THE TREASURE OF TREASURES or the Clavis Majoris Sapientiae

attributed by Chevreul to Artephius


First Book I. first part [ Abstract of theory - the second chapter (Of the mines on which I have worked and the effects) - the third chapter (of the primordial chapters in the work of Nature) - the fourth chapter (of which principles the magisterium is made) - the fifth chapter (of the division of the three genres) - the sixth chapter (in what way our stone is formed) - the seventh chapter (of solution) - the eighth chapter (of sublimation and freezing) - the ninth chapter (what is the matter of our stone) - the tenth chapter (as in all places one can find our stone) - the eleventh chapter (of the conjunction of male and female) - the twelfth chapter (of the stinking menstrual which is the fire against nature) - the thirteenth chapter (of the extremes of our quicksilver) - end of Theory ] - II. second part [ Practice - the second chapter (of the preparation) - the third chapter (of making the menstrual) - the fourth chapter (of the mixing of materials) - the fifth chapter (red elixir) - the sixth chapter (of the projection) - the seventh chapter (of the tests of fusion) - the eighth chapter (of the examination of the ashes) - the ninth chapter (of the examination of the cement) - end of the First Treaty - Book second : the Very Great Secret of the Secrets [ first chapter (of the first principles of nature) - second chapter (of the generation of minerals) - third chapter (of the generation of the animal)] - Practice [ first chapter (of the practical principles and their preparation) - second chapter (of the first simple compound medicine) - third chapter (second medicine more perfectly proclaimed) - fourth chapter (of the vegetable work) - fifth chapter (of the animal work) - operation or composition for the white - operation for the red ]

BOOK ONE

FIRST PART

THEORETICAL SUMMARY

In the name of God who lives and reigns three persons in unity, without beginning or without end, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, To all faithful Disciples of Philosophy, Hail.

for that which I occupied myself with, and that I was not strained to do the necessaries, thus as I would have been if I had had no occupation: And this thing I requested and was with many companions seeking the said art as I did, believing to find it by their means; and to have friendship and entry with them, made myself their servant and supported the trouble of their works, and saw and studied several books in which science is contained in two ways, one false the other true, the true mingled among the false; following two books for the space of twelve years, or thereabouts, now in one way, and now in another, and in that I found nothing, and found myself almost naked and out of luck. So as despairing of Science and repulsed by those in whom I had the greatest confidence, ready to go to a place where I had no knowledge, and if it had not been for the grace of the Holy Spirit who gives light to whom it pleases and new comfort, I was a desperate man, for what it seemed to me that I was thus like a fool before the world, which is an enemy of the pure truth of the above-mentioned most noble and high secret, called Gift of God, which it gives to whom it gives. pleases him, and he wants to describe to the Children of truth wishing to follow this and come after us, that they may not be so mortally heartbroken, as I have seen my Companions and I too, and may come to this truth and comfort. Because, as already said, icelui S. Spirit inspired us in such a way that our Mind was opened, the figure removed from within. And for this, you who want to come to this truth, will have to do in a short time, to conceive this Science, if by no Master you are introduced, or if from youth or been called, who the understanding advances there. For although a man has good understanding and naturalness, and has seen all the Books belonging to this Science, and made all the tests that a human man can make, now for this, cannot he come to the end of this secret, if he is not of the sect of the Philosophers, or if by any of them is introduced and led, as said is; for to him who finds it through him, it is like a miracle, a great secret, and enchanted treasure; for what the ancient Philosophers by the will of God reigning in their hearts did Books obscuring it. And to the ignorant and lovers of worldly delights, dark and blind, full of iniquity, can this Science be uncovered, for if it were otherwise, so many would have the bad as the good, and would be every other Science debased, for avarice and covetousness and would procure one another, and hold from none: whereby justice should fail and the world be destroyed.

And for this, those who force themselves to practice icelle, without being Theoricans, could before use and their good, before ever being able to achieve it, without the points above named. And if it is not heavy work, to whom understands how. And if the material is not so expensive composed as to the quantity, that man can excuse himself from above said work. Because for one grain of the metallic seed it can be multiplied to an infinite number for the whole world.

Because if a grain of the first composition of the said work, called the Stone of the Philosophers, acts on 100, the 2nd will act on 1,000, the 3rd on 10,000, and the 4th on 100,000, etc. For as you see from a grain of wheat come a thousand, and from a thousand, five hundred thousands, so hear metals; for everything is done by nature, of which art is the minister; for art sometimes compensates for the defects of nature; for what she does in a thousand years alone, she does in a day with the help of Art; for it is not people who do the transmutation, but it is nature, and it only needs to administer matters; for if matter is duly administered to it, with regard to natural principles, and well informed by the wise Worker, sometimes it is quick and diligent to lead its nature to individuals of the present species; and for this, beware, before anything you want to practice, that you know and know before putting your hand to work, the real materials suitable for this, and simply cannot know them, if several Books have not studied; for what one will close to you, the other will open to you, although they may seem different to you, and there are several false ones to which there is a recipe for practice, which practice is false, as hereafter will be declared.
And for this I advise you that you seek approved Books, if how are R. Lully and Arnauld de Villeneuve , in which is the Science contained in truth, and are three Books, of which the first is Theory, in which is the speculation and the division of the other Books. The 2nd part is the Practice , in which is the way of working, by means of the Theory understood; for it corrects and amends the fault of this practice; because this written practice is only the mirror of the truth of the Mastery, the Codicil which is called Vade mecum, contains part of Theory, one close and the other distant with regard to the fact, and part of practice, one false and the other true, and however is all truth to those who hear it. But the many who think they are usurping it unduly, when they think they hear the truth of what they read, and they come to practice it, they find themselves further than ahead, and say that Science is false, and that the Philosophers have lied; but we who have seen with our eyes and held with our hands the transmuted metals, testify that Science is true, and that the Philosophers have said true; which thing would not have believed and doubted it, if with our own eyes, as it is said, we had not seen it.

And although the envious friends of the world, such as lawyers, doctors, officers and other clerks, jugglers, want to reprove and say the opposite, it doesn't matter to us. And for this we pray you to be secret and such people like them and other false traitors eaters of People, deniers of God, children of the Devil and to given Devils, of which several strive to steal our philosophy from us; but they find themselves so thieves that they lose their lives. And besides, if it happens that God gives it to you, by some adventure, keep it secret and especially from the great Lords and from all other people, without any Companion, whom you have tested and found to be true without any fixion, and who is of good morals, and serves God, his Mother and his Saints, accomplishing the works of mercy, and don't want now to live more deliciously, don't deceive others; so that God does not take vengeance on you.

THE SECOND CHAPTER

Of the mines at which I have worked and the effects that I have made, of the various Vessels and Instruments that I have used, etc.

Some work from Vitriols , Alums , Attramens , Salts and in all manners of drugstores, as are Antimony , Tutie , Magnesia , Calamine , Marcasites , and all manners of borax . The others take the four Spirits namely Orpiment , Armoniac Salt , Sulfur and Quicksilver, and are said to be Spirits for that they fly up in smoke when exposed to fire, and believed to extract the four Elements therefrom, and dissolved them, that they were of the nature of the Earth; for solution is corruption and putrefaction of all things, returning to the nature of the Earth, and distilling them, that they are of the nature of Water: and sublimating them, that they are of the nature of Air: and calcining them, that they are of the nature of Fire.

And when they had done this and I similarly, we stared at them, as long as they were not expecting the fire, and from this projected on the molten copper, and all this was worth nothing to you, but went up in smoke; and the metal remained more impure than before. Others put them in herbs and beasts, and draw the four Elements from them, as before, and make a projection on the ? and nothing finds and is deceived as before. Some others did more subtly and realized that the quicksilver was the germ of the metals, amalgamated it with copper, and washed both together for a long time, and believed that they had fixed nothing of it with the copper: and when it came to exposing it to the fire, the quicksilver vanished from the metal, which remained more gold than in front. Others amalgamated and put it quicksilver with the perfect bodies, namely Gold and Silver, and sublimated it with the said bodies, believing to fix nothing from it, but were deceived as before, for what the Spirit cannot dwell with the body, without the means of the soul, because the soul is that which makes the link of the Body and the Spirit. For to our Philosopher's Stone is appropriated Body, Soul and Spirit.

Others mingled the perfect Bodies with the imperfect, believing that what was pure would perfect the imperfect, and that the said imperfect would be perfected and dwell with the perfect; and when it came to the examination of the Ashes, what was imperfect departed with the substance, without remaining any of the imperfect with the perfect; for that from the beginning of their birth, the earth and the sulphurous water of imperfect iceux, were mixed by such mixture, that never by fire will be able to part, but ruin and vanish with all their substance.

And when they saw this, they were all discouraged, and despairing of Science, as people of little knowledge; and abandoning the Magisterium, it seemed to them that it was impossible; but if the Soul were with the perfect Body, he who had this would have double virtue. For when it would be joined to the imperfect bodies, one virtue would separate what is pure in them, and the other would convert what would have been separated. And for this, all those who work with the above-named materials and other naively understood spirits, waste their time and their trouble. For who does not know the means that I have said, he could spend his whole life calcining and distilling, dissolving and congealing, before safe harbor could come; and if he knows the true way both in extremes and in means,

THE THIRD CHAPTER
Of the primordial principles in the Work of Nature with the extremes and their means

1) - The primordial principles succeeding in the Work of Nature, are the four Elements and are signified by B. _

2) - Second, are the vapors of these Elements, which by rarefaction and resolution condense into water, which is very heavy, for the gravity of these Elements and is signified by C. _

3) - Thirdly, is generated from these vapours, mercury, which is found underground, flowing by the subterranean movements of the wind, and falls in sulphurian mines, hot and seiches; whose vapor congeals all mercury, and is this begotten in every elemental body, and is signified by D. _

4) - Fourthly, there is a substance engendered in the matter of Mercury, which is called Calcantis , Vitriol, Lascuta, and is green, black and red and white in its occult and is found in frozen lizard green, which is earth and mother of the Metals; in which earth is the species of Living Water and of the two stinking Spirits, in which lies and is the life of metal, and is signified by E. _ -

5) - Fifthly, by the rarefaction and resolution of the subtle vapor of it Calcantis, is immediately generated the Quicksilver, which is the proper and very near matter to the generation of all Metals, and not such as that which is found flowing, and now will not be, until in corrupted and venomous blood, it is first converted. And shall hear all Investigators, students in this Art, be their Quicksilver in Nature's work, and is signified by F. _

6) - Sixthly, from it Quicksilver are the dry sulfurs, immediately engendered by the condensation of it Quicksilver, and according to the purification such, as it is administered by Nature, to the form and kind of the metal, from which the vapor is, either of Gold or of Silver, or of another metal, according to the purity of the matrix and the place, pure or impure form will come out of it; and are signified by G. _

7) - The Seventh extremes are the Metals in perfect closure in the Work of Nature within the Mines; And when they are out of their mines, nature intends to put them away and to roll them so long as by digestion, they are turned into better species than before they were by digestion in their mines, by the gravity and heaviness of their Elements, by the instinct and will of nature.

And any Alchemist who strives to give semblance or color to any of the metals, and does not take and receive this matter, he is like the Painter painting in matter a distant form like man or beast, or like the one who paints an Image resembling a man. For when no one gives the color of Gold or Silver to any other metal, and the test is made on it, he cannot carry the test any more than the Image can do what man does, so that the Image is like a man: for matter is distracted from form, and it is form distant with regard to matter. And for this the good Worker, who knows what Nature requires in the generation of metal, can by him, the mineral nature so aided and governed, that the fruit will appear to him before his eyes, H. _ And we will give to the subsequent Chapter, other principles close and suitable to the Art.

Here after is and lies the work of both extreme and middle principles of Nature.


THE FOURTH CHAPTER

Of what principles the Magisterium is made, and how many they are
The primordial Principles in our Magisterium are three, namely the living Water and the two stinking Spirits, for what they are not found on earth in their natural action, as we were in the trade, so are found in earthly matter in the form of metal, in which is their power; and for that we take the extremes of nature by means of Science and Art, returning to D and H ; but because these two are far apart and distant, for the extremity of them, wise Nature teaches us that we take F , which is mean disposition of the extremity and nature of them; because F has the power to convert D into E , and everything turns into B , and that B is converted into E , from which we must extract F in our Magisterium, instead of living water and stinking spirits. For F has the power to convert D into H by conservation of their form; And there will be done now, all that was potentially in the work of Nature and better means for the reason of the extremes, because F came from C . D. _ E. _ descended from H to B , half there is G , which is said and proclaimed leaven and leaven of our perfect Elixir.

THE FIFTH CHAPTER

Of the division of the three Genres

Our Science and Art is comprised of three genera, viz., beastly, vegetable, and mineral, and each of which multiplies according to its species, and is each divided into three differential semen, viz., active, passive, and neuter. The bestial gender has male and female sperm and its menstrual. The plant genus is divided into three differential sperms, i.e. active sperm, if as seeds of grains and roots, and is of hermaphroditic complexion, containing in itself active and passive, i.e. male and female sperm, and their menstrual is in the mood of the earth, and; in the rainy air.

The mineral genus is also of hermaphrodite complexion, and divided namely into male sperm, whether as Gold or Silver; and in feminine if as Lead, Tin, Copper, Iron, Sulfur and Quicksilver, and in sperm menstruum, if as Alums, Vitriols, Attramens, Marcasites, Tuties, Antimonium, Magnesia, Arsenic, and all other means which descend and arise from above of another kind touching perfection or imperfection. So that the mineral genus is divided and separated from the other two lineages, viz. vegetable and animal, and again is separated from the natural, unnatural and unnatural, which are of one lineage; for quicksilver contains within it its same sulfur by which it congeals itself into gold and silver, speaking broadly; and when we say broadly, we mean it unlike that which perfects our perfect Elixir.

So that any genus can be changed into another genus by complete digestion, and we have seen and see that Plants and Animals have taken and take each day form and form each other, so like bread and wine, of which when man has eaten and drunk them, we know that the mercurial substance is converted into pure blood by the digestion of natural heat. And let us see that what is born from the harmonic sequel of the man is rejected by ducts, so as urine and sweats. Thus similarly can the animal or vegetable kind be transmuted into mineral, by the digestion of the natural mineral heat; For we have seen that from fire of herbs, have created medium which was preservative of mineral kind and transmuted into form and color of metal; as all is but one Quintessence,


THE SIXTH CHAPTER

How our Stone is formed

All Sons of doctrine and understanding, can see and know by clear experience, the matters most suitable to form, so as in fusibility, permanent ignition, and true resistance against ignition, and as the matter of Gold demonstrates. Similarly, there is another virtue, in raw things, solemnly unfinished, strong in mediocrity, which can be found in every elemental body. As there is nothing under the globe of the Moon, which is not of the same matter, which is called Quintessence, and is a virtue, which is one of the four Elements and is neither male nor female and thus holds one and the other.

And just as since the World was created by God the Father, the Elements which were pure at the beginning of creation, have since been contagious and corrupted, by generation and corruption, and men and beasts and several trees and grasses have died; by which corruption the Elements have been, and are infected; whereby men now are shortlived by the impurity of them. But at the end of the World, the sovereign Philosopher, NSJC, will come, who by the fire of Heaven will burn all that will be found of impurities in the said Elements; And what is pure will remain, each according to his Spirit; And what will be found evil and impure will melt and fall on the damned.

And by this example, can understand any Son of Doctrine, that it is necessary for him to make resemble our Magisterium which is perishes World, and that it is necessary that the Elements be purged, by physical purgation, before one presumes to fix them; by which we reveal and charge to all those who our Children will want to be, that in their secret want to keep, that at the last purification, is found the first matter of all things, in the form of Mercury. And this form is called simple and unfinished form, desiring the fulfillment of being in no form, as matter desires to have form; also matter is not formless, both occultly and manifestly. For if form failed it, nature would have no movement.


Est in Mercurio quidquid quaerunt Sapientes, nam sub umbra sua latet substantia quinta

And for that when it is wanted it to have noble form, one must add noble form to it, for according to the form that one administers to it, such will receive it, and in it tint it: for Gold tints it into the color of gold and Silver into the color of Silver, penetrating and transforming every other metal, and for this simple form never by it can come to the aforesaid degree until its pontic and earthly matter has first converted the metal into its aforesaid earthly and Pontic nature; for as long as it has corrupted and conquered the metallic seed, it can never be conquered or digested into mineral nature; and for this in conquering she kills herself.

And for this says the Philosopher, that our Stone kills itself of its own blow, and afterwards revives itself in such great clarity, that no one would believe it if he had not seen it, because by this revivification are resurrected all imperfect metals, which are said to be dead: And for this says the Philosopher, that our Gold and our Silver are alive, and those of the mines are dead. For they are animated by animation, which is called fire and mineral virtue, taken in the Art of Physics: for when the smell of this stone touches any metal, it will never cease to have action in it, as long as it has converted it all.

And let the Leaven be an example to you, for you see that when a little Leaven touches a large quantity of dough, from the side where it will be touched, it will begin to rise, as long as everything will be converted into Leaven, and if the first Leaven will not already appetize nor its virtue, but will improve from aging.

And for this says the Philosopher, that he who once reaches our Stone, never needs to begin again, if not to graze it on his same milk, which by figure is called Virgin's Milk .

And if says Mercury still stronger, that whoever will water her with glass, and feed her with Venus, will never die: and if her name is Salamander , who is born of fire and feeds on fire, and is her nourishment from being in the fire; for when she loses the habitation of fire, sometimes she is dead; and so that the fire called common in rustic language is necessary for the work, however the fools do not know how to hear any other fire, any other Sulfur, or any other Quicksilver, except the vulgar, of which they remain disappointed and as if blinded in understanding, and say that we have given them to understand one for the other. And we answer them that it is fire that the Sun engendered in mineral matter, and we called him son of the Father, because the Sun engendered him,
And our Stone has three Fathers, namely the Gold which the Sun begot, the Philosopher by whom the work is governed, and the common fire by whom the work is exercised. And for this must be dearly fed. And for this look at the Ignorant if they will be able to build after us; for we speak only to the Philosophers; and believe that we have made our Books only for them, and we have made them to cast out all those who are not of our sect, as above said; and so that they were present at the beginning, and while doing the work, already for that they would know no more of the beginning than of the end, nor to see it finished before their eyes; because this thing works in It differently, by contrary movement and contrariety of matters in infinite quality. And never can be heard to look, do not think so much if one saw it in front of oneself, not for an attempt that man could make there; and will he never finish distilling, if he has not first passed through the universal Philosophy, and that by this Philosophy in his understanding has not understood it.

And as for the fact of the practice, it is very light; and in terms of the material, it's leprous black earth, which isn't worth so many droppings. But when it has rolled the circle of nature, it is incomparable Treasure, whose name of God be blessed, who of so vile a thing, quick understanding to us unworthy to make such a noble thing of it, that he who knows it, if he had a thousand men to feed each day and wanted to maintain the said labor, the fruit would not need him; for what the Artist or the workman would have his own place, and that he was expert: and there is no worldly income to compare to icelle. And for this is called Gift of God.

So you who seek the oblique ways and seek this Science, I advise you to abandon it; for never was it remembered that avaricious possessed it, but there the many by their covetousness exposed their goods and came to poverty, and such in the end to despair. And for this, you who want to follow us, please be calm and do not put your understanding on several things; but what you will begin, finish either good or bad, before other things begin.

And do not hesitate to start over several times on a matter, so that once by some case of adventure or fortune, such as too strong fire or debris of vessels, you do not become discouraged; because it happened to me by chance, and even in the work of the Mastery, at the time that I found it; whereupon I was almost out of it, and had it not been for a regret I had, and which I wish I had failed in haste of being too hot, I would not have started again, and would have been dismissed forever, as something neglected, and would have found another way of working, for which there would be no use. And for that please do not hasten by too great excitement of fire; because it is the first error of this Art, and believe me if you do not want to be mad, but often look at your matter,


THE SEVENTH CHAPTER

From Solutions

Solution is worth as much to say, as deligation of the Elements and putrefaction of them, and is divided into three digestions, the first is bodily, the second is spiritual, and the third is spiritual and bodily, in which our Peter deports, whom no Philosophers have proclaimed a devouring dragon, for what he poisons everything with his tail. And this Dragon which is ours Peter, must be extracted from the great desert of Arabia, that is, of corruption where he is, and must be brought back to the Kingdom of Ethyopia of which he is naturally a native; that is, from corruption to regeneration, in which corruption is transmuted the metal of its first lights into dark shadows.

And do not mean that the solution is made in Eau de nue, not in metal made up of various parts; but in mineral earth water, and in the lowest and deepest part of matter, great simple parts of pure nature are first forged, in germinity, desiring reformation and separation of the purest germinal parts, and by continued movement, all that is of pure nature is separated from its muddy earth. This is how a solution is defined, according to our intention. And in practice we will denote colors and accidents, both in solution and in vivification, for what several colors appear there, the first of which is green and in this greenness heats up nature, as long as the matter becomes black as coal; and when darkness has come, we can know that it is the fire of nature that acts, and that it is the cold that has kept it dazed and foreclosed from its movement, and since the darkness appears there, so that it did not suddenly come, when nature begins to digest matter; and the darkness passed, the digestion of the first solution is accomplished.

Then begins to come the whiteness which is the second digestion, and lasts until the redness; And in this whiteness, nature separates the subtle from the thick, and then the material begins to become citrine, and by continuation it blushes. And then the three digestions are accomplished; for one cannot pass from black to red without it first being whitened; for whiteness is only blackness washed away, and yellowness is digestion accomplished. Thus it is discovered that who if well knows how to convert the Gold into medicinal Silver, of slight can convert the Silver into Gold; for you cannot make the best worse, except by corrupting its substance, and you cannot make red white, if it is not first whitened.

For when a man gets up in the morning, he can tell by his urine whether he has rested well; that if his urine is yellow, it is a sign of perfect digestion, and if it is white, it is for lack of digestion and rest. And if this digesting body is sick, it cannot digest its meat well. So it is with the mercurious substance of our Stone, which cannot be digested without the aid of the natural heat extracted from fine Silver with the fire of fine Gold. And therein must be mixed Mercury, not such, as is the common, but is found in desert and depopulated land, and is the Vinegar of the Mountains. And for this says the Philosopher, take the clear and honored grass, which grows on the Mountains. And this is said by figure of their sublimation, and their Mountains are only Sol and Moon, that is to say male and female.


THE EIGHTH CHAPTER

Sublimation and Freezing

Just as Solution is mortal, Sublimation and Freezing are vivifying; and do not mean that it is dead destroyable, but is corruption aiding generation: for said generation cannot be done without said corruption. And this generation by figure is called sublimation and Congealing, and do not mean that our sublimated has ascended above, as the Ignorant believe Sublimation to be made by vehemence and common fire of any of the four materials, under which the Art is figured, namely, Quicksilver similarly to the common kind, and of Sulphur, and of Armoniac salt, and of Stonecrop; which flee to the top of the vessel, when they feel the harshness of the fire, and then say that their matter is well sublimated. And our Sublimation is nothing but making a base and vile thing,

Some say that Sublimation is done in dry fire, with the help of no fleeting thing, with which they remain disappointed. Some say that it is done in damp fire and are disappointed like the others. The others say that it is made in fire against nature, which corrupts the Bodies; to which we reply, that force is that he who ignores corruption, ignores generation. For our Sublimation is nothing but separation of the subtle and the pure, from the impure and the thick, for the time of generation accomplished, life begins to come to our dear Child, who is called our Peter.

And as soon as life is in the body, nature never ceases to vegetate and grow, desiring birth and separation from its mother's womb; that is, of his Earth. And be you the grain of bled example, which when it is in the ground throws, the earthly humor which is called menstruum, never ceases to penetrate this grain, as long as the grain is corrupted, in the manner of milk thickened in this corruption, by the virtue of the seminal Spirit which lies in the grain; and by the movement of the Sky and the Planets, heat is generated in the said grain, by the present cohabitation of the male and the female, which the said grain contains hermaphroditely, and in this heat, Nature the high influences Vegetable soul; and as soon as the time is fulfilled, the Soul is placed there by celestial virtue, Nature will never cease to forge and hammer, until the movement of vegetability appears, that is to say when the sprocket comes out of the grain. And Nature will never cease to open and grow the sprig of bled, until it has air and a humid way in its said compost. And as it grows it, by Nature's will, eats and pulls by its tail, that is, by its roots, the humor and fat that is around it, and lives said grain until greenery lasts in it; and when the strand has lived so long that the circle of Nature is completed, that is, from corruption and birth to the end of its life; then begins to die and dry up; thus is accomplished the movement of Nature, which is similarly called our Peter. And by this may be meant the shortening of our Peter and the long duration of our life, and how in a moment our Peter is begotten into another corrupted one. So it is with our Peter like grain of bled; for our Peter, being in his dry nature, cannot fructify, make no profit from it, for his compactibility, so as the grain being dry by him. So it is with our Peter. And for this cause we add to it moist matter which corrupts it, so that it has the movement of bearing fruit; for after this cohabitation and corruption comes the generation, which we call Sublimation, and in this Sublimation, nature will never cease to extract what was first corrupted, raising it from its corrupt matter,

And when he has gnawed everything, like the chick being in the shell of the egg where he was born, he longs to be out, and to eat other meat until the end of his age. So it is with our Mineral Stone; for when it has eaten away all the sides it desires to eat the matter of Imperfect Metals until the end of its life.

And when the movement of his life is accomplished, by new corruption and generation, a new movement is introduced; by which could not find the end of it which always would like to plow. And for the first labor if you gather 100, from the second you will gather 1000, from the third 10 thousand, and consequently from the fourth 100 thousand. And by the understanding of the grain of wheat can we hear Metals and minerals. And by this can one know that the celestial virtues are helped by the rustics, by calcinations, cementations, attractions, and impregnations of the Earth, and have no knowledge of the celestial Virtue which plows and makes grow and not them.


THE NINTH CHAPTER

What is the material of our Stone, and in what place it is, and of the passage from one Element to another, and of the various colors, and the multiplication of the Sulphur, and of its dye which is only of increase of natural heat

I make known to all sons of Doctrine and lovers of truth, that there is only one Stone nor only one Medicine, to which no strange thing must be added; but it is necessary to remove from it the earthly and phlegmatic superfluities, which are separable from quicksilver, which is better to common men than is the common, and has a greater market, and stronger virtue; from which and from its first forms, all that arises from the harmonic sequel of metals, it is a trade to separate and remove by the above and known degrees of separation.

And for this all salable Sulfur is corruptible and foreign to our Quicksilver; on the contrary, the thing is not foreign in which by our Magisterium, it must or must be converted; namely in Gold and Silver; because by the help of these two Bodies, our Quicksilver is converted into pure Sulphur, and then afterwards into true Medicine to cure all sick Bodies.

For these Bodies descended from the concavity of the pure substance of the? fully purified by the engine of wise Nature, which we cannot follow in all things, but in all that is possible for us we follow, and each of the investigators and inquirers of this Science must form his intention on this same Career, taking heed as above said Nature works, and as she passes by her means, returning to the principles of Nature, which we have above declared, taking heed how she works; so that we can resemble it, and we will have good routing, so that we cannot resemble Nature by taking this raw material, from which it opened in its primordial principle; but by the help of what she will have already created, by corrupting these Bodies by the help of Nature,

And know that Nature does not pass from one extreme to the other, that is to say from the beginning to the end, without passing through its means. And for what Nature passes by several means, before her work is finished and the wheel is accomplished, we will say how the four Elements symbolize with each other, having recourse to the example of the grain of wheat, which does not resemble our Magisterium a little.

And for this every son of Doctrine can know the contrariety of one Element to another by Fire and by Water, by Air and by Earth, which are contrary and nevertheless can return one to the other, by the means of one another, for in them four Elements is the fifth Element, called Quintessence, which goes confusedly and results on all four, and is called the soul of the above called four Elements, in which dwells the high moveable Nature. which is the cause of every other movement. And for what wants the Earth to make Fire, it suits it very subtle, that is to know how to convert it into the nature of Water, for what Water is in a cold quality and in the other moist quality. And for what the Earth has two qualities, namely, cold and cuttlefish for the cold quality which is in Water and can be converted from light into the nature of Water. Similarly the Water can be converted into Air by its moist quality; for the Air has two qualities, one hot and the other moist; and for this moist quality, is the slight Water converted into Air. Similarly the Air can become Fire, by rarefaction of its substance; for Fire has two qualities, namely, hot and seiche, and for the hot quality of Air, it passes from one to the other and converts into the nature of Fire.

Similarly, by contrary movement which wants to make Fire Earth, it is appropriate for Fire to condense and thicken: because the cuttlefish quality which is in the Fire and the cuttlefish quality which is in the Earth symbolize by what passage can be made from one to the other, by means of the other Elements, which were all one. And if the qualities had no affinity with each other, the opposite Elements would never agree together, as one can see of Water and Fire. And for this, can we see when Nature began to figure any form, whether as plant or beast, that immediately it began, birth must be before nourishment, and nourishment before virtue and force: and the time of its virtue and force before the end.

And for this the first movement of Nature, when she wishes to represent any thing, is corruption of the present form, and is called matter, Earth Element, says Saturn, and so that this Element contains the other three confusedly, however is said here matter Earth Element, for what the Earth dominates above the three other aforesaid, and the past corruption comes generation, and in this movement the matter of the compound is named and takes the name of the Element of Water, for what the Element Water dominates over the other three Elements.

After and in birth, and from that time is said to be airy matter, and takes the name of Air until its teeth are made, and it is old enough to beget. And from that age, moreover, he enters and is in his fire, and is called the Element of Fire, so that he contains the other three Elements, until he passes the age of begetting, and changes the quality called heat, passing through the quality of dryness, to come to the quality of coldness, which is of the nature of the Earth, and in the two said qualities of coldness and dryness, nature will continue its movement until the end of its compost, which is cl ame Death.

Thus opens Nature in its circulation on all the things of this world in general, Thus as we have divided by the circulation of the four Elements above said: and who will understand the conjunction of them and their mutation, he will understand all our Mastery. For it lies in the separation, conjunction, and mondification of them. For it is certain and necessary that the matter of our Stone be separated from the two humiditys, of which the first is phlegmatic and the other oleaginous, and from all other vaporable humidity, by taking the middle substance which makes fusion and simple ignition, receiving brightness and light from the fire of nature, by the aid of the tinctures of the Sun and the Moon. And the Earth remaining at the bottom is so like slag and damned earth, which never can be of any use:

And for this when the Fire of mineral nature is once in fixed and mixed, never can be extinguished that it does not go ardent the matter by converting it into mineral ashes, that is to say into pure Sulphur, and as long as this Fire finds airy matter, never will end up burning by multiplying the said ashes, which are not only compound Sulphur, and this Sulfur is only Quicksilver digested by the multiplication above said, and by infusing tints the matter by coloring it with several colors, the first of which is green tending to yellowness, and lasts until blackness, and lasts a long time, before blackness appears there; and when it appears there, the said Fire of nature begins to overcome the menstrual dampness which had corrupted it, and in this darkness must be continued by a sledge of well-governed Fire.

Because if the fire exceeds, matter will sometimes turn red, and will we not have what we desire, for what the soul will flee, and the Spirit will not be able to vivify its Body and will remain matter without any movement; and does not believe that the soul, which is the quintessence, is fixed matter, so is the celestial virtue, which by continual movement results from the purest part of all the compost in the sphere of Fire; and when by too great a Fire the matter is excited, and it exceeds the matter, the said matter remains without pole and without any movement (alias remains in powder, without movement, in the manner of colored white earth, in which there is no experience).

And for this be secret, and don't be hasty; but gently please feed and instill virtue in our dear child, until he can suffer all fire. And when by long and sweet continuation the said blackness has passed away, then can it be said that the degree of solution and corruption is accomplished, and is matter drawing to azure white, and by continuation begins to come the whiteness which is the beginning of life; because in it whiteness of soul is infused into said matter, by the will of Nature; for that said matter is subject to transmutation and to receiving said soul by its great purity and splendor, and said whiteness in matter lasts a long time, and can suffer any fire. When Nature thinks of separating the subtle from the thick and the ord from the clean and pure,

The whiteness passed, begins to come the yellowness, and then the redness which is the end of the Digestion and the Magisterium; and you be the Lead example, which in its calcination, comes in black powder and then white, and then yellow and then red. And in such a way is obtained the white and red Sulfur of the matter of the metals. But it is by various digestions, as to our practice it will be fully stated, in which is the manner and form of working; so that without the Theory understood, the Practice cannot be known, nor known; for the said Theory corrects and amends faults; for Known Theory should not be moved away from Known Practice, for what it is in the second degree and germine of the said Theory.


THE TENTH CHAPTER

As in any place one can find our Stone, and as it is between the stones, between the salts, and between the glasses or seers.

We find by our Art and experience, which lie cannot, that there is nothing created in this World, which at the beginning of its creation, was not of Sulfur and Quicksilver, witness all the natural Philosophers, returning and taking heed to the creation of the World, which all was of a mass called Chaos, which by the divine will was divided into three parts, of which three parts, of the purest Our Lord created the Angels and the Archangels, and of the second less pure He created the Heavens, the E stars and planets, and from the less pure third part, he created the Quintessence in a mass called the confused mass; of which mass was made the marvelous division by the will of Our Lord, and was divided by the four Elements, and remained to each Element Element of the above-said Quintessence, and situated and seated each in his own place. From the second part of the purest of the four Elements, Our Lord created Fire; and from the third purer part after said Fire was created Air; and from the purer fourth part after Air was created Water. And from the fifth part less pure of all the others was created the Earth. And as long as matter is lower, the more it is of less perfection.

So that the Elements are perfect, and are perfected one by the other by the Quint Instrument which is the bond of them and which puts them in harmony. And for this please note here quint nature, which the Philosophers have claimed and compared to woods and forests, and this thing goes there confusedly by all the four Elements. So as if slow, without hearing anything. And this Quinte Nature is the Life and the movement of all growing things, retaining in itself the celestial virtues, named Green Lion, Chaos, Hylé , and principally above the four, and if this substance is the sustenance of Quicksilver, not like that which is sold at the chambers, but it is of Him, and not in all its earthly nature, but that of which we have spoken.

When Nature has fixed any form in him, he takes and usurps the name of Sulfur, for all frozen Quicksilver is said to be Sulfur. And you see when the Goldsmith wants to figure any shape whether as of a nail, or something else, he must first have the iron, and after work on it, until he has come to his desire. Thus does Nature when she comes to figure and form any compost, she takes and receives this matter, for what it is the principal Element and foundation and the most material of the others, so that it is prepared and appropriated in simple form, if as crystal. And for what it is represented by various plants and various cattle and minerals, it must be stripped of all such figures, which Nature had placed in it in such a way that it does not appear, except in simple form,

And this simple form can be found in any elemental body, and more in some than in others, and more moistly, if as among the plants the Vine, the Fennel, the Mercurial and the Celandine . And among the cattle, the melliflue fly that makes Wax , the basil and any other form according to its proportion. And between the minerals are the Sun and the Moon, namely Gold and Silver, of which must be fermented: for here two Bodies are pure digested and fixed, for the Gold tints in a golden color and of great resplendence, and the Silver tints in a silvery color, white and resplendent, transforming all other metallic Bodies, and when the said Quicksilver is fixed, it retains all other Quicksilver, and even it retains this vulgar one, of which we spoke after its perfect fixation , against ignition, since they participate together in proximity for the first straight thing, so that it is in the second composition of the very general kind.

The second is called mineral kind, that is, Metals and stones. The third composition is of the vegetable genre, and the fourth is of the brute beast genre. And the fifth composition are men and women. And when any of the said compositions goes to corruption, sometimes wishes and desires to be under the next composition; as for example if the third composition goes to corruption, that is to say to death, sometimes desires to be in the fourth composition; and So of the others from one to the other.

For vegetables and minerals are nearer to the first composition of the very general genus than are animals, by the above-mentioned difference, for animals are of more subtle matter than any of the compositions, as it appears by the movement they have: and because the mineral composition is more material and heavy than the animal composition is; for this we take the vegetable composition, which is average and closer to minerals than are the said animals, of whatever species they are.

And do not believe that our Peter is like the other stones; neither glass nor salt ending in rock; not substance of another stone, but between them we create it, because they are vessels of nature that said kind has elected. And for this our Stone appears to us, from which we extract Stones and Herbs in the form of clear Water, and then freeze it by the vapor of its same Sulphur; for we extract it from the natural principles of the things said above and give birth to it; and when it is born from its mother's womb, it must be patiently nourished without adding anything raw or cooked, for it carries within itself that Sulfurian nature, which freezes all Quicksilver. And for what we have spoken of the Herbs and the Stones, we say that Our Lord has put in here many beautiful secrets,


THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER

Of the conjunction of male and female

It is quite elucidated from where our Mercury, which makes the conjunction of male and female, can proceed, and is taken from our said Mercury in the first conjunction, instead of female, which carries it in its own womb. And for this, our male Sun needs and needs a female suitable to him, and closer in nature than was the first simple female, and so will be the Moon, which will be impregnated with the fire of our male Sun, as long as it becomes black as coal. And then can we really say that the Moon suffers Eclipse all over the earth, that she carries this Sun in her very womb, as long as she comes to give birth to it, and when she has given birth to it, we must have patience and nourish it between the arms and breasts of its mother, because it gnaws away all its substance, as it is furnished with such clarity and purity, when he drinks all the humor of his father the Sun and of his mother the Moon, for all their substance contributes to his nourishment. And for what is he called a dragon devouring and murdering his Father and his Mother, and then resurrects them, with him without ever dying, and all metallic Bodies. And know that in the absence of the male who is the perfect agent for the female, she would be taken for the male. So that she does not have so great a power to create her like as the perfect agent has; for she is of most earthly matter, and for this we comfort her in the warmth of her male which is of a warm nature, and for this our male Sun needs us to elect her a suitable female to him, and next in kind more than is the first newly descended of the very general genus,

THE TWELFTH CHAPTER

From the smelly Menstrual to which is the fire against Nature

The stinking Menstrual, to which is the fire against Nature, which transmutes our Stone into a proud Dragon, is mineral water, not terminated in a species of metal, and is terrestrial and pontic humor; which humor is corruptible of all metals, and is sulphurous water, which is required for our Art; because we cannot principle, cannot begin our Magisterium without menstrual ice; which has power by its contrariety to do contrary operations so as to heat up and cool, to dry up and kill, to quicken and slay, and to do all the operations which belong to corruption and generation; and for this seek said menstrual, without which nothing can be done; every man of understanding needs himself to return to the natural principles, which are many adherents to his said substance, for the said menstrual in the work of Nature, if is in potency metal; and see that by the course of Nature, by the heat of the Sun ends in form and species of metal; and by this is said medium in the work of nature and earth of metals, and is of salty taste: and the bitterness of it comes from the nature of Stones.

And in the said work of Nature are several means, of which there are two purer and more viscous than the others, so as vitriol and salt of common nature; and by the aid of this vile matter is procreated our Peter, whom we have so much sought, which we take in our Art to make our menstrual said, and the ponticity and dryness come from its earthly nature, which ponticity causes corruption; divide and resolve the humidity of the metal into various members, so that they cannot be so corrupted that they remain in no form: for the pitiful mother would never want to kill and slay the child she bore. And in such a way that the father and the mother wanted to do it by agreement, they could suffocate each other before they could come; for what their child is clothed with ishimself fire, as is his father and his mother, who are but fire. So white magnesia will never fear fire, because it itself is fire; and do not doubt that our water is water of the phlegmatic, so is water of a warmer nature than is the elemental fire, which the Fire of Heaven could not burn in the dreadful day, and is choleric water, witnesses Galen and Hypocrates who say that our choleric water is only fire, which does not allow one part of itself to be separated from the other.

For this terrestrial Water is living, if as you can see in the calcination of metals, which do not lose their moisture in their calcination;

because their nature is united in strong union, whereby their substance cannot be separated, and the stones lose their moisture, because their moisture was not well mixed with the earthly dryness at the beginning of their mixing, so as is seen in all lineages of attramens and salts, which flee in the fire, and it is on the contrary in the matter of glass. And for this, says the Philosopher, let the glass be an example to us for our Magisterium, because the Vitrary Art is subordinate to this Art. And for this we have the Sun and the Moon which are fixed bodies, which fix all that is not fixed. And by icelle Water, we fix and stop the Birds which fly away.

And know that we open in our Art cleaner materials than nature does: for we only take this raw material from which it opened in its primordial beginning, so that without it we cannot begin, but take what it has already accomplished; and by what she has already accomplished, we complete what she left diminished; for the perfect helps to perfect the imperfect by means of our Mastery, by the aid of the four mutative virtues, the first of which is called attractive or appetizing virtue, and is made by drying and tempering heat; the second is called Digestive Virtue, and is made by heat and tempered temper; the third virtue has the name Retentive Virtue and is made by coldness and tempered dryer; the fourth is called Expulsive Virtue and is made by temper and quenched coldness. The first Virtue is of fire complexion. The second of the Air complexion. The third of the complexion of the Earth. The fourth of the complexion of Water; and are governors of all our Magisterium.

And in these said Virtues are enclosed four other Virtues, called the four celestial Virtues, of which the first is called corruptive, the second generative, the third vegetative, and the fourth multiplicative. The first named corruptive multiplies generative, and generative multiplies vegetative, and vegetative multiplies multiplicative. So as it will be divided into our practice.

For what Nature hath left imperfect, by the aid of that which she has perfected of lightness we perfect: for those imperfects are the cause of their perfection, and are said to be means in the work of Nature, which have had no time for their accomplishment, and according as those means have been better purified, purer forms will follow; simplicity; if as it is demonstrated in the matter of Gold, and in the matter of Lead, between which there is great difference; and for this, if the means above said are pure and clean, pure forms will receive, and by this can one know who is the merit between the Stones and the Metal; as Stones have no power to melt, and the Metals melt; for all that is said to be means, which on the one hand partakes of the Stones, and of the Metals on the other, some of which are of a hot and seiche nature, so as is seen in the nature and lineage of the attributes, which are said to be means between the Stone and the Metal: and other means are, which are of a hot and moist nature, and from them we distill Water, for these are next and related to the Metals; as the Metals are in lineage of humid Water, and the Stones are in lineage of dry land. and from them we distill Water, for they are neighbors and relatives to the Metals; as the Metals are in lineage of humid Water, and the Stones are in lineage of dry land. and from them we distill Water, for they are neighbors and relatives to the Metals; as the Metals are in lineage of humid Water, and the Stones are in lineage of dry land.
And you see that when the aqueatramental nature touches the purified Quicksilver, sometimes it blackens Quicksilver and corrupts it.

And celestial Virtue which is in form, while it is corrupted, will infigate new form, and mundify and separate from the aforesaid corruption, so as seen in the sublimation of Mercury, which is early foul and corrupted, when attramental virtue touches it for moisture, which stands mortified without taking any metallic form, and after the moisture is evaporated, sometimes by gentle heat, the said Quicksilver sublimates as crystal, and is the cause why we command the moderation of the fire in the sublimation of the said Quicksilver, until the humidity has evaporated, which humidity we do not need; for it is a corruption of our Peter who knows how to do it. And for this extract the Quicksilver from its vitriolic caverns, and by it bring the Stone to its first nature, which is the middle sovereign purged of the original stain and spot.


THE THIRTEENTH CHAPTER

From the Extremes of our Quicksilver

The extremes of our Quicksilver are in a first side Water of the green Lion, that is to say menstrual added to the Body; and the other side is the Sulfur which is said to be ours Peter. And the means to extremes is our Quicksilver. So the Metals are middle, between the Menstrual and our so-called Quicksilver, and since we have said the extremities of our Quicksilver, we will say the extremes of our Stone, and say that the principal extreme is our so-called Quicksilver extracted from the Menstrual and from the above said Metals, and on the other side is the completed Elixir, and our Stone is middle of these extremes.

And do not mean that we take the Metals instead of the means, which are extreme in nature. For as the means are nobler, the extremes are more worthy in power: and of the said means in the work of nature we make our first Extreme, for from these means we extract all our Art and perfect Elixir. For we see that the nature of these means commutes Quicksilver, and mortifies and vivifies it, and after its mortification it is miscible with the body of the Metals, and not before, giving all the heat that is needed. And for this can we see that the Menstrual is the cause of the death of Quicksilver; for he himself kills his Father and his Mother, then revives them in great clarity. And for this we say to all feals and friends of Nature, that they take the vile thing, namely the menstrual, and make him kiss his parents. And again let us say that every growing and multiplying must receive in the belly of him who grows and multiplies it: for we generally see Nature working in her dry and terrestrial places, in which earth by the heat of the Sun Nature infiges various forms as much of cattle as of vegetables and minerals. And for what the mineral kind is all alone apart from it, by the figure of similarity we want to divide and declare as ours Metallic stone which throws itself out of its extremes to come to the last extreme. in which earth by the heat of the Sun Nature infiges various forms as well of cattle as of vegetables and minerals. And for what the mineral kind is all alone apart from it, by the figure of similarity we want to divide and declare as ours Metallic stone which throws itself out of its extremes to come to the last extreme. in which earth by the heat of the Sun Nature infiges various forms as well of cattle as of vegetables and minerals. And for what the mineral kind is all alone apart from it, by the figure of similarity we want to divide and declare as ours Metallic stone which throws itself out of its extremes to come to the last extreme.

And first, let us say of imperfect Bodies that they are abortions, for they have not had time for their perfection, and are only to blame for a little fixed dampness: for they were born in their ill-ordered menstrual; for if the place of generation be dry, earthy, and muddy, and Quicksilver and Sulfur impure, out of this will be generated Lead, or some other imperfect metal. And if the Quicksilver and the Sulfur are pure and clean, and the place is complexed with tempered heat and dampness, and the air dominates there, from this will be generated Silver. And if the Sun dominates there and tempered heat, from that will be generated Gold, provided that the Sulfur is red, pure and clean, and the Quicksilver pure.
And for that, which wants to have the knowledge of the perfect transmutation of the Metals, it is necessary that it knows the mineral nature, as well materially as essentially, which metals are not in lineage, strong of three so much only; that is, natural, unnatural, and unnatural: the naturals are said to be healthy, and the unnaturals are said to be healthy and sick, and because they hold part disease and part health, it is said to be neutral; and the unnatural is said of every sick person. And who wants to begin our Peter, it is necessary to make conjunction of three fires: namely natural, unnatural and against nature. Which last two fires, i.e. unnatural and unnatural, are converted into own natural fire, i.e. in health, the unnatural fire by itself and by accident, and unnatural fire by accident. And for that when one wants to begin our Magisterium, one must corrupt the natural fire with the fire against nature, by means of the unnatural fire; for passage cannot be made from one extreme to the other without passing through its middle. And when matter is turned to corruption, it is said to be diseased; and this disease contains in itself health confusedly, So like the patient who is put down by force of laxative. When the good workman must resemble the good doctor, who when he has put his patient down with laxatives, to evacuate the hard and compact matter, when he must use comfortatives and then restoratives, to begin again the lost thing. by means of the unnatural fire; for passage cannot be made from one extreme to the other without passing through its middle. And when matter is turned to corruption, it is said to be diseased; and this disease contains in itself health confusedly, So like the patient who is put down by force of laxative. When the good workman must resemble the good doctor, who when he has put his patient down with laxatives, to evacuate the hard and compact matter, when he must use comfortatives and then restoratives, to begin again the lost thing. by means of the unnatural fire; for passage cannot be made from one extreme to the other without passing through its middle.

And when matter is turned to corruption, it is said to be diseased; and this disease contains in itself health confusedly, So like the patient who is put down by force of laxative. When the good workman must resemble the good doctor, who when he has put his patient down with laxatives, to evacuate the hard and compact matter, when he must use comfortatives and then restoratives, to begin again the lost thing. So like the patient who is put down by force of laxative. When the good workman must resemble the good doctor, who when he has put his patient down with laxatives, to evacuate the hard and compact matter, when he must use comfortatives and then restoratives, to begin again the lost thing. So like the patient who is put down by force of laxative. When the good workman must resemble the good doctor, who when he has put his patient down with laxatives, to evacuate the hard and compact matter, when he must use comfortatives and then restoratives, to begin again the lost thing.

Thus does the good Artist who follows Nature, and is Nature governed and administered by means of it; for at the last degree of corruption begins to be born our Peter, and is in his first extreme. And it's like the patient to whom the disease takes changes to heal, by administering to him a part of its nature, it takes comfort and uses it to comfort, until it comes to the middle degree.
And when it is at that mean, it is said to be neutral, if as healthy and sick, which holds a part of sickness and the other of health, and in it takes restoration until so long as it is Thus as holding in itself the two parts of health and the third part of disease. And by administering to her the surplus of her nature, she thus comes as healthy, and like the sick new issue of illness, to whom the good Physician makes take air, little by little until he is hardened, and by continuance from means to means, our Peter throws himself out of his extremes, which is the medicine of imperfect and sick Bodies, which health is found in perfect Bodies, for they bear within them the fulfillment and perfection of these, by means of our Magisterium, which we have declared in this little abbreviated in short language, if you heard us; and telling you and letting you know, that everything purified can return to the nature of him to whom it is added; and this means so much in the first part, which is the conjunction and corruption, as in the second which is the fermentation and mutation of it into fine and true Medicine, which is called ointment, of which we will give you the composition in our practice. And know that our said Pierre is of incomparable virtue, because it heals the Metals and comforts Nature by purifying the blood, and humidifies the arteries, and stronger restores Youth; and if a little of it were put in as a graft of a Vine, it would bear grapes from the month of May. And if does many other wonders, because it rectifies the Precious Stones, and Crystal makes Carbuncle; and if made the glass malleable, or forgeable. And know that our Stone is nothing but natural heat infixed within its radical humidity of which few are today who believe that of this thing meant to speak, which our predecessors of honor and of having possessed, so as Aristotle, Galen, Hypocrates, and Plato, who left it 1D to us under great cover.

And for this, if you hear us, deck yourself out in the garment of Philosophy without revelation; for whoever reveals the Secret, he commits a crime against the Majesty divinity and will be perpetually damned, as the cause of the perdition of the World; and for this we defend you on pain of anathematization and divine curse, that the secret does not want to reveal; if not to him whom you will know to be true and loyal towards God, and true disciple of Philosophy, by revealing to him by parable what is necessary, without taking advantage of it, by demonstrating only so much; let the humidity already terminated, by reiterations of liquefaction, be reduced to Sulfur and Quicksilver, and suffice it for you to say more: for if he is of the sect of the Philosophers, he will be able to hear you well; for by word of mouth to no mortal man shall be revealed, for what it is for God to give and not for men. Here ends ours, known as Abrégé de Théorie.


END OF THEORY

SECOND PART
CONVENIENT

Alchemy is a part of hidden natural Philosophy of which is constituted an unparalleled Art; because it teaches to transmute all the bodies of the imperfect Metals into Gold and Silver, by a universal medicinal Body from which all the particularities of medicine are removed: and is done by a system manually revealed to the sons of the begotten, by means of the six latitudes of qualities, by including the two heats, the first of which is dazed heat which prohibits movement in whole nature; the second is tolerable heat of vivification. And for this is our Mastery understood in two main movements, which have several other means, whose accidents and colors are demonstrated by passing from medium to medium, changing quality according to the multitude of digestions, through which the compost of our Stone must pass, which is composed of three natures, and one, as to its kind. Which compost contains within it mineral nature, the simple, the well-arranged, and the compound.

And is understood our Mastery under the two above said movements that in common language are proclaimed solution and freezing. And the solution is divided into two parts, the first is only separation of the Elements, and by this we make plurality union, and by the second we make plurality unity. Freezing is divided into two parts: by the first we separate and purge the Elements of said compost, and by the second part, we assemble and fix these Elements. And presently we will tell you how, without putting any clauses on it. And so that you are warned, we have already told you in the treatise on Theory , that our Magisterium is only corruption of the present form, in generation of the form to come.



THE SECOND CHAPTER

Preparation

In the name of Our Lord, you will take from the unnatural a part of the unnatural body, that is to say of fine Silver, and a half part of the natural body, that is to say fine Gold, which are well purged, the Gold by the Cement, and the Silver by the Cinders; and keep them apart, and put them in little thin sheets like paper, and then they will be well prepared.


THE THIRD CHAPTER

To make the Menstrual

Thou shalt take six ounces of vitriol and three ounces of rock salt, which shall grind finely, then put into a vessel of glass, and have a clean vessel half a foot deep, and four fingers wide, which has a brim all around the mouth, so that it may rest upon the mouth of the furnace upon which thou wish the work to be done; to which continual fire must be from the beginning of the Magisterium until the end without failing. For infrigidations and calefactions are the death of our Peter, to whom the furnace where the fire is continued in such degree that it does not exceed the movement of matter. For you see that a large flame destroys, and harms the small flame, and therefore continue your work with one hand, without hastening by strong fire, do without forsaking cooling; because your work and the fruit of it would be lost, and for nothing I will believe of it compost to do afterward something which suits you and for this not bored you the long stay; for the colors will show you and lead your understanding from one to the other until the end of the Magisterium.


THE FOURTH CHAPTER

From the mix of materials

Thou shalt take one ounce of fine silver prepared, as above said, and seven ounces of powder called Menstrual prepared in powder, as above said; and mixes the laminae of Silver with it, by grinding them on a thick glass table with a glass wheel, so much and so continuously that one does not appear one another; afterwards all in your vessel, made as above is said, which has a lid precisely closing over the mouth of the said vessel; and lay it on your stove, which should be round, a foot wide on the inside, and half a foot thick and more, so that it holds its heat longer, and that the said furnace has a floor in the middle, on which floor you will make the fire.

And that among the said floor and all around the sides of the said furnace, are several round holes as if to pass the finger; through which holes the Ashes will fall to the bottom of the stove, and if you make a fire of coal it will be better than wood, and better of a wheel. And for the first floor from the bottom to the middle one, it takes half a foot high; and must have the said floor, that is to say the hearth pierced half a foot thick; and from said floor or star to the top of the oven a large foot; for when your vessel is seated in the mouth of the top of the said furnace, it will enter it half-foot; thus only half a foot of light will remain under the ass of your ship to the ground, and the fire must beat all around your ship inside the said furnace, holding your vessel covered with its lid; otherwise when you want to see your matter, then light your fire of small coal while heating it, until you see your matter changing color into greenery pulling towards yellowness, and be careful not to increase your fire, but be continued in this heat, without ever letting the fire go out.

And in this continuation the first part of the solution is accomplished, which is the coitus of nature, and so you must continue the said heat, that matter comes in black color, which blackness shows you that matter is indeed rotten, and that the fire of nature is excited by its opposite, and fortified, and well spread by all matter, and that it begins to battle against the menstrual humor which kept it stupefied. And by long continuation this darkness will persevere, until the Elements come to unity; and then matter is farthest from its tempering, at the end of whatever degree it can be, which is called Corruption and by others Solution.
Past Blackness begins Whiteness to appear on top; and by long continuance of fire, well tempered, the said matter comes to perfect whiteness, which is called by some the beginning of the life of our Peter, and the nativity of it, and by others the beginning of not vulgar, but philosophical Congealing. The first matter whitened by its virtue gives strength and virtue to whiten, and then Nature desires to separate the subtle from the gross, so that at the point of whiteness Soul is infused into its Body; namely, mineral virtue, which is more subtle than fire; for it is only Quintessence and Life, which desires to be born and to strip itself of its large earthy faeces, which had come to it because of menstrual and corruption. And in this is our Sublimation,



THE FIFTH CHAPTER

Above we talked about the work of white Elixir, now we will say about red. Thou shalt take the white compost, thus whitened as above said, and spread thy Gold in thin and minute leaves, and spread them over the said matter made white, and cover thy vessel and leave it in continual fire, turning into red powders which are claimed Elixir. Then Thus you will have double mining, and if you did not administer red Sulfur there, and if the fire were continued, everything would turn into white powders, then yellow, which would be Silver Elixir, from which if a weight falls on a thousand of Copper, or any of the other corrupt metals, it will turn them into fine Gold or Silver, according to whether the matter is white or red; so that the metal which must be transmuted, draws and sucks all the spirituality of the said medicine, who heals him and boils him deep in his heart, which suffered from leprosy, separating all earthly phlegm and fat, so that he is stripped of his former form and figure, and receives new form; that is, Gold or Silver, depending on whether the compost is white or red; which transformed metal, whether Lead, Iron, Copper, or Tin, resists better against cement than does natural Gold, and Silver better than mined; and for this we say to all that they are careful not to use Gold of Alchemy without calling Nature. depending on whether the compost is white or red; which transformed metal, whether Lead, Iron, Copper, or Tin, resists better against cement than does natural Gold, and Silver better than mined; and for this we say to all that they are careful not to use Gold of Alchemy without calling Nature. depending on whether the compost is white or red; which transformed metal, whether Lead, Iron, Copper, or Tin, resists better against cement than does natural Gold, and Silver better than mined; and for this we say to all that they are careful not to use Gold of Alchemy without calling Nature.

For there is no true Gold but that which Nature makes, or that of our Mastery, which is better for the Virtues which it has acquired in our so-called Mastery; and is not such as the sophist Gold full of impurities, which several naive sophists compose by foreign powders, and do not believe that it is any other naive Alchemy. And when they see their Gold colored by the application of foreign powders, they say that it is greatly multiplied, and it is greatly diminished in all its Virtues: and for this, the Gold and Silver of such workers does not support the fire, but burns and returns to the earth, for what they did not know how to integrate the course of Nature to it; and so that they have the art of extracting the Mercurys, however they did not arrive at purifications, and remain the pure parts with the impure ones; and when they smell fire they corrupt themselves with all their substance, for all the foreign Sulfurs which consumed them all.

And for this, let us know to doctors who use condimental medicines, that they keep themselves as they will use Gold of Alchemy; for what the sophist Gold is all filthy and full of corrosives, for what they have not known how to strip it of fire against nature. And for this believe in conscience, the natural Gold is that of our Mastery by examinations in own Cements; for what the other would cause to resolve the spirits of the heart of him who would use it and die of it.

Son, I have made this practice for you in an abbreviated recipe, without putting any clauses in it, except for the materials and the projection, which is difficult to know without knowing Theoretical , which contains the materials own name. So that in this present writing we have named you, however there is a difference of matter: for several matters are which are named by a name for the similarity that they have one in the other; and for this if you want to know, if you study the Books of Raymond Lully , namely Theoretical, Practical, and Codicile, which is named Vademecum de mercurio philosophorum; because in them is the complete Science and Art, and in such a way that I have put it to you in truth and in brief, and without any addition of sublimations, distillations, or rustic calcinations, as there are other Books of this Science; however already for this it will not be able to practice it, if by Theory first has not heard them: and know that in what I have told you above is contained everything that they ever said, nor put any language over it, if not to cover it and hide it.

And for that let us name the Element of the sermon Art, because it cannot be put too high: because if it were not put under the cover and shadow of Philosophy, as much would have the madman as the wise, but to you I say to you that you abandon all sublimations, calcinations, solutions, which are and that will find the Books of this Art; for there is no use but great trouble and great expense and danger for fumes and loss of materials, and to be mocked and find nothing.

And in this could before use up all the time of your life, that you could find no profit in it, but understand that which I have told you, which is not high to mount, thus is from a base thing to make a many noble thing, and by physical separation separate the pure from the impure, and not by force of fire, like some who sublimate stonecrop, quicksilver and salt armoniac, and dissolve them and mix them with the limes of the imperfect metals, cal cinate, sublimate, distill, dissolve and congeal, then melt and nothing finds the metals above said, more impure than before; Thus remain mocked and despairing of Science, and say that it is impossible, and rebuke us as liars; and they had to reproach themselves with their ignorance; and by this, neglect and forsake Science like desperate people and of little knowledge. And for this I tell you not to get bored if you miss once or several times, taking care what he held on to; and you will never know it if you are not a true Theoretician and believe us, if you do not want to be mad and destitute of the true path, which we have opened up for you, if your fault does not hold.



THE SIXTH CHAPTER

From the Screening

And when you have accomplished your white or red Medicines, you will take a weight of them and throw it on a hundred Quicksilver heated in a Crucible, and then let it cool, because you will find it in powder. Secondly, you will project a weight of this powder and throw it on 100 others of ?, and everything will become true medicine; but it will not be of so great virtue as was the first, for it has already accomplished part of its effect. Thirdly, you shall take a part of this medicine, and project it onto another 100 Quicksilver as before, and all will be converted into white or red perfect metal, depending on whether the medicine has been matched white or red. And if the material on which you made your projection is frangible,


THE SEVENTH CHAPTER

Fusion Trials

When your Projections are accomplished, and you want to try whether your metal is perfect or not, you will take a little of it, and put it in a crucible, and let it anneal until it is reddened, and then you will begin to blow your bellows, looking on the matter; because if it melts together without making small clear spots and without smoking, it is a good sign and demonstrates that this metal is altered by firm alteration, and if it does the opposite, it is a sign that the material is not well fixed; and when everything is melted, see if it boils clear, without blistering on top and without smoking, it is a sign of perfection as to the degree of fusion. And if she does the opposite, it's a sign of poor fixation and purgation, and that your medicine did not have the virtue of digesting the material nature of the imperfect metal, or that it had already lost its force, by the first projections to be made, or that you had put too little of your medicine on your metal; and to amend your fault, help it with new medicine, As I presuppose that you will know how to do it, if you have heard us in Theory.


THE EIGHTH CHAPTER

From the Ashes Review

After what you will have seen that your matter will support the examination of fusion and that you will want to dispose of with your metal, if no filth has remained there, or if you want to separate any other metal if it is mixed with Gold or Silver, you will do so. Thou shalt take a good quantity of ashes of vines, or of bones of beasts crushed and pulverized, and sift them, as long as the powder is loose; otherwise take the common ashes and sift and sift them, but the ashes of the bones or of the vines are better than the others; and when they are well sifted you will sprinkle them with fresh water, as long as the ashes are not at all wet, and put them in some earthen vessel which is made in the manner of a crucible or a cofine bowl, and put the ashes therein, as long as it will be possible in your vessel, until it is full, and will tread and pound them with a pestle until they are tight and hard as a stone; then make a hollow in the middle, which is not very deep, and let it dry in the sun or in a slow heat; and when it is well dried, you will put it in the oven and make a small fire, as long as it is well annealed and reddens.

So increase your fire well, and put Lead in it which does not contain Tin, and heat it so strongly that it turns clear without blistering, and take care not to put anything in it to refine if your lead does not turn clear; because otherwise you would spoil your examination and could not know for certain the quantity of your Gold or Silver, and would have damage there, and all for the Tin, when it is with the Lead mixed.

And know that each ounce of Lead carries a large amount of Copper or other metal, like iron or steel. And when your lead runs clean on the ash, boil in it what you want to refine, and then the lead will drink it and blacken over it. So increase your fire, and blowing gently while everything turns, then you will see the Mallets running over your Ashes. So continue your fire gently, as long as you see that nothing appears above your white brightness, and that it does not boil any more, and that it is clear as the Sun; and if it stops turning and turns black, it is a sign of little lead; then put lead again on it a little while it turns, and continue your said fire as long as the aforesaid sign appears there, then throw water on it and let it cool,



THE NINTH CHAPTER

Cement Review

Now let's say of the Cement Review, and let's say it's the noblest of all the others; for there is no metal that it does not corrupt, except Gold. And for that when you want to separate all metals from the Gold you will separate them by the Cement, and it is thus done. You will take old shells that are found in rivers or by the seashore, or in fields; but those of the sea are better, and you will put them in fine powder, and mix with your powders as much common salt as your powders or less a little, and sprinkle them with apple verjuice, as long as they become moist in the manner of a hard paste; and then have the Gold which you wish to cement into held pieces or narrow laminae, and have a large crucible in which you will place a bed of these powders on the bottom, and above you will put a bed of your laminates or pieces; and on top of the said laminae put another bed of your powders, and then a bed, and make bed upon bed, as long as your crucible is full, or as long as your Gold will expand, and quench the mouth of the said crucible with a lid of earth and of the said clay confit with salt, and put your crucible in the furnace where there is continual fire of flame, and that it is not so strong that the matter melts, and leave it for 24 hours in the said well fire. continued, and then let it cool and break up your crucible, and you will find your Gold separated from all filth and all other metal; for there is no metal that is not combustible, except Gold. But there are other ways of separating gold from silver, if like strong water and sulphur, and Antimony; of which we will not speak now, for what it would be long, and that what I have said in this present summary suffices for the need of the Artist, to whom God must use it so much that he gives thanks to God; which compiled and caused to be written, and was perfected on the twenty-ninth day of December, in the year one thousand four hundred and forty nine.

END OF NICOLAS GROSPARMY'S FIRST TREATISE

¯

THE SECOND BOOK

by Nicolas Grosparmy differently,

THE GREATEST SECRET OF SECRETS

PREFACE

The most great and most wonderful and marvelous Secret of Secrets, revealed to me by divine grace; and by me, both theoretically and practically transmitted according to the Science and Practice given to me. Which great Secret and Treasure, I, very dear brother in heart and name, friend and faithful companion, want to leave to you after my death, so that in your heart it may be closely guarded; but to be placed in the hands of your male heirs, the Almighty willed to destine me, or else it be hidden from him and moved according to reason. To which great Secret are two main parts, namely, this Theory divided into three different Chapters, and this Practice by receiving Light; which practice teaches calcination of material principles, to come to the first preparations, to medicines so simply composed, than perfectly perfect in this Art. Item the different matters which the Ancients used in their Magisterium; and from here, the different and distant practices until now; by which Theory and Practice are to be noted two main points on which the Artist can wander at full speed: the first of which is the vulgar distinction of the naïve. The second the physical intelligence of the Sages, as will be more fully stated hereafter; to which doctrinal discourse any good understanding must trouble *. the first of which is the vulgar distinction of the naive. The second the physical intelligence of the Sages, as will be more fully stated hereafter; to which doctrinal discourse any good understanding must trouble *. the first of which is the vulgar distinction of the naive. The second the physical intelligence of the Sages, as will be more fully stated hereafter; to which doctrinal discourse any good understanding must trouble *.
* At this Star ends my first page and begins a second. (Author's note on his manuscript.)

HERE IS THE GREAT SECRET OF SECRETS BY NICOLAS GROSPARMY

Praise be given to the Almighty God of Heaven and Earth, and to his son Our Lord, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns without end. Amen.

FIRST CHAPTER

Of the First Principles of Nature the Wise, and of this Universal Vegetable World for our Magisterium

All things in the world are possible to the man of good morals who is led by the Spirit of the Lord; for he will be able to look at the most occult things, provided that the virtues of the Body do not harm him; because the more the Soul is weak, the more the Body has vigor. And it should be noted that there is a corporeal Soul and a spiritual Soul, which are linked to their Bodies; namely, the corporeal Soul with its corporality, and the spiritual Soul with its spirituality, of which the Ancients wished to write little, except that Nature be the same as what is below, or like what is above, and on the contrary; and the gross is made of the subtle, being all things but one single composition, which is made differently by means and degrees, thus as from here to there, and less and more, to the perfect conclusion. Because 1. 2. 3. and 4. make the number of 10. And 10. 20. 30. and 4O. make the whole number of 100; for number is only assembly of one thing to another, thus. T. 1. 3. if the double is split and 1. is added TT 4. will be 3. and if the double is doubled will be 4 to which ii adding 1. will be 5. or else adding 2. will be 4.1.5.6. or if with 5. you put 2. will be 7. to which adding 4.2.6.1. will come 8 and if you add 3. to 6. will come 9. 5.2.7. at 9. or else adding 2. will be 4.1.5.6. or if with 5. you put 2. will be 7. to which adding 4.2.6.1. will come 8 and if you add 3. to 6. will come 9. 5.2.7. at 9. or else adding 2. will be 4.1.5.6. or if with 5. you put 2. will be 7. to which adding 4.2.6.1. will come 8 and if you add 3. to 6. will come 9. 5.2.7. at 9.

And if you add 2. to 8. will be 10. 7.1.8. So go the numbers. But all things are 6.3.9. divided into four genera. Namely, the simple of the simple, which is the compound, and the compound of the compound. The first genus E., which is the simple, is of two natures, one agency and the other patient, which are hot and cold: and the simple of the simple are hot and damp, and cold and dryness. But at the beginning of the World, God said: Be such a creature, and such a creature was made, and the first matter, or first passive, was made, which was never finished by any determination, but is Power; then made second cause and agency, which is Light.

And held in its concave some creature, of which appeared to be another of cold and dryness, which because of their proximity, the cold by reverberation of the hot thickens itself; for the hot penetrated the cold as far as the center, from which came out humidity, which was average between the hot and the cold: and again was the mixture and the union of a part of the hot, with a part of equal humidity, from which came out the hot and the humidity. And for what a humidity comes from an equal part of hot and cold; heat and humidity come from cold and heat on the one hand: on the contrary, humidity coming from equal heat and cold, cold and humidity are three quarters cold and one quarter hot. Thus, as it appears from these sinuous figures, A. means hot, B. cold, C. humidity, D. cold and humidity, E. hot and humidity, and are to the first movable divided as seen in numbers 1.2.3.4. etc

1. AIIII The four IIIIs in red.
2. BIIII The four IIIIs in black.
3. CIIII Two in red and two in black.
4. DIIII The first I. in red, and the other three in black.

EIIII The first three I. in red and the last in black.

But as for the aforementioned Elements, know that by the temperament of hot and dryness, with hot and damp, from this equal mixture and union of fire with the nature of humidity came Air: and by the mixture and union of Air with the nature of frigidity came Water; and by mixing and union of this Water with coldness and dryness came out Earth, which is nothing but a big, cold and seiche Water; thus as Water is a thick and humid Air; and Fire a warm and dry subtle Air. But after the compound of the simple, comes the compound of the compound, which has only the body of the corporeal Soul, which is Mineral Body, and the compound of the corporeal Spirit. But these Mineral Bodies or Spirits of these, are generated from the Elements in this way: that is to say that the mixture and union is also made of the Elements of Fire with that of Air, from which came the body of the corporeal Soul, and the body of the corporeal Spirit, from which by equal mixture and union with the Element of the Earth, the corporeal Body or Body of the most subtle came out: from which mixture and union was made with the Element of Water, from which the body of the spiritual Body came out; then mixture and union was also made of the Air with the subtle of it spiritual Body, from which came the animal Body: from which mixture and union was made with the Fire, mingling with the most subtle of it, from which came the body of the corporeal Soul, which is what the Ancients sought: from the mixture of which with equal mixture of Water, as said is, the Body of the spirit of the equal body which is Sol, from which the other metals differ only in large or small decoction, for the Spirits of them are of the same thing. Only experience their diversities, from the diversity of the celestial bodies in these lower bodies, which are approaching by virtue of these celestial bodies. So is Lead in the nature of Saturn, Tin in the nature of Jupiter, so with the others. And thus are these two metals mutated and altered one into the other, like the Elements of which they consist. For Fire became Air, Air became Fire: Air became Water and Water Air; Water is made Earth, and Earth Water.

But know that the mineral is subtle earthy; the Plant, the subtle of mining; and the animal body the subtle of the Plant. from which the other metals differ only in large or small decoction, for the Spirits of them are of the same thing. Only experience their diversities, from the diversity of the celestial bodies in these lower bodies, which are approaching by virtue of these celestial bodies. So is Lead in the nature of Saturn, Tin in the nature of Jupiter, so with the others. And thus are these two metals mutated and altered one into the other, like the Elements of which they consist. For Fire became Air, Air became Fire: Air became Water and Water Air; Water is made Earth, and Earth Water. But know that the mineral is subtle earthy; the Plant, the subtle of mining; and the animal body the subtle of the Plant. from which the other metals differ only in large or small decoction, for the Spirits of them are of the same thing. Only experience their diversities, from the diversity of the celestial bodies in these lower bodies, which are approaching by virtue of these celestial bodies.

So is Lead in the nature of Saturn, Tin in the nature of Jupiter, so with the others. And thus are these two metals mutated and altered one into the other, like the Elements of which they consist. For Fire became Air, Air became Fire: Air became Water and Water Air; Water is made Earth, and Earth Water. But be aware that the mineral is subtle earthy; the Plant, the subtle of mining; and the animal body the subtle of the Plant. for the Spirits here are of the same thing. Only experience their diversities, from the diversity of the celestial bodies in these lower bodies, which are approaching by virtue of these celestial bodies. So is Lead in the nature of Saturn, Tin in the nature of Jupiter, so with the others. And thus are these two metals mutated and altered one into the other, like the Elements of which they consist. For Fire became Air, Air became Fire: Air became Water and Water Air; Water is made Earth, and Earth Water.

But be aware that the mineral is subtle earthy; the Plant, the subtle of mining; and the animal body the subtle of the Plant. for the Spirits here are of the same thing. Only experience their diversities, from the diversity of the celestial bodies in these lower bodies, which are approaching by virtue of these celestial bodies. So is Lead in the nature of Saturn, Tin in the nature of Jupiter, so with the others. And thus are these two metals mutated and altered one into the other, like the Elements of which they consist. For Fire became Air, Air became Fire: Air became Water and Water Air; Water is made Earth, and Earth Water. But be aware that the mineral is subtle earthy; the Plant, the subtle of mining; and the animal body the subtle of the Plant. which are approaching by virtue of these celestial bodies. So is Lead in the nature of Saturn, Tin in the nature of Jupiter, so with the others. And thus are these two metals mutated and altered one into the other, like the Elements of which they consist. For Fire became Air, Air became Fire: Air became Water and Water Air; Water is made Earth, and Earth Water.

But be aware that the mineral is subtle earthy; the Plant, the subtle of mining; and the animal body the subtle of the Plant. which are approaching by virtue of these celestial bodies. So is Lead in the nature of Saturn, Tin in the nature of Jupiter, so with the others. And thus are these two metals mutated and altered one into the other, like the Elements of which they consist. For Fire became Air, Air became Fire: Air became Water and Water Air; Water is made Earth, and Earth Water. But be aware that the mineral is subtle earthy; the Plant, the subtle of mining; and the animal body the subtle of the Plant. Air is made Water and Water Air; Water is made Earth, and Earth Water. But be aware that the mineral is subtle earthy; the Plant, the subtle of mining; and the animal body the subtle of the Plant. Air is made Water and Water Air; Water is made Earth, and Earth Water. But be aware that the mineral is subtle earthy; the Plant, the subtle of mining; and the animal body the subtle of the Plant.

For from the Elements come the minerals; minerals vegetables, and vegetables animals. Thus by resolution, the animals are vegetable, of the vegetable are made the mines, and of the mines the Elements. Thus as I said of the Soul in the Treatise that I did before to three investigators who are looking for this our Art; then Elements pass into common nature. But note that the fat and thick is the Body that is touched with the hands; and the hidden, or subtle, in it is the Spirit and the Soul. But as soon as the Body goes to corruption, what was said Spirit is claimed Body; and what was Soul is claimed Spirit. Thus the Spirit is the subtle of the Body, and the Soul is the subtle of the Spirit; and everything comes out of each other, as said is of the Elements by corruption and resolution; the whole being done only by the entry of one matter into the other.

Thus as wanting to change something cold and dry to the same degree of frigidity and dryness, change it to the third degree of it, then to the second, then to the last; then to the first degree of variation towards the heat, then to the second, third and fourth degree; which again must molt to the same degree of hot and dryness, to the second, third and fourth as said is.
Thus at the beginning of creation, each Planet descended into Earth for the generation of Minerals, then there, corrupted; and this movement happened for the second time, and the Planets were corrupted; and for this third time returning, the Animals were begotten of the same matter. To put an end to this, Minerals are of an earthly nature in frigidity and dryness; Plants are Water in nature in frigidity and humidity; and the Nature Animals of Air in hot and humid. Thus ended the first Chapter of Theory, to which every man of good understanding should put his mind.

CHAPTER TWO
From the generation of Minerals

If, as some say, the nature of all Minerals is Quicksilver and Sulphur, then take the root to reach the branches; but these are only considered superficially and not in depth; for if they had looked within, they would not have had such an opinion; because that they are the first matter of the mineral bodies before of iceux engenderment is done; for whoever has arrived or arrives at freezing has already altered the said Mercury and Sulfur in their nature, and already deign no longer to ally themselves together; as well as the said congelations by similarity of the soap; for who would take and draw ashes, etc., and would cook these things by certain decoction would make soap; but also who would take these things and cook them separately; then after cooking and freezing it separately would think composing soap from these things would be crazy. Now as for the Sulphur, it was first cold and humid Water, which was converted into hot and humid Air, then into hot and dry Fire, with which a mixture was made with Water, and was a composition of male and female. But that this root of Minerals is Quicksilver and Sulphur, yet does not believe those from which are Mineral Bodies; because even though Plants are descended from Water and subtle Earth, yet whoever would believe to take this Water and Earth to make Plants would be very misguided, and nothing would happen. it was first cold and moist Water, which was converted into hot and moist Air, then into hot and dry Fire, with which mixture was made with Water, and was a composition of male and female. But that this root of Minerals is Quicksilver and Sulphur, yet does not believe those from which are Mineral Bodies; because even though Plants are descended from Water and subtle Earth, yet whoever would believe to take this Water and Earth to make Plants would be very misguided, and nothing would happen. it was first cold and moist Water, which was converted into hot and moist Air, then into hot and dry Fire, with which mixture was made with Water, and was a composition of male and female. But that this root of Minerals is Quicksilver and Sulphur, yet does not believe those from which are Mineral Bodies; because even though Plants are descended from Water and subtle Earth, yet whoever would believe to take this Water and Earth to make Plants would be very misguided, and nothing would happen. yet do not believe those of which are the mineral bodies; because even though Plants are descended from Water and subtle Earth, yet whoever would believe to take this Water and Earth to make Plants would be very misguided, and nothing would happen. yet do not believe those of which are the mineral bodies; because even though Plants are descended from Water and subtle Earth, yet whoever would believe to take this Water and Earth to make Plants would be very misguided, and nothing would happen.

So do not take what the Plant is; but what and of what is the Soul of the Plant, what is the seed of it. And then knowing that this seed first came from subtle Earth with a mixture of Water; it is best to rot this seed in the ground, with its humidity as long as the strand comes out; thus is done to the engendering of the Metals in Earth; because the Sun acting on these lower Bodies and warming the Earth, always remains part of this heat in the belly of this Earth; then returning to this Sun with its rays, and in this place finding heat enclosed, these two similar heats rise together, and meeting Water, vaporize icelle, which always moves and stirs, as long as heat proportionate the brood (which with a long time thickens),

But if by chance it encounters part of Sulphur, which mixes with it proportionally, it becomes Sun, Moon, or other Metals; or if the quality of this Sulfur exceeds, this Water will become Mineral body out of the iceous Metals. Let us therefore seek the egg of ice, from which begetting descended from Fire and Water; seek in them the nourishment and substance of the egg, as said was vegetable seed; for the penetrating property is heat and moisture, so nature is only allied by its nearer nature, and even though Fire is very much reigning in the Body; however Air or moisture makes entry or penetrating property; but because the humidity of the Air thwarts the dryness of the Fire, the frigidity of the Water quenches the Fire itself, and Earth fixes Water; but for what generation cannot be without masculine and feminine conjunction, Fire and Air are masculine, Water and Earth are feminine. Fire is masculine to Water, and Air is masculine to Earth. But this Fire did not go with the Water, without the Air, closer to the Fire by its heat, and next to the Water by its humidity, and the Water is a means to make harmony between the Air and the Earth; but to obtain this masculine Fire, because the mineral Bodies are of Earth nature, in frigidity and dryness, it is very small in ice if not in power, because it rises to the Vegetable. And this cold and humid vegetable is only a quarter of heat out of three of frigidity, for this cause we agree to show in the hot and humid Animal,

But by that when the Animal is accomplished, the gross is mingled with the subtle of it, and has no movement tending downwards, but upwards, we take from the Animal which is not accomplished, and first distill into cucurbite the Water of which the manifest is whiteness, and the occult of Fire is red; and then distil Citrine Air into its manifest, into its green occult; and there remaining the Fire in the ground, we light stronger Fire on icelle, as long as it is all thislui Fire drawn from the Earth which remains at the bottom without any life: then after we keep the Air and the Fire each one in its vessel, until the hour of the conjunction; then take equal parts of it, which we mix together and because this Water is equally composed of four natures, we do not enter into doubt of our operation.

We are assured of corruption, for it is dyed with its fire and enters by its oil, and seeks combustion by its Water, is congealed and fixed by its Earth; for Water is friendly to the Earth by frigidity, Air to Water by humidity, and Fire to Air by heat, by resemblance to the mixture of hot and dry Mars with cold and humid Jupiter, from which the Ground is born; but the mixture is double, namely total and particular: the particular is when the Body is mixed with the Body; but the Spirits do not mingle in fusibility alone, thus is total mixing, when a mixture is made of Bodies and Spirits, which already does not happen without decay.

But let's see why a part of Elixir chief on millet; it is that everything subtle occupies seven places to sevenfold with regard to the place occupied by the gross. But one part of heat converts the Moon into Sol, if it is taken from mineral, but if it is taken from vegetable one part will convert 36 and this to the first degree of subtlety; if it is in the second degree, a share converts 38; if it is a third, 228; if at the fourth or last, it will convert six times 228. But I said that a union was made of Water and Earth, from which came the Stone since from it and from here Pierre another union was made, from which came the cold and obviously dry Earth, and occultly hot and humid, from which Earth came Water.

Now as said is, Nature embraces Nature, in him who is near and neighbour, the humidity of Water has therefore gone to the humidity of Air, and the coldness of Water to the coldness of the Earth, and the humidity of Air to the heat of it: when therefore the Sun of the East rises, the heat of this Air is allied to the heat of this Sun, and vegetates the growing plant; and because, as said, the frigidity of Water has gone to the frigidity of Earth, the more subtle parts of it have risen with the parts of Water, whence was the begetting of the egg of it, in which it is potentially enclosed, and when it has reached the end of the variation, the moisture from which it took nourishment has been taken away and hardened and dried up; but this egg is different from that of the mine, for it needs no trituration, so that the putrifying humidity between its parts and in all grindings, would corrupt the form of this plant, which is in this otherwise; even there is not so much compactibility that the humidity of it sometimes cannot mix with the humidity needed to dissolve it. Thus, it is established that this plantable substance comes from the parts of this Water with the more subtle parts of this Earth. This is the end of the Chapter of Minerals, which is something notable and of great value, to whoever will understand it. so that the putrifying moisture between its parts and in all grindings, would corrupt the form of it Plant, which is in it otherwise; even there is not so much compactibility that the humidity of it sometimes cannot mix with the humidity needed to dissolve it. Thus, it is established that this plantable substance comes from the parts of this Water with the more subtle parts of this Earth. This is the end of the Chapter of Minerals, which is something notable and of great value, to whoever will understand it. so that the putrifying moisture between its parts and in all grindings, would corrupt the form of it Plant, which is in it otherwise; even there is not so much compactibility that the humidity of it sometimes cannot mix with the humidity needed to dissolve it. Thus, it is established that this plantable substance comes from the parts of this Water with the more subtle parts of this Earth. This is the end of the Chapter of Minerals, which is something notable and of great value, to whoever will understand it. Thus, it is established that this plantable substance comes from the parts of this Water with the more subtle parts of this Earth. This is the end of the Chapter of Minerals, which is something notable and of great value, to whoever will understand it. Thus, it is established that this plantable substance comes from the parts of this Water with the more subtle parts of this Earth. This is the end of the Chapter of Minerals, which is something notable and of great value, to whoever will understand it.


CHAPTER THREE

Of the Begetting of the Animal, with the Mysteries thereto suitable for the Enlightened

The Animal is of the Plant if God wills, for its Putrefaction comes to the Body from it, the subtle of Water is separated from the bulk of the Earth, in equal parts of cold and humidity, and from heat and humidity comes temperament, whence the begetting is of the Animal with its soul, which is of equal nature, and the other part to the brain begets feeling and good intelligence. But let it be man raised upright on his feet, for if it is a beast that his sense is spread here and there in all the parts of his Body, and will not be able to distinguish like man, which in its composition is equal to four humidities, which are hot and humid blood, of the nature of the Air; hot, dry anger, of the nature of Fire; the cold and damp Phlegm of the nature of Water; the cold, dry Melancholy of Earth's nature.

The conjunction of the Body with the Soul comes from the equality of these four humours, and the alteration or disease from their inequality, to which inequalities suit very suitable medicines; but especially as between here Anger, as it is said, is hot like Fire, Satan, who is composed of it, fire in its occult, and Air in its manifest, has entered into here Anger in itself similar to itself by means of the Air, by which we have the benefit of sight, and its nature of fire contrary to the nature of equality of our Soul will cause disturbance in it, so long as it is separated from the Body; but whoever could bring down this clarity and light contrary to the nature of Satan, the strength of it would be corrupted and the sick would be delivered.

Thus as knowing the nature of the Planet, from which one wishes to bring down the Spirit, its color, odor and flavor: then must prepare the appearance of its Body with the aforesaid color, odor and flavor, so that such as is the color one takes clothing, and covers the interior of the Body with the said nature of the odor and flavor; that one also takes meats for comfort of the Body, by variation until gradual approach of equality, not getting tired of using such meat, and accustoming his stomach to it, by eating each time at the hour of the Planet, and standing on his feet praying to the Creator that he accomplishes his will: then icelle accomplished give him thanks; after he takes heed when this Star will enter in the direction of his sign, and that it does not enter it by contrary Planet, then make one? of the Mineral Body, which is in the Plant pierced from the top to the bottom, and be raised on feet, and ride on a figure suitable to the thing required, like a Lion, Serpent or Bird, if we do not know to whom to compare the thing of which we seek the Spirit; we prefer this figure to any other, because every body has latitude and longitude in the form of ?, and nature embraces similar nature to itself.

But if the Star which dominates the nativity is not known, compose an image of the Electrum mentioned at the practical end of this Book, to which adds the principal pieces attributed to the nature of each Planet; and will make such a figure at the time that reigns icelle Planet, in the name of icelle and also that these stones look at the ?? in the East, also the figure in kind is animated. And when the Spirit is allied with the ?, the human figure has a lot of power over this figure, even if the man is or not; then, take a Censer in the same way from the ?? pierced, so much only at the summit, so that the smoke does not come out on the other side, then again a clean and pure uncovered bed, thus on the down so much only will be spread grasses of the same nature of this Planet whose Spirit we seek, and that there is no nuisance, both far and near: put also perfumes of icelle nature in the Censer, and will pass icelle smoke through the pertuis upstream icelle??, and be all these things at the time of icelle Planet, of which we seek the Spirit. Thus the Superior Spirit is allied with its fellow; thus as by similarity an extinguished wick, which is rekindled by the smoke of the other, making this smoke descend the fire below. And this is the manner of bringing down the Spirit, which is the animal or spiritual Soul, upon the prepared Body, which it penetrates and allies with the corporeal Soul; which is infused into each Body by reason of similarity and resemblance, of one of its natures with the other; but if the Body is not prepared, he breaks it and goes to his place; it is also advisable to dissolve the Body of which is made icelle?? with Water equal to its nature by rotting, until the mixture is of its corporeal Soul with its own Body, and then we will smoke it with perfumes so that the Soul allies itself to the Body with its said elevation, or will even cause connection to the lower Body, until it is applied with its similar; and to each Planet double end and proper disposal afterwards; but if the one whose disposition you seek also has a general disposition, the effect will be stronger and greater; but the spiritual Soul did not go to the corporeal, except by matter to the like. until the mixture is of his corporeal Soul with his own Body, and then we will smoke it with perfumes so that the Soul allies itself to the Body with its said elevation, or will even cause connection to the lower Body, until it is applied with its similar; and to each Planet double end and proper disposal afterwards; but if the one whose disposition you seek also has a general disposition, the effect will be stronger and greater; but the spiritual Soul did not go to the corporeal, except by matter to the like.

until the mixture is of his corporeal Soul with his own Body, and then we will smoke it with perfumes so that the Soul allies itself to the Body with its said elevation, or will even cause connection to the lower Body, until it is applied with its similar; and to each Planet double end and proper disposal afterwards; but if the one whose disposition you seek also has a general disposition, the effect will be stronger and greater; but the spiritual Soul did not go to the corporeal, except by matter to the like. until it is applied with its like; and to each Planet double end and proper disposal thereafter; but if the one whose disposition you seek also has a general disposition, the effect will be stronger and greater; but the spiritual Soul did not go to the corporeal, except by matter to the like. until it is applied with its like; and to each Planet double end and proper disposal afterwards; but if the one whose disposition you seek also has a general disposition, the effect will be stronger and greater; but the spiritual Soul did not go to the corporeal, except by matter to the like.

But the alloy of the Soul of man is done by arranging well the dominant Planet at the hour of his birth, with that dominant when the Soul was placed in the Body.

But the Body changes corporeality to spirituality, and from spirituality to animality. And is the Soul allied to its Element. But every man will be said to be sick, when the Spirit of the Body dominates over the forces of the Soul, or when they are equal: but as soon as the Soul has deliverance on that Body, no impediment will befall him, then take suitable clothing and meat, and accustom himself to it little by little, namely once a day then in two days once, then in three, as long as he can eat only once and according to his desire. But it's a great Secret to know that everything big is made subtle, all subtle is made Spirit, and all Spirit is made Soul. And subtiliation is divided into two, namely in what is transformed into a nature with combustion of Fire and Elements, and in what is not mixed by combustion of Fire, but operated element; which is what the Philosophers seek, and they are three that need subtiliation.

The first is the corporeal Body, the subtlety of the mine, of which is from its exterior to its interior. The second is the Spiritual Body, that is to say the Plant whose subtiliation is of the two together, and the third is of the Animal whose subtiliation is from its inside to its outside; and in it is all Science contained. and in what is not mixed by combustion of Fire, but operated element; which is what the Philosophers seek, and they are three that need subtiliation. The first is the corporeal Body, the subtlety of the mine, of which is from its exterior to its interior. The second is the Spiritual Body, that is to say the Plant whose subtiliation is of the two together, and the third is of the Animal whose subtiliation is from its inside to its outside; and in it is all Science contained. and in what is not mixed by combustion of Fire, but operated element; which is what the Philosophers seek, and they are three that need subtiliation. The first is the corporeal Body, the subtlety of the mine, of which is from its exterior to its interior. The second is the Spiritual Body, that is to say the Plant whose subtiliation is of the two together, and the third is of the Animal whose subtiliation is from its inside to its outside; and in it is all Science contained. that is to say, the Plant whose subtiliation is from the two together, and the third is from the Animal whose subtiliation is from its inside to its outside; and in it is all Science contained. that is to say, the Plant whose subtiliation is from the two together, and the third is from the Animal whose subtiliation is from its inside to its outside; and in it is all Science contained.

Thus will end the key of the highest Sapience that ever was; to which all good understanding must draw up if it wants to discover all the secret of the Mastery, and to acquire perfection with icelle by means of the good pleasure of God; without which in vain any Inquisitor would think he was taking care of it, however good his judgment might have been: to whom God be glorified forever and ever.

Amen.

CONVENIENT


FIRST CHAPTER

Practical Principles and their Preparations

You are not ignorant, dear Friend, of the truth of these little Chapters of mine, corrected by us, as before is said, according to the intention of the first Author; and those by me made to write with the figures, thus as they are, to be dearly kept by you, thus as with the good Lully , he who gave us light; but having neither brothers nor others who are better; keep him after my death, only you, in whom I have put all my confidence; to you want to give iceux, as said is.

And for what begins Practice, it is necessary to say of the primordial Principles. I will declare of calcination of iceux to draw Salt, and Salt the oil or? philosophers; but without rotting fruit does not come: because it is necessary very first to rot the Body and then to distill it, because it is the entry of the operation, where do not get bored but be patient. There are seven Metals, from which one can draw Salt and Salt Mercury, as said is; because if the vulgar Salts are not of our intention, but those of these Metals, like Sol and Moon, which have power to fix the Salts of the other imperfect Metals, putting in the citrine the citrine thing, and in the white thing of the Silver; but their calcination is done in this way.

You must pass your gold through antimony in thin strips, then put them in an open vessel in the glass or streetlight furnace, for six continuous days, and when it is lime, it is advisable to wash well with four times distilled rainwater, or in May dew . when distilled, which will be best boiled and cooked in a glass vessel over hot cinders for one day, with its weight of Dew Water, so long as it has drunk and consumed such Water; then calcine it by a natural day at the said furnace, and thus reiterate this ablution or calcination ten or twelve times, or as long as the lime is very clean, clear and citrine, and shiny earth; which is called Céruse d'Or. This is how all Ceruses are made; but Venus is calcined in an open vessel by thirty natural days, and is here Ceruse red with the color of blood. Saturn in a closed vessel by thirty natural days, in an open vessel by thirty days. The Moon in an open vessel thus like the Sun, by eight or ten days, which Ceruse is a little azure. Jupiter in a vessel closed by thirty days.

And Mercury, so like the others. But it suits him first to dissolve in Etching, made of two sections of Alum and a part of Saltpetre; then put some river or spring water on it, and a little common sea salt, because it will immediately fall to the bottom and into white lime, which must be washed as above.

Then take, in the name of God, the Ceruse of which you desire the Salt, which you will put in twelve times as much very strong Vinegar distilled three or four times on ashes: let the Vinegar and Ceruse cool together a little, then let them cool and rest, and then tilting the Vinegar, finely Post, and will have very clear liquor, which you will put in another vessel on the stove, and will be the Salt congealed the Water, and the Lime, that to keep ez in a stone glass vessel dry; but take care that by extracting the vinegar, as is said, this Salt does not melt and that the humid radical of it does not rise with the Vinegar, by too strong a fire, only remaining at the bottom of the vessel the faeces of it Salt without moisture and without Water, which we call Quicksilver necessary to begin the work; but I will say the name of these Salts,

The Salt of Saturn which is white and is called Salt Nitre A

Mars Salt is called Common Salt B

The Salt of Venus, is called Salt Alcali C The Salt of Sol, is called Salt Albrot, alias Alembrot The Salt of Mercury, is called Salt Armoniac E The Salt of the Moon, is called Salt Gemme F The Salt of Jupiter, is called Salt of Talc G
But note that transmutation is never done without the Salts of Gold or Silver, which are the main ones, although particular medicine can be added the Salts of the imperfect Metals; but if you think you can work with white or red, take the Salts that go with them: as for the Citrin the ?????? And ?. And for the white ???? and?, yet that him? either as much for the white as for the red; but the medicines of the perfect things that nature has achieved in mining, like Gold and Silver, are the main ones that enter into this Art. But now if you want to do medicine to transmute, color and dye fine Silver into fine Gold, here is the way.


CHAPTER TWO

Of the first simple compound medicine

In the name of Almighty God, take two parts of Salt Albrot?? and a portion of salt?? and be well dissolved in strong distilled Vinegar, then put in a stone glass vessel, and stir well the Alembic with its container, and in a gentle heat of a bain-marie, distill the Vinegar, and keep well, as said, that by too strong fire the salts do not melt: this fact, open the vessel and with iceux Salts, incorporate a part of lime of ?? end, then fight the vessel well with this lid, and this fire of medium heat lets everything melt on hot ashes for four hours, then let it cool on the furnace, as said is, and will have a medicine of amber color, melting, tingent, entering and transmuting the fine silver melted into fine gold, putting a weight on twenty, which can be multiplied by ten parts,


CHAPTER THREE

Second Medicine more perfectly proclaimed great Mineral Medicine

In the name of Jesus Christ, take two parts of Salt Albrot? and one of rock salt?, and then put them in a strong vessel of glass well stoppered in rotting so long as it comes into a beautiful and clear liquor, which having arrived draws by distillation in fire so slow as nature requires, all humidity which is the menstrual, mercurial water, the oil and the quicksilver of the Philosophers issued from the Bodies of end? and fine? by the Art and the industry of the Magisterium of natural philosophy, to which menses cause a part of fine Sol to dissolve.

After this dissolution, re-soak the faeces of the Salts, little by little, which were at the bottom of the vessel, as long as all the mercury humidity, which had been removed, is reburied, and thus are again revivified and animated. All this dissolution accomplished and also this freezing, and these perfect things, you have a medicine of greater virtue than the first; for a weight casts upon 100. And if thou desire again to dissolve it with new menses and congeal it, as said is, it shall cast upon 1,000 and 10,000, thus unto infinity, and cherish the latter over all Imperfect Metals consuming their impurity, and most virtuously converting their pure essence from? pure?.

But for white, do the same, as said is, du? as follows; take two parts of rock salt?? and one of ?? Salt Albrot, with a part of Lime de Lune. There are also several branches and particulars in the Mineral Work, which only project onto a few metals; but the two others are general, and have no particulars, for in them there is no diversity. But let's put the case that you deign to molt? in ?. Take two parts of Albrot Salt and one of Salt, Alkali? , with a lime of ? in such number and weight as the lesser medicine before said, and projects icelle on? so only which one does it convert to? . So will you do? with two parts of Sel d'Albrot? and one of salt nitre? and a lime of ?. But ?? Mars, having no fusible liquor, can neither pass into ? , nor in ?, although its Salt has great virtue and tincture on the Citrine. And we can make medicine of him in this way. Take common salt? a part, lime of ? one part, and do so as in the first, and so shall multiply and convert in the same manner as above said of the first operation. Take Salt Albrot? two parts, Rock salt? one part, Sel Armoniac? a hand and lime? one hand, and projects onto ? vulgar. and projects onto ? vulgar. and projects onto ? vulgar.

The work in white follows the work in red for individuals; because it is advisable to take two parts of rock salt?, a part of salt of talc?? and a slice of lime lime? solvent and freezing as above; but this Medicine only converts to thin Moon and prime prime on 20.


CHAPTER FOUR

Of the Vegetable Work

God the Creator created three Mercurys, one more perfect mineral at? And ?? than to other Metals; the other to vegetable things, as well as the Vine; and the other to the Animals, which is engendered in the liver, and particularly in the perfect Animal. But the earthly Minerals, outside of their mine, do not grow and cannot engender their similar, which is not with the plants, which have their Mercury more perfect and aqueous; and the Aerials even more so. But of these three can be made three particular Works.

Vegetable work. It is necessary to take three pounds of tartar calcined in the reverberatory oven until white; then put Tartar on it four fingers of very good Eau de Vie: stopper the vessel being half full, and put it to rot for seven days so that it dissolves. This being done, put in a very strong earthenware vessel to distil over low heat, then stronger, and so as to make Eau forte, and it will rise a blackish color with the Eau de vie, which will separate by the bath; then grind the faeces and imbibe them with the weight of this Water of Life, after incorporating everything together.

Reverberate again for 24 hours, and when everything is well calcined, powder it and add as much Eau de vie as it passes through four fingers, and take seven days to putrefy; distills as before and so continuous that no more of it remains Tartar at the bottom of the vessel. Then take all the liquors thus rectified and separate from them the Water in the bath; then dry your matter in the Sun until first whiteness, of which a part projects on 50 of? boiling at ?? that it converts into medicine, a part of which after fermentation in transmutes 50 of? Or ?? in thin Moon; and at each dissolving and congealing will increase by 10, and yielding only one grain of this medicine with two dragees of Metridat,


CHAPTER FIVE

Animal Work

My dear Amy, you know that these three Works hold each other together by a marvelous bond; but even though the Mineral is like the source and the origin of the two others, it is nevertheless very inferior to the Vegetable and the Animal; for the Mineral is first composed of the coarsest and impure matter, and the other two are begotten of the purest and perfect substance of that matter; but this link of this is the participation of the mining company of the Mineral; for by resolution the subtlest part of itMineral was made Spiritual Body with the mixture of Water, and the Animal contains both very perfectly; for it is the most subtle or spiritual body.

Thus, with good reason the Sages said that there is only one Stone, in similarity of perfection and digestion of the animal Stone with the others; because those who claimed to be only one and unique matter did not consider things in depth. Some believed it only in Metallic and Mineral things, others in Vegetable things; others in the Animal, having each by chance found some effect on such matters. Concluding that since according to the common opinion of the Philosophers, it is only a matter, and that they made the Stone and medicine of this thing, whether Mineral, Animal or Vegetable, there could be no other, where they wandered; for when the Philosophers said there is only one Stone, they spoke by similarity; because the Animal matter on which they have almost all worked, contains the other two below it. But we know that after due preparation, of these three Mercurys can be three perfect Works, each according to its nature; although modern operators stop more at the Mineral than at any other.

The Ancients hid the name of the matter of this Work very well, lest it should be revealed to some wicked man; but he who will seek it with humility and fear it will be revealed to him by the Sages, in the places where they treat of a great and perfect Medicine to restore the debilitated natural heat. Take then what is unfinished of the Animal, and when you have found a very pure and virgin mineral, which doubles at least and triples for the most the Septenary, and which is male. Take twelve ounces of Gold from here because you can get such a quantity of it without harming the mine; when your Mercury will have, that it rests in vessels until the thickening, and swims above a red Water that will throw, and leaves these vessels in the Air by seven hours so that the philosopher's Earth remains entirely clear of icelle superfluity.

That done, put it in a well-closed vessel with manure composed of this sort. Make two pits of non-watery earth, but only moist, wide and deep, each four feet square, which you will fill with hot manure and place your vessel exactly in the middle, and having covered it with manure, you will leave it eight days without touching it, and six days after the first day, fill the other pit, then two days later, which will be the said eight days before said, change your pit vessel, and so from eight to eight days until 40 days have been completed, and will be your matter rotten and almost converted into Water, who is called? of the Philosophers.

Or else, do otherwise: compose a furnace of earth or brick, round and one foot wide inside, one foot high up to the grate, and the wall four inches thick; make three holes to give air to the Lamp, the size of a small egg, namely one on each side and the other behind; and be, below the railing, another foot in height without a window. Have a copper or brass cauldron with its correct lid, which must enter into this cauldron, so that the vapors which will descend into the Water do not come out through the sides of the said cauldron; and be this cauldron well cemented everywhere: but it must be pierced by the top of the cover, so that the glass vessel which will be inside (made in the form of a well-struggled still), so that no vapor comes out of the said cauldron; and that there be no air, nor vacuum, between this cauldron and the walls of the said furnace, and that matter occupies only a third of this glass; so that the vapors can go up and down at ease during iceux 40 days of fermentation, and that the vessel is carried in the air in icelui cauldron; having four fingers space below it and carried on several double linens.

So be firmly laid and fastened, that nothing stir in it, with a small circle of Brass rods, or other suitable thing to hold it: and properly stop the opening of the neck, through which the neck of the vessel will pass with a Brass circle or other thing, lest by between the two the water from this cauldron should exhale. Then put at the bottom of this stove a Burning Lamp in the shape of a large apple, which can burn 28 or 30 hours without going out with a simple wick spun from seven or eight nets, so that the water which is in the cauldron remains in the same degree in heat, that is to say a little more than lukewarm: and will be the entrance of the stove blocked with very just bricks, and if necessary will also be stopped one or two of the holes of the said stove. ,

But somehow, that is, if you don't like manure better without such a laborious stove, put on a piece of fur, or even something, to escape the coldness of the Air. The Ancients separated this matter without any separation of Elements; but only after the purification of its superfluous humidity, they put it in a round vessel of earth in the semblance and compaction of glass, well stoppered, with two-thirds of the void in the earth in a pit seven feet before, the whole on the day that the Sun entered at the sign of Arles; then filled this pit and planted a pillar above this pit to reconnoitre, and left the whole thus, as long as the Sun had made seven times circular revolution over it (that is to say seven years), and when the Sun entered for the eighth in Aries,

But since then, it was decided to shorten the time and reduce these seven years to three, in this way. They made two pits in a damp and non-watery place, each three feet wide and five feet deep, which they filled one after the other with horse manure, and after having done as said is, purifying the matter, and putting it in a round vessel, put it one foot before in this dunghill, well stoppered and left it there for 40 days, after which the rotting came, matter was purified and on the Earth floated the Mercury; then put the vessel, or matrass, in the center of the dunghill; and thus continued to change manure from eight to eight days a year, or as long as little by little the Earth had swallowed up its moisture, and that it was black; for already the manure only changed in twelve days, as long as the whiteness of fine snow came there, then in sixteen days, and over it poured boiling water every day, as long as the redness of blood was in this matter, and was the finished Work, from which the Metals were purged, as well as with vulgar Quicksilver: the Plants, with the common water; and Animals with the juice of Plants. But we will reduce this time from three years to nine months; then comes after us to work; for it is easy to add to the invention of others; although without a divine miracle, I don't believe that anyone at the time of nine months knows how to put on shortening. So it is said of Animal Work, and of the manner in which the ancients used which is not put here to neglect; for we have to operate like them; although it is with less time, but with same matters and natural operation, because without icelle Nature called, any man would work in vain. But we have to separate the Elements, which is done in this way.

Of the Separation of the Elements

When your vessel has cooled, put a capital of water on it, and seal the joints well; then put in the bath, the water being a little more than lukewarm. In this degree, make distil all the water of your matter in a matrass which will be very precisely stoppered, when nothing more distils; then in strong retort very well fought will put your remaining matter, which you will bury in riddled ashes, and will stick to icelle retort a receptacle fought, so that it does not breathe any vapor; then you will make a small coal fire for half an hour, then you will increase it little by little, as long as at the end it is very strong, and that all the oil being drawn out, there is nothing left.

Then let the ship cool on its own, then squeeze well and keep each of these things apart: that is to say the Water, the Oil and the dry and black Earth. For you will thus have the four Elements; the Oil containing the Air and the Fire which it will be necessary to purge in this way: starting with the Water, by which it is necessary to cleanse the Earth and the Fire, distill it at the gentle heat of a bath at least seven times, or as long as it is very clear and without earth, and that it whitens on the outside a piece of copper reddened in the fire, then on crushed marble all the Earth three hours or more, by sprinkling it with the Water; then in moderate heat distills from the Earth all the Water that it had drunk, and remains here Dry Earth at the bottom of the Still, and will continue thus for at least seven times; then grind icelui Fire again with the said Water, and make it into the form of a paste that you will put in a ?? struggled, in the oven over low heat overnight; and will continue this last labor seven or eight times, or as long as it is bright red and clean. But each time Fire must be increased by one degree; and to see its perfection, it must be dyed red by projection Molten silver; and then he will keep a closed vessel, as well as the others, and do not hope to implement any of the aforesaid Elements without such a sign of perfection.

But although the operation of the Elements is diverse, everything tends to an end, of which here are the two most perfect. in the oven over low heat overnight; and will continue this last labor seven or eight times, or as long as it is bright red and clean. But each time Fire must be increased by one degree; and to see its perfection, it must be dyed red by projection Molten silver; and then he will keep a closed vessel, as well as the others, and do not hope to implement any of the aforesaid Elements without such a sign of perfection. But although the operation of the Elements is diverse, everything tends to an end, of which here are the two most perfect. in the oven over low heat overnight; and will continue this last labor seven or eight times, or as long as it is bright red and clean. But each time Fire must be increased by one degree; and to see its perfection, it must be dyed red by projection Molten silver; and then he will keep a closed vessel, as well as the others, and do not hope to implement any of the aforesaid Elements without such a sign of perfection. But although the operation of the Elements is diverse, everything tends to an end, of which here are the two most perfect. and does not expect to implement any of the foregoing Elements without such a sign of perfection. But although the operation of the Elements is diverse, everything tends to an end, of which here are the two most perfect. and does not expect to implement any of the foregoing Elements without such a sign of perfection. But although the operation of the Elements is diverse, everything tends to an end, of which here are the two most perfect.


Operation or Composition for White

Take one part of Air, one part of Water and two of Fire, which you will grind together, and put them in the glass vessel, in the horse dung very hot for 60 days, where you will often look, and for this you will use glazed windows. But it must not be put in a pit, as before is said; but in good walls or large masonry of these pits, what is the use of the good spirit of the workman; if better, he doesn't want to pull the ship out of it for a bit, to see when rot will come; but soon to close it again; and renews it every eight days, as said is, and when the material is clear, the vessel cools, then distills the water slowly, which will be branched off as milk.

For also is Virgin's milk, which you will keep apart in a closed vessel, and also in another the fire which will have remained at the dry and black bottom: then take a part of the well dried Earth and grind it on the marble, incorporating it with as much of the milk little by little, and as much Fire as there is Earth and Milk, and put everything in a vessel of glass almost completely full and well fought; I will put it to settle in horse dung for a month, refreshing the dung, as it is said; then distills a white liquor slowly, in which will be three Elements, as well as Water, Earth and Air; because the fire will remain at the bottom dry and black.

Put this oil of the three species in two equal parts, one for the red Elixir; and the other, put it in a well-stoppered vessel of strong read, to freeze on hot ashes with fire of continual degree, as long as icelle congelation is done in beautiful and white Stone called Elixir; which, to be rendered fluxing, must grind it, and incinerate a little of the oil which we called Air, and will melt and convert a thousand parts of copper or other metal into fine Silver.


Red Operation

Take the Fire remaining in the last bottom in the distillation of the three species, which you will grind; then being well crushed, take two parts and one part of oil of the three kinds, which you will incorporate on the marble, and put to dissolve in the dung, as said is, in 40 days, as long as there is enough to be made clear water, you will make distill on ashes over a good fire, and will come out the four Elements in very red Water, which you will put in a very strong and stoppered earthen vessel to freeze on ashes, and will become red Stone, clear and shiny like Carbuncle, with a part of which you will be able to convert a thousand parts of vulgar Quicksilver or other Metal in fine?. If otherwise want to operate, changing vessels, do as follows.

Take from the Earth previously prepared one part, with one part of the Water distilled seven times; that you will put in strong vessel of glass, having the neck short of three fingers, and so open that the two fingers can enter there, and is full only with the third, and will block it and put it in the aforesaid manure by 30 days; at which time will be returned in water; which being done, add another part of Air, which we call Oil, and the vessel well stoppered, put it back in the aforesaid manure 21 days;

then add a part of Fire, and put it back in manure for a month, or as long as it is in Water; then freeze to ashes over a fire of varying degrees, according to the Art; in which freezing and in the other preceding, will appear all colors, as with the tail of peacock, the black, the white and the red.

And this is the completed Previous Theory Practice. Which Theory is the Key to the greatest human Science that ever was nor will be, because even that the other practices are between Men so much Minerals, Plants as Animals; and that to come to the same end there are various paths in Nature, do not doubt that here are not the most perfect, on which you can without doubt or without fear work surely with judgment, care, vigilance, diligence, clearness and assistance of a faithful Companion from whom nothing is hidden of your intentions, in a free and unsuspected place, from which will reject any enemy of Science, or those who would deceive or despise you, having no other occupation than in this Art, at least from the beginning to the final Practical; and without heeding these warnings, it will not be possible to achieve this.

So write them in your heart, not to bury them and the Talent; but to be greatly multiplied: and if still would not be enough for you to keep if you do not have in your heart charity, humility, patience, the fear of God; for if only one sin remains in your house only, do not go to this place Practice putting yourself. But having purged icelle of such diabolical plague, like all vices and excesses, you prepare your conscience, thus as at the hour of death; and then do not hesitate to put yourself to work, trusting above all in the mercy of God, to whom be honor and glory. So be it.


END OF NICOLAS GROSPARMY who established the House of the Counts of Flers in Lower Normandy. 1449