Reg.lat.1200

are found in them. But the
work is pure and philo-
sophical and most honorable.
Hence Jacobus Phili Likely referring to an alchemical authority such as Jacobus Philippus Foresti or a similar scholar; the text uses his name to validate the warning against common materials.
says: Take care that our work
is composed of body, spirit,
and soul original: "corpore spiritu et anima"; the essential triad of alchemy. The Body represents the solid matter, the Soul the internal essence or color, and the Spirit the volatile force that joins them. and not of
mineral spirits—namely quicksilver Quicksilver | Mercury; a liquid metal considered a primary "spirit" due to its volatility.,
sulfur, arsenic, or
sal ammoniac Sal Ammoniac | A salt of ammonia (ammonium chloride) used to dissolve metals or as a flux; alchemists prized its ability to turn from solid to gas (sublimation)..
For all those things are
vain and useless, and
properly they are not
spirits except equivocally original: "nisi equivoce"; meaning they are only called 'spirits' in a loose or misleading sense, lacking the true vital power required for the Philosopher's Stone.,
but rather they are bodies
that are quickly converted
into smoke, and in
themselves have no
constancy. And therefore
he says: