Collection of Alchemical Treatises

none other; and a book has been made named the quintessence, although he never made it clear regarding the aurum potabile, nor the vegetable quintessence, nor regarding other natural things, in which no one since his time has known how to contradict him. And the said quintessence is made from the substance of wine alone, without adding any other thing in this world but this quintessence which issues from the said wine, which makes the potable gold so much esteemed by the philosophers, which heals all diseases of human bodies. I have written a small treatise thereon, and given it to the Queen, my sovereign, concerning the true perfection, practice, and experience I have had of it these fourteen years past; and if it please Your Royal Majesty, you may see it when you please. And I have given her a little

of the said aurum potabile, although it is not yet in perfection because of the shortness of time, which displeases me for the love of Your Royal Majesty, although more of it shall be made when you please. And in this book I say no more of it, because it is [treated] at length in that of the Queen.

I have begun the chapter on menstrues, which is the beginning, the middle, and the end; and they are made of seven or eight kinds, although all issue from a mercurial root, for otherwise they would be corrosive waters and not natural to the metallic species, which would be an impropriety and a great error, as Arnaldus de Villa Nova and Raymond Lull say. And all say generally that natural dissolutions are not made with corrosive waters, for they are not...