BOOK FIVE.

...the heat of fusion, which you shall test by inserting an iron rod to check for complete melting. Afterward, add two ounces of nitre saltpeter or potassium nitrate, used as a flux in stages, which has been previously warmed little by little. Finally, pour it into a casting cone a conical mold used to separate metal from slag, coated on the inside with tallow or wax. Tap the upper edge of the casting cone with light blows of a hammer until, after resting a moment, it sends the regulus the pure metallic "button" that settles at the bottom of a crucible to the bottom. (Wax is suitable for the solar regulus gold, but for this one use tallow). Once separated from the dross original: scoriis; the impurities or slag left over from smelting, melt it again in a crucible. Add an ounce of nitre to it, in stages as before, and pour it into the cone. Repeat this four, five, or six times until you have the Starry Regulus of Mars so called because iron—the metal of Mars—was used in the smelting process to produce a distinctive star-like crystalline pattern on the surface.

Regarding this, it must be noted: by the third or at least the fourth fusion, there usually forms on the surface of the regulus—where it joins the dross—a certain star with its rays. It is sometimes created so skillfully, just as a star is commonly painted, that a geometer could hardly have produced the same image with such great dexterity. If it does not appear by the third or fourth, you will scarcely form it by the fifth or sixth, which is a certain sign that the previous processes were not followed exactly according to the rule. Observe, however, that whenever you wish to melt the regulus, you should perform it under a clear sky.

The use of this regulus is varied: from it are made flowers fine powders produced by sublimation, where a solid is heated into a vapor and then collected as a powder and other things. Those who study the transmutations of metals boast that they have achieved no vain labor from the ready fabrication of this substance. If the dregs of the regulus are dissolved in a cellar referring to deliquescence, where a substance absorbs moisture from the air to become liquid and afterward distilled through a retort, an oil will come forth which distills gold through an alembic a chemical apparatus consisting of two vessels connected by a tube, used for distillation. Furthermore, take note of the Smoke of Antimony: this is not suitable for all complexions the balance of the four humors (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, black bile) in a person's body, and especially for the phlegmatic and melancholic; however, it is in no way harmful to those of a sanguine or choleric nature.

Flowers of the Regulus of Antimony.

Regarding the flowers made from the regulus, note that they can be raised from it in the easiest way, either by themselves—and thus they can be administered within the body if they have been corrected with some appropriate vehicle—or through common salt, by which the flowers become white; or through Sal Ammoniac ammonium chloride, and in this way they become red, etc. If you wish to apply this to the medical art, "sweeten" purify by washing away salts and extract the essence from the salt therefrom; thus the Antimony will turn into a restorative not only for the whole body, but also a restorative for all vegetables and metals. Concerning the flowers of Antimony from the regulus, Duncan Bornett a Scottish physician and author of Iatrochemical works active in the early 17th century says thus in our Iatrochymia Medical Chemistry, pages 91 and 92: "The flowers are prepared in two ways. For some are made by sublimation alone from the regulus without..."