Manuscript Transmitted to the Serene Duke of Holstein Explaining the Obscure Matters of Alchemists

is cold and moist, and thus does not wet. And the more the common Mercurius Mercury is cooked, the more it remains fluid and watery. But ours, the more it is cooked, the more it is thickened. The common one, the more it is cooked, the more it is terrified, and is converted into a non-fusible and impure earth; but ours, the more it is cooked, the more it is thickened, yet it is converted into a fusible salt that is permanent in fire. From this, it is easily gathered that the Mercurius of the Philosophers is in no way the common one, nor can it in any way be drawn from it, but is only a radical metallic moisture, which is found in the Stone of the Philosophers. Whence Sendivogius asserts that the Mercurius of the Philosophers is nothing other than moisture mixed with the heat of the air; which is the same as radical metallic moisture mixed with heat. For it is necessary that this moisture be hot, because of the innate Sulphur Sulfur which it has in itself, by the benefit of which it is coagulated and fixed into a perfect metal, if it is pure and cleansed of earthy dregs. From this, we can gather that the Mercurius of the Philosophers is by no means common mercury, and that it has all things necessary for making the Stone of the Philosophers, since it has in itself Sulphur and the fire of nature, highly purified, which are sufficient to perfect the work of the Philosophers, by the testimony of all Authors. Thus we shall conclude that the Mercurius of the Philosophers is a radical metallic moisture or moisture of the air mixed with heat, having in itself at its center all things necessary to perfect our work, as all Authors testify, to whose authority faith must be given, since they themselves have seen and touched all those things which they assert. Therefore, these are by no means to be thought or considered false.