THE ASSEMBLY OF THE PHILOSOPHERS.

...and let the coins be varied, which we call the flower of salt original: 'salis florem'; likely an efflorescence or a pure, crystalline extract of salt.. Cook it, therefore, until it is stripped of its blackness and whiteness appears. Finally, govern it, and mix it with the glue of gold original: 'auri collæ'; historically referred to chrysocolla, used for soldering, but here it implies a specialized alchemical binder., and cook it until it becomes a red Ethelia Ethelia A term often used in early alchemy to describe a refined spirit, vapor, or a specific state of the matter produced by sublimation., and grind it with patience so that you do not grow weary. Imbue the Ethelia with its own water that came out of it—which is the permanent water original: 'aqua permanens'; a legendary alchemical solvent that dissolves metals into their essential spirits without wetting the hands.—until it becomes red. This, then, is the burnt copper original: 'æs combustum'; usually a red oxide of copper., which is the ferment of gold and the flower of gold. Direct this with the water until the water descends. Do this continuously until the water is entirely removed and it becomes a powder.

Eleventh Discourse.

PARMENIDES says: Know that the envious A common alchemical trope referring to earlier authors who hid their secrets from the unworthy. have spoken in many ways about various waters, broths, bodies, stones, and metals, so that they might deceive all of you who seek this science. Therefore, set aside these things and the gold and coins; make the coins become gold for the sake of our copper, and the copper for the blackness. Many, by making lead and tin, call it "blackness." ¶ And know that unless you direct the nature of truth, and properly fit its temperaments and compositions—matching kindred to kindred and the first to the first—you act inappropriately and accomplish nothing. This is because natures will meet with their own natures; they follow them and rejoice. For in them they rot and are born, because nature is governed by nature, which destroys it, turns it into dust, and brings it to nothing; then, nature itself renews it, repeats it, and gives birth to it frequently.

Therefore, investigate the books so that you may know the nature of truth: what causes it to rot, what renews it, what its flavor is, what things it has nearby naturally, and how they love one another. Know also how, after love, enmity and corruption befall them, and how those natures embrace each other and become harmonious until they similarly become soft in the fire. Having noted these things in this art, set your hands to work. If you are ignorant of the natures of truth, do not approach this work, because it is entirely harmful, bringing misfortune and sadness.

Look therefore at the words of the wise, how they accomplished everything with these phrases when they said that "nature rejoices in nature" and "nature contains nature." In these words, a multifaceted and excessive work has been completed for you. Therefore, set aside other things and take quicksilver original: 'argentum vivum'; mercury., and solidify it in the body of magnesia, or in Kuhul Kuhul Derived from the Arabic word for kohl; it usually refers to antimony or lead sulfide, used as a mineral base., or in sulfur that is not burned, and make its nature white, and place it upon our copper, and it becomes white. If you make it red, it becomes red,