Alchemiae Gebri cum Lull et Bacon

they thought, which was never the intention of the philosophers.
the philosophers » However, they say many things through metaphor original: "per similitudinem". And because all metallic bodies are composed of quicksilver mercury and sulfur—whether pure or impure, by accident, and not innate in their primary nature—it is possible to remove these impurities through suitable preparation. For the stripping away of accidental qualities is not impossible.
» Preparation, therefore, is the removal of the superfluous and the supplying of what is lacking in imperfect bodies, which cannot be done without the assistance of labor and purifying substances. Furthermore, preparation varies according to the diversity of the things in need. For experience has given us the methods of acting, namely: calcination reduction to powder by heat, sublimation vaporizing a solid, descension liquefying a substance downward, solution, distillation, coagulation, fixation making a volatile substance resist fire, and ceration softening a substance to a wax-like state. We have given a sufficient account of each of these in the Sum of the Perfection of the Mastery referring to the "Summa perfectionis magisterii," a foundational medieval alchemical text attributed to Geber. For these are the operations that assist in preparation.
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Concerning the things that assist preparation, and their cleansing. Chapter 4.

» The things that assist in preparations are these: namely, all kinds of salts, alums, vitriols original: "atramentorum," referring to sulfate minerals, also glass, borax, and those things of this nature, as well as very sharp vinegar and fire. And with these we propose to prepare the imperfect bodies; but it is proper to cleanse them first, if any impurity exists in them, according to our experience, in which we have become certain through the aforementioned things.

The cleansing of common salt.

» For common salt is cleansed in this manner: First let it be burned calcined, then once burned let it be dissolved in common warm water; once dissolved let it be filtered original: "per filtrum distilletur," referring to capillary filtration, and once filtered, [let it be evaporated] over a slow fire