The Elixir of the Philosophers by Pope John XII
MACE BONHOMME PRINTER OF LYON TO THE READER
Born in 1244 in Cahors, died in 1334 in Avignon.
Coming from a wealthy bourgeois family from Cahors, he became pope in 1316, under the name John XXII.
Hi.
If Urate is the sentence of Aristotle, saying, that good is worth all the more the more it is expanded & communicated to many. Reader, it seemed to me that the good and profit received through the means of a gentleman of good letters would be more excellent and valuable if I made you a participant in it.
By which having reached my hands certain good and old copies, containing the true Elixir of the philosophers, with the nature of metals, & operation of them, formerly dictated by Pope John XII of this name, which (as even Platinum recites in the life of him) was in his time a great philosopher: also after having admired the order & subject of the said copy, & that certain learned characters, experts in the noble Voalchademic & archcanopic art (which never left wise & discreet men begging) gave me a good report, affirming that it contained excellent & admirable things, I put it in print, the most faithfully and correctly as it was possible for me, so that by such means all kind minds could drink from the source and stream of such great good, and which was not hidden from any of the true and sincere lovers of philosophy, which I desire with all my power to satisfy & benefit, even if I feel that this is pleasant to them, will show them in brief still other singular copies, which I have in my hands. Praying Almighty God, & true sun, to give me grace & faculty, after that summarily, friend Reader,
Farewell, Reader. From Lyon on November 15th of the year MDLVII.
THE ELIXIR OF THE PHILOSOPHERS BY POPE JOHN XII OF THE NAME
The Intention of those, who open this art & science, is not only in a quantity of sun, it is that it is made sun or moon, but it is to do a thing, that it be accomplished to convert a thing into thirty or forty, into fifty, or into sixty into moon or sun, because it can convert more to less, depending on whether it is well matched, and this thing is called Elixir, it is worth as much to say, as good medicine, which can restore, and is called soul, & life, because just as, that which does not have soul & life in itself, cannot live without soul, just as by this science cannot- we, the metals bring to perfection without this thing which is called Elixir, because when it is rightly made, it gives to all metals color, weight, smell, & flavor, softness & hardness,& other things that temperament according to what they are red or white as to make sun or moon.
The things of which one can make Elixir are three, the seven metals, the seven spirits, and the other things which the philosophers call hereafter, and that is to say that in all things of the world if at no root of tincture, & are some more than others, & because their natures are better accomplished. The seven metals are sun, moon, copper, tin, lead, iron, quicksilver.
The seven spirits are, quicksilver, sulfur, armoniac salt, orpiment, tuthie, magne, marcasite, & others are many as well as things of the world have been experienced.
For the wise have chosen by trial, as I will put none, and they are quicksilver, blood of man, blood of hair, and urine, and the urine is of man, they have more to do things , which come out of man, because they have experienced, that man in his nature is one of the most accomplished and temperate creatures in the world.
Of whom he is called man, who knows him well in his nature, could we find all the things of the world.
Now let us leave aside all other things, and let us say things, which we have to maintain in this chapter; & because they are worthless, we can for another intention if they were taken commonly without cleaning, & fitting, it suits us to say fittings, & as one fitting them, & making them honest & worldly, and the things that it is appropriate to put, and all their nature and arrangement, in the manner of the division of this science.
And this science has eight necessary parts. Firstly the thing that we call Elixir (& see them all) purging, sublimating, calcining, distilling, resolving, freezing, incerating or impasting & throwing its Elixir on metals, when they are combined.
We call purge,
We call sublimation, when a thing is mixed with others, & crushed finely, if put in a clean vessel on the fire, & it rises to the top, & if falls into the converter of the vessel like powder, & all sublimation must be white , if it is skillfully done, and nothing can properly sublimate other than the seven spirits.
We call them spirits because they do not stand on the fire, but go up in flames, and therefore wise people thought it was a suitable vessel in which they could hold these spirits, which thus rise in smoke, and are called alterers. or sublimator.
We call calcining when a thing has come into powder so fine, that one can hardly feel the parts, & all things which have in it earthly, can be calcined: for by fire & other things which are dry & fiery: as common salt, sulfur, and orpiment, and everything warm by its nature, can we dry out of it, and milk out all the moisture, and if only the earth, which we call lime, will remain there.
We call distilling when something is placed in a dish, and the moisture rises to the top in smoke all by itself, like pink water, and then goes down through the pipe of a dish, and this is the right way to distill but we distill well by felt, as we will say, and will teach below.
We called for resolving, when a dry and hard thing, whatever it may be, is converted into water, which no party can find, that not every thing which, when dry, armed and calcined with fire, is converted slightly into water is converted into water. , & it comes to go without sun, & even filt, & all manner of salt too.
We call freezing when a thing is converted into water, and we want to make it hard like powder or salt, and put in glass vials put in white pots of ashes over a low fire, until it is converted into hardness.
We call incerating or plastering, when one or more things are hard and dry of themselves, and have no power to enter into metals or to mix or dissolve, and we grind them on a marble stone very equal with any water or oil several times, as long as all the parts are very soft like wax, and this must be done several times, then this is a good thing to resolve, because it would sometimes cool down for the parts which are reduced and watered of water at all.
The eighth thing is the end that we want to have is to throw our Elixir on the metals, which we want to convert into sun & moon & we must convert it first on a good weight of metal, to test how it will take, & then later on several parts, until we see that the metals have the right to weight & counts & in such conditions that they are refined.
Now it suits us to say things that we are in the business of purging & other species of this science it is gravel & wine, hot egg scales, alum, vitriol, arsenic, verdigris, vermilion, litharge, nitre bourras, peillassosie, made of glass, children's urine, dregs and all kinds of salt, and sharp water, which are made of these things that we have said,
Now we want to say in the manner of the expurgated things, because whoever has the right wants to work in this art, it is necessary to first purge all the things on which he works, and we will teach the way of doing the eight parts before said, which are necessary to make our Elixir.
So you will purge the gravel of wine. Take the wine gravel and cook it for two hours in child's urine, which is combined like this, and then dry it well in the sun, and then put it in a pot, and put this pot in a potter's oven when it cook these pots two or three times, as long as you find white lime, & if you want, you will calcine it in the manner, which we will say below in the calcining oven, & then keep it, & you will find below as we will make water in terms of the water needed for this thing.
Combine the washed egg scales in this way in your hands in water mixed with salt, as long as you see the stain, & then dry them, & then put them in a pot in the potter's oven like gravel of wine with lime good, which is very necessary, you will thus make lime, grind into an iron mortar, and then take from these hard stones which are on these shores like jelly, and put them in a bag, and the lime with it, and hang the bag on the smoke above a pot or flask boiling on the fire, iron it so much that you see the bag in smoke, and then remove it and rub it in your hands, if necessary, lime on all sides , thus without you having it all, & keeping it & drying it.
There are several types of alum, but we will take more feather alum than others because it is mondifying, & piercing, wonderfully: & you will thus combine any type of alum, cut it moderately, & then cook it in purged urine & put so much urine in it that it is on top of the alum with two fingers, & cook it until all the alum is broken down into water, then distill it into felt, as we will say below, & then if it freezes & dries between two earthenware pans over a low fire, & keeps them & thus you can dry the things that you cannot dry in the sun, for only the spirits, because those cannot -we cannot dry them in this way, so that they escape the fire, and if you want to dry the spirits and anything else,put them in a vessel on top all around, and will have a small hole on it as big as a weight, and this vessel has all the things you want to dry put in an oven when the bread is made, instead of where the oven will be hotter , and leave it there all night, and you will find it all dry in the morning.
Vitriol & arsenic are purged all in one go, take them, & cook them two or three times in clear & clean water, & then dry them as we said, & keep them, & if you want to make them red put them in a pot & put them in a potter's kiln two or three times, as long as they are red.
Vermilion & verdigris is thus paired, cook them in urine, & purge for two hours, & put with common salt paired thus as we will say, & then pour the suitable water, & put hot water on top, as long as it comes clear & soft, & then dries & keeps them.
Take litharge and grind it, and wash it well in clean water until it comes out completely clear, and then dry it and keep it.
Everything in this way will you purge copper from the iron magnet, & filings from all metals, & lime from metals if you want, & to purge better, you can put enough salt with the water where you wash them, & rub well , & wash several times, so that the water comes out very clear, & then remove the salt, often throwing hot water on it until it comes out very soft, & then dry, & keep it. It is not a big job to purge glass, but if you want, you will purge it like this, you will melt it with a pot of copper and salt, and then grind it and wash it like this as I said about litharge.
Sulfur & nitre, cooked in clean & clear water as long as all the virtue goes into the water, & it is advisable to put enough water as long as it is three fingers or four on top & then distilled by the felt,
Healthy glass, or in water & rub your hands, & then dry them, & keep.
You will purge the child's urine in this way, take it and put it in a pot and let it rest for three or four days, then run lightly, and that which you have leaked, let it rest again, as long as all the garbage goes at the bottom, then sinks it & throws out the filth & cooks it well & foams, until it becomes of the third part, then distills it through the felt, & keeps it in a well-packed pot for the corruption of the air, & if you want you will purge urine, after you have flowed like this as I will say in the chapter of vinegar.
Make vinegar in this way, keep it strong and sour, and distill it using a sublimatory, as long as it comes clear and clean,
All manner of safe & sound melt in a pot on the fire, & flow through a flag of linen.
All oil material will be purged in this way, boil it with great force of water, if the rubbish will go down the valley, & then if the oil flows which swims over it, & put with quicklime in a vessel to distill, & distill it once & then keep it in a well-closed vessel.
We use many different types of salt in this art, but I will name the ones we are used for: common salt, rock salt, alkali salt, armoniac salt, and other ways that we find quite widely, we can any manner of copper salt in well-purged urine, as long as it is all resolved in it, then cook so much that the two parts of the urine come into the third part, and then must it be distilled by felt or filter, & then dry & freeze, as is said, otherwise we can combine common salt, take them, & put them in a vessel that can withstand fire, as long as it is white as snow, & then keep it.
Honey cook lightly, and boil over low heat, and remove the scum from it, as long as it is well purged, and there is no scum.
The acute waters used in this science must be purged according to whether they are thick, because if they are thick, they must be distilled, by distillation and by felt, so that they purge better and become clearer. , & more spiritual: but if they are clear, they can be distilled by felt, because they are purged enough, & know that pink water must not be distilled by the distillatory, if so the color is fixed on the iron , because otherwise it would turn white.
Now we have spoken of purgations to the things which have the job of purging, of which our Elixir is made: now let us speak of purgations, of which the said Elixir is made, & very well & orderly. Firstly metals, and then waters, then after all other things, and then we will include a chapter on vessels, which are used for this science.
The sun, because its complexion is tempered by heat and cold, and so moderately among other matters, is of such a good complexion that it does not want to corrupt either in earth, nor in water, nor in air, nor in fire, and is so clean & so purged, that it has no business purging, but nevertheless it is good to purge the filth from them, as we will say.
in such a way we must lead them with quicksilver subtly as it passes between two doubles of cloth, & then we must put them in lead little by little on the fire: if the quicksilver leaves, & the leaven remains, after which we must take this lead, and put a head in it in a reverberation oven, and give a good and strong fire, and stir with an iron rod as long as the lead remains thus as red as scarlet; then should we let it cool, then you will find the lead combined vermilion like red, and strong enough to melt like the sun, and which still makes it return remaining this color would be fine sun: because therefore it is lead, reserves this outside inside, and must - we present to the air in which womb he will be carried by the generation of the sun which is his father; we must make him breastfeed on the liquor which is earth, who is his nurse, and this thing testifies to the philosopher's piety, saying truly, without lying, what is up seems what is up, and what is up seems what is up.
Who wants to interpret the miracle of a single thing of which the sun is his father, and the moon is his mother, the wind in his belly carries him, his nurse is the earth, and again they say, then will rise from earth and heavens, and will descend back to earth, and will take the force upstream and downstream, and it must verify, because it bubbles against the mountain then descends to the valley, and remains in substance of salt, when it is salty salt, then must -it is put into digestion in at least forty days, and afterward it must be presented for two nights to the moon, which is its mother, as long as it is clear water and then must be represented to the sun,
Aptly and suddenly the holy sages speak in their books when they made a sonance of the baser metals, and from the lowest to the two highest, to the two other planets of the sky, and especially from the base metal to the highest, that is to say lead which is the vilest metal to Saturn, which is the highest planet, & tin to Jupiter which follows Saturn by this consonance did they discern science to those who GOD gave the gift of it:
for the truth is such, for lead is the sun of its deep repeated nature, and so white in its open and repeated nature: and all the philosophers agree that it needs nothing other than to turn this outside inside, and to bring into its appearance what is in its cover & return again in this semblance if is fine sun: everything in this way is it tin in moon:& from this we have all seen the truth of these things in the sun, & in pure silver can be done in two ways without much dependence, one of the ways if is done by projection of a marvelous medicine: the other way if is made two even this with the help of the sun without any other medicine of the world, except a little leaven of the sun or of the moon: & these two ways are made by two miracles of God: for neither has on the right water no concoction of the sun.& these two ways are made by two miracles of God: for neither has on the right water any decoction of the sun.& these two ways are made by two miracles of God: for neither has on the right water any decoction of the sun.
Medicine, which has the virtue of converting lead into fine sun if it is made of water of fine sun, & quicksilver mixed together & left, thicken to rest in a glass vessel outside the sun, & rain eleven days & eleven nights: and then there will be in the sun the living silver a residence like small stones, we must put in place as long as they are water again, then we must make it remain by itself without fire, & without heat, then is medicine ready, & be praised Jesus Christ, who gave us knowledge & knowledge of turning lead into sun, not so much only by medicine, but by itself without adding anything extraneous, & of this as the philosopher speaks, & says:
By the stone there is a medicine, to which no foreign thing is added, except that the filth is removed from it,& I will declare this work to you to the praise of God, & the blessing of God, may he be blessed, who will seal it, for it must be sealed, because it is done by a miracle of God, & in such a way we can make lead.
To purge the sun take round sun plates, like a denier, very full, in a vessel, which is stuffed on top, & have a hole on it as wide as a denier, & put the sun plates on top of this hole , as long as they receive lead smoke on one side and the other, and all around, they can crush it and make powder.
In another way you can make sun lime: Take very soft sun lime plates, & sun filings if you want, & incorporate the filings with its own, with common salt water, & with sun lime, & with a little orpiment: & then put it in a crucible & the tow well, & then put it all night over medium heat, where it burns, & in the morning you can grind it finely as you wish, & if you cover the flat,
then grind them all on a marble stone, & put in water of common salt, & armoniac salt, & grind well, & make it like a paste, & then put it to dry in a smothered crucible over a moderate fire. And leave it there all night, and in the morning grind it well, and wash it well with hot water, and the filings will sink to the bottom, and if the filings are very small, if the guard: and if it is not enough small, if she can no longer, if stirs her two or three more times with the medicine before said.
And do as I said, as long as you find it so delicate that it can no longer be white as snow, and if you want, you can make it lime in the way we said of the sun. & then put it to dry in a smothered crucible over a moderate fire. And leave it there all night, and in the morning grind it well, and wash it well with hot water, and the filings will sink to the bottom, and if the filings are very small, if the guard: and if it is not enough small, if she can no longer, if stirs her two or three more times with the medicine before said.
And do as I said, as long as you find it so delicate that it can no longer be white as snow, and if you want, you can make it lime in the way we said of the sun. & then put it to dry in a smothered crucible over a moderate fire. And leave it there all night, and in the morning grind it well, and wash it well with hot water, and the filings will sink to the bottom, and if the filings are very small, if the guard: and if it is not enough small, if she can no longer, if stirs her two or three more times with the medicine before said.
And do as I said, as long as you find it so delicate that it can no longer be white as snow, and if you want, you can make it lime in the way we said of the sun. if stir it two or three more times with the medicine in front said. And do as I said, as long as you find it so delicate that it can no longer be white as snow, and if you want, you can make it lime in the way we said of the sun. if stir it two or three more times with the medicine in front said.
And do as I said, as long as you find it so delicate that it can no longer be white as snow, and if you want, you can make it lime in the way we said of the sun.
Copper is hot, mixed with a little dryness it becomes hard, and it is almost the conditions of the moon in cast iron and in weight, but it is a little harder if it is red: and it suits it to remove its hardness and redness when we want to open: for the moon, and if we want to open first we remove the hardness from it, and we first purge it, take plates of fine copper, from which we make the brakes which are well tolerated at forge lime like the moon: and make them tense like the thickness of two fingers or three, and then heat them well so that they are red, and then quench them in this water seven or eight times, and grind them, take well-purified urine, and also put in it feather alum, alkali salt, common salt, and armonia salt, and wine gravel, and a gorum which is called cusorb, of each an ounce, & all be purged: & boil them in urine, as long as they are all spoiled, & then distill them by felt eight times, & keep to your work, & in this water tin your copper seven times, & it will be pure & clean, & without obscurity & then you will be able to do what you want, & if you want, you will purge like this: take copper filings well washed in salt water a pound & a quarteron of purged orpiment, & as much of egg lime, & as much gravel lime, & mix everything together, & put with wine or granelle oil, & make it like a paste, & put it in a dish that we call descending: & make strong fire underneath, & bring down by strong fire, & then wash it back, & bring down once again with the medicine in front said,by strong fire, and it will be white as silver, and can you file it with lime by half, if you want to make lime in the way that we said in the chapter of the sun and the moon, and then wash it and purge it like this as it is said.
And if you want to make lime from the said copper in another way, take copper plates, and wet them well in water of common salt, and then empty on top of orpiment and sulfur, which are not purged, then make a large crucible a bed of common salt, which is not purged & orpiment also, & then a bed of plates, & then a bed of salt & orpiment, & do so as long as the crucible is full, & then muffle well of strong earth, and then put on a strong fire what it melts, or which melts better if you wish, if the flats are very tender, and let them remain in this fire for two days, or three at least, then the pulls, & you can grind them well & make powder mix it with salt also, & with wine gravel lime, & then wash it well & often, & grind on a marble stone,& make the powder beautiful & white, as we said above of the lime of the sun, of the moon, & then keep them.
Iron is a very hard and dry metal, and is hot and dry and full of black bark, and whoever wants to open it, it is advisable to make it soft and soft: because it is quite white inside, but it dyes too easily in the air, and you will purge it like this, take iron filings, and wash it very hard: Quare tali signo (Why such a sign?).
Tin is moist and hot, but it is not hot enough, and why is it corpus earth, and full of porosity, and melts slightly for the great softness of itself, and you will purge like this: Take an herb which has the name in Latin from untilianus, & in French chemistry, & in Poitevin colée, & make juice from it, & then melt the tin, & throw it into the juice ten times or twelve while completely melted, & put with the juice of common salt, & it will be very clean, and quite hard by reason: and if you want to purge it better, take egg lime & common salt, & armonia salt, and make it like this as a paste of vinegar, & make a bed of this paste in one crucible, & a bed of very soft tin dishes, as long as it is full, then smother it well, & put it over a low heat overnight, so that it melts into a crumb,and in the morning melt it twice, and throw it in vinegar where there is salt, and it will be completely white and hard, and no one melts it without more, and throws it in vinegar with salt seven times, and you will do so lime:
Take a pound of tin, and melt it, and then just put it on fire, and throw in a quarter of quicksilver, and mix it all together well, and let it cool, and then grind it well into a mortar of copper as long as it is very fine, & then mix it with a pound of common salt, & put everything in a sublimatory, & the tow, & sublime it thus as we will say below in the chapter of quicksilver, & you will get your quicksilver from it, which you will find at the sublimatory conservatory, and then take the powder from the tin, and the salt which remained at the bottom,& throw very hot water on it, as long as the salt is all dissolved, and the salt is well removed, as long as the water is soft & clear, & the lime is beautiful & white, & small, & then washes it of vinegar enough times, as long as it is very white and fine, & then wash it with vinegar enough times, as long as it is very white, & if you want, do the tin lime like this:
Melt it tin, & put common salt on it & mix it with a rod of copper, & throw salt on it, & always put so many dishes, all in ashes by the virtue of the salt & then take this ash, & wash it well as 'it is said on it, hot water, & vinegar, as long as it is beautiful & white, & if you want, you will make tin lime to throw orpiment on it, like salt,because orpiment burns wonderfully, and washes as it is said over vinegar water, and keeps it.
Lead is cold and moist, and that is why it is soft and cold, because it does not create sufficient heat to harden it and remove rubbish, but it is heavier than any other metal, except lead. now, and whoever wants to purge it, it must be through dry & fiery things & damaging bad humidity, & muddying its substance, & you will purge it like this: melt the lead, & then throw quicklime & glass powder on top & salt, grind together, & if lead it well with a stick together, & then throw everything in water of common salt, & armoniac salt, & thus do two or three times, & then beat the lead into soft plates, or done in a crucible a bed of salt & quicklime & glass latterly said, & a bed of lead plates, then a bed of things said,then a bed of plates, and do so as long as the crucible is full, and put it on a small fire every half day so that it does not melt, if you remove it soon after, and throw it into common salt water , & armoniac salt, & then watch if it is hard & white enough, & if it is not enough, if start this purging again once or twice, & it will be enough:
if you want lime of lead, you you will do in such a way, as we said above with tin, because tin & lead are light to calcine.and it will be enough: if you want lead lime, you will make it in such a way, as we said above about tin, because tin and lead are light to calcine.and it will be enough: if you want lead lime, you will make it in such a way, as we said above about tin, because tin and lead are light to calcine.
We have spoken of metals, if we will speak of spirits & very first of quicksilver, because thus, as we said above, it is metal & spirit, quicksilver is cold & moist metually it is called Mercury, because that just as the star which has the name Mercury, is found in the nature of all the stars, just as quick silver is found in the nature of all metals, with it is, and why can we freeze it together of all metals. And I will tell you this, that it is to freeze living silver, it is to make by art living silver, which stands still in a stone like a metal: and why let us say we freeze in the semblance of water who runs, and does not stay still, and when the frost comes it freezes it, and takes everything together, and it is like a stone,
You will cook quick silver in water of human blood, or hair, if distilled seven times thus as we will say below: & in juice of green beans, or in an herb which is called ax, in other words hapy per half a day, and then you will take it out, and bind it in a linen sheet not too narrow, and then you will take purged tin in large quantity, and put it in the fire or vessel of the same where it is, and in another good deep & if you have fitted the right one with a large & straight stick, & will push it into the tin which will be melted, & will hold it there as long as the tin begins to set, & do not push the stick until the bottom of the vessel, and the stick on all sides, and when the tin is taken and assembled, remove the stick, and put it in the pit,then make of tin a bed of very soft egg lime all around the pit inside: if put your quicksilver, which is tied in a flag inside this pit, & then cover everything with egg lime & ashes, & then you will have so much molten tin in another vessel: the molten tin, if throw the quicksilver on it, then remove the tin from above because it will not ardra to the other for the ashes which will be between two, & then the bottom & throws it on the quicksilver, & lets it cool & then removes it, & the bottom & throws it again on the quicksilver, & thus do five or six times, & then remove your quicksilver, if you find it all together, and do not run, then you will melt it in a crucible on the fire, and will throw it in common salt water, and in urine, and in vinegar, and it is quite more beautiful than the tin,and if the metal can endure well, and if you want when you have treated the quicksilver from the tin before you melt it, you will put it in a purser vessel which we call cantie, and see the one here, and be well made & whole, & strong, & put with egg lime & wine gravel, & common salt, & then cover the cantie well with its iron lid, & fight it well with its surroundings, & then put it on a good fire: & then throw it all in common salt water, & urine, & vinegar, & it is beautiful & good, & can we make vessels out of it: & if you want in another way to freeze quicksilver if let it be red: take a cane from which we make distaffs, and put all your quicksilver in it, when it has been cooked in blood water and febu or ax, as I said before,then take live sulfur, and lower it into a mortar, and soak it in onion juice and make it like a paste, and put this paste all around the cane, so that it is completely covered all around, from thickness of a finger or more & be well packed: & then take a pot of strong & hard earth, & then fill it all with powder of vitriol, or red arsenic, & then put the cane with all the quicksilver in it ,
& cover it all with this powder, & then put the pot on the fire, if you leave it on the fire for a whole day & a night, & on a medium heat, & then let it cool & break the cane, if you find your quick silver frozen red, & if you want to freeze your quicksilver in another way, cook it in blood water & febue juice as I said,& then wash it well with salt & good vinegar, & then with cold water, & then with cold water, & then put it in an iron cane in front of it, & seal it well & strong, & then melt the metal to which you want to freeze it, or convert it, if like gold or silver or lead, or tin, or copper, & put the cane on it, if it is all covered, & let it be one day, & then remove it , & you will find it frozen, & there are other ways, but I have said the most necessary & those that I approved.
if it is all covered, & let it be one day, & then take it off, & you will find it frozen, & there are other ways, but I said the most necessary & those that I have approved.if it is all covered, & let it be one day, & then take it off, & you will find it frozen, & there are other ways, but I said the most necessary & those that I have approved.
We talked about how one can freeze quicksilver, and make a body, and metal. But it is convenient for us to say the purification of quicksilver, then we will talk about the way of sublimating the spirits.
You will purge quicksilver like this: you will pour it through a linen sheet and then cook it in urine purged after three hours, & in vinegar: then pour it out & if you want to purge in another way, you will put it in a distillery, and it We will distil it over a low heat, just like we do with pink water, and it is well purged to sublimate it: but the other way is less dangerous.
& put the converter on top, & if you put it one night in an oven when the bread is processed & in the morning you will take it out & grind it very fine, to better mix it into vinegar, & then put it with a little of vinegar & will make it a hard paste as before & then will put it in the sublimatory & will put it in the oven as before, & in the morning will take it out & grind it very fine, & will put vinegar in it, & will put it in the sublimatory five or six times as long as you see that the quicksilver is so well mixed and crushed that it is not known from other powders. Know that we will not put these things willingly in this way to better mix the things that are with it, and to better grind: because nothing can be sublimated right, if it is not ground very fine,
Orpiment is hot & dry, fiery by nature of fire, and it is in two ways, red & yellow: but we find more red, & one way and the other has in itself a kind of oil which is joined to it, which can only be removed by long decoction, & we will say how you can remove & purge it, & afterwards how you can sublimate it: take orpiment as much as you want, & cook it in oil, or bitter fine or in pork belly over half-day heat & have so much oil, or fat that it swims over the orpiment a finger & the orpiment must be crushed as fine as you can & when you Once you have cooked it, remove the said heat, & let it cool for an hour, & then pour it out of the fat as best you can, & put it on the fire, & add enough urine & make a good fire,& stir it often with a stick, & boil it well for two hours, & then urine flows for days, & then put it on the fire & if put vinegar on it purged in large quantity & make a good fire, & bring it to a boil two or three hours, & then remove from the heat & pour out the vinegar, & then cook it again in purged urine, & then in vinegar once to better remove the fat, then throw boiling water on it often, after take it and bind it in a soft linen, not narrow but wide, and cook it with this sheet in this laundry, if take well purged child's urine & quicklime & common salt & purge in bean ashes or branches of vine, or urine, and wash it in the manner, as one does laundry: but you will run it four or five times,& in this wash put enough common salt, or alkali salt, & you boil in it your orpiment tied in a flag & remove with a spoon the garbage that is on it, as long as no more comes & then the take it out and boil it in water to remove the salt: and when it has boiled enough, throw enough water on it to remove the fat and salt, and then it will be well purged to sublimate, or to go down if you want.& therefore will be well purged to sublimate, or to descend if you wish.& therefore will be well purged to sublimate, or to descend if you wish.
You will sublimate thus, take a pound of this orpiment, & a pound of copper batter, or of tin, this scale of copper which falls when beaten, & of tin for the corners of the hammers, & take a pound of rock salt, or common salt, & these three things grind well on a marble stone: then carve them well & grind as finely as you can: then make a bed of common salt in the sublimatory & on top of this bed put orpiment in all its medicine, and the sublime just like we said about quicksilver, except that it is necessary to make quicksilver a bigger fire, because it cannot be burned, and if the fire is early, but orpiment and sulfur do not want to have great fire, because they burn early, and when you have sublimated it, so guard carefully,if they have not remained in the feces if the sublime as long as nothing remains there: & then put them with the other sublimated orpiment, & if the sublime three times, like quicksilver, & then keep it clearly : & if you want to sublimate otherwise, take a pound of purged orpiment, & a pound of common salt, & two pounds of tin lime, & half a pound of copper ars, or copper filings, or iron, & grind these things well each one separately, & then put them together to sublime thus as it is said above: & sublime it three times & then keep it, & you will thus dissolve orpiment: take purged orpiment half a pound of lime of wine gravel & as much quicklime, & a quart of common salt purged & grind everything well together,& put with water well-purged egg whites as we will say below, & you will put with a little rectified pork breast, & make a paste which is not too thick, but medium & then put in a bowl & then put iron rods so that they hold it at the bottom so that it does not carry away when the vessel is overturned upside down, & then put its lid on it, & the tow of clay which is mixed with horse manure & then make a pit of earth & turn the vessel above below & put earth all around & then make a small fire first, & then a little as it grows & make the fire half light & at the last be a strong fire a small, & a small sluice, which is on the lid above must be opened,& after six hours let the fire die down & let the vessel cool & at the side of the lid the orpiment will descend in a sort of molten metal white as silver, pick it & keep it, & if nothing remains in faeces grind the back very small, & then put some egg white water, and make it as a paste, and then bring it down like this as it says before, and to what you put with the other, and if you want to have it more well go down, take orpiment when it is once sublimated half a pound, or a quarteron, & as much quicklime, wine gravel, & half as much salt & grind everything well together, & put a little breast of pork and egg white water, and make a paste of it, and bring it down as it is said before: know that if such orpiment comes down white, it is too well coppery,when the copper is well purged, and lowered as it is said before, it is one part of orpiment in 10 or 12 of copper.
Sulfur is hot and moist, tending to dryness, and has a lot of humidity in it, if it has the nature of oil, which makes it light and burn, and it is in nature like orpiment: but his moisture is more vicious and more rooted in him, and if he is better at gold than silver, and you will purge him like this, grind the sulfur very fine, and then put enough lye from the laundry that I taught you in the chapter of orpiment, & boil it for quite a long time, & then remove it from the bag, & put it in an earthen pan, & cook it for half a day in purged urine, & then run the water, & put it in the back bag & cook it for another half day in the laundry, & then put it out, & pour enough hot water over it to remove the salt, & then dry it in the sun, & it will be well purged:& when you want to sublimate it, take a pound of purged sulfur, & a pound of iron or copper filings, & half a pound of quicklime, & as much purged common salt, & grind all these things together, & them mix everything well, & then put vinegar on it & make a paste, & then put it in the sublimatory, & the clay around it, & put it in the oven overnight like you do quicksilver, & in the morning pulls it, and makes it very fine powder, and then sublimes it as it is said in front of others, and sublimes it three times, and keeps it.
& then put vinegar on it & make a paste, & then put it in the sublimatory, & clay tow all around it, & put it in the oven overnight like you make quicksilver, & in the morning pull it out, & make a very fine powder of it, and then sublime it as it is said in front of others, and sublime it three times, and keep it.& then put vinegar on it & make a paste, & then put it in the sublimatory, & clay tow all around it, & put it in the oven overnight like you make quicksilver, & in the morning pull it out, & make a very fine powder of it, and then sublime it as it is said in front of others, and sublime it three times, and keep it.
Salt armoniac is hot & dry declining to humidity, & it is made of things that are taken in man, like blood, urine, & such things, & makes us work at our work: because it makes things resolve , which are mixed with it, & increase in water, & we said at the beginning of the book, as we purge all kinds of salt, & this salt we will leave its purification & will say of its sublimation: take a pound of salt well purged armoniac & as much rock salt, & half a pound of pumice, & grind everything, & make it into a very fine powder, & then sublime it as is said of the other three, & then keep them.
Tutie is hot & dry, and they are in four ways: but we commonly open tutie alexandrine, & is a little green & you will purge it like this: you will sublimate it very small, & if you put it in an iron spoon, & it put the spoon on the fire, make it very hot, and then take it, and cook it, and put it in the spoon, and heat it well; it is well purged, and know, that when it is well purged like this, that it copper turns red well and gives it a golden color with other things as you will see when we talk about experiments, and none of them sublimate it, and I will tell you the way: take a pound of well-purged tutie, and a half -pound of purged common salt, & half pound of beaten,& grind everything together very fine & put them in a sublimatory without a bed of salt, & close it with strong clay, & make a small fire, as long as the moisture has come out, & then make a good & strong fire for one day, & then remove it & lift the sublimatory & you will find the tutie at the bottom on the feces, because it does not do on the fire like another spirit, if it cannot climb to the lid, sublimates it once, & if keeps it, & really it is not a job to sublimate tutie, neither magnes, nor marcasite, if they are well purged, you will purge the marcasite & magnesium in this way, grind them finely, & then boil them in vinegar, & in gravel water by half day in each, again in vinegar, a small one, & then pour the vinegar, & wash them with common water, & dry the powder, & keep them:because none were ever sublimated or put into work.
Now we have spoken of the purgation of metals, and of their calcination, and of the purgation of spirits and their sublimations, but we speak of the powders of stones to the philosophers who serve in this work. There are twelve of them, as they say, but it seems to me that they had chosen three above all others, for the nature of these three which is ordered and accomplished by the four qualities and in those quite tincture, and they are blood and hair of man and egg, and I will say their purgations according to my power, and as they are called to implement, and in work of all the four elements, which are within.
& then make a small fire, & when it begins to distil, remove the flask & the water, & join another, & put in that, a little of the water which is distilled, & the remaining kept, & then make good fire & large, because otherwise the oil could not come out, which would be very little. So make a good fire, if the oil comes out and when it is all out, keep it and put it in a safe place.
If you say that the first is water, and oil has two, namely air and fire, as will be seen below, and what remains in the distillery is called earth, & thus you have the four elements, & do what the wise say that we separate the four elements in this way, it is that you take a cauldron of tin, & of wine, or of water, or whatever you want, but let it be good, & put in the boiler, to the thickness of three fingers, & then put good glass distillery, & then put everything around the distillery of what you put on it, & do this up to the throat of the still full, & then put vergettes on top of the iron, so that the distillery does not swim in it: & then if put a full boiler of cold water, & fire underneath at Boiler,as long as what is in the distillery is distilling, and according to what you see your elements you must fire like this as you know, you must always put the hot water back into the boiler when it runs out, so that the distillation does not fail, and that your distillery does not dismember.
But it is convenient for you to purge each one, and clean it well, you will first purge the water, because it is the root of purging the other three, and do this: put the water in a glass distillery in a pot full of ashes, and distill it over a good fire, and distil it at least seven times, as long as it is very clear and without soil. And all the philosophers say that we must distill so much, that when we put reddened copper dishes inside, they whiten them outside: and therefore it is accomplished, and however distill it at least seven times, and then keep it , and you will then purge the earth, because it readily retains fire, and be crushed on it a marble stone, and put on it water which has been distilled seven times, and grind it well, and then put it on the fire in a vial of earth, and put on it, & put it in the crucible, & tow it well, & put it on a hotter fire one night, & then make more paste, & put it on a hotter fire, & thus make sure that it is as white as silver in powder, & then the guard. And all the wise say that when it is well prepared, whoever would throw it on molten copper will whiten it well:
therefore it is perfect, and at least you will crush it seven times, and put it with water, and put in strong fire, as we said, and keep it: you will thus purge the oil, you will separate it thus in front: put this oil in a distillation in a pot full of ashes, and you will distill everything into water, and the fire you will remain at the bottom of the distillery, you will take the air, which you will call oil, and you will distill it in a distillery,
You will thus purge the fire, set fire to a marble stone, and grind it well with a little of the first water, which is distilled seven times, and then put it in a distillery, and distill the water, and the fire will remain at the bottom of the distillatory dry and black, grind them on a marble stone, and put with raw water, and grind it well, and make it as a paste, and put it in a crucible, and the tow well of clay, & then put it on a small fire one night, & in the morning pull it out, & grind it back with water again & put it in a crucible on a stronger fire a small one, & then grind it back with the water, and put it on a stronger fire up to seven, or eight times, as long as the fire is at the last very strong so that it can withstand the fire, and that it does not smoke,& therefore it will be red tending to moist, & clear & clean, & the wise say, that we must purge so much, & put in the fire, that if we put on molten silver that dyes it red, & therefore it is perfect: but at least you will do it like this seven times and you will keep it clearly: and know, that you must keep the four spirit elements well closed each by itself, and that nothing is fanned, and anything else, which is purged, because their color tends to the air & their strengths appetize, & all the wise say no one should implement any of the four spirit elements if he does not have the sign, which remonstrates, & if one puts it on, and one does not hold it as it will defend this sign as long as it loses its true gold or silver tincture.that if we put on molten silver that the color is red, & therefore it is perfect: but at least you will do it like this seven times & will you keep it clearly: & know, that you must keep the four spirit elements well closed each by itself, & that nothing is fanned, & anything else, which is purged, because their color tends to the air & their forces appetize, & all the wise say no one should use any of the four elements spirits if he does not have the sign, which shows, and if we put it on, and we do not hold it as he will defend this sign as long as he loses his true tincture of gold or silver.that if we put on molten silver that the color is red, & therefore it is perfect: but at least you will do it like this seven times & will you keep it clearly: & know, that you must keep the four spirit elements well closed each by itself, & that nothing is fanned, & anything else, which is purged, because their color tends to the air & their forces appetize, & all the wise say no one should use any of the four elements spirits if he does not have the sign, which shows, and if we put it on, and we do not hold it as he will defend this sign as long as he loses his true tincture of gold or silver.that you must keep the four spirit elements well closed each by itself, and that nothing is fanned, and anything else, which is purged, because their color tends to the air & their forces appetize, & all the wise say none must not implement any of the four spirit elements if he does not have the sign, which remonstrates, & if we put it, & we do not hold it as he will defend this sign so much so that he will lose his true tincture to gold or silver.that you must keep the four spirit elements well closed each by itself, and that nothing is fanned, and anything else, which is purged, because their color tends to the air & their forces appetize, & all the wise say none must not implement any of the four spirit elements if he does not have the sign, which remonstrates, & if we put it, & we do not hold it as he will defend this sign so much so that he will lose his true tincture to gold or silver.
& the earth will remain at the bottom, & the water & the air & the fire will come out, & what you have poured will be distilled by the felt or other dishes, if the three elements will distill, & if no earth will remain with the felt, if you put it with the other earth again, take some more water, and put it on top of the earth, which is left in the pot, and mix it well, and then put it again in the manure. eight days or fifteen, and then pick it lightly, and put it with the other, and so you will put water on the earth, and if you bring it and put it, you are sure that you draw out the fire, because the earth willingly retains the fire.
And when you have drawn everything out, you will distil the three elements which are together by felt, as long as no earth remains, and sometimes remove the earth which remains in the felt, after distillation, so will they be enough.
After take the three elements that you have distilled by the felt, namely water, fire, & air, & distill them through a glass distillery by medium fire, if you distill the water, & when this will be distilled, you you will put them on the air & be the fire, & you will distill there so many times that you see the air frozen & collected in the distillery on the other elements like salt, & then take it & put it in cheesecloth, & squeeze it as long as all the moisture comes out, and the air remains completely dry: and then take such air, and put it in raw water that you will distil blood, as long as all this air is resolved into air. And if you see no fire swimming over it, if you pick it up and put it on top, and the fire that looks like a flag where you will purge the air,
& you will make it descend in this way as it is said in the chapter on copper, & it will descend very thick & black, & then purge the four elements thus as is said for blood: & if you want to use man's turds, you will do like this .
Take them, and put them in a pot, and this pot covers well, and put in horse manure for five days, and then distill it, and extract the four elements, if as it is said above, and then purge them , & keep each one by himself. So we can make water, draws the four elements. & then distill it, & extract the four elements, if as said above, & then purge them, & keep each by itself. So we can make water, draws the four elements. & then distill it, & extract the four elements, if as said above, & then purge them, & keep each by itself. So we can make water, draws the four elements.
You will thus purge the eggs, cook the hard ones, and then the scales as said above: and the whites and the yolks grind well in a mortar all together, and then put them in a distillery, and distill the water from them to small fire, & after the air & the fire by larger fire, & the earth which remained at the bottom, & the other three elements purged thus as said is above, & then the guards, & if you want, you can separate the whites from the yellows, and distill the whites by yourself, because there is only water in the whites, and in the yellows is air and fire, and what remains in the distillery is the earth of the whites & yolks, because in eggs there are three kinds of soil, one of the scales, the other of the whites, the other of the yolks, you will purge the scales as we said above,& you will keep them by yourself, you will purge the earth of whites by itself, of the earth of yellows also by itself thus as we said of the earth of blood, & then you will keep them, & know that all these things may find the four elements , and we can purge them thus as we said of the blood, but they are enough for us of the marvelous things and most accomplished according to our intention, and not of all, but because you will see in this book will you be able to extract the greatest parts of the understanding of philosophers, which go this way.
and we can purge them thus as we said of the blood, but they are enough for us of the marvelous things and most accomplished according to our intention, and not of all, but because you will see in this book will you be able to extract the greatest parts of the understanding of philosophers, who go this way.and we can purge them thus as we said of the blood, but they are enough for us of the marvelous things and most accomplished according to our intention, and not of all, but because you will see in this book will you be able to extract the greatest parts of the understanding of philosophers, who go this way.
We spoke above of pairing and purging the things that we do in this work, and our Elixir. Now let's talk about the conjunction of these things, and how we must mix them so that we make them Elixir of spirits, and Elixir of the blood of others that philosophers call stone, and we will not say or of the Elixir of metals:
because we have not even seen the way to make it possible, if we say the way that we know about spirits, and then put after the way of drawing the water which works for us this work, and then the vessels, and between the work of the Elixirs will you find the species of this science of which we have spoken.
Take as much of the orpiment as you want, well purged and sublimated three times, and as much quicksilver purged three times, and as much silver lime well purged, and as much armoniac salt well purged, and sublimated three times. , & then mix these things together on a marble stone, & then put on top water of gravel of wine or you have resolved alum of pen, purge & grind everything well together, & then dry them in the sun, & then grind it again, & put them with this water before said, it's gravel & grind them well, & then let them dry in the sun, & then grind them again & add water, & then dry them, & do this twenty or thirty times if you make an ointment out of it, and all the parts are as crumpled and as small as you can by grinding, by watering,& when drying: & if you want, you will put in place of wine gravel water, & egg white water, or purged blood water, or silver water, or tin water: & when you you will have crushed & dried the medicine say or twelve times, you will crush it again, & will put on it water with which you will have drunk before, as long as it is enough more mole than paste, & then put in a glass vial or in an earthenware dish that we call solitary, & then cover it with lots of flags, & earth or paste, & put in it very hot horse manure, & cover it well all around, & leave it both in manure and the medicine is all converted into water: and each eight days stir the manure on top, and put new hotter, and if you want to warm up the manure, if throw cold water on it and it will heat up,and he will do this, and thus do with all things which are strong and hard to resolve and to convert into water, when you want to resolve them, and if it happens that they do not want to resolve within forty days or more, you will do so. put it on a marble and grind it back well, and put water on it and dry it in the sun, and grind it and put water on it and dry it, and do so as we said above, and then put it to resolve. do as we said: and if it happens that the medicine dries, you will take it out, and crush it, and put water on it said, and dry in the sun if as it is said, and do as long as it either ointment, and then put it to dissolve as before, and when it is completely converted into water,you will put the flask in a distillery full of ashes up to the joint of the lid, and the flask will be smothered, and then close the distillery, and smother the joints, and then make a small fire under it as if to make pink water: and what is at the distillery pick & keep, & make the fire a day & a night or more, as long as the medicine is dry, & you see no more smoke coming out of the distillery pipe, & then remove the fire, & let it cool, and it is good for the medicine or the vial to have a wide throat, so that the smoke can escape through the vial better than it breaks: and then remove the medicine from the vial, and grind it well on a stone. marble, & put water on it which will distil it, & grind well, & dry in the sun as before:and then dissolve it in droppings, as before, and if there is not enough water to distil it, if you add water with which you will grind it when you have dissolved it, and know that it will resolve in less time than it did at the first, and when it is resolved, you will put it in the distillery, and freeze it and dry it like this as you did first, and if you keep the water that comes from it. you will distil, & then grind it again & put water on it, & dry everything like the first in the sun: & then put it to dissolve, & then freeze, & thus do it five or six times, as long as it is fixed, & waiting for the fire, because you will be able to resolve everything and freeze it when nothing will distil when you freeze it: and therefore everything is fixed,& I will tell you what you will do when you have resolved your medicine three or four, you will distill it with a felt & then put it in a vial, & the vial put in a pot full of ashes & be the vial covered widely with a flag so that the smoke can come out a little: & then make a small fire under the pot for a day & a night or more until the medicine has frozen into a stone white as crystal, if the guard & knows that the nature of freezing is the safest than the other, and when the medicine is frozen, grind it, and put on it oil of blood and eggs purged and combined as it is said in the chapter of blood with the oil as distilled seven times with armonia salt & quicklime, or oil of the three kinds, or philosophers' oil, and don't add much,& then put some water in it with which you drink it when you put it to dissolve, & then grind everything well together, & put it to dissolve as before, & then freeze it: & when it is frozen, you will grind it well fine & heat it a piece of copper, and put this powder on it, and if it melts on it and is white, the plate your Elixir is complete, and if it does not do so you will still grind the medicine, and put it in a crucible on the fire , and put on it five drops or six of any of these oils said above, and do so as long as you see the sign that I told you, and then keep this Elixir, done so many times that the medicine will be more resolute , so much the better it will be, and will hold more parts because the philosophers say that with each resolution the tincture of the said parts will increase more:& if you want, you can make a good Elixir without putting the lime of silver into it, but it will not be worth that much: for thus as the wise man says, thus the leaven of the dough makes bread, thus the lime of silver or gold silver or gold, & Elixir which is made without lime is rather make enough: for the lime of the metal is too strong to resolve, & if is one of the first Elixir that we said when it was been solved five or six times if can well dye fifty or sixty or a hundred parts of well purged copper into good silver, as the wise man says.for the lime of the metal is too strong to resolve, & if is one of the first Elixir which we said when it has been resolved five or six times if can well dye fifty or sixty or a hundred parts of well purged copper into good silver, as said the wise man.for the lime of the metal is too strong to resolve, & if is one of the first Elixir which we said when it has been resolved five or six times if can well dye fifty or sixty or a hundred parts of well purged copper into good silver, as said the wise man.
Another way of making Elixir: Take a part of purged orpiment, sublimated three times, & as much quicksilver & as much sulfur purged & sublimated three times & grind them well, & put them on top of purged armonia salt water & sublimated three times, & water well again then dry them in the sun & so do ten times or twelve or more, as long as they find their weight of salt, five times or more six: & then put them to dissolve as we said & renew the droppings each eight days, and they will resolve in fifteen days or in three weeks, and when they are resolved, if freeze them in the distillatory into ashes and then drink them with the water that comes from them & distilled & the other armoniac salt water as before: & grind well & drink & dry in the sun several times,& then dissolve them again & then freeze them as before: & then grind them well & put on top of the water which is distilled from them & then the oil of the three species that we will teach in the chapters of waters, or of white oil to the philosophers & grind them well & set to dissolve & then freeze them as before & you will find at the bottom of the vessel a white stone, shiny like crystal, & grind a little, & if you put it on a brazen or copper pan iron, and if it melts and whitens the plate, the Elixir is complete, and if it does not melt on the plate, grind it and put six or seven drops on it before said oil, and put it to dissolve , & then freeze & keep it.
& then grind them well & put on them water which is distilled from them & then oil of the three species that we will teach in the chapters on waters, or white oil for philosophers & grind them well & put to resolve & then freeze them as before and you will find at the bottom of the vessel a white stone, shiny like crystal, and grind a little of it, and if you put it on a brazen or iron pan, and if it melts and whitens the plate, the Elixir is complete, and if it does not melt on the plate, grind it and put six or seven drops on top of the said oil, and let it dissolve, and then freeze it and keep it.& then grind them well & put on them water which is distilled from them & then oil of the three species that we will teach in the chapters on waters, or white oil for philosophers & grind them well & put to resolve & then freeze them as before and you will find at the bottom of the vessel a white stone, shiny like crystal, and grind a little of it, and if you put it on a brazen or iron pan, and if it melts and whitens the plate, the Elixir is complete, and if it does not melt on the plate, grind it and put six or seven drops on top of the said oil, and let it dissolve, and then freeze it and keep it.or white oil to the philosophers & grind them well & set to dissolve & then freeze them as before & you will find at the bottom of the vessel a white stone, shiny like crystal, & grind a little, & if you put it on a frying pan brass or iron, and if it melts and whitens the plate, the Elixir is complete, and if it does not melt on the plate, grind it and put six or seven drops on it before said oil, & put it to dissolve, & then freeze it & keep it.or white oil to the philosophers & grind them well & set to dissolve & then freeze them as before & you will find at the bottom of the vessel a white stone, shiny like crystal, & grind a little, & if you put it on a frying pan brass or iron, and if it melts and whitens the plate, the Elixir is complete, and if it does not melt on the plate, grind it and put six or seven drops on it before said oil, & put it to dissolve, & then freeze it & keep it.grind it and put six or seven drops on top of the said oil, and let it dissolve, and then freeze it and keep it.grind it and put six or seven drops on top of the said oil, and let it dissolve, and then freeze it and keep it.
Another way of making Elixir & proven and is better than the first: Take half a pound of purged silver lime, & three ounces of sulfur purged & sublimated three times, & three ounces of orpiment purged & sublimated & a pound of quicksilver purged & sublimated, & grind everything together, & put in water of salt armoniac purged & sublimated, & then dry it over a small fire of charcoal & ashes, & when they make a big smoke, remove the pan from above the fire, & then put it back on the fire, but it would be better to dry it in the sun, & when they are dry, grind them, & put them in a distillery, & make a small fire until all the moisture that is is all distilled and kept, & then set a strong fire like one does to sublimate,& fire for two days & two nights, then if one part of the medicine will sublimate, and the other will remain at the bottom, let it cool, & grind all together what is sublimated, & what will remain at the bottom of the dish, & put with their water which is distilled from it, then dry a little, & then put it to sublimate as before, & sublimate it so that all the medicine is at the bottom & that it no longer sublimates anything, & then sift it well & put on it an ounce or two of white philosopher's oil & put it in a descender & bring it down as you have above the orpiment & make the first day a small fire underneath, & the second day make a big fire , and the third day makes a big fire like one does when melting copper,& then let it cool if you find a white stone on the cover of the descender: take it & crush it & put it in a crucible on the fire & then throw two or three drops of white water on it for philosophers, & as long as it melt thus like wax & then remove the crucible from the fire because your Elixir is perfect, & of this Elixir throw one part on fifty of well purged copper, & everything will be good & fine silver, & when you have made your Elixir thus as I
I said, if you want your Elixir to be better than half, and for a part to dye on octante or a hundred parts of copper, grind well again and put on it armoniac salt before said, and two drops or three of white oil with philosophers, & then makes it resolve & freeze as it is said before.take it and grind it and put it in a crucible on the fire and then throw two or three drops of white water on it for philosophers, and as long as it melts like wax, then remove the crucible from the fire because your Elixir is perfect, and of this Elixir throw one part out of fifty of well-purged copper, and everything will be good and fine silver, and when you have made your Elixir thus as I told you, if you want your Elixir to be worth half as much, and dye one part on an octante or a hundred parts of copper, grind well again and put on top of it salt armoniac before said, and two drops or three of oil white to the philosophers, and then make it dissolve and freeze as it is said before.take it and grind it and put it in a crucible on the fire and then throw two or three drops of white water on it for philosophers, and as long as it melts like wax, then remove the crucible from the fire because your Elixir is perfect, and of this Elixir throw one part out of fifty of well-purged copper, and everything will be good and fine silver, and when you have made your Elixir thus as I told you,
if you want your Elixir to be worth half as much, and dye one part on an octante or a hundred parts of copper, grind well again and put on top of it salt armoniac before said, and two drops or three of oil white to the philosophers, and then make it dissolve and freeze as it is said before.& as long as it melts like wax & therefore remove the crucible from the fire because your Elixir is perfect, & from this Elixir throw one part in fifty of well-purged copper, & everything will be good & fine silver, & when you have made your Elixir like this as I told you, if you want your Elixir to be better than half, and for one part to dye on octante or a hundred parts of copper, grind well again and put on top of it salt armoniac before said, and two drops or three of white oil to the philosophers, and then has it resolved and frozen as it is said before.& as long as it melts like wax & therefore remove the crucible from the fire because your Elixir is perfect, & from this Elixir throw one part in fifty of well-purged copper, & everything will be good & fine silver, & when you have made your Elixir like this as I told you, if you want your Elixir to be better than half, and for one part to dye on octante or a hundred parts of copper, grind well again and put on top of it salt armoniac before said, and two drops or three of white oil to the philosophers, and then has it resolved and frozen as it is said before.if you want your Elixir to be worth half as much, and for a part to be dyed on octante or a hundred parts of copper, grind well again and put on it armoniac salt before said, and two drops or three of white oil for philosophers, and then makes it resolve & freeze as it says before.if you want your Elixir to be worth half as much, and for a part to be dyed on octante or a hundred parts of copper, grind well again and put on it armoniac salt before said, and two drops or three of white oil for philosophers, and then makes it resolve & freeze as it says before.
Another better way, Take a pound of sublimated quicksilver and water it with water of armoniac salt and grind it well and dry, and then grind it and put on it twice its weight of water of armoniac salt, and resolve it by eight days, & then distill it by a distillatory, & then put a pound of quicksilver into this water, & put it to resolve as before, & then distill it in a distillatory, & then put a pound of quicksilver into this water, & dissolve it as before, & then distill it in a distillery, & then put in this water two ounces of sublimated orpiment, & then have it dissolved & frozen seven times, eight or nine, if you want, & at the last the freeze it into a hard stone, and then crush it and put oil on it white for philosophers,and make it go down into a descender, and make a small fire for two days and two nights, and then make a strong fire for two days like melting copper, and then if you let it cool, and you will find a crystalline stone in the dishes, take one a little and grind it and put it in a crucible, on the fire, and then throw two or three drops of the white oil of the philosophers on it, until it melts like wax, and then let it cool, and add a little on a very hot plate of iron or brass, and if it melts well without smoke the Elixir is complete, otherwise, if grind everything and put in the crucible, and throw on top of the above-mentioned oil, as long as he has such a sign as we have said, and then throws a part of it out of fifty well served, and he will convert it into good and clean money, and if you want to resolve,Distill & freeze such Elixir once or twice, one part will convert a hundred or more into silver.
but the copper must be well purged, and if your Elixir were red and frozen, it would dye more parts. And know that from each of the seven spirits we can make Elixir in the way that we have said, and we have told none of the ways to the philosophers, and through this we can find enough other ways.
Red elixir. We have talked about white to silver Elixirs, if we will talk about red to gold Elixirs: & know that in any such way you can make red Elixirs like white ones, but that the things you put in them are red, if like us we will say below, and in the places of silver lime, if put gold lime, and if you do not have gold lime, make that the silver lime is very red, and that everything that you put in the work of gold be red: any kind of salt that you wish to redden, you will crush it, and put on top of red lime, which we will say in the chapter of waters, and you will grind well, and dry in the sun, and then We will grind and use this red water, which we will say in the chapter on waters, and we will grind well, and we will dry in the sun, and then we will grind and use this red water,
See Elixir of tutie: Take tutie well purged, as we said before, & grind it well, & put it on top of salt water red armoniac in water of copper to silver, or water of gold, & drink it well, & grind it, and dry it in the sun, and then grind it, and water it again with this water, and dry it in the sun or on the fire if you want, and do this seven times, or eight, as long as the parts are well watered, then have it dissolved and frozen, & then grind it well, & put on it some red philosopher's oil or any other well-ground oil, & then dissolve it, & freeze it twice, & then try it on the baking tray. hot iron, if it melts slightly, & if not, if grind it whole & put it in a crucible on the fire, & put oil on it before said,as long as it melts lightly, and early on the hot platinum, and therefore which is good Elixir accomplished, if throws one part on five others of brass or purified copper, if will make good gold and fine, in such a way can you make Elixir of sublimated orpiment, or of quicksilver, or of sulfur, either for silver or for gold: and when you open for silver, put white thing, and for gold must be red.
or by the power and help of resolution and putrefaction, and the fire that you put there will be at the bottom of the distillery dry and black, and you will put it with your other fire, and this oil of the three species, which is distilled, will be gone in two parts, & keep one part to make your red elixir, & the other part put in a glass vessel, & stuff the mouth well, & then freeze it in a pot of ashes, as is said before, & if you find in the vessel a beautiful and clear stone, and it is a good Elixir, and very perfect for silver, and if you see that your Elixir is melting, if powder it and put on top of the oil that we call air, if will melt well. And say the philosophers,
Now we have said how one makes the white Elixir of silver, if we will say how one makes the red Elixir of gold, if you will do thus: Take the fire, which will remain at the bottom of the distillery after the distillation of the oil of the three species, and grind it well, and hard on a marble, and when it is crushed take the fire two parts, and the oil of the three species one part, and grind them well, and even together, and dissolve them in one glass vessel, and seal it well, and then put it to resolve in forty days on horse manure, and renew the manure every eight days, and if it is resolved within forty days good is, otherwise, if the leave so much manure that you find it all resolved and converted into clear water, and when everything is resolved, if you put it in a distillery,& distill it into ashes as it is said in the chapter on blood if we distil all the four elements together like very red water: & this water you will put in a glass vessel, & seal the mouth well, & freeze it in a pot full of ashes , as it is said before, and when it is well frozen, if you will find in the vial a stone clear, red, and shiny like a carbuncle, and with a part of this Elixir can we convert a part into a thousand, and more than enough quicksilver, in fine gold better than mining, praise God.If you find in the vial a stone clear, red, and shiny like a carbuncle, and with a part of this Elixir can you convert a part into a thousand, and more quickly enough silver, into fine gold better than mining, God be praised .
If you find in the vial a stone clear, red, and shiny like a carbuncle, and with a part of this Elixir can you convert a part into a thousand, and more quickly enough silver, into fine gold better than mining, God be praised .
Another way to make White & Red Elixir: Take some of the fire and grind it well, and put on it four times its weight of the first water, and mix everything well together, and then dissolve it in horse manure for forty days more or less, as long as everything is resolved in clear water, then put it in a distillery, if you distill it, if you will distill it into a water that we call clear and shiny, and this water you will divide into two parts, and put one part to the glass vessel in the sun, and let the vessel be well sealed, and leave it ill, as long as the third part of it is damaged, and it becomes thick, if this water will therefore be called alum, or salt, if it keeps it gold two waters, one which you will call clear & shining, and the other part, which you will call alum,& then take a part of fire, & as much water that we call clear & shining, & then put everything together to resolve, as long as everything is resolved, & converted into water: then distill it, if you will distill a water that we call it acute, so you will have done a work, if you will keep this water on the one hand, and what will have remained at the bottom of the distillery also keep, and take this from that fire which remained at the bottom of the distillatory at this time after the distillation of the acute water, & as much of the earth which will remain at the bottom of the distillery after the distillation of the clear & shiny water, & grind it all together on the marble, & then put on top the third of as much like two things of water, which we call alum, & then put them to dry & then put on them seven parts of water before said,which we call acute, & a little of the first, if you will resolve everything thus as you know, & leave it as long as everything is resolved & converted into water, & put everything in a distillatory, & distill it, if you will distill a water that we let's call it very acute, and this water we divide into two parts, and we will freeze one part thus, as it is said before, and therefore your Money Elixir will be accomplished, and if it seems to you that it melts, if put above the water which we call alum a little, or a little oil, if it will dissolve willingly, if throw it on as much copper, as it is said above, if will be better silver than mining, & after take the said parts water, & put with as much red distilled air because when it is first separated from the fire it will distill red, & whoever rightly wants to distill,or separates the air from the fire, he must put on it a little raw water, or virgin's milk, as long as everything is converted, & then leave everything to resolve fifteen days or thirty or three weeks, & then distill, if the completely red air will distil, and from that, is what we said above, and the fire will remain at the bottom of the distillery, as is said in the chapter of blood, and you can have it whitened to often distill, as is said in the chapter on blood, you will take this red distilled air, and put on it a part of very acute water, which I said before, and mix everything well together, and then put it to resolve as it is said below by forty days or more, or less, as long as everything is resolved in clear water, and then you will distill it as you know, and when it is distilled, if you freeze it as you know,if you will have a good, perfect Elixir, and if it seems to you that it does not melt slightly, if you crush it and add this quicksilver water, and it is too good, because we can make an Elixir of sublimated orpiment and lime silver with the white oil to the philosophers if as it is said in the chapter of the
White Elixir: Take a part of armoniac salt or common salt, & two parts of quicklime, which is not purged, & a small of pork belly, and put everything together in a distillatory, and distill at least three times, and this oil at least three times in this way, and this oil is good for softening and softening the lime of metals, and anything that we work to money, and even better is the oil that comes below.if crush it and put this quicksilver water, and it is too good, because we can make Elixir of sublimated orpiment and silver lime with the oil white to the philosophers if as it is said in the chapter of the Elixir white:
Take one part of armoniac salt or common salt, & two parts of quicklime, which is not purged, & a small of pork breast, & put everything together in a distillery, & distill at least three times, & this oil at least in this way three times, and this oil is good for softening and softening the lime of metals, and everything that is used for silver, and even better is the oil that comes below.if crush it and put this quicksilver water, and it is too good, because we can make Elixir of sublimated orpiment and silver lime with the oil white to the philosophers if as it is said in the chapter of the Elixir white: Take one part of armoniac salt or common salt, & two parts of quicklime, which is not purged, & a small of pork breast, & put everything together in a distillery, & distill at least three times, & this oil at least in this way three times, and this oil is good for softening and softening the lime of metals, and everything that is used for silver, and even better is the oil that comes below.Take one part of armoniac salt or common salt, and two parts of quicklime, which is not purged, and a small of pig's breast, and put everything together in a distillery, and distill at least three times, and this oil at least in this way three times, and this oil is good for softening and softening the lime of metals, and anything that is worked with silver, and even better is the oil that comes below.Take one part of armoniac salt or common salt, and two parts of quicklime, which is not purged, and a small of pig's breast, and put everything together in a distillery, and distill at least three times, and this oil at least in this way three times, and this oil is good for softening and softening the lime of metals, and anything that is worked with silver, and even better is the oil that comes below.& even better is the oil that comes below.& even better is the oil that comes below.
Thus you will make oil for white philosophers: Take one part of eggshell lime, and put six parts of egg white, and mix everything well together, and put in a glass dish and leave to dissolve for seven whole days without more, & then distill it into ashes by a small fire until all the water is distilled, & put this water back into the distillery on the feces, & mix well, & then distill it as before & then after take what is at the bottom from the distillatory, and grinds it well, and grinds it well with the water that came out of it, and then puts it all together to distill, and distills it all on the feces so that all the water is spoiled so that it no longer distils nothing, and if you find at the bottom of the distillery a stone white as crystal, if you keep it, then take six ounces of armoniac salt,& six ounces of egg oil distilled seven times or well purged, & six ounces of the white one that we have said in the front: & mix everything well together & grind well on a marble, & grind it & dry it that he drinks all the oil and water, when everything is drunk, if he leaves them like this in other dishes for forty days & then throw a pound of egg white on top & close the vessel well, & put it to dissolve in manure as you know by fifteen days, will have dissolved so much in clear water and white as milk, and then the white oil will be accomplished for the philosophers, if you keep it, because it is better than so much money, because it fixes & resolves & deepens,& dyes all things which we open in silver as we said above in the chapter of blood & taught as we dye water with blood & egg & lime, & other things of such nature, & it There are enough other waters, but you can do without the one we said about silver.
Now let's say red waters & oils, we said in the chapter of gold water as we can make water from all metals, if we can by this way make water from gold, copper & silver & of brass & iron that are worth blushing, but you will thus make iron water, take iron filings & wash it well in twelve parts of well-salted water, & then if it washes well in fresh water & then wash it well in vinegar, & then put enough vinegar on it as long as it is on the filings two fingers or three, & leave it like this as long as you see that the vinegar turns red then put everything in a distillery & distill it & when everything will be distilled if put back what is distilled in the distillery, and distill it so many times that all the iron filings distill with the vinegar because it will all distill,& this water is too good to blush & will no longer need its color.
Another red water: Take iron filings & water as it says above, & grind it well with water of red vitriol, or orpiment & put enough vinegar on it & leave it for fifteen days, & then distill it & put it back in the distillery & distill like this nine or ten times & each time add a little vitriol or red arsenic if it will distil at the last time as red as blood, & from this colored water whatever you want, if it is not necessary color.
Another way of red water: Take ten parts of quicklime not purged, & three parts of quick sulfur without purged & grind everything together, & throw on top ten parts of very red vinegar on iron filings, as said above & leave it like this on it for ten days & then cook it together until you see the vinegar red as blood & then pour it out, & take a part of vitriol & as much red orpiment for each pound of vinegar that you have poured, put with half an ounce of red arsenic, & then mix everything together & put in a distillery & distill it, if the arsenic & other things will remain at the bottom of the distillery, grind them, & put with water which is in the distillatory & put them to resolve in seven days in droppings or more, as long as it is dissolved in water,and then distil it until it distills red as blood, and color it whatever you want.
Yet another red water: Take the oil of the yolks of eggs, & the purged iron filings, & grind all together until it is so soft, & put with red vitriol, & grind well & put with salt armoniac, & then put it on a low heat, & roast it a little, & then put it to dissolve until everything is dissolved, & then distil it with a felt pen and color it whatever you want.
Another way of red water: Take arsenic & red vitriol & a little armoniac salt, & as much iron filings, & put everything together & throw vinegar on them, & throw them like this until the vinegar distils red like blood, & each time put new arsenic in it.
You will thus make red oil for the philosophers, take iron, sulfur well purged, & red vitriol & lime, red tin equally from each three ounces, sulfur & orpiment sublimated & reddened from each six, quicksilver sublimated & reddened one pound, of sublimated & reddened & rectified armonia salt, blood oil, or purged eggs as it is said before, of each a pound then grind the iron sulfur, & the tin lime all together, & drink them with water of red armonia salt, & oil of blood or eggs, & put them to dissolve & when it is resolved if distils them, & from this water drink the sulfur & orpiment on a stone for a long time , and then dissolve them into dung, and when they are dissolved, distil them by a distillery as long as it distils everything red and clear,& then freeze it as you know into ashes & when it is frozen, grind it & put it in a crucible on the fire, & put on it oil from eggs or purged blood while it is on the hot plate as it is said in the chapter of Elixirs, & then let them cool, & keep it & throw a part of it on a thousand parts of silver or purified tin, if it will make gold, better than mining if: & if you want when it will be melted if grind it and put on it oil from purged eggs as we said, and then put it to dissolve, and keep it because it is Elixir on spirits and on metals, when they are dyed and reddened by it, for all metals on which we put it will be gold, and there are other waters and other oils enough, but the one we have said can suffice,for they are the flowers chosen from all the books of this art by the hands of Philosophers.
So you will distill by felt: Take a large piece of felt and then cut it into pieces just like the fingers of the hand, so you can see here next.
And then put it with one end that is not detached in a pan of earth or the thing that you want to distill, but first wet the felt in the thing that you want to distill, & then put the end that is not is not detached as I said in front of the pan, & the detached end is hanging downstream out of the pan if put in a dish underneath or what will distil will fall, & the pan is a little inclined in the part where it distills, if you will distill better, and rather what will be in the pan will flow better, and when you have once distilled it, if you throw it back into the pan again, if you will distill it another time,
It is appropriate to speak in this chapter of the vessels which are involved in this science, if we divide them in our power, and put the shape & figure of each, it is appropriate various furnaces & stove, & crucibles, & iron spoons, & sublimatory & resolvory , & distillatories & descenders, & earthen vessels to put the ashes when we want to distill & freeze, & glass vials strange enough to keep these waters & boxes enough to put these powders easily. And know that without these earthen vessels, the furnaces must be well leaded inside and with strong earth, or they must be made of well-made glass and well joined.
In the ovens on which we distill and sublime must have two bottoms, one completely underneath, and the other in the middle of the furnace which will be full of holes underneath, and we must make a charcoal fire for it, if the ashes will fall through the the fire will burn better, it will be hotter and it will have two holes on both sides of the stove over the fire, if the smoke will come out that way, see below.
The calcining ovens must be very strong & thick, & must be on top of steel, so that the smoke does not ignite or escape except through a vent on it & must have both parts of the oven higher than the middle two strong and equal tiles on which we will place the thing we want to calcine so that the flame which cannot come out of the oven will return to the thing which is thus to be calcined, and we must make the fire under logs to have flame , and must continue the fire two days or three, and as many nights, as long as the thing is well calcined, and here it is.
Furnaces for melting without blowing must be of very strong earth and must have two bottoms like distillation ovens, and must have four mouths, so that the wind can enter from all sides, and have a lid on them which sharpens from one side to the other. above, & must have over a sluice, if will be warmer if as you can clearly see below.
And the others make their ovens square if they say that they are hotter, because the air surrounds itself with others, if it burns the fire better.
Your stoves will be made of well-leaded earth, so that the medicines will not immediately adhere to the bottoms, and will make what is inside cleaner.
Sublimatoires is a dish which is of two parts, one of which is the one below, and is called a bowl or pan, and must be made like these silver bowls, and has a large wide edge all around, & the bort on top must be high, so that the lid can be joined & of good ground holding well, the other part is the lid that is placed on it must be the measure of the bowl, & must fit by sharpening on top, & have a small hole like this as you see, & be well plumbed on the inside, see the shape here.
The sublimatory of quicksilver must be sharper than the other, because it makes fire, see it below.
The resolutory must be like a box well joined, with a lid joined, & strong earth & leaded well inside if you want, & here is the way, & if you want, can resolve well in a glass vial, because the glass holds better .
Another distillatory must have a bowl, like the sublimatory, & a wide lid on top, & sharp on top, & must have below a torture on the inside like a gutter with a pipe on the outside which attaches to this gutter, for where the water falls, and which will make a large edge all around the lid over the pipe, if we can put cold water there, we will distill better and more, and if we would have some plus enough of the distilled thing, see it here.
There is a descender in two ways, one is like a sublimatory, except that the bowl must be narrower in the mouth than at the bottom, because otherwise what we put in it would fall out to go down to the lid, & when we open this lid, must be turned towards the earth, this is the way for spirits to descend.
And the other way must be to descend metals, which are stronger than the spirits, like iron, copper, & the other seven so like the lid of the sublimatory, except that it must be greater, because by making fire in it of coal as it says above.
And all the other vessels that we use can be commonly used, if I will keep quiet about it, because the manner above, if I could sufficiently sublimate other vessels, but that all the vessels are well plumbed on the inside, and of good earth , or whether they are made of glass.
Per omnia sit benedictus Deu.
May God be blessed through all things.
Amen