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THus have many of the envious alle∣gorized of the Scripture, and veiled
their Work under several passages and overtures which are mentioned therein, to which they have some resemblance: they have called their Metals Sol and Luna, Mountains, either for the situation sake, they being generally found in Mountains; or by opposition sake, for as Mountains are highest above ground, so they lye deepest under ground; or for that as the Mountains are nearer the Sun, so those do approximate nearer to coele∣stial Influences than any other Bodies whatsoever: so also they have stiled them by the names of Planets, by reason of some similitude.
But it makes not so much for the name, the thing is, take the Body which is Gold, and throw it into Mercury, such a Mercury which is bottomless, that is, whose centre it can never find but by discovering its own; govern them wise∣ly with Fire, as thy Matter requireth, then shall thy Gold visibly liquefie in the Fire, that is, appear thin as if it were Mercury, and it will swell, bubble and boil, so long till the moisture be termina∣ted by the Body into an impalpable Pow∣der,
as naturally as Runnit doth curdle Milk into Cheese. This total reduction into Atoms, is the perfection of Putre∣faction, in blackness most black, and it begins before the 50th day, and endeth before or about the 90th day, in variable colours.