On the Tincture of Gold or True Potable Gold

ON POTABLE GOLD.

No one is ignorant of the fact that those true and ancient Philosophers studied long life and the preservation of health; from which it happened that they diligently sought that subject for the preservation of health and the prolongation of life: wherefore, by the benefit of fire, they instituted separations and examinations of all vegetables, animals, and minerals, seeking their powers and virtues; and they discovered the greatest harmony of all, as much in the heavens as upon the earth, between the Sun, gold, man, and wine. For it cannot be denied that the life of all things proceeds from the heat of the sun; wherefore they sought to unite gold—the terrestrial sun or fixed and perfect body caused by the rays of the sun—with man, by the benefit of spirit of wine.

(But perhaps there will be those whom this narrative of mine will offend, denying that gold is the offspring of the Sun, or a fixed and perfect metallic body, proceeded from the sun’s rays; questioning how immaterial solar rays can become material and corporeal? especially those ignorant of the generation of metals and minerals. Although I had not intended to write now about the generation and origin of Metals; nevertheless, attempting to demonstrate that a life-giving power is to be found in gold (when destroyed and volatilized) and is preparable into a healthful medicine for humanity, I have wished, for the sake of the ignorant and the incredulous, to demon-