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. XXI. Of the Secret Operation of the Water and Spi∣rit upon the Body.

I. AUdi hoc secretum: Cu∣stodi corpus in aqua nostra Mercuriali, quousque ascendat cum anima alba, & terreum descendat ad imum, quod vocatur terra residua.

II. Tunc videbis aquam co agulare seipsam cum suo cor∣pore, & ratus eris scientiam esse veram, quia corpus suum coagulat humorem in siccum, sicut coagulum agni, lac coa∣gulat in caseum.

III. Et sic spiritus penetra∣bit corpus, & commixtio fiet per minima, & corpus attra∣hat sibi humorem suum, id est, animam albam, quem∣admodum Magnes ferrum, prop∣ter naturae suae propinquitatem, & naturam aevidam, & tunc unum continet alterum.

IV. Et haec est sublimatio & coagulatio nostra, omne vo∣latile retinens, quae facit fu∣gam perire.

V. Ergo haec compositio non est manualis operatio, sed [ut dixi] naturarum mutatio, & earum frigidi cum calido, & humidi cum sicco admirabilis connexio: Calidumenim misce∣tur frigido, & siccum humido.

VI. Hoc etiam modo fit mixtio, & conjunctio corporis & spiritus, quae vocatur con∣versio naturarum contraria∣rum, quia in tali dissolutione; & sublimatione spiritus conver∣titur in corpus, & corpus in spiritum.

VII. Sic etiam mixta, & in unum redacta se invicem ver∣tunt; nam corpus incorporat spiritum, spiritus verò, corpus vertit in spiritum tinctum & album.

VIII. Quare ultima vice [inquam] decoque in nostra aqua alba, id est, in Mercu∣rio, donec soluatur in nigredi∣nem deinde per deeoctionem continuam privabitur à sua nigredine & corpus sic solu∣tum 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ascendit cum ani∣ma alba.

IX. Et 〈◊〉〈◊〉 unum alteri 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 & se ample∣cte 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 non potuerunt 〈◊◊◊〉〈◊◊◊〉 separari, & tune 〈◊〉〈◊〉 reali concordantia, 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 cum corpore & 〈◊〉〈◊〉 unitm permanens.

X. Et haec est solutio corpo ris, & coagulatio spiritus quae unam, & eandem habent ope∣rationem.

XI. Qui ergo noverit duce∣re, praegnantem facere, morti∣ficare, putrefacere, generare, species vivificare, lumen al∣bum inducere, & mundare Vulturem à nigredine, & te∣nebris,

quousque igne purgetur, & coloretur, & à maculis ul∣timis purificetur, adeo majoris dignitatis erit possessor, ut Re∣ges eum venerentur.

I. HEar now this Secret: keep the Body in our Mercurial Water, till it ascends with the white Soul, and the earthy part descends to the bottom, which is cal∣led the residing Earth.

II. Then you shall see the Water to coagulate it self with its Body, and be assured that the Art is true; because the Body coagulates the moisture into dryness, like as the Rennet of a Lamb or Calf turns Milk into Cheese.

III. In the same manner the Spirit penetrates the body, and is perfectly commixed with it in its smallest Atoms, and the body draws to its self his moisture, to wit, its white Soul, like as the Load∣stone draws Iron, because of the nearness and likeness of its nature; and then the one contains the other.

IV. And this is our Su∣blimation and Coagulation, which retaineth every vo∣latile thing, making it fixt for ever.

V. This Compositum then, is not a mechanical thing, or a work of the Hands, but (as I have said) a changing of Natures; and a wonderful connection of their cold with hot, and the moist with the dry: the hot also is mixed with cold, and the dry with the moist.

VI. By this means also is made the mixtion and conjunction of body and spirit, which is called a con∣version of contrary Natures; because by such a disso∣lution and sublimation, the spirit is converted into a bo∣dy, and the body into a spirit.

VII. So that the natures being mingled together, and reduced into one, do change one another: and as the Body corporifies the Spirit, or changes it into a Body: So also does the Spirit con∣vert the Body into a ting∣ing and white Spirit.

VIII. Wherefore (as the last time I say) decoct the body in our white water, viz. Mercury, till it is dissol∣ved into blackness, and then by a continual decoction, let it be deprived of the same blackness, and the body so dissolved, will at length ascend or rise with a white Soul.

IX. And then the one will be mixed with the o∣ther, and so embrace one another, that it shall not be possible any more to sepa∣rate them, but the Spirit (with a real agreement) will be united with the bo∣dy, and make one perma∣nent or fixed substance.

X. And this is the soluti∣on of the Body, and coa∣gulation of the Spirit which have one and the same ope∣ration.

XI. Whoso therefore knows how to conjoyn the principles, or direct the work, to impregnate, to mortifie, to putrifie, to ge∣nerate, to quicken the Spe∣cies,

to make white, to cleanse the Vulture from its blackness and darkness, till he is purged by the fire, and tinged, and purified from all his spots, shall be possessor of a treasure so great, that even Kings them∣selves shall venerate him.