of a language which is inexact, undescriptive, and unsuggestive to modern ears. The same name was given to different things, and the same thing went under many names.

s no word more often used by them than that. Some of them evidently took it to mean the substance then, and now, called mercury; the results of this literal interpretation were disastrous; others thought of mercury as a substance which could be obtained, or, at any rate, might be obtained, by repeatedly distilling ordinary mercury, both alone and when mixed with other substances; others used the word to mean a hypothetic

language save that of far-fetched allegory. The alchemica

om The Twelve Keys, of Basiliu

the augmentation of our Stone I will p

hou noble knight, since thou hast wandered through many cities and kingdoms and suffered many things at sea, in battle, and in the lists, the heavenly Father has bidden me make known to thee the following means of obtaining thy prayer: Take blood from thy right side, and from the left side of thy spouse. For this blood is the heart's blood of your parents, and though it may seem to be of two kinds, yet, in reality, it is only one. Mix the two kinds of blood, and keep the mixture tightly enclosed in the globe of the seven wise Masters. Then that which is gener

al Chariot of Antimony, Basil Valentine ad

s: 'Mercury, eloquent scion of Atlas, and father of all Alchemists, since thou hast guided me hitherto, shew me, I pray thee, the way to those Blessed Isles, which thou hast promised to reveal to all thine elect children. 'Dost thou remember,' he replied, that when I quitted thy laboratory, I left behind me a garment so thoroughly saturated with my own blood, that neither the wind could efface it, nor all-devouring time destroy its indelible essence? Fetch it hither to me, that I may not catch a chill from the state of perspiration in which I now am; but let me clothe myself warmly in

kin securing him against all the assaults of Vulcan. 'Let us proceed,' he then said, an

consummation, whence was born the son crowned with the royal diadem. When I was about to salute him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, m

f, show them this sign.' And therewith he gave me a gold ring from his son's finger. 'They know the golden branch which must be consecrated to Proserpina before you can enter the palace of Plut

been a mere dream. It was of gold, but to me more precious than the most prized of all metals. Unto you I will shew it when

ubstances to use in his operations; for when he was told to employ "the homogeneous water of gold," for example, the expression might mean anything, and in despair he dis

ehung (17th century), Nature addresses the

s, build small and large furnaces, and use many vessels; nevertheless I am sick of your folly, and you suffocate me with your sulphurous smoke.... You would do

nas, writing

conjunctions, calcinations, incinerations, mortifications, revivifications, as also their tripods, athanors, reverberatory alemb

The Only Way

books.... I can speak from bitter experience, for I, too, toiled for many years ... and endeavoured to reach the coveted goal by sublimation, distillation, calcination, circulation, and so forth, and to fashion the Stone out of substances such as urine, salt, atrament, alum, etc. I have tried ha

be alchemists as "floundering about

d, we must expect that the alchemical language would appear mere jargon to the uninitiated. In Ben Jons

is a pretty

icks o' the card

charm

are all

f your writers '

xir, your l

med'cine, and y

r sulphur, an

ht, your tree of

e, your tutie,

row, your dragon,

oon, your firmam

h, zernich, chi

red man, and y

ths, your menstru

hells, women's t

burnt clout, chalk

es, scalings

other strang

rst a ma

Subtle

l thes

ne thing; which

obscure

all the

ans writ in m

Scriptures o

hoicest fable

ntains and first

perplexed

llow sulphides, the red lion was synonymous with cinnabar, and the green lion meant salts of iron and of copper. Black sulphides were called eagles, and sometimes crows. When black sulphide of mercury is strongly heated, a red sublimate is

at he lived and delighted in fire; keeping a strong fire alight under a s

The Book of Lambspring

e fire, which imparts to

oration of the Tincture, or Philosopher's Sto

G.

ons, in place of writing the names of substances. The fol

, also copper; , and Mercury; Luna, also silver; Sulphur; Vitriol; fire; air; an