We shall now before we make an end repeat all we have said, and that in a few words,

such as shall be agreeable to Nature and to the parts of the world, as they have been
manifested to us by experience. We have certainly found that there is nothing above but
the very same is also here beneath, but in a more gross, material complexion ; for God
hath ordained that the gross and -corpulent sperm of inferiors should afford a body to the
animating and subtle influx of their superiors. Now God hath decreed no union of sperms
but of such as proceed from bodies that are of the same nature and kind ; for His own
word bears Him witness that He hates confusion or a mixture of seeds that are different,
or of a diverse kind.* Not unadvisedly then did the priests or as Proclus tells us the
founders of the ancient priesthood affirm that " heaven is on earth but after the manner of
earthly things, and earth is in heaven but after the manner of things celestial : " 5 for
otherwise they could not be of a kind. We say therefore that in this universe there are four
luminaries, whereof two are celestial and two are central. The celestial are the sun and
moon, and they are known to all the world. The central indeed are not known and
therefore not believed, for the one is overcast with earth and the other with water. In the
centre then of the earth there is hid a fire which is of nature solar but more gross than that
which is in the sun.1 And in the belly of the water there is carried a viscous, gross air, of a
menstruous, lunar. nature, but not so bright and subtle as that which is in the moon. To be
short, the central sun casts into the belly of the water a masculine, hot salt ; and the water,
receiving it, adds to it her seminal, feminine limosity, and carries it upon her wings into
the region of the air. Thus we see how the material part of the seed is made ; and now to
this body of it the heaven gives life, the moon giving it spirit and the sun giving it soul.
And thus are the four luminaries brought together, the superior contributing that to the
seed which is subtle and vital, and the inferior that which is corpulent and material. This
seed is carried invisibly in the belly of the wind and it is manifested in water I say, in
water as clear as crystal and out of water it must be drawn, for there is not under heaven
any other body where it may be found. I have sought it myself in the common metals, in
quicksilver, in antimony and in regulus of antimony, alsoin regulus of Mars, Venus and
Saturn, and of all the bodies. But I lost my labour, for I sought it where it was not. All
these errors did I run into after I had known the true matter ; for having miscarried in my
first attempts upon it I left it asa thing untractable, and this tergiversation of mine brought
me into many inconveniences. I conceived indeed that a vitriol made of those four
imperfect bodies antimony, iron, lead and copper might be that glassy Azoth 2 of Lully
whose, spirit or water he hath so magnified in his TESTAMENT.
1 Compare Sendivogius : NOVUM LUMEN CHEMICUM, Tract, xi. : " In the centre of
the earth there dwells a central sun, the heat whereof permeates the whole earth even to
its surface," &c.
This indeed clinks finely and may so swell a young head as to make him turn poet and,
like the Delphic devil, tell a lie in heroics. No less obstructive to me was that speech of
Parmenides in the .TURBA : "Take copper or lead, letting these stand for the grease or
blackness, and tin for the liquefaction." 1 What can this signify at first sight but antimony
? And what can this tin that comes from it by liquefaction be but regulus ? 2 This made
me labour a long time on this feculent, unprofitable body, supposing of a truth that
regulus of antimony was white lead or tin philosophical. But that we be not deceived, all

these parables relate to another mineral and not to common antimony, which the Turba
condemns in these words : " Note " saith Cambar " or observe that the envious called the
Stone antimony.*' 3 But what the envious called it that certainly it is not. And Basil
Valentine, in his Currus Triumphalis, which he hath written in the praise of antimony,
tells us that "it has not been granted by God that Mercury philosophical, the "first
substance, quicksilver and the first water of perfect metals out of which is composed the
great Stone of ancient philosophers shall be found in antimony or extracted therefrom.
For this first substance is discovered in another mineral which has a more potent metallic
action than antimony." 4 And the same Basil, a little afterwards, speaking of Stella
Martis, delivers himself thus: "Many have esteemed this star to be the true matter of the
Stone of the philosophers and believed themselves to have conceived rightly, because
Nature
2 On the subject of antimony and its regulus, see Basil Valentine': CURRUS
TRIUMPHALIS &c.
hath formed it of her own accord. But this I deny, for such persons have left the royal
road for impassable rocks where wild goats and birds of prey make their abode. It is not
to be accounted unto this star that it is the matter of the most noble Stone, albeit a most
excellent medicine is concealed therein." l It remains then, Reader, that we lay aside all
common metals, as gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, lead, antimony and quicksilver ; for if
we seek the sperm in any of these we shall never find it, because we seek it " in the
metals of the herd, wherein it is not " as Sendivogius hath told us.2 We must therefore
seek another body, which is not common, nor is it made, by mixture or otherwise, of any
metal that is common, but is a certain black Sulphur made by Nature and which never
touched the fire. This is that body whereof Albertus Magnus hath thus written : " A
certain metallic body exists in the nature of things ; it dissolves and decomposes easily : a
fortunate physician shalt thou prove, if thou knowest its preparation." 3 And after him his
disciple Thomas Aquinas speaking of the same minera cites these notable words out of
another philosopher : " There is a certain species of metal which the crowd has never
discovered." ' This is the metal we must seek for, and it is hard to find, because we must
not dig to come at it. For if we know where it is we need no more but stoop and take it up
gratis. Yet it is neither Glauber's antimony nor common lead, nor is it a flint stone, nor the
marl of Peter Faber, who after he had wearied himself and deceived his readers with
discourses of antimony and sublimate with salts of common metals sought the Sulphur at
last in this clod or marga^ns he calls it. 1 But to pass by these fooleries and come to a
conclusion : I say that this black Sulphur is the male, which being found we are in the
next place to seek the female. And Kere observe that God Almighty hath in particular
bodies made no difference of sexes, but only in the animal kingdom ; for in vegetables
and minerals there is no such thing. We see that in grains of corn suppose, of wheat there
is no division into males and females, for the truth is they are all males, and God hath
allowed them no female but the universal one, namely, water, whose viscous, general
seed joining with the particular seed and spirit that is in the grain is therewith fermented
and congealed into the same nature with the grain itself and so propagates and multiplies
the corn. Even so it is in metals, for every one of them is masculine, sulphureous and
choleric. Nor hath God ordained that any of them should propagate and multiply the

other, either naturally or artificially, though we deny not but they may be multiplied by
help of that seed wherein God hath placed the blessing of multiplication. In metals then
there is no distinction or difference of sexes, so that out of them it is impossible to extract
masculine and feminine sperms, for such cannot be extracted but from bodies that are
male and female, whrch metals are not. For if they were, they would propagate without
art, God having so ordained it. It is plain then that metals being not male and female
breed within themselves no seed, and by consequence cannot give that which they have
not.2 For the truth is,
1 According to Fabre, philosophical Sulphur is the igneous part of philosophical Mercury,
and it is found together with sophic Salt in a certain figurative butter or fatness, which is
presumably the marga referred to by Vaughan.
the seed whereof they spring is that general 'seed of the elements, namely, a certain
humidity which appears as Sendivogius tells us in the form of a fat water.1 This water is
their seed, their mother and their female ; for of this they were originally made, and if in
this they be again dissolved, then the ^child will attract the mother to it and convert her
totally to his own nature ; and on the contrary, the spirit of the mother will multiply the
spirit of the child and exalt it to a perfection more than ordinary.
This is the way, and besides it there is none ; for there is no water under heaven from
what bodies soever it be extracted that hath in it the multiplying virtue but this one water,
which God hath blessed. And here though I seem to speak indifferently of metals, yet do
not I mind the common, for their spirits have been mortified by the fire. Take therefore
our Sulphur which never touched the fire and whose life is wholly in him. Join this living
male to a living female, for in this as I have elsewhere intimated 2 lies all the mystery,
namely, in the union of a particular spirit to the universal, by which means Nature is
strangely exalted and multiplied. Labour therefore to unite- these two substantially and
thoroughly ; and thou canst not miss it if thou knowest the applications. For suffer me to
tell thee a secret that the application of actives to passives I mean the manner of it is the
greatest difficulty in all the art. Farewell, Reader, and enjoy these my labours, which I
freely communicate to thee, not I'll assure thee out of any design ; for I seek not my own
glory but that of God, and thy benefit.
A SHORT APPENDIX BY WAY OF ADMONITION TO THE READER
IT was not my intention to add anything unto what has been already written ; but when I
reflect on those vexations I have endured myself in the pursuit of this science, I begin to
think 1 have not said enough. To be a little more plain then : Know, Reader, that
whosoever seeks the Philosopher's Mercury in metals, of what kind soever they be, is
already out of the way ; l for that Philosophic Mercury so much talked of is a water, and
in metals water there is none ; for the Sulphur hath not only congealed it there but hath
withal dried it up. This is evident in common quicksilver and antimony, which of all
metalline bodies are the most crude ; and yet as crude as they are their water is exsiccated
by their fire. For if we force them into a fume that fume settles not to a liquid spirit but
into dry flowers. This made the philosophers - seek a more crude minera, whose fume
was. moist and would settle into water, as being not yet mastered by the Sulphur. Such

there was none but the Mother of Mercury, or the First Matter, whereof Nature makes the
common mercury, and this also they called quicksilver and a viscous water for such it is.
In this minera the mercurial vapour was not so dry but it would settle into water, and with
this water they dissolved the metalline bodies ; for the moist fume of this minera reduced
the metalline dry fumes, so that both turned into one water ; and this they called Mercury
philosophical and duplicated Mercury. On this point I need not say more ; and if they be
not wilfully blind, here is light enough for our metalmongers, and especially for those
confident roasters of antimony who over the smoke of that drug dream of mysteries, as if
they were transported into a certain capnomancy. For my part I deny not but antimony
may be reduced to a mercurial water, though I know not to what purpose, for neither our
Mercury nor our Tincture riseth from it, if Basil Valentine may be believed.1 True it is,
the philosophers use it, but as a mere instrument that goes off again, and so they use even
kitchen fire ; but it is not their matter or subject, and much less is common gold, as some
ignorants would have it. There is indeed another antimony, which is our Sulphur 2 and
the subject of the whole Art; but this is so hard to find and when it is found so hard to
prepare that it hath almost cast me into despair. However, if thou dost seriously consider
what I have written, and what hath failen from me in some places with as much purpose
as caution; then verily neither the thing itself nor the preparation of it can be hid from
thee. To make an end, know that the philosophers have two
Mercuries or waters, the First and Second. Their first is the spirit of our antimony ; and
here understand me rightly. Their second is that of Mercury and Venus philosophical ;
and this of itself is all-sufficient. But to shorten time the philosophers ferment it with
common gold. 3 I have now spoken more than discretion can well allow of ; but the sense
of those difficulties I have met withal hath carried me thus far. Howsoever, be thou
cautious in thy construction, lest the name of antimony deceive thee ; for so thou mayst
run into a fruitless expense of time and substance. This is all I have to say, and now what
use to make of it is in thy power. If thou canst believe, it is well ; if not, forbear from this
Art altogether, or thou wilt live to punish thy own incredulity.

This practice, if well understood, sufficiently declares the nature of air ; but he that knows
where to find congealed air, and can dissolve it by heat to a viscous water, he hath
attained to something that is excellent. Much more I could say of this wonderful and
spiritual element, whose penetrating, resolving faculty I have sometimes contemplated in
this following and simple experiment.
Common quicksilver hath a miraculous union of parts and of all compounds is the
strongest, excepting gold ; for if you distil it by retort a hundred times it will be
quicksilver still notwithstanding all those reiterated rarefactions of his body. But if you
take a thousand weight of it and vapour it away but once irythe open air, it will never
come to quicksilver again ; for the fumes will be lifted up to the wind, where they will
suffer a total dissolution, and will come down mere rain-water.1 This is the very reason
why also the vapours of the elements are lifted up to the middle region of the air, for there

the wind is most cold and hath most liberty ; and in no other place can their resolution
which Nature intends be perfected. This, if understood, is a most noble secret of Nature,
nor was Job ignorant of it, when complaining of the decays of his own body he delivered
himself thus : " Thou liftest me up to the wind ; thou causest me to ride upon it, and
dissolvest my substance." 2 We have hitherto shewed you how fire rarefies all things, and
how wind and air resolve them yet further than fire, as we have exemplified in
quicksilver. And this is it we have delivered elsewhere in more envious terms, namely,
that circumferences dilate and centres contract ; that superiors dissolve and inferiors
coagulate ; that we should make use of an indeterminate agent till we can find a
determinate one.3 For true it is that the mercurial dissolving faculty is in the air and in
airy things, and the sulphureous, congealing virtue is in the earth that is to say, in some
mineral natures and substances which God hath hid in the earth. Take therefore water of
air, which is a great dissolvent, and ferment it with earth ; and, on the contrary, earth with
water. Or to speak more obscurely : ferment Mercury with Sulphur and Sulphur with
Mercury. And know that this congealing faculty is much adjuvated by heat, especially in
such places where the sperm cannot exhale and where the heat is temperate. But if the
place be open and the heat excessive, then it dissipates. It remains now that we speak
something of the two passive material elements, namely, of earth and water, for these are
the bodies that suffer by fire and whose parts are perpetually regenerated by a circular
rarefaction and condensation.

To reduce all this to a corollary, we say that in the winter God seals the face of the earth
with frost and cold, as a man would seal a glass, and this to keep in the congelative
spermatic humidity, which otherwise might ascend with the more crude vapours that
break out copiously at that time and, filling the sphere of the air, take in like so many
sponges the celestial, vital influences. For we must know that Nature begins to
impregnate the earth about the end of autumn and continues it all the winter, the fiery
subtle influx of the heavens being then condensed by the cold and moisture of the moon
who is regent all the winter and elevated above the sun. This you may see in snow, which
falls in hard frost, which being taken up whiles it is fresh, and digested in a blind glass in
ashes for twenty-four hours, if then you open the glass whilst the solution is warm, you
shall perceive in the breath of the water all the odours in the world, and certainly far more
pleasant than they are in the flowers at May. Look into the bottom of the glass and you
will find there a fat, grey slime not unlike to castile-soap. Separate the phlegm from it by
a soft distillation in the bath 1 and put the residue in a bolthead, 2 well stopped, in a dry
heat of ashes. Keep it there warm for an hour or two and suddenly the glass will fly to
pieces, for the wind the life or spirit is not well settled in the body. Here you may see the
first attempts of Nature ; but if you know how to work upon water you shall find greater
things than I have told you.
" It was compounded of the elements." "Is it made then" saith Apollonius "of the four
elements?" "No" said the great Jarchas "but of five." Here the Grecian is puzzled, "for

besides earth" saith he " and water, air and fire I know not anything. What then is this
fifth substance ? " " It is "saith Jarchas " the ether, which is the element of spirits, for
those creatures which draw in the air are mortal, but those which draw in the ether are
immortal."
Pilosopher,s Mercury
First of all they shew him as Philostratus describes it a certain azure or sky-coloured
water, and this tincture was extremely predominant in it, but with much light and
brightness. This strange liquor, the sun striking on it at noon, attracted the beams or
splendour to itself and did sink downwards, as if coagulated with the heat, but reflected to
the eyes of the beholders a most beautiful rainbow. Here we have a perfect description of
the philosopher's Mercury, but there is something more behind. Apollonius confesseth
how the Brahmins told him afterwards that this water was a certain secret water 2 and
that there was hid under it or within it a blood-red earth.3 In a word, they told him that
none might drink or taste of that liquor, neither was it drawn at all for any ordinary 'uses.
After this most mysterious water they shew him also a certain mysterious fire, 4 and here
for my part I do not intend to comment. From this fire he is
brought to certain tubs, or some such vessels, whereof one is called the vessel of rain and
the other the vessel of winds all which are most deep and excellent allegories. But these
rarities imply no more than the rudiments of magic.
MEMORISE SACRUM.
On the same day my dear wife sickened, being a Friday, and at the same time of the day,
namely in the evening, my gracious God did put into my heart the Secret of extracting the
oyle of Halcali, which I had once accidentaUy found att the Pinner of Wakefield, in the
dayes of my most deare wife. But it was again taken from mee by a most wonderfull
judgment of God, for I could never remember how I did it, but made a hundred attempts
in vain. And now my glorious God (whose name bee praysed for ever) hath brought it
again into my mind, and on the same day my dear wife sickened ; and on the Saturday
following, which was the day shee dyed on, I extracted it by the former practice : soe that
on the same dayes, which proved the most sorrowiull to mee, whatever can bee: God was
pleased to conferre upon mee ye greatest joy I can ever have in this world, after her
death. The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away: blessed bee the name of the Lord.
Amen !
When my dear wife and I lived at the Pinner of Wakefield, I remember I melted down
equall parts of Talc, and ye Eagle, with Brimstone, repeating the fusion twice. And after
that, going to draw Spirit of Salt with Oyle of Glass, I chanced (as I think) to mingle
some Bay-Salt, or that of Colla Maris, with the former Composition, and I had an oyle
with which I did miracles. But assaying to make more of it, I never could effect it, having
forgott the Composition ; but now I am confident the Eagle was in it, for I ever remember
the manner of the first fume that came out, and could never see the like againe, but when
I worked on ye Eagle, though I never afterwards worked on her praepared as at that time.
I know allso by experience, that Talc and Baysalt together will yeild 6 times more spirit,
than either of both will yield by it self. And that passage of Rhasis confirms mee, when
hee mentions Aqua Salis trium gene- rum : but above all that one word of Lullie, namely,
Petra Salis, and especially that enumeration of materials, which hee makes in his Ars

IntellecHva^ Nitrum, Sal, Sulphur, vapor, then which nothing could have been sayd more
expressly. And yet I doubt I shall bee much troubled, before I finde what I have lost, soe
little difference there is between Forgetfulness and Ignorance.
Every natural body is a kind of black lantern ; it carries this Candle within it, but the light
appears not : it is eclipsed with the grossness of the matter. The effects of this Light are
apparent in all things ; but the light itself is denied, or else not followed. The great world
hath the sun for his life and candle ; according to the absence and presence of this fire all
things in the world flourish or wither. We know by experience and this in our own bodies
that as long as life lasts there is a continual coction, a certain seething or boiling within
us. This makes us sweat and expire in perpetual defluxions at the pores ; and if we lay our
hands to our skin we can feel our own heat, which must needs proceed from an enclosed
fire or light. All vegetables grow and augment themselves ; they put forth their fruits and
flowers, which could not be if some heat did not stir up and alter the matter. We see,
moreover, that in vegetables this light is sometimes discovered to the eye, as it appears in
rotten wood, where the star-fire shines after night. 1 As for minerals, their first matter is
coagulated by this fiery spirit and altered from one complexion to another, to which may
be added this truth for manifestation : if the mineral principles be artificially dissolved
that their fire and spirit may be at liberty even metals themselves may be made vegetable.
This fire or light is nowhere to be found in such abundance and purity as in that subject
which the Arabians call Halicali, from Hali = Summum and Calop = Honum ; but the
Latin authors corruptly write it Sal Alkali. This substance is the catholic receptacle of
spirits. It is blessed and impregnated with light from above and was therefore styled by
the magicians" a Sealed House, full of light and divinity."
1 Very curious is the intellectual fantasy which describes the phosphorescence of
decaying vegetable matter as the Secret Candle of God and laments that its light is not
followed. I think that the Light of Nature in the middle place of Scholcs Magicce Typus
had another and higher meaning.
2 It is obvious that this is not true of Sal alkali^ but it is not to be thought that in using
this name the alchemists meant what ordinary
But to proceed in the exposition of our type : not far from this Lamp you may observe the
Angel or Genius of the place. In one hand he bears a sword, to keep off the contentious
and unworthy ; in the other a clue of thread, to lead in the humble and harmless. Under
the altar lies the green dragon, or the magician's Mercury, involving in itself a treasure of
gold and pearl. This is neither dream nor fancy, but a known, demonstrable, practical
truth. The treasure is there to be found, infinitely rich and real. Indeed we must confess it
is enchanted and that by the very art and magic of the Almighty God.
1 chemistry signifies thereby, and they were not concealing their real subject more
completely than Thomas Vaughan or his authorities under the denomination of Halicali.
The Hermetic lexicons give the following meanings, s.v. Sal alkali : (i) The Magistery of
the Wise, understood as the basis of all bodies ; (2) Oil of Philosophers ; (3) Salt of
Wisdom. Pernety warns his readers against preparations of common sodium and Basil

Valentine against those of plants, which is a dead salt.

You must therefore take two principles to produce a third agent, according to that dark
receipt of Hali the Arabian. " Take" saith he " the Corascene dog and the bitch of
Armenia. Put them both together and they will bring thee a sky-coloured whelp." This
sky coloured whelp is that sovereign, admired and famous The Armenian dog sometimes
stands for Sulphur, or the male seed of the Stone. Pernety. Mercury known by the name
of the philosopher's Mercury. Now, for my part, I advise thee to take two living Mercuries
; plant them in a purified, mineral Saturn ; wash them and feed them with water of salt
vegetable ; and thou shalt see that speech of the Adeptus verified : " The mother shall
bring forth a budding flower, which she will nurture at her own milky breast and, being
helped by the father, will turn herself into food for it utterly." 1 But the process or receipt
is no part of my design, wherefore I will return to the First Matter ; and I say it is no kind
of water whatsoever. Reader, if it be thy desire to attain to the truth, rely upon my words,
for I speak the truth, and I am no deceiver. The mother or First Matter of metals is a
certain watery substance, neither very water nor very earth, but a third thing compounded
of both and retaining the complexion of neither. To this agrees the learned Valentine in his
apposite and genuine description of our sperm. " The First Matter " saith he " is a
waterish substance found dry, or of such a complexion that wets not the hand and nothing
like to any other matter whatsoever " 2 Another excellent and well-experienced
philosopher defines it thus. " It is " saith he " an earthy water and a watery earth, mingled
with earth in the belly of the earth ; and the spirit and influences of heaven commix
themselves therewith." ; Indeed it cannot be denied but some authors have named this
substance by the names of all ordinary waters, not to deceive the simple but to hide it
from the ranting, illdisposed crew. On the contrary, some have expressly and faithfully
informed us it is no common water, and especially the reverend Turba. " The ignorant
"saith Agadmon" when they hear us name water, think it is water of the clouds ; but if
they understood our books they should know it to be a permanent or fixed water which,
without its companion to which it hath been united cannot be permanent." 1 The noble
and knowing Sendivogius tells us the very same thing : " Our water is a heavenly water,
which wets not the hand, not that of the common man but almost, or as it were, pluvial."
2 We must therefore consider the several analogies and similitudes of things, or we shall
never be able to understand the philosophers.
This Water then wets not the hand, which is notion enough to persuade us it can be no
common water. It is a metalline, bitter, saltish liquor. It hath a true mineral complexion. "
It hath " saith Raymund Lully " the likeness of the sun and moon, and in such water it
hath appeared to us, not in spring or rain water." 8 But in another place he describes it
more fully. " It is a dry water, not water of the clouds or phlegmatic water, but a choleric
water, more hot than fire." 4 It is, moreover, greenish to the sight, and the same Lully tells
you so. " It looks " saith he " like a green lizard." 5 But the most prevalent colour in it is a
certain inexpressible azure, like the body of heaven in a clear day. It looks in truth like
the belly of a snake, especially near the neck, where the scales have a deep blue tincture ;
and this is why the philosophers called it their serpent and their dragon. The predominant
element in it is a certain fiery, subtle earth, and from this prevalent part the best
philosophers have denominated the whole compound. Paracelsus names it openly but in
one place, and he calls it viscum terr<ey the slime or viscous part of the earth.1 Raymund
Lully describeth the crisis or constitution of it in these words : " The substance of our

Stone " saith he " is altogether fat or viscous and impregnated with fire " 2 in which
respect he calls it elsewhere "not water but earth." " Take our earth " saith he " which is
impregnated or with child by the sun ; for it is our precious Stone which is found in
desolate houses, and there is shut up in it a great secret and a treasure enchanted." 3 And
again, in a certain place, he delivers himself thus : " My son " saith he " the First Matter is
a subtle, sulphureous earth, and this noble earth is called the mercurial subject." 4 Know
then for certain that this slimy, moist sperm or earth must be dissolved into water, and this
is the Water of the Philosophers not any common water whatsoever. This is the grand
secret of the Art, and Lully discovers it with a great deal of honesty and charity. "Our
Mercury" saith he "is not common Mercury or quicksilver. But our Mercury is a water
which cannot be found on earth, for it is not made or manifested by the ordinary course of
Nature, but by the art and manual operations of man." 6 Seek not then for that in Nature
which is an effect beyond her ordinary process. You must help her, that she may exceed
her common course, or all is to no purpose. Secret Fire