Friedrichstadt Leisure or the Chemical Tantalus

continues from previous page: ...manipulation, then indeed from colcothar red residue of vitriol, as we said before, an excellent medicine can be prepared for curing diseases of the human body, but it is of very little value for removing leprosy from metals. I will not insist further on what should be held regarding the elaboration of Vitriol into the L. P. B. Lapis Philosophorum / Philosopher's Stone; we have spoken of this in our Fridrichstadiensibus Fridrichstadt Leisure Hours, p. 10, and also some things in this Tractatus Treatise. May these things said against Vitriol suffice. original: "Interim non negamus, Vitriolum esse admirandorum miraculorum immensam abyssum in Medicina." Meanwhile, we do not deny that Vitriol is an immense abyss of admirable miracles in medicine. Concerning colcothar, I could easily write an entire thick volume of medicines to be prepared from it and known by experience, but I do not care to consume the strengths of my mind in my old age writing books. But before I put an end to this letter, I shall bring forward certain passages from Caneparius, whom it was my intention to illustrate with a Commentarius commentary, but my ardor has been extinguished, concerning the elaboration of the L. P. B., in which he shows that he was truly a great Adeptus adept and a Chymicus alchemist of the first order, and that he established that it should by no means be elaborated from Vitriol. In chapter 46, from p. 555-570, there is not even a single period that can be taken as referring to Vitriol; on the contrary, there are a hundred periods that suggest a matter other than Vitriol: 1) original: "dicitur bufo congelans mercurium." It is called a toad congealing mercury. 2) original: "Draco omnia vorans adque sui naturam convertens." A dragon devouring all things and converting them to its own nature. 3) original: "Honorate Regem nostrum ex igne venientem diademate coronatum." Honor our King coming out of the fire, crowned with a diadem. 4) original: "Cujus pater est sol, mater vero luna." Whose father is the sun, and mother indeed the moon. 5) original: "Nutriendus est lacte suo usque ad perfectam ætatem." It must be nourished with its own milk until perfect age. 6) original: "Ut figatur & fluat ut cera nec amplius evolet." So that it may be fixed and flow like wax and no longer fly away. 7) original: "Lapis se ipsum calcinans, se ipsum soluens," The stone calcining itself, dissolving itself, (therefore the commonly spoken-of solvents are useless: see our treatise inscribed Dealbatio Æthiopis Whitening of the Ethiop and Nebo) original: "se ipsum interficit, se ipsum vivificat, se ipsum desponsat, nutrit, cibat, seipsum fermentat cum re, quænata sit ab eo." it kills itself, it vivifies itself, it weds itself, it nourishes, it feeds, it ferments itself with the thing that is born from it. 8) original: "Ex tribus constat elementis, aqua, aëre & igne." It consists of three elements: water, air, and fire. 9) original: "In ipsa aqua est secretum secretorum maximum." In the water itself is the greatest secret of secrets. 10) original: "Idcircò sapientes philosophi eum omnibus mundi nominibus ornant: Est enim verus philosophorum mercurius menstruum coelicum, Raymundi acetum acerrimum, lac virginis, menstruum minerale, menstruum vegetabile, aqua propria, aqua permanens," Therefore wise philosophers adorn it with all the names in the world: for it is the true mercury of the philosophers, the celestial solvent, Raymund's sharpest vinegar, virgin's milk, mineral solvent, vegetable solvent, proper water, permanent water, which, when coupled with its equal, is united to it by an indissoluble bond, and thus it remains. Such a thing is not in Vitriol. It is water that clears: which predicate can in no way be said of Vitriol, inasmuch as it has no metallic clarity in itself, but the water of the philosophers can be said to clear in a triple sense: a) because it has a clarity emulating crystal in itself.