In like manner out of that stinking Oil which is driven from Tartar by a Retort, and is of great virtue, (though for its loathsom scent it cannot be used) a very powerful Volatile Salt may be obtained, by burning away the said Oyl with a burning Spirit, which Volatile Salt by those Purging Flames loseth its loathsom smell, and may be made use of in Physick, as that before mentioned prepared from Wine.
According to this method of obtaining the Mercury of Wine, we may proceed with all other Vegetables, and separate their pure incombustible Mercury, by burning away their Oyls, with their own or any ether burning Spirit, by which means the Volatile Mercury is caught.
It is to be observ’d, that all Oyls distill’d from Herbs, whose flowers resemble Stars, do yield more Volatile Salt, than the distill’d Oyl of other Herbs. When these Herbs cannot be had fresh and green, we may take their Seeds, which yield more Oyl and Volatile Salt than the Herbs themselves. In like manner all Oyls, distill’d from Seeds, afford more Volatile Salt than those which are forc’d from Roots, Stalks, Leaves or Wood; the Seed always abounding with more Volatile Salt than any other part of the Vegetable; and that because God hath placed the growing and multiplying virtue of all things in their Seeds, from whence also the same is most easily separable for the use and service of Man. In particular, the Seeds of Annis, Fennel, Dill, Carway, Cumin, Cresses, Scurvy grass and Mustard afford much Volatile Salt.
So likewise all Excremental and Superfluous Egestions of Nature, such as are the Hair of Men and Beasts, the Horns and Claws of Beasts, the Excrements of Beasts and Birds, as also their Feathers, do abound with Volatile Salt. Amongst these we may also reckon Amber, Soot, and Smith’s Coals; when the stinking Oyl of any of these is burnt away, the remaining Essential Salt will procure the Physicians praise and honour, and the Patient’s help and ease.
The Seeds of Henbane and Tobacco do yield a very powerful Salt; so likewise do the distill’d Oyls of Spices, as well as those made by Expression afford a most excellent Volatile Salt being burnt away, by means of a burning Spirit, united with them. Yet would not I counsel any to burn away such precious Oyls, forasmuch as we have other Subjects, which cost us nothing, and yet yield a better Salt than any Spices whatsoever; for Minerals and Metals, when without a Corrosive they are brought into a strong Spirit of Wine, yield a much better Mercury, wherein all the virtues of Vegetables are concentred; and consequently are far more efficacious than any Vegetable Salt against all Diseases whether of Men or Metals.
In this way we may easily, and in a manner without labour or any considerable charges, procure a running Mercury from all Minerals and Metals; which Mercury of Metals suffers it self afterwards to be fixed into a true Tincture for Men and Metals, by means of its proper Agent and Secret ever-burning Fire, and this easily without any loss of weight, which cannot be expected from a common Mercury, and therefore we must be provided of a Metallick Mercury if we would do this feat. Mars, Venus, and Mercury are the best amongst the meaner Metals for this purpose, as yielding the best Mercury, but the Mercuries of Sol and Luna are the best of all. And it is a thing that deserves our wonder, that from such Compact Bodies, as those Homogeneal Metals are, which are accounted indivisible, a Volatile Mercury should be separated. Indeed had I not done it my self, I should hardly have been persuaded of its possibility. Resuscitative Salts are the only means to effect this Wonder, and whosoever knows in due manner to apply them to Metals, to him it is an easie thing, yea, Childrens play, in one days time, without toil or labour, to separate a running Mercury from all Metals and Minerals. There is one only Salt in the World, which has a power above others to revivifie Metals, costs nothing, and is every where to be had in abundance: This contemptible Salt the Philosophers have always concealed, saying, that it is cast out upon Dunghils, and as much beloved of the Wise, as it is hated and despised by Fools.
In this Salt greater secrets lie hid, than in the Salt of Art before mentioned, which cannot be had without toil and labour; but this our more secret Resuscitative Salt of Art doth far excell that, for it not only exalts and multiplies the colours of Sol and Luna as well as that, but also radically opens all Metalline Subjects whatsoever, separating their purest Mercury from the gross fæces, and brings it over with it self, which no other Salt in the World can do. There are indeed some other Salts to be found, which in some degree do resuscitate Metals, and separate a running Mercury, as Salt of Tartar, Urine, and the like, but are not comparable with our resuscitative Salt of Art, which, for all them, continues the undoubted Monarch over all Salts. There are very few to be found, who are able with so much ease and little charge to separate a running Mercury in quantity from Metals, and fix the same into a true Tincture. Wherefore we should make it our business to enquire into the nature of Salts, and learn to know their several uses; because in Salts great good lies hid, which few believe or apprehend. Plato indeed was of opinion, that something Divine was contain’d in our common Salt; and other Philosophers have not stuck to say, that in the Sun and Salt is All. He that doth not know what Fire and Salt are, knows nothing, and deserves not the name of a Philosopher.
And thus much shall suffice concerning Fire and Salt, and the great things that may be performed by them. He therefore who desires to approve himself a good Physician or Chymist, let him study the nature of Fire and Salt, and learn to distinguish them, for without this he’l never do any thing to purpose in either faculty.
To return now to our Spagirical Purgatory, and shew that the Philosophers by means thereof performed their greatest Arcana. Paracelsus alone, the Monarch of Physicians, gives us a sufficient Testimony hereof, when, treating of the Element of Fire, in his Book of Sulphur, he saith, That if a Physician have not amongst his Secrets the Element of Fire from Sulphur, he is not a Physician, but a———— O my dear Paracelsus, thou art not to be blamed for thy zealous inveighing against those Lazy Lubbards, and if thy words be Authentick, ’tis to be feared that scarce one good Physician will be found in all Germany, forasmuch as the Element of Fire of Sulphur is utterly unknown. But this cannot be said, for that besides this Element of Fire, there be several other good Medicaments a Physician may prepare. Yet forasmuch as I have writ somewhat of it here, I hope it may stir up some to search after it, and so learn to prepare their Medicines by Fire; because whatsoever can without hurt or loss abide the Fire, the same must needs be very pure and good.
David to this purpose gives us a similitude of Luna, which must sometimes pass the Fire, before it attain its utmost purity. This art of cleansing things with Fire, was by the Philosophers of old termed Ysopaica, of which see Paracelsus.