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BOOK FIVE

THE CHEMICAL BASILICA

CONCERNING MINERALS.

CHAPTER I.

Concerning Antimony.

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Antimony (says Libavius Andreas Libavius (1555–1616) was a German physician and chemist known for writing one of the first systematic chemistry textbooks.) is a hard, earthy, brittle mineral body, consisting of Sulfur and a dark Arsenic, and a more earthy Mercury original: "hydrargyro"; yet it is more volatile in all its parts than Bismuth, being corrupted by a certain glassy mineral earth. Therefore, it emits a foul and abundant vapor; because this vapor is for the most part Mercurial and to a lesser extent Sulfurous and Arsenical, it is snowy white. However, once the more spiritual part is removed, it is changed into a red Tincture A "tincture" in alchemy refers to a concentrated medicinal or transformative extract. on account of the Sulfur.

Another noble man defines it thus: Antimony is an earthy mineral body of an ash-gray color, not capable of being hammered original: "non malleabile". It consists of a twofold Sulfur: one impure or flammable original: "φλογιστῷ" (phlogistō). This Greek term refers to the combustible element within a substance., and another most pure, which is internal and red. To these are added a dark Arsenic and Quicksilver Mercury, which is found to be endowed with a certain specific power of changing and "cooking" In alchemy, "cooking" or "coction" refers to the process of maturing or purifying a substance through heat. substances. The medicinal preparation of Antimony consists in cleansing and correcting the humors In pre-modern medicine, the "humors" were the bodily fluids—blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile—whose balance determined health., and in the strengthening of the natural internal organs. Hence, the most excellent spagyric Spagyric refers to the alchemical process of separating a substance into its fundamental components and then recombining them in a purified, more potent form. medicines are prepared from it, which can be used with great benefit both inside and outside the human body.

Paracelsus The influential Swiss physician and alchemist (1493–1541) who championed the use of minerals in medicine. in volume 8, book 4 of his Philosophy, chapter 5, says: This Antimony follows,