Wherefore, whosoever would by the benefit of the Alcahest elaborate any thing to profit, he must first be provided of, and furnished with Spirit of Urine, and that some quantity, and also not a little Oil of Vitriol or Sulphur, ready for future use, that without any delay or hindrance he may happily proceed in his work begun, which without these he cannot absolve. If Spirit of Urine and Oil of Vitriol be to be bought by any one, his Alcahest will be too dear, of it to prepare much to profit, as by the following shall appear.
What is that which Pontanus saith to this? The whole body of Mercury, without any previous Separation of the pure from the impure, may by the help of the Secret Fire of Artephius be totally ripened into a fixed Medicine or Tincture, without any diminution of its weight. Touching which wonderfull fixation, I in my Sick-bed made a small trial, insomuch as now I am obliged to believe what Pontanus affirmed touching such a Secret Fire; openly confessing, that the same Secret Fire is more to be esteemed in Medicine and Alchymy, than all other great Secrets, which have ever been observed by Philosophers. Wherefore now, nothing grieves me so much, as that by reason of my great indisposedness, being always constrained to keep my Bed, I am able to make no further trial of the same.
This Fire converts all venomous Subjects into salutiferous Medicaments; fixeth all things that are volatile; renders all sharp and bitter things sweet and pleasant. In a word, this Secret Fire cannot more properly be compared to any thing, than to Titan or the Sun, whence all things draw their Life and Increase. For that Fire, first of Earth, Water and Air, produceth gross, bitter and harsh Fruits, then ripens them being unripe, and changeth them into sweet and pleasant Fruits, imitating the Sun producing sower Grapes, which it sweetens after its various Operations upon them. The same may be spoken of the maturation of vulgar Mercury, being such as per se (whilst it is as yet volatile) is to be esteemed an immature and bitter Fruit: but as soon as by our Secret Fire its Bitterness and noxious Venome shall be taken away, and it becomes fixed and able to abide the Examen of Fire, it is no longer a bitter Venome, but passeth into a salutiferous Medicament. Hence the worthy Lully cried out; If you dulcifie the bitter, you will have the whole Magistery. Which Dulcification our Secret Fire is able to compleat as perfectly as the Sun of all acid and harsh products of Trees, makes sweet, pleasant and salubrious Fruits. Pontanus witnesseth, that he had laboured in the true matter of the Stone, yet that he erred more than an hundred times, and that he should never have returned into the Royal way of Infallible Operation, if he had not read Artephius, and of him learned the Fire of the Wise. This indeed is a thing to be admired, that almost no Chymist imploys his Care, Study, Meditation and Counsel to seek out and find our Secret Fire, although to it there is scarcely given another like and second in all the things of Nature. Artephius did so clearly describe that Fire, as you would wonder that so few Searchers have ever comprehended his Mind. All other Philosophers, who were partakers of such a Fire, do with Artephius expresly write, that it burns continually in their Glass, and not so extrinsecally, in one degree. Whence indeed it is sufficiently manifest, that the same is not common Fire made of Wood and Coals. Therefore I do positively say, that our Secret Fire, in a short time, is able to transmute the whole of Mercury into a red, sweet and pleasant Tincture, and also to change both humane and metallick Bodies.
Yet further, Touching the most fruitfull Use of our Alcahest, bringing great Gain in Metallick Labours.
As we have heard that volatile common Mercury is fixed and rendred constant in Fire, by the help of our Alcahest; so it also in such wise fixeth other Minerals, and volatile Metals, as the same in Cupellating, leave behind both Sol and Lune, not without notable utility. But thence especially may you reap vast profit, if volatile Sol and Luna, extracted by Aqua Fortis out of Sand and Earth, be again totally fixed by help of that, in such a manner, as they in Fire fly not; but yielding, permit themselves to be melted as any other Sol and Lune. Metals, whensoever wrought upon by the help of Aqua Fortis, although they were fixt before, degenerate into another Nature, and are volatilized, so as with a strong Fire of Fusion they fly away to the Owners great loss. As for Example: If you dissolve Lune in Aqua Regia, and upon the same Solution pour common Salt-water, the Lune will be precipitated from the Water in the form of a white Powder, which if with other Water you well edulcorate and dry, you will have a Calx of Lune much more ponderous than the Lune was before. Which kind of increase ariseth onely from the sharp Spirits of the Salt, which the Silver hath drawn into it self so firmly, as by the benefit of Water they could not be totally separated, but remain in it, not onely whilst it is heated red-hot, but also in a strong Fire of Fusion, insomuch as the Lune shews it self not tractable in Fire, as any other Silver, but remains like a Stone in that vehement Fire, so as whilst it is flowing, those Spirits of the Salt carry away much of the Silver with them in fume; and part of it also penetrates into the Crucible. Wherefore such Lune precipitated with Salt, cannot be melted again and made ductile Silver without great loss and detriment, but appears intractable like a transparent Horn, whence also it is by Chymists called the Horn of the Moon; but I in my Writings name this Silver (as being that which is altogether volatile and fusible) the Mercury of Luna.
In the same manner also Saturn may be converted into a Liquable and volatile Mercury, touching the admirable and profitable use of which, I have writ, but not published, a whole Treatise, which is intituled, The Work of Saturn: but of this no more here. The Evening of the Day now approaching, admonisheth us to return to speak of our volatile Lune, and to shew the way of reducing that into fixed and soft or tractable Silver; which indeed by unskilfull Men is supposed to be a difficult Art, but by skilfull Men it is known to be easily effected with the great Utility of the Operator.
But some one may say, what need we about that imploy our principal Cares and Meditations, to render such precipitated volatile Lune into fixed and good Silver, since there are other ways of precipitating Silver from Aqua Fortis, viz. by the help of thin plates of Venus? To such a Man, I thus answer: They who commonly separate Sol from Luna, are in a great measure abused by that way of precipitation with Venus Plates; but they would never use that chargeable Precipitation, if they enjoyed the knowledge of any other more profitable. Chargeable, I say, is such a Precipitation to those that use it, because much Water must be poured into the Solution, for washing away or weakening the force of the Aqua Fortis, that the Lune may the more readily be precipitated by the Venus, and the Aqua Fortis also not dissolve too much of the Venus. By this separation the Aqua Fortis is lost, because it becomes Coppery, and unfit for a new use of separating. For one Mark of Silver costs in Aqua Fortis onely (not reckoning Labour and Workmanship) almost half an Imperial: wherefore our Belgian Refiners think it worth their while, if for separation of every Mark of Guilt Silver, they spend but two Holland Florens, or ⅘ of one Imperial, for otherwise they cannot gain much: Yet some of them will not precipitate their Lune with the help of Venus Plates, and so lost their Aqua Fortis, but by distillation abstract the Aqua Fortis, and afterward use it again. But this abstraction is difficultly performed, and is not void of danger. For the Glass breaking, the Silver is spilt amongst the Sand, so as the whole cannot be recovered again without some damage, and sometimes there is great loss. Wherefore such a way of separating, although you can save part of the Aqua Fortis, yet it is chargeable and also dangerous (when Aqua Fortis is to be prepared in a great quantity, as is wont to be done in metallick Mines of Gold and Silver, and also in Goldsmiths Shops) because it requires a filthy toil, sordid labour, great expence, and a continual tiresome and perillous trouble. I add perillous, and that deservedly; because those Operators, who frequently separate with Aqua Fortis, do very often become Peripneumonick, and diseased in their Lungs, by attracting with their breath the Acrimony of those Spirits into their Lungs, with which sharp Spirits the Lungs being touched, are hurt, and rendred obnoxious to Putrefaction, insomuch as among those Separators you shall very rarely ever find an old Gray-hair’d Master. For such Companions, even in their flourishing Age, are untimely hurried out of this life. But what are these feeble wretches able to doe, in withstanding the great Power of Destiny? Of Golden-Silver, Moniers know not how to make Money before they have separated the Gold from it, how great cost soever they be at for separating the same. About two years since I writ touching a certain Artificial method of separating Gold from Silver in abundance; but because I was taken sick a little after, and have continued discomposed almost ever since, I could not bring that laudable and most profitable Work of Separation to effect.
But afterward this my Infirmity continuing long, and I necessitated to keep my Bed, although troubled with no considerable sense of pain, could do nothing, but onely bend and incline my serious thoughts and meditations upon Nature and Art; then God and Fortune shewed me the way, by which every common Mercury may be fixed and rendred constant in Fire. Which sudden fixation of volatile Mercury, the Deluder of all Alchymists, gave me farther occasion of fixing other volatile Subjects also. But among others, I ordered trial and proof to be made of a volatile Calx of Lune precipitated with salt Water, that I might experimentally see, whether such volatile Silver might not be so bound up, as to suffer it self, like any other Lune to be melted without detriment or loss; the effect of which Trial or Proof succeeded according to my expectation. That indeed is a great Reward of a great Invention, insomuch as it supplies me with sufficient matter of asserting with Archimedes, It is an Invention worth the Milk of an hundred Kine. For this Fixation of volatile Silver will afford a famous Fruit of Utility in Alchymy, and especially in the Separation of Gold from Silver; because such a way the Separation of Gold from Silver may easily be made; viz. there being no need of the Solution of Silver by Aqua Fortis, but it is sufficient if the Silver be onely granulated, and the Sol which is in it extracted by Aqua Regia; because that being done, you will see all the Silver residing in the bottom. And although there should be half an Ounce of Gold in every Mark of Silver, yet you will need no more Aqua Regia, than onely so much as is required for the Solution of such a quantity of Gold; so as a diligent Man, in the space of one day, may very well separate an hundred Marks of Golden-Silver, for the charge of three Duckets. And this artificial method of Separating may not onely be used by the Separators of Gold from Lune, but you may thence also reap greater profit, whensoever you are desirous by the help of Aqua Fortis to extract Silver from Stones, Sand and Clay, and to precipitate the same with Salt: for this way all the Aqua Regis will be saved, that Aqua Fortis by the addition of Salt being turned into Aqua Regis, which will be most powerfully conducent for extracting Gold out of Sand and Stones, and for precipitating by a Mercurial Precipitation of the Gold from the Aqua Regia, and afterward that Aqua Regia may again be used with notable profit for extracting like Gold. Touching which gainfull Extraction, the Seventh Part of the Prosperity of our Country largely treateth. Here my intent was onely to publish an Artificial, and not chargeable way of separating Gold from Silver; which is such a method, as I believe the World never knew before.
Thus this new-invented Work of Separation is a most profitable Compendium, by the benefit of which every skilfull Man hereafter may with a good courage labour, and increase his Goods and Fortunes honestly: for I believe there cannot be invented any new Work more compendious than this we have here alledged, for the separation of Gold from Silver: wherefore we acquiesce in that. But if any one would be more prolixly instructed in this Artificial Separation, let him peruse the above-recited Seventh Part of the Prosperity of Germany, where he may satisfie the hunger of his desires. Here you have the First Appendix on the Seventh Part of my Spagyrical Pharmacopœa: but in the following Second Appendix (God willing) I will discover yet greater Secrets, which may be perfected by our Alcahest, but were never yet manifested to the World. But at this time, courteous Reader, take in good part these few things here premised, and whatsoever excellent thing shall hereafter offer it self, the same shall be presented to thy Consideration.
Therefore, since (as is above declared and shewed) our Secret Alcahest is able to enrich Mortals with many kinds of gainfull Emolument, he is in no wise to be reprehended, that aspires to the knowledge of elaborating so excellent a Work, viz. how he should prepare for himself Oil of Vitriol or Sulphur, and that in abundance for a very small charge: for nothing hinders, but that four or five pounds thereof may be prepared for the charge of one Imperial. I need not mention how Spirit of Urine may easily be had and prepared in abundance, viz. so soon as one shall cause Urine mixt with Quicklime to ascend in a large distillatory Vesica. For if any one shall so prepare his Alcahest, eight or ten pounds thereof, after his work is done, will scarcely cost him one Imperial: wherefore he must needs gain much more, than if he should buy the same of others that sell it, for a great Price. In the mean while I doubt not, but that such a most easie Coagulation or Fixation of Mercury, as is made by help of this Alcahest, will excite not a few of the more unskilfull Readers, to the love of Learning from expert Artists, the Art of preparing the Alcahest in abundance.