Alchemical
Examination,

by which,
as by a touchstone, the Adept is distinguished from the Sophist, and the true Philosopher from the impostor,
established
for the benefit of nobles and of those who, due to a lack of extensive reading and Vulcanic (i.e., laboratory) experience, do not fully understand the Chymical Point:
lest they be so shamefully deceived by those most depraved smoke-sellers and boastful impostors,
to the disgrace of the art, which is purely divine.

A necessary and most profitable little work,
such as has never before been published in print since the creation of the world.

By the author

Pantaleon

,
an Adept of Hermetic Wisdom.

Available in Nuremberg, from the widow and heirs of the late bookseller Paulus Fürst.

1676.

Latin version

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To the Mysochymic (One Who Hates Alchemy).

To laugh without cause and to criticize what is unknown is, according to the common saying, a sign of foolishness and arrogance: “By much laughter you shall know the fool.” Likewise: “No one hates an art unless he is ignorant of it.”
Therefore, whoever intends either to love or reject any art should first learn it, and then judge it.
That gnats and butterflies perish near a burning candle is due to the folly of those creatures, which does not take away the very useful function of the light.

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To the Most High Prince
and Lord,

CHARLES

of Liechtenstein, etc. etc.,
my Most Gracious Prince and Lord.

The Author
dedicates and offers (this work).

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Most High Prince,
Most Gracious Lord!

I recently ventured to lay before Your Highness the first beginnings and foundation of the Hermetic art, as to a Patron of this divine science—not without notable boldness on my part, arising solely from a natural inclination toward Your Highness.

Indeed, Christian charity compelled me, along with the privilege of divine illumination, to aid, to the best of my ability, one who runs the course with equal zeal.

Your Highness has thus far been bound by love for divine Wisdom, with eternal praise; but since GOD, the source of all wisdom, acts in nothing directly, and the Devil—His sworn enemy—leaves no attempt untried by which he might weary, confuse, and entirely distract a soul desirous of wisdom:

I therefore resolved to place my received talent at interest, and to play the part of an instrument.

To that end, I had prepared my Hermetic Tomb.

Since the journey I have undertaken cannot be happily completed without a faithful Achates (i.e., a loyal companion), I therefore present this little treatise for consideration by both the eyes and the mind:
Who and of what sort—among so many contenders—ought to be chosen, or not?

If I act upon what is already known, I confirm it; if I teach what is unknown, I deserve merit; if neither, I ask that Your Highness graciously illuminate this sketch with the same favor as the dignity of the subject matter demands.

I do not contend with words, but with facts—otherwise I would produce scholastic ornaments of speech and smear over my truth with them.
But since noble minds can easily distinguish substance from shadow, I prefer more earnestly to demonstrate in reality rather than in mere words, that I am:

Your Highness’s
Most humbly obedient servant,
Pantaleon

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Prologue

That this entire system of the world has arisen from opposites uniting into one thing, and that it continues perpetually to contend in a certain ordered way—this the Peripatetic school has long since taught and passed down to our time.

Whether, however, this struggle originally derives from the design of the supremely good Creator, let it be free for each, according to his own judgment, to determine. We, for our part—subject, of course, to the judgment of the Church—believe that those who deny this are in error, especially when the very movement of the heavens speaks otherwise: a movement which, from the first moment of creation, has never altered.

Light and darkness, introduced on the first day of the world, are witnesses; as are motion and stillness in bodies, opposition in many forms, truth and falsehood, good and evil. All these are so necessary to the beauty of the universe that they cannot be removed without inflicting notable mutilation upon it.

The human mind indeed, so long as it held dominion within man, did not know duality—not because it was not truly present, but because it could not operate, being subject to the senses. But after the transgression, the eternal mind was darkened and became explicitly directed toward the sensory realm, and by an inevitable necessity, the true unity of things was banished and deceptive multiplicity was introduced.

This same diversity is also now required for the beauty of the microcosm (the human being) in its current state—a fact easily grasped by one who knows that diverse actions also require diverse agents.

Let us not leap into another man’s field, but rather remain in the arena of natural things, where athletes of different and even opposing natures display their combat:

One fights with a wooden sword, another with leaden missiles, another with a rusted blade; many carry straw bundles like buffoons in place of helmets, ridiculously striving to storm nature’s most fortified citadel. Not a few demand its surrender with nothing more than shouting and threats. Rarely—indeed, most rarely—is one found equipped with a drawn sword.

All those poorly armed fighters, once they see themselves defeated without result, return home and blame the inaccessibility of the place. But so they do not appear to despair, they invent new kinds of engines and begin preparatory studies anew.

Let what can be done be done—yet let us receive our daily wage, each according to his rank of honor. But meanwhile, as the proverb goes, "bats sing out of tune."

Though strength may be lacking, the will is still to be praised.

Thus the siege is lifted, as the soldiers themselves withdraw to their winter quarters—and there, they rejoice.

They then once more take to the field with honorable clamor and resume the siege, clad in foreign arms, until at last they either succumb to reality itself or are dismissed by their Patron—either because he is exhausted or has grown weary.

When the campaign is over, they depart ill-tempered and dull-witted: failing to recognize their own ineptitude, they cast blame here and there, seek a new leader, and attempt by sheer will what they themselves could not accomplish.

The more conscientious ones, having given the matter more thoughtful consideration, discourage others from such warfare—even if ineptly—and instead prefer peace.

Yet both groups fail to observe that access granted to gold-laden men makes any fortress vulnerable—especially one that is materially constructed of gold, and thus not so easily obscured by that which is like unto itself.

I mean to say this: Hermetic study sets before itself the conquest of a fortress—namely gold, naturally eternal and incorruptible; but the soldiers are vastly diverse: into the siege are admitted servants both learned and ignorant, wise and foolish, experienced and unskilled, truthful and deceitful. Among the great lords, such a multitude is abundantly to be seen.

For princes, driven by a noble and long-standing affection for this royal art, are often—by reason of the delicacy of their station and the demands of household oversight—rarely inclined to descend into the matter themselves, much less to undertake, with their own hands, the analysis of natural substances. From which it follows that they are compelled to make up for this deficiency by the industry and insight of others.

How selectively and exquisitely they are so often deceived, day by day—alas!—becomes ever more evident, and with it, the intolerable calamity that has befallen the whole art.

For scarcely is there a single princely court in all Europe where Alchemy still enjoys a good reputation.

Therefore, lest this divine science be treated with such ongoing injustice—while the noble patrons and protectors of it are themselves disgracefully deceived—I have composed this little treatise, drawn from the light of nature and personal observation (autopsia), so that it might serve them in place of the touchstone.

For we firmly hold this:

Whoever either does not understand or despises the spirit of this Examination is immediately to be called an Artificer.

Let him be either an unskilled novice or a fraud.

And whatever profession—be it specific or general—that does not agree with our foundation is vain and deceitful, no matter how grand it may appear outwardly.

For there is, and never shall be, nothing in the Fire that remains, save only the humble mercurial metallic substance, homogeneous, whether brought forth by art or nature—as is abundantly attested by Geber, Arnoldus, Bernardus, and all rightly discerning and learned Philosophers.

And if anyone finds our truth plain and unadorned, let him instead embrace her handmaid: variegated falsehood, and be on his way.

It is no wonder that a harlot is more highly prized than an honest matron.

For truth has been hated from the very first moment of time, partly because, like the daughter of the Most High, confident in her nobility, she scorns all colors and foreign recommendations; partly also because men, by their very nature, love more the brilliant deceptions of cunning and clever lies than the uncultivated and naked truth.

On the other hand, Satan promotes his offspring, lies, painted and disguised in many forms, everywhere—such that they are rightly received into the axioms of the world.

The one true truth demands more patrons and recommendations to be heard than all the impostures and grossest falsehoods.

Yet, despite these thorns, I have here presented the Physical Truth in a concise form for the Nobles, so that they might finally attain the fulfillment of their wishes and no longer rend the celestial art with insults.

Let him who can grasp it, grasp it. This is not written for all, but for those whom virtue has carried to the heights of heaven.

Let whoever believes, believe—The coming age will reveal what it is and what it has been.

Πάντα λῦσιν (Everything resolves).

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Chapter 1.

Those who derive the word "Alchemy" from the Greek term ἅλς (salt) and χυῶ (to pour) improperly attribute it to the Hermetic Art because this art does not aim to work primarily with salts, but rather with metals.

No metal admits into its natural composition any salt, just as genuine analysis promises nothing that truly smells of salt, and it is only made from Mercury, Arsenic, and Sulphur, as Geber and all the sounder Philosophers testify. However, the liquid known as Alcaest, which is said to dissolve metals, may produce a salt-like substance from metals, but it must be understood that the salt-like is not the same as the true salt.

For all salts give a taste, either acidic, salty, or a mixture of both.

But nothing of the sort is found in metals by themselves, even though they may exhibit a certain form of salt; just as the destructive liquid, called the fire of Gehenna by Helmont, shows the form of nitre, yet it is tasteless and without salt.

If, however, someone, through addition, forces metals into salts and prefers to call this spagyric work Alchemy, it remains Alchemy for him, but to us, it is too precious: In this sense, some witticism has not unreasonably defined Alchemy as an art without art, whose beginning is to lie, its middle to labor, and its end to beg.

But those who take this term not in its strict sense but in a broader one, and seek a less principal meaning, consider it nobler; for from salts is the principle and entrance; without salt, the gates of the Hermetic Heaven are not opened, as Philosophers universally affirm.

Therefore, we define Spagyric Art, which is called by one word Alchemy, as the art of improving inferior metals and raising them to the state of the Sun or the Moon.

The subject of this art is all metal.
The object is tincture.
The end is gold.

Now, because both the starting and ending points, as correlates, are contained under one category, it necessarily follows that the subject of the transmutative art, along with its end, must belong to the same category, as is also suggested by the rule of the ancient sages:
"From the end of any intention results its beginning."

Furthermore, the origin of something's principle depends on the same thing in which its increments end.

Thus, Sendivogius teaches: "If you wish to make metals, your beginning should be metal; for metals are made through metals."

And Riplaeus in the 12th Gate: "Gold and silver should not be sought outside their form." (Also in his book on Mercury and the Philosopher's Stone.)

Therefore, unite form with form and genus with genus, and do not allow one without the other, nor anything of opposites that lies outside the proper form and genus.

Here, he speaks of form, not because metals essentially differ from one another, but only through heating and incidentally.

He instructs that gold, as a form, should be united with Mercury, as it pertains to the genus, [specified and reduced to the nature of the Sun], i.e., made homogeneous.

For then, it is no longer a vulgar metal but a Philosophical one; this is affirmed by Bernard:
"Vulgar metals remain vulgar as long as they remain in the vulgar form; that is, it must be changed and converted into the primal matter."

Thus, the subject of Alchemy, in which this art is concerned, is metal formally and materially, because its end, namely gold, is likewise metal.

Further, it is asked: Since metals and metallic bodies are diverse, from which should this subject be taken?

Bernhard, Count of Treviso, responds that it can be taken from all, but from one more quickly than from another; however, two metals are given from which the subject should be taken most immediately, as Sendivogius affirms, saying: "In all things lies our point, in some it is very hidden, but in others, you would die faster than you would extract it."

However, our Mercury has two palaces, in which the Sage gives audience.

Arnold in the Speculum Achim states: "The magisterium is perfected from one single thing; this material is found in the higher mountain of this world, and can be had by the poor and the rich, cast onto the roads and streets, bought at a great price, but here it is of no use."

Geber, however, says in his summation: "There is a medicine that takes its origin from the material of quicksilver, but this material of quicksilver is not in its natural form, nor in its entire substance, but is part of it."

And Riplaeus, in his book on Mercury and the Philosopher’s Stone, says: "Our material is the supreme of all things on the earth and of the least estimation."

"It is vile earth, and in this you will find our clear water, and then that earth is of no further use."

And Morienus says: "Every thing that is highly esteemed in price is useless in this art."

And Haly says: "The material of the stone is found with the poor and the rich, the moving and the sitting."

Rogerius Bacho, however, rejects all metals, explicitly stating that nothing can be taken from the Sun and the Moon because of their fixity; but the remaining planets are impure and imperfect.
"For no one gives what they do not have."

He recommends the anonymous body, consisting of Mercury and pure sulfur, upon which nature has done little or nothing, and that has been reduced by her into a solid mass.

Paracelsus agrees in his book On Transmutation and indicates his "immature" mineral electrum, which is not perfectly metallic.

So too does Agricola, both the major and minor works, and many others.
Richard the Englishman holds the opposite, explicitly saying: "The art destroys metallic Mercury and builds it up from the feet to the head, in the form of substance, loving its own."

But, meanwhile, this disagreement will be reconciled by the "Adæptus," resolving these diverse opinions of the Adepts, preserving each one's esteem and mind, unless anyone has personally experienced or known the infallible senses upon which their opinions are based.

Therefore, it must be noted with an iron pen that Geber says in Chapter 28: There are many ways to the same end. Namely, the dry and the wet way. Consequently, the subject intended for these paths is also twofold, as can be easily gathered from the authorities brought here.

We must further distinguish between the remote and the proximate subject, or the equivalent subject. The former is entirely different in respect to the paths, but the latter is not.

For the wet way, in which Paracelsus, Roger Bacho, Basilius Valentia, and both major and minor Agricola have walked, nature itself has created the remote subject, a certain mineral, but has left it imperfect due to the lack of the agent’s application to the patient: in which our proximate subject, the mercurial metallic root, is contained under aqueous conditions in a blissful form, which is even called the virgin’s milk nervously.

This milky, heavy, and seminatilic liquid contains the first principles, or the metallic form, within its interior, and it does not differ essentially from running Mercury, but accidentally, only through cooking, thickening, and homogenization. For running Mercury, being a metal, carries with it its coagulant, namely abundant arsenical sulfur, so that it is not improperly called flowing Arsenic.

However, this liquid, when it moistens, is found to be slightly contaminated with arsenical sulfur, which causes absolute constriction of the body (if the action of the agent has not yet been completed), and it can easily be liberated from it and made homogeneous.

The remote subject to the dry way, which Geber, Arnold, Bernhard, Sendivogius, the modern Philalethes, and many others have walked, pertains, as can be seen from the quoted and proved texts, to every metal. How this subject should be qualified and treated so that the Mercury of the Sages can be extracted from it, we will briefly see.

It has been said that the subject of the transmutative art, namely the mercurial metallic body, must agree with its end, namely gold, in genus. Lower metals, however, have external and accidental differences due to the admixture of heterogeneous substances and the lack of proper cooking, in relation to gold. Therefore, the primary focus should be on removing that difference and leaving only the pure genus.

For gold is the purest substance, and only Mercury, through prolonged cooking, is separated from its arsenical sulfur and purified by its own most refined sulfur, aided by moderate external heat.

Therefore, if the subject of the transmutative art must be, in both genus and essence, identical or similar to gold, as has been demonstrated, it necessarily follows that whatever Mercury is chosen for this work must be pure and perfectly homogeneous, and have the nature of the Sun, except that it is mixed with a fixed substance. This Mercury, however, is volatile, as confirmed by the text of the School of the Sages.

Thus, Bernhardus speaks among others:

"Every thing requires a similar thing for its generation and increase. Nature increases in its own proper species and nature, and not in another; for thus a metal multiplies a metal. Each Mercury, apart from the vulgar one, is heterogeneous and contains within itself an incredible part of fixed arsenical earth, along with a small quantity of very foul sulfurous water."

But how this binary substance is separated in the monad of metal is the work, this is the labor.

Indeed, two paths have been devised by the ancient Magi; but since the entire hinge of the Hermetic edifice revolves around this mystery, both have remained the most secret and known only to the Adepts throughout the ages, although partially described and recommended by Geber and Bernhard. For the human mind has been so blinded by its fall that it cannot recognize itself, much less metals.

For many, even the learned, when they hear that the Mercury of the common people, together with the other inferior metals, is the subject of the Chrysopoeic art, from which the highly sought Sophic Mercury is to be drawn, are struck as if by lightning; the very word sticks in their throats because of the great difference between the subject and the end proposed, and they hold the entire art as a fable and a dream of idle men, not without the direction of the most wise Mystarch.

They think thus: If the Mercury of the common people is from the power of inferior bodies the Sophic Mercury, then why are so many operators fruitless? Yet, the sublimations and purifications of Mercury are well known to all through salt, vinegar, quicklime, and similar substances of any kind; but up until now, with such operations, they have achieved nothing. Therefore, the Philosophers must understand another Mercury, not the vulgar one.

Therefore, the more learned individuals, unable to palliate the nausea caused by the metallic Mercury, have prostituted themselves to future generations and spread it in writing, claiming that the Mercury of the common people, however it is treated, cannot become Philosophical, which is ridiculous and wholly false: for there is only one unique Mercury in all of metallic and mineral nature, but it differs significantly from itself only accidentally, due to purity.

Thus, whatever metal or mineral is drawn out, except for the Sun, is heterogeneous and requires Philosophical preparation; as Sendivogius admits in his Dialogue, when Mercury himself speaks in an apophatic manner: 'My heart is always most pure, but my clothes are the dirtiest.'

And if these incredulous Thomists would only see once how our subject is transferred by Philosophical preparation, they would immediately conclude that such tiresome labors were not undertaken in vain by our Ancestors, and that the third arsenical element, separated from the core of Mercury, is the sole and unique cause for its inability to unite radically with the Sun, but rather it is precipitated into a red powder by a greater fire. I have cited this method of preparing Mercury in two ways, from Geber and Bernhard, in my Hermetic Tomb; which philosopher, through fire, needs no further clarification.

Here, I write to the Magnates, who rarely lift a finger but aim to tread the Colchian path with another’s toil: It suffices to know that 1. the subject of Alchemy, or Philosophical Mercury, is of metallic genus; whether it is taken from one or more metals matters not, for in Philosophical preparation, aside from simple and pure unity, nothing remains specific. 2. that it is homogeneous, purged of all sulfurous and arsenical stain. 3. that it is double, one that moistens and one that does not, or liquid and running. 4. that it provides a hard amalgam, which, when exposed to fire, immediately softens again until it departs as pure Mercury. And 5. that the arsenical sulfuric earth must be separated in great quantity and never be artificially reduced back into Mercury form.

From these points, I believe it is clear enough what Alchemy is and what its subject is. Whoever has not yet grasped the truth of the matter, but still doubts, is left searching for a naked reed in the marsh.

Chapter 2

Having now established the subject of the transmutational art, as its principal part, the next step is to address the object, which is the tincture itself. This is more precisely defined as: A metallic tincture is nothing else but the sulfur of gold, exalted in its Mercury through a proper digestion.

Regarding this definition, a significant question arises: whether gold is a body simply homogeneous or homogeneous with respect to a certain quality?

To clarify this question, a fundamental understanding of Mercury is required, for gold is nothing else but Mercury that has been cooked and thickened by the heat of its internal sulfur, assisted by external moderation.

Therefore, it is to be understood:

1. That the common Mercury, and any such material Mercury, consists solely of elemental water, and this whole composition is nothing but the union of water and fire. The reason for this is that it is resolved again by a great fire, through the destruction of the astral seed of fire, or by its counterpart, the element of water. As can be seen in the writings of Louis de Combite and Helmont, two men of exceptional repute, the latter often complains of the loss and destruction of his Alcahef liquid by its counterpart. The former, however, admits explicitly that the very liquid, which is nothing but homogeneous Mercury, is extracted into water and destroyed in a moment by the addition of common elemental water, turning it into the same elemental water, with a certain sharp sulfurous fat floating above, although it is eternal in itself and unaffected by anything else.

2. It should be noted that the essential form of Mercury internally is analogous to the astral element, which is of a fiery nature.

For the celestial bodies continually cast their fiery rays toward the center of the Earth; from there, reflected through the Earth without interruption, they ascend again and, passing through bodies of the aqueous element, are coagulated. From this coagulation arises the marvelous first metal, which we call Mercury. This is then further dispersed and cooked by internal heat.

Thus, deeper in the Earth, the secondary minerals are more abundant than on the surface, because the heat there is stronger and, consequently, more waste is separated.

Through this alone, with the accompanying heat, Mercury is transformed into gold. However, much heterogeneous impurity is mixed into this coagulation, which happens by accident, beyond the intention of the agent, although it does contribute significantly to the coagulation and thus is willingly accepted.

The weight of Mercury, therefore, either arises from its mercurial seeds' idiosyncrasy or from the thickening and contraction of water; the latter is more probable, for weight must arise from some body of equal weight, because nothing can be drawn from nothing.

Therefore, elemental water coagulates, with a special astral sulfur, into an opaque and heavy body, called quicksilver. This is then, through further digestion and the removal of excesses, transformed into gold, as the ultimate end of the metallic nature, in the following manner: In metallic Mercury lies external fire around it, in the Earth, and similarly is the actual heat, which is nothing else but an atom of fiery sulfur, abundant in the minerals. Now, since celestial and terrestrial fire are of one nature, and like attracts like, this external heat gradually associates with the mercurial sulfur and assumes a body within it. And as this happens, the remaining coarse terrestrial sulfur, which sought affinity with it for the same reason, is separated. After a long time, once completely separated, the whitest nucleus of Mercury, heated by pure fire, is coagulated into the body of fire and heat.

From this, it follows that gold, in relation to other imperfect metals, is homogeneous. However, in relation to Mercury, it is not homogeneous, because it contains more of the corporeal fire than does the homogeneous quicksilver, whether made by art or nature.

Since this actual heat, concentrated in the sulfur of Mercury and made corporeal, is external and not united so intimately with the aqueous material of Mercury’s body, it follows that the sulfur of Mercury can essentially be separated, sometimes with, sometimes without the destruction of the Solar body, which may seem paradoxical to many, although it is true. That fire can become corporeal in a certain material and increase weight is evident from the incineration of antimony regulus with burning glass.

I do not wish to be lengthy, for I could bring up all of antiquity to support my opinion.

Let us then return to our object, the tincture, which without any doubt is formed from gold and homogeneous liquid Mercury, or running Mercury, with nothing else added. Otherwise, the homogeneity of both would not be so essential, as Arnoldus strongly emphasizes at the end of his "Rosarium," stating: 'Do not introduce into the stone either water, powder, or any other substance, for that which is not born from it cannot enter it; in fact, if anything foreign is added, it is immediately destroyed and does not become that which is sought.'

To further safeguard the broad definition of the tincture, it must be explained how the sulfur of gold, from nature, is exalted and multiplied in the cold Mercury of the golden body. This occurs in the following manner:

When the pure body of gold, joined with volatile, homogeneous gold made by art in the proper proportion, unites, the volatile begins to penetrate the fixed and equalize with it, through two means: greater fineness and quantity. However, since this is not achieved through heat, the ancient tale plays out and gradually insinuates itself towards its end. It adds an ancient sulfur that did not exist previously, increasing it not so much by quantity but by quality, without regard to the density of glass or the penetration of dimensions due to its extreme subtlety.

Hence, the philosophers also called their stone, or tincture, the 'son of fire' and 'the stone of fire,' because it efficiently and effectively proceeds from the same source.

From these foundational premises, it follows that there are only two types of transmutation in all of metallic nature: One is natural, the removal of the superfluous by cooking; the other is artistic, and it occurs through the illumination of the entire mercurial part in metals.

The difference lies in this: Nature alters only the homogeneous point in Mercury; but art illuminates the entire mercurial body, without the separation of the superfluous, with the ineffable light of the true tincture, and transforms it into a more dignified state.

The reason for the difference is that the alteration of nature, due to the weakness of the agent, is completed progressively over a long period of time, whereas the transmutation of art occurs in a moment by the mode of illumination. For what light does when dispersed, it also does when concentrated and fixed, in the proper material. This illumination apprehends both the pure and the impure in the mercurial body, due to its excellence and incredible subtlety; and the impure substance, which relates to the pure core of watery Mercury as earth, although it is materially more composed of water, is illuminated like lightning, and it moves towards this purity of purity; helped, albeit somewhat, by the radical mixture of both. Thus, in the future, such artificial gold will, through artificial retrogradation, form the same homogeneous Mercury, as it does with natural gold.

I wish to clarify this mysterious act by induction, using a contrary example, as follows: If it is possible that coarse and arsenical sulfur, without mixture, can extract, displace, and change that impure earthy part of Mercury, which originally and centrally was united with the rest of the aqueous core in Mercury, and is born from one and the same element, in almost a moment, and transform it into the most fixed, irreducible earth, it follows that, because the same principle applies to opposites, although differently, pure, celestial sulfur, highly illuminative and subtle, with the mixture of its sulfurous-mercurial body, can reduce that impure substance, restore it to its aqueous element, and further transform it. Indeed, the restoration and conservation of a similar thing is far easier than the transmutation of a similar thing into a dissimilar one.

And yet the first is true, and therefore the latter also follows. The first is demonstrated every day, mechanically, with force; but the second is well known everywhere through frequent transmutations of common Mercury into refined gold, without changing Mercury in weight.

Chapter 3

After considering the object of the Hermetic Art, we must next consider its ultimate goal, namely gold. However, since this has already been sufficiently explained above, we add nothing more, except to briefly note that if gold leaves are are chosen for amalgamation, common ones should not be used, as they are mixed with copper or silver, which would harm the entire work.

Indeed, there is another gold, called the Philosopher's gold, which is highly praised by them. However, it differs greatly from natural gold, not in essence, but in fixity.

For it is nothing other than coagulated Sophic Mercury. This gold is considered by the Philosophers to be most suitable for their brief and secret work, as Gebir suggests: 'If you perfect it from Mercury alone, you will be a seeker of the most precious Mastery.' Since the aforementioned analogical gold is not the ultimate goal of our Alchemy, we cease to add more.

Here the most just reader has all that knowledge which ennobles the true Philosopher and separates him from the vile filth of common Alchemists, who know it not only theoretically but also practically. The Adept is called the complete Philosopher and the Physician of human and metallic nature.

Of this alone, Hippocrates' saying is true: 'The physician is the man who is master of many people.' (ἰητρὸς γὰρ ἀνὴρ πολλῶν αὐτέξιος ἀνθρώπων.)

The physician is incomparable. Now, when opposites are placed next to each other, they shine more brightly; it is also necessary to delineate what the Pseudo-Philosophers, the common Alchemists, promise and how they establish their transmutation. Since they are usually ignorant and incorrigible, of every kind of malicious people, the well-known distich explains them well:

They pretend to be Chemists, the layman, the priest, the monk, the soldier, the actor, the barber, the old woman.

Therefore, not observing any method, like drunken men, they rush into the mineral mines, taking whatever they find, and thinking to themselves, 'I take, I do not know what; and I do, I do not know what.' Indeed, they all imagine a good end or goal for themselves and are delighted by it, but because they do not know the beginning, they do not find the end.

Chapter 4

But in order to deal honorably with these sycophants, it pleases me to establish a comparison between the patchwork of Pseudo-Philosophers and the singular and simple subject of the Adepts, which in the truest truth is the mercurial, metallic, and homogeneous substance.

The immediate subject of the Alchemists, some years ago, was vitriol in its entire substance; they purified it, sweetened it, and, may God turn it to good, they brought it through all the colors to the form of transparent ruby. The object they obtained was indeed tincture for fabrics, but not for metals, and the end they sought in place of gold was copper.

And lest they be seen to have fallen without reason and the authority of the ancients, they interpreted that saying: 'By visiting the interior of the earth, you will find there the hidden stone, the true medicine,' through the initial letters, producing vitriol, interpreting it as common vitriol. But because no effect followed, they placed the blame entirely on the vitriol, the first substance of gold, insufficiently impregnated; therefore, they sought another Patron, and they themselves escaped the responsibility.

This was followed by antimony, derived from them, from the Greek ἀντίμονιμον, the flower of all our metals. Now they thought they had grasped the hare and, along with the name, the thing itself, in accordance with the verse:

"Things often fit their names."

Therefore, they sought, above all, its golden part, namely, the golden sulfur, sometimes from lixiviates through precipitation, sometimes from glass through the extraction of various stalagmites, and they admired its heat to the point of madness.

They fixed it by itself and with additions to facilitate the ingress, and they claimed that the Moon or precipitated Mercury clothed it. Indeed, they based this on the foundation that Basil Valentine and others said: 'The Sun is purified by antimony, because it is of its blood.' Therefore, it would not be inappropriate if they extracted this blood and infused it into the Moon.

Others made this sulfur volatile, so that it would assume the nature of a spirit. They had heard, indeed, that the Philosophers call their Mercury a subtle and penetrating spirit; for otherwise, fixed gold could not penetrate and subtilize. Others macerated this subject in different ways, each according to their own method, until finally, all they found was useless dross and an untouched Moon.

Few were so fortunate as to think that if anything good and metallic lay hidden in antimony, it should be sought in its Mercury as the purer part; but even if they had known this, very few learned to separate it up until this day.

Then they fell into the use of common arsenic, and from it, they sometimes produced a ruby, sometimes a molten Mercury, and similar masks, preparing them and finding as the end, at times, the very extinction of the vital air.

Lest such a treasure be hidden from posterity by one of these sophists, a Pole by nationality, published an excellent treatise in Paris on this subject under the title "Philosophical Stone."

Native marcasite and cinnabar also did not remain untried; for they know how to extract a marvelous mercurial water and almost golden Mercury from these, which tints a silver spoon with yellow heat; and then, as with the Sun, they cook it with the Sun and finally sell the gold unchanged after a whole year. About twenty years ago, an anonymous author, named Agricola Major and Minor, published a beautiful yet most secret work on the Philosopher's Saturn, and here he mixed the common Saturn ore with the philosophical one, with admirable effect.

Indeed, it is almost impossible to describe the clamor at that time concerning the Saturn ore in almost every laboratory.

This person knew how to extract the whitest soul, that one the most ruddy, with vinegar and other liquids; in a word, the universal masterwork was being prepared from this ore, on paper, because it could not endure fire. How miserably everyone was deceived is well known.

What shall I say about Mars? Here, certainly, is a vigorous warrior, under whom many Alchemists perished. He is easily wounded and sheds blood; but since his life does not lie in his blood, but in a juice similar to Mercury, which he guards much more tightly than pitch guards its gold, it was far from infusing life into the Moon, and rather, they would have made it sick and melancholic with this abundant Martian blood, and truly experienced Galen’s dictum:

'The simple thing about medicine is weak.'

'The chest (life) is the blood, foolish and simple is it from too much blood.'

I indeed concede that iron is rarely found without gold, as is lead, and therefore, as far as it is present, it may be extracted again; but I deny that any profit is to be expected from this.

Therefore, when they attempt to unite their red arsenical sulfur with the Moon, it is an alchemical labor, just like the preceding ones.

I willingly remain silent about the calamine stone, hematite, cobalt, Armenian stone, cerussite, smalt, talc, common sulfur, and so on, which all belong to the sophists and are certain signs of ignorance. I do not deny that it is impossible to extract our point from metallic subjects of Mercurial nature, but I only say that the Philosophers have their own proper subjects and undertake very different kinds of labor.

On the contrary, the sophists grope in the darkness like the blind, now grasping one subject, now another, until at last their folly reaches its end and repentance takes its place. Then follows the usual excuse of fools: "I did not think."

Therefore, lest our alchemists be completely excluded from human society, they were eventually forced to seek something real, to correct their error with true natural truth, namely, the so-called fixation of volatile minerals. But since these same minerals did not seem sufficiently rich or palatable to them, they were not forgetful of adding a good portion of immature and volatile substance into the mature gold, asserting that they knew how to preserve not only the fixed from flight but also to fix the volatile in a few days.

This mechanical process, though not without apparent reason, has up until now been plausible; regarding the decision of this, it is noteworthy:

1. That maturation and conservation are different.
It is well known to all metallurgists that arsenical, antimonial sulfur, etc., are voracious, and unless something is added in the fusion of minerals to satiate their greed, such as fusible stones, vitriolic salts, iron, quicklime, etc., they attack the very perfect metals and carry them off with them.

Maturation, however, because it occurs through nature itself, specifically the astral sulfur acting in Mercury, with the assistance of external regulated heat, cannot be completed in such a short time.
Indeed, art assists nature through saline aids, which are contrary to sulfur; nevertheless, it is not enough simply to remove sulfur and impurities from the mercurial part; it requires, above all, slow natural cooking, continuously for a long time.
Thus, maturation or fixation, which proceeds at a slow pace, should not be rejected, as it is akin to nature; otherwise, it is not.

Therefore, the more astute of our alchemists, after observing that little was accomplished through maturation, found that the true hunger for gold shadowed them, and they began to strive again for the summit of universal tincture, moving every stone by reading, studying, and laboring to command this great felicity.

After consulting all authentic authors, they always observed the same refrain: they praised their Mercury.
Therefore, unwilling yet willing, they finally led the vulgar Mercury to their own execution, since it provides the foundation and nature of all metals, as it alone is said to be allied with gold and closely connected to the Philosophers in many other places.

One must not speak of the suffering endured by this good Mercury, unless it were a creature without equal, for it would have been impossible for it to emerge from such constant torture: for they inflicted more torments on it than Domitian, Decius, Nero, and Diocletian inflicted on their martyrs. However, whatever they did, adding or subtracting, it still refused to deny its faith: which was and is to impose upon the sophists and obey the Philosophers.

Their intention was to purify Mercury through sublimations from false bodies, resolving, sublimating, reviving it, and so on, until it became whiter, sweeter, and without bitterness, so that it would dissolve the Sun.

Many, having heard that the principle of metals is viscous water, with the addition of spirits and other substances, prepared a similar mucilage.
Not a few elevated it many times from the metals and thus purified it from blackness, and finally joined it with the Sun. Some wished to create a special Mercury from air, salts, certain vegetables, while others desired it from the very Utopia.

Others praised mercurial extractions made from precipitates with gold. Some reduced it to water, oil, salt, and so on; others exalted its fixations. In the end, all obtained useless precipitates, and Mercury itself, the troublesome tormentor of alchemists.
This tragedy has been played out in Europe up to our time, with many esteemed authors still living, granted only rudimentary gifts.

From here, after so many illusions accepted from Mercury, our sophists, in the years just passed, convened and declared publicly that Mercury, as a disturber of alchemical peace and a traitor to the country, should be deprived of all honor and subjected to exile. This was under the penalty that anyone who admitted Mercury into their laboratory in any manner should be regarded as perjured and rebellious; this was accompanied by the beautiful yet irrational reasoning that it was absurd for a metal to generate a metal, and besides, all the Philosophers expressly declare and convincingly demonstrate with the clearest reasoning that their Mercury is not common.

So that they might not be completely without Mercury and contemplate eating bread without flour, they unanimously concluded that another, as a substitute for the exiled one, would suffice. After careful deliberation and application of the writings of the foremost authorities, especially Sendivogius, they solemnly elected nitre (saltpeter) for this royal office.

The more learned among them immediately suggested through letters that their recently elected Mercury’s assistant was a most noble substance, since it not only corresponded to the rejected Mercury in opposite qualities, but also could be fixed more quickly and easily.

For nothing more is desired by these alchemists than fixed Moon, fixed Mercury, and so on: and quickly too.

Regarding its more secret properties and the soul, which is most deeply hidden, called the little bird of Hermes, they would gladly write much, but the dignity of the world prohibits it. The others all returned home and devised their processes, each according to their capacity.

Many left their homeland and visited Germany, which they considered a foreign land for exaltation and a detriment to the locals. There, to this day, they corrode the Sun with some prepared nitre and observe various colors, especially purple, with great consolation. Therefore, they know well that nitre is the subject from which Mercury of the sophists must be prepared, but whether this union of Sun and nitre, under the name of the Universal or Particular, should be sold to the Princes is still a matter of controversy.

Some think that this is the most universal path in the superlative degree, because nitre is found in all three kingdoms, and Paracelsus calls the material of the stone triple.

2. Because the Philosophers, and especially Hermes, write that it is everywhere and carried by the wind; all of which corresponds only to nitre, many make a connection with the purse (crumena), concluding that it deserves only the particular title, because it leaves only that part which was added and tinctured.

But I ask your Lordships, how can metal be extracted from salt, through art, in liquid glass?

You answer: by adding metal. I agree, but I distinguish between metal that is genuinely opened and metal that is artificially corroded.

If gold were radically opened in its nitrous liquor, then it would not be absurd to establish this: but it is already clear to beginners that gold is reduced to its first matter in its similar form.

However, salts are not like metals, because they are entirely separated from them in nature: therefore.

Let us suppose, however, that metal is made from nitre; then I ask again, what kind of metal is it? Is it gold, or Mercury? If you say gold, then gold is not dissolved by gold, nor does gold have more in its natural state and before regeneration than it needs for its existence. If you wish to say Mercury, you are plainly lying; because you cannot force gold to change into Mercury by physical means, and much less will you make the salts force it into the same state. Furthermore, it is absurd for a fixed body, by means of fire, to produce something volatile.

As for what Sendivogius writes in his 12th Treatise on nitre: he did this for the benefit of the locals; he who is wise and experienced will not stumble upon these rocks. If our ancestors had wished to write only the bare and solitary truth, perhaps it would not have reached our time; because all the mysteries of nature could be inscribed on a single page. This good Author was not concerned with the nitre of the vegetable nature, but with the nitre of the metallic nature; because they have a great affinity with each other, and pearls should not be thrown to pigs, for this reason he described it and understood it.

Have you not read the same Sendivogius, who says that if you wish to make metal, your metal must be the beginning; from a dog, nothing but a dog is born. Also: Do not work according to the letter, but always consider what is in accordance with nature and what is not, etc.

As for Hermes, his entire Emerald Tablet is written under a veil of allegory and metaphor; there, the wind is understood, not that of the greater world, but of the smaller world, enclosed in glass.

Therefore, beware of singing a palinode regarding offended Mercury in its metallic form, to your great confusion; for it is noble and born of a royal lineage; and for the great ones, it remains deeply hidden, if it suffers injury.

But the Sophists and the ignorant are often proud, and they cautiously avoid anything that might bring dishonor upon them: Therefore, since nitre did not meet their expectations, they are now given other subjects in nature, in which they place equal or even greater hope: such as Tartarus. Moreover, they give instructions on subtle fixed salts or foliated earth, into which they direct the planting of gold, and additionally, it is derived from wine, according to Lullius.

However, the rumor has spread that neither in this hunting expedition did they capture any prey, except the lost labor.

Therefore, many sought alum, extracted sweet salt, and in the end, retained alum.

Others, however, not unlearned, with great arrogance and presumption, attempted to find in the very elements what cannot be found in the elements.

Therefore, from rainwater, falling in a continuous storm, and long putrefied under the sun, they separated subtle vinegar, which they then mixed with common fixed salt and oil of vitriol, dissolving the collected crystals, and finally coagulating them into tincture with pyrite, to the admiration of all, especially their own. As such a process was recommended to me by a learned Frenchman under a great Sacrament (i.e., an oath), but was rejected by me.

Others have invoked the dew of May (Majalem - in the spring), others snow, others virgin earth, as if freshly dug from the knees, others urine, human hair, and many other learned foolishnesses, and they obtained nothing.

Therefore, I openly declare that all these subjects, except metals, which must however be philosophically anatomized, are deceptive, because they neither stand nor allow standing under the torture of fire.

Therefore, anyone who chooses anything else as an adequate subject for transmutation, other than the permanent metallic moisture, is a Pseudosophist and an Impostor, unless they prove the contrary.

Chapter 5.

Now, let us proceed to the main subjects of the Sophists, which again distinguishes them from the object of the true Philosophers, who seek a single universal tincture.

But they, not content with this, introduced infinite particulars, contrary to all reason and experience.

Here, one promises a part with a part; another sells two pieces of gold from the Moon's mark. Another sells 'den Zinsbauer' behind the ears every month.

The fourth offers a fixed Moon and its gradation; the fifth, the fixation of common sulphur, but desires an entry point. The sixth, the coagulation of Mercury into the Sun, and so on. The seventh, the white Venus uniform. The eighth, the tincture of antimony sulphur in two months. The ninth, the fixation of Mercury into the Moon. The tenth, the tincture of the Sun with urine oil. The eleventh, the conversion of Jupiter into the Moon. The twelfth, the bringing into the Moon from Mars, and so on. Indeed, the Polypus does not possess as many colors as these alchemists possess particularities.

The cause of these wicked schemes is partly attributed to the Magnates, the Patrons, and partly to the Physicists, the Impostors. For the former are curious and impatient of delay, while the latter are shameless. Therefore, since the time for the tincture extends beyond a year and the nearest subject is unknown, they conclude as follows: 'If nothing happens, ignorance will harm us — we will see soon enough.' The main charm for the particulars is the imagined brief labor and a gain that is not too envious. I confess, the intention is not bad, but the end is.

To show how miserably the particularists are deceived, I inquire and say this: Do the particular transmutations of metals occur in heterogeneous or homogeneous Mercury? And further, are they achieved by way of maturation or tinctural illumination? If the particularists err, and in heterogeneous Mercury, through the process of maturation, they lie most shamelessly like alchemists, because to mature and remain heterogeneous are incompatible in the metallic kingdom. For maturation occurs through cooking, and cooking unites similars and separates dissimilars.

If they should accept that this is true regarding the simple maturation of nature, not of art:

Answer: No matter how the art proceeds, it never produces true gold, which in its natural state is homogeneous and dissimilar. However, if this is granted, it is not true gold, nor does it withstand examination.

If now that gold, created by the transmuting art, is similar to nature, it will also be homogeneous, and consequently, either it will be made through maturation by separating the heterogeneous, or through tinctural illumination, retaining them but altering them by the power of fermentation.

They are therefore forced to admit that it is made either by artificial maturation or tinctural illumination: If the former, it is necessary that the lower metals are freed by their coagulants, and reduced into the mercurial nature, and purified and matured through cooking and the addition of other substances; otherwise, external fire, such as the Mercurial fire from the center, cannot draw down the celestial fire from potentiality into actuality, and thus maturation does not occur, due to the artisan’s excessive observation of principles. For weak fire, such as that of maturation, only acts on bodies that are open, not closed.

As to whether the true sages can accomplish this, I highly doubt it. However, I do know this well, that they cannot make Mercury homogeneous, nor, indeed, many have never even dreamed that it is heterogeneous. They wish to produce the bodies of Mercury, but are always hindered by other concerns.

From this follows that no particular (in the common sense) is achievable, except for the tedious and prolonged maturation of certain minerals. The true particular is the imperfect tincture after the first rotation, which only converts a part of the impure metal into a purer form.

And now, with regard to the object of the Sophists, the end is the same for true philosophers and Sophists, namely gold. However, it differs in this: the true philosophers possess it with honor and health, while the Sophists, in desperation and insane sickness, lack it.

EPILOGUE

Based on the foundations and solid proofs presented, I believe it is clear to the Magnates what should be sought in the art of Chemistry, and how the true Philosopher compares, as well as what the Sophists can bear and what they refuse to tolerate. If they read this treatise and carefully consider it, I promise them that they will not be deceived by any impostor, no matter how cunning. However, if they are already preoccupied with false opinions and refuse to accept the truth, they will lament internally and in their hearts, and will no longer hold the divine art in esteem, as they will be deprived of health and wealth by impostors. Whoever deals with something they do not understand, and do not wish to understand, if they are deceived regarding this matter, and frustrated in their goal, should not blame others; rather, they should place the blame on themselves. What difference does it make to a dishonest merchant if the buyer purchases goods that are spoiled by neglect? The laws are written for the vigilant, not the sleeping.

Moreover, not all impostors act with intentional malice. Furthermore, the following argument is fallacious: ‘I have spent so many years and resources on this study, have nourished so many Sophists, but found nothing; therefore, the whole science is false.’ It is not valid to argue from our ignorance about the truth or falsehood of the matter.

Therefore, anyone who wishes to possess the golden fleece in this Spagyric or Hermetic study must first learn to know its subject and object well, and then they will not be disappointed in their desires.

THE END.

---

Latin Version

Examen

Alchymisticum,
quo,
ceu Lydio lapide, Adeptus a Sophista & verus Philosophus ab impostore dignoscuntur,
institutum
in gratiam Magnatum & eorum, qui, ex defectu multae lectionis & Vulcanicae experientiae, punctum Chymicum plenarie non intelligunt: ne tam turpiter a perditissimis istis fumivendulis ac impostoribus Thrasonicis, in opporobrium artis mere divinae, decipiantur.

Necessarium ac summe proficuum opusculum, quale, a mundo condito, typis non fuit exaratum.

Authore

Pantaleone.

Hermeticae Sophiae Adepto.

Prostat Noribergae, apud Pauli Furst I,
bibliopolae b.m. viduam & haeredes.

M. DC. LXXVI.

Ad Mysochymicum.

Ridere absque causa & vituperare incognita, stultitae ac superbiae signum est juxta tritum: Per risum multum debes cognoscere stultum. Item: Ars non habet osorem, nisi ignorante.
Ergo, qui artem aliquam vel amare vel rejicere intendit, discat eam prius & dein judicet. Quod culices & papiliones prope candelam accensam pereunt, horum animal culorum ineptitudo est, quae usum luminis commodissimum non tollit.


Celsissimo Principi
ac Domino,
CAROLO
de Liechtenstein / &c. &c.
Principi ac Domino
meo Clementissimo.

Dicat dedicatq[ue],
Autor.

Celsissime Princeps,

Clementissime Domine!

Dleavi nupér prima initia &
fundamentum artis Hermeticae Vestrae Celsitudini,
tanquam hujus scientiae divinae Fautori, non sine meâ notabili temeritate,
ex solâ naturali propensione erga Vestram Celsitudinem prognatâ.

Nimirum convinxit me charitas Christiana, concessio desuper lumine uti
& currentem pari studio pro virili adjuvare.

Vestra Celsit. hucusq[ue] tenetur amore Sapientiae divinae cum aeterno plausu:
quia vero DEUS, sapientiae omnis origo, nil immediate agit,
Diabolus vero, juratus ejus hostis, nihil intentatum relinquit,
quo animam sapientiae cupidam defatiget, confundat & planè abstrahere queat:
proinde ego talentum meum acceptum fœnori locare & vices
instrumenti gerere decreveram, in eumq;
finem Tumulum meum Hermeticum
adornaveram.

Cum vero iter illuc sus
ceptum absque Achate fido feliciter
finiiri nequeat, propterea praesenti tra-
ctatulo oculis & menti perpendendum
objicio, quis & qualis, inter tot com-
petentes, eligendus sit vel non? Si actū
ago, confirmo; si ignotum doceo, me-
reor; si neutrum, rogo, dignetur Ve-
stra Celsitudo eadem gratia hoc sche-
diasma irradiare, qualem materiae
dignitas expostulat. Verbis non dimi-
co sed rebus, alias depromerem Scho-
lastica verborum lenocinia, iisq; meā
veritatem oblinirem. Sed cum animi
excelsi substantiam ab umbra facile di-
stinguant, propensius magis manceo
realiter quam verbaliter demonstare, quod sim

Vestrae Celsitudinis
Humillime obsequentissimus
Pantaleon.


Præloquium.

Quod totum hoc systema mundi ex contrariis in unum quid coaluerit & certo modo perpetuò militet; Schola Peripatetica jam olim edocuit & ad nostra tempora transmisit.

Utrum autem ista pugna ex pro-gressu Creatoris teroptimi originaliter dependeat, liberum esto cujus, suo sensu, abindare; Nos putamus, sub censura tamen Ecclesiæ, hallucinari illos, qui hoc negant, si loquente ipso caelorum motu contrario, qui nec quicquam à primâ minutâ creationis immutatus est.

Testes sunt lux & tenebræ, primo die mundi introductæ, motus & quies corporum, antitè multiplex, verum & falsum, bonum & malum; quæ omnia tam necessaria sunt ad decorem hujus universi, quod ab eò sine insigni mutilatione auferri nequeant.

Mens humana quidem, quàmdiu (superioratum gessit in homine), nescivit dualitatem, non quod ipsè realiter non in-fuerit, sed quod operari nequiret, ob sensitivæ subjectionem: Post prævaricationem verò, obscurata est mente æternâ, & expressè facta ad sensitiuum, & inevitabili quadam necessitate, verax rerum unitas proscriptâ & fallax multiplicitas introducta est.

Quod verò etiam hac ad pulchritudinem microcosmi in præsentistatu requiritur, facile cognoscet is, qui novit, quod diversitas actuum diversos quoque actores sibi deposcat.

Saltum in alienam messem nos committamus: sed in Palaestra rerum naturalium manenda exponemus, quam diversi & contrarii modo constituti athletæ ibi repraesentant: Hic pugnat ligneo acinace, ille plumbeis telis, alius machaera rubigine obducta, multi morionum in modum farcimina straminea gestant, sua arcem naturæ munitissimam ridiculè expugnare satagunt: non paucis solo clamore & comminatione deditionem postulant: raro, imo rarissime invenitur Instructus romphæa discincta.

Omnes verò illi male armati, postquam se sine proposito frustratos vident, domum revertuntur locique statum inaccessibilem incusant: ne verò desperare videantur, tormentorum novum genus excogitant & praeparatoria studia meditantur.

Fiat interim quod potest, stipem tamen quotidie accipiamus, unusquisque pro honoris gradu: insuè verò canunt vespertiliones.

Ut desit vires, tamen est laudanda voluntas.

Sic solvitur obsidio, ipsis militibus ad hyemales mansionem diverrentibus, ibique gaudentibus.

Appingunt autem verè campum cum honorabili fremitu repetant & obsidionem peregrinis armis induti reassumant, donec tandem vel ipsis rebus succumbant vel à Principali exhausto seu pigente dimittantur.

Finita militia, male morati & stupidi: non agnoscentes propriam ineptitudinem, sed culpam in hoc et illud conjicientes, novum Ducem quaerunt & quod ipsi non potuerunt efficere, summo tentant.

Conscientiosiores verò, rem melius reputantes, hoc belli genus aliis, ineptè licet, dissuadent & pacem potius praeferunt.

Ambo autem non advertunt, quod asus auro onustus, expugnabile faciat quodvis præsidium; præprimis illud, quod ex auro est exstructum materialiter & proinde suo simili non adeò egregie obfuscandum.

Volo dicere: Studium Hermeticum proponit sibi arcem expugnandam; ipsum aurum naturaliter æternum & incorruptibile, sed milites valdè discrepant: in obsidionem admittendæ operæ sunt ministri docti & indocti, judiciosi & imprudentes, expertos & rudes, veraces & fallaces; sunt apud Magnates uberrimè est videre. Principes enim antiquo & decenti admodum amore feruntur erga regium hoc studium: quamvis, ob vitæ tenertatem & desiderium inspectione domorum sæpius raro incurvent, multò minus ulluc propriis manibus rerum naturalium analysin peragant: ex quo sequitur, quod hanc defectum aliena industriâ & sagacitate cogantur resarcire.

Quàm selectuosè autem & exquisitè plerumq[ue] decipiantur, in dies, proh dolor! elucescit, cum totius artis intolerabilis calamitatis.

Vix enim est aula Principum in tota Europa, ubi Alchymia bene audiat.

Quare, ne haec divina scientia tam injuriose ulterius tractetur ipsa, Magnates et ejus Patroni summae honorandi, dum turpiter in posteriorem circumveniantur, composui hunc tractatulam ex lumine naturae & autopsiae, ut ipsis inserviat loco lapidis probatorii.

Hoc enim firmiter tenemus:
Quicunque vel non intelligit vel odit tenorem hujus Examini, statim Artificem vocat.

Tyro imperitus vel Impostor esto.

Et, Cujuscunque Professio vel particularis vel universalis cum fundamento nostro non concordat, vanus est & deceptorius, quicquid etiam magni prae se ferre videatur.

Nil enim est nec erit unquam in Igne permanens, nisi sola humilitas mercurialis metallica, homogenea, per artem vel naturam: prout abunde attestantur Geber, Arnoldus, Bernardus & omnes bene sensati & docti Philosophi.

Quod si vero cuiquam haec nostra simplex ac denudata veritas inventa apparet, ille apprehendat pedissequam ejus: versicolorem falsitatem & bene valeat. Nil mirum, quod stuprum plus estimetur quam matrona honesta.

Veritas enim a primo temporis puncto exosa fuit, partim, quia, ceu filia Altissimi, in sua nobilitate confidens, colores omnes & alienas recommendationes spernit: partim etiam, quia homines ex natura sua per versutiae imposturas splendidas & callida mendacia plus amant quam incultam ac nudam veritatem.

E contra, Sathanas suam sobolem, mendacitum, diversimodè pictum ac larvatum ubique promovet, ita ut non perperam in axiomata receptam sit.

Unicam veritatem plures sibi Patronos & recommendationes exposcere, ut audiatur, quam cunctum imposturae ac crassissima mendacia.

His tamen non obstantibus spinis, veritatem Physicam per epitomen Magnatibus hic proposui, quo tandem sui voti compotes fiant & artem caelestem convitiis non amplius proscindant.

Capiat, qui potest, omnibus scriptum non est, sed iis, quos ardua vexit ad aethera virtus.

Credas qui vult, ventura aetas palam faciet, qualia sint & qualis fuerit.

Πάντα λῦσιν.

Chapter 1.

Qui Alchymiam à graeco vocabulo ἅλς Sal & χυῶ fundo derivant, impropriè arti Hermeticae attribuunt, eò quòd haec finem ultimum & principalem sibi non proponit cum salibus agere, sed potius cum metallis.

Nullum autem metallum admittit in suam compagem naturalem ullum ex salibus, sicut nec per analysin genuinam quicquam salis, propriè dicti, naturam redolens, de se promittit, utneq; constat nisi ex Mercurio, Arsenico & sulphure; prout Geb. & omnes saniores Philosophi fatentur: Quod verò per liquorem Alcaest, verum & unicum resolvens metallorum, saliforme quid ex metallis obtinetur, sciendum est, quod simile non sit idem.

Omnia enim salia saporem praebent vel acidum vel salsum, vel ex utroq; mixtum.

Sed nil tale ex metallis per se habetur, quamvis quandam formam salis exhibeat; sicut etiam ipse liquor destructivus, ignis Gehennae ab Helmontio appellatus, nitri formam monstrat, insipidus tamen est & absq; sale.

Quod si verò aliquis per additionem, metalla in salia cogat eximendæq; studium spagyricum, Alchymiam, vocitare malit, penes ipsum maneat ista Alchymia, nobis et nimis pretiosa: In hac significatione non absurdè definiti quidam cavillator Alchymiam, quod sit ars sine arte, cujus principium mentiri, medium laborare & finis mendicare.

Qui verò non strictè sed latè hoc vocabulum accipiunt & à minus principali sine denominationem petunt, nobiliorem sentiunt;
ex salibus enim est principium & introitus, absq; sale non aperiuntur portæ cœli Hermetici, sicut Philos. passim affirmant.

Definimus ergo artem Spagyciam, quæ uno verbo Alchymia appellatur, quod ars metalla inferiora meliorandi & ad Solis vel Lunæ statum evehendi.

Subjectum hujus artis est omne metallum.
Objectum est tinctura.
Finis aurum.

Jam, quia terminus à quo & ad quem, tanquam correlata, sub uno genere comprehenduntur,
necessitate rationis etiam sequitur, quod subjectum artis transmutatoriæ, cum ejus fine, sub uno genere stare debeat, sicut etiam innuit regula antiquorum Sophorum:
"Ex fine cujusq; intentionis resultat ejus principium."

Item; à quo pendet alicujus rei principium, in eodem erit finis incrementorum.

Propterea docet Sendivogius: Si vis metalla facere, principium tuum sit metallum; per metalla enim fiunt metalla.

Et Riplaeus in 12 portis: Aurum & argentum extrà speciem non est quærendum. id. in lib. de Mercurio. & lap. Philos.

Conjunge ergo speciem cum specie & genus cum genere & ne unum sine altero, nec quicquam contrariorum, quod sit extra speciem & genus proprium.

Loquitur autem hic de specie, non quod metalla specie inter se differant essentialiter; sed tantum coctione & per accidens.

Præcipit autem jungere aurum, tanquam speciem, cum Mercurio, tanquam ex genere, [specificato & ad Solis naturam redacto,] id est, homogeneo facto.

Tunc enim non amplius est metallum vulgare sed Philosophicum; affirmante hoc Bernhardo:
Metalla vulgaria tam diu sunt vulgaria, quamdiu manent in forma vulgari, id est, mutanda est illa & in primam materiam convertenda.

Ergo subjectum Alchymiæ, circa quod hæc ars versatur, est metallum formaliter & materialiter, quia finis ejus, scil. aurum, pari modo est metallum.

Ulterius autem quæritur: cum diversa sint metalla & metallica corpora, ex quonam illud subjectum sit desumendum?

Respondet Bernhardus, Comes Trevisanus, quod ex omnibus haberi possit, sed ex uno citius quam ex altero; dant tamen duo metalla, ex quibus proximè desumatur; quod Sendivogius affirmat dicens: In omnibus latet nostrum punctum, in quibusdam autem valde est occultum, in aliis verò citius vità deficeres, quàm extraheres.

Habet tamen præcipuè noster Mercurius duo palatia, in quibus Sophis præbet audientiam.

Et Arnoldus in speculo Achim. Magisterium perficitur ex unâ solâ re; invenitur hæc materia in monte altiore hujus mundi, haberipotest à pauperibus & divitibus, projicitur in vias & xes, quæ magno pretio emitur, hic nil valet.

Geber verò dicit in suâ summâ: Est medicina, quæ ex materia argenti vivi sumit originem, non est autem ista materia argenti vivi in suâ natura neq; in tota substantiâ suâ, sed suiit pars illius.

Et Riplaeus in lib. de Mercurio & lap. Philos.: Materia nostra est supremum omnium, quæ in terrâ sunt & minimæ æstimationis.

Est terra fæda, in hâc invenies aquam nostram claram & tum terra illa nil valet amplius.
Et Morienus: Omnis res, quæ magno æstimatur pretio, in hoc artificio est inutilis.
Et Haly: Invenitur materia lapidis apud pauperem & divitem, euntem & sedentem.

Rogerius Bacho autem rejicit omnia metalla, apertè dicens; quod ex Sole & Lunâ, ob illorum fixionem, nil haberi possit; reliqui verò planetæ sunt impuri & imperfecti:
Nemo enim dat, quod non habet.

Commendat autem corpus anonymum, ex Mercurio & sulphure mundo constans, super quo natura parum vel minimum sit operata, & quod ab eâ in massam solidam sit redactum.

Consentit Paracelsus in libro de transmutat. & indicat suum electrum minerale immaturum, non metallicum perfectè.

Idem facit Agricola major & minor & plures alii.
Contrarium tenet Richardus Anglus, expressè dicens: Ars destruit Mercurium metallicum & ædificat eum a pedibus usq; ad caput, in formâ substantiæ substantiæ, amantem suâ.
Verùm interim quò sintyhlous conciliabit horum Adæptorum diversas sententias, salvâ cujusq; existimatione & mente, nisi quispiam experimento aut infallibili sensu, super quibus sententiarum suarum fundantur, penitus cognoscit.

Proptreà stylo ferreo notandum, quod Geber dicit cap. 28. sunt plures viae ad unum intentum: Nimirum via sicca & humida. Consequenter etiam subjectum iis destinatum erit duplex, sicut ex his adductis authoritatibus in facili est colligere.

Distingendum verò iterum inter subjectum remotum & proximum seu ad æquatum. Illud pro respectu viarum omnino est diversissimum, hoc verò non.

Ad viam enim humidam, in quâ Paracelsus Rogerus Bacho, Bas. Valent. Agricola major & minor incesserunt, ipsamet natura subjectum remotum, certum minerale, procreavit, sed imperfectum reliquit, ex defectu applicationis agentis ad patiens: in quo subjectum nostrum proximum, radix metallica mercurialis, instar embryonis, sub aquositate laetisformi continetur, quæ etiam propterea lac virginis nervosè appellatur.

Hic liquor lacteus ponderosus & seminatilicius, prima stamina, sive formam metallicum, intra sua penetralia complectitur, nec differt à Mercurio currente, essentialiter, sed accidentaliter, solâ coctione, inspissatione & homogeneitate. Mercurius enim currens cum sit metallum, coagulatoreum suum secum gerit, nempe sulphur arsenicale copiosum, ita ut non perperam Arsenici fluens appelletur.

Liquore vero ille madefaciens, absolutam constrictionem corporis (si actus agentis nondum perpeßus) parvâ quantitate sulphuris arsenicalis inquinatus reperitur, ab eoque facile liberatur & homogeneus redditur.

Subjectum remotum ad viam siccam, quam calcavit Geber, Arnoldus, Bernhardus, Sendivogius, Philaletha modernus & multi alij, pertinens, sicut ex allegatis & probatis patet: est omne metallum. Quomodo verò hoc subjectum qualificandum & tractandum sit, ut Mercurius Sophorum inde extrahatur, breviter videbimus.

Dictum est, quod subjectum artis transmutatoriae corpus scilicet mercuriale metallicum, cum suo fine, nempe auro, genere convenire debeat: metalla vero inferiora specificam externam & accidentalem differentiam, ex admistione heterogeneorum & defectu coctionis, in relatione ad aurum habent: quare eò præprimis est incumbendum, ut illa differentia tollatur, purumque genus relinquatur.

Aurum enim est substantia purissima & nil nisi Mercurius per coctionem diuturnam ab suo arsenicali sulphure sequestratus ac proprio sulphure mundissimo inspissatus, adjutante calore externo moderato.

Proptereà, si subjectum artis transmutatoriae eorum esse, nempe auro, genere & essentia idem ac simile esse debet, prout demonstratum est, sequitur necessario, qualiscunque sit, etiam Mercurius ad hoc magistrium eligatur: utpurissimus & planè homogeneus sit & Solis naturam habeat, exceptò quod admistum est fixum, hic Mercurius vero volatilis, atstipulante textu scholæ Sophorum.

Sic enim inter caeteros loquitur Bernhardus.

Omnis res requirit rem sibi similem, ut generetur & augeatur: natura enim augetur in suâ propriâ specie & naturâ & non in aliâ; ita enim metallum multiplicat metallum. Unusquisque; Mercurius, præteritum vulgaris est heterogeneus continetque in se incredibilem partem terræ arsenicalis fixissimæ cum paucâ quantitate aquæ sulphureæ foetidissimæ.

Quomodo verò binarius iste in monade metallicâ separetur, hoc opus, hic labor est.

Duplex quidem via ab antiquis Magicis excogitata est; sed quia in hoc mysterio totus cardo ædificii Hermetici versatur, proinde utraque in hoc usque; ævum mansit occultissima & solis Adeptis nota, licet ex parte à Gebero & Bernhardo descripta ac commendata fuerit; mens enim humana à lapsu obcæcata est in tantum, ut nec se ipsam cognoscat, multò minus metalla.

Plurimi enim, quantumvis docti, cum audiunt, Mercurium vulgi, cum cæteris inferioribus metallis, esse subjectum artis Chrysopœticæ, ex quo Sophicus tantopere quæsitus Mercurius depromendus, consternuntur quasi fulmine tacti, ipsa; vox faucibus hæret, ob subjecti hujus & finis propositi magnam differentiam, artemque totam pro fabulâ & somnio hominum otiosorum tenent, non absq; directione Mystæriarchæ sapientissimi.

Putant autem sic: Si Mercurius vulgi ex corporum inferiorum potestate sit Sophicus, quare tot operatores sine suo fructu sunt? tamen notissima sunt omnibus Mercurii sublimationes, & purgationes per salem, acetum, calcem vivam & talia cujuscunque generis: sed huc usq; cum ejusmodi operationibus nihil effecerunt; Ergo oportet, ut Philosophi alium Mercurium intelligant, non vulgarem.

Proinde doctiores ex his, nauseam super Mercurio metallico contraxitam palliare nescentes, se toti posteritati prostituerunt & literis evulgarunt, quod Mercurius vulgi, quocunque artificio tractetur, non possit fieri Philosophicus, quod ridiculum & planè falsum est: quia tantum est unicus Mercurius in tota metallicâ & mineralì naturâ: differt autem insigniter à se ipso, per accidens, ratione puritatis.

Ex quocunq; igitur metallo vel minerali elicitur, excepto Sole, heterogeneus est & praeparatione Philosophicâ indiget; sicut Sendivogius in Dialogo fatetur, quando Mercurius ipse pro sopopoieticos de se effatur: Cor meum semper est purissimum, vestes autem sordidissimae.

Quod si vero tales increduli Thomistae semel tantum viderent, quomodo nostrum subjectum, per praeparationem Philosophicam, transferatur, utiq; coniicerent, quod similes taediosissimi labores, à nostris Majoribus, frustrà non fuerint exantlati, & quod tertia illa arsenicalis, à Mercurii nucleo separata, sola & unica causa sit, quod cum Sole radicaliter unire se putrefactionem transire nequ eat, sed majori igne in pulverem rubeum praecipitetur. Modum hunc duplicé praeparandi Mercurios, ex Gebero & Bernhardo in meo Tumullo Hermetico allegavi; qui Philosophus est per ignem, clariorem informationem non exposcit.

Hic scribo Magnatibus, qui manus rarò admovent, sed studiò alieno iter Colchicum intendunt: Sufficit scire 1. quod subjectum Alchymiae, sive Mercurius philosophicus, sit genere metallicus; an verò ex uno vel pluribus metallis petatur, perinde est, quia in praeparatione Philosophicà, praeter unitatem simplicem & puram, nil remanet specificum. 2. quod sit homogeneus, ab omni labe sulphureâ & arsenicali vindicatus. 3. quod sit duplex, madefaciens & non madefaciens, sive liquidus & currens. 4. quod præbeat amalgama durum extracti ignem; quod in igne statim iterum mollescit, donec in merum Mercurium abeat compositum. Et 5. quod terra arsenicalis sulphurea in magnâ copiâ separari debeat & nullâq; artificiosorum generose reduci ad formam Mercurialem.

Ex his satis superq; constare puto, quid sit Alchymia & quale ejus subjectum. Qui nondum apprehendit rei veritatem, sed etiamnum dubitat, nudum in scirpo quaerit sibi; solitè relinquendus est.

Chapter 2.

Absoluto jam subjecto artis transmutatoriae, tanquam principali ejus parte, sequitur objectum, quod est ipsa tinctura, quam arctiùs definitio sic: Tinctura metallica nil aliud est, quam sulphur auri, per decentem coctionem, in suo Mercurio exaltatum.

Circa hanc definitionem occurrit quaestio magni ponderis: an aurum sit corpus simpliciter homogeneum vel certo respectu?

Ad elucidationem hujus quaestionis requiritur fundamentalis cognitio Mercurii, quia aurum nil aliud est quam Mercurius coctus & inspissatus calore sulphuris sui interni, juvante externo moderato.

Quare sciendum est I. quod Mercurius vulgi, & qualiscunque materialiter, ex solâ aquâ elementali consistet, & totum hoc compositum nil sit nisi aqua & ignis unitus; ratio est, quia in haec iterum resolvitur vel magno igne, per destructionem seminis astralis ignei, vel per suum simile, ipsum elementum aquae; uti videre est apud Ludovicum de Combitus & Helmontium, viros omni exceptione majores, quorum posterior multoties conqueritur de amissione & destructione sui liquoris Alcahef, per suum compar: Prior vero expressis verbis fatetur, quod ille ipse liquor, qui tamen nil est nisi Mercurius homogenius, in aquam extrahitur, per additionem vulgariae aquae elementalis in momento destruitur in aquam pariter elementalem, supernatante pinguedine quadam acri sulphureâ, cum tamen per se sit aeternus & à nulla aliâ re quicquam patiatur.

2. notandum, quod forma Mercurii essentialis interna sit analoga elemento astrorum, quae igneae naturae sunt.

Corpora enim coelestia radios suos igneos continuo in centrum terrae conjiciunt; ex quo repercussi, per terram sine intermissione, iterum ascendunt & transeundo, in corpora aqueae elementalis, coagulantur; ex qua concretione exsurgit illud mirabile primum metallum, quod nos Mercurium appellamus; qui deinde à calore interno ulterius dispergitur & coquitur.

Hinc in profundo, minerae secundores sunt quam superficie, quia calor ibi est potentior & per consequens major excrementorum separatio.

Per hanc enim solam, à concomitante calore, generatur ex Mercurio aurum; quod verò multum heterogeneae impuritatis in hac coagulatione admiscetur, illud est per accidens prater intentionem agentis, licet coagulationem constituit non parùm adjuvet & propterea etiam libenter intro admittatur.

Pondus vero Mercurii vel est ab ipsis seminibus mercurialibus idiosyncrasia, vel ex inspissatione & contractione aquae; quod probabilis est, si pondus enim ex aliquo corpore tantumdem ponderante sit necesse est, quia ex nihilo exsumi nequit.

Aqua ergo elementalis coagulatur, à sulphure peculiari astrali, in corpus opacum & ponderosum, argentum vivum nominatum; hoc vero dein, per ulteriorem coctionem & remotiones superfluitatum, in aurum, ceu ultimum naturae metallicae terminum, transfertur, sequenti modo: In Mercurio metallico latet ignis extra, circa eum, in terra, & consimilter est calor actualis, qui nil aliud est, quam atomus ignei, sulphurei, in mineris abundantes; jam quia ignis coelestis & terrestris unius est generis, & simile in simile habet ingressum, propterea hic calor externus se sensim & sensim isti sulphuri Mercuriali associat in eoque corpus assumit; & dum hoc fit, reliqua sulphura crassa terrea, quae ex eadem ratione amicitiam ibi quaerebant, sequeantur; quibus tandem, longo tempore, totaliter separatis, nucleus Mercurii albissimus, ab in corporato puro igne, calidior factus, in corpus ignis caloris coagularur.

Ex quo sequitur, quod aurum, in relatione ad caetera metalla imperfecta, homogoneum sit, in respectu vero ad Mercurium homogoneum, non; eo quod in se plus de igne corporali coërcet, quam argentum vivum homogoneum, per artem vel naturam factum.

Quia vero iste calor actualis, in sulphure Mercuriali concentratus & corporalis factus, superveniens est & tam intimè cum materia aquea corporis Mercurialis non unitus, ideo sulphur Mercurii essentialiter separari potest, aliquando cum, aliquando sine destructione corporis Solaris, quod Paradoxon multis videbitur, licet sit verissimum; quod vero ignis in certâ materiâ corporeus fiat & pondus augeat, apparet ex incineratione reguli antimonialis cum speculo ardente.

Prolixus esse nolo, caeteroquin adducerem totam antiquitatem, meam sententiam.

Redeamus ergo ad nostrum objectum, tincturam, quae procul omni dubio ex auro & Mercurio homogoneo currente, vel liquido, conficitur, nulla re aliâ adjectâ, alias homogeneitas amborum tam necessaria non esset, quod tamen Arnoldus in fine sui Ros. strenue inculcat, dicens: Nolite in lapidem introducere, nec aquam, nec pulverem, nec ullam rem, nam non intrat in eum, quod non est ortum ex eo; imo si aliquid extraneum apponitur, statim destruitur & non fit ex eo quod quaeritur.

Ad tuendam vero latam definitionem tincturae ulterius deducendum est, quomodo sulphur illud auri, à naturâ in Mercurium frigidum corporis aurei impacitum, exaltetur & multiplicetur, quod sequenti modo contingit.

Quando corpus auri purum, cum volatili auro homogoneo, per artem factâ, debitâ proportione, conjungitur, tunc volatile incipit fixum penetrare & sibi aequare, duobus mediis, tenuitate & quantitate majori; quia vero hoc fine calore non efficitur, propterea hic antiquum fabulam ludit & se paulatim suo fini insinuat; siculi sulphuri antiquè inexistentis adjungit, illudque in quali potius quam quanto adauget, nil obstante vitrorum densitate & dimensionum penetratione propter ejus summam subtilitatem.

Hinc etiam Philosophi suum lapidem, sive tincturam, filium ignis & lapidem ignis denominarunt, quia efficienter & effective ab eodem procedit.

Ex his praemissis fundamentis fluit, quod in tota natura metallica tantum sit duplex transmutatio: Una naturae, & sit remotio de superflua, per coctionem: Altera artis, & sit per illuminationem totius partis mercurialis in metallis.

Differentia consistit in hoc, quod natura homogeneum tantum punctum in Mercurio alteret; ars vero totum corpus mercuriale, absque separatione superflui, ineffabili luce tincturae verae, illuminat & in statum digniorum transponit.

Ratio diversitatis est, quia alteratio naturae ob agentis debilitatem, successive in longo tempore perficitur: transmutatio vero artis continigit in momento per modum illuminationis; quod enim facit lumen dispersum, illud etiam praestat concentratum & fixum, in debita materia; apprehendit autem ista illuminatio purum & impurum, in corpore mercuriali ob sui excellentiam & incredibilem subtilitatem; ipsumque impurum, quod se ad purum nucleum Mercurii aqueum habet tanquam terra, licet ut magis ex aqua materialiter constet, instar fulguris, ex ipsa illa illuminat & ad puram item hanc puritatis promovet; adjuvante nonnihil radicali commixtione utriusq[ue]: Sic ut in posterium, tale aurum factitium, eundem Mercurium homogeneum, per retrogradationem artificialem de se fundat, quam ipsum aurum nativum.

Hunc mysteriosum actum illustrare placet per inductionem, exemplo contrarii, sic: Si possibile est, quod sulphura crassa & arsenicalia, absque commixtione, partem illam impuram terream Mercurij, quae tamen originaliter & centraliter cum nucleo reliquo aquaeformi, in Mercurio, est unita & ex uno eodemq[ue] elemento prognata, in momento fere, ex composito suo extrahere, deturbare & in terram fixissimam, irreducibilem mutare queunt; sequitur etiam, quia contrariorum eadem est ratio, licet diversa, quod sulphura munda, astralia illuminativa & subtilissima, cum commixtione sui corporis sulphureo-mercurialis, illam impuram substantiam reducere, suoque elemento aqueo restituere & postea ulterius immutare valent, restitutio enim & conservatio rei similis longè est facilior, quam transmutatio similis in dissimile.

Atqui verum est prius, ergo & posterius.

Primum quotidie, mechanice, demonstratur valeco; alterum verò satis notum est ubique, per frequentes transmutationes Mercurii vulgaris, in aurum obrizum, absque immutatione Mercurij, quoad pondus.

Chapter 3.

Post obiectum artis Hermeticae considerandus restat eius finis ultimatūs, nempe aurum; quia vero supra satis explicatum est, plura non addimus, nisi quod obiter monemus; si folia auri ad amalgamandum eliguntur, communia non esse sumenda, quia vel cupro vel argento sunt mixta, quod toti operi non parum noceret.

Est quidem adhuc aliud aurum, quod Philosophorum appellatur ab iisq[ue] mire laudatur; differt autem a nativo valde, non quidem essentia, sed fixitate.

Est enim nil aliud quam Mercurius Sophicus coagualatus; aptissimum vero censetur hoc aurum, a Philosophis, pro opere ipsorum brevi & occulto, innuente Gebero adiciente: Quod si ex solo Mercurio perfeceris, indagator eris pretiosissimi Magisterii; quia vero praedictum aurum analogicum, finis ultimatūs nostrae Alchymiae non est, ideoq[ue] plura addere cessamus.

Hîc habet aequissimus lector totam illam scientiam, quae verum Philosophum nobilitat eumque à colluvie pestilenti Alchymistarum vulgarium segregat, qui hanc callet, non tantum theoreticè sed etiam practicè, Adeptus nominatur, id est consummatus Philosophus & Medicus naturae humanae ac metallicae.

De hoc solo verum est Hippocratis effatum:
ἰητρὸς γὰρ ἀνὴρ πολλῶν αὐτέξιος ἀνθρώπων.

Vir medicus est incomparabilis. Jam, cum contraria juxta se posita magis elucescant, delineandum quoque est, quid Pseudophilosophi, Alchymistae vulgares promittant & quomodo transmutationem suam instituant. Quia vero plerumque sunt indocili & indociles, ex omni genere hominum malitiosorum; beneque de iis vulgare distichon explicatur:

Fingunt se Chymicos omnes, idiota, sacerdos,
Monachus & miles, histrio, rasor, anus.

Proinde nullam methodum observantes sicut ebrii, in fodinas minerales ruunt, quid pro quo arripiunt, secumque cogitant, recipio, nescio quale; & facio, nescio quid. Omnes quidem finem seu scopum bonum sibi praefingunt, eoque se exhilarant, sed quia principium ignorant, finem non inveniunt.

Chapter 4.

Quo autem cum istis Sycophantis honorifice agamus, comparationem placet instituere, centonis Pseudophophorum multiplicis, cum unico & simplici subjecto Adeptorum, quod in veritate verissima, est substantia Mercurialis, metallica & homogenea.

Subjectum vero proximum Alchymistarum, antè annos aliquot, fuit vitriolum in totâ suâ substantiâ; hoc purgârunt, dulcificârunt, imò, quod Deus benè vertat, per colores omnes ad transparentis rubini formam adegerunt; obiectum vero obtinuerunt, tincturam quidem pro pannis, sed non pro metallis & finem loco auri, cuprum.

Ne verò absque ratione & authoritate veterum labasse viderentur, dictum illud: "Visitando interiora terræ, reperies ibi occultum lapidem, veram medicinam", per initiales literas, vitriolum producentes, de vitriolo vulgari interpretati sunt. Quod autem effectus nullus subsecutus sit, culpam unicam posuerunt in vitriolum, primo ente auri, sufficienter non impraegnatum; proinde aliud Patrono esse inquirendum, ipsis vero effugium.

Huic successit antimonium, ab ipsis derivatum, a Graeco ἀντίμονιμον, flos nostrûm omnium scil: metallorum. Jam putârunt, se leporem tenere & unâ cum nomine ipsam rem, juxtà versum:

Conveniant rebus nomina saepe suis.

Proptereà quæsiverunt, ante omnia, partem ejus auream, scil: sulphur auratum, modo ex lixiviis, per præcipitationem, modo ex vitris, per extractionem stalagmatuum diversorum, ejusq; calorem, ad insaniam usq; admirati sunt.

Fixârunt hoc per se & cum adjunctorum, pro ingressu conciliando, Lunamq; vel præcipitatum Mercurium, vestire testârunt: & quidem ex fundamento, quod Basil. Valent: & alii dicant: Solem purgari, ab antimonio, quia sit de ejus sanguine; proinde non abs re esse, si sanguinem istum extraherent, Lunaeque infunderent.

Alii hoc sulphur volatileisârunt, ut spiritûs naturam assumeret, audiverant nempe, quod Philosophi suum Mercurii, spiritum subtilêm & penetrantem nominant, alias enim aurum fixum pervadere ac subtilliare nequeiret: Alii aliter & diversimodè hoc subjectum macerârunt, unusquisque pro suo lîrîpîpio; donec tandem omnes invenîrent finem, scoriâm inutilem & Lunam intactam.

Pauci tam felices fuerunt, quod cogitaverint, si quid boni & metallici lateret in antimonio, quod hoc in ejus Mercurio sit quaerendum, tanquam parte puriori; sed si vel maximè scivissent; illum tamen separare in hunc usque diem, paucissimi didicerunt.

Deinde prolapsi sunt ad arsenicum vulgare, ex eoque modò rubinum, modò Mercurium perlaturm & similes larvas, praeparârunt & finem, aliquando ipsam extinctionem aurae vitalis, invenerunt.

Ne autem posteritati tali thesaurus subtraheretur unus ex istis Sophistis, Polonus natione, Parisiis tractatum edidit de hoc subjecto egregium sub tit. Lapidis Philosophici.

Marcasita & cinnabaris nativa impunitam etiam non remansit; mirabilem enim aquam mercurialem & aureum pene Mercurium, exinde sciunt elicere, qui cochlæar argenteum, flavo calore tingit; eumque deinde, ceu solarem, cum Sole coquunt & tandem, aurum non mutatum, post integrum annum iterum vendunt. Ante viginti annos circiter, author quidam anonymus, Agricola major & minor cognominatus, de Saturno Philosoph. pulcherrimum sed occultissimum scriptum publicavit, ibique mineram Saturni vulgaris, cum Philosophicâ, studiosè miscuit, laudabili effectu.

Qualis enim clamor tunc temporis fuerit, de minerâ Saturni, in omnibus ferme laboratoriiis dici vix potest.

Hic scivit animam albissimam, ille rubicundissimam, extrahere, cum aceto & aliis liquoribus, uno verbo, ipsum universale magisterium, ex hâc minerâ, praeparabatur, super chartâ, quia ignem non tolerabat: quam miserè enim omnes fuerint decepti, notum est.

Quid de Marte dicam? hic certè strenuus bellator est, sub quo plurimi Alchymistae occubuêrunt; Vulneratur quidem facilè sanguinemque fundit; sed cum ipsius vita in sanguine non lateat, sed in succo similari Mercuriali, quem multo arctius custodit, quàm pici suum aurum; Proptereà tantùm abfuit quod Lunae vitam infunderent, quin potius eam infirnarent & melancholicam redderent, cum isto copioso sanguine Martiali, verumque experirentur Galeni dictum; τὸ ἁπλοῦν περὶ ἰατρείας ἀσθενές.

στέρνον δὲ τὸ αἷμα, stultum ac simplex est à nimio sanguine.

Concedo quidem, rarò ferrum inveniri absque auro, sicut plumbum, & proinde, quantum inest, iterum extrahi; sed quod lucrum eô sit exspectandum, hoc nego.

Quod ergò suum sulphur arsenicale rubrum, cum Lunâ unire tentant, est labor Alchymisticus, sicut antecedentes.

Taceo lubens lapidem calaminar em, haematitem, cobaltum, lap. armenum, cerussam, smiridem, talcum, sulphur commune, &c. quae omnia sunt subjecta Sophistarum & signa certissima ignorantis. Non autem nego, quod impossibile sit, ex metallicis subjectis Mercurialibus, nostrum punctum elicere: sed tantummodo dico, quod Philosophi sua propria subjecta habeant, alioq; & diversissimo labore agant.

Econtra Sophistae palpant in tenebris, sicut caeci, nunc hoc, nunc aliud subjectum arripientes, donec tandem stultitia suum periodum absolvat & poenitentia locum teneat. Tunc sequitur excusatio illa usitata stultorum: Non putassem.

Quare, ne penitus à consortio humano excluderentur nostri Alchymistae, coacti demum aliquid reale, apud ipsam veritatem naturalem emendicare, intenderunt, scil. fixationem impropriè dictam minerarum volatilium; sed cum haec eadem ipsis satis pinguis & ad palatum non videretur, propterea maturo auro, in illis mineris contento, bonam partem immaturi & volatilis adscribere non fuerunt obliti, asseverantes; quod sciant non tantum fixum à fuga praeservare sed & volatile, paucis diebus, fixare.

Haec mechanica cum apparente ratione non careat, plausibilis hucusque fuit; circa cujus decisionem notandum:

1. quod maturatio & conservatio sint diversa.
Omnibus metallurgis notum est, quod sulphura arsenicalia, antimonialia &c. sint famelica & nisi in fusione minerarum aliquid addatur, quod eorum voracitatem exsatiat, ut sunt lapides fusibiles, salia vitriolica, ferrum, calx viva &c.
invadunt ipsamet perfecta metalla eaq; secum rapiunt.

Maturatio vero, quia fit ab ipsa natura, agente scil. sulphureo astrali in Mercurio, adjuvante externo moderato calore; propterea in tam parvo tempore absolvi nequit.
Opitulatur quidem naturae ars, per adiutamenta salinosa, quae sulphuribus sunt contraria; interim tamen non sufficit remota sulphurium & impuritatum terretrium, à parte mercuriali; sed requiritur ante omnia & primarie coctio naturalis lenta, per longum tempus continuata.
Ideoq; maturatio illa sive fixatio, flegitimum tempus accedit rejicienda non est, sed naturae affinis, secus non.

Proinde callidiores ex nostris Alchymistis postquam notarent, quod per ipsas maturationes parum proficerent; sacra vera auri fames ipsos tanquam umbra comitaretur, inceperunt iterum ad fastigium tincturae universalis aspirare, omnemq; lapidem movere, legendô, studendô & laborandô pro imperandâ hac ingenti felicitate.

Volutis vero & revolutis omnibus authoribus authenticis, semper eandem cantilenam omnes canere observârunt suumq; Mercurium depraedicare.

Proptreâ nolentes volentes Mercurium vulgi tandem in suam carnificinam deduxerunt, quod basim & genus praebet omnibus metallis, cum auro, tanquam simili, unice amicaretur & centenis aliis locis Philosophorum armati.

Non est dicendum, quid perpessus fuerit hic bonus Mercurius, nisi esset creatura sine pari, impossibile fuisset ipsum, sub tot lanienis emergere:
Plures enim torturas ipsi applicârunt, quàm Domitianus, Decius, Nero & Diocletianus suis Martyribus; quomodocunq; vero procederent, adderent aut demterent, suam fidem tamen denegare noluit: quae erat & est, Sophistis imponere & Philosophis obedire.

Erat autem intentio illorum, Mercurium per sublimationes à corporibus falsis purgare, cum iis resolvere, sublimare, reviviscare &c: donec fieret albissimus, dulcis atque absq; acrimonia & streptû Solem solveret.

Plures, audientes, quod principium metallorum sit aqua viscola, cum additione spirituum & aliarum rerum, similem mucilaginem parârunt.

Non pauci elevârunt ipsum multoties à metallis, sicq; à nigredine purgârunt, tandemq; cum Sole conjunxerunt. Natus fuerit peculiarem Mercurium ex aëre, salibus, vegetabilibus certis, alii ex ipsa Utopia optarunt.

Alii extractiones Mercuriales laudârunt, ex præcipitatis cum auro factis. Alii redegerunt ipsum in aquam, oleum, salem &c: alii extulêrunt fixationes. Omnes verò in fine obtinuêrunt præcipitatum inutile, ipsumq; Mercurium, sergium vexatorem Alchymistarum.
Hæc Tragedia jam in Europâ, ad nostram usq; tempora, fuit acta, viventibus adhuc multis authoribus emeritis, rudeq; donatis.

Hinc, post tot illusiones à Mercurio acceptas, convenerunt nostri Sophistæ, proximis elapsis annis, comitia publicârunt & Mercurium, tanquam turbatorēm pacis Alchymisticæ ac proditorem patriæ, omni suo honore orbatum, exilio affecêrunt, sub pœnâ, si quis ullò modò Mercurium in suum laboratoriu admisisset, quod ille pro perjuro & rebellis sit habendus; hāc annexâ pulcherrimâ ratione irrationali, quia metallum esset: Absurdum enim fore, quod metallum generet metallum, & prætereà omnes Philosophi expressè dicant ac rationibus evidentissimis convincant, quod ipsorum Mercurius non sit vulgaris.

Ne autem omni Mercurio penitus carerent & panem absq; farina meditarentur, unanimiter concluserunt, alium, in locum relegati, sufficere habitâque maturâ deliberatione & applicatione scriptorum authenticorum præprimis Sendivogii, solennissimè elegerunt ad hoc regium officium, salem nitri.

Doctiores inter illos æternitati statim, per literas, insinuârunt, quàm nobile subjectum sit ipsorum nuper electus Mercurii suffraganeus, eò quod non tantum cum illò repudiatò, in qualitatibus contrariis, conveniret, sed quod insuper etiam citius & leviori operâ figi posset.

Nil enim [hi] aurifones magis exoptant quàm Lunam fixam, Mercurium fixum &c: idq; cito.

De secretioribus ejus proprietatibus & animâ recludendissimâ, avicula Hermetis vocatâ, multa quidem libenter scriberent, nisi mundi in dignitati id prohiberet. Cæteri omnes domum repetierunt, ac processum excogitarunt, unusquisq; pro captu.

Plures patriâ abiverunt & Germaniam, tanquam exterorum domum exaltationis & indigenarum detrimentum, visitarunt: Ubi, in hunc usq; diem, Solem cum nitrò qualicunque præparatò, corrodunt & varios colores, præcipuè purpureum, cum magnâ consolatione observant. Quod igitur nitrum sit subjectum, è quò Mercurius Sophorum præparandus, hoc bene sciunt, sed, an istud conjugium Solis & nitri, sub nomine Universalis vel Particularis, Principibus debeat vendi, adhuc controversantur.

Aliqui putant, quod sit via illa universalissima in superlativò gradû: quia nitrum in omnibus tribus regnis invenitur, & Paracelsus materiam lapidis triplicem nominat.

2. quia Philosophi & imprimis Hermes scribit, quod sit ubiq; & à vento portetur; quæ omnia nitro solo conveniant; non pauci comptum faciunt cum crumena; concludentes, quod tantum particularis titulum mereatur, quoniam tantum partem illam tinctam relinquat, quae fuit addita.

Sed rogo vestras Dominationes, quo modo sit ex sale metallum, per artem, in vitris liquatis?

Respondetis: per metallum adjectum: Concedo, sed distinguo inter metallum genuinè reclusum & sophisticè corrosum.

Si aurum in suo nitroso liquore radicaliter aperiretur, tunc absurdum non esset, hoc statuere: jam vero etiam tyronibus constat, quod aurum in suo simili ad primam materiam reducatur.

Salia autem non sunt metallis similia, quia ab ipsis toto genere praescindunt: Ergo.
Deinde ponamus, fieri metallum ex nitro; tunc iterum quæro, quale sit metallum, aurumne, an Mercurius? Si dicitis aurum, tunc aurum auro non solvitur, nec aurum plus habet in suo naturali statu & ante regenerationem, quam indiget ad suum esse. Si Mercurium vultis; aperte mentimini; quia non potestis ipsum aurum eo adigere ut corporetenus in Mercurium abeat, multò minus efficietis, ut salia in eundem cogat; Praeterea absurdum est, ut corpus fixum, mediante igne, producat volatile.

Quod verò Sendivogius in suis 12 Tract. de nitro loquitur: hoc fecit in gratiam indigenorum; qui prudens est & expertus, ad istos scopulos non impinget. Si Majores nostri nudam & solitariam veritatem voluissent scribere, forsàn ad nostra tempora non pervenisset; quia in unici pagella omnia naturae mysteria consignari possunt. Non fuit sollicitus hic bonus Author, de nitro naturae vegetabilis, sed de nitro naturae metallicae; quia vero magnam affinitatem inter se habent & porcis margaritae non sunt projiciendae, propterea illud descripsit & hoc intellexit.

An non legisti eundem Sendivogium dicentem, si vis metallum facere, sit metallum tuum principium, à cane non nascitur nisi canis. Item: Non operare secundum literam, sed considera semper, quid naturae conveniat & quid non &c:

Quoad Hermetem, tota ipsius Tabula Smaragdina, sub velo allegorico & methaphorico, scripta est; intelligitur ibi ventus, non ille majoris mundi, sed minoris, in vitro inclusi.

Videte ergo, ne palinodiam canatis offenso Mercurio metallicoo, cum maxima vestra confusione; nobilis enim est & regia stirpe oriundus; Magnatibus autem manet altè tectum repositum, si injuriam patiantur.

Sed Sophištæ & ignorantes plerumq; sunt superbi, ac tempestivé cavent, ne ipsis aliquid minus honorificum accidat: Proinde casu, quòd nitrum exspectationi ipsorum non satis faceret, dantur jam alia subjecta in rerum naturâ, in quibus parem vel majorem etiam spem ponunt: ut Tartarus: Praetereà enim sal subtile fixum seu terram foliátam, in quam aurum seminare jubent Philosophi, & insuper de vino oritur, docente Lullio.

Verùm fama aurita rettulit, quòd neq; in hâc venatione praedam aliquam, praeter operam perditam, ceperint.

Multi proinde in alumine quaesiverunt, salem dulcem extraxerunt, & in fine alumen retinuerunt.

Alii, caeterum non indocti, cum ingenti fastù & praesumptione, in ipsis elementis invenire tentarunt, quod in elementis nequit inveniri.

Proptérea ex aquâ, pluviâ, tempestate continuosâ cadente, & sub diu putrefactâ, acetum subtile separárunt, hoc dein cum sale fixo communi & Ol. vitrioli copulárunt, crystallos collectos solvéntur & tandem cum pyrite in tincturam coagulárunt cum omnium, maximè autem propria admiratione: Sicut mihi talis processus ab homine Gallo, viro apprime docto alias, sub magno Sacramento (scil.) fuit recommendatus; à me verò explosús.

Alii rorem Majalem, alii nivem, alii terram virgineam, ad genua scil: effossam, alii urinam, capillos humanos & multas alias doctas stoliditates implorârunt & nihil obtinuerunt.

Quocirca apertè dico, quod haec subjecta omnia, exceptis metallis, quae tamen Philosophicè anatomizari debent, sint deceptoria, quia non stant nec stare faciunt in torturâ ignis.

Quicunq; igitur aliquid aliud pro subjecto adaequato transmutationis eligit, quàm solam humiditatem metallicam permanentem, Pseudosophus & Impostor sit, donec probet contrarium.

Chapter 5.

Vlis præcipuis subjectis Sophistarum progrediendum ad eorum objectum, quod iterum præscindit ab objecto Sophorum, qui unicam tincturam universalem sibi proponunt.

Illi verò hâc non contenti, particularia infinita, præter omnem rationem & experientiam introduxerunt.

Hic enim promittit partem cum parte; ille duos lothones auri ex Lunæ marcâ. Alius vendit den Zinsbauer hintern Œsen singulis mensibus.

Quartus Lunam fixam & ejus gradationem Quintus fixationem sulphuris vulgaris, sed ingressum desiderat. Sextus coagulationem Mercurii in solem, &c. Septimus album Veneris Luniforme. Octavus tincturam sulphuris antimonii in 2. mensibus. Nonus fixationem Mercurii in Lunam. Decimus tincturam Solis cum ol. urinae. Undecimus conversionem Jovis in Lunam. Duodecimus ein Einbringen in die Lunam ex Marte &c &c: Imo tot colores non possidet Polypus, quot hic Alchymistae particularia.

Causam ad has nequitias texendas partim dedereunt ipsi Magnates, Patroni: partim Physicasti, Impostores. Illi enim sunt curiosi & morae impacientes; hi vero effrontes. Propterea, quia tempus pro tinctura, ultra annum extenditur & subjectum proximum incognitum, concludunt sic: Si nil efficiatur, ignorantiam nocebit — videbimus brevi &c. Praecipuum enim philtrum amoris ergà particularia, est labor imaginatus brevis, & lucrum non adeò invidiosum. Fateor quidem, intentio non est mala, sed finis.

Ut autem innotescat, quàm misere decipiantur particularistae, disquiro & dico sic: Utrùm particulares metallorum transmutationes vel fiunt in Mercurio heterogeneo, vel homogeno: Et post, vel per modum maturationis vel illuminationis tincturalis. Si particularistae errent; in Mercurio heterogeneo, per modum maturationis: mentiuntur impudentissimè sicut Alchymistæ, quia maturari & heterogeneum manere, sunt incompatibilia in regno metallico; maturatio enim fit per coctionem, coctio vero adunit similia & separat dissimilia.

Si excipiant; hoc esse verum de simplici maturatione naturæ, non artis. Resp. Quomodocunq; ars procedat, tamen nunquam producit aurum verum, quod naturali in homogeneitate est dissimile, datò vero hoc, non est verum aurum, nec examina sustinet.

Si jam aurum illud artis transmutatorie sit naturæ simile, homogenum quoque erit, & per consequens, vel fiet per maturationem, separatis heterogeneis, vel per illuminationem tincturalem retentis, sed mutatis iis, a potentia fermenti.

Coguntur itaq; fateri, quod vel per maturationem artificialem vel illuminationem tincturalem fiat: Si prius, necessarium est, ut illa inferiora metallica suis coagulantoribus libereuntur & 2. in Mercurialem naturam reducantur & 3. per coctionem & aliarum rerum additionem purgentur & maturentur; aliàs ignis externus, centri Mercurialis ignem cœlestem, de potentiâ in actum deducere nequit, & sic maturatio nulla contingit, ob artesan nimis principiorum observationem; Ignis enim debilis qualis maturans est, agit tantùm in corpora aperta non occlusa.

An verò hoc præstare queant Sophiæ, valde dubito; hoc autem benè scio, quod nec Mercurium vulgi queant reddere homogeneum, imò plurimi nunquam somniârunt, eum esse heterogeneum. Mercurios corporum quidem omnes volunt producere, sed impediuntur semper ab aliis negotiis.

Ex his sequitur, quod nullum detur particulare in sensu communi; exceptâ maturatione tædiosâ & longinquâ aliquarum minerarum. Verum autem particulare, est tinctura imperfecta, post primam rotationem, quæ partem tantum puriorem metalli impuri convertit.

Et tantùm de objecto Sophistarum; Jam restat finis, qui Philosophis veris & Sophistis est communis nempe aurum: Differt autem in hoc, quod illi eo, cum honore & sanitate, abundant, hi vero, in desperatione & insaniâ morbosâ, carent.

EPILOGUS.

Ex adductis hisce fundamentis & probationibus solidis, constare Magnatibus puto, quid in arte Chymicâ quaerendum & qualiter comparatus sit verus Philosophus, item quid Sophistarum humeri valeant & quid ferre recusent. Si hunc tractatulum perlegunt & diligenter perpendunt, promitto ipsis secure, quod à nullo impostore, quamvis callido, decipientur. Si vero aliis opinionibus falsis praeoccupati sunt & veritatem admittere nolunt, doleant etiam intus & in sinu, nec totam artem divinam pro ludibrio habeant, eò quod per Impostores, sanitate & bonis privati sint. Quicunque aliquid tractat, quod non intelligit, nec intelligere vult, si decipitur circa istud negotium, & fine frustratur, non aliis; sed sibi ipsi imputet. Quid mercatori improbo intersit, si emtor merces situ obductas care emit: jura vigilantibus, non dormientibus scripta.

Accedit, quod non omnes Impostores sunt activi intentionaliter. Praeterea non sequitur: tot annos & sumtus trivi in hoc studio, tot Sophistas alui, sed nil inveni: Ergo tota scientia est falsa. A nostra inscitia ad rei veritatem vel falsitatem argumentari, non valet consequentia.

Qui itaq; in hoc studio Spagyrico, vel Hermetico, vellere aureo potiri vult, discat prius ejus subjectum & objectum bene noscere, & tunc non emanabit desideratus.

FINIS.