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The Treasure of Treasures for Alchemists by Paracelsus
The Treasure of Treasures for Alchemists.
By Philippus Theophrastus Bombast,
Paracelsus the Great
NATURE begets a mineral in the bowels of the earth. There
are two kinds of it, which are found in many districts of Europe.
The best which has been offered to me, which also has been found
genuine in experimentation, is externally in the figure of the
greater world, and is in the eastern part of the sphere of the
Sun. The other, in the Southern Star, is now in its first efflorescence.
The bowels of the earth thrust this forth through its surface.
It is found red in its first coagulation, and in it lie hid all
the flowers and colours of the minerals. Much has been written
about it by the philosophers, for it is of a cold and moist nature,
and agrees with the element of water.
So far as relates to the knowledge of it and experiment with
it, all the philosophers before me, though they have aimed at
it with their missiles, have gone very wide of the mark. They
believed that Mercury and Sulphur were the mother of all metals,
never even dreaming of making mention meanwhile of a third; and
yet when the water is separated from it by Spagyric Art the truth
is plainly revealed, though it was unknown to Galen or to Avicenna.
But if, for the sake of our excellent physicians, we had to describe
only the name, the composition; the dissolution, and coagulation,
as in the beginning of the world Nature proceeds with all growing
things, a whole year would scarcely suffice me, and, in order
to explain these things, not even the skins of numerous cows
would be adequate.
Now, I assert that in this mineral are found three principles,
which are Mercury, Sulphur, and the Mineral Water which has served
to naturally coagulate it. Spagyric science is able to extract
this last from its proper juice when it is not altogether matured,
in the middle of the autumn, just like a pear from a tree. The
tree potentially contains the pear. If the Celestial Stars and
Nature agree , the tree first of all puts forth shoots in the
month of March; then it thrusts out buds, and when these open
the flower appears, and so on in due order until in autumn the
pear grows ripe. So is it with the minerals. These are born,
in like manner, in the bowels of the earth. Let the Alchemists
who are seeking the Treasure of Treasures carefully note this.
I will shew them the way, its beginning, its middle, and its
end. In the following treatise I will describe the proper Water,
the proper Sulphur, and the proper Balm thereof. By means of
these three the resolution and composition are coagulated into
one.
CONCERNING THE SULPHUR OF CINNABAR.
Take mineral Cinnabar and prepare it in the following manner.
Cook it with rain water in a stone vessel for three hours. Then
purify it carefully, and dissolve it in Aqua Regis, which is
composed of equal parts of vitriol, nitre, and sal ammoniac.
Another formula is vitriol, saltpetre, alum, and common salt.
Distil this in an alembic. Pour it on again, and separate
carefully the pure from the impure thus. Let it putrefy for a
month in horse-dung; then separate the elements in the following
manner. If it puts forth its sign1, commence the distillation
by means of an alembic with a fire of the first degree. The water
and the air will ascend; the fire and the earth will remain at
the bottom. Afterwards join them again, and gradually treat with
the ashes. So the water and the air will again ascend first,
and afterwards the element of fire, which expert artists recognise.
The earth will remain in the bottom of the vessel. This collect
there. It is what many seek after and few find.
This dead earth in the reverberatory you will prepare according
to the rules of Art, and afterwards add fire of the first degree
for five days and nights. When these have elapsed you must apply
the second degree for the same number of days and nights, and
proceed according to Art with the material enclosed. At length
you will find a volatile salt, like a thin alkali, containing
in itself the Astrum of fire and earth2. Mix this with the two
elements that have been preserved, the water and the earth. Again
place it on the ashes for eight days and eight nights, and you
will find that which has been neglected by many Artists. Separate
this according to your experience, and according to the rules
of the Spagyric Art, and you will have a white earth, from which
its colour has been extracted. Join the element of fire and salt
to the alkalised earth. Digest in a pelican to extract the essence.
Then a new earth will be deposited, which put aside.
CONCERNING THE RED LION.
Afterwards take the lion in the pelican which also is found
[at] first, when you see its tincture, that is to say, the element
of fire which stands above the water, the air, and the earth.
Separate it from its deposit by trituration. Thus you will have
the true aurum potabile3. Sweeten this with the alcohol of wine
poured over it, and then distil in an alembic until you perceive
no acidity to remain in the Aqua Regia.
This Oil of the Sun, enclosed in a retort hermetically sealed,
you must place for elevation that it may be exalted and doubled
in its degree. Then put the vessel, still closely shut, in a
cool place. Thus it will not be dissolved, but coagulated. Place
it again for elevation and coagulation, and repeat this three
times. Thus will be produced the Tincture of the Sun, perfect
in its degree. Keep this in its own place.
CONCERNING THE GREEN LION.
Take the vitriol of Venus4, carefully prepared according to
the rules of Spagyric Art; and add thereto the elements of water
and air which you have reserved. Resolve, and set to putrefy
for a month according to instructions. When the putrefaction
is finished, you will behold the sign of the elements. Separate,
and you will soon see two colours, namely, white and red. The
red is above the white. The red tincture of the vitriol is so
powerful that it reddens all white bodies, and whitens all red
ones, which is wonderful.
Work upon this tincture by means of a retort, and you will
perceive a blackness issue forth. Treat it again by means of
the retort, repeating the operation until it comes out whitish.
Go on, and do not despair of the work. Rectify until you find
the true, clear Green Lion, which you will recognise by its great
weight. You will see that it is heavy and large. This is the
Tincture, transparent gold. You will see marvellous signs of
this Green Lion, such as could be bought by no treasures of the
Roman Leo. Happy he who has learnt how to find it and use it
for a tincture!
This is the true and genuine Balsam5, the Balsam of the Heavenly
Stars, suffering no bodies to decay, nor allowing leprosy, gout,
or dropsy to take root. It is given in a dose of one grain, if
it has been fermented with Sulphur of Gold.
Ah, Charles the German, where is your treasure? Where are
your philosophers? Where your doctors? Where are your decocters
of woods, who at least purge and relax? Is your heaven reversed?
Have your stars wandered out of their course, and are they straying
in another orbit, away from the line of limitation, since your
eyes are smitten with blindness, as by a carbuncle, and other
things making a show of ornament, beauty, and pomp? If your artists
only knew that their prince Galen - they call none like him -
was sticking in hell, from whence he has sent letters to me,
they would make the sign of the cross upon themselves with a
fox's tail. In the same way your Avicenna sits in the vestibule
of the infernal portal; and I have disputed with him about his
aurum potabile, his Tincture of the Philosophers, his Quintessence,
and Philosophers' Stone, his Mithridatic, his Theriac, and all
the rest. O, you hypocrites, who despise the truths taught you
by a true physician, who is himself instructed by Nature, and
is a son of God himself! Come, then, and listen, impostors who
prevail only by the authority of your high positions! After my
death, my disciples will burst forth and drag you to the light,
and shall expose your dirty drugs, wherewith up to this time
you have compassed the death of princes, and the most invincible
magnates of the Christian world. Woe for your necks in the day
of judgment! I know that the monarchy will be mine. Mine, too,
will be the honour and glory. Not that I praise myself: Nature
praises me. Of her I am born; her I follow. She knows me, and
I know her. The light which is in her I have beheld in her; outside,
too, I have proved the same in the figure of the microcosm, and
found it in that universe.
But I must proceed with my design in order to satisfy my disciples
to the full extent of their wish. I willingly do this for them,
if only skilled in the light of Nature and thoroughly practised
in astral matters, they finally become adepts in philosophy,
which enables them to know the nature of every kind of water.
Take, then, of this liquid of the minerals which I have described,
four parts by weight; of the Earth of red Sol two parts; of Sulphur
of Sol one part. Put these together into a pelican, congelate,
and dissolve them three times. Thus you will have the Tincture
of the Alchemists. We have not here described its weight: but
this is given in the book on Transmutations6.
So, now, he who has one to a thousand ounces of the Astrum
Solis shall also tinge his own body of Sol.
If you have the Astrum of Mercury, in the same manner, you
will tinge the whole body of common Mercury. If you have the
Astrum of Venus you will, in like manner, tinge the whole body
of Venus, and change it into the best metal. These facts have
all been proved. The same must also be understood as to the Astra
of the other planets, as Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Luna, and the
rest. For tinctures are also prepared from these: concerning
which we now make no mention in this place, because we have already
dwelt at sufficient length upon them in the book on the Nature
of Things and in the Archidoxies. So, too, the first entity of
metals and terrestrial minerals have been made, sufficiently
clear for Alchemists to enable them to get the Alchemists' Tincture.
This work, the Tincture of the Alchemists, need not be one
of nine months; but quickly, and without any delay, you may go
on by the Spaygric Art of the Alchemists, and, in the space of
forty days, you can fix this alchemical substance, exalt it,
putrefy it, ferment it, coagulate it into a stone, and produce
the Alchemical Phoenix7. But it should be noted well that the
Sulphur of Cinnabar becomes the Flying Eagle, whose wings fly
away without wind, and carry the body of the phoenix to the nest
of the parent, where it is nourished by the element of fire,
and the young ones dig out its eyes: from whence there emerges
a whiteness, divided in its sphere, into a sphere and life out
of its own heart, by the balsam of its inward parts, according
to the property of the cabalists.
HERE ENDS THE TREASURE OF THE ALCHEMISTS.
NOTES
1 The Sign is nothing else than the
mark left by an operation. The house constructed by the architect
is the sign of his handicraft whereby his skill and art are determined.
Thus the sign is the achievement itself. - De Colica.
2 The earth also has its Astrum, its course,
its order, just as much as the Firmament, but peculiar to the
element. So also there is an Astrum in the water, even as in
the earth, and in like manner with air and fire. Consequently,
the upper Astrum has the Astra of the elements for its medium
and operates through them by an irresistible attraction. Through
this operation of the superior and inferior Astra, all things
are fecundated, and led on to their end. - Explicatio Totius
Astronomiae. Without the Astra the elements cannot flourish.
... In the Astrum of the earth all the celestial operations thrive.
The Astrum itself is hidden, the bodies are manifest. ... The
motion of the earth is brought about by the Astrum of the earth.
... There are four Astra in man (corresponding to those of the
four elements), for he is the lesser world. - De Caducis,
Par. II.
3 Aurum Potabile, that is, Potable
Gold, Oil of Gold, and Quintessence of Gold, are distinguished
thus. Aurum Potabile is gold rendered potable by intermixture
with other substances, and with liquids. Oil of Gold is an oil
extracted from the precious metal without the addition of anything.
The Quintessence of Gold is the redness of gold extracted therefrom
and separated from the body of the metal. - De Membris Contractis,
Tract II., c. 2.
4 If copper be pounded and resolved without
a corrosive, you have Vitriol. From this may be prepared the
quintessence, oil, and liquor thereof. - De Morbis Tartareis.
Cuprine Vitriol is Vitriol cooked with Copper. - De Morbis
Vermium, Par. 6. Chalcanthum is present in Venus, and Venus
can by separation be reduced into Chalcanthum. - Chirurgia
Magna. Pars. III., Lib. IV.
5 There is, indeed, diffused through all things
a Balsam created by God, without which putrefaction would immediately
supervene. Thus in corpses which are anointed with Balsam we
see that corruption is arrested and thus in the physical body
we infer that there is a certain natural and congenital Balsam,
in the absence of which the living and complete man would not
be safe from putrefaction. Nothing removes the Balsam but death.
But this kind differs from what is more commonly called Balsam,
in that the one is conservative of the living, and the other
of the dead. - Chirurgia Magna, Pt. II., Tract II., c
3. The confection of Balsam requires special knowledge of chemistry,
and it was first discovered by the Alchemists. - Ibid.,
Pt. I., Tract II., c. 4.
6 It is difficult to identify the treatise
to which reference is made here. It does not seem to be the seventh
book concerning The Nature of Things, nor the ensuing tract on
Cements. The general question of natural and artificial weight
is discussed in the Aurora of the Philosophers. No detached
work on Transmutations has come down to us.
7 Know that the Phoenix is the soul of the
Iliaster (that is, the first chaos of the matter of all things).
... It is also the Iliastic soul in man. - Liber Azoth,
S. V., Practica Lineae Vitae.
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