A Most Excellent Book on the Philosophical Stone, formerly written by an anonymous philosopher. De Lapide Philosophico Liber Praestantissimus, ab Anonnimo olim Philosophoconscriptus.

A Most Excellent Book on the Philosophical Stone, formerly written by an anonymous philosopher. De Lapide Philosophico Liber Praestantissimus, ab Anonnimo olim Philosophoconscriptus.

A Most Excellent Book on the Philosophical Stone, formerly written by an anonymous philosopher.




Translated from the book:
Syntagma harmoniae chymico-philosophicae, sive philosophorum antiquorum consentientium ... nondum in lucem publicam editorum, collectum et distributum in certas decades, studio et industria Johannis Rhenani ...

Hermes, father of all philosophers:

True, without falsehood, certain and most certain.

That which is above is like that which is below, and that which is below is like that which is above, for accomplishing the miracles of this one thing.

Just as all things were born from one thing by the mediation of one, so all things were born from this one thing by one operation.

Its father is the Sun; its mother is the Moon. The wind carried it in its belly. Its nurse is the earth.

The father of all Thalassim is the whole world. Its power is complete if it is turned into earth.

You will separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, gently and with great skill.

It ascends from earth into heaven, and again descends from heaven into earth; and thus it receives the power of the superior and the inferior elements.

And thus you will have the glory of the brightness of the whole world, and all obscurity will flee from you obscurity, and it will penetrate every solid thing; and it is called the worm having the four parts of the whole world.

Verse.

For under its shadow lies hidden a fifth substance;
in Mercury is whatever the wise seek.

From this are drawn spirit, soul, body, and tincture;
these things are hidden, lest they be distributed to fools.

Bodies must be made incorporeal, and incorporeal things bodies. For in the beginning the body becomes water, that is, Mercury; then, in conjunction, the spirit with the water becomes body.

And this is what the Philosophers say: convert the natures, and you will find what you seek.

Hence the Philosophers say: he who wishes to unlock the sealed natures of things, let the head be added to the tail; and thus you will be able to find it, because from the gross the fine is made, and the subtle from the thick; that is, from the body, water; and from the liquid, dry; that is, from water, earth; namely, from the spiritual, corporeal; and from the corporeal, spiritual.

That is the true conversion of natures, as it is said that the Stone is made from one thing; because our whole science and magistery is made from our water, that is, from our bronze.

For it dissolves bodies by the true solution of the Philosophers, because it converts them into the water from which they were from the beginning; and those same bodies are calcined by that same water, so that they are turned and reduced into earth.

The same bodies are also transformed into ash, and it turns them into ash, whitens them, and cleanses them, according to the word of Morienus.

For the solution of the Philosophers is not the dissolving of a body into cloud-water, but its conversion into the water from which bodies were from the beginning.

So also sublimation is not an ascent upward, or to ascend, but to make a low thing into another nature. Just as that man is sublimated, that is, placed in dignity; so also bodies are said to be sublimated, that is, converted into another nature. Thus “to sublime” means to subtilize and make more worthy.

Our blessed water does all this; and it mortifies them, and vivifies them, and makes black colors appear in mortification, when it converts them into earth. And afterwards many and various colors will appear before whitening, of all of which the end is whiteness.

And the colors are infinite in the projection of the prepared body with the ferment; and no true tincture is made except from our bronze. And although many names are imposed upon it, yet then it is only one thing, which is our water.

Morienus the Philosopher says that the perfection of our Stone is likened to the order of the creation of man. For first there is coitus; secondly conception; thirdly impregnation; fourthly birth; and fifthly follows nourishment, or feeding.

I will make you understand this: our sperm is Mercury, with which the earth is joined, in the perfect body; and this earth is called the Mother of all metals, and so it is named. But when the earth begins in some measure to retain the body, then it is called conception, and the male acts in the female.

And this is what the Philosophers have said: our magistery is nothing except male and female, and the conjunction of them, with water ruling, that is, quicksilver; and earth, in which the water grows, is multiplied, and is increased.

And when the earth is whitened, then it is called impregnation, it is said: because now the earth is impregnated, and the ferment is joined with the perfect body, prepared in the manner already described, until they become one in color and appearance. And then it is called birth; and then our Stone is born, which is named by the Philosophers the King.

“Honor,” they say, “our King coming from the fire, crowned with a diadem; and nourish him until he comes to perfect age.”

Its father is the Sun, as the perfect body; its mother is the Moon, as the imperfect body.

Lastly follows nutrition, or nourishment. For it is nourished with its own milk until it is increased with great augmentation; that is, until it is imbibed with Mercury and made sufficient. And this is what is said by the Philosophers, who say that he who has once worked the matter to perfection has no need to work further.

These things, however, are extracted from a certain book which begins: “O venerable Father,” or “The Lily of Intelligence,” namely: “The Spirit of the Lord was borne over the waters.”

By its odor alone the Sun is calcined.

When we separate the water from the air, and the fire from the earth, with the stipulation of the elements, then they are separated rightly and usefully.

Fire is the ferment from the minerals. Water is its soul. Mercury is its oil and its vegetative power.

Let its sublimation be repeated over the earth until it becomes like oil.

Burn the earth by rectifying the water and the fire. In weight and fire is the whole secret.

Our vinegar has greater power in dissolving bodies than common Mercury. Vinegar penetrates and dissolves, and putrefies; and through it we cleanse the ferment, and through this the mineral virtue is multiplied.

And if it is projected many times upon the ferment, or upon the body, it converts it into calcined powder.

Oil is the food by which the Stone is nourished, saturated, and multiplied; and the more you proceed by rectifying the ferment with oil and vinegar, the more you receive of its greater action and virtue.

In the beginning of your sublimation, scarcely from the parts of the Sun do the dregs ascend. No true tincture is made except from our bronze, that is, Mercury.

Our bronze is composed of three things, namely body, soul, and spirit.

The sign of the goodness of the first decoction is the extraction of its redness, and its conversion into blackness.

It is necessary that the body be consumed by the flame of fire and become weak in the water.

Beware of too much fire, since it is hostile and contrary to cold. For the first humor is cold; and in it excessive fire must be guarded against, until the elements are joined and embrace one another.

Dry fire is anointing; air confirms and binds; water whitens and removes blackness from bodies; earth also stands firm and receives the tincture.

Quicksilver is the fire that burns and mortifies bodies, vivifies and tinges them.

The body cannot tinge unless it is tinged, and unless the spirit hidden in its belly is extracted and becomes body and soul without spirit, which is of spiritual nature.

The vegetable, mineral, and animal Stone proceed from one thing, and are turned into one by the secret of ingenuity.

This thing is in an animated thing, because, just as the soul is spiritual and invisible, because it withdraws invisibly. Thus Azoth is spiritual and invisible, because it withdraws invisibly; and it is called the fugitive servant and the walking spirit, because in the world there is no other spirit except it, nor anything that works, except through it, because it is airy, which is the sign of perfection.

He who knows the salts and their solution, and their coagulation, knows the hidden secret of the wise. It indeed whitens bodies and cleanses them and dissolves them; but it coagulates and retains the spirits, and drives away the burning of fire. Without it the Elixir cannot be completed, nor dissolved, nor enter into bodies or spirits.

The Mule and the Green Lion are the same thing. It is the water of life, which proceeds from the greater Stone, and in some way is called oil. Our water is indeed oil. Bronze is every hot and moist thing; and therefore, in place of it, blood is designated as fire.

Oil is the tincture of the Stone, with which its body is imbibed, from which came forth that which is permanent water.

One thing whitens and reddens inwardly and outwardly by gentle decoction.

The white and the red proceed from one root; with no body of another kind intervening, they spring forth.

It is not necessary to use anything else in the mixture, grinding, and in the whole regimen, except that single permanent water alone.

The philosophical solution is the reduction into the first matter from which it was in the beginning.

From the Father proceeds the Son, and from both the Holy Spirit.

In the four elements is hidden the secret of the Philosophers; of these two, namely earth and water, are seen in appearance, but the other two, namely fire and air, are not seen nor touched.

In this art there is rather vision than scripture that must be sought. Look back to the latent spirit, and do not despise it, because with it there remains a great, many-sided treasury.

Unless there is ferment, the whole mass of water will not be coagulated. And so they say that the root of the work is earth and water: because in the earth there is ferment, and in the water a certain water.

O admirable nature of the sharpest vinegar, which makes gold to be a mere spirit, and in it to be contained the tincture of all the seven metals!

This Stone, which we seek, is openly sold for the lowest price. If men knew it, they would not sell it at a low price, as they do.

And although ours is vile, yet there is in it a most precious thing, namely, the tinging spirit, which is hidden and concealed in its body, and invisible, just like the soul in the human body.

It is not precious without the vile, nor vile without the precious. And that Stone is ground with its water until it drinks all that moisture.

And if the common people knew this vilest thing, they would judge it a medicine; and if they knew its power, they would not tread it underfoot as vile. Therefore the Philosophers never call it by its own proper name, except by figures, or properties, or accidents.

For soul, body, and spirit are together, and are one thing, having in itself everything, to which nothing is added, nor is any foreign thing introduced.

By one thing, and by one way, and by one disposition, the whole magistery is completed.

For the Philosophers report that the poor possess it as much as the rich. Concerning this I heard the Philosopher saying: Know that the foundation of this art, because of which many have perished, is one thing, which is stronger in tinctures, and more sublime among the Philosophers; but among the unwise it is viler than all things, though we Philosophers venerate it.

Woe to you, unwise men, who have ignored the beginning of this art, for which you die. I swear to you that if kings and princes knew it, none of you would ever come to it.

Socrates: The male receives from the female the tinging spirit.

Lilium: If you find impalpable water and powder, it is good.

Alchemy is a corporeal substance, composed from one thing and through one thing. Our matter contains in itself the essence of all the seven metals; and in it is the tinging spirit which we seek, by which we may tinge any body and bring it to its natural completion, namely to Sun and Moon.

Extract from the root of the Sun its shadow, that is, its earthiness. It is called Magnesia, because in it lies hidden the great secret.

The hidden and covered spirit is homogeneous in that noble member; without it our magistery is not perfected.

Raymund, in the Codicil, chapter 48: the white water is for whitening, and the red for reddening. Yet do not think that the red water is red in appearance, but white, carrying within its belly the power of reddening, hidden, and not seen in appearance.

Wash water with water. Therefore, when you have distilled waters through waters, preserve the white for the white, the red for the red.

In the aforesaid chapter: its retainer is water, with which the soul is extracted; and this is fire, little by little, with gentle ignition, defending it from burning. And water is the spirit which in its own belly draws the soul from bodies.

Chapter 54: between sulphur and quicksilver there is no difference. Therefore join the thickness of the Sun with the earth of the Moon, after its extraction, and prepare them together because of their good commixture, so that one may tinge the other, lest it be burned upon the conflict of fire.

But their operation is nothing else than that it naturally receive a greater moisture than it lost in calcination.

Chapter 65. Matrix, or earth, is properly called the vessel of nature, retaining the formative virtue of the Stone, into which the natural heat of the Stone is poured; this is the formative virtue going forth from the vessel through the fifth spirit. For this reason it is called matrix or nurse, as conferring the natural virtue of sulphur and nourishing it.

Chapter 66. Vincentius. Nothing else profits you except from vapor and sublimation. For when you see the watery natures, purified by the heat of fire, and the whole body of magnesia liquefied into water, then all things have been made vapor. But by right, the vapor then contains its own equal.

Wherefore they named each moist thing “vapor,” because one is inwardly converted into the other by decoction.

The spirit never dies, because there is nothing that conquers it and corrupts it; rather, it vivifies body and soul, and therefore nature rejoices in nature, etc.

For this extracts life, which it does not have from itself, that is, the soul from generation; and thus what is within it sends outward, and what is outside it sends inward. And so from its belly the flowers are extracted, and it makes itself germinate.

Therefore it cleanses inwardly and outwardly, until the red, namely the natural red, or the red hidden in the body, is turned into white in the first part of the work; and the white is turned into red, not hidden, in the second part of the work.

This is that nature by which the body is turned into spirit; and without it you cannot extract the most subtle and tinging soul, which is hidden in its belly, unless the body is destroyed until it dies, and from it its soul is extracted, which is the tinging spirit. And by no means can you tinge with that body, because the body does not tinge unless it is tinged.

Raymund, chapter 67 of the Codicil: just as quicksilver, conquering sulphur by its own property, draws to itself its contrary by operation namely the sulphur of the body overcome by conversion of it into quicksilver so, by the contrary operation, sulphur by its own property must overcome quicksilver and convert it, by reducing it into itself.

Raymund, chapter 39: ablution is made by distilling this water seven times by itself, without any addition, one time after another, with burial in dung interposed. Therefore distill it seven times by itself, that is, by mixing, and it will be excellently stripped of its impurities.

This, however, is the water of life, virgin’s milk, recrudesced blood, whitened menstrual fluid, nourishment of the infant, food of the heart, water of birth, venom of the living, food of the dead, the quicksilver of the Philosophers, purified from its earthly filth by sublimation, according to the principal material principle of the second kind in our magistery, for creating the strengthening Stone of Laton, or of bronze, which is called earth; and the material principle of the second kind, the first and dissolving head of the dragon, and the medium of tinctures, making conjunction, or marriage between body and spirit.

Hence Paganus says: he who understands quicksilver thus extracted from bodies, and knows how to mix it and make it friendly with bodies, knows one of the greatest secrets of nature, and the principal way of perfection.

But when he says, “he who knows how to mix it with bodies,” it is as if he said that nothing is accomplished without the conjunction of this magistery, etc.

From this it is clear that our quicksilver is not the common quicksilver, nor that prepared by vulgar sublimations, but rather created from one single substance, slimy and vile, by one single way, suitable to our natural magistery.

Nevertheless, do not think that from that quicksilver alone, without some magistery, you can draw out the Stone, because by itself it would never come to ultimate perfection.

Hence the same Paganus says: and we humbly testify by our experiments that, manifestly, when it is mixed that is, with the body, or with its sulphurous earth it is perfected; and without it the magistery would be prolonged even to desperation. Therefore you should strive to overcome Mercury in the mixture.

Hence Hermes, as the principal inventor in this magistery, with clear truth, faithfully declared to his posterity and successors by revealing it, when he openly said: its nurse is the earth.

For by this he confesses that in it the whole virtue of the Stone is not truly integrated unless the quicksilver has been brought down into that same earth. And therefore he adds: when it ascends from earth into heaven, and again descends from heaven into earth, it receives the power and virtue of the superior and the inferior, that is, the whole virtue, when it has been turned into its own earth.

But others have called this earth the Green Lion, strong in battle.

Others call it the Dragon devouring and congealing, or mortifying its own tail: this is its quicksilver.

Others call it the desert place, because it is laid waste by its spirits.

Others call it venom, because it kills.

Others call it the tree bearing fruit.

Others call it the hidden hyle, because it is the foundation of the whole, and the subject of all metals.

Son, do not forget this earth, because the art always needs lime, that is, its own proper earth, in which the greatest mineral force is placed for hardening Mercury.

Hence Aristotle says: never fruit without a body.

Therefore, son, keep such water, distilled seven times, or such quicksilver, apart, well sealed.

The sign of its perfect sublimation is a transparent splendor, shining like the serenity of crystal; yet sometimes with white dregs, like crystal salt, which remain at the bottom after the seventh distillation. And therefore such quicksilver is very lean.

Therefore collect the dregs which it will make in its distillations, time after time, and put them back with the black and white earth collected in the first separation.

And as you did with the first water, so you will do with the second red water, always putting back the dregs with the aforesaid earth.

Arnald of Villanova sets a difference between the tincture of water and of oil: water only washes and cleanses; oil tinges and colors.

Example: if a cloth is dyed in water, when the cloth is dried, the water withdraws, and the color remains in its own color, in which it was, except that it is cleaner. But it is not so with oil; for if a cloth is dyed in it, it is not separated from it by fiery or airy heat. Unless the whole cloth is destroyed, it cannot separate the oil from itself, except by washing with water and by the dryness of fire.

Water, however, is the spirit extracting this soul from bodies.

But when the soul is extracted from those bodies, it remains invisibly carried in that spirit, just as the tincture of dyers is carried by water over cloth. Then the water withdraws by drying, and the tincture of the bronze remains fixed in the cloth. And oil is generated in water, and water is the spirit in which the tincture of bronze is carried.

Raymund: Its retainer is water; with water the soul is extracted, which is fire, little by little, with slow burning, defending it from combustion. And water is the spirit which, in its belly, draws the soul from bodies.

Raymund: For making the volatile fixed. For the volatile part is overcome by the fixed part, which is in that water. This is because of the strengthening which it receives from its lime over the volatile part, and because of the possibility which the water receives by ascending and reducing from the qualities of the lime against the volatile virtue.

And thus, through our lime, the spirit is transmuted into its contrary. That is: if from the fixed the volatile must be made, the operation of that fixed thing is to dissolve into what is not fixed; and, according to nature, the unfixed draws the fixed to something similar to itself.

Note: if the colors are understood, the reduction is the mutation of the Stone.

Then quicksilver begins to be converted or changed which is the same thing and in the first change the principal colors must be expected, namely blackness, when, that is, the moist begins to be retained and brought to its limit.

But after the whiteness, which comes from the part of dryness of that black, dried but not fixed dross, which is in the matter of moisture, you must therefore expect slow decoctions, lest the blackness perish, until it is made by long decoction. The sign of this is when you see a shining and radiant whiteness.

Otherwise, if you make the fire too great, especially at the beginning of its mixture, there will come corruption in the tincture which it produces, and the composite will become black and white. Its sign will be when you see the redness of the Sun appear.

Therefore observe diligently that the work does not redden before blackness, and that the tincture does not perish through combustion.

But if this happens may it be absent quickly run to correct or repair your error and your ignorance by decocting all things together in white water, in strict proportion, namely by way of reduction, continuing thus as at first, until it has been turned into blackness.

In this way you will do similarly if it reddens before whiteness. For this reason I say, advising the artificer, when it is in its reduction, and especially at the beginning of it, not to neglect the decoction of inhumation, because this is what removes combustion and restores the lost moisture.

Let the prudent artificer take care, when in the work of reduction, to observe whatever signs appear in any decoction, and, remembering the principal colors, which are demonstrative signs, let him store them in his mind, investigate their causes, and understand them. Thus he will know how to regulate his understanding by the signs which nature herself shows for making and continuing the decoctions according to their proper motions, which nature requires.

It must be noted that the virtues of the media of art, which are fermented by reason of vinegar, must operate upon the virtues of the media of nature.

The media of nature are all atraments, salts, and alums. But the media of art are distilled vinegar, or Azoth, oils, and stones.

Yet vinegar holds the nature of a medium between the cooked and the raw. And therefore it has greater virtue in dissolving bodies than common mercury, because in the said vinegar there is a sharp, hot, and penetrating smoke.

And the Stone is a medium between vinegar and oil. Therefore it penetrates more than vinegar, and dissolves, and putrefies; and consequently it makes a greater action. And through it we cleanse the ferment, and with this its mineral virtue is multiplied.

This is clear: if a little sulphur is projected upon much of the body, so that it has power over it, it will quickly convert it into calcined powder, because of its multiplied virtue.

But oil is the extreme, and the food by which the Stone is matured, saturated, and multiplied.

And note that the more you proceed through successive media, the more you will receive those things of greater action and virtue.

Preparation of the earth for the red.

Raymund, chapter 72. When quicksilver is joined with quicksilver, they are never separated any more, just as neither is water mixed with water.

Therefore join the masculine sperm, that is, the hidden red sulphur dissolved in water, with the feminine sperm collected above in the manner of white sulphur, by way of grinding, imbibition, and slow decoction, until it is dissolved into red water, and the whole becomes one by the truest decoction and mixture.

Title 45. When the water is rectified by fire, it will convert it into the bronze of its attraction. But when the water has been distilled through water in such a manner, air and fire will remain at the bottom.

Such is the separation of fire from earth by the first dissolution, which we call liquefaction. And earth, with earth, will give its moisture; and fire with fire: each by itself will give its sharpness, and will excel in its rectifications.

O son, how beautiful and useful a magistery is the separation of the elements, and the hunting of the Lion by the benefit of human discretion and ingenuity, under the preservation of its property from fire! Its sign is this: when it is carried in the belly of the wind, it does not redden properly until it is completed.

Therefore air is for the white; and air and fire are for the red. In these is the greater tincture; they are extracted from the two dry substances of the Stone.

Therefore in the washing of the fire, what ascends from it is red oil, although it appears white to the eyes.

But what is oil from the earth, that is precious, most precious. Hence understand the first principle to be converted into four, because the completion is 4 and 8.

Therefore, when you have distilled waters through waters, distill air with fire: the white to the white, the red to the red.

The tincture of fire is always hidden in the belly of the air, so that it is not seen by the eyes.

But if you calcine the body further without moisture, it will be reddened, and the property of the sulphur will be burned, since it has no retainer to carry it away in its belly and defend it from burning. But by adding from its own moisture little by little, it defends it from combustion.

Do not think that the red water is red in appearance, but white, carrying the power of reddening hidden in the belly of the air.

Raymund in the Codicil: the work of the magistery is nothing except solution and congelation.

Let the Stone be taken, and by grinding it, imbibing it with one and a half parts of itself, afterwards cook it in a gentle fire until that part has been congealed into a stony substance.

Afterwards strengthen the fire little by little, until whatever had gone out resolved from it is sublimed, both from the dry water of sulphur and from the moist quicksilver.

Then again, whatever has gone out sublimed, reduce it upon its dregs, grinding and imbibing with the said spirit, which abounds more with exuberant moisture. And repeat these imbibitions with dewy decoction, coagulation, and sublimation, with their successive fires, diligently continuing until, through continual sublimation and repetition of non-inflammable spirits upon the dregs, the whole is fixed below.

Then make the fire beneath it strong for one natural day, then stronger, and afterwards strongest, such as the fire of melting.

For it is necessary to purify the matter of the metal strongly from its phlegm, and to cook the crude thing by the strongest fire, until it is melted into a crystalline plate. Then take the smoke from the crystalline plate, which you will find fixed at the bottom of the vessel, and place it in a small crucible over a gentle fire, with its final ceration, with its aforesaid white bronze, dropping drop by drop from above, using careful prudence, and diligently observing until it melts like wax without smoke.

And then the priceless price is completed, and an incomparable treasure. And then with it you may make projection for the white and for the red, for any white element. Add red, because in the red Elixir fire is added further, which subtilizes the whole; that is the final secret in nature, and it is sublimed like a spirit.

Therefore you see that nature draws only a little, and converts it; and this according to the quantity of Mercury. But what is drawn more deeply into the depth of nature is separated more slowly. And therefore what is separated more slowly, more deeply from the moist, always draws something from the thing; that is, from the mercurial matter altered in its nature by the present rotation.

And what is drawn out from it, or from that moist, is the most subtle dry thing bound with the moist, so that neither leaves the other behind in its successive distillations. And then the whole is called vapor, in which the dry has been converted with the sulphur, because then in that power the elements are mixed.

But when the dry elements have thus been rotated in the moist through many circulations of the whole world, then, after other circulations made by means of reduction, the moist elements are again rotated into the dry.

And the more these two wheels are repeated, the more the earth, or Stone, is purified from the impure earthy sulphur foreign to itself, which came from the original stain.

And understand well that the tincture of the menstruum is separated from its earthy, gross, feculent part by slow distillations, and is carried in the water of Mercury.

Therefore beware lest the work redden before blackness, and lest the tincture be concreted, which must be carried and hidden in the belly of Mercury; because Mercury is the earth of the tincture, very substantial in its own proper nature, in which both the fire of the Sun and of Mercury are retained.

Remember, therefore, when you saw the fire in Mercury, and the dregs were black. From this it appears that the work never becomes black until the tincture is extracted from the earth by gentle distillations and carried into the belly of Mercury.

And that fire is that property which you must preserve with all your strength from combustion, namely the tincture of sulphur, with which Mercury must be sublimed, because it is his first male, and also the addition of our tincture, which is a great addition in virtue and power when it is joined with the tincture of the Sun.

Moreover, if you know how to extract the property of Mercury from glass and salt, and make it friendly to itself by conjunction, which is done by slow sublimations, you will not be ignorant of one of the greatest secrets of nature, and the principal way of perfection.

He who knows how to convert the elements to their first origin knows the beginning of the art.

Make peace between water and fire, by subliming and dissolving the water.

When the head of the alembic is cold, all the water has been distilled.

Our soul is gathered from smokes, and is carried in the belly of the air. It ascends from earth into fire, and again it will penetrate into earth.

Verse.

No special mineral virtue is there,
but such as is found everywhere locally.

Albertus Magnus: Within seven days it will be like butter melting down the sides of the vessel, if you have worked well; otherwise you labor to no purpose.

First put your matter in the alembic, and first water will go forth in smoke, that is, spirit.

Secondly, oil in liquor, that is, soul.

Thirdly, what remains in the vessel is earthy, and is the true body.

From these three, therefore spirit, soul, and body cooked in such a way that they can be mixed and joined, the Elixir is made.

Likewise others say: sulphur and quicksilver, if someone makes them fusible, the Elixir is made.

Metallic bodies, since they are natural, are works of nature. But human works are artificial, and not natural. Hence the components of individual metals are determined in quantity, but mortals do not know that conjunction, and they cannot know that composition.

Likewise, the place of their birth is the bosom of the earth, and the place of the animal fetus is the belly. And just as an animal fetus is not made except in the belly of an animal, so neither are metals made except in the bosom of the earth.

Likewise, metals have a determined time in which they are made; but this is hidden from all, is unknown to all. And it is necessary to be ignorant of these things in making them.

Likewise, metals differ in species, just as man and ass do. And just as an ass does not come from a man, so from metals other metals are not made.

Likewise, according to Aristotle: let the artificers of Alchemy know that the species of nature cannot be changed; but they can make things similar to them, as to tinge white with a red or citrine color, so that it may seem to be gold; and also to wash away the impurity of lead, so that it may seem to be silver. Nevertheless it will always be lead. But it obtains in itself qualities of this kind, etc.

By our experiments in our times, Luna was perfected in such a way that it awaited in cement all examinations or tests of gold, and had true weight, and everything that is included in most true gold.

We have also seen in our times a great Elixir perfect Mercury into true Luna.

And also against those who say that man cannot make one genus from another genus. For if someone places horse dung where its heat touches it, from it proceed animals which they call albates. Moreover, if someone puts the spine of a fish into sour milk, and it remains there for a month, he will find it full of worms, which are called centipedes. And thus from a non-living thing he draws forth a living thing.

The reasoning of Aristotle can be understood otherwise, when he says that species cannot be changed. I say that it is true: species considered in common can in no way be changed from one species into another species. In this way his reasoning has its place. But mineral species, namely species contained under that common reasoning, I say can indeed be changed into other species.

For if someone puts the crumb of wheat bread in a glass vessel under the dung of the earth, it will be changed into another species, namely into the fruit of flesh.

And if someone places the hair of a horse’s tail in water, it is turned into a living thing, namely into a serpent, etc.

This art is to be preferred to the others, since in it there is little expense, little labor, a short time, and great profit.

And therefore do not despair if you are deceived once or twice, because the Philosopher says thus: he who is not saddened is not made glad; he who does not err does not arrive; he who does not corrupt does not amend. Thus you will succeed.

Feed a hen with human blood; hide its egg in a glass vessel under dung, from which worms are born by putrefaction. Again feed it with human blood; but keep that one which has killed and slain the others.

Pour gold mixed with living silver upon it; and when it has been burned, the drop of gold which remains will be called the Elixir.

Let the searchers of alchemy know and rejoice that one species cannot be changed into another; and it must be understood that they can change, or reduce, the imperfect to the perfect, because by medicine they can reduce living silver to Sun or Moon; and thus from other imperfect bodies they can reduce them to perfect bodies.

Note that in soap, that is, in the soap of the wise, consists the root of the whole art of alchemy, and the principal and most profound key, which both closes and opens; and without it there is no author who could come to the perfection of the aforesaid blessed Stone of the Philosophers.

And unless you have mineral salt after its preparation, they must calcine it, and it must be in a temperate place for fifteen days, so that the heat of the fire and the smokiness may freely evaporate.

Note: these things which are set down in the Mirror of Alchemy, according to Brother Vincentius, have been extracted from the book On Alums and Salts, concerning its operation in alchemy.

God also, the Most High and glorious, has not praised any creature in the Law as He has salt, as its place is in salt. Therefore he who knows salt, and its solution, and its coagulation, knows the hidden secret of the wise, that is, of the alchemists.

This indeed whitens bodies, and cleanses and dissolves them; but sometimes it coagulates and retains spirits, and prevents the burning of fire from them. Without it the Elixir cannot be completed, nor dissolved, nor enter into bodies or spirits.

Note that if the Stone is congealed in the hot and dry, it will be obscure; and if in the hot and moist, it will be clear and almost transparent.

Note that mercury is viscous water in the bowels of the white earth, through most temperate heat, in its mine; and it is equally mixed with all things on a flat surface because of the watery quality which it has, not resting.

It has a viscous substance because of its sulphureity, which holds it back and does not permit it to adhere. And it is the matter of all metals with sulphur, namely the red Stone, from which it is extracted.

Quicksilver is found in great quantity in mountains, especially in old sewers. Its nature is cold and moist, and it is the fountain and origin of all metals. From it all things are begotten; and it is mixed and made friendly with all metals, and without it no metal is generated.

Note that sulphur is the fatness of the earth, and the ore of the earth, thickened by temperate decoction. It has a very strong operation, and is of uniform substance in its parts; and therefore oil is not taken from it by distillation, but by sharp waters, by decocting them in it.

It also coagulates Mercury according to its perfection or imperfection into perfect or imperfect bodies, according as the sulphur is clean or unclean.

Put the matter in a wide and long vessel, and close its mouth; yet let it have in the middle a small opening, in the manner of a little quill, so that it may be able to breathe. And place it upon the furnace among the ashes.

Let the matter of the Stone be one pound; and every day it must be looked at once, because of the colors appearing, and because of the heat and the decrease of the water. Thus you can see the colors appearing.

And when the water is diminished, pour in other water, with great care, so that cold water does not touch the hot glass, lest it break; or hot water touch cold glass. Therefore it is better in an earthen vessel well glazed.

The wise have called it the vinegar of the Philosophers, the water of life, corrosive water, virgin’s milk. For it wishes to be converted into a milky color with the mixture of its own proper nature, and afterwards to be brought back again into a crystalline color.

This, however, is distilled seven times; and then it will be clean and pure, and fully rectified with its water.

Note that the white color is completed through the hot and moist, and the red color through the hot and dry.

Aristotle: God placed in this art three principal keys: the first is water; the second is unguent, the third is putrid dung.

From the water you will remove the smoke; from the unguent, the blackness. And from the dung it is called dead earth without remedy; and afterwards you will revive it through dissolution and congelation, etc.

Note carefully that it is not necessary to use any other thing in the mixture, grinding, and in the whole regimen, except this one permanent water alone.

The sign of the perfection of the medicine is that you see it clear like water, and like a naked sword; and that within it you can clearly see your face, as in a mirror.

Geber, On the Investigation of Truth: the efficacy of this work consists in purging the Stone from its unguents and from other things which have efficacy and virtue over it. And because of those infirmities which the Stone has, those long operations are necessary which are spoken of concerning it. For if the Stone were purged and clean by itself, it would tinge and perform its works.

We also say that we must grind the Stone with quicksilver, which is extracted from that Stone itself; and then the weak mixture will be completed with it, after grinding with water.

The water and the unguent will ascend over the water; then it gathers it together. And whether it has been little or much, it will do the work you wish; and it will be congealed by itself, and will become red or black. If it is red outside, it is white within.

John the Englishman: from both luminaries there must be chosen that which is homogeneous and slimy, for without it our work is not perfected.

Rosarius: gold does not tinge unless its hidden spirit is extracted, and becomes wholly spiritual; and this is done through our vinegar.

Hence the Rosary says: O admirable nature of vinegar, which makes gold to be a mere spirit.

Hortulanus: when gold has been made spiritual, and flees from the fire like Mercury, then it has tincture without number.

The Codicil of Raymund: from the blessed blackness, known by few, is extracted the kindly spirit, conquering and overcoming the battle of fire.

John the Englishman: concerning the black earth: by whitening it, you have the whole magistery.

FINIS.