At your command
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X M Y
Xp̄o FERENS.
In the words of Paracelsus, we give the following extracts concerning the loadstone, taken from “The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings ...” by A. E. Waite, London, 1894:
Vol. I. p. 17.—“The adamant. A black crystal called ... Evax ... is dissolved in the blood of a goat.”
“The magnet. Is an iron stone, and so attracts iron to itself. Fortified by experience.... I affirm that the magnet ... not only attracts steel and iron, but also has the same power over the matter of all diseases in the whole body of man.”
Vol. I. pp. 132 and 145.—“A magnet touched by mercury or anointed with mercurial oil, never afterwards attracts iron ... same if steeped in garlic....”
Vol. I. p. 136.—“The life of the magnet is the spirit of iron which can be taken away by rectified vinum ardens itself or by spirit of wine.”