[343] Æneas Tacticus adopts the same mode of expression, Table II.
[344] That is, supposing we knew the subject of his letter, or had evidence which made it probable that it was so and so.
[345] To lull suspicion he calls natural saltpetre chalk, a verbum figurativum. Other MSS. read “sal.”
[346] “Tere ipsum fortiter cum aqua salis communis.... Ablue in aceto acerrimo.” The section “Nitri Separatio” of “Aristoteles, de Perfecto Magisterio,” in the Theatrum Chemicum, ed. by Zetzner; a collection of alchemical tracts of the Middle Ages, iii. 68.
[347] Almost literally translated by Whiteborne: “clarified and from earthe and grosse matter diligently purged.” See A, p. 21.
[348] i.e. the lapis Assius = saltpetre. We have here unmistakably a verbum œnigmaticum. The efflorescence of the stone of Assos, which was unknown to the crowd, was of course “not a stone,” although called so. The philosopher’s stone, which was well known by name to the crowd, was likewise “not a stone,” although called so:—
“... ’tis a stone
And not a stone; a spirit, a soul, and a body.”
—Jonson’s “Alchemist.”
Bacon avails himself of the ambiguity of the phrase, “stone which is not a stone,” to support the delusion created by the title of the chapter, and confirm the unwary in the belief that the philosopher’s stone is under discussion, instead of saltpetre.