THE CHEMICAL BASILICA

Antimony: the test and torture of Gold.

...female, shining, and brittle. It is called the test and torture of Gold original: "Auri examen & supplicium." Antimony was used in a process called "cupellation" or similar refining methods where it would react with and remove impurities from gold, essentially "torturing" the metal to leave it pure.. It is mixed into the material used for bells, and is employed in the casting of cannons. Its metallic form original: "Regulus." This refers to the metallic button of antimony found at the bottom of a crucible after smelting. is beneficial for printers' type, etc.

Paracelsus, in volume 8, book 4, page 285, says: The element of water in Antimony possesses more than ten "sweetnesses," which become known through a prescribed separation, etc. A little later he adds: The ten sweetnesses of Antimony provide ten virtues, which the earth holds divided among ten herbs, yet these lie hidden together in the single substance of Antimony. And without knowledge of this distribution, no physician can penetrate to the true foundation of medicine. In Volume 6, book 3, page 209, he says: Antimony reveals its enmity in this: that it spoils, takes away, and plunders all metals with which it is melted in the fire and mixed; furthermore, not unlike Sulfur, it steals the genuine and natural color from metals with its smoke and substitutes another.

In the same volume, in book 6 of the Archidoxa The Archidoxa (Greater Secrets) is one of Paracelsus's most influential works on the "Spagyric" or alchemical preparation of medicines., page 48, he says: We see this happen to lead and Antimony; the latter cures lepers, Morphew a skin disease characterized by discolored patches, Alopecia hair loss, and similar conditions, including all scabs and scars, Leonine leprosy, Elephantiasis, Tyrian leprosy original: "Tyriam." A specific medieval classification of leprosy characterized by scaly skin, etc., which the Mastery Magisterium: a medicinal preparation where the raw material is transformed into a more potent state without losing its essential nature of lead (or Saturn: the alchemical name for Lead) cannot achieve. Therefore, properties of this kind must be noted, which sometimes lie hidden more abundantly not only in great things, but also in lesser ones. Let us therefore investigate this reason: why Antimony possesses more virtues than its [parent] metal. Surely its body is not fixed, and it is not sufficiently digested into its perfection, as Lead is, from which it assumes a volatile property. But the very matter from which it is born is stripping and cleansing by its natural property, which thus remains incorrupt. From this it happens that it purges Gold and Silver more than fire or any other Element. And from that it follows that it cleanses and purges the body, just as Gold and Silver are freed from all their impurities through it. The Mastery of Antimony expels leprosy more than might be believed possible. In the same volume, book 4, page 22, he says: The Quintessence Quinta Essentia: the 'fifth essence' or the most purified, spiritual extract of a substance of Antimony also cures leprosy. And a little later: The Quintessence of Antimony, beyond both virtues (curing leprosy and spasms), also cleanses the skin, and sharpens and renews the whole body in a marvelous way. For this reason, it holds the third degree A ranking in the intensity of a medicine's effect in the Galenic/Paracelsian system. In the same book, page 23, he says: Who shall instruct us so that we may know by what virtues the Quintessence of Antimony casts out [old] hairs and excites new ones?