ON MERCURY.

take this warning for yourself: do not seek that "point" Referring to the "point of Nature" mentioned on the previous page—the infinitesimal spark of life within matter. in common metals, for it is not there. For these metals—especially common gold original: "aurum vulgi." Alchemists distinguished between "vulgar" gold (the coins and jewelry we use) and "philosophical" gold (the living essence of the metal).—are dead. Ours, however, are living and possess a spirit; these are the ones that must be used.

For you should know that the life of metals is fire, as long as they are still in their ores within the earth; their death is also fire—specifically, the fire of the furnace fusionis: the melting or smelting of metal, which alchemists believed "killed" the metallic life-force by fixing its form..

The First Matter of metals is actually a certain moisture mixed with warm air; it takes the form of a "fatty water" original: "aqua pinguis." A term for a viscous, nutrient-rich liquid that alchemists believed was the primordial substance of all minerals. that clings to every substance, whether pure or impure. It is found more abundantly in one place than in another, which happens because the earth in certain locations is more open and porous, possessing a stronger attractive force than elsewhere.

Sometimes this substance emerges into the light on its own, "clothed in a garment" A metaphor for the physical appearance or crust that hides the true essence., particularly in places where it has nothing else to cling to. It is recognized in this way: although every created thing is composed of the three principles tria principia: the influential theory that all matter is made of Salt, Sulfur, and Mercury., in the matter of metals, there is only one principle present without any union—except for its "garment" or its shadow, namely Sulfur, and so on.