o||cctloa o[ _acec _aglcs v vv vv v, , s s a ac c e e c c - -m ma ag g l l c c s s, , c c o om m _ _ c c ) )s s o o t t c c e e l l c c j jl l o o e e a ae e

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A|chemica| Catechism
A SHORT CATECHISM OI ALCHEMY


Q. What is the chiel study ol a Philosopher:
A. It is the investiation ol the operations ol Nature.
Q. What is the end ol Nature:
A. God, Who is also its heinnin.
Q. Whence are all thins derived:
A. Irom one and indivisihle Nature.
Q. Into how many reions is Nature separated:
A. Into lour palmary reions.
Q. Which are they:
A. The dry, the moist, the warm, and the cold, which are the lour elementary qualities, whence
all thins oriinate.
Q. How is Nature dillerentiated:
A. Into male and lemale.
Q. To what may we compare Nature:
A. To Mercury.
Q. Give a concise delinition ol Nature.
A. It is not visihle, thouh it operates visihly, lor it is simply a volatile spirit, lullillin its ollice in
hodies, and animated hy the universal spirit-the divine hreath, the central and universal lire,
which vivilies all thins that exist.
Q. What should he the qualities possessed hy the examiners ol Nature:
A. They should he like unto Nature hersell. That is to say, they should he truthlul, simple,
patient, and perseverin.
Q. What matters should suhsequently enross their attention:
A. The philosophers should most carelully ascertain whether their desins are in harmony with
o||cctloa o[ _acec _aglcs v vv vv v, , s s a ac c e e c c - -m ma ag g l l c c s s, , c c o om m _ _ c c ) )s s o o t t c c e e l l c c j jl l o o e e a ae e
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Nature, and ol a possihle and attainahle kind, il they would accomplish hy their own power
anythin that is usually perlormed hy the power ol Nature, they must imitate her in every detail.
Q. What method must he lollowed in order to produce somethin which shall he developed to a
superior deree than Nature hersell develops it.
A. The manner ol its improvement must he studied, and this is invariahly operated hy means ol a
like nature. Ior example, il it he desired to develop the intrinsic virtue ol a iven metal heyond
its natural condition, the chemist must avail himsell ol the metallic nature itsell, and must he ahle
to discriminate hetween its male and lemale dillerentiations.
Q. Where does the metallic nature store her seeds:
A. In the lour elements.
Q. With what materials can the philosopher alone accomplish anythin:
A. With the erm ol the iven matter, this is its elixir or quintessence, more precious hy lar, and
more uselul, to the artist, than is Nature hersell. Belore the philosopher has extracted the seed, or
erm, Nature, in his hehall, will he ready to perlorm her duty.
Q. What is the erm, or seed, ol any suhstance:
A. It is the most suhtle and perlect decoction and diestion ol the suhstance itsell, or, rather, it is
the Balm ol Sulphur, which is identical with the Radical Moisture ol Metals.
Q. By what is this seed, or erm, enendered:
A. By the lour elements, suhject to the will ol the Supreme Bein, and throuh the direct
intervention ol the imaination ol Nature.
Q. Alter what manner do the lour elements operate:
A. By means ol an incessant and unilorm motion, each one, accordin to its quality, depositin its
seed in the centre ol the earth, where it is suhjected to action and diested, and is suhsequently
expelled in an outward direction hy the laws ol movement.
Q. What do the philosophers understand hy the centre ol the earth:
A. A certain void place where nothin may repose, and the existence ol which is assumed.
Q. Where, then, do the lour elements expel and deposit their seeds:
A. In the ex-centre, or in the marin and circumlerence ol the centre, which, alter it has
appropriated a portion, casts out the surplus into the reion ol excrement, scoriae, lire, and
lormless chaos.
Q. Illustrate this teachin hy an example.
A. Take any level tahle, and set in its centre a vase lilled with water, surround the vase with
several thins ol various colours, especially salt, takin care that a proper distance intervenes
hetween them all. Then pour out the water lrom the vase, and it will llow in streams here and
there, one will encounter a suhstance ol a red colour, and will assume a tine ol red, another will
pass over the salt, and will contract a saline llavour, lor it is certain that water does not modily
the places which it traverses, hut the diverse characteristics ol places chane the nature ol water.
In the same way the seed which is deposited hy the lour elements at the centre ol the earth is
suhject to a variety ol modilications in the places throuh which it passes, so that every existin
suhstance is produced in the likeness ol its channel, and when a seed on its arrival at a certain
o||cctloa o[ _acec _aglcs v vv vv v, , s s a ac c e e c c - -m ma ag g l l c c s s, , c c o om m _ _ c c ) )s s o o t t c c e e l l c c j jl l o o e e a ae e
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point encounters pure earth and pure water, a pure suhstance results, hut the contrary in an
opposite case.
Q. Alter what manner do the elements procreate this seed:
A. In order to the complete elucidation ol this point, it must he ohserved that there are two ross
and heavy elements and two that are volatile in character. Two, in like manner, are dry and two
humid, one out ol the lour hein actually excessively dry, and the other excessively moist. They
are also masculine and leminine. Now, each ol them has a marked tendency to reproduce its own
species within its own sphere. Moreover, they are never in repose, hut are perpetually interactin,
and each ol them separates, ol and hy itsell, the most suhtle portion thereol. Their eneral place
ol meetin is in the centre, even the centre ol the Archeus, that servant ol Nature, where comin
to mix their several seeds, they aitate and linally expel them to the exterior.
Q. What is the true and the lirst matter ol all metals:
A. The lirst matter, properly so called, is dual in its essence, or is in itsell ol a twolold nature, one,
nevertheless, cannot create a metal without the concurrence ol the other. The lirst and the
palmary essence is an aerial humidity, hlended with a warm air, in the lorm ol a latty water,
which adheres to all suhstances indiscriminately, whether they are pure or impure.
Q. How has this humidity heen named hy Philosophers:
A. Mercury.
Q. By what is it overned:
A. By the rays ol the Sun and Moon.
Q. What is the second matter:
A. The warmth ol the earth -otherwise, that dry heat which is termed Sulphur hy the
Philosophers.
Q. Can the entire material hody he converted into seed:
A. Its eiht-hundredth part only-that, namely, which is secreted in the centre ol the hody in
question, and may, lor example, he seen in a rain ol wheat.
Q. Ol what use is the hulk ol the matter as reards its seed:
A. It is uselul as a saleuard aainst excessive heat, cold, moisture, or aridity, and, in eneral, all
hurtlul inclemency, aainst which it acts as an envelope.
Q. Would those artists who pretend to reduce the whole matter ol any hody into seed derive any
advantae lrom the process, supposin it were possihle to perlorm it:
A. None, on the contrary, their lahour would he wholly unproductive, hecause nothin that is
ood can he accomplished hy a deviation lrom natural methods.
Q. What, therelore, should he done:
A. The matter must he ellectively separated lrom its impurities, lor there is no metal, how pure
soever, which is entirely lree lrom imperlections, thouh their extent varies. Now all
superlluities, cortices, and scoriae must he peeled oll and pured out lrom the matter in order to
discover its seed.
o||cctloa o[ _acec _aglcs v vv vv v, , s s a ac c e e c c - -m ma ag g l l c c s s, , c c o om m _ _ c c ) )s s o o t t c c e e l l c c j jl l o o e e a ae e
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Q. What should receive the most carelul attention ol the Philosopher:
A. Assuredly, the end ol Nature, and this is hy no means to he looked lor in the vular metals,
hecause, these havin issued already lrom the hands ol the lashioner, it is no loner to he lound
therein.
Q. Ior what precise reason:
A. Because the vular metals, and chielly old, are ahsolutely dead, while ours, on the contrary,
are ahsolutely livin, and possess a soul.
Q. What is the lile ol metals:
A. It is no other suhstance than lire, when they are as yet imhedded in the mines.
Q. What is their death:
A. Their lile and death are in reality one principle, lor they die, as they live, hy lire, hut their
death is lrom a lire ol lusion.
Q. Alter what manner are metals conceived in the womh ol the earth:
A. When the lour elements have developed their power or virtue in the centre ol the earth, and
have deposited their seed, the Archeus ol Nature, in the course ol a distillatory process, suhlimes
them superlicially hy the warmth and enery ol the perpetual movement.
Q. Into what does the wind resolve itsell when it is distilled throuh the pores ol the earth:
A. It resolves itsell into water, whence all thins sprin, in this state it is merely a humid vapour,
out ol which there is suhsequently evolved the principiated principle ol all suhstances, which also
serves as the lirst matter ol the Philosophers.
Q. What then is this principiated principle, which is made use ol as the lirst matter hy the
Children ol Knowlede in the philosophic achievement:
A. It is this identical matter, which, the moment it is conceived, receives a permanent and
unchaneahle lorm.
Q. Are Saturn, upiter, Mars, Venus, the Sun, the Moon, etc., separately endowed with individual
seed:
A. One is common to them all, their dillerences are to he accounted lor hy the. locality lrom
which they are derived, not to speak ol the lact that Nature completes her work with lar reater
rapidity in the procreation ol silver than in that ol old, and so ol the other metals, each in its
own proportion.
Q. How is old lormed in the howels ol the earth:
A. When this vapour, ol which we have spoken, is suhlimed in the centre ol the earth, and when
it has passed throuh warm and pure places, where a certain sulphureous rease adheres to the
channels, then this vapour, which the Philosophers have denominated their Mercury, hecomes
adapted and joined to this rease, which it suhlimes with itsell, lrom such amalamation there is
produced a certain unctuousness, which, ahandonin the vaporous lorm, assumes that ol rease,
and is suhlimised in other places, which have heen cleansed hy this precedin vapour, and the
earth whereol has consequently heen rendered more suhtle, pure, and humid, it lills the pores ol
this earth, is joined thereto, and old is produced as a result.
o||cctloa o[ _acec _aglcs v vv vv v, , s s a ac c e e c c - -m ma ag g l l c c s s, , c c o om m _ _ c c ) )s s o o t t c c e e l l c c j jl l o o e e a ae e
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Q. How is Saturn enendered:
A. It occurs when the said unctuosity, or rease, passes throuh places which are totally impure
and cold.
Q. How is Venus hrouht lorth:
A. She is produced in localities where the earth itsell is pure, hut is minled with impure sulphur.
Q. What power does the vapour, which we have recently mentioned, possess in the centre ol the
earth:
A. By its continual proress it has the power ol perpetually rarelyin whatsoever is crude and
impure, and ol successively attractin to itsell all that is pure around it.
Q. What is the seed ol the lirst matter ol all thins:
A. The lirst matter ol thins, that is to say, the matter ol principiatin principles is heotten hy
Nature, without the assistance ol any other seed, in other words, Nature receives the matter lrom
the elements, whence it suhsequently hrins lorth the seed.
Q. What, ahsolutely speakin, is therelore the seed ol thins:
A. The seed in a hody is no other thin than a conealed air, or a humid vapour, which is useless
except it he dissolved hy a warm vapour.
Q. How is the eneration ol seed comprised in the metallic kindom:
A. By the artilice ol Archeus the lour elements, in the lirst eneration ol Nature, distil a
ponderous vapour ol water into the centre ol the earth , this is the seed ol metals, and it is called
Mercury, not on account ol its essence, hut hecause ol its lluidity, and the lacility with which it
will adhere to each and every thin.
Q. Why is this vapour compared to sulphur:
A. Because ol its internal heat.
Q. Irom what species ol Mercury are we to conclude that the metals are composed:
A. The relerence is exclusively to the Mercury ol the Philosophers, and in no sense to the
common or vular suhstance, which cannot hecome a seed, seein that, like other metals, it
already contains its own seed.
Q. What, therelore, must actually he accepted as the suhject ol our matter:
A. The seed alone, otherwise the lixed rain, and not the whole hody, which is dillerentiated into
Sulphur, or livin male, and into Mercury, or livin lemale.
Q. What operation must he alterwards perlormed
A. They must he joined toether, so that they may lorm a erm, alter which they will proceed to
the procreation ol a lruit which is conlormed to their nature.
Q. What is the part ol the artist in this operation:
A. The artist must do nothin hut separate that which is suhtle lrom that which is ross.
Q. To what, therelore, is the whole philosophic comhination reduced:
A. The development ol one into two, and the reduction ol two into one, and nothin lurther.
o||cctloa o[ _acec _aglcs v vv vv v, , s s a ac c e e c c - -m ma ag g l l c c s s, , c c o om m _ _ c c ) )s s o o t t c c e e l l c c j jl l o o e e a ae e
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Q. Whither must we turn lor the seed and lile ol meals and minerals:
A. The seed ol minerals is properly the water which exists in the centre
And the heart ol the minerals.
Q. How does Nature operate hy the help ol Art:
A. Every seed, whatsoever its kind, is useless, unless hy Nature or Art it is placed in a suitahle
matrix, where it receives its lile hy the coction ol the erm' and hy the conelation ol the pure
particle, or lixed rain.
Q. How is the seed suhsequently nourished and preserved:
A. By the warmth ol its hody.
Q. What is therelore perlormed hy the artist in the mineral kindom:
A. He linishes what cannot he linished hy Nature on account ol the crudity ol the air, which has
permeated the pores ol all hodies hy its violence, hut on the surlace and not in the howels ol the
earth.
Q. What correspondence have the metals amon themselves:
A. It is necessary lor a proper comprehension ol the nature ol this correspondence to consider the
position ol the planets, and to pay attention to Saturn, which is the hihest ol all, and then is
succeeded hy upiter, next hy Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and, lastly, hy the Moon. It must
he ohserved that the inlluential virtues ol the planets do not ascend hut descend, and experience
teaches us that Mars can he easily converted into Venus, not Venus into Mars, which is ol a
lower sphere. So, also, upiter can he easily transmuted into Mercury, hecause upiter is superior
to Mercury, the one hein second alter the lirmament, the other second ahove the earth, and
Saturn is hihest ol all, while the Moon is lowest. The Sun enters into all, hut it is never
ameliorated hy its inleriors. It is clear that there is a lare correspondence hetween Saturn and the
Moon, in the middle ol which is the Sun, hut to all these chanes the Philosopher should strive to
administer the Sun.
Q. When the Philosophers speak ol old and silver, lrom which they extract their matter, are we
to suppose that they reler to the vular old and silver:
A. By no means, vular silver and old are dead, while those ol the Philosophers are lull ol lile.
Q. What is the ohject ol research amon the Philosophers:
A. Proliciency in the art ol perlectin what Nature has lelt imperlect in the mineral kindom, and
the attainment ol the treasure ol the Philosophical Stone.
Q. What is this Stone:
A. The Stone is nothin else than the radical humidity ol the elements, perlectly purilied and
educed into a soverein lixation, which causes it to perlorm such reat thins lor health, lile
hein resident exclusively in the humid radical.
Q. In what does the secret ol accomplishin this admirahle work consist:
A. It consists in knowin how to educe lrom potentiality into activity the innate warmth, or the
lire ol Nature, which is enclosed in the centre ol the radical humidity.
o||cctloa o[ _acec _aglcs v vv vv v, , s s a ac c e e c c - -m ma ag g l l c c s s, , c c o om m _ _ c c ) )s s o o t t c c e e l l c c j jl l o o e e a ae e
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Q. What are the precautions which must he made use ol to uard aainst lailure in the work:
A. Great pains must he taken to eliminate excrements lrom the matter, and to conserve nothin
hut the kernel, which contains all the virtue ol the compound.
Q. Why does this medicine heal every species ol disease:
A. It is not on account ol tile variety ol its qualities, hut simply hecause it powerlully lortilies the
natural warmth, which it ently stimulates, while other physics irritate it hy too violent an action.
Q How can you demonstrate to me the truth ol the art in the matter ol the tincture:
A. Iirstly, its truth is lounded on the lact that the physical powder, hein composed ol the same
suhstance as the metals, namely, quicksilver, has the laculty ol comhinin with these in lusion,
one nature easily emhracin another which is like itsell. Secondly, seein that the imperlection ol
the hase metals is owin to the crudeness ol their quicksilver, and to that alone, the physical
powder, which is a ripe and decocted quicksilver, and, in itsell a pure lire, can easily
communicate to them its own maturity, and can transmute them into its nature, alter it has
attracted their crude humidity, that is to say, their quicksilver, which is the sole suhstance that
transmutes them, the rest hein nothin hut scoriae and excrements, which are rejected in
projection.
Q. What road should the Philosopher lollow that he may attain to the knowlede and execution
ol the physical work:
A. That precisely which was lollowed hy the Great Architect ol the Universe in the creation ol
the world, hy ohservin how the chaos was evolved.
Q. What was the matter ol the chaos:
A. It could he nothin else than a humid vapour, hecause water alone enters into all created
suhstances, which all linish in a strane term, this term hein a proper suhject lor the impression
ol all lorms.
Q. Give me an example to illustrate what you have just stated.
A. An example may he lound in the special productions ol composite suhstances, the seeds ol
which invariahly hein hy resolvin themselves into a certain humour, which is the chaos ol the
particular matter, whence issues, hy a kind ol irradiation, the complete lorm ol the plant.
Moreover, it should he ohserved that Holy Scripture makes no mention ol anythin except water
as the material suhject whereupon the Spirit ol God hrooded, nor ol anythin except liht as the
universal lorm ol thins.
Q. What prolit may the Philosopher derive lrom these considerations, and what should he
especially remark in the method ol creation which was pursued hy the Supreme Bein:
A. In the lirst place he should ohserve the matter out ol which the world was made, he will see
that out ol this conlused mass, the Soverein Artist hean hy extractin liht, that this liht in the
same moment dissolved the darkness which covered the lace ol the earth, and that it served as
the universal lorm ol the matter. He will then easily perceive that in the eneration ol all
composite suhstances, a species ol irradiation takes place, and a separation ol liht and darkness,
wherein Nature is an undeviatin copyist ol her Creator. The Philosopher will equally understand
alter what manner, hy the action ol this liht, the empyrean, or lirmament which divides the
superior and inlerior waters, was suhsequently produced, how the sky was studded with
luminous hodies, and how the necessity lor the moon arose, which was owin to the space
intervenin hetween the thins ahove and the thins helow, lor the moon is an intermediate torch
o||cctloa o[ _acec _aglcs v vv vv v, , s s a ac c e e c c - -m ma ag g l l c c s s, , c c o om m _ _ c c ) )s s o o t t c c e e l l c c j jl l o o e e a ae e
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hetween the superior and the inlerior worlds, receivin the celestial inlluences and
communicatin them to the earth. Iinally he will understand how the Creator, in the atherin ol
the waters, produced dry land.
Q. How many heavens can you enumerate:
A. Properly there is one only, which is the lirmament that divides the waters lrom the waters.
Nevertheless, three are admitted, ol which the lirst is the space that is ahove the clouds. In this
heaven the waters are rarelied, and lall upon the lixed stars, and it is also in this space that the
planets and wanderin stars perlorm their revolutions. The second heaven is the lirmament ol the
lixed stars, while the third is the ahode ol the supercelestial waters.
Q. Why is the rarelaction ol the waters conlined to the lirst heaven:
A. Because it is in the nature ol rarelied suhstances to ascend, and hecause God, in His eternal
laws, has assined its proper sphere to everythin.
Q. Why does each celestial hody invariahly revolve ahout an axis:
A. It is hy reason ol the primeval impetus which it received, and hy virtue ol the same law which
will cause any heavy suhstance suspended lrom a thread to turn with the same velocity, il the
power which impels its motion he always equal.
Q. Why do the superior waters never descend:
A. Because ol their extreme rarelaction. It is lor this reason that a skilled chemist can derive more
prolit lrom the study ol rarelaction than lrom any other science whatsoever.
Q. What is the matter ol the lirmament:
A. It is properly air, which is more suitahle than water as a medium ol liht.
Q. Alter the separation ol the waters lrom the dry earth, what was perlormed hy the Creator to
oriinate eneration:
A. He created a certain liht which was destined lor this ollice, He placed it in the central lire,
and moderated this lire hy the humidity ol water and hy the coldness ol earth, so as to keep a
check upon its enery and adapt it to His desin.
Q. What is the action ol this central lire:
A. It continually operates upon the nearest humid matter, which it exalts into vapour, now this
vapour is the mercury ol Nature and the lirst matter ol the three kindoms.
Q. How is the sulphur ol Nature suhsequently lormed:
A. By the interaction ol the central lire and the mercurial vapour.
Q. How is the salt ol the sea produced:
A. By the action ol the same lire upon aqueous humidity, when the aerial humidity, which is
contained therein, has heen exhaled.
Q. What should he done hy a truly wise Philosopher when he has once mastered the loundation
and the order in the procedure ol the Great Architect ol the Universe in the construction ol all
that exists in Nature:
A. He should, as lar as may he possihle, hecome a laithlul copyist ol his Creator. In the physical
chaos he should make his chaos such as the oriinal actually was, he should separate the liht
o||cctloa o[ _acec _aglcs v vv vv v, , s s a ac c e e c c - -m ma ag g l l c c s s, , c c o om m _ _ c c ) )s s o o t t c c e e l l c c j jl l o o e e a ae e
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lrom the darkness . he should lorm his lirmament lor the separation ol the waters which are
ahove lrom the waters which are helow, and should successively accomplish, point hy point, the
entire sequence ol the creative act.
Q. With what is this rand and suhlime operation perlormed:
A. With one sinle corpuscle, or minute hody, which, so to speak, contains nothin hut laeces,
lilth, and ahominations, hut whence a certain tenehrous and mercurial humidity is extracted,
which contains in itsell all that is required hy the Philosopher, hecause, as a lact, he is in search ol
nothin hut the true Mercury.
Q. What kind ol mercury, therelore, must he make use ol in perlormin the work: A. Ol a
mercury which, as such, is not lound on the earth, hut is extracted lrom hodies, yet not lrom
vular mercury, as it has heen lalsely said.
Q. Why is the latter unlitted to the needs ol our work:
A. Because the wise artist must take notice that vular mercury has an insullicient quantity ol
sulphur, and he should consequently operate upon a hody created hy Nature, in which Nature
hersell has united the sulphur and mercury that it is the work ol the artist to separate.
Q. What must he suhsequently do:
A. He must purily them and join them anew toether.
Q. How do you denominate the hody ol which we have heen speakin:
A. The RUDE STONE, Or Chaos, or Iliaste, or Hyle--that conlused mass which is known hut
universally despised.
Q. As you have told me that Mercury is the one thin which the Philosopher must ahsolutely
understand, will you ive me a circumstantial description ol it, so as to avoid misconception:
A. In respect ol its nature, our Mercury is dual--lixed and volatile, in reard to its motion, it is
also dual, lor it has a motion ol ascent and ol descent, hy that ol descent, it is the inlluence ol
plants, hy which it stimulates the droopin lire ol Nature, and this is its lirst ollice previous to
conelation. By its ascensional movement, it rises, seekin to he purilied, and as this is alter
conelation, it is considered to he the radical moisture ol suhstances, which, heneath its vile
scoriae, still preserves the nohility ol its lirst oriin.
Q. How many species ol moisture do you suppose to he in each composite thin:
A. There are three--the Elementary, which is properly the vase ol the other elements, the Radical,
which, accurately speakin, is the oil, or halm, in which the entire virtue ol the suhject is
resident--lastly, the Alimentary, the true natural dissolvent, which draws up the droopin internal
lire, causin corruption and hlackness hy its humidity, and losterin and sustainin the suhject.
Q. How many species ol Mercury are there known to the Philosophers:
A. The Mercury ol the Philosophers may he rearded under lour aspects, the lirst is entitled the
Mercury ol hodies, which is actually their concealed seed, the second is the Mercury ol Nature,
which is the Bath or Vase ol the Philosophers, otherwise the humid radical, to the third has heen
applied the desination, Mercury ol the Philosophers, hecause it is lound in their lahoratory and
in their minera. It is the sphere ol Saturn, it is the Diana ol the Wise, it is the true salt ol metals,
alter the acquisition ol which the true philosophic work may he truly said to have heun. In its
lourth aspect, it is called Common Mercury, which yet is not that ol the Vular, hut rather is
o||cctloa o[ _acec _aglcs v vv vv v, , s s a ac c e e c c - -m ma ag g l l c c s s, , c c o om m _ _ c c ) )s s o o t t c c e e l l c c j jl l o o e e a ae e
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properly the true air ol the Philosophers, the true middle suhstance ol water, the true secret and
concealed lire, called also common lire, hecause it is common to all minerae, lor it is the
suhstance ol metals, and thence do they derive their quantity and quality.
Q. How many operations art comprised in our work:
A. There is one only, which may he resolved into suhlimation, and suhlimation, accordin to
Geher, is nothin other than the elevation ol the dry matter hy the mediation ol lire, with
adherence to its own vase.
Q. What precaution should he taken in readin the Hermetic Philosophers :
A. Great care, ahove all, must he ohserved upon this point, lest what they say upon the suhject
should he interpreted literally and in accordance with the mere sound ol the words. Ior the letter
killeth, hut the spirit iveth lile.
Q. What hooks should he read in order to have an acquaintance with our science:
A. Amon the ancients, all the works ol Hermes should especially he studied, in the next place, a
certain hook, entitled The Passae ol the Red Sea, and another, The Entrance into the Promised
Land. Paracelsus also should he read helore all amon elder writers, and, amon other treatises, his
Chemical Pathway, or the Manual ol Paracelsus, which contains all the mysteries ol
demonstrative physics and the most arcane Kahhalah. This rare and unique manuscript work
exists only in the Vatican Lihrary, hut Sendivoius had the ood lortune to take a copy ol it,
which has helped in the illumination ol the saes ol our order. Secondly, Raymond Lully must he
read, and his Vade Mecum ahove all, his dialoue called the Tree ol Lile, his testament, and his
codicil. There must, however, he a certain precaution exercised in respect to the two last,
hecause, like those ol Geher, and also ol Arnold de Villanova, they ahound in lalse recipes and
lutile lictions, which seem to have heen inserted with the ohject ol more ellectually disuisin
the truth lrom the inorant. In the third place, the Turha Philosophorum which is a collection ol
ancient authors, contains much that is materially ood, thouh there is much also which is
valueless. Amon mediaeval writers Zachary, Trevisan, Roer Bacon, and a certain anonymous
author, whose hook is entitled The Philosophers, should he held especially hih in the estimation
ol the student. Amon moderns the most worthy to he prized are ohn Iahricius, Irancois de
Nation, and ean D'Espanet, who wrote Physics Restored, thouh, to say the truth, he has
imported some lalse precepts and lallacious opinions into his treatise.
Q. When may the Philosopher venture to undertake the work:
A. When he is, theoretically, ahle to extract, hy means ol a crude spirit, a diested spirit out ol a
hody in dissolution, which diested spirit he must aain rejoin to the vital oil.
Q. Explain me this theory in a clearer manner.
A. It may he demonstrated more completely in the actual process, the reat experiment may he
undertaken when the Philosopher, hy the medium ol a veetahle menstruurn, united to a mineral
menstruum, is qualilied to dissolve a third essential menstruum, with which menstruums united
he must wash the earth, and then exalt it into a celestial quintessence, to compose the
sulphureous thunderholt, which instantaneously penetrates suhstances and destroys their
excrements.
Q. Have those persons a proper acquaintance with Nature who pretend to make use ol vular
old lor seed, and ol vular mercury lor the dissolvent, or the earth in which it should he sown:
o||cctloa o[ _acec _aglcs v vv vv v, , s s a ac c e e c c - -m ma ag g l l c c s s, , c c o om m _ _ c c ) )s s o o t t c c e e l l c c j jl l o o e e a ae e
- - - -
A. Assuredly not, hecause neither the one nor the other possesses the external aent--old,
hecause it has heen deprived ol it hy decoction, and mercury hecause it has never had it.
Q. In seekin this aurilerous seed elsewhere than in old itsell, is there no daner ol producin a
species ol monster, since one appears to he departin lrom Nature:
A. It is undouhtedly true that in old is contained the aurilerous seed, and that in a more perlect
condition than it is lound in any other hody, hut this does not lorce us to make use ol vular old,
lor such a seed is equally lound in each ol the other metals, and is nothin else hut that lixed
rain which Nature has inlused in the lirst conelation ol mercury, all metals havin one oriin
and a common suhstance, as will he ultimately unveiled to those who hecome worthy ol
receivin it hy application and assiduous study.
Q. What lollows lrom this doctrine:
A. It lollows that, althouh the seed is more perlect in old, it may he extracted much more
easily lrom another hody than lrom old itsell, other hodies hein more open, that is to say, less
diested, and less restricted in their humidity.
Q. Give me an example taken lrom Nature.
A. Vular old may he likened to a lruit which, havin come to a perlect maturity, has heen cut
oll lrom its tree, and thouh it contains a most perlect and well-diested seed, notwithstandin,
should anyone set it in the round, with a view to its multiplication, much time, trouhle, and
attention will he consumed in the development ol its veetative capahilities. On the other hand,
il a cuttin, or a root, he taken lrom the same tree, and similarly planted, in a short time, and with
no trouhle, it will sprin up and produce much lruit.
Q. Is it necessary that an amateur ol this science should understand the lormation ol metals in the
howels ol the earth il he wishes to complete his work :
A. So indispensahle is such a knowlede that should anyone lail, helore all other studies, to apply
himsell to its attainment, and to imitate Nature point hy point therein, he will never succeed in
accomplishin anythin hut what is worthless.
Q. How, then, does Nature deposit metals in the howels ol the earth, and ol what does she
compose them :
A. Nature manulactures them all out ol sulphur and mercury, and lorms them hy their douhle
vapour.
Q. What do you mean hy this douhle vapour, and how can metals he lormed therehy:
A. In order to a complete understandin ol this question, it must lirst he stated that mercurial
vapour is united to sulphureous vapour in a cavernous place which contains a saline water, which
serves as their matrix. Thus is lormed, lirstly, the Vitriol ol Nature, secondly, hy the commotion
ol the elements, there is developed out ol this Vitriol ol Nature a new vapour, which is neither
mercurial nor sulphureous, yet is allied to hoth these natures, and this, passin throuh places to
which the rease ol sulphur adheres, is joined therewith, and out ol their union a lutinous
suhstance is produced, otherwise, a lormless mass, which is permeated hy the vapour that lills
these cavernous places. By this vapour, actin throuh the sulphur it contains, are produced the
perlect metals, provided that the vapour and the locality are pure. Il the locality and the vapour
are impure, imperlect metals result. The terms perlection and imperlection have relerence to
various derees ol concoction.
o||cctloa o[ _acec _aglcs v vv vv v, , s s a ac c e e c c - -m ma ag g l l c c s s, , c c o om m _ _ c c ) )s s o o t t c c e e l l c c j jl l o o e e a ae e
- - a a - -
Q. What is contained in this vapour:
A. A spirit ol liht and a spirit ol lire, ol the nature ol the celestial hodies, which properly should
he considered as the lorm ol the universe.
Q. What does this vapour represent:
A. This vapour, thus imprenated hy the universal spirit, represents, in a lairly complete way, the
oriinal Chaos, which contained all that was required lor the oriinal creation, that is, universal
matter and universal lorm.
Q. And one cannot, notwithstandin, make use ol vular mercury in the process:
A. No, hecause vular mercury, as already made plain, is devoid ol external aent.
Q. Whence comes it that common mercury is without its external aent:
A. Because in the exaltation ol the douhle vapour, the commotion has heen so reat and
searchin, that the spirit, or aent, has evaporated, as occurs, with very close similarity, in the
lusion ol metals. The result is that the unique mercurial part is deprived ol its masculine or
sulphureous aent, and consequently can never he transmuted into old hy Nature.
Q. How many species ol old are distinuished hy the Philosophers:
A. Three sorts .--Astral Gold, Elementary Gold, and Vular Gold.
Q. What is astral old:
A. Astral Gold has its centre in the sun, which communicates it hy its rays to all inlerior heins. It
is an ineous suhstance, which receives a continual emanation ol solar corpuscles that penetrate
all thins sentient, veetahle, and mineral.
Q. What do you reler to under the term Elementary Gold :
A. This is the most pure and lixed portion ol the elements, and ol all that is composed ol them.
All suhlunary heins included in the three kindoms contain in their inmost centre a precious
rain ol this elementary old.
Q. Give me some description ol Vular Gold :
A. It is the most heautilul metal ol our acquaintance, the hest that Nature can produce, as perlect
as it is unalterahle in itsell.
Q. Ol what species ol old is the Stone ol the Philosophers :
A. It is ol the second species, as hein the most pure portion ol all the metallic elements alter its
purilication, when it is termed livin philosophical old. A perlect equilihrium and equality ol
the lour elements enter into the Physical Stone, and lour thins are indispensahle lor the
accomplishment ol the work, namely, composition, allocation, mixture, and union, which, once
perlormed accordin to the rules ol art, will heet the lawlul Son ol the Sun, and the Phoenix
which eternally rises out ol its own ashes.
Q. What is actually the livin old ol the Philosophers:
A. It is exclusively the lire ol Mercury, or that ineous virtue, contained in the radical moisture,
to which it has already communicated the lixity and the nature ol the sulphur, whence it has
emanated, the mercurial character ol the whole suhstance ol philosophical sulphur permittin it
to he alternatively termed mercury.
o||cctloa o[ _acec _aglcs v vv vv v, , s s a ac c e e c c - -m ma ag g l l c c s s, , c c o om m _ _ c c ) )s s o o t t c c e e l l c c j jl l o o e e a ae e
- - - -
Q. What other name is also iven hy the Philosophers to their livin old :
A. They also term it their livin sulphur, and their true lire, they reconize its existence in all
hodies, and there is nothin that can suhsist without it.
Q. Where must we look lor our livin old, our livin sulphur, and our true lire :
A. In the house ol Mercury.
Q. By what is this lire nourished:
A. By the air.
Q. Give me a comparative illustration ol the power ol this lire :
A. To exemplily the attraction ol this interior lire, there is no hetter comparison than that which
is derived lrom the thunderholt, which oriinally is simply a dry, terrestrial exhalation, united to a
humid vapour. By exaltation, and hy assumin the ineous nature, it acts on the humidity which
is inherent to it, this it attracts to itsell, transmutes it into its own nature, and then rapidly
precipitates itsell to the earth, where it is attracted hy a lixed nature which is like unto its own.
Q. What should he done hy the Philosopher alter he has extracted his Mercury :
A. He should develop it lrom potentiality into activity.
Q. Cannot Nature perlorm this ol hersell:
A. No, hecause she stops short alter the lirst suhlimation, and out ol the matter which is thus
disposed do the metals enender.
Q. What do the Philosophers understand hy their old and silver:
A. The Philosophers apply to their Sulphur the name ol Gold, and to their Mercury the name ol
Silver.
Q. Whence are they derived:
A. I have already stated that they are derived lrom a homoeneous hody wherein they are lound
in reat ahundance, whence also Philosophers know how to extract hoth hy an admirahle, and
entirely philosophical, process.
Q. When this operation has heen duly perlormed, to what other point ol the practice must they
next apply themselves:
A. To the conlection ol the philosophical amalam, which must he done with reat care, hut can
only he accomplished alter the preparation and suhlimation ol the Mercury.
Q. When should your matter he comhined with the livin old:
A. Durin the period ol amalamation only, that is to say, Sulphur is introduced into it hy means
ol the amalamation, and thencelorth there is one suhstance, the process is shortened hy the
addition ol Sulphur, while the tincture at the same time is aumented.
Q. What is contained in the centre ol the radical moisture :
A. It contains and conceals Sulphur, which is covered with a hard rind.
Q. What must he done to apply it to the Great Work:
A. It must he drawn, out ol its honds with consummate skill, and hy the method ol putrelaction.
o||cctloa o[ _acec _aglcs v vv vv v, , s s a ac c e e c c - -m ma ag g l l c c s s, , c c o om m _ _ c c ) )s s o o t t c c e e l l c c j jl l o o e e a ae e
- - - -
Q. Does Nature, in her work in the mines, possess a menstruum which is adapted to the
dissolution and liheration ol this sulphur:
A. No, hecause there is no local movement. Could Nature, unassisted, dissolve, putrely, and
purily the metallic hody, she would hersell provide us with 'he Physical Stone, which is Sulphur
exalted and increased in virtue.
Q. Can you elucidate this doctrine hy an example:
A. By an enlarement ol the previous comparison ol a lruit, or a seed, which, in the lirst place, is
put into the earth lor its solution, and alterwards lor its multiplication. Now, the Philosopher,
who is in a position to discern what is ood seed, extracts it lrom its centre, consins it to its
proper earth, when it has heen well cured and prepared, and therein he rarelies it in such a
manner that its prolilic virtue is increased and indelinitely multiplied.
Q. In what does the whole secret ol the seed consist :
A. In the true knowlede ol its proper earth.
Q. What do you understand hy the seed in the work Ol the Philosophers :
A. I understand the interior heat, or the specilic spirit, which is enclosed in the humid radical,
which, in other words, is the middle suhstance ol livin silver, the proper sperm ol metals, which
contains its own seed.
Q. How do you set lree the sulphur lrom its honds:
A. By putrelaction.
Q. What is the earth ol minerals :
A. It is their proper menstruum.
Q. What pains must he taken hy the Philosopher to extract that part which he requires:
A. He must take reat pains to eliminate the letid vapours and impure sulphurs, alter which the
seed must he injected.
Q. By what indication may the Artist he assured that he is in the riht road at the heinnin ol his
work:
A. When he linds that the dissolvent and the thin dissolved are converted into one lorm and one
matter at the period ol dissolution.
Q. How many solutions do you count in the Philosophic Work:
A. There are three. The lirst solution is that which reduces the crude and metallic hody into its
elements ol sulphur and ol livin silver, the second is that ol the physical hody, and the third is
the solution ol the mineral earth.
Q. How is the metallic hody reduced hy the lirst solution into mercury, and then into sulphur:
A. By the secret artilicial lire, which is the Burnin Star.
Q. How is this operation perlormed:
A. By extractin lrom the suhject, in the lirst place, the mercury or vapour ol the elements, and,
alter purilication, hy usin it to liherate the sulphur lrom its honds, hy corruption, ol which
hlackness is the indication.
o||cctloa o[ _acec _aglcs v vv vv v, , s s a ac c e e c c - -m ma ag g l l c c s s, , c c o om m _ _ c c ) )s s o o t t c c e e l l c c j jl l o o e e a ae e
- - - -
Q. How is the second solution perlormed :
A. When the physical hody is resolved into the two suhstances previously mentioned, and has
acquired the celestial nature.
Q. What is the name which is applied hy Philosophers to the Matter durin this period:
A, It is called their Physical Chaos, and it is, in lact, the true Iirst Matter, a name which can
hardly he applied helore the conjunction ol the male--which is sulphur--with the lemale--which
is silver.
Q. To what does the third solution reler:
A. It is the humectation ol the mineral earth and it is closely hound up with multiplication.
Q. What lire must he made use ol in our work :
A. That lire which is used hy Nature.
Q. What is the potency ol this lire:
A. It dissolves everythin that is in the world, hecause it is the principle ol all dissolution and
corruption.
Q. Why is it also termed Mercury :
A. Because it is in its nature aerial, and a most suhtle vapour, which partakes at the same time ol
sulphur, whence it has contracted some contamination.
Q. Where is this lire concealed :
A. It is concealed in the suhject ol art.
Q. Who is it that is lamiliar with, and can produce, this lire:
A. It is known to the wise, who can hoth produce it and purily it.
Q. What is the essential potency and characteristic ol this lire :
A. It is excessively dry, and is continually in motion, it seeks only to disinterate and to educe
thins lrom potentiality into actuality, it is that, in a word, which comin upon solid places in
mines, circulates in a vaporous lorm upon the matter, and dissolves it.
Q. How may this lire he most easily distinuished:
A. By the sulphureous excrements in which it is enveloped, and hy the saline environment with
which it is clothed.
Q. What must he added to this lire so as to accentuate its capacity lor incineration in the
leminine species:
A. On account ol its extreme dryness it requires to he moistened.
Q. How many philosophical lires do you enumerate :
A. There are in all three--the natural, the unnatural, and the contra-natural.
Q. Explain to me these three species ol lires.
A. The natural lire is the masculine lire, or the chiel aent, the unnatural is the leminine, which is
the dissolvent ol Nature, nourishin a white smoke, and assumin that lorm. This smoke is
o||cctloa o[ _acec _aglcs v vv vv v, , s s a ac c e e c c - -m ma ag g l l c c s s, , c c o om m _ _ c c ) )s s o o t t c c e e l l c c j jl l o o e e a ae e
- - 6 6 - -
quickly dissipated, unless much care he exercised, and it is almost incomhustihle, thouh hy
philosophical suhlimation it hecomes corporeal and resplendent. The contra-natural lire is that
which disinterates compounds and has the power to unhind what has' heen hound very closely
hy Nature.
Q. Where is our matter to he lound:
A. It is to he lound everywhere, hut it must specially he souht in metallic nature, where it is
more easily availahle than elsewhere.
Q. What kind must he prelerred helore all others :
A. The most mature, the most appropriate, and the easiest, hut care, helore all thins, must he
taken that the metallic essence shall he present, not only potentially hut in actuality, and that
there is, moreover, a metallic splendour.
Q. Is everythin contained in this suhject:
A. Yes, hut Nature, at the same time, must he assisted, so that the work may he perlected and
hastened, and this hy the means which are lamiliar to the hiher rades ol experiment.
Q. Is this suhject exceedinly precious :
A. It is vile, and oriinally is without native eleance, should anyone say that it is saleahle, it is the
species to which they reler, hut, lundamentally, it is not saleahle, hecause it is uselul in our work
alone.
Q. What does our Matter contain:
A. It contains Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury.
Q. What operation is it most important to he ahle to perlorm:
A. The successive extraction ol the Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury.
Q. How is that done :
A. By sole and perlect suhlimation.
Q. What is in the lirst place extracted :
A. Mercury in the lorm ol a white smoke.
Q. What lollows:
A. Ineous water, or Sulphur.
Q. What then:
A. Dissolution with purilied salt, in the lirst place volatilisin that which is lixed, and alterwards
lixin that which is volatile into a precious earth, which is the Vase ol the Philosophers, and is
wholly perlect.
Q. When must the Philosopher hein his enterprise :
A. At the moment ol dayhreak, lor his enery must never he relaxed.
Q. When may he take his rest:
A. When the work has come to its perlection.
o||cctloa o[ _acec _aglcs v vv vv v, , s s a ac c e e c c - -m ma ag g l l c c s s, , c c o om m _ _ c c ) )s s o o t t c c e e l l c c j jl l o o e e a ae e
- - y y - -
Q. At what hour is the end ol the work :
A. Hih noon, that is to say, the moment when the Sun is in its lullest power, and the Son ol the
Day-Star in its most hrilliant splendour.
Q. What is the pass-word ol Manesia:
A. You know whether I can or should answer.--I reserve my speech.
Q. Give me the reetin ol the Philosophers.
A. Bein , I will reply to you.
Q. Are you an apprentice Philosopher:
A. My lriends, and the wise, know me.
Q. What is the ae ol a Philosopher :
A. Irom the moment ol his researches to that ol his discoveries, the Philosopher does not ae.