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.

114. The Water of Paradise of Isaacus. In Opere Saturni.

TAke of Saturn ten or fifteen Pounds, which no other Metal is mix'd with, beat it into thin Plates, and have a Bottle half full of Vinegar, lute, put it in a warm Balneo, and every three or four days scrape the Sa∣turn that is calcined from the Plates, gather about five or six Pounds of it, grind this calcined Saturn (Ceruse) with distilled (Philosophical) Vinegar, upon a Marble, so as with a Pencil to serve for a Picture, then take a Stone Jugg, and therein pour Distilled Vinegar to the calcined Saturn, leav∣ing a third part of the Jugg empty, mix very well, stop it with a Glass or Stone Stopple, set it in Balneo, stir it five or six times a day with a Woodden Slice or Spoon, stop it again, nor heat the Balneo more than that you may endure your hand in it; let it thus stand 14 days and nights, then pour off the clear, and pour new Vinegar to the Calx not yet dissolved; mix, proceed, as before, repeating, till all the Calx of Saturn is dissolved; put the Saturn being thus dissolved in Balneo, evaporate the Vinegar with a slow Fire, the Saturn will be reduced into a Mass, which move to and fro till it be dry; it will be of a Honey Colour, rub it on a Marble with Distilled Vinegar, like Soap, put it again in the Stone Jugge, being very well mixed, in a warm Balneo the space of five or six days; stir it every day with a Woodden Slice, stop the Glass, let it cool, pour off what is dissolved into another large Stone Jugge, pour other Vinegar to it, mix very well, put it again in Balneo, pour off, and thus proceed, till nothing more will be dissolved, which you may try by your tongue, for if the Vinegar be sweet, it is not enough dissolved; or put a little in a Glass Cucurbit, and

let it evaporate, if any thing remains, all that will be Gold is not dissolved, and that which remains in the Jugge, or Fe∣ces, if they be sweet upon the tongue, and you find yet some∣thing in the Cucurbit that is not enough dissolved, you may dissolve it by pouring new Vinegar to it. These Solutions coagulate, as before, dissolve in Distilled Vinegar, as be∣fore; these Coagulations and Solutions continue, till no more Feces remain in the bottom, but are all things dissolved into a clear and limpid Water; then is Saturn free from all its Le∣prosie, Melancholy, Feces, Blackness, and Superfluities, and is pure, as (now, being exempted from all filth) fusible as Wax, and sweet as Sugar, &c. Take half of the Purged Saturn, put it in a Stone Jugge, and pour to it four Pounds of Distilled Vinegar, put on an Alembick, and distill the Vinegar in Balneo, but the Alembick must have a hole in the top, through which pour new Vinegar, distill, as before, pour on new and draw off, and that till the Vinegar be drawn off as strong as it is poured on, then is it enough, be∣cause the Matter hath imbibed as much of the Spirits of the Vinegar, as it needs, and as much as it can retain: Take the Jugge from the Fire, and the Alembick being taken off, put the Matter into a Glass that can endure the Fire, put an A∣lembick to it, put it in a Copel with Ashes in a Fornace; make first a gentle Fire, increase it by degrees, till your Matter goes over of the Colour of Blood, and thickness of Oyl, sweetness of Sugar, and of a heavenly smell; if the heat diminisheth, keep it while the Matter distills, increase the Fire, till the Glass begins to be Fire hot, keep it in this heat, till nothing more distills; let it cool by it self, take away the Receiver, and stop it very well with Wax, beat the Matter (Caput mortuum) in an Iron Mortar, with a Steel Pestle, and then grind it upon a Marble with Distill'd Vine∣gar (Vinegar mix'd with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine) put it in a Stone Jugge two parts full, distill by Balneo, pour on new Vinegar, distill as before, repeat, till the Vinegar distills with the same strength as it was poured on, let them cool, distill the Matter in a strong Glass upon Ashes as be∣fore, first with a gentle Fire, then alstronger, as you did before, a Red Oil will go over, as before, &c. beat the

Matter, and proceed again, till the Matter will retain no more of the Spirit of Vinegar in the Distillation in Balneo, then take the Matter, distil what will distil in a glass Cucur∣bit upon Ashes, till you have distilled the Matter into a Red Oil, which is the noble Water of Paradise, by which all Fixed Stones may be resolved, and the Stone made perfect. This Water of Paradise the Ancients call'd their sharp, clear, Vinegar, &c.

Metals sometimes are not reduced into graduated Vitriols, but by repeated Cohobation made Menstruums of this Kind Thus