SUMMA MEDICINE OR PHILOSOPHER'S STONE

Written by Diego de Torres Villarroel

This treatise is included in: Diego Torres Villarroel, "Physico-Medical and Chemical Conversations of the Philosopher's Stone". We have transcribed the edition of: Salamanca, 1752.

DEDICATION

To the Most Excellent Mrs. Luisa Centurión, etc., Marchioness of Almarza, and Flores de Ávila, etc.

LADY:

From the beautiful, peaceful confusion of these forests, where I live gilding my servant with the high carats of a vassal, I send to Your Excellency the Philosopher's Stone, so that it may also be a touch, in which the finest gold of your veneration may be accredited and proven. . With vanity I surrender it to experience, and at all times I will answer for its good law, because in the crucible of gratitude, the creator of the soul, its spirit was detached from the impurities that the most well-disposed mineral of our fragile organization suffers from. The care of this paper (which I say the Hermit sends me) is to persuade that artifice and observation can work a Supreme Medicine to enrich us and free us from all future and present illnesses; The first part is despicable in Your Excellency, because it does not contain the world's preciousness that could make it more powerful. The second, which takes care of health, is the one that I most gladly (and as least falsely) refer to Your Excellency as someone who desires his life so much; And in case some secrets are discovered in my writings that clearly free them from future illnesses, I wanted Your Excellency to be the one to enjoy them first; and when this good intention is not achieved, Your Excellency serve with the desire to want it immortal.

Other times, sir, my congratulations; and if I left it to my pen, in the dirt of my plans I spoke to Your Excellency and to the Marquis, my dictator of the abundance of happiness; but as this is suspicious flattery and encouragement, every moment he will tirelessly proclaim my in the dedications have lost the sustenance on the lip, hoping only in the publishing the expressions, I suffer them in the soul and say them the desired occasion of gratitude, I will repeat that being to those responsible for accrediting them; and as for this benefit and my feet of Your Excellency, I am mocked by your flattery and your gestures I know are lies, your actions are the open face of fortune: your proposals are lies, my misfortune could have more courage than my own, and only by pushing will you be able to throw me from such a sacred place. ; and if out of care I want to seem like employment and convenience, and only, the mountain that suffers me today will hide from me forever and I will flee from everything that is discomfort, because in every place and at all times a withdrawal or abandonment of my destiny, always content in the The sweetest chain of my servitude could not be greater to drag, eaten its bread and trampled its thresholds, and already the honor of having removed the happy company of the Marquis, my lord, from the most avaricious years of misfortune. May God preserve Your Excellency, who can and I desire April, thirty of one thousand seven hundred and twenty-six.. From this retreat of Your Excellency, Valverde, and

Your Excellency Madam.

Kiss the feet of Your Excellency, with all veneration and respect,

Your servant,

Diego de Torres Villarroel.

The reader

Prologue that you must read, and if not, you will be left without the work, because this is not like others, which have been more high school diplomas than warnings.

Disentangling life from the obstinate reasons of civility (the laborious occupation of courtly leisure) and enticing the spirit more in the truths of nature than in the voluntary laws of fastidiousness, I am, my reader, in the gentle sole situation of these oaks. , rational savage of these weeds; here time visits me more slowly, and stops with me for a few moments: only in the village do I know that it is expired, because it comes to see me with crutches, and there it visited me with espadrilles; In the towns he runs, and in these retreats he rests; He told me by whispers the years at court, and the months escaped you without reason or account, and through these solitudes he comes dragging the hours, so that they pass with their account and reason; In any place life is a dream and death is man; but here I don't even live what I dream of, and I end up more comfortable and less sick, because the Sun, the air and the humid heat of the firebrands (doctors examined by Providence) heal me and dry out the moist swellings of which the man complains. more lock of the court; I breathe without complaints, I walk freely, I look without hindrance, I speak quietly and I spend my hours as I command, without neighbors or visitors, which are the two tarascas that devour lives; I study a lot in fleeing from sorrows and dinners, which, when they come to look for an unfortunate person, bring the shroud on their way, and the poor mood that is neglected, they hit the ground with him: I receive the sorrows when they come weeping and lean. ; I do not open the door to misfortunes, because my organization is the inn of the craziest muleteers, and madness takes place anywhere, and the ladies' sorrows, as they claim to be serious, cannot be spread in my fantasy, and it is mean. inn my spirit for such swollen pride; I eat little meat, and in short, I give thanks to God; I go to bed early, and please the great Avicenna, lord of the aphorism, and I deny to his followers the attribute that our gluttony pays them.

Free the soul from these scares, the animal frolics with a relief that makes the humors less heavy; the body is bathed in a cowboy coat, between a cassock and a hood, the flanks are dipped in a pair of miquelet pants, where the loins are accommodated, convalescing from the squeeze of the suit, a tight gaiter, a sinful shoe with four soles, good for building, because it is wide with cornices, and the neck of the neck is made into legs, from the sternum bone to the jaw, without the gills having the garrote of collars, collars, ties, or other trappings, who can be forgiven the decoration for the load.

The breaths, which were consumptive, the ethical forces, the labored breathing, and all the movements plastered with idleness, are already gaining their native value with the new exercise; I give everyone to drink the tasty cordials of recreation, throwing a song, stoning a horn (this is called playing bald), and I do this rarely, because around here there are few bald heads with horns, unlike other towns. , that there is no bald spot, no matter how sterile, that does not sprout these hard hairs; now teasing a bull, making a horse sweat, and now rolling a mountain to scare a bird, all tasks, although at odds with serious politics, pleasant and suited to natural life; Well, one afternoon (this is where the details of the Prologue begin) I was well entertained with the three people of this town, competitively stealing nine pins, when I was separated from their company and my fun by a servant who brought me the letters that, from the court and other parts, some friends write to me who have not wanted to forget me; My attention was drawn to a larger one than the regular ones, a sheet of paper, and opening it, I found (so as not to tire you out) inside the overwritten alchemist's folder that the Hermit who took me in on the sad night of the mule had offered me; The schoolboys arrived from the countryside and wanted to know the news, and having read the Gazette to them, I told them: "Here comes a work of great consideration, let's make a ranch, and we'll read." "As it pleases us," said the three; I read, and those pages, where the Hermit is explained in Latin, I constructed them for her, so that she was content in their simplicity. One of them, who is the Cicero of this council and the Aristotle of this bank, rising from a stool, where he had been reading with all attention, said: "He says it very clearly, and I believe that the Hermit is not like those of the others." this earth, which is a bunch of joints, which knows one point more than Satan; But although he assures it so much, it seems to me easier to get that Stone out of the devil's bladder than out of mercury, and it is a big deal that those Chinese, or whatever they call themselves, have had Stone, bleeding so much everywhere; But in short, whether it is removed or not, I have been so happy to hear that if God were to give me any son in my moger, I would have to put him to work in sulfuric acid and stone, because all the children of the stone are very happy. And now it has come to my mind that once upon a time one of these astrologers passed through this mountain range, and from the grasses of the field and the snot that the blacksmith threw he made very clear water, and he says that on its own it formed gold and silver. These reasons said the news oaf; and I, responding to him, and speaking to you, reader, said: «The Hermit's attempt in this work is to persuade with natural Philosophy, that a union of elements is composed of mercury and sulfur, and in them a fifth is hidden. essence, which with it and other species poured into all metallic and human bodies, purges them and modifies superfluities, phlegm, impurities, and other diseases; that is, he cleanses the impure tin of that virtuousness and leaves it silver, he purges the dirty copper of its phlegm and transmutes it into gold, and he frees the human body from present diseases, and reserves future ones of any kind and condition they are; The precepts that the Hermit gives to form this Supreme Medicine are very rational, and although I hated them in the first part of this work, it was because I was not aware of its principles, and because I did not understand the metaphors with which they are explained in his books. these enigmatic philosophers; By understanding them, dear reader, you will be able to become golden and healthy (if the operation goes as these doctrines assure you), and when you do not achieve this, you will become rich, at least with the voices of a graceful Philosophy ignored in our Spain. ; I have read it, but I have not sought the experience; If a few quarters stop me, it may be that I spend them on stoves and stills, and if I find this Stone, I promise to tell you with such clarity that you will no longer need a teacher (this work has not yet been explained to my satisfaction, and the Hermit did not want to vomit all the poison); and if I don't find it, I will also let you know, that it is of great importance to me to celebrate you and serve you, because you are my philosopher's stone, from where I most safely obtain gold, silver and copper. And with this to God, who offers me no more. OK.

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THE SUMA MEDICINE OR PHILOSOPHER'S STONE

That brings to light, from the darkness, enigmas and metaphors with which the chemist philosophers obscured it, a Hermit, greedy only for the benefit of the curious.

The most famous, most hidden, most difficult, most noble and most secret part of Natural Philosophy is the one that I write to you from these solitudes where I live, rational monster of these oaks; I have tried to dictate and write it with complete clarity and succinct grammar, cleansing it of the enigmas, figures and metaphors with which the greedy chemists who devoted themselves to the experimental study of this glorious science hid and obscured it, seeking, more than to discover it, to bury it. The prudent genius will know at first sight what is famous and true about the operation, and even the average discourse, with continued sleeplessness, will achieve the end of these operations, miserably excluding those with hard wit. He must be the student of this profession, chosen, and practical in the knowledge of the nature and anatomy of metals and have their generations, diseases, imperfections and other impurities in their mines ascertained; and in the same way he must know the three orders of medicines, or stones; But since both are sophistical and false, or at least conjecturable, the good professor will work on only one, which is the third, the great Stone, Supreme Philosophical Medicine, unique and completely certain, about which only the true philosophers wrote, and they treated it in their books, leaving the other two orders of medicines and stones as useless and vain; and so I, imitating the lesson, study and manufacture of the most serious ones, write this third order, distancing myself from other useless attempts, and before beginning my Treatise (because if it were in other hands) I want to say what the teacher of this famous Philosophy.

I have the consolation, friend Torres, that you are adorned with some of the kind garments that must compose the good operator of these arts; If I have only understood in you the very little constancy in this precise diligence, because I warn you variable in every line of purposes; but overcoming the great passion you have for laziness, I have no doubt that I will bring out in you, with my doctrine, a famous professor who accredits the mistreated (because it is not known) science of sciences; And just in case you have to amend the other properties, I want to tell you (as well as you and anyone who reads this Treaty), how he must be the teacher of these operations.

It must not be graceful, and that it stings a little in disrepute in despising their money; He must be firm in the undertaking, neither too late nor too soon, a fine observer and cautious; He must be healthy, without hindrance in his feet, hands, or eyesight, nor must he be very old or very young, nor so poor that he does not have the means to cover the first expenses, to achieve this sumptuous and powerful Philosophy; and finally, he must be the one applied to this science, true son of the doctrine, a man of subtle talent, moderately rich, prodigal, healthy, constant, firm, gentle, peaceful, temperate and well disposed in organs and members; He must study this doctrine many times, and draw from his speeches and his news the truths and insights, recommend them to his memory, and finally enter into the operation with disinterest and care; and being the professor, as I have hinted, without dwelling on other impertinences, I am going to disabuse you, in the following pages, of that multitude of errors in which I saw you the three nights, which I am happy to inform you of; Don't blame me for the style, because I don't understand other tricks, I have to write with truth and simplicity what I have read and experienced, and what I have done with my own hands, without any more principles or more materials than those that follow.

The end of any attempt must be praiseworthy and happy when the principles are well studied; and Aristotle even says, in the first of the Ethics, that the end is not in doubt, once the beginning is known: Qui scit principium alicuius rei, scit fere usque ad fines eius (He who knows the beginning of a thing knows almost to its end.). So, then, I will begin with the principles of this famous Philosophy, so that the glorious consummation that I desire may follow. The principles of this science are, therefore, the same as in metals, and the main matter of these in their mines, from which they are generated; It is dry water, living water, or living silver (which the Chemists call it with all these names) and spiritus faetens, or sulfur; but it is noteworthy that these, in their nature, as Mina created them, are not the matter we are looking for, because in those places where they are generated no metal is found; Its matter is, therefore, a substance created by nature that contains in it the nature and substance of living silver and sulfur, and from this matter or substance, from these two another subtle and smoky substance is generated and procreated in the bowels. of the earth and mineral veins, where they congregate and stop; and after the mineral virtue bathes the said smoky matter, it freezes and unites it, with an inseparable and fixed union, by means of heat and natural decoction, tempered in the mineral, and so united, that not even the moist that is silver can be cannot separate the dry, which is sulfur, nor the dry from the moist. From this it is inferred that four elements naturally occur in metals, and that these are homogeneous, that they are nothing other than very subtle fumes, frozen and fixed by natural decoction in mining, and altered in the nature of metal. It is also derived from this doctrine that the moist radical of metals during their calcination, due to the homogeneity and strong union with the elements, is not consumed or separated, as happens to the humid radical of the stone, due to its lack of union with the dry or sulfur; and thus we see that the humidity of stones is volatile and flees from fire, and the humidity of metals is fixed and remains in it; that sulfur, in the generation of metals, is as an agent and the substance of living silver is patient; and for this reason they call sulfur Pater mineralium, and bright silver Mater.

From what has been said, the philosopher will know that nature, in the creation and formation of metals, has a certain substance or matter; It is, namely: the living silver, from which matter makes emerge in the mine that fuzzy substance or subtle material that, later, with the artifice of nature, becomes metal. That, then, first matter, from which the said fumous matter is generated, is body, and that fumous matter, generated from it, is spirit; and thus nature makes the body a spirit, and makes it rise from the earth to heaven, because a corporeal matter makes a spiritual thing; and because, learned nature converts this spiritual matter into metal (as we have said), then makes the spirit a body, and thus makes it descend from heaven to earth (note, Torres friend, these ascensions and descents to earth and the heaven because they are metaphors with which the greedy chemists hid these famous principles, and because if you read their books you will not be confused); And so, retying the thread of our intention, I say that in all these operations we cannot truly follow nature, but we must try to imitate it with attention, since not in whole, in part. It is also true that all metals, as to the root of nature, are all of the same substance or matter, but not of the same form; and this is, due to illness or health, filth or filth, quantity or littleness of the substance of the living silver and sulfur, in the natural union, due to the different quality of mines and the long or short decoction of nature; This seems to me to be enough to explain the general generation of metals, I am going to say the radical principles of this secret Philosophy.

The radical principles on which this science is based are: a certain and determined matter or substance typical of living silver, and sulfur fuming, and subtle of the nature of these two, generated by our artifice, most limpid, clear, in which exists the spirit of the quintessence, as we will say later; This substance is neither sulfur nor silver, as they are in their mineral nature, but rather a certain part of these two, which is neither sulfur nor silver. This substance that I say, smoky, volatile, is fixed and killed and converted into another substance of silver and sulfur, which is passible in fire, and never flees from it, but rather, always perseveres, which, later, by the tempered and continuous decoction, and by mastery of this art, it freezes into a fluid stone that persists in the fire. Some philosophers say that living silver alone, without the mixtures or mixtures of sulfur, generates this matter; but this is the same thing that I am putting together, because the live silver naturally contains the mixed raw sulfur within itself (and I have extracted this raw sulfur from the sapwood of the live silver with my own hands). The agents in the operation of this science are water and fire, and these two elements contribute together; the earth and the air are the patients; water is the male; the earth the female; The Sun is the father and the Moon the mother, we need many things in this art that nature does not need, but our study must be to imitate it: in these things that we need, it is worth noting that the four elements are present. , and it is precisely necessary to know how to convert them into others, change them and alter them; that is, to make the wet dry, the cold warm, and the warm cold; and otherwise it is impossible to consummate the work with perfection; note that just as nature makes the body a spirit and the spirit a body in the mineral generation, so we chemists in the generation of the stone (which we have to do) by our artifice, we will make the bodies spirits and the spirits bodies, which for that reason Aros says: Facite corpora spiritus, et inveniens quod queritis (Make the bodies of the spirit, and finding what you want), with which from all that has been said we conclude that the principles and operations of this science are similar to those of nature; but we need more things than her for our jobs.

Given the principles of the generation of metals and those of this famous, admirable science, thus, generally, we will now see the operation and mastery of the art.

The entire artifice of this philosophical occult stone has two parts of operation: the first is the elixir, and this is called primum opus; The second part is the operation of this stone, which is the secundum opus, which is done in a different way, and in a different vessel. Many philosophers, in their books, first taught how to do the second work, that is, the operation of the stone; and some speak in their writings sometimes of the first, other times of the second, in order only to confuse and blind the practitioner, and to hide this famous science from the ingenuity. I, friend, will follow the correct order in the operation; and as I exercised it with my own fingers and saw with my eyes, so I will put the doctrine. The first thing is that the materials must become elixir. This elixir is the first and main foundation of this precious stone, which through the second work becomes a true philosophical stone and supreme medicine; which removes what is sick and imperfect from the metals from the mixed, and reduces them to health and perfection, and actually makes it lunific or solific, according to the color of the said stone. Philosophers divide the elixir, and say that it has body, soul and spirit, and these are united in that union of nature, to which, by our artifice, we minister to make it, and that is why we do not make the elixir. not the stone, but nature, to whom we give the material to manufacture it; They call the earth of this supreme medicine the body, ferment or secret of the stone or the elixir, with which the elixir is composed of the most subtle and pure substance of living silver, sulfur and our earth, and this is what our stone consists of.

The elixir is considered in two ways in this science; There is an elixir for white and red; We are looking at the elixir for whiteness first, and the species of which it is composed: philosophers have varied greatly in the species of the elixir for whiteness and have given it different names, sometimes taking it from its color and other times from its nature, but always adding and subtracting something to deceive those curious and eager to know this science, some looked for this elixir in vegetables; and although this is possible by nature, it is not possible for the philosopher, because life is short for this operation; others looked for it in precious stones, glass and salts, and these worked an impossible task against the principles of nature, since the most that can be expected from these entities (after a long time and increased work) is alteration; others, in the spirits only of sulfur and mercury, with their companions ammoniacal salt and arsenic; and others, in all bodies of metals; but all these sweated in vain; and thus, omitting many others, I will say only what truly suits this elixir.

There are four species that are necessary to compose this elixir; It is, namely: the bright silver, the volatile citrine sulfur that flees, the fixed green sulfur, and the fixed white sulfur, and these three sulfurs are fluid like wax; Of these species the new ones are better than the old ones; The good green sulfur is the one that, by breaking it, the clear and green fraction appears, and is lucid, like glass; and for this reason Morieno calls this sulfur, glass, because of its color and brilliance; The best fixed white sulfur is the one that is whiter, that has a white, shiny fracture, and that reveals the oblong grains, although not much, and not very thick, which are not good for revealing the volatile citrine sulfur.

The live silver is then composed with the live citrine sulfur, in such a way that one and the other are altered and both are converted into a rubra mass, which we call rubra ponderosa earth: their composition, or disposition, speaks of these two species. Morieno in his book Ad Regem Hali, and says: Fac ut, sumus albus, idest Mercurius, fumum rubrum, idest sulfuris capiat, et simul ambo efunde, et coninge, ita quod pars pondus aponatur (Make it so that, when we are white, that is Mercury, it catches red smoke, that is sulphur, and pour both at the same time, and seal it, so that a part of the weight is added). But with respect to where this ruddy, lucid, ponderous and venal land lies, we will not tire ourselves in its composition, and so let us continue our attempt. Having therefore purchased these species, take a fiber of the fixed green sulphur, and grind it on a clean marble or slate, until it becomes a very minute powder; Then take three ounces of fixed white sulphur, and in the same marble you will grind them carefully, and you will keep both of them apart; Also take another three ounces of ruddy, lucid, ponderous earth, which is composed of sulfur and mercury, and mash it too, until nothing lucid is seen in the earth, and a ruddy and grave powder remains; All this work is called opus contritionis by philosophers; They also call this work of contrition hiems, or winter; because, like winter, it is destitute of all fruit and natural agent virtue; and so also this work of contrition is destitute of any agent operation to the elixir, because none of these is mixed before.

Once the winter operation is done, then without interval begins the work of composition and mixing of these species, which is like this: add all these powders of these species; and mixed in the marble, until all this matter appears rubra, and divide all this matter rubra into two equal parts; each of these parts of this composition or preparation is placed in its own glass intended for this purpose; This work must always be done in such a vessel, so that the glass alembic vessel is arranged like this: there must be two vessels, the vrinal and the alembic (as is regularly done in all distillations), but on the contrary, the mouth of the alembic has to enter that of the vrinal; Then it is muddied and covered with philosophical mud, and allowed to dry and harden, and then covered again, so that no spirit can evaporate through the joints; and the present work is called opus veris, because as in summer universally all things naturally come together, to fructify thus these of which the elixir is composed, come together to fructify and engender this philosophical stone.

We now need to say the remainder of this operation, and the one that remains for us to do is called aestas; because, just as the fruits of nature, due to the heat, come out of the earth and go up to enjoy the air, to later reach autumn, that is, to nature and perfection, so also in this elixir, due to the heat of the material fire, leave this earth and ascend into the air, arriving in autumn to be perfected. Speaking, then, of this disposition, contrition and separation, Aristotle says (to conclude this work): Ad Alexandrum Regem, in the book De secretis secretorum, or, Alexander accipe lapidem mineralem vegetabilem, et animalem, et separa elementa. Then we must begin with the separation of elements, which is like this: the elements must be separated from this rubra earth; That is, the pure from the impure, the clear from the opaque, and the clear from the turbid, is as follows: put this earth in the two urinal vessels with their muddy stills, then you will put the singular vessel, made for this purpose, in the avalanche over ashes, and the avalanche is dry and well hidden, with the mourning over the oven, prepared for this operation; Each glass must have its oven and its avalanche, and in these ovens you will compose the fire, tempered in such a way that inside the oven, in the depth of the avalanche, you can have your hand without danger of getting burned, and in this arrangement and continued Temperance of the fire is the happiness of the work, because if you give a lot of fire, the matter will melt in the vessels before the spirits fly, and before said matter dries in the vessel everything would break and the entire work would be lost.

The vessels thus arranged with the tempered fire in their ovens, then the vapor of these materials rises to the alembic in very subtle smoke, and this smoke becomes clean, serene and clear water that contains within itself the strength and value of all species, of which they are generated; which, already generated and caused in the alembic, descends through the deer horn or nose of the alembic, which must be sharp, soft and curved, like the horn of a deer. The first drops of this water are of no use, and thus are not received in any glass; and to know the true time of receiving them, you will do this: after fifteen or sixteen drops have been poured, you will take a slightly hot knife and put it in the mouth of the still, and wait for a drop to fall on the plane of the knife, and if it It boils and turns black on the surface, then it is time to receive the water; and if not, no, because that water still contains a large portion of phlegm, and of this it must be purged, and it will not truly be purged until it has the said sign. Knowing, then, that the water has been purged of phlegm, you will have two glasses, to receive the glass one, that have a round well and a long neck, about half a foot long, and these two glasses are thick and strong, because of Otherwise they will not hold the water, because their too much virtue and strength will break them, and you will put these vessels under the stills, so that they fit inside, attaching them to the necks of the vessels as much as you can, and cover them with a dry linen cloth. , and thus you will receive the water. You will continue the weak fire for a day and a night, then you will increase the fire, not all at once, but little by little until the heat doubles, and this increase in fire must continue until the alembic turns red, and in When the rub appears, it must be kept in that color, and the fire must be continued in that state, until all the water that is to come out comes out, and then you will add more fire, and do it with flame, so that those thicker and strong ones also come out, and this flame fire must continue for six hours until all the strong and thick water comes out, and the earth appears dry and without humor, and thus the water will remain well made.

This water is called water of mercury and sulfur, because it is generated and comes out of these two; It is also called among chemicals smoke, wind, oil, water, air, fire, life, soul and spirit; and finally, our mercury that we seek, which is a combustion fire, dissolves all bodies, with a single work, which is with that of autumn: this water is called by the philosophers lapis benedictus, because it is not a stone nor does it have the nature of such. , and for this reason it is called stone, because philosophers call stone everything from which the four elements can be separated by artifice; because the separation of them is made by their conjunction or union in this teaching to the chemical; It is, namely, in the autumnal work a certain substance is raised, like stones, which is generated by the admission of the humid with the dry. It is called, therefore, benedictus, because the elements are separated and then brought together on a quintessence (as we will say later) which is called the spirit of the stone, and because the spirit does not appear, nor is it touched, except by taking body in some element, for That is why this spirit, due to the nobility of its nature, takes shape in the noble and superior sphere of the elements; This is in the sphere of fire, always remaining in its spiritual nature, and that is why it is not fire nor does it have such a nature of fire, although it lives in it; and because this igneous body, due to its subtlety and purity, cannot be seen from us, and thus, through suitable instruments and industry, converting its subtle substance, composing, condensing, drying, sublimating, and distilling the said matter, and it becomes a kind of water, and, as it flows, it is separated and cleansed from the superfluities of phlegm. In this said water there are not yet the four elements, but only three, water, fire and air, and these three together are purged and separated from their filth, that is, from the impurities of their earth; In this separation of water we call the water element its humidity, air the nature of water, which makes the whole body flow like drops of rubber; and for this reason they are also called oleum, or oil; Fire is called in this water that virtue, with which it burns, calcines and dissolves bodies, in which fire dwells the said spirit of stones. Separated, then, these elements from their earth, and made spiritual with the spirit of the quintessence, converted into water (as we have said) they must be joined to the earth, so that this earth also becomes spiritual like the other three elements.

We have already arrived at the composition of these three elements with the fourth, which is the composition that the philosophers hid; This composition is called marriage of the body with the spirits, because in this work the spirit of the quintessence, which is hidden in the three elements, is joined with our earth, which is the body, and the union or marriage is made, in such a way , that the earth becomes spiritual in nature, subtle, and in spirit, and from then on virtue begins to be perfected; this spirit of earthly nature, which is said: quintum ex quatuor generatum (the fifth of four generations), from what the philosopher says: Vis eius integra est, si versa fuerit in terra (His strength is complete if he is turned to earth). Therefore, this composition is made, not with the hands, but by the work of nature, to which, by admirable teaching, we administer this matter, so that it operates in it.

This marriage must be made after the water is made, and one must not wait more than ad summum two hours, because the virtue of this spirit soon fades; This work is called autumn, because just as the fruits reach their perfection and maturity in the fall, so this water achieves its perfection in this marriage; It is also called impregnatio lapidis, because when this marriage, or conjunction of this spirit, is made, the stone is impregnated with the body; that is, the body, or our earth, of this spirit of the quintessence, in the womb of said water, in which this spirit lives hidden; It is done as follows:

First of all, we must assume, very firmly, that that earth, or feces, from which this water of the three elements came, must be thrown away, because it has no virtue whatsoever, as Alfidius says: Faecem projice in alia enim hec aqua plantatur , et radicalur (Throw the dung into another, for this water is planted, and it takes root), and thus we understand well what Aros says, that opus istud in uno incipit, et in alio terminatur (this work begins in one, and ends in another). Take, then, our earth and remove all superfluous moisture from it, and separate it from it, until it remains white, lucid, and refined into a whole; of this purified and powdered earth, you will take two small quantities, and pour one of them into one of the glasses over the water, and the other portion into the other glass, both closed, and removing the still, and leaving them on the ashes. hot in the avalanches on the oven, and then at the point that this body is entered, cover the vessels closely with a dry linen cloth, and as soon as this earth falls into said water, it will begin to boil, if it were good and made without error , and if it does not boil, it is true that the operation has been wrong, because it does not dissolve the body, and so it is advisable to remove it and make other water. These glasses must always be kept on the warm ashes, until the water stops boiling, and when it stops, it remains clear, clean and green, and our earth remains liquid and married with the spirit of the quintessence; After this work you will take other glasses similar to those mentioned, and put this water in them cautiously and wisely, so that what was left in the deep does not dissolve with the clear water, and thus, in these glasses well closed, with a cloth of linen, keeps the said water until the case of need: this is how this water is impregnated, and the elixir for the white is made, but the intercourse is not yet perfect or consummated, nor is the marriage of the spirit with the body, but only a true principle and means to perfection: this body that was dissolved in this water is called temperantia sapientum, or, water of life, and the body that reveals itself is called gumma philosophorum, which is why Aros undoubtedly says: Vide ubi miserunt aquam, ibi miserunt gumma (Look where they sent water, there they sent gum), see contrary.

Note that the first part of the elixir is white and is made of white earth, and the second is rubra because it is made (as we will say) of rubra earth, and thus it seems that there are two elixirs in this art, but there is only one truly , which is for both; This is for the white, and for the red we have already said about the way of composition of the alba part, now we will say about the red part; The philosopher says: that in this operation of the elixir, the same things are the things that whiten as those that rubify, and thus there are also three species that must be taken to make this elixir item, but with another but; It is, namely: of green sulfur twelve ounces, of white sulfur six; of rubra earth weighs six ounces, and in these two weights only the white water differs from the rubra.

Well, with these species you will do all the work already mentioned in winter, summer, summer and autumn, with the same separation, contrition, igneous decoction, in the same vessels, the same ovens, and avalanches, with the same separation of the phlegm from the water. , with the same marriage of the rubra earth, with the spirit of the stone in the water; However, the red earth must be separated from its superfluities in a different way than the white one; and so, before this water is put to purge, it is by its own means, and purified and clean, and converted into powders or filings, then it is put into the water already made; but it will not dissolve in it, because it is not the water of such virtue, if it were only calcined into powders; Once this is done, carefully move the water and put it in another glass similar to the one you had before, so that the dust from the calcination of the red earth remains without water in its glass, and in that separated water you will put some body like the white earth. , and it will be released into the water; Therefore, dry out the charred earth and keep it clean, so that no other dust falls on it until you make other water, in which you will dissolve them. The water made with these weights is stronger than the first, because the latter cannot dissolve the mercury in the water, and the latter releases it.

Now it remains for you to make another of the said species; but with this measure: twelve ounces of green sulfur, nine ounces of ponderosa rubra earth, and the same amount of white sulfur, and with these species it operates and works, as I have said, receiving them in the same way; and in this new water you will put the calcined red powders, and if it liquidates or loosens, and the water turns red or flava, this will be the good and true one that we are looking for; but if it does not dissolve, remove it from the water again, as you did before, and dry the rubbed earth a second time and keep it; And so you must repeat this water, always increasing three ounces of white sulfur, until the water comes out that dissolves the rubra earth in very clear water.

Once this water has been perfectly investigated and found, and dissolved in our rubra earth, you must keep it aside in a closed glass, just as you did with the white water, and in the same way you will repeat it with the solution of the rubra earth, until you have a sufficient amount of the said water rubra: in this water prepared from this tuberous body you will put about two ounces of filing, or powders of this our earth, and if it could dissolve more ounces, you will put more, and if there is anything left to dissolve of said things, do not throw it , but put it aside, and in the solution of other water you can use it; and thus the first white water is called virgo vel puella (a virgin or a girl), according to Alfidius, and Ortulanus names it sperma femineum album et frigidum (the female sperm is white and cold); and this rubra water is called iuvenis pulcher habens pulcrum vestimentum (a handsome young man having a fine garment), which is gold, and Ortulanus calls it sperma masculine in rubeo warmo (male sperm in red warm); but the first water, before the white body is dissolved in it, is called urina puellarum (girls urine), and the rubra urina virorum (red urine of men).

Once these two waters are made, the elixir is perfected in this way: from the white water receive what you made at once in the two glasses, and the same amount from the red water, and you will have a gourd made of strong, thick glass, whose mouth is formed like a urinal; In this glass or gourd you will join the two waters, and all the flava or citrine water will come out, and thus the elixir is consummated for both, the true marriage between the body and the spirit, the perfect impregnation or intercourse of the stone, of which will follow a good birth. This water, made of two waters, is our gold, our silver; the heavenly and glorious water, our metal and our magnesia, in which Aros says that there are the four elements or four bodies, which bodies they call clouds, et nives extactae oleum, et butyrum, et lunae spuma. They are also called leaven of the stone by one and the other, and our entire operation is called black lead, and the philosophical egg, and all our wisdom, which God reveals to whomever he wills; speaking of this composition, a chemical philosopher says: Ipsum enim est totum quod querimus, et quod cogitatur; in ipsa enim es fugiens et fixum, tingens, et tinctum, album, et rubrum, masculus, et faemina simul composita compositione inseparabili. It is advisable, therefore, for anyone attempting this work not to rest until these species are mixed and the tincture is made, and to the point that these two waters are mixed in the glass, it must be covered so that nothing is exhaled.

These two sperms are extremely necessary in this art, because true tincture cannot be made without this union and composition; They call these two sperm caudadronis, for the reason that we will see later; and from all that has been said, it is inferred that this elixir is composed of the gold hidden in this land of ours, clean of the terrestriality of sulfur, which is called sulfur, of sulfur, and of live silver, which is called live silver from live silver; these last two volatile and fugitive, but converted together and composed into fixed ones.

OF THE STONE OPERATION

We have already said about the first operation of the elixir, it remains for us to say about the work of our Stone; We have already seen that one is made from these two things, and from this one elixir, and not from another, true and certain Alchemy is born; Now let's see what elixir is, and where this name has been taken from, what is Alchemy, and what is Lapis. The elixir is a certain compound that contains in itself the mineral virtue, rubric or citrine of many very clean and clear species, together with the species of water that contains in itself the mineral virtue, seasoning, antidote, and medicine of all the bodies that are They must purge and transform into true solifics and lunisics; It is called elixir from the verb elicio, icis, which is to bring together, to bind one thing from many, already converted into another. Alchemy is an art that manages and shows the essence of the seven metals, and how these imperfect forms must be reduced to perfection. Alchemy is called Alambico and Kymia, which are two vessels, in which this art makes its final complement in the three orders or genres of medicines. The Stone is a certain strong mineral virtue brought together and united by the alchemical artifice of many species in one and has in itself the virtue of freezing mercury in true metallic nature, and of converting all diseased metals to their health; and finally, it is the ultimate medicine of all human bodies that preserves the radical humidity in them, because this is the water of life.

Having made our true compound, or complete the elixir, the operation of the stone is followed, according to Hermes, who was the father and teacher of the alchemists; The first disposition is to nigrate; the second whiten; and the third, cinerar; and the fourth and last, tubify, and with the act of cooking alone the entire teaching is completed; and as all things, in the first operation, ascend to heaven, by this second all things descend to earth, and are fixed in the union of the quintessence; The arrangement of the black is made as follows: take the elixir as it is in its glass, and place a glass alembic on it, and close it well, in the same way that you did in the extraction of the first water; and thus arranged, take the said vessel and bury it in the horse manure, and you will make the soul; That is, let the water that is inside the elixir come out, and you will put this water in a strong glass vessel, separating the superfluous phlegm, until it boils hot on the plane of a knife or other iron, as we said, and You must continue like this until it all comes out, and the matter in the depth of the glass appears clear, red and without water; then cook and continue until it is completely dry and black, and then, that which in the first operation was called sperma, Father, and Mother, in this operation is called earth or nutrix of this separation of water, or of the soul of its earth or body, says the philosopher: Fili a radio solis extrahe umbram suam (My son, draw his shadow from the rays of the sun), because this earth is called among the philosopher chemists; Umbra solis corpus mortuum corona vincens clouds, cortices matris magnesia nigra, et draco qui comedit caudam suam (The shadow of the dead body of the sun crowns the conquering clouds, the bark of the black magnesia mother, and the dragon that eats its tail), and with infinite other names; and the water that came out of this land is called: Cauda draconis, anima, ventus, aër vita domum illuminans, lux meridiana, argentum vivum nostrum, lac virginis, totum secretum (The tail of the dragon, the soul, the wind, the air of life illuminating the house, the noonday light, our living silver, the milk of the virgin, all the secret); It is also called salt, ammonia, and a means of combining the dyes.

You will remove this already dry earth from the glass or gourd with subtlety, and you will know its weight, and you will place it in another wide, strong and thick glass, according to the amount of stone or medicine you are trying to make; The belly of the glass must be round, and the neck must be about a foot long, and placing our earth or dragon in said glass, the glass must be placed tightly closed in an avalanche or on the ashes, and you will give fire to the oven from afar. , taking care that the flame does not reach the glass, and said fire will continue; until all the earth dissolves in itself, and becomes thick and red water, this glass is also buried in hot horse manure until said earth is dissolved; be untied in this way in forty-nine days; Others put this glass in the air, and thus let this earth become thick red water; Of the solution of this land of itself Martyrizato says: Ars non completur nisi terra fuerit soluta (The art is not completed until the earth has been loosened); but another philosopher, timid in the operation, says: Citius autem perficitur hoc opus in humido tardius vero in sico (But this work is accomplished more quickly in the wet, but more slowly in the dry). Note, then, that the solution of this land is in two ways, one by itself, as we have said, and the other by the flow or impregnated water that came out of it; and many philosophers did not appreciate the solution itself, saying it was not possible except with water, and one of the two sperm from which it was created. We call this solution the dead body solution, and the solution that is made with water is called resurrection, vivification and soul of the dead body, that solution that is made with the flame of fire and the heat of dung are not properly solutions, but liquidations or fusions, like those of wax or metal, with which we must understand that fusion here must be taken as a solution; and on the contrary, the solution by fusion.

Our earth is liquid and fluid first by itself, and by itself also dissolved in the air (protecting it from dust), take the glass with the earth and place it on the ashes in the avalanche on the oven, and in this a slow fire will be made. , and it will continue until it freezes into a black mass, whose fracture must remain shiny like that of glass, which, kneaded and frozen, you will dissolve by itself, and you will repeat this solution four times, and freezing; and once completed, a fixed, lucid earth will remain, black in the fracture, and cast into the body, it alters its color; and the more times this earth dissolves and freezes, the more subtle and penetrable it becomes; and this water being denigrated by the decoction, it is called cinis clavallatus aes combustum, sal conebustum, terra mortua, ovum proprium philosophorum. It is also noteworthy that this dead earth, when the water is separated from it before it dries up and denigrates, is called ignis, salharmonycum, sal vitellorum ovnorum, sol honoratum, athincar nostrum, clouds coagulata, lingua maris, arsenicus sublimatus, stella diana, ventus cerporatus, aduena, secretum naturaes (fire, salharmonic, salt of the calves of each, the honored sun, our athincar, congealed clouds, the tongue of the sea, arsenic sublimed, Diana's star, the wind picked up, the arrival, the secret of nature), and countless others, which I think should be put here, so that those who read chemical books will not be confused.

Complete, then, the disposition of the black, we are going to give the disposition of the white of the earth of this Lapis philosophorum; It is, therefore, to be noted that in this black of the earth the whiteness is hidden, and although to the eye it is black, in the understanding it is white, and this virtue that is hidden in it must be discovered, and what is within must be manifested. outside; This arrangement is made in the same glass, without separating or removing the said earth from it in this way: you will know the weight of this earth, and then dissolve it by itself, as you did in the denigration, which dissolves, you will take half the weight of the spirit, not fixed; that is, from the water that came out of it, which is distilled by the still, and put it on the same solute earth well covered in ashes or with slow fire, or in horse manure, and continue it until the water and the earth become something black, light and another color; Once this is done, everything must be frozen and reduced to mass in the same place and in the same fire, taking care that no spirit comes out; The sign that our gum is cooked will be if, letting the glass cool, the dragon is hard, like hard fish, and then it will be quite thick and cooked and purged of its phlegm; the water, which in this decoction came out of this gum or dragon, can be saved and received; frozen, then, this dragon or gum, will be placed in part where it dissolves by itself in thick water, and this solute, you will put on the ashes, as you did in the denigration, and the decoction is complete, and an opaque body is made, but clear in its fracture.

Once this decoction is made, let's see the rest. You will know the weight of all this frozen, as you knew in the first, and you will place the fourth part of this frozen on the same frozen earth, or the same frozen of said water, unfixed spirit, cauda draconis, or the white sperm (which all is one) in the same glass, and without removing the dragon from the same glass, and cook it, and close it until it freezes and thickens into a pitch black thing; dissolve all this by itself, and solute by itself, then immediately you will put on the ashes on slow fire, and a mass of another lighter color is made, and thus, with the same way, the same regime and weight, this is the quarter of all the frozen of our living silver, or white water, all the frozen will be put in such a conjunction and freezing, and both because of it, and because of itself, this dragon will dissolve and freeze; This location will be reiterated by the weights of this white water or glue; and for this reason the irrigations, adjustments, inspirations, animations and solutions, both by water and by itself, in the same glass, and without the extraction of the dragon until it is, or all this mass dead, like the man in the mound , little by little it is animated, vivified and resurrected to the life that was lost in denigration, and it becomes a white crystalline stone, which participates in a certain greenness, and perseveres in the fire, it is fluid tingent, it freezes mercury and transmutes perfectly to any body of imperfect metal in perfect lunisic or silver; and if you do the work like this, you will surely reach the goal; This white stone is called in the books of alchemists: Calix cineris clavallati, cinis albus, calx corticum ovorum, terra alba, magnesia alba, pulvis de albata luna calcinata (A calyx of cleaved ashes, white ashes, calcareous egg-shells, white earth, white magnesia, dust of the white calcined moon), and with infinite other names.

In this following paragraph it seems necessary to explain many of the terms, which will confuse those who have not studied this Philosophy, they are these: bleaching and rubifying is the same as calcining and solving; freezing is the same as compounding and adding; roasting is the same as desiccating or drying; distilling, sublimating and dissolving is the same as bringing down or descending from heaven to earth; Solving in water is the same as descending, sublimating, making the fixed volatile; and freezing is also the same as ascending and making the volatile fixed; to solve by itself is to make the fixed solute; Freezing the solute is the same as calcining the solute itself; and this calcining is perfectly dark and ruddy. In this way we must understand the various words and words of the philosophers who have professed this famous science, that all the horror and false news, with the intelligence of its metaphors, has been the basis for considering its operations false.

Before explaining rubification, we must deal with cineration; It is done in this way: take an ounce of the said white stone and put it in the same glass from which you extracted it, and you will make it dissolve by itself, as you did in the discussion; Solute, then, this ounce, take red sulfur, or bright silver, and the male sperma, which you kept aside, and let the quantity of the red water be as much as you did twice, and let it visibly mix until they become one. same thing and a clear, citrine, red water that looks rubra, and close the glass with the alembic, as you did in the denigration; This water is called ferment of the Sun, like the white ferment of the Moon; and just as in the first black compound the white was hidden, and the white became external, hiding the black inside, so when the exterior of this stone became white, the interior became a rubble, and thus it is appropriate that that whiteness that exterior and manifest becomes interior and hidden, that in this art one must try to make the hidden manifest; and on the contrary, and we will do so in the area with the operation of the following paragraph.

Take, then, the glass muddied with said water and put it in a place where the water can gradually come out, as you did in the denigration, and take from it the superfluity of the phlegm, and receive it, and before it thickens you have to know that what appears in the depth of the glass is lucid, clear, ruby, fuse like wax, and this was called by the philosophers ruby, hyacinth, coral, jasper, etc., who say it because of its color; You will dry all this and roast as much as you can, until it is like burnt blood, and this roasting, or drying, is called cineratio, and thus the layout of the cinerar is complete, which must be between the albo and the rubro, which They are the ferment of the Sun; It is noteworthy that the white stone, without removing it from its glass, can be cinered in the aforementioned manner and it would become ferment of the Sun, but a larger portion of the sulfur element must be added to it, and a larger glass is required, and hardly any glass will be found. of glass that can withstand the perfection of this work without breaking: many cook and roast this ferment until it becomes dust and ash, carried only by the Cinerean voice, and that is why this art of many is considered vile, false and lying, and it is only because they do not understand, nor are they capable of, its doctrine, and various metaphors; and being true that it is entirely constant that he has no enemies, but ignorant fools.

We have already reached the last work of this stone, which is rubifying; Philosophers say of this operation that from albation to rubification no error can be followed, because in the same way it is rubified as it is bleached in the same glass, with the same weights, with the same regime, only adding the rubric sulfur. , or the spiritual water, rubs, and will be reiterated many times by cooking, dissolving and freezing, until all this aggregate or compound, rubifies, and becomes a rubric, clear, fluid liquor, which perseveres in the transmuting dyeing fire, which It penetrates and converts mercury and every solid body into soft and true solific, and purifies and cleanses the human body from all disease and always preserves it in a healthy state; pretend, all precious stones rubra, just as the white stone makes daisies and other white precious stones; and this, in short, is the blessed stone, of whom all alchemists and chemists say that it is: Pater omnis helesmi, idest totius secreti, vel tesaurus totius mundi, quem cui Deus vult substrahit, et largitur, ad cuius, perfectionis inventionem plures sunt vocati, sed pauci ad huius efectum perfectionem inveniuntur electi. (The father of all mystery, that is, of the whole secret, or the treasure of the whole world, whom God takes away and bestows upon whomsoever He wills, to the discovery of which many are called, but few are chosen to find the perfection of this effect.)

Well, from this now complete stone we still have many things to know and know, these are: just as the tail of the dragon is impregnated with vivid, raw and white silver, or aqua lapidis ad dealbundum lapidem magnum (the water of the stone to whiten the great stone), according to the opinion of many, Likewise, others also say that the cauda draconis (the tail of the dragon) is impregnated with the bright silver rubro, or the rubicating water of this great white stone, and we call this water sulfar rubro, just as the said white water is also called white sulfur, and from these the impregnation of bright silver; but in my opinion, it is better that the color be made from metals, because Saint Albert the Great says, in the De mineralibus, that after having examined the gold of some alchemists seven times, nothing was found other than a dead earth or residue. ; And so he himself says that those who per alba dealbant, et per citrina citrinant (they whiten through whites, and lemon through lemons) are false alchemists, and those who do this with bright silver and sulfur do better, not with common, as has been said, but with our rubra; and it is of this that the philosophers exclaim, saying: O, natura celestis qualiter vertit corpora illa in spiritum! O, quam admirabilis natura qualiter omnibus eminet, et omnia superat! et est accettum uberrimum quod facit aurum esse verum spiritum; (Oh, how heavenly nature turns those bodies into spirit! Oh, how admirable nature stands above all, and surpasses all! and it is most abundantly accepted that gold is true spirit;) and this water, in short, is the stone of the Indies, the Indians, Babylonians and Egyptians, etc. And having already said what is offered in the operation of this stone, the last manufacturing follows, it is the Projection.

PROJECTION

The projection of this Supreme Medicine is made on the bodies, in this way: depending on how subtle the stone is, the more it must be observed in this projection, so that the quantity of the body must always be greater and greater than the medicine. , and this must be observed as a general rule in all projections, both for the white and the color, according to the greater or less weight of this medicine, for example: take one ounce of medicine and fifty ounces of lead or tin, and melt it in the fire, and make this ounce of medicine on the molten lead or tin, and everything will become medicine; and if he does not have all the necessary virtue to make this conversion, then you will take less portion of the body and more of the medicine. Of all this, thus converted, take one ounce, and in the same way you will pour it on thirty ounces of lead or molten state and the whole thing will become medicine, not as strong as the first one you made; From this last convert also take another ounce and pour it on another fifty of metal; and it will become lunific or solific, according to the color of the medicine, because if the elixir was white it will come out silver, and if ruby, gold; and this Sun or Moon converted and engendered by said medicine, exceeds the natural Sun and Moon, both in carats and in all medicinal properties; and in the same way the projection is made on mercury; With this medicine you will make the most beautiful and colorful glass and fake precious stones.

How this medicine preserves human bodies in their health, and purges them of their acquired diseases and defends them from future ones, either with nutrition or promotion, we will see in the next paragraph.

We have already said how diseased metallic bodies are purged, healed and reduced to perfection; Now it remains for us to say how by this medicine sick human bodies are to be healed and preserved in their health; Since man is the most worthy of all creatures, since God created for himself and subjected all things to him, omnia subiecisti sub pedibus eius, it is right that efforts should be made to preserve man and keep him in his youth; and this makes this Supreme Medicine more virtuous and stronger than all the confections and drinks of Galen and Hippocrates, so much so that even leprosy and cancer, no matter how old they are in the body, expels them and leaves it pure and clean, so that heals more effectively bodies where there is heat and movement, that even the bodies of sick metals expel any superfluities from them; Putting this medicine in the confections, fiber of future diseases, and a small amount, whether drunk or applied, has wonderful effects. I leave the experiences to your industry, and I hope that you will finally thank me. May God give you health and grace to serve Him.