Four books of Johannes Segerus Weidenfeld concerning the secrets of the adepts, or, of the use of Lully's spirit of wine : a practical work, with very great study collected out of the ancient as well as modern fathers of adept philosophy : reconciled together by comparing them one with another, otherwise disagreeing, and in the newest method so aptly digested, that even young practitioners may be able to discern the counterfeit or sophistical preparations of animals, vegetables and minerals, whether for medicines or metals, from true, and so avoid vagabound imposters, and imaginary processes, together with the ruine of estates.

60. A Menstruum made of the Gum Adrop of Ripley. Libro accurtationum, Pag. 381.

TAke Adrop, that is, the Green Lyon, which we spoke of before, and dissolve it in distilled Vinegar for the space of seven Days, shaking well the Vessel which the Matter is in, three times dayly, then empty the dissolved Liquor, and distil through a Filtre three times from its Faeces, till it be clear as Cristal, and evaporate the Vinegar with a gentle Fire, till it be thick as Bird-Lime, which you cannot stir by reason of its Vis∣cosity, and being cold, take it out of the Vessel, and keep it; and again make more of it, and this do, till you have twelve Pounds of this Green Lyon or Adrop reduced to the Form of a Gum, then have you the Earth extracted from the Earth, and the Brother of the Earth. Then take a Pound of that Gum, and put it in a Glass Vessel of the bigness of a Bottle, well lu∣ring the Joynts of the Alembick with Glew made of the white of Eggs and Filings well mix'd together.

This Receipt in the Treatise of the Philosophical Adrop (which is in the sixth Volume of Theatrum Chymicum, and inscribed to an anonimous Disciple of the great Guido de monte, but differs not from the Books of Ripley, namely, the present de Accurtationibus, and the Clavisaureae portae, the greatest part of which is ascribed to the Famous Dunstun, Archbishop of Canterbury) is altogether the same as to the Sense, though these Words run better in the Translation

thus: Now take three Pounds of the aforesaid Gum, put it into a Distillatory able to hold about two Measures, and putting on an Alembick, lute the Joynts with luting made of Ale, the white of an Egg, and Wheat-Flower, Pag. 552. Volum. 6. Theat. Chym. Which is confirmed with the Process or Receipt of the Cla∣vis aureae portae, were thus: Put three Pounds of this Milk (thick∣ned or Gumn'd) into a Glass Pag. 257. Clavis aureoe portoe: and di∣stil in a Sand Furnace, and let the Sand be the thickness of two Fingers under the Vessel, and so round about even to the middle of the Vessel, or till the Matter be covered: put a Receiver to it, making at first a gentle Fire, but not luting the Receiver, till the Phlegm be gone over, and this continue, till you see fumes appear in the Receiver white as Milk; then increasing the Fire change the Receiver, stopping it well, that it may not evaporate, and so continually angment the Fire, and you will have an Oyl most red as Blood, which is airy Gold, the Menstruum foetens, the Philosophers Sol, our Tincture Aqua ardens, the Blood of the Green Lyon, our unctious Humor, which is the last consolation of Man's Body in this Life, the Philosophers Mercury, Aqua soluti∣va, which dissolves Gold with the preservation of its Species, and it hath a great many other Names: And when first the white fumes appear, continue your Fire twelve Hours, in which space if the Fire be strong, will all the Oyl be distilled, which keep well stopp'd to prevent respiring.

This Menstruum differs from the precedent, for asmuch as in this, the Green Lyon is dissolved in Vinegar, but in that, it is all distilled alive, but they are both clearly enough described in themselves; yet the Matter of the Menstruum remaining more obscure, and less in∣telligible to the Reader, we have found out four Reasons in Ripley, why it is called Green Lyon.

First, saith he, by Green Lyon, the Philosophers means the Sun, which by its attractive Virtue makes things Green, and go∣verns the whole World. Tract. de. Adrop. Phil. Pag. 547. Vo∣lum. sexti Theat. Chym. and else where: The Green Lyon is that, by which all things became Green, and grow out of the Bowels of the Earth by its attractive Virtue, elevated out of the Winter Caverns, whose Son is most acceptable to us, and sufficient for all the Elixirs, which are to be made of it; for from it may be had the power of the white and red Sulphur not burning, which

is the best thing, saith Avicenne, that Alchymists can take, there∣by to make Gold and Silver. But these Words may suffice a Wise Man to know and obtain the Green Lyon. Medulla Phil. Pag. 139.

Secondly, It is moreover also called Green, because that Mat∣ter is as yet sharp and unripe, that is, not yet fixed or perfected by Nature, as common Gold. The Philosophers Green Lyon therefore is green Gold, Gold vive, which is not as yet fixed, but left imperfect by Nature, and for this reason hath it the Virtue of reducing all Bodies into their first Matter, and ma∣king those Bodies which are fixed Spiritual and Volatile. Tract. de Adrop. Pag. 547.

Thirdly, It may also be called Lyon, because as all other Ani∣mals give place to a Lyon, so all Bodies yield to the power of Gold vive, which is our Mercury. Tract. Adrop. Pag. 548.

Fourthly, This Noble Infant is called Green Lyon, because when it is dissolved, it is cloathed with a Green Garment. Yet out of the Green Lyon of Fools (Vitriol) is with a violent Fire ex∣tracted that which we call Aqua fortis, in which the said Lyon ought to be elixirated. Medulla Philos. Pag. 139.

These things spoken of the Green Lyon, are also to be understood of Adrop, being a Synonymous term of the same Matter: Take, saith Ripley, Adrop, that is, the Green Lyon. Now as to Adrop he declared as followeth: Adrop, saith he, is Gold and Silver in power but not in sight, as Rhasis saith, and our Gold and Silver, according to the Philosophers, is not common Gold and Silver, for our Gold and Silver are airy, which in order to be well fer∣mented, ought to be joyned with the beloved (common Gold,) Forasmuch as the Philosopher saith, That Adrop in its prosun∣dity is airy Gold, and Adrop it self is called Leprous Gold. And to these Sayings seems to assent Guido, the Greek Philosopher, speaking of the Mercurial or Menstrual Spirit (the Spirit or Blood of the Green Lyon) which is extracted out of the Natural Adrop by Art, where he writes: And that Spirit is Sol extracted out of the Philosophers Solary Water, Arsenick, and Luna: And in the same place presently adds; The Body is the ferment of the Spirit, and the Spirit the ferment of the Body, and the Earth, wherein lies the Fire, dries, imbibes, and fixeth the Water; and the Air, wherein lies the Water, (the Air which lies in the Water,

it ought to be read according to the Doctrine of separating the Ele∣ments) washeth, tingeth, and perfecteth the Earth and Fire; and so Guido's Saying, that they tinge and perfect, ought to be un∣derstood, that the Stone (the Menstruum drawn from Adrop, or the Green Lyon) is sufficient for the compleating of it self into an Elixir, and that no Exotick or Heterogeneous Matter, as he affirms, is or ought to be introduced to it, but all the parts of it are co-essential and concrete, because the Philosophers meaning was to compleat that work in a short space above the Earth, which Nature scarce perfecteth in a thousand Years under the Earth: Unskilfully therefore according to the Opinion of the Philosophers, as Guido saith, do they proceed, that seek to obtain a ferment from common Silver and Gold for our select Body: For that Matter, in which is Argent vive clean and pure, not (most, is ill read) throughly brought to perfection by Nature, is, as Guido affirms, after compleat purification, a thousand times better than the Bodies of Sol and Luna vulgarly decocted by the Natural heat of the Sun. Concord. Lully & Guidon. Pag. 323. A certain Philosopher saith, He goes on Discoursing of the same A∣drop; A fume (white) is drawn from its own Mines, which if rightly gathered, and again sprinkled upon its own Mines, will there make a fixation, and so the true Elixir will in a short space of time be produced from it: And certainly without those Liquors or Spirits, that is, the Water and Oyl of Mercury (Men∣struum) this Alchymical Body which is Neutral or Adrop, is not purged: And that is the Alchymical Body, which is called Le∣prous Body, that is, black (at the beginning of the Work) in which, as saith Vincentius in his Speculum Naturale, are Gold and Silver in power, and not in aspect; which in the Bowels of it is also airy Gold, to which no Man can attain, except the unclean Bo∣dy be first cleansed, which is without doubt after its compleat dealbation, and then it is a thousand times better than are the Bodies of common Gold and Silver decocted by Natural heat: The first Matter of this Leprous Body is a viscous Water inspissa∣ted in the Bowels of the Earth: Of this Body, according to the Judgment of Vincentius, is made the great Elixir for the red and white, the Name whereof is Adrop, otherwise called the Philosophers black Lead, out which Raymund commands us to extract an Oyl of a Golden Colour, or such like: Raymund adds,

But this Oyl is not necessary in the Vegetable Work (namely, for the inceration of the Vegetable Stone) because solutions and co∣agulations are there soon made; and if you can separate it from its Phlegm, and after that ingeniously find out the Secrets of it, you will in thirty Days be able to perfect the Philosophers Stone: For this Oyl makes Medecines (Tinctures) penetrable, sociable, and amicable to all Bodies, and in the World there is not a great∣er Secret. Medul. Phil. Chym. pag. 131.

Ripley hath here recited various Synonima's of this Adrop: We for a time will follow the Green Lyon by the way of Philosophical Lead, as we are directed by Ripley in these very Words: First, un∣derstand, when Avecenn saith, that Gold and Silver are in Lead by Power, and not by sight, and they are left by Nature crude and half cocted, and therefore that ought to be perfectly supplyed by Art, which is left imperfect by Nature, and by way of a fer∣ment digesting and cocting that which is left crude: For a fer∣ment therefore take perfect Gold, for a little (paululum, not paula∣tim) of their fixed substance (those fixed Bodies) will draw and convert much of Bodies not fixed to the perfection of Gold and Silver. And thus will Art help Nature, that in a little space of time that may be done above the Earth, which is not in a thou∣sand Years done under the Earth: And by this means you will understand, how Lead contains in it the greatest Secrets of this Art: For it hath in it Argent vive, clean, pure, odoriferous, not brought by Nature to perfection: And this Argent vive is the Basis and Ground-Work of our pretious Medicine, as well for Metallick as Humane Bodies, so as to be the Elixir of Life, cu∣ring all infirmities: Which the Philosopher meant, saying, There is in Mercury whatsoever Wise Men seek: From this are the Soul, Body, Spirit, and Tincture drawn: Moreover also in this Mercury is the Philosophers Fire, always burning equally with∣in the Vessel, and not without: It hath also a great attractive Virtue and Power in dissolving Sol and Luna, and reducing the same into their first Matter: With this Mercury are to be dis∣solved the Calxes of the perfect Bodies in congealing the afore∣said Mercurial Spirit, &c. Pupilla, Pag. 295. But have a care that you operate not with (common) Saturn, because commonly it is said, Eat not of the Son, whose Mother is corrupted, and believe, that many Men err in Saturn. Hear what Avicenn saith,

Saturn will be always Saturn; yea operate not with the Earth of (Philosoph.) Saturn, which the Spirit of it has despised, and relinquished for the worst Sulphur: Operate only with the fume of it to congeal Mercury, yet not as Fools, but as the Philoso∣phers do, and you will have a very good Work. Phil. Cap. 2. Pag. 188. The whole composition we call our Lead; the qua∣lity of the splendor proceeds from Sol and Luna, and in short, these are our Menstruums wherewith we calcine perfect Bodies naturally, but no unclean Body is an Ingredient, one excepted, which is by the Philosophers commonly called Green Lyon, which is the means of joyning the Tinctures between Sol and Luna with perfection, as Geber himself attesteth, Libro. 42. por∣tar. Pag. 12. To manifest this thing to you, you must know, that it is one of those, which are of the seven Days (Planets) and the meanest of the same, out of whose Body is artificially ex∣tracted Blood, and a vaporous Humor, which is called the Blood of the Green Lyon, from which is produced a Water, called White of an Egg, and Aqua Vitoe, May-Dew, and by many other Names, which to avoid prolixity, we now omit. Phil. Cap. 3. Pag. 190.

The method of extracting the Blood of the Green Lyon out of cal∣cined Lead, or Philosophical Minium is this that followeth.