Medicina practica, or, Practical physick shewing the method of curing the most usual diseases happening to humane bodies ... : to which is added, the philosophick works of Hermes Trismegistus, Kalid Persicus, Geber Arabs, Artesius Longævus, Nicholas Flammel, Roger Bachon and George Ripley : all translated out of the best Latin editions into English ... : together with a singular comment upon the first book of Hermes, the most ancient of philosophers : the whole compleated in three books / by William Salmon ...

CHAP. IX. The last Act, or Conclusion of the Theory of the Philosophick Tincture.

I. HERMES. But the King, and Lord, or Dominator, to the Witnes∣ses his Brethren saith, I am Crowned, and Adorned with a Royal Diadem, I am cloath∣ed with the Royal Garment, and I bring joy and gladness of Heart.

Salmon. By the King is meant Gold; and by his Brethren, the other inferi∣our Metals, which all pos∣sess the Kingdom in com∣mon, the supream power of which resides in Sol alone, for that he sustains himself in the fire without hurt, e∣ven to the longest period of time. By the Royal Diadem he means Fixity; and by the Royal Garment Tincture, even the red Tincture of the

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Stone, which as Ferment or Leven, Leavens all the infe∣rior Metals, and transmutes them into its own Nature and Property, and this by the help of our Mercury.

II. Hermes. And being overcome by Force, I made my substance to lay hold of, and to rest within the Arms and Brest, [i.e. the Body or Womb] of my Mother, and to lay bold and fasten upon her Sub∣stance: making that which is Visible to be Invisible, and the hidden Matter to appear: for every thing which the Phi∣losophers have Vailed or Ob∣scured, is Generated by Us.

Salmon. That which is thus overcome by Force is Sol; that is, it is dissolved and its Body Opened, and made to joyn and Unite with Mercury, which is the Womb in which the solar Seed is Sown, which is the Mother thereof: in which Womb being digested and Ripened, it lays hold of the substance of Mercury, fast∣ens upon it, and converts it into its own Nature: Thus Sol which before was Visible, its substance being attenuated, is made invisible, and a Spirit; and that which was before hidden and invisible, is made to appear, which is the Internal Soul and Spi∣rit; that is, Tincture and Fix∣ity, which by Virtue of the Ferment is put upon Mer∣cury, whereby the Vailed or Obscured Matter is Ge∣nerated, which is the sub∣stance of our Stone, where∣by a Door is Opened into the Chambers of infinite Treasures.

III. Hermes. Understand these words, keep them, Meditate upon them, and enquire after nothing else: Man in the beginning is Generated of Nature, whose Bowels or in∣wards are Fleshy; and not from any thing else. Upon these words Meditate; and reject what is superfluous [to the Work.]

Salmon. With what Ve∣hemency and Earnestness does Hermes here speak, as tho' the whole Mystery lay in these words: And truly not in Vain does he bid un∣derstand them, keep them,

meditate upon them, and to enquire after nothing else: You cannot gather Grapes of Thorns, nor Figs of Thi∣stles: As a Man Begets or Generates a Man, and a Beast a Beast, and as every Hearb, and Plant, and Tree are produced from their proper Seed; so in the Me∣talline Kingdom, Metals are only produced from Metalline Seeds or Roots, cast into a proper Womb, which is the Philosophick Mercury, the Earth whence they draw their Nourish∣ment, and by which they Grow, Encrease, and pro∣ceed on to Perfection. All other things whatsoever are Vain and Fruitless.

IV. Hermes. From thence saith the Philosopher Botri is made; from the Yellow or Ci∣trine, which is extracted out of the Red Root, and from no∣thing else; which if it shall be Citrine, thou hast sought it at the Mouth of Wisdom, it was not obtained by thy Care or Industry: You need not study to exalt or change it from the Redness: See I have not Limi∣ted you, or Circumscribed you under Darkness; I have made almost all things plain to you.

Salmon. By Botri he means the two Stones, the White; and the Yellow or Red, which are extracted out of the White and the Red Roots, viz. out of the Sulphur of Nature. That which Whitens, the same also makes Red; and the same that Kills, the same also makes Alive: (Qui mecum moritur, mecum oritur.) But this is true, only of the great Work it self; and not of any Branch thereof; in par∣ticular Works and Ope∣rations, you must have par∣ticular Ferments, which must be taken from Lu∣na for the White, and from Sol for the Red, as the Arabian Geber has at large and plainly taught us. Na∣ture does only and alone conjoyn and separate, and all its Operations are subtil and spiritual; but if you will be Wise above Nature, you shall certainly Err and suffer an irreparable loss: And having once brought it to the fixed Redness; there is nothing beyond that, in

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that is the Ultimate perfe∣ction, where you must take up your rest.

V. Hermes. Burn the Body of Laton or Brass with a very great Fire, and it will give you Gratis what you de∣sire; it will Stain, Dye, and Ting, as much as you can wish it, and that with Glory and Excellency. And see that you make that which is Fugitive and Volatile, or flying away, that it may not fly, by the means of that which flies not.

Salmon. By the Body of Laton or Brass, and by that which is Fugitive, he means the Philosophick and Vola∣tile Mercury, which by a Sulphur fixed and incom∣bustible (such as is taken from Luna and Sol) is to be fixed in the Fire, so as it may rest and remain therein tho' most Vehement, and Fusory, or in the strongest reverberation, without the least Diminution, Detri∣ment, or Corruption. But the Mercury is fixed by the Spirit of the Sulphur, not by its Corporeity; the Corpo real Particles only give form, and convey the Spirit to the Mercury, which could not be brought to it, in or by any other Vehicle. By the Fire, all the Heterogene or impure parts of the Mer∣cury are destroyed, the pure left behind, and held fast by the Power of the fixing Spirit, which other∣wise without the assistance and help of that Spirit would have vanished also: This Volatile substance it seizes upon, changes or trans mutes, and fixes, that is, brings over into its own pro∣perty. This tho' a Spirit contains in it the highest fixi∣ty, and its Body being O∣pened, is the Sulphur, or Seed which must be sown in the Philosophick Earth or Mercury, (as we have of∣ten said) that it may there Die, and resume a new Bo∣dy, a thousand fold more in quantity than its own, which by the enforming Power of the Energetick Spirit will be made to live, spring up and grow, to be a Tree, of the first Magni∣tude, bearing Golden Ap∣ples, whose Seed will be and remain in its self for

ever, and bring forth a new to infinity of Generations: Its perpetual new Substance or Body being made out of the Substance of the Mer∣curial Earth, by the Power of the transmuting or Ve∣getating Spirit and Soul.

VI. Hermes. And that which rests or remains upon a strong Fire [is fixed,] and is also a strong Fire it self: And that which in the heat of a strong or boyling Fire is cor∣rupted, or destroyed, or made to sly, is Cambar.

Salmon. By Cambar also he means the self same thing, to wit, our Volatile Mercu∣ry, in its Corruptible State; or rather the Corrubtible and impure part thereof, which must be corrupted, or destroyed, and made to fly away, that that which is pure and will not fly, may appear and remain; but the purifying Fire must be known, in which the great Secret of the Operation lies; and without which nothing can be done, which Fire, as we have formerly said, is two fold, viz. Internal and External, the latter being used only to excite the for∣mer.

VII. Hermes. And know ye that Our AEs, Brass or La∣ton, is Gold, which is the Art of the premanent or fixed Wa∣ter; and the Coloration of its Tincture and Blackness, is then turned or changed into Redness.

Salmon. That is, Our Gold or Stone, or Tincture is the product of the perma∣nent or fixed Water, by which he means the Philo∣sophick Mercury impregna∣ted with the Spirit of the fixed and incombustible Sul∣phur. And by this you may perceive he puts a difference between the AEs, Brass or Laton, which is made by this permanent Water, and the Corpus aeris, or Body of com∣mon Brass. Now the Aqua permanens is that which con∣tains in it self the Tinctures of all Colors, Black only ex∣cepted, which is taken away from it, for that it is a sign∣of imperfection and impu∣rity: By this Water alone Mercury is turned or chang∣ed

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into the true Red, that is, into the Tincture of Sol. But to take away its Cor∣ruption, and to reduce it into the incorruptible and fixt Nature of Sol, that must be done by Sol alone, and not by any corruptible and Forreign Matter or Sub∣stance, for that Sol contains in himself the Seeds of fixity and Tincture, which no o∣ther Body in the World does besides. But to make Sol do, or perform these things, its Body must be opened, prepared, and made fit for this purpose, by Virtue of the Aqua permanens, or Aqua Philosophica.

VIII. Hermes: I confess that through the help of God, I have spoken nothing but the Truth: That which is destroy∣ed must be restored and renew∣ed, and from thence Corrupti∣on is seen in the Matter to be Renovated, and from thence the Renovation appears: And on both or either side, it is the sign of Art.

Salmon. He has 〈◊〉〈◊〉 erto been teaching you the first part of the Work, which is the Destruction of the first Birth and Life; concerning which he assures us, he has spoken nothing but the Truth: Our Mercury must be undone, and unmade, that is, corrupted and destroyed, and brought through Pu∣trefaction into a pure and Limpid Water, that it may be able to peirce the Metal∣line Bodies; from which State, by Conjunction with a pure, fixt, and incombu∣stible Sulphur, and by Vir∣tue of a subtle, living and fixing Spirit, invisible, with∣out length, breadth, or thick∣ness, (which Spirit is the Philosophick Fire,) it is to be renewed and regenera∣ted; the Water is to be dry∣ed up, the spiritual is to be made corporeal; the thin to be made thick, the Vo∣latile to be made fixt; and the changeable Colors re∣duced to a Unity and Per∣manency, either White or Red, according to the Or∣der and Root of the Ope∣ration; one and the same Mercury does corrupt and destroy the Bodies, and again exalt, perfect, and fix them; The Matter of

Our Stone is but one, and therefore nothing can be more Alien from the Art, than to fetch it from many things; Nature is not mend∣ed or made better, but by a Nature of its own kind; as Vinegar makes Vinegar; so Our Art begins with Mer∣cury, and with the same Mercury it is Finished. It is a kind of Proteus, which, creeping upon the Earth, assumes the Nature of a Ser∣pent; but being Immersed in Water, it represents a Fish; presently taking to it self Wings, it ascends a loft, and flies like a Bird; yet notwithstanding it is but one and the same Mercury; with this the Artist does Work, and with it he tran∣sacts all the necessary Ope∣rations of our Stone, being fit and proper for them all, viz. for Putrefying, Distil∣ling, Coagulating, Morti∣fying, Vivifying, Subliming, and Tinging, without which seven Operations you la∣bour wholly in vain. Till you have Putrefied the Mat∣ter, you have not made one step in the true way; but that being done, you have accomplished the first sign of the Art, as Hermes testi∣fies.