The Golden Chain of Homer - Book III

Anton Josef Kirchweger. Catenae Aureae Homeri - de Transmutatione Metallorum. Erste und ächte Auflage. Schw. Hall. Bey Johann Christoph Messerer. 1770.
Transcribed by Joshua Ben Arent 2001. [Translator unknown.]

CATENAE AUREAE HOMERI -
de Transmutatione Metallorum

BOOK III, de Transmutatione Metallorum

CHAPTER I

How one is to prepare a true, tincturing stone from all ores, provided they have but a granum fixum.

Take an ore, any you wish (provided it has not yet come into any fire and has a granum fixum in it). For if it has already been in the fire, it's growing vital power has escaped from it, which is the right spir. arsenici & mercurii. Fill a retort with it, put a large receiver in front of it ( take note, however that the ore must be pounded fine). Drive from it a spirit and sublimate. Empty the retort and fill it again with new ore. Drive the spiritus out of it, and do this so often till you have enough spirit. Then rinse off all sublimate with the spirit, and with each other.

Pour everything together into a phial, close it well, put it to putrefy for one month, so that everything is well mixed and united. Then pour it again into a retort, distill it over; pour it back again and distill again, and do that so often till everything has risen over.

When everything has gone over, pour it into an alembic, put the helm on and then put it into a B.M. (Balneum Mariae). Begin to distill very gently and an astral spirit will rise. Carefully separate the aqua recolaceum from it in the Balneum, and afterwards unite the mineral spirit with the metallic acetum which remained in the retort. The aqua recolaceum may be preserved, while it is giving off a very gentle solvens. Distill both once again in the retort, and you will obtain a sun-yellow oleum. In time, this oil can be fixed and coagulated. But you first add a solar or lunar calx. Then it (the oleum?) will open it (the calx?) and drop a white earth.

Distill that sun-oil in a retort, letting it go over at least three times. Then a tasteless, white calx will remain. And if you kept that in the fire for ever so long, it would not melt but would finally turn into a calx viva. But if add an alcali to that earth and keep it yet longer in the fire, you will get a white glass.

Take your oil, close it, let it go through all the colors to the blood-red stone. You should know that with this double mercurial spirit one can arouse to life and separate their solar sulphur from all fixed embryonata sulphur, such as bloodstone, talcum, loadstone, steatite (white, fibrous gypsum), calamine, etc.

In the same way, one can also augment this double spiritus Mercurii per sulphura embryonata volatilia, such as lead, arsenic, sulphurous rocks, all volatile marcasites. But it one wishes to prepare a Universal Stone from them, take your double spir. Mercurii before anything has been added to it. Take some of the ore out of which you have driven it, rub it again very finely (but if it is molten that does not apply; then one has to use quite a different modus procedendi with it, as will be shown in the other chapter).

Take that finely powdered ore, put it into a retort. Pour on it as much of the above-mentioned spiritus mercurii that it stands two fingers high above the ore. Let both putrefy together for 24 hours. Then begin to distill per gradus till everything is dry. Pour back what has gone over, and again some fresh spiritus mercurii. Putrefy them again together, and do that twice or three times. Finally, distill it strongly.

Then your spir. merc. will mostly stick to the neck of the retort. If your ore is solar, it will be like blood, with an excellent lustre. If it is lunar, white, there will be left in the retort an absolutely white earth which is good for nothing, but which clings white, as a silver.

Now rinse the spir. merc. and the sublimate together, or put the sublimate by itself. Then pour the spir. merc. again upon another ore, and proceed with it as you have already been instructed. Thus you can collect and make as much of this Universal-Gur as you wish. With this Gur and sublimate you can work particulariter, and this sublimate, if it is fixed per se, is a mighty tincture for man.

But if you wish to prepare from it a genuine carbuncle (garnet), take your double spirit, put it into a very high alembic and put a big, blind helmet upon it. Give it a very gentle fire till you see that the spirit rises like white drops and clings to the helmet. Then increase the fire till nothing rises. After that let it cool down, remove the helmet, and take out your universal spirit. Unite it with the red sublimate and let them go through the colors.

But if you wish to proceed philosophically, take the red oleum which had remained in the alembic and which has the fire of Nature in it. Take of it the right weight and put both flowers into it, as man and woman, and fry both. For the exterior fire all you need is a bad lamp. You can augment this stone in all eternity, yes, down to your children and grandchildren at the least. You can also produce this stone within three hours, and that is done in a crucible upon an open fire. This stone does not tincture as well as the above, however; neither does it take as much work. And it is done in the above-mentioned fire, which must be well preserved in a strong earthenware vessel. For if it has stood twice for only four hours, it begins to smoke terribly. That is why it must be put into a very cold cellar. There must also be a stone cut into the neck of the bottles, which must be luted all around with sealing-wax, for it dissolves all glasses to a white chalk.

Now then, this water does not dissolve stones grown by nature, but they can be much more refined and ripened in it. Yes, they can also grow if one puts them into that water. If a diamond is put into it, it acquires a skin, and in that skin it grows; and the longer it stays in that water the larger it becomes. All rubies are therein changed into carbuncles (garnets); the sapphire into an excellent emerald, the same for other stones. When they are put into this water, they become refined and transformed.If this water is pored upon pure gold, it dissolves it, and in so doing coagulates in momento and turns into a powerful particular-tincture. The same occurs with silver: It absorbs the Mercurius viv. so that one cannot see where it went, except that a little weak slime gathers at the bottom. And if you had 1 lb of nature-water, you might well open up 100 lb of Mercury in it, because it turns into a fiery oil and always drops a black slime. The fire always remains within it's power (the fire's), and if one were to put this nature-fire upon exterior fire, it would not drop the Mercurius; neither does it sublimate like other solventia. The reason is that it's black, slimy viscosic earth is seperated from it. I tried it (to see) if it would again accept it (that earth), but was unable to do it in any way. And it is amazing that this fire does not become weaker but stronger and mightier. It should be noted, however, that if one takes of this fire, one can with it augment and fry the above-mentioned flowers ad infinitum. For this fire also ripens and augments all things.

N.B. All ores comprised under redness produce solar tinctures. Upon red must be given a ferment that is red, or a Sulphur (extracted) from the fixed minerals, such as bloodstone, loadstone, etc. Then one obtains a mighty tincture, and so much of it.

(Transl.'s note: Ordinary fire, or heat, is just fire. The special fire referred to herein is "ignis").

This is done in the following manner: If the metal is to be resuscitated to life and to dissolve again into it's vital spirit and be transformed into prima materia, you must go to a foundry where ores are smelted, no matter which. When they are being roasted, a massa or "Gestube" (?) will gather on the foundry beams and furnaces, high up. Take of each 10 to 15 lbs, for there is much coal dust mixed with it. Divide it up into different pots which must have a flat bottom, so that it (the matter) lies flat. Put it for one month in the open air, but only at night. During the day, put it away, tightly covered. When the month is over, take it out and rub it very finely, Fill with it a retorta tubulata, well covered with metal plates. Place it into a furnace, add a large recipient to it and start distilling very carefully per gradus, because much recolata will go over with it, which causes a dispute with the double spiritus Mercurii universal, for they will effervesce a great deal.

When everything has gone over, empty the retort and fill it again with fresh dust; put on the receiver in which the previouis (matter) had been kept, and continue doing this till you have distilled out all your materia. Now take the recipient and keep it well.

Put what has been distilled out into a crucible, lute it well, and put the latter into a tile (brick) or glass kiln, to calcinate well till it is white like a hailstone or a peach blossom. (Take note, when it has not been driven out properly, it will melt. Therefore, a very strong fire has to be used for the last distillation, so that it is well burnt out during distillation in the retort.

When now, as stated, your earth is well calcinated, divide it up very quickly into different vessels to prevent it from absorbing air and attracting nitrum aereum, which would subsequently spoil the whole work. Have at hand some distilled water simplicem. Of that pour as much on it till it stands two fingers' width above the matter, and extract it over a gentle heat. When the water has become sweet like sugar, pour it off and again pour fresh water on, till all sweetness has disappeared. Now pour all extracts together, calcinate the earth de novo, and extract it till all sweetness has gone out. After that throw the earth away. Put all the water together into some alembics after filtering it before several times. Distill all the water in a B.M. to a hailstone-white salt.

Remove the alembics from the B.M., put a blind helm on each and place them in the sand. Give a gentle fire in the beginning, till you see your salt sublimating above. Now increase the fire till nothing rises any more. Let it cool, and open the alembics, and you will find a sublimate sweet as sugar. At the bottom, some white earth will again have settled - throw that away. Remove the sublimate from the alembics and put everything together into another, clean alembic. Sublimate it at least twice more until it becomes transparent as a diamond; keep that from the air. It must not be used in the human body, because one-tenth of a grain (0,065 g) purges mightily.

Now remove your above spiritus from the recipient. Put the latter into a high alembic and in the B.M., with a helm and a receiver; and start distilling. Then the phlegma will rise with the most volatile spiritus. When nothing rises any longer, the recipient should be taken off. That which has been distilled over is to be poured back into another alembic and should be distilled over in the B.M. in the following manner:

In the beginning, with a gentle fire, a spiritus rises like a pin's head. When big drops start coming, stop. Rectify what has gone over so often till no phlegma is left and your spiritus berns strongly on the tongue and vanishes in the air if a few drops fall down. Preserve it well.

Some oil will have remained on top in the alembic. Rectify that also once again per retortam, to make it clean. Gradually pour the two spiritus upon it. Put on a big recipient and start distilling. Everything will go over in the form of oleum. In this oil you can open all metals, and do it radically, for the life and growth of the metals is in it. If you wish to make a tincture for gold, you need no gold for it but copper and iron. In those there is enough redness. One can also extract the sulphura embryonata with this double spiritus, before it is united with salt, such as bloodstone, haematite, calamine, loadstone, gold flint (pyrite?).

If subsequently the spiritus is again distilled, the sulphur remains at the bottom like blood. Now use a somewhat stronger fire for the last distillation, and your sulphur will sublimate upward like a shining purple (or: crimson, scarlet). Preserve it.

Now take the above salt and unite it with the spiritus. Put this double spiritus into an alembic, add a blind helm, and put it for one month in very gentle heat, till you see that a hailstone-white sublimate, quite transparent, rises. Remove the helmet and take out the sublimated eqagle. At the bottom of the alembic remains the fire of Nature. Now take the white eagle and the blood of the red lion and put them together according to the right weight. Give them to drink of our fiery water. Let it go through the colors to the tincture.

You should know in addition that one can get a reddish sublimate from the white metals, such as tin, lead and silver. One can also work with marcasite. The proof thereof is as follows: If one wants to see whether a metal or mineral has still got it's life, or if it is effloresced, or what kind of ore or rock it is: Put some of it into a crucible. Put that into an open coal fire, so that it almost melts. If one sees a thick, white smoke rising in many colors, it's seed is still within it and nothing is effloresced. But if it smokes weakly, the best is out of it. Where the smoke is thick and smells of garlic, however, it is still fully alive. But where it does not smoke at all, it is dead, just as can find whole mountains, full of all kinds of beautiful mountain growths, metals and minerals, which are either eaten away by the cold fire of Nature - for this is the death of metals - or are effloresced; or by the hot fire of Nature, when it has affected them from above through the weather, which also goes mightily through the earth. This (fire) preserves, makes alive; but it also destroys; and, where it operates so powerfully, it makes all minerals volatile, just as all metals and rocks. It attacks where it finds itself. Often it makes quite poisonous choke-damps, especially when it comes into conflict with the cold fire, since then these two states of the atmosphere ignite into a fire which eats the metals and everything it encounters. If it gets a minimum of nutrimentum similar to it, it knocks down the mountains and spits out fire with thunder and cracking. Whoever cannot believe it, let him travel to where the mountains throw out fire, and let him examine the ash which this fire has all drawn out and eaten, or let him have some brought to him by someone else.

Another astonishing thing is that, since something can be made from all stones, as also from wood ashes, it (the something made) does not result in anything like itself, for I have tried it out in many ways. If one examines wells, they are hot and sour. Where the cold fire prevails, however, it corrodes and turns everything into a sal arsen. But if it is a medium fire, it coagulates and is not harmful. I will now go further and show how all volatile ores that are covered by "Ferch", which finally turns into a folio and spolio, can be ripened and brought to perfection.

If one wishes to ripen all volatile ores, one must first test the mineral or ore, as indicated in the previous chapter, to know if it is still full of "Ferch" or seed, or if it is dead. One often finds many ores which may well give off a metallic lustre and have turned into glimmer and glitter, and yet not all glitter and glimmer is dead (thus the only thing that is important is the simple test, so that one sees whether it (the metal or ore) gives off some smoke. When then you get such a metallic ore which sometimes passes a rather good test on a small scale but not at all on a larger scale, the reason is that it's spiritus arsenici has been driven out by too strong a fire. According to how the ore is, it immediately takes along it's like; for it is a growing ore in which the "Ferch" has not yet come to rest, such as all marcasites, which are full of gold and silver, namely: antimonium, bismuth, zinc, cobalt, "Rosen-Bloth", white glimmer, which very seldom has any seed in it; auripigment (orpiment) - if it comes fresh from the mine it looks quite golden. (NB. Here one can fish with a golden hook). Steatite (white fibrous gypsum) also gives some silver; the loadstone too; neither are bloodstone, haematite and brown-stone (manganese dioxide) to be despised, nor the blue tine "Graupen" (nuggets?) from which carbonate of copper is made. These are pure, volatile gold, just as the lapis-lazuli, as a test will prove. All vitriolic rocks and sulphur pyrites can be worked to great advantage. The same for all cinnabar ores, which sometimes give half in gold and silver; all lead ores, when prepared in this way give a lot of gold and silver; iron still much more; all tin ores still more. The ore may well be roasted when it is still growing, but then the best of it escapes. When the old folks had found such an ore which showed a granum fixum in the small test, they called it an unripe ore and had it covered up again to grow riper, and this happened often. In so doing they should also have observed, however, that not all ores can be treated thus. For with many they learned to their detriment that when they were reopened 20 or 30 years later, the ores were dead. For they are growing ores. If they are overwhelmed by the fire of nature, everything turns into spolium and folium. Then they (the old folks) found that they had been cheated.

This is why one should proceed as follows: Take such an ore as it comes from the mountains, even if it should produce a rich yield. It must certainly not be roasted: for if it is roasted, the best part of it burns away. If you do not wish to believe it, put the ore in the roasting, thickly, one upon the other. The uppermost, which cannot be heated thoroughly, will attract the volatile most. Wash it, let that which has been washed smoke off; then let it crystallize into vitriol. Take that and anneal it, and you will find a crocus. Now see what good your roasting has been: Previously your unroasted ore did not show any trace of vitriol. The old people proceeded even more stupidly, letting such ores shoot into the air. They did that in order to obtain vitriol. But since the ore was only kindled by the astral fire and began to smell; since it's solar, that is, male spirit, had become volatile and escaped, they subsequently washed a vitriol, since the best (part) had again entered the water, which they had not observed. Subsequently they put that which had remained on the high furnace and began to smelt.

Because the ore had become quite liquid while it had lain in the air and was now in a strong fire, most of it escaped. And because there remained too little of what was good, most of what was still there went into the glazing (or: vitrification) with the rocks, as may still be seen in the foundries.

NB. One should look at the copper dross, to find out if one does not sense great quantities of gold and silver in it. Likewise at that of iron, which generally looks quite bloodred (dark crimson). Some did indeed become somewhat smarter by adding the dross again; but it was fairly useless. And I assure you before the true GOD that in that way the best is driven out, burnt and turned into dross. For one may search in all foundries for that which settles on top of the beams and furnaces, adding the dross, and then he has the best thing by which he can earn his bread abundantly. That is how wastefully and unthinkingly one deals with GOD's gifts. But if one wishes to use such ores in the right way and obtain their blessings, one should proceed as follows.

Keep some kibbles (vats, buckets) in your kitchen, and gather urine in it. When you have four bucketfuls of it, add just as much water and 2 cwt (hundredweights) of pot-ash. If an ore is quartzy, you need no rocks (pebbles, gravel, pyrites?). If not, take some rocks, which may be had in large quantities. Have them ground small, after they have before been well annealed. Put also 2 cwt of those into the urine; let it stand, the longer the better. When you now wish to melt your ores, pounded small and made slick of, you need for 50 cwt of ore no more than 2 cwt of this mixture. If you pour it over the ore, pour just as much water into the mixture. Put the ore into a kibble and pour it (the mixture) upon it, to turn it into a mush. Cover the vessel, and the alcali will kill the acidum and mortify it. If now you notice a foul smell, take your ore a put it into the high furnace. When it begins to melt, no matter what ore it is, take 10 lbs of litharge of silver or litharge of lead, mix 2 lbs of iron filings among them, and pour that also into it (the ore). When it has been poured in for a half hour at most, let it run out; in that way you will obtain three times as much. Add the dross each time. Thus you can bind all minerals and metallic ores to great advantage and make them good, and the costs are very small.

There is a great deal of drinking going on in foundries; consequently, there is a lot of urine. It is also easy to obtain the potash, which one can boil oneself; One can also take it when it is boiled down to a salt. It is better not to anneal it previously.

There are also enough pebbles (or: flint-stones), which usually contain metal. They harden and do not make it difficult to fuse or melt them but flow like water. They also bind the sediments. The lyes of vitriol can be treated likewise. The metals are subsequently separated, which can also be done by casting and melting (fusion) on a large scale as well as on a small scale.

The other modus is the following: Make a lye of urine and potash; do not add any water. Have at hand a kibble, which should be large and have a lid. Put burnt lime (quicklime, calcium hydroxide) into it; pour your lye gradually upon it till it rises above it. Stir it well. Thereupon put your lime into a "Sussel" (a fine sieve?), and all the lye will run through. Put the lye remaining in the sieve into another kibble. When all the lye has run through and off the lime, keep your lye well preserved. Pour warm water over the lime, stir it often, and then let all the water run off the lime through a sieve.

Now boil this water to a thick lye. Take this lye and add it to the above lye. When you have a bucketful of it, add to it 6 lbs of mother liquid (bittern) of saltpetre makers, which will no longer crystallize into saltpetre because of it's greasiness. Preserve this lye. If you now wish to ripen mineral ores, pound them into flour, of which put at most 10 lbs into an alembic. Pour upon it as much of the above-mentioned lye to rise only a finger's width above it. Close the alembic tightly, put it into gentle heat, and stir it once every day, or else the ore grows upon each other (?).

When the liquid has boiled away or has dried, pour more upon it, and repeat this so often till there comes on top of the lye some greasiness. NB. Skin this; when it is dry, carry it upon some silver in flux. Then you will see something you had not imagined before. Coagulate it together and melt it, and all your efforts will be richly rewarded. In this way base lead can be fixed into gold and silver. But you must always precipitate it. It results in such a yield that a great Lord can live on it.

This is done in different ways, by the dry way as well as the wet method, which is fun to do. However, one must be experienced with fire, else he will achieve little good. But if he has experience with fire, it is the greatest delight and is done as follows:

Take 1 lb of antimonium. Put it into a large crucible and let it flow. When it flows, add 1 lb (lead) ore; let them flow together, and the mixture is ready. Of this, let 1 lb flow alone; add to it 1 lb of copper and let it flow nicely. When it has flowed for one and a half hours, put 16 "Lot" (one Lot = 1/2 ounce) of iron filings into it; again let it flow nicely. Then add 8 Lot of pure tin, and after it has again flowed for a half hour, pour it out. If the crucible is still good, put the mixture once again into it, after you have separated from it the foamy dross settled on top. Let it again flow nicely, and when it is in full flux, add finely powdered calamine (zinc oxide or zinc carbonate?) of Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle), 12 Lot, and stir everything well.

After it has again flowed for one hour, pour it out and separate it from the dross. Put the regulus back into a crucible and add 4 Lot of the above matrix or mixture. Let everything flow together for two hours; then pour it out and separate the dross.

Put the regulus back into the crucible, add 4 Lot of the above mixture and 8 Lot of calamine. Let it flow for two hours, constantly stirring; then pour it out and separate the dross. Put the regulus back again (into the crucible), add 4 Lot of mixture; again let it flow for two hours, pour it out and separate the dross.

Put it back again with 4 Lot of mixture and 8 Lot of calamine; let it flow and separate the dross. After it has flowed for two hours, put the regulus back into the crucible, let it flow with 4 Lot of mixture and 6 Lot of calamine; stir well, pour it out after two hours; again put the regulus into the crucible with the rest of the mixture and 6 Lot of calamine; stir well, let it flow four hours with a strong fire; then pour it out and separate it from the dross. Now, if the regulus has been correctly worked, it will weigh 2 lbs 6-8 Lot, and has the trend of Rhinish gold, but is brittle.

Melt this regulus again and add to it 8 Lot of finely powdered chalk. Let it flow for three hours, then pour it out, separate the dross; let it flow again with 8 Lot of chalk, and repeat this altogether four times. Then, after your regulus is separated from the dross; it will weigh 1 lb 21 Lot. It will have collapsed greatly and will be rather fixed, but is nevertheless somewhat brittle. Now look around in the mineral kingdom and you will find a certain thing (Tutia Alexandrina). Melt it with it again four times, and you will obtain 1 lb and several Lot of the most beautiful gold which will stand all tests, and it is an amusing labour.

The other modus is the following: Antimonium, bismuth, auripigmentum ana (equal parts) -1 lb. Everything is to be pulverized and well melted together. Add this to 16 Lot of copper and 12 Lot of steel filings and 14 Lot of good tin. Let it flow for three hours, then pour it out. Divide this into two parts. Let one part flow, and when it is flowing, add to it 4 Lot of zinc. Let everything get well mixed, then pour it out.

Let it flow de novo; add to it 4 Lot of Tutiae Alexandr.(zinc carbonate). After it has been flowing for two hours, pour it our, separate the dross. Again put it into an alembic and add 6 Lot of the above mixture. When it is flowing, again add 4 Lot of zinc; when all this has been flowing for one hour, add again 4 Lot of Tutiae Alexandr. Let it flow for two more hours; then pour it out and separate it from the dross.

Again let the regulus flow and again add 6 Lot of the above mixture; when it is flowing, add again 4 Lot of zinc; when this has been flowing for one hour, add again 4 Lot of Tutiae; stir well, let it flow strongly for two hours, then pour it out, separating it from the dross.

And again let it flow, add 6 Lot of the mixture; let it flow again for one hour, then add 6 Lot of Tut. Alexandr. Let everything flow strongly and well stirred for 3 hours; then pour it out, separate the regulus from the dross, and let it flow again in the alembic; add the rest of the mixture and 4 Lot of zinc. Let it flow for two hours, then add 8 Lot of Tutiae Alexandr. well stirred; let it flow for 3 hours with a strong fire. Now pour it out, and separate it from the dross.

If you have worked correctly, you will get 1 lb and 18-19 Lot of regulus, which will still be very brittle. Pour this at least still six times through finely powdered creta, each time through 12 Lot of chalk, if it has been molten with it for three hours. Then your regulus will be very compact and weigh 1 lb 4 Lot, strong in color but still somewhat brittle.

The third modus: Let 1 lb of antimonium (stibnite?), 2 lbs of marcasite, 1 lb of lead-ore, melt together. When they are flowing, add 16 Lot of copper and 16 Lot of antimonium. Let them flow together for one hour. Then pour the mixture out and put everything back into a large alembic. Let it flow again; then add 16 Lot of bloodstone, and let it flow together for two hours; pour it out, separate it from the dross.

Let the regulus flow again, and again add 16 Lot of bloodstone. Let it flow for two hours, then pour it out and separate the dross. Melt the regulus again; again add 16 Lot of bloodstone and let it flow for three hours; then pour it out and separate the dross.

Now make a crocus Veneris and see to it that you get a rightly distilled verdigris i.e flores aeris. But it is better to make it oneself, so that there be no admixture among the crystals. Calcinate it with a gentle fire to the point of redness. One can also distill the spiritus of it; then the caput mortuum remains back red.

Let the above regulus flow again, add to it 6 Lot of this crocus Veneris; let it flow together for 4 hours, then pour it out and separate the dross. Now let the regulus flow again and add 6 Lot of crocus Veneris; repeat this 6 times, as already taught in the first chapters. Then separate all dross.

This regulus will weigh 2 lb and several Lot. Let that flow, add to it 12 Lot of chalk, well stirred together while in strong flux for 3 hours; then pour it, separate the dross. Now let 1 lb of pure copper flow and add your regulus to it. Let them flow together for 2 hours; add 8 Lot of Tutiae Alexandrinae, and let flow for another hour. Repeat this 6 times, each time letting your regulus flow with fresh Tutiae, each time 8 Lot. Then pour your regulus at different times per cretam, until it is compact pure and fixed.

The fourth modus is the following: Antimonium 1 lb, Iron 16 Lot. Make of them a regulus martialem and pour it out. After that, take some chalk, break it up into pieces like beans; pour water over it and let it stand for half an hour. Then pour the water off, put the chalk into a large crucible, place it into the fire and calcinate it well. Then remove it.

Crush your above regulus martialem small, mix it with 8 Lot of the calcinate chalk, put it in the alembic and give strong fire. Let the regulus flow for 2 hours; then pour it out and separate the dross. Pound the regulus small, add 1 lb antimonium, 16 Lot iron and 8 Lot chalk. Let them again flow together and pour the mixture out into a "Giesspuckel" (casting mould or pot?), and separate the dross.

Melt the regulus again with a new 8 Lot of chalk; pour it out and it will be quite honeycombed (porous, full of holes). Now take a clean crucible and put that into a furnace. Gradually add 2 lbs of saltpetre. Make that fixed with small coal, and when it is fixed, add auripigment to it, also 2 lbs. Let it flow for 2 hours, well stirred; then pour it out. When it is cold, pound it small, pour water upon it, extract; filtrate also. Evaporate that which has been filtered, because it cannot be precipitated.

Now melt your regulus again and put 4 Lot of such sulphur upon it. Let it melt together and then pour it out. Should your regulus become pointed (or: sharp), melt it again with chalk till it collapses in a compact condition, like lead, and black. Now separate it from the dross and weigh it. If you have worked correctly, it will have 32-33 Lot. Let that again flow into a crucible; add 16 Lot of well cleansed silver. Let it flow together for 6 hours; then pour it out.

Now melt 6 lbs of lead and put your regulus into it, and boil it therein; then pour it off. If you have worked correctly, you will find 26-28 Lot of fine gold, standing up to all tests.

The fifth modus procedendi: Dissolve 1 Mark (1/2 lb, 6 ounces) of gold, no matter in what (solvent) you wish. Precipitate it with spir. vini, and sweeten it well. Dry the chalk and put it into an earthenware bowl that has a rim all around about the size of a thumb. Put the vessel with the gold into a glass furnace. Place it to one side in the furnace where the flame goes into a cooling-furnace (or: an annealing-oven), so that it can continually move over it (the vessel). Have a small iron rake and keep on stirring the gold, and continue doing this for 2 days and nights, till the gold-chalk swells like wool. Now remove it, put it into a good crucible, put that into a vent-furnace, and give strong fire. Then your gold will flow into a bloodred glass.

Now make again some chalk from a Mark of gold, as taught above. Put this gradually into the rubyred glass, and it will gradually absorb that chalk and turn into an opaque, dark vitrum, quite mellow (or: brittle). Dissolve 1 Mark of silver in aqua fortis, precipitate it with salt water, and sweeten (wash?) the chalk well. When it is dry, let it flow and put all of your gold-glass upon it. Then it turns into a glass which you should preserve.

Take 1 Mark of silver, cement it with steatite (white fibrous gypsum) s.s.s. (strata-super-strata, or layer-upon-layer) 6 times. Then boil everything together with enough lead and pour your silver off, and you will find it very pure and fixed. One can also cement it with salt; let this flow by itself, and put 4 Lot of your above glass on it. Let it flow together, then pour it out, and you will find something that will rejoice your heart. Should it be too strong in color, add more silver, till it is as high in the trend as gold. This is the noblest work, which was practiced a great deal in the laboratories annon 1676. And there was one with us who could manifacture 4-5 lbs every week. His name was B.

NB. Read these processes often. What cannot be found in one work, is in another. I succeeded once, after which I failed 20 times, for it stayed brittle each time, until I discovered that the Tut. Alexan. makes it very supple.

Dissolve silver in a good aqua fortis, better, in a right spiritus nitri, which must in no case have come in contact with anything metallic. In that dissolve your Luna. Afterwards, draw off the spiritum, so that the silver remains behind in flux, like juice. Then pour on it a spiritus (urine?) cum suo sale, put it on warmth, and it will turn into a sticky massa like pitch, and bloodred. Let all humidity smoke off it, and mix it with as much purified ammonia as it weighs. Sublimate both together. It must be done in a phial that can be turned upside down, so that the sublimate can fall below if one turns it upside down. Do this so often till the silver flows in fundo. Now pour a highly rectified spiritus vini upon it in order to extract. Pour the extract off and pour more spiritus vini upon it. Do this so often till nothing is extracted any longer. Now pour all the extracts into an alembic and again distill the spir. vini off to a bloodred juice. Preserve it well; it is a good medicine.

Boil the above feces which still have some silver in them, also lead. You will get 3-4 Lot from the Mark; the rest is in the red juice and is spiritual. After this, take some bloodstone, extract it in strong aqua fortis; 1 lb. of bloodstone to 3 lbs of aqua fortis. Put it into a retort and set that in a sand cupel, and distill over, but not too strongly.

Again, pour 2 lbs of fresh aqua fortis on what is left in the retort; distill it again, but not too strongly. Upon the last (matter) taken out, rub 2 parts of sal ammoniac, and proceed in the same way with the sublimation as has been mentioned above concerning silver.

When finally everything stays in fundo, pour spiritus vini upon it. The above-mentioned spir. vini can be used again. It is better to pour some of it on again. Then all the redness has to be extracted, the spiritus vini draw off to a dry, red powder. Upon this powder pour a good aqua regis. Then it will dissolve like the most beautiful Hungarian gold. When there is nothing more to be dissolved, pour everything together and abstract (distill) the spiritus to a dry powder.

Pour again fresh spiritus vini upon that, and again extract and evaporate the spiritus vini utque ad consistentiam melleam. For if it is drawn off too strongly, it attaches itself to the glass like pitch and tinges the glass through and through, and much is lost. Preserve this.

One does the same with iron, also with copper and lead. Make also such a juice from copper, pour 2 Lot of each together. Put them both to be fixed. From a Mark of silver make a Luna cornua; melt it. When it is flowing, put your sulphur on it, and they will melt away like lard. If you were to put the sulphur on bad silver, they would not melt away. Many a man has a tincture, but he does not know how to infuse it into the metalla. Then he puts it on silver or gold which has not been opened previously (rendered soluble?), as may be seen in the case of Luna cornua. Then the tincture floats on top, burns and turns partly into glass, and it cannot melt away. Therefore this knack must be well heeded.

Now let a Mark of silver flow and put your tinctured Luna cornua into it; then it will unite with it (the silver) like lard and butter. And if you have done everything correctly, all will be fine gold.

But if you wish your tincture to spread better, prepare an aqua fortis of saltpetre and vitriol ana (equal parts), not too much beaten. Pour 2 lbs on 1 lb of Mercurius. Dissolve it (Mercurius) in it, put it in the cellar and let it crystallize. Remove the crystals, which have in them the most fixed part of Mercurius. Distill the liquor off to a volatile oil, and keep that separately.

Add 2 Lot of the above sal mercurii to the above composition before you fix it, and then fix them together. You will see miracles, because your sulphura will spread further. But if you add the oil from the Mercurius, you make your tincture all too volatile, and it would fly out the chimney together with the Luna cornua. Yet this oil is not to be despised, for there are great miracula in it.

One can proceed in the same way with silver, that is, by dissolving it in good aqua fortis and putting the aqua fortis in the cellar. Then most silver turns into crystals. With that one can perform miracles. Whoever wishes to accomplish something fruitful with the transmutation of metals, should reflect on this. (NB. This applies also to gold, elaboravi (I had experimented) anno 1687. E.). The crystals of silver and those of Mercurius have terra in them, whereas the oil of both is very spiritual and cannot be fixed easily. The crystals, however, are soon fixed, and to great advantage. When these two olea are poured together, one's work may be augmented thereby; or one may take the crystals from Luna and the oil from Mercurius, or the crystals from Mercurius and the oil from the silver. In summa, it is the greatest delight to work in these things.

This is also an amusing work, and it has already been mentioned in Chapt.III, though not described in detail. Now then, first make an oleum fixativum, collect a great amount of urine; into a sieve put beech ashes. Heat your urine and put it upon the ashes, so long till you think that all sharpness has come out. Now add cold urine, so that everything may subsequently run through the ashes. Prepare as much of this lye as you can.

Now fill half an oak-barrel (which should have a raised lid) with burnt lime (quicklime, calcium hydroxide, calcaria usta). Pour your filtered urine gradually upon the chalk and cover the barrel tightly so that no spiritus can get out. When all the urine is inside and the spiritus has settled, pour your chalk into a sieve, so that everything in the chalk can run through. Collect that by itself and evaporate the water contained in it to the thickness of honey. Add that to the first lye. Dissolve also potash in water; filter and evaporate it to a thick liquor.

Of that now take one part and two parts of the above lye; also 2 parts of mother-liquor of saltpetre. Put all on the fire in strong vessels and let it evaporate to a fiery oil in such a way that only half of it (lye and liquor) remains.

Now take a metal, any you wish. Turn it into thin laminae and put those into a big glass, for no vessel will keep this lye except glass. Put 8-10 lbs of metal and as much lye together into it. Close it well and keep it in steady warmth for 3 months or till you see that your lye is turning black and thick grease settles on top. Thereupon open the glass and skim the greasiness off. Put this greasiness into a luna cornua, as has already been taught, and separate it. It will be fun to do (this I have often done with my F.A. 1688 & 89. F.L.). Evaporate what remains of the grease and put it into a crucible. Let it melt, add some silver ana, precipitate it with granulated lead, and let it go off on the cupel. Thus you will each time obtain at least 2 and also 3 Lot of gold or silver from 1 pound, which will stand all tests.

NB. It goes best with old copper from roofs and old lead from windows which have stood in the weather, and with iron that is rustiest.

In addition, you should boil finely powdered Hungarian Minera antimonii (stibnite) in a white lye of calce viva and ash, till it is all dissolved. Then filter it, precipitate the sulphura with aceto vini from the lye, sweeten it well and dry it out. Of that take 4 lbs, put them in a glass, pour 6 lbs of the previous main lye upon it, and put it, well preserved, on steady warmth. After 3 months, there will collect on top a greasiness of many colors. Skim that, and put it in another clean glass.

Close your big glass again. After 4 weeks, open it and take the oleum off. Do this so often till you have about 6-8 Lot together. Now coagulate the oil, pour a highly rectified spiritus vini upon it, and it will be colored bright like blood. Put all the colored matter together and distill the spiritus vini off to a bright red (or: scarlet) shiny oil. This oil tinges Mercurius into gold, but the Mercurius must first be made into crystals, as has been taught in the previous chapter.

Of these crystals, 4 Lot and of the oil 2 Lot are to be rubbed together and again fixed; then again take 2 Lot of oil and mix them with the previous; again fixed, and then put on the Mercurius.

The same can be done with common sulphur, when it opens up in our lye an ugly stench results. But in time the stench disappears and a bloodred oil appears on top. Auripigmentum also turns into a bloodred oil. Bismuth and arsenicum are also fixed in it, so that it flows in the fire like oil; and it tinges all copper into steady silver, likewise tin, and to great advantage.

The other oleum fixativum is prepared in the following manner. There exists a yellow-brown, greasy earth, also a red-brown and a grey-brown, a red-yellow and all yellow earth in many places. Generally, these earths (soils) have in themselves a lunar or solar milk. This milk not only ripens metals but augments them, so that they start growing in it immediately. If a finely powdered mineral, such as antimonium, bismuth, auripigment, cinnabar nativa, or another ore, is put into such earth, digested with one another well closed in gentle heat, it begins to grow and a bloodred grease rises on top, which is a real tincture all by itself.

Yet there is a great difference among earths. For there exists only one earth that gives off a solar milk, which will be described word for word in Chapt.VI, and where to find such. The other earth, however, which is called yellow ocre, may be found at all times during the day in foundries. The greasy and fatty one is best. And the one which during annealing gives off a multicolored, stinking spiritus (smoke) and where the earth remains as a caput mortuum vitrioli, is the very best.

Take some of that and fill several retorts with it, half-full. Put on big recipients. At the beginning, drive very carefully. Then a spiritus will go over like thick fog, and much sal volatile, finally to be driven out by strong fire. The caput mortuum has to be washed once again in hot water, filtered and evaporated to salt. Powder this salt finely and add it to the spiritus, and it will unite with it.

Now have at hand a fat liquor derived from flint-pebblestones (oil of flints?). Take 2 parts of it and 3 parts of the above, pour it carefully together, and pour of this liquor upon metal, sulphur or ore, and proceed in everything as has been indicated above concerning the lye. That produces much more and it is thereby also mightily increased.

Make the flint-pebblestone liquor as follows: See to it that you get pebbles that are somewhat transparent and not too big. That kind is found in large quantities in Saale, the Elster, the Elbe, and other rivers. Pound them finely to flour. Now fill earthenware retorts with the powder, as many as you wish. Add to every pound of pebbles 4 Lot of purified ammonia, and drive per gradus so long till the retorts melt. For the longer the retorts hold, the more spiritus there will be, and the fatter it will become (I, A., have found it very good, and I have noticed that a ripening water is concealed in it).

When the retorts melt together, let the fire go out and you will find in the necks of the retorts a most beautiful sublimate, a golden-yellow in front, a bloodred in the middle, and a grey one at the back. There is something special behind this sublimate; put that into the grass-green liquor. Now put that into a high alembic and draw it's aqua recolacea off it in B.M. to (the state of) a fat oil. Many consider this something special. Especially if this liquor were to be united with spiritus vini, it is supposed to be a remedy for wandering stones and podagra, and it is so in truth. When this liquor is coagulated together with salt, it results in a field into which anything one desires may be sown. For in it everything grows and becomes fixed.

When our grey sulphur is put into this liquor and they are coagulated together, it becomes our salamander, which fire cannot consume. This salamander tinges lead and silver into good gold. Grey sulphur is made in the following way:

Antimonium, arsenic, sulphur 1 lb. Everything is pounded and intermixed and put in a retort. A recipient is put on; then one gives fire. The arsenic will rise up in the retort like blood. Take it out or skim it off, and add to it it's own weight in fresh antimonium and sulphur. Again rub them well together, put the retort back into the fire. Again give fire for 2 hours, then let it cool down. Break the retort in two and separate from it the red arsenic. Again add part of antimonium and sulphur, well rubbed together, and again put into a retort. Do that seven times, adding each time fresh antimonium and sulphur. The last time, give fire for 4 hours, break the retort, and separate the bloodred sulphur.

NB. That which remained each time under the sulphur makes a regulus. Pound the red sulphur small, put it into a broad pan, and calcinate it so long till everything combustible has left it, except a grey-white powder. This is the powder which is to be united with the above fat salt of pebbles. If a crocus martis & veneris is joined to this salt in equal weight and fixed together with it for some time, and then put into a luna cornua, the separation will yield much gold. If Bohemian granades are powdered fine and this liquor is poured on them, and again in-digested; and then some liquor silicum is again poured over and again in-digested, and if that is then put into lead, well molten together, and the lead is made to come out on the cupel, there will be much gold.

Here information is given on another kind of earth, because detailed information on yellow earth has already been given in the previous chapter. This earth cannot be obtained more than once a year, and the constellation of it's planets must be well understood, otherwise there is failure. One cannot go by the common calendar. The right time is the following: When the break occurs in the sky where mountain towns are located, which happens every year in June, at the full moon. For as the moon enters cancer, the earth is covered over and turns into pure gold. This happens at the Freyberg in Meissen and at the Annaberg at Clausthal. Then the earth looks brown before the time. But when the acclimatization has been done, it looks like pure gold, although it does not last longer than 3-4 hours.

Fill several casks with this earth and close them tightly, till you have taken them to the place where you wish to have them. For in this is the true spiritus univers. With this earth fill half of a retort, put that into a sand cupel and add a large receiver. Start distilling slowly, and a spiritus will go over with many colors. When everything is over, extract also the salt from the gold. When everything is extracted, filter and evaporate it to half and put it into the cellar. Then crystals of various colors appear. Pour the above spiritus upon those crystals and they will dissolve in it. This menstruum opens everything up (renders everything soluble) and brings it to it's prima materia . Gold melts in it like ice in warm water, and it drops a white earth; the solution looks red like blood. Strain the water into another glass. The talc that remains tastes like chalk. It is of no other use than for adding a metallic terra volatili, for another work; it is suitable for that purpose because it is very pure and simple.

Draw your menstruum over in a retort to a thick oil. NB. The menstruum is still a pure virgin. Take one part of the oil (I have not found any tincture more powerful in the augmentation than this, except the philosophers' stone). Make another oil from the (antimony?) in the same way; take 2 parts of that and combine them. Lock them in an ovum philosophorum, and let them go through the colors, which is an inexpressible spectacle. When they now intercoagulate, they can be augmented by oleo solis and oleo antimonii. This is a powerful tincture for tinging Mercurius into gold.

Further, if this liquor is poured upon finely powdered gold-golden (gold containing?) ore, 3 fingers' width above it, put into an alembic, closed with a blind helmet, put in gentle heat, the ore starts to grow, which is strange to see. On top there will be a thick, fat, bloodred oil. This may be removed every 4 weeks, locked in an ovum philosophorum and fixed with a lamp. After 4 weeks, the thick, fat oil is again removed and added to the previous in the ovum philosophorum. Thus one can augment this stone in infinitum, for one can remove a good amount every month.

Care has to be taken to pour some of the menstruum into the glass every trimester; thus one obtains an eternal mine. For the stone may be augmented by the oil, and each time before augmenting it, take some out of the glass and add the oil again. This tincture tinges all metals into real gold. Large pearls can also be made with this menstruum, for which the procedure is as follows:

Dissolve in this menstruum a true Mercurius vivus. You will obtain a fat, thick milk. Into that dip a pearl that you would like to make larger. Afterwards hang it in a small glass at a gentle heat. After 24 hours, take it out again and dip it once more into the milk. Hang it again in the glass in the warmth, and do that so often till it is big enough. Dip it again into the simple menstruum, and put it again into the glass at a gentle heat. It will get a beautiful lustre and be much more beautiful than the oriental ones.

You can also coagulate your milk down to a brilliant stone. Such (a stone) will transmute Mercurius into silver. Prepare a spiritus fumantes in the following way:

3 Lot of tin, 5 Lot of Mercurius. Prepare an amalgam of this and powder it fine. Take as much as this weighs of a right Mercurius sublimatus. Mix them well and put the mixture quickly into a glass retort, for otherwise the amalgam absorbs air. Set it into a sand cupel with a large recipient, half of which must lie in cold water. Drive it over by fire per gradus, and a bright spiritus will go over so forcefully that one is astonished. But when some salt begins to sublimate, one has to stop. As soon as this spiritus touches the air, it begins to smoke a lot; and if one were to put him at the air open, it would probably all go up in smoke.

Take 2 parts of the above spiritus, and 1 part of this latter. Pour them carefully into a large alembic, which is fun to watch. Many colors will appear and will last over a month, till at last the mixture will turn into a milk-white liquor. Use that as follows:

Dip a bristle (stiff hair) into a crystal water (dew is best for dipping a bristle into), so that a drop stays at the bottom. Hold this bristle carefully in the upper part of the alembic, above the liquor. Now a drop of water will coagulate and turn into a transparent pearl. Leave this on the bristle; take another bristle, dip it again into the water, and hold it above the liquor. A drop will immediately coagulate again. Make as many of these transparent pearls as you wish. After that, dip one pearl after another into the liquor and turn them around, according to whether you wish to make them round or oblong. Take them out, dry them at a gentle heat and dip them in again. Do this so often till they are big enough.

Make a cross of wood and poke many holes into it, so that you can put your pearls into them. Dip each pearl once again into the liquor, then set them into the cross. Put the cross into an alembic and close it well. Put the alembic on gentle heat. Now they will become ripe and much more beautiful than the oriental ones. It is fun to do it. One can also give them a color. Just pour a little of the oleo antimonii (into the mixture), as has been taught in this booklet, and you can make pearls that play in many colors. If one adds oleo solis, they become red like blood. This liquor coagulates all water to a milk-colored stone. With this liquor all precious stones can be made. Besides, one can undertake various works with the liquor univers. before anything alien has been added to it and it is still by itself.

A crocus Veneris can be made in the following manner: Prepare a distilled verdigris from copper. First distill it's spiritus from it. Calcinate the remaining caput mortuum in an open fire; better, lixiviate all salt from it and dry that afterwards. Pour the liquor over that powder, two fingers' width above it. Put it tightly closed into a gentle heat, and a thick oil will appear on top. With this oil one can tinge all metals into gold.

Pour this liquor upon a regulus Martis & antimonii, and it dissolves it in momento. If the solution is carefully poured off and put in the cellar, crystals will form like the most beautiful diamonds. Remove them and take 2 parts of them. Add 1 part of the above oleo and mix well in a clean glass bowl. They will exude an excellent smell. Put it into a phial, place that on a lamp, and it will go through the colors in one month. You can augment it with the oil. This is an excellent medicine for men and metals. You can also make the stone alone from this liquor. If the liquor silicus is joined to the spiritus fumante, precious stones can be made in it, as will be shown in the following chapter. In summa, this liquor is unfathomable.

First: To prepare the spiritus metallorum from all vitriol pyrites that have not yet been in the fire, one proceeds as follows:

When the vitriol pyrite is taken from the mountains, it must immediately be put in barrels, to prevent it from absorbing the astral, become heated and thus effloresce what is best in it, for then a quarrel is caused in the pyrites. If then one wishes to drive the pyrite, one has to fill a retort with it, set it in sand - or flame fire and put on a large receiver (this is then the noblest art, to catch the spiritus in "Ferch: (seed?) without volatilizing it in the fire or efflorescing it in the air. This is the true alive-making spiritus which vivifies and... ?). At the start, one must know how to control the fire well, for it (the iron vitriol) goes over like milk, very strongly. After 2 days the fire has to be increased to another degree, and so forth for 5 days. Finally, a strong acid goes over along with it and much salt settles in the retort and on the neck of the receiver. Now let the fire go out. When everything is well cooled down, remove the receiver, mix the sublimate and spiritus well together, pour it (the mixture) into a large alembic and put that into the B.M. Put a helm on and add a recipient. Give a very gentle fire, and your spiritus metallorum will rise. Let the fire go out and remove the spir. met. Put your alembic into the sand; start distilling again, and the spiritus vitrioli goes over. The oleo corrosivum will remain at the end. Put that by itself.

Now take the caput mortuum which has remained in the above retort; extract the salt from it, evaporate and crystallize, so that it becomes pure. Then pour your oleum on it and put it for one month in putrefactionem. After that, distill it from a retort in the sand, and your oil will go over like blood. In the neck of the retort a bloodred sublimate will settle. Back in the retort there stays some salt which has to be annealed, evaporated and coagulated till it becomes brilliantly white; then it is prepared. Add the sublimate to the above spiritus; rectify the other spiritus till all phlegm is removed and mix that spiritus with the oleum. Then you have here spiritus, corpus & anima (spirit/mercury, body/salt & soul/sulphur).

Pour your oil back on the salt, put it into digestion and distill it repeatedly per retortam, till all salt has been distilled over. That must occur at least in the sixth distillation. Then your oil will become dark red and heavy like lead.

Now put your oil into a high alembic, pour part of the retained spiritus on it, namely, you have to divide it into 4 parts. Put the alembic with a helm in the B.M. at a very gentle heat, for 4 weeks. Then take the alembic and put it in sand. If some of the spiritus still rises over, pour it back again and put the alembic again in the B.M. until all the spiritus is fixed. Proceed in the same way with the remaining spiritus, by and by, until everything is fixed.

Now pour it into a large phial-glass, lute it and coagulate it to a red carbuncle. When you notice that it is fixed and that it flows in the fire, take it out, melt some gold and pour that on, till all your gold is transformed into a bloodred powder. Take this red powder, put it on Luna cornua in flux, and such will turn into a fat, red glass. Of that now take one part to 1000 parts of Mercurius purgatus. When it gets warm, it becomes steady gold in all tests.

How to make a tincture from sulphur pyrites: Take a sulphur pyrite (or: sulphide?), the fresher it is, the better. Fill half a retort with it, put on a big receiver, start distilling very slowly, and a milk-white spiritus will at first go over. Subsequently, there follows strong spiritus, and finally an oil, and much red sublimate settles on the retort. Give strong fire for the last distillation, so that everything gets well annealed. When everything has cooled down, remove the receiver and pour your greyish, stinking, thick liquor into an alembic; put a helm on and a recipient. Now put the alembic in the B.M. and start distilling quite gently. The spiritus will rise together with a white sublimate. After this, remove the recipient and prepare the sublimate from the helm; add that to the spiritus and preserve it well.

Remove the alembic from the Balneo Mariae and put it in sand, and start distilling again. Now a sour soltice will go over with some oil, the dark red oil will stay behind. Put that into a retort and distill it over again, also from its salts which has been extracted from the residual caput mortuum. Do this so often till all salts have risen over. And pour the medium spiritus with the oil on it proceed in everything else as with the vitriol highlights. After which coagulated into the carbuncle.

The work is the same with auripigment. One has to remember only that a bloodred sublimate rises too, and that this must be retained, so that it does not get mixed up with the oil. Instead, it has to be taken from the neck of the retort, sublimated alone several times, then put into the spiritus which has risen over into the balneum mariae. Subsequently, the whole work is to proceed as the previous one. To obtain the spiritus from cinnab. nativa , following must be done: Fill half a retort with cinnabar nativa, put a big receiver on it and set the retort in sand; then it begins to distil, and the spiritus will go over together with much sublimate. When everything has come over, let it cool down, and remove the receiver; add the sublimate to the spiritus, distill both over together, and you will get a golden yellow smoke in spiritus.

When you have 1 lb. of it, take half a lb. of Mercurius distilled with calce viva and put it into a retort. Pour the spiritus on it, lute it well and put it for 4 weeks in ashes, when you see that the spiritus has opened up Mercurius, set your retort in sand, put a receiver on it and start distilling till everything has gone over into a golden-yellow, fiery spiritus. In the retort a little white-grey earth will remain, which is of no use. Therefore, throw it away !

Take your spiritus and pour on 1 lb. of fresh Mercurius. Proceed in everything as indicated above, and you will obtain a heavy, fat menstruum with which you can bring all metals, especially gold and silver, to (the state of) prima materiae, it is done as follows: Prepare a gold calx; the purer it is, the better, especially if it is done by Mercurius. Put this calx into an alembic and pour as much menstruum as the weight of parts; lute it well. Put it in a gentle heat, and the gold will melt in it like ice in warm water, the white earth will settle at the bottom. Now open the alembic, pour what has been extracted into a retort; the residual calx or earth is useless. Set this little retort in sand, put a recipient on it, lute it, and distill your menstruum back over again, you can use this menstruum again as before. Give strong fire, and your gold-sulphur will flow together like a bloodred, transparent vitrum. Rectifying allowed, remove the retort, break it, and take out your red stone. Put it into gold flux, and it will turn it also into glass.

Put one part of this on a Luna cornua in flux, and it will also turn into a red powder. Of this put one part from 1,000 parts of the heated Mercurius and it transmutes it into gold. The same occurs at Luna. And this is the true ALKAHEST ! If it should lose it's power from too much use, it should be poured again on fresh Mercurius and should again be distilled over. Then it is again as good as before.

With this menstruum one can also open and strengthen the regulus of Antimonii & Iron; it turns bloodred thereby. In summa, it is unfathomable. Bloodstone (haematite), steatite, "Bleyschweif" and blende are to be poured over with the following spiritus. Their sulphur is extracted together with their spiritum for one spiritus unites with another.

Cobalt - Pound it fine and mix it with 3 lbs of steatite. Fill a retort with it, put on a large receiver and put it in sand, and begin to distill very carefully, for this spiritus goes over with a sublimate white like hailstones. When everything is over, (it must in the last distillation be driven over with strong fire), let it cool down, remove your receiver and mix everything well together. Watch out, however, for the smoke and the smell. Pour it into a high alembic, put a helm on, set the alembic in B.M., start distilling very gently, and a spiritus like the spiritus vini will rise with a large amount of sublimate. Then stop, remove the receiver; when everything has well cooled down, take the sublimate out of the alembic and sublimate it again in a small retort, at least 2 or 3 times. Now pour the spiritus on the sublimate in a retort, and digest it during one month. Then distill everything over together and pour it back. Do that 3 or 4 times, and your menstruum is ready again and may be used just as the previous one.

There are many "angeflohene" (?) gold pyrites (or: rocks) which when driven through a retort, result in just such a spiritus as cobalt, but there is not as much sublimate. But if it's back is to the wall and a Luna is put into it and digested together, it graduates all silver and gold constantly, and it is easy to get enough of such pyrites (or: rocks).

If you have precious stones which have not ripened, proceed as follows: Take one part of the liquor in Chapt.VI, 2 parts of the spiritus fumante described in Chapt.VII, 2 parts of the flat liquor in Chapt.V made from pyrites. Pour those three carefully together and they will curdle like milk, with many colors. Put that into an alembic. If then you have precious stones that are unripe, put them into the alembic. Set the glass on gentle heat and let it stand thereon for one month. Then they become ripe and get their right color and grow therein, becoming even bigger. In this earth all things grow. If one puts a crystal in it and leaves it in it for some time, it gets a skin like an egg, in which it will grow, and it will get a hardness like the most beautiful diamond. If one adds one part of the gold-ore, as taught in Chapt.VI, it will get fixed and finally turns into a tingeing stone for the transmutation of silver into gold.

This now is what I have promised of the transmutation of all things in the mineral kingdom. Work diligently, call upon the Most High for wisdom and help, also for His blessing, and you will perform miracles, but do not forget your poor fellow men, and use it to the honour of God, Amen.

I will here reveal to you a very little about the Lapis Philosophorum, but which is so important that it excels the sayings and writings of all philosophers. Therefore, take heed of what I say, and write my words in diamond in the innermost of your heart.

This stone is called threefold, or the Trinity in the Unity of homogeneity, or as Trevisanus says; Our stone is made from a root and two mercurial substances. This Trinity is distinct in component things. For there is 1. the body (which is Sol) and 2. the water (which is Mercurius), in which, in addition to it's mercuriality, there is 3. a spiritual seed of (symbol of sulfur but with triangle pointing downwards?), which is the secret fire. This is the Trinity, and is called body, soul and spirit. These three pieces or things, therefore, constitute a whole concretum, which is rightly to be held as being threefold, in view and considerations of the circumstances concurring therein, especially because of it's origin proper. This particularity makes it easy to conclude that in this three and one prove to be aich diesfalls im besten Grunde erziege (in this case in the best reason?). Work, therefore, in this in the name of God, only according to nature, in the beginning with a very gentle heat until you perceive the raven's head, out of which a white dove is born. When you see that, thank God and increase your fire until you see come out the king of honors, clad in the precious royal purple. Receive him with the greatest reverence and use it to God's honor and your poor fellow man's benefit and advantage, and live godfearing and reticent.

Neither can I hold back from you the weight of the composition because of my loyal father's heart. And that is also three and one, namely, one part corporis and three parts of water, bene purgati. Take care, therefore, that you distill the water with which you wish to bring the stone to life before working with it and, as it is, often by itself. Then you will recognize by it's appearance if it is cleansed of all impurity, because some adulterate it with lead and other substances, which we disapprove of. Distill it, therefore, that it becomes as pure and thin as water, bright and shining like the sky, or azure-blue, and that it keep at the same time it's form and weight or gravity.

You must also ferment your prepared powder with purified gold per antimonii, for Sol non tingit, nisi prius tingatur (for Sol does not tinge, nor is it tinged first). If you would now project this upon metals (one part to 10 parts), cover the tincture in a little yellow wax, to prevent it from going up in smoke, in specie with the saturn, which is anyhow a destroyer and devourer of metals.

The mulitplicatio Lapidus consists in taking of that tincture and adding it to a new corpus and water in the same pondere, and letting it go through the colors. The more this is done, the more it tinges. The first time it tinges 10 parts of Mercurius, etc.

NB. It is quite certain that metals have previously been a mercurius , because all things consist of this substance in which they are dissolved. The first coagulation of Mercurius is the Minera plumbi (lead) and it is the greatest, or best and easiest means to bring or promote the above-mentioned Mercurius to perfection and fixation; for the said ore has never and is never found without a fixed grain of gold or silver. The whole mercurial compositum is nothing but a compatible water and fire.

NB. It happened to me annon 1688 in Nordhausen. When I had dissolved the Mercurius philosophice coagulatus in aqua fortis, I extracted a milky white liquor which, after I mixed it with fresh aqua fortis, instantaneously dissolved the thinly beaten metal - gold or aurum factium, in such a way that the said aqua fortis immediately got, or took on, a different color, namely, saffron-yellow, and also another admirable sweet taste, which doubly changed characteristics indicated a strange transmutation. On top, a fat, greasy salt could be observed.

Aqua regis 1 lb, 12 Lot solid, clear and heavy quicksilver. Put all that together into a strong alembic-glass, and gradually add a small quantity of Mercurius. After that, stopper the glass up or close it's mouth very tightly to prevent the power or strength of the ammonia from evaporating. Let it stand in ashes at a gentle heat, and the aqua regis will dissolve the Mercurius.

Pour fresh aqua regis over that which is not dissolved, until it all dissolves. The proba (proof) is that when a small sheet of copper is put into it, it must be tinged with a silver color.

Transcribed by Joshua Ben Arent 2001