ON THE PHILOSOPHERS’ STONE,
or,
THE PHYSICAL TINCTURE.

De Lapide Philosophorum sive Tinctura Physica

An unheard-of philosophical process.

1723

Hadrianus from Mynsicht




Translated to English from the book:
Hadriani a Mynsicht ... Thesaurus [et] armamentarium medico-Chymicum ... cui in fine adjunctum est testamentum Hadrianeum de Aureo Philosophorum Lapide ... Auctarium Andrea Battimelli, Corollarium Hieronymi Piperi ... nunc demum Praelectiones chymicae in quibus omnes ferè operationes chymicae ad veraprincipia ... a Joanne Freind ...

Let there be highly rectified spirit of wine, which by repeated sublimations so lays aside its phlegm, that it becomes wholly combustible, sulphureous, and volatile true alcohol and so fleeting that a drop poured out does not touch the earth, but vanishes into the air; and this shall be our first menstruum (solvent).

Then take mercury revived from cinnabar, in the usual manner through the retort (“the horned vessel”), and you will have mercury most pure free from every stain, impurity, and adulteration.

Take the said revived mercury, which you shall further cleanse with salt and distilled vinegar, in a glass vessel continually disturb it and shake it vigorously, so that the vinegar is stained with a black “mask.” Pour it off, and pour on fresh vinegar, and repeat this as many times until it no longer blackens. Then you will notice the mercury glittering strongly like lightning which will be a proof for our work that the mercury is of the best kind.

Then take four parts of this mercury thus treated, and eight parts of “meteorized” mercury (prepared by my own hand), and mix them together in a fiery mortar with a wooden pestle, until no grain of living (fluid) mercury appears any longer something you will readily achieve by holding and mixing it well.

Afterwards put this mixture into an aludel, and commit it to a sand heat; apply a moderate fire for sublimation, which you increase little by little, until the whole matter is meteorized. Gather this neatly, and repeat just as you did before meteorize it five times. Then you will possess a sublimate that is exceedingly nectareous and crystalline.

This is our salt, the salt of the wise, which works wonders. Grind it in a wooden mortar and reduce it to a fine powder; put it into a glass cucurbit, pour over it (to the height of two or three finger-breadths) our igneous spirit prepared above; seal it hermetically, and digest it in a very gentle heat for 74 hours, moving and shaking it a few times each day. When this time is completed, distil with a slow fire, and it will “belch forth” (come over) the spirit of wine together with a mercurial spirit. Keep this in a vessel well closed, lest it exhale.

Upon the remaining salt, pour again our igneous spirit; seal it as above, digest, distil, and keep it and repeat this as many times as necessary, until our salt is totally dissolved, and has ascended through the alembic together with our igneous spirit.

Now you have completed the Great Work: now our mercury has been made partly volatile, and now it will gradually be fit to receive the tincture of the Sun or of the Moon. Truly you have accomplished a great work: therefore render immense thanks to God, who has brought forth this marvelous work thus far.

Now you see that this work is wholly natural and partly artificial. Nor do we describe this Great Work to you wrapped in Cimmerian darkness, but clear as the sun, as our Ancients taught us by parables, hieroglyphic fables, and riddles.

Therefore, when all these operations have been completed in every respect, take our Mercurial spirit, the igneous spirit, which in its belly hides our magical steel; and place it in a glass retort, to which you fit a receiver, close the joints well, and with a very gentle fire draw off the spirit’s igneous power; and there will remain at the bottom of the vessel the Quintessence of Mercury, or the Soul of Mercury, which with a stronger fire drive through the retort, so that it becomes plainly volatile, as all the philosophers say:

If you would fix the volatile, you must make it fly;
and if you would fix what flies, you must make it live.

This is our Moon, our fountain, in which the King and Queen bathe. Keep this precious Mercurial Quintessence, now wholly volatile, in a well-closed vessel for further use.

Now let us proceed to the operation upon common gold, which we communicate without deceit, without circumlocutions of words, and without envy so that from common gold we may have our Philosophic gold, just as from common mercury we have prepared the mercury of the philosophers by means of our philosophical operation.

Therefore, in the name of the Lord, take common gold; purify it in the usual way by antimony, and convert it into grains, which are washed with salt and vinegar, and thus will be very pure. Then take one part of this gold, and pour upon it three parts of our Quintessence (that is, the Soul of Mercury) as the philosophers count, namely from seven up to ten; so we also count; and thus that is our philosophical number. Therefore we begin from three and one: let them be married together, as bridegroom with bride, for the begetting of offspring of their kind; and by means of our philosophic heat you will see the gold of the common sort sublimated and plainly melted into delight (i.e., perfectly united), since it is of their kind; and gold has its origin from this fountain; therefore the mother is the same as the father; and by reason of this marvelous fountain, common gold is converted into our gold, which no philosopher has hitherto disclosed.

Now the marriage is consummated: now concerning the two and it has been made one; thus the philosophic sulphur is ready at hand; and, as the philosophers say, “When the sulphur is set free, the Stone is at hand.” Rejoice, and exult, because you possess the Attalic treasure, and meanwhile pray to God that He may bless your undertakings further, so that what you have begun may succeed more and more to this day.

Therefore, in God’s name, take our philosophical vessel, in which the King and Queen are embraced as in a bridal chamber, and place it in our philosophical bath, and leave it there until the water has become earth; then peace has been made between water and fire; now the elements have no more contrariety, because when the elements have been converted into earth, they are no longer contrary, since in earth all the elements rest. For the philosophers say: When you see water coagulate, know that your science is true, and your operations are truly philosophical.

The common gold is now no longer common, but ours philosophic by reason of our operations: first it is made most fixed, then most volatile, and finally most fixed again; and upon the conversion of the elements the whole science depends. At first gold was a metal; now it is sulphur, able to convert all metals into its own sulphur. Now our tincture has become entirely sulphur, which has the power to change all diseases into pristine health. This is our most universal medicine against even the most grievous diseases of the human body. Therefore render infinite thanks to Almighty God for all these things which He has bestowed upon us; and you when you have attained it take care that you do not forget the poor, lest your God forget you.

In this our Great Work two methods are desired: one of fermenting, and one of multiplying; without these, those who are not warmed to these matters will not easily attain the artifice of the work.

And therefore the method of fermenting is as follows. Take one part of our aforesaid sulphur, and throw upon it three parts of the purest gold in a crucible upon the fire, and in a moment you will see the gold, by the power of the sulphur, converted into a red sulphur of gold, of an inferior quality to the first sulphur. Of this take again one part, and again cast it upon three parts of molten gold, and it will again be converted into sulphur, or a brittle mass; of this again take one part upon three parts of gold, and you will have a metal that is malleable and extensible. If you find it so, it is good; otherwise add another sulphur, and again it will pass into sulphur: then the sulphur will have been sufficiently fermented thus our medicine has returned to a metallic nature.

The method of projecting will be as follows: take one part of this fermented sulphur, and cast it upon ten parts of living mercury heated in a crucible, and you will have a perfect metal. If it is not sufficiently colored, melt it again, and add more fermented sulphur, and thus it will be colored. If it turns out brittle, add a sufficient portion of molten living mercury, and it will be complete in every respect.

Now you have here a universal medicine, described by me so much for health: for driving out whatever diseases of the human body, and for producing life; and also for transmuting metals into the most perfect gold.

Therefore give infinite thanks to Almighty God, who, having pity on human calamities, has at last revealed to us in this our age this inexhaustible treasure, and we have laid it open for the common benefit. Above all, for the bounty of so great a gift, do not fall away from his favor; otherwise, if you do so, you will end without gold a “Midas-goldless” man.

The End