Natural Philosophy of Three Ancient Philosophers: Artephius, Flamel, and Synesius

...we may know how to extract the quicksilver original: "argentum vivum" from the body of magnesia In alchemy, "magnesia" refers to the "maternal" mineral ore or the crude "mother" matter of the Philosopher's Stone, rather than the modern element magnesium. that does not burn, and this is Antimony; and the Mercurial sublimate, that is to say, it is necessary to extract a single living, incombustible water, then to congeal that with the perfect body of the Sun The "Sun" is the standard alchemical cipher for Gold., which is dissolved therein into a white nature and substance, congealed as if it were cream, and the whole should become white.

But first this Sun, in its putrefaction and resolution The process of breaking down a substance into its constituent parts, often associated with a symbolic "death" of the metal. in this water, will in the beginning lose its light; it will be darkened and grow black. At last, it will raise itself above the water, and gradually a white color will float upon it in the form of a white substance; and this is to whiten the red laton Laton is a term for the base or "impure" metal—often copper-based—that must be purified during the alchemical work., to sublime it philosophically, and to reduce it into its first matter—that is, into white incombustible sulfur and fixed quicksilver.

And thus the "finite moisture"—that is, our gold body—by the repetition of liquefaction in our dissolving water, is converted and reduced into sulfur and fixed quicksilver; and so the perfect body of the Sun receives life in such a water; it is vivified, inspired, grows, and is multiplied in its own kind, just like all other things. For in this very water, the body is made from the two bodies of the Sun and the Moon Gold and Silver, so that it may be inflated, swell, thicken, rise, and grow, taking on an animated and vegetable nature In alchemical philosophy, the "vegetable nature" refers to the ability of a substance to grow, sprout, and multiply like a plant..

Our water also, like the aforementioned vinegar, is the "vinegar of the mountains"—that is, of the Sun and the Moon—and for that reason it is mixed with the Sun and the Moon, and adheres to them forever; and from it, the body receives a tincture of whiteness and shines with it with an inestimable brilliance. He who knows, therefore, how to convert the body into a medicinal white silver will thereafter easily be able to convert all imperfect metals into the finest silver by means of this white gold.

And this white gold is called by the Philosophers the white Moon of the philosophers original: "Luna alba philosophorum", fixed white quicksilver, the gold of Alchemy, and the white smoke. Therefore, without that Antimonial vinegar of ours, the white gold of alchemy cannot be made. And because in our vinegar there is a double substance of quicksilver—one from Antimony, the other from mercurial sublimate—it therefore gives a double weight and substance of fixed quicksilver, and also increases within it its native color, weight, substance, and tincture.

Our dissolving water, therefore, carries a great tincture and a great fusion, because when it feels common fire, if the perfect body of the Sun or the Moon is within it, it suddenly causes it to melt and liquefy, and to be converted into its own white substance (as it is itself), and it adds color, weight, and tincture to the body. It is also the solvent of all...