Alchemiae Gebri cum Lull et Bacon

to reveal by the commentary, which we have composed regarding it for the purpose of explaining it. Therefore, by right, this book precedes that one, since through this book I seek to investigate the knowledge of the perfecting thing The "perfecting thing" refers to the Elixir or the process that brings base metals to the state of gold..

On the things which perfect and corrupt metallic bodies. Chapter II.

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Since this science treats the imperfect bodies of minerals, insofar as it is fitting to perfect them, we have considered two things regarding them: namely, Imperfection and Perfection. Upon these two we found our intention. We compose this book concerning the things that perfect and corrupt, according to what we have investigated through our own experience, because opposites placed next to each other shine forth more clearly. Now, the thing which perfects in minerals is the substance of quicksilver original: "argenti uiui"; mercury and sulfur mixed together in proportion, thickened and fixed by a long and temperate decoction decoction: a process of heating or "cooking" a substance in a fluid to extract its essence in the bowels of the clean earth, with the preservation of its radical moisture—which is not corrupting, but rather leads to the substance