This systematic table of alchemical operations and apparatus is found in Athanasius Kircher, Mundus Subterraneus... Amsterdam, 1665. Tomus II., page 260.
Chymia is engaged about :
Equipment
Place
Furnaces
OPEN
Proving
Bellows
COVERED
Simple
Calcining
Cementing
Reverberating
Dissolving
Ascending
by the dry way
in a flask
in a sand bath
by the wet way
in a water bath
Descending
Compound
Athanor
With auxiliary furnaces
Vessels
HEATED
made from special materials
Glass
Phials
Circulating vessels
Pelicans
Double pelicans
Philosophers Egg
Mineral
Metal
Subtiliation
in flasks
in boiling vessels
Fusion
Moulds
Casting cones
Earthenware
made only of earthenware
for fusion
Ash cupels
Crucibles
not for fusion
cementation box
containing another vessel
sand bath
muffle furnace
made from any materials
Superior alembic
closed alembic for cooking
alembic with a beak
Inferior alembic
Cucurbites
Retorts
NOT HEATED
for storing
Receptacles
Dishes
for transferring
Funnels
Separating funnels
Instruments
Instruments for use in the fire
Always necessary
thin items
gridiron
iron rod or poker
thick item
shovel
optional
wooden
dyoptra (for protecting the eyes against the fire)
metallic
iron plate
Mortar
Sources of heat
Natural rays of the Sun
Artificial
simple
for digesting
Athanor
Dung-bath
for separating
gently
Ash-bath
fiercely
indirect
Sand-bath
Bath of iron filings
directly
Coal fire
flames
mixed bath
of sea water
of dew
Operations
Solution
Calcination
Corrosion
by vapours
by immersion
in the wet way
by Amalgamation
by Precipitation
in the dry way
by Cementatio
by Commixtion
Ignition
by Combustion
by Reverberation
by Incineration
by Vitrification
Dissolution
SUBTILIATION
by operations of short duration
by Elevation
in the dry way
Sublimation
in the wet way
directly
in an Alembic
in a bladder
obliquely
through a side Retort
by Descension
by heat
by cold
Deliquium
Filtration
by operations of long duration
Exaltation
by Circulation
by Ablution
Digestion
by Putrefaction
by Imbibition
by Cohobation
by Coration
by Extraction
LIQUEFACTION
simple
proving
through Cineritium (ashes)
through Antimony
Coagulation
by cold
by heating
Quote of the Day
“ Put therefore the perfect bodies of metals, to wit, sol and luna, into our water in a vessel, hermetically sealed, upon a gentle fire, and digest continually, till they are perfectly resolved into a most precious oil. Saith Adfar, digest with a gentle fire, as it were for the hatching of chickens, so long till the bodies are dissolved, and their perfectly conjoined tincture is extracted, mark this well. But it is not extracted all at once, but it is drawn out by little and little, day by day, and hour by hour, till after a long time, the solution thereof is completed, and that which is dissolved always swims atop. And while this dissolution is in hand, let the fire be gentle and continual, till the bodies are dissolved into a viscous and most subtile water, and the whole tincture be educed, in color first black, which is the sign of a true dissolution.”
Artephius
The Secret Book of Artephius
Alchemical Books
Audio Books
Total visits