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

...it is therefore necessary to dissolve and liquefy these bodies with our water, and to make of them a permanent water Original: "eau permanente." In alchemy, this refers to a stabilized liquid that does not evaporate easily and can dissolve metals., a sublimated golden water, leaving at the bottom the coarse, terrestrial, and superfluous dry matter. And in this sublimation the fire must be gentle and slow: For if, by this sublimation and slow fire, the bodies are not purified, and if their coarsest terrestrial parts (note well) are not separated from the filth of the dead The "filth of the dead" refers to the caput mortuum, the useless dregs or "dead head" left over after distillation or sublimation., you will not be able to perfect the work. For you have need only of this subtle and light nature which rises to the top of the dissolved bodies, which will be easily given to you by our water if you work gently, for it will separate the heterogeneous from the homogeneous.

Our compound therefore receives a cleansing and purification by our moist fire A "moist fire" often refers to a water bath (balneum Mariae) or the chemical action of an acidic solvent that "burns" without a literal flame., that is to say, by dissolving and sublimating that which is pure and white, and setting aside the dregs Original: "feces," meaning the solid waste or sediment. like a vomiting that occurs voluntarily, as Azinaban Azinaban is likely a corruption of an Arabic alchemist's name, possibly Senior Zadith (Ibn Umail) or a figure mentioned in the Turba Philosophorum. says. For in such a dissolution...