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.

124. The Menstruum of Venus of Isaacus Hollandus. Cap. 82. 3. Oper. Miner.

I Will now Son teach you how to make the Stone, which God gives us freely. You must know it is made divers Ways, but I will teach you the Way which I learnt from my Father. Take of the Stone which God gives us free∣ly (the Vitriol of Venus) as much as sufficeth, which dissolve in (Philosophical) distill'd Vinegar, let the Feces settle, de∣cant the Dissolution from the Feces warily, and filter; draw off the Vinegar with a gentle Fire, that the Matter may re∣main dry; being dried dissolve it again in Distill'd Vinegar, decant, filter, and draw off, and that to be four times re∣peated, till no more Feces settle in the Solution: Then distil away the Vinegar with a gentle Fire, till the Matter be∣comes so dry, as to flie away in the beating of it into Pow∣der, yet retains its Spirits: Now it is prepared for Calcina∣tion. You must know Son, that this Matter is in its Nature

Stiptick and Astringent, partly volatile, partly fixed, and so dissolved in Distil'd Vinegar, that it may retain the subtil Spirit of the Vinegar, and be calcined together with the said Spirit, made more subtil, be better opened and dissol∣ved, for the Spirit of Vinegar dissolves well before all things. The Vitriol being thus prepared, Put it in a Glass Bottle or Egg, lute hermetically, but the Vessels must be fill'd, that there may be no space for the Spirits to elevate themselves, set it on a Tripos, and there let it remain in a temperate heat, to subtiliate it self: Then take out the Matter, and pulverize it, put it in a Cucurbit, put on an Alembick with a Receiver to it, and so distil in Balneo whatsoever will distil, it will be distilled in about 20 or 25 days: Then lay aside the Distillation, take out the Feces lying at the bottom of the Cucurbit, grind them very fine upon a Stone, put them in a Dissolving Vessel, pour all the Distilled Water to them, seal hermetically, and it will be all dissolved in Balneo without Feces; distil the Solu∣tion in a Cucurbit through an Alembick in Balneo with a moderate heat, that all the Water may separate it self, which keep very choicely; continue the Distillation in Ashes, that you may receive the Element of Air in the form of a ve∣ry noble Citrine Oyl; and this must be done with a strong Fire, lay aside the Air by it self very well stopped near the Water: The Feces being as red as Blood, take out of the Cucurbit, grind them to an Impalpable Powder upon a Stone, put them in a Glass Bottle or Egge, seal, and set it 30 days and nights on a Tripos to be subtiliated with a tem∣perate heat, then take out the Matter, grind it to Powder, put it in a Dissolving Vessel, pour to it the Element of Wa∣ter (above distilled) seal, and put it in Balneo, to be dissol∣ved, as before; distil the Solution through an Alembick in Ashes (the Receiver must be put into cold Water) increase the Fire by degrees, till at length it be hot; so let it conti∣nue five or six days, and in the mean time will ascend the Ele∣ment of Fire in the form of a Red Oyl, suffer it to be cool∣ing three or four days, then take away the Receiver, keep it very well stopp'd, &c.

Annotations.

WE have had divers graduated Vitriols in the former Receipts, which have yielded us divers Menstru∣ums. The Vitriol in this Kind is made better than all of them; for it is made of Vitriol graduated in a close Ves∣sel, fixed according to Art, and again dissolved in Philoso∣phical Vinegar, that by Distillation it may be made a better Menstruum than those before. In the Ninth Kind of Vegetable Menstruums the graduated Vitriol of Mercury, made of Mer∣cury sublimed and Salt circulated, is in a close Vessel reverbe∣rated into a Fixed Powder, which Crocus of Mercury then volatilized with the Spirit of Philosophical Wine, makes a Vegetable Menstruum. If the same graduated Vitriol of Mer∣cury be in a close Vessel reverberated into a Fix'd Precipitate, and then dissolved, not in the Spirit of Philosophical Wine, but Philosophical Vinegar, or some other Mineral Menstruum, it will be thereby made a Menstruum of this Kind. That which is spoken of the Vitriol of Mercury, must be also understood of the present Vitriol of Venus in our Receipt; where Isaacus dis∣solves the said Vitriol in Phiosophical Vinegar, depurates and graduates, which then he calcines, that is, fixeth upon a Tri∣pos•• being fixed it must be dissolved in new Philosophical Vi∣negar, and volatilized, before the Distillation of it, as appears by the Description of the same Menstruum elsewhere given.