only ones who know this mineral seed, because it is hidden in the bowels of the earth.

It is not impossible for men, with the help of God, to discover the mineral which contains this seed; but it is very difficult to extract it from this subject without altering it; because if we use corrosives, the spirits will be burned, & the seed will never be able to develop. Moreover, the practice
is long; the vases are made of glass and break every moment; that's why there are so few successful people.

Nicolas Flamel worked for twenty-three years before knowing the real material.

Several other Philosophers have searched for it for more than thirty years; & after having had the pleasure of knowing it, there were those who worked on it for more than fifteen years before finding the true means of extracting the metallic seed; because this material must be calcined without
adding anything foreign to it.

It is necessary to examine the minerals carefully, because they are not all suitable;
there are only two from which the metallic seed contained therein can be extracted, and there is only one way to carry out this operation. The keys to the magisterium are hidden in a cave where it is very difficult to penetrate; because of a thousand paths which seem to lead there, there is only one where one is not at risk of going astray and getting lost.

We must not ignore that before the metallic seed was enclosed in a metal, Nature had placed it in a salt, and it is this same salt which is the mineral of the Philosophers; this salt is a true mineral, since it
contains the key to all the metals which can be reduced to water or to their primitive matter, or otherwise, to philosophical mercury.

When you are in possession of this double mercury, cook it, and be careful not to add anything foreign to it.

This mercury is a hermaphrodite, male & female; it is cold & humid, hot & dry all at the same time. Like Mercury, it is female; like sulfur, it is male: therefore the property is to dry up. Like mercury, it moistens & refreshes; like sulfur, it congeals & freezes.

When this mercury is worked by a skillful hand, it becomes as brilliant
as the silver of a cup, if its sulfur is white; & if it is red, it becomes as brilliant as the purest gold.

It is obvious, from what we have just said, that the composition of the stone consists of the preparation of a metallic material which must be made subtle, and converted into its first material.

This preparation consists of a preparatory calcination, followed by a
distillation & circulation of the elements which are contained in the subject of the
stone.

There are two preparations, one internal and the other external; the external preparation
consists of the extraction of mercury which must be obtained from a mineral salt
philosophical, by means of a philosophical magnet, then strip it of its gross, terrestrial & heterogeneous parts, so that of the whole body of matter, only the quintessence which is the true philosophical mercury remains.

It is then necessary to purify the elements which have contracted a thousand defilements in
their coagulation in the mine; this is why it is absolutely necessary to purify them and separate their earthly parts, which would undoubtedly prevent medicine from penetrating when it is projected onto imperfect bodies. By thus separating from philosophical mercury, on several occasions, all the rubbish that it has contracted in mining, we make it strong & vigorous, it acquires a new mineral virtue to reach the point of perfection that it must have.

Take the metallic substance that you converted into philosophical mercurial water; put it in a vessel to circulate it, and from a single thing you use, you will have three. After having been
in digestion for a philosophical month, you will be able to collect these
three remains, which you will deliver from all the contrary acids which are found
in the matter, which you will cover with the mantle of vigor, so
that it can resist the rigors of the seasons where she should be by following the path which leads to the temple where the elixir is found.

You will undress & cover the elements, separating the earthly parts to open the door to the old man: it is he who gives the necessary vigor to the conjunction.

This stripping, which we replace with vigor, is nothing other than a repetition of distillation & cohobations of the spirit & the soul on the dead head.

After having thus prepared the elements, it is absolutely necessary to add mineral power to alter them and make them fall into putrefaction; for without putrefaction there is no generation to hope for.

This mineral power is the only thing that can bring out the different dyes & colors, as well as the raven's head.

As soon as you see the head of this animal appear, which is nothing other than perfect blackness, you will be assured of perfect putrefaction, which tends to a double dye for white and for red. This is done by means of the soul, which is only devouring fire, but which does not alter, because it dyes white and red; white comes from the air found in the fire, and red takes its origin from the substance of the fire.

the other intermediate dyes, the first of which is a perfect black which converts to a dazzling red.

Care must be taken to direct the external fire with caution; because if you do it too violently, you won't know what to expect after forty days.

We must cut off the raven's head with the philosophical knife, as soon as
we see it appear. Flamel says that you have to take the calibrated saber of Mars to do this operation.

The head of the raven being cut off, the dove must be put back in place of this same head, to circulate the elements & convert the earth into air by means of water, which must then return to the form it had before .

All these operations depend on the regime of elemental fire, by means of which the body of the stone is spiritualized and the spirit is corporified.

To put it more clearly, after you have cut off the crow's head, you will increase the fire to make the darkness disappear entirely. The air and fire in the earth will reduce it to impalpable and penetrative powder.

It takes forty days to make darkness appear.

The darkness lasts forty days, at the end of which whiteness appears
, which also lasts forty days. This whiteness is the dawn which announces the philosophical moon.

You will be careful to moderate the fire and direct it gradually, because, in the space of the following forty days, you will see the bird of Hermes appear; we see it first like a chicken which emerges from the shell and which gains its growth by means of fire which is its only food.

It is necessary to separate this beautiful bird from the other red powders with which
it is surrounded; because these heterogeneous powders are the excrement which remains
in the nest after the birds have taken flight.

The bird of Hermes leaves all these excrements under its feet, and you
will recognize that everything contained in the egg is not in the case
of being converted into stone or dye, although it is necessary to do so.
purify by repeated distillations & sublimations, which are only counted
for the preparation of the material, because they immediately follow
the calcination.

You have to have seen the dazzling brilliance of this bird's plumage to believe it. You must also have carried out the operation, to believe that from a metal which is venomous, but precious in the eyes of a Philosopher who knows the price of what it contains, we can extract a material as brilliant and as salutary.

it is she who produces all the germs. It is the earth which incubates them and makes them hatch by its virtue and property, because it is the true subject of all the influences of the stars, which are all directed towards the earth as towards the center which is suitable for them.

The earth is therefore obviously the foundation and the one and only matter, which receives all celestial influences, to develop by their virtue all the germs it contains. Let us therefore search in the earth, and we will infallibly find everything we can desire. Let us search under our feet, and we will find the same things that are on our heads, where we cannot look. All Philosophers are in agreement on this point: all say that the things which are below are the same, or of the same nature as those which are above.

The earth, imbued with all astral influences, produces trees, herbs, plants, and all kinds of fruits in abundance.

All metals, minerals, stones, sand, pebbles, salts, are formed in the earth by the astral vapors which it returns after having received them. These vapors are the soul of Nature, which purifies everything by means of fire and water; which makes visible what was hidden, by the separation &
union of the three Principles, according to philosophical institutions, which are
clear & intelligible for those who want to take the trouble to reflect on
what is contained in the earth.

If we carefully visit the bowels of the earth, we will recognize
that it contains salts of three different species.

1°. We first remove from the earth, a nitre salt which is its first
production. This salt does not contain the slightest metallic particle in itself
; but when it has undergone suitable preparation, in a
suitable time, it acquires great properties; it is no longer comparable
to common niter salt for that time.

2°. The invisible spirit of the world is contained in the volatile salt of the earth;
but you have to know how to choose this land; because a piece of land taken at random would not produce such salt, unless, by proceeding without knowledge of the facts, one had the good fortune to get one's hands on it by chance; but this is very difficult.

3°. The earth also contains a fixed salt which can be considered as the matrix of the two salts we have just spoken about.

It is evident, from what we have just said, that God has placed the three Principles in the earth on which we walk.

After having gathered these three principles, they must be calcined, and made
what the Philosophers call engrossed earth, with a third of its weight in mercury. This mixture must be put in a urinal with a well-lubricated blind capital & placed in horse manure
where it must be left for forty days; but we must take the precaution of changing the manure every four days, because the humidity of the water acts in the sulfur of the earth with the dryness that it contains at the same time. The bodies of the first four imperfect metals which are contained in matter become corrupted, and this corruption produces a true generation. The raven's head announces this corruption.

When we see darkness appear, we must remove the urinal from the manure, and place a spout capital to distil in a vaporous water bath, using gentle heat. We allow the liquor to distill down to the last
drop, and we carefully preserve this material.

Care must be taken to properly stopper the vase which contains the spirit, because the sulfur
of Saturn is very volatile: it could fly away before the coagulation of the
mercury is done by the vapor which comes out of this same sulfur, because while
as the body dissolves, the mind coagulates.

This is why all bodies must be resurrected after putrefaction.
This resurrection is a continuation of previous calcinations & dissolutions:
no body can be revived before having been reduced to putrefaction,
in the first extraction of the spirit, by the first dissolution.

We will never reach the point of perfect putrefaction without having
sharpened the mercury by means of flying eagles. The perfect putrefaction
always happens after the first eagle has taken flight. For now, Diana's doves are alive, and the first must have five feathers.

By continuing the fire, this dove is soon feathered; it will soon
have taken on a prodigious increase.

All these operations must follow one another. The essential point
consists in the choice of the material, which, according to Faber, Tachiusnuisment
, Konrad, & several other Authors, cannot be anything other than
astral gold, drawn from the air by means of the magnet. secret of the Philosophers.

This material has the form of volatile salt, which is of the greatest penetration:
this salt is balsamic for three months of the year; it must ferment with the central & fixed salt of the earth, to unite with the volatile salt which comes from the same principle.

The volatile salt and the fixed salt are contained in the same material, which is called the Philosophers' stone, that it is good to know how to distinguish from the philosopher's stone; because the Philosophers' Stone is the raw material coming out of
mining, while the philosopher's stone is the universal,
perfect medicine, drawn from this material.

The Philosophers' Stone must not be too dry or too stony in its metallic substance; it must hold a golden mean between these two extremities, so that the spirit of the world can attach itself to it; it must also have cavities where the Hosts of Heaven can settle down and establish their abode.

These are the external signs by means of which we can recognize mineral and metallic matter, to which Philosophers have given an infinity of names, and which they have clearly indicated under the allegorical veil.

This material contains a large quantity of fixed central salt, which quickly excites fermentation, when it is combined with common gold reduced to impalpable powder, by means of calcination, or reduced into sheets like those used by gilders.

The gold thus reduced, in powder or in very thin sheets, must dissolve
in the spirit of this fixed salt, in the same way as ice dissolves in
water; & this happens, because these two substances come from the same principle,
& do not differ from each other any more than ice differs from non-icy water.

We say that the Philosophers' Stone contains a central salt, and we add that this same salt contains another salt, which is purely astral and volatile; these two salts are contained in this material, as in a
legitimate matrix that Nature has prepared for them.

It is not necessary to dig a well fifteen hundred leagues deep to fetch
this material from the center of the earth, where it could be taken;
but it would not be better than that which one would take at thirty feet
depth.

I learned to know this earth or universal spirit, by reading the Authors
that I have just cited; but I will not hide the fact that I had already read all the works of Hermès, Arnaud de Ville-Neuve, and those of Raymond Lulle.

Experience has proven that I had found the real mining of the Philosophers,
from which we get what we call Hesse-Cassel iron slag.

This iron slag is nothing other than pyrites which are found in abundance
around Auteuil, and elsewhere in the clay lands.

These pyrites are small blackish or grayish stones; they have neither taste nor smell. If after having crushed them we expose them to the air for a few weeks in a shed, covered from the sun's rays & rain,
they attract the spirit of the world in abundance; they acquire an increase in weight. After being exposed for a few weeks, they are submerged in the universal mind. Sometimes they are converted into sweet, green vitriol, which is made into an excellent remedy, according to Glaubert. These pyrites really contain the material close to the philosopher's stone; but there is another subject where it is even closer.

We find this subject around the gold mines, in Hungary, in Transylvania, in Nuremberg, & elsewhere. Nothing is more suitable than this metallic substance for making Pheton's net, for catching Hermes' bird,
because this material contains a lot of volatile gold sulfur; but this subject must be worked on by a philosophical hand.

We could make an excellent dye with the earth which is around the rivers which roll gold flakes in the West Indies, because this earth contains a lot of gold sand & volatile gold sulfur which are found at the degree suitable for the magisterium, & it would be very difficult to bring common gold to this point by means of known calcinations.

The conjunction & fermentation of volatile salt with fixed salt always announces a volatile or astral golden sulfur; it is for this same reason that the Philosophers have said, that the things which are above are similar to those which are below, and that those which are below are similar to those which are above, that is to say to say that we can find astral & volatile gold in the places we have just indicated. The whole secret of this operation consists in the fixation of the volatile and the volatilization of the fixed.

We read in the Emerald Tablet that the material of the universal tincture must be composed of volatile, aerial salt and fixed salt of the earth: these two salts must be united together by means of a
natural fermentation; because it is necessary to legitimately combine these two substances to make a perfect compound.

A large number of Chemists worked for a long time on these two substances and wasted their time, because they did not know how to attract the universal spirit with its true magnet.

The philosophical magnet is not made with pebbles or calcined marble, because the residue or dead heads of such materials will never provide a complete advantage; because the salt to which they must be exposed
in order to calcine them destroys the greater part of the creamy humidity and the
fixed salt which is the basis of the true magnet.

This is why the spirit that we attract with these materials cannot provide a perfect conjunction or fermentation; but the azoth of the philosophers contains a fixed salt & a creamy humidity which are non-combustible. It is for this reason that Philosophers say that this material can be calcined in a reverberator furnace or in a glass furnace, without fear of altering the substances it
contains.

The dew of the month of May, the rainwater which falls between the two equinoxes,
that is to say from the month of March to the month of September, as well as the snow, all these materials are filled with salt astral elemental volatile; but there is no fixed Salt of the earth. We could join it and make an excellent compound, if we knew how to use the appropriate means. I am not talking here about universal medicine to cure all diseases of the human body; I am only talking about a universal dye for metals, which many Artists reject very inappropriately.

The universal tincture is much less difficult to make than universal medicine, although both owe their existence to the same principle; this is why we should not be surprised if medicine has properties that tincture does not have. With time and the addition of a little, the tincture could easily be brought to the level of perfection of medicine; but I am very convinced that many people would limit themselves to the universal tincture, if they had the good fortune to possess it. It seems to me, however, that we would do much better to follow the roots of the tincture to the trunk of medicine, because it seems that it is a means that God has granted to be able to subsist by carrying out research which can
lead to the greatest of all possible discoveries.

The salts of tartar, nitre, borax, arsenic, graveled ashes, sublimated mercury, orpiment do not enter into the universal dye.

The Scrutinists of Nature, says the Angelot, confess that it is not possible to dissolve gold in astral salt. All common salts only harm the gold or divide it; volatile salt, only air can dissolve it completely and extract its quintessence. The aerial atoms strengthen the spirit of astral salt and impart to it a balsamic odor, as with plants and all aromatics.

Helvetius claims that universal tincture can be made in a short time;
but he is grossly mistaken; it is certain that it takes less time than
to create universal medicine. Helvetius, moreover, could only speak of this time as one blind to colors, because he never knew or carried out the great work, although he had produced several works in which we see that he wanted speak like an adept & point out paths he has never known. It is true that this Author made the projection in public; but this only proves his ignorance; true Philosophers are modest, and do not seek to feast on smoke. We know that an adept had given a few grains of specified powder to Helvetius, and that the latter wanted to make a name for himself with something of such little consequence, because the specified powder is no longer suitable for multiplication & cannot cure the slightest fever.

We are not jealous of the reputation that Helvetius has acquired;
but we feel obliged to warn our Readers that they will
never derive the slightest advantage from reading all the works of this Author. His
Golden Calf, which brought him so many compliments, contains only one
sentence in which he told the truth, probably without thinking about it; but this truth is covered by the allegorical veil, and consequently can hardly be perceived except by an adept.

The only secret of the Philosophers, without which it is not possible to create
universal medicine, is the purest substance of astral influences.

This substance thickens the air in some way and converts it into earth after
having subjected it to several metamorphoses, and from this same earth we remove
a fixed terrestrial salt by means of a natural fermentation. This fermentation volatilizes the fixed salt of the earth and makes it become like a fire, as soon as it is stripped of all these earthly impurities; but this salt only becomes fire after the twentieth dissolution & coagulation: in two
words: volatilize the fixed part of the azoth; fix the one that is volatile, and you will have the fire of the Philosophers.

End of the first Volume.