The preface to the difficulty of art.

Thanks be to God, creator of all things, who has led, cultivated, & taught us, & given science & understanding. And would be like wanderers, & wanderers, & would have no knowledge of the things of this world. And if he taught us he who is the beginning, and the science of all things by his power and goodness on his people, who also addresses and gives erudition and sapience to those he wants and reduces by his mercy to the way of justice. He has sent his messengers into darkness, & has the ways smoothed & uncovered: & by his mercy his diligent ones have fallen back.

Know brother that this magisterium our of the most honored secret Peter, is the secret of the secrets of God, who seals it to his people, and only wanted to reveal it to those who faithfully as children have deserved it, & who have his greatness & goodness known. Certainly he who asks for the secrets of God, that of this magisterium more than anything else is necessary to him, & the Sages who have had it, have that no things of it, & none have revealed.

I have found the predecessor Sages to agree in this in their honored books. Of which you should know that my disciple Musa, whom I had above all in addition & recommendation, studied a lot in their books, & worked in the work of the magisterium: in the composition of which it is found much, astonished, & several times there is doubt & similarly ignores the natures of the composition of things. And why humbly & in reverence, asked me the exposition & address of it, of which I gave him no answer, & did not want to discern it, & discover it, ordering him to read the books of the Philosophers, seeking in them what he had asked of me. Which going away, read more than a hundred books, as he has little to find them: namely the true & secret books of the noble Philosophers without being able to find there what he had asked me.

Which then remained at all astonished, & almost beyond his understanding, remaining a year that he also only thought in this. And why my disciple Musa (who had deserved in degree & sapience, to be moved in number of Philosophers) thus doubted on this occasion in the composition of it, & that in it happened to him. What then will be the ignorant, who will not understand the nature of things, will not know their complexions? What seeing in my beloved disciple, moved so much pity, and the love I had in him, that by the consent and the divine will, I wrote this book on the last of my days, to which I left a few things to say, that the philosopher predecessors wrote in their books.

And some also, as I said, that the same ones have hidden in words to say, or to mention, or their books. And I also discovered & exposed some, which they covered with their obscure & figurative sayings. I called this mine book the secret of Alchemy, where I named & put all that is necessary for the inquisitor of this science, & magisterium, joining the containing language to the sense & understanding of the inquisitor.

And I named & treated four magisteriums, greater & better than other Philosophers. Of which there is a mineral Elixir, & the other animal: the other two that remain are mineral, & are not the same Elixir, the artifice & operation of which, is to wash what they call the bodies. The other is to make gold from live azoc, the making & generation of which, is according to the generation & order of that of the mines, which are in the heart, & interior parts of the earth.

These four magisteriums & artifices have been exposed by the Sages in their books of the composition of this magisterium. But they left a lot to say, & didn't want to put the operation there, which however by chance having found, could not hear, & found nothing that the more weighed on him, was envious that that . And why I'll say it in my book, & are done too. And whoever wants to read it, the way of Geometry, and learns its measurements, so that he knows well and correctly how to compose the manufacture of ovens, & does not exceed their mode & way by increase or decrease, & that he knows the quantity of the fires, & the way & the quality of the vessel of the work.

As if he sees & knows, what is the deep, & entire root, & principle of the magisterium: what is to him in his place, as the womb to the animals, which are begotten in them, & take creation & nourishment there: as has been said above. Because if the thing of this magisterium does not find what is suitable for it, its fact will be destroyed, and its work and its workers will not find what they are looking for, and the thing will not come as a result of generation. Because when we have not found the cause of its generation, or root & its heat, the operation will be destroyed & annihilated.

This even can happen in the quantity of the weight which if does not agree & agree with the compound by the transcendent parts, the term of the nature of the said compound by increase or decrease, by this means the property of the compound is destroyed with it, & l effect of the compound comes to naught. And see here an example. Do you not see that in the soap (with which the sheets are washed, mondissiés & bleached) this property is generated in its right composition, because of the quality & right compositions, & due of the compound, which participate in longitude & latitude : therefore by this participation, have agreed, & agree. And what was in it of truth appeared by the effect: & by this means the virtue was known, which before was hidden, which one calls property having virtue of washing, generated into a compound. But when the quantity of the compound overcomes & goes beyond the term, which it must have by addition or diminution, the virtue, comes out of the quality of its term & comes, & comes out on the contrary, according to the diverse interpretation of the compound. And this is the intelligence that you must have in the composition of our magisterium.

Of the four masters of the Art, namely, solution, freezing, albification & rubification.

Chapter I

The greatest artifice that we know is that of Alchemy, of which I now want to speak to you, certifying my statement without sealing or concealing anything, except what it is appropriate to discover and name. We will therefore say that the magical artifice is comprised of four magisteriums, as the Sages said, namely, to dissolve, to freeze, to albify, and to rubify.

And these four quantities are participles: of which there are two, which are likewise participles between them, and the others two likewise. And each of these quantities duplicates, to another quantity participates, that is a greater quantity participates after these two. I mean by these quantities the quantity of natures, and the weight of medicines, which dissolve and congeal in order, and neither between reduction nor addition. But these two, namely, solution & freezing will be in one operation, & will be the same fact, & this before the composition: but after the composition, their work will be different.

This solution & congealing which I have named, are the solution of the body, & the congealing of the spirit: & are two, & if however have the same operation. Because the spirit does not freeze, only with the solution of the body, the body also does not dissolve, only with the freezing of the spirit. And when the body, & the soul are joined together, each of them acts & operates in its companion in fact similar. The example of this is in water & land.

For when the water joins with the earth, it tries to dissolve it by the humidity, virtue & property, which are in it: & makes it more subtle than it was before, & makes it almost at all similar to it. For the water was more subtle than the earth. Thus does the soul to the body, similarly also the water becomes thick with the earth, and becomes like the earth in thickness: for the earth is thicker than the water.

And know that between the solution of the body, & the congealing of the Spirit, there is no difference of time: & is not a different work, so that one is without the other, as between the water and earth are not in their conjunction different parts of time, so that it is possible to know and discern one from the other, in their operations: but their end is the same, the same fact, & a & same operation circulates on both of them, & together before the composition. I said before the composition, so that whoever reads this book, having heard of the solution & congelation, (as mentioned above) it is not thought, that it is the composition that the Philosophers call.

Because error would be in fact & science. For what the composition in this artifice, or magisterium is the conjunction or marriage of the congealed spirit, with the dissolved body, which conjunction & passion is made on fire: for heat is its food, & the soul does not let the body not conjoin itself with it by entire conjunction except by the mutation & change of virtue & property, namely of both, & after the transmutation of their natures. And this is the solution & freezing, which the Philosophers thus first named.

Which however they hid, & spoke of them for subtle reasons, in obscure & covert words: so that the inquisitor's sense of true intelligence might be removed. And this is for you the example of the said of the covered and obscure Philosophers. Anoint the leaf of venom, & in it you will be verified from the beginning of the office, or of the magisterium of it, & work on the strong bodies, with the juice dissolved, until both are converted into its subtlety. For as the Sage says on this subject, if you do not convert bodies into subtlety, being made subtle, and impalpable from touch, what you are looking for will not happen to you. And if they are not triturated, return to the operation, until they are, & are made subtle, & if you do, you will have what you desire.

They have used these words, and similar in their writings: which none of those who approved of this art ever understood, nor at all attained, this fact so hidden until they had had a good open demonstration of it, removing the preceding doubt. They similarly named & put the composition after the solution & freezing. After also they said, that the composition does not end, that with the marriage & the putrefaction.

It is also the intelligence for the solution, freezing & division, & for the marriage, putrefaction & composition. And that is, for what composition is the origin & birth of the thing, & the life. Because if it weren't for the composition, the thing wouldn't be carried out & wouldn't come into being. Division is the separation of the parts of the compound. Thus the separation was the conjunction. I also say that the mind shall not abide in the body, nor be with it, nor in any way with it cease, until the body has subtlety & tenuity, as has the mind.

And when it will be made subtle, & attenuated, & out of its coagulation & thickness, entering in tenuity & softness: & of its thickness & bodily union, in spirituality: then the spirit will mingle in it, being made subtle, & in he will imbibe, and thus both will show themselves to be the same thing, and will not separate any more than two waters mingled together.

Let's say that two participles qualities, which are in the solution, the greater is the soul, & the lesser is the body then add to the quantity that is the soul, the quantity that is in the body, & will participate in the first quantity, & will only under participles, & work in here as we have done, & you will have what you want, & you will have the line of Euclides verified.

Then take its quantity, & know its weight, & give it moisture as long as it can drink, of which moisture we do not have here the determined weight. Then make them different operation. Knowledge is, first, imbibing & sublimating: & this operation is what is called albification, which is called Yharit, that is, silver & white lead. And when this compound comes to whiten add spirit to it, as long as half of the whole is carried, and put it back in its operation, until it becomes rubified. So it will be of Alsufir color, ie too red which the Sages compared to gold. And its effect leads you to what Aristotle said to his disciple Arda. When the juice turns white, we call it Yharit, i.e., silver: & when it turns red, Temeyuchum, which is gold.

And the whiteness is that which tints the copper & makes it Yharit. And the redness is that which Yharit tints, i.e. silver, & Temeyuchum does, i.e. gold. And for that one who can dissolve bodies, & sublimate them, albify, & rubify, & as I told you compose by imbibing, & convert them into a thing itself, he will have the magisterium, & will undoubtedly be what I tell you. said.

Of the things, and instruments necessary, and opportune for this work.

Chapter II.

You must know the vessels necessary for this magisterium, namely the Aludels, which the Sages call coecteries, or sieves, because the parts are divided in them, & mondify: & the thing of this magisterium so makes perfect, complete & purify. And each of them must have his own stove, and each of them must have a likeness and a competent figure at work, that is to say, he must be completely clean for the work that must be done.

Melesme treated of them, & taught their manner, form & way, & several other Philosophers in their books, which however all agree in this. And having sealed it by signs, they made of it afterwards several books, & instruments necessary for these four things aforesaid. As for the instruments there are two, one is the cucurbite with its still:

The other is the aludel, which is well done. There are also four things which are necessary to them, namely, the bodies, the souls, the spirits, & the waters: of these four the magisterium is composed & is made mineral: which things for what they are extended to the books of the Sages, I removed them from mine, or I named & put what they did not mention. What will easily be known and understood by those who have a little wit and intelligence.

I did not compose this book for the ignorant & imbecile, but for the Sages who have sense, sapience & knowledge. which things because they are extended to the Books of the Sages, I have removed them from mine, or I have named & put what they did not mention. What will easily be known and understood by those who have a little wit and intelligence. I did not compose this book for the ignorant & imbecile, but for the Sages who have sense, sapience & knowledge. which things because they are extended to the Books of the Sages, I have removed them from mine, or I have named & put what they did not mention. What will easily be known and understood by those who have a little wit and intelligence. I did not compose this book for the ignorant & imbecile, but for the Sages who have sense, sapience & knowledge.

Of the nature of the things belonging to this magisterium.

Chapter III.

Know that the Philosophers have named them by several names, of which some of them have called them mining: some others animal, & the others herbal: & some by the name of natures, that is to say natural. Some others have called them by names at their pleasure, & as they saw fit. You should also know that their medicines are close to nature, as the Philosophers have said in their books, saying that nature approaches nature: & nature makes itself similar to nature: & nature joins nature: & nature submerges in nature: & nature whitens nature: & nature rubifies nature: & generation retains itself with generation:

Of the decoction, and of the effect of it.

Chapter IV.

Know that the Philosophers in their books have named the decoction saying, let things be uncooked, & this is what generates them & causes them to change from their substances & colors into other substances, & other colors. Do not go beyond what I say in this book: & will proceed well & rightly. Look brother the seed of wheat, which is one of the things that man lives on, as the heat of the Sun opens in it, until the grain comes out, & men eat it & other beasts.

Then after nature opens in him in the man with its heat, & in fact flesh & blood. Thus if is the work of our magisterium: the seed of which (as the Sages have said) is such, that the fire is its perfection & advancement, which is the cause of its life & of its death, which does not don't give life, if not with an in-between & its spirituality: Which things do not mingle except by means of fire. Note that I have already verified you & discovered the truth as I saw it, & made by the will of God.

Of the subtiliation, solution, coagulation & commission of the Stone, & the cause & end thereof.

Chapter V.

You must know, that if you do not make the subtle body, until it is made all water: it will not turn red or putrefy, and will not be able to freeze fugitive souls when the fire touches them: For the fire is the one that freezes it, by the help it gives them. The Philosophers similarly ordered to dissolve the bodies, so that the heat adheres & enters in the depth of them.

Then after we go back to dissolving them, & freezing them, after the solution, with the thing that came close to it until we know all the things mixed together, of good & suitable commission, & that is the quantity temperate. So we joined Fire, Water, Earth & Air: or when the thick came to mingle with the subtle, & the subtle with the thick: the ones remaining with the others, their natures have changed, & become the same, which before were simple: for the generative part yawns & puts its virtue in the subtle, which is the air: for it joins with its like: & that is the part of the generation , from which she took the power to move and ascend to the top.

And coldness had power over the thick, & showed itself victorious over it: for it lost its heat, & the water came out of it, & the thing over it & the subtlety of the air appeared. And the moisture came out of it by sublimation, & it mingled with it, for it is its fellow, & of its nature. And when the thick body has lost its heat & humidity, & when coldness & dryness have had power over it, the parts of it come to diminish & divide, & that there was no humidity that united & assembled the divided parts, therefore the said parts move away & separate.

And then because the part which is contrary to the coldness, has indeed continued & sent the heat & decoction in the parts, which are those of the earth, its force having had power over them, & such domination over the coldness, that 'she who was once thick-bodied, & be hidden by the victory the heat has had over her.

So the part of his generation was changed & transmuted, & made subtle & warm, & strove to dry up by means of heat. Then after the subtle, (which makes natures rise & sublimate) when it has lost its accidental heat, becoming cold to it, therefore natures have been transmuted & become thick, & have descended to the center, where the earthly natures have united:

Which have been subtilized & converted into their generation: & have imbibed themselves in themselves: & the humidity has conjoined its parts there, divided: & the Earth has endeavored to dry this humidity, & also kept it & prevented from coming out of it, & appeared above what was hidden inside: & the humidity could not be separated, being retained by the dryness: for we find that everything in the world is retained by its opposite, or with it, namely, heat with coldness, and dryness with moisture.

Then when each of them comes to stand in front of his companion & besiege him, the subtle mixes with the thick, & make themselves one and the same substance, namely, their hot & humid soul, & their cold & dry bodies. Afterwards she has endeavored to dissolve & sublimate with her heat, & humidity that is her soul: & thus to close & retain what is cold & dry.

Thus his office is changed & surrounds everything: I have already assured you of the truth, which I have seen & done, & have taught you to change natures from their subtlety & substance into other substance & other colors, with warmth & humidity. And do not ignore what I have said in this book, if you want to proceed correctly in the work of the magisterium, as you wish. & taught you to transform natures from their subtlety & substance into other substance & other colors, with heat & humidity.

And do not ignore what I have said in this book, if you want to proceed correctly in the work of the magisterium, as you wish. & taught you to transform natures from their subtlety & substance into other substance & other colors, with heat & humidity. And do not ignore what I have said in this book, if you want to proceed correctly in the work of the magisterium, as you wish.

From the fixation of the mind.

Chapter VI.

And know that when the body mixes with the humidity, and the heat of the fire comes to find it, the humidity converts itself on the body and dissolves it; a therefore the spirit cannot leave him, pource que imbibe with the fire: But the spirits are fugitive until the body mixes with them: & are constrained to battle with the fire & its flame. And yet these parts can hardly agree well, except by good operation & long, & continual work.

For what the nature of the soul is to ascend upwards, where is the center of the soul. And who is he who can conjoin two or diverse things, the center of which is different, if not after the conversion of their nature, & by the mutation of the substance & form of their nature into another? that is one thing however difficult to find.

From the decoction, trituration & ablution of the Stone.

Chapter VII.

You must know this: that what is greatly necessary for this secret & magisterium, is the decoction, trituration, cribration, & mondification, & also the enema with sweet waters: therefore who will have done some operation of this, that he mundifies it well & cleanses it, & cleans it well of its blackness, & of the darkness which appears on it in its operation. And let him make bodies subtle as much as he can: then afterwards he will mingle dissolved souls with him, and clear minds, until he is agreeable to him.

Of the quantity of the fire, and of the profit from it or damage.

Chapter VIII.

He must know similarly, that the utility of this, or the damage comes from the virtue & force of the fire, of which Plato spoke in his sermons, in his book says, that the fire brings profit & utility to the thing perfect, & to the corrupt harm & corruption, & therefore when its quantity will be good & suitable, it will benefit, & when it is multiplied to things beyond measure, will corrupt them both, that is, the perfect & the corrupt.

And on this occasion, the Sages had to put their medicines on the elixir, to defend & remove from them the combustion of fires & the heat of ice. Hermes said to his Father, my Father, I fear my enemy in my residence. And he answered him, My son, take the male dog of the mountain of the Corrascène tourreau, and the female dog of Armenia, join them together & will engender, & will produce a dog, of the color of the Sky: & imbibe him with the water of the Sea for once as long as he can drink.

For that he will keep your friend, & defend you from your enemy: & help you wherever you are, always remaining with you, in this world & in the next. The Hermès wanted to hear for the dog & the female dog, the things that keep the bodies from the combustion of the fire & its heat.

These things are the waters of the hot and the dry. The invoices of which find it in the books of the Sages, who treated of this magisterium. None of the Sages have named these marine waters, & milk of volatile things, & similar things. & soak him with water from the Sea once as long as he can drink. For that he will keep your friend, & defend you from your enemy: & help you wherever you are, always remaining with you, in this world & in the next.

The Hermès wanted to hear for the dog & the female dog, the things that keep the bodies from the combustion of the fire & its heat. These things are the waters of the hot and the dry. The invoices of which find it in the books of the Sages, who treated of this magisterium.

None of the Sages have named these marine waters, & milk of volatile things, & similar things. & soak him with water from the Sea once as long as he can drink.

For that he will keep your friend, & defend you from your enemy: & help you wherever you are, always remaining with you, in this world & in the next. The Hermès wanted to hear for the dog & the female dog, the things that keep the bodies from the combustion of the fire & its heat. These things are the waters of the hot and the dry.

The invoices of which find it in the books of the Sages, who treated of this magisterium. None of the Sages have named these marine waters, & milk of volatile things, & similar things. The Hermès wanted to hear for the dog & the female dog, the things that keep the bodies from the combustion of the fire & its heat. These things are the waters of the hot and the dry.

The invoices of which find it in the books of the Sages, who treated of this magisterium. None of the Sages have named these marine waters, & milk of volatile things, & similar things. The Hermès wanted to hear for the dog & the female dog, the things that keep the bodies from the combustion of the fire & its heat. These things are the waters of the hot and the dry. The invoices of which find it in the books of the Sages, who treated of this magisterium. None of the Sages have named these marine waters, & milk of volatile things, & similar things.

Of the separation of the elements of the Stone.

Chapter IX.

O Brother, you must then after take the honored & precious Stone, which the Sages have named magnesia, hidden & sealed, & put it in its curcurbite with its alembic, & separate its natures there, namely, the four elements, the Earth, Water, Air, & Fire. Which are body, soul, spirit, & tincture.

And when you have separated Water from Earth, & Air from fire, keep each of them apart, & take what has come down, to the bottom of the vessel, which are the faeces, washing them with hot Fire , until its blackness is removed, & its thickness goes away, & whitens it with good whiteness, by bringing out the accidents of humidity; & therefore will be converted into white lime: in which there will be no gloomy obscurity, neither filthiness nor anything contrary.

Then afterwards return to the first natures, which came out of it & sublimated: & mondify them. similarly of their filthiness, darkness & annoyance, I reiterated on them several times: until they are refined, purified & attenuated.

And when you have done this, then you will know that God will have already had pity on you.

And know brother, that in this Stone does not enter garib, it is adire something else. The Sages work with it, and from it comes medicine, from which all perfection is given. Nothing mixes it with her, neither in any part of her, nor around. And it is found at all times, in all places, and in the homes of all people. The invention of which does not bore, does not work the one who looks for it in any place that it is. It is a vile Stone, black & stinky, which costs almost nothing: it is a little heavy, and it is called the origin of the world: because it comes out like germinated things. This is the revelation & opening of the one who seeks it.

Of the nature of the Stone, and of its origin.

Chapter X.

Take it then, & work on it, as the Philosopher taught in his book, when he said, take the Stone, not Stone, or who is not Stone, nor of the nature of Stone, & if Stones is the way from which is generated the heads of the mountains. The Philosopher meant mountains for animal, saying.

My child, go to the caves of the mountains of India, and take and draw from them honored stones, which liquefy into water, when they are put there and mixed. This water is also drawn from the caves of other mountains. My child, they are Stones, and are not Stones, but we call them so, by the similarity they have with them. And know that the roots of their mines are in the air, and their chiefs in the earth. And when they are taken from their places, we hear a great noise.

From the separate elements commission.

Chapter XI.

You have to start the composition that is circuition & environment & everything. For the composition will not only be with the marriage & the putrefaction: the marriage is to mingle the subtle with the thick: & the putrefaction is to roast, triturate & baste until they mingle together, & are made one , so that there is no diversity in them, nor separation of the water mixed with another.

So the thick will strive to restrain the subtle, & the soul from battling against the fire, & suffering it. The spirit will also strive to submerge itself in the bodies, and to be fused in them. What thus had to be: for when the dissolved body mingled with the soul, it mingled with it with all its parts: & the other things entered into the others according to their conformity & similarity.

And transmuted into one thing. And for that it was necessary that the blade took on the convenience, hardness & permanence, that the body had in the commission: & the spirit: of the state, & permanence of the soul & of the body. For when the spirit mingles with it, by means of the operation, and its parts come to be mingled, with all the other parts of the other two, which are, namely, the soul and the body: therefore the spirit & the other two are converted & made one thing even & indivisible, according to their entire substance.

The natures of which have been saved, & their parts have agreed, & assembled: & force when this compound will have obeyed the dissolved body, & that the heat will have seized it, of what was in him of humidity will be appeared on his face: & will have liquefied with said dissolved body, & will have passed & entered into it, mingling with it: what is of the nature of fire ignites, & fire defends itself with it. So when the fire with him wants to ignite, he will defend himself from being taken from him, that is, from adhering to the spirit, which is mixed with his water.

And the fire also will not adhere to it, until it is completely purified: likewise water flees from nature the fire, when it comes to reach it, wanting to make it evaporate. Thus the body was the retentive cause to retain water, and the water to retain oil, which will not be burned or consumed. The oil also was the cause of retaining the tincture, and the tincture the cause of making the color appear, and of the demonstration of the tinting, in which is the life and the perfection of the magisterium.

From the solution of the Compound Stone.

Chapter XII.

But the Philosophers then afterwards worked on dissolution, so that the body and the soul would mingle; good: for all things which together triturate, roast, & water, have seen finance & alliance together, one to another: & why the fire can take on the nature of the weakest, until it gets lost, & vanishes. Then it returns to the stronger parts, until the body remains soulless.

And why when they thus dissolve, & congeal their parts both large and small, intertwine together, so that all this is transmuted & becomes one thing itself. And when this is so, the fire takes as much from the soul as from the body, and neither more nor less, which is the efficient cause of perfection. This dissolution of simple bodies and souls, needs to be exposed here a little for the bill of our elixir.

For the bodies will not enter the souls, but will retain them, & prevent their operation which is of sublimation, of fixation, of retention & commission, & similar things, if it is not by means of the first mondification. And know that the solution is only made in these two kinds, or by the extraction of the interiority of things from their surface, and that is a solution. The example is in Silver, which is cold & dry in its appearance: & when its interiority is demonstrated, therefore it is dissolved: for it is hot & humid, or the solution is made, when the body comes to to acquire the accidental humidity which it did not have, and to mix its humidity with it, causing its parts to dissolve by this means, which is also a solution.

From the coagulation of the Dissolved Stone.

Chapter XIII.

None of the Sages said, Freeze in the bath, by the good freezing I told you, & this is Sulfur shining in the darkness: the red oil, the burning & deadly poison: the elixir that remains on none: the victorious lion the malefactor: the sharp sword, & the medicinal tryacle, & curing all infirmity. On which Geber the son of Hayen said: that all the operations of this magisterium are contained in six things: which are to drive out, to melt, to insert & to whiten like white marble, to dissolve & to freeze.

To drive out is to make the darkness of the mind and soul go away. To melt it is the liquefaction of the body. To insert is properly of the body & the subtiliation of it. To whiten properly is to melt the whole body. And to freeze, is to assemble & freeze the body with the prepared soul. hunt,

That there is only one stone, and of its nature.

Chapter XIV.

Bauzan Greek philosopher, being questioned if the germinating thing could be made stone, answered yes. Namely two stones, the Alkali stone, & ours, which is the life of the one who knows it, & who made it. And who will not know it, & will not have made it, & who will not be certified as it will be made, or who will not think it to be stone, & who will not come to understand all that I have said about it, that one who will undertake to make it, will prepare for his death, and his loss of his money: for if he has not found this honored stone, no other will come out of it in its place, and natures will not conquer not on her.

His nature is great warmth, with temperament. To whoever knows it, this book will teach him, and whoever does not know it will hide it from him. It has several virtues & properties, for it mondifies the bodies of their accidental illnesses: & preserves the healthy substances, so that one cannot see in them disturbances of contrary things, nor separation from their ligature, and union. It is also the soap of the bodies, their spirit & their soul: when it mixes with them, it dissolves them without any detriment.

Also it is the life of the dead, & their resurrection, & the medicine preserving the body, & purging the superfluity, & who will have known it, will know it, & who will not have known it will not be able to know it. Because its fact cannot be bought at any cost, nor can it be sold. Hear his virtue value & honor, & work. Whereupon a Sage said. This magisterium is not given to you by God by your audacity, strength and cunning, but by whole work, by means of which God sends you what you desire.

The way to proceed in la Pierre au blanc.

Chapter XV.

And why when you want to do this honored magisterium, take the stone, & put it in the curcurbite, & cover it with its alembic, & close it well with the lut of sapience, letting it dry, which you will do whenever you will cover it with the said lut of sapience, then put it in a very hot fient, after which you will put it in a container, in which the water is distilled, which you will leave thus until all the water is distilled: & that the humidity will dry up, and that the dryness will have power over it.

Afterwards you will extract it when dry: & keep the water that has been distilled from it until you have to deal with it. And you will take the dry body, which has remained at the bottom of the curcurbite, & will triturate it & put it in a vessel to be heated, which is suitable to receive the quantity of the medicine, & bury him in the hottest horse dung that can be, the vessel being well closed from the lut of sapience, leaving him there thus.

And when you know that the fient will come to this cooling, prepare another one for him, the hottest you can, putting the said vessel. You will do this for forty days, often renewing it when necessary. And the medicine will dissolve on its own, & will become white, thick water. And when you see it thus, know its weight, & give it water that you have before kept, as much as half of its weight rises, closing, & thus nailing the vessel of the aforesaid lut of sapience. And again put it back in the dung, of hot horse, because in it there is heat, & humidity, & does not leave (as we said above) to renew the dung, when it begins to cool, until the forty days are complete:

For then the medicine will freeze in like number of days: in which before has dissolved. Then take it & know all its weight, & according to its quantity take the water that you have before made: triturate the body, do the subtle, & put the water on it. And once again warm it up for a week and a half, which are ten days. So extract it & find the body to have already drunk the water. Afterwards you will grind it with water as much as has been said above, & you will bury it in the fient, leaving it for another ten days: then you will extract it & you will find the body to have already drunk the water.

Afterwards, as before, you will grind it, putting the said water in it, according to its aforesaid quantity, and again you will bury it in the fient, leaving it another ten days, then extract it. So will be the fourth time, in which when he has done so much, extract it, & triturate it, & bury it in the dung, until it dissolves, then extract it & repeat it once more, for therefore the origin is perfect, and we make it complete.

So when this is the case, and you (brother) have brought the thing to this honored state, take two hundred and fifty drams of lead or tin, and the bottom, which is to be melted, throw on it a dram of cinnabar , that is to say of this medicine, which you have brought to perfection, & will retain the Tin or the Lead that it will not go away from the fire, & will whiten it removing all its imperfection & blackness, & the will convert to permanent dye perpetually.

The conversion of the aforesaid stone to red.

Chapter XVI.

And if you want to convert or turn this magisterium to red, take from this medicine that you have already brought (as you said above) to perfection, the weight of a dram, (& that according to the way & way preceding ) & put it in a clean vessel to heat it, burying it in horse dung for forty days: during which time it will dissolve. Then give him the water of the dissolved body to drink, first as much as half his weight rises. Then bury it very hot, until it freezes, as mentioned above. Afterwards you will do by order in this chapter of Gold, as you did before in that of Silver, & it will be Gold, & will be gold, if it is the will of God. My child, keep this book very secret, & do not put yourself in the hands of the ignorant, which is the secret of the secrets of God.

Praise be to God alone forever.

The end of Calid's book of the secrets of Alchemy, put into French
by a gentleman from Dauphiné.