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by which bodies are coloured. V Lullius in his Codicil V says : The property Os Our mercury is to be coagulated by iis sulphur ' Anci, in the Practice of his Testament The silver is a flowing moi Sthare, floating above and preserving the whole frona
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solution, that heing after ali the principat object os our inquiry.
And first, as Con Cerns the search after Our Matier, we Should remember that in the heginning, when there was nothing but Himself, God, who is infinite in Wisdom, Created two ClasseS Osthings, namely, those that a re in heaven, and those that areunder heaven. The heavenly things about which we need nothere speah at lengili) are the heavens themselves, and the divellers in heaven The things that are under the heavens were Crealedout of Mur elemenis, and are common ly divided in to three classes. Those that live and seel hold the first place, and are alled animal s. The SeCond ClaSS are the planis, that grON out os the earth, but do not seel. The thirci Class, that of the minerais, has itS origin underground. These three classes include ali that beneath the moOnὶ has been created Out of the elements. They
purity and subit ety of his spiritual substance, whicli again has iis
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origin in a recti fied and weli constitu ted hody. Thus also Ne sectone horse eLCel the strength and speed os an other ; and it is the
an even greater degree in re ard to Planis and troes-with trees, by tran, planting, grastin g, and kindred metho ls weli familiar togardeners ; while aS to Other vegetable natures, we are taught bydatly eXperien Ce how planis and flo vers of the fame hin d differ frona each other in glory, in beatity, in fragrance, and Savour. Osthis cloves and tuli ps amord a strii ing instance. Into how many different species have these flo vers been developeii ; and eventhes et ne v developments are being made more beautis ut si omday to Jay, and it is universalty admitted that never Nere there sucii fine and fragrant sto vers bes ore. What am I to say abo ut
digested and consolidaled by the po ver of sulphur Θ Concerning this common substance, Richard the Englistiman has thesollo ving wor is Nature has elaborated ali hincis os sus ibi ethings by a natural procesS Out os mercury, and the substance of iis sulphur, hecati se it is the property of qui ct silver to bo consolidaled by steam, as by the heat of whi te and reci sulphur si hich does not burn. The sanae vi eiu is eXpreSSed by Arnold pl. I., CP. ii. : Quici silver is the elementary forin os ali things fusi ble ; sor allthings su sibi e heia melled, are Changed into it, and it mingles vitii them bocati se it is of the fame substance with them. Suchbodies differ frona qui ct silver in their Composition Only SO sar a Sitseis is or is not Dee frona the soreigia matter os impure sulphur VSimilarly Rosinus Saratantam Savs The substance of alimctals in the licari os the carth is solidi fied and imperfeci quicksilver; sor by the qui chening heat of sulphur different meta is accor ling to the different varieties os sulphur) are generat edin the earth : their original substance is cane and the fame and is modi ned only by a greater or Sm alter externat influenco Hen ceu e see dat ly ho v busi ly Nature is occupied in brin ing themto mortification and persection. NON the persection Os metals anti the final intention of Nature in regard to them, is zold. Forali metals shew that Nature has done Something sor them to vard Sultimate persection no metat is SO base as not to Contain a single grai nos gold Orsilver Nature voti id always Change qui ct silver that
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That retarding, combusti ble, and foetid sulphur is not thetriae fire that fashions metals; but qui ct silver has iis own sulphur in iiself, whicli is sufficient sor the purpose of fashion ingit, AS Bernard, Count of Trevisan, says Some belleve that in the generation Os metal S, a sulphuri C substance is introducedfrom without ; but, on the Contrary, it is Clear that in the working of Nature sulphur is at ready en Closed in the mercury. Yetit has no potver in it eXcept through the moving heat, by whicli thesaid Sulphur is changed, and with it two other qualities of them Orcury. In thiS way, then, Nature generates by means of this sulphur the different kinds of metals in the vel ras of the earth, according to the diversi ty of degrees and alterations.' For in metal S, ACCOrding to Arnold pl. I., Cp. iii.), there is a two- sold Superfluity one that is enclosed in the in nermost nature of the qui ct Silver, and got there at the first mingling os the metal; theother cloes not be long to the essen ce of it, is CX ternat to it, and Corrupti ble. To remove the former is a dissiculi task ; the lalter
may be removed without any difficulty. The combustibi e sulphur is taken away by heing subjected to the action Os fi re, oris destroyed by foret gn bodies ; but the other, whicli is in thequi ct sit Ver, is preserved by it Dom combustion. But again, that inward sulphur whicli fashions the qui ct silver belongingio it, and matures it towards persection, is ei ther pure or impure, combusti ble or in combusti ble. Impure sulphur hinders the
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digestion os the qui ct silver, whicli cannot be transformed intogold untii that which does not belong to it has been enti rei 3 Separated frona it ; but the pure, in combusti ble, si Xod sulphurre mains with it, and then at length it passes ei ther into golii or
Silver, accor ling as the sulphur is ei ther white or red. Thisinternal sulphur is nothing but mature mercury, and the moStad vanced part of the qui ct silver. and for this reason the quicksilver receives it so kindly, as being of iis own CSSen CO, while it rejecis the other whicli is foret gn to it. So Richard the Englistiman says, in his nilath chapter The more simple thesulphur is, the more readi ly does it combine with simple and Pure mercury, and the more intimately they combine themore preci ous is the metat whicli is produced.' But such Sulphur, Sab S Avicenna, ' is not found On earth, e XCepi in So saras it exigis in metallic bodies through the action of the Sun an linoon. In the sun it exi sis in a per Ct state, because there it isbetter digestedand decocted. V According to Richard , in his twel filichapter, the red sulphur of the philosophers exisis in the sunon account of iis greater digestion, and the whi te sulphur in
the nroon on account Osits inferior digestion. Since, then, the substance of the metal S is one, and Commonto all, and Since this substance is ei ther at Once, Or aster layingaside in course of time the foret gn and evit sulphur of the baser metals by a procesS of gradual digestion) changed by the virtve of iis own in divelling sulphur into GOLD. whicli is the goal ofati the metais, and the true intention Os Nature rue are oblige dio admit, and freely Consess that in the minerat hiragdom, as wellas in the vegetable and animal hiragdonas, Nature seel sand deman is a gradual alta in ment of persection, and agradual approXimation to the highest Standard os puri ty an d
I thought it would be best, O Diendly searcher of Nature, to discuss the matter more in de tali, in ordor that 3 ou might themore rea lily know and malae use of the substance of our Stone lFor is you attempted to produce our Sione o ut os an animal Substance you would sati, because the two things be long todisserent natural ordors. FOr the Stone is a minerat, butyouwould be trying to fashion it out os an animal substance. Eut nothing, V says our Richard , in his firSt chapter, can be got out
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Lullius, but thev exhibit the depili os their sol ly by the assumptionos pro und wisdom, and thus Only deceive them solves and othei S. I d O not deny that Some eXcellent solvenis, in dispensabie both
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to the physici an and to the chemist, a re obta ined Dom theSe Sotirces ; but I do most positively deny that the Philosopher's Sion e Caia be prepared, or iis seed elicited, from them, since the Creator has ordainod that nothing should oversiep the bound Sof the natural Order to whicli it was originalty assigned. Heraceevery true disciple of wisdom may gather that the Substance Osthe Stone is to be obta ined iaci ther in the animal nor in the vegetable worid, Seeing that both are combusti ble. Ne must theresore look sor it among in combustibi e things, that is tosay, in the minerat worid, and then Ce Only can we prepare it. Since, then, the Sione of the wi se is minerat, and there a re different k incis of minerais, as stones includi nil clay and the different
varieties os Carthin, salis, generat minerais, and metal S, wC IDUStsurther ask in whicli os ali these it is contain ecl. We may atonce eliminate Siones, beCaus e they Contain no susibi O mercury, and cannot be melleii, dissolved. or divided in to their Component paris On account of the large quantity Os soreigia sulphur an dearthly substance Whicli Cleave to them. Nor Will the wi se investigator of Nature's secretS CXPOCt tofind the substance of the Blessed Stone in salis, alum S, Orsimilar minerat s. In them he meois with a Sharse, Corrod in g, destructive spirit, but mercury and sulphur, as underStOOd by
philosophers, he would vain ly look sor. Generat minerais, like
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Work Concerning the Preservation of Youth, lib. iii.) says : This prepared sali has great virtve in preserving YOuth. The Sages have compared it to the natural heat of healthy yohath. The Stone itself has sonaetimes been called by the wiso the Animal Stone, so metimes the Minerat Secret, On account of this Similitude ; so metimes the Evertasting Remedy or the water OfLisse. The whole preparation may be reduced to the pureStdrini ing water, like other things that have the Samo Pro Perii CS. VFroin the asoresa id it clearly appears that we are sorbidden both by the teaching of the Sages and by the nature of the thing to
Suppose that the Stone can be made out of the lesser minerat s. e should neXt en quire more care fully whether the matteros our Sion e may be obtainod seo in the intermediate minerat S like bis mulli, antimo ny, magnesia, and so on. They are Certain lyosten mentioned in this connection by the Sages. Thus Senior Sab S, in a certain passage Is yellow orpiment has not thoPOwer Os Coa uiating mercury Our Magistery Can never attain itSgoal. V Thomas de Aquinas recommends us to tal O Our Antim Ony, or black earth, while Parmenides, in The Crowd,''says Tal equi ct silver and coagulate it in the body of magnesia, or Corruptibi e sulphur. V But in ali sucii passages these ternas are USed metaphori catly ; it is not meant that the Great Sione Can QVer bemade out of Such substances. The orpiment and magneSia Ofthe Sages are not the common minerales, but the substance Whi Chin other passages is called the Agent, the Lion, the K in g, Sulphur, and by many other names. They cali it Orpi menthecati Se it gives a deeper and more brilliant colouring to gold ; magnesia beCause of the eXCellen Ce and greatness of that whicli is gained frona it: antimony, willi Thomas AquinaS, Onaccount of the brilliant blachness whicli it assumes aster solution. As a matter of taci, when the Sione has assumed itS ebOny Colourthey a re in the habit of comparing it to ali black things. But it may be qaid that sonae of these intermediate minerat s
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that as these minerais are Composed of mercury and Sulphur and cara by chemicat means be reduced to them), and are there' fore of a Common origin xuith the metais, the substance of the Sion e may also he elicited froni them. Eut, in the first place, ve must draru a distinction belween the various minerales of thi SClaSS, nam ely those inhich contain mercury, and those whi Chliard ly ever contain it. Those that are fuit os mercury are of TCater ACCOunt, Since, by means os our Medicine, their mercurymay be transformed into gold and silver and , their nature