Hereafter follows a discussion of the

Origin of the Stone of the Ancient Sages

and how it is accomplished through

Art.

The First Treatise.

This Stone of the Sages original: "Stein der Weisen," the legendary alchemical substance capable of transmuting base metals into gold. is brought forth through the path of burgeoning Nature, of which Khalid the Philosopher original: "Kali der Philosophus," likely referring to Khalid ibn Yazid, an early Umayyad prince associated with alchemy. speaks, saying ——— This Stone arises from co-growing and burgeoning things. For why is "burgeoning" brought back to Nature? Through it, a thing sprouts and emerges and becomes green in its preordained time; one must cook and rot term: "feüln" (putrefaction), a key alchemical stage where matter is broken down to be reborn. it through the path and secrecy of the Art ——— So that one assists Nature through Art. Nature then cooks and rots by itself until such time as it ——— gives the

right form. And Art is nothing but a director and a preparer of Nature's matter, which prepares Nature for such a work; then also the appropriate, distinct measure of the operation with pre-considered purity. For just as little as Art can make gold or silver from a new beginning on its own—since it cannot give the first beginnings to things—so it is also unnecessary for Art to follow the natural places and veins original: "grüfft," referring to the shafts or pits where minerals naturally form. of the minerals as they have them in the earth in their first beginning. Art has another way and interpretation, distinct from the way of Nature, and therefore it also has different tools. And accordingly, Art also produces special things from the preceding natural and root-like beginnings of Nature, which Nature itself could never bear as individual pieces. For Nature cannot by itself bear the things through which the metals, born imperfect by Nature, might be made perfect swiftly and in an instant. But through the secrecy of Art, born from suitable matter through Nature, they serve the