The Tomb of Poverty

In which it is clearly treated of the transmutation of
Metals & the means that one must take to achieve it.

By an unknown philosopher

(Note of LAT: it is about Henri d'Atremont)

Second edition

Review & increased by the Key, or Explanation of the obscure words.

With a Philosophical Dream on the Subject of Art.


In Paris

At L. D'Houry, on the Quai des Augustins,

like Saint Jean.


M.DC.LXXXI.

With Approval & Permission.


To the Curious.

You, who seek the miracles, which Antiquity boasts to you,
Come and consult the Oracles of the Tomb of Poverty.

DV


To Madame D***

Madam, the particular inclination I had from my earliest years to hear about beautiful things, increasing more and more with time, pushed me to travel to the most distant countries, to satisfy my mind in the search for the most curious sciences, to which I attached myself with all the more stubbornness, as they seemed impossible to me, having wanted to see for this purpose all those who, for having extraordinary knowledge, seemed to me to be infinitely elevated above the Common. . In which I was not so unhappy, that I did not speak with several great personages of all kinds of Nation, of the design which pushed me to seek the honor of their conversation, to disabuse me of my curiosity, or to confirm me there more ;of which having received the satisfaction that I had proposed to myself by a thousand fine experiments on every sort of science; I finally resolved to put an end to so many fatigues that I suffered during twenty four years of travel, by continually admiring the Greatness and Goodness of God, to have made the Spirit of man capable of so many beautiful things, incredible to those who have particular Lights. The transmutation of metals, which my principal object at present is to treat, and which so many people combat, for never having been happy enough to see the effects of it, has been one of the curiosities to which I have devoted myself for some years with the greatest eagerness.not being able to persuade me (even if the effects had not been demonstrated by several great Princes of Europe) that so many great personages would have wanted to put their reputation in compromise, to speak of a thing which would have had no foundation but useless reasoning, to push men into pain and embarrassment, by their chimerical speeches. Now, as I have known many persons of all conditions who devoted themselves to similar researches without any foundation, I believed that I would profit them little by giving them this short speech, by which they will easily know their error, or will confirm themselves more in their design; and although my object had been only to print a few copies only, to distribute them to my private friends, I believed that I could do no greater good to the Curieux;than to let them know. Now MADAME, as this work cannot itself acquire Esteem, since its very Author does not make himself known, I took the liberty of putting on its frontispiece Your Illustrious Name of **** so that by the brilliance which surrounds it, it also prints there the necessary grace and attractions, to be approved without difficulty, and read without inconvenience. The clear and penetrating vivacity of your mind, which makes you penetrate the most obscure sciences, and triumph in the finest arts, will be its luster and its value, if you make of it a judgment as favorable as I expect it to be judicious; and if he is lucky enough to be received from your hands,he will meet there the same advantage as that which the imperfect metals receive by the powder of Projection, which by its virtue as surprising as it is precious, transmutes the weak quality of these metals, into that of the richest and most perfect work of Nature. Because everything that approaches you, MADAME, must be precious, since everything that meets there is priceless; and when this little treatise will have fallen into your hands, I can say that it will find there its perfection by the rebound of that which issues from all your actions, and its Author its glory, if he can obtain permission to speak with all imaginable respect. Because everything that approaches you, MADAME, must be precious, since everything that meets there is priceless;and when this little treatise will have fallen into your hands, I can say that it will find there its perfection by the rebound of that which issues from all your actions, and its Author its glory, if he can obtain permission to speak with all imaginable respect. Because everything that approaches you, MADAME, must be precious, since everything that meets there is priceless; and when this little treatise will have fallen into your hands, I can say that it will find there its perfection by the rebound of that which issues from all your actions, and its Author its glory, if he can obtain permission to speak with all imaginable respect.

MADAM

Your very humble and very obedient Servant
Patron General of the Society of Wandering Philosophers.


TO THE READER

Friend Reader, I had resolved not to make this little Treatise common, since I only wanted to give the communication of it to a few particular Friends. But the blindness that I noticed in many, who consumed the most liquid of their goods, in search of this Philosopher's Stone, of which we speak so much, obliged me to share with them this little speech, which will serve as a beacon to them to avoid the pitfalls, where no doubt they would be shipwrecked, letting themselves be swept away inconsiderately by the waves of a vain Hope, and an immoderate desire to become rich.And to tell the truth, I do not believe that there is anything more ridiculous, than such kind of people, who having heard of the magisterium of the Sages, or read in some books the great effects which are attributed to it, (the least of which is to make Gold and Silver in infinite quantities, ) allow themselves (according to the natural inclination that men have to be rich) so easily persuaded to this passion, that they leave all things, to attach themselves to the conquest of the golden fleece, imagining that to achieve it , there is only to build furnaces, to burn coal, and to break glasses, and flatter themselves with this false reasoning, that if it is true that others have succeeded in it, they will also be able to achieve it .In this imagination they try all sorts of ways, and use all the means they can think of, to discover such a great secret? Some by reading, others by work. Others who believe they are more shrewd try to swindle him, (of those who believe they know) by suppleness, subtleties, and artifices, (I know more of those, that of others) and afterwards by an unheard-of perfidy, declaim against those whose praises they previously published, in order not to testify to their obligees .There are only too many of this kind in the world, especially a certain character, who through a vanity of persuading that he knew something above the common, wanted to call himself the maker of all things, and who basically knew nothing, of which a certain Philosopher by an effect of very particular kindness (believing him more sincere, than gave he has since shown himself) him the means to recover from the bad reputation which he had acquired by the administration of his remedies. s violent, and emetic, and gain glory with profit, by the surprising effects of the Remedies which he gave on the part of his Philosopher, of whom having had then after knowledge,in order not to bear witness to his obligation and to acquire all the glory, in the belief that he would never see him again, wanted to make it understood that by his speculations (although a Doctor without letters) he had come to know such great secrets. And others finally, despairing of being able to acquire it by any of these means, have recourse to crime, wanting to have it by force, or finally attempting the life of those whom they believe to be possessors of it, although most often they are so only by imagination; of which, after having caught some half-worn papers, they have an unspeakable joy, and believe they are already swimming in Gold and Silver;but unfortunately for them, either this paper is in Ciphers, which are unknown to them, and of which, jealous to the last degree, they do not want to entrust the deciphering of it to anyone, lest the decipherer learn the secret of it, and become richer than them, either if this paper is written in intelligible letters, the meaning will be obscure, or else there will be some other difficulty, which diminishing their joy increases the regret they have for their unjust procedure, which burdens their conscience all the more, that they think of the crime they have committed .Finally what is unfortunate for all these characters is that after having amassed by all sorts of ways an infinity of Chemical receipts which they keep with as much care, and which they leaf through, and handle every day with as much pleasure, as a miserly Rich would tell and turn ducats; they then find themselves unable to implement them, either for lack of convenience or for lack of money, which is the most ordinary defect of such kind of people; to remedy this, they have resorted to other people's purses after having emptied their own; and to oblige those whom they believe to have furnished it, to share it with them all the more freely no less than to make them richer than the Kings, they who are poorer than the last beggars of the Hospital;and the better to become still masters of these credulous spirits, after having praised to them three or four of their procedures, of which only one would be able to put them at their ease, and which they call infallible, after always telling some story, which never fails in similar encounters. They even protest with oaths, that after these they will make something else look good, thus tickling the ears of these poor Fourniers merchants,and filling their hearts with such strong hopes that they imagine themselves to be already Croesus, not taking heed that these deceptive hopes will, on the contrary, precipitate them into a state as deplorable as that of those merchants of smoke, if they do not disabuse themselves of it early, with an immortal regret, which will remain in them from an attachment, from which, instead of the good and the contentment that they promised from it, only the misery, and confusion, and will perhaps be grateful to me for having made them see clearly in this little Treatise the path they must take, to prevent themselves from being disappointed. This is the main goal, Dear Reader, that I proposed to myself in bringing this book to light, that Christian Charity inspired me, which obliges us to warn our neighbor of his misfortune,and divert it as much as possible. It is here where they will see the means to disabuse themselves of all the false proposals that will be made to them, to work on a subject from which they will only receive satisfaction, if the good Lord gives them the grace to succeed in it, exhorting them with all my heart not to start anything on the fly. God will lead in this work those whom he will judge worthy of it for his honor, and for his glory. Farewell.

APPROVAL

We have read, and diligently examined, the little book which calls itself The Tomb of Poverty, and have found nothing capable of preventing it from being printed. In witness whereof we have signed this Certificate, In Paris this last October 1672. Signed LE VIGNON, DE CAEN, PUYLON, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine.


PERMISSION

Given approval, allowed to print. Done this eighth day of November 1672.

Signed, DE LA QUEEN.


PHILOSOPHICAL DREAM,
Who discovers to the Children of Science the true secret of Art.

Two days ago, while sleeping, I thought I saw Venus in the arms of Mars, Vulcan unfortunately for them surprised them, even when they were at the height of their caresses; and to avenge himself for this affront, he pierced both of them in the breast with a great thrust of his dagger. The blood immediately left their veins, and went to return to the sea which it tinted with its color. Neptune, astonished at such a rapid change, and to find out the cause, left immediately; and as he walked along the shore, he cast his sight to the place where Mars and Venus had remained, whom he saw lying dead on the arena still all bloodied.This triple spectacle affected him significantly, but seeing himself powerless to remedy it, he suddenly threw his Trident into the sea in anger, in the very presence of Vulcan. This blow thus launched with such precipitation and force, so moved the waves of the sea, that it foamed on all sides; and to further mark her trouble, she filled the air with malign vapours, which infected her with their stench, and which afterwards formed a thick cloud so unpleasant that Jupiter was indignant. Vulcan perceived this, and fearing that Jupiter would accuse him of having caused this disorder, he shrewdly withdrew to Mercury, and begged him, if it were possible to appease this storm as soon as possible.Unofficial Mercury immediately rose unreluctantly into the air, and passing through this cloud gradually began to dissipate it: the sea became as calm, and bloody as it was, it appeared under a beautiful white veil as clear as the finest and purest rock water. So Saturn which was just coming, addressed himself immediately to Mercury, and said to him amiably, that in truth he had done much to have thus purified the air, but that he begged him to want in his favor, to divert from above the sea this beautiful white veil which hid it, so that by this means all the people who were there assembled could see it without hindrance, and even bathe in it if they liked. Mercury carried out this coup d'etat with all the skill and success that Saturn hoped for.However Ceres, seized by the fear of never seeing more fruit on the earth, did not testify to take much part in it. This is why Mercury tried to console her, and to achieve this, showed her in the sea an infinity of flowers that a gentle Zephyr had sown there, and assured her that notwithstanding this, there was still enough left on the trees to bear fruit in abundance .Ceres, quite convinced that she was of Mercury's good friendship, as well as of his sincerity, did not, however, at first add much faith to his words, and because she knew that he delighted in making messages, she begged him that on his occasion, and to put an end to the grievance which tormented her, he should therefore go and pick himself the finest and best, to be presented in a feast, which she had resolved to give to the Gods and Goddesses. Mercury immediately took his Caduceus rod and set out; but his journey, although long, did not have all the success that Ceres expected if Apollo had not assisted him in his enterprise. On their return Ceres took of the fruit, and beginning with Diana she presented it to all the Gods and Goddesses,she finally put some into the mouths of Mars and Venus, who instantly resuscitated. The surprise I had woke me with a start, and for fear of forgetting such a mysterious dream, I got up immediately to put it in writing, and share it with the Curieux.

THE KEY OR DECRYPT
obscure words that are in this Book.

Songra netigieluk eude sirkigli, read: by filtration after resolution in distilled vinegar.
Ciogh almise cicekinde, ostez bunleri cicek, read: swollen in flowers, remove these flowers.
Cicekinde, read: in bloom.
Bunleri cicek, read: these flowers.
Kirees chonus tos olursah ciek inge nige deghmemelik, read: the lime or powder is very thin, very thin and as it were impalpable.
O Aquel Elaf Psonitu Psansi Esernira Beta Fleso Spartiesu Onez Battachenra Fluined Bad Clavitree, Datul Eselut Sigonitisono, Imalisa Delme Pured Sproludren Peto Acenidrep, read: is that the said powder Discontinated and that in ignition. remain powder and ash; for by this means we know etc.
Tos olursah bir alrun parlamasisus, read: let the said powder be without any metallic glow.
Bir altun parlamasi, read: some color.
Tos budeghise-mek arruk irengh, read: that the said powder no longer change color, but that it be and remain in the same color, because etc.
Deghise-melik irengh, of color change.
La dil olurasah fckugi, read: by distilled vinegar.
Dur netigielk dahi, temislemek, dur kurut mak, dur mubasceret and mek, read the solve again, filter and freeze, and repeat.
Dur netigielk india szeirun jaghi by the BM songra Gueuseeklighilhe kurut max dur dahi netigielx to the BM daimmalighile, read and separately dissolve it into oil by the BM then to the desiccating furnace, dry it gently, and again dissolve it to the BM reiterating until etc.
Szibax, read vulgar mercury.
Karise-durmax with szibak remandsik, read: to amalgamate with vulgar mercury washed and purged, and to pass through the thick cloth.
Szibax bellielmise, read: Mercury vulgar purged and put it to dry in the bottom of a still with its cover; being dry, grind it again on the marble, and you will see that your mercury will have etc.
Oniki ghiahige kaez kiregz, read: twelve times as much as lime.
Flas mositrie adur guisnabigrre solit duk iatmelik, read half distilled vinegar be consumed.


THE TOMB OF POVERTY.

First part.

Of the transmutation of metals.

First chapter.
That in every change of body into another nature, matter and efficient cause are necessary.

In dealing naturally with natural changes, it is very certain that nothing can be done, but there must necessarily be some preceding matter or subject; God alone in the beginning by his omnipotence, made everything out of nothing, as he put everything into nothing by his same omnipotence, if his will was there, but after he had created the world, and what is there, he wanted what is, to be subject to perpetual change. And what is includes all natural bodies, and that is what I call matter. Now we see that every body has its natural substantial form, and participates in the four first qualities, and that besides this, it has its consistency which is in the second qualities. This form is that by which the Body has its name and essence,and of this form the Spirits of the natural bodies are distinguished and discerned from each other by the qualities, so much so that one is called of hot temperament, the other cold, the other moist, the other dry, the other temperate with one and the other first qualities, which are hot, cold, dry and moist; in the same way the consistency does not yawn the form, because it is necessary to distinguish one from the other by the secondary qualities, which are several, like hard or soft, rare or spongy, heavy or light, arid or viscous, and several other secondary qualities, which Aristotle calls bodily affection. Now these bodies do not have their forms, their temperaments and their consistency on their own, something had to have given them them;similarly the same natural bodies cannot lose their forms, their temperament, and their first consistencies, if not by some efficient cause, for the efficient cause is that which moves matter to deprive it of its first form, temperament, and consistency, and make it acquire other quite new ones. This is why I say that in every change there must be a matter, and a prejacent body, and an efficient cause which makes this change; and not only in natural bodies, but also in artificial ones, whose shape being changed, there must be a matter and an efficient cause;for a locksmith could not make a lock without iron, nor could iron of itself become a lock, and change its first shape without the locksmith: because iron is the proper material of which the lock is made, and the mind and understanding of the locksmith is the efficient cause which moves the iron, and gives him the keyhole face . It is so in all other artificial things.

Chapter II.
What is the material that must be transformed into Sol, using art.

Matter, therefore, is that of which some natural body is made, subject to being stripped of its first form, and acquiring another. This matter is distant, or near. The distant is that which must change several forms before coming to what one desires. The one that is next, is the one that with little change immediately takes its form. The material from which gold is made artificially is not that from which gold is made by mining the earth, for it is impossible. But the next matter in this art is the vulgar Mercury, and that which belongs to the metals, Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus and Mars.For gold (as regards matter) is nothing other than pure Mercury, and cooked to the last degree of metallic coction, and vulgar Mercury is nothing other than pure raw Gold, and indigestible. And metals too as for their matter, are only impure Mercury, a little more digested than vulgar Mercury, but not so much as gold. This is why in order for the vulgar Mercury to become Gold, it only remains to be cooked. And in order that the imperfect metals may be converted into gold, it is necessary that they be stripped of their impurities, and foreign substance of the nature of Mercury, and that their remaining Mercury be finished cooking.

Chapter III.
Of the Efficient Cause in this Art.

The efficient Cause in this art is that which has the virtue and power to digest and tint the vulgar Mercury in Sol, and which also has the virtue and power to cleanse and purge the other metals of their impurities, so that there remains only the pure substance of their Mercury, and even to tint and digest them. This is why Geber in his book of summa perfectionis, says on this subject, that anything whatsoever, which can clean the metal internally, make it equal, and citrine it internally from any kind of metal, it makes Gold; and for me as to what concerns the Moon, especially as it is very pure, and very digestible, and approaching the nature of Gold, I have often by cementation of salts, and other things which purge and digest, drawn and extracted from the Sol of the Moon.As for other metals, I believe that this can hardly be done; but again at the cementations of the Moon, the cost and expense outweigh the profit because of the waste, and the labor involved. There are some who have said that it is necessary to extract the Mercurys from the metals, and to cook them with lime of Sol, and in doing so have said that what caused this extraction was partly the efficient cause, and the lime of Sol partly also the said efficient cause with the aid of fire, whereupon I believe that if the Mercurys of metals can be extracted, that it would be much rather cooked by the lime of Sol, than the vulgar Mercury because of its great frigidity, humidity, and indigestion;and that this particular way is true, but the artifice of extracting the said Mercurys is very difficult and laborious. Among many who boast of knowing how to extract it, I do not see one that overcomes it: now there is another efficient cause, which the most ingenious have sought, like the salts which purge and digest, which they have called their Stone, their Auric Powder their Sulfur, and several other names, because in a moment by projection on the vulgar Mercury it digests it and dyes it into true Sol; and as for the other imperfect metals, it purges, digests and tints them in a moment. This Stone or aurific Powder, is by me called Salt of Gold; for as Salt melts and resolves in all the liquors into which it is put, this Stone or Powder also does the like;and as Salt purges, digests, and dries up by its great desiccating virtue the superfluous humidity of all things: so our Salt purges dries up, and dissipates the impurity of metals, with the help of fire; so that there remains only the pure Mercury of them, which by the same means he digests and reduces to its quality: as also consuming the superfluous humidity of vulgar Mercury he arrests and fixes it; and like any body which liquefies into water, tints it with its color, like saffron: in the same way our salt tints vulgar mercury and that of metals with its color. And like everything that is cooked, is firm and solid; in the same way all Mercury, both vulgar and of metals, decubitated in our philosophical Salt is firm and solid.And it seems that the real name of Alchemy demonstrates that this science consists of the faction of a fusible Salt, because … in Greek, means Salt, and chymia, fusion; as if it was all about making Fuse Salt. The auric salt therefore for conclusion, is the one that informs the matter,

Chapter IV.
From what material should our Aurific Salt be made?

Nature did not make this aurific Salt, that is why it is necessary that art helps nature, to extract it from the things, to which it is naturally. Several who have written in this science, say various things about it, and are in contention on this subject, but I will not amuse myself here deducing their opinions. As for me, according to the most common opinion, and which is the most probable, I hold that it must be extracted from gold; for if animate things must be compared to inanimate things, man begets a man, and a horse a horse, and universally all bodies beget their like, and every seed begets the like from which it proceeds. More, as Gold is only a Mercury more cooked and digested than the vulgar and that of other metals.In the same way our Salt or Lapis is nothing else if not that it is more cooked than Gold. Art begins where nature ends; that is to say that the goal of nature is Gold, because it is the extremity of the metals and in it begins the art to engender the tinctures which are in our salt. Moreover in the procreation of all things (as I said above) one acts, and serves as an efficient cause, the other suffers and endures, is like matter. And in the generation of the metals which consist of the moist and the dry, proper to the metallic nature, Mercury is the moist, which suffers and endures being frozen, and is cold and damp; and the terrestrial dry, is that which acts and freezes the humid.All the Philosophers of this Art call it Souphre, which Souphre is only a heated earthly substance which is like fire. Now the Mercury of all metals, and the vulgar are all alike, and differ only in qualities and accidents; that is to say, some are more or less fired than others, and are the common matter of all metals, as I said above. But their lands or Sulfur which congealed them, are different in kind from each other. This is known by experience in the resolution of these; for I calcined lead, and took from it the salt in which the earthly one had dwelt, and having pressed it in the fire, this Salt returned to Saturn as it was before.But if from this Salt the terrestrial had been taken out and extracted, and only Mercury had appeared, then (as I have recognized) this Mercury would have been like all the other Mercurys. I don't want to deny though, that to make or extract Salt from the Ground, the vulgar Mercurys or other metals cannot serve it, but the one from which the greatest force and virtue proceeds, as the efficient cause, is the ground, which is like the male; and Mercury as the female.

Chapter V.
What properties and qualities must our aurific salt have?

Our Auric Salt is of two kinds, because of two effects which it produces, one of which is less, and the other greater.

He who is less has only the strength and virtue to digest the Mercury, or that of the imperfect bodies (after it is extracted) and the Moon, as well as to dye the said Mercurys into true Sol; but it does not have the strength and virtue to separate the impure from the four imperfect metals, and what is not natural from their Mercury. Now this Salt is called by Geber the medicine of the second order, but the second and more excellent Salt is called by the said Geber the medicine of the third order, especially since this Salt by its sole projection separates from imperfect bodies all that is not of their nature, and what remains after the said separation, this Salt digests it and tints it by the same means, which the first Salt does not do, which only digests and tints without any separation.To transform therefore the Moon by projection or Mercury, both vulgar and extracted from metals, it is not necessary to have the second and excellent Salt, but only the first; for in the vulgar Mercury or extracted from imperfect bodies, there is nothing foreign, for everything is Mercury, as also the Moon is almost all Mercury, and if there are any impurities in it, it is easily removed by its simple amalgam which will pass through the coarse linen, and which will be exactly washed, and after that the said Moon has nothing to do but to be digested and dyed, which the first Salt aforesaid will do, fused by its projection.And although these two kinds of Salt have greater or lesser effects, nevertheless the matter from which one and the other are extracted is always the same matter, that is to say, Sol, as it has been said. And the only difference is in the greater or lesser preparation, as will be said hereafter, but however that may be,

Firstly, the tincture that this Salt will yield must be of the nature of gold, and this proceeds from the property which is in the Ground, and this property proceeds from the form and essence of gold, not from its matter considered with respect to its Spirit, nor from its temperament or primary qualities, or from the seconds, so that a Salt could be drawn from Venus, or from Mars, which would be redder than the Salt of Ground, and which would yield a citrine red tincture, but such a color is sophisticated, which does not never remain in trials, therefore there is no other tincture than that which is drawn from Sol, and all the Philosophers say so, and the truth is such, and no artifice can make this tincture.

The other qualities of our Salt are acquired by artifice which are, knowing that this Salt in the second place must be fusible, of fusion as sudden as wax, because of the fusion, the mixing is done, otherwise it would not be done. Now this fusion is acquired in gold when it is made Salt, because all Salt gives rise to fusion.

The 3. Quality is that this fusion is as loose and subtle as water, so that it penetrates; and this tenuity and subtlety is increased by reiteration, as will be said hereafter.

4. And one of the main ones is that this Salt be of hot and dry quality, and of igneous virtue, in order to consume the humidity of the Mercurys, and to consolidate and stop their rawness, like also that of the Moon. This quality is not on the Ground, and therefore by its mixing it does not change them, nor alter them, nor transmute them as does its Salt, added that one of the rules of its mixing, is that what acts like this Salt, be of contrary quality to what endures or suffers, like metals; because by this contrariety, a temperament is made, from which results a new species and substantial form, because this purity of the Salt is increased by the continual decoction, because everything decooked is warmer than the earth.

The 5. Quality, is the purity and transparency of our Salt, so that it penetrates better, and that is acquired by the filtration after the resolution in distilled vinegar, as will be said below.

6. Is the fixing of our Salt which must not evaporate at all, but must remain firm, and stable, and fixed in the fire without evaporating.

Geber adds the 7. Quality namely that there is affinity and similarity of species between the said Salt and Mercury, but having already said that this Salt is extracted from Gold, the effect is there, because and Sol and Mercury are only one and the same thing. The vulgar Mercurys or imperfect bodies are the beginning, the Sol is the middle, and our Salt or lapis is the extremity, that is to say that our Salt is only Mercury cooked more than that of the Sol and that of the Sol more cooked than that of the imperfect metals more cooked than that which is vulgar.

Chapter VI.
Of the various ways of making our Salt, or Lapis of the Philosophers.

Because I said there are two kinds of Salts, I will talk about the first, then the second.

As for the first, some, like Geber, take Gold and calcine it, and then draw Salt from it, on which they sublimate and fix sublimed Mercury, until a very fine and fixed fusion is made of it, and project it onto ordinary Mercury, and extract the four imperfect metals, or else project it onto the previously purged Moon. The others like Raymond Lully, calcine the Soil with mineral, vegetable and animal, or mixed water, and after the calcination distill the last spirits from the same waters which they calcined. They call this second, Spirit of the Mercurys, which they distill until they remain with the said Soil thus calcined, and say that the said lime is resolved by these second spirits, and finally distill the whole thing in the desiccating fire which they call Athanor,

The others take lime of Sol, on which they put an ounce of extracted Mercury, and cook it and fix it until everything is in red powder, of which they make a mine, because they amalgamate an ounce of vulgar Mercury or that of the metals with the said powder or ferment, and cook the whole thing for ten or twelve days, until everything becomes in red powder, and multiply this matter to infinity, always putting Mercury again in equal weight of the ferment, and when they want to profit from it. , they melt part of said mining in Sol, and keep the rest for mining and fermenting it.

As for the second Salt, which is the great Lapis, and the medicine of the third order, it is also done differently. Some Philosophers have done so. They took gold, and calcined it, for those who did not calcine it deluded themselves, and did nothing, because the purpose of this Lapis, as I have already said, is to be of the nature of Salt, and the closer Gold approaches the nature of Salt, the nearer and more willing it is to be Salt. Now the calcined Ground, as I will say hereafter, is closer to the nature of Salt, than that which is not calcined, therefore it is necessary that it be first calcined. Still those who want to do better, return it in kind of Salt after calcination.They therefore took the Sol reduced to lime, or in kind of Salt, and amalgamated an ounce of it, with four ounces of Mercury extracted from Jupiter, from Saturn, or stibium regulus. The vulgar Mercury is not proper there, for it is too cold and volatile, and would never settle after the said dissolution. The Mercurys extracted from Sol, Moon, Mars, or Venus are too hot, and do not dissolve said lime or Salt of Sol. Now the conjunction being made of the said lime or Salt with the Mercury of Jupiter, Saturn or regulates by the said amalgam, they put everything in a Philosophical egg, and cook it by three degrees of fire, which serve for the three colors, black, white, and red, until everything becomes impalpable powder.

Others, like Raymond Lully, calcine the gold with their mixed mineral, vegetable and animal waters, and then distil all the humidity which they turn into water and oil, and sublimate what remains at the bottom, which they call sulphur, then dissolve this sulfur with the distilled waters, and circulate them until everything is fixed at the bottom like a Stone, which they dissolve in the Marie bath, and dry it in the fire of Athanor, reiterating his dissolution and desiccation, until everything has become into thick oil, by which and with which they transform all imperfect bodies, and the vulgar Mercury by projection; and for increase take only sublime Mercury, and project it, as above said.

The others reduce the Ground to Salt, and resolve, filter, and freeze it several times, then by great artifice sublimate this earth by mixing the sublimated Mercury, and repeat the sublimation until the Salt or earth is sublimated, then by the repeated sublimations fix the sublimated, and for the increase in strength, virtue, and quality, they begin to resolve this lapis, make it volatile, and fix it, and repeat these operations times, then make projection on all the imperfect bodies, without other preparation, and on the vulgar Mercury.

ChapterVII.
My opinion on all that above, and what is more expeditious for the beginning.

I do not doubt that all these operations cannot be true, but they are very long, laborious and difficult to practice, and of great expense before one can come to the end of them. Whoever wants to work in this art, must look for something real that is short and of little work, easy to execute and of little cost. And although the effect succeeds with little profit, nevertheless it will be more certain than to set oneself at greater risk on so many perilous paths, in which perhaps nothing will be found. We must therefore be satisfied for the beginning, to learn how to reduce the Sol to the nature of fusible salt.Because without doubt it will transform the Moon into Sol by projection, and Mercury by decoction, either vulgar or that of imperfect metals, because common Salt fuses by frequent calcinations and dissolutions, has this virtue and power to arrest and freeze vulgar mercury into metal by decoction, which is done because of the great dryness and tenuity which consumes, by penetrating the indefinite humidity of the said Mercury, which I have seen and known by experience .That if this is done by common Salt, there is a much greater reason that it will be done by the Salt of the Ground, because of the similarity of essence which it has with Mercury, especially since they come from the same root, and that the Ground is only decooked Mercury and the vulgar Mercury is Raw Ground, however the Salt of the Ground is not extracted so easily as one thinks, because of the great difficulty and industry that there is to calcine it, because it is impossible to reduce it to Salt, without properly and duly calcining it; this is why I will speak here of its calcination, and of the causes and means of it.

Chapter VIII.
Calcination in general.

Calcination, according to Geber's definition, is a reduction by fire of a firm and solid body into a fine powder by the deprivation of its moisture, which held the firm and solid parts. Therefore the humidity of a body is the subject or the matter on which the fire acts, and the fire is the efficient cause of the deprivation of this humidity, because by its hot and dry qualities, it consumes this humidity. And so much as the nature of all moisture is to bind, assemble, conglutinate, and seal the parts which were arid and discontinuous, it follows, then, that this moisture being removed, the body will come to ashes, and powder.

Now it is said, that this calcination is done by fire, unlike trituration or grinding alone, by which the parts of the body liable to break, and to be triturated, may well be put by this trituration into very small parts, but the moisture for this is not removed or altered. It is quite true that such trituration, as I will say below, is of great use, and is necessary to achieve the said calcination, because the fire reaches the small parts much better than the solids. Further, moisture deprivation comes in two forms. One when all the moisture, which was part of the substance of the body, is separated from it, as when it is broken, and reduced to ashes: and in this kind of calcination, all fuse and visible accidents perish, for in the ashes, it does not recognize itself,

The other and second kind of deprivation of humidity is understood when the radical humidity does not perish, but on the contrary is animated, and only the moist quality is altered by the dryness of the fire, and the humidity converted into dryness, and in this kind of calcination, all the sensual accidents do not perish. For the calcined metals, return by strong impression of fire, in their bodies, as before, and more I have known by experience, than from the ashes of Jupiter turned into Salt, it was extracted from Mercury by the vulgar Mercury, as it will be said hereafter. And the fluxibility of the metals which are melted, or of the Mercury extracted, is a sensual quality and accident, which is not lost by the said calcination, but in the perfect and accomplished calcination,

Chapter IX.
That fire alone could not calcine Gold, if not aided by Vulgar Mercury.

Gold has such a glutinous and viscous humidity, so strongly united with its pure terrestrial dryness, that it would be impossible by fire alone to be able to alter it, for to resolve and separate the said humidity from its dryness, to vitrify it, it is impossible, neither by fire alone, nor by other drugs, because of the said union and force of its mixture, what can well happen to other metals pressed with continual fire, which vitrifies them, because that their humidity is not so viscous, nor very mixed and united with their dryness. This is why I said, that the Ground can be altered by fire alone, and spoke only of alteration because by it alone said calcination (to make our Golden Salt) must be done, and not by separation of said moist radical, otherwise it would be impossible.However, as much as Sol remaining in his body, could not be calcined by fire alone, it was necessary to invent a means of rendering it into small parts, before exposing it to fire to calcine it, for fire acts much better on a body which is divided into very subtle parts, than on one which is firm and solid; and this division into small parts, is not calcination, but a preparation, and disposition to more easily come to the said calcination, and without which preparation the said calcination would be impossible, for this purpose some dissolved the Sol by aqua regia, the others by water of Salt Armoniac, and the separation being made of the said water of Salt Armoniac, they calcined by fire the powder of Sol which remained.But for me, I believed that there is nothing better to divide it into very small parts than Mercury, because it does not corrupt anything there, and without it this division and reduction into small parts cannot be done conveniently, which I have known by experience, and the reason therein is apparent, and is confirmed by the Author of the most famous Philosophers who have written in this art. It is therefore by the Mercury that we mean to attenuate the parts of the Gold first, and then after to calcine it by the only fire.

Chapter X.
To attenuate and subtilize the Ground by means of Mercury, and to render it in a condition to be sublimated as it should be.

Take refined Sol which you will amalgamate with vulgar Mercury, then add new Mercury to it twelve times as much, triturate the said amalgam in a mortar for a long space of time, adding good distilled vinegar to it to wash it well, then pass it through a very tight cloth, and continue to put Mercury back into it again, as long as all the Sol has passed as in Mercury to better attenuate and subtilize the parts of the Sol.

So take all your Mercurys, which you will put in a still with its screed, on hot ashes for twenty-four hours over low heat, so that the Sol is purified with the Mercury, then pour it all into a chamois leather, and express the Mercury, and there will remain a globe inside the leather, which will contain your whole body, and three times as much Mercury; but if, on emerging from expression through linen, you come to express, all through leather, without annealing it, as above, there would be a danger that it would pass from the body of Sol with the Mercury.

Take this globe which will have remained in the leather by expression, and put it in the bottom of an alembic with its cover, on the ash furnace, over low heat for two or three hours, until the globe is dry, remove it from the furnace, and if it has risen some part of the Mercury, bring it down with a feather after it is dry; what you find in mass, you will put it in very subtle powder, put this powder to cook gently as above, that is to say with its extracted Mercury, then remove it, and triturate; repeat these operations so many times that the powder is very subtle, and that it does not turn any more in mass;put this powder in the same bottom of the still with its cover, and distill all the Mercury over a high heat, then remove what will be at the bottom, and if you find it in a mass that holds, resolve it with the Mercury that came out of it, and triturate, and distill, reiterating these operations until your matter no longer holds in mass, but is in subtle powder . This is the beginning of the subtilisation, and division of the Sol into small parts, without which one would never achieve the calcination of the Sol.

Then take this powder, and triturate it very subtly on the marble, and not inside the mortar, then make it pass through a cheesecloth, as pressed as possible, and what does not pass, you will triturate it again, and continue until it passes completely, and then you will have a very subtle powder, ready to be calcined by the fire.

Chapter XI.
Of the Calcination of the Ground, and of the signs by which one knows, if it is perfectly calcined.

After the Sol has been thus divided by the Mercury, and the said Mercury is extracted from it by the force of the fire, the powder which remains must be calcined, by the fire alone, in order to alter its humidity and turn it into dryness, for the contrary qualities act in opposition to one another. You will therefore put your powder thus prepared, in an earthenware or glass box, on a clean calcination fire, for two days; at the end of which you will remove the box, and open it, and if you find that it is swollen in flowers, remove these flowers, with a feather, and preserve them, repeat this calcination, until all is in flowers, then recalcine these flowers, until you have seen the following signs, by which one knows the perfection of the calcination,without which we could not succeed in making our Philosophical Salt; for as the ground could not be calcined by fire, if it were not reduced to small parts, and disposed to receive the force and effect of the heat of the fire. Thus the calcination is not entirely completed, and made ready for resolution, this resolution will not take place. This is why Geber says very well, that all things well and duly calcined, approach the nature of the Salts, and their nature is to resolve into water; however the only subtlety, and thinness of the parts, is not the cause of the resolution in water, but there are signs, which show, and make known the perfection of the calcination.These signs here are visible, and must be noticed, because it is not a small thing, nor of small importance, to know how to calcine the Ground well, since it is the key,

The first visible sign, therefore, of the said perfect calcination, is that the lime or powder be very thin, very thin and as it were impalpable, because as I said, the very subtle parts liquefy more easily in the liquors which dissolve them, than those which are coarse.

The second is, is that the said powder remains discontinued and that in the ignition the parts do not support each other, but remain powder and ashes; because by this means we know that the humidity has been altered, and has been overcome by the heat and dryness of the fire, otherwise it would be a sign that the said humidity would not be entirely altered or overcome by the fire, and therefore it would have to be left longer in the fire.

The 3rd is that the said powder should be without any metallic gleam when viewed in the shining sun, and if it still has any color, this is a sign that its humidity is not entirely altered.

The 4th is, that the said powder no longer changes color, but that it is and remains in the same color, because the indefinite humidity not being entirely altered, is the cause of the change of color, but since it is completely finished, it never changes.

The 5th is, that the said powder is no longer diminished by fire, however long it is left there, for this is also a sign, that the said humidity is completely altered and vanquished.

The 6th is, that the said powder can no longer turn into a metallic body, because it is also a sign that all the humidity, which was the cause of its fusion, has been entirely turned into dryness.

The 7th and most certain, very certain, and necessary sign, is that the powder put on the powder by the distilled vinegar, for then one can be sure that it will easily be converted into Salt, for without this last sign, one could not be sure that all the humidity of the powder was really, and entirely altered and conquered, because even though it could be resolved into liquor, by the distilled vinegar, it would not fail to have the mercury humidity, because I have known by experience, let it be resolved into flowing Mercury, by means of the vul gar Mercury. In a word, Sol must be so well calcined, that he must be completely turned into the nature of Salt, and if he does not have the seven signs above, you will be forced to continue the calcination until they have been seen.The Lapis of the Philosophers, which is made by the fashion of the Ancients, is also only a Salt, and is a red powder, like this. But it takes longer to make, because of the preparations of their double Mercury, and the cooking, which requires at least a year, before it is in its perfection.

Chapter XII.
Of the dissolution of the Charred Ground.

The ground having thus been calcined, as said is, it will not have any more fusion, because of its great dryness, which altered the radical humidity, however this natural humidity is not lost for that. Here is how it will appear, because one of the properties of our Salt, as it is said in chapter 5 is, that it is fusible, to penetrate without addition.

So take this calcined earth, and put it in a long-necked matrass; and pour over it twice as much of our menstruation, plug the hole in the matrass with good gummed wax, and put it in a water bath for twenty-four hours, then pour by inclination what will be dissolved and continue this operation, as long as the menstruation is colored, then recalcine the faeces, and dissolve in menstruation again, continue this operation, until all is dissolved in menstruation, and if there is anything left, it will be dead earth, and useless.

Then take all your menses, and put them in a still with its cover, and distil over low heat, and at the bottom you will have a very precious Salt, put a little of it on a Moon blade, and redden it in the fire, if it melts as quickly as wax, without smoking, or making noise, and that it spreads far everywhere, and that it enters the blade, and the moth in color of Sol, and settles, and unites with it, and never divides and separates, that is enough, for that is the true sign of its perfection, but that does not happen so soon, and to achieve this, you can do it in two ways, one is to recalcine this Salt over a very low heat, in a glass box, and not of earth, solve it again, filter and freeze, and repeat, until you see the sign above.

The second is, that you take the said Salt, and by yourself dissolve it into oil by the Bain-Marie then in the desiccatory furnace, dry it gently, and again dissolve it in the reiterating BM, until it no longer coagulates in the fire, but remains as thick oil; then you will have a real drinkable gold, made without mixing any foreign thing, which will liquefy in all liquors, and will be of great use for health, and for the transmutation of the Moon into Sol, by making projection above said Salt.

And especially since the projection can only be known on many Moons, if at the first time you do not find it colored enough, you remelt it, and throw the same Salt over it and thus reiterate, until you have known, on what Moon weight your Salt will fall in projection.

And for the look of the vulgar Mercury and mainly on that of the metals, you will put 100 parts of it in a flat matrass with a long neck, and for over it a part of the said Salt, or oil, which will cook on a temperate fire for eight days, giving on the end, fire of ignition, and will have a red powder, which will melt with borax, and will have good Sol; and if you want to make a projection on the Mercury, you will take seven ounces of Mercury sublimated seven times, and will sublimate it on your oil, so many times that it remains fixed with the said oil, from which you will make a projection on the Mercurys of the metals, where on the vulgar, as also on the Moon.

Chapter XIII.
Multiplication in quantity.

All things are augmented by their like, as also does our Salt or Lapis; but the manner of multiplication is different between that of animals, or vegetables, and that of inanimate bodies; for the last is made by the addition of the same matter, of which the first was made, by a form of fermentation or leaven. In this the comparison of vinegar is very proper to our Salt or Lapis. Vinegar is made of wine, and if you did not put vinegar in it from the beginning, it will not sour as soon as it does, if you do as follows. Throw vinegar salt on warmed wine, it will sour the wine in a little, and if you distil it, calcine it, filter it, and breathe it out again, it will make a salt of it which will serve as a ferment, to sour a large quantity of other wine;repeat these operations, until you have a large quantity of powder, which you can multiply infinitely, without the need to distil it the last time, always putting wine on it, and you will never lack the vinegar. In the same way also, when you have your Salt or Lapis, you will increase it until infinity, by the same gold, of which it was first; for this Salt is its leaven; it is quite true that it will not be Salt in its natural state, but rendered in Mercury flowing as the said Sol would have been, if without completing the calcination, it had been extracted from it; and as I will say in the following Chapter, the means and manner of extracting Mercury from the Ground, and from other metals;but in the first preparation of the said Golden Salt, it was not necessary to put it into flowing Mercury, because in doing so, it would have been stripped of its earthly dryness, which is called Sulphur,

And in this second multiplication, and increase, it is only necessary to have Mercury extracted from said Sol, to increase, because the first Salt, or Sulfur, will convert the said Mercury into Sol together, as the dregs of vinegar convert wine into vinegar.

Take therefore your Salt made, and amalgamate it with as much Mercury of Sol, and put them in a Philosophical Egg, stoppered with a glass cork, for twelve days, increasing the fire from three to three days; and the last three days give ignition fire, and you will have a similar powder, which will have the same effect. Thus you will be able to multiply your Salt until infinity, always putting there equal weight of Mercury of Sol, and cooking it by twelve days.

Chapter XIV.
To extract Mercury from all Metals.

Since the multiplication of our Salt or Lapis, is done by the addition of the Solar Mercury, it is necessary to teach its extraction; as also, if the projection is done on the Mercurys of the imperfect bodies, it is also necessary to know how to extract them. The said extraction is done, because the metallic bodies being stripped of their earths, which hold their mercury bound, they appear after the separation of their crass earths. There are others who wanted to extract them without the help of ordinary mercury, but made a mistake, and what they got out of it was little, and with great labor, but with ordinary mercury it gets away with it a lot, and easily, because it is, like the vehicle, to draw its like, besides taking and retaining what is homogeneous with it;and forsakes, and rejects what is not.

Now Mercury is extracted from some metals more abundantly, but with more difficulty; and another less, and more easily; and others in less quantity, and even more easily; for from those, where there is a greater quantity of Mercury, there comes more, as from the Sol, which is only pure Mercury, and after it, the Moon; after her Jupiter; then Saturn; then Venus, and finally Mars. Those which more easily amalgamate with Mercury, Mercury is easily extracted from them; and who with difficulty, also with difficulty. Moreover, those who are strongly mingled and conjoined, and have their Mercury strongly united with the pure terrestrial Mercury, the Mercury comes out more easily, as from Sol.Now here is the way to draw them from all bodies.

They must be amalgamated with vulgar mercury, washed and purged, and passed through thick linen, then calcined, as I said above of Gold; but it is not necessary to calcine them to the end nor to see all the seven signs, but it will be enough, that they are in impalpable powder, in which Mercury says to them is contained; then put them in distilled vinegar with MB and the said distilled vinegar will draw all the color, and the sweetness of the lime; for it gently by inclination, and put it back again;then when you know, that it will have drawn all the sweetness, and that the said distilled vinegar will no longer be red, as before, it will have to be filtered, and evaporated, and you will have left at the bottom a white salt, which will again be dissolved in new distilled vinegar, and then filtered, and frozen, in order to have it more pure and clean ; which Salt is only the dead Mercury, which only remains to revive.

Take two ounces of the said Salt, which you will incorporate, while grinding on a marble with an ounce of vulgar purged mercury and put it to dry in the bottom of a still with its tread; being dry, grind it again on the marble, and you will see that your mercury will have revivified to itself, all the Mercury which was dead in the said Salt; you can also revitalize it with Tartar oil, soaking it on a marble, and exposing it to humidity, but the importance is to purify the said Salt well, so that it is in very small parts, and separated from its earthiness, which held the said Mercury, so you can extract the Mercurys from all the Metals, which is not a small thing.

Note that the lime which will not be turned into a kind of salt, which will have remained at the bottom of the matrass, where the distilled vinegar will have been poured by inclination, must be again calcined over a moderate fire, and by degrees, in a very well-lit vessel, because the distilled vinegar has made it spiritual; then redo, as you did the first time, which you will reiterate, until there is nothing left in the said lime, except an invalid earth.

We can also draw the flowers, which will rise on the said distilled vinegar, mainly lime of Sol, or of Moon, which is nothing other than a real Mercury, being well reiterated, and purified.

End of the first part.


second part

Chapter I.
Of the efficient cause.

I have sufficiently made known in the first part (as the truth is) that the first material in this art, which nature has given us to make Sol, or Moon, is the vulgar Mercury, or that which is extracted from imperfect bodies.

I also spoke of the efficient cause, which is that which moves this next matter, and makes it acquire form and essence of the nature of Gold and Silver, and this is in general; but now I want her to write a little more specifically, because herein lies the whole secret of this Art, and because she is more noble and excellent than matter; just as the workman is more excellent than his work, and it is true to say that this efficient cause is, and consists of matter, from which Gold or Silver are proceeded; but with this difference that the latter suffers and endures being moved, altered, and corrupted, and that, on the contrary, in which the efficient cause is, acts by the virtues which are in it.

The efficient cause, therefore, is a force and virtue, which is found in a spiritual or tenuous substance, by which it moves the next matter into this art, which is the vulgar Mercury or that of imperfect bodies, in order to inform it and acquire for it a substantial form of Gold or Silver such as it is, namely true Gold or natural Silver.

Chapter II.
That no natural body has this virtue of transmuting neighboring matter, but only by power, and why.

Although most say that the Sol is that which has the force and power to transmute the said next matter into Sol, yet we do not see that the Gold in its natural being mixed with the next matter, that is to say the common Mercury, or that of the metals, transforms it into Sol; nor do we see that the other bodies, which are said to have this power to effect this transmutation, do so in their natural state. What is said then, that gold and other bodies have the power to transmute vulgar mercury, or metals, is not by act, but only by power, otherwise, if it were by act, it is very certain that by mere mixing, the transmutation would take place, which we have never seen. The cause and reason is, that what does the transmutation is a spiritual and tenuous substance,

Now this spiritual substance is not found in any body whatsoever, pure and separate, but is always enveloped and united with a gross, filthy, and impure substance which prevents the effects of the virtues which are in the spiritual substance. Moreover, this spiritual substance is not of one kind, but in the same body are several spiritual substances, different in virtues, and in actions, as I will say later. However, these different virtualities prevent the effects of each other. I will give a demonstrative example to support. The brandy, which is called Quintessence, is made of wine, and has a virtue much more excellent than wine as can be known;the cause of which is that this Quintessence, or water of life, which is in small quantity, was enclosed in a great quantity of other matter, which is a body without any force; for what acts is water and spirit, and this is seen and known, not only in living and animate bodies, but also in dead things, which consist of mere mixing. It is quite true that this is seen most manifestly in bodies, which are animated and living; for as soon as the animal is dead, and the spirit separated from the body, the body no longer moves or acts, as before, which shows that the spirit was the cause of movement and action when it was in the body.So in wine, the spirit is the soul of the wine, which gave strength, flavor, and vigor to all the wine, but as soon as the brandy is separated from it, it is without strength, flavor, or vigor. There must be no doubt that in Gold there is likewise an enclosed spiritual substance, which has the virtue of transforming its next matter,

Chapter III.
That Art must necessarily aid Nature, to reduce Gold to a spiritual substance.

Since it is thus thus, that nature did not produce for us this spiritual substance, and subtle in Gold, nor in any other thing, or body that it is; it is necessary that art helps nature, to reduce them to this substance, and nature having the said virtue of transforming, after it will be purified, and sublimated; that is what all this art consists of; and it is not like matter, of which Gold is made by artifice, for nature has given us by her bounty; that approximate matter, without further extraction, which is the common Mercury, or that of imperfect bodies. And we should not be surprised by this. For Art makes natural bodies, having form and matter, which Nature alone could not do. Art makes glass, which nature cannot make;the waters and liquors are distilled, and separated by Art, and cannot be extracted by nature alone. Art makes stones out of lime, nature cannot. Now all this is done by external fire, which is an instrument of the Art; but it will be treated of this hereafter, and suffice it to say, that Art is necessary, to reduce the Gold or matter, of which our Lapis is made, into a spiritual substance, having the power to transform its next matter.

Chapter IV.
By what means one arrives at the knowledge of the various substances, which are of mixed bodies.

There are two orders by which the parts are known, of which each body is composed, one is called composition, the other resolution.

The Compository Order is that which shows and teaches the parts of which the body was first composed and mixed; as, for example, the one who makes Theriac, knows what thing must be taken to compose it; likewise also, he who makes the glass, knows that it is composed of sand, and ashes, of faude, fern, or other ashes made of other wood, or of other matter.

The Resolutive Order is that which teaches how to resolve and divide the mixed body into the parts of which it was composed.

The compositional Order is very obscure, and unknown to art, for although we know in general that all bodies are composed of the four elements, and of matter, and of form, we cannot know the mode of composition, and of their transmutation, from which follow the various forms in natures, which we see in natural bodies composed, and mixed by nature alone. This is why art could not make a mixture of the same matter whose nature procreates it to the mines of the earth, because that is unknown to men, and those who have written of it, are different in opinion of the Principles, of which each metal is composed, and do not know how, because several alterations precede, before the matter, from which they are engendered, arrive at nature, and form of metal.

The Resolving Order is more familiar to the Art, because the external heat, whether putrid or burning, resolves all bodies into various substances; what we see by putrid heat to metals. And when finally, they are resolved in powder on the one hand, and in oil on the other; and by the burning fire, in ashes of one, and in smoke of another. It is therefore by resolving art that we must know the various substances of bodies; because the fire, in external heat, is at our command, and in our power, by which, as an efficient and instrumental cause, the whole resolution is made.

Chapter V.
What are the various substances with natural mixed bodies.

Since thus it is, that fire resolves all bodies, we see by experience that the resolution takes place in two substances, one of which is moist and the other dry; and thus, in truth, every body consists of dry and moist; the dry as earth, the wet as water; for these two elements, earth and water, are visible and very sensitive; it is quite true that air and fire are included in it, but it is rather by their qualities than by their substances, at least which are visible. This resolution in bodies, which are of weak mixture, is very apparent, as in wood; for we see, that by the fire, part goes away in smoke, which is moist, and the other part in ashes, which is the earth;but these humidity and dryness, are divided into other substances, because there is a kind of humidity, which is aqueous, water-like; and the other oilseed, prone to being burned, of Air nature. Moreover, this double sort of humidity divides again; one is serous and slender; and the other slimy, thick and grimy. As for the dry, it also divides. For one part is salt, the other part is dead earth, fit to be turned into glass, and all these substances are visible to the eye. For when wood is exposed to fire, it yields a moisture (especially if it is green) which wets, and this moisture is watery and loose; it also renders flame, and this moisture is oleaginous, which is not so devoid of watery, ferrous, and loose moisture.The flame having passed, coal is made, in which is contained the aqueous, oleaginous, viscous, thick, and filthy humor, and the ashes are the Salt, and the dead earth: because if this ash is put in hot water, and that it is made to flow, it is made into a lye, and all that will be of the nature of Salt, will be melted and resolved in the said lye, which being filtered, and evaporated, what will remain at the bottom will be real Salt, and what cannot be resolved , will be dead and useless earth ; unless you want to make it into glass, by the force of fire.

Chapter VI.
The difference of all these substances.

Though all these substances proceeded from one body, and when they were all there, there was but one form, yet being separate, each of them has its own form, virtue, property, and quality, which distinguishes them, and separates one from another. It is quite true that the aqueous moist, the oleaginous, and the Salt, are metaphorically united substances, because they have occult properties and virtues, to act, move, change, alter, and corrupt, but the last substance, which serves only to make glass, is like earth, having no property or virtue to change, move, alter, or corrupt. This dead substance is called fixed impure, of the aforementioned living, spiritual and actual essences, which prevents the effects of the said living and spiritual essences.

Now of these three Essences, the two are volatile, that is to say the aqueous humor and the oleaginous and the third fixed, that is to say, the Salt.

The aqueous humor, is called by Paracelsus, Mercury of the quality of the Element of water, which is cold and humid; it burns no less more than water, and prevents the body in which it is from being burned; for its qualities contrary to those of fire, which are hot and dry; that which is ferrous, is like a stranger, and gives movement to the living and vegetable body, and is only the earth of the bodies of animals and vegetables, and not of inanimate bodies which neither grow nor live.

But the aqueous, viscous, and filthy humor is peculiar to animals, vegetables, minerals, and other inanimate bodies, and is that which binds and conglutinates the terrestrial dryness, which otherwise would remain powder. This humor, I say, watery, viscous, and filthy, is called radical, because it is part of the essence, or substance of the body. The oleaginous humor, is called by the said Paracelsus Sulphur, and has the quality of the air humor, which is warm and moist; this humor burns like sulphur, and helps to burn all bodies, to which it is united; for its moisture does not resist fire very much, but it is the meat of fire, and easily turns into it, because of the quality of heat, which befits fire;that which is airy and loose, is subject to ignition, but that which is viscous and filthy, does not give off a flame, but is red in the fire without flaming, like that which is in coal. Both oleaginous humors are essential, and radical, and bind, glue, and conglutinate the terrestrial parts, so that they are not reduced to powder; he also gives the tincture, and the color to the body, to which he is, but because he burns easily, the fire working in him, the body which was conglutinated by it, is easily set in ashes.

The third essence, which is called Salt, does not change its name, according to the aforesaid authority of Paracelsus, and has the quality of earth, in that it is dry, and the quality of fire, in that it is hot; by one or the other of these two qualities, it tempers the excessive humidity of the oleaginous humor, and the excessive coldness of the aqueous humor, and fixes and arrests their volatility, and contains them, and retains them in a body of the same form. The dead land has no name, except that it is called damned, vile, and despised land; it has the qualities of earth, dry, and cold; but the dryness is much greater, and such is the quality of the glass, which is very dry.

Now, although each of the said four separate substances has the qualities of an Element, yet they are not therefore natural Elements, but each of the four substances contains in itself the four Elements; but because of the qualities, which overcome and abound in them, they have the name of the said Elements, for as much as in one of the humours, cold abounds, it is given the name of water; and in the oleaginous humor, because the humidity abounds, it has the name of air; and in salt, because heat overcomes, it is called fire, and in dead earth, because dryness overcomes, it is called earth.

So of all these four substances, that which has the more active quality is the noble and excellent, and works more, as is Salt for two reasons, one because the dry quality, which is passive, is the Moon, as the Physicists say, with respect to the active quality, with which it is conjoined.

The other reason is that this Salt is very tenuous and subtle, and in that it does not have the quality of the earth, which is filth, and this tenuity, which is in this Salt, is tenuous and rare. The aqueous humor does have the cold quality of water, which is also an active quality, but because of its dampness and grime, it does not act like fire, and is not such an excellent substance; but the oleaginous humor, although its first quality, which is moist, is not active, but passive, yet because of its great tenuity of substance, and its humidity not resisting much, it penetrates, and acts much; because its moisture is also aided by heat, it easily turns into a fiery nature, its moisture being consumed;hence its substance is more excellent than that of aqueous moisture, as far as the action is concerned, and virtue; but as a touch of resistance, the aqueous humor resists more than the oilseed; for fire does not consume the aqueous humor, nor can it dissipate it. The earthly dryness, or dead earth, is the most base and abject substance of all, either because its first quality, which is dryness, is passive, or because it is too filthy, and cannot penetrate, or because coldness, which is the second quality, is not very strong, however in resistance it overcomes all the others; like glass, which is incombustible by fire, because its substance is stripped of all mobile and volatile substances and its humidity is very thick;but it is very fragile, because it is deprived of subtle humidity. the aqueous humor resists more than the oilseed; for fire does not consume the aqueous humor, nor can it dissipate it. The earthly dryness, or dead earth, is the most base and abject substance of all, either because its first quality, which is dryness, is passive, or because it is too filthy, and cannot penetrate, or because coldness, which is the second quality, is not very strong, however in resistance it overcomes all the others; like glass, which is incombustible by fire, because its substance is stripped of all mobile and volatile substances and its humidity is very thick; but it is very fragile, because it is deprived of subtle humidity. the aqueous humor resists more than the oilseed;for fire does not consume the aqueous humor, nor can it dissipate it. The earthly dryness, or dead earth, is the most base and abject substance of all, either because its first quality, which is dryness, is passive, or because it is too filthy, and cannot penetrate, or because coldness, which is the second quality, is not very strong, however in resistance it overcomes all the others; like glass, which is incombustible by fire, because its substance is stripped of all mobile and volatile substances and its humidity is very thick; but it is very fragile, because it is deprived of subtle humidity.which is dryness, is passive, either because it is too filthy, and cannot penetrate, or because coldness, which is the second quality, is not very strong, however in resistance, it overcomes all the others; like glass, which is incombustible by fire, because its substance is stripped of all mobile and volatile substances and its humidity is very thick; but it is very fragile, because it is deprived of subtle humidity. which is dryness, is passive, either because it is too filthy, and cannot penetrate, or because coldness, which is the second quality, is not very strong, however in resistance, it overcomes all the others; like glass, which is incombustible by fire, because its substance is stripped of all mobile and volatile substances and its humidity is very thick;but it is very fragile, because it is deprived of subtle humidity.

ChapterVII.
That all these substances are almost in all bodies.

Because we see that almost all natural bodies are subject to fire, and are consumed by it, and afterwards burned by fire, and finally reduced to ashes, we judge that all these substances are in every mixed natural body, of whatever kind or quality it may be, but by mixture, and as if by potency, that is to say, that its substances are not seen then in the mixture, as we see them after they are separated by fire, according to the accidents which appear and manifest themselves; for the aqueous humor evaporates, and the oleaginous humor burns, and the earthly pure by decoction turns into the nature of Salt, and the dry earthly impure turns by strong expression of fire, into glass.

Vegetables, and dead parts of animals, are easily divided into four substances, because their mixing is not strong; but those of the minerals are difficult to separate, because their substances are strongly mixed, and almost inseparable, because of their strong union, and although their substances are divided, they nevertheless appear in the mixture to be all united. Moreover, all their substances, after they are extracted, are not of the same nature; for the aqueous humor of a vegetable is not similar to the aqueous humor of an animal, or to that of a mineral. This is all the more so because, as their forms and natures in the mixture are diverse, also their subject, after separation, is diverse;however, as for the dead head, of which the glass is made, it seems to be extracted alike from all bodies, because all these dead earths, of whatever kind and species of body, he makes a glass of them, and this, especially since glass is a last substance, which cannot be changed into another form; but the other spiritual substances, as I have already said, may well be changed from their first form, and acquire others.

Now, I said that almost all bodies contain by potency these four substances, if there are some that do not have them all. For Gold, and Mercury, contain no oleaginous, sulphurous, or burning substance, that is to say, the only aqueous substance is thick in Gold, and not in Mercury, and the dry pure terrestrial, which contains them by uniform mixture, also they contain very little of interior impure terrestrial, and still more Mercury, than Sol; this is why Gold cannot be calcined by burning, because to burn, it would have to have sulfurous burnable substance, which being consumed, its pure terrestrial dryness would remain, but this terrestrial dryness is bound by the aqueous humor very pure, and subtle, and then is cooked by natural coction, which aqueous humor is incombustible,like water, because its qualities are contrary to fire, and resist it, but all the other metals contain an oleaginous, sulphurous, combustible and burning substance; that is why they are all consumed by fire, by combustion, even silver in Cement. The sign is, that when they contain this sulphurous substance, the Sulfur easily enters their bodies, penetrates them, burns, and exterminates;but as for Gold and Mercury, Sulfur does not enter into them, nor damage them in any way, and although in the Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn, one does not see smoke, when they melt by force of fire, they do not fail to contain a substance of burning Sulfur, and burnable, but it is hidden, and does not manifest itself because of their great quantity of igneous substance, which they contain, and indeed all the metals have more,

Chapter VIII.
What profit brings in the art, the knowledge of all these substances.

The fruit that we can draw from the knowledge of all these substances is that whoever ignores them can do nothing in this art, and will only proceed blindly; as, on the contrary, he who knows them and knows them, can know everything, and proceed there with open eyes.

First, this knowledge of the various substances teaches us the matter, of which Gold is made in this art, because as much as Gold is tested by fire, which consumes all burnable substances, it is certain that the oleaginous, sulphurous, and burning substance, which is to metals, will not be the matter, of which Gold is made. It must therefore be separated from imperfect bodies; Gold will also not be earthly matter, impure and dead, of which glass is made, because Gold is docile, and workable, and the vitrificative earth is frangible, together with the earth of Gold being very subtle and pure. So it will be necessary to separate this vitrificative impure earth, and the pure aqueous substance will remain, mixed with its pure and subtle Salt, and this substance is Mercury.It will therefore follow,

It is indeed one of the main points, to know the true and next matter, of which Gold is made, because those who work in matter which is unwilling to receive the form of Gold, labor in vain. By this we discover the error of many, who calcine metals, cement them, dissolve them in strong water, in oil, sublimating spirits on them, reduce them to bodies, and find nothing, because they corrupt and burn the bodies, and finally reduce them to glass. Now, let us do what we want, we will never transmute the metals into Gold, by any means whatsoever, if we do not purge them of their oleaginous, sulphurous, and burning substances. And if we don't draw from them their vicious earthly impurity, and reduce them to Mercury. This is done in two ways; one, by the particular way,by reduction into flowing Mercury, separating all other foreign substances, and then digesting this Mercury with the lime of Gold. The other by Lapis, which in an instant makes this separation and digestion, and the imperfect Body (to seek out matter, to make Sol of it) must not be outside the nature and form of Mercury.

When we have found the matter clean and disposed, it only remains to find the efficient cause, which digests this matter, and gives it the form of Gold, and this is also demonstrated, by the said knowledge of the various substances, which are in Gold or other metals. Because in any operation, it is necessary a material which endures, resists, and is clean and laid out; and the other who acts, and is strong. It has been said, that of the three spiritual substances, namely the watery moist, the oleaginous moist, and the inner subtle dry, the only aqueous moist is that which resists, and is not burned or consumed by fire, when cooked with its pure earthly dryness.And as for the matter which acts, it has been said, that there are only the salts, because they have the qualities of fire, heat and dryness, and tenuousness of substance.

The matter which remains, that is to say Mercury, is really called matter, not silver; for he does no action; but the Salt is like the form, from which proceed all the effects; and the more matter has a body, and little form, the less virtue it has to act; and the more form and less matter it has, the more virtue and efficacy it has. This is also why we know the perfection of metal, when it endures all the violence of fire, and cannot be corrupted by it. For the same reason, we still know the perfection of Lapis, when it acts, and transmutes, and also resists all injury from the fire. By this we manifestly discover the error of those who want Gold in its metal, mixed with other metals, or vulgar Mercury, to transform them;for Gold in its nature has no action, but only suffers,

That if gold in its natural state cannot transmute other metals, much less could other metals do this transmutation; for besides the action which must have that which makes the transmutation, it must also be fixed, and resist against the fire; but no body is fixed, and resists fire, only Gold, so in vain do we seek in anything else the Lapis, or our Salt, which must make this transmutation. I can therefore necessarily conclude, and with good reason, that there is nothing that can fix the vulgar Mercury, or that of the imperfect metals, but the Salt of Gold; and by this knowledge, one will take care not to enter into an infinity of sophistications, which have no solid foundation, but only a few appearances, without reason;thus those who amuse themselves there, always find themselves deceived, and never have found there,

Chapter IX.
That there are two ways by which one manages to make the Golden Salt, or Lapis of the Philosophers.

Since the most common opinion is, that the matter of Lapis is Gold, and that when it is reduced to the nature of Salt, it is the true Lapis, and that is such an important thing in this art; means must be carefully sought to make this Golden Salt. Because even though I said it in the first part, I still want to talk about it here.

The Moderns have considered that the shortest way was to extract this Salt, in the fashion and manner in which Salt is extracted from plants, or animals, which is to extract its igneous substance, and then the oilseed, and calcine its ashes, which remain, and then extract the Salt from it by dissolution, filtration, and coagulation, often reiterating this solution, filtration, and coagulation, and to make this Salt more active, to sublimate it by means of aqueous humidity, then fix this Sublimated Salt by circulation, with the humid aqueous, finally insert with its oleaginous humid, what will have been extracted from it, and as much as the dissolution of the Gold is difficult in itself, it would be helped by strong mineral, vegetable, animal, and mixed waters; and this Salt thus made, called it Lapis.

But the Ancients and many others rejected this way of making this Golden Salt; for it is said that it should not come out of its nature of Mercury, but that it should only be altered in its qualities, that is to say, that the Mercury of Gold, which is cold, moist, hot, and dry, must be so cooked that it remains in the nature of fusible salt, without corruption or destruction of its substance by the said waters.

They also say, that the resolution of Gold into elementary parts, is impossible; for if it were resolvable, it would be in the aforesaid spiritual substance. But of burning oleaginous substance, he has none, which is why he cannot resolve himself. Moreover, the viscous watery moistness is inseparable from its pure, tenuous, and earthly dryness, because it cannot burn, but the same watery moistness can well be altered, and from moistness, be made dry, with its dryness, by decoction, and this dryness can still become drier, until it turns into the nature of Salt, hot and dry, because the qualities receive more or less, that is to say, they can be greater. and inferior in quality. The lime of Sol is the subject or matter, in which are the said qualities;for if they were dry, the heat and dryness would be greater; and so wet,

When the Mercury of Sol dries up, the heat is greater. Now to make this Salt, they say that it is only necessary to dissolve the Sol by the Mercury, so that all is thick Water, which by decoction becomes Salt, although the Water was clear, this is seen in the urine, from which one draws the Salt, and wine, which turns into Sulphur, which by decoction becomes Salt.

It is also believable that the sea is salty, because before its saltiness, it was simple water, but mixed with its earthiness, which by decoction became salty; although Aristotle gives another cause, saying that it is the terrestrial exhalation, which goes up and down continually. Be that as it may, they said, that Sol and Mercury, by decoction, being resolved into Mercury, become powder, and this powder by greater decoction, becomes salty, and true Salt; for my part, I approve more of the opinion of the Ancients than of the Moderns, and have a much greater appearance of reason.

Now I said in the first part, as this Golden Salt was made; this is why, I will not speak about it of advantage; I will only say, as much according to the opinion of the Ancients as of the moderns, that it must be purged of its impurity, and dead earth and grime, which prevents the action of its watery moist, and terrestrial dryness, pure and spiritual; but this impure and dead land is very small in quantity; because Gold is almost all pure, and a spiritual essence, fixed however; and finally, this aqueous moist must be dehydrated, until it has acquired the nature of fusible Salt in all liquors, and then this Salt will coagulate, stop, and fix Mercury, both vulgar and extracted from metals, by projection into fine Gold.

Chapter X.
As the ancients did the work in various ways.

It should be known that the work of the ancient Philosophers can be done in various kinds, of which there is a shorter one, which is that of which we have spoken above.

The second operation is done in the fire of the glassmakers, when the soft imperfect bodies are made hard, until they no longer vary or change their color, and with the ferment of Sol, or Moon, let themselves be reduced into bodies, and adding to it one or the other of the said Bodies, they are reduced into their ferment; by this the transmutation will take place.

3. Way, by the lime of the imperfect bodies, made in the oven of the glassmakers, for the space of twenty days, then pulverize the lime on the marble with vulgar Mercury and Spirit of wine, with oil of Tartar, first boiling it in the oil of Tartar, until the Mercury is amalgamated with the Salt of the metals, and mix with this amalgam, a little Sol, or Moon, then afterwards, put them in a small matrass, and reduce them by coction, into a white or red powder, according to its ferment, which can be multiplied with vulgar Mercury to infinity, and can be reduced to Sol, or Moon, as good as natural.

4. Is done, removing the Salt from the lime of the bodies of the metals and sublimating in the form of Sulfur, and the Sulfur fixed with its ferment; and if the Salt is of Moon, the ferment will be of Moon, and if it is of Sol, the ferment will be of Sol, and will be fixed with their white or red oil, until they melt without smoking.

The 5. Way is, by dissolution of Salt, without addition of anything else, that the Sulfur of Gold, and of this dissolution one makes a Gold drinkable, and very profitable medicine for the human body.

6. And the most difficult of all, is to animate, to calcine, and to dissolve the Gold in the philosophical water, where one finds the soul of the world, by the separation of the Elements; and from the two spouses together, comes the fixed salamander of the Philosophers, and the dearest son of the Sun.

Chapter X.
The Practice of Metallic Salts.

The Salts of the two perfect bodies have the power to fix the other salts of the other imperfect metals.
The calcined ground, then reverberated for eight days, washes with hot water, grinds itself on the marble, then desiccates, reverberates twenty four hours, thus continuing to wash, dry, and reverberate twelve times.

The Moon is calcined as is Sol, its lime is azure in color.

The Venus is calcined by the lamppost in thirty days and a lime is made of it, which is green.

The Saturn burns to the lamppost in a closed vessel after twenty days; its lime is white.

The Mars reddened, and extinguished several times, then reverberated thirty days; the lime is red.

Jupiter is calcined, like Saturn; its lime is very white.

Vulgar Mercury is very volatile, which means that it does not calcine like the others; but it must be dissolved in water, made up of two parts of alum and one part of nitre, and being dissolved, put on it fountain water, in which a little common salt has been dissolved, and the Mercury will first go to the bottom, in white lime; remove the water by inclination, and afterwards wash the said lime of Mercury.

When the bodies are thus calcined, the limes must be washed seven or eight times, with Distilled water, as long as it is without filth, then draw the Salt from it with good distilled vinegar twelve times as much as lime, and boil in a glass vessel, so long as half of the distilled vinegar is consumed; afterward for off the distilled vinegar by inclination being stale, and put on another, reiterating so often, that you have dissolved nearly all of the said lime; then remove your vinegars, distill in a bain-marie over a very slow heat, leave to cool, and at the bottom, you will find your salt beautiful, shiny, and penetrating; and remember to distill over moderate heat.

Then take two parts of Salts of the Sol, and one part of the Salt of the Moon, stir them in, and grind very subtly, with one part of the lime, or ashes of the Ground prepared, as before said, for leaven, and this medicine will fall in projection on a hundred of the Moon, and will convert it into true Sol. Likewise two parts of Sel de Sol, and one part of Sel de Vénus, with one part of Sol en chaux; and so with the other particularities, with the Salts of the perfect and imperfect, by observing to always put two parts of Salt of the perfect body, and a part of the imperfect, to serve as leaven.

But I can assure you that whoever wants to reach the true secret of Nature, after having extracted the Salts by distilled vinegar, it is necessary to extract from them a more subtle substance, by the liquor of the work of Hermes, accused of its Salt, observing that if there are four ounces of metal salt, one must put an ounce of the said liquor, then put everything to dissolve, and distill by the bain-marie, then the oil by the ashes, and if there is something left in the to distil oil, you have to throw water on it, and everything will dissolve;let sit and empty the clear water by inclination, and distill by the bath, the Salt will remain at the bottom as a crystal, which is metallic Sulfur which freezes all Mercury in medicine, when its water is returned to it, and put back drop by drop, on hot ashes, and being fixed, it will be necessary to make strong, and everything will melt,

For the multiplication you will take the medicine, and put it in a glass vial, and on an ounce of it, put three ounces of amalgam of Mercury of Sol; and if it is white, you need the Moon, leave it all on ashes over a low heat for the space of twelve hours; when the medicine feels the heat, it will melt, and by its vapor will transmute the whole into real medicine.


END