Hermetic and Alchemical Writings (Coelum Philosophorum, Aurora of the Philosophers, Concerning the Nature of Things, ...)

Here, too, should be added something which we do not give from the report of others, for the same we have seen with our own eyes and know by experience. If the abovementioned ring be worn on the third finger by a man in whom any ailment is latent and growing, so that it would presently break forth in an eruption, the ring would forthwith give an indication by bursting out in a sweat, and as if seized with a sudden sympathy would put forth spots and become depraved in appearance, as we shall shew more fully in our book entitled "Sympathy." Lastly, since I would not pass over or omit any word in favour of electrum, it is a preservation and an antidote against evil spirits. There is latent in it an operation and a conjunction of planetary influence which make us the more easily believe that the old Magi in Persia and Chaldsea attempted and accomplished much by its aid. If we sought to enumerate all the cases specifically, we should indeed enter upon a marvellous chronicle. Not, however, to give any occasion of offence or allow persons to make a handle of this, it will suflSce to have touched the subject in few words. The Sophists, who are my deadliest enemies, would not hesitate to proclaim me Arch-Necromancer. But I cannot refrain from telling a miracle which I saw in Spain when I was at the house of a certain necromancer.

He had a bell weighing, perhaps, two pounds, and by a stroke of this bell he used to summon, and to bring, too, visions of many different spectres and spirits. In the interior of the bell he had engraved certain words and characters, and as soon as the sound and tinkle were heard, spirits appeared in any form he desired. Moreover, the stroke of this bell was so powerful that he produced in the midst many visions of spirits, of men, and even of cattle, whatever he wished, and then drove them away again. I saw many instances of this, but what I particualarly noticed was that when he was going to do anything new, he renewed and changed the characters and the names. I did not, however, get so far as to induce this man to impart to me the secret and mystery of the names and characters. At length I began to speculate more thoroughly about this circumstance ; and there came into my mind — ideas which we will pass over in silence here. There was more in that bell than one can put into words ; and of this be very sure, that the material of which it was composed was this electrum of ours. You will therefore have no difficulty in believing that Virgil's bell (Nola) was of such a kind as this. At its stroke all the adulterers and adulteresses in the king's palace were so excited and alarmed that suddenly, as if struck with lightning, they rushed over the bridge into the river.

Think not this story a mere fable : the thing really happened. Nor be so dense as to hesitate as to whether such properties can exist. For if, as you know to be the case, a visible man cart call another visible man to him by a word, and force him to do what he wants — when a mere word, without the aid of arms, can effect so much, much more can it be that an invisible man can do this, since he commands both the visible and the invisible man, not by the aid of a word, but by the direction of his thought. The inferior always obeys the superior, and stands to him in the light of a subject. So, then, you will easily come round to our opinion if you settle it that the interior or invisible man is a kind of constellation or firmament. For he remains latent in the senses and thoughts of the exterior, visible man, and discloses or reveals himself only by imagination. You will concede, therefore, that there are stars in man and that their constellation is so arranged by the Olympian spirit that the man can be led and changed into quite another man. So, then, I say that

the same thing occurs with metals, namely, that things may be so constellated by celestial impression as to make the operation and virtue which Nature originally determined, really arise from the good aspect of the higher stars, and thus unfold itself, as is shewn in other books of the Archidoxis Magica * I will subjoin, if you wish, an illustration. Let any one reduce to an amalgam gold and mercury, making a conjunction of Sol and Mercury, but with a preponderance of Sol. Let him mix and blend them, and soon, with little labour, the two metals will become fixed. With these, if you will, you can make a ^:mc\MXQOx\Mercuriusvivus. That, again, can afterwards be increased and augmented with other Mercurius vivus under the same constellation. This is, indeed, a great arcanum of Nature. There will be a similar composition and union of gold or silver with mercury without this conjunction. For if gold be placed above mercury, so that the white fume of the mercury touch and penetrate the body of the gold, the gold will be rendered fragile, and will melt with the greatest ease like wax. The process is the same with silver. This is the Magnesia of the Philosophers, in the finding of which Thomas of Aquinum and Rupescissa and their disciples, though they worked hard, were unsuccessful. And let nobody think it an easy matter so to blend Mercurius vivus m the ^YQ with, harder metals and those of tardier solution— as silver,

* Moreover, it is altogether certain, and experimentally proved, that the mutations of time have singular force and operation, and this is especially the case when certain metals are melted and elaborated together. Further, no one can prove that the metals are devoid of life. Their oils, sulphurs, salts, and quintessences, which are the best reservatives, have enormous power in nourishing and sustaining human life, and herein altogether surpass in strength all other simples, as, indeed, is entirely the case with all our remedies. How, if they were devoid of life, could they awaken in the diseased and half-dead members and bodies of men a fresh and vital strength, and at the very outset restore them ? . . . I therefore boldly assert that metals and stones, equally with roots, herbs, and fruits, have a life of their own, with this distinction, however, inasmuch as metals are prepared and elaborated according to time. The efficacy of time is well-known, but we will speak only of those things which are difficult, and not to be grasped by the senses, but, indeed, are almost contrary to their evidence. Further, even signs, characters, and letters have their virtues and efficacies. Now, if the nature and property of the metal, as also the influence and operation of the heaven and of the sphere of the planets, the signification and formation of the characters, signs, and letters, together with the observation of the times, days, and hours, harmonise and agree, why should not a sign or seal composed after this manner have its own force and operation ?

And why, then, should not such and such a medicine, seasonably applied, benefit the bead, another the vision, or a third the veins ? And especially in the case of those who dislike to take other remedies into the body. Yet none of these results are possible without the air of the Father of Medicine Himself, Jesus Christ, the one and true Physician. Objectors may say that words or characters have no force, since they are mere signs or figures, and that none at least can compare in efficacy with the cross. But how is it that the sei-pent in Helvetia, Algovia, or Suavia, understands the Greek phrase Osy^ Osyn^ Osy, although in none of tliese countries is Greek so common that venomous reptiles can acquire it ? How is it that, the moment they hear the words, they draw in their tails, stop up their ears, and, contrary to their nature, lie motionless, without doing harm to any man ? ... By this it is shewn that characters, words, and signs have a recondite and latent force, not in the least opposed to Nature, nor anything to do with superstition. It is found that these words have the same effect when they are written on paper, and not uttered. So, also, let it not be considered incredible that a man should be cured by medicine, even when he does not take it internally, but carries it suspended like a seal from his neck.

That even in dead things there is a certain force, I prove by the example of the kingfisher, for if, when it is dead, you remove its skin, and hang it up, you will see that, although it is dry, it will annually cast its old feathers and produce fresh ones of the same colour. — Archidoxis Mag^icoe, Lib. I. For it is certain that in the very signs themselves of the planets, if they are harmonised and carried about in the required manner, according to a favourable hour and time, as regards their course, there reside great force and virtue. For none can deny that the superior stars and influences of heaven have very great weight in transient and mortal affairs. If the superior stars and planets are able to control, rule, and sway according to their will the animal man, although he be made according to the image of God, and be. endowed with life and reason, how much more ought they to rule an inferior thing, that is to say, metals, stones, and images, upon which they impress themselves, or which they so occupy, with all their virtue and efficacy, after the manner of an influence, as though they were substantially present, even as they are in the firmament ? It is possible to man himself to bring these into a certain medium, wherein they may effectually operate, whether this medium be a metal, a stone, or an image. But this is most important of all : to know th.^t the seven planets have greater force in nothing than they possess in their proper metals. —/iS^rf'. , Lib. VII

copper, gold, iron, and steel— that they may quickly liquefy. Many tinctures and Elyxeria [sic) of metals are prepared thus for transmuting metals, as will be more copiously described in other books on Metallic Transmutations.''' The same is the case with common mercury, which with its fume penetrates all other metals, and, as it were, breaks through them, calcines them, and disposes them to its own nature. Metals will coagulate this by their fume. We assert that the most extreme heat resides in Mercury, and that it cannot be coagulated except by extreme cold, which is seen to exhale copiously from metals in the fire. Nothing affects metals in the fire save what is of extreme cold and unable to bear the vehemence of the fire. Such a metal is arsenic, which being liquefied ascends as a spirit from metals while they are in a state of flux. Moreover, do not lose sight of the fact that Mercury is a metallic spirit, and that every spirit is more powerful than a body. So is it with Mercury in reference to the other metals. Just as it is easy for a spirit to penetrate walls, so it is not difficult for Mercury to penetrate metals.

How many are the wonderful operations and effects of Mercury on the metals ! We cannot detail them all. But shall we send you away empty to some other source? We know from experiment that if Mercurius vivus be sublimated from some one of the metals which'has been several times calcined, and if then the calcinated metal which remains at the bottom be again reduced to its metal, it is melted in the fire as easily as lead, though it were gold, silver, copper, iron, or steel, even if it be only applied to the flame of a candle like so much wax ; or as snow and ice melt before the sun. Afterwards by digestion for a certain time it can be changed into Mercury. We have mentioned this * The fourth book of the Archidoxis Mag-/ccE is entitled, Concerning the Transmutation of Metals a7id their Time. It is literally as follows : — If you seek to change gold into silver, or any given metal into any other metal, have regard to the following tabulation. Nor is it of small moment so that you may be able to arrive at the end of your purpose more quickly and thoroughly. Scheme of the Transmutation of Metals.— To transmute Sol into Luna, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, or Mercury, begin with Luna occupying the sixth grade of Cancer, Taurus, Aries, Pisces, Aquarius, or Virgo, as the case may be, and always in the hour of that planet into which you wish to convert gold or any of the other metals, namely, Luna, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury.

To transmute Saturn into Sol, Luna, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, or Mercury, begin with Luna occupying the twentieth grade of Leo, Scorpio, Cancer, Taurus, Pisces, or Virgo, as the case may be, in the hour of Sol, Luna, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, or Mercury, according to the metal into which you would convert Saturn. To transmute Mercury into Sol, Luna, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, or Saturn, begin with the Moon in the first grade of Leo, Virgo, Cancer, Taurus, Pisces, or Aquarius, as the case may be, in the hour of Sol, Luna, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, or Saturn, according to the metal into which you would convert Mercury. To transmute Luna into Sol, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Salurn, or Mercury, begin with the Moon in the twelfth grade of Leo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Aries, or Gemini, as the case may be, and in the hour of Sol, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, or Mercury, according to the metal into which you would convert Luna. To transmute Venus into Sol, Luna, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, or Mercury, begin with the Moon in the ninth grade of Leo, Cancer, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, or Sagittarius, as the case may be, and in the hour of Sol, Luna, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, or Mercury, according to the metal into which you would convert Venus. To convert Mars into Sol, Luna, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, or Mercury, begin with the Moon in the eighty-first grade of Leo, Cancer, Taurus, Sagittarius, Scorpio, or Virgo, as the case may be, and in the hour of Sol, Luna, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, or Mercury, according to the metal into which you would convert Mars.

To transmute Jupiter into Sol, Luna, Venus, Mars, Saturn, or Mercury, begin with the Moon in the third grade of Leo, Cancer, Libra, Virgo, Aquarius, or Pisces, as the case may be, and in the hour of Sol, Luna, Venus, Mars, Saturn, or Mercury, according to the metal into which you would convert Jupiter. For example : If you wish to change gold into silver, make a beginning in the hour of the Moon, when the Moon occupies the sixth grade of Cancer. And so, likewise, understand the rest of this scheme for the conversion of metals. For all terrestrial affairs, occupations, and matters of business, are most conveniently and happily executed in harmony with the motions of the heavens and the planets. For all men, by the dispensations of Almighty God, are ruled and led by the power and operation of the firmament, both as to health and disease. So is it necessary before all things to have regard to this operation in the healing art. Simples very frequently push forth their virtues according to a certain rule of time.

The Composition of Metals. 1 1 9 fact in our book on the Resuscitation of Natural Things. This is the Mercury of the Philosophers. In this way you will prepare the Mercury of Gold, of Luna, of Venus, of Mars, of Jupiter, and of Saturn. Although in their books Arnold, Aristotle, and other philosophers boast about this, yet I am well assured that it was never prepared or seen by them. It will now be for you to keep this great secret and mystery of Nature, and to take care that it does not fall into the hands of my adversaries ; since it would be an indignity for them to get to know it. A pearl or a precious stone will not please a goose, because the goose does not know its price and value. It would infinitely prefer a turnip. We may fitly say the same of the sophists. It is no injustice to conceal secret mysteries from them. Let us not seem to cast pearls before swine or give that which is holy to dogs, since God sternly forbids us so to do. But let us proceed to the practical work of our electrum, as we promised at the outset. We would have it prepared, compounded, and conjoined according to the revolution of the heaven and the conjunctions of the planets. We will proceed in this way. First, you must diligently observe the conjunction of Saturn and Mercury ;

and, before this occurs, have ready the appliances you require. These are, fire, a cauldron, lead cut up into minute pieces, and Mercurius vivus. Take care that nothing be wanting which the work in hand requires, or for lack of which the action may be hindered or retarded. Then when the conjunction is just going to take place, let the lead be melted in the fire, and be not quite hot when it shall have fused, lest the Mercury which you pour in escape, or, if the heat be too great, pass off in smoke. Let this be done at the very moment of conjunction. Take out suddenly the cauldron with the liquid lead ; pour in the Mercury, and afterwards let them both be coagulated.

Then there will be need of attention when the conjunction of Jupiter with Mercury or Saturn is about to take place, so that you may not be ignorant of the time or pass it by. Let everything you will want be ready to hand as I before admonished you. You must take care, before the actual moment of conjunction, to melt in one vessel fine English tin, and in the other lead with Mercury. At the moment of conjunction move the metals from the fire, slackening the heat a little, and pour all into one crucible. When they have coagulated into one body you will have three metals softer and more easily melting over the fire. When they are united let it not escape your notice that in the very first place these are to be dissolved and conjoined. Then notice when there is a conjunction of any of the other four planets — Sol, Luna, Venus, or Mars — with one of the three former, Saturn, Mercury, or Jupiter. Have all instruments and materials ready. Let them be dissolved singly first ; then when liquefied pour them into one at the very point of conjunction, and keep them. In a like way proceed with other metals which are to be joined and copulated with the former, until you have reduced and united all the seven according to the due conjunctions of the planets. So will you have prepared our electrum, concerning which enough has now been said.

Concerning the Generation of Natural Things. THE generation of all natural things is twofold* : one which takes place by Nature without Art, the other which is brought about by Art, that is to say, by Alchemy, though, generally, it might be said that all things are generated from the earth by the help of putrefaction. For putrefaction is the highest grade, and the first initiative to generation. But putrefaction originates from a moist heat. For a constant moist heat produces putrefaction and transmutes all natural things from their first form and essence, as well as their force and efficacy, into something else. For as putrefaction in the bowels transmutes and reduces all foods into dung, so, also, without the belly, putrefaction in glass transmutes all things from one form to another, from one essence to another, from one colour to another, from one odour to another, from one virtue to another, from one force to another, from one set of properties to another, and, in a word, from one quality to another. For it is known and proved by daily experience that many good things which are healthful and a medicine, become, after their putrefaction, bad, unwholesome, and mere poison. So, on the other hand, many things are bad, unwholesome, poisonous, and hurtful, which after their putrefaction become good, lose all their evil effect, and make notable medicines. For putrefaction brings forth great eff'ects, as we have a good example in the sacred gospel, where Christ says, " Unless a grain of wheat be cast forth into a field and putrefy, it cannot bear fruit a hundred fold." Hence it may be known that many things are multiplied by putrefaction so that they produce excellent fruit. For putrefaction is the change and death of all things, and the destruction of the first essence of all natural objects, from whence there issues forth for us regeneration and a new birth ten thousand times better than before.

Since, then, putrefaction is the first step and commencement of generation, it is in the highest degree necessary that we should thorough!)' * There is another aspect in which generation is also twofold, as, for example, that of wood and other thin^^s takes place naturally out of seed. But the worms which destroy wood are the product of a monstrous sperm. Hence there are two generations - natural and monstrous. Every sperm in living things has within it another sperm which is monstrous, and can promote its likeness. There is also a monstrous sperm in all minerals. — Parngraphoruvi Lib. II. Par. IV. Concerning the Nature of Things. \ 2 1 understand this process. But there are many kinds of putrefaction, and one produces its generation better than another, one more quickly than another. We have also said that what is moist and warm constitutes the first grade and the beginning of putrefaction, which procreates all things as a hen procreates her eggs. Wherefore by and in putrefaction everything becomes mucilaginous phlegm and living matter, whatever it eventually turns out to be. You see an example in eggs, wherein is mucilaginous moisture, which by continuous heat putrefies and is quickened into the living chicken, not only by the heat which comes from the hen, but^y any similar heat. For by such a degree of heat eggs can be brought to maturity in glass, and by the heat of ashes, so that they become living birds.

Any man, too, can bring the &z% to maturity under his own arm and procreate the chicken as well as the hen. And here something more is to be noticed. If the living bird be burned to dust and ashes in a sealed cucurbite with the third degree of fire, and then, still shut up, be putrefied with the highest degree of putrefaction in a venter equinus so as to become a mucilaginous phlegm, then that phlegm can again be brought to maturity, and so, renovated and restored, can become a living bird, provided the phlegm be once more enclosed in its jar or receptacle. This is to revive the dead by regeneration and clarification, which is indeed a great and profound miracle of Nature. By this process all birds can be killed and again made to live, to be renovated and restored. This is the very greatest and highest miracle and mystery of God, which God has disclosed to mortal man. For you must know that in this way men can be generated without natural father and mother ; that is to say, not in the natural way from the woman, but by the art and industry of a skilled Spagyrist a man can be born and grow, as will hereafter be described.

It is also possible to Nature that men should be born from animals, and this result has natural causes, but still it cannot be produced without heresy and impiety. If a man have connection with an animal, and that animal, like a woman, receives the seed of the man with appetite and lust into its womb, and shuts it up there, then the seed necessarily putrefies, and, through the continuous heat of the body, a man, and not an animal, is born from it. For alwa3's, whatever seed is sown, such a fruit is produced from it. If this were not so it would be against the light of Nature and contrary to philosophy. Whatever the seed is, such is the herb which springs from it. From the seed of an onion an onion springs up, not a rose, a nut, or a lettuce. So, too, from corn comes corn ; from barley, barley ; from oats, oats. Thus it is, too, with all other fruits which have seeds and are sown. In like manner, it is possible, and not contrary to Nature, that from a woman and a man an irrational animal should be born. Neither on this account should the same judgment be passed on a woman as on a man, that is, she should not on this account be deemed heretical, as if she had acted contrary to Nature ; but the result must be assigned to imagination. Imagination is very frequently the cause of this : and the imagination of a pregnant

woman is so active that in conceiving seed into her body she can transmute the foetus in different ways : since her interior stars are so strongly directed to the foetus that they produce impression and influence. Wherefore an infant in the mother's womb is, during its formation, as much in the hand and under the will of the mother as clay in the hand of the potter, who from it forms and makes what he likes and whatever pleases him. So the pregnant mother forms the fruit in her own body according to her imagination, and as her stars are. Thus it often happens that from the seed of a man are begotten cattle or other horrible monsters, as the imagination of the mother was strongly directed towards the embryo.* But as you have already heard that many and various things are generated and quickened out of putrefaction, so you should know that from different herbs, by a process of putrefaction, animals are produced, as those who have experience of such matters are aware. Here, too, you should learn that such animals as are produced in and by putrefaction do all of them contain some poison and are venomous ; but one contains far more and more potent virus than another, and one is in one form, another in another, as you see in the case of serpents, toads, frogs, basilisks, spiders, bees, ants, and many worms, such as canker-worms, in locusts, and other creatures, all of which are produced out of putrefaction.

For many monsters are produced amongst animals. There are those monsters, too, which are not produced by putrefaction, but are made by art in the glass, as has been said, since they often appear in very wonderful form and horrible aspect ; frequently, for instance, with many heads, many feet, or many tails, and of diverse colours ; sometimes worms with fishes' tails or birds' wings, and other unwonted shapes, the like of which one had never before seen. It is not, therefore, only animals which have no parents, or are born from parents unlike themselves, that are called monsters, but those which are produced in other ways. Thus you see with regard to the basilisk, which is a monster above all others, and than which none is to be more dreaded, since a man can be killed by the very sight and appearance of it, for it possesses a poison more virulent than all others, with which nothing else in the world can be compared. This poison, by some unknown means, it carries in

* Here, as elsewhere throughout his writings, Paracelsus lays special stress on the power exercised by the imagination. — It is necessary that you should know what can be accomplished by a strong imagination. It is the principle of all magical action. — De Fesie^ Lib. I. The imagination of man is an expulsive virtue. — De Peste, s. v. Additanienta ml.ih. I. The imagination dwelling in the brain is the moon of the microcosm. — De Pesiiliiaie ^Tr&ct XL, c. 2, De Pyromatitica Peste. AH our sufferings, all our vices are nothing else than imagination. . . . And this imagination is such that it penetrates and ascends into the superior heaven, and passes from star to star. This same heaven it overcomes and moderates. . . . Whatsoever there is in us of immoderate and inhuman, all that is an imaginative nature, which can impress itself on heaven, and, this done, heaven has, on the other hand, the power of refunding that impression. — De Peste^ Addifamenta in Lib. I., Prol. So, also, a strong imagination is the source of both good and evil fortune.— ZJc Peste^ Lib. II., c. 2. Any strong appetite, desire, or inclination nourished by the

imagination of a pregnant woman can be and is often impressed upon the foetus. It is also possible for such a woman, by persistently thinking upon a wise and great man, such as Plato or Aristotle ; an illustrious soldier, such as Julius Ceesar or Barbarossa ; a great musician, like HofiFhammer ; or a painter, like Durer ; so to work upon the plastic tendencies of her offspring, that it will exhibit similar qualities. But there must be something also in the mother which shall correspond to the special talents which she has imagined. — Dc Origine Morborum Jnvisibiiium^ Lib. III. Imagination can distort and deform the foetus, and in this manner many wonders are produced, when there are no physical peculiarities in the parent. — Ibid. its eyes, and it is a poison that acts on the imagination, not altogether unlike a menstruous woman, who also carries poison in her eyes, in such a way that from her very glance the mirror becomes spotted and stained. So, too, if she looks at a wound or a sore, she affects it in a similar way, and prevents its cure. By her breath, too, as well as by her look, she affects many objects, rendering them corrupted and weak, and also by her touch. You see that if she handles wine during her monthly courses it soon turns and becomes thick. Vinegar which she handles perishes and becomes useless. Generous wine loses its potency.

In like manner, amber, civet, musk, and other strongly smelling substances being carried and handled by such a woman lose their odour. Gold, corals, and many gems are deprived of their colour, just as the mirrors are affected in this way. But— to return to my proposal of writing about the basilisk— how it carries its poison in its eye. You must know that it gets that power and that poison from unclean women, as has been said above. For the basilisk is produced and grows from the chief impurity of a woman, namely, from the menstrual blood. So, too, from the blood of the semen ; if it be placed in a glass receptacle and allowed to putrefy in horse dung, from that putrefaction a basilisk is produced. But who would be so bold and daring as to wish to produce it, even to take it and at once kill it, unless he had first clothed and protected himself with mirrors ? I would persuade no one to do so, and wish to advise every one to be cautious. But, to go on with our treatise about monsters, know that monstous growths amongst animals, which are produced by other methods than propagation from those like themselves, rarely live long, especially near or amongst other animals, since by their engrafted nature, and by the divine arrangement, all monsters are hateful to animals duly begotten from their own likeness. So, too, monstrous human growths seldom live long.

The more wonderful and worthy of regard they are, the sooner death comes upon them ; so much so that scarcely any one of them exceeds the third day in the presence of human beings, unless it be at once carried into a secret place and segregated from all men. It should be known, forsooth, that God abhors monsters of this kind. They displease Him, and none of them can be saved when they do not bear the likeness of God. One can only conjecture that they are shapen by the Devil, and born for the service of the Devil rather than of God ; since from no monster was any good work ever derived, but, on the contrary, evil and sin, and all kinds of diabolical craft. For as the executioner marks his sons when he cuts off their ears, gouges out their eyes, brands their cheeks, cuts off their fingers, hands, or head, so the Devil, too, marks his own sons, through the imagination of the mother, which they derive from her evil desires, lusts, and thoughts in conception. All men, therefore, should be avoided who have more or less than the usual numbers of any member, or have any member duplicated. For that is a presage of the Devil, and a certain sign of hidden wickedness and craft.*

* A special treatise on this subject and cognate matters is found elsewhere in the Geneva folio. It is, briefly, as follows. There are many monsters in the sea which are not products of the original creation, but are born from the But neither must we by any means forget the generation of homunculi. For there is some truth in this thing, although for a long time it was held in a most occult manner and with secrecy, while there was no little doubt and question among some of the old Philosophers, whether it was possible to Nature and Art, that a man should be begotten without the female body and the natural womb. I answer hereto, that this is in no way opposed to Spagyric Art and to Nature, nay, that it is perfectly possible. In order to accomplish it, you must proceed thus. Let the semen of a man putrefy by itself in a sealed cucurbite v/ith the highest putrefaction of the venter equinus for forty days, or until it begins at last to live, move, and be agitated, which can easily be seen. After this time it will be in some degree like a human being, but, nevertheless, transparent and without body. If now, after this, it be every day nourished and fed cautiously and prudently with the arcanum of human blood, and kept for forty weeks in the perpetual and equal heat of a venter equtjius, it becomes, thenceforth a true and living infant, having all the members of a child that is born from a woman, but much smaller. This we call a homunculus ; and it should be afterwards educated with the greatest care and zeal, until it grows up and begins to display intelligence. Now, this is one of the greatest secrets which God has revealed to mortal and fallible man. It is a miracle and marvel of God, an arcanum above all arcana, and deserves to be kept secret until the last

sperm of fishes of unlike species coming together contrary to the genuine order of Nature. Thus monsters are sometimes found in the sea exhibiting the form of man, which yet have not been generated ex sodomia from men, but arise by the conjunction of diverse fishes. . . . Even among men monsters are sometimes found that remind us partly of a human being, and partly of an animal. This is a repellent subject, but requires to be fully explained, that the first birth may be correctly understood. The same also takes place in the sea. There is, for example, the syren, of which the upper parts are those of a woman and the lower those of a fish. This does not form part of the original creation, but is a hybrid off"spring from the union of two fishes of the same kind, but of different forms. Other marine animals are also found, which, without corresponding exactly to man, yet resemble him more than any other animal. However, like the rest of the brutes, they lack mind or soul. They have the same relations to man as the ape, and are nothing but the apes of the sea. As often as they unite, marine monsters of this kind are produced. Another such monstrous generation is the monachus or monk -like fish. But there are many genera of fishes, and many modes of generation, which do not always result from the sperm familiar or customary to them, but happen in various other ways.

For example, certain monsters are drowned in the sea, and are devoured by the fishes. Now, if a sperm, constituted in exaltation, were to perish by immersion, and, having been consumed by a fish, were again exalted within it, a certain operation would undoubtedly follow from the nature of the fish and the sperm, whence it may be gathered that the majority of marine animals which recall the human form are in this manner produced. Yet, having the nature of a fish, they live in the waters and rejoice therein. The marine dog, the marine spider, and the marine man are of this class. If they are generated in any other way, it must be set down to sodomia- But there may be a third cause, namely, when spermatica of this kind acquire digestion, and by reason of this conjunction a birth takes place. . . . Monsters are likewise generated in the air, from the droppings of the stars from above. For a sperm falls from the stars. The winds also in their courses bring many strange things from other regions to which they are indigenous. The sperm of spiders, toads, and other creatures floating in the air are resolved, and hence other living things are produced. In this way grasshoppers and other monsters are begotten, their generation being of one only and not of two. Such births are more venomous and impure than are other worms. Therefore, houses ought to be scrupulously cleaned, or else so constructed as not to favour the accumulation of much filth.

For the air is efficacious against seeds dispersed in this manner. The earth is, however, the most fruitfu matrix of monstrous growths. There the animals both of land and sea congregate. The basilisk is generated from the sperm of a toad and a cock. The sperm of the cock uniting with that of the hen produces an egg. But if the cock emit his sperm without the hen doing likewise, the egg will be imperfect, and something will be generated unnaturally. There is another kind of basilisk, produced h^ the union, sodfjipitice, of a cock and a toad. After the same manner lizards unite with geckoes, and the copulation produces a peculiar worm, partaking of the nature of each, and known as a dragon. The asp is another instance of this unnatural generation. . . . From all that has been set down we may learn that whoever lives for his body alone is a basilisk, a dragon, and an asp, not, indeed, generated as yet, but meanwhile moving alive until he dies. You can now understand the abominable manner wherein unnatural monsters are generated. For if a man lives in sperm, his very sperms turn into worms, and remain worms, and in the day of the

resurrection shall they be buried in the deepest parts of the earth, over which shall walk those who have risen. De Animaiibiis natis ex Sodomi-t. times, when there shall be nothing hidden, but all things shall be made manifest. And although up to this time it has not been known to men, it was, nevertheless, known to the wood-sprites and nymphs and giants long ago, because they themselves were sprung from this source ; since from such homunculi when they come to manhood are produced giants, pigmies, and other marvellous people, who are the instruments of great things, who get great victories over their enemies, and know all secret and hidden matters.* As by Art they acquire their life, by Art acquire their body, flesh, bones and blood, and are born by Art, therefore Art is incorporated in them and born with them, and there is no need for them to learn, but others are compelled to learn from them, since they are sprung from Art and live by it, as a rose or a flower in a garden, and are called the children of the wood-sprites and the nymphs, because in their virtue they are not like men, but like spirits.

Here, too, it would be necessary to speak about the generation of metals, but since we have written sufficiently of these in our book on The Generation of Metals, -we will treat the matter very briefly here, and only in a short space point out what we there omitted. Know, then, that all the seven metals are born from a threefold matter, namely. Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt, but with distinct and peculiar colourings. In this way, Hermes truly said that all the seven metals were made and compounded of three substances, and in like manner also tinctures and the Philosophers' Stone. These three substances he names Spirit, Soul, and Body. But he did not point out how this was to be understood, or what he meant by it, though possibly he might also have known the three principles, but he makes no mention of them. I do not therefore say that he was in error, but that he was silent. Now, in order that these three distinct substances may be rightly understood, namely, spirit, soul, and body, it should be known that they signify nothing else than the three principles. Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt, from which all the seven metals are generated. For Mercury is the spirit. Sulphur is the soul, and Salt is the body. The metal between the spirit and the body, concerning which Hermes speaks, is the soul, which indeed is Sulphur. It unites those two contraries, the body and the spirit, and changes them into one essence. But it must not be understood that from any Mercury, and any Sulphur, and any Salt, these seven metals can be generated, or, in like manner, the Tincture or the Philosophers' Stone by the Art and the industry of the Alchemist in the fire ; but all these seven metals must be generated in the mountains by the Archeus of the earth, f The

* Elsewhere Paracelsus states that giants are born from sylphs, and dwarfs from pigmies. Of these monsters are produced, as, for example, nymphs and syrens. Albeit these are rare, they have appeared with sufficient frequency, and in such a marvellous manner, that there can be no doubt of their existence. —/?^ Nytiiphls, Pygmiis, Salamandris^ etcWith regard to the generation of homunculi there is also the following passage :— Porro hoc etiam sciendum est,sodomitas hujusomodi sperma quandoque etiam in os ejaculari. Quod si in stomachum tanquam in matricem recipiatur, ex ipso ibi monstrum, aut homunculus, aut simile aliud generatur, ac inde morbi multi, iique difficiles surgunt, tamdiv saevientes, donee generatum excernatur.— Z?^ Homiinculis ft Monstris. t As a sure and fundamental conclusion to those things which have been advanced, let it be notified to those who desire to be acquainted with the true essence and origin of metals, that our metals are nothing else than the most potent and best part of common stones—the spirit, gluten, grease, butter, oil, and fatness of stones, which, while still combined alchemist will more easily transmute metals than generate or make them. Nevertheless, live Mercury is the mother of all the seven metals, and deserves to be called the Mother of Metals. For it is an open metal and, as it were, contains in itself all the colours which it renders up from itself in the fire ; and so also, in an occult manner, it contains in itself all metals which without fire it does not yield up from itself.

But the regeneration and renovation of metals takes place thus : As man can return to the womb of his mother, that is, to the earth from which the first man sprang, and thus can be born again anew at the last day, so also all metals can return to quick mercury, can become Mercury, and be regenerated and clarified by fire, if they remain for forty weeks in perpetual heat, like a child in its mother's womb. Now, they are born, however, not as common metals, but as metals which tinge : for if, as has been said, Luna is regenerated, it will afterwards tinge all metals to Luna. So gold tinges other metals to Sol, and in like manner it must be understood of all other metals. Now, when Hermes said that the soul was the only medium which joins the spirit to the body, he had no inadequate conception of the truth. And since Sulphur is that soul, and, like fire, it hastens on and prepares all things, it can also link together the spirit and the body, incorporate and unite them, so that a most noble body shall be produced. Yet it is not common combustible sulphur which is to be esteemed the soul of metals ; but that soul is another combustible and corruptible body. It cannot, therefore, be burnt with any fire, since it is itself entirely fire, and, in truth, it is nothing but the Quintessence of Sulphur, which is extracted by the spirit of wine from Reverberated Sulphur, and is ruby coloured and clear as the ruby itself.

This is indeed a mighty and excellent arcanum for transmuting white metals, and for coagulating quick mercury into fixed and approved gold. Hold this in commendation as a treasure for making you rich ; and you should be contented with this secret alone in the transmutation of metals. Concerning the generation of minerals and semi-metals, no more need be known than we stated at the beginning concerning the metals, namely, that they are produced, in like manner, from those three principles. Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt, though not, like the metals, from these principles in their perfection, but from the more imperfect and weaker Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt, yet still with their distinct colours.

The generation of gems takes place by, and flows out from, the subtlety of the earth, from the clear and crystalline Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt, also in the stone, are not good, not pure, not clean, and are altogether wanting in perfection. For this reason they are to be sought, found, and known in stones, and thence, also, must be separated and extracted by pounding and liquefaction. When this has been effected they are no longer stones, but prepared and complete metals, agreeing with the celestial stars ; which stones, indeed, are secreted from the terrestrial stars. Furthermore, if anyone desire to investigate and to know minerals and metals, he should clearly vealise that they are not always to be sought in the common and familiar minerse, nor in the depths of mountains, because they are very often found more easily, and in greater abundance, upon the surface of the earth than in its bowels. For this reason, any stone that may offer itself to the eye, whether great or small, rock or flint, should be diligently examined as to its property and nature, for very often a small and despised pebble is of greater value than a cow. So, also, there is common dust and sand which are abounding in Sol and Luna. — Chirrtrgia Minora De Contractvris^ Tract II., conclusion

according to their own distinct colours."*^ The generation of common stones is from the subtlety of water, by the mucilaginous Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt. For all stones are produced by the mucilage of water, as also pebbles and sand are coagulated from the same source into stones/f This is patent to the eyes : for every stone placed in water soon draws the mucilage to itself. If, now, that mucilaginous matter be taken from such stones and coagulated in a cucurbite, a stone will be produced of the same kind as would of itself be produced and coagulated in the water, but after a long period of time. * The generation of gems in Ares occurs after this manner : When the gross genera of stones have been all extracted out of Ares, a certain subtlety remains, more diaphanous in its nature than are other stones, and out of this the Archeus subsequently procreates gems after such a manner that hardness and very great transparency are 6rst prepared. Hence the gems are afterwards developed, each according to its own form and essence. Very great subtlety and artitice are employed over this generation. — De Elemento Aqitte^ Tract IV., c. to.

t The body of every kind of stone is sulphur, as that of metals is mercury. The hardness is from salt, and the density from mercury'. — Ihid. , c. 5.

Concerning the Growth of Natural Things. IT is clear enough, and well known to everybody, that all natural things grow and mature by warmth and moisture, as is plainly demonstrated by the rain followed up v/ith sunshine. None can deny that the earth is rendered fruitful by the rain, and all must confess that every kind of fruit is ripened by the sun. Since, then, by the Divine institution, this is possible to Nature, who will deny or refuse to believe that man possesses this same power by a prudent and skilful pursuit of the Alchemical Art, so that he shall render the fruitless fruitful, the unripe ripe, and make all increase and grow ? The Scripture says that God subjected all created things to man, and handed them over to him as if they were his own property, so that he might use them for his necessity, that he might have dominion over the fishes of the sea, the fowls of the air, and everything on the earth without exception. Wherefore man ought to rejoice because God has illuminated him and endowed him, so that all God's creatures are compelled to obey Him and to be subject to Him, especially all the earth, together with all things which are born, live, and move in it and upon it. Since, then, we see with our eyes, and are taught by daily experience, that the oftener and the more plentifully the rain moistens the earth, and the sun dries it again with its heat and glow, the sooner the fruits of the earth come forth and ripen, while all fruits increase and grow, whatever be the time of year, let none wonder that the alchemist, too, by manifold imbibitions and distillations, can produce the same effect.

For what is rain but the imbibition of the earth ? What are the heat and glow of the sun other than the sun's process of distillation, which again extracts the humidity ? Wherefore I say that it is possible by such co-optation in the middle of winter to produce green herbs, flowers, and fruits, by means of earth and water, from seed and root. Now, if this takes place with herbs and flowers, it will take place in many other similar things too, as, for instance in all minerals, the imperfect metals whereof can be ripened with mineral water by the industry and art of the skilled alchemist. So, too, can all marchasites, granites, zincs, arsenics, talcs, cachimise, bismuths, antimonies etc., all of which carry with them immature Sol and Luna, be so ripened as to

Concerning the Nature of Thmgs. 1-29 be made equal to the richest veins of gold and silver, only by such co-optation. So, also, the Elixir and Tinctures of metals are matured and perfected. ^ Since, therefore, humidity and warmth mature all things and make them grow, let none wonder that, after a long time, in the case of a criminal on the gibbet, the beard, hair, and nails grow ; nor let this be taken for a sign of innocence, as the ignorant read it. It is only natural, and proceeds from natural causes. As long as there is moisture in the body, the nails, beard, and hair grow ; and, what is more, in the case of a man buried in the earth itself, nails, beard, and hair grow up to the second year, or up to the time of the man's decay. It should be known, too, that many substances grow and increase perpetually in size, weight, and virtue, both in water and on land, in each of which they remain good and effective, such, for example, as metals, marchasites, cachymiae, talcs, granites, antimony, bismuths, gems, pearls, corals, all stones and clays. So also it can be brought about that Sol shall grow and increase in weight and in body, if only it be buried in land looking east, and be constantly fertilised with fresh human urine and pigeons' dung.

It is also possible for gold to be so acted upon by the industry and art of the skilled alchemist that it will grow in a cucurbite with many wonderful branches and leaves, which experiment is very pleasant to behold, and full of marvels. The process is as follows : Let gold be calcined by means of aqua regis so that it becomes a chalky lime ; which place in a cucurbite, pouring in good and fresh aqua regis and water of gradation so that it exceeds four fingers across. Extract it again with the third degree of fire until nothing more ascends. Again pour over it distilled water, and once more extract by distillation as before. Do this until you see the Sol rise in the glass and grow in the form of a tree with many branches and leaves. Thus there is produced from Sol a wonderful and beautiful shrub which alchemists call the Golden Herb, or the Philosophers' Tree. The process is the same with the other metals, save that the calcination may be different, and some other aqua fortis may have to be used. This I leave to your experience. If you are practised in Alchemy you will do what is right in these details.

Know also that any flint may be taken out of river water, placed in a cucurbite, and sprinkled with its own running water until the cucurbite is full. This may again be extracted by distillation, as long as a single drop ascends, until the stone be dry. Let the cucurbite be again filled with this water, and once more extracted. Repeat this until the cucurbite is filled with this stone. In this way, by means of Alchemy, in a few days you will see that a very large stone can be made, such as the Archeus of the waters could scarcely make in many years. If you afterwards break the cucurbite on a stone you will have a flint in the shape of the cucurbite, just as though it had been poured into the glass. Though this may be of no profit to you, still it is a very wonderful thing. Concerning the Preservation of Natural Things. IN order that a thing may be preserved and defended from injury, it is necessary that first of all its enemy should be known, so that it may be shielded therefrom, and that it may not be hurt or corrupted by it, in its substance, virtue, force, or in any other way suffer loss. A good deal depends upon this, then, that the enemy of all natural things should be recognised ; "for who can guard himself against loss and adverse chance if he is ignorant of his enemy ?

Surely, no one. It is therefore necessary that such enemy should be known. There are many enemies ; and it is just as necessary to know the bad as the good. Who, in fact, can know the good without a knowledge of the evil ? No one. No one who has never been sick knows how great a treasure health is. Who knows what joy is, that was never sad or sorrowful ? And who knows rightly about what God is, who knows nothing about the devil ? Wherefore since God has made known to us the enemy of our soul, that is, the devil. He also points out to us the enemy of our life, that is, death, which is the enemy of our body, of our health, the enemy of medicine, and of all natural things. He has made known this enemy to us and also how and by what means we must escape him. For as there is no disease against which there has not been created and discovered a medicine which cures and drives it away, so there is always one thing placed over against another — one water over against another, one stone over against another, one mineral over against another, one poison over against another, one metal over against another — and the same in many other matters, all of which it is not necessary to recount here.

But it ought to be known how, and by what means, each several thing is preserved and guarded from loss : that many things, for instance, have to be kept for a long time in the earth. All roots, especially, remain for a long while in the earth fruitful and uncorrupted. In like manner, herbs and flowers and all fruits keep undecayed and green in water. So also many other fruits, and especially apples, can be preserved in water, and protected from every decay, until new apples are produced. So also flesh and blood, which very soon putrefy and become rancid, can be kept in cold spring water ; and not only so, but by the co-optation of renewed and fresh spring water they can be transmuted into a quintessence, and conserved for ever from decay and bad odour without any balsam. And not only does this process preserve flesh and blood, but (so to say) it preserves all other kinds of flesh and blood, and especially the body of man, from all decay and from many diseases which arise from decay, better than the common mumia does.* But in order that blood may be preserved of itself from decay and ill odour, and not as a quintessence ; and in order, also, to protect other blood, as aforesaid, you must use this process : Let the blood be separated from its phlegm, which moves of itself, and is driven to the surface.

Draw off' this water by a dexterous inclination of the vessel, and add to the blood a sufficient quantity of the water of salt, which we teach you in our Chirurgia Magna how to make.t This water at once mingles with the blood, and so conserves the blood that it never putrefies or grows rancid, but remains fresh and exceedingly red after many years, just as well as on the first day ; which, indeed, is a great marvel. But if you do not know how to prepare this water, or have none at hand, pour on a sufficient quantity of the best and most excellent balsam, which produces the same effect. Now this blood is the Balsam of Balsams, and is called the Arcanum of Blood. It is of such great and wonderful virtue as would be incredible were we to mention it. Therefore you will keep this occult, as a great secret in medicine.

In the conservation of metals the first thing to learn is what are their enemies, so that they may be thereby the better kept from loss. The principal enemies of metals, then, are all strong waters ; all aquae regise, all corrosives and salts, shew their hostility in this circumstance, that they mortify all metals, calcine them, corrupt them, and reduce them to nothing. Crude sulphur shews its hostility by its smoke ; for by its smoke it takes away the colour and redness from Venus, and renders it white. From white metals, as Luna, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars, it takes away their whiteness and reddens them, or induces in them a reddish colour. From gold it takes away . the agreeable yellowness and golden tint, renders it black, and makes it as uncomely as possible. Antimony shews its hostility in this : that it spoils all metals with which it is liquefied in the fire, and with which it is mixed ; it deprives and robs them ; moreover, like the sulphur, it robs metals of their genuine colour and substitutes another. Quicksilver, on the other hand, exercises a hostile force upon the metals with which it is conjoined, in that it invades and dissolves them so that it makes an amalgam from them. Moreover, its smoke, which we call the soot of Mercury, makes all metals immalleable and fragile ; it calcines them and whitens .all red and gold coloured metals. It is the chief enemy of iron and

* According to one explanation : Mumia is man himself. Mumia is balsam, which heals wounds. — Paraminim — De Origine Morboruitty Lib. II., c. 3. The virtues of all herbs are found in this Mumia. — De Origine Morhorum Invisibitium., Lib. IV. Whoever seeks opoponax will find it in Mumia (that is, in the Mumia which is man), and so also all other creatures whatsoever. —Ibid. Now, this is Mumia : If a man be deprived of life, then his flower bursts forth in potencies and natural arcana. - Ibid. t This process will be found in the second footnote on j). 76 of the present volume. steel, for if common mercury touches a steel rod, or if the rod be anointed with mercurial oil, it can afterwards be broken like glass and cut off. This is indeed a great secret and must be kept strictly occult. In the same way, too, the magnet should be guarded and kept from Mercury, for it exerts hostility on it as on Mars. For every magnet which common mercury touches, or which is anointed with mercurial oil, or only placed in Mercury, never afterwards attracts iron.* Let no one be surprised at this ; there is a natural cause for it, seeing that Mercury extracts the spirit of iron which the magnet holds latent in itself. Wherefore also the spirit of iron in the magnet attracts the body of Mars to itself ; and this happens not only in the magnet but in all other natural things, so that the foreign spirit which is in an alien body, which is not of its own nature, always attracts a body agreeing with its own nature. This should be known not only of the magnet, but of all natural bodies, such as minerals, stones, herbs, roots, men, and animals.

After this it should be known that metals exercise hostility amongst each other, and mutually hate one another from their inborn nature ; as you see in the case of Saturn, which is the principal enemy of Sol, from its congenital nature. It breaks up all the members of gold, renders it deformed, weak, and destroys and corrupts it even to the death, more than it does any other metal. It also hates tin, and is an enemy of all the metals, for it renders them degenerate, unmalleable, hard and unfit, if it be mixed with either of them in fire or flux. Since, therefore, you have now heard about the enemies of the metals, learn, moreover, about their preservation and conservation, which guard the metals from all loss and corruption, and, in addition, strengthen them in their nature and virtue, while they graduate them more highly in colour. First, then, it ought to be known concerning gold that it cannot be better and more beautifully preserved than in boys' urine, in which has been dissolved sal ammoniac, or in the water of sal ammoniac alone. In these, with time, it acquires such a high grade of colour as cannot be surpassed. Silver cannot be better preserved and conserved than if it be boiled in common water or acetum in which have been dissolved tartar and salt. In this way any old silver, though blackened and stained, is renewed, if it is boiled thus.

Of iron and steel the best and most useful conservative and preservative is fresh, not salted, lard from a gelded sow. This protects all iron and steel from rust if they are anointed therewith once every month. In like manner, if iron be liquefied with fixed arsenic, and occasionally reduced to a flux, it can be so renewed and fixed that, like silver, it never rusts. Copper can be conserved and preserved if only it be mixed with sublimated Mercury, or anointed with oil of salt, so

• So, also, it is afSrmed that if the magnet he steeped in garlic it will he deprived of its attractive virtue.— Z)* Morbis Amentium, c. 5. Should anyone make use of a magnet while he is wealing a sapphire, it will eflfect nothing till the gem be removed. The same quality seems to reside in carabe, coagulate of gum, resin, and therebotin. — De Pesfe^ Lib. II., c. 2, that for the future it gives forth no vitriol or verdigris, nor does it become of a green colour. Lead cannot be conserved better than in cold water, and in a damp place, such is its nature. But for the conservation of the magnet nothing is better than filings of iron or steel. If the magnet be placed in these, not only does not its force decrease, but it grows more and more every day. As to the conservation of salts, and all those substances which are of a salt nature, and are comprised under the name of salt, of which there are more than a hundred, it is well to know that they must be kept in a warm and dry place, and guarded well from the air in wooden chests. They must not be placed on glass, stone, or metal. By these they are dissolved and turn into water and amalgam ; but this does not occur in wood.

Moreover, you should learn the method of conserving certain waters and liquids by means of pressed herbs, roots, and other fruits and growing things, which easily absorb all mustiness and mould just as if a skin were wrapped around them. Let these waters, or other liquids, be placed in a glass vessel, narrow at the top and wider below. Let the vessel be filled to the top and then some drops of olive oil added, so that all the water or liquid may be covered. The oil will float at the top, and, in this way, will protect the liquid or the water a long time from mustiness or mould. No water or liquid, if it be covered with oil, can ever become mouldy or smell badly. In this way also two waters, two liquids, two wines, can be kept separately in one vessel, so that they shall not mix ; and not only two, but three, four, five, or still more, if only oil be between them, for they are separated by the oil as by a wall, which does not suffer them to be conjoined and united. For oil and water are two contraries, and neither can mingle with the other. As the oil does not allow the waters to mix, so, on the other hand, the water prevents the oils from blending.

For the conservation and preservation of cloth and garments from moth, so that they may not eat them or settle in them, nothing is better than mastix, camphor, ambergris, or musk : but the best is civet, which not only preserves from moth, but drives away and puts to flight moths, with other worms, fleas, lice, and bugs. All timbers can be conserved, as in buildings or bridges, so that they shall never decay, whether they be in water, under water, or out of the water, in the ground, under the ground, or out of the ground, whether exposed to rain or wind, air, snow, or ice, in summer or winter, and moreover, preventing them from decaying or worms breeding in them when felled. The method of conservation in this case is that grand arcanum against all putrefactions, and so remarkable a secret that no other can compare with it. It is none other than the oil of sulphur, the process for making which is as follows : — Let common yellow sulphur be pulverised and placed in a cucurbite. Over it pour as much aquafortis as will cover four fingers across. Abstract this by distillation three or four times, the last time until it is completely dry. Let the sulphur which remains at the bottom, and is of a dark reddish colour, be placed in marble or

glass and easily dissolved into an oil. This is a great secret in the conservation of timber so that it may never decay and may be protected from worms. For if sulphur be prepared as aforesaid, and turned into an oil, it afterwards tinges the timber which has been anointed with it so that it can never be obliterated. Many other things, also, can be conserved and preserved from decay in this oil of sulphur, especially ropes and cables in ships and on the masts of ships, in chariots, fishing-nets, birdcatchers' and hunters' snares, and other like things which are being frequently used in water and rain, and would otherwise be liable to decay and break ; so also with linen cloths and other similar things. The conservation of potable things, too, should be noticed, under which we comprise wine, beer, hydromel, vinegar, and milk. If we wish to keep these five unharmed and in their virtue, it is necessary to know their chief enemy. This is none other than unclean women at the time of their monthly courses. They corrupt these things if they handle or have anything to do with them, if they look at them, or breathe on them. The wine is changed and becomes thick, beer and hydromel turn sour, vinegar is weakened and loses its acidity, milk also becomes sour and clotted.

This, therefore, should be well known before anything is said specially about the conservation of one of these things in particular. Moreover, the chief preservative of wine is sulphur and oil of sulphur, by means of which all wine can be preserved for a very long time, so that it neither thickens nor is in any way changed. The means of conserving beer is by oil of garyophyllon, if a few drops of it are put in, so that one measure has two or three drops. Better still is the oil of benedicta garyophyllata, which preserves beer from acidity. The preservative for hydromel is the oil of sugar, which must be used in the same way as the oil of garyophyllon or the benedicta. The preservative of vinegar is oil of ginger, and of milk the expressed oil of almonds. These two must be used as described above. The preservative of cheese is the herb hypericon or perforata, which protects all cheeses from worms. If it be placed against the cheese and touches it, no worm is produced in it, and if some have been already produced, they die and drop out of the cheese. Honey has no special preservative, only it must be protected from its enemy. Its chief enemy is bread. If ever so small a quantity of bread made from flour be put or fall into it, the whole honey is turned into ants, and perishes entirely.

Concerning the Life of Natural Things. NONE can deny that the air gives life to all corporeal and substantial things which are born and generated from the earth. But as to what and of what kind the life of each particular thing is, it should be known that the life of things is none other than a spiritual essence, an invisible and impalpable thing, a spirit and a spiritual thing. On this account there is nothing corporeal but has latent within itself a spirit and life, which, as just now said, is none other than a spiritual thing.* But not only that lives which moves and acts, as men, animals, worms in the earth, birds under the sky, fishes in the sea, but also all corporeal and substantial things. For here we should know that God, at the beginning of the creation of all things, created no body whatever without its own spirit, which spirit it contains after an occult manner within itselfTj For what is the body without the spirit ? Absolutely nothing. So it is that the spirit holds concealed within itself the virtue and power of the thing, and not the body. For in the body is death, and the body is subject to death, and in the body nothing but death must be looked for. For the body can be destroyed and corrupted in various ways, but not the spirit : for it always remains a living spirit, and is bound up with life.

It also keeps its own body alive, but in the removal of the body from it, it leaves the body separate and dead, and returns to its own place whence it had come, that is to say, into chaos, and into the air of the higher and lower firmament. Hence it is evident that there are different kinds of spirits, just as there are different kinds of bodies. [There are celestial and infernal spirits,^ human and metallic, the spirits of salts, gems, and marcasites, arsenical spirits, spirits of potables, of roots, of liquids, of flesh, blood, bones, etc. Wherefore you may know that the spirit is in very truth the life and balsam

* Life is a veil or covering whicli encloses three principles — sulpliur, salt, and mercury. — Parnmirum, Lib. I The life of the body is fire. — Di- Ente Asirorum, c. 6. There is a twofold life in man : there is the life of the soul, which proceeds from the nature of God ; but I speak here as a physician, and not as a theologian. There is also a life of the animal kind, which is of air and fire, and the same is domiciled in the body, which is earth and water. So is man dowered with an animal and a sidereal life. -De Pesiiliiate, Tract I. In another sense the life of man is said t be triplex— necrocomic, cagastric, and salnitric. But this has reference to the animal life only —Liliur Azoth. That which sustains the body is the life, but the life itself is from God, and not from man. This life consists in four things ~ humours, complexions, natural species, and gifts or virtues. - De Generatione Homiuis. of all corporeal things. Now we v/ill go on to its species, and here will describe to you in detail, but as briefly as possible, the life of each natural thing.

The life, then, of all men is none other than a certain astral balsam,* a balsamic impression, a celestial and invisible fire, an included air, and a spirit ] of salt which tinges. I am unable to name it more clearly, although it could be put forward under many distinctive titles. Since, however, the chief and the best are here pointed out, we will be silent as to the rest and the inferior names. The life of metals is a latent fatness which they have received from sulphur. This is shewn from their fluxion, because everything which passes into flux in the fire does so on account of its hidden fatness. Unless this were so no metal could be reduced to a fluid state, as we see in the case of iron and steel, which have the least Sulphur and fatness of all the metals, wherefore they are of a drier nature than all the rest of them. The life of mercury is nothing but inner heat and outer frigidity. That is to say, within it gives heat, but without it causes cold ; and in this respect it is aptly to be compared to a garment of skins, which, like mercury, causes both heat and cold. For if a garment of this kind be worn by a man, it warms him and protects him from the cold ; but if he wears the hairless part against his naked body, it causes cold, and defends him from excessive heat.

So it came about that in very ancient times, and it is even the custom still, that these coats of skin are worn both in summer and in winter, as much against the heat as against the cold ; in summer the hairless part is turned within, and the hairy part outside, but in the cold winter season the hairy part is turned within and the hairless part outside. As it is with the garment of skins, so is it with mercury.

The life of sulphur is a combustible, ill-smelling fatness. Whilst it flames and sends forth its evil odour it may be said to live. The life of all salts is nothing else but a spirit of aqua fortis : for when the water is abstracted from them, that which remains at the bottom is called dead earth. The life of gems and corals is mere colour, which can be taken from them by spirits of wine. The life of pearls is their brightness, which they lose in their calcination. The life of the magnet is the spirit of iron, which can be extracted and taken away by rectified vinwn ardens itself, or by spirit of wine. The life of flints is a mucilaginous matter. The life of marcasites, cachymias, talc, cobalt, zinc, granites, zwitter, vismat (rude tin), is a metallic spirit of antimony, which has the power to tinge. Of arsenicals, auripigment, orpiment, realgar, and similar matters, the life is a mineral coagulated poison. » The flesh and bloiid of man are preserved and sustained by a certain balsam. Now, this balsam is the body of salt. So, therefore, by salt is man preserved as by a balsam.— Z>« Morbis Tatiarels, cat. The bal.sam of man exists alike in all his members, and is specialised therein— in the blood, in the marrow, in the bones, the arteries etc.— Chirtirgia Magna, Lib. V.

Concerning the Nature of Things. i2i7 The life of wavelike si^bstances, that is to say, of the dung of men and animals, is their strong and fcetid smell. When this is lost they are dead. The life of aromatic substances, to wit, musk, ambergris, civet, and whatever emits a strong, sweet, and pleasant odour, is nothing but that grateful odour itself. If they lose this they are dead and useless. The life of sweet things, as sugar, honey, manna, fistula cassias, and the like, is a subtle sweetness, with the power to tinge ; for if that sweetness be taken away by distillation, or sublimation, the things are dead, fatuous, and no longer of any value. The life of resins, as caraba, turpentine, and gum, is a mucilaginous, glittering fatness. They all give excellent varnish ; when they no longer furnish this, and lose their glitter, they are dead. The life of herbs, roots, apples, and other fruits of this kind, is nothing else than the liquid of the earth, which they spontaneously lose if they are deprived of water and earth. The life of wood is a certain resin. Any wood that is deprived of resin is unable longer to flourish.

The life of bones is the liquid of mumia. The life of flesh and blood is none other than the spirit of salt, which preserves them from ill odour and decay, and spontaneously, as the water is separated from them. But concerning the life of the elements there is this to be known. The life of water is its flowing. When it is coagulated by the cold of the firmament and congealed into ice, then it is dead, and all power of doing harm is taken from it, since no one can any longer be drowned in it. So, too, the life of fire is air, for the air makes the fire blaze more strongly and with greater impetuosity. Some air proceeds from all fire, sufficient to extinguish a candle or to lift a light feather, as is evident to the eyes. All live fire, therefore, if it be shut up or deprived of the power to send forth its air, must be suffocated. The air lives of itself, and gives life to all other things. The earth, however, is of itself dead ; but its own element is its invisible and occult life. Concerning the Death of Natural Things.

THE death of all natural things is nothing else but an alteration and removal of their powers and virtues, an overthrow of their potencies for evil or for good, an overwhelming and blotting out of their former nature, and the generation of a new and different nature.* For it should be known that many things which in life were good, and had their own virtues, retain little or none of that virtue when they are dead, but appear altogether fatuous and powerless. So, on the other hand, many things in their life are evil, but in death, or after they have been mortified, they display a manifold power and efficacy, and do much good. We could recount many examples of this, but that is altogether foreign to our purpose. Yet, in order that you may see that I do not write from my mere opinion, however plausible, but from my experience, it is well that I should adduce one example with which I will quiet and silence the sophists who say that nothing can be gained from dead things, nor anything ought to be sought or found in them. The cause of this assertion is that they value at nothing the preparations of the alchemists, by which many great secrets of this kind are discovered. For look at Mercury, live and crude sulphur, and crude antimony ; as they are brought from the mines, that is, while they are still living, how small is their virtue, how lightly and tardily do they exercise their influence.

Indeed, they bring more evil than good, and are rather a poison than a medicine. But if, by the industry of a skilled alchemist, they are corrupted into their first substance and prudently prepared (that is, if the Mercury be coagulated, precipitated, sublimated, resolved, and turned into oil ; the sulphur be sublimated, calcined, reverberated and turned into oil ; and, in like manner, Venus be sublimated, calcined, reverberated, and turned into oil), you see what usefulness, what power and virtue, and what rapid efficiency they afford and display, so that none can fully speak or write of it. For their manifold virtues are not to be investigated, nor can any one search them out. Every alchemist, therefore, and every faithful

* Death is the mother of tinctures, for tinctures proceed from the mortification of tlie body, in which the colours are contained, even as in a seed there are green, yellow, black, blue, and purple colours, which are, nevertheless, invisible until the seed has perished in the earth, and till the sun has prepared and produced them, so that what was first hidden from the senses is now revealed to them. — De Icteritiis. physician, ought to seek into these three things during his whole life, and even up to his death should play with them and find his pastime in them. Most assuredly they will nobly compensate him for all his labour, study, and expense. But let us come to particulars, and specially describe the death and mortification of each natural thing, what its death is, and in what way it is mortified. First of all, then, with regard to the death of man, it should be understood that, beyond a doubt, it is nothing else but the end of his day's work, the taking away his air, the evanescence of his balsam, the extinction of his natural light, and the entire separation of the three substances, body, soul, and spirit, and the return to his mother's womb. For since the natural earthborn man comes from the earth, the earth, too, will be his mother, into which he must return, and therein lose his earthborn natural flesh, so that at the last day he may be regenerated in a new, a heavenly, and purified flesh, as Christ said to Nicodemus when he came to Him by night. For, as we said, these words apply to regeneration.

But the death or mortification of the metals is the removal of their bodily structure, and of the sulphurous fatness which can be removed from them in many ways, as by calcination, reverberation, resolution, cementation, and sublimation. But the calcination of metals is not of a single kind only. For one is produced by salt, one by mercury, one by strong waters, one by thefuligo mercicrii a.nA quick mercury. Calcination by salt is when the metal is formed into very thin plates, and stratified and cemented with salt. Calcination by sulphur is when the metal is formed into plates, stratified and reverberated with sulphur. Calcination by strong waters is when the metal is granulated, resolved in aqua fortis, and precipitated therein. Calcination by ths fuligo mercuru is brought about thus : Let the metal be formed into plates ; let the mercury be put into an earthen vessel, narrow at the top but broad below, and afterwards set on a moderate coal fire, which should be blown a little until the mercury begins to smoke, and a white cloud issues from the mouth of the vessel. Then let the plated metal be placed on the orifice of the vessel. Thus the common mercury penetrates the metal and renders it as friable as a lump of coal. Calcination by quick mercury is when the metal is cleft into small particles, made into plates, or granulated, and formed into amalgam with mercury.

Afterwards let the mercury be pressed out through a skin, and the metal will remain within the skin in the form of lime or sand. But beyond these mortifications of the metals, destructions and whitenings of their life, you must know that there are many other mortifications of the metals. For beyond the fact that all rusting of iron and steel is a death, there are others which are to be esteemed as more important. For instance, it should be known that all vitriol, or even burnt brass, is mortified copper ; all precipitated, sublimated, calcined cinnabar is mortified mercury ; all white lead, red lead, or yellow lead are mortified lead ; all lazurius is mortified silver. So, also, all Sol, from which its tincture, quintessence, resin, crocus, or sulphur has been withdrawn, is dead.

because it no longer has the form of gold, but is a white metal like fixed silver. But now let us go on to lay before you by what means the mortification of the metals is brought about. First of all, it should be known concerning iron that it can be mortified and reduced to a crocus in the following way : Form very thin plates of steel, beat them red hot, and then extinguish them in vinegar made from wine. Keep on doing this until you see the vinegar has become very red. When you have enough of this red vinegar, pour it all out, and distil therefrom the moisture of the vinegar. Coagulate the residuum into a dry pov/der. This is the most excellent Crocus of Mars. There is, however, another way of making the Crocus of Mars which partly surpasses the former, and is carried out with much less expense and labour, thus : Stratify very thin plates of steel with equal quantities of sulphur and tartar. Afterwards reverberate. This produces the most beautiful crocus, which should be taken from the plates. In the same way you should be informed that if any plate of iron or steel be smeared over with aqua fortis, it renders also a beautiful crocus. Such is the result, too, with oil of vitriol, water of salt, water of alum, water of sal ammoniac, water of salt nitre, sublimated mercury, all of which mortify iron, and reduce it to a crocus ; but none of these methods is to be compared with the two mentioned above ; for they can only be used in Alchemy and not in medicine ; so use in preference the first two methods, and avoid the rest.

The mortification of copper, to reduce it to vitriol, verdigris, or burnt brass, can also be accomplished in various ways ; and there are various processes with this metal, too, but one is better and more useful than another. Wherefore it will be well to make a note of the best and most useful, and to say nothing about the others. The best, easiest, and most reliable method of reducing copper to vitriol is as follows : Let plates of copper be smeared with water of salt or of saltpetre, and hung or exposed in the air until the plates begin to become green. Wash off this greenness with clear spring water, dry the plates with a rag ; again smear the plates with water of salt or saltpetre, and again proceed as before, repeating the process until the water becomes quite green, or sends forth much vitriol to the surface. Then remove the water by tilting the vessel, or by drawing it off, and you will have an excellent medicinal vitriol. For Alchemy, there is no more beautiful, noble, or better vitriol than that which is made by aqua fortis, or aqua regis, or water of sal armoniac. Proceed thus: Let plates of copper be smeared with one of the aforesaid waters, and as soon as the greenness has been extracted, and the plates have been dried, let the greenness be taken off with a hare's foot, or by some other means at pleasure, as white lead is scraped off leaden plates. Let them be again smeared as before, until the plates are entirely consumed, and thence is produced a very beautiful vitriol, such as you cannot fail to admire.

Water of saltpetre is made thus : Purify saltpetre, liquefy and pulverise it. Afterwards dissolve it by itself in a vessel with boiling water. Thus yOu have water of saltpetre. Water of sal ammoniac is made as follows : Calcine sal ammoniac and resolve it in a case on marble. This is water of sal ammoniac. In order to make verdigris from copper there are several ways not necessary to recount here. We will therefore describe two only, with a twofold method of preparation, one for Medicine and the other for Alchemy. The verdigris used in medicine admits of the ensuing process : Take plates of copper, and smear them with the following compound : Take equal quantities of honey and vinegar, with a sufficient quantity of salt to make the three together the consistence of thick paste. Mix thoroughly, and afterwards put in a reverberatory, or in a potter's furnace, for the same time as the potter bakes his vessels, and you will see a black substance adhering to the plates. Do not let this circumstance cause you any anxiety or detain you at all ; for if you suspend or expose those plates in the open air, in a few days the substance will turn green, and will become excellent verdigris, which may be called the balsam of copper, and is highly esteemed by all physicians. And this need not cause surprise, because the verdigris first becomes green in the air, and because the air has the power of transmuting a black colour into such a beautiful green.

For here it should be known that, as daily experience in alchemy proves, every dead earth or caput mortuum, as soon as ever it comes out of the fire into the air, immediately acquires another colour, and loses its own colour which it had assumed in the fire. The changes of these colours are very diversified. According to the material such are the colours produced, though, for the most part, they flow from the blackness of dead earth. You who are skilled in Alchemy see that every dead earth, flux of powder, or of aqua fortis, comes black from the fire, and the more ingredients there are in it the more varied are the colours displayed in the air. Sometimes they only appear red, as vitriol makes them ; sometimes only yellow, white, green, cerulean ; sometimes mingled, as in the rainbow or the peacock's tail. All these colours display themselves after death, and as a consequence of death. For in the death of all natural things new colours appear, and they are changed from their first colour into another, each according to its own nature and properties. Moreover, we will say about verdigris that which we dedicate to Alchemy. The process of its preparation is as follows : Form very thin plates of copper, which stratify on a large tile with equal portions of sulphur and tartar, pounded and mixed. Reverberate for twenty-four hours with a strong fire, taking care that the copper plates do not melt.

Then take them out ; break the tile ; expose the plates to the air, with the matter which adheres to them, for a few days, and the matter on the plates will be converted into most beautiful verdigris, which in all strong waters, in waters of gradations, in cements and colourings of gold, tinges gold and silver with a deep colour.

But in order that copper may become cbs ustum, which is also called the crocus of copper, the following process must be adopted : let copper be formed into plates, smeared with salt reduced into a paste with the best vinegar, then put on a large tile, placed in a blast furnace, and for a quarter of an hour burnt with a strong fire, but so that the plates may not melt. Let these plates, while still glowing, be extinguished in vinegar wherein sal ammoniac has been dissolved — half an ounce in a pound of vinegar. Let the plates be again heated, and extinguished as before ; but continually scrape off into vinegar the scales which adhere to the plates after they have been extinguished, or else knock them off by beating the plates, or in any way you can. Keep doing this until the plates of copper are nearly consumed. Then let the vinegar be extracted by distillation, or let it evaporate in an open vessel, and let it coagulate into a very hard stone. Thus you will have the crocus of copper used in Alchemy. Many persons commonly make ces ustum, .or the crocus of Venus, from Venus by the extraction of alcohol (others of vinum aceti), like the crocus of Mars ; but I much prefer this method.

The mortification of Mercury, in order that it may be sublimated, is brought about by vitriol and salt. When it is mixed with these two and then sublimated it becomes as hard as crystal and as white as snow. In order that Mercury may be reduced to a precipitate,* nothing more need be done than calcine it in the best aqua fortis ; then let the graduated aqua fortis be extracted from it five times, more or less, until the precipitate acquires a beautiful red colour. Sweeten this precipitate as much as possible ; and finally distil the rectified wine from it seven or nine times, or as often as necessary, until it burns in the fire and does not escape. Then you have the diaphoretic precipitate of Mercury. Moreover, here should be noted a great secret concerning precipitated Mercury. If, after its colouration, it be sweetened with water of salt of tartar, by distilling it until the water no longer ascends acid, but is altogether sweet, then you will have the precipitate as sweet as sugar or honey. This is the principal arcanum for all wounds and ulcers and the Gallic disease, insomuch that no physician need wish for better ; and it, moreover, brightens up despondent alchemists. For it is an augmentation of Sol, it enters into the composition of Sol, and by it gold is rendered constant and good. Although, then, much labour and toil may be required for this precipitate, it compensates for these and returns to you what you have spent. Moreover, you get sufficient gain from it — more than you could compass by the highest artifice of any kind. You ought, therefore, to rejoice over it, and to thank God and me

* It is also stated that there is nothing in medicine to compare with precipitated mercury for the cure of icteritia. Fragmenta Medica,s,. v. Annolationes in Lib.de Icteriiiis. The medical preparation of the precipitate of mercury as a healing unguent has been boastfully claimed to their own credit by many persons, though they are all filched from the writings of the ancient artists and Spagyrists. Vigo was not free from the disgrace of this falsehood. Precipitated mercury is certainly an ancient remedy, but has Iain hidden for a long time by the perfidy of physicians. All cavernous ulcers (except those of the eating and spreading kind) are completely cured by its use. But experience teaches us that the oil of argent vive, when outwardly applied, has much greater efficacy.-Z>s Tumoribus.etc. Morbi Gallici, Lib. X. The bloodlike redness of the precipitate of mercury has caused it to be ignorantly confused with the ruddy powder into which the sweet balsam of mercury is reduced when it is prepared without sublimation or calcination by means of the water of eggs. -/ii'rf. Precipitated mercury of the metals is the reduction of the metals into their first matter, which afterwards is deposited below, -Chirurgia Magnit, De Tnifostnmis in Mario Gnllico, Lib. II.

for it. But in order that Mercury may be calcined, I have already said that this must be done in sharp aqua fortis, which must be abstracted by distillation, and the precipitation is made. But in order that Mercury may be reduced to cinnabar,* you must first of all mortify it, and liquefy it, with salt and yellow sulphur. Reduce it to a white powder, then put it in a cucurbite ; place an aludel above, and sublimate with great fluxion, as is customary. Thus the cinnabar ascends into the aludel and adheres to it, as hard as haematite. The mortification of lead, in order that it may be reduced to white lead, is two-fold, one for Medicine, the other for Alchemy. The preparation of cerussa for Medicine is as follows : Suspend plates of lead in an unglazed vessel over strong vinegar made from wine, the vessel being well closed so that no spirits may escape. Place the vessel in warm ashes, or, in winter, behind the fire. Then, after ten or fourteen days, you will find the very best cerussa adhering to the plates. Scrape this off with a hare's foot, and replace the plate over the vinegar until you have sufficient cerussa. The other preparation of cerussa for Alchemy is like the former, save that a quantity of the best sal ammoniac must be dissolved in the vinegar. In this way you will have a very beautiful cerussa, most subtle for purging tin or lead, or for removing whiteness from copper.

But if we wish to make red lead out of the lead, it must first be calcined to ashes, and afterwards burnt laterally in a glazed jar, stirring it continually with an iron wire until it grows red. This minium is at once the best and the most valuable, and should be used in Medicine as well as in Alchemy. The other, which dealers sell in the shops, is of no use. It is made up only of the ashes which remain in the liquefaction of lead ore, and the potters buy it for encrusting vessels. Such minium is useful only for pictures, but neither for Medicine nor for Alchemy.

In order to reduce lead to a yellow colour a process is required not altogether unlike the preparation of minium. Here, too, the lead must be calcined with salt, and reduced to ashes. Afterwards it must be stirred continually with iron in one of the wide dishes used by those who test minerals, over a moderate coal fire, careful watch being kept lest the heat should be too great or the stirring neglected. Otherwise it would melt and produce yellow glass. In this way you will have excellent yellow lead. The mortification of silver so that lazurium, or some similar substance, may be produced from it, is brought about as follows : Let Luna be made into plates, mixed with Mercury, and suspended in a glazed jar over the best vinegar in which auratse have been previously boiled. Afterwards dissolve in it sal ammoniac and calcined tartar. In all other particulars proceed as directed in the case of cerussa. Then, after fourteen days, you will have the most precious and beautiful lazurium adhering to the silver plates, which you will wipe off' with a hare's foot. * The physicians of Montepes'sulano and Salerno committed the error of supposing that cinnabar was different from mercury, when it is clear that they are the same. — De lutnoribits, eic,^ Morbi GalHciy Lib. I., c. 8, Cinnabar i gXtracted from Saturn and Mars by means of mercury. — /^/*f. , Lib. IIL, c, 7.

We do not deem it necessary here to repeat the method of mortifying gold so that it may be reduced to its arcana, as, for instance, to tincture, quintessence, resin, crocus, vitriol, and sulphur. These preparations are manifold, and for the most part we have already given such secrets in other books, as the extraction of the Tincture of Sol, the Quintessence of Sol, the Mercury of Sol, Sol Potabilis, the resin of Sol, the Crocus of Sol. These have been given in the Archidoxa and elsewhere. But the secrets omitted there we will impart here. These concern the vitriol of Sol* and the sulphur of Sol, which are by no means the least among such secrets, and, indeed, ought to delight every physician. In order to extract vitriol from Sol, proceed thus : Take two or three marks of pure gold, which form into plates and suspend above boys' urine, mixed with grape-berries, in a wide glass cucurbite closely sealed at the top. Bury this in a glowing heap of grape berries, as they are taken from the wine-press, and let it stand there for a fortnight or three weeks. Then open it, and you will find a most subtle colour, which is vitriol of Sol, adhering to the plates of Sol. Remove this with a hare's foot, as you have been told in the case of the other metals — the crocus of Mars from the plates of iron, the vitriol of Venus and verdigris from the plates of copper, the cerussa from the plates of Saturn, the lazurium from the plates of Luna — all these being comprised under one process, but not with the same preparation.

When, therefore, you have enough of this vitriol of Sol, boil it well in distilled rain water, stirring it continually with some sort of spatula. Then the sulphur of gold rises up to the surface like grease, which remove with a spoon. So also proceed with other vitriol. After the sulphur is taken away, evaporate that rain water to perfect dryness, and the vitriol of Sol will remain at the bottom. This you can easily resolve on marble in a damp place. In these two arcana, that is to say, the vitriol of gold and the sulphur of gold, a diaphoretic virtue is latent. However, we will not describe those virtues here, because we have sufficiently indicated them in the book on Metallic Diseases and elsewhere.

The mortification of sulphur consists in taking away its combustible and fcetid fatness, and reducing it to a fixed substance. This is accomplished in the following way : Take common yellow sulphur, reduced to a fine powder, and abstract from it the very acrid aqua fortis by a threefold distillation. Afterwards sweeten the sulphur which remains at the bottom, and is of a black colour, with sweet water, repeating the process of distillation continually until nothing but sweet water proceeds from it and there is no more smell of sulphur. Reverberate this sulphur in a closed reverberatory, as in the case of antimony. Then it will become, at first white, afterwards, yellow ; thirdly, red » Artificial acids are from the minerals of metals and cognate substances. But note liere that what is usually called vitriolated acid is really vitriolated copper of Venus. For copper is vitriol. If, therefore, the acidity be extracted from copper, then he who uses it digests copper. It is the same with all the other vitriolates of metals. ... In all metals there are vitriolated acids, except in gold, which does not know vitriol.— £>« Morbis Tartnrels, c. 16 ' as cinnabar. When you have it in that form you ought to rejoice ; for it is the beginning of wealth for you. This reverberated sulphur tinges any silver very deeply so as to turn it into most precious gold, and the human body it tinges into its most perfect condition of health. Of so great virtue is this reverberated and fixed sulphur.

The mortification of all salts, and whatever is of a salt nature, is the removal and distillation of their watery and oleaginous part, and besides of the spirit of salt ; for if these are taken away, they are called afterwards dead earth, or caput mortuum. The mortification of gems and corals is that they shall be calcined, sublimated, and dissolved into a liquid, as the crystal. The mortification of pearls is that they be calcined and resolved in sharp vinegar in the form of milk. The mortification of the magnet is that it be smeared with oil of mercury or touched by common mercury. Afterwards It attracts no iron. The mortification of flints and stones is calcination. The mortification of marcasites, cachymlae, talc, cobalt, zinc, granites, zwitter, vismut, and antimony, is sublimation, that Is, their being sublimated with salt and vitriol. Then their life, which is the metallic spirit, ascends with the spirit of salt. Let whatever remains at the bottom of the sublimatory be washed, that the salt may be removed from It, and you will have dead earth wherein is no virtue. The mortification of arsenlcals, aurlpigment, orpiment, realgar, etc., is when they are made fluid with salt nitre, are turned to oil or liquid on marble, and fixed.

The mortification of undulous things is a coagulation of the air. The mortification of aromatic substances is the removal of their good odour. The mortification of sweet things is that they shall be sublimated with corrosives and distilled. The mortification of carabse, resins, turpentine, and gum is their being reduced to oil or varnish. The mortification of herbs, roots, and the like is that their oil and water shall be distilled from them, the liquid squeezed out in a press, and afterwards the alkali extracted. The mortification of woods is their being turned into charcoal or ashes. The mortification of bones is their calcination. The mortification of flesh and blood is the removal of the spirit of salt. The mortification of water is produced by fire : for the heat of fire dries up and consumes all water. So the mortification of fire is by water ; for the water extinguishes the fire and takes away from it Its force and eff'ectlveness. Thus you are sufficiently informed, in few words, how death is latent In all natural things : how they are mortified and reduced to another form and nature, as also what virtues flow from them. Whatever else is necessary to say

we will set down in our book concerning the Resuscitation of Natural Things.

Concerning the Resuscitation of Natural Things. THE resuscitation and reduction of natural things is not the least important in the nature of things, but a profound and great secret, rather divine and angelic than human and natural. I would, however, on this point be understood with the greatest discrimination, and in no other way than according to my fixed opinion, as Nature daily and clearly points out and experience proves ; so that I may not be exposed to the lies and misrepresentations of my enemies the quack doctors (by whom I am constantly ill judged), as if I myself pretended to usurp some divine power, or to attribute that same to Nature which she never claims. Therefore, at this point, the most careful observation is necessary, since death is twofold, that is to say, violent or spontaneous. From the one, a thing can be resuscitated but not from the other. Do not, then, believe the sophists when they tell you that a thing once dead or mortified cannot be resuscitated, and when they make light of resuscitation and restoration ; for their mistake is great. It is indeed true that whatever perishes by its own natural death, or whatever mortifies by Nature according to its own predestination, God alone can resuscitate, or that it must be done by His divine command. So whatever Nature consumes man cannot restore. But whatever man destroys man can restore, and break again when restored.

Beyond this man by his condition has no power, and if any one strove to do more he would be arrogating to himself the power of God, and yet would labour in vain and be confounded, unless God were with him, or he had such faith that he could remove mountains. To such a man this, and still greater things, would be possible, since Scripture says, for Christ Himself has said — " If ye have faith as a grain of mustard-seed, and say to this mountain : Depart and place yourself yonder, it would do so and place itself there ; and all things shall be possible, and nothing impossible, to you."

But let us return to our proposition. What is the difference between dying and being mortified, and from which of these conditions is resuscitation possible ? The matter is to be understood thus. Whatever dies by its own nature has its end according to predestination, and as the pleasure and dispensation of God arranges. But this, too, happens from different diseases and accidents, and herefrom there is no resuscitation, nor is there any preservative which can be used against predestination and the cognate end of life. But what is mortified can be resuscitated and revivified, as may be proved by many arguments which we will set down at the end of this book. So, then, there is the greatest difference between dying and mortifying, nor should it be thought that these are only two names for one thing. In very deed these differ as widely as possible. Examine the case of a man who has died by a natural and predestined death. What further good or use is there in him ? None. Let him be cast to the worms. But the case is not the same with a man who has been slain with a sword or has died some violent death. The whole of his body is useful and good, and can be fashioned into the most valuable mumia. For though the spirit of life has gone forth from such a body, still the balsam remains, in which life is latent, which also, indeed, as a balsam conserves other human bodies.

So, too, in the instance of metals you see that when a metal has a tendency to die it begins to be affected with rust, and that which has been so affected is dead ; and when the whole of the metal is consumed with rust the whole is dead, and such rust can never be brought back to be a metal, but is mere ashes and no metal. It is dead, and death is in itself : nor has it any longer the balsam of life, but has perished in itself.

The lime and the ashes of metals also are two-fold, and there is the greatest difference between these two. For the one can be revived and brought back to be a metal, but not so the other. One is volatile, the other is fixed. One is dead, the other is mortified. The ash is volatile and cannot be brought back to be a metal, but only to glass or scoriae. But the lime of metals is fixed and can be brought back again into its own metal. If you would understand the difference and its cause, know that in the ash there is less fatness and more dryness than in the lime, and it is this which gives the fluxion. The lime is fatter and more moist than the ash, and still retains its resin and its fluxion, and more especially does it retain the salt which of its own special nature is capable of flux, and also makes all metals pass into flux, thereby reducing them. Hence it follows with the ashes of metals that they cannot be brought back into metals. The salt must be extracted ; then they are perfectly volatile. This is the chief point, and must be very carefully noted, since no little depends upon it. Among sham physicians a vast error is prevalent. In place of Sol Potabilis, the Quintessence of gold, the Tincture of gold, and so on, they have palmed off on men a leprous Calx of Sol, not considering the difference or the evils resulting therefrom. For two notable and necessary facts must here be observed, namely, that either calcined or pulverised Sol, when given to men, is congregated into one mass in the bowels, or passes out per anum with the dung, and so is vainly and uselessly taken ; or else by the great internal heat of the body it is reduced, so that it incrusts and clogs

the bowels, whence ensue many and various diseases, and at last even death. And as with Sol, so also in the case of other metals, you should take no metallic arcanum or medicament into the body unless it shall have first been rendered volatile, so that it cannot be brought back to its metalHc condition. Wherefore the first step and beginning of preparing Aurum Potabile is this ; afterwards such a volatile substance can be dissolved by spirit of wine, so that both ascend together, becoming volatile and inseparable. Just as you prepare gold, in the same way you prepare potable Luna, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mercury. But to return to our proposition, and to prove by illustrations and by adequate reasons that mortified things are not dead and compelled to continue in death, but can be brought back and resuscitated and vitalised by man, according to natural guidance and rule. You see this in the case of lions, who are all born dead, and are first vitalised by the horrible noise of their parents, just as a sleeping person is awakened by a shout. So the lions are stirred up ; not that they are sleeping in the same way — for one who sleeps a natural sleep would necessarily wake — but this is not the case with lions. Unless they were stirred up with this noise they would remain dead, and life would never be found in them.

Hence it is understood that they acquire their life and are vitalised by that noise. You see the same thing in all animals, except those which are produced from putrefaction, like flies, which, if they are drowned in water so that no life could be discerned in them, and were so left, would continue dead, and never would revive of themselves. But if they are sprinkled with salt and placed in the warm sun, or behind a heated furnace, they recover their former life, and this is their resuscitation. If this were not done they would remain dead. So you see in the case of the serpent. If it be cut in pieces, and these pieces be put in a cucurbite, and putrefied in a venter equinus, the whole serpent will revive in the glass in the form of small worms or the spawn of fishes. Now, if these little worms are— as they ought to be — brought out by putrefaction and nourished, more than a hundred serpents will be produced from the one, any single serpent being as big as the original one. This can be accomplished by putrefaction alone. And just as with the serpent, so many animals can be resuscitated, recalled, and restored. By this process, with the aid of nigromancy, Hermes and Virgil endeavoured to renovate and resuscitate themselves after death, and to be born again as infants, but the experiment did not turn out according to their intention and it was unsuccessful.

Let us, however, pass by these examples, and come to the practical method of resuscitation and restoration. It is advisable to begin with metals because metallic bodies more frequently resemble human bodies. Know, then, that the resuscitation and renovation of metals are twofold : one brings back calcined metals by a process of reduction to their original metallic body ; the other reduces metals to their first matter. The former is a reduction to argentum vivum, and such, too, is the latter process. Calcine a metal by means oi th.Q, fuligo Mercurii. Put this calx and a sufficient quantity of the quicksilver into a sublimatory, and let them stand for some time, until the two are coagulated into one amalgam. Then, by means of sublimation, elevate the Mercury from the calx. When elevated, pound it again with the metallic calx, and sublimate as before. Repeat this until the metallic calx liquefies over a candle, like wax or ice, and the thing is then done. Let this metal be placed in digestion for such time as may be required, and the whole will be changed into Metcitrius vivus, that is, into its first matter. This is called the Philosophers' Mercurius of Metals. Many alchemists have sought it, but few have found it. So is now prepared Mercurius vivus from all metals, namely, Mercurius of Gold, Luna, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn.

The resuscitation or restoration of calcined Mercury is produced by distillation in retorts. For only Mercurius vivus ascends into the cold water, and the ashes of Saturn, Venus, or sulphur are left. But the resuscitation and restoration of sublimed Mercury is brought about in hot water. It is necessary, however, that it should first of all be very minutely pounded, so that the boiling water may resolve from it the spirit of salt and of vitriol, which it raises up with itself in the process of sublimation, and the Mercurius vivus runs together at the bottom of the water. If, now, such Mercurius vivus be sublimated anew with fresh salt and vitriol, and again be resuscitated in boiling water, and if this be repeated seven or nine times, it will be impossible to purify and renovate it more effectually. Preserve this as a great secret in Alchemy and Medicine, and rejoice over it exceedingly ; for in this way all the impurity and blackness and poisonous nature are taken away from Mercury. The resuscitation, restoration, and renovation of Mercury cannot be accomplished without sublimation ; for unless after calcination it be sublimated it will never be revivified. Sublimate it, therefore, and afterwards reduce it as you would any other sublimated substance.

The resuscitation of cinnabar, lazurium, aurum musicum, or precipitated gold, in order that they may be revived into Mercurius vivus, is effected as follows : Take any one of these substances, pound it very fine in a marble mortar, and make it into a paste with white of eggs and smegma. Then make pills, the size of a nut, which place in a strong earthenware cucurbite. At its orifice arrange an iron plate which has several little holes, and let it be fastened with lute. Distil by descent over a strong fire, so that it may fall into cold water, and again you will have Mercurius vivus. The resuscitation and restoration of wood is difficult and arduous ; possible, indeed, but not to be accomplished without exceptional skill and industry. The following is the method of its revival : Take wood which has been first of all carbon, then ash, and place it in a cucurbite with the resin, liquid, and oil of its tree, the same weight of each. Let them be mixed and liquefied over a gentle fire. Then there will be produced a mucilaginous matter, and so you will have the three principles together from which all things are born and generated, namely, phlegma, fat, and ash. The phlegma is

Mercurius, the fat is Sulphur, and the ash is Salt. For that which smokes and evaporates over the fire is Mercury; what flames and is burnt is Sulphur; and all ash is Salt. Now, when you you have these three principles together, place them in a venter equinus, and putrefy for the time required by each respectively. If afterwards that matter be buried, or poured into a rich soil, you will see it begin to revive, and a tree or a little log will be produced from it, which, indeed, is in its nature much higher than the original one. This is really wood, and is called resuscitated, renewed, and restored wood. It was from the beginning wood, but mortified, destroyed, and reduced to coals, to ashes — to nothingness ; and yet from that nothingness it is made something, and is reborn. Truly in the light of Nature this is a great mystery, that a thing which had altogether lost its form, and had been reduced to nothingness, recovers that form and becomes something from nothing — something which afterwards is much nobler in its virtue and its eflncacy than it had been at first. But, in order that we may speak generally concerning the resuscitation and restoration of natural things, this should be understood as the principal foundation — that to each thing may be again conceded that which had been taken from it and separated in mortification. It is difficult to explain this specifically here ; so we will conclude this book, and in the following book make these things more clear with regard to the transmutations of natural things.

Concerning the Transmutation of Natural Objects. IF we are to write concerning the transmutation of all natural objects, it is just and necessary that, in the first place and before all else, we should point out what transmutation is ; in the second place, what are the successive steps thereto ; and, thirdly, by what means, and in what manner, it is brought about. Transmutation, then, takes place when an object loses its own form, and is so changed that it bears no resemblance to its anterior shape, but assumes another guise, another essence, another colour, another virtue, another nature or set of properties : as if a metal becomes glass or stone ; if stone or wood becomes coal ; if clay becomes stone and slate ; hide, glue ; rag, paper ; and many such things. All these are transmutations of natural objects. After this it is most necessary to know the steps to transmutation, how many there are. There are not more than seven. For although some persons reckon a greater number, there are, of a truth, only seven principal steps ; the rest which may be included among the steps are comprised in these seven. They are the following :

Calcination, Sublimation, Solution, Putrefaction, Distillation, Coagulation, Tincture. If anyone ascends that ladder, he will arrive at so wonderful a place that he will see and experience many secrets in the transmutation of natural objects. The first step, then, is Calcination,* under which are comprised Reverberation and Cementation. Among these three there is little difference so far as relates to Calcination. Here, therefore, Calcination is the principal step, for by Reverberation and Cementation many corporeal objects are calcined and reduced to ashes, especially metals. What is calcined is not on that account reverberated or cemented. By Calcination all metals, minerals, stones, glasses, and all corporeal objects, become carbon and ashes ; and this is done in a naked fire, strong, and exposed to the air. By means of this all * One of the Fragmenta Medica contained in the first volume of the Geneva folio, when explaining the process of calcination from the standpoint of Hermetic Medicine, observes that it is eminently necessary for the physician who concerns himself with Alchemy to understand calcination and the virtue which resides therein. tenacious, soft, and fat earth is hardened into stone ; but all stones are reduced to lime, as we see in the kiln of the lime burner and the potter respectively.

Sublimation* is the second step, also very important for the transmutation of many natural objects. Under this are included Exaltation, Elevation, and Fixation! ; and it is not altogether unlike Distillation. For, as from all phlegmatic and vs^atery objects, water ascends in distillation, and is separated from its body, so, in the process of Sublimation, in dry substances such as minerals, the spiritual is raised from the corporeal, subtilised, and the pure separated from the impure. For in Sublimation many excellent virtues and wonderful qualities are found in minerals, and many things are fixed and become permanent, so that they remain in the fire in the following way : Let the body which is sublimated be ground again and mixed with its own dregs. Let it be again sublimated as before, and let this be repeated until it sublimates no longer, but all remains in the bottom and is fixed. Thus it will afterwards become a stone and an oil when and as often as you wish. For if, having refrigerated it, you put it in the air, or in a glass vessel, it is there immediately resolved into an oil. If you once more put it in the fire it is again coagulated into a stone, which is of great and wonderful powers. But this consider a great secret and mystery of Nature, and do not disclose it to sophists. Moreover, as in Sublimation many corrosives become sweet by the conjunction of the two natures, so, on the other hand, many sweet substances become sour or bitter ;

whilst many bitter things are made sweet as sugar. Here it should be remarked, too, that every metal which is brought to a state of Sublimation by means of sal ammoniac may afterwards be dissolved into an oil in the cold, or in the air, and, contrariwise, may be coagulated to a stone in the fire. This is one of the greatest and most complete transmutations in all natural objects, namely, to transmute a metal into a stone.

The third step is Solution, under which term are comprised Dissolution and Resolution. This step frequently follows after Sublimation and Distillation, as, for instance, when you dissolve the matter which remains at the bottom. Solution, however, is twofold : one by cold, another by heat ; one out of the fire, the other in the fire. The cold process of Solution dissolves all salts, corrosives, and calcined bodies. Whatever salt and corrosive quality there may be it resolves into an oil, a liquid, or water ; and this takes place in a damp and cold chamber, or otherwise in the air only, in marble or glass. For everything that is dissolved in the cold contains the sharp spirit of salt, which it often acquires and assumes in Subhmation or Distillation. And everything which is dissolved in the cold or in the air is again by the heat of fire changed * By sublimation the lower minerals are separated from those elements which are the source of their poverty and baseness, but in addition to this, the process has many other virtues. For example, the sublimation of quicksilver has this operation, that even the air in its vicinity has a recreative effect. For in the air permeated by mercury all the virtues of mercury are present. In like manner, the sublimation of arsenic releases a fervid spirit into the atmosphere which cures quartan fever and other acute diseases.— Z>^ Morbis Metaiitcis^ Tract III., c. 5.

\ Exaltation, conjunction, opposition, and kindred processes are not materially performed, but after a mode which is altogether spiritual. — Paramirum^ Tract III., c. 6. into dust or stone. But the Solution of heat dissolves all fat and sulphurous bodies ; and whatever the heat of fire dissolves this the cold coagulates into a mass, and whatever the heat coagulates, this the air and the cold again dissolve. This also should be known, that whatever the air or the cold chamber dissolves, is of great dryness, and holds concealed within itself a corrosive fire. So whatever is dissolved in fire, and by its heat, has in itself sweetness and cold, but not fire. Thus, and in no other way, is Solution to be understood. Putrefaction* is the fourth step, under which are comprised Digestionf and Circulation. Now Putrefaction is a very important step which might deservedly stand first, only that would be contrary to the just order and to the mystery which lies concealed here, and is known to very few. For these steps should follow one another in turn, as has been said, like the links in a chain, or the rounds of a ladder. For if one of the links of the chain were taken away, the chain would be broken and the captive would escape. And so, too, if one of the rounds of the ladder should be removed from the middle and put in the highest or the lowest place, the ladder too would be broken, and many would fall headlong from it and endanger their lives.