With a warning to avoid the foolish expenditures which are
ordinarily made for lack of true science
By
Master D. ZECAIRE, Gentleman
& Philosopher Guiennois
With the treatise of venerable Doctor Allemant Messiere BERNARD
Tale of the Trevisane March on the same subject
In ANTWERP, MD I XVII - 1597
By Guillaume Silvius, King's printer.
Huictain declaring the true name of science
Those who in Chaldea were well learned
called Me (oh reader) the light
of increase, and among the divine
Works have always renamed me
Falsely therefore the common people
have named Me Alchemy before the light
See that I make metals the light
By everything shine & increase their name
Enigma sent by the Author to his friends
Three half towers have brought my greatness
Three half towers have felt my favor,
Three half towers my greatness make be reborn
Three half turns in my favor make it known. Will support you.
Those who this motto will know,
To assure my true name will know.
Patient goes to goods.
How much that all those who have written in this divine science, precisely and rightly called Natural Philosophy, have expressly defended the profanation and euulgue1 of it, if it is (my reader) that having read it and reread by various and continually reading the books of natural philosophers, and usually thinking about the interpretation of the contradictions, figures, equiuocal comparisons, and various enigmas, which appear in infinite number in their books, I only wanted to conceal and hide the resolution by having can do, after having worked for a long time on the sophistications, & cursed receptions, or (to speak more properly) disappointments, in which I was for a time more enveloped & confined than ever Dedalus was in his Laberynth, but in the end by continual reader good actors, & approve in science, I said with Geber in his Summe. Returning within ourselves, and considering the true path and manner in which nature uses under earth in the procreation of metals, we have come to know the true and perfect matter, which nature has prepared us to perfect them on earth, as well as the experience (thanks to Lord God, who has done me so much favor and grace through his beloved son and our redeemer Jesus Christ) then certified me, as I will say more fully in the first part of my present pamphlet,
Because in the second I will show which authors I have used in my study writing down their authorities, in good order, and true method, in order to better understand the cleanliness and explanation of the terms of science. And in the third and last part I will reveal the practice, so strong that it will be hidden from the ignorant, and shown as if on the finger to the true children of science, for whom I have struggled to read and write everything in the best order. which was possible for me, not wanting to imitate in this way several who preceded us, who were so envious of the public good, and lovers of particularity, that they only wanted to clarify their subject, under various and variable allegories, not only show off their books, as I knew one in my time, who kept so many shits and hid them with papers that he had covered with a Venetian gentleman that he himself did not dare to look at them half-heartedly, making himself to believe that our great work should be able to get out of there, without tormenting any more than keeping it well inside a well-closed vault. But some people must know that this divine work is not given to us by chance, as the philosophers say, when they criticize those who work on credit, as are almost all the operators of today. 'Of which I have no doubt that I will be bitterly reprimanded and condemned, for having published my present pamphlet, saying that I am doing great folly, to publish my work in this way, even in vulgar language, given that there is no science which is iord'huy tant haye du commun populaire que ceste cy. But to answer them, I first want them to know, if they have not yet known it, that this divine philosophy is not in the power of men, less can it be known by their books, if our good God does not inspires it in our hearts by its holy spirit, or by the organ of some living man, as I will prove very amply in the second part of this my pamphlet. So much so that I published it in this little treatise. And as for what I put it into vulgar language, let them know, that I have not done anything new in this, but rather imitate our ancient authors, who wrote everything in their languages, like Hamech the philosopher Hebrieu in Hebrew language, Thebit, Haly Chaldean philosophers in their Chaldean language, Homerus, Democritus, Theophrastus & many other Greek philosophers in their Greek language. Abohaly, Geber, Avicenna, Arab philosophers in their Arabic language Morienus, Raymondus Lullus, & several other Latin philosophers in the Latin language, so that their successors would know this divine science having been given to the people of their nations. If therefore I have imitated all these authors and several others in their writings, it is no wonder if I have escaped from their way of writing, so that those who are alive today, and who will follow us after, know, that our blessed God has wanted by sanctity and divine mercy to gratify in this our good country of Guienne, as he has done in the past to other nations , at the very time when everything was disturbed here by the mutiny and revolt of the Bourdelois, who had killed their lieutenant of King, together for the great plague which followed very soon after that. And as for what they say that our science is hated by the common people, that is not it: because the truth, being first known, has always been loved, so it is the deceptions and false sophistications, as I will explain more amply ed the first part. But they will say, since I do not express very clearly all the things required for the composition of our divine work, so that all those who see my present pamphlet can work assuredly, what benefit will the readers bring? ie ten, great & double profit. Firstly, who is the man today, who would know how to express or clarify the great good that we ordinarily depend in France on the pursuit of these cursed sophistications, of which, if it is the good pleasure of God that they be withdraw, putting an end to so many foolish expenses by reading my pamphlet, would this not bring a great profit? Without counting the second, which good and faithful readers will report, by looking at their study according to the true method that I gave in the second part, and if God gives them so much grace that they can make such a resolution, that I will say below, the third will not be useless to them, to have entry and great access to this divine practice, I say divine because it is such that the understanding of men cannot understand it of itself, and were they the greatest philosophers that ever were, as Geber clearly suggests, when he rates those who want to work by considering only natural causes, and the sole operation of nature. In this (he says) the operators of the iourdhuy fail for what they think follows from nature, which our art cannot imitate at all. Therefore cease from now on such and similar calunniators whom I want to warn, that they do not pain themselves in reading my present pamphlet, because it is not for them that I have composed it, but for the benevolent children , docile, & lovers of our science, who very humbly beg me, that before starting to work, they have resolved in their understandings all and each operation necessary for the composition of our divine work, & those so adapted to the sentences, contradictions, enygms , equivocal, which we find in the books of philosophers, that we no longer perceive any contradictions, nor any variety whatsoever. Because it is the true way to know the truth, & mainly of this divine philosophy, as Rasis wrote too well, saying, he who is lazy in reading our books, will never be quick to prepare the subjects, because one of the books clarifies the other, & what default in one, is divided into the other, because we must never wait (and this by divine judgment) to find the entire accomplishment of our divine work written and explained by order, as Aristotle very well wrote to King Alexander answering his prayer. It is not lawful (said he) to ask for anything, unless it is permitted to grant it, how do you think that I write down in length on paper what the hearts of men could not bear, if it were written in writing?
Giving enough to be understood by the refusal which made the King his master, that it is forbidden by divine ordinance to publish our science, in terms which are understood by the common people. Therefore I hereby urge all those, who by means of my present pamphlet will arrive at the true knowledge of this divine work, that they handle it so well, that the pure be nourished by it, the oppressed relieved of affairs, the annoy, relieve, for the love of our good God who will have communicated to them such a great good of which I once again beg them to recognize the whole, and as having just used it according to the holy commandments. By doing so it will be that they will prosper in their affairs, but on the contrary it will allow everything to be to their confusion. I beg you, therefore my faithful friend, that in reading our books you always have this good God in your understanding, for the fact that all good comes from him, and without whose help there is nothing perfect in this baz world, so much so. It is hardly possible that we can achieve the knowledge of this great and admirable good, if his holy spirit is not given to us as a guide, as in truth he will do it, if avarice does not hinder you, and if you are true zealous of Iesu Christ, to whom be glorious praise throughout the centuries. So be it.
HERMES rightly called Trismegistus, who is commonly interpreted, thrice very great, author & first prophet of the natural philosophers, after having seen by experience the certainty & the truth of this divine philosophy, very well & rightly left in writing, which, Had it not been for the fear he had of the universal judgment that the sovereign God must make of all reasonable creatures in the last days of the consummation of the world, he would never have left anything in writing of this divine science, so much did he hate it. esteemed, & on the right occasion, great & admirable opinion. In this opinion were all the principal authors who followed it, which is the cause that they all wrote their books in such a way, as Geber says in the sum, that they always concluded in two parts, in order to undo fail the ignorant, and immediately declare this variety of opinions their main intention to the children of science, who must err from the beginning, to the end (they say) that having acquired it with great pain and labor of body and understanding, they it is more expensive and more secret. What is true is a great opportunity not to publish it, for it requires an indescribable pain to acquire it, without counting the costs and expenses, which are very great, before being able to achieve the perfect knowledge of this fact. divine work, I speak of those who have no other master than books, awaiting the inspiration of our good God, Because firstly, to count the true order of time, and the way in which I arrived there, being twenty years older or thereabouts, after having been instructed by the solicitude and diligence of my parents, in the principles of Grammar in our house, I I was sent by them to Bordeaux, to learn the arts at the college, because there were usually very learned teachers, where I spent three years studying almost all the time in philosophy, in which I was so satisfied by the grace of God and solicitude from a private master of mine that my parents had given me, that it seemed good [sic] to all my friends and relatives (because during this time I had lost my father and mother, who left me alone) that I was sent to Thoulouuse, under the charge of my said master, to study the laws, but I did not leave Bordeaulx until I became acquainted with other schoolchildren, who had various books of recepts amassed from several, which me were familiar, because my master undertook to work on it, I was not so lazy that I left a single sheet to double of all the books that I could recover from strong that before going to Tulouse, I had some a very large book, and the weight of three fingers, where I had written more predictions, one out of ten, another out of twenty, out of thirty, with strong third-caratz, and let's meditate for the red, one at eighteen caratz , the other to twenty, the other to the gold of the escu, the other to the gold of the ducat, others to make them of the highest color than ever in barrel, the ones had to support the fonts, the others touch it, the others all judgments, and other infinite kinds, the same for the white, so that one had to come to ten deniers, the other to a dozen, the other to Teston's money, the the other white of fire, the other at the touch, so strong that it seemed to me that if I once had the means of practicing the least of these receptions I would be the happiest man in the world. And mainly of the stains that I had covered, some bore the title of being the work of the Queen of Navarre, others of Cardinal de Tournon, and other infinite names, to the end (as I have known since) that 'we had more faith in it, as it really was for the time being, because immediately after I moved to Thoulouse I began to prepare petit fours, being very fond of my master, then of the petitz I became the great ones, so much so that I had a room completely surrounded by them, some for distilling, others for sublimating, others for calcining, others for dissolving in the Marie bath, others for melting, so that for my entry I spent two hundred escuz in one year, which we had been given to spend two years in studies, both in setting up ovens and in buying coal, various and infinite drugs, various, various vessels of war, from which I bought them for six escuz at a time without counting two ounces of gold which were lost in practicing one of the recepts, two or three marks of silver in the other, or if sometimes it was covered with them, that it was very little, it was so sour and blackened by the strength of the mixtures, that the dictates received ordered it to be there, that it was almost completely useless, so much so that at the end of the year my two hundred escuz were lost. went up in smoke, and my master died of a continuous fever, which took away from him the summer, forced to blow and drink hot water, because he hardly left the room, for the great trouble he had to do something good, where there were wars less difficult than in the Arcenal of Venice in the melting of artillery, the death of which was greatly annoying to me, because my next relatives refused to give me money more than they did to me. I needed it to keep up with my studies, and I wanted nothing other than to have the means to continue, which forced me to go to my house, to get out of the charge of my curators, to end up having control of all my paternal property, who hired me for three years at four hundred escuz, to have the means to receive a reception among others, that an Italian had given me in Thoulouuse, and assured to have seen the experience (which I retained with me to see the end of its reception, for which to practice, I had to buy two ounces of gold, and a mark of silver, which being melted together we dissolved with strong water, then the calcinasms by evaporation, we tried to dissolving them with other various waters by various distillations, so many times that two months passed before our powder was ready to make a prey of it, of which we followed as required the received dictate, but it was in vain, because everything the increase that I received was in the manner of the pound demininity, because of all the gold and silver that I had put into it, I only recovered half a mark, without counting the other costs which were little, so much so that my four hundred escuz amounted to two hundred and thirty, of which I bailed my Italian twenty to go and find the author of the dictated receipt, who he said was in Milan, in order to help us. straighten out. So I was in Thoulouuse all year long, waiting for his return, but I would still be there if I had wanted to wait, because I haven't seen him since. However, summer came, accompanied by a great pestilence, which made us abandon Thoulouuse. And to leave only my companions from the Cognois, I went to Cahors, where I spent six months. During which I did not forget to continue my enterprise, & accompanied myself by a good old man, who was commonly called the Philosopher. To whom I showed my broulatz, asking him for advice and advice, to see which recepts seemed to be the most apparent to him, telling him who had handled so many simple things in his life, who gave me ten or twelve which were in his opinion the best. Which I began to practice immediately when I returned to Thoulouuse, by the feast of Toussaint, after the danger of the plague had ceased, so that all winter I practiced the said recepts, from which I reported such and similar benefits, that of first, so that after the feast of Saint Iehan, I found my four hundred escuz increased and became one hundred and seventy. Not that for this reason I cease to continue my enterprise. And so that it could continue better, I stayed with an Abbot near Thoulouse, who said he had double a receipt to do our great work, which a friend of his who followed Cardinal d'Armignac had sent him from Rome, which he held completely assured, from which I provided the hundred, and he the other half. And we began to set up new furnaces, all in different ways, to work on them. And because it was necessary to have a very sovereign brandy to dissolve a brand of gold, we purchased, to do it well, a very good piece of Guaillac wine, from which we drew our water with a good pellican large, so that in one month we had water passed and ironed several times, more than we needed, then we had to have various vessels of glass, to purify it, and subtly more, from which we put four marks inside two large retorts of well-made seere where the mark of gold was, which we had first calcined by a medium with great force of flame, and set up these two retorts, one inside the other, which were well read we put on two round and large ovens, and bought thirty escuz of coal all at once to keep the fire going below the horned dictates for a whole year. During which we always tried some small reception, from which we reported as much benefit as from the great work, which we would have liked to wait until it had frozen in the middle of the bottom of the retorts, as the reception promised, and not without cause, for all freezing is the result of dissolutions, and we did not work in the matter due to the fact that it is not the water which dissolves our gold, as experience truly showed us, for we found all the gold in powder as we put it there so that it was somewhat looser. Of which we were sorry, I leave you to think, even Monsieur l'Abbé who had already published to all his monks (a very good public secretary, that all that remained was to melt a beautiful fountain of lead, that he had in their cloister, to convert it into gold immediately that our needs would be completed, but it was for another time that he had it melted to have the means of making some German who passed through his Abbey work in vain, as for was in Paris. For this reason he never ceased to want to continue his enterprise, and advised me that I had to commit myself to duty, to recover three or four hundred escuz, and to increase it with so many people. , to work with them, that I come across something good, to share it between the two of us as brothers. And so I arrested him, so that I agreed to rechief all my property and went to Paris, with eight hundred escuz in the purse, deliberate not to leave until all this was spent, or until I had found something good. But it was not without incurring ill-grace from all my relatives and friends, who only tried to make me Councilor of our city, because they believed that I was a great lawyer. Did it happen that, notwithstanding their prayers (after making them believe that I was going to court to acquire a state), I left my house the day after Christmas, & arrived in Paris three days after the Kings, where I stayed for a month almost unknown to everyone. But almost as soon as I began to associate with craftsmen, such as goldsmiths, foundries, glaziers, furnace makers and various others, I became so familiar with several that not a month had passed before I had the knowledge of more of a hundred operators. The ones worked metals by prections, the others by dissolutions, the others by conionction of the essence (as they said of Lemery), the others by long decoctions, the others worked on the extraction of Mercury from the metals, the others on fixing iceulx. So that he did not spend every day, even the holidays and Sundays that we gather, or at someone's home (and very often at mine) or at Notre Dame la Grande, which is the most frequented Church in Paris, to discuss the needs that happened in the previous days. The ungs said, if we had the means to do it again, we would do something good. The others, if our vessel had held up, we would have been lost. The others, if we had had our copper vessel, very round and well closed, we had fixed Mercury with the Moon, so much so that there was not one who did anything good, and who was not accompanied by excuse me, although for this reason I did not hasten to lend them money, knowing this and knowing very well the great expenses that I had previously made on credit, and on the assurance of others. However, during the summer there came a Greek, who was considered a very learned man, who addressed himself to a Treasurer whom I knew, promising to do him a very good job. This knowledge was the cause that I began to rush forward like him, to arrest (as he said) the Cinnabar Mercury. if we had had our copper vessel, very round and well closed, we had fixed Mercury with the Moon, so much so that there was not one who did anything good, and who was not accompanied by an apology, although for this I was in no hurry to lend them money, knowing what I wanted and knowing very well the great expenses that I had previously made on credit, and on the assurance of others. However, during the summer there came a Greek, who was considered a very learned man, who addressed himself to a Treasurer whom I knew, promising to do him a very good job. This knowledge was the cause that I began to rush forward like him, to arrest (as he said) the Cinnabar Mercury. if we had had our copper vessel, very round and well closed, we had fixed Mercury with the Moon, so much so that there was not one who did anything good, and who was not accompanied by an apology, although for this I was in no hurry to lend them money, knowing what I wanted and knowing very well the great expenses that I had previously made on credit, and on the assurance of others. However, during the summer there came a Greek, who was considered a very learned man, who addressed himself to a Treasurer whom I knew, promising to do him a very good job. This knowledge was the cause that I began to rush forward like him, to arrest (as he said) the Cinnabar Mercury.
And because he needed fine silver in filings, we bought three brands of them, and filed them, from which he made small nails, with an artificial paste, and mixed them with pulverized Cinnabar, then made them to be buried in a well-cooked earthen vessel in certain weather. And when it was very dry, he melted them, or passed them through the cup, so that we found three marks and a little more fine silver, which he said came out of Cinnabar, and that those we there We put some fine silver and it went up in smoke.
If it was profitable, God knows, and I too, who depended on the escus for more than thirty, nevertheless he always assured that there was a gain, so that before the following Christmas, it was so well known in Paris, that there was no son of a good mother who was involved in working in science (that is to say in sophistication) who did not know or had heard of Cinnabar nails, as another time later was spoken of cuypure apples, to fix the dens Mercury with the Moon.
While these youths were passing, a foreign gentleman arrived, greatly expert in sophistication, so much so that he usually made a profit from it, and sold the work to the goldsmiths, with whom he accompanied me as soon as possible, but it was not without hesitation, so that he didn't think I was a bit suspicious. However, I would remain in his company for almost a year, before he wanted to reveal anything to me. In the end he showed me his secret, which he considered very great, although in truth it was nothing perfect.
Meanwhile, I informed my Abbot of everything we could do, even to him twice as much as the said gentleman's practice. He wrote back to me that for lack of money he did not consider it necessary for me to stay another year in Paris, given that I had found such a start, which he considered very great, although against my opinion, for what I I had always resolved within myself, never to use matter which did not always remain as it appeared at the beginning, having already known well that it was not necessary to labor to be wicked, and to enrich oneself to the damage of others. Therefore, always continuing my enterprise, I remained for a year attending the ungs, then the four, of whom it was thought that they had something good, and two years that I had remained there before, were three. But I had spent most of the money when I received the news from my Abbot, who told me that immediately after seeing the letter I was going to find it. What I did, because I didn't want to say anything, as we had sworn and promised together. When I arrived there, I found letters, which the King of Navarre (who was greatly curious in all things of good spirit) had written to him, which he would do so, if he had ever decided to do anything for him, that I go find him at Pau en Bery, to teach him the secret, which I had learned from the said gentleman, and from others who had been told to him that I knew, that he would treat me very well , & would reward me with three or four thousand escuz.
This word of four thousand escuz tickled the Abbot's ears so much that, making himself believe that he had them in his purse, he would never have stopped until he had left to go to Pau, where he arrived at month of May, without working about six weeks, for which it was necessary to recover the simple ones elsewhere. But when I had finished, I was rewarded for what I was waiting for. Because even though the King would have been good enough to do me good (I know nothing of the good treatment that I received in his country, I also know of the great friendship that I know from some gentlemen of his court in my place, but very few in number) is it that being turned away by the greatest of his court, even of those who had been the cause of my coming here, he sent me back with great thanks, and that I would advise him if there had been nothing in his lands, which was in his power to give me, if as confiscations or other similar things, that he would give it to me in full. This response was so boring to me that without expecting his beautiful promises (having previously been fed up with them at my expense) I returned to the Abbot. But because I had heard talk of a religious Doctor, who was considered (and rightly so) knowledgeable in natural philosophy, I wanted to go see him while receiving, who greatly distracted me from all these sophistications. And after he knew that I had studied philosophy, and had done the deeds and been mastered in them in Bourdeaulx, as I told him, he told me with great zeal that he pitied me greatly, because I had not discovered so many good books of ancient philosophers, which one can ordinarily recover, before having spent so much time and money on credit, in these cursed and unfortunate sophistications. I spoke to him about the task that I had done, but he knew very well what it was, and that it did not take much effort. He distracted me so much from all sophistication, to occupy myself with reading the books of ancient philosophers, in order to be able to understand their true matter, in which all the perfection of science seems to lie, that I went to my Abbot to give him an account of the eight hundred escuz that we had put together, and communicate to him half of the reward that I had received from the King of Navarre. Having therefore arrived at his place, I told him everything, which made him greatly marry me, and even more so because I did not want to continue the business begun with him, because he had the opinion that I was a good operator. However, his prayers were not afraid in my place, that I did not follow the advice of the good doctor, for the great and apparent reasons which had persuaded me when I spoke to him. And having reported to my Abbot of all the expenses that I had incurred, we were left with eighty escuz to each, and the next day after we left. I went to my house, with deliberation to go to Paris, and being there not to move from a home, until I had made some resolution by reading various books of natural philosophers, to work on our great work, having given leave to all these sophistications . Therefore, after I had recovered more money from my arrants, I went to Paris, where I arrived the next day of August in the year 1546. and there I bought ten escuz of books in philosophy , both ancient and modern, part of which were printed, and the others written by hand, like the Peat of the Philosophers, the good Trevisan, the Complaincte de nature and other various treatises that had never been printed. And having rented me a small room in Faulxbourg Saint Marceau, I stayed there for a year, with a little boy who served me, without seeing anyone, studying day and night in these authors, so well, that after a month I once a resolution, then another, then increased it, then changed it almost everything, while waiting for one to be made, where there was no variety or contradiction to the sentences of the books of philosophers, however I passed all the year, and part of the other, without being able to gain this on my study, that I can make any entire and perfect resolution. Being in this perplexity, I began to associate with those whom I knew were working on this divine work (because I no longer haunted the other operators whom I had known previously to be working on these cursed sophistications) even if it had upset my understanding leaving the study, it was increased by considering the diverse and variable ways in which they worked. For if one worked with gold alone, the other with gold and Mercury together, the other mixed it with lead which he called Sonnant, for what he had passed through the retort with quick silver , the other made some metals in quick silver with a diversity of simple sublimations, the other worked with an artificial black atrament, which was said to be the real material which Raymond Lulle used for the composition of this great work. If one worked in an alembic, the other worked in several quiltres and various vessels of seere, the other of arain, the other of copper, the other of lead, the other of silver, and others in pots of gold, then one made his decoction over a fire made of large coal, another of boys, another of grapes, another of the heat of the Sun, and others in the Bain Marie, so that their variety of operations, that the contradictions that I saw in the books, had almost caused me despair, When inspired by God by his Holy Spirit, I began to receive with great diligence the works of Raymond Lulle, & mainly his will & codicil, which he adapted so much with an epistle that he wrote in his time to King Robert, and a blur that I had recovered from the said doctor, to which it was useless, that I made a resolution completely contrary to all the operations that I had seen before, but such that I read nothing in all the siurs who did not adapted very well to my opinion, even the resolution that Arnhault de Villeneufve made at the bottom of his great Rosary, which was Raymond Lulle's master in this science, so much so that he remained about a year later, without doing anything else, that read, & think about my resolution day & night, while waiting for the term of the consent that I had made of my property to have passed, to go and raid home, where I arrived at the beginning of quaresm, deliberate to practice my said resolution, during which I produced everything I needed, and set up an oven to work with, so well, that the day after Easter I began it, but it was not without having various obstacles, from which The main ones, my closest neighbors, relatives and friends, one said to me, what do you want to do? Have you not indulged in such follies enough? The other told me that if I continued to buy small coal, that someone would suggest to me that I would make false money, as he had already heard about it, then another came telling me, that all the everyone (even the greatest in our city) found it very unlikely that I would make profession of the long robe, in order to achieve some honorable office in the said city. The others who were closer to me usually touched me, saying, why am I not putting an end to these crazy expenses, and that it would be better for me to save the money to pay my creditors, and to purchase some office, further threatening that they would make the people of justice come to my house, to break everything up for me. Moreover, they said, if you do not want to do anything for us, consider within yourselves, confide that being thirty years old or thereabouts, you look like you are fifty, such is the beginning of your beard, which presents you all enueilly, of the pain that you have endured in the pursuit of your young follies, and a thousand other similar adversities: from which they usually bother me. If these remarks bothered me, I leave it to you to think so, given that I saw my work continue from myeulx to myeulx, to the conduct of which I was always trying, not obstanting such and similar obstacles, that constantly came to me, and mainly the danger of the plague, which was so great in the summer that there was no traffic that was not broken, so that he did not pass by day, without looking at it with great sleep. diligently the appearance of the three colors, which the philosophers have written must appear before the perfection of our divine work, which (thanks to the Lord God) I see, one after the other, so much so that the very next Easter day, I saw the true and perfect experience, on the quick silver heated with a crisol, which I converted into fine gold before my eyes, in less than an hour, by the means of a little of this divine powder. If I was happy with it, God knows. If I do not boast about it for that, but after having given thanks to our good God, who had done me so much favor through his son and our Redeemer Jesus Christ, and having prayed to him that he would illuminated by his holy spirit, to be able to use it to his honor and praise, I went the next day to find the Abbot at his abbey, to satisfy the faith and promise that we had made together, but I found that he had died six months previously, which made me greatly saddened, as well as the death of the good doctor, of whom I was informed while passing near his convent. Therefore I went to a certain place, to await the arrival of my friend and next relative, as we arrested together in my department, who I had left at my house, with express charge and charge to sell all and each of my paternal property, which I had, from which he paid my creditors, and distributed the rest secretly to those who needed it, so that my parents and others felt some fruit of the great good that God had given me, without anyone I take care of it, but on the contrary they thought that I, as in despair, and being ashamed of the crazy expenses that I had made, sold my property to retire elsewhere, as this friend of mine brought me, who came to find me the first day of the month of Iullet, and we went to Losanne, having decided to travel, and spend the rest of my days in a certain and most famous town in Germany, in a very leisurely manner, so that it would not be known, even by those who will see & read this my diure, during my life, in our country of France, which I wanted to gratify, not to be the author of so many crazy expenses that are ordinarily made in the pursuit of this science (which we commonly considered sophistical, because we see nothing in it other than all sophistictions, especially since few people work towards true & divine perfection) but rather to entertain them, & lead them back to the true path, at the most 'it's possible for me. Therefore, as a conclusion to my first part, I very humbly beg all those who read my present pamphlet, that they learn from what the good poet has left us in writing, namely, those who are here to be well here who are made wise, to the at the expense and dangers of others, so that seeing the discourse how I reached the perfection of this divine work, they learn to stop depending, subject to the admission of the vain and sophistical disappointments, thinking of achieving it through them. For, as I have already described them once in my introductory epistle, it is not by chance that we achieve this,
Aristotle in the first book of his Physics taught us very well that we should not argue against those who deny the principles of science, (but against them who confess them) who propose various arguments which they cannot accept for their ignorance. and thus always remain in doubt. It is therefore for them (following our good master) that I work, and not for others, because (as the same author says) to argue with such a manner of people is to argue about colors with the born blind. , who, because they did not have the means (namely sight) to judge, could not be persuaded that there was a diversity of colors.
Therefore, so that the good faithful and good children can bring back some benefit from my work, finding in it relief and rest of mind, I have pained myself as much as it has been possible for me, and especially since The subject of our divine science allows him to write this second part in a true method, in order to avoid the great variety and confusion which ordinarily presents itself when reading the books of philosophers, which makes me stand in the same order as I held in my study, proceeding by divisions, as sensuyt. And firstly I will show, that with the help of our good God, by which authors we have used in the compilation of the present pamphlet, clarifying the reason, why they have written it so covertly. Then we will prove the truth and certainty of it by various arguments, responding to the most obvious ones that we are accustomed to doing to prove the opposite, so that the diligent reader will be able to collect from other members of our division all and each solutions of all other arguments, which could be made on the contrary, and even from the third member, and from the fourth. Thirdly we will prove how our science is natural, & how it is called divine, by speaking of the main operations, where we will clarify the error of the operators of the iourdhuy. From this fact we will deduce the way in which nature requires the earth in the procreation of metals, showing how art can follow nature in these operations. Then, we will shed light on the real matter that is required to perfect the metals on earth. Finally clarifying the main terms of our science, where we will grant the most necessary sentences of philosophers, and which appear more contrary, by reading these books. So that true lovers of our science will be able to derive great benefit from it, and our ordinary envious people and detractors will report their great confusion, well demonstrated by my present pamphlet, which I wanted to confirm by the authorities of the most learned and ancient philosophers. and good authors, so that they do not take as an excuse, that it is a new author who undertook to shed light on their impiety, and continual disappointments.
What I do not want to adapt to our subject in general terms, and such, that we cannot adapt to all created things, but singularly I say, that our science is therefore divine, and both supernatural (I mean the second operation) as it will be more fully clarified to the third member of our division, that it is and has always been impossible, and will be in the future for all men, to know it, and to discover it of themselves, were they the most great and expert philosophers, who have ever existed in the world, because all reasons and natural experiences fail us in this, so that it has been rightly written by ancient authors, that it is the secret of secrets, which our good God has reserved and given to those who fear and honor him, as our great prophet Hermes says, I do not hold this knowledge (says he) other than by the inspiration of God, which is confirmed by Alphidius saying, know, my son , that the good Lord has reserved this science for the posterity of Adam, and mainly for the poor and reasonable. Geber affirmed the same in his Summe, saying, our science is in the power of God, Who to be just and beneficent, has given it to those whom he pleases. So much so that it [sic] is in the power of men, insofar as it is supernatural, less influenced by them, but as for what it is natural (that is to say in that in its first operations it follows nature) There are various opinions, to see who was the first inuent, some say that it is Adam, others Æsculapius, others say, that Enoch was the first to know it, which some say mean to be Hermes Trismegistus, whom the Greeks praised so much, even attributed to him the influence of all occult and secret sciences. For my part, I would willingly agree with the latter opinion, for it is quite well known that Hermes was a very great Philosopher, as his works testify, and that, to be such, he diligently inquired into the causes of experiences. natural things, by the knowledge of which he knew the true matter, of which nature used the earth in the procreation of metals.
What this makes me believe is that all those who followed it came by this means to the true knowledge of this divine work, as are Pythagoras, Plato, Socrates, Zeno, Haly, Senior, Rasis, Geber, Morenius, Bonus, Arnaldus de Villanova, Raymondus Lullius, & several others who would take a long time to recount. From which even the most principal people, we have compiled & assembled our present pamphlet, but if it is with difficulty their books will be able to testify to it. For they wrote them in such a way (having the fear of God always before their eyes) that it is almost impossible to arrive at the knowledge of this divine work by reading their books, as Geber said in his Summe. There is no need (he says) for the science of science to despair and distrust the knowledge of this divine work, because by seeking and thinking ordinarily about the causes of natural compounds, he will achieve it. But he who expects to find it in our books, it will be very late when he succeeds, because (he says in another place) that they have written the true przectic for themselves, apart from the way of inquiring. . The causes for coming to the perfect knowledge of it, what he did to do it in his dictates Summarize the principal operations & things required for our divine work in various & variable chapters. For this saying he, who if he had put it straight and straight away, it would have been hit in a day of all, even in an hour, so noble and admirable is it. This is what Alphidius said, writing that the philosophers who preceded us hid their main intention under various enigmas and innumerable ambiguities, so that by the publication of their doctrine the world was not ruined, as it really would be. For all plowing and digging, all trafficking, and everything necessary for the preservation of human life would not be lost, because no one would want to get involved in it, having in their power such great good that cestuy.
Therefore Hermes, apologizing at the beginning of his book, says, My children, do not think that the philosophers have hidden this great secret, to envy them to be learned and well-instructed people, but to hide it from the ignorant and malicious. For (as Rosinus says) by this means the ignorant would be made like the learned, and the malicious and wicked would use it to the damage and ruin of all the people. Similar excuses made by Geber in his Summe in the chapter of the Administration of solar medicine, saying that it is not necessary for the children of doctrine to marvel, if they have spoken openly in their books, because it is not not for themselves, but to hide their secret from the ignorant, under so much variety and confusion of operations, and this while training and leading the children of science to the knowledge of it, for what (as it is written in another place) they have not written the inuent science, if not for themselves, but have provided the means to know it. This is therefore the reason why all the books of philosophers are full of great difficulties. Ie ten large, for this, that they are almost innumerable. Because it is possible to see the world more difficult than to find such a great contradiction, between so many renowned and learned authors? Even in it a single Author finds contradiction in his doctrine? as the writings of Rasis sufficiently testify, when he dictates to the book of Enlightenment. I have shown it in my books that the true Ferment which is required for the multiplications of the tinctures of metals, which I have farmed in another place, is not the true Leaven, leaving the true knowledge to the one who will have the good & subtle judgment for the cognoist. On the other hand, if one writes that our true matter is of vile substance and of nothingness, found by the dunghills (as Zeno says in the Peat of the Philosophers), we continent in this same book Barseus says, what you seek n It's a small point. The auster will say that it is greatly precious, and can only be found at great prices. Moreover, if one has taken to preparing our material in various vessels, and by various operations, as Geber in his Summe did, there is another who will assure that we only need one only vessel, to perfect our divine work, as Rasis, Lilium, Alphidis & several others say. Then, when we have read in a book, that we must remain nine months for the procreation and faction of our divine work (as the same Rasius wrote), we will find within another, that it takes a year ( as dicto Rosinus, & Plato). And then we find the terms of iceulz so variable (apparently understood) and poorly explained, that it is impossible for men (as Raymond Lulle says) to truly discover among so many diverse opinions, if the good Lord does not inspire us with his holy hope, or reveal it to us through some living person. This is the reason why we never see anyone who has done it, nor do we know anything about it, until after their death, because having acquired it with such great pain, I firmly believe that they would celebrate it. to themselves, if it were possible for them, they are far from communicating it to another. Therefore, by following the reasons given above, we should never find it strange that the common people, if we do not see anyone, who has done this divine work, but rather marvel, with the learned, as there are some there is no one who has arrived at the true knowledge of it. But continuing our begun order, we must clarify the second member of our division, knowing how certain and true our science is. However, before beginning it is necessary that it excites the delicate ears of the calunniators, who, to be accustomed to repeating the labors of others, (because theirs do not know the light) will say that I have misremembered the doctrine of Aristotle, who wrote in the seventh book of his Physics, that diffinition is the true form of subgect diffiny. And therefore, since I have undertaken to treat the declaration and true method of this science (commonly called Alchemy) I must begin with its definition, to better clarify the property of its terms. But I will gladly refer them to the Authors who preceded us, who (being obliged to give a certain definition) were forced to confess that it is impossible to give, as the writings of Morienus, Lilium, and several others testify. For the reason that they have assigned in their books various and variables to describe, by which they demonstrate the effects of our science, for what it has not pointed to familiar principles, as all other sciences have. For my part, I will say what I think.
It is therefore a part of natural philosophy, which demonstrates the way of perfecting metals on earth, imitating nature in its operations as closely as possible. Which science we say is certain, for many reasons. First, it is resolved among all philosophers that there is nothing more certain than the truth, which (as Aristotle says) appears where there is no point of contradiction. Now it is thus that all the philosophers who have written in this divine philosophy, one after the other, some writing in Hebrew, others in Greek, others in Latin, and others in various languages, have so agreed and agreed together, (even though they wrote under various equiuoqs & figures, for the reasons given above) that we would rightly judge that they wrote their books in the same language, & at the same time, although Some have written a hundred years, others two hundred years, even a thousand, after others as Senior says, the philosophers (says he) under various names and similarities, although in truth they only understand the same thing. Rasis in the book of Enlightenment affirms the same, saying that under various sentences, which seem contrary to us at the beginning, the Philosophers have only ever heard the same thing, of which we have another greatly evident testimony. For those very same ones who wrote in this text assert that it is very true. And if we would have no other proof than the sentence of the philosopher, which dictates to the second of the Ethics, that what is well done by a means, this would be sufficient enough to assure us of the truth of our science, because All those who have written it agree in this, that there is only one way to perfect our divine work, as Geber said in his Summe. Our science (he says) is not perfected by various things, but by a single one, in which we neither add nor diminish any thing, except the superfluous things, which we separate from it in its preparation. This itself testifies to Lilium, when he writes, that all our mastery is perfected by a single thing, by a single regime, & by a single means. As many other philosophers have written about it, even though they appear to be diverse in their sentences. First of all, we consider it more than certain that our science is true, through very certain experience, that we have seen, which is the main assurance (as for us) as Rasis & Senior says.
But to demonstrate it as closely as possible, to those who can justly doubt it, we must agree with all philosophers that our science is understood under the part of natural philosophy, which they have quite properly called operative, conjoining it in this with medicine. Now it is so that medicine can only show us the truth and certainty of its doctrine by experience, and it is true, when we read in its books, that all cholera is evacuated by Reubarbe, we do not in that we can believe nothing more certain than what experience shows us, which assures us that the dictated thing is cured by the application of the simple dictate. Thus we will say about ourselves, especially by similarity (for what our divine work cannot receive any true comparison) unless experience shows us that the smoke of lead, or the smoke of atramens freezes quick silver, this can assure us (I intend to lead us to believe) that It is feasible to prepare a greatly perfect medicine and similar to the natural and quality of the metals, by which we can arrest living silver, and perfect other imperfect metals by its predection, given even that the imperfect mineral compounds freeze living silver , & reduce it to their naturalness. For the stronger reason therefore that the perfected by our art, and duly prepared by the help of it, freeze it, and reduce similar to them all other metals imperfect by their great and exuberant decoction, which they have acquired by the administration of our art. And to further satisfy the curious people of today, we will add some other arguments, to better induce them to believe the truth of our science. Now it is certain that everything which performs the same operation of a compound is at all similar to it, as Aristotle says in the fourth meteor, when he explains that everything which performs the operation of an eye is an eye, since therefore that our gold, that is to say that which we make by our divine work, is at all similar to mineral gold, and that all doubt surrounds us in this, to see if the gold which we make is perfect , it seems to me that I have sufficiently demonstrated (by following the authority of philosophers) that our science is almost certain. It is true (they will say) that it is sufficiently proven for those who have seen the experience, but not for others, for whom, so that they have no doubt, I will bring the following reasons . Aristotle in the fourth book of Meteors in the chapter of digestions says, that all things which are ordered to be perfect, which through lack of digestion have remained such, can be perfected by continual digestion. But is it like this, that all imperfect metals remain such through lack of digestion (because they were made to be finally converted into gold) & by this means, to be perfect, as experience testifies to us as we will clarify below, by clarifying the A quarter member of our division, he could therefore be perfected by the continual decoction that nature makes to the creatures of the earth, and our art perfects them on earth by the prey of our divine work, as we will explain further to the penultimate member of our division. Moreover, if the four elements, which are contrary in any qualities, are converted one into the other (as Artistote says in the second book of generations) by all the more reason the metals, which are all of the same material , and thus not contrary in qualities, will convert one into the other, which is the reason why Hermes called their procreation circular, but a little improperly, as he himself testifies, because the metals are not procreated by nature, in order to become perfect and imperfect, and that gold was made lead or silver estaing, and so others, but to be made perfect by order and by continual decoction, always until they are perfect, and consequently do so, as experience clearly shows us, and thus their generation is not at all circular, although it may be in part.
These reasons, and other similar ones (which I leave to you for the present, because my little pamphlet cannot understand all the discourse that could be made on this subject) would be sufficient enough to demonstrate the truth and certainty of our science, n are the arguments that have been accused of making to the contrary, which so disturb the understanding of good children of doctrine, that they are always in doubt, believing now one, then another, so much so that they do not They never rested in their hopes. But so that from now on they can believe our science to be very true, I want them to learn the true solution, from the most violent and apparent argument that we have been accused of making on the contrary, by which they will know that their arguments, and all others similar to them, are not They have only one appearance of truth. They are all accustomed to making an argument, which they base on the authority of the philosopher of the fourth meteor, which was likewise from Avicenna, as Albert the Great said. In vain (he says) the operators of today work to finally make the metals, because they will never succeed, if first they do not reduce them to their first material, but it is thus that we do not reduce them there, therefore let's do nothing but sophistication, as the same Albert wrote, saying, all those who color metals by various simple ways in various colors, They are truly deceptive and disappointing people, if they do not reduce them in their first matter. For my part, I know well that many learned people have undertaken the solution of this argument, for what is most apparent that we face, so that the ungs say that even more than by the projection of our divine work on imperfect metals, we do not reduce them at all in their first matter, if it is, that in the composition of it we have reduced it to sulfur & quick silver, which are the true matter of metals (as we will clarify in the fourth member of our division) & that for the great perfection that it has acquired in its decoction, it is sufficient to perfect all imperfect metals into gold by its preparation, without particularly reducing them in their raw material.
Such was the opinion of Arnault de Villeneufve and his great Rosary, which Raymond Lulle followed in his Testament. But, apart from the honor and reputation of these two learned people, it seems to me that this is speaking against all opinion of philosophers, because since they agree that it is necessary to reduce metals to their first material (which is what is done by movement & corruption, as Aristotle says) they want to make it understood, that by the sole melting, & projection of our divine work on metals they are corrupted & deprived of their first forms, which is a thing unworthy of all philosophers. Others have provided various and variable solutions, as can be seen in their books. As for me, I will say what I think. It is too true that if we wanted to make metals again, or if we wanted to make earth, stones, or other totally different things from metals, we would have to reduce them to their raw material, by the following means. below clarify. But since all our intention is other than to perfect the metals imparted into gold, without transforming them into new materials different from their own nature, but rather to purge them, & cleanse them by the prey of our divine work, so that They are perfected by the great and exuberant perfection of it. There is no need to reduce them in their first matters, because it is too well known that they are two greatly different things, perfecting the imperfect, and doing it again. , otherwise it would follow that it would be necessary to restore all half-baked things to their first forms, to finish them off with leather, things unworthy of all philosophers. As for the other arguments that we are accustomed to making, I am not concerned for the present, because we find the solutions of these only in the books of good authors, and then the diligent and studious reader will be able to do so. invent the greatest part, both by what we have said, and by what we will clarify, below, even though it seems to me to have clarified the most difficult and difficult thing to do that we are accustomed to doing. However, I do not please forget in this regard the authority of Avicenna, who speaking of the contradiction that Aristotle made in his youth to the opinion of all ancient philosophers, said, I have no legitimate excuse, because I have recognized the intention of those who deny our science, and of those who consider it to be true. The first, like Aristotle, and many use reasons which have some appearance, but are not true. Others have made others, but greatly removed from those that we are accustomed to seeing in other sciences, meaning by this, that our science cannot be proven by certain demonstrations, like all the others, because it proceeds in another way completely contrary to others, by concealing and hiding the purity of its terms, instead of others trying to clarify it.
Whereby by continuing the order of my division, I will declare the third member of it, showing firstly, how our science is natural, and why it is called divine. In what way we will recognize the great and serious faults of the operators of the Iourd'huy. To understand well, therefore, how our science is natural, we must know what Aristotle taught about the operations of nature, which very clearly shows that it requires under the earth in the procreation of metals, of four qualities, or (to speak commonly) of four elements, call fire, air, water & earth. Of which the two contain two others, namely, earth contains fire, and water contains air. & for the fact that our matter is made of water and earth (as we will say more fully in the final member of our divisions) it is dictated justly natural, for the fact that in its composition the four elements enter into it, the two are hidden from the corporeal eyes, namely fire and air, which must be understood with the eyes of the understanding, as Raymond Lulle says, in his Codicil: consider carefully (he says) in yourself the nature and property of oil (that the sophistists have called it air, because they say that it abounds more in its quality) because your eye will not show you the difference and property of it, showing enough by this, that all the four elements are not euid in our divine work, as many have falsely estimated, as we will say in clarifying the terms of our science. Moreover, it is dictated natural, because in its first operation it imitates nature as nearly as possible, because it could not imitate it at all, as Geber said in his Summe, let it be true, the operations natural philosophers who have preceded us assure us, who, after having diligently known (as Raymond Lulle said in his epistle to King Robert, and Albert the Great, in his treatise on simple minerals) that the way nature needs under the earth in the procreation of metals is nothing other than by continual decoction of the true matter of ice, which decoction separates the world from the immune, the pure from the impure, the perfect from the imperfect, by continual evaporations, which are causes of the heat of the mineral earth heated in part by the heat of the sun, because it does not make the entire and perfect decoction on its own.
And as very well declared the good Trevisan, and as even experience usually shows us mynes, where there is a diversity of metals and materials, some coarse, others subtle and pure, which are willingly elevated to the highest . Our science therefore imitating in this nature proceeds at the beginning and in its first operation by sublimations, to purify our matter very well, because it is impossible to prepare it in any other way as Geber says in his Summa, and based on the book of Enlightenment, when he says: the beginning of our need is to sublimate. Therefore it is dictated, and rightly natural, what those who preceded us have written, that our divine work is not artificial, because what we do is to minister matter through art to nature. God for the composition of it, which nature did not conceive for the perfection of our divine work, for the fact that the questions are continual, as Geber said in his Summe. And for the reason of this admirable conjunction of elements our science is called divine. Which connection, the Philosophers have called the second operation, and others call it dissolution, saying very properly that it is the secret of secrets, as Pythagoras says in the Tourb of the Philosophers, it is the great secret that God wanted to hide to men.
And Rasis in the book of Enlightenment says, if you ignore the true dissolution of our body, do not begin to work, because this ignored all the rest is useless to us, which it is at all impossible for us to know through books, less through knowledge natural causes, which is the reason why our science is called divine as Alexander says, Our body (which is our hidden pie) cannot be known or seen by us, if the good God does not inspire it in us by his holy spirit, or learned by some living man, without whom our science is lost. And this is the stone of which Hermes speaks in his fourth treatise, when he says, we must know our divine and precious stone, which cries incessantly, defend me, and I will help you, give me back my right, and I will help you. Of this same hidden body he speaks in his first treatise, when he says the falcon is always at the mountain peak, crying, I flee the white from the black, and the red from the lemon. Now the reason why our own science is useless to us without dictation is that at the birth and procreation of our divine work, the volatile part takes away the fixed one, and thus we cannot make it fixed. and permanent to the water, if we did not make by an admirable, even supernatural, coniunction that the fixed retained the volatile, so that then what all philosophers command was done, namely the volatile fixed, and the volatile fixed. Which conclusion must be made at the very moment of birth as Haly says in the book of his secrets. Anyone who does not find our stone at the time of his birth need not expect another in its place. For he who has undertaken our divine work without knowing the determined hour of his birth, will only bring back pain and torment.
This same connection Rasis called very properly, in the book of precepts, the peas and regiments of the philosophers, advising us that if we do not know them very well, not to interfere in working on our divine work, saying that the philosophers have not hidden anything so well as that, as true They demonstrate it sufficiently in their writings, for if one dictates that this divine conjunction must be made on the seventh day, another dictates on the fourth, another dictates sentiment, another after seven months, the another with nine, like Rasis, the other with a ball of the year like Rosinus, so that no two agree. Although in truth there is only one term or even a single day, or even a single hour, in which we must make our conclusion for its own decoction, but for the desire they have to keep it secret, they have deliberately writes the terms different from each other, even though they understand very well between them that there is only one term, knowing very well, that it is known, the rest is only the work of a woman, & God of children, as Socrates says, I have shown you the true disposition of bleached lead, (that is to say, the true preparation of our matter which appears black at the beginning of lead, then is made white by our continual decoction) & if you know it very well, the rest is only the work of women and children, meaning by this that there is no need easier than ours, after the dictated construction, as it really is. East. And then all you need is leather. The two materials are assembled and during this decoction one is at rest, it is too certain that one has great pleasure there, as the philosopher dictates in the sptieism of the Ethics, that one has more pleasure in resting than in working. And it is true that our last decoction is faced in rest & without torment, Rasis in his book of three words dictates that all the dissolutions, calcinations, sublimations, dealbations, rubifications & all other operations, which the philosophers have written to be necessary to perfect our divine work, the fire was released without moving it. Pythagoras in the Peat of the Philosophers wrote the same, saying that all the regiments required for the perfection of our divine work are perfected by the decoction alone.
Barseus in the same book says that we must decoy, tincture and calcine our divine work, but all these operations (he says) are done by decoction alone. However, in order for our calunniators to say that all their operations are only decoctions, I am happy to allege to them other sentences of ancient philosophers to remove all excuses from them, and demonstrate as if to the eye their error and ignorance. Alphidius in his book testifies to us, that we only need in the composition of our divine work, a single material, which they quite properly call water, & a single action, that is the decoction, which is done in a single vessel, without ever touching it. King Solomon testifies the same when he says, that to the faction of our divine work (which he calls our soul) we have only one means. Lilium wrote the same, saying that our divine work is done in a single vessel, by a single means, by a single decoction. Mahomet sufficiently clarifies the like saying, that we have only one means, namely the decoction, and one vessel, to carry out our divine work both the white and the red, Avicenna was of the same opinion, when he speaks more properly that not ung, saying that all the arrangements that is to say, all the operations required for the composition of our divine work are done in a single double vessel. If therefore our divine work is done in a single double vessel, & by a single decoction (as it really is) it is necessary that the majority of the operators of today confess their great faults & errors, for what I do not know having seen none who did not have three or four furnaces, and there was one who had ten or twelve, one for distilling, another for calcining, another for dissolving, another for sublimating accompanied by an infinity of vessels, to perfect their works, but they would still be there, and will always do so (if they do not correct their faults) before they arrive at the faction of our divine work.
I am silent about a bunch of separations, which they make (according to what they say) of the four elements, because that will make more to my point, when I would declare the nature of the four elements, by clarifying the terms of our science. It pains me for the present, to have shown the way and true means to recognize as with the eye those who are elongated from the truth of our science, or those who are on the true path, because as we have shown quite plainly below, and we will show again below, there is only one means, one way of doing things, and inside a single vessel (which Raymond Lulle calls hymen) and inside a single furnace (which the good Trevisan calls fire cloz, moist, vaporous, continual, & digestible), without ever touching it, until our decoction is perfect, far from it requiring so much rubbish, nor so many crazy expenses that we are accustomed to making there. I am not unaware that there are among them some people who read books (how many of them are really clerks, because almost all of them work on credit) who will say to me: why do you rate us like that? seeing that Geber in his Summe teaches us various preparations, both of sulfur and of quick silver, together of the bodies and of the spirit, and Rasis in the book of the perfect magisterium testifies, that the bodies and the esperitz are prepared by various means, & learns a lot of handling. But I don't have to put much effort into answering them, having already responded to them with what I said before, because such and similar sentences were written to hide the true preparation of our divine work, as we said to the first member of our division, what even Geber testifies in his Summarized in the chapter of the differences of medicines, there is (he says) only one perfect way, which connects us and relieves us from the pain of all other preparations. Therefore, by continuing our division, I will declare the way in which nature requires the concavity of the earth, within the mynas, in the procreation of metals, in which we will know in what operations art can follow it, and consequently what is the ray material required to perfect them on earth. But for what it is the main point of our science (as Geber said at the beginning of his Summe, and Avicenna who forbids interfering with the practice of it if one has not first known the true foundations and matters of the mynes) I will follow in the declaration of this the principal quectors and more experiment in the practice of the mynes, as testify in their writings. Now it is held to be completely resolved, and more than certain among all philosophers, that all simple ones that are frozen by the cold, abound in their first materials in aquatic humidity, as Aristotle wrote in the fourth of the meteors, wherefore since the metals As melted animals are frozen by the cold, it must be said that they abound in their raw material in aquatic humidity. However, Albert the Great (who investigated the causes of the procreation of metals more closely than any other) shows quite well that this aquatic humidity is not humidity, as we see in water, and in other simple , because experience shows us that it is reduced and converted into smoke by the violence of the fire, but it is thus that the metals which are melted are not converted into smoke, it must therefore be said that their humidity is mixed with some another matter which keeps them on the fire, and which prevents them from being covered in smoke by the violence of this person.
Now there is no matter that resists fire as much as viscous humidity does, when it is mixed with the terrestrial and subtle part, as Bonus Italian philosopher testifies, and as experience certifies us. Therefore it must be said that the humidity being in the metals is such. But because we see that there are moistures in ice, which are consumed by the fire, without them being consumed, as experience shows us in their purgations, we must necessarily confess, with the principal authors of our science, that in the composition of metals, there are two types of viscous humidity, one on the outside, which they call intrinsic. And for what the first is crude, & is not well & perfectly mixed with terrestrial & subtle matter, it is easily arsed & consumed by fire. But the second is very subtle, and so mixed with its terrestrial part, that both together are only a simple matter, which cannot be partly consumed by fire, unless it is entirely consumed, and from it is procreated & makes quicksilver, which we commonly see, what its effects show by experience (as very well said Arnault de Ville neufue) which certifies us that the two above-mentioned materials are perfectly connected in it, because where the terrestrial retains humidity with itself, or humidity carries it away, as said Albert the Great, who in seeking the causes of metallic compositions knew very well that the case why quicksilver is always moving is because the humidity dominates the terrestrial part, as for the same reason (namely by their indescribable and unique mixture) the terrestrial dominant over the humidity is because quick silver does not dampen what it touches, nor the boy on what it is put on. By this therefore it is shown to us quite obviously that the sentence of Albert the Great is very true when he says in his book of simple metallics, that the first material of metals is viscous humidity, incombustible, and greatly subtle, mixed by a strong and admirable mixture with the terrestrial and subtle part within the cauernes of mineral earths, which in no way contradicts what Geber wrote in his Summe saying, that quicksilver is the true material of metals: for Nature, which is never known, has procreated living silver from this matter, which is the cause that Bonus very well said, that it is the closest matter of metals, but that the first and principal is the said viscous humidity mixed with the earthly and subtle part, as Albert said.
Geber has clarified the same very well, when he says in the diffinition that there is living silver in its Summe, it is (he says) a viscous humidity, which has been wiped away by the help of its terrestrial part, which enters into its composition. Now we must consider very subtly the way in which Nature proceeds to the procreation of all things, in which she has mixed her own matter which philosophers call agent, because it does not produce itself (as Aristotle says) That is to say, don't show off your effects. Why nature in the procreation of metals (after having created their material, namely quicksilver) she, who is all learned, adiocts to him her own agent, namely a form of mineral earth, which is like the cream and fat of this, decuycted & thickened by the heat which is in the caves of the mynas by long decoction, which earth we commonly call sulfur, which is in the same degree, comparing it to quick silver, like the quail, by comparing it to milk, the man by comparing it to woman, and the agent by comparing it to subjective matter, which sulfur the philosophers have said to be of two kinds, one is easy to melt of its own nature, and the other is only frozen and not meltable. Therefore, in order for Nature to show the power and strength of the agent, namely sulfur in the matter with which it is connected, she made by an admirable composition that the metals were frozen by the action of the melting sulfur, at the end that they were melting, as she composed the other simple metallic ones, by the action of non-fusible sulfur, so that they were not melting like magnesia, marcalites, and other similar ones, but so that the silver cannot be at all a material part of the compound (as Aristotle says) nature by needing underground for the procreation of metals, after having mixed the said sulfur with the silver visf by an indescribable composition, it makes & procreates the main metal, namely gold, by separating from it, by a perfect decoction, its silver, namely the sulfur which is the cause why gold is more perfect than all the other metals, for this is the main and final intention of nature in their procreation, as experience assures us that it does not transmute it for the better.
And this is the reason why quicksilver mixes better and more easily with gold than with any other metal, because it is nothing but quicksilver, disappointed by its own sulfur, and at all separated from it by the dictated decoction, in the same way, just as the separation of sulfur is the cause of the perfection of gold, just as it remains in other metals, just as they are dictated imperfectly, and this is the cause why silver is less perfect than gold, and copper more imperfect than silver, namely through lack of decoction, because by this alone, their silver, namely sulfur, is separated from it. In what way is revealed the greatest and principal secret of our science, because since it must follow nature in its operations, it is necessary that before perfecting our divine work, we separate its agent, namely sulfur , what all philosophers have hidden in their writings, referring us to the operations of nature, which seem to me to have clarified enough. so that they were melting, as she composed the other simple metallic ones, by the action of non-fusible sulfur, so that they were not melting like magnesia, marcalites, and other similar ones, but so that silver cannot be at all a material part of the compound (as Aristotle says) nature by needing underground for the procreation of metals, after having mixed the said sulfur with the silver visf by an indescribable composition, it makes & procreates the main metal , namely gold, by separating from it, by a perfect decoction, its silver, namely sulfur which is the cause why gold is more perfect than all the other metals, for what it is the principal and last intention of nature in their procreation, as experience assures us that it does not transmute it for the better. And this is the reason why quicksilver mixes better and more easily with gold than with any other metal, because it is nothing but quicksilver, disappointed by its own sulfur, and at all separated from it by the dictated decoction, in the same way, just as the separation of sulfur is the cause of the perfection of gold, just as it remains in other metals, just as they are dictated imperfectly, and this is the cause why silver is less perfect than gold, and copper more imperfect than silver, namely through lack of decoction, because by this alone, their silver, namely sulfur, is separated from it.
In what way is revealed the greatest and principal secret of our science, because since it must follow nature in its operations, it is necessary that before perfecting our divine work, we separate its agent, namely sulfur , what all philosophers have hidden in their writings, referring us to the operations of nature, which seem to me to have clarified enough. so that they were melting, as she composed the other simple metallic ones, by the action of non-fusible sulfur, so that they were not melting like magnesia, marcalites, and other similar ones, but so that silver cannot be at all a material part of the compound (as Aristotle says) nature by needing underground for the procreation of metals, after having mixed the said sulfur with the silver visf by an indescribable composition, it makes & procreates the main metal , namely gold, by separating from it, by a perfect decoction, its silver, namely sulfur which is the cause why gold is more perfect than all the other metals, for what it is the principal and last intention of nature in their procreation, as experience assures us that it does not transmute it for the better. And this is the reason why quicksilver mixes better and more easily with gold than with any other metal, because it is nothing but quicksilver, disappointed by its own sulfur, and at all separated from it by the dictated decoction, in the same way, just as the separation of sulfur is the cause of the perfection of gold, just as it remains in other metals, in the same way they are dictated imperfectly, and this is the cause why silver is less perfect than gold, and copper more imperfect than silver, namely through lack of decoction, because by this alone, their silver, namely sulfur, is separated from it. In what way is revealed the greatest and principal secret of our science, because since it must follow nature in its operations, it is necessary that before perfecting our divine work, we separate its agent, namely sulfur , what all philosophers have hidden in their writings, referring us to the operations of nature, which seem to me to have clarified enough.
Likewise, just as the separation of sulfur is the cause of the perfection of gold, just as it remains in other metals, so are they dictz imperfect, and this is the cause why silver is less perfect than gold, and copper more imperfect than silver, namely by lack of decoction, because by this alone, their silver, namely sulfur, is separated from it. In what way is revealed the greatest and principal secret of our science, because since it must follow nature in its operations, it is necessary that before perfecting our divine work, we separate its agent, namely sulfur , what all philosophers have hidden in their writings, referring us to the operations of nature, which seem to me to have clarified enough. Likewise, just as the separation of sulfur is the cause of the perfection of gold, just as it remains in other metals, so are they dictz imperfect, and this is the cause why silver is less perfect than gold, and copper more imperfect than silver, namely by lack of decoction, because by this alone, their silver, namely sulfur, is separated from it. In what way is revealed the greatest and principal secret of our science, because since it must follow nature in its operations, it is necessary that before perfecting our divine work, we separate its agent, namely sulfur , what all philosophers have hidden in their writings, referring us to the operations of nature, which seem to me to have clarified enough. But in order for science to know perfectly how our science can follow the operations of Nature, it is appropriate for us to clarify the main and more customary way in which it uses in the perfection of metals. We have already said that the perfection and imperfection of metals is caused by the deprivation or mixture of its silver, namely sulfur, and have shown the first way in which nature uses by composing the principal and most perfect of all, which is gold, but she used another, which seems to be different from the first, although the truths are all one, if we consider the end and the true intention of nature, which is nothing other than to purge , & clean the metals of their sulfur, because what it does in the first way with a perfect decoction, it does in the second by a continual and long digestion, digesting & purifying the imperfect metals little by little, as long as They are reduced to gold.
Whether it is true, experience shows us, that in silver mynas we usually find lead, and in some we find the two so mixed together that those who are experts in the fact of mynas say (after having discovered silver, which appears almost imperfect due to lack of digestion) that it is necessary to leave them like this, & close the myna, so that nothing of the subtle matter evaporates, in tyrebetween or forty years, & by this means everything will be perfect, as Albert the Great recounts, having been done in his time in the Kingdom of Esclauonia. And I heard the same assured by a master who was greatly expert in the facts of mynas. It is therefore in this second way, which nature holds to perfect the metals, that our art follows it in the operations, namely, by perfecting the imperfect metals by the deprivation of their sulfur, which is separated from them, by the reduction , that we do with this divine work, on those who are melted, which purifies them of their sulfuric state, & perfects them in fine gold, by its perfect & exuberant decoction, that it is acquired by the administration of our art. And just as the various ways in which nature uses to purify metals do not mean that we find various ways of gold (meaning this in perfection) so do the various ways in which we use to perfect them on earth ( which is quite other and different from the operations of nature) does not make the point that our gold and the myneral are in any way different given that we use the same material, that it uses under the earth within the mynas, what Aristotle confirms, in ninth of his Metaphysics, saying when the agent and the matter are similar, the operations are always similar, even though the means and the matter are two things, so that if the matter is one and at all similar, all the operations which seem contrary at the beginning, ultimately have the same effect, as the philosopher says.
And it is true that our material which we use to perfect metals on earth, is at all similar to that which nature uses under earth for its procreation of metals. Geber in his Summe says that our science follows nature as closely as possible. The same says Hermes, Pythagoras, Senior, & several others. Since it therefore follows nature, we must necessarily confess that it uses similar matter (which can only be one and the same in our science, just as we have sufficiently shown above, that there is only one only matter in nature, which matter we have called quicksilver (not as it is alone, but as it is mixed with its own agent, which is its true sulfur. This is the same matter therefore, which the philosophers have called money lively animated, will be the true matter of our science, to perfect our divine oeurem seeing that this same one without other is the true matter, of which nature uses to the effects of the earth within the mynas in the procreation of metals, as we have sufficiently shown cy before. Now the reason why they called it animated living silver & to show the difference, which is between it and the common living silver, which remained such, because nature did not add to it its own agent.
So much so that common quicksilver and common sulfur are the true material of metals, as many have falsely estimated. Whether it is true, experience testifies to us that we have never found common quicksilver, nor common sulfur mixed together within the mynas. How then did they make the true matter of the metals conceived from the earth, and consequently of our science, as Geber testifies in his Summe when he speaks of the principles of it, who in another place says very well that our living silver is not It is something other than a viscous water blown away by the action of its metallic sulfur. And it is our true matter, which nature has prepared for our art, as Valerandus Sylvensis says, & has reduced it to a certain species (to the true philosophers known) without transmuting it further of itself. Avicenna testified the same when he said, Nature has prepared for us a single material, which our talent cannot make or compose of itself. So far from it that all the materials that we could mix together (whether metallic or not) are the true material of our science, given that nature has already prepared it for us, so that we only have two things left. namely, to purify the dictated matter, & perfect & conionate it by its own decoction. And it is from this material that rasis wrote in the book of precepts, Our Mercury (says he) is the true foundation of our science, from which alone we draw and extract the true tinctures of metals. Alphidius clarified the same when he said, look carefully, my child, because all the work of learned philosophers is based solely on quicksilver, which is the reason why Hermes orders us to keep this Mercury very carefully. Which he calls coagulated, & hidden within the golden cabinets. Of this same Mercury spoke Geber where he said, Praise be to the God, treshault, who created this silver vig, and gave it such power, that there is no other like it, to perfect the true master of our science. In short, there is no scholarly author who has written who is not of this opinion.
But I know very well that the operators of the iurd'huy will rate me, saying, how do I dare to take up so many learned people who preceded us, who left us in writing, not only the theory of our science, but the practice of this, in which they teach us to sublimate quick silver (which they call Mercury) with Vitriol & salt, then show, as it is necessary to reuify with hot water, in order to mix with the gold that they call Sol, and by this means dissolve it, then fix it, in order to perfect by this means our divine work, as Arnault de Ville neufue wrote in his great Rosary, and Raymond Lulle in his Testament. But in order for me to satisfy them, to clarify to them their ignorance, I only want to follow the same Authors that they allege to me, the writings of which they testify to us, that all these various operations, distillations, separations of elements, reductions, & other similar ones, were only written by them, only to hide and conceal the dissolution of the true practice of our science. Let it be true, after Arnault de Ville neufue taught us all these various operations in his saying Rosary, he says it at the end in his recapitulation. We have shown the true practice, and true means to perfect our divine work, but in very short words. Which are verbose enough for those who will hear them. So much so that in speaking of so many diverse and long operations he always heard of the true preparation and practice of this divine work. The same testifies to us at the end of the Codicil of Raymond Lulle, when he answers those who would ask him why he wrote the art, then that he testified a little before that we should not expect to arrive at the true knowledge of God, through the reading of books so that (he says) the faithful Reader is introduced & empowered into the true knowledge of our divine work, the preparation for which we have never been truly enlightened. So much so that the great and diverse preparations that he learned in his books are the one and only practice required to perfect our divine work. There will be others who will be more knowledgeable, and will gladly take me back, saying, why did I write that our divine work is made of a single material, namely only animated living silver, seeing that Geber in his Summe in the chapter of the coagulation of Mercury says, that it is extracted from metallic bodies prepared with their arsenic. Rosinus, on the contrary, says that it is the true incombustinle sulfur from which our divine work is made. Solomon son of Dauid testifies the same, when he says, God preferred to all the things which are under the sky our true soul.
Pythagoras in the Peat of the Philosophers wrote, that our divine work is perfect, when the sulfurs are united with each other. Thus it is made of sulfur, and not of animated quicksilver only. But in order to respond well to them, and to satisfy their hopes which are disillusioned with the true path, we must remind them of what we have clarified here before: speak of the matter of metals, where we have shown, how nature has a dioinct the money proper to quicksilver disseminates the mynes. Now because our divine work has no proper name, some have given it a name, others another: so much so that Lilium has written very well, that our divine work has as many names among the philosophers, as there is has things in the world, meaning by this that it has infinite names, because although it is always the same, made of a single matter, nevertheless the philosophers who preceded us have given it various and true names, according to the diversity of colors, which appear in the decoction of it, as those who called it animated living silver (like us) considered, that our first matter, which the ancient philosophers called Chaos, participates in its beginning & it is really at all similar to the nature and material of quicksilver, of which nature composes and perfects the metals in the nature of the earth, as we have sufficiently shown above. Likewise those who called our divine work Philosopher's Stone (which is the most accepted name of all today) had regard to the end of the decoction of our matter, for the fact that in the end, it is fixed, & not erupts at the point of fire, for the reason that they have this common term between them, of calling all things which have not evaporated, nor sublimated in the fire, stone. Others have influenced several other names, causing them for various reasons, which would take a long time to recite, as Maluesciudus says. If we call our matter spiritual, it is true: if we call it corporeal, we are not lying: if we call it celestial, that is its true name: if we call it terrestrial, we are speaking very properly. By this it is clear enough that the variety of names, which those who preceded us have given to our divine work, was caused by various reasons, based on the diversity of colors and other operations, which appear in its decoction.
So those who called it sulfur, as the authorities who could be brought against me testify, have looked at the last decoction, in which our matter is fixed. Which just as at the beginning showed the true appearance of quicksilver, because it was volatile, so in the end it is made fixed. And then what was inside unknown, namely the fixed parts, which we call sulfur, is made manifest, by the continual and final decoction, in which it dominates the volatile, which is the reason why our matter is no longer called volatile, I mean those who consider the last decoction, but are fixed, as Arnault de Ville neufue says in his great Rosai, when he spoke of the last decoction of our divine work, it is (he says) the true red sulfur, by which quick silver can be perfected into fine gold. Thus we can rightly and truly believe that the material from which we compose our divine work is only one, at all similar to the material of what nature uses under the earth within the mynas, in the procreation of metals, notwithstanding the authorities which we have brought above on the contrary, and all other similar ones, because (as Aristotle says and even experience testifies to us) the diversity of names do not make the thing diverse. Therefore, ultimately, in our division, it remains for us to clarify the terms of our science, I intend to clarify, that is to say, to infer the sentences of the good and principal authors who preceded us. Who use among others four terms, when speaking of the composition of our divine work, namely, four elements, the perfect leaven, the true venom and the perfect coagulate, which they have otherwise called the male, comparing it to the females, how they compare their quail or coagulate to simple milk. To clearly clarify what they mean by the four elements, we must know what all natural philosophers have clarified concerning the first matter, which they call Chaos, in which they have said, that all four elements were confused, but by their oppositeness, each by demonstrating the actions is manifested to us.
Which is the reason why Alexander wrote in his epistle, that everything which was demonstrated to our elders to be of hot quality, they added fire, that which was dry and coagile, earth, that which was humid and labile, water , and what was cold, subtle wind, they called air. in which it dominates the volatile, which is the reason why our matter is no longer called volatile, by those who consider the last decoction, but sulfur fixed, as Arnault de Ville neufue says in his great Rosai, when it has spoken of the last decoction of our divine work, it is (says he) the true red sulfur, by which quick silver can be perfected into fine gold, By thus we can justly and to the true tesouldre, that the material of which we let us compose our divine work, is only one, at all similar to the matter of which nature uses under the earth within the mynes, in the procreation of metals, notwithstanding the authorities which we have brought above to the contrary, & all others similar, because (as Aristotle says & even experience testifies to us) the diversity of names does not make the thing diverse. Therefore, ultimately, in our division, it remains for us to clarify the terms of our science, I intend to clarify, that is to say, to infer the sentences of the good and principal authors who preceded us.
Who use among others four terms, when speaking of the composition of our divine work, namely, four elements, the perfect leaven, the true venom and the perfect coagulate, which they have otherwise called the male, comparing it to the females, how they compare their quail or coagulate to simple milk. To clearly clarify what they mean by the four elements, we must know what all natural philosophers have clarified concerning the first matter, which they call Chaos, in which they have said, that all four elements were confused, but by their oppositeness, each by demonstrating the actions is manifested to us. Which is the reason why Alexander wrote in his epistle, that everything which was demonstrated to our elders to be of hot quality, they added fire, that which was dry and coagile, earth, that which was humid and labile, water , and what was cold, subtle wind, they called air. in which it dominates the volatile, which is the reason why our matter is no longer called volatile, by those who consider the last decoction, but sulfur fixed, as Arnault de Ville neufue says in his great Rosai, when it has spoken of the last decoction of our divine work, it is (says he) the true red sulfur, by which quicksilver can be perfected into fine gold, By thus we can justly and to the true tesouldre, that the material of which we let us compose our divine work, is only one, at all similar to the matter of which nature uses under the earth within the mynes, in the procreation of metals, notwithstanding the authorities which we have brought above to the contrary, & all others similar, because (as Aristotle says & even experience testifies to us) the diversity of names does not make the thing diverse.
Therefore, ultimately, in our division, it remains for us to clarify the terms of our science, I intend to clarify, that is to say, to infer the sentences of the good and principal authors who preceded us. Who use among others four terms, when speaking of the composition of our divine work, namely, four elements, the perfect leaven, the true venom and the perfect coagulate, which they have otherwise called the male, comparing it to the females, how they compare their quail or coagulate to simple milk. To clearly clarify what they mean by the four elements, we must know what all natural philosophers have clarified concerning the first matter, which they call Chaos, in which they have said, that all four elements were confused, but by their oppositeness, each by demonstrating the actions is manifested to us. Which is the reason why Alexander wrote in his epistle, that everything which was demonstrated to our elders to be of hot quality, they added fire, that which was dry and coagile, earth, that which was humid and labile, water , and what was cold, subtle wind, they called air. In our division, it remains for us to clarify the terms of our science, I intend to clarify, that is to say, to infer the sentences of the good and principal authors who preceded us. Who use among others four terms, when speaking of the composition of our divine work, namely, four elements, the perfect leaven, the true venom and the perfect coagulate, which they have otherwise called the male, comparing it to the females, how they compare their quail or coagulate to simple milk.
To clearly clarify what they mean by the four elements, we must know what all natural philosophers have clarified concerning the first matter, which they call Chaos, in which they have said, that all four elements were confused, but by their oppositeness, each by demonstrating the actions is manifested to us. Which is the reason why Alexander wrote in his epistle, that everything which was demonstrated to our elders to be of hot quality, they added fire, that which was dry and coagile, earth, that which was humid and labile, water , and what was cold, subtle wind, they called air. In our division, it remains for us to clarify the terms of our science, I intend to clarify, that is to say, to infer the sentences of the good and principal authors who preceded us. Who use among others four terms, when speaking of the composition of our divine work, namely, four elements, the perfect leaven, the true venom and the perfect coagulate, which they have otherwise called the male, comparing it to the females, how they compare their quail or coagulate to simple milk. To clearly clarify what they mean by the four elements, we must know what all natural philosophers have clarified concerning the first matter, which they call Chaos, in which they have said, that all four elements were confused, but by their oppositeness, each by demonstrating the actions is manifested to us. Which is the reason why Alexander wrote in his epistle, that everything which was demonstrated to our elders to be of hot quality, they added fire, that which was dry and coagile, earth, that which was humid and labile, water , and what was cold, subtle wind, they called air.
From which the two are enclosed within the others, as Rasis says, in the book of precepts, all compounds are made of four elements, the two hidden, and the two others related, namely air within water, and fire within the earth, as we have said here before. However, because the two enclosures, namely air and fire, cannot show their actions without the other two, they have called them the two feeble elements, and the other two, the forts which is the cause, why they say, that the compounds are perfect, as for humidity and dryness, namely water, and earth, are also connected by the aid, of nature, with cold and heat, it is with air and fire , which is done through the cooperation of one and the other. Therefore Alexander in the book of his secrets says, If you convert the elements one into the other, you will find what you are looking for. Which sentence we must clearly clarify, so that it, properly understood, shows us, as if with a finger, the true matter, and perfect practice, of our science. But to understand it well, we must speak a little more properly about the four elements and the nature of them, as they are necessary in the composition of our divine work. Hermes when he speaks about it, says, that from our earth all the other elements are created. On the contrary, Alphidius says, that water is the principal element, from which all the four elements required for the composition of our divine work are created, in which there is no point of contradiction, as it seems, because at the beginning of the procreation of our divine work, nothing appears except water, which the philosophers have called Mercurial water. And from this the earth is procreated, when it is full, by the supernatural conionction & decoction without which it is useless to us. Hermes therefore very well said that the other elements come out of the earth, so that in the second operation it alone shows the qualities, as water showed them at the beginning: which made Alphidius, Valerandus, and the others, that it was the principal element in the composition of our divine work.
And it is these two elements that the philosophers ordered to be known, before beginning to work, as Rasis says in the book of Enlightenment. Before (he says) we begin, we must know the nature and quality of water and earth, because in these two all four elements are included, otherwise the volatile will take away the fixed, and thus our science will be useless. Who is the reason why we are commanded to convert the four elements, so that our divine work is well qualified, and finally made fixed, to be able to resist all violence of fire, corruption of the air, rust of the earth, wasteful & rottenness of water, no less than that of mineral gold for the reason of its great perfection. Which conversion of element is nothing other (as Raymon Lulle says) than making the earth which is fixed volatile, and water, which is humid & volatile, making it dry & fixed, which is done by our continual ecoction from inside our vessel, without ever opening it, so that our elements are not spoiled, and that they do not go up in smoke. This very fact is evidenced by the writings of Rasis and other various philosophers when they say that the true separation and conjunction of the four elements takes place within our vessel, without touching it with hands or feet. This is why our stone dissolves, coagulates, washes, purges, whitens and reddens itself, without mixing anything foreign. Arnault de Ville neufue is of this same opinion, in his great Rosary, where he says, in a few words, one must only labor to kill the water, that is to say to fix it, because if it is dead , all other elements are killed (i.e. fixed). Far from it, the false and sophistic separation, which the operators of the current day make of the four elements (as they say) is well founded on these writings, less on the sentences of all the philosophers, who forbid by name, not to gaster point the simples in their preparation, for this, they say that it is impossible for art to yawn the first forms. Now it is completely resolved that the four elements cannot be composed without destroying them. Why there is no need to use this sophistry and false separation of elements for the composition of our divine work.
And whether it is true that such a separation is false, it has been sufficiently proven above that the two elements are enclosed within the other two. So far from it that we can know the perfect separation of them, minus their true and double conception. And then experience shows us, as Valerandus very well wrote, that the elements, which they say they have separated, do not participate in anything in the nature of the true elements, testifying to their oil, which they call air, which wets everything which touches, against the true naturalness of the air. Why it was necessary for me to have shown this of the nature and quality of the elements, and the conuersion of these elements which is required in our science, in order to discover the ignorance of the operators of today, and to introduce the true children of science, to discover the ignorance of the operators, of the world, and to induce the true children of science to the knowledge of these people. Continuing therefore with our last division, we will clarify what the philosophers understood by this term (leaven) saying that they took it in two meanings, using the first when they compared our divine work to metals, because just as a little leaven sours and converts a lot of dough to nature, so our divine work converts metals to its nature, and for what it is gold, it converts them into gold. But because they hardly used it in this meaning (because there is no difficulty) we will speak of the second, in which lies all the difficulty of our science, because they understand by this term (leaven) the true body & true matter, which perfects our divine work, which is unknown to the eyes, but it cannot be recognized by the understanding because at the beginning our matter appears volatile (as we have clarified here before) which we must conjoin with its own body, so that by this means it retains the soul, which by means of this connection made by means of the spirit, shows its divine operations in our divine work, as is written in the Philosophers' Peat, where it is said that the body has greater strength than its two brothers, which they call the spirit and the soul, not that they understand it as Aristotle and other philosophers explained (which is greatly notable) but they call body quite simple, who can of his own nature sustain the fire, without any diminution, which they otherwise call fixed.
And they called the very simple soul which is volatile in itself, having the power to carry away the body from above the fire, which they call in another term volatile, adding that before the spirit that which has the power of to retain the body and the soul & to conion them so together, that they cannot be separated, whether they are made perfect or imperfect, although in truth in our divine work nothing new enters at the beginning (I understand after its first preparation) ny in the middle, less at the end. But philosophers, according to various respects and various considerations, have called the same thing body, soul and spirit, as we have sufficiently clarified above. Thus as for the beginning our matter was volatile they called it soul, for what it carried away in itself the body, but as for what was hidden was made manifest in our decoction, then the body demonstrated its forces by the means of the mind, that is to say, restrained the soul, and reducing it to its own nature (which is to be made of gold) made it fixed by its power, being aided by our art. In what way is clarified the true interpretation of what Hermes wrote, that no dyeing is done without the red stone. For (as Rosinus says) our true sun appears white & imperfect in our decoction, & is perfect in its red color.
And it is the leaven of which Arnault de Ville Neufue spoke in his great rosary, which shows itself in these two colors, without ever touching it, nor mixing anything into our matter, as one might think from the writings. Let it be true, Anapagoras says, that their sun is red and fiery, which is connected with the soul, which is white, and of the nature of the moon, by means of the spirit, as much as it is true everything is only the quicksilver of philosophers. This itself clarifies Morienus, saying that it is not possible to reach the perfection of our science, until one is connected with the sun, without which our science is useless to us, as Hermes says, and all the philosophers. Thus it appears that we must understand what rasis says in the book of lights, the red servant married the white woman, at the end of the perfection of our divine work, together what Lilium says, that the true union of the body & of the soul is made in the color white & red by the same means, which is done at certain times, with the help of our decoction, which we must govern so much, that our matter is not spoiled, because as it is written in the Peat, the benefit and damage of our divine work come from the administration of fire. Why would I advise, with Rasis, that no one interferes in practicing our science, that firstly he does not understand each and every one the dimensions of fire (because they are greatly diverse) which are required for the coimposition of our divine work, rather the third term which they call venom, will be applied to him, which happens in the second operation as we said above.
Not that for this reason it is necessary to discard anything venomous in our matter, less of Theriacque, nor any other strange thing, as some have thought about the appearance of the letter, but we must be careful and vigilant, so as not to pass point the pra proper hour of the birth of our Mercutialle water, in order to give it its own body, which we have previously called leaven, and now we call it venom, for two reasons, one as for us, for what just as venom brings nothing to the human body except harm, so if we fail to recognize it at its determined time, it only brings harm to us, as we have clarified above. By the same or similar reason it is said to be venom, as for our Mercury (which we call mercurial water) for what it kills and fixes, in which the true interpretation of what Hamech wrote, saying, as for our matter has reached its end, it is connected with its deadly venom, together with what Rosinus says, that this venom is very valuable. Haly, Morienus, and all the others testified the same. And as for what they call Theriacque, it is by the same comparison, as the same Morienus says, because what Theriacque does to the human body, our Theriacque does to the body of metals, as much as what he It is written that it can be adapted to the conionction of the perfect leaven, when it is made at the determined time, so that through it our divine work is perfect. Such and similar authorities therefore must be understood according to the allegorical sense, and not according to the appearance of the letter, as many have falsely estimated. Similar is the interpretation of the last term, which is the most used of all, and the most misunderstood, because the majority, the understanding of our divine work, when it is perfect, saying, that all thus a little of our matter iected on living silver freezes it & reduces it to its own nature. But this is to distance it greatly from the truth, because they conclude by this that our matter could not be compared to metals, for what they are intended to be frozen. Therefore it must be understood that when our Mercury appears simple, it is labile, which the philosophers have called milk, called quail or coagule, what we have above called leaven, venom and theriacque, because everything like the quail does not It is in no way different from milk, except by a little decoction, thus our coaguile is in no way different from our Mercury, except by the decoction, which it acquired previously: which is the great and supernatural secret, which has caused and moved philosophers to call our science divine. Because all human sense and human reasons fail, as we have explained above.
And it is this coagula that Hermes calls the flower of gold, of which they hear when he says that in the freezing of the spirits the true dissolution of the body and of the substance is made, in the dissolution of the body the true freezing of the esperitz, because by its means the whole is perfect as Senior says, when I saw that our water (that is to say our Mercury) froze itself, I firmly believed that our science was true. For this same reason Alexander wrote, that there is nothing created in our science, that what is made of male and female, calling ours coagulates the male, for what it acts, and that all the philosophers have attributed the action of the male, and the passion to the woman, calling our Mercury female, because the said coagulate acts and shows its power over him, which is the reason why they have written, that the woman has arsle, because our simple Mercury is volatile, which is retained by its dict coagulates. Which made them afraid, that we must make the female mount on the male, and from the male on the female, hearing the same when they say in the Peat of Philosophers, that we must honor our King, and the Reyne his wife, & keep us from getting burned, that is to say, from hasting our decoction. Because as Arnault de ville neufue says in his great Rosary, the main fault in the practice of our divine work is the sudden decoction. Similar and variable terms were written by the ancient philosophers in their books. But for the fact that these are the principal ones, I will put an end to the declaration of these ones, for the fact that they are of course understood, the true matter is known, and thus all the books are made clear to us, and made easy, as the saying says. good Trevisan.
Therefore I will conclude with all the authors, whose writings I have written in the best order that was possible for me) that there is only one material from which our divine work is made, which is composed of only one simple Mercury (which the philosophers have called in its own term and without any ambiguity, Mercurial water) & coagulates by the action of its own sulfur (which Hermes very promptly called the flower of gold) having acquired through our long and continual decoction, a perfection so great and excellent, that it can perfect all imperfect metallic bodies, being connected with those by its preyction, converting them into fine gold, such as mineral, for various reasons which we have here before deduced, by which it is quite clear why imperfect metals are perfected by it. For as much as there are no simple things in the world, different in every way and contrary in quality, which can be connected and mixed perfectly together, our divine work, to be made of only animated living silver, cannot endure being mixed with sulfur. , which remained in the metals for lack of digestion, as we have shown above, but it being all powerful and perfect in very great digestion, separates the said sulfur from the metals and perfects the living silver which remains in ice, into fine gold. Let it be true, experience monsters us, because when we apply it to common quicksilver we find it almost entirely converted into gold, which happens to the contrary on metals, because from one mark not a single ice is covered with it for six inches. But so much more is disappointed, so much less is diminished, for the same reason. Therefore, to continue my little pamphlet, I will end the second part, & begin the third & last. In which I will show the true and perfect practice of our science, under various allegories, which our good God will demonstrate, if it pleases him, to his true faithful and perfect lovers of it, who will pain themselves by reading my writings , the true intelligence of which, he will enlighten them by his holy hope, to use it to the honor of our dear lord, brother & true redeemer Iesu Christ, to whom be praise and glory for centuries. So be it.
The philosophers and true cosmographers have left in writing, that the earth which is habitable today, is part and divided into three main parts, namely, Asia, Africa and Europe, which they have said between under four Regions, under the East, & West, under Midy & North, Which regions are governed and governed by various Emperors, Kings, Princes, & great Lords, each of whom has various & variable things in great agreement, both for the rarity of them, only for the value and singularity that they found there, which did not have such great credit in their place as the first, as experience showed me, when I was traveling by diyers these countries, because the share or frequency of people of knowledge was very great, I saw (to my great regret and shame) the learned people very poor and greatly retreat, and the ignorant rich and advanced in all kinds. But where the fault and rarity of people in knowing was great, and ignorance reigned so much, that the majority and almost all were only ignorant and poorly learned people, The (dye) were the learned people in strong good opinion of all, & favor the greatest.
Thus the fault of riches and mints, of which gold is communicated to us, together with all other metals because none of them has been, and will in the future be in great esteem, in the greater part of the said regions, as the abundance of it has done to other regions, that it has been and will always be despised by the great lords of that region, whereas they have great esteem for things, that it is of little value, even of little value. nothingness, which have nothing perfect except appearance, which has always dazzled their eyes, preventing them from recognizing great and perfect things, which become angry with their way of doing things (as learned people willingly do, when they see that the ignorant are preferred to them) retire elsewhere, deliberate to demonstrate their knowledge & power. But they (as a part of the world is today) governed by a man, who renounced and re-enforced them in such a way, and with such great diligence, that one pretends to believe, that before wanting to cease, the rest of the world would be subjugated to him, through the aid and favor of his companies, and mainly through the advice of his faithful patron. But while he was in these deliberations, he was accompanied by various and not foreigners, who desired and expected to be very well received, and better rewarded by Emperors, Kings, and other great princes (as are the spies of the day of Huy) withdraw several of them, to discover to them what they had little to learn from the enterprise of this good governor. Of which they took no account, making themselves believe, that there was no land power that could resist theirs, so close that the enterprise of the said governor was formidable to them.
Therefore, when in their court and grand palace all they talked about was laughing, singing, handling love, usually attending feasts, undertaking mummeries, picking up horses, setting up tournaments to commemorate the colors and favors of the ladies , swear at the palm, go to the assembly, praise the flatterers, talkers and envious rapporteurs, mock the poor learned people, calling them by mockery philosophers (which is the title well known today to few people, but such that the great monks did not disdain him in the past, and even those of the Iourd'huy would not do so if they were well advised) then (dy I) this good prince, all shabby, accompanied by his good company, & faithful provider , went to the fields, and had already besieged one of the main cities of the Empire, when the Emperor assembled his camp, accompanied by several kings and great lords who all came together to find him, so that they made him abandon the siege, very soon after they had arrived, and not without cause, for what his faithful provider usually annoyed him, wanting him to remove some fort there, which was worthy of him, where he would not endure so great heat .
And then (besides the help that many from within the city gave them, daily making great and valiant sorties against the companies of this good prince) the Emperor was accompanied by fifty thousand footmen, and six thousand horses like the It was said, without counting the many nobility and great lords, who followed his cornet, being reinforced with a large number of artillery which did wonders to shoot well. Why did this good prince (after having assembled the council of all his companies, who agreed with the good advice of his faithful provider) raised the siege of the said city (also it was defended by a fort, which was partly made of iron ) withdrawing the muscle that he could, & with the best order that was possible for him to keep, because he still felt weak, which was the cause that he left behind on the tail, by the advice of his dict provider, of the most valiant companies that he had to always maintain the skirmish, with the people of the Emperor who followed him closely to guard and defend by this means his rear guard, which was weak, had it not been for a stream which was favorable to him. Which companies did their duty so well, that none of the others were slaughtered, even that they had many affairs, even there were some even of slaughtered, who were relieved by the prowess and valor of others, but the skein did not unravel in this way. For the next day the Emperor followed this good Prince with all his field, that he was forced (following the good advice of his faithful provider) to reach a fort, which was always considered impregnable, because it was completely round, & seated on an arch, surrounded by walls, where he received so many provisions and ammunition that he wanted, from a strong tower, which was all-round, which was provided with everything he needed, by means of a single man, know from the said provider, without anyone take care, no more than Sultan Suleiman, that his people should carry out the revictualling which was usually carried out in Naples of Romania, by digging up a rock, when he kept it besieged for twenty years, or even more .
Now this good Prince lodged around this tower with all his companies lodging within the body of the castle in a beautiful little room well surrounded and furnished with all the things required for the convenience of a room which was worthy of such a great Lord. And among other things it was enriched with a beautiful, greatly excellent cabinet, similar in part to those that we see in the Duchy of Lorraine, from which he did not move until he died within the said castle, until the end of the siege, to the great and singular pleasure he received, for the very fact that he looked out of four windows, without moving from there, through which he saw the whole countenance of his enemies, who could not harm him in any way, for what his principal The door was closed so much that there was no one who knew it or could open it, except its principal and faithful provider, who gave such an order that nothing should happen to them for a year, that the Emperor kept it besieged. Who gave him various assaults from the beginning, with the help and favor of the great Lords, whom he had.
This was what this good Prince (who had all his companies, in five columnal regiments) constrained, so that each one kept the guard by force, and resisted the assaults which came [sic] during their quarter. and in the end only by this means he resisted the force and annoyance that the Emperor ordinarily did to him, being advised by those who were near him. As they told him, if we do not leave him like this, he will have just occasion to make fun of us, himself who was in our power of other times, given that he says he has withdrawn from it by the bad treatment he received: which will cause him a just opportunity for revenge on us and ours, if he can once get out of here. Such and similar, proposed were cause that the Emperor decided to have by famine, and in the meantime ordinarily anger him by various assaults. But as the winter approached, he withdrew with a part of the army, leaving the rest in front of the castle, under the charge of a great Lord, who had accompanied him on this journey. Which did not chaulma point, so that they hardly passed days before they came to the assault, until hand combat. For those of the dens did not make any exits, because their Prince had forbidden them.
Who being informed by his faithful provider of the order that the Emperor had made to his department, that the siege of the front should not be lifted until a whole year had passed, or until it had been surrendered, ordered, both for the conseruation of her person, and for the advancement of her Reign, that each of the colonial commands would bring her, during her quarter, a command that she would have conquered in the attacks on the enemies. Otherwise they would have his bad luck. But if it should happen that by their diligence and boldness they fulfill his commandments, he will assure them, that he himself, (being aided by his faithful pursuer) would win the columnal rank of the enemies, he said, using his life, and their would make such a share of the spoils that they would bear his own and natural standard, and would by this means be richer than any of those who had besieged him. If this order was agreeable to these good companies, who desired nothing other than to see their Prince great, in order to be able to increase their number, the experience which followed gave certain testimony to it. Because before their term had passed, they brought him the signs that he had requested, in return for the good order that his faithful provider gave him, by the duplication of the circle, which a great Prince of France, even admirable for his knowledge, had taught him. Now the first brand was from Pistoliers Alllemans.
The second was strewn with various colors of the amye that the lover had carried to the assault. The third came very close to resembling the cornet of Roy Franchois. And the fourth was the same one enriched with a beautiful, large croissant. The fifth was greatly similar to the columnal sign of the Emperor, which so animated the heart of this good Prince, that he himself went the next day to the breach, for it was a long time having always been near him his faithful purveyor, who took great care of his affairs. And he endured unspeakable pain, and even great heat which made him very angry. But in the end he kept his promise to these companies, & gained the Emperor's own colonial ensign. Therefore (after having been well cleaned, & refreshed by his said purveyor, who greatly feasted him with his first meats, which he had saved, since the beginning of the siege) he set out on the whole field upon his exit, which he feist the next day, accompanied by his good and loyal provider, and his good companies, who all carried, and had in their power the own natural color of their good leader, so that there was, nor will be in the future, Pope, Emperor, King, Soltan, nor other Princes or great Lords, who did not come to him and his people, to do him homage, so much so that they still do him, and will do to them as long as they remain in this world, by the ordinance of the high and sovereign God, who distributes his great and admirable goods to those who fear and honor him, keeping in the holy Commandments that his dear son and our only one Redeemer Jesus Christ has enlightened us in his holy Euangile, to whom be praise and glory forever and ever. So be it.
The way to help our great king and only leader.
So that our pamphlet does not remain imperfect, it remains for me to clarify (to end the third and last part) how we must target our great King on his companies, together with how we can use it on stones. precious. Finally, clarifying what suffering human bodies bring, for sanctity.
The way to reflect on the metals of our divine work.
To properly convert all imperfect metals to the nature of our great King, you must take an ounce of ice, after it is multiplied and refreshed, and apply it to four ounces of fine molten gold, and find your material frangible, which you will pulverize, and will be pierced by three days in a clean, well-closed vessel, inside the closed mountain, with the heat of the last assault, and from this powder you will collect one ounce in twenty five marks of silver, or of copper, or else eighteen marks of lead, or estaing, or else fifteen marks of common quicksilver heated in a crucible, or frozen with lead. But as long as they are first well melted and heated, and you will see soon after your material is covered with a very thick foam, then, when it has done its operation, it will seem to you that it has exploded. Then you will have your material remelted, and you will find it converted into fine gold. But if by chance you have not kept the above-mentioned pea, you will not find your materials in any way changed from their first color, so they would have to pass through a large bowl, without putting lead in it, and within three hours after the bowl will have consumed everything that had not been perfect, for lack of having put enough of our divine work into it, and the rest will remain above all nect, which will pass through the royal cement, during the space of six hours, and find everything the gold that will have been converted by the help of our great King, as fine as mineral gold. And it is this means that Raymond Lulle learned in his Codicil. Which learns the second in his Testament, as it follows.
The way of using our divine work on pearls and rubies.
To make the round pearls, and of such size that we would have to clean and refresh our great King, immediately after his good companies brought him this beautiful white badge strewn with this large crescent, without waiting for the end of the siege. And when it has been refreshed only once, take two or three ounces (because it is the Mercury that Raymond Lulle calls exuberé) which put on ashes in a small, very clean, and well closed alembicq, to distill it very slowly and slow fire from the beginning, and when it no longer distils by this fire, change the container, which is well-lit, give it a good and strong fire until it no longer distils. Then take this second liquor, and put it in a new alembic, to distill it very cleanly in a bain-marie, three times, one after the other, each time mixing with the said water for a little time. But at the third time you will have everything distilled by ashes: then take what will be distilled, and mix it in a new alembic, to distill very cleanly by bathing four times, always mixing the feces separately, as long as your water is to be distilled. be very clear & shiny in whiteness like oriental pearls, which you can use as follows. Place pearls that are very clear, but as small as you want at the bottom of a small cucurbit, & place our water above the thickness of a doz of cousteau, & cover it very well with its cover, & for three hours after the pearls will melt into a white paste, but above will come a clear liquor, which you will gently pour out by inclination, without disturbing anything, neither in pouring the said paste into another alembicq, which being well covered and ready to pour into the bath, as If you want to sublimate it for three days, then remove it. This fact, have a silver mosle all hollow and round, parted by the middle, and gilded on the inside, of the roundness and size that you want your pearls, making a small hole in it through the center of the middle, at the end that a small golden thread like hair can pass through it: and passing the thread through its hole, so that they are well perched. Then open it, and place your pearl in a golden dish, without touching it with your hands, letting it dry in the shade without the Sun touching it. And when you have done all your pearls in this way, and they are well dried, thread them into the said gold thread, without touching it with your hands, and place the said thread inside a glass pipe, made like a reed, which has a small hole in one bowl, and the other quite open, from which to take a materaz, where the sublimated liquor will be, without him touching it. Then mix everything very well so that nothing exhales, & put it in the air for eight days, without the sun touching it, then in the Sun for three days, stirring your materials every three hours as well: & by the steam of the dictated liqueur the pearls will be perfect. In the same way, you can make the rubies, of whatever shape and size you wish, proceeding by the same means, with red Mercury, after having cleaned and refreshed it only once.
The way of using our divine work on human bodies, to cure them of illnesses & preserve them in sanctity.
To use our great King to recover sanctity, it is necessary to take a heavy grain after its release, and dissolve it in a silver vessel with good white wine, which will convert into citrine color, then make the patient drink , a little after the night, and he will be cured in a day, if the illness is only a month, and if the illness is a year, he will be cured in twelve days, and if he is ill for a very long time, it will be cured in a month, using each night as above. And to always remain in good health, it would be necessary to take it at the beginning of Autumn, and at the beginning of Spring, in the manner of a Confict Electuary, and by this means man would always live joyfully, and in perfect sanctity, until at the end of his days, which God will have ordered him, as the philosophers have written. Which admirable operations they attributed to our divine work, for the great & exuberant perfection, which our good God gave him through our decoction, so that by this means the poor & true members of Jesus Christ our Lord & true redeemer, be relieved & nourished. To whom be praise and glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for centuries and centuries.
So be it.
Quote of the Day
“The strength of the sulfur of the Mercury is like the seed of the father and Luna the mother, that is the actual - The substance of Mercury, namely the watery subtle mixed with the earthly subtle is equal to the menstruum, and that is Argentum vivum, which is called Mercurius by the Philosophis . But because Mercurius is the Argentum vivum, the root of the art is Alchemy, then out of him through it and in him are all metals, as the philosophers say. Versus: Everything the Wise are looking for is in the Mercurio. Then under his shadow this substance lives and grows, which is why its middle substance is incombustible, as Geber says: Then every thing of this art is from him and with him every tincture is composed of its likeness, namely Mercurio .”
Anonymous
Clangor Buccinae - The Sound of Trumpets
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