{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_14641/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_14641","id":"gutenberg_14641","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14641","summary":null,"tags":["Alchemy","Category: Philosophy & Ethics"],"text":"THE GOLDEN CALF,\n\nWhich the\n\nWORLD\n\nADORES, and DESIRES:\n\nIn which is handled\nThe most rare and Incomparable\nWonder of Nature, In Transmuting\nMETALS;\n\nVIZ.\n\nHow the intire Substance of Lead, was in one\nMoment Transmuted in Gold-Obrizon,\nwith an exceeding small particle of the true\nPhilosophick Stone.\n\nAt the Hague. In the Year 1666.\n\nWritten in Latin by John Frederick Helvetius,\nDoctor and Practitioner of Medicine at\nthe Hague,  and faithfully Englished.\n\nLondon, Printed for John Starkey at the Mitre\nin Fleetstreet near Temple-Barr, 1670.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTo the most Excellent\nD. THEODORUS KETJES,\nby his many Peregrinations, a\nmost famous Phisician, and an\nhappy Practitioner of Medicine\nat Amsterdam,\nOne of my Intimate Friends.\n\nALSO,\nTo the most Noble, most Excellent,\nand most Experienc'd, and\nAccurate Searchers into the\nVulcanian Anatomy,\nD. JOHN CASPARUS FAUSIUS,\nCounsellor, and Chief Physician\nof the most Serene Elector Palatine\nof HEIDELBERG.\n\nAND\nD. CHRISTIAN MENTZELIUS,\nPrincipal Physician in the Court\nof the most Serene Elector of\nBRANDENBURG:\nMy Reverend Patrons, and intire\nFriends.\n\n\n\n\nThe Epistle\n\nDEDICATORY:\n\n\nMost Noble, most Excellent, most\nExpert, and most Accurate Inspectors\nof the  Vulcanian Anatomy,\nand my most real\nFRIENDS.\n\n\n      Although I neither was willing,\n      nor able to be wanting to my\n      honoured Friends, yet would not\n      divulge and bring to light the Verity\n      of the Spagirick Art, but by this most\n      precious, and Miraculous Arcanum,\n      which I not only saw with these Eyes,\n      but taking a little of the transmutatory\n      powder, I myself also transmuted\n      an Impure Mass of Lead volatile\n      in the Fire, into fixed Gold, constantly\n      sustaining every Examen of Fire:\n      in such wise, as henceforth it can no\n      more be suspected by any Man, no not\n      by those, who unto this day have\n      perswaded themselves and others, that\n      this Arcanum is given to no man:\n      but contrarily we were fully and indubitately\n      perswaded, that, in things\n      of Nature, The Mercury of Philosophers\n      is Primo-material, and is like\n      a Fountain overflowing with wonderfull\n      Effects, and those escaping every\n      acuteness, and Light of Human reprehensible\n      Reason, as shall be evidenced\n      in this my little work: which I was\n      willing to dedicate and consecrate to\n      you, my Primary Patrons, as to most\n      prudent Masters, and Defenders.\n      Yet in the mean while, I pray consider,\n      that I have not writ to the end\n      I would teach any one, that Art,\n      which I my self know not, but only\n      that I might recite the true Process\n      of this Arcanum. For, what can more\n      confirm, and Patronize Verity, than\n      the true Light of Truth it self? It\n      is the property of Brute Animals to\n      pass their life in Silence, and especially\n      not to heed those things in them,\n      which do most of all look to, and are\n      required for the propagation of the\n      Glory of the most Wise, and most powerful\n      GOD our creator. Wherefore,\n      since it is a thing unworthy,\n      and to the Divine Majesty ungrateful,\n      for Man, who should be a Consort\n      of the Divine Nature, to wax brutish\n      with Brutes, I present to you, my\n      most faithful Friends, and Patrons\n      of this Science, this most rare History:\n      having as time, and my Ability would\n      permit, recollected all things, and\n      have faithfully commemorated them.\n      Therefore, omitting all paints, and\n      flourishes of Rhetorical Expressions,\n      I will forthwith betake my self to the\n      discovery of all, whatsoever I both\n      saw, and heard from Elias the Artist\n      touching this. For truly, I was not so\n      intimately familiar with him, as that\n      he should instruct me in the way of preparing\n      the Universal Medicine,\n      after the Method of Physico-artificial\n      Chimistry: yet he supplyed me\n      with such Reasons in the Method of\n      Healing, as I shall never be able to\n      commend his worth with condigne\n      Praises. Therefore, most curious Favourers,\n      and true Lovers of the Chimical Art,\n      accept of this little work,\n      as a mean Gift, or if you had rather,\n      peruse if only for recreation of the\n      mind; for in it I shall relate all things\n      whatsoever, that were discoursed of\n      between him and me, at several times:\n      humbly requesting, that with the same\n      benevolence you have received other\n      of my small Treatises, you would also\n      accept of this Novel, which I freely\n      dedicate, and officiously give to you,\n      for a motion, and increase of Admiration.\n      Farewel, avete, favete.\n\nYour most humble\n\nJohn Fredrick Helvetius.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP.I.\n\n\nMost Excellent, and Prudent Sirs.\nBefore I enter upon the Description\nof the Philosophick PIGMY, (in\nthis little Theatre of Secrets) overcoming\nand subduing GIANTS, I pray permit me here to use\nthe words of Vanhelmont, taken out of\nhis Book De Arbore Vit\u00e6, fol. 630.\nand here Transcribed.\n\nI compelled to believe, that\nthere is an Aurifick, and Argentick Stone.\nBut (Friend of the\nSpagyrick Art) I am not ignorant,\nthat many have been found among\nthe most wise, yea among the exquisite\nChimists, who have not only\nconsumed their own Goods, but\nthe Goods of others also, in this\nGreat Vulanick Secret, as Experience\neven at this very day sufficiently\nproves. For we have seen,\nthe more is the pity! how unwary\nChimists, yea such as are more\nworthy, than those who are called\nAlchimists; how, I say, they,\nlabouring simply, are daily deluded\nwith Guile of this kind, by Diabolick,\nAurifick, and Argentick Suckgoods.\nAlso I know, that many\nStupid Men will rise up, and contradict\nthe truth of my true Experience,\ntouching the Philosophick\nStone. One will have it to be a\nwork of the Devil; another affirms\nthere is no such thing; a\nthird faith it is the Soul of Gold\nonly, and that with an Ounce of that\nGold, an Ounce of Lead, and no more\nmay be again tinged: but this is\nrepugnant to the Attestation of\nKifflerus, as I shall briefly commemorate;\na fourth believes the\nVerity and Possibility thereof, but\nfaith it is so chargeable, as it will\nnever quit Cost; with many other\nlike Allegations. Yet I wonder\nnot at this, for according to this\nSaying,\n\n\n      Quorum rationem non intelligimus,\n      miramur,\n      Que vero pernoscere volupe est,\n      rimamur.\n\n      What we cannot attain to, we admire,\n      But what to know is pleasing, do\n      desire.\n\n\nHow can a Man, fallen from the\nFountain of Light, into the Abyss\nof Darkness, effect any thing to\npurpose, in Natural things, especially\nwhen his Wisdome in this\nnatural Philosophick Study is barren\nand sophisticate? It is, for the\nmost part, proper to these Fools and\nunapt men, presently to contemn\na thing, not knowing, that more\nare yet to be sought by them, than\nthey have the possession of. Therefore,\nrightly saith Seneca, in lib. de\nMoribus: Thou art not yet happy,\nif the Rout deride thee not. But I\nmatter not, whether they believe,\nor contradict what I write, touching\nthe Transmutation of Metals.\nI rest satisfied in this one thing,\nwhich with my eyes I have seen,\nand what with my hands I have\ndone. For what Philosophers say\nof themselves, I also have with my\nhands handled this Spark of the\nEternal Wisdome, or this Saturnine\nCatholick Magnesia of Philosophers,\na Fire of potency sufficient\nto penetrate Stones, yea, a\nTreasure of so great value, as 20\nTun of Gold cannot exceed the\nprice thereof. What seek you?\nI believe what I have seen with the\neyes of Thomas, and handled as he,\n(but in the nature of things only)\nas well as the Adept Philosophers;\nalthough in this our decrepit age\nof the world, That be accounted a\nmost Secret Hyperphysico-magical\nSaturn, and not known, unless\nto some Cabalistick Christian only.\nWe judge him the most happy of\nall Physicians, who hath the\nknowledge of this pleasant Medicinal\npotion of our Mercury, or of\nthe Medicine of the Son of our Esculapius\nresisting the force of death,\nagainst which there is no Panacea\notherwise produced in Gardens.\nMoreover, the most wise GOD doth\nnot reveal his Gifts of Solomon\npromiscuously to all Mortals. They\nindeed seem strange to them, when\nthey behold a Creature, from the\noccult Magnetick potency incited\nin it self, deduced into art by its own\nlike; as for Example: In Iron is\na Magnetick, ingenited, potential\nvirtue from the Magnet: a Magnetick\nvirtue in Gold from Mercury:\na Magnetick virtue in Silver\nfrom Venus, or Copper: and\nso consequently in all Metals, Minerals,\nand Stones, Herbs, and\nPlants, &c.\n\nMoreover, I may properly qu\u00e6ry,\nwhich of the wisest Philosophers\nis so Sage, as to be able to\ncomprehend with the acuteness of\nhis own most dextrous ingeny,\nwith what Obumbracle the Imaginative\nTinging, Venemons,\nor Monstrous Faculty of any pregnant\nWoman, compleats its work in\none Moment, if it be deduced\ninto art by some External Object?\n\nI do assuredly believe, that very\nmany will foolishly say, that this is\na Mortomagical Work of the Devil;\nbut the Doltish and Ignorant\nare affraid to be out-shined by the\ntrue resplendent Light of Verity,\nwith which their Owl-like Sight\nis troubled, and afflicted.\n\nAlso the Stars are a cause of\nwhat we treat of, and this cause is\nnot to be contemned, although I,\nnor you, know not how to comprehend\nthe Celestial Influences of\nthem in our mind. Nor are the\nPlants, which the Earth supplies\nus with, to be rejected, although\nI; or you, from the External Signature\nof them, know not how to\njudge aright of the Effect of Virtues\ningenited in them, which they\nnotoriously exercise, according\nto their power, in healing and\nconserving Humane bodies. Therefore,\nsince all others are also offended\nat the Internal Light, being\nignorant of all abstruse things, of\nwhich you, or I, want the Science,\nhow can the same Virtues be deduced\ninto art, according to the\nend for which they were created?\nA thousand other like things\nmight be instanced. Although\nyou know not the Splendour in\nAngels, the Candour in the Heavens,\nthe Perspicuity in the Air,\nLimpitude in Waters, the variety\nof Colours in Flowers, hardness\nof Metals and Stones, Proportion\nin Animals, the Image of GOD\nin regenerate Men, Faith in Believers,\nand Reason in the Soul;\nyet in them there is such a beauty,\nas hath been throughly beheld,\nand fully known by very few Mortals.\n\nAlthough in the Stone of Philosophers\nthere be so potent a virtue,\nand the same hath been seen\nby me, yet I would not therefore\nhave any man to think, that my\nprimary Scope, and intention, is\nto perswade the worthy, or unworthy\nSons of this Age, to labour\nin this work, no, not at all:\nbut I shall rather dehort all, and\nevery of the curious Indagators of\nthis Art, that they seriously abstain\nfrom this most perilous Arcanum,\nas from a certain Sanctum\nSanctorum; yea, and I would admonish\nthe Studious of this Arcanum,\naccurately to take heed to\nhimself, and beware of the Lectures,\nand Association of false\nPhilosophers. But I hope I shall\nsatisfie the curious Naturalists,\nor investigators of Physical Arcanums,\nby communicating and publishing\nin this present Discourse, all\nwhich passed between Elias the Artist,\nand Me, touching the Nature\nof the Stone of Philosophers.\nFor that is an Ens more Effulgent\nthan the Morning, or a Carbuncle:\nmore splendid, than the Sun, or\nGold: more fair, than the Moon,\nor Silver: so very Recreable,\nand Amiable, was the sight of this\nLight, and most pleasing Object\nto me, as out of my inward Mind,\nit cannot be obliterated, or extinguished\nby any Oblivion; although\nthe same be credited by none of the\nfatuate Learned, or illiterate ignorant\nAsses, and such as glory only\nin the praise of ambitious Eloquence.\nFor in this malignant\nulcerated age of the world,\nnothing is so safe and secure from Calumnies,\nbut it is taken in a wrong\nSense, and perverted unworthily\nby the Idiotick Ignorance of\nmad-brain'd CacoZelots.\nSo very farr do\nall these dark-sighted men deviate\nfrom the true rule of Verity,\nas in success of time, they, intangled\nwith their own Errors, will\nmiserably wast away and expire;\nbut our Assertion, built on the\nEternal Foundation of Triumphing\nVerity, shall continue and remain,\nunto the Consummation of\nall ages, without diminution, although\nthis art be not yet known\nto all Mortals. For the Adept Philosophers,\naccording to the antient\nFaith of their experience, have\naffirmed, that this Natural Mystery\n(which many anxious men\nhave sinistrously sought, and required)\nis only to be found with\nJehovah, Saturninely placed in the\nCentre of the World. In the\nmean while, we proclaim those\nhappy, who take care, by the help\nof art, how they may wash this\nPhilosophick Queen, or how they\nought to circulate the Virgin-Catholick-Earth,\nin Physico-Magical\nCrystalline Artifice, as Khunradus.\ndid; they only, and none others\nbesides them, shall see the Crowned,\nand internally fiery King of\nPhilosophers, coming forth from\nhis Glassy Sepulchre, in an external\nfiery Body glorified, more then\nperfect with all the Colours in the\nworld, as a shining Carbuncle, or\nperspicuous, compact and ponderous\nCrystal, a Salamander Spewing out\nWaters, and by the benefit\nthereof in the Fire washing Leprous\nMetals, as I my self have seen.\nWhat? How shall they see the\nAbyss of the Spagyrick Art? when\nas this Royal Art hath so long lain\nhid, and been absconded in the\nMineral Kingdom, as in the Safest\nof all Secret places, for so very many\nyears? Assuredly the Genuine\nSons of this Laudable Art, shall\nnot only behold a like Flood of\nNumicius, in which \u00c6neas heretofore,\nby the command of Venus,\nwashed and absolved from his Immortality,\nwas immediately transformed\ninto an immortal God; but\nalso the Lydian River of Pactolus\nall transmuted into Gold, and how\nMidas Mygdonius washed himself\nin the same. Likewise those candid\nRivals of this Art, shall in a serious\norder behold the Bathing-place of\nnaked Diana, the Fountain of Narcissus\nand Scylla walking in the Sea,\nwithout garments, by reason of the\nmost fervent Rayes of Sol: partly\nalso the Blood of Pyramus and\nThisbe, of it self collected, by the\nhelp of which, white Mulberries\nare tinged into Red; partly also\nthe Blood of Adonis, by the descending\nGoddess Venus transformed\ninto a Rose of Anemona; partly\nlikewise the Blood of Ajax, from\nwhich arose that most beautiful\nflower the Violet; partly also the\nBlood of the Giants slain by Jupiters\nthunder-bolt; partly also the\nShed Tears of Althea, when she put\noff her Golden Vestments; and\npartly the Drops, which fell from\nthe decocted Water of Medea, by\nwhich green things immediatly\nsprang out of the Earth; partly\nalso the cocted Potion of Medea,\nmade of various Herbs, gathered\nalways three dayes before full\nMoon, for the cure of Jasons aged\nFather; partly also those Leaves,\nby the tast of which, the nature of\nGaucus was changed into Neptune;\npartly also the Exprest Juice of\nJason, by the benefit of which, he,\nin the Land of Cholcons, received\nthe Golden Fleece, afterward by\nreason of that, compleatly armed, he\nfought in the Feild of Mars, not\nwithout the hazard of Life; partly\nalso the Garden of the Hesperides,\nwhere Golden Apples may be gathered\nfrom the Trees; partly also\nHippomenes running for the Mastery\nwith Atalanta, and staying her\nCourse, and so overcoming her\nwith three Golden Apples, the Gifts\nof Venus; partly also the Aurora of\nCephalus, partly also Romulus transformed\nby Jupiter into a God;\npartly also the Soul of Julius C\u00e6sar, by\nthe Goddess Venus, transfigured into\na Comet, and placed among the\nStars; partly also Python, Juno's\nSerpent, arising out of the putrid\nEarth (after Deucalions Flood)\nmade hot by the Rayes of the Sun;\npartly also the Fire, with which\nMedea kindled seven Lights;\npartly also the Moon, inflamed by the\nburning of Ph\u00e6ton; partly also the\nWithered Olive Branch, a new;\nflourishing and bearing Fruit;\nyea, becoming a new and tender\nOlive Tree; partly also Arcadia,\nwhere Jupiter was wont to walk;\npartly also the Habitation of Pluto,\nat the Gate whereof lay the Three-headed\nCerberus; & also partly that\nMountain, where Hercules burned\nall his Members, received from the\nMother, upon Wood, but the Parts\nof the Father remained Fixed, and\nincombustible in Fire, and nothing\nof his Life was destroyed, but he,\nat length, was transmuted into a God.\nLikewise we will not forget\nthose Germans, the Sons of true\nPhilosophers, who entred into a\nCountry-house, at length transformed\ninto a Temple, whose Covering\nwas made of pure Gold. Certainly,\nI cannot choose, but must yet once\nmore with acclamation, say with\nthe Adept: O happy, and thrice\nhappy is that Artificer, who by the\nmost merciful benediction of the\nhighest, Jehovah pursues the Art of\nConfecting, and preparing that\n(as it were, Divine) Salt, by the\nEfficacious Operation of which, a\nMetallick, or Mineral body, is\ncorrupted, destroyed, and dyes;\nyet the Soul thereof is in the mean\nwhile revived, to a glorious Resurrection\nof a Philosophick Body. Yea,\nI say, most happy is the Son\nof that man, who, by his Prayers,\nobtains this Art of Arts, unto the\nglory of GOD. For it is most\ncertain, that this Mystery can be\nknown no other way, unless it\nbe drawn and imbibed from GOD,\nthe Fountain of Fountains. Therefore,\nlet every serious Lover of\nthis inestimable Art judge, that the\nwhole work of him required, is,\nthat he constantly, with the prayer\nof true faith, in all his labour,\nimplore and solicite the Divine\nGrace of the Holy Spirit. For the\nsolemn manner of GOD alone is,\ncandidly and liberally, either mediately\nor immediately, to communicate\nhis gifts and benefits, to\nnone, unless to candid and liberal\nIngenies only. In this holy way\nof practical Piety, all Inquisitors\nof profound Arts, find what they\nseek, when they, in their work,\nexercise themselves Theosophically\nby solitary Colloquies with\nJehovah, with a pure Heart and\nMouth, religiously. For the Heavenly\nSophia, indeed, willingly embraces\nour friendship, presenting,\nand offering to us, her inexhaustible\nRivolets, most full of gracious\ngoodness and benevolence. But,\nhappy is he, to whom the Royal\nway, in which he is to walk, shall\nbe shown by some One expert in\nthis Arcanum.\n\nI seem to presage to my self, that\nI have not equally satisfied all Readers\nin this Preface; but it is, as\nif I did presume to teach them an\nArt, unknown to my self; yet I\nhope better of the greatest part of\nthem. For my intention was, only\nto relate to you a certain History.\nTherefore, Drink, my Friends, of\nthe following Dialogue, or Springing\nColloquy, presented by me,\nwishing you well, that thence\nyou may satisfie, and allay all the\nThirst of your Thirsting Minds:\nfor I doubt not in the least, but\nthat this Study of Divine Wisdome,\nwill be more sweet to you,\nthan Nectar and Ambrosia. No\nother will I communicate, no other\nhave I common, then that of Jul.\nC\u00e6s. Scaliger: The End, of Wisemen,\nis the Communication of Wisdome:\naccording to that of Gregory\nNy\u00dfen: He who is Good, in Nature,\nthe same very willingly communicates\nhis Goods to others. For it is the\npart of good Men, to be profitable\nto others.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. II.\n\n\nDivers Ilustrious men have\nwritten touching the Verity\nof this Arcanum, among these,\ntake the Sayings of some of them,\nas follows.\n\nPARACELSUS\nIn his Book Of the Signature of Natural\n things.\n\n\n      The Tincture of Naturalists, is\n      a, true sign, that by the transmutative\n      virtue thereof, all imperfect\n      Metals are changed, viz. the\n      White into Silver, and the Red\n      into the best Gold, if an exceeding small\n      part of this Medicine well\n      prepared, be injected upon the\n      Metal, while in flux in a Crucible,\n      &c.\n\n\nThe same.\n\n\n      For the invincible Astrum of\n      Metals overcomes all things, and\n      changeth into a Nature like it self,\n      &c. This Gold and Silver is more noble,\n      and better, than those,\n      which are dug out of Metallick\n      Mines; for Medicinal Arcanums\n      to be prepared therefrom.\n\n\nThe same.\n\n      Therefore, I say every Alchimist,\n      which hath the Astrum of\n      Gold, is able to tinge all Red Metals\n      into Gold, &c.\n\nThe same.\n\n\n      Our Tincture of Gold hath\n      Astrums in it self, is a Substance\n      most fixed, and in multiplication\n      immutable. It is a Powder, haveing\n      a colour most red, almost like\n      Saffron, yet its whole Corporal\n      Substance, is liquid as Rosin, perspicuous\n      as Crystal, brittle as\n      Glass, of the colour of a Rubie,\n      and exceeding poaderous, &c.\n\n\nAlso read Paracelsus his Heaven\nof Philosophers.\n\nLikewise, Paracelsus his Seventh\nBook, Of the Transmutation of Natural\nthings.\n\n\n      Transmutation is a great natural\n      Mystery, Metallick, and not\n      contrary to the Course of Nature,\n      nor repugnant to the Order of\n      GOD, as many men of it do falsly\n      judge. For imperfect Metals, are\n      changed neither into Gold, nor into\n      Silver, without this Stone of Philosophers.\n\n\n\nParacelsus, in his Manual of the\nMedicinal Stone of philosophers.\n\n\n      Our Stone is a Celestial, and\n      more than perfect Medicine, because\n      it cleanseth all the impurities\n      of Metals, &c.\n\n\nHENRY KHUNRADUS\n\nIn his Amphitheatre of Eternal Sapience.\n\n      I travelled long, invited others,\n      who knew somewhat by experience,\n      and could with very firm\n      judgement conjecture; and this not\n      alwayes in vain. Among which,\n      I call God to witness, by his wonderful\n      ordination, I, from one,\n      received the Green Catholick\n      Lyon, and the Blood of the Lyon,\n      viz. Gold, not the Vulgar, but of\n      Philosophers, with my Eyes I saw\n      the same, with my hands, I handled\n      it, and with my Nostrils, smelt\n      the odour thereof. O how wonderful\n      is God in his Works! They,\n      I say, gave those Gifts prepared,\n      which I in most desperate Cases,\n      used with admirable success to the\n      benefit of my needy Neighbour.\n      And (by Instinct of Jehovah's\n      mercy) they sincerely revealed to\n      me, the wayes of preparing, &c.\n\n\nThe same.\n\n      This wonderful Method, the\n      wonderful God gave me. In this\n      way, in which I walked, God\n      alone, I say, immediately, and mediately;\n      yet subdelegately,  Nature,\n      Fire, and Art, of my Master,\n      as well living as mute, corporally,\n      and spiritually good, sleeping\n      and waking, gave the same to\n      me, &c,\n\n\n\nThe same.\n\n      I write not Fables; with your\n      hands you shall handle, and with,\n      your eyes you shall see Azoth,\n      viz. the Catholick [or Universal]\n      Mercury of Philosophers; which\n      alone, with the Internal and External\n      Fire, yet with Sympathetick\n      Harmony, with Olympick\n      Fire (by reason of inevitable necessity)\n      Physico-magically united,\n      will suffice thee for obtaining our\n      Stone, &c.\n\n\nThe same.\n\n\n      You shall see, the Stone of Philosophers;\n      our King, and Lord of those\n      that bare rule, coming from his\n      Bridal Throne of the Glassy Sepulchre,\n      into this Mundane Scene,\n      in his glorified body, viz, regenerate,\n      and more then perfect:\n      namely, a shining Carbuncle, a\n      most temperate Splendour; and\n      of which, tire most Subtile, and\n      Depurated parts, are by the concordant\n      peace of Mixtion, inseparably\n      united into One, and perfectly\n      equallized, clear as Crystal,\n      compact, and most ponderous, as\n      fluid in fire, as Rosin, and before\n      the flight of Mercury, as Wax\n      flowing, yet without fume, entring\n      and penetrating, solid and\n      close bodies, as Oyl, Paper; resolvable\n      in every Liquor, melting,\n      and commiscible therewith; brittle\n      as Glass, in Powder, of the\n      colour of Saffron, but in the intire\n      Mass, like a blushing Rubie;\n      (which Redness is a sign of perfect\n      Fixation, and fixed Perfection)\n      permanently Colouring, or Tinging;\n      in all Examens whatsoever,\n      even of Sulphur adurtive, and\n      in Tryals of corroding Waters,\n      and in the most vehement persecution\n      of Fire, fixed, alwayes during,\n      and unburnable; permanent as the\n      Salamander, &c.\n\n\nThe same.\n\n\n      The Stone of Philosophers in\n      the greater World, is in the parts\n      thereof, fermented; by reason of\n      the Ferment, it transforms it self\n      into whatsoever it will &c.\n      Hence you may learn the reason,\n      why Philosophers on their Azoth imposed\n      the name of Mercury which\n      adheres to bodies, &c.\n\n\nThe same.\n\n\n      It is fermented with Metals, viz,\n      the White existant in the highest\n      Whiteness, with pure Silver for\n      the White; but the Sanguineous\n      Stone, with Gold Obrizon for\n      the Red. And this is the Work\n      of three dayes, &c.\n\n\nHELMONT, Of Eternal Life\n\n\n      For I have oftentimes seen it,\n      and with, my hands handled the\n      same, &c. See in the same place\n      further. Then I projected this\n      quarter of one Grane, wrapt up in\n      Paper, upon eight Ounces of Argentvive,\n      hot in a Crucible, and immediately\n      the whole Hydrargyry,\n      with some little noise ceased to\n      flow, and remained congealed like\n      yellow Wax: after fusion thereof,\n      by blowing the bellows, there\n      were found eight Ounces of Gold,\n      wanting eleven Grane. Therefore,\n      one Grane of this Powder,\n      transmutes 19186 equal parts of\n      Argentvive, into the best Gold.\n\n      Within the Earth, the aforesaid\n      Powder is found, or what is in a\n      sort like thereunto, which transmutes\n      almost an infinite Mass of\n      impure Metal into perfect Gold, by\n      uniting the same to it self, it defends\n      from Rust, and \u00c6rugo, from\n      Cankring, and Death, and maketh\n      the same, as it were, immortal,\n      against all torture of Fire, and Art,\n      and transfers it into the Virgin-purity\n      of Gold; it requires only\n      heat.\n\nThe same Helmont, Of the Tree\nof Life.\n\n      I am compelled to believe the\n      Aurifick, and Argentifick Stone;\n      because at several distinct: times,\n      with my own hand, made projection\n      of one Grane of this Powder,\n      upon some thousands of Granes of\n      Argentvive hot in a Crucible; and\n      in the presence of our principal\n      friends, the business, with a pleasing\n      admiration, succeeded well in the Fire:\n      as our books promise Thee,\n      &c.\n\n\nThe same.\n\n\n      He, who first gave me the Powder,\n      had at least, so much thereof,\n      as would be sufficient for transmuting\n      two hundred thousand\n      pound weight of Metal, into\n      Gold, &c..\n\n\nThe same.\n\n\n      For he gave to me not so much\n      as half a grane of that Powder,\n      and with that were transmuted nine\n      ounces, and three quarters of an ounce\n      of Argetitvive. That was\n      given me one Evening by a strange\n      Friend, &c\n\n\nThe same\n\n      So also it is written, that sixty\n      years since, Alexander Scotus, made\n      projection of that kinde, in the\n      trust: famous City of Colonia and\n      Hanovia, &c..\n\n\nI cannot in this place over-pass,\nsome Examples worthy of note,\ntouching the possibility of\nTransmutation.\n\nRead the following true Extract\nout of an Epistle written by Doctor\nKufflerus.\n\n\n      Kufflerus: Artist, I found-in my\n      own Laboratory, an Aqua-fortis.\n      Secondly, I again found another\n      in the Laboratory, Caroli de Roy;\n      this Aqua-Fortis I poured upon the\n      Calx of Sol, prepared of Gold, in\n      the Vulgar manner, and after the\n      third Cohobation, it sublimed the\n      Tincture of Gold with it self in the\n      Neck of the Retort; this Tincture\n      I mixed with Silver, precipited in\n      the vulgar manner, and I saw that\n      one ounce of the sublimed Tincture\n      of Gold, with ordinary Flux in a\n      Crucible, had transmuted one\n      ounce, and halfe of the two ounces\n      of precipitate Silver, into the best\n      Gold: but a third part of the Silver\n      yet remaining, was a white and\n      fixed Gold: the other two parts\n      thereof were perfect Silver, fixed\n      in every examen of Fire. This is\n      my experience, after this time, we\n      could never find the like Aqua-fortis.\n      I Helvetius saw this Gold\n      white, and without Tincture.\n\n\nThe same.\n\n      There is yet one other Example\n      very rare; of what was done at\n      the Hague by a Silver-Smith, whose\n      name was Grill: how he in the year\n      1664. by Spirit of Salt, not\n      prepared in the Vulgar manner,\n      transmuted Lead so, as from one\n      pound, he received three parts of\n      the best Silver, and two ounces of\n      most fixed Gold.\n\n      At the Hague, a certain Silver-Smith,\n      and a much exercised Disciple\n      of Alchimy, but according to\n      the nature of Alchimy, a very poor\n      man; did sometime since require\n      Spirit of Salt, not vulgarly prepared,\n      of a loving Friend of Mine, a\n      Cloath-Dyer, by name, John Casparus\n      Knottnerus. My Friend giving\n      the same to him; demanded,\n      whether he would use that Spirit\n      of Salt, he now had, for Metals,\n      or not? Grill made answer; for\n      Metalls. And accordingly he afterward\n      powred this Spirit of Salt\n      upon Lead, which he had put into\n      a Glass Dish, usual for Conditures\n      and Confections. The space of two\n      Weeks being elapsed, supernatant\n      on the Spirit of Salt, appeared a\n      most splendid Silver-Starre, so exceeding\n      curious, as if it had been\n      made With an Instrument by a most\n      ingenious Artist. At the sight of\n      which, the said Grill, filled with\n      Exceeding Joy, signified to us, that\n      he had seen the Signate Star of\n      Philosophers, touching which he\n      had read in Basilius, as he thought.\n      I, and many other honest Men,\n      did behold this Star supernatant\n      on the Spirit of Salt, the lead in\n      the mean while remaining in the\n      bottom of an ash colour, and swollen like\n      a Sponge. But in the space\n      of seven or nine dayes, that humidity\n      of the Spirit of Salt, being absumed\n      by the exceeding heat of the\n      Aire, in July, did vanish; but the\n      Star settled down, and still stood\n      above that Earthly Spongeous Lead.\n      That was a thing worthy of admiration,\n      and beheld by not a few\n      Spectators. At length Grill himself\n      having taken part of Cinereous,\n      or Ash-like Lead, with the Star\n      adhering, cupellated in a Test,\n      and found from one ounce of this\n      Lead, twelve ounces of Cupellate\n      Silver, and from these twelve ounces,\n      he also had two ounces of the\n      best Gold. And I Helvetius am able\n      to shew some of this Spongeous\n      Lead with part of the Star yet adhering,\n      & besides the pieces of the Star\n      the Silver and Gold made thereof.\n      Which when this Subtile (and\n      Likewise Foolish) Grill understood,\n      he would not be known to Knottterus,\n      whether he had used the\n      Spirit of Salt, or not; but thenceforth\n      attempted to learn of him\n      the Art how to make it; yet some\n      time being Elapsed, the worthy\n      Knottnerus had for got what Spirit\n      of salt (for he was expert in\n      various kinds thereof) he had given\n      him; not being able to call\n      the same to mind so suddenly: in\n      the mean while, he and his Family\n      were visited with the Pestilence\n      and dyed: the other falling into\n      the Water was drowned. After\n      the death of these two, none\n      could find out the way of either of\n      their Operations.\n\n      Certainly here is cause of Admiration,\n      that the Internal Nature\n      of Lead, by the simple maturation\n      of Spirit of Salt, should appear\n      in an external form so noble.\n      No less admirable and wonderful\n      to the mind is this, viz. that the\n      mirifick Stone of Philosophers can\n      so exceeding swiftly transmute\n      Metals; having virtue potentially\n      insited in it self, so as it is deduced\n      into Art, as in Iron by contact\n      of the Magnet. But touching\n      These enough for the Sons of Art.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. III.\n\n\nSince promises are so much the better\nesteemed, by how much the sooner\nthey are fulfilled, I, without any\ndilation, immediately come to my\npromised Declaration of the following\nHistory, which thus take.\n\n\nAt the Hague, on the sixth Calend\nof January or the 27th.\nof December, in the year 1666, a\ncertain man came to my House in\nthe Afternoon, to me indeed planely\nunknown, but endued with an\nhonest gravity, and serious authority\nof Countenance, cloathed in\na Plebick Habit, like to some\nMemnonite of a middle Stature,\nhis Visage somewhat long, with\nsome Pock-holes here and there dispersed:\nhis Hairs were indeed very\nblack, yet not curled, little or no\nno hair on his Chin, and about\nthree or four and fourty years of\nAge: his Countrey (as far as I\nam able to conjecture) is the Septentrional\nBatavia, vulgarly called Nord Hollund.\n\nAfter salutations ended, his new\nGuest, with great Reverence, asked,\nwhether he might have freedom to\ncome to me; because for the Pyrotechnick\nArt sake, he could not, nor\nwas he willing to pass by the Door\nof my house; adding, that he had\nnot only thought to have made use\nof some Friend to come to me,\nbut had also read some of my little\nTreaties, especially that, which I\npublished against D. Digbies Sympathetick\nPowder, in which I discovered\nmy doubt of the true Philosophick\nMystery. Therefore, this\noccasion being taken, he asked me,\nwhether I could believe, that place\nwas given to such a Mystery in the\nthings of Nature, by the benefit of\nwhich a Physician might be able to\ncure all Diseases universally, unless\nthe Sick already had a defect either\nof the Lungs, or Liver, or of any\nlike noble Member? To which I\nanswered. Such a Remedy is exceeding\nnecessary for a Physician,\nbut no man knows, what and how\ngreat are the Secrets yet hidden in\nNature, nor did I ever, in all my\nLife see such an Adept Man, although\nI have read and perused\nmany things, touching the verity\nof this thing, or Art, in the Writings\nof Philosophers. I also enquired\nof him, whether he (speaking\nof the Universal Medicine) were\nnot a Physician? But he answering\nby denyal, professed, that he\nwas no other than a Melter of Orichalcum,\nand that in the Flower of\nhis years, he had known many\nthings, from his Friend, rare to\nthe Sight, and especially the way\nof Extracting Medicinal Arcanums\nby the force of Fire, and that for\nthis very cause, he was a Lover of\nthis so noble Science of Medicine.\nMoreover, long after other discourses,\ntouching Experiments in Metals,\nmade by the violence of Fire,\nElias the Artist spake to me thus;\nDo not you know the Highest Secret,\nwhen it is offered to your sight,\nviz. the Stone of Phylosophers,\nyou having read in the Writings\nof many Chymists most excellent,\ntouching the Substance, Colour,\nand strange effect of the same?\nI answered, not at all; except what\nI have read in Paracelsus, Helmont,\nBasilius, Sandivogius, and like Books\nof Adept Phylosophers extant. Nevertheless,\nI think, I am not able\nto know the Phylosophick Matter,\nwhether it be true, or not, although\nI should see it present before me.\n\nWhilst I was speaking thus, he\npulled out of his Pocket an Ivory\nBox, in which he had three ponderous\nFragments, in magnitude\nscarcely equalizing a small Walnut;\nthese were Glass-like, of the colour\nof pale Sulphur, to which the Interior\nScales of that Crucible did adhere,\nin which this most noble\nSubstance was liquified, for I\nsuppose the Value of it might\nequalize twenty Tun of Gold. But\nafter I had plighted my Faith, I\nheld that [Greek: cheimh\u00ealion], [or pretious\nTreasure] of this Stone, within these\nmy hands for almost a quarter of an\nhour, and from the Philosophick\nMouth of the Owner, I heard many\nthings worthy of note, touching\nthe Wonderful Effect of the same,\nfor humane and Metallick bodies.\nIndeed, I, with a sad and afflictedly\nafflicted Mind, restored this Treasure\nof Treasures to him, the Lord\nand Possessor, who gave the same\ninto my hand for a very short\nspace of time; and yet I did that (after\nthe manner of Men overcoming\nthemselves) not without the\ngreatest action of thanks, as was\nfit in such a Case. Afterward I asked\nhim, how it came to pass, (since\nI had otherwise read, that the\nStones of Philosophers, were endowed\nwith a Rubinate, or Purple Colour)\nthat this his Philosophick\nStone was tinged with a Sulphureous\nColour? He answered me\nthus: O Sir; this is nothing to the\npurpose: for the Matter is Sufficiently\nmature. Moreover, when\nI entreated him, that he would\ngive to me, for a perpetual remembrance,\none small part of the Medicine\nincluded in his Box, although\nno more in bulk than a\nCoriander-Seed; he denied, answering:\nO no! For this is not\nlawful for me to do, although you\nwould give me this whole Roome\nfull of Gold in Duckets; and that not\nby reason of the price of the Matter,\nbut by reason of another certain\nConsequence; Yea, surely,\nif it were possible, that Fire could\nbe burned with Fire, I would sooner\ncast this whole Substance into\nthe devouring Flames of Vulcan,\nbefore your Eyes. A little after\nthis, he also asked me, whether\nI had not another Room, the\nWindows of which were not to\nthe Street-side; I presently brought\nthis Ph\u00e6nix, or Bird most rare to\nbe seen in this Land, into my best\nfurnished Chamber; yet he, at his\nEntrance (as the manner of Hollanders\nis, in their Countryes)\ndid not shake off his Shooes, which\nwere dropping wet with Snow.\nI indeed, at that very time, thus\nthought: perhaps he will provide,\nor hath in readiness some Treasure\nfor me; but he dash'd my\nhope all to pieces. For he immediatey\nasked of me a piece of the\nbest Gold-mony; and in the mean\nwhile layed off his Cloak, and\nCountry Coat; also he opened\nhis Bosom, and under his Shirt\nhe wore in green Silk, five great\nGolden Pendants, round, filling up\nthe magnitude of the Interior Space\nof an Orb of Tin. Where, in\ncomparing these, in respect of\nColour and Flexibility, the difference\nbetween his Gold, and\nmine, was exceeding great. On\nthese Pendants he had inscribed\nwith an Iron Instrument, the following\nWords, which, at my\nrequest, he gave leave I should coppy out.\n\nThe form of the Pendants, and\nwords engraven thereon, are as\nfollows.\n\n\n\n\n      I.\n      AMEN\n      Holy, Holy, Holy\n      is the Lord our\n      GOD, for all\n      things are full of\n      his Power.\n      Leo: Libra.\n\n      II.\n      The wonderfull\n      wonder-working\n      wisdome of JEHOVAH\n      in the Catholick\n      Book of\n      Nature. Made the\n      26. day Aug. 1666.\n\n      [Alchemical symbols: Gold, Mercury, Silver]\n      The wonderfull\n      GOD, Nature\n      and he Spagyrick\n      Art, make\n      nothing in vain.\n\n      Sacred, Holy Spirit\n      Hallelujha\n      Hallelujha\n      Away Devil,\n      Speak not of\n      GOD without\n      Light, Amen.\n\n      The Eternal Invisible,\n      only wise,\n      Best of all and omnipotent\n      GOD of\n      Gods; Holy, Holy,\n      Holy, Governour &\n      Conserver deservedly\n      ought to be praysed.\n\n\nMoreover, when I, affected with\nadmiration said to him; My\nMaster, I pray tell me, where had\nyou this greatest Science of the\nwhole World? He answered, I\nreceived such Magnalia from the\nCommunication of a certain Extraneous\nFriend, who for certain\ndayes lodged in my House, professing,\nthat, he was a Lover of\nArt, and came to teach me various\nArts; viz. how, besides the\naforesaid, of Stones and Crystal,\nmost beautiful precious Stones are\nmade much more fair than Rubies,\nChrysolites, Saphires, and\nothers of that kind. Also how to\nprepare a Crocus Martis in a quarter\nof an hour of which one only\nDose infallibly heals a Pestilential Dysentery\nLikewise a Metallic\nLiquor, by the help of which, every\nspecies of the Dropsy may be\ncured certainly in four dayes space\nAlso a certain Limpid Water, more\nsweet, than Hony, by the help of\nwhich, I can extract the Tincture\nof Granates, Corals, and of all\nGlasses blown by Artificers, in the\nspace of two hours in hot sand only.\nMany other things like to these\nhe told me, which I neither well\nobserved, nor committed to\nmemory; because my intention was:\ncarryed further, viz. to learn the\nArt of pressing that so noble\njuice out of Metals for Metals;\nbut the Shadow in Waters deceived\nthe Dog of his piece of Flesh,\nwhich was substantial. Moreover,\nthis Artist told me that his Master,\nwho taught him this Art, bad him\nbring Glass full of Rain water,\nwith which he mixed a very small:\nquantity of a most white pouder;\ncommanding me, (here the Disciple\nof that Master proceeds in\nhis Discourse) to go to the Silver-Smith,\nfor one ounce of Cupellate\nSilver, laminate, [or beat\nvery thin,] which Silver was dissolved\nin a quarter of an hour, as\nIce in hot water. Then he presently\ngave to me one half of this\npotion, by himself so speedily\nmade, to drink; which in my\nmouth tasted as sweet Milk, and I\nthence became very cheerful.\n\nHe having related these things,\nI ceased not to enquire of him, to\nwhat end he had instanced this?\nWhether the Potion was Philosophick?\nTo this, he answered, You\nmust not be so curious.\n\n\nAfterward, he told me, how he,\nby the command of that Laudable\nArtist his Master, took a piece of\nthe Leaden gutter of his house,\nand when the Lead was melted in\na now Crucible, the said Artist\ndrew out off his pocket a Gasket\nfull of Sulphureous Powder, of\nwhich, he took a very small part\nupon the point of a knife, once,\nand again, and injected the same;\nupon the Lead in Flux; presently.\ngiving order, that the fire should\nbe blown with two pair of Bellows\nstrongly, for exciting the heat\nmore vehemently; a little after\nhe powred out of the crucible,\nmost pure Gold, upon the Red\nstones, which were in the Kitchen.\nI (said this most pleasing discourser\nto me) did commodiously\nbehold this verity of the Transmutation\nof Metals, but was so astonished\nwith fear and admiration,\nthat I was Scarcely able to speak\none word; But my Master heartning\nme, said; Cheer, up and be\ncontented: take for your self a\nsixteenth part of this Mass, which\nkeep For a Memorandum; but the\nother fifteen parts distribute to the\npoor: and I did as he said.\nFor, (if my memory deceive\nme not) he bestowed this exceeding\ngreat Alms, on the Sparrendamen\nChurch; but whether, he\ngave it at distinct times Or not, or\nwhether he told it down in the\nSubstance of Gold, or of Silver, I\nasked him not.\n\nAnd at length (saith he speaking\nof his Master) he directly\ntaught me this great divine Art.\n\nTherefore, the; Narration of all\nthese things being ended, I most\nhumbly entreated him, that he\nwould shew me the effect of Transmutation\nupon impure Metals, that\nI thence might have the better assurance\nof those things by him related\nto me, and my Faith being\nconfirmed, securely give credit to\nthe real Truth of the matter. But\nhe very discreetly gave me the repulse;\nyet taking his leave of me,\nhe promised to return again\nafter three Weeks, and then shew\nto me certain curious Arts, by Fire,\nas also the way of projecting; making\nthis Provisoe, if it should\nthen be lawful for him. The three\nWeeks being elapsed, according\nto his word, he Came to my House,\nand invited me to walk abroad\nwith him for one hour, or two,\nas we both did, having in that\nTime Certain, Discourses of the\nSecrets of Nature in the fire, but\nin the mean while, this well spoken\nCompanion in the way, was\nnot lavish, but rather too sparing\nof his words, touching the great\nSecret; affirming, that this singular\nMystery tended not, but to\nthe alone magnifying of the most\nillustrious Fame of the most glorious\nGod; and that very few men\nconsidered, how they might; condignly\nSacrifice; themselves by\ntheir Works to so great a God\nuttering these Expressions no otherwise,\nthen as if he had been\na Pastor of the Church. But I, in\nthe mean time, fayled not to solicit\nhim, to demonstrate to me the\nTransmutation of Metals. Moreover,\nI beseeched and intreated\nhim, to vouchsafe to eat with me,\nand to lodge in my house, urging\nhim with such Earnestness, as no\nRival, or Lover, could ever use\nmore perswasive Words, for winning\nhis beloved to a willingness\nof gratifying him above all others:\nbut he, agitated by a Spirit of so\ngreat constancy, made void of all I\nendeavoured. Nevertheless, I could\nnot choose but speak to him thus:\nSir, You see I have a very convenient\nLaboratory, in which you\nmay shew me the Metallick\nTransmutation. For whosoever\nassents to him, that asketh,\nobligeth himself to him. It is true (answered\nhe) bit I made a promise\nto you of imparting some things\nwith this Exception, if at my, Return,\nI be not interdicted, but have\nleave to do the same.\n\nAll, and every of these, my requests\nbeing in vain, I instantly, and earnestly\nbesought him, that (if he\nwould not, or by reason of the\nHeavenly Interdiction could not\ndemonstrate what I asked) he\nwould only give me so much of his\nTreasure, as would be sufficient\nfor transmuting four grains of Lead\ninto Gold. At this my request, he,\nafter a little while, pouring forth\na Flood of Philosophick Mercy,\ngave a small particle, as big as a\nRape-Seed, saying: Take of the\ngreatest Treasure of the World, which\nvery few great Kings, or\nPrinces could ever see. But I, saying\nmy Master, this is so small particle\nperhaps will not be sufficient\nfor tinging four granes of Lead.\nHe answered; Give it me. I,\naccordingly gave it him, conceiving,\ngood hope of receiving somewhat\na greater particle instead thereof;\nbut he breaking off the one half almost\nof it with his thumb-nayl,\nthrew it into the fire, and wrapping\nthe other up in blew paper,\nhe gave to me, faying, It is yet\nsufficient for thee. To which, I with,\na sad Countenance and perplexed\nMind, answered: Ah Sir! What\nmean you by this? Before I doubted,\nand now I cannot believe,\nthat so small a quantity of this Medicine\nwill suffice for transmuting\nfour grains of Lead; O, said he,\nif you cannot rightly handle your\nLead in the Crucible, by reason\nof the so very small quantity thereof\nthen take two drams, or\nhalf an ounce, or a little more of the\nlead, for more must not be\ntinged, then well may. To him\nI again said: I cannot, easily believe\nthis, viz. that so little of the\nTincture will transmute so great a\nquantity of Lead into Gold. But he,\nanswered; what I say is true. In,\nmean, while, I, giving him\ngreat; thanks, inclosed my diminished\nand in the Superlative degree\nconcentrated Treasure, in my\nown Casket, saying: To morrow\nI will make this Tryal; and give no\nnotice to any Man thereof, as long as\nI live. Not so, not so, answered;\nhe, but all things, which tend to\nthe Glory of God Omnipotent,\nought by us, singularly to be declared\nto the Sons of Art that we\nmay live Theosophically, and not\nat all dye Sophistically.\n\nThen, I confessed to him; that\nwhen held the Mass of his Medicine, in that\nshort space of time, I attempted\nto raze something there-from with\nmy Finger Nayl, But I got no\nmore, than a certain invisible\nAtome; and, when I had cleansed\nmy nayl, and had injected the\ncollected matter, wrapt in paper,\nupon Lead in Flux, I could see no\nTransmutation of it into Gold; but\nalmost the whole Mass of Lead\nvanished into Aire, and the\nremaining Substance was transmuted into\na Glassy Earth. At the\nhearing of this, he smiling, say'd\nYou could more dexterously play\nthe Thief, than apply the Tincture.\nI wonder, that you, so expert\nin the Fire, do no better understand\nthe fuming Nature of Lead.\nFor if you had wrapped\nyour Theft in yellow Wax, that it\nmight have been conserved from\nthe Fume of Lead, then it would so\nhave penetrated into the Lead,\nas to have transmuted the same\ninto Gold. But now a Sympathetick\nOperation was performed in\nFume, and so the Medicine permixed\nwith the Fume, flew away:\nFor all Gold, Silver, Tin, Mercury,\nand like Metals, are corrupted\nby Lead Vapours, and\nlikewise converted to a brittle\nGlass. While he was thus speaking,\nI shewed him my Crucible,\nwho, viewing the remaining Substance,\nperceived a most beautiful\nSaffron-coloured Tincture,\nadhering to the sides of the Crucible,\nand say'd, To-morrow at nine of\nthe Clock, I will return, and\nshew you; how your Medicine\nmust be used to transmute Lead\ninto Gold. In which promise of\nhim, I rested secure. Yet, in the\nmean while, I again and again\nrequested information of him,\nwhether this Philosophick Work,\nrequired great Charges in the preparing,\nand a very long Time.\nO my Friend, answered he, you very\naccurately affect to know all\nthings, yet I will open this to\nyou; The Charge is not great, nor\nis the Time long. But, as touching\nthe matter of which our Arcanum\nis made, I would have you to\nknow; there are only two Metals\nand Minerals, of which it is prepared.\nAnd because the Sulphur\nof Philosophers is more abundant\nin these Minerals, therefore it is\nmade of them.\n\nThen I again asked him: What\nthe Menstruum was, and whether\nthe Operations were made in Glasses,\nor in Crucibles. He answered;\nThe Menstruum is a Celestial Salt,\nor a Salt of Celestial Virtue, by\nthe benefit of which, Philosophers\nonly dissolve the Terrene Metallick\nBody, and in dissolving, the\nnoble Elixir of Philosophers is\nproduced. But the Operation is,\nperformed in a Crucible, from\nthe beginning to the end, in an\nopen Fire. And the Whole Work\nmay be begun, and plainly ended\nin no longer time, then four dayes:\nAlso in this whole Work, no greater\nCost is required, then the value\nof three Florens. Lastly he added;\nNeither the Mineral, from Which,\nnor the Salt by Which, is of any\ngreat Price. I again said to him:\nMy Master; This is strange, for\nit is repugnant to the sayings of\nvarious Philosophers, Who have\nwrit, that at least seven, or nine\nMoneths are imployed in this\nWork. He answered: The true\nwritings of Philosophers are only;\nunderstood by the truly Adept.\nTherefore, touching the Time,\nthey would write nothing certain;\nyea; I say, no Lover of this Art,\ncan find the Art of preparing this\nMystery in his whole Life without\nthe Communication of some\ntrue Adept Man. In this respect\nand for this Cause, I advise you,\nmy Friend, because you have seen\nthe true Matter of the true Work,\nnot to forget your self, and thirsting\nafter the perfection of this Art,\nto cast away your own Goods;\nfor you can never find it out. Then\nI say'd: My Master, although I\nam so unknown to you, as you are\nunknown to me; nevertheless, since\nhe was unknown to you who shewed\nyou the way of finding out\nthe Operation of this Arcanum,\nperhaps you may also, if you be\nwilling, notifie to me somewhat,\ntouching this Secret, that the\nmost difficult Rudiments being overcome,\nI may (as the saying is)\nhappily add somewhat to things already\nfound out; for by the occasion\nof one thing found, another\nis not difficultly invented. But\nthe Artist answered: In this Work\nthe matter is not so, For unless\nyou know the thing, from the beginning\nof the Work to the end,\nyou know nothing thereof. Indeed\nI have told you enough, yet you\nare ignorant how the Stone of Philosophers\nis made, and again, how\nthe Glassy Seal of Hermes is broaken,\nin which Sol gives forth Splendor\nfrom his Metallick Rayes, wonderfully\ncoloured, and in which\nSpeculum, the Eyes of Narci\u00dfus\nbehold Metals transmutable, and\nfrom which Rayes the Adept gather\ntheir fire, by the help of\nwhich, Volatile Metals are fixed\ninto most fixed Gold, or Silver.\nBut enough for this time, because\n(God willing) on the Morrow,\nwe shall have occasion of meeting\nyet once more, that we may talk together\ntouching this Philosophick\nmatter; and according as I said, at\nnine a Clock, I will come to your\nHouse, and shew you the way of\nProjecting. But with that happy\nValediction for one night, that\nElias the Artist hath left me most\nsad in expectation unto this very\nday. Yea, the Mercury of Philosophers\ndid with him vanish into\nAire; because from him I did no\nmore again hear so much as one\nword. Yet he, (because he promised\nthat he would come again\nto me betimes the next morning)\nhalf an hour before ten,\nsent to me another unknown man,\nsignifying, that, that friend, who\nyesternight promised to revisit me\nthis morning, by reason of other\nurgent business, could not come,\nnevertheless, at three of the Clock\nin the afternoon, he would again\nsee me. But after I had, with a\nmost vehement desire expected\nhim, till almost eight a Clock, I\nbegan to doubt in the truth of the\nmatter. Besides, my Wife also,\na very curious Searcher in the Art\nof that Laudable man, came to\nme, troubling me, by reason of\nthe Philosophick Art, cited in that\naforesaid Severe, and Honest man;\nsaying, Go to, let us try, I pray\nthee, the Verity of the work, ac\ncording to what that man said.\nFor otherwise, I certainly shall\nnot sleep all this night. But I answered;\nI pray let us deferr it till\nto morrow; perhaps the man will\ncome then. Nevertheless, when\nI had ordered my Son to kindle the\nfire; these thoughts arose in me;\nThat man indeed, otherwise in his\ndiscourses so Divine, is now found\nthe first time guilty of a Lye. A\nsecond time, when I would make\nExperiment of my Stollen Matter\nhid under my Nayl, but to no purpose,\nbecause the Lead was not\ntransmuted into Gold. Lastly\na third time, he gave me so very\nlittle of the Matter, for tinging\nso great a Mass of Lead; that he\nalmost drove me to Desperation.\nNotwithstanding these thoughts,\nI commanded yellow Wax to be\nbrought, wherein to wrap the\nMatter, and finding Lead, I cut\noff half an Ounce, or six Drachmes.\nMy Wife wrapped the Matter of\nthe Stone in the Wax, and when\nthe Lead was in Flux, she cast\nin that little Mass, which, with\nHissing and Flatuosity, so performed\nits Operation in the Crucible\nwell closed; as in one quarter of\nan hour, the whole Mass of Lead\nwas transmuted into the best\nGold. Certainly, had I lived in\nthe Age of Ovid, I could not have\nbelieved, any Metamorphosis more\nrare, than this of the Chimical\nArt; but if I could behold things\nwith the hundred Eyes of Argus,\nI should scarcely see any work of\nNature more admirable, for this\nLead, mixt with the Stone of the\nWise, and in the Fire melted,\ndemonstrated to us a most beautiful\ncolour, yea, I say, it was most green;\nbut when I poured it out into a\n[Cone, or] fusory Cup, it received\na colour like Blood, and\nwhen it waxed cold, shined with\nthe colour of the best Gold: I, and\nall who were present with me, being\namazed, made what haste we,\ncould with the Aurificate Lead\n(even before it was through cold)\nto a Gold-Smith, who after a precious\nExamen, judged it to be\nGold most excellent, and that in\nthe whole world, better could not\nbe found; withall, adding, that for\nevery Ounce of such Gold, he\nwould give 50 Florens.\n\nThe next day, the rumour of\nthis wonderful Metallick Transmutation\nwas spread all over our\nHague; whence many illustrious\nmen, and lovers of Art, made hast\nto me, among which, by name,\nthe General Examiner of the Moneys\nof this Province of Holland,\nD^n Porelius, came to me, with certain\nother most illustrious men,\nearnestly desiring, that I would\ncommunicate to them some small\nparticle of my Artificial Gold, to\nprove it by legitimate Examens:\nthese, for their curiosity sake, I willingly\ngratified; and we went together\nto the house of a certain\nvery curious Silver-Smith, by\nname Brechtelius, in whose Workhouse,\nthe Excellency of my Gold\nwas evidenced, by that form of\nProbation, which Skilful Artists\ncall. Quarta, viz. when they in a\nCrucible melt three or four parts\nor Silver, with one part of Gold,\nand then by hammering, reduce\nthat mixture into thin Plates, on\nwhich they pour a sufficient quantity\nof Aquafortis, by which the\nSilver is dissolved, but the Gold\nsettles to the bottome, like a black\npowder. Afterward, the Aquafortis\nis poured off, and the golden\npowder, is again put into a Crucible,\nand by strong fire reduced to\nGold.\n\nBut when this work was ended,\nwe supposed, that one half of the\nGold was vanished, yet in very\ndeed it was not so: for we found\nthat the Gold, besides its own\nweight, had transmuted some part\nof the Silver into Gold, viz. two\ndrams of the Gold, transmuted\ntwo scruples of the Silver (through\nthe abundance of its Tincture)\ninto like Gold Homogeneal to it self.\n\nAfter this, we, suspecting that\nthe Silver was not well separated\nfrom the Gold did presently make\na mixture: with seven times as much\nAntimony. And after this Examen,\nwe lost eight grains of Gold;\nbut when I had again evaporated\nthe Antimony, I found nine grains\nof Gold, yet in colour somewhat\npale. Thus, in the best Tryal of\nfire, we lost nothing of this Gold,\nAnd this infallible kind of Probation,\nI thrice performed in presence\nof those most noble and illustricsus\nMen, and found, that\nevery Dram of Gold acquired from\nthe Silver for an augmentation to\nit self, one Scruple, of Gold: and\nthe Silver, is pure good, and very\nflexible. So according to this, the\nfive drams of Gold, attracted to it\nself from the Silver, five Scruples;\nand (that I may together, and at\nonce, comprise all that remains to\nbe said) the whole weight that\nthat Laudable Powder, in quantity\nso exceeding small, did transmute,\nwas six drams, and two\nScruples, of a more vile Metal,\ninto Gold, in such wise fixed, as it\nwas able perseveringly to sustain\nthe most intense Torture of Fire.\n\nBehold! thus have I exactly,\nfrom first to last, commemorated\nthis History. The Gold I indeed\nhave, but where, or in what Land\nor Countrey. Elias the Artist is at\nthis day hospited, I am wholly\nignorant for he told me, his purpose\nwas to abide in his own Country\nno longer then this Summer;\nthat after he would travil into Asia,\nand visit the Holy Land. Let the\nmost wise King of Heaven (under\nthe Shadow of whose divine\nWings he hath hitherto layn hid)\nby his Administratory Angels accompany\nhim in his intended\nJourney, and prosper it so as he\nliving to a great Age, may with\nhis inestimable Talent greatly\nsuccour the whole Republick of\nChristians, and after this Life gloriously\nbehold, and take of the\nprepared Inheritance of Life Eternal.\nAmen.\n\n\n\n\nCHAP. IV.\n\n\nTherefore, now to compleat my\npromise, I will forthwith betake\nmy self to the Dialogue or,\nColloque between Elias the Artist,\nand me the Physician.\n\nElias the Artist.\n\n\nGod save you, Master Helvetius!\nIf I may not be too troublesome, I\ndesire to have the freedom of Discoursing\nwith you for a little time,\nbecause I have heard, that you are\na curious Indagator of natural\nthings. For I have perused\nyour Books, and among them,\nespecially that whole Treatise,\nwhich you write against the effect\nof Sir Kenelm Digbies Sympathetick\n Powder, where it is gloried,\nthat the same, can at distance cure\nall Wounds. Assuredly I am incredibly\ndelighted in those things,\nwhich are beheld in this Speculum,\nwhether Sympathetick, or\nAntipathetick, naturally implanted\nin Creatures. For the inexhausted\nTreasures of the Divine\nLight and Deity, no less abundantly,\nthan liberally granted to us,\nmay best of all be known from all\nthe Creatures, which are produced\neither under the \u00c6therial Heaven,\nor in the belly of the Earth,\nor in the Womb of the Sea, to the\nend, that by their potentially insited\nvirtues, they should restore\nhealth to the Mortal Body of\nMen.\n\nHelvetius the Physician\n\nO Sir! The presence of such a\nnew Guest shall never be troublesome\nto me, but rather I receive\nyou as one of my best Friends. For\nPhilosophick Discourse, touching\nthe Secrets cf Nature, is the only\nrecreation of my Mind, also it is\nsuch convenient Salutiferous Nutriment,\nas no man can be worthy\nto taste of, before he shall be\nrightly disposed for that Banquet.\nEnter, I pray, Friend, into the House.\n\nArtist\n\nIndeed Sir! Here, as it seems to\nto me, you have a compleat Vulcanian\nShop, and perhaps all\nthese things Spagyrically and exactly\ndrawn from, the Mineral\nKingdom; but I pray, to what end so\nmany Medicaments? I believe,\nthat God in the things of Nature,\nnaturally gives such Medicines,\nwith a very few of which, we\nmay much sooner, and more safely\nre-integrate the decayed, and languishing\nHealth of Man, unless\nthe Disease be Mortal, from a\ndeficiency of Nature, or from the\nputrefaction of some noble internal\npart hurt, or by reason of a total\nabsumption of the radical humidity\nin which desperate Cases,\nno Galenick Cure, or Paracelsick\nTincture can yeild releif. But in\nordinary Diseases it is not so; and\nyet here, very many Men, before\nthe fatal term of Life be expired\n(abfit Nemesis dicto) are enforced\nto pass out of this fair Kingdom of\npleasing Light, into the Shadowed\nLand of the Dead, whilst, either\nthey neglect the health of their\nown Body, or commit the same to\nthe Faith of Physicians, unskilful\nof the Remedy they have in their\nhand.\n\nPhysician.\n\nAs far as I can gather from your\ndiscourse, if my Judgement deceive\nme not, you are either a Physician,\nor a man expert in Chimistry.\nCertainly, according as you say,\nso I believe, that in the things of\nNature are given other more excellent\nMedicaments, as also very\nmany other Philosophers affirm,\nthat there is a certain (although\nto few known) Universal Medicament,\nby the benefit which,\nwe may prolong Life unto the appointed\nEnd, cure all Diseases\notherwise uncurable, and many\nother such things. But, where is\nany among all the Wisest men of\nthis world, that can shew us the\nway, how to find out so noble a\nFountain, whence such a wonderful\nMedicamentous juice, nobilitating\nthe Physician, is drawn?\nPerhaps no one man.\n\nArtist.\n\nIndeed, I am not a Physician,\nbut only a Melter of Orichalcum,\nand almost from my Child-hood,\nhave exercised my Ingeny in Pyrotechny,\nand so have sought out\nthe internal Nature of Metals\nAnd although I now cease from\nmy usual diligence in elaborating\nsome accurate work, by the Art of\nVulcan, yet my mind still takes delight\nin labours of that kind, and\nin the lovers of this most curious\nSpagyrick Art; and I do verily.\nbelieve and judge, that the most\nWise God, will in this our age\ncommunicate gratis, or for nothing,\nthe Metallick Mysteries of\nNature to his Spagyrick Sons,\nPraying, and Physico-chimically\nLabouring.\n\n\nPhysician.\n\n\nMy Friend, I must needs grant\nthis, that God, for nothing, communicates\nto his Sons, this laudable\nGood, as well as all other gifts;\nyet you shall very rarely hear, that\nhe for nothing gives or vends this\nMedicamentous Wine or Nectar to\nhis Sons. For we certainly know,\nhow great a number of Chymists\nlived in former ages who,  (according\nto the Proverb ) strove to draw\nwater in a Sieve, whilest\nthey presumed to prepare this\nUniversal Stone of Philosophers.\nBesides, out of the books of them,\nwho triumph in the glory of\nAdept, no one man can learn the\nway of preparing, nor know their\nFirst Matter, so as any one, searching\nto the lowest roots of Mountains,\ncan never ascend to those\ntheir Heights, where Ambrosia, and\nNectar of Macrosophists, is\ndrank.\n\nIn the mean time, it is the part\nof a good Physician, since he\nwants such an Universal Elixir,\n(not without the daily study of\nconserving his Conscience pure\nand sound) to adhibit to the Diseases\nof the Sick, commended to\nhis Cure, such Curations; or Remedies\nas for restoring Sanity as in\nwhich he (from the effect) certainly\nknows, that a virtue of healing\nis incited.\n\nWherefore, in all desperate Diseases,\nI, with many other Practitioners,\ndo alwayes use such most simple\nMedicaments, that thence\nthe Diseased may soon be restored\nto their Pristine state of Health,\nor to a better than the Pristine.\n\nFor indeed, various and diverse\nkinds of Salts, are generated in\nthe Glandules and Lymphatick\nVessels, after the putrefaction of\nthis, or that nutriment taken,\nwhich afterward wax florid in various\nHumours, for diverse Diseases,\neither Internal, or External. Experience\nteacheth, that as many\nas are the Constitutions, or Complexions\nof humane bodies, to so\nmany diversities of Diseases the\nsame are obnoxious; although in\none manner, and the same Disease,\nas our daily conversation evidenceth\nto us in those who drink\nWine, whence divers Operations\nmanifestly discover themselves.\n\nBecause Peter drinks Wine, he\nlabours with an angry, I will not\nsay, furious mind.\n\nOn the contrary, Paul drinking\nWine, seems to imbibe his mind\nwith an Agnine Timorousness.\n\nBut Matthias sings, and Luke\nweeps.\n\nAlso,\n\nTouching the Scorbutick Contagious\nVenome, viz. of Peter,\nhis radical juice in the Lymphatick\nVessels, and Glandules, is\nconverted into an Acidity, stopping\nthe passages, and all Organs of the\nwhole body, whence, under the\nSkin, arise Spots on the Arms and\nLegs of a blewish colour, but in\ntimes of Pestilence, they swell like\nPepper Corns.\n\n\nAlso\n\nThe juice of Pauls parts is changed\ninto an Aperitive Bitterness;\nwhence, under the Skin of the\nArms and Legs, arise red Spots,\npricking like the bitings of Fleas;\nbut in a Pestilential time, they\nare Blanes.\n\nAlso\n\nThe juice of Matthias his\nparts, is converted into a sweetness\neasily putrifying; whence,\nunder the Skin of Arms and leg,\narise watery Tumours, almost\nsuch as are conspicuous in Dropsical\nPersons; but in time of the\nPest, they are Pestilential Tumours.\n\nAlso,\n\nThe juice of the parts of Luke,\nis changed into a Saline, and drying\nsharpness; whence, under the\nSkin of the Arms and Legs, arise\nPrecipitations of the ordinary Ferment\nof the Flesh, and Exficcations,\nas usually happens in this\nAtrophia, yea most frequently in\nthe true Atrophia. But in the Pest,\nthey become most ardent Buboes,\nwith madness, even until death.\n\nBehold, my Friend, no Physician,\nby one only Universal Medicament,\ncan heal the Evil of\nthis Scorbutick, or Pestilential, or\nFebrile Venome, but indeed, by\nthe Mediation of some particular\nVegetable, or Mineral Remedy,\ngiven to us from God in Nature, he\nmay exterminate the same. For,\nas I cannot heal, or help all Scorbutick\nPersons, with one only Scorbutick\nHerb, as Scurvy-grass, or\nSorrel, or Fumitory, or Brooklime;\nso, much less of a certain\nremedy made of these diverse Species\ncongested into one; because,\nbetween the Herbs Scurvy-grass and\nSorrel, there is an Antipathy, as\nbetween Fire and Water; and so\nthere is the same Antipathy\nbetween the Herbs Fumitory and\nBrook-lime.\n\nTherefore, the Correctory of\nPeters Scorbutick Saline acid\ntinging Venome, is made with the\nVolatile bitter Salt of Scurvy-grass.\n\nBut the Correctory of Pauls\nScorbutick Saline bitter tinging\nVenome, is made with the acid\nfixed Salt of the Herb Sorrel.\n\nThe Correctory of Matthias his\nScorbutick sweetish, and moistning\ntinging Venome is made by the help\nof the fixed bitter drying Sulphur\nof the Herb Fumitory.\n\nAnd the Correctory of Lukes\nScorbutick tinging Saline and\ndrying Venome, is made with the\nhelp of the sweet moistning Mercury\nof the Herb Brook-lime, or\nred Colewort, as from the External\nSignature of these Herbs, it is\neasie to judge of the Internal Specifick\nRemedy against there diverse\nScorbutick Disease. Certainly,\nmy Friend, if this be observed\nby a prudent Physician, he\nmust needs doubt of the Universal\nMedicine,\n\nArtist.\n\nAll you have discoursed of, I\ncan easily grant; yet very few\nPhysicians use this Method of\nhealing. Yet, in the meanwhile,\nit is not impossible, that an Universal\nMedicine should be given in\nthe highest Mineral Kingdome,\nby the benefit of which we may\nperform and administer all things,\nwhich are by you related to me,\ntouching the lowest Kingdom of\nVegitables; but the most wise God,\nfor several weighty reasons, hath\nnot on all Philosophers promiscuously\nconferred this most magnificent\nCharisma of Supereminent\nScience, but hath revealed it only;\nto a very few. According as all\nthe Adept, with one mouth, confess,\nand say: The Science is true,\nAnd, the verity thereof not to be\ndoubted.\n\nPhysician\n\nSir, besides the above commemorated,\nthere are also other Observations;\nstrenuously refuting the\nOperation on an Universal Medicine,\npartly in respect of the Age\nand strength of Man, partly by\nreason of the Sex, and other Circumstances,\nwhilst a difference is\nto be made between the tender,\nand the Robust, whether from\nNature, or from Education; or\nbetween the Male and Female, or\nbetween a Young Man and a Virgin,\nor between the Beginning,\nMiddle, or End of Diseases; or\nit is to be understood whether a\nDisease, be inveterate, or the Sick\nbe lately invaded; or lastly, whether\nthe Ferment be promoted in\nthis Disease, or be precipited in\nin another. Effervescency is made\neither in the Stomach or in the Intestines.\nAssuredly there are many\ncontradictions of the Wonderful\neffect, of the Universal Medicine.\nFor the greatest part of rational\nPhysicians want the Perspicil\nof Thomas Didymus in their\nFingers.\n\n\nArtist\n\nIndeed, Sir; you have philosophised\nrightly, and well, yea, Arthodoxly,\nagainst the universal Medicament,\naccording to that notorious,\nand far spred proverb. As\nmany Heads, so many Senses. For\nas Sweet sounding Musick delights\nnot the Ears of every Midas; nor\ndoth the Same History related\nplease all Historians; nor of Bread\nand Wine, of the same Taste, is\nthere a like relish in all Palats. So\nalso the judgements of Skilful Men\ndo strangely differ, touching the\nwonderful Effect of this Universal\nMedicine, on Humane and\nMetallick Bodies. For this Universal\nMedicine, in its way of\nOperating, vastly differs, from a\nparticular Medicine, which may\nin some sense be called Universal,\nas the Herb Scurvy-grass, curing\nevery Scorbutick marked with blew\nSpots; or Sorrel, healing every Scurvy,\nnoted with red Spots; or Brook-lime,\nhealing an Atrophia of that\nKind, or Fumitory remedying\nTumors of that Kind: and that\nespecially with such Physicians,\nwith whom the Observation\nyou before recited, is of any esteem.\nMoreover, there is an exceeding\ngreat difference between the Universal\nMedicine of Philosophers,\nrefreshing the vital Spirits, and\nbetween a Particular Medicament\nof Proletary-Curation, with which is\ncorrected the venom of Humors;\nviz. such as boyles up against Nature,\nin this Man, Acid; in that\nMan, the Bitter is predominant;\nin one, what is Saline, in another,\nwhat is sharp, grow potent. But,\nif these Corrupt humors be not\nwithout all delay presently expelled\nout of the Body, by the ordinary\nEmunctories of Nature either\nby the Belly, or by Urine of the\nBladder, or by the Sweat through\nthe Pores, or by the Spittle of the\nMouth, or by the Nostrils,\nassuredly the corruption of one,\nbecomes the Generation of another,\nviz. of a Disease. For, from\nevery spark, if we do not timely\nextinguish it, an exceding great\nburning will arise. Also, if there be\na defect, of the Vital Spirits, it is\nimpossible to effect this. Therefore\nthe only care of a Conscientious\nPhysician should be, how to\ndeduce the motion of the Vital\nSpirits to a digestible natural Heat,\nand that is best of all, and most securely\nperformed by the Operation\nof our Universal Medicament, by\nwhich they are found to be notably\nrecreated. For as soon as this\nmore than perfect Medicine hath driven\nthe Morbifick Evil from\nthe Seat it occupies, then immediately\nit infuseth the lost Sanity,\nand that only from the Harmony,\nor Sympathy it self, which the\nVital Spirits, and this Medicine,\nhave mutually in themselves.\nWherefore, it, by the Adept, is called\nthe Mystery of Nature, and the\nDefensive of old Age, against all\nDiseases. Which, I fay, even in\na most pestilent Season, most full\nof contagious Diseases every where\nraging, makes of man a Salamander,\nbearing such Epidemical\nPlagues of Heaven displeased,\nuntil the utmost term of his Life\nbe expired.\n\nPhysician\n\n\nAs far as I, beloved Friend, can\nunderstand, this Medicine makes\nnot for the Emendation of depraved\nHumours, but is chiefly conducent\nfor the recreation of the Vital Spirits.\nBesides, among practical Chimists,\nthis Secret is taught, viz.\nthat by the Spayrick Art, it may be\ncommonstrated, how the pure\nshould be separated from the impure,\nand by the same, how the Immature\nare rendred mature, and\nhow the Bitter are corrected into\nsourish, and the sourish into Sweet,\nand the Sharp into Gentle, and\nthe Gentle into Sharp; and the\nAcid into Sweet, and the Sweet\ninto Acid. Also this Laudable\nMedicine of Philosophers, according\nto my understanding, cannot\nprolong Life, beyond the term\nprefixed from above, but only\npreserve from the Effect of all\nVenimous, or otherwise mortiferous\nDiseases: and so it is certainly\ntrue, as is commonly believed,\nthat the prolongation of Humane\nLife depends, on the Will of the\nOmnipotent God only. But, omitting\nthese, I would here ask this\none Question. Whether by the\nuse of this Universal Medicine,\nthe pristine Nature of Man may be\nconverted into New, so as a Slothful\nMan may degenerate into a\nDiligent, or stirring Man, and a\nMan, who before was by Nature\nMelancholy and Sad, afterward\nbecame Jovial, Chearful, and full\nof Joy, or like alterations, reformations,\npermutations, or vicissitudes\nhappen in the Nature of\nMan?\n\nArtist.\n\nNot at all Sir. For so great power\nwas never conferred on any Medicament,\nthat it could change the\nNature of Man. Wine inebriating,\ntaken by diverse individual Men,\nin him, who is drunk, changeth\nnot his Nature but only provokes,\nand deduceth into act, what is naturally,\nand potentially in him,\nbut before was as it were, dead.\nEven so is the Operation of the\nUniversal Medicine, which by\nrecreation of the Vital Spirits, excites\nSanity, for a time only suppressed,\nbecause it was naturally\nin him before; even as the heat of\nthe Sun changeth not Herbs, or\nFlowers, but only provokes the same,\nand from the proper potential nature\nof them, deduceth them into\nact only. For a Man of a Melancholy\ntemper, is again raised up\nto exercise his own Melancholy\nmatters; and the jovial Man, who\nwas pleasant, is recreated in all\nhis chearful actions, and so consequently,\nin all desperate Diseases\nit is a present, or most excellent\nPreservative. Hence a Man, presaging\nthat some evil will befal\nhim, will rather prevent than be\nprevented. But if any prolongation\nof Life, by some Philosophick\nMedicament, could have\nbeen induced, against the predestination\nof the Omnipotent God, undoubtedly\nneither Hermes Trismegistus,\nnor Paracelsus, nor Raymundlully,\nnor the Count Bernhard, and\nmany more like illustrious Possessors\nof this great Mystery, would\nnot have yeilded to the common\ndeath of all Mortals, but perhaps\nhave protracted their Life\nuntil this very Day, Therefore, it\nwould be the part of a fanatick, and\nfoolish Man to affirm this, yea of\na most foolish Man, to believe,\nand assent to the same, touching\nany one Medicament in the things\nof Nature.\n\nPhysician.\n\nMy Friend, whatsoever you have\nspoken no less regularly, than fundamentally,\ntouching the Operation\nof the Universal Medicine, I\nindeed cherefully, and willingly\ngrant, but as long as I am ignorant\nof preparing the same rightly, I\ndo no other than attempt to carry\nmy Boat from a very small Lake,\ninto the Vast Ocean, because it\nwill certainly be driven back to the\nShore, without any Fruit. For although\nmany of those illustrious\nMen have written somewhat\ntouching that laudable preparation,\nyet they involved that in such a\nWrapper of shadowed Caution, as\nthe Footsteps of them latently demonstrated,\ncan be known by few\nor none of the most diligent Readers,\nwho should follow them so\nfar, as until they come where they\nwould be. Also, who is so wealthy,\nand well informed, as to be able,\nand to know where to buy all\nthose Books, in which, here, and\nthere an Hypothesis of this kind is\nhandled: betides, you may consume\nthe greatest part of your life, before\nyou can gather thence any sufficient\nknowledge, or the direct\nmanual Operation. Therefore it\nis best for us to abide patiently in\nour Laboratory, praying to the\nblessed God, according to that Saying:\n\n\n      Ora, ac Labora; & Deus dat omni hora.\n\n      Labour, and Pray; God gives alway.\n\n\nArtist\n\nYou argue rightly enough Sir.\nFor, from the writings of Philosophers,\nthis Art of Arts is most rarely\nlearned; but the Sense them\nis very well, and clearely understood\nby the Manuduction of some\nAdept Philosopher. But let us hence\npass to the Transmutative Effect of\nthis most noble Tincture, touching\nwhich, the possessors, or many of\nthe Adept, have written many\nBooks, and the most of their Genuine\nDisciples, labouring much\nin the Fire, did at length compleatly\nattain to the wished End of their\nArcanum,\n\nPhysician\n\nI perceive your Mastership takes\npleasure in passing from the use of\nthe Medicine, to the infinite Transmutation\nof Metals. Although I\ncould easily believe the possibility\nof Art, viz. that a Chymical Experiment\nof that kind was in the\nAdept, as I have also made mention\nabove, touching that Experiment\nof Dr. Kifflerus who, with\nthe Tincture of one ounce of Gold\ntransmuted 1 ounce & half of Silver\ninto the best Gold, not to mention\nthe Experiment of Helmont; nor of\nScotus, which he made in the most\nfamous Cities of Colonia, and Hanovia;\nnor much to insist on that\nillustrious, and well known Example,\nmanifested at Prague, before\nC\u00e6sar Ferdinando the third, himself;\nwhere with one only grain of\nthe Tincture, three pounds Mercury\nwere transmuted into most noble\nGold; insomuch that I am\nbrought no less into a neccessity, than\ninto a Will of believing, that the\nArt may be true; yet I cannot to\nthis hour sufficiently receive it\nwithout some doubt, because with\nthese my Eyes, I never in all my\nLife saw the Man, who was the\ntrue possessor thereof.\n\n\nArtist.\n\nSir, you say true? yet Art will be\nArt, whether you can believe it or\nno. Even as is seen in the Magnet.\nHow it by its own insited Sulphureous\nVirtue, of Iron, by Contact\npresently makes a Magnet. Although\nyou will not believe, that\nsuch wonderful Operations are latent\nin it, yet they are, and will remain\ntrue. So also you should\nJudge of the Stone of Philosophers,\nin which is all that the Wise seek.\nAnd because the clouded Writings\nof them, can be understood, and\nexplained but by very few, it is to\nbe desired earnestly by all, and\nwith the hands it must be endavoured,\nthat some one General Epitomen\nof the whole Art, may so be\nmade, as in a very short space of\ntime, and without much labour, all\nthings necessary may be gathered,\nby the help of which, a most easy\nTransition to real Authors, might\nbe effected. Now since you have\npresented some few Examples, by\nwhich you endeavour to assert the\nconfirmed possibility of the Matter;\nI my self will here shew to you\nthe True Matter of Secret Philosophers.\nBehold it! Look well,\nupon it.\n\nPhysician.\n\nSo my Master, Is this Sulphureous,\nand Yellow Glassy Substance\nthe very Philosophick Matter?\nAnd are you your self the\nPossessor of this Science? I am\nready to believe you do but jest\nwith me. I pray Sir, tell me the\nTruth, whether it be really so,\nor not?\n\n\nArtist.\n\nYes, Matter Doctor, You now\nhave within your hand, the most\npretious Treasure in the World.\nFor this is the true Stone of Philosophers,\nthan which, no Man\never had a better, nor shall have\nany other. And I my self did elaborate\nthe Composition, from beginning\nto end. If you have another\nconvenient Chamber, I will\nShew you Metal transmuted into\nGold, by such a Stone as this\n(When I had brought him into\nanother Chamber.) Behold (said\nhe) these five Pendants, were,\nby the benefit of this Philosophick\nTincture, prepared of Saturn, or\nLead; which I wear for a perpetual\nRemembrance of my Master.\nBut I suppose, you, having perused\nmany Writings of the Adept,\nseeing the Substance, and Nature\nof this Stone, will very sufficiently\nknow the true Matter, or rightly\nunderstand the same.\n\nPhysician.\n\nI understand by your self, that\nyou had a Master, from whom you\nrather learned your Art, than acquired\nthe same, by your proper\nLabour and Invention. And although\nI now have seen that Substance,\nwhich you affirm to be the\ntrue Tincture of Philosophers, as\nalso those five Pendants, nevertheless\nI am still left ignorant, and in\ndoubt, whether it be true or no.\nTherefore, I earnestly again and\nagain request of you, to confer on\nme only so small a part of that\nmatter, as will suffice to transmute\nonly four grains of Lead into Gold,\nthat you may this way remove\nfrom me all Scruple or Doubt,\nand render me so much the more\ncertain of the verity of the Matter.\nGive me but the magnitude of one\ngrain only, or of a Coriander-seed,\nthat thence a Specimen, or\nProbation, may be exhibited, either\nin some desperate Disease, or in\na Metallick Transmutation.\n\nArtist.\n\nI do confess, that a certain Man\nof good Condition, to me wholly\nunknown, by demonstrating taught\nme; First, the possibility of transmutation;\nsecondly the way of\npreparing also. And this is that\nInfallible Art, touching which\nyou have no reason to doubt. But\nwhereas, you request that I should\ngive you one small part of my Treasure;\nthat is no wise lawful for me\nto do, although, you would give\nas a Recompense, so many Ducats,\nas this whole Room, from\nthe bottom to the top, would contein;\nand that not by reason of\nthe estimation of the Matter, because\nit is of small Price, but for\nanother weighty Reason, in respect\nof which, if it were possible,\nthat Fire could be consumed by\nFire, I would at this time, rather\ncast this whole Mass into the devouring\nFlames, before your Eyes.\nWherefore, in the meanwhile, I admonish\nyou, not to be so eager in\ncoveting this so great Science. For\nyou have this day seen more in my\npossession, than many Kings, and\nPrinces could ever behold,\nalthough they eagerly desired to see\nthe same. Besides, I think of comming\nto you again, after 3 Weeks,\nthen I will shew to you certain excellent\nArts, and Manuductions in\nthe Chymical Science. Also, if\nit shall then be lawful for me, to\nshew you the way of Transmutation,\nI will truely satisfie your Curiosity\ntherein. In the mean while,\nI bid you farewel, withal, admonishing,\nthat you take heed to your\nself, and meddle not with such a\ngreat, and profound Labour, least:\nyou miserably loose both your\nFame, and substance in the Ashes\nlike some other covetous inquisitors,\nof the same most noble Art.\n\nPhysician.\n\nNow, what shall I do, my Master?\nIf it happen, that, by reason\nof your Philosophick Oath, confirmed\nby that small draught of\nSilver, dissolved in Rain-water,\nit shall not be lawful for you to\ngive me that requested exceeding\nsmall part of the Tincture so wonderful.\nYou cannot be ignorant,\nthat I (according to your suspicion)\nam in mind anxious, and\nearnestlie desirous of tasting of this\nso noble Science. Yea, I do verilie\nthink, if Adam himself, the first\nPatriark of the World (who was\nonce driven out of Paradice, for\neating the Apple of either Wisedom)\nwere yet living in this our\nAge, he would not forbear again\nthe Taste of this Golden Apple, from\nthe Garden of Atlantis.\n\nYour Mastership said: Manie\nPrinces could not see this which I\nhave seen. I, indeed have seen the\nMatter, of which you give so rare a\nTestimony; but in the mean while I\nhave not beheld the transmutative\nEffect; only I give credit to your\nWords. And, since you have told\nme, that you will go hence, and\nafter three Weeks return to me again,\nto teach me some excellent\nChymical Arts, as also the way\nof projection, if it shall then be\nlawful for you. In the fruition of\nthis good hope, I at this time rest\nsatisfied; in the mean time, giving\nyou hearty thanks, for your exceeding\ngreat Friendship shewed to me\nalreadie, and, for your singular\nCare, and faithful admonition,\nthat I should not in Chymical Labours,\nconsume both my Goods\nand Reputation. I assuredly have\nnever yet made tryal of so great,\nand high things, nor ever will I\nattempt the me, unless your self\nwill first gratis, and from the\npure benevolence of Friendship,\ndemonstrate to me, the way and\nmanner of preparing. Yet I shall\nadmire the Verity of Art, and\nplease my self with the Remembrance\nof the Friendship you have\nshewed me; because you, who\nhave revealed this to me, are an\nAdept Philosopher.\n\nBut if any King, or Prince, or\nany Great Man, or Men, should\nknow, that you are the Possessor\nof this Art, and therefore (which\nGod forbid) should lay hold of\nyou, and attempt by Tortures to\nbring you to a discovery, would\nyou reveal this Art to them?\n\n\nArtist.\n\nI have not shewed the Stone of\nPhilosophers to any man, except\nto one aged man, and to your\nself; to both of you, I have revealed\nthat I am the Possessor;\nbut, henceforth, no man must\never see or hear such a thing.\nAnd although any King, or Prince,\nshould (which God I hope will\nnot permit) cast, me into Prison,\nI would not, after the manner of\nCircumforanean Physicians [or\nMountebanks] or Vagabond Impostors\nor of poor Alchimists,\ndirectly, or indirectly, discover\nthe Art to them, but would rather\nsuffer my self to be most cruelly\nwracked, tortured, or tormented\nwith burning Fire, untill\nmy life expire.\n\n\nPhysician\n\nGood Friend, are there not\nAuthors, which, touching the\nverity of this Art, write more\nplainly, then all the number of\nthem, which, concerning it, utter\nwords so obscure, as perhaps\nthey themselves did not understand,\nunless they adhibited the.\nCommentaries, and Annotations\nof evident Paraphrasists. I suppose you\nhave in times past read\nthem, and therefore are best\nable to inform me, who were\nAdept.\n\nArtist.\n\nMaster Doctor, I indeed read\nnot, nor have I read many Books,\nyet among those I have read, I\nfind no Authors more curious,\nthan Sandivogius, especially in\nthat Book, which is Entituled\nCosmopolita, in Dutch, Borger Der\nWerelt.  Also Brother Basilius in\nin his twelve Keys. As to Sandivogius,\nthis Author you may peruse,\nuntill I return, as I said: for\nin his obscure words the truth is\nlatent, even as our Tincture of\nPhilosophers is both included, and\nretruded, in External Minerals,\nand Metallick Bodies.\n\nPhysician\n\nSir, I give you thanks, for this\nso great friendship. I shall do according\nto your advice, and as to\nwhat you say, touching the Objects\nof the Tincture, I easily assent\nto, and grant; for I believe\nthat the wonderful, and efficacious\nEssences of Metals, are hid\nunder the external Rinds and\nShells of Bodies, although I find\nvery few so well exercised, and\nexperienced in the Fire, who\nknow how to uncase the Kernel,\naccording to the Rule of Art.\nEvery External, and Robust Substance,\nof any Animal, Vegetable,\nor Mineral, is the Body,\nlike unto that Terrestrial Province,\ninto which (as Isaac Holland\nhath prescribed) excellent\nEssences spiritually enter. Wherefore,\nit is needful, that the Sons\nof Art should know, how by\nsome Saline suitable Ferment,\ngrateful to the Metallick Nature,\nthey may subdue, dissolve, separate\nand concentrate, not only\nthe Magnetick Metallick virtue\nof Tinging, but also, how they\nmay multiply the same in its own\nPhilosophick Homogeneal Golden,\nor Silvery-manner. For we\nsee, that the bodies of all Creatures,\nare not only easily destroyed,\nbut thenceforth also the Internals\ncease to live, and hasten to\nthe dark Shadowings, in which\nthey were, before they, by the\nCreation of God the Creator, were\nbrought to Light. But what Man\nwill discover to us this Art in the\nMetallick Kingdom?\n\nArtist\n\nYou say well, and have rightly\njudged of the Natural Destruction\nof things, and if it shall be pleasing\nto the most merciful God, to\ndeal graciously with you as He\nhath done with me; He, according\nto your good hope, will direct\nsome one of the Adept to demonstrate,\nto you the way of destroying\nMetals, and of collecting the\nInternal Souls of them. But, in\nthe mean while, do you invoke\nthe most Wise God, to whose\nVigilant Eyes I commend you,\nwhich are always open upon\nhis Sons, regenerated to him\nby Christ. Again Farewel, and\nrest assured, I will be your Friend.\nI must at this time go hence,\nbut I hope to see you again in\ngood health, ere it be long.\n\nThus my new Friend took\nhis Leave, and went away; it leaving\nme, his Friend, most sad\nfor the space of three Weeks,\nwhich being expired, according\nto his Word, he returned, and\ngave me the Tincture, as you may\nlearn by the above-recited History.\nAfter this, that Philosophick\nMan of God went from me, and\nI never more saw him, from\nthat time, unto to this very day,\nnor could I hear of him by any\nof the Carriers, or Posts, or by\nany of my Intimate Acquaintance.\n\nNevertheless, he left with me\n(as a Spurre) the acute Memory\nof, him, reposted in my\nminde, as also the Opinion of\nParacelsus affirming, that by Metals,\nof Metals, and with Metals,\ncleansed, Spiritual, and first depurated\nfrom their feculency, are\nmade Metals, and the Living\nGold and Silver of Philosophers,\nas well for Humane, as for Metallick\nBodies. Wherefore if\nthat Guest, my Friend of but\nlittle acquaintance, had exactly\nshewed to me, the way of preparing\npreparing this Celestial Spiritual Salt,\nby which, and with which,\nfrom Corporeal, and Earthly Substances,\nI might, as it were, in the\nMatrix of them, collect the Spiritual\nRayes of Sol or Luna:\nassuredly, He from his own Light,\nwould have enkindled in me so\ngreat a Light, as I should have\nseen, and understood how I ought\nin other Corporeal Metals, by\nSympathy to transmute the Eternal\nSoul of them so, as by the\nhelp thereof they had clarified,\nor transformed their own like body,\neither into Gold, or into\nSilver, according to the disposition\nof the Red seed, into a Red\nBody, or according to the Nature\nof the White Seed, into a White\nBody. For Elias the Artist affirmed\nto me, that the Chalybs\nOf Sandivogius is that true Mercurial\nMetallick Humidity, by\nthe help of which, without any\nCorrosive, the Artist might, in an\nopen Fire, and Crucible, separate\nthe fixed Rayes of Sol\nor Luna from their own Body, and\nthenceforth make them Volatile\nand Mercurial, for the Dry Philosophick\nTincture, as he demonstrated\nto me; and communicated\nsomewhat relating to the\ntransmutation of Metals. Indeed all\nmen well skilled in the Chymical\nScience, have a necessity of assenting\nto me in this, viz. that Pyrotechny\nis the Mother, and Nurse\nof various noble Sciences and Arts.\nFor they can easily judge from\nthe Colours of the Chaos of Metals\nin the Fire, what Metallic\nbody is therein. Even so dayly\nin the bowels of the Earth are\nprocreated Metals, and Perspicuous\nStones, from a proper noble\nvaporous Seed, from a Spiritual\ntinging Sulphureous Seed,\nin their diverse Saline Matrixes.\nFor the common Sulphur, whether\nof an impure, or pure Metal\nwhilst conjoyned with its own\nbody, mixt with Salt Peter only in\nthe burning heat of Fire is easily\nchanged into a most hard\nand most fixed Earth, but this\nEarth is thenceforth by the Aire\neasily changed into a most limpid\nWater: and this Water afterward,\nby a more strong Fire,\naccording to the Nature of the\nMetallick pure or impure Sulphur\nmixt is converted into Glass,\nadmirably Well tinged with various\nColours. Almost in the very\nsame manner, from the White of\nan Egge is generated a Chick by\nnatural heat. So also from the\nSeminal bond of Life of any one\nMetal, is made a new, and more\nnoble Metal, by an heat of Fire\nconvenient to the Saline Nature;\nalthough very few Chimists rightly\nand perfectly know, how the\nInternal, and alwayes moving\nMagnetick virtues, are distinguished\naccording to the Harmony,\nor Disconsonancy of them.\nWhence we see, this Metal hath\na Sympathy or Antipathy with\nanother, so very singular, as is\nfound in the Magnet with Iron, in\nMercury with Gold, in Silver with\nCopper, a very remarkable Sympathy,\nbut on the contrary, there\nis a notable Antipathy in Lead\nagainst Tin, in Iron against Gold,\nin Antimony against Silver, in\nLead against Mercury. Infinite\nother like Sympathetic, and Antipathetick\nAnnotations occurr in\nthe Animal & Vegetable Kingdom;\nas you may read and find in various\nAuthors, who have written of\nsuch Curiosities, from the accurate,\nand absolute Knowledge of\nwhich, the true Philosophers,\nand Masters of Nature had their\nbeginning, and Esteem.\n\nThus have I described, what I\nmy self have seen and done; and\nhave caused the same to be printed\nfor you, Candid Readers, out of\nmere Liberality, gratis communicating\nit, according to that of Seneca:\nI desire in this to know\nsomewhat, that I may teach others.\nSi cum hac Exceptione detur Sapientia,\nut illlam inclusam tencam, abjiciam,\n&c. But if any man doubt\nof the real truth of this matter, let\nhim only with a lively faith believe\nin his Crucified Jesus, that\nin Him, he (by the strict way of\nRegeneration) may become a\nNew Creature; in the same let\nhim fix the whole Anchor, of his\nFaith, and likewise shew his [Greek: philanthropia],\nor Love of Mankind, unto\nall his Neighbours, and especially\nexercise the works of Mercy, and\nBrotherly Love towards the needy\nMembers of the Christian Religion,\nthat at length, when the whole\nCourse of his Life is justly, and\nholily finished, in that Fatal and\nMortal hour, he may hence,\nthrough the Watery Ocean of this\nTempestuous and Rocky World,\narrive in safety at the most blessed\nPort of Eternal Rest, and sing the\nNew Song with the Triumphing\nPhilosophers of the Heavenly\nJerusalem, of which he hopes to\ntake, who is,\n\nYour most faithful and\nassured Friend\n\nJohn Frederick Helvetius,\n\nDoctor and Practitioner of Medicine at the Hague.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nTranscriber's note: Repeated word \"perused\" deleted.","title":"The Golden Calf, Which the World Adores, and Desires: In Which Is Handled the Most Rare and Incomparable Wonder of Nature, in Transmuting Metals; viz. How the Intire Substance of Lead, Was in One Moment Transmuted in Gold-Obrizon, with an Exceeding Small Particle of the True Philosophick Stone","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":15834}