TRACTATUS AVICENNAE.

I divide this book into eight chapters or parts.

In the first chapter I will speak of Mercury and its nature, and also of the sulfur contained within it.
In the second I will speak of the nature of perfect bodies, and their sulfur.
In the third I will speak of the conjunction of body and spirit and the dissolution of the stone into the first matter.
In the fourth I will speak of the extraction of water from the earth.
In the fifth I will speak of the foundation or also fusion over its own earth.
In the sixth I will speak of the method of sublimation of the earth.
In the seventh I will speak of the multiplication and fixation of the stone.
In the eighth and last chapter I will speak of the method of projecting the medicine and tinting any metal into gold and silver.

Chapter I

Quicksilver is cold and moist, and God created all minerals from it, and it is aerial and fugitive of fire. But when it has stood in fire a little, it smells bad, it does wondrous works alien to itself.

Side Notes: Effect of our Mercury.

And it is only the living spirit, and in the world, there is none such as it is, that can work such things as those performed through it. And it enters every body, penetrates, lifts, and exceeds.
It is the ferment of the bodies with which it is mixed, and then the whole will be elixir for whiteness and redness. It is the perennial water, the water of life and the milk of the virgin, a son and alum by drinking which one does not die. When it is alive it has certain effects, when dead it has others, and when dissolved it has the greatest effects.

Side Notes: Ferment according to the manner.

It is a lustful serpent impregnating itself, giving birth in one day, killing all with its poison, fleeing from fire. But the wise make it behold the fire, and then it works works and changes, because just as it is changed it changes, and just as it is dyed it dyes, and just as it coagulates it coagulates; therefore among all minerals quicksilver is to be preferred and generation.

Side Notes: Where our Mercury is found

For it is found in all minerals, and it has a symbol with all. It is of earthly and moderate nature, and watery or living oil, very subtle moderately, and very subtle spirit; from earthly water, having weight and downward motion, brightness, fluidity, and silver color. For it comes out of the earth and returns into the earth, defending itself by nodding, and continues again in moisture from heat, and with the spirit extinguished it is fixed, and is mixed with all minerals, and whoever possesses it will firmly adhere, whence it is called the mother of minerals. But quicksilver apparently has a dense substance, like a unicorn because of the heaviness of its immense weight, since gold prevails while it is in its nature. And it is the strongest of composition and uniform nature, because it is not separated from itself, nor does it allow itself to be divided into parts in any way.
Because it either departs with all its substance from fire, or it remains in it in fire.

In it necessarily is the cause of perfection, because it alone suffices to the manner of perfection in every degree, namely with ignition, due to its good adherence and strength of its mixture. But when its parts are thickened by fire, it no longer allows itself to be corrupted, nor through the entry of fierce flame does it allow itself to be raised further, because

Side Notes: Sulfur causes burning.

It does not allow rarefaction of itself because of its density and lack of burning, which is made by the rarity of sulfur which it does not have.

Side Notes: Burning is removed.

But quicksilver in its works is clearly and perfectly saved from burning, and effective in fusion when fixed.

Side Notes: Provides fusion. The medium of tinctures.

Indeed, it is the tincture of redness, of the most abundant nourishment, of shining brightness, and it does not leave the mixture as long as it exists. For it is friendly and pleasing to metal, and a medium by which tinctures are joined, since it mixes with them in the smallest parts and naturally adheres to them at the bottom, because it is of their nature. However, when it is mixed with the moon (silver) it does so more easily, because by its nature it has participation in it.

Yet no metal is submerged in it except the sun (gold). And thus you have the greatest secret, because Mercury receives into itself what is of its own nature, but rejects what is foreign, since its nature rejoices more with its own nature than with what is foreign. From this it is clear that those things which contain more Mercury are of greater perfection, and those which contain less, less, since it holds a symbol in nature with minerals.

And God gave it substance and the property of substance, which in no other natural things is possible to possess, since it alone is that which overcomes fire, and is not overcome by it, but resting pleasantly rejoices in it. It alone, being metallic, contains all that we need for our art.

Therefore it is clear that quicksilver contains within itself its good sulfur, by which gold and silver are coagulated, according to the different mode of digestion.

On the nature of perfect bodies, that is of the sun and the moon and their sulfur.
Chapter II

Gold is the most perfect body, lord of stones, king and head of all others, which neither earth corrupts, nor burning things burn, nor is diminished in fire but is improved in it, because it is moistened by a certain humidity, and not even water alters it. Its constitution is tempered and its nature balanced in heat, cold, moisture, and dryness, and nothing superfluous or deficient is found in it.

It is created from the most subtle and clear substance of quicksilver, and from a small amount of pure and clean sulfur, fixed redness, clearly tincturing the very substance of quicksilver.

Gold is held to be the body and ferment of the white and red elixirs; neither is improved, perfected, or completed without it, and by no other, just as dough is fermented by no other than its own ferment.

Gold is a lasting body, remaining through the ages. Therefore, philosophers have preferred and magnified it, saying that gold behaves in bodies just as the sun in the stars. For the sun in its light and brightness germinates all vegetation and perfects all fruits.

Therefore Hermes says: True tincture is never made without the red stone.

Gold holds the first degree of nobility among all bodies, because it is most tempered due to the mixture and purification of sulfur and mercury, and it has much of the virtue of sulfur and little of its substance, and conversely much of the substance of mercury and little of its virtue. Because of this, in respect to mercury, it is heavy, and in respect to the virtue of sulfur, it is very red.

And because of the very strong compaction of sulfur and mercury in its lime, it is not so moist to the touch or oily like other bodies; therefore it does not leave black streaks like other metals when drawn over parchment.

But if silver or another metal is mixed with it, then it will make black streaks, because the oiliness of the mixed body tends to the surface and makes it whiten and moisten; and because the parts penetrate deeply to the center, it is heavier more than because of its quicksilver.

Lead, however, is heavier more because of its quicksilver than because of the consolidation of its parts weakly adhering to each other; and therefore it is the least sonorous among all bodies.

Gold, however, because of the strong and tenacious cohesion of its parts, is among all the most acute of sound.

Gold also is not burned by fire proportional to itself. For the strongest fire consumes all under the lunar globe. It is also not burned by those things which burn other bodies, such as sulfur or arsenic.

And craftsmen are accustomed to purify it to the highest brightness by using bricks and salt.

Silver has much of the substance of sulfur and little of its virtue, and little of the substance of mercury and much of its virtue; therefore it is white, because color follows the multitude of virtue, and virtue is located in vapor.

Its matter is nearer the matter of gold than any other metal; therefore it easily turns into gold.

It needs no other labor except to change color and add weight. Argent vive’s litharge is the best of all things for white tincture because its matter is near.

Silver is a perfect body, though less so than gold, and is lighter in weight than gold, and belongs to the parts of the moon; it corrupts in a moist place, and its taste is acidic, it is diminished in fire and burned by sulfurs. The inner parts of gold become the outer parts of silver, and its nature is cold and dry, and it receives tincture. Moreover, gold is a perfect and masculine body, without excess or diminution; if it were perfected only by liquefaction in the earth, it would be a red elixir mixed in its nature.

Silver, however, is a perfect feminine body. If it were perfected by perfect fusion, it would be a tincture for white or an elixir, which it is not, because they are only reduced in nature to perfect bodies. And if these perfect bodies were mixed with imperfect bodies, the imperfect would not thereby become perfect; rather their perfection would be diminished by the imperfect.

But if it is made more than perfect, twice, four times, a hundred times, or a thousand times, then the imperfect is perfected along with them, because nature simply always operates and perfection in them is simple and inseparable, unless perhaps it is driven into flight with the volatile, since the sum of the volatile exceeds the sum of the fixed body.

And since a perfect body from very pure quicksilver and from such red sulfur can be had for the red elixir, and similarly silver for the white elixir: therefore we choose these for our elixir, for our matter, because these two bodies are simply perfect, digested, and cooked by natural quality, strongly without any artful purification. Therefore, we can work with our artificial fire on them.

And although nature perfects something, nevertheless it only simply operates on what it has.

There is in bodies a double sulfur: one is from the substance of quicksilver, worn in them at the beginning of their mixture, which we call the supereminent.

The other is an external sulfur foreign to nature, which we call the corresponding.

And it must be noted very diligently that the conjunction of these two bodies is necessary in this art for white and red.

And there are two reasons, one of which is: since gold is the most noble among metals and more compact, perfect, and fixed, nevertheless if it dissolves and is separated into smallest parts, it becomes spiritual and flying, like Mercury, because of its heat; and then it has an infinite tincture, and this tincture is called the warm masculine sperm.

Side Notes: Feminine sperm

If silver is dissolved in warm water, it nevertheless remains fixed as before, and has little or no tincture, but it is ready to receive the tincture itself in the temperament of hot and cold, dry; therefore their conjunction is suitable.

There is also another reason, because although gold and silver are each difficult to fuse and liquefy by themselves, if joined they flow and liquefy more easily, as goldsmiths know, making consolidations of gold.

Wherefore, if in our stone there were only one of these two, never would any art flow easily from the medicine, nor give tincture. And if it gave tincture, it would only tint according to the quantity, because it would not be a receptacle of tincture.

Do not understand all this of the common moon, but of the philosophical sun and moon; one is called lunar and the other solar.

Therefore I advise that you work only with Mercury, sun, and moon, because all the benefit of this art consists in these three.

Of the conjunction of body and spirit, and the dissolution of the stone into the first matter.
Chapter III.

It is certain that every thing is from that into which it is dissolved. For ice is converted into water by heat. Therefore, it is clear that water existed before ice. But all metals are generated from Mercury, therefore they dissolve back into it.

The first rule of the stone is to dissolve it like coarse quicksilver, so that it is reduced to its first matter; this is all done through quicksilver, because it has the power to reduce the sun and moon to their nature and first matter. But since quicksilver contains sediment and adulteration without flame, and the substance of moisture, it is necessary to remove its excess and supply what is lacking, lest in projection the liquid create color, and likewise to remove its moisture, lest it cause the entire matter to flee in projection.

From its property is the power to preserve the substance of the medicine, not to burn but to fix, and to defend from burning; therefore from it is born Saturn, Jupiter, Venus, iron, etc., which necessarily arise from impurity.

It is to be noted that there are two kinds of first matter. One is proximate, the other remote: The proximate matter is quicksilver; the remote is water, because quicksilver was first water, and later quicksilver. The true beginning of our work is the dissolution of the stone, because dissolved bodies are reduced to the nature of spirit, being more fixed.

For the dissolution of the body is with the coagulation of the spirit. Therefore, be patient, boil, grind, and burn, and do not be weary to repeat this many times. Because as it imbibes, it softens by water. The more you grind, the more you soften, and the coarse parts become subtle until sufficient. And these parts are divided, when they are mixed with spirit, and all that is mixed is wholly dissolved. And the mixing is done with great rubbing, roasting, and fire; long endure the tied and viscous parts which are in bodies. But bodies dissolved and reduced to the nature of spirit are never separated, just as water mixed with water is not separated. For nature rejoices when bridegroom and bride are joined. Because the intention of our work is nothing else but that the purest substance of Mercury be chosen from impure bodies, since the elixir consists only of these.

The first mode of dissolution and nature is putrefaction. Yet there are many species of putrefaction and corruption. The first natural principle, therefore, is material sensitive matter, as I have said above.

Side notes: Signs of putrefaction.

According to heat moving the matter itself to putrefaction.
The signs of putrefaction are a black color, a foul odor, and the matter in touch is subtle and discontinuous, as if it were the first Mercury.

Because heat acting in moisture first generates blackness, which is the blackness of the raven, this is the chief of the work.

Side Notes: What the head of the raven is.

Also note that ingress, submersion, connection, conjunction, complexing, composition, and mixing all mean the same in this art. Nothing is submerged, joined, or connected without also being mixed. For mixing is the commingling of things through the smallest parts, that is, through indivisibles joined by union. Also know firmly that the entire strength of this mastery is only in putrefaction. For if it is not putrid, it cannot be dissolved or melted, and if it is not dissolved, it becomes nothing.

Also know that in every work there are three dimensions: width, height, and depth; and this is clearly seen in the body, which is subject to our force. For example: Our stone in its first creation is white and so it appears in the face, therefore we say it is cold and moist, because it is so. Hence we conclude that our stone is watery because it is cold and moist; the natural disposition is called the manifest body or height, but width is the middle disposition, through which it extends to the deep disposition. But the middle is between depth and height, as between contents or opposites, transition through these is impossible unless one quality is destroyed, because cold and moist is the high disposition. Therefore, another quality must be destroyed, namely moisture by putrefaction, then it thickens, and its moisture is converted into dryness, and thus the transition is made from high to middle disposition, which is coldness and dryness, called width, because it holds cold and moisture by coldness, dry and heat by dryness, thus middle. Afterward, through the existing heat, the coldness remaining in the body is changed into heat, which is contrary to deep disposition, because heat is the hidden part of the body, as Aristotle shows best, etc.

On extracting water from earth.
Chapter IV.

After the matter has been putrefied to make body and spirit, which, however, cannot be done except in air, that is, through sublimation.

Know then that our stone is divided into two principal parts, namely the upper part which ascends, and the lower part which remains fixed at the bottom. Yet these two parts agree in virtue.

Therefore the philosopher says: "That which is below is like that which is above." This division is necessary to accomplish the miracles of the stone, the lower part is earth, called the nurse and ferment, and the upper part is the soul, which vivifies the whole stone and causes it to revive.

Hence, after the celebrated separation, through the conjunction of the stone many miracles are performed.

It is to be noted that although for some our stone is not divided into four parts, namely into the four elements in the first operation, as said above, it is divided into four principal parts, namely one which ascends above, not fixed; another which remains below, called fixed, and earth or ferment, which nourishes and ferments the whole stone, as said. Of the unfixed part, one must have a good quantity and give sharpness to the stone, which is the purest, entirely without filth, until the whole stone by the virtue of the unfixed spirit is separated by sublimation. And this is what the Philosopher says: It ascends from earth to heaven.

Later, the stone thus exalted must be returned onto marble, with the element extracted from the stone itself in the first operation. That element is called the water of the stone. And it must be roasted so often that the stone, by its subtilty, does not descend back into the earth, that is, it receives the superior force by sublimating and the inferior by descending, so that it becomes spiritual by sublimation, and when spiritual, becomes corporeal again by descending. Thus you have the glory and brightness of this world, and all darkness, poverty, and sickness flee from you, because thus composed, it cures every illness. And this stone is of all strength, because there is no comparison of this stone to other strengths. For it visibly conquers everything solid, piercing, penetrating, and converting by subduing.

Side note: Works contrary to ours

The philosophers said: that water alone by itself does everything, dissolves everything, congeals everything, breaks down everything without any assistance. In it are usually seen beautiful colors. The transformation of a body into water is the tincture of any body. Moreover, there is a difference between the tincture of water and the tincture of oil. For the tincture of water washes and cleanses, and the tincture of oil dyes and colors.

On the foundation or fusion upon its earth.
Chapter V.

Therefore, pour the water upon its own earth, and mix by grinding immediately, gradually imbibing, boiling weekly, and then gently calcining, until the earth drinks a fifth part of its own water.

Know that the earth must be nourished, first with a little of its water, and then with more, just as is seen in the upbringing of a child. Therefore, grind the earth many times, and gradually imbibe it every eight days, cook it, and then moderately calcine it in fire. Do not grow weary of repeating this work many times, because the earth does not bear fruit without frequent irrigation. Therefore, when it becomes dry, being very thirsty it drinks its own moisture and watery part. And grinding is not good until the earth and the water become one and the same body. Therefore, do not withdraw your hand from grinding and roasting, until the earth is dry and white, which whiteness is generated from such frequent and dry grinding and application. But take care not to imbibe the earth except gradually, and with long trituration after the drying of the earth. Hence, in this the measure must everywhere be noted, lest either excessive dryness or superfluous moisture ruin the work. And cook and roast to the extent that the dissolution demands imbibing.

Note: Every time after the calcination of the earth, pour temperate water of the earth over it, namely not too much nor too little. For if too much, it becomes a sea of confusion; if too little, it will be burned into ash. Therefore, gently and not hastily, every eight days, irrigate the earth, boil, and calcine it until it has drunk its own water. Therefore, continue the work many times, because unless over a long time, you will not see the tincture, nor will you bring it perfectly to completion until the work is perfect.

Therefore, when you are at work, make sure to recall to mind all the signs which appear in each decoction, and investigate their causes. There are indeed three principal colors: black, white, and yellow. Therefore, when the black emerges, it is perfect but not yet complete.

Therefore, every time, strengthen the fire in calcination, until the earth comes out white from the strength of the fire. For just as heat acting on the moist generates blackness, so acting on the dry generates whiteness. Therefore, when the earth is not yet white, grind it with its water, and calcine it again, because azoth and fire cleanse the earth and utterly strip it of its darkness. For the preparation is always with water, and as the suitability of the water is, so will be the clearness of the earth.

And the more it is washed, the whiter the earth will be.

Side note: Concerning the colors between blackness.

Hence, a certain philosopher said: when you find the black itself, know this is the beginning of the work. But after putrefaction it becomes red—not a true redness—and also yellows: of which a certain philosopher said...

Side note: Note the signs.

It often becomes red, and often yellow, often melts and often also coagulates before the true whiteness. Hence another says:

Side note: Exhortation to perseverance

It dissolves itself, coagulates itself, adorns itself with redness. Before whiteness, it also becomes green. Also, before whiteness appears the color of the peacock. Hence someone says thus:
Know that all the colors of the world which can be imagined appear before whiteness, and then true whiteness follows. One says:

Side note: Eyes of fishes

Its usefulness is to be awaited. Therefore, let it be decocted so long until it appears pure like the shining of the eyes of fishes, and then you will know that our stone is rightly coagulated. Another philosopher says:

Side note: Crystalline clarity

When you find whiteness prevailing over all, rest assured that in that whiteness red is hidden, and then it is not necessary to extract it, but rather to cook it until it becomes totally red. But between the true redness and the true whiteness is the yellow of grayish color, of which it is said thus:

Side note: When gray color appears; Ash—what is that color

By the increase of the fire's heat, one comes to the yellow. And another: Do not despise the ash, because God will give it liquefaction, and then at last the King will be crowned with a red diadem by divine command. You must therefore attempt this magistery. For the composition will not be without marriage and putrefaction. And marriage is to mix the subtle with the thick, and to putrefy, grind and roast, roast, irrigate until they are mixed together, so that they become one, and there is no diversity, like water mixed with water.

Side note: Fixation of the spirit

Then the thick will try to retain the subtle, and the soul will try to struggle with the fire and endure it, and the spirit will try to be submerged and to be blended with the bodies.

Side note: Fusion and submersion of the spirit

Know, however, that when you have mixed the body with the moisture, and heat of the fire comes to it, the moisture turns upon the body and dissolves it, and then the spirit cannot escape from it, because it is imbibed in the fire. And spirits are otherwise fugitive, until they are mixed with the body. Then they try to resist the fire and its flame. Nevertheless, these parts do not come together except with good tempering, persistence, and long labor.

The ancient philosophers gave our stone many names, such as amalgam, vitriol, blood because of the red color, and countless other names. They called it iron because of its unmelting nature. For when this body is deprived of moisture, the dry body cannot flow, which before flowed because of its moisture and was volatile. For necessarily bodies are fixed by the privation of moisture, which is called calcination by the philosophers, and the putrefaction or pulverization of the matter removes the consolidated parts from moisture. And by calcination the spirits are already fixed, and the soft becomes hard, and the volatile becomes fixed, and thus it is changed from one nature into another.

The Turba says: Let there be a change of complexions, namely from cold and moist into hot and dry, or from phlegmatic to choleric according to the physicians. By the heat of the sun and gentle decoction, the spirits are coagulated. But by intense and excessive heat, the work is destroyed, as Bonellus says. For if you kindle a strong fire before the increase of the red, it happens that nothing is gained for us. For all philosophers—and the true ones—assert that the fire must be gentle, and they testify for the reasons stated above. For they say that we must gently govern the fire so that our sulfur becomes combustible.

Hence regarding seed: seeds ought not to be harvested until the time of reaping has come. The philosophers called this our stone the Salamander, because just as the Salamander is nourished and lives only in fire—that is, is perfected—so also our stone.

On the Method of Sublimating the Earth
Chapter VI

A certain great philosopher said: "In the dregs is that which you seek." Therefore, let the dregs be taken when they are drawn out of the alembic, and let them be thoroughly ground, and imbibed with their own water, and dried in a gentle fire or in the sun — and this should be done many times.

For by such preparation, that smoke becomes suitable for sublimation. Whence Geber says: "Through multiple repetitions of imbibition and roasting, the greater part of its aqueous nature is eliminated, and the residue by sublimation."

Let the aforementioned dregs therefore be taken and prepared for sublimation, administering to them at first a gentle fire, then proportionally greater, until that clean and white smoke rises. And if it does not happen the first time, repeat the imbibition on the same dregs until it does; and finally, when it no longer adheres to the dregs, then a fixed part results from them. And according to its different operations, a diversity of medicines is created — sometimes Saturn, or Jupiter, etc.

No one, however, should sublimate the earth for sophistic (i.e., false) works, but only for our Elixir. And do not mix that which remains below with that which rises above, but keep each part separate, because that which remains at the bottom you must grind again with fresh Mercury and repeat the sublimation by the method described,

Side note: When true union occurs

until all of it has been sublimated. And take heed: you should never proceed to fusion in the way described — that is, to the Philosophers' Stone — unless you first sublimate it. For there is no union of body and spirit except through sublimation.

First the material must be sublimated and fixed, and after a suitable union has occurred, fixation follows. Do not make fixed material volatile, but take one part of the fixed material and two parts of prepared Mercury and incorporate them well together. Then sublimate, collect the sublimated part, and always grind that which remains at the bottom again with new Mercury, following the method until all is sublimated.

For according to the philosopher, the power of white sulfur that does not burn congeals Mercury. And this is the best thing in our magistery, through which the Elixir for silver is made.

Side note: The freezing of Mercury

And if the sulfur is the best kind, clear with a red hue, and has within it the power of non-burning argentiferous sulfur, then it is the matter from which the Elixir for gold is made. And as the philosophers teach: let sulfur for silver (white) be made first, and afterwards the red for gold. For gold is not made unless silver existed first. Truly, nothing can go from the first to the third without passing through the second, because there is no transition from one extreme to another except through the middle.

Therefore, perfect citrinity cannot be made from blackness unless whiteness comes first, because citrinity is composed of a small amount of redness and purest whiteness. Nor can whiteness be made from citrinity unless blackness existed first. In the same way, gold cannot become silver unless it is first corrupted and blackened. For something better cannot become worse except by its corruption, because the corruption of one thing is the generation of another.

Therefore, whoever wishes to convert gold into silver must proceed through corruption, and likewise silver into gold. For their sulfur, being non-burning, can become red sulfur by greater digestion with fire. Citrination, in fact, is nothing other than complete digestion. Blackness is nothing other than purification. For heat acting upon moisture first brings about blackness. Heat acting on dryness causes whiteness, and also in whiteness it causes citrinity and deep redness. For white and red sulfur are made from one and the same metallic matter, fully purified, though cooked and digested by different methods.

Therefore, in quicksilver is white sulfur, just as in gold is red sulfur. And absolutely there is no such sulfur upon the earth — neither white nor red — except what exists in these bodies. And therefore the bodies must be carefully prepared, so that from them we may obtain their sulfur and their quicksilver — from which gold and silver were made under the earth.

For if I did not see gold and silver, I would say without doubt that alchemy is not true. These are the shining bodies in which there are tinging rays, which tinge other bodies into whiteness and redness according to how they are prepared.

The alembic and the cucurbit must be joined, so that Mercury cannot escape — for it is not sublimated except by the power of air. And if it finds an open place, it flies off in smoke, and the magistery is lost.

For the whole aim of the work is nothing other than to obtain the Stone known in the chapter. Know that this is the Stone known to the philosophers, which has virtues greater than all the virtues of stones — which you should place in the philosophical vessel for sublimation, and with it let the Stone be sublimated, until in the final sublimation it is purified.

And this is the first order, which is called the first operation, by which the purest and most subtle substance is drawn forth.

Second is the solution, so that the matter is dissolved into water.

Third is putrefaction, because Morienus says: “Nothing has ever been animated or brought to birth, nor anything that grows, except through putrefaction and change.” Thus, putrefaction must occur, because the corruption of one thing is the generation of another.

Fourth is ablution: For the putrefied and dirty thing must be washed and cleansed from corrupting impurity.

Note what is meant by ablution.

And they spoke well, because as long as the water remains over the earth, and it is washed and formed, thus ablution and ceration are the same.

Note: Coagulation of the stone.

Fifth is coagulation: for the water must be gently cooked in our sun, changed into earth, perfectly cooked and dried, and turned into powder.

Sixth is calcination. Know that the calcined thing is more suitable than the uncalcined, and it is simply fixation. Hence there were many philosophers who called calcination fixation, and they spoke rightly, because all such things are in sublimation. Surely, if anyone perfectly sublimates, he completes the whole work.

Note: One furnace only, one vessel.

And know that all this is completed in one furnace and one vessel. And any intelligent person can complete these seven dispositions. Therefore, do not be negligent in sublimation. For as the purification is, so too will be the perfection.

Now I wish to tell you what sublimation is.

Sublimation is the elevation of the most subtle parts from the fixed parts. The unfixed parts are raised through smoke, that is, through air, because, as we have said, it must be guarded lest they flee—indeed, they are fixed with the fixed parts and remain, and yield a faster fusion. Understand that true sublimation is when we make a separation of the parts which rise above from those which remain below. Indeed, we wish them to unite together properly, because in our stone, before we find the first purification—which is completed through solution—we find nothing diminished or excessive.

For this reason Geber said: “With it let the stone be sublimated until at last it comes into the purity of sublimation.” He said “with it,” that is, without any other addition or foreign matter. Because of this, all who labor and are deceived, who sublimate with feces and do not know what they are doing, or what the philosophical stone is, profit nothing—because they are ignorant of philosophical sublimation.

Geber says: “The stone of the philosophers is one medicine in which the entire magistery consists. To it nothing foreign is added, nor is anything taken away, except what is superfluous in the operation, and this is the first purification which is completed through sublimation.”

I have now sufficiently demonstrated: when you wish to perform our sublimation, that you should neither add nor take away anything from our stone, but place the entire substance into the sealed vessel, as we said in the first disposition, sealing it firmly. Place it in the furnace and arrange with ashes below and underneath, so that two parts of the vessel remain uncovered, until the material is dissolved. Afterwards, apply gentle fire until the greater part is turned into powder, which will be in 30 days.

Side note: Different names of operations signify one and the same thing.

And when the operations we mentioned have been done — sublimation, solution, distillation, descent, putrefaction, ablution, ceration, coagulation, or fixation — know that the philosophers have assigned many such and various names to operations and labors, which in truth are nothing but one and the same, and in one single operation, all these are done together and at once, and at the same time and with the same labor. And they did this so that the knowledge would remain obscure to the unworthy.

Likewise, the philosopher says: “For truly, the earth, when it is imbibed with water and ground, and dried through the temperate heat of our sun, the whole matter is turned into earth,” which at least he who knows how to do our operation perfectly understands. Hence Hermes, father of the philosophers, said: “Its power is entire if it be turned into earth,” that is, if the water be turned into earth.

On the Multiplication and Fixation of the Stone
Chapter VII

What follows is concerning the union of the powder, so that it may bear fruit, and their fruit may remain forever. And I will teach how to fix the sublimated powders, so that they can remain in the fire, and be united and mixed with bodies.

Fixation is the fixing of a fugitive thing, making it suitable to endure fire. The reason for its discovery is so that all tincture and all alteration may be prepared and converted into another nature.

It is fixed thus: Take that which has been sublimated, and divide it into cucurbits or urinals, according as the quantity of matter requires. The sign of its fixation is when the matter no longer ascends into the alembic. Or you may strengthen the fire excellently, and then it will immediately be apparent. Or place some of the substance on an iron plate — if it remains fixed, do not repeat [the process].

Then take the said urinals equally and place them upon a reverberation furnace, and first apply a gentle cinerous heat for several days, until you see that with such fire, no more ascends. Then gently strengthen the fire, continuing until the matter is fixed.

And it must be known that spirit and soul are not truly united except by heat, because then all colors that can be conceived in the world appear, and then the work is stabilized and completed in one color, namely whiteness, and in it all colors unite. For whitening is the beginning of the work and the foundation of the whole body. Nor is it afterward varied into different colors except into red, which is the ultimate end.

Citrination, however, which occurs between white and red, is not called a perfect color. But in the decoction, after the whitening, you cannot go wrong. For the regulation of fire is gradually increased: after whiteness comes citrinity, and then redness, as I have said.

And know that mercury is fire — it burns bodies, kills, and constrains with a single regime. And the more the bodies are ground and mixed, the more they are prepared and thinned. Another philosopher says: “An excessive burning fire causes the moisture to evaporate, but a cold fire destroys the work.”

Note: The regime of fire should be governed according to nature and the example of the four seasons. In the first season, namely winter, the earth conceives. In the second, spring, it produces herbs and flowers. In the third, summer, the fruit matures. In the fourth, autumn, the fruits are gathered.

Thus in our work, by similarity, in the first operation mercury is mortified, and the whole work is turned into powder, and the earth conceives, so that it may be converted into another nature. Hence in that decoction, it becomes black. In the second nature, by whitening itself. In the third, the fruits now appear, because then redness appears, which is at the end of the work. In the fourth, the fruits mature and are gathered from them.

These things on fixation shall suffice.

On the Manner of Casting the Medicine and Tinging Any Metal into Gold or Silver
Chapter VIII

I have completed the promised end up to this point — the great magistery — for the making of the most excellent white and red elixir. Here, finally, I will speak of the manner of projection, which is the completion of the work and the desired and awaited joy.

The white elixir whitens ad infinitum, and brings whatever metal to perfect whiteness. But it must be known that one metal is more easily brought to the elixir than another: the nearer is perfected more easily than the remote. And when we find a perfect metal, and one very near [to perfection], the fault of imperfection is excused in it more than in one far removed. Which metals are more remote or nearer is made clear enough in many books.

And since the white or red elixir becomes very spiritual, yet it operates beyond nature, it is not a wonder that it is comminglable with the body onto which it is projected — it only needs to melt it. It is even weighty enough that a projection over a thousand thousand [parts] can immediately penetrate.

Therefore, I will hand over to you one great secret: One part must be commingled with a thousand parts of the nearest body, and all this should be sealed in one vessel firmly and properly, and it must be placed in the furnace of fusion for three days, until the whole has been inseparably joined together. And that is the work of three days.

Then, one part of that united body is to be projected upon a thousand parts of any body — the nearer [metals] always being better — and that is the work of one day, or hour, or minute.

There is also another manner of projection: Take one hundred parts of mercury washed with salt and vinegar, and place in a crucible over fire. When it begins to fume, cast one part of the medicine over those hundred parts of mercury, and the whole becomes medicine. Then place one part of that medicine over another hundred parts of mercury, over strong fire, and it is again medicine, and so on in succession.

In the last projection, one part of the finally coagulated medicine transmutes one hundred parts of mercury into true gold or silver, according to how the elixir was prepared.

Another manner of projection: Place one part of the said medicine over sixty parts of washed mercury, and place it in a glass vessel, and seal the vessel very well so that it does not breathe. Then place it among warm ashes for three days. And if your medicine retains the mercury, know your medicine is perfect. Then all those sixty parts are medicine, just as the first. And by this method you may prove the excellence of the elixir, which is always to be multiplied in this way.

Sometimes one part of the medicine converts 50, or 100, or 200, or even 1000, or even up to infinity parts. And always all that is medicine which is retained from the mercury and is perfectly coagulated.

Now the manner of the work is this: Cast one part of the said medicine upon 100 parts of molten gold, and it makes it brittle, and the whole becomes medicine, of which one part projected over 100 parts of any molten metal converts it into the best gold.

Side note: Diversification of the tincture

And if you project [the elixir] upon the Moon, in like manner it converts all bodies into Luna. By the same method, you can convert Sol into Luna, into Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars.

But if the said medicine or elixir does not have ingress, take of the stone extracted in the first operation, and of the aforementioned Mercury, in equal parts, and mix and incorporate them together by grinding in the stone. Then, by distilling in a bath, so that it may better be joined, afterwards dry it. And if you wish, you may draw off the water by alembic, and repeat this process — imbibing, incorporating, drying — until the aforementioned medicine is incorporated with the said prepared Mercury.

When this is done, place the whole in a urinal (glass vessel) having a rounded bottom, and beneath it place the reverberatory heater. You will apply the heat of a candle and ashes, by their degrees, as shown above. And when it seems right to you, gradually add the said Mercury, until the aforementioned matter is fixed, and becomes more fusible than wax. And thus you will have the elixir or the true stone of the philosophers complete, which converts Mercury and every imperfect body into Sol and Luna, better than which none can be had.

Epilogue of the Whole

I say, therefore, the sum of the entire work is nothing other than this: that the stone, known in the chapters of the books, be taken, and that with diligence the work of sublimation of the first degree be labored over, so that it be cleansed from corrupting impurity.

Then, when it is dissolved, whitened or reddened with its subtle addition, until in the final stage of sublimation it becomes volatile.

Yet again, let it be fixed through the methods of fixation, until all comes to rest in the harshness of fire. Then, take the fixed part and with the unfixed part preserved, through the method of solution and sublimation, make it volatile, and the volatile fixed, and the fixed dissolved, and again volatile, and the volatile fixed, until it flows and transforms into a perfect solar and lunar completion.

And in this way the most precious arcanum operates, above every worldly precious thing, the incomparable treasure of all the philosophers.

LATIN VERSION

TRACTA TULUS AVICENNAE.

Istum librum diuidam in octo capitula uel partes.

IN primo capítulo dicam de Mercurio & eius natura , nec non de sulphure quod in se continet.
In secundo dicam de natura corporum perfectorum, & eorum sulphure.
In tertio dicam de coniunctione corporis & spiritus & lapidis dissolutione in primam materiam.
In quarto dicam de extractione aquæ ex terra.
In quinto dicam de fundatione seu etiam fusione super terram suam.
In sexto dicam de modo sublimationis terræ.
In septimo dicam de lapidis multiplicatione & fixione.
In octauo & vltimo capitulo dicam de modo proijciendi medicinam, & tingendi quodlibet metallum, in solem & lunam.

Caput. I.
Argentum viuum est frigidum & humidum, & deus ex velcum eo creauit omnia minera, & ipsum est aereum & ignis fugitiuum,Sed dum in igne aliquantulum steterit, fteterit, facit mira opera aliena.

Side Notes: Effectus Mercurij nostri.

Et ipsum est solummodo spiritus viuus, & in mundo non est tale, quale ipsum est, quod possit talia operari, qualia per ipsum operantur. Et ipsum intrat quodlibet corpus, penetrat, leuat, & excedit.
Ipsum est fermentum corporum quibus admiscetur, & tunc erit totum elixir ad albedinem & rubedinem. Ipsum est aqua perennis, aqua vitæ & lac virginis, sons & alumen de quo bibens non moritur. Cum viuum fuerit habet quædam opera, cum mortuum fuerit habet alia opera, & cum solutum fuerit habet opera maxima.

Side Notes: Fermentum secundum modu.

Ipsum est serpens luxurias se ipsum imprægnans, in die vno parturiens, suo veneno cuncta interficit ab igne fugit. Sapientes autem faciunt ipsum spectare ignem, & tunc facit Opera & mutationes, quia sicut mutatur mutat, & sicut tingitur tingit, & sicut coagulatur coagulat, igitur inter omnia mineralia argenti viui paeferenda et generatio.

Side Notes: Vbi inuenitur Mercurius noster

In omnibus enim mineris inuenitur, & cum omnibus symbolum habet. Est autem ex terrestri & mediocri, & aqueo, vel oleo viuo, subtilissimus mediocriter, & spiritu multo subtili, ex aqua terrestri, ponderositatem habens & motum deorsum, luciditatem, & fluiditatem & colorem argenteum. Exit enim de terra, & in terram resilit, & nutatim se defendit, & iterum se continuat in humido ex caliditate, & spiritu extincto figitur, & omnibus mineralibus commiscetur, & cui insidet firmiter adhærebit, vnde & mineralium materdicitur. Argentum vero viuum densam manifeste videtur habere substantiam, vt monoceros propter grauedinem sui ponderis immensi, quoniam aurum præponderat, dum in sui natura fuerit. Et est fortissime compositionis, & naturæ vniformis, quoniam non separatur ab inuicem, in partes autem nullatenus se diuidi permittit.
Quia aut cum tota sua substantia ex igne recedit, aut cum ea In igne permanet.
In eo necessario est causa perfectionis, quoniam ipsum solum ad perfectionis modum sufficit in vno quoque gradu, videlicet cum ignitione, propter bonam sui adhærentiam, & fortitudinem suæ mixtionis. Sed cum partes ipsius inspissantur per ignem, vlterius non permittit se corrumpi, nec per ingressionem furiosæ flammæ vlterius se patitur eleuari, quoniam

Side Notes: Sulphur causat adustionem.

rarefactionem sui non suffert propter indensitatem & adustionis carentiam, quæ fit per sulphur reitatem quam non habet.

Side Notes: Adustio tollitur.

Argentum vero viuum in suis operibus manifeste ac perfectissime ab adustione est saluatiuum, & fusionis effectiuum cum figitur.

Side Notes: Fusionem praestat. Medium tincturarum.

Etenim est tinctura rubedinis, vberrimæ refectionis, fulgidi splendoris, & non recedit a commixto donec est. Estenim amicabile, & metallu placabile, ac medium coniungēdi tincturas, quoniam commiscetur cum ipsis per minima, & in fundo naturaliter adhæret eis, quia est de natura ipsorum. Veruntamen cum luna commiscetur cum illo facilius, quoniam per suam naturam habet ipsum in sua natura participare.
Attamen non submergitur in eo aliquod metallorum nisi sol. Et sic maximum habes secretum, quoniam Mercurius in se recipit quæ sunt suæ naturæ. Aliena vero respuit, eo quod natura sua plus gaudet cum natura propria quam extranea. Ex hoc enim manifestum est, maioris esse perfectionis in illis, quæ plus sunt Mercurium continenti, et quæ minoris, minus, quoniam symbolum tenet in natura cum mineralibus. Et dedit Deus ipsi substantiam, & substantiæ proprietatem, quam nullo modo in alijs rebus naturarũ contingit possidere, quoniam ipsum solum est quod ignem superat, & ab eo non superatur, sed in eo amicabiliter gaudens quiescit. Ipsum solum cum sit metallicum, continet totum in se, quo indigemus ad nostrum magisterium. Igitur manifestum est, quod argetum viuum continet in se sulphur suum bonum, quo coagulatur aurum & argentum, secundum diuersum digestionis modum.

De natura corporum perfectorum, id est solis & lunæ et eorum sulphure.

Caput II.

Aurum est corpus perfectissimum, dominus lapidum, Rex & caput omnium aliorum, quod nec terra corrumpit, nec res comburentes comburunt, nec in igne minuitur sed in eo melioratur, quia in eo humiditate quadam humectatur, nec etiam aqua alteratur. Complexio eius est temperata, & natura directa in caliditate, frigiditate, humiditate & siccitate, nec in eo aliquid superfluum nec diminutum inuenitur. Est enim creatum ex subtilissima & clarissima argenti viui substantia, & ex substantia pauca sulphuris puri & mundi, rubedinis fixæ, & clare tingens ipsam substantiam argenti viui.
Aurum tenetur esse corpus & fermentum elixiris albi & rubei, Neqƺ melioratur, neqƺ perficitur nec completur nisi cum eo, & non alio, quemadmodum pasta non alio quam suo potest fermentari fermento. Aurum est corpus durans, per secula seculorum manens. Et ideo philosophi prętulerunt ipsum, & magnifecerunt, dixerunt enim quod aurum sic se habet in corporibus, quemadmodum sol in stellis. Sol enim in suo lumine & splendore omnia vegetabilia germinat, & omnes fructus perficit. Ideo dicit Hermes: Nunquam fit tinctura vera absqƺ rubeo lapide.
Aurum primum gradum nobilitatis tenet inter omnia corpora, quia ipsum est temperatissimum propter mixtionem, depurationem sulphuris & Mercurń, Et multum habet de virtute sulphuris, & parum de eius substantia, & econuerso multum habet de substantia Mercurii, & de virtute eius parum. Propter quod ratione Mercurij est ponderosum, & ratione virtutis sulphureæ multum est rubeum. Et propter fortissimam compactionem sulphuris et Mercuri in sua calce, non est ita humidum in tactu & vnctuosum, sicut cætera corpora, ideo non facit lincaturas nigras sicut alia metalla, quando protrahitur super pergamenum.
Sed si admiscetur sibi argentum aut aliud metallum, tunc faciet lineaturas nigras, quia vnctuositas corporis sibi admixti tendit ad superficiem, & facit ipsum albescere & humescere, & quia partes multum profundantur ad centrum, ideo est ponderosum magis quã propter argentum viuum suum. Plumbũ vero ponderosum est magis propter suum argentum viuũ, quam propter consolidationem partium sibi debiliter adhærentium, & ideo minus inter omnia corpora est sonorosum.
Aurum vero propter fortem & tenacem cohærentiam partium suarum inter omnia acutioris soni est. Aurum quoque non aduritur ab igne, sibi proportionato. Vehementissimus enim ignis consumit omnia sub lunari globo existentia. Non aduritur etiam ab hijs rebus quæ cætera corpora adurunt, sicut a sulphure, arsenico. Et purgare solent ipsum artifices ad summum splendorem, per lateres & salem.
Argentum habet de substantia sulphuris multum & de virtute eius parum, & de substantia Mercurii parum, & de virtute eius multum, ideo est album, quia color sequitur multitudinem virtutis, virtus vero in vapore locata est.
Materia eius vicinius est materiæ auri quam aliquod aliud metallũ, ideo faciliter vertitur in aurum.
Non indiget alio labore, nisi transmutando colorem, & dando pondus. Litargirium argenti præ omnibus rebus valet ad tincturam albam, quia materia eius propinqua est.

Argentum est corpus perfectum minus tamen quam aurum, & est minoris ponderis auro, & est de partibus lunæ, in humido loco corrumpitur, & eius sapor est acidus, in igne minuitur, et sulphuribus cõburitur. Auri interiora funt exteriora argenti, & eius natura est frigida & sicca, & recipit tincturam. Amplius autem aurum est corpus perfectum & masculinum, sine superfluitate aut diminutione, quod si in terra solummodo liquefactione perficeretur, commixta esset elixír ad rubeum, et suæ naturæ.
Argentum vero corpus perfectum est fœmineum. Quod si perfecta fusione perficeretur, esset tinctura ad album vel elixir, quod non est, quia sunt solummodo redacta in natura ad corpora perfecta. Et si ista perfecta cum inperfectis corporibus commiscerentur, non ideo imperfecta perfecta existeret: Sed potius eorum perfectio cum imperfectis diminueretur. Sed si facta fuerit plusquam perfecta in duplo, vel quadruplo, vel centuplo, vel millecuplo, in tantum perficiũtur imperfecta cum ipsis,quia natura simpliciter semper operatur & perfectio in eis simplex est inseparabilis, nisi forte duceretur in fuga cum volatili, Quia summa volatilis superat summam fixi corporis. Et cum corpus perfectum ex argento viuo mundissimo, & ex tali sulphure rubeo habere possumus ad elixir rubeum, & argentum similiter ad elixir album: ideo eligeremus ea ad elixir nostrum, pro materia nostra, quia hæc duo corpora simpliciter sunt perfecta, digesta, & decocta, qualitate naturali, fortiter sine aliqua mundatione ingeniosa. Quare vtique cum igne nostro artificiali in ipsis operari valemus.
Et quamuis natura aliquid perficit, tamen non nisi simpliciter operatur super illud quod habet.
Est enim corporibus duplex sulphureitas, quædam est ex argenti viui substantia, in eis induta, in principio suæ mixtionis, quam dicimus supereminētem.
Alterum vero sulphur extraneum naturæ, quam dicimus correspondentem.
Et est Notandum diligēntissime, quod istorum duorum corporum coniunctio est necessaria in hac arte. ad album & ad rubeum. Et sunt duæ rationes, quarum vna quod est: cum aurum sit nobiliustinter metala & magis compactum, perfectum & fixum, tamen si dissoluatur, & in partes minimas separatur fit spirituale & euolans, sicut Mercurius, & hoc ratione suæ caliditatis, & tunc habet tincturam sine numero, & ista tinctura vocatur sperma masculinum calidum.

Side Notes: Sperma fœmininum

Si vero argentum soluatur in aquam tepidam, nihilominus manet fixum sicut prius, & nullam aut paucam habet tincturam, est tamen promptum ad ipsam tincturam recipiendam in temperamento calidi & frigidi, siccum, est ergo conueniens eorum coniunctio. Est & alia ratio, quia cum aurum & argentum quodlibet istorum per se est difficilis fusionis & liquefactionis, tamen si coniungantur, faciliter fluunt & liquefiunt, vt sciunt aurifabri, facientes consolidaturas adaurum.VNDE si in lapide nostro esset solummodo alterum istorum duorum, nunquâ aliquod magisterium de facili flueret medicina, necȝ tincturam daret. Et si daret tincturam, non tingeret nisi in quantu esset, eo quod no go eit esset receptaculum tincturæ. Hoc totum non intelligas de luna vulgari, sole et luna Philosophica, vn de & lunaria dicitur. Ergo consulo vt non operis nisi cum Mercurio, sole et luna. Quoniam totum beneficium artis huius in illis tribus consistit.

De coniunctione corporis & spiritus,& Lapidis dissolutione in primam materiam.
Caput III.

Certum est omnem rem esse ex eo in quod resoluitur. Nam gelu conuertitur in aquam caore mediante. Clarum est ergo illud prius fuisse aquam quam glaciem. Omnia vero metalla ex Mercurio sunt generata, ideo ipsa in ipsum resoluuntur.

Primum ergo regimen lapidis est ipsum dissoluere sicut grossum argentum viuum, vt in suam Primam reducatur materiam, hoc autem totum fit per argentum viuum, eo quod ipsum habet pose solem & lunam in eorum naturam & materiam primam redigere. Sed cum argentum viuum habet in se fæculentiam & adultionem absque in flammatione, et aqueitatis substantiam, necesse est ergo eius superflua demere, & absentia adimplere ne liuidum in proiectione creet colorem, & a queitatem ipsius simili modo delere, ne & totam materiam in proiectione faciat fugitiuam.
De cuius proprietate est,substantíam medicinae saluare, non aduri sed figere, & ab adustione defendere, ideo contingit ex illo creari saturnum, louem, vemerem ferrum & c. quod ex impuritate necesse est accidere.
Est notandum. Quod duplex est materia prima. Queda est propinqua, queda vero remota: Materia propinqua est argentu viuu, remota, est aqua, quia argentu viuu prius fuit aqua, et postea argentū viuum. Veru ergo principium nostri operis est dissolutio lapidis, quia corpora soluta ad naturam spiritus sunt redacta, quia magis fixa.

Nam solutio corporis est cum coagulatione spi ritus. Patiens ergo sis, coque, tere, & incera, & non tedeat te hoc multoties reiterare. Quia qua imbibuntur, per aquam mollificatur. Quanto magis teris, tanto magis mollificas, & partes gros sas subtilias, donec satis existat. Et hæ partes diuidun tur, cum spiritus impastantur, & omnia quæ in pastantur ex toto dissoluuntur. Et impastatio fitcum nimia contritionem, assationem & ignem, diu duntur partes ligatae & viscosae, quae sunt in corporibus. Corpora vero soluta et ad naturam spiritus redacta, nunquam separantur, sicut nec aqua pa mixta aquæ. Quippe natura lætatur cum sponsus et sponsa copulantur, Quia intentio operis nostri non est, nisi quod eligatur purissima Mercurij substantia exipsis corporibus, quoniam elixir constat solummodo ex ipsis.
Primus autem modus Solutionis & naturae est putrescere. Sed tamen multæ sunt species putrefactionis & corruptionis. Primum ergo principium naturale est materia sensitiua materialis, prout superius dixi.

Side notes: Signa putrefactionis.

Secundum, calor mouens ipsam materiam ad putrefactionem. Signa vero putrefactionis est co lor niger, odor fœtidus, & materia in tactu sub tilis & discontinua, ac si esset primus Mercurius.

Quia calor agens in humido primo generat nigre dinem, quæ nigredo est caput corui, hoc est princi pium operis.

Side Notes: Caput cor, ui quando, est.

Item nota quod ingressio, submersio, connexio, coniunctio, complexio, compositio & mixtio idem significant in hac arte. Nihil enim submergi tur, coniungitur, connectitur, quin & misceatur. Quia commixtio est commiscibilium per minima, id est, per indiuisibilia sibi iuncta vnio. Scias etiam firmiter, quod tota fortitudo huius magisterij non est nisi in putrefactione. Si enim putridum non fue rit, solui nec fundi poterit, & si solutum non fuerit, ad nihilum deueniet.
Item scias quod in vnoquoque opere sunt tres di mensiones, scilicet latitudo, altitudo & profunditas: & hoc manifeste apparet de corpore, quod vi sui nostro subiacet. Verbi gratia: Lapis noster in prima sui creatiõe est albus, & ita apparet in facie, quare dicimus ipsum frigidum & humidum quia ita est. Vnde studeamus, quare lapis noster est aquaticus, quia frigidus & humidus est, naturalis dispositio dicitur corpus manifestu seu altum latitudo autem est ista dispositio media, per quam, La titur ad profundam dispositionem. Quæ vero me dia est inter profunditatem & altitudinem, tanquam inter contenta, seu contraria, est impossibilis transitus per ea, nisi altera qualitas destruatur, quonia frigida et humida est eius dispositio alta, destruatur ergo altera qualitas, videlicet humiditas per putrefactionem, tunc inspissatur, & eius humi ditas conuertitur in ficcitate, & sic fit transitus ab al ta ad media dispositione, quæ eft frigiditas & ficcitas, & dicit latitudo, quia tenet a frigido & humido frigiditate, a ficco et calido ficcitate, ergo media. Postquam vero per calorem existentem, frigiditas quæ remansit in corpore transmutatur in caliditatem, quae sunt extranea, contraria est
dispositio profunda, quia caliditas eft occultum corporis, quod optime apparet per Aristotelem &c.

De extractione aquæ ex terra.
Caput IIII.

Postquam materia fuerit putrefacta, ad faciendum corpus & spiritum, quod tamen impossibile eft fieri nisi in aere, hoc est per sublimationem.
Scias ergo quod lapis noster diuiditur in duas partes principales, videlicet in partem superiorem quæ ascendit, & in partem inferiorem quæ remanet in fundo fixa. Et tamen istæ duæ partes concordant in virtute.
Et ideo philosophus dicit: quod illud quod eft inferius, est ficut illud quod est superius. Et ista diuifio est necessaria, ad perpetranda miracula reivnius, scilicet lapidis, quæ pars inferior est terra, um quæ dicitur nutrix & fermentum, & pars superior est anima, quæ totum lapidem viuificat, & reuiuiscere facit.
Vnde facta separatione celebrata, coniunctione lapidis multa miracula perpetrantur.
Est notadum, quamuis apud aliquos lapis noster n ca non diuidatur in quatuor partes, videlicet in quatuor elementa in prima operatione, ficut superius orpo dictum est, quatuor partes principales, videlicet c. vna quæ ascendit superius non fixa, Alia quæ re manet inferius, quæ dicitur fixa, & terra vel fer mentum, quæ totum lapidem nutrit & fermen tat, vt dictum est. De illa vero parte non fixa, oportet habere in bona quantitate, & dare acient lapidi, qui est mundissimus, absque sorde totus, poll donec totum lapidem virtute spiritus non fixi su sub perius differat sublimando. Et hoc est quod dicit Philosophus. Ascendit de terra in cœlum. ir in Postea ipsum lapidem sic exaltatum oportet reite m su rare super marmor, cum elemento ab ipso lapide orent in prima operatione extracto. Elementum illud dua dicitur aqua lapidis. Et debet toties assari, do ,do nec subtilitate lapis iterato descendat in terram, od est & fic recipit superiorem vim sublimando & inferiorem descendēdo, vt corporeum fiat spirituale sublimando, & cum est spirituale fiat iterato corporeum descendendo. Et fic habes gloriam clarita tis huius mundi, & fugit a te omnis obscuritas & omnis inopia & egritudo, quia sic compositus, curat omnem egritudinē. Et hic lapis totius fortitudinis, quia nulla est comparatio huius lapidis ad alias fortitudines. Nam vincit visibiliter, omnem rem solidam perforabit, penetrabit & deuincendo conuertit.

Side note: Opera a quae nostrae contraria

Philosophi dixerunt: quod sola aqua per seipsam omnia facit, omnia soluit, omnia congelat, omnia diruit sine alicuius adminiculo. In ipsa solēt apparere colores amæni. Permutatio corporis in aquam est tinctura cuiuslibet corporis. Insuper est differentia inter tincturam aquæ & tincturam olei. Nam tinctura aquæ abluit & mundat, & tinctura olei tingit & colorat.

De fundatione feu etiam fusione super terram fuam.
Caput V.

Funde igitur aquam super terram suam, & permisce conterendo statim paulatim imbibēdo, hebdomadatim decoquendo, & postea in leniter calcinado, quousqƺ terra bibat de sua aqua quintam fui partem.

Scias quod terram oportet nutriri, primo modice aqua sua, & postea maiori, sicut est videre de infantis educatione. Idcirco multoties contere terram, & paulatim imbibe eam de octo in octo diebus, decoque, & postea mediocriter calcina in igne, ne tedeat te opus multoties reiterare, quia terra fructu non gerit absqƺ frequenti irrigatione. Vn de cum aridum fit, vt multum sitiens bibit suum humidum & aqueum, & trituratio non est bona, donec terra & aqua fiat vnum & idem corpus, Ergo non suspendas manum tuam a trituratione & assatione, donec terra sit sicca & alba, quæ albedo generatur ex tali frequenti & sicca trituratione & allatione Caucas tame ne imbibas terram nifi paulatim, & cum longa contritione post siccationem terre. Vnde in hoc est pondus vbiqȝ notadum, ne scilicet nimia siccitas vel superflua humiditas opus corrumpant. Et in tantu decoque assando, quantum dissolutio exposcit imbibendo.
Nota: Omni vice post calcinationem terræ superfunde aquam terræ temperate, videlicet non multum nec parum. Quia simultum, fit pelagus conturbationis: Siparum, comburetur in fauillam, quia suauiter & non festinanter, de octo in octo diebus, terram irrigando, decoquendo & calcinando, donec biberit aquam suam. Continua igitur opus multis vicibus, quia nifi per longum non videbis tincturam, necȝ perfecte perficies donec opus sit perfectum.
Studeas ergo cum in opere fueris omnia figna quæ in qualibet decoctione apparent, in mente recordare, & eorum causas inuestigare. Tres quippe sunt colores principales, niger, albus, & citrinus. Cum ergo egreditur nigra, perfecta est sed nondum completa.
Qualibet ergo vice vigora ignem in calcinatione, quousque terra egrediatur alba ex ignis fortitudine. Nam sicut calor agens in humido generat nigredinem, ita agens in sicco generat albedinem. Idcirco cum terra non fuerit alba, tere eam cum aqua sua, & iterato eam calcina, quia azoth & ignis terram abluunt, & obscuritatem eius pœnitus ab eo eripiunt. Nam praeparatio est cum aqua semper, & qualis sit aptitudo aquæ, talis & erit limppitudo terræ.
Et quanto magis fuerit ablutio, tanto magis erit & alba terra.

Side note: De coloribus inter nigredinem.

Vnde quidam philosophus ait: cum inuene ris ipsum nigrum, scias hoc initium operis esse. Post vero putrefactionem rubescit non rubedine vera, etiam citrinescit: De quo quidam philosophorum ait.

Side note: Nota signa.

Sæpius rubescit, & fæpius citrinescit, fæpius liquescit & fæpius etiam coagulatur ante veram albedinem. Vnde alius dicit.

Side notes : Exhortatio constantiæ

Seipfum dissoluit, seipsum coagulat, seipsum rubore decorat. Ante albedinem etiam fit viridis. Apparet etiam ante albedinem color pauonis. Vnde quidam sic ait.
Scias quod omnes colores mundi qui exco gitari possunt apparent ante albedinem, & dein de albedo sequitur vera, Quidam ait.

Side notes : Oculi piscium

Vtilitas eius expectanda est. Igitur tam diu decoquatur, donec purus appareat veluti oculi piscium elucescunt, & tunc scias quod noster lapis in rectitudine est coagulatus. Alius philosophus ait.

Side notes : cristalina serenitas

Cum albedinem inueneris supereminentem in omnibus, ratus resto, quod in illa albedine rube do est occulta, & tunc non oportet illa extrahere, verū tamē decoquere donec totaliter rubedo fiat. Sed tamen inter verā rubedinem & veram albedinem citrinum grisei coloris. De quo fic dicitur.

Side notes : Griseus color quado, Cinis quid id est color

Calore ignis augmentato peruenitur ad ci trinum. Et alius. Cinerem ne vilipendas, quia Deus reddet ei liquefactionem, & tunc vlti mo Rex Dyademate rubeo diuino nutu corona tur. Oportet te ergo hoc magisterium tenta re. Nam compositio non erit sine matrimonio, & putrefactione. Et matrimoniu est commiscere subtile cum spisso, & putrefacere, terere & assare, assare, rigare quousque commisceatur in simul, vt fiat vnum, & non sit diuersitas sicut aqua mixta aquæ.

Side notes : Fixio spiritus.

Tunc conabitur spissum subtile retinere, & conabitur anima pugnare cum igne et pati ipsum, & conabitur spiritus submergi, & cum corporibus fundi.

Side notes : Fusio Spiritus & submersio.

Scias autem cum corpus miscueris cum humiditate, & ipsi aduenerit ignis caliditas, vertiť humiditas super corpus, & soluit ipsum, & tunc non potest spiritus ab eo exire, quia imbibit se in igne, & spiritus alias sunt fugabiles, quousqƺ commisceantur cum corpore, tunc conatur pugnare cum igne & eius flamma, attamen non conueniunt istæ partes nisi cum bona temperatione, continuatione & longo labore. Antiqui vero philosophi lapidi nostro imposuerunt multa nomina, vt amalgama, vitriolum, sanguine propter colorem rubeum, aliisque nominibus infinitis, vocauerunt ipsum ferrum, propter impossibilem fusionem. Nam istud corpus cum priuatur humiditate, necesse est corpus siccum non fluere, quod prius per humiditatem fluebat, & erat volatile. Nam necessario corpora figuntur per priuationem humiditatis, quæ a philosophis dicitur calcinatio, & rei putrefactio seu puluerisatio ab humiditate partes consolidatas, & per calcinationem spiritus iam figuntur, & fit molle durum, & volatile fixum, & sic mutatur de natura in naturam.
Turba dicit. Fiat mutatio complexionum, videlicet a frigida & humida in calidam & ficcam, seu a flegmatica in colericam secundum medicos. Calore solis & leui decoctione coagulant spiritus. Intenso vero & nimio calore destruitur opus, vt ait Bonellus. Quoniam si incenderis ignem fortem ante incrementum rubei, fit, quod nihil nobis prodest Nam omnes philosophi & veri, ignem leuem asserunt fieri, & testantur propter rationes ante dictas. Inquiunt enim, quod nos oportet suauiter regere ignem sulphure nostrum fiat in cremable. Vinde de semine: semina non oportet metere, doncec tempus messis aduenerit. Philosophi hunc lapidem nostrum vocauerunt Salamandram, quia sicut Salamandra solo igne nuritur & viuit, id est, perficitur, ita & noster lapis.

De modo sublimationis terræ.
Caput VI.

QVidam magnus philosophus inquit. In fecibus est quod quaeris. Recipiantur ergo feces, cum de alembico extrahuntur, & terantur fortiter, & imbibantur cum aqua sua, & in lento igne vel sole exsiccentur, et hoc multoties fiat.

Nam ex tali præparatione habilitatur fumus ille ad sublimandum. Vnde dicit Geber: Ex multiplici ergo reiteratione imbibitionis & assationis, maior pars eius aqueitatis deletur, Residuum vero per sublimationem.
Accipiantur ergo feces predicte, & aptentur ad sublimandum, administrando eis primo ignem lentum proportionabiliter maiorem, quousque fumus ille mundus & albus ascendat, & si primo non fiat, reiteretur toties super easdem feces imbibitio, donec ita fiant, & vltimo fine fecibus quae adhaerent, tunc vna pars fixa continigit ex illis. Secundum vero eius diuersam operationem, diuersitas medicinæ creatur, aliquando Saturnus aut Iupiter &c.

Nullus autem debet sublimare terram ad opera sophistica, sed solummodo ad elixir nostrum. Et non misceas illud quod remanet deorsum, cum illo, quod ascendit sursum, sed pone vnumquodque ad partem, quoniam illud quod in fundo remanet, reiterabis ad sublimandum per

Side note: Vera unio quando fiat.

Mercurium incor ruptum, donec totum ascendat. Et considera quando fiat quod nunquam debes procedere ad fusionem modo prædicto, videlicet ad lapidem philosophicum nisi ipsum prius sublimas, cum non fiat vnio cor poris & spiritus, nisi per sublimationem.

Primo est materia sublimanda, est et figenda cu præcesserit vnio conueniens, fixio sequatur, Fixa aut materia nō facias volatilē, & materiæ fixæ partem vnam, & Mercurij præparati partes duas simul bene incorpora, postea sublima, sublimatum collige, & semper illud quod in fundo remanet iterato cum nouo Mercurio contere, per modū prædictum, quouisqƺ totum fuerit sublimatu. Nam secundum philosophum vis sulphuris albi non vrentis congelat Mercuriu. Et illud est res optima nostri magisterij, per quam fit elixir ad argentum.

Side note : Congelatio mercurij

Et si fuerit sulphur optimum cum rubore clarum, & fuerit in eo vis argenteitatis sulphuris nō vrentis, erit res ex qua fit elixir ad aurum. Et vt tradunt philosophi fiat primo sulphur ad album ad argentum, & postea ad rubeum ad aurum, quia non fit aurum, nisi prius fuerit argentum. Quippe nulla res potest venire a primo ad tertium, nisi per secundum, quia non est transitus ab extremo ad extremum, nisi per medium, ergo no potest fieri ex nigro perfecte citrinum, nisi prius fuerit album, eo quod citrinum ex minimo rubeo & albo bene purissimo est compositum. Nec potest fieri de citrino album, nisi prius fuerit nigrum.
Sic aurum non potest fieri argentum, nisi prius fuerit corruptum & nigrum. Quia melius non potest fieri deterius, nisi per corruptionem sui, quonia corruptio vnius est generatio alterius.

Idcirco qui vult aurum conuertere in argentum, sic agat per corruptionem, ac argentum in aurum, quia sulphur eorum non vrens, per maiorem ignis digestionem potest fieri sulphur rubeum, quia citrinatio nihil aliud est quam completa digestio. Nigredo nil quam ablutio. Calor nanque agens in humido, primo efficit nigredinem. Et calor in sicco causat albedinem, nec non in albo citrinitatem & nimiam rubedinem. Fit enim sulphur album & rubeum ex vna metallorum materia, ad plenum depurata, modo tamen, diuersitate decocta & digesta, Idcirco in argento viuo est sulphur album, sicut in auro sulphur rubeum. Et omnino non est sulphur tale super terram, nec album nec rubeum, nisi quod in istis corporibus existit. Et ideo præparanda sunt corpora subtiliter, vt sulphur eorum, & argentum viuum ex ipsis habere possimus, ex quo aurum & argentum efficiebatur subtus terram, Quia nisi aurum & argentum viderem, dicerem proculdubio alchimiam non esse veram. Ipsa enim sunt corpora lucentia quibus insunt radij tingentes, qui tingut cetera corpora in albedinem & rubedinem, secundum quod fuerint præparata. Alembicus vero & cucurbita dcbent coniungi, ita quod Mercurius non possit exire, quia non sublimatur nisi virtute aeris, & ideo si locum apertum inuenerit, euolat in fumo, & perit magisterium. Quoniam totius operis intentio non est aliud, nisi vt sumatur lapis in capitulo notus. Scias quod hic est lapis quem sciunt philosophi, qui habet virtutes super omnes Virtutes lapidum, quem pone in vase philosophico, ad sublimandum, & cum eo sublimetur lapis, donec in vltima sublimatione purificetur.

Et iste est primus ordo, quæ prima operatio appellatur. quæ fit vt purissima & subtilissima substantia eliciatur.

Secunda est solutio vt materia soluatur in aquam.

Tertia putrefactio, quoniam Morienes dicit: Nunquam fuit aliquid animatum, ad natiuitatem adductu, nec aliquid crescens, nisi per putrefactionem & mutationem: ita oportet fieri putrefactionem, quia corruptio vnius est alterius generatio.
Quarta est ablutio: Oportet enim quod illa res putrefacta & sordida abluatur, & mundetur a corrumpente impuritate.

Side notes : Nota quid fit ablutio.

Et bene dixerut, quia quamdiu manet aqua super terram, & abluitur & creatur ita quod ablutio & ceratio idem sunt.

Side notes : Coagulatio lapidis.

Quinta est coagulatio: oportet enim qd aqua suaiter coquendo in sole nostro in terram mutetur, & perfecte coquletur & desiccetur, & in puluerem vertatur.
Sexta est calcinatio. Vnde scias, quod res calcinata, est magis apta, quam non calcinata, & est sim pliciter fixio. Vnde fuerut multi philosophi, qui calcinationem dixerunt fixionem, & bene dixerunt, quia omnes istimodi sunt in sublimatione. Pro certo enim si quis perfecte sublimat, hic totum opus perpetrat.

Side notes : Vnus furnus tantum, Vnum vas

Et scias quod hoc totum perficitur in vno furno, & in vno vase. Et has septem dispositiones quilibet intelligens potest perficere. Igitur non sis negligens in sublimatione. Qualis enim fuerit mundatio, talis erit & perfectio.

Modo volo tibi narrare quid sit sublimatio.

Sublimatio est eleuatio partium subtilissimarum a partibus fixis. Partes non fixæ eleuatur per fumum, id est, per ventum, quia sicut diximus, oportet custodire ne fugiant, immo cum partibus fixis fixantur, & remanent, & velociore fusionem præstat. Intelligas veram sublimationem esse quando facimus separationem partium, quæ superius eleuantur, ab his, quæ inferius remanent: Immo volumus quod simul suo proprio conueniant, quia in lapide nostro prius primam purificationem quae per solutionem perficitur, non inuenimus aliquod diminutum vel superfluum.

Propter hoc dixit Geber: Cū eo sublimetur lapis, donec vltimo deueniat in sublimationis puritatem. Dixit enim cum eo, hoc est, sine alio adiuncto vel alia extranea re, propter hoc decepti sunt omnes laborantes, qui sublimant cum fecibus & nesciunt quid faciunt, vel quis sit lapis philosophicus, & nihil proficiunt, quia sublimationem philosophicam ignorant.
Geber dicit: est enim lapis philosophorum vna medicina, in qua totum magisterium consistit, cui non admiscetur extraneum, nec diminuitur, nisi quod superfluum est in operatiōe amoueat, & est prima purificatio, quæ per sublimationem perficitur. Iam sufficienter demonstraui, quando velis facere nostram sublimationem, quod in nostro lapide nil addas vel diminuas, imo totam substantiam in vaserato ponas, prout diximus in prima dispositione, firmiter claudendo, & pone ipsum in furnum, & coapta cum cineribus subtus & inferius, ita quod duæ partes vasis sint discoopertæ tamdiu quousque materia dissoluatur, & postea administra ignem lentum, donec maior pars in puluerem vertatur, quod sit in xxx. diebus,

Side notes : Diuersa nomina operationis unum significant et idem.

& quando factæ sunt operationcs quas diximus, facta est sublimatio, solutio, distillatio descensio, putrefactio, ablutio, ceratio, coagulatio, vel fixio. Et scias quod philosophi posuerunt multa talia & diuersa nomina operationum & laborum, quæ tamen in rei veritate non sunt nisi vnum & idem, & vnica operatione omnia simul & semel, & eodem tempore & labore perpetrantur: Et hoc ideo fecerunt vt esset indignis scientia obscura. Item philosophus dicit: Vi enim terra cum aqua imbuitur & teritur, & per temperatum nostri solis calorem desiccatur, & in terram vertitur tota materia, qui saltē perfecte scit facere nostram operationem. Vnde dixit Hermes pater philosophorum: Vis eius integra est si versa fuerit in terram, id est aqua vertatur in terram.

De multiplicatione & fixione lapidis.
Caput VII.

Sequitur de copulatione pulueris, vt fructum ferant, & fructus eorum in æternum permaneat, & docebo pulueres sublimatos figere, vt in igne permanere possint, & corporibus adunari & commisceri.
Est aut fixio rei fugientis conueniens ad ignem aptatio, Causa vero eius inuentionis est vt omnis tinctura omnilqƺ alteratio præparetur, & in alteram mutetur naturam. Figitur autem sic. Recipe illud quod est sublimatum, & diuide illud per cucurbitas seu vrinalia, prout quantitas materiæ requirit, & signum fixionis eius est, quando materia non plus ascendit in alembicum. Vel poteris ignem vigorare excellenter, & tunc statim apparet. Vel pone de corpore super laminam ferream, si manet fixum non reitera.
Deinde recipe vrinalia prædicta æqualiter, & ponendo super furnum reuerberationis, & administra primo ignem lentum cinericum, per plures dies, donec per talem ignem nō videris plus ascendere tunc, modice fortifica ignem, quem continua donec materia sit fixa.
Et est sciendum, quod spiritus & anima non vniuntur vero modo nisi calore, quia tunc omnes colores qui in mundo excogitari possunt apparent, & tunc firmatur & perficitur opus in vno colore, scilicet albedine, & ibi conueniunt omnes colores. Dealbatio enim est operis initium, & totius corporis firmamentum, Nec deinde in diuersos colores variatur, præterquam in rubeum, in quo est vlterius finis.
Citrinatio vero est, quæ fit inter album & rubeum, & non dicitur color perfectus. In decoctione vero post albedinem no poteris errare. Nam ignis regimen paulatim augmentatur, post albedinem ad citrinitatem peruenitur, & deinde ad rubedinem vt prędixi.

Et scitote qd argentum viuum est ignis, corpora cōburens, mortificans, & constringens vno regimine. Et quanto magis terunt corpora et miscentur, tanto magis habilitantur et attenuantur. Alius philosophus dicit: quod ignis incensus superabundans facit exhalare humidum, sed frigidum ignis facit perire opus.

Nota, regimen ignis sic secundum naturam & exemplo quatuor temporum regatur. In primo tempore, scilicet hyeme, terra concipit. In secundo scilicet vere producit herbas & flores. In tertio scilicet æstate, maturatur fructus. In autūno vero quarto tempore, colliguntur fructus: Vnde in opere nostro a simili in prima operatione Mercurius mortificatur, & totum opus vertitur in puluerem, & terra concipit vt in aliam vertatur naturam, Vnde in ista decoctione fit nigra. In secunda natura suam dealbando,in tertia iam fructus apparent, quia tunc apparet rubedo, quæ est in fine operis. In quarta maturantur fructus, & ex eis colliguntur. Hæc de fixatione sufficiunt.

De modo proijciendi medicinam & tingendi quodlibet metallum in solem et lunam.
Caput VIII.

De promiso finem compleui huc vfqƺ, magisterium magnum, ad elixir excellentissimum album & rubeum faciendum. Hic finaliter dicam de modo proijciendi, qui est complementum operis, & lætitia desiderata & expectata. Album vero elixir dealbat vsque ad infinitum, & quodcunqƺ metallum deducit ad albedinem perfectam. Sed sciendum est, quod vnu metallum leuius altero ad elixir deducitur Propinqua enim perfectius quam remota. Et cum inuenimus metallum perfectum & multum propinquum, & vitium imperfectionis excusatur in ipso propinquo per multum remota, que vero metalla multum remota seu propinqua sunt in multis libris satis claret.
Et quia elixir album vel rubeum multum spirituale fit, vltra naturam tamen operatur, non est mirum quod illud commiscibile est corporis, super quo proijcitur, solummodo liquefacit illud. Graue etiam est super mille millia proijcere, & illa in cōtinenti penetrare. Quare vobis vnum secretum magnum tradam. Commiscenda est vna pars cum mille partibus corporis vicinioris, et hoc totu claude in vno vase firmiter et apto, & ponendum est illud in furnum fusionis per tres dies, donec inseparabiliter fuerit totum coniunctum. Et illud est opus trium dierum, tunc ad infinitum proijcienda est vna pars illius corporis coniuncti super mille partes cuiuscunqƺ corporis, Propinquiora tamen sunt viciniora semper, Et illud est opus vnius diei seu horæ vel minutæ.
Est & alius modus proijciendi. Recipe partes centum Mercurij cum sale & aceto abluti, & pone in crusibulo super igne, cū aut fumare incipit, proijce partem vnam super has centum partes Mercurij & fit totum medicina. Deinde pone partem vnam istius medicinæ super alias partes centum Mercurij, ad ignem feruentem, & est adhuc medicina, & sic consequenter. In vltima proiectione transmutat vna pars medicine, vltimo congelata, centum partes Mercurij in verum aurum vel argentum, secundum quod elixir præparatum fuerit. Item alius modus proijciendi. Pone partem vnam medicinæ prædictæ super sexaginta partes Mercuri abluti, & pone in vas vitreum, & claude vas optime ne respiret, & pone ad cineres calidos per tres dies, & si tua medicina retinuerit Mercurium, scias medicinam tuam esse perfectam, tunc omnes istæ sexaginta partes sunt medicina quemadmodum prima. Et per istum modum poteris probare excellentiam elixiris, quod semper sic est augmentandum. Aliquando vna pars medicinæ conuertit 50. vel 100. vel 200. vel etia 1000. vel vsqƺ ad infinitum partes. Et semper illud totum est medicina quod de Mercurio retinetur, & perfecte coagulatur.

Modus autem operis est iste, vt proijcias partem vnam medicing prædicte super partes 100. auri fusi, & facit ipsum frangibile, & totu erit medicina, cuius vna pars proiecta super 100. cuiuslibet metalli fusi conuertit ipsum in aurum optimum.

Side note: Diuersificatio tincturae

Et si proieceris super lunam, simili modo conuertit omnia corpora in lunam, per eundem modum poteris conuertere Solem in Lunam, in Venerem, Saturnum, Iouem & Martem.
Si autem medicina vel elixir prędictum non haberet ingressum. Recipe de lapide in prima operatione extracto, et Mercury prædicti ana, & simul misce & incorpora, in lapide terēdo, et deinde balneo distillando, vt melius coniungatur, postea desicca, Et si vis, poteris recipere aquam per alembicum, & hoc toties reiterare imbibendo, incorporando, desiccando, quousqƺ prædicta medicina cum prædicto Mercurio præparato incorporetur, quo facto pone totum in vrinale habens fundum rotundum, & supposito cooperatorio reuerberationis, dabis ignem candelæ & cineris per gradus suos, vt supra monstratum est. Et quando tibi videbitur, adde paulatim de Mercurio prædicto, quousque materia prædicta figatur, & efficiatur fusibilis plus quam cera Et sic habebis elixir seu lapidem verum philosophorum completum, qui conuertit Mercurium et omne corpus imperfectum in solem & lunam, quo melior haberi non potest.

Epilogatio totius.

Dico ergo totius operis summa non est aliud, nisi vt sumatur lapis in capitulis librorum notus, & cum operis instantia assiduetur super ipsum opus sublimationis primi gradus, vt a corrumpente mundetur impuritate. Deinde cum ipso soluto sub tilietur ipsius additamentum album vel rubeum, donec in vltimo sublimationis modo volatile fiat. Adhuc vero cum fixionis modis figatur, donec in ignis asperitate totum quiescat. Deinde vero fixam partem cum non fixa parte referuata per modum solutionis & sublimationis volatilem facias, & volatile fixum, et fixum solutum, ac iterato volatile, & volatile fixum, quousqƺ fluat, & alteret in complemento solifico & lunifico certo. Et hoc modo operatur arcanum preciosissimum super omne mundi precium preciosum, omniumque philosophorum thesaurus incomparabilis.