The Hermetic museum, restored and enlarged : most faithfully instructing all disciples of the sopho-spagyric art how that greatest and truest medicine of the philosopher's stone may be found and held. Now first done into English from the Latin origin

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the Mur elements : their fire is the splendour of the Sun and Moon the earth conceives in her Womb the splendour of the Suia, and by it the sceds of the metals are weli and equat ly varmed, just like the gratia in the fields. Through this warinththere is produced in the earth a vapour or spirit, whicli risesupward and carries with it the most subile elements. It mightrueli be called a fifth element: sor it is a quin tesse iace, and Contains the most volatile paris os ali the elements. This Uapotirs trives to float upward through the summit of the m Ountains, but, being Covered with great rockS. they prevent ii s rom do ing so for when it strii es against them, it is Compelled to descend again. It is drawn up by the Suia, it is forced down again by the roclis, and as it salis the vapour is transmuted into a liquid, i. e. , Sulphurand mercury. Os each of these a part is test bellind but that whicli is volatile rises and descendes again, more and more os itre maining bellind, and beco ming fi Xed aster each descent. This fixed ' substance is the metals, whicli cleave so firmi y to theearth and the stones that they must be smet ted Out in a red-hoti urnace. The grosser the stones and the earth of the mountains are, the less pure will the metal be : the more subile thesoli and the Stones are, the more subile Will be the Vapour, an ithe sulphur and mercury formed by iis condensation and the purer these lalter are, the purer, of CourSe, Will the metals them selves be. When the earth and the Stones of the mountain aregrOSS, the Sulphur and mercury muSi parta ke of thi S grOSSneSS, and cannot attain to their proper devel opinent. Hon Ce ari se thedisserent metales, each after iis own kind. Foras Each tree of the held has iis own peculiar shape, appearance, and fruit, SO ORChm Ountain bears iis own particular ore ; those stones and thatearth bcing the soli in whicli the meta is gro . The quali ty of

this soli is to a great extent dependent upon planetary influen Ces. The nearer the molintains lie to the planeis, the more do metalsgrow in them : sor the qualities of metals are determined by planetary influences. Mountains that are turn ed towards the Sun have Subile stones and Carth, and produce nothing but gold. Is they a re more convenient ly situ aled sor being influenced by the m Oon, their metallic substance is turn ed into silver. For all

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meta is, when per Ctly developed, must ultimately become Moonand Suia, though Some need to be opera ted on by the Sun and Moon longer than othei S : for the Stin is the Father, and the Moon the Mother, of ali things that grow. Thus yota see that goldglitters like the Sura, and Silver like the Moon. NON. chilo renalways resemble their parentS and ali metallic bodies containwithin them solves the properties of the Sun: to change the baser metals into gold and Silver, there is positively nothing wanting

Νo , by the speciat grace of God, it is possibie to bring this

natural fre to bear on imperfeci metals by means of Our Art, an dio Supply the conditions of metallic groruth without any of the hin drances whicli in a natural State provent persection. Thus byapplying Our natural fi re, We Can do more toruards fixing V im persect bOdies and metals in a moment, than the Sun in athousanct years. FOr this reason Our Sione has also pOwer toCure ali things that grOw, acting on eaCh one according to iis kind. For Our Matter represenis a perfeci and inseparabie union of the four elements, whicli in deed is the sum os our Art, and is consequently able to reconcile and heat ali discord in ali mann er

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You fhould also know that ali stones are genera ted by the Stin and Moon out of the sulphur and Volatile mercury ; is theydo not beco me metais, that is entiret y clue to their O n grOSSn CSS. In the Same way, ali planis a re generaled from Sulphur and mercury, and that by the heat of the Sun and Moon. for the Sun and Moon are the mercury in our Matier. The Sun is warm

mercury representS an harmoni Ous mixture of the four elemenis,

hol and dry, Sun and Moon. It is generaled in the form os a vapour in the fiet cis and on the motintains, by the waraath of the

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s Or the consolation os ali man kind. Without this fire Our Art cannot be brought to a successit issue. This is the fi re os the Sages Whicli they describe in such obscure termS, RS to haUebeen the indirect cause of beguiling many innocent PerSonS to

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their ruin ; so even that they have perished in poVertybecause they knew not this fire of the Philosophers. It is themost preci ous sire that God has created in the earth, and has a

In the writings of the Sages, this fire goes by different

Again, the Sages catl this sire the sire os the Holy Spirit,because as the Divinity os Christ took upon itself true flesti and blood without sors iting anything of iis Divine Nature, so the

Sura, the Moon, and Mercury, are transmuted in to the triae Tincture, whicli remains unaffected by ali Out ard influences,

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PrOSent in one CSSen Ce, and are the instrumental cause of allpersection in Nature.

requires fire, that is, the warmih of the Sura, to bring it to

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fit si principie os metals. IVithout this seed there is no Con- Summation of Our Art, and no Tincture, ei ther red Or white. For the Sulphur and mercury of gold are the red, the Sulphurand mercury of Silver are the white Tincture: the Mercury Ofthe Sun and Moon fiXes ali Mercury in imperfeci metal S, tandimparis excellen e and durabili ty even to Common Morcury. Dioscorides has written an elegant treati se concerning this Urine os Children, which he calis the first Matter Os metat s.

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once brought to persectiori. Again, 3 ou may Clearly Perceive that the quin tessen Ce of the earth has iis operation in the winter when the earth is Closed up with Dost ; while the Quin tessen ceos the Stars operates in the summer time, when it removes allthat is injurious in the inferior quinteSSence, and thus qui cliens everything into vigorOus growth. The two quin tessenCeS may also he driven of into xvater, and there conserved. An earthlymanifestation you may belloid in the colours of the rainbow,when the rays of the Sun Ahine through the rain. But, in deed, there is not a Stone, an animal, Or a plant, that cloes not containboth quin tessen Ces. In Shori, they embody the secret of ourruliole Magistery, and Out of them Our Stone is prepared. Hermes, in his Emerald Table, expresses himself as sol lows: Our Blessed Storie, Whicli is of good substance, and haS a Soul, ascend A se om earth to heaven, and again descendS Dom heaven

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ii. ABEL, the son of Adam, wrote thus in his Principies :Aster God had created our Father, Adam, and set him in Paraclise, He subjected to his rule ali animais, PlantS, minerat S, and metal S. For man is the mountain of mountains, the Stoneos ali Stones, the tree of trees, the root of rootS, the earth of earllis. Ali these things he includes within himself, and Godlias gi ven to him to be the preserver of ali things. iii. SETII, the son Of Adam, describes it thus : Know, my child reia, that in proportiora as the acid is Subjected to Coction, by means of Our Art, and is reduced into ashes, the more Ofthe substance is eXtracted, and beComes a white bOdy. Is youcook this well, and free it Dom ali blackness, it is changed into astone, whicli is called a whi te stone untii it is crushed. Dissolveit in water of the mouili, whicli has been weli tempered, and iis