PART THREE.

Great power resides in it, most friendly to metals; it is mixed most easily with the purest, and most difficultly with the impure, which itself argues that it is of the purest nature. If it were fixed, I could demonstrate by indubitable reasons, if there were need, that a thing more excellent than Gold itself would proceed from it. It is never without fruit as often as it is added to metals and compelled to tolerate fire, which it evidently aids in its volatility. What would happen if, fixed, it were to liquefy with them for a long time in the fire? I subjoin this for the sake of light.

In my youth, when I saw many about to fix and change Mercury into Gold and Silver by amalgamating, subliming, coagulating, precipitating, and other labors of this kind, I myself attacked the same, led by Paracelsus, who says its coagulation is found in Saturn original: "in Saturno"; archaic name for lead. Therefore, in a small crucible, I liquefied six or seven parts of lead, adding one part of Mercury. I immersed this in another crucible in which Saltpeter was flowing, so that it might be covered by the Saltpeter. Meanwhile, in a larger crucible, I liquefied the Glass of Saturn original: "Vitrum Saturni"; a lead-based flux, made from four parts of red lead and one part of silica. To this I applied the aforementioned two, while hot, to be covered by the glass. I immersed these three in the new crucible of flowing Glass of Saturn, thinking the volatile guest was well guarded, and having enclosed the Mercury behind so many walls, I placed it upon the fire, intending to force it to fixation, which at that time it indeed sustained, not being able to break through. But with the fire increased, and the glass and saltpeter melting,